#Tanya looks like she's got one but it's kind of a cheat
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tomswifty-fr · 4 months ago
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Last post got me thinking about horns and okay, people love to draw dragons with piercings through their horns and make accents with whitespace illusions of holes through the horns. I also do this, it looks badass, but horns are bone? They're alive bone? And I've been trying to figure out how to make it work that's not only "magic".
There are all kinds of crazy horn modifications out there that just do things to the keratin - dying, carving, tattoos, caps, getting stuff enameled or embedded in the surface, as well as surface-level piercings - but having something go through the horn itself is Hard Core. That's an extreme level of body modification. It's the kind of thing you have to seek out a specialist for, and vet them thoroughly. If surface level relief carving is getting an earlobe pierced, then an all-through horn piercing is like corneal tattooing or those guys who implant magnets in their fingers.
The procedure is performed with something like a biopsy needle, but larger, and involves plague magic to control pain and sterilize and shape the wound. Even with numbing, it hurts like hell and the infection risk is high. Since you can't just leave your marrow exposed to the air, the opening is fitted with something like a gauge made of bioceramic or, less ideally, a body-safe plastic. It's common for these to made to look like other materials, or to have a veneer applied after it heals.
Recovery is simplified by the fact that there's no open wound and no joint involved, but it still hurts a lot and has to be kept an eye on. This usually includes follow-up visits with the artist or a doctor to check for signs of infection and administer medicine or magic to promote bone healing. The worst-case scenario is finding a crack in either the horn or the gauge, since that means potentially bacteria inside, I emphasize, your bones. The patient may or may not be provided sealant or disinfectant to put around the edge of the gauge, but it's unclear whether these actually help.
Once it's healed, you can either leave it as a hole or put stuff in it. Rings are a classic, as are various dangly things and plugs with cool designs.
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toonqueen · 8 days ago
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Duckvember Day 17: Eggheaded Duck
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TOO TIRED TO COLOR. 
So I have this Mighty Duck’s OC that was Tanya’s older cousin. His name was Erik and his hacker name I BELIEVE was Egghead. He was smart like Tanya but felt cheated out of promotions in  previous tech jobs so he gave up being in that industry. Instead he got into stealing from the rich. Like you do. He ends up running a small thief group where he hacks security and lets others in to take the stuff.  Erik kept this double life secret from this family though. 
In my story line I had Duke (and my OC, that is his sister Duluna,) join the smaller thief group before later joining the whole Brotherhood of the Blade debacle. The reason Duke knew Erik is because he used to date their aunt. (very on and off, but stayed friends through it.) Duke and Duluna’s aunt (who I cannot remember the name of lol) may have been a wee bit into witchcraft, crystal and horoscope gal that believed the reincarnate of Drake Ducaine and his  friends that helped him were all around in this time all together now because something catastrophic was going to happen soon and they would be needed again. She wasn’t wrong. Unfortunately something happens to her and Duke and Duluna get left with Erik who feels responsible to keep a roof over their heads. 
A lot of the people in this little group Erik leads started out in their teens so he had to accidentally be a bit of a parent figure too. Oops. But he’s really a nice guy. Honorable thief Robin Hood thing going on. Wouldn’t put the group in trouble he couldn’t get them out of. 
 I always like the idea though that maybe Duluna and Tanya met once as little kids via Eric. Maybe Erik had to babysit Tanya once and met Duluna. Then many years later when they meet on Earth they probably wouldn’t even recognize each other. Though for Duluna’s origin store she does mention Erik to Duke, leading to Tanya being like “Oh I have a cousin named Erik.” And then finding out they knew the SAME ERIK. 
When Dragaunus attacked, only Erik and Duluna were nearby each other. The other members of the group were not found. They avoided capture but at the same time did not trust the military run resistance. Both of them instead worked with smaller groups of survivors, scavenge supplies for them, that kind of thing. Upon hearing rumors that the military was looking for the Mask of Drake Ducaine, Erik started to try to build his own from scratch. There was a limit of resources though. He did have a partly built one he would keep tinkering with though. 
One of the small non-military resistance groups that they start working with started being a thorn in Dragaunus’ side. Enough to be noticed. He unleashes a robotic creature to hunt the  resistance. Erik figures out it can only be blown up while inside it to permanently destroy it. He knew there was a chance he would have to sacrifice himself to blow it up, but he had hoped to get away. I always wanted to write a song fic to that  whole situation to this song. MAYBE SOMEDAY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iAYhQsQhSY&list=PLKQn9I9WSbNpj1pjYz-zxjkZbotY943T1
He then shows up later in this big story I wrote now lost on an old hard drive. Show up as a ghost though to Tanya. To inform her HEY guess what we are related to Drake Ducaine. Thats a whole other story.
