#I will now *patiently* wait for 101

[wonysugar]

working in retail 101 | ahn yujin

synopsis : what happens when a floor manager flirts with a floor clerk during an accidental, overnight lock-in inside the store? well, not anything professional, that’s for sure.

pairing : clerk!gpyujin x floormanager!femreader

genre : smut, kinda fluff towards the end too? coworkers trope, kinnndaaa boss x employee?? idk but THEY’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE DATING!

tags : so! lot to unpack here lol, superstore au, yes that sitcom netflix show SUE ME, references to the show, you don’t have to watch the show to read this but it’d be better if you knew what i was talking aboutgiejdks, naturally all characters work at cloud 9!girlpenis!yujin, handjobs, teasing, oral sex (yuj receiving), missionary sex, marking up, sub!yujin, she’s hung halp, dom!reader, implied puppy play, jonah!coded yujin, so yes she’s a loser, amy!coded reader, dina!coded gaeul, cheyenne!coded wonyoung, glenn!coded jiwon, although she isn’t really mentioned ueueueue, garrett!coded rei!

warnings : mentions of alcohol!

word count : 5,1k (excluding texting ofc!)

a/n : THIS IS MY LONGEST FIC YET?? kinda not proofread so sorry for that but HAIII omg okay so this took me such a long while to write i’m SORRYY</333 i started it while i was in the PRIME of my superstore hyperfixation and ??? IT’S SUCH A FUNNY SHOW I DEFINITELY RECOMMEND IT OMG did i mention this was a superstore au— [GUNSHOTS] as for my other drafts, they’re being worked on as we speak!! i really hope you enjoy reading this and thank you for your time! :]

also. IF ANY OTHER SUPERSTORE ENJOYERS ARE READING THIS PLEASEEE INVADE MY INBOX IMMEDIATELY I BEGGG

yujin.

that was all that preoccupied your thoughts, just her stupid face plaguing your mind like it was some sort of virus on a computer.

you needed yujin, there was no way around it. it was impossible to focus on your job when all you could think about was her, you needed her right here and right now.

and that’s exactly what you were gonna get.

after making sure that none of your coworkers were watching you flee the department you were in charge of, you quickly rushed towards the photo lab, or as everybody in the workplace liked to call it, ‘the bang room’. you walked in, slowly closed the door on your way and immediately pulled out your phone, leaning on the table and grinning to yourself as you typed up a text to send her.

running.

..running?

visualizing her just running across the store made you uncontrollably giggle at your screen in amusement.

cute, you thought to yourself. nobody else you knew would go out of their way to run across a department store as an employee to get head, and you’d normally take that text as a hyperbole, but knowing yujin? well, she was known to be very literal in everything she said. if she’d one day tell you that she had bigger fish to fry, that’s probably because she was indeed at home, frying bigger fish on a pan. (and she’d probably even send you pictures of the bigger fish in question, because why wouldn’t she?)

barely 30 seconds had passed after her last message when you turned off your phone, slid it into one of your back pockets and waited patiently. looking around at the familiar environment, you thought of various ways you two could use it this time. on your last encounter with yujin, she laid you down on the same counter that the printer sits on and proceeded to dick you down there! another time, you thought that grabbing the professional camera that’s usually used for passport or id pictures on the metal shelf next to the table and recording yujin as you rode her cock was an amazing idea! and, it was.

so much so that you still have the videos saved onto your phone!

you didn’t know that reminiscing about all of these past occurrences again would worsen your original predicament, but it did; you needed yujin to show up as soon as possible. now more than ever. 

then, suddenly, as if your prayers were magically answered, you heard rapid and loud footsteps outside the lab, followed by a familiar voice exclaiming the words “oh shit—“ before being cut off by the sound of numerous heavy boxes falling on the ground, the thud of that person’s body immediately following. worried, you got up from your seat, the door swinging open before you even had the chance to take a step towards it.

a panting yujin is what greeted you, her chest heaving up and down.

she looked at you, and you looked back at her, eyebrows raised in surprise. her eyes were nervous, darting around occasionally, looking like this was the first time you would’ve ever sucked her dick in the photo lab. 

oh she definitely fell on her way here.

“…hi?” you said, amused by the thought.

“hello!” she responded, still short of breath, smiling stupidly. 

still preoccupied by the alarming amount of boxes toppled over behind her, you tried looking over her shoulder, wanting to confirm your theory. she reacted by immediately leaning onto that side of the door frame, attempting to hide her accident from your curious sight by acting casual. that gesture alone made you especially notice how messy her short hair looked, how the ‘ahn yujin’ name tag she had pinned to her blue cloud 9 vest seemed to be abnormally tilted to the left, as well as… how weirdly scratched her glasses looked..?

it, unfortunately for her, didn’t take long at all for you to connect the dots.

yup. she fell. 

“yujin— did you slip on your way here?”

she immediately started laughing nervously in response, her eyes darting around as she pushed up her glasses and cleared her throat, hand running through her soft short hair, “…what?! noo… who do you think i am? that’d just be clumsy of me..” she kept laughing, that is, until she mumbled under her breath, 

“i did jog a little bit and didn’t seem to notice the wet sign that was on the floor but it’s just a tiny little scratch probably, nothing too bad aha i’ll clean it up later before the other managers sees it— a-anywho!” 

so you were correct in believing her, she did run across the store just to get in here quickly. and, as expected of her clumsy person, she apparently also slipped and fell in the process.

you giggled at her. god, what an idiot, you thought.

your favorite idiot.

“you know you could’ve just walked here, right?” you told her, slowly walking towards her as you cheekily smiled. “we’re not in a rush.”

while you did so, yujin took the opportunity to finally lock the door properly behind her, not even looking back at it. she stared at you, then at your lips, then right back up at your eyes. “well— i did tell gaeul that i was gonna stock up the fridge after cleaning the spilled yogurt..” 

her hand scratched the back of her head nervously, “and.. i-i kind of was in a rush, i mean, you texted me...”

you chuckled, simply thinking that she was being sappy. that is, until she nervously bit her lip and motioned with her eyes for you to look down at her. “i couldn’t have anyone see me like this… so—“

your gaze was met with the incredibly visible hard-on she had. no seriously, it poked right through her denim jeans, anybody with average, functioning eyes could effortlessly see it, especially under the new, very bright lights that were recently installed by the electricians. you scoffed, incredibly amused by the sight, she got a boner from those innocent texts alone? that was a first, no wonder why she looked so keen to get here.

in her defense, it had been a long while since the two of you were last in this room alone. hell, it’d been a long while since the two of you even said actual words to each other, period. you guys aren’t friends or anything, you only ever text her whenever it’s work or sex related and there’s still barely any conversation then, let alone when you spoke to her in person.

therefore, the boner wasn’t completely unexpected, but it was still enough to heavily flatter you. then, you felt your ego get even more stroked when you remembered that… she didn’t know much about you at all, yet she got this worked up over texts like that from you? a simple coworker she knew and fucked from time to time?

i mean, you probably wouldn’t even remember what her last name is without looking at her nametag; in other words, you know absolutely nothing about her either! okay yeah, you know that she would always stumble on her own words when talking to customers, and that she has a tendency to always pick at her nametag that’s on the left side of her vest using her right hand. you also know that she always pushes her glasses up whenever she’s nervous and that she is overall incredibly handsome and that you catch yourself staring at her from any department you’re tasked in managing very often, but apart from that? you truly don’t know much.

she’s nothing more than just an inferior at work, to you. an acquaintance, at most, but that’s about it.

this whole approximately-twice-per-month ‘meet me in the photo lab’ ritual you two have going on wouldn’t have even existed if it wasn’t for that one time that the corporate team accidentally locked all of you in the store for the night. seriously, what else was there to do? every employee there (including yourself) took the opportunity to get drunk out of their minds to pass the time and.. honestly? yujin just looked that good that night. you couldn’t help but feel the desire to drag her to the photo lab and figure out what she tastes like, despite it being strictly forbidden to be having any sort of sexual or romantic relationship with your inferior.

the both of you were anything-but-sober, very hot individuals, and she’d caught your attention for the longest time prior to that moment, too, something stupid was bound to happen in the heat of the moment!

“photo lab, in five.” was what you quietly slurred into her ear that night, holding the biggest, most cliché, red, beer-filled solo cup ever. since the others were too busy drinking and playing ‘never have i ever’ in a certain corner of the store, nobody particularly noticed you two. she, in response, could only turn her head to face you properly with her eyebrows slightly raised, clearly taken aback by your sudden and unexpected boldness, whilst also subconsciously taking in all of your intricate facial features all at once. it’s not like she didn’t know what ‘photo lab’ entailed, everyone that worked at cloud 9 for more than a week did. maybe you were joking, she thought, perhaps you said that just to get a reaction out of her. saying that she was confused in the moment would be a big understatement, especially when she watched you get up from your seat and make your way to the spot in question.

yujin’s not stupid at all, she knew you were drunk as shit, the manner that you stumbled on your words, the way your hand sat on her thigh, the slight tint of blush on your cheeks and nose quickly gave it away. she also figured that it was most probably a very bad idea to actually follow you into that room, considering that you’re her manager, and all..

did she still do it, though? of course, of course she did. because despite everything, despite all of the ‘this is so wrong’ and ‘we shouldn’t be doing this’ she managed to get out of her,

she was equally as intoxicated that night, and it’s not like she even had it in her to pass up your invitation whether she was sober or not; as much as yujin tried to remain professional around you and not pursue anything outside of work, she always deemed you as intriguing, and she had thought about you in such a way occasionally. that being said, she was willing to accept the consequences that came with potentially having sex with you that night.

those feelings only got stronger when you eventually showed her what she’d been missing out on for all those months in one singular night. anything she’d have hoped for, you exceeded in.

as it turns out, drunken people don't always make the worst decisions after all! since, yknow.. you haven’t gotten caught by anybody yet, and hopefully never will. the only consequence she really had to deal with afterwards was you contacting her throughout random times of her shifts whenever you felt like sucking dick.

and that’s a perfectly fine outcome for both you and her.

but, that hasn’t happened in a long time, not until now, at least. hence the situation you were both put in now.

“should’ve texted you earlier, by the looks of it, hm?” teasing, you approached her, both of you now face to face. your eyes trained on her crotch, you pressed your palm onto it before looking up at her again. yujin pushed her thick glasses up the bridge of her nose, then looked away from you in response to the intimacy, embarrassed.

you got to properly look at her features again. her eyes were still just as soft and fragile as when you saw them for the first time, staring back into yours with careful anticipation.

“m-maybe..” was what she mumbled under her breath, trying her hardest not to let out an accidental whimper from the slight friction she felt down there (which she failed to do), her thighs slightly clenched together. 

“did anybody see you walk in?” you asked.

“n-no! the only one near was wonyoung, i believe. and she was on her phone, as per usual..” reassured, you giggled at her usual nervousness, then, after keeping your eyes on her nervous lips for a few moments and licking your own in anticipation, you closed the minimal amount of distance between you two and made them meet after what felt like an eternity.

and once you did, she immediately got used to the familiar feeling and melted into the sensation of your embrace.

after such a long time of not being able to touch her like this, you felt like your hands glided on her entire body by themselves, feeling up the curve of her back and waist as you kissed her. she did the same, only this time more eager than your gentle movements, as one of her hands ‘accidentally’ grazed your ass.

one thing about yujin: she will always love your ass.

the only audible thing in the photo lab was her lips intertwining with yours, the kiss was undeniably messy, and while it might’ve been able to be heard from outside, you just couldn’t seem to care; at that moment, you just wanted to feel her body against yours, to pull her in closer than physically even possible. that’s what happens when you don’t get to have each other for a long time, after all.

“i missed you—“ she pulled away for a quick moment and whispered, pouting in a puppyish manner. her arms set around your waist and holding you, her fingers tugged onto your vest in desperation as you kept rubbing your hand on her clothed hard-on. 

“i know you did.” you whispered back, taking the opportunity to delicately unzip her jeans with the same hand you teased her with before going back into the kiss, this time, more longingly than ever. you did want to tell her how much you missed her too, but you refrained from doing so.

you had way better things to waste your time on.

your lips still on hers, she whimpered against the kiss. knowing her, she was wordlessly begging for you to do something about the raging boner you gave her. and knowing yourself, you wouldn’t give into her desires so easily, not until she used her words like a big girl. in other words, you wanted to see how desperate she would get.

smiling to yourself, you slowly slid your hand up from her crotch to her abs, you only kept tracing your finger on them, teasing her further.

“god, please—” her breath hitched, breaking the tense silence, the one that was occasionally filled with the sound of your lips uniting with hers. she whined even more, feeling her hard cock rubbing against the fabric of her already zipped down denim pants.

“please what, baby? you know i can’t do anything if you don’t tell me what it is you want.” you looked up innocently, now staring into her hooded eyes. she, in response, exhaled in anticipation, looking right back at you with her eyebrows slightly upturned. you knew exactly what she wanted, that much is obvious to her.

of course, she knew it wouldn’t be so easy, she knew she needed to work for it.

“i want you to t-touch me..” she desperately bucked her hips into your palm as a pitiful attempt at satisfying her crave for friction. “please..” was what she added afterwards, wearing her trademark puppy eyes whilst she pleaded.

“good girl.” you hummed, already getting familiar with the sound of her begging again. you planted a small kiss onto her lips and another onto her neck before getting down on your knees in front of her.

you looked up at her as you unbuttoned her jeans, your eyes locking with hers whilst you slowly pulled down her pants. once those as well as her boxers were completely off, leaving with nothing but her pretty dick springing up at you, you left lazy kisses all over her lower stomach and sides. 

you kept kissing her all over, giving attention to her inner thighs and hips, purposefully giving attention everywhere except where she specifically asked to be touched, watching out for any kind of reaction from her end.

and when you eventually got what you wanted, oh you were way more than satisfied.

“you’re so m-mean y/n.. please..” yujin whined quietly, too embarrassed to even look you in the eye anymore, hers all glossy with hot, desperate tears threatening to spill if this carried on any further. her dick said all of the words that couldn’t come out of her mouth through its slight movement, twitching and practically throbbing before you, aching to be taken care of.

she needed to feel your warm mouth around her, hell, just feeling the light graze of your touch against her aching cock would be enough; at least, that’s what it felt like, she was sure she’d go insane if you didn’t give her just that. if she could, she’d grab the back of your head and fuck your throat like she likes it, unapologetic and more than ready to make you swallow all of her thick load.

she knew she couldn’t, of course, she was very much aware that she needed permission to remotely even touch you, which, unfortunately for her, just contributed to arousing her even more.

taking pity on her, “i’m sorry for teasing, baby, you’re just so cute when you beg..” you admitted, smiling to yourself and running your hand up and down her thigh, before adding on, “you’ve been so needy, so good for me.. and just for that, i’ll take good care of you now, okay?”

just like that, her eyes were back on yours, this time wider and more excited, it’s like you could see her invisible puppy ears standing up in anticipation. she nodded at your words, her gaze still wet and pathetic with tears. 

it didn’t take long for you to finally wrap your hand around her hard shaft, stroking it up and down ever so slowly, to which the girl whose penis you were jerking off let out a heavy sigh of relief. your thumb brushed the slit of her tip, rubbing all of the precum that came out of it all over the surface of her cock, making her shudder. then, after what felt like an eternity of you teasing her, you eventually took all of her length all at once, holding your hair up. 

“ahh— y/n.. fuck..“ desperate moans escaped yujin’s mouth as you sucked her off, using all of her willpower attempting to not hold up your hair for you and ram herself into your mouth. 

she really wanted to, though, and you know her like you know the back of your hand, so that wasn’t hard to figure out. it’s obvious, especially with how her nails seemed to dig into her own skin due to how desperate she was to touch you. 

you saw that, and took pity on her; gently grabbing one of her hands and putting it on your hair, you nonverbally gave her the desired permission to finally touch you, and to guide your head however she wanted to.

mumbling quiet and desperate ‘thank you’s, she nestled her fingers in between your strands of hair for maximum comfort. unconscious about it, she dug her nails into your scalp slightly. it didn’t take long until she proceeded to finally move your head in a repetitive, back and forth motion.

“y/n..” she groaned after a while of having you suck her off, looking down at you and using all of her willpower to be as quiet as possible, but alas, “i can’t hold it in.. i’m sorry i— i need to cum.. so badly—”

no matter how hard she tried to keep it contained, she simply couldn’t: she moaned, finally shooting her long anticipated load into your throat, the warm and thick substance coating the entirety of the inside of your mouth. 

you weren’t done with her, of course, especially not after that.

now, you weren’t usually one to be into anything considered similar to ‘vanilla sex’, you always liked experimenting and trying different things, especially if it was yujin. however, you felt like keeping it simple today, your only objective being to orgasm from the girl’s, still very hard, cock.

therefore, what better way to do that than some good old missionary on the photo lab table? 

after making out with you and leaving marks all over your neck and visible parts of your collarbone, she ended up on top of your laying body, both your clothing and hers mostly still on. 

being positioned like this was the only time where she felt like she had power over you, and not vice-versa. it was the only time where she felt like she could do anything she wanted to you without any consequences, and she looked forward to it every single time. of course, she still thoroughly enjoys having you order her around, whether it’s for work or not, however, she also liked having a role switch every once in a while.

keeping her balance with one of the hands she has on the table, positioned right next to your head, she proceeded to take off the glasses from her face and set them somewhere near. you quickly stopped her by gently grabbing onto her wrist, which caught her attention. wide-eyed, she asked, “yeah?”

���don’t take them off.”

“...excuse me–”

“keep your stupid glasses on this time,” she was already committed to the action of putting them back on after you indicated that you wanted her to, but you decided to justify further, just for good measure, “i’ve always wondered what’d it look like for you to wear them while you fuck me.” 

and when she thought she couldn’t possibly be any more turned on and eager to fuck you, you proved her wrong with just that small, simple sentence.

she quickly pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose before leaning back into you, kissing you again, this time more eagerly. soon enough, she pulled away and started fucking you with slow, gentle thrusts, listening out for any sounds that came out of your pretty lips, gaze going back and forth between admiring how pleasure quickly contorted your beautiful face and watching how her dick disappeared into you.

the longer that went on, the harder it got to contain the noises that threatened to leave your already agape mouth, especially with how fast yujin’s pace got progressively faster.

“f-fuck yujin..” you whined, watching the girl on top of you lose herself as she thrusted the entirety of her length into your core. she looked at you through the lenses of her glasses as you whimpered sweet praises, leaving hungry, desperate kisses all over your lips, neck and even collarbone, marking you up even more.

soon enough, all of this turned into a constant cycle; all of a sudden, you realized that you wouldn’t actually mind staying that way for hours and hours on end. who knew that yujin could make hooking up on a shift for around the hundredth time still be so fun?

she eventually planted one last kiss on your lips before making you cum, your walls clenching all around her cock, which, of course, turned her on so much that she had to pull out to jerk off and help herself reach her own climax, in one last long moan.

lightheaded from the consecutive orgasms she’s put herself through, she laid there after you thoroughly licked her coated-in-cum dominant hand, as to remove any evidence of you two being ever here. her body rested on yours and her head comfortably nestled in the crook of your neck as she cuddled up to you, enjoying your body warmth. you panted, matching the rhythm of her own breathing, otherwise a comfortable silence settled between the two of you. 

that is, until her phone obnoxiously rang in one of her jean pockets, breaking said silence and catching the both of you by surprise. 

sitting up in a hurry, she quickly digs into said pocket and pulls out her cellular device, wasting no time to look at the caller and straight up just answers it, in case of an emergency. she puts it up to her ear before speaking up, clearly nervous, “..hello?”

silence. you stare at her with anticipation and curiosity, studying her facial expressions and looking out for any hint of bad news. thankfully, that never happened, as her eyes instead lit up in surprise.

“oh! yes, hello..”

“uh huh,” she added, nodding along to the words only she heard from the tiny phone speaker placed against her ear, “4 pm? yes! of course, i-i’ll be there. thank you so much.” 

she quickled fixed her posture and ended the call soon after saying that, turning back at you with a pleased and surprised expression.

“who was that?” you asked, curiosity eating at you.

“target.” she watched as your expression switched to a puzzled one, therefore explained further, “they called me to see if i was free for an interview later.”

“interview?” you repeated, making sure you heard her correctly, she nodded. “you applied to places recently?” is what you added.

she gave you another nod, this time reluctant, fixing her glasses and messy short hair, “i mean, nothing against cloud 9 or anything! i like working here and i love you guys, a lot! i simply just wanted a change of pace, i guess.. p-plus they might not even hire me, it’s not like i was expecting them to even call me back in the first place, so—” 

“hey,” you placed before she could stumble on another one of her words, wearing a sympathetic smile, “don’t worry about ‘not repping’ cloud 9 or whatever, it’s not like you sold your soul to jiwon when coming here. you’ll kill it there!” you joked, before continuing, “plus, you can always come back if things ever don’t work out; whatever happens, i’m rooting for you, we all are.” 

“even if you’re working for the rival company.” were your last words before leaving a kiss on her cheek and standing back up on your two feet, fixing yourself up. the sudden skin contact combined with the banter earned a shy giggle from yujin.

it was somewhat a ridiculous situation, feeling guilty for leaving your coworkers and going for another job, yujin didn’t know why she felt like this over trivial things such as this one. yet, you comforted her, despite how stupid it might seem. it’s only natural since you, out of all people, are the first person to know how much of a nervous wreck she is and how sensitive she always is to this kind of stuff, that was her charm, after all.

she appreciated you way more than she’d like to outwardly admit.

so, while you’re making your way to the door, getting ready to go to the break room to grab your things from your locker and clock out for the day, she calls out to you, “hey, y/n?”

“yeah?”

“are you maybe free, afterwards? y-yknow since our shifts both end at 2:30pm i was thinking we could maybe go grab a coffee together before my job interview and stuff but it’s like, totally fine if you already have plans or whatever—“

you smiled, flattered by the invitation. after all, today would mark the last day that you’re considered her ‘superior’, so you found it cute that she’d ask so soon. quite frankly, you were very tempted, this time having no obstacles in your way. who wouldn’t wanna go out on a date with the cute, charming girl who usually works at the dairy section? well, used to.

