#I want to stretch when I wake up and go have tea on the deck or in a plant room

[an-absolute-trainwreck]

Guys help I’m fantasizing about the future again 😔

[dexlexia]

protection - aki x reader

pairing: aki hayakawa x reader rating: 18+ summary: Aki was a gentle lover, he really was. He was always so afraid of hurting you, he said he had seen enough chaos in the world that the idea of leaving you hurt and bruised made him sick to his stomach. So he held you in high esteem, his beautiful partner both on and off the field. He was also a huge advocate for safe sex, the last thing you both needed right now was a child.  tags: safe sex, smut, pwp, gentle sex, sweet sex, fluff & smut

complimentary fic to: bareback - kishibe x reader

Aki was a gentle lover, he really was. He was always so afraid of hurting you, he said he had seen enough chaos in the world that the idea of leaving you hurt and bruised made him sick to his stomach. So he held you in high esteem, his beautiful partner both on and off the field. He was also a huge advocate for safe sex, the last thing you both needed right now was a child. 

Imagining how chaotic the apartment would be made chills run up Aki's spine. The two devils he lived with would probably cook the baby in a soup or leave them on the balcony all day. It was bad enough that Aki had to take care of them plus a cat. So right now a baby wasn't in the cards,  sadly it might never be in the deck..  Aki was no longer on a suicide mission to kill the Gun Devil, every time he saw you it gave him a notion that maybe there was more to life than killing devils, but time was slipping from him. So he cherished every moment spent with you. 

It was late when you got back to Aki's apartment. You practically had to carry Denji in. You and the dark-haired man put the other two to bed before you got settled in yourselves. Aki made you some tea and you sat by the table, the other pair slumbering nearby as you both sat in silence and drank. You noticed in the lights of the room just how blue Aki's eyes were. You smiled at him and he smiled back, no words were exchanged but you both could reach one another. 

Eventually you said, "You're very handsome, Aki." Then took another sip, you stretched out your leg to rub against his, "I feel like I don't tell you that enough." You smiled over the cup. 

Aki blushed for a moment before he took a hasty sip, "You are too... I mean you're beautiful." He wasn't the best at expressing romantic emotions but he tried his best for you.  To be fair to this kind of work, you have to not know how to express emotions. But to make this work, you and Aki tried to play to your strengths. He rubbed his ankle against yours and continued to drink.  He asked, "Do you want to-"

Your smile turned into a grin over the cup, "Are you asking me for sex, Aki?" 

He blushed more, "Yes I am, possibly, maybe." You chuckled, not too loud as to not wake up Power and Denji. It only made Aki blush more as he lowered his head and his cheeks grew red.  He wasn't a sex machine, in reality he only had a handful of experiences.  Most of which were with you. 

You finished your tea quickly and got up. You rounded the table and held out your hand, "Well, then. Let's get going then before these two wake up." Aki took your hand and you led him to the bedroom. There you sat on the bed and started to unbutton your blouse.  You could feel his blue eyes on your chest as you took off the top.

He started to get undressed too. Your eyes lingered on his toned chest,  your eyes met and he gave you a small smile before he started to unbutton his pants. Soon everything was off the both of you.  He soon came to the bed  and the two of you started to kiss, the sound of lips together filled the room as he started to feel up your body. You hand eventually found his cock and started to stroke it gently. 

  "Fuck." "Shit." You both said as you began to pleasure one another at the foot of the bed. The kiss became deeper and soon you were both lying on the bed, hands between legs as you continued to get each other off.  Aki's breathing grew rough the more you stroked his cock.  He soon pulled away from your lips and took his fingers out of your slick pussy. 

  You watched him lean over to the nightstand and grab a condom from the drawer. He had to get better at hiding these since Power and Denji moved in, the condoms were put between pages of books. The last place the devils would look. He came back to you and started to undo the wrapper. He soon got on his knees and moved in between your legs. He put the condom on with ease and then  grabbed you by the legs. 

You let out a small yelp as he pulled you further down the bed to meet his cock. He held onto your hip and rubbed his protected his cock up against your pussy. The sound that came from it was erotic as the two of you wanted it so badly. He could see a blush on his face in the low light. The small noise he made as he gripped his cock to rub against you. You in turn moaned as you felt the weight of his cock up against your wet cunt. 

  "That's it,  baby." He said softly as he rolled his hips. He licked his top lip before he lined up his cock with your hole, "Ready?"

  "For you, Aki. Always." You  held onto the bed under you and kept your legs open as he slowly inserted his cock into you.  You winced but soon relaxed as he pushed all the way in. Soon his chest was against yours, bodies close together  as he started to thrust. He kept the pace nice and even, not too rough. He never wanted to be too rough. The intimacy from gentle, sweet sex meant more to you than anything.  Your lips found one another as the two of you continued to make love under the low light. 

Aki loved you, it was a burning desire to protect what little he had left in this world. He'd take every moment to tell you how much he loved you, how much he wanted to spend time with you, he wanted to make every last moment count. He was never too sure if tomorrow would be the last, so quiet intimate moments like these meant everything to Aki. He held onto your hips and continued to thrust. 

  "Fuck, you feel good." He said. 

  "You're not too bad yourself, Aki." You chuckled in response before you pulled him back into a soft kiss. You started to move your hips too in pace with Aki's movements. You wrapped your arms around him and pulled him as close as he could possibly get. You wanted Aki inside and out, in every way, all the time.  Your heart raced as the two of you humped in the glow of moonlight. He pulled away and looked into your eyes before you pulled him in for another kiss.

The sounds of sex filled the room, Aki's hands roamed your body as you kept your arms around his neck. He loved to feel every curve, every scar, every mole. He wanted to feel every inch of skin on your body, he wanted to feel up his beautiful girlfriend.  Your bodies continued to move together as you heard the snoring from the other two in the living room. 

  "Aki."

  "Yes, dear."

  "Be mine forever." You said, so quietly he could barely hear you. You felt pleasure pool in your gut as you continued to have sex with the man.  The kisses became messier as the heat in the room grew, between kisses there was heavy breathing between you two as you tried to catch your breath. His cock throbbed inside of you as you two kept going.  The air in the room felt thick as you moved, sweaty bodies up against one another. 

You moaned quietly as he rocked his hips, his cock prodded inside of you which made you see stars. Your hips rolled seductively to meet his pace and the two of you moaned and panted. Your breathing labored as the movements continued.  There was nothing quite like having sex with Aki, you two weren't pros but it was comfortable and sweet. He was an adoring partner who loved you very dearly. 

He wasn't the best at expressing his love through words, but he showed it in other ways. Tried not to smoke when you were around, a fresh pastry in the kitchen when you woke up, the occasional hand holding when not on patrol, every three months he got you another plant to add to your collection on your window sill in your apartment. There were many things that Aki did to show that he loved you,  having tender sex with you was another.  As his body pressed against yours, you could feel his heartbeat against yours. Forever intertwined. 

Not even death could separate the bond you two had.  You two continued, the feeling of orgasmic rush was starting to take root. Your kisses continued in an effort to keep quiet, but it was hard with the squeaking of the bed and your heavy breathing. You felt hot all over from the activity.  This felt like an intimate paradise as the two of you moved. 

You made a small noise when Aki broke the kiss, and soon he came back in to deliver another one. His tongue grazed your bottom lip and you moaned against the kiss. You tightened around his cock which made it jump a little from the sensation.  "Ah, Aki."

  "That's it, baby." He said quietly, "That's it." His face landed on your neck, feeling the sweat against his nose as he continued to rut against you, his pace was losing focus as he felt closer to orgasm.  You moaned a little bit but then bit your lip to keep yourself quiet while he worked your body. You knew you'd have to shower afterwards from the sheer amount of sweat that was on your skin. 

He gently praised you, you lived for it. Knowing that you were doing a good job meant so much to him. It was an amazing feeling in your eyes, he called you his good girl, his beloved, his one and only. It was almost too mushy, but you enjoyed it nonetheless.  It made it feel so intimate as you held onto him.

Soon the feeling grew,  you were getting close to orgasm. Your paces were mismatched but nonetheless you two were experiencing the height of pleasure. With a loud noise, that could probably be heard next too, you came around his cock. And with a few loose, quick thrusts he finished in the condom. He let out a moan that he quickly covered his mouth with his hand to keep quiet. 

You both felt the energy drain from you as you started to come down from the high.  Aki took off the condom and buried it under some trash in  a wastebin close by. He quickly opened a window to let the smell of sex out of the room.  He soon returned to you and flopped beside you on the bed.

You quickly got him in your arms and pulled the tie out of his hair so he could be more comfortable. His face was against your shoulder as you two relaxed in an orgasmic heat.  He held you close, never wanting to let you go. As your leg tangled together in bed, he softly kissed your warmed skin. 

Aki felt like paradise to you, it was a comfort that you had never afforded yourself previously. But being with him now made all the difference. You wanted to stay with him for the rest of your days.  Call it young love, you didn't care. You just wanted Aki in every way you could get him. And you'd protect him till your last breath. 

  "You're amazing." He said softly, "Never met someone like you before." He rolled onto his back and held your hand as his breathing began to level out, "Don't... Don't leave me," He said. 

You looked at him and grasped his hand, "Don't worry, I don't have any reason to leave." 

  "Good." 

[vinciwolf]

Loyalty Pt 5 (2/2)

(Recom)Na’vi!Miles Quaritch x (fem)Na’vi!Reader

Warnings: SLOW BURN, THIS IS AN EVENTUAL NSFT SERIES, ENEMIES TO LOVERS, capture, romance, reader is female

Warnings for this chapter: reposted this bc I found some errors and also the tags weren't working Finally, the second half of part 5!!! Bring tissues!!! Fluff, tension, angst, violence, animal death, things are finally boiling over!

Notes: Na’vi spoken in italics AND brackets now to clear up any confusion in this chapter.

Tags: @deliwrites​ @ikranwings​ @lovekeeho​ @luciddasher​ @drinking-tea-and-be-obsessed​ @avatar-lover​ @justasimps-blog​ @mechformers​ @perseny​ @dakotali​ @ragingloser​ @worldofmunson​ @whxre-bxby​

You awoke to the hint of sunrays ascending into a purple hue of morning dawn on the horizon. The corner of your lip upturned when the arm around your waist pulled you closer atop the chest you rested your head on, ear listening to the soft thumps of Miles’ heartbeat, your hand lazily set upon his sternum.

Sand shifted beneath your body when you stretched up to peek at the sturdy Marine who still kept his eyes shut, not wanting to move for a few more minutes. It had been a very late hour into the night after starwatching when the two of you laid down to get off your feet, only to slowly descend into sleep on the beach shoulder to shoulder.

“Miles…” you start, tone soft and hushed. “Miles, we…should go back…before anyone thinks we’ve run off.”

A hint of a smirk inched forward on the Recom’s cheek, finding a small bit of humor at your recall to what he had told you inside the floating mountains.

Getting up was hard as the sand was pillowy and warm, but brushing off the particles from your clothes was even worse seeing that your pants had a hole in it for your tail, allowing some of the granular substance to get into your ass crack. Maybe sleeping on the beach wasn’t so much a good idea let alone a romantic one.

The walk back to camp was quiet save for the sounds your feet made shuffling through the pale beach, sun entering the sky and casting itself onto the waking world around you. Not wanting to disturb anyone, you gently got onto your bedroll and stilled yourself, making it seem as if you never left. Miles did much the same in his cot. But there was an eye that peeked open and sneakily watched your elusive return, making the kid grin briefly before returning to his dreams.

~

You soared fast above the water’s edge. Sprinkles of water dusted your face as the large waves crashed into each other below. The sounds reverberated your soul, making the head of your Ikran tip up to glide higher away from the oceanic chaos. Soon the objective of this rough flight came into view: the SeaDragon. It was mighty in size and glared the bright light of the sun off its giant, metallic frame.

Flying in with Miles and Lyle, Sylway flapped hard and landed atop the helm of the SeaDragon. Your feet landed with a bang on the roof as did the other two large Recoms when they dismounted, just for them to hop down with audible thuds onto the deck where the captain stood with a long scowl. Being only seconds behind them, you were about to do the same until you halted when Miles rotated his weight and extended a hand, the light blue of his palm welcoming for you to take—and you did with a visible smirk. The Colonel’s hand firm as he helped you down. Then the captain let out his voice causing your ears to tip with annoyance since you knew a voice like that was attached only to the worst of insufferable douchebags.

“Are you the arsehole commandeering my ship?” Scoresby whined with a heavy accent.

That was Miles’ cue to saunter toward the captain, having an elbow arched from his fingers idly sliding to rest over his pistol.

With a fanged smirk, he admitted huskily, “That would be me.”

Your cheeks flared hot at the cool touch of his voice hijacking your senses. From this angle, your eyes feasted along the arm resting on the holster, studying the flexed muscles swollen under azure, striped skin. He knew what he was doing and it was unfair how he withheld himself last night, only sparing you a kiss to the fucking forehead, so you gladly drank up whatever you could find during these missions.

Not realizing the air passing over your mouth dried out the skin, you padded your tongue to wet them. But there were another pair of lips that weren’t exactly dry, instead quite the opposite.

Inside, Scoresby and Garvin introduced themselves as you stood near the scientist from the other side of the glowing table that showed a map of island locations.

“There’s probably fifty villages out there,” one had mentioned.

“Fifty—one hundred—we’ll search them all,” Miles countered.

“You can’t just come in here and take over my ship! I have quotas to meet!”

Your eyes that were fixed on the captain slowly trailed to the Colonel who leaned his body and lengthy arms on the holographic surface.

“I’ll be nice once, then I won’t,” he smiled with mock friendliness, ears folding back.

You heart skipped when he said that. He was ready, by any means necessary, to finish what he started. Then it dawned on you just how deep with was getting. War was here. Nothing could prepare you for the coming storm – the whole point of the Recombinants’ existence – and that made you anxious, and fearful. You hated how the RDA would waste life just to consume everything. Hated how Miles and every person that was rebirthed as Na’vi would perish eventually while Ardmore could care less.

Inwardly, you scoffed. Just cogs in the machine. Nothing more.

But maybe you could keep at least one of the Recoms alive.

You had to. Your heart begged of it.

~

You knew the RDA was ruthless, so you begged Eywa to prolong those brief moments when Spider laughed or to feel the hairlike touch that set your body on fire when Miles' pinky grazed yours amidst a crowd at a boring meeting. But stalling was not their forte. They would claw forward, burning the whole world down, to get what they wanted. You understood this, teeth grinding together as your heart wrenched witnessing village after village ravaged. Ardmore would have her scalp, no matter how much it pained you to see her loyal Recom at his worst.

The Metkayina were shoved onto their knees and threatened with voltage weapons swelling a knot into your throat too hard to swallow down. You understood that power too well.

Stood before you were Miles, Prager, and Lyle holding the chief and Tsahik hostage. The Colonel lifted up a portrait of Jake and demanded them to tell where to find him.

“These are sea people. Forest people don’t come here,” Spider earnestly explained.

Then the Tsahik regarded you desperately, “[Please, stop this madness! You need to leave!]”

“They don’t know anything!” Spider shouted.

Your heart was torn, unsettling your whole body while begging the villagers to help find your friend. But several of the Metkayina around you kept talking and yelling which made the Recoms and human soldiers angry and begin yelling themselves. Trying to keep up with the scrambled threads of conversations, you got onto your knees and focused on the Tsahik in desperation.

“[It doesn’t matter what you tell me, just give me a direction! Any direction!]” you spoke fast.

Mentally, your cussed yourself out for asking her to lie, but then quickly recalled that these people didn’t even have a word for lie. Her voice was swift as she told you that she didn’t know where Jake was, but you kept interrupting her in an attempt to get her to understand that she didn’t have to tell the truth – you only needed a random location to suffice. But being scrambled with your try at buying time, you didn’t notice that the Recoms were tired, especially Miles, who got increasingly irritated behind you. Then your blood ran cold when three bold words came from the Colonel.

“Shoot that animal!” he shouted, pointing at an Ilu.

Then a loud blast rang through your ears causing them to sting, whole body curling in from the sudden noise. Then the villagers cried and hollered watching the creature float dead in the water. You swiveled where you crouched and looked to the water, eyes rounding in shock, lungs deepening with hard breaths.

A few feet away, the kid made it clear his disgust. “What the hell are you doing???”

No… no, no, no!

You felt like a failure. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

Your feet were faster than your thoughts as you stood and said very firmly, almost a hiss, “…Miles.”

“They don’t know anything! What you’re doing here is wrong!” Spider screamed. “Please!”

Then Lyle was pushing the end of his rifle into your backside, stinging your flesh as the barrel was still freshly hot.

“Choose your next words carefully,” he warned.

That was when you had enough.

“You’re not pressing the knife where it hurts—” you turn around and face the Corporal, image reflecting off his black shades, this time his gun at your ribs “—and next time you threaten me—” you glare through your brow with a hint of your sharp fangs glinting in the sunlight “—do it to my face.”

Then you took Spider, who you loved and raised, and trudged away from the chaos, Miles not even stopping you. You couldn’t cry, not in front of them. The deep rot in your chest returned and ate away the last lingering bit of hope you tried to salvage in this daily hellhole. Why did you even stay again? Oh, right, the thing around to your neck. You were trapped.

Had he felt nothing? Had those moments of touch and comfort mean anything, or was he just playing along to get a kick out of it. Did he get off knowing that if he wanted to take you, nothing could stop him. How could you resist? You wanted so badly for things to be better, despite the gaping hole manifesting itself in your heart having to watch countless communities destroyed.

~

Eclipse had fallen hours ago. The dock was quiet and lifeless from the Recoms and crew tucked away in the hull of the ship to catch some sleep. The air was still aside from the critters going about their business zipping through the air or the occasional scampering of something in the woods far off beyond the ship's pier. Despite the deep ache to run towards freedom as you looked at Sylway, who had perched herself for slumber, you hugged your knees from the sting in your eyes, a lone tear crawling down your cheek, tail furling. Ears then flicked to the oncoming sounds of a grunt and shuffling behind you. Part of you wished it was Spider, but you knew those footsteps with the heavy thuds atop the spacious roof of the ship’s bridge, only part of the ship that gave you some semblance of privacy, belonged to someone else.

"You found a good hiding spot," Miles' voice reached through the endless silence that had settled long ago.

Your stomach lurched as you tried to contain your emotions with tears begging to trample forward over the ravine. It was hard to look at him, heart jumping in response to his presence nearing to where you sat. He was so close yet it felt like he was far away where you could not reach him. You yearning to be at his side faded into sorrow. Mourning for what could have been if things were different. Mourning for what could still come to pass if you caved selfishly and said fuck it all.

“I couldn’t find you when we were debriefing. I could’ve used your input...”

You sneered, "Just your box of secrets to exploit whenever you please."

“Don’t make this difficult. We both knew this would have to happen to weed out Sully.”

Enough rage was flowing through your body that you hadn’t realized how quickly you stood up.

“Did you actually care!? Or would you have kept me collared all along like a good pet until you’d find the time to discard me and Spider when you were done with us!?”

