#Lilly has daddy issues

[angeltannis]

Last night I was so caught up in thinking about my modern unhinged faves like Tannis and Reagan that I forgot my decade-old roots fighting people to the death over a woman who shot a lady point blank in the face because the lady insulted her 💕

[milkbreadandtadpoles]

soup and stars

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snip: you keep sukuna's favorite after workout drink in your fridge. and no, you don't frequent that store. sukuna looks at you like you hung the moon and painted the sky yourself when you're either on the brink of death or not paying attention (it's only with his eyes, though. he's a certified rbf). the two of you have been hooking up for over a year with little conversation outside of snarky comments and emojis he doesn't get.

and he sometimes takes care of you when you're sick for five hours only.

warnings: suggestive language, sukuna being a parallel of this guy i used to hookup with who was srsly emotionally constipated and really milked my daddy issues, reader being dumb (lol me), probably a lot of run on sentences and weird descriptions but i am not srry ab it, no Y/N here, a lot of parentheses for some reason

authors note: omg hey. i have this a03 and i thought i'd put a tumblr to pair it together cuz i had an old tumblr but i was kinda done w her (may she rest in peace!) anywayyy my name is lillie, hi again. hope u enjoy this!! luv me some sukuna who reminds me of all my bad flings.

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Since when did you get sick like this?

This time, not that time you lied to your boss, you have an actual stomach bug. Stomach thing. Food poisoning from bad sushi. You don't know.

What you do know, however, is that everything smells bad, you can’t stomach anything other than a handful of saltine crackers. You couldn’t even finish your coffee yesterday morning; you’re just coming down from a fever. Everything is hot and cold, nothing feels right on your skin. Noises are too loud, but the silence is making your ears bleed. 

Curled up into the sheets, you shiver. It rocks over you, feeling cold despite your body burning off whatever infection is brewing in your gut. Your skin feels crusty yet damp, scalp itchy and pulled back into two haphazard buns. Stray strands lay over your forehead that twinkles with cold sweat.

Vampire Diaries plays in the background, volume loud enough so you can hear where you’re at within the series but quiet enough to give you grace if you wish to take another four hour nap. You don’t even want to get on your phone, ignoring the occasional, silent buzzes and flashing light that draw your eyes away from the fuzz of your blanket.

Time passes in a druken haze, not knowing whether you slept or not, not feeling entirely there at all. You fail to count the amount of times you got up to throw up or sit on the toilet, thankful the walls are snug enough to rest your head on the wall of it to contemplate if it’s worth passing out before you gather your wits and crawl back into bed.

There’s a rustle in your sheets, a distant sound of intro music for the vampire show.

“You still watchin’ this shit?” A gruff voice sounds from above you.

Your brows furrow in your sleepy haze- you don’t have energy to fight an intruder, pulling the sheets over your head that throbs from lack of everything. Horribly big hands paw at the clothed dip in your waist. And you let out a mixture of a whine and huff at the realization that your little fling (if you could even call it that) picked a horrible day to play.

“Sukuna,” You murmur, drawing the blankets higher above the crown of your head before he has a chance to yank it down and see your very unprepared self, “Not a good time.”

Sukuna, an occasional fuck and lackluster addition to your friend group, scoffs a laugh, muttering something about you really being a freak, something about thanking your dad for giving you all these issues that only he can handle as he gropes the flesh of your ass.

And it would feel so lovely if you weren’t on the brink of death.

“Eggroll. All the eggrolls.”

He groans, lifting his hand away from you in agreement to the safe word (because that one time when the two of you didn't have one and you reacted that way actually scared the shit out of him). 

“I’m sick.” You add quietly, urging your body to morph into a tighter ball. If Sukuna were his younger brother, or his younger brother’s friend, you’d ask either of them to cover you with another blanket. Or to refill your water bottle. Maybe even run to the store down the road and grab you some soup. But this is Sukuna, and-

There’s a harsh tug at the blanket covering your head, and you try to weakly grip the fabric in place.

“That’s why you didn’t answer my text? ‘Cause you’re all disgusting and shit?” He questions, giving one more quick tug to reveal your messy hair, the tint to the apples of your cheeks. The way his gaze feels makes the very top of your gut churn, and you scrunch your face as you decide whether or not you need to puke again.

“Mhm.” You nod, begging for the fabric back with a soft tug. Sukuna relents, snorting as you cover your head back up.

His body weight makes your bed frame squeak as he repositions himself to slouch next to you, and you peer at him through the crack of the blanket. He pulls out his phone, typing on it lazily. Through your bubbling stomach, confusion festers simply because he isn’t moving.

“Thought you not replying was you trying to be cute ’n shit.” A hand makes its way onto your lower back, the weight of it making your eyes bulge in silent surprise. With all your strength, you shake your head and whisper a soft sorry. He tuts, like all weirdly immature but mature, rude but nice and confusing older brother types do, dismissing your apology with a little pat on your back.

Another pat, and you’re snuggling into the blankets and letting your eyes close, mapping the way his hand feels and ignoring the way your stomach cramps. You hear the distant sound of a picture being taken, only being able to mutter a humiliated groan. There's a vibration where your phone is, and you know that the group chat has been notified of your predicament. 

“You eat? Take a shower?” Sukuna asks, mastering the art of making his concern dismissive. The silence on your end answers everything he needs to know, humming in acknowledgement. You’re a stubborn little shit who likes to suffer in isolation, he’ll give you that.

He synchs a basketball game to your TV, adamantly rotating between patting and rubbing your back until you’re snoring and curled up next to his lap.

When you wake up, you’re still cold, still sweating off your fever. You peers towards the bed, noticing the empty spot but the basketball game still softly playing on the screen. For a moment, you let your head slump back into the mattress before you force yourself out of bed to pee.

The weight in your body is too overwhelming to be horrified by your appearance when you emerge to make your way into a shared bathroom with your roommate. They’re all gone for work, and you don’t have the wit to ask where Sukuna got the time off to come fuck you in the middle of the day. Or why he was looking at your location. 

“I forgot how much of a bitchy face you have.” He comments, voice a note softer than you would usually hear, as you pad towards the bathroom. You grumble a quiet fuck you, slinking towards the bathroom.

You fix your hair to the best of your ability- standing up too long made you throw up. Your abdomen feels like it’s gone to three HIT classes in a row, hardly having any reserves to help you stand and brush your teeth. So you do it knelt over the bathtub, making sure to lock the door to make sure that stupid person of interest doesn’t see you so weak.

Rinsing your mouth out knelt over a tub is a new low, spitting the globs of toothpaste and water into the drain before you turn it off and brace the sides of the tub to stand and wander back out into the kitchen. Your bones feel like brittle, a bowling ball in your stomach forcing your posture to look horrifyingly old. It's been two days but you've aged thirty years. 

“Hi.” You greet weakly, rubbing your eyes before putting your arms back down as swiftly as you can. When was the last time you shaved?

Sukuna nods back, digging through a plastic bag. It’s only a few seconds before you’re sitting on the floor. The tile makes you twitch, and you wonder how you’re going to get up without looking like a hobbling mess. Maybe you’ll just crawl.

Soup and some electrolyte drinks are set out on the counter- along with your favorite candy. For a moment, your brows furrow, and then your lip wobbles in realization.

“Did you get that for me?”

“Can’t fuck you if you’re all pitiful and disgusting.” Is all he says, but his lip twitches into a bewitching smirk as your eyes well with tears and you sniffle out a sweet thank you. "Of course you’d cry over stupid shit like this." He adds, shaking his head. 

His shoes click bluntly against the floor, and he peers down at you with that devastatingly handsome, horribly mean face.

“You could just go fuck another girl.” You murmur sappily, lip jutting into a pout. And it’s true, you know it. The two of you have established that. He throws it in your face, too, when you tell him you’re busy or you’re too sleepy. Or when you simply don’t want to deal with his attitude.

His laugh tickles your heart, staring at him with wide, watery eyes as he bends down and gathers you into his arms. You squirm, or try to, holding any pride and ego close to your chest like a rabid animal as you let out a faux uncomfortable noise. There’s a familiar tap to your ass that urges you to stop, and you sink into Sukuna’s terrifyingly comfortable embrace as he carries you back to your room. The two of you have hardly cuddled before, the absolute most being him begrudgingly letting you cling onto him after one particularly rough night- only to shove you off five minutes later, giving you a pat on the head as if to say good job, thanks for the head, before leaving.

So this is new, awkward, when your semi friend with semi benefits sets you down with the upmost genteel fashion and retreats back into the kitchen. He comes back with an armful of products moments later. Soup, your favorite cup filled with mystery get well liquid, a straw and a big spoon.

“I don’t like big spoons.”

“That’s too fuckin’ bad because that’s what I got- stop pouting like that, it's disgusting.”

Sukuna sets everything down and defiantly does not grab another spoon for you. You make a noise in the back of your throat when he reaches over and urges you to sit up with a silent look that you’re expected to figure out. He lets you maneuver a pillow behind your back, lets you curl a blanket around your body and change the TV back to Vampire Diaries- he does not let you feed yourself.

When you reach for the bowl of soup (your favorite- chicken and stars), he uses only a percentage of his strength to swat your hand away, giving you another demand to stop sulking like a little kid before he’s crawling (crawling!) across the bed. Bowl of soup and too big of spoon in hand, he sits across from and in front of your view from the show.

He leans forward in a sort of endearing way, brows furrowed in a certain concentration as he scoops the perfect spoonful of soup and stars, holding it to your mouth. And he watches when you open your mouth with furrowed brows, lips closing around the dipped metal so that nothing drips down your chin. The broth warms your mouth, your stomach in an instant, making your face relax and your back slump into the pillow that supports you.

There’s a prickle of humiliation on the apples of your cheeks, something Sukuna would likely make fun of if you weren’t half asleep by the time he finishes spoon feeding you. And yea, there was one singular instance of him swiping away fallen liquid away with his thumb. And yea, you’re going to remember that forever. And most definitely are you going to internalize this as something more between the two of you than just friends who fuck (friend being a huge overstatement).

“I don’t like you.” You find yourself murmuring as Sukuna thrusts your clunky, metal, pink water bottle in your face. Obediently, as you always are, you sip at the liquid, swallowing down any grimace as he stares right at you while you swallow.

“You’re not my favorite, either.” He grunts, picking the cup up as soon as you set it down and representing it to you with a face.

“I’m at least second to your video game console.” Your grumble with pursed lips, taking another measly sip. When Sukuna raises his brows, you take a few more.

“Third. Second is pot. And it’s a PS4- fucking nerd.”

The part of your stomach that isn’t cramping to shit flutters, your fever probably rises, and you smile to yourself as you take a big gulp of the electrolyte solution. You swallow before he says the softest atta girl and takes the cup to set it back down.

Sukuna helps you shuffle under three big blankets, gives you your phone and goes to wash the soup bowl. You text Satoru with sick enthusiasm, to which he reiterates it in your (other) group chat where everyone just starts sending silly fangirlish memes. Shoko isn’t phased, Suguru isn’t pleased, either. But there’s an icky smile on your face, the thought of when it’ll end and Sukuna will go back to, well, Sukuna, gnawing at the back of your throat.

But you’ll pretend for today, like you do everyday.

“Are you leaving?” You ask when he comes back into the room, question answered when the bed dips once more.

He grunts a no, to shut up and sleep as he synchs up another sports game. You don’t mind, turning your head so you’re facing him. His back rests against a pillow with a floral case, one of your weighted stuffed animals squished between the weight of his back and the metal bed frame.

You stare with lidded eyes and hot cheeks, tracing the musculature of his shoulders and the sharpness of his face in the same pattern you do after he’s done making you quiver and shake and cry. The plush of the blanket is a perfect excuse for the sheen of sweat on your face, your stomach still molten lava and convulsing.

But it’s just a little more than a dull ache with Sukuna here, bored face and all.

For a moment, before you fall asleep for a third time today, you feel his fingertips, hard and gruff and soft, brush against your cheek, your chapped lips. You’re too tired to hide or quip at him in the static-like fashion that makes him laugh.

You swear you see his lips twitch when you hum affectionately. There’s a text waiting for your friends, a mental scoreboard to update. Smile number two. Four days apart. From holding a sparkler and ogling at it like a child at Satoru’s New Year’s Eve party to laying in bed sick, purring like a cat as he pets you.

“Stop looking like you’re going to die.” He all but requests, covering your face with a sliver of the blanket and looking back at the game. Grabbing the remote, he turns the volume up a few more notches to ignore your itty bitty, very sleepy laugh.

Seconds away from sleep, Sukuna uncovers it- you. His lingering gaze tingles your nose, all the way down to the tips of your toes. Your infatuation with him might as well be the cure to cancer from the faintest spark of energy it gave you.

He’s not there when you wake up. It could have been a fever dream for all you know if it wasn’t for the refilled hydro flask and oddly neat note scribbled for you to ‘drink the fuck up’ on one of your Sanrio sticky notes. There's a brief look of horror on your face knowing that he looked through your drawers to find one. 

You drink it all and take a gruesome looking picture, sending it to him with a silly caption- your way of saying thank you. Sukuna doesn’t respond, but the read receipts are on. And he doesn’t talk to you for awhile, as if he curates the perfect way to make you stay by letting the bubbling like for him simmer into nothing, only for it to come back in full force when asks if you’re awake three Thursdays later.He asks if he can still use the key you gave him to come by after the gym to shower because his little brother and friends are over and he doesn’t want to hear them blubber while they figure out their alcohol tolerance (or lack thereof).

A pearly, well built increment of yourself hopes it’s so he’ll check up on you, too, after he slinks into your room and fucks you just the way he likes- because he knows you like it, too.