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summerwritesfics · 11 months ago
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🏱I Wanna, I Wanna Stay ‘Til The End, Chapter 2 - However Long You Stay Is All That I Am
Pairing: Rain/Kuai Liang Length: 6361 Words Rating: Explicit 🔞 Warnings: Neighbours AU, Modern AU, Friends With Benefits, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Self-Esteem Issues, Medical Procedures, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Past Cheating, Cockblocking (especially relevant in this chapter LMFAO), Anxiety, Eventual Smut, Is it slowburn if the sex is fast but the emotions are slow, Minor Tanleena, 70% of this fic is me cockblocking Rain
I Wanna, I Wanna Stay ‘Til The End Masterlist
Notes: Hurray! Another chapter of another fic I havn’t updated in a while 😭 I’m doing it guys. Heads up, this chapter does have some discussion of past domestic abuse and past infidelity, but it’s kind of still tame atm. As a note before anyone leaves me a comment about it, I am aware that as of MK1 Rain has been given an actual name. I will however, still be referring to him as Ranjit for this story. I already started with that name and I don’t want to change it now. Chapter Title is from “All The Same” by Sick Puppies.
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“Rule one of the getting laid guidebook, don't try to fuck someone who has something in the oven.” Mileena sat back in her chair, putting her feet up on the desk. “Rule two, don't have your phone with you, and if you do, don't answer it.”
Rain glared at her, head on the desk. The report had taken him far longer than he'd liked. He hoped to get it done quickly and then return to Kuai's apartment again. He was so close, Kuai was even fighting whatever anxieties he had and flirting back. But by the time he finished the report it was 3am, and somehow he doubted a booty call at that time would go down well, no matter how into it Kuai was.
“Hey, look at the bright side,” Tanya started and Rain aimed his scowl at her now, because what bright side? “You know he's gay, single and, for reasons I can't fathom, down to fuck you.”
Rain stuck his tongue out at her. She had a point though. Kuai was flustered by Rain coming on so strong, but seemed open to it. He flirted back. He looked genuinely disappointed when Rain had to leave. God fucking dammit a hot guy was going to fuck him and then the universe decided to cockblock him. That seemed fucking typical.
“Are you three actually working or are you just having a circle jerk?”
Rain sat up. His glare now on Reiko, standing in the doorway and looking at the three of them with disgust. Why the hell Shao Kahn continued to hire him, Rain had no idea, especially given what he did to Mileena while they were dating.
“Don't you have to be a douchebag somewhere else?” Tanya hissed, and it was obvious she was trying to resist the urge to walk over there and punch him. Rain wouldn't hold her back if she did.
“Don't you have work to be doing?” Reiko sneered back. Rain clenched his jaw as Reiko's gaze landed on him. “Sorry to hear your plans didn't go ahead last night.” Rain snorted, how long had Reiko been listening in to know the details? “Guy must be pretty desperate though if he considered fucking you.”
It was one thing for Tanya to tease him about something like that, but Reiko's tone made it clear this wasn't just friendly ribbing. This was malicious. It was quite frankly gross, how Reiko tried to tear him down for daring to side with Mileena after the breakup. Like Reiko wasn’t the cause of it in the first place.
“Sounds like you're jealous no one wants to touch you,” Tanya snapped back. He wanted to tell her that stooping to Reiko's level wasn't exactly the best idea.
“That's not what your girlfriend thought.” And that was why engaging seemed like a bad move. Mileena was shrinking into her seat, looking like she did not want to be here. Tanya looked like she was about to rip Reiko's head off.
“You know what, my personal life is none of your business,” Rain interrupted, hoping to god he could put an end to the argument before it really got ugly. The last thing they needed was being reprimanded for getting into a physical brawl in the office.
“Maybe you shouldn't talk about it so loudly then.” Okay being the bigger person really isn’t working. Of course it wouldn’t when the person you’re trying to put yourself above was such a condescending asshole. “I really don't want to know the details of some old guy you're going to swindle into having sex with you.”
“Then put your hands over your ears and walk away, no one's forcing you to listen.” Rain tried to ignore the weird twist of doubt now in his head. Swindle into having sex... Was he swindling Kuai into having sex with him? What did that even mean in this context?
“Whatever, I hope the guy figures you out before he gets himself hurt.”
Rain didn't get a chance to retort before Reiko disappeared, turning his back on them and leaving the room. He gave an annoyed sigh, shaking his head as he turned back to look at his friends. Tanya still looked ready to gut someone, while Mileena was staring down at her hands.
“You okay, Milly?” He asked, and Tanya's anger finally faded as she turned to her girlfriend.
Mileena looked up at them and gave a forced smile, “yeah. Let's just pretend that didn't happen.”
Rain wanted to agree except that nagging doubt was back. Mileena and Tanya were his best friends, but didn't coddle him. If he asked if they thought he was in some way tricking Kuai Liang, they would tell him their truthful opinion.
“Do... Do you guys think I'm 'swindling' Kuai to sleep with me?” He asked. He didn't particularly like the look the pair shared.
“I mean, you do seem a little preoccupied with sleeping with him, rather than getting to know him,” Mileena said, rubbing the back of her head.
“I can be interested in sleeping with him and getting to know him,” he argued. “Those two things aren't mutually exclusive.”
“I just think you need to talk to him first, see what he wants from this,” Tanya advised. “I mean he's what? A single 40 year old man? He's probably more interested in someone he can settle down with, rather than rampant sex.”
Rain hadn't really considered that. He'd been so distracted by the fact Kuai was hot and gay he hadn't really thought about what the other man could potentially be looking for in a relationship. Maybe he just wanted someone to fool around with too. But maybe it was like Tanya said and he'd want something serious. Rain wanted something casual, but that didn't mean everyone else did.
