#Professor x X trader

[mariaxman]

HIIII, I moved to my primary account cuz having two blogs was VERY annoying and n all. Whatever, my masterlist’ll be linked under with my rules and who I’ll write for.

!!Things I will NOT write!!

-incest of any kind(no step father or brother bs here)

-smut(maybe in the future)

-pedophilia

-SA

-DUBCON/NONCON/Rape

I’ll had more if needed

!!I MOSTLY WRITE AFAB READER!!

WHO I’ll write for;

-Wolverine

-Charles Xavier

-Beast/Hank McCoy

-Piotr Rasputin

-Pietro Maximoff

(I’ll probably add more in the future dw<3)

-MASTERLIST

[bitchyycapricorn]

Library Scandals

Remus Lupin x Established Relationship Fem!Reader

Masterlist

Word Count:5k+

Synopsis: Remus and Y/N are in a secret yet very committed relationship. Pent up jealousy and sexual frustration leads them to the library part curfew.

Warnings: Fluff, Angst, Smut, Oral (M and F receiving), throat fucking, PIV penetration, unprotected sex, praise kink, pet names, jealousy, mentions of toxic family, “getting caught”, language.

AN: Briefly edited

Remus peers at the marauders map in front of him tracing your every move as you make your way through the castle. His eyes linger over your footsteps and your name which read “Y/N Grey.” His heart skips a beat the deeper you move through the grounds, watching as you swiftly avoid Filch and any other teachers that happen to be on night watch. 

It was getting rather late of course and Remus knew those teachers would be retiring to their beds quite soon. Which is why he was rather surprised to see you on the move so early. He watches as your footsteps pause for a moment outside the library before entering the facility.

Remus smirks to himself knowing exactly what you were doing. You were once again off to the restricted section to continue to read about wandless magic and transformations. Remus never liked to leave you alone on these scandalous adventures, which is why he finds himself quickly muttering “mischief managed” as he slips out of his own dormitory. 

Remus, unlike you, is smart enough to wait for all professors to go to bed before heading to the library to join you. The moonlight lighting up his path so he didn’t need to use his wand. His journey is quick and he soon finds himself in front of the large doors to the library that you both so desperately love. 

Remus quietly creaks the door open, quickly slipping inside and shutting it behind him. He scrambles hurriedly over to the restricted section where he finds you hunched over a book, nothing but a lantern and the moonlight to light the area around you. 

“I suspected you’d be on your way,” your soft voice breaks the silence as a smirk plays upon your lips. Remus lets out a soft laugh as he admires the way the soft yellow glow of the candle lights up your face in the dark room. 

“I couldn’t let you have all the fun now could I?” Remus replies coyly. A smirk playing on his lips as well. He stands there a moment more to admire you before making his way toward your hunched figure. He places a soft kiss atop your head relishing in this moment alone with you. He knows you aren’t supposed to be together, and you know it as well. It just seems to somehow, and for some reason, worry you less that the two of you are dating. 

You come from a strong pure blood line of Grey’s, and your family holds quite high expectations of you. Especially when it comes to your marital status. Your parents usher you to keep your eyes open for a good pure blood boy whose family comes from good money like yours. As a first year, you were quick to make this promise. You hadn’t thought much of such things. But as a 7th year, things have definitely changed. 

You’ve fancied Remus Lupin since second year and the two of you had secretly made things official fourth year. The fact either of you have been able to keep it hush hush for this long is beyond Remus, but not you. 

You know exactly why things have kept so quiet. Part of it has to do with the constant lies that you feed your family about how you are “changing” Sirius Black from a blood trader to a restored pure blood lover. You made a promise to your mother and father that you fancy him and by the end of 7th year you’d have a proposal. 

Now, you had planned to end this facade ages ago, but Remus convinced you this was the only way your parents wouldn’t disown you. You know that a family bond is important to Remus, given his own family troubles, so you agreed to continue the lies. The issue is how absolutely and utterly jealous Remus is becoming. Even now sitting in the library you can tell he is on edge about something again. 

“Sirius was hitting on you again,” Remus huffs taking a seat on the table you’re working at. 

“Oh?” You question innocently, as if you hadn’t noticed. 

Remus lets out a small groan of annoyance as he begins to pick at his nails. “Darling, he was fawning over you at lunch,” Remus whines. His brown eyes are big and pleading. Asking, no begging, for you to stop Sirius’s antics. 

“Well my dear,” you chuckle lightly, “perhaps if you finally told the boys we were together Sirius would stop.” 

Remus stares at you silently for a moment before finally speaking up. “Y/N, you know how mouthy the boys are… it will get out and to your parents and…”

“Rem,” you softly cut in. “I think you forget this is our last year. It’s going to come out eventually. Why does it matter if it’s now rather than then?” You try to keep your voice as soft and soothing as possible, you know Remus is an anxious person and this conversation in particular always upsets him. It really did surprise you how insistent he was that you keep your relationship under complete wraps until after graduation. Many would suspect cheating, but you know the other reality of why he requests this. Remus fears the way your fellow housemates will treat you.

Remus has already witnessed the relentless attacks on Sirius for being a blood traitor despite not even being placed in Slytherin. He couldn’t bare to imagine the way you would be treated for being a blood traitor being that Slytherin is your house. 

Though it didn’t particularly worry or bother you, you refuse to put any more stress on your darling boyfriend. So you allow for things to stay quiet. Between family ties and bullying, you know this was what ultimately makes Remus happy. Even if his whining about Sirius Black drives you crazy. 

“No no,” Remus huffs back finally, making you tear your gaze from your book. “Your parents might cut you off financially, or…”

“Remmy, we don’t have to if it worries you okay? Perhaps instead you could simply mention to Sirius that you fancy me? He’ll stop then you know.” You try to offer a kind smile but you know deep down it isn’t doing much. 

Remus draws his lip between his teeth before shaking his head. His fluffy brown curls bouncing with the motion as he mutters “no,” a few times under his breath. “Sirius might not care, he might take it as a competition to get you first,” Remus points out as if it were obvious. 

“Get me first?” You couldn’t help but let out a small giggle at his assertion. “Rem, last time I checked, now I could be wrong, but you actually got me first due to the fact we’re dating.” 

“But-Okay yes but if I tell him I fancy you then later he finds out we’re together, he might be mad at me!” Remus pleads. You roll your eyes finally turning your chair to face him completely. 

“Remus Lupin,” your voice was a little more stern than intended, but you sure as hell knew he was listening now. “I’m almost positive Sirius Black is currently, as in as if this year, on his way to shagging a good portion of our year. Having said that, I highly, and when I say highly I mean highly doubt that he will care that you are shagging me.” You finish with a small sigh. Your eyes lock with Remus’s and you could see a smile beginning to form on his face. “What?” You question with a small laugh. 

“Did you just accuse our best friend of shagging the whole year?” Remus chuckles. 

“No!” You squeal in defense. “I said on his way to a good portion of our grade!” 

Remus lets out another laugh before attempting to get serious again. “Well, you also said that I’m shagging your which is completely and utterly incorrect,” Remus mumbles lowly.

“Really Lupin? That’s what you got out of that? That Sirius is shagging girls and you’re still a virgin?” You let out an exasperated sigh at how absolutely impossible this boy is. 

“Hey! You’re a virgin too!” Remus gasps, pointing at you defensively. 

“Remus!” You cry with a small laugh. “Still not the point! My point is that he won’t care! If you want our friend to stop “hitting” on me, you’ve ought to say something.” 

Remus locks eyes with you again before letting out a small groan. “I get the point, but now all I can think about is how I’m still a bloody virgin!” 

Your eyes immediately flew shut as you burst out laughing at his comment. “Remus!” You wheeze while gripping your stomach. “We’re still virgins because my housemates would have a heart attack if you stepped foot into my dorm and your roommates don’t have a reason to leave, then stay gone long enough for us to do anything. Perhaps if you…”

“Well maybe we’ll just have to do it right here then.” Remus states matter-of-factly. Your eyes widened at his offer as you shake your head slowly. 

“We can’t just get naked in the restricted section,” you say slowly. 

“Says who?” Remus hums, glancing down at you. You look up again at his figure sitting on the desk before deciding to stand up. You shuffle your way between his legs and plant a soft kiss to his lips. 

“Says me, I say we can’t get na-“ and suddenly your voice was muffled by your pajama top being taken off your body.

“What was that about you not getting naked? I’m pretty sure you’re the one with your top off,” Remus teases as he admires your completely bare chest. You let out a huff, unable to form any words as you quickly wrap your arms around yourself as cold air surrounds you. 

“Remus it’s cold,” you whin eyeing your shirt. 

“Well if you move your arms I can use my hands to warm your tits,” Remus snickers earning him a light flick in the arm. 

“If you’re going to be an ass and offer to warm me up you might as well warm me up in the right way,” you growl in response. Remus raises an eyebrow at you, leaning back onto the books behind him. 

“Oh?” He questioned, intrigued by your sudden dominance in the situation. 

“Mhm. If you want to warm me up, use your whole body Remus Lupin. Go on. Fuck me.” You tempt. The smirk that once sat proudly on Remus’s face fell as he swallows thickly. It was only then that he realizes you were standing in front of him, hands on each side of his thighs, with you tits on full display. It was then that he realizes he’s never seen you naked before. 

“Scared?” You whisper. 

“Terrified.” Remus swallows. 

You step back and slowly slip off your pajama shorts followed by your panties. Remus watches your movements with hawk like precision, his eyes never once leaving your body. He was so focused on how gorgeous your body looked he didn’t even realize you had been standing there waiting for him to say something for almost two minutes. 

“Oh my,” Remus breaths. “You look, you look absolutely stunning. You truly are the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.” His eyes graze over your face, then your neck, and down your chest and stomach. He admires your hips and thighs, before slowly skimming down your bare legs. Remus felt like he was on fire. His whole body burns for you, in fact his pajama pants felt quite tight for you. 

“Your turn to strip for me lover boy,” you hum, pulling Remus out of his trance. He nods quickly, sliding off the table to discard his shirt and pants, along with any other garments. His eyes meet yours once again, he looks so nervous. 

Remus is in fact nervous, though the nervousness is overpowered by excitement. His body shivers as the cold air envelops his toned body. The moonlight shines on Remus pale skin perfectly, allowing you to see every scar left behind by the full moon. The atmosphere of the room was becoming tense due to you both standing there silent and naked. 

“Y/N,” Remus whispers, slowly moving towards you. “May I….” His hand reaches forward but he stops himself just before he can make contact with the soft skin of your waist. May I touch you?” His voice is soft and unsure, like a small child who doesn’t know if they’re about to get in trouble. 

But you smile at him, allowing Remus to relax under your loving gaze. “Of course you can touch me Remus, I love when you touch me.” You whisper in a hushed tone. Now you begin to move forward, stepping into his touch. 

Remus makes quick work of his hands, running them down your waist and then to your hips before sliding them to you back side so he can gently grip your ass. You let out as soft moan as his lips connect with yours, drinking up the feeling of his body pressing against you. “Rem…” you mumble softly, “Can I please you?” 

Your words seem to take Remus by surprise, since he pauses the kiss you were both sharing. His lips detach from yours so he can meet your gaze once again. “I-I would really like that, but only if you’re comfortable!” He quickly adds. 

“Remus Lupin,” you sigh, “I’d do anything for you I swear,” your voice is like honey as you drag your hands down his body while dropping to your knees in front of him. You watch as Remus’s cock twitches, tempting you to put it in your mouth. 

You decide to take it slow, first grabbing onto the base of his cock and jerking it forward. Remus let out a soft whine at your action, bucking his hips forward. His eyes begging for you to continue. You slowly begin to move your hand back and forth at a steady pace, enjoying the soft sounds that we’re tumbling from Remus’s lips. 

After a few more jerks you found yourself leaning in with your mouth open, ready to take his cock. 

You could hear his breath hitch as your lips made contact with his tip, sucking lightly on the sensitive head. You swirl your tongue around his tip, making sure to spread around the precum that was leaking from his aching cock. 

You slowly lower you head fully onto his base while Remus’s hands fly to your hair, tugging lightly as you choke on his length. Remus was thick in your mouth, making it easy to feel every vein and curve as your head bobs up and down. 

Remus feels hot from the pleasure, relishing in the much better feeling of your mouth rather than his hand. He loves the way you look while you suck him off. The way tears are forming in your eyes as you gag around his length. Your head continues to move up and down at a steady pace as you hallow your cheeks. Remus instinctively bucks his hips at the feeling, fucking into your throat. 

A small moan escapes your lips at the sensation, wanting Remus to do it again. You pull away for a moment, “do that again Rem, I like the feeling of you fucking my throat,” you hum as your lips wrap around his cock once again. 

Remus lets out a long moan, bucking his hips forward, wanting to fill your request. He begins to collect your hair in his hands, which allowed him to hold your head in place as he slowly picks up his thrusts. 

You could tell Remus was becoming close by the way his abs flex each time he went deeper down your throat. Along with the way he was pushing you all the way down on his cock and holding you there a moment before thrusting back out again. This pattern continues a few more times before Remus let out a ragged gasp while pushing your head all the way down on his cock. You could feel the heat of his cum shoot down your throat as Remus releases you from his tight grip. 

“Fuck, you did so well bunny.” Remus huffs, completely out of breath. He cups your cheek before sliding his hand under your chin to tilt your head upwards. You smile up at him while he smiles back at you. “Come on pretty girl, stand up for me. I want to bury my face in that beautiful cunt of yours to show you just how much I love you.”

A soft moan escapes your lips as you pick yourself up off the ground, leaning into Remus’s embrace to give him a small kiss. 

“Come on bunny, up on the table for me,” he says pulling you over to where he was previously sitting. He helps you up onto the desk before dropping to his knees in front of your glistening folds. Spreading your legs, Remus brings your thighs over his shoulders so they can rest there, leaving you to lean back on the books behind you. You let out a moan as you tug at Remus’s soft locks, wanting him to bury his face between your thighs. 

“What do you want bunny? Hmm? Use your words for me now,” Remus says with a chuckle. 

You let out a small whine before replying with a soft whimper “P-please Remus, I want you to touch me.”

“See that wasn’t so hard now was it?” Remus hums with a smirk. His head slowly dipping between your slick coated thighs. His lips began pressing gentle kisses to the inside of your thighs as he travels upwards to your soaking cunt. With a small kiss to your folds, Remus slips his tongue in and gently licks your clit. Slowly lapping up all of your juices in the process. 

“Mm bunny, you’re so fucking wet for me,” Remus coos between licks. Your legs begin to tremble as Remus presses his face deeper into your heat so he can press his lips against your throbbing bundle of nerves. 

“Oh Merlin Remus, please don’t stop,” you cry as Remus continues to devour you. His tongue flicking your clit at a constant pace as your hips slowly move upwards to meet his mouth. Your hips begin to grind into him, wanting to feel as much friction as possible as Remus softly takes your clit between his lips. You could feel your high coming on, causing your body to convulse under his soft touch. “Oh fuck Remus, please just like that, I’m going to cum,” you plead causing Remus to smirk against you. He maintains his movement as your body begins to convulse above him, your thighs squeezing together as your orgasm spreads throughout your shaking body. 

Remus doesn’t stop until you’re whining that it’s too much. His lips only then pulling away from your sensitive cunt. 

“You did so good for me bunny,” Remus praises as he kisses you softly. You can taste your cum on his lips making you squirm underneath him at the arousing memory that happened just moments ago. 

His hot fingers make their way down your body and to your heat which is dripping from a mix of your orgasm and arousal for Remus. His fingers delicately trace patterns over your sensitive throbbing cunt before he slowly slips a finger into your entrance. You shiver at the sensation, quickly pressing your lips to Remus’s to hide your moan. Remus returns the kiss feverishly as his fingers pump in and out of you. You can feel as his fingers stretch you out, preparing you for his cock. 

You let out a few more whimpers before whispering “Remmy please fuck me,” against his swollen lips. Remus pulls your body to the edge of the table, allowing you to wrap your legs around his waist while one hand rests around your waist. His other hand rests on your thigh. You can feel the wetness from Remus fingers smear across your thigh as his thumb traces a circular motion into your soft skin. Shuffling forward slightly, Remus enters you with ease, allowing himself to fully press into you. You throw your head back as a strangled moan erupts from your throat at the new sensation. Remus groans and curses as he begins to thrust his hips into yours. Embracing the feeling of your cunt as it squeezes his cock. Remus tries his best to keep a steady rhythm and pace going, but the sensation is overwhelming as he slides in and out of you. His hips snapping into yours repeatedly. 

He was overtaken by the smell of your perfume that lingered from earlier that day, along with the smell of your hair wash. Remus could already feel himself getting close for the second time that night, enjoying the sensation of being so close to you. He loves the way you feel, not just the way you squeeze around him but the way you feel in his arms. He loves the way your lips feel on his, the way you sound when you moan for him. Remus knew for a fact he would never want anyone else, he knew this before tonight, but tonight… tonight was worth every rough patch and every moment of hiding your relationship from others. Tonight was everything Remus needed to know that you are his and his alone. 

You too felt this deep connection of never wanting Remus to let go of you. If it were possible you’d have him stay like this with you forever- fucking you dumb on the desk of the restricted section. His thrusts were soft yet ruthless, as he pounds into you over and over. You could hear the sound of his skin slapping against yours, the sound of him slipping in and out of your wet cunt. Over and over again Remus fucks into you, relentlessly. You could feel your body begin to shake as you press your chest into Remus’s. Loving the feeling of his body heat radiating off onto you. 

“I’m so close Rem, you’re going to make me cum again…oh oh, ugh you feel so good,” you cry, allowing tears to slip down your cheeks as a string of moan flows from your chest. 

“Cum for me bunny, cum on my cock,” Remus urges, kissing your lips gently a few times. His lips linger on yours for a moment as the feeling in your stomach finally burst causing a wave of pleasure to overtake your mind and body. You cry out Remus’s name into the kiss, trembling as he helps you ride out your high. 

Even in your hazy state you could feel Remus’s cock begin to twitch inside you, signaling that he was close. His moans echoing through the library as his hips jut into you even deeper. Drawing in and out with bruising force. Remus could feel himself getting closer as he desperately chases his high. Craving to release deep inside of you. 

His hips moved in a new rhythm, thrusting a few times before hitting deep within you and holding there for a moment before repeating his ruthless motion. You squirm under his touch as his grip tightens on your back. 

“Oh fuck,” Remus huffs out, “You feel so good bunny,” Remus continues to praise you. “I’m so close pretty girl.”

A small whimper escapes your lips at the pet names, loving the way Remus continues to praise you as he begins to reach his high. 

Within minutes Remus could feel himself beginning to release as his hips snap deep into yours, holding still to fill your cunt up as much as he could. The feeling of pleasure and relief was so overwhelming Remus practically collapses onto you as he comes down from his high. You wrap your arms around his sweaty body wanting to feel him as close as possible. 