“sure, i would love tha—“

“ahem ahem.” you were cut off by the staticky sound of the words coming from the intercom, immediately recognizing the familiar and soft-spoken voice of your coworker, rei, “attention, dear shoppers of cloud 9, just a heads up to please proceed to not feel concerned about the following message, as it is destined to our staff, and our staff only, please and thank you. happy shopping!”

you and the puppy-like girl looked at each other in confusion, only to be thrown off guard by the same voice again, this time sounding more impatient. 

“now.. y/n, yujin, i know you can hear me; come out of that damn photo lab before i personally drag you out of there myself oh my god y’all aren’t slick, we all know what you do in there, you’re not fooling anybody. also, what happened to keeping it classy? what happened to doing this at home? not only that but it’s been like— an hour and a customer has been trying to get some passport photos done but you hoes— two, you two have been at it for forever. next time, if you’re gonna do this, make sure to at least keep it short and not have it last a whole decade.” 

then, you heard the intercom turn off.

yujin’s face went completely red as she listened to that, now not at all wanting to walk out of said photo lab. you cleared your throat, your whole body invaded with nothing but embarrassment as uncomfortable silence filled the space between you and the other girl. 

then, once you heard the intercom turn on again, it felt like your worst nightmare coming back to life for round two.

except this time, it didn’t come for you.

“oh and yujin, gaeul wanted me to tell—“ rei’s voice blasted through the speaker again before being obnoxiously interrupted by what sounded like gaeul’s voice, who was audibly angry and annoyed.

“yujin if you don’t get your ass back in the dairy section right now and clean that god damned spilled yogurt i’ll personally make sure that jiwon gets your next paycheck cut off by fifty percent, don’t test me. it reeks, yujin, reeks. oh and as for you, wonyoung, get off that damn phone before i—”

then, the intercom turned off again, which was probably rei’s doing, to both yujin, and probably wonyoung’s relief. 

you simply giggled, watching as she took off her name tag in an embarrassed manner, yknow, as to not be recognized by the customers she’d meet on her way to the row she had to clean. then, you cleared your throat, earning her attention before leaving. 

“meet me outside when you’re done?” you smiled.

she returned that same smile, immediately having forgotten the misery that was waiting for her outside that door, visibly excited.

“yeah, i’ll be there.”

[darknight3904]

𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘐𝘵 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘞𝘢𝘯𝘵

𝘓𝘰𝘨𝘢𝘯 𝘏𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵 𝘹 𝘍𝘦𝘮!𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳

𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺: 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘓𝘰𝘨𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘢𝘺.

𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘭 & 𝘞𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘦 (2024).

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵.

𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴: 𝘝𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦.

𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘺 𝘛𝘢𝘺𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘸𝘪𝘧𝘵

𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵: 2.3 𝘬

𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵 / 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 / 𝘔𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵

Logan watched as you played with Jingle. The cat was now 10 months old and seemed to be in a never-ending growth spurt. It had recently gotten over some of its animosity towards Logan and let him pet it from time to time.

Logan wanted to rip this laptop in half as he scrolled through an article titled "101 Ways to Commemorate your One Year Anniversary!" Every single thing was either stupid or wildly expensive. Who took a journey to the Sahara Desert to ride camels? Seemed over extravagant to him. So far the only tolerable idea was a necklace with his initials on it. He liked the idea but he wasn't sure how you'd feel about it. And, he couldn't just ask, he wanted it to be a surprise.

He glanced over at you again and this time caught you staring at him. He felt the stress ebb away just for a split second as you smile at him.

He had to make this special.

"Wade! Wade!" Logan pounded into the wood of Wade's apartment. He could hear Mary barking on the other side, where the hell was he?

The door finally opened after another minute to reveal Wade in a minion onesie.

"Oh, hey, thanks for waiting so patiently at the door," Wade said as Logan pushed his way into the apartment

"I need your help." Logan said, "What the fuck are you wearing?"

"A gift, you monster. Peter got this for me after X-Force was created." Wade gasped

"You look ridiculous," Logan says

"No, you look ridiculous." Wade sighs

"Forget it," Logan says, "I just need your help with something."

"Peanut, I'm flattered but I'm a taken man. And so are you. I think if you're going to experiment it should be with someone else. I can call Dopinder up, he'll want to do it in the taxi though."

"Not that, you fucking idiot." Logan groaned, swatting Wade's outstretched arms away from him, "We've got an anniversary coming up and I want to plan something, Just can't figure it out."

"You've come to the right place. I'm great at planning things." Wade grins, "How much time do we have?"

Logan cringes and glances at the clock on the wall," About twenty hours."

"You procrastinating son of a bitch."

Much to Logan's surprise, Wade is actually pretty good at this stuff. He approved of the necklace idea and now they were brainstorming how Logan would actually give it to you.

"What if you took a long walk in Central Park during sunset?" Wade asked, "Free and romantic."

"Last time we were at Central Park at sunset, a dog half the size of me peed on my shoes," Logan says, shuddering at the memory.

"Okay, forget that. What about...taking a dancing class together?"

Logan looks at Wade who sits opposite of him on the couch.

"Are you fucking with me?" He asked seriously

"I wish. Vanessa and I actually did that once. It was fun." Wade says, "I can Salsa now. Want to see?

"I'll pass on the dance class." Logan puts a hand up, "And the demonstration."

"Oh come on I'd love to see you in a tutu." Wade pleads

"Different idea," Logan growled, indicating that the subject was done. He loved you but he wasn't sure that love extended to tutus.

"Alright, well has she ever mentioned something she liked to do a lot? Maybe something she hasn't done in a while?"

Logan runs a hand through his hair, what would that even be? You always seemed so content with him, Laura, and Jingle.

"Wait." He paused, "She mentioned star gazing once."

"Now we're talking." Wade smiles

Logan had left you a note, stuck to the bathroom mirror that dictated to meet him on the roof at 8pm. You hadn't seen him all day and were a bit dishearted at his disappearance. Had he forgotten about today and run off with Wade?

You sighed and pulled one of Logan's flannels over your shirt. October was cooler than it was last year and you swore whenever you walked to work, you saw your breath in the air. The bag containing Logan's present caught your eye, it was a simple gift, nothing too extravagant but you grabbed it anyway, in hopes he had remembered

At first glance you thought the roof was empty, except for an odd blob of blankets, it was quiet.

"Logan?" You call, half expecting him to jump out from behind one of the chimneys

A loud shuffle is heard and before you know it, Logan is climbing out from under the mop of blankets.

"Hi." He greets

"Hi," You smile, "What were you doing?"

"C'mon, I'll show you."

Logan beckons to you and disappears back under the blankets. You sigh and follow him, what is he up to now?

As it turns out, the mop of blankets was well, a fort. Logan had built you a blanket fort on the roof of your building at 8pm at night on a Monday. A blow-up mattress lined the ground, one you recognized from Laura's closet and a My Little Pony blanket sat on top, keeping your skin from touching the rubber. A camping lantern illuminates the small space and you even notice a small bowl of pretzels in the corner.

"Logan, what is going on?" You laugh as he pulls you down to sit beside him on the air mattress.

"It's our anniversary, baby." He smiles

"I know." You breathe, relieved he hasn't forgotten.

"This," He gestures to the fort, "Is part of the gift."

You watch, wide-eyed as he pulls a small box out of his pocket.

"Logan Howlett, that better not be a ring." You say, suddenly scared.

It's not like you wouldn't say yes, you just didn't want to rush anything like that.

"It's not a ring, hon." Logan shakes his head, "That's for further down the road."

"I got you something." You say

"You go first then," Logan says, setting the little box down.

Suddenly you feel a bit shy. He'd gotten you jewelry and you had some dumb homemade gift.

"I bet it's perfect," Logan said as he took the bag from your lap, pulling the tissue paper from the bag

You nervously wring your hands together as he takes the gift in. A big homemade album sits in his hands, capturing nearly every moment from the past year.

Logan breathes your name as he turns he pages gently, "I love it."

"You do?" You ask

"Of course." He laughs, "There's even one in here of me sleeping on the beach."

You look down to see the picture that you had snapped of Logan, passed out in the sun when Wade had convinced everyone to pack up in the van and head to the beach in July.

"I had a sunburn for nearly 5 full minutes after that nap." Logan smiles

"Oh, poor you. Five minutes." You groan, "Some people's sunburn lasts for over five days, Logan."

He shudders at the idea, as if the possibility of a sunburn was terrifying, "Your turn, bub."

He hands you the little velvet box and you slowly open it. Inside a delicate silver chain sits a small circular medallion on it, with an L engraved on it.

"Logan..."

"You don't have to wear it. Just keep it okay?" He asks nervously, his eyes scanning your face for a reaction.

"Are you kidding me?" Your gaze snaps up to his, "I'm wearing this."

He laughs as you eagerly hand it to him so he can put it on you. You hear him curse under his breath as he fumbles with the little clasp.

"Are you alright back there, Wolverine?"

"Fine." He grunts as his fingers brush your neck

You pull away when he finally has it fastened, moving it around the chain to center it.

"Perfect." Logan breathes

"Really? I thought it needed to be a bit more to the right." You say, pushing it so it is closer to the center of your chest.

"Was talking about you," Logan says

"Oh." You say, flustered at his flirting

"Oh." He mimics with a smirk

You watch him move a bit, like he's some perfect daydream in your eyes as he switches off the camping lantern and pulls you down to lay on the mattress next to him. You lay there in the dark for a second, listening to him shuffle around.

"Logan, I'm not having rooftop sex with you when any of our neighbors can walk up here and see us." You say

You hear him chuckle in the darkness, "We'll save that for later. I've got something else."

"No blowjobs either." You huff

"You're such a pervert." He says, "This isn't about sex."

You're not sure what else it could be as you lie there on the My Little Pony blanket.

"Fucking, fuck." Logan grumbles

"What the hell are you doing?" You ask

"Nothing."

"Sure sounds like something."

Logan heaves another sigh and lets out a shout when whatever he has works. The small space of the tent is suddenly illuminated with colored stars. A laugh escapes your chest as the light changes from blue to green, and then red.

"What is this?" You ask as he lays down beside you

"Remember when you said you liked star gazing?" He asks

"Yes." You say

"I've brought the stars to you." Logan says, "With the help of this...thing."

You look over Logan's side to see a light-up...dog? With a piece of plastic in its back, creating the stars.

"What is that?" You ask

"Wade said it was a Pillow Pet." Logan shrugs

"Why does Wade have a pillow pet?" You ask

"You're really asking me that?"

"You're right. I should be asking why wouldn't Wade have a pillow pet."

You stare up at the multi-colored stars and wrap your fingers around the necklace Logan has given you.

"Thank you." You say quietly

"You like it? I thought the pillow pet was dumb." Logan says

You laugh and rest your head on his chest, "I love it."

Logan presses a kiss to your head and secures a hand to rest on your hip, "Good."

You lay there with him in comfortable silence. His fingers draw lazy circles into your hip. Your eyes feel heavy as you breathe in his scent, happy in his presence. The shrill ring of Logan's phone as you groan in drowsiness as Logan mumbles an apology.

"Wade? What's taking so long?"

Logan's gruff tone into his phone has you perking up. What was he planning with Wade of all people.

"She's about to fall asleep. You're the slowest motherfucker around. Al could've done this quicker."

You presume Wade has something smart to say back because Logan is scowling and hanging the phone up.

"You alright?" You ask

"Fine. Wade's annoying."

"Well, I knew that." You laugh

Logan's phone dings, this time with a text and you lean over to read it. Much to your disappointment, he places his entire meaty hand over your eyes so you can't see the message.

"Cheating on me?" You joke

"Yeah, I'm cheating on you with a cancer patient who looks like a burned testicle," Logan says

"Knew it." You sigh, sitting up

"Keep your eyes shut," Logan says as he begins to move around again

The sudden blast of cold air has you deducing that he's taking the blanket fort down. To your surprise, it's darker than you thought it would be as you keep your eyes closed. Normally, the outside lights would leak through the thin skin of your eyelids. You feel a blanket drop onto your shoulders, Logan must've taken note of your shivering.

"Open." He whispers in your ear

You open your eyes to, well, nothing. Your eyes blink, trying to get used to the darkness. Somewhere a car honks and the yell of someone hits your ears.

"Logan?" You ask

"Right here." He wraps a big arm around you.

After another moment, you realize, it's not your eyes. and every building around you has gone dark.

"Look up," Logan says

Your eyes, follow his pointing finger to the sky, to the stars that you've never seen here in the city.

"Logan, what...what is happening?" You laugh looking at him and then the sky again

"You didn't really think that I was going to let you star gaze with a Pillow Pet?" He laughs

"How did you get everyone to turn the lights off?" You ask looking around trying to see where this blackout ends

"Oh, that's what Wade was doing." Logan says, "We tracked down the major power plant for the city and Wade cut a few wires."

"What."

Logan looks at you a bit sheepishly. It's hard to see his expression in the dark but you can tell he's making that guilty face he makes when he knows he's done something wild. It's the same face he pulled after eating your Olive Garden leftovers two weeks ago.

"That is majorly illegal." You say slowly

"Wade's fine." Logan brushes you off

"You just plunged the entire city into a blackout, Logan." You say

"But, I did it for you," Logan says resting his head on your shoulder

You sigh and fight the smile that works its way onto your face. He was going to be the death of you one of these days. You sigh and rest your head against his.

"You did it for me." You smile

"So you like it?" Logan asks hopeful, his head coming off your shoulder

"I love it." You laugh, falling back onto the air mattress, pulling him back with you.

"Good. Thought I was in trouble there." Logan laughs

"You're crazy. Can't believe you did all this for me." You say looking up at the stars, you swear you can even see the Big Dipper thanks to Logan.

"Wanted today to be special." He shrugs, moving to lay his head on your chest

"Yeah well, if the police come knocking, it'll certainly be one for the books." You say, pushing your hands through his hair

"Why do you think I had Wade cut the wires?"

Next Extra

I hope everyone knows what a Pillow Pet is. I'm talking about one of the Pillow Pets that was like a night light and had stars that glowed out of it. That kind of Pillow Pet. I had one, he was a little brown dog.

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[lotusbxtch]

SoCal to NorCal: Chapter 2

Series Masterlist Chapter 1: Malibu

Series Pairing: husband!Joel Miller x f!Reader x boyfriend!Frankie Morales Series Summary: Joel is your rock, and Frankie is your ocean. So what happens when you bring the three of you together? - or - you and Frankie roadtrip up from Southern California to Northern California so he can meet Joel. A polyamory fic. This series exists in the Triple Frontier universe and is a Joel Miller AU/Triple Frontier AU. Series Rating: Explicit, 18+ only, MDNI

Chapter 2: Highway 101 & Beyond

Chapter Pairing: Frankie Morales x f!Reader x Joel Miller

Chapter Summary: As you road trip north, you and Frankie struggle to voice your growing feelings for each other. Joel suggests something surprising, and the three of you unexpectedly explore new territory together.

Word Count: 8.7k

Rating: Explicit, 18+ only, MDNI

Chapter Warnings/Tags: polyamory, phone sex, video sex, masturbation (f and m), fingering (f receiving), oral (f receiving), unprotected P in V (wrap it up pls!), multiple orgasms, creampie, cum kink, cum eating, there’s a lot of cum lol i’m sorry in advance if that’s not your thing, squirting, slight size kink, mentions of food, mentions of Frankie’s young daughter named Isabella, mentions of drug addiction and recovery, gratuitous descriptions of male and female anatomy, she/her pussy pronouns, heavy use of Spanish pet names/nicknames, Frankie the PEK, Joel’s filthy mouth is absolutely its own warning, idiots in love, a splash of angst, soft!Joel but also menace!Joel because we love a man with duality, Reader uses she/her pronouns, Reader is able-bodied, has breasts, and has hair that can be pulled, otherwise no description of Reader's skin color, size, body shape, hair color, eye color, or ethnicity, no use of y/n. Everyone is testing negative for STDs and Reader is on birth control.

a/n: The road trip continues! I’m so excited to dive more into Frankie and Reader’s relationship, and I KNOW you all have been waiting for Joel to get into the mix. Well, buckle up buttercups, because he is about to be THE BIGGEST MENACE lmao. A deeply grateful thank you to my darling @for-a-longlongtime, who encourages me every day, helped me massively flesh out some of the more emotional aspects of the chapter, and who I talk to almost every day, in addition to being my beta reader. Thank you @mountainsandmayhem, @alltheirdamn , and @mermaidgirl30 for screaming with me about these three when I shared excerpts with you. And thank you to everyone for being patient with me while I got this written up between huge life events (both good and bad)! Dividers & banners by the amazing @saradika-graphics, thank you. (Please note that the chapter graphic is NOT meant to be accurate to Reader — vibes only!)

If you enjoy my writing, please leave a comment, feedback or reblog! It would mean the world to me. Thank you!

You’re so happy.

After your short but memorable stay with Santiago, you and Frankie have been on the road, spending the last few days leisurely meandering up Highway 1 towards San Francisco. You take turns driving, playing car DJ, and sightseeing as you travel north. Tanned feet on the dash, chaste kisses to the back of hands while driving, a shifting playlist between your differing musical tastes. Nights spent snuggled up in a rental or hotel room, playing 20 Questions or “Would You Rather”, kisses turning into intertwining of limbs, labored breath and fingers gripping bed sheets, the murmuring of each other’s names like prayers. 

In Ojai, you drank a little too much wine at the tasting room and biked back to the hotel with wobbly legs. Hearst Castle landed on your list for the formerly-captive-now-wild zebras (you) and to gawk at “ridiculously rich people shit” (Frankie). Ocean kayaking amongst the sea otters and sea lions in Morro Bay filled both of you with wonder. Frankie let you lead him into every little boutique shop that called your name, contentedly trailing behind you while you browsed.

Wherever you were, Frankie indulged your sweet tooth by sniffing out the best artisan ice cream shops. One time during a playful debate, you bopped your frozen treat to Frankie’s nose, giggling at his surprised expression and kissing the sticky-sweet remnants off of him before he picked you up over his shoulder. Your shrieks of joy ricocheted off the small town street until he tossed you in the backseat of his Jeep and crawled in after you, demanding a taste of something sweeter. Before you knew it, you were moaning and sighing under Frankie’s ministrations in an abandoned parking lot. The sight of his messy curls between your thighs as he lapped at your core propelled you into a stratosphere of pleasure. 

The next morning, you continued your road trip north and stopped in Santa Cruz to experience the boardwalk since Frankie had never been. Sun-drenched wood slats under your feet, the crisp, briny breeze cooling your exposed skin. You and Frankie meander slowly, eating chocolate dipped soft serve cones and curly fries, hopping onto the slightly rickety carnival rides, including the famous wooden (and creaky) Giant Dipper roller coaster. (“This thing can’t be structurally sound if it’s making all that noise,” Frankie muttered, but you still got him to get on.)

Adrenaline trickling through your veins, giddy with endorphins from the coaster, you and Frankie debate who had the best strategy for the carousel’s metal ring toss game. “You can’t just huck it like a ninja star,” he gripes about your approach, shaking his head with a smile. “You have to finesse and time it, and throw it like a frisbee so it floats in.”

“I swear, I was way closer than you were,” you shoot back. “I’ve had my whole life to perfect my technique. One of my rings hit the clown’s mouth! More than I can say about your attempts.” You stick your tongue out at Frankie, and he rolls his eyes playfully. Neither of you had set off the lights and buzzers that indicated a successful throw. He’s about to point this out when his phone trills.

Pulling it out of his pocket, his eyebrows knit together a bit before answering. “Mamá,” Frankie says into the phone, “Que pasa? Is something wrong?” He had dropped off Isabella with her for the duration of the road trip, his mother always eager to have “girl time” with her only grandchild. 

“No, no, mijo,” she responds, “Estámos bien. Isa is napping. I just wanted to call you and see how your vacation is going. You work so hard, you deserve to have this time to yourself!”

Frankie breaths a small sigh of relief. “Oh, okay, good. Well, I’ve gotta keep it short. We’re out here on the pier.”

“ ‘WE?’ ” you suddenly hear screeching out of the phone, her tone ecstatic. “Who are you with? Oh my goodness, are you with that girl?” 

Frankie winces, holding the phone away from his ear as you chuckle. “Yes, mamá,” Frankie responds, “the woman I told you about. You don’t need to yell.” He looks at you, a blush slowly creeping up his face, a sheepish smile on his lips. He mouths “five minutes” while walking towards the side of the walkway. Nodding your head with a smile, you whisper, “take your time,” and kiss his cheek, settling on a bench nearby but out of earshot of the conversation, allowing Frankie his privacy. 

“Oh, mijo, that’s wonderful!” his mother exclaims. “When do I get to meet her?”

Frankie huffs out a laugh. “Mamá, relax. You will get to meet her in time. We’re not quite there yet.”

“What are you waiting for? Haven’t you been together for a few months now?”

“Yes, but…” Frankie trails off, not quite sure his mother can handle a full explanation of your situation. Honestly, as he thinks about it, he isn’t even 100% sure what to call the two of you anymore. “It’s complicated,” he says simply.

The both of you agreed to enjoy what you had with no expectations. But “no expectations” changed over the days, weeks, months to become a desire to be around each other more days than not. Visits in the dead of night became dates during the day, morphing into waking up in each other’s arms, eating breakfast together over the weekends, bedhead and sleepy eyes and warm smiles. He thinks about the way you make him laugh, head thrown back, with his whole chest. He thinks about your playful debates, the way you tease him when he loses to you in Mario Kart. He thinks about the way you writhe under, on top of, beside him as he draws pleasure from your body again and again, your moans and gasps creating the prettiest song he’s ever heard. Frankie thinks about your soul, your heart, your innate goodness, and then he thinks about how he can’t possibly deserve any more than you already give him, despite him realizing more every day that he can’t imagine his life without you.

Frankie’s mother clears her throat on the other end of the line, and he snaps back to the present moment.

“Francisco,” she says softly. “It doesn’t have to be complicated. Just tell her how you feel, and see where it takes you. If she's as special as you say she is, you're going to regret not saying anything.”

Frankie looks down at his boots, and then back at you. You smile at him from the bench, your sundress fluttering slightly in the breeze. “Mamá, I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”

“If you want something, Francisco, go for it. I always told you that you need to be more confident in yourself.” Frankie’s mother sighs affectionately. “You have done so much for your career, for Isabella… you have more than made up for your transgressions, mijito. Do this one thing for yourself. Take the risk.”

