#I’ve tried many times! I’ve listened in on/watched games!

[musings-of-a-rose]

Meet the Millers - Chapter 13

Pairing: Joel Miller x Benny Miller x Will Miller x f!reader (coming soon - another Miller?)

Word Count: 5700+

Rating: Mature - 18+ ONLY!

Warnings: Just like ao3, “creator chooses not to use warnings.” If you click Keep Reading, that means you agree that you’re the age to handle mature themes. Also by clicking Keep Reading, you understand warnings may not be complete in order to avoid spoilers for the story. 

Notes: Well folks, it's finally here! I originally ended this series back in April 2022, nearly a year before TLOU season 1 debuted. I thought it was over, but not only did I have a few scenes I wanted to write but wouldn't fit, SO MANY PEOPLE asked me for more. No one more than @theewokingdead so I dedicate this last half of the series to her!

Posted in 2022: This is set loosely in The Last of Us universe. I’ve only played a bit of the game and watched others play (and the show isn’t out yet), so please forgive any inaccuracies. Also it’s a post-apocalyptic world so I’m taking a bunch of liberties here. Because fan fiction.

Ages at the time of this story (so you don’t have to do math):

Reader: 29

Benny: 36

Will: 39

Joel: 51

Main Masterlist

Meet the Millers Masterlist

<<Chapter 12<<

A loud BANG! Brings me back to reality and my eyes fly open. My head pounds and I gasp, reaching for my head when Will appears, his body shielding mine.

“Are there any more of them?” He yells.

“I don’t think so,” Benny answers from…somewhere.

I hear Ellie and Joel talking, but it sounds like they’re far away. I blink some more and Will’s eyes snap to mine.

“Hey, darlin’. Can you hear me?” I nod, trying to sit up. “Whoa, take it slow. Let me help you.” Will helps me sit up slowly, a spinning sensation joining the pounding one. I look up into his grey blue eyes filled with worry as he pulls out a flashlight and shines it into my eyes. “I don’t think you have a concussion. But we do need to get that gash covered.”

I attempt a smile, the spinning subsiding. “What happened? Is everyone ok?”

Will hesitates a moment before nodding. “Yeah. Yeah we’re all ok now.”

“Now?” 

Benny pops into my vision, his smile warming me. “Hey sweetheart! Did you get enough beauty rest while the rest of us were fighting?”

I punch his arm weakly. “Fuck you…but seriously, are you ok?”

He nods, leaning forward to press a kiss to my cheek. “Yeah. Joel almost got it but Ellie saved the day.”

“Which she shouldn’t have had to do,” Joel’s gruff upset voice sounds in the small space. “More on that later. We have to move.”

Will and Benny help me up, holding me while I acclimate. “I’m ok. I think.” 

“Can you walk?” Will asks, taking another deep look into my eyes.

“Yeah. I think it’s just my head.”

We manage to make our way into a building, newspaper covering the windows, thanks to the help of Ellie, who was able to squeeze into the small hole in the wall to unlock the door. We wait a while, listening to the trucks blaze past outside. 

“What happened?” I ask once the truck sounds fade.

“We were ambushed. I tried to get us out of there, but they were waiting. Had spikes in the road. We were spinning out so I drove us into the building to give us some cover. You hit your head and blacked out. Will pulled you from the truck but they were already on us. I-” Joel hesitates, looking at Ellie. “-one of them got on me. Tried to choke me. Benny and Will were already fighting off another couple of guys.” He looks at Ellie, sadness in his eyes. “I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have had to…you’re so young-”

“Not…not my first time,” Ellie says, so quiet I almost don’t think I hear her right.

Silence for a bit before Joel speaks. “Well I’m sorry for that too. You shouldn’t have to..do that. At your age.”

“But you’re glad I did, right?”

Joel’s jaw clenches and releases. “I’m glad to be alive, but I’m not happy you have that on your conscious.”

Ellie shrugs, kicking the dirt at her feet. “I’ll be ok, Joel.”

A few more moments of silence before it’s my turn. “Who attacked us?”

“Not the qz. These were homemade soldiers.” Benny says before he takes a swig of water from his backpack. “Probably whoever took over.”

“It doesn’t really matter,” Joel says nodding to the windows. “We have to get out of here either way. I have a plan.”

About a half hour later, we make it to the 33rd floor of a tall building, Joel slumping against the wall as he catches his breath. Ellie sticks her hand out in front of him.

“Come on, get up. Lazy ass.”

Joel glares at her but takes her offered hand and pulls himself up. “I’m 51 years old, you little shit.”

We all chuckle as we walk down the hall, our guard still up. Joel stops in front of an office door and smashes open the glass panel, reaching in to open the door. We all file in and take a look around. No one here but us.

We grab some cushions off the office couches and drag them into the same area, rolling up our outer shirts to use as makeshift pillows while Joel and Will spread the broken glass in front of the door. Ellie watches them, cocking her head slightly. 

“What are you guys doing?”

Will glances at her before resuming his work. “If someone comes in, we’ll hear them.”

Ellie nods. “Ah I see. Crunch, crunch. Nice.”

We all settle on our cushions, the office dark and foreboding. I curl up with Will as there weren’t enough to go around, pressing myself as close to him as I can. His hand grips my hip and he whispers in my ear. “You gotta stop pressing, darlin’. There’s a kid here.”

Heat rushes into my cheeks, but no one sees it. “Oh. Sorry, Will.”

A few more minutes of shuffling and getting settled before Joel speaks. “First light, we’ll go up and get a good look at the city. Find our way out.”

We all mumble our agreements. A few minutes later and I hear Benny and Will’s breathing change as they fall into sleep. Joel seems to hear this too and he talks to Ellie, who is closest to him.

“What you said before about…that not being your first time to..”

I hear Ellie shift around on her makeshift bed. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

Joel shifts to face her. “You don’t have to. I’m just sayin’...it’s not fair. You being so young and having to deal with all this shit.”

“So you’re saying it gets easier when you’re older?”

Silence. “No.” It’s so quiet, I can barely hear him, despite being in a nearly silent room.

Ellie takes that and sits with it for a minute. “Make sure to lay on your right side. I noticed you don’t hear as good from it. That from when you got shot?”

My stomach flips. I know why that scar is there. But before I can say anything, Joel interrupts my thoughts.

“More like from shootin’, so keep that knife handy if you want to keep your hearing.” He shuffles around, most likely to lay on his right side. Just when I think she’s about to fall asleep, Ellie whispers.

“Joel?”

“Mmm?”

“Did you know diarrhea is hereditary?”

“What?”

“Yeah. It runs in your jeans.”

I have to bite my fist to keep from cackling, Ellie’s chuckle and Joel’s look doing nothing to help. Then I hear Joel, trying to hold back laughter.

“That’s so fuckin’ stupid.”

“You laughed, mother fucker.”

“I didn’t laugh.”

“Yes you did.”

Joel is barely holding it together. “Fuck, I’m losin’ it.”

“You’re losing it big time.”

He breaks and they both quietly laugh together, both telling the other to go to sleep already, and I can’t help but smile, their sounds lulling me off to sleep. 

------------------

“Joel!”

Ellie’s stern tone rips me from my sleep and I glance around, feeling Will tense behind me. A man and a smaller boy stand over us, pointing a gun at both Ellie and Joel, moving it between them and Benny and Will, who are both still laying with their hands up. The man looks at Joel.

“We don’t want to hurt you, ok? We just want to talk. Deal?”

All traces of the amusement of last night are gone as Joel looks the man dead in the eyes. “Sure.”

“Why do you sound like that man?”

Ellie desperately answers. “Sometimes he’s just an asshole. Joel, tell him everything’s fine.”

No change in his expression. “Everything is fine.”

“What the fuck, dude? Ok look, you guys need out, we have a way out. Can we talk?”

Joel stares the man down for several long seconds before nodding. The man lowers his gun and holds his hand out, shaking Joel’s before helping him up. 

“Sorry to creep up on you guys like this.”

“You’re lucky we didn’t shoot you,” Benny nearly growls from somewhere next to me.

The man nods. “Yeah. Like I said, sorry. I’m Henry and this is my little brother Sam.” He signs to the boy who points to all of us and signs back. “He wants to know your names.” Henry signs to Sam, telling him all of our names and continues to sign while we talk. We share some of our food with them, albeit a little begrudgingly from Joel, as it seems it had been a few days since they’d eaten. Henry tells us about the qz and how FEDRA was taken down and a rogue group of residents now runs the place. Within a couple hours of their abrupt arrival, the sun starts to rise, so we all make the trek up the remainder of the floors to the uppermost office, with a wall of windows down an old conference room. Henry stands at the head of the table, Benny and Will on the side across from Joel and me. Ellie and Sam are busy talking to each other using Sam’s writing board he carries around his neck. Henry gestures to a map he’s laid out on the table.

“So basically, we enter the underground through this building and we’ll pop up on the other side. No problems.”

“Then why do you need us?” Joel asks, hands on his hips.

Henry hesitates. “Just in case we run into trouble.”

“Clickers?” Will asks.

Henry shakes his head. “Nah. FEDRA cleared them out years ago. No one knows, but I heard it on the inside.”

“The inside?” Benny asks, eyebrows raised. Henry glances at Sam.

“Yeah. I uh…I gave FEDRA intel.”

We all suck in a breath but it’s Joel who says it. “I’m not helping a rat.”

“No, it’s not like that. Look, Sam got sick. Lukemia. The only drug that could save him, FEDRA had. And surprise, it was rare. So they told me I had to in order to get the medicine to save him.”

I nod. “I understand. I’m sorry FEDRA put you in that position.”

Henry looks at me and I can tell there’s a little more to the story, but I don’t push. “Thanks…so what do you say?”

“What about when we’re on the other side?” Will asks, pointing down at the map.

“There’s some buildings and shit out there. We just cross over that little bridge and we’ll be good to go.”

Joel, Will, Benny, and I exchange a look. We know each other so well that we don’t really need to exchange words with situations like this. Joel nods at us and we nod back. “Alright. Let’s go.”

We all pack up and quietly head outside, running a few blocks down and into a glass building that simply said BANK on the outside, its full name lost to time. We sound loud, our boot sounds echoing off the walls. 

“Where are we going, Henry? We’re sitting ducks here,” Joel barks out. Henry looks around and points, heading down a side hallway, which leads to another smaller hallway that is not nearly as fancy as the main entrance. He stops in front of a door that says MAINTENANCE. 

“You ready?” He asks. We all nod and Joel and Will push forward, Benny at the rear, Ellie, Henry, Sam and I in the middle. Silent, we all follow Joel as he opens the heavy door as quietly as he can, following the hall down. No one is here.

Henry whoops. “See? I told you it was empty!”

Joel shushes him. “Just because you don’t see them don’t mean they aren’t here. Quiet and silent.”

We follow Joel on constant alert, scanning the area as we move down the twisting hallway. Eventually we come to a doorway, the outside of which is painted in wonderful, bright colors, chipping away with time. A rainbow and grass, a castle and other fairy tale creatures are splattered across the walls. Ellie and Sam look around in awe before Sam presses forward, reaching for the door handle. Joel shoots his arm out, grabbing Sam’s wrist and shaking his head. “No.” Henry pulls Sam back and we give Joel some room, turning to cover him as he opens the door. 

It turns out to be an old child care room. No one is here, but more murals are on the walls, small tables with crayons and paper, some toys and books and magazines scattered about. On one wall a soccer goal is painted, a few balls sitting on the floor.

“I’ve heard about places like these,” Will says as he looks around. “Some people went to escape in the early days underground. Most of them got infected and emptied out.”

Ellie and Sam find a comic book and start eagerly chatting with each other about it. “Joel, can we stay a while? There’s actually shit to do here,” Ellie begs.

“We should get going,” Joel gruffs out. I can sense how tense he is being confined in a small room with no windows. 

Henry looks at him. “I mean, it wouldn’t hurt. We could wait out some of the daylight, pop back up with the cover of night. Let the kids relax a little.”

Joel thinks about it a moment and then tosses his hands up. “Fine.” He sits at a table with Henry, Joel crossing his arms as he watches Benny, Ellie, and Sam start up a game where they try to kick the ball past Benny, but mostly just pelt him with the ball. I notice a couple of doors, presumably leading to smaller rooms that may be makeshift storage rooms. I quietly open one, gun out, and quickly see no one in it. Clicking on my flashlight, I look around and yeah it was definitely a makeshift office or supply room. Or both. There are a few metal shelves that sit mostly empty, a box of granola bars sitting on one of them. Some more makeshift shelves litter the opposite wall and on the floor is some bedding that hadn’t been used in ages. The door clicks closed behind me and I spin, my gun rising with it as my light lands on Will.

“Fucking hell, Will. Don’t scare me like that.”

His smirk is not dimmed in the minimal lighting. “Sorry darlin’. Find anything good?”

I hold up the box of granola bars. “Just some ancient food. Might still be edible.”

Will looks down at the makeshift mattress on the floor. “Someone took naps in here.”

“Not gonna lie, Will. I was about to lay down myself.”

Will turns around and cracks open the door. “Joel, there’s a mattress in here. We’re gonna lay down a bit. Wake us when we’re leaving.”

“Yeah. Remember where you are.”

Will chuckles. “I got it.” He closes the door behind him and shucks off his outer shirt, rolling it up and setting it down on the makeshift mattress. He lays on his side and then gestures to me, opening his arms wide. I slide in next to him, my body molding to his. He pulls me close and inhales next to my ear, a small sigh escaping him. A few minutes go by before I feel his fingers popping open the button on my jeans.

“Can I help you, good sir oh!” I gasp as Will slides his hand into my pants but over my panties, slowly rubbing circles over my clit. 

“Don’t worry, I washed them. I just need you, darlin’. Can I have you?” His fingers slide lower, teasing my entrance, heat rushing between my legs as I nod furiously. “Please, Will.” 

He slides my pants down over my ass, helping me to get them around my ankles before he opens his own. I kick off one of my boots, sliding my top leg out of my pants as he pulls it up over his leg, his fingers immediately back to teasing me, tracing my clit up and down, slow circles as he grinds himself against my ass. 

“Can’t wait. Need you inside me, now.”

“Yes, darlin’.” Will slides into my wet pussy with ease, pushing himself all the way inside as I choke back a moan, vaguely remembering there are people in the next room. Will’s fingers move against my clit in time with his thrusts, back and forth, circling and tapping, the heat and pressure mourning until I can’t hold back. I bite my own hand as I come, not being able to stop myself from a desperate whisper of his name. He grips my hip and thrusts into me hard, panting my name in my ear as he spills himself inside of me a moment later. We stay like that for a while, him softening inside of me as he holds me close. 

“I love you, darlin’. Don’t you ever forget it.”

I smile, satisfied. “Never, Will. I love you too.” 

—----

A couple hours later and we’re out of the tunnel and outside, right where Henry claimed we’d be. It’s dark now and I’m glad we waited for this extra cover. 

“I delivered!” Henry says. “Take this right, down the street, you’ll see the embankment there, and then we’re out.” We all turn right, heading down another dark street. 

“So we cross this river and then what? Where are you gonna go?” Ellie asks. 

“Don’t know yet.”

“Well, we’re going towards Wyoming.” Joel shoots her a look. “What? It’s a big state!”

Henry hesitates. “Yeah maybe we just call this a success and say our fond farewells.”

“Are you worried about Joel? He’ll change his mind. He always does. He’s like-” Ellie deepens her voice. “-No Ellie. It’s never ever happening!” - her voice changes back. “But I always wear him do-”

BOOM! A gunshot rings out over our heads and we rush to duck for cover, trying to figure out where it came from. Joel, Ellie, Henry, and Sam take cover behind a car, while Benny, Will, and I take cover behind another car. Up ahead is an older house, a couple stories tall, the shots firing from the topmost window. Joel motions to get our attention and points to himself and then towards the house with the sniper. I point to myself and gesture the same, indicating I’ll move around the side of the car we’re behind, mirroring him. Joel nods to me and starts to move, Benny and Will providing cover as we both make our way to the house in a parallel move. We meet at the back door, as the front one was boarded up. Joel motions for me to move behind him, providing cover, as we proceed up the stairs. We hear a few more shots go off intermittently until we’re in front of the open doorway that leads into the room where the shooter is. I step to the side, just outside of the door, while Joel proceeds inside. 

“Put the gun down, slide it over to me, and then stay up here for another hour. That’s all you have to do.” Silence. Then Joel speaks again, sternly but also sadness in his voice. “Don’t….don’t do it. Please.” My heart breaks on that last word, the gunshot that follows it ringing in my ear.

“Clear.” Joel says quietly as I move into the room, the shooter man laying dead on the floor. I walk up to Joel, squeezing his arm.

“You tried, Joel. He made his choice.”

He sighs. “Yeah. Doesn’t get easi-”

Static from a walkie-talkie scratches out over the silent room. A female voice comes over it. “Anthony? Anthony?....Anthony hold them where they are. We’re almost there.”

“Fuck,” we both whisper in tandem. Joel and I turn to the window, both yelling as loud as we can to everyone still hiding behind the cars. “RUN! RUN!”

It takes a few seconds before they seem to understand what we’re saying, but it’s too late. Armored vehicles come flying down the street, smashing into the cars that are scattered about. Benny, Will, Ellie, Henry, and Sam run, scattering in a few different directions as the cars are forced apart. Joel takes aim beside me, several shots ringing out and the battering truck shifts to the side, the driver slumped over the steering wheel, as it slams into a house. More cars and trucks slam on their brakes as Ellie, Henry, Sam, Benny and Will continue to run.

BOOM!

The house that the truck had rammed bursts into an explosive flame, Joel and I shielding our eyes at the sudden brightness on the dark street.

“What the fuck was that?” I whisper, Joel looking through the scope towards the blaze.

“Truck caught fire.” Joel scans the street. “Ben and Will are behind the truck on our right. Henry has Sam and Ellie on the left.” Joel moves to the side of the window out of sight, and I mirror him on the other side of the window. As the blaze calms down, scattered bits of debris lighting up small fires across the road, Joel peeks his head out again and a man from the street yells “He’s up there!”

“Fuck!” Joel whispers. 

Another man yells. “Two and two, around the back. Take him out!” Joel reloads the new acquired sniper rifle while I sling mine down from around my back, desperately missing my bow. But I’m no slouch with a rifle either. I didn’t get the nickname Ghost for nothing.

A woman calls out this time. “Dead end, Henry. Why don’t you come on out and save us all some time?” No one moves, aside from the mini army striding down the street with the woman. “That’s alright. Doesn’t matter.”

“I’ll come out!” Henry yells from his position behind the car. “Just let the kids go!”

“No, sorry,” the woman replies. “The girl is with the people who killed Bryan. And Sam…well, he’s with you.”

“You don’t understand!” Henry pleads.

“I do! I know why you turned in my brother. But did you ever think that maybe Sam was supposed to die?” Confused and shocked, I look at Joel, who looks neither shocked nor surprised. Henry must have told him the full story. But I fully trust Joel and since he’s still here, so am I.

“He’s just a fucking kid!”

“Well kids die, Henry. They die all the time. You think the whole world revolves around him? He’s worth everything? This is what happens when you fuck with fate…It’s time Henry. Enough is enough!”

Joel and I slowly peek out from the window for a quick glimpse, seeing Henry come from behind the car, hands in the air. Ellie is still hiding, hand in hand with Sam, both looking like they’re ready to run. For several long moments, Henry and the woman stare at each other. Joel and I move back to our positions next to the window, our eyes on each other. 

The woman shrugs. “It ends the way it ends.” She takes out her handgun and slides it, putting a round in the chamber. She aims it at Henry. A low rumble echoes across the street, creaking and moaning coming from the house on fire. The truck that had hit it slowly tips on it’s front end, the ground swallowing it up. Joel quickly moves in front of the window to look, rifle at the ready. I’m watching him for a command, a direction, but the look of pure horror that washes over his face momentarily freezes me. But in the not too far distance, carried on the wind, I hear it. Them. The snarling.

Clickers.

I jump to the window beside Joel, bringing my own rifle up and ready, willing my heartbeat to slow even just a little. And then the ground opens up and spits out a horde of clickers, snarling, screeching, and running towards the group of people. They immediately open fire, screaming as clickers go down but also jump on them, biting and tearing at their flesh. 

“I got Ellie. Cover Ben and Will!” Joel barks out as his gaze narrows in on Ellie. 

My eyes find my husbands, who quickly move from behind their truck as a clicker climbs up the back of it and launches itself at Benny. I aim and fire, landing a shot in its head and it goes down. Benny and Will don’t question this and keep moving, firing their own shots. Another clicker comes from nowhere, grabbing at Will’s pack and he goes down, Benny fighting off another one. I aim and fire at the one on top of Will, keeping my breathing steady when I miss and have to reload, seeing the clicker’s mouth getting closer and closer to Will, who is pushing back with all his might. I finish reloading and jam the scope to my eye, take aim, and fire, my bullet exploding from the other side of the clickers neck. It goes down and Will shoves the body off himself and attempts to stand, but another clicker lands on top of him, trying to scratch at his face. I aim again and get his head, grateful for once for the large fans of mushroom that have erupted from its head as it gave me an easier target to hit. Will shoves that body off too, scrambling backwards a moment before jumping up. 

I pull my eye back and scan the moving masses for Benny, my heart racing and anxiety spiking the longer I can’t find him. A low, loud snarl comes frome the hole where they all crawled from and fear floods my system. I know that sound and I’d hoped I’d never hear it again. A bloater, big and fat and solid, comes crawling up, bellowing at the throngs of people, his eyes turning to-

Benny.

“Fuck!” I whisper, jamming the scope to my eye and lining up the sight, the bloater having only eyes for Benny, who has turned the other way and started to run, dodging around other people and clickers. But before I can fire, one of the soldiers that had come up starts shooting the bloater, drawing away its attention. Relief momentarily washes over me as the bloater barrels down on the shooter, grips him, and rips his head in two, growling out as it looks for its next victim. 

Next to me, Joel is focused but worried, shooting off a few shots before he swears under his breath. But a moment later, he breathes a sigh of relief. “She’s ok.” He says it more to himself than me, but I’ll take any reassurance for my adopted little sister’s wellbeing. Scanning the crowd, I spot Benny and Will rushing to a truck, helping Ellie take down a few clickers to rescue Sam and Henry who are trapped under the truck. Joel and I take out a few more to give them cover and they all start to run towards the path that will take them to the bridge. Joel pulls away from the window and I follow, both of us practically running downstairs as we hear more trucks pull up outside, the sounds of more guns joining the fray. I follow Joel out the back door and arond the house as we come up on Benny, Will, Henry, Sam and Ellie as they all watch in horror as the woman that had been trying to kill us all gets torn apart by a clicker who couldn’t have been more than 9 when the outbreak happened, both of their screams and screeches echoing into the night. 

“This way now! Move!” Joel yells as he practically pulls Ellie along, the rest of us quickly following him away from the clickers and towards the bridge. The roaring of the infected and gunfire gets further and further away and I realize that they must be following the people back into town, the ones that are running away. 

We keep silent as we make our way across the bridge, not stopping for at least a mile until we come upon a dilapidated motel, probably nothing fancy even before outbreak day. We clear the building, all of us aside from Henry and Sam used to our routine. We find a couple of rooms that are connected by doors and head inside, finally stopping to catch our breaths. 

“Let’s all get some rest and..take a breather,” Joel says, slightly out of breath himself. Ellie and Sam take a small bedroom, the door open wide as they snack and read their comic series they both love so much. It’s great seeing Ellie get along with another kid. She so rarely has the chance to interact with someone even close to her age anymore. Henry and Joel sit in the main room, Joel taking a few bites of jerky before passing the bag to Henry, who takes it gratefully. Benny opens the other door and peeks inside the opposite bedroom. 

“As much as I’d love to stay and discuss that, I need to sleep.” He heads into the room and Will follows, yawning and stretching as he goes. “Same. Wake us for watch?” He asks Joel, who nods at him. 

Joel turns to me. “Get some sleep. I’ll take first watch.”

“You sure? I know you have to be tired, old man.”

He gives me a stern look and I hide my smirk, holding my hands up in defeat. “Ok, ok. I’ll go sleep too.” I walk past Joel and lead down, gently cradling his face in my hands when he looks up at me, his eyes dark and sad. “You were amazing today. Really. I love you.” I gently kiss his lips before I pull back, rubbing my thumb across his cheek. 

He takes one of my hands in his, kissing the back of it, his eyes never leaving mine. “You’re amazing too. I love you.”

I head into the room and immediately notice there’s only one bed. I roll my eyes and head over to the king size bed, Will and Benny already on either side. I set my bag down and hop on the bed inbetween them. But it’s not until they both scoot closer to me that I feel the tears finally welling up behind my eyes, and I’m unable to stop them. 

“Sshh sweetheart what’s wrong?” Benny cups my face and scans it, looking for any marks he may have missed earlier. 

“I…I almost l-lost you b-both. Y-you came so c-close to d-dying,” Get your shit together, Ghost. 

They both immediately envelope me in a hug, Will from behind and Benny in the front, both of them clapping the other on the back. 

“We’re alright, darlin’. But if I’m honest, I thought I was a goner. I’m assuming I have you to thank for those killer shots?” I nod and he kisses the top of my head. “You’re an amazing shot.”

“Fuck yeah she is!” Benny says, looking me straight in the eyes. “You shot that one practically in the air! And then I thought that bloater was my end. It was comin’ straight for me. Did your shot scare it away?”

I shake my head. “No. That was one of the soldiers. I’m not sure if they were terribly familiar with bloaters, but it doesn’t matter now.” Benny cocks his head in question. “Bloater riped the guy’s head in half.”

“Yeah that does tend to make you not learn stuff,” Benny says, his thumb wiping away one of my tears.

We all fall asleep in each other’s arms, grateful to be alive.

—----

A snarling sound from the main room wakes us up, all of us sitting bolt upright when we heard it wasn’t in the room. But before we could move, a shot rings out. 

