#I'll put these tags near the end so it's more of a surprise:

[marlynnofmany]

Going the Extra Mile/s

There wasn’t a spare seat in the cockpit today, but I lingered in the doorway because I wanted to get a look at the giant migrating beasties that made the locals retreat underground for “cave season.” They were just as huge as expected.

“Well, this is definitely the right area,” Kavlae said as she adjusted the magnification on the secondary viewscreen. Gargantuan creatures like rhinos with too many legs ambled across a dusty alien landscape, easily big enough to crush our little courier ship underfoot. Kavlae zoomed in for a close look with her head fins flaring in curiosity.

I watched from the doorway, just as curious. These would make an interesting hazard. If the medicine we were delivering wasn’t so important, the captain might have passed on the job. But those people in the cave system were suffering an outbreak of something, and both their need and their payment were high. Besides, we shouldn’t have to get too close to danger. Someone was going to meet us and take the medicine back to the caves.

“What’s that?” Captain Sunlight said urgently. She pointed with a a yellow-scaled hand. “By the little one that’s bouncing around.”

Kavlae refocused the screen while Wio steered the ship, blue-ringed tentacles growing tense on the controls.

I edged forward for a better view. The remnants of something broken and mechanical filled the screen. When I saw handlebars, I frowned. “Is that a hoverbike?”

At the same time, Captain Sunlight asked, “Where’s the driver?”

Kavlae refocused and searched the area. Wio brought us in to where we could just see the herd on the main screen, but kept a safe distance. Yup, that wreckage was near the landing pad with the ramp down into the canyon. The missing driver was our contact. Not good.

“There! Closer!”

“Looks in rough shape,” Kavlae said. “Wish we had bio-scanners.”

I stood behind the captain’s chair, taking in the sight of the unmoving pile of clothes and fur. “Should I go tell Eggskin to grab a medical kit?”

“I’ll set an alert,” said Captain Sunlight.

Wio passed her the microphone for the comms without a word, already clicking switches anxiously.

I stood there with nothing to do while the captain announced to the whole ship that priorities had changed. The crates in the cargo bay would have to wait while we made an urgent rescue of the person waiting for them.

“…And we’d best be quick, because he may have been kicked by the megafauna, and they’re still in range. Eggskin, meet me at the cargo door.” She clicked off, handed it back, then directed Wio to land but hold the engines ready.

“I’ll keep watch,” Kavlae said. “That baby is probably the one that did it. The adults look too calm.”

“Call if there’s danger,” Captain Sunlight told her, hopping down and trotting toward the door.

I followed on my long human legs. “I’ll get an exo suit and go with Eggskin,” I volunteered. “I don’t know this species, but I might be able to help.” Veterinarian training, I’d learned, was more useful in space than a regular humans-only medical degree. It’s that familiarity with a wide range of body types that does it.

“Good,” said the captain, hurrying along. “Be quick with the suit.”

We arrived at the cargo bay, and I did my best to wriggle into my exo suit before she finished explaining the situation to the many worried faces. They were all wearing suits already.

Not because of environment, but because of contagion. This delivery was risky on more than one level.

“I have scanners and stabilizers,” said Eggskin. “Just say the word.” While there weren’t usually many injuries delivering cargo, and the good doctor spent more time preparing meals as the good cook, they were the acknowledged expert on medical care for sentient species. They were also a Heatseeker like the captain, just with scales colored a pale yellow-green and the full name “Skin of the Egg that is Translucent and Ready to Hatch.”

I’d realized privately that those scales were the color of fresh boogers, but I wasn’t about to say so out loud.

“Everybody suited?” asked Captain Sunlight, her lizardy face looking out of her visor.

“Ready,” I said. The rest of the room agreed.

“Eggskin, Robin, and Blip into the airlock,” the captain directed, hitting the controls. “Take the small sled, and get him back inside quickly. Stay in the airlock while we scan for contagion.”

“Got it.” We did as directed: one human, one small lizardy person, and one big fin-covered sea monster type person ready for action with an empty hoversled. This was not what I expected today’s delivery to involve.

The outer door opened to a bright, sunny desert, with giant creatures in the background and an injured local on the dirt ahead of us. Wio had parked close. Good.

Eggskin took the lead, rushing over with scanner in hand to check for life. I followed, moving to the other side while Blip pulled the hoversled into stretcher position. The guy on the ground was curled halfway into the fetal position, covered in red dust like he’d tumbled quite a ways after being kicked. It was hard to make out the species. Kinda mousy, about Heatseeker size.

“He’s alive,” Eggskin reported. “Impact injuries; unconscious; fixable. Be careful of his head.”

Blip and I worked together to lift him onto the hoversled. He didn’t weigh much, but he was limp and barely breathing. I cradled his head carefully.

A growing earthquake made me look up just as the ship’s loudspeaker said, “Incoming! Get onboard now!”

An excitable young rhinocipede the size of a motel was barreling toward us. We pushed the sled and ran.

When the door slammed, I felt the ship take off in a way we were usually insulated from when riding properly inside the ship. It was almost enough inertia to knock me off my feet, but not quite. Eggskin leaned against the wall and Blip took a better stance.

The guy on the sled wheezed.

“Scanning,” said the captain’s voice on the loudspeaker. The ship leveled out abruptly. “Okay, he’s safe; bring him inside.” The inside of the airlock opened up to a double row of concerned crewmates, leaving space for Eggskin to take the guy to our little medbay. I assumed someone had moved the spare chairs out of it already.

While we got him in there and onto the bed, everyone else took turns worrying and cleaning up the trail of dust. Blip put the sled away. I got to be medical assistant.

“It’s mostly broken ribs and a concussion,” Eggskin told me while they moved the various medical machinery into position. “Very lucky he didn’t puncture a lung. See if you can wet-wipe some of that dust off his face, will you? Don’t want him sneezing right now, or getting a scratched cornea.”

I did what I could to help, though the medbay really was top notch, despite being no bigger than the average bathroom. Soon enough the mousy little fellow was stabilized and healing, still unconscious but with less dust in his fur. He looked kind of like a chipmunk, though with long legs like a jackrabbit, or maybe a jerboa. No idea what the species name was.

That didn’t matter. The fact that he and his bike were out of commission did.

“How do we make the delivery?” I asked the captain where she stood outside the medbay, surrounded by others. Eggskin was keeping an eye on the patient behind me.

“That’s the problem for certain,” she said, starting to pace. “I’ve contacted their communications hub, but things are more dire than they let on before. Long story, but they just don’t have another driver they can send.”

Zhee’s opinionated bug eyes appeared over Blip’s shoulder. “So let’s just fly closer,” he said. “Lower it from the cliff edge.”

Captain Sunlight shook her head. Kavlae beat her to the answer. “The animals will swat us out of the sky,” she said. “It’s been tried before. And there are local laws about harassing the things to get them to move. It’ll just end in a panic dance that crushes the canyon wall.”

“And gets us sued,” Captain Sunlight put in.

Paint put up a hand like a child, though a scaly orange one. “Why can’t we send our own vehicle down the canyon? I suppose it’s too narrow for the car, but what about the bike?”

Captain Sunlight turned to the toothpaste-green tentacle alien behind her. “Mimi, do you want to tell us why we can’t use our hoverbike?”

Mimi threw his tentacles in the air. His deep voice was exasperated when he said, “I already apologized for using the parts without asking! The rusted thing is falling apart anyway, and we never use it! The ship needed exactly that part!”

The captain sighed. “Yes, I’m sure it made sense at the time. But that puts us in a bad position now. Someone’s going to have to go on foot.”

Mur wove his own tentacles together at floor level. “Will that be fast enough? This is a rush order.”

Captain Sunlight spread her hands. “It will have to be,” she said. “There are no other options.”

Paint looked around. “So who’s fastest? Trrili?”

The terrifying black-and-red insectlike form standing in the back shook her head. “Short distances yes; long runs no.”

Zhee nodded. “Long runs are for herd animals.”

“Well, we don’t have any of those,” said Captain Sunlight. “Who’s got good endurance?”

At the chorus of nos, I had a dawning realization about my various crewmates. None of their species ran marathons.

“Let me do it,” I said quickly. “I can do the Balto run.”

“Balto run?” asked Captain Sunlight.

“Hero from my planet. One of several, really. But it was even a medicine delivery a lot like this one! But through the snow, not a desert. Anyway.” I stood up straight. “I volunteer.”

“Good enough for me,” said the captain. “Let’s get the crates strapped onto a sled. I had hoped to send two people, since this is too important to risk on a random stumble, but…”

“Someone could ride on the sled,” I said, starting to smile. “It won’t make it any harder to pull. And they can help hit the bumpers so it doesn’t bonk into the canyon walls.”

Paint’s hand shot up. “Ooh! Me!”

Captain Sunlight pointed at her. “You’re it. Both of you get ready in five, with a day’s worth of the food and water of your choice.”

“Will it take that long?” I asked, hoping my shoes were up to the task without any horrible blistering.

“That depends on you,” said the captain. “Scoot.”

I scooted. This was exciting.

In five minutes, I was ready with a bag of supplies to be strapped to the sled in easy reach, and my most comfortable clothes. I’d gone to the bathroom and stretched. Paint was similarly ready, though without the stretching.

“Let’s gooo!” she said from atop the hoversled, where she had a cushion and handholds on the front crate. Also an exo suit.

I wasn’t wild about wearing mine for this whole jaunt, but it was surprisingly flexible as these things go, and it promised to keep my air fresh and oxygenated.

“Is your pocket communicator charged and functioning?” asked Captain Sunlight.

“Yup. Double-checked.”

“Then I wish you the best of luck.” She stood back with a two-handed alien salute, and everyone cheered while we waited for the airlock to cycle.

“Is this just like your hero?” Paint asked me.

“Surprisingly yes,” I said, giving the harness an exploratory tug. “Glad I’ve got real food instead of dog treats, though.”

“Huh?”

“Balto was a dog.”

The airlock opened with a bang — somebody should oil that — and we were off down the ramp at my best pace, with dramatic fanfare behind. The sled was easy to pull, thanks to good ol’ hover tech, and the bumpers would make sure it didn’t glide forward to knock me off my feet. Plus Paint was ready to help steer it as needed.

The sun was bright, but the dusty wind slid right off my suit. The giant stompy beasties were far enough away and not looking. The ramp down into the canyon had a decent grip, and despite the history of water carving the canyon, there was only an easily-avoided stream at the bottom.

“We’re probably lucky this is the dry season,” I called up to Paint, not out of breath yet. “I bet the river gets big when it rains.”

“Save your breath for running!” Paint laughed.

“Yeah, okay,” I said. “But eventually I’ll want to walk for a bit, and then it’s time for space shanties.”

I managed to keep up the pace for longer than I’d expected; yay me; then downgraded to a long-legged stride that I could keep up indefinitely. Well, close enough to indefinitely. My legs were probably going to be sore, but that was nothing to complain about. Blisters were more annoying.

Paint was keeping an eye on the narrow strip of sky far above, to make sure no hazards approached. “Do you think singing will attract their attention?”

“Oh. Good point,” I said. I walked in silence for a moment.

“What if you sing quietly?” Paint asked.

“Yeah, and Kavlae has probably got us in sight anyway. They’ll call us if they see a problem.” I thought for a moment. “I don’t know any songs about delivering medicine, so here’s one about food and drink.” I launched into The Wellerman, appreciating how my voice bounced off the canyon walls.

The trip passed quickly. I alternated between jogging and walking, occasionally taking sips of water and bites of energy bars. Paint made for good company. She had a pretty good singing voice too, and shared some great kids’ songs from her childhood, which I was going to be sure to get written down later. Especially the one about counting scales and losing count.

It had been about three hours when my phone beeped for attention. I slowed my current jog to a walk again and pulled it out. My heart rate kicked a little faster from concern. “Hello?”

“You’re almost there,” said the captain.

“What?? Already?”

“‘Already,’ she says.” Captain Sunlight sounded like she was rolling her eyes to whoever else was listening. “Anyone else would have dropped from exhaustion.”

“After only three hours?” I asked. “I used to go on casual hikes every weekend that were longer than this!”

Indistinct sounds made it through the communicator. “Impressive,” Captain Sunlight said. “At any rate, prepare yourselves to greet the outpost soon. I’ve told them to expect you.”

“Well all right, then,” I said. “Thanks.”

The captain clicked off, and I put away the phone. I heard Paint rustling snack bags as she tidied up.

The canyon ahead was a long straight patch, with a corner at the end that I suspected would put us into view of the outpost.

“Ready to run?” I asked Paint.

A container snapped shut. “Ready!”