He thinks back to the beginning of your relationship, when he said he didn’t want anything serious because he was focusing on his career and his daughter. Not only was he in a stable job with room for upward movement, and becoming the father that Isabella deserved, it was because of you that he was able to achieve his goals. You’ve always supported him, encouraged him, and given him reality checks when he needed it. Not once have you asked for more in the relationship, but he never felt like you had to. He was willing to give you that and so much more. He was nearly certain that you felt the same way about having each other as a more permanent part of your lives, but without ever asking the question directly, he couldn’t be certain that it wasn’t just all in his head.

Frankie swallows thickly. “You’re right,” he acquiesces. “I’ll talk to her soon, when the moment is right. I don’t want to lose her.”

His mother coos sweetly at him. “Now that’s the son I know and love! I’ll let you go have fun with your lady. I love you, Frankie.”

“I love you too, Mamá,” Frankie whispers, and then ends the call. 

You’re people watching at the boardwalk as Frankie approaches you from behind, wrapping his arms around your shoulders. There’s no surprise triggered by his arms around you, just a calm ease and warmth. He presses kisses into your hair and sighs deeply. Tipping your head to the side, you return the kisses up his arm and rub his knuckles with your thumbs.

“How’s your mamá?” you ask. 

“Good,” Frankie responds, “just checking in to make sure I was having fun on my vacation.” A sheepish grin blooms on his face. “Sorry you had to hear her scream about you.”

You snicker as you stand up from the bench. “Nah, it wasn’t my ear she yelled into… But I didn’t mind at all. It’s sweet how she checks up on you.”

He grins, lifting his cap briefly to run his fingers through his hair. “She knows how hard I’ve been working to make things right with my job, and with Isabella, and she’s been pushing me to take some time off.” He sighs, looking off into the distance, and you know him well enough to know he’s doubtful of his progress.

“You deserve it, Frankie,” you murmur to him, lacing your fingers with his. You both start strolling along the boardwalk again, Frankie looking deeply in thought. “You’re always so hard on yourself, and at the very least, you deserve some time off.”

Glancing over at him, your breath catches. Frankie’s already staring at you, curls wild in the sea breeze, brown eyes warm and sparkling. Suddenly your chest feels like it’s cracked open, warm and aching. You feel the spark in your heart, and you realize that your feelings may be more than a simple affection. You search Frankie’s eyes and you can see a steady hidden layer under the warmth of his gaze as he lifts your joined hands to his lips, kissing them softly. It makes your heart do somersaults, the deeper unspoken emotions that flickered across his irises. A deep devotion that tugs at your soul.

He deserves the world.

Frankie huffs a laugh, dropping his gaze. “Everyone seems to tell me that. Guess I should stop being so damn stubborn and start believing them.” You continue walking, Frankie swinging your hands between the two of you as you settle into comfortable silence.

This is more than lust and companionship, you think to yourself. The way he looks at you, touches you with such reverence. It goes deeper than respect and fondness. Only Joel had ever given you butterflies and yet here you are, a fluttering in your gut, foreign but familiar. But what does that mean for you and Joel? 

Can your heart love two people at once?

Whoa…. wait, “love”??

You push the thoughts away with a shake of your head, determined to be present in the moment with Frankie. Bumping gently into his shoulder to get his attention, you flash him a smile.

“Wanna see which one of us can win first at the dime toss game?” you ask Frankie, and his eyes crinkle at the corners the way you love so much when he smiles in return, his competitive streak flaring.

“Sweetness, I thought you’d never ask. Prepare to lose.”

After you absolutely demolish Frankie at the dime toss (he swears they rigged the bowls he was aiming for), you and Frankie hit the road towards the cute cottage you’d booked for the night. Among the draws was its proximity to good food while being simultaneously off the beaten path. You were dying to try the seafood restaurant nearby, which was recommended to Frankie by one of his coworkers.

Per usual for the northern California coast, the fog began to roll in from the beach, casting ghostly tendrils across the road. Fog was one of the things you missed most about home while in SoCal, where it was a rarity. You roll up the windows and flip on your seat heater with a content sigh, then drape your body over the center console to grab your oversized cardigan from the back. The move makes your short dress hike further up your thighs as you reach for the soft knit. Frankie glances in the rearview mirror, spotting a flash of the curve of your ass where it peeks out of your panties. The sight has him already hardening in his pants. A quiet groan rises from his throat involuntarily, and you smirk, knowing exactly what he’s reacting to. 

“God, hermosa, that fucking dress,” Frankie grits. “I’ve been half hard all day seeing you in it.” You say nothing, but look over at him, your smirk growing bigger as you recline the seat a bit more and stretch your body just so, making the light blue eyelet lace material ride higher up your thighs, which you spread lasciviously. 

“Oh?” you tease. “What are you going to do about it?” You see Frankie’s eyes flash with desire for a moment, but he works hard to keep his cool.

His hand inches up your inner thigh while he drives, teasing swirls with his fingertips across your soft skin. You pant quietly, your breasts heaving gently against the low, curved neckline, and bite back a whimper as more arousal pools in your cotton underwear. “Take off your panties,” Frankie gently commands.

Dragging the material down your hips and legs, you let your thighs part for him, inviting his touch. Frankie keeps his eyes on the road, calmly navigating towards a quiet backroad. His focused demeanor is a lie though; his increasingly rapid breathing is a dead giveaway. When his fingers brush against your drenched folds, he groans and grips the wheel tighter with his driving hand.

“Fuck, baby,” Frankie grits out. “You’re so fucking wet for me already.” His nimble fingers explore you, spreading the slick around, swiping a soft circle around the pearl of your clit. He plays with you, and you start to writhe. A smirk blooms on his face as he clocks your movement. Frankie loves teasing you like this, drawing things out until you buckle under the pressure of your mounting desires. But the throbbing of his cock and your soft mewling sounds are making him desperate. 

Frankie pulls the car over to a small lot connected to an overlook, its parking spaces empty since the vista point is shrouded in fog. Trees block the view of your parking spot to traffic on the road. He throws the car in park, ripping his seatbelt off, and pulls your face to his for a passionate kiss. Swallowing your moans with his lips, Frankie tangles his tongue with yours while his fingers grip the base of your skull. 

“You’re killing me with this slutty little sundress,” he pants, sliding his hand down to cup your naked sex. 

You let out a strangled cry. “Frankie, I need you.”

Frankie shushes you gently. “Get in the back, nenita. I’ve got you.” You comply, scrambling over the center console and pushing your back up against the door, legs spreading wide and fingers tracing your glistening folds. He feels like he’s going to lose his mind if he doesn’t get his mouth on you in the next twenty seconds. He gets out of the front seat, yanking open the driver’s side back door and shutting it behind him after he slides in towards you.

“Gonna suck on that sweet little clit of yours ‘til you scream,” Frankie growls as he crawls towards your body, pushing your knees further towards your torso so you’re opened up lewdly for him. He slides his middle and ring fingers into his mouth to wet them, slipping them out and immediately burying them to the second knuckle in your soft cunt. A high-pitched whine is ripped from your throat.

“Frankie!” you whine, eyebrows furrowing together as you lock eyes with him. The mocha richness of his eyes has given way to pits of nearly black desire, and he keeps them on you while he presses his tongue flat to your swollen clit. Your eyes roll back and you nearly scream in pleasure. 

“That’s it, baby, I’m gonna make you come so hard,” he murmurs into your drenched folds, and then buries his face into you. You weave your fingers into his fluffy curls, opening your eyes to watch him at work.

Frankie’s eyes slip closed as he rhythmically pumps his thick fingers in and out of your pussy, curving them slightly up to hit that magical spot you can never quite reach the same way as he does. He sucks your hardened clit into his mouth, nestling it between the cleft of his lower lip and an almost imperceptible divot in the center of his tongue. That sweet, talented tongue swirls in precise tiny circles with the perfect pressure, while continuing to suckle exactly how you like it. Joel may go down on you like nobody’s business, but Frankie has cunnilingus nearly down to a science. At this point, he knows the exact series of moves to bring you to orgasm, and how long it takes really just depends on how long he feels like eating pussy that day. Sometimes, he’ll lay with his face between your legs for hours.

And right now? Frankie seems to want to break his own record for how fast he can get you to come.

Within seconds, you feel your orgasm gathering in your muscles. The tight shimmer of pleasure reverberates across your skin, in your bones, through every cell in your body, suspended in time, just waiting for a release. Frankie feels you tightening on his fingers, and you swear you feel him smirk against your slick folds. He keeps going, never faltering his movements, as the feeling inside you builds.

“Frankie,” you whine again, your body starting to shake. It shouldn't be physically possible for him to get you there so fast, and yet you feel that bowstring drawing impossibly tense in your body. “Frankie, I’m gonna… I’m so….” you keen, high-pitched, your chest heaving fast. Frankie moans against your folds, pressing just a bit harder with his fingers, crooking them just right, and sucks your clit hard.

You’re lucky that the area is truly secluded, because the scream tearing out of your throat as you shatter in ecstasy is loud. Your thighs lock around Frankie’s head as he moans deeply into your pussy, drawing out your orgasm expertly. Slick weeps from your cunt, soaking his lips and chin, and he slurps down every drop. He slows and gentles his ministrations on your core until he feels your thighs relax. Pulling back, he gives your folds one last kiss before he moves up your body to hover over your face, admiring the flush lighting up your features. Frankie kisses you gently, and you cup his face with both hands.

“Sweetest cunt I’ve ever tasted,” Frankie slurs, pussydrunk on you.

“God, you’re incredible,” you murmur against his lips, kissing him deeper, the taste of your own essence making you clench involuntarily. You can feel the thick, hard line of him against your thigh. Moaning, you press yourself into him. “Let me ride you, Francisco.” 

Frankie lets out a groan as he pulls you up. You rest your knees on the backseat, littering kisses over his face as he unbuttons and shoves his jeans and boxers down. His cock smacks his belly, precum smearing on his skin. Leaning over, you lick it off, his salty taste invading your senses. Frankie groans again when you suck him into your mouth. You gently lick his foreskin and pull it down to reveal his ruddy head, the tip leaking. Slurping and suckling, you sneak a hand between your thighs to rub your clit, the action not going unnoticed by Frankie. It seems to snap him out of his trance.

“I need to be inside you so badly,” he grits out, pulling you onto his lap. The skirt of your sundress flares over the both of you. Reaching down, he brushes his tip against your folds, making you both whine. Swirling it through your combined slick and spit, Frankie presses his head into you slowly. You take over, grabbing his hand to place it over your hip, and grind down on him, letting his length slip further and further into you. Your breath hitches as he spreads your walls, always a stretch no matter how many times you’ve taken him.

Frankie drops his head back against the headrest, his hands gripping you tightly. “You’re always so fucking tight for me, querida,” he pants, his eyes glazing over with lust. His words prompt another wave of slick to leak out of you, aiding your descent down his shaft as you swirl your cunt around him. Both of you moan, and soon enough you’re fully seated on him. You lean down, kissing him passionately, and he responds in kind, slipping his tongue into your mouth to massage against yours. Your hips begin to roll and Frankie breaks the kiss, a deep rumble of satisfaction vibrating through his chest.

“Fuck, baby, your pussy’s like hot velvet,” he grits out, grabbing your hips to buck up into you. He trails kisses down your jaw and leaves little love bites as he goes. The car is filled with the slap of flesh, the squelch of your cunt as you fuck yourself on his cock, your shared gasps and panted breaths. Frankie slips the straps of your dress down, pulling down the cups with it, your breasts spilling out of their confines. He ducks his head down and sucks a nipple into his mouth. You whimper.

“God, Francisco,” you whine, riding him harder, spurred on by the way he laves his tongue over your pebbled nipple, gently catching and pulling it between his teeth. He switches to your other breast, his other hand anchored to your hip to guide your motions. His cock kisses that spot deep in you that only Frankie and Joel have ever found, and the feeling rips another moan from you. 

“That’s it, fucking ride my cock,” Frankie pants. You lean forward, changing the angle a bit until your clit catches on his belly, which triggers your pussy to clench in pleasure. 

“Oh god, you feel so fucking good in me,” you moan, grinding down harder onto him, massaging your walls with his thick shaft and your clit with the friction of his course hairs. “You fill me up so well.”

“Softest, wettest pussy I’ve ever fucked, I swear,” Frankie slurs, losing himself in the feeling of you wrapped around his length. “You feel like silk on me, nenita.”

Your clit swells with the stimulation of every roll of your hips, making your cunt clench around Frankie. He lets out a whine. Your brows furrow in concentration as you seat his length in you as far as it will go, and he nearly chokes when he feels his tip kiss your cervix.

“You’re so deep in me,” you moan, working yourself on his shaft. “Tell me how good this pussy feels.” You’re desperate to hear him lose it.

“You feel amazing,” he whines, his dick hardening and swelling even more as he approaches his high. It feels like he’s lighting up every nerve ending inside of you. At this point, Frankie’s lap is dripping with your arousal, slick squelching and slapping sounds as thick in the air as the smell of sex. Both of you are covered in a sheen of sweat. You can tell he’s getting closer, so you start fucking him harder, driving his cock deeply into you, to the point where you feel like you’re beginning to meld together, a writhing, wet, hot mess of pleasure.

“Yeah?” you ask rhetorically, riding him harder and harder. “Are you going to come for me, Francisco?” You continue to use his full name, knowing how much it turns him on when you say it. “I want you to fuck me so full of your cum; I wanna be dripping for days. I want you to fill me up so bad.”

“Oh fuck, nenita,” Frankie whines as he loses himself in your heat. “I’m gonna fuck you so full. Gonna give you all of my cum. Gonna put it right where it belongs, deep in this cunt.” You roll your hips harder, your tits bouncing with the effort, and Frankie fucking whimpers. Your pussy tightens at the sound. It always turns you on so much when he loses control.

“Do it, Francisco. Fill me up,” you pant, your own orgasm barrelling towards you. Frankie’s thighs begin to quiver under you, and you know he’s almost there, too. You grip the base of his skull with one hand while the other steadies yourself on his shoulder, and then you lean down, nipping his earlobe. He whimpers again, completely fucked out.

“Come for me, now,” you beg in a whisper.

Frankie shouts as his grip on you turns to steel, and at the first hot spurt of his cum inside of you, your orgasm rips through you. Your cunt clenches, prolonging his pleasure, as your release soaks Frankie’s lap and his cum paints your insides. You both cry out at the feeling, foreheads pressed together. Frankie leans in and latches his lips to yours in a sloppy kiss.

As you both come down from your highs, you lean into Frankie, and he rubs his hands along your back soothingly. The softest kisses pepper your face, your sweat cooling down your skin while you both heave breaths, trying to recover. You weave your fingers into Frankie’s damp curls and scratch his scalp.

“Couldn’t wait ‘til we got to the rental, huh?” you quip.

Frankie huffs a laugh and hums in pleasure at your ministrations on his scalp. “Not when you tempt me with those dresses, baby. You know what flashing me a peek under your skirt does to me.”

“Oh, so now it’s my fault?” you tease, nipping his ear.

He jerks away at the ticklish sensation, then gently bites your shoulder in retribution. “Such a tease, hermosa,” he tuts. You both begin to untangle your sweat-slick limbs, and you slip yourself off of Frankie’s cock, groaning quietly in contentment as you stem the flow of his spend from your pussy with your fingers, shuffling around, seeking your panties. Finding them in the front seat, you slip them on, pressing the fabric into your cunt to keep yourself full of Frankie. Both of you get back into the front seats.

You fix your hair as you settle back in but pause, looking up to see your boyfriend staring at you, an achingly soft expression painting his whole face. Amber eyes, golden flecked irises, striking deep to your soul.

Breath catching in your throat, vulnerability rolling through your nerves. That flutter in your heart once again.

Before you can process anything, Frankie shakes his head slightly, as if emerging from a daze. “Well I’ve certainly worked up an appetite,” he quips, squeezing your knee gently. “Let’s get some of that clam chowder.” You nod, breathing deeply and shoot him a crooked little smile. He intertwines his fingers with yours, and then puts the Jeep into gear.

A couple hours later, you arrive at the rental, Frankie bringing both of your bags in. You close the door behind the two of you, kicking off your shoes, and survey the place. A small kitchenette to the left, cute velour loveseat to the right, and through adorable French doors, the king size bed, dressed in the fluffiest looking bedding. A dresser and full-length gilded mirror complete the decor in the bedroom, everything fitting perfectly into a cottagecore dream aesthetic. The last of the natural lighting filters through the windows.

Frankie drops a quick kiss to your forehead. “I need to scrub off the road,” he says in passing while stripping off his clothes. “Why don’t you relax a bit before we decide what we’re doing for the rest of the night?”

You snort out a laugh. “Frankie, it’s not like we’re on the Oregon Trail in a covered wagon. We’ve been driving in an air-conditioned car, Mr. Drama Queen.” He laughs and tosses his hat at you, disappearing into the en suite bathroom and closing the door behind him.

Settling into the plush bed, you set Frankie’s hat on the dresser and grab your phone to catch up on messages missed during the drive, when suddenly your phone starts buzzing. Joel’s name flashes onto the screen, and you hit the green button to accept the video call.

“Hey, baby,” you coo, grinning widely as Joel’s handsome tan face appears on your screen. His umber & silver hair is damp and slicked back, likely fresh out of the shower just like Frankie will be in a few minutes. The headboard of the bed you share with Joel sits behind him. “To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you?”

Joel chuckles. “What, can’t a man call his pretty wife just to see her face and tell her that he loves her?”

You giggle. “I suppose that’s a good enough reason.” His eyes soften, and then flick down the screen.

“I see you’re wearing that sundress I like so much,” Joel muses. 

You smile, extending the arm holding your phone so he can see more of your body. “Oh, this little number?” You shift onto your knees, spreading them wide and running your other hand teasingly slow from your collarbone, down the slope of your breast, across your waist, and then down your thigh, retracing your path slightly to lift the hem of the skirt. “Frankie hadn’t seen it before, and he likes it just as much as you do.” Your cheeks flush at the memory of Frankie taking you in the car, and Joel hums lowly when you break eye contact with him.

“Did you and Frankie get up to some fun earlier, baby?” You pause, unsure of where this is going, and then nod your head.

“Words, sweetheart,” Joel reminds you.

“Yes, Joel,” you whisper breathlessly. 

He nods approvingly, a small smirk gracing his plush lips. “I could tell, you got that faraway look in your eyes like you do when you’re thinking about me fucking you.” Joel shifts his seat on the bed, and you recognize the movement as a sign that he’s getting turned on. This is a new development, you think to yourself. He’s rarely asked about sex with Frankie before. 

“Did Frankie treat your pussy right? Did he fill you up?” You nod again, your core beginning to pulse as you affirm with your words, and Joel groans.

“Let me see it.”

You choke on your breath. “What?”

This was not something Joel had ever asked before.

“You heard me, darlin’,” Joel asserts, his eyes darkening. “Let me see that pretty pussy full of Frankie’s cum.”

A full-body shiver ripples through you. “Yes, Joel,” you murmur obediently, sliding off the bed to retrieve the phone stand you use often when you’re away from Joel. You set it up on the dresser near the bed, the front-facing camera angled advantageously for him while allowing you to see him as well. Coming back into frame, you slowly unzip your dress, letting it fall to the floor. You slide your damp panties down, the heady scent of Frankie’s cum wafting up from your heated core. Joel leans back and lets out a low groan. 

You climb back onto the bed once naked, noticing Joel’s espresso brown eyes have deepened to the color of a moonless night, his pupils dilated in desire. Putting your back to the camera, you get onto your hands and knees, canting your hips forward and ass back. You rest your forearms on the bed, looking back at the camera, and snake one hand between your legs to spread your pussy open with your fingers. Joel moans unabashedly at the view, your glazed pussy glinting in the light, Frankie’s milky spend coating it and gathering at your opening. He watches as your cunt clenches at the sound.

“Fuuuuuck, darlin’, that little pussy always looks so fuckin’ good when it’s covered in cum, don’t it?” Joel asks rhetorically, running one hand down his chin through his greying scruff. You whimper in response, the movement of your contracting walls pushing a thin stream of Frankie’s cum out from deep in you, dripping onto the bed sheets. This feels so debauched, filthy, and you are incredibly turned on by Joel’s response to the sight of another man’s cum decorating your most intimate parts. 

“God, if I was there I would be rubbin’ that cream all over your swollen little clit,” Joel drawls. “Can see her peekin’ out at me. Can you flip over? Wanna see you touch her for me.” You oblige, gathering the pillows to prop yourself up, and lean back against them as you butterfly your thighs open for your husband. Holding his gaze, you slowly trace your outer lips with your fingers, feeling the slide of Frankie’s spend lubricate your movements. You swirl your fingertips through the mess of slick and cum at your entrance, then glide them up to the pearl of your clit, throbbing in anticipation. At the first touch, your breath catches on the edge of a jagged little moan. 

“So sensitive already?” Joel teases, and you see him shift in his seat at the same time that the rustle of his pants tells you he’s pulling them down. The thought of him needing to touch himself at the sight of your messy cunt makes a pang of need course through your core. 

“Let me see it, baby,” you whisper hoarsely towards the phone, desperate to see the physical proof of his desire for you, for the sight of Frankie’s desire for you. The frame jostles a bit as Joel sets his phone up on the phone stand you have in your bedroom for times like these. It’s not the first time you have had video sex while apart and it certainly won’t be the last. 

And as Joel walks backwards toward the bed again and into frame, you barely stifle a gasp.

His cock is an absolute marvel, still is after a decade of being together. Thick, long, and uncut, the sight of him always makes your mouth water and your pussy slick. Joel sits on the edge of the bed, stroking his length languidly, the gleaming cockhead a flushed pink, disappearing and reappearing from under his foreskin. His gray, worn sweatpants are pulled just under his ass. Heavy, sizable balls drape over the waistband. You’ll never get tired of the sight.

“See somethin’ y’like, angel?”’Joel teases, his Texas twang always thicker when he’s aroused. His thick thighs are spread wide as he sits on the bed.

“Yes… everything,” you breathe, starting to rub your pussy again. 

“Nuh-uh,” Joel tuts, and your fingers immediately stop. “I didn’t tell you that you could touch yourself. Let’s wait until Frankie can join us to have fun.” Your body flushes with more arousal; Joel’s never asked to include Frankie before. But then again, you’d never asked if he wanted to.