A small sigh escapes your lips as you breathe in Remus’s scent. “I love you Remus,” you whisper in his ear softly while he moans in response.

“I love you more,” he whispers back after a moment of comfortable silence. You smile to yourself as you pull Remus even closer to your naked body, not allowing him to pull out of you quite yet. 

It wasn’t until after another beat of silence that Remus groans and begins to shuffle in your arms. “Let’s go get cleaned up baby, we can head to the perfect washrooms,” Remus coos softly in your ear as he slowly pulls out of you. 

You let out a throaty moan at the loss, desperately wanting to feel him back in you. But you also desperately wanted to go with him to clean up. Remus steps away from the desk and quickly slides on his pajamas before picking yours up. Your legs were weak so you stay put on the table allowing Remus to come help dress you. 

“Thank you Remmy,” you whisper as he pulls on your pajama shorts and helps you slip on your top. You can feel Remus’s cum drip down your legs but you know there isn’t much you can do until you’re both in the bathroom. 

And so you allow Remus to lead you out of the library and into the empty washroom just down the corridor. He turns and makes quick work on locking the door behind him using a charm. 

You feel yourself gravitate towards the large bath, turning the handles to allow the water to run while you empty some bubble bath solution into the tube as well. Remus eyes you lovingly, feeling eager to once again strip you, but this time be able to help you wash up. He begins to peel off his own cloths before approaching you to help you do the same. You moan under his touch, allowing for his hands to gently pull the fabric off your sensitive skin. His cool hands run over your bare hips and stomach while you step into the tub. Remus is quick to follow, taking a seat behind you.

You lay with your back pressing against Remus’s chest, simply enjoying the feeling of him. He is quick to lather his hands in body wash so he can run them up and down your body once again. His hands rub gently into your sore shoulders, hips, and thighs, making sure to lather you up well. He then begins to apply the body wash to himself, wanting to smell just like you. 

“We have to wash our hair baby,” you say as you begin scooping water up and over your head in order to drench your hair. Remus lets out a soft laugh as he aids you, wetting his hair as well in the process. 

“You look beautiful Y/N,” Remus gushes as he begins washing your hair from behind. His fingers gently massaging into your scalp, making sure to wash the sweat away. You hum at the feeling and thank him for the compliment. 

“I can wash your hair Rem,” you offer, allowing yourself to turn around in the large tub so you’re straddling him. You squeeze some of the shampoo into your hands and begin to lather it into his wet curly brown locks. You mimic his actions of massaging his scalp in hopes to make him feel as good as you felt. 

You hear him let out a sigh of pleasure at the feeling of your fingers working through his hair. He allows his hands to rest at your lower back just above you ass. You feel comfortable this way, relishing in the feeling of being pushed up against each other once again. You like being naked together, even without anything sexual going on. The feeling of simply feeling each other up was enough to give you a warm tingly feeling as you stayed in each other’s embraces. 

“I’m going to dip you backwards to get the soap out,” Remus teases suddenly. 

A smile breaks out on your face followed by a “don’t you dare Remus Lupin!” 

“Then let’s dive under love, this is basically a small swimming pool, we could swim around a bit.” Remus hits back with an evident smirk on his face. You laugh, pushing off of him in order to dunk under the water, resurfacing almost just as quickly. Remus let out a laugh following your lead in going under the water. 

You both splashed around for a bit, talking, laughing, and just overall enjoying one another’s presence. 

“It’s getting quite late,” you say after almost an hour of you and Remus’s swimming. 

“We can head up to bed if you’d like, you can stay in my bed?” Remus offers shyly. 

You looked at him surprised, “you-you would let me do that?” 

“Of course bunny,” Remus hums pressing a kiss to your warm lips, “I’m not ready to leave your side yet.” He says with full honesty. You nod quickly, excitement coursing through your body at the thought of sleeping with Remus. You want more than anything to fall asleep in his arms tonight and the fact that he was offering brought you immense joy. 

Remus helped you out of the tub as you both dry off with a quick drying spell, once again slipping on your cloths quickly. 

You hurry out the bathroom and down the corridor wanting to get to the Gryffindor common room as fast as possible. Once you arrive Remus says the code quickly, pulling you behind him and up to his room. 

You both sneak in as quietly as possible, making sure not to wake the other two boys. You were the first to make it to Remus’s bed, quickly ducking under the covers as he follows suit. 

“Goodnight bunny,” Remus whispers pressing a kiss to your forehead. 

“Goodnight Rem, I love you,” you whisper back. 

“I love you more” Remus coos, snuggling close to your warm body. 

+++

You and Remus wake up before the other three boys and head to the great hall for breakfast. Though the boys weren’t too far behind as they took their seats next to you at the table. 

“You guys were in the library last night?” Sirius asks looking between you and Remus. 

“Yeah we were,” Remus replies casually, trying to be not suspicious as possible. 

“How come?” James quips up. 

“Oh, I was reading some stuff in the restricted section. I was wondering about wandless magic and transformations. Remus promised he’d help me with my research.” You reply with a smile. Both boys nod and begin to dig into their food. 

As the tables begin to fill up with students Dumbledore stands up at his podium calling everyone’s attention. “It has come to my attention that two students were out last night past curfew. We are unaware who these students are, just that they could be heard in the library last night. This is a reminder to all of you that leaving your dormitories past curfew is strictly forbidden and punishable with a detention. On top of this, I also must have the awkward conversation that student’s are not to participate in sexual activities on school grounds, especially in the library or classrooms past curfew. Thank you.”

Dumbledore went to sit down as a hushed whisper came over the students wondering who was in the library last night having sex. 

“That’s funny,” James laughs, “weren’t you two in the library last night?” 

You and Remus quickly exchange a look as the gears in your three friends brains finally begin to turn. 

“Wait a damn minute-“ Sirius begins to stammer. 

“Did you…did you shag in the library?” Peter squeaks out. 

“Fuck.” Both you and Remus mutter as you quickly gather your things and make a beeline for the exit. 

You can both hear the snickers behind you as Sirius hyperventilates about how Remus Lupin shagged his girl. 

+++

TAGLIST

[satinsnakesworld]

Gale Dekarios Head Canons

Okay.... Here goes it, here is my debut to writing with some SFW Gale head cannons. I made it gender neutral for my first one, just some domestic good ol' fluff for you all. So here it is :D

(I used Tav instead of Y/n In one instance, feel free to interpret however you'd like.)

Gale D. x GN! Tav/Reader

✧˖° SFW Head Canons ✧˖°

This man adores you. The way you listen to him, support him, encourage him, everything. He is enamored with you and all you do for him.

In return, he tries his best to dote on you. Hungry? He had some snacks in his pack with your name on it. A long day of traveling has you utterly sore? He is willing to give you a massage and rub out all the knots from the day. To the point, if you ask for something, he will more than happily oblige to help you in whatever way he can.

Gale often finds things along the way to give to you along your journey together. A ring, a flower, a sword or staff, something that reminds him of you. When he gets the chance, he will get something from a trader/merchant and surprise you at the end of the day, especially if there is a battle. The wizard is sure to tell you how relieved he is that the two of you made it another day together.

Back in Waterdeep, he is ecstatic to have you there with him, he shows you everything, his books, his kitchen, granted you saw some of the tower in the illusion you two shared in the shadowlands. Gale is just mostly grateful that this is all real and tangible in front of him. He still has not believed the course of everything within the past year and his changed fate.

As a Professor at Blackstaff, he is usually the first up to get ready. Gale tries not to wake you up in the mornings, you just seem so at peace to him. He will occasionally leave you flowers and a cup of tea in the morning on your bedside table. Ready for you when you wake up.

When he gets home after his teachings, he will go on about his day with you as he cooks dinner for the two of you—smiling happily at him as you sit on the barstool behind the adjacent counter. Once dinner is ready, you'd set the table for each other on the balcony. Gale would come from behind you, place your plates down, and engulf you in a hug from behind. He would softly kiss your cheek saying “Dinner is ready my beloved, Tav Dekarios…”

Hope you all enjoy! Hopefully more to come in the future! Feel free to give me some feedback and any suggestions as to what youd like to see in the future! :D

[kazsas]

seventeen universitário

oii👋 aqui é kaz!

desculpa pelo sumiço, minha rotina tá uma bagunça que mal tenho tempo de entrar aquiKKKKK vou tentar ser mais ativa e responder as asks que me mandaram!

에스쿱스

fez um tecnólogo em Empreendedorismo e focou entrar na área de Administração Empresarial; fez o curso quase que a pulso; trader de dia e boyzinho de choppada de noite; o típico cara que fica no canto do bar com os amigos fumando um cigarro caçando alguém pra dar uns beijinhos.

정한

estudante de Direito que sempre ganha nos debates por ter MUITA lábia; entrou no curso já sabendo que ia se tornar advogado criminalista; todas as meninas do curso já tiveram/tem um crush nele (às vezes até as docentes); aquele colega de grupo que vai te mandar mensagens às 04 da manhã com link de artigo sobre o trabalho.

조슈아

está no 5 semestre de Pedagogia; o queridinho dos professores orientadores e crush de vários alunos do departamento; é focado em se tornar educador infantil, mas às vezes o cargo de supervisor de ensino lhe chama.

준

formado em Odontologia com especialização em Radiologia Odontológica e Imaginologia; trabalha na clínica do pai e o mesmo sempre o exibe pra todos os clientes; nunca mais conseguiu ir em um date sem reparar na arcada dentária da pessoa; as crianças adoram tirar raio x com ele.

호시

quinto semestre de Dança; o maior hater da matéria de Comportamento Motor já visto (quase pegou DP); vai tentar ensinar uma coreografia aleatória no meio do rolê só pra fazer todo mundo rir; tá sempre indo na sala de Fisioterapia pra ganhar massagem de graça usando a desculpa que tá ajudando os colegas.

원우

no 4 semestre de Tecnologia em Jogos Digitais; senta-se na frente porque não enxerga um palmo a sua frente; o estereótipo de nerd tímido; nunca esquece a data de entrega dos trabalhos por conta do hiperfoco que cria neles.

우지

bacharel em Música e faz especialização em Engenharia de Áudio e Produção Musical; aluno destaque do departamento pela sua dedicação; quase não conversa com a galera do curso mas tem uma boa relação com todo mundo; vira e mexe faz uns freela como produtor.

도겸

no 3 semestre do bacharelado em Teatro e AMA a formação; sempre é visto andando pelo campus a galera do departamento de música e dança; só faltou ter explodido de felicidade quando foi escalado para ser o Rei Arthur no quinto título de Lancelote-Graal; vive de rolinho com as meninas do curso de Cinema.

민규

o estudante de Educação Física que só entrou no curso pra ter mais um motivo pra ir para a academia; faz parte da atlética e todo semestre tenta puxar uns calouros pra participar também; o único universitário do planeta que gosta do estágio (natação infantil).

디에잇

graduando de Fotografia, acabou de entregar o seu belíssimo TCC sobre "Fotografia publicitária e Moda"; era o terror dos colegas na apresentação de trabalho por sempre entregar fotos magníficas; pensava em trancar a faculdade pelo menos umas 15 vezes por semestre.

승관

no 6 semestre de Jornalismo; toda semana ele diz para os colegas que vai trancar o curso e não aguenta mais (nunca trancou); fez umas aulas experimentais de fotografia e se apaixonou; inimigo da timidez e realiza TODOS os trabalhos de pesquisa de campo entrevistando estranhos na rua; estagia como cinegrafista pra filial de uma rede de TV.

버논

o aluno mais são do curso do Marketing; ninguém sabe como ele passa os semestres sendo que toda aula ele tá no barzinho na frente da faculdade; o maior hater da matéria de economia; quer fazer marketing de influência, mas sempre acaba indo pro lado de mídia social.

디노

toda vez que ele fala que tá no último semestre de Moda as pessoas não acreditam; a pessoa que você deve procurar caso precise de uma agulha (sempre tem uma perdida na bolsa, já furou os dedos mil vezes por causa disso); trabalha com consultoria de moda e quase infartou com os uniformes das Olimpíadas; discípulo de Vivienne Westwood.

muito muito muito obrigada por ler até aqui!

lembrando que sugestões, elogios, críticas, ameaças, etc podem ser postadas nos comentários!

[thegreatestsandwich]

Hi! I saw you wanted Xavier requests! I was thinking one where Bianca had made him forgot about trader (who was his best friend) and that’s the reason they broke up. I would love to see them reconnect! Maybe reader doesn’t know and she’s hurt Xavier just ditched her. Hopefully that makes sense, happy ending plz

Oh can you tell, I haven't slept very well (Xavier Thorpe x f!reader)

Masterlist

Pairing: Xavier Thorpe x f!reader

Word count: 1.5k

Summary: After your break up, you couldn’t help but to hate him and when classes started once again, you were confused on why he acted like he didn’t know you

Warning: Angst and Fluffiness

A/N: This is like the part two (if you want it to be, it can also be read on it’s own) of If clarity’s in death, then why won’t this die? (Xavier Thorpe x f!reader)

Coments, Reblogs and Asks are happily received! I love to read your lovely coments :)

You didn’t want to come back, you even went as far as to beg your dad (because your mother just stared at you, shaking her head) to let you stay, he was going to say yes but then your mother came in and with a simple ‘Darling’, your dad told you to just endure it a bit more.

Well, you can’t blame him, your mother was terrifying, so you understood him.

The ride to Neverland Academy was a long one, your father taking the opportunity to take a road trip with you, also because he wanted to hunt a few different fishermen from other places so he could determinate which one of them your mother would enjoy to cook.

“We’re almost there, my little tadpole.” Your dad happily chipper, his fingers tapping alongside the melody of whatever song was on the radio. “Just remember, if they hurt you or bother you, your mother and I give you full permission to drown them in that horrible school’s lake, just don’t forget to collect their souls on your jar.”

You hummed, your fingers cradling the jar closer to your body, it only had one single soul, an accident that happened this past winter break. You didn’t meant to kill that guy, but he was being so annoying that your anger just lost control and drown him before you even try to stay calm. At first you were completely numb, staring at the body as your figure was just above the surface of your swamp. Your dad was the one who found you and when he saw the corpse…let’s just say he cried in happiness that his little girl was already going the path of the Vodnik. Your mother even went as far as to go to town to get you your own jar.

“I can’t do this.” You whispered, hugging tightly at your jar. “I can’t do this.”

Your dad sighed, taking one of his hands from the wheel and offering it to you, you grasped it tightly. “You can do this, that boy made a mistake, show him that it didn’t affect you, bubbles.”

You shook your head. “But it did affect me…” You sighed. “That idiot made me cry.” You frowned as you saw those familiar gates. “The least I want is to see him again.”

Your dad nodded alongside your words, finally pulling to the gate, he stopped the car and offered you a smile. “Here we are, my little tadpole, just a few more months and you will be back home in a blink of an eye.” He kissed your forehead and before you got out he reminded you. “Don’t forget the jar!”

And so it began, for some reason he began appearing everywhere you went, it didn’t matter if he had the same class as you, you always ended up together. You even felt the annoyance glare of Bianca but you didn’t care to be honest. Fuck her.

Xavier didn’t give up, he tried to talk to you more and more, hoping to understand why did you hated him so much. Until one day when Professor Grant-Amari decided to put his students in pairs for the upcoming project. Much to your dismay, he put you with a very happy Xavier.

“So,” He stopped you on the exit, his hands playing with the straps on his backpack. “I think it would be really cool if we do our project on the differences of visions and predictions. What do you think?” He broke into a smile.

“Whatever.” You tried to leave but he didn’t let you. “Fine, awesome, just tell me what to do and I’ll send you my part or whatever.”

He grabbed your arm before you could passed him. “What is your problem?”

“My problem?” You shook him up. “Really, you are asking me that.”

“I mean, yeah.” He frowned. “I don’t know what I did and I’m sorry about whatever it was but I’m trying to be your friend here.”

“Un-fucking-believable.” You muttered under your breath. “My friend? You’re serious right now?” You couldn’t help but began laughing at his face. “Oh, wait, you serious?”

Xavier nodded.

“You really don’t know?” You frowned as he shook his head. “But the text…?”

“I really, really don’t know.” He sighed. “To be honest, much of my memory is a shitshow right now.”

You sighed. “Look, I can’t tell you, mostly because if I do I might want to kill something and even if I have my parents’ permission to do so, I don’t think director Weems would be happy.”

He kept quiet for a few seconds. “We know each other?” He whispered.

“That’s something you need to find out on your own.” You tried to be as gentle as you could. “I’ll do the project…just…you just…yeah.”

You tried your hardest to do the project on your own, it was a bit easy as Xavier left you completely alone that whole week but it didn’t ease your mind because whenever you managed to catch a glimpse of him, he looked completely devastated. I mean, you had feelings, of course It made you feel awful.

It was a foggy day and you decided to spend it closer to the lake, your feet were inside the waters and your laptop on your lap, a word document completely empty was facing you. It was annoying to watch that stupid line blink, waiting for you to write something good and clever.

“Hey.” Someone greeted you and you turned your head to see Xavier sitting down next to you, copying your actions and putting his feet inside the water. With shoes and all.

“Hey.” You greeted him back. “You look awful.”

“I would say more like shitty than awful.” He tried to smile but it didn’t stayed. “How’s the project going?”

“Shitty.”

He nodded. “I…um��I talked with Bianca.”

“She denied it?”

“She even god offended with the way our conversation was going.” He huffed. “She always does this thing when she’s lying and when she did it…I just knew.”

You nodded quietly. “The nose scrunching?”

“The nose scrunching.” Xavier sighed. “I still don’t know what I did and I know you won’t tell me but for whatever it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too.” You whispered, putting the laptop to your side, away from the waters. “I should have known it was all an act.”

“Yeah?” He asked you. “How so?”

You smiled. “The way you spoke to me was just so old school dude.” He finally smiled. “And you didn’t even threw a fuck you or a shit or a cunt in there.”

“So I was that kind of boyfriend?”

“Yeah.” Your smile was now softer. “You loved to buy me things and give me food that caused me to almost die in food poisoning, really awful boyfriend.”

“The worst.” Xavier was now smiling widely. “And you? What kind of girlfriend were you?”

“Oh I was the best, you even had me on your wallet.”

He shook his head laughing. “I sound so whipped men, like a pussy.”

“You were such a simp for me. Imagine a dog, you demanded my attention 24/7 it was so annoying.” You bumped your shoulder with his. “My mom even begged me to get you home for Christmas, made her famous stew only for you dude.”

“Yeah?” He bumped your shoulder back. “What kind of stew?”

“Fishermen stew.” Your smile widened when he gagged. “Hey! Us vodniks love fishermen stew, I am truly offended with your reaction.”

He threw his head back, laughing. “Sorry! Sorry! I just can’t imagine the taste.”

“Just imagine a chicken dude, just a chicken.”

Silence surrounded you so you decided to grab your laptop back and decided to try and write something. “Our topic is why vodniks are superior to mermaids?” He asked you amusedly. “What about psychics?”