“Onward!” I charged ahead, pulling a sled full of life-saving medicine on the easiest death-defying run I’d ever been on.

~~~

The ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book.

More to come!

[ichore]

synopsis: two stressed, hot babes (you and shoko) decide to have spontaneous one night stand in a car

a/n: gotta love women

tags: MINORS DNI, shoko ieiri x fem!reader, smut with no plot, car sex, alcohol consumption, cunnilingus (both receiving and giving), scissoring/tribbing, they're both adults, reader still lives with strict parents, ending is nonexistent, not proofread

"I'll pick you up in an hour." the text had you widen your eyes in both surprise and excitement, your lips gently curving into a smile as you clicked on the small profile picture to view your new hookups' pictures once again. A doctor (you assumed, based on her white lab coat) with long brown hair, a sweet exhaustion dwelling in her brown gaze above lilac eye bags. Cool was what you would've described her if you ever happened to come across her on the street, but now that she was in between your dating app matches and you talked with her for mere 30 minutes, hot suited her better.

When you stepped out on your front door an hour later, the chill of the night tickled your freshly shaved skin on and in between your legs, making you more aware of your swelling wetness - as if you didn't already face it in the shower. Shoko was leaned against her car, her black mini skirt poking out from under her black leather coat. God, the way she instantly devoured every detail about you with her tired eyes while her soft, glossed lips wrapped around the butt of her near finished cigarette, it nearly made you just drag her upstairs and ignore the fact your parents would've heard everything.

"Everything alright?" she asked, her velvety voice jolting you out of your lustful reverie.

"Yeah, I just..." you started, your eyes immediately leaving hers when she tossed away the cigarette butt, revealing her cleavage from under her coat. "I'm not sure where we should do it. My place is a no-go, and you said the same about your own."

"The backseat of my car is quite comfortable." she said as she opened the passenger door for you. A slight smirk curved her lips when you glanced at the backseats that were completely folded down, leaving a wider, blanket covered space. This wasn't her first time, you thought, as you fastened your seatbelt and Shoko started the car. The clouds of her blueberry candy perfume wrapped you around as the radio played Cheri Cheri Lady, a mix of rain and snow flying against the windshield as she kept driving on nearly empty roads.

"I have wine back there if you're interested. No glasses, though." said Shoko. Perhaps she knew you were a bit anxious about the whole ordeal and that alcohol might help you ease up a bit. If she did, she was right; your fingers wrapped around that bottle of red wine in no time, you put it to your lips, and drank of that sweet nectar without hesitation. The rich taste coated your tongue, making you realize that it was no cheap alcohol that you just gulped down, while the warmth from your stomach began to spread towards your limbs.

"Already blushing from a sip of wine, how adorable" Shoko cooed as one of her hands left the steering wheel to caress your exposed thigh. The soft of her fingertips felt cold against your flesh, making you shiver a little under her touch. "Oh? Too cold? Maybe you could do something about that."

So you took her hand and kissed her knuckle velvet, the bottom of her fingers, brushed your lips against her freshly manicured nails before you invited her pointy and middle fingers in your mouth. Your eyes watched Shoko's eyes darken, and her smirk deepened as your tongue caressed her fingers, gently sucked on them like the good girl she had already knew you were while she drove her car onto a small road surrounded by woods.

Your heart jumped a little when you realized you were really in the middle of nowhere, but you would have been lying if you said the thrill of it all didn't make you wetter than you already were. As if she read your mind, Shoko took her fingers out of your mouth to frame your flushed cheeks in her hands as her lips finally collided with yours. Her lip gloss and yours mixed into a sweet coat, melting on your tongue when she pushed hers into your mouth. She smiled and gently moaned into the kiss when your hand traveled from her cheek to her breast, she felt your hand hesitate a little when you realized she didn't have a bra on.

"Go ahead, princess." A chuckle bubbled in Shoko's chest as she took off her coat and top, revealing her perfectly erect nipples inviting you for a taste. She yelped a little when your mouth nearly devoured her breast as your hand fondled the other, your tongue teasing that slightly brown nipple with hunger while she caressed the top of your head with one hand as her other hand helped you get rid of your coat.

"I see you can barely wait to get your pussy ate." she said when your tongue wetted her cleavage as you made your way up to the soft crook of her neck. A firm grab on your hair made you look into her eyes; you were both flushed and drunken with lust. "God, you're so cute, I can't wait to ruin you. Climb on the backseat!"

Already half naked and the car already warmed up, you thought it best if you didn't open the door to go to the back of the car. Instead, you took her words literally and began to climb through the front seats to get to your destination; unbeknownst to you, your dress lifted up and you had your entire wetness on display right in Shoko's face. A big mistake, you realized soon when she held you back by gripping into the flesh of your ass and spread your cheeks wide. "What a naughty girl. No panties, and already soaking wet from just kissing a stranger." she smacked your ass, leaving a tingling feeling of pain that only made you more wet. "Are you a bad girl?"

"Yes," you moaned as Shoko began to kiss your inner thigh, leaving a bite and another slap on your ass as she found your answer unsatisfactory. "Yes, mommy."

Like a divine gift, her tongue gathered your hot wetness between your folds as you held yourself up with your two arms as your tummy rested on the front seats. Shoko hummed, licked and sucked on every inch of your wet pussy as if it was her last meal on Earth; her nails teased against your skin before spanking you when you wanted to hold back your sweet moans. When the soft of her thumb began to caress your clit, you could not hold back anymore. Your shameless screams and moans filled the car and the woods as she devoured your pussy and played with your clit until another gush of wetness stained Shoko's face and your legs trembled with your first orgasm. "Good girl, go and lay down."

With a cloudy mind and shaking limbs, you obeyed. Your eyes lazily followed her figure as she got rid of her clothes, tossing them to a dark corner of the car before she climbed on top of you to embrace you in another sloppy kiss. The taste of your own juices tingled with sweetness against your tongue as she stained your face with the cum that you orgasmed on her. "Sit on my face...please." Your begging made her smile once again, her exhausted eyes livening up with lust once more before she maneuvered herself around in the tiny space to use your face like her personal saddle while your nose teased her clit.

"Ah, look how excited you got me." Shoko whimpered as her own wetness started get licked away by you as your hands held into her waist. From your view, she looked like a goddess; the interior light of the car shone gold in her dark brown hair, her brown eyes gazed down upon you with want and need, one of her hand teasing her beast as the other raked through your hair, her battle scars from the past faint on her abdomen as you eagerly devoured her freshly trimmed pussy. Her looks alone made you lose your mind, but her voice could make you cum once again without her touching you - and you were determined to make her scream in pleasure.

"Oh, my" she moaned when your hands found her chest, your fingers eagerly and roughly playing with her nipples. The way it made her arch her back, it made you tongue her hole faster as you rubbed your nose against her clit. You knew she was close to cumming when her grip in your hair tightened and she couldn't help, but rock her hips against your face. To both of your surprise, you welcomed her orgasm with firm slaps on her ass. Whereas she clearly enjoyed the spanking, she knew she could not let you get away with such a thing.

Before you knew it, the cold air hit your wet face and Shoko's wet pussy was placed against yours. "So fucking wet, hng." she whimpered to herself, biting her lip as she began to massage her folds with yours, her arms holding onto one of your legs as she began to roughly rock her hips. Wet clit against wet clit, pussy on pussy - the sensation nearly drove you mad, your throat already feeling hoarse and dry from the screams you simply could not hold back as your nails dug into Shoko's waist.

"Hmm, I'm gonna cum." you moaned, making Shoko whimper "Oh, yeah?" before she grabbed both of your legs and folded them up against your chest as she held you from under your knees. The pose left you feeling completely dominated and exposed before Shoko began to vehemently her pussy against yours once again, the wet sounds nearly disappearing between the high-pitched screams and moans as you both ride through the orgasm.

[witheringwidgetwrites]

MC has a secret admirer!

Request goes; They're already dating but it's new so most of the lesser demons don't know about it. MC then starts getting love letters from an anonymous person and the Dateables/Brothers get the need to show off that MC is theirs?

I'm gonna do the brothers first! Hope that's cool! If yall wanna see more pls request it! (Also pretend that this is near the beginning of yalls relationship)

INTRO

"Wow, look babe, I got a love letter! Guess I'm more popular than I thought, you might have some competition." You chuckle, kissing his cheek. It was a very flattering letter, laying out all your strengths, compliments sprinkled generously throughout the writing. It was... surprising to say the least. But you were excited to tell him about it!

LUCIFER

If he's already on edge, he might just yank it and rip it in half. Today, however, he's in a good mood.

"Let me read it." You hand him the paper, watching him closely as he grimaces and scoffs. He's not nervous, but he is baffled that someone had the nerve to send you such a... bold letter.

A little prideful, in the sense that he has something that no one else can. He know's you wont leave him for some lower demon, but he can't help but feel slightly threatened.

Walks a litter closer to you around town and RAD. He'll hold your hand when the hallways start to filter out and there's less students around.

Puts in the effort to take you on more public dates, Restorante Six, most likely. kissing your hand and giving you roses at the table. He's not flashy, but it's enough for rumors to spread quickly.

MAMMON

He rips it from your hand, immediately turning his back so he can read it. "Is this the kinda lame sappy stuff you're into? Even I'd do better than this! It don't even mention ya eyes!"

He hands it back to you, mumbling something about, "i'll show 'em" before he stomps off, shaking his head.

He struts the RAD halls with his arm around you, glaring unnecessary at anyone who walks by. He's certainly on edge for the first couple days after. He starts passing you small silly notes during class, little drawings and pickup lines. You watch him as he turns away, hand trying to cover his flushed cheeks.

Also takes you out more. Carnivals, amusement parks, more casual things! Posts 1 post, with a few photos of you together, captioned 'almost as good as grimm.' If you get another letter, you might end up having your first kiss in front of the school!

LEVIATHAN

"Wha? Who?" He can feel his heart beating faster, anxiety rising in his chest. "Just kidding Levi, you're the only demon for me!" You giggle at him. "Could I read it?" You hand it to him, watching him plop down in his gaming chair. He gets very expressive while he reads. Before long, his tail is swishing behind him, "they don't even know you! There's no mention o-of any of your favorite videos games in here! You love games." He frowns, throwing his hands up dramatically. "I know Levi, I don't even know who sent it. Don't worry, they don't know me as well as you do." He pretends to lose control of his tail, that pulls you into him for a hug.

He sulks for a few days, but after some reassurance, he has a plan. You're going to the aquarium and he'll hold your hand! That'll really show 'em. Might even go to physical school a few days more than usual to walk with you.

He writes you a little in-game dialog sappy note, telling you a few things he loves about you. Might make a singular Devilgram post with you, hugging his Ruri-chan body pillow, captioned ''my #1 and my #2'

ASMODEUS

"Ohh! Of course you're popular MC! Everyone loves you, and me of course. We're the top power couple! Now let me take a look." He smiles at you, smile faltering slightly as he reads the letter. Eyes blinking a little stiffly, he hands it back to you. "That's so superficial, you're much better off with me." And with that, he walks away.

He shows the world exactly who's you are immediately. You're tagged in maybe 10 posts in a row. Pictures of you and him, some of just you, all captioned things like, 'my love' and 'my number one always' and 'remembering the moment I fell for you' and it's unmistakable.

Becomes even more affectionate in the RAD hallways, snuggling up to you, sitting in your lap/having you sit in his during lunch.

SATAN

He frowns, putting his hand out for the paper. He glances over it, brow furrowing as he reads. "This is amateur writing. You deserve much better." He hands it back to you, walking past you quickly with a scowl on this face. He turns back halfway down the hall, "be ready at 6:30." You decide to leave him be.

First order of business, he writes you a beautiful letter. It's long winded, many poetry references, and references to stories you've read together. Even compares you to a cat, somehow. He does not give it to you yet.

He dresses nice for your date, electing to take you to dinner, and then a stroll through the royal gardens. As you approach the doors to the House of Lamentation, he turns to you, reaching in his pocket and pulling out a wax sealed letter, your name written neatly on the other side.

Sits a little closer to you at lunch time, and in the library. Hoping someones will see and rumors will spread.

BEELZEBUB

He doesn't read the letter. He's a little jealous, but he thinks reading it will upset him, so he stays away.

He makes the small effort to hold your hand more. He's not normally one for PDA, but for you, he can make a small exception. You can see how flushed his face is when you look up at him.

On game days, he lets you wear his jersey until he needs it. Might post a picture on his Devilgram of you in it. Captioned, '#1 fan'

After one of his games, he sees you talking to a lower demon, they seem to be standing awfully close. He sees them throw their arm around you, and so he calls for you, pretending he didn't see them. He waves at you, jogging over and cupping your face with his hands before placing his lips on yours.

BELPHEGOR

He's half asleep when you tell him. Isn't really bothered until you make the comment about competition. Now he's awake, and looking around like there's a present threat. Yanks the letter from you, holding it close to his face while he scowls. He scans the paper, before rolling his eyes and rolling back over onto his side, taking the letter with him.

Pretends he's not bothered. Asmo brings it up at the dinner table, Belphie calls it a "stupid letter" and crosses his arms, slouching.

Doesn't bring it up again, but you notice he's a little more cuddly in public than he was before. One day after class, he finds you in the library studying, he saunters over, kissing you brashly, tongue tracing the edge of your bottom lip,and loudly, before wiping his lip with his thumb, and sitting next to you, "what're you studying today, MC?"

If you like my posts, please feel free to tip me here!

[beebee18]

Ramen & Confessions

Lee Know x Reader

Genre; fluff, frenemies to lovers, feel good.

Characters; Minho, Y/n, Felix Brief mention- Changbin, Han, Chan & Hyunjin

Summary; You and Minho never were the best of friends however his worry when you finally attend movie night after being mia for a week seems to give way for his seemingly cool confession.

Warnings; Extremely cliche, slight insecurities, tall reader (like 5'7 and more), like one bad word.

(I made a post long time ago about a Minho ff and you guys asked to be tagged. I would like to apologize for it not being a complete ff but I hope you enjoy this oneshot of cheesiness.) @antisocial-socialbutterfly @lixxpix @kaiyaba

Main masterlist skz masterlist

Your thoughts lingered on Minho when you remembered him staring at you in the doorway, and after your talk with Felix. Even if you didn't like each other, not that you didn't, he was handsome and caring & sweet. It would be impossible to not crush on the guy, you owed him an apology.

So you moved to sit closer to him. He was surprised, to say the least, when you tapped his thigh to get his attention.

Turning to face you was not a good idea, you were so close, a mere jerk of his head and your lips would meet his, with the tv lights flashing at you, your brown eyes framed by those cute little glasses, slightly dishevelled curly hair framing your face oh so beautifully, and that smile with your barely there dimples (you insisted you had), you were a sight.

This was the closest and calmest you had been with each other in a while and it seemed to stop time for a second. He looked so pretty, his bedhead, sweats and no makeup on, shiny brown eyes looking into yours, the mole on his nose so cute you want to just boop it and that look of surprise mixed with concern on his face could melt you into a puddle if physically possible.

"I'm sorry I disappeared without saying anything." You started in a hushed voice, so as to not disturb the others. "I should have told you guys why earlier."

A snarky remark or comment would've been better cause what he did next made your heart skip a beat.

"It's okay y/n, I'm not gonna lie I was concerned, especially with Felix reminding everyone every minute that you could've 'died'. I am glad you're back." He nudged your arm with his and went back to the tv screen.

You stared at Minho side, small smile on your face, for a few seconds before Han coughed from behind the man, smirking at you, making you blush, you quickly turned to the screen to distract yourself.

Nearing the end of the movie people were asleep, mainly Felix, Han, Changbin and Hyunjin and somehow in a pile... Chan took off a few minutes ago to the studio leaving you and Minho the only ones awake.

After the movie ended you both looked around the find the human pile of idols making you giggle and Minho shake his head to stifle a laugh.

"Are you gonna put them to bed? How would that even work?" You ask standing up to help clean the remnants of the night.

"Eh just let them be, they'll separate when they want to. Are you leaving?" He asks as you start collecting your stuff, his expression slightly glum.

"I'll just move my stuff aside so I can help you clean, don't want you to do all this alone." You smiled at him putting your bag away and offering him a hand.

Minho swore he could scream in that moment.

He did take your hand and stood up facing you. You both just stood there for a few seconds, hands in each others before he cleared his throat.

You looked down and started gathering wrappers, bowls and edible food that just fell to take to the kitchen, so did Minho. And that's how he ended up making you both ramen.

He'd asked if you were hungry and you replied yes, after that no words were spoken. You went out to check on the boys, switch off electronics and when you came back there were two packs of cup noodles in front of Minho on the counter as he waited for the water to boil.

"Minho what... " You trailed off a questioning look on your face.

"You said you were hungry so..." He shrugs, smiling sheepishly, making the butterflies in your stomach go crazy.

You went and stood next to him, shoulders brushing the others, as he poured water in the cups and looked at you for a second, you grin at him in return which makes him chuckle, effectively hiding the cute that slipped his lips.

"Why are you laughing?" You ask him, giggling a little yourself, leaning on the counter adjacent to him. He was so cute and pure like this, you wanted to crush him in a hug so bad.

Once he was done with his fit of laughter he turns to you, coming closer, closer than ever. The proximity burned you, you guys weren't even on speaking terms 2 weeks ago and now...

"Wha-what are you doing?" You ask not wanting to embarrass yourself but you were flustered beyond belief and he was being nice?? To you??

"How come you don't hate me?" He asked staring into your eyes, he wanted a genuine answer, there was no point in lying to him, he seemed impatient.

"Well, you being mean isn't a reason for me to hate you. I knew not every one of Felix's friends would like me, it was okay. I was coping just well by being mean back. There was never any hate from my side. Unfortunately for me, the one I like, doesn't like me back...." The look of shock on your face as you slapped your hand over your mouth made Minho throw his head back in laughter.

People often said you rambled or spoke a lot. You agree now.

The embarrassment slowly creeping up on you. You made a move to slip away but Minho put his hands down by your hips on the counter and laugh slowly dissipating into a small smile, looking at your blushed face now.

"I'm sorry for being mean to you, truth is, I like you a lot. I've liked you since you visited us at dance practice for the first time and brought everyone homemade cookies. I was shy, I still am but your flustered state gives me confidence." He says, wanting to kiss the small pout from your face.

"Why didn't you say anything?" You asked, finally processing his words.

He liked you?? He still likes you?!

"I couldn't at the time, you were bestfriends with Felix, I didn't want the dynamic to shift plus there was a high possibility you liked any of the other 7 dudes in the group." He finishes scratching the back of his neck, looking down ears going red.

"And you?"

"Oh, I-I just, I didn't think someone like you would fancy someone like me." You hesitated gesturing to yourself, the insecurities finally creeping up.

Great way to ruin the moment brain.

"Someone like me?" He questioned, raising one of his eyebrows, tonguing his cheek as if he knew what was coming.

"Come on Min, look at you, your life, the people around you. I don't fit in, like a friend great but not as anything more. I know I sound dumb after we've both basically confessed but still..." You finish hesitantly.

"Y/n you'd fit right in. You fit amazing right now, that would just be a few more steps, it would work if we wanted it to." He says comforting you, his heart pacing at the nickname.

"Also I'm not your type, remember Han Sora, the girl you dated when I first met you guys, she was so pretty and petite, her clothes and shit. I admired her so much. She's your type, not me." You finish, eyes dropping to his chest to avoid his piercing gaze, that's all the argument you had.

"First of all, she was a publicity stunt and an obsessed trainee who was fired after I complained." He says, placing his right hand on your jaw, making you look him in the eyes. "Secondly, you're beautiful, kind, funny, smart, mature and well dressed. Being taller than the national average of a country you don't belong to is nothing to be insecure of, and let's be honest..." He lips tug up into a smile, hand falling to your hip from your jaw "...those thighs, are to die for." He says slowly with a wink, making you widen your eyes with shock and blushing like crazy.

"You wanna know who my type is?" He asks, searching for uncertainty in your eyes.

"Who?"

"You."

His lips came close to yours, an inch of a distance between them. He wanted you to make the final move, being careful so you'd have nothing to regret.

Your lips met, his hands on your hips, yours around his shoulders. Months of silently crushing on each other, finally being able to express it.

When he angled his face to deepen the kiss and your noses bumped, you separated, a giggle leaving you. He smiled softly, complete adoration in his eyes.

"Now what?" You asked, a warm feeling spreading through you.

"You wanna have ramen with me?" He asks, smirking, gesturing to the cups that have been sitting out for the past 15 minutes.

You scrunched your nose at the implication, your stomach saying other things "But like, I'm actually hungry." A small pout appearing on your face.

He quickly kissed it away taking your hand in his, walking into the living room to collect his things and yours, and now towards the door.

"Where are we going?"

"Our first date, the convenience store across the street. Great ramen!" He winks at you before pulling you closer into his chest, smiling wide at you, you couldn't help but reciprocate.

....

Texting; ( Y/n, Felix )

Felix: Did you leave already?

Felix: Where's Minho? Is he dropping you off?

Felix: He is, isn't he? 😏

Felix: Told you he had a thing for you.

Felix: Oh yeah ignore Lix when he's right, sure sure, I get it.

....

Texting; ( Minho, Felix )

Felix: Don't fbck this up.

Minho: Never Lix, never.

.

[meowmeowriley]

@sergeantwoods Sorry for the long wait, but here's the mer!AU

Think I'll call it Fish Out of the Sea

Ghost x Soap, blacktip reef shark mer!Soap, human Ghost, fluff, getting together (kinda)

Ficlet after the cut 😘

"No."

John sighed, he didn't seem surprised by Shepherd's hard rejection, but he kept trying. Simon had to give props to the fishing boat Captain. "You have the best mer rehabilitation facility in the country. It'd be a shame not to use it."

"You said you had a mermaid. That's not a fucking mermaid, John."

"I said I had an injured mer." He repeated himself from their earlier conversation.

"I'm not taking that thing into my facility."

"He needs help-"

"He's hideous, and aggressive." Shepherd barked. "That thing keeps lashing out, it'll scare patrons, attack my staff, and if that *thing* touches my mermaids, tries to mate with them, I'll have it put down."

"Mers are actually matriarchal, sir." The mer expert, Kyle, finally spoke up. "I've never worked with a shark mer before, but I do know he won't mess with Kate or Rosa, because they won't want him. Since they're together."

"Kyle. For the last time, the mermaids aren't lesbians. They're just fish." Shepherd was one of those who thought of mers as lesser than humans. Obviously.

Simon was standing near the door. No one had noticed him sneak in, but when he'd overheard that the mer was a shark variant, he'd needed to see it. Now, seeing the poor thing huddled in the corner of it's transport tank, curled in on itself, he felt so bad for it. He watched, any time someone went near it it flared out it's dorsal and pectoral fins. It would gnash it's teeth and charge the glass. All signs of aggression in a shark but... as soon as it finished its display it was right back to the furthest corner from the humans. It kept peeking at them over it's own shoulder when it thought they weren't looking. He quietly crept closer.

He took in it's markings, gray on it's back, white on its belly, black tips to it's fins. Claspers on its pelvic fins. A male blacktip reef shark then. His inferior end was all shark, something Simon was very familiar with, as he took care of all of the sharks here at the aquarium, several of them blacktips. His superior end, or top half, he supposed a visitor would (incorrectly) consider it, was new and interesting to him. Though he was vaguely humanoid, his skin was all two tones white and gray, like his tail. He had a wedge shaped snout in place of a human nose, a wider mouth with jagged teeth. Slitted eyes, and a black tipped fin atop his head that reminded Simon of a mohawk. Webbed gray and white hands with black claws rubbed up and down it's own arms in a self soothing gesture. One forearm had an odd angle to it, probably the injury that landed him here.

He retreated from the tank quietly before speaking, interrupting the squabbling of the other men. "He looks like a reef shark to me." Everyone else jumped. "Blacktip reef sharks aren't aggressive. Sure they can get a little iffy during feeding, but they're more curious than anything."

"He's been charging the glass, Ghost." Simon managed to suppress his eye roll at Shepherd's nickname for him. They all called him that here. "Fuck you mean 'not aggressive', you don't know mers."

"No, but I know sharks. He's injured, and defensive. You ever think he doesn't like us because it was something shaped like us that broke his arm?" John winced, he obviously felt bad about it. Not like he could've know he'd caught the mer in his net, but it was nice to see some accountability from a fisherman for once.

"Well we can't communicate with him, so he'll stay scared and defensive." If Simon didn't love the sharks, he would've left this place a long time ago because Shepherd was an absolutely abrasive cunt.

"Kate and Rosa can. And their English is excellent." Kyle spoke up again. "We have them pass on the message of our intentions, and Ghost and I tag team his rehabilitation." Of course he uses the dumb nickname too. "It's the perfect plan! And an incredible opportunity to be one of two aquariums to actually work with a shark mer. The novelty of something so rare will bring in patrons." Kyle was really leaning into Shepherd's true interests here, bringing up money.

Shepherd was quiet for a moment and then, "If anything happens, you're both fired." He then stormed out of the room.

"Thanks, Gaz."

"Of course, Cap."

Now the three of them had to get the shark mer into an appropriate tank.

***

They had initially tried to put him in with the other mers, but he'd seen the sharks in the tank across the hall and told Kate he wanted to be with his own kind. That would make Simon's job easier, anyway. Kate had explained that they needed to put a cast on his arm, and Rosa had wrestled it onto him, since the humans couldn't get too close. They decided to name him John, after Captain Price, calling him Johnny affectionately. Gaz explained to Ghost that part of rehabbing Johnny would be gaining his trust, teach him to communicate. To release him without a way to communicate could lead to him attacking humans and being a problem down the road.

Simon had a plan: ignore him. He was a reef shark, his own curiosity would get him to open up. It took a week.

Simon would feed his sharks from a catwalk above their tank, for safety reasons, dropping their food in in the mornings before they opened their doors. No need to scare any children. For the first week, any time he passed by, Johnny would posture aggressively and gnash his teeth, before snatching up his food and swimming off. When Ghost would gear up and go in the water for his evening shows, Johnny stayed far away. At night, Gaz and his mers would move over and Ghost would mostly just observe as the girls tried to teach Johnny how to speak, and he petulantly ignored them, with a little pout on his face as he refused to even make eye contact with them. It was cute.

The first time he tried to speak was also the first time Simon saw him raise his head above the surface. He seemed frantic. "HAAAH!" He startled a bit at what was most likely the first time he ever used his lungs to breath air. "HAAAAH! AH! YAAH!" he was waving with his good arm. Stretching it out towards the platform between his tank and that of the other mers, thrashing his tail with his fins tucked in. Very distressed. Simon went to check, to see what could possibly be bothering him so much, when he found their elusive fourth mer. Simon had only seen Gary once. Gaz called him Roach, because he hid in the tiniest cracks in the reef in their enclosure, why on earth the isopod mer was on the platform, and not in the water, was beyond him, but he couldn't let the poor thing suffer. He had several of his little legs caught in a grate. Simon spent some time disentangle him. He tossed the infant sized mer into the nearest tank, which happened to be the shark tank, with Johnny. The larger mer immediately dove to catch him. He stroked Roach's antennae back like one would the hair of a small child, a soothing motion. Clearly not as much of a loner as he pretended to be. From then on the little isopod mer could be found clinging to Johnny's sides or fins with his many little periopods more often than not. After that, it seemed that Gary encouraged Johnny's more curious side. The mer's language was mostly outside of the human range of hearing, but Simon occasionally caught clicks, whistles or hums shared between the two.

Simon had left a bucket with soap close to the edge once, the two mers were clearly curious about it, but he didn't think anything would come of it. Which is why it was such a surprise when Johnny stuck a webbed hand in and scooped some out, popping it immediately into his mouth. Simon knew it wasn't enough to harm him, which is why he couldn't help but laugh at the poor creatures misfortune as it sputtered and writhed, making bubbles. While laughing he let his guard down, and was surprised when something struck him, knocking him off the catwalk and into the tank. He opened his eyes and looked around, seeing only Roach, floating downward, listing side to side, tiny head in his tiny hands. He surfaced to see Johnny. "Did you just throw him at me?!" Johnny sunk down so only his eyes and cranial fin were above the water. The little shit. "Not cool, Soap!" He forced his palm out towards the mer, sending a spray of water its way. That seemed to really break down the mer's walls.

Johnny started approaching while Simon would try and clean the tank. At first, darting away if Simon caught sight of him. Eventually however, he would get closer and simply observe. He'd watch Simon work at cleaning the glass or vacuuming the sand at the bottom. It was fun to see shark behavior and mer behavior collide. If Simon sat something down, Johnny would pick it up, and without a doubt if he could get it in his hands, it would end up in his mouth.

There was a small crowd, a child's birthday party had been held over by Gaz's mer tank, the girls were always a hit with the kids, and the little show they put on with Gaz was actually pretty funny. They'd harass him as he pretended to try and do his chores. Slapstick comedy was good for all ages.

