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word-wytch · 6 months ago

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Don't Stand So Close To Me — Chapter 17

Eddie x Teacher!Reader

Chapter 17/? 19k. Series Masterlist

✏︎ Finally alone, tensions come to a head and feelings erupt.

✏︎ Series Summary: Forced to move back home to Hawkins after your fiancé cheats on you, you begin to fall in love again with an audacious 20 year old metalhead, only there’s one problem — he’s still in high school and you’re his English teacher.

While you struggle starting over in a place you never thought you would return, Eddie struggles feeling stuck in a place he can’t manage to leave — until you offer to help him. Of all the lessons learned, the most important are the ones you teach each other.

✏︎ Chapter CW: smut (18+ nsfw), emotional first time, heated conversations, hurt/comfort, love confessions, heavy petting, dry humping, body worship, unintentional edging, nipple play, cock stroking, piv sex (protected), aftercare

✏︎ For reference, here is a bingo score card map of Teach's apartment

✏︎ Special thank you to @the-unforgivenn @munson-blurbs @rip-quizilla @ladylilylost for holding my hand behind the scenes and rekindling my light with your own on a daily basis.

It was nothing like you had imagined.

In your countless daydreams involving Eddie’s van, it was always things like the breeze gusting through a cracked window, or the bones of his knuckles as they stretched between yours that drew your focus. The details were always fuzzy. Staring into the open passenger door, they were coming into full view now under the yellow interior light. Cigarette butts crowded the ashtray beneath the radio. A nest of candy wrappers cradled naked tapes in the center console. McDonalds bags littered the seat that would soon be yours. Eddie crinkled them into hasty balls beneath his fists, arcing them over his shoulder to clatter against a cymbal somewhere in the back.

“Sorry, I uh, wasn’t expecting company,” he said with a shameful shake of his curls. Bracing the seat cushion, he reached toward the floor before chucking two empty Mountain Dew cans into the rear abyss. French fry crumbs clattered to the weather mat with a brush of his hand against the plaid fabric. Coyly glancing from under his lashes, he sat back in his own seat and gave the space a final look. “Ok, should—should be good now.”

Like an open maw of caramel leather, it could have swallowed you. Securing your thumb under the strap of your bag, your boots left the salty pavement and found the ledge, lifting you out of the darkness and into the dim chaos. With a gracious smile, you slid into your place beside him. The seat was a comfortable cradle at your back; spacious and sturdy. Sliding your bag between your knees and feet, it found a home on top of the fry crumbs and other mysteries you decided not to entertain.

You sat there for a beat as the details enveloped you; the scent of old cigarettes and leather, the stale hint of fast food, the exhaust on the cold night air wafting in through the open door. It squealed on its hinges when you shut it, sealing you behind its jaws as the light above you faded to black.

Then it was just you and him. Just you and him in the dark leather cavern with nothing but the light from the dashboard and the soft floodlights making a halo of his frizz. Nothing but the engine rumbling idly, and the rush of your pulse in your ears. Nothing but short bursts of breath, and eyes that roamed with cautious amazement.

It was strange for Eddie to see you here. You, in the passenger’s seat of his van. Out of your usual context. Surreal, like a dream he’d woken into.

“Thank you,” you muttered into the silence, “for the ride.”

Eddie blinked hard, snapping from his trance. “Yeah—yeah. Sure thing.” Chains rattled against the zipper of his sleeve as he shifted the gear to reverse. Reflexively, his right hand braced your headrest, peering over his shoulder as he slowly backed out. “So uh, where are we going?”

His scent sucked the words off your tongue — the acrid remnants of grease on his fingers, the warm musk of his leather-clad wrist. Tearing your eyes away from his tendons flexing inches from your face, you eked out a response. “Oh—just make a left onto Randolph.”

With a nod, he hit the brake, removing his hand to shift forward toward the parking lot exit. Tail lights caught the soft glitter of snow as your small white sedan faded in the ample side-view mirror. There was a view from up here, like the van was swallowing the pavement as it careened out onto the road. Like you were seated in a leather throne, watching traffic below surge like a sea of subjects on the rush hour wave.

Eddie tapped his hands against the wheel to a nervous rhythm before one of them reached toward the stereo—which might as well have been a button labeled detonate—because the thundering sound could have blasted you both back into 1984.

“SHIT—” he screeched with a manic twist of the volume dial, a stray curl wavering in his ragged breath. “Sorry.”

A laugh bubbled out of you. A wild, cackling thing, as if you were a toy wound up by nerves and the noise had released the crank. It was absurd—surreal—watching traffic lights change from the passenger’s seat in Eddie Munson’s van as Iron Maiden squeaked out the quietest guitar solo you’d ever heard.

Eddie’s shoulders slacked in relief, hand relaxing against the wheel as he breathed a chuckle. The stoplight painted his cheeks even redder, and your spinning world stilled to a single focus as you gasped for air: his wild eyes, glimmering with soft bewilderment like you were an angel or a ghost he’d picked up along the road. Like he was struggling to believe you were real. Like he was struggling to believe you were here.

And just like that it was quiet again. The van rumbled idly beneath your seat, kicking up a smokescreen of exhaust. His soft lips parted and twitched. Straightening your shoulders and dipping your chin, you prepared to receive any words he had to offer. You even thought a soft smile might encourage their release, but nothing came out. The light turned him green, and with a sharp sigh through his nose he shifted his attention back to the road.

Smoothing your hands across the wool in your lap, you chewed at your own stubborn words as you did your bottom lip. But they were too big to make it out. Too loud, even with the rumble of the engine. Instead you cast your attention over your shoulder with a heavy sigh. Lately it was rare to find yourself out past dark. Even rarer that you looked past your own pained reflection in the glass. Passing below you like a panorama, Christmas lights wrapped stout bushes and glowed under a fresh blanket of snow. Plastic reindeers and light-up Santas crowded lawns amongst nativity scenes. Bright colored bulbs wrapped porches and rooftops. Through these dirty windows, you could almost call it beautiful.

“Straight?”

You blinked out of your daydream. “Mhm, until Chester, then make a right.”

Eddie gave a single nod, keeping his eyes on the road. Typically by the time he made it past Melvald’s he would be fumbling in the pocket of his coat, pinching a cigarette out of the box and feeling for his lighter on the dash while his knee kept him out of a ditch. Today he had precious cargo. Chin locked dutifully forward, he still couldn’t keep his eyes from staying, from catching the lights as they danced across your holy form. You were watching them intently, lost in some daydream he could only speculate about. It was a vision he could get used to. Secretly he hoped you’d stay distracted, just a moment longer. Long enough to snap a mental polaroid, to shake it and save it for later. Tension splayed his hands on the wheel, and he firmly adjusted his grip with a slow exhale.

Shifting against the leather beneath you, your fingers found the stitching, running nervously along the smooth piping, filing it somewhere deep in your memory. It was good like this. Cruising like a tall ship above the sea of cars as Eddie palmed the wheel. Feeling his presence in the seat next to you; solid and stable like a captain at the helm. It was better than a dream. Absent of clasped palms and open windows, but rich in realness.

Tin cans rolled hollowly in the back as the van veered right, and you wondered how many other lucky people had been given this place of honor after shows at The Hideout, or parties on the weekend, or long summer nights that bled into day. You could almost picture him pulling up to a gas station; the smoke wafting out of the doors as they opened, the crinkling of Snickers wrappers and cracking of pop cans, the laughter over the roar of the stereo. You were surrounded by remnants of good times past. Closing your eyes, you imagined for a moment that he was taking you somewhere else. Somewhere fun and exciting, somewhere you would surely leave behind remnants of your own.

When the van passed the baseball field and approached the tidy row of lights outside of each apartment door including yours, you wished he would just keep driving. Way out past the farms and forests, straight into the stars. You wouldn’t even look back.

“This lot here,” you gestured as a crushing feeling crept into your chest.

With a solemn nod, Eddie did as he was instructed. He braked and cranked the wheel, drove all the way to the end—to the last apartment on the single-story strip—and pulled into the empty spot in front of it.

You sat there for a moment, idling as the large headlights illuminated a single red door, the number 8 beside it. Suddenly it was like you were a child again, being dropped off at home after a weekend with Janet. It was the same sinking feeling. With a slow exhale, you worried your lip between your teeth.

Eddie killed the engine. His hand splayed the wheel, brows pinching as his thumb dug into the leather with a heavy sigh. Your eyes connected, and the staring match began. It sucked the moisture from your mouth. All you could taste anymore was your heartbeat. All you could see were those eyes—dark and brimming with a million words behind them, almost loud enough to hear. Let me in, they begged. Please, I’m so close.

The door was right there, glowing and red. All it needed was for you to unlock it. Only you could do that. Words wrestled on your tongue. They grappled with each other, flung each other from the ropes and into the ring. You can come in, one side said. Help me find a mechanic. The angel—or was it the devil—pulled that voice into a headlock, gritted thank you, goodbye in a voice that sounded an awful lot like your mother.

Goodness was a mantle. A weight that kept your shoulders back, your lips pressed tight. In the end it was goodness that moved your hand, grabbed the leather from between your legs and slid the heavy burden onto your lap. It was goodness that placed your fingers on the cold plastic handle and pulled.

“Wait—”

There was a sparkle in your eyes. It flickered in the darkness as you turned over your shoulder.

“We need to talk.”

Your fingers left the handle as you settled back into your seat with a sigh. “I know, we do.”

“Like, now.” It was loud and insistent, much more than he intended, but it just leapt out. “I want to talk to you now,” he repeated softer this time, thumb digging into the leather of the steering wheel.

“Okay, yeah. Yeah—no you’re right.” Your stomach did a summersault at the admission.

The knot in Eddie’s gut released slightly. He chewed his lip for a second before continuing. “I mean, we could talk out here I guess but it’s like, twenty degrees out and I’m running low on gas.”

Your front door glowed in the halo of his headlights. He didn’t have to spell it out. You weren’t going to make him. But it had to be him who was asking, because all your lips had space for were four words, pinning their opposition to the mat, buying just enough time to sneak out. “You can come in.” It was quiet, but clear as you tugged the plastic handle, nodding over your shoulder for him to follow.

Eddie’s eyes grew wide, and in an instant he was throwing off his seatbelt, fumbling his keys into his pocket, and scrambling out the door into the cold.

It was like your fingers were moving through molasses, like they’d never held a key before, less found the right one on your keychain, placed it in the slot, and turned. It didn’t help that he was watching so intently, that you could feel his breath in clouds over your shoulder. Still, despite your churning nerves and roaring conscience, one of the voices—whether it was the angel or the devil, you hadn’t decided—rose up in hope as you turned the handle and pushed in.

It was nothing like he had imagined.

Then again, he wasn’t really sure what he had imagined, just that there was something—some sign of life—like posters, or paintings, or something that suggested you even lived here. Instead as you flicked on the lights to the narrow hallway, he saw nothing but white walls. He froze for a moment, glancing down at his boots weeping onto your clean white carpet. He was struck by the impulse to remove them, to preserve the cleanliness of such a sterile environment, but when you kept on walking, the impulse was greater to follow.

In a few strides he was passing a kitchen to his left; plain with a small formica table and chairs. He couldn’t get a glimpse of much else before the hallway emptied into the living room. This space looked slightly more lived in, but barely. There was a crocheted afghan in shades of brown draped over the cream floral couch. A remote and papers on the coffee table. A TV in the center of the room. In the corner by the sliding glass doors were few cardboard boxes labeled with words he couldn’t make out. Even the Christmas tree beside them was bare. It was amazing to him how much nothing there could be in a place somebody lived, how it was even possible. The only piece of furniture that seemed to hold some fragment of personality was the long record cabinet pushed up against the wall to his right. On top there were even a few records leaning between the speakers and the record player. It was hard to make out what they were from the track list on the back, not that he had much time before you turned around.

Eddie Munson was standing in your living room. Right behind the TV. You had to blink a few times to believe it. The dark, broad angles of his shoulders jumped out against the stark wall behind him as if he was a cardboard cutout. Out of place, out of time. He was moving though; stuffing his hands in his coat pockets, rocking back and forth on his heels as he chewed his bottom lip.

You’d really done it now—invited a wolf inside your den. And now you were alone with him. Truly alone. Hidden from the outside world behind a door you’d locked yourself. You could say anything—do anything—you wanted. Fingers moving to the top button of your coat, they froze just as they did when you passed the front closet. As if removing it would render you vulnerable, would encourage him to do the same, encourage him to stay. Goodness drew your fingers from the plastic, tucked them safely inside your pocket.

“Thank you for the ride, I really appreciate it.”

“Yeah, no problem.” He took a step forward, and a knot began to twist low in your belly. “Look, I’m sorry about what I said last week. About it not being a big deal,” he began with a slow, deep breath. “It was like, really fucking stupid a-and just—god,” he pinched the bridge of his nose, “insensitive of me and I’m sorry.”

You could tell he’d really thought about it. By the look in his eyes you were sure it had eaten away at him ever since you’d left him in your classroom. “Thanks, I appreciate the apology.”

His shoulders relaxed a little.

“I’m sorry too, honestly. This whole situation is…” you shook your head, breaking his gaze with a bitter sigh, “a mess. I never—” you sucked your teeth, searching for the words like they were stones on a dark path through the woods. “This is my fault.”

Eddie blinked in disbelief, offering a hollow laugh. “No, it isn’t.”

“No, it is.”

He rolled his eyes, unable to mask his annoyance. “What, like I didn’t ask you out? Ask you to smoke with me? Ask you to kiss me?” The last question lingered in the air between you, hanging for a second before you cut in.

“I should have said no,” you doubled down. “It’s my responsibility—”

“Stop.”

“I never should have put you in this position—”

“STOP.”

“No, it is my fault, Eddie. I’m your—”

“What, you’re my superior?” He strode forward, spitting fire like a volcano. “What like—like I’m some helpless child?”

“No—”

“Then talk to me like I’m an adult, because I am.” He was yelling now. Suddenly it felt like you were shrinking, dwarfed by his imposing silhouette. He must have seen the fear flicker in your eyes because he doubled back, raking his hand through his hair with a ragged sigh. “I’m twenty years old,” he leveled. “I’m twenty years old and still in fucking high school for some reason.”

Folding your arms across your thick coat, your lips twitched but nothing made it out. It was swallowed by the emptiness of the room, by the silence he left you in, by his dark eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I didn’t come here to argue, I—” he balled his fist and lowered it with a sharp breath through his nose. “I’ve barely been here five minutes and I’m already fucking everything up.”

Tentatively, your boot met the carpet in front of you, approaching as if he were a wounded animal. “You’re not,” you soothed.

Eddie took a deep breath, eyes smoldering like coal. “I hate this.”

“Yeah, me too,” you stated quietly.

“I hate that has to be like this. That I’m like this and you’re—” he gestured toward you, hand falling dejectedly as if the next word was too painful to speak, “that I can’t—” he swallowed the wavering threatening his voice, “can’t be with you the way I really want to be.”

The heat in his voice could have melted you—leaked you out of your coat, and your boots, and your blouse until you seeped into the carpet. Until there was nothing left but the puddle he had rendered you. “I know,” you breathed. “So do I—”

“Then why don’t we just—?” He stepped forward, a hunger growing in his eyes like he’d glimpsed his first meal in days. Like he wanted to devour you.

And you wanted it. More than you cared to admit. The heat creeping up your neck didn’t lie, but your feet were far more self-preserving, treading backwards on the carpet. “It’s dangerous.”

He took a deep breath, straightening his shoulders with a frustrated sigh. “You know what, how ‘bout I just drop out?”

“Eddie—”

“No, really. As soon as we come back from break.”

You shook your head, pulse pounding in your temples. “I can’t let you do that.”

“Why not? It would solve the problem, wouldn’t it?”

Your coat was suddenly suffocating, the room closing in like the narrowing space between you as he encroached with another step. “No. I’m supposed to be helping you a-and now I’m just getting in the way.”

Eddie fumed, nostrils flaring. “Getting in the way of what, some stupid piece of paper? I mean what the fuck do I need a diploma for anyway?” He gave a hollow laugh. “W-what you think I’m gonna be like, a doctor or some shit?”

His words were like daggers, aimed at himself but they sank into you. “It’s important to you. I know it is because you would have dropped out a long time ago if it wasn’t. I’m not gonna let you throw that away. Not when you’re this close. Not for me.”

The anger was rising again, building like steam in his chest. “Then what do you want me to do? Stay in school, risk your job?”

You paused for a moment, eyes flicking back and forth over the carpet. “Even if you did drop out, how do you think that would look to this whole town? You suddenly drop out of school and then… what? We just happen to start dating? You don’t think that would raise a few eyebrows? Most of my coworkers know that I’m tutoring you. It’s easy to put two and two together. People talk.”

Eddie heaved a sigh, glaring at the tidy stack of papers on your coffee table, the neatly folded afghan on your couch, suddenly swallowed by the order, the evidence of both of your positions. “Then what should we do?” He felt like he was on trial, like you held a wooden hammer, like he was waiting for it to fall.

In the end, all you could offer was your honesty, like a hollow whisper. “I don’t know.”

It sunk like an arrow in his chest, shocked him with the depth of its sting. “Why not?” The words just shot out, and the pinch in your brow let him know where they landed. “I’m sorry—I mean of course I know why not—like practically speaking but—” His retort was drying up on his tongue, pounding feebly in his chest. “I just thought that, I mean we both—we both have feelings for each other.” A tangible pain flickered in his eyes. “Don’t we?”

“Yes, but—” The words caught in your throat at the sight of him. Those enormous almond eyes that haunted you whenever you closed yours. The way his lips twitched and trembled and begged you to capture and still them. And those hands, capable of so many things. Under stage lights they were sure and nimble, plucking complex melodies with ease and precision. Under fluorescents they fumbled carelessly, left everything they touched either bent, broken, or beaten. Did you trust them to protect you? Trust them with your career, your reputation, your heart? Did he know what he was truly asking you? When you finally collected the words, they came out low, and quivering. “You could ruin me.”

He wasn’t sure what hurt more, the fear in your eyes or the sting of your mistrust. Eddie took a step forward, placing a hand on his chest in earnest. “I would never do that.”

Anger startled you as it rose up, clawing its way out of the grave you buried it in when you slammed your car door shut outside the pawn shop. “I’ve known you for four months, Eddie.” Your lips formed a hard line, tears threatening behind your eyes as you gestured to the boxes in the corner. “I knew him for five years.”

Eddie seethed, a fury rising in his chest at the man who’d hurt you, at the whole situation. “I can’t change that,” he snapped. “I wish I could. I wish I could just-just wave my hand and make it all better. I wish—” he breathed a hollow laugh, “that everything was different. That we’d met at some bar and I was some—some… I don’t know, just some guy instead of some fuckup who needs your help with his chemistry homework.” His voice betrayed him, fracturing the last few words. He swallowed, tears welling behind his eyes. After a deep breath, he finished. “I wish I could change a lot of things, but I can’t. All I can do is ask for you to trust me because the only thing I want in this world is a chance to show you how much I love you.”

The words bloomed in your chest, stung behind your eyes, hung like the aftershock of a bomb in the space between you. All your life you had wanted so many things. All of them ended up stored in boxes, sitting in drawers, held in secret daydreams. Remnants collecting dust. Fantasies no one would ever know. Eddie Munson stood there in your living room and told you that he loved you, and never in your whole entire life did you want something as badly as you wanted to believe him. To tell him that you loved him too. To crash into his arms and never leave. But fear held its icy grip, kept you frozen in place. Tears burned behind your eyes but you buried them too. “Those are big words, Eddie,” you whispered.

Molten feelings churned in his gut, came spewing out before he could stop them. “I’m not illiterate,” he snapped.

“I didn’t mean—”

“I know what this probably looks like to you,” he wavered hotly, nostrils flaring as his mouth became a thin, hard line, though his eyes were welling and wounded. “That—that I’m just some young, reckless guy who has the hots for his—” the last word caught in his throat.

“I don’t think that,” you whispered.

“Then what do you mean?”

The pain in his voice fractured the ice around your heart. “I just...” You breathed a deep sigh, searching for the words in the carpet before meeting his gaze again. “I just need to make sure you mean them, like really mean them, because—” your voice snagged. Through the hot blur, you glanced at your full moving boxes. Your empty Christmas tree. Your empty walls. Empty as the day you left Indianapolis. Empty as the day you moved in. “I can’t do this again.”

The crack in your voice could have shattered him, much less the image of you, shrinking in your stiff wool coat, swallowed by the sparseness of the room. You, trembling like prey, smaller than he’d ever seen you.

“I mean them,” he uttered hotly. “I can’t do anything about your position, or mine, or your past, or how difficult this is for both of us. But…” he drew a deep breath, treading his words like rocks on a river. “I want you to give me a chance. A chance to be like—like a real person with you. Someone who can take you on a real date a-and—” The rest of it snagged in his throat, eyes welling as he swallowed back tears. He clenched his hand into a fist. Steadying himself with a deep, convicted breath, he continued. “I promise you will never have to worry—at least about how I feel—because I love you. And I mean it.” He let it hang in the air for a moment, straightening his shoulders. “All I’m asking for is a chance to show you.”

You closed your eyes, tears cascading down your cheeks as you stifled a sob. When you opened them to a blurry room, Eddie was standing there, waiting for you. In your whole life you could count on one hand all the truly bad things you’d ever done. This, by any technical account, would be the worst of them all by a long shot. But when you searched your heart for the right answer, all you could find were fragmented dreams of the wind in your hair, and your feet on the dash, and his hand clasped in yours, and the wild open road, and every soft, quiet want you had ever locked away. When you finally opened your mouth, all you could manage were two words—broken, half-whispered, terrifying, and true. “Show me.”

Swiftly, like a summer wind, Eddie crossed the room in two quick steps, snatched your face in both his hands, and kissed you. And just like that you were swept away. Stunned and breathless and whole all at once. Crushed between his hands and mouth, hot tears pinching through your lashes to cascade over the rough pads of his thumbs. You blindly grasped for him, fisting the leather of his coat to keep him from evaporating, to keep you from floating away. An exhale shook from both of you—wet and shuddering—as he parted just a fraction, just enough to capture you again. You melted there against his lips, wept like melting snow into his palms, dripping toward the carpet as his thumbs swiped the remnants from your cheeks. It was sniffling and sloppy, messy and real, and here—in the absence of bells, and desks, and lights that made everything wrong—it was the rightest thing that you had ever known.

With both his agent hands, Eddie kissed you for every time he wanted to but couldn’t. A thousand fervent daydreams pressed against your lips. One for every time he saw you in the hall, every time you’d brushed against his arm, every time you’d looked at him with kindness when everyone else saw a freak and a waste of their time.

“I love you,” you whispered against his lips. A shallow sob escaped through the corners of his mouth and you kissed it away, thumbs soothing over his wet cheeks. “I love you.” Kiss. “I love you.” Kiss. “I love you.” And you meant every word.

Eddie stilled against the bridge of your nose and sighed, eyes closed, relishing as the words washed over him like a balm. Your breath mingled in soft pants as you rocked against his forehead, swaying to a rhythm only the two of you could hear. As if on cue, you opened your eyes together and were swallowed by two massive brown spheres.

His thumbs gave your cheeks another swipe before dropping from your face, and yours did the same. You both took a moment to reset yourselves, wiping your eyes and noses on your palms and sleeves, soft chuckles escaping through giddy, disbelieving smiles at one another. His lashes were wet and clinging in a way that made him impossibly more beautiful.

Until now, your touch had belonged to the shadows. A timid trek across the ridges of his knuckles under the cover of a desk. A fenced exploration over the landscape of his ribs in the dark outside The Hideout. Now—in the gentle glow of the lamp beside your couch—you boldly cupped his face with both your hands.

He was real, all of a sudden. The oval face that shot you smirks in the hallway and haunted your waking dreams, now here in the palms of your hands. Dragging your thumbs over the apples of his cheeks, they dimpled with a smile. Warm and flush in the golden light, softer than you’d ever imagined. Every subtle angle of his face, drawn together to make him—the ridge of his jaw under your fingertips, the phantom brush of stubble as you traced it. With gentle awe, your thumbs grazed over the crinkles in the corners of his dark, roving eyes. Real. Here. Yours. Now.

“I read your assignment,” you softly admitted.

Eddie’s eyes widened with a gentle puff through his nose. “Oh yeah, how’d I do?” he murmured playfully. “B minus? I mean I didn’t exactly finish so it’s probably more like a—“

You silenced him with your lips. After a breathless, five second eternity, you parted with a heavy smack and looked him dead in the eyes. “A plus.”

Eddie melted between your palms. Trailing your hands down the soft contours of his cheeks, jaw, and neck, they flattened against his chest for a moment as it rose and fell beneath his black hoodie; steady and strong. He glanced down at your hands through gentle lashes, and then back up at you. With a coy flick of your eyes, you slipped up and over his shoulders, fingers diving under the silken liner of his coat. With both palms, you traced the strong angles, guiding the leather off of them until it thudded to the floor.

There was a single beat before he kissed you. Hard. Drawing the air from your lungs and the sense from the rest of you. When his tongue asked for admission there was no hesitation. You let him in, parting your lips to accept his wet heat, swept away by his current—breaking and cresting over and over. Hands hanging limply at your sides, he captured and devoured you, drawing you into his maw with every slip of his tongue against yours.