“Vodniks are superior to psychics, it’s our subtheme.”

“You are so dumb.” He was laughing and you turned to look at him. “What?” He was smiling.

You smiled back, “You are an idiot, you know that?”

“Yeah.” Xavier gently told you. “I know.”

[bangtanloverboys]

dragonpants & winterflame // jjk

summary - your professor assigns you to look after and help get the new kid, jungkook, settled in. you’d think it be easy, but he’s nothing like any of the other students

pairing - new student!jungkook x wizard!reader

genre - fluff; wizard 101 au

word count - 5.0k

warnings - dip’s made up lore, friendship, gay bears (oops a double entrendre), tending of the wounds(tm), nick jonas

guide - pyromancy = fire magic; thaumaturgy = ice magic; grizzleheim = viking bear, wolf, and raven world

author’s note - behold my last w101 au! i've had so much fun working on this and it's my pride and joy. thank you all for enjoying (and i'm sorry to the w101 fans who've had to deal with this in the tags 😅)

the seven schools of ravenwood masterlist

Life in Wizard City was never something that you had expected for you, having grown up on the far edges of the spiral in Grizzleheim. All you’d ever known were the harsh winters of a world full of bears, wolves, and ravens. No one quite knew where you’d come from only being found the burnt remains of Draugarth as an infant. Sten and Bo Silverwood of Clan Ironclaw were the ones who took you in and raised you, calling you their hairless cub.

Growing up, you knew you were different. You didn’t have fur like a bear or a wolf, nor feathers like a raven. You were something else, even beyond your physical appearance. Despite having no fur, your skin bore to the elements, you were never cold. Chilly, yes. But in the cold winds that enveloped Grizzleheim, you never once shivered. But your Papa and Bubba never made you once feel as if you were an outcast, they loved you as their own and that’s all that would matter. 

As you reached your fifteenth year, more peculiarities began happening around you. Your body would grow warm, becoming unbearable to the point you’d wear the thinnest of your clothes in the midst of snow storms. When it was your turn to make dinner for your fathers, you’d burn the meat to charcoal, eventually banning you from the kitchen. However, the worst was yet to come.

You were huddled near a hearth in Northguard, knees pulled up to your chest as you stared into the fire. You watched the flames flicker and change, almost as if they were forming into small figures; you’d see bears and wolves talk amongst themselves, laughing heartily, ravens fly across the sky, and creatures of myth you’d heard as a young one. Creatures like dragons, imps, and centaurs. You’d thought you were only seeing these things in your mind's eye as you watched the fire, but as you focused more on the dragon, you watched as it grew larger. You rubbed your eyes, thinking it was a trick of the light, but it wasn’t. The fiery depiction of the creature grew and grew, spitting out flames from its mouth, catching onto the roof of a nearby hut. You screamed for help, but with each panicked cry, the fire grew larger and larger. Quickly, the clan rallied to put out the fire, but with each bucket of water thrown over it, it did not settle. Only when your papa had wrapped you into his arms, calming you down did the fire finally die. 

“This cub is a demon! We must free ourselves from it!” Kol Shadowsong accused, singling you out. The clan leaders gathered in the Great Hall to discuss what should be done with you, as you nearly burnt Northguard to the ground. Your fathers stood beside you, refusing to back down to let you stand alone. 

“Your Majesty, see reason! It’s clear they have no control over this affliction! They meant no harm! They’re practically still a cub!” Your papa shouted at King Valgard. 

“And that cub nearly burnt this stronghold to the ground!” The king growled. “If they cannot control it, they are a danger to the rest of us. I cannot allow them to endanger the rest of the clans.”

“But what if they could learn to?” Your bubba countered. 

“How?”

“I know.” All attention was turned toward a new voice, Bauldur Goldpaws, the trader. “I’ve heard of this affliction in my travels. It’s called pyromancy! The ability to control fire and summon creatures of that nature. It can be controlled, but only through hard work and training. There is a school that teaches how to control and master this very affliction. Ravenwood in Wizard City.”

You’d only vaguely remembered hearing those names. It sounded familiar, yet you did not know or understand why, like something from a dream.

“That’s halfway across the Spiral and the World Tree connection was severed centuries ago! How do you intend to even get there?” Your papa questioned. 

“The skyways, as our ancestors once did.” Bauldur turned to face your fathers personally. “King Valgard has already tasked me with the honor of re-establishing our trade routes. Wizard City is one of those stops. With your permission, I will ensure that your cub will get there safely. They will be enrolled and they will learn to control it.”

“Do they look like me?” You found yourself asking. All attention was returned back to you, and you felt small under everyone’s gaze. “These pyromancers. . . are they like me?”

Getting down on one knee, Bauldur met your gaze. “Yes, child. There are many that look like you. You will be safe and taught to control this,” he gestured to your hands. 

Looking between your fathers, you met their eyes. Papa clearly not wanting to let you go, to keep you safe by his side and protect you from the world forever. But Bubba, he knew. He knew this was what was best for you, best for the clan. Looking back to Bauldur, you nodded. “I’ll go.”

The trader looked back to the King, who sighed. “Fine,” he waved his hand. “Your cub may go and learn to control this. . . pyromancy. But they may only return, once they’ve mastered the ability. Then and only then may they return to Grizzleheim. Dismissed.”

Your fathers walked out of the Great Hall, bickering between themselves as you looked up at Bauldur. “We leave at first light, pack heavy. We’ll be traveling for a few moons.”

It was hard to say goodbye, having never left home before and to be gone for so long. . . You were scared. You didn’t want to leave, but you knew you had to. It was for the good of the clans. You packed all your belongings into several chests; your robes, your boots, helmets, hats, and swords. Anything you might’ve needed, you were packed and ready for. 

“Be good,” Papa said as he squeezed you tight against him. You buried your face into his fur, trying to memorize every last detail of him. 

“I will.”

Bubba hugged you just as hard, if not harder. He knew this was coming, that one day you’d leave, just never imagined it so soon. Pulling away from you, he placed his paw on your face and smiled at you. “My little cub, be proud of who you are and where you’re from.”

As Bauldur said, it took many months to reach Wizard City. Had you gone in a direct route, you might’ve gotten there faster, but unfortunately you were just a ride along. Bauldur had a job to do, re-establishing the long lost trade routes amongst the other worlds of the Spiral. You’d see places you’d never even imagine seeing; the evergreen world of Mooshu, the ancient sand covered temples of Krokotopia, and the endless fields of Zafaria. Until finally, Bauldur and landed at the edge of the world in Wizard City! 

Dozens of wizards gathered as the ship weighed its anchor against one of the stone towers. You’d been used to whispers and stares all your life, but this was different, you felt isolated and singled out, as if you were being peered at under an eye-glass. You hid behind Bauldur once he was beside you on the grass.

“Who goes there?” A man with hair on his face and dressed in strange armor questioned. 

“I am Bauldur Goldpaws, and this is my ward, Y/N Silverwood. We seek your Headmaster.” 

The guard looked between you and Bauldur, “Follow me.” Was all he said before he stiffly started walking towards a tunnel, burrowed deep into the cliffside. 

The Headmaster, Merle Ambrose, was stunned to learn that you were there to enroll. No one had ever traveled so far in order to attend. It was a first. But nevertheless, you were enrolled in the School of Fire. Professor Dalia Falmea took you under her wing, giving you private lessons until you’d caught up to your age group. You were a bit of an oddity at first, being the only one dressed in furs rather than the colored robes your peers wore. You’d even shocked everyone when you’d been able to pick up thaumaturgy as a secondary school. But eventually the intrigue and mystery died away as time went on.

You’d been at Ravenwood seven years now, almost finishing your mastery classes. You’d held onto this moment for years. Finally, you’d be able to go home! To see your fathers once again! You’d kept up correspondence with them, sending letters through the trade route you’d helped Bauldur set up. So they knew you were in good health and they were also happy for you. At least up until the past year, the former death professor unleashed monsters onto the city streets endangering the students and their livelihood. Papa almost wanted you back then and there, but there were also growing tensions amongst the clans (at least so you’d heard through Bauldur, your fathers did every attempt to keep it from you) so you stayed in Wizard City. However, none of you could’ve predicted what else was to come. 

It was like any ordinary day, you’d just finished your class with Professor Falmea when she called you up to speak with her before you could leave. Shouldering your pack, you walked up to her on the platform. 

“Yes, Professor?”

“Ah, Winterflame. You’ve advanced much in these past few years, becoming one of my star pupils.” 

Your face grew warm at her compliments. “Thank you, Professor.”

“And as my best student, there’s something I need to ask of you.” She motioned toward the door, glancing behind you, you watched as a bright red haired guy about your age walked in, dressed in red and orange robes. “This is my newest student, Jungkook Dragonpants.”

You furrowed your brows at the name, “Dragonpants?” Did you hear that right?

“Yup, that’s me,” the wizard winked at you. 

You’ve never met a student with a lastname like that, the weirdest one you think you’ve heard was Frogtamer. You were going to have to ask him about it later. You turned to Dalia to finish talking.

“Winterflame, I’d like you to help get him adjusted to life in Wizard City. In fact, Headmaster Ambrose suggested it, considering you know how it feels,” she explained. While you knew neither of them meant no ill will, it still felt slightly targeted. There’d been dozens of new students and transfers to Wizard City since you. But maybe he was from far out in the Spiral too, and there was the fact he was also a pyromancer.

“Okay,” you nodded before turning to Jungkook. He was near bouncing on his heels and his eyes. . .His eyes kept wandering around the room, between the professor, the walls, the chalkboard, the cauldron, everything. Okay, you could relate to that, seeing it all for the first time. Trying your best to hide your smile, you nodded to the door. “Come on, let’s go.” The two of you walked out of the school house, and still Jungkook was looking at everything. Bernie, Torrence, Bartleby, Arthur Wethersfield. You remembered being like that, taking everything in all at once. “So on either side of the tunnel are the dorms, yes it’s one door. But your key is what opens the door to your own room, specifically. You get your key from Lincoln,” you said, gesturing to him as he wrote in his booklet. “I can give you a more in depth tour later, so you’re getting the dry run. If that’s alright with you.”

“Yeah that’s fine,” he said, smiling as he looked up at the World Tree.

“So, where’re you from?”

“Oh, I’m from Eeeeerrrr. . .”

“Eeeerrr?” You raised a brow.

“It’s some place far away with a name you wouldn’t know or how to pronounce,” he waved his hand, trying to hand the subject. “What about you? You from around here or elsewhere?”

A bittersweet smile crossed your face. “Grizzleheim, a world tucked away in the farside of the Spiral.”

“Woah, that sounds. . . cool. What’s it like?”

Again, you were confused. How did he not know what Grizzleheim was? Since your arrival and the trade route was re-established, almost everyone knew what Grizzleheim was and how far it was. “It’s cold, a lot closer than here. It rains or snows most of the year, don’t get a lot of sun. But it’s beautiful and it’s. . . it’s my home.” You found yourself stopping on the sidewalk, reminiscing.

“Do you visit often?” 

You shook your head. “No, I haven’t been since. . . since I enrolled. It’s-it’s a long story.” You weren’t about to get all nostalgic with a stranger. “But anyways, are you a transfer? Novice, what?”

“I’m new.”

“. . . Are you in class with people our age or younger?”

“Oh, I’m not in class. Ambrose said I can do independent studies to help catch up. Like helping out around the city and anyone who needs it. Speaking of which, where’s Unicorn Way? I was told to go there as soon as I could.” He asked, his head glancing about, this time with intention rather than curiosity.

“Unicorn Way is crawling with monsters, are you sure you were asked to go there?”

Jungkook held up a letter, addressed to Private Connelly in the Headmaster’s handwriting. It was off, but if it was Ambrose. . .

“Through the Commons tunnel, turn left, go down the street, over the bridge, Unicorn Way is right there.”

“Great, thanks,” he smiled as he patted you on the shoulder. “Talk more later?” He asked as he started toward the tunnel. 

“Yeah, just uh, meet me in front of the Library, noon!” You called out after him.

“Awesome, see you then!” Then he vanished into the shadows. He was odd, but you were intrigued nonetheless. 

A few days later was your rest day, and you typically liked spending it in Olde Town,  sitting on the grass at the edge of the cliff, where Bauldur dropped you off. He wasn’t there, it wouldn’t be for another few weeks before he made his rounds back to Wizard City. When he was there, you’d catch up, then trade the dozens of letters your fathers would write to you and give to Bauldur yours. But days like this, you’d just sit and stare out into the skyways.

“Hey!” A voice pulled you out of your thoughts. Turning your head to the side, there stood the new kid, Jungkook. His face was littered with fresh cuts and bruises, but he still held that same cheery demeanor he had when you first met him. “Whatcha doing out here?”

“It’s my off-day, what happened to you?” You rose to your feet, immediately going to check his injuries.

“Oh, these? Just finished clearing up Unicorn way,” he said with a proud smile. 

His words took you aback, “You- you did what?”

“Well it’s not cleared up permanently. There’s still some ghosts, but the skeletons and dark fairies are all taken care of for the most part.” He shrugged as if it was no big deal. “But Prof Falmea said I’m almost to the level of her apprentice level class with how fast I’m progressing.”

“In just a few days?” You were baffled, no one has ever advanced that fast before! At least not without prior schooling.

“I’m a fast learner,” was all he said. “But really, why are you here on your off-day? Are there not a lot of exciting things to do around here?”

“No there are. There’s the Shopping District, Fairgrounds, dueling. . . But I like coming here, it’s where I first stepped foot in Wizard City.” You smiled softly at the memory, you felt so small then. Now no one even bats an eye at you, just another student walking the grounds. “But anyways, how are you finding it?”

“Well, I’ve done a lot of back and forth lately between places, but everyone is nice, given the circumstances. Sorry I had to rush off the other day, but the Headmaster said it was urgent. But I’m seeing a lot of the city, and this place is pretty cool.” He turned to look up at the cliffs of the city, and you followed his gaze. Just barely, you could see the overhead branches of Bartleby. Both of you stood there for a moment, enjoying the view. 

“Hey, I’m sorry if this is a weird question but how did you get Dragonpants?” You asked. It’s not exactly a common question to ask, but you were curious. You always were anytime someone gave their name. 

“What do you mean?” He furrowed his brows. 

“I mean how did you earn Dragonpants as a last name? I got Winterflame because I’m one of the few pyromancers that has thaumaturgy as a secondary. I know a guy broke his wand and earned his last name, another summoned Humongofrog. So how did you get yours?”

All Jungkook could do was stare at you blankly. “Uhhh, I- uh. . . that’s an interesting story. Oh, look at the sun! I need to rush to Firecat Alley. I’ll definitely tell you that story later. Bye!” He then ran down the street, but instead of Firecat Alley, it was towards Triton Avenue. 

And that’s not most of your interactions with Jungkook were. You’d see him randomly on the streets in between classes (in between quests for him), he’d always have a new cut or bruise somewhere on his skin. But he was advancing quickly. Every time you saw him, he was further and further along in his independent studies. Last you checked, he was nearing the adept level courses. Despite his quick advances, battles were getting harder and more difficult. So he started asking you for help, which you did. You helped him in Firecat Alley, Triton Avenue, and Cyclops Lane. Dueling beside him was incredible, he was focused and valiant. He didn’t let the enemies get to him, no matter how cruel their taunts grew.

“Doesn’t it ever bother you?” You found yourself asking, as the two of you tiredly made your back back towards the Commons.

“What do you mean?”

“What these- these villains are saying to you? Surely, it has to get under your skin sometimes?”

Jungkook paused, dark eyes almost hidden by his reddish-pink hair. “Sometimes. In the beginning, it did a lot. But the more I fight them off, it’s just becoming more and more. . . annoying than hurtful.”

“Annoying?” You asked, almost chuckling.

“I mean, yeah it’s annoying!” Jungkook’s face broke into an exasperated expression. “‘You won’t get away with this, Young Wizard!’, ‘Malistaire is coming!’,’No puny wizard has ever defeated me!’ Puh-lease! As soon as they start saying stuff like that, the more it motivates me to win out of spite.”

That had both of you peeling over in laughter, earning a handful of odd looks from your fellow students and passing citizens. 

The two of you grew closer and closer, but no matter what, he didn’t say much about his past. Nothing on where he was from, or how he got his last name or why he wasn’t properly enrolled in school. Nothing. It didn’t bug you much, you could understand not wanting to answer pestering questions about where you were from, so you didn’t ask. But with each quest the two of you completed, you only had more and more questions. You just felt out of the loop. 

However, once his quests started taking him outside of Wizard City, he had to continue going out alone. You didn’t have permission to leave the city, only Jungkook and a few select transfer students were granted that permission. You did your best to keep in touch still, he’d stop by your dorm and ask odd questions about Kroks and other things related to sorcery. You directed him to the library. There wasn’t much else you could do to help, as you had your own studies to focus on. 

The last time Jungkook came over though, it was the worst of them. It was already late at night, but you were still up, cram studying for your final mastery exam in two days. After re-reading the same sentence over and over about the differences between sunbirds and phoenixes, there was a harsh knock at the door. 

With a yawn, you walked over to the door, opening it to see Jungkook, battered and bruised. His left eye was dark and near swollen shut, his lip was busted, and he was leaning on the door frame for support. “H-hi.”

“Oh my stars!” Your body immediately woke up, helping him into your dorm. You set him down at your desk as you rushed to your trunk, digging through it for a healing potion. Instead you found an old salve from home. It would have to do for now, you hadn’t had a chance to stock up on potions. Jar in hand, you made your way over to Jungkook. Opening the jar, you dipped your fingers in and took out a small glob. “This’ll feel a bit chilly.” Jungkook winced as the balm touched his skin, but he remained still as you continued to apply it to his wounds. 

“Smells kinda funny.”

You chuckled at that. “Yeah, it does.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a yarrow-marshmallow salve. Honestly, I forgot I had it. My bubba probably packed it away for me.”

“Your bubba?”

You paused. You didn’t talk much about your homelife to anyone, no matter how much they asked. This was the first time you ever willingly brought it up. With a shaky breath, you continued. “Yea, he’s one of the men who raised me. They’re the only family I’ve ever known.”

“You weren’t raised by your parents?”

You shook your head. “I was found in the remains of an old village, it was attacked by these creatures called grendels. I was the only survivor. I was found, tucked away in a burnt down shack. Sten and Bo Silverwood, my papa and bubba. They found me, took me in, and raised me as their own. Don’t know who my birth parents were, all we could figure is they were pyromancers and traveling across the spiral, probably traders. But we’ll never know,” you shrugged. “And I’m okay with that, I love my dads. And I wouldn’t change anything about how I was raised.”

“You said you can’t go home.”