“What did I do? That was Sam…What did I do?”

“Henry, just put the gun down… no Henry!” Another shot and Will is at the door, pushing through it, gun at the ready. He slowly lowers it, his eyes casting downwards before he turns back to Benny and me.

“Henry. Sam turned, Henry shot him and then himself.”

“Shit,” Benny whispers. 

I push past them both into the room, ignoring the pools of blood on the floor. I kneel in front of Ellie, who stares at Henry’s lifeless body. I take ehr face in my hands and call her name until she finally drags her eyes to mine. 

“Ellie, did you get hurt? Are you ok?” She blinks a few times and shakes her head. I scan her body anyway, noting only a few superficial scratches. I turn to Joel, who’s standing, wiping a hand over his face.

“Are you ok, Joel?” 

He looks at me and nods. “Yeah. Fuck, I didn’t want that to happen. I tried to stop it.”

I cross the room, avoiding the blood, and hug him, his face pressing into my hair for a moment. “You did what you could. You’re not to blame here, ok?” Silence. I pull back and grip his chin to look at me, his sad, big eyes finding mine. “Ok?”

He nods, glancing down once before back at me. “Yeah. Ok.”

We spend the next few hours digging 2 graves out front, silently saying our goodbyes to the people who helped us out of Kansas City. I really wish they had made it. Sam was so sweet and he and Ellie became fast friends. Henry, despite his past, was a good protector of Sam. And wherever they are now, I hope he knows he did the best anyone could. Ellie silently puts the writing pad Sam had used on his grave and turns, stopping to look at Joel.

“Which way is west?”

 Joel nods in the right direction and Ellie starts walking. Benny and Will drop their shovels, dusting their hands off before grabbing their packs and following Ellie. Joel looks down at the notepad Ellie left as I come up next to him. I look down at it and read “I’m Sorry”, which clenches around my heart. 

“Let’s go!” Ellie yells from half a block away. Joel drops his shovel and grabs his pack and I fall into a walk next to him, all of us a little more silent on our way west. 

We found fear and death and grief in Kansas City. I can only hope whatever we find out west isn’t worse. 

—----

>>Chapter 14>>

General Taglist:

@frankie-catfish-morales @chaoticgeminate @janebby @astoryisaloveaffair @balekanemohafe

@greeneyedblondie44 @hoeforthefictional @marvelousmermaid @hauntedmama @icanbeyourjedi  

@wretchedmo @sunnshineeexoxo @livingmydreams13 @adventures-of-a-noodle @sara-alonso  

@theewokingdead @punkerthanpascal @giggly-otter @f0rever15elf @phandoz 

@gallowsjoker @lovesbiggerthanpride @booksarekindaneat @xoxabs88xox  @speaktothehandpeasants 

@amneris21 @gooddaykate @avengers-fixation @paintballkid711 @harriedandharassed  

@ladykatakuri @practicalghost @withakindheartx @batdarkladyvampir @justanotherkpopstanlol  

@mermaidxatxheart @alexxavicry @justreblogginfics @kmc1989 @veryprairieberry 

@mysterious-moonstruck-musings @heartpascalispunk

[neighbourhoodspidey]

gn reader and taissa turner

a/n: half of this was written while feeling lightheaded on the plane in my notes app but i was listening to “the days” by notion and felt inspired so it is loosely based on that. i also wanted to write something concerning taissa. i’ll kept it light but it’s also inspired on what van told taissa about her being gay and the internet’s reaction to it, and the complications of being a gay woc in the nineties. this one is a bit new compared to all of the other things i’ve ever written so good luck enjoy reading leave any feedback spam random facts and letsgooo

w/c: 3.7 ish k words. like it was close to 3.700 (i still don’t know how to correctly indicate word counts)

warnings: implicit discussions of homophobia and identity in the nineties, angst and comfort. proofread but not exactly. if i missed anything please let me know, i don’t watch to butcher up a serious issue such as this one.

If an infestation of rats were to happen you would be relieved, instead of having to see your technically ex at the reunion.

You didn’t even wanted to go in the first place. Your friends insisted with good hearted intentions and slight guilt tripping that you could catch up with everyone. And that’s the part that you were afraid of. This “everyone” could be the person who quite literally broke up with you before they left you. Their words were harsh, like an unexpected slap to the face. Words that you’re sure, would have never crossed their minds, but of course ego and pride got in the way. It’s ridiculous to feel that way considering you’re years older now, with all the emotional heartbreaks and experiences you’ve got, but what pains you the most is the foundation of your hurt. You just wanted to know why.

And right now besides a rat infestation you wished someone would be ridiculous enough to pull the fire alarm so that you could leave because they might— will cross paths with you. On the bright note you did a good job at hiding, leaning on the wall at the far end of the reception and staring at the crowd as they mingle.

Until speeches were announced and your friends spotted you, pushing you forward to the crowd. You were told to try to leave your personal drama aside and try to pretend to be supportive. Tried was the word you kept in mind because when all the Yellowjackets took the microphone, and she was the one to speak, you really couldn’t stop yourself from being petty, secretly scrolling on your phone underneath the table. As if she’d cared if you looked at her anyway. You doubt she’d recognise you but you recognised her. You always would recognise those sharp eyes that uncovered your vulnerabilities, the soothing voice that helped calmed your hyperactive brain during finals. She has grown into a beautiful person and that was undeniable.

Taissa Turner was pragmatic and logical. It tended to carry over her emotional side at times but it was not in any harmful, at least that’s what she thinks. Her words nearly fumble as she speaks, noticing you on the table, seated a couple rows afar from her. You were with your close set of friends from high school, ones she always heard of and hung out with after her games, after your many invitations and reassurances that they “wouldn’t suspect a thing.” It’s ironic how now, they must know everything about her. Even certain incidents among many other things.

Her speech did not last long, thankfully. She went back to sit with her own group, each focused on their own worlds. No one notices what is happening in her mind, no one sees the way she looks at you and no one even knows who you are. For a minute she wonders if she could use that to her advantage so that she could at least say hi to you. But there are so many questions running through her mind, do you hate her for what she has done? For what she has said? Would you hate her if she told you that she moved on as soon as she stepped foot into the wilderness but not without a heavy heart? Would you cry if she told you that it was Van who helped picked up the pieces that she wilfully destroyed and let go of?

In any case you looked like you really didn’t want to be here, picking on the papers of the table napkins, resting your cheek on the palm of your hand. Your expressions haven’t changed at all from when you were younger. Seeing you here makes her heart flutter dangerously. It’s not unexpected. Every ex-Wiskayok High student was bound to be here but you felt like a ghost of her past. One that she chased away but in her defense she had her reasons. Fear was one of them. Fear of everything. It’s not that she needed to explain it to you but she could’ve at least done it in a more rational and mature manner. That was admittedly, her mistake.

She’s already lost you once and she won’t lose you again. So, standing up, though with trembling legs, she makes her way towards your table, hoping she could find a way to interrupt your friends' conversation.

“Hello.”

At her voice your head instantly springs up and the whole world stops for a split second. Your friends don’t seem to register how you’re crumbling and are seconds away from ignoring her, pretending as if you don’t know her but you can’t because everyone heard her.

“Hey.” You decided to settle with a simple greeting, not wanting to get into much.

“Hi! You look really familiar, by the way.” But Marley has other ideas. “Wait it’s Taissa! Or should I say Senator Turner?”

You wished this entire table could swallow you entirely right now. You can’t be annoyed at her fangirling but still, if only she knew.

“Let’s not act like crazed fans and keep a respectful approach. Congratulations on the win, Taissa.” Flynn is neutral and truthful. Nice, Flynn. “I think someone else in this table shares our opinion. Aren’t you going to say anything about our Senator? You always hyped her up during class debates.” Flynn nudges your shoulder and you know you’re already pushed in the pit.

“Sorry about that. It’s just nerves, you know how I get when I meet people I haven’t seen in a while.” The phrase holds a double meaning. No one besides her picks up on it. You smile raising your glass in a toast. “Congrats to being Senator. I think you’ll do a lot of great things.”

“Thank you. It wouldn’t be possible without all of your contributions but let’s put that aside, we’re not here for that.” You watch as she finds a seat, facing you. You almost admire her brazenness, how she subtly won’t let go even after reading the room.

You thank Flynn for being the most observant of the group, his eyes flickering between you and Taissa. With one hand squeezing yours he raises his eyebrows in a question, to which you nod.

“Well…we’ll leave you two alone. We know you have a lot to catch up on after…after everything. You and your friends have our best thoughts in mind, Taissa.”

“What but she just got here we aren’t going to—“

“Let’s get jello shots while they talk, alright?” He hushes, a hand on her shoulder. Thank you Flynn but also at the same time no thank you because then that means you’ll be left alone with her.

“Right. Right. You and your team are incredible people. We wish nothing but the best. Take care.” She rushes out, getting up as he leads her away from you.

With one awkward wave you were left alone with her. Eyes looking everywhere but her.

“So…Senator Turner, huh?” You eventually uttered. Not after taking a sip of your water, wishing it was something alcoholic because this is something you can’t handle sober.

“It has a better ring to Class President Turner.” She quips. The subtle hint of sarcasm brings a warm to your chest, another trait you always liked…no. Loved about her.

“You were scaling the marches of success since day one. It’s impressive, honestly.”

“Thank you, but no more shop talk.” She wants to say. But knows she can’t. The only rightful thing she could do for the moment is let you control the conversation. Even if she felt your wish to escape. “Thanks. I…you…well. Are you up to anything?”

“Uh…nothing much. I’m an anthropologist professor now, so…

“That’s interesting. You always were into that kind of stuff.”

“Yeah, I was.”

Your answers were short, not rude, but short enough for her to implicitly know you’re slightly put off.

“In any case congrats to having had your dreams as your job.”

“Thank you. We’ve said this a lot but uh…congrats to you, too.”

It’s not like she needed to hear it. But you still felt proud of her, genuinely.

“Maybe one day I’ll invite you to one of our ceremonies.”

“Maybe.”

The next few minutes were agonising. The silence was straining and just as she works the courage up to apologise, a blonde with short curly hair—Misty, you think walks at her side.

“Hi! me and the girls are calling a nightcap. And Caligula must feel lonely so I’ll be headed with them. You’re coming with?”

Please say yes so we can get this over with, please say yes so we can get this over with.

“Uh…no. No, no. I’m staying here. With a friend.” She points at you. Misty turns around and beams brightly, so much so that you feel blinded.

“Hey there. I haven’t heard of you but I think you know of us already.” She snorts, adjusting her glasses and looking as if she’s just told the world’s biggest inside joke.

“Right, Misty. I’ll um, I have some things to take care of, here.” She looks pointedly at you as just you’re about to get up from your seat and dash out of here. Her time reaction is scary and honestly impressive.

“Hmmm I should get a move on, then. But if there’s anything you know what to do. See you later Taissa and Taissa secret friend.” She waves after looking at you suspiciously. Whatever that was about. You don’t hold it against her, you would also think everyone who talks to you has an ulterior motive after being involved in a national incident.

“So are you just here because you feel guilty?” The words abruptly leave your mouth, out of nowhere with no context. Hurt and confusion flashes her eyes before it is replaced by stoicism.

“I’m here because I wanted to see you. I mean, I…look. I know I had many opportunities to see you before but I never had the right time. And now I do.”

You’ve seen many sides of her but this was new, or rather unfamiliar. Her eyes are pleasing, hands reaching for yours at the table. And just like that all the feelings that you’ve pushed down years ago are rushing back.

“I still have your gifts, you know. Your bracelets, your bandanas, your rings. All of them.” What’s the use in saying that you don’t have the slightest of ideas. But you like to think it’s a starting point of a discussion. “They’re in this box. I almost burnt it, the day you told me to leave you alone. Because it felt so cruel that I felt the need to be petty.”

She doesn’t say anything, giving you the ground to speak. Your eyes were watery, but you weren’t backing down from anything.

“And I thought that was not cruel enough so I decided to block you out from my brain but that’s useless, now.”

“I…”

“Please, let me…let me speak.” You gently interrupt her, avoiding her gaze because you are sure your eyes won’t just well from tears. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me. It was another time. Our situation was difficult at the time and people back then would strip every single layer of our identity and make you out to be someone that’s weird and depraved. I know that. That’s not why I was…why I am angry. It’s because of your words, Tai.”

Her heart flutters at hearing you use her nickname and simultaneously breaks because she knew what you meant. Harsh words spewed at your way, demanding that you just leave and forget her, that she has other things to focus on.

“I would never hold it against it you for being afraid but…I don’t know. At the same time I can’t erase what you told me.”

She felt her own eyes welling at the sound of the crack in your voice. Your shoulders were slumped, eyes laser focused on the table, your body shaking with each breath you take. She’s transported for a moment, back to the days where you would be more vulnerable around her, where she wouldn’t hesitate to hold you in her arms in the safety of her room.

“I…I can’t erase what I’ve said…did to you. But…but I can make it right.”

“It’s been twenty five years. It’s all gone now, I just…seeing you here just brought back a wave of memories.”

“It’s not like I could avoid you in the sea of old classmates in a high school reunion anyway” You wanted to add but you knew now was not the moment for bitter comments. “There’s nothing you— we can do to make things right anymore. We were just teenagers and…that’s all there is to it.”

“But I hurt you.”

“I know…I mean…I don’t know. I don’t think it was on purpose—”

“And…I should’ve sent you a letter, anything—“

“I wouldn’t have bothered answering back or reading it.”

“Then what there is you want me to do?” She was bordering desperation, hands reaching for yours on the table. The music was getting louder, laughter, and people dancing about contrasting with your moment, and you’re reminded where you were.

“I just want to get out of here.” You stood up, not registering anything, your body moving on autopilot. Taissa is right behind you, taking her coast and purse as she speeds up to follow you outside.

Marley spots you leaving and Flynn holds her back.

“They’ll work it out.”

“How do you even know what’s it about?”

“The yearning and longing is spotted from here. We’ll have a call if there’s any trouble.”

They watch you as you leave, emotions unreadable, with Taissa mirroring your actions.

“Good luck to them.”

—

“You don’t have to own me anything but could you at least let me drive you home? Since you seem to have left your friends behind and…”

“What for?” You decided to humour her, even though you know this could only lead you to a spiral of profound sadness. “And how do I know you didn’t drink?”

“I didn’t take anything with alcohol and it’s late. I would rather see you come back home with someone you trus…you know.”

Do you really know her, though?

You spend a couple of time ruminating her sentence in your head, looking back at her. You think it’s unfair that she’s pretty and that in this moment you’d do anything she’d ask of you.

“Fine. But we’re going straight to my place. Got it?”

“Understood.” She tries to keep a neutral tone, not showing too much of her relief.

The walk to her car and the drive is done in relative silence. Not an uncomfortable one like before but something that is more…tolerated. You only spoke to give her your address and she tries to resist the urge to save it in her history and memorise it.

Soft music was also played, helping keep the atmosphere at a relatively normal level.

But of course, they had to play the sappiest of love songs out of all the other nights. You shook your head, adjusting your seatbelt as you tried to not let the embarrassment get to you. But she sees you and ties to hold back a laugh, finding your mannerism adorable in spite of the current mood.

“I thought you loved this song.” It was risky for her, to say such a witty comment, but you seem to bear no mind, too focused on trying to hide how awkward you feel.

“Not now, I don’t.”

“I remember someone telling me they would play this song ‘no matter the context’”

“I kinda regret pronouncing those words.”

“If only younger you could see yourself. You were so hooked on the Pretty Woman soundtrack I had to ban you from playing that song.”

“It was a perfect song for a good movie so I don’t know what you were on about.” For the first time in this evening you’re at ease, engaging playfully, not sarcastically. Maybe it’s because you know there’s no way to escape but it’s nice to think of nonetheless.

She turns up the volume, making your head turn at her. She can’t control her smile anymore, even chuckling as you hide your face in your hands.

“You know it doesn’t sound too bad after not having listening to it for a while.”

“A little too late for that…” You grumbled, but not cruelly. Even if what you just said might have many implications.

As you tell her to stop she looks around your neighbourhood. Simple, quiet. A decorative mailbox that you always talked about wanting, a few porch steps. She wonders what the inside of your house looks like. If it’s decorated to your comfort, to what you’ve imagined. She remembers whenever you’d have conversations like this it would make her wary of her future but you always reminded her that it’s uncertain where you would go so the only thing you could do is dream about it for a while.

“Do you…do you still think about the days times when we would hang out at that diner place after your soccer practices?”

Your question was unexpected and it threw her off, her mind putting a stop to a series of what ifs. She pauses and sighs, looking at you, only to see you were looking right back at her. She can’t bring herself to not answer you. Not when you momentarily break her gaze blink back your tears, not when your hands are trembling.

“You would always be twenty minutes early and I’d scold you for having wasting your time just to wait for me.”

“Waiting for you was never a waste of time.” Her breath hitches at your words as she nods, wishing she could just finally hold your hands in hers. “When we first hung out, I always thought it was one-sided. Like I was the only one who liked us being…us.”

“It was never like that, I— I liked you. Loved you. So much that…so much that you were special to me, it was just…”

“I understand, I—”

“And I can’t take back what I said or what I did, I know that. You were— are special to me and that I…I was always thinking about you. About the love I felt, about those posters you’d give me for my games all of it. You were the right one in a…in a bad time.”

You nodded, your tears spilling as you listen to her. It’s not even that big of an issue so you have no idea why you were crying. Old feelings and old wounds, you suppose.

“I know there’s nothing I can do to fix it…but you deserve to hear what I’ve been wanting to say to you, correctly, without all of the pressure of soccer or college.”

Once you catch her looking at your trembling fingers you don’t let her go, temptingly taking hers in yours. She sighs at the touch, how tender and soft they still feel.

“It’s alright.” You whispered, looking down at your joint hands. It’s been a long time, a terrible time.

You’re not sure what exactly happened after that, or how you end up getting too close to Taissa to the point you could feel her breath fanning against your face, how her eyes were fluttering, how her nose nudges yours, pulling you into a spell you swore you would never fall back in again.

“Do you have anyone?” Leave it to Taissa to be so romantic in her questions, but you don’t even pay attention to it, shaking your head in denial, before you ask her the same.

“Do you?”

Her eyes flickers between yours and your lips, trying to hold herself back, but your sweet voice, your scent, the warmth radiating off your body— it took her a lot of self-preservation.

“I don’t.”

“I’m never leaving you again…I promise you.”

It’s unclear who made the first move but you don’t dwell on it. Not when the touch of her lips against yours feels like the love you’ve been chasing and waiting for. Her soft sighs, her moans, the whispers of your name, it all felt real, too real. When she unbuckled her seatbelt to climb on your lap and pushed you further in the seat, you realised how far you’re going, your brain clogged with desire begging you to slow down and think thoroughly but it’s a hard task, especially when Taissa places her hands on your chest, tracing your covered skin and everything she missed so dearly.

“Tai, wait—“

“What?” She pleaded, not separating her lips from yours, breathing heavily. Her heart was racing, senses going haywire. She needed you, now, but you were leaving back, hands cupping her face. She’s afraid of what you’ll say. That you’ll let her down gently. And for a minute she nearly wants to tell you to get over it quickly but knows she can’t. Not exactly.

“We should slow down.” Your hands went from her face down to her sides, reaching her hips. It was unfair of you, to suggest to take things easy when your hands were on hers. “I…I’m not saying I don’t want this but we have things to think about first.”

She doesn’t say anything, body tensing up. You realise what you’ve just said and rush to form an apology, lifting her to get up but she softly pushes you back, kissing your forehead.

She won’t let you go, again.

“I…okay. We can think about it.”

“You…you’ll give me time, right? Give us time?”

“For as long as we need.”

You try not to cry but you do anyway, your eyes once again welling with tears but she’s quick to catch them, even kisses them away as she holds you in silence.

When you leave, she walks you to your home. If it were any other time you’d invite her, but this is too delicate, too new to do anything. But as she kisses you for the last time, it felt like a promise— it was a promise. A promise that she would stay. A promise that you’d slowly start over, in a place where you finally could live your happiness.

secondary a/n: if you can guess what song they were talking about both sides of you pillow will be fresh. if you don’t both sides of your pillow will fresh anyway. and if you’re reading this both sides of your pillow are fresh

[aliosne]

Guess whos hiding in the bathroom after having a mini-meltdown over a board game✌🏻✌🏻✌🏻

[sylusxyou]

Afternoon Under the Sun | LaDS Sylus x Reader Fic

Summary: After a long and stressful week at work, Sylus decides you deserve an afternoon unwinding with him on his yacht. When Sylus refuses to get in the water with you, you get creative in order to get what you want. (ugh summaries suck)

Pairing: Sylus x fem!reader (MC implied, but very vaguely)

Word Count: 3.1k

Content: flirty sylus, topless reader (oooo), sensual sunscreen application, and of course a little fade to black because i'm not ready to go full into smut just yet

Author's Note: It's the yachting fic!!! Inspired by Sylus' Intimacy Game secret times where it is so casually mentioned Sylus owns a yacht. Like??? Tbh I think there are no good words for boobs so I apologize for using the word chest so much. This isn't directly smut so tits felt a little intense lmao. I had fun writing this but now my ideas are spent. I hope you enjoy and if you have any recs for future fics, LMK!!!

AO3 Link

Despite the lack of clouds in the sky, the summer heat wasn’t overbearing. The air was warm and dry with a gentle breeze rustling your hair. In front of you the clear water of the ocean glittered under the sun. It was the perfect day to be on the water. Work had been particularly stressful the past few weeks, an onslaught of paperwork and Wanderer outbreaks. You had spent an entire evening unloading all of your frustrations on Sylus as he sat and listened, gently rubbing your back. He had suggested a day on his yacht to unwind.

“Your yacht?” 

“Yes, it’s been a while since I’ve taken it out anyway.” 

“You have a yacht?” 

“Yes, kitten.” 

Of course Sylus had a yacht and of course it was the largest yacht you had ever laid your eyes on. To be fair, you hadn’t seen many yachts in your life so you weren’t sure what the average size of one was. However, you were sure that Sylus’ was above average. Well above it. 

You watched him walk towards you down the dock where the yacht was stationed. He had asked you to meet him here so he could make sure everything was prepared for the both of you. What preparations he had to oversee you weren’t exactly sure but you were excited to find out. 

As Sylus made his way towards you, you took the time to appreciate him. Today he was dressed in white board shorts and a black button down, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Normally you would scoff at someone wearing a collared shirt to go out on the water but Sylus managed to make it look equal parts casual and elegant. He looked expensive, as usual, sunglasses resting low on the bridge of his nose. Confidence radiated from him with every step he took closer to you. No matter how often you saw him you would never get used to looking at him. Each time felt like seeing him through new eyes. 

Suddenly you felt a wave of nerves wash over you, overly aware of the way your swimsuit cover up was wrinkled and the way your hair was tangled from the breeze. No matter how much you tried you were never able to be as put together as him. He seemed to revel in that fact though. Even now as he came to stand in front you, he reached out to smooth the hair on the top of your head with a grin on his face, “It seems a disheveled kitten has gotten lost on the docks.” 

You swat away his hand, “Not everyone can look like they just walked out of a high fashion magazine.” 

“This look suits you.” Sylus grabs the bag resting on your shoulder, “Don’t worry though, sweetie. Even with your hair in your face you still look better than me.” His free hand grabs yours, intertwining your fingers, and pulling you towards the yacht at the end of the dock. 

You nudge him with your elbow, “Whatever you say, Mr. Sweet-talker.” 

He huffs out a laugh and squeezes your hand, “Are you prepared for our day of relaxation?”

“Do you have to prepare to relax?”

Sylus shakes his head, “For most people I would say no. For you and I though, yes.” 

He was right, of course. The large tote bag he was now carrying for you was filled with various sunscreens, an extra pair of clothes, a water bottle, and some snacks. Sylus had been intentionally vague when you asked what spending a day on a yacht entailed. There was no doubt in your mind that he would have all of the things you brought along and more but packing your bag calmed you down. 

“I would feel more prepared if you told me what you had planned.” The two of you arrived at the end of the dock, standing in front of the ramp that lead into the yacht. The size of it was even more imposing now that you were closer. 

Sylus slung your bag over his shoulder and put his hand on your back, gently pushing you along with him as he began walking up the ramp. “There are no plans today. That’s where the relaxing comes in.”

As you stepped onto the deck of the yacht you were met by an older man dressed in all white. He extended his hand towards you, “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ll be your captain today. If you need anything please don’t hesitate to ask. My staff will be happy to assist you.” 

“Staff?” As you looked to Sylus, a woman came up beside you both with a tray. On top of the tray sat two flutes of champagne. Sylus grabbed the glasses and handed one to you, “You didn’t think a boat of this size operated on it’s own did you?” 

You shook your head, “Believe it or not, I have no frame of reference for this sort of thing.” 

“Well, I’m glad I have the chance to change that.” Sylus turned his attention towards the captain, “We can head out now.” The captain nodded at Sylus and walked off to what you assumed was the control room. 

As the yacht began to move out, Sylus took time to show you around. Every new room left you more speechless than the last. There was a bar, a dining room, a bedroom, even a pool which you found redundant given you were on the ocean. It was the most jarring example of Sylus’ wealth you had experienced thus far. While you felt out of place you were mostly touched he wanted to share these luxuries with you, that he felt you were worth all of this and more. You were determined to enjoy every minute of this day. 

After your tour of the boat, champagne lightly buzzing through your body, you and Sylus went to settle on the bottom deck. The deck was positioned at the back of the boat and had various lounge chairs and couches. At the edge of the boat there were steps down to offer easy access to the water when the time came. You settled on the edge of a chair and closed your eyes, taking in the feel of the wind under the warm sun. There was an inexplicable serenity to being on the water and you hardly ever had the opportunity to do so. As you reveled in the cool breeze brought on by the yacht’s movement across the water, Sylus came to stand in front of you, blocking the sun from your face. You cracked one of your eyes open, “I was enjoying that sunlight.” 

