#I’ll never forgive the French

[leclercsainzz]

WISTFUL YEARNING PART 2

PAIRINGS: charles leclerc x fem!reader

TYPE: social media au

part 1 - part 2

yourusername

liked by charles_leclerc, lewishamilton and 683,027 others

yourusername: c’est la vie

see translation: that’s life

tagged: @yourbrother

view 5,846 comments

user: @yourbrother is sooo fine, omgg

user: pretty girl 😍

user: charles liked 😭

leclerc_pascale: la plus jolie fille de tous les temps 😍

see translation: the prettiest girl ever

↳ yourusername: 😘

↳ user: pascale just like me! i’ll never get over charles and yn

arthur_leclerc: toby 🥺

yourmom: mes bébés

see translation: my babies

↳ yourbrother: tu m’aimes plus

see translation: you love me more

yourbrother: pourquoi essaies-tu toujours de prende mon chein?

see translation: why are you always trying to take my dog?

francisca.cgomes: my love 😘

user: the fact that charles liked means so much to me

user: her brother fine asf 😍

↳ user: their genes are perfect!

user: charles really fumbled

↳ user: how? he’s literally married with a kid on the way

↳ user: that’s a win for me .. if anything yn fumbled

user: WISH I LOOKED LIKE YOU 😩

user: charles liked abbakansns

charles_leclerc: @yourbrother 😍

↳ user: tHe cOmmeNT

↳ user: same charles same

↳ user: even after all these years, he’ll always choose yourbrother

user: i know that comment was for yn 😉

↳ user: he just tagged @yourbrother as a distraction

user: youre so gorgeous 😍

user: toby’s sooo cute omg

user: ohh, to be her 😩

pierregasly: mon français préféré 😘 @yourbrother

see translation: my favorite french

↳ yourusername: mon garçon français préféré 😘 @estebanocon

see translation: my favorite french boy

user: LMAO THESE TWO 😂

imessage

yourusername

liked by arthur_leclerc, yourbrother and 642,910 others

yourusername: ice cream makes everything better(:

view 4,038 comments

leclerc_pascale: ma belle fille, tu as raté notre rendezvous

see translation: my beautiful girl, you missed our date

leclerc_pascale: je vous pardonne

see translation: i forgive you

user: nOt her ditching pascale 😭

user: charles is going through it while she’s on ice cream dates

user: NEW MANS OR WHAT?!???

user: who is that?!!? 👀

user: isn’t that charles and her favorite ice cream shop??

↳ user: oMG THAT IS

user: she’s showing her new boy her fav ice cream shop 😭

user: wait— she’s in monaco?!!?

user: that could be @yourbrother for all we know

user: yn, babe, you ditched THE pascale leclerc?!!?? 🤔

↳ user: anD for what?!??

arthur_leclerc: où etait mon invitation? ��

see translation: where was my invitation?

↳ yourusername: je ne sais pas de quoi tu parles

see translation: i don’t know what you’re talking about

user: plot twist— that’s actually charles

user: not her having fun w/o charles 🙄

↳ user: gIrL WHAT?!!?

↳ user: mans found out his whole marriage is a lie and this is her

↳ user: it’s not her fault, tf?!!?

charlotte2304: mon amour 😘

see translation: my love

user: what do you think about charles’ situation???

user: why are people still bringing up charles?!!

↳ user: bro, literally! like let her live her life

↳ user: they can’t move on, frr 😭

user: that ice cream looks sooo good

↳ yourusername: THE BEST, trust me

user: who’s the dude?

lorenzotl: c’est logique pourquoi tu as abandonné

see translation: makes sense why you ditched

↳ joris__trouche: mhm

↳ user: WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

↳ user: one word— CHARLES

↳ user: you’re delusional, my friend

user: she’s soooo pretty 😍

yourusername

liked by charles_leclerc, francisca.cgomes and 685,840 others

yourusername: monaco, tu seras toujours célèbre <33

see translation: monaco, you’ll always be famous

view 6,013 comments

user: THE FERRARI SHIRT

user: she’s still a ferrari girl!!

user: yn, you’ll ALWAYS be famous <3

user: bodyyy omgg 😍

user: that painting is so beautiful, girl!

↳ yourusername: thanks love

↳ user: I LOVE U QUEEN

user: monaco’s IT girl

user: every time charles likes her post i die inside

isahernaez: beauttt 😍

↳ yourusername: ily my loveee 😘

user: i hope her and charles get back together

user: exwifename could NEVER compare to yn

user: TE AMO, YN ❤️

see translation: i love you, yn

yourbrother: apporte-moi quelque chose

see translation: bring me something

↳ yourusername: 🙄

user: the woman that you are, my goddd 😩

user: my only goal in life is to be like you

user: she still supports ferrari

charles_leclerc: admets juste que je t’ai manqué ;)

see translation: just admit you missed me

↳ yourusername: si je dis oui, alors quoi? 🫣

see translation: if i say yes, then what?

↳ user: UMM?!! PARENTS INTERACTING?? WTF??

↳ user: “then what?” U GET TOGETHER, DUHH

user: bitCh— is he flirting?

user: she knows damn well what she’s doing wearing that shirt

francisca.cgomes: sexyyy

↳ yourusername: girlfriend, that’s youuu

↳ pierregasly: tu devrais retourner en france @yourusername

see translation: you should go back to france

↳ yourusername: reste en colère, putain de merde 😘

see translation: stay mad, stupid fuck

user: her friendship with pierre is to much 😭

↳ user: i cant tell if they actually like each other or not most times

↳ yourusername: trust me, i love that ugly french

↳ pierregasly: love you too stupid bitch ❤️

↳ user: tHat’s progress, i guess 😂

user: MOTHER 😍

imessage

yourusername

liked charlotte2304, isahernaez and 689,847 others

yourusername: ☀️

view 5,836 comments

user: are we gonna talk about arthur’s story yesterday?? 👀

user: i wanna have this life so bad

user: bodyyy-odyy 😍

user: you CANNOT tell me that isn’t charles

↳ user: it’s def him!

yourmom: a-t-il cuisiné ce délicieux repas?

see translation: did he cook that delicious meal?

↳ yourusername: oui! je peux confirmar que c’était délicieux

see translation: yes! i can confirm it was delicious

↳ user: if this man can cook, it’s not charles 😭

user: ain’t no way its charles since he cant cook

yourbrother: les pâtes ont l’air bonnes 🤤

see translation: the pasta looks good

↳ user: yourbrother is the biggest charles food hater

↳ user: so that confirms it’s not charles or????

charlotte2304: oooouuu 😍

user: is that charles?

user: girl— arthur’s story??? hello???

charles_leclerc: mine mine mine mine

comment has been deleted

charles_leclerc: je veux des pâtes maintenant

see translation: i want pasta now

↳ user: are ya’ll together or nah??

user: PLEASE TELL ME THAT’S CHARLES 😭

user: ughh, you’re literally goals 😩

↳ yourusername: 😘 you’re a doll

user: YN, one chance, please 🙏🏼

user: guys, that is definitely charles

leclerc_pascale: tu me manques, jolie fille

see translation: i miss you, pretty girl

user: CONVINCED that that is charles

lorenzotl: 😏

user: part of me says it’s charles the other part says nooo

user: can we trade lives?

user: idk if i want to be you or be with you 😩

user: her account is aesthetically pleasing

user: @charles_leclerc that better be you, mate

carlossainz55: did he really cook? 😂

↳ yourusername: yuppp

↳ user: this confirms it’s charles, noo?

user: prettiest girl ever 🥰

↳ yourusername: ❤️❤️

↳ user: OMG ILY

yourusername

liked by lorenzotl, leclerc_pascale and 699,640 others

yourusername: yes, i’m that bitch 😘

view 6,102 comments

user: the caption lmao

user: OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

user: parents are officially back

user: bItch omg—

user: she’s THAT bitch (a baddd bitch) 😍

user: @exwife currently crying rn

user: MOM AND DAD

user: YN, YOURE A BADDD BITCHH 😩

user: can chaRles fight?!??

↳ yourusername: unfortunately, he cannot

↳ yourusername: so i’m gonna need you to settle down, babes

↳ user: are you flirting with me??

carlossainz55: ABOUT TIME

sebastianvettel: ❤️❤️

user: the shade 🤣

leclerc_pascale: ma belle fille 😘

see translation: my beautiful girl

isahernaez: gorggg 😍

user: I KNEW THEY WERE BACK TOGETHER

user: THANK GOD THEY’RE BACK 😭😭

user: leave him, he doesn’t deserve you

yourmom: je vous aime tous les deux ❤️

see translation: i love you both

user: we love supportive mothers

↳ user: yourmom and pascale >>

user: YA’LL BETTER GET MARRIED THIS TIME FRRR

| liked by yourusername

user: charles is a romantic

charles_leclerc: je t’aime, mon amour 😘

see translation: i love you, my love

charles_leclerc: c’est ma fille

see translation: that’s my girl

charles_leclerc: mine mine mine mine

↳ user: we get it, that’s your girl 😔

arthur_leclerc: “just friends” 🤣

↳ yourusername: 🤫

↳ user: LMAOO

charles_leclerc

liked by yourmom, sebastianvettel and 700,177 others

charles_leclerc: avec l’amour de ma vie 🤍

see translation: with the love of my life

view 5,846 comments

user: will never get over them

user: PROPOSE TO HER, YOU COWARD 😩

user: that’s a sexyyy back

yourmom: ❤️❤️

user: yn, you’re sooo gorggg 😍

yourbrother: ella ressemble à ce minion

see translation: she looks like that minion

↳ arthur_leclerc: oui, ella le fait

see translation: yes, she does

yourusername: mon amour 😘

↳ charles_leclerc: je t’aime

see translation: i love you

user: wife her up

user: MOM AND DAD FRRR

user: he sure moved on real fast 🤣

↳ user: its been like two month, YOU move on

↳ user: plus yn is literally the love of his life .. (soulmates frr)

user: “with the love of my life” 😭

user: exwife could’ve had all this LmAo

user: actually, she’s the love of MY life

user: they’re so important to me

user: you better not fuck up this time

joris__trouche: 😉

user: MY wife and her boyfriend

user: you better wife her up, mate

user: ynnnnn 😍

user: can we talk about his back for a second?!!? 😩

user: poor exwife 🥺

↳ user: girl, bye! go support that cheater elsewhere

user: HE GOT THE GIRL AGAIN!!!

user: parents 😘

user: she’s the most gorgeous girl ever, i swear 😍

| liked by charles_leclerc

user: ADOPT ME, PLEASE

user: i love them so muchhh 😭

user: my parents

yourusername

liked by charles_leclerc, yourbrother and 674,857 others

yourusername: meet my baby boy leo <33

view 4,026 comments

user: OMG THAT TWITTER ACCOUNT WAS RIGHT

user: omg omg omg omg

user: bItch omg— IM IN LOVEEE 🥰

user: can ya’ll adopt me too?!?? i can bark

user: i need toby and leo to meet

yourbrother: 🥺

↳ user: WE NEED A PIC OF TOBY AND LEO

arthur_leclerc: oncle arthur à son service

see translation: uncle arthur at his service

lorenzotl: aww

charlotte2304: je suis amoureux

see translation: i’m in love

user: THIS IS SO ADORABLE 😭

user: leooooo 😍

user: mommas boy

user: i can also bark, if you wanna adopt me as well

user: i cant, omgg

charles_leclerc: ma belle fille

see translation: my beautiful girl

charles_leclerc: mon beau garçon

see translation: my beautiful boy

charles_leclerc: mes deux amours ❤️

see translation: my two loves

landonorris: im gonna steal him next time i see him

scruderiaferrari: now we just need a baby leclerc

| liked by yourusername, charles_leclerc

↳ user: admin is one of us 😭

↳ user: LMAOOO

user: PLEASE ADOPT ME TOO 😩

user: that dog lucky asfff

user: where’s the ring at??? 👀

user: mom and dad (frrr) 🥰

user: he’s sooo cute omg

francisca.cgomes: baby leo 🥰

user: obsessed with their cute little family

user: we need leo to meet toby asap

alex_albon: cuteeee

user: lewis got competition in the paddock now

user: charles referring to them as “my two loves” 😭😭

user: CHARLES, WIFE HER UP

carlossainz55: 🐶

user: them >>>

user: alexa, how can i become a dog?

user: BARK BARK (adopt me now)

user: cute family 🥰

user: obsessed with them omg

carla.brocker: awhh 🥺

charles_leclerc

liked by yourusername, carlossainz55 and 698,748 others

charles_leclerc: LEO LECLERC LN 🐶❤️

view 5,197 comments

user: OMG HE HAS BOTH THEIR LAST NAMES 😭

user: when are you gonna wife yn up??!??

user: leo leclerc ln 🥺

user: leo pulling up to miami is so iconic

user: daddy’s boy

pierregasly: 😍

↳ user: is this emoji for leo or charles???

yourusername: mon garçons 😘

see translation: my boys

yourusername: ❤️❤️❤️❤️

user: where’s yn’s ring??!?

user: charles, adopt me, please

user: leo 🥰🥰

user: yn went to the miami gp to support her man!!!! 🤩

↳ user: and leo went to support his dad!!

user: that dog is luckier than me, i swear

user: he better wife yn up

| liked by charles_leclerc

user: i dont think leo realizes how lucky he is

user: leo, ask your parents if they can adopt me 😭

user: yn and charles starting a family

yourmom: 🥰🥰🥰 baby boy

user: obsessed with them

user: i love their cute little family

user: yn leclerc when??

user: couldn’t take toby from yourbrother so yn got her own dog

user: model leo??

user: second slide is so cute omg

user: they got their first puppy together 🥺

user: his last name 😩

user: i wanna be part of this family too

user: in love with all three of them

user: leo got the model genes from his mommy 🤣

user: WE NEED LEO AND TOBY TO MEET!!!! @yourbrother

user: the LECLERC-LN family is everything 😩❤️

↳ user: the way both their families are soo close is so cute

↳ user: pascale and yourmom are the biggest yncharles shippers

[marie-swriting]

Love Advice - Jake "Hangman" Seresin

Top Gun Maverick Masterlist

Summary : Jake comes back after six months of deployment and he needs your help to win the woman he loves.

Warnings : a tiny bit of angst, mutual pining, thinking there's an unrequited love, happy ending, maybe some grammatical mistakes as English is not my first language, tell me if you see some or if I missed any warnings.

Word count : 3.4k

French version

Song inspiration : How You Get The Girl (Taylor's Version) by Taylor Swift

Somebody knocking on your door takes your attention away from your TV show. At first, you just lower the volume down so the person doesn’t know you’re home and wait for them to leave. However, the second the knocks on the door get more insistent and you hear ‘I know you’re home’ with a Texan accent, you jump out of your couch and run to open the door to Jake. You joyfully shriek before throwing yourself into his arms. Jake laughs because of your enthusiasm, then he tenderly holds you close to him. 

You haven’t seen each other in six months because of his last deployment. Of course, you called each other almost every day, it’s just not the same. You've been thick as thieves since you were five, you need to see each other often. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming home today?” you ask, breaking the embrace.

“I wanted to surprise you.”

“Well, you did. I missed you so much!” You exclaim, kissing his cheek before bringing him inside. “I hope you’re staying home for a long time. Six months without seeing each other is too much!”

“I totally agree.”

As usual, when he comes back home, you spend the day together then, Jake sleeps at yours. You go downtown, eat something, even watch a movie if there’s something interesting and the next day, Jake goes to his place - he lives twenty minutes away.

As soon as the night comes, you go home, takeout food in hand. You go into your living-room and you put a random show as background noise. You keep talking about the last few months in order to catch up when you decide to bring up a topic Jake seems to avoid.

“So, you didn’t tell me anything, what’s going on with Lara?”

Jake met Lara in a bar a week before leaving. You weren’t with him that night, so you don’t know a lot about their relationship. All you know is Jake got along with her pretty well.

“Oh, huh… Well…” he stutters and avoids your gaze.

“Jake,” you say with a disapproving tone. “Don’t tell me you messed up. Not again!”

“Not really. Okay, maybe a little.”

“What did you do?”

“I may or may not have not called her since I left.”

“Are you kidding me?” you scream, hitting his shoulder. “Do you realise you’re the kind of guy we talk shit about when we’re talking with other girls? Jake, you have to stop being a dick and destroying your relationship. You’re a nice guy, but whenever it’s about love, you’re the worst of them. Every time you find an awesome girl, you just ruin everything.”

“I know and this time, I want to fix this.”

“Before we keep going, you didn’t cheat on her, did you?”

“I might suck at relationships, however, you know I have some limits and I’m quite proud to say I’ve never crossed that line.” he affirms with a grin.

“You better!”

“Anyway, at first, I didn’t know what I wanted with her but now I do. I really connected with Lara and I want her to forgive me and give me another chance, I just don’t know how to do it.”

Following his sentence, you immediately understand what he wants. He messed up and now he needs your wise advice to fix the situation. Again. You roll your eyes before straightening up.

“I’m gonna make you pay for my love advice one day, at least, I’ll become a billionaire in a month with you.”

“You’re the most stable person I know when it comes to relationships so obviously I always go to you! Besides, you’re a woman, you know what to do.”

“True.” you modestly confirm. “First thing first, meet her in a neutral environment, a café for example.”

“And I buy her flowers?”

“Do you know her favourite flowers?”

“Roses are the safe option, right?” he suggests and you’re desperate.

“Do you know any personal details about Lara, like her favourite book?” you ask and he shakes his head. “Well, just pay for whatever she orders. First, you apologise and you do it correctly, you put the focus on her and what she might have felt. The goal is not for her to comfort you because you feel bad when you’re the one who messed up. If she still hasn’t thrown her glass of water in your face, you’re on the right track. Then you say, in the most convincing way, you want her, not another girl, for worse or for better. You know it’s gonna take her some time for her to trust you again but you will forever and ever. Tell her you know you broke her and you’ll put it back together because you care about her and you want to do better for her. In short, show her you want to be a better man and make sure your actions match your words quickly. And that’s how it works, that’s how you get the girl. At least, your chances will be higher.”

“You seriously think it can work?” Jake asks sceptical. 

“I can’t 100% promise you but, at least, it shows you want to be the man she deserves. Either way, you have to keep me updated! And also, don’t wait too long to do it. You should even contact her right now so you can see her in the following days.”

“You’re right.”

Jake takes his phone and quickly types a message. After you approve it, he sends it and nervously waits for the response. However, being tired from the travel, Jake quickly starts to yawn so you go to sleep. Jake sleeps in the same bed as you. You’ve always done it so you’re not going to change this now. After all, between you two, it’s purely platonic.

At least, for him. The same cannot be said about you. When you were still in High School, your crush on Jake was almost embarrassing. It’s actually the only secret you’ve never told him. Officially. During prom, you confessed to Jake you wanted to be more than friends nevertheless he was so drunk he didn’t understand it and the next day; he had zero recollection of it and you were very grateful. You don’t know what you would’ve done if he had remembered. You probably would have lost your best friend and you couldn’t allow this to happen so you just repressed your crush until it eventually died. 

Notwithstanding, what you don’t know and the only secret Jake has never told you is that he remembers pretty well what you told him that night. He was just so stunned that he pretended he didn’t understand it. He thought he didn’t like you that way so he said nothing to not alter your friendship. Though, the backlash was pretty violent two years later when you got your first serious boyfriend. Jake was insanely jealous. At first, he just thought he was afraid to lose his best friend until he reached the dreadful conclusion: he has feelings for you and it’s too late, he missed his chance with you. As a consequence, Jake went from one fling to the other while you were going from one long-lasting relationship to the other without him understanding what you found to ‘those dudes’ like he always says. Though, these last few months, he has come to terms with the fact one of ‘those dudes’ whom you’ve been with for several years is the one for you. Jake isn’t sure he’s the one you deserve, and he doesn’t want to ruin your friendship, that’s why he wants to fix his relationship with Lara, especially because your relationship with Scott is the longest one you’ve ever had and he’s probably your future husband so Jake definitely has to stop hoping you’ll get together one day. He has to move just like you did.

The next morning, once Jake wakes up, you’ve already left for work. Whilst he’s eating breakfast, Jake’s eyes are set on a picture of you and him hung on your wall, he has his lips pressed on your cheek while you’re trying to hide your fluster with a smile. The picture was taken on the last day of High School and he’d be lying if he said it wasn’t one of his favourites. He finds you cute in this photo. 

His phone ringing catches his attention. He unlocks it and discovers a text from Lara.

Message from Lara to Jake, 8:37 A.M.:

I’m willing to hear you out, but just because I want some explanations. Is tomorrow afternoon okay for you?

Jake quickly answers her and confirms the date. He should be happy, Lara is open to the discussion though, he can’t help his heart to tighten, and he stares at the picture on the wall again. He shakes his head and brings back his attention to Lara. You’re part of his romantic past, even if nothing ever happened, Lara is his future. He has to think about her, not you.

The minute you come home from work that night, Jake tells you about his date the next day. You congratulate him with a big smile, though your heart breaks a little. Jake repeats to you what he’s going to tell Lara to make sure he won't ruin his last chance and you assure him his speech is perfect.

“White lilies, those are her favourite flowers.” Jake says point blank.

“Then offer her some. It’ll prove you care about her because you remember a small detail about her.”

“That’s why you didn’t want me to take roses?”

“Exactly. If you are lucky and it’s her favourite flower, you’re good but imagine if she hates them because she finds them cliché, you’ll ruin your chances before opening your mouth, ‘cause on top of not being original, you just prove you don’t pay attention to her. Roses are the safe option, yet it doesn’t mean it should be your choice at the slightest obstacle. You’re already taking risks by coming back after six months of dead silence so go all the way, don’t play safe with roses.”

“You’re right.”

“I know I’m right! And please, please, please, don’t buy her flowers only when you screw up. Do it when everything is good between you. Do it even when there’s nothing to celebrate. It’s those kinds of tiny details that’ll make all the difference, it proves you care about her. Of course, it goes further than flowers but you get the idea, the fact is, you can’t let a routine get in the way and the only times you break it and you give her some attention is to make up to her or believe me, it’s the breakup for sure because she’ll feel abandoned.” you specify, saying your last sentence at an incredible speed and Jake looks at you suspiciously.

“Is everything okay between you and Scott? It sounded personal at the end.”

“We’re not talking about me but you.”

“So the answer is no.” he affirms, reading you like an open book.

“We broke up five months ago.” you sigh.

“What? Why didn’t you tell me? What did he do? He didn’t cheat on you, did he?” Jake questions, protective.

“No, it’s not that. It’s just after six years, almost seven years of relationship, we lost ourselves in a routine and we realised we were together out of habits not out of love. Besides, we argued more and more for useless things. It’s better like that.”