As if on cue, the bathroom door squeaks open and Frankie appears, freshly showered, dark curls dripping a bit onto his broad, golden shoulders. A white towel is wrapped around his narrow waist, and he takes a moment to assess what he’s walked into.

“Babygirl, are you getting started without me?” Frankie purrs as he strides towards you, then pauses when he realizes your phone is on the stand and positioned right at your dripping cunt.

“Hey, Frankie,” Joel’s voice floats warmly into the room. “I figured you’d want to watch our girl play with herself, so I made her wait.”

Our girl.

You shiver in arousal — and something else — at the moniker. Your eyes flick to Frankie, a smirk beginning to grace his lips but a bit of hesitation in his eyes. This was all new to him, too.

Frankie moves towards the armchair situated in the corner of the room, behind where you had your phone set up. He was already adjusting himself, clearly aroused, which you took as a good sign.

“Frankie, are you okay with this?” you inquire, trying to gauge his consent to what was unfolding. “If not, I can —“

“Yes,” Frankie grits out hoarsely. “I want to watch you with Joel.” His tone sets off another wave of pleasure through your nerves.

Joel chuckles, his voice smooth and deep as whiskey. “Well, darlin’, give us a show. Go on ‘n pet that pretty lil’ pussy for us.” Planting your heels on the bed, you use your fingers to spread yourself open as another trickle of Frankie’s previous release leaks its way out of you. Both men groan at the sight. Scooping it up, you glide your way up to your throbbing clit, starting to circle it just the way you like. A moan leaves your parted lips; you tilt your head back while you work yourself. Your other hand moves to pinch and thumb a nipple, drawing it into a tight bud.

“Mmm, good girl,” Joel praises you. His hand starts pumping his cock once again at the same time Frankie palms himself through the fluffy towel. Frankie’s eyes flick from you to the phone, still trying to feel out the dynamics of the three of you. But both men can’t keep their eyes away from your soft pussy and swollen clit, glazed in your arousal and Frankie’s cum. Holding both of them in rapture while seeking your own pleasure is a heady power trip that wraps its silken claws into your brain. 

You feel like a goddess.

“Joel,” you moan, writhing in pleasure on the bed, but not quite where you want to be. “I need more.”

“Tell me what you want, darlin’,” Joel croons through the phone, the soft fapping sound of him working his cock audible. 

“I want… more,” you whine, mind so hazy with pleasure that you can’t even articulate your desires. “Please.”

“Hmmm,” Joel responds, slowing down to consider his options. You look up in impatience just as a wicked smirk crosses his face.

That look always means trouble. 

“Y’told me how good Frankie is at goin’ down on you,” Joel continues, “so why don’t you let him show me?” You hear Frankie’s breath choke in his throat in surprise as a whimper escapes your lips at Joel’s words. Frankie’s eyes dart from yours to the phone and back. 

“Frankie?” you hear Joel say while your eyes remain on your boyfriend. “Would you be okay with that? Would you show me how hard you make our girl come with that tongue’a yours?” You let out a little moan at Joel’s filthy words, and Frankie groans involuntarily at the sight of another dribble of his cum escaping your pussy.

“Oh, baby, you’re still drippin’?” Joel coos at you. “Frankie must’a stuffed you so full’a his cum. Do you like eating yourself outta her sweet cunt, Frankie?”

In a flash, Frankie enters the frame as he spreads your legs further apart and wedges his shoulders between them, leaving enough space for Joel to watch the action behind him. “I fucking love it,” Frankie growls in response, immediately running his tongue in a broad stripe from the bottom of your slit to your clit, tasting himself and you as he swallows every drop of cum and slick you released. You throw your head back, keening.

“Damn,” you hear Joel choke out, his hand moving faster on his cock at the sight of Frankie diving headfirst into your cunt. Eager to prove his skills, Frankie works you up rapidly to your orgasm, your moans pitching higher and higher within a minute. He swirls his tongue over your clit, then slides two of his fingers inside to the last knuckle, aided by your copious slick and the remnants of his cum. Your back arches off the bed from the sensation as you cry out his name.

“Oh fuck, angel,” Joel grits out, his breath coming faster. “He eatin’ you good?”

“Yessss, Joel,” you whimper, your hand holding Frankie’s head firmly to your center. “I’m gonna fucking cum!”

Frankie moans encouragingly, reverberating across your cunt, and the tether inside your core snaps. You stutter out a groan, punctuated each time your pussy spasms with your release on Frankie’s fingers. The man between your thighs laps it all up, moaning in delight. He pulls back, kissing the inside of each thigh, and wipes the back of his hand across his mouth.

“Good fucking girl,” Joel purrs at you as you catch your breath. You hear a slightly pained groan, and look at the screen to see Joel gripping the base of his cock to stave off his orgasm. Hmm, that’s odd, you think. Joel usually comes when he’s decided he’s done making me come.

The realization hits you a split second before Joel’s deep, commanding voice spits out, “Again, Morales.”

Ohhhh, fuck.

You whip your head around when you hear Frankie suck in a breath as he stares at the phone, his chest heaving. Looking down, you see his cock achingly hard under his towel, his neck flushed with arousal. Frankie turns to you, his onyx eyes shimmering ferally. You know following orders gets him going, but you’re surprised that Joel clocked that about him instinctively.

In a split second, Frankie’s spread both of your legs again, pinning you open obscenely wide by your thighs. His tongue immediately begins to fuck into your pussy, the strong muscle prodding and curling just right. Your head slams into the soft mattress, a squeal leaving your lips at the sudden pleasure. With every thrust of his tongue, you feel Frankie grinding desperately into the bed, trying to stem the intense arousal building below his waist.

“Talk to me, darlin’,” Joel’s voice floats in your ear, pulling you out of the cloud of intense pleasure momentarily. “Tell me how good Frankie feels.”

“He’s so good,” you moan, alternating playing with your nipples and curling your fingers in the bedding. “His tongue feels so good in my pussy.”

“Is he as good as me?” Joel asks, his voice dropping an octave. There’s not a hint of jealousy, just charged curiosity.

“Yes, baby,” you coo, gasping as Frankie moves his tongue back to your clit and slides his fingers back into you, reaching that spot deep in you that makes your eyes roll back. “So good. Just… different.”

Joel lets out a quiet growl, his voice dripping with sex. “Good. Your pussy deserves the best.”

“Frankie,” Joel commands. Frankie lifts his head from your center, moving his thumb to replace his tongue on your clit, making your back arch again. “Have you made her squirt before?”

“Yeah,” Frankie breathes, looking back at you. “She’s so beautiful when she does it.”

“Good,” Joel rumbles. “Make her squirt for us.”

Frankie nods once, then pulls his fingers out slightly until he hits the spongy spot near the entrance of your pussy. He starts swirling the tips of his fingers against it, pressing his other hand down gently but firmly on your lower belly above your pubic bone, and then lowers his head to suck your clit back into his mouth. You keen, your body folding in on itself from the intense pleasure. Frankie moans into you, but you hear a growl rip from Joel’s throat.

“Don’t you dare hide that beautiful body,” Joel demands. “Lay back and spread your legs for us.”

You comply, barely able to shift yourself open again before Frankie starts intensifying his ministrations. You hear Joel’s slick fist jerking his cock again while he coos at you and praises you, telling you how good you’re being for him and Frankie, how pretty and strong you are.

“You can take it, angel,” Joel moans with the squelching of his cock in his hand acting as an obscene background track for your pleasure. “You’re close, aren’t ya?”

“Yes, Joel,” you whimper, your cunt making equally debauched sounds with every thrust of Frankie’s fingers. “I’m so close. Feels so fucking good.”

Frankie presses harder on your belly and sucks your clit more fervently, and your cries pitch higher. “Oh god, Frankie, you’re gonna make me come,” you whine, toes curling and thighs beginning to shake. A desperate moan from Frankie’s mouth is muffled by your cunt, making you cry out again.

“Let go for us, darlin’,” Joel grits out, his hand a blur on the screen as he approaches his orgasm as well. 

Frankie peels himself away from your drenched folds just long enough to command, “Come for us, now,” and then latches back onto your clit, sucking hard, and that’s the moment you break, nearly screaming. Frankie works you through the first wave of your orgasm with his mouth, then pulls back, slipping his fingers out of you as your release gushes out, spraying your belly, thighs, and Frankie’s torso. With every pump and slide out of your pussy, Frankie brings forth another spray of release, drenching your body and his. 

You’re barely aware of Joel’s groans of pleasure in the throes of your own, but when you come back down moments later, you can hear the edge of desperation in his sounds. You look over to the phone to see him with his teeth bared, the head of his cock an angry red, his fist slick with precum and spit. More pearly liquid slowly oozes from the slit at the top.

Joel is barely keeping it together.

“Joel, honey,” you moan, “I wanna see you come.”

Joel growls. “Francisco,” he grits out. Frankie, who’s looking at you in amazement and pride, snaps his head to the phone at the sound of his full name. You see his cock twitch under the towel.

“Get our girl messy, Francisco.”

A whimper worms its way out of your throat as Frankie whines. Unashamed and blind with arousal, he whips the towel off his waist and his cock bobs, hard and thick. You hear Joel’s breath hitch. I’ll tuck that reaction away for later, you think. 

Frankie kneels between the damp sheets under your thighs, spitting into his hand and fisting his cock hard and fast. His muscles flex with the intensity of feeling, breathing rapid. His grunts get louder and longer as he swiftly approaches his peak. You hear a long, low moan from the phone, Joel nearly delirious with how worked up he is over the scene playing out.

“Where?” Frankie moans, desperately trying to follow orders before he blows his load. Precum drips onto the sheets.

“Her tits,” Joel pants, “and her pussy. Paint her like a fucking picture, Frankie.”

“Oh fffuuuu—“ Frankie grits out just before he explodes, his release shooting out onto your nipples, the curves of your breasts, and then he’s aiming lower, coating your mound and pussy lips with his seed.

You’re dripping with yourself and Frankie, an absolutely debauched sight.

Suddenly you hear a shout from the phone, and turn just in time to see Joel shoot his load all over his chest, belly, and even some on his neck with how hard he’s coming. Every spurt paired with a moan; one of the prettiest sights you’ve ever seen in your life. 

For a moment all you hear is the shared heavy breathing of yourself, your boyfriend, and your husband, and then Frankie is kissing your forehead, your lips, and then working his way down your body. When he goes to lick off his cum from your tits to clean you up, you groan in protest.

“Too sensitive, baby,” you plead, and Frankie acquiesces, cooing at you. 

“You did so well for us, nenita,” he soothes, stroking your face and planting kisses across your eyelids. “You’re so beautiful. Let me rinse off and get you cleaned up, okay?” With your mind pleasantly fuzzy from what just transpired, you simply nod, and Frankie goes into the bathroom for supplies. You let your head roll to the side, and smile tiredly at Joel, who’s watching you with pride and love while he towels off his release from his body and hands.

“I would have licked up all that cum off you to save you from having to add another towel to the laundry,” you giggle, feeling your own juices and Frankie’s cum cooling on your torso. You run your fingers through the slick release Frankie left on your pussy, teasing your clit with the silky fluid. Your body shudders a bit with overstimulation, and Joel shakes his head.

“You just like makin’ a mess and then cleanin’ it up, you dirty girl,” he chuckles, watching you enjoy the tactile sensations.

“Stop pretending that you don’t like me like that, Joel,” you fire back with a smirk. “What is it you said exactly? Oh, right. ‘Get our girl messy, Francisco.’” You imitate Joel’s baritone, making him bark out a laugh. 

“Fine, I do love seeing you drippin’, darlin’,” Joel admits. “Whether it’s my cum or Frankie’s.” You bite your lip and giggle, basking in the glow of this new era of your relationship with Joel. You didn’t expect he’d be so enthusiastic to see you with Frankie.

The door pops open, Frankie emerging with a warm, damp washcloth for you. Although you reach for it, he tuts and gently pushes your hand away, insisting on wiping you down himself. He gently strokes the cloth across your skin, softly smiling and pressing kisses to your face and body as he does. Joel’s heart warms at the sight before him, seeing how well Frankie takes care of you.

Tossing the cloth back into the bathroom, Frankie gets up from the bed. “I’m going to get some water for us. Do you want cold water to help you cool down, or your usual water cocktail?” Frankie asks, always remembering your quirky penchant for filling your insulated water bottle first with hot water until halfway, and the rest with cold. 

“Water cocktail, please,” you giggle, snuggling further into the bedding.

Frankie grins, then lightly kisses your forehead, grabbing your water bottle off the bedside table in the process. He walks out, and you sigh contentedly.

“Wow, Frankie automatically includes Water Cocktail on his drink menu now, huh?” Joel chuckles.

You nod happily, grinning ear to ear. Laying your head on the pillow, you respond, “Yeah, he caught on fast. I think it was after the third week of seeing each other that he started asking if I wanted it instead of bringing me a glass of cold water. I didn’t even tell him explicitly, he just noticed me doing it.” You pause, brain pleasantly fuzzy in your post-orgasmic state. 

“I… I really like him, Joel,” you whisper, slowly fading as sleep creeps to you. You blink your eyes gently at Joel, who looks at you with the softest smile on his face, like you are the linchpin of his universe. 

“I know, darlin’,” Joel murmurs, his heart flipping in response. “I know.”

When Frankie re-enters the room with a glass of water and your water bottle, he notices how quiet it is. You lay burrowed under the covers, gently snoring, but he notices your phone is the only one on the video call anymore. His nerves zap a bit in concern, but then he replays the recent events back in his head. Joel seemed totally tolerant - nay, enthusiastic, to include Frankie into sex earlier. He doubts Joel left because he was upset; you probably fell asleep and he needed to go. Nonetheless, Frankie pics up your phone and exits the call, tapping around until he finds your message app.

Hey, that was really fun, he types out to Joel, a tiny flutter of nerves alight in his stomach. Excited to meet you tomorrow. Have a good rest of your night. – Frankie 

Staring at the words for a moment, he hits send before he can back out or second guess himself. Frankie then climbs into bed, wrapping himself around you before sleep claims him wholly.

a/n part 2: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and thank you for your patience! I had so much fun writing it and I’m proud to be able to share it with you. For those of you not familiar with Southern/Central CA, you can view photo references here: the Santa Cruz carousel, Hearst Castle, info on Ojai, and kayaking in Morro Bay.

Have thoughts/thots, feelings, SCREAMS, asks? My inbox is open! 💌

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[tenderlyrenjun]

Playing Video Games

"Jisung, this is so difficult," you huff, tossing the control on the couch, narrowly avoiding his face.

Your boyfriend rotates his head 90-degrees on your lap, backwards, to look up at the deep frown settling in your eyebrows.

"I don't understand why you like it" you pout, sinking deeper into the cushions.

Jisung laughs (and you frown deeper) and grabs the controller before sitting up with you. "It's the thrill of the game, baby." He takes both your hands in his and adjusts them neatly across the joysticks. You wiggle them under his fingers, clacking them loudly until he laughs again. "See, you know how to move them. You just have to get the timing right."

"You just have to get the timing right," you mock, with an exaggeratedly high pitch that doesn't quiet match your boyfriend’s deep voice. You sigh and let the controller drop into your lap again as you bury your face in his firm chest. "Can't we do something else? I'm sorry for making you die in Wizard 101 last night, okay? Next time l'll patiently wait for you to fuck me in your bed after your tournaments."

Jisung laughs once more at you, the entire sound vibrating through his heartbeat, shaking you out of his arms. "First of all, baby, it was Overwatch." He squishes your cheeks in both hands. "And second, this is just me showing you something that I like - not Overwatch, but it's something I think is fun."

You scrunch your nose. "Now I feel bad for making fun of it." You slap his hands off your face. "How am I supposed to know the difference between Overwatch and Wizard 101? Are they the same thing?"

Jisung gasps. "Baby. I love you,” he says, almost as if reminding himself. He picks up your hands and stares into your eyes. "Please don't make us go through computer games tonight too. I don’t think we’d be able to sleep.”

And you snatch your hands back too, rolling your eyes to the ceiling.

"Jisung, I'm serious," you whine, drawing out the last syllable. “I don't get why you like these games."

"Remember when we had sex in my car?"

"What does that have to do with anything??"

Jisung kisses your knuckles. "Babe, please."

You roll your eyes again. Incorrigible. "Yes, I remember every time we've had sex in your new car since you bought it this year."

"’Cause it’s fun!" he reminds you. "It's like a video game." he emphasizes. "We're sneaking around and getting the adrenaline pumping."

"I get that" you tell him, "but I know how to have sex with you." You point at the TV. "I don't know how to play first person shooter games."

"Maybe, you're just not getting enough adrenaline."

"What is that supposed to mean - Park Jisung!" you gasp.

Jisung situates himself on the ground between your legs, his large hands pushing open your thighs. He gets your underwear off your ankles, leaving you in just a t-shirt and restrictive bra. Your breathing labors, just watching him, as he runs all his fingers up and down your pussy. His middle finger barely strokes from your clit to hole, leaving phantom feelings in its wake.

“Jisung, love, what - what are you doing?”

He puts one of your knees on his broad shoulder. Instinctively, you tighten behind his neck, dragging him forward.

“Giving you a little adrenaline,” he says with a boyish smile. Jisung gently pushes your other thigh more open and situates himself a little taller, breath exhaling through his nose onto your nerves. He really does have a perfect nose, perfect face - perfect lips that kiss and bite and pull at your clit, all so gently. You scratch your way into his bangs, brushing back all his hair until you can fist his crown. But he stops you. He pecks your wet pussy airily, giving you suction-less pressure before looking up at you with that same boyish smile. “Grab the controller.”

“Huh? What?” You close both your legs around his cheeks. “Jisung, you can’t be serious.” He just smiles at you, eyes sparkling like Puss in Boots. And you groan, picking it off the cushion. “What now?”

“Now”, he emphasizes, unzipping his own hoodie to show off his defined chest and yanking your hips to the edge of the couch, “you play the game.” He slips his third finger inside your hole, ring and all, knuckles hitting your lips. “You’ll see why I like you giving me head during my games, baby.” He wetly kisses your clit and slips in his middle finger as the video game music picks up.

You throw your head on the couch, shutting your eyes at the ceiling for a second. His two fingers find a steady pace, gradually sheathing all the way inside. And when he does, Jisung twists his wrist ceiling-side up, and chafes your roof with the pads of his fingers.

“Baby, you’re gonna die.”

“Huh?”

Jisung rubs your hip with his free hand and lifts off your cunt with a smack of his lips. “In the game, baby. You’re gonna die in the game.”

"Jisungie," you pout. There are so many better things to be doing right now, at this pressing moment.

"Come on, baby." Jisung mouths your pussy, hot breath evilly replacing his tongue. "You'll like it, promise. Just try. You’ll see why I like it.”

And see, you do.

You hate that he's right. Only a little though, because you make him swear that you will cum by the end of the round. He just smirked at you, saying something about how he wins entire tournaments before you even finish.

Jisung balances between directing you through the first campaign and fingering you. His words breathing hotly down your ear. He moved you onto your stomach sometime between your second respawn and your first orgasm, finding it difficult to help you win from the ground.

"Baby," he grunts, shallowly thrusting to get your attention. Jisung straddles behind your hips, pushing your ass cheeks up for a better view of your cunt taking him so well. “You have - you have to hide around the corner. There’s a chest there, too, and - shit, stop clenching, you need to heal.”

Your character runs in circles, almost glitching the game as your thumbs toy with the joysticks, simply flicking them back and forth. “Jiji,” you whine again, mouth parted. You pause the game and drop your forehead onto your arms. “Can I cum first? Please? I’ve already done so much. I think I’m better at the game now.” Or you would be, if you could focus. Though, now, you understand why he skips out on the winners' ceremonies and literally throws you on his bed; he is never really, otherwise, so rough with you.

"Just a little more, baby," he shakes his head. "You're so close to the end."

"I'm so close to cumming."

You bury your face in the cushions and dip your back a bit lower to push his dick further inside your pussy. Jisung only really has one thing to focus on right now: you. He guides you through the game, noting every detail about your game and body, telling you where to go and how to react. But it's hard. It's more difficult than when you first started - sitting on the couch with his head in your lap. He would kiss your knee every time you missed a shot or give you a slight praise whenever you respawned. And he keeps it up, while fucking you.

Jisung plants his fists close to your hips. He leans down to your ear, gently biting the helix before whispering, in his deep, raspy voice, "Pick up the game, baby. You're. Almost. There, fuck." He punctures every syllable with an inch of his dick until all of him rests inside you again.

"Jisung," you sniffle. "I'm gonna cry, please just let me cum."

He only smirks, pulling out slightly. "Cute."

Ugh. You groan into your wrists, biting superficially into the bone. Your boyfriend - the freak - would probably enjoy that - you crying, and you know he has no problem withholding those sharp dancer moves. So, you listen and obey, and pick up the damn PlayStation controller.

As you restart the game, someone steals the first aid chest that Jisung told you to grab, eliciting a snarky 'I told you so' in your ear and forcing you to endure the rest of the game on quarter health. You run around random buildings, biting your lip to not moan too loudly and ruin your own concentration. But still, you can feel your heart rate beat erratically and your cunt abrade the dip in the couch cushion. And fuck, he's right. Jisung is right. Each time you narrowly dodge an attack or finally make your own kill, your entire body tingles; your pussy throbs; your nipples get more sensitive, regardless of what Jisung does - not to say that he doesn't do much.

Your boyfriend steadily pounds your cunt, grinding his pelvis on your ass each time. His balls somehow sneak under your thighs, hitting your clit at each thrust. And he gets as affected by the game as you do. Often, when you are the one on your knees, under his gaming desk, Jisung will accidentally bang his thigh on the keyboard drawer, followed both by rapid clicking and shoving his cock deeper down your throat. You only partially understood it, that he wanted the game over as soon as possible to fuck you for being needy and impatient. But this shows you a whole other side. The urgency and thrill mix together, prompting you to find the metaphorical finish line. It's like a test of patience, and wow, your boyfriend has a lot.

You narrowly miss the last shots at your character and run through a nearby checkpoint, before throwing the controller on a decorative ottoman.

"Good job, baby," Jisung praises.