He pulled his sunglasses on top of his head, “And I am enjoying you.” Sylus winked and moved to sit behind you, one of his legs on either side of you. “If you’re going to enjoy the sun you need to put on sunscreen.” He placed his hands on your shoulders and squeezed gently.

“And I suppose you’d like to help me with that.” 

You could hear the smirk in his voice as he replied, “You know me so well, kitten. I’m nothing if not helpful.” His hands moved down your back and forward to the tops of your thighs where the hem of your coverup rested, “You’ll need to take this off.” 

Goosebumps rose across your skin and you fought to hide the shiver that ran through your body. Of course Sylus would take every opportunity he had to tease you and of course you enjoyed it but you refused to admit it. You were thankful you had your back to him so at the very least you could hide the blush that would undoubtedly rise on your cheeks. You pulled the coverup off over your head as quickly as possible, trying to keep the movement from seeming sensual in any way. Sylus grabbed it from you and placed it behind him, his hands now resting on the bare skin of your back. The swimsuit you had chosen to wear was a bikini more revealing than you were used to. You had Tara to thank for that. After she saw the one piece you had planned to wear you thought she might personally burn it to keep you from ever wearing it again. She was quick to point out that Sylus, who she knew as Skye, had already seen every inch of your body, which made you regret ever telling her about the night you spent with him. She was right, of course, but you had only been with him like that once and it was in the cover of night. Now you were more exposed than you had been in front of him under the brightness of the sun, every bump and blemish visible to him. It was impossible to not be nervous. 

While you were caught up in your thoughts, Sylus had reached into the bag you brought to grab a bottle of sunscreen. After squeezing some in his hand he spoke softly behind you, “It might be a little cold.” You quietly nodded your head and he began spreading the sunscreen across your back and shoulders. His hands moved slowly and gently on your skin, occasionally running under the straps of your swimsuit. As he rubbed the sunscreen up and down your sides, his fingertips softly brushed over the edge of your breasts. There was no stifling the small sigh that escaped your lips. This earned you a quiet chuckle from Sylus. He continued his exploration of your skin, the two of you enjoying the feeling of each other without exchanging any words. You were unsure how much time had passed when you felt Sylus lean forward and whisper in your ear, “All done. Now it’s time for the front.” 

This snapped you out of your trance and you stood up from the chair, “I think I can take care of the front myself.” Sylus grinned at you, eyes unabashedly moving down your body. You crossed your arms, “Enjoying the view?” 

“Obviously, sweetie.” He rose off the chair to stand in front of you, sunscreen in hand, “If I’m done helping you, how about you help me?” He passed the sunscreen to you. You quickly grabbed it from him and moved behind him. Your application of the sunscreen went a lot faster than Sylus’. You didn’t have the courage to tease him the way he teased you, not while you were so thoroughly flustered. Once the two of you were sufficiently protected from the sun you laid out on the lounge chairs. A comfortable silence settled between you as you both basked in the sun. Occasionally the two of you drifted into sleep. When you were awake Sylus would check on you, making sure you were enjoying your relaxation. 

After some time had passed and the yacht had been parked for a while, the heat began to feel oppressive. Laying out wasn’t as relaxing so you decided it was time to get in the water. As you stood up Sylus looked at you, “Where are you going?” 

You stretched a hand out to him, “Come on, lets get in the water. It’s getting too hot.” 

“You go ahead, kitten. I’m not planning on getting in the ocean.” 

“What?” You scoffed and grabbed his arm, “Yes you are. You did not drag me all the way out here to make me swim alone.” Attempting to get him up, you tugged on his arm but he wasn’t budging. 

Sylus sat up as you continued to pull on him, “The ocean doesn’t agree with me. I’d rather not have salt water stinging my eyes or drying out my mouth.” He stood up and grabbed your hands in his, “I’m happy to get into the pool with you though.” 

“We can swim in a pool on land. Don’t be a baby.” You walked towards the stairs leading into the water, pulling Sylus with you. Turning back to him, you put your arms around his neck and pressed your chest against his, “You really won’t come with me?” 

His hands slid around your back and rested just above your ass, “You’re very tempting, sweetheart. Unfortunately, I have astounding restraint. Besides, I’ll thoroughly enjoy watching you. Especially in this.” His fingers tugged at the top of your bikini bottoms. 

You pushed away from him, exaggerating your frustration in an attempt to guilt him. “Whatever,” you grumbled, “I’ll go have fun by myself.” Sylus laughed as you descended the stairs into the water. Your body immediately cooled down as you pushed off the back of the yacht and slowly swam out. You shouted at him, “It could be dangerous for me to be out here by myself!” This was an exaggeration, of course, as the water was completely calm and you were close enough to the boat to swim back with complete ease. 

“Don’t worry,” Sylus called back as he took a seat on the edge of the boat, legs hanging over the stairs, “I’ll keep a very close eye on you.” 

You rolled your eyes and moved to float on your back. The gentle movement of the water underneath you was hypnotizing and you felt like you could float there for hours. The more you enjoyed the feeling of being in the water, the more determined you were to get Sylus to join you. It wasn’t likely he would believe you if you pretended to be in danger considering there were no waves and you weren’t a very good actress. Suddenly an idea popped into your head. It was a bit daring and very outside of your comfort zone, but that made it exciting. He may claim to have impressive self-control but you knew that only went so far. This idea would surely do the trick. 

You pushed yourself upright in the water to find Sylus’ eyes still on you from the edge of the yacht. “Are you sure there’s nothing I can do to get you out here?” You called out. 

“Quite sure, kitten.”

A grin spread across your face, your heartbeat speeding up as you moved to enact your plan. “Not even if I do,” you reach your hand to the back of your neck and pulled on the strings tied in a bow, “this?” Your bikini top fell in front of you, revealing your naked chest to him. You reached behind your back and unhooked the straps there, completely removing the top and holding it up in your hand. “Will you join me now?” You tossed the top forward and it landed with a splash in the water between you and Sylus. 

He suddenly sat up straight from leaning back on his hands and his gentle and amused gaze turned sharp and burning. You could feel his eyes piercing your chest, even from meters away. “Just what do you think you’re doing?” 

“It’s so hot out,” you moved to float on your back once more, your exposed chest fully visible above the water, “I’m just trying to cool down.” 

This earned you a dark chuckled from Sylus and you knew your plan was working. “Okay, kitten,” he stood up on the stairs, “you win.” He slid down into the water and began to swim towards you. With every inch he came closer to you, your heartbeat pounded harder. You thought if it beat any faster it would explode out of your chest. 

On his way towards you he grabbed the stray bikini top floating in the water. When he reached you he grabbed you and pulled you flush to him, your naked chests sliding against each other. You shivered at the contact as he leaned into your ear, “Is this what you wanted?” 

Your eyes fluttered shut. “Yes,” you nodded, “this is what I wanted.” 

“I didn’t realized you were such an exhibitionist.” Sylus lips trailed down your neck, pressing soft kisses into your skin, complaints of the taste of saltwater long forgotten. 

You flicked his shoulder, “I’m not an exhibitionist. I just knew you wouldn’t be able to resist. In fact, you can give me my top back now.” 

You reached behind you to try and grab the top clutched in his hands holding you but he raised his arm in the air, far out of your reach. “Not so fast.” The bikini top dangled above you, “I actually think I’ll hold onto this for the rest of the trip.” 

“You seriously want me to be topless for the rest of the day?” You said incredulously. 

This made Sylus chuckle, “Kitten, that might be the stupidest question you’ve ever asked me.” 

You pushed away from him, “There are other people on the yacht, Sylus. You want all of them to see me naked?” 

“You’re the one who decided to strip out in the open. Why are you getting all shy on me now?” 

You crossed one arm over your chest, “I was just trying to get you to swim with me.” 

Your movement to cover yourself seemed to flip a switch in Sylus, his gaze softening as he closed the distance between you. “Okay, sweetie, I’ll give you your top back. On one condition.” 

You raised an eyebrow, “And that is?” 

“We get out of the water.” 

“Done.” You reached for the top in his hand again. 

“And,” he pulled his hand out of your reach, “we spend the rest of the afternoon in the bedroom.” 

Blush rose in your cheeks, “You’re trying to coerce me into bed with you?” You weren’t serious, of course, but you didn’t want to seem too desperate by blurting out the ‘yes, yes, yes’ that was echoing in your mind. 

“That’s not funny, sweetheart.” Sylus’ tone was serious and you realized what you had implied. 

You wrapped your arms around his neck, “You’re right, I’m sorry. I didn’t actually mean that.” You slowly pressed a kiss into his cheek and then onto his lips. “You have yourself a deal,” you whispered. The grin on Sylus’ face mostly held unbridled joy though there was a hint of seduction in his eyes. He handed you your top and helped you tie it tight into place. You swam back to the yacht together, climbing onto the deck, and grabbing towels to dry off. Once you were both sufficiently dry, Sylus grabbed your hand and led you towards the bedroom you had seen on your tour earlier in the afternoon. As your heart beat with anticipation you realized you may be leaving your day of relaxation more exhausted than you had originally planned.

[softtdaisy]

Congratulations on 2k followers 😊 May you have many more followers to come!

To celebrate, may I please request the song I Won’t Say I’m In Love by Susan Egan with Aaron Hotchner?

https://open.spotify.com/track/03wwl6PnZyltRjeMkxWzUQ?si=BzkUEAyUTTWX8a1w-f__vw

summary. 5 times Hotch almost learned about your crush + 1 time you realized he already knew

words count. 5 358

song. I Won’t Say I’m In Love by Susan Egan

a/n. I never thought this one would be this long but I couldn't resist doing a 5+1 my love for hotch was to strong and I have to thank bee for giving me some of the ideas!! so thank you for your request it was a pleasure doing it and I will you love it 🩷

2K CELEBRATION MASTERLIST

criminal minds masterlist | F1 masterlist | general masterlist| request

1. The staring

“Ok guys,” you put both your hands on the desk to get up. “Don’t be jealous, but I’m done.” 

You watched as they looked up with confusion and, well, some kind of jealousy.

“How is it possible?” you heard Emily grumble, trying to type more quickly on her computer. You also didn’t miss the cheating allegations coming from Derek. You laughed at their reaction, collecting the papers you had just printed to complete your file.

“Well, I didn’t sleep on the plane,” you started, pointing at Emily. “Didn’t plan my next date,” you pursued, looking at Derek. “Nor did I play chess with my boss. But I won’t lie; I'm surprised I’ve finished it before you, Spence.” 

Especially because you had been a little too interested in that chess game during the flight. It wasn’t your fault. Why did Hotch decide to roll up his sleeves to play? All you could focus on was the veins on his arms or how delicate his fingers seemed with the piece in his hands.

“Run before they get too mad,” you heard JJ say behind you with a laugh. You listened to her advice, took your bag and file, and walked to Hotch’s office. 

The door was closed so you couldn’t hear a thing, but you could watch as he walked around his office with his phone in hand. Out of respect, you decided to wait. Of course. And the fact you could appreciate the view was just a reward for your respect. Sure.

Having a crush on your boss wasn’t ideal, you had to confess. You tried to fight it as hard as you could. But you soon realized it was impossible. Every time Hotch entered a room, with his suit always perfectly fitting and his serious expression yet a little and brief smile on his lips when he saw his team and his bossy walk, your heart stopped. 

Needless to say, you probably had some commanding kink because you felt something in your chest—and below—anytime he gave you an order.

And seeing him right now, with his tie undone around his neck, was even hotter. You got lost in the view and the idea of relieving the stress of the day for him. You let out a loud sigh right when you heard someone calling you behind you.

“Chief Strauss?” You jumped, turning around to look at her. Yep, having a crush on Hotch was definitely not ideal. Especially when you could get caught so easily. 

“What are you doing here, agent?”

“Well, I have to give my file to agent Hotchner, but he’s on the phone, so…” You pointed at him, like it wasn’t obvious. 

She stared at you for a second before entering the office anyway. “Aaron, you…” you simply heard before she closed the door again. You mimicked her way of saying his name but stopped when Hotch turned his head to look at you. You blushed and waved at him discreetly.

Two minutes later, Strauss was out of the office, and Hotch opened the door for you. “I’m sorry for making you wait,” he said with a very soft tone and a genuine apologizing smile. There was something so welcoming in the way he kept his arm up to let you walk in and how he watched you, making sure you followed him inside.

You stopped in the middle of the room. “I…just have to give you this actually. The file, I mean.” you said, handing him the folder. 

He took it, but you noticed the surprised look on his face. “You did that quickly.” You watched as he leaned against his desk and he flipped through it with an impressive smile. Just before looking at you again. “Good job.”

You bit your lip to avoid saying something you would regret. “Thank you…sir,” you said, with some kind of confident tone that actually made your voice shiver. Hotch looked amused at this but didn’t question it. “I guess I will go now.”

But he didn’t take his eyes out of you while you walked out of his office way more quickly than when you got in.

You heard the team questioning your presence when you walked past them, but you didn’t answer. You needed a cold shower right now.

2. The ride

“I’m fine!” You complained, trying to get up from the stretcher you had been put on.

Hotch gave you a judging look. “You’re bleeding.” 

“That means I’m alive!”

Apparently, your argument wasn’t well received. Which, honestly, you could understand. His agent got attacked by the unsub the team was chasing; this usually wasn’t something that made him happy. 

Maybe you’ve been inattentive, but you clearly didn’t expect that stupid idiot to stab you in the ribs when you caught him. The pain wasn’t too loud, so you guessed he didn’t touch any organ. Yet, you were still bleeding a lot, and Hotch didn’t hesitate a single second before calling the paramedic.

He put a hand on your shoulder, either to comfort you or to keep you in place—or both. “You’re going to the hospital, am I understood?”

That wasn’t fair, you thought, how he gave you a look you couldn’t say no to. He probably didn’t do it on purpose. But you could see the worry of losing a member of his team in his eyes. They were shiny. Not like he wanted to cry or anything, but like he cared. About you. And that, you could tell from the little hint of softness in it. Or maybe it was from the way his eyebrow frowned, but not in a mean way. 

Or maybe you just got lost in his eyes, again, and decided to create your own scenario. 

You stopped dreaming when he looked up at the paramedic in front of him. “I’m going with you.” 

“What? Why? No,” you complained, trying to get up again. Before being pushed back on the stretcher by Hotch’s hand again. His fingers pressed so hard on your shoulder that you wondered if they would leave a mark. Not that you minded. 

“I don’t trust you,” he said with a little laugh. “You will try to run away if I don’t stay with you.” 

Hotch didn’t talk to you until you were both in the ambulance and sat next to you. When his head turned, giving instructions to JJ to give to the rest of the team, you noticed the tiredness on his face. You felt bad that because of you he wouldn’t come home until later. Probably wouldn’t get to see Jack tonight.

And with the help of the adrenaline leaving your body slowly, you started to cry. It was one of your sobs that warned him.

“Are you ok? Is something wrong?” He asked, leaning closer to you and looking for an injury he would have missed. But you shook your head.

“I’m sorry you can’t go home to Jack.” You hid your face to cry. But the movement of your arm hurt you even more, so you cried…even more. This was even worse than you thought. 

Hotch had a little giggle, one he didn’t control. Because that was definitely not what he expected to hear. Sure, he was a little sad that his son would go to bed before he came home one more time. But that was something he could make up for. Not something that deserved to be cried about, especially not by a member of his team.

He brought his hand closer to your face so he could take one of yours away. “This is my job.” You looked at him with confusion, so he added, “To take care of my team.” 

He said that with a bossy tone that pushed away the idea of contradicting him. But mostly, he looked at you directly in the eyes to emphasize how important it was to him. Because it was. He didn’t hesitate a single second to follow you to the hospital to make sure you would be ok. And nothing could explain the terror he had when he heard you scream earlier. 

And the idea of being important to him did something to your heart you couldn’t explain. “Oh boy, this isn’t helping,” you sighed for yourself. 

Then there was silence. 

The confusion grew on Hotch as he didn’t quite understand what you meant by that. He caught the paramedic's look too, who wasn’t sure he heard right. Then Hotch said, “helping for…,” so low that you also missed it out.

But you didn’t. Because it sounded like an alarm warning you, you almost told him about your crush. 

“Nothing,” you said with a tired smile, moving your hand like it would erase what you said before. “Thank you for staying, Hotch.” 

He didn’t add anything but patted your shoulder nicely. You truly hoped that he would take into consideration your pitiful state to forget your comment.

3. The chart 

“Thank you, Penelope,” you said, with a hand on your heart, when you walked into her office.

“You, my friend, are always welcome in my kingdom.”

You laughed at her answer but gladly accepted the chair she had prepared for you.

After the last case and your very nice trip to the hospital, the team went on the field without you. This was for the best for many obvious reasons: you needed to rest, and you would be better here on your computer than being a burden with them. 

And you clearly needed to work on your crush for Hotch. You were this close to letting him know about your feelings, and this couldn’t happen again.

You can’t imagine how awful it would have been if your boss learned that you had a fever dream about him. Nope. No way.

“Are you sure I’m not disturbing you?” you asked Penelope again when she sat down. She gave you a judging look, and you put your hands up in defense.

She was the one who offered for you to stay with her during the case. “It would be stupid that we both stay at her office when we could have fun working the case together,” she argued. Which was true; you loved when she was around, and you wouldn’t mind having a little company to forget you weren’t with the team. 

Even if you wouldn’t have used the word “fun” to describe your work. 

“If you ask this one more time,” she warned you with her fluffy pencil. “I will tell you-know-who about you-know-what.” 

You rolled your eyes, already regretting telling Penelope about your stupid crush.

It wasn’t even entirely your fault. When she came to see you at the hospital, you were crying. Because of the medicine, first and foremost. Which made you feel guilty and stupid about the situation with Hotch. You needed a friend and a shoulder to cry on, and when she appeared in your room like the angel you needed, well, you couldn’t keep your words for yourself.

“Fine, you win; I won’t ask anymore.” You laughed nervously. Not really a fan of mentioning the subject in public. Or in private. Or ever, actually. 

You started working with your computer on your lap, looking for information about past victims. With the music playing and Penelope basically talking to herself most of the time, you loved the dynamic here.

Until papers fell on your keyboard. You took them in hand, assuming these were about the case, when you saw your birthdate.

And Hotch’s.

“Penelope,” you called her. When you looked up, she was working like nothing happened. Like she didn’t literally put these in front of you seconds ago. “What is that?”

“Ok, listen,” she said suddenly, rolling next to you. She looked way too excited about whatever it was. “After you told me about your crush, I realized that this wasn’t so stupid. You and Hotch would make a great couple.”

“Penelope!” you shouted. Nobody could hear you from this, thankfully. But saying this out outloud was…too real.

She put a hand on your mouth. “Let me finish.” How ironic she was the one shutting you up when you were the one begging her to stop. “I work around your birthdate, your astrological chart, your past, and all that stuff. Tada,” she finished. She put her hand behind the paper to lift them up and bring them closer to your eyes.

“You realized you’re feeding my delusional hopes right here?” You laughed, still refusing to give a look at the paper. 

“I’m just helping a friend realize that the crush she has isn’t that stupid.”

“Who has a crush on whom?”

You both jumped hearing Derek’s voice. And when you turned, you noticed the team had appeared on the screen. As much as you loved the automatic answers she had put on her computer when you were away, you kind of hate it right now. Especially with these stupid papers still in hand. 

You watched as Emily bent to get closer to the screen. “Are you analyzing some astrological charts? That’s serious business.” 

Of course you caught Hotch’s look. And of course you immediately blushed at the thought that he would understand what the hell was going on. Maybe he recognized the pattern; maybe the team was on before you noticed; maybe he heard; maybe… you had to calm down before fainting. Or hitting Penelope, who was biting her lip to not laugh.

So you put the papers away. In your bag. To read them peacefully once you got home. 

4. The drink

“To another case done, my friends!” Rossi claimed

You all cheered, bringing your drinks up to toast.

The past week has been pretty rough. LA’s sun couldn’t save your mood from the atrocity you’ve seen there. And the heat clearly didn’t help make this hard. You had a particular aversion to the smell of blood when it gets too hot.

The simple idea almost made you throw up at the bar.

“We need holidays.” Penelope sighed, putting her head on your shoulder in a dramatic movement that made everyone laugh. 

She looked directly at Hotch, who brought his hands up in a defensive gesture. “I’d love to give you a break. But it’s not only up to me.”

You all started to discuss what your dream holiday would be right now. Going to Europe, renting a cabin away from the city, spending some time with their kids… 

You loved hearing about each other’s needs and wishes. This was what made you a family. If you could find a genie, you would wish to give each member of this team the break they deserve.

And maybe you would also wish to share the holiday with Hotch. Maybe not the one he had planned—because that man clearly needed to spend some time with his son by himself. But the idea of changing towns and having full days together without the pressure of being seen was nice.

Oh, and the idea of getting to know him in private…

“Earth to little sunshine,” you heard Penelope call you, stopping you from dreaming. Which was for the better. Who knew where your brain would have taken you if you kept thinking about it? You couldn’t resist giving Hotch a little look, and you noticed the little smirk on his lips. Did he know you were dreaming about discovering his body?

Penelope showed you the empty glasses in front of you, yours and hers. “Do you want another one?” she asked, offering to order. But you got up before answering.

“I’m getting you a new one,” you said, kissing her hair. You needed to leave this table before reaching for your boss in front of you and letting your dirty thoughts speak. 

You laughed, hearing her giving you lovely nicknames and sharing her love for you. The bar wasn’t big enough so you could still hear her when you ordered your drink.

“You seemed like a great person to have your friend compliment you like that.”

You turned around, confused about who was talking to you. And even more surprised when you saw the name standing next to you. Tall and very handsome with a charming smile that leaves you speechless for a second. He offered his hand, telling you his name, but you didn’t quite get it. Lost in the beauty of his eyes and the reality of getting hit on at the bar.

“Yeah, I’m quite like that,” you replied with a laugh before telling him your name too.

You chatted while waiting for your drinks. It was freeing to speak about something not FBI-related, you won’t lie. You enjoyed it for the few minutes you had in front of you. But then you got your drinks and asked, “Do you think I can be lucky enough to have more minutes with you? For a date?”

The way you turned around, ready to go back to your seat, gave you the perfect view to see the man of your dreams. Hotch was talking to Rossi about god knows what but something apparently very funny. You loved the wrinkles around his eyes when he was smiling, how his laugh was so contagious even from afar that you had to fight against your own smile. How he was relaxed in his navy blue shirt, looking like any other man. Well, not any other man. Just not the FBI agent he was. 

“I’m sorry, I already have someone in mind.” You simply replied, giving him a sorry smile before going back to your table. 

You tried to reconnect with the conversation, but Emily stopped you…and everyone. “Tell me you got this gorgeous man's number in hand.”

“Well, no, I don’t,” you laughed, sitting back. And to the massive Why that escaped the girls’ lips—pretty impressive that they said it together—you had to find an excuse that didn’t involve the man in front of you.

“I just…” You sighed. You clearly wished you could say he wasn’t the one you wanted, but how could you without explaining that Hotch was the one you couldn’t stop thinking about? “I don’t know.” 

The next five minutes were followed by everyone around this table giving their arguments on why you should get back to the handsome stranger, get his number, go on a date, and do whatever you wanted to do with him. Hearing how important it was to get laid was not the main subject you expected tonight. 

When it was Hotch’s turn, you kind of wished he would tell you that this wasn’t a good idea. Don’t talk to strangers; you’ve seen so many dark cases you should be careful about anything. But he didn’t say any of that. He shrugged with his drink in hand. “Do whatever you want; nobody would blame you if you go on a date with him.”

The following minute went almost silently for you. Sure, everyone around the table kept talking. Everyone but you. And Hotch.

You looked at him with confusion. Maybe something broke in your heart at that moment. But you couldn’t escape a man to fight for you when he didn’t even know about your feelings. When you didn’t even know what he felt for you. It wasn’t fair for you to be mad. Yet you couldn’t resist the feeling growing in your stomach. 

You tried to look for one single hint that he meant something else. But Hotch was great at keeping a straight face. His eyes stayed on you, sure, but they didn’t say a thing. His mouth was a straight line, and not for one second did he give you the impression he wanted to say something. 

“Fine.”

You gave up. With the applause from the team, you walked to the man’s table.

And agree to go on a date. At least you could pretend this was what you wanted.

5. The date

“You look…exhausted.”

You turned around to look at JJ, who stayed at the kitchen’s door, pretending to be scared to come in. You rolled your eyes, which caused her to laugh. You couldn’t blame her. When you arrived at the bureau five minutes ago, you threw your bag and coat on the desk without saying a single word—maybe making some groans—before walking directly to the kitchen.

You needed a coffee. Or ten.

“That’s an understatement, Jennifer,” you replied, taking a sip of your drink. You even had some headache at the idea of being here after the awful night you had. Why couldn’t you work from home today?

No. Why couldn’t you make better decisions?

“Want to talk about it?” JJ offered after taking a cup of coffee too. She leaned on the counter next to you and gave you a nudge.

You sighed, throwing your head back at the idea of reliving the past hours. But you couldn’t keep it to yourself, or you might explode at some point today.

“I had my date last night. The man was handsome; you saw him, right? He was so hot I couldn’t say no when he asked me out. But he was a pure douchebag. The worst you can imagine, JJ. He made sexist comments all night about me, about my work, about the other women in the restaurant, and it was just…beh,” you said, miming a puking reaction. 

You weren’t a date hater. You actually loved the idea of getting ready to go out; the flirting and seducing part was fun, and you were not complaining about how most of them ended. You loved company. The problem was that most of the time, the company wasn’t great enough. You couldn’t even count the number of dates that you left before the end because these men were awful.

A little voice in your head had a lot of fun explaining why you might have a hard time finding great candidates for your heart. Or why you seemed to actually look for men that are the opposite of the one who was on your mind.