Your chest lurched forward as he tugged the buttons of your coat, working them from the thick wool eyelets with an urgency that bordered on frustration with the garment’s existence. His lips parted slightly as he glanced down, noses still touching, panting into the fractional distance as the eagerness of his fingers threatened the strength of the thread. Your mantle fell to the floor in a heap, and his hands—greedy and splayed at your waist—pulled you close.

His kiss came in waves, taking you under, again and again. It was the most delicious thing, to drown. To go slack and let the slick heat of his mouth take you under. You were learning to love drowning. Learning to love the darkness and the lack of air, the crushing of his body, the lapping of his mouth—bringing you to surface just enough before plunging back in. It was safe, to drown with him.

Both hands twisted into his hair, tugging with fervent desperation as need rose up in you like a bubble that had been trapped at the bottom of the ocean, so sudden and consuming. Your teeth dragged along his bottom lip, tugging the plush membrane with a boldness that earned you a groan, a tightening of hands around your waist, a warm, wet tongue which you eagerly accepted. Yours danced against the gummy muscle, tasting everything—the hint of acrid smoke, the wistful sighs that echoed in the cavern of your mouth, the satisfied fulfillment of being truly alone.

His hands were burning through your blouse, splayed open at your waist like he was trying to make contact with every atom, pulling you so close it stifled your breath. There was a whole landscape here, a hill under your soft red cardigan where your back dipped toward your spine. He trekked it with his fingers, up and over, back and forth, feeling the muscle bend to his touch, and the subtle arch in your back when he did.

A feeling prickled through him. Up through his fingers, low in his belly. Desire—so familiar, and yet foreign as it ignited in a way that satisfied this time. There was something else too, rippling through his chest, seating somewhere in his sternum as he dipped his fingers—just the middle and ring—beneath the wool barrier of your skirt. The zipper grazed his knuckles, and he tasted something even sweeter than the strangled moan that ushered past your tongue:

Power.

He did it again. Pressing his fingers into the curve of your spine, splaying beneath the wool and pulling back in a firm grip around the muscle of your lower back, letting his fingers drag firmly over your skin like he was trying to claw through the cotton.

It burned in a slow, delicious way. Burned in a way that made you dizzy, made your pulse jump from your throat and thrum in that low, forbidden place, beating life into a space that could no longer be ignored. You clenched your thighs together, arching your back at the demand of his touch, dipping your tongue into his sopping mouth as a helpless sigh escaped you.

He lapped it up eagerly. Again, fingers splaying, clawing, burning. Like a sorcerer weaving a spell through the fabric—drawing you nearer, making you pliant. He met your sighs with approving hums. Bright, like the timbre of his voice, but the color was deeper, thick with a coaxing desire. They slipped down your throat like water in a desert, leaving you thirsty for more.

There was an animal in you. Eager and starving. Pawing at his chest as his lips slid between yours in a rhythmic cadence. His hand burned at your back, clawing with insistence, warring with the few remaining shreds of his decent will. You obeyed with a cant of your hips, more than was proper, more than was chaste. Your rational mind flickered in for a moment, but the throaty, approving hum it earned you and solid mass of his waist molding and conforming to yours hushed it quickly.

Eddie nipped at your bottom lip—testing, eager. A tingling rush flooded your core, tugged at your wrists like marionette strings, draped them over his shoulders and around his neck. Do it again, you begged with an arch of your back, pressing your chest to the contours of his. Eddie obliged with a drag of his teeth.

There was an animal in him too. Stirred by rocking of your hips, taunted by your boldness. It was like a waking dream, more unbelievable than any fantasy he’d ever had. You, draped around him like a doll, begging him to play. Boldly, he splayed his hand, starting between your shoulder blades and dragging firmly down your soft cardigan as he traced the length of your spine. You, bending like a string on a guitar, molded by his touch to sing the sweet release of your sigh. It ghosted hotly on his tongue, swirled in the pit of his belly. What other melodies were locked inside, waiting for his hand to be expressed?

Boldly, he breeched the barrier of your skirt, palming past the ridge of rough fabric, down, slowly down, over the mound of your rear. He rested there, grabbing with the full spread of his hand. It was sinful, how taught and plump the muscle was, how he’d watched it move for countless days from his station in the back of your classroom, eyeing how it shifted as you leaned on tired feet, etching words onto the board while he memorized your figure. Eddie tightened his grip, drawing upward, letting the swell of it pinch through his grasp.

Music—in the gasp of your mouth against his, the quick suck of air hushed by his lips, relinquished in a sigh. Guiding you closer, rocking you into him with the strength of his wrist, repeating the motion, reveling in the waves he made with every grapple of his palm.

The ice in you was melting, tingling to life like a limb half asleep, radiating through the pinch of his hands to that dormant place again. He was using both of them now—spreading and massaging as his tongue probed deeper. Your arms relaxed, limp on his sturdy shoulders, eyes closed, letting him do as he pleased—mold you like putty in his palms. Letting him lead you with the dance of his lips. Letting him sway you to his own silent rhythm. Letting him, letting him.

It was like a waking dream to feel him in this way. To feel the angles of his body rock into yours, timed with the rhythm of his mouth. Such sensual movements coming fromthe man whose heated glances often gave you pause to wonder. It was a fantasy you could get lost in. Words—as they had been since you had met—were too bold, too brash, too loud. But here, you could tell him anything you wanted. So you told him, whispered the deep desires of your heart with a slow grind of your pelvis. He answered with a moan—sticky sweet, rippling across your tongue and down your throat.

Your arms released slightly from their seat atop his shoulders, unable to mask your delight in the softness of his curls against your wrists and fingers, how the ringlets slipped through them like silk. How desperately you’d longed to touch them. How suddenly evident that was.

It felt so good to feel him with the wholeness of your hands—free now to wander wherever they pleased. Possessed by the animal stirring inside you, they padded up the ridges of his neck, tangled in the hair at the nape and tugged.

Eddie groaned into your mouth, surprise and delight ghosting hotly on your tongue. It jolted in the space between your legs, aching alive with every movement of his body, every sigh and sound. It ached for more, curious about what else you could coax out of him. Breaking from his lips, yours traveled south, over and under the ridge of his jaw, delighting in the barely-there brush of sandpaper stubble as you tracked it, the way he tipped his head to expose the pale column of his neck.

His scent was so present here—concentrated, rich, and sweet all at once, clinging to him in the delicate oils of his skin and hair. It spoke to you in a silent language, one that the animal in you was fluent in. Heady and intoxicating with green lights, and safety, and irrepressible desire. You pressed your lips to his neck, inhaling deeply as his pulse thrummed with life beneath them. It was a chaste and reverent gesture, honoring his life-force with your mouth as you trailed slowly down.

Eddie sighed at the contact, closing his eyes, presenting his neck to you like a feast. It occurred to him here—in the fuzzy, swirling mush his brain was becoming as the blood rushed south—that he had never been kissed like this before. So reverently and lovingly, as if you painted worship with your lips.

Tendons rippled as he swallowed, and the animal in you stirred to gather a taste. Starting with kitten licks, innocent flicks of your tongue peppered between kisses against his beating flesh, so salty and musky and sweet. His chest dipped in a sudden exhale against yours. Tightening your grip in his silky curls, you angled him to you, jaw unhinging with a mind of its own before swiping a long, greedy trail up his tendons.

“Ohh—” The sound leapt out of Eddie’s throat, surprising even himself. Not that he would have wanted to catch it. He wanted to let you know, wanted to ensure that you continue.

You tasted the velvet vibration under your tongue. Felt the release of his hands, the warmth at your waist, dipping under your cardigan to feel you as closely as he could. Buried in the shadow of his hair and scent, you continued your trek—licking and kissing while his palms pressed you closer.

Eddie was turning to putty by the second, all logical thoughts escaping out his rushing ears like steam. The animal was stirring below his belt; stretching and yawning, tingling awake. Suddenly he was clawing at the starchy cotton barrier, digging up the fabric from where it was secured beneath your skirt.

The air was cool all of a sudden there, tingling from exposure but quickly soothed by a clammy warmth. The animal in you preened, arched into his touch, dizzy from the contact with your skin. It bared its teeth, dragging them slowly along the column of his neck with the next pass of your lips.

“Oh fuck,” Eddie groaned, unsure in his haze whether it was from the rush of your teeth or the bareness of your flesh under his fingers. Finally. Lids twitching as his eyes rolled back in his head, a memory flickered in—a bustling, crowded hallway. You, standing front of his locker clutching books in your arms. Him, ushering you forward. The first time he’d ever touched you here. He had stored the memory away safely, memorized the dip of your waist under his palm, played it over and over until it wore out like an old tape. Your skin was alive under his fingers now—smooth and warm and real and reacting.

With one hand resting on his shoulder, your other twisted deeper into his hair. Silk between your fingers, nails grazing up the back of his skull. You mumbled nonsense into the wet trail of his neck, nipping and kissing and licking, tasting his swallow as his hand splayed across your skin. There was a whisper of perspiration at his hairline as the room became incredibly hot all of a sudden.

You were reacting. Arching under his fingers, growing bolder and bolder with every pass of your mouth across that incredibly sensitive spot. It made him dizzy, stupid. Absolutely set his blood on fire. With a slow, upward swipe, his hand climbed the column of your spine—up, up, up—until his fingers grazed the clasp of your bra. Jesus Christ. It was hardly the first time he’d touched a bra, but it was your bra, and you were the one reacting beneath it.

Eddie was reacting too. He could feel himself unfurling in his boxers, rising fully to attention. God damn it, Munson. It’s just a bra for crying out loud. But there was no hope of taming it now, not when your teeth were grazing that sensitive spot that made his entire body flush with heat. It throbbed as your tongue dipped below the collar of his shirt, your hips so dangerously close. He wasn’t exactly ready to give you an anatomy lesson, fearful it scare you with its realness somehow.

But you were gone, lost in the smoke-acrid scent of his clothing, in the salt of his skin yielding under your tongue, in the hiss of his breath as it left his lungs. Lost in the warmth of his hand sliding down your bare spine. Pressing raw, wet kisses to the humming stretch of his neck, you concluded that you couldn’t feel nearly enough.

You captured his mouth again, and this time the kiss was open and hungry, sweeping and led by your tongue. Hands breaking from around his shoulders, you trailed over the firm swell of his pecks, down his ribs, around his waist. You pawed down his back with a slow, greedy swipe, admiring the firmness of his muscles under the thick cotton, the way his hips tilted from the pressure as you neared his belt. You did it again, more pressure this time, trekking your pelvis upward across the landscape: stiff denim zipper, steel belt buckle, and—

A hard jab to the hip.

Eddie gasped into your mouth and drew back in horror, lips gaping and sputtering the beginnings of an apology. “I—um—”

Your eyes flicked down at the tent in his jeans, unable to stop yourself. “It’s—it’s ok, we were just—”

“Yeah I know, but—” he swallowed, face like a roaring furnace under your gaze. His hand twitched with the impulse to cover himself, but he redirected it behind his neck, wringing it through his hair with an embarrassed laugh. “I got a bit carried away.”

Your eyes shot back up to his and you fought to keep them level. “No, it—it was me. It’s ok, we can stop—”

“I don’t want to,” Eddie blurted out.

Your eyes widened, lips parting as the gravity of his words set in. It was suddenly quiet enough to hear the clock ticking in the corner, the heat rushing through the vents in the floor.

“I think that’s um,” he sucked his lip, glancing to the side before meeting your gaze again, “kind of the problem.”

The look in his eyes was darkly threatening, brimming with a wild heat. A feeling stirred deep in your core, something like fear but it fluttered and trembled like yearning.

“We can if you do though—want to stop, I mean.”

It was suddenly so real—Eddie Munson standing in your living room, offering himself to you in this very bad way. You wanted to think you’d be good, but as the words left his kiss-swollen lips, all you could think about was how badly you wanted to know how it felt.

Eddie just stood there, forcing his shoulders back against the fear closing in around his heart as he awaited your possible rejection. He followed your eyes as they slowly scanned his form, flushing under your gaze, suddenly so aware of himself. It was a look he’d never seen on you before, a heat that simmered beneath curious amazement.

He wanted you to look.

In all your years of discipline, there had always been a series of events in between you and a moment like this. Coffees, dinners, chaste kisses outside the door of your apartment. It was a long time before you let anyone in, and even still, it had only been one man. One whose cues and advances had become familiar. Predictable. Monotonous. Boring.

You wondered what he looked like under there; that forbidden line protruding under denim, attentive and alert, made ready by your touch. An offering to you, if you would have it. You thought about his skin under the bulk of that sweatshirt as his chest rose and fell, how good it would feel pressed to yours in the dark. How you ached to feel him move in that way. How badly you wanted to know. So terribly bad.

Finally, you whispered the truth. “I don’t want to stop.”

Eddie’s eyes widened, face falling in near disbelief. Suddenly he felt like a dog that caught a car.

Show me, your voice echoed in his mind as the carpet, and your records, and your tree came into focus. Show me, as the lamp beside your couch painted your features with soft anticipation. Suddenly, a dam broke, flooding him with images of Fs thrown face up on a small desk in front of him. Of folded arms and disapproving glares. Of a corner somewhere with his back to his classmates as they played with blocks and snickered as he sulked in time-out.

Show me.

The memories coiled in his belly like a serpent, struck him with a fear that if he did, you might be disappointed. But the way you were looking at him—like a virgin on prom night with your wide eyes and fingers tangled in a knot in front of you—made it all subside.

Slowly, he closed in, umber eyes flickering with a blended hue of want and trepidation. His hand came to your cheek, delicate fingers tracing your jaw as if you would disintegrate beneath his touch. When you didn’t, his thumb grew bold enough to swipe across the apple, palm sure enough to cup your face, angling it upward to meet his lips. It was chaste. Reverent. Different, somehow, than any other kiss you’d shared. His exhale mingled with yours as you melted against his mouth, hand snaking around your waist to pull you close. Every angle of you against every angle of him. No gaps.

And then he showed you. Open mouthed, tongue scooping in a desperate rhythm with yours. The kind of kiss that left you bruised and breathless. You tasted every aching unsaid word between you, cupping his face to capture all of them. Tasted the power of his want, the demand of his tongue dancing against yours. The taste was deep, heady and complex with the knowing where all of this was heading. He showed you with his palms, clawing at the fabric of your blouse, bunching it up to slip his eager hands beneath it.

He showed you with a roll of his pelvis, hardness pressed against your hip, splitting your mouthes into a shared sigh from the satisfaction of the friction. It rippled through every dormant part of you, blooming deep and low. Heat raced to your cheeks, heart thumping in the cage of your chest. It occurred to you then, how deeply love and fear were intertwined. How tangled fascination was between them. How desperate you were for him to show you. Desperate to feel every inch of him. Desperate to experience it all. You responded with a tilt of your hips, reveling in the feeling of his length as it dragged, in the delicious sin of it all. And his touch transformed you, made that deeply-buried need rise up in you full-force.

You kissed him deeply. Eyes closed, swaying under the direction of his palms, tongue dancing in time to his rhythm. How good it felt to just be led, how satisfying his leadership tasted. Abandoning all thoughts, listening only to the soft desires of the animal in you. Yes. Good. More, it whispered. You arched your back, grinding your pelvis sinfully along his length, lost in the feeling.

Eddie was gone. Consumed. Possessed. Directed solely by the need to feel that delicious friction spark and soothe. He braced you, tightly gripping your rear, guiding your movements just how he wanted. Suddenly—as if something snapped in his brain—he was pivoting you in a 180 motion to trade places. Lips breaking only to glance where he was going, he backed you into the wall shared by your kitchen.

“Mmnh!” The noise was pressed out of you as your back met the solid surface. Eddie descended on you, lips locking with your neck, pelvis pressing you firmly to the wall. His hand wandered down your right leg, hiking it up around his hip for better leverage. And you just let him. Pliant like prey, encouraging his savage nature with your sounds.

It was a position you had never been in before—skirt pooling at your hip, thigh-high stockings and panties exposed like a scene from a book you’d gotten in trouble for reading back when you were in high school. It was something you’d resigned to fantasy, to dog-eared pages illuminated by a flashlight under your blankets. Suddenly you were on the cover—chin tipped toward the ceiling, head dragging against the plaster as Eddie trailed a dizzying path down your neck. He pressed you into the wall with a grind of his pelvis, dragging his stiffness along your most intimate seam. You groaned, eyes rolling into the back of your head as the last remaining shred of goodness dissolved. What was left spoke only the language of desire. A language that felt native, yet foreign, like one you learned before words. Before rules and desks and pencils and report cards and curfews and diplomas. Before your goodness forced you to forget.

It almost hurt, in the best way though—his fingers digging into your thigh, the muscles threatening to cramp as you squeezed your heel under his ass to hold your position, sweat tingling the back of your knee. A fair price for how good he felt there. Even under the barrier of the stiff denim, you could feel the way he tapered off, the fat ridge of his cockhead as it rutted over your mound. Firm and insistent.

There was a fire in you—alive and insatiable. Stirred awake with every pass of his hips, by the look on his face when you met his eyes—savage and dark, pinching in pleasure, mouth hanging open like he wanted to devour you. His curls were a curtain between you and the light, a shadow both of you could hide in, swaying in his ragged breath. You snaked a hand over his shoulder, tangled it in his mane and gripped hard at the back of his head.

The sound he made was somewhere between a purr and a whine, thick and desperate as he met flesh below your ear again. It rushed through every cell of your body—dizzying, pulsing through the veins in your hand as you raked your fingers across his scalp. You arched against the wall, straining to present your neck to him.

It was almost too much. You, in his clutches, writhing under the drag of his teeth, the scent of your skin and clothes, the tingle of your nails against the base of his skull. Eddie’s hand wandered down your thigh, swept up in the current of that doughy flesh and the mound of your cunt with only cotton and denim between you. He broke from your neck to get a look at you—stiff blouse disheveled, wool skirt rumpled, skin sinfully exposed, that heavy-lidded, fucked-out look you wore better than all of it. All by his doing. Your breaths exchanged in silence for a moment as his pelvis kept the pace; slow and undulating. His mouth became a gaping O, brows pinching as he reached the apex of his movement before drawing back again.

There was a scent hanging in the air between you. Warm and heady. Deep and complex. One you recognized surely as your own. It was emanating from under your skirt, from that slick, throbbing place. Heat burned your cheeks as Eddie inhaled deeply through his nose, eyes pinching, mouth parting in recognition.

You. So warm and rich and you. Even through the barriers he could feel a slickness, a non-resistance as he thrusted upward over your mound. It drove him absolutely crazy, made the part of his brain that spoke only the language of friction and pheromones take over, made him tingle and twitch and clench with that tell-tale sign of immanent conclusion. Eddie had to brace the wall, close his eyes, collect himself before he lost all sense of control.

“Oh Jesusfuck—” he panted, “I—ohgod—mmm-hmm-hmm—” Eddie trailed off with a crazed and slightly nervous chuckle, biting his lip as he mustered every fleeting ounce of self-control to draw back from the edge. His cock protested, weeping furiously at the denial. Blood was racing through him at an alarming rate. Sweat tingled his forehead, his chest, his hand still locked under your knee. The animal in him was chomping at the bit, pleading for him to unlatch his belt, undo his zipper, push aside those white cotton panties and slide home. He stiffened his jaw. Clawing into the wall, he hung his head with a sigh. “I want you,” he gritted. “You want me?”

The words throbbed. Buzzed. Ached. You looked up at him fuzzily and responded without a second thought. “Yes.”

“Here?” he breathed before sobering to his own suggestion. “Fuck—sorry.”

The lewd heat of his question sent a pulse deep and low, a question that the animal in you had no qualms about answering. But the human in you wanted so much more.

“Forget I asked that, I’m just—hah.” He lowered your leg with a deep sigh. Delicate curls clung to the sides of his neck, tingling from perspiration. He cleared them with a wring of his hand, chest heaving beneath a sauna of clinging cotton. “Just need to cool down.” Suddenly he was tugging up sweatshirt from behind his shoulder blades, pulling it up and over his head. It hit the floor with a thud. His shirt went with it.

He stood there for a moment, filling the silence with his breath as you drank him in; a landscape of smooth, pale skin. You swallowed a rush of feelings coursing through you at the prospect of his bareness. A whole new world to your eyes. Ink mapped the space under his collarbone. Delicate curls dusted the valley between his pecks—subtle hills which plateaued to rows of heaving ribs. You followed the trail of dark hair below his navel until it disappeared beneath his belt. A breathtaking vista.

His skin drew you in like a magnet. Stepping into the sphere of his radiant heat, you traced the swell of his pecks with your fingertips, flattening your palms against the smooth, warm terrain. His heart pounded beneath them. Living, breathing, and bare. With a coy, tentative finger, you traced a path over the ink beneath his collarbone, offering a soft chuckle at the cartoon zombie there.

“I think he likes you,” Eddie joked, mentally kicking himself the moment he said it. But your smile only grew.

“That’s good, I think I like him too,” you offered playfully, tracing the lines of its wispy hair as your teeth caught your bottom lip.

“Good, ‘cause uh,” Eddie snaked a hand around your waist, eyes crinkling warmly, “he’s not going anywhere.” His words were so suddenly earnest, trailing to almost a whisper.

You melted, eyes flitting to his with a foreign but effortless sultriness as your fingers walked the ridge of his collarbone down into the valley between his pecks. You raked over the delicate curls dusting the path, nails dragging bluntly against his skin. A wonder to explore.

Eddie’s expression darkened at the gesture, filled with a sudden awareness of his own body, his own solid strength reflected back at him through your eyes. Carding your fingers through the whisper of hair, you flashed him a glance before trailing lower. The sensitive skin of his stomach rippled softly under your touch before you hopped the ridge of his navel, entering new territory.

Thick, dark hair spread between your fingers—down, down over the swell of his belly, following the trail until it disappeared below his belt. There was a hesitance, a coyness that colored your pause before you tucked them curiously beneath it, feeling soft curls against your knuckles. Eddie swallowed thickly, eyes growing wide with anticipation, flitting to yours like a dare.

A strange, thrilling darkness coursed through your hand, gripped his belt buckle and tugged. You were mesmerized by the flex of his abs, by the buck of his hips in response. His nostrils flared, and a sharp puff ghosted over your arms. The tip of his cock almost grazed your palm, flexing against the black denim, perfectly outlined, flooding you with that darkness again. Pulsing deep and low, it bared its teeth and purred its next command.

You obeyed, dropping your hand to the space between his legs. Eddie’s breath hitched, hands freezing in flexed position at his sides. The denim seam stretched out like a runway beneath your fingertips, bulge heavy and round on either side, hot and humid. It was sinful, the way his balls drew upward under your touch, how clearly you could feel their outline, their weight. It filled you with that irresistible darkness, a badness that swelled as your hand trailed upward. His anatomy was evident even through his jeans—roughly six inches, stiff and thick, veering off to the side to seek space inside the tight cage. The ridge of his tip plumed under your palm, fat and damp as your fingers trailed behind. You swallowed, throbbing at the realness of it all.

Eddie hissed, rapidly disintegrating as he watched your hand trace his cock like it was the most mesmerizing thing you’d ever seen. And it was. Watching him fall apart as your fingertips reset themselves under his package, as they drew slowly across every aching inch. The way he twitched as you neared his leaking tip, the strangled sound trapped behind his bitten lips. You pressed against him firmly, dizzy from how sinful this all was, from the ridge of his tip so evident under the denim, from how badly you ached to feel it raw, feel it sink between your thighs and fill you. A purr rippled in the back of your throat as you offered him another slow stroke, pausing at the tip to draw a slow, firm circle with your thumb.

“Holy fuck—“ he breathed, tipping his head back toward the ceiling as his most sensitive nerve endings wept alive. He was desperate—for you, for your touch, for any friction you could offer. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he should stop you. But that voice was distant, tiny, barely a whisper. What was louder was the rush of satisfaction emanating from under your thumb.

The darkness was growing in you—coiling in your abdomen and stretching through your fingers as you watched his Adam’s apple bob with a thick swallow. Fluid seeped through the denim, and your contact with it flooded you with feelings that made you want to rub harder, faster, to draw other things out of him.

A strangled groan caught in the back of his throat as Eddie tried to tamper down the feelings rising up in him again. The ones that tightened deep within his body, made him twitch and buck his hips to seek your hand. The friction was delicious, overdue, a feeling he was both desperate and fearful to chase.

“Mmm, yeah?” you purred with a voice you almost didn’t recognize, sliding your thumb right under his heart-ridge where it met his shaft, rubbing up and down in short bursts.

“Yeah,” he choked. It was his favorite spot. The one that sent fireworks straight to his brain, made his brows pinch and knees turn to jelly. He closed his eyes, lost in the feeling, drifting away until the sudden absence of your hand had his eyes snapping open. He whined, flooded with equal parts relief and disappointment.

The rise and fall of his stomach had your body suddenly—violently—crying out for the warmth of his skin against yours. Fumbling with the top button of your cardigan, you slipped it free, working the others until it peeled off of you to join Eddie’s sweatshirt on the floor. Heart hammering with eager anticipation, your fingers met the starch of your blouse.

“Wait—”

You froze over the top button.

“I wanna do it,” he uttered.

Hands falling to your sides, you granted him permission with a dip of your chin.