“Just be careful,” Mileena said, “he seemed really anxious, and if you aren't on the same page about this, it could really hurt him.”
Rain was a bit of a fuckboy, he openly admitted that, but he never really intended to hurt anyone. Maybe I need to slow it down a bit. 
“Alright, I'll see if I can talk to him.” He wasn't sure if he should do it before or after he had sex with him. He'd just see how things went the next time he saw him, he guessed.
“Good, until then though, we should probably get to work before someone who isn't dickface comes and yells at us,” Tanya said, picking up a pile of paper on her desk. “Did you want to go over the newest marketing pitch again before I send it off?”
“Yeah we should do that,” he agreed, although he knew that part of him would be thinking about the man living opposite to him, and how to figure out what he wants from a relationship.
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Kuai hummed to himself walking down the street. It had been a good day. He'd managed to get a good chunk of the first draft done, spoken to Johnny about the scripting of the next book-turned-movie, and managed to get his bubble tea order in one take without stumbling over his words. It seemed a little silly to call that last one a win, but when you were used to always saying the wrong things, getting things right seemed like an accomplishment.
He had mostly been able to put the night before to the back of his mind too. He had thought about it though, while he sat in the park and drank his bubble tea. He really needed to figure out what Rain wanted.
Well, other than sex because that much was completely obvious.
It seemed like Rain wasn't looking for serious commitment. Just because that was how it appeared didn't mean that was what was really going on.
He'd been committed for 15 years, rushed into marriage at 20 and never really knew what it was like to not be in a long term relationship. And look what that had given him? Nothing but pain, emotional and physical. He was still healing from what had happened to him. He wouldn't rush into another serious relationship, he wouldn't let himself be hurt like that again.
He didn't think that Rain would do terrible things to him, but then he hadn't believed his husband would either. The possibility was terrifying to him.
If they could keep things casual in some way, he would appreciate it.
As he approached the apartment, he noticed the very man he needed to talk to was at the door. He looked like he was trying to figure out the trick with the door. The door clicked open and he gave a loud cheer as he did.
“I'm the best around! Nothings ever gonna keep me down!” He sang triumphantly, pumping his fist as he did. It was very endearing.
Kuai bit his knuckle to try and stop himself from laughing. Unfortunately, he snorted very loudly as a result, and Rain's head snapped around. He looked extremely embarrassed that Kuai had just seen that.
“Oh uh. You saw that, huh?” Rain sucked in a breath as he rubbed the back of his head.
“Don't worry, the secret of your dorky side is safe with me,” Kuai teased, trying not to grin. Rain gave a sheepish smile before holding the door open for him. Kuai thanked him as he slipped inside.
“So, I was actually hoping I'd catch you,” Rain finally said, following Kuai over to the elevator. “Given that I still owe you for the cakes, and I was thinking about ordering takeout tonight, I was wondering if you cared to join me?”
Huh. I wasn't expecting that. Maybe he had been wrong about Rain just wanting something casual. Or... was just having a meal together still considered casual? Kuai really didn't have enough experience with dating to be able to say.
Still, I can't really go wrong with free food, can I? 
“That does sound good,” Kuai answered with a smile, just as the elevator doors opened. “What did you have in mind?”
“Maybe a Chinese or pizza, whichever you prefer.” Rain lent against the wall of the elevator and the smile he wore made him look so handsome Kuai had to physically restrain himself from swooning.
“I could definitely go for a pizza right now,” Kuai replied, brushing his hair out of his eyes. He bit his lip. “I was hoping to talk to you, actually.”
“Huh, no kidding?” Rain hummed, pursing his lips. “There was something I was hoping to talk to you about too.” He grimaced slightly, “although it's a little personal, and we should probably wait until we're in my apartment.”
Strange. But Kuai smiled still and answered “ah, what I wanted to talk about may be better for a private place too then.”
Rain looked like he wanted to ask, but then the doors opened, and the subject was dropped and they exited as Rain asked “so, how was work today?”
“Pretty well, actually,” Kuai replied, “I made good progress on a couple of my current projects.”
Rain pursed his lips, “I don't think I've actually asked what you do for your job?”
He was right, now that Kuai thought about it. Between the questions they had asked each other and the growing sexual tension between them, the nature of their work life hadn't really come up.
“I'm a writer,” he explained, trying to figure out how in depth he wanted to go. He was well known, although not to the level of being stopped in the street like Johnny was. But at the same time, a few of his books had been made into blockbuster movies. “Currently working on a first draft of my next novel, as well as helping a friend with scripting a movie based on one of my others.”
He maybe shouldn't have mentioned the last bit when he noticed how wide Rain's eyes had gone.
“Wait, one of your books is being turned into a movie?” Rain sounded completely astonished. Even as he got his key out and tried to put it in his lock he was still looking at Kuai.
“Technically it's the third to be adapted,” Kuai admitted sheepishly. He didn't usually talk much about the movies. Not because they were bad or for lack of involvement, they were actually fairly faithful and he was involved every step of the journey.
No, it was more because after learning just who was involved, people suddenly were a lot less interested in Kuai Liang and far more interested in using him to meet world famous actor Johnny Cage.