“I’m tired of these failed dates, and I decided to give up on love,” you said with a proud voice. “That’s my decision.” 

JJ listened to everything. And when you turned your head to look at her, you caught her amused look. She was hiding behind her mug; she was trying to hide something she knew. But you knew that woman way too well, and it didn’t take her long to speak. “And that has nothing to do with a man from here you have a crush on?”

The sigh you let out was so loud you probably made the papers on Spencer’s desk move. “I'm going to kill Penelope.” 

Of course JJ laughed at your answer. “It’s not her fault; I wanted to know about the chart thing, and well…you know Penelope. She didn’t say anything, but she showed me a copy of…”

“She had a copy?” you shouted before putting a hand on your mouth, realizing too late that you spoke too loud. You didn’t need the whole team to come over here and learn there were copies of the secret you were trying hard to keep.

Well, not hard enough apparently, since two of them already knew.

You started walking around the room with your coffee in hand. You didn’t need to add that to your problems of the day. But when you looked at JJ, still standing here, you felt comfortable. You had a trusting friendship. She told you about her problems with Will one night away for a case. And made you promise that if you ever needed to, you could call her back.

You didn’t think you would turn to her, but “You’re right,” you mumbled. “This has something to do with him.”

It would be a lie to say you didn’t think about it a lot since this stupid little crush started to grow. You’ve seen Hotch in different and different moments of his life since you arrived. You’ve seen him as a single father; you’ve seen him with Beth. You’ve seen him being amazing with victims and with kids. You’ve heard great stories about him. 

And as you felt yourself falling for him, you started to notice even more silly details.

How he always held the door for the others, how he paid attention to the person who’s speaking by looking at them and making sure they felt appreciated. How he remembered what each member of the team liked so he could give them little attention when they had a bad day. You could have cried the day he offered Penelope a figurine she missed from her collection.

“Maybe I romanticized him in my head, JJ, maybe.” You started, putting your mug on the table to get closer to her. “But I’m not totally dreaming about it. There can’t be only one man on this earth like him, right? Why can’t there be more men like…”

“Like who?”

You froze at that voice. That deep voice that you get to hear every everyday at work but also in your dreams at night. You looked at JJ, whose eyes had an apologizing look. You wanted to believe she didn’t see him coming. 

When you turned around, Hotch was looking at you with an amused look. There was something so fascinating about how he looked so serious in his look yet had this playful expression on his face. This man loved the situation a little too much. And still he had no idea how implicated he was in it.

“A man from a book I'm reading,” you replied. “Some kind of dark romance. I’m probably crazy reading about this type of stuff with the job we are doing, right? Yeah right.”

You heard JJ’s laugh in your back, and you were pretty sure you saw Hotch trying hard to contain his laugh too. But you didn’t care. Nope. You had to get out of this room before you said something stupid. Or worse. 

“See you later, buddies,” you shouted with your coffee back in your hand and ran to your desk. But when you turned around to give them one last look, you saw Hotch’s back bouncing. And that melted your heart, a little. At least you made him laugh today.

+1 

You didn’t realize you stayed this long at the bureau until it got dark. And silent. 

And you noticed there was absolutely nobody else in the room.

You didn’t mind. You actually loved these moments of calm here. The bureau was always such a crowded place with all its agents and the cases that drove the day. And as much as you loved your job, you had to admit it wasn’t a lighthearted one. So sometimes, it was nice to appreciate the simplest moment.

You were organizing your desk—something you would be very grateful for when you came back on Monday—when you heard the steps of someone walking closer to you. Apparently you weren’t as alone as you thought you were.

“Should I be worried about you doing extra hours?” Hotch asked with a subtle laugh. He put a hand on your desk, and you kind of wished this was the missing piece of decoration you needed to get. Not sure about his reaction if you asked to keep his hand, though.

“It’s for JJ,” you replied. You looked away, a little shy about the reason you stayed over. Not that you were embarrassed, not even a little. You were proud of being a good friend to people on this team. But you didn’t want to sound like you were bragging about it.

But Hotch followed your look, tilting his head so he could see you. You were always so impressed by how he was able to speak with his eyes. Like now, encouraging you with a simple look.

“It’s their anniversary with Will. So I offered to finish her file so she could leave early and enjoy a moment with him.” 

You turned around at the same time, not ready to face him. And so you missed the affection in his eyes. He wasn’t surprised about your attention. It wasn’t the first time you did something for someone here without looking for anything in return. 

Landing a jacket or a scarf without questioning if you would be cold in return, baking cookies for someone’s parents-in-law, thinking about the birthday gifts and often buying them yourself because you loved wrapping them, and of course staying late to finish files. 

All your little gestures grew on him. And if there wasn’t a lot he could do on the professional side to reward you and thank you for them, he knew he had another solution. “We could have dinner, if you want,” he offered.

He bit his lip as he watched you freeze. You were definitely not as smooth as you thought you were about him. 

“You deserve it with all the hard work you’re doing for this team,” he added. And he meant that. 

You finally faced him again. You couldn’t explain how, but you got the feeling it wasn’t really Hotch in front of you. More of Aaron. The serious posture stayed in the office. Here, he looked more relaxed. Like the other day at the bar. Maybe it was the slightly undone hair or the rolled-up sleeve, or maybe it was the lazy smile that was a sign the workday was over. 

And you wondered if this was a good idea. Going out with him when you knew your silly crush could explode at any moment. You didn’t want to make things weird. Not with him. Especially not with him.

So you opened your mouth, ready to refuse his offer for your own good—and his. 

But he caught you off guard by saying with an amused tone, “And I heard you have some astrological chart explanation to give me.” 

Maybe you died when you heard him. You probably did because you couldn’t see or hear anything for a moment.

Until he laughed. And his sweet and genuine laugh was the thing that brought you back to life.

Yes, you clearly had more than just a stupid crush on your boss at that point. 

You sat back on your chair in a very dramatic gesture that made him giggle even more. “You… is there one person in this office who didn’t see that?” You sighed. You can’t believe that this silly joke with Penelope went this far. 

You were already thinking about your resignation letter and who you would ask for a recommendation letter. Clearly, Hotch wasn’t an option. So Rossi? Yeah, probably. Strauss wouldn’t do it. Maybe Spencer could…

“Well, it’s the first time I've learned I'm compatible with someone before I get to ask them on a date, so I would have been a fool not to take advantage of it.”

All your thoughts stopped when you heard him. Did you even hear right? 

“You’re asking me on a date?” You heard your voice coming up and down, but that was the last of your concerns.

You watched as he grabbed the chair next to him, from Derek’s desk, and sat in front of you. 

You watched as one of his hands moved to grab yours. It wasn’t the first time. Hotch was the biggest advocate on how holding someone’s hand was a way of making even more important whatever you were saying. 

“Yes, I do,” he replied. Then his smile grew a little bigger, just for a second, before he tried to take a more serious tone back. You could clearly see the glimpse of his prosecutor’s past. “Don’t see this as an arrogant position, but I think you want it too.”

“I’m afraid to ask, but…since when have you been aware of this?” 

You could die for this smile. The way his eyebrows were lifted, how the wrinkles in the corner of his eyes were showing a little more, how his cheek looked fuller. There were so many details you loved about Hotch’s smile that you could spend hours looking at it.

And thankfully, that was something he was ready to give you.

“How about we discuss it around dinner?”

Tag List: @kiwriteswords @monzabee @raysmayhem-72 (if you want to be in it, ask me and I’ll be happy to add you x)

[theemporium]

click 'here' to unlock the other boyfriends!

.

It was a well-known fact that Lando Norris was an affectionate guy. 

He couldn’t help himself, it was just something that came so naturally to him. From throwing himself onto his team after a podium finish to wrapping people in tight hugs, from tilting his head towards fans in photos to slumping against people in between long meetings when he needed a few moments to doze off. 

It was like his energy just thrived off of touch. He liked being around people, he liked being able to show them his appreciation and love because he was never really good with words. He liked being able to show the important people in his life what they meant to him—actions showing more than words and all that jazz. 

And he was pretty affectionate with his friends too, that was nothing new. 

But with you? Yeah, nobody was believing for a damn second that anything between you and Lando was just platonic.

You didn’t get it at first. You didn’t think he treated you any differently to how he did with his other friends. He hugged you the same way, threw his arm over you the same way, tugged you close the same way. He would lean his body against yours when he laughed a little too hard and his head would drop on your lap during movie nights, humming when you would scratch his scalp. 

But he did that with other people too. You weren’t anything special.

Except you were—it just took both you and Lando a stupidly long time to see what everyone else saw for months. And even once you spotted it, it wasn’t something you were rushing to tell the world. You wanted something to just be yours for a little bit—your little secret. 

You genuinely didn’t think people would even notice a shift in your relationship. You didn’t even think you acted all that differently from the months you and Lando were just friends, other than the bonus of making out with him at movie nights. 

“It’s been a while, chat. I’ve missed this.” 

Lando watched as the comments rolled in, filling up his screen so fast that he barely had time to catch more than a few words from each comment. And it was the truth. Streaming had become such a stress relief and easy pass-time in between race weekends. It was something simple and fun for him to do, to feel connected to the people who support him. In a weird way, it made him feel useful during his time off when there were no meetings to attend or data to review. 

It was something to do between training sessions.

“Hm, my plans? Mate, I just got off a triple header. My plans include moving as little as possible,” Lando said with an easy smile on his face, making no move to pick a game to play. There was no rush. “Although, I did invite—”

“Where’s my favourite P2 dickhead?!” 

His grin widened. “There she is.”

Lando turned in his chair, waiting a few moments as he listened to you drop your stuff by the door before you made your way into the room he was currently sitting in. You barrelled in, your smile almost as wide as his before you noticed the set up he had.

“You really invited me over while you were streaming?” You snorted, shaking your head but you didn’t have any complaints as you moved to sit on a couch near his desk. 

“No,” Lando whined as he reached out, his fingers wrapping around your wrist as he tugged you towards him. “I haven’t seen you in three weeks, it’s cruel to sit on the other side of the room.”

“Well, where else am I meant to sit?” You teased. “I keep telling you to get another chair in—-oh.”

You tried to hide your own surprise when Lando pulled you down onto his lap. It wasn’t the first time he had ever done it, and you highly doubted it would be the last, but he had never done it with so many people watching. 

He didn’t settle until his arms were wrapped around you, your body pressed against his before he practically nuzzled his face against your shoulder. “Better.”

Your face felt warm. “Someone’s clingy.” 

“I haven’t seen my best friend in three weeks,” Lando huffed, his brows furrowed together as though he was reliving the last three weeks. Between the races, training and media chaos, he barely had any time to himself—let alone time to talk to you. “Sue me.”

“Oh, he’s sassy and clingy,” you teased but didn’t say much else as you shifted until you were sideways on his lap, giving him a clear view of his screen. Your arm wound around his shoulder, your fingers twirling the curls at the nape of his neck. 

user: friends my ass, look at them!!

user: they are so cute!!

user: are they dating??

user: MY OTP!!!! 

user: clingy lando is the best lando

user: they are literal couple goals 

user: they are my fav ship 

Lando’s eyes scanned over the comments before he snorted, though there was something quite smug in his expression. “Ship? Like friendship? Aw, thanks.”

You rolled your eyes. “You’re a fucking menace, Norris.”

“Language,” he teasingly scolded, lightly pinching your hip just out of view of the camera but the squeal you let out in response told the viewers enough. “Gotta keep it kid-friendly in here. Max is probably watching from home. We can’t scar the poor kid.”

max fewtrell: too late for that, mate

You shook your head, lips pressed together to hold back your laughs. You shifted in the seat, like you were ready to stand up but his arms tightened around you.

Lando’s face softened. “Where are you going? Stay here.”

“I was gonna go make something,” you said with a soft laugh. “God knows you’ve probably not eaten a proper meal since you got back.”

“Eh,” he grumbled but he didn’t relent his grip on you. “It’s fine, we can order something. Just stay here.”

“I’ll only be in the other room,” you attempted but the boy wasn’t having it.

“No, I prefer you here,” Lando said, squeezing your body to punctuate his point. “And the chat missed you too. It would be rude if you left.”

“This can’t be comfy for you,” you murmured, your voice a little softer in hopes the microphone wouldn’t pick it up.

But Lando just grinned at you—that wide, huge grin that took over his face and made his eyes crinkle and sent a flurry of butterflies through your stomach. 

“You’re exactly where I want you, baby.” 

And you couldn’t help but smile back. 

user: BABY??????

user: OH MY GOD IT’S CONFIRMED 

user: THIS IS SO KEWBFJWEKFBWE

max fewtrell: you’re such a fucking idiot 

max fewtrell: but happy for you guys<3

.

[jd-loves-fiction]

Requesting a Jade Leech thing where the reader and Jade have been broken up with, but he’s a manipulative bastard and fully intends on charming them back. Get as creative as you want with the prompt, I just wanna see him being all scheming lmao

(I’ve had “bad idea right?” stuck in my head on loop)

🌑I'm gonna make this a bit more comedic, hope you like it :))

𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞

Jade seemed strangely unaffected when you told him you wanted to break up, accepting it easily with an oddly peaceful smile on his face. Just what is he up to?

You tried to steer clear of him for a while, in fear of what he might be scheming as well as for your own emotional stability, but he always just seemed to be there. 

Studying in the library? There he is, just standing around suspiciously, looking as effortlessly beautiful as always.

Enjoying a snack at the lounge? He’s the only one who brings it to you everytime, despite how many other workers there are, flashing a soft, gentlemanly smile and wishing you ‘bon appétit’ in a sugar sweet tone.

Talking to a cute underclassman stuttering through his attempt at asking for your number? Suddenly he seizes up like he’s being shocked and makes up some sorry excuse to run off in the other direction. When you turn around, there he is, smiling innocently and waving at you from where he stands – no doubt having a hand in what just happened.

You quickly started to understand why he looked so unbothered when you were breaking up with him – that was his scheming face, already thinking up ways of driving you back to his arms.

Loneliness won't be what does it. You’re stubborn, damn it! And the more he tries the more you want to see how far he’s willing to take this little game. It shows effort, at least, it’s just a shame he seems so hellbent on making you give in instead of having an adult conversation. 

So you play his game. Jade is a jealous man – nothing makes him spring into action like envy, this you know for certain. Next time you pass by the lounge to study, you make sure to sit at the bar and never acknowledge him, instead making loud conversation with Floyd about… whatever it is he’s rambling about, though he seems to be in a happy mood which is good for you.

He talks so much at you that it’s barely a conversation, more like a sermon of some kind – especially so given his passionate tone, Though you know Jade pays little mind to those details while he’s boiling with jealousy behind the bar. And to anyone watching you two it sure looks like you’ve moved on from Jade and onto his brother.

You leave the lounge that day exhausted but pleased, knowing you’ve successfully riled Jade up more than he did you. Maybe this’ll be enough for him to let you move on… but then again… do you want to move on?

Caught up in your conflicting thoughts you fail to hear him approach until he’s breathing down your neck. Startling, your back bumps against a nearby wall as you quickly turn around, seeing Jade right in front of you with a strangely neutral expression on his pretty face.

“...Jade?” You try to sound casual, but you’re sure the fright seeps into your tone regardless of your efforts.

He calls your name softly in turn, a troubled look crossing his face for a moment, “Had a fun time listening to Floyd prattle?”

Lips twisting in indignation, you righten your posture, “Very much so! He's a surprisingly good listener – compared to a certain brother of his.”

“Oh, really?”

“Really.” You assure him disingenuously, arms crossed petulantly. Jade watches you silently for a moment, a familiar look of longing in his eyes – forming a tightness in your chest, before he sighs heavily. For a moment you think he might finally be honest with you, open up about how he truly feels and vow to be better – it’s all it’d take for you to take him back. But of course, it can't be that easy to change such a man.

For now, he settles for leaning in close, one hand against the wall behind you and taking a lock of hair between his fingers before bringing it to his lips. You hold in an undignified squeal.

“Just don't have too much fun with him. We both know he could never compare.”

You scoff, “I think you’ve been watching too many romance movies. You seem to be getting slightly delusional.” Shouldering past him you walk away without looking back to see his thoughtful expression. Not that you’d know what it means or care! Hmph!

If only you could both just talk to each other,  there’d be no need for these silly games. Though they sure are fun…

[puck-luck]

calling quinn “captain” in bed and he goes feral

warnings: emosh quinn, sex as comfort HIII, masturbation (fingering), wee bit of dirty talk, riding, unprotected p in v, use of "captain" pairing: quinn hughes x fem!reader summary: the one where quinn comes home after the 'nucks are knocked out of the playoffs (i am not manifesting!!) and he and his girl make up for the time missing each other. wc: 1601

The playoffs had come to an end with a simmer for the Canucks. Quinn, who had led his team to so many victories throughout the season, was headed home after game seven of the second round– just narrowly missing the finals for the Stanley Cup.

You had called him briefly after the game, but he wasn’t in the mood to talk. He had been quiet, listening to you speak about your day– a topic that he himself had requested, so unhappy with his game that he didn’t even want to acknowledge the fact that he played hockey for a living.

Listening to you talk about the book that you read that day, the walk that you had gone on with your best friend, and the annoying conversation you had to have with your boss that you hate made him feel like he was just a normal guy for a day.

Now, with him on the way home, you were ready to comfort him in any way that you could.

And it started by making him forget about his problems in the way that only you were allowed to do.

That’s why you were waiting on your couch, naked, legs spread and a finger on your clit. Quinn was due to walk through the door at any minute and the first thing you wanted him to see when he walked into his apartment was his girlfriend waiting for him.

Quinn mused about your beauty all the time, whether it was in public or just to you or just to himself. He had told you many times over the course of his relationship that though you were beautiful all the time, there was nothing like the way you looked underneath him as his cock thrust inside you. 

Tonight, he would certainly be inside you. You were just hoping that you’d be the one on top of him, taking care of him, making him feel good.

The lock flipped as Quinn unlocked the door, making you perk up and tilt your head with innocent eyes at the front door. 

“Hi, Q,” You greeted.

Quinn had crossed the threshold with his head down, dragging his suitcase behind him. His face was soft when he looked up at you, placated like he was happy to see you but still so, so sad. Then, his eyes fixed on your fingers, the ones that were running up and down your glistening slit.

“Hi,” Quinn replied, seeming frozen in place. His eyes darted between yours and your fingers.

“I’ve been thinking about you,” You said. You reached up to pinch a nipple between the fingers of your other hand, watching Quinn’s eyes follow your movements.

He shrugged off his jacket, toed off his shoes. “Anything in particular?” He asked.

“Been missing your cock, Q. I’ve been feeling so empty without you around to fill me up.”

His eyes widened almost imperceptibly. Quinn shifted his weight from one foot to the other, reaching up to unbutton his shirt. 

As the expanse of his chest appeared to you, the light dusting of hair that you loved so much, you moaned softly and pushed a finger inside yourself. It was smaller than Quinn’s, and the angle was always weird when you fingered yourself, and it was hard to get any real pleasure without getting your other hand on your clit, but it was worth seeing the look on Quinn’s face and the way his pants tightened.

“I tried my fingers, Q. I tried my toys. They just– oh– they weren’t as good as you.”

“Fuck, I missed you,” Quinn said, crossing the room and kneeling over you. “That mouth, so dirty, baby.”

You leaned up, capturing Quinn’s soft lips with your own. The kiss was wet, both of you trying to convey just how much you had wanted each other while Quinn was gone without saying a single word. Your finger never ceased moving inside of you, although Quinn had started to rub over your clit. You worked in tandem, comfortably, making your body roll into the pressure. Your movements, and his, were slow, savoring the fact that you were together again and would be for nearly the whole off season.

“I want to ride you,” You breathed into Quinn’s mouth, so quiet that he would practically have to taste the words on his tongue to understand you.

He did, though. Of course he understood what you said. He knew immediately, with the way he wrapped his arms around you and pulled you with him as he sat back onto the couch. He fumbled with his pants, unzipping them and pulling them down his thighs just enough that they were out of the way. 

You sank down on his cock as soon as he pressed it against your opening, your mouth falling open with the sensation.You panted into Quinn’s mouth as you began to lift yourself up and down. 

Quinn’s hands were resting on your hips, doing nothing except acting as a presence, something to anchor you as you rose and fell on his length. 

“Feel so good,” Quinn praised, transfixed by the way your hair was framing your face and the way you bit your bottom lip when you found your g-spot without his help. “Was this what you imagined while I was gone, doll?”

“Yeah, yeah,” You agreed. “Fuck, Quinn, I needed you to take care of me.”

His heart quivered in his chest at that, those words meaning more to him than so many of the things you could have said when he came home. 

“I’m here,” Quinn assured you, his fingers pressing into your skin, grabbing and enveloping the shape of your hipbones. “Gonna take care of you forever.”

“So good.” You began to bounce up and down harder, more quickly, relishing in the way Quinn’s skin slapped against yours. “Q,” You whined, clutching at the muscles of his shoulder, one hand pressing against his chest. “Quinn, I’m gonna come, oh, Captain…”

All the breath flew out of Quinn like it was stolen from his lungs, squeezed like a tube of toothpaste that had just one more use left in it. It was like his vision went dark, the word echoing in his head. Captain, captain, captain.

Quinn’s hips moved of their own accord. His hands, having once rested delicately on your hips, were now clutching your ass desperately. 

“My girl, fuck, need me to take charge like I do on the ice? Need your captain to fill you up ‘cuz you can’t make yourself feel good? Have I spoiled you that much?” Quinn rambled, fucking into you with earnest. 

He brought one hand up to the back of your neck, pulling you flush against his chest. His hips were like a machine, fucking into you so well, so consistently. It was militant, Quinn able to play you like a violin after memorizing your body long, long ago.

You could only moan in response, the kiss of his cock against your walls, as strong as a heartbeat turning your mind to jelly. What was originally a night meant to tease Quinn, to prioritize him, had quickly devolved into a night of mind-numbing, leg-shaking pleasure for you.

“Looked so good, touching yourself when I walked in,” Quinn continued. “Such a pretty sight to walk into. You’re all mine, huh? Just needed me to come home and make you feel good? Show me what I was missing?”

“Quinn,” You whimpered.

“Captain,” He corrected.

“Captain,” You repeated, drawn out. As if hypnotized, you were willing to repeat back anything he said. “Can I come?”

Quinn groaned, gravelly in the back of his throat. He lifted you up and down to meet his thrusts, watching the way his cock disappeared inside of you. His eyes focused on the ring of your wetness around the base of his cock, the clear pool of juice that glinted on his abdomen in the light.

“Please,” You begged, your head finding the curve of his neck. “It’s so good, Cap. I need to come, please let me come.”

“Come, baby,” Quinn encouraged, his thrusts growing uncoordinated as you squeezed him. “Come with me.” With just a few more thrusts, Quinn felt himself burst, spurting inside of you. The aftershocks overtook him when you let out a sigh at the feeling of him, his warmth, filling you up in a way it hadn’t in so long that you’d missed so much. 

For a few minutes, you and Quinn just basked in the feeling of being reunited with the person you loved. 

“Captain,” He eventually said aloud, stating it like he was feeling out the way the word felt in his mouth. Quinn eyed you, raising a brow.

“I like the way you take care of your team,” You admitted. You reached out and toyed with the hair at the nape of his neck, twirling it around your finger. “Reminds me of how you take care of me.”

Quinn’s heart flipped in a funny way, something akin to heartbreak but so much warmer. “I love you so much,” He said, forcing the words out in a way that he hoped conveyed just how genuinely he felt them. 

You smiled, soft and sweet, and continued to play with his hair. You two sat there, on the couch in the presence of the other, until you lost track of time. Eventually, when you were blinking slowly and Quinn could feel your eyelashes beginning to flutter against his neck in a way that signaled your exhaustion, he picked you up and carried you to bed.

Always taking care of you.

note: ANOTHER MONDAY MORNING ONESHOT! I AM NOTHING IF NOT CONSISTENT ABOUT MONDAY MORNINGS! feeling like a fuckin pirate writing this captain shit (i love y'all and i looove reading captain kink fics (that one threesome between quinn and nico...) but i felt like a damn pirate! aye aye matey!) i'll stick to my daddy kink a-thank-yewwww also: game 4? in nash? holy shit! quinn's hair is so much darker in person and it looks so fluffy. he's pretty (and looks lost all the time) and also i never saw him make eye contact with anyone standing at the glass during warmups. also-also his tapejob on his socks was so weird? also also also: he was adjusting his gear literally every thirty seconds between whistles and no one else was– does your gear not fit, brother?

[ophelisstuff]

Paige bueckers × reader who loves books.

BOOKWORM | P.B X READER

authors note : i’ve been procrastinating on this big time srry if it’s not the best.

requested by : @paqerings

summery : Paige, someone who isn’t a fan of books finds herself tolerating all because of the person she’s fallen in love with.

word count : 808.

warnings : fluff that’s it

You and Paige had met at Uconn’s library on a rainy day. You being there to check out books for fun and Paige being there to find text books because she had no other choice.

A stack of books in your hand, you walked through the isles of bookshelves — looking for anything else that caught your eye. Unaware that the odd amount of books in your hand had caught Paige’s.

“Are you really going to read all those books?” The blonde questioned, disregarding the fact you were a complete stranger. Focused on finding out why there were so many books in your hand.

“Every last one” You replied, knowing that you wouldn’t be returning to the library until the pile of books in your hand were all completed.

“That’s impossible. no human is reading that many books.” Paige shrugged, finding it unbelievable that a person would optionally spend their time buried in a book.

The blonde just couldn’t understand it. What was it about books that grabbed everyones attention but hers?

Paige hated the idea of reading a book so much, she found herself on the brink of tears when having to study.

Even daring to pay classmates or bribe friends to complete reading assignments because she’d rather be out or playing basketball for fun.

“It’s definitely possible” You muttered, confusion building as you wondered why this familiar blonde was following you around all of a sudden.

It wasn’t like you didn’t know who she was. Everyone on campus knew of Paige Bueckers and admired her athletic talents.