You quickly push him against the backrest, sinking down completely on his cock cowgirl style. He watches you with pretty eyes, lips parted slightly, waiting for you to fuck him the exact way he fucks you after his games. You grab his neck kiss him breathlessly.

"Oh, I am going to fuck you so hard tonight, Park Jisung."

You can feel him smirk.

“Wanna make it a game?”

[alexa-fika]

Reptiles 101 ( Crocodile x f!reader)

A/N I don’t watch game of thrones so I had no idea who this is I still am quite insecure as to if I capture her character right but I hope you enjoy it! @djloveyou3000

Reader here is replaced by Dokucha which stands for Reader in Japanese

Dividers by @/drinkthesky and @/fireflygraphics

Dokucha gazed at the small creature in her hands, marveling at its unique features. The creature, in turn, seemed to appreciate her touch, emitting a contented hiss as she stroked its spine.

A small smile played on Dokucha’s lips as the Banawani siblings, in their playful nature, tugged at her dress, vying for her attention, wishing for the same treatment their siblings were enjoying.

“Don’t fight,” she softly spoke as the small creatures began snapping at each other, trying to get leverage over the other.

“How about you make a line?” She gently asked, nudging the fighting reptiles away from each other, letting out a small laugh as they began to jump on top of each other in order to do as she requested

“There you are, Dear. I should have guessed you were going to be here,” Crocodile drawled, walking into his aquarium-like room.

“Guessing is not necessary; you already know me to be here.”

He let out a chuckle at her words, smoke leaving him as he did

“You spoil them too much, anymore and I will be doubting they can continue to do their job anymore,” he drawled, approaching her.

“These ones are still small; I would be worried if they served as part of your disposal team.”

“It’s never early enough to pull your weight; even the young ones need to eat.”

She shook her head at this, her attention being brought back to the small reptiles at the sound of their jaws snapping impatiently; she smiled as she lifted the first one up and gave them a small kiss, putting them down and taking hold of the next one who by now was wiggling with excitement.

“I do implore you to let the young ones grow some before you begin using them to get rid of those who wrong you; I fear they are unable to digest something so big just yet.”

“I will allow them to grow some more if that is what you wish, dear; however, do remember I am not a patient man,” he conceded after a slight pause.

“I know you aren’t, Dear, but it will do you well to wait in this case; nothing is stronger than a Bananawani’s jaw once they are grown.”

“I will trust your word then.”

“Of course, you will; I know more about their growth and attributes than you do,” She replied bluntly, not missing a bear.

He let out a small tsk at her reply, but a smirk could be seen growing on his face shortly after

Their attention was quickly diverted as screams and crashing sounds began to echo through the aquarium room as they glanced to the roof of the aquarium where the casino was located.

“Looks like their next meal will be soon,” Crocodile growled as he swiftly headed to the exit, only to be stopped by his wife’s call.

“Would you take care of this promptly? I rather miss spending time with you.”

“As the Queen of the Desert wishes,” He calls, making his way out of the aquarium.

Next up is Whitebeard pirates 👀; also whag we thinking of the new headers?

Taglist:

@Imaginarydreams

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[alilixx]

Please please pleaseeeeee write more Hugh Laurie imagines

I love the request, and I came up with a new idea! I hope you'll like it. Did you know that Hugh Laurie played in 101 Dalmatians? I think the movie and his appearance are too underrated, so why not write a fanfic about him during the filming (around 1996)?

The set of 101 Dalmatians was buzzing with activity. Technicians were adjusting the scenery, actors were rehearsing their lines, and a group of Dalmatians waited patiently for their turn, wagging their spotted tails joyfully.

You had snuck onto the set unannounced, deciding to surprise Hugh. Your love for dogs naturally drew you to the area where the trainers were taking care of the four-legged little actors. You couldn’t resist the urge to join them, gently petting the dogs, your hands gliding over their soft fur.

The dogs seemed to enjoy your presence, and you quickly started helping to calm and entertain them between takes. You were so focused on them that you didn’t immediately notice the familiar figure walking towards you. After a few seconds, you felt a hand on your shoulder that made you jump. You instinctively stepped back until you saw who had touched you—it was Hugh. You smiled softly, taking his still-raised hand in yours and gave him a quick hug.

“Did I scare you?” Hugh asked with an amused smile, his eyes sparkling with mischief. You nodded, laughing softly. “A little, but it’s a good surprise.”

Hugh looked at you, his smile softening. “I had no idea you were coming today. You really surprised me… but it’s a very nice surprise.”

You gently squeezed his hand in yours, feeling the warmth and familiarity of his skin. “I couldn’t resist the chance to see you in action. And I knew there would be these adorable little furballs to cuddle,” you said, casting an affectionate glance at the Dalmatians, who had now settled peacefully around you.

Hugh let out a small laugh. “They’re lucky to have someone like you to pamper them. But I’m the luckiest of all.” He looked at you with tenderness, his blue eyes shining with affection.

You felt yourself blush slightly under his gaze. “I just wanted to surprise you and maybe make your day a little better.”

Hugh gently pulled you into another hug, longer this time, savoring the stolen moment of tranquility amidst the chaos of the set. “Mission accomplished,” he murmured into your hair.

You closed your eyes, relaxing against him, enjoying this shared moment of calm. The dogs, sensing the peace between you, had snuggled up against your legs, completing this perfect scene. Nothing else mattered at that moment, just the two of you and the gentle rhythm of his heartbeat that you could feel against your cheek.

You could hear the sounds of the set gradually resuming around you, a sign that the break was coming to an end. Yet, you remained there, nestled against him, savoring these stolen moments. Even though you knew he would soon have to return to work, part of you was simply happy to be there by his side while he did what he loved.

Hugh slowly loosened his embrace, tilting his head to look at you with a tender smile. “I’ll have to get back soon,” he said reluctantly, “but I still have a little time. How about we go to the cafeteria, grab something to eat, and enjoy these few minutes together?”

You looked up, returning his smile warmly. “Sounds good to me, I’m starving anyway,” you joked, taking his hand.

Together, you left the spot where the Dalmatians had quietly fallen asleep, their little spotted bodies sprawled on the floor. Hand in hand, you walked across the set, ignoring the hustle and bustle of the technicians preparing for the next scene. For you, the noise and commotion faded away, leaving only the sweetness of this moment shared with Hugh.

In the cafeteria, the smell of freshly brewed coffee and comforting dishes welcomed you. You found a table in a quiet corner, away from the hustle and bustle of the set, where you could finally sit down and talk, your fingers gently brushing across the table. Time seemed to stand still as you exchanged knowing smiles and stories, savoring this brief moment of respite before he had to return to the cameras.

“Thank you for coming today,” Hugh said, gently squeezing your hand. “You make every moment better.”

You smiled at him, your heart warmed by his words. “I’ll always be here when you need me. Even if it’s just for a few minutes.”

He looked at you with a soft intensity, as if he wanted to etch this moment into his memory. “These few minutes are all I need to get through the day.”

Hugh smiled at you from across the table, his eyes reflecting endless tenderness. You couldn’t help but think about how perfect this man was for you, with his kindness and constant attention. But behind that smile, you knew there were doubts he kept well hidden. Despite all his talent and charisma, Hugh often lacked confidence, a truth you sensed in his quiet moments, in the fleeting glances where he wondered if he was doing enough.

You wished so much that he could see himself through your eyes, that he could understand how incredible he was, not just as an actor but most of all as a man. To you, he was more than the sum of his professional successes. He was the man with whom you saw your future, the one you dreamed of building a family with. Every time you imagined him as your husband, as the father of your future children, your heart swelled with happiness. You knew he would be perfect in those roles, just as he was perfect for you.

He had found you, and you had found your soulmate in him. It was an incredible stroke of luck, a rarity that few could claim. And even though Hugh sometimes struggled to believe it, you were there to remind him of how much he mattered, how much you both mattered together.

“You know, sometimes I think I don’t deserve you,” he suddenly murmured, as if he had read your thoughts.

You gently squeezed his hand, your eyes locked on his. “Hugh, you’re everything I’ve ever wanted. And I’m so grateful to have you in my life. We’re meant to be together; you should never doubt that.”

Hugh smiled at you one last time before heading back to the set, his face lit up with an expression of happiness that warmed your heart. He seemed lighter, more confident after your conversation, and that made you proud. You spent the rest of the day wandering around the studio, watching the crews work, but every minute felt endless. You couldn’t wait for the day to end, eager to reunite with Hugh in the privacy of your hotel.

Finally, as the sun began to set, the lights on the set dimmed one by one. Hugh sent you a message letting you know he was finally free and on his way to meet you at the hotel. You left the studio, your heart racing at the thought of seeing him again.

When you arrived in the room, you took the time to relax, taking a quick shower and wrapping yourself in a soft robe, waiting for his arrival. The twilight bathed the room in a golden light, creating a peaceful atmosphere. You sat on the edge of the bed, listening to the faint sounds of the city through the slightly open window.

A few minutes later, the door to the room quietly opened. Hugh entered, a tired but happy smile on his face. His eyes lit up when he saw you, and he immediately headed towards you, dropping his bag by the door.

“What a day,” he sighed, shrugging off his jacket before sitting down next to you on the bed. “But coming back to you here… it makes everything so much more bearable.”

You smiled at him, gently stroking his arm. “I’m glad you’re finally here. You look exhausted.”

Hugh nodded. “It was a long day, but it was worth it. Especially knowing I get to come home to you.”

He took your hand and brought it to his lips, placing a soft kiss on your skin. Your heart began to beat faster, the intensity of his gaze sending a shiver through you. He seemed different from this morning—more relaxed, but also more present, as if all day he had been thinking about this moment, about finally being alone with you.

You leaned in toward him, letting your lips brush against his. The kiss was soft at first, almost shy, a gentle acknowledgment of the pleasure of being together after such a long day. But quickly, the emotion grew, and you felt Hugh deepen the kiss, his hands gently framing your face.

“I thought about you all day,” he murmured against your lips, his voice low and husky.

“Me too,” you replied, wrapping your arms around his neck, pulling yourself closer to him. “I couldn’t wait for us to be here, just the two of us.”

Hugh responded by drawing you closer, his hands sliding down your back, exploring every curve of your body through the robe. The kiss intensified, your breaths mingling as the atmosphere became increasingly charged with desire.

He gently laid you back onto the bed, positioning himself above you, his eyes locking with yours with an intensity that sent shivers down your spine. His skilled fingers began to slowly undo the belt of your robe, revealing your skin piece by piece, his gaze never leaving yours.

“Hugh…” you whispered, feeling a wave of heat wash over your body as he got closer.

“Shh,” he replied softly, his lips tracing a path from your neck to your shoulder, leaving you panting under his caresses. “I just want to enjoy you, this moment… just us.”

You felt his hands slide under the fabric, caressing your skin with tenderness mixed with desire. Each movement was slow, as if he wanted to engrave each sensation into his memory. You indulged in his attentions, your body responding to every touch, every kiss, as the tension between you grew further.

The outside world was disappearing little by little, leaving room only for the two of you, your bodies coming together, the love and desire that united you so deeply.

His hand that was on your cheek to bring your face closer to his to kiss you moved down to your hip to make you sit on his hips. You delicately put your hands on his chest to steady yourself, he was so beautiful beneath you.

“You’re driving me crazy” he said in a deep voice, and just then his middle and ring fingers slid inside you. You pressed yourself against him as Hugh began to slowly move his fingers in and out of you, pressing his thumb against your front wall.

His lips moved down to your jaw, then closer to your ear, pressing against the spot just behind your earlobe. You moaned as Hugh started to suck on the skin there. His voice sounded like it was coming from inside your head when he spoke.

“I can’t do without you,” he said softly just to kiss you afterwards while continuing to hold your hip with the other hand. You wanted to please him so much that you reached out for him blindly, your hand trailing down his body to his crotch, finding him hard.

With impatient, trembling fingers, you undid the button, requiring a few tries, but Hugh leaned back a little to help you. Then your hand was in his jeans and you held it, you pulled out Hugh's cock.

You blinked and saw that Hugh was also looking down, watching what you were doing. You looked up at Hugh as you slowly began to stroke him.

He had stopped the movement of his fingers inside you when you took off his shorts, but he took them again at the same time, and you both let out a deep moan. You leaned forward and kissed Hugh and he returned it, pressing his tongue against yours. You loved everything about him so much, his smell, his mentality, his physique too of course. You were addicted to him.

Hugh resumed his pace, his fingers digging deep into you, the rest of his hand pressing against the outside of your pussy. You began to roll your hips a little, hoping against hope that you could somehow take him even deeper, have even more of him. Your hand on Hugh's cock moved frantically and while at first he moaned from the stimulation, the friction soon became too much.

The tremors in your thighs were a telltale sign that your movements were about to get very messy. He smirked knowing your mess was all thanks to him, his wife moaning his name.

You absorbed his moans like a melody and the sentence that followed made you come for a few seconds on his fingers, “Come my darling on the fingers of the future father of your children”. You couldn't answer. You threw your head back, your legs closing around Hugh's hand, a loud cry escaping you. Hugh pressed his lips to your neck as his hand continued to pump into you, his movements restricted by your thighs pressed together. Your muscles tensed from head to toe loving so much the pleasure Hugh was giving you.

After your ecstasy passed, you could see him with a proud look. You kissed him so that you no longer saw that superior look on him. “Don’t be so proud of yourself, sweetheart,” you said, but there was no opposition in your voice. Without waiting for Hugh's response, you stood up, pulled your legs up and stood further away from his chest. You gently pushed Hugh against the bed then, without breaking eye contact, you took some saliva into your mouth and let it fall into your hand. He huffed when he felt your hand around his cock.

You immediately choose a fast pace, winding your hands in different directions as you go up and down. You continued like this, just looking at him as you did it. Hugh was looking at your hand, panting, bottom lip pushed slightly forward, but then he looked up and saw you looking at him.

You felt his hip tap against the bottom of your hand, you continued to look at him, out of breath too, from the rapid movement of your arm as well as the sight of Hugh moaning your name with praises beneath you.

You vaguely heard his warnings that he was going to cum and you leaned in again, half kissing him, half licking his mouth. Then you saw Hugh move his other hand, angling it over his cock in what you thought was an attempt to not get his cum all over you when he came. But you had a different plan.

You leaned in, Hugh moved his hand on instinct and you opened your mouth, tongue sticking out. He grunted, maybe in surprise, maybe in excitement, and then you could see his balls tighten.

“Fuck,” he moaned, and then he came, the first spurt of cum landing on your tongue, but then you wrapped your lips around him, Hugh twitching deliciously in your mouth. His hand dug into the hair at the back of your head, squeezing it, close to the roots so it wouldn't hurt, but you could feel his hand shaking as he grunted through his release.

You understood why he was good with instruments, his voice was good no matter the circumstances. He smiled after that as he grabbed your hips and pulled you back on top of him. He kissed you even though he could taste him through your mouth, if he had to be honest. He loved it, he loved it even.

While you were in thought looking into his eyes, he took the opportunity to slip a leg between yours. He pressed it against you and you moaned at the contact. He wanted himself inside you so he started jerking off again while you rubbed against his leg. After a while of saying dirty things to him that made him hard, you end up feeling his cock against your vagina. You held on to her shoulders as you gently pulled her in where Hugh left you in control so as not to hurt yourself.

After you got used to it, you felt him slowly move his hips which were at first in sync with your moans until increasing the speed to his still ragged breathing. You felt his hip slap against your thighs, that thought immediately disappearing when he hit your sensitive spot. He'll take the opportunity to bite you and do it again until your legs are shaking and your pussy is clinging to his cock.

Even if he had just cum inside you, he will continue to thrust until he feels you coming. After you calm down, he will come over and kiss you and take you to the shower. You were going to love his shoot.

[readmyheartt]

Schrödinger's Satan's cat theory.

satan is not a complicated man. he likes to read, he likes cats, he has 5 brothers, he has 1 enemy. pretty simple stuff. and so when he meets you, someone so complex and at times - a variable at which his mind shows "404" he has deduced that he'll need a 101 lesson on schrödinger's satan's cat theory.

♡. ) satan x fem!reader

"god what the heck is happening in my mind" satan says, like a cat chasing it's own tail, satan paces aimlessly in the library.

what was supposed to be a normal and mundane (well, as mundane as you can get in the house of lamentation) wednesday - had turn into one of stress, panic, and plentiful heartbeats.

asmodeus sighs as he puts down the mirror, a feat at which is a rare sight, "ditto." he looks at the fourth born all disappointed and perplexed. after all, what is happening in his mind?

"what's wrong? got a feud with cupid or something?~" asmodeus teases mindlessly, after all satan of all demons would never even dream of getting involved in the dance of love. cause i mean, c'mon, satan? love? don't make me laugh.

but... if that's truly the case.. why isn't the avatar of wrath retorting back?...

asmodeus had stopped his movement, his mind turning blank, and his heart - unlike the fourth born - stopping. "... wait..." he slowly turns his head towards satan and for the first time in his long, extremely long life - he witnessed something so incredibly beautiful.

"..w-what? why are you just... staring at me l-like that?.." satan covers his mouth, face rosy as if he had been thrown a bucket filled with flowers and songs of heaven's songbirds.

"oh.. my GOODNESS!!" asmodeus squealed, he couldn't believe it! his wrathful yet sensible brother is blushing, looking as if he'd fallen in love - no, no it would be an insult to call this love! it's more than that, surely!

asmodeus immediately rushed over to satan, excitedly prancing around. it seems as though the fifth born had jumped the gun and now he's off to marriage land...

satan pried off his annoying brother, annoyed and flustered that the cat had gotten out of the bag this quickly. agh, how embarrassing.

"ugh, get off me asmo." satan scoffed and started searching for books within the vast shelfs of knowledge, beckoning for something - anything to distract him. "whaa?! how could i possibly run away from something as cute as this!!~" asmodeus giggled.

"so~ who's the lucky girl? well. not really lucky. since she isn't with me but those are just the finer details~" asmodeus teased, practically dying from the lack of information. it seems as though the fifth born was excited to turn the books in the shelves of knowledge to one of satan's experiences with love.

satan's blush burned harder than his anger had ever gotten. a color of pure passion that rivalled even lucifer's pride. "... you're really starting to annoy me asmo..." satan aimlessly grabbed a book, which reminded him of the vast collection in his room. perhaps he could rush there and bury himself.

but satan, as collected as he is, is a being with a limit. a string strong enough to contain his most emotional tendencies but a string weak enough to break off when buttons are pushed right.

and asmodeus had pushed- no, destroyed those buttons.

"c'mon, c'mon, c'mon!!~ a little hint wouldn't hurt, or else i'll start guessing~" asmodeus bargained, huh. who knew you actually could learn something from the second born. but satan wouldn't budge. you're going to have to try a little harder if you wanna break the most patient man to have ever exis- wait where are you going?

asmodeus put out his tongue, "well, if you wanna be that stubborn - then i sure hope you don't mind me telling the others!~" asmodeus waved, on his way exiting the library.

oh no you don't. satan had an average stamina and speed, he wasn't proud but he wasn't upset with it either - but oh boy was he proud now. satan had never felt a sense of dread, this much pressure in his life, so much so he hadn't even intended to grab the back collar of asmodeus this roughly.

"ack!- okay, okay! calm down.." asmodeus tried to catch his breath amongst his surprise.

satan whispered "y/n...", silently hoping his brother hadn't heard but a piece of him - so small it can be considered miniscule, wanted someone he could confide in about his feelings. asmodeus, who had finished coughing, looked up at satan confused "a-ahem.. ugh.. y-y/n what?.."

satan looks away, wanting to hurry up and get this embarrassing part over with. "t-the one.. i think i like.." his heart had flown to heaven upon hearing his admittance. ah, he never expected he'd visit heaven for the first time like this.

asmodeus giggles, "ah.. y/n. well i can't say i'm quite surprised" he smiles. proud of his brother for his brave yet adorable confession. "so~ what do you think you're gonna do next hm?~" asmodeus muses, curious of the fourth born's next step.

however, said fourth born had instead sighed. "ugh, listen. i'm not even sure i like her just yet, i'll need to confirm-" but before he can finish his sentence, asmodeus shook his shoulders in pure absurdity.

"what?!" he screams, "you totally like her!!" this makes the fourth born blush further, a bitter yet sweet argument ignited between the two brothers. one gushing and other- wait, why are you gushing about her?!

"mhh.. that's beside the point! i never took you as someone who'd be so dense.." asmodeus sighs, hopelessly. walking past the avatar of wrath, reveling in how he'd constantly open and close his mouth - ready to argue, but unsure of what to say. what a cute sight.

-tuck... "oh?" asmodeus looks down, the book satan held earlier appeared to have been left on the floor. must've been from when he had strangled and defiled his poor, poor delicate neck (the cynical fourth born swears he's overdramatizing it.)

"hmph! well it'll do no good to loiter around" asmodeus begrudgingly sacrifices himself on a brave journey, bending down to grab the book whilst knowing the dangers of tainting his jeans with soot.

as he pats the book to whisk away any dust, he notices what exactly the book happens to be. "schrödinger's cat theory" it read on the title cover. and suddenly, a lightbulb appeared-

asmodeus turned behind excitedly towards satan, "i know what'll convince you! if i explain your feelings with a concept you'll are obsessed with understand then you'll surely admit you have feelings!" asmodeus showcased the book with a big grin.

satan furrowed his eyebrow, unconvinced and un wavered. however, he'd be running in circles if he keeps denying asmodeus any juicy details - so he might as well indulge in his little games.

asmodeus prepares a comically huge whiteboard (how did he even bring that here?) and coughs loudly, and dramatically really but you probably expected that already.

"you see, my dear brother. i call this!~ the "satan's cat theory! ♥" asmodeus squeals, as he draws a doodle of a grumpy satan followed by little cats (that satan approves of) around the canvas.

asmodeus draws a much cleaner and adorable sketch of you. one with a version inside a box, and the other without. "now now, as you can see here-"

satan interrupts the class session to input, what he determines, as a valuable criticism. "hang on.. this is supposed to be satan's cat theory. i don't see how that drawing of her is supposed to be related to a cat" satan folds him arms and scoffs.

asmodeus sighs and mumbles about how he's being dramatic. asmodeus pouts "hey! im already impatient enough as is, he have to start the lesson alright?!" he whines, much to satan's dismay.