And you say yes, like you always do. Tell him about this new body wash you got that he can use, that you just so happened to get his favorite drink from the store he get his protein powder and supplements from when you went grocery shopping.

you don’t even like that store lmfao

found a new prebiotic there! Saw it on Pintrest

sure

Sukuna is not immune to exploiting your obvious cartwheels to please him. He’ll never say thank you, and you won’t ever ask him to. You do it for all your friends, you tell him. Shoko’s toothbrush brand is in your bathroom cabinet when she sleeps over. Satoru’s moisturizer and favorite tooth-rotting snacks. Suguru’s blanket because he gets cold at movie nights. But Sukuna knows he could have whatever he asked for within the hour.

He’ll never address that he took care of you when you were sick. Both times. Or that there's a packet of your favorite gum in the console of his car. And he'd rather be dead than you, shit, anyone, find out that there's a hidden album of little you's in his phone. 

i’m just a good friend  *ੈ♡⸝⸝🪐༘⋆

we’re not friends.

It doesn’t hurt your feelings. Because you know he’s emotionally constipated, that no one’s ever really cared. Except Yuji, but little brothers always care. That whatever affection and consideration thrown his way will be burnt to a crisp, that he’ll only ever look at you like you hung the stars when no one’s looking, or only think about you at night when the weed isn’t helping him sleep. 

uh huh, we sure aren’t. see you later! make sure to stretch before you lift!!

stop texting me, it's fucking up my music

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?

[elvisabutler]

spark ( chapter two: prayer )

fandom: elvis presley | elvis ( 2022 ) rating: m pairing: elvis presley ( fameless big daddy electrician/handyman ) x female original character word count: 10570ish so just shy of 11k this time. warnings: talk of children. a bit of negative self talk. infidelity in some form. elvis in glasses. religion playing an at least faintly important part. use of a washcloth in inventive ways. faint naivety regarding come and precome and pleasurable parts of sex, i suppose. fingering. implied/referenced masturbation ( m and f ). pining. talk of female reproductive issues. author’s note: so before you read anything involving this. i need you all to either go into this chapter blind other than my note about female reproductive issues or i need you to scroll all the way down to the bottom of this past the tag list for a bit of an explanation for that warning. i'm fine either way but i didn't want to spoil it in the warnings considering i left what happened fairly nebulous. all that being said hi y'all, welcome to the second chapter of spark! there is not a lot i can say other than telling you all i am so very thankful for every single one of you who read it and especially those of you who left comments in the notes or reblogged because hearing what feelings i invoked or what i did to y'all was a highlight and truly makes me want to interact with all of you more and makes me just want to hear more from all of you. this chapter and the next are a doozy but this one specifically has the nearly 6k bath scene as i've called it so you're in for a treat. special thank you to my southern gothic/southern sticky romance soulmate @precious-little-scoundrel because y'all know this wouldn't exist without her little whispers. additional thanks to my discord wives @ab4eva and @butlersxbirdy, my princess and my peach y'all know how much hearing y'all scream about my snippets made me know i was heading in the right direction. @blurredcolour thank you for also reassuring me that the one bit i showed you worked and wasn't just completely a mess. and last but not least @powerofelvis and @prompted-wordsmith thank you both for the edit job and smitty specifically for a few choice lines. i still am never gonna not laugh about you trying to sneak weepy in there though. and now before this author's not gets much longer, i present the second chapter of spark, titled prayer.

It's so quiet in the room. It's too quiet in the kitchen. It's too quiet even as Lilly hears Elvis's deep breaths against her back, hears her own softer breaths mixed with something that sounds almost like a whimper—a soft cry of elation with every other breath and shift of her body against his. Her vagina—her pussy—oh, she doesn't know what to call it now—aches in a way she's never felt before, not even when her husband took her for the first time in their bed. It aches but it doesn't hurt, it burns but in the way her legs burned after she would go running with Melly or how her arms burned after lifting up a basket of Nathan's clothes. Her—what had Elvis called it?—her clit, her button throbs as she feels his soft cock brush up against it as he moves forward just a bit, causing a noise that sounds so obscene Lilly can't help the way her cheeks darken even as another noise leaves her. Another whimper, this time lower in pitch, a keen leaves her mouth as Elvis stills his attempt to separate them.

"Lilly, darlin' I gotta—you gotta let me let ya down. Ya leg's startin' to hurt, ain't it?" Elvis murmurs, his hand moving down her flank, watching how her body starts to shiver, their shared sweat starting to cool on her body as the fan–the fan he just fixed whirrs above them. "Don't… it's gonna start hurtin' the more we stay here, darlin'. Let—" His hand moves to her thigh, feels how it's so sticky and slick with God knows what fluid, his or hers or both, and he's not sure how he's going to take his hand off of her if it starts to stick. Her shivers are starting to strengthen, be it from nervousness or the cool air or a combination and Elvis can't help the way a singular one flows through him, causing him to tighten his hold on her thigh and bury his face against her shoulder, a groan leaving his lips as he feels her clench at it. "It's—come on, Lilly, I gotcha, let me help ya."

It's those words, that mild parroting of words he had just whispered against the shell of her ear not even 15 minutes ago that has her head falling forward just a little, has her body going lax completely, a rag doll for him to maneuver how he sees fit. She doesn't trust herself to help him, doesn't trust the thoughts in her head that tell her to make him keep her this way, to keep him inside of her and keep her filled and aching all at once. Doesn't trust the traitorous thought that tells her Nathan would have never done this, would never be this gentle and calming with her. She'd already be standing on shaky legs with him tucking himself in his pants before telling her that was good. Elvis's arm catches her, holds her tight against him still as he helps her pull her leg down off the counter even as she hears that noise again that—squelch of her arousal and the sheer amount of come he had released in her. If this is how he sounded inside of her, what would happen when he pulled out of her? What would happen as he left her stretched and satisfied? Would—perhaps some would take. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. 

"Lil." His whisper is gentle, almost as if he's scared she'll bolt. "You hold onto me. Gonna get outta ya now. Gonna pull out of ya."

Her arm and her hand grip his own tightly, her shivers increasing as she feels Elvis start to pull out. The more he inches out bit by bit the more empty she feels, the more she feels as if there's a wound there that won't heal caused by him leaving. It's never felt like this with Nathan and she knows, she knows so deep in her bones and soul that should worry her. But her mind, her body, her everything has narrowed down to her and Elvis as he finally breaks free of her vagina and she feels a wetness like she's never felt before slide down her legs. Unbidden and unrestrained, a sob is wrenched from her throat as she's set down, her feet finally touching the floor once more. A sudden shift back to reality she wasn't prepared for.

Elvis's arm tightens around her even as her shivers worsen and as he feels and hears the sob that comes from her. He doesn't think he hurt her—not physically, at least—but he can't… he can't check her like this. Not when he looks down at her legs and sees his release sliding down her leg.

A realization hits him in that exact moment as his arm tightens around where—where a child would grow if any of his release caught. Where their child would grow if it caught. He hadn't worn protection. He allowed himself to enter her bare and come not once, but twice. Right in this very moment he could be sealing both of their fates. Her to have the child of a man who is not her husband and him—him, to see another man raise his child. To see his child grow up through pictures instead of being there for every waking moment. His thoughts are interrupted by another of Lilly's sobs and he shakes his head. She–she needs a bath, he can't let Nathan come home and see her like this. Even if he had been neglecting her, leaving her to wilt and leaving her to be watered and in the worst of cases fertilized by another man, Elvis couldn't be sure of his reaction to seeing the proof leaking out of his wife.

The fan creaks as it spins, unused to spinning after the break it had been given from being broken. Elvis's brain settles on the noise even as the air circulating causes even his body to let out a shiver. His own natural heat feels like it isn't enough in this one moment, as if it's too busy trying to keep Lilly warm to remember to keep him fully warm and yet he thinks he can handle it. It's nothing compared to winter in France. Nothing compared to the bite of the cold against his skin then. And yet—and yet it cuts far more to the bone, through his muscles and fat and everything that should protect him. Straight to the heart of him.

His arm finally falls from around Lilly’s waist as she moves to stand on her own, her legs a little shaky like a newborn deer. He hastily tucks himself back into his jumpsuit—she can't see what he put inside her, can't see his uncut cock even if it brought her pleasure he wonders if she's never had before. When she finally looks at him he has to stop himself from pulling her into his arms to kiss her. She looks… she looks like an angel and he's corrupted her like a devil. He's touched something that might not have been pure and innocent but was as close as he’s seen in such a long time and sullied it. Touched it with hands that have seen war and have seen death and threatened to cause death even in peacetime. What sort of person did that, what sort of man who believes in God with all his being now would do this to another man’s wife? Breaking not one, but two sins, and for what? To try and fix something that it isn’t his place to fix, that will never be his place to fix? To try and fix something only to potentially cause more things to break inside and out. He hopes she doesn’t see how his hand clenches into a fist, hopes she doesn’t see how he can’t look her in the eye right at this moment. He hopes—he hopes—he hopes she can forgive him, he hopes God can forgive him. 

Lilly can’t help the way her legs shake slightly and how her body trembles just a little bit. She’s not cold, not in a way that would cause this much shivering and yet here she was acting as if she had been dunked in a bath filled with cold water and shoved into a Yankee winter. Elvis was—is warm in a way she knows would help. Or at least she feels as if it would help because it would just be an extension of taking care of her, wouldn’t it? It would be him continuing the duty he’s given himself despite not… not being the man who promised to love and to hold and to take care of her in every conceivable way. He is just a man. He is just a man who she has grown quite fond of but a man nonetheless. A man who is not her husband and yet—no, this was just both of them being tempted and falling for temptation. In her mind, she thinks of never having Elvis speak to her again, thinks of a world where this act has ruined their relationship. No, their friendship, and she bites her lip to keep from crying out in anguish. He had been such good company. He is such good company and to lose that would have her all alone once again with nothing to show for it except… perhaps. Perhaps his release could catch inside her. Perhaps it could catch and form a child, their child and she would have someone to be with. She would have the child she longed for to spend her days doting on and mothering. She would have her company and she could be so much less angry—despondent over her friends and she could enjoy Melly’s pregnancy and any other ones that would come after because she’d at least have her own child. Too preoccupied with her thoughts, she nearly misses Elvis speaking to her and grabbing ahold of her hand. 

“Lil darlin’, ya shakin’ like a leaf. Ya got a robe or somethin’ in that bedroom of yourn?” He asks all while walking them ever so slowly to the bathroom near the other bedroom. It has a bathtub, that much he knows from using it but he knows it’s likely not anything compared to the one in the main bathroom adjacent to her bedroom. Lilly can only nod as an answer. “Ya good to go grab it? Don’t wanna—it’s not my place to see ya bedroom.”

He’s right and she knows he is but a part of her, the part of her that’s clinging onto his hand for dear life and doesn’t trust her legs to carry her into the bedroom and back to him shakes her head. “I’m—I don’t—walk me to it?”

“Lilly,” he starts before he looks up and sees her face pleading with him, begging silently in almost the same way it was up against the sink and he stops himself before nodding. “Just keep holdin’ my hand. I’ll walk wit’ ya.”

Between the walls and Elvis’s hand, Lilly’s steps are a little more certain by the time she makes it to the doorway of her bedroom where just on the inside there’s a hook that has her robe. She creaks the door open just slightly to grab it before pulling it on. It smells faintly of Nathan’s cologne and she can’t help but crinkle her nose in distaste, wishing it smelt different. The walk over to the other bathroom is just as slow and just as measured but the moment they reach it, Elvis moves to set her on the toilet after shutting the lid. His knees crack audibly as he gets down on the floor with a groan. Lilly winces as she hears the water turn on. “Warmer than you think I should have it.” 

He hadn’t asked what temperature she wanted the water but she figured it was best to tell him ahead of time, just in case he thought she needed it only lukewarm. His response is a chuckle before he turns the hot knob just a bit more. 

Her mind wanders as she sits there feeling more of his release sticking to her leg. Her mind wanders as she looks at Elvis in his jumpsuit still half open but done up so she can’t see what was between his legs, what had given her such pleasure that her vagina clenches 

involuntarily at the memory. Clenches at the memory of how full it felt, how it felt like it was catching, how it felt different than Nathan’s penis. Surely—oh surely with how full she feels even now with his release inside her it would take. It would catch and take and her belly would swell with new life. Her child would grow inside her and kick and roll and make her so happy even as she pushed them out, painful as everyone had told her it was. Her child would look like her if it was a daughter or perhaps a healthy mix of her and Elvis if it was a boy. Her breath catches at the image and she finds herself leaning against the toilet and clutching her hands to her stomach with her eyes shut. Her eyes shut so that the lord could hear her prayer because she’s only focusing on Him and the words she was praying up into the heavens. Please, Lord, please let it catch. Bless me with just this one baby.

Elvis looks over at Lilly over the rims of his glasses and is struck by how she looks so serene in the moment. How her robe covers her and how her head is tilted up as if she’s praying for something. His eyes drift down and notice her hands on her belly. Her hands that seem small compared to his on her belly and briefly, in a flash he berates himself for later, he pictures her growing round with his baby after the release he's just left in her has taken root. Pictures her blossoming and blooming right before his eyes as she thanks him with his favorite dinner with their child rolling inside of her under an apron. The word please leaves her lips, though, and it shatters that image quicker than anything else. She is married to an idiotic child, yes, but he is still her husband and is still a strapping young man. Perhaps still more suited for her than him. More suited to give her those children to help her bloom. He has to shut his eyes and pray for forgiveness and for God to dissolve his come before it reaches those parts of her that can bear fruit. She’s pleading with God that it doesn’t take—that they aren’t caught with their indiscretion and his mind is being selfish with the desires it has for her.

It doesn’t take long for the tub to fill and Elvis turns off the water before it gets to be too much. He can’t look at Lilly, hasn’t looked at her since he heard the word please fall from her lips and yet he knows he has to. He knows to help her into the bathtub he has to but he stares at the water, watching it ripple just a little until he hears Lilly’s voice. 