Your words struck a chord in Miles causing his tempter to rise and piss out his mouth, like the jarhead he was, not thinking why he let the bitterness flow effortlessly as he spoke.

“You think I care about some kid!? We ain’t even the same species!”

Blood boiled and ran hot through your veins triggering a reflex you didn’t know you could possess. You swung your hand to slap him, but he caught your wrist midair, clasping it hard enough to leave a mark.

"Don't try me, woman!” he spat with venom. "I could have you down cold in a heartbeat!"

Yanking yourself from his vice, you laughed mechanically. It was unnatural and forced as you dwelled in the irony, the burn of your wrist still fresh as you rubbed the pain.

"You're right—" you meet Miles' stare with equal fierceness, tears wiggling along your vision "—you could take me right here, right now, in front of everyone—” your arms spread wide open “—and there'd be nothing I could do about it.”

Then you clutched the device on your neck and jingled it loudly in front the Colonel, pointing out the obvious truth to his statement. You were a dog. Nothing you did since Ardmore strapped this bloody thing on you has been free will. And it tore your guts up knowing you had still fallen for the Marine bastard anyway.

Miles’ eyes widened when it became clear what his words meant, aggravation causing his jaw to tighten when he grasped that he had been stupid and blind. Not once did he have to use the collar for his advantage. Not once. But it was still there waiting and smiling for him to indulge. Shoving a hand in his pocket, he brought out the device to your collar and hit a button.

Everything moved slower as you absorbed the clanking noise hitting the roof below.

Your raging temper rapidly smoothed itself into a calm stream of clarity.

Free.

You were free.

Fingertips with a featherlike touch, careful and unsure, hovered where the bulky collar should have been to then finally press along your exposed skin, breathing shallow and overwhelmed. It felt strange for your mind to process but your heart raced. Then your senses came to with the loud drumming of Miles’ steps. He hunched over and snatched the circular device.

“I don’t want your loyalty bought!” he shook the collar in your face before chunking it over the bridge, landing somewhere forgotten on the dock.

Within, your gut screamed at you to keep your feet still but you were at your breaking point. Lungs felt like they were filling up with something hot, like you’d float away if you didn’t get fresh air despite being outside. Your face displayed fear, yet something else was being calculated behind your look. Miles’ brow drew close as he put together what you might do next, silently pleading for you not to do it.

But you were off and skipping down the human stairways with great thumps as you sprinted to Sylway with only one instinct playing through your every fiber: run.

"Motherfu-" Miles whispered irately to himself while he bounced down and ran to Cupcake, taking off into the night sky after you.

Your heart raced, exhilarated by being in the air. It felt wrong to run, almost like a betrayal, but you wanted to flee for so long that you didn’t recognize yourself in this moment as running.

Miles then appeared beside Sylway, causing her to screech, Cupcake batting her wings harshly to keep up with your Ikran’s crazed flying as you desperately searched for anywhere to be safe.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!!!" you yelled across the loud thunder of wind passing your body.

But the Recom held firm, not knowing if he had lost his goddamn mind or kept up because he didn’t want you to hurt yourself as you flew like crazy over the giant waves roaring below.

You got excited when you noticed a giant fracture that split up the side of a mountain, banking hard to enter the fissure. Sylway passed under the thick vines that hug down the rocky opening, the walls of the tunnel humming as you made your way deeper into the cavernous heart.

Inside, bioluminescent spores and other huge fungi covered the long columns of the stones jutting up to the dark ceiling above. You hid behind one just in time as Miles flapped into the cave moments behind you. While the disturbed air stilled, glowing speckles from the plants floated down to cover you and Sylway.

Then a voice rang out to you in the darkness.

“(Y/N)!” Miles hollered.

“Please, I know today was—” he inhaled deeply “—not a clean search like the rest…it was fucked up.”

He felt awful for not being able to fit the right words together.

“I—” he halted again, cussing himself out.

How could he say sorry? He justified his actions because it was in his entire DNA, the only reason he’s alive, to hunt down Jake Sully. But was it worth it if it meant losing you? Something tugged low in his chest as he thought about how he was possibly talking to no one in these caves, that you had lost him – that he was alone.

With nothing left to lose, he exhaled just above a whisper, “Please come back to the ship.”

Please come back to me.

Your face twisted with sadness as you listened to his tired plea. Defeated and lost, you revealed yourself by Sylway’s flapping and readying for flight, the lustrous dust kicking off her wings.

When in the air and outside the mountain, your heart slowly began pulsing normally, so you landed on a beach and hopped from your Ikran, Miles not too far behind leaving his own mount. Your legs plodded through the sand without a destination in mind still feeling the need to get away.

"Now where're you going??"

"I don’t know!” you fling your arms in the air “—just away! Away from you! Away from everything!”

"I know you can't run away from the kid! He needs you!"

"Oh, and like you can't take care of him yourself!? You need mommy's help?"

"Quit acting stupid!"

Miles grabbed your elbow and roughly shoved you around, to which you pushed him away.

"LEAVE ME!" you screamed harshly to then whimpered, tears flooding your vision and dampening your cheeks. "What you’re doing—what you did to those people was wrong!”

"I DID IT TO PROTECT YOU!"

You were taken aback as he snapped, but he wasn’t angry, he was confessing.

“Jake Sully is my mission, but they put a fucking noose around your neck and a chip in the kid’s mask! I had—I can’t just do nothing!”

“But Ardmore doesn’t give a crap about you or the others! You’re just fodder to her!”

“Fucking Christ—” Miles turned and rubbed a hand over his face. He wanted Jake defeated. That was his whole purpose. He tried to alter his decisions subtlety when the General couldn’t see, but this war coming to a head was inevitable. Taking a deep breath, he returned to facing you.

"You can run away. I know you fucking hate me. But please come back, at least for the kid."

Your palms covered your nose and mouth, eyes wrinkling shut hard in an attempt to stop the flow of tears. Could he not see that he was being fooled? The RDA didn’t give a damn about anyone or anything.

This was too much. You faced your back to the Marine and gazed heavenward.

Why did Eywa put you here?

Then quietly on a shaky breath, you said, "I would've followed you into the fire if it meant keeping Spider safe... if it meant keeping you safe."

Miles perked at your hesitant voice, edging him to step closer.

"My loyalty… it was never bought—” you could feel his breath on your neck “—not for you.”

A pressure weighed against the back of your head when Miles’ crown gently leaned into your hair. No words needed exchanging.

You inched your body around until you were face to face with the Colonel.

Then you connected lips.

[ninnosaurus]

origami

An: I wanted to write something fluffy-ish and short. Saw someone folding a paper crane.

Raph x gn reader || no y/n || no warnings except spelling and grammar || literally just a feel good thing || works for any version, but I personally had bayverse in mind

Enjoy

NOT T-CEST.

It's winter, making the Lair colder than usual. Donnie always tried his best to make sure they had enough heat. Electric blankets, radiators, upping the warm water pipes. Warm water bottles that got passed around. Anything.

Sometimes, it just wasn't enough. Today being one of those days. Everyone was in a lower mood. Energy saving mode had been kick-started.

So, today was a very... calm day. Splinter wasn't as affected by it as his sons. Him being found meditating more during these days. He found them... peaceful. Especially seeing how his two eldest didn't have enough energy to fight.

One of them currently passed out in a bean bag, snuggled tight under a few blankets. Leo was always the tired one during winter, surprisingly enough. His daily routine consisting of waking up, having a big and warm and filling breakfast (thank you, April!), a big cup of tea and take a nap until lunch time.

It was rare to see him fully decked out in his gear, or even wearing his mask! He just didn't feel it during these times.

Raphael sat down on the couch with a grunt. The TV turned on low. He glanced at his brother sleeping peacefully. Apparently, the runt of the family had gotten approval to join in and could be found with his head tucked under Leo's chin.

The burly turtle looked to his right, where another body could be found curled under a blanket. He snorted out a laugh to himself.

Ain't a single soul awake in'ere

He was bored. Looking around for something to do that didn't involve going back to bed. He hummed when he saw some stray papers on the coffee table before reaching for them.

A shuffling made him glance up for a second.

"Hey." Don rubbed his eye with one hand as he stretched.

Raph just nodded at him. "Ya done yoga?"

"Mm. Want coffee?"

"Nah." Raph concentrated on his delicate folds. His fingers might be huge, but he did always have a nack for detail work.

Donnie leaned over the back of the couch. Smiling down at your sleeping form before pulling a corner of the blanket over you. "What'chu up to?"

Raph showed his lil work in progress art piece. "Nice." Don nodded. "I'm grabbin' snacks. Want anythin'?"

"No.", Raph muttered.

" 'kay. 'm goin' to bed." Donnie yawned and lumbered towards his own nook.

When you woke up, the Lair was dark. The only light being stray fairy lights littered here and there. Stretching, something on the coffee table caught your eye, and you smiled.

On it stood a small, red, origami turtle.

[waterdeep-weavemoss]

“This time,” Gale purrs low in her ear, “I’ll take my time with you. No distractions.”

His hands slide down to her thighs, lifting her up easily into his arms. As he carries her to the cot, he’s placing kisses on every inch of her he can reach. Occasionally nipping at her soft, sweet skin. Breathing her in. Tasting. Knowing.

“And I intend to make full use of this silencing spell, lass.”

Gale lowers her down onto his bed, climbing on after her to cover her form with his. He slots his knee between her legs to make room for himself. Every touch is a gentle force of affection tempered by demand. Waves of need breaking upon the shore of her.

When her arms wind their way around him, at neck or waist, he shivers. She feels like redemption.

His hands are questing, warm and loving like worship across her skin. Every kiss upon her skin is adoration. Pleading. Desperation.

Need me.

Love me.

Want me.

Gale’s head dips to murmur in her ear even as he wrings sweet sighs and soft whimpers from her as his hips grind a languid, torturous pace against hers.

“So I hope you’ll sing your heart out for me, my lovely little siren.” His voice is rough and commanding, yet full of soft hope.

He needs this.

Needs her.

And he will spend all night devoted to her pleasure - to bringing her undone in every way he knows how. Show her what he is capable of. How good he is - can be, if given the chance.

Gale is in control. Of his body. Of his magic. Of her pleasure.

He will keep the coils of darkness writhing within him - blood and heart and mind - at bay.

And he will know her.

And when they wake in the morning, it will be curled tight together, skin to skin and basking in each other’s warmth. Gale’s face, for once, will look peaceful. Content in sleep - with her in his arms.

-G.D.

Doe wakes nestled on the tiny cot, sated and exhausted and pliant in Gale's arms. She doesn't want to move, deliciously sore and warm. He growls softly when she stirs.

'Gale. We'll be late for breakfast.'

She cat stretches, all but purring at the feeling of her muscles waking up. Glancing to the side, she smiles softly at the sight of the navigator with wild bedhead, his eyes barely cracked open, skin flooded with sunlight.

He mumbles something about breakfasting in the office, and she happily relents. They share tea, and more biscuits, touching in some way throughout- Gale's hand stroking her hair, hers on his knee, shoulders touching.

Committing each other to memory.

'I have to go,' she says. 'Before we have a repeat of the other day.' Her mouth tips up, and she goes on a quest to find all her clothes- her shirt flung over the map table, trousers puddled at the foot of the bed, her soft leather coat placed lovingly on Tara's perch for safekeeping. Her blades; the dagger tucked into the coat, the shortsword propped against the desk.

'Bye sweet girl,' says Doe as Tara flutters down, yawning and stretching. She bunts against Doe's thigh, purring as she is scooped up and snuggled, kissed on her nose. 'See you later.'

She looks back at Gale as she gets to the door. He cradles a second mug of tea, giving her a wink and a smug little smile. 'See you, sailor,' she says, feeling a wave of affection as he sends her on her way with a murmured:

'See you, little siren.'

The day has dawned bright and cold, sky the pearly blue of early morning. Doe sings to herself as she emerges onto deck, seeking nobody in particular.

'Felt a storm was in my skin but now its brought to light by touch and word to draw the might of lightning from within...'

She'd always be grateful to him for that, as long as she lived. His power a mirror to her own, to show her the wildness hiding in her blood all along.

She strokes the soft leather of her coat, her eyes scanning, alighting on Astarion at the wheel. Her breath catches, drinking in the sight of him; he has one hand steering the ship to catch the wind, his white curls blown wildly over his face, red eyes catching the sunlight. His other hand rests on the blade at his hip, and he looks like something out of a tale, a pirate prince, half siren. He looks focused, relaxed, in his element.

My beautiful boy.

Making a decision, she heads back below deck to her cabin. It still smells like him in here, fresh and cool and rich. She breathes deep, knowing Gale lingers on her skin. Moving to her desk, she retrieves a sketchbook and pencil, closing her eyes briefly to hold the vision of the captain in her mind. She begins to draw, the intricate details of his face, the sparkle in his eyes, the wildness of his curls. Carefully, she colours with ink, bringing him to life.

I love you, she thinks. I should tell you.

Then she draws Gale; she hadn't slept all night, careful not to wake him but able to watch his sleeping face, peaceful and beautiful in the half-light.

Then Tara, curled up on her perch.

Her heart full, she puts aside the sketchbook and thinks of the map table; they would be going ashore soon. She feels a little giddy at the thought of being in a town, living a normal life for a few hours.

Maybe I can find something nice, to decorate.

She's heard tales of what's to come on the route. Sirens, real ones, and dread pirates, and treasure, and death.

We'll be alright. I have the storm within.

She emerges back on deck sometime later, moving to the bow. The wind sends her dark hair streaming, she feels it fill her lungs. Bringing her hands together, she focuses on the energy she'd conjured the night before, the pearlescent sphere of crackling energy, dark and beautiful. She feels the air around her spark, goosebumps rising on her arms, tingling in her fingers. It forms slowly, swirling, and she holds it, concentrating hard.

I can do this.

[nsfwhiphop]

Eminem – Who Knew - Lyrics - Karaoke night

"Who Knew"

(I never knew I, knew I, knew I'd) (I never knew I, knew I, knew I'd) Mic check, one-two (I never knew I, knew I, knew I'd) Who would've knew? (I never knew I, knew I, knew I'd) Who would've known? (I never knew I, knew I, knew I'd) Fuck would've thought? (I never knew I, knew I, knew I'd) Motherfucker comes out (I never knew I, knew I, knew I'd) Sells a couple of million records (I never knew I, knew I, knew I'd) And these motherfuckers hit the ceiling (I never knew I'd) I don't do black music, I don't do white music (No) I make fight music for high school kids I put lives at risk when I drive like this I put wives at risk with a knife like this Shit, you probably think I'm in your tape deck now I'm in the back seat of your truck with duct tape stretched out Ducked the fuck way down, waitin' to straight jump out Put it over your mouth, and grab you by the face — what now? Oh, you want me to watch my mouth How? Take my fuckin' eyeballs out and turn them around?

Look, I'll burn your fuckin' house down, circle around And hit the hydrant, so you can't put your burnin' furniture out I'm sorry, there must be a mix-up You want me to fix up lyrics While our President gets his dick sucked? Fuck that! Take drugs, rape sluts Make fun of gay clubs, men who wear make-up Get aware, wake up, get a sense of humor Quit tryin' to censor music This is for your kid's amusement (the kids!) But don't blame me when little Eric jumps off of the terrace You shoulda been watchin' him, apparently you ain't parents 'Cause I never knew I, knew I would get this big I never knew I, knew I'd affect this kid I never knew I'd get him to slit his wrist I never knew I'd get him to hit this bitch I never knew I, knew I would get this big I never knew I, knew I'd affect this kid I never knew I'd get him to slit his wrist I never knew I'd get him to hit this bitch So who's bringin' the guns in this country? (Hm?) I couldn't sneak a plastic pellet gun Through customs over in London And last week I seen this Schwarzenegger movie Where he's shootin' all sorts of these motherfuckers with an Uzi I see these three little kids up in the front row Screaming, "Go!" with their seventeen-year-old uncle I'm like, guidance?! Ain't they got the same moms and dads Who got mad when I asked if they liked violence? And told me that my tape taught 'em to swear? What about the make-up You allow your twelve-year-old daughter to wear? (Hm?)

So tell me that your son doesn't know any cuss words When his bus driver's screamin' at him, fuckin' him up worse (Go sit the fuck down, you little fucking prick!) And "fuck" was the first word I ever learned Up in the third grade, flippin' the gym teacher the bird (Look!) So read up 'bout how I used to get beat up Peed on, be on free lunch And changed school every three months My life's like kind of what my wife's like (What?) Fucked up after I beat her fuckin' ass every night: Ike So how much easier would life be If nineteen million motherfuckers grew to be just like me? 'Cause I never knew I, knew I would get this big I never knew I, knew I'd affect this kid I never knew I'd get him to slit his wrist I never knew I'd get him to hit this bitch I never knew I, knew I would get this big I never knew I, knew I'd affect this kid I never knew I'd get him to slit his wrist I never knew I'd get him to hit this bitch I never knew I, knew I'd have a new house or a new car A couple years ago I was more poorer than you are I don't got that bad of a mouth, do I? Fuck! Shit! Ass! Bitch! Cunt! Shooby-de-doo-wop! (Oops) Skibbedy-be-bop, a Christopher Reeves Sonny Bono, skis, horses and hittin' some trees (Hey) How many retards'll listen to me And run up in the school shootin' when they're pissed at a tea- -cher? Her? Him? Is it you? Is it them? "Wasn't me, Slim Shady said to do it again!" Damn, how much damage can you do with a pen? Man, I'm just as fucked up as you would've been If you would've been in my shoes, who would've thought Slim Shady would be somethin' that you would've bought? That would've made you get a gun and shoot at a cop I just said it, I ain't know if you'd do it or not 'Cause I never knew I, knew I would get this big I never knew I, knew I'd affect this kid I never knew I'd get him to slit his wrist I never knew I'd get him to hit this bitch I never knew I, knew I would get this big I never knew I, knew I'd affect this kid I never knew I'd get him to slit his wrist I never knew I'd get him to hit this bitch How the fuck was I supposed to know?

[run-me-through-but-not-like-that]

Four's a Charm Chapter 9

Read it here or on Ao3:

Chapter 9. Making Things Official

It was warm when you woke up, not the normal warmth of mornings on the Caribbean Sea, not the stuffiness of your cabin. It was a warmth pressed against you from either side, not overwhelming but comforting, grounding. It took you a short moment to remember exactly where you were.

Not your thin little cot in your cabin, no, you were in the captains’ bed. At least two bodies lay with you, two pairs of arms wrapped around your frame, and your legs tangled with four others. You could just make out faint whispering through your sleepy haze, you couldn’t make out the words, but they stopped when you let out a small groan and a stretch.

“Morning, dear” Stede’s warm voice greeted you, just that little bit thicker with sleep, as you stirred in his arms.

“Was wondering if you’d wake up at all” Edward mused, his breath ticking the back of your neck when he nuzzled his face into your hair.

“How long have you two been awake?” you asked, voice groggy and eyes barely blinking open.

“About half an hour maybe” Stede shrugged slight, still showing to efforts to release you. Not that you were complaining in the slightest.

“Izzy’s already gone up to the deck” Ed told you but that honestly didn’t surprise you, he had duties to attend to that he took very seriously after all. You doubted he would let you slack for too much longer. Then again, that man is full of surprises.