Slowly, delicately—as if sudden movement would cause you to flee—he feathered the stiff collar with his knuckles, brushing it back to expose the slope of bone beneath it. Tracing the stitching down to the first button, he padded the bone-white plastic, ushering it through the slit with his trembling thumb.

You swallowed, heart pounding under the intensity of his gaze as the V in your shirt grew deeper. How soft his eyes were—wide and alive but dipping in a way that could only be described as reverent.

He worked the next button free, exposing a pink satin bow at your sternum, breath fanning the skin beneath it in awe. Like a pearl in the shell of your blouse, nestled between two heaving cups. Unable to help himself, he brushed it with the ridge of his knuckle, smiling as his chocolate eyes lit up.

It was beautiful to watch—the subtle twitching of his cheeks, the angles of his working hands, the curious amazement hiding under his lashes as he exposed you. Such careful movements from a man who could destroy you.

It was nothing like he had imagined. In his countless daydreams involving him taking your clothes off, he’d failed to capture the subtlety in it. The shy dip in your eyes, the rippling of your heated skin as it met the cool air, the brush of peach fuzz hair under his knuckles as he slowly worked you free. So alive. So real.

When he was finished, he stepped back and admired his work, checking in with a meeting of your eyes before continuing. With a warm brush of his hand, Eddie slipped the stiff fabric over your shoulder, exposing your bra and the soft, forbidden slopes of it all. You shrugged off the blouse like a shell you’d outgrown, let it fall from around you till it crumpled at your feet.

You stood there a moment as he drank you in, a sense of power rising in your stillness like a statue at a shrine. With a dip of your eyes, you granted him your divine permission.

Eddie traced the strap with his finger; a shimmering runway of elastic. He’d seen it once before, stored it safely in his memory—black and daring like caution tape, taunting him at a distance as your lips popped from a bottle in The Hideout. Here it was baby pink, rising and falling with the swell of your breath as your lashes dipped shyly toward his roaming hand. He tucked a finger beneath it, impossibly soft skin gliding against his knuckle as he ushered it off of your shoulder.

Your smile was unstoppable, puffing softly through your nose at such an innocent gesture, the way it made his eyes light up with boyish wonder as the straps yielded to his touch.

Eddie swallowed thickly, heart racing as his fingers walked along the underwire ridge, across the well-washed pilling satin under your arm and around your back. He located the clasp, eyes dipping down into your cleavage with anticipation as he pinched you free.

The cage fell, straps trailing down your arms until it landed on the ground between you. The chill of the air had you reacting; puckered and alert as you bravely drew back your shoulders.

Eddie’s mouth fell open.

There was a coyness in your smile that surprised even yourself. A sudden rush of girlishness watching his hungry eyes roam your figure. Not because it was the first time a man had seen you like this, but because it was the first time a man had looked at you like this. Flickering between boy-like awe and man-like heat, you realized that you had never felt more beautiful exposed.

They weren’t the first pair Eddie had seen. Between all the magazines under his bed and the few real girls that had been desperate or curious enough to show him, he had seen all shapes and sizes. Yours were different. Yours he had memorized from the back of the classroom, dreamt about with his elbow propped against the small desk. Yours had existed as only speculation from stolen glances in the small chair next to yours, as a fantasy just out of reach.

Jesus.

Christ.

Eddie blinked hard and swallowed. The details were mesmerizing. Holy in their you-ness. The pebbled skin which puckered into hardened peaks, their unique color, the soft flesh around them. Full and round. Rising and falling with shallow, anticipating breaths. Impossibly real. Impossibly you. You, who he adored from far away, trusting him enough to bare yourself up close.

Tracing a featherlight knuckle along the soft underside, Eddie flicked up to your eyes with a heat that could have melted you. All you could muster was a fluttering sigh, and he took his cue. Cupping your breast with his whole hand, he drew his thumb upward across your nipple, watching the peak of it bend to his touch and pop from underneath it. Mesmerized. On the downstroke he captured it against his forefinger, pinching and rolling the sensitive peak.

A soft hiss escaped you, strangled and desperate to escape. His touch sent a jolt that buzzed through your whole body. All rational thoughts were just noise now, fading away as the angles of his hand came into focus. His hand. There was a roughness to it, a calloused graze that sparked pleasure with every pass. Timid at first, but growing bolder. Through the thickening haze, you watched him watching you—those lust-blown eyes under heavy lids, his features pinched in reverent disbelief. A look he wore unspeakably well.

Eddie swallowed. It was absolutely brain-blanking—the soft, supple skin yielding to his thumb as he cupped that forbidden curve. How your back seemed to arch as though you were a puppet and he held the strings. How your chest—your chest—rose and fell to a rhythm of his making. So much power in a single digit. He extended it in tight circles, studying you, committing every atom to his memory. But watching you slip between his fingers was nothing compared to the look on your face. Your pinching brows, your bitten lip, your begging eyes. A puddle, rendered by his touch.

With sudden animation, both his hands splayed wide, palms clamping over your breasts to grapple in a firm squeeze. Your skin dimpled like dough between his slowly tightening fingers. He did it again, relishing in your fullness, watching with rapt attention the way they yielded to his digits; heavy, soft, and round. Licking his lips, he removed his hands, hovering just above your nipple to rasp a question. “Can I kiss you here?”

“Yes,” you managed, struck with a sudden pang for the fact he even asked. Your answer barely faded out before he descended on you, pressing his pillow lips around your peak, flicking out his wet tongue, taking you into his furnace mouth. You heaved a deep sigh, eyes rolling back into your head. It tingled like a limb that was asleep. You hadn’t known it though, not until he’d kissed you there. It occurred to you—in the thickness of your haze—just how many parts of you had been sleeping. For how long was uncertain, but as you thawed under his touch, the rest of you begged to know what it was like to feel awake.

Eddie lathed his tongue around the peak, pressing his hands to your back to draw you closer, as if he couldn’t possibly be close enough. A hunger had arisen in him, one he’d suppressed on a daily basis since he first laid eyes on you. It coursed through his veins as he latched, surged into his fingertips as he dragged them down your back. His lips locked tight, tongue flicking over that attentive bundle of nerves, sucking it. He was gone, lost in he arch of your back, the heave of your breast against his chin on your sharp inhale, the reward of your moan on your exhale. And just like that, he devoured you. It was sloppy, careless, and yet somehow deeply reverent. The unhinging of his jaw, the way he dragged his whole tongue across your nipple as his bottom lip trailed behind, lathing and sucking again and again until he’d had his fill of one and transitioned to the other.

You’d never had a man consume you in this way; devour you like he was starving. No desire had ever possessed you this badly. But for him, you were a willing feast, and it had never felt so good.

Your nipple left his lips with a pop, eyes darting darkly to yours as he panted through the hanging O his mouth became. This sparked a hunger in you; a fierce desire to taste him again, to feel his bare skin against yours. As if both of you shared the same thought, your bodies collided, slotting at the hips like a puzzle as his arms coiled around your waist. You captured those puffy lips again, delighting in the wet heat behind them. They pressed fervent wishes to yours, ones too bold to utter but distinctive in their taste. His mouth found a rhythm, ferocious and insistent, tongue sliding home against yours, in and out.

Excitement turned his body to a live-wire at the feeling of your bare curves pressed to his, animated with a sudden urge to rid you of the rest of your clothing, to drag you to the bed and make you his. Images zapped through his brain at lightning speed, raced through his blood with every pump of his pounding heart. Suddenly his lips were at your collarbone, lathing a hot trail up the ridges of your neck as the heat sung through his veins. It came out as a mumble against the skin below your ear. “Bedroom?”

It was one word. His voice. So heavy and colored with lust that it tingled through your entire body. A million images shot through your head, rippled and throbbed with the want to experience every one. Eddie paused there for the answer, breathing hotly against the skin of your neck, pressing insistently into your hip. It was a sobering word, and yet the weight of it clouded all logic. The clock ticked on in the corner. Your pulse hammered in your ears. The animal in you responded, met his eyes, took his hand, and led him down the hallway through the door on the left.

It was dark in there. Between the glow coming in through the cracked door behind him and the street lamp shining through the slats of your blinds, Eddie could make out the shape of a dresser, a desk, a bookshelf, the rectangular mass of a bed against the wall to the left. And you—a soft silhouette—stopping in the center of the room to look at him.

There was a small part of you that still could not believe you were about to do this. That Eddie Munson was standing in your bedroom, shirtless and heaving his breath as the faint hallway light made a halo of his frizz. He shut the door behind him, leaving you both in near darkness. There was a pause. A space filled with both your anticipating breaths for just a beat until he descended on you, and then there were no thoughts anymore.

Suddenly it was like you were drunk at a party. Between the wet smacks of his crushing lips, you could almost hear the thud of the bass from the living room, the din of voices bleeding into one outside the door. Every party you had never attended, every bad thing you had always craved to do—flashing behind your eyelids as his kisses intoxicated you.

You surrendered completely. To the fantasy, to desire, to him—parting your lips, receiving his tongue, giving in to the rush of his skin pressed to yours, the waves of him taking you under, his crushing arms around you. In the dark, all hesitance dissolved, all trepidation vanished. His mouth was hot and insistent. His hands, completely in charge. A whine escaped your lips, one that you had never heard before. It was needy and desperate and only stoked the fire in his kiss.

Desire spoke plainly, simply. A language you were learning with each pass of his demonstrating tongue. Soft syllables of “yes” and “good”. Sounds that transcended meaning, reverberated in your chest and throat, distilled down to its essence—love. Pure and true. Rising with each breath. Singing in your veins. You were learning to listen. Learning to forget all you had been taught. Learning to remember. When all was dark and there was nothing left but desire, there was so much to hear, so much to feel, so much to learn, and he was a masterful teacher.

Desire spoke volumes through your fingertips; clawing across the thick muscles of the back of his neck as you collided. It spoke in verses in the breath exchanged between you. Soft stanzas in the rush of skin-on-skin. It moved in daring undulation, a dance laid dormant in your bones, sparked to memory by the soft hair below his navel, by his strong arms around you.

In the dark, there were only feelings. The tangle of his curls around your fingers, the angle of his jaw between your palms. The friction of your dewey bodies pressed together, nipples dragging against the sparse hair of his hammering chest. The muscles of your hands and mouth burned with desperate heat. Every nerve heightened. Every cell aware.

Eddie lead the dance with his hips, his tongue, his impatient fingers—free to seek and roam. It was like every fantasy he’d ever had about you was coming to life beneath his palms. In this one he didn’t need to imagine. It could have been any of them—backstage in a dressing room after a sold-out show, at a hotel somewhere along a desert highway, right here in your bedroom just being real people. There was a boldness that came over him, an agency the darkness provided, one where he could be the sort of man he always dreamed he was. One where his hands were sure and stable, never fumbling. One where he impressed you with his prowess, rendered you awestruck and proud.

Breaking to kiss his neck, you savored the oily sweetness of his skin, the richness of the scent emanating from under his arms—musky and spicy and so indescribably him. You’d caught it a few times in the past when he’d propped his head in his hand on the desk, or stretched toward the sky against the stiff wooden chair. It made you dizzy, filled you with a pang so deep you had to bury yourself in the textbook to sober you human again.

Presently, all rational thoughts were clouded by the tightening of his biceps around you, the tendons rippling under his skin as he swallowed. You flicked out your tongue to taste them, pawing down his smooth back, dragging your nails over his shoulder blades, down, down, down over the dip in his spine, the muscles of his lower back.

In the dark, only the animals in you remained; ferocious and insatiable. Yours felt like nipping at his jaw, his clawed impatiently at the zipper of your skirt, yanking it down, working it free to pool at your feet. You stepped out of it like an old skin, kicking it toward your dresser. Feeling for the zippers on your boots, you steadied yourself on Eddie’s shoulder, tugging them down with a few clumsy hops before toeing them off. Tossing them into the darkness, they clattered against your dresser before thudding to the floor. The same with your stockings, which landed somewhere by your desk.

Eddie’s kisses became sloppy, erratic, barely a split second before his sweaty palms descended on your rear. They clung to the thin cotton fabric—one at each cheek—and dragged slowly, tightly upward. The burn was delicious, stoking the fire in you as the delicate cotton bunched under his palms to expose you.

“I have a condom in my wallet,” he mumbled into your neck.

The words struck you dumb, dizzy, rippled up your spine to loll your head backward. He reset his hands, fingertips raking over your naked flesh, clawing into you like dough. All you could respond with was a thick, fuzzy laugh as your cheeks splayed under his touch—back arched, chest sparking against his, brain quickly turning to putty.

There was no masking his delight as he clawed the cotton fabric, spreading your cheeks like dough under his palms. How pliant you were. Eager. A willing landscape for him to explore. His fingers trekked lower, dipping under your cheek until they brushed a hill of wet cotton. Eddie choked on the sound leaping out of his throat, zapped senseless with need. Snaking his arm around your back, he swiped his fingers slowly over your mound. You were saturated. Soaked through to slick between your thighs. For him.

The thickness in his breath could have rendered you to ash. You arched your back like a cat in heat; fluttering open, throbbing with emptiness. The sound that came out of you was unrecognizable, rising from that deep, foreign place to purr against his neck. You were learning how much you liked this position—like a ragdoll in his arms, eyes closed as his finger dipped under the seam of your panties, as it slipped against your folds. You loved the way he explored you—heated but tentative. Loved how it made you feel—desired, craved. Loved most of all how it made him react, his breathless cursing, how now two of his fingers were spreading and sliding, parting your folds, exploring your heat. It felt unbelievably good. You spread your legs a little, hoping to encourage one of them inside you.

But he didn’t. Instead, his hands retreated. Eddie sucked his fingers, eyes pinching as he savored your tang. They left his mouth with a pop. “I need you, now. Like—like right now,” he wavered thickly. Metal jingled, leather snapped against his palm. There was a pop of a button, the sound of a zipper, a sigh of relief that ghosted over your face. He shoved his jeans down around his ass before pausing with an irritated huff. “Fuck, my boots.”

“Let me,” you offered, crouching down until your knees met the carpet. You felt for the laces, padding around his ankle to find the loops, impatiently digging your nails into the tight double knots to work them free.

It was all he could do just to look at you. You, kneeling before him, fumbling and cursing and so incredibly real. When you finally pried the boots off his ankles, you stood up on your knees, eye-level with his open zipper.

The moonlight bleeding in from behind your curtains made his pale skin glow, accenting the dark trail below his navel. It looked delectable—the swell of his belly before it tapered off to dip below the waistband of his boxers. You pressed your lips to it, nuzzling into the hair before your teeth caught the swell of fat under his navel. It flinched against your lips with his gasp.

You couldn’t help yourself anymore. Your fingers—so trained in good behavior—were suddenly behaving very badly; moving on their own, dipping between his legs to cup his balls. They lurched against your hand, sliding up on either side of the humid cotton. Show me, you begged with your hand as it tracked slowly upward. It felt so bad, in the best way bad could feel. The carpet burning into your kneecaps, the jagged metal zipper grazing the backs of your fingers as you traced upward, the burning stretch of his hardness underneath the cotton, the soaked plume of his tip. So unbelievably bad. Your eyes darkened, and your nose dove into the checkered fabric without a second thought. All remaining fragments of your rational mind were melted by his musk into a fuzzy haze that only understood one thing. It spoke in flutters and wet, aching throbs. Your hand returned beneath his package as you began to track kisses up his clothed, attentive length.

Eddie’s breath hitched, belly ripping in your peripheral as your lips met the ridge of his tip. You pressed a lingering kiss against the soaked cotton. “Fuck,” he hissed, tipping his chin toward the ceiling. He gasped when he felt the warmth of your tongue bleed through the fabric. “Oh—ohhhmyfuckinggod.”

His whine was almost enough to unravel you. Dragging your fingers coaxingly under the weight of his sack, your tongue got acquainted with his tip, flicking up under the fat, heart-shaped ridge, tasting the slick reward which you lapped through the fabric. It was bad. So terribly bad, yet nothing had ever tasted as satisfying or sounded as sweet as the ragged sighs your bad behavior earned you.

You purred, giving him a couple generous pecks before your fingers wedged under his waistband.

Show me, you said as your cool fingers met his molten skin, and Eddie found the strength to open his eyes and look down at you. You, from a thousand aching fantasies kneeling before him with heavy lids and mouth agape as you peeled down the fabric to free him.

It was a proud thing. Holy in its him-ness. Like a singular painting, the motifs were consistent; a collection of lines and shapes that came together to make him. In the plume of his tip you could almost glimpse echos of the wide, pink bow of his lips, the ball of his nose. It curved attentively upward, bobbing with his breath as you admired it with equal parts reverence and heated curiosity until your hand closed the gap.

There was a breath you both let out together, a silent oh breathed in unison at such intimate contact. Eddie had to bite his lip, close his eyes, tip back his head toward the ceiling as your fingers—the ones he’d ached to touch a thousand times—so intimately explored him. He assumed he was not the first man you’d touched in this way, but the way you were grazing with such delicate wonder gave him pause to consider.

Desire flooded your entire body, heightened and exhilarated, tingling with curiosity. Fingers trailed over velvet veins, eyes alight as your knuckle swiped upward along the underside, testing its weight and reactivity until it met the dimple of his weeping ridge. A whine left Eddie’s downturned lips; a guttural plea to continue. Obliging, you gripped him, tightening as he bucked into your hand, velvet skin gliding under your firm grasp. “Mmmm,” you purred on an upward stroke, a darkness rousing in you from his complete undoing.

Eddie half-buried his face in his hand, fingers raking across his scalp as your thumb breeched the ridge, padding over his most sensitive spot before circling his slit. “Ohh fuck,” he moaned. “Jesus fuck.”

It wept under your thumb, sticky and gushing another wave of arousal as you squeezed. “You like that?” came a voice you’d never heard before but liked the sound of.

“Ahhhh-hah,” he breathed a crazed laugh as his balls twitched from the friction and the sound of your voice saying that.

His tip was soft and rigid all at once. Slick and inviting to your thumb. You couldn’t stop yourself from rubbing it, from delighting in the way he bucked and melted and breathed under your touch. Your other hand dipped curiously, zipper scraping your knuckles, hair so soft against your palm as you cupped his sack—heavy and actively tightening against his body.

Eddie’s eyes rolled back into his head, heaving a breath from the pressure mounting inside of him. The animal in him was desperate to chase it—to clench, and spill, and explode—but he wanted to be good for you. Good like he always imagined. He wanted to make your back arch, your toes curl, to drill you till your claws drew down at his back until you howled with your own release.

Mesmerized by his display of pleasure, you pumped your hand, twisting slowly at the top, delighting in the way he rutted into your grip, how effortless his hardness slid within your grasp, the way his breath hissed from behind clenched teeth.

It felt so good. Ungodly good. Too good. Biting his lip, he sent a silent prayer toward your popcorn ceiling, searching for something—anything—in his bank of horrible memories to bring him back to Earth. But as your thumb settled into the spot that had him seeing stars, a sudden wave of fear crashed over him. “Stop,” he barked, hand clamping tightly on your wrist. “I’m gonna—hah—oh fuck.” Eddie hissed a long breath, drawing himself back from the edge with every last ounce of his will.

“Sorry,” you breathed, releasing your grip. His clammy grasp lingered a second before letting go.

“No, don’t be sorry, fuck, I just—” he released a slow, steadying breath through pursed lips before continuing, “I just don’t wanna totally ruin this. Know what I mean?”

You did, and you imagined it for a second; pumping his cock, feeling his balls twitch against your palm as he exploded to paint your chest white, how it would cream under your fingers as he painted the ceiling with the colors of his voice. It drove you mad with wanting, but the throb between your legs was more demanding.

“Don’t get me wrong, it—it feels really good. Just… a little too good,” he said, wringing a hand behind his neck.

With a sensual flick of your eyes, you tugged his jeans and boxers down until he was able to step out of them. Eddie extended a chivalrous hand, and you rose to your feet. Effortlessly, as if they belonged there, your lips found his in the dark, drawing his face between your palms and planting a kiss that lasted a whole breath. His lips parted, tongue seeking yours as his fingers found the waistband of your panties. He looped them through the leg hole with a pointed tug that had you stumbling into him.

“Mmm?” he mumbled against your mouth.

“Mmhmm,” you sighed.

He peeled them off of you, leaving a wet trail that clung to your inner thighs as they passed your knees and ankles. Breaking the kiss, you kicked them aside.

There was a single beat as you both stood naked in the darkness, just breathing as you drank each other in. Bathed in moonlight, stripped away to reveal the truth of what you had been all along: simply a man and a woman. Then, suddenly, as if a trigger snapped in both of you at once, there was a collision. A smashing of lips, a tangle of arms, a slotting of hips as you entwined.

Your whole body came alive at once, zapping with life as his velvet length pressed to your hip, zinging as his lips tracked down your jaw to seek your neck. It was bliss to come undone, to loll your head back and just give in. To let him lead the dance toward your mattress. To let his hands cup your rear, spread your legs and wedge his thigh between them. To let him do whatever he wanted. The sparse hair of his leg sparked along your delicate flesh. It had you clawing at the muscles of his shoulders, arching your back, grinding your pelvis in a way that would have put the novels you kept in your nightstand to shame.

Eddie propped his foot against your the boxspring of your mattress, kneading his hands against your ass as he made a meal of you. The wet trail you left against his thigh had his brain short-circuiting, leaving nothing but the animal in him to grapple with the living fantasy of you, naked in his arms. He could not possibly touch you enough. There was not enough flesh on his palms, nor nerves in his whole body to feel you in the million ways he wanted to at once. All at once, every fantasy he’d ever had, crashing like a tidal wave as his hands steered your hips in real time.

It felt better than you’d ever imagined; the rush of his bare skin under your palms as they glided down his back, the estranged pleasure mounting where his thigh met your most intimate seam, the friction of his teeth against your neck. You were drowning in the most delicious way. Drifting toward some place on the horizon that spoke only the language of heavy palms and panting breaths. Letting him carry you there.

You whined when he lowered his leg—quickly replaced by his hand, spreading and exploring, breaking from your neck to watch it happen as his mouth became a silent, hanging O. There was a fire in his blood that was mounting, throbbing in his temples, blinding him with need as his fingers parted slick hair, carded through your folds, slipped against your eager entrance. Every inch of you. The fever broke, and the sliver of his brain that had urged patience snapped silent. Now, a much deeper voice barked. No more waiting. No more wanting.

Your calves hit the edge of the mattress, sending you tumbling backwards onto the chilly comforter. Eddie was quick to pounce, climbing on top of you, prying your legs open with his. You fluttered eagerly, melting into the heat of his chest as he pinned you to the bed—trapped in the sweetest cage of his arms.

In the course of your relationship, it was always your position that had wedged itself between you. Yours, behind the big desk. His, behind the small one. Your position—a thing at risk of being lost. A mantle. A standard for you to uphold. This one defied them all. Wrong, by all technical accounts, but in all your life, nothing had ever felt so right as your position beneath him.

You breathed together for a moment, chests expanding into one another, foreheads pressed together, exploring the bridge of his nose with your own. Thighs splayed open, heart beating rabbit-fast, completely at his mercy. A faint terror whispered in the back of your mind at the prospect of his bareness, at the ways he could ruin you. And yet you ached for ruin all the same.

Eddie’s tip kissed the wet heat of your lips and the animal screamed from the base of his brain to push. But he caught the hitch in your breath, the way your hips flexed backward in response. He bucked reflexively but stilled, biting his lip with a pained huff. “I’m not—I’m not gonna, I just…”

A soft sense of trust flooded in as Eddie drew a deep breath, dragging himself through your folds. It was a delicious sort of torture, the ache enough to drive you mad. Empty and thrumming with anticipation at the prospect of fullness so near. Drowning in the fantasy of him sinking deep, of feeling him leak from you later. You whined, drawing your fingers down his back as his hips rolled slowly. So dangerously close.

It took all of his strength to hold his position, all his control to keep from sliding in. He liked how it felt; you beneath him, writhing in the cage of his arms. He liked the little sounds you made, how evident your wanting was, how he could feel you almost take him in, how his cock would dip ever so slightly against your entrance like you wanted to. He was stunned by it, delirious from the rush of sensation. “Hmm—” he winced after a few more agonizing seconds, “fuck, I can’t take it anymore.” Peeling himself from your body, he shifted off the side of the bed with a creak of the mattress and into the darkness.

You laid there on the comforter, staring dazed at the ceiling as he padded across the room. Lifting your head to glance, it struck you just how real this was, and yet more startling than his naked form making his way across your bedroom was how comfortable you felt with all of it. How at peace you were as his belt buckle jingled from the darkness, as his pants returned to a heap on the floor, as his wallet snapped shut.

It was suddenly all very real—the cool sheets under his knees as you drew back the comforter, the condom wrapper crinkling between his fingers as he felt for the jagged grooves, the anticipating silence filled with both your breaths. The soft metal split, and he fished the rubber from the package with a trembling finger. Tossing the wrapper into the darkness, he felt for the nub that indicated the tip, the ridge that indicated which direction it should roll. He’d done this enough times to know by now but for some reason it felt like a foreign object; clumsy, slippery in his hands as he grasped himself. Finally, he got it; pinching the nub to roll it down over his flinching tip, he unraveled it until it was flush with him.