“Yes and no.” You huffed. “It’s not easy to get to Grizzleheim, it’s months of traveling the skyways. But even if the world door worked, I can’t go back. I was. . . I was a danger to the clan. I had no control over my magic and the king had no choice but to order me to attend Ravenwood until I learned to master it.” As soon as you started, you couldn’t stop. All these years, and you never shared your story with anyone, not outside Professor Falmea. “But my pyromancy mastery final is in a couple days. And next week, Bauldur Goldpaws will return to Wizard City and I’ll be able to go home again.”

Jungkook was quiet for a moment, his eyes downcast. “I’m also from far away but. . . I don’t think I’ll be able to return home.” You’re silent, waiting for him to continue. “I’m from Earth. Where I’m from there’s no magic or talking animals, or anything. It’s just people. Then one day, I almost set fire to my house with my bare hands. I don’t know what to do so I start running. And I ran, and ran and ran until my legs felt like jelly. It gets blurry from there but next thing I know, I’m in the Headmaster’s office.”

“You don’t know how you got here?”

Jungkook gnawed on his lower lip. “I can’t really talk about it. Ambrose said so.”

Orders from the Headmaster, so you let it drop. Maybe in time he’ll tell you in time, but until then, you’ll take what little answers you can. “Can you tell me about your last name?”

That had Jungkook break out into a grin. “He didn’t tell me there were reasons behind last names, just wanted me to have one to blend in. I just chose a random one, thought it was funny.” Now it was your turn to laugh. You smacked your hand over your mouth, trying to muffle your laughter. “Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. I’m dumb I know.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just, you’re-you’re going to endure weird looks for the rest of your life, you know that right?”

“I signed myself up for it, I just need to make up a convincing story for it.”

Once your laughter died down, you just smiled at Jungkook. With the salve applied, it was slowly bringing down the swelling and discoloration. Running a hand through his red hair, you sent him off. “It’s late. Get some rest.” He did as you were told, walking off toward his own dormitory. 

The next morning, you stopped by to check on him, wanting to see how he was faring the day after but he was gone again. That poor boy is gonna get dragged all over the Spiral if he doesn’t learn to say no to a favor. But Jungkook was the farthest thing on your mind as your exam date was coming up. Your nose was stuck in a book or a scroll, you didn’t have time to think of anything else except acing this test and finally going home. That was your sole motivation. 

The day of your final, Jungkook was outside your door.

“Hey-”

You cut him off before he could even begin. “Sorry, I really don’t have time.” 

“But-”

“Listen, Jungkook, I really don’t have time. I really gotta go, I’m sorry.” You gave him a sad smile as you made a beeline for the School of Fire. 

After three long agonizing hours of going through the different types of blade and shield combos, and the various types of spell casts from firecat to meteor strike to inferno salamander and their historical origins. You finally made it out. You answered every question to the best of your ability, and now all you had to do was wait for the results to be posted. 

As you left the school house, Jungkook was waiting outside, sitting on the steps of Professor Falmea’s office tower. 

“Jungkook, what are you doing here?”

“The door is open.”

His words puzzled you. “I’m sorry, what?”

“The door! You said the door to your home world was severed years ago yeah? Well it's open again.”

“What.”

“Ambrose just told me that the door to Grizzlehiem just opened, no one knows how or why, but it is. That’s what I tried telling you this morning!” He said, smiling. “You can go home.”

Dropping your items, you bolted. In the back of your mind, you knew that King Valgard wouldn’t be happy you weren’t a titled master yet, but damn him. Damn the technicalities, you knew you were a master. You just wanted to go home again. You pushed past all the other students as they entered the World Tree, not listening to their complaints as you rushed towards the door (you could vaguely hear Jungkook apologizing on your behalf as he ran after you). 

Hand on the nozzle, you thought of Grizzleheim. Home. The smell of the pines, the crisp snowy air, the laughter of the bears in the Great Hall. You could see it all perfectly in your mind's eye as you opened that door. And there you were, on the other side of the rainbow bridge, at the world tree door. 

“Oh, wow,” you heard Jungkook breathe out from behind you.

You took one step out the door; your boots crunched on the dirt beneath your feet as you stood there, taking it all in. “Papa! Bubba! I’m home!” You burst into another run, down the rainbow bride and towards the village, shouting at the top of your lungs. “Papa! Bubba! It’s me! I’m home!” Back on solid ground, you made your way towards your childhood home. Not one thing about this place changed, it was as if you’d stepped back into a memory. 

“Little cub?” Your papa’s head poked out from the hut. He looked older, white hairs gathering around his snout and ears. But it was still every bit your papa. 

“Papa!” You squealed, adrenaline pumping through your veins so hard, you couldn’t feel your lungs as they burned or how your legs ached with each step you stook. Your papa saw you in the nick of time, opening his arms wide enough for you to jump into his hold. Tears brimmed in your eyes as you dug your face into his chest.

“How- how can this be. . ?” 

“Bubba!” You turned to see your other father, standing speechless in the kitchen. You jumped into his arms next. He returned your hug instantly, with your papa returning to hug you from behind once again. Tears were now freely rolling down your cheeks as you held your dads tight as you possibly could.

“I don’t understand, how- what?”

“The world tree door has been re-opened. I- I don’t know how but, I- I needed to come home. It’s been so long.” You cried, your hands gripping tightly onto Bubba’s fur. “I can control my powers. I did it. I learned. I can come home now, yeah.”

“Oh cub, of course.” Papa answered. “You did as you were told by the king. You can come home.” The three of you said nothing further after that, crying and holding each other. Relieved to finally see each other again after seven whole years.

From behind your group hug, you could hear someone clear their throat. “Oh,” you pulled away from your dads, seeing Jungkook standing awkwardly in the door frame. “Bubba, Papa, this is Jungkook Dragonpants. He’s my friend.”

“Dragonpants? What kind of a name is that?” Your Bubba asked, voice low.

“Bubba,” you groaned.

“It’s my name, sir,” he said, not backing down from your father’s clear intimidation attempt. He certainly was brave, very few could stare him in the eyes and not back down. 

“Any friend of our cub’s is a friend of ours,” your papa said, narrowing his eyes at his husband. “Come in, tell us all your stories. Everything you left out in your letters.” With a smile, you nodded, turning back to Jungkook who was looking more outside. Wrapping a hand around his arm, you pulled him inside.

“Wait, hang on, is that Nick Jonas?”

[captastra]

WIP Round Up

Thanks for the tag @onehornedbeast @carlosoliveiraa @marivenah @aceghosts @cloudofbutterflies92 @kyber-infinitygems and @darkfire1177 <3!! I'm a little late to this but I hope people don't mind. I used the stories I have going in the past year, because if I put all of them, there would be WAY too many wips listed >.<

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your wip folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! Tag as many people as you have WIPs.

Rogue Trader (Lethyan x Heinrix)

RT Regency AU (Lethyan x Heinrix)

BG3 Holiday Prompts 2023 (aka Wintershield; Everlith x Gale)

Rick x Renee canon story (aka SS: Recovery & Redemption)

Hungry Hearts (durge!Evie x Gale)

Professor AU (Everlith x Gale)

Edge of Tomorrow AU (Rick x Renee)

belle danse macabre (Everlith x Gale)

kingsman au (aka Statesman: Four Roses; Rhea x Felix)

No pressure tags (hope ppl don't mind that I just used my taglist, I'm sure I've missed a few and want to see what others are working on!): @kourumi @poetikat @adflictionem @mxanigel @confidentandgood @arendaes @spaceratprodigy @olliesaurus-rex @bitchesofostwick @incognito-insomniac @yuelaos-codex @awhellstothejoe @nightbloodbix @galaxycunt @theelderhazelnut @cassieuncaged @orionlancasterr @mxkelsifer @valiantvillain @perhapsrampancy @euryalex @bearcina @gayafsatan @isobel-thorm @orchidnebula @luinen-bluewater @adelaidedrubman @nowandthane @inafieldofdaisies @finding-comfort-in-rain and anyone else who wants to do this!!

[jadeghosthill]

1. i think it would be similarly funny with or without the apostrophe. the capitalization, however, is an invaluable asset to hit my humor bones, so it stays. i refuse to give reasoning at this time, for i am too lazy, considering the essay i am about to write for 2 and 3.

2. the video game in question is Minecraft, released for PC, Mac, Linux (these three are known as Java Edition), Windows 10, Nintendo Switch, PS4 (PS5 via backwards compat), Xbox (One through Series X), and Mobile platforms (all these platforms are known as Bedrock Edition). (Xbox 360, PS3, New 3DS, and Wii U versions exist, but they are depricated.)

3. the boyfriend is implied to be a “mob” that is capable of despawning. the actual criteria for a mob that can despawn depends on the verison, as in Java Edition, only hostile and neutral mobs can despawn typically. There are a few exceptions to this rule, like the Wandering Trader, but it is generally concrete. on the Bedrock Edition, even most passive mobs like Sheep, Cows, and Pigs can despawn. again, there are exceptions. Villagers cannot despawn, for example.

for this reason, the boyfriend’s status depends entirely on the version of Minecraft being played. he could either be a hostile or neutral mob in Java Edition, or any kind of mob at all in Bedrock Edition. i do believe the hostile/neutral option has potentially funnier implications, but neither option can be ruled out.

now professor, may i be excused? i yearn for the mines.

you didnt put a nametag on your boyfriend and he despawned. sorry.

[afamstudies112b]

Blog Post 1

Reflecting back on the course lectures from the start of this course up until now, I can confidently say that every lecture was fascinating and extremely informative in its own way. In the first lecture, the main topic discussed by Professor Due was an introduction to Afrofuturism. Coming from a background of little to no knowledge in regards to this course, I was introduced to many many different sects of Afrofuturism. I for sure thought Afrofuturism in music was something I related to the most. I was involved with music mixing and producing from a young age and to see celebrities take music and incorporate history that explores the intersection of African American diaspora culture in it was awesome to see. Going into this course a bit more takes us into the movie, ‘Black Panther’. It is unfortunate that we had to make this a real thing but a sense of self-liberation is necessary. Showing that form of Black Pride is something we need in the world of afrofuturism. We’ve also discussed the importance of Janelle Monae and Lil Nas X’s music videos. I wanted to share what I noticed with the majority of the music videos we are viewing in this course. The music videos show a much more exaggerated form of afrofuturism than the actual vocals. A word I can use to explain some of the music videos was just ‘Strong’. I believe this occurs due to making the idea come to life harder and just to hit harder. They just make it in a way to not want to remove your eyes from the video. Going into the following week of this course, we tried to deeply analyze the movie, ‘Space Traders’ in our discussion section. In that movie, categorized within afrofuturism, I noticed how the Golightly tried to manipulate the psychology of the White people which was really interesting to me. The act of Black people getting smuggled by the Jews was another concept in the movie that I was just continuously thinking about even after class was over. The help they offered to each other was impressive to me. Thinking even deeper, we can throw it back to an even older date where Jewish & Black people were of positive service to each other. In this class, the way I’ve learned why people behave a certain way with one another. In ‘Space Traders’ was there an actual reason that the Jews were trying to help the Black people at any moment in time? Beyonce’s Grammy work was also really impressive as I was never aware of the afrofuturism in her professional career. We have had some seriously great work and discussions brought upon us in this course collectively as a lecture group and discussion groups. To think a bit differently, I am not too sure if it will make the most sense, but I had an idea that came to me within the last week. It might be hard but not impossible to incorporate non-Blacks into the Afrofuturims world creating a more diverse and unique movement. In the past few weeks, the work that was presented to us in this course was strictly involving African American people, celebrities, etc. Can this be possible if we switch it up in some sort? Can Black people portray it the best? As a literary genre, can it and should be only portrayed by people that are actively involved with it. Maybe my suggestion/thought just doesn’t make any sense. I’d love to potentially discuss this further with another student and understand another person’s active view on this idea.

[grocery-x]

May I Know What Occupation Will Replace By Ai

May I Know What Occupation Will Replace By Ai

It’s difficult to predict exactly which occupations will be replaced by AI in the future, as it will depend on the pace of technological development, the specific application of AI, and the unique circumstances of each industry and job. However, here are 100 examples of jobs that may be at risk of automation or significant transformation as AI technology advances:

Data entry clerks Telemarketers Insurance underwriters Retail salespersons Customer service representatives Bank tellers Travel agents Copywriters Loan officers Tax preparers Technical writers Receptionists Fast food workers Bookkeepers Truck drivers Warehouse workers Assembly line workers Construction laborers Security guards Delivery drivers Postal service workers Couriers and messengers Inventory managers Quality control inspectors Accountants Medical coders Medical transcriptionists Paralegals Radiologists Surgeons Nurses Physical therapists Occupational therapists Psychologists Financial analysts Stock traders Real estate appraisers Real estate agents Landscapers Interior designers Architects Graphic designers Film editors Video game designers Musicians Journalists News anchors Librarians Historians Tour guides Event planners Social workers Public relations specialists Human resources specialists Corporate trainers Management consultants Financial advisors Business development specialists Marketing managers Sales managers Operations managers Logistics managers Customer service managers Project managers Program managers Web developers App developers Computer programmers Network and computer systems administrators Cybersecurity specialists Technical support specialists Customer support managers Call center managers Business analysts Supply chain analysts Market research analysts Data analysts Database administrators Environmental scientists Geoscientists Agricultural scientists Chemists Biologists Physicists Mathematicians Economists Political scientists Sociologists Anthropologists Psychologists Linguists Translators Interpreters Foreign language teachers Philosophy professors Art historians English professors History professors Law professors Engineering professors

Again, it’s important to note that not all of these jobs will necessarily be replaced entirely by AI, but many of them may be transformed in some way by the integration of AI technology. Additionally, new industries and jobs may emerge as a result of AI, creating new opportunities for employment.

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[ramcharantitties]

Sita's Box

RRR

(Alluri Ramaraju x reader)

NSFW

SFW

Sangam Tera part 2

7 minutes

tera rasta chhodun na

piya ji ke desh mein

dhokadadhi

aaj ibaadat

sajda

tera aadi ho gaya

barfaani raatein

diwali

Nadi kinaare

Series

raghuvan, teri raah nihaare (completed) with @dumdaradumdaradum

when Ram returned home after years of study, he didn't expect such chaos to fall. What will happen when an educated man betrothed to another falls in love with the owner of a brothel? - Ram x oc, akhtar x oc, bhansali!au (almost)

radha

Ram and his wife adopts a daughter under unfavorable circumstances, how will their life turn out now? - Ram x reader, oneshots

bandook meri layla with @rambheemlove

RRR au, where Ramaraju is assigned a case where he finds out who caused the RC organization art expo bomb blast and exactly why was one of the top trader of arms in India was present there. - Ram x mafia!oc, Akhtar x Jenny

Tumhe jo maine dekha (completed) (nsfw)

Ram sir, were your theatre professor in uni. Far away from your city, you found the best college to take admission somewhere foreign to you, but he was one hell of a support. And something more. - Prof!Ram x Stu!reader

Accha Lagta Hai

a short series of Ram and Y/n's domestic life - RRR au, Ram x reader

Other Woman (completed)

Ram was the best husband. The most caring and wholesome, and no one could love you more than him. There is no way he will leave you, right?- RRR au, Ram x reader, cheating fic

Rasiya (completed) (nsfw)

It wasn't like you weren't getting any action, but you always felt that Ram held back so he does not hurt you. Maybe this potion Jenny got you will help in some way?- RRR!Ram x fem! Wife! Reader, Aphrodisiac fic

Rangrez (ongoing)

Alluri Sitaramaraju, crosses paths with Kainat, a woman with a mysterious past. They gradually uncover each other's hidden pasts, discovering that both have been deeply involved in the struggle for freedom- for or against? Heeramandi(oc) x RRR(Ram)

Randomayan

how i picture y/n in my fics (rrr)

dekha tha

hanahaki

dhivara (amrendra bahubali x reader)

chot (kala bhairav from magadheera x reader)

KGF

Fanart

Drunk convos

Gun

[jaehyunfirstlove]

It’s senior year and you have no time for distractions, so you make a pact with your best friend, Jaehyun, that you both won’t date and just help each other make it through the year. You weren’t prepared for your brother’s friend to show up and throw your world into chaos. Will you make it out unscathed, or will you gain a boyfriend and lose a friend in the process? (More importantly, will you graduate from college :)

Pairing: college!Jaehyun x f. reader, Lucas x f. reader (briefly)

Special appearances: Lucas, Mark

Genre: best friends to lovers, college au, fluff, angst, smut (18+ only)

Warnings: pining, love triangle, unprotected sex, Lucas is irresistible, Mark is annoying, Y/N is clueless, Jaehyun is jealous

Word count: 7.9k

Taglist: @jaehyunnie77, @nctsworld​ (send me a message if you want to be tagged in future fics)

A/N: This has been living in my head for a while, not sure it turned out the way I wanted it to but I wanted to get it out before Dear.M came out (edit: since Dear.M has been postponed I guess it doesn’t matter).  Also my contribution to @nctsworld writing challenge :)

You’ll never forget that day.

It was already a few weeks into the semester and someone was still moving in, boxes and other miscellaneous belongings stacked beside the elevator. You found it odd that someone would start school so late but you just shrugged your shoulders, thinking it had nothing to do with you and just waited patiently for the next elevator.

“Noona!” you turned at the sound of your brother’s voice, knowing he would be the only one who would call you that in public.

“I told you to stop calling me that when we’re at school,” you rolled your eyes at him but he just laughed, completely ignoring you.

“Look who it is!” he smacked your shoulder and pointed excitedly behind him. You craned your head to look around him, and met eyes with a familiar face. Only it was much handsomer and more grown up than you remembered.

“Hi noona,” he shyly waved with one hand, holding a box handily with the other.

“Lucas?” you recognized him but at the same time you were shocked at the change. You only remembered a grubby and chubby little kid who wreaked havoc with your younger brother, the two of them together a swirling tornado of flailing limbs and piercing shrieks, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. The very memory of it made your eye twitch.

Yet here he was standing in front of you, much taller than you, that cute face from childhood transformed into the chiseled features that made people swoon. Indeed you felt your knees weak at the sight of him, noticing how the muscles in his arm bulged as he held the box.

He blushed as you stared, and you metaphorically picked your jaw up off the floor as your brother went on chattering.

“... came back from abroad and he was lucky to get in! And since I didn’t have a roommate they paired him with me! Everything works out in the end, isn’t that cool?” Mark was talking animatedly, practically vibrating with excitement at the prospect of tearing it up again with his childhood friend.

“Yeah, that’s awesome,” you replied, swallowing thickly. This would not do. You had no time to be attracted to anyone, let alone your brother’s friend.

“Well, it was nice to see you again, noona,” Lucas smiled at you. The elevator doors had opened and they had both stepped in.

“Y-yeah, nice to see you too, Lucas,” you stuttered, and his smile grew until it reached his eyes, “and you can call me Y/N!” you called out, but the elevator doors were already closing.

“Shit.” You muttered under your breath, your brain already swirling with thoughts of this new complication.

“What’s up?”

“Hm?” you turned to see your best friend, Jaehyun, come up to stand beside you.