Johnny was understanding. The last thing he wanted was Kuai being hurt because someone had carelessly used him as a gateway into fame.
“Wow, holy shit, that's amazing,” Rain stated, finally looking away long enough to actually get his key in the lock. “My brother is an actor.” Kuai felt a little apprehensive. He'd heard “my family members an actor, can you get them a part” before. Kuai still followed Rain into his apartment regardless. “Well... He's been in movies... as an extra.” Rain sighed as he shut the door behind Kuai and threw his keys onto a little table beside the door. “Although the way my family talks about him, you'd think he was Johnny fucking Cage.”
Kuai laughed nervously, partially at the mention of his dear friend, and partially because Rain's tone sounded extremely bitter. I get the feeling things aren't good with his family relationships. Still at least Rain wasn't pushing to know more about the films, or if Kuai could get his brother a better role in future ones.
“So, you never told me what you do?” Kuai tried to divert the conversation as he looked around the room. Observing at Rain's furniture, he suddenly understood the comment about Kuai's matching. There was such a mismatch of different styles and patterns.
If he was completely honest it was all extremely hideous but he knew that was just his personal opinion and definitely not a welcome one.
“Oh. Uh, nothing as exciting as you, by the sounds of it,” Rain replied, walking over to a drawer in his living room, and rooting through it. “I'm a Sales and Marketing executive.” He pulled out a pizza takeaway menu. “I'm basically behind a bunch of adverts and selling our products to clients, y'know basically making sure people actually want to buy our stuff.”
“I don't know, I think that sounds extremely interesting,” Kuai said, accepting the menu when it was offered to him. He already knew what he wanted, but it didn't hurt to pretend to look. “The closest to a normal job I've ever had was when I was 16 and doing weekends at the gas station.”
“Huh, you must have lived the starving artist life for a while then?” Rain questioned, flopping down on the couch and patting the seat next to him.
“Ah, not really. I married my ex-husband at 20 and he was ridiculously rich.” Kuai absentmindedly sat down, eyes still on the menu, trying to make sure the pizza he wanted was still available. “I technically didn't have to work, but I got bored quickly, and began writing to keep myself entertained. Sent my first draft to a couple of publishers one day on a whim, lo and behold one of them loved it and the rest is history.”
“I- Oh. Your ex-husband?”
Kuai paused.
He hadn't even realised he'd mentioned his ex. Shit. It had been a slip up, not a major one mind, but enough to make him feel apprehensive. Because usually when he mentioned him, people immediately felt entitled to know why they split up. Kuai didn't enjoy talking about that with his therapist, let alone to people he barely knew.
“Yes I was married for 15 years,” he explained, “we divorced 5 years ago.”
“Oh, sorry to hear that,” Rain said sympathetically. “Why did you split?”
“We-“ Kuai stopped himself.
He was going to say they drifted apart but that just felt wrong to say. They didn't drift apart, Kuai just finally grew tired of the cycle. His husband berating and hurting him and then showering him with adoration and gifts. The promise that it would never happen again, only for a few days to go by and it to all start over. He would never forget the night he finally attempted to leave. He'd never forget hands on his chest, pushing at him and the sensation of falling down the stairs. He'd never forget waking up in the hospital to his husband swearing up and down Kuai had slipped and fell. He'd never forget the desperation he felt when he finally managed to slip the nurse a note that just read “he's lying, please help me”.
He took a deep breath, now was really not the time he wanted to talk about this.
“He just wasn't the man I thought I'd married,” he settled on.
Thankfully, Rain didn't seem to push for more info than that. Maybe it was clear the subject was too painful for small talk.
“Anyway,” he said with a cough, seemingly wanting to move on. “Did you decide what you want?”
“Vegi-surprise, please.” He passed the menu over to Rain, trying to smile and put the memories to the back of his mind.
“Vegetarian?” Rain questioned as he took the menu and got his phone out and started putting the number in.
“Ah, no, I just prefer vegetables on my pizza,” he explained, just before Rain put the phone to his ear.
He kept quiet as the order was made, wondering what the rest of the evening would bring.
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“I can't believe you are partially behind that jingle,” Kuai exclaimed after swallowing a mouthful of pizza. Rain had been telling him about some of his previous advertising campaigns, and a very well known and annoying jingle for Outworld Superstores he'd had a part in creating. “It was stuck in my head for months!”
“Yeah, sorry about that,” Rain said with a grin. He wasn't the person who performed or wrote the jingle, but he was the one who had suggested it and given it the green light. He had been repeatedly told it had ruined people's lives with its earworm nature.
It was weird. Rain didn't consider his job exciting at all. Not that he regretted it, just normally when he talked about the ins and outs beyond specific adverts, people tended to zone out. Kuai on the other hand seemed fascinated. And here was Rain thinking he'd be the one asking all the questions about Kuai's job.
Actually, Kuai had barely talked about his work, it was a little strange. He was accomplished enough to have movies made from his books. Surely that was something to brag about? Kuai was probably just more humble than Rain could ever be. Years of his accomplishments being completely ignored in favour of his brothers meant he felt the need to be bold and push them to the front.
Now that I put it like that, maybe that is more a me issue. 