Simon had his own show with his sharks, but it wasn't for a few more hours. He was actually just trying to clean. Apparently his cleaning sponge had caught Johnny's attention, as the mer had swam up and was watching him intently. He kept inching forward, eventually crowding Simon against the glass while reaching for his sponge. "Oi!" He said into his respirator, not that anyone could hear him. He shoved Johnny away and kept trying to cleaning, but the persistent bastard just kept coming back. He could vaguely see the crowd observing them through the glass. They were probably laughing. When he'd had enough, he got an idea. He turned when Johnny got close again and placed one hand on his dorsal fin and the other on the underside of his snout. He began to rub at the sensitive underside of the mer's snout, and just like his sharks, the mer entered a state of tonic immobility. He repositioned Johnny, nose down tail to the surface, Johnny's arms hung limply down past his head. Simon quickly withdrew his hands and watched as the mer continued to float for a bit, before blinking vigorously. He shook his head before righting himself, and slapped his tail into Simon's chest as he practically fled to his little cave at the other end of the tank. When he surfaced later, Gaz informed him that the kids were raving about how cool the 'shark guys' were.

Simon had to admit that Johnny was growing on him. He looked forward to seeing him each day. Johnny began trying to get Simon to swim with him. He'd grab Simon's arms and try to pull him into the water when he was on land, or he'd push Simon away from the glass and his cleaning supplies, towards the open water. Sometimes Simon would indulge him, and the two of them would make laps around the tank.

Simon realized, when Johnny began posturing towards the sharks and getting territorial about him towards them, that Johnny was attempting to court him. Worse, he couldn't bring himself to try and put an end to the behavior either. Johnny was getting touchy, he'd run his hands along Simon's sides or chest, in much the same way Simon would to per his sharks, but it felt different. He would push Simon until he floated horizontally in the water, then drape himself across the man.

Simon knew he was getting himself into some deep shit, but he couldn't help the small voice in the back of his head that urged him to reach out, to cradle the mer's rubbery cheeks in his hands. He wanted to kiss him. He was fucked.

***

I hope you liked it! Ngl, I really liked this one. If you don't mind, I might expand on this and make it a multi-chapter fic over on AO3? I wanna explore more of society's reaction to mers, specifically interspersed relationships and where this could go. Let me know what you think, and thanks for the idea!

[i-heart-yellowstone]

10 - What Are We Now??

Part 11

Raised Fair Share Of Hell

Tag list @bvbwestfall @hcwthewestwaswcn @child-of-of-the-sunshine @elenavampire21 @keep-the-wolves-close @kmc1989 @tallrock35

Alana and I walked into the bar that we had driven into Bozzeman for drinks that night needing to get the thoughts of Kayce and our fight out of my head for a few hours. She went straight to the bar ordering us two shots each while I got us a table near the stage where a band had their stuff set up to preform. “Here we go, two rounds to drown out the asshole's memory.” 

“I'm not sure this can erase our entire lives. But this is a good start.” I picked up the shot glass and she clinked her glass to mine. 

“To starting to forget the asshole.” 

We threw back the shot glass and I licked my tongue feeling the bitter taste going down my throat. “Woo. That's got some kick to it.” 

“It's tequila, sis.” 

I raised the glass in the air cheering with a wolf howl. “To more tequila!” 

“Excuse me, ladies. Could I buy you another round?” Someone tapped my shoulder causing me to look back and see a guy with a small stubble on his face and light brown hair in a black cowboy hat. 

Alana spoke up first with excitement. “Absolutely.” 

“Sure. Thanks.” I sent him a smile seeing him stick his hand out towards me. “I'm Alissa.’ 

We shook hands before he went to the bartender. “I'm Ryan.” 

“So what do y'all do for work?” Ryan came back over with three drinks sitting at the table with the two of us. 

“Runnin’ my father’s ranch. The Lambert Cattle ranch.” My sister responded by leaning her elbows on the table. 

Ryan sent me a look waiting for my response where I bite my lip tucking hair behind my ear. “I have worked for the Yellowstone since I was 16-17 until recently.” 

“You’re working at Yellowstone. I'm a ranch hand for the boss there.” 

Alana got up from the table suggesting to the ranch hand with a smirk. “Ryan, how would you and my sister get to talk some more with some free liquor back at our place?” 

“Lana, what about Faith-” 

She cut me off whispering in my ear. “I'll look after her. Don't worry. He's cute, have some fun for once.” 

Having some fun is what got me pregnant, I thought to myself silently. 

But I knew I deserved to not think how much Kayce had hurt me so I went along with the plan she had in mind. “What do you say, Ryan.” 

“Sure. I'll pay the tab though.” Ryan responded before he followed us back to our ranch.  My sister went upstairs to watch my daughter while I poured a glass of beer walking over to him sitting on the couch where he went to take it from my hands till I put my lips down onto his. “Thanks-” 

He sat the glass on the side table holding my face in his hands kissing me briefly. “No strings attached work for you?” 

“Hell yeah.” He leaned forward beginning one of the many heated kisses that would lead us to the bedroom until he had to sneak back over the fence for work that next morning. 

Kayce’s pov

Sitting down on my bed in my childhood bedroom that I still lived in now I removed my hat tossing it on the end of the mattress.  I had come home from picking Tate from school and dropped him off with his mom.  Laying on my back with my head on the pillow my gaze landed on the picture we had Alissa’s mother take of me and her daughter sitting on the tailgate of my beat up old red truck I had sold after she had told me she was pregnant to make some quick money. 

Running a hand through my hair I muttered to myself remembering our teenage years fondly. “What happened to us, Lissa Rae.  How can we get back to what we had?” 

We pulled up in the old red truck to a stop with the edge of lake water right in front of the tailgate.  I hoisted her up by the waist, sitting her up in the backseat of it before I joined her.  “I didn’t even know this spot was here.  I thought I knew every inch of this hometown of ours.” She chuckled, her gaze focused on the blue water. 

“I wanted it to be a surprise when I brought you here.  It should be a special place when I ask you a certain question.” I looked down at her while she laid against my chest with my arms draped around her. 

Alissa smiled up at me with a teasing expression. “And what question is that, Dutton?” 

I smiled, closing the gap between us where we slowly kissed each other.  She gripped the back of my hair deepening the kiss until I broke it, resting my forehead against hers. “Will you be my girlfriend, Lissa Rae?” 

“I thought you’d never ask, cowboy.” She grinned up at me capturing my lips with hers and we stayed like that for quite a while until we got tired then we headed back home as boyfriend and girlfriend, not simply childhood best friends anymore. 

Unknown to Kayce that night his childhood friend and wife wasn’t thinking back on what they had. 

[h-c-u]

Bose with the Boss

Summary: Toto has to stay in the office late, but that doesn't mean he can't help you in different ways.

Pairing: Toto Wolff x shy fem!reader

W/C: 4.8k

Rating: +18, age gap, daddy kink, dirty talk, praise kink, dom/sub, phone sex, guided masturbation, cockwarming (if you squint), somnophilia

A/N: I will never be able to look at my headphones the same way. BTW - does anyone know how to get on Bose PR list? Asking for a friend...

Masterlist | List of tags

It was getting really late...

You knew what you were getting into when you started a relationship with such a powerful and important man, but there were moments when you hated that he had so many things to think about, because when he was taking care of them, he wasn't taking care of you. It's not like you resented him for it, but there were times when you just felt lonely, and this evening was one of those times.

With a heavy sigh, you put away the dinner you hoped to eat with him, opened a bottle of wine, and poured yourself a glass. The house you came to love seemed too big and quiet right now, and you honestly didn't have the energy to do anything, so you just moved to the bedroom and changed into a shirt he wore yesterday to trick your brain into thinking that he was near. With a pilot, you turned on the fireplace and after a few minutes of staring mindlessly into the fire, you decided to call him. It was late and it was a wind-tunnel day, so you suspected he wouldn't answer because he was still with the team, going over the results, but to your surprise he did.

- I'm sorry I'm not home yet, Schatzi... - he started with an apology, which was both good and bad. Good, because even though he didn't say he'll be back for dinner, he still felt guilty for leaving you alone for so long, and bad, because it meant that he wouldn't be back soon.

- Tunnel day, I understand... - you said, your voice much quieter than you wanted it to be, but that made him realize that something wasn't exactly right. And the fact that you logically understood why he had to stay longer didn't change how you felt. But you weren't going to take it out on him; he didn't deserve it.

- What's wrong...? - you could hear the creaking of the chair, which meant that he turned around from the screens and now you had his undivided attention, even if he wasn't as close as you wanted him to be.

You wanted to say it was nothing, that everything was fine, but the lie got stuck in your throat. Well, not exactly a lie, but also nothing serious enough to burden him with, especially when his work most likely already emotionally drained him.

- I feel alone... And I miss you... - you whispered eventually after a long moment of silence. It was still hard for you to be vulnerable with anyone, but it was something you were actively working on.

- Oh, Schatzi... - his voice was dripping with guilt because he hated making you feel like that.

- I have wine, I turned on the fireplace, I'm in your shirt... I'm going to be ok, I just wanted to hear your voice. - you almost instantly tried to make him feel better, which wasn't the healthiest response, but it was the only one that came to the surface. You heard a loud sigh from the other side of the phone, and for a moment you felt bad for bringing it up. In the end, you were living in his house, on his money and you could do whatever you wanted without any worries thanks to him... And yet you still dared to crave more...

- I'll make it up to you, I promise... - you couldn't help but smile, because you knew that his word was his bond, and you couldn't wait to see what he'll come up with.

- Are you alone...? - you asked in a barely audible whisper. You weren't sure if it was loneliness, the wine, or the mix of both, but you needed something from him.

- I am... - he replied in a soft, deep voice, that by some miracle was able to make you feel warm all over.

- Could you...? I need... - even though you were completely alone, you still couldn't say what you wanted out loud. - Please...? - you knew you didn't have to finish the request for him to know what you needed; the desperation in your voice was louder than any words. There was a very subtle chuckle from the other side of the line, but you knew he wasn't making fun of you.

- Do you need Daddy to tell you what you want...? - he almost growled and you felt the blush spilling all over your cheeks and down your chest. Out of instinct, you nodded enthusiastically, forgetting that he couldn't exactly see you at the moment. - Use your words, Princess... - the wave of embarrassment instantly washed over you.

- Yes... - you whispered into the phone, hoping that the microphone would pick up your quiet voice.

- Yes what...? - there was no need to be as embarrassed as you were. Having needs and wants was normal. But you still needed a moment to gather the courage to say what he wanted to hear out loud.

- Yes, I need you to tell me what to do, Daddy. - as soon as the words left your mouth, you felt the warmth traveling down your body.

- Get the headphones from my nightstand, since you'll need both of your hands today, Princess... - you instantly rolled over to his side of the bed, turned the headphones on, paired them to your phone, and put them on your head.

- Done... - you said, but you didn't move back just yet.

- That's my good girl... - you felt his deep voice traveling down your spine, and your eyelids fluttered involuntarily from the sensation, but you wouldn't dare to lower the volume; not when Toto's voice reached the places you didn't even know needed scratching. - Now take out that special toy Daddy bought for you... - you did as he asked, feeling his every word in the back of your neck and you had to bite your lip not to flinch. - Do you have it...?

- Yes... - you whispered. Or at least you thought you did, because you weren't able to hear your own voice through the noise-canceling headphones.

- Perfect... But we're not going to use it just yet, Princess. I want you to lean back on all those pillows you made me get, and close your eyes. - he gave you a moment to follow his instructions and then he continued. - Now put two of your beautiful fingers in your mouth and make them all nice and wet for me... - you would do anything he asked of you right now, because his voice was shooting straight through every single part of your brain, consuming anything else. - You know how Daddy always places a string of kisses along your jaw and down your neck...? I want you slowly trace it with those two fingers... Gently, don't put much pressure... - you took your time moving your hand right below your earlobe and slowly glided your fingers over your skin, leaving a wet path behind. Wetness soon turned into cold, which shot straight to your nipples, because that's where usually Toto's mouth went next. Even though you were the one responsible for this sensation, the delay in your barely noticeable touch and the coldness made it easier to imagine that it was someone else. - Now wet your fingers again and go a little bit lower, in between your breasts... And come back up. - his voice shot through your core again and you did exactly as he requested. - Tell me, Princess... Are your nipples already hard and perked up...? - the confidence in his voice was contrasting with the blush that instantly covered your cheeks. And you were the one who was alone in your house, while he was at the factory where anyone could enter his office at any time.

- Yes... - you whispered quietly. You wanted to hide your face from embarrassment, but there was no one to hide from.

- Yes what...? - he urged you to continue.

- Yes, Daddy... My nipples are hard... - you bit your lip right after the words left your mouth.

- You're doing amazing, Princess... - the praise was so genuine that you almost melted into the pillows below you. - Now gently pinch and roll them in between your fingers, just like Daddy does... - you moved both of your hands down to undo the first few buttons of Toto's shirt and slid your hands under the white material to follow his instructions, and as soon as your fingers fount their destination, you couldn't help but moan, even before you continued... You barely did anything, but his voice dominating everything else managed to rile you up so well, that you could feel the wetness gathering on your folds already. - Louder... - you could just say that he was smiling, hearing how strong of an effect he had over you. So, when you finally rolled your fingers, you let the moan slip from your lips uninterrupted. - Come on, Schatzi, it's just me and you... Louder... I know you can do it. - for him, you could do anything... So, the next time you tightened your fingers, you went all in... You could feel your own moan vibrating through your chest, even though you could barely hear it through the headphones. - That's my girl... Again. - how could you say no when he was speaking in such a commanding voice?

Your cheeks were hot from the arousal, your lips dry and puffy from the constant biting and sucking, but somehow you could still feel the trail of coldness left by your own fingers on your skin, and it felt like his ghost was there with you. Electricity was buzzing in your nerve endings, and your whole body was singing for more, but you didn't dare to do anything he didn't tell you to do.

- Run your fingers through your folds for me... - one of your hands instantly shot down. - How wet are you, Princess? - you had to take a deep breath before you answered because you knew that one word just wouldn’t be enough for him. He wanted to push your boundaries, force you out of your comfort zone and make you feel so good as a reward... Sooner or later you would have to be a bit more descriptive, so why put yourself through the embarrassment twice...?

- I'm soaked, Daddy... There was barely any resistance when my fingers glided... Glided through m-your pussy... - you could feel the uncomfortable heat pooling in all the wrong places. He hummed, clearly pleased at your choice of words.

- Hmmm... What did I do to deserve such a good girl...? - his voice shot all the way through your spine once again. - And good girls like you deserve a reward... - even when he didn't tell you to do anything, your breath was still quicker than usual, and you could feel your walls involuntarily clenching around nothing. - Get the toy, Princess... Run it through your folds, but no dipping just yet. Make it all nice and slick first. - you fumbled for a moment in search of the vibrator you pulled from the nightstand earlier.

At first, you just wet the tip without putting any pressure, because you were afraid of the sounds that would have come out of your mouth if you did. But eventually, you had to change the angle, and you ended up gently nudging your already oversensitive clit, which made you shiver and moan even louder than before.

- Beautiful... Don't hold back, Schatzi. You have a voice of an angel... - you weren't sure if the heat in your cheeks was from his compliments or from your arousal, but it was definitely there.

The smooth silicon was gliding through your folds without any resistance in no time, and you couldn't help but wonder if the microphone picked up all the sounds your soaked pussy must have been making... You couldn't hear them yourself because of the headphones, but you were sure they were there.

- Turn it on, lowest setting... And hold it just above your lovely clit. Let the vibrations travel through your skin and bone and tease you for a moment. - as soon as you pressed the vibrator in the spot he was talking about, your whole body curled up, and out of instinct, you covered your mouth with your hand, because you didn't want to be too loud, but you still didn't move the toy. Even the slightest stimulation traveled deep into your core, reaching not only the exposed bundle of nerves but the parts that were hidden where they usually couldn't be reached. - Schatzi... - he warned you, and you instantly realized what you did wrong. But instead of punishing you, he was giving you a chance to correct that mistake.

- Sorry, Daddy... - you mumbled, right after the vibrations tore a loud moan from between your now uncovered lips.

- Good girl... Now stop. - you moved the toy away from your pussy, but you didn't turn it off. You felt a thin layer of sweat already gathering on your skin and being almost instantly absorbed by Toto's shirt. Your hair was sticking to your face, but you couldn't find enough care to move the strands away, because your whole brain was consumed by the need to get closer to that hot-white, overwhelming pleasure.

But he remained silent...

- Daddy...? - for a moment you were afraid that the connection dropped or that he hung up.

- Yes, Princess...? - his deep voice was both like a cooling pad for your brain and a heating one for your body. But now he was just being mean... He knew how close you were, yet he still chose to mercilessly tease you. You also knew what he wanted you to say, and why he wanted you to say it... He enjoyed making you all embarrassed and flustered, but by forcing you to word your wants and needs, he was actually helping you in the long run. Still, that didn't change the fact that using your orgasm as leverage wasn't something you enjoyed.

- Can I please put the vibrator inside me, turn it to the highest setting, and cum...? - you finally asked, the words leaving your mouth so quickly, that you were afraid they all merged into one.

- Since you asked so nicely... - you could feel the pride in his voice. It was such a small thing, but it was really far out of your comfort zone, and he understood that better than anyone else. - And let me hear it, Princess... - you carefully pushed the toy deeper inside you, trying to find the right angle, and when you did, your knees flew open and your hips rose up, trying to accommodate and meet someone that wasn't there... By the sounds you made, Toto instantly realized what happened. - You're doing such a good job... - his deep voice rumbled through your whole body, as you were struggling to catch your breath. He was so composed compared to you, and even though you couldn't see him, you knew, there was not a hair out of place and not a wrinkle on his clothes, while you were a whining mess, barely able to control your moves, not to mention the sounds you were making...

You finally got enough brainpower to turn up the settings, and your moans became higher and more frequent, even though you were currently clenching your teeth from all the sensations; you didn't even have to move the toy inside you, because the constant stimulation of your g-spot was already pulling you to the top. You wouldn't be able to last long like that, but that wasn't the point... He wanted you to feel good, even though he wasn't there to help with that.

You didn't realize when you turned to your side and pulled your knees to your chest so close, that you were able to rest your sweaty forehead on them. You felt the tears streaming down your cheeks from your shut eyes, and you were no longer moaning... There was only a high, steady sound escaping your mouth through your bitten lip and then it happened.

- That's it... That's my good girl... - you heard Toto's voice just as you were being violently pushed over the edge. Your body uncurled with such force that few of the pillows were thrown off the bed, and one of the still-closed buttons of Toto's shirt flew somewhere nowhere to be found again. And then you collapsed and buried yourself deeper in the pillows below you with the vibrating toy still inside you, but it was no longer pressing against your g-spot, so you were able to catch a breath. - You did so well, Princess... - you couldn't help the smile that bloomed on your face.

- Thank you... - you mumbled into the soft material of the pillow, so you weren't exactly sure how eligible it was. You reached down to turn off the toy, but you couldn't bring yourself to take it out just yet, because somehow it made you feel less alone.

- I love you, Schatzi... Go to sleep, I'll be there when you wake up, I promise... - your mind was already drifting somewhere far away, but his words cut through the pleasant fog and gave you an idea. With your eyes still closed, you reached to the drawer of your nightstand, pulled out a small figurine, and placed it on top, right next to an unfinished glass of wine.

- I love you too... - you responded automatically, almost as a reflex or muscle memory, but it didn't change the fact that it was true. You didn't hear the sound that indicated that the call was disconnected, because you were already asleep.

Toto knew you were asleep, that’s why he did his best not to make any sounds when he entered your home. He reset the alarm, took his shoes and the jacket off, and left his bag, phone, and keys on the dining room table. He poured himself a glass of cold water from the dispenser in the fridge and took two deep breaths to reset himself and put some distance between his life at home and work. And when he finally felt the threads tethering him to the office unhooking from his brain, he was ready to go to the bedroom, where you were currently sound asleep.

As soon as he entered the room still dimly lit by a fire from a fireplace, your sight took his breath away. He leaned on the doorframe and just stood there for a moment with his arms crossed on his chest, basking in your glory. You were laying on your stomach, with your left leg hooked up and resting on one of the soft pillows, around which you also had your arms wrapped. You were still wearing his headphones and your lovely figure was hidden by his own shirt, which almost made him purr, the possessiveness in him completely satisfied with you covered from head to toe in his things. Only after a moment, he noticed the smooth silicone toy peeking from between your folds, and his eyes immediately shot to your nightstand, where he noticed a small porcelain figurine, which made him smile.

He rolled up his sleeves and lazily strolled to the bed. You didn't react in any way when the mattress dipped under his weight when he started crawling in between your legs. Not even when he gently traced his fingers up your thigh until they reached the smooth silicon toy still buried deep in you, with the other end digging into the inside of your thigh, the angle being the sole thing holding it in its place.

When he turned on the vibrations on the lowest setting, you stirred in your sleep and pushed your hips higher up, as if you wanted to give him even more access. He very slowly moved the toy out and back inside you, which made you part your lips in your sleep. With his every move, your breathing became louder, and eventually, there was a soft whine that escaped from your mouth. He could already feel your slick on his fingers, but he didn't stop using the toy just yet; he wanted to make sure that you were as relaxed and ready as possible. He was satisfied only when you subconsciously started humping the toy to meet his movements, so he turned the vibrator off and slowly took it out of you while you tried to follow it.

He didn't even bother undressing completely, only undoing the buttons and zipper of his pants, and freeing his already hard cock from behind two layers of material. Slowly and careful not to wake you up, he ran his whole length in between your folds, lubricating it with your juices. And then he carefully guided his tip inside you, stretching you even more than the toy did just a few moments ago.

The softness of your warm, welcoming walls clenching around him made him moan, but even if you weren't asleep, you wouldn't be able to hear that because of the headphones. He stayed like that for a short while, soaking in the tenderness and intimacy of this moment... The amount of trust you were putting in him always got to him in those types of situations, and he would be a fool if he ever abused it. So instead, he leaned down, still holding his weight on his strong arms, careful not to put any on you, and placed a soft, gentle kiss on the back of your neck. Your face relaxed more if that was even possible, and he just rested his forehead on the place where his lips were just a second ago. He knew you would eventually wake up, but he wanted to challenge himself a little to see how close he could get you to an orgasm before you did, so his moves were slow and gentle... Almost sloppy... But then came a moment when your walls clenched harder around him and his hips snapped in involuntary response, slapping hard against your ass, and that finally made you regain consciousness. Although for a moment you weren't exactly sure what was happening, you knew you were safe.

It would be so easy to go back to sleep, but as soon as you realized what Toto was doing, you turned your head back and caught his lips in a deep kiss, in the middle of which he gently removed the headphones from your head.

- You're so good for me, Princess... So perfect... - he whispered, resting his forehead against yours.

- Just for you... Only for you... - you whispered trying to touch, to feel him more, but the angle made it impossible, so you move your knee even closer to your chest and did a complete 180 turn under him, somehow managing to keep him inside you. Your hands instantly shot down to unbutton his shirt and slide under the soft material and around his body, pulling him closer, as he finally got lower, now resting on his elbows instead of his hands.

He buried his face in the nook of your neck and deeply inhaled your scent, while you hooked your legs behind his ass and pulled him even deeper inside you.

- I missed you so much today... - his voice was almost desperate while he started moving slowly again, but with every snap of his hips, he was gaining speed. - Missed your scent, your touch, your perfect skin, your lips... - if his voice wasn't desperate, his kiss definitely was. It was all-consuming, devouring, and full of longing as if he was trying to make up for lost hours and already preparing and compensating for the next day without you. - Let me hear you, Princess... - he growled when you tried to choke the moan before it reached the surface after a particularly rough move. And after he realized that you were trying to contain yourself again, he did everything in his power to draw louder and more frantic sounds out of you, and he knew exactly how to play your body. He knew all the right places, all the right angles, and he used that knowledge to his advantage mercilessly until you were a moaning, sobbing, and shivering mess.

- Please... - you whimpered, hiding your face in his chest, because you were so desperate for release that you could taste its sweetness in the air.

- Please what...? - you couldn't see it, but you were sure that there was a cocky smile on his face.

- Please Daddy, can I cum on your cock...? - you didn't move your face, so the words came out muffled by Toto's skin. He chuckled and placed a soft kiss on the top of your head.

- Of course, Princess... You can always cum on Daddy's cock... - he placed another soft kiss, this time on your temple. There was an unbelievable contrast between what the lower parts of your bodies were doing, and what the top parts did. His hips were moving at the speed of light, and with every push and pull he was dragging his tip against your G-spot. The loud sounds of skin rhythmically slapping against skin every time he bottomed out when your hips moved up to meet his. Your ankles now were on his lower back, pulling him harder and deeper inside you. All that while he was whispering sweet praises directly into your ear when you were hiding your face out of embarrassment from your own reactions; your fingers were leaving light pink scratches on his back, while your lips closed around a soft patch of the skin under his shoulder, because you were far past moaning, and you needed to occupy your mouth in some other way.

Just before the wave of intense pleasure pulled you into its embrace, you could feel your walls clenching down so hard, it left you with a pleasurable burn that finally pushed you over the edge and your whole body reacted accordingly. Your arms and legs pulled him deeper and closer, and you basically wrapped yourself around him so tightly that you definitely left some marks, yet somehow, he still managed to thrust a few more times before he froze and spilled deep inside you, exactly where he belonged. He pressed his forehead against the top of your head for a long moment, trying to calm himself enough not to collapse as soon as he moved.

- So good... You were so good for me, Princess... - he whispered into your hair, and you almost started purring at his praise. Even though you were slowly regaining control over your own thoughts and body, you didn't let go of Toto, clinging to him for dear life.

- I missed you... - you finally whispered. He moved his arms under you, and he flipped both of you around, so you were now laying on top of him, while he gently stroked your hair and back.

- I know, Schatzi, and I'm sorry... I will make it up to you. - you rested your head on his chest and closed your eyes, soaking in his presence with your whole body.

- I'm not saying that because I want anything in return or to make you feel guilty... I just... I don't like when you're not nearby. I know it's clingy and desperate, but I just... - you huffed instead of actually finishing the sentence.

- I personally think it's adorable... - you could hear a smile in his voice, and you looked up to see it on his face. - And I'm not going anywhere, Princess, I'm all yours... And I can remain yours under the shower. - you chuckled, but he was right... You were both sticky from sweat, and your mixed release was all over your thighs.

- Bath...? - you quietly requested, rubbing your cheek against his skin.

- Yes, we can take a bath instead... - he stood up with you still holding onto him like a very clingy koala bear, and he supported your weight from below, so you wouldn't land on the floor.

Without letting you go, he run a hot bath, undressed and when it was time - he also took off the shirt you were wearing. He got into the giant bathtub first and then held out his hand to assist you.

- Tell me about your day, please... - you requested when you were comfortable sitting in between his legs, with your back against his torso and your eyes closed. He chuckled quietly, but you didn't have to wait long to hear all about the tunnel day. The vibrations of his low, deep voice traveled through your whole body, relaxing you even more than the dangerously hot water, and you had to be careful not to fall asleep in the bath, but even if you did, you knew Toto would take good care of you. 

A/N 2: Please don’t feel obligated/pressured to reblog, because I write mostly for myself. A comment would be appreciated though :) Love, G.

[viking-raider]

The Golden Egg - Cotton Candy Fluff

Summary: It's Easter! So, you and Henry have an Easter Egg Hunt. One for Kal, then go head-to-head against each other, to see who can find their eggs the fastest.

But what happens, when Henry finds the Golden Egg, you left him.

Pairing: Henry Cavill/Reader

Word Count: 2.1k

Warning: G - Cotton Candy Goodness, Soft!Henry, Fluff, Kal, Short Person Joke, Competition, Easter, Competitive!Henry, Domestic Bliss, Instagraming, Surprise Ending

Inspiration: It's Easter. I wrote this in an hour. This video of Good.Boy.Ollie on instagram.

Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy this! Line divider by @FIREFLY-GRAPHICS!

If you would like to get notifications for my writing! Just follow my Tag List blog, @VIKING-RAIDER-TAGLIST and turn on the notifications for it! It’s that easy! @VIKING-RAIDER-LIBRARY

“So, explain this to me again?” Henry laughed, folding his arms over his heaving chest, as he laughed.

“I wanna do an Easter Egg hunt for Kal.” You repeat to yourself, narrowing your eyes at your near hysterical boyfriend.

“The Bear doesn't get the concept of Easter, let alone an Easter Egg hunt, babe.” He howled, his curly head rolling back with its mirth.

“So!” You huffed, pouting at him. “I think it's cute. I also want us to do one. To see who can find the most. The fastest.”

Henry sobered up a tad at that. “All right, babe. You're on.” He smirked, cupping your face in his hands and gently kissing your forehead. “Which do you want to do first?”