What you’re not telling Jake is that there is another reason. Scott was sure you and Jake are in love. No matter how many times you said your crush on Jake was only when you were a teenager and that Jake never loved you like this, Scott never believed you. Your friendship with Jake was the main argument between you and Scott.

“You should have told me sooner rather than pretending you were fine when we were on the phone.”

“Don’t worry, I got over it. Let’s talk about you and Lara again. You didn’t tell me a lot about her.”

“In my defence, I never thought I’d go further with her.”

Jake replies to your several questions, but he can’t help and think back to the information you just gave him. You broke up with Scott, something it didn’t think would happen. He was sure you were going to end your life with him. As opposed to your exes, Jake had to admit Scott did deserve you and it cost him a lot to say it nonetheless he could see how Scott made you happy like he never could. Maybe this time Jake could make you happy? Jake pushed this last thought in the back of his mind. He agreed he had to leave you in the past. Jake can’t hope for a future with you when he’s about to win Lara’s heart again! He needs to stay focused.

Jake ends up leaving in the late evening to go to his place. You hug him and give him some encouragement for his date before closing the door behind him. That night, Jake struggles to fall asleep, completely lost about who he truly wants.

The next day as it is your day off and raining a lot, you stay home and clean your apartment from top to bottom. Music coming out of your phone, you wipe the floor with care when someone knocks on your door. You loudly sigh then put the mop back in the bucket and make sure it doesn’t fall before walking to the door whilst shutting down your music. Once you open, you surprisingly find Jake, soaking wet, with a bouquet of several flowers in purple tones.

“Jake? What are you doing here?”

“I remember.” he tells you as if you were supposed to get it.

“What are you talking about?”

“Prom.”

“What? Aren’t you supposed to be with Lara by now, anyway? And I thought you were gonna offer her lilies.” you question, after you understood what he meant.

“The flowers, they’re for you. I’m not playing safe, I know you love those kinds of bouquet because you can’t pick a favourite flower and your favourite colour is purple.” he says, handing you the bouquet, yet you don’t take it.

“What? Are you insane? Lara is the one you’re supposed to win over, not me!”

“That’s what I thought, too, but it wouldn’t have been fair to her. I still went to meet her and apologise for ghosting her though, she isn’t the one I want.”

“Jake, I don’t understand.”

“Can I come in?”

Without replying to him, you step aside and let him in. Jake takes his damped shoes off before walking to the kitchen entrance.

“I’m gonna get you a towel, I don’t want you to be sick. Make yourself a coffee to warm up.”

Whilst you grab a clean towel, you try to understand what’s happening. You didn’t expect to see him, especially with flowers. The second you go back to him, Jake puts his freshly poured cup down and takes the towel while handing you the bouquet once more and this time, you accept it. Without holding yourself back, you smell the flowers and tenderly look at them; you love them. Jake got it right. He’s proud of himself when he sees the soft smile on your face.

“They’re beautiful, Jake but why?”

“Like I said, I remember. I remember what you told me during prom.” he specifies whilst drying his face.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” you lie, avoiding his eyes.

“I think you do. You told me you had feelings for me.”

You stare at Jake, confused. You were convinced he had no memory of that moment. In one second, your cheeks heat and you don't know what to do with yourself.

“I pretended to not remember because I didn’t know how to react and I’m sorry.” Jake admits, putting down the towel and taking a sip of his coffee.

“Don’t apologise, you saved me from a moment that would have haunted me until I die like this moment will.”

“I shouldn’t have ignored you.” he affirms, putting down his cup on the table. “You confessed something very important to me and by ignoring you, I broke your heart and mine too in the process. I didn’t know it at the time but I also had feelings for you. I realised it too late, actually when you met dickhead number 1.”

“You mean Josh?” you ask, laughing.

“That’s what I said. Anyway,” Jake resumes getting closer to you, “I should have talked to you and not leave you in the dark. Your friendship means a lot to me and that night, I didn’t act as a good friend. Even if I hadn't had feelings for you, I should’ve said something and not let you deal with your broken heart alone. I’m sorry I broke your heart that night and if it’s not too late, I want to pull it back together. I never stopped having feelings for you. I spent years ignoring my feelings and every time I wanted to confess them, you were with someone else and now, it’s the right time. I want you, not another girl, for worse or for better.”

“What about Lara? I thought you liked her.” you ask, trying not to get your hopes up.

“She’s nice but she’ll never make me feel what I feel with you. I would have never been honest with her if I had been with her. That’s why I never got in a serious relationship actually, you were always on my mind and I didn’t want another girl there. I wanted to try with Lara because I thought I had missed my chance with you so I wanted to move on, yet when you told me you and Scott were over yesterday, I knew you’d always be in my heart. That’s why I preferred to apologise to Lara without getting into a relationship with her. I could have never committed to her because I want to do it with you. I don’t know if you still have feelings for me and if you do, you’re probably hesitant considering my history and I get it though, I mean it when I say I want to commit to you.” he insists, looking you right in the eyes. “I’m not saying I’ll be perfect right away but you can be sure I’ll do everything to be. I know it’s gonna take some time for you to trust me but I will forever and ever. I care about you, no, I love you and I want to do better for you. For once, I wanna be the good boyfriend and more particularly the man you deserve,” Jake states, putting his hand on your cheek, “the one who will buy you flowers at any occasion, the one who won’t abandon you, the one you’ll never get stuck in a routine with, the one who will make you happy, make you feel loved and who will cherish you until his last dying breath.”

At the end of his speech, you’re at a loss for words. You didn’t expect a confession of love from him and you never thought Jake was capable of saying such beautiful things or even being serious about a relationship. Not knowing what to reply, you put your free hand on Jake’s cheek and kiss him with passion. He doesn’t waste a second to kiss you back. Among all the kisses he’s shared, this one is officially his favourite, and he hopes he’ll relive it every day of his life. His heart is beating fast in his chest while he brings you closer to him. As soon as you break the kiss, you look at Jake with eyes full of love.

“I never stopped loving you, Jake.”

Jake smiles as he hears your confession. He was very nervous when he came to your place. He was afraid he’d ruin everything, and he’s relieved to know he was wrong.

“Wow, your advice works wonders,” he suddenly says with a sarcastic tone. “Well, I improved your speech a bit but I approve of it. You really should get paid for your love advice.”

“I told you that’s how it works.” you affirm as if it was obvious. “That’s how you got the girl.”

“That’s how I got my girl.”

When you hear the emphasis on the pronoun, you avoid his gaze for a second, flustered. You clear your throat before speaking again.

“You should take me to a first date then.”

“Oh, I will. Any advice as to what to do on a first date? I have to impress this girl who means a lot to me.”

You both laugh then you bring Jake close to you again before pressing your lips on him, the second kiss even better than the first one.

Top Gun Maverick Masterlist

[regregregulusblack]

My official intro post . ⋆✮ ˚ . ✩°｡⋆｡

𝙷𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚘. My name is Regulus Black, and no, you are NOT allowed to call me Reg or Reggie.

A photo my friend Evan took of me without my permission. I will never forgive you, @barbie-wants-to-be-me-fr !!!

I am intersex and I go by he/they pronouns. I don’t like to label myself, but at least I am not straight. I am single and not looking for anyone at all at the moment. I am also autistic and have ADHD. NOT the wild sort. The fucking-tired-bitch-stfu-sort.

My interests:

• Art

• Quidditch (I’m a seeker)

• Poetry (both reading and writing)

• Reading books

• Defence of the Dark Arts

• Analysing every single lyric in every single Taylor Swift song and crying about it

• Makeup

On this blog I will be posting quotes, poetry, art, photographs and selfies and just silly little things that I feel like sharing. If I see any posts about me, I will read them and BEWARE, I will be critical. So you might see me around :) You have been warned.

You will also probably see me having chats with my friends, @remus-lupin-offical is one of them but I’m still waiting for my other idiot friends to finish making their bloody accounts. I will add them here as soon as I can! Update: Took as them long enough, but now they’re also on Tumblr! People you will see me interacting with:

• @sirius-thesstar (Ew)

• @remus-lupin-offical (Why’d you choose my idiot brother as your boyfriend? You’re better than this.)

• @the-real-marls-mckinnon

• @xxcassiexx Dorcas Meadows, a Slytherin I have deep respect for. Say hi to Dorcas!

• @barty-not-barry (My batshit crazy friend)

• @pandora-notyetalovegood (Fellow Slytherin, say hi!)

• @lily-evans-for-ya (In a world of annoying people you are a nice person. Take it as a compliment or don’t. It’s up to you.)

• @captainjamespotter (Annoying Gryffindor)

• @stolemyheelsfromlegolas (DO NOT CALL ME REGIANO FFS) (MARY YOU HEAR ME?!)

• @barbie-wants-to-be-me-fr (Another lovely Slytherin asshole, he and Barty should just shut up and kiss by the way)

• @ur-local-peter-pettigrew (Gryffindor)

• @itty-bitty-bella (Cousin)

• @therealcissyblack (Cousin who loves me :))

• @andro-black (Cousin AS WELL)

• @the-best-slytherin (Luna, a fellow Slytherin)

• @yourfavouritehufflepuffgirl (Ew Hufflepuffs) (Ooc: I love Hufflepuffs)

You will see me arguing with my brother, @sirius-thesstar. Like, a lot. Don’t mind Sirius, he’s an idiot. If we’re arguing in French, do NOT translate if you’re a scaredy cat…

Do not interact if:

• You’re Sirius and you’re mad at me

• You’re a Gryffindor (yeah that goes for you too Sirius) (Slytherin is the best Hogwarts house)

• You’re transphobic

• You’re homophobic

• You don’t like me for some other reason

• You’re a Taylor Swift hater

I love Taylor. Don’t you ever disrespect her. Her new album only further proves that she’s a true poet. Even @sirius-thesstar agrees with me on that.

Other things I love are:

• Cats (I dream of having two black cats and naming them Phoebe and Ruby)

• The sea (It’s so calming to watch, but I HATE swimming. It’s too cold. And wet. Yuck.)

• The rain

• Conan Gray (No one can take his album “Superache” from me. Don’t ever try or I’ll bite you.)

Hope I’ll see you around! (Or not. Depending on my mood)

My tags: #regregregulusreg, #thetorturedpoetofthecave, #regussy, #regulussy

Random edit: Ooc: Eh so I’m a minor and I’m a victim of actual physical and mental abuse and I’m still going through stuff, so eh, “Reggie” might be talking jokingly about abusive parents and a tough upbringing on here and stuff like that… just know that that is my fucked up coping mechanism okay, and I don’t mean any harm, and please if you’re joking around with me about abuse don’t take it too far since it might be triggering for me. Thank you.

[maxwhathappened]

Sundae Request Menu

This is my ice cream request menu! Make your own sundae in my inbox as a request. I won’t generally take requests outside of this format, but you’re welcome to try.

When you place your order please:

Specify which driver the order is for

Limit yourself to 1 Dish, 1 Drink, 3 flavors and 4 toppings, though you are free to do less than those.

Make sure to clearly specify what is a flavor and what is a topping as some names are the same.

I got this idea from @tpwk-formula1 , be sure to check out their blog as well.

Thank you for your order!

Dish

Cup - smut

Regular Cone - fluff

Waffle Cone - angst

Flavors

Apple Pie - “I want forever with you.”

Banana - “I’ve wanted you for so long.”

Bittersweet Chocolate - “You’re the only one I want.”

Black Cherry - “You’re all I’ve ever wanted.”

Bubblegum - “Do you still want me?”

Butter Pecan - “I can’t imagine my life without you.”

Butterscotch - “I never stopped loving you.”

Cake Batter - “Please let me love you.”

Cheesecake - “Don’t you get it? I love you!”

Cherry Almond - “Do you trust me?”

Cherry Chocolate - “I was worried about you.”

Cherry Vanilla - “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it for you.”

Chocolate - “Can you stay?”

Chocolate Almond - “Please don’t go.”

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough - “Please. I can’t lose you.”

Chocolate Fudge - “I won’t let you go.”

Chocolate Soft Serve - “I’m not going to leave you.”

Chocolate Vanilla Swirl - “I love seeing you smile.”

Coconut - “You look amazing.”

Coffee - “You clean up nice.”

Cookies and Cream - “You’re so beautiful.”

Cotton Candy - “Oh no, baby. Please don’t cry.”

Dulce de Leche - “No, don’t cry. I hate it when you cry.”

Espresso - “Fuck, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

French Vanilla - “What can I do to earn your forgiveness?”

German Chocolate - “Is there anything I can do to make this better?”

Lemon Sherbert - “I’m sorry! How many times can I say it?”

Lemon Sorbet - “Get back in bed right this instant!”

Lime Sherbert - “You’re burning up. Just let me take care of you.”

Lime Sorbet - “I’ll take care of you, baby.”

Mango Sherbert - “I can’t believe you let him touch you.”

Maple Walnut - “I don’t want anyone else to touch you.”

Mint Chip - “You belong to me.”

Mocha - “Say it.”

Neapolitan - “I’m gonna mark you up for everyone to see.”

Orange Sherbert - “You like when I leave marks on you, don’t you?”

Peach - “You’re such a good girl.”

Peanut Butter Cup - “So good, so sweet, so perfect.”

Peppermint - “Be a good girl for daddy.”

Pineapple Sorbet - “You can be so good when you want to. Why aren’t you good all the time?”

Pistachio - “Don’t get greedy now. Be patient.”

Pistachio Almond - “A little needy?”

Praline - “Do what you’re told and you’ll get what you want.”

Rainbow Sherbert - “Just one more, baby. I just want one more.”

Raspberry Sorbet - “You can do one more for me, can’t you?”

Raspberry Swirl - “You’re such a brat.”

Rum Raisin - “Getting a little tired? Too bad.”

Rocky Road - “You’re such a little slut.”

Salted Caramel - “Fucked you dumb, didn’t I?”

Spumoni - “You are in so much trouble.”

Strawberry - “You’re gonna be sorry later.”

Strawberry Soft Serve - “You want me to fuck a baby into you?”

Toffee -“I’m gonna get you pregnant.”

Vanilla - “Fuck, you’re so tight.”

Vanilla Bean - “It’s too big.”

Vanilla Soft Serve - “You’re dripping, sweetheart.”

White Chocolate - “Oh fuck, do that again.”

Toppings

almonds - dom!driver

bananas - sub! driver

blueberries - switch! driver

brownies - soft dom! driver

Butterfingers - brat!reader

butterscotch syrup - sir! kink

Captain Crunch - daddy! kink

caramel - rough sex

cherries - slow/romantic sex

chocolate chips - jealousy

chocolate sprinkles - public sex

chocolate syrup - phone sex

coconut flakes - mirror sex

gummy bears - shower sex

hazelnuts - doggy

honey - mating press

jelly beans - riding

kit kats - overstimulation

Lucky Charms - edging

macadamia nuts - spitting

marshmallows - squirting

mint syrup - hair pulling

M&M’s - biting

nutella - choking

oreos - marking

peanuts - fisting

peanut butter cups - spanking

peanut butter syrup - cockwarming

peppermint patties - dirty talk

pralines - praise kink

pretzels - degradation kink

pistachios - somnophilia

raspberries - breeding kink

Rice Krispies - size kink

Snickers - ass play

sprinkles - toys

strawberries - bondage

strawberry syrup - mutual masturbation

walnuts - body worship

whipped cream - nipple play

white chocolate chips - dacryphilia

white chocolate syrup - aftercare

Drink

chocolate malt - established relationship

chocolate milkshake - friends to lovers

coke float - enemies to lovers

orange soda float - secret relationship

oreo milkshake - fake relationship

peanut butter milkshake - roommates

rootbeer float - exes

strawberry malt - coworkers

strawberry milkshake - best friend’s brother

vanilla milkshake - brother’s best friend

vanilla malt - strangers to lovers/meet cute

[palmettoshenanigans]

Trust me when I say I am trying SO HARD to not write an AFTG fic; I am BUSY, I am ALREADY writing a mammoth fic for something else, I am trying to not be CONSUMMED, I cannot write an AFTG fic.

And yet I keep having ideas. So, to save myself from the Cursed Brain Worms, I'm giving away this frantically written fic snippet I wrote for someone else to write (and hopefully post so I can read it instead of write it)

Here, someone adopt this orphan, I'm not ready to be a writer parent

The foxes are somewhere for a game and Kevin notices Neil. He panics because he thinks Neil is there for him under the jurisdiction of Riko. Neil was at Edgar Allen for a while but he left when Nathaniel picked him up for reasons Kevin doesn't get to learn. Riko told him Neil was to become the next Butcher and work for him. Kevin believed him.

The foxes are having a face off with Riko and Co, when Neil walks up and tells Riko to be quiet. Riko opens his mouth to retort but when Neil only raises an eyebrow he shuts up.

“In fact, I think you should go home Riko.”

Riko says something but Neil says, “I thought I said be quiet?”

Kevin speaks rapid fire French to Neil, Jean joining in, about how it’ll turn out bad if Neil makes Riko mad by embarrassing him like this. Riko says, “It’s rude to speak a language only you understand.”

Neil looks at him and says, in German, “Then I’ll look directly into your eyes and speak a completely different language, knowing you will never understand what I’m saying. I wonder if I talk for long enough and sound like I’m making a thinly veiled threat if I’ll be able to see your face twitch- ah, yeah. Like that. You’re so easily rankled Riko, it’s pathetic.” Andrew snorts and Neil turns to him with a raised eyebrow, which Andrew meets head on. Andrew then responds in German, “xxx”.

Riko makes a threat and Neil examines him. Neil then says to Andrew (in English), “Andrew Minyard, yes?” Andrew just looks at him. “Is it true you carry knives on you at all times?” Andrew nods. “May I borrow one for just a moment? I promise to bring it back.”

Riko says Kengo would never allow this. Neil pauses. “Call him.”

“What?”

“Call him and ask if he’ll be angry if I cut you.”

Riko pauses.

Neil raises an eyebrow. “No? Fine, I’ll do it then.” and he proceeds to pull out a phone and call Kengo on speaker phone, asking in Japanese, “Would you be angry at me for cutting up the second son?” Kengo gives no shits, and Neils grins at Riko as he says bye and hangs up. In english he says, “Well, you heard him.”

Andrew gives Neil a knife and Neil, tip of the knife tucked under Riko’s chin to guide him like a leash, leads him away, but not before sending a wink Andrews way saying, “Thanks for the loan”. Riko and Jean return, both looking pale, Neil gone with the wind. Jean gives Andrew his knife back, relaying a message from Neil about his "good taste in knives".

Seth dies because Riko asks Kevin where Neil is and the foxes don’t know.

The talk show happens, and Kevin says they’re inviting a former Raven to the foxes, pretending that he’s inviting Neil.

After the show, the foxes wonder how the fuck they’re going to get into contact with Neil, with Jean saying “No one contacts Neil! No one finds Neil! He contacts you! He finds you!” Jean then reveals that Neil only answers to the Main Branch after having killed his own dad.

The foxes are at their home stadium discussing their current conundrum when Neil breaks in asking Kevin what the fuck he thinks he’s doing. Everyone tries to convince him to stay.

“What do you want?” They ask him.

“Nothing.” He says.

Allison brings up Seth.

Neil argues, “I didn’t kill Seth. Riko did that. Trust me. I know when I’ve killed someone.”

“Stay for one year,” Andrew says.

“Why?”

“You owe me.”

“Do I?”

Andrew nods. “You promised to bring me back my knife. You didn’t. Jean did. I’ll forgive you for lying if you stay for a year.”

Neil pauses. Then he laughs hysterically. Then he agrees.

(later on, Neil does a job for Ichiro in return for him getting Andrew off his meds. it's revealed that Neil works for Ichiro specifically, not technically the entire main branch)

[ellieclaireblack]

sanctuaire | sanctuary

sanctuary | noun your safe and peaceful haven a comforting place of refuge and rest in a noisy, chaotic world

{brother's best friend | fem!reader x james potter} ⪼ word count: 2k ⪼ warnings: mentions of abuse 

part one: back home

story: sanctuaire | sanctuary

playlist

Kreacher was calling for me. Again.

“I'm coming. I’m coming” I made my way down the stairs into the dining room of 12 Grimmauld Place. 

Today was January 4th 1976. Christmas Break was over and we would head back to Hogwarts. We consisted of Regulus and me. Since Sirius ran away during the holiday. An act I still didn’t forgive him for even though I understood why he did it. From the day he’d been sorted into Gryffindor my twin had a hard life. 

Walburga, Orion and Reggie were seated at the table when I joined them. 

“Good morning, father, mother, brother.” I greeted them politely and sat next to Reg. 

“Bonjour mon cher [Good morning my dear]” Papa greeted me in French. Walburga just looked up and nodded at me. Regulus opted for a small smile.

Out of my parents I loved my father, but Walburga was directly spit out from hell. Papa just never said anything against my mother. However she was rarely present anyway. The days she was home were horrendous.

Everyone tended to their meals and silence filled the room. That’s how it was: no talking at the table. I was glad to get back to school today. 

I missed my friends and I missed Sirius - even though I was still mad at him I longed to talk to my twin. He’s always been the person who understood me best. There was a lot unresolved between us. His unannounced departure during a stormy winter night made life at home a lot harder.

Walburga blamed me that the heir of ‘The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black’ vanished and let her anger out on me. A few spells turned into dark curses and several bruises covered my skin. Papa didn’t do anything against her but I know that he sent several house elves to patch me up when she left me in my room in agony.

“Children get ready. We’ll aparate to the station in 15 minutes. Your mother won’t be joining us, so make sure to say your goodbyes.” Papa said, ripping me out of my thoughts.

In my room I stuffed the last few things in a bag. Kreacher would aparate my belongings to 9 ¾. I grabbed my Slytherin robe, the Prefect Badge glinting in the light. My parents had been pleased when I got it, except when Sirius didn’t get one the mood in our house shifted quickly. I can still hear his screams of that day faintly in my head. I shake my head, trying to rid my mind from this particular memory. One last look in the mirror and I headed downstairs again.

Papa and Reggie wait for me already and we smile at each other. The first real smile all day. We each grab an arm that Papa offers us. Everything turns black, my body tightens up and just before I think my airway caught up we are standing on Platform 9 ¾.

“I wish you a good second term, my loves. Make sure to write. I’ll miss you. Bon voyage. [safe journey]” Papa pressed a kiss to both our heads and I couldn’t resist hugging him. Though half of Hogwarts was aware of our presence he hugged me back.