"imagine this here, this drawing of y/n is how you see her at the moment. her being her normal-cute self!~" asmodeus giggles, "but now look over here!" asmodeus erases the normal doodle, and draws an obnoxious red circle around the version of you inside a box.

"now this is a metaphor of your feelings! y/n is inside that box, and she's in a state where you either like or love her. and you won't know until you open that box!"

satan raises an eyebrow "and.. how is that supposed to help me?" upon questioning he immediately receives a groan as a reply. "how can you not tell where im going with this?!" asmodeus whines,

"agh, at this point i might have to miss out on that clothing sale just to get through your thick and unpretty skull.." he sulks, but satan didn't seem to receive that remark quite lightly...

asmodeus however, ignores the green flame igniting behind him and continues on, "and now, let's say you open that box and see what you truly feel for y/n" asmodeus then flips the whiteboard to showcase what's on the backside.

satan grows intrigued, he wasn't expecting such effort from his brother (much less how he's even accomplished this in such a short notice). asmodeus beams and waves his hand, "tada!!!"

a picture of you was taped in front of a doodle of a box opening up to reveal it's insides. however, the doodle wasn't what satan was focusing on...

is that... is that... no.... it can't be.. it can't possibly be...

is that a picture of you with cat ears?!?!

"OI?! how did you even-" satan gets up, flustered at the sight and slightly enraged. however, asmodeus quickly rips off (much to satan's cringe) the picture from the whiteboard and sways his finger.

"at-tat-ta~ you can't get this picture until you figure out what the key to this lesson is ♥" he teases. "!!!" satan, baffled at the confidence of his brother, grows even more flustered and flushed.

c'mon satan..!! think!! you are definitely the smartest in the house of lamentation (though, lucifer would beg to differ) so he definitely can't let love drive him stupid. alright, what's the key to the lesson, what was asmodeus going on about and....

hold on. let's back track.

"c-cant.. let...." satan mumbles under his breath. asmodeus, not quite catching what his dear cynical fourth had muttered, lets out a hum of confusion.

"... drive.. me.. s-stupid..." the mumbling becomes clearer, and clearer. "ehh hey.. why are you all mumbling and being weird there?" asmodeus tries to get his brother back to reality, until when he suddenly--

"AGH!!! ASMOOOOO" geez! it's like it was lucifer yelling for mammon all over again! asmo jumps in response, confused and shocked at the sudden outburst. "L-LOVE ITS... I-ITS LOVE GOD DAMMIT" satan yells, and for the first time in a long while, it seems as though he's come back to embrace his demon form.

"eek!!" asmodeus runs off to seek protection by his other kinder and less wrathful brothers. satan seemed to regain a bit more relief once asmo was out of his sight. especially when he noticed that he ended up dropping the picture of you with... those darn cat ears...

the picture, without him even knowing, had subconsciously returned him back to his original form. now much calmer with a clearer mind, he runs his hands through his hair.

"sighs... love, huh.." he whispers to himself, a moment to collect his feelings and thoughts. he falls down to take a seat on top of the arm chair. even though he resists looking at the picture of you, for the sake of his beating heart, he still ever so tightly grips it - scared that it'll fly away so easily.

he sighs once more, for what seemed like the 10th time today, he mutters to his heart "how am i supposed to face her now... ah god dammit. that stupid... and cute lesson..." he feels heat rushing through his body again, at the mere thought of such a cute concept.

satan's cat theory, huh? well.. he hopes he can miss the due date for homework, as he needs more time for research and less time for dilly dallying.

he says, as he pockets the picture.

[bp-zb1fics]

My heart keeps on

pairing: na kamden x secret s/o reader

pronouns: none used

genre: canonverse  (finale), angst ish, fluff

tw/tags: long distance relationship, very emo in general, a lot of tears LIKE A LOT, you surprise kamden twice, citing ep 12 as my ref for all this, kinda secret relationship, realities of dating a trainee/idol, reunions so more emo, cuddles, cheek kissing, using a pic as a page break, yes the title is fr kam’s rap in switch ty for noticing 💜

wc: 2178

summary: kamden hasn’t seen you in over a year. you surprise him.

a/n this was supposed to be a gift fic for 101 followers but y'all are 200 now 😭😱 omg so thanks so much for supporting my little blog!!! I know this took a little longer than expected so thanks so much for patiently waiting! 💜Special thanks to the anon who sent me an ask about missing kamden and especially to @seok02 for giving me the motivation to finish this fic and kinda just helping me with the overall process 💜💜💜

check my pinned for more fics!

“Star Creator, we always thank you and love you!”

They wrap up the pajama party livestream, thanking the staff and staying to chat as the cameras are switched off. (Or so they think, lol)

“The vibe was pretty good,” Kamden tells Matthew. The other boy agreeing instantly.

“I think we were able to show new sides of ourselves.”

Suddenly the staff play a recording, surprising them all. It’s video messages from Star creators all over the world for them to watch. Kamden grabs a fluffy pillow as he watches everyone slowly get emotional. Seungeon cries. Zhang Hao cries. Yujin cries. Almost everyone is crying. 

Kamden gets a message from a fan in Norway, which is pretty cool. Then, something he never expected happens. He recognises your voice before he even realises it’s you.

“Kamden, annyeong~”

The pillow falls off his lap.

It’s you. It’s really you. You who he hasn’t been able to video call in a few days because of practice and your schedule and the time difference. He almost calls out your name but it sits tight in his throat, unable to reach you. 

You’re on screen, wearing one of the shirts you’ve stolen from him, holding onto the plushie he bought for you at that silly little shop after you insisted it looked like him. God, he hasn’t seen you in over a year.

“Dude, you okay?” Jay asks him softly.

He must look like an idiot, eyes blown wide, mouth slightly open, hanging onto every word that comes out of your mouth.

“I’ve been watching Boy’s Planet since the teasers were released. And you’ve always been my favourite.”

Kamden knows. You’ve been spamming your chat with him with all these little clips from the PR videos to the behind the scenes footage. Screenshots of you voting for him on the Mnet+ app, comments you’ve left on his fancam videos, even the funny memes you found of him on Twitter all greet him when he opens his phone after practice.

Hope my favourite trainee is doing well and staying healthy! Take care of yourself and know I’m always rooting for you! I love and miss you so much! Hoping for your debut!

Your messages are his favourite. And speaking of:

“I’ve made a little compilation of photos right here. I hope you like how I decorated them, I really tried my best~”

All the trainees ooh and ahh over the handmade album you bring up to the screen compiled with photos of him from the program and cute little notes and stickers. Kamden can’t move, can’t talk. 

Because that’s your album, the one you had insisted on starting when he and you began dating. He knows that if you flipped to the other pages, it would be full of photos of both of you, dates, anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, awards that either of you might have won, events that were important to you or him or both of you, everything carefully labelled. It was one of your favourite things to print out all the photos and he’d help you decorate them.

He can’t believe you kept that up after he left for Korea.

“You’ve stood out to me in every performance. You’re so talented and so many people are cheering you on so please remember to have confidence in yourself.” Your voice wavers a little towards the end of the sentence and as slight as it is, he catches that. He knows you.

Kamden only registers the wetness on his cheeks when the tears are already going, fast and furious. He reaches up, trying to dab them away gently with his sleeve. On screen, you blink rapidly and he knows you’re trying your best not to cry either. Even thousands of miles away, on a video you probably recorded weeks ago, you and him are still in sync. Maybe the rest of the trainees don’t see it but he does. Of course he does.

“I hope you take care of yourself always. Make sure to eat enough and get enough rest. I’ll be voting for you everyday so just do your best in practice and performing and us Star Creators will take care of the rest. We’ll support you so you can achieve your dream of debuting~”

To everyone else, you were just a particularly supportive fan. But to Kamden, you were his person, the one he was devoted to and he can’t help it, sobbing a little into his sleeve. Several pats on the back as the other trainees around him try to comfort him. He can’t help but cry even more. Why were you so far away? Why couldn’t you be here where he could hug you and kiss you and just be with you?

“Na Kamden hwaiting! Saranghae~”

That’s it. He turns and buries his face fully into his hands as if doing that would soak up all the tears that won’t stop coming. Matthew and Jay have scooted over, voices overlapping as they rub his shoulders and back and ask what’s wrong. Even Zhang Hao’s hovering a little on the side, equally concerned.

Maybe he’ll say something later, when there are no mics and no cameras. He’s been training for years and you’ve both agreed that in a career like the one he aspires to get into, keeping it quiet would be the best. Idols don’t date. Idols don’t have a significant other in a whole other country that they call when they can find free time. Even when it comes to casual conversation where there isn’t a camera directly trained on them, Kamden just doesn’t say anything.

They do ask him later. And when he says you’re a close friend he hasn’t seen in awhile, their faces light up in recognition. He leaves it at that.

You walk into the arena with a little trepidation. 

It’s all been a blur. Packing your things, flying to Korea, meeting up with Kamden’s mom and brother who have been kind enough to get you a ticket pass for the family section. Of course, he has no idea you’re even here.

You’re quite a bit more nervous about surprising him than you thought. While you’d give anything to see him again, it was a little risky in such a public venue with so many people watching and cameras everywhere filming almost any angle. Maybe you can be discreet enough if you do break down but Kamden’s on stage, the spotlights bright and on him. Fans are probably filming him on their own devices.

At this point, you’ll just have to trust your boyfriend to keep his reactions to a believable level. You don’t stand too close to his family, trying to keep your distance but also staying near enough that you’d be in the same general direction if Kamden glanced your way.

You end up on the side, along with a few other people who seem to be dressed as discreetly as you, masks on too. The looks you exchange seem to come to a general understanding of why you’re all here and who you’re here for.

Kamden doesn’t notice you when the Top 18 first file in. You don’t expect him to but you see him though. There’s a growing knot in your stomach, emotions welling up from actually seeing him not through a screen but so close that you could walk on stage and touch him. You don’t do that, of course. But still, he’s so near that it almost hurts not being able to throw yourself into his arms for a hug.

You’ve wanted this so much, especially after more than a year of not seeing him. But right now, you feel frozen. You only watch as they start getting into positions for the signal song. Fans are cheering, even the family members and friends of the trainees are calling out words of support. Still, your voice sticks to your throat, as much as you want to shout out, something keeps you from doing it.

Good thing Kamden’s brother does it for you. It probably surprises you and his mom more than it should but who can blame you when he almost never does that? Kamden’s surprised too, maybe it’s a twin thing but he immediately stands up straighter looking for where his brother’s voice is coming from.

And then he sees you.

His eyes meet yours and they widen considerably. His mouth even drops open a little. You’re smiling so much and you’re sure it shows from how your eyes crinkle, just a little glossy. But you’re not going to cry just yet. Instead, you wave at him. He can’t do much more than give a little wave back before they seem to be ready to start filming. 

Suddenly, your heart feels just a little lighter. You step back and watch him dance the signal song. You’ve seen him do it a thousand times, every time you stream his video. It feels so surreal, being able to see it like this, right in front of you. When the song ends, you see his eyes flick back in your direction, searching for your face. When he finds it, his expression brightens.

It’s amazing, watching someone you love do what they love. Sure, you’ve seen Kamden dance, you’ve gotten him to sing and even rap for you a little before. But it’s different with the stage and the lights and the crowd and he looks so comfortable there. You laugh when you see the Jelly Pop teaser, maybe you’ll get him to wear that dress again, just so you can get photos. The final song is almost bittersweet and you try your best but a few tears do slip out.

He’s messaged you about barely making it to the finale, you’ve monitored the program, watched his rank. You both know his chances are slim. But they’re possible. Still, he’s told you that he’s prepared for the equal possibility of not debuting. His company should have plans, he assured you. You watch him walk over to every one of his fellow trainees who’ve made it to debut, offering hugs and congratulating them. And as the number of spots dwindle, you keep your hopes up but you begin to accept it as well.

By the time they’ve called third, you watch as he walks over to Matthew, one of the trainees he’s closest with from what he’s told you. Maybe he lingers a little longer. Maybe you catch his eyes as he looks over. Hwaiting! You mouth, shaking your fists a little in encouragement. The emotions are swirling inside you. When the camera pans over to him, he’s teary eyed, covering his face the way he always does when he gets like that. You can’t help it. The emotions are starting to spill over and you breathe between the occasional tears.

After they announce the ninth place, everything suddenly starts moving so fast and so slow. They wrap up filming. The audience begins to file out. The cameras switch off one by one. You go backstage.

When he walks in, mic gone, still in that uniform that you keep teasing about, you don’t hold back. His arms wrap around you and you fall into him, holding him so tightly you wish you didn’t need to let go. And then both of you start crying.

“I missed you so much, Kam.” You’re holding onto the fabric of his jacket, gripping at it so desperately you’re almost afraid it might rip.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” He manages, his head somehow buried on your shoulder, tears soaking the cloth of your shirt.

“Surprise?” It comes out weak, a little shaky as you both laugh brokenly through your sobs.

“I can’t believe you’re here.” He holds you even tighter, like he’s afraid you might fade into thin air.

“I’ll be here for a while.” You tell him. “I wish I could’ve come sooner but-”

“It’s okay seriously, you’re here now.” If he squeezes you anymore, you feel like your heart might burst. “I’m so happy to see you.”

He goes back with you. There’s few brief introductions to Jay and Matthew and a few other trainees he’s grown close with, nudges and knowing looks and raised eyebrows. But it’s nothing to stress about, you manage to make it back under the radar.

You feel him watching you as you grab a few more things from your suitcase after both of you have showered and you’re wearing another one of his old shirts. Before you know it, your legs are tangled together, your head resting on his shoulder, your hands intertwined. 

“I don’t want to sleep,” he says quietly. “I don’t want to wake up and find out this is a dream and you aren’t here.”

“You aren’t dreaming, Kam.” You reassure him, lifting your head to kiss his cheek. Even in the privacy of this room, he blushes.

“Even if I didn’t make it, at least I have you.”

“You do, Kam. You always do.” And you know he will make it, one day.

[lauralot89]

Our bird when he found the cage open would not fly, so all our subtle arrangements were for nought.

cool can you try actually helping your patient now

Hark! The unexpected again! I am called; the patient has once more escaped.

you took the time to say that into your phonograph did you

Renfield artfully waited until the attendant was entering the room to inspect. Then he dashed out past him and flew down the passage.

is that really artful because that sounds like Escape Attempt 101 to me, wait for the door to open and run

When he saw me he became furious, and had not the attendants seized him in time, he would have tried to kill me.

it's almost like letting your patient deliberately escape and get agitated isn't a good treatment plan

Then I caught the patient's eye and followed it, but could trace nothing as it looked into the moonlit sky except a big bat, which was flapping its silent and ghostly way to the west. Bats usually wheel and flit about, but this one seemed to go straight on, as if it knew where it was bound for or had some intention of its own.

this is fine

I feel there is something ominous in his calm, and shall not forget this night….

great work, Seward, what astute medical insights

[shmowder]

Okay those fluffy husband Daniil hcs got me feeling insane so if I may keep that train semi alive can I request hcs for husband Daniil comforting his spouse or helping his spouse somehow during their period…he’s a doctor I know that bastard has the good painkillers….i know he has them…fork them up Daniil

We can have a little husband Daniil encore as a treat

Dankovsky isn't weird about it

He's a doctor, he knows about periods, they're a fact of life. Anyone who treats them like a taboo topic or some shameful secret will get the "I don't just think you're a moron, I know you are a moron" Stare from Daniil before being condescendingly talked down to and told to apologise to the nearest tree for wasting so much oxygen.

It's a little comforting having a whole knowledgeable bachelor by your side, too. Sure, he isn't a gynaecologist, but he knows a thing or two. Thanatology does cover a portion of the reproductive system, after all.

If you have some concerns or worries about your period being too late or too early, he'll reassure you it's normal. Any questions you have will be answered by the best of his abilities, even the seemingly embarrassing ones. He doesn't bat an eye as he dusts off the old anatomy 101 books and tries to turn this into a lecture.

But he doesn't claim knowledge about things he is ignorant about. If he has serious concerns or you're in too much pain, he will take you a proper gynaecologist. If anything, Daniil encourages regular visits and accompanies you during those trips.

Well... he might get weird sometimes and request a blood sample to study under his microscope at 3am in the morning. Listen, he wears a brooch in the shape of womb, what do you expect?

The good thing about being a licensed practising doctor is that he can be the one to prescribe you medication. If the cramps and contrasts are too much, you don't have to go through the long journey of visiting a doctor, waiting in line then having to convince with the skeptic doctor that your pain is very much real, arguing while enduring the said debilitating pain.

All it takes is calling your husband over, having him do a routine check on your health, ask a couple questions, then you're handed the best pain medication for your state.

Daniil doesn't make a big deal out of it. If anything, he fusses over you too much. Bringing you a hot water bottle and coming over every couple hours to replace it, asking if you'd like to be alone or if you want him to keep you company. Telephones don't exist in pathologic, but if they did, that man would dial you from work just to ask about your well-being.

If your periods are especially painful to the point that walking becomes difficult, Daniil might just take the day off and stay with you instead. Bringing you food to the bed, helping you walk to the bathroom, and waiting for you outside in case you find yourself fainting.

He is used to seeing people in pain, treating uncooperative patients, and remaining collected during times of panic. However, he is a little on the edge because it's not just anyone he's watching over this time, it's you.

Daniil was never the best rated doctor when it came to patients' satisfaction. He doesn't bother with faux sympathy, nor does he indulge the patients sadness. He is here to just to take their symptoms, prescribe the cure and take his leave.

And sometimes it shows in how you watch him attempt to comfort you in a rather clumsy way. He keeps explaining periods to you as if you haven't had them all your life, Daniil's train of thoughts is that the more you know the less worried you'd become but he tends to forget that he is the jaded doctor in the room and the mention of some rare disease or two end up slipping past his lips.

Okay. Yes. He just made the situation worse, and now you are panicking. That was completely counterproductive. But do not worry! Dankovsky is sure he will fix it... somehow.

The less he speaks, the more he'll accomplish, and he concludes...

but he cannot shut up.

Would you like him to read you something instead? The pain medication will take at least half an hour before it's fully absorbed into your blood stream and Daniil can try to take your mind off of things meanwhile.

He'll bring you some coffee or tea? Is there any hot drink you'd like to have? The cafe at the end of the street is still open and he can make a quick run for it.

As the two of you sit together enjoying your drinks in bed–yes drinks, he bought himself something too. You can lay your head against his shoulder and he'll read you one of his favourite books, it's not some latin text or medical book, don't worry. It's a fantasy, actually, one about a dragon terrorising a village–the dragon is an allegory for death you see because it only accepts one sacrifice at a time.

It's surprisingly fun, playfully debating the meaning of a short fantasy book with him. Your now finished drinks sitting at the nearby bedtable, the two of you slowly sinking more and more into the soft mattress. A yawn escaping your mouth as Daniil's voice lulls you to sleep, you close your eyes and bury your face against his neck.

And if you wake up in the middle of the night after the medication wears off, all you have to do is wake Daniil up and he'll bring them to you alongside a small fruit since you must eat something for them to fully take effect. Sure, he has bedhair and is barely keeping him eyes open, but he doesn't complain or grumble.

If anything, his concern is more obvious with sleep clouding his mind. Staying awake by your side, even if he has work in the morning, he dismisses your concerns and claims he'll be fine. Plus, you're clearly not getting any sleep, what kind of a husband would he be to rest without you?

-

Talking about Daniil helping the reader with their period made me start thinking about husband Artemy and how different yet similar the two of them are.

Now, Menkhu knowledge does involve more gynaecology, even if it's not referred to by that name. The human body only has three layers. After all, it's has got to fall under one of them.

Artemy would brew you the tinctures and herbal remedies himself, which surprisingly last longer than pharmaceutical pain killers. He just knows when your period is about to start with 90% accuracy, even when it's unpredictable or late. He tried to explain it to you once, and it's a mix of subtle signs he notices in your body and something akin to a gut feeling? It's hard to put into words.

He's prepared every single time before you tell him, which makes the whole week go much smoother. Nothing in your daily routine is disturbed because of it, although Artemy is more attentive than usual. Making sure you're eating well and drinking plenty of water, taking you outside more to get fresh air. Which contrasts to Daniil's approch of "a patient must stay in their bed at all times."

Any wince of pain or sign of discomfort has him wrapping his arm around you so you may lean against him. His warm hand pressed against your navel, easing the contrast of the muscles as he gently rubs the area.

He spares you from a lot of uncomfortable situations by simply acting first and then discussing it later.

If any blood droplets seeped into the bed sheets, he'd simply take them to wash himself without saying a word or notifying you. He has plenty of experience with dealing with blood stains.

One major difference between the two would be the Town not providing many options as the Capital. Be it sanitary pads and tampons or small comforts like sweets, chocolate, and hot drinks.

The town's options are much more limited, candy is scarce, and milk + coffee are the only available drinks around. However, the town's fresh air and open spaces to soak in the sun are very hard to find in the capital.

[lavender-long-stories]

Wedding to Save a Uchiha

Hinata lifted her skirts and ran up the stairs as sets of hands fiddled with her kimono. “I don’t think there is any helping it at this point.” She tried, but the branch members continued to try to straighten it beyond its capabilities. It was too big for her. She was shorter than her mother and thinner than she had been when she was married.

“This is ridiculous.” Neji came through the hall she had just had. “He can’t make you do this!”

“No one is making me, I agreed.” Hinata lifted her head, trying to stand tall with her decision, but her heart was rushing from the anxiety.

“You agreed? Why? You don’t even know who it is!” Neji demanded. “What would compel you to marry a stranger!”

“The Hokage would not ask if he didn’t think it was of the utmost importance.” Hinata felt her own voice start to go weak as his face turned red in fury.

“You’re doing this because HE asked you!” Neji shouted. “You are going to give yourself to a stranger to please the man that will be off limits to you with the very action.”

“I am aware!” Hinata snapped. “I am also late!” Her eyes filling with tears. “I trust that this is the best reason for both father and Naruto-sama to offer my hand to fix this problem.”

“Your father agreed to this!? Do you even know what the problem is?!” Neji growled.

“This will clear a man of his wrongful exile,” Hinata explained.

Neji wouldn’t have been given that information. “Are you sure he deserves it?”