You watched his silhouette quietly through the frame of your legs, heart kicking up with a sudden, surprising nervousness as you felt the warmth of his hands on your knees. He resumed his position, settling between your thighs, propped on his elbows. The return of his warmth was a welcome thing; comforting and soothing, familiar and indescribably correct. You both laid there a moment just breathing. Just being. Sobering to the tickle of his bangs against your forehead, the sweat beneath them as you rocked against it, the tang of salt when you captured his lips.

A sudden wave of nerves coiled through his belly as his tip kissed your entrance again, how it gelled with the rush of desire, the fire licking through his veins. His arms trembled under his own weight, the anticipation, the now-ness of it all. “Ok,” he breathed, “you want me?”

You swiped down his face, clearing the stray hairs that clung to the sides of his mouth and sweaty temples. It was easy to answer. Easy to admit. “I want you.”

It soothed him like a balm, washed over his trembling shoulders, his hammering chest. Imbued him with an urgency that had him splaying his knees, rocking his hips, and inviting himself in.

There was a pressure at your entrance—a filling of that aching space that had you seeing stars. When he asked for admission there was no hesitation. You welcomed him with open thighs and hands that tracked the muscles of his back as you received him in one slow thrust. Your inhale stuttered at its crest, caught in your throat before hissing from your lips as you ached alive, ached awake. Finally, with no resistance. Only the sparks of ineffable pleasure as the emptiness inside you was filled at last.

A shudder escaped both of you at once, something closer to a sob. Yours directed toward the ceiling, his ghosting over your neck. You stayed like this a moment—locked, seated, stunned by the pleasure of your joining.

Eddie hung his head with a groan, curls waterfalling around your face as he rutted impossibly deeper. He could have died here, buried himself and made you his tomb. He was crumbling, coming apart, actively deteriorating from the warmth of your body around him, from the all sensations of you, from the stunned satisfaction flooding through every inch of him. Finally, it cried. Finally, finally. The edge was close, a few pushes away. He could feel the components preparing, desperate for release, begging the rest of him to push, push, push. His whole world was spinning, threatening to collapse in on itself. Dragging himself away from the edge with a deep breath, he reeled in the parts that threatened to unravel at at the way you accepted him. How effortless it was, how tightly you hugged him, both inside and out. How your palms gripped his shoulders, soft inner thighs like a cradle for his hips. He swallowed thickly, blinking hard to open his eyes up to you, beneath him, around him like a home he’d been missing his whole life. Finally, he allowed himself to relax into the feeling, to let his weight fall against your belly. Flush with every angle, gasping into the soft crook of your shoulder.

You drew him impossibly closer, tucking your ankles under his rear, raking your fingers across his scalp as he settled. The fullness was ecstatic, the stretch so deep it was like he was burrowing behind your navel, radiating dull pleasure from the space he occupied. It was a perfect fit. Tailor-made to reach the points that pined for pressure in both of you. So full you felt like you could burst. So full it prickled at the corners of your eyes, exited your downturned mouth in a gasp—a silent prayer, a thank you toward one that was answered. One you had asked for in secret, pressed into the folds of linen napkins, whispered into the ceiling of The Hideout as the stage lights touched your face. You could have stayed like this forever, merged and crystalized. Deliriously, you prayed you would, and yet you ached to feel his love animated. To be battered by it. Bruised by it. Bullied by his fierce, frenetic love. By an energy you had glimpsed in stolen moments, witnessed him harness on stage, tasted in the smoke on his tongue.

Eddie raised his head to look at you, admiring the shading of your features in the near darkness, the bliss painted across your lips, your heavy lids. A waking dream. You tipped your chin, feathering his mouth with yours; sensual, playful, eager. He brushed against your parted lips, twin breaths mingling in soft pants before an urge arrested him. It was loud and all-consuming, shouting from the base of his brain, seizing his hips to draw back and roll forward. It had both of you seeing stars, grunting soft exclamations into the fractional distance between you. The sound and the friction gelled like a gas to feed the fire coursing through him, igniting a fierce urge to move, to show you, to deliver his promise.

And just like that he was gone. Possessed. Arrested by a driving need that had him hunkering forward, rocking his hips to a rhythm older than either of you could imagine. Familiar, ingrained, and almost involuntary. The pleasure had him drilling down to chase it; open-mouthed, eyes pinched, swept away by the current of his own making. He was dizzy with it. Lost in it. Fisting the sheets as his hips met your thighs with quick, heavy smacks. Desperate and frantic, hurtling toward his edge at a terrifying speed.

A moan was punched out of you—guttural, gasping. One that had your neck craning against the pillow as your chin reached toward your headboard. And you just held on; winding through his hair, dragging drown his back, drowning in feeling. Tight ripples of pleasure radiated from every thrust, stirring something so deep you had forgotten you had buried it—the fear that you would go your whole life and never feel this way. It bubbled up through your sternum, burned at the corners of your eyes, surfaced in strangled sounds at the back of your throat.

The friction roared like wildfire between you, and a tightening deep in his body warned him with flashing lights that looked red but felt green. A blended hue of pleasure and fear coiled its way through his abdomen, but he was consumed by you—warm and wet and tight around him. Gasping to his rhythm, making music that he’d never heard before. He harmonized with it, quickening his pace with grunts through gritted teeth. His mind was a swirling mess, forearms burning and trembling, sweat dripping down his neck, but none of it even registered in the wake of blinding pleasure. So good. So fucking good. How badly he wanted to show you, to hear those sounds escalate to screams.

You sobbed a moan, splitting at the seams as time and sense slipped away down the current. Unraveling like a spool of thread rolled down a hill. Becoming blissfully undone after a lifetime of being wound so tight. Pleasure sparked through your channel, tears flickered in the corners of your eyes. It felt as though you might break open. “Eddie,” you whined, clawing into his shoulders as you arched against the mattress.

It swirled between his ears, rushed down his spine to throb in that deep, low place. His name, your voice, this way. There was a kick inside. A switch that flipped. An urge that he was helpless but to follow, unable to control. His heart rate quickened, breath heaving as he spiraled down a tunnel with nothing to brace but the mattress. “Oh fuck, oh god, oh no, OH—”

It was the moment right before the release that was the sweetest. The tingle he could feel radiating from deep inside like a big yawn. He drew a deep breath with a skyward tilt of his chin, and for a few precious seconds there were no thoughts; no guilt, no shame, nothing at all in the midst of his blackout collision with pleasure. Eddie fisted the sheets, lurching forward as he slammed into you.

Colors. Vibrant and rich. Painting the air between you with each shallow gasp. Escalating in pitch toward a spectacular display. It poured out of him. Every ounce of frustration, every bottled feeling, every unlived fantasy, erupting all at once. He buried it inside you. Hips pressed flush against your thighs, burrowing deeper with every pulse. Wave after white-hot wave. Crashing over him, coursing out of him with open-mouthed gasps. Waves of relief so good it threatened tears.

It was breathtaking—the hue of each pitch. Sharp inhales through gritted teeth that melted into deep grunts on the exhale. Each twitch ignited inside you—sparks that had your eyes rolling back, had you drawing your knees toward the mattress to take it all. You grappled his shoulders, nails bluntly dragging down his sweat-kissed skin, grazing up the back of his neck as his moans faded to soft whines. So full.

There was more. Still more. Coming out in dribbles now, petering to heaves with nothing left behind them. The spasms sent sparks inside you, and you fought to savor them—spreading wider, tucking in your ankles under his rear to draw him deeper. Finally, he collapsed, ragged with relief. He stayed like this a moment. Spent. Deflated. Chest expanding into yours as sharp pants dulled to steady breaths.

Slowly, Eddie raised his head from where he’d hung it, sobering to the clock on your nightstand. It mocked him with glowing red numbers, of which he hazily calculated that only three had passed since he’d put the condom on. A surge of guilt rushed into the vacuum that pleasure left behind. “Fuck, I’m so sorry, I couldn’t—” he winced, hips jerking in the echoes of his climax.

His words almost didn’t register through the fog of your bliss. “Sorry?” you breathed, blinking back into the room.

“I—” he flinched again, fisting the pillow beneath you. “I came like, immediately. And you didn’t.”

“Oh—oh no it’s ok,” you soothed, running a hand down his back. “It felt unbelievably good. Like… the best I’ve ever had.”

Eddie heaved a sigh, overtaken by a strange mixture of shame for himself and pity for you. Suddenly he felt like he was back in your classroom, like you were ignoring his spelling mistakes, praising the C he got on his chemistry test. He shifted his weight, becoming increasingly aware of his chest sticking to yours, of the hair clinging to his neck, of the rubber around him straining with his own fluid, tight in the midst of hypersensitivity.

He was quiet. A tense sort of quiet you’d seen from him before. Slowly, gently, your fingers found his temple, stroking away the sweat, tracking down to cup his jaw, settling just under his ear as your thumb busied itself with his soft cheek. “Eddie,” you whispered.

It was soothing. Attentive. The kind of touch a hurt child might receive. A touch he’d craved for longer than he cared to admit, yet in this context, it was the last way he wanted to feel. “M’ gonna make it up to you,” he mumbled. Drawing on his quickly waning strength, he peeled himself from your body to sit back on his heels, still inside you.

It was almost a shock—how chilly you felt in the absence of his weight. How bare and vulnerable. A soft cry escaped you, arms drawing around your body to shield against the cold creeping in.

The sound stirred him, dredged up and compounded the gnawing disappointment in himself. The nagging sense that he was fucking this up too, just like he did everything else. Desperate to hear something more satisfied, his fingers found your clit, drawing tight circles there. But you were still reeling in the pain of his absence, could still feel the shame radiating from him, and it dulled any chance of good feeling.

“Stop, Eddie—” You grabbed his wrist. Eddie sighed sharply through his nose, stilling his hand.

It was flooding in now, that hot tingling feeling he’d felt countless times under the fluorescents. How he’d fucked it all up, how he was making it even worse now. He could feel himself start to go soft, the condom becoming loose, sticky and uncomfortable. He drew back his hips to exit, but your knees locked around him.

“No, please—” The tears were close, right there. Stored from moments before in the height of your pleasure, just waiting behind your eyelids. You took his hand and tugged it gently toward you. “I just want you.”

There was a twinge in his chest that burst at your words, at how they wavered and threatened to crack. At how honest they were, how they felt to hear coming from you. Lead by your hand, he gave in—to gravity, to exhaustion, to a weight he’d carried for so long it seemed to be a part of him. Settling on top of you, resting his cheek against your sternum as heart thrummed steadily in his ear. The pain in your voice still echoed there, the thought that he’d caused it, unbearable. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

You shushed him, stroking over his temple, clearing the hairs that clung to his face. “There’s nothing to be sorry for.” Your lips found the crown of his head, pressing a long kiss there, inhaling the soft scent that filled you with an indescribable warmth. “I love you,” you whispered. “I love you.”

The words reverberated through your chest into his ear, softening the clench in his jaw, the tightness in his shoulders. Eddie took a shaky breath through his nose. “I love you so much,” he wavered thickly, “I just—I just want to show you—”

It nearly broke you; the pain behind his words, the sudden realization of where they came from. You shushed him again, thumb soothing over his cheek. “You have.”

A knot released in his chest, undone by your careful fingers, exiting as a shallow sob he’d been harboring for longer than these last few moments. For longer than he could remember. The weight of it shook you, but you still remained. Solid, tangible, real as he collapsed into you, a haven for his tired bones to rest. It was all ebbing now—the adrenaline pounding through his veins since the moment you got in his van, the heightened sensations across every inch of his body, the sudden rush of pleasure, crashing all at once. Softening everywhere. A numbness settled over his limbs, all doubts ushered away by your thumb.

And then it was quiet. Absent of even the hum of the heat through the vents. Engulfed in a protective darkness with nothing but the sound of your own steady breathing—slow and soothing. Chests rising and falling against one another, lulled by a rhythm only the two of you could hear.

His hand found yours in the dark, trailing across your wrist, sliding up your palm to lace his fingers between yours. The bones of his knuckles filled the empty space with a comforting stretch. Just like he’d done a dozen times in the shadows, like he’d done a thousand times in your daydreams. You squeezed back tightly, and for a still, silent moment, there was no separation. No gap to close between what you had and what you wanted.

It was good like this. Alone. Together. Stroking his temple, feeling the crinkle of his smile against your palm, the cadence of his breath as it slowed nearly to sleep. Drifting off to some place on the horizon where neither of you had been before. Who knows where it would take you, what perils awaited out over the edge, when the sun eventually rose, when the halls filled once more with the echos of a hundred voices watching. But for now, there was only the soothing sound of your breaths, the rhythmic thrum of your two tired hearts as you drifted there together.

______

Taglist: @mermaidsandcats29 @toxicjayhoo @ooo-protean-ooo @jadequeen88 @wroteclassicaly @kissmyacdc @raccoonboywrites @storiesbyrhi @trashmouth-richie @carolmunson @keeponquinning @blueywrites @alottanothing @bebe07011 @alizztor @godcreatoreli @ethereal27cereal @munsonsgirl71 @mrsjellymunson @emxxblog @siriusmuggle @sidthedollface2 @dollalicia @lma1986 @catherinnn @eddiemunson4life420 @readsalot73 @big-ope-vibes @3rriberri @princess-eddie @nightless @eddieswifu @thew0rldsastage @chaoticgood-munson @hanahkatexo @eddiemunsonsbedroom @beep-beep-sherlock @averagemisfit03 @vintagehellfire @haylaansmi @sllooney @lunaladybug734 @callingmrsbarnes @ajkamins @mimsthebannished

There will be a celebration hosted by the lovely @teddiemunson86 and @ladylilylost on their discord server next Sunday, Sept. 1st at 2pm EDT where I will be talking about the chapter and what the future has in store for our forbidden lovebirds! If you're interested in joining, the link to the server is here. I also frequently post snippets and memes in the discussion channels. Hope to see you there!

📝 MASTERLIST ⎮📖 AO3 ⎮☕️ KO-FI

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson fanfiction #eddie munson older reader #eddie munson smut #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x teacher!reader #stranger things fanfiction #eddie munson angst #don't stand so close to me #dssctm #eddie munson hurt comfort

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tired-truffle · 3 months ago

Text

Even the Gods Cry For Us

A Viktorxfem!reader fic

Chapter Word Count: 4.2k

Part 2/17

Tag list: @im-just-a-simp-le-whore (if anyone else would like to be tagged with future updates let me know!)

“You poor thing. Sweet, mourning lamb. There's nothing you can do. It's already been done.” - Ethel Cain

Masterlist

Nothing killed the mood like the growling of one’s stomach. When was the last time you ate? Yesterday morning? No, you hadn’t been able to stomach anything after Sky’s…had she died only two days ago? And her spirit, once trapped in the Hexcore, had you truly managed to free her? Your magic was greedy, it stood to reason it wouldn’t want to let her go - but you hadn’t the faintest idea how you could figure that out.

The cupboards were bare, not a single crumb or drop of water left in the house, and you had quickly run into a dilemma; Viktor wanted to venture out to find food, and more importantly water, but your body was weak and uncooperative. Your legs gave out as you tried to descend the stairs, landing on your backside as you slid the rest of the way down. Mortified, you’d tried to stand again, only for your knees to buckle and send you back to the floor. Viktor had fretted over you, descending the stairs behind you at an alarming rate, and you were sure that he would follow your path. But his new body was improved in coordination and stronger than yours. Once he’d ensured you were alright, your magic already at work to numb any pain, it became clear that neither of you felt comfortable leaving the other alone. But the dry, sandpaper-like feeling in your throat reminded you that water was essential for survival. Damn it.

“It’s too dangerous for you to go out there alone,” you insisted as he helped you sit up, his arm under your shoulder. “We don’t know enough about what I did to you, what if you get stuck out there? I won’t know where you are.”

“I’m aware of my capabilities, Milá. I will be back before you know it.”

“You don’t know that,” you pressed, your voice hoarse from dehydration, “we’ve seen how unpredictable my magic is. It’s too much of a risk.”

Viktor sighed, his metallic fingers gently squeezing your shoulder. "Milá, we don't have much choice. We can't both go in your condition, and we can't both stay here and wither away."

You knew he was right, but fear clouded your judgment. The memory of Sky's fate was still raw, a festering wound. Not to mention you’d almost lost Viktor as well.

"There has to be another way," you insisted, your voice rising. "We just need to think—"

In your agitation, you waved your hand and as you did, a shimmering distortion appeared in the air before you, coalescing into a large pitcher filled to the brim with clear, cool water. It hung there momentarily, suspended by some unseen force, before gently settling onto the floor between you and Viktor.

You both stared at it, mouths agape, minds struggling to process. The pitcher sat there, a perfect image of innocence and purity against the backdrop of dusk and muck. It was almost surreal, as if it had been plucked from the lab and dropped into this unexpected setting.

“Did I do that?” You inched towards the pitcher, suspicion wrinkling the skin around your eyes.

“It wasn’t me,” Viktor offered unhelpfully, and you shot him an unimpressed glare.

With a hesitant and careful movement, you reached out to touch the pitcher, quickly retracting your hand as though it might bite when you hit the smooth surface.

Viktor’s eyes were full of sparkling curiosity as he observed the mysterious object. “There is only one way to ensure its safety.”

“Which is?” You’d barely gotten your question out before Viktor had snatched up the pitcher and brought it to his mouth. His throat bobbed as he swallowed down a generous amount of the clear liquid.

“Viktor!” you shouted, panic crashing through you and the web of your magic pulsing its concern - a few squeals had you glancing around for those damned sparks, but they remained elusive.

He chuckled, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand to clear away any lingering droplets. “Human experimentation may be frowned upon, but it’s an exceptionally accurate test,” he remarked. “That and I was very thirsty.”

“That’s not funny,” you hissed, snatching the pitcher from his hands and holding it close to your chest, your bottom lip jutted out in a childish pout.

“It’s a little bit funny.” The corners of his mouth curved upward into a sly grin, causing a flicker of irritation to flare up within you.

“What if it’s poison? Just cause it looks like water doesn’t mean it is.” You sniffed the pitcher, the smell of the porcelain the only scent you caught.

“Given that I’m still breathing, it’s safe to say that it’s at least not a fast-acting poison. I also trust you not to summon a jar of poison.” He gestured towards the pitcher. “You should drink, Milá. It is important for your recovery that you remain hydrated.”

You were well aware of that, given how many times you’d burned yourself. And you were incredibly thirsty, your lips dry and cracking, your tongue feeling like it was made out of sand.

With a quick glance at Viktor, and then back to the pitcher, you lifted it to your lips and let the cool liquid flow down your throat. The refreshing taste brought relief to your parched mouth, and even if it turned out to be poison, you didn't care anymore.

When you finally lowered the pitcher, gasping for air, you noticed a secretive smile playing on Viktor’s lips.

"What?" you asked, copying his motion from earlier and wiping your mouth with the back of your hand.

"Nothing," he replied, reaching for the pitcher. "I'm just glad to see you looking more…alive."

You rolled your eyes, though that didn’t stop the affection that spread through your chest. As Viktor took his turn drinking, you felt a sudden pang in your stomach. Right, you were also starving. Water alone wouldn't sustain you for long.

Your stomach growled loudly, causing Viktor to pause mid-sip and raise an eyebrow. "I suppose water isn't quite enough, is it?"

Embarrassed, you shook your head. But you had an idea; if you could summon water, why wouldn’t you be able to do the same with food? Focusing on the space in front of you, you willed a plate of food to appear just as the pitcher had. You pictured a steaming bowl of stew, some crackers, and maybe even a slice of pie for dessert. Your brow furrowed with concentration, but nothing materialized.

"It's not working," you grumbled, your fists clenching - and swiftly unclenching when a spasm of pain made it through your numbing barrier and up your arm.

Viktor set down the pitcher and scooted closer to you. "Perhaps we're approaching this the wrong way," he mused, his analytical mind already at work. "What were you thinking about when you conjured the water?"

You thought back to that moment, trying to recall your exact state of mind. "I was…scared. Worried about you going out alone. And I wanted there to be another way."

Viktor nodded, his expression thoughtful. "And now?"

"Now I'm just hungry. And annoyed that it's not working."

Viktor chuckled, soft and patient. "Ah, there's our problem. Your magic responds to emotion, not just need. When you summoned the water, you were feeling protective, weren't you? You wanted to keep me safe."

You nodded slowly, beginning to see where he was going with this.

"So," Viktor continued, taking your hand in his, "let's try focusing on positive feelings. Think about how good it will feel to eat, how it will help us both recover."

You closed your eyes, letting Viktor's words wash over you. You thought about shared meals in the lab, and late-night snacks as you pestered him with questions that he never seemed to mind, the simple joy of eating with someone you cared about. As you concentrated on those memories, you felt a tingling sensation in your fingertips.

"Milá," Viktor's voice was soft and you leaned towards him instinctively. "Open your eyes."

You did, and there before you was a small feast: a tureen of fragrant soup, a loaf of crusty bread, and even a modest chocolate cake. Not exactly what you’d had in mind, but wonderful nonetheless. The sight and smell permeated the mildew of the old house, making it feel a little more alive and welcoming.

"It worked!" you exclaimed, reaching out to touch the bread, just to make sure it was real. The crust crackled under your fingers, still warm as if fresh from the oven.

"Remarkable." Viktor leaned in to examine the food more closely. "Your powers continue to astound me."

You couldn't help but beam at his praise, a warm flush creeping up your neck. But the growling of your stomach quickly reminded you of more pressing matters.

"We can study it later," you said, already tearing off a chunk of bread. "Right now, I'm starving."

Viktor helped himself to some soup, and you found yourself momentarily distracted by the way his thick eyebrows furrowed slightly as he blew on the broth to cool it down. But your hunger would not be ignored for long, and you were quickly brought back to the task at hand.

You ate in comfortable silence, at the bottom of the steps, not bothering to move to a more suitable location - there really wasn’t anywhere else anyway. As the food hit your stomach, you found your sour mood vanishing beneath the warmth that rose at the sight of Viktor, alive and sort of well, eating with you on the floor of his childhood home.

“I can’t believe you've been calling me Darling all these years and I never even knew.” You broke the quiet as you polished off the last bites of your meal, lightly nudging his foot with yours. “Who even does that?”

He smiled wide and brimming with affection, and you thought you may swoon from the sweetness of it all. “A besotted fool.”

A rosy blush spread across your cheeks and over the tips of your ears.

“Though, I must admit that I got a little flustered and used the wrong conjugation,” he said with a sheepish grin, a light red tinge running up his neck. “It should be miláčku, if I am using it to address you. Miláček would be used when talking about someone.”

“Oh,” you thought on it for a moment. “Well, that’s not too bad.”

He cleared his throat, finding a keen interest in the corner of the ceiling. “It is also, ah, a male term of endearment.”

You stared at Viktor blankly for a moment. Then, like a dam bursting, laughter erupted from deep within your chest. It started as a giggle, then grew into a full-bodied guffaw that shook your entire frame. Tears sprang to your eyes as you gasped for air between peals of laughter.

The absurdity of it all hit you in waves. Here you were, sitting on the dusty stairs of a dilapidated house, having just conjured a meal out of thin air, learning that the man you'd been pining after for years had been calling you by a male pet name this entire time. The juxtaposition of the profound and the ridiculous was too much to bear.

You clutched your sides, your ribs aching. You tried to speak, to say something witty or clever, but every time you opened your mouth, another bout of giggles overtook you.

Viktor's face flushed an even deeper shade of red. "I panicked," he admitted, running a hand through his dark hair. "But it could have been worse; my mother called broučku."

Wiping the tears from your eyes, you managed to collect yourself enough to ask, “What does that mean?”

He grinned, finally meeting your gaze. “Little beetle.”

You gasped, your eyes widening with delight. "Little beetle? That's adorable!" A matching grin spread across your face, imagining a tiny Viktor scampering about. "Oh, I can just picture your mom scooping you up and calling you her little broučku!"

Viktor's brow furrowed, his lips pursed in a mock pout. "I'm not a teeny insect, thank you very much. I'm a respected scientist and inventor."

You giggled at his indignation. "Even if you were the world's smallest bug, I'd still love you," you declared. "I'd build you a terrarium and everything. It would have little beakers and test tubes, maybe a tiny chalkboard for your calculations."

"Well, I suppose that wouldn't be so bad," he conceded, his metallic fingers drumming a gentle rhythm on his leg. "Though I must insist on proper ventilation.”

“Only the best for you, my little bug,” you crooned with saccharine sweetness.

Viktor's lips quirked into a smirk. "I’m shocked to find out that you could hold such feelings for an insect. I better not see you cavorting around with any of the spiders in this house. Some have particularly large backsides that I cannot compete with."

The mental image his words conjured was too much. You dissolved into another fit of giggles, imagining Viktor sizing himself up against a portly arachnid.

"I don't know," you managed between gasps, wiping tears from your eyes. "Those spiders are pretty tempting. All those legs, you know? Very sexy."

Viktor's eyebrows shot up, a look of mock horror crossing his face. "Milá! How could you? Here I thought we had something special, and you're off fantasizing about eight-legged womanizers."

You leaned in close, your nose nearly brushing his. "What can I say? I like my men with an exoskeleton."

Viktor's laugh was rich and warm and you revelled in it. But as it subsided, a comfortable silence settled over you both. The mirth lingered in your eyes, softening into something warmer, more tender. You found yourself studying Viktor's face, tracing the lines of his jaw, noting how the fading light caught in his amber eyes.