“You look like you just saw a ghost,” he chuckled, elbowing you playfully.

“Not a ghost,” you replied thoughtfully, “just Mark’s friend, but he’s grown up.”

Jaehyun laughed at you. “Well duh, that’s what people do? Grow?”

“No, I mean he’s grown. Like ‘holy shit he’s a man’ type of grown.” You shook your head at the thought of it, eyes glazed over, completely missing how Jaehyun frowned as he watched your reaction.

“Ah,” was all he said, before he suddenly smacked you in the arm, jolting you out of your reverie. “Hey, but remember our pact. No dating!” he stated firmly.

“Pfft,” you scoffed, “I’m not attracted to him at all,” you said, a bit too loudly. Jaehyun eyed you, completely unconvinced, especially since you could feel your cheeks heating up.

“Well, whatever,” he shrugged, turning away from you so you couldn’t see the disappointment in his face. “Let’s go to class.”

---

For the next few weeks you avoided Lucas as much as you could, which wasn’t too hard since he was a sophomore and had no classes anywhere near you. But that also meant you had to avoid your brother, since they were roommates.

[Noona, why can’t you just drop it off? I need it so bad!!]

[I can’t go all the way to your dorm today, just meet me outside the cafe and I’ll give it to you]

You put your phone down on the table, sighing at Mark’s less than enthusiastic text in response.

“What’s wrong?” Jaehyun asked, looking up from his books.

“Oh Mark needed this fan,” you pointed to the bag at your feet, “I just told him to come here and pick it up.”

“I was wondering why you were lugging that thing all over campus,” Jaehyun peeked underneath the table at the fan tucked messily into a battered Trader Joe's reusable shopping bag. “Why didn’t you just bring it to his dorm?”

You shook your head vehemently. “Oh no no no, I am not going there. Can’t do it. Won’t do it.”

Jaehyun watched you carefully as you nervously played with your hair. “Is it because of him?” he finally asked.

You nodded absentmindedly, “I can’t afford any distractions right now, right? No dating, like you said!” You slammed your fist onto the table forcefully, but Jaehyun didn’t flinch. He just stared at you.

“You like him that much.” It was meant to be a question but came out more like a statement, and in a tone you’d never heard from your best friend. It sounded almost accusatory.

“Hey! Can you blame me? Have you seen him?” you went into defense mode, completely misinterpreting his tone of voice. He just turned his face away from you, unable to hide the hurt he was feeling. You just thought he was upset that you might be threatening the pact you both had made so you tried to smooth things over. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to date him. But it’s better that I don’t see him too much, you know?”

“Good idea,” was all Jaehyun said, before he turned his attention back to his books.

“Noona!” you looked up to see Mark walking towards you, and you were about to rebuke him for calling you that when you saw who was with him.

“Hi noona,” Lucas smiled, coming to stand beside Mark. Your heart was beating out of your chest at the sight of him, your throat suddenly dry.

“H-hi guys,” you managed, before turning to Mark, “I told you to meet me outside?”

“Sorry we wanted a drink,” he turned to Jaehyun, “hey hyung, you remember my friend, Lucas?” he gestured towards Lucas excitedly.

“Of course,” Jaehyun said politely, “Nice to see you again, man,” he held out his hand and Lucas shook it enthusiastically.

“I heard you were at this school too, this is so cool!” Lucas exclaimed, “We’re all back together again!”

Despite Lucas and Mark’s bright demeanors you felt a tension in the air so thick you could cut it with a knife. You were puzzled as to where it could be coming from, looking from your brother to Lucas to Jaehyun. No one seemed to be giving anything away, until Jaehyun locked eyes with you and you saw something flash for a split second.

It was a look you’d never seen before, that you couldn’t quite place. Was he angry? Did he not like Lucas? You went back through your memories but you couldn’t remember them not getting along, Jaehyun had no siblings so Mark and Lucas were like little brothers to him. So what was this feeling?

“Anyway here’s the fan,” you shoved the bag into Mark’s hands, not caring that you had rudely interrupted whatever small talk was happening between the three of them. You just wanted them to leave, especially Lucas.

“Okay, okay, I get it, you two want to be alone,” Mark winked, giggling at his own joke, but you just rolled your eyes.

“Very funny, you know it’s not like that, now get lost,” you grumbled, turning your attention away from them and towards your books. Mark only shrugged, turning to walk away. Jaehyun dropped his gaze, hoping no one saw the hurt in his eyes.

“Bye, noona,” Lucas lightly touched your arm as he walked past you. You felt a shiver go up your spine at the contact, but you resolutely composed yourself.

“I told you to call me Y/N,” you responded firmly.

He only turned back to look at you, smiling widely. “I just like calling you ‘noona’,” he said, before walking away to join Mark.

You must have had the dumbest look on your face because Jaehyun just laughed, almost bitterly.

“Wow,” was all he said, shaking his head, no trace of his usual good spirits. He suddenly started packing up his books.

“Where are you going?” you asked, surprised at his sudden movements, “We’re not done with this chapter!”

“I suddenly lost my appetite,” he responded, not looking at you at all, “you got this, just call me if you have any problems.”

You watched his retreating back, wondering what had happened to put him in such a mood.

---

The rest of the semester was tough, your professors were a lot harder on you and all of your courses were kicking your ass. Worst of all, your best friend and trusty study partner had ghosted you.

[How about tonight? Can you come by]

[Can’t, sorry]

[Come on I’m dying! I need help with this so bad!]

[You got this]

You pulled your hair in frustration, wanting to scream at Jaehyun’s sudden reticence. You’d confronted him about it in the one class you shared but he just shrugged, making some lame excuse about how the coursework was so much harder than he thought it was so he needed to concentrate. You had scoffed, knowing full well that was not the case for the ace student that he was. For as long as you’d known him he had always been the one who’d gotten the highest grades in every class he was in. You had persisted, trying to get it out of him but the professor had started speaking, and as soon as class had finished he’d left to talk to some other friends.

Maybe you two were drifting apart, and you hadn’t noticed, too busy with school and trying to avoid your feelings for Lucas. You shook your head at the thought of Lucas, but as if your thoughts could conjure him he suddenly appeared in front of you.

“Hi noona,” he whispered, cognizant of the bent over backs of the other students studying at the library around you. You gaped at him as he pulled out the chair across from you at the table you were at. “Is it okay if I sit here?” he asked innocently.

You swallowed the lump in your throat, fully aware that you should say no, but your head betrayed you and nodded at him. He smiled widely and your heart thumped in your chest.

“Thanks,” he said, taking a seat and spreading out his books, “the other tables were full, you really saved my life.”

You just nodded, trying to look anywhere but at his face, but he just kept smiling so charmingly you couldn’t help it. You’d sneak a look up at him now and then, and every time he would catch you and smile. The two of you didn’t talk very much, mostly because you didn’t want to disturb the quiet but also because you didn’t want whatever was happening to go any further. Lucas, however, had different expectations.

“Hey, if you’re not busy after this, maybe we can go for a coffee? Catch up? I feel like I haven’t really spent any time with you.” The smile he leveled at you this time was so dazzling you were momentarily blinded.

“Um,” you started, your brain short-circuiting, “I… uh… don’t think-”

“Aww, come on, noona! I haven’t seen you in so long! Please, just one coffee?” he made a face that resembled that one emoji you used so often that Jaehyun had it saved in his phone instead of your name.

You opened your mouth to say no, you had really meant to, your lips even forming the word, but he kept looking at you with that face and you knew you were done for.

“Sure,” you said in defeat, “just one, though.”

“Great!” he clapped his hands in glee, forgetting where he was, and when the people around him shot him dirty looks he slapped his hand over his mouth in a comically over-dramatic display. You couldn’t help but laugh, looking up just in time to see Jaehyun walking past your table. He stared between the two of you, not saying a word. You stood up to call him over but he turned away from you abruptly and walked away.

“Let’s go, noona,” Lucas called you, and you looked between him and your best friend, torn as to who to follow. You had to admit Jaehyun’s coldness towards you was hurting you, but you had reached out to him and he had shut you down. You packed up your stuff and followed Lucas to the cafe.

Later that night you got a text from Jaehyun:

[Remember our pact]

You wanted to throw your phone and scream at him for being so frustrating. You decided to ignore him, since that’s what he had been doing to you. You didn’t bother answering his text, and for the first time in your decade-long friendship you didn’t text him ‘good night’.

---

“Hey, we have room, wanna ride home with us?”

It was winter break, and everyone who was going home was standing on the curb waiting for their pickup. You spotted Jaehyun, and even though the two of you still hadn’t spoken, you couldn’t help but offer. He started at the sound of your voice, almost smiled, before he shook his head.

“Thanks, but my dad is on his way,” he kicked at the ground with the toe of his shoe when you didn’t say anything in response, then finally looked away.

Truth be told, you were hurt. You’d been hurt since the day you two stopped talking, the day you went for coffee with Lucas. You had tried to keep your attention on Lucas, which wouldn’t have been too hard because he talked so animatedly, but your mind kept going over Jaehyun’s reaction when he saw the two of you. You couldn’t make sense of it, and you couldn’t make sense of his sudden disinterest. You had been friends for most of your lives, and he had never acted that way before. You finally settled on the fact that he probably didn’t want to be your friend anymore, college changes people after all, and his plans for after graduation were so grandiose and involved and probably definitely didn’t include you. A sadness had washed over you then, the two of you had been inseparable since middle school, you hadn’t gone a day without seeing him or speaking to him. The prospect of him not being in your life hurt you more than you would ever admit.

Turning away from him you loaded your bags into the trunk of your mom’s car, while Mark climbed into the passenger’s seat, excitedly relaying the details of his day-to-day to your ever-patient mom. You got into the backseat and closed your eyes, wanting to forget your college experience for a while.

---

Four days into your break you couldn’t escape it.

“Honey, set three more places for dinner, the Jeongs are coming over.”

Your hand froze midway to placing the silverware on the table at your mom’s statement.

“Are you serious?” you asked in shock.

“What are you so surprised for? We always have them over during your breaks. Besides, I haven’t seen Jaehyun in months, I want to know how he’s doing in senior year.”

Your mom had unofficially adopted Jaehyun, when you were kids his parents had been busy with work, so he had spent a lot of time at your house. Your mom loved doting on him because he was so polite and well-mannered, almost an antithesis to the hellraiser that was your younger brother.

Dinner had been a calm affair, the parents speaking amongst themselves, while you picked at your food and Mark occasionally would start talking at breaks in the conversation. Jaehyun sat across from you, looking much more relaxed than he did at school. He was always polite around your parents, but you noticed he seemed lighter, freer, smiled and joked more. He even spared you a glance here and there, the corners of his mouth almost turning up into a smile.

“Oh mom, guess who’s going to our school now?” Mark suddenly burst out.

“Lucas is back, right? I spoke to his mom. That’s wonderful that you’re back together.” Your mom smiled fondly at your brother. At the mention of Lucas’ name you looked over at Jaehyun, who dropped his gaze, suddenly intensely preoccupied with his broccoli.

“Yeah! And I think he likes noona!” Mark looked at you while he said this, waggling his eyebrows. You smacked him hard in the arm.

“Not at all, that is not happening,” you protested, shooting daggers with your eyes at your brother. He only shrugged, rubbing his arm where you had hit him.

“Whatever, I know you guys go on coffee dates and he texts you all the time! I see that stupid look on his face when he’s texting,” he screwed up his face and mimicked Lucas texting on his phone and everyone laughed. 

Everyone, except Jaehyun. He looked at you, with something like hurt in his eyes, before he looked away quickly.

“That is not true, we went on one coffee date, one!” you emphasized the word by putting up your index finger, “and it is not me he is texting all the time, trust me,” you added firmly.

Your mom just smiled. “I’m not opposed to Lucas, he’s a sweet boy,” she stated, “the only other boy I’d be happy about you dating is Jaehyun.” She smiled sweetly at him while his parents smiled at you, both nodding in approval.

Normally when she said things like this you would just roll your eyes at her, reminding her that you and Jaehyun were just friends, but this time you felt your palms get sweaty and your face felt warm. You looked over at Jaehyun and he still hadn’t looked up from his plate, but his ears were as red as the tomato sauce on the pasta.

“Am I the only one here who would be happy with no one dating?” your dad finally spoke up. “Not that I don’t approve of any of you, I just think senior year is hard enough as it is.” He shrugged, taking a sip of his wine while your mom patted him soothingly on the shoulder.

“Yes, yes, we’re not suggesting anything, merely stating our preferences.” She looked over at Jaehyun’s mom, the two of them sharing a conspiratorial smile.

---

After dinner you and Jaehyun were tasked with doing the dishes, while the parents relaxed in the living room and Mark cleaned off the table.

“You, uh, missed a spot,” you held up the plate to Jaehyun, indicating the still soapy area with a sweep of your finger. He nodded and took it from you, passing it under the running water and handing it back. You dried it carefully, watching him as you did, the silence between you so heavy it felt like a weight on your chest.

“It’s nice being home, isn’t it?” you attempted conversation hesitantly.

He nodded, thankfully not ignoring you, and actually smiled to himself. “Yeah, really nice.”

You brightened at those three words, and at the fairly pleasant conversation you were having, the first in such a long time.

“Right? It feels so nice.” You agreed, unable to stop the wide smile forming on your face. He finally looked over at you and couldn’t help smiling himself.

“It feels good to be away from the pressures of-” he cleared his throat, “-uh, school.”

“Mm,” you nodded, feeling there was something in his tone you couldn’t place. Determined to ignore it and mend the rift in your friendship, you elbowed him lightly in the arm, “Hey, bet you can’t beat me in Mario Kart!”

He laughed, turning off the water and wiping his hands. “We’ll see.”

---

You spent the rest of the break almost inseparable again, your friendship back to what it had been. The happiness you felt was indescribable, sometimes you even surprised yourself at the giddiness you would feel when you could spend time with him. You just figured it was the hurt you’d felt all those months finally being soothed away. Jaehyun was an important person in your life so naturally it would make sense that you would be happy that he was back in it.

On the last night of your break the two of you were sitting on the floor in your bedroom, laughing over old photos. After flipping through a few more, he came across a photo of you with one arm around Lucas and the other around Mark. The smile instantly left his face, and he quickly shoved the photo back in the box.

When you saw his reaction you suddenly felt defensive. “You know it really was just one coffee, it’s not like I was dating him so I didn’t break our pact.”

“Technically still a date.” He responded without looking at you, just shuffling photos around in the box haphazardly.

“Ugh! Fine! It was a stupid date, are you happy?” you threw the photos you were holding across the floor in exasperation. You felt your face heating up, an irrational anger overtaking you. In all the years you’d known him you didn’t remember being this upset at him and it surprised you.

He stayed silent, picking up the photos you had thrown and arranging them back in the box. In your anger you probably weren’t seeing things clearly, but when you looked at his face you thought he might have looked sad.

“It didn’t continue though, I can tell you that.” You don’t know why you felt the urge to be so defensive, why you felt the burning need to convince him there was nothing going on between you and Lucas. But when he finally nodded and looked at you, a small smile adorning his face, your heart suddenly felt lighter.

“Alright, you get off on a technicality,” he smiled, almost shyly, when he saw your face brighten.

“Good! Now are you gonna start helping me study again? I think I failed my midterms because of you,” you grumbled good-naturedly.

“I doubt that,” he chuckled, “you’re a lot better at studying than you think you are.”

---

The second semester started where the first had left off, with a grueling workload that left your brain a mushy mess by the end of each day. You felt you handled it a lot better with your best friend by your side again, but when you got the results of your midterms you were shocked to see you had done better than you thought.

“I don’t want to say I told you so, but-” Jaehyun was looking over your shoulder as you saw your results, “I told you so.”

“Huh,” was all you could say. So all those late nights buried in your books, those solitary back-breaking hours in the library, they all paid off. You looked over at Jaehyun, who was smiling smugly at you. You realized that he had helped you, even though he hadn’t been around. Sometimes when your brain had enough you would think of him, how he would always encourage you when you were frustrated, how he would tell you silly stories and make you laugh when you needed a break.

“Thanks,” you said sincerely, starting to realize just what an effect your best friend had on your life. He shrugged, glancing away momentarily before he looked you in the eye.

“I didn’t really do anything, and actually I’m sorry for ghosting you when I did,” he shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down at the ground, “that was really dumb of me.”

You were about to ask him what that was all about when you saw Mark and Lucas walking towards you.

“Hi noona!” they said in unison, accidentally it seemed as they both looked at each other in shock before dissolving into a fit of giggles. They nodded at Jaehyun who nodded back, ever polite, except he’d crossed his arms and puffed out his chest a little, looking almost intimidating.

“Hey guys,” you responded, irked at being interrupted since you were about to interrogate Jaehyun, “don’t you have class right now?”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re on our way,” Mark rolled his eyes at you and tugged at Lucas’ arm, “let’s go dude.”

Lucas hadn’t taken his eyes off of you the entire time you were all standing there, and hesitated as Mark pulled at him.

“Hey, noona, can we meet up later?” he asked, and you had to admire him for his boldness and dedication, despite the fact that you had pretty much avoided him since your last coffee date.

“Uh, I’m kinda busy today,” you responded quickly, but he didn’t back down.

“Aw, how about tomorrow then? Please?”

You didn’t have to look at him to know that Jaehyun was burning a hole in your face with his eyes, and you could feel the sweat forming on your palms at the situation you were in. You wanted to curse Lucas out for doing this in front of an audience. As it was, Mark was watching the entire scene unfold with unbridled glee.

“Come on, noona, give him a chance!” Mark piped up, deciding to add to your agony. Lucas made that puppy-dog face that had swayed you the last time.

“Sorry, guys, but she’ll be busy for the rest of the semester,” Jaehyun suddenly spoke up, his tone broached no debate, “I’ll be making sure she’s studying.”

It was the last straw, you’d had enough with the three of them. “Ugh!” you exclaimed, balling your hands into fists, “I’ve had it!”

The three of them recoiled in shock at your outburst, a trio of wide eyes and open mouths that was almost comical if you weren’t so angry.

“You!” you pointed at Lucas, “I told you I’m busy so you need to accept my answer! And you!” you pointed in turn at your brother, “Mind your goddamn business!” He just shrugged and made a face, mimicking you yelling at him.

“And you!” you finally turned to Jaehyun, who was watching you with a mixture of admiration and fear, “I can speak for myself so stay out of it!”

You didn’t bother to stick around to see any of their reactions, just turning on your heel and walking away.

---

You’d gotten texts for the rest of the day from both Lucas and Jaehyun apologizing but you weren’t in the mood to discuss the situation with either of them. Radio silence from your brother though, as expected. You were looking forward to spending some time alone anyway, so you trudged back to your dorm after a long day of classes. Walking towards your room you saw Lucas standing outside your door.

“Noona, don’t get mad,” he raised his hands up in supplication as you approached, “I just wanted to apologize and you weren’t responding to my texts.”