“Are you—? You can… can you stay?” Her skin flushes at her own question, as if it’s the worst possible thing for her to say, as if it’s mortifying to have it leave her lips. He is not her husband. He is, at best, a new friend—and she wants him to see her completely bare. “You don’t—”

Elvis cuts off her words with a shake of his head. “I’ll stay for ya. Since ya want me to.” He pauses, his eyes finally looking at her: specifically looking at her legs where his release is still sliding down onto the floor of the bathroom. Had he honestly come that much? “Ya—e need to—I came in ya, Mrs. H—Lilly. It’s gonna need to be washed outta ya,” his hand twitches as his eyes drift to her stomach and he has to stop himself from placing his hand on it with his next words. “Don’t want ya bein’... Don’t wanna cause ya any issues.”

Don’t want to have my child growin’ inside of ya, is what he means, Lilly thinks. Her traitorous mind wants to be that mean woman Nathan’s accused of her of being and spit that she wants to swell with his baby. She wants to grow round with his baby because she wants a baby and Nathan won’t give her one. She wants a child to love and dote on and to cherish. She bites her tongue though, because it’s not right to say it, it’s not proper to admit she might do anything for a baby. Instead she nods and moves to take off the robe, motioning for Elvis to help her with the rest of her clothes as she stands up. Ever the gentleman, he obliges, and Lilly can’t help the goosebumps and shivers that dot her in his hands’ wake as his fingertips glide across her skin. Her body hunches over just slightly to protect her modesty as if he hadn’t just had her against her kitchen sink not once, but twice. Elvis frowns slightly when he sees this, the frown only deepening as she moves to step into the tub on her own. It doesn’t take him but a second to scoop her into his arms.

Lilly squeaks slightly at the unexpected touch before she leans against him, her hand moving to play with his chest hair until he sets her down softly into the tub. A whine escapes her lips as her vagina hits the water, the temperature difference reminding her of their actions. A moment passes before Elvis opens his mouth to ask something and Lilly tilts her head to the cabinet above the toilet. “Middle shelf.”

A nod is his only response to her direction until she hears the crack of his knees signaling how he’s back down on the ground. Her eyes haven’t left the water, watching how there’s little bits of white, stringy and almost clear swirling around the water. It was all going to waste. It was all going to be going down the drain and she was going to remain barren, a woman with no fruit of her loins to call her own when there should be no reason for that. Elvis eyes her before setting the washcloth in the water and humming, his hand moving to touch her shoulder, a strangely domestic touch that she doesn’t shy away from.

“There’s so much of it.” Lilly whispers absentmindedly, her head tilting just so as Elvis hums and chuckles slightly because she’s not wrong. 

“It’s just—that’s my—that’s what I produce before I actually release inside ya. Hell, I think most of it might be that ‘cause I ain’t ever produced this much.” A truth if he’s honest with himself, even in his younger days he doesn’t remember this much being in a condom and yet he had filled her with so much it’s just leaking out of her. He had filled her like he was her husband and they were trying for a child. He had done the unthinkable and yet there’s a small part of him that wonders how much of his release is inside of her. That small part has his cock twitching just slightly against his leg, ready to give her more if she asks, to fill her up and replace what’s being lost in the water. He shakes his head to clear it, to direct the blood flow back to his thinking self and not the desirous snake in his pants.

“This ain’t the part we gotta worry ‘bout anyway. It’s the thicker stuff,” he points to a small bit that’s floating from her vagina as he speaks, “like that right there that we gotta worry ‘bout. But the rest? Ya see how it's slidin’ right out? We don't gotta worry bout those parts.”

Lilly has to stop herself from perking up at that knowledge. That there’s more where this came from and that this? She can lose as much of this as she is right now while still perhaps having his seed catch. This was just the initial bit, the majority of it is still inside of her and she clenches, tightens her vagina even as it feels to be an insurmountable task as it throbs and pulses from the effort. She can't tilt her hips up like her mother had told her but later, perhaps, later she could lay in bed and tilt her hips to help whatever is left behind reach where it needs to be. 

Elvis can't put it off any longer as he stares at rippling water, he needs to help this along, other than those small bits not much of his release is coloring the water. If too much stayed within her—her body would change soon, her body would change and it would be all his fault. He would be responsible for her blooming and blossoming but with a child that wouldn't be, couldn't be taken care of the way he'd want them to. He leans closer to Lilly and finds his hand holding the washcloth sliding up her leg. 

"Don't—I gotcha Lilly. Gonna help clean ya out, alright? Gonna be as gentle as I can." He waits to see her acknowledgement of a nod before he finally moves his hand up to between her legs, the heel of his hand against her mound and his hand covering everything else.

Her body—her vagina feels as if he's shocked her, as if there's a live wire from his hand to her. A gasp leaves her lips even as she inadvertently grinds down on his hand, chasing a feeling she can't quite put her finger on. It’s almost instinctual the way she reacts, the way her eyes shut as she hisses, the pressure too much while at the same time too little. At her hiss Elvis pulls back his hand as if it’s been burned. It’s not his job to take care of her, it’s not his job to make sure she’s alright after their intercourse against the sink and yet he doesn’t think he could live with himself if he hurt her. He knows how to take care of a woman after sex and he’d be damned if he didn’t treat Lilly with all the respect—and love, his mind traitorously whispers—she deserves.

“Lil, ya alright? Did I…” he starts before his words are cut off with a violent shake of her head. Words are failing her and his eyes search her face for a clue as if that will explain her actions and finds it in the way she shifts in the bath slightly. “Ya sensitive down there?” 

Lilly nods and breathes slowly through her nose. “I think so? It’s—It feels like it’s throbbing, Mr. Pre—Elvis.” 

In the back of his mind he knows that means she took him well and that he pleasured her thoroughly. It means that her body is overwhelmed with the sensation. It means that it’ll be like that for days to come. A small, sick bit of joy shoots through him at the thought of her aching for him and his stomach roils as soon as the thought comes to him. He would be no better than her husband who ignores her if he took pleasure in the idea. If he took pleasure in knowing he left her aching for him while she is married to her husband. 

His words are measured when he speaks, a low murmur as he leans closer, taking the washcloth back in his hands. “Ya ain’t—I’m a lil bigger than most, should have prepped ya better. Jus’. We both got a lil’ overwhelmed, didn’t we? ‘S’alright, ‘m gonna make it better, darlin’. Gonna be gentle as I can. Gonna help ya get all this out of ya. Keep ya from having my baby.”

Lilly’s face falls at his words even though he doesn’t notice, too preoccupied with shifting his focus downward to her vagina. Her breath is slow and measured as she watches him, trying to give this a clinical air, trying to make her body realize there’s nothing arousing about this. This is him just trying to clean his release out of her to keep from being tied to her in some way permanent. Her hand drifts to her belly as she curls into him, her head leaning onto his shoulder. He’s methodical with the outside of her and using the cloth he tries to reach between her folds, tries to open her up only to feel as she tenses just that little bit harder. Forcing her open isn’t an option, not one he wants to seriously consider, at least, and he pauses. His fingers through the rough washcloth threaten to ignite another fire low in her belly as they rub slightly against her skin—at least, if the way she whimpers softly is any indication. Perhaps if he brushed against her clit, perhaps that could open her up. It’s helped in other times when he’s wanted to pleasure another woman. His thumb is already near it and without dwelling on his thought his thumb swipes against it, the wash cloth adding friction that has her unclenching faster than he thought was possible, the shock of it ricocheting through her system. A gasp escapes her lips. A gasp that sounds like his name. He refuses to dwell on what that means as he brushes his thumb against her clit once more. 

“Elvis,” she whimpers his name as his thumb swipes a third and a fourth time and she can feel her vagina clenching and unclenching at the feeling, at the sensation as finally she relaxes fully, allowing his fingers to enter her without a question. “Sensitive.” 

Her mind is narrowing to single words, the swirl of arousal curling tighter and tighter in her abdomen with each brush of his thumb and each press of his fingers inside of her. The washcloth shouldn’t help the feeling, it shouldn’t make her eyes want to roll in the back of her head from the friction and the slight roughness. The splashes of his arm and hand hitting the water as his fingers move in and out of her ground her and yet have her floating away. Her brain registers him speaking through her whimpers of pleasure. Pleasure that she doesn’t know what to—to do with, having been denied it for so long. 

“I know it’s a lot but gotta be thorough, Lilly. Gotta make sure it's all out,” he whispers softly to her, his fingers never stopping their task. “That's it, unclench for me, Lil darlin. Let—ya gotta help me, we gotta make sure there isn't anything left up there."

Faintly she can hear him and feel herself nodding, too busy trying not to rock against his fingers. That’s not what he’s doing this for, he’s trying to prevent—he’s trying to prevent a child. He’s trying to protect her marriage and yet her body wants to move on instinct. She wants to be beholden to her instincts just this once. Just this once she wants to have pleasure and happiness she doesn’t have to beg and plead for. It’s nice, this haze that overwhelms her senses, and she can’t truly recall the cold, distant figure of her husband leaving each and every day for work without so much as a kiss on the cheek as it has been recently. Instead she is nestled into the crook of Mr. Presley’s neck, lips tasting of the salt of his sweat. She wants to feel like he made her feel against the sink. Her body cants itself just so in order to earn another swipe of his thumb and she feels herself dangling on the precipice of something—of her orgasm, maybe? Was she about to find release on his fingers as he cleaned her body out with a washcloth? As he cleaned his release so a child didn’t form inside her, giving away their actions from tonight? A miniscule part of her feels as if she ought to be mortified but it doesn’t drown out her sighs and whines as she feels his fingers curl just so—trying to make sure she’s clean. It doesn’t drown out how her hips move once in another attempt to grind before he puts his hand on the back of her neck. A comforting gesture, yes, but when paired with his next words seals her fate.

“Take what ya need right now. Jus' takin’ care of ya. It’ll help get more outta ya. That’s it, Lil darlin, Elvis’s gotcha.”

A keen, high pitched and pained, leaves her mouth as she feels herself fluttering around—no, clenching around—his fingers before becoming practically boneless against him, the aftershocks from the orgasm causing a new round of shivers and goosebumps to happen. Her face burrows into his shoulder as he works her through them gently before her hand moves to grab his wrist, the sensitivity finally becoming too much. 

“Elvis it’s, o-oh—” Lily struggles to articulate her words and breathe and exist in this moment, the sensation drowning out any thoughts other than the pulse of her own heartbeat she feels between her legs. “It—”

Elvis shushes her, trying his hand on her neck, rubbing it and tightening over and over as he finishes cleaning her out, knowing that whatever is left is too high up for him to reach. He’d have to just pray to god for that to be done away with. "Shhhh, Lilly… Darlin', I'm sorry, bein' as gentle as I can.”

Lilly should object to how his hand at her neck feels almost as if she's a kitten being dragged along by their mother but she can't find it in her to do such a thing. She can't find it in her to since objecting would mean he'd remove something that truthfully is keeping her tenuous grip on reality and the Earth there. She figures she'd float away without it. There's a part of her that doesn't think she'd mind in that moment, that she'd understand floating away after what's happened because it almost doesn't feel real, especially as he takes care to wash her body despite her being fully capable of doing it herself. His grip loosens for the last time as she watches him lean over and unplug the drain. The water swirls slowly at first, gaining speed the longer she stares at it and the more of his release slides down the drain. She hears the crack of Elvis's knees as he stands up and winces for him even as his shadow towers over her. She should get up out of the tub, she knows this and yet her legs feel just shaky enough that she finds the task impossible until she feels his arms underneath hers.

Getting out with his support allows her to fully catch her bearings as he hands her a towel that she wraps around her body, drying herself off as he grabs another and assists with her legs, his knees cracking once again at him getting back down. She makes the mistake of looking down at him and seeing him look up at her with a surprising sense of worship she only ever usually associates with church and God. A shiver makes its way through her at the realization. 

Her voice sounds like it's going through a tunnel as she says something about how she's fine from here. She swears she hears herself say Mr. Presley and hears him say Mrs. Harris like he hadn't seen her naked and like he hadn't just helped her to clean out his release. Their formalities would make her laugh in any other situation, especially if she thinks of his seed catching inside of her. It wouldn't do to call her that when she was carrying his child, now would it? Wouldn't do for her to call him that as her belly rounded out with his baby, would it? Would it?

He leaves and she waits until she hears a goodbye burst forth loud enough to break through the tunnel her ears are in to finish drying off and getting ready.

She barely finishes making dinner as Nathan walks through the door.

Elvis… Elvis finds himself under his shower cursing his actions even as he remembers her face and her pleasure. He dreams of a life. He dreams of a life with her. He dreams of their life together. It feels worse than any nightmare.

Charlie notices something is up the moment he walks in the diner and sees Elvis already sitting down at their table, a plate with just bacon in front of him in addition to eggs and what looks like toast, or at least he hopes it’s toast. It looks like a plate for him and Elvis and yet he sees the man he's willing to call one of his truest friends eating it all as if it's just for him. He ought to be gentle about the whole thing, ask Elvis a question calmly and innocently. 

Instead, as any sensible friend who’s seen you naked and bleeding and cryin’ for your mama does, he steals two pieces of bacon and sits down in the chair across from his best friend and chomps on said bacon before asking one, singular question: "What are you doing?"

Elvis's hand darts out with a speed that betrays his army training to grab the other piece of bacon only to be rebuffed with a frown. "Eating bacon, Charlie. Ya suddenly blind now? Short and blind, what a catch for ya wife."

Charlie visibly recoils and waits for Elvis to apologize or give him some clue that the statement was just his normal, playful ribbing. The crunch of the bacon disabuses him of that notion as the minutes tick by. "We got a family so she must've seen something in me. Just thankful she didn't see you first."

"Ain't that everyone's damn thanks. Thankful I didn't see their wives back then but if I see 'em now they ain't gotta worry. Women don't go for this body like they did back in the day." Elvis stabs at his eggs and Charlie—Charlie thinks he knows what's going on and he can't help but roll his eyes internally. 