“You can call me Miláček or miláčku,” you said. “I like both, even if they’re technically meant for men. It’s just my name, regardless of its meaning. I don’t think anything else would fit at this point.”

"I'm glad," he said, barely above a whisper. "Though I think I prefer miláčku. It suits you better."

His metallic hand reached out, hesitant at first, then gently tucked a stray strand of hair behind your ear. The cool touch sent chills down your neck, but it wasn't unpleasant. If anything, it heightened your awareness of how close you were sitting, your knees almost touching.

“It seems silly now,” you leaned into his touch, “to let it go unsaid for so long.”

His smile softened, and you scooted closer, knees knocking together, needing to be near him. “I didn’t want to burden you with my impending death more than I already had.”

You wrapped your arm around his waist, leaning into his side. “You have never been a burden, Viktor.”

“Still,” he doubled down, “it didn’t seem fair of me to confess my feelings. I worried I’d only hurt you more in the end. You deserve to live a long and happy life with whomever you choose.”

You paused, the slight crease of a frown tugging at your lips as you tilted your head upward. Your eyes followed his gaze towards the door, noticing the tension in his jaw as he deliberately avoided looking directly at you. “Do you blame yourself for this?”

He pursed his thin lips, sighing as he looked towards his feet. “You were hurt during the explosion at the council that I attended, and then, to save me from my body’s failings, you endangered yourself, used the Hexcore and almost—“ he cut himself off, clamping his mouth shut. “Now, you’re stuck in the abandoned slums of the Undercity because I brought you here. I fail to see how that is not my fault.”

With a flicker of playful familiarity, you mimicked a move he had frequently used on you. Gently, your fingers grasped his chin and turned his face to meet yours, a slight dip of your head allowing your eyes to meet his downcast gaze. You smiled almost shyly as you brushed your thumb across his bottom lip, feeling the cracked texture beneath your touch. “It was my decision to save you and the rest of the council from the explosion, just as it was my decision to absorb the Hexcore to save you. And it is still my decision to be here with you. I don’t care where we are, as long as we are together. Don’t think for one moment that I regret getting more time with you. Besides, it’s not like either of us could go back to Piltover looking like this.”

His lips parted, staring at you as though you hung the sun and the moon and scattered the stars across the night sky. “I appreciate you attempting to absolve me of my guilt, but I had a part to play in all this too.”

He held your right hand in his, palm up as he traced the now healed - thanks to the Shimmer - burn scarring your skin. It had been the consequences of the first time you’d tried to heal Viktor with the Hexcore.

“Maybe,” you said nonchalantly, “but I don’t blame you for it.”

“No, you blame yourself, which I would argue is not an improvement.”

“Then we will both have to work on absolving ourselves of guilt. It happened, and there’s nothing we can do to change that.” Easier said than done, but it was a start, if nothing else. “All we can do now is move forward and try to do our best.”

“Wise words from a woman who only moments ago was pouting over potentially poisoned water,” he teased, brushing his nose against yours.

You narrowed your eyes. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten that little stunt. You owe me for the mini heart attack you gave me.”

Viktor grinned, promise glinting in his amber-hued gaze. “I’m sure I can figure out some way to make it up to you.”

Your heart fluttered at Viktor's suggestive tone, but exhaustion quickly dampened any amorous intentions. You settled for nestling closer, breathing in his familiar scent as your eyelids grew heavy.

The days that followed blended together in a haze of rest and recovery. You found yourself able to conjure food and water with increasing ease, though you couldn’t figure out how to choose what you got. One morning, you woke to find a steaming plate of eggs benedict waiting for you, complete with a delicate sprig of parsley on top.

You and Viktor fell into a comfortable routine. During the day, you’d talk softly about everything and nothing, exchanging tender kisses that left you breathless. At night, you curled up together on the hard floor, but you didn’t mind it so much as long as you weren’t alone.

Your strength returned gradually as you recovered, and you found yourself able to make the trip up and down the stairs. You were thankful that the bathroom was on the second floor, though it wasn’t ideal. The plumbing was no longer functional, but you’d made do with a bucket and tried not to dwell on the less-than-ideal situation.

The hallucinations persisted, though none quite as terrifying as that first night. Occasionally, you'd see Sky's ghost watching you from the corner of the room, hear Jayce’s laughter or whispers from the Hexcore. But they were fleeting, like echoes of a fading dream.

Your magic continued its mischievous streak. One afternoon, you sneezed and accidentally turned all the dust particles in the air into tiny butterflies. Another time, you laughed so hard at one of Viktor's dry jokes that you cracked the bedroom door.

But as you grew stronger, Viktor declined. His movements became slower, more laboured. Dark circles deepened under his eyes, and his skin took on a sickly pallor. You caught him wincing when he thought you weren't looking, his hand pressed against his chest as if to hold something in.

He tried to hide it, of course, brushing off your concerns with a smile and a quip. But you knew him too well to be fooled.

“Viktor,” you said one night as you lay together on the hard ground, your magic refusing to conjure up anything but food and water - incredibly frustrating when what you really wanted was a simple tube of lip balm. “Do you feel it?”

“Feel what, exactly?” The words fell from his mouth with a practiced ease, but you weren't fooled by the casualness in his tone. He knew exactly what you were talking about.

You raised your hand off his chest, letting your magic poke and prod at the responding sparks that bounced off his metal skin. “The magic is fading, it’s not settling out. What I did was temporary, and the only way to do it again—“

“No,” he spoke over you, firm and tightening his grip around your waist. “I will not risk you like that.”

“I will not let you die,” you countered. “Do you have an alternative?”

His silence was answered enough.

“Soraka said that if I pulled too much on the Hexcore her spell would unravel, but what if I only pull on it a little bit? I already fortified you, maybe it will only need some touch-ups.”

He shook his head, and frustration rose like bile in your throat. “That is too dangerous. We don’t know the extent of the Hexcore’s influence; even a fraction of its power could be too great. And if it was fully unleashed, I fear the devastating effects it would have on you.”

You flipped over, muscles tensing as you propped yourself up on an elbow and stared down at him with determined defiance. “And your death wouldn’t destroy me?”

He opened his mouth to argue, but you weren’t finished. “I will not lose you, and I know you want to live too.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt on my behalf again.” He reached for your cheek, but you slapped his hand away, your lips pulled back and teeth barred in a feral snarl.

“No,” you growled, your eyes alight with a fury that may not have been entirely your own. “You promised you wouldn’t leave me. You promised.”

“Miláček—“

“You don’t get to call me that when you refuse to let me help, Viktor.” You pushed yourself up, your knees pressing into the floor.

He propped himself up on his elbows, following you, eyes wide as he struggled to find the right words to say. “Please, lay back down, allow me to explain.”

“No!” you shouted, surprising even yourself. The word reverberated through the air like a thunderclap, a mix of anger and desperation making it sound distant and close all at once. The buzzing in your ears grew louder, drowning out any rational thoughts as a surge of rage pulsed through your body, pounding against your skull.

With a quick, fluid movement, you stood up from the ground, your hands balled into tight fists at your sides. In front of you, Viktor crouched low, his gaze level with yours. His hand extended towards you, palm open, as if trying to calm a wild creature. When had he gotten up?

And when had that scorch mark on the wall behind him gotten there?

“Don’t leave me,” you pleaded, voice thick with tears and aching desperation. You felt like a child throwing a temper tantrum, unable to comprehend anything outside of the agony that swirled inside, left without a proper outlet to express it. “Please, I can’t go through that again.”

“I know, lásko,” he soothed in a velvety whisper. His fingers gently wrapped around your wrist, pulling you closer to him as if wanting to protect you from the world. You followed, mesmerized by the rich timbre of his voice and the warmth of his touch.

“You wish to help, and I don’t want to deny you this, but as you worry for me, so do I for you.”

That made sense, didn’t it? It was a fair assertion, one you could understand despite the buzzing in your mind. Sinking back to your knees, all but crumpling into Viktor’s embrace, you swallowed back the sob that threatened to escape, pushing it past the Hexcore’s presence that sat lodged in your throat. “I have to try.”

“We may discuss this more in the morning, but I make no promises. You are too precious to me, miláčku, if we are to do this, it must be safe for you.”

And you would make no promises either, for you could already feel your hold on the Hexcore had loosened ever so slightly - enough for its power to start leaking out of its cage, like wisps of smoke escaping through cracks in a jar.

“Okay,” you agreed for now, hazy even as you settled against him. “I’m sorry,” you added, “I didn’t mean to shout earlier, I was just suddenly…loud, like everything else in my head.”

He brushed a kiss against your forehead, soft and tender. The gentle pressure lingered, a wordless promise etched into your skin. You closed your eyes, savouring the sensation. His fingers threaded through your hair, cool against your scalp.

Viktor's lips moved against your skin, not quite forming words. You felt the working of his throat as if he was trying to speak but couldn't find the right thing to say. Instead, he poured all his unspoken feelings into that single, lingering kiss.

Next Chapter

A/N: Sooooo turns out I've been using the Czech term for darling wrong, and I thought I should probably fix that. Special thank you to @veru-boom for helping me write it properly!

Let me know what you think so far! How do you feel about losing your mind 😅

Its probably gonna be a few days before I am able to update again, but wanted to get a bit more out!

Little broǔcku Viktor ❤️

#angst with a happy ending #fluff #humour #machine herald viktor #viktor x y/n #viktor x you #arcane viktor #viktor x reader #viktor arcane #viktor league of legends #no use of y/n #hurt/comfort #eventual smut #tooth rotting fluff

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salemwasnteverhere · 8 months ago

Text

♥︎𝚂𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛 𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜♡︎

𝚂𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚢: ��𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙶𝚘𝚓𝚘 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚌𝚊𝚖𝚙 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚜 𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚜𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛 𝚌𝚊𝚖𝚙. 𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚔𝚒𝚍𝚜 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚒𝚖𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏?

𝙴𝚡𝚝𝚛𝚊 𝚃𝚊𝚐𝚜: 𝚂𝚖𝚞𝚝, 𝙱𝚘𝚝𝚝𝚘𝚖! 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛, 𝚃𝚘𝚙! 𝙶𝚘𝚓𝚘, 𝙶𝚘𝚓𝚘 𝚒𝚜 𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜, 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚜𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚝 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢, 𝚌𝚞𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚞𝚜, 𝚗𝚘 𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗, 𝚌𝚕𝚒𝚝 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢, 𝚙𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚜𝚎, 𝚏𝚎𝚖! 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚀𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜.

"Bye!" You call out to the last bus of kids going home, their faces pressed to the glass and you swear one kid licked the window. Gojo stood next to you, arms crossed with his blindfold pulled down around his neck. His white shirt was soaked from when the kids pranked him with God knows how many water balloons.

The other counselors had headed home when the bus left, leaving the two of you alone. The sun had given a golden glow to the world, tinting everything it touched.

Behind the two of you was the lodge. 2 floors with enough bedrooms for the counselors and a few bathrooms meant for two people. Gojo was your roommate for the summer, you can't count on one hand how many times you smothered him with his pillow to wake him up.

He straightened up and stretched his arms above his head, smirking at you. "You leaving now?" He asked, leaning his head back slightly. "No. I'm gonna clean up a bit." You tugged your sweater down slightly before walking up the lodge steps. He followed quickly.

"What? That'll take all night. You'll be here till tomorrow." He leaned over a bit to reach your eyes. "Exactly. That's one night all to myself. Loud music, a big cabin, I can clean in peace." You sigh dreamily at the thought. Gojo huffed and stuck his tongue out. "Cleaning isn't fun." He poked your cheek. "That's cause you never clean, Gojo." You giggle and poke him back.

He huffed again and rolled his eyes. "I clean!" Defending himself was hard when you opened the door to your dorm. Your side was neat and clean, with most trinkets packed up, while his was messy and you swear you heard his sock crunch when you picked it up.

"I heard your children screaming in here. 'daddy...daddy...help us'" you wave the sock at him. He gagged and swiped at the sock. "I can't pay child support right now." He tossed the sock in the bin behind him. "Broke." You say between fake coughs.

"How can men live like this?" you asked when you grabbed a shirt off the bed and saw countless crumbs fall off it. Gojo looked away in shame, scratching his cheek with a finger. "That's Geto's..." he lied. "I know it's not, because Geto is the cleanest person I know," you teased as you tossed the shirt at him.

You chuckled at his cry and grabbed your speaker. Stickers of various animated characters were peeling off it and its rose gold color was also peeling slightly. You needed a replacement, but this one had lasted so long and new ones were so expensive.

"When are you leaving?" You glance back at Gojo before connecting your phone to your speaker. He shrugged and sat on his bed. "Whenever my mom has someone get me." He laid back. You watch as his damp shirt lifted slightly, revealing his happy trail and an unshaved path of white hair leading below his pants. You blush and look away, mentally slapping yourself.

"uhm..y-yeah that sounds good." You jumble your words slightly and grab your speaker. "I'm gonna clean. Bye!" You practically scramble out of the room and slam the door behind you. Gojo raised an eyebrow but smirked, yanking his blindfold back up before going to sleep.

❦︎༒︎❦︎

It was some time later. The sun had gone down, and you had finished cleaning everywhere except the office. After tossing the broom into a closet, you threw yourself onto the couch to finally relax. The large windows in the main room revealed the high moon in the sky, casting its light on the massive lake, making it glitter.

You were snapped out of your trance when you heard a yawn and footsteps. Gojo walked in. His shirt was gone and he blinked one eye at a time. Shirtless Gojo was a sight you got used to, and oddly grateful to, during your summer here.

"You're up." He looked over at you, rubbing his eye. "Did anyone come by?" He dragged himself over and popped on the couch next to you. He grumbled and rested his head in your lap, cheek resting on your bare thighs.

"No. Sorry." You unintentionally whisper as he nuzzles against you. "Well, good thing I didn't get my hopes up." He grumbled while rubbing his thumb on your thigh. Your sweater's sleeves were rolled up and your skirt was slightly hiked up due to his thumb.

Your heart pounded slightly and his breath hit under your skirt, fading against your panties. You calm yourself and rest a hand in his hair, threading your fingers through it. "Well, now I'm stuck with you." You whisper again, making him chuckle.

His thumb rubbed your skin in circles, his eyes opened to look up at you. You were looking out the window so you didn't notice him. He blushed slightly at the angle. Your breasts were right in front of his face, a simple movement away from hitting him. But he was more focused on your face.

The moonlight streamed in through the window, casting a gentle glow on your face as you ran your fingers through his hair. He rubbed his head into your hand, feeling a knot in his stomach at what he was going to say.

The two of you went to the same college, but you never spoke before this summer. He saw you in the halls, a biology major hoping to get into neurosurgery, and you were beautiful to him. But finding a way to speak to you was harder than anything else.

He reached a hand up and his finger brushed your cheek. "You're so beautiful." His voice was barely a whisper. You looked down at him, slightly shocked but he felt the heat on your cheek. "What? Did you hit your head?" You laugh slightly, feeling his forehead.

"No. No, I didn't." He lifted himself and was barely an inch from you. "Don't freak out." His lips hit yours with a gentleness you wouldn't have expected from Gojo. His hand cradled your head to deepen the kiss, his eyes shut. Your own eyes were wide for a second before they fluttered shut. You bring your hand up to cup his cheek.

He grinned against your lips and grabbed your hand, kissing your palm. "I knew you liked me." He glanced over at you from lidded eyes. "You did not." You laugh quietly. Gojo's smile grew slightly and he kissed down your neck, his hands sliding down the edge of your skirt.

"I want you. I want to taste you." Gojo was practically breathless as he kissed the crook of your neck, sucking on the supple skin. "Please. It'll feel so good." His hands tugged your skirt up, your white panties giving your obvious wetness away.

"Fuck Gojo." You gasp softly when his thumb pressed to your clit through the fabric, rubbing weak enough to make you want more. He knelt in front of the couch and held onto your thighs, spreading them more for him.

Gojo leaned in and kissed your inner thighs, nipping slightly at the skin. You didn't know what to do with your hands and you didn't want to pull at the leather so you placed them on his head, sorta grounding yourself by tugging at the white strands.

You shiver slightly when he slid your panties down and sneakily shoves them into his pocket. Thankfully you were too nervous to notice his thievery.

"O-oh God.." you clasp one hand over your mouth when he licked right up your cunt, groaning in ecstasy. You tasted like heaven to him. His cock was rock hard at his point. He ached, yearned, to yank his sweats down and fuck you into that couch, to make sure you couldn't walk straight for month. But he wanted this to be about you.

Gojo didn't waste a second and took your clit into his mouth, sucking on it gently with a few kitten licks here and there. The hand in his hair tugged harder, making him moan against your heat. He wrapped his arms around your thighs and yanked you closer, earning a yelp from you.

He chuckled against you before flicking his tongue against your clit in quick succession. Your hips writhed at this, your eyes widening. "Fuck Gojo! I-im gonna cum!" You yank his hair, pulling his face closer to your cunt. He moaned at this and kept his tongue at that pace.

Your back came off the couch and your toes curled. Heat spread across your lower body and you cum. "Gojo!" Your orgasm ripped through you and sucked any energy you had, your vision blurry with white spots.

Gojo kept his tongue flickering throughout your high and pulled away, slick connecting his lips to you until he licked it away. Your cheeks were hot and your legs trembled.

Gojo stood up, smoothed down your skirt, and then effortlessly picked you up bridal style. You rest against his chest and catch what breath you can.

He set you down on your bed, gently running his hand down your legs and taking off your shoes. He sat next to you and cupped your cheek, smiling slightly. "I would do more but Ms.Luncy took everything from the cabin." He tapped your cheek.

His smile grew when you held onto his wrist. He laid next to you on his side, cradling you close to his chest.

"Goodnight, Gojo."

"Goodnight, sweetheart."

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hannibals-favourite-meal · 2 years ago

Note

Hi can you write like a small one-shot where thor sneaks the reader into Asgard to surprise loki for Christmas and because she needs to tell him that shes pregnant

.⋆｡The Things He Left Behind｡⋆.

Loki x plus size reader

Pregnancy announcements can be terrifying even for regular people but with your baby daddy being a Frost Giant, god, a criminal and someone who has pretty much implied he doesn’t want kids, you have a long uphill battle. Oh, and it’s Christmas

Warnings: pregnancy, fear of rejection, fluff, brief mentions of morning sickness and nausea, implied smut, tiny bit of angst

WC: 2.7k

Minors DNI

Library- @hannibals-favourite-meal-library

Being pregnant was an interesting phenomenon; a person was growing inside of you, someone who would grow up to be their own adult. You knew logically that at only a couple months along, the baby was simply a clump of cells that would eventually mature into something new. But already, you were so attached to the life that could be.

Normally, something so monumental as being pregnant with a child born from love between life partners would be celebrated, but your heart was filled with dread and fear. The relationship you had was rocky at best, not in terms of love, there was plenty of that, but because he was a criminal and a dangerous one at that.

It was a punishment for his crimes. He was to be kept on Earth, stuck with the men and women he had attempted to rule. You met him by chance, accidentally bumping into the striking god as you were rushing to attend a meeting on behalf of your boss. As you fell to the floor, you caught his eyes and something shifted within you as it did within him.

Your love had been secret, growing in the darkness of the dead of night, in shadowy corridors and empty rooms. Your soul ached for him as if he held a piece of you in his cold hands, never to be returned. You were his just as much as he was yours and for a time, that was enough.

But as the months carried on, the looming threat of his inevitable departure became monstrous. There was no changing his fate, he would have to leave and you both knew that your pleas and your begging for him to stay would fall on deaf ears. So on his last night with you, he slipped from the not-so-watchful eyes of Earth’s greatest heroes and stole you away.

He took you to Paris, lavishing you with gifts that you still held sacred to this day. He worshipped you with everything he had, taking you apart over and over again until the cold light of day washed over your naked bodies and he was forced to leave your bed in handcuffs.

But jewels and books were not the only things he left you.

The exhaustion came first, then the extreme tenderness of your breasts, and lastly, the dreaded morning sickness. Your boss, Maria Hill, was the first to broach the issue with you after you had fallen asleep at your desk one too many times. She shoved the box of tests into your hand, telling you it was ok and that she knew but didn’t judge.

Now, as the first snow of the year began to fall and your stomach was beginning to round out, you approached the one man who could help you. “Thor?” His eyes met yours from over the back of the huge leather sofa. A pop-tart crumb hung on the corner of his lips which fell off as soon as he smiled when he saw you.

“Ah! My brother’s love! How are you on this fine day?” You chuckled humorlessly and decided to indulge the god for a bit before asking him a favour which might get him into some serious trouble.

“I’m doing ok, looking forward to Christmas.” You nervously shuffled on your feet, the modest kitten heels you had been forced to wear because of your aching feet, clicking against the dark hardwood flooring. Even with his deep confusion regarding human behaviour, Thor could see how anxious you were.

He shifted forward and rose from the couch then turned to you. “There is something amiss, what is it?”

“You need to get me to Asgard. I have to see Loki.” He froze as a bewildered look came over his face.

“I cannot do that my lady. Even I am not allowed to visit my brother and he is, well he is my little brother. Odin has ordered him to be isolated from everyone as his-“

“I’m pregnant!” You blurted out, interrupting the god. “I’m pregnant with Loki’s baby.” Thor’s body physically seized as the weight of your words hit him. His blue eyes went wide with shock, and if you weren’t mistaken, maybe a little bit of excitement.

Tentatively, he inched closer to you. Like a puppy, he was vibrating with nerves. “Really!” Unable to help yourself, you smiled at your friend.

“Really really.” Your hand came to rest on the soft fat above your womb. “But Thor, Loki needs to know. And I need help, I don’t know how a human body will handle growing a half-Frost Giant demigod.”

“Yes.” He agreed. “Yes! We must bring you back home and then we can fix all of this.” Thor looked frazzled as he righted himself in front of you. “Mother will have some idea of what to do and I’m sure she will be able to sneak you into the prison.” Before you could realise what was happening, Thor had swept you into his muscular arms and was running through the compound.

“Thor! We can’t go now! I need to get my things!” You bounced with every step he took and you clung to his shirt.

Thor shook his head. “I can bring you new things, we must get you home.” The winter air hit you like a slap in the face as the god bounded outside, not even flinching at the drastic change in temperature. “Just hold tight my friend, you will be with your beloved soon enough!”

——————

Asgard was completely overwhelming and as you walked through the golden streets, arm linked with Thor’s, you finally understood why Loki spoke so ill of the place. Each and every person you passed carried an air of smug superiority about them, even as they bent in a shallow bow or curtsy to their prince. They were gods, perfect beings who had conquered worlds and existed for thousands of years in peace.

The huge palace drew closer and your hold tightened around Thor. You had the distinct urge to hold your belly for comfort, to know that part of Loki was still with you, but you were scared of the judgemental gazes of the beautiful people around you. “We are almost there my friend. I will take you straight to the Allmother.”

He patted your hand kindly. “Everyone here is scarily beautiful.” You mutter under your breath but evidently he heard you.

“Then you will fit right in.” He murmured back as you stepped over the threshold to his childhood home. The ornate walls towered over you both, sealing you into a place you should have never been. The gold is almost blinding, coating pretty much every surface as far as the eye could see.

You cringed at the loudness of your small heels against the floor, the sound echoing through the great halls like a drum. Your fingers curled into Thor’s warm skin. He glanced down at you but your eyes were fixed straight ahead, oblivious to his gaze. He just started walking faster, unable to find the words to comfort you.

The smell of lilies invaded your senses, turning your stomach. Your nausea had settled after your first trimester ended but apparently the baby just didn’t like flowers. The smell steadily became stronger, as did the urge to throw up but by the time you reached a set of dark oak doors, your nerves were far more overpowering.

Before Thor could even raise his fist to knock, the doors swung inwards, revealing a bright but homey room absolutely bursting with colour. An older woman stood in the entryway, dressed simply in a flowing green dress, her dark blonde hair braided back simply. Her eyes lit up with a knowing light. “My Thor.” She cooed, easily accepting a crushing hug from the god before she turned to you.

“I have been waiting to meet you for a very long time my dear.” She said plainly and suddenly all your nerves were gone. Your grimace floated into a smile as her arms wrapped around you in a hug so loving it made your chest burn with affection.

Unable to stop yourself, you nuzzle into her safe embrace, your whole body relaxing. She laid a kiss to your temple before pulling away but her hands remained firmly on your shoulders. “Loki has told me all about you, he will be happy to see you.”

Anxiety returned like a tidal wave, washing away the warm feeling your almost mother-in-law gave you. Your smile dimmed while your hands came to rest on your lower stomach. “He might not be as excited when he learns why I’m here.”

Frigg’s hands move to cup your rounded cheeks, forcing you to meet her eyes. “He loves you and he will love the child. Even if it doesn’t seem that way at first. Now let us make sure you and the little one are fed and healthy and then you can see him.” She took you by your left hand and guided you further into the room as Thor, with a huge smile on his face, left the two of you alone to talk.

——————

Christmas was vastly different on Asgard, you learned quickly. There was no snow, no cold, no carols or quiet nights. It mainly consisted of feasts and celebrations that lasted for days. But what was the same were the gifts. Thousands were exchanged through the festivities and Thor had somehow gotten into his head that you were the gift he was going to give to his estranged brother.