You sighed, too exhausted to be mad anymore. “It’s okay, Lucas. Thanks for coming by.” You walked by him to unlock your door, wanting to just collapse on your bed, but he stopped you, putting his six foot tall frame between you and your door. “Lucas, please, I’m tired.”

He bent his head towards you, eyes searching your face, eyebrows furrowed. “Noona,” he started, his voice soft, “do you like me?”

You were taken aback by the sudden question, and by his face now so close to yours.

“I mean, I hope you don’t still think of me as a kid,” he continued, eyes roaming towards your lips, “because I’m a man now.”

The line should have made you laugh, at any other time you would have, but something was drawing you towards him, and before you could stop yourself your lips met his.

It was only a brief touch, because you realized in that moment that you felt nothing, so you broke away quickly. The sound of the stairwell door opening broke the silence between you, and you turned to see Jaehyun standing in the open doorway. You’ll never forget the look on his face.

Sadness. Hurt.

“Jaehyun!” you called out, but he had already turned, his back to you as he disappeared down the stairs. Without a thought you ran after him, your heart beating out of your chest.

“Jaehyun! Please stop!” you yelled frantically as you raced down the stairs, but he was too far ahead of you and out the door before you could stop him. When you finally got down you opened the door to a downpour, and realizing you had no umbrella you stopped short. You could see Jaehyun walking away through the sheeting rain, and once again you called out to him.

“Jaehyun!” you shouted, your voice strained, “Please come back inside!”

He stopped at the sound of your voice and turned around, but made no move to come back. You couldn’t see his face from this distance but the dejected set of his shoulders told you all you needed to know. You stepped forward into the rain, determined to bring him back inside.

“Y/N, stop! You’ll get wet!” he ran towards you, arms outstretched, but you wouldn’t be deterred. When you reached him your emotions finally overcame you and you shoved him hard in the chest. It barely moved him, but he still looked at you in shock.

“Tell me why!” you yelled, unable to hold yourself back, “Why does it bother you so much? If he likes me or I like him? Huh?” you shoved him again, your anger and frustration taking over your rational mind, “It’s not just because of our stupid pact, so tell me what’s going on!”

He hadn’t said a thing, hadn’t even looked at you, had barely reacted when you pushed him. He just kept his head down, the rain running in rivulets down his hair.

“Jaehyun,” you tried again, pleading this time, your anger dissipating at the sight of him looking so defeated, drenched in rain, “Please, talk to me.”

He finally looked up, but not at you. Staring at something far in the distance he finally spoke, in a voice so low you had to strain to hear him over the patter of the rain, and a tone so despondent it made your heart ache.

“I like you, Y/N,” he sighed, “actually, screw it, I’m in love with you. I’ll admit it.” He dropped his head again, unwilling to look at you or see your reaction.

You, however, were glad he wasn’t looking at you, because your jaw dropped open in shock. But your brain took a little longer to catch up with your heart, because while you were putting the pieces together in your head, you felt a lightness in your chest, like a heavy weight had been lifted.

“Jaehyun?” you whispered, the puzzle pieces finally coming together. His actions finally made sense, but what had been even more enlightening was that your own feelings were starting to make sense as well.

“Come on, let’s go inside, you’ll get sick,” he put his hands over your head in a feeble attempt to protect you from the rain, and ushered you back inside the dorm. You walked back up the stairs in silence, and when you opened the door to your floor you were relieved to see Lucas was gone.

“Come inside,” you grabbed his hand since he had turned to leave, “you should dry off.”

He nodded, still not meeting your eyes, and followed you into your room. You grabbed a towel and handed it to him, grabbing one for yourself and squeezing the rain out of your hair.

“Thanks,” he said, rubbing the towel one last time over his head before handing it back to you, “I should go.”

You were about to answer him, but you were suddenly overcome by a violent shiver, your entire body shuddering from the damp cold of your rain-soaked clothes.

“Y/N!” he stepped towards you, eyes wide with alarm, “I told you not to come out in the rain!” he reprimanded you, taking the towel from you and rubbing it vigorously over your arms.

“I-I’m f-fine,” you tried to talk but your teeth were chattering too much so you just closed your mouth.

“You need to take off your wet clothes,” he grabbed a fluffy blanket from your bed, wrapped it around your shoulders and turned his head away, “I won’t look, I promise.”

At any other time you would be embarrassed, or throw him out of the room, but you knew he was right, and somehow you felt good about him being there for you. You stripped out of your clothes down to your bra and panties, as he held the blanket over you, finally feeling warmer as you wrapped the blanket around yourself.

“Better?” he asked, still not looking your way.

“Yes, thank you,” you said quietly, tugging at his arm to indicate he could turn around again. When he did, you noticed he was shivering.

“Oh Jaehyun! You need to get out of your wet clothes too!” you immediately ran to your closet and pulled out another warm blanket and draped it over him. You turned away to give him some privacy but he was struggling so much you ended up helping him, peeling away his water-logged hoodie and jeans. When he was down to his boxers you finally turned away, your cheeks flushed and heart pounding from the image of his bare chest and abs. You’d known him your entire life and had no idea he was hiding that.

Not the time to be thinking about that, you scolded yourself internally.

“Better?” you asked, not turning around because you felt your face was still hot and you didn’t want him to see.

“Uh, y-yeah,” he tried to lie but the stuttering betrayed him, and when you turned around you saw that he was still shivering, tugging the blanket tightly around himself, smiling weakly at you in a lame attempt to convince you that he was fine.

“Oh my god,” you immediately went into first-aid mode, recalling what you needed to do, “come here.” You opened your blanket and walked towards him.

“W-what are you d-doing?” his eyes grew wide and he actually pulled the blanket tighter around himself, like you were some kind of pervert coming to take his innocence.

“Relax, you need body heat,” you pulled at his blanket and he finally relented, opening it up to you and you stepped into his embrace.

It wasn’t supposed to feel good, you were only supplying him with much needed body heat, if anything it should have been embarrassing because you were both in your underwear, but you relaxed in his arms and it felt good. Really good.

You stood there in silence for a while, just the sound of his heart beating against your ear as you rested against his chest. You noticed he wasn’t shivering as much, but his skin was still really cold.

“Jaehyun, I think we need to get under the covers, you’re not warming up fast enough,” you didn’t look at him when you said it, you knew it would be awkward but it had to be done. He didn’t say anything for so long that you thought he hadn’t heard you, but he finally nodded and moved towards the bed. He got under the covers and you followed, wrapping your arms and legs around him and piling all the blankets on top of the both of you. It was hot and stuffy but you endured it, too worried about your best friend to care about anything else. Finally his teeth stopped chattering, his skin feeling less cold and clammy against yours.

“I’m sorry, Y/N,” he said softly, staring up at the ceiling.

“I know, next time don’t go out in the rain like I told you!” you said sternly.

“No, not about that,” he sighed, “well, yeah that too. I just- I should have said something when I knew how I felt about you, save us from all this trouble, and- you know, me acting like a jerk.”

“Why didn’t you tell me then?” you turned your face to look at him, but he still wouldn’t meet your eyes, continuing to stare at the ceiling.

“I was scared, I guess. Scared you didn’t feel the same way, that you’d hate me, and then our friendship would be ruined and I didn’t want to lose you that way,” he blew out a long breath, “But I guess I ruined it anyway.”

“Nothing’s ruined, Jaehyun,” you said in a quiet voice, so low maybe he didn’t hear you. Except he had. He finally turned his head to look at you, but this time it was you who couldn’t meet his eyes.

“I wondered why I was so upset and angry, and hurt, when you stopped talking to me, I mean, I’ve lost friends before and never felt like that. And then over winter break when we started talking again, I felt so happy? You know? And so whole. Like I’d gotten back a part of me that I’d lost.” 

You stopped talking, relieved to have worked through your feelings and gotten it out in the open, but you suddenly became aware of how cringey everything you had said sounded. “Ugh, sorry, that was a lot.”

“Y/N, look at me,” his voice was still soft, but why had you never noticed how low his voice was? When you didn’t move, he gently tipped your chin so you were facing him. He looked at you like you’d hung the stars in the sky.

“Does this mean you like m-” he stopped mid-sentence, because you were drawn towards him, your face getting closer and closer to his. He stared wide-eyed for a moment, before he closed the distance and kissed you.

The stars and fireworks and weakened knees, and that heart-racing feeling you had expected when you kissed Lucas (and didn’t happen) actually happened this time. And then some. When his lips met yours you felt an electricity that spread throughout your entire body, all the way down to your toes. You felt a tenderness in the way his lips moved, an almost reverent form of adulation that made you crave more. Suddenly you were very aware of your near nakedness, as his now warm hand snaked around your bare back and pulled you closer to him. Everywhere your bare skin touched his felt like it was on fire, and it wasn’t from all of the blankets still stacked on top of you. When he pulled away you were panting, chest heaving, heat burning in your core.

“Y/N, I didn’t mean for this to happen,” his eyes searched yours, seemingly ready to give in if you decided to kick him out right then and there.

“You mean this wasn’t your plan? To go out and get drenched in the rain so we’d have to strip down to our underwear and cuddle for warmth?” you asked cheekily.

“Hmm, that did work out perfectly, didn’t it?” he laughed, and the deep rumble of it reverberated in your chest all the way down to your core.

“Jaehyun,” your breathing quickened, your body reacting to him almost involuntarily, “come here,” you pulled him so that he was on top of you, and he braced his arms on either side of you so that he didn’t rest his entire weight on you. You spread your legs so that he could nestle in between them, and when you felt him, already half-hard, against you, you bit your lip. He watched you, eyes dark, but still didn’t make a move.

“Y/N, are you sure?” he brushed strands of hair away from your face, eyebrows furrowed as he looked at you.

“I like you, Jaehyun. More than a friend. And right now I just want you.” To prove your point you wrapped your legs around him and squeezed, and it was his turn to inhale sharply as he felt you rub up against him. He dropped his head to your shoulder, kissing along your collarbone to your neck, and when you threaded your fingers through his hair, he sucked harshly on your skin. You moaned and he bucked his hips, your hands roamed his body until you reached the waistband of his boxers, which you tugged at until they were off. You reached around, wanting to feel his cock in your hand, your fingers wrapping around the hot, velvety skin.

“Y/N,” he groaned, pulling away from your neck to rest his forehead on your shoulder. You pumped his cock in your hand a few times, rubbing the pad of your thumb over the tip, spreading the precum around the head. He was breathing heavily as you worked your hand on him, before he reached down and yanked your panties off in one go. You squeaked a little at the sudden movement, but before you knew what was happening he was taking your hand off his cock, positioning the tip of it at your entrance.

“Jaehyun,” your voice cut off into a strangled cry as he entered you, tears pricking your eyes at the stretch and the intense pleasure you were feeling from it.

“Y/N,” he groaned again, pausing when he was all the way inside you, attacking your neck and jawline with kisses. He pulled back to look at you, eyes full of a mixture of adoration and lust. You touched his cheek, heart full at the sight of the boy you’d loved your entire life, pulling him down for a passionate kiss.

He returned your fervor with his own, with every movement of his lips you could feel his want, his need for you, his devotion. When you moaned into his mouth he bucked his hips, and you broke from his lips to gasp loudly as he began to thrust inside you.

“Jaehyun,” you moaned his name, biting your lip, slightly self-conscious at the needy whines that were escaping your mouth. But they seemed to encourage him, and with every sound of pleasure you made his intensity ramped up, until you could feel your orgasm building.

“Mm, I’m gonna c-” you couldn’t even finish your sentence, could barely warn him because your orgasm overtook you, after a particularly deep thrust that had pressed you hard into the mattress. He groaned loudly as you clenched around him, still thrusting, until he suddenly pulled you flush against him, holding you tightly as he came inside you.

You were both sweating, breathing heavily, but you knew in that moment that everything was as it should be. You turned your face towards his, currently buried in your shoulder, and kissed his cheek and along his jawline until he was smiling, causing his dimples to emerge. You kissed those too.

“You okay?” he asked, voice soft, pushing strands of damp hair away from your face.

“Very much okay,” you nodded, your heart and mind at peace.

---

Epilogue

“Mm, Jae, we should get outside and join everyone...”

“Not yet, you smell too good, taste too good too.”

You stifled a moan as he sucked lightly on your neck, “No marks!” you smacked him on the chest, “I don’t want hickies in my grad photos!”

He laughed, nuzzling his nose in your neck instead, his hands on your hips under your gown. You’d been on your way to the graduation ceremony when you passed an empty classroom and he’d pulled you in for a quick makeout session. Except it hadn’t been quick, and now you were running late.

“Alright,” he sighed dramatically, “let’s go, wouldn’t want you to miss this important ceremony.” If it had been up to Jaehyun you would’ve both skipped the ceremony and gone to the beach instead, or just stayed in bed watching netflix. He didn’t care for ceremonies, he’d done his work and graduated, but he knew how important it was for you. You’d worked hard and wanted to celebrate it, with all of your friends and family by your side, especially Jaehyun. 

He adjusted the cap on your head, smiling fondly at you as you fiddled with your gown nervously. “You look great,” he reassured you, “perfect, I’d say.”

“Thanks,” you smiled at him, forgetting about your lip gloss and reaching up on your tiptoes for a kiss. “Oops!” you tried to wipe as much of it off with the pad of your thumb but he just laughed.

“Can’t be helped, let’s go,” he grabbed you by the hand and led you into the quad where the ceremony would be held. As you made your way to your seats you saw your brother and Lucas approaching.

“Hey guys, congrats, this is so cool!” as usual Mark was excited, looking around at everything with awe. Lucas stood beside him, smiling widely at the two of you.

“Hi noo- Y/N,” he corrected himself, then nodded at Jaehyun, “hyung,”

“Hi Lucas,” you smiled back at him.

“Congratulations on graduating,” he continued, looking between you and Jaehyun, “you guys worked hard.”

“Thanks Lucas,” you were genuinely thankful to him, he’d been really chill when you ended up telling him about you and Jaehyun, even winking at you and saying he’d had a suspicion about you and Jaehyun liking each other all along. You had just rolled your eyes at your own stupidity, how did everyone else see it except you?

“Yeah, thanks man,” Jaehyun seemed grateful too, shaking his hand and pulling him in for a bro hug. When they pulled away from each other you gave Lucas a hug as well, before you all took your seats for the ceremony.

---

Later, long after the ceremony ended, you and Jaehyun sat in the empty bleachers as the sun began to set. He kept his arms around you as the early evening breeze began to pick up.

“So this is it,” you mused, looking around at the campus you’d spent four years of your life at. “The end.”

“Hm,” Jaehyun hummed, pressing a kiss to the top of your head.

“I guess we broke our pact,” you couldn’t help but smile at the irony.

“I guess so,” he laughed, “who’s stupid idea was that pact anyway?”

“Hey!” you smacked him on the knee, “it was a good idea at the time!”

He just laughed again, pulling you closer to him so that your back was flush against his chest. You settled like that for a moment, just content in his arms as he played with strands of your hair. “It all worked out in the end, though, didn’t it?”

You smiled, turning in his arms to face him. “It sure did.”

[persephone-plasmids]

The Third Rail

Deacon X Sole fanfic

[AO3]

(Part 1 can be found here)

Deacon was sitting on a padded bar stool in The Third Rail, his fingers gingerly wrapped around a cold drink. He’d never really been a fan of tuxedos. He normally called them penguin suits, but he had to admit, he looked good in his current disguise.

His dark hair was slicked back and his trademark sunglasses protected him from any intimate interaction with the other bar patrons.

Even though Deacon kept his eyes trained on his drink, his ears were working overtime. Dez seemed positive that information about a kidnapped Synth would be discussed at the bar that night and she’d sent Deacon undercover to get as much intel as possible.

The tux had been his idea. He told Dez that his character was a wealthy trader who came to the Third Rail to unwind after a long day trading in chems and fancy hats. When Dez had pointed out that she just needed him to sit at a bar and listen for a few hours, he’d shushed her, insisting that his character was a vital part of the mission.

Sole had been sitting nearby in the Railroad HQ, her legs draped over the arms of a chair as she read an old tattered copy of Time Regained that Deacon had loaned her. She’d laughed at his insistence and when Dez had rolled her eyes and stomped away, Sole winked at Deacon.

The memory of this short interaction was enough to make his heart rate pick up a few paces. Not because it had been particularly special, but because it only reminded him that he and Sole shared something now. A special closeness. She’d kissed him, however briefly, one night after she single handedly killed a Deathclaw. Of course they hadn’t acknowledged it since then, which was just fine with Deacon. His feelings for Sole were already complicated enough. His best course of action would be to bury those feelings deep down and never examine them again.

He could do that… right?

Deacon tapped his thumb lightly against his glass, sighing deeply.

He didn’t want to bury the feelings down. He wanted to crush his lips against Sole’s and tell her how much he loved the way she laughed at his dumb jokes. He wanted her to know how much he loved the little dimples she got in her cheeks when she smiled. And he wanted her to know that he loved the way she believed almost any lie he told her and then got mad when she found out the truth.

He loved all of it.

But he couldn’t say that. So he took another drink and continued to bury those feelings deep down.

When Deacon felt two hands rest on his shoulders before sliding down the front of his chest, he jumped.

It wasn’t until a pair of lips brushed his ear lobe and a familiar voice said, “Fancy meeting you here,” that an involuntary smile broke across his face.

“What are you doing here, Charmer?” Deacon asked, tilting his head to face Sole with the ridiculous smile still in place.

He couldn’t help it. This was just the way his face looked around her.

“I’ve been looking for you all night, Darlin,” Sole said loudly with an exaggerated fake southern accent. “I trust your long hard day of selling chems and fancy hats hasn’t made you too tired for our date?”

Deacon couldn’t stop the smile from spreading even further across his cheeks. “I’m never too tired for you… Peaches.” Deacon had tried to think of the most ridiculous pet name he could think of. The fact that Sole almost broke character when she heard the name he’d come up with, told him he’d done a good job.

Swivelling around in his bar stool, Deacon finally got a proper look at Sole and had to work hard to keep his jaw from dropping. She wore a form-fitting red sequin dress that seemed to hug every curve of her body in a way that made his mouth go dry. She also wore a pair of sunglasses identical to Deacon’s, her crimson lips quirked up into a smile.

The last thing Deacon wanted to do was let Sole know just how incredible he thought she looked. He needed to maintain some semblance of dignity. Instead, he patted the bar stool beside him, and when Sole sat down, leaned over and said in an exaggerated whisper, “You’re wearing the same dress as Magnolia. That’s just embarrassing. One of you will have to change.”

“It’ll have to be her, Sugar. I’m having a drink with my man.” Sole kept the awful southern accent going and Deacon broke down in a fit of laughter that he stifled with his hand.

Sole was notoriously bad at accents. When she’d tried to do the Silver Shroud voice for him a few weeks back, he’d almost passed out from laughing so hard. She knew her bad accents were his weakness. She was doing this on purpose.