“Kal.”

“Done.” He nodded, dropping his hands and looking over the colorful sea of plastic eggs and prizes to put inside of them, that you'd come home with a short time before. “You know, my fans would absolutely eat this all up.” He remarked to himself, biting the corner of his lip and thinking it over, then glanced at you.

“Can I film it?”

“If you want to, Puppy.” You replied, grabbing a four pack of jumbo eggs and ripped it open.

“Sweet, I'll be right back. While you figure out what you're doing--” He waved his hands over the cluttered dining table. “Here.” He chuckled, before rushing off.

Looking over the prizes, you picked out a cute dog toy. It was made of rubber and looked like a throwing stick. You had gotten it cause Kal was a beast of a chewer, when it came to his toys, and this one was supposed to be nearly indestructible. Fitting it inside the bright yellow, jumbo egg, you dropped a couple of Kal's favorite peanut butter and blueberry treats in with it, so he had something to sniff out, then closed it.

You had a reasonable amount of the eggs filled up for the hunts, when Henry finally came back into the dining room, kissing the back of your bent head.

“Everything is set up.” He informed you, casting his eyes over the booty. “You want some help?”

“That would be nice, thank you.” You replied, tilting your head back, smiling appreciatively at him.

“Is there a method to your madness?” He asked, pulling up a chair beside you.

“The eggs on the right are Kal's.” You motioned to the cluster. “I don't fancy getting a squeak toy or dog biscuits, during my hunt.”

Henry's face twisted and he shook his head. “No, I don't either.” He snorted, dropping some chocolates into the egg he grabbed.

“All right, here we go!” Henry exclaimed, grinning, as the two of you finished hiding the eggs, all while his phone recorded on a tripod, he planned on editing everything down later on. “Kal!” He called out and smiled, as the Bear came charging through the open slider and into the backyard.

“Are you ready to do your hunting?” He asked, bending over to scratch the Akita all over.

You and Henry had made sure to hide his eggs in, more or less, obvious places. But a couple had Kal working for them, like one small egg slipped between the braided fabric of his rope pull. Kal was slow at first, sniffing at the eggs, letting out little snorts as his nose picked up the scent of his treats inside of them. You were worried for a bit, that it was a flop. Making your heart sink. But when Kal found the stick toy, it was as if something magical sparked inside the Akita.

And he went wild.

Kal started zooming around the entire yard, diving into the manicured bushes and making them shake as he ran between them and the border fence. He rooted around the patio furniture, nearly knocking over Henry's big, green grill for a hot pink egg that was there; containing three different treats. He finally tackled the last egg, one of the jumbos, behind a large stone planter.

Bouncing around it so ecstatically, Henry couldn't take it from him to open and reveal what was inside.

“Kal.” Henry cracked up. “Let's see what Mama put in it for you, Bear!” He finally managed to swipe it away from the pup and crack it open, discovering the surprise. “Oh my god! Look, Kal!” He dissolved into a fresh fit of laughter, holding out a plush, taffy-pink, pig.

Kal bounced on his front paws, so he stood on his back legs and took the toy out of Henry's hand, finding the noise maker with his mighty jaws and causing the lightly stuffed pig to scream out a stream of oinks.

“Do you like it, Bear?” You giggled, grinning at him, relieved that Kal's egg hunt had ended so well.

“That pig is going to drive us bonkers, until he murders it.” Henry said, wiping tears from his bearded face.

“I know it is, but I couldn't help buying it.” You confessed, watching Kal go to town on the poor thing. “Look how cute it is, and he clearly loves it.”

“Right, well.” Henry sighed, composing himself. “Kal's hunt is over. Now, it's time for our Battle Egg-royal!” He proclaimed, a competitive expression coming over his face. “You're going first. So, go inside and I'll hide your eggs.”

“Very well.” You nodded, kissing his cheek.

“Mind yourself!” He called, as you headed inside with Kal. “No cheating!”

“I would never!” You huffed back at him, feigning insult.

Henry grabbed the basket of eggs he had made for you and got to work hiding them all over the backyard, pausing in front of camera for a moment, a cheeky look on his face, even though it wasn't live, he couldn't help it.

“No, watching my stream, babe!” He laughed, then went back to hiding the rest of his eggs.

Satisfied with where his eggs were, Henry opened the slider and called you back outside.

“I have the stopwatch pulled up on my mobile.” You said, handing it over to Henry.

“All right.” He nodded, taking it from you. “Ready. Set.”

He stood there for a moment and you stared at him.

“Henry!”

“Huh? Oh, right. GO!”

Rolling your eyes, you shot off the patio and started searching the area. Henry trailing after you. You found the first egg balanced on a stone column that a pot of flowers were situated on. Shaking it, you heard the egg-shaped chocolates inside. Henry held out your Easter basket, so you could store your found eggs and not worry about holding them or accidentally rediscovering them. You found a jumbo egg next, inside Henry's grill, which had you giggling.

“Oh, that's so cruel, Henry.” You huffed, finding your last three eggs lined up in a row, on top of the fence, out of your reach.

Henry smiled at you, triumphantly, his nose wrinkling cutely. “Hop, short stuff.”

“You'll pay for this later, Cavill.” You warned, narrowing your eyes at him and jumped for the eggs, just managing to grab them, without knocking them into the neighbor's yard on the other side.

“I doubt you can put anything out of my reach, Bean.” Henry quipped, winking at you, then glanced down at your phone. “Eighteen minutes.” He smiled, kissing your cheek. “Not a bad time, babe.”

“Thank you, now get your butt out of the yard!” You said, pointing towards the house.

“Yes, ma'am.” He nodded, obediently. “I'll take your basket inside with me.”

Biting your lip, you glanced around the yard and quickly got to work, trying to find the hardest places for him to find his eggs. Wanting payback for the shenanigans of those eggs on the fence. You even moved a few eggs a couple times, feeling like they were too easy to find, before you finally let Henry come back into the yard with you.

“It took you longer to hide them, than find them, sugar butt.” Henry commented, amused as he scanned the yard, trying to give himself a head start.

“I wasn't making it easy for you.” You said, setting up the stopwatch. “Ready. Steady. Go!” You barked, jumping up and down.

Henry quickly hurried off the patio, his first target was his grill. You had put an egg there for Kal and he had put one there for you. So, he had felt you'd follow that theme. But, alas, when he opened the hammered dome, he found it egg free. Eyes narrowing, he looked around and under it as well.

Still, no egg.

“Come on, Puppy.” You laughed, wickedly. “I said, I wasn't going to make it easy on you.”

“True.” He hummed back, shooting a narrow eyed look at you, before slowly scanning the yard again. “AH-HUH!” He exclaimed, spotting a small point of neon yellow under the hedge, that led towards the side of the house.

Making for the egg, Henry happened to catch the flicker of something out of the corner of his eye in the process and came to an abrupt stop. Turning towards it, he gently parted the flowers in the stone planter and reached inside, plucking out a pastel green egg. He held it up with a smirk, his blue eyes sparkling in the mid-afternoon sun.

“Two already!” He said, dropping the egg in his basket, and grabbed the other one.

From there, your strategy steadily went downhill. He found three more eggs within a span of a minute and five after that. You looked down at the stopwatch and felt your stomach clench. Henry's hunt was six minutes in and he had found almost all his eggs, leaving him on course to beat you.

“There you are, little bugger.” Henry grinned, finding the turquoise egg in the drain spout. “What's the time, love?” He asked, dropping it into the basket with the rest.

“Fifteen minutes.” You informed him, sighing.

Henry's arms shot up into the air. “Yes, I win!” He grinned, wiggling his muscular body in a victory dance.

“No.” You shook your head at him.

“What?” He frowned at you. “You found your last egg in eighteen minutes and I just found mine at fifteen, baby.” He explained to you, his arms falling back to his sides. “I beat you by three minutes.”

“But you missed one, Bear.” You told him, calmly.

“Where?” Henry snapped, blinking at you.

“Right there.” You said, pointing to a gold egg resting peacefully in the grass, at the edge of the paving stones, near his grill.

Henry's eyes narrowed at you. “What is this, babe?” He asked slowly, cocking his head at you. “There wasn't one there, when I started my egg hunt.”

“I don't know what to tell you.” You remarked, biting the inside of your cheek, fighting the twitching of your lips. “Perhaps you need glasses, old man.” You teased, as he crossed over to the egg. “Why don't you open it?” You suggested, once he had it in his hand.

“You do know it's Easter and not April Fool's day, don't you, honey?” He asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at you.

“Oh, I do.” You nodded, finally allowing yourself to smile at him.

Henry looked at his still recording phone. “If this thing blows up, you know who to blame, guys.” He quipped, popping open the plastic egg and found a folded piece of paper inside. “What, are you proposing to me?” He chuckled, saying it for shock value.

That was until he finished unfolding the paper and concentrated on what it was.

You move to stand before Henry, smiling up at him, while his mouth gently fell open and his eyes grew. “Happy Easter, Henry.” You cooed at him, resting your hands on his hips.

“Is this-” He gulped thickly, looking between you and the paper. “Is this—real?”

“Mmhm.” You nodded, tearing up, seeing his blue eyes start to glisten and his breathing shutter as he became choked up, emotional. “I found out last week.” You explained to him, taking the sonogram from him. “So, I thought this would be the coolest way to tell you. To train you for future Easter egg hunts with the help of our four legged son.”

Henry caught you up in his arms and spun you around, his blue eyes blurred with tears of overwhelming happiness, while burying his face into your neck as he held you tight against his body. He sniffled into your neck and you hugged him tight, feeling content.

“Christ alive, I love you.” Henry cried, tears dripping down his bearded face, as he set you back down on your feet, then looked over at his phone, just then remembering it was recording. “We're pregnant!” He announced, beaming.

[empressofthewind]

Hey there, Meronia fan! Do you mind if I ask for Meronia fics recs? And, do you have any fav ships (from any fandom) that the dynamics remind you of Mello/Near?

You can't imagine, how excited I am to find your blog. Let's just say in my older anime/manga group who love Death Note mostly ship Lawlight & Matt/Mello, anti Meronia and are Near haters. So when I said I love Meronia, some blocked me and said I was the weird one. So, I never said it again. But now, after I got out from that group I feel better. Then finding your blog with amazing Mello and Near's metas, I'm so happy! Thanks for your blog...

Thank you very much!!! I'm so happy to hear this :-) in my experience most people on Tumblr are pretty normal about Meronia, and it's SO easy to block/filter users who aren't.

Unfortunately re: ships with similar dynamics, I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I'll put this post in the ship tag; I'm sure someone else will have an answer!! In terms of fic recs, I've actually set up my bookmarks page on AO3 to function like a rec list. I have 36 fics there each with a little blurb and I'm constantly updating it, so hopefully a decent amount that you haven't read! I'll pick 10 of them to link here for easy access (ordered by rating in case you can't/don't want to read the mature ones):

the roof by @lightningblade | 3692 words | Rated T

This is a college AU focused on the development of Mello and Near's relationship through a series of encounters on a rooftop. The writing is GORGEOUS, the progression is masterfully done, and it removes the element of the rivalry without removing the core of what makes Meronia such a great ship! There's also a companion piece up as of yesterday which I'm still recovering from (very very positive).

Dear Mello by @tzviaariella | 4158 words | Rated T

This fic is written during the canon timeline through a series of emails. It's an AU where Mello survives, originally written for the 2023 Meronia Zine but also posted on AO3 (which is what I've linked here). The format is really creative and I'm OBSESSED with the way Mello and Near's dynamic is written. The petty back-and-forth is very entertaining and in-character, and there's a certain familiarity and fondness underlying it that I adore. There are also a few artworks throughout which is a nice treat!!

How to Get Any Guy to Fall in Love with You by Sick_head_Sweet_heart | 7025 words | Rated T

This one has such a late-2000s fandom classic feel to it that I'm surprised it's only a few years old??? It's set at Wammy's House, in which Matt gives Near advice on how to make Mello fall in love with him. The dynamic is insanely cute and I'm obsessed with the way Matt and Near's friendship is characterised here. Them scheming together is something I need more of in fics!!

The Mihael Factor by spiritcrimson | 16 chapters | Rated T

One of the longest completed works I've ever read for Meronia and I have been DYING to find something like this ever since. It's a talent agent x singer AU, and it's literally everything I could have asked for in a longfic. A unique idea, compelling progression and a fun antagonistic dynamic that blossoms into a really sweet romance. It's a slowburn but it doesn't drag on at all, and the ending is SO well worth the wait.

3 + 1 by @squidish | 2423 words | Rated T

x + 1 fics are a favourite trope of mine, as is the general concept of Mello and Near behaving inappropriately in the workplace, and this one combines both of those perfectly. The premise is 3 times Mello and Near got walked in on by one of the SPK members, and 1 time they were caught by the whole group. The writing is SO delightful and there are several lines in this that are permanently lodged in my brain. I find humour in writing immensely difficult to pull off so I'm always in awe of authors who can integrate it naturally, and squidish's writing is a great example of that! (Worth noting that this one is slightly more mature than the other T-rated fics here, so I've put it closer to the M & E section; however the smut scenes are not explicit)

it's friday, i'm in love by @neallo | 2676 words | Rated M

You could read literally anything by neallo and it's guaranteed to be good, but to keep this list short, I've included one angsty fic and one lighthearted fic so you can pick the vibe. This one is more lighthearted, and it depicts a very tender moment in which Mello shows up at Near's door drunk and dances with him in the kitchen. This is a prequel to a bigger AU focusing on a casual relationship between them, but it also holds up as a standalone fic! It's unbearably sweet and there are many lines in there that made me audibly laugh.

Speculation on Demisexual Sex Drive by SayHiDestery | 4069 words | Rated M

The smut scene in this fic is so intimate and perfect, I'm melting just thinking about it. It's an established relationship fic in which Near has PTSD and has certain struggles with intimacy, and Mello guides him through it. It's quite slow-paced and takes its time to linger on the small details, which I absolutely adore, and the writing itself is vivid and beautiful. It also features demisexual Near!!

Winning the Game by clearmain | 4134 words | Rated E

This one is a PWP set mid-canon, immediately after the raid on the SPK. I'm a huge sucker for bold & bratty Near and that's EXACTLY what this fic serves. The way this introduces elements of rivalry and competition into their relationship is excellent and makes this fic feel faithful to their canon dynamic. It's a compelling push-pull with an open but hopeful ending that very succinctly captures the complexities of their relationship.

A Certain Hush by BlueberryAsh | 5434 words | Rated E

One of the first fanfics I read for Meronia and I'm not exaggerating when I say it changed my life. This fic has had SUCH a massive influence on the way I view and write the ship. It's a little glimpse into Mello and Near's relationship immediately after getting together. It's really cute and sweet in a way that feels authentic to the characters, and I'm incredibly impressed by the way it manages to give just enough backstory for their relationship to make sense without getting caught up in the details. Genuinely a masterpiece!

i want to hold you (hostage) by @neallo | 4 chapters | Rated E

The aforementioned angsty neallo fic! This one is an exes AU set during the canon timeline, and it is, as you can imagine, a very fraught dynamic done SO incredibly well. The tension is absolutely delicious and there are earnest moments littered throughout that are guaranteed to have you tearing up. Brilliant setup, brilliant writing, brilliant dynamic; just an absolutely stellar fic on all counts!!

[icryaboutit]

UNO!

SUMMARY: The first years playing Uno, what could go wrong? or Me, my sister and cousin played Uno, I kept winning so I'll make it the Twst casts problem!

TAGS: Fluff, Male Yuu, GenZ!Yuu WORD COUNT: 697 words

A normal Friday in Twisted Wonderland would soon become the most heated day, as the Ramshackle prefect had the brightest idea on recreating Uno. Why one may ask? Well...

"*Sigh* The day is so long, yet so short~!"

Yuu yawned, Grim right by his side. Yuu had long since gotten bored from the mildly interesting games Twisted Wonderland has to offer. Yes, in a span of a few months, Yuu had successfully finished every single game known to Twisted Wonderland, with flying colors, and even Idia was shocked and impressed by the blinding speed Yuu had finished them.

"If only the world at least have something more excit-"

At that sentence, Yuu had a thought. A very dangerous thought.

"Wait. What if it doesn't have to in this world?"

Yuu questioned himself, as Grim was far to deep in dreamland to hear (nor stop) Yuu from committing to his idea.

"What if I recreate a game from our world! Yuu! You're a genius!"

Yuu exclaimed before grabbing a startled Grim as he headed to Sam's shop. Oh the hell Twisted Wonderland would have.

"So you want us to play a game of cards from your world?" "Exactly! I have already played every possible game in Twisted Wonderland out of boredom, and I'm Ninety-nine percent sure I haven't seen this kind yet!"

The first years who were all cramped in Ramshackle as per Yuu's request, looked at the deck of cards in a box with interest. Unsurprisingly, Yuu had already received the cards from Sam.

"Can't say I'm not intrigued and all, but what's in it for us?"

Ace asked, Yuu smirked at this.

"Well, you might as well be one of the first-ever players of a soon-to-be-famous game in Twisted Wonderland. Sam said that I didn't even have to pay the cost for this set of cards, he said he saw potential in it and asked me to create a video demonstrating the use of them instead."

Yuu stated this made the first years eyes widen in surprise.

"Really? Sam said that?" "Must be pretty impressive then. I'm in!" "I want in too!" "Heh~ if I'm joining, I'd like everyone to know how great I am with cards~ so better prepare those tissues of yours!" "Don't get so cocky Ace!" "HUMAN! I'LL PROVE YOU WRONG AND RAISE WAKA-SAMA'S REPUTATION BY BEATING YOU!" "I want to play too! It's not very common to encounter to test a game from another world!" "I might as well join in if everyone is playing." "Great! Deuce can you set up a recording before I explain the rules?"

At that, the start of damnation had commenced.

***

"Stop that!" "You're the one who kept on putting the pluses!" "Me?! You're the one who kept preventing me from placing down cards!" "Don't just blame it on me! Epel was the one who kept reversing the flow of who'll strike next!" "Oh great! I'm the villain now!" "HUMANS! STOP CHANGING THE COLORS OF THE CARDS!!"

***

The first years' arguments got louder as the game went on. The list of those who were nearing the end goes something like this.

Jack: 3 cards left Ortho: 5 cards left Deuce: 11 cards left Epel: 16 cards left Ace: 17 cards left Sebek: 24 cards left

Where Yuu's place is at, you may wonder? Well... Yuu had already won once they hit the 10-minute mark.

"Woho~ They're pretty loud. I guess that's to be expected in new players, all hot-blooded. Especially when the game itself tests a group's bond."

Yuu, now merely eating some chips, watched as the rage-filled arguments filled the area. He felt a sense of enjoyment seeing the chaos before him.

***

"STOP!!" "Ortho how could you!?" "I have no choice Ace-san, I'll be on the receiving end if I don't!" "Oh my god!!" "Stop it with the pluses!!" "Indoor voices everyone!" "Ya' aren't one to talk Jack! You and Yuu have already won!"

***

"UNO!!!" "I said it first!" "Nu-uh! We said it first, draw two cards!" "I ain't drawing two more cards! I said it first ya' cheaters!" "Actually Epel-san-" "NOPE! LALALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR ANYTHING!!" "HUMAN!! DON'T BE A CHEATER AND TAKE 2 CARDS!!" "OVER MY DEAD BODY!!"

[streets-in-paradise]

Of Palaces, Princes and Magic - Thor x (Fem)Reader

Warnings: Clueless, powerless Thor from 2011. Tons of fluff

Summary: Wandering arround your home Thor discovers evidence of the fairytale fantasies of your childhood and promises to make your dreams come true.

Note: I wrote this last night on my phone with the last bits of battery I had and post it on the morning from the laptop. There is no editing or proofread.

Tags: @thorsslxve

Allowing a stranger inside your home wasn't your initial intention, but you kept stumbling with him untill you realized he had nowhere else to go. From the barely understandable bits of explanations you got from him, your first guess was that he may have just escaped from a cult, but that didn't make him necesarily dangerous. He was lost, clueless of the world after abandoning the place that was all he ever knew. You did remember him mentioning something over the lines of ' being casted out as a punishment' and that seemed to comfirm your theory. A cult linked to norse mythology, with a leader believing himself to be Odin who had raised him as his son.

Thor lived in a fantasy world and you could tell he was harmless because he never meant to hurt you in any way. He probably required of professional help, but to get there he needed to reach some bassical functionality. If many people would get to hear more of his nonsense, he would end up locked and that possibility saddened you deeply. As far as you could tell, he probably had been physically disconnected from the world all his life already. Besides, it was clear that he trusted you, because the out of place displays of odd arrogance he had with everyone else didn't happen much between you. For you he only had a quirky but lovely chivalry that sometimes was enough to make you live his fantasy for a while.

From all the decorative details in the place, his atention was focused in a miniature replica of Cinderella's castle you had on a table near your bookshelves. A beautifull toy incluiding small figures of characters to habitate it, so delicated and romantic that you kept it as decoration even if you wouldn't play with it anymore like when you were a little girl.

" Do you like it? " You asked him, followed with a sweet smile of encouragement. " It was my favorite growing up ... I'm a grown up woman and I still love it."

The last part of the explanation confused him a bit.

" I don't see why age would fundamentally change your appreciation, it's a fine sculpture of a castle fitting for the aesthetic preferences of a lady."

You couldn't help chuckling a bit, then showed him how to unfold the toy in order to see the inside and put it all back in.

" It's a toy, for little girls to play with." You corrected him. " Many girls enjoy playing pretend to be princesses as children, but when we reach a certain age we stop thinking of palaces, princes and magic... Unless we are reading a fantasy novel or something like that. It's stuff of tales and Disney movies, not reality."

The answer surprised him even more, but there was some sort of sadness in it. Pretty much as if he took pitty on the fact.

" Are people like me casted out to remain only in the literature of this realm?" He asked, with genuine curiosity. " Which tale does this castle tells? If there is any, as your words suggest."

Even in the simplest of details, the conversations with him allways felt like the dialogue of a fairytale.

" If someone would tell me that you have came out from the pages of a fantasy book, I would believe it."

" Yet you can't believe that Asgard is my homeland." He mocked you in return. " I'll convince you, all your doubts will be clarified once I will have my mighty power back."

You didn't argue with him, there was no need at the moment.

" Alright, your highness ... Do you still want me to tell you the tale?"

Thor smiled in agreement and you began to narrate using the playset castle as a visual guide. The fact that a grown man was just being introduced to the tale of Cinderella felt quite odd, but very cute. He was particularly intrigued with the fact that the King found no issue on letting his son marry a servant that presented herself to him magically disguised just because she was the owner of the crystal shoe.

" ... Even if she was the rightfull heir of the household, her stepmother made her a slave and that's a downgrade that should have disqualified her at the eyes of the King. How could the prince convince him of blessing that union? "

He was taking the story seriously and it was hard to provide answers in that perspective.

" I guess he simply indulged his son and let him marry the woman he loved. Prince Charming fell for Cinderella at the Royal Ball, he had no idea of who she was back then. The girl was a princess in spirit and maybe the King saw that, the crystal shoe proved her worthy of the prince."

For some reason, your answer made him smile a bight brighter than before.

" I believe you are a princess in spirit. " Thor sweetly confessed. " ... and a magnificent storyteller."

His pure cuteness was too much for you and behind your own smile heat has started to take over your face.

" Me, a princess? Please! You don't have to flatter me for hospitality. I haven't wore a tiara since I was eight."

Thor looked at the little figures of Cinderella and Prince Charming in their miniature balcony, then glanced back at you as if a new strange idea had just occured to him.

" What if you could experience what's like to be a princess? Would you believe me then?" He asked you out of sudden. " Not only about Asgard, but about my very sincere perceptions of you."

You began to wonder if the last part was some sort of romantical approach and were quite confused about that. He was very sweet and you loved his company. It could be said that you fancied him too, but encouraging him would be taking advantage of the strange situation and you would never do that.

" It's allright, Thor. I'm fine just like this. We are friends, you can help me arround ... "

" I insist, that's how I will repay you for all the troubles I have caused. " He cutted you off with determination. " I will take you to a real Royal Ball."

He sounded so serious about it that you began to question your own sanity.

" The noblefolk would be judging, It's a bad idea. "

" They will see you like I do." He optimistically replicated. " Your looks will reflect your royal spirit and you will not have to flee at midnight. If that's your desire, you will get to dance with a real prince ... Maybe two, if Loki also requires it. Ask him nicely and we may convince him of hexing your shoes to look as if made of crystal."

You giggled out of a pure,sweet surprise while hearing the details of the fantasy he was almost roping you in.

" That's very sweet. You are the sweetest man I have ever known."

You were gazing into each other's eyes when he formalized the promise.

"Currently less than what you deserve, but I will fix that soon. I will be back to my former glory, I will be worthy of you and In honor of your infinite kindness and patience, I shall make your dreams come true. "

[d3f3n3str4t10n]

October Poll Results!

It's November 1st, and I was very relieved to see that we got another update! It's a small one, which is to be expected, given the announcement in the last Progress Report, but knowing that updates in general will remain monthly is still good to know!

I'll skip the teaser images to get to the Poll Results first, since they shouldn't be too surprising, if you checked them at any point. In a nearly 5:2 ratio, the option to ship Episodes 3A (Decay) and Episode 4 together has won. (An option with Nemlei interestingly calls "Poetry" several times.) Again, I expected this, even though I voted to ship Decay by itself. The most interesting part of this section to me, are the last couple sentences. In it, Nemlei seems to basically confirm that Decay is finished, or at least very close to being finished, and the majority of work will now shift onto Episode 4. I don't expect Episode 4 to take a year to make, unlike what Nemlei seems to cheekily be implying. The impression I've got to far is that it's the resolution to the story. The Climax ( ;) ) and Falling Action. It's not going to be very long, is what I mean. Nowhere near as long as Episode 3A, anyway. So, with that settled, let's check out those teaser images!

First, we see Andrew and Ashley hanging out in some strange looking lighthouse. The large eye in the middle might remind you of Six Eyes, which is very well might be, but... that eye doesn't look very demonic to me. It's got a big pupil and lashes, with a star in the middle, and the windows surrounding it are also plastered with stars, and are different shades of bright colors. Looks more... wizard-like, to me. It very well could be the same lighthouse... or a version of the same lighthouse, that we saw Ashley trying to climb as the unreachable stair taunted her, but we'll have to wait and see. More importantly... why are they here in the first place? Is it JUST a hideout?

Next image is a bit more interesting. Judging by Ashley's pose, it's possible that this is the middle, or the end, of a small argument between the two. It's the camping section again, which we've seen quite a bit of, now. Andrew saying "You bring my demons out." with that smug look has some BIG implications. Obviously, it's related to the demon world, but what specifically? Did we get a glimpse at Andrew's SOUL? Did Andrew summon a demon of his own, or is this the aftermath of Ashley bringing Andrew with her into the demon world, like she was asked? I'd say it's probably some combination of the first and third, given we don't see any evidence of a ritual here. Though they easily could've just cleaned it up. But, what could they be arguing about? Maybe the Demon's reasoning for wanting Andrew to tag along wasn't something Ashley was happy with. Or maybe she just saw something about Andrew she didn't like. Whatever it was, I reckon it'll probably have a choice for us to pick.

Lastly, we have this silly little comic. I quite like it when Andrew and Ashley are drawn like this lol. But hey, it seems that Decay will have more options than I thought! We also got a glimpse at the main conflict of this route, it seems. Andrew's morals decaying. We already got glimpses of that, given the whole murder-suicide thing going on. (Though I'd argue that would be the most noble thing Andrew would've done, even if for the wrong reasons.) But it seems we also have the ability to go deeper into the relationship between Andrew and Ashley... in more ways than one!

Ashley herself looks a little indifferent to it all. Could just be a joke for the comic, but Ashley has always shown relative indifference towards this idea... when she isn't trying to get Julia to kill herself, anyway. Knowing that we'll be having all these options puts some of the previous teaser images in a bit of a different light, and it also make me wonder what the main theme of Burial will be. I guess instead of having these options with their relationship, they'll just... bury their feelings? And depending on how successfully that goes, you get different paths.

That's all I have for now. Thanks for reading!

[goldengleams]

coffee crazy | nico hischier x reader

In which you're the coffee girl that he can't get enough of.

————————————————————————

"Coffee for Joan!"

You swirled around yet another drink, handing another customer their coffee. She gave you a large smile, thanking you for her drink and telling you you had made her morning. She was one of the regulars that you saw almost every day you worked at the shop. A smile was plastered on your face to greet the customers at the front. The large vintage clock on the wall of the coffee shop mocked you, reading 7:00AM. Only four more hours left of your early Friday morning shift at the coffee shop near your apartment.

Another day in northern New Jersey was underway, cars driving to and from the bustling highways leading into New York City. The winter snow was falling softly towards the ground.

You knew the morning rush was the busiest time of day for the local shop since everyone needed their early morning booster for the day. Your coworkers had all taken their positions at their respective station in the coffee assembly line, with you at the cash register to fill in for the girl who had called out sick late last night.

"And here are two cake pops for Sydney and Sadie! Have a good day at school, you two."

You handed two little girls cake pops from inside the glass case and turned to give their mom her drink. You knew most of the customers by name which always made them smile during the morning.

Suddenly, you noticed there was an unfamiliar face in the line. A tall man with dark hair was staring up at the list of various coffee drinks that the shop offered. He wore a black sweatshirt with black joggers and had a gray beanie on his head, so that just the ends of his hair could be seen. The unknown man had to be at least six feet tall, if not taller, and he definitely looked strong.

As he walked up to the counter, you were at a loss for what to say. You usually fell into quick conversation with the guest, but you didn't know his face. There was no reason to worry, you tried to remind yourself. You had taken at least 100 orders already so there was no reason to stress over one little interaction.

"Hi," he greeted you.

Your tongue struggled to move from where it felt like it was glued to the roof of your mouth. The stranger had an accent that you could pick up on, quickly melting your mind into mush.