“You could have gotten up” you frowned; you didn’t want them to feel like they had to stay because of you.

“But you looked so comfortable” Edward hummed.

“And you deserve some rest” Stede insisted. You don’t know what you did to deserve rest, but he sounded convinced.

“I think you were both just feeling lazy” you grumbled, making them chuckle.

“Do you think you’re ready for some breakfast?” Stede asked, pushing some hair out of your face as you nodded into his chest. “Ed, be a dear and go collect Izzy, would you?” he asked, looking over you at the other man.

“Sure, I’ll wrangle him in” Edward rolled his eyes, but he was already pulling himself away from you and sitting up.

“But you’re so good at it” you groaned, turning to lay on your back so you could look up at him, finally leaving the sanctuary of their arms.

“Damn right I am” Edward grinned proudly, quickly kissing your forehead before climbing off of the bed. You didn’t even try to mask your smile as he pulled on his extra layers and left the cabin.

You and Stede reluctantly got out of them, and you helped him prepare the table when he sent for Roach to bring some things for breakfast. To your surprise, Izzy didn’t fight too much to avoid breakfast, following Edward into the cabin and joining the three of you at the table.

As if was all you ever knew, the four of you enjoyed a small breakfast together. Even if Izzy claimed it was all ridiculous for pirates, he seemed to enjoy it enough though, happily digging in with the rest of you.

Afterwards, the three of you somehow managed to convince Izzy to take a break. Well, technically, you compromised. You had to go up to the deck with him to make sure that the rest of the crew was getting things done and do some tasks of your own before he allowed you both to return to the captains’ cabin. While it might have been inconvenient, you understood. Izzy just wanted to make sure the ship was sailing smoothly, and you did have responsibilities to take care of, you couldn’t just lounge around with the captains all day no matter how much you wanted too.

Anyway, you got Izzy to take a break, the two of you joining your…your lovers? in the captain’s library. The four of you were lounging around in the sitting area. Edward was enjoying a cup of tea, having quickly developed a taste for indulgent things, Stede was showing you some books he thought you might like, and Izzy was browsing the bookshelves (after he finished helping Ed set his knee brace properly and chastising him for wandering about without it).

“See anything of interest, Iz?” Edward asked, cocking an eyebrow at his first mate. Izzy had nearly keeled over in disgust when he first saw this ‘perverse misuse of space’, but he seemed to be slowly coming around to it.

“I see a fire hazard” Izzy made a small snorting sound.

“Haven’t set the ship aflame yet” Stede pointed out with a small shrug. Had the loose books caused some trouble during storms? Yeah, sure they have, but no fires yet! “Feel free to help yourself to anything” he offered.

“Izzy was the only one who had any books on the Queen Anne” Edward informed the two of you but didn’t make a big deal out of it, perhaps just hinting that he enjoyed reading from time to time since Izzy was unlikely to disclose that information.

“Yeah, I had three and still barely had the chance to read them” Izzy scoffed.

“Well maybe you can take some time to read some of these” you suggested.

Izzy shrugged at your suggestion before looking back at you, “you read any?”

“Yeah, Stede picks out the ones he thinks I’d like. Couldn’t read too well before becoming a pirate, Stede is a good teacher though” you told him. Izzy just nodded and the four of you fell back into a comfortable silence.

Edward finished his drink and moved closer to you and Stede. The three of you knew that he couldn’t read but he listened to Stede’s descriptions of the books to see if any caught his interest. Izzy picked out a book, flicking through it, before placing it back and repeating the action with various other books.

Stede didn’t want to disturb the peace, the serene feeling that had settled in the cabin, but one question was playing on his mind, it had been all morning. “May I ask something?”

“To who, mate?” Ed asked.

The question seemed to catch Stede off guard, like he hadn’t even realised he had spoken first. “Ah, Y/n and Izzy mostly I suppose” he cleared his throat.

“Sure, go ahead” you smiled, Izzy turning to face the three of you as well, a silent go ahead.

“I was just wondering…does your ‘no questions asked’ back up plan still stand?” Stede asked, a nervousness to the question. Clearly, there was a specific answer that he was hoping for, but you couldn’t blame him.

“Uh…I mean, I guess, we never really talked about it but…it doesn’t sound right anymore, does it?” you stammered slightly, playing with the cravat that was loosely tied around your neck.

“I don’t think it ever did” Stede confessed.

“Maybe it’s time to change that?” Edward suggested, looking between you and Izzy.

It was strange, to be given that sort of decision-making power. You and Izzy had felt like Stede and Edward were the ones in control, but now they were both looking at you with a sense of hope. It made your breath catch for a moment before you looked towards the tense looking first mate, “what do you think, Iz?”

It was no secret, at least not to Izzy, that he liked the back out plan. He liked the idea of being able to just pretend that everything didn’t happen, that way he wouldn’t have to fucking talk about it. That’s not what he wanted, but it was safe.

“It could be…good” Izzy’s words sounded almost uncertain, but he meant it.

“I don’t think a no questions asked clause would do anything at this point, we’re in too deep” you commented, and Izzy nodded in agreement. He could be asked no questions, he could never talk about it again, but the hurt would be the same.

“So…does this mean…” Edward’s words drifted off as he looked between the three of you, looking for the words you had mentioned the last time you mentioned the no questions asked clause.

“We’re official?” Stede asked, a hopeful smile growing on his face.

“I would like that” you couldn’t help but smile, it was everything you wanted.

“Iz, mate?” Ed prompted, wanting an answer from the other man.

“Yeah, I’d fucking like that” Izzy practically sighed, he almost sounds relieved, like a weight was lifted from his shoulders.

“You’re allowed to want nice things, Israel” Stede must have thought the same that you did, trying to understand Israel Hands.

“Plus, you deserve it” you added.

Izzy shifted under the kind words, and you just knew that he didn’t believe it. It made your heart ache for him.

“C’mon mate, after everything, you deserve something good. Ain’t always been fair to you” it was a quiet confession, an acknowledgement that Ed and Izzy haven’t always been good to each other. It only made Izzy look away from you all. Edward stood from the couch and approached him. “I mean it, Iz” he took hold of his chin, firm yet gentle, and turned his face back to him. He wouldn’t let Izzy look away from him, he wouldn’t let Izzy get lost in his own head.

You and Stede looked at each other, sharing little nods. You pushed yourself from your seat and walked over to them. As you came up to Izzy’s side, you looked up at Edward, who nodded encouragingly at you. “Let yourself have this” you cautiously slipped your hand into his. He took it, though it was a little clammy.

Following your lead, Stede came up on Izzy’s other side. “You deserve it. You’re allowed it” he gently placed his hand between the shorter man’s shoulder blades.

All of the contact and attention had Izzy beginning to relax, a feeling of warmth spreading through his chest as he let out a sigh.

Seeing how the closeness seemed to be working, the three of you looked at each other, trying to silently communicate what to do next. Giving up on making eyes at the two captains, you turned your attention back to Izzy. “Is this okay, Iz?” you asked quietly as you rested your chin against his shoulder.

Not trusting his voice, Izzy nodded. With that permission, Edward lent in and caught him in a kiss. Izzy relaxed completely in an instant, responding to the kiss. He just melted into it, Stede feeling the muscles in his back relax under his palm, and you felt Izzy squeeze your hand.

You shared a knowing smile with Stede, losing yourself in his gaze for a moment. It wasn’t until Izzy’s quiet hum at being tugged closer to his captain that you both remembered the two men standing between you. 

“Come on guys, we’re starting to feel a little left out here” you joked lightly, not stopping yourself from pressing a kiss to Izzy’s clothed shoulder.

The two men broke apart, Edward chuckling at your comment. His attention turned to Stede and placed a hand on the back of his head in the excitement, pulling him into a kiss. Once Izzy’s face was released from Edward’s hold, you reached up and gently turned his face towards you.

“Still okay?” you asked and Izzy’s knees nearly gave out right there. You looked so damn concerned about his comfort. Still, he managed to nod.

With a small smile, you lent in and pressed your lips to his. He responded just as quickly as he did with Ed, hands hovering over your arms before gripping them softly. He was an intense kisser, using his teeth, but he had this edge of desperation. Finally kissing one of the men you had been pining over you, you were too lost to notice the eyes on you both.

Stede smiled as he rested his head against Ed’s shoulder, the two of them watching you. Both had been wondering when they could start edging towards more intimate behaviour, but Stede had insisted on being patient and going slow. The last thing they wanted to do was scare either of you off, but now it looked like they might have to pull you both apart.

A hand on your shoulder brought you back to reality and you pulled away from the kiss with a smile, admiring the flush on Izzy’s face, sure that it matched your own. An arm snaked around your shoulders, and you were pulled into Edwards’ chest as Stede placed a soft hand against Izzy’s arm.

In a cautious move, Stede turned Izzy to face him. “I don’t run the risk of being stabbed, do I?” he asked the shorter man, the concern seeming genuine and yet oddly fond.

Izzy just rolled his eyes, assuming that kissing two other people in the last five minutes would have answered that question for him. However, he’d rather throw himself overboard than say it out loud, so he grabbed Stede by the collar and pulled him into a kiss. You and Edward grinned, seeing Stede smiling against his lips before kissing him back. Somehow, Izzy still managed to look a little angry as he made out with Stede in front of you both.

You were pulled away from the captivating sight when Edward pulled your face in his calloused hand, leaning down to capture your lips. No wonder Izzy had melted into the kiss so easily, apparently that’s just what Ed’s kiss did to people, because you’re knees instantly went weak, hands bracing against his chest to support yourself. He was an intense kisser, similar to his first mate, but less biting, more emotion. Like he just couldn’t be close enough.

“So…it’s official then?” you asked breathlessly when Ed released your face, seeing that Izzy and Stede had already stopped and were looking at you both. Izzy with his face bright red and Stede with a flushed smile on his face.

“I would fucking say so” Edward laughed, clasping your shoulder.

“Wonderful” Stede was overjoyed to see that all four of you were on the same page. Still, there was one thing that was nagging at him, something that he just didn’t have to patience to wait even longer before. “However, I do believe I missed one kiss” he hinted.

Edward laughed at the coyness as he took hold of your shoulders and pushed you towards the other captain. You stumbled a little, surprised by the action, but laughed it off.

“I think I can fix that” you couldn’t help how giddiness bubbled up in you as you came to stand in front of Stede.

You tenderly cupped Stede’s face, leaning up to kiss him. He met you halfway, hands landing on your waist. It was different to kissing the other two men, he was the only one out of the three that was clean shaven. He was gentler than Izzy but conveyed the same passion as Ed. Yet, something about it seemed a little reserved, it left you curious as to what could be hiding just under the surface. You knew that Stede wasn’t always as Gentlemanly as he would lead you to think, he had another side to him, the side that had him heading out to sea to become a pirate.

“Much better” Stede declared as he broke the kiss, slipping his arm around your waist as he beamed at the other two men.

Izzy’s always been a jealous man, a possessive one. Edward was his captain, and he was his first mate. The Queen Anne was theirs. And yet, he found that sharing wasn’t always so difficult, that seeing the people he lo…cared about, dare he admit it, with each other wasn’t painful for him. It just seemed like this was the way things should be, as strange as it was to him.

Not sharing the same turmoil as Izzy, you were simply overjoyed, buzzing from the light and easy closeness you just shared with the three men. Each so different and yet you cared for them so equally. You were just giddy at the new development and hoped that this was the start of breaking down some walls the four of you might have subconsciously put up. You were ‘official’, you finally got to experience what it was like to kiss them, and now you weren’t sure you would be able to stop.

[cryxtal-moon]

little cart of wonders | ksj - 04

Summary: Those born with the ability to use magic are rare. They hide in plain sight while helping people with an ordinary career path they have chosen. You’re no different, until you get caught by Seokjin in a desperate attempt to help his friend. Things get more complicated when people you know with magic begin disappearing one by one, and you two take it upon yourselves to find them… even if it means losing your ability forever.

Genre/warnings: investor!Seokjin, cart owner!reader, magic au, strangers to lovers, slow burn, fluff, a teensy bit of angst, adventure, reader has magic, Seokjin is a little stern at the start, Seokjin is adorably bad at feelings and flirting but he gets better and that’s what matters hehe, some TXT members show up too

Word count: 3k

Pairing: Seokjin x reader

Author's note: posting part 3 by itself felt too lonely, so here's a special gift hehe :)

Long sleeves of a white shirt stretched as you pulled a sky blue vest over it, both items one size too big, but effective in blending you in as a cleaner staff working for Pico Tech.

Wonwoo had nabbed it from a storage closet next to a broom, dustpan and a small haversack originally filled with cleaning supplies. You’d snuck in as his personal guest in the evening fifteen minutes ahead of the time people got off work, ten having passed since you changed out of your ordinary home clothes in the lady’s bathroom and made your way to the highest floor in the building.

A polished gold nameplate plastered on mahogany double doors acted as a small billboard, alerting you of where the CEO’s office was situated: right at the end of the hallway. Securing a white and blue squarish cap tighter around your head, you played your part pretending to sweep dust and hair off immaculate marble tiles until the opening of those doors echoed along the walls, right on schedule.

You made sure to bow at the waist when a man decked out in a black suit headed past, barely acknowledging you unlike the younger security guard trailing behind who dipped his head in a smaller greeting. None of them had bothered to see your face up close, nor did they suspect a thing. Their combined footsteps grew softer, stopped altogether for a few seconds, then an electronic ding of the elevator reached your ears.

Hoisting the cleaning equipment along with you, you followed suit, taking the elevator meant for staff only all the way down to the ground floor. The CEO and his personal bodyguard were already leaving by the time you reached. Other than the receptionists leaving their posts behind the counter and security guards entering the building to start their shift, not a single employee lingered in the lobby.

It was time.

You discreetly fished your phone out of the vest’s front pocket, the pads of your thumbs swiftly tapping away at the screen in a message to Wonwoo.

_____:

The CEO just left. No one else is in the lobby, just the guards.

White text bubbles popped up within two seconds.

Lee Wonwoo:

Got it. Give them the drink and go to the surveillance room, second door on the left of the corridor behind the counter.

The “drink” was a concoction you had come up with in the past before you opened your little cart. While experimenting on flowers to find the right tea to help your customers relax, you’d tried dozens of different combinations, one in particular you vowed never to subject yourself to again: the dormiere poppy.

Its petals had a rather unexpected effect of instantaneous sleepiness after you boiled them and drank the liquid, unintentionally visiting the dream world and waking up a solid half an hour later. Mixing them in with the lavender flower essentially doubled the strength of the effect and time, which gave you and Wonwoo precisely one hour to execute the plan.

“Excuse me,” you called out to the guards in a voice sweeter than honey, removing the tea you had packaged into plastic cups from inside the haversack. “I wanted to give all of you a drink, as a thank you for helping to keep this place safe.”

“Wow, really?” One of them spoke up on behalf of the group, though you were already doling out the cups to every single person who had no choice but to accept your kindness.

“It’s just some homemade tea, but yes. Jobs like ours are tough and often overlooked,” you smiled for added measure, “so I wanted to let you know you’re appreciated.”

A round of verbal gratitude later and all of them were gulping down the sweet drink, some finishing it on the spot, others leaving some behind for later. The amount they drank didn’t matter – one drop was all it took for the poppy to take effect.

Snores from the guards who had taken to lying on the ground soon resonated around the room.

Removing the evidence by storing every drink back inside the bag, you hastened to get to the empty surveillance room where the guards in the morning had left earlier to be replaced by those currently in deep slumber near the main counter.

Another item tucked in the depths of your bag was a blue thumb drive Wonwoo had given to you back in his office for this exact moment.

“The malware inside can absorb and delete all information. Plug it into the computers in the surveillance room and shut down the cameras.”

You barely dared to touch the drive, jaw hanging a little ajar watching him place it inside the bag. “How do you even have that?”

“I’m a game developer, _____. Coding’s my life.”

Gloves you had pulled on somehow didn’t make the thumb drive slip in your grasp as you carefully shoved it into a USB port. The best way to describe the sudden electronic phenomenon taking place before your eyes was a tech miracle – one by one, each rectangular security feed on the multitude of screens emptied out into wavy monochrome lines, identical to those on television indicating the loss of signal. Wonwoo truly hadn’t been kidding about his expertise.

Shutting the whole system down was a piece of cake. You pulled the main plug out for double security, accomplishing the task in half the time you took to remove the gloves and fire off a text to him about your success. A brief commendation of your efforts was his response while you headed to the lift lobby and past the dozing guards, pressing the up button on both sides to see which would arrive faster.

Preteen you would have compared this to a spy movie you’d once watched on television with your brother. It unknowingly checked all the important boxes: infiltration, reconnaissance and undercover identity, except this wasn’t an actual mission assigned to you by an international spy organisation.

But the one thing both real life and movies had in common was Murphy’s law: anything that can go wrong, will. In this case, it came in the form of an unexpected meeting with a person you recently got to know, the one you had accidentally revealed your secret to days ago.

Seokjin stood behind the first pair of elevator doors to slide open, right next to someone you didn’t recognise and your brain couldn’t compute.

For a split second, you thought some invisible being, perhaps the same one who had given your family supernatural powers, had chosen that exact moment to encase your whole body in ice. The sound of your breath catching in the back of your throat alerted him of your presence, a hand going up to slap over your mouth in a much too late attempt to stifle the sound; he soon mirrored the same shock permanently etched onto your features.

However, there was another sound, one that had the power to break you out of the subzero cage, ringing from behind you, and you darted into the other elevator in time with his lips forming around the call of your name.

What was he doing here? Was he sent by some opposite deity to jinx or stop you in your every attempt to help people from then on? Was it some form of punishment for stealing Jungkook’s sketchbook?

The pound of your heart seemed deafening in your ears as you reached up to grasp the cap, very nearly pulling off the strands of hair peeking out of it your fingers also entangled with. You and Wonwoo had accounted for every obvious possibility – the guards, the security cameras, the CEO leaving the office – yet the one thing you hadn’t factored in could and now would be your downfall: unprecedented outsiders visiting the building.

Seeing electronic red numbers rising on a black panel of the same elevator Seokjin had been in confirmed your worst fears: he was indeed following you.

“Wonwoo,” you gasped, shutting the doors of the CEO’s spacious office and placing the haversack next to it, shivers dancing across every nerve in your body but strangely leaving your voice unaffected. “We’re in trouble. I ran into someone at the lift lobby and now he’s following me. I don’t think he knows where I am so please tell me you found the records.”

Light from the computer he stood in front of contributed to the pallor to his skin at your words, his own leaving in a harsh whisper. “Yeah. I did. The file’s downloading now, just give me a few more seconds–“

One of the grand double doors burst open, and the frightened yelp that left your mouth couldn’t be helped.

“_____!” Seokjin’s volume was a tiny notch below full-out yelling, wasting no time in marching over to your trembling stature that backed up with each step he took. “What on earth are you doing?”

“I-I would love to explain,” your back hit the surface of something soft, forcing you to stop in your trek backwards while holding both hands up in surrender as the investor towered over you, “but now’s not really the best time–“

“DONE!”