Another thing for him to add to the checklist of things he loved about her.

The checklist was quickly becoming its own novel.

“And remind me where you’ve been all day?” Deacon asked. He wanted to see just how much thought Sole had really put into this little ruse of hers.

“Why I’ve been off at the old Cabot place, basking in the refinement, of course,” Sole said.

Deacon shook his head before lowering his voice so that the other bar patrons wouldn’t over hear him. “Seriously though, what are you doing here?”

Sole leaned in conspiratorially, her grin full of mischief. “Dez didn’t trust that you were taking the job seriously after you came up with your whole… character.”

“So she sent you to babysit?” Deacon guessed. It wouldn’t be the first time.

At his question Sole looked down at Deacon’s drink and blushed. “I volunteered. Told her you might need some looking after.”

Sole had asked to come keep Deacon company? They hadn’t really been alone since she’d kissed him and he liked it that way. He didn’t need any more reasons to be head-over-heels for this girl. He was supposed to be past those kinds of attachments.

“And Dez didn’t think your character idea was childish?”

At this, Sole’s grin returned. “She didn’t know I was coming in costume.”

Deacon let a sly smile that matched Sole’s cross his lips. “So that’s the trick, is it? Be childish, but only when Dez isn’t looking?”

“It’s been working pretty well for me so far.”

“You just out-Deaconed me,” Deacon said. “I’m impressed, Charmer. You’ve even got the shades.”

At his words, Sole removed the sunglasses and sat them down on the bar in front of her. She rubbed the bridge of her nose gingerly.

“I know you swear by those things, but I just can’t get the hang of them. I don’t like that they add a barrier between me and the person I’m talking to,” Sole said. “It’s weird.”

“That’s exactly why I like them,” Deacon admitted, his sideways smile back.

Sole watched him with her lips pressed together in a hard line. Her eyes roamed across his face in a way that made him feel oddly vulnerable; even with the sunglasses on.

“You trying to use your x-ray vision over there?” Deacon joked. It was his default and the only way he knew to deal with an uncomfortable situation.

“Just trying to remember if I’ve ever actually seen you without the sunglasses on.”

“That’s a privilege you have to earn,” Deacon said.

At this, Sole perked up, her eyes alight with the challenge. “And how do I go about doing that?”

Deacon thought about this for a moment. What could ever make him feel comfortable taking his sunglasses off in front of Sole? Nothing came to mind. Because if she did see him, really see him, she might not like what she saw. That thought alone nearly killed Deacon. He wasn’t even sure he liked what he saw on the rare moments he allowed himself some brief introspection. But he was stuck with himself. Sole wasn’t. She could leave. And that was something he didn’t think he could bear.

It seemed better to keep her at arms length so he could continue to enjoy her company. He didn’t want to risk disappointing her. He didn’t think he could live with that.

“Don’t blow this mission for me and I’ll start to consider possibly thinking about maybe letting you see what’s behind the sunglasses,” Deacon said with a vague wave of his hand.

“Oh my! You’ll actually start to consider possibly maybe hypothetically letting me see you?” Sole repeated in an exaggerated tone. “How could I ever turn down a rock solid offer like that?”

“I don’t make the rules, sister. I just enforce them,” Deacon laughed, taking a long drink. “But if you could help me get some intel on this possible Synth kidnapping, Dez might actually respect me.”

“She respects you as an agent already. You know that,” Sole said, before grinning. “She just thinks you’re a hopeless man-child.”

“That’s Professor Hopeless Man-Child, thank you very much. I didn’t go to years of Peter Pan school to not be addressed by my full title.”

“Noted,” Sole said with a little salute in Deacon’s direction. “So, do we know who might have this possible intel?”

Deacon turned slightly in his chair and let his eyes roam over the patrons of The Third Rail. There were the regulars on the couch, holding their drinks while listening to Magnolia’s sultry voice with rapt attention. He gave a sidelong glance to the VIP room where he knew MacCready would be making deals with shady characters for caps. And then there were a few strangers he didn’t recognize sitting at the bar a few stools away from him and Sole. Those were the most likely sources of intel.

“I’d say we keep an eye on old no-nose and Danse over there,” Deacon said, nodding subtly in the direction of a ghoul and an uptight looking perfectly-groomed man.

Sole let a little giggle escape her lips as she turned away from the pair. “He totally does look like Danse,” she said, her eyes crinkling in the corners as she laughed.

Deacon tried not to notice.

He failed.

“Ad Victorium,” Sole mocked in her best Paladin Danse impression. It was just as awful as her southern accent.

“That old tin can is such a boy scout,” Deacon said, wanting nothing more than to make Sole laugh again. The sound made him happy. “But he’s good in a fire fight.”

“He’s actually really sweet,” Sole said. “And super helpful out in the field.”

Hearing Sole say nice things about Danse should have warmed Deacon’s heart. But instead he felt something ugly and unfamiliar spring up inside of him. Was it jealousy?

“Yeah, he’s great. If you get over the fact that he’s a raging bigot who hates synths,” Deacon said. His words sounded harsher than he’d meant for them to. He actually liked Danse a lot. But for some reason, he didn’t want Sole liking him too much.

“Hey, he’s still coming to terms with a lot right now,” Sole said. “Give him time. He’s a good person.”

Deacon nodded but didn’t answer. He didn’t like how much this conversation was bugging him. He wanted to pretend it was because of Danse’s less-than-stellar opinion of synths. But he knew the truth. Bigotry aside, Danse was a good guy. A wholesome guy. The kind of guy that probably reminded Sole of her late husband.

What was Deacon?

A liar. A man-child. Someone who couldn’t get close to people without devolving into a stand-up comedian for fear he might expose too much of himself.

Why would Sole want that when she could have the muscled boy scout with the badass scar over his eyebrow?

“Hey, are you okay?” Sole asked, placing her hand on Deacon’s arm and looking at him with a furrowed brow. “You kind of disappeared for a second.”

Deacon cleared his throat and adopted the fake smile that served as his everyday mask. “I’m good, boss. I was just listening for any intel we might hear.”

It wasn’t a great lie, but he hoped it was good enough to get Sole’s hand off of his arm. He couldn’t handle it when she touched him. Even like this. It gave him hope. And hope was dangerous.

The two sat in silence for a long time and when Sole did eventually move her hand away from Deacon’s arm, he hated its absence.

They watched the ghoul and the pretty boy drink their drinks in silence and Deacon began to wonder if they weren’t actually the people they’d been looking for. But when Deacon saw MacCready leave the red VIP room and walk up their stairs towards Goodneighbor, the ghoul and the pretty boy instantly stood up in unison and headed over to the now empty room.

“Bingo,” Deacon whispered. “They were waiting for somewhere more private.”

“This is so exciting,” Sole said, bouncing in her seat a little.

It was quite possibly the most adorable thing Deacon had ever seen in his entire life.

And that was including the time he’d seen a mutated bunny with four soft fuzzy ears hopping around the Wasteland.

“We need to get in that room,” Deacon whispered, standing from the bar stool and heading over to the VIP room.

He and Sole entered, but made sure to stand around the corner where the two conspirators wouldn’t be able to see them.

The ghoul and the pretty boy spoke in hushed tones, but Deacon was still able to make out the key points.

“Nuka World,” Sole whispered, looking up at Deacon who nodded.

That was it. That was where the Synth was being held. Dez would be over-the-moon with this intel.

Deacon only had a moment to revel in their victory, because without warning, he could hear the footsteps of the ghoul and the pretty boy heading towards them. They would have maybe two seconds before they saw Deacon and Sole standing there. And then what? They’d probably try to kill them without a second thought.

Deacon opened his mouth to try to tell Sole to run, but before he could, she pushed him up against the wall and crushed her lips against his.

The forcefulness of the kiss caught Deacon off guard, but it only took him a moment to understand her strategy. Just be a couple of Third Rail occupants looking for some privacy for a good time and no one would suspect they’d been spying on the conspirators.

Sole pressed her body against Deacon’s, her hands sliding inside of his tux jacket and around to his back. Her lips were soft, even as they moved forcefully against his. And even though he was tempted to close his eyes and give into the kiss, he kept one eye open to make sure they hadn’t drawn any suspicion from the pair they’d just been spying on.

Deacon watched as the two men eyeballed them for a moment before shaking their heads and leaving the VIP room without another thought.

They’d done it. They’d fooled them. And now they could stop kissing. But Sole didn’t seem keen on slowing down. That meant it would be Deacon’s responsibility to stop the kiss.

But did he really want to? Now that he had a good reason to kiss Sole that wouldn’t make him have an existential crisis?

Instead, Deacon placed his hands on Sole’s waist, squeezing her sides and pulling her against him. He could feel her smile under his lips and the expression only encouraged him. He ran one hand up her back, keeping the other low on her waist as he kissed her back passionately.

He never wanted this to stop.

The heat from Sole’s body mixed deliciously with his own and with every kiss, he felt himself fall for her even more.

After a moment, Sole finally slowed down their moment of passion and broke the kiss. Her lips were swollen and her cheeks were flushed, but her eyes were bright and full of life.

“Our targets left,” Deacon finally said after a moment, because he wasn’t sure what else to say. “I don’t think they suspected us… good thinking, boss.”

He knew he sounded breathless and frazzled and he hated himself for it.

Sole didn’t step back away from him. Instead she stayed leaned up against him with her hands resting on his back.

“Mission accomplished,” she whispered. He could feel her breath against his lips and it made him shiver. Being this close to Sole was like drinking clean cold water after wandering the Wasteland for days with no rest.

Deacon and Sole stared at each other for another moment, neither one willing to break contact. Deacon still had his hand low on Sole’s waist, and he moved his thumb over the bumpy sequins there.

“We should probably report back to Dez,” Deacon said after a minute. Something that looked like disappointment passed behind Sole’s eyes and he wondered briefly if she had wanted him to say something else. Something unrelated to the mission.

Had he wanted to say something else too?

“Good teamwork,” Sole said, standing up on her tiptoes and placing one last long, slow, soft kiss against Deacon’s lips.

The motion gave Deacon chills all over his body.

When she pulled away, she gave him a meaningful look. “I guess we should be getting back.”

Deacon nodded dumbly, unable to speak for a moment.

When Sole pulled away from Deacon, he felt her absence like a punch to the gut.

“Right behind you, boss,” Deacon said, watching as Sole headed towards the stairs that would lead to Goodneighbor.

He let her climb a few before he started to follow her. The truth was, he wasn’t sure he trusted himself to be too close to her right now. Not after the kiss they’d just shared. Because he knew he wanted more. And he knew he’d always want more.

But the worst part of it was, he almost thought that maybe Sole wanted more too. The look she’d given him had held some kind of meaning. But there was no way he was going to pursue that. If he was wrong, and Sole wasn’t sending him signals, he’d be devastated.

No. It was better to live a life wondering, than to throw away a good thing on a small possibility that his feelings were reciprocated. Sole was too good for him and he knew it. She probably knew it too.

But maybe she didn’t care. And maybe he shouldn’t either.

[Part 3]

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

Based on this pic of my OC and Deacon being dorks together.

[moonyvali]

Cosa si nasconde dietro la crisi del gas? Come funziona cioè la propaganda politica?

Emblematiche la parole del presidente francese Emmanuel Macron, che commentando la crisi energetica ha esortato i cittadini a prepararsi “perché stiamo vivendo quella che potrebbe essere la fine, dell’abbondanza“.

Interessante scelta di parole. A quanto sembra, la drammatica crisi sociale vissuta in questi ultimi decenni, la disoccupazione crescente, la povertà incalzante, la chiusura di tante piccole imprese durante la pandemia e la conseguente perdita di migliaia di posti di lavoro, è stato in realtà un periodo di grande abbondanza e prosperità sociale. Ma è proprio questo il potere del linguaggio. Le parole che si scelgono, il modo in cui vengono disposte all’interno del discorso costruiscono un percorso di associazioni mentali che formano l’opinione del lettore e lo “motivano” ad accettare una determinata conclusione.

Ecco come, manipolando la lingua, si minimizza un problema che invece avrà un grande impatto sulla popolazione, lasciando intendere che è sufficiente abituarsi a fare a meno della prosperità e dell’abbondanza, associate nell’immaginario collettivo al superfluo, al non necessario. Insanabile ormai è lo scollamento tra la popolazione e la classe politica, quest’ultima talmente annebbiata nel suo mondo dorato e cieca alle esigenze reali del paese, da parlare letteralmente a vanvera. Si tratta però di vera cecità o di opportunismo abilmente mascherato?

La crisi del gas è stata presentata come una crisi inevitabile, innescata dallo scoppio della guerra. Eppure, alcuni osservatori economici «sostengono che la riduzione delle forniture russe non basti a spiegare un'impennata così importante del costo del gas,» riporta il giornale Today. Sul banco degli imputati non ci sarebbe tanto la carenza di combustile ma un’imponente opera di speculazione da parte di «aziende e trader che lucrano sul prezzo del gas facendo leva sulla necessità dei Paesi europei di fare scorta in vista dell'inverno.»

In parole povere mentre i cittadini hanno registrato un aumento sempre più devastante del costo delle bollette, alcuni, approfittando della paura crescente, stanno realizzando incredibili guadagni, nel silenzio dei governi che parlano di “fine dell’abbondanza” e di “razionamenti e rinunce necessarie”. Necessarie per chi? Per le tasche di questi grandi investitori senza ombra di dubbio. Dietro il malessere che sta colpendo i cittadini, c’è in realtà un gigantesco, colossale qui pro quo.

G.Middei, anche se voi mi conoscete come Professor X #politica #società #media

[theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin]

After that gorgeous sequel rant, would you be willing to share your thoughts on reylo?

Ugh.

Once again, that is the most succinct, easiest, answer I can supply. But it's so short, and that just won't do.

I mentioned in a recent post that Dramione comes in a myriad of disguises. Every fandom usually has at least one Dramione ship, you can usually guess which characters the ship will consist of, and while you might not be able to articulate exactly what about it makes it so damn similar to Dramione you will recognize it on sight.

Usually, to me, a Dramione ship features a strong, independent, female lead who may be varying levels of sexually empowered, varying levels of intelligent (Hermione loves to tell us how smart she is but it's not the heart of the ship), is strong, courageous, and noble who depending on the story du jour might slide into depravity.  The real give away is her love interest, always a man, usually a young man of comparable age, who has the bad boy appeal that's not too bad boy where he often is redeemed to the good side for 'reasons' in the course of the story.

Reylo is such a Dramione pairing.

You don't believe me? Look at the authors who write it, I haven't done this too often myself, but I guarantee you that a not small majority of them will either write Draco/Hermione or will have it all over their favorites and bookmarks. It's the same damn pairing.

But worse.

Because Kylo-Ren and Rey aren't really characters.

"Whoa, hold up!", you say, "That's just slander and uncalled for!" Well, change my mind. Rey Palpatine and Kylo-Ren are a series of character tropes and archetypes thrown to us by Disney screaming "LOVE MY CHARACTERS".

Rey is our noble, very Luke like, hero who is a scrappy desert rat with overwhelming mystical powers only acknowledged when the movies feel like acknowledging them (guys, admit Rey kicked Kylo-Ren's ass every time they fought with 0 training, come on, it's not hard).

However, there is nothing underneath her surface. Her hero worship of the resistance feels dull and given to her because it's expected. Of course Rey likes the resistance! The resistance is great! Sign her up! Rey has been living in the desert at the edge of nowhere for presumably 15 years, I'm shocked she's even heard of the new republic let alone the resistance. Despite essentially starving and only having a home that's a broken down old fighter, Rey saves a random droid. We're not really given a compelling reason of why she would do this, that she has a deep respect for droids/is horrified by their use, really really really hates the random trader she sells things to, or really really really hates the empire (if she even realizes it's them behind the bounty). She does it just so that a) the plot keeps moving b) to show Rey is... noble... I guess?

Remember that even Luke (who I have some problems with as a character) started his journey with more backstory and personality than this. Luke loved the empire and desperately wanted to become a pilot. He was very put out that his aunt and uncle kept saying, "Uh, no, bad idea." Luke was ready to skip town and sign on up for flight academy, he just got distracted by pretty women, er, his sister.

So, Rey is never given a compelling reason to do any of the things she does in the series. Just vague feelings of hero worship. And, of course, the drama over her parents. Just... I feel like Disney took out a hat, put a bunch of pieces of paper with words on them, and drew out the one that said "orphan angst about parents" and said "See, now she's conflicted! What a character!"

So yeah, Rey is your cardboard generic hero who is so generic she's not even a person. She has no hopes, no dreams, no fears, just these vague things we're told as an audience she cares about but never shown in any legitimate manner. Rey likes the resistance and rando droids, Rey imprints on Han Solo as the father she never had, Rey has this thing about her parents, Rey is attracted to Kylo Ren.

And that last one, oh boy that last one. It sold me less on the attraction to Kylo Ren than... oh... I don't know... Palpatine's secret Sith planet of doom. I mean, we all saw it coming, The Last Jedi it was very clear where that was going and then Abrams went for it even harder. But what we had was a series of skype conversations where Rey went from "Gr, you killed my pseudo father!" and Kylo-Ren responding, "Yeah, well he was my real father AND HE WAS SO MEAN" to "Oh Ben, I will fly to you through space and we shall save the galaxy together!"

I am given no reason to believe Rey's change of heart. Han Solo's death just suddenly... doesn't really mean much to her anymore (the man was murdered by his son in cold blood so that his son could feel better about himself). She believes Ben Solo is good now because Luke is a dick (never mind that, no matter what a dick Luke is, Ben Solo still murdered dozens of children and then went on to gleefully massacre his way through the galaxy). We're told there's a Force Dyad, which is um... not this thing the writer's made up because they were too lazy to convince me that Kylo-Ren and Rey would end up together in any organic way.

So, yeah, why does Rey like Kylo-Ren? Because the Force told her too? Because it was somehow all Snoke's fault in a way that's never properly described? (Indeed despite us spending quite a bit of time on Kylo-Ren's decision to remain Kylo-Ren being a very internalized thing) Because we saw him shirtless in yoga pants this one time?

It's bad when that last is actually the most legitimate reason I can think of out of the whole lot.

Now let's go to Kylo-Ren. If Rey is boring and nonsensical then Kylo-Ren is a dumpster fire and non-sensical. The guy reminds me a lot of Commodus from the film "Gladiator", the man is cowardly, vile, and murders his father in despair that his father never will be capable of loving him/passes him over for the throne. Kylo-Ren's murder of Han Solo is extremely similar to the murder of Marcus Aurelius in "Gladiator". Han Solo is a flawed father, trying to make his peace with his son, who approaches him unarmed and Kylo-Ren decides to murder him in order to solidify his place in the dark side.

Only, the films never acknowledge that every action Kylo-Ren takes is horrifying.