“I’m so sorry for what she did to you and that I couldn’t help you more y/n. Je t’aime. [I love you]” 

“Je t'aime aussi papa. Ne t'inquiète pas, ça va aller. [I love too, Papa. Don’t you worry I’ll be fine.]” All the tears that threatened to spill from my eyes were forced down. As a child I was always expected to keep my feelings inside, so that’s what my siblings and I were exceptional at.

“Watch over one another and make sure Maman doesn’t find out you’re talking to Sirius. Also tell him I’m sorry for how things went down, that I miss and love him. Go now, I’ll see you soon.” 

He disapparated and Reg squeezed my hand. We made our way to the Hogwarts Express and parted ways, both of us in search of our friends.

“y/n/n!” I hear a shout. Turning around I spot my best friend. Florence Clarisse Rosier - older sister of Evan Rosier and my roommate. She’s running towards me and tackles me into a hug. I suppress a wince, when she squeezes against my bruises. “We’ve already secured a compartment, come on.”

With ‘we’ she was talking about Adam Cygnus Travers and Theodore Lewis Nott. The two boys completed our friend group and we were known as the ‘Slytherin Royals’. All four of us descended from families of the Sacred 28 and had quite the reputation.

I greeted the boys with a hug and we talked about our holiday. I swiftly left out the subject of Sirius, but they knew. Walburga officially declared Regulus as the new heir of the House of Black, every Sacred 28 family knew what happened with Sirius. I saw their worried faces and uncertain looks, the eye-contact between them. No one dared to touch the subject.

I was relieved to to go to the Prefect meeting, so I could escape the unease. On my way there I passed a compartment Remus Lupin was currently exiting. Quickly glancing inside I spotted my twin, James and Peter. Sirius and I held eye contact for a split second before I turned my head away. I could see the disappointment in his eyes. My heart clenched. I really missed Sirius, he was my other half. We've never gone so long without talking.

“Oh hey y/n.” Remus greeted me only noticing now that I stood next to him.

“Hey Rem. How was your holiday?” We continued to talk while heading to the front of the train. Remus avoided the subject Sirius and I was thankful for it.

At the meeting we got handed our new patrol rounds. I was paired up with Remus or Lucinda - Lucy - Greengrass, which I was quite content with. Lucy was pretty nice. I wouldn’t call us friends, but conversation between us flew easily.

Later back in our compartment I put my feet in Theo’s lap and he absentmindedly began to massage them, while I read a book. My grades were extremely important to me, even more to my mother. So I wanted to get a head start on this semester's material.

────────────────  ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ⋆ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅  ──────────────────

When we arrived at the Great Hall - everyone was exhausted from the long journey. We were happy when Dumbledore held his speech and the food finally appeared. 

During Dinner I felt several pairs of eyes on me. I knew it was the Marauders. I didn’t meet their eyes. The Great Hall was definitely the wrong place for the conversation me and Sirius had to hold. For now I was still too angry at him to have a level headed talk with him.

────────────────  ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ⋆ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅  ──────────────────

After dinner my friends and I spent the evening on our couch in the common room. We’ve claimed that couch as ours and no one dares to sit on it, except when they’re invited to do so. Our evening was spent talking some more and when all of us got tired we made our way upstairs, wishing the boys a good night.

Unlike the Gryffindors, Slytherins had to share their space only with one other person. The shared space is only a bathroom and a small lounge room. Everyone has their own bedroom. In my case my dorm mate is Flo. She’s been my best friend since day one. With her lively nature, she draws the attention of an entire room to her. She’s the kind of girl who’s friends with everybody. 

In first year she would drag me into her world. I always loved the attention, just like Sirius. It was something we rarely experienced as something positive and at Hogwarts everyone seemed to like us. Naturally. We were somewhat celebrities in the Wizarding world.

Before going to sleep I put a silencing charm around my room. I had always had quite the share of nightmares, Sirius used to call them night terrors, that’s how bad they were. Since he was gone there wasn’t a single night where I wasn’t plagued by a nightmare.

────────────────  ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ⋆ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅  ──────────────────

A scream tore through the dark. My own. My skin was covered in sweat and I suppressed a shiver. 

Only one thing helped me get back to sleep after a nightmare. My brothers. I couldn’t go to Reggie though, he had been through enough during the holiday and it hurt me to see him suffer because of me. So Sirius it was, I knew he wouldn’t question it even though we weren’t talking currently.

As quiet as possible I made my way to the common room. Empty.

I wasn’t really scared that a teacher would catch me in the corridor. Us Slytherins - especially the children of the Sacred 28 - had Professor Slughorn wrapped around our finger, so I wouldn’t even face consequences.

As a Prefect I knew all the Passwords of the different houses so getting inside the Gryffindor common room was dead easy. The common room was empty as well and I tiptoed up the stairs.

The door to the boys’ dorm slightly creaked slightly when I opened it. "Sirius, Sirius!" I whisper yelled into the dark and quiet room. But no response from my twin-brother. A sigh escaped me and I was just about to go back to my dorm when I heard a whisper.

"y/n, is that you? Are you alright?" It was James. "Yeah, no I-I'm fine." Obviously my best friend sensed the lie and ushered me to come over to him. I sat down on his bed and before I could protest he pulled me next to him.

The moonlight that shone in the room made it possible for me to see his features. That meant he could also see my face and the shed tears on my cheeks. 

"What's wrong y/n/n?" "I’m fine. It was nothing, just a nightmare, it's fine. I’m fine. I just wanted to talk to Sirius."

"Sounds like you’re fine. Hey, you don't have to lie to me. I know how bad your night terrors are and it's rare you seek Pads' help in the middle of the night. So it must've been really bad."

I mumbled "okay you're right" in response. James put his arms around me and pulled me into his chest. Feeling his body heat seep into me I felt like I could finally breathe again and let out a shaky breath. James put a silencing spell around the bed so we wouldn't wake the others.

"What's going on? Why are you avoiding us? Did something happen?"

Tears were threatening to spill again. "It's my mother. J she's never been this bad or this angry. They told us it would have consequences if I spent time with you guys."

"Oh y/n, you should've gone with Sirius when he came to me, I was really worried about you the whole holiday. I didn't hear a word from you."

“I just couldn’t leave Reggie alone. Also I don't want to leave Papa, would be so lonely without us. Besides, Sirius didn’t even tell me he was leaving. One morning he was gone and I had to face Walburgas anger. I get why he left. Still we’re his siblings for Merlin's sake. He could've at least said something.”

Now I was really crying. James wrapped his arms even tighter around me. "I’m so sorry. I didn't know it was that bad or I would've gotten you out of there myself. You and Pads definitely need to talk tomorrow."

We talked for a little while, when I noticed James started to get really tired. His eyes fell shut every other second and he was trying hard to keep awake.

"Mind if I stay the night Jamie?" "Of course not, sleep tight, love." "Good night James." I whispered but didn’t get an answer. James had already fallen asleep and in the comfort of his arms I was finally able to go to sleep too.

author's note: so first chapter of my new story. thanks for reading this far! i'm not 100% sure how to feel about this for now. there's definitely going to be more james later, but i needed this as an entry point for the story so you have some background information. also i just wanted to put out there that english isn't my first language. i proof read the chapter, but if you spot any mistake don't fret to tell me i love you guys and wish you a gread day/afternoon/night where ever you are ♡︎

[illicitlimerence-writes]

santa's house | c. leclerc

pairing: charles leclerc x reader word count: 2.1k words (oops) request: nope prompt: character a works as a santa’s helper. character b has a small sibling/child. from this prompt list. not my prompts, credits to the person who created it!warnings: kids, uncle!charles, language maybe, idk what else. **text in italic is supposed to be in french lol** a/n: day 4! a little bit longer than yesterday but oh well, for some reason this one didn’t feel as long when i was writing it. REMINDER THAT MY REQUESTS ARE CLOSED, EVEN IF IT’S FOR THE SPECIAL. pls, i don’t want to close my askbox but if i keep getting i’ll have to turn it off.

my masterlist / 25 days of christmas masterlist

the job wasn’t the most luxurious ever, but it paid good, especially with the holiday craze. 

working as one of santa’s elves at the local mall wasn’t exactly on her bucket list, but she needed the money. living in monaco as a student wasn’t easy nor cheap, and she couldn’t let any opportunity to make some extra cash escape. 

thankfully, the lines were never too long, the people were understanding, and the children were the sweetest. since starting that job she’d learned a lot about patience, about being around a lot of kids at the same time, but most importantly, about keeping the children’s innocence and spark alive. 

in the two weeks of working there she’d had to deal with every kind of kid, the excited ones, the ones that were slightly afraid of the idea of santa, little babies that was their first time meeting santa, and she remembered every single kid that she met.

she was sitting on santa’s chair, still wearing the green dress and striped tights, a red santa hat on her head. the actor playing santa had already called off for the night, but she had to wait until her flatmate finished her shift at one of the shops at the same mall so they could go home together. she was about to turn off the lights from santa’s house when she heard the now-familiar pitter patter of tiny feet on the polished floors.

“cha, hurry!” a little girl’s voice echoed through the walls and tall ceiling, she turned her head seeing a girl of about two or three years old running her way. her heart melted, this girl was probably the prettiest girl she’d ever seen. bright hazel eyes and hair, a gorgeous red dress with white tights on. behind her, a twenty-something brown-haired guy was rushing to her, trying to keep up with her tiny but fast legs.

“wait, darling. slow down,” he said, right as the girl tried to climb the small white picket fence surrounding what was supposed to be santa’s house. out of instinct, she hurried to help the girl.

“careful, honey, you could get hurt,” she said softly, opening the entrance to the house and helping the girl down.

“santa,” she frowned, looking around, her heart sunk in her stomach.

“santa’s gone for the night, darling,” she explained as the guy that came with the little girl walked to her, lifting her in his arms.

“sorry,” he said, hugging the girl tight, “don’t run off like dad, your parents won’t forgive me if something happens to you, and neither would i,” he told the girl, who leaned her head against his shoulder.

“santa,” the girl told him, lower lip sticking out in an adorable pout.

“santa’s house is open until six, you just missed him, i’m sorry,” she explained, a small smile on her face.

“hear that, lovie? we can come back tomorrow,” he said, but the girl shook her head.

“i want to see santa today,” she insisted. 

“what’s your name, darling?” she asked the girl, she felt her heart squeezing at the sight of the girl being sad. 

“cami,” she answered.

“that’s such a pretty name, cami. it’s so nice to meet you. listen, how about this, i can show you inside santa’s house, would you like that?” she offered, smiling sweetly at the girl. who nodded.

“he there?” cami asked, pointing to the house.

“no, honey, he had to go to the toy factory for the night, but he’ll be back tomorrow,” she explained, it wasn’t the first time she’d had to make up a story on the spot. 

“cha, down,” cami said, and the guy holding her put her down, but held her hand. they followed her to the entrance of the house, it was simple, but still in theme. there were two cushioned chairs and a bench, a cabinet where she and the santa actor kept snacks, drinks and some make-up. thankfully, there were no costumes there. 

“welcome to santa’s house in monaco,” she smiled as the girl looked around, the soft glow of the lights outside illuminating the inside. 

“it’s small,” cami said, looking around and sitting on one of the chairs, the guy she called cha helped her up.

“yeah, he’s so busy, he doesn’t to spend too much time here, and every night he goes to sleep in the north pole, that’s why it’s small,” she explained, watching ‘cha’ with a smile on his face as he saw cami nod slowly, taking the new information in. 

“he comes back?” she asked, too enthralled by everything around her.

“yeah, he’ll be back tomorrow.”

“cha, we come tomorrow?” she turned to cha, who nodded in return, pinching the little girl’s cheek lightly. “you’re here tomorrow?” she asked her.

“i will be right here, cami.” she nodded, smiling. she saw movement outside the house, seeing her flatmate waiting for her. “but right now it’s getting late, and i think we all should go home, but i’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?” she said, standing up from her spot and walking to the snack cabinet. she opened it and grabbed a cookie that she gave every kid that went to meet santa. she thought twice and grabbed another one, instead. “here you go, this is for you,” she handed her one of the cookies, one in the shape of a snowman. the girl’s eyes shined bright, making her smile. “and this one’s for cha,” she said, giving her one in the shape of a christmas tree. 

“cha, cookies!” cami giggled, staring at the cookies longingly. “thank you,” she said. 

“thank you, uh- my name is charles. that’s cami, camille.”

“nice to meet you, charles. i’m (y/n),” she smiled. 

-

the next day, she lifted her head every time she heard a small child’s voice, hoping to see cami and charles walking her way. she tried to hide her disappointment, putting on her happy face and welcoming the kids. with about thirty minutes left, she’d already given up on seeing them that day, but the sweetest voice calling her name caught her attention.

she turned, seeing camille with charles trailing behind her. this time she wore a green dress. she waved at her, turning to sam, the guy playing santa.

“please be on your best behavior for this girl. she wanted to see santa last night but came too late.” she felt two hands wrap around her legs, she crouched in front of cami, “hi, cami, how are you?” she asked the girl, smiling at her and charles as she looked up at him. he smiled back.

“good. i see santa!” she pointed to the side. 

“want to meet him? i already told him about you, he’s been waiting all day to meet you,” she smiled, getting a funny feeling in her stomach at the girl’s bright expression in her eyes. 

“cha, come!” she grabbed charles’ hand and led him to santa. 

-

she waved her hand goodbye at them, already knowing she was going to miss having cami around. she closed the curtains of the small windows of santa’s house, changing out of her costume inside the house. her flatmate had already gone home for the day, so she had to walk home by herself. she didn’t mind it, she liked having time to see her temporary home. 

as she walked past an antique shop, she noticed a gorgeous snowglobe. the bottom was painted gold, and inside there was a carousel, and she was sure it worked because of the small lever on the side. she sighed, knowing that with the holidays the prize was sure to be way out of her budget.

“hey, hi-” she jumped a little letting out a curse word. charles noticed the switch in language, “i’m sorry. i didn’t mean to startle you.”

“no, it’s okay, i- i was too caught up in my thoughts,” she said, smiling at him. her head went down, looking for cami. “where’s-”

“with her parents,” he said, pointing to a shop across the street. a cozy coffee shop, cami sat with her parents in front of her. 

“she’s your…”

“niece,” he answered, she nodded. 

“i’m guessing you’re her favorite uncle?” she smiled, watching the way charles looked at her softly.

“i’d say so,” he chuckled, “her parents, my cousins, are really close to my age, so i’d say she’s my favorite, too. i love her to pieces.”

“cute,” she slipped out, feeling a light flush creeping on her cheeks. 

“do you want to join us? i’m sure cami will be delighted to spend more time with you,” he asked, her gaze drifted from cami to him. “or if you’re busy or have plans i-”

“no, it’s… i-” she thought for a second, seeing his small smile and bright eyes, so similar to cami’s. “sure. a little while won’t hurt.” 

her heart beat faster at the sight of his relieved smile, he offered her his arm, she slid her hand around it and walked to the coffee shop. as they entered she could see cami turning her head to see charles. her eyes widened and she clapped her hands as she spotted her. 

she sat next to cami, with charles on her other side as he introduced her to his family. 

conversation started flowing easily, with her helping cami eat her slice of cake as if she’d been doing it her whole life, it came natural to her.

charles smiled, knowing cami didn’t open up easily to people, and it was surprising and so nice to see her like that with her. his cousins made her feel welcome, asked her questions about herself, her job, her uni major. with every word she spoke charles found himself unable to look away. 

he wanted to get to know her more. whoever managed to get cami out of her shell was someone worth knowing. 

after almost two hours of talking and enjoying a nice evening, cami and her parents left, the little one having fallen asleep already. and charles insisted on driving her home, she’d said it was fine, that she was good just walking home, but had finally given up.

the car ride was filled with talk, asking questions that were a bit more personal, but both felt comfortable answering them. as she pointed to her building, charles felt a small ball of dread in his stomach. he didn’t want this to end.

“can i-” he said, sighing as he cut himself off. “i’d love to see you again,” 

“oh,” she said, before a smile slowly crept on her face, “me too.” she admitted, feeling shy under his stare. 

“um, is… that’s great,” he said, watching her nod. she nodded, too, tapping her fingers against her leg.

“here,” she handed him her phone, “put your number in. we can text and plan something,” 

“yeah, i’d… i’d like that,” he said, typing his number and saving the contact as ‘cha’ with a bear emoji. he’d explained the bear necklace that cami had picked out for him as a birthday present, she had contained herself to avoid swooning audibly. he called his number so he could have hers as well. 

“good. well, thank you for tonight. i really had a nice night, your family is so great and cami… she’s quite possibly the greatest toddler i’ve ever met. and trust me, i’ve met a lot,” she laughed.

“she is, the sweetest girl.”

after staring at each other for a few seconds, she jumped when they heard a car passing by, too fast to be within the speed limit. 

“i should… go. i- i’ve got to work tomorrow.”

“yeah, of course. have a nice night, and… i’ll call you.”

“i’m looking forward to it,” she smiled, stepping out of the car. 

he watched her close the door and walk to the front door of her building, and it took him one second to make up his mind. he stepped out and closed the door, calling her name.

“yeah?” she asked, watching him walk her way.

“i… i forgot something,” he said, feeling his hands getting clammy as he kept them behind his back. 

“what is it?”

he leaned forward, brushing his lips against her cheek, placing one soft kiss there. her breathing hitched as she looked at him, a smile on her lips as he leaned back, heat rushing to her face.

as soon as she closed the door to her apartment she received a notification.

from cha🐻: sweet dreams.

she smiled, dropping down on the sofa and screaming into a pillow.

there was no way a man this perfect existed.

[olicitymckono]

I STILL LOVE YOU

AN: Hey guys, how is everyone? This is something I whipped up and if you enjoyed it then send me a like or a request.

Any mistakes are my own. I'm still learning french so forgive me if it's wrong.

Warnings: My feeble attempt at smut so pls be gentle.

Yn DuPont always wondered how she had become friends with the Leclerc siblings. Yes, her mother and Pascale had been friends and co-owners of the salon before she had passed away a few years ago but Yn just didn’t get how Arthur could be friends with her. She was smart but that was all she had going for her. No one besides Arthur ever spent time talking to her when they were at school. She had even heard once how some of his guy friends had been asking him how she and him could be friends. He had stood up for her making her smile but that was who he was. Her protector. A few weeks ago, though Dante Gabriel one of her fellow classmates asked her to be his date for some dance. At first, she had said no but over the course of the next few days he had worn her down until she agreed. Arthur was happy for her. It was time she let herself have some fun instead of just studying all the time. The day of the dance arrived, and Pascale had done her makeup and hair. As she smoothed down the black knee length dress she had chosen, for the first time in her life she felt pretty. She was excited and could feel the butterflies. She went downstairs and sat down on the sofa in the empty house as her father was away on business and waited for her date. And waited she did. 45 minutes passed before she realised, he wasn’t coming. She got up, grabbing keys as she passed the hallway table and slammed the front door closed behind her.

Charles Leclerc was the dreamboat of Monaco. He was a popular Formula 1 driver, and the girls loved him. Boy did he know it. But as fun as it was spending time with his friends and having the fan girls throwing themselves at him, sometimes he enjoyed just being by himself. Currently he was sitting on the deck of his yacht in the marina, enjoying the night sky and the quiet. It wasn’t always that he had time like this, but he was between races and need some much tlc. It was while he was sitting there enjoying the view when something else caught his eye. A young girl who looked oddly familiar was walking across the dock towards one of the other boats. He shook his head though, because it couldn’t be her. She never dressed up and if he remembered correctly, they were all at some dance. He leaned his head back against the sofa and closed his eyes only for a few minutes before his phone started to ring. He picked it up and saw his little brother’s name.

“Aren’t you supposed to be dancing?” he teased his brother.

“Charles, I need your help.”

Charles sat forward, alert. “What’s wrong?”

“It's Yn.”

“Is she ok?”

“I don’t know. She’s not here and she’s not picking up her phone. That dickhead of a date dropped her.”

“What do you mean?”

Charles heard his brother sigh. “Dante asked her to the dance, but he is here with another girl. When I asked him where she was, he said she cancelled. But his date said he lied. It had been some sort of prank.”

“Merde.” Charles realised that it had been her he had seen.

“Charles, I need to find her. We’re leaving the dance now. Can you help?”

“Art, stay. She would want you to have a good time.”

“How can I?”

“I have an idea where she might be. I’ll take care of her. She’ll be pissed if you left because of her. I promise I’ll call you if I can’t find her, ok?”

“I don’t know. “

“I got her.”

After much convincing Arthur agreed and Charles made his way over to a yacht near the end of the jetty. He saw her sitting there. “Permission to come aboard?” he asked loud enough for her to hear.

She turned her head in his direction. “You’re going to whether I say yes or no,” she shrugged.

He could hear that she had been crying and he felt anger surge. She was his friend too and he cared about her. Anyone who could hurt her didn’t deserve to know her. He climbed aboard and made his way up to her. He could see she was wearing a dress and had pulled her hair into a messy bun. But it was her face that hurt him. She had gotten all made up and now her face was stained with tears and smudge makeup, and she was shivering. He took off his hoodie and held it out to her. She tried to smile as she took it before pulling it over her dress. He sat down next to her. “Are you ok?”

“Don’t know why I’m surprised really.”

“What do you mean?”

She tugged her legs up under her and wiped her tears before leaning on her elbows. “I’m not good enough.”

He twisted so that he was looking at her and his was pissed. “What? How can you even think something like that?”

“Because it’s true,” she shrugged.

“Look at me. Hey,” he reached out and lifted her chin, so she was looking at him. “You are so much more than you think.”

“So then why does nobody care about me? No body want me? Even my own father would rather be travelling the world than spend time with me.”

“Cherie, there are people that love you. My mother loves you, my brothers, me.”

“I just.... feel like I’m not enough.”

He pulled her against him and allowed her to cry into his shirt.

Hours had passed in which both of them had fallen asleep. It was only the sound of his phone ringing that woke him up. “Hello?”

“Did you find her?” Arthur’s panicked voice sounded through his phone.

Charles looked down at the still sleeping girl in his arms. “I got her. She’s sleeping at the moment.”

Arthur sighed in relief. “So, she’s, okay?”

“She is. But that guy won’t be if I see him.”

“We took care of that.”

“Art, what did you do?”

“Nothing illegal or that will get us into trouble. Don’t worry. Where did you find her?”

“Pop’s boat.”

“Of course. I’m an idiot.”

Charles chuckled. “I’m gonna let her sleep a bit more. Will bring her home later. Don’t think she should be alone.”

“I’ll meet you there.”

“Ok. Hey Art, bring some supplies.”

“You got it.”