"Did some woman turn you down and now you're moping? Over a plate of bacon after church?" He tries to keep the judgment out of his voice but there's still a hint there that he can't do away with. 

If looks could kill as well as every gun both he and Elvis have ever used, Charlie's certain in this moment he would be preparing to go to sleep in his eternal resting place. As it stands he once again realizes that perhaps he ought to not poke his absolute bear of a best friend. Elvis's next words punctuated by another crunch of bacon and a laugh so bitter Charlie's never heard it come from him seals that idea.

"Oh. Charlie, my boy, my boy, that would have been better. I would have handled that like a champ," he shakes his head, "ya 'member Mrs. Harris? The—the woman I told ya 'bout?"

“Yeah, the one with the niece and the husband who can’t work his way ‘round a wrench. What about—?” Charlie stops mid sentence and stares long and hard at Elvis trying to school his face into something normal and something less like he looks about ready to murder him before realizing it’s impossible and saying the first words that come to mind in the most hushed tone he can manage. “Wasn’t one of your rules you wouldn’t sleep with a married woman?”

Elvis can’t help but curse the fact that Charlie has seen him through some of, if not the worst, parts of his life and can regrettably read him like an open book sometimes. He doesn’t answer with words. Instead he allows himself to eat a piece of toast that is both soggy and crispy all at once. His silence is practically deafening before Charlie exhales. 

“You—ou got me thinking your daddy died or something and all this is because you slept with another man’s wife? A man who’s practically ignoring her despite how she looks like a—” Elvis swallows and holds up his pointer finger before practically growling. 

“Not other fuckin’ word, Hodge. Not a single fuckin’ word. Lilly ain’t some fuckin’ European floozy we forgot ‘bout the next day. Don’t ya say ‘nother fuckin’ word.”

A chuckle leaves Charlie’s mouth despite his best efforts to stop it. Elvis is moping about a woman alright, just not the way Charlie thought he was. He wouldn’t have—He loves Elvis, he does but he would have never predicted him managing to charm a woman like that if she didn’t know who he was beforehand. If she didn’t know him as he was when they both came back from the war, both struggling with things they had seen yet pared down to a lean type of beauty: the scraggly pines that grew on Italian mountaintops. Yet maybe, just maybe, there was hope. Very stupid and unwise hope, but hope nonetheless that Elvis might be able to enjoy the same sort of life he has. 

"Cursing on the Lord's day. At me. She's got you—pass me your whole pig's worth of bacon and tell me what happened, E."

Elvis stares at the plate and lets out a heavy sigh as he scoots the plate over. “It ain’t a whole pig’s worth of bacon.”

“It’s as big as my head.” Charlie states, motioning to get the attention of one of the waitresses in an attempt to get a plate and different food even as he eats a piece of bacon.

“Ya have a tiny head, Hodge. Like a damn lil hedgehog.” 

Meanwhile across town Lilly finds herself in her sister’s kitchen, sitting at her dining room table with the light of the sun shining on her through the window. Her sister Melly busies herself with the finishing touches of a lunch for the two of them and Jerry. Lilly had tried to help only to be waved off with an ease that had her sitting down in the chair watching, her hands settling on her stomach as they had been since that fateful afternoon. It’s too soon to know, she reasons, too soon to know if Elvis’s seed took and has filled her empty womb with a child she’s craved for years. Yet her hands gravitate there anyway, almost trying to provide a cradle as if to tell the child she hopes is forming inside her that it’s okay to stay, it’s alright and that she’ll be their mother. She’ll take such good care of them and they’ll get to meet their cousins. They’ll get to meet their cousins and grow up with the one swelling underneath Melly’s apron. 

Melly notices this, of course, notices how her sister is cradling her belly and yet she doesn’t dare ask. She doesn’t dare ask if Nathan’s finally done right by her sister and given her the baby she so desperately wants. Her chest hasn’t changed and she hasn’t felt a firmness when she’s brushed against her but perhaps it’s just too early.

“You’re looking happier,” Melly comments as she sets down the plates of food. She leaves Jerry’s on the counter, knowing her husband will grab it when he comes back inside from dealing with the yard.

Lilly can’t help the way she smiles slightly and practically preens at the acknowledgment that she seems happier. Elvis might not be—Elvis might not have been by since that afternoon but there was something so beautiful about his actions, so gentle and nourishing about him that it stuck with her. The throbbing in her vagina’s finally stopped after days of her cupping it and playing with it next to Nathan’s snoring body, wishing her fingers were thicker and longer and wishing it was Elvis’s cock sliding in and out of her. That he was keeping her full and telling her he’s got her, he’s always got her while filling her with so much of his release that there’d be no other choice but to swell with his child. 

She doesn’t dwell on the fact that it’s taken another man to make her feel a way she hasn't for years. She can’t dwell on that because it’s improper and she’d like to just bask in the glow of everything for now. She’d like to bask in the glow of things before a different glow would overtake her. 

“I feel happier.” Lilly answers, still continuing to grin as she digs into the food. There’s a hint of nausea at some of it but she chalks it up to being hungry. “I feel different.”

Melly’s eyebrows both move upward as she settles into her chair and takes a bite of her toast first, knowing how her stomach reacts to food without a bland base to start off with. “Different. Does that have anything to do with Nathan and you? Anything you want to tell me?”

Lilly’s hand stills in its subconscious rubbing as her eyes widen. “No. Not—not yet.”

There’s something that shifts in Melly, a brightness that shines through as she looks at Lilly. If she is pregnant it's too soon to tell but the idea that she'd be carrying her second while Lilly is finally carrying her first delights her in ways she can't put into words. It's perhaps a secret dream she's always had. The scrape of her chair against the linoleum is harsh to both their ears and yet it’s a small price to pay for the feel of Melly’s hand against her stomach. 

“You’ll tell me as soon as you know?” Melly’s voice comes out as a whisper, as if she’s scared to speak it any louder. “You’ll tell me I’ll have a niece or nephew on the way?”

Lilly nods quickly as she hears the door open and hears Jerry’s voice carry into the kitchen. Melly’s hand moves off of her stomach as quick as can be before Jerry pops his head in and smiles. “Won’t ask what you two were doing before I got here.”

Life doesn't stop that Sunday and instead continues on and on with one week passing by and then another and another until Lilly knows she's due for her cycle and yet it doesn't appear. Her underwear remains pristine and white with not a drop of blood in sight. She doesn't dare tell Melly or anyone yet, knowing it could be a fluke, a stress induced issue but she swears she feels her womb hardening. She swears she feels it bloating in a way that feels different than what comes before her cycle. Perhaps, perhaps Elvis had done it. Perhaps Elvis had filled her and their child was forming unbeknownst to either of them. It occurs to her that she should try and reach out to him and see if he can come by her home. There's nothing that's broken for him to be fixed and yet he deserves to know what's happening inside her. That soon her stomach will round outward and their child will kick and roll and grow inside of her. That she is still married but it would be cruel to deprive him of ever knowing of their child. 

It's too soon for him to know, she'll tell him when she's sure, when there's no mistaking what has happened to her because of their actions that afternoon. She'll tell him then, she'll convince him to come by and press his hand against her stomach so he can feel what he's—what she wished and prayed to have happen even as he washed himself out of her. He ought to be able to be in their life somehow because he's their father and he'd make such a brilliant one. He'd make such a brilliant one and her mind traitorously tells her it's a shame she wouldn't be raising the child with him. 

Six weeks is a long time for him to be avoiding Lilly and he knows that. He knows that she didn't deserve to be left out in the cold like that—to be left without company and companionship like that but he can't help it. He can't help how his mind drifts when his exhaustion sets in remembering how her body felt against his when they danced and when she sagged against him. It’s a sin to covet a man’s wife as much as he covets Lilly. It’s a sin to want to be in another man’s home taking care of his wife in any way she’ll let him. It’s a sin and yet it feels so right, it feels like he’d be doing what he’s meant to be doing. Elvis is not her husband and yet his mind—his traitorous mind and soul tells him he should be and tells him she needs him in some way. She’s been happier, he thinks, since that afternoon—and his mind tells him that he had something to do with that. There’s a glow about her and it draws him in like a moth to a flame before he pulls himself away every Sunday when she passes off her niece. A nagging thought crosses his mind as the weeks go by and he swears that glow is stronger every time he sees her, that perhaps it wasn’t just happiness and joy causing her to glow that way. He ought to ask her and yet the idea feels invasive in a way that makes him think he has to find the right time for it. If his suspicions prove to be correct, he figures they both will need time to process it. 

Six weeks is a long time for him to avoid her and it makes it so that when he gets a call that sounds like Lilly crying there isn’t a moment of hesitation before he finds himself jumping into his truck and driving to her house she shares with her husband. Her door is unlocked and he wants to admonish her for it, tell her that she shouldn’t leave the door unlocked because you never know who might come in but then he sees her. He sees her tear stained face and her rumpled dress and fears the worst. A flash of pure anger courses through his veins as his mind swirls with possibilities of why she’s crying. Why her face and body betray such anguish that it twists his gut and has his mouth opening to speak before her voice sounding so small in a way he’s never heard interrupts him. 

“I was waiting. I was being careful!” Her words don’t make sense to Elvis even as his eyes trace over her form and around the house where they’re standing as if either thing holds the clue for what’s going on. As if some part of the way she’s carrying herself—hunched over—or the way things seem out of place—her lunch was sitting on the table only half eaten—would explain what’s happening, why she had called him crying, muttering about needing to fix things. 

His tone is soft and comforting as he moves to touch her shoulder, to pull her into some form of a hug. “Darlin’—” The word slips out before he can stop himself but he continues. “What’s… what’s wrong?”

Her eyes look up at him and he’s struck by how bloodshot they look. How long had she been crying? How long had her body been wracked by sobs that no one was there to comfort her from? Elvis watches as her mouth opens and closes several times before she shakes her head. “I—the oven is broke again.”

“Lil—Mrs. Harris, things I fix don’t break like that. Not this quick.” He tries to defend his work, knowing there’s no Earthly way that it was broken already. He had made sure to fix it, he had made sure that her oven wouldn’t need his touch for quite a long time after he was inside of it that day. In the back of his mind he thinks he’s missing something.

“It’s broken, Mr. Presley. It’s broken and can’t keep heat and bake anything and I’ll call someone else over if you won’t fix it. Just please take a look at it. Just make it work like I thought it was.” Lilly’s voice shakes but doesn’t waver when she speaks. If anything it seems to get stronger the longer she speaks. It seems she’s more insistent with every word that comes from her mouth. Something is broken—the oven he was supposed to fix is broken and she wants him to check it again. That nagging feeling grows as he looks at her in confusion. He prides himself on being a smart enough man, but… maybe it’s because she clouds his judgment. He can’t tell what she’s talking about.

“Lil—Lilly, why did you call me here?” He manages to almost stutter out the words, wincing he hears it. She has to answer him when he asks point blank, doesn’t she? 

Lilly is silent for the longest while and Elvis thinks he pushed too hard, thinks that he’s overstepped for once—twice—in their friendship and opens his mouth to apologize before she grabs his hand and places it on her stomach. In a rush everything clicks into place for Elvis and swears his heart stops. He should move his hand and yet he can’t, it’s almost as if there’s a magnet keeping his hand attached to her stomach. The oven is broken, her oven is broken and empty and can’t keep heat. 

The night before, when his body gave out and had him sleep he tossed and turned over images of him and Lilly together. Images of her swollen with a child and laughing next to him. He remembers being on his knees kissing her still-flat stomach and laughing with her hand over his and telling her how she’s made him the happiest man alive. He could still hear her giggles ringing in his ears when he woke up. That was fantasy, a dream dreamed up by an old man who shouldn’t be dreaming of a life with a woman he isn’t married to and who is married to another. They’re brilliant company for each other but—but she is not his wife and he is not her husband. 

“I’m sorry.” Elvis whispers the words and they feel so insubstantial, so insignificant to what he feels in this moment. The sorrow he feels for her being fed by her tears and the way her silence just drags on and on. Perhaps this was his doing, perhaps there was something there and he had broken it. Perhaps—perhaps he should have been selfish and not cleaned his release from her. Or perhaps—he can’t dwell on it. It threatens to drive him mad if he does. 

And yet his mind can't shake another time and place where his hand is there for another reason, with her hand over his, a smile on her face instead of tears rolling down her cheeks and onto his suit as she curls into a hug he offers. She looks so young and yet like she's been crushed by the world all at once. A flower run over on the side of the road, soaked in the gutter. The attempt he finally makes to move his hand is thwarted by her own grasping his wrist, forcing him to press down to feel that she's bloated but still very empty.

It was supposed to be different. Things were supposed to go well, she had prayed and begged and cradled her womb and for what? For her cycle to be off and there to be blood mocking her in her underwear? For there to be cramping that feels like it might threaten to tear her in two. No one she’s known has lost a baby, there’s no one she can ask to see if that’s what’s happening. If the child she swore was growing from the moment Elvis released inside of her not once but twice was gone. Or if there just wasn’t one at all and she had been deluding herself. Either option feels almost unbearable and feels like a lead weight in her stomach.

Elvis doesn’t speak and Lilly’s thankful for it. Her dream of telling him and them figuring out how he would be involved has been flushed down the toilet multiple times today and is currently flowing between her legs. Her hand finally loosens its grip on his wrist and her chest tightens as she looks into his eyes. Those blue eyes shouldn’t be so caring, they shouldn’t look so caring when looking at her. There shouldn’t be sympathy in those eyes directed toward her or her empty womb. Yet there is and Lilly is struck not for the first time at how different Elvis is from Nathan. She’s struck by how she’s been in this sort of position before with her husband and she doesn’t recall there being nearly as much care and—dare she even pretend?—-anguish in his gaze. She remembers frustration at himself or, or her? She doesn’t know. She can’t recall just now.