We're told "oh, Kylo-Ren exists because evil Snoke corrupted him" but also shown repeatedly that Kylo-Ren chooses the darkest path again and again and again. He "struggles with the light" but I don't see it. His opening scene, he has massacred a village and is torturing a man for information (this is presumably a daily routine for him). In the same film he later tortures Rey for information. He serves on a Death Star which wipes out billions in an instant. He murders his father to feel good about himself. He dresses as a man who was reviled and feared throughout the galaxy, a man who murdered countless children, and a man who dressed the way he did because he was barely hanging onto life, because Kylo-Ren thinks it makes him look like a badass. Think about it, this is like if a fully abled Kylo-Ren is wheeling around in a wheel chair, perfectly capable of walking, because he thinks that Professor X is so cool. Now, replace Professor X with Hitler, this is what the movies gave us.

Yet, the films seem to take it for granted that Kylo-Ren is a redeemable character. He's just lost and misguided, he's really struggling with the light and dark side! They don't just tell us this over and over again (which they do) but also just assume we know it.

And base the entire Reylo pairing off of it. Reylo believed Kylo-Ren could be redeemed, they battle Snoke together, then Kylo-Ren stabs her in the back and continues the assault on the Resistance and asks her to be his Dark Queen (TM). Reylo is shocked and appalled, I'm just wondering what movie she thought she was watching, because that was coming a mile away.

Later, when Kylo-Ren is redeemed, we're never given a reason why it happens. Leia just gives him a nagging, one word, phone call and then Han Solo shows up to go, "Ben, are you going to do the right thing?" and Ben goes, "Mumble, grumble, fine" because there's only an hour left in the last film.

Kylo-Ren, like Rey, is the writers' desperate attempt to create a compelling anti-hero with all the anti-hero sauce we love. They just won't admit they made an overgrown genocidal toddler.

Wow, this turned into why I hate both Rey and Kylo Ren, but, uh, back to the ship. Basically, the films give me 0 reason to ever believe it, and even if I wanted to, even if I said "Alright brain, let's make these characters real people for once", I still wouldn't like it. Because the ship itself is just as flat as the characters. It's spicy but not too spicy bad boy gets together with strong female lead.

I know a lot of people enjoy this, and I won't say it's any less legitimate than any of the weirdness I ship, but I'm not one of them. And the whole thing just makes me go "ugh".

[darkmindsotome]

On the Riverbank

Title: On the Riverbank

Fandom: Love365 Masquerade Kiss

Pairing:  Kei Soejima x MC

 Word count:3,963

Warning: NSFW Smut

Written by: darkmindsotome

Summary: After suffering from cabin fever a date is in order. Only this simple date plan is going to get spicy.

Tagging @voltage-vixen as requested. Prompt #15: Free Prompt (Picnic on the River)

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 I was willing to blame uncontrollable events on the fact that we hadn’t managed to go on a date in a while. Between work and recovering from work, it had been impossible to plan anything. However, it had become the new norm for us to remain living together at Kei’s rooms in Raven.

At some point, I began to feel like I had cabin fever. I was happy to be with Kei and a secret part of me loved being at home with him 24/7. To think there was a time when I thought this was a prison sentence. I couldn’t deny the fact I wanted to go out and do something now things had settled down though.

After looking out of the large windows in the suite over the streets of London, sighing for what must have been the sixth or seventh time, into my nighttime cup of tea. Kei put down his book and announced we would be going on a date. Later that night I curled up happily in bed wrapped in his arms and fell fast asleep.

The next day I woke up alone. My mysterious man had vanished before I could say so much as a good morning or ask about our date plans. Patting down the sheet on his side of the bed resulted in me finding them stone cold. He was always an early riser but this was ridiculous. I then noticed a note left on his pillow.

“Good morning, forgive me I had some things to tend to. I have arranged a car to bring you to our date. K”

I rubbed my fingers over his beautiful cursive writing just as a courier arrived at the door and delivered a beautifully wrapped box. The duck egg blue container was almost pearlescent with a thick cream coloured satin ribbon all perfectly tied around it.

The timing was so perfect I really had to marvel at the man organising this and wonder if I was always this predictable or if I would discover a hidden camera somewhere in the room. Opening the box up revealed a single white rose with a card resting on top of a black dress that fitted Kei’s tastes perfectly.

“I can’t wait to see you. K”

The message had me smiling long before I took the dress out of the box. It was a vintage style tea dress with little cap sleeves made from some of the most delicate lace I’d ever seen. It looked almost like patterned smoke.  

There was something different about getting ready for a mission and getting ready for a date. The feeling I got from both was similar but I found I was much more nervous about a date than a life-threatening mission. I rushed through my prep stage of shower, hair and make-up.  

Slipping into the dress I instantly fell in love with it. Kei knew my measurements off by heart and I was pretty sure he had them on file with his usual tailor so he could get the outfits he gifted me perfect right down to the last stitch.

Walking into the closet to find a pair of suitable shoes I discovered some already sitting out. They were naturally also black with the addition of ribbons that wrapped around my ankles. Securing the bows, I couldn’t help but make the comparison between them and cuffs. I felt heat climbing up from them at the thought. I imagined Kei and what was probably going through his head as he picked them out for me. How his fingers would have traced the shoes and the ribbon. The idea of tying me up was never far from his mind and with these shoes, it felt like he had already started.

Shaking my head, I looked at my watch and doubled checked my reflection in the mirror before leaving to go get in the car. I watched from the back seat absentmindedly playing with my choker as the car took me away from the centre of the metropolis. 

The modern landscape changed slowly into something that felt more historic. The buildings looked older; the concrete jungle had passed into something more like a tv drama set. In fact, if I hadn’t known how far I had travelled I might have thought I was somewhere else entirely.

My eyes caught a familiar figure standing near the roadside. He was dressed in more casual clothes. The white trousers, cream coloured cricket jumper with a blue stripe around the collar and the light blue shirt under it all made him look like a student. The car slowed until the backdoors aligned perfectly with him. I had seconds to smooth down my dress and mentally brush off some of the nervous excitement before the door was opened.

“M’lady.” I smiled at the Princely Kei as he offered me his hand. It was all too easy to forget what he truly was like even for me. Yes, I loved his sweet and angelic side, but I also loved that tricky Devil he hid behind his mask too.

“Thank you.”

Kei guided me to his side, away from the car, and sent it on its way. Now completely alone he used our still joined hands to make me twirl for him as he looking me over from head to toe.

“You look even better than I imagined.” Kei smiled and brought me closer to him. Sweeping some of my hair away from my neck so he could brush his fingers along the neckline of the dress and the choker around my neck.

I once more felt the difference in attire. I was all dressed up and felt far more formal than he did. The idea of him being a student once more flitted through my mind conjuring up kinky scenarios of a socialite sneaking off for a romantic rendezvous with a hidden student lover. It was silly, Kei was older than me even if there were times it was hard to tell that from appearance alone.  

“Careful now or you might start sounding like Kazuomi.” I joked attempting to forget the thoughts going through my mind.

My eyes naturally fluttered shut. His cold elegant fingers ghosting over my skin was enough to remind me of the many nights we spent together. Where he had dyed me in his own colours and shown me the abyss behind the door to depravity. Joining me as we fell through purgatory to our own private Eden.

“Perish the thought.” He let go of me. A sensation that left me feeling the need to chase him.

Opening my eyes, I saw that impish look on his face. He was slowly becoming more and more adjusted to life outside of his own nightmares and past. It was still obvious he was a little lost and confused at times but when he was like this, I could almost imagine him as a little boy. It made my heart sing to think we could stand here now together and I could enjoy such a candid fragment of my elusive boyfriend.

“Come now we should get this date started.” Kei laced our fingers and matched his pace to mine.

We walked through some trees and right up to the side of a riverbank. There in front of us was a beautiful craft floating on the water. Inside were some large cushions a few blankets and a basket.

“I thought I would show you a little hospitality and tradition.” Kei let go of my hand briefly to climb onto the small craft and then held out his hand again to help me get on board as well.

“We are going boating?” I giggled as the whole thing rocked under my feet. The idea of mixing something traditional from his own country and a date was so him it made me happy.  

“Punting. It is quite different but I trust you will enjoy yourself.” Kei’s correction came with all the patience I had come to expect from someone who knew so much and was used to sharing it in the course of his work.

“I think I’ve seen it before. It looked like the river had turned into Venice or something.” I sat down carefully feeling rather small when I looked back up at Kei.

“I can understand your comparison and whilst you can use a pole on both vessels a Punt is different to a Gondola.” He smiled and retrieved the long pole from the riverbank using it to cast off.

I watched him standing near my feet moving the pole through his hands with little effort. If you were really quiet you could hear the smooth wood, polished with years of use, slipping through the water and his palms.

“It doesn’t feel as safe as I thought it would.” I commented as the pole in his hand seemed to get stuck on something under the water and give a little tug that made the punt slightly rock.

“I assure you that I am an excellent Punter.” Kei’s expression was so deadpan and relaxed as he declared this I couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

“I get the feeling your friends would be doubling over in laughter right about now hearing you say that.”

“Yes, they probably would. Thankfully they aren’t or I would have tipped them both into the Thames and made them swim.” He looked down at me. The shadows from the trees we were moving through were casting shadows on his pale skin. I didn’t miss how his playful eyes shone through the shade.

“You wouldn’t…”

“Just sit back and enjoy the ride. I did consider placing the seat facing forward but selfishness prevented me from doing so. I wanted to see your face, forgive me.” The Devil faded in the light once more replaced by the charming Prince.

“You know I never once pictured you doing this?” I sunk back into the cushions, finding them much more comfortable than I thought they would be. The blankets as well were a mixture of textures but each one was thick and luxurious.

“Oh? Punting has been a traditional pastime in England since the 1860’s it really caught on by the 1880s and 1900s though. Before they became used for recreation these little crafts were used as part of the transporting of traders.” He spoke as he manoeuvred the pole and pushed us forward in the water. “Are you familiar with Alice in Wonderland?”

“Yes of course it’s a children’s classic.” I happily nodded. I know it is kind of a strange thing to enjoy but I did genuinely love how knowledgeable he was and how he explained things. It was like having my own personal tour guide and professor.

“Quite so. Well, the author Lewis Carroll used to punt along the Thames and during one of his outings where he was with a friend’s children he started to tell the story of a curious little girl who followed a rabbit. He later put pen to paper and created the beloved tale as a gift.” He lowered his voice as if he had just shared a piece of information vital to national security.

“I didn’t know that.” I don’t know what face I was showing him when he looked down at me. His face seemed to soften, although it could also have been my imagination.

“Literature aside I thought I would show you some more of England than the inside of Raven or shopping in the capital.” I looked around at the countryside slowly passing. I knew there was more to London than concrete and cars but I didn’t think there was this much greenery.

“I thought the Thames was larger than this.” I mused and put my hand over the side dipping it in the cool water playing with the ripples made by the punt as it moved.

“It is. We are currently on one of its many streams. Still part of the river but not as heavy with the tourist trade. You will also know of the boating traditions between Oxford and Cambridge, yes?” Kei always seemed to become a little more animated when talking like this. It was like he suddenly had an outlet for all the bottled-up information and facts he had in that well-read brain of his.

“The boat race?” I titled my head against the sun and saw him nodding happily.

“Yes, it is covered by the media extensively at the time. Well, the competition between the two on these waters doesn’t stop with rowing. There is a traditional Oxford way to Punt and then there is the traditional Cambridge version.” Kei grimaced theatrically as he explained.

“Haha, you don’t sound like you approve of the Cambridge way.”

“I am an Oxford man.” He almost seemed to stand up straighter as he said that. “The flat raised planking behind you is called the Till. A Cambridge man would stand on the Till and punt like so.” He stepped over me and demonstrated what he meant. It caused the punt to lurch which had me clinging to the sides of it thinking it might tip us both in the water. “Whereas an Oxford man, He will stand in the punt and work from here.” Kei stepped back into the punt and resumed moving us from inside. The vessel settled back down and I ended up breathing a sigh of relief. “Also a notable difference is the till. Following Oxford tradition, it is always facing front in the direction one is moving."

"I had no idea there were so many traditions.”

“There are more but I fear any more information will bore you under this hot sun. Here should be suitable.” He pushed the punt so it brushed up against the bank again this time next to what looked like a very secluded spot. The grass was short and looked to be recently cut. Surrounding it were high hedges and some trees.

“What is this place?” I asked as we left the punt for more stable ground.

“You will find them all around. They are locations people usually used for picnics.” Kei spoke as he stuck the pole into the bank and tied the punt to it.

“Are they all this well maintained?” I was still looking around. I don’t think I have ever been to a part of London that has ever made me feel so totally alone. It was pleasantly unusual.

“The ones that are owned are yes. This is one of my family’s spots.” He leant over and scooped up the basket and grabbed a blanket. With them in hand, he then walked into the centre of the grass and quickly set up.

“What do you have hidden away in your basket of tricks?” I sat down on the blanket and waited for him to reveal his secrets.

“We have tea, the very seasonal and traditional strawberries and cream.” He placed a flask down next to the punnet of fresh fruit and a pot of thick white cream. “We also have peanut butter sandwiches…”

“You made this picnic, didn’t you?” I couldn’t help but giggle. When he said he had things to do in his note I thought it would have been work-related. Now I had visions of him shopping and preparing this picnic instead.

“What is wrong with it?” He asked. His golden hair shining like a halo under the sun.

“Nothing just it's very you. If you had brought the basket from somewhere or had someone else make it, I doubt peanut butter would have made it on the menu.” It was true he could have ordered it from room service or had it made up somewhere in town and just brought it along. The fact that he actually made anything himself was endearing.

“Did you want something different?” His expression shifted and he looked like a child that was waiting to be scolded.

“No this is perfect.” I reached over and took one of the sandwiches from the plate in his hands.

“I did think of bringing some Pimms but I reconsidered.” Kei recovered fast, the cracks in his mask reformed.

“Why?”

“The time of day for one thing. I mean as Kazuomi would argue it's five o’clock somewhere but I would hate for you to be so drunk you fell overboard.”  He poured some tea from the flask and handed it to me. Our fingers touching for a second, more than long enough for me to realise his body temperature was still as cold as normal.

“We both know I have a better tolerance to alcohol than that.” How can he do that? It was so hot the world could be melting and Kei would still be sitting there in a pullover surrounded by his own internal climate control. “You said this was one of the quieter parts of the River. Why come here? Oops!”

I had been so concerned with not spilling the tea he had given me I had completely misjudged the integrity of the sandwich in my hand. Part of it failed to make it to my mouth and vanish down the neckline of the dress. Embarrassment threatened to bloom inside me and I really hoped Kei had missed what I had just done.

“Is it a crime to want to spend some time alone with my girlfriend?” His voice was so close and I hadn’t felt the blanket move or even seen him shift. Yet he was right next to me his face so close to mine I could feel his breath in my ear. “Honestly I did think of following one of the other paths of the river. There are more pubs and places to go along them but I wanted to enjoy something more scenic with you.” He trailed his fingers along my choker and then slipped them down the front of my dress. “Now I’m glad I made this choice.”

“Something about how you just said that makes me think you weren’t referring to a quiet picnic together.” I acted cooler than I felt. I knew he could feel my heart beating and see the pulse running wild in my neck. All the time I faked being calm as his fingers extradited the rogue peanut butter sandwich from my body.

“You always were very observant.” I followed his hand as it carried the salvaged food to his own mouth. Those eyes of his locked on me looking like pools of golden lust.

They drew me to him like a spell and held me there as he locked me up in his arms, his hands roamed freely over me. Tumbling back together onto the blanket the picnic was threatening to be forgotten.

“Mmm Kei.” My breathy cry came out as he nibbled on my collarbone and began moving a hand up my leg under the fabric of the dress.

“Careful now. It might be a secluded spot but there is no telling who you might summon with a voice like that.” He teased as his fingers did some teasing of their own. Rubbing the outline of my sex through the sheer fabric of his favourite lace panties.

“As long as one of the people I summon is you I don’t care.” I was done with coy. Coy and demure didn’t get you anywhere fast with this man. There was a time and place for all that and when we were alone and things were heating up was not one of those times.

“Mmm, have I ever told you how stunning you are when you are honest with your desires?” He slipped his fingers past the lace pressing his thumb onto my clit before pumping a couple of digits inside me. I wanted to moan louder but his warning from before made me stop.

I looked up and found him smirking. He knew I was holding back. He knew I was trying to be a good girl but damn him if he wasn’t trying to break me.

“I don’t think I can remember.” Two could play that game and I tried to make it look like I was still in control. With every stroke from his hand, I was losing my sanity, but I kept up a strong front and played the game.

“Then I’ll have to take my time and remind you.” He moved on top of me his hand still driving a fever through my core as he spread my legs wide with his own.

“What about the picnic?”

“There is time enough for both. I don’t intend to let anything here on this blanket go to waste.”

His voice purred erotically as he slid the zip on the dress down my back and dragged the bodice low enough to expose my breasts. The cap sleeves I had thought were a nice addition were now part of the binding of fabric that was preventing my arms from freely moving.

Kei brushed his fingers over the lace of the bra and once more slid his hand inside. Treating each nipple to a firm pinch as he ravished my mouth with his tongue. I squirmed under him trying to wrap my legs around his and return the restraint in kind.

“Hehe, you really are the only one that has ever tried to dominate me.” His laugh was like a clear bell whilst the things he was doing to me had my head crashing like a drum.

“Kei… please stop teasing me already.” I moved some more only to find his weight was gone. He had stopped touching me completely and was sitting back on his heels looking at me.

“As My Lady commands.”

I watched as he licked his hand clean and used the other to undo his belt and trousers. It wasn’t unusual for him to remain clothed but it rarely happened where it was so bright.  I bit my lip as he rolled my dress higher exposing all of me. He said nothing as he undid the strings on the panties and placed them into his pocket. The silence was deafening given how aroused I was. He leaned over and dipped a strawberry into the thick cream holding it just out of reach of my mouth.

“Eat it.” His command seemed absolute even if it was given in a sugary-sweet tone.  I tried to stretch for it but couldn’t. His eyes twinkled and his smile became more wicked. “I guess if you can’t be a good girl then I’ll just have to treat you like a bad one instead.”

I felt my core tighten as he brought his palm down with a crack against my bare thigh. He pressed down on me again. His mouth connecting with mine. Fruit and cream filled my senses as he used his own mouth to feed me. The escaped juices were lapped up by his tongue as he arranged himself to take this to the next level.

“Ah!” A slight sharpness ripped through my body and was quickly numbed as the pleasure of us finally connecting took over. With each rock of his body, it moved my body against the ground far more than the swaying of any boat.

Our mouths connected again and again at different angles to the point where I was sure I had forgotten to breathe. His fingers ran through my hair sometimes pulling grabbing at it but each time it only emphasised his desire for me and made my whole body tingle.

I never did find out if anyone else was around as Kei had said or if it was all just another layer to his devilish lies to set the mood. I did discover that I would never be able to eat a picnic again without the addition of a peanut sandwich.

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