Several hours later Y/n, Charles and Arthur were all stretch out on her large sofa watching horror movies. Arthur had come through with all her favourite snacks and after the day she had Y/n was feeling loads better. She was conscious of the fact that Charles was sitting rather close to her while Arthur was on the other side of them, in actual fact the younger Leclerc boy had fallen asleep a little while ago. Something jumped out in the movie startling Y/n, and she grabbed hold of Charles’ hand. He chuckled as she realised what she had done and quickly tried to withdraw her hand, but he held tighter. “It's ok Cherie.” He whispered. He took their joined hands and placed it down on her thigh making her feel something she hadn’t felt before.

Arthur shifted making her quickly pull away from Charles letting his hand fall on her thigh, when she tried to shift away from him, he increased the pressure making her stop. She gulped. She felt her face begin to heat up as his hand slowly began rubbing circles up and down her leg. Her breath got caught in her throat as she felt his hand slide higher and higher. He turned to her a look in his eyes, “Can I?” She licked her lips hesitantly before nodding. He leaned closer to her till she felt his breath against her skin leaving goose bumps. “Tell me when to stop.” She nodded not sure her brain could form sentences. Her head fall back against the sofa as his hand reached the top of her leg and continued till, he touched her most intimate spot. He kept his eyes on her to make sure she was ok before moving his hand to the top of her shorts. “Open,” he gently instructed. She moved slightly so that her legs were more apart and moaned softly as he slipped his hand down her underwear and touched her bare clit. His hand was warm, but she still shivered as he moved his fingers up and down. She bit down on her own hand as he slipped a finger inside of her. He pressed his lips against her neck before whispering, “Do you like that, Belle?”

“Yes.” She whimpered in pleasure.

“Do you want me to stop?”

“No, please.”

He increased the speed and inserted another finger, stretching her out causing her to moan a little louder. “Shhh Belle. Don’t want to wake Arthur.” She closed her eyes and bit down on her lips, but Charles quickly reacted. “Take your lip out your mouth.” She complied. He could feel her reaching her climax and just before she could make a noise as she reached her high, he kissed her swallowing her moan. She was so high in that moment that she didn’t even think about the kiss or what any of this meant. As soon as her breathing had returned to normal, Charles withdrew his fingers and popped them in his mouth all the while watching her. He liked how flushed she looked. He pecked her lips one more time before getting up and headed for the bathroom.

A few days later Charles was due to leave for Maranello but every time she was alone with him, he had touched her in some way. She was a little confused by it because whenever someone else was around it was like she didn’t exist. She was currently at home studying, alone yet again when there was a knock at the door. At the door stood Charles with a single red orchid in his hand. “Hey,” she smiled.

“Hey Cherie. Can I come in?”

“Of course.” She stepped aside to let him in. “Who’s that for?” she asked indicating to the flower.

“You.”

She took it from him and smelled it. “I love orchids.”

“I know,” he chuckled.

She walked to the kitchen and quickly found a small vase to put the flower in. As she was pouring water in, she felt his hands on her waist. He had followed her into the kitchen. She felt his lips against her neck as he gently began to pepper kisses on her skin as his hands roamed over her body. She couldn’t help but lean back into him.

He turned her around to face him pulling her into a deep kiss that left her breathless. Shifting them slightly he grabbed her by the waist and lifted her on to the counter causing her to let out a squeak of surprise. He pushed her legs apart and stood between them hands on either leg. Almost on instinct she wrapped her arms around his neck as he began to kiss her once more. After a while he wrapped her legs around his waist and picked her up, carrying her to the sofa. He laid her down, “Do you trust me?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Remember to tell me to stop if you want.”

“Ok.”

He went back to kissing her neck as she felt his hands slide under her top fingers brushing against her nipples. As one of his hands took a nipple between his fingers the other slowly trailer down her body to the band of her skirt, leaving her skin burning at the contact. He detached his lips from her neck where he had left a dark mark and looked into her eyes. “I’m gonna take them off.” She nodded. He sat up and grabbed the band of her skirt with both hands as she lifted her legs slightly allowing him to pull down her skirt. “I think red would suit you better Cherie.” He remarked seeing the black panties she had on. She squirmed slightly as he pressed his lips to her inner thigh just inches away from where she was beginning to ache. “Charlie?”

“Yes Cherie?” he felt his cock twitch when she called him Charlie.

“Can you......”

“What?” he asked. “Tell me.”

“Touch me here.” She pointed to her clothed pussy.

“How? Like this?” he asked rubbing his finger against the garment. “Or how about like this?” he leaned down and placed a kiss against her sex. Both actions had made the ache even more but something about the kiss had her begging for more.

“Like that Charlie.”

“Then I think we should get rid of these,” he pulled on her panties. He felt himself twitch again at the sight of her bare pussy underneath him. “Si belle ma Cherie.”

He couldn’t wait any long before lowering his face and taking a long swipe of his tongue along her pussy. He had to taste, and it was better than anything he had ever tasted. It was like he was starving, and he hadn’t realized it until now. The faster he licked and longer he sucked, the wetter she got, and the louder her moans. He sure as hell wasn’t going to silence her, the sounds coming out of her mouth was driving him crazy. But his turn would come. He was going to drive her off the edge and then do it again.

“Faster, please Charlie,” she begged as she thread her fingers through his hair. She was close.

He added a finger into her pussy causing her to buck her hips, but he pushed them down with his free hand and held them there as he slid another finger inside her. Her breath quickened and her grip on his hair tightened but he barely felt it as all he could think about was how good she tasted.

“I’m cumming,” she gasped seconds before she felt her release. He kept going till she begged him to stop because of how sensitive she was. He pressed one last kiss on her sensitive nub before moving closer and kissing her lips, letting her taste herself.

“Think you have one more for me? I want to be inside you.”

She reached down and rubbed her hand against his cock, feeling how hard he was. “I want you.” She reached up and undid his belt almost impatient to release him. He stood up making it easier for her to get his pants off. She needed a minute to appreciate the view before she pulled him closer. “I’ve never done this before.”

“We can stop.”

“No, I don’t want to. Just maybe be patient and tell me what you like.”

“Ok.”

She started placing little kitten kisses along the length of his cock on either side but when she placed her mouth around it holding onto him with a hand, that was when he groaned. She wanted to pull away thinking she was doing it wrong, but he held her head exactly where it was. “Don’t stop Cherie. Feels so good.”

She slowly moved her head up and down. His groans were now doing things to her down there. She began moving her hand as well making him groan louder when suddenly he pulled away. “Cha....”

“Need to be inside you right now,” he said before making her lay back. He positioned himself above her entrance before asking her one more time, “Do you want to stop?” As soon as she shook her head no, he was pushing himself inside. Man did it feel amazing how her walls gripped his cock. He tried to go as slow and gentle as possible to allow her time to adjust but she had other things on her mind. She wanted, no she needed him to go faster, harder. She was close to the edge again and so was he, so he picked up the pace. Faster he moved, groaning as he began to feel that pressure increase.

“Right there, I feel it cumming,” she cried.

Right at that moment she climaxed once more, and he pulled out just as he released all over her stomach. Once their breathing was back to normal, Charles got up and went to the bathroom. When he came back, he had a warm wet face cloth and sat down beside her, before gently cleaning her up.

“What is happening Charles?” she asked.

“I thought that was obvious Cherie?”

“You know what I mean?”

He sat back and pulled her legs onto his lap. “I like you Y/n.”

“But?”

“I have really amazing fans, but also some pretty toxic ones as well. And I’m in the spotlight.... a lot. I don’t want you to get hurt. Or lose you. I’ve seen it happen before. I don’t have a normal life.”

She moved her legs away and stood up,” Okay, I get it.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m gonna take a shower.”

Charles sighed watching her close the bathroom door behind her. He sat there for a few minutes hearing the shower running before standing up, “Fuck it.” He pulled his shirt over his head and went in after her.

That night as she lay in her bed, she thought about the conversation they had after he had made her come again in the shower. They both cared a lot about each other and wanted to keep doing what they were doing so he had suggested that they kept it a secret from everyone even their families, at least for the time being. And she had agreed.

And that’s how it started. Every chance they got to sneak away together they took. Y/n would travel to certain races under the pretence that she was going to support Arthur at his races, or she would suggest to her friends to go on mini trips to get a break from school. Charles would constantly send her little gifts of her favourite things to remind her how much he missed her. Weekends away just the two of them. It had been hard keeping the secret from Arthur and the family, but they made it work and even when y/n started getting acceptance letters to medical schools across the globe, Charles had promised things wouldn’t change no matter where in the world they were. And everything was great for over a year......until she showed up.

Charlotte Tilbury was a beautiful, smart leggy blonde who had joined the Ferrari team for the new season. She was their media liaison and the longer they spent together the closer she and Charles became. Night-time calls became shorter and quick weekends away became less but when they were together, Charles reminded y/n how much he loved her. But the weekend of the Italian grand Prix things changed. Charles was spotted out with Charlotte and speculation was rife amongst the media of the new “couple” in the paddock. When she and Arthur had met her for the first time , Arthur had commented on how beautiful and smart Charlotte seemed which was exactly Charles’ type. The media and fans alike couldn’t get enough of the driver and his media liaison.

Y/n stopped answering his calls and responding to his messages. When the time came for Formula 1to hit Monaco he was standing at her door with an explanation. It was a PR stunt that management was forcing him to do. Ferrari were controlling his life and if he wanted to renew his contract, he had to go with it. Apparently, the fans had seen a connection between the driver and his media officer and had run with it. But he was adamant that he loved only her. He asked her to trust him and let it run its course and like a fool she had believed him. She endured the family get together which she had been politely ordered to attend and she had never been one to deny Pascale of anything. Charlotte had joined them and slowly she had to watch as the man she loved was photographed with the other woman. She didn’t attend many races anymore, but she answered his calls and messages pretending she was ok. It wasn’t till he was home for two weeks between races that she reached her braking point. One day he had been helping her study concerned that she was over doing it. But she assured him that she was okay. He had left an hour or so before everyone was due to head over to Pascale’s house for dinner. Y/n finished up her paper before quickly hopping in the shower.

 

She had been catching up with Carla, Arthur’s girlfriend ever since she had gotten to the house unaware that Charles was even there. It was only when she excused herself to use the rest room did she find out. He was sitting in his old bedroom sitting on the sofa phone in his hand. He was talking to someone who she recognised as Charlotte. She wasn’t one to listen in to other conversations but when she heard her name she stopped.

“Charlotte she’s my friend that’s all.”

“Come on Charlie.” y/n felt her heart crack. As far as she knew she was the only one he let call him that. “It’s painfully obvious that she has a thing for you.”

“She can feel what she wants but she’s not my type.”

“Which is why I’m perfect to fit the role. I’m exactly your type.”

“I guess.”

“I can tell you want more Charles. Maybe when we spend the summer together in Corsica, we can explore our relationship more.”

Summer together? Y/n was confused, he had made plans to go with her and Arthur to Los Angeles for her birthday. Guess that wasn’t going to happen anymore.

“Ok. I can’t promise anything, but you are beautiful and smart, so maybe we can see what happens.” Charles replied. “I need to go. Family dinner and all.”

“Would have been nice to be there.”

“Yep. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Good night, Charlie, Boy.”

Y/n knew it was over. Charles wanted a woman like Charlotte not her. Suddenly everything just made perfect sense and she wasn’t sure why she hadn’t seen it before now. She quickly rushed downstairs and collided with her best friend.

“Hey Petal, where’s the fire?”

“Art, can you tell your mom I’m really sorry, but I have to go.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just feel really sick. Think I ate something bad at lunch. I need to go.”

“Go where?” Charles had joined them.

“y/n isn’t feeling good. Thinks it was something she ate.”

“y/n?” Charles was concerned. He knew she hadn’t eaten anything all day so it couldn’t be that. “Maybe you need to sit down, Art, can you get some water?”

“Yeah, I’ll be right back.”

“Y/n come sit,” he took her arm, but she quickly withdrew it. “Cherie, what’s wrong?”

“I just need to go home. I really don’t feel good.”

“You haven’t eaten today. That’s probably why you feel ill. Eat something then I’ll take you home.”

She mustered up a small smile before looking at him. “I’ll be ok. Just need to go lay down a bit.”

He eyed her suspiciously. “Ok, let me get my keys.”

“I can walk. Fresh air might do me some good.”

“No way in hell I’m letting you walk home. Wait here.”

Arthur returned with a glass of water which she quickly drank down. “Woo slow down there.”

Charles quickly returned, keys in hand. “I’m gonna take her home. Tell Maman not to wait.”

The car ride was quiet as she rested her head against the window, her mind going over her whole relationship with Charles. Had anything been real at all? She had thought he was different, that he actually loved her, but she had been deluding herself all this time. She quickly opened the door as soon as he pulled to a stop and raced inside. He followed after her calling her name, but she didn’t stop till she had locked herself in the bathroom. If she was using that excuse, she may as well make it believable. She heard him call her name from the other side of the door, but she just sank against it. After a couple breaths she called out, “Go to dinner Charles. I’m just gonna clean up and go to bed.”

“I’m worried about you Cherie.”

She forced down a sob slowly breathing in and out before she responded. “I just feel so nauseous. But I’ll be ok. Your mom is waiting for you.”

“Ok Cherie. If that’s what you want.”

She waited till she heard the front door close before getting up and slowly made her way to her room.

She woke up around 3am and felt a strong pair of arms around her. She shifted slightly to see Charles laying next to her asleep. She gently removed his arm so she could get up and tip toed to the kitchen before putting on the kettle. She sat down at the table pulling a bunch of papers closer.

“Bébé?” Charles walked into the kitchen topless and hair a mess. “Why aren’t you in bed?”

“Got thirsty. Making some tea, you want?” she had decided last night that she wasn’t going to cry over anything anymore. She was tired of feeling like she wasn’t good enough. She was going to start over and knowing the man in front of her, he would try to stop her, she had to do what was best for her. He could have Charlotte; she would not make him chose. Besides what’s that saying? “If there’s a choice between two women, pick the second. Cause if you really loved the first you wouldn’t have found something in the second.”

He pulled out the chair next to her. Sitting down he took her hand in his, rubbing his thumb against her skin. “I want to know what’s wrong.”

“You were right. I was pushing myself too hard and it just hit me.”

“You need to take better care of yourself Cherie. I need my bubbly girl.” The kettle began to whistle, she began to stand but he made her sit. He got up and made the two of them some chai tea with honey. After placing the cups down, he got a container out of the fridge and popped it into the microwave. “You still haven’t eaten, have you?”

She shook her head, “Haven’t really had an appetite.”

“I brought some food.”

“Thanks. I didn’t even hear you come in.”

“You were sleeping so I didn’t want to wake you.” The microwave dinged and he pulled out the food which y/n had to admit smelled amazing. Pascale was an amazing cook. He placed the steaming bowl on front of her with some hot sauce, knowing how much she loved it. He grabbed a fork out the draw. “Eat, please?”

She smiled softly before placing some food in her mouth. It tasted so good, and she heard her stomach grumble. Causing Charles to chuckle. She grabbed another fork full and held it out to him. He shook his head. “Please?”

He leaned forward and she popped the fork in his mouth. He looked at her the whole time and it made her stomach flip, not from hunger. He loved holding eye contact with her especially when they were having sex, and it always made her excited and loved. But now that she knew the truth it felt different. She looked back down at the food. He knew something was off, but he knew he couldn’t pressure her. He turned to the papers. “Have you thought about where you want to go?”

She shrugged, “There’s John Hopkins and Oxford. Harvard has offered as well. All three have amazing med programs.”

“Oxford is closer though. You wouldn’t be so far from me.”

“I still have to figure somethings out before I make a decision.”

“We can talk about it, if you want.”

“It’s late. Maybe later.”

“Ok just promise me that you won’t make one without talking to me first.”

“I won’t.” But that would turn out to be the biggest lie she would ever tell him.

 

7 Years Later

“Dr DuPont? Dr Adams needs you in treatment 4 please.” y/n looked up from the chart in front of her towards the nurse.

“Did he say what he needed Sarah?”

“He had a little boy on there and you know how he is with children.”

“Yep, okay I got it. Can you make sure Mrs Leire gets to x-ray please. I think she has a fractured fibula.”

“Will do Doc. Hopefully it stays like this today.”

“As long as no one says the word,” she pressed her finger to her lip with a small chuckle.

As a resident at North-western Memorial Hospital y/n was used to how chaotic the ER could get so it was kind of nice that it wasn’t as busy as it usually is. She had managed to help Dr Damian Adams with his “small” problem before she was drawn back into the ER by the nurses. She was handed an iPad and made her way into the next treatment room to find a young woman sitting on the bed holding her left arm tightly to her chest. Y/n looked over the chart. “Hi Alexandra, I’m Dr DuPont. How are you doing this evening aside from the obvious?”

The brunette woman smiled softly at her clearly in a significant amount of pain. “I’ve felt better.”

Y/n noticed her accent and mentioned as much. “Is that a French accent I detect?”

“It is. I’m from France.”

“Enchante.” (Nice to meet you.)

“Tu parle français?” (You speak French?)

Y/n nodded. “I grew up in Monaco.”

“Oh, wow that’s great. My boyfriend is actually from there.” She grimaced as her arm shifted. “He’s on his way.”

“Let’s have a look.” She began gently taking Alexandra’s arm and trying not to cause any more pain she proceeded to examine it. “What exactly happened?”

“Some of us went ice skating and I’m not really good at it. Took a tumble and landed on my arm.”

“Does it hurt anywhere else?”

“No, just my arm.”

“I’m going to send you for an x-ray but I think at the very least you have a fracture and the worst a broken arm.”

“I hope it’s not broken.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you up to x-ray and have you sorted out in no time. Everything else seems great.” She got up and stuck her head out of the room, “Nikki?” she called to one of the nurses at the charge desk.

“Dr DuPont?”

“Can you please take Miss Marlowe up to x-ray please?”

“No problem.” the young girl got up and came over. “Miss Marlowe, you ready?”

Alexandra nodded and got up off the bed. “Thank you, Dr DuPont.”

“We’ll see you in a little bit.”

Y/n was helping another patient when Alexandra’s boyfriend and another friend walked into the hospital. Alexandra was still currently getting her x-ray, but Sarah allowed the two men to wait in the consultation room for her. Y/n had just handed over care of her other patient for admission when she headed over to the nurses' station to find them huddled together whispering among themselves. “Ladies, is everything okay?”

“Oh, that girl with the broken arm?” Nikki asked.

“What about her?” Y/n asked.

“Well, her boyfriend just arrived and all I can say is Wow.”

“Has her x-ray come through yet?”

“Yep,” Sarah handed her the iPad.

“Great, now can you act like the professionals you are and get back to work?” she narrowed her eyes slightly.

“Sorry Dr.” they mumbled half-heartedly together.

“You can see for yourself Y/n,” Sarah said to her softly as she passed.

Y/n rolled her eyes, “Have Andy come down to put a cast on her, I’ll speak to the boyfriend and write up a prescription for meds,” she said before heading into the consultation room.

She felt her heart stop for a second when she saw the two men standing in there. He looked even better then when she had last seen him all those years ago. He was just staring back at her in shock.

“Y/n?” Joris, Charles’ best friend was the first to break the silence. “Wow.” He walked over and pulled her into a hug which she returned still looking at Charles.

“Hi.”

“Alexandra is your girlfriend?” she asked them both unsure.

“She’s his girlfriend,” Joris pointed at his friend who had evidently last his ability to talk. Joris looked between the two noticing how awkward it was. “I’m gonna go.... somewhere not here.” Neither of them seemed to take note.

After what felt like an eternity Charles stepped closer to her and pulled her close, placing his face in the crook of her neck, “Cherie.”

She didn’t want to, but her body reacted of its own accord, and she returned the hug. An announcement sounded outside and broke the spell causing her to pull away. “Its good to see you Charles.”

He didn’t want to let her go. He tried taking her hand but she moved away from him. “You look good.”

“Thanks. Alexandra has broken her arm and will have to wear a cast for about 6 weeks. She can go to her local doctor to have it removed after that. I have a prescription for some pain medication which will help. She’s getting the cast now but as soon as she’s done I’ll discharge her but she might be a bit drowsy from the medicine.”

“Thank you. I miss you.” He again tried to move closer to her but just as he did Alexandra returned.

“Hey Babe, I see you met my doctor.”

“Yeah we’ve met.”

Joris choose that moment to return. “You okay Alex?”

“Yep. They gave me the good stuff.”

“Yeah about that, no driving or anything too strenuous at least for a few days. Need to let that bone heal. Doctors orders.”

“Thank you Dr DuPont.” She smiled.

“Hey, y/n you coming to the wedding?”

 Everyone turned to Joris, Alexandra surprised. “Art will kill me if I don’t. Besides Carla asked me to be maid of honour.”

Alexandra looked at them before asking, “Am I missing something? You all know each other?”

Y/n smiled lightly at the girl, “Monaco is a small country. I’ll go get your discharge papers ready.” She left the group in the room and found Sarah.

“Are you okay Doc?” the older nurse asked her. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Been a long night. Can you please get everything sort for Alexandra? She’s good to go.”

“Sure no problem.”

“Thanks. I’m gonna go get some air. I’ll be back in a few.”

Sarah was busy finishing up the paperwork when Charles came out of the room looking for someone. She smiled at him as he approached her. “Hi there. I’m looking for Dr DuPont?”

“She stepped out for a minute. Maybe I can help?”

“Thank you, but I really need to talk to her.”

Sarah nodded knowingly. “Coffee truck outside. But you didn’t hear from me.”

He smiled in thanks before making his way outside. He saw her standing talking to a man inside a small caravan. He made his way over.

The older man looked away from the young doctor and smiled. “Hi there, what can I get you?”

“Actually, I’m here for her,” Charles replied looking at y/n. “Pouvons-nous parler?” (Can we talk?)

“Je dois retourner au travail.” (I have to get back to work.)

“Please?” he looked at her, eyes pleading.

“Ok.” She walked over to a bench in front of the hospital and sat down. He joined her.

“I’m proud of you Cherie.”

“Please don’t call me that.”

“Why did you leave? You didn’t even say goodbye.”

She sighed, “I had to make a choice.”

“I thought we were going to make it together. You promised you wouldn’t decide without talking to me.”

“What would it have matter?”

“I loved you Cherie.”

“I asked you not to call me that.”

“Why? Last I remember, you loved when I called you Cherie, or Mon Amour. But especially Belle when I was inside you.”

She stood up. “I need to get back.”

He got up and grabbed her hand stopping her. “Did I do something wrong? Did you not love me?”

She pulled her hand from him. “Are you kidding me? You had my heart Charles. I would have done anything for you. But I was just your little secret.”

“What are you talking about?”

Y/n felt her pager go off and quickly grabbed it. “I have to go.”

“Y/n?”