You whirled on your heel to see Wonwoo triumphantly snatching his own black thumb drive out of a USB port. “You got it?”

“Yeah,” his large victorious smile as he shut the computer down juxtaposed Seokjin’s stormy expression searing craters into the back of your head, “it’s all here.”

The investor was the one who asked the question in your stead. “What is?”

“I read through the files,” he spared a quick glance at the uninvited guest who could potentially ruin your mission. “They have everything: the company’s illegal background checks on the employees, resumes marked with rejections and acceptances, notes on how the interviews were a formality. It’s more than enough evidence to bring the CEO down.”

You tilted your head a little. “Just the CEO?”

“Well, him and the panel of interviewers who are involved. The board of directors aren’t. I’ll send an email to them, the news station and the police. They’ll be able to handle the situation from there. I’ll make sure it’s from an anonymous source, so you don’t have to worry about being caught.”

“Great. We have–“ a quick check of the hands of a clock strapped to your wrist “–thirty minutes left before the guards wake up.”

“That’s more than enough time. Here,” he held the bag containing your home clothes out to you, “get changed. We’ll leave by the back entrance; it’s where I parked my car.”

“Oh no you’re not. _____,” Seokjin was the only thing standing in the way of you accomplishing the final phase of the plan, still glaring daggers at you as you turned back around to look at him. “You’re coming with me.”

All the questions you had about his sudden appearance were shoved to the back of your mind – you couldn’t afford to waste time and have something else surprise you, not when you were so close to achieving your goal. But his demand had caught you entirely off-guard.

“What? Why?”

“What do you mean why? First I catch you stealing–“

You scoffed. “I already told you that was a spur of the moment decision–“

He ignored you and powered on, “–and now you’re breaking and entering into an office? Are you a criminal?”

“No I’m not! I promise I’ll tell you everything,” the desperation in your tone had you almost going down on your knees and pleading for him to be patient, “but we have to get out of here first.”

“Exactly. That’s why you’re coming with me,” his fingers were gripping your forearm hard enough to cut off the blood circulation before he was quite literally dragging you out of the large room, Wonwoo staring at you from behind the mahogany desk with brows furrowed in bewilderment.

“I’ll– whoa,“ your feet tripped clumsily over the other on the metal lip between the carpet of the office and marble tiles lining the hallway, barely getting the words out as you were pulled further away, “I’ll text you!”

The door slammed shut with a resounding bang thunderous enough to make you flinch.

Tense silence in Seokjin’s car coated the air like a thick fog after you were forcibly hauled out of the office and shoved into the front seat.

Moonlight mixed together with the white artificial lighting of street lamps illuminated his face in an almost ethereal glow, but it only reminded you of his domineering nature rather than steal your breath away at how stunningly handsome he was. You were too disoriented by him showing up out of nowhere, and more importantly frustrated at how he had messed your plan up, to be grateful he had allowed you time to change back into your home clothes before leaving Pico Tech.

Your mind had begun to wander back to Wonwoo, whom you had unintentionally left to his own devices to complete the mission, when the investor’s voice shattered your train of thought and made you jolt against the grey leather seatbelt.

“Are you going to explain what happened or do I have to repeat myself?”

His eyes never strayed from the glass windshield in posing the second demand of the night, expectantly waiting for your response while casually manoeuvring the steering wheel in his grasp, though you knew they held the same judgmental look he’d given you the night you first met. Anyone would have found a drop-dead gorgeous man’s one handed driving incredibly hot. To you, all it did was light a spark of annoyance in your chest, narrowing your eyes at him and hoping he could feel the tangible heat of your gaze burning a hole in his side profile.

“Ask nicely,” you shot back through gritted teeth, “and maybe I will.”

A scoff leaving his lips was paired with a smug smile added fuel to the spark and transformed it into a small fire; you could literally feel your body temperature rising with each passing second.

“Did you forget that I caught you breaking into an office building?”

“I didn’t break in,” you insisted, “I visited the company as Wonwoo’s guest.”

“Wonwoo?”

“The guy who was with me just now. He works for Pico Tech. Wait,” a thought suddenly occurred to you, “why were you there?”

“Believe it or not, I was also visiting someone.”

Your head jerked back a fraction till he added, “Only I wasn’t committing a crime.”

“For the love of– I wasn’t either!” Your exclamation somehow overpowered the unexpected clap of thunder in the velvet sky overhead. “All I did was pretend to be a cleaner, give the guards some tea that made them fall asleep, and delete the security footage–“

This time you needed no prompting to cut yourself off mid-sentence, realisation whamming into you harder than a freight train at full speed how you weren’t helping yourself sound like any less of a criminal than he probably thought you were.

Face-palming, your groan was muffled into your hands. “Okay,” you took a deep, calming breath in an attempt to soothe your palpitating heart, “how about I start from the beginning?”

“Go ahead,” he nodded, still not caring to look at you, “I have time.”

Once again, you launched into a full-on explanation, though you made it as simple to understand right off the bad as you possibly could. The entire time Seokjin sat there, asking no questions whatsoever, made you increasingly nervous with every word leaving your mouth. Considering he had to spare half of his attention to the state of the road ahead so he could drive you home safely, you did your best to push the feeling aside and focus on removing the impression he had of you as a delinquent.

At the very least it was much better than Cheol-su freaking out at you over the phone, an inevitable consequence you would worry about later.

But it didn’t help that he continued to remain quiet once you had finished the story, expression utterly unchanged, giving you no clear indication of what he was going to say next. You take it back; maybe it was ten times worse than your brother’s reaction because his was actually predictable. You found yourself hugging your upper arms tightly against your chest in wait of his verdict, wondering if shoving the door open and throwing yourself out onto the bustling traffic just to escape this unbearable silence was an even bigger criminal offence.

“_____,” despite his voice finally shattering the tension and causing you to jump slightly, you stubbornly refused to look at him. “I know you want to help people, but you’re going to put yourself in serious danger if you keep this up.”

You managed a weak chuckle, the barest uplift of your lips in a half smile. “I… don’t always do something like this. Normally, I just stick to my wooden cart.”

“Yet it seems every time we meet, I always catch you breaking the law.”

“Doesn’t that make you a witness?”

“I’m already keeping your little secret, _____. Don’t make me go to the police and file a report.”

You turned to him then, eyes narrowing. “Are you threatening me?”

“I’m asking you to do what you said: stick to your cart,” an effortless twirl of the steering wheel preceded his Subaru slowing to a smooth halt next to your apartment, “and stay out of trouble.”

Your lighthearted eye roll contradicted your next promise, “I will.”

“But I think I owe you one.”

“Huh?”

“Jungkook hasn’t stopped drawing since you left. Whatever you did to his stuff worked a bit too well.”

In the past, you had overheard a previous customer whom you gave an instant camera to saying it was an open-minded, relaxed sort of feeling, but at the same time fuelled their determination. The closest way they could summarise it was finding inspiration after a creative block and you imagined that Jungkook had experienced the same.

“Ah…” fingers toyed with the low ponytail over your shoulder, “it does that sometimes.”

Awkwardness only had three seconds to linger in the atmosphere before the sound of mechanical clicking reached your ears, locks springing open from inside the car. “It’s getting late. You better go; you’ve caused enough mischief for one day.”

“You never know,” the playful sing-song earned you a glare, though without any real frustration behind it. “I could sneak into your company next.”

“Is that your way of saying thank you for driving me home?”

“Nope, this is.”

You practically hopped out of the front seat, whirled around back to him with a large smile, then you bowed at a ninety degree angle with a dramatic flourish of your hand mimicking that of a magician removing their top hat. “Goodbye, Kim Seokjin. I hope we never have to see each other again.”

His irritated sneer added an extra jovial skip in your step.

[alexusonfire]

Healing

Headcanons of what life looks like for Victoria Helstrom once she's finally free of Mother and St. Teresa's

A/N: mentions of scars, self(?)-harm, PTSD, and trauma responses. This does have a happy ending I swear 🤣

Always keeps her blinds open, even at night, to let any and all light in as she hates the dark. She also sleeps with a small nightlight on in the bedroom, bathroom, and hallway

Frequently has some sort of noise going, whether it be the tv or music, but it's soft and on the quieter side. She has sensory issues with sudden/loud noises, sometimes to the point of tears and panic attacks

LOVES being outside in the fresh air; if she's inside for too long she starts to feel cooped up and like she's back in her cell. She starts up a small flower/herb garden on her back deck, which is where she ends up spending most of her time, either tending to it or reading (she's always been an avid reader and has so many books to catch up on!). For the colder months she gets Daimon and Caretaker to help her set up a small greenhouse to keep her plants safe and warm

Whenever Daimon stays the night, he notices Victoria always curls up into the smallest ball when she sleeps, which he doesn't recall her doing before St. Teresa's. One day he casually suggests that Victoria maybe try to utilize her Queen size bed and stretch out a bit; she does, and sleeps better than she has in 20-odd years

She's a little obsessive about keeping herself clean, as she was unable to when Mother took over. She washes her hands often and showers daily, always brushing out her hair and buying fancy conditioners for it (which Ana helps her with)

Exercises daily, usually yoga or running around the neighborhood. She likes to keep in shape, but it's also a good way to remind/show herself that she's actually in complete control of her body again

Wears mostly mid-length to full-length sleeves to cover up the various scars Mother inflicted on her body over the years. She hates looking at them and doesn't want anyone to see them

Refuses to tell anyone when she's struggling or having a bad day. She feels like she's been a burden for long enough, especially to her children

Has absolutely horrific nightmares, to the point sometimes she thinks she's been possessed again. She often wakes up screaming and thrashing, and isn't able to go back to sleep again for hours afterwards. She'll make herself some tea and turn the tv on, mindlessly watching whatever happens to be playing as she focuses on the warm liquid washing over her throat

One night Louise stays over and is suddenly woken by Victoria's screams. She rushes to Victoria, and stays awake with her until morning to comfort her. They drink tea together and Louise babbles on about anything and everything, holding Victoria's hand the entire time to keep her grounded and reassure her this is real and she is safe

After Victoria confesses she has the nightmares rather frequently, Louise suggests a therapy dog. Victoria is unsure she wants something to care for right now, but she promises to look into it

Cut to a month later and she's brought home a fully certified yellow labrador named Hank

She's nervous at first, but he really does help. He picks up on her anxiety attacks even before she does, and it's relieving to have another living creature around when one of her nightmares strikes

She also just enjoys having a companion, someone to bring with her on her runs or just lounge around the backyard with. Taking care of him also helps heal her inner mother (the good kind, not the demon)

It takes time, years honestly, for her to reach some semblance of normal, though she'll never be the same Victoria she was before Ana was taken. She builds a relationship with her daughter, rebuilds one with her son, and every Sunday without fail they get together for a family meal, sometimes inviting Caretaker and Louise along as well. In the end, Victoria is happy, and forever grateful to have her family, and her life, back

[lunar-wandering]

100 kilometers left to travel

so me and the ~discord~ came up with a MK clone (not a hair clone, this one was created by science! how fun!) and I kinda. went a little wild so now I’m Making A Fanfic for him-

Word Count: 3.4k

Read on Ao3

He knew something was wrong the instant he woke up.

The ground was hard and cold, he could feel tiny rocks digging into him as he slowly became aware of his surroundings. He could faintly hear water dripping in the distance, the sound of a car driving overhead. The soft click of somebodies shoes hitting the floor as they approached him.

He moved his hand to the side, trying to find a better position to push himself up and off the floor. His hand landed in something wet, and he hurriedly pulled it back. His eyes were still closed. He couldn't see what he had touched.

He hoped it was just water.

Taking a deep, wheezing breath, he slowly pushed himself up, trying to stand, before stumbling, sitting down and leaning against the cool metal behind him. His limbs ached, they felt like they hadn't moved in ages.

Now that he was thinking of it, had he ever moved before?

....Who was he?

A flash of some kind of memories danced in his mind. A hint of pink, the taste of something good, a book being placed in his hands, a flash of green, a dash of red, the warmth of tea, a touch of gold, a tint of purple, and something blue.

Blue.....

His head hurt. He couldn't make sense of any of the colours within his mind, the emotions they brought with them coming and going like the tide, vanishing before he could even begin to decipher them. He didn't..... he couldn't understand.

"Ah, I see you've survived."

He'd forgotten about the footsteps.

Something about the voice sent shivers down his spine, making him curl up, every inch of him shouting 'protect yourself! you're not safe!'.

"Oh, well we can't have that."

A hand softly ran through his hair, before harshly pulling it, moving his head out of the curled up position he'd put himself in. It didn't hurt a lot, but it still made him whimper in fear.

"Look at me."

He didn't want to know what would happen if he disobeyed. Slowly he tried to open his eyes, the colours of real life swirling almost as much as the colours within his brain. He closed his eyes in response to the sudden stimuli, before remembering the voice's demand and forcing them open again. Despite this, he couldn't make out who was in front of him, his eyes incapable of focusing.

He could only see blue and white.

"Hm..... I suppose you'll have to do." The voice let go of his hair, but he didn't move. He had a feeling curling back up, despite how every instinct was screaming at him to do so, would be a bad idea. "You certainly didn't melt like the others."

Melt? What did they-

"Tell me, Experiment Number 7, are you ready for your mission?"

He didn't even know what his mission was.

But he knew, down in his bones, that saying 'no' would have consequences.

"Y-" He tried to speak, but his voice cracked, breaking off into nothing. He coughed, trying to speak again, only for the voice to huff in irritation.

"You needn't continue. I suppose I should give you a bit longer to adjust before I send you out....this must be perfect in order for destiny to come to fruition."

The footsteps clicked again, and he waited until they had faded away and he couldn't hear them anymore before he slumped, curling in on himself again, letting out a wheezing breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding.

Alone, he listened to the sounds surrounding him, colours flickering in his mind again before, inevitably, he fell back asleep.

-

"MK!"

MK jolted, leaning back and falling out of the chair he'd been sleeping in. On his way down, he knocked the table with his head, sending a bowl of broth (there had been noodles, but MK had already ate them) flying down to splatter on the floor beside him. He groaned, rubbing his head as it ached.

He felt like he'd dreamed about something important....

MK blinked, and suddenly Mei was leaning over him.

"You alright?" She asked, holding out her hand to help him up. MK took her up on her offer, standing up and dusting himself off, before looking at the shattered bowl and liquid on the floor, and sighed.

"Guess I'll have to clean that up...." He mumbled, before switching gears and turning to Mei with a smile on his face. "Anyways, I'm fine, but Mei, what are you doing here?"

"Did you seriously forget already?" Mei asked, "You promised you'd come with me to the arcade today!"

"Oh. I didn't forget I just, I didn't realize so much time had passed, I must've been asleep for longer than I thought...." MK said, stretching a little to get the last bits of tiredness out of his limbs. Mei watched him with a look of concern.

"Have you been sleeping enough lately?" She asked, looking him up and down, searching for any sign that he wasn't taking care of himself like he should.

"Yeah, I just...." MK paused for a moment, before shrugging. "I keep having these weird dreams. They feel important, but I can never really remember them."

"Is it a side effect of your monkey powers?"

"Monkey King doesn't have prophetic dreams Mei." MK said, walking out the door, Mei keeping in time with his stride. "Or well. It's never mentioned in the stories."

"You'll have to ask him when he gets back from his vacation then." Mei said.

"Yeah, I guess I will......"

-

He took a deep breath, leaning against the wall of the alley way.

Glancing out, he could see his original, walking beside the green girl.

(He hadn't bothered to learn her name. He felt like he should know it, but it would be fine. He could learn it later, it wasn't important for his mission yet.)

Right now, what he had to do was simple. Grab his original, bring him back to the lair, and then, once he'd gathered his information, replace him.

Simple. Easy.

He looked back out at the fairly crowded street.

Simple. Easy.

And then suddenly there was a crash, his original shrieked, and then red was there too, the green girl holding him back from attacking the original.

When has anything ever been easy?

He turned and started heading back to the lair.

The Lady wasn't going to be happy about this, but there was no way the plan was going to work today.

-

Two weeks later, MK leaned against the railing on the deck of the ship, while Wukong sat on the railing, swinging his legs off the side.

"....Monkey King?"

"Yeah, what's up, bud?"

"Have you ever had like, prophetic dreams?" MK asked, and Wukong's legs paused mid swing.

".......No." He answered, slowly, "Why? Did something happen?"

"Well, not exactly." MK said, thinking of how best to explain it. "I've been having these dreams, but it's like I just can't remember them once I wake up. I know they happened, and I feel like they're telling me something important, but what actually happened in them just keeps...slipping out of my grasp."

"And you're sure they're not just regular dreams?" Wukong asked, sighing when MK shook his head yes. "....Okay. I can't say that I've experienced anything like that, but I can look into it if it really concerns you."

"Thank you." MK sighed in relief, before giving Wukong a smirk. "On another note, you should probably run, I think Pigsy's finally noticed that you stole all the snack food."

"Oh n-" Wukong scrambled off the railing, causing the spoon Pigsy threw at him to just barely miss. Hurriedly, he turned and ran back into the ship, Pigsy chasing after him. MK gave a little laugh as he watched the both of them disappear through the door, leaving him alone on the deck.

It was almost...nice to be able to relax like this. Sure, the Lady Bone Demon was after them, but it wasn't like there was a demon attacking every other day. In fact, thus far into their journey, they hadn't been attacked at all.

So of course, it was immediately after he had that thought that something hit him in the back of the head, hard, causing him to pass out.

-

MK woke up to a dark room.

No, not a room.

A cell, as evidenced by the bars.

He shivered, as a cold breeze blew through the cell. His jacket was missing.

Recognizing that this was probably not good, MK quickly sat up, grabbing hold of the bars and pressing his face against them, trying to tilt his head to see the surrounding area better.

"Hey you, you're finally awake."

MK bit back a shriek, startling and hitting his head against the bars with a clang. He let go of the cell bars to hold his head, crouching down as he hissed in pain.

"Woah, don't go knocking yourself out again so soon, I need someone to talk to around here."

MK knew that voice.

Looking over to the side, he could see someone sitting in the corner, half enshrouded in darkness.

"Why are you here, Macaque?" MK asked, rubbing his head as he stood up again. "And also, did you seriously just quote a meme at me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Macaque said, amusement in his voice. "And I'm here because I wanna be."

"Bullshit." MK deadpanned.

"If Wukong was here you'd get smacked." 

"Well yeah, but he's not, so-" MK said, smirking, before looking back out through the bars again. "Where are we anyways?"

"One of the Lady Bone Demon's lairs." Macaque answered, standing up and walking to also glance out through the bars. As he entered into the slightly more lit area of the cell, MK could see that his clothes were torn, dried blood staining it, and a torn piece of his scarf wrapped around his arm. MK barely bit back his concern in favor of a different question.

"She has more than one lair?"

"Apparently." Macaque shrugged. "This is a different one from the one I first woke up in, so I can only assume it's a different location."

"...How long have you been captured? Actually, wait, better question, how long have I been captured?" MK asked, panic starting to grip him. What if he'd been gone for too long, and something had happened to-

"I don't think it's been any more than a few hours for you." Macaque said, alleviating at least some of MK's worries. At least he hadn't been passed out for 3 days or something.... "As for me....I don't know."