However, you couldn’t get over the way she just talked your ear off and walked alongside you.

Disregarding any thought of you being a stranger and talking as if you two were the closest of friends. “Have you ever read a book?”

You asked, stopping in front of the mystery section — eyes drifting from book spine to book spine for something eye catching.

“No- well yes - duh. Just not a chapter book of any sort. It’s never been my thing so i’ve never tried to”

The blonde admitted, standing beside you — watching as you became fixated on the book titles.

“Well, find the right book and when you do, get back to me” You encouraged, sending the girl a short lived smile.

Picking up a final book as you headed to the front desk in order to check out.

Leaving the blonde with curiosity and confusion as she watched you walk away. Realizing she hadn’t even gotten a chance to introduce herself — let alone ask your name.

However, the blonde decided to take your advice and find a book that suited her — determined to impress you in the future.

present day —

“Can you hurry up! I wanna know what happens to Lucy Gray!”

Paige shouted, growing impatience as she sat on the couch — holding a copy of her The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes in her hands.

Finding herself obsessed with the Hunger Games book series — the blonde had managed to ‘read’ all three books from the series. And having you read the forth to complete it.

In all honesty, Paige still hadn’t read a full book on her own. Often times listening to the audio version of it or having you read a chapter to her daily.

The confusion for your love of books remained the same, however she’d grown to admire how fixated you were on them.

Growing use to how you always carried a book on you, reading whenever you could wherever you could.

Often times venturing to Barnes and Noble’s when you go book shopping. Her interest drifting to the lego sets while you walk the endless shelves of books.

“Give me a second! I’m finding a blanket”

You yelled back, picking up the throw blanket off of your girlfriends bed. Placing your reading glasses on your face as you walked down the hallway and to the living room.

“Finally! took you long enough” She muttered with a smile.

Throwing the blanket on Paige, you smiled laid beside her. The blondes head instantly becoming situated and comfortable on your shoulder.

“Oh whatever, hand me the book”

You joked, taking the story book out of her hand. Unaware of how a complete stranger who hated books turned into your girlfriend who tolerated certain ones.

You found solace in books, and being able to read them to your girlfriend — cuddled up on the couch brought you even more peace.

You nor Paige would trade this experience for anything else in the world. Often times expressing how you were both grateful for that interaction at the school’s library.

“Chapter eleven. Lucy Gray’s words stung but, on reflection, were well deserved.”

You began, Paige becoming silent as she listened to your soothing voice. Eager to hear the story being told.

[inf3ct3dd]

ellie headcanons ..!

warnings : literally none, perfectly sfw 😍😍

content: loser!ellie x reader, more ellie-focused than relationship focused (sorryyyy 😞😞)

authors note: i’ve literally never done headcanons omg 😓 this is js my random ramblings 🔥🔥🔥

pt. 2 ! taglist!!!! masterlist!!

- send you an excessive amount of reels. every 5 seconds. cute cats, random facts about space, stuff she thinks is funny, it all goes to you.

- definitely had a “rock collection” when she was little, but she was so ???? excessive with it??? like every time she saw a rock she picked it up. she walked so weird bc her pockets were just FULL OF ROCKS.

- also, was literally the grimiest kid ever. playing in ROLLING IN the mud, going snail hunting when it rained!!! she was the kid that would go in the bushes and mess w rolly pollies all the time for NO REASON.

- is weirdly good at fishing?? joel took her all the time, and shes a self proclaimed “fishing master”

- WAYYY clumsy. always running into a wall, tripping on air, or missing steps on the stairs (smh its cuz of that damn phone 😒😒)

- im so into the whole “adam sandler” fits cuz its so true. esp during the summer, its some stupid t shirt that says “master baiter” and a pair of old basketball shorts.

- speaking of t shirts, she’s def the type to own an absurd amount of dumb t shirts.

- gets all her clothes from like, walmart and goodwill. she does not CARE!!!

- cuts her own hair too 🤞🏽🤞🏽 shes soooo self sufficient 😍😍😍

- bites. she is such a biter.

- speaking of, i feel like she js has to have something in her mouth constantly. gum, random pieces of plastic, bottle caps, pens, anything 😞

- speaking of mouths (wow sierra so many connections!!!) she def had braces , but she hates wearing her retainer so her teeth are like ever-so-slightly fucked up

- is AMAZING at committing to the bit. she will drag it for DAYSSS if you don’t tell her to stop. once did a (awful) british accent for 4 days until you threw something at her and told her to shut the fuck up

- definitely not shy, just kind of…odd. she’ll talk to anyone that talks to her, she just doesn’t really approach people.

- weird obsession with pickles. has a pickle stuffed animal with a mustache and glasses that she bought from goodwill

- hangs up so much stuff on her walls!!!! tickets, old notes, cards, pictures of people, drawings, old tickets, literally anything she thinks looks cool

- obsessed with rollercoasters!!! she took you to the fair for your first date

- also like- very good at fair games. she’s so cocky about it too, you’ll go home with like 20 stuffed animals she won for you and she’ll carry ALL OF THEM with the stupidest smile on her face

- wears all of joels old contractor-workwear clothes during the colder months

- trys so hard to be “mysterious” but she’s never actually doing anything so she just does stuff like not telling you what movie she’s watching or what she’s eating

- also just texts you 24-7!!! like every time she’s doing something she’s like “i made a quesadilla” “i went to the store” “i took a shower” she just looooves keeping you updated

- tries to raise one eyebrow but ends up just squinting one eye. so funny 😞😞

- really good at solving rubix cubes???

- definitely had a fuck ass bob at one point

- GLASSES. that is all. glasses.

- listens to so much dad rock, midwest emo, indie, she LOVES male manipulator music!! but like she isn’t like thatttt shes so niceeee 😞😞

- mostly calls you babe/baby, she’ll call you really dumb pet names as a joke like “pookie” 😭😭

[natihoneybee]

Kagi-kun & the Basketball Team and HiraKagi Theories Post Chapter 29

In my free time, I spent the last few days rereading all of Hirano & Kagiura (including the novel) and then skimming through all of Sasaki & Miyano for Easter eggs. I wanted to compile as many details as I could find that’s related to Kagiura and his basketball team. I’m doing this to organize my thoughts better, and piece together details about the team.

While going through the material, I did come up with more theories for the upcoming chapter(s). But I might have to make a separate thread depending on how long the post gets. Anyway, I want this post to have facts and key details, so I’ll try to include volume and page numbers, too.

The first half of the post about Kagi-kun & the basketball team possibly has some spoilers for Ch. 29 but not really. Just in case I’m putting it under a “read more” line.

What we know about the basketball team

These are the names of basketball players mentioned so far: Shirahama Kyouji, Tomonori Kuda, Yamada, and Muroi Yuuki. These are the basketball players’ numbers we know about so far: Kagiura is #11 and there are two players who are #7 & #4 from a Shirahama flashback (Vol 10, chapter 49, page 18-19).

We know that Kagiura and the basketball team go to the city to watch basketball games or play outside of practice at a gym (Vol 4, chapter 11, page 7). Kagiura tells Hirano that there’s an arena nearby where a pro basketball team plays. And that the school basketball team sometimes takes the school buses (Vol 1, chapter 4, page 17). Based on some paperwork in (Vol 6, chapter 27, page 7), it looks like there is going to be an off-campus basketball retreat in the near future, which I think is going to come up in the next chapter and might be part of a larger arc in the next volume. But I will address that idea at the end in the “Basketball Retreat Theory” section.

Kagiura Akira

*I'm gonna be brief with Kagi's section because I could go on and on about him hehe

I’m really excited to see more of how Kagiura interacts with his teammates on the basketball team. While rereading, I focused on the scenes of Kagi with his basketball teammates and these scenes from (Vol 5, ch 23a) really stood out to me. Kagiura overhears another player complaining about him “getting out of cleaning” (Vol 5, ch 23a, page 3). And when he meets up with Hirano later that chapter, it’s revealed he’s late because he stayed behind and that “they needed help cleaning up” (Vol 5, ch 23a, page 8). I think that really goes to show the type of person Kagi is and how much he cares about the basketball club. He really works hard at it and doesn’t want anyone questioning his dedication to it. I'll get into this trait of his later in the Basketball Retreat Theory.

Jealous-kun

*I saw someone in another post say that this guy^ complaining about Kagi “getting out of cleaning” from (Vol 5, ch 23a, page 3) is the same guy in (Vol 6, chapter 29). And OMGG you are totally right!! GAAAHHH!! Idk his name though. If anyone could come up with a nickname while we wait, that would make talking about him easier (i’ll prob just call him jealous-kun for now). I'm assuming based on the translation, that he's also a second year.

Back to Kagi

Another thing I’ve been thinking about is a scene from (Vol 3, chapter 14, page 10-12) where a girl tries to give chocolates to Kagi on valentines day. I think her near confession is very precious. Kagi is so sweet about kindly turning down her chocolates. He seems really serious about what she has to say to him, too: he’s genuinely listening, asks her for her name, thanks her for watching their games and offers to walk her to the station. And the words she used to describe him “you looked so cool and mature when you were focusing”, definitely stuck with him in the context of Hirano: “I wonder if he’d think I’m cool and fall for me if I acted more mature”. Just something to think about. Now, this valentine’s day scene reminds of a scene in sasamiya with Shirahama, but I’ll get to that in his character section below.

Shirahama Kyouji

Shirahama in HiraKagi

Shirahama and Kagiura seem to be close, they frequently play basketball together even when there’s no practice scheduled, like during lunch (Vol 3, chapter 12, page 9-19) and on weekends (Vol 4, chapter 11, page 7). Someone in another post called them “basketball buddies” hehe. I think we’re definitely going to see more of their friendship as teammates in the upcoming chapters. Shirahama talks a lot about wanting a girlfriend, and often whines about how Kagiura is so popular with girls (Vol 4, chapter 20.6, pages 2-5). In the extra “Something About White Day”, Shirahama learns that Kagi has an unrequited love though, so I’m wondering if they will talk about love later on or if Kagiura will open up about his crush on Hirano to Shirahama. And even though Shirahama lightly complains about Kagi’s popularity with girls, he definitely cares about and respects Kagi enough to defend him from other players who are jealous of Kagi (Vol 5, ch 23a, page 3).

Shirahama in SasaMiya

Now jumping to the sasamiya series real quick in their third year: Something I’ve noticed is shirahama becoming more of a regular character since Vol 8. And we finally get a character name tag for him in (Vol 8, chapter 42, page 4). Since he’s becoming a bigger role in the sasamiya series, this goes back to my idea of shirahama possibly having a bigger role in hirakagi, too (i.e. he and kagi talking more about crushes or relationships). When I reread the parts of how Shirahama reacted to sasaki and miyano’s relationship (with the context of hirakagi) I started thinking: Does Shirahama know something about Kagiura and Hirano (to some extent)? Like maybe he knows that Kagiura has a crush or at this point is in a relationship that’s secret. Before learning about Miyano and Sasaki, maybe shirahama’s only example of how a couple acts was Kagiura and his experiences. Since, Shirahama seemed really surprised that Miyano wasn’t keeping his relationship a secret, I wonder if maybe Kagiura ever confided to Shirahama about his feelings for or eventual relationship with Hirano and if it was kept secret at some point because they were roommates (this is only the case if they start dating while being roommate, but I think they start dating in Kagiura’s third year tbh).

For Reference, here are the page numbers in sasamiya with Shirahama that I’m referring to: (Vol 8, chapter 42, page 4-8), (Vol 9, chapter 43, page 8), (Vol 10, chapter 49, page 18-21). And these are the specific Shirahama scenes/lines that stick out to me in the sasamiya series that may or may not back up my hirakagi theory involving shirahama (or I’m just delulu *shrug*):

In (Vol 8, chapter 42, page 4) Shirahama says “I’m never gonna get the chance to stay late at school getting everything ready for the cultural festival and then leave with a girl after I tell her it’s dangerous so she should let me walk her home!” He says it’s from a sim game, but it’s really specific and actually reminded me of Kagiura on valentine’s day haha. I wonder if this will happen to Kagiura in his 2nd year in the upcoming cultural festival.

“Let’s say I don’t find a girlfriend before college. Then I’m gonna end up getting a job and going out drinking, saying, ‘I wanna get married…!’ I feel like I’m gonna end up sounding like this guy on the team, and I don’t want that.” (vol 8, ch 42, pg 5).

“You scared me…!! You can’t just say that! It’s a secret!” (vol 8, ch 42, pg 7)

Shirahama says “Is that really what couples usually do…? Guess I was overthinking it.” (Vol 9, ch 43, pg 8)

I’m really interested in what y’all think about the scene in (Vol 10, chapter 49, page 18-21). It seems like Shirahama really doesn’t want to miss basketball practice and the flashback scene he recalls actually hits a nerve. Do you think maybe Shirahama is feeling insecure about his role in the basketball club here? Like maybe he’s not always part of the main team in tournaments? I initially thought that this was a Kagi cameo, but the jersey’s say #4 and #7, and I’ve read somewhere that Kagi’s jersey number is #11.

*Side note: I can’t remember which page in sasamiya it was, but Shirahama mentions going on group dates a lot. Is he going with some guys from the basketball team? If anyone knows, please please pleasee let me know. Obviously, I don’t think Kagi would go, but I can imagine him being asked to go to help the other guys out or “evening out the numbers” haha OR being asked NOT to go because he’s too popular with girls. It could be a funny scene to see idk.

Okay, I think that’s all I have to say about Shirahama on the basketball team for now. I’ll probably refer back to him later though.

Tomonori Kuda

I think he’s the one Kagi mentions in these passages in the HiraKagi light novel on pages 22 and 26. And I think that they might have a “rivals to teammates to friends” type of relationship. At least, that’s the impression I got from the novel when Kagi cheers for him at the Sports Festival and thinks “I’ve gotta tell him how glad I am that he joined the basketball team.”

Also, you can see the name “Tomonori Kuda” in Kagiura’s phone call log, and before Hirano called, he was the last person Kagi talked to on the phone (Vol 1, chapter 3, page 31). So, I’m kinda hoping that they’re close and we see more of that. When the regular players are called over at practice, Kagi and Kuda’s names are both called, and we get to put a face to the name (Vol 5, ch 23a, page 4).

Yamada “Run, Yamada!”

Someone is named Yamada (unknown given name) on the basketball team. This is literally just based on this one background character during practice when Shirahama is talking to Sasaki in (SasaMiya Vol 9, chapter 46, page 11 ) lol.

Muroi Yuuki “headband-kun”

I saw someone referring to him as “headband-kun” in a tag and I thought it was the cutest thing. Muroi Yuuki is a newer character we’ve just been introduced to, and we know he’s Kagiura’s kouhai. He’s a first year, while Kagi is a second year. I believe his first appearance is (Vol 6, chapter 27, page 4 & 7). In the scene where Kagi is helping Muroi with paperwork in (Vol 6, chapter 27, page 7), we see a close up of his name and his reason for staying off-campus. We see quite a bit of him in Chapter 29: where he’s on the school bus with the basketball team, he asks Kagiura which activity he’s doing, introduces himself to Hirano telling him he’s on the basketball team and then asks to have Hirano’s contact information. So we know that 1) he will be at the off-campus basketball retreat, 2) he’s a kouhai on the basketball team, 3) He really looks up to Kagiura. I think he’s adorable and I am soooo looking forward to seeing more of Kagiura and Muroi’s kouhai/senpai relationship. I am so glad Kagiura finally has a kouhai of his own! Also, that part where Kagi gives Muroi his phone to watch a game… so cute, it’s giving ipad kid lmao 🤣😭.

HiraKagi Theories (Spoilers for Chapter 29!!!)

Okay! So that’s it for what I have on the basketball team profiles. I’m gonna get into what I think is going happen after Chapter 29. This section is definitely going to have spoilers!

Basketball Retreat Theory

I think there are going to be multiple arcs coming into play during the months May-October of Hirano’s 3rd and Kagiura’s 2nd year (Hirakagi Vol 7 and onward). First, I’m going to address my Basketball Retreat Theory. Based on some paperwork in (Vol 6, chapter 27, page 7), it looks like there is going to be an off-campus basketball retreat in the near future, which I think is actually going to come up in the next chapter and might be part of a larger arc in this coming up volume.

I can’t remember exactly where this image^ is from, but it got me thinking: Does Kagi become the new captain for the basketball team? I don’t think that’s something that has been confirmed or not but it just makes sense, right? I just get the feeling there’s gotta be more behind the question that Hanzawa is asking Shirahama, especially since Hanzawa is so familiar with Kagiura and his character. I mean like Hanzawa had asked Kagi about being an RA at some point. Kagi was in the running for being an RA without even realizing it! Tashiro (who became ping pong captain) mentioned that he started getting scouted for the position during the summer/ cultural festival season, which is coming up soon in the hirakagi timeline.

Now, back to the basketball retreat and upcoming tournaments: If Kagi’s senpais on the basketball team are going to start scouting for the new team captain, I am absolutely positive they are going to partially determine who to choose based on how well things run smoothly at the retreat and tournaments. Going back to Kagiura’s profile from earlier, we know he’s Basketball Team Captain worthy and Hirano has even said to Kagi that “They’re well aware of how hard you’ve been working” (Vol 5, chapter 23b, page 6). Not to even mention, Kagi in his 2nd year has now been training and teaching the younger members too! So, following this theory that Kagi is in the running for becoming the new basketball team captain, I think this definitely adds to the possibility that we will see some basketball team drama. Especially if Jealous-kun is another 2nd year basketball player in the team interested in that position.

Homophobic Jealous-kun Theory

Now, this other theory involves Jealous-kun much more. My other theory is that Jealous-kun, who has a history of intently watching Kagiura, catches Kagiura having a moment with Hirano—and like Hirano with Inchinose—Kagi makes eye contact and realizes they were caught. Only, Jealous-kun isn’t as sweet about it and reacts homophobically. If this does happen, I actually think this might go a really angsty route where Hirano and/or Hanzawa get involved. Like… I’m wondering if there will be a physical fight between Kagi and Jealous-kun (which just thinking about that scares me so much cause idek if Kagi can fight??) But the reason I think this is a huge possibility is because of some clues in both hirakagi and sasamiya series.

It’s been brought up multiple times that Hirano is good in a fight, in (Vol 1, chapter 3, page 14) Sasaki tries to reassure Hanzawa that “Hirano’s good in a fight. If anything happens, he’ll be fine… I think”. To which Hanzawa replies “That ‘I think’ doesn’t really make me feel better”. So I’m wondering if there will be a point in the story where we will see Hirano get in a physical fight. Either he fights someone *cough cough maybe jealous kun?* to defend Kagi or Kagi is in a physical fight with someone *cough cough maybe jealous kun?* and Hirano gets involved to try to split it up.

If this does happen, I think Hanzawa could be a witness to this situation. Fast forward to the scene from sasamiya (Vol 6, chapter 30, page 12). Hanzawa says “Some of the guys in my life are gay, and I’ve seen them get in fights before. It’s scary. Whenever they get hurt, I always worry that something happened with one of their boyfriends…” Now, when I first read this scene I only thought about it in the context of Hanzawa’s brothers past relationships (maybe they dealt with domestic abuse). BUT in the context of hirakagi (it’s interesting that Hirano is pictured here), it’s definitely not the case of domestic abuse or toxic relationships.

I think the wording here is on purpose because 1) Hanzawa used the phrase “some of the guys in my life are gay” instead of just using “brothers”. So I immediately thought of Kagiura. 2) When he says “I always worry that something happened with one of their boyfriends”, I feel like it could have a double meaning where “that something” that “happened with one of their boyfriends” could be Hanzawa and Hirano finding out that Kagiura is in a fight with someone and Hirano dashes to him (we all remember how fast he ran when kagi was overtired).

*sigh* Just thinking about this situation is stressing me out. So for now I’m moving on to another thought process and that’s Hirano’s confession, but I’ll get back to Hanzawa later.

Hirano’s Confession

As of right now it’s May in the hirakagi timeline, the sports festival just happened and in the sasamiya timeline this is when Sasaki (awkwardly) confesses to Miyano. 

In the sasamiya series in (Vol 3, chapter 15, page 21), we have this beautiful moment between Hirano and Sasaki that happens in June. Hmph. So, Hirano’s reaction definitely feels personal, right?? Because there’s definitely a window between May and June, I wouldn’t be surprised if Harusono stretched out that period of time. Still, I’m pretty positive that Hirano is going to confess in June right before or right after this scene with Sasaki. Hirano’s comment: “Stop making excuses and just tell him already!” Absolutely confirms to me that there is going to be something on Hirano’s mind that he might use as an excuse to wait to tell Kagi, that will delay his confession, or that will just make him feel hesitant. And I think that something could be related to the basketball retreat theory, the homophobic jealous kun theory, or how Hanzawa feels about gay relationships (at this point in the series). And when he tells this to Sasaki, I think he’s also saying this to himself (maybe).

Hanzawa’s Involvement

Time to get back to Hanzawa. In the sasamiya timeline, we’re officially introduced to his character with a name tag in (sasamiya Vol 4, chapter 19, page 8). At this time, it’s July. I think it’s really interesting that Harunsono chose this point to officially introduce Hanzawa, especially with Hirano’s dorm life brought up on the same page and Hanzawa seeming to be unphased. Later in (sasamiya Vol 4, chapter 22, page 19-20 & 24) Hanzawa and Miyano are discussing what love is. At this time, it’s September during cultural festival preparations. I saw someone in another post say that it feels like Hanzawa is repeating someone else’s words. I believe this is definitely the case. In the Sasaki and Miyano anime, Hanzawa’s speech actually overlaps with scenes of Hirano & Kagiura and Kuresawa & Ogasawara on the phone with their respective girlfriends. And the reference to Hirano and Kagiura feels like such an obvious clue now looking back at it. The conversation between Hanzawa and Miyano (in the anime and manga) goes like this: 

Miyano: What do you think it means to like someone?

Hanzawa: I think it depends on the person. Like wanting to do stuff with them? Or like wanting to be together. Wanting to hold hands. Wanting to touch them. Wanting to kiss them. Wanting to hold them. Or wanting to have them all to yourself. … Love is when you can’t stop thinking about the other person, or so they say.

Everything that Hanzawa says and uses as an example of Love literally relates back to Hirano and Kagiura. So, it could be that this is a speech that Hirano has said to Hanzawa before. Even the phrasing reminds me of Hirano. Like in hirakagi (chapter 29, pages 12-13 & 16) when Hirano is talking to Ichinose, Hirano asks “Have you ever wanted to kiss someone? … And try various things. … I’m fine with touching them”. Hirano is sorta still figuring out the type of “like/love” he feels for kagiura (although in chapter 29, page 34 it looks like he’s realized it’s the same as kagiura’s like/love), but once he figures it out completely, I think he’s going to share this information with Hanzawa. And explain it to Hanzawa with personal examples: 

Kagiura and Hirano feel love differently (it depends on the person)

Sometimes it’s wanting to try various things (like wanting to do stuff with them?)

Wanting to continue living together as roommates (like wanting to be together)

Wanting to hold hands (something Hirano and Kagiura have done)

Wanting to touch them (the 10 seconds touch everyday)

Wanting to kiss them (something Kagiura or Ichinose want to do when they like someone)

Wanting to hold them (hugging)

Wanting to have them all to yourself (dating and Kagi's "More than anything, I want to be with you" in chapter 29, page 28)

When you can’t stop thinking about the other person (literally Hirano every moment of everyday and Kagi when Hirano leaves)

And I think this is going to happen in July, since that’s when Hanzawa was introduced to the sasamiya series and seems to be more open to gay relationships by this time. I just think that Harusono is very intentional with their characters and would set it up this way. Especially since in (sasamiya Vol 4, chapter 19, page 8) Hanzawa doesn’t seem to be as worried as he did before about Hirano and Kagiura’s dorm life as roommates (him no longer being an RA might be a factor as well, but I think it’s mostly because Hirano has talked it over with Hanzawa regarding his closeness with Kagi).

*Side Note: Now this isn't really about Hanzawa's involvement, but on the topic of Hirano’s feelings and for the sake of sticking to chronological order with referencing chapter 29 so much, I'm going to put it here. Are we going to get a kiss in the next chapter?? Before they were interrupted by Muroi (chapter 29, page 30), it seems like they were talking about trying it (when they have more privacy, like maybe back at the dorm?). Because like… Hirano didn’t say no, just not here. Ya know?

Hirakagi Timeline Post Chapter 29

Okay, so I think I’ve addressed everything I wanted to. But to lay it out in a more organized fashion, here is a timeline based on all my theories and how I think it could pan out post chapter 29:

May -> Right now we’re at the Sports Festival

May - June -> basketball retreat/tournaments/team drama that Kagiura is gonna have to face; the basketball retreat theory, the homophobic jealous-kun theory? (could happen anywhere between May-July)

June -> Hirano’s confession!! (hopefully)

June - July -> Hirano and Hanzawa’s heart to heart moment

September - October -> Cultural festival; possible basketball tournament (shoutout to @rubyrose143 for finding this easter egg in sasamiya chapter 23.1)

December - January -> New Year’s Eve (Kagi is sick; Hirano goes to the shrine with Sasaki and meets Miyano, Kuresawa and Tashiro there in the "Special Drama CD My Wish", also shown as an extra chapter in sasamiya Vol 3)

Well, that's it. I hope this was somewhat helpful and entertaining to read. Thank you all for interacting, please let me know if I missed anything, and please please please tell me what you think! ❤️

[celiastjamesoscar]

Wildest Dreams

Pairings: Sam Carpenter x fem!reader

Summary: you are helplessly head over heels for Sam, even though she despises you. But your relationship with her changes when you get in a lightly physical altercation with her.