He was sure Kuai would open up more as time went on. Both on his work and the mysterious ex-husband he mentioned. Rain wasn't an idiot, he could tell whatever caused them to split up was painful. He hadn't pushed, it wasn't his place. The only thing about it that bothered Rain was Tanya and Mileena's earlier warnings that Kuai might be looking for something more serious.
And 15 years sounded pretty fucking serious to Rain.
He turned to Kuai with the intention of finally bringing the subject up, only to stop when he saw the other man. He had a small amount of dip on the corner of his mouth.
“Ah, you uh- you've got a spot on you,” Rain informed him, tapping the corner of his mouth, as an opportunity came to his mind.
Kuai reached his hand and wiped his mouth, "is that better?"
Rain scooted forward, reaching a hand to Kuai's chin. "Here, let me~" he purred, before leaning in to kiss the other man.
So much for talking about things first. Kuai made a surprised huff, but it didn't take long for him to lean into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Rain's shoulders. Kuai opened his mouth and Rain took the chance to slip his tongue in. He was delighted to feel Kuai's tongue mingle with his own.
He began to shift, gently pushing Kuai back down against the couch. Rain's hands fumbled with Kuai's shirt, trying to undo the buttons. He released Kuai's lips, trailing kisses along his neck instead. Kuai moaned as Rain managed to brush aside Kuai's shirt. He pulled back slightly, just enough to observe the other man below him. Kuai was surprisingly fit, not too muscular, not too lean. His chest was covered in scars, some looked like they had potentially been from surgery, while the others he had no idea what could have caused them. Now was not the time to ask. He'd been so distracted by the scars, he'd barely registered that the other man's nipples were pierced.
Holy shit, how the hell does this man seem to fit every niche I’m into? 
“God, you're so fucking hot,” he muttered, before leaning down pressing his lips between the other mans pecs.
“R-Rain,” Kuai whimpered as Rain continued to kiss down Kuai's torso. He mostly followed one of the scars that seemed to go mostly down the middle. Kuai continued to make sweet little noises, even arching his back as if to push himself closer. He continued down, meeting Kuai's navel and slipping his tongue out and swirling it around the man's belly button.
Rain searched for the buttons on Kuai's jeans, undoing them before hooking his fingers in. He lightly tugged on the item of clothing and-
He jumped a mile when his door buzzer went off.
He sat up and stared at the intercom, before looking down to Kuai Liang. His face was bright red as he looked across at the thing that had interrupted them.
“S-should you get that?” Kuai asked, looking up at him while biting his lip.
“They can wait,” Rain decided, turning to settle back between Kuai's legs. He trailed his hands down Kuai's sides, leaning down about to kiss him. He stopped when the buzzer went off again. He grit his teeth, wanting to ignore it, until the buzzer started to rapidly go off, like someone was repeatedly pushing the button in quick succession. He gave an annoyed sigh as he pushed himself up. “Sorry, I'll just deal with this.”
God he was so fucking annoyed. As he got up and walked over to the intercom, he couldn't help but mentally berate whoever was on the other end.
He clicked the button and sharply answered with “Yes? What do you want?”
“Nice to talk to you too, Ranjit,” the familiar voice spoke back. Rain mentally groaned.
“What are you doing here Taven?” He reached a hand up to rub his temples. The last thing he needed was his brother coming over to pass judgement on how this place really wasn't up to scratch.
“I mean, I am your brother,” Taven replied. “But mostly I need to talk to you about something important.”
“Can't it wait? I'm kind of in the middle of something here.” He glanced over his shoulder. Kuai was sitting up on the couch, fiddling to redo his fly up. Shit shit shit. He wasn't going to let Taven ruin this for him. Not again. He thought he was done having family members walking in on him “accidentally”.
“No not really,” Taven said, sounding annoyed. Not as annoyed as I am. “The sooner you let me up there to talk, the sooner I'll be out of your hair.”
Rain made a frustrated hand movement, before dragging it down his face and finally biting out “fine, but you'd better be quick.” He hit the button that would let the door open, waiting to give Taven enough time to get through.
He turned back to find Kuai had already done up his shirt, although he was still sitting on the couch. He looked extremely embarrassed and Rain couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
“Should I leave?” Kuai asked quietly.
“No, no, it's okay. Hopefully this'll be a few minutes tops.” Rain held his hands up, hoping it might help calm Kuai down. There was a knock on his door, and he went to open it. He was rather thankful that it was just Taven on the other side.
“So, uh, this place is where you're hiding huh?” Taven said in greeting, looking around the place like he was expecting someone to jump out at him. Rain wanted to roll his eyes so badly. “Am I allowed in?”
Rain didn't want to let him in, but he supposed it would be rude not to. He reluctantly moved aside. Taven stepped in, looking around like he was trying to scope the place out. He did a bit of a double take when he spotted Kuai.
“Oh, uh, hello?” Taven sounded confused, and Kuai looked completely out of his depth.
“Hi?” Kuai squeaked out, looking desperately towards Rain for help.
“That's my neighbour, Kuai Liang, and this is my brother, Taven,” he introduced, gesturing to each of them as he spoke.
“Oh, you didn't say you had company,” Taven said, biting his lip.