“I’m sorry,” she threw her cup on the trash and raced inside.

 

Several weeks later.

Being back home in Monaco after all these years felt like nothing she could describe. The familiar sights and smells made her realise just how home sick she was. And that didn’t even include seeing her friends and family again. Sure she had met up with a few over the years here and there but to be sitting across the table from her second mom Pascale was beat by nothing. She had only arrived at the airport a few days ago and they had been waiting for her. Pascale, Carla and Charlotte, Lorenzo’s girlfriend. The three women had engulfed her and she knew she needed to come back more often. But it was when she saw Arthur and Lorenzo that she really felt back. She hadn’t seen Charles yet but she wasn’t surprised. They hadn’t spoken again since Alexandra had been discharged but she had noticed that he had followed her on Instagram. They were busy discussing some wedding plans when Charles and Alexandra arrived. The feel of his lips against her skin when he had kissed her cheeks lightly burned. How was it possible that after all these years he still made her feel things. After everyone had settled and enjoyed lunch, y/n had excused herself under the pretence of seeing some other old friends. She had just reached Pascale’s car which she was borrowing when Charles stopped her. “My car.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m driving.”

“Okay, well have fun,” she said opening the door. But he pushed it closed making her realise how close he was.

“Cherie, don’t argue with me please. Get in my car.”

“Why?”

“Because we need to talk. I’m not above dragging you,” he smirked.

“Sure, but what would your people think?”

“Our people, and I don’t care.” She bit her lip thinking about it. He reached out and pulled her lip out. “Don’t do that. Am I dragging you?”

She shook her head. “Fine.”

He went around the side and opened the door for her waiting for her to get in before closing it. He walked over to the drivers side and climbed in. “Where to?”

“You tell me, seeing as how I’m here against my will.”

“And I thought you wanted to go somewhere?”

“I wanted air.”

He nodded in understanding. “Ok I know where to go.”

“Where?”

“You’ll see.”

They drove around for a while before he pulled into the marina. He got out and was by her side before she had a chance to unbuckle her seat belt. “The marina?”

“Yep, I know how much you love the open water.”

“Last I checked,” she waved an arm around, “this is the marina not open water.”

“Technicalities Mon Amour. Come on.” He grabbed her hand and practically dragged her along the jetty towards his boat. “After you.”

She climbed aboard the boat and made herself comfortable while Charles got them out into open water. He watched her as he drove, she was more beautiful then ever and he had missed her when she left. Hell he still missed her everyday. “Cherie?”

She looked towards him. “Why do you still call me those nicknames?”

“Because they are yours.”

“What about Alex?” she asked looking back over the water.

“What about her?”

“I’m sure she can’t be happy that you out here with me. Besides don’t you call her those things?”

“No. And we are free to do what we want.” He stopped the boat and went to sit down beside her. “What did you mean? Back in Chicago.”

“Charles I really don’t want to talk about this.”

“You owe me an explanation.” She looked at him. “You left. You basically cut me out of your life, no goodbye, no reason. You ignored my calls, my messages. Why?”

“Charlotte.”

“What does this have to do with my brother’s girlfriend?”

“Your girlfriend Charlotte. She was your type, beautiful and smart.”

He sat back, “I know I have a type. What I don’t understand is your point.”

“She’s not my type.”

“Excuse me?”

“I heard you talking to her, the night of your mom’s dinner. You told her I wasn’t your type.”

“Yn I said what I had to say to keep the powers that be happy. You’re more my type then any other girl. You’re the smartest person I’ve every met. And why do you think I call you Belle?” he took her hand and pulled her close. “Every inch of you is perfect and beautiful.”

He ran his fingers down across her cheek. She closed her eyes at his touch and bit down on her lip. He groaned. “What?”

“The only one who gets to bit those lips is me.” He took hold of her chin and pulled her in for a kiss.

She knew it was wrong and she felt like she couldn’t trust him but her body reacted of its own accord and she responded. It was only when he pulled her into his lap that she came to her senses. She pushed off him and began to pace. “No. You can’t do that.”

“Cherie.”

“Charles no. You treated us like a secret. For over a year, we had to sneak around and when others were around it was like I was invisible.”

“We agreed that it was for the best. You know how the media and the fans can be.”

“No you decided that and I went along with it because I love you. Yet Charlotte and Alexandra get hate. I’ve seen it and you don’t bat an eye.”

“I thought I was protecting you. I knew how hard it was for you, how you felt like you weren’t enough. But Bebe you have always been enough for me. More than.”

“What about our families?”

“I admit that was for my own selfish gain.”

“What do you mean?”

“I liked having you all to myself. Just us and no one else. Arthur already has you as his best friend. Maman sees you as her daughter. I just wanted you for me.”

“Charles,”

“No, I was a selfish bastard.” He got up and walked over to her needing to touch her. “It was so hard watching other guys talk to you especially the drivers. But knowing you were mine made it easier.” He pulled her flush against him. “Cherie, I’m sorry for all of it. If I can go back and change things I would. I just wish you would have talked to me.”

“Would it have changed anything? I was always going to go to med school.”

“I know, but I would have been by your side. Supporting you just like you did for me.”

She tried to pull away from him, knowing that if she didn’t she was going to give in to need for him. “Charles please let me go.”

“If you can tell me you don’t still love me.”

“What?” she choked.

“You said you went along with me because you love me. Present tense. So Cherie look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t and I’ll let you go.”

“I.....”

“Why are you crying Cherie?” he asked brushing her tears.

“I can’t.”

“Can’t what?”

‘Say I don’t love you.” He pulled her in for a searing kiss but before things got out of hand, she pulled away. “I’m getting married Charles.”

He stepped back in surprise. “You’re getting married?”

“Yes.”

Sitting back down he patter the seat next to him. She sat down. “Who is he?”

“His name is Ryan and he is a detective back in Chicago.”

“Why isn’t he here and where is your ring?”

“He is testifying on a case but he’ll be here for the wedding. As for the ring, it was too big so it’s getting resized.”

Charles couldn’t believe it. He had thought it would the two of them together forever but now she was telling him that some other guy was going to get to make her his wife. “When?”

“When?”

“Are you getting married?”

“We haven’t got a date yet.”

“Why not?”

“Just been busy and we just got engaged a month ago.”

“Ok.”

“Okay?”

“I have time.” Charles got up and went to start the boat

“Time for what?”

He just winked at her and turned the boat back towards the marina.

As soon as he had dropped her at his mom’s house, Charles made his way to his brother’s place. “Arthur, I need you to help me get Yn back.”

“Back?”

“You have beer? We need to talk.”

 

Over the next few days Y/n found herself been teamed up with Charles at almost every event. Not to mention she received a lot of little gifts here and there, she knew it was Charles. Ryan arrived just five days before the wedding and Yn was happy to see him but she didn’t miss the way Charles would watch them or the fact that Alexandra wasn’t around. The night of the rehearsal dinner Arthur dropped the bomb that y/n and Charles would be walking down the aisle together and as party of the wedding party they would be sharing a dance. She pulled Arthur away just before dessert. “What are you doing?”

“No idea what you mean?”

“I’m supposed to be walking with Enzo.”

“Change of plans, Carla wanted Charlotte and Lorenzo and you and Charles.”

“Why are you both pushing me and Charles together?”

He shrugged, “We’re not. It’s just how it’s worked out. Come on y/n it’s one day. Look I know things with you and Charles is complicated...”

“You have no idea,” she mumbles.

“Actually, I do.”

“What?”

Arthur looked towards the door, making sure they were alone. “Charles told me.”

“How much?”

“All of it. I wished you would have told me. I kinda sensed that something was different, the fact that he was always worried about you and how he’d get irritated when some guy was talking to you. I should have seen it.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kept it from you. You’re my best friend.”

“It’s okay. He explained it all. Even the part of Charlotte. She never made him happy. Now I know why.”

She walked over to a little bench and sat down. “It doesn’t matter now anyway. He’s with Alex and I’m with Ryan.”

Arthur joined her, “They broke up “

“Who?”

“Charles and Alex. That day when you two disappeared, that night after he told me everything he broke up with her.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s in love with you.”

“Arthur...”

“Y/n hear me out.” She nodded for him to continue. “Do you know he went after you?”

“He did?”

He nodded. “It was a few months after you left for America. He had to wait for summer as he had back to back races but I remembered he would pester me with information about where you were. Apparently you blocked him. But he found a picture of you with some of your class mates and he was able to track you down to Baltimore but by the time he got there you had gone on summer vacation with some of your friends.”

“He never told me.”

“He never told me why he was going there. He just said he was taking a trip to the US. He knows he screwed up big time and I know that he is in love with you. The question is how do you feel?”

“He knows how I feel but I love Ryan. We’re getting married. I can’t just throw the last 4 years of my life away. Besides I live in Chicago my home, my job it’s there.”

He took her hand, “Petal you are my best friend and you know I love you and want only the best for you. Whether that’s Charles or Ryan, only you can decide. But I want you to promise me that you well think about things before you actually marry Ryan. Before you commit yourself to anything.”

She nodded. He pulled her close and kissed her upon her head. Before getting up and re-joining the party. She sat there for a few more minutes before Ryan came out looking for her. She got up took his hand and kissed him before they too re-joined the party.

 

The day of the wedding arrived and even though Carla was supposed to be the show stopper, Charles could not take his eyes off of y/n. The dark purple dress that Carla had picked for her bridesmaids looked amazing on her. It flowed down her body in soft silk, hair up exposing her beautiful cream neck. That neck that he loved to suck on, leaving his mark on her. He had sent her little gifts, everything she loved. But he knew his time was running out of he was going to get her back, He hated seeing her with Ryan, he just hoped that his plan would work.

“You look gorgeous Mon Amour.” Charles finally had the opportunity to talk to her and have her on his arms as the bridal party took to the dance floor. Arthur had made sure to pick a good song which allowed him to hold her close to his body without suspicion.

“You can’t call me that anymore Charles. You know that.”

“I’ll never stop call you that, or Cherie or Belle. Because that’s who you are. I don’t care about Ryan.”

“He’s my fiancé.”

“For now.”

“Just what does that mean?”

“You haven’t set a date.”

“So?”

“So are you sure you want to marry him?”

She tried to pull away but he held her tighter, tight enough to make her gulp. “Charles,”

“Song is still playing. Might raise some questions Cherie.”

“Well maybe I don’t care.”

“Oh you care because your fiancé is watching and if you rush away now, he’ll have questions. How are you gonna explain to him that you have feelings for someone else?”

“Don’t do this Charles.”

“I love you and you love me.”

“It’s not that simple. You know that.”

With that the song ended and she was finally able to move away from him. He did not get the chance to be alone with her again that night.

Two days after the wedding Ryan had to return home and Yn was staying behind a few more days. She and Pascale were spending some time together when she got a phone call.

“Hello?”

“Good Afternoon is this Dr Yn DuPont?”

“That is correct. Who may I ask is this?”

“My name is Giovanni Merlenti I worked for the FIA. We’re the....”

“I know who the FIA is, I grow up around Formula 1.”

“That’s right, I read that in your resume.”

“My resume? I apologise for being blunt but why are you calling me?”

“Its about the job. We would very much like for you to join our team. Your resume speaks for its self and added to that the recommendations we’re received, well you’re perfect for the position.”

“What position?”

“Head of our medical staff. You’ll be travelling the world with the formula one teams making sure that everyone, especially the drivers are healthy and should the need arise make sure they are taken care of should anything happen.”

“I’m sorry Mr Merlenti but I didn’t send in my resume. I wasn’t even aware of the position.”

“Of course, we received it from a team principal, you come highly recommended.”

“Which team principal?” she asked bit having the feeling she already knew the answer.

“It doesn’t matter Dr DuPont. I can sense that this has come as a surprise but I would really like you to think about it. You will of course be well paid and get to see the world. I have your email address, so I will send you a contract to go through and give you a few days to think about it. You can respond to that email. Have a good day further.”

“Thank you. Good bye.” She put down the phone, fuming. Just what the hell was Charles doing?

 

Charles had just sat down to watch a movie when someone started banging on his door. He put down his cup of coffee. “I’m coming, just relax.” When he opened the door he came face to face with a very pissed of Yn. “Hey Cherie.”

“Don’t ‘Hey Cherie;’ me. What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she slammed her purse on the kitchen counter. He walked over to her and reached out his hand which she slapped away. “Don’t touch me.”

“Calm down Yn and tell me what’s wrong.”

“What’s wrong? You applied for a position with the FIA for me?”

“Oh that.”

She hit him in the arm, quite hard. “That’s all you have to say? Why would you do that? I have a job.”

“Yeah, in Chicago.”

“It’s my home.”

“No, you’re home is here in Monaco. Actually technically it’s with me.”

She sighed, “I’m not having this discussion with you again. I’m getting married Charles. You need to accept that.”

“I can’t,” he said moving closer and trapping her between his body and the counter. He placed his hands on either side of her.

“Move.”

He shook his head, “Why haven’t you set a date yet?”

“I told you, we’ve been busy. We both have hectic jobs.”

“The truth Yn. Are you in love with him?”

“Stop.”

“Answer the question first.”

“I love him ok?”

He shook his head and lifted a hand to run his thumb across her lips. “That’s not what I asked.”

“Please.”

“Does his touch make you ache like mine does?” he ran his finger down her neck towards her chest. “Does he make you wet just thinking about his fingers, like I do? Does he touch you in just the right places? Does he even know the right places?” She felt her eyes close as his hand continued to travel down her body to the hem of her dress. While he leaned in and started trailing little kisses on her neck. She instinctual moved her head to the side to give him better access. She let out a moan as she felt his hand slip under the dress and into her panties. “Your already dripping Belle. Can he make you do that?”

“Charlie,” she gasped as he easily slid a finger into her wet pussy.

“Tell me to stop and I will,” he looked her in the eye finger still inside her but not moving. “Tell me now.”

Without a word she crashed her lips onto his. He pulled his hand out and grabbed her making her jump into his arms. He wrapped her legs around his waist and carried her to his room never detaching his lips from hers.

He made her stand as he removed her dress and underwear before pushing her onto the bed. He made quick work of his own clothes and joined her on the bed, his lips leaving searing kisses along her body. He grabbed her hands and held them above her head as he gently slipped his cock inside her warm, wet walls.

“Charlie,” she moaned as he filled her up, reaching the deepest parts.

“Tell me what you want, what you need Cherie.”

“You.”

He began moving faster and harder, the sounds of skin slapping on skin, heavy breathing and moans that were like music to his ears. He let go of her hands so that he could touch her clit while he moved his cock in and out.

“Please go faster,” she cried as she grabbed onto the bed sheets, the pleasure building inside her. She didn’t know if she could last much longer.

He knew it, he knew her body, just how to make her squirm and thrive. “You look so beautiful. You were made for me Mon Amour. And I was made for you. Cum for me,”

“I’m close. Don’t stop, please.”

He felt her tightening around him, and he could feel his own ache coming, “Let go Amour.” He felt her body begin to shake as she reached ecstasy crying out the name he loved to hear caused him to explode inside her , coating he walls with his cum. He flopped down next to her pull her with him so that he was still inside her. Just the fucked out look on her face made his cock twitch again. He kissed her, before pulling her into him.

“Why didn’t you tell me you and Alex broke up?”

“I didn’t want you to blame yourself.”

“But you broke up with her because of me?”

“I broke up with her because I didn’t love her. It would have ended soon anyway. No one lasts because their not you.”

“Charles.”

He kissed her again to silence her. “ No, lets just enjoy this. Tomorrows problems are tomorrows. Right now all I want to do is hear you scream my name again.” He pulled out of her causing her to whine. “Oh Cherie, just you wait. I’m not done with you.” Sliding down the bed he grabbed her legs and pulled her down placing each leg on either side of his head he dipped down ready to taste.

The sunshine work him up and he turned with a smile which quickly fell away as he saw the empty bed beside him except for a piece of paper with two simple words, “Goodbye Charlie.”

It had been several weeks since she left and Charles had not heard from her at all. He had thought about calling her but he had realised that this was her answer. He missed her, it was almost eating him up in side and he knew it was effecting his driving. He was struggling out there and today’s qualifying was the tip of the ice berg. He had just barely made it through to Q2 of the English Grand Prix when he lost control of his car and ended up in the barrier. It wasn’t a bad crash but he had some how managed to cut his arm while getting out the car and was currently waiting in the med bay to see the doctor. He was so lost in thought that he didn’t hear someone come in until they spoke.

“You miss me that much?”

His head shot up at the sound of her voice, “Cherie?”

“Hey Charlie. I’m sorry I left. I had to go back and sort some things out. I mean if I’m going to be travelling the world with f1 I had to pack up in Chicago.”

“You took the job?” he replied getting up.

She nodded.

“What about Ryan?”

“I ended it. You were right, I never picked a date because even though I loved him, I wasn’t on love with him.”

“Really?” he smirked.

“Yeah, turns out there’s the Monegasque guy who kinda stole my heart along time ago. And I can’t seem to find anyone who makes me feel the way he does.”

“Do you want someone else to do that?”

“No, I want him. But I’m not sure he is available.”

“Oh I know for a fact his available.” He pulled her into his arms.

“Careful, we need to fix that arm.”

“It can wait. I need my girl more.”

“Charlie,”

“Don’t call me that here Cherie.”

“Why?”

“While I don’t think you’ll want me to take you right here do you?”

“I love you but nope.”

“I love you too Cherie. And as soon as I get this arm fixed up and do my media duties I’m taking you out on a date.”

“Really? Where we going?”

“Somewhere extremely public. I want the world to know who is the love of my life and who is going to be my future wife and mother of my children.”

“Aren’t you getting a little ahead of yourself there?”

“I lost you once Cherie. I have no intention of ever making that mistake again. You stuck with me for life.”

“I like the sound of that.”

[dodger-chan]

Well, looks like AO3 is going to be down for a couple more hours. So while that's going on, have a bit of hellcheer not-quite smut. More of a prelude to smut.

Edit: now on AO3

Chrissy is sitting on a boy’s bed in a messy room waiting to get high. She’s never done this before. The getting high part, that is. She’s sat on Jason’s bed a few times. His room isn’t like this. Jason is a different kind of messy.

“You said it worked fast?” She doesn’t feel any different yet. Still scared, still crazy, a clock ticking in the back of her mind, counting down to something bad.

“Fast, yes. Instantly, no.” Eddie smiles at her. Not mean, but maybe still scary. He’d ground up the Special K in front of her, reminding her of a fancy French restaurant she’d been to with her parents once. The waiter presenting the wine for her father to judge. He’d probably known as much about the wine as she had about the drugs.

“And I took enough?” She knows she shouldn’t complain. Boys don’t like it when girls complain. And Eddie isn’t even charging her for this, just for anything she takes home with her.

“Absolutely.” The dose he’d taken when showing her how to snort it had looked almost twice as big as hers. “Too much is less fun, especially for a first time. I don’t want you, like, seeing things and freaking out.”

Chrissy tries to hold back her laugh and chokes on it. Hallucinations to hold back hallucinations. Eddie’s holding a glass of water out. Her mouth is dry. She sips it, small delicate swallows.

“Trust me, Chrissy.” Eddie slides off the bed and kneels on the floor in front of her. His hands are hot on her bare knees. “I’m the expert on this.”

She believes him, she does. She doesn’t know if she’s high, but she doesn’t feel normal anymore. It’s hard to look into his eyes, so she looks around. Guitars and posters and…

“Are those handcuffs?” she doesn’t mean to ask him, doesn’t mean to say anything at all. She knows what handcuffs look like.

“They, uh, they are, yeah.” She looks down at him. He’s looking away now, embarrassed or nervous. His hands are still on her knees. She likes them there. It feels good. She feels good. There’s no ticking clock anymore. Nothing in her head at all.

“For when you invite innocent girls back to your room?” Maybe that should scare her, but she doesn’t feel fear at all. Fear is a distant thing. Eddie’s laughing, so she laughs a little, too. It’s nice to laugh together. Eddie has a nice laugh.

“I can honestly say I’ve never put them on an innocent girl.” He’s looking up at her through his bangs. She wants to kiss him. She wants his hands to slide further up her legs. She is not an innocent girl anymore. She leans forward and he pulls back. “Chrissy, this isn’t-”

“Can I put them on you?” She interrupts him. Her hands grab his wrists, pulling him forward, squeezing them as tight as she can. She’s pulling him towards her and off balance. 

“Fuck me,” he breathes out, so soft she can barely hear him.

“Only if you’re good.” She must be high now. She would never have dared those words or that teasing tone otherwise. Eddie licks his lips. He’s looking up at her, mouth slightly open. She pulls him up a little, leans forward and lightly bites his lower lip. “Will you be good?”

“Anything. I’ll be anything you tell me, Princess,” he whispers. “Do anything you say.”

“This afternoon I was a queen.” The nickname is cute, but Chrissy doesn’t feel cute at the moment. She feels powerful.

“Apologies, your majesty.” The teasing tone Eddie had used that afternoon is back in his voice. Chrissy likes it.

“Perhaps you can earn my forgiveness.” Chrissy drops Eddie’s wrists and he falters, barely catching himself before he falls flat on her lap. “Bring me the cuffs.”

Eddie scrambles up, grabs the handcuffs off of his wall. Chrissy expects him to sit next to her on the bed, but he kneels at her feet again, placing the cuffs in her lap. She picks them up. They’re more solid than she expected, with about a foot of chain connecting them. She takes Eddie’s right wrist and slips the cuff on. The white marks her fingers had left were already gone. 

“Not too tight,” he instructs her quietly. She nods at him, locks the cuff with a finger’s worth of space. “You can wrap the chain around the leg of the bed, or”

“No.” She appreciated him telling her how to use the cuffs, but she wants to make the decisions here, not him. She cuffs his left wrist just like his right and holds the chain loosely in one hand, fiddling with it. “You can keep yourself still for me, can’t you?”

“Yeah. I can do that.” His voice is raspy. Chrissy shucks off her jacket, tosses it at Eddie. He lets it hit his face and slide down to the floor. He doesn’t move. There’s something about his stillness, his obedience. Chrissy feels heat pooling down in her belly, a frisson that travels lower. Her fingers brush the bottom of her shirt and she hesitates. She likes her uniform. Likes the way it makes her feel.

Chrissy drapes the chain over her head, pulling Eddie’s hands with it. She slides the chain down her back and Eddie’s hands brush against her breasts. The chain is cold on her lower back, just above the top of her skirt. She braces her feet against Eddie’s thighs and using one hand for balance lifts up her hips. With her other hand she slips her panties off and over her knees, letting them fall down her calves. She drops her hips back down and kicks the panties off. Eddie’s still kneeling, patiently. Watching her. Wanting her.