"Hi, what can I get for you this morning?" You studied his face while he made a slight step backwards to verify his order from the board.

"I'll have a large red eye please," he said. His tired brown eyes met yours as you tried to remember how to use the computer in front of you. You desperately wanted to start some kind of interesting conversation with him but the whirring of the coffee machines kept you focused on the task at hand.

"That will be $5.50," you said, avoiding his eyes.

He quickly handed you a $10 bill and you started to count out his change, before he stopped you.

"Keep the change," he said.

"Are you sure? I can give you the change," you tried to argue with him, but he waved his hand. You raised your eyebrows in surprise but thanked him and took the change to put in in your tip jar.

"Hope the day goes well, you've got half the town wanting your coffee," he chuckled.

"Yeah, it's always busiest when it snows, everyone needs a hot drink," you replied. You looked away from his figure to grab a cup.

"Oh, it's Nico. Never gave you my name," he said sheepishly. He leaned in a little to see your name tag on your apron. "Thanks, Y/N."

Your breath hitched in your chest as you realized you had never asked what his name was. You wrote his name on the cup and started filling his order before you passed it along to a coworker. He flashed you a bright smile and moved to the pickup counter.

Nico, you thought. You'd remember that name.

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

The next time you saw him was the following Wednesday. This time, Nico walked into the coffee shop in the afternoon when it was much quieter. You were over by the espresso machine and had just completed someone's order and setting it on the counter when you saw him.

This time, Nico was wearing a red and gray sweatshirt that had a New Jersey logo on it. He caught your gaze before it was broken by someone walking up to him. A teenager broke his attention and you could hear them asking him for a picture. You turn around to your coworker, Dan.

"What's that all about?" You whispered, trying to hide your voice in the mix of the soft music and the whirring machines.

"You're not serious are you? He's, like, the most important player on the team," Dan scoffed. He went around you to snatch a muffin from the glass case.

"Team? What team?" You questioned while bending over to get more cups from under the counter. You could see that their interaction was wrapping up, so you were getting nervous.

"He's the captain of the New Jersey hockey team, Y/N! I thought you said you liked sports," Dan rolled his eyes.

"You can't expect me to know everything about every sport! I only went to, like, two hockey games in college," you hissed, moving to bring the sleeve of cups up.

"Okay well just stand up before the hottie comes over, would you? Oh, and give him your number, this could be your coffee shop meet cute," Dan said.

You tried to stand up as quickly as possible, but underestimated where the counter was, bumping your head on the corner and letting out a curse.

"You alright down there?"

You froze. You were awkwardly bent over, arms under the counter and head just peeking over the top. Nico was now standing in front of you, looking at you with an amused smirk on his face.

"Yeah, uh, just grabbing some cups," you gestured to the sleeve that was about to fall out of your arms.

"God, I feel like I run this place by myself sometimes," you said, looking towards Dan, who shrugged his shoulders.

Nico let out a soft laugh as you struggled to place the cups in their spot and wiped your hands on your apron.

"What can I get for you today, Nico?"

His eyes lit up at the use of his first name. You couldn't help but swoon at how adorable he was.

"Good memory," he replied. "And I'll do a medium vanilla latte, Y/N."

He made small talk with you as he paid and you turned to start his order. Since there was no one else in line behind him, he followed you down the line as you made his drink.

"One medium vanilla latte for Nico," you smiled as you handed him his drink.

You swore that the heat from his drink traveled through your veins and tickled your heart. You always thought it was cliche to feel butterflies in your stomach, but you swore that whatever spell Nico had you under had to have been just that.

"Y/N, weren't you gonna take your long break right now?" Dan called to you. He was huddled up in the corner with two of your other coworkers.

"Um, it's not," you stammered out but were quickly cut off.

"Yeah, go relax, we've got it!" Dan flashed you a smile before coming over to untie your apron and lightly shove you towards the opening.

There was only a few feet of space between you and Nico now, and he was looking at you. You couldn't help but feel a little lost in the situation, not sure of where to go next.

"We could sit?" Nico offered, gesturing to the booth in the corner.

You nodded and followed him over, feeling excited yet nervous about what might happen next. You slid in the seat across from Nico. He took a sip of his drink while you tried to avoid making eye contact with your coworkers who were watching you from behind the counter.

"I'm really sorry about them, they're all teenagers that are nosy as hell," you said, letting out a chuckle.

You tucked your hands under your legs to try to keep them from bouncing up and down under the table. For all you knew, Nico could be dating someone and not have interest in the girl at the coffee shop.

While you were trying to think of something to say, you missed the warm look that Nico was giving you. He could tell that you were tense. He cleared his throat to catch your attention.

"I heard you say you've never been to an NHL game? You're pretty close to the arena, y'know," he teased you.

"Oh god, please don't tell me you heard that whole conversation?" You let out a light groan.

"Only the end," Nico assured. "You probably know I'm on the hockey team, but if you ever want to come it's always a fun time. It could be your third hockey game ever."

He twirled one of the strings of his hoodie in his right hand while looking at you. You couldn't deny the pull that his dark eyes held, especially when his hair hung right at the corners of his eyes, framing his face perfectly.

"I guess I might have to," you replied coyly. "But just to clarify, I do like sports, so I'm hopefully not totally helpless in understanding it."

He hummed in understanding.

"So what sports do you like, then?"

"Mainly football and basketball," you answered. "I'm trying to save up for law school and hopefully work in sports law someday."

You sat up a little straighter in your seat, feeling prideful at your confident admission to him. Your day to day life consisted of mainly working and studying, just going through the motions with many of your interactions. Saying your dream out loud made it feel attainable, which made you smile.

You and Nico chatted for a while at the booth. You learned about his hockey team while he asked you what college had been like and how your favorite teams had been playing during the season. He could tell how driven and inspired you were to achieve your goals, which he found insanely attractive. You got more and more comfortable, joking with him and making him smile. Eventually, he had to go and you had to get back to work, so you said your goodbyes and he promised to be back for more coffee soon.

You rounded the corner of the counter with a new confidence as you approached your coworkers.

“You look like you had a fun little break date,” your other coworker, Ellie, said with a smile.

“And I set it all up!” Dan chimed in.

“Yeah, he’s very nice,” you said smiling. “He said he’ll be back soon.”

Ellie and Dan shared a look, indicating that they knew something that you didn’t.

“Ok spill you idiots, I’m getting impatient!”

“Okay, okay! He may or may not have come in on Monday and may or may not have asked for you,” Ellie giggled. Mondays were your days off, meant for studying and catching up on chores around your shared apartment. The idea that Nico had come in looking for you made you giddy with excitement.

“He has a cruh-ush!” Dan teased, poking your arm.

Maybe you did, too.

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

While at your shift two days later, there were no sightings of Nico, but you did get an interesting call right as the morning rush was dying down. You sighed, hoping you weren't going to have to answer a complaint.

"You're speaking with Y/N at The Daily Grind, how may I help you?" You answered, letting Ellie take over the register as you found a piece of paper.

"Hi there Y/N, this is Kayla and I, uh, have a big ask for you," she mused on the other end of the line.

"Oh, that's no problem. What were you looking to order?"

"Well, I'm an intern calling on behalf of the New Jersey Devils. After the win last night, our Captain wanted to congratulate everyone and he said he knew a great coffee shop," she started. "He said to make sure that I asked if you were there since you make the best lattes."

"Oh, that's really sweet. Tell him I said congrats on the win!"

You felt your cheeks flush at the idea of Nico offering to order everyone a treat for their win. Even if he didn't feel any certain way towards you, at least he was willing to support a small business.

"He also said that if you were too busy he would plan a big order for another day, he seems to know a lot about your shop," she chuckled.

"We can complete the order, no problem," you smiled as you went to write down the large order. "And, uh, tell Nico that I hope to see him around the shop soon."

After your coworkers heard you on the phone, they were only mildly surprised to find a bouquet of roses show up at the door with a notecard addressed to you the next day.

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

Over the weekend, you worked, registered for the upcoming LSAT, and watched some hockey. The Devils had been on a roadie, terminology you had learned from Nico, and were now on a winning streak.

You had been hoping that Nico would come into The Daily Grind soon. Your roommate was so excited when you told her about the whole ordeal and was convinced he had feelings for you. Your heart swelled in your chest at the hope that she may be right.

While you were sweeping in the evening, you heard the bell on the door ring. Your coworker was on break so you walked up to the counter to greet the customer.

The man at the counter couldn't have been much older than you. He had deep blue eyes and damp hair that curled around the bottom of his ears, eyes focused on his phone in his hand. "Hi, what can I get for you tonight?"

He typed a message out on his phone, pocketing it in his hoodie and looking at the board above your head.

"What do you like here?" He asked.

"Um, I like our iced coffees and smoothies a lot, the caramel iced coffee is my go-to," you replied and he nodded.

"And what does Nico like to get?" He looked right into your eyes as he said it, trying to see what your reaction would be.

You froze in his stare before clearing your throat to repeat the drinks that Nico had ordered before.

"He seems to like our espresso a lot," you trailed off.

"Yeah, he seems to like this place a lot, talks about it all the time," he chuckled. "I'll just get a medium cold brew for now. I'm Jack, by the way. I play with Nico."

You chatted while you made his drink, heart beating a little quicker at the idea of being scoped out by his wingman and teammate. He told you about their most recent game and made sure to note how well Nico had played.

"When Nico feels strongly about something, he tends to go the whole nine yards, just so you know," Jack said while walking out. "He wanted me to tell you he'll be in soon!"

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

Even though Jack seemed pretty sure when he said Nico would be back, you began to lose hope when a week went by and there was no sighting of Nico. No other Devils members came by to the shop to order anything nor did you get any calls from interns.

“Have a good night, Y/N,” Dan called. You were closing tonight so you said goodbye and started to clean up. "Don't stay too long, it's starting to snow again!" You promised him you were almost finished as he left you alone to your thoughts.

You hummed along to the song playing over the speakers. It was Love Story by Taylor Swift. You wished that you could have a love story but maybe now wasn’t the time. Nico was a professional hockey player who was undoubtedly busy with his schedule, so you couldn't blame him for his absence.

You must have lost track of time because next thing you knew, the big clock read 8:00PM. You turned the main light off and went to lock the door when you heard a knock against the window. Standing outside the coffee shop, illuminated by the outdoor lights was Nico. He had a smile on his face as he pointed towards the door for you to let him in.

"We're closed for the night, sir," you teased playfully as you let him through the door.

He stepped inside as you held the door open for him, brushing some light snow off of his puffy black coat.

"Hey, Y/N," he said. You moved to turn on the overhead light since the place was now pretty dark.

"Hi Nico," you said. Although you tried to hide how giddy you were, you were sure it slipped out just a little. "I figured I might see some other Devils players before I saw you again."

You could see his cheeks flush as you moved around him to keep straightening things up. Around Nico, the butterflies in your stomach were endless and you could barely sit still.

"I hope Jack didn't scare you, he kinda got the information out of me before I realized I had told him," he replied. You had your back turned to him but he knew you were listening, as you two were the only ones there.

"Well I hope you aren't sending your wingman off to all of the other coffee shops you frequent," you twisted around to see him and gave him a smirk.

He pushed his hands into his pockets and shook his head. He breathed out a soft laugh before mumbling something you couldn't understand.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, just thinking how I must be off my game pretty badly if you still think I'm trusting other people with my coffee order."

You rested your back against the counter, staring at him through a guarded gaze. You didn't pride yourself on being the most naive of people, but you knew you weren't always the most receptive either.

"I mean, I got the roses and everything, which were beautiful, but I just figured you were being nice," you said sheepishly. "I think I'm usually so focused on getting through the day that I forget to think about stuff like that."

"Well, I hope I wasn't too forward, Jack says I can be sometimes," he chuckled.

"No, no, uh, you're good," you said. "I guess I could just use the guiding sometimes. It's not everyday that you receive roses from a handsome guy."

You focused your gaze on your shoes as you heard footsteps come closer to you. Nico had approached you and stood right in front of you now. You cocked your head to the side, waiting for his next move.

"Can I guide you out of this shop and out to dinner with me tonight?"

You tried not to let your eyes go too wide as you processed what Nico just said. Was this how it felt in the movies?

"If you didn't realize already, I think you're very beautiful and kind, Y/N. I'd love to take you on a date, if you wanted," he trailed off.

"Nico," you muttered, a smile coming to your lips. "I would love to."

He reached for your hand and brought it to his lips to give it a small kiss. Even though you hadn't known Nico for very long, you could tell that he was a true gentleman. You quickly packed up your bag and closed the shop to join him on the first of many dates to come.

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

Note: Hi guys! This is my first time ever writing for NHL so I hope you enjoyed it!! Feel free to leave requests or share feedback and more will be coming soon!

[greentrickster]

WIP game

Rules: You will be given a word. Share one sentence/excerpt from your wip(s) that start with each letter of that word.

@shadow-pixelle tagged me with ECHO, so congrats - have some 'Got a Light?' (my RWBY fic) snippets! And, to have some extra fun, since they're all from the same fic, I'll get one snippet from each of the first two books I've written this fic in and two from the current book (because it's the biggest), and you'll get the sentences in the order I wrote them... but not necessarily in the order they'll come in the fic, because I'm writing non-chronologically. ;D Enjoy!

E

"Easy for you to say," Jaune gives up on meditating (because he's weak) to glare at Roman, "You're probably just saying that because you had a stupid one, like- like bad luck or making your pockets bigger or something!"

...Branwen had flinched at the first suggestion. Interesting. Neo'll have to look into that. More importantly, however, Roman has frozen in place, dust crystal fallen to the ground beside him. He stares straight up into the sky unmoving for a good twenty seconds before he lets his arm fall across his eyes with a distraught groan.

"Dangit, that second one actually sounds like an amazing- that would have been so useful for shoplifting or, hells, just storing extra ammo without ruining the lines of my suit- dammit, now I'm sad, thanks a lot."

C

"Consider: would any of you say you are quite the same people now that you were at the beginning of the school year? How about ten years ago?" he smiles at the range of reactions this elicits. "To me, it is much the same, albeit on a far larger scale. It seems as though we each carry a certain amount of... ourselves, for lack of a better word, with us to each new life.

"For example, it may surprise you to know that, in regards to myself, while I have heard many times that I seem to have gained a certain level of maturity overnight when my memories and powers are unlocked, oddly little in my personality or mindset of my new life seem to change beyond that. I will confess, it inspires a certain amount of curiosity these days, whenever the end of a current life draws near, as to what new myself I will have become the next time my memories return."

H

"Hey, what about all the nice things you were gonna say to Pyrrha?!"

"They will be formatted as an extremely flattering eulogy!!!"

Qrow is drawn away from this amusing interaction by Neo, who has removed a glove and stolen a fistful of bacon with her bare hand, wiggling it enticingly at Qrow with a big smile.

"I feel like I'm being mocked," he states, examining it with each eye suspiciously.

"You're not," Torchwick says, finally calm again and theatrically wiping his eye, "She just likes watching birds eat. Used to sneak into kitchens at restaurants so she could get table scraps for it."

...eh, fair enough. Qrow obliges and daintily tugs a strip of bacon free with his beak, holding it with one claw to peck at. Neo beams.

O

"Oh, um- yes! He says... 'Thinking of mew.'"

Ruby glances up from skimming her texts to see Weiss staring blankly ahead.

"...he's a dork," she says, voice dazed, "He's an enormous dork."

"Weiss-" Uncle Qrow groans, only for Jaune to hold his hand up.

"Don't bother, Mr. Branwen, I've got this."

"Kid, it's Qrow."

Jaune ignores him, going to put a steadying hand on Weiss's shoulder. "Look, I'm sorry you have to find out this way, but the thing about guys is... we're all dorks. And Neptune is our king."

"...I see." Weiss nods, and Ruby goes back to her own texts, "Is it a bad sign that I still like him, even though he's flawed?"

"I mean, he didn't realize you wanted to keep seeing him after the dance until you cried at him for flirting with other girls," Nora comments, "You kinda already knew that he wasn't perfect."

"I suppose that's true... In that case, I'm going to respond in kind! Nora, I require your assistance!"

---

(Told you guys it's not as dire as my research subject list makes it sound!)

I'll be tagging @fullbattleregalia and @elektricangel, along with anyone else who wants to play - your word is LIFE (because my fic's about Roman coming back as a ghost and I'm funny).

[keeponquinning]

Here with Me — The Pros and Cons — Part One

Joseph Quinn x Latina!Fem!Novelist!Reader — RPF — 18+

word count — 19.5k

summary — it's your birthday weekend and you're working. at the local con in LA, so things could be worse. you have your friends with you, as you're going through a dry spell, creatively. in between signings and a lot of nothing to do, you go to the nearby bar with your friends to kill the time before your late night panel with your peers and one trip from your table to the bar? well... that's the start of everything....

warnings — first off, RPF!! if not your thing, scroll! be nice, if thinking of being mean, think twice! i hope that rhymed. no smut in this chapter, though there are adult talk, cursing, reader is latina ( that shouldn't be a warning but kinda a heads up ) and there is some talk of that. bit of a surprise guest near the end ( think big blue eyes ) mention of porn. reader has a personality, if that's not your thing.... I understand. i tried to make this as entertaining as possible, no use of y/n. bit of mama joe and also a bit of pervy joe, but loads of charming joe.

notes — god, this was a LONG time coming. i'm trying to concentrate on this series, so i'll be working on part two as soon as i post this, but slowly. editing for the first time was fun, def added and changed a few stuff. so i hope it flows a bit nicer. i hope ya'll like this, it was fun to write and share with a few friends, shout out to @quinnypixie as being my beta in the way of me sending pages bc i'm a slut for comments and validation lmao saying that, please leave a comment if you liked this!! I appreciate the likes, of course, but nothing makes me more giddy than comments. only if you want, of course, but if you're feeling shy, so don't be! i wanna hear your guys take on this. i have total tinkerbell syndrome, i need applause to LIVE. enjoy guys!

tagging — @babybluebex , @quinnypixie , @inourtownofhawkins , @musicoverall , @seatnights , @figmentofquinn , @birdysaturne, @tomhollandseyes , @notverywise , @live-love-be-unique , @shanalynnphotos , @mmunson86 , @haylaansmi , @cestpresqueparfait , @iaminlovewithdilfs , @anaofthebarricade , @wolfiescosplay , @ailathealternate , @maximus2354, @j0qw , @missonlypost , @stabthecrab , @hanavakiih , @mrsmunsonxquinn , @rhapsodicaesthete , @elain00 , @drawdownthem00n , @munson-enthusiast , @roset01 , @alyssaaaaa-r , @josephmunson99 , @munsonsgirl71 , @ariegoldhouse , @rainbowbubbles9 , @justheretoreadleavemealone , @muns0nslov3r , @bluegalaxyprime , @k-corbett , @eddiemunsonsrighttoe , @rememberwhen-it-rained , @thoughtsoftheantagonist , @pvssy-destroyer , @joescigarettes , @jasminearondottir , @joeqluver , @babybat-95

( note, some of you i tried to tag but your blog wouldn't show up, if anyone knows a fix for this, let me know! )

wanna be tagged? click here and like the masterlist!

It always strikes you as odd that a big wall of noise could drive you crazy anywhere else — except at a bar and grill. Then, it seems comforting, almost, the sounds of clinking glasses, laughter… The floating of bits of conversation slithering into your ear, heard, but not quite understood. There was an odd sense of comfort to it, the scents of food wafting in the air as well, which made you thankful for the food in front of you.

The food that was intended to be shared was most definitely not.

How annoying.

“Why are you guys sleeping on the loaded fries?” came your voice, after scarfing down yet another forkful and chased it with a coke. Looking at your friends, sticking to their own plates of mozzarella sticks and onion rings, you let out a laugh. “I’m gonna end up eating this whole damn plate and then hearing about me being greedy and not sharing, you know this.”

Your brows raised at your best friend and her fiancé, their dishes having been shared with each other, half and half. “I’m feeling like you’re putting me down for my love of fries with,” you paused, plucking a clean edged one, “...creamy nacho cheese sauce, bacon, scallions, and mm, sour cream.” Popping it into your mouth, you lean back in your seat, the sounds of the bar swirling around you, chuckling softly. “What gives?”

Jen, your best friend, rolled her eyes. “You think I don’t want some?”

“You haven’t reached at all for it, not commented on it, nothing, which is unusual for you, wench.”

“Oh, I want some. I want some so bad! But…” She leaned back, dipping her mozzarella stick in marinara, “I’m being good, and leaving your plate alone. No mooching food from the birthday girl, that’s my rule.”

Ah. Right. There was that. A smile stretched across your face as you watched her bite and pull the mozzarella stick away, impressed by the cheese pull. “How uncharacteristically kind of you.”

“It was my suggestion,” the male voice of Gerry piped up. “Trust me, she would have demolished it by now if I didn’t.” 

“It looks so good,” Jen concurred, shaking her head. “We’re getting one.” Dusting her hands together. “Gerry, we’re getting one and we’re splitting.”

Gerry raised his brows, “Meaning… I get a few and it’s mainly you.” 

“Obviously,” his fiancée let out, as if there was even a need to question it. 

You chuckled, feeling a bit brighter with your friends there. Jen and Gerry being more like a lifeline when you really needed it. And today? This weekend? You most definitely did. “What about we get some sliders, too? I still got… One panel later. The late panel, the spicy panel, so I gotta get my wit on high and I can’t do that if I’m hungry. And fries, as lovely as they are… Won’t cut it.” 

“How was it?” Jen asked, taking one of Gerry’s onion rings, dipped in ranch before taking a bite. 

“The signing?” Once she nodded, you let out a sigh, sinking back into your seat. “I… It was okay. I mean, it’s pretty awesome that people still read my books. Even bringing physical copies, I fucking love that, but…” A groan left you, tilting your head up toward the ceiling. “God, I wish I had something more substantial to say when they ask me when’s the next book coming out or…if I’m working on something. Instead of just putting on that forced smile and whipping out an upbeat, ‘we’ll see!’ I almost wanna admit I have nothing, but half-baked ideas and blank pages and I actually have no idea when or if that’s ever gonna change.” 

And that was the rub of it. The reason you had wished you skipped the convention this time around. You loved them, usually. Loved meeting your readers, talking and discussing the industry and process with your fellow writers — most of whom you admired and couldn’t believe they even knew you. But the fact you had nothing but your past books to draw from, no new content to share, it was starting to weigh heavily on you. Not feeling as active as you should be. You felt as if you were letting everyone down — and, oh yeah, it was your birthday. Nothing like a birthday to really hammer in the fact that more time has passed and nothing to show for it. 

You felt a heavy boot, the heel nudging your foot harshly enough to let out a soft cry. Furrowed brow lifted, narrowing your eyes at Gerry. “Ow. What the fuck, dude?” 

Brushing back his long, dark locks from his face, he leaned forward, clasping his hands in front of him. “You know you’re going to do it, right?” he asked, eyeing you. “It’s not like you’re sitting around and doing nothing, you’re active. You come up with ideas — half baked, yeah, but they’re ideas. Do you know how many songs end up in the trash bin before I even play it for the other guys? So many. It’s the same thing, those half-written stories you scrap, there just hasn’t been a story that stuck, that’s worth reaching toward an end. It’ll come, it’s not like a hobby for you, we all know that. You just gotta remember that for yourself.” 

Jen looked impressed, smiling at Gerry, brushing her fingers through his hair. “He’s right, you know,” she added, looking at you. “C’mon, Wench, I know it’s been….”

“Two years,” you finish for her, brows rising. “It’s been two fucking years…” 

“Yeah, okay, it’s been two fucking years. It happens, okay? It doesn’t mean anything—”

Oh, God, you thought and instinct took over, leading you to stand up from the table, a quick, “Yup, I’m gonna get those fries and sliders, yeah? Another round of drinks?”

Jen looked at you, crossing her arms in front of her, tilting her head. “I fucking know you. This is a rough patch, a dry spell, things that are temporary…” Trying hard for you to listen, brows raised. “You got this.”

In your head, or at least in some small part, you knew she was right. That they both were right. It wasn’t just empty words being used to placate you; they knew you. Always honest with you, never were they the people that would bullshit you just to build you up and have nothing to back it up. Self-doubt was a bitch, though, and instead of taking it to heart, you took a deep breath, put on a smile and said, “We’ll see.” Pushing yourself away from the table, ignoring the furrowed brow on Jen, pointing to the glasses in front of them, “Another round, loaded fries and sliders.” 

With a sigh, she gave a nod, “Yeah, yeah that sounds good. This talk isn’t over, but I’ll let it slide for your birthday.”

You let out a laugh, giving a nod. “Very kind of you, Wench.” Smiling at them both, you turn toward the bar and head off. “Love you.”

“Love you, too,” she called out, leaning back in her seat. “Okay, what are we gonna do with her?”

Light colored eyes looked over at her, lifting his hand to gesture between them, “...this. What we’re doing now.”

Brows rose at that, challengingly at him. “...and that would be…?”

Giving her a shrug, he said, quite simply, “Being here. Encouraging…” Leaning over to her, equally as challenging as she was. “...but not forcing it.” 

A heavy sigh left your best friend's lips, knowing Gerry was right, but not liking it. “Yeah, okay,” she relented, eyeing your plate with a handful of fries, letting out a huff as she pulled the plate towards herself. She met Gerry’s raised brows, raising her own, “What? She’s getting more, this doesn’t count,” taking a forkful and into her mouth with a moan. “I knew it. So good.” 

He laughed, shaking his head, plucking one of his onion rings. 

It was crowded, it was summer, the tail end of it where it lingered longer than anyone would have liked and yearned for the fall — though pumpkin spice would be on everyone’s mind early anyway. The first day of the convention weekend, as well, made the bar crowded and buzzing with excitement from its patrons. There was some pity for those heavy in costume, the layers of clothing would not do well with the insistent heat, though you found yourself admiring the wardrobe anyway. Still, you were grateful for the summer attire of cut off jean shorts, a tank top and — a flannel shirt you wore open that was currently sitting at the back of your chair at your table with your friends. It was worn more for modesty’s sake during the afternoon when you were in work mode, but the heat of the weather and the people buzzing around you? Fuck modesty, you were hot. 

Your ankle boots were probably not the smartest choice, admittedly, and you hated cliches, however… They were your favorite pair, your cutest pair, and it was your birthday, so you wanted to indulge. Remarkably comfortable with the heel, thank the retail gods for padded cushions at the balls of your feet, but it did make getting across a room of crowded people…difficult. 

Twisting and turning to swerve and weave in between, your lips in a constant state of letting out sorry and excuse me, sorry, you started to curse at yourself for doing this on your own. Hindsight is a bitch like that, you’re finding. You smile helplessly as you pass by a couple, one dressed as Geralt of Rivia and Yennefer, quite notably, before turning and that’s when it happened. An uneven crack on the floor, just inches from the bar, and the toe of your treasured booties? Yeah, hit right smack into it, making your body lurch forward. The worst fear hitting you, much like the floor would be soon, you were going to eat it. You were going to fall and smack your head on the floor. Fuck. Fuck. In a crowd of people who, coincidentally, seemed to have parted because suddenly all you could feel was air. 

And then a strong pair of arms, steady hands and warm chest. 

Suddenly you weren’t meeting the floor but standing upright with unsteady feet still firmly on the ground. Strong hands were holding you along your waist, your hands gripping tight onto pair forearms, heart racing, mind reeling. Did that just happen? Jesus Christ. You leaned forward, plush against his chest. Very warm, broad shoulders, crisp linen buttoned shirt and… Smelling really good, not recognizing the scent, male cologne, sort of woodsy with a bit of citrus. A sharp contrast to the scent of lavender and vanilla of some off brand  perfume you got from Amazon. His scent, it even smelled of a big brand, expensive bottle, the ones you’d never bring yourself to buy yourself. But it smelled really good. 

“Shit, you okay?” came his voice, sounding warm yet concerned, but the accent was what you cling onto the most. As it always did when you heard an accent clearly not American. “You almost—”

“Yeah, yeah, that…” Your eyes widened, straightened your back, eyes flashing to his for a mere second before looking at the bar, brows raising. “Oh god, if I tripped… If I fell…” Taking a deep breath, realizing your earlier thought of hitting the floor was off the mark, in actuality… “Oh, I would have hit my head right smack at the edge. I would’ve died. I would have bled, it would have been such a mess around all these people, oh, that would’ve been embarrassing.”

He gave a snort, and if you looked up, you would have seen his brows raised and an amused smile stretch over his face. “...I… I’m not sure embarrassing would be quite the word. Traumatic, horrible, something along those lines, surely...”

But you shook your head, “No, no, if I were to die on my birthday, that would be an irony that I would be known forever about, and I can’t have that,” you ended with a soft laugh, bringing your eyes to his face, your savior, and you find him chuckling at that, lips stretched wider in a smile and eyes, a chocolate brown, twinkling with what you hope is amusement.

And that’s when you really look at him, the brown curls which on top sat his shades. Big, brown eyes, that chocolate brown looking at you with raised brows, scruffy beard making him seem more… You didn’t know what, but you liked it. “...fair point,” he conceded, letting out an airy laugh, giving a nod. “That… I still don’t know about it being embarrassing, but the irony, that, yeah, I could see that. Erm, happy birthday, glad I was here so we could avoid all that.”

“I…” You had escaped death, but realizing who had saved you from that death was making you a bit more insane in your head. Smiling wide, giving a nod, “Yeah, that… Um… Thank you, for that, that was… Kinda saved my life — No, you did save my life, there’s no kinda about it. I… Um…” A laugh erupted from your lips, shaking your head. “... Hi.”

He smiled wider, chuckling softly, “Hi.”