Warnings: light sweating, reader accidentally walks in on Sam changing, small violence

My Masterlist

AN: if you have the time, I highly recommend reading ‘The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo’ and watching ‘Carol’ <3

Word count: 6.3K

For the first time in what seemed a millennium, you finally had the house to yourself. Anika was out with Mindy for a date, and your other roommate, Luke, was doing god knows what, probably out fornicating with one of his many boyfriends, but you didn’t care. You only cared about relaxing on the couch and rewatching your comfort show, Game of Thrones.

You grabbed your phone and a bowl of popcorn and went to the couch. You curled up with the blanket hanging over the back of the sofa as you turned on your show.

Tarantula: you up? ;)

The ‘ding’ from the text pulled you away from the tv, and you smiled when you read the text from your best friend, Tara. The two of you had met on campus in the library and instantly became friends. You two bonded over your love for books and shared a passion for horror movies, even though your opinions drastically differ.

Sam lover: maybe, it depends on who’s asking

Tarantula: you’re best friend in the entire world?? Who else?

Sam lover: mhmmm, okay. What are we doing?

Tarantula: movie night, obviously

Sam lover: sure, I’ll be over in ten

Tarantula: just a heads up, you’ll have to come in through my window

You raised your eyebrows at Tara’s message, ‘Why would I have to do that? I’ve been over before,’ you thought to yourself.

Sam lover: why?

Tarantula: because Sam is watching a movie in the living room, and we are hanging out in my room

Sam lover: fuck, okay. why does she still hate me?

Tarantula: I don’t know, but don’t make any noise when you come over. Sam can’t know and don’t try and hit on her if you see her

To say that you and Sam were acquaintances would be an understatement; Sam despised you, while the woman completely enchanted you. Sam was so tall and handsome as hell. She’s bad for you, but she does it so well; you could see the end as it begins. You admired her strength, both physically and mentally, and you loved the way she cared so much about her sister. And that was also your downfall; Sam believed that you were no good for Tara, as every time Tara did something stupid, you were always at the scene of the crime. Of course, Sam didn’t know that you were always there because you tried your best to stop Tara out of respect for Sam (and a shitty attempt at winning her heart), but she never listened when you tried to explain yourself.

You scoffed at your best friend’s words. She knew of your infatuation with Sam and loved to tease you about it. At first, however, she thought it was a bit weird as you were her best friend and thought you were using her to get close to Sam, but after she saw you turn down an invite to go with Sam and Mindy to the movies just to stay at home and play Mario Kart with her, she knew that you were the real deal.

Tara found it a bit sad, though, because every time you would talk to Sam, you would either get silence, a death stare, or a one-word reply, but she would rather die than tell you that she felt pity for your shitty attempts to talk to her sister.

Sam lover: I will not be held responsible for my actions when I am around a beautiful woman with big brown eyes

Tarantula: yeah, yeah, whatever. just get over here soon and climb in through my window; I’ll leave it open

Sam lover: sounds good. I’m omw

With that, you shut your phone off, grabbed your backpack and put a spare change of clothes along with a cable to charge your phone in it, and went towards Tara’s apartment. You enjoyed walking by yourself as it allowed you to be with your thoughts, and you couldn’t help it when you started to think of Sam. The gravitational pull you felt towards the older woman was something you couldn’t explain even if you had to; you just knew that you couldn’t deny the attraction you felt. You longed to get lost in those dark eyes and don’t even get started on those muscular arms; to you, Sam was perfect, and you would count all the stars in the sky if you could call her yours for a moment.

When you reached the street Tara lived on, you sent Tara a quick message asking her which side her window would be on, and she responded with ‘the one that’s close to creepy ass alley,’ which was all of New York in your eyes.

Sam lover: that’s all of NY, Tarantula

Tarantula: It’s across from the McDonald’s, five stories up. And stop calling me ‘Tarantula.’ It’s offensive.

You laughed at your friend’s reply before sending back a quick ‘huh uh.’ You walked around the apartment until you saw the McDonald’s and then the creepy ass alleyway and looked up five stories. And true to her word, Tara had her window open for you. You climbed onto the fire escape and slowly made your way to Tara’s window before sending her a quick text telling her you were here, only you didn’t see the message she sent back telling you you weren’t at her window.

When you pushed Tara’s window the rest of the way and climbed halfway in, you nearly died; Sam was standing in a towel with her back facing you as she grabbed some clothes from her dresser. When she dropped her towel, your heart exploded, and it felt like you were in your wildest dream. You admired her perfect curves, and then the leg that you had in Sam’s room gave out, causing you to fall into Sam’s room with a loud thud.

Sam turned around with a shocked expression before she quickly turned back to her dresser and grabbed a knife. You could not seem to pry your eyes away from Sam’s chest, and you swore you could feel drool fall down your chin. You were too busy trying to engrave Sam’s naked figure into your brain that you didn’t feel the blade fly into your left thigh.

“Sam, I am so sorry,” you said as you tried to stand up on your legs, but one gave out and screamed in pain. The only thing on your mind was Sam’s breasts that you swore looked like the softest pillows ever.

“What the fuck is going-Oh my god! What happened to your leg?” Tara exclaimed after bursting into the room, disregarding her sister, who finally covered herself with a towel. At the mention of something wrong with your leg, you finally felt the sharp pain shoot through your entire leg as you stared at the blade in your thigh.

“You’re weird friend just broke into my room and stared at me while I was changing!” Sam stated as she grabbed her clothes and stormed off to the bathroom, clearly not caring about your wound. Tara quickly ran to your side and knelt beside you, “I am so sorry about this, Y/N. I didn’t know that she also had her window open.”

You shrugged off Tara’s comment as you tried to move, but the pain was too much. You watched as your crimson-red blood steeped onto the room’s flooring and stained your clothing. “Come on, we have to get you to a hospital,” Tara stated, pulling you up to the floor and leaning your weight onto her. By the time Tara had entered the living room and to the door, Sam was dressed and had her phone and keys in hand. “I’ll take you to the hospital; let’s go,” Sam stated as she moved Tara off you and took her place. It was pitiful how your face heated up when you felt Sam pull your left arm over her shoulders and hold it while her right arm was wrapped around your waist, allowing you to lean your weight onto her.

When you reached Sam’s car, Tara opened up the back row door and helped Sam lay you down on the seats before she got into the passenger door. “Do not die in my car, Y/N. I don’t need you to haunt my car,” Sam dryly stated as she closed the door and got in the driver’s side. You don’t remember much of the car ride to the hospital; the only thing on your mind was seeing Sam naked, and no matter how hard you tried, you would never be about to erase that beautiful image from your mind.

One moment you were daydreaming about the beautiful goddess that had just stabbed you, and then the next, you were in a hospital bed with stitches in your thigh. For the life of you, you couldn’t recall what had happened, just that you saw Sam naked, and then she stabbed you. You saw yourself, in hindsight, tangled up with her all night in your wildest dreams. Someday when your mind leaves you, you bet that the memory of Sam will follow you around.

“Oh, thank god, I thought I was going to have to murder Sam,” Tara said as she moved from the chair in the corner of the room and approached your bed. She sat on the edge of the bed and gently grabbed your hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “What happened? The last thing I remember was being in the back of Sam’s car,” you recalled as you looked around the room and saw Sam, who was standing creepily in the doorway with her arms crossed.

“You passed out on the drive here. You should have seen Sam, though; she was terrified you had actually died,” Tara said with a small laugh as she remembered her sister’s frantic attempts to make sure you were still alive, and she also wanted to let you know that Sam slightly cared about you.

Sam scoffed at her sister’s words as she uncrossed her arms and walked toward you. “I was worried you were going to ruin my seats and then haunt my car,” Sam stated coldly, but her eyes betrayed her icy stature. You could see the way her eyes darted across your body, subtly checking to see if you were actually okay, and how she had her hands shoved into the pockets on her bomber jacket, slightly ashamed that she had hurt you.

Within the first encounters you had with Sam, you noticed how she always hid her hands when she was ashamed of something, and right now, all you wanted to do was reach out and comfort the woman. “Eh, I’m fine,” you shrugged briefly.

You talked to Tara while Sam stood around the room, looking out of place as she watched you with her sister. When the doctor came in, she gave you painkillers and told you could leave in the morning. “Could one of us stay here with her?” Sam asked the doctor worriedly when she was close to the door. “The hospital rules say we can’t allow non-family members to stay overnight, but I’ll let you stay with your girlfriend,” the doctor replied with a smile as she looked between you and Sam, clearly reading into some tension in the air.

Sam didn’t even have time to deny the doctor’s words before she left the room and shut the door, so Sam turned around with a scoff and was met with your drugged-out smile and Tara’s knowing one. “Well, Sammy, I will leave you here with your ‘girlfriend,’” Tara joked as she stood from the bed and grabbed her things.

“No. Tara, there is no way you are leaving here this late at night,” Sam replied as she followed her sister to the doorway. “Well, I’m certainly not staying here; I hate hospitals. And besides, Mindy is here to pick me up,” Tara replied with a smile.

She hated to admit it, but Sam was at a crossroads. She didn’t want Tara to stay here after the last time her sister was left alone in a hospital, and she also didn’t want you to stay here alone. She worried about you for Tara’s sake and definitely not because she felt terrible for being the reason you were here.

With a defeated sigh, Sam nodded and spoke, “Alright. Just let me walk you out.”

You watched the two sisters open the door and smiled when Sam stopped and looked back at you, “Don’t do anything stupid until I get back.”

“Okay, girlfriend,” you replied with a dopey smile, clearly enjoying the effects of the painkillers.

When Sam returned, she said nothing as she brought two chairs together and made herself an awkward bed. “You know, you can join me,” you suggested as you scooted over to the side, allowing Sam some room if she chose to sleep with you.

“Yeah, that’s not happening,” Sam replied as she got out a blanket and a pillow from the wardrobe and got comfortable on the chairs.

“Why not? I’ve already seen you naked.”

Sam rolled her eyes and laid her head on the pillow, and covered up with the blanket, “Do not mention that ever again.”

“Okay. I want to let you know you have a beautiful body, Sam. Your boobs are perfect! I mean, my god, the things I would do-”

“Please stop talking,” Sam interrupted you as she tried her best to fight off the fluttering feeling in her stomach at your words. She knew the painkillers were talking, but she couldn’t help but believe there was some truth to your comments. “Goodnight, Y/N,” Sam said after a few awkward moments of silence.

“Goodnight, girlfriend,” you teased as you got as comfortable as you could you a hospital bed before sleep consumed you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the morning, you were discharged from the hospital but had to walk around with crutches for a while. And to put it short, you hated it. Yes, having to walk around with them constantly clanking every time you walked got annoying, and how your armpits ached at the end of each day. But the worst part was that you couldn’t impress Sam with them.

Naturally, you were angry at Sam for throwing a knife in your leg, but you also shouldn’t have been staring at her while she was changing.

“Who even changes with their window open anyways?” Mindy asked one night while over at Tara’s apartment for dinner. You and Mindy had been invited over for a girl dinner with the Carpenters as you four sat around the dining table. The table had a dish of lasagna along with a salad bowl prepared, and you could not wait to eat the delicious food Sam had prepared.

“My room was hot, and I was letting in fresh air; I didn’t think someone would try and break in,” Sam stated as she made herself a bowl of salad with her lasagna.

“I did not break in. Tara invited me over and told me to go through her open window,” you said once you finished a bite of your food, “so technically, it’s her fault.”

Tara scoffed at your words while throwing a crouton at you, earning herself a scolding look from Sam. “Do not try and blame this on me; I texted you and told you that wasn’t my room, but you didn’t see it,” Tara replied.

“Why did you even tell her to climb through your window?” Sam asked with a puzzled look.

“Because, Sam, you would have told her to leave or probably stabbed her, but you already did that,” Tara dryly said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Sam rolled her eyes at her sister's statement before focusing on her food.

“I was lightly stabbed, so it’s not that big of a deal,” you said.

“You were still stabbed, Y/N,” Tara replied annoyedly. She knew that you were weirdly happy about Sam stabbing you, but she tried her best to ignore it.

“Lightly stabbed.”

Mindy chuckled while looking at you, “Whatever. I still can’t believe she threw a knife at you; me personally, I would not let that slide.”

“It’s whatever; I didn’t even notice it until Tara came barging into the room,” you said while looking at Sam, who picked her food with her fork and refused to meet your gaze.

Mindy just laughed at your response before returning her attention to her food. The rest of dinner was filled with laughs and idle conversations, but you couldn’t help but notice how Sam didn’t participate in any of the conversations. You had tried to get her engaged, but she would either respond with a nod, a laugh, or a single word.

Sam felt bad for reacting the way she did, and she wanted to apologize to you, but she didn’t know how without bringing up the fact you slightly deserved it. So, when dinner was finished, and the rest of the group moved into the living room to watch a movie, Sam pulled you aside.

“What’s up?” You asked with a smile as you leaned on a crutch. It had been a couple of weeks since you were discharged from the hospital, so now you only walked around with one crutch.

That smile you gave her, Sam couldn’t find the correct words to describe it. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, and she wanted to kiss it off your lips. “Just so you know, you’re insufferable and intolerable. And I hate you.”

“Oh, okay,” you said with that same smile, fully knowing Sam was lying. Sam, on the other hand, desperately needed to get away from you, or she might do something she would regret. “Is there anything else you need?” You asked.

With a sigh, Sam asked, “Yes, actually. What are some books I could read? I’ve been trying to get into reading because of Tara, and I wanted to discuss them with her, and I need to have a few books under my belt before I do that.”

Your smile grew ten times bigger at Sam’s question, and the older woman wanted to murder you for it. “I have been waiting for ages for you to ask me that. I actually have a copy of my favorite book with me if you want to give it a try?” You asked as you made your way over to your backpack.

Sam followed behind you and watched as you moved around your sleeping clothes and pulled out a weathered book. It had different colored sticky notes hanging from the pages, and the edges around the book looked like they had their share of bumps and drops.

Sam grabbed the book and read the cover with a scoff. “Look, Y/N; I’m not reading a book about a woman who had seven different husbands. That’s just absurd,” the Latina said with a dry tone.

“No,” you replied as you placed your hand on Sam’s wrist, holding the book, “trust me, Sam. Just try it; it’s not what you think it is.”

“Alright, fine. If this book is better than it sounds,” Sam said as she looked around the room with a huff, “I guess I’ll treat you with respect or something.”

Sam didn’t even have time to react before she felt the hand on her wrist pull away and pinch her cheek. “I know you’ll love it,” you said with a cheeky grin as Sam slapped your hand away from her face. “Do not ever do that again,” she warned as she pointed a finger in your face.

“Yes, ma’am,” you responded with a salute before walking back toward the living room, “is there anything else you need?”

‘I want to take you on a date and then put your head on a stick,’ Sam wanted to say but said, “I’ll let you know what I think of it.”

You gave Sam a soft smile as you returned to the living room. Sam didn’t know what she was feeling toward you, but she eventually sauntered off to her room after realizing she cared about you more than friends do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Come on, Tara; The Babadook is easily one of the worst horror movies ever made!” You exclaimed with your hands as you stared down at the more petite girl. You had finally gotten your stitches out and were no longer walking around with a crutch, so that meant a celebration night over at the Carpenter’s apartment.

“No, it’s not! You just hate it so much because it scares you!” Tara retorted as she hit the leg closest to her, which happened to be the one Sam lightly stabbed.

You moved your legs up onto the loveseat you were sitting on after she hit you, “Yeah, and also because it scares me so much! And don’t hit me, you little shit.” Tara scoffed at your words and stood up and grabbed one of her shoes, and was getting ready to launch it at you when the door to the apartment opened. She quickly dropped the shoe and stood facing the door with her hands clasped behind her back and an innocent smile, as if she wasn’t just getting ready to throw a shoe as hard as she could at your face. “What’s going on?” Sam asked when she saw Tara standing with a creepy smile and your shocked expression.

“Tara was-”

“I was getting up to order some pizza!” Tara interrupted you and sent you a death glare when Sam turned her back to hang up her purse. Sam turned around and looked between you two and ignored the shoe she saw by Tara’s feet; whatever her sister was getting ready to do to you, you probably deserved it.

“Okay,” Sam replied as she exaggerated the word before walking to her room, but not before sending you a glare. “Nice to see you, Sam!” you said with a smile while Sam huffed before slamming her door. “You are such a charmer,” Tara joked as she shoved your legs off the couch so she could sit next to you.

You scoffed at Tara’s words while you reached for the remote and pushed Tara off you when she tried to take it from you. “No! Down girl, down!” You said when you finally pushed Tara off of you. She scoffed as you turned on the tv before leaning back on the couch and putting her feet in your lap. You pulled her feet more into your lap and let your hand rest on her leg while you looked for something to watch. Naturally, Tara made it hard for you to pick something out because she refused to watch anything you wanted to spite you, but eventually, you settled on watching ‘Carol.’ You loved this movie more than anything, even though you cried every time you watched it.

For some unknown reason, Tara pulled her feet from your lap and left the couch roughly ten minutes into the movie. “I’ll be right back,” she said as she walked toward her room with her phone in hand. “Do you want me to pause it for you?” You asked as you reached for the remote but stopped when Tara told you not to wait up on her. You missed the devilish smirk she wore on her lips as she disappeared into her room.

You continued to watch the movie by yourself when you heard a door open up. “Finally! I was starting to think that you were leaving me here to hang out with Sam,” you said with a smile as you paused the movie and finally turned around to face Tara, but your smile faded once you saw Sam. “Oh, I’m sorry; I thought you were Tara,” you said with an embarrassed tone as your eyes refused to meet Sam’s piercing gaze.

The older woman huffed at your words before she went to the couch and sat at the opposite end while unlocking her phone, trying to keep as much space as possible between you two. “Tara texted me and told me that she felt sick and she didn’t want you to leave because it’s late at night and doesn’t want anything to happen to you, so she wants me to keep you company,” Sam read aloud her text messages between her and Tara before she closed her phone and set it on the coffee table in front of you guys.

“You don’t have to; I’m fine staying in here by myself,” you said with a polite smile while looking at Sam. The woman turned her head and looked at you before giving you the fakest smile you have ever seen while she lied through her teeth, “That’s alright, I’m good to stay in here with you.” The tension was so thick you could practically taste it on your tongue, but you held your breath and muttered a quiet ‘okay’ as you restarted the movie.

It’s not that she hated being around you after the incident; the only thing she wanted to do was kiss you and call you hers, but she was afraid you wouldn’t feel the same. Especially after she lightly stabbed you.

“Wait, why are you restarting it?” Sam questioned as she looked between you and the tv.

“Because you missed the opening scene, which is arguably one of the best scenes in the movie, and you also need to watch it to understand the ending better,” you reasoned with an honest smile while your gentle eyes danced across Sam’s face.

She didn’t know why, but after listening to your explanation of why the opening scene was essential and listening to your voice that was full of only love and admiration for this movie, Sam decided that she would actually pay attention to it, rather than send you hateful glances every once in a while.

So when the tv finally stopped the introduction, and it was Carol and Therese sitting together at a dinner table in a fancy restaurant, Sam picked up on the tension-riddled scene and couldn’t help but glance over at you. She noticed how your eyebrows furrowed, and your eyes danced between Carol and Therese as if you were getting ready to jump through the tv and become a part of the movie. Her eyes finally drifted down to your lips, and she noticed how your tongue was barely sticking out between your lips as you studied the screen, as if there was going to be something small in the background, and if you blinked, you would miss it.

“Are you even watching?” You questioned when you felt eyes burning into the side of your skull, but your own eyes never left the screen.

Sam awkwardly cleared her throat before speaking, “Sorry; you just seem really invested in this movie, and I thought it was funny.” You felt heat creep up the back of your neck at Sam’s words but shook it off as her being cautious of you. “It’s a great film, Sam. I think you’ll like it,” you replied with a gentle smile as you pried your eyes away from the screen to look at Sam before returning your attention to the tv.

When you said that she might like it, Sam took her eyes away from you and actually paid attention to the movie. When the sex scene came up, the air in the room became tense, as if both of you were holding your breath and holding back from one another. Sam tried her best to fight back the blush she felt, and she looked to you for help. You had your mouth agape, no matter how often you watched this scene, you were always enchanted by it, and you whispered, “I wish that were me.” Even though she tried to, Sam couldn’t come up with a retort for your comment; she also wishes she could do that with Cate Blanchett, but she also wishes that was her with you.

Sam then turned her attention back to the screen and had to fight any urges that she might have been feeling toward you. Her eyes never left the screen until the very end; only when she had to blink back the eyes that threatened to escape as she looked up at the ceiling. When the end credits rolled, you cleared your throat, tension still left over from the sex scene, “So, what did you think of it?”

“It was certainly something. It was a lot better than I expected, just based on your taste in things,” Sam joked as she subtly wiped the tears away in her eyes. You chuckled at her words, ‘if you only you knew,’ you thought as she stared at her with hearty eyes.

You quickly snapped out of your daze when you noticed Sam shuffling uncomfortably on the couch, “Well, I’m glad you enjoyed it. And just so you know,” you said as you stood up from the couch, “I have an exceptional taste in things.”

Sam laughed at your words before standing up, “I highly doubt that.” You smiled at the older woman before making your way to Tara’s room; you had plans to murder the little shit for leaving you alone with Sam. “Goodnight, Sam,” you said with a smile as you opened Tara’s door slightly. Sam gave you a genuine smile as she went to her room, “Goodnight, Y/N.”

This was the first time you had had a direct conversation with Sam since she pulled you aside and asked for a book recommendation, and you wished you could have more conversations with the woman. She was smarter than she gave herself credit for, and the way she expressed herself through body language while talking was something you found attractive, to put it lightly.

When you entered Tara’s room, you saw the girl lying toward the foot of her bed with her laptop open, and you could faintly hear Toni Collette giving her ‘I am your mother’ speech. “So, how did it go with Samantha?” Tara questioned with a smug grin as you sat on the bed with your back propped against the headboard. You threw your legs up onto the bed and dug the heel of your right foot into Tara’s back, causing the girl to let out a small yelp before shoving your leg off of her and scolding you.

“Whatever, you deserved it,” you said as you crossed your ankles and left them next to Tara, who was still facing the foot of the bed. “And for your information, it was fine. She didn’t try and kill me again,” you joked.

“A win is a win,” Tara replied as she moved to sit next to you and put the laptop on your lap while she cuddled up next to you. You put your arm around her waist and placed a platonic kiss on her head right when Sam walked in.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I can come back later,” Sam said as she looked down at the floor and turned her back to you two, embarrassed that she had just walked in on an intimate moment between you and her sister and ignored the pain she felt in her heart. “No, it’s okay, Sam,” Tara said while pulling away from you and silently encouraging you to go after Sam even though she was still in the doorway.

“I thought you were sick?” Sam asked with her back still facing you two. “Yeah, I can’t explain that one without unveiling my grand scheme of things plan,” Tara said while getting up from her bed and turning Sam to face her, “I’m serious, Sam. Nothing is going on between me and Y/N.”

Sam looked away from her sister and saw you sitting on Tara’s bed, smiling as you sent her a small wave. The woman scoffed at your actions before returning to her room.

Once Sam was gone, Tara closed the door, walked over to you, and hit you in the stomach. “The fuck was that, Y/N?” She whisper-shouted at you, “I basically admitted to having a plan of forcing you and Sam together, and you fucking wave at her?”

“I didn’t know what you wanted me to do!” You defended.

Tara sighed at your statement; she had laid the groundwork, and then just like clockwork, the dominos were supposed to cascade in a line because she’s a mastermind, but your dumbass messed it up. “Go talk to Sam. Right. Now. Or so help me God, I will violently murder you to death,” Tara commanded as she pulled you from her bed and pushed you toward the door. “And do not come back until you have talked to her,” and with that, Tara shut the door in your face and locked it.

You sighed before walking toward the living room. You thought about sleeping on the couch, but you knew Tara would probably draw a penis on your face while you slept, so you sucked in a deep breath before walking toward Sam’s door.

Sam heard a gentle knock of three intervals at her door, pulling her away from her note. “Just a minute,” she said as she finished her writing and slipped it into a preselected page in the book.

“What’s up?” She asked once when she opened her door and saw you.

“I just wanted to ask you about the book,” you replied with a smile that Sam wanted to kiss off your lips.

Instead of doing what she desired, she left her door open while grabbing the book and handed it back to you. “This is the saddest book I have ever read. Who would come up with such a thing?”

You chuckled at her words and accepted the book, “I know. I take it; you finished it?”

“Barely. But I finished it in one sitting,” Sam said while staring into your love-struck eyes. Sam swore she could feel herself getting lost in them, and she never wanted to leave your eyes.

“So, what did you think of it?” You asked.

“It was alright. Some pages were hard to read because of the tear-stained pages.”

You lightly laughed at Sam’s words, and the older woman felt her heart might explode if she heard that soft laugh again. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. This book really gets to me, you know?” You said while your eyes quickly glanced down at Sam’s lips, wondering if they tasted as good as they looked.

Sam cleared her throat, and you knew you had been busted. “So, I guess I’ll have to treat you with respect now,” she admitted through a tightened jaw.

“Or whatever,” you said with a smile, hoping Sam picked up the double meaning, and she did.

“Yeah, or whatever.”

“Just so you know, nothing is going on between me and Tara,” you clarified after a few seconds, and you set the book down on the couch behind you.

Sam knew that there wasn’t anything between you and her sister, but hearing those words leave your lips gave Sam a feeling of comfort she didn’t know she needed. “I know, Y/N.”

“Okay. I just wanted to clarify that before I did this,” Sam didn’t even have time to react before she felt your hands grip her neck and pull her into a passionate kiss. The way your lips felt like they had been made for her lips amazed Sam, and she finally felt her heart explode when she matched your intensity.

Your lips danced together as Sam deepened the kiss and pulled you by your waist closer to her. You felt her tongue push past your lips, and an involuntary moan slipped out, causing Sam to laugh against your lips. When you felt Sam’s hands drift toward the bottom of your shirt, you lifted your arms, and Sam got halfway into taking it off before you two heard a voice behind you, “Goddamnit, Y/N! I told you to apologize, not swap spit with her!”