"Wh- how could you not know?" MK asked, "Have you seriously been in here long enough that you can't remember how much time has passed?"

"I think it's been a week."

"You think!?"

-

In the end, it had been rather easy to escape.

Scarily easy, to be honest. There hadn't been a single guard, and they hadn't encountered the Lady Bone Demon so much as once the whole time.

Macaque had, in return for MK not telling Wukong that he had helped out, personally gotten MK back to the ship via shadow-teleportation. MK had to admit, traveling through shadows was a weird experience, but it was kinda thrilling in a way, a bit like a roller coaster. The two of them popped out of the shadow of a tree beside a forest clearing, where the ship had landed on the ground.

"This is as far as I'm taking ya, kid." Macaque said, falling back into the shadows. "......You might want to mentally prepare yourself before you get back on the ship by the way."

"Prepare myself for what?" MK asked, but Macaque had already vanished, leaving MK alone.

MK sighed, then walked over to the ship, going to climb up the side of the ship and onto the deck, but then paused, one leg over the ship's railing as he took in the sight before him. He slowly blinked, wondering if he was just seeing things, but nope, Mei was holding another him at sword point, the others standing behind her in a defensive position.

"Who are you and why are you doing a horrible job at pretending to be my friend!" Mei asked, leering over the other MK in a threatening matter.

"Hey, I thought I was doing a good job at pretending to be MK!" The other MK yelled.

"Evidently not!" MK said, fully climbing over the rail and dropping down onto the deck, drawing the attention over to where he was. "Seriously, who the hell are you?"

"Who the hell are you?" The other MK shot back, before realizing what he said. "No, wait that was a stupid question, I know who you are- why did I say that?"

The others ignored him, in favor of staring at MK in suspicion.

"Are you the real MK?" Pigsy asked, causing MK to sputter in offense.

"Wh- of course I am-" MK said, before cutting himself with a yelp, as Wukong suddenly appeared beside him, lifting his arm, picking him up, basically checking him all over before placing him back on the ground, seemingly satisfied.

"Yep, this one is the real deal." He confirmed, before glaring at the other MK. "That one, on the other hand-"

They turned back to the other MK, who had, in the moment of distraction, begun to slowly inch away from Mei's sword, and now was halfway over the railing, about to jump off.

"Oh no you don't." Mei hissed, grabbing onto the back of the other MK's jacket (and oh, so that's where MK's jacket had went, not only did he have a double, but said double was a jacket thief-) and pulling him back onto the ship, letting him fall backwards and slam down on the metal deck. "You're not going anywhere until we get some answers out of you, KM."

"KM?" The other MK asked, everyone else looking at Mei with the same degree of confusion.

"I needed something to call you other than MK." She said, shrugging, before getting right back to business. "Now. Who sent you?"

"What, like I'm just gonna tell you that-" Mei's sword poked closer to his neck. "The Lady! The Lady Bone Demon! She's the one who sent me!"

"Well. That certainly explains why I woke up in one of her cells." MK said, and was immediately met with various looks of concern. He threw his hands up in self-defense. "Hey, don't look at me like that, she didn't even show up, like seriously, it was ridiculously easy for me and Macaque to escape-"

"I'm sorry, you and who?" Wukong interrupted, looking like he was about to breakdown then and there.

"Oh, that's the shadow guy, right?" KM asked, ignoring the glares the others sent him. "I talked with him a few times. Or, well, we didn't so much as talk, more like I walked past him, but like. Same thing, right? Ha ha, yeah, uh, anyways, can we put the sword away now?"

"Depends." Mei said, "What're you gonna do now that we know? You going to go ham, no offense Pigsy, and kill us all?"

"What? No." KM said, "Well. Is that what I'm supposed to do?"

"No, no, no-" MK hurriedly said, rushing forwards, pushing Mei and her sword to the side in order to be face to face with KM, which, wow, that was weird seeing his own face not on him and not on a hair clone- how does KM even exist if he's not a hair clone- wait he's getting distracted- "It is not what you're supposed to do. You are not going to do that. Right?"

"....Right." KM said, slowly nodding. There was a moment of awkward silence, then Mei was back up, shoving MK over as she pointed her sword at KM again.

"That didn't sound like a very confident answer." She said. KM glanced at her, taking in her threatening expression, looked over her shoulder, seeing the expressions of the others-

"If I give you the staff, will you not kill me?" He asked.

That made everyone pause.

"....What, exactly, do you mean by that?" Wukong asked, and KM, in response, hurriedly removed his jacket, shaking it out a little-

And the staff fell out, clanging and slightly denting the deck.

There was a moment of silence.

MK slowly reached over, grabbing hold of, and lifting the staff, feeling a familiar warmth rush through him.

"Why did you have this?" He asked, and KM rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Well I mean, you had it in the videos I watched, but I couldn't make a realistic replica, so when I saw it in the Lady Bone Demon's lair I just... took it?" He said, carefully watching the other's blank expressions. "I-I figured it'd make it easier to pretend to be you if I had it-"

"So what you're saying is you stole it." Pigsy said, "From the Lady Bone Demon."

"I don't know, maybe?" KM said, and Mei slowly lowered her sword, before finally putting it away.

KM watched on as the group all looked at each other, seemingly having a silent conversation via eye contact.

(They were, in fact, having a real conversation, as Wukong was astral projecting to everyone, and thus basically opened a telepathic connection.

"We could just let him stay with us." MK said.

"Kid, are you crazy? Do you know what he is?" Wukong asked.

"No actually." MK said.

KM, not being in the loop, had no way of knowing this.)

"....So uh, KM was it, what exactly are you?" Tang asked, and once again all eyes were on KM, who shifted nervously.

"Uh, a clone? Like- like test-tube clone. Created in the science goo and all that." KM said, making jazz hands as he said 'science goo'. No one looked very impressed.

"She knows how to do that?"  Wukong whispered under his breath, sounding almost horrified.

"Are there any others like you?" Sandy asked.

KM thought back to the wetness he'd touched when he was first created.

"....No." KM said, "The others failed. They.....they melted."

There was another moment while the others had a silent conversation.

( "Look, he's all alone, we can't just leave him be!"

"But-"

"Look, we know you don't trust him Monkey King, which to be honest the rest of us don't really trust him either, but we can't just leave this kid alone!")

Wukong gave an irritated sigh.

"Fine." He said, marching over to KM, grabbing hold of his arm and pulling him up so that he was standing. He grabbed MK's jacket out of KM's hand, tossing it over his shoulder, where it proceeded to land directly on top of MK's head. "Look, kid, the others have decided to trust you, and I've been outvoted, so listen. We're going to let you stay on the ship. But if I catch any sign of you being up to no good, I will not hesitate to throw you overboard. Clear?"

"As crystal." KM said.

"Good." Wukong said, "But, just in case-"

And then KM's bandana was gone, replaced with a golden circlet. With nothing to hold up his hair, it flopped down, almost completely blocking the new circlet from view. KM reached his hand up to feel it, instantly recognizing what it was.

"....Why." He asked.

"Like I said, just a precaution." Wukong said.

("I have always wanted to do that to someone else-"

"Monkey King."

"Oh. Oops, forgot this connection was still open-")

"You don't have to worry though." Wukong continued, "It won't hurt you or anything, you just won't be able to get more than a kilometer away from me or MK."

"Okay??" KM said, and, well, that was that.

KM was officially a member of the ship.

-

"Out of curiosity, what was it that made you realize KM wasn't me?" MK asked, later that night. Mei immediately broke out into a wild grin, while KM groaned.

"Well first of all, he didn't call any of us by our names." Mei began, "He called me Green Girl, Sandy was Tea Man, so on and so forth. But the real thing that made us realize was that-"

"Don't say it-" KM started, but Mei wasn't going to listen.

"He referred to himself in the third person." She said, "Or, really, he was referring to you, but since he was pretending to be you-"

"Look, I just got used to thinking 'MK smiles like this' and 'MK moves like that', okay?!" KM said, covering his face with his hands. "It just became the default y'know?"

"Understandable, but really?" MK asked, "You didn't once train yourself into talking like you were me?"

"Look, I've only been alive for one month-"

[misc-headcanons]

Hey! May I request some morning after HCs for Sanji Law and Zoro with a fem s/o?

Sanji 

Regardless of chest size, he naturally rests his head against his s/o’s breasts. He is naturally inclined to nestle himself in the tiddy, and may actually dream about soft things as a result whenever his cheek and lips brush against them--kissing really soft rose petals, floating on an extra-soft and silky lilypad in the ocean, etc. He always wakes up from a pleasant dream when he’s spent the night with his s/o.

If his s/o has said she’d be okay with it, he’d want to wake her up with some morning oral. If not, that’s okay too! He’ll try his best not to wake them up if he’s up before them, but he’ll move a little bit to hold them closer and maybe gently kiss their cheek. 

Will NOT get up until his s/o is awake because he doesn’t want to wake her. Once her eyes open, he’ll run his fingers on her sides before giving them a good morning kiss. The two of them only get up after at least a few minutes of cuddling under the sheets, minimum. He’ll offer to make them breakfast before anyone else on the crew, and he’ll even carry them to the dining room bridal style after putting on a robe or something on her; he’ll put on a shirt and pants before heading out with them, of course. He’d love to see her wearing his shirt or jacket as a nightshirt, but he’ll still insist on putting a robe or something over her as well. He doesn’t want anyone else to see how cute she looks wearing his shirt and nothing else.

He’ll draw a bath for her if she wants one, and if she says she’s not hungry he’ll join her (if not, he wants to make breakfast for her as soon as possible. He hates the idea of his beloved having any kind of hunger, even if it’s barely there at all). 

If she wants to help him cook or make a cup of coffee/tea while he’s in the kitchen, he always hugs her from behind at least once whenever she’s in proximity to him. He’s so ridiculously affectionate, but in the morning it’s a special kind of softness. It’s less over the top with his heart eyes and dramatic declarations, and feels much more intimate when he gives her a sleepy kiss and gently sways a bit while he holds her close from behind as the breakfast he’s made for the two of them is cooling off on the counter.

Law

He has nightmares more often than not, but they rarely happen after he’s spent the night with his s/o. Something about their presence makes him feel less tense/wound-up/stressed, so sleeping with them is much more comforting and pleasant than sleeping alone. This is more apparent if they’d had sex the night before, and he thinks it’s due to the endorphins released during orgasm. This is a half-truth: it’s because he loves her. Endorphins. Law, you fucking nerd.

He naturally wakes up early and he enjoys just watching his s/o sleep until she wakes up. Out of context, he knows it sounds kind of creepy to just watch his s/o sleep. It’s just comforting to see her safe and comfortable next to him, you know? It subconsciously lets him relax, even if it’s just a little bit. Plus...she looks cute when she sleeps.

When he sees that she’s awake, he usually just puts his hand on hers as opposed to full-on cuddling the way Sanji does. Still, if she did it he wouldn’t mind at all. He’s kind of quiet in the morning and doesn’t talk much, just enjoying their shared warmth in the bed and the hazy dim light from the surface coming through the water while the Tang is submerged.

Is definitely the kind of guy who enjoys morning sex: Lazy, casual, sleepy kisses and wandering hands underneath the sheets. He likes how domestic it feels since he doesn’t get to experience that very often. He’ll initiate it either in bed or after they both get up and are in the shower together, under the guise of washing her back or something before his hands travel lower and lower.

Zoro

Zoro doesn’t sleep longer than maybe 2 or 3 hours at a time, so this would be more of a post-sex nap than a full night’s sleep after sex. If it is late and his s/o is in deep sleep like a normal person, he’ll get out of bed (trying not to wake them) and maybe rest a hand on their cheek for a moment before going to train in the crow’s nest, getting something to eat, or just patrolling the deck of the Sunny.

He naturally falls asleep with an arm around or over his s/o, so he always has to make sure he pulls his arm out from them without waking them up. Whenever he accidentally wakes them up, he just asks if they’re gonna get up with him or stay in bed. If it’s still late at night or early in the morning, she usually just wants to stay and sleep for a while longer. He doesn’t make her stay or go if she doesn’t want to, but sometimes he likes to stay in bed with her and relax instead of getting up from his nap right away.

He’s got a lot of stamina and power when it comes to “physical activities~”, so if his s/o is a bit more fragile he’d bluntly ask if she can walk or if she needs to lean on him. Because of this, he may have her do some stretches with him after she wakes up every morning so that on nights they do have sex, he doesn’t wind up making her too sore. 

Of these three he’s the least cuddly in the morning, but that doesn’t mean he’s not affectionate at all. Like I said, he’ll brush his hand over her cheek while she’s sleeping and he naturally spoons her while he’s sleeping, but he’ll also nuzzle her neck and kiss her when he feels her move around a bit after waking up. He likes how nice she smells in the morning, but conveniently doesn’t reply whenever she says that if he bathed regularly then he too could smell kind of nice after a night of sweaty sex. If they’re passing through a Winter island, he’ll want to pull them closer for warmth and will wake up between naps to reach for a bottle of sake by his bed before cuddling back up to them.

[dreamescapeswriting]

[4:15] ~ Seungmin

[4:15]

↱↱↱674 words

↱↱↱Seungmin x reader

↱↱↱A/N: I woke up super early for some unknown reason and I wrote a super cute Seungmin fic, I replaced my morning tea with coffee for the sake of the fic haha

The morning light was coming through the blinds and you knew you hadn’t slept an entire wink the whole night but you were going to have to pretend you had when Seungmin woke up but that wouldn’t be for a while. You got out of the bed and reached for your oversized knitted cream cardigan and headed out to sit on the balcony. You sat on one of the deck chairs with your knees pulled into your chest, your arms resting on top of them as you looked at the sky colours change. It was beautiful but it only made you resent it for not being able to sleep.

“You’re up early.” You looked to your left to see Chan sitting on the other balcony beside yours and Seungmin’s there was only a small gap between them and you nodded.

“I’m assuming you haven’t slept Mr Bang.” He groaned knowing you were right but he walked into his room coming back out holding a second mug of coffee,

“Thanks,” You stretched across the small gap and took it from him, going back to the deck chair and holding it in your hands. The air was chilly but not too cold that sitting there was bad for you,

“Go to sleep Chan.” You said in a warning tone when you watched him going back into his room. You were like an older sister to all of them and they loved you for it.

“Goodnight Y/n.” You smiled as he shut his balcony door, you knew for a fact he wasn’t going to go to sleep for another three hours, it had always been the same with him.

“Who are you talking to?” You jumped a little spilling coffee onto your cardigan, Seungmin was standing in the door yawning and stretching like the cute little puppy he was.

“Morning Seungie.” You giggled looking at him as he got onto the seat behind you, he put his legs either side of your body and pulled you back to rest against his chest.

“You’re tired puppy, you should sleep.” He shook his head resting his chin on your shoulder while you both watched the sunrise together, your hands were still wrapped around the coffee mug so he placed his hands on top of yours while you sat in silence. Nothing could be heard except for the morning birds and Chan typing away in his room which made you giggle at the thought of him working so hard.

“Next time you can’t sleep, wake me up.” Seungmin whispered in your ear, he knew you too well to know when you were and weren’t sleeping. You’d been dating for years he knew you like the back of his own hand and it was still a little surprising to you.

“Sorry, you were just exhausted from practise and I didn’t want to bother you.” He sighed and kissed the base of your neck lovingly,

“I don’t care, next time wake me up.” You nodded and he began humming softly to the song you’d been loving a lot lately, ‘ I can’t take my eyes off you by Onestar’, you smiled as he got to the chorus, he was singing quietly so only you could hear but it was perfect.

“I’ll promise you,” He whispered in your ear as you relaxed against his chest, he shifted slowly. Removing the cup from your sleepy grasp he set it down on the floor and lent back against the deck chair so you could sleep against him.

“I can’t take my eyes off you,” He whispered kissing your temple before looking at the sky trying to drift off to sleep behind you.

[my-funky-little-cowboy]

Here I am, super late, but @artofadmin​ I was your secret cupid. I wrote some Arthur and Albert fluff for you, I do hope you enjoy it. So sorry again that it’s late!

Characters: Albert Mason, Arthur Morgan Pairing: 2AM, Albert x Arthur Themes: Fluff, Pre-relationship, just cute shit Warnings: None Words: 3,968 [ ko-fi ] || [ ao3 ]

Chance Meeting

Saint Denis. 

Arthur adjusted himself in the saddle. Why Dutch wanted anything to do with this city was beyond him, especially after Blackwater. He slowed Ulysses to a lazy walk as he wound his way through the streets, keeping an eye out for employment opportunities in the city. 

He eventually found himself on the main drag, crowds of carriages and pedestrians filled the street. The chime of a trolley car filtered through the dun of activity, the noise grated in Arthur’s ears, another reason he hated the city. Making his way to the Bastille Saloon, he tied up Ulysses and gave the horse an apple, promising to be back soon. 

The saloon was surprisingly busy for how early it was and Arthur moved to the bar to order a drink. He placed a handful of coins on the table and motioned for the bartender to leave the bottle, turning his attention to the poker table, the men around the table talked raucously. 

“Seat taken?” He asked, pulling out one of the empty chairs. 

The man next to him sized him up, a predatory smile sliding across his face as he waved for Arthur to take a seat.

“Join us! Join us! Take a seat, stranger!”

Arthur tipped his hat and sat down, placing the bottle of whisky on the table. The men quietly returned to their conversations. Arthur poured himself a shot before reaching into his bag and pulling out a handful of cash. He held it out long enough for the other players to notice before looking up at the dealer.

“How much I got to put down to play?” He fumbled with the money in his hands.

“Five dollars.” Said the dealer, almost sympathetically. 

Arthur counted out the bills and pushed them across the table,  the dealer traded it for chips before he picked up the deck of cards and shuffled them.

“Alright, gentlemen. Bets in.” He said and started to deal as the men bid. 

Arthur pulled his cards toward himself, sneaking a quick peek at his hand.

“So— ” a voice broke the silence at the table, ”—you don’t look like you’re from around here, lad. What brings you to town?”

Arthur filled his glass again, looking up at the man, finding all eyes at the table were on him.

“I was sellin’ some cattle to one of the farms just east of town,” he shrugged.

The conversation shifted a bit as they began to talk more about the town, offering information about local spots that Arthur should see while he was here. They told him where to find the general store and then got caught up in local gossip. Arthur let them talk, hoping to catch any information that may lead to some quick cash in town.

The game continued for another couple of hours, the men chatting about their lives and the goings-on about town. Arthur polished off the bottle, collected his winnings and politely took his leave from the table. He was annoyed that the men had nothing of importance to say, that their lives were so boring and simple, and even more annoyed that Dutch had sent him here, of all places.

He pushed through the doors onto the too-loud streets, unhitching Ulysses and giving him a pat. He stepped into the saddle and adjusted himself, looking around. The streets were busy as people went about their day and he decided to try his luck at one of the other saloons in town.

He gently dug his heels into Ulysses' flank, turning him around and heading toward the looming cathedral near the center of town, winding his way through the crowded streets. 