Licking your lips, you clear your throat, and… You’re cringing a bit, because you recognize him. You fully do. There was no real question about it, as you looked at him, you knew. But… There will always be a part of you that had to ask, that needed confirmation. So, you had to ask. “You’re um…” Nodding your head, “Y’know, from uh…”

He exhaled, giving a nod, giving you the impression that he’s been through this before. You hoped he wouldn’t be a dick about it. “Yup, yeah, that’s me.”

“Cool. Cool, cool, cool…” You paused, trying to suppress a laugh. “It would be… Really lame for me to whip out, ‘Glad you didn’t run away this time’, wouldn’t it?”

Chocolate brown eyes widened, lips twitching into a laugh you could tell he wanted to let out. “Oh, yes, that… That would have been awful and truly embarrassing, I’d allow the usage of the word to describe it. Definitely.”

“Mmhm,” you hummed, nodding further, “Yeah, just what I thought.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t.”

“Good thing I didn’t.”

“Oh. So good.”

“So…” you let out, looking up at him, “Do I call you Joe or Joseph?”

“Erm…” He paused for a moment, furrowing his brow in thought, looking to seriously ponder on that. “Well…” His shoulders rose in a shrug, “I dunno. Erm… Whatever you want, I guess. Not… averse to either, honestly.” He let out a soft chuckle, “Dealer’s choice.”

“My choice? Cool, love that for me. Um…” Smacking your lips lightly, giving a decisive nod. “Well… I think Joseph works well — works for me, anyway…”

Giving a nod, he hummed, “I like Joseph. My mum calls me Joseph. So — Oh. Erm, not that you’re like my mum. I mean, not like… I dunno…” His brows furrowed, as if rethinking what had spilled from his mouth. “You don’t think it’s an insult, yeah, that I said you’re not like my mum? Or… Is it like… God, you seem lovely, just… Didn’t want you to think that I…” His brows furrowed further, seeming to confuse himself. “Trying not to say you’re beneath my mum in my standards or in my head, but also not wanting to seem like I think low of my mum or that I compare people to my mum on a daily basis, because god, that’s fucking weird, isn’t it…?” He trailed off, shaking his head. “Yeah, no, I’m…. I don’t know where I was going with that…”

Your smile widened with every word that fell from his lips, chuckling deep enough that your shoulders shook and enough to feel his fingers clench around your waist. “You’re cute. And sweet to not want to devalue your mom to an absolute stranger.’

He snorted at that, “God, like your brits bumbling, then?”

“Well,” you started, lifting your brows at him, “To be fair, that is how Hugh Grant started his career.”

It was his turn to raise his brows, a mockery of hope in his expression, “Are you saying that I could be the next Hugh Grant?”

“I mean…” you started, lips stretched the widest you could remember in a long time, “With those big chocolate button eyes, you definitely…maybe have the potential to be. I’m just saying!”

Those same chocolate button eyes widened at your words, your own eyes catching sight of his dimples as his own lips stretched just as wide as yours, a laugh bursting from those lips, “How do you know about my chocolate button eyes?” Raising a challenging brow, he leaned forward just a bit. “Have you been talking to my mum? Is this a set up? She’s been asking when I’m about to settle down…”

A laugh escaped you, “Are you saying I’m the type of girl your mum would want you to settle down with? I dunno, that’s kinda forward, we just met.”

There was something in his smile, those same brown eyes looking over at you as he gave in to a snicker, shaking his head, “No. Sorry, that is… You’re right, that would be insane, we just met. Under…quite…unique circumstances.” His brow furrowed, “Are you okay? Have I asked that already? Bit rude if I didn’t…”

“Yes, you did. Or… I think your words were, ‘Shit, you okay?’ which I understand to mean as a very British way to ask that very question.” You smiled, giving a nod. “You’re good. And…so am I.” Your hands give his arms a gentle squeeze. “Actually… I’m so good that… You could probably let go of me now.” In an attempt to take away any offense, you blurt out, “Not that it hasn’t been nice, being held by you like this, but um… Yeah, I’m… I’m good. My feet’s steady, so… You don’t… Y’know…have to keep holding me steady.”

“Oh. God, right, right,” he said immediately, his hands flying up and away from you. A smirk to his lips as he held out his hands, palms facing you, a boyish giggle leaving him. “That’s… Sorry, I didn’t even know that I was still…” Pocketing his hands, he let out a huff as he watched you settle and wrap your arms around yourself. “Well, there we go. Erm… I am glad you’re okay, that was…” He shook his head, “Yeah, that could’ve ended badly. I’m glad I was around, y’know, to prevent your very untimely demise.” You both shared a small laugh at that, but then he furrowed his brow, looking around in mild concern. “Really is maddening that… Despite being surrounded by so many people and none of them, not one person, went to help or even come to ask if you’re okay…”

“Oh, I did notice that, yeah,” you responded while looking around you, a small little offended glare in place. “Welcome to America, I guess. Bunch of rude fuckers. People’s phones would be out, recording my death and no doubt, I’d be all over everyone’s for you page via TikTok and so not in the way that would be welcomed.”

A light scoff left his lips, “Is there any other way on TikTok? I mean…” His shoulders raise in a shrug, “I dunno, I’m not on it, but it doesn’t seem quite appealing, does it?”

It was said so innocently, so casually, your lips stretching into a smile and eyes flickering with amusement. You could have fun with this, his statement sounding so… Almost boomer of him, despite the young age in comparison to actual boomers. Which only brought on further amusement in your eyes. “Not a fan?” starting off casually. Trying to ascertain how bad this could be.

“Well…” he started, brows raised a bit as his hand reached for the back of his head, scratching his neck. “Not that I ventured much into it, but…” He gave a shrug, “It’s just dances, isn’t it? Like I said. Not very appealing.”

You couldn’t help it. The roll of your eyes came immediately as did the laugh from your lips. “Oh, God, it is not all dancing. There’s so much more to it, it’s all sorts of things. All sorts of content from all kinds of creators. Actors doing skits, some they wrote, some they didn’t, or even just jumping on a trend that showcases their acting skills or recreations of famous scenes from movies, shows… Their interpretation of it, even if it’s lip synching, it’s them. Musicians showcasing their music by either remixing,” You paused a moment, raising your brows, letting out a soft laugh. “…which you know a lot about remixes, I’m sure…”

He gave a deep hum, giving a nod, “Yeah, yeah, more than I care for, admittedly…”

“Right, well, there’s that and singing, performing, either putting out a song or performing it live. Editors, doing video edits of either original material or… Or even video edits of their favorite shows, movies, actors… Artists? Speed drawing videos showing their skills and how a sketch turns to an actual fucking piece of art. Because not all artists can get their work in a gallery, but they can post a video on a platform that will literally show up on people’s screens,” a soft laugh escaping, and you saw how he smiled, tilting his head and looking at you as you spoke. “And then there’s cooking — you’re a foodie, right?”

“I…” he started, his smile growing as he gave a nod. “Yeah, yeah, I… I consider myself a foodie, sure. That’s on TikTok as well?”

Lips stretched across your face as you gave an earnest nod, “Yes. The good and the bad. Cooking food, sharing recipes, rating dishes or restaurants—shops, like… It’s such a tool for small businesses and in this fucked up economy, it’s so needed. And...” You hesitated a moment, before giving in to a reluctant nod, “It’s helped writers as well. Promoting their books, sharing their writing, connecting with readers and… You know, that stuff. And aside from content creators, the art of it, there’s simply fans of all of it, discussing all of it, connecting with others discussing it. I don’t know if you’ve considered that part but…” You let out a sigh, “Whether you grew up having to hide just things you like or never really recovering from the isolation we all felt during the start of the pandemic…” Shaking your head, “Connecting with others over things you love, or just even things or people you like… Without judgement, it’s so important. Also serving to just… Y’know, give yourself a voice. Not just about entertainment but… Just life and how it can knock you down. Pick you up. The fucked-up parts that traditional media is just never going to give you a chance to scream at the world, people on the app do. They’re given that chance, and they take it, and it’s great. And if you’re feeling down, there’s people that use the platform to pick you right up.”

Tilting his head, a bit, the corner of his lip let out a smirk, “So… Definitely not just dancing then?”

You laughed, shaking your head, “No, no, Mr. Quinn, not just dancing. And the fact that people are so quick to just boil it down to just dancing is… Not only ridiculous but fucking reductive. Yeah, it has some big downsides to it. Like any other form of social media, there’s toxicity and negative impacts and even people manipulating other people. A narrative that doesn’t align with the truth, but then —”

“That…is most social media.” His nose scrunched a bit, “Well… In the name of all transparency… Not just social media, but… Traditional media as well. Interviews and misquotes running amuck… I guess it’s not any better or worse.” His lips nudge to the side as his shoulders give in to a shrug. “I suppose I shouldn’t have downplayed it, especially since I didn’t know much about it… Until now, of course.” He looked at you with a smile, “You’re uh… You’re quite passionate, aren’t you?”

 Once again, you laughed, softly as the flash of your teeth showed in your smile. “Bit too much, huh? I, uh… I get like that, sometimes. A lot of people kinda reduce that to my assumed Latina temper flaring up. Or my spice. Y’know, quick to think it’s anger or me blowing a fuse and basically boiling it down to some… Perceived… I don’t know…” You were trying to find a neutral way to say it, to not sound like you were going to go on another tangent. But you were struggling.

But he seemed to understand, with the way his brown eyes took you in, taking a deep breath and let out a gentle smile. “I didn’t see a… I guess those people would say…” His lips in a light grimace, nose scrunching again, and brows furrowed. “…an angry woman…”

“…an angry Latina woman… That part’s important…”

“Right. So important… But… No, no. Not hot blooded or…flying off the handle…”

“Ready to grab a chancla and aim for the head…”

Lips twisting to a wide grin as a snicker left his lips, shaking his head, “No, no, none of that… Nothing as… I can only assume reductive or downright patronizing as all that.” Slipping his hands into his pockets of his jeans, he shrugged, “I just… I saw someone passionate about what she was talking about because… Well… I was belittling a whole platform. Very dismissive. Bit of a dick, actually, now that I think ‘bout it?” You both shared a laugh at that, “Erm… Which…” Lifting his hand over his heart, “I am sorry about… But even as you spoke, you… You were passionate because you cared. And… That’s such a good thing, y’know? You don’t…get a lot of that. A lot of caring and not like a bleeding heart kinda caring, it’s um…” Sucking in his breath, he shook his head, “I dunno. But just… Caring. I… I liked watching that, the whole thing.”

“You…” your brow arched, “You did? I… Thank you… So, not too much?”

Shaking his head, “No! Fuck, no. Nothing like that, absolutely no worries there. Almost makes me want to give it a chance — almost.” Reaching toward his back pocket, taking out a lighter and pack of cigarettes, “Oh, and fuck anyone that sees something like that and make you seem… Like a stereotype like that. I can’t… I can’t even imagine how fucking frustrating that is.” He chuckled, “Most of you, American lot, just think I’m adorable, or precious so…”

“Oh,” you started with a light chuckle. “Right, all baby girl and shit.”

His big brown eyes widened as his brows lifted, and an almost sorrowful look on his face. “Oh, God… No, they’re not… Not baby girl…” Letting out a sigh, looking at you in such dismay. “Surely not. No — Keery, maybe, but I—”

“Mm, afraid so. I think it’s the big brown doe eyes that gets the baby girl treatment.”

He huffed dramatically, puffing his cheeks as he did so, shaking his head. “Doe eyes? What, like Bambi eyes? Well, that’s… These damn chocolate button eyes… That’s disappointing. Well, no, it’s… It’s sweet I guess but…”

He furrowed his brow. “Baby girl? Really? I know the accent and the constant apologizing gets erm… Well, the whole, ‘oh, isn’t he precious?’ treatment, I get that, but…” He let out a sigh, leaning toward you. “I’m manly. Like clearly, I’m manly as hell.”

He watched as you handled that for about a split second before the snicker came rolling out of you.

His eyes widened as your eyes closed as you smiled wide, an actual laugh coming out. “Oi! No!” he let out, though you could hear the faintest trace of a chuckle in his tone. “Don’t laugh! You can’t be laughing at that, now. I am manly. I saved you, didn’t I?”

“I’m sorry!” you let out, still fighting back some laughs. “I’m not questioning your manliness, I swear, but… It is a little precious you’re so offended at the baby girl thing.”

He huffed out a laugh, teeth biting at the corner of his lower lip. “Well, not so much offended but… I dunno. Not exactly cool, is it? Not very impressive to be known as… Baby girl or… Being thought of… I’m a grown man.”

“No, no, I get that…” you relent, laughter subsiding, your eyes trailing over him. Part of you not quite believing it’s him, but the fact that Joseph Quinn was looking at you and not only that, was engaging in conversation, was ridiculous. But not unwelcomed. “Well, if it means anything, you are…deceptively buff, which is sort of making me question things.”

His grin was dangerous as he looked at you, eyes trailing towards his arms, the bicep mostly. You couldn’t help but notice the almost overly pleased look on his face as he went, “Yeah? Impressed, yeah? By the pythons?”

“Oh, god, okay…” You’re pleased that he snickers at his own words, “No one said anything about pythons. Let’s tone it down a little, but yes. I dunno, I guess with Eddie, I just thought you were…”

“Skinnier?” he supplied, allowing you to nod. “Fair. I mean, I was. Went on…a not fun diet to lose that weight and…” He gave a shrug, a chuckle escaping him. “Two years of my fucking life and I loved doing it, but erm…” He nodded, taking a deep breath. “Yeah, like being able to eat what I want nowadays,” letting out a soft groan, “Which… I’m really taking advantage these days. Especially here, at this place, the food—”

“Shit!” you let out, surprising you both. “Fuck. I was coming over here to order more food for my table.” Surprised that Jen and Gerry didn’t come looking for you, though you supposed your plate of fries were demolished by now. “Completely forgot. That’s…”

“Oh, you’re with someone?” he asked, and if your mind wasn’t hazy, you would have detected the slightly disappointed tone in his voice. His eyes flickering over you, cautious. “Like….?”

“My friends— Best friends, in fact. Who are…probably pissed I’m taking so long.” He seemed to relax at that, almost looking relieved, an observation you didn’t put much thought to, turning toward the counter, making eye contact with the bartender. “Hey! Plate of loaded fries, beef sliders and two cokes and one sparkling water with lime, please?” The bartender giving you a nod, making you heave a sigh of relief. “Can’t believe I flaked about that; it was literally the only reason I came over here.”

“Well, to be fair, you did almost die,” he let out, smiling a bit and lighting up his cigarette, finally, it seemed. Taking a deep inhale, smoke flew past his lips, away from you. “I’m sure they’ll understand and at least you didn’t forget completely.” Pausing a moment, he lifted his pack of cigarettes, “Sorry, do you…?”

“No, no, I don’t,” you watched as he froze, holding his cigarette in front of his lips and the familiar look of guilt on his face. “Oh, but you can, I’m not… I’m not bothered by it if you do. Seriously, I’m not gonna go into the dangers of smoking.” With a soft smile, you added, “You’re a grown man, after all. A manly man.”

He snorted, “Fuck off.”

“Aw! So precious.”

Joseph’s grin stretched further, his brown eyes looking at you with a spark of amusement though he tried his best to look stern. Taking a drag of the cigarette, blowing away from you. “You’re funny.”

“That’s what they tell me.”

“Well, because you are.” His shoulders giving you a little shrug, “It’s good. I…” A soft laugh exhaled from him, “I’ve genuinely been enjoying myself, so… Thank you for that.”

It genuinely made you smile, hearing that, digging into your wallet for your card, smiling still as you tapped it on the POS device laid in front of you. Using your finger for your digital signature, you paused after, turning your eyes back at him. “… Actually… Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, yeah,” he said, taking another drag, brown eyes all on you.

They really were like big doe eyes.

A smile on your face, you cleared your throat, licking your lips. “It’s just, um… Well, when I fell, it… It was kinda sudden, obviously, generally how falls go.”

He’s smiling, now, which, fuck him for doing that.

“And… It was pretty lucky that you caught me…”

Oh, there was something that flashed in his eyes, then. Which was interesting, in your mind. Not something you could decipher right away, though. Concern? No…

“I’m just… In a room full of people that straight did not even flinch at a woman tripping over… You reacted really quickly.” He was holding his breath, the only way you could really tell was the smoke lingering from within, before he exhaled, once more, away from you. “Were you like, heading toward the opposite direction and just — bam! There I went, or…?”

You watched as Joe took a deep breath, tongue poking out and licking his lips. “Erm…” he started, almost sheepishly. There was something in the way he wouldn’t look at your eyes, almost guiltily. “…something…like that…”

Raising your brows, those little words brought forth this curiosity clawing from within you. “…something like that?”

“Yup,” he gave you, popping that p for emphasis, giving a nod. “Definitely…” His eyes wandered, flickering toward you, just for a fraction of a second. “…something like that.”

The thing was… When his eyes flickered over to you just then… It wasn’t at your eyes, or your face… But… Somewhere a bit…lower than that… It was so quick, though, but the way he stood there in front of you, so different than moments earlier where it was calm and easy. Just casual and nice and now, fingers tapping at his hip and when his eyes did meet yours. His big chocolate button eyes seemed bigger.

Almost pleading. That’s when you knew.

Lips quirked into a smile, eyes lighting up. A surge of giddiness bubbled within the pit of your stomach and was quickly spreading throughout your body. Oh, this was good. This was too good. The summer’s favorite white boy, the one, quite ironically, dominating everyone’s TikTok’s for you pages, the one everyone was swooning over… He…

 “…oh my god.”

“I… No, that’s… I was…”

“…you were looking at my boobs.”

He scoffed, taking a step back and eyes wide. As if he was offended at the accusation. Which was fair, anyone that was called outright like you were doing would go for the offended defense. “I…” he started, his hand gripping at the edge of the bar’s counter, his other hand raised, forefinger pointed toward you. “I…” he repeated, his words halted as he brought his cigarette for one more drag before it went toward the ashtray, extinguished. “That… What I was doing was…”

“Oh, tell me,” you let out, arms crossed in front of you, over your stomach, purposefully giving your cleavage a bit more of a boost. “Tell me what you were doing?”

“I, well,” he said with a little nod. His eyes trained on your own, willing himself not to look down. “I’ll tell you, that’s what I’m gonna do.”

“Okay. Cool. Let’s hear it. Love to hear it.”

“Well, we’re gonna. Yeah.” You chuckled, and he wanted to, but only cleared his throat, “Shut up, you see…” A momentary grin on his lips. Slowly, he pointed toward himself, “I… Right? Yeah. I was having a drink, right? Yeah, I was. And then, I was trying to meet up with a mate, so… I was going to go outside and… Y’know, text or call him.”

“Right,” you let out, giving a nod. “It’s so noisy here, so yeah, that makes sense.”

“Yeah! Right,” he said, brows raised. “Far too noisy, at least for a call. So, outside,” leaning toward the counter, his palm flat on the top of it. “So, getting off the stool, going about strolling toward the exit, yeah? And…” he snapped his fingers, “And then you come strolling toward the bar, and… Well…”

“…you saw my boobs.”

His lips stretched, teeth biting at the corner of his lip, refusing to look at you before letting out a, “…. stop saying that!” quite exasperatedly.

Which only made you laugh, and not kindly. Almost a cackle which only broke the dam as it were with Joseph, because his laugh came tumbling down.

“Am I wrong?” you let out in between the giggling — yes, you were giggling with this man. “I mean, it’s okay! It’s okay if you were! No judgement.”

He let out a groan, facing toward the counter and laid his head in his arms on top of it. Quite dramatically. Comically, which only made you chuckle more.

“Honestly, I’m not even offended by it.”

“God, you should be.” His voice slightly muffled, his hands resting at the back of his head, interlocking together. “…it’s not… It’s not like I make a habit of it—”

“I was just a special case? Aw!” You heard him groan, delving further into his arms and hands grasping each other tighter. “No, really, I’m honored that in place as crowded as this, my tits are the ones that stand out — well, not cold enough to stand out — but,” you let out a soft laugh at yourself and even amongst the music and the chatter, you swore you heard him chuckle, too.

“..it’s actually…kinda flattering.” Looking down at your chest, taking a deep breath to see your cleavage heave, chuckling a bit. “Makes me feel very Blanche Deveraux,” you add, putting on a very questionable Southern accent as close to the golden girl herself,” …like my breasts have the power to make music!” Your regular voice coming back as you finished, “It’s thrilling.”

He soon lifted his head from the counter, looking over at you with a furrowed brow. “…I feel like I’m supposed to know that reference, but I don’t…” Your brows shot up at that and it was well noted by him as he added, “….ah. And I should know that, I’m assuming. It’s upsetting you that I don’t.”

It was. Well, kind of. More shocked than anything, and it showed. “Do you…? Are you saying that you… You’ve never seen Golden Girls?”

“…oh,” he uttered softly, his back straightening. “I mean, I’ve heard of it. Kind of? Erm, like uh… Well, mostly heard of Betty White, like obviously. But not quite… Never really… Sat down and watched it—oh,” he reacted to how wide your eyes got at that, and the way your lips parted. “Oh, we’re very cross about that, are we?”

“I — yes! Very! You’ve — oh, that’s bad. You should fix that as soon as possible, Mr. Quinn. Because yeah, it’s gonna bug me until you do. Not that I’d know, but still…”

A snort left him, grinning from ear to ear, no doubt with how ridiculous you sounded. But it was worth it, at least you got to see those big doe eyes again. “I can tell it bothers you, so…” He shook his head with a chuckle, “I’ll erm… I’ll try and put it on the books, yeah? Just for you, though.”

“I mean… It’ll be more for your benefit than mine. No, seriously, we’ll probably never meet again but you will thank me, I’m sure of it.”

Taking a deep breath, he let out a soft hum, “Mmhm, I’m sure of it. I trust you. So… I’m guessing one of them has a…. Southern accent? That… That was what you were attempting, right?”

Dramatically placing a hand over your heart, you busted the accent out once again. “I do declare, Mister Quinn, are you doubtin’ my impeccable imitation of the great and late Blanche Elizabeth Deveraux, initials spelling B.E.D? Oh, fiddly-dee.” You saw his smile growing wider at every word that left your lips until it broke out in a laugh. “Hey!” you let out, laughing as well, “We’re not all Master of Accents like you clearly are, buddy. Some of us are scrambling without that fancy schooling.”

“Oh, no,” he bemoaned through a laugh, “…you saw that, did you?”

“Oh, yeah,” you let out gleefully. “That was… A tour de force. I… It was the Liverpool one that did it for me…”

“Hey. Oi. Like I said on there, mm? My mum is from Liverpool and….” His lips twitching into a smile, nodding his head, “…sounds just like that.”

“Yeah… You really shouldn’t be disrespecting your mum like that. Just… Just doing her wrong.” You laughed a little, licking her lips, “No, no, it was…” nodding slightly, “No, it was really good. You were very…charming, actually. Especially for your first talk show appearance. I mean, it was Fallon, but you made it work. I’m pretty sure you got more fans out of it. You did…. You did really good.”

The way he smiled struck you, and there was a softness in his eyes you weren’t expecting, either. You’d expected him to be showered on dozens of praise and accolades for his role of Eddie Munson, which would be richly deserved. But there he was, standing there as if your words were the first he ever heard. “That… Thank you,” he let out with an impish sort of smile. “That means a lot, actually.” Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he let out a sigh of relief. “So, not embarrassing, then? The accent bit was really rough.”

“Oh, yeah, you um…” you chuckled, “You had the uh… Red face thing going on through it.”

His face fell at that, “Oh, don’t tell me that. You’re joking, yeah? Like… Not…” Your lips stretched out in a smile which only made him let out a soft laugh. “I wasn’t that obvious, was I? Really?”

A snort left you, shrugging your shoulders, “I mean… It wasn’t like… Okay, maybe your ears got a little red, too,” you paused as a bark of a laugh escaped him, the sight of him covering his mouth with his hand almost sent you into a fit of giggles yourself. “Which was kinda a dead giveaway.”

“What? N—” shaking his head bewildered, a whiplash of emotions crossing his features, yet the smile was still there, still wide. “I… What? What do you mean dead giveaway?! I don’t have—my ears?!”

“Oh, god, you’re cute. Do you not know?”

“Yeah. Right. Fucking adorable, and no?! No, I don’t… What… Do I….” he furrowed his brows, a hand reaching toward his ears, feeling them a bit. “…people noticed my ears get red?”

“Howards End,” you let out as if it was easily explained, and by the look on his face, it was. “The kissing scene.”

Oh, he looked like a boy on Christmas. A laugh erupted from his lips and eyes wide, “Howards End?!” he let out, his voice pitched, and then making a quick recovery with a clearing of his throat. Crossing his arms, though his eyes remained wide as he gave a nod, “Howards End. You saw Howards End? I was in that.” You snorted, and he closed his eyes, brows furrowed. “Right, yeah, you know that already,” he chuckled, opening his eyes once more to look at that. “So… So… You watched Howards End.”

“Are you like… Are you surprised? Yeah. Yeah, I saw Howards End but I’m not gonna discuss it because I’ll just get angry.”

“Oh, really?”

“God, yes,” you respond, taking a deep breath, “Eat the fucking rich, that’s… That’s what I got out of it. Was that not the main theme? Oh, and justice for Leonard Bast.”

He giggled at that, actually giggled which, God… You wish you didn’t find it downright adorable. Shaking his head, running his hand through his hair and grabbing his shades in the process, “Sorry, sorry, that’s just… That’s mad I’m only really used to my past work, y’know, mentioned through like… Bullshit networking and the like, not genuinely — So, red ears, got it.”

Your brows furrowed, “Wait… No, don’t buy it.” He looked at you confused, prompting you to explain. “Come on, I mean, it’s not like it’s totally obscure and like… You have a few things under your belt, I mean… People had to have mentioned your other stuff. I know everyone’s all… It’s all about Eddie Munson right now, I mean, the photo of you as Eddie with the horns and tongue is plastered all over the con, but… I mean… People have seen your other stuff. I know they have; I’ve seen people talk about your other stuff so, no, I don’t buy it.”

He tilted his head, raising his shoulders in a shrug, “I mean, yeah, but… I dunno, it’s just… Just sort of feels like they’re just being nice about it. But much of the time… Yeah, yeah, they’re…” He smiled, shaking his head, “It’s…. all about Eddie. Which is great!” he ended, holding his hand up. “I mean, it’s mad, but… I get it, he…” A bewildered laugh escaped him. “It’s…kinda special, hearing about… The other roles. I dunno, still getting used to it?” He shrugged, “I dunno. But erm, thank you, erm… Not sure for what, for… I guess…” He snorted, “Watching Howards End, I suppose. And angry on Leonard Bast’s behalf. Um…” With an amused expression, he raised his brows, “Not a nice ending for him.”

“If I think about it hard enough, I go in a rage, so, no,” the both of you chuckling at that. “Not nice, no.” Licking your lips, you can’t help but ask, “So… How’s it going, then? The whole… Madness of all the attention suddenly on you? How are they treating you?”

“Oh,” he let out, a sense of surprise in his tone, brows raising a bit. “Erm… Yeah, no, yeah, it’s been great.” Nodding a bit, letting out a soft laugh. “Yeah, no, it’s been good, bit new to it but, yeah, no. It’s been lovely, actually. So… Yeah, great.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yup,” he said, popping the p. “Really, really great. Really. Good fun and… Yeah,” nodding with a smirk. “Been awesome.”

You smile at that, crossing your arms in front of you. “Oh, it’s been awesome.”

“Yeah.”

“Uh huh… Tell me that one more time and I’ll believe you.”

He snorted at that, hands going into his pockets. “I… It has been…” The longer he looked at you, at your face, you could see his face cracking. A broad grin stretched along his face as his eyes lifted toward the ceiling and he let out a groan. “Oh, god, why do I wanna be honest with you, that can’t be good…”

You chuckled a bit, “I got one of those faces, I guess… No, really, if you don’t want to, that’s fine, but if you do… I promise, it stays between us. I mean, look at me, I have an honest face, it goes both ways.”

Taking a deep breath, he scratched the side of his neck. “Okay… Okay, well… Erm… It’s… Different?” His lips stretched tightly. “It’s mad, y’know, like I said. But… I’m enjoying it. Y’know, enjoy meeting so many people and… having that much of an impact, it’s… It’s um…”

“…a lot.”

“Oh, god, it’s so much more than I thought when I signed on,” he let out in a relieved tone. “Yeah, it’s exciting. Being in the business for as long as I have and never experiencing anything like this, I…” He let out a breath. “It’s fuckin’ amazing and… It’s not anything I’ve experienced before. I… Usually I just do a job and then I go home and maybe it shows up on the telly or on a screen, maybe, but…” He shook his head, looking at you. “Nothing like this — my face is plastered everywhere and… Yes, it’s exciting and I am loving it, don’t get me wrong — God, it feels weird saying this I don’t even…” He licked his lips, “It’s… It’s an adjustment, I guess. But I’m learning, so, that’s… That’s good, isn’t it?”

You nodded, offering a shrug, “Best you can do, really.” You watched as he gave a nod. “And I get it… I mean… It must be such a mind fuck. They talk about break out roles but, you don’t really have any clue how real that is until… I guess… It happens. And it definitely happened with you and… It’s a lot. It must be. I, personally, didn’t even know you existed a few months ago,” you ended with a laugh.

He snorted at that, “Oh, cheers! That’s… That’s lovely.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not just me, so… Saying that, like…” You paused, taking a deep breath. “Do I say this on the risk of inflating your ego…”

“Yes,” came the immediate response. “Please, I’m very needy with praise and I… Kinda… Said way too much already, so… I would appreciate it beyond words. Praise me.”

Grinning a bit, you shook your head, “For someone that hasn’t watched Golden Girls, you are giving Blanche vibes right now…”

“I… Sure, why not?”

Chuckling a bit, you leaned against the counter, looking over at him. “…if anyone deserved a breakout role, it’s you.”

His brows shot up at that, which made you smile.

“I’ve seen your other stuff, two of which before I even watched Stranger Things, by the way.”

Oh, his brows shot wide up at that, and you rolled your eyes as he propped his arm on the counter, resting his chin within the palm of his hand.

“In fact… Oh, God… Okay… I might have started watching Stranger Things because… I… I was impressed with your acting in…two of your works…”

“You did not.” His voice disbelieving to say the least, making you laugh, though he carried on. “That’s — No, no, no, that ridiculous you did not… C’mon, you’re taking the piss now.”

“I’m not! I’m serious. I didn’t even go looking for it, I was just binging and bam, there you were, the stranger things guy with the hair! I swear,” placing your hand over your heart. “Cross my heart and all that. It was like… Kismet or some shit.”

A hearty laugh came out of him, eyes practically wide as saucers. “Oh my god, that’s… That’s so funny… What… What two shows…?”

“Catherine the Great,” you listed off, lips scrunched to the side, “Mm, Prince Paul was…. I mean… At the time was… It was okay,” he snorted at that, nodding a bit. “But, y’know, I’ve kinda warmed up to Paul since then, but it was good and I was like, okay, not bad.”

“That seems to be the general impression I give off, yeah.”

“Shut up,” you fired back with a laugh. “But then… I kept going through my binge and I came across a series named Strike. Or, C.B. Strike here in the states, which is weird, I know, but… It seemed interesting so I got into it.” You smiled, “And then the second season came and… Wouldn’t you know? It’s that guy again.”

“Loving it.”

“Yeah? Well, I don’t know if it’s because I saw you in Catherine the Great first or whatever, but, as soon as you popped on the screen…?” A breathless laugh escaped you, remembering the moment as you shook your head. “It was… Different. And… Honestly, your whole performance was just…” Looking up at him with a smile, “You were amazing. Like… I was really watching… Acting, you know? I mean, obviously, yes, I was, but… Really… Seeing it in action, like… I don’t know. Not like I’m an expert but, it was just really… Captivating and… I couldn’t look away. I was… I was in complete awe of you.”