“He’s convinced me,” Hinata assured him.

“And how has he done that? You don’t know who he is.” Neji repeated.

“He wrote, giving me the option to decline.” Hinata cast her eyes down to her hidden toes. The note was actually tucked into the folds of her kimono, keeping her from turning back.

“She is late already.” One of the branch members that was waiting so patiently despite the fact they were, in fact, in a rush. 

“You can’t.” Neji finally resigned to a low voice of pleading.

“I’ve already agreed.” Hinata allowed the woman to rush her through the door.

Hinata blinked at the man who was to be her husband. She understood now. She was guided into her seat. The ceremony was short. The kimonos were for show. A paper was signed, and then she just sat there quietly next to her new husband. 

Itachi Uchiha.

--**--

Naruto held her hand between his as he thanked her. “I hope you understand.”

Hinata nodded. Connecting Itachi to the Hyuga meant that he was less of a risk if he was under the power of the rival clan. Tying him to a wife made it seem more real.

“The Hyuga knew about the truth of the massacre,” Hinata assured him. 

“But you’re really okay with this?” Naruto asked. “I know it was a lot to ask.”

“You shouldn’t be trying to make me turn back on my wedding day,” Hinata smiled.

Naruto crinkled his nose. “Yeah. You look great.”

Hinata smiled. “Thank you.” And with that, he left her and let go of her hand, and with it, he took her heart. She stared at the closed door and sighed. She had to give it up at some point.

“You’re in love with him.” Hinata jumped as her new husband made himself known behind her.

Quiet and observant.

“Sorry?” Hinata asked. Maybe he would act like he didn’t say it.

Itachi nodded his head toward the closed door. “Why would you agree if you love him?”

And not one for reading the room.

Not the first conversation she wanted to have with her husband. “He’s not interested in me. This way, I am at least useful to him.” 

Itachi peered through her for a few seconds like he was reading her mind. He simply nodded.

I think I had an ItaHina phase where I thought of 101 ways for Itachi to come back to Konoha, but I never did any of them.

I think what stopped me was thinking of how to deal with Sasuke.

I am sure I could have figured it out, but better stories came up and these slowly got abandoned.

[pttwice]

For my previous ask about littles Jeong and Tzu I do want to clarify that I did base it on your posts about Jeongyeon liking Paw Patrol and SMC getting into trouble (Because Tzuyu liked 101 Dalmatians)

Also I imagine that at Halloween they dress their pets up as different characters from the show. :))))

hey anon! :) ugh that would be the absolute cutest thing. they would be so giggly and excited to watch together and tzuyu would be happy because little!jeong would always be down to watch anything with dogs in it

babies & puppies

|| little!jeongyeon, little!tzuyu, cg!sana ||

"Wan' watch doggies, Jeongie?" Tzuyu busted into Jeongyeon's bedroom, shuffling over to where the other little was laying down, coloring in a picture of a teddy bear.

Jeongyeon was a little shocked but her eyes lit up as soon as Tzuyu said doggies. She knew exactly what her sister meant. She excitedly jumped off her bed, teddy bear picture abandoned as she pulled Tzuyu out to knock on Sana's door.

"Mommy! Me and Tzu wanna watch doggies!" Jeongyeon knocked on Sana's door, patiently waiting as Tzuyu played with the ring on Jeongyeon's hand.

After a few seconds of waiting, Sana opened the door, chuckling at the two littles standing impatiently in front of her. "What did you say, Jeong?" Sana bent down and placed a kiss on each of their foreheads, running her fingers through Jeongyeon's hair.

"Said me and Tzu wanna watch doggies!"

Tzuyu excitedly bounced up and down, Jeongyeon's hand still intertwined with her own. "Wan' watch Juma! Tzu love Juma!" Tzuyu smiled as she pointed to the dog on her shirt. Zuma, who rescued people and animals from the water, was Tzuyu's favorite character.

"Oh do you guys want to watch Paw Patrol?" Sana nodded in understanding as the littles both nodded. She checked her phone, a little concerned since it was getting late. "It's a little late, but if we take a bath and get changed now I'll let you guys watch two episodes, okay?"

Jeongyeon and Tzuyu looked at each other then back to Sana, both nodding in agreement. They didn't want to have to get ready for bed yet, but if it meant they could watch Paw Patrol, then it was well worth it.

//

After a quick bath and both girls were changed into pajamas, they were ready to cuddle into the couch and watch their favorite show. Tzuyu had her puppy stuffie she had gotten from a fan years ago tucked under her arm and Jeongyeon had her Rex stuffy sitting in her lap. Rex, who was in charge of rescuing dinosaurs, was Jeongyeon's favorite.

"Okay, are you two ready for Paw Patrol?" Sana sat down beside Tzuyu, pulling her into her lap. They both nodded excitedly as Sana turned the TV on. She scrolled through the episodes until Tzuyu picked one she wanted to watch.

As the episode started, Jeongyeon scooted closer to Sana. She laid against her mommy's arm and hummed along to the theme song. There was nothing more she would want to do than watch her favorite show with two of her most favorite people.

"Wook, mommy! Juma!" Tzuyu smiled and pointed out the dog in the orange outfit, looking up to see Sana nodding.

"I see, peanut. He's your favorite, isn't he?"

Tzuyu nodded and turned her attention back to the TV. She tucked her head into Sana's neck, a small yawn escaping her as she watched. Tzuyu was starting to get a little tired but she wanted to make it through the first episode at least.

//

By the end of the first episode, Tzuyu barely made it all the way through. Her head was on Jeongyeon's lap, the rest of her body spread out across Sana.

Jeongyeon managed to keep the younger awake by talking and pointing out little things in the show to keep Tzuyu interested, but by the end of it, no amount of talking could keep Tzuyu's eyes open. She desperately wanted to watch another episode, but her body was getting lighter and lighter as Jeognyeon picked her episode and the theme song played.

About five minutes into the episode, Tzuyu was fast asleep. She curled up further into Jeognyeon's lap as the older little continued to babble on about all the dinosaurs in the episode. Sana wasn't too worried since Tzuyu was a heavy sleeper.

Tzuyu may have been far off in dreamland by the middle of the second episode, but that didn't stop Jeongyeon from telling her all about it. Jeongyeon gently ran her fingers through her sister's hair as she babbled on. It was rare that the two got time together and nothing beat puppies and hanging out with Tzu.

[bratshaws]

through the hourglass 129. brb x oc

a/n: reblogs and comments are super encouraged <3333

pairing: plus size!oc x rooster

warnings: none. fluff so fluffy it'll rotten you

goodness gracious (pls read this one to know more what this fic is about!!)

chapter

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/89/90/91/92/93/94/95/96/97/98/99/100/101/102/103/104/105

/106/107/108/109/110/111/112/113/114/115/116/117/118/119/120/121

/122/123/124/125/126/127/128

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-

Nicole was such a kind and patient little baby, she never makes any fuss when it’s time to get dressed. In fact she just watches, interested, as her parents dress her up. This time it was Beatrice who was doing so since Rooster was busy taking a shower.

She looked adorable with her plaid yellow pants that matched her bow and the white t-shirt with the words ‘Ugh! As if!’ printed on it. Yes it was because Beatrice watched Clueless a few weeks ago and managed to find this adorable outfit and couldn’t help herself.

Plus,Nicole looked adorable.

“There you go, oh my God you look so cute!” Beatrice smiles, clapping her hands as she kneels in front of the bed where her daughter sat patiently, holding onto her monkey and blinking up at her mother, “You look so cute,when you are older I’ll explain this reference…and I’ll also explain the 90’s were weird, very weird.” she shakes her head with a grin, kissing Nicole’s cheek, “Wait until your dad sees you, he’ll freak out.”

“Dada?”

“Yes! Dada!” Beatrice stands up to her feet and taps her knees to get rid of any dust clinging to her dark tights, pulling the black knee length boots a bit so it wouldn’t roll inside when she moved. She carried Nicole to the mirror, her little girl was still confused by reflections and the fact that there are two of the same people within the room, but she is getting better little by little. “Look at us, we are matching!” In a way, her own skirt was brown instead of yellow and her white blouse was a turtle neck one instead of a shirt.

But she looked pretty good.

She turns to the side and runs her hand over her stomach, it’s still pretty much invisible and the skirt’s volume helps in hiding the growing bump from any of her family’s eyes. She turns to the other side, then back, then repeats the pattern enough to make Nicole giggle because the movement was making her sway, “Mama is funny,is she?” Beatrice smiles, kissing Nicole’s head, ‘Sorry,birdie, I’m just checking on your little siblings.”

“Buh buh!” 

“Yeah,I know.Are you excited?”

Nicole babbled something, hugging onto Beatrice’s neck and she assumed that was a positive response. Beatrice sighs, holding Nicole close as she looks at her reflection one last time, staring over her shoulder at the bathroom when she hears the distinct sound of Rooster buckling his pants, “You okay over there?”

“Yep. I’m fine. Are you?”

Was she? “Yeah,I’m fine.”

“Good, gorgeous. We’ll be okay.”

“I know,I’ve been repeating that for…minutes now.”

“Do you want us to wait a bit before going?”

Her heart swelled at his suggestion, her smile widening as she looked down at her phone to check the time, “Not really, we’ll be fashionably late either way. I don’t mind going now,Roos.” and she rocks Nicole in her arms, kissing her little girl’s forehead and adjusting the bow on her hair, “I’ll be okay.”

“I know you will.” she hears him moving around, then the sound of something hitting the sink and his quiet cursing “Fuck, hit my knee, god damn it- I mean that, ow, I mean that you will be okay, we will be okay. Just try to have fun- god damn it that hurt.”

“Are you okay?”

“I think I’m losing my awareness because I just slammed my knee on the sink.”

“Roos.”

“You can kiss it better later,” he chuckles “But I’m fine,I swear.”

Beatrice laughs softly, sitting back down on the bed as she hears the dogs patting inside. Jolene was the first to arrive, tail wagging and pink nose tilted up so Beatrice could pet her head, her pups following behind - Eleanor had no concept of personal space and loved to jump on their bed, just so she could be close to Nicole, while Jack chose to stay under the bed and only keep his snout out from under the covers. And she had to admit that doggy sweaters are the best thing to buy during this time of the year.

Jolene sat in front of Beatrice, placing her huge head on her thigh, nose pointed directly towards her owner’s stomach. Much like Nicole’s, Jolene knew there was something going on in there and Beatrice couldn’t be more thankful to have such loving and protective dogs…well,Eleanor was the most protective of them all, but nevertheless, she felt safe, “Yeah,I know, I have a pair of babies in there.” Jolene presses her nose up to the top of her skirt and huffs, “You’ll take care of them too, won’t you Jojo?” a buff of agreement - and two of almost offense came from the pups- “And you guys too, of course.”

Eleanor barked happily, standing on her legs behind her, right in Nicole’s line of sight. The little baby smiled, reaching a small hand to Eleanor who immediately leaned down to lick her minuscule palm, making the little girl squeak a giggle.

“What’s she laughing at?”

Bea blinked, “Oh,Ellie is licking her hand.” she gently wipes the said hand off any dog saliva by grabbing a wipe from her nightstand, “Just being Ellie,why?”

“I dunno, my daughter laughs and I want to know why. She’s just too cute to pass up.”

“She got that from her dad.” she heard his snort, almost bashful one as he stayed in the bathroom, “You almost done?”

“Almost.” something clattered on the sink and he cursed again “I got the buttery fingers today, holy shit.”

“You’ll survive.”

“Always, gorgeous. Alright,I’m coming out.” Beatrice angled her body so she’d look straight at the bathroom door with Nicole facing the same direction, she whispered excitedly to her daughter that her ‘dada’ was almost there.

And honestly, when he did, he never disappointed.

He always had a great sense of style, although some of his friends would disagree and joke he stayed in the 80’s for a good chunk of his style, but she knew he had more under his sleeve. The amount of shirts that were to expose his chest were endless, but, considering how cold it was outside and they were in December, he chose to keep the striped black and white shirt buttoned up to his chest, only keeping a tiny part of his collar bones visible.

Since he couldn’t feel cold, more like he could but not in California, Rooster’s outfits were always the mid-season dream with the light cotton fabrics and the soft pants that this time were a dark shade of blue. The way those colors complimented his skin and his hair…it was amazing, he was amazing. “Dada!” Beatrice was snapped out of her full on ogling by their daughter, Rooster also stopped fiddling with his watch to smile at Nicole.

“My baby girl!” Beatrice loved how high his deep voice got when talking to Nikki, “Hi! Oh my Gosh, you look so fancy!” He practically skips over, picking Nicole up and holding her so he could take a full look at her outfit, “Like a child of the 90’s, I love it.”

“She even has a jacket.”

“Oh that’s so fucking cute.” he coos, tucking her on his neck and kissing her head. Then his eyes moved to Beatrice and he looked, he looked for a good while, whistling low, “Ooohhh…look at mama.” he whispers to Nicole, who turns her head towards Bea, “Isn’t she the most beautiful woman ever? Isn’t she pretty?”

“Pphuty!”

“Close! I’ll take it.” he smirks at Bea, offering her his hand, “Give me a twirl,gorgeous.” she laughs, letting him spin her in place and once again earning a pleased noise from her husband, “God you have beautiful legs…and thighs and,” he lets go of her hand to cup Nikki’s ears - one ear covered by his palm, the other by his shoulder - “Ass.”

Beatrice laughs even more, her nervousness dissipating, “Really? With everything you say that’s the thing you worry about?”

“I don’t know, it’s easier to say than the usual cursing I do.”

“Mhm.Sure.”

“But you do look beautiful.” he says, leaning down to kiss her scalp, inhaling the lavender in her hair and smiling when she hugged his torso, “Are you okay?” she nods against his chest before looking back up at him, “You sure?’

“I am better, yeah.’ she smiles, “Still nervous, but…you know, not how I was.”

“Good, good, that’s all I worry about.” he murmurs, gently tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, the movement made it easy for him to see the time on his watch, “Wanna go? We’ll be fashionably late as you said we would.”

“Yeah, yeah let’s go.”

Bradley kissed her forehead one last time, then handed Nicole back to her mother as the two walked out of the bedroom - the pilot whistling so the dogs followed, whistling harder when Eleanor remained on the bed and refused to leave, even barking at Rooster…eventually she did leapt off the bed. He follows Beatrice downstairs, grabbing his coat on the way out, “Okay, so, we go there.”

“Yeah,”

He slips his arm inside a sleeve, “We eat.’ she smiles, rolling her eyes, “You said your mom is making chocolate lava cake, for the love of God,Bea. You know I love lava cake.”

“Then it’s good I didn’t tell you she might add some fresh whipped cream,” his pained face, followed by him biting his knuckles made her laugh, “With fresh berries.”

“Jesus Christ, okay, yeah.Eating? A must- oh I need to call Mav.” he taps his sides and his butt until he feels his phone, pulling it out to call his uncle, “He knows the way but I think it’d be better if they came with us.”

“That’s fine.” she says, leaning against the wall as she fixed Nicole’s little Clueless coat around her tiny torso, “Weird that I’m going to spend Christmas with my boss…never thought it’d be something to think about when I started.”

“Crazy,huh?”

“I think our relationship opened some wild doors.” she chuckles, “But I’m not complaining.”

“Me neither.” he whispers, cupping her chin and kissing her lips repeatedly, humming in surprise when he uncle picks up, almost as if he could see what was happening and stepped back, “Mav! Hey! You ready?” a pause, “No, yeah, we were just waiting for you - no you don’t have to bring anything,I told you that…no, no, no Mav is fine. They are cool people, they are a bit crazy,” Beatrice chuckled, “But so are you.”

She could almost hear the indignant ‘hey!’ from the older pilot.

“No, yeah…yeah,I know…okay,so we’ll meet you there? Okay,no, yeah I can do it. Yep,hmhm, okay. Kay….kaaaay oh my God, calm down. Okay…alright, see ya.” he sighs with his brows arched as he ends the call, “They are waiting for us.”

“Was he nervous?”

“A little.” he shrugs, shoving his phone into his pocket and pulling the keys out of the holder, twirling it on his index finger, “But he’ll live, Mav isn’t shy, you know he’s going to survive your family.” he kisses her forehead and then opens the door for her, “Ladies.”

“Why, thank you.”

“Buh buh bah dada!”

Rooster’s eyes crinkled at the corners, he sent a kiss towards Nikki then turned to the dogs, “All of you, come on.” Jolene was the first, with Eleanor bouncing off and Jack hesitantly leave the door, looking over at Rooster with his eyes huge and ears flat on his skull, “You’ll meet your actual grandparents,Jack, go on.” he gently taps the dog’s butt, pushing him a bit forward and then closing the door.

He unlocks the car so Beatrice sets Nicole inside, before she turns to the dogs and they all take place next to the baby. Eleanor and Jolene on each side of her, with Jack at the bottom, partially hidden by the seat - a feat, honestly, with how big he was. She sighed, rubbing her arms before looking at him, “...well!” she slaps her hands on her sides, “I guess we should go.”

“We should.” he smiles, but before she can walk away he wraps his arms around her waist and tugs her closer, pressing their foreheads together, “Gorgeous, we’ll be okay…you hear? We’ll be okay.” he squeezes her each time he speaks the last words, smiling when she giggles at him, draping her own arms around his neck.

“I know…we will it’s just…” she shrugs, “You know how I can be.”

“Absolutely sexy and adorable at the same time?’ she sputters a laugh, “I might’ve heard something about that.”

‘Stop it.”

“No.” he smirks, swallowing her laugh when he kissed her again, “I’m never going to stop being crazy about you,gorgeous.” he breaks the kiss to gently tap her ass, “Now, let’s go. Your mom might drag us both if we take much longer.”

“I hate how right you are.” she smiles, cupping his cheek and then walking around the car. Obviously he followed closely, opening the door for her before she could even blink. “Thank you,Roos.”

“The day I don’t do it it’s the day we are both too old to use a car.” he smirks, “But I will help you on those little bikes old people use.”

“Oh my God.”

“Come on, it’d be fun.” he says as she sits down, “We could race each other.”

Beatrice stares ahead for a second, then looks back at him with a small grin, crossing her arms with a sigh that meant she was genuinely thinking about it, “...we could, maybe if we still lived on this street,” she turns her head towards the still closed garage doors, “It’s flat, only turns down the street…it’s a lot of lane to cover.”

He smirks, kissing her forehead soundly and then closes the door. He was glad she was smiling and joking around and honestly loves how she always jumps in his ideas. But he was genuinely honest with her, he wants to grow old with Beatrice, “We could be the crazy couple down the street.” he says as they get inside, “We can be the old fucks who fight dumb people.”

“Oooohhh, like those creepy men who grab waitresses!”

“Or people that just park in areas that are clearly not for them to use. There’s a sign there for a reason.” he says, the garage door slowly opening so he could reverse it, “Imagine it, we could also be the best party at a party.”

“We’d be amazing at Nicole’s wedding.” she said more to tease him, because his smile disappeared and his eyebrows furrowed, “I’m joking Roos.”

“She’ll take a long time to get married.” he says, he’s not offended or hurt, in fact he’s laughing a bit, “But…yeah,we will. We’d be amazing.”

Beatrice leans back on her seat with a sigh, watching the garage ceiling disappear from her view as they are finally out of the house, her fingers rubbing over her wedding band as she watches the door close and lock, with Rooster dropping the keychain before holding the steering wheel. Beatrice feels…cold in her stomach.

The anxiety was slow but it never left.

She chews the corner of her mouth, the taste of the cherry lip gloss invades her mouth as she does so, looking out the window to watch the many colors blur by as Rooster drives them towards Penny’s house. It surprises her how quickly they got to the place, in fact she blinked up and they were already there, “Wha?”

“You passed out a bit.” he commented, gently rubbing her thigh, “I let you sleep because I know your brain is being a big meanie tonight.”

“Oh…oh thank you Roos.”

“How do you feel?”

“Good…I feel good.” she cracks her neck, groaning, “I should’ve slept in a better position though…I barely noticed I closed my eyes.”

“That’s okay,gorgeous.” he parks the car just in time to see Mav,Penny and Amelia walk out. He waves at the three, so does Beatrice, Nicole laughs happily when she notices it’s her grandparents on the other side.

Rooster signals to Mav so they’d follow the Bronco, his uncle throwing a thumbs up and stepping inside Penny’s car before Bradley started to drive himself. With them following right behind,Beatrice didn’t know if it was her past nap thoughts or just…something random, but she giggled quietly to herself. “What?’ her husband asks, driving towards her parents’ house, “What? What’s so funny?”

“You know, now that Mav is with Penny.” she says, “And he’s your uncle, which makes Penny your aunt and Amelia your cousin…does that mean Shells is your cousin too?” 

“She’s Amelia’s cousin though.”

“But there is some familiarity.” she giggles, “I don’t know, isn’t it cute?”

“No offense but I prefer Amelia over Shells. Amelia didn’t threaten me when I started dating you.” he mumbles, “Or made me suffer for months because all I wanted was your name. Hell, she could’ve just said ‘oh it’s Bea’ and I’d be happy.”

“Aw come on, I like how you came up to me.” she says sweetly, “It still gives me butterflies when I remember it.”

Rooster huffed softly, arching his eyebrows and shaking his head, “Yeah,you aren’t the only one.” he murmured, “Now, let’s get this Christmas party started.”

[thornofthelily]

Hi hello !!! I'm here for the prompts thing !! May I suggest: Lasko and Cowoker in a little library date ?? 👁👁

omg that sounds lovely!!! Sorry, the library ended up being not as big a player as I wanted, but I hope you enjoy!

Lasko is nervous. Of course he's nervous. Lasko being nervous is as immutable a fact as water being wet. Or wait, was water actually wet? 'Wetness' is a quality bestowed on other objects by their saturation with water, but can that property be fairly applied to the water itself? Is water, an entity made only of wetness, therefore actually "wet"? Oh, god, now he's overthinking it and he can already feel himself spiraling and he hasn't even left his office yet.

When he tells his date about this, in his usual stumbling, awkward manner, they'll listen patiently like they always do, smile growing wider and fonder in that way that always makes his heart twist with affection, which only makes him more bumbling and talkative until they eventually calm his nerves and reassure him with a jubilant serenity that yes, water is wet, and they would know because they're an expert in water and in wetness, in a voice that makes him blush.