“I did say I was in the middle of something,” Rain pointed out to him, trying to not just scream in frustration.
“Uh, would- would it be better if I left?” Kuai asked again, clearly getting nervous.
“Yeah, that might be for the best,” Taven said before Rain could open his mouth to reassure Kuai it was fine.
He watched as Kuai nodded in defeat, before pushing himself up and grabbing his bag. As he made his way towards the exit, he paused briefly to give Rain a small smile.
“I'll see you later,” he whispered, before turning and leaving, closing the door behind him.
Rain just glared at Taven as he growled, “well now you've cockblocked me, you might as well tell me what the fuck you want?”
Taven shook his head in shock as he muttered “coc- huh?” He blinked a few times, “oh, my god, Ranjit, you weren't actually going to have intercourse with your neighbour were you?”
“Why do you have to refer to it like that?” Rain groaned. Why can't he just call it fucking like everyone else? “Yes, I was going to fuck him, but seeing as you've kind of ruined that plan could you please tell me why you're here?”
Taven looked like he wanted to say more on the subject of Kuai Liang, but eventually settled against it when he said “Mom's birthday party is next Friday.”
“And?” Rain rolled his hand to try and get Taven to get to the fucking point already.
“Well, I've been texting you asking if you're coming, and you've just left me on read.” Much to Rain's annoyance, Taven walked over to his kitchen, and settled down on one of the stools at the breakfast bar.
“I don't know if you know this, Tav, but I've been rather busy lately,” he snarled, while flailing his arms to the apartment around him.
“So too busy to send me a one word text, but not to try and seduce your new neighbour,” Taven replied, crossing his arms. “Seriously, you've been here two days. You don't even know the guy.”
“I know he's hot and I want to fuck his brains out, the rest is none of your fucking business,” Rain argued, storming over to the kitchen counter. “As for the party, I don't know yet.”
“She's your Mom-“
“No. She's your Mom! I'm nothing to her! The only reason I'm around her is because Dad couldn't keep his cock in his pants!”
The outburst lingered in the air, thick and heavy. It was a button Rain hated being pressed, Taven knew it was and yet he still insisted on bringing it up. In Delia's defence, on some level she had tried to be a supportive step-mother to Rain. It was clear, however, that her priority lay with her biological children. He knew that on some level she resented him, the constant reminder of her husband's betrayal.
He supposed she had at least tried, unlike his father.
He closed his eyes in defeat as he mumbled out, “when is it?”
“Next Friday at 6.” Taven was still looking at his hands. “If it helps, you can bring a plus one.”
“Fine, I'll be there,” he whispered, still not closing his eyes. He had a feeling Mileena and Tanya were busy next Friday, he might have to hunt for another plus one. “And I'll be with someone.”
“Thank you.” Rain opened his eyes, and hated how genuinely grateful Taven looked. “I know she'll be happy to see you there.”
I doubt that. 
“Was there anything else?” Rain asked, rubbing his face with his hand.
“No, I guess I'll leave you be,” Taven jumped off the seat and began to walk towards the door. “But, promise me that you'll be careful with the neighbour thing?” Rain just furrowed his brow at him. “We've been here before Ranjit. You rush into things, it's great for a while and in the end everyone just gets burned because they want commitment you can't offer them.” Taven reached to place a hand on Rain's shoulder. “I know it doesn't feel like it sometimes, but I do care about you and I don't like seeing you get hurt.”
There were so many things Rain wanted to say about that, but just couldn't. He resigned himself and just said “I'll be careful.”
Taven just nodded, wishing him a final farewell and then he was thankfully gone. As he closed the door, Rain rested his forehead against the door, resisting the urge to slam his head against it repeatedly.
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Kuai sat on his couch, staring silently at his TV, despite it being turned off. He was more watching himself in the reflection. He was rubbing his fingers across his lips repeatedly, trying to soothe his nerves.
Rain had seemed very upset to see his brother. He wasn't sure if he should have stayed as a mediator, or if he'd made the right call by leaving them to it. Either way, it seemed his talk with Rain was going to have to wait. Well, not that it seemed talking was where things had been going.
It had been 5 years since Kuai last had sex. He’d thought about it a few times, but never worked up the courage. The way Rain kissed him, touched his body. He couldn’t believe how good he felt. It wasn’t until he was in that moment that he realised how much he missed that kind of intimacy. Even when he was married, that softness was limited to his ex’s good days, that man was a very selfish lover.
He didn’t want to think about that, he wanted to think about how wonderful it had felt for Rain to touch him.
So much for talking about things though. He sighed, and rubbed at his face. All it took was a kiss and I was spreading my legs for the guy. It did rather indicate that Rain was more interested in something casual, or at least, more interested in the sex aspect. If that was indeed the case, Kuai could handle that.
He jumped a mile when he heard a knock on his door. He scrambled to get up and rushed over to it. As he expected, once he opened it, there was Rain, looking extremely apologetic.
“I am so sorry,” Rain immediately told him before Kuai could even begin to utter a word. Kuai simply smiled and stepped aside to let him in.
“Don’t worry about it,” Kuai tried to assure him, shutting the door as Rain entered the apartment. He felt a flutter in his chest, realising it was probably going to be now or never in regard to that talk. “Um
 So, I think now would probably be a good time to have that conversation.”