His grand smiles were gone, the broad grins as well, but there was something a bit softer that replaced it. A look of genuine awe in his eyes as he looked at you. You expected some quip of self-deprecation, but he was staring at you in silence for a moment, and suddenly his smile grew. Threatening to claim his entire face as he let out a huff of a laugh. “Sorry, that was… Erm… Fuck. I don’t even get that kinda feedback from my mum,” he tried to cover with a laugh, though his gaze at you seems a bit dazed. Fingers scratching at the scruff of his cheek. “I… Yeah, I put a lot of work on Billy, that… It wasn’t a lead role or all that meaty a role, but… Seems to have put on an impression on some and…” He nodded a bit, smile still in place. “It’s very sweet and… I’m glad it did. Thank you, really.”

It touched you that your words seemed to touch him, making you smile. “Well, no, it wasn’t the lead role or anything but… It was meaningful. And if it was any other actor, it wouldn’t be. You got talent, something I’m sure has been said over and over to you, but—”

“I’m very needy so even if it was, I wouldn’t get tired of hearing it.”

“Yeah, well, you are an actor, so that tracks,” you joked, making him laugh a bit, leaning back on his seat. “But yeah, I was so impressed that I binged the whole show, just to see you in action in the role so many fell in love with. And I… I thought it wouldn’t be so bad. Since, you know, I already knew he’d die at the end, so I was like, not gonna love him. Won’t hurt as much, right? Yeah… Did not make it past the cafeteria scene, so…”

“Oh, you like them obnoxious, then.”

“Hey, you call him obnoxious, I call him dramatic and yes, I fucking love dramatic men, but, only if they make me laugh.”

He seemed to take keen interest in that. “So, you like your men more dramatic or funny?”

Letting out a hum, you considered that. There was a key difference there, you knew. “I guess out of the two… I’d have to go with funny. I’d rather laugh than be frustrated because some guy couldn’t act right or be chill about things. Anything is pretty much forgivable if the person makes me laugh. Means we’re having a good time.”

He nodded a that, though you shook your head, “Anyway, my original point — You’re very talented, and that’s coming from someone that didn’t even knew your name not even three months ago and… Your acting, it should be recognized, you put in a lot of work with your portrayals, and it shows and… I’m glad you’re having your breakout moment. I really am… And you should enjoy it. All of it.”

He smiled at that, another one of those gentle smiles that made his eyes shine, you swore it did. “That’s… Thank you. I really do appreciate that. More than you know, really. And I am! I’m enjoying it. Still a bit mad, but… I’m enjoying it, I promise.”

“Good… I’m glad of that.” Taking a deep breath, you looked around. “How many cons have you done so far?”

“Oh… Erm… God, I think… This is my third one? Still a bit green…”

“Well, I’m a bit more seasoned than you, so,” you huff out a soft chuckle. “Make sure you’re hydrated, like seriously, even if the water’s warm, just take it if it’s offered by the staff. Same with food, though if you can hit someplace outside of what the staff provide… Do it. I mean, what they give you is good enough but… If you want to enjoy your time, it helps. Also? Snacks. Snacks are so important; you have no idea. If you can’t get a full meal and your breaks aren’t cutting it? Get you some snacks. Obviously not ones that need refrigeration and shit, but like, a little trail mix, if you wanna be healthy. Uh... Some chips or…crisps, whatever. I’m a sucker for chocolate myself. Or cookies. Sweets, it’s not…. healthy but, god, makes the day worth it. Also? Do not skimp on your breaks. I know the temptation to skip them comes but like… You, Mr. Popular, have a lot of folks coming just for you. I walked through the convention earlier and there’s a sea of Hellfire shirts all around,” you chuckled. “You need your breaks.”

“You’re adorable,” he let out, and it wasn’t clear if he meant to say it or not, but he was smiling throughout your little guide to surviving a con. “You’re actually giving me advice, that’s… Very helpful, yeah, but… Also… You’re adorable.”

Your brows lifted, “Adorable?” Scoffing lightly. “Adorable. Really?” Holding your hand up, you added, “Hey, this is sound advice, I’ll have you know.”

“Oh, it sounds it! I’m not disputing that, no, no, it’s really good advice and all that, it’s just,” he chuckled, shaking his head, “Sorry, just erm…” He shrugged, “I dunno! It’s… It’s sweet… Y’know, telling me all that. Which I’ll take to heart, absolutely. It is sound advice.” He winked, actually winked at you with a smile, “Thanks for looking out for me.”

He dared to call your advice adorable, but the wink he gave? That was adorable, making your lips twitch with a wider smile than you intend to let out. “Yeah, well…” Lips pursed together as you made a side glance toward nothing at all, just away from him. “You did save me, so… The least I can do to help make this con better for you.” Taking a breath, “Even though you only really saved me because you were being a big ol’ perv.”

“Oi,” he interjected with his big brown eyes wide, though any offense to your words were quickly dispelled with a laugh that breathed past his lips. “No, that… That is only because… You…. You got tits that make music or…whatever the fuck you said in that… Questionable accent.”

You felt bold at that, emitting a gasp and actually laid a hand on him. Not because you were falling, and he was there. Because you wanted to, it felt the most natural thing in the world to take your hand and smack his arm just like that.

And he, it seemed, felt natural enough for him to put on a wince, pull the struck shoulder back, his face a complete mockery of a pained expression as he let out an exaggerated, “Ow.”

“Shut up, that did not hurt.”

“Ahhh,” he exaggerated, rubbing where you had struck him. “Tell that to my arm, that’s going to be a bruise — Netflix is going to have a word with you about that.”

“Okay, well, it was in defense of my superior Blanche impression and big words from the man that attempted a Scottish accent, the supreme of accents by the way and ended up lisping it—” you ended with a laugh only to join his when a figure was seen out of the corner of your eye.

Turning it, you saw a young woman standing there, staring at the both of you. “Oh, hey, sorry am I blocking you from the bar or…?”

“Oh… Uh… No, I just… Um…” She was gripping something in her hand, looking from you to Joseph who had straightened up and offered a smile. “Oh. Oh, wow. I… Hi.”

“Hi, how are you?” he pushed out with a gentle smile, and a voice even gentler. Different than what you were hearing in your conversation. His eyes were on her, looking directly at her, into her eyes as if she was the only one in the room. “Enjoying yourself, darling?”

It amused you.

This was him in work mode, you realized, as you leaned back and looked on. The girl seemed taken by him, of course. How could anyone not? He was good, especially for someone so green in these sorts of affairs.

“I… Uh, yeah, yeah, I’m having a great time. Are… Are you…? Having a great time….?”

He smiled brightly, and you swore you saw his eyes light up. “I’m doing absolutely lovely, my dear.” The woman between the two of you looked absolutely starstruck, gripping on the hardcover book she had in her hands — … wait.

You knew that book.

Your eyes peering at the cover, eyes widened as if viewing an old friend… Because, as it turned out, you were. “That’s my first book.”

It was as if you broke his spell and her bright eyes looked away from him and straight toward you, a brighter smile on her face. “Oh! Yeah! Sorry, I…” Turning her attention to Joe, her smile turned sheepish. Embarrassed, even. “I just um… I wasn’t expecting you, when… When I was coming over I just…” She gave a shrug, “I only saw her —” And with a turn towards you, she clarified, “You. Um… This is going to sound really… Like… Stalker-y? It’s not! I swear it’s not —”

“To be fair that’s what most stalkers would say but go on…” you replied cautiously.

She let out a laugh, “God, I know. Sorry, it’s just… The prices for the con went up and like… It was just too much for me to buy tickets? But um… I knew this was the closest bar and it’s not like I came specifically in case you happened to come in, I’m out with my friends, we were gonna be in the area and its good food but on the off chance you did…” She held out the book towards you, “…could I…. I mean, could you… sign it?”

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Joseph raise his brows in surprise and confusion — but a bit of amusement there, too. Not like he was upset to be slightly upstaged now, but a bit surprised. You could practically see his big brown eyes taking in your name on the cover, only causing his eyes to grow wider if even possible. This didn’t really happen a lot to you, not before your TikTok took off and there was a face to the name. Your smile stretched wide, and you took hold of a copy of your first of your series, nostalgia hitting you and remembering how excited you were to hold the very first copy as given to you by your publisher all those years ago.

That was a different you, then. Excited. Mind brimming with ideas and plots and characters to take the reader for a whirlwind adventure of romance and unabashed sex. Your smile turned wistful as you looked at your main heroine, or the silhouette of her, she was still abstract, except for in your words. You remembered it was important, for readers to have an idea of what she looked like, tickled by the thought of a version of your heroine would be born in every readers’ head. Never quite the same, always a bit unique and different, a bit of themselves in her while reading of her story, of her life. That was important to you.

Your eyes lifted from the book, your book, and to the woman that placed it in your hands. Taking a deep breath, lifting your brows, you went, “So… You couldn’t afford to meet me in the convention at my table, so you decided to come here on the off chance I was here and get your book signed for free?”

Oh, the look on her face. You couldn’t keep it up even if you tried.

“I respect it, that’s really smart, actually… Good on you, I’d do the exact same thing,” you smiled as you saw the relief flooding her face. “Yeah, of course, god, it’s been forever since I’ve even seen this edition…” You smiled, observing the book, “Oh, nice, this is well worn down, the spine’s definitely taken a beating.”

She laughed, giving a nod, “Yeah, it’s… It’s honestly my favorite. I love the rest of the series but… The first one’s just… It’s special to me. It’s just the start of everything and like… I loved the emotions when I read it for the first time and it’s nice to remember that sometimes… Does that sound weird?”

“God, no, absolutely not. That’s…really fucking flattering, actually… Uh, I don’t have a pen or Sharpie with me, do you…?”

A silver Sharpie was produced in front of you with her eager hand, chuckling as you took it, “Thanks,” opening the book and to the first blank page.

“What’s your name?” Hearing it, you gave a nod, scribbling in your neatest handwriting the name and a little personalized message with your signature. Smiling broadly, you handed the book and marker with her, “There you go, thanks for reading, it honestly… It means a lot; you guys don’t even know.”

“Oh my God… Please, thank you for…” She shook her head, “Thank you,” taking a moment to read what you wrote, and the smile on her face was well worth it as she closed it gently and held it against her chest. “I am sorry I couldn’t make it into the actual convention, though…”

“No, it’s expensive, I totally get it. If I wasn’t invited, I probably wouldn't bother. It’s cool you thought of this, though. Even if it…” You gave a light shrug, “…It… It is a bit stalker-y but just a little bit,” raising your hand and showing just how little with your thumb and forefinger. “Just a bit.” You both chuckled, “But no, it’s totally lovely to meet you. I’m glad you got the book signed despite the struggle over the wallet being very real. Have a great night, okay?”

“Thanks,” she smiled, turning around but stopping, making a sharp turn, “Oh, and happy birthday! I saw your latest TikTok, kinda cool to celebrate the weekend at the con, right?”

“TikTok,” you heard Joseph let out as he sat back, arms crossed looking between the two of you. “…you have a TikTok.”

Your lips stretched wide as you fought the urge to not roll your eyes. “I do have a TikTok. A very handy one that reaches a lot of people that would maybe help in getting my work out there and voice heard.”

“Ah, well, I did hear it’s very good for that sort of thing.”

“Oh, it’s great,” she said, not quite getting what you and Joe were talking about. “I loved the readings you do from the past books and the stuff with Jen and sometimes Gerry and… Yeah, it’s great. Um… Though… Are you thinking about the next book?” She winced at herself, “Sorry, is that like… You’ve probably been asked that before.”

Oh, she had no idea....

“…it’s a popular one, yeah… There are thoughts and ideas, for sure. Work in progress, you know how those things are. But I don’t have a definite date yet. So…” Oh, God. You put on a smile, and a nod, “We’ll see.”

“Awesome,” she let out, and then, nervously, looking at Joseph. “…would I be pushing my luck if I asked for a pic?” Her smile turning nervous, “I… I really loved Eddie, um. I cried when he died… You were so good; I really hope you come back next season.”

It was amazing to see the switch come on, a smile that was broad but still polite, almost guarded came over his face, a gentle gaze thrown at her. “Thank you, that’s very sweet of you to say. It’s lovely how much you all seem to welcome Eddie and I’m so thankful for that. I…” he let out a soft laugh, shaking his head, “I honestly don’t know about next season, erm… I haven’t heard anything yet but…” He gave a shrug, taking a quick glance at you, a smile twitching at his lips as he turned to her and said, “We’ll see. And no, you’re not pushing your luck at all, I’d love to take a selfie with you.”

From the look of her face, it almost seemed like Christmas, watching as they posed together, Joseph holding up the camera and waiting for the perfect shot before he took it. Handing her phone over back to her, she suddenly looked at you with that same nervous look to her. Making you chuckle and giving a nod, taking her phone and taking a picture with her as well.

Soon, she turned and left the both of you alone together once again.

As alone as two people in a crowded bar could be, anyway.

But as he looked at you, a cocky smile spread over his face, raising his brows, chuckling low. “So,” he started, a toothy grin across his face. “You’re a writer.”

The smile on your face was wide, brimming with your amusement as you gave a nod. “… Yes, I am a writer.”

Crossing his arms in front of him, he let out a soft laugh. “I… I had no idea.”

You gave a shrug, “I mean… How could you? Not like I’m out here with a big old fashioned, 1920’s typewriter strapped to my back or anything.”

He snorted at that, teeth flashing in his smile, giving in to a nod. “No, you’re definitely not… I suppose… The advice you gave me about being at these conventions… Not as an attendee, then.”

A laugh escaped you, a gentle shake of your head given as you look at him. “…no, definitely not. Just part of the Con hustle like you — well, not just like you. I mean, you actors get a lot more action than we pitiful authors ever will…”

Oh, his brows shot up so fast at that, eyes wide — almost as wide as his mouth as they spread into the broadest smile you had ever seen on a person. A spluttering laugh escaping him, “Oh? Us actors? Really? You’re going with that?”

“Oh, you’re gonna deny it? We can go back to that convention center, if you want, and see how many pictures of you are plastered all over and see if it’s in the double digits.”

“Oh,” his brows furrowed, looking quite discontent at the mere suggestion of that. “Oh, fine, you win, just… Please, please, let’s not, yeah?” A small, breathy laugh slipped from him. “I’m pretty sure that picture will then just burn into your brain and that’s all you’d think at the mention of me and — no, no, no, no, don’t want that.”

Lips twitching into a smile you were trying to hold back, giving an understanding nod. “Mm, yeah… Really regretting the devil horns and the tongue pose, huh?”

“…yeah, people’ve really clung to that…”

“It’s a good pose! To be fair, and really great in the scene.”

“Well, I thought so! Still do. But… It’s really something walking and seeing that picture staring at you all over.”

“Which proves my earlier point. Your lines are… Way longer than mine will ever be, so… To bring us back to the original point… Us pitiful authors are more likely to not be recognized than you actors that are so well loved and pretty enough to be recognized—”

“Aw, you think I’m pretty?”

You laughed, a bit harder than you intended, eyes looking at him as you felt a warmth traveling up your face. Licking your lips, clearing your throat, “—I’m… I’m saying… It’s more natural that you’d be recognized more than like… Well, me. So, you know, if you’re feeling bad about it… Well, that’s stupid, don’t do that.”

He grinned at that, a soft chuckle joining in as his eyes looked down a moment, and you swore, you swore you saw his ears gain a slight reddish tinge of color before he looked up at you again. “…I’ll admit, I was feeling a bit of a twat which, well… I practically feel that every moment of my fucking life one way or another, but…” He smiled, “In this case, I’ll…try not to. Which is difficult.”

“Ah… Right…. The British thing, huh?”

That earned an immediate laugh, his eyes looking at you incredulously. He paused a moment, his smile widening further. “…you’re…working through your birthday. How American of you.”

“Pfft, not as if this is anything remotely classified as hard labor. You’ve clearly never worked an hourly wage job, huh?”

“Excuse me?” he said, a touch of offense in his tone and by the expression on his face. “You don’t know me. I could have been a hard-working lad.”

“Did you, then?”

He paused, lips parted, and an ever-growing smile on his face. “… no, but I could’ve done.” You laughed. “You can’t go just assuming things is my point.”

“Yeah, okay, fair.” Giving him a nod, “A fair point. And, yeah,” you admitted with a sigh. “I voluntarily chose to be here during my birthday weekend.” Giving a shrug, “Girl’s gotta eat. And, honestly, worse places to be on your birthday. I’m kinda fond of this convention. Meet up with a lot of fellow authors, and yes, the readers are great, it’s really cool to connect and see who is still willing to read my shit, so…”

“Well,” he interjected, nodding toward where one of your readers had sat down. “She seemed quite interested, so, I can see why you enjoy doing this.”

“And it’s local for me, too. So not much of a hassle, just drove here from home… Gonna drive back after some food… And yes, I get a bit of money and an ego boost so it might as well be on my birthday — don’t ask me how old, I won’t say.”

“Oh, no, I would never. My mum would never allow that if she knew, so no, won’t be doing that.”

You chuckled, “…you really are a mama’s boy, aren’t you?”

He snorted, “The sexiest thing in the world to be, I’m sure… But… Well, yeah, guess I am, a bit… That entirely make me sound like a… I dunno, a… It’s not sexy, is it? Like, I’m some man child or… Someone unappealing? Need to cut the cord sort of thing? Which I have! I am… Live by myself and all that, I just… Well… It’s my mum, you know? And yeah, I adore her.”

You were impressed he fully admitted to favoring his mum, most guys you’ve hung around with wouldn’t have. Gerry did, and Gerry was definitely classified as a mama’s boy from the get-go, but he entirely did not count in your eyes. That, coupled with the fact that the way in which Joseph asked was… Genuine. Vulnerable, even. And the way he did speak about his mum… That made him a very dangerous man.

Chuckling softly, you shook your head. “Doesn’t sound unappealing at all. It’s… It’s kinda… It’s the sweetest, actually.”

His eyes seemed to soften, sparked by his smile as his fingers stroked along his bearded jaw. “Yeah? Well,” placing his hand down, giving you a challenging look. “Sweet is hardly sexy, though, is it?”

Letting out a hum, your shoulders lift in a small shrug towards him, “Could be to some people.”

Licking his lips as he became silent for a few fleeting seconds, used, in his head, to ponder the point of even asking what was swirling in his head. Staring at you, the inside of his cheek nestled between his side teeth, deciding if he really wanted to know and just by how much, but he asked it anyway — “Is it, to you?”

You wanted to laugh.

Just… Laugh.

Your eyebrows lifted, of course. Lips twitching a bit, to the point where your teeth bit into the flesh of your bottom lip. There was even a feeling of heat traveling up your neck. Joseph Quinn are you seducing me? echoed in your head, which only added to the whole hilarity of the moment and made you want to laugh even more.

Lips parted, though your mind went blank. Reassurance that he was just being funny was screaming in your head, that it was a joke, that he was just being kind. Crossing your arms in front of you, a laugh did escape you, but more of a huff rather than the complete guffaw you wanted to let out. The thought was too much — he was being too much with those eyes of his, peering at you like that. His head tilted back slightly, and you swore his eyes scanned your face, somewhat wolfish in the manner.

Worse?

He licked his god damn lips.

Fuck him.

“Could be,” you finally answer, repeating your earlier words. “Depending on the person.”

He exhaled through his nose in a huff, smile shown on that unfair face of his. He bit the corner of his lip, giving a nod, “So, definitely not a deal breaker?”

“As long as they don’t call me mommy or…try and make me into their mom in some weird, Oedipus kink sort of situation… No, no, not a deal breaker.”

“N—“he started, but a chuckle interrupted his words for a moment, shaking his head. “No, no, that would be… Yeah, Oedipus kink is a fair deal breaker…” Looking at you a moment, he took in a deep breath. “Do you like chocolate?”

“…um,” furrowing your brows and letting out a laugh. “I… I don’t really trust anyone that says they don’t, even a little bit. Outside of allergies, of course.”

“Right, of course. So, but are you a big fan of it? Like… Is it your favorite?”

“God, yes. I can never have enough chocolate, I will do…ungodly things for chocolate. Why?”

He clicked his tongue off the roof of his mouth, pointing toward the kitchen. “They… They have this like, chocolate ganache ricotta cheesecake here that is…” his words trailed off, shaking his head in almost disbelief, “…the most…delicious thing I’ve ever tasted. Not too sweet, but still indulgent and just… Absolutely amazing… And… I… Yeah, just realized I’m trying to sell you on something you’ve most likely already had probably so many times, haven’t you?”

There was such a pitying look on your face, “…you looked so excited telling me all that…”

“Fuck,” he let out, leaning back in his seat. “Really thought I was doing something, there… Shit.” He ended with a soft laugh, rubbing the side of his neck. “It’s fucking delicious though, isn’t it?”

“Oh,” you let out, leaning against the back of your chair, “I would give my first born for an endless supply of that cheesecake, yeah. Favorite is the caramel drizzle on top.”

He laughed, more at ease, “Well, I don’t…really have a need for a first born at the moment, but… And seeing as you’ve pronounced caramel properly and the right way—”

“God, you are so British.”

“Yes, I am, now, shut up,” he chuckled, licking his lips. “…let me buy you a slice of that cheesecake. I won’t ask for a candle but, well… It is your birthday, and you are valiantly working through it… So…?”

An immediate smile came across your face, and it was in that moment you noted the light stinging of your cheeks, alerting you to just how much you were smiling within this interaction. Much more than you had in quite a while.

That could be enough, couldn’t it?

It wouldn’t be right to just accept it right away. So said some residual bullshit of pride in not seeking gifts from men you just met or accepting things so easily rose in you. One that mainly came from growing up in a family that was that prideful, the words of your older sister and maybe even your mother bubbled up. “You don’t have to do that…”

“I know. But I want to,” he said oh so casually. “Cheaper than drinks,” he joked with a light chuckle. “And I mean… More indulgent, I think… And, yes, you were right, I was…so…looking at your boobs like some fucking caveman and I need to rectify that.”

You laughed at that, causing his face to flush a bit.

“So, please…” he didn’t even ask again, looking toward the bartender, raising a hand. “Can you add that lovely chocolate ganache ricotta cheesecake to her order? I’ll pay for it or — actually, just add it to my tab, I should be sorting it out, already, thanks.”

It wasn’t normal, how that last part made your heart sink a bit. “Heading off?”

Maybe it was wishful thinking, but you swore you saw a hint of regret on his face. “Yeah, really should meet up with my mate. I really was on my way to do that, just…” He smiled at you. “Got a bit distracted.”

Giving out a nod, you hummed, “That does happen.”

“Mmhm,” he let out, taking his wallet from his pocket, the card reader placed in front of him. “So,” he started, whipping out his credit card and going forward with the payment. “You’re a writer. What do you write about, then?”

Ah, yes.

You were wondering when that question would come out. There were a lot of ways to go about it, flowery words — vague words that you knew others in your field typically went toward when someone not in your field would ask that question. Thing was… You never really got along with those that skirt around it, instead, admired those bold enough to be direct. Because that’s what you were at times.

Blunt and direct.

“Oh… Lady porn, basically.”

His credit card stilled in mid-air, just inches away from the tap icon and you watched with amusement — it was entirely out of amusement — as he seemed to freeze right on the spot. Perhaps he hadn’t heard you right. A trick of the ears, of you telling him something completely different to what he heard. Tap went the card, hearing the light chirp of the machine before the card was lifted once more, tapping the no receipt option and his eyes — oh, his eyes! They blinked, more than a few times as his hands returned his credit card back to his wallet, and you could tell the words lady porn were repeating themselves over and over in his head.

Slowly, he turned to look at you as his wallet was once more in his pocket, a look of confusion taking root on his face, licking his lips. “…what...?” Shaking his head, “Sorry, but I thought I heard…. What?”

Oh, it was too funny.

Your lips stretched into a grin, forcing you to bite your lower lip before you repeated yourself. “I…write lady porn for a living. That’s what I do, that’s why they invite me.”

“…lady porn.”

“Mmhm.”

His lips twitched into the smallest of smiles, eyeing you up and down. “…what, like… Uh… Playboy or, er, Playgirl or something like that…?”

You burst out laughing at that, covering your mouth, “No!”

His smile broke out, a brightness in his eyes as he, too, burst out laughing. “Well! What do you mean by that — Lady porn?! What does that…? I don’t understand, I saw a book!”

You had covered your face as your shoulders shook. Prompting his brows to raise in a look of total offense he couldn’t even muster to look genuine.

“Don’t laugh, please don’t laugh at me. What does that mean?” His tone was desperate, elevating in pitch that, you had to admit, was quite cute.

“It means I do write books. I write erotic books. Erotica. Like… Total literary porn but with a good dash of plot if anyone even reads them for that. I’m not strictly in the adult entertainment industry like that, although…”

You gave a shrug, thinking about it, “It’s not a bad idea… I could probably write the hell of a porn scene, like… Passionate, definitely made for women type of stuff. But no, not me, I just… I write characters or a character that is pretty free with her inhibitions and unapologetically likes sex and likes it a lot. So… yeah, that’s me.”

“Right…” He chuckled, nodding a bit, “Okay… Yeah, that… That’s makes more sense…” His lips spread in a smile as he looked at you. “I wasn’t really expecting that…”

“I mean, I could have said romance which is definitely the blanket term which…” You sighed, “I mean, I guess, technically I could say that… Less of a reaction if I did, I’m sure… But…” A soft shake of your head comes, “The ones that try and blanket their work as romance always seem…”

Licking your lips as you try to come up with the right words. “I don’t know… Kind of ashamed of their work. Like if it’s about sex, it’s… Cheap… Tawdry form of art or… The dreaded ‘not real writing’. Like if the story of two people meeting, connecting with one another in the most primal and human way is somehow less than if that same story were told but the focus not being about sex but instead the focus being this…” You sighed, “I don’t know, flowery, almost virginal point of view with characters that are just perfect and have no flaws. Selling on the story of true love fixes all when… Sometimes love just isn’t enough. I get the appeal, don’t get me wrong, we all want a little fantasy but… I don’t know, there’s just this double standard in the industry. That to be seen as a true writer, you can’t make the emphasis on passion and desire, but you are if what you write about is how someone completes you and I…”

His smile was gentle, warm, the chuckle escaping him matched it. “That’s… That’s not you.”

“No…” you answered, a sly smile to your face. “I’m not or ever will be ashamed that I write hot ass smut.”

“I…” he started, his grin wide and eyes twinkling with utter amusement. “I can’t say for sure or not, but I definitely don’t doubt it.” Brows raising in thought, his smile turning a bit mischievous, “Then again… I could go ahead and buy your books, couldn’t I? To know for sure, completely and without question…”

Taking in a deep breath, ignoring the sense of panic at the mere thought of him reading your work, you tried to play it cool, shaking your head. “Oh, I don’t know if you could handle it, honestly? I mean… Your immediate go to for porn were playboy, or, er, playgirl… You’re kinda behind the times.”

“Oh, am I?” his face still the perfect image of amused. “Would you rather I whip out names like, brazzers or something?”

A dramatic eye roll given, “God, you would go for brazzers. All men go for brazzers.”

“Oh, is that unoriginal for you? And you would go for…?”

“Mmm… Nubiles, Vixen… Adult Time can be good… For straight, porn, anyway. Bellesa is doing good...” You look at his face and you laugh. “Am I shocking you that I know this many labels of porn creators?”

“A bit, yeah!” he barked out with a laugh. “I, erm… Just that… You watch porn.”

“I write porn, so of course I watch it. How else am I supposed to write out the sexual depravity that my readers secretly yearn for but would never say out loud? That’s my job, I give it to them, make them explore a bit of themselves they never voiced or would even admit to their own damn selves. It’s selfless work.”

He practically giggled. You made this man giggle. Looking incredulously at you, leaning back, shaking his head, “Oh, now I’ve got to read your stuff. It’s a need, now. As soon as we…ever finish this conversation, I’m going to my kindle. Though, I do like the physicality of reading an actual book most of the time…”

“Well, I am selling them in the dealer’s room… I even have an in for them to be personally signed by the author. She’s hard up for money and attention, so…” You shrugged.

His hand dramatically smacked against his own chest, right over his heart, “I would be honored to have personally signed copies of that particular author’s works. I heard very good things. And then I can fully understand what the fuck is lady porn and see if I become a whole new man after I do.”

“Love to hear it, if you manage it over the weekend… At least your taste in porn would improve.”

His ears were burning, smiling wide and looking down for a moment. Positively bashful at the comment, licking his lips. “Did that, um… Probably not, I mean, you just admitted to watching a fair bit of it, but um… I mean… Though you are sort of insulting my supposed lack of porn knowledge—”

“Supposed? Are you saying you’ve seen more than you’ve let on?”

The smirk he let out was like that of a young schoolboy that was up to no good. “…no. Well… Maybe—I mean, if I did, would that… Would you…” He huffed a small laugh, “I don’t even know what I’m trying to say, it feels ridiculous…”

“Oh,” you let out, quickly understanding. “Are you, like… Are you worried whatever version of you inside my head is shattered on the fact that… I don’t know… That you watch porn, even basic porn, and are not, in fact, squeaky clean bordering on virginal?”

“…basically, yeah.”

You had to laugh, even a little bit, “Oh, you’re cute.”

“Stop it.”

“No,” you laughed. Realizing you needed to elaborate on that singular no. “I mean… No, there is no…shattering of whatever image of you out there or… I’m not disappointed or anything. Never thought you above porn, obviously. Or like… You’re so squeaky clean that I thought you wouldn’t…indulge. Fuck, I indulge… You’re grown, do what you want.”

“So… Doesn’t make you think less of me that I’m… Like I’m some big perv? Like um…”

“Oh, you are a big perv,” you laughed, “Remember? You were glued to the sight of my boobs, like…”

He burst out laughing, a grin on your face.

“You, Joseph Quinn, are an absolute pervert. And that’s okay.”

“…god, I’m never living that down, am I? Not ever? You’re going to go through life and just, whenever I’m brought up, just… ‘Oh, yeah, I met him once. A fucking caveman of a perv just looking at my tits.’ Amazing impression I’ve left.” You snickered, “One hell of a role model of a human being.”

“Shut up, it’s not terrible. Makes you human, you know? Honestly? It’s kinda…” And you trail off, your words halting.

And he catches it, of course, he catches it. Big brown eyes lighting up, looking at you, expectantly.

Your lips twitch, the words burning on your tongue, your bold, up-front attitude begging you to say it. Maybe he’ll be flattered, or perhaps it would catch him off guard that you’d see his ears get all pink and cute and it could be a nice memory for you to hold on to. But there was a part of you that was holding back. That didn’t want to veer into the realm of being cringe, though you hated the term and what it’s become. You wanted to be authentic, wanted to be yourself.

You wanted to say that the fact he was a bit of a perv… Was actually kind of hot.

The fact that you liked that he thought with his dick, that he wasn’t some baby girl type of man that you had to censor yourself around. That he could say fuck and wanted to get fucked. That he wasn’t the persona you saw on hundreds of TikTok’s on your for you page. Not fitting the narrative so many of his fans projected onto him. That he could be crude. He liked tits. Probably ass, too. Maybe even a leg man. Liked porn, wouldn’t mind reading your porn, if he was being honest about that.