“Have you ever eaten a girl out?"

[pommunist]

hey, I hope alls going well and that it’s fine to ask questions about the current situation.

Question: What are the doxing laws in France? And is it valid to criticize Lea for doxing? As no matter what actions done against you, she committed a crime. In addition her response was that they (Qstudios) committed more crimes than me so it’s fine rubbed me the wrong way. Nothing justifies doxing just like nothing justifies mistreating your workers, multiple wrongs do not and never will make it right. So could Lea be sued for doing this? Should she? Would French law protect her? Whose law would this fall under in court, French, America, Mexico? I do hope Lea and all the workers gets compensated for their time and effort and that Quackity is doing alright with being doxed by said former worker. Is that a fair opinion? I’m trying to give her some credit it’s an accident and she is rightfully angry at him but it still doesn’t justify causing danger to someone (at least in the opinion of me).

I slept on the topic and pray I worded it well. Hopefully, this doesn’t come across as hateful, I’m not towards any party. However, I just don’t agree with the methods she used to act on in this case or her apology (or lack of one), it came across as “I’m a victim who cares little about the person I just hurt because the stress made me do it”. People’s response are almost as bad. “We forgive you for doxing” - Not your apology to give, You Are Not Affected, “Doxing is bad so I am valid in not taking your words to mean anything *” - Not understanding that she is a victim of his workplace abuse just as he’s a victim of her doxing. Am I stupid for think that?

Also felt the need to add: Thank you again for the translation document. The amount of work to do that is absolutely incredible and you (all of you who worked on it) should feel so proud to have been able to fully commit to that. If you reply thank you so much in advance and let the rest of your day be amazing. Sorry if you already answered something simulair.

Well first of all anon, you can criticise anyone you want for any reason you want, you don’t have to ask me first ! Personally I don’t believe she should have shared this publicly or at least not without making sure private info was censored.

Secondly….Do you hate me anon 🥺? Making me look up law stuff ? /j

I’ll try to answer as best as I can, just keep in mind that the legal field doxxing falls under isn’t something that I’m specialised in. So, take it with a grain of salt, always.

(tbh i don’t think we’ll see the day a minecraft cc will do something that fall under my area of expertise but if it ever happens drop them immediately ahah)

French law

The closest we have to a law against doxxing is :

-« Endangerment of someone’s life by divulgation of private information in regards to their professional, personal or familial life »

-« Divulgation of data with intent to harm »

-Just general legal protection of someone’s private life.

Legally it would be difficult for a lawsuit against Lea because of her tweet to have a legal standing. Not only it would be very difficult to prove she had the intent to doxx anyone (not saying she did). But also because the information that she posted, and the informations people found because of it are extremely easy for anyone to access.

I know this because around a month ago when Léa first came out with her story, I stumbled upon it b, with just a very simple google search, while I was just trying to know in which US state Q’s company was registered. (I was curious to know under which state’s legal jurisdiction it was).

So both the malicious intent and the private element of the information would be incredibly hard to prove.

US law :

From what I understand, there is no federal law against doxxing in the US.

There are some state law, like in California, where doxxing can be considered a misdemeanour if you prove that it was done with the goal to harm someone.

I looked up some articles to help me answer this and I found this which can hopefully shine some light on how doxxing is seen from a legal standpoint. (Doesn’t mean doxxing is a good thing or that it doesn’t affect people’s lives, this is, again, just from a legal perspective)

https://joindeleteme.com/doxxing/is-doxxing-illegal/

There may be more but US law, not my thing at all so I don’t know !

Conclusion : I’ll be honest I can’t see her being sued for this, from a legal standpoint.

______

My own personal take on this is that no, Léa shouldn’t have posted what she did before making sure no personal info was on it, even if she had probably no intent to spread personal info. But also no, this could barely count as doxxing because like I said it’s very easily accessible information (don’t mean you should go look for it because like, why ?). Now she deleted it and it’s quite difficult to see what she had posted, good. There’s no point defending her nor hating on her for this.

I’d rather go back to talking about the main issue, workers rights and workplace abuse, than spend time pandering whether or not one of said workers is a bad person and how she should act. Not saying people should NOT talk about it just that it’s not something I’m interested in discussing✌️

[marie-swriting]

He'll Be Here | In My Life Again - Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw [2/2]

Top Gun Maverick Masterlist

Part one

Part one - two (French version)

Summary : ten years later, Bradley wants to apologize for the way it ended between you and him.

Warnings : set after Top Gun Maverick, Mitchell!reader, angst, happy ending, maybe some grammatical as English is not my first language, tell me if you see some or if I missed any warnings.

Word count : 3.6k

Song inspiration : The Last Time (Feat. Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol) (Taylor's Version) by Taylor Swift

After spending several hours working on Pete’s P-51 Mustang, this latter and Bradley go to have a drink in Pete’s kitchen. Bradley sits down while Pete opens the fridge and looks for two beers ; Bradley’s eyes find a picture on the wall, he looks at his eighth birthday photo with nostalgia. His cake is in front of him and you by his side. Both of you have a huge smile on your face, ignorant of what the future would hold for you. Bradley’s heart tightens in his chest when Bradley remembers he’ll never have the opportunity of seeing your radiant smile on your face whilst he’s next to you again. 

Pete puts a beer in front of Bradley and snaps him out of his thoughts. He thanks him and takes a sip, his eyes finding their way back to the picture, in spite of him.

“You know,” Bradley starts, catching Pete’s attention, “that day, there was a moment where Y/N wasn’t next to me anymore so I went to look for her. I found her hiding in my closet with tears in her eyes. When I asked her what was the matter, she just told me to not pay attention to her, that I needed to stay with my other friends. I said to her I didn’t care about them, especially because she needed me at that moment. That’s when she confessed she was scared of losing me because I had met friends my age who would replace her. I couldn’t believe she thought that !” he exclaims, his eyes wide open. “In my head, it was obvious she could never be replaced, no matter how close I was to my other friends so I promised her she’d never lose me, that I’ll always be by her side. No matter what. I made her this promise and I’ve been breaking it for ten years now.” Bradley mutters, looking down.

“Have you tried talking to her ?” Pete asks, after a few seconds.

“Yes, several times over the years. The first time was a year after our breakup. I wasn’t far away from her Uni so I went to see her. Long story short, she told me to get lost. The last time was a week ago when she came back. I got the same reaction.”

“I’m sure she just needs a bit of time.” Pete reassures him, putting his hand on Bradley’s shoulder. “I never thought you’d talk to me again and look at us ! Things can get better. The bond you two shared was strong.” he affirms.

“I find that hard to believe, she hates me. And don’t even try to tell me otherwise.” Bradley adds, seeing Pete was about to talk. “She hates me and it’s understandable.” he admits, sadly. “She had nothing to do with all of this and yet I hold her accountable just the same. And the worst part is she warned me.” he specifies, taking another sip. “There were numerous times where she told me to get my shit together and stop ruining our relationship because of my anger toward you but I didn’t listen to her. I took her for granted so I kept messing up until she got tired of it and I’ve been paying the price ever since.” Bradley exclaims, bitterly. “You know, I’ve accepted the fact she’d never forgive me, however I’d still like to apologise properly. I just want her to know how much I regret how things ended between us, no matter if she answers me or just insults me. It might be too late but she deserves me to fix my mistakes, no matter if she forgives me.”

“I can talk to her if you want to. I can convince her to listen to you.”

“No, don’t say anything.” Bradley refuses after drinking. “If she listens to me I want it to be because she wants to, not because you asked her to.”

“As you wish.” he concedes with a heavy heart.

The two men stay silent for a moment, enjoying their drink. Bradley is finally able to detach his gaze from the photo, staring into the void.

“You still love her, don’t you ?” Pete asks, bringing Bradley’s eyes on him.

“And I always will. She was my first friend and my first love. She’ll always have a place in my heart even if I don’t have one in hers anymore. I miss her so much, Mav’, if you knew.” Bradley confesses, tearing up.

“She’ll never say it out loud but she misses you too. Bradley, I promise you things will get better between the two of you.”

Bradley takes the last sip of his beer, hoping it’ll help him with his tears and the knot in his throat. At the same time he puts the bottle down, the main door opens. He knows it’s you so he quickly stands up. He doesn’t want to give you another reason to hate him therefore he tries not to run into you, though his heart only wants that. You walk in the kitchen, talking about your afternoon with Penny and Amelia to your father until you find Bradley. Instantly, you tense up and glare at your former best friend. Bradley bids goodbye to you and Pete before leaving. Pete rolls his eyes at your attitude.

“What ? I didn’t tell him anything.” you defend yourself, searching for something in the fridge.

“You might as well have.”

“Look, it’s not because you forgave him that I have to be nice to him.” you retort, closing the fridge without finding anything interesting. “Unlike you, I haven’t forgotten the way he treated us, the way he cut us out of his life.”

“I haven’t forgotten either.”

“Really ? Because it sure seems like it. It seems you’ve forgotten the pain he caused us, caused me, all the nights I spent crying because of him, all the nights where you had to hold me in your arms while I was sobbing.”

“I remember very well.” Pete admits, trying to stay calm, “But Y/N, he’s changed, okay ? Besides, he was grieving, he was hurt, angry and young-”

“Young ?” you cut him, furious. “He was twenty-five ! He was a grown ass adult, he knew very well what he was doing.”

“Okay, he has his faults as well, but he really feels bad about the way he treated you. You could at least listen to him.” he suggests and you roll your eyes.

“And did he listen to you when you tried to explain yourself ? He sent you packing. I don’t get why I should be the one making an effort. And as my father, shouldn’t you be telling me to stay away from him ?”

“Not when I know what you mean to each other.”

“He doesn’t mean anything to me. And for a long time now.” you state.

“It’s not true and you know it.”

“I don’t understand why you insist so much.”

“I’m responsible for your fallout.”

“He messed up himself.” you correct, tearing up. “He’s the one who let his anger destroy what we had. He’s the one who distanced himself from me. He ruined everything himself.”

“It’s true, nonetheless you can’t deny if I hadn’t pulled his papers, you’d still be together. Hell, you’d probably even be married with a kid now !”

“Wow, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” you say, shocked. “If he hadn’t fucked up, we’d probably still be together, yeah but the fact is you’re not responsible for it. Look, I’m glad you two put your differences aside, it just won’t be the case for me. Anyway, we should stop here.” you order, crossing your arms on your chest. “I don’t want to argue with you, I only have two weeks left with you before I go home.”

“You can be stubborn at times !” he sighs.

“I got that from my dad.” you smile at him.

“Sometimes,  I wish you hadn’t.”

You roll your eyes and laugh a little before starting to leave the room.

“He came back for me.” Pete confesses, stopping you in your tracks.

“What are you talking about ?”

“During my last mission.”

“I thought it was Hangman.” you say, frowning. 

“Hangman came to save us when we were on our way home. Bradley had strict orders to leave me behind when I sacrificed myself for him. But he came back. He didn’t listen and he came back. Without him, I probably wouldn’t have been able to leave the enemy territory.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that before ?” you ask softly.

“Bradley told me not to. He didn’t want you to think he did that out of interest.”

You stay silent for a few moments, taking in this new piece of information. You can’t help but feel grateful for Bradley, though your anger is still there.

“It’s good to know that, at least, in the air, he has your back.” you state, leaving.

Pete sighs, seeing you walk away. He knows he promised Bradley to not get in the middle of this - even Penny told him to stay out of it, yet he can’t help it. You and Bradley were childhood best friends. He never would have imagined you’d stop talking to each other, in particular because of him. That’s why he can’t stay silent. He might have been the cause of your conflit but he wants to be the reason for your reconciliation. Furthermore, he knows he can reason you and with this last information, he was hoping it’d make you change your mind. Pete can’t help but feel a heartache, understanding it’s not the case.

However, what Pete doesn’t know is that your conversation has affected you. That night, you can’t seem to fall asleep. Your father’s words and your story with Bradley are echoing in your head. You keep tossing and turning in your bed, desperately hoping to put your brain on hold.

Once you can’t take it anymore, you turn on your bedside lamp and stand up. You walk to your closet and open it. You take a deep breath before pushing some clothes to the side in the corner of your closet until you find a box, you haven’t opened it for years. When you had started to grieve your romance with Bradley, you had put every picture, letter and object reminding you of him in that box. You were still too attached to him to throw everything away but too hurt to keep everything next to you.

The box in your hand, you sit down and open it. Tears make their way to your eyes in an instant as soon as you find your prom photo - if your heart wasn’t hurting that much, you’d laugh at your dress. In the picture, you’re looking at each other lovingly. You wish you could go back to this moment where everything was easier.  You put the picture next to you and keep finding others from birthday parties, outings, travels you did at different ages. You hold back your tears until you read the letter he wrote for your eighteenth birthday. At that moment, it becomes too much so you quickly put everything back at its place and go back to bed.

Of course, you’re still hurting from your breakup. Bradley was the most important person to you though you can’t forget the way it ended. With what your father told you, Bradley seems to be the Bradley you used to love once more but you can’t risk another heartbreak. 

For the first time in ten years, your heart seems torn between staying mad at Bradley or hearing him out. You try to reason yourself, remembering why you’re angry at him in the first place, though it’s complicated now.

Sitting at the restaurant near Top Gun, you finish telling your order to the waiter. Once he leaves, you grab your phone and send a text to your father to inform him you’ve already ordered. You’re supposed to eat with Pete who is more than thirty minutes late and quite frankly, you’re starving. You don’t worry when you get no response, knowing he probably hasn’t finished working yet. 

While waiting for your food, you keep checking your phone until the hostess comes to you. Expecting to see your dad, you put your phone down, smiling. Your smile disappears as soon as you see Bradley. The woman wishes you a nice meal before leaving you two alone. Bradley is uncomfortable because of the look you’re giving.

“What are you doing here ?” you question, drily.

“Huh, I’m supposed to eat with Mav’.”

“No, I am supposed to eat with him and…”, you start before understanding the conversation, “I can’t believe he did that.” you sigh, making Bradley frown. “He’s set it up to be sure we’d see each other. Look, I’ve already ordered and I’m sure you don’t have a lot of time left before you have to get back to work so we can eat together.”

“You don't mind ?”

“It’s just for a meal.” you say as he sits down. “I see you’re still punctual.” you comment, sarcastically, Bradley looks at you confused. “I was supposed to meet my dad at noon. You’re thirty minutes late.” you inform, checking your notifications on your phone.

“He told me he reserved for half past twelve.”

“He really thought about everything.”

The waiter gives you your meal then, he takes Bradley’s order before going back to the kitchen.

You start eating silently. Bradley doesn’t stop moving on his seat, not knowing how to act around you. You don’t like the palpable tension either, you’re in the same situation as him. Before, your conversations didn’t have an end, a subject would always appear naturally. Now, you think twice before speaking, not wanting to create an awkward moment.

You stay in this heavy silence until the waiter gives Bradley his plate. Bradley sighs in relief, finally having something to do instead of being uncomfortable. When you’re done eating, you take a sip of your glass of water before talking.

“My father told me what you did for him on your last mission. Thank you for coming back for him.”

“You don’t have to thank me. I could have never left Mav’ behind.” Bradley genuinely states.

You smile at him quickly and Bradley takes this start of conversation as a small victory. He’s grateful for Pete’s help, even if he didn’t listen to him. Bradley tells himself that this moment is his only chance to fix his wrongs with you so he finishes eating the piece of meat he has in his mouth and clears his throat to catch your attention.

“Y/N, can I talk to you ? You don’t have to say anything. I’d be happy if you only listened to me.”

“Go ahead.”

Bradley take a deep breath before looking deeply in your eyes and starting to speak : 

“Look, I know I messed up with you. I’ll forever feel bad for the way we broke up. I should have come at your birthday and-”

“Are you seriously talking about that ?” you question, in disbelief. “Bradley, it’s not the thing-”

“I know I did worse.” he interrupts you, knowing what you were going to say. “I know your birthday isn’t what hurt you the most, the fact is, it was your breaking point. Had I come, we might have found a solution, maybe we wouldn’t be in this situation. I’m sorry for that night, I know I hurt you by not coming. I also know I broke your heart by ignoring you and your dad after we broke up or with what I said. I know it’s not an excuse but I was in this awful period of my life and I had to exteriorize what I was feeling and when Pete pulled my paper, it was on him then on you. I never should have lashed out on you because our relationship got damaged and that affacted our friendship, too, and for this, I’d forever be mad at myself. I should have prioritised you. I hate knowing I made you cry. I never would have thought I’d be the cause of your pain. I’m sincerely sorry for everything, above all I’m sorry for breaking my promise. If I could, I’d go back in time, I’d do everything to not lose you, to not break my promise. And maybe I’m pushing my luck right now but you’ve listened to me this far so I might as well say it ;  if you agreed to give me another chance, I’d love to be a part of your life again. You still mean a lot to me.”

Bradley finally breathes once he’s done talking. He’s sick in his stomach, fearing your reaction. Before, he could predict what you were gonna say or do with just one look. He doesn’t like the way you’ve become strangers. You need a few seconds to take in what he told you before replying.

“Thank you for everything you said. I appreciate your apologies but I need time.” you confess before looking at the time on your phone. “I have to go. I’m gonna pay.”

“I can totally-”

“I insist. Take this as a thank you for my father. Goodbye Bradley.”

Contrary to ten years ago, your goodbye is full of nostalgia and not of bitterness. Bradley stays static for a few moments, eyes on the restaurant’s door you’ve just walked through. Sure, nothing is done yet. You didn’t say you wanted him in your life again however you listened to him and that’s all that matters. He can only hope this victory is big enough to bring you back to him.

The next few days and nights, you’re lost in your thoughts which have Bradley as a main character. You think back to his words and specifically of the way you two used to be before everything bad happened. You were fine, close and in love. The months after your breakup, you wanted to have this once more, before your hurt turned into anger. If Bradley had tried apologising at that moment and not a year later, you would have forgiven him in a heartbeat. 

Now, you’re hesitating. You’re scared there’s going to be another conflict and Bradley decides to cut you out of his life once more. You wouldn’t handle it if it were to happen. Though, you wish to have Bradley in your life one more time. 

While you’re thinking, you see Bradley occasionally as he comes to your place. You don’t talk but you observe him and a part of you wants to have him close. Pete keeps speaking up for Bradley, more or less discreetly. All of this is making you change your mind and breaking the walls you had built around your heart.

After another night of staying awake, you tell yourself it’s time to speak with Bradley. You can’t stay like this anymore. Therefore, when the sun is up, you muster up your courage and call Bradley. You tell him to meet you at your place at a certain hour at the end of the afternoon, knowing Pete will be with Penny so you’ll be alone.

Your anxiety at its highest, you’re sitting on your couch and playing with a loose strand of a pillow. Despite the TV on, your eyes go from the door then to the time on your phone. There’s a knot in your stomach as you have a feeling of déjà vu.

You feel like you’re twenty-three once again, in your old house with your party dress and your red lipstick, waiting desperately for Bradley, only this time, he arrives on time, like he promised. Indeed, five minutes later, you hear a car parking in your driveway before someone knocks on your door. With one movement, you stand up after turning off the TV then, you open the door, finding Bradley, putting his Hawaiian shirt back in place. You let him in and you go to your living room.

When you’re sitting next to each other, your stress grows stronger. Was this a good idea ? What if now it was too late for him ? What if he got tired of waiting for so long ? As for Bradley, his mind is not at ease either : ‘maybe she just wants to tell me face to face she doesn’t want to see me anymore ? Or maybe in addition to her life, she doesn’t want me in Mav’s life either ?’. Finally, you’re the one cutting the tension.

“I’ve been thinking,” you begin, avoiding his gaze, “about what you told me and about us.” you state, setting your eyes on him. “Although I appreciate your apology, a part of me can’t help but think back to all the times where you apologised just to hurt me every chance you got.” you keep saying and Bradley’s heart tightens in his chest. “Though, I want to believe this time will be different. After all, if it worked out between you and my dad, why not us ? I want to forgive you, have you in my life again, however it’s the last time I forgive you, I won’t have the strength to do this one more time. I don’t know if we’ll ever have what we used to have and maybe our friendship will never be as strong as it used to be but I miss you so much. I miss my best friend.” you confess, tears in your eyes.

“I miss you so much, too, Y/N.”

“If it’s not too late for you, I still want you in my life as well.” you whisper, avoiding his gaze.

“You’ve always been the one I want, it’s never been too late for me.” Bradley affirms with a determined voice, putting his hand on your cheek. “I promise you it’s the last time, I won’t hurt you anymore and you will not lose me either and I will really keep these promises.”

Without thinking, you throw yourself in Bradley’s arms and hold against you the person you missed the most the past ten years.

Top Gun Maverick Masterlist

Part one

[punkassfrance]

Buttercup - Tess x Fem!Reader

MDNI, 18+ ONLY Tess sucks at relationships. You lash out, and both of you get what's coming to you. This work contains: Smut, mild angst, cunnilingus, slapping, rough sex, BDSM, mild dubcon (as in a spontaneous scene), choking, mommy kink, D/S dynamic, bratting/brat taming, and intimacy issues.

Sorta kinda inspired by "Build Me Up Buttercup" by The Foundations, if you're wondering about the name.

The food in Jackson was better than people expected. There were plenty of chefs willing to try new recipes- always happy to feed their community with love. Today, breakfast was French Toast and fruit, traded preserves from a nearby settlement.

It tasted like shit.

As good as it was, you couldn’t appreciate it for a second. Your focus was on the table, glaring holes through the wood, carving a literal hole in the wood with your free hand. Ellie and Jesse had both tried to approach you and ask what was wrong before retreating- you’d have to apologize and tell them you appreciated the gesture. Later.

Stood up fucking again. You were used to it, but that didn’t make you any less furious. No, last night was the fifth or sixth time. When she did manage to show up, she was drunk, or high, or both, or gone by morning. Always gone by morning. It felt brutal, robbing you of the chance to wake up in her arms. Like it was something she owed you, and the debt was growing every time she bailed before sunrise. If you were honest, you would rather she didn’t show up at all than do that.

As many times as she let you down, you could never bring yourself to make it the last time.

“Hey, hon…” Dina took a seat beside you, setting her plate down. “You alright? Ellie said you were kinda biting her head off when she tried to check in.”

The knife in your hand fell to the table as you sighed and rubbed your face. “I know, I’ll beg for forgiveness later.”

“Done seething?”

“For now.”

She smiled softly and folded the pocket knife shut, tucking it into your pocket. “Patrols start soon. Might want to finish up.”

You stood and pushed the plate in her direction with a sigh. “I’m done, eat up.” Dina grinned, looking down at the mostly full plate.