Much to his own and his mother’s amusement, he ripped up a piece of fabric and tied it in a bow around your midsection. “Come now! He will love it!” You just huffed and rolled your eyes but allowed him to continue making small adjustments to the bow.

Frigg sat on one of the many couches in her chambers, sipping on a now mostly cold cup of tea as she laughed at the pair of you. A large weight had been lifted from the room now that the healer had confirmed the baby was healthy and growing as they should.

And now, a warmth grew within you. This was what you wanted, a loving family with the man who had so easily snatched up your heart. All of the material things he had left behind were nothing compared to this moment.

As the sun began to set over the great city, you were bundled up in a thick cloak that disguised you well and led you down to the prison. The guards turned their heads as who they assumed was the queen passed by on her nightly visit to her younger son. They knew it was technically not allowed by the king but it stopped the dark prince from destroying his cell every chance he got, so they just let it happen.

His cage was kept far away from the others, isolated for his crimes, even from those who faced the same harsh punishments. Yet he was given luxuries that none of the others were afforded, Loki assumed it was pity from his adoptive family that drove them to decorate the small room with lavish goods.

From the angle at which you entered his part of the prison, you could clearly see your love without him seeing you. You felt like crying. He was so close, you swore if you reached out just a few inches, you could touch him.

Loki was sitting on the ground, his back to you, as he stared off into space. His hair, normally clean and beautifully styled, fell in front of his face in unruly raven waves, partially hiding his paler than normal skin. He was barefoot and wearing clothes that should have been changed days ago.

Your heart lurched at the sight of him. In the months you had known him, you had never seen the god so… broken. And you supposed that’s what he was. He had been tortured and betrayed, cast aside by the only people he had known as his family before being labelled a criminal and thrown away to rot. Tears blurred your vision before you quickly wiped them away with a sniffle.

“I have told you that I do not want to see anyone mother.” He hissed, letting his head fall back against the enchanted glass as he did so.

“I had hoped that you would make an exception for me.” Your voice was weak but just the sound alone caused his whole body to freeze.

Slowly, almost cautiously, he rose to his feet, turning on his heel to face you. As soon as his eyes met yours, his body visibly fell and his face disappeared behind his hands. “Loki?” A heartbreaking sob ripped from his lungs as he collapsed to his knees.

Panic set your veins alight and with a trembling hand, you used the small magic key Frigg had bestowed upon you to enter the cell. You wasted no time, immediately taking him into your arms for the first time in months.

His face burrowed into the crook of your neck as he wound around you. He shook in your embrace, his tears soaking through your clothes as he cried, holding onto you as tight as you could. You placed kiss after kiss to his head in a vain attempt to sooth him as you succumbed to your own emotions.

“Are you really here?” You tried to answer him through the tears but all you could get out was more of a grunt than a word but you nodded against his hair and squeezed him even tighter. “H-how?”

Loki pulled away from you just enough to meet your gaze. His eyes were bloodshot, making the blue of his irises even more striking. “Thor and your mother.” You managed to stammer out.

There was a brief moment of silence as his dark brow furrowed in what you assumed to be confusion. His gaze dropped down to your body, still hidden by the thick cloak, then looked around the cell as if searching for someone. “Who else is here? I sense another presence.”

“That's why I came here.” You gently guided his left hand down to your bump that seemed to grow each day, laying his palm flat against your stomach. “I’m pregnant.”

Loki’s breath caught, his eyes going wide. And he flinched.

Immediately, you were consumed by the fear you had tried so hard to tamp down since the first moment you saw that little plus sign on the test. He didn’t want the baby, he didn’t want you. This whole thing was a mistake, your mind screamed at you. But as your muscles tensed like you were preparing to run, Loki snapped out of it.

The world blurred around you and suddenly you were laying on a small bed in the corner, Loki hovering over you. His lean body slid easily between your soft thighs, pinning you to the surprisingly comfortable mattress with his weight. “My love. You’re truly with child?” His voice shook, his hand returning to your stomach.

“26 weeks as of yesterday and perfectly healthy.” He nodded and met your gaze once more, a small smile growing on his pallid lips.

“I had a feeling. I thought- I thought something happened to you but it was just a new life being formed.” You breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed against the bed.

“And how would you know that?” You cooed, wrapping your arms around his neck.

“Darling just because I have been locked away doesn’t mean that I can’t still use my magic.” His hand slipped up your front, obviously intending to go for your swollen breast but he paused at the extra piece of fabric that was now laying around your waist. “What is this?”

You responded with a giggle. “A bow. Thor wanted to give me to you for Christmas.” A fond look came over his face then, a realisation that you were not yet privy to.

“Indeed this is the best gift he could have ever given me.” Then for the first time in six months, he kissed you.

And as he stripped away your clothes and made love to you more tenderly than ever before, you couldn’t help but agree- this was the best gift to ever have been given

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ebongawk · 26 days ago

Note

kiss prompt 42 would be super cute!

remiss to admit I already wrote this one and Tumblr glitched and deleted it so I hope it actually posts this time 🥲

42. A clumsy kiss

It was late.

Eddie was still laughing to himself, despite how fucked up it was that everyone had ditched to avoid helping with cleanup duties. Like, alright, maybe he'd gotten on a power trip and decided to kill off Jeff and Grant's characters during their second-to-last Hellfire meeting of his high school career.

So what?

It was their own goddamn fault, negging him at lunch today. So maybe he'd ditched their morning chill session after Chrissy stopped by to say hi and he followed her like a sick puppy in desperate need of attention.

Could he truly be blamed? It was Chrissy Cunningham.

And he was friends with her.

(Actually he was fucking head-over-feet crazy about her, thinking so endlessly of her and their weird, unexpected friendship that he'd drawn a picture of Sune, the goddess of beauty and love, and accidentally made her look exactly like Chrissy, but. Semantics.)

They should've anticipated the consequences. Was no small matter, giving the dungeon master shit when he held the fate of their characters in his notoriously ruthless hands.

But their total shock and disdain when he'd killed them? Hilarious.

As he swept up the endless Doritos crumbs from the theater room's wood floor, he laughed again at the memory of Jeff shouting so loud the acoustics carried his voice through the entire space and back.

Grant went full Pavarotti when his elven archer fell to the depths of the Underdark.

Served them right.

Still, they were dicks for not staying to take care of their own messes. The younger kids he understood – curfew to adhere to and all that – but Jeff, Grant, and Gareth had straight up left with loose excuses that they all knew were bullshit. And if the drama room was left untended over the weekend, Eddie was the only one that would be in hot water with Mrs. Thames, since he was the one she entrusted with the key.

A soft knock yanked him out of his aggressive sweeping, looking up just as Chrissy peeked her way through the ajar door. He'd forgotten that she stuck around tonight for junior varsity tryouts for the coming year.

"Oh, you are still here," she breathed. "I saw your van in the lot on my way out, but I wasn't sure if you were here or if you were in Principal Higgins' office doing something, um, untoward." She looked around as she stepped through the threshold, the door clicking shut behind her. "Where are the guys?"

See, that was the thing. Chrissy wasn't just friends with him. The entirety of Hellfire was fucking batty over her. So why did he get all the shit?

"They ditched," Eddie snorted as he swept the crumbs into a dustpan, emptying it into the garbage can he'd stolen from the janitor's closet.

Chrissy quirked a brow at him. "What'd you do?"

"Egads, Cunningham!" he shouted, slapping a hand over his heart as he staggered toward her. "Must I be at every fault in your judgmental eyes?"

"Not every fault." She hummed, leaning against the table. Eddie scoffed, grabbing a notebook to start notating where the minis were before tossing them in a storage box. "But this one seems a little obvious."

Eddie finished his scribbling quietly, mulling this over. He didn't have to be entirely honest.

"Alright, so maybe I killed Jeff." Chrissy gasped. "And Grant."

"Eddie!" Chrissy chastised. "How could you?"

"It's fine!" he cried. "They were so angry about it that they fucking forgot that Sinclair found the Hand of Kelemvor buried in that chest in the Shadowfell. He can use it to bring them back!" Eddie snorted. "Serves them right, though. They'll have to scrounge up new character sheets before next week that'll be entirely useless."

Hoisting herself onto the table after he'd haphazardly wiped it down, Chrissy cast him a critical eye.

"Wouldn't Lucas have to, um, sacrifice something to use that?" she asked.

This was still kinda novel to him. He and Chrissy had been friends for a while now, and when they first started hanging out, she asked him about his DnD stuff. Well, actually, she asked him to explain it to her to verify that it wasn't a cult, as her ex-boyfriend so stupidly believed, and then after that she just... kept asking how the story was going. What they'd done that week. Not only that, she retained it. Filing away little pieces of information and gasping when she later realized how they tied into the greater plot of the story.

"Are you really even interested in this stuff?" he'd asked at one point. She was sitting on the floor of his bedroom, feet tucked under his thigh as they ignored the small stack of homework and he recounted the previous day's campaign. "Or are you just humoring me?"

"I like it so much, Eddie," she'd replied around a soft smile. The one he fucking prayed was reserved just for him. "It's like you're writing this whole fantastical story just for me."

"Just for you, huh?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "I'm the only one lucky enough to hear it."

"He will," Eddie verified Chrissy's inquiry. Leaning up against the table beside her and shrugging. "The deity he ascribes to is kind of temperamental. She'll probably ask for his life in exchange for theirs."

Chrissy gasped in horror.

"Eddie, that's awful!"

"It's necessary!" he cried in response, chuckling at her genuine astonishment. "Listen, we've all done it, okay? Before I became DM, I sacrificed myself twice for the greater good. Gareth has lost three characters, and Grant and Jeff have both lost one. The younglings have played it too safe up 'til now, in my opinion. It's about time they accept that which they cannot control: change."

Chrissy blinked, her lips parted as she looked at him.

"It comes for us all, Cunningham," he said, his voice softer. Gaze dropping around a forced chuckle. "No matter how much we wish it wouldn't sometimes."

And that–– that was entirely too fucking revealing.

It was something they hadn't quite discussed, really. What they were going to be when she was off working her way through her scholarships in Portland and Eddie was who-fucking-knew doing God-knows-what away from this shitty ass town.

Honestly, he kinda figured she'd forget about him. This little stint of friendship had maybe opened her up to not judging books by their covers, if she ever had (Eddie knew she hadn't), but once they were no longer convenient, he figured he'd just become a fond memory for her. A soft little smile as she flipped through her yearbook in the coming decades.

A past she was happy to move on from.

Whether that made him want to kick his own teeth in was completely inconsequential.

"Change isn't always bad," she said, her own voice having dropped to a whisper. "Is it?"

He let his eyes drift back to hers. Meeting the determined storms he could see swirling there.

But he didn't have a chance to answer.

Because she was surging toward him, eyes scrunched closed, and he knew, he knew what she was trying to do, but she completely overestimated her aim. Lips landing clumsily on the small stretch of skin between his upper lip and nose, and her own nose mashed painfully just under his eye, making him wrench himself backward with a grunt.

"Oh–– Oh my God––"

"Aw, fuck."

"Oh, God, Eddie, I'm so––" Hands covering her mouth, she looked horrified all over again for an entirely different reason. "I-I'm so sorry, oh my God, did I hurt you?"

"It's alright––"

"No, it isn't, oh my gosh! This is so mortifying, God––"

"Hey––"

"I'm so sorr––"

"Hey," he said, wrapping one hand around her wrists and easing them down. "Chrissy. It's alright." She still looked entirely humiliated, and Eddie couldn't help but laugh. "I mean, as long as you–– Did you–– Were you–– Uh. Were you trying to kiss me?"

Squeezing her eyes shut, Chrissy let out a little trembling laugh herself.

"Trying being the operative word, I guess," she replied shakily. "I... I mean, nuggets, Eddie, I've wanted to kiss you for ages. And then, that whole thing with change and stuff, I thought, maybe this could be a good change. For us, you know? Because I just–– I like you so much, and––"

That was enough.

Cupping her cheek with his free hand, Eddie took the lead. Gently pulling her in, the little furrow between her brow not registering his intention until he was pressing a soft, chaste kiss to her lips. Cutting off whatever apology she was likely to spew next with a little gasp that he greedily swallowed down.

He pulled back the tiniest bit, and Chrissy was quick to close the distance again. Extracting her wrists from his grip so she could wrap her arms around his shoulders.

She tasted like the wild freedom of his feelings for her. This endless stretching of wilderness, trees and foliage entangled with meadows of wildflowers that grew without reservation. Sprawling landscapes that infiltrated his very being, until she'd suffused herself into every blade of grass and knob of dirt that had sprouted within him.

It was fucking insane, how well his hand fit in the curve of her waist. How easily his lips molded against hers. How good and right and natural it felt to have her fingers tangled in the hair at the base of his scalp.

"Good change," he acknowledged easily when they finally broke apart for air. The little giggle she let out washed across his lips, lingering on his tongue with the yellow sunshine happiness of his wooded being.

"Amazing change," she agreed before leaning in to kiss him again.

kiss roulette!

#don't quote me on this dnd stuff kelemvor is actually from 2e and the shadowfell is from 4a but we're suspending our disbelief for funsies #hellcheer #eddissy #stranger things #eddie x chrissy #chrissy x eddie #ask meme #ebongawk ask #eddie munson #chrissy cunningham #kiss roulette #anon ask #tysm!!!

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lovelyjuju · 2 months ago

Note

Could I request just a CRUMB of Nicholas fluff (or otherwise 🤭🤭) headcanons ? (Pls pls pls pls pls pls pls your other hcs are so amazing)

nicholas hcs i was waiting for this moment 😈

(also thank you pookie, this means the world ily!)

warning: just a tiny bit suggestive

︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶

nicholas who you met in one of your dance classes two years ago. his intimidating gaze always made you hesitate to approach him, but when you accidentally left your water bottle in the practice room once, he was quick to grab it and jog through half of the building just to give it back.

nicholas who shrugged the action off with his usual nonchalance at first, but couldn't help the little smile tugging at his lips when you didn't stop thanking him.

nicholas who you somehow bonded with, even if it was only for this one moment – but ever since then, you started talking more often whenever you had classes together.

nicholas who's not that much of a close friend but somehow he's close enough to talk to you, although he barely opens his mouth when it comes to other people.

nicholas who always wears that nonchalant, blank expression, his eyes practically piercing through the people he looks at – but for some reason, they start to soften just a little whenever his gaze lands on you.

nicholas who you see smiling only every now and then, but when you do, it's like he lights up the entire room.

nicholas who usually gets just a little annoyed by people as bubbly as you – but with you, he has to physically hold back from smiling.

nicholas who's usually the first to get in trouble, not for really bad things though. it's mostly him being late to class (cause let's be real, he just loves to sleep) or forgetting assignments.

nicholas who grants you just the hint of a smile when he shows up to class late again, walking right in on you trying to make up an excuse for him in front of your teacher.

nicholas who, after class, approaches your desk, sheepishly running his hand through his black, silky hair. "thank you for standing up for me," he says, one corner of his lip curling up into a lopsided smile. "you know... if you ever need something, hit me up," he adds, staying for just another second before turning his back and walking off.

nicholas who blinks at you in surprise when you actually ask him for help a few weeks later. he can't believe you're opening up to him about how you've been struggling with practice for a while now.

nicholas who listens attentively to your ramble about how you `just can't get some moves right' and feel 'completely stuck', still wondering why you ask him out of all people. sure, he knows he owes you, but he also knows he's by far not the best in class (or maybe he's just too self-critical).

nicholas who lets his thoughts wander just for a second, thinking you might have asked him cause you thought he was skilled, or maybe he was even somewhat special to you.

nicholas who panics at the thought, suddenly not knowing how to say yes and instead letting the words "why are you asking me?" slip.

nicholas who watches your eyebrows furrow when you reply, "i mean... if you don't want to, i can ask yudai. sorry for bothering."

nicholas who doesn't know if it's the possibility of him upsetting you or you asking yudai for help that immediately makes him change his mind (if he thinks about it a little longer, it's probably the second). he agrees to help, not only because he owes you but because the idea of you spending extra time with yudai makes his jaw tighten.

nicholas who, if he's honest, even hates the thought of you practicing with yudai instead of him. he hates only seeing you so much as chat with yudai during the breaks and how comfortable you seem around him. he doesn't really understand why it bothers him though – you're not even that close to yudai.

nicholas who stands behind you as you show him what you're struggling with. he keeps an appropriate distance between the two of you, standing just close enough for you to catch a hint of his cologne.

nicholas who tries to focus on critiquing your posture, but your movements and your concentrated expression (that he finds very cute) draw his attention. suddenly, the only thing he hears is the pounding of his own heartbeat.

nicholas who snaps out of his trance when you turn around to face him with a pout on your face. "you're not paying attention," you sulk.

nicholas who quickly makes up an excuse. after that, he watches your every move through the mirror, his voice low as he kindly points out what you're doing wrong.

nicholas who, when he helps you correct your movements, notices how his breath catches when your fingers accidentally brush his. he clears his throat, stepping back abruptly, but the way the tips of his ears turn just slightly red doesn't go unnoticed by you.

nicholas who can't fight back his smile when you try again and immediately show improvement. he nods approvingly before stepping closer again, his breath warm against your ear as he explains, "you're just a little stiff now, relax." his hands ghost over your shoulders and then down to your hips – barely even touching you but still sending a shiver down your spine.

nicholas whose fingers graze your waist as guides you through the movement again. his touch is soft and innocent, but enough to make your breath hitch (and definitely enough to make it hard to focus on anything but him).

nicholas who notices the catch in your breath and has to fight the urge to pull his hand bank. instead, he stays close, letting his hand rest on your waist to steady you as you go through the movement for the nth time.

nicholas who, as you continue practicing without his guidance, becomes more aware of every small detail; the way you bite your lip when concentrating, the little, frustrated huff when you mess up, even the way your hair falls over your shoulders and brushes against your neck.

nicholas who begins to feel increasingly distracted. he knows he's supposed to be helping, but something about you just makes his thoughts stray.

nicholas who notices how your eyes linger on him through the mirror – how you peak at him when you think he isn't looking. he catches it once, but he doesn't say anything.

nicholas who waits for you to pack your bag after practicing, leaning against the mirror with his arms crossed. you turn to thank him again, voice warm and genuine, but he just shrugs it off (although something about the way you speak to him so softly makes him look at you longer than he intended).

nicholas who mutters "see, you didn't need yudai to help you." he immediately looks away after saying it, annoyed at himself for letting his words slip.

nicholas whose ears turn red again when you laugh softly and call him out with a teasing, "what's that supposed to mean?"

nicholas who ignored your question and pretends to adjust the strap of his bag instead, before walking you to the door. he looks down to you, shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his sweatpants when you ask how to thank him for helping you.

nicholas who replies, "you don't have to. we're even now," trying his hardest to sound as casual as possible, but the moment he sees the slightest flicker of disappointment on your face, he hesitates.

nicholas who, after a second of silence, tilts his head slightly, a small but sheepish smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "but if you insist..." he starts, taking a step closer. his eyes flicker down to your lips and then back to yours as he leans in just a tiny bit. "how about a kiss?" he asks softly.

nicholas who watches you carefully as you freeze and search his face for any sign that he's joking. he's unsure if he took it too far, about to take back what he said, when you step closer. you take a deep, shaky breath as your pulse is pounding in your ears before almost whispering, "if that's what you want..."

now it's nicholas who freezes for just a second. you tilt your head up, your lips brushing his softly. he leans into the kiss, his hand coming up to gently cup your face.

nicholas who feels his heart beating faster than ever before, the feeling of your lips so softly against his sending a jolt through him.

nicholas whose other hand finds your waist, pulling you a little closer while he bends down a bit more.

nicholas who takes a step forward and gently pushes your back against the door frame, his hand finding its way from your cheek to your neck to pull you impossibly closer as he tentatively lets his tongue glide over your bottom lip.

nicholas who's so unbelievably happy he finally gets to kiss you, finally gets to convey all the emotions he doesn't know how to express with words. <3

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ღ taglist: @bananielle @enha-hype @20cubee @tako-takiiii @makissecretgirlfriend @brklynbabyjay @tmrwsuns @lovelynicho @222brainrot

#💌 lovely mail #📨 reqs!#lovliest moots! 🫂#&team #&team x reader #andteam #luné #&team fluff #andteam x reader #&team imagines #nicholas au #nicholas x reader #&team headcanons #nicholas headcanons

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rubysunnday · 2 years ago

Text

dive into the waves below

request: since ur requests are open, may i ask for some fluff kaz brekker crumbs? maybe just him and reader spending the night in his office together

summary: pekka rollins's reign is over and it's time for the new king to take his place (or kaz settles into his new office and his beaten face needs some tending to)

"Y/N."

Y/N jumped and spun around, hand instinctively going to her left hip where her dagger sat. She let out an exaggerated sigh of relief when she realised who it was and dropped her arm.

"Saints, Inej," Y/N swore, putting a hand on her chest, "do you mind?"

Inej's lips turned upwards into a small smile. "Sorry."

Y/N set the bolt of fabric she'd been admiring back down on the market stall and moved aside, giving Inej her whole attention. "How can I help, darling?"

"It's Kaz," Inej said quietly, stepping closer. To anyone passing by, they just looked like two girls having a gossip.

"What about him?" Y/N asked, keeping her head low, trying to avoid Inej's gaze.

Inej sighed. "Y/N, it's been three days -"

"Don't start with me, Inej," Y/N warned.

"He's been in his office the entire time -"

" - good for him -"

" - and his face looks absolutely horrific -"

" - helps added to his personna -"

" - and he's refusing to let anyone help him - "

Y/N glared at Inej and, to her credit, Inej fell quiet.

"I was three minutes late," Y/N said quietly, "and apparently I'm a liability."

"After the last few days, can you blame him for being worried?" Inej took Y/N's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Please, talk to him."

Y/N squeezed Inej's hand back and dropped her shoulders. "Fine."

It was early afternoon which meant the club was quiet and almost empty. Y/N pushed the door shut behind her, a dead leaf that had blown in crunched under her feet.

Nina was sat at a table, alone, a large mug of something in front of her. She was resting her forehead in her hand and looked half asleep.

"Stop staring."

Y/N smiled to herself. She turned and approached Nina, perching herself on the edge of the table. "What's wrong with you?" She asked, picking up the mug and sniffing it.

"I drank the barkeep under the table," Nina replied, flapping a hand at Y/N as she sipped her drink. "Get your own."

Y/N grimaced and handed it back. "That is awful - what is that?"

Nina shrugged. "Don't know." She paused and lifted her head up just enough to stare at Y/N. "He's in his office. Your heart is beating slightly too fast and -"

"Yeah, alright, thank you," Y/N said, sliding off the table.

Nina's laugh followed her as she stepped up onto the walkway where the bar was set and as she ducked through the archway and to the stairwell. His room was at the very top of the building which meant three flights of stairs.

Y/N hated stairs.

As she stepped onto the third floor landing, she carefully avoided the creaky floorboard Kaz had purposefully not fixed and dodged the chest of drawers that stuck out just a fraction too far - far enough for people to bump into and make noise.

Kaz's office door was slightly ajar. Y/N could hear the sound of his pen scratching against parchment, the occasional sharp inhale followed by a creak of his chair.

She gently pushed the door open - the hinges silent. Kaz clearly hadn't heard her come up the stairs and, surprisngly, had no idea she was standing behind him.

The temptation to withdraw her dagger, sneak up behind him and press it against his throat almost won. Instead, Y/N walked in further and announced her arrival by sitting down on the edge of Kaz's unmade bed - a sign that he'd just woken up.

"Inej sent you?"

He phrased it as a question but Y/N knew it was implied as a statement.

She sat back on his bed, leaning against the wall. "Cornered me in the market."

Kaz nodded his head once. He hadn't looked up once, but his hand had slowly stopped writting.

"Nina drank the barkeep under the table last night," Y/N said, trying to fill the silence. "She's nursing her hangover downstairs."

"Wylan took Jesper for stroopwafel's to cure his hangover," Kaz replied, twisting away and shuffling through a stack of paper.

Y/N was a bit surprised. After all of her worry, here she was, talking normally with Kaz. There was no talk of tactics or revenge or heists. Just gossip and general life.

It was so incredibly dull.

Kaz didn't move back, intently focusing on his ledger. Y/N hadn't seen his face since shortly after the showdown with Pekka and it slowly dawned on her that Kaz was trying to not show her.

Y/N shifted on his bed, the wooden slats groaning under her weight. She pulled a cushion onto her lap and cuddled it to her chest, toying with a loose thread.

She was content to play the long game with Kaz.

Kaz's chair creaked as he turned even further away. He opened a draw in his desk and bent down - his sharp inhale the only sign that he was hurting.

Five minutes passed and, still, Y/N waited. Suddenly, each and every tear in the wallpaper was very interesting to look at.

Kaz's pen rolled off the side edge desk and onto the floor, disappearing under the bed. Kaz swore to himself and pushed his chair out, wincing as he tried to stand up.

"I can get it myself," Kaz snapped as Y/N moved on the bed.

Y/N stilled, hands behind her back as she pushed the cushion behind her. "I wasn't getting up," she said.

There was a hint of surprise for a second before Kaz put his walls back up. He stood up from his chair, leaning heavily on his desk with one hand, the other hanging by his side.

Kaz took a step forward and then another. He got to the edge of the bed and in one swift movement, crouched down.