“Yeah. Yeah, you’re probably right.” Shang Tsung reached up to rub his face with his hand. “Um. Shall I go first?” Kuai nodded in confirmation. Honestly even bringing it up first was a big step for him, he didn’t think he could handle going first as well. “What exactly do you want from
 whatever this is?” Rain gestured towards the both of them as he spoke.
So, we wanted to talk about the same thing. Funny. 
“That is what I wanted to discuss with you too, actually.” Kuai began to rub at his wrist, swallowing as he tried to think of how to explain. “I’ll be honest, I was hoping for something
 casual.”
“Casual?” Rain asked, tilting his head. He didn’t look put off though, more hopeful if Kuai was reading him right.
“I don’t think I’m really ready for anything extremely committed.” Kuai bit his lip, trying to ignore how hard his heart was beating. Even though Rain showed no sign of being upset by this, the little voice in Kuai’s head wouldn’t stop telling him the other man was going to leave and never talk to him again over this. “I’d like a companion but not a partner
 I don’t know if that makes sense?”
“No, no, that makes perfect sense.” Rain stepped forward, taking Kuai’s hand in his. “That’s what I’m wanting too. Just someone to have fun with.”
“Oh.” Kuai chuckled awkwardly. “Well now I feel stupid for being worried.”
“Pth, don’t. My friends kinda got in my head about how you’d probably want something more serious.” Rain rubbed the back on his neck and gave a handsome smile. “So, uh, something like friends with benefits good for you?”
Kuai laughed. Aren’t I a little old to be having friends with benefits? Still, it did sound nice. He didn’t really get to have the awkward early adult phase, it’d be nice to experience a little of what that would have been like. Even if he was about 20 years too late.
“Friends with benefits sounds perfect to me.”
He was surprised when Rain suddenly took hold of his hips and pulled them close. Kuai giggled as their lips almost touched.
“Well then, with that out of the way, where were we?”
Kuai felt a little bold, confidence brought on by the previous conversation, bringing his arms up and around Rain’s neck. He felt Rain pushing him backwards until his back hit the wall. How he resisted the urge to grind against him he had no idea. Rain’s lips were on his, and he opened them hoping for their tongues to meet again. He quite enjoyed that the first time.
It really should not have surprised Kuai when a ringtone started to sound from Rain’s pocket.
Rain pulled away, and grimaced. “I cannot believe this.”
“I’d have thought after yesterday, you’d have learnt to leave your phone behind,” Kuai teased a little, snorting when Rain pouted at him.
“You would have thought I'd have learnt my lesson, wouldn’t you?” He sighed and reached into his pocket, frowning at his phone. “I have to take this.”
Kuai nodded as Rain stepped back and answered the phone. He just stood and watched as the other man got more and more exacerbated. There was a part of Kuai that felt sorry for him, being interrupted yet again, but the other part of him that felt a little bitter that he hadn’t done the obvious of leaving the stupid device behind this time.
By the time Rain was done with the conversation, it was clear he was more than a little annoyed by it.
“Work?” Kuai gently asked, and Rain gave him an apologetic look.
“Unfortunately.” He grimaced and shook his head. “The universe really does not want me to fuck you.”
Kuai laughed despite the situation. It really seemed that tonight was not going to be the night again. But there would always be more opportunities.
“It’s okay, I understand.” Kuai pushed himself away from the wall, stepping forward and giving Rain a quick kiss on the cheek. “I promise I will still be here tomorrow.”
Rain nodded, not hiding the somewhat goofy smile on his face from Kuai’s display of affection.
“I will see you tomorrow,” Rain assured him, patting his arm slightly. All Kuai could do was sigh as Rain made his way back to the door.
As soon as it shut behind him, Kuai flopped backwards against the wall, letting himself slide down it and staring at the ceiling. Honestly, if he were a little more superstitious, he’d genuinely think the constant interruptions were the doing of Bi-Han’s ghost. Big brother always was very protective, and a little too distrustful of just about anyone who found Kuai attractive.
It was a shame he wasn’t there to stop Kuai from getting married. He was certain if Bi-Han were still alive, none of the terrible things that happened would have. He’d have beat the shit out of his ex the second he suspected so much as a finger had been laid on Kuai’s body.
But Bi-Han hadn’t been there, and he wasn’t here now. Kuai just had to believe that all of this wasn’t some kind of bad omen. Like the universe was trying to stop it from happening to protect him.
Not like the universe protected me before. 
He was due to see Johnny again tomorrow, and work together on the next script. He was generally pretty decent at relationship advice. Maybe I should ask him tomorrow? At least get some idea on what to expect and how to maintain the boundaries to keep them both safe.
Until then, well, the whole experience was starting to give him creative inspiration. He finally stood up, and rushed over to where his laptop was, determined to write some notes before he forgot everything he’d just experienced and felt.
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⋞ Previous Chapter ≛❀≛ Next Chapter ⋟
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anonil88 · 2 years ago
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The White Lotus Ep 5 and 6 Liveblog
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
Episode 5 thoughts
Tanya is annoying but I hate to see these men con her and belittle her.
The way this couple is looking at Harper is oooo its hot as fuck. Aubrey is so fine too.