“Thanks. Good luck, I hear you’re on pairs.”

-

Even though Tess was just innocently adjusting the saddle on her horse, you were furious the second you saw her.

You probably fucked something up trying to get your things situated faster than her, but you succeeded either way. Posed at the gate, waiting for her to trot up beside you, you had only a second to think.

When she pulled up beside you and the gates creaked open, you took off.

-

Hitching your horse to the post outside the lodge checkpoint, you sighed and leaned up against the wood siding. Only a few rounds left, as you counted what was left of your ammo. There were more infected along the trail than you’d anticipated- if you were honest, you were almost overwhelmed. It was worth spending the journey almost a mile ahead of Tess. You were nothing if not stubborn.

The morning light caught your eye, cutting through the trees in just the right way to grab your attention, dust defining the beams. Approaching the cliffside, you leaned on the aging fence and looked down at the river. The first warmth of the day shines on your face, leftover snow twinkling on the mountain. As upset as you were that morning, it was easy to forget for a moment.

You weren’t sure what to think about Tess. She acted like she wanted you, most of the time. Flirting on patrols, getting you drinks, even a few…sweeter moments you wouldn’t tell anyone else about. The sex was mind-blowing, without a doubt- it was almost, very nearly worth what she put you through.

You heard hooves.

Within another minute of gazing into the canyon, you felt a hand grab the collar of your shirt. It jerked you away from the view, forcing you to meet Tess’ eyes.

“Now, what the fuck was that, kid?” Your top button almost popped off with the force of her grip. As startled as you were, you couldn’t bring yourself to be scared of her. You liked it rough, and as pissed as you were, you still trusted her.

“What was what?” Your hand came up to grab hers.

“You want to explain leaving me in the dust on what’s supposed to be a pairs patrol?”

“Not my fault you were lagging behind.”

She sneered, turning and dragging you by the collar to the lodge. “You could have gotten yourself fucking killed. There are a dozen ways to be petty without putting yourself in danger.” You struggled to keep up, reaching up to try and pry her hand apart.

“Fucking, let go of me-”

“Let go? You’re lucky it’s not your fucking hair. You have no idea how much trouble you’re in. Fucking christ.” She shouldered the lodge door open and pushed you in, locking it and sliding the pipe beside the door through the handles. You fell hard to the floor, trying to prop yourself up on your elbows.

“Now.” She turned to glower down at you, gritting her teeth. “We have two hours before the next patrol gets here. You can get out of this now, apologize, and we’ll spend the next two hours in silence. That, or I can spend the next two hours wearing you out. What’s it going to be?”

There it was. The out she always offered. If you were done playing games with her, done letting her have her way with you, ready to move on with your dignity, you could pull the plug on whatever this was. You could stop subjecting yourself to this, to her, at any time.

Meeting her gaze with a bitter look, you spat at the ground in front of her.

“Fucking brat.”

She took your collar again and pulled you to your feet, guiding you to the couch in the lobby. Before she pushed you down, she took a step back, holding you in place as she sized you up.

“Sweetpea, I just can’t decide what to do first.” One hand went to unbutton your shirt halfway down, her eyes wandering to the soft swell of your breasts. “I think I’m gonna have to wait to taste you until you’ve learned your lesson.” She ripped the rest of your shirt off, grabbing your hips and pulling you in to kiss your neck. “I really, really want to taste you, sweetpea. So I guess I’m going to have to make you beg for mercy.”

You both fell onto the couch, your hands gripping at the upholstery. One of her hands curled into your roots and pulled your head to the side, exposing your neck for her to devour. Her teeth dug in, your back arching off the couch as she bit a hickey into the crook of your neck. God, she was feral like this. You wouldn’t be able to move at all without feeling her later, you were sure.

Leaning back, she took a moment to admire the view.

“God. I know you're in trouble sugar, but it's hard not to appreciate you when I've got you like this.” One hand went behind your back to undo your bra, helping you out of your clothing as her other hand smoothed over your soft skin. She dipped down and pressed her lips to your breast, moaning softly at the feeling.

“So fucking pretty for me. You're lucky I have a soft spot for you, or you'd be over my knee already.” She leaned in to whisper in your ear. “But no promises about later, sweetheart.”

When your bra and shirt were discarded, her fingertips dragged over your chest. A few more marks were scattered across your breasts before she took your nipple into her mouth, flicking it with her tongue. You gasped, arching your back as her hands eased around your waist.

Once she'd left all the marks she wanted and stripped your inhibitions away, she adjusted you both to lay down a bit more comfortably. Her weight was comforting on top of you, only for a moment before you felt her hands wander upwards. They smoothed over her handiwork and up your neck, circling your throat for a moment before falling back down.

She crawled off you and stood, just for a moment, undoing her belt. You almost covered yourself, self-conscious and maybe a bit nervous, but you couldn't bring yourself to think she would really hurt you right now. Not now, outside of Jackson, where she'd still have to get you home safely. Tess was a lot of things, but she wasn't reckless, and she didn't mean any actual harm. You were pretty sure, anyway.

She kicked her jeans off and returned to her position on top of you, adjusting until she found a comfortable spot. You could feel her panties on your thigh- if you thought about it for too long, you wouldn't last, so you refocused on her calm expression. Her hands went back to smoothing up and down your chest, inching up to your neck and then back down.

Before long, her hands fully secured around your throat, squeezing gently as she adjusted her hips.

”You're goddamn lucky I'm not in the mood to get rough right now, so here's what's going to happen. You're going to lay there like a good girl, and I'm going to get off. If you can be quiet and still, I'll reward you after I'm done. Do you understand?“

You nodded, looking away at a painting on the wall. God, her gaze was intense. That was a good word for Tess overall, you thought. Intense.

”Unless you're ready to apologize.“

Snapping back to look at her, you scoffed, rolling your eyes.

Her hand drew back and slapped you, jerking your head to look back at the wall. Her other hand tightened around your throat.

”Brat.“ She squeezed, starting to rock her hips back and forth on your thigh. ”God, you're so stubborn. This would be so much easier if you could just listen to me, sweetpea.“

”You know...“ She stifled a moan, grinding her cunt into your jeans. ”...you're like an animal, sometimes.“ You didn't respond. ”As much as I try to teach you who's in charge, you still seem to...mmph...have some trouble understanding.“

You tried to reach up under her shirt, anything to get your hands on her. She grabbed your wrist with a bruising grip, pinning it to the couch as she leaned more into the arm choking you. Things went a bit hazy as the blood cut off to your brain, only for a moment before she let up.

”You even beg me to take control, don't you?“ She leaned in. ”You want momma to be in charge so bad until I try to be in charge. Isn't that right?“

You didn't respond. She leaned into your throat again.

When she eased her grip, you coughed, your free hand weakly grabbing her wrist. ”Please-“

”What was that?“ She let you breathe only to smack you again, harder, before putting her hand back up against your throat.

”Shit- momma, please, I'm sorry-“

”You're not sorry. You just want me to fuck you.“ She leaned down to kiss your forehead. ”I can't blame you for that, sugar.”

The longer you sat there with her rubbing off on your thigh, the more things got blurry. From the lack of blood, the limited air, or the tears in your eyes, you couldn't be sure.

“You can fight me all you want, doll.” She looked up to the ceiling, letting out a shaky breath. ”But I've got experience taming animals like you. No matter what, they always break.“

She leaned in, shuddering, grinding down into the wet spot on your thigh. ”...and I'm going to break you, baby girl. I promise you that.“

If she had given you permission, you could have finished right then, without her ever touching your cunt. But you didn't have permission. So you watched, distant, fixated, as she guided your hand to her panties. You let her use you to get off, fingers exactly where she put them until she leaned back with a groan and eased off your throat.

You were okay. You knew you would be, she'd never really hurt you. It was easy to forget that sometimes. If you were honest, maybe you liked to forget it.

Her nails dragged over your stomach gently as she rode out her orgasm on your thigh, exhaling and looking down after a minute.

”You alright, baby girl?“

Looking up at her, you took a moment to respond. The early morning sunlight was hazy through the filthy windows of the lodge, filtering through her hair, highlighting a few grays. You were sure if someone had been asked to draw a halo, it would look nothing like this- but it was all you could think of. If she wasn't an angel, she was a goddess, transcending any divinity you knew of.

”Doll?“

”I'm alright.“ You nodded slowly, reaching up to wipe the tears out of your eyes with your clean hand.

”Shit, did I-“

”No.“ You shook your head, taking her hand. ”Just watering up, I'm fine.“

She nodded, leaning down to kiss you. You wrapped your arms around her, pulling her in closer for a moment. Just a moment. Then she pulled away and tugged off her flannel.

“Think it's time I delivered on that promise of mine, don't you think? Unless you want to rest for a minute?”

You nodded eagerly and parted your legs as much as you could, pulling her in for one more kiss before pushing her head down. “I'm alright. Can't rest like this.”

She nodded, sliding down between your legs. Before long, she had stripped you down to panties, the only thing left to cover you. If a clicker came by now, you would have been screwed.

Well, maybe if Tess wasn't there you would have been screwed.

She started like she always did, pressing kisses to your thighs and panties just to make you squirm. Her fingers dipped into the elastic waistband, tugging them down your thighs. You felt lucky she didn't rip them off, as she liked to do- you were not interested in riding back to Jackson commando after all this. You had to remind her once or twice that panties didn't actually grow on trees, and finding suitable ones in the apocalypse was not an easy task.

She parted your lips with her thumb, running through the gathering wetness and lifting it to her mouth to taste. She spread it around a bit before blowing softly, sending a chill up your spine before she leaned in and kissed your cunt.

The chill of the air was gone in an instant as she licked you, swirling around your clit and moaning as her tongue slipped inside you. She took just as much pleasure from this as you did, you were certain. From what she told you, she had years of experience in dingy bar bathrooms, down on her knees for pretty girls who wanted her attention. You had no trouble believing those stories as she put years of skill to work between your legs.

She pulled away to kiss across your thighs again, the temperature change making you grip the couch. Her thumb flicked your clit up and down, watching hypnotized for a moment before spitting on your cunt and going back in.

“Tess-” You grabbed her hair, tugging softly, halfheartedly trying to bury her deeper. She was insatiable like this. If you were honest, she was perfect for you. You struggled to take what you wanted, struggled to ask anything of your previous lovers. Tess didn't need you to ask. She gave without demand, offered when you couldn't bring yourself to request. It was in her nature.

“So pretty.” She whispered into your thigh, nipping the tender skin for a moment. Before long, she shifted lower, slipping her tongue deeper inside as her thumb rubbed over your clit. Your breath hitched.

“Yes, that, keep doing that-”

She moaned into your cunt, fingers digging into your thigh as you shuddered and tipped over the edge. Your eyes watered up again, head thrown back onto the couch as she shushed you and ran her hands over you. Rough calluses over your tender skin were almost too much, dragging over your most sensitive spots as you slowly came down from the intense high.

She crawled up to lay beside you, pulling you into her side as you started to breathe again. “You alright, sugar?”

It took you a second to reply, but you nodded against her chest. “Yeah...yeah, I'm alright. Got intense for a second.“

She nodded, holding you for a few minutes. You glanced over at the clock.

”...want to tell me what that little stunt was about, sweetpea?“

”We have to get dressed. Joel and Tommy should be taking over soon.“

She looked at the clock, sitting up and nodding. ”You're...probably right.“ Something was left unsaid, but it wasn't the time for this conversation. ”Anything planned tonight?“

You hesitated. ”No. You can come by.“

One way or another, something would change tonight.

You spent the last ten minutes of solitude getting dressed and lingering in her touch, letting her help with the clasp of your bra. As she brushed out your hair with her fingers and started putting it back in the neat braid you'd started with, you started thinking about what to say.

-

As the last few minutes of midnight slipped away, your grip tightened on your wine glass.

She said she'd be here hours ago. This was old news, of course- she was hardly ever on time to come to your place. Still.

You'd resolved hours ago that if she didn't show up tonight, it was over. Either you'd finally get around to asking what was going on, or she wouldn't get another chance.

As your last tethers to hope started to break, the front door opened.

She wasn’t moving slowly, like she did when she was drunk or high. You couldn’t smell anything on her, but you weren’t close enough to know for sure.

She turned to you, locking the door behind her.

”Hey, sugar.”

“Tess.” You set your glass down, eyes locked on her.

She seemed frozen in place as she looked back at you. She even had the nerve to look guilty- you weren't sure if that upset you or not. She felt bad about being late, but that guilt was proof she'd known what a dick she was being the whole time. At the same time, something small in your heart hated to see her upset, and you especially hated to be the one making her upset.

“What?”

You pressed your lips together and stood from the table, taking a few steps towards her. “You said you'd be here at 10.”

“...got held up. Sorry, sweetheart.”

“I-” You closed your eyes, hand coming up to pinch the bridge of your nose. “...what are we doing here, Tess?”

“Are you really...?”

“Don't give me that. You've been jerking me around and you know it. I know you're attracted to me, I know you care about me, I don't understand why you leave me sitting here by myself night after night. And most of all,“ you took a few bold steps toward her, crossing your arms over your chest. ”I don't understand why I keep letting you.“

”Sweetpea-“

”Don't. You don't get to call me pet names when you can't even seem to decide what I am to you. So, what is it? Am I not girlfriend material? Do you just like sleeping around more than you like me?”

“I'm too old to be anyone's fuckin' girlfriend. And I don't...sleep around. Not anymore, I've got you.”

“You've got me. And what, exactly, does that mean? You have a girlfriend? You have a fuckbuddy?”

She wouldn't meet your eye. ”Look, when you've been on your own for as long as I have...“

”Tess.“ You waited until she looked up, wary and distressed. ”I've been on my own for a long time too. But I'm sick of it.“

She sighed, throwing up her hands. ”I don't know what I have left to give you, sugar. I haven't been in a real relationship in years. I thought you were okay with taking what I can offer, but if it's not enough, then fine. I guess I'll stop wasting your time.“

”I know, Tess. I know you're used to no commitment. But just because you accepted scraps from Joel for years doesn't mean I have to sit around and do the same for you.“

It was cruel and you knew it, striking a nerve like that. She didn’t like to talk about her and Joel, too proud to admit she loved him more than he could love her back. But here she was, putting you through the same thing. She gritted her teeth, backing up against the door with a sneer as you got closer and closer. It reminded you of a cornered animal, baring her teeth to look scary. Anything to get herself out of this. ”You have no right, you don't know-“

”I do know, Tess. I know you got used to being on your own.“ You took her hand in yours, pulling her away from the door and closer to you. ”I get it. This is what love has meant to you for almost twenty years. But it's not love to me.“ Her expression fell. ”You've done anything and everything to keep me close without getting close. Did you think I wouldn't get tired of it sooner or later? Or were you counting on it?“

Warm hands came to rest on your waist, her eyes looking away again. She looked gutted, too guilty to try defending herself.

”If I'm asking too much of you, then fine. I can accept that. But I'm not going to stay up waiting for you forever, especially when you spend the day leading me on.“ You look down, letting out a puff of air resembling a sigh. ”Either tell me what you want or cut me loose. Put me out of my misery, Tess. Please.“

She was still for a while, eyes on the floor as you watched her. The least you could do was let her think after springing this conversation on her. Eventually, your head fell on her chest, listening for her heartbeat. Depending on what she said, this might be the last time you heard it. The thought made your chest hurt, but you knew this was a conversation that needed to happen. Even if it didn't resemble much of a conversation, with you spewing your thoughts of the last three hours at her.

You both deserved better than this poor excuse of a relationship.

Her arms tightened around your waist, pulling you closer. ”I'm sorry,“ she whispered, hands running up your back. ”You're right.“

You both sat in silence against your front door, holding on like the other was about to shatter. You didn't call her out on her tight grip on your body, politely ignoring the way she clung to you.

You looked up at her, tilting her face to look at you. ”Stay the night.“ Getting up on your toes, you pressed a quick kiss to her lips. ”And be there in the morning.“

After a moment of holding you close and studying your face, she nodded. ”...okay.“

-

The spring morning chill wasn't so bad when you had someone to keep you warm.

Feel free to say hi or drop your thoughts in my askbox, check out my AO3 or my about me if you're interested!

[j-hauke]

So I tried to write a chat fic for cod, I'm not a very good writer so I gave up but I thought maybe someone would think it was funny so here you all go have fun with this mess (let me know if the Spanish is right, I had to use google translate)

Soap created a group chat Added Ghost, added Price, added Gaz, added Alejandro, added Rudy, added Laswell, added Graves, added König

Soap: how come penguins can be gay but cows can’t be lesbian?

Ghost: what the fuck

Price: did you create a group chat just for this?

Gaz: I set the microwave on fire

Laswell: YOU DID WHAT!?

Rudy: how?

Gaz: I wanted ice cream but it was frozen so I warmed up the spoon

Graves: dumbass

Alejandro: cállate gilipollas puñaladas por la espalda!

Graves: I don’t speak Taco Bell

Alejandro: TACO BELL!??!

Rudy: calm down

König: what is happening

Soap: beautiful chaos

Price: cut it out

Gaz: yes dad

Price: I’m not your father

Soap: already know your lines

Rudy: Hermano, are you ok?

König: I’m not

Ghost: we know

Soap: I’m good

Soap changed Rudy to mother hen

Mother hen: I’ll accept it

Laswell: get back to work boys and Kyle we are going to have a talk later

Ghost: who ate my soup

Ghost: smart you knew I’d never forgive you

Price: it’s 2 am why are you eating soup

Ghost: someone ate my soup, I’ll find them and kill them

Soap: I’ll buy you more just go to bed

Ghost: it was you wasn’t it

Soap: unless it’s chicken noodle I’m not touching it

Price: bed both of you

Soap changed price to Daddy

Daddy: no

Ghost: fits

Gaz: some people are trying to get their beauty rest

Soap: you need it

Laswell: bed

Soap: alright alright going to bed

Graves: one time in a dream I dreamed that I was gay

Alejandro: you like fingers in your ass

Mother hen: so do you

Gaz: L

Soap: buncha hoes

Laswell: keep it tactical boys

Daddy: I’m the backbone of this household

Laswell: you have the moral backbone of a chocolate eclair

König: What is an eclair?

Soap: frozen dessert thing, it’s French I think

Graves: it’s a bread thing filled with custard with a frosting on top

König: I’ve never had one

Mother hen: I’ll look for them next time I’m at the store

Gaz: I’m so good looking

Soap: hello 999, this bitch is on fire

Alejandro: damn there was no reason to kill him

Ghost: he’s not wrong

Daddy: behave

Soap: sorry dad

Gaz added Alex

Alex: hi

Daddy: hey Alex

Alex: wtf

Gaz: it’s price

Alex: that’s even more concerning

Daddy: soap changed it and I’ve no idea how to change it

Ghost: it doesn’t need to be changed

Alex changed soap to lil shit

Lil shit: hey!

Gaz: he’s not wrong

Daddy: what happened

Alex: HE SET MY MUSTACHE ON FIRE

Lil shit: it was funny!

Daddy: soap

Lil shit: I can feel your disappointment

Daddy: room now and no explosions for a month

Lil shit: but what about on a mission

Ghost: I’ll do it

[12-seconds-to-live]

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pairing - f1drivers/2022 x fem!driver

warnings - death, grieving

Why does it take a minute to say hello and forever to say goodbye?

May 29 - Mónaco GP

“Any plans after the race” I asked my teammate, Alex

“Well, there’s always the Red Bull afterparty, you know that is almost a tradition, even if you DNF” I look at him and nod.

“Yeah, I can’t handle too much, not after dealing with a very drunk Charles and Lando, no thank you”

“C’mon, we need a little bit of fun. And we’re expecting the best from you, you’re Mrs. P3 today and can finish as Mrs. P1″

Safe to say that Monaco it’s not my favourite GP. Reason: none but today it’s raining and I prefer a sunny Mónaco. Who knows, maybe I want to look for a really cute french around Mónaco harbor.

Nah

Not me at the moment

"Oh, shuss. I’m feeling confident buuuut...let’s see. We have a little meeting with Jost and then get ready”

“Cool, see you”

I walked to my motorhome and for a moment I feel like everybody was looking at me in a weird way. I ignored it and changed in my race suit getting race before the race. The reunion got cancelled and the FIA scheduled for a little debrief, weird.

 As I go inside the room, I am looking for Alex, seems that everybody is in a rush. Being in front row in Mónaco is a big achievement and being in a Williams is like touching gold, so I can mess this up

“Alice...Al...¡Alice!” Alex is shaking my shoulder. Lando and Daniel, who are in front of us, are looking at me trying to gain my attention

“What...I get lost in my thoughts, sorry” I look around and every driver where looking at me “Why is everybody looking at me? For the record, I got a shower in the morning” The looks in their eyes are the same when my mom told that my hamster died when I was 8 years old...

No

Not that look

I’m not ready

I’ve never been

“We need you in your motorhome then you decide if you want to race” started Lewis with a sad expression on his face

“What ever it is...I’m okay if you tell me...I mean, we tell each other our stuff...sometimes...I...I” Alex take my hand and squeeze it, his eyes are a bit watery, so are Lando’s, so as Pierre’s, so as Sebastian’s

So as mine

No

I wanna run from here

“Tell me already, I can deal with your faces right now as much as I love you all” Sebastian was crying, Alex’s face is something that I would never forget and his next words were like a whisper, an arrow to my heart, worst that a heartbroken.

I got up, ignoring their voices, their screams, I have no place to go, my legs are functioning alone. It’s still raining and the way to the paddock is alone, no one and there’s tears running down, I looked to the grey sky and then to my feet

What now?

I sit on the floor, looking to knowhere. Being a thousand kilometers far from home and being an only child and deciding to leave was the greatest sacrifice for my mom, saying goodbye and know, all that distance just for set myself in my biggest dream, but she’s not here today and she’s not going to be tomorrow

Not anymore

How is it now that somehow I am felling like the biggest looser?

Like, doesn’t matter anymore.

“I’m sorry mom, forgive me. But I know that I have to let you go. I'm giving up and... and I guess this is where we say goodbye, I hope to be alright, someday I'll be fine, it’s just... not tonight” I heard a lot of steps and the boys where standing in front of me with their umbrellas and Carlos have a bouquette of red roses, Yuki offers me his hand so I can stand.

Charles look at me “We are with you and even If you feel you’re alone, you’re wrong. You have 19 brothers that are going to hold your hand till the day we die. We know how close you were, we knew her and she loves you”

“She’s proud, so are we” Said Sebastian “It’s not correct for me to send you racing today but If you feel strong enough to do it for her, we’re with you, If not...well, we’re still with you, till the end of the line”

I look at them. I still have a home, they’re home

“Promise me to stay?” I asked 

“Always” All of them start hugging me and telling me that they are here for me and more lovely words. 