Y/N could see the exact moment he realised he wouldn't be able to get back up. He had no cane and both the bed and the desk were too far away to make a useful leaning post. Kaz closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, clear contemplating his options over his pain.

"Kaz," Y/N said softly, "you're injured. You need to be checked out."

"I'm fine," Kaz grunted, scrabbling the pen towards him with his gloved fingers.

"I know you are," Y/N replied. She uncrossed her legs and sat on the edge of the bed. "But there is no shame in asking for help. Not from me."

Kaz stood up.

Then sat down on the bed, next to Y/N.

Y/N moved herself further away, knowing that he hadn't sat there by choice. Kaz's hands were shaking and his breathin was uneven. And his face, saints, his face was the worst of all.

Y/N hid her reaction as Kaz turned to face her. One eye was all but swollen shut, he had a bruise splashed across his cheek and both his top lip and his bottom lip had been split.

"You don't seem surprised," Kaz said.

"Pekka beat the shit out of you. " Y/N shrugged.

"Inej was more surprised than you are."

"Oh, I'm surprised, Kaz," Y/N replied. "I'm just hiding it well." She paused. "Just because I was three minutes late, doesn't mean I didn't hear what was going on."

She'd been stuck outside in the chaos of the fake firepox plague whilst Kaz had been beaten up. But through the screams and crying, she'd heard it. She'd heard each kick against his flesh - each groan of pain.

Kaz was silent for a moment. He slowly lifted his head up, looking at her through one eye.

"You didn't want to clean the blood off?" Y/N asked, her voice quiet.

"Didn't have the energy."

Without jostling Kaz too much, Y/N climbed off the bed. She walked over to the sink that jutted out from the opposite wall and grabbed a shaving bowl, filling it up with warm water. Then, she grabbed a cloth from the pile beside the sink, dipping it into the water and wringing it out as she walked back to Kaz.

She sank to her knees in front of him, her skirt covering the tips of his shoes.

"Do you want me to do it?" She asked, folding the damp cloth into a square. "Or you do it?"

"I don't want to look at myself in the mirror today," Kaz drawled. "I look a bit of a mess."

"Ha ha, you're hilarious," Y/N muttered. She looked up at him and inhaled deeply. "Can I touch your face?"

Kaz nodded. Y/N sat up on her knees and took his chin in her left hand. Holding the cloth in her right hand, she gently began to scrape off the dried flakes of blood, carefully skimming over the cut lip and open wounds.

"He'll be in Hellgate by now," Kaz said, his words muffled slightly as he tried not to move his lips. "Rotting away."

"Was it worth it?" Y/N asked, rinsing the blood out the cloth.

Kaz looked down at her, his eyes following her face as she sat back up and took his face in her hands again. "Was what worth it?"

"The beating. The pain... knowing that what you did has caused a shift in the hierarchy of Ketterdam," Y/N replied.

"He killed my brother," Kaz said, his voice dipping slightly. "It was worth everything."

Y/N's little finger brushed against his lip as she wiped the blood from under his nose. Kaz flinched a little and she stopped, waiting for him to recover.

"He tore my life apart," Kaz said, nodding once to let her resume. "And he doesn't even remember his name."

"It was Jordie, right?" Y/N asked, dipping the cloth into the water again.

Kaz squeezed his eyes shut as the water dripped off the cloth and into the bowl, the sound sending him back through time until he was on the barge again. A small boy lying on top of a pile of dead, decomposing bodies that no one cared about.

"Kaz."

He flinched and opened his eyes abrutply. Y/N was staring at him, filling his vision. Yet, she wasn't too close. He looked into her eyes, using the movement as they scanned her face to ground him.

"You good?" Y/N asked, her hand resting on her knee for a moment before she remembered and removed it.

Kaz nodded, swallowing against the bile in his throat. "Fine."

Y/N sat back down, kneeling once more. "How are your ribs?"

"I did them the other day."

"You and I both know it isn't possible to do it properly on yourself," Y/N scolded.

Kaz rolled his eyes. "Fine."

"Is that your word of the day?" Y/N asked, moving the bowl back a bit as Kaz sat forward.

"It is when you're around, flapping all over me."

"I like to think I've been rather calm about this," Y/N retorted. "No flapping here."

Kaz raised his eyebrows but Y/N was blissfully unaware. He knew that taking his shirt off would hurt - it had hurt putting it on. Yet, he was determined to do it. If only to give Y/N ease of mind. He felt a small sense of accomplishment as he pulled his arms from his waistcoat without too much pain.

The shirt was the problem.

He knew that, if he asked, Y/N would help in a heartbeat. But he couldn't face it.

"It doesn't have to come off," Y/N said softly. "You can just hold it up."

Kaz nodded. "Fine."

"There's that word again," Y/N muttered. "Fine. Everybody's fine."

Kaz huffed but he was trying not to smile. He grabbed the edge of his shirt and raised it up over his ribs, wincing slightly as the movement jarred them. The cold air dancing on his skin kept turning to water lapping at his feet. For a moment, he was swimming to shore, Jordie bobbing along in front of him.

Then Y/N's hands brushed along his ribs, undoing his poorly tied not. They were cold but they had the warmth of life about them. Kaz tried not to flinch as they came back, holding the bandage to his side.

"Take that," Y/N said, pushing the roll of cloth into his left hand.

Kaz held it and then passed it to Y/N's outstretched hand, his gloved fingers brushing hers. Y/N pulled the bandage tightly around his side, gently tugging on the edges to make sure it wasn't suffocating him. Each finger brush, each nail glide, reminded Kaz that he wasn't on the barge anymore. Because nothing on that barge had moved like Y/N was. Nothing had been this warm and gentle.

Her shirt brushed against his bare chest and he could smell her perfume as she leant in, tucking the knot of the bandage inside. Y/N sat back and then stood up, taking the bowl of water with her to the sink.

"Thank you," Kaz said hoarsely as he put his shirt back on.

"It's fine," Y/N replied, washing her hands under the tap. "I'm sure Nina can always -"

"You did more than enough," he said, cutting her off.

They looked at one another for a moment. Something had shifted between them - a new found respect, maybe. Or maybe just understanding.

"Ahem."

Y/N jumped, head turning sharply to the door. "Nina, saints, woman."

Nina beamed at her, taking an exaggerate step through the door. "I could hear you two from downstairs - both your hearts pounding away."

Kaz rolled his eyes as he stood up. "Nina, shut up," he warned.

"Yeah, Nina, shut up," Y/N muttered, glaring at the woman. Kaz cleared his throat and held out a folded and sealed piece of paper. "What's this?" She asked, taking it from his outstretched hand.

"Message I need delivering to fifth harbour," Kaz replied. "Looking for a man named Gibson."

Y/N stared at the parchment and then back at Kaz. Who had turned away and was looking down at his books.

Just like that, normality had resumed.

"Take Nina with you," Kaz added, flipping through the pages. "She needs something to do that isn't annoying me."

"You love me, waffles."

Kaz ignored her. Y/N huffed quietly but turned around, snatched Nina's wrist with her hand and dragged her out the office, closing the door behind her.

"You know your heartbeat speeds up whenever you're near him."

"What?"

Nina looked at her, head tilted slightly. "Your heart. It changes whenever he's near."

"Alright, shut up," Y/N said, slapping the parchment into Nina's chest. "Come on.

Nina looked up from the parchment. "Are we not going to talk about what happened in there?" She asked, desperately trailing after Y/N.

"Nope."

"But, Y/N, your heart was going incredibly fast. I thought you might pass out!"

"Ahuh, of course, Nina, that's totally why you interrupted."

"I can't help it, I'm nosy by nature."

"You're annoying by nature, actually."

taglist: @xx-all-purpose-nerd-xx

#shadow and bone #shadow and bone imagine #shadow and bone x reader #six of crows #six of crows imagine #six of crows x reader #kaz brekker #kaz brekker imagine #kaz brekker x reader #fic #fanfic #six of crows fic #shadow and bone fic

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optimist-pine · 11 months ago

Text

Dream

Summary: in which Daryl discovers something about his heart

Warnings: Typical TWD content

Word Count: 1,021

Era: Season 4, the Claimers

A/n: The most selfish thing I've ever written - but also my favorite <3

Wooden boards creak beneath the soles of his boots as he climbs the stairs of the cozy cottage. Beside the front door, using the wall as a brace, he toes off mud-caked shoes, adding them to the pile of others, all smaller than his own. Dried clumps of dirt scatter about, some falling through gaps in the porch to join the barren ground below. The lanky old tomcat abandons sunbathing to rub lazily against his pantleg with a purr, and Daryl appeases him with a good scritch under the chin.

The screen door is unlocked as always, and as he crosses the threshold into the home his heart settles into a comfortable lull. A breeze flows in through open windows, ruffling faded curtains and artwork made by tiny hands taped to walls; fluttering the pages of a book laying open and knocking over pieces of a board game strewn about the floor. It fills the space with the gentle sounds and smells of early summer. Blooming flowers and birdsong.

He sets his kill down as he passes through a kitchen that bears the remains of freshly baked muffins, few left intact in an abundance of crumbs. Out of a cooling teapot wafts a pleasant blend of lavender, cinnamon, orange, and clove.

He pauses for a moment before the back door, listening as laughter and high-pitched squeals echo just beyond it. Then, pushing his way to the other side, his heart leaps. He's barely taken a step when he's bombarded.

"Daddy!" Voices shout as a tangle of little arms entrap him, tiny bodies clinging to his legs and stepping on his toes. A baby's happy shrieks add to the clamor of giggles as he ruffles sun-warmed heads, attempting to tug his feet forward.

But then they get him down and he lands with an 'oomph' in the soft grass, sharp elbows and knees clambering across him like he's a new piece of playground equipment to explore. The dog's licking his face, and the baby's hands clap excitedly and now everyone's laughing.

"Woah woah woah, time out." And there you are. You lean over the chaos with a grin, the sun framing your silhouette as tree branches sway behind you. You smell like spearmint and lily of the valley, cheeks pink from working the garden, and as your hand comes to rest on the slight bump of your belly he knows he's never seen a more beautiful sight.

"Did ya leave somethin' dead on my table again, mister?" You question, hands moving to your hips in an attempt to be stern.

There's no getting away with denying it, so he'll plead his case instead. "Ain'tcha gonna help me out 'ere?" He asks, reaching a hand up to you.

You ignore it with a shake of your head. "Guilty men must pay for their crimes." With a sharp nod, you turn to the children. "Show 'im his punishment." You instruct, bare feet making way to gather up the baby who's beginning to feel left out.

Those itty-bitty fingers are too good at finding every secretly ticklish spot, and he can only hold out for so long before he has to wriggle away from their assault.

On his feet again, he reaches out and spins you toward himself breathless and spirited. "Guess if 'm already a criminal I migh' as well steal'a kiss." He says, moving his hand to cradle your bump and the little one growing inside.

"Might as well, huh?" You repeat, the smile on your face so radiant that when your lips touch an overwhelming contentment courses through him. A soft, pudgy palm lands on his cheek and the two of you pull apart to the wide eyes and dulcet coos of the baby. He cups his other hand around the little head, placing a tender kiss on top.

The little rascals waste no time returning to their ruckus, tugging at him to follow. "Daddy, c'mon! We gotta show you somethin'!"

"Yeah! C'mon, Daddy!" The voice cries.

But he's stuck in place, unable to move as everything begins to fade away.

... No... Daryl can feel consciousness pulling at him, roughly dragging him into a new day. He begs his mind to stay; to linger. He never wants to leave this moment, a memory of something that never happened - that would never happen. But he can't stop it and he wakes on the cold cement, eyes opening only to focus on the bloodied floor where a man took his last breath a few hours ago.

He knows now. He can't stay with these people. The desperate ache in his chest reminds him of everything he'll lose if he gives up now. Even if all he loses is a dream. It would be too much.

That night, ready to make his move and depart from the men while they're distracted, he hesitates, just for a second, his heart dropping suddenly into his stomach. It's Rick, and Michonne, and... you. Sitting on a log right there, so close, face illuminated in the flickering firelight. Even in the darkness, he can see the swell of your abdomen holding his future - your future.

Your eyes find him at the same time that the barrel of a gun is aimed at your head. He's never felt a fury like he does now, all-devouring and consuming...

When it's over, you pull him close, burying your face into him like you can hide away in the folds of his clothes and the beat of his heart. His arms wrap around you so tightly, and oh - how he wishes he could keep you right here, where he knows you'll both be safe and protected. But he can't.

You pull away slightly, just enough to whisper, "We're okay. We're gonna be okay."

He nods, one hand on your belly and the other bringing your head back to his chest. Just for one more moment. He desperately wants to tell you his dream. To tell you that he believes that too. But he settles for, "I love you."

Your voice echoes back, clear and true, "I love you too."

#twd #the walking dead #daryl dixon #daryl dixon x reader #twd season 4 #optimist pine

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callsignmayhem · 5 months ago

Text

Flyboy and his darlings

You wander past the living room and kitchen, your nose stuck in a book.

As you flip the page, your stomach rumbles and your mind strays from the book towards the kitchen. Specifically, the one cabinet that you happen to know has an unopened box of cookies.

Placing the book down on the hallway drawer, you make your way towards the kitchen and open the cabinet, your eyes searching for the cookie box.

You sigh as you spot it on the top shelf.

You quickly look around and then climb on the counter, now standing on it.

Steadying yourself, you reach for the box and successfully grab it.

You rip the box open, taking out one of the chocolate chip cookies and munch on it.

“Darling, what in the world are you doing?”

You hear an amused voice asking from behind you. You freeze momentarily but then turn around carefully on the counter.

Jake sees the cookie box on your hand and he lets out a small laugh.

He walks to you, taking the open box from your hand and placing it down next to you.

“Alright, Catwoman, how about you come down?”

Before you can protest he places his hands on your hips, lifting you down from the counter, not letting go of you before you are safely back on the kitchen floor.

Noticing some crumbs on your lips he swipes them away with his thumb.

He looks at you, taking in your attire which consists of his denim shirt and jean shorts.

He smirks and you shrug, it's like you haven't worn his clothes before, and walk past him and take another cookie out of the box, biting into it.

Box of cookies in hand you make your way to the couch, the book you were reading completely forgotten.

Jake watches you, shaking his head with a smile.

You place your legs on the small table in front of the couch, getting comfy, still eating the cookies.

Jake walks towards the couch you are lying on and tries to grab one of the cookies from the box, but you swat his hand away and give him a pointed look.

He raises his hands in surrender and sits down on the couch next to you, looking at you with an adoring look on his face.

“What is it, Flyboy?”

Jake softly smiles at you.

“Just admiring, darling”

You snort, like there was anything to admire about you eating a box of cookies on one sitting.

You stick your hand into the box but it's empty.

Staring down at it, you look a little bit sad that there's no cookies left.

Jake sees your face and laughs.

“I thought I still had a few left” you say.

“We can go buy more later,” Jake responds.

He takes the empty box from you, placing it on the living room table. He crouches in front of you, placing his hands on your belly.

“How's my little darling?”

He gets a kick as an answer.

You let out a small oomph-sound.

“She’s getting stronger with her kicking”

Jake looks up, staring in your eyes.

He rubs your belly, where she kicked you.

“Little darling, how about we make a deal?”

“You stop kicking mommy so hard and daddy will give you anything”

“Are you already bribing our daughter?” you ask with a smile on your face.

“Like you haven't done the same” Jake rebuts, also smiling.

The rest of the night goes by with Jake speaking to your unborn daughter, telling her all sorts of trouble he and sometimes you got into when you were younger.

#top gun #glen powell #top gun maverick #jake seresin #jake seresin fanfiction #jake seresin x f!reader #jake seresin x reader #had a trouble finding good picture but that one has to do

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ctheathy · 1 year ago

Note

*whisper* I dare you to write a smut fic about Foxie~

̶I̶'̶m̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶m̶a̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶j̶o̶k̶e̶ ̶n̶o̶w̶

You know what I start to enjoy writing on Tumblr more now

Achievement Through Appetite

Miles Prower x Reader

Suggestive Oneshot

Character + Artwork by Kayla Green

Author's note: ( ͡o ͜ʖ ͡o) You knew exactly what you were doing requesting my husband in here.

Miles[Operation Crimson]/Reader [Romantic Tendencies]

[Gender-neutral Darling|Female Darling|Male Darling]

Potential ⚠️TWs⚠️ :

!Female Reader! • The reader works for Miles in this • Suggestive fic/Situation that would eventually lead to NSFW • Touch starved Miles •

Miles groaned out his frustrations as his claws dug into his paperwork, not getting it to work. Tearing apart all of the papers he had been working on in defeat, ripping them to shreds. Emotions he wouldn't dare to show outside of the comfort of his own home. He was supposed to be composed and cunning, not... this..! Miles had been feeling unimaginably overwhelmed for quite a while now, and he is really not so sure why. His days hadn't been any different than his usual schedule. Working on his plans inside of his workshop, isolating himself from Sonic and the bunch due to how busy he was. But he couldn't shrug off this nagging and hollow feeling he felt.

“Taking your anger out on the papers isn't going to solve the problem, you know?” a soothing voice from behind him murmured, catching his attention as one of his ears twitched in acknowledgement. Miles sighed, he never enjoyed taking the advice of others... but he couldn't even find an excuse to back up his argument this time. Already feeling the guilt building up in the back of his head for tearing up the very work he's been working on for hours.

Swallowing his frustrations and sour mood, he turned around in his chair, facing the female behind him as he readjusted his position to a more casual posture and facial features falling back to a poker face. Miles gave you a glance with a blank look on his face, but he noticeably struggled keeping in his discontent for the way he felt. Your eyes just gazed back at his with a gentle yet empathetic look, a small smile that attempted to not falter by seeing him in this depressive state

“Seems like I've cooked up a meal at just the right time” you softly chuckled as you placed your free hand on your hips, raising an eyebrow as you showed off the tray with distinct foods with your left. A cup of tea on the corner while you kept the tray stable like a pro, not spilling a singular crumb.

“No coffee for you~ I'm not trying to make you even more bitter than you already operate as” you spoke with a joking tone, sending him a singular wink as you made your way over to him. And despite Miles’ noticeably bad mood, his eyes couldn't help but soften a little as you took your opportunity to send that playful remark towards him, despite you obviously just being thoughtful and remembering his loathing towards coffee. A tiny smirk of amusement began to pull at his lips as he let out a small huff, much to your joy.

“You never fail to amuse me, Miss _____” he hummed, as your appearance clearly improved his low spirits. And he couldn't help but feel his heart flutter a little while you laughed in anticipation. Glancing down at the tray of food you carefully placed in front of him, he felt a sense of genuine gratitude towards you. Many of those who worked for him would peace out and not look back as soon as the time of their shift ended, but you usually stuck around for a little longer. Making sure he was well fed every night before eventually taking your leave. And attempting to partially prevent the fox from overworking himself like he usually does. He's been known to be quite a busy worker after all ...and besides, you just felt this importance to look after him, especially since he oftentimes failed to do so himself. A sincere bond had been formed as soon as you received the job at his mansion, one that you both seem to value.

A lot.

“What's up with all the rush and impatience? There's nothing wrong with taking a break every now and then, you workaholic” you murmured with concern and a small scold, but the maternal love could be felt from a mile away. As you spoke, you placed both of your hands on each of his shoulders, your finger pads slightly pressing into his body as you did just that. Something that made Miles feel a rush of warmth through his body, making some of his fur stand up in alert.

Miles would be lying if he said that his feelings for you haven't been ... developing over time. It felt so wrong at first to enjoy your subordinate in such a passionate and perhaps even romantic sense, but he just couldn't help himself. Your caring and motherly nature pulled at his heartstrings more than any date could. And though he kept himself under control and tried to dismiss any feelings he deemed as inappropriate, he felt himself in a trance right now. He did not want you to leave yet

So as soon as you turned around and were ready to leave for the door, allowing him to enjoy his meal by himself, he instead grabbed you by the wrist with a gentle grasp. Catching you slightly off guard as he held you back. “no...don't leave yet” he requested with an assertive and slightly commending tone, but there was noticeably a hint of hesitance in it. Miles clearly felt more vulnerable than usual and that wasn't to be taken lightly. You sweetly smiled at him as you allowed him to continue grasping onto your arm, which he was pretty much just clinging to right about now.

You tilted your head to the side innocently, humming out a ‘mhm?’ in question as you wondered what he might need. Though due to Miles’ uncertainty on his face and hesitation with his movements, you decided to try and ease him into talking. As you placed your soft hand on top of his for comfort, he couldn't help but blush ever so slightly at the contact, his gaze drifting down to how you placed your hand onto his... like a perfect fit. But it were your next words that prevented him from chickening out, his heart skipping a beat when you tried to reassure him.

“Hey ...It's alright. Okay? Take your time, Miles. I truly don't mind staying longer for the night if you'd like somebody to keep you company”

And that was the moment that his control and will to keep to himself just broke. He was a goner. You got him. You won. His closed off walls just disappeared. Taking a deep exhale through his nose before Miles grabbed you by the collar, pulling you in for a deep kiss. Making you gasp out as he suddenly pressed his lips onto yours. He was not letting go of your frame. You just... he felt this need for you now. As if you were an oxygen tank, and he was on the verge of drowning.

Though surprised by the sudden gesture, you couldn't help but melt into it. His lips so soft and sensual, so careful... Leaving not only you, but him even more breathless as soon as he pulled back, looking at you with dazed, half lid eyes. Before closing them and leaning into you, feeling further at peace with himself more than he ever has. You felt his forehead touch against your own, and he actually enjoyed it. He didn't even care about all the "cheesy feelings" anymore. He wasn't even trying to deny it, he absolutely loved all of it... He wanted to feel your gentle touch again, he wanted your love more. He wanted to feel your love all day, all night. And you definitely didn't see this coming from him, you expected him to be cold and hateful, yet he's this romantic dude?

You could help but giggle softly, a smirk appearing on your face. “My goodness, Miles. I did not know you were such a hopeless romantic” you teased while fluttering your lashes, laughing out as soon as he looked at you with a half-scowling glint in his eyes and a small pout on his lips, internally questioning why you had to ruin the moment like that. “A sweet, old traditional confession was not your way to go, it appears. No "I love you" or anything? Sheesh, how mean of you”

Miles just scoffed before going right back in and passionately kissing you. It was pretty clear that he was attempting to prove his feelings for you without having to talk about emotions, as he kept kissing your lips with no regrets. It only became more apparent when he started to moan silently, showing his satisfaction as he kissed you. All he wanted now was to just mark you up and show you the feelings that have been bottling up, and he just couldn’t help himself this time. His hands started to rub your back, while his muscular arms gently pulled you closer to his body. Sometimes having to pull back for air as he was practically left panting. You turned your face a little and adjusted it so your lips would be resting on the crook of his neck, resulting in a shudder to emerge from him.

The fox seemed to be at the first stages of desperation at that point, he was completely unable to resist you. His heart felt like it was going to explode, the blood rushing through his veins like the sea waves crashing against the shore. The little pecks on his neck and the imitation of you rubbing his body now as well triggered a strong and sudden reaction from him, his entire body tensing up and suddenly pushing against you and your soft body as he groaned in pure desire.

Miles has never felt this amount of craving in one single night in his entire life, it was like his entire body was becoming one giant, sensitive nerve. He felt so much more vulnerable than he ever has, and it was causing an immense physical response at each and every little touch of your contact. His nerves on high alert by the unfamiliar sensations. It getting especially bad as soon as you started to add some tongue on his neck, teasingly nipping and sucking at his most sensitive spots.

Your tongue was doing wonders on Miles, swirling around on his body and teasing him, making him crave more. At that point, he just wanted more. More... more and more. Miles lost all sense of reality in his desires, he could only feel the sensation of your hot tongue, soothing him like a warm bath. He let out a low moan of pure delight as you pressed your body against him. Your movements were absolutely intoxicating. Your skin was warming up against his coat, almost feeling like fire and your scent was irresistible. He let you do whatever you wanted, letting you dig your nails into him as you held yourself in his embrace. Miles had completely lost control over his actions, his mind being too caught up with this overwhelming sensation.

“A-Ah...~” He whispered, his voice sounding like an animal's mating call “You're... destroying... me...” His voice sounded like a desperate plea, almost losing himself to the overwhelming desire taking over his body. Miles’ entire face twisted in pure lust, like a wolf feeling the warmth of a female in heat. His muscles became tight as he attempted to hold himself back, but all of a sudden he gave in to your seducing embrace. “Please... please...” He whispered with a deep voice, unable to form a proper sentence “More...”

As your caressing continued, Miles begins to whimper even more. He tries to reach his arms up towards your shoulders, wanting to hold you, but his arms just remain around you for now. His low and quiet grunts grow louder, as he can hardly contain himself at this point. He can't even think straight anymore as his brain has been completely hijacked by pleasure and desire. “M-My God. Your body is like a damn heatwave against my coat...”

The fox was losing himself in this moment, but it was only increasing the amount of desire he felt. Your body warmth was giving the effect of a heatlamp right now as your bodies began to slightly perspire. He felt like it was summer right now, as it seemed like time was going a lot slower since he just wanted this moment to last forever. He was losing all sense of reputation, self-control, and modesty, as he continues to let his primal instincts take over this exact moment. And he couldn't help but let out a ‘mnggh..’ as soon as one of your hands travelled over from his tall frame, towards the back of his neck. Some of your fingers pressing into his skin in order to try and keep yourself balanced.