“I—I was late,” She starts, and shakes her head, sniffling. “I was late for my cycle and I didn’t—I don’t know why I called you.”

Elvis doesn’t dare say the first thoughts that come to mind. Doesn’t dare tell her that he thinks she knows exactly why she called him because the mere idea shouldn’t be put into words. He’s already damned himself and her anguish, her pain is perhaps a consequence of it. Had he not given in to his baser urges perhaps Nathan would have given her a child that she could tell him she was growing inside of her. If he hadn’t given into his baser urges she wouldn’t have thought his child was growing inside of her. He shuts his eyes, trying to not think of the image of her swollen with his child once again. 

“Comfort?” The word as an answer feels safe and from the look on Lilly’s face, how it relaxes just a little bit and how her hunched over position straightens out even as she grimaces in pain he was right. However, that urge to fix that had caused so many problems rears its ugly head again and Elvis knows he should ignore it but the grimace on her face reminds him that she’s in pain and to leave her in pain without attempting to help her feels cruel. It feels cruel to just allow her to deal with this on her own. Perhaps that’s why she had called him, taken the chance that he wouldn’t want her to be alone in this situation. Taken the chance to assume he missed her and just wants what he's craved from her more than anything else: her company. 

A nod is the only thing she manages before her body is wracked with another flare of pain as Elvis watches. He’s never—he’s never been here when she’s on her cycle so he doesn’t know if this is normal or not but he remembers June and remembers the other girls and knows, in this moment, he can’t leave her like this. Especially after she had called him. His mind tries to think back on what other women would do before he remembers how some would curl up in bed and ask for heat and any number of other things. The flash of memory at her in the bath after their activities and a flash of a fantasy of her in the bath with him runs through his thoughts until he shakes his head to clear it. 

“Missus—Lilly. Darlin’, I—wouldn’t it be better to be laying down? For your pain?” His words are chosen as carefully as he can and yet he still feels like he might have said the wrong thing until he sees her move to lean and sag against him as if he’s the only thing that’s going to keep her standing in this exact moment. 

“My—oh, just help me to my bedroom, you don’t—” The words are lost as Elvis picks her up, earning a bit of a shocked gasp from her. “You don’t have to pick me up, I can w-walk.”

Elvis stays silent for a moment or so as he walks, ignoring the ache in his knees that tell him he should have prepared more for this. That he should have known better than to pick Lilly up like this and yet he finds that it’s easy to ignore the ache as her protest grows a little quieter and she practically burrows into his hold. He is not her husband and yet he wonders if her husband’s ever done this for her. Ever treated her with care when she’s like this. 

Nathan had noticed her pain that morning and brushed it off, much to Lilly’s frustration. It’s not that she wanted him to know she had engaged in a transgression but she was his wife and she was in pain. Jerry had made sure Melly was taken care of after Lizzie and Nathan couldn’t even be bothered to call her sister or anyone. The neglect is what feels like an even worse knife than the one she swears she feels in her lower stomach. The neglect is why she called Mr—Elvis. Even in the short time she’s at least partially known him—the actual him, not the image she had of the man who taught her niece’s Sunday school—has taken care of her and hasn’t left her to rot and wallow in her pain and loneliness. He’s kept her company and fixed so many things around her house that at this point she’s thinking she’s going to have to break things just to have an excuse to get him to visit under the guise of working. 

She knows she shouldn’t relax in his hold, she shouldn’t burrow into his arms like he’s her husband and he’s just carrying her to their bed but she can’t help it, the sheer joy and calmness that settles over her from the care he shows overwhelming her. His arms allow her to feel safe in the moment, help her to forget how much pain she’s in physically and mentally. They are a balm to her aches even as she potentially causes some for him. It doesn’t take too long for him to reach her bedroom, using his body to open the door the entire way from its cracked open position. Lilly hears him sigh and feels his head move to try and avoid looking around before she feels him shift her in his arms.There’s a difference, she thinks, in knowing that he would have to eventually set her down on her bed and him actually doing it. 

A shiver runs through her body that has Elvis’s grip tightening as he moves his hands away. It’s not cold and yet here she was shivering like she was that fateful night.

“You alright?” he murmurs, low and questioning in a way that he shouldn’t be.

“You’re warm,” she whispers back at him, looking into his eyes and trying to pretend that answers everything. Pretend that telling him he’s warm will get him to stay and comfort her until it’s time for Nathan, cold, icily indifferent Nathan to be home. “I feel—it felt good.”

Elvis opens his mouth to speak before his breath catches in his throat at the sheer intensity of the look she’s giving him. He can’t put a name to what he sees in her eyes, only that it threatens to overwhelm him if he stares at her for too much longer. He has to leave, he needs to go back to work or home or just somewhere where her eyes aren’t burning holes into his soul. He finally starts to step away only for Lilly’s arm to find its way in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. Her hand moves to grab his and grasps it so tightly he can’t wrench it from her. 

“Can you—can you stay?” She asks, quiet as a church mouse and looking as if she expects him to say no. As if she expects to be left alone to deal with things once again. It makes his stomach roil and twist and he feels almost like throwing up before he moves to sit down on the bed. 

“Not for too long, Lilly,” he answers, as he watches her move to the other side of the bed, letting go of his hand as she does. He sits down, groaning slightly as he does at the feel of her bed underneath him. It dips more than it did when she was occupying the same spot, his weight causing the springs to creak just a bit more. Lilly waits until he gets comfortable to move closer to him. He stays sitting, his body leaning against the headboard, not even daring to try and lay down in her marriage bed. It makes trying to cuddle with him harder than it should be but after a moment of a deliberation she settles on laying her head in his lap. The warmth of his belly seeps into her head, soothing any headache she’s gained from crying and the vantage point allows her to feel encased in what feels like a protective shell. Elvis tries to keep his hands to himself but as he feels Lilly settle against him and sees every wince and shift his hands move to her hair, running his fingers through it. Scratching ever so softly against her scalp. Lilly’s sigh tells him it was the right thing to do and emboldens him to sing, breathe out into the world the first song that comes to mind when he thinks of her. 

Lilly hears Elvis’s voice singing Jo Stafford to her, a song she’s only heard once or twice before but it feels so romantic that something inside her chest feels warm and feels almost like it’s blossoming the more she hears his voice singing in that low tone, his hands flowing through her hair. 

“But just remember, darling, all the while, you belong to me,” he sings, watching as Lilly’s eyes start to flutter shut, the pain and the emotions of today getting the best of her. The more he sings the more he realizes he wishes those words were true. The more he wishes he wouldn’t have to leave in a few hours. But she is not his wife and he is not her husband and he’ll leave in a few hours as he should. He’ll leave after he shakes her awake lightly, grimacing as she winces in pain and as her eyes practically beg him to stay once again. He'll leave watching her curl back into her sheets but won't see her head move to where he had been sitting or see her hands grab at the pillow that had been behind his back.

She will wake up alone right before Nathan comes home. She will wake up to a simple dinner made with two plates on the table. 

She calls him back over the next day.

taglist: @ab4eva, @blurredcolour, @butlersxbirdy, @precious-little-scoundrel, @eliseinmemphis, @prompted-wordsmith, @missmaywemeetagain, @lookingforrainbows, @thatbanditqueen, @ellie-24, @be-my-ally,  @austinbutlersgirl67, @heartbrake-hotel, @ccab, @18lkpeters, @slutforsomegoodlettuce, @dkayfixates, @kendralavon7, @chasingwildflowers, @notstefaniepresley, @wanderingelvis, @kxnnxy, @powerofelvis, @stylespresleyhearted, @marriedtopresley, @memphis-menace, @steph-speaks, @coolgirl462, @vintageshanny, @memphisflash1935-1977, @j-v-9-2, @sexystarfish, @duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, @jessicarcates, @chirssycrumble9456789, @shantellescrivener, @yomammalolha, @honey6578, @urmom11111111111119, @myradiaz, @elvispresleyxoxo, @tryingtogettoelvis, @joegramoe, @rainblue-art, @fav-fanficssss, @moodyblueriver, @misspresley, @fallinlovewithurlove, @ash-omalley, @yynneessmons good heavens, i think that's everyone. those of you who didn't get the tag, know i'm gonna head to the messages within the day. also i including those of you who reblogged the first chapter. i would have done likes as well but there- there was a hefty chunk and i didn't know for sure if you all wanted to be tagged.

additional explanation: so if you haven't just read the fic instead of just scrolling down to the bottom to see what's up, hello. but even if you did just read the fic, let the record show that i myself did write this with the idea that lilly had a very early miscarriage. and it's why i added a tag just in case for it since i know some people avoid the subject matter for their own mental health. however i purposefully left it nebulous because she herself wouldn't know for sure and it's- the same result occurs either way, she is not pregnant and that wrecks her emotionally because she had put so much stock in the possibility that she would be. no matter what if she wasn't pregnant she was going to be sad and depressed and generally in a state of anguish. so, you can read this whichever way you want, it does not really change the intent/what happens afterward in this. but i didn't want to directly spoil all of you in the warnings especially since it causes a turning point of sorts, but i also don't want anyone to be in duress because of me. also i promise honestly these two have a happy ending, just trust me like y'all trusted me with professor presley, okay?

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

Feel like being angsty lol. Let's talk about how Stede still hasnt properly opened up about his traumas and insecurities. (not a complaint, very in character)

Like with Ed in s2e6. its understandable with added fear and adrenaline. But part of me wonders if Stede was worried what would happen if he talked and opened up. Maybe he didnt hear Ed trying to start the conversation, just saw him at the door and thought 'need you now'.

It seems like he's determine to prove he can handle everything, that he's not a 'lilly livered rich boy' anymore. And it sucks because no one seems concerned about his feelings like that

Yesyesyes. As much as Ed has not confronted his daddy issues Stede has not confronted his toxic masculinity issues. Stede and Ed both did quite a bit of growth in the learning that they can be loved department, Ed learned that he's not unlovable and that he doesn't have to chop off the soft bits in order to be respected, and that the rough bits don't make him monstrous. Stede learned that he's capable of hurting people when he leaves and that there are people who care about him.

But Stede still doesn't quite get that he doesn't have to earn it by being macho. He's got this very white anglosphere repression going on where rather than talking about insecurities or trauma you just shove it down. Ed is bursting at the seams to tell someone what happened to him. He's also fucking obsessed with being a pirate. Piracy granted Stede freedom from his heterosexual hellscape but it also has a toxic masculinity problem as evidenced by Izzy, Jack, and Black Pete.

And I do think to a certain extent him wanting to be manly and strong for Ed is fine I think. Like Stede can kill the spiders and men, he can be the big spoon, all of that good stuff, if protecting his man makes him feel good. but I suspect a big part of his arc next season will be learning to talk it through himself and practice what he preaches. And he needs to realize that Ed loves him for the frilly little guy he is and not the rugged manly pirate he could be.

[askaceattorney]

Dear Kevin James,

Chief Mod Edgeworth:

I could see that in a fan comic, though there already are mangas of Ace Attorney that aren't canon. I suppose it wouldn't be impossible. I would read it regardless of if it were a fan comic or an official manga.

Co-Mod: I'm a lot more familiar with anime than manga, so I don't know how good or bad that would look (though I guess that would mostly depend on the skill and talent of the writer), but I'm open to the idea. That being said, it reminds me a little too much of a certain despairful video game/anime series, so to answer your second question...probably not.

Mod Zieks: I love the idea. Love it so much. Tbh I'm more of an anime person than manga, but if it was manga exclusively, I'd be all over that.

Dear Minnesotamermaid71,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: You can try doing it on another device or web browser. Otherwise, I don't know what the issue is. You should be able to click on it and it will take you to the Youtube link.

Dear Robottiye,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: I don't know. I doubt there's going to be much difference outside of maybe higher graphics and stuff.

Mod Zieks: Yes, I do have some plans to use it! (For evil.)

Dear Anonymous,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: The recent ones seem like they're asked because they're funny? Otherwise I have no idea.

Mod Zieks: It's the internet, where people can be as anonymous as they want. It's to be expected (unfortunately.)

(Referenced Letter)

Dear Askrikkaiandhyotei,

Chief Mod Edgeworth:

I know. This was made two years ago and the answers were pointed out in the comments right here.

(Referenced Letter)

Dear Eway4,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: This also shows the possibility that Franziska has an older brother too. She may have an older sister and brother. Manfred von Karma is... what? 65 according to Ace Attorney wiki? He'd have been 48 when Franziska was born, which already leaves over two decades and a half for Manfred von Karma to have two, three, even five other kids. That would depend on when he was married, but I think you get the point and no I don't think he has five other kids.

Personally, I think it could go either way. I have created OC's as part of the von Karma family that includes Franziska, an older brother and an older sister. Both have kids and while one owns a dog named Phoenix, it is shared by the two siblings since he considers it a family pet.

I did find this interesting. I suppose it shouldn't be any surprise that the grandchild didn't originally have a gender. Now, I'm curious what the original translation of the credit card pin number comment was.

Dear Charicla,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: Ace Attorney mostly, but I also have Tetris, Project Makeover, Wordscape, Gardenscape, Lilly's Garden, Happy Match Cafe, Solitaire, Island Hoppers, Love Paradise, Winked and Traffic Escape.

Basically, puzzle games, classics, makeover and a dating sim.

(Referenced Letter)

Dear Dawsongfg,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: Spiders? You're talking to someone who used to pick up Daddy Longlegs from the corner of the basement window and drop them in a well.

Co-Mod: I answered that letter, so it doesn't scare me a whole lot, but...that was still a jerk move. 😒

Mod Zieks: Love spiders. They go great with sprite, and maybe crickets as well.

Dear Anonymous,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: It kinda is? I don't know what you're referring to or if it's to any letters. If so, you need to link the letters you're talking about or I'm going to be so confused.