You pulled away from Sam and turned to face Tara, who smiled knowingly. “Sorry,” you mumbled while fixing your shirt.

An awkward beat of silence passed while Tara looked between you and her sister with a sly smirk on her lips before she finally said, “I’ll leave you two to it,” and walked away.

“I’m sorry about that,” Sam said once Tara was gone. You turned to look at Sam, and you smiled at her swollen lips and blown pupils. You said nothing as you placed a final kiss on Sam’s lips that the older woman happily reciprocated.

“I should probably leave,” you mumbled against Sam’s lips, and she kissed you once more before pulling away. “Don’t forget your book,” Sam said while grabbing it for you.

“Thank you,” you replied with a tint of blush on your cheeks. Sam walked you to the door with her hand on the lower of your back, and you only wanted to run back into her room and throw Sam on her bed, but you doubted Tara would appreciate that.

When you reached the door, you placed a chaste kiss on Sam’s lips before opening up the door. “I’ll see you around?” You asked, afraid that this was a one-time thing.

Sam leaned against the doorframe, and she couldn’t contain the smile that pulled at her cheeks. “Of course, Y/N.”

You smiled at her and began walking down the hallway when Sam called out, “It's me and you, true blue.”

You placed a kiss on your pointer and middle finger before holding them toward Sam with a smile on your face. The woman laughed at your action and pretended to catch the fake kiss and her fist to her heart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At home, you fall onto your couch and struggled to get your shoes off. Once they were off, you relaxed and pulled out the book and started reading it. When you ran your fingers over the pages, a small note fell out from the middle of the book and you moved to that page.

In the center of the page was a headline from Sub Rosa titled, ‘Evelyn Hugo and Celia St. James Slumber Parties,’ and you couldn’t help but laugh at the page.

When you opened up the note, written in the most beautiful penmanship said,

‘Want to go grab a milkshake with me sometime? I doubt we’ll find a place as good as Schwab’s, but we can try. We can also have ‘slumber parties’ of our own when Tara is away. ;)

All my love,

Samantha

Sam’

[mischiefmaker615]

Please Please Please

Inspiration: Please Please Please by Sabrina Carpenter

Summary: You break the news to the team that you're dating a certain.. god of mischief..

Rating: PG 14

Requested By: @Hav3nLauf3ys0n (wattpad)

“Absolutely not!’’

‘’I don’t remember asking for your blessing.’’ You quip dryly as you and Steve cross your arms simultaneously.

‘’you know what he’s done-‘’ he starts, having leaned himself now on the kitchen counter as if preparing for a long lecture on why but you waved a hand at him.

‘’and he’s gotten better, you cant tell me you haven’t noticed the improvement upon staying here at the tower- be glad they’re just harmless pranks and not plots to try to-‘’

‘’why do you want to date Reindeer Games anyway?” Tony asked, coming into the room with his usual ‘never empty’ glass of booze in his hand. ‘’despite the whole killing and taking over the planet thing, what would necessarily be listed on his Tinder profile?”

“Tinder?” Steve raised a brow and Tony backtracks with a shake of his head.

‘’an app where you could find your local singles- actually that might be a great place for y-‘’

‘’guys! We’re getting off track here’’ you chime in, a hand at your temple as the boys looked over with silence for once. With a heavy sigh, you look at them with as much confidence as you could muster, regardless of the shakiness in your voice as Steve’s expression softened.

‘’he and I have already started dating.. kinda.. but I wanna try to make this work, he wants to see how it goes.. there’s something there and we’re happy when we’re together.. regardless of his first impression here, forgiveness and second chances should be in the picture until said other wise.’’

‘’kind of hard to give a second chance to literally the god of backstabbing.’’ Tony muttered while you shot him a look.

‘’he’s been here for almost a year now since New York, he’s helped us in the field when we’ve brought him along and has been a huge help. He would have compromised the missions somehow if he were still in his old ways but you have to admit, some of those assignments wouldn’t have gotten done without his abilities..’’ you note, your eyes moving to Steve who now stared at the ground in thought while he listened. Their silence was enough to have you keep going as you took another breath.

‘’this is happening, and I know to be careful.. he’s different, and he cares for me.. i figured I’d just make my rounds to let everyone know-‘’

‘’is it basically a heads up that we’ll be seeing a lot of touchy- feely stuff??” Tony gawked quickly and you shook your head with reddened cheeks.

‘’like you don’t do that stuff around here Stark.’’ Steve rolled his eyes, reminding him of how many girls come and go when no one’s watching.

‘’n-no- I just- I’m tired of all your attempts to set me up at your parties, I’m done with the dating game.. Loki and I just have something here that I’ve never felt with anyone else..’’ you explained and heard a sigh from Rogers who didn’t exactly look like he approved but he knew you were going to be stubborn on this so he raised his hands in a surrender position.

‘’just be careful.. that’s all we ask.. Nat and Clint have been assigned today but I think Thors still around somewhere- do not hesitate if he even tries to-‘’

‘’ill be fine Steve, thank you..’’ you say gently, giving a small smile before you exit the kitchen in search of Thor.

Not your best speech, it honestly felt like you were talking to your parents who didn’t approve.. but you were an adult, you’ve dated before and knew all the red flags you needed to dodge. Sure the whole ‘taking over the planet’ was a bit of a red flag.. a big one.. but as he’s stayed here fulfilling his ‘community service’, the two of you have had quite the opportunity to bond over that time.

Its been almost a year and the two of you seem to have had a connection where you craved the attention of the other when you were separated. You both would gossip, flirt and have lengthy talks about your interests and differences. Coming from completely different realms gave you both much to talk about and you even got to teach him a bit of basic things on how to adapt to the tower. The television was your favorite to teach because you stopped him faster at trying to throw it than your laptop. Apparently, many ‘magical moving pictures’ presented the illusion of possession to Loki. Thor wasn’t that much different when he was adapting too.

~

‘’what ails you Y/N?” Thor asked, having ran into you in the halls not long after you went in search of him.

you almost choked on your heart for a moment when you noticed his wet hair and towel in hand first, feeling stupid the next second after when he was indeed dressed and that your mind had thought otherwise for a moment. He’s hot- but he wasn’t for you.

Where the hell was coffee when you needed it..

‘’nothing in particular, just-‘’ you didn’t exactly know how to word it to him compared to literally anyone else. ‘I’m dating your brother’ sounded a little more awkward than telling anyone else that wasn’t family related- and this time you did mentally choke when you realized you had thought out loud.

‘’oh Lady Y/N that is wonderful!! I am so happy for you both! I’ve truly noticed how much happier my brother has been since earning your affections!” Thor beamed as he wrapped you in almost a bone breaking hug, squeezing all the stress out of you as you relaxed and wiped the previous embarrassment from your face when he set you down.

‘’t-thank you.. I just figured I was going to let everyone know by making my rounds-‘’

‘’is it because we will be seeing particular affections around here-‘’

‘’what?? No! why does everyone keep thinking that..’’ you blush and hide your face in your hands as he laughs. Its not that you both weren’t doing anything.. but you weren’t going to make it a goal to exactly show anyone your personal business-

‘’my brother can be very.. sexual hungry, as Stark seems to say.’’ Thor explains casually and you hold back from scrunching your nose as you look up at him. ‘’he always has and I’m sure when you both begin to get even closer, we might see you a bit less and less’’ he hints and your cheeks redden again.

Was he referring that you both would practically never leave the bedroom?- why was he so causal talking about this.. wanting to quickly change the subject from your sexual future and to your more concerning thought, you shifted in place as you looked up at him with hesitation.

‘’.. the team seems to disapprove..’’

Thor nodded, his features sympathetic as he sighs. ‘’I understand their reasonings Y/N,’’

‘’but he’s gotten better-‘’ you add quickly before you mouth goes off. ‘’sure he throws some pranks here any there- changing all the water to vodka, cutting holes in Steve’s costumes- dropping the temperature in the middle of the night- but I swear there’s no world domination in sight anymore. We’ve bonded a lot during this time since he’s been here, he gets me and I get him and I think we have something greater than friendship where he even through around the word courting- whatever that means but I think I love-‘’

Your rambling got cut off as Thor places his hands upon your shoulders, shutting you up as he gives you a gentle smile. ‘’my brother is a much better man because of you and I know you both will be happy Y/N. if there is any need for concern, we are here but I have no worries for you two. You have my blessing.’’ He beams and your body relaxs, giving him the same smile as you begin to turn.

‘’thank you Thor,.. I think i know just who to find next’’ you smile and give a gentle wave as your mind tells you Loki’s probably in his room.

‘’all the best wishes Lady Y/N’’ Thor chuckles and heads off just as you do and enter the elevator.

As soon as you press the button for the room floors and the door begin to slide closed, a hand shoots out and grips one of them with barely an inch of them closing. With barley any effort, the hand pulls the doors apart and there stands the god himself you were trying to find.

Loki.

‘’hello darling, I do believe we have a bit to discuss.’’ He says casual, not so much asking as he smirks yet his eyes drink you in seriously as he takes a step in, making you step back before the doors close behind him.

Although he’s been here quite some time, he always appeared in his armor and leather when he needed to speak about something serious. Granted, although he tried using it as an intimidation prop, you always seemed to get distracted as your eyes began to wonder.

‘’darling-‘’

‘’sir?” you said quickly with a start, holding back a small laugh as you wondering out of all the terms you had on file in your head, you had called him that one. Loki didn’t seem to mind as he raised a brow slightly and took a step closer, a hand gently taking hold of your jaw as he tilted it up and kept you looking at him.

His leaned down ever so slightly, his nose ghosting against yours as your fingers fidgeted nervously now while he spoke. ‘’please tell me as to why I have spotted you with every breathing male under this roof except me? Specifically, the one that’s hard to over look is my idiotic brother who then proceeds to have you in his arms.’’

His voice was dangerous, careful but yet not angry that you could tell because you knew he was waiting for you to give a perfectly good explanation. Shifting in place, you softened your features and let your excitement show with a smile while your hand came up to rest on his wrist.

‘’I was merely telling everyone the news that we were officially together and that-‘’

‘’is it a fair warning on what they might witness us doing?’’

‘’Jesus- even- whatever, anyway what I mean is, it’s a fair heads up that Tony can stop with his shipping whenever he throws a party, Steve can stop worrying about you being around because with us being together, if I trust you, he trusts me and thus, trusts you won’t do anything. Also so that Nat can stop her insistent teasing and innuendos-‘’

Loki cut you off as he presses his lips against yours, firmly and with love at the enjoyment to see how giddy you can get. The hand at your jaw lightens tremendously and moved to run his fingers into your hair at the side of your head, making you tilt your face to the side before he deepens the kiss. His other arm snakes around your waist, pulling you closer against his body before he nips at your bottom lip before pulling away.

He chuckles at your small pout at him stopping, his thumb stroking your cheek as his body relaxes from his unnecessary tension he came in with. ‘’I am pleased that you wish to ease everyone into our relationship, but they’ll see me how they wish, regardless if I am with you or not. Frankly I couldn’t care less, because my only focus is with you. I will treat you nothing less than of a goddess because I know that despite my introduction to this realm, I do not have an ounce in my body or the capability of bringing harm upon you.’’

Your hands grip his shoulders, eyes full of admiration towards the man god before you as your heart flutters in your chest. He shared your smile as you pull him down and press your lips to his again, running a hand through his hair as well that makes him practically growl against your lips, turning his head more into your massaging fingers before you feel him back you up.

Feeling the wall of the elevator against your back now, Loki presses his body against your front while his hands run up and down your sides before a hand joins your side to grip the hand bar, trapping you in the corner. His other hand snakes behind you to grip your ass, the mere feeling of it enough to have his lips press harder onto yours while you hold him close by the straps against his front.

*ding*

By the feeling of the elevator stopping, he slowly pulls away with the dangerous yet familiar mischievous glint in his eyes while he presses his forehead against yours. ‘’..are you in the mood for some mischief darling?’’ he purrs.

Part of you wasn’t sure if it was a sexual innuendo or he wanted you to join in of his little pranks he tried to keep up daily around here. Yet seeing the excitement on his features made you down for either one.. one more so than the other as you laughed and gave a nod.

“I beg you, don’t embarrass me. I already went around trying to hype you up that you’ve changed with your whole mischief thing’’ you lightly tease as he takes hold of your hand while the elevator doors open.

‘’oh darling, I was referring to the other kinds of mischief..’’ he smirks and your eyes suddenly notice his erection.

Please.. please.. please.. 

DM a song for your own Musical Mischief one shot :D

Note: Fan fiction makes Elevator rides longer than they really are LOL

~i imagined Loki teasing Y/N with the "stuff" they do and it led to this video LOL

Tag List: @foxherder  @asgards-princess-of-mischief @fire-in-her-veinz

[fatuismooches]

love from afar.

synopsis: The long absence of your lover has taken a toll on your heart, so it's only natural you find a new way to reach him.

includes: childe, scaramouche w/ gn! reader

notes: The latest TCG event got me thinking about how cute it would be for Kirara to deliver literal love letters to people for you. Lots and lots of fluff, the Harbingers miss you dearly. (I know Scara's part doesn't exactly line up with the canon timeline of the game, but let's just ignore it for the sake of fluff.)

Your boyfriend was a Fatui Harbinger. The mere phrase was enough to make many, even the strongest of warriors, run cold with fear. But when you heard the name of your beloved, it only filled you with the warmest of feelings - love.

And you knew more than anything in this world that he loved you. That was enough to make every day worthwhile, even though he was oceans across from you.

But, being the lover of a Fatui Harbinger was no easy task. It meant not being able to have the normalcy most people craved, to wake up to your partner every morning and enjoy the blissful sensation, to go out to restaurants and chat. To only be able to watch on as your friends move on and get married, maybe start families or adopt some pets, and settle into a sweet, domestic life.

Due to this, it had come to your attention that you missed your lover dearly. He had been away for quite some time, and although you exchanged letters, the length of time it took to arrive from overseas was not very pleasing. Which is why when you heard of the Komaniya Express’ impeccable international delivery service, your interest was piqued. 

Though when you went to the building where the company resided, you were having second thoughts. Yes, they could deliver anything to anyone, but to your boyfriend was another story. He was… well, you know, so you tried to back out of the deal. But the owner pressed you, restating their reliability. 

“You see, it’s not that I don’t have trust in Komaniya Express. I know they are quite reliable, but you see, the person I wish to deliver something to is…”

“Is?”

“A Fatui Harbinger.”

—

Scaramouche:

“A F-Fatui Harbinger?” The owner’s jaw dropped. “Well, I must say even we haven’t ever been asked to deliver something to someone of that caliber…”

“I know… so um, I think it’s best if I-”

“I want to deliver it!” A chipper voice sounded and a pretty girl popped up to the side of you. The first thing you noticed was her cat-like pupils, and then the two tails, and then the… paws!

“Oh Kirara, there you are. Back already?”

“Uh-huh! And now I’m interested in this job! Please, tell me more, and I swear I won’t fail.”

As much as you wanted this letter to be delivered, you didn’t want to send her out without notifying her of your lover’s… frequent outbursts. “Kirara, this is very sweet of you, but he has, um… a temper. It means he will probably be mean to you… and other things.”

“Don’t worry, cherished customer! I’ve already dealt with a bunch of clients with rather rude temperaments. I promise I will see to it that your package will reach his hands safely!”

You couldn’t help but smile in relief, and hand her your items. “Well… here’s a description. He has gorgeous indigo hair and eyes and wears traditional Inazuman clothes, and a large, beautiful hat too. You can’t miss him,” you said, almost dreamily, to which the two other Inazumans raised their eyebrows. Quickly you cleared your throat embarrassingly. “Anyway, he’s somewhere in Mondstadt. I’m sure if you follow some Fatui agents you’ll find him.”

“Oh, and a tip. Before you say anything to him, say my name first. He’ll probably be more inclined to listen to you if you do,” you recommended. Not many people knew of your relationship with Scaramouche, so uttering your name was sure to get his attention.

—

You weren’t joking when you said this Harbinger had a horrible temper. A very severe one in fact, as Kirara had just witnessed him berate a few of his subordinates, and now she was kind of having second thoughts. 

“Who’s there?” Suddenly, Scaramouche’s piercing eyes were on her, hand on his Delusion, and she meowed in surprise.

“[Name] sent me!!” Kirara blurted out to which the Harbinger widened his eyes, and then quickly narrowed them again, now even more on guard if that was possible.

“How do you know them? Speak carefully,” he nearly seethed. Kirara’s whole body was on edge.

“I’m your courier from Komaniya Express, and I’m just here to deliver something. See here, it’s a package from [Name]!” she flew through her words and quickly presented a sealed envelope, and Scaramouche immediately recognized the sealing wax on it. Lavender Melon. Wordlessly he snatched it and rubbed with it his thumbs.

It was real. He didn’t know how it got here, but he wasn’t going to wait a second longer to open it. Although he remained expressionless, he worried. Was it urgent? Did something happen? Were you hurt? His eyes scanned the letter.

Kuni, my one and only,

Ta-da! I bet you weren’t expecting this! Did you miss me, pretty boy?

You see, Inazuma has this amazing international express delivery thing, and it's supposedly really fast and efficient. Oh, and don’t worry, they don’t open the packages, so it’s completely safe! I know I always wait for one of your letters to arrive from wherever you are, but I haven’t gotten any. Is that because of the distance or have you not been writing…? It’d better be the former!

By the way, the other day, the head shrine maiden, came up and spoke to me. You know, the one with the big fox ears? I don’t know why she chose now of all times, considering we’ve been together for a while…

But she didn’t ask about you. All her questions were centered around me. I guess she just wanted to learn the kind of person I was, but now I understand why people think she’s scary… But back to the subject! Look at these photos I took!

[Attached are some images of beautiful Inazuman scenery, from different angles and locations. One of the photos has a blanket with two cups of tea set out. Lastly, there is a picture of you.]

I went to our usual spots by myself this time. I know it’s our thing, but you’ve been gone for so long this time. I am used to waiting, but you’ve been gone far longer than usual, no? I even forced myself to drink that bitter tea you like so much. I don’t know how you can stand that… And don’t worry, I’m fine. No hilichurls, no Treasure Hoarders, no one at all bothered me.

Keep the photos. That one photo you carry around of me is far too old, you know. This one was taken with a new model of the Kamera! What? Didn’t think I knew? Anyway, I think they’re pretty nice to look at. Hopefully, they’ll remind you of me, hehe. And motivate you to come back quicker to my arms, hmm? 

In all seriousness, I hope you’re well. I miss you dearly. You occupy my mind so much, I could never forget you even if I tried. The few pictures I have of you are barely keeping me at bay, Kuni.

I hope that eventually, there’ll be a day when I never leave your side, Kunikuzushi.

Scaramouche did not react, but inside he felt a twinge of loneliness too. Fuck, he missed you so much as well. Worse, the company he had were useless Fatui agents and his other unreliable Harbingers. And now that irritating kitsune was bothering you? When you belonged to him? His position as a Harbinger was beginning to drive him crazy.

How long had it been since he lay on your chest, falling asleep to the lull of your heartbeat? Been able to hear your lovely voice sing his praises, his cheeks growing hot? How he wanted you to always be by his side as well. But you needed not to worry.

Yes… when he reached godhood, that day will come true. You wouldn’t have to worry again.

“Oh, and if you’d like to write a reply and have me deliver it, that’d be great! [Name] seems to have been waiting for other letters from you for a while… they’ve already covered the cost for it too,” the youkai’s voice interrupted his thoughts. He had forgotten she was here. Though he still did not fully trust this being, he did hear about this company, being from Inazuma and all. And you deserved a reply most of all because clearly, the competent fools were not delivering his letters to you properly. He’ll have to teach them a lesson.

“Same spot, same time, tomorrow,” Scaramouche’s voice was the same irritated bite, as he turned around and disappeared.

—

A few days had passed and you were anxiously awaiting Kirara’s return. You envied her, being able to go where she wanted. To see your lover so easily. But you were used to the waiting game. So used to it, you knew exactly the amount of days that had gone by since you last saw Kuni. So accustomed to loneliness, that you counted the lines on your flooring to pass the time. It was your routine, so as soon as you heard the first knock at your door, you sped to open it at lightning speed.

And lo and behold, it was the person you wanted to see the second most, Kirara. In her hands rested a new envelope, definitely not the one you sent, which could only mean one thing. Your heart soared.

“Hello, dear customer, [Name]! I have successfully delivered your package to Scaramouche! I have a response from here right here,” she presented you with the letter and you had to resist the urge to snatch it. But you were quite impressed that she made it to the Scaramouche.

“Much better than those lousy Fatui agents, hmph… too scared to deliver a mere letter,” you muttered under your breath. “So, how’d it go? I hope he wasn’t too bad?”

“When I mentioned your name, he actually got more defensive, wondering how I knew you, haha. I was a bit scared for my tails for a second.”

“O-Oh, it makes sense he’d do that. I’m sorry I put you through that, Kirara…” You should have known that wasn’t a good idea. Scaramouche was extremely protective when it came to you. Your relationship was kept as secret as possible for a reason, as Scaramouche certainly did not have the best reputation.

“But then when he read your letter, his face softened all of a sudden…you must be really amazing if you could calm his temper down that quick!” Kirara meowed in excitement. “Humans are so amazing! And now, I thank you for choosing Komaniya Express!” 

“Haha, thank you, Kirara. We go a long way back… but I am quite pleased with the efficiency of your delivery. I think I will ask for your services again. Ah, and I’ll make sure to leave a five-star review for you!”

Kirara clasped her hands with joy and bowed deeply. “Thank you, thank you!” she squealed with happiness. “I’ll leave you to open your letter now! Thank you very much!”

You watched her leave but quickly slammed the door to rush into your room, jumping on your bed. You traced the outline of the seal, heart rapidly beating. Finally, something from your Kuni. You carefully opened the letter from Scaramouche as if it was the most precious thing you owned. Your heart sang at his familiar handwriting and you read each word slowly, trying to make the excitement last as long as possible.

To [Name],

I was surprised to see a youkai in Mondstadt, but it all made sense after I learned it was one of your childish antics again. Do you ever get tired of being a fool? …Though the fault is partially on me for believing these worms could fulfill any kind of job. From now on, I shall find another way for you to receive my letters. I am surrounded by brainless pests everywhere I turn here. No one is competent enough. Though you are an exception.

The last time I saw you, you had just recovered from being sick. Are you really well enough to be prancing about the place? If I come back and you’re not in good shape, there will be consequences. Make sure to use the recipes I left for you. They’re specifically good for frail human bodies like yours.

I hope you stopped falling asleep in the bath too. I’m not there with you to wake you up, so at least try to be alert.

Also, do not speak to the pink-haired kitsune. She will only bring trouble. When I come back, I expect you to tell me every single thing she asked you.

I don’t have a picture of you on me. You’re an idiot. Though, the clothes I brought suit you. Wear them more often.

Business here should finish up soon. But there’s a particularly annoying person in this world now, a blonde-haired traveler. If you see them, don’t talk to them. They’re dangerous.

I’ve attached a recipe for hash browns from Mondstadt. You always go on and on about how much you wanted to try different cuisine, so next time I come, I’ll have some more ready. Let’s see if you can make something better than my Shimi Chazuke.

I’ll see you soon. I expect to see you waiting with a cup of bitter tea.

And, the day where neither of us have to worry again is approaching. The preparations are already being made.

Your cheeks hurt from smiling so hard. His kindness was hidden under layers of mean words, his concern for you peeking through the words even if he tried not to show it. The puppet with a heart more human than he thought. 

Your Kunikuzushi. 

Though you wondered what that last line could mean…? You hoped he wouldn’t do something drastic.

Childe:

“Well… a Fatui Harbinger does sound like it could be a problem, even for our best courier…” Your shoulders drooped even though you knew that was true, but you still tried to defend Childe.

“I know how this sounds, but he’s actually quite nice to other people when he’s not on business… Even Yoimiya and the neighborhood kids can vouch for him!” You wanted to express how much of a sweetheart he was, but you thought that might harm his reputation with the members of the Fatui. Who were probably nearby, watching you from somewhere because of their orders from Childe.

“That sounds like an interesting job!” A cheery voice echoed from behind you and a girl appeared, one with two tails. Ah, she must be a youkai.

“Nice to meet you! I’m Kirara, and rest assured, I’ll deliver the package to this Harbinger of yours!” she nodded while smiling brightly.

“Really? Are you sure that you want to? I know it sounds daunting…”

“Don’t worry! I can’t work for Komaniya Express if I couldn’t deliver anywhere. And if Yoimiya really does like him, then I’m sure it’ll be fine!”

“Oh… thank you, thank you! Well, at this time he’ll be in Liyue Harbor. But it’s hard to get his exact location… so if you can’t find him, go to Wangsheng Funeral Parlor and ask for Zhongli. He’ll definitely know where Childe is. Thanks so much!” you happily handed the letter and small box of toys to Kirara, excited for her return. 

Childe was a Harbinger, but Ajax was the sweetest of men. You weren’t worried about anything happening, just the matter of Kirara actually finding him.

—

Locating the eleventh Harbinger was not as hard as Kirara thought it’d be. It seemed like he was quite well-known in Liyue. She spotted his ginger hair as he exited what looked to be an expensive restaurant and immediately scurried up to him.

“Hello, sir! Are you Childe, by any chance?” Childe was momentarily surprised at the girl initiating conversation, because of his Harbinger status and all.

“That’s me, alright. Is there something you need from me?”

“Great! See here, I have a package from [Name] to deliver to you.” Childe immediately straightened up at the sound of your lovely name.

“[Name]? Are you friends with them?” Childe’s eyes twinkled with interest. He’d love to hear about how you were doing.

“Oh, not quite,” Kirara laughed. “I’m just a humble courier that was sent to deliver this very important package for you! So please, sign here. Oh, but don’t worry about [Name]. They looked to be quite healthy when I saw them,” she quickly reassured him. “Feel free to send something back to them by the way. I’ll deliver it!”