Miles was completely out of it; his senses were absolutely destroyed. Your fingers sensually digging into the back of his neck was making him moan and groan, with you leaving his neck with beautiful red marks. He could feel himself beginning to drip in anticipation. He was... completely, utterly, hopelessly, hooked.

As your hand left the back of his neck and traced a path down his spine, his entire body began to tremble from the sudden touch. He let out a shuddering moan, his breath catching in his throat as he gulped for air, feeling his heart thump even faster than before. All of these touches, so affectionately... They were like a drug that had taken over his entire system. His arms wrapped around you and held you in place, so he could feel even more of you. His grip was tightening slightly, his fangs beginning to bite down on his lip.

The boy who was previously very cold and calculating, was now releasing small noises of pleasure, like that of a young puppy crying out to its mother while being fed. Miles seemed completely enthralled by your caresses, as your fingers traced along his skin and your body pressed firmly against him. His breathing was getting increasingly shallow and uneven, making the him completely lost in the sensation of your warmth and intimacy. Your scent made him lose control of himself, as he began to purr into you.

And it seems that the longer Miles gets showered with your affection, the more attached he felt himself becoming, and the harder it is for him to stop. He lets out a small grunt and leans his head closer to yours, wanting your lips to touch his again for just one more moment. He's never been such a mess up until this point, he just didn't care about anything except for what you were doing to him at this very moment. He just didn't want you to stop. His mind was completely flooded with love and lust, just the thought of you touching him more like this made him feel like he was floating through the air. His mind felt like it was filled with pure endorphins.

But as soon as you began standing on your toes, trying to get to his level of height, it resulted in his crotch unintentionally rubbing onto yours. The heat began to get into his head, Miles started to feel himself tense up and twitch uncontrollably as he starts to breathe in sharp, short breaths. He was now sweating heavily and his face was a bright shade of red by that point. He was holding in the loudest moans in his life, but struggles to keep it all in. His knees were beginning to shake so much after, until he finally lets out a long sigh and slumps over on you, submitting.

You were doing whatever you wanted and Miles was completely okay with that, he absolutely loved it. He was on the verge of madness, the amount of bottled up desire, need and happiness he was feeling was beyond comprehension. He was trembling so much that it was like every bone in his body was about to pop, his entire brain feeling like it was about to melt any second now. He was barely in control of his own body anymore, he let himself fall completely into your grasp.

Miles’ breathing was heavy and his lips were parted slightly, his words sounding like a breathless moan “Anything ...I'll do anything you want...” As his words came out, he leaned forward and pulled you to his chest, his body shaking so hard it looked like he was having a seizure. He whispered in your ear, his voice hoarse like an animal in heat, something not too surprising considering the current circumstances for him.

“I'll even... let you... be the top...” he murmured in a silent, seductive voice. Breathless as he let out yet another quiet whine filled with need, looking at you from the side with literal hearts in his eyes. Allowing himself to be swallowed in your temptation as soon as you whispered the final words in his ear.

“Expected nothing less from you, dear boss~”

#tails miles prower #tails x reader #miles prower x reader #sonic the hedgehog x reader #sonic x reader #tails x reader smut #operation crimson #sonic the hedgehog #tails smut #kayla green #sonic smut

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tired-truffle · 7 days ago

Text

My Soul to Keep

A Viktorxfem!reader fic

Chapter Word Count: 4.6k

Tag List: @im-just-a-simp-le-whore @ihascat5 @pebble-bb @goooofy-goooober1121 @furblurwurblur @potatointhedirt @webofwhimsy @mad-simp420 @xo-mingx @patchs-curiosity-corner (Let me know if you'd like to be added)

Chapter 2

Masterlist

You’d never imagined being a ghost tethered to a place to be a very fun experience. Being unable to move outside of your haunting space or see new scenery would drive anyone at least a little crazy after a few years. Being tethered to a person or an object, on the other hand, would give you a bit more wiggle room and the ability to explore. Except it would only be at the whim of the person carrying your object, or the person themselves. While you hadn’t figured out if you were actually a ghost or not, less than a minute after Viktor had left his apartment, it became viscerally clear that you were attached to something or someone on the move. Like an invisible wall of force, you were shoved from your spot, hovering uncertainly above the leather couch, and dragged through the floor.

Your shrieks of terror went unheard as you passed by room after room, making your descent from the upper floors. A man frantically buttoning his vest, a piece of toast crammed into his mouth, groaning his irritation as crumbs scattered over his chest. A woman reading a newspaper, a cup of tea in her hand. A young couple, one wrapped nothing but a thin sheet as they kissed goodbye at the door.

Wonderful, not only were you some sort of ghost-like creature, but you were now a Peeping Tom too.

After what must have been upwards of fifteen rooms, you finally reached the ground floor, floating down until you hovered over smooth tile flooring, polished marble tiles laid out in an intricate herringbone pattern that stretched from wall to wall. Towering columns of veined stone rose to meet a vaulted ceiling, where ornate chandeliers hung like crystalline raindrops frozen in time. Their warm light glinted off the gold-leafed accents adorning the walls and archways, rendering an atmosphere of quiet luxury.

A polished mahogany reception desk stood to your left, its surface so reflective you assumed it must be polished on the hour every hour. Behind it, a wall of brass mailboxes glinted, their tiny doors neatly labelled with apartment numbers.

As you floated there, drinking in the details of your lavish surroundings, a soft 'ding' broke you from your curious reverie. The elevator doors slid open, and Viktor stepped out.

It took him a moment to spot you, likely not having expected to see his hallucination lying on the floor of his building’s entry, but unfortunately for you, there was no coverage to hide your embarrassment. Like a flame flickering into existence, his eyes widened as they landed on you, stuttering in his steps. With a resigned sigh, you waved at him and floated back to a standing position.

Out of all the side effects of your predicament, the floating was probably your favourite. It was the little things that kept you going.

Recovering smoothly, lucky that the few others in the lobby weren’t paying attention to the newcomer, Viktor resumed his long-legged strides, his shoes clicking against the marble floors. When he reached you, you floated along at his side, hands clasped behind your back with the dignity of someone who did not just fall through the ceiling.

“It seems like I can’t leave your general vicinity. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me.” You elbowed him, even knowing it would go right through him. It was the thought that counted. “I don’t think anyone else can see me though, or a lot more of them would have freaked the fuck out when I appeared in their rooms.”

The subtlest of smirks canted at the corners of his lips. He pushed open the glass door, the creaking of the hinges masking his voice so only you could hear his reply.

“I’ve had worse tag-alongs.”

That shouldn’t have made you as happy as it did, but you beamed at him anyway, pleased like a student who’d been praised by an overly harsh teacher.

You hovered in silence beside Viktor, acutely aware of the peculiar situation you found yourself in. The bustling streets of Piltover unfolded before you, gleaming with wealth and innovation that left you slack-jawed with wonder. It was one thing to see it on screen, and another to experience it first-hand.

Sleek, chrome-plated carriages whizzed by, and the people of Piltover moved with purpose, their attire a dizzying array of fine silks, tailored suits, and accessories that sparkled with precious stones. You realized, with a start, that even the most modest outfit you saw probably cost more than you'd ever seen in your life.

Street vendors hawked their wares on the cobblestone roads - miniature clockwork toys, glowing vials of mysterious substances, and gadgets whose purposes you couldn't even begin to fathom. You longed to stop and examine each fascinating item, but the invisible tether binding you to Viktor urged you onward.

After a few blocks of sensory overload, you approached a structure that made even the grandest buildings you'd passed seem modest in comparison. The Academy loomed before you, a colossal edifice of azure stone that seemed to touch the very heavens. Its walls were smooth and polished, reflecting the sky like a massive sapphire.

As you ascended the steps alongside Viktor, you noticed how the stone beneath your feet - or where your feet would be if you weren't floating - clicked and moved to match the height and speed of his strides. Would they get smaller for someone like Heimerdinger?

You turned to Viktor, bursting with questions and observations, but held your tongue, remembering that he couldn't respond without looking like a madman talking to thin air. Instead, you contented yourself with a small smile, grateful for this unexpected adventure and the chance to witness the wonders of Piltover firsthand.

It wasn’t until you were through the foyer and into the elevator - alone with Viktor - that you spoke up.

“So,” you elongated the vowel as you thought of what to say. “What do you do with this professor?”

Viktor was young and mostly healthy, no illness eating away at his lungs, and if he was going to meet Heimerdinger first thing in the morning, you imagined it was because he was still working for him. However, there was a chance that he was meeting with the professor about Hextech.

“I’m his assistant,” Viktor said plainly, confirming your suspicions.

You frowned, consideringly. “Prestigious.”

He shrugged. “It has its perks.”

The elevator dinged, its doors opening to the tenth floor. Viktor stepped out, cane softly thudding against the carpet and accompanying his muffled footsteps. It was just the two of you, as far as you could tell.

“You’re welcome to accompany me, though it appears you have little choice in the matter, but I must warn you I will not be able to speak with you,” he said under his breath. “Heimerdinger may appear…aloof at times, but he is sharp as a whip. If he believes that I’ve cracked under the pressure, he will have me immediately escorted to the nearest in-patient facility. That or he’ll lecture me over tea, neither of which I am particularly fond of.”

You nodded along as he spoke, spinning so you were floating on your back, watching the sparkly tiled ceiling flow by. “I figured as much. Don’t worry about me; I’ll just chill in the corner. You won’t even know I’m there.”

And you’d been so close to being right.

You’d done as promised, perusing the corners of Heimerdinger’s office while they reviewed their daily tasks, and trailing as far behind them as you could when they set out. The limit seemed to be about twenty feet in all directions before the barrier kicked in and shoved you along. Entirely aggravating - you’d never liked being told what to do, not even by invisible walls.

Every so often, you'd push against the barrier, testing its limits. It was like pressing against an elastic wall - you could stretch it a bit, but eventually, it would snap back, dragging you along.

As you drifted through the corridors, you noticed something peculiar. Whenever you passed through a person, they would shiver involuntarily, as if a sudden chill had swept over them. You watched as a young student, her arms laden with books, trembled as you glided through her. Her eyes darted around, confused before she shrugged it off and continued on her way.

Intrigued by this discovery, you decided to conduct a little experiment - if you were going to surround yourself with scientists, you might as well try to blend in. You positioned yourself in the middle of a busy intersection where multiple hallways converged. As people walked through you, one after another, you observed their reactions. Some merely twitched, while others visibly shuddered, their teeth chattering for a brief moment.

Interesting, but you weren’t sure what to do with this newfound knowledge.

They didn’t head back to Heimerdinger’s office until late into the evening - it was clear where Viktor got his unhealthy work habits from, if he hadn’t had them already. By that point, you were bored out of your skull, and you couldn’t even get the reprieve of banging your head against the wall.

All you could do was talk and float around, and since the only person you could talk to was Viktor, that left you with floating as your only option - and there was only so much flopping around into different positions that you could do before you lost your mind.

Your wish for entertainment came in the form of an overly distracted Heimerdinger. You hadn’t been watching, Viktor hadn’t been watching - busy sorting through the missives that had piled up on the professor’s desk while they’d been out - and Heimerdinger himself hadn’t been watching where he was going, too enraptured in his thoughts.

Bang! The loud slap of a stack of books toppling to the floor jolted you out of your calm - albeit painfully boring - state.

Your perspective shifted dramatically, as if the world had grown larger around you. The colours of the room muted, losing their vibrancy, yet somehow, you could see more of your surroundings at once. Your visual field expanded, stretching to the corners of the room that were previously out of sight.

Your closest surroundings blurred, becoming indistinct shapes in your new vision. Yet, you found yourself drawn to the smallest movements - a piece of paper fluttering in the breeze from an open window, specks of dust filtering through the air.

Everything was different, more immediate, filled with scents and sounds you hadn't noticed before. The musty smell of old books mingled with the sharp tang of ink and the faint aroma of Heimerdinger's pipe tobacco.

Your ears twitched, picking up sounds you hadn’t noticed before. Viktor's breathing seemed louder now, the soft rustle of his clothing, the subtle creak of floorboards beneath his feet.

Instinctively, you hissed through clenched teeth as confusion prickled along your spine, your fur standing on end as your back arched. The sound that escaped your throat was alien and feral, nothing like your usual voice. As soon as it happened, you froze, bewildered.

Hold on.

Be so fucking for real right now.

This could not be happening.

Viktor’s wide eyes and slackened jaw said otherwise, his missive falling to the floor like a feather on a gentle breeze.

You became acutely aware of your new feline form. Your whiskers twitched, sensitive to the slightest air currents in the room. Your tail, a foreign appendage you'd never possessed before, swished behind you with a mind of its own. You flexed your paws, feeling the soft pads beneath and the sharp claws that extended and retracted at will. The fur that covered your little body was a sleek black, looking soft to the touch as though you’d spent hours grooming it.

“Gadzooks!” Heimerdinger exclaimed, his head popping up from where he’d dived behind his desk to avoid being crushed. “That was a close one! Are you alright, my boy?”

Viktor hadn’t even been close to the books, but it was sweet of the professor to ask - not that you could register it in your shock.

Shaking himself out of his stunned stupor, Viktor turned to face his employer. “Yes, sir. And you?”

“I’m alright, but it did give me quite the scare.” Heimerdinger chuckled to himself, but you were too busy freaking out to fully appreciate how the yordle’s ears wiggled when he laughed.

Why the fuck were you a cat? And how were you supposed to turn back?

Oh God, were you stuck like this forever now? No, you refused. You’d had enough weird shit happen; you weren’t going to let this control you too.

Closing your eyes, you concentrated on slowing your heart rate. Like water falling off a duck's back, your feline form melted away. A tingling sensation spread from your core to your extremities, and you sensed your body stretching and reshaping. When you dared to open your eyes again, you found yourself back in your ghostly human form, hovering a few inches above the ground.

Frantically, you patted yourself down, checking for any lingering cat-like features. No tail. No fur. No whiskers. You ran your hands over your head, sighing in relief when you felt your hair instead of pointed ears. The world had returned to its normal proportions and colours, the hyper-awareness of scents and sounds fading back to normal.

Still shaken, you drifted over to Viktor, who was helping Heimerdinger gather the fallen books. You hovered close to his ear, hissing in a low, urgent whisper - a human hiss, not a cat hiss - "What the fuck was that?"

Viktor's eyes darted to you for a split second before returning to his task. His lips barely moved as he hissed back, "How am I supposed to know?"

You ran your hands through your hair, tugging at the strands in frustration. "I turned into a fucking cat!" you whispered incredulously, your voice rising slightly in pitch.

Viktor's jaw clenched, and he shot you a warning glance. His eyes flicked meaningfully towards Heimerdinger, who was dusting off a particularly old tome.

You nodded, forcing yourself to take deep, calming breaths – not that you actually needed to breathe, but the familiar action helped steady your nerves. As Viktor and Heimerdinger finished tidying up, you retreated to a corner of the office, trying to process what had just happened and wondering what other surprises your strange new existence might have in store for you.

Sitting in awkward silence wasn’t your favourite activity, but lately you’d been doing a lot of things you typically avoided.

“Do you still think I’m a hallucination?” You broke the silence, your elbows resting on your knees as you floated above the couch, legs crossed.

Viktor swayed his head and twisted towards you, his piecemeal dinner of toast and jam abandoned on the coffee table. “I have not concretely ruled it out, but since no one else can see or hear you, that may be difficult. For now, I am leaning towards no. It is much too fantastical for my mind to come up with. Besides, I do not feel as though I have lost my senses. There would be other signs.”

Logical, as you’d expected.

“I wish I wasn’t real,” you sighed, tilting your head back to look at the popcorn-textured ceiling. “This is all so crazy. I don’t know where to begin trying to find answers.”

“Do you remember what happened before you arrived here?”

You shook your head. “Not a thing.”

Viktor hummed his understanding. “You said that this world should not exist, what did you mean by that?”

Right, you had blurted that out in a panicked rush, hadn’t you?

“If you don’t think you’ve lost your mind, then you definitely will think that I have when I try to explain it to you.”

He smiled, soft and patient, and in response, your stomach conjured up a flurry of butterflies to tickle your insides. “I promise I will not pass undue judgment. If I was going to, I would have already, given that you’re transparent and can turn into a cat.”

“Fair point.” He had you there, and what else did you have to lose? “Though don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

He sat back, motioning for you to begin.

Taking a deep breath, you squared your shoulders. “Do you have televisions here? Like screens that play pre-recorded videos?”

“Some do, though it is not particularly common.”

“Thank God,” you breathed, “I really didn’t want to try to explain what that was. They’re pretty common in my world, at least where I come from, most households have them. We’ve got millions of shows and movies to watch. There was this one show called Arcane that was about, uh, here. Like, Piltover and Zaun.”

He nodded sagely, and you couldn’t find any traces of disbelief in his eyes. He was just…accepting it? Or he was a very good actor. You were leaning toward the latter.

“You were one of the main characters,” you continued, noting that this did get a reaction from him: a slight raise of his eyebrows. “And judging by a few observations, this is before the start of the show, though it can’t be more than a few years at most. If I had to guess based on my luck lately, we’re pretty close to it, weeks if not days.”

Viktor's forehead creased as he processed your words. "A show…about Piltover and Zaun. I suppose the politics could be intriguing. And I'm a character in it?"

“You are, but I don’t expect you to take me at my word. I can prove to you that I know things that I shouldn’t, and I can predict a few upcoming events, though we must prevent one sequence of events or everything goes to shit, so I may need a little bit of trust from you.”

At this, he looked interested, and you took this as a win. “Intriguing. You may proceed.”

You paused, what could you even tell him? What would be believable? “You…know a lot of things.”

“True.”

“And if you’re still thinking I may be a hallucination then I can’t tell you your history ‘cause you already know it.” You tapped your chin, lips twisted as you thought hard. “I’m trying to prevent the immediate future, so that wouldn’t work either, but…oh! Are you able to go to a doctor anytime soon?”

Viktor blinked, startled back. “A doctor?”

“Yeah, like a medical one, not Dr. Reveck.”

“Who is Dr. Reveck?”

It was your turn to express your confusion. “You know, the doctor in that cave you met as a kid? When your boat went down the stream into his lab?”

Viktor eyed you, suspicion swimming in the depths of his gaze. “He never told me his name.”

“Oh, uh,” you grinned sheepishly, “I guess you know it now. He’s the inventor of Shimmer. He’s trying to cure his daughter of death. He should probably be stopped, but that’s a later problem.”

“Right.” He was dubious, but he waved for you to continue.

“Okay, here it goes, and it’s probably gonna suck to hear, so I’m warning you now,” you said, and upon Viktor’s nod, you started. “They never told us what illness you had, or I guess you have, just that you got it from Zaun’s shitty air. Your lungs will start to fail you, you’ll need a crutch, you’ll lose weight, and you’ll start coughing up blood sometime in the next seven years. Eventually, it would kill you. But, many people believed the illness was similar to one that we have in my world: tuberculosis or consumption, depending on the time period.”

Viktor's face paled as you spoke, his lips pressed into a thin line. He sat in silence for a long moment.

"That's... quite specific,” he said when he was able to form a response. “And rather grim."

“I know. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I’m sure that’s a lot to take in, but if it is something like tuberculosis, then the good news is it’s totally treatable before it gets to the active stage. Do you have any of those symptoms now?”

“I don’t,” he said, a wariness to his tone.

“That’s great!” You clapped your hands, relief flooding through you. What were you supposed to do if the one person who could see you died? “That means you don’t have the active stage yet, or any illness at all, but if it’s caused by Zaun’s air and you haven’t lived there for some time, then it wouldn’t make sense that you pick it up later. Can the doctors here test your blood for an illness like this?”

“Yes.” His fingers drummed a steady rhythm on the arm of his chair, a nervous habit you hadn't noticed before. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to get checked, though the idea of being ill and unaware until it is too late is unsettling."

Silence stretched between you, broken only by the soft ticking of a clock on the wall and the distant hum of the city outside. You wished you could offer more comfort, but what could you say to someone who'd just been told they might have a potentially fatal illness?

"I'll schedule an appointment as soon as I can," Viktor said, quiet but resolute.

You nodded, relieved that he was taking your warning seriously. "That's good. Really good. Thank you for listening to me."

Viktor's lips quirked into a small smile. "It's not every day a ghostly entity from another world appears to warn you about your health. It would be foolish to ignore such a specific prophecy."

You chuckled, appreciating his attempt at levity. "That’s the spirit."

Over and over in your mind you prayed to whatever gods may be listening that they could catch his illness in time. And if they couldn’t…you weren’t sure you had it in you to stop him from becoming the Machine Herald.

A few days later, he had his appointment set, and until then, you were stuck following him around. It wasn’t all bad, you’d spent most of your time idly floating, watching the scenery as you trailed after Viktor, and the evenings were spent in peaceful companionship. Surprisingly, he was more chatty than you’d expected. Late at night as he pursued his work, he’d talk to you about it, or rather talked at you as you had little to add. But still, you appreciated the entertainment.

You had avoided turning back into a cat again, if such a thing could be avoided. One thing at a time; address Viktor’s illness, get him to believe that you were real, and then you could figure your shit out.

On the day of the appointment, you floated beside him as he made his way to the physician’s office. It was in a central part of town, a quick trolley ride away. As you entered the sleek building, a thought occurred to you that you’d nearly forgotten.

“Did someone teach you to use your cane on the same side as your injured leg?”

Viktor halted in his steps, said cane clacking against the floor. It was just him in the entryway, and he looked at you with bewilderment. “I beg your pardon?”

You cringed, who were you to tell him how to use his mobility aid when you couldn’t even use your legs? There was no such thing as an inaccessible environment when you could float everywhere. “It’s just that you’re supposed to use a cane on the opposite side as the disabled leg, right? But I thought maybe there was a reason you weren’t doing that.”

He glanced down at the cane and then back up at you. “That’s what my parents taught me.”

Ah, it was as you feared. No one had taught him to use it properly, and they’d been letting him go his whole life using it in a way that would damage his body over time. It made sense that Zaun didn’t receive proper health education on top of everything else. “Maybe you can talk to the doctor about it while you’re here.”

He pursed his lips, gaze distant as though evaluating memories you were not party to. “Perhaps.”

After signing in and waiting his turn, Viktor was called back.

“I’ll wait outside the door if that’s okay with you,” you offered, floating down the long hallway as the nurse brought him to a clinic room. Viktor nodded his understanding.

You hovered in the hall, your ethereal form passing through the occasional nurse or patient who hurried by, watching as they shivered or shuddered.

As you waited, you observed the diverse array of people moving through the clinic. A young woman with braided hair adorned with gold jewelry passed by, her eyes fixed on a small device in her hand. An elderly gentleman hobbled along, supported by a woman of a similar age - his wife, maybe. A pair of identical twins, no older than ten, chattered excitedly about the latest comic their parents had bought them.

The nurse who had escorted Viktor into the examination room emerged, her shoes squeaking softly against the polished floor. She moved with purpose, her crisp white uniform much too clean for someone who no doubt frequently got her hands dirty. How many changes of uniforms for its staff did this place have to keep up appearances?

Minutes ticked by, and you found yourself studying the patterns in the wallpaper, tracing the delicate floral designs with your eyes.

Finally, after what felt like hours but was likely only about thirty minutes, the door to Viktor's room opened again. This time, a distinguished-looking man in a white coat stepped out, followed closely by Viktor. The doctor's salt-and-pepper hair was neatly combed, and his glasses perched precariously on the bridge of his nose. His eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled, a reassuring expression that immediately put you at ease.

Viktor's face was a mask of calm, but you could see the subtle tension in his shoulders. He extended his hand to the doctor, who grasped it firmly.

"Thank you, Doctor," Viktor said. "Your insights have been most valuable."

The doctor shook Viktor’s hand, his smile widening. "It's my pleasure. Remember what we discussed, and don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions."

With a final nod, Viktor turned and began making his way down the hallway towards the exit. You floated after him, your ghostly form easily keeping pace with his measured strides. As you followed, something caught your eye, and you did a double-take.

Viktor was using his cane differently.

Where before he had held it on the same side as his disabled leg, now it was on the opposite side. He had listened to your suggestion and brought it up with the doctor. This small change could make a significant difference in his daily life, potentially alleviating pain and improving his mobility.

As you exited the clinic, the bustling streets of Piltover greeted you. The afternoon sun beat down on the cobblestone paths, and you floated alongside Viktor, studying his face for any sign of what the doctor might have told him. His expression remained impassive, but when there was a break in the crowd, he leaned closer to you.

“I will receive a call with the results of the testing in a few days,” he whispered. “But you were correct about the cane. Thank you.”

You shrugged, entirely unsure what to say. “I hope it helps.”

An uptick at the corner of his mouth was the only sign of his smile. “Only time will tell.”

A/N: Happy Valentine's Day!! I hope this makes it to you in time, and thank you so so much for all the support you gave for the first chapter <3

If at any point when reading this chapter you thought to yourself: "I just want you to stop sayin' odd shit." I do not blame you. It's not going to get any less weird, but I hope you enjoy it!

#isekai #fem reader #reader insert #reader goes to world #no use of y/n #eventual smut #fluff #falling in love #viktor x you #viktor arcane #arcane viktor #viktor x reader

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