I will say that we only know their ages in each game, being it is revealed in their profile. Outside of that or any official canon B-Days that are revealed in the game or something such as Rayfa's birthday, we can only speculate when it may be. If anyone wants to wish a character a Happy Birthday during any random day, they may and we will recognize it as such.

Dear Anonymous,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: We do insert headcanons as a way to fill in the blank so to speak, since some questions to the characters are not explained or answered in the game. As such, we will use headcanons that will add but not change canon.

As for the previous letters, those were from former mods that no longer work here. Just like Kristoph being a part of the Gavinners was a headcanon to add but not break canon, so was theirs. The game never showed Kristoph claiming he wasn't fond of the genre or only tolerated Klavier's music. That was likely based off of Apollo's and Ema's feelings for Klavier's music of not being fond. Mine of Kristoph being a part of the Gavinners was mostly to answer a question if he was, but I also think it makes sense being that Klavier looks up to his brother and I find it would be something interesting for Kristoph.

Dear A Concerned Asker,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: I don't? Hell, I've answered asks to Klavier and Jake hinting that they swing both ways and I've had Edgeworth once come out as Asexual. Not to mention we recognize Aura Blackquill x Metis Cykes as a canon one-sided ship. Whether Metis returned the feelings is up for interpretation. Outside of that, the only "straight" ships that are canon we recognize is Godot x Mia and maybe Phoenix x Iris. We do not count Apollo's date with Maya, because that was a one time Valentines Day shtick and the other ships we do not count as canon, straight or not. You might get a character or two finding someone attractive (you might be lucky enough to have Klavier admit to finding Apollo attractive) or having one character asking another on a date that is convincing enough, but that's it.

If you're talking about past letters from four or five years ago, maybe more, that’s likely from Co-Mod and maybe Modot. Can’t say. I know Modot did say he hated certain slash ships because of the fandom at the time and Co-Mod felt awkward in answering yaoi/yuri letters, so he avoided them altogether. However, I will gladly answer slash/yaoi/yuri letters and I recognize when LGBTQ+ is canon. I do ship Wrightworth, AsoRyuu and BaroAso, so I do endorse yaoi.

That being said, I do understand where Co-Mod and Modot are coming from. It isn’t that they believe all characters are straight, but that it wouldn’t be IC for say Phoenix to fall in love with Edgeworth when he had been into Iris from the start. From Modot’s perspective, Phoenix and Maya made better sense before DD and SOJ came about. The AA trilogy did seem to have NaruMayo as the canon endgame in mind and Modot seems like a canon shipper. I was a canon shipper for the longest time back when I was in High School full of gay and bisexual students, so I can tell you that preferring straight over gay ships has nothing to do with it.

As for Co-Mod, he had never met someone that was gay outside of his uncle, so it was more that he didn’t know or was inexperienced with how to answer slash letters. It’s changed since I became mod and especially after taking over as the head mod. He's even started answering some slash letters recently.

I know you’re not trying to accuse anyone of anything, but it does feel a little accusatory. Not only are there multiple mods, as you’ve stated, but there have been changing of the Heads over the years. Modot was the first, then Modthorne, Co-Mod and now me. That’s why you need to look at which mod is answering letters. If it’s “The Mod,” he’s no longer here and doesn’t apply to the current mods. If it’s Co-Mod, he’s retired and no longer runs the place. As far as I can recall, many of us do endorse certain noncanon ships, most of them yaoi, and we recognize if characters are canonly gay or at least into the same sex.

Co-Mod: Yeah, I'd say that about sums it up. I was raised to believe that men are made for women and women are made for men (and while my mind could be changed, I haven't seen much evidence disproving that idea), but even if that weren't the case, I hadn't seen very many same-sex relationships, real or fictional, so I wouldn't have been able to portray them accurately, which is why I avoided them. Call it whatever you want, but I was just playing it safe. In any case, we now have several Mods who are more willing to address the topic, so it looks like we've found what appears to be a workable solution.

-The Mods

[samd1o1]

Gothic Horror HCs But Using The Penny Dreadful Versions As Well Cus I Like Them

Hello, So recently I have been really obsessed with 1800s gothic horror literature.

My favorite books are (in order);

1. Frankenstein The Modern Prometheus

2. The Picture Of Dorian Gray

3. The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde

4. Dracula

So imagine my fucking excitement when I heard there was a show that used THOSE EXACT FOUR BOOKS!!!!

Anyway I thought I'd take the time to talk about my favorite characters from the books/show and hcs I have for them all.

Now massive Trigger Warning for some ableism/sanism from the victorian era but also current day, and also queermisia.

All of these characters are canon ND I believe based off of their canon "madness" and I also believe they were all queer men.

----

Victor Frankenstein

Victor is a trans man you must understand this. He literally has postpartum depression in the book. He is also forced into an arranged marriage with a woman but has so much more chemistry with his best friend Henry Clerval. I think he's gay and his love for both Elizabeth and Lilly are just comphet. (He loves Elizabeth like a sister tho).

Victor is also disabled in the book. In Penny Dreadful he also has asthma! I also hc Victor is autistic. In the book he has a special interest in alchemy and science. He info dumps about poetry and clocks a lot in Penny Dreadful lmao. He's also just awkward like me fr fr. There was also a rlly funny scene in Penny Dreadful where everyone noticed this one character was a trans woman and made a "face" of surprise. Victor never did because honestly I don't think he fucking noticed. Which made me laugh because I didn't either.

Dorian Gray

This man is just me sometimes and I kinda hate it. Definitely has BPD. He treats life as a fantasy and has a hard time applying reality to reality. He also will love you one second and can hate you so passionately the next. Henry Wotton is most definitely his favorite person. There's also an entire chapter in the book dedicated to talking about his hyperfixations. Dorian is also bisexual! He falls in love with a few women in the book and Penny Dreadful. But also many men! Oscar Wilde was gay and put a lot of himself into Dorian lmao.

Henry Jekyll

Look the guy with daddy issues. Seriously out of all the things they chose to adapt for Penny Dreadful this made me laugh the most (in a good way). It's a random throwaway line in the book but I'm glad they kept it because his father leads to Henry's toxic mindset. Henry feels the need to be respectful in high society and not indulge his "indecent" thoughts. These thoughts include things like murder but also homosexual desires. The man is gay, love that for him. Don't let the musical fool you. I think his other violent thoughts come from OCD intrusive thoughts. As a median system I do also relate to the duality he feels. But I also would be careful ever putting a plural reading on Jekyll and Hyde for obvious reasons.

Robert Montague Renfield

Oh Renfield so much to say about you my man. (This is where that TW comes in handy)

Ok so the R.M. of his name standing for "Robert Montague" is ONLY from the new 2023 movie "Renfield". Renfield never had a first name because Bram Stoker was an ableist dick who saw Renfield as less than human for his mental illness. So out of spite of him and love for Renfield I hc his name to be Robert in all versions. This isn't to praise the new movie for its handle on mental illness though. While I absolutely adore the movie and it's camp and message I can't look past the ableism. It constantly demonizes NPD and for the topic of our discussion writes out Robert's mental illness. Robert in the book has psychosis and periods of mania and depression. Honestly I'll have to reread his sections of the book soon and see if I change my opinion because I had a hard time thinking of a label for him. Anyway I think he has Bipolar! But this is why I prefer Penny Dreadful over Renfield 2023 for the character. He gets to be mentally ill and still do a good thing and be just like everyone else in the show (not good or bad, just gray). On the topic of Renfield 2023 again I also think they (Drac and Ren) are ex lovers lmao, I mean it's literally framed like that they just don't have the balls to say it. I now just read every version like this. So yes another Bi king! Wow this ended up mainly being about Renfield whoops.

----

So yeah as you can see I really like the books and Penny Dreadful. I loved that Penny Dreadful wasn't scared to make its characters ND coded like a certain someone *cough* Renfield 2023 *cough* and be faithful to the OGs!

Anyway I'm not a medical professional lmao, I've just researched a lot of stuff trying to figure out my own problems and it's also smth I take an interest in. The queer stuff I am a professional tho /j.

Was this post messy? Oh yeah, wouldn't have it any other way.

[regalfairytaleacademy]

Charisse & Darling's surprise birthday gift

Two were born in August 19th, at the different kingdom; Magnolia and Melodie. Both living peacefully with family, but there's issues suffer through cause their personalities changed.

They learned a skill and became a talent; Darling learned traditional medicine under the tutelage of his parents, while Charisse learned to play the piano from his father.

Both have siblings. They always maintain a friendly relationship, although there has quarrel.

➽──────────────❥

Before the birthday coming, two were busily trained for their idol performance on next week. They gathered in the Nymfevilla dorm, so they can discuss better.

Charisse got the message from Lumiere. It texted, "Sis, next Saturday is your birthday. Our fathers decides to make a present for you, but they didn't share with me. What do you think they would give you? "

She was clueless before reply the message. Soon the chat sent a new message.

"Same. Might wait on your birthday to reveal." Lumiere respond before sent a "Good Night" emoji. It is a puppy sleeping on the bed.

Charisse saw it and said with a soft chuckle, "Lumi always is the cutest boy in the world, just like Daddy Simi. He is only person who send emojis on chat oftens. "

Darling overheard, and smiled, "Cherry, your brother definitely is a softie, like one of your daddy you mentioned."

Charisse chuckled like a tune. She asked in the interest, "Darlin, do you think what kind of birthday present your parents give?"

"Could be a dress. It is a Chinese traditional. " Darling casually answered. "Or a bag for collect herbs."

Darling, as the princess of Magnolia Kingdom, receives birthday presents every year, and each one is repeated over and over again, which she forgot everything that sealed at the store room.

Moreover, her parents least giving her presents, they only gave her a stationery and scent pouch since she was elementary student. They even not preparing a party for her, that they had been busy on the medical emergency.

➽──────────────❥

On the day of the last practice, the Impish Royals gathered in the dance studio. Jennifer told them that the show would open on August of 19th, which is two members' birthday.

The first time birthday girls think this day their friends will celebrate it. They were a little excited for that day arrive.

During training, they planned songs for the show, which is what Lizzie suggested. They dance to the choreography on the video. Finally on the day, the performance filled with audiences and their friends from other schools were invited to the show.

➽──────────────❥

The show ended later, they back to dorms.

At the room, Charisse saw a white box adorned blue-and-green gradient ribbon on the desk, same as Darling got the box with aqua green ribbon. They opened, then amazed at the present. Inside is a dress and hair ornaments.

➽──────────────❥

Charisse found the card under the dress. She slowly read.

Happy birthday, Cherry!

This dress is our idea for you as a perfect gift. We have been design it for several days. We give a hope and wish to you, since you are our little star.

Soon the group chat appears with a lot of messages. Her relatives greeted her for a good blessing. She felt lucky to have best family for life.

➽──────────────❥

Darling got a few of letters under the box. Some are written by grown-ups. She opened the letter that her parents sent.

Lillie,

Happy birthday. Sorry for not celebrate with you all those years. This dress is you been dreaming of since childhood. We make this together with full of love we haven't given for you.

She shredding with a happy tears emotionally after read all letters. Feel a happiness from her family and missed them so much. She can feel her parents' love always stay inside.

[aestheticvoyage2024]

Day 288: Monday October 14, 2024 - "Fall Season at The Finca"

It had all the feels of Fall at the Finca today, as the weather started to finally tilt, and I even had a Fall Break like day off of work to just spend around the house. Even the usual pink lillies opened up yellow and orange today, and William picked out his orange undies. After we bid goodbye to mama we busted into Fall fire season here and lit a great fire that burned bright as we took an evening splash in the pool (pretty dark here at 630). Great all the fun you can get into after dark when we have an early dinner (mama commute day, left at 6). We even busted into some great Fal smores with the big messy jumbo marshmallows cooked to perfect, and a little chocolate thief that learned we didnt care enough to stop him from just eating the chocolate to get out of our seats, and so just kept doing it until finally Grandma had to hide it. Interestingly, he found it in him to finish his full smore. And while I worried about this sugar intake his ability to get down to sleep, but we teamed up on goodnight and had no issues at all. Just a sweet happy kid, from get up to goodnight. He sure loves having his papa and Grandma here, and they love playing with him and hearing all his "awesone" new sayings - "a good idea?" Yes sonshine, a great idea indeed. I love that he is having these great days with his grandma and Papa here at his house. He'll remember these days forever, and I am happily supporting that in every way I can.

The next day, Tuesday, I was happy when he exclaimed after school "Its Fall time" - say it again? "Fall Time, Its fall time. Yea!" Ah, yes - he got the whole idea, fall has arrived and its a time to be happy and grateful. Its daddy's favorite season. A naturally Michigan thing to feel. Its a joy in my heart, that I am happy to help pass along to my son, though he'll experience very differently than me in my own boyhood.

Song: Zach Bryan - Bass Boat

Quote: “It is said that when we depart this world, we each become a memory. And so I practice asking myself, ‘If I were a memory, what memory would I wish to be?’ And I hear my entire being answer: ‘May only love be all that is left of me.’” Words by Tahlia Hunter

[7deadlycinderellas]

Lost 1x11-12

So, you’ve got a smash hit new TV series, and have just ended the first half of your first season with a compelling cliffhanger. Where do you go from here and are there any missteps? We’ll start finding out today, with All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues and Whatever the Case May Be.

And if you could not tell by the title of the first episode, the writers did definitely have at least a little self-awareness even in season 1. As one would expect, this episode is yet another Jack episode. Hard not to feel a bit slighted when this is his third so far in a season and Hurley hasn’t even gotten on yet. As the titled would make one suspect, it is another about his poor relationship with his deceased father, and shows us more of his Hero complex. 

It also follows directly off the cliffhanger, and only partially concludes it, with Charlie being rescued and Claire still being missing. Jack’s beating at the hands of Ethan also do the work to ensure that the threat presented in Raised by Another has NOT been forgotten.