He always felt so exhilarated with you, comparable to how he felt when he battled. Always so full of surprises, keeping him on his toes. Quickly, he ripped open the letter to see what words you weaved on the pages.

My beloved Ajax,

Hello, my dearest! I hope this letter finds you well. I know you said you’d be back soon, but I couldn’t resist trying to contact you through… you know. Alternate means. The Fatui agents never deliver our stuff quickly enough!

First, I know sometimes Teucer visits you in Liyue, so I’m sending over some plushies I’ve sewn for him. He still likes Ruin Guards, doesn’t he? Well, now he’s got the whole Ruin Machine collection. Please pass them on to him whenever you see him, and tell him I miss him dearly of course!

Secondly, well… I miss you more! I’ve been counting the days until I could see your pretty face again. I’ve been training as you told me to, but I’m afraid it’s kind of hard when we’ve been separated for so long… but I promise, I’ll be a worthy sparring partner! And, the neighborhood kids are asking me every day when you’re coming back. I’m going to have to start hiding in my house at this point.

Ah, how can I survive without a strong, handsome young man to carry all of my groceries home? Without his powerful arms to lift me everywhere I please? I truly am at a loss… (Am I making you miss me more? I hope it’s working.)

Oh yes, I was thinking, you and I have never been to the beaches in Inazuma together! I’m sure they’re nothing like the ones in Liyue, but they’re still pretty nonetheless. We should definitely go and collect some seashells and play in the water! (And you better not use your Hydro Vision to your advantage again!) 

Hopefully one day, the water fights can be snow ball fights instead, hmm? ;)

Love you!

P.S.: If I don’t receive a couple of dozen kisses the next time you visit, you’re being banned from cuddles.

Childe couldn’t help but smile and laugh as he read your letter. You were so, so cute. How did he get so lucky? And now he wanted to snatch you away to Snezhnaya even more. He wanted you to meet the rest of his family already.

“Would you wait here for a bit? I want to respond to them right away.”

—

You were just returning home when Kirara popped up out of nowhere, waving something in the air which you immediately recognized to be one of those fancy envelopes Childe always used. You nearly tripped on the trips as she came bounding up to you.

“I’m glad I caught you, [Name]! I’ve successfully delivered your package and have a reply here!” She placed the letter, and also a few hefty bags of what you already knew was Mora. It wasn’t a letter from Childe if he wasn’t trying to spoil you somehow.

“I’m so glad you found him! I hope it wasn’t too much trouble?” Kirara smiled and shook her head.

“He seemed to really miss you. He kept rereading your letter over and over. I think he was kind of disappointed when I didn’t have any news of you…” You couldn’t help but laugh. Childe really lived up to his name sometimes.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m just so happy you could deliver my stuff. Thanks once again!” Kirara bowed deeply and you waved her off.

You decided to sit down on the porch of your house. It was rather beautiful as Childe had purchased the loveliest one he could of course. With extreme care, you opened the letter and began reading.

Dearest [Name],

When I saw this lady with two tails, I thought she would be a great sparring partner. But then when she came up to me bearing a package from you, I was even more surprised! Missed me that much, hmm? Well, you’re not the only one… Waking up to a cold bed isn’t what I prefer.

Passing the time without you has been difficult. Liyue has some good fishing spots, but I miss having you next to me trying not to scream when you finally managed to catch something. Haha, have you been training in that too without me, love?

Anyway, you’re in luck. Teucer somehow got away and is in Liyue again… but I can’t be too mad. He’s been playing with your toys the whole day and making me join him too. Now, I can’t let you give such wonderful gifts to my family and leave you empty-handed! Here’s a couple of million Mora. I know that’s not much, but all the other gifts are stuck in transit… I hope they get there soon. There are clothes, jewelry, books, and, actually, let’s just wait until it comes.

I’m sorry to make you wait so long, baby. You’ve been so understanding of my duty and all, and I know you don’t deserve this. But I promise to make it up to you when I’m back. And, you know, I have been thinking about this for a while. You should come to live in Liyue. We still won’t be together all the time, but I’m stationed there more than the other nations. 

You can use my place to stay, it’s quite luxurious of course, and everyone here is very friendly. Mr. Zhongli in particular would like to meet you. So just think about it, okay? Also, the beach sounds quite nice. I hope you’re ready to be soaking wet because I’m not going to let you get away. (I will be using my Vision. It’s too funny to hear you squeal.)

Speaking of, I hear there’s going to be a festival in Inazuma soon, Yoimiya told me about it. I’ve never been to one, but it sounds rather exciting. There’s even a fighting competition! We should go together. And don’t worry, I’ll win all of the games at the stalls for you.

I have so many things to tell you when I get there. I also have a bunch of souvenirs from my travels too… there’s a story for each one. I hope you’re prepared! I expect to hear every detail about your life, too.

P.S.: I’ll hold you to that threat, comrade. I’ll be counting every single kiss, so don’t think about escaping.

P.P.S.: I’d still destroy you in a snowball fight. But we’ll see when you come to Snezhnaya.

You couldn’t contain your love and jumped up and down, holding the letter to your chest. How could a man be so sweet, charming, kind, and more? The list went on. But you couldn’t help but laugh at his handling of Mora. You had insisted every time he needn’t send you this much money, but alas.

Liyue, huh? You had never stepped foot outside of Inazuma, especially with the previous Vision Hunt Decree, but now perhaps would be a good time to expand your horizons.

Especially when your beloved Ajax was there with you.

[agirlnamedstar]

Crowley was supposed to find us a way home, right?

Listen, you love this world. You love all of the friends and memories you’ve made.

But you miss your family and friends back in your old world.

You miss your home and home cooked food, and all of the games you have and your comfy bed:((((

You miss not having to take care of an entire schools problems one by one.

You miss home.

The worst part about all of this is that he hasn’t been searching for a way home for you!! At all!!!

He doesn’t want you to go!!

Or, even worse, he has found a way home for you.

He just hasn’t told you because he doesn’t want you to leave. And you won’t be leaving on his watch. You’re too important to the school, to all your peers, to him.

You’re like a daughter/son/kid to him!!!

He’s not gonna let you leave THAT easily.

It’s after Vils overblot, and you are worn out. You are sick of all of this. You are tired and covered in bruises and burns. You are tired of getting hurt practically every day for this bullshit.

You walk into Crowleys office the next day, limping slightly due to Vil pretty much kicking your ass.

“Crowley.” You say, shutting the door behind you.

“Prefect!! Why, it’s lovely to see you! How are you doing?” He says joyously, not bothering to look up at you.

“I’m-” “That’s fantastic!! I’m glad you’re doing so well!” He interrupts, not letting you get a word out.

“So, I need you to-”

“No. Crowley I NEED you to listen to me.” You shut him up instantly, not wanting to run his stupid errands in your current state.

(Or in general.)

“Well, what do you need Prefect? I’ll give you anything you need!! For I am ever so gracious!”

“I want to go home.”

And as soon as the words leave your mouth, he starts sweating and begins to panic inside. He doesn’t want you to leave!! He needs you! Why would you want to leave? You have so many friends here!! What about them? What about him? What about your teachers?

“Have you even been searching for a way to get me home this entire time?” You put your hands on his desk, glaring at him, “Don’t say you’ve been busy with your paperwork. Half the time you make ME do your stupid paperwork.”

“Uhm..unfortunately no..I haven’t had much time with all the overblots and all!! Those keep me very busy!” He nervously laughed as you continued to glare.

“What?! Dude, you don’t solve those overblots!! I do!! I always do! I’ve solved every single god damn problem thrown at me since I was pushed into this school! I’ve made sure your students don’t get hurt or, even worse, DIE thanks to these overblots!!!”

“I could’ve died last night Crowley. I could have DIED. I’m limping and covered in cuts and bruises!! Yet I still came to fucking school today. Yet I still had some type of fucking HOPE that you’ve been searching for a way to get me home!”

“Maybe you don’t want me to leave!! Maybe, just maybe, you wanna keep me here forever!! That way you never have to deal with your students problems again! Because instead of coming to you, they’ll just pile it onto me! Is that you want you want, Crowley? Huh? Is that fucking it?”

Tears poured out of your eyes like waterfalls as you ranted and yelled, throwing your hands up in the air as you let everything out.

Crowley stared in disbelief, not knowing what to do or what he should do.

He’s never had a student come into his office, yell and scream at him, and then bawl their eyes out before.

You collapsed onto your knees, breathing heavily as you tried to catch your breath.

You felt like you were choking on the air you desperately needed. All you could taste was the saltiness of your tears, and all you could hear were your own sobs.

“It’s not fair Crowley…I’ve done so much for this school and I get NOTHING! Absolutely NOTHING!!! It’s bullshit! I wanna go home…..I want all of this suffering to stop….” You screamed, digging your fingers into the carpet you sat upon.

Then, the office was filled with silence.

Crowley didn’t know what to say.

Should he apologize? Should he tell you the truth?

What should he do??…

“…prefect I-”

“Save it. I’m fucking done Crowley. I’m so fucking done..” You cut him off, struggling to stand up.

Everything hurt. You were light headed and your eyes were blurry. Your legs felt like jelly and your head hurt worse than before you came in.

Before you knew it, you collapsed. You world went black as your head hit the carpet below you.

The last thing you heard was Crowley screaming, frantically calling for the nurse, and the footsteps of people rushing in.

Why is it always You?

[altacctforastarion]

May I request astarion and his tav living in the underdark together post game nsfw and sfw if that's okay

Oh hell yeah! Thanks for requesting anon!

I think that Astarion and Tav kinda rule over the underdark, so I’m setting this right from the jump where they go there to live and the spawns are like wtf do we do and then doing a time jump to them actually having to be the rulers. There’s a bunch of fluff and domestic life in this one, as well as Underdark politics lmao. Kinda went crazy with you and Astarion building what might as well be a fucking city down there.

I hope you like it!

Warnings: obvi 18+, mdni, nsfw content, blood drinking.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this? We can go stay with Halsin or something, there’ll be no shortage of creatures now that the shadow curse is gone.” You ask tentatively, he doesn’t like to be coddled, but he looks afraid as you approach the entrance to the Underdark, and it makes your heart ache. He’d already told you he wanted to come here and build “disgusting cave life” with you, but that night he’d whispered, anxious and vulnerable in ways he still wasn’t used to, that he wanted to check on the spawn and make sure they were doing ok and staying out of trouble. As you got closer he’d begun talking more, anxious chattering, and his hand hadn’t left yours, his grip tight as though you were his lifeline.

“You just want to see the bear again, don’t you?” He tries to joke, but you give him a pointed look and he drops the facade with an annoyed “hm” sound, “No I’m not ready. I cursed so many of them to the very life I’ve hated for two centuries, and then I would have sacrificed them if not for you. They have every right to hate me and now here I am, showing up at their door, but I need to know what’s become of them.”

You choose not to push, to remind him that if they hated him as much as he feared they could have killed him when he was weakened after killing Cazador, but they didn’t, instead they listened to him when he said to go to the Underdark and here they remain. “Alright, Astarion, then let’s go in and see how they’re doing. But if you want to leave we will, no questions asked, you just say the word and I’ll follow.”

He pulls you closer with the hand still holding yours and holds you close with the other, “Thank you, I know you will. I love that you mean that.” He kisses you deeply, sweet and slow, lovingly, before letting you go and wordlessly entering the cave in front of you.

It’s strange being back here, but a lot of things are strange now, sleeping during the day and staying up all night with Astarion, living a life with significantly less danger, seeing far fewer people than before. The two of you follow the winding paths until you hear voices, and you stop, afraid of scaring the spawn that watch you from the darkness.

“We mean you no harm. Please come out so we can talk.” Astarion makes his voice gentle, placating, like he’s trying to tame a beast. “My name is Astarion, I’m-“

“We know who you are, brother.” You recognize the voice, it belongs to Dalyria, one of Astarion’s ‘siblings’. She walks around a bend in cave ahead of you, “It’s good to see you, both of you,” she nods in your direction, eyes flitting to your hand in his, “in one piece, I hear Baulder’s Gate wasn’t so lucky.”

“It’s being rebuilt as we speak, the Harper’s and the guild have a little alliance going, it’s kind of-“

She cuts him off, “Why are you here, Astarion?”

“I-“ he looks at you, for a moment, and squeezes your hand as he continues, “We are here to make sure you’re all doing well. We want to help you.”

“Doing well? We have our freedom, some of us haven’t had that in centuries, some of us are children, and we’re confined to these caves in the shadows, we have no homes, just tents we’ve barely managed to put together and some of them can barely manage their hunger. Then there’s the damn Myconids-“ Her voice is raising slightly, annoyance and exhaustion can be heard very clearly in her tone, her hands moving as she talks, clenching into fists when she mentions the Myconids.

“We can help with them, at least. We’re friends with the Myconids, what do you need?” You interject, trying to calm things down. Astarion needs this to work out, and you both need a place to live. Not to mention you’re bleeding heart, the ever present need to help people in need, and there are currently seven thousand people that need your help.

She looks at you, contemplating, a bit of hope shining through the annoyance on her face, “We need more space, and there’s plenty on the other side of their colony but we can’t split up the group, we need to stay together, and that means we need to go through their colony to get to either side. And we’ve seen merchants going into the colony, we need supplies.”

“Darling, do you think you could convince our singing mushroom friends to help our cause?” Astarion looks at you with a smile, he already knows the answer, he’s travelled with you long enough to know you can persuade anyone of anything, and the Myconids seemed to love you when you were there last.

“Of course. We can go right now, it’ll be nice to see them again.” You turn to Dalyria, “On the condition that we can stay here. We’ll help however we can but we need a place to live.”

“Handle the mushrooms and you can even pick a place to make your tent.” She smiles for the first time, seeming more relaxed as she looks back at your partner, “Gentleness suits you, Astarion.”

—

It doesn’t take long to persuade the Myconids to give the spawns access to their colony, their peaceful melody playing in your heads as you explain why the spawns are here, that they only seek survival, the same as the Myconids do.

Astarion watches as you smile at them, thanking them for their cooperation and promising the spawns are no threat to their beautiful colony. He listens to the song change again as you tell them that the two of you will be staying here, and he thinks to himself that only you can make sentient mushroom sound so happy to be in your presence.

—

Dalyria greets you as you return to their group, an expectant look on her face, “Well? How did it go?”

“The Myconids will allow everyone safe passage, but they will kill anyone who threatens their colony, and that includes the merchants. I suggest only those who can control their hunger go to the other side and travel through the colony. Also, I’ll look topside for merchants who sell livestock, if we can get some animals breeding we can eventually have enough for everyone.”

“Great. You two have fun with that.” She says, and to your shocked expressions she adds, “It was your idea to have us come here, I don’t know what I’m doing, and I’m sick of playing leader. So, have fun leading and planning and whatever else.” She walks away before you can respond, waving over her shoulder.

“Well, darling what do you say? Do you want to be a leader again? You were rather good at it the first time around, saving the world and all.” He’s grinning at you as he pulls you close to him, his arms wrapping around you and his forehead pressing against yours, and you notice that he doesn’t seem power hungry like when he planned to ascend, he’s not pushing for your acceptance (though, Dalyria didn’t seem like she was asking so much as telling you that you were the new leaders), he’s simply asking you if you’d like to take this on. And really, how could you say no to this new adventure?

—

You’re smiling as you return to the Underdark, happy to be done with a very long day of topside negotiations, eager to find Astarion and tell him about your successes.

You find him in the sheep’s pen, refilling their feed and talking to a horse as he works. He’s never bothered to learn Speak With Animals like you did, but he was rather fond of this particular horse, and the horse follows him from pen to pen each day. You decide to listen to him talk until he notices you.

“I don’t really like the boars, those filthy things, not very friendly either. Well, not to me or anyone but them. Of course they’re friendly with them, everyone and everything is. Can you blame them?” You smile, and fight the urge to laugh, unwilling to let him know you’re here. The horse notices you anyways, and you press a finger to your lips.

He looks away, but speaks to you anyways, “Hello, friend. Other friend has talked about you all day. And the boars.”

“I know, and they even let me bite them, so generous. They mentioned they’d get you more treats before they left, you know.”

The horse gives you away then, walking in your direction, “Where are the treats, human?”

Astarion spins around at what must sound like a very loud horse sound to his ears, and you watch as he blushes, “Darling! How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough to hear about your problem with the boars and also-“ you’re cut off by the horse demanding his treats, and you get some sugar cubes out of your pack, holding them out to him. “Also that I’m so very generous.”

“I take back everything I said, sneaking up on me, eavesdropping, all horrible traits.” The horse thanks you, and Astarion nods as if he heard what was said, “That’s true, you also made Gale wait for his sugar cubes! Cruel and demented.”

“You named him Gale?”

“Yes, yes I’m hilarious, I know.” Astarion opens the gate, letting horse Gale exit before him with a polite nod, and approaches you. “Now, come here.” You obey, and when you’re close enough he moves you, your back up against the fence, kissing you deeply, and you feel his thigh parting your legs as he presses himself closer against you, “I’ve missed you today, darling. I’ve just finished up here, how about I take you to bed?” His mouth moves to your neck, placing kisses on the skin there.

“Gods yes, but first I have some good news I’d like to share.”

“Oh? What is it?” He moves to pull away, but you pull him in again, a hand on his back and one on his head, keeping his lips on your neck and you feel his hum of approval vibrating on your skin as he goes back to kissing you there.

“I finally found a group that will build houses down here, it was going to be a lot of gold, but they’ve got a necromancer problem and if we get rid of that they’ll get started immediately with a hefty discount. It’ll speed up the process if we don’t have to build everything ourselves.” You’re quite proud of the deal you made, the group was originally unwilling, not a fan of vampires and caves, but while you were arguing with them some zombies showed up, slaying them made negotiations a lot easier. Currently, you had quite a few homes built, but homes take a lot of resources, and you had far too many people in each house and many more still sleeping in tents.

He pulls back to look at you, “They do know they’re walking into a cave full of vampires don’t they?” He looks excited, hopeful even, and you melt a bit internally, it’s so nice to see him happy, and all you had to do was kill some zombies.

“They do. They didn’t like it at first, but they came around.” You’ll give details later, but for now you just want to let him take you to bed to celebrate the news.

—

It takes what feels like forever to get all of the homes built, but it finally got done, huge houses full of personal suites fill the area, with plenty of room to spare in case anyone else moves in with your group. You had originally lived in one of those suites, but Astarion insisted on building a small house for just the two of you, and now that you have it you can’t complain.

Your day had been full of meetings, negotiating with merchants that you’ve convinced to travel down here to trade with your people, plans for livestock, making arrangements for someone else to answer constant questions while you and Astarion go to visit human Gale (as you’ve started referring to him, because it makes Astarion laugh everytime), because he said he might have a lead on a way for Astarion to see the sun again. Astarion helps with politics of course, all decisions are made by the two of you with the input of your people, but he leaves most conversations to you, his tongue too sharp for most of the everyday annoyances you deal with.

You relax on your newly made couch with a hot cup of tea and wait for your partner, he should be finishing up with his chores shortly and you long to see him, to tell him of your meetings and preparations, and to ask about his equally busy day.

You don’t have to wait long before you hear his voice outside, “Well, Petras it’s been so fun, but I’ve got someone actually worth my time waiting for me, so save your thoughts.” You laugh as you listen, and Petras scoffs at Astarion as he opens the front door. “Darling! I’m home, where are you?”

“I’m on the couch! What did Petras want?” You call, and you hear him make a little “ah” sound before you hear footsteps heading towards you.

“Oh the usual, he wants to drink from humans. I told him if he wants to go to the city each night he can go right ahead, but no, he wants us to make a group that will bring people here. I told him that wasn’t going to happen and he said he’d bring it up to the council, but we both know they won’t vote for a group to go around kidnapping.” He shrugs as he sits down next to you, but you can tell that it got under his skin, Petras keeps pushing the topic with Astarion, and is always angry by the end of it. The council had been formed not long after the two of you had become rulers, with members voted in to speak for everyone and vote on decisions.

“Gods. Did you tell him if he goes alone he can only kill criminals?” That was another thing that had been agreed upon, if someone wants to leave they can, but if they want to come back they can’t kill innocents or break laws, any attention on your group and things might get very bad very fast.

“I did, and he whined about it, but he doesn’t have the spine to actually leave, so I’m not worried about it.” He sighs, the conversation wearing on him, “Anyways, how was your day? How did it go with the Gur?”

“It was exhausting. The Gur will be shaken down at the entrance like we’d discussed, no weapons will be brought in, and no more night travels with the children outside of the camp. They’ll also be more involved in the children’s schooling, so we got what we wanted and they were bitter about the no weapons thing but I smoothed it over eventually.”

“Lovely work as always, darling, thank you for handling them.” He smiles at you, and that makes it all worth it, you think. “Finish your tea, my love, and then you and I can go relax, hm?” He reaches out to you, fingertips tracing your neck.

“You just want a meal.” You admonish, but you drink you tea anyways, not one to deny him your blood.

“Oh no, my love. I want sex. Though if you’re offering I’m suddenly famished.”

—

He lays you down on the bed, just barely letting you finish your tea before picking you up and carrying you to your bedroom. You pull him down on top of you and he hums his approval as he kisses you, wasting no time in unlacing your shirt.

He breaks the kiss to pull it over your head, undressing you with haste, “It feels like it’s been forever since we had time together to do this.”

“We had sex this mor-“ His hand covers your mouth as his other hand unbuttons your pants.

“Forever ago.” He moves his hand and pulls your pants and underwear off, grinning when he sees you naked below him. He gropes you as he leans down to kiss you again, tongue entering your mouth as he pinches a nipple. You gasp, and he does the same with the other one just to hear you react. You push against his chest, still kissing him and sitting up as he sits back, your hands unlacing his shirt as one of his goes in between your legs, groaning into your mouth when he feels the growing wetness there. “Oh darling, you have missed me haven’t you?”

You pull his shirt off and demand he removes his own clothes, watching as he leaves the bed to do so, stripping slowly in front of you and you stare with hungry eyes, watching as his hard cock springs up at the removal of his pants. He touches himself in front of you, stroking himself slowly and moaning from his own touch. “Astarion, stop teasing and come here.”

“You don’t want a show, my love? You did say you were exhausted earlier.” He still touching himself, thumb collecting the precum at the pink tip of his cock and using it to stroke himself faster for a moment, releasing another moan before letting himself go and returning to his place between your legs. “Was I not a pretty sight for you, darling?”

“It’s not the view I’m looking for, but you were a beautiful sight.” Your tone is annoyed even though you aren’t, he really was a beautiful sight and watching him pleasure himself is a thought you pocket for another day. He beams at the compliment, and his hand goes between your legs again.

“Not as beautiful as this, your legs spread for me, wet and wanting, one of my favorite views.” His fingers run up your slit once before stopping at your entrance, “Ah, and here’s another favorite, partnered with the sounds you’ll make.” He sounds pleased with himself, and your face is hot, when his fingers finally enter you, you moan low in your throat and he grins. He thrusts his fingers in and out, slow at first and gradually picking up the pace as you adjust to the stretch, the delicious burn from him starting with two fingers fading into unbridled pleasure as he curls his fingers at the end of each thrust in to touch that one spot that never fails to draw out more wanton sounds from you.

He sits back and watches himself work, and your eyes close as you ride the waves of pleasure he brings you, gasping when the thumb of his other hand finds your clit, the rest of his hand placing gentle pressure right above your mound, amplifying the feeling of his fingers. Usually, he’d make you open your eyes, to look at him while he pleases you, but you look lovely splayed out for him, eyes closed and your brow furrowing as he gets you closer to your peak. You whine as he speeds up, and he watches as you start to move your hips, grinding down on his fingers.

He leans down and bites your inner thigh when he sees you getting close, and you moan high and needy as he drinks from you, the pain tipping you over the edge as you clench around his fingers, your eyes finally opening to look at him, his fingers still thrusting and curling as you come down for your high, his tongue lapping up the blood from where he’s still biting your thigh.

He pulls out of you as he stops drinking, and immediately moves so he can lick your sensitive cunt instead, fast licks against your clit have you gripping his hair, keeping his face against you and he moans into you, he loves when you take what you want, loves bringing you pleasure. His tongue moves lower, pushing into your entrance as deep as he can as his nose brushes against your clit, and you whine out his name as one of his hands goes to the bite mark on your thigh, pressing down on it.

He fucks you with his tongue before moving back up to your clit, keeping you moaning and gasping out his name, but changing too frequently to get you close enough to cum. It’s a game he plays, seeing how long until you’re demanding his cock, wondering if maybe he can work you up enough that you’ll even beg for it. It’s looking like the latter, with how you whine when he puts away from your clit for a moment to kiss and lick at your unmarked thigh.

“Astarion, please.” Close, but not what he’s looking for, biting your thigh while his fingers return to you, pushing in and curling slow, and then not moving. You grind down on his hand and he allows it, knowing it won’t give you enough to cum, smirking against your skin as he watches you try desperately to push yourself over the edge again using his fingers, listening to you try again, whining his name. He knows he’s won when you let out a dry sob, so overwhelmed and understimulated at the same time.

“Please, Astarion, fuck me!”

“With pleasure, darling.” His voice is rough and scratchy, jaw slightly sore and it aches so nicely. He sits up again, lining up his cock as your legs wrap around him, trying to pull him into you. You moan again as he enters, stretching you wonderfully and leaving you gasping as he bottoms out.

He leans down to kiss you, moaning when you push your tongue into his mouth, hands on your hips keeping you still when he begins to thrust into you, the kiss getting messy as he fucks into you fast, finally getting you to that edge as you moan into his mouth and your fingers trace over the scars on his back.

He goes to back to rubbing circles on your clit as he approaches his own orgasm, timing it perfectly so you cum at the same time, pulling away from the kiss to look at you right before you’re thrown into another orgasm, “I love you, darling. You’ve given me everything.