Arthur groaned to himself as a group of kids bolted across the street in front of him. His eyes followed them down a small alley. His gaze lingering. He had exhausted almost all other options and the saloon he was heading for was nothing more than a hole-in-the-wall. Arthur pulled Ulysses to the side and jumped down, sighing heavily as he followed the kids into the alley that gradually opened up into a small courtyard.

The courtyard was empty for the most part, on the far end two women sat, chatting idly. He caught sight of the kids as they moved further into the space. He followed them around the corner finding himself in a dead-end, the three kids turning as he walked through the gate.

“You followin’ us, yokel?” One of the kids hissed, turning toward Arthur and pulling a knife from his belt.

Arthur held up his hands defensively, “Caught me.” a devilish smile crept across his face. 

The boys looked between themselves, curious about the man, the kid lowered his knife as they came to a silent agreement.

“We ain’t giving back that lady’s coin purse. She don’t need it.”

                                                          -- ☓ --

Albert sat at his workbench in the small and cramped apartment. The wind blew gently on the unseasonably cool morning. He sat back, rubbing his tired eyes and placing his camera casing back on the table. He blinked a few times and stretched his arms above his head, reaching for his tea on the desk, empty.

“Damn.” Albert muttered and pushed up slowly from his chair, leaning deeply into a stretch.

He crossed to the sink, grabbing the kettle from the potbelly stove in the center of the room. He filled it with fresh water and placed it back over the heat to warm before gathering some tea leaves from the cupboard and leaning against the counter. 

Albert closed his eyes, the sounds of the city in the morning a stark change from the quiet of nature he had been waking up to the last couple of months. The comforts of home were hard to deny, but he would miss seeing the stars in the sky and the gentle sounds of nature. 

The sounds of traffic and fragmented conversations blurred together as Albert waited for the water to heat. He pushed off the counter and lifted the lid to the kettle, dropping the tea leaves in and returning to his desk, content to let the tea steep. Picking up the camera casing he grabbed the small brush to continue cleaning the dust from the gears when a new voice carried through the window, one he had never expected to hear again.

“I ain’t here about that.” The voice drifted through the open window. 

Albert turned, slowly placing the camera back on the table.

It can’t be.

“Just lookin’ for some information about the town.”  The distinct baritone continued and Albert stood, crossing to the window.

His eyes scanned the space below, looking for the familiar figure, moving between the faces of strangers. Across the courtyard, behind a low wall a group of street kids, staring defensively to a shadowed part of the alley.

“And why should we believe you?’ One of the boys growled, brandishing his knife toward the darkness.

“Listen kid, I just know. Best place to get the info I want is from the people most in the know.” Arthur stepped into the courtyard, his hands still raised defensively. “And, that’s you lot.”

The kid lowered his knife, eyeing Arthur warily. “What do you want to know?”

Albert couldn’t believe his eyes, his heart skipped a beat as Arthur’s form moved into the light.  He watched, intrigued.

Arthur dropped his voice, taking another step forward he continued. “I’m just lookin’ for anything interesting going on around here.” He stopped, hooking his thumbs into his belt. “I can make it more than worth your while.” 

The kid glanced at his buddies, re-sheathing his knife, he crossed his arms over his chest. “Oh yeah? How can you make it worth our while. Huh, old man?”

Arthur growled with annoyance at the comment but he pulled some cash from his bag, waving it in front of the leader. The kid smiled, rolling back on his heels. “Now you’re talkin’.” 

He whistled, flagging over one of the boys. “Lem here can give you the tour of our fine town here.” He gave the kid a pat on the shoulder. “Won’tcha Lem?”

“A’course.” Lem replied smugly. 

Arthur looked between the boys and sighed, folding a small handful of cash over and handing to the leader. “Right. Lead the way.” He stepped aside, letting Lem pass through the alley behind him.

Albert pushed back from the window as the two disappeared down the alleyway. He grabbed his hat and coat and ran out the door. What was Arthur doing in Saint Denis? How had he gotten wrapped up with these kids?

He pushed open the small gate to the courtyard, heading toward the alley Arthur and the kid had disappeared into, he glanced around, but the other two boys had vanished. He continued through the alley and back onto the main road, looking desperately up and down the street for any sign of Arthur and the boy.

He worried his hands, choosing to head right toward the center of town, his gut telling him that Arthur may have bit off more than he could chew with these kids. Arthur was familiar with a perilous life, Albert was certain of that, but the dangers here were nothing quite like those on the frontier.

The street opened up into the main square, the cathedral towering over the other buildings in the middle of town. He walked slowly around the square, hoping to find any indication of where they might have gone. As he passed a small courtyard he heard a group of kids talking lowly among themselves

“Why we trailin’ some poor yokel? Lem’ll clean him out just fine.” One of the boys huffed, kicking a small can along the cobbled street.

“Because he’s snoopin’ around, and Mr. Bronte won’t like that.” The boy Albert recognized from earlier said.

“Then why’d we take his money? We coulda just told him to take a hike.” The first grumbled, kicking the can again.

The boys’ voices faded as they moved out of earshot from where Albert had stopped to listen. He peeked around the corner, catching the group as they rounded a corner on the far side. Albert glanced around before following them through the courtyard, hoping to keep up just enough to avoid their attention. 

The group wandered along the street, chatting among themselves. Albert followed a distance behind, hoping that the group would lead him close enough to Arthur that he could get him away from these kids. 

They rounded another corner and Albert picked up the pace, he couldn’t afford to lose them now. He turned the corner, seeing the boys just ahead, much closer now as they crossed the street, heading toward the industrial side of town. Albert tried to imagine what business they had near the trainyard, but nothing good came to mind and he jogged after them, getting closer to the boys as they pushed through a gate to an alley behind the livery.

The alley seemed empty besides the boys and Albert dared not follow them in, walking around the front of the building, hoping to catch them on the other side. He stopped, seeing Lem round the opposite corner of the livery, Arthur in tow, and he ducked inside. 

He had to think fast, why had he hidden in here, he didn’t even own a horse, it seemed silly in the city. He heard them getting closer and he fumbled with his waistcoat, pulling it straight before wiping the sweat from his brow and adjusting his hat. He swallowed hard, counting to himself as he saw Lem pass in front of the door, he stepped out, and into someone solid.

“Oh, my apologies, I real—Mr. Morgan?” He tried his best to sound surprised, stumbling back as the hand caught him.

“Watch where you’r—Mr. Mason?” Arthur’s voice cracked slightly, a restrained smile spreading over his face.

Lem turned, his eyes moving between them, he took a nervous step back, stealing a glance back toward the way they had come.

“Surprise seeing you here!” Albert said as cheerfully as he could, his eyes moving to Lem. “Who, who's your friend?” He held out his hand to the kid and Arthur stepped between them,  confirming Albert’s suspicions.

“Lem here was just showin’ me to the stables, weren’t ya?”  His eyes burned into Lem’s and the kid took a step back.

“Oh yeah, here we are, mister.” Lem said shakily. “Best a luck to ya!” He gave them a nervous wave and skirted around the corner, swallowed into the mass of workers. 

Albert watched him go, seeing Arthur’s stance soften as the kid rounded the corner. 

“Sorry, ‘bout that.” Arthur turned back to him, a warm smile breaking across his face.

“Oh.” Albert felt a rush of heat wash over him. “No need to apologize, I supposed Saint Denis is a big city. Easy enough to get lost.” He chuckled.

“Yeah.” Arthur sighed, looking around. “It’s quite a bit of civilization. Ain’t really used to it.”  He rubbed the back of his neck shifting his weight.

“Well, if you need someone to show you around, I’d be more than happy to.” Albert couldn’t stop the words as he saw a bit of surprise cross Arthur’s face and he laughed nervously before adding. “You know, to pay you back for all you help out there.” He gestured vaguely to the north.

“You from here?” Arthur turned his attention back to Albert. “I would have thought some place like New York or Boston.” 

“Not originally, but I’ve been here long enough to know a good place to get a drink and a good meal.”  Albert winked. 

Arthur chuckled and shook his head slightly, holding out a hand for Albert to lead the way.

“What brings you to town, Mr. Morgan?” Albert started back toward  the center of town, pausing briefly to let Arthur catch up.

 “I guess, I’m just looking for work.”

“Oh? Looking to finally settle down?” Albert couldn’t help the excitement that crept into his voice.

“Heh. Nothing like that, just some cash to tide me over while I’m in the area. Ain’t sure I could live some place so civilized.” Arthur glanced toward the ground, lying to Albert was quickly becoming  one of the harder things he had done.

As happy as he was to see Mr. Mason again, he didn’t need him wrapped up in his world. The man was too kind, and Arthur couldn’t imagine the guilt if anything was to happen to him. He looked up, seeing the sadness on Albert’s face.

“Not, not that this place ain’t great!” Arthur backpedaled. “Just, didn’t expect to see ya here is all. Ain’t no wildlife here for you to try and get yourself eaten.” A smile played at the corner of his mouth.

Albert chuckled lightly, a heat spreading across his face. “No, I guess not.” 

Albert led them through the city, stopping at a couple landmarks and Arthur humored him. He’d been through the town enough to know his way around, but listening to Albert talk excitedly about things was nice. Albert slowed as they came upon a small cafe and turned to Arthur.

“You hungry? This place has some of the best French pastry I’ve ever had.” He waved for Arthur to join him. “I happened upon it when I was applying for gallery space upstairs.”

“Oh? Your work is in this gallery?” 

Albert turned as Arthur walked toward the alley, following the signs for the gallery. He hurried after him, reaching for his shoulder.

“It's, it’s not open quite yet, I’m afraid. The exhibit  won’t open for another couple weeks or so, but yes!” 

How could he tell Arthur that he had included that initial portrait of the man in his series. The Dying West, the man who embodied everything Albert found endearing about the wilds of America. He had thought it safe to include, never thinking he would see Arthur again, but here he stood in front of him. 

It had to be a dream, Albert thought. The man had haunted his dreams for weeks, a passing fancy. It was safe to imagine him there, under the guise that he would never see the man again. But Arthur was here, had accepted his invite to a meal, and now was dangerously close to seeing himself included among the beauties of nature.  

“Well then. I’ll have to come see it, once it opens.” Arthur turned to face him, a smile flashing across his face. 

Albert felt himself melt looking up at Arthur’s smile. Did this man even know what his smile could do to a person? He froze as Arthur hooked an arm around his shoulder, giving him a quick pat.

“Now, you said something about French pastry?”

“Y-yes, it’s right over here.” Albert sputtered nervously, Arthur’s touch setting fire to his skin. He swallowed hard. “Their beignets are to die for.”

“Ben-yay?” Arthur’s voice cracked slightly. “What’s that?”

“You’re gonna love them! Sweet bread with honey and sugar!” Albert beamed. “And their coffee? Won’t find anything quite like this out there on the frontier, Mr. Morgan.”  He pushed through the door and into the small cafe.

Arthur followed him into the cafe.

“This place seems real fancy,” he whistled.

“Nonsense,” Albert chided. “all kinds of people gather here, it’s one of the most popular cafes in the city.”

Arthur sighed and followed him to the counter. Albert flagged the waiter over, placing an order for some beignets and a coffee. The waiter turned to Arthur who politely asked for his coffee without whatever lait was, scrunching his nose at the sign on the wall. Albert felt a pang of guilt as he tried desperately to commit that face to memory.

“Dollar fifty,” the waiter said and Albert’s hand moved to his bag. 

“Thank ya.” Arthur said as the waiter poured them each a coffee, sliding a handful of coins across the counter.

“No, you can’t! I was going to get this one, I owe you so much.” Albert protested as Arthur slid his cup in front of him.

“Don’t think nothing of it. What is that they say about starvin’ artists?” Arthur took a sip from his cup.

“And you said you were looking for work, don’t think I’d forgotten!” Albert rolled his eyes.

“C’mon, let’s find a seat.” Arthur pushed off from the counter, finding them a table near the window.

Albert slid into the chair across from Arthur as the waiter appeared, setting the warm beignets down on the table between them. He looked excitedly toward Arthur.

“So what will you work on next? Hopefully something less likely to get you killed.” Arthur picked up one of the pastries. 

It felt airy and light in his hand, white sugar dusted the top and honey dripped from the side and he raised an eyebrow.

“Just try it, I swear it’s worth it.” Albert picked up one of the pastries, taking a big bite.

Arthur followed suit, the warm dough melted in his mouth, the sweetness from the honey and sugar dancing on his tongue. Mmmm. He took another bite, savoring the sweetness.

“Oh, I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about my next project yet. I’ve got enough to tide me over, plenty of ladies in this town want to have their picture taken.”  His eyes lingered on Arthur expectantly. “What’d I tell you?”

 Arthur popped the last bite in his mouth, fighting a sly smile. “Ain’t the worst thing I’ve eaten.” 

He picked up his coffee, inhaling it deeply, he didn’t know what they had put in his coffee, but he couldn’t say he wasn’t enjoying it. It had a familiar taste that reminded him of quiet nights out under the stars, before all this running. Things were simple, life was the best it’d been in as long as Arthur could remember. Things could be like that again, here, with him. He pushed the thought from his head.

Albert rolled his eyes. “What about you, Mr. Morgan, what’s next for you?” 

“Probably just more of the same.” Arthur scratched his chin. “Shame though, that I won’t have to come to your rescue anymore.” 

A smile tugged at Albert’s lips and he chuckled. “Guess it’s my time to save you then.”

“Oh yeah?” Arthur cocked his brow letting out a breathy chuckle that made heat rush to Albert’s ears. 

“Yeah,” he said, defensively. “Those kids are bad business around here! Always swindling people out of their money.” Albert looked down, heat rising in his cheeks. “I didn’t want you to get hurt.” 

Arthur was taken aback, feeling the heat brush across his cheeks and he lowered his head.

“They were just some kids, no need to worry about me,” he mumbled.

“No, they just some kids looking to swindle some out-of-town stranger. You’re lucky I found you when I did”  

Arthur shook his head and looked up from under the brim of his hat at Albert. “Well then, I guess this makes us even. Thank you Mr. Mason, for savin’ me from them kids and for treatin’ me to the best meal I’ve ever had.” 

He picked up another beignet, gesturing with it at Albert, he took a bite.

“The best.” He chewed. 

Arthur humored Albert, knowing the feeling of leaving a debt unpaid. He was a good man, and he didn’t deserve to feel indebted to someone like Arthur, so he would let him free, let him live his life.

They sat together, the conversation between them easy as they finished their meal. Arthur wondered if he had to leave, perhaps he could stay in town a few days, see what was around and catch up with his new friend. He worried Dutch would send someone to look if he hadn’t returned and quickly pushed the idea from his mind. 

Albert chatted excitedly about his gallery opening, how excited he was to share the wonders of nature around them with the folks in town and Arthur smiled. He would have to swing back through when it opened, see how they came out. Maybe he would ask Albert to show him how to take pictures on that little camera he had gotten his hands on.

The sun had started to sink in the afternoon sky when they finished their coffees and pastries. The sounds of the city a rude reminder that they weren’t alone as they pushed through the door and back out onto the street. It had been so easy, spending time with Albert, Arthur thought. So much easier than life had become with the gang and he wished that he could stay, but he knew where he was needed.

Albert wanted to ask Arthur to stay, he would help him find work, but he knew that Arthur would refuse. Always something pulling him back to wherever he lived, whatever life he had. Albert chest tightened, would he never see Arthur again? He didn’t want that, he had to say something, anything to make Arthur understand how he felt.

“It’s good to see you, Mr. Mason, truly.” Arthur adjusted his hat low over his brow.

Albert froze. His breath hitched, and he smiled.

“It’s good to see you too, Mr. Morgan.”

Arthur reached out, giving Albert’s shoulder a pat, his hand lingering.

“I’ll see ya again, and thanks for the tour. Maybe Saint Denis ain’t so bad.” He let his hand fall and whistled for Ulysses.

“It grows on you.” Albert flashed a half smile, but his heart sank. “Don’t be a stranger, now.”

Arthur turned, running his hand down Ulysses as the horse came to a stop outside the café. He pulled himself up in the saddle, looking down at Albert, he tipped his hat, his eyes sad.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Arthur said, clicking gently, he started down the road.

[madsthewordclown]

Fire Lily | Pt. 10

warnings: none ig?

Eventual Zuko x Reader

a/n: sorry it took me so long to get this up! I took some time with my family over the holidays and struggled a little to get back into Writing Mode. This chapter is very focused on Y/N, and at this point she’s basically blocking out thoughts of You-Know-Who. She’s got more important things to worry about. Also, I just feel like Sokka and Y/N would vibe. I think anyone who would end up with Zuko would have to get along really well with Sokka. Anyway, enjoy!

Fire Lily Masterlist

Y/N found ways to be useful and tried to stay distracted. It turned out to be very useful, having a firebender on their ship. And, as it turned out, Y/N could make a career out of acting. Even Toph said so, which Y/N felt was quite the feat.

There were, of course, whispers about her. Y/N wasn’t stupid. She knew that not everyone trusted her. But Katara seemed to, for whatever reason, and Sokka was slowly coming around. Toph already liked her well enough.

“Where’d you learn that?” Toph asked Y/N as they sat in the small room that they shared with Sokka and Katara in the belly of their ship. “I’ve been meaning to ask. I recognized your bending. Those are earth bending forms.”

“I wondered why they weren’t so… Ka-pow!” Sokka punched the air for emphasis. Sokka tended to be very goofy, Y/N had noticed in the past few weeks aboard the ship. But Y/N could also tell he had a tactical mind. Sokka was crazy intelligent; you could tell even from his nonsensical rambles.

“My father gave me an earthbending scroll when I was little.” Y/N thought back to the moment. It had been a surprise when he came back from a visit to the city. “He thought it might help me, even if it’s not the same kind of bending.”

Y/N didn’t mention that she spent most of her time neglecting practicing. She didn’t want to firebend at all for a long time. But in the past few weeks, the others had needed it. So, Y/N delivered. Casually lit a flame in her hand to trick enemy ships.

Y/N didn’t want to admit it, even to herself, but it felt good, even in small moments.

“Well, it sure does work!” Sokka replied, putting his arms behind his head as he leaned back on his cot. “You know, Fire Girl, I wasn’t sure what to think of you at first, but you’ve really helped us out.”

“Thanks.”

“Yeah, it’s been great kicking some Fire Nation butt with you,” Toph agreed. Sokka and Y/N laughed. There really hadn’t been much butt-kicking, but it was a nice sentiment. Y/N had mainly stood back and let the others lead the way when they’d captured the ship from Chameleon Bay.

Sokka had actually offered to spar with her with the hook swords. Y/N had declined for the moment. She kept the hook swords underneath her cot. She’d have to rely on what bending she could do, for now.

“And,” Sokka added with a smile, “I think we look great in the armor.”

It was nice, Y/N thought, to sit and laugh with Sokka and Toph. They didn’t trust her completely yet, and with good reason. But Y/N had a feeling that they could get there.

And it was nice to laugh despite their situation. Aang wasn’t awake yet, and Katara spent every moment she could by his side when she wasn’t providing the ship with fog cover. But here she could light the lanterns and take a minute to laugh. It was almost better than the tea shop.