It also dangles in from front of viewers the possibility of character deaths. I notice it was around this point, the quiet mid-point of the season where one might suspect viewers were getting bored, that spoiler rumors on an impending death started to pop up. It really would not surprise me in retrospect to discover that network and show personnel were deliberately releasing and manipulating releases that spoilertastic fans saw.

Then comes Whatever the Case May Be, a quieter breather of an episode that introduces a super minor mystery for the castaways- a mysterious locked briefcase washing up. Leading into a Kate episode, that is, in another unfortunate twist, not really linked into the overall story, and fairly muddled in terms of us getting to know her character. Its funny- I feel like with this rewatch, looking at this as a writer, I’m far harder on Kate than I feel like I’ve been in the past. I always liked her more than the average fan then, but in retrospect, the divide between the writers not having a good grasp on her character and role other than as “mysterious sexy person”- combined with Evangeline Lilly’s clear discomfort with this, is far too obvious. It doesn’t advance the plot, and it’s not a very compelling Kate episode, but it is packed full of great character moments for other people.

Stray observations:

*Jack that is among the absolute worst TV CPR I have ever fucking seen in my life, lets really hope no viewers saw that and assumed that’s what CPR is supposed to look like…

*Hurley’s burgeoning friendship with Walt is 1. Cute and 2. A good use of the characters themes what with what we find out about Walt’s backstory and Hurley’s whole deal with luck. It’s also a good seque into the idea of how far characters’ island selves are from their real lives, same as Boone’s disbelief that Locke worked for a box company

*Charlie and Rose weren’t characters I would ever expect to interact, but the scene with the prayer was great, and another early, small, moment in the thematic thread of “science vs faith”.

*We also get some interaction between Sayid and Shannon- a pairing I have a very inexplicable fondness for- and an early sign that the easiest way to get past Shannon’s lazy, pretty freeloader thing may be to actually expect things from her, because it doesn’t seem like anyone else does.

*The writers DO have a fair hand at writing humor though- the various attempts to open the briefcase were friggin hilarious

Twop thread for 1.11

Twop thread for 1.12 

[spicyicymeloncat]

Respectfully big disagree. Huge, catastrophic difference in opinion over here. Respectfully and with love.

Not saying we’d want a 20 ep season, 10 would be a decent number for me, but the prev EMs are very much not the same as the present ninja. They have different stories and backstories and we also don’t even know enough about their parents to even say they’re similar to the ninja.

One, a potential prequel show would probably have a huge focus on Garmadon and Wu since they were the leaders of the alliance, and obviously they’re dynamic is pretty unique to what we see in the main show and the show could very much delve into their dynamic. Plus Misako is a pretty unique character too, and she’d probably be in this show too.

Two, the prev EMs have significant differences and unique dynamics compared to the ninja. I mean Maya and Nya are completely different, Kai and Ray can potentially have different backstories (like Kai’s daddy issues play a significant role in his characterisation of needing to prove himself, Ray may not have that), the Ice EM and Earth EM (Cole’s grandfather was the EM during the wars) could have any kind of personalities since they basically never talk in the show, and yes Libber has similarities to Jay but again she could have differences we haven’t seen bc we know nothing about her (also fundamental difference, Libber actually has rizz and got with a whole dang movie star like how’d that happen).

The EMs are much more of blank slates allowing you to do whatever with them.

I think also the dynamics would be different since the characters are different and meet differently. The ninja are all basically equals and have grown up and trained together but the elementals come from all over with probably varying stages of skill level.

For example, in the story concept I suggested in this ages ago, I thought it would be interesting that Ray was a late bloomer and a little chaotic with his element whilst Maya has had years of training with her element (I’d assume since I’m Seabound she very much has a more precise way of training with her element). So they’re dynamic (especially since they’re lovers) has a lot of contrast. Another example is that I hc that Cole’s grandfather and the Ice EM are much older than everyone else, and Libber is the youngest. Leading to the older characters possibly having mentor/apprentice relationships. Also Lilly might’ve been born and a child in this, which throws in a completely unique dynamic as well, since it means Cole’s grandfather is actively a father which adds interest since they are in a war.

Just because they have the same powers doesn’t mean they’d all have the same personalities and dynamics, I think they’re already plenty unique and yeah obviously they’d need to be expanded on because you can’t expect the one scene of Libber to be conducive to her entire personality.

Also Ninjago has made 15 and a bit seasons with the same dynamics, hell they even reuse most of the same tropes, and it’s still enjoyable, you can do a lot with a story depending on what you do, so I definitely think the EMs can pull off a 20 ep series. I mean they have 3 distinct villains to fight, the serpentine, Chen and the time twins. That’s like 3 whole seasons!

It’s okay if you disagree, I hope you don’t mind me adding my take

So... thinking about the prequel show concept that everyone seems interested in.

As much as I like the previous EMs, I don't think they're really equipped to carry a whole show. As far as we've seen, everyone’s parents kind of behave more or less like their kids who inherited their powers. Kai and Ray are essentially the same person, lightning mom is the energetic blabber mouth of the team, Cole and Lilly obviously share a strong moral structure. I'm not saying there aren't differences or nuances, but I think we'd end up with a lot of the same dynamics.

I'm not saying it wouldn't be interesting to explore, but if you're gonna have a whole new show, you're gonna want to diversify a bit, and a prequel show doesn't really allow for that. What I do think this would work for is like a TV movie. Do a season 10, but for the serpentine war. Just enough time for us to go "oh my gosh, they're just like their kids🥰" see some of the other elemental masters, expand on some backstory, have a couple of jokes based purely on our knowledge of the future, and boom, there you go.

I'd certainly like to see more of them, but we don't need a whole 20 episode season to get the potential out of these characters.

[swirlingyouintomypoems]

Lmao this bitch has the audacity to waltz in here, demand a hug, proceed to tell me my pt is canceled because we can’t afford it anymore,  and then makes sure ive taken care of the dogs and tells me to change water for some flowers 

[foolzstar]

thinking about cole just screaming for his mum at the top of the mountains that he climbed because he had no way of expressing out he was feeling other than screaming.

[elektragirlfriend]

all this talk of the wyatt oleff plays a stanley cinematic universe but where's my love for the sophia lillis gets drenched in blood cinematic universe

[elvisabutler]

Let’s start with the first sentence because let me tell you as soon as I clicked the “Keep Reading” tag and began I was like oh, boy we’re gonna get right in to the good stuff aren’t we? And it’s nice to know that I was right! With only the opening paragraphs we’re able to distinguish the distance between the married couple and it’s such a great leading point for where Lilli and Elvis end up at the end of the chapter. I’m not going to get too deep into the “She’s been downright mean…” paragraph, it has been discussed in our inbox but you weren’t lying when you said it was an accurate description of Lilli’s character. Any choices she’s making and feelings she’s experiencing she never does it to be cruel or as revenge for her pent up frustration - it’s all because her husband has left her alone and has left her wanting and has forgotten what he has in front of him probably because he thinks she’ll never leave. No, Lilly isn’t mean, she’s an unhappy, unappreciated wife. I don’t excuse or condone her cheating but her merely existing in the same house as someone who pays her bills isn’t a marriage in my opinion, signatures and courts be damned. “It’s just the paunch of his stomach yanking the fabric forward … making it so he has to leave the zipper partially undone before it reaches his neck.” “… but she can see how tight it is around his legs, around his thighs. …” The easiest way to get me on your side has to be indulging into the beautiful, large physicality of Big Daddy. It truly turns me into a wanton of a woman. Lilly is me because she’s appreciating a man, a real man who will fill her womb and take care of their household while still managing to take care of her. It’s a man who can be depended on, who can live as a husband, father, and continue to be his own man. I wish I had more words to explain it but I do not so I can’t say anything more besides Lilly is appreciating a real man. “The house is empty as her womb” ALLY WERE YOU CRYING WHEN YOU WROTE THAT BECAUSE I GOT THE SNIFFLES - I MEAN, ALLERGIES - WHEN I READ THAT. The fact that he continues on to fix other issues he sees in the oven without her even having to ask and without the need to charge her for them because her company and singing in the background are enough. Do you see what I mean when I say HE IS A MAN. “There’s an element of homeliness that has him sighing while in the oven.” Immediate images of her in their kitchen, swollen with his baby, cooking his lunch or dinner while he fixes things - that’s your future Big Daddy and I promise it’s coming to ya soon (I hope.) “It hadn’t been attractive on Nathan or any other boy,” that, Lil Darlin’, is because no boy is like Big Daddy who will take care of us. I really enjoy the fact that Elvis was quick to catch on to the look of hunger on her face, he recognized it from back in the day, and now here’s this young, beautiful woman giving him that smile again and making him feel wanted again overeating and nightmares be damned. Something as simple as lusting over Elvis sweating helped to humanize his character from this mystery of “How does the affair start” to “She’s a lonely wife and he’s a simple man.” Although he remains amazing it removes the enigma that is Elvis Presley and alters him to human level. Yes, his sweat and her horniness convey all that to me. If at some point you do include Lilly licking his sweat mixed with her lemonade from his skin I will bow down before you. Elvis, God is speaking to you, there is something missing as you watch her in the kitchen - you beside her and your child in her belly. “Now that’s a woman who ought to have a passel of kids, a football team of children.” That hurts, Ally, it does. You woke up and chose pain every time you mention her want of her kids mixed in with the amazing qualities she’d possess as a mother to care and love and grow another human. And they’ve spent one afternoon together but she’s awoken the lust in him and he’s eased some of the loneliness in her and with that interaction they’ve managed to become more to each other than neighbors or church goers.

so i saved this for a hot minute because trust me bri this was a delight to read. i always try and drop people right into things if i don't do the ramble talk thing i do for a lot of fics so there wasn't another idea to start it other than you know RIGHT LET'S SHOW HOW BAD NATHAN IS RIGHT OFF THE BAT.

but god you understand exactly where i wanted to go with this. it's not just a cheating story it's- it's two people finding refuge in each other and becoming the thing they need most in the world. you understand and get it and this is why i love hearing you scream about them to me. i truly love how invested you are

also listen maybe she'll make lemonade for him again and kiss him senseless and taste that sweat. maybe maybe.

[tinylilacbun]

The Avengers little

(GIF not mine)

Summary: Being the Avengers little includes...

Pairing: og!cg!avengers x little!reader

Warnings: Age Regression, FLUFF

⭒𖥸⭒

You will get cuddles whenever you want, there will always be one of them who has time to give you snuggles.

If you would fall and scrap your knee Bruce will patch you up and check if you have any other issues and gives you a lollipop for being so brave.

Steve will give you snacks throughout the day and watches that you're hydrated, giving you juice boxes or bottles when you're too little.

You would get lots of piggyback rides from Thor and often play with his hair, braiding it and putting beautiful clips in it.

Watching Clint and Natasha train, rating who is better, and playing tag when they're done which would end in you being held down by Clint while Natasha tickles you.

Tony spoiling you rotten and buying you toys almost every single day even though you said he doesn't have to. He still keeps doing it, of course.

You carrying stuffie versions of them with you around the tower and freaking out when of them is missing.

MOVIE NIGHTS!

You don't want any of them to feel neglected and would cuddle 20 minutes with one of them, then switch so everyone got a cuddle that evening.

Them fighting whose turn it is to feed, bath, play, or dress you.

"You got to play with the little one yesterday, Tony!"

"Then I got called for a meeting which means I got to spend less time with her, Pointbreak!"

But Steve would always calm them down and find a solution.

You love coloring with Steve and Bruce, enjoying the silence, and showing each other your artworks.

If you would have a nightmare you would crawl into one of their beds and cuddle with them.

You are never alone. Even if you think you are there's always one of them near you.

The favorite thing you do is play to pretend being on a mission with them. You would have many different outfits and toy weapons that Tony and Bruce designed you.

"We got saved by the mighty Y/n!" Thor would shout and put you on his shoulder while the others cheered.

You would only do outside activities with all of them. Like going to the park, zoo, waterparks, etc.

You usually call them by their names or nicknames, only calling them Daddy/Mommy when you're feeling very small.

The persons who deal with your tantrums and punish you accordingly are Steve, Natasha, and Clint.

Thor, Tony, and Bruce are more the ones who comfort you afterwards and explain why you were punished.

Then everyone would come together and have a big group cuddle!

They are the best caregivers in the world and you love them all with your whole heart.

⭒𖥸⭒

Taglist

@marvelsguantletkeeper @my-river-lilly @pauntedblacknails @fanfictioniseverything @devilslilbabysblog @buckymydarlingangel @hallecarey1 @daybreakwinter @loveshineslikethesky @wandaslittlewhore @vase-of-lilies @white-wolf1940 @simpingbutch @mischiefsemimanaged @alina02 @teddybearsgrr @doozywoozy @angelbabydoll28 @st3rgirl @glxwingrxse @lilymurphy03 @veryvaughnny @lokigirlszendaya @youngstarfishdinosaur @little--baby--bear

[sweet-villain]

Believe~8~ B.H

Part 7

Summary : After surviving by the Mind Flyer, Billy decides to leave Hawkins. Leave you. Max. He goes back to California, has a new look and a couple years later he's back. He's looking for you, this time he gets a surprise of his life. You're a mother of a little girl, and she calls Eddie Munson daddy.

@sidthedollface2 @tayhar811 @tanyaherondale @flvneurss @stories2504 @arsenicred @strangerthings1983fan @tlclick73

@lilostif16 @blackmagicwoman @iamaslutforcoffee @lynne0nfire

@joeyfilth

@nevermore66 @hayleybarnesx @misspygmypie @dystopianhellscape @magnificantmermaid @kenzi-woycehoski @browneyedgirl2-7

You felt like you had a huge weight on your shoulders from everything that has been going on. Eddie hasn't talked or looked at since the whole thing with Billy. He was livid that you hadn't even told him that you've been locking lips with Billy Hargrove. How many times? He saw red when he thought about it.