The fact that all of that was very… Very hot to you was alarming enough that you just didn’t want to speak it out loud.

He was just being nice. And you didn’t want to say or do anything that would make him…not want to be nice.

Luckily, very luckily, your food was brought to the counter, veering both of you off topic.

Thank God.

Sliders, loaded fries, drinks and…a very generous slice of the chocolate ganache ricotta cheesecake — with caramel drizzle. You smiled, looking from the plates set in front of you back to Joseph. “Guess our conversation has come to an end. I should get this back to my very hungry friends by now.”

He gave a nod, smiling gently, though there was a sense of disappointment in his gaze at you. “…I have to get a hold of my mate, as well.” He watched as you stared at the plates, holding the sliders in one hand, the loaded fries in the other, still leaving the three drinks and the cheesecake. Biting his lip, he picked those right up, catching your eye with a smile. “Let me help you to your table, yeah? It’s practically on my way out.”

You furrowed your brow, “Are you sure? I can always make two trips or even text my friend to come help me—”

“Nah, we could do it just fine, I think. It’s no trouble, I promise.”

Part of you wanted to protest, insist that you could do it on your own or even bring Jen or Gerry along to help. You figured he had some place way more important to be, but the look of that smile on his face and his willingness to help… God, it wasn’t like you could say no, could you? A relenting breathy laugh flowed from you, as well as the relaxing of your shoulders. “That…would be amazing, actually… Thank you.” With a smirk, you added, “Your mum definitely raised you right.”

“Oh, can I tell her you said that? I think she worries, sometimes…”

His cheeky smile makes you laugh, only allowing the smile to grow wider. You started off on your path, allowing him to follow.

Licking his lips after a few steps, he took a deep breath. “Fake Taxi.”

That caused you to pause a moment, looking back at him, clearly confused.

He chuckles, nudging your shoulder. “…it’s not just brazzers, it’s… Sometimes it’s Fake Taxi.”

It clicks, and you let out a snort. “…really? Huh… I watch that sometimes, too…” You start walking again, spotting the jovial look on his face. “Do I have to sign an NDA now that you’ve confessed that Joseph Quinn watches porn? Wouldn’t want that all over the internet…”

“I don’t think you’d disappoint my mum like that… I am her baby boy, after all…” he let out as you let out a laugh. “And… Oddly… I kinda trust you.”

There was a warmth the sparked within you, not up your neck or on your face… But within your chest, surprising yourself. Taking a deep breath, you let out a sigh. “Well… It would ruin people’s image of you being so babygirl, so… I wouldn’t dare be the reason behind that.”

He let out a sigh, “Babygirl, really? I don’t even get Babyboy? Or man. Babyman?”

You know he’s trying to be cute, and he in fact, very much is, and you can’t help but let out a small laugh, turning to look at him. “…you really standing there in front of me, preferring to be called Babyman?”

“Not good?” he said with such a serious face, that it becomes comical to you. “Think I should go with something else? You’re the writer, what do you suggest?”

“From my ongoing conversation with you? Manchild.”

He let out a gasp, an actual gasp, looking at you with a hurt expression. “That hurt.”

“For someone that’s so dead set against being called babygirl… You sure are acting very babygirl.”

He tutted, “For the last time… I’m manly. Maybe you should spread the word. Do a TikTok.” Though the smile on his face gave the impression he didn’t mind, carrying on behind you, walking through the throngs of people, still… Avoiding the crack in the floor and further and further along toward your table.

You saw Jen and Gerry straight away, but there was a third person, very tall. Lanky, even. Speaking animatedly so much that his arms were almost flailing about and from what you could tell from Jen’s face, telling a rather intriguing story. Shoulder length blond hair swayed with his movements, a rich voice starting to cut through the crowd. It was familiar. You recognized him, you think. There isn’t much you can tell from the back of someone’s head. It wasn’t until…

“Jamie?” came Joseph’s voice beside you and that’s when the other turned around and those bright blue eyes confirmed it for you.

That was Jamie fucking Campbell-Bower.

V e c n a, himself.

“Mate!” Joseph let out, putting the trays he had on your table, putting his hands on Jamie’s shoulder. “Where the fuck have you been, yeah? Been waiting for you, meaning to call you, but...” Whether he intended to or not, his eyes flickered toward you for a split second, before going back toward his mate. “…got distracted. Where you been?”

“Right!” he let out, his hands grasping at Joseph’s forearms, “Sorry! Meant to call as well, signing went a bit longer than expected. Mobile completely died…”

“Oh, so, even if I called you…”

“Yeah, you’d been fucked, mate, sorry.”

He laughed, “Well, I feel not as bad, now, cheers.”

Jamie laughed, patting his arm, “Well, we found one another now and —” turning toward your table, “Mobile’s been charged.”

“Me,” Jen let out, “Because of me, because I have a portable charger on me, hi,” looking directly at you. Eyes wide, and an expression that was genuinely screaming — you’ve got some explaining to do, Miss.

You let out a grin, returning the look pointedly at her, wondering what your life was right now. “Always bring a portable charger,” you let out, placing the trays in your hands to join the ones that Joseph let down. Turning to Joseph, you gestured toward your friends, “So, these are the hungry friends I was trying to get more food to… My best friend Jen and her forever fiancé, Gerry.”

He immediately let go of Jamie and toward them, “Hello! Hi, lovely to meet you,” shaking their hands warmly. “Right, well, I’m Joe.”

“Oh, we know,” Jen let out, a smile on her face looking from Joe and to you. “Yeah, we know who you are.”

Wench.

“Nice to meet you,” Gerry interjected, thankfully, shaking his hand. “We loved Eddie, you did such a cool job, amazing job. When we all watched it, one of the specific things that struck me was like… Eddie was so someone I knew in high school, like, you got that down, it was really cool.”

You watched as Joseph put his hand over his heart, his face melting, “Oh my god, thank you, that’s very kind. Yeah, I’ve been getting that a lot, and it honestly means so much. I’m glad…” A soft laugh let out, “Whatever I did, it’s honestly a blur sometimes, resonated so much, thank you.” Taking a deep breath, “Now,” a step back, his fingers swaying between Jamie and Gerry, “…you two seemed a bit familiar, there a story there? I’m not jealous, but…” His back straightened, looking between the two, “I sort of am.”

“Joseph, you know you’re my favorite boy.”

“I demand answers.”

“I demand you not be so fucking rude, hi,” Jamie let out, turning to you with a warm smile and a hand, “Since I was going to wait forever, I’ll introduce myself,” pausing for the snort Joseph let out. “I’m Jamie, love,” he chuckled through. “Nice to meet you, how are you?”

You laughed, taking his hand and shaking it, “I’m amazing, lovely to meet you. And since we’re blowing up Joseph’s ass,” you started, getting a laugh out of that from the boys, “Can I say… Your casting was fucking brilliant. The way how soft One was when he was just the orderly? If I was looking into those big blue eyes, I would have believed anything he said, so good on you.”

 Jamie laughed, holding your hand even tighter in his grip. “Oh, that’s so lovely of you! Warms my heart to hear that.”

“Honestly, I mean it, and that whole reveal with Vecna, One, Henry, that was so beautiful.”

“Yes, it was… Honestly so pleased how it turned out. And I did enjoy doing the whole monologue with Henry, really getting to know how his mind works. Thank you, I appreciate that so much, darling.”

Joseph took in a deep breath, “Yeah, this is why I didn’t introduce you, mate.”

You snorted, looking over at him and stuck out your tongue. “Anyway… And despite him being rude… I concur, you two looked like you knew one another… But that’s impossible because Gerry would never let that slip his mind to not even mention to us…” your words trailed, as you looked to the man in question, narrowing your eyes. “…yes, you fucking would, actually.”

Taking a deep breath, Gerry scratched the back of his neck. “We… Well… We kinda played a few clubs together, a few years back… During one of my tours…”

“Shit,” Joseph let out, recognition hitting him. “You’re in that band. With your brother, yeah? You’re a musician. Fuck, you look different.”

A sheepish smile came over Gerry’s face, “Oh… Yeah, I’m kinda known for being wildly inconsistent with my looks, at least back then.” Looking over at Jamie, “How’s the music coming along?”

“Oh, chaotic, as usual, but fun but definitely still going, though very slowly. Which I sort of enjoy, no need to rush it.”

“Slow and steady,” Jen supplied, looking directly at you which only made you narrow your eyes.

Choosing to ignore it, knowing exactly what she was driving at. “Sorry, sorry, I’m still going over the fact that you two,” a swaying hand between Jamie and Gerry, “…know each other. I mean, I kinda expect it, but the fact that,” pointing at Jen, “Did you know this?”

“No,” she said sternly, her brows risen as she said it. “Trust me, it was just as big of a surprise to me, too.” Turning to her fiancé, she cleared her throat. “We’re gonna have a big talk about this.”

“We’ve could’ve had Jamie Campbell Bower on a podcast, and you just sat on that information?! Dishonor on you and your whole ass family. Except Jen. Obviously.”

“You have a podcast?” You heard Joe practically squeak, Jamie laughing soon after.

Smiling a bit, you turn to him, “I have a bit of everything. Some of us embrace the internet and don’t act like some babyface boomers.”

Jamie cackled, his hand patting Joe on the back as he stood there, staring at you in a mock offended expression on his face as he let out, “How… Fucking… dare you.”

“I don’t know, mate, she seems to got you clocked,” Jamie let out, giving an approving nod. “Spot on, love.”

Joseph let out a sigh, “…oh, you’re all against me.”

“Well,” you replied, “You just make it both easy and so much fun.”

Jamie crossed his arms, looking between the two of you, “Okay, well, got me curious, how’s this come about?”

Joe let out a chuckle, “Jealous, are we?”

“A bit, you’re my precious boy —” his smile breaking out as he looked at you, “I’m just curious, crazy coincidence? Or serendipity.”

But before you could even attempt to answer, Joe beat you to it. “Oh, I saved her.”

You watched as Jen’s eyes widened, head tilting and worry on her face, “Excuse me, what?”

“The floor,” Joe started, “…attacked her. Almost sent her to her death, but I was there.”

And just like that, the worry fled her face as she let out a sigh. “The boots?”

“That and a crack on the floor, yeah. Or just uneven flooring. I don’t know, the tip of my boot hit it and yes, Joe was there and…caught me when I fell.”

You hated the way Jen’s face lit up at that. You’ve known her for so long that you knew the wheels were turning in her head. Soon enough, she let out, “Wow, that sounds… Absolutely storybook. You should write about it.”

Oh, if looks could kill… Or at the very least give a light smack of the head. “It was very…serendipitous.”

“It was good luck,” Joseph let out, clearing his throat. “Just plain good luck,” pointing a look at you.

That made you smile as you looked over at him, “Again, thanks for saving me.”

Chuckling softly, he gave a nod, “Well, that would’ve been embarrassing, I hear. Dying on your birthday, glad to help avoid that.”

If your eyes hadn’t been so trained on Joseph, you would have seen the look between Jen and Gerry, though you knew… You knew… As soon as it was just the three of you, the questions would come bombarding you. You couldn’t even blame them, really. This was easily the most insane few moments you’ve ever experienced. And it wasn’t quite over, yet, as Jamie slapped his hands on Joseph’s shoulders, eyes wide, “Joseph, you’re a hero now? Fancy that.”

“Are you proud, Papa?” he asked cheekily, looking up at him.

“Insanely, always knew you were so good.” Both chuckling at each other, before Jamie’s blue eyes found you. “And you! Happy Birthday, I hope it’s a good one.” He pointed at the slice of cheesecake, “Is that your birthday treat?”

“I was noticing that,” Jen chirped, “Treating yourself?”

“Actually…”

“I bought it for her, put it on my tab,” Joe answered, notably avoiding any glances before gently patting Jamie’s cheek, making him blink and look incredulously at him. “Oi, we got to book it,” he managed to get out before having a chuckle. “I got that panel in a few hours, but we wanted to…”

“Oh, right, that place, yeah…” Looking at the three of you, he smiled politely, “Sorry, would’ve loved to have a sit down but we really wanted to check out —”

“Jamie, no,” Joe let out, shaking his head, and looking at you with squinty eyes. “…. she’ll make fun of us.”

You have out a gasp, your hand over your heart, “How dare… I mean, probably.” It was your turn to narrow your eyes, looking at them both. “…it’s something British, isn’t it?”

Lifting his chin up, Joseph placed a finger against his lips and then a zipping of lips flourish which made you chuckle. His smile spread wide as he gave you a wink. “Happy Birthday. See you around the circus.”

“Wave a white flag if you need help,” you told him, watching the flash of his teeth as he dragged Jamie away who waved at you all. You couldn’t help it, watching after him until he was out of sight. Mainly because you couldn’t quite comprehend what just happened between the two of you, and the other part…

God, now you had to face Jen.

Your best friend in the world, sitting back in her seat with the most shit eating grin you had ever seen in your life. Letting out a soft groan, you sat down, pushing the burgers and sliders towards her — though you grabbed one for yourself. Taking a bite and with a flourish of your hand, gestured toward her. “Go ahead.”

“You fell into his fucking arms?!” was her immediate start. Her face disbelieving, a laugh struggling to come out. “That is why your ass was taking so long?”

“Hey, I almost died.”

“But you didn’t. And why? Because you had Mister Tall, British Man there to catch you when you fell!” Shaking her head, taking a slider and taking a bite but still looking at you.

The smile couldn’t help but form on your lips, shaking your head, “It was…a surreal moment.”

“It was a Jane Austen kinda moment.”

“He definitely has those vibes.”

“Dare we say like a Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy kinda vibe?”

You shook your head, “Wasn’t embarrassing enough for that. I’d have to had my boob fall out or show off my chonies or something like that. He’d make an awesome Mark Darcy, though.”

“He’d like you. Just as you are.”

“Fuck off,” you laughed, your attention going to Gerry, “But also, seriously, never mentioned the whole Jamie thing? We all saw Stranger Things together, dude.”

He held his hands up, “Hey, I meet a lot of people and you both know I hate name dropping.”

Sighing, looking at Jen, “Of all the musicians you had to fall for, you get the modest emo one.”

She sighed, looking at Gerry, “I know. The heart wants what it wants and we just gotta deal with it.”

“Love you, too.” Gerry leaning back in his seat, “Fine, maybe I could ask if he wants to sit in on a podcast, he might be really fun for you guys, actually.”

“Or Joe,” Jen lets out, smiling like the Cheshire cat at you. “Fess up. Did you get that man’s number?”

You snorted, looking at her with an arched brow. “Oh, I love that you think that I would even attempt to shoot my shot with him. Are you kidding? Do you know how many people in this vicinity that want to dick that man down? And the fact he’d probably turn them all down to dick down someone entirely not of our league, like an actress, model, singer… No. No, I did not score his number. I didn’t even ask for a photo.”

“What do you mean, you didn’t ask for a photo?! Like c’mon, he totally would have said yes.”

“I don’t know!” you said, finishing off the slider, giving a shrug. “I… I didn’t even think about it, honestly? Though, someone did approach and somewhere there is a pic of me and a pic of him with someone. One of my folks, a reader.”

You watched as Jen’s face switched from outraged to something resembling…pride. “Oh wow, that’s kinda cool.” Letting out a sigh, “You still should have…. I don’t know, if you weren’t going to get his number, at least a photo or something.”

“I got a cheesecake, and… Honestly… We talked, like, a lot.” You smiled, shaking your head. “He’s… He’s pretty cool, actually. Funny, too. More than those interviews usually show… I rather have had the conversation than like, a photo or a number that… Let’s face it. He’d either give me a fake one or change it overnight. Or ghost me, if he’s the type. It was good, the moment we had. I enjoyed it.”

“That’s all that matters,” Gerry let out, looking to Jen with as stern a look he could muster. “That’s all that matters.” He paused a moment, looking at you. “He smiled at you a lot though. There was definitely…something between you two.”

“Oh, God.”

“Right? Right?!” Jen practically squealed, “I knew it, I saw it, too! This is why I love you.” Gerry raised his brows, “One of many reasons! I promise.”

“You guys are way off. He’s just really nice, that’s all. But I’m glad he was. If he turned out to be a dick, that would be devastatingly heartbreaking.”

They both gave a relenting nod, eating their food for a moment while you dug into your cheesecake. Though you hadn’t meant to, your mind sort of swirled with little replays of that whole experience with him. The sound of his laugh, his smile, his eyes. Smiling a bit to yourself as you take that first bite, a small groan of appreciation.

It tastes sweeter than you remembered.

Your mind not daring to venture as to why, but you knew.

“He’s not my type—”

“Yeah,” you started, “We saw how you were looking at Jamie—”

“Shut up,” Jen told you, amongst your cackling, though she relented, “Okay, yeah, but… Joseph looked good… Like… With the beard and hair, you know what he looked like, right?”

“Enjolras,” you gave out, quite dreamily, without even taking a beat. “He was giving Enjolras.”

You could see Jen’s pearly teeth in her smile as she leaned forward, “You fucking love Enjolras.”

Your lips struggled to contain the smile that came out from the statement, the very true statement. Couldn’t deny it even if you wanted to. She was there when you all binge watched Les Misérables and watched him on screen, your eyes never leaving him, unashamedly.

“Enjolras is fucking hot,” you relent. “He was very hot…”

He still is.

Breaking out of the trance that induced you into, dragging reality to crash down into you. “Not that it matters. He’s probably… No, you know, it doesn’t even matter if he’s dating someone or not, it’s not… I’m not looking for anything and… No point in even entertaining anything otherwise. I’ll probably see him passing by through the con and nothing more than that, so… Yes, he’s hot, and very nice and…”

He smelled good. Like very good.

“You purring?”

Grabbing your straw, opening the end and blowing through it as the paper wrapper hit her so perfectly. Making her laugh. “You know what? Fuck off, firstly. And to prove that I know nothing will come of this, so it won’t be awkward… And a bit of an ego boost for me…” You licked your lips, a momentary sense of guilt, but, continuing anyway. “You know how he was there to catch me? He was walking and saw my boobs and was distracted so much that he was just there when I tripped.”

Sorry, Joseph. But it really wasn’t like you were going to see him again. And it really was too good to not share eventually.

“No!” your friend gasped.

“Oh, wow,” Gerry let out. “You guys know I’m still here, right?”

Ignoring him, you nodded, “Yup. Joseph Quinn? Total tit man.”

“Spellbound by the chichis,” Jen laughed. “I mean, wench, they do look nice in that top, not gonna lie.”

“And that totally saved my life, probably, maybe. Saying that, stays with us, don’t wanna spread that around. He did save my life, and,” gesturing towards your boobs as you sat back. “You’re right. Can’t blame him.” A soft chuckle emerges just as you feel the strong vibration of your phone. Shit. Telemarketer? Sister? Dad? Sitting up and digging into your pocket, you recognized the contact as none of the previously mentioned. “It’s the con peeps,” you let out, accepting the call. “Hey, what’s up, did we get bumped off?”

“Hey, sorry, no, not that. We’re uh, we’re kinda in a bind.”

Looking over at Jen and Gerry, you raised a brow, “What kinda bind?”

“Shelly had to pull out. Or, um… Well, she had a sort of…emergency…”

Your eyes narrowed as that sounded ominous. “…what kind of emergency?”

“…the…bring a new life into the world kinda emergency.”

“Aww!” came your immediate response. “Oh, that’s great, god, I saw her earlier, she seemed so miserable being in this heat and over her due date—Oh.” You let out a hiss, “Oh yeah, yeah that sucks for you guys.”

“Yeah, it’s great for her, but, not so much for us, so… She had a panel that she was gonna moderate in a few hours. And you’re always good about filling in and it won’t interfere with any of your bookings or anything like that and you’re always so good with them… Can you cover it for her?”

“They want me to cover a panel,” you explained to your friends, covering the bottom half of your phone before getting back to the call. “Um, yeah, sure, she’s always good with notes so I won’t be completely in the dark.”

“You’ll be great, just, you know, maybe… Tone it down a bit?”

“Oh god, are there going to be children? I can’t… I mean I can try and censor myself, but you know what I’m like when I really get going.”

“I know, but we’re really in a bind…”

“You’ve said that. I’m like your last resort, aren’t I?”

“…I’m not going to say yes, but I’m also definitely not gonna say no…”

“I do love your honesty. Okay. Yeah, it could be fun. I had a big gap between tonight’s panel anyway, I could squeeze one in between. When is it?”

“A couple of hours, thank you! We were scrambling. Getting desperate, we really didn’t want to cancel.”

“I got you guys. Is it a group panel or…”

“No, no, it’s a solo one, one actor, a whole hour and vetted questions from the audience. It’s that guy from Stranger Things? New to the cons, he played Eddie Munson? It’s going to be a big crowd…”

Oh, there was a buzzing in your head. Looking over at your friends who looked a bit concerned right back at you.

Oh, god.

What even was your life?

It had to be a joke, right? Some cosmic joke that whatever higher being was up there, so bored that he decided to just fuck with your life.

And on your birthday.

On your birthday!

“…yeah. Yeah. I’ll be there.”

Jesus H. Christ.

What the fuck.

What the fuck?

[barclaysangel]

A Siren’s Embrace; Chapter 5: Connection of the Sea

Here's chapter 5, y'all! Aaaand the last chapter for now because I haven't finished chapter 6. My brain is all over the place, doing homework, starting my masters program in less than 3 weeks, AND got a new sapphic story idea that involves witches. So...yeah. I'm a mess. Buuuuut, hopefully you guys like this chapter. It's more angsty than the other chapters and once again, I projected so much of myself and my family life into Nika and her family. So things that are said near the end are things that happened in my real life. It's fine, I'll live. But please comment, comments make me feel happy and I hope to one day get back into this story because I do have ideas for further chapters, I just can't figure out a proper ending. I still hope y'all like this story though.

Thank you and enjoy :)

Word count: 2K

Tags: @streets-in-paradise @king-of-wicked

Nika’s world was falling apart. 

At least that’s what it felt like to her. 

Her world felt like it was slowly dissipating, crumbling, going to turn to dust and vanish at any given moment. She knew her parents loved her, wanted the best for her and all. But if she had to hear about how she needed to get her shit together and figure out what she wanted to do in life one more time, she’s going to explode. 

Whether that be in rage or depression was unclear and would end up being a surprise to Nika and everyone around her. 

She knew she should figure out what the hell she wanted to do. But for fuck’s sake, she just graduated high school. Nika’s going to a community college close by to figure out what she wanted to major in, what she felt connected to because high school certainly didn’t create any connections. But she knows her father would prefer it if she figured it out now and went straight into a university. 

But…she couldn’t. Nika didn’t know what she wanted to do yet, she was barely 18 years old. She just needed some time to figure it out before condemning herself to a path where she would feel complacent or self-loathing. 

Is that really too much to ask? 

“Nika?” Pearl said her name, snapping the human out of her thoughts, a small look of concern in her sea green eyes. “Okay? You are quiet. Sad. Why are you quiet and sad?” 

Nika put on a smile and shook her head. “Sorry, I’m just distracted. I’m okay, you don’t need to worry. I’m not sad.” 

“Yes you are,” Pearl replied quickly as she stared so deeply at Nika, “I can feel it. Your sadness. It is strong. I feel your sadness.”

Is it possible for mermaids to just feel what you’re feeling? She wondered silently. Maybe. There was still so much that Nika didn’t know about humans yet, she wouldn’t entirely be surprised. Sometimes it felt like Pearl was staring so deep into the human’s soul, discovering all of her deepest and darkest secrets. 

It must be an effect that the mermaid has on her, that’s all. 

Nika didn’t say anything for a moment, her mouth opening and then closing before just shaking her head as she looked away. “I’ll be okay. Really. It’s…hard to explain anyway, you really don’t need to worry about it.” 

“I worry,” Pearl said, once again without any hesitation, “you are sad. You are in pain. In here,” She pressed a wet finger to Nika’s chest, right where her heart is, “and in here.” Her finger moved to the center of the human’s forehead. 

She didn’t really know what to say at first, looking away again until the mermaid rested her hand on her shoulder. “Speak to me…please?” 

Something about Pearl was truly persuasive, even when there was no siren song used. There was something gentle about her touch, the look in her eyes, that felt like maybe, just maybe, she could understand. 

“It’s…hard. To talk about. To explain. No one else really understands except my friends but…it’s not fair to burden them with these problems. My parents…they’re tough. Sometimes too tough. I’m their only child and they want the best for me but…it’s too much. It feels like I can’t breathe around them. It…it feels like I’m drowning.” 

Pearl tilted her head slightly. “You are not drowning. I saved you.”

Nika couldn’t help but to smile a little, despite how she was feeling at the moment. “Not drowning literally. Just…feeling. In here and here,” she pointed to her own chest and head, “it feels like I’m drowning and I can’t breathe. It’s too much and they just don’t get it. They don’t see it. I…I don’t think they ever will. I just…I feel so alone here…” 

The human didn’t even know why she was unloading like this in front of Pearl. The mermaid would truly never understand those pressures and there was nothing that could be done. Nothing would change, Nika had accepted it a long time ago. Didn’t make it hurt any less, but it was something she just needed to get over. 

Yet here Pearl was, frowning, looking as if she was upset on Nika’s behalf. Like she had been the one who was wronged. Finally, the mermaid spoke, “I have a gift for you. Stay, please?” The human barely had time to nod before Pearl flung herself into the ocean. 

Maybe you freaked her out. Congrats, stupid, you weirded out a mermaid with your pathetic family issues. She thought to herself and she ran both of her hands over her face and up through her hair, trying to block out the pessimistic voice. 

Nika took a few deep breaths to push back the tears that were threatening to expose themselves in her eyes before the green-eyed mermaid came back, her blue tail swishing in the water, and holding out a rather large conch shell to the human. 

This wasn’t Pearl’s first gift of seashells at all. She had given her many that now reside in Nika’s room, all of which she had claimed to her parents that she found from her recent trips to the beach. But this was certainly the largest one, barely fitting in both of the mermaid’s hands. 

Huh…receiving gifts must be Pearl’s love language.

“Oh, Pearl…it’s beautiful,” Nika said softly before carefully taking the conch shell from her, holding it in her own hands, “you didn’t need to give this to me.”

“I did.” Pearl replied before she pulled herself onto the rock, sitting right beside the human with their shoulders now touching. “Shell is strong. Shiny. Beautiful. You are strong. Shiny. Beautiful. You are my seashell.”

Nika wasn’t quite sure what Pearl meant by the last part, but either way, it made her heart flutter from the compliments. She was sure that this was the mermaid’s way to try and cheer her up and in a way, it worked. 

She really did appreciate the sentiment, even if it was a bit out of the ordinary. 

Oh, what the hell, she was friends with a fucking mermaid. It’s been out of the ordinary for a long time. 

“Thank you. Really. I…I appreciate it,” Nika said with a soft smile as she held the conch close to her, “I’m at my happiest whenever I see you. You just…make me feel better.” 

Her confession caused Pearl to smile more and got a certain glint in her eyes, as if she had decided on something. “I will see you more. I will make you happy.” 

The human didn’t have time to question her on that before she realized how late it was and that she needed to go home soon, promising Pearl that she would try and see her again tomorrow. 

Nika almost wished that she hadn’t gone home when she did arrive, because the questions on her whereabouts were thrown again. 

“I went to the beach. I wanted to get some fresh air, it’s gonna be weird not going to school for a while.” She threw out her excuse to them, thankful that having overprotective parents caused her to be pretty decent when it came to lying. 

“You’ve been going out to the beach so often, Annika” Her mother started to tell her, “you need to be more careful. Maybe you should be staying inside some more, especially with what happened to Erickson recently.” 

Nika knew exactly what her mother was referring to. Erickson was an old and irritating man, someone who often spent his time harassing preteen girls and throwing his beer bottles or other garbage into the ocean. Nika would clean up after him whenever she saw his trash and throw them away properly. She was never fond of him but since they lived close by, she just tried to steer clear from him and pay him no mind. 

It would be a lot easier now since Erickson’s body was found just a couple of days ago on the shores of the beach. Well, rather what was left of him. From what Nika had heard, he had been mauled apart. She had to sneak around to the other side of the beach to see Pearl because of all the caution tape around and trying to investigate the scene. 

“Erickson was a drunk who probably decided to go swimming in the middle of the ocean and got attacked by a shark. Or maybe some other wild animal, who knows,” She told both of her parents with a nonchalant look on her face, “I’m very careful whenever I go, okay? I don’t go too far into the ocean when I go surfing or swimming. Really, I’m not going to die.”

Let’s just forget about the part where you did drown when you went surfing and only survived because of a mermaid, they certainly didn’t need to know about that.

“That doesn’t matter, you need to be more careful. I don’t even know what you do at the beach, you should be doing more exercise so you can lose weight.” Her father told her suddenly, even pointedly staring at her stomach. 

If Nika could scream from the top of her lungs without facing any repercussions, she absolutely would at that very moment. 

If she had a dollar for every fucking time her father or both her parents mentioned her weight in a negative manner, she would’ve skipped town, left Neptune Bay in the rearview mirror, because she’d be a fucking billionare. 

Nika wasn’t skinny. If she thought hard about it, she hadn’t been skinny since she was in kindergarten. She was chubby but she tried to not let it bother her. She tried to own up to her curves and find the beauty within herself, the beauty that Jay and Lucy point out all the time. 

But then her parents’ open their mouths with their opinions and all that self-confidence goes straight down the drain. 

Don’t you see what you’re fucking doing to me? You’re killing me. You’re. Fucking. Killing. Me. I want to hurt myself because of you, don’t you understand that? Just fucking look at me and understand that you make me hate myself!

Despite her boiling emotions, Nika didn’t say a word. She forced a smile like she always did, pretending to let her father’s comments roll down her back, and walked into her room. 

Her self-hatred bubbled inside of her, wanting so badly to cry. To hurt herself. Scratch and punch her stomach like she sometimes did when the words became too much. But this time, Nika held it in. She pulled the conch shell from her bag, holding it close to her chest as if it was a teddy bear, and rocked herself slightly as she sat on her bed. 

Strong. Shiny. Beautiful. That’s what Pearl said I am. Strong. Shiny. Beautiful. Maybe she sees something in me that no one else has seen before and we’ve only known each other for a few weeks. To her, I’m strong and shiny and beautiful. Pearl makes me feel happy and special. 

Nika tried to hang onto those words that the mermaid said to her. She ate less than usual for dinner and was more quiet, faking laughs and conversations to avoid suspicion, but that was all. Just enough for her parents to not get on her case again. 

She kept it all inside until she went to bed, clutching onto her precious pearl necklace and cried her heart out. Nika let her tears soak her pillow, fully prepared to cry herself to sleep like she’s done plenty of times before. 

Although she couldn’t quite fall asleep. She woke up multiple times throughout the knife, experiencing random pains throughout her body, most prominent in the lower half. Nika’s legs twitched against her will, feeling like the inside was twisting and bending. It was worse than the typical soreness she’d feel when her father forced her to go hike with him. 

She didn’t know what the hell was going on. 

Maybe she was experiencing some psychosomatic symptoms of anxiety again, but they were surely different this time. 

Eventually, exhaustion took over and Nika finally fell asleep, hoping for a better day tomorrow.