Almost.

Y/N tried not to think about Lee—Zuko. She had to keep reminding herself about that. He wasn’t her friend, not really. He wasn’t from the Earth Kingdom at all. He was Crown Prince of the Fire Nation. A firebender. And apparently obsessed with hunting the Avatar, as Sokka kept saying.

The Avatar. Y/N hadn’t been there when it had happened—when the lightning struck Aang down. Azula’s lightning, and Zuko had joined her. Y/N’s sadness and anger was almost overshadowed by heavy disappointment. The boy that she had known was grumpy but kind as well as caring. She remembered the careful hand he’d placed over hers. Lee would’ve jumped out of the palace with Iroh, and she would’ve followed him. But Y/N knew Lee was gone.

“The armor isn’t very comfortable,” Y/N noted, leaning back on her cot and enjoying the feeling of her light clothes after a day up on deck.

“Sometimes you have to suffer for fashion, Y/N,” Sokka joked. “Speaking of fashion, I think we all need some new clothes. You guys stink.”

“Speak for yourself.” Toph reached over to punch Sokka in the arm. Y/N laughed. Sokka wasn’t wrong—she was wearing the same clothes that she had been when she went to the palace in the first place. While they had been washed, they had definitely seen better days. There were a few tears in the sleeves of her dress, and it was stained with dirt, and the neck was starting to stretch out.

Y/N was grateful that they’d managed to find her a pair of pants on board, although they did look a bit ridiculous with her rag of a dress over it. The apron she had was tossed overboard shortly after they had reached the boat. Y/N might have set it on fire first, but that was nobody’s business.

Y/N had trouble sleeping on the ship some nights. It was always rocking at least a little bit. But she had a cot and having other people in the room turned out to be a comfort. There was the constant rhythm of Sokka and Toph’s breathing, and then Katara’s when she would finally slip in after hours spent watching over Aang.

Y/N’s months spent traveling felt so far behind her, but she could remember when she had to sleep outside on the ground, sometimes in the middle of the woods, if soldiers were nearby. Luckily, lighting a fire was always easy, if not terrifying. Y/N curled up under her blanket and let the soft sounds of the ship lull her to sleep.

“You’re a liar. If you would have just told the truth I would still be here.” Y/N recognized the voice, but she couldn’t see it. Everything was dark. Her hook swords were in her hands.

“Why did you have to let me take the fall?” Jet’s voice whispered.

“I didn’t mean to,” Y/N called back, desperately. “I didn’t mean to!”

“Y/N, calm down!” Suddenly, her brother was in front of her, holding out a hand. Y/N looked down and saw the molten metal of the hook swords dripping down onto the dirt, handles charred beyond repair.

“I can’t,” Y/N’s chest heaved. “I can’t.”

“Listen to me, Y/N,” Bihun said, stepping closer. “I don’t have much time.”

Suddenly, Bihun’s hand seemed to begin to fade, bits and pieces of it seeming to float off into the air like ash.

“Y/N, look at me.”

Y/N finally tore her eyes away from the burnt handles of her swords and met her brother’s eyes.

“Boiling rock, Y/N. Don’t forget it.” Bihun’s entire right arm was gone now, grey bits of ash floating through the air. Bihun smiled kindly, and Y/N wished so desperately to reach out to her brother, to hug him, but her feet felt stuck to the ground. “Now wake up.”

---

Y/N awoke, sweat sticking pieces of hair to her forehead. She wiped it away. Y/N was startled as she noticed Toph standing over her.

“Finally, sleepy head. Up and at ‘em.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Y/N swatted, pushing her blanket off of her before standing. “Where are we today?”

“Heck if I know,” Toph responded, turning away to lead Y/N out the door. “That’s a Sokka question. I can’t see anything past this ship.”

“Am I up on deck again?” Y/N asked, changing the subject.

“You’re the only firebender we have, Y/N, even if you aren’t very good,” Toph stated in answer.

Y/N frowned at the slight insult, although it was true. She knew little beyond a few earthbending forms, but she was the only firebender on the ship. If they came across other Fire Nation ships, she was their best shot at convincing them to let their ship pass.

“Go get your gear on,” Toph said, pulling her own brown cloak over her head. Y/N was a bit jealous of Toph’s very lightweight disguise—the first time she put on the Fire Nation armor she had almost fallen over. She also wanted to puke a little bit when she saw herself in the mirror.

After a solid ten minutes of struggling—a great improvement from the twenty it had taken the week before—Y/N placed the heavy helmet over her head, opting to keep the face plate tucked away in a pocket for now. She didn’t particularly like having her face covered. It made her feel less like herself and even more like a Fire Nation soldier, although it did come in handy to have her facial expressions hidden when they came across other ships.

Y/N made her way up to the top deck of the ship with only slight difficulty. The Fire Nation armor was much more mobile than she had imagined.

Y/N blinked at the sudden brightness of the sunlight streaming down onto the ship. The open ocean was already enough to deal with, but no one had ever said anything about how hot metal ships could get with the unblocked sun shining down on them all day. Luckily, Katara seemed to be periodically dousing the deck with sea water.

“Y/N!” Sokka called, walking over to where Y/N was standing. He was also in his Fire Nation get-up, but he wasn’t wearing the faceplate either. “Ready for another day?”

“Sure,” Y/N deadpanned. “It’s too hot to function.”

“Where’s that fiery spirit, huh?” Sokka grinned, bumping Y/N with his elbow. “Get it?”

“No,” Y/N lied, trying to ignore the terrible joke. “Do you know where we’re at?”

“Not really,” Sokka admitted. “My dad tried to describe the general area to me, but I haven’t spent enough time looking at the Fire Nation maps.”

“I’m just glad we’re through that pass,” Y/N shuddered. “As long as we don’t go back there.”

“Yeah, the Serpent’s Pass is… difficult,” Sokka agreed. “Keep an eye on the water and let me know if you need anything, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Y/N nodded. “Any news on Aang?”

“Not yet,” Sokka frowned. “But I have a good feeling about today.”

“Sokka!” Hakoda called from across the deck, waving an arm to beckon his son.

“Duty calls!” Sokka dismissed, turning and leaving Y/N to look out onto the wide expanse of sea.

The one advantage of Y/N’s position is that she wasn’t usually asked to do many chores. Not that she would mind helping, but Hakoda had said that they never wanted to have to struggle to find her if they came across another ship.

The clear sky clouded halfway through the afternoon, darkening the sea beneath them and turning the sky a depressing gray. “What was that about a good feeling?” Y/N asked Sokka nervously as he came over, three scrolls tucked under his arm.

“It’s not storming, is it?” Sokka pointed out, sitting down on the floor of the ship, armor clanking. “Look at these maps with me.”

Y/N hesitantly took a seat next to him, sliding the helmet off of her head to wipe the sweat from her brow. She enjoyed the cool breeze that swept by. Sokka took his faceplate out of his pocket to put on the edge of the scroll to hold it down.

It was a map of the Fire Nation, Y/N realized. The country was shaped almost like a loop of islands, Y/N realized, with the capital city of Caldera, home to the Fire Nation palace in the center of it all.

“We’re about here, I think.” Sokka pointed to a blue spot on the map, just off the shore of the Earth Kingdom.

“By the colonies,” Y/N realized, gasping lightly. She hadn’t realized how close they were to her home.

“Yeah,” Sokka said nonchalantly, before seeing the look on Y/N’s face. “Are you okay?”

“I hadn’t realized we were this close. I used to live there.” Y/N pointed to another spot on the map, her finger nearly touching Sokka’s on the scroll. “Just a handful of miles north.”

Y/N stood, looking to the north. Land was just barely visible in the distance. Somewhere on that piece of land, a little way inland, was her parents’ home. She briefly wondered if they were still there.

“That’ll be our first stop after the invasion, then,” Sokka offered. “Well, maybe not the first stop. But it really would be a good waypoint on our way to… whatever’s next.”

“What is next, Sokka?” Y/N asked. She surprised herself with the question. She realized none of them knew what a life without the war was like. Even when Y/N was too young to be aware of it, it had affected her.

“I’m not sure,” Sokka admitted, looking at Y/N with kind eyes. “But’s it going to be awesome.”

“Do you know what ‘boiling rock,’ might mean?” Y/N looked back down at the map. It was silly, her dream wasn’t real. But weirder things could happen, she was sure.

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s a landmark of some kind. But it’s not on this map.” Sokka recognized Y/N’s expression fall. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Y/N assured him. “Just thought I’d heard of it somewhere.”

---

Y/N was not prepared for when the Avatar stepped out onto the deck that night. She had been the only one who hadn’t gone to visit him while he was out. She felt like it was wrong. She didn’t really know any of them well, least of all Aang. And Katara watched over him like a hawk. Y/N felt like she needed the privacy.

Y/N also did not take into account how Aang might react when she casually lit a torch for Hakoda with her firebending. She hadn’t thought of how backwards the Avatar’s world would seem when he first awoke. It was weird for all of them, but at least they were conscious for most of it.

Y/N sat with Sokka and Toph as Katara spoke with Aang and brought him back inside for another healing session.

When the Avatar resurfaced again, Sokka brought Y/N and Toph over to where Aang and Katara were sitting to explain the invasion plan.

“We’re working on a modified version,” Hakoda added.

“It’s Sokka’s plan,” Katara snapped before turning back to Aang. Y/N had sensed some tension between Katara and her father since arriving on the ship—she had seen the other girl storm off a few times. It appeared that she wasn’t wrong.

“Yes, Sokka’s plan,” Hakoda looked at his daughter out of the corner of his eye, a confused look on his face. “We can’t execute a massive invasion without the Earth Kingdom’s army, but the Fire Nation is still vulnerable.”

“So, we’re planning a smaller invasion,” Sokka explained. “Just a ragtag team of our friends and allies. We’ve already found Pipsqueak and the Duke.”

Pipsqueak and the Duke waved from where they were chowing down on noodles a little way across the ship.

“And our biggest advantage is we have a secret… you!”

“Me?” Aang blinked.

“Yep!” Sokka said proudly. “The whole world thinks you’re dead!”

Aang’s face paled. The Avatar stood quickly and ran to the side of the ship. Y/N wondered if he was about to be seasick over the side. She averted her eyes. Sokka stood to go and reassure Aang.

Y/N looked out over the ocean on the other side of the ship and noticed the shadow approaching. “Hey, there’s a ship!” Y/N called. Sokka and Aang turned around to look.

“I’ve got this.” Aang’s glider snapped open. “The Avatar is back.”

“Wait!” Katara rushed to Aang’s side. “Remember, they don’t know we’re not Fire Nation.”

“We’ve got it,” Hakoda said, putting a hand on Y/N’s shoulder.

“I hate not being able to do anything,” Aang muttered.

“Don’t worry, buddy,” Sokka reassured him. “We’ve got a firebender on our side.”

“What?!?” Aang looked around frantically. Y/N gave a shy wave. She’d have to explain that later.

Katara helped Aang and the others get below deck as the ship came into view. A man in a uniform matching Y/N and Hakoda’s called out to them. Y/N took the faceplate out of her pocket and slid it into place.

“Commander, why are you off course? All Western fleet ships are to be moving toward Ba Sing Se to support the occupation.”

“We’re from the Eastern Fleet, actually,” Hakoda corrected. “We’re delivering cargo.”

“Nice of Admiral Chan to let us know…” The Fire Nation commander replied. Y/N got a sinking feeling. They weren’t convinced.

“Are you questioning my authority?” Y/N called out, praying to the Spirits that she sounded confident and in-charge.

“Who exactly are you?” The commander questioned. Y/N thought of a lie—a Fire Nation name she had heard from home.

“Captain Yai,” Y/N replied as smoothly as she could manage. “And who are you?”

“Commander Muso,” the man replied. “I didn’t know Admiral Yai had a daughter.”

“I didn’t know our army promoted insolent men to command,” Y/N answered.

“I didn’t know our army promoted a girl to command,” Muso sneered. Y/N dared to light a fire in her palm and watched as Muso recoiled.

“I would hate to have to issue a challenge, Commander. Be on your way.”

“Yes, of course, ma’am.”

“Captain,” Y/N corrected.

“Yes, Captain,” Muso amended glumly, motioning to his men. Before long, the Fire Nation ship was pulling away. Y/N let out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding.

“That was awesome, Y/N!” Toph cried as the others emerged from below deck.

“Thanks.” Y/N smiled.

“And that was a really lucky guess with Admiral Yai,” Sokka added.

“I know!” Y/N felt the excitement catch up to her. She had been pretty cool.

“Nice work, Captain,” Hakoda praised, giving Y/N a pat on the shoulder. Y/N smiled as the Fire Nation ship faded out of sight.

Fire Lily Masterlist

taglist: @kaylove12, @akariblue, @wolfiemichele, @aquatickanye, @sunflowerr-mami

[husbandograveyard]

Hey there! I hope I make it in time, I'm very excited you're opening your box 😩💕. May I please request Platonic HC for Ace, Marco, (and Izo if you write for them of course!) Comforting their friend/cremate who is being plagued by nightmares from their past? Like they're afraid to lose the crew/family, that they've always wanted . Thank you dear, I can't wait to see the requests for this batch 😌

Hi dear! I love this idea! Especially since Whitebeard giving this whole bunch of misfits a family and a place, ugh breaks my heart every time. (╥﹏╥) You used general terms so I went with a gender neutral reader and Izo is included! Am anime-only, have not seen that much of Izo, so I do take some own interpretations of his character. To not make them too repetitive I gave all 3 a slightly different situation!  Much love, I hope you enjoy these! 

Platonic Comforting HC - Ace, Marco, Izo 

Ace 

Ace, once he gives in to the whole family thing. Is pretty close with almost everyone on the ship. He checks in with his own division, but will know all the names and faces of people from other divisions and will regularly check in with those he crosses paths with. 

Often it’s just a “Hey, Hello, how are you doing?” moment, it’s not like he doesn’t have anything to do, but when he has time he’ll settle for an actual conversation.

You’ve been very lucky to catch him often on one of those free moments and you were pretty proud to state that you were by now friends with the freckled commander. 

He knew you very well, and thus he notices when things are not as they should be. 

And after crossing you in the hallway for a few times, barely getting an ‘hello’ and a smile in return, he knows something is up and pulls you aside the next time he spots you. 

You first deny that anything is wrong, but the deep dark circles under your eyes tell a different story. Ace is persistent and doesn’t give up until you finally confess that you have barely been sleeping. 

He knows some of your past, and you tell him how it’s been coming back to haunt you in your dreams. How you are finally feeling so happy to have friends, to have a crew, to have a family. How you finally feel like you have found your place in the world.

And how every time you close your eyes at night, that all gets taken away from you, in so many different, horrific ways. Every nightmare is worse than the last one, and at this point, you are just putting off sleep. 

Ace understands how you feel, he struggles with so many things but could not imagine losing his family at all… it’s the subject of his nightmares too, but he does not have them often enough to disrupt his sleeping pattern, as they now do to you. 

He gives you words of comfort. How everyone, including him, in this crew, would never leave you, and would never leave you behind. In no situation. 

He assures you you’re a family who will go to the ends of the earth in order to protect one of them. That’s just how Whitebeard works. 

And you know all these things, but hearing them being said to you with such sincerity, Ace’s hands on your shoulders as he looks in your eyes, stares into your soul, as he tells you to never doubt that, it just does something with you, and you feel as if a load is off your shoulders, thanks to the reassurances, and just the fact that you got it off of your chest. 

Ace proposes to nap together whenever he has a free moment during the day, or whenever he falls asleep doing something. That way, if you lie next to him, people will think his nap was on purpose, and that way, if the nightmares plague you again, you can wake up, see him, and get back to sleep, having some living breathing reassurance next to you, that this family is here to stay. 

Marco 

Marco has many sleepless nights, not necessarily because he cannot sleep, but because he is the type of man that will finish his work no matter the time, resulting in all-nighters more often than not. 

Being the ship’s doctor, he definitely knows better, but the peace and quiet at night makes working just a little bit easier. 

And he does take a regular break to just stretch his legs, get on deck and get some fresh air under the night sky filled with stars. Whenever the sea is calm, it works insanely relaxing and it’s his favorite time of day. 

He is usually all by himself, save for the handful of crewmembers on patrol and those in the crow’s nest on night watch. 

It’s very rare to see someone else on deck, and that’s why you, leaning over the railing as you stare into the waves, stick out like a sore thumb. 

Marco of course, cannot just let you stand there. If you’re up at this hour, and out of your cabin, surely something must be wrong. 

And it becomes even more clear that something is wrong, as he approaches you and notices your shoulders are jerking up in the typical fashion of someone who’s crying. 

Your hands are clutching the rails and your gritting your teeth, angry at your own emotions, pirates don’t cry, you think and in your very overwhelmed state, you don’t even notice Marco walking up to you. 

It is only when he softly puts a hand on your shoulder and asks you if you’re okay that you notice, and you jump a little at the sudden touch and sound, turning your head away, ashamed of your tears.

He stands next to you, looking over at the sea as well, not staring to make you uncomfortable. 

He lets you know that you can talk if you want, but if not, he'll just stand there with you, so you’re not alone in whatever you’re going through. 

It’s silent for a long time before everything spills from your lips, you were calmed down and had stopped crying, but as you’re talking you feel the tears well up again. 

Marco rubs your back as you speak and cry out, and offers you to come to his cabin, where he prepares some herbal tea. It helps you calm down and will definitely help you sleep. 

As you’re walking, he points out all the little things on how the crew is working together, distracting your mind from the negative and showing you how this crew is there for every single member of it. 

It’s all facts, easy for you to wrap your mind around, and that combined with his generally calming demeanor makes you feel tired even before you can even start drinking the tea. 

Marco will only send you back to your cabin if you promise to reach out next time you feel that way, to any crew member you want. You’re never alone here.

Izo 

Izo was just checking supplies in one of the storage rooms, taking notes of all that needed to be restocked next time the Moby Dick docks at an island when he hears some soft snoring. 

His initial instinct is Ace having had another bout of narcolepsy, but it’s strange: Ace does not come in these supply rooms often, mostly cause there’s ammunition stocked and they don’t really want someone who’s literally made out of fire to be close to possible explosive materials.

So when he goes looking for the source, he’s pretty surprised to find you there. You’re usually pretty focussed and all ready and doing your chores, so it is strange to find you sleeping away somewhere.

Especially in that position. Concerned for your back and your wellbeing, Izo gently shakes you awake. 

Bad idea, you jolt up, panting and you nearly hit him in the face. 

Izo needs to take a few minutes to calm you down, and once you realize what had happened, you feel your cheeks heat up with embarrassment. 

You feel like you need to explain, but at the same time you don’t want to explain and you’re just incoherently mumbling at this point, worrying Izo even more. 

He tells you to breathe. Relax. Wait a few seconds. Calm down. And then you can tell him. Counting the supplies can wait.

You get it all out, how your worst fear is losing everyone you met right now, and how every time you close your eyes, you see the whole crew dying, or leaving you behind, and how now you can barely sleep. 

How you went in here to get something for Thatch and just passed out from fatigue. 