“Boys, It’s race time. Let’s go” I smiled and headed with Alex to our garage. I changed my suit and get ready. This is for mom, Even if i get in the bottom, this is for my number one fan. My get in the car and thumbs up to everybody. I’m okay, I’m okay

I’ll be okay

“Radio check”

“Loud and clear” I answered to Andrew, my race engineer, 

“Okay Alice, let’s do what you do best, I give you my condolences and I tell you that this is your race, do it for your mom, today she’s looking after you...as always, kid” 

“Thank you. My mom is now an angel, let’s get that P1” I smiled and the moment we expected, lights out.

With an end time of 01:13:521, I passed the chekered flag and all of the screams of the fans and my team holding a big board with my mom’s name on it and a P1. This is definitelly a race to remember. There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief, my mom is gonna be forever, even she can’t call me as she ever did or wait for me at the airport, her memory and all the time she spend taking care and helping me is something that stays.

I placed the car in front of the P1, I go out of the car and put my hands in my face, not realizing this and I saw everybody clapping at me, Checo and Lewis, stand by my side and in the big screen located at the podium a photo of my mom was present. I kneel crying. Lewis kneel by my side and then hug me, Checo did the same, I look up and the rest of the boy were there with happy faces.

I look at Lewis, we took off out helmets and balaclavas. I smiled and run to hug my team. Everybody  is cheering, joyful. I run to the boys and hug Max and then all of them join

“My home is here, thank you” 

“Anytime, A” said Mick

“Lovely and cheessy but someone needs a shower” said George and we started laughing. “Go for your trophy miss” 

“What a way to kill the moment George” Alex said, he hug me and jump with me “I must be a wizard, Mrs. P1″

“First of many, you’ll see” I follow Checo and Lewis to the podium. I look up to the sky, how gratefull I am for living my dream, being the best on it. And still...she’ll always be here. I shake the champagne and enjoy the moment with the others. My second family is here, smiling at me, clapping, cheering, laughing, all the happy ways to show me how much I mean to them.

At the end

Home is  were my 19 brothers are. And I’m glad that I’m always there

[sanctuary1988]

| Interlude | pt. 1

French: /the petals of love/

Pairing: Gwi x fem! noble! Reader

Summary: A heartless vampire falls in love for the first time in centuries of loneliness. Passion, secrets, betrayal and love drown the royal palace. Will your love for Gwi prevail through time or will it wither away like a fallen rose petal? Maybe love was his punishment, maybe love was your salvation. Or wasn't it a curse to you both? Because, who can beat a race against time? Who can love in the dark? Who can love without truth? After all, even the most beautiful flower will wither away and end in ashes of time, remembered only by the one who cherished her the most.

Warnings: strangers to lovers?, angst, feelings of [loss, grief, mourning], mentions of character dead, TENSION, subtle signs of depression, melancholy, crying, more angst, feelings of yearning and hidden compassion, letting go of grief, historical! AU, royal! AU?, cannon copilant (let me know if I missed anything!)

Word Count: 1.4k words

A/N: We came to an important part of this story, darlings of mine! If my calculations are correct, we are already at one third of Gwi and Flower's story!

I didn't believe I'd get this far this quickly when it came to this story but thanks to all the people that have commented, reblogged and liked for you, loves, have given me inspiration and a desire to write something you'll like. So thank you so much, sweet darlings of mine!

We are already at 34.5k words on this series! O.o Let's see the final word count at the end, shall we?

For now, I'm tagging @my-day6 and @yumisventingmachine. Thank you darlings for your lovely comments that have made me write like a freak, lmao. And to everyone who's silently reading, I hope you will enjoy this chapter as well. ❤️❤️❤️

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments! I'd love to hear from you, loves. Enjoy! 🫶🫶🫶

Winter had started, the snow fell from the sky ever so slowly as if painting the ground below. However, you remained confined to the walls of your room, accompanied by your own silence. With a deep sigh, you sat down in front of your desk, the skirts of your deep blue dress puffed out around you as your shaky hand grabbed a letter you had postponed reading for months. 

It was the last letter your mother had written for you. Her last words, her last memory. Now you held it in your hands with a strangling grip that made your heart race with anticipation. You had to muster enough courage to break the seal of the letter before you had it in your hands. The handwriting was oddly family yet strangely distant in your memories. 

This was your opportunity to give closure to your mother’s death. It was time to move on, yet you wanted to keep her words at heart with every step you took towards the future of your own life. 

And so, you read her letter. After waiting months to find such peace in the darkness you thought would never pass. After staring at it for hours, not wanting to tarnish her last memory. After mourning in the shadows of your own soul the loss of the most important woman in your life. 

Sweet girl. 

I received your letter. Your words were a calming refugee after all the dark days I have suffered. I hope I can see you one more time. I miss you, (y/n) and if there’s one thing I regret in my life was not keeping you by my side. Forgive me, sweet girl. Forgive me for I was not strong enough. And my weakness caused you great pain. A pain you did not deserve. 

I’ll wait to meet you again in my next life, sweet girl of mine. Don’t spill your tears over this old lady, I have lived enough and I have endured so much I am ready to rest until I am born again. 

My sweet girl, you were my light in the darkness. I wish for you to be the light in someone else’s path as well. 

Always be yourself and shine as the pure diamond that you are. A beautiful flower in a garden of thorns. I love you, (y/n). From the moon and back, remember? 

Your mother.

A silent tear landed on the paper you held, then another and another. The pearls of your sadness rolled over your cheeks and dripped down your chin. As you sat in the solitude of your room, you saw movement from the corner of your eye. You didn’t have to look up to know who it was. It almost felt as if you could sense his presence- steady, powerful yet in that moment, tender. 

Gwi didn’t say anything but the sight of your tears made him swallow as his heartstrings got pulled softly. With cautious steps, he approached you in a melancholic silence that was nearly suffocating. 

“What troubles you, my sweet flower?”

He spoke once he stood next to you as his tone was a rare blend between authority and tenderness. A delicacy that was reserved for you and only you. His tall figure loomed over you as his shadow engulfed you in a comforting darkness you felt oddly peacefully. Almost as if he was embracing you himself. You sniffled, wiping your tears with the back of your hand before you stood up as well, your eyes met his for the first time since he entered the bedroom and for a moment, you were granted a glimpse of his soul. 

You saw the gentle concern in his dark gaze tinted with subtle crimson. The shadows of the torches and candles around you accentuated his eccentric beauty as his eyes spoke thousands of words his lips would never speak. 

“It’s… It’s a letter from my mother. Her last words to me.”

You explained, your voice barely above a whisper as a lump formed in your throat, feeling as if you were being choked with the cruel grip of a sadness you wanted to leave behind yet it still consumed your mind. Gwi tilted his head to the side, his eyes never leaving your features as you looked down at the letter in your hands. 

“I miss her.”

The tips of his fingers lifted your chin, forcing your eyes to meet his once more. His grip tightened ever so subtly but his touch was enough to ground your racing mind as your eyes remained locked with his. 

“She may be gone from this world, petal, but she lives on in you. Her love, her strength, they are all a part of who you are now. Of the woman you have become today.”

Of the woman I cherish so deeply.

Gwi thought to himself, his eyes flickering to your lips for a moment before his thumb brushed away a tear from your cheek, his touch feather-like over your skin. You took a deep breath, your eyes fixing once more on the letter in your hands before you took a step towards your desk, forcing the vampire’s touch to leave your skin as you extended the letter toward the chamberstick. 

The flames licked at the paper before the corners started to turn black. With a deep breath, you dropped it on the ashtray, watching how the letter crumbled to ashes until there was nothing left of it. It was a closure. It was your goodbye. It was your final act of letting go. 

And as the last remnants of the letter turned to ashes, you were left with a bittersweet peace nestling in your heart. His hands found home on your shoulders as you sighed to yourself, feeling his warm touch over your clothed skin. 

There was so much tension hanging in the air. So many words left unsaid. But you weren’t going to deny the peace his presence gave your troubled soul. 

“My strong flower of sharp thorns.”

You wiped away the last tears that escaped your eyes at his murmured words. It almost felt as if he had spoken them for himself but you had heard them. You had heard his silent truth. The way he regarded you and viewed you in his presence. You swam in the tranquillity that was his touch as you leaned back against him ever so softly. One of your hands touched his as it rested over your shoulder before you closed your eyes. The last tie to your once lovely life was severed and now, now you were left to find refuge in the man who kept you to himself in the dark vastness of his underground palace like a flower in a dead garden. 

“Why don’t you join me for tea, mmh? Just this time; let’s take your mind away from that darkness, petal.”

You turned around, your eyes meeting his. For a moment you didn’t think he had actually told you such a thing. Gwi had always been polite to you and you knew that he cared for you to some extent. But his eyes that held so much tenderness couldn’t lie to you. Perhaps you had been drowning so deeply in your sorrow that you didn’t see it. Maybe it had always been there; at least from some time now. That look in his eyes. That look that melted your heart. That look that made butterflies swarm in your stomach. And that look that spoke of a man completely different from what you had heard. 

“I’d like that, My Lord.”

His hands dropped to his sides at your whispered answer. You offered him a golden gift he hadn’t seen in months. Something he had silently missed. For your lips curled softly into a gentle smile while you looked up at him. 

The vampire lord didn’t say a word. His heart ached within him at the sight of your eyes, wide as if searching for something in his gaze you had no idea existed. His hand tangled with yours before he pulled you with him out of your room. Out of your darkness. And led you to the throne hall to share his evening tea with his precious flower. The future you saw yourself in was with him. 

With the handsome stranger that had shown you more than you had experienced in your entire life. With his silent promise that everything was going to be alright.

June/09/2024

A/N: Thoughts? O.O

My inbox is open, darlings! Or feel free to leave a comment! I'd love to hear your thoughts and inputs for the story! Take care, everyone 🫶

~ Masterpost

[a-crack-in-the-universe]

Cursed Love

@cotrk-events

Dorcas Loom had a secret. She was in love with Gabriel Silk, the famous concert pianist. But there was a small problem—she was cursed.

It had started with her illustrious ancestor Ifalda Loom, who had gotten herself into an affair with a married French Lord. Unfortunately, that lord had a powerful witch for a wife, and once she found out about the affair she became enraged and cursed poor Ifalda to never find love. She also cursed her husband—she turned him into a toad.

Sadly for Dorcas, the curse was inherited by Ifalda’s descendants, particularly her female descendants. Dorcas only found out about it on her eighteenth birthday, when she came of age and her longtime boyfriend broke up with her suddenly for a very vague and strange reason. It was the curse, her parents told her when they revealed the truth to her. The curse had driven him away. This was to be her fate, for the rest of her life.

Dorcas was understandably distraught. She would never be able to find love, and all because some stupid ancestor had pissed off a witch. It was outrageous, it was unfair! For years she lived in denial and tried to circumvent the curse—she pursued countless men (Dorcas had never been attracted to women) but once they got to the engagement stage the men would either suddenly drop dead, disappear or break up with her. None of her relationships lasted.

It had to be the curse, working its magic. After years of this, Dorcas had to accept that it was real and that she would never find love. But then she fell in love with Gabriel Silk.

Gabriel Silk was an old friend from her school days. They’d gone together to Bloor’s Academy, but she hadn’t thought much of him then. He’d always been so moody, depressed and odd. Plus, she’d also put him into a coma once by enchanting a cape he tried on—something which she’d assumed he wouldn’t forgive her for. After all, she wouldn’t forgive anyone who did that to her.

More recently, however, she’d reunited with him in a coffee shop in L.A. where they were both working now—he as a concert pianist and her as a fashion designer. And as he said hello to her and smiled, she found herself blushing and stammering like a schoolgirl. Oh my god, she realized, Gabriel Silk is hot!

Unlike herself, who was still as pudgy and plain as she’d been as a teenager. But Gabriel didn’t seem to notice that and just said that she looked great.

They got into talking to each other and found that they had quite a bit in common. They exchanged phone numbers, since they had to get back to their jobs right then, and Dorcas almost swooned as Gabriel wrote his on a paper napkin and gave it to her with a sweet smile.

‘I’ll see you later, won’t I?’ he said. There was hope in his eyes that warmed Dorcas’ hollow heart.

‘Yes, definitely,’ Dorcas breathed out.

‘It was only after he left that Dorcas remembered about her curse.

Their first coffee date was a huge success, and so they arranged another one, and then another, until they had to admit that they liked each other a lot. So they started dating. At this point, Dorcas knew that she should tell Gabriel about her curse, but part of her was reluctant—what if Gabriel broke up with her, and wasn’t their relationship doomed to failure because of the curse anyway?

Still… she had to tell him at some point. It wouldn’t be fair to him otherwise. She just had to wait for the right moment.

The right moment, it turned out was months later, right when he was about to propose to her.

‘Wait!’ she screeched, as he knelt before her with a rockstar diamond ring in his hands. ‘You can’t propose to me yet! I’m cursed!’

Gabriel looked at her incredulously, but listened as she told him her story. She expected him to freak out and run away from her, but once she’d finished speaking he only took her hands and said, ‘I’m sorry you had to go through all of that. You still want to marry me, right?’

‘Of course I do!’ Dorcas said. ‘More than anything.’

A steely determined look filled Gabriel’s eyes. ‘Then let’s break your curse so we can get married and live happily ever after!’

Dorcas didn’t have his optimism, but if it did work then she’d be able to be with her love forever, so she smiled and agreed.

Their first step in breaking the curse was research. Dorcas knew how the curse had started, but not how to break it. It took months of searching and a visit to a magic library and a witch doctor, but they finally discovered the three key ingredients—a Mafia’s tears, a pearl lost in a crocodile-filled swamp, and a True Love’s Kiss. The True Love’s Kiss was a very special kiss and could only be done when the couple in question were so in love that nothing could keep them apart. Also, one of them had to be dying for it to work. Yadda, yadda, something to do with the tales of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White and how their princes had woken them up from a death-like sleep with a kiss, Dorcas read.  

Ugh. She didn’t want either of them to almost die so that they could be together. But if it was the only choice, well, they would have to deal with it when they came to that point.

For now, they had to get the Mafia’s tears. Luckily for them, one of Gabriel’s best friends from Bloor’s Academy, Lysander Sage, was now a Mafia mob boss. Dorcas had no clue how that happened, for hadn’t Lysander gotten into a law degree at some prestigious university back in Britain? Gabriel shrugged. He didn’t know either. He’d lost touch with Lysander when he moved to L.A. to become a famous musician.     

They travelled to Lysander’s Mafia group’s secret hideout in San Francisco, where Lysander said they could meet when Gabriel had contacted him. When they did meet, Lysander embraced Gabriel with tears in his eyes, which was very unlike him. ‘He’s high on weed,’ one of Lysander’s minions said. ‘It’s his favourite drug.’

Since Lysander was a Mafia boss and he was already crying, Gabriel asked him, ‘Hey Sander, can I have some of your tears? We need them to break Dorcas’ curse so she can marry me.’

Lysander sniffed and said, ‘Yeah, sure.’ And so Gabriel took out a small bottle from his pocket, uncorked it, and held it underneath one of Lysander’s eye and five drops of tears dropped into the bottle.

Dorcas sighed with relief. That’s one ingredient down. Now two to go!

However, just before they could leave, the hideout was invaded by another Mafia group lead by none other than… Dagbert Endless!

‘Dagbert?’ Lysander stared, surprised. ‘What’re you doing here?’

‘Hey, babe,’ Dagbert said to him. ‘My Mafia minions have come to take over your turf and destroy everything you’ve built. While they’re fighting do you want to go get married in Vegas? I’ve got a car waiting up front for us.’

Lysander thought for a moment, then shrugged. ‘Sure, why not?’

He and Dagbert kissed and ran off while their minions were shooting at each other and dying. Since Gabriel and Dorcas were heading in the direct of Las Vegas anyway, they decided to join Lysander and Dagbert in the car. Dorcas thought this may have been a mistake, since the whole way to Las Vegas Lysander and Dagbert kept kissing with their eyes glued to each other and didn’t stop even when Dorcas threw one of her shoes at them.

In Las Vegas, the two lovebirds got married. Gabriel was Lysander’s best man and Dorcas was Dagbert’s maid of honour. The best thing about this wedding, Dorcas thought with some satisfaction, was that Lysander and Dagbert were both rich and paid for whatever bridesmaid dress she wanted to buy. So Dorcas bought and wore a pink Cinderella style dress with matching high heels and had her hair done up like Marilyn Monroe. She felt like a queen and Gabriel said that she looked gorgeous.

After the wedding, Lysander and Dagbert went back to their wedding suite to fuck and Dorcas and Gabriel used that to their advantage to steal their car. After all, it was a long way to New Orleans.

It took them an unknown number of hours to reach New Orleans—mainly because this author is not American—where their second ingredient was. A pearl trapped in a swamp surrounded by crocodiles. It sounded like a suicide mission, but they would have to try if they wanted to break Dorcas’ curse.

So they bought some good swamp clothes, boots and weapons against crocodiles and headed into the swamp. The swamp was really icky and smelly and disgusting, but hopefully they would be out of there quickly. If they didn’t get eaten by crocodiles first, Dorcas thought grumpily.

They managed to reach the location of their prize fairly easily. It helped that the pearl was shining like a lighthouse beacon, guiding them toward it as if it wanted them to find it. The problem now was that it was surrounded by a ring of hungry crocodiles.

“Oh grief, oh mum!” Gabriel screamed and almost fainted. He did collapse, though.            

Dorcas wanted to scream as well, but since Gabriel had collapsed, it probably wasn’t a good idea if she did too.

‘Hey, you!’ she snapped at the crocodiles. ‘I need that pearl, so you can skitter on out of here!’

The crocodiles turned to look at her, and Dorcas was reminded that they were very hungry and she probably looked like an appetising meal to them.

Then one of the crocodiles spoke. ‘Uhh pearl? We don’t care about that,’ it said. ‘We’re just lying here so that someone will feed us if they come searching for the pearl.’

‘Then you won’t mind if we just take it?’ Dorcas asked.

‘Only if you feed us,’ the crocodile said.

Dorcas rummaged through a bag Gabriel had brought with them and lo and behold, she found the leftovers of the wedding feast she, Gabriel, Dagbert and Lysander had eaten way back in Las Vegas. ‘Catch,’ she called out, and dumped the whole lot of it in the middle of the ring of crocodiles.

She and Gabriel watched for some time as the crocodiles ate the feast. Once the crocodiles were done, she said, ‘Now can you please let us pass? We need to get that pearl.’

‘Sure,’ the crocodiles said. ‘That feast was nice. Thanks!’

Polite crocodiles. Who would have thought it? The crocodiles moved to let Gabriel and Dorcas through and Dorcas collected the pearl, which glowed between her fingers. Thank god, she thought. Now they could get out of there. She hated swamps.

Now, there was only one ingredient left—the True Love’s Kiss. Dorcas wasn’t looking forward to that at all. She and Gabriel drove all the way back to the witch doctor they’d first visited ages ago, for surely the witch doctor would have something they could use to induce a death-like sleep.

Thankfully, the witch doctor did have needle that would put one into a seemingly deadly coma upon being pricked by it. Much to Dorcas’ annoyance, the doctor insisted that she must be the one to be pricked by the needle, for ‘in the tales it’s a princess who falls asleep and is kissed awake by the prince’.

'What kind of fucked up sexist shit is that?’ Dorcas snapped, outraged.

Dorcas didn’t hear the witch doctor’s response, because while Dorcas was distracted the witch doctor had stabbed her in the arm with the needle and Dorcas fell over unconscious.

‘There,’ the witch doctor said to Gabriel. ‘Now kiss her and you can be together forever!’

‘Here?’ Gabriel asked doubtfully.

‘Hmm.’ The witch doctor thought for a moment. ‘No, you’re right. The setting should be a lot more romantic than this.’      

And so they moved the unconscious Dorcas to a clearing filled with sweet-smelling flowers in a forest and laid her down gently on her back. Then it was time to do the thing. As Gabriel gazed down at his love, he hesitated for a moment, for the idea of kissing an unconscious person felt a bit weird. Was it considered assault if his lady wasn’t awake to say yes? But then he remembered that the whole point of this was to break Dorcas’ curse so that they could be together, and so he leaned his head down and kissed her gently, softly on the lips, and willed with all his heart that she would awaken and be free of the curse so they could get married and be together.

It took a few moments, but Dorcas stirred, came awake and kissed him back ardently. The witch doctor cheered.

When they were done kissing, Gabriel asked the witch doctor, ‘Now that we have all the ingredients, how do we break the curse?’

‘Oh,’ the witch doctor said, ‘the curse should already be broken now. All you really needed was the True Love’s Kiss.’

‘What?’ Dorcas glared daggers at the witch doctor. ‘We went to San Francisco and to that horrible swamp for nothing?’

‘You’ve made me rich,’ the witch doctor said. ‘That’s not nothing. I can sell the pearl at a great price and get out of this hellhole. And I can use the mafia’s tears to give my greatest enemy Hanahaki Disease.’

‘That’s… great?’ Gabriel said, bewildered, while trying to hold Dorcas back from gouging the witch doctor’s eyes out. ‘Well, we’d better get going. How will we know if the curse is gone?’

The witch doctor shrugged. ‘If you get married, I’d say it’s been broken.’

‘Great, thanks!’ Gabriel dragged a still-angry Dorcas away and toward their car. After all, it was a long way to Las Vegas and they had a wedding to do.

Dorcas and Gabriel arrived in Las Vegas to find Lysander and Dagbert still there, as those two had decided to stay and party after realising that their car had been stolen. They were rich, after all, and didn’t need to worry about how much it would cost. Upon being told about Dorcas and Gabriel’s upcoming nuptials, Lysander and Dagbert enthusiastically agreed to be their best men.

And so Dorcas and Gabriel were married in a beautiful Italian Roman-looking chapel in Las Vegas. Gabriel was dressed in the most handsome black tuxedo, and Dorcas in a Hollywood-style fluffy white wedding dress with so many layers people wondered how she could walk in it. She had a tiara in her hair, because it made her feel like a queen. Petals were thrown into the air, vows were spoken, and she and Gabriel kissed, and neither of them dropped dead. It was a dream come true.

After the wedding, the newlyweds ran off to their honeymoon suite to fuck. Meanwhile, Dagbert and Lysander took this opportunity to steal back their car and journey to places unseen, for after all it was originally Dagbert’s car in the first place and they wanted to give Dorcas and Gabriel a tiny bit of their own medicine. But they did leave behind enough cash to allow the newlyweds to get out of Las Vegas when they were done fucking, as a wedding gift.       

THE END