It's not even a formal date, so he doesn't know why he's so nervous. In between their teaching schedule and Lasko juggling duty as a teacher-turned-admin-but-still-sometimes-teacher, they haven't had much time to go out for a real date. Besides, after the disaster that was the pizza date, he had nowhere to go but up. They manage to find a matching gap in their schedules just long enough to visit the DAMN library for a bit of coffee and a chat. Lasko cups both hands around his drink (cappuccino with sugar and caramel) as they sit across from him at one of the many study tables, nursing their chai latte.

"The - the coffee here is quite nice," he says, then mentally kicks himself over such a lame opener.

"Mmm-hmm," they hum in the affirmative. "For just a small coffee stand operated by a single employee in a school library, especially. She does good work."

Lasko drums on the sturdy paper cup with all ten fingers, already out of conversation topics. Fuck. "I, uh, I haven't been in here since I was c-cramming for my Full Certification."

An eyebrow quirks in surprise. "Really? You don't use the library much?"

"N-no, not r-really. I mean, I mainly used the co-copier when I started teaching full-time, but I only did that for-" Wait, no, shit, backtrack, backtrack, don't talk about how you got your new job, don't talk about the promotion, don't talk about the Inversion, that's literally the best way to make this the worst date you've ever had, shit, fuck, shut up shut up shut up - "I-I-I-I mean I u-u-used to use the - the library for... research and - and stuff but I-I mainly teach pretty... pretty simple classes like, well, y'know, DAMN 101 and Introductory Elemental Control and, well, I don't really need research on Air control because, you know, Air Elemental, but s-sometimes need a refresher for Earth Elemental command, or maybe Fire, you know, that kind of thing, and I've never been that good at the Energetics but those are really rare anyway -"

And there it is, that smile, warm and glowing and just a little amused, but not a hint of teasing as he frantically backpedals and works himself into a horrible fluster, but they sit, calm and beautiful and accepting of all his frenetic nonsense, and he crashes his runaway verbal train. "I'm sorr - I mean, shit, I'm, I didn't mean... oh my god, I don't know how you put up with me when I get like this, you're just sitting there so patiently while I'm just tripping all over myself like an idiot -"

They silenced him with a warm palm smoothing over the back of his hand. "Lasko. Hey. Look at me." He met their eyes, cool and clear and calm like a deep pond in a quiet forest. "It's not about putting up with anything. I like you. This - the way you talk, even the parts of you that you seem embarrassed by, your nerves, your feelings, your thoughts - I like all of it. I don't want you to worry about that with me. I love this energy, I love your passion."

Lasko releases the pent-up nerves with a long, slow, controlled exhale. "I... I know. I don't... I don't understand it," he adds with a chuckle, "But... you've made that clear. Thank you."

They grin. "What are you thanking me for, my affection?"

Lasko laughs. "I... I guess? It felt better than saying sorry."

"It is better than apologizing for nothing. You need to be gentler to yourself." Lasko swallows hard, then shifts his hand in theirs, and links their fingers together. Squeezes once. Then panics, yanks his hand back, and starts all over again - "Oh god, I'm sorry, I didn't ask, and we're in public and there's students here, I forgot, oh my god they can see us what am I doing -"

They would try to calm him down again, bring him back to center, but they couldn't stop laughing. He's so cute.

[uncleasad]

This will (probably) be my last politics-related post before the election, so please bear with me just a bit longer for this Tale of Two Maxims and their relevance to this election.

On day one of my first class as a college freshman, my PoliSci 101 Introduction to American Government professor opened the class with this maxim:

Politics is the art of the possible.

The goal of good government is to meet the needs of the people, about which there are a wide spectrum of opinions on importance, methods and solutions, and so forth.

Not everything everyone wants to do is possible at the current point in time. Good government finds the areas of agreement—or potential agreement and compromise—and gets that stuff done; that’s what’s possible. (All the while, of course, the various interested parties are trying to advocate for additional problems to be addressed and solutions to try, to make those things possible at a future moment.)

To take a concrete example, healthcare reform.

For decades everyone has been aware that the US healthcare system was broken in many ways…it’s exorbitantly expensive, there were enormous gaps in coverage, people with pre-existing conditions were denied coverage, the insurance lobby and the pharmaceutical lobby were massive logjams to change, and so forth.

During Bill Clinton’s presidency, he tasked his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, with putting together a healthcare reform package. Despite First Lady Clinton’s work on a package of proposals, nothing passed Congress (for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was a First Lady doing anything related to substantive policy, but I digress…). It wasn’t possible then.

More than a decade later, Barack Obama (along with healthcare reform-focused members of Congress) decided to tackle the problem again. After all, time had passed and things had only gotten worse, exacerbated by a great recession. President Obama proposed a reformed system (based on successful state systems designed and implemented by, among others, his future presidential opponent, Republican Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts). It wasn’t universal public (free) healthcare, but it made great progress on bringing down costs, reducing coverage gaps, protecting those with pre-existing conditions, and expanding the number of Americans with coverage. Some form of healthcare reform was now possible.

It’s been nearly a decade since then, and we’ve seen areas where the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act needed improvement, as well as the continued presence of areas that were unaddressed entirely. Senator Bernie Sanders, among others, continue to advocate vocally for universal free healthcare (akin to an expansion of the wildly popular and successful Medicare healthcare system for US seniors into one that would benefit the entire population regardless of age), closing the so-called “doughnut hole” in Medicare, and reform of sky-high prescription drug prices.

But during President Biden’s term, my own Senator, the Reverend Raphael Warnock, and others pushed through into law a plan that allows Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for seniors and caps the monthly cost of insulin, a major diabetes treatment used by millions of Americans every day, at a reasonable $35 a month. More reform was possible at this point—though of course there’s still more needed.

Which brings me to another maxim, this one I learned in software development:

Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Which is to say, when some chunk of what you want to accomplish is possible, do that chunk now rather than waiting for everything that you want to become possible.

If, in 2010, the Democrats in Congress who wanted universal free healthcare had refused to support the ACA, it would have failed, and we’d still be living in the era of extremely high premiums, no coverage for individuals with pre-existing conditions, and so forth. In short, by taking a chunk of what they wanted—the possible—the universal healthcare advocates were still able to improve the lives of nearly all Americans for a decade, rather than subjecting everyone to worse conditions and experiences all that time. And nothing prevents the universal healthcare advocates from continuing to inform and persuade to make that, too, possible one day—which they are doing.

If you’re a liberal, progressive, or some other form of leftist still undecided about this presidential election, please keep these two maxims in mind. Harris-Walz won’t be perfect, and they may not align with your views on every issue. But there are only two possible outcomes this election: a Harris presidency, or another disastrous Trump one.

Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good; it’s much better to get someone closer to your views (Harris) into office than someone diametrically opposed (not to mention hellbent on destroying American democracy itself). With someone closer to your views in office, you’ll still be able to continue to work to persuade them the rest of the way to your position, and with Harris in office, you’ll have a chance in 4 or 8 years to vote for someone even closer to your views, as time and education/advocacy help even more things become possible.

Please vote.

[frangipanilove]

Vessels of Hope and Faith: more on the Blue Clues and the Venus symbolism

Sometimes you'll have these thougths and connections simmering in the back of your mind for years, but you don't know how to articulate them into something that sounds coherent.

And then new content comes out and there's a shot that unlocks a Pandora's Box of new theories and correlations.

Yesterday I tried to explain the significance of the blue bird symbolism and its connection to the 101 symbolism. I started researching all kinds of blue bird symbolism after Noah's T-shirt theory was confired all those years ago, and I found a few connections that seemed like they were obvious choised for tptb to utilize, and yet, tptb took their sweet time in confirming they were indeed real, actual connections. The connection between the yellow school bus brand Blue Bird was one of them. We have seen yellow school buses multiple times, some were indeed Blue Bird buses, others weren't necessarily easy to decide, and it wasn't always clear to me if a yellow school bus in an episode was a Blue Bird, and if it was meant to be read into as a part of the symbolism language, or if it was just a random coincidence.

And then, in TWD: Dead City 1x5 Stories We Tell Ourselves, we got the scene that confirmed that yes, the yellow school buses were indeed an integral part of the Blue Bird symbolism seen on the show.

Another blue bird reference I've been anticipating for years was the Crowned Victoria Pigeon. I always thought it was an absolute travesty and missed oppertunity if they didn't use it as a symbol, because it is absolutely perfect for the symbolism language they're already using. And in the episode "Amy/Dr.Everett" in the spin off series Tales of The Walking Dead they finally did. Here's a review on the episode in which it appeared.

"They come across a moment of beauty: a colorful Victoria crowned pigeon. Once on the verge of extinction, the bird is beautiful. "You're alive," Amy says. "You're right here." Amy's marveling turns to heartbreak when the bird flies away."

Sounds a lot like this blue bird is about resurrection. It's on the verge of extinction, and yet it reveals itself for Amy in the episode. And like we often see with symbolism in the spin off's versus on the main show, ot's a lot more over-stated. It's in-your-face type of glaringly obvious. "You're alive"? Come on! If that's not resurrection symbolism I'm eating my hat.

In my Trunk Resurrection 1 and 2 posts from a few years back I elaborate on cars and what they tell us about the subtext of a scene. I also touched on it yesterday, mostly because one of the spoiler pics from the filming outside the Louvre possibly involves a Jeep Cherokee (which I explain the relevance of in Trunk Ressurection 2) (and at this point this is only wild speculation on my part, nothing is confirmed) . TD has also tracked licence plates for years, which deserves a separate post so I'll leave that out for now, but it is relevant because it ties into the car symbolism.

So, anyone familiar with the Trunk Resurrection posts will understand why I was patiently waiting for a Crowned Victoria Pigeon reference, especially when I tell you that the police car Rick and Shane use in the car chase that goes horribly wrong in TWD 1X1 Days Gone By is a Ford Crown Victoria. The car was quite literally the first thing we saw in 1x1 Days Gone By.

From a symbolism language standpoint, Rick's Crown Victoria police car in season one ties into almost every symbol I'm tracking on this show. It's a car, which means it ties into the Three-Tree-Trunk theory (Trunk Ressurection 1 and 2), it's a police car, which means it ties into the Blue Clues theory, and we saw it in TWD episode 1 season 1 (which I talked about yesterday in relation to the 101-1x1-one one-symbolism).

TWD: Daryl Dixon episode 1 season 1 was wonderful in many ways, and symbolism-wise it was a treasure trove. I have so many thoughts it's difficult to decide which trails to explore first. Yesterday I touched on some stuff that I want to elaborate on here. It deals with the same stuff, but I'll try to tie it together some more, and mention a few other exemples that I find relevant. I mentioned the Venus and Sirius symbolism yesteday, and I'll continue to elaborate on that today.

Let's start with the opening minutes of 1x1 L'ame Perdue. We see Daryl, unconcious and resting on top of an overturned (inverted) boat (or shall we say VESSEL?), wash ashore on a French beach.

This little sequence of events sparked a chain reaction of lightbulbs firing in my brain.

For starters, all I could see initially was this:

We saw the painting "The Birth Of Venus" in TWD 7x3 WTDCK, and it was inverted. I've said it before and I'll say it again, @angelthefirst1 had an absolutely brilliant breakdown of the symbolism in TWD 10x18 Find Me, and she very cleverly was able to tie it to WTDCK. I think that's super relevant because Find Me, polarizing and divisive as it was, for me was one of the most magical episodes of the entire franchise. I thought it was absolutely saturated with "underworld" symbolism in every single scene, it was as though the veil between the Realm of the Dead and the Realm of the Living was particularly thin, and in my opinion it had a lot in common with Still and Alone in that respect. For someone who loves underworld themes and themes of liminal spaces between the realms of the dead and the living, it was pure magic. I even kind of liked Leah.

(A quick note on the name Leah, because I have zero self control when it comes to these things... For me, who's already primed to pick up on anything remotely underworld-coded...I wouldn' be true to my soul if I didn' put it out there that the name Leah is an anagram for Hela, which is the Norse goddess of Death. Hel in Norwegian, Hela in Swedish. Yeah. That's a hill I'm willing to die on. Leah was TWDU's Goddess of Death, Monarch of the Underworld. And I love that about her...ok, back to the regular scheduled programming)

In WTDCK, where we saw the famous Bottichelli painting, we could see that it was inverted. The painting depicts Venus, the Roman version of the Greek goddess Aphrodite, arriving onto the shore, aided by the wind gods, in a vessel that is also a sea shell.

In TWDDD 1x1, Daryl, with the help of the wind and ocean currents (I guess), reached shore on top of a vessel that was an inverted boat.

The painting is widely interpreted as to be dealing with themes of "rebirth", which @wdway had great insight into when I discussed this scene with her. When watching the opening minutes if TWDDD 1x1, where I saw the scene from Botticelli's "The Birth Of Venus", which is about "rebirth", she saw themes of baptism, which is ultimately also about rebirth.

When speaking of a "vessel", we are obviously normally alluding to a boat, or even vehicle, something meant as an instrument of transportation of some kind. But "vessel" can also be used about something which holds beverages, such as a "drinking vessel".

And as soon as we started down the rabbit hole of "drinking vessels" it was unavoidable that we eventually ended up discussing "Holy Grail" symbolism...

...which is something we've discussed a lot because of all of the thinly veiled references to the book and movie The Da Vinci Code we've seen in TWDU for at least the past seven years...

...which in turn is increasingly becoming interesting again, seeing as we keep getting spoiler pics of filming currently happening in and outside the Louvre. For those who aren't familiar with the book and film, here's a spoiler: the Holy Grail turned out to be the tomb of Mary Magdalene, hidden underneath the inverted pyramid under the glass pyramid outside the Louvre, where TWDDD are filming as I'm writing this. And there's more; the actual, real Holy Grail in the book wasn't so much Mary Magdalene herself as it was her womb, which in the story had carried and given birth to the child of Jesus, and one of the symbols of the female womb is a V... a reference to the shape of a uteris... Basically in TDVC the Holy Grail was the Tomb of the Womb. Or perhaps the Womb in the Tomb.

@wdway was kind enough to dig up her copy of the book and send over these convincing pics of the part in the book where Robert Langdon, the main character, and Sophie Neveu (spoiler alert: a direct decendant of JC himself) discuss the same symbolism I've just discussed above.

The female symbol:

Thanks @wdway, you're a star and an absolute legend!

Fear not, I'm not going to do a full synopsis of TDVC here, besides it's @wdway who is the real expert on these matters (she's been talking about chevrons for years). Go read it yourself, it's quite captivating. But for what it's worth, it does seem clear that someone in the writer's room in TWDU are more than just a little intrigued by the symbolism presented by author Dan Brown. And they're not afraid to use it in TWDU, because TD has consistently been tracking this type of symbolism since season 5 when Daryl paused in front of the carved wooden reproduction of Da Vinci's The Last Supper in Father Gabriel's church. Probably even before that, I have memories of TD'ers theorizing that Beth and Daryl's "white trash brunch" in 4x13 Alone was their "Last Supper", and that their kitchen scene was actually choreographed and modeled after Da Vinci's famous fresco.

And again, I'm bringing it up again because the writing of TWDDD 1x1 is practically forcing me to. That, along with the abundance of glorious spoiler pics from the Louvre...

Anyway, like the symbolism around the Blue Bird school buses and the Victoria Crowned Pigeon I mentioned initially, there are another few symbols I've been silently tracking over the years, and they both tie into the shot of Daryl stumbling out of the water, onto a Mediterranean beach, like a beautiful, though somewhat thirsty Venus or Aphrodite...

He finds a bucket of fresh water, and drinks it like his life depends on it (which it probably did, to be fair). And it's blue. Of course it is. A blue drinking vessel for our dehydrated but very much still alive Venus/Aphrodite...

My favorite method when it comes to researching symbolism revolves around etymology, first and foremost. Etymology is my go-to for everything symbolism related. And of course I've checked the etymology of the word "vessel" a long ass time ago.

How peculiar, the root word for "vessel" is "vas". And I'm not gonna lie, the results were interesting because OF COURSE I've also checked the etymology of the word "vase" a long ass time ago...

..and the reason for why I checked the etymology of the word "vase" back in the ancient times of Really Early TD was obviously because...

...I'm sure we all remember this lovely decorative piece on top of Beth's piano in 4x13 Alone.

BTW, @wdway, Queen of Chevrons and V symbolism would like you all to appreciate the lovely chevron pattern on Beth's knitted jacket...

...a pattern we've just established is a possible reference to the symbolism around the Holy Grail as it is utilized in TDVC...

And the reason we all instinctively knew this particular vase on top of Beth's piano was more than just random kitchy knick knack was because...

Yeah. In the words of the great Rick Grimes, "That vase...That's something special"...

Yeah. Rick Grimes knows a thing or two about vases/vessels, as he's just woken up from a Tour de Liminal Space between the Realms of the Dead and the Living...

Most certainly a special vase/vessel indeed...

In fact, it was special enough to make an appearence in a hallucination in TWD 9x5 The Bridge, when Rick "died" (but not really).

And much like our thirsty Venus/Aphrodite from the French beach...

...our OG Sirius figure Rick Grimes, the first one to dissappear from the night sky only to return/ressurect/be reborn later and have a reunion with his loved ones, was also feeling the dehydration after his return/resurrection/rebirth...

...and we know Beth likes her drink...

Remember how I’ve been talking about the importance of the Jeep Cherokee symbolism lately? I've even been theorizing, like the desperate fangirl I am, that one of the cars from the Louvre spoiler pics could be a Jeep Cherokee. (if you have no idea of what I'm talking about, do seek out yesterday's post plus the Trunk Resurrection posts)

A Cherokee rose in a beer bottle vase/vessel. Meant to instill hope and faith in Carol. Along with a story about the Grail of Tears, excuse-moi, TRAIL of tears…

(...also I have written probably 15 000 posts about beer symbolism in the past, check out those, and I also don't have time to elaborate on the name of the beer brand, Sweetwater, but I'm leaving it here for you @wdway)

I have a long list of Blue Clues, and I’ve compiled a bunch of them in the Blue Clue post, but among more recent examples that stand out is definitely the "Heart Of Blue" boat from 10x13 What We Become. Be sure to check out the numbers on the sail and tell me if you don't believe me when I say that the Blue Clues and the 101-1x1-one one- symbolism go together. Because it’s the number 11 (or 101-1x1-one one, as we discussed yesterday.

Also, @wdway who is a magician with numerology, would waste no time pointing out that the other number seen on the sail, the "22", represents the 22nd letter of the alphabet, namely the "V".

V for Venus perhaps? Or Team Violet?

This is the episode when Michonne finds Rick’s boots (boot = trunk = vessel) on a boat, no less (another vessel).

The boat has the numbers 672 written on its side...

...something which makes it easily recognizible in case we should happen to come across it again at a later point.

...which we did. We came across it again.

...like here, in the coda of 11x24 RIP, where we see a flashback of Rick throwing his backpack with his boots onboard the 672 vessel before he's apprehended by the Mean Helicopter Guy. This is why Michonne later was able to find his boots in the boat. Again, I highly reccomend this post by @angelthefirst1 for some absolutely glorious side-by-side comparisons of several Beth and Rick moments (and equally glorious additions by others).

So, from a symbolism point of view, what are we talking about here? It's about HOPE and FAITH. When Daryl told Carol the story of the Trail of Tears and the symbolism around the Cherokee Rose in season 2, it was to give her hope and faith. The Cherokee Rose in a beer bottle vase (vessel) is Daryl's vessel of hope and faith, extended to Carol at a time when she didn't have any.

When Michonne finds Rick's boots onboard the 672 vessel, she realises Rick could be alive (boot = trunk = vessel symbolism). She arrived at the island in a blue boat/vessel (called Heart Of Blue, no less), and she found Ricks boots (which in and of itself is a representation of Trunk symbolism, because boot = trunk, check out the Trunk Resurrection posts if you have no idea of what I'm on about) inside the boat/vessel, the same vessel we later see when we for the first time see Rick Grimes alive after he "died" (but not really) in 9x5 The Bridge.

Rick's boots gave Michonne the hope and faith she needed to go out in search of him. She found that hope onboard the 672 vessel.

Daryl's drinking vessel of choice when he stumbles out of the French waters in 1x1 L'ame Perdue is a blue bucket.

The vase we see on Rick's bed-side table in TWD 1x1 has blue decor on white background.

The vase we see on Beth's piano in 4x13 Alone has blue decor on white background.

The "Heart of Blue" boat that brings Michonne to the island where clues about Rick are to be found is blue (obviously, it's in the name), complete with a 101-1x1-one one-referance (and a 22-V referance) on its white sail.

It's like the vessel/vase symbolism represents the journey between the realms, a way for characters to move between the realms, a way in which loved ones, long thought to be dead, can travel between the realms, from the percieved Realm of the Dead, back into the Realm of the Living. They are vessels in which "dead" characters are given an opportunity to "wake up", they are vessels for "life", for "resurrection".

It's like they're Vessels of Hope and Faith...

...and venereal diseases?????

In case it doesn't come across, this helpful poster inside Michonne's Vessel of Hope and Faith implores the public to help stop the spread of syphilis and gonorrhea. I'm not at all opposed to effective public health measures, such as information campaigns, but this poster, in this particular episode, in a literal Vessel of Hope and Faith seemed super random. So I turned to my trusted old friend etymology for advice:

What do you know, the term "venereal” is directly linked to Venus, through my favorite academic dicipline etymology!

Michonne's vessel of hope and faith is ultimately a Venus reference. And because we love repetition:

Daryl stumbling out of the water is a dramatic reenactment of the Bottichelli painting The Birth Of Venus.

Venus and Sirius are two sides to the same story, as they're both concidered morning stars. Daryl's weapon of choise, outside the crossbow, is a Morningstar. Beth is a Sirius figure, a morning star.

Rick is the OG Sirius character, who disappeared from the night sky only to "resurrect" later. Beth is the next.

Beth, Rick and Daryl are all surrounded by the same blue bird symbolism.

And, there's currently filming going on at the Louvre, which, among other things, is home to the famous statue Venus de Milo.

And if this ol' fangirl is correct in her wild speculations, a car seen in a spoiler pic is a Jeep Cherokee, which certainly brings me lots of Hope and Faith that interesting Stuff and Thangs are coming up shortly in Daryl Dixon's European Adventure.