Izo gives you an insanely good pep talk. Both of you sitting down on the floor in the darkness of the supply room. You have no choice but to look him in the eyes and believe him. He’s so convincing. 

Every single time you throw in another doubt, Izo obliterates it. The crew is here for you. They will uplift you. They will protect you. 

They will train with you to get stronger, help you whenever you feel down. 

They are a family, and the moment Whitebeard welcomed you onboard you were a part of that family too. 

And they’re Whitebeards crew, like hell are they gonna die over some trivial fights. 

He’s almost getting a little worked up by the end of his speech and you cannot help but smile. 

He’s right, and you will think about that speech before you go to bed, in hopes the nightmares stay away.

[spiderman-homecomeme]

‘cause spider-man comes tonight

🎄The Twelve Days of Promptmas🎄 - Day Four

concepts: holiday smut

dialogue: all I want for Christmas is you.” “You’re Jewish?” “So?” 

The sequel to the dirty talk fic, but make it ~festive~

❆❆❆

i.

“Good moooorning.”

Peter’s voice is gentle, almost singing against her bare skin as his lips trail kisses along her shoulder. 

Michelle shifts, grumbling at the soft, dragging touches. 

Still, he persists, his breath tickling. “Wake up.”

And as annoyed as she is for being woken up, she can’t help but smile as he snuggles against her, his arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her close. “Too early…” She mumbles sleepily into the pillow, nestling further into the blankets. 

Peter huffs out a laugh, his lips pausing momentarily over the strap of her tank top before he keeps going. “Didn’t you wanna go to shopping today? For the party?” He reasons, though MJ knows for a fact that the purpose in all of this isn’t to get the two of them out of bed, per se. 

No, his intentions are perfectly clear. 

“Not at—” She barely cranes her head up, glancing at her phone on the bedside table. “—nine in the morning.” 

“Wow, so early,” he mumbles against her skin. 

Her expression contorts when he finds a particularly ticklish spot on her neck, half-heartedly warning him as she tries to twist away from his mouth. “Hey.”

“What?” He chuckles, cuddling closer, arms locking around her, pressing his cheek into her shoulder blade as he gives her a loving squeeze. “Does that tickle?” 

He knows the answer already, the little shit, and she can’t help but lightly smack his arm in response. 

He laughs again, a sound that makes a comforting warmth bloom in her chest. It’s good that he can’t see her face, that his is burrowing into her shoulder, to see the light smile tugging at her lips, the way her eyes close again as she breathes out a contented sigh. 

Though, his touches soon turn less than innocent, and he’s whispering filthy nothings into her ear as his hands shamelessly roam her body, as he presses his hardness against her. While some of what he says is of the highest quality—he’s actually great at dirty talk when he wants to be—there’s always that one line he has to sneak in there. 

Sure, “I have a big present for you,” as he pokes her in the back of thigh with his morning wood isn’t necessarily groundbreaking, or his worst yet, but it’s still enough to coax a slightly undignified snort out of her. 

Finally, she turns over to face him, eyeing him carefully, a single brow raised. “Oh really?” 

Peter nods, his bottom lip caught between his teeth. “I sure do.” 

“Of course.” Her tongue presses against the inside of her cheek as she fights the urge to roll her eyes and laugh. 

When she doesn’t say anything else he nudges her. “Are you not gonna ask what it is?”

“I think I have a pretty good idea—” She glances down. “—It’s either an actual present… or, if I know you well enough, which unfortunately, I do—” She meets his gaze again. “It’s your dick.”

“Bingo.” He throws in a wink for good measure. 

“I thought I already got that present, though?” MJ asks, trying to stay casual. “Eight nights in a row?”

“That was for me,” Peter insists. “This—” He bites is his lip, pressing himself against her again. “Is for you. You can even have it early. As a treat.”

She can’t help but laugh as he leans in to kiss her, pressing her palm against his chest to keep him away. “Not supposed to open anything till Christmas. Come on, man, you know the rules.” 

“Good thing I’m not wrapping it.”

The double meaning gets another snort out of her, and she playfully dodges him again as his lips press into the corner of her mouth. “Peter—”

“I can put a little bow on it if you want?”

All she can do is shake her head in response and pray that she can suppress her laugh for just a second longer. “I swear… To God.”

“Love you, too,” he grins, leaning in to kiss her fully this time.

But once again, she stops him, scooting away from him. “Wait, no. Morning breath.” 

Peter pauses, his hand lingering on her waist, lip caught in his teeth in thought. She has a point there, at least she sees him thinking it through. He shrugs. “I mean, there’s doggy… reverse cowgirl… deck the halls.”

“Deck the halls?” Michelle’s brow furrows in confusion. 

“I’ll deck your halls with my boughs of holly,” he winks again.

“That’s not even a position, you just wanted to make a joke,” she playfully pushes him.

He shrugs.

Does she hate him?

Who knows?

Is this turning her on still, as stupid as it is?

Maybe.

“Now, come on,” he says, patting his legs, inviting her to climb onto his lap. “Hop on.” 

“So romantic,” she deadpans with a quirk of her brow. 

But does that mean she’s giving in so soon? 

Absolutely not. 

Some restraint and discipline would be good for them both. 

They have things to do today. 

Namely, getting ready for Flash’s big holiday bash tonight. 

“Maybe later, okay?” A knowing, sly grin stretches across her face as she pats him twice on the cheek, climbing up from the bed before he can protest. 

He huffs out a laugh, looking up at her with borderline pleading eyes. So innocent a look for so definitely not-innocent a request. “Please?”

“Nuh uh,” she says as she starts rifling through her dresser. She makes a show of getting dressed, slowly peeling her tank top off. He grins, his eyes instantly taking in the sight of her bare chest, before she’s tossing the shirt at him. He catches it easily, his gaze never leaving hers. 

“We have to go shopping.”

ii.

Why she thought it was ever a good idea to let Peter peruse the holiday section of the local Michael’s with her, she has no idea. 

Especially when he’s in the mood he’s been in all morning—for the entirety of their relationship, really.

One minute, he’s by her side, holding out different festive candles for her to smell as she looks at the different coffee mugs and tea sets, and the next he’s throwing her a wink and a subtle kiss as he points at a sign that says fall on your knees. 

He seems especially thirsty today, for some reason—though she would argue that Peter never really needs a reason to try and seduce her with his own brand of dirty talk, however horrible it may be, however it makes her blink unimpressed at him, however it makes her laugh until her sides hurt. 

While it had all started as something kept strictly to the confines of their bedroom, more and more, it’s started to bleed into their everyday conversation. And every time, it has the same effect on her. She’ll stare at him, slow-blinking, lips twitching as she tries to suppress a smile. 

And, she’d be lying if she said that no matter how cringey some of his lines are… damn it, they kind of work. She’s too attracted to him as a whole for them not to. 

“MJ.”

She hears his voice on the other end of the aisle. Insistent, a self-indulgent chuckle hiding under his tone. 

Her lips press into a thin line as she pointedly ignores him, continuing to browse the different tea towels. 

“MJ,” he says again, louder this time. Childish, even. 

Still, she doesn’t look at him, shaking her head as she purses her lips.

“MJ!”

His voice is suddenly right next to her, and she jumps, turning to see him holding up one of those weird Elf on the Shelf dolls. 

“What?” She hisses. 

There’s that damn, stupid grin on his face as he pokes the felt figurine, his bottom lip caught between his teeth when she narrows her eyes. “When I think about you, I touch my elf.” 

And as usual, it takes everything not to smile. She bites the inside of her cheek. “You’re an idiot.” 

His smile widens to levels of supreme dopiness. “I’m your idiot,” he says with all the affection in the world. 

 “Unfortunately,” she shakes her head, huffing, though she can’t help the way her lips curve into a smile, the way her face warms. And for a moment, she thinks he’s done. He’s had his fun. He’s made her smile. 

“Wanna cradle my dreidel?” He asks under his breath, his hand dangerously low on her back. 

The sudden snort of laughter she lets out startles some poor old lady on the other end of the aisle. 

iii.

If she thinks she’s free the minute she gets back to the apartment, she’s sorely mistaken. Okay, maybe not sorely, per se. But she is very much mistaken. 

It’s again, as they’re deciding what dish to bring to Flash’s holiday get together later in the evening, rifling through their pantry and fridge in search of any usable ingredients. 

“We’ve still got these pie shell things,” Peter says, holding up the box of premade pie crust from the freezer. “Pie’s are always nice. For holidays and what not.” 

Ah, yes. The ones they forgot to bring to May’s for Thanksgiving—making them have to run to the store on a major holiday for something that was pretty much already sold out. Perfect. 

“Great. A pie’s good,” MJ says, feeling a sense of relief that they don’t necessarily have to leave the apartment again. At least until tonight. “What kind do you think?”

Peter looks up, titling his head as his lips twist in though. But then, his gaze flits to her briefly. 

“I’ve always liked creampies.” 

This time she might actually hit him. 

iv.

She’s just pulled her sweater on over her head when Peter walks into the bedroom, his eyes instantly drinking her in, from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet. His appreciative gaze sets a warmth in her stomach and chest, and she bites back her smile as she pushes her hair over her shoulder, tucking an errant curl behind her ear. 

His smile is is bright, and his eyes meet hers in the mirror as he comes to stand behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist as he murmurs into her hair, “God, can’t wait to hurry down your chimney tonight.”

And to think she’d started to lean into him. She scoffs, smacking his arm gently. “Shut up.”

“Seriously,” he says, a laugh under his tone as he steps back. His hand lingers though, falling to play with the hem of her black skirt, gently brushing her thigh through her black tights. “You look really pretty. Easily one of my top favorite outfits.” He pauses, tilting his head in thought. “Besides nothing. You should wear nothing more often.”

“Note taken,” she says, nodding slowly, holding herself together—at least attempting to. 

“And honestly,” He muses. “I think taking this off—” he tugs at the sweater, his voice lowering. “—would really elevate the look. You know what? The skirt too.”

She quirks a brow at him in the mirror, though there’s nothing she can do to prevent her smile from widening. “Oh, so I should just… take my clothes off?”

“Let me be perfectly clear,” he replies, trying to be serious, his hands holding her waist, dropping to her hips and giving a tempting squeeze. “You should always be taking your clothes off.”

It’s amazing how this idiot can make her feel so lightheaded, how he can make her entire body feel that blurry warmth. It’s him, clearly it is, because she’s not sure she’d ever take that kind of shit from any of her other past relationships. 

Peter’s just Peter. 

“Keep it in your pants, Parker,” she teases when he tugs her closer, her back against his chest. She knows what he’s doing; exactly what. 

And again, it’s not going to work. 

Unlike him, she has a sense of self-control. 

No matter how hot her boyfriend is. 

His laugh causes her stomach to flip pleasantly. “But, baby, all I want for Christmas is you.”

“You’re Jewish?”

“So?” 

She turns in his arms, facing him now, her palms pressing into his chest. “Also it’s not Christmas yet?” 

“Christmas eve is pretty much Christmas.”

She blinks.

“Where’s your sense of imagination? Your holiday spirit?” He asks earnestly, squeezing her gently. “Now what do you want? Naughty? Or Nice?” His face lights up. “Oo! Both.”

It’s a wonder her eyes don’t roll out of her head and onto the floor, or that her cheeks fall off from how hard she’s trying not to smile. She ignores the conversation. “We’re gonna be late to Flash’s. Come on.” 

“Eh, I think there’s time.” Peter’s hand falls to hers, locking their fingers together as he pulls her close, his lips finding his favorite spot on her neck easily. 

In spite of the ticking clock in her mind, she closes her eyes, sighing softly at the feeling of his soft kisses pressing into her skin. 

“Flavortown has holiday hours right?”

And it’s the wicked grin on his face when he pulls back to look at her that causes her to snap back to reality. She laughs, her body practically screaming in protest as she steps fully away from him and out of his warmth. 

v.

The whole car ride to Flash’s feels like an eternity, given the lack of time for a pre-party quickie back at the apartment. Peter’s hand stays on her thigh, the other on the wheel, and it’s clear that he’s not paying all that much attention when he stalls at one or two red lights, startling when there’s a chorus of honking from behind them. 

Though it’s a seemingly innocent touch—he never ascends past the hemline of her skirt—it still burns her skin through the thin material of her tights. It still causes her mind to go places where it really shouldn’t go while he’s driving, while they’re on their way to a friend’s holiday party. All day, it’s been a constant game between them, and at first, MJ had assumed that she had the upper hand. 

Now, however, she’s not sure. 

She’s tried her best to ignore his dumb jokes mingled with legitimate propositions, and for the most part, she’s been successful. 

But she just knows he’s going to try something stupid at the party. She doesn’t know what, but she knows him. 

Surprisingly, however, Peter’s able to behave himself for the first hour. He mingles with everyone, never once making a suggestive comment, never once does his hand fall past the appropriate spot on her back. It’s honestly a bit of a shock. 

But of course, all things must come to an end. 

It’s as Flash is overexplaining the different stockings on his fireplace—all for him apparently—when Peter returns with a drink in hand, his voice lowered as he leans in to whisper. “Did we bring any stocking stuffers?”

Michelle’s brow furrows in confusion. “No? Why would we?”

Peter seems puzzled for a moment, lips twisting in thought, before his eyes light up. “Oh! I forgot.” 

“Wha—”

“I brought the most important one.”

She’s ashamed that it takes her more than five seconds to process what he’s said, to get it, but when she does, it’s a slow blink and a heavy sigh. “Is it in your pants—”

“—It’s in my pants.”

+i

Okay, so maybe she doesn’t have as much self control as she’d originally thought. 

But she can’t honestly find it in herself to care, especially with Peter’s mouth hot on hers, pushing her into the dresser in one of the spare bedrooms, his hands greedy as they travel her body, hungrily twisting and pulling at her clothes. 

She’d dragged him in here not two minutes ago, after one “candy cane” joke too far. She’d been pushed right over that edge. 

He tilts his head, deepening the kiss, and she lets out the softest of moans as his tongue slips into her mouth, one of his hands falling to grip her ass. His groan as he presses his hardness against her causes the heat in the pit of her stomach to flare, her hold on him to tighten, clinging desperately. 

When she finally pulls back, her chest is heaving, her breath catching as his lips and tongue drag along the underside of her jaw. How he’s so good at just this, something so seemingly simple, how he can reduce her to a puddle of nerves with a few touches, she has no idea. 

But, God, she needs him now. 

Her hands move to his shoulders, gently pushing him down to where she wants him. 

But he holds still, pushing back against her, stubborn. His gaze meets hers, almost challenging, a sly smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “What do you want?” He asks, knowing perfectly well what.

Her eyes narrow as she smirks. “You know what.”

“I don’t follow,” he says, pressing a kiss to the inside of her palm. “You gotta be more specific.”

On one hand, her body’s screaming at her to just jump his bones, to climb him like a tree, etc. But on the other, it wants her to drop kick him off of a mountain. “Peter…” She groans, her head falling back. 

“Am I gonna be a DJ?” He asks, and she snorts. “Am I gonna spin you all night long like a little dreidel?”

MJ’s brow furrows. “I thought your dick was the dreidel?” 

He playfully pinches her sides, shaking his head with a laugh before looking up at her again. “Am I going somewhere? To eat, maybe?”

“God, just—” she shakes her head, lips pressing together stubbornly. It’s the mischievous glint in his eyes that tells her exactly what he wants her to say. 

And dammit, she’s too horny for this.  

“Go to Flavortown.”

His giggle makes her heart nearly burst out of her chest. 

“I dunno. Is it open right now? It is almost Christmas.”

“Doors are always open for you,” she almost laughs.

“I’m on it.” She’s cut off by Peter spinning her around, his hand splaying on her back and pushing her chest into the top of the dresser as he bends her forward. A heady rush of excitement flares within her, and she shifts on her feet in anticipation. His hands slide under her skirt and up to her waist, thumbs hooking under the waistband of her tights. The brush of his knuckles against her skin leave goosebumps in its wake as he peels them—and her underwear—down to her knees, and she gasps as the cool air hits her center. 

He’s mumbling some song under his breath—one that sounds suspiciously festive. She looks back at him, a confused grin tugging at her lips when he sings aloud, “Spider-Man is coming to Flavortown…”

He bunches her skirt at her waist, and before she can even think to say anything about his song, his mouth is on her. Her knees buckle, glad to be gripping the dresser as tight as she is, when he licks a long stripe up—or down for her—her slit. His tongue is all over, languidly lapping at her, gathering her wetness and spreading it messily over her swollen clit. 

A wet gasp falls from her lips as he brings two fingers up to tease her entrance, circling lazily as he sucks her clit into his mouth, flicking it with his tongue. 

“Fuck, Peter—”

The warmth in her belly grows hot, boiling even, as he fervently and eagerly works her heat, moaning openly into her cunt. His fingers are skilled as they curl into her, sliding in effortlessly and finding her spot. The vibrations of his hums are addictive, intoxicating, but still make her smile when she realizes it’s even more holiday music that he’s humming. 

“You’re such—fuck—such a dork,” she says, breathless, mouth curved into a wavy smile as her cheek presses into the wood of the dresser. 

He laughs against her, though his pace doesn’t falter. It stays relentless, and continues eating her out like it’s the last meal he’ll ever have. 

She comes with a choked, strangled moan, her knuckles tense as she grips the side of the dresser for purchase as his fingers fuck into her, as his tongue swirls around her clit in his mouth. 

The ground feels shaky underneath her, and she doesn’t dare stand. Instead, she only melts further into the furniture, her eyes fluttering closed as she gathers her breath. 

“My compliments to the chef,” he says, dumbly, hearing the lewd sound of him licking his fingers clean.

There’s nothing she can do to hold back her the laugh that bursts out of her

But then, the sound of the metal of his belt clinking reignites that same heat, and she finds herself almost whimpering in anticipation. She nearly jumps at the feeling of his tip sliding through her folds, gently tapping against her clit as he soaks himself in her arousal. The sound of Peter’s breath hitching makes her smile, and she suddenly finds energy in herself to push back against him, to grind herself on his erection. 

He doesn’t wait another moment, a throaty groan spilling past his lips as he pushes into her, inch by inch, up to the hilt. 

His pace starts slow, giving her time to accommodate, but soon, neither of them seem to have patience. In the next second, he’s fucking into her, his rhythm almost desperate as he matches it to their ragged breaths. 

“Fuck, yes. MJ. You feel so fucking good,” he moans, punctuating each word with a hard thrust. “I’ve been wanting to do this all day. Fuck.”

It’s almost impossible to form words, her mouth hanging open, a croaking gasp leaving her lips when he shifts the angle. 

She only nods, too lost in the sound of skin slapping against skin, the feeling of him filling her so well.

“I love you so much, Em,” he breathes, his voice shaky. 

“I love you, too,” she manages somehow, miraculously. 

And she looks up in the mirror, seeing the slight uptick of a smile on his lips. “Hey, Em?” He asks, his eyes meeting hers. 

“Fuck—Yeah?”

His grip on her hips tightens as he picks up his pace, one hand placing a hard, but loving, smack on her ass. 

And as that smile grows, instantly, she understands. 

“Looks like we’re gonna have a white Christmas this year.”