Eddie was at work right now while you decided you needed to get away from Hawkins, take Lilly with you. Steve insisted that he drive with you to wherever you needed to go. Lilly couldn't go two days without her Uncle Steve either.

You had phoned your mother letting her know that you were coming down with Lilly, she hasn't yet met her and that you were going to bring Steve with you. Your parents had moved when you graduated high school, your mom got a new job having to move. She didn't want to leave you but you were a big girl and she had met Eddie before both your parents left. They couldn't fly in to meet Lilly when she was born, they ran into some issues.

" Mama" you called out to her softly over the phone, she can hear the tears and the distraught in your voice. " Hunny, what's wrong?" she asked, she had been starting to cook dinner when she dropped what she was doing and listened to you. " I am going to come down with Lilly for a few days. Is that okay?" your mother gasped at your question, happiness filled her eyes. " Stephan! Our little girl is coming to see us. She's bringing Lilly finally" she yelled to your father who happened to rush over as you heard him on the other line.

" Is that true, pumpkin?" he asked, taking the phone from your mother. " Yes daddy, I'm coming home for a few days" you can hear the both of your parents say how happy they are.

" I'm bringing Steve too" you say. Your mom always liked Steve whenever he stopped by. She remembers him back in high school when the two of you would stick like glue to one another, the two of you were best friends and your mother even asked if you liked him more than a friend. " Not like that" you would tell her, " but he's the best." Steve truly was the best as he took you under his wing in high school. You never liked when he was King Steve, hanging out around Tommy and Carol.

" Oh how is he?"

" He's great, Lilly can't live without him. He's like an uncle to her"

You were throwing some clothes into the bag when the door of the trailer opened and mop of curls lined in your vision, " I'll see you soon Mama."

You hunged up the phone seeing Eddie walking into the kitchen to get a beer from the fridge and as he popped it open, swinging it to take a drink, he stopped in his tracks. His eyes dropped seeing a bag on the couch, opened. It had your clothes in it along with Lilly's. He watched you put some of her toys in them.

" What are you doing?" He asks, holding onto the beer as he watched you close the bag. You were mumbling listing the things you needed to take with you. You had your fingers out and counted along them as you thought of what you put into your bag.

Putting an index finger up remembering to bring your necessities from the bathroom. Eddie followed you as he blocked you from exiting the bathroom.

" What are you doing?" He asks again, hoping this time you'll answer him. You had the items you needed in your hands as you stared at him. You can see the smudges of oil and dirt on his face, his mop of curls are hanging loose as he took them out from the bun he had his hair earlier in the day. His brown doe eyes staring into your own and his lips were in a thin line. He was still in his work clothes as his arms covered in grease and dirt.

" Packing" you simply gave him that answer as if it would satisfy him. It doesn't. His eyebrows scrunch up together as his shoulders tense up. " Did I miss something?" you pushed past him, causing him to stumble back as he watches you get another small bag and put the stuff you had in your arms into the bag.

" Are you leaving me?" His own question made his breath hitched feeling the sting of tears begging to shed. He can't bare to watch you walk away from him. His heart is racing as he waits for your answer.

" No, I'm leaving Hawkins for a bit with Lilly" He frowns as he process your words and shakes his head, " You can't leave."

" What do you mean I can't leave? You don't control me, Edward"

He sighs as he runs a hand down his face, " What about me?" He asks. " You stay here" you shrugged.

" But I need you here" you chuckled, shaking your head as you turned to face him. " Like I said before, if you ever lonely Munson or want some pussy. You can always ask Chrissy, I'm sure she's happy to open her legs for you"

He gripped the bottle tight in his hand and his nose twitch in anger. You loved that nose twitch that he does. You would kiss those lines away from his nose but now wasn't the time.

" How many times do I have to tell you that she means nothing to me? I love you" you rolled your eyes hearing the same thing over and over again. You were tired of it already. It was like he didn't know other words besides that. " But look at you, little miss princess going around kissing her ex boyfriend like her life depends on it" Eddie scoffed.

" Excuse me, Munson but last time I checked, who I kiss is none of your business" He threw his head back in laughter.

" You're funny, princess. We are still dating last time I checked" He says. There is silence between the two of you and it's not one of those nice silences. It throws you off the way he's making a big deal that you kissed Billy. He did something unforgivable. He slept with Chrissy. That is far more worse.

" Maybe we shouldn't" his face dropped at your words and eyes glister with tears. His heart sinks to his stomach. The grip on the beer bottle he's holding falls to the ground and it shatters.

" Eddie!" you shout with your eyes wide as it crashes to pieces on the floor. You rush around to get something to clean but Eddie stands there with tears streaming down his cheeks as he processing your words. He hears the sound of your voice but it's like a buzzing sound. His ears a ringing. You didn't want him anymore.

A small whimper leaves his lips while you clean up the glass from the beer bottle. Eddie doesn't notice what your doing as he closes his eyes feeling light headed. He stumbles to the side as he grips the wall for support.

While you managed to clean up the mess, you hadn't seen how your words had effected Eddie until you return back after cleaning up to see him barely holding himself together. Something in you causes you to rush to him as you call out his name.

" Eddie" He doesn't hear it yet as he adjust to the room. He feels like it's spinning and when your hands grasp at his face, his brown doe eyes meet yours. They hold worry in them gazing up at him. " Eddie" you call out to him again and this time, he hears you bringing his forehead onto yours.

" Don't go" his lip quivers as a whimper escapes his lips. " Please.." He adds. He leans into your touch, turning his head to one side to kiss your hand while turning to the other side to kiss your other hand. You step back, pulling away from him as you shake your head.

" That's not really up to you Eddie. I need this, Lilly need this"

" What about me?" He is pouting with fresh tears streaming down his cheeks. " I'll be back Eddie"

" What about us?" He asks.

" Us? That stopped when you decided to put your dick inside her. That stopped when you chose to break my heart" A sob erupts from him as he rushes to you and latches onto your arms.

" I didn't mean it Y/N. I didn't mean it, baby. I'm so sorry" he cries out.

" Go take a shower Eddie, Steve is coming with me to my parents house in Chicago. I'll be back in a few days and you can see Lilly"

" Please don't do this to me" He says, he sobs again when he feels you push him away as you take the bags in your hands and calling Lilly. Eddie slides against the wall with his head in his hands.

" Daddy?" Lilly asks. Eddie freezes on the floor hearing her voice as he picks up his head to look at her. She frowns and drops her toy in her arms as she walks over to him. He opens his legs for her to walk closer as she leans with her hand to brush his tears away. " No cry" she says. " Daddy is pretty" Eddie chuckles as brings her down into his lap. Her blue eyes stares up at his brown eyes.

" I love you, Lilly Bear" He leans down brushing his lips against her forehead.

" I love you too, daddy" she says as she leans her head on his chest. He holds her feeling your eyes on him. Even if the two of you are done, you weren't going to take Lilly out of his life like that. He loves her, he has been there for her since she was a baby and he acted like a father to her.

Your heart ached not knowing what to do as you watched them. A BMW drives up to the trailer and you watch out the window as Steve gets out of the car wearing a long white sleeve shirt with a pair of jeans as he makes his way to the door.

You look one more time at your daughter and Eddie before making your way to the door. The door opens with a squeak and Steve steps inside. He greets you with a hug feeling your own hands wrap around him. He smells like laundry detergent and shampoo.

He squeezes you one more time before he hears, " Uncle Steve!" he chuckles as he catches Lilly running up to him. He raises her in his arms as he swings around making her giggle. Steve takes notices of Eddie leaning against the wall with his head hanging looking at the ground.

" What's with Munson? "

" Daddy is sad" Lilly informs Steve as she looks at him then back at Steve. " I told him were leaving" Eddie raises his head as he looks towards at you. " Tell him the rest" Eddie says.

" We aren't together anymore" Steve frowns as he reaches with his hand on your shoulder, " You okay?"

You nodded, " I need to get out of here" Steve looks at Eddie, " you going to be okay, man?" Eddie looks over at Steve holding Lilly in his arms as he nods. Steve walks out with Lilly in his arms to put her in his car, he got a little car seat for her to make her feel safe, and for the sake of both you and him.

" I'll see you soon, Eddie" he doesn't move from his spot but he does turn his head to look at you. Those brown doe eyes are glistering with tears as he watches you turn your back to him and make your way out of the trailer. He hangs his head as his shoulder shake, he is left sobbing.

" L/N!" you heard in the distance. He is making his way you, Steve head pops out of the car and Lilly tries to look back to see who it is. Billy is making his way over to the car with a frown on his face. It seems like he has to hear all the news from someone else rather than it being you.

" Where are you off too?" He eyes the bags in the car and looks at Steve as he gets back to strapping Lilly in. " Just out of town for a couple of days"

" Did something happen again? Is it Munson?" Billy was ready to race inside the trailer and drag Eddie out if he has to. You shook your head, " No. This is for Lilly. For me. I need this"

He nods, " Can I ask you something?" he scratches the back of his neck feeling the heat brush his cheeks and his ears.

" Is there a chance we can go on a date when you come back?" Steve hears the question and shakes his head.

" Hargrove, you have a way with timing" Billy shoots him a glare.

" I don't know Billy, things haven't been that good and I just want to focus on Lilly. Making her happy" you say.

" What about your happiness?"

You shrugged, " Lilly's happiness is all that matters to me."

" She's so lucky to have a mother like you" He looks down at his feet thinking of his own mother. He has told you about her and how she left him, he is still hurting from it and wished his mother was like you.

"Thank you B" you say. Billy heads shots up at the nickname. Back when you were in high school with him, that was the nickname you called him and it brought him so many memories right now. His eyes brim with tears as he remembers. You know he does from the way he was looking at you.

You let out a small chuckle, " Now I know that look Hargrove. Don't look at me like that"

Billy softly smiles as he tilts his head, " Look at you like what?"

" Like I'm the only person you need"

" What if you are?" you hear Steve groaning as he props back out of the car. He has strapped Lilly in her car seat and was ready to go.

" You can have any woman fall to your feet Hargrove, like back in high school" He shakes his head.

" The only woman I want is you, Y/N. I told you I planned to be your last"

" We have a long road ahead of us" Steve says cutting the conversation short. Billy frowns as he takes a step back. Your hand in on the handle of the car but you look at him, " Hargrove."

" Yeah?" He asks.

" I'll be back for that date" Steve shoots you a look like what the hell but you brush it off as you see Billy's lips turn into a smile. You sit in the car as Steve starts the car.

" You're something else Y/N" he shakes his head.

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The ride to your parents house was long filled with singing along in the car, stopping to get snacks, Lilly sleeping, you sleeping, you change driving with Steve, more singing, Steve and you talking about the past in high school, talk about boobies and more singing with Lilly.

Steve parks the car in front of your parents house. It's not too big and not too small. The green door opens as your mom rushes outside in her pink slippers, her hair is up like it always is and her arms are wide. Before you even got a chance to get out of the car, her arms are wrapped around you and pulling you into her. She sways with you as he holds you tight.

" My little sweet girl" she says as she pulls away with her hands on your shoulders. She takes your face in her hands as she moves it around with a frown on her face.

" Have you been eating well?" she squishes her cheeks. Steve gets of the car and he gets Lilly out too as she latches onto him like a koala. Your mom's attention brings her to her grand daughter who's looking at her with those blue wide eyes.

" Is this Lilly?" She asks. Your father comes up to greet you, he is tall and has glasses on his face with slippers on his feet too as he embraces you.

" Oh it's good to see you pumpkin" He kisses the side of her head. You turn your gaze to Lilly who's in your mom's arms and to your surprise, Lilly isn't fussy like she usually is about meeting new people. With your mom it's different and you were happy.

" Nice to see you too Steve" your father shake his hand. " Thank you for bringing my daughter and granddaughter with safety"

" Oh Steve!" your mom throws one arm around him, " You look well"

" Thank you Mrs L/N" your mom shakes her head, " Call me Laura. We spoke about this before, Steve."

" Sorry" he rubs the back of his neck as he looks at you. " You know what? Let's go inside and you can tell me all about this Eddie Munson you've been with"

Your lips thrown in a thin line as you look at Steve. He throws you a sympathetic smile as he shrugs. She doesn't even know that Billy is back in town. How were you going to tell your parents?

You sighed as you followed your parents inside with Lilly in your mom's arms and Steve following behind you.

This was going to be a long weekend.

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Both Billy and Eddie weren't doing too good with you being away from Hawkins. Eddie felt lonely indeed and he has been smoking with Chrissy who has joined him. The two are attached at hip, Robin had stopped by and took notice of Chrissy Cunningham laying in bed on her stomach.

She eyes Eddie with her arms across her chest.

" What?" He asks her.

" You know what" she flicks the back of his head with a glare, " what is she doing here?" she motions towards Chrissy who has her legs crossed on the bed as she hums. Eddie looks at her and shrugs.

" No, no. You're going to give me an answer, Munson"

Eddie has a cigarette on the edge of his mouth and Robin reaches over to flick it away, " Firstly that's gross and second, I thought you were done with Chrissy. What about Y/N?"

" We broke up" Robin frowns as she looks out to the doors of the trailer. " Eddie" He shakes his head.

" Don't say it Buckley. I know I fucked up, but she made her choice"

" Are you going to give up on her?" Eddie ran a hand down his face in frustration. He didn't know what to do. He was hurting.

" I don't know, Robin. She made her choice and I'm making mine" he looks toward Chrissy and once again, Robin flicks the back of his head in anger.

" No, what you need to do it get her out of here and get Y/N back"

" What about Hargrove?"

" He doesn't stand a chance. She loves you"

With those words, Eddie wanted to believe Robin that you did but he feels like you didn't anymore. He sees the way you look at him with hurt in your eyes. He can't change what he did and he will live with it for the rest of his life.

But he still loves you and he hopes when you get back, that he can make it all up to you.

Lilly too.