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The opera scene is actually very sweet but I am still suspicious of this man and his whole group.
Oh they are broke.....damn tonya you are about to be "had".
That is a ginormous secret that Daphne just dropped. Whew lord they better hope that secret doesn't get out because they are in a dysfunctional but happy stable marriage.
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"Uncle" or uncle? Cause he has been giving me rent boy since this group showed up together.
Albie might be an actual nice guy but he screams incel at moments, other moments he just seems like a sweet boy trying not to be like his dad and granddad.
I think Lucia is going to have a fiance or something because that guy was like.....hmmm. Oooo or that could be her brother and he is trying to be like "be more discreet".
Episode 6 thoughts
Can these four fuck already cause they're drawing out this jealous power play, and I don't want to come out of this show hating either Daphne or Harper. We as a society really do love a deranged woman.
I want Mia and Lucia to have the best life ever because they done so much for this hotel and only one is being paid.
Ethan is hot but man does he got some serious resentment bubbling against Cameron. It is kind of funny that he was so "IM NOT CHEATING" only to turn around and start thinking his wife is going to petty fuck his "friends". (He definitely may be right based on Cameron's past but I need him to take a second, collect himself, and then bring it up. Oh wait but then he'd have to take his wife's approach.
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This 3 generation men trio being turned away from a matriarchy mirrored household is pretty funny. Its even funnier because they may be blood related.
Ethan is bugging! Daphne and Cameron are messy and full of lies but they are really functional. They also clearly do care about eachother whereas Harper and Ethan don't even seem to like eachother. Sexual attraction aside in ep 1 and 2 all he did was talk down on what she wanted to do on the trip. It was pushback from every side and he was the one person who could be like "oh honey that is a great choice" without it seeming ingenuine. I wonder why they got married.
Not these gays about to set Tonya up with a boy toy and snow ❄. I hate it because this group seem to have alterior motives. British boy is drowning himself in alcohol to prepare for whatever meanwhile killing Portia's mood.
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Not the replacement ending up an actual creeper.
Boyfriend? Fiancee? Ughhhh oh Valentina is hurt. Hey at least the receptionist is a little aware that it hurts but still wanted to celebrate her birthday.
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Ethan has mur der in his eyes. 😭
Granddad realized he might be a bad person after not getting what he's been searching for. The comfort of a woman. 😂 someone has mommy issues for sure.
That's a very pretty martini glass. The stem is so skinny and the bowl/cup area is so thin as well. Very nice glasswork or prop pulled.
I thought for a second they weren't actually going to have a party/a gallery. But they didn't lie about that at least.
A gun? To a blizzard? Oh Tanya please be careful.
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Is Valentina not out out? Ohhh she's just never done that. Mia is actually being very sweet albeit forward about this.
Lucia and Albie actually really do like eachother, even if this ends up just a trip romance.
Valentina looks so afraid and Mia is like let me give you a birthday gift.
Jack is a rouse I think in general and especially now getting her to stay away from the villa, but he also being an obnoxious United fan so he should probably sober up.
Ay Valentina get you a lil something something on your birthday.
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Not Ethan making up scenarios, this is going to end up so so bad. Especially with all these statues that provoke the mind and expose the truth of everyone's intentions.
I wonder how much of what is happening to or being told to Tonya is false and how much is true.
The reddit super sleuths were right, like how tf did they even catch this all those previous episodes. Albeit that is one of the weaker storyline this season, the Greg or Carl dude Tonya shacked up with in season 1.
Boy toy just out here in his birthday suit but I appreciate that he's taking the gentle approach with Tonya.
SERIOUS! Can someone identify the painting of the woman with the dagger?
Oop not Jack spilling fucking tea. I hope Portia a. Helps Tonya see the light and b. Stops complaining to this boy so it can't be used against her later.
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Ep 7/Finale next week woot woot. My prediction is its Cameron, Ethan, and then a red herring. Trailer is looking mighty spicy for the finale. Also, I like that the Italian actors are getting their own moment to shine in certain episodes for their character development and we get to see their post show bts talk back. "All the characters are tragic and funny."
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nifolution · 3 years ago
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Baby Blues 6
Warnings: Angst, smut, fluff, infertility, heartbreak, cheating, manipulation, noncon/dubcon, harassment, pregnancy, argument, therapy, making up
A/N: This is a revised copy of my oc fic. It is written in 3rd person. 18+ only due to smut and noncon/dubcon situations. No stealing, no reposts, no translations, no feeding to AIs. Comments, reblogs and likes are always welcome and appreciated.
Chapter 5 Series Masterlist Main Masterlist
Chapter 6
Tony repeated the expletive, looking at Natasha and Pepper-Bruce who looked just as uncomfortable. Well that came so far out of left field, he could never have predicted his investigation would lead to this
this witchy business. It wasn’t metal arm’s fault. They villainized him when he needed their help. Shit! And poor Y/N... double shit!
Bucky's heart twisted painfully, the back of his neck and cheeks burned, his head throbbed. His teammates
 former teammates were staring at him apprehensively. It took him a few minutes before he found his voice. “May I request a few hours to gather my things and send communication to Steve before... before I’m fired.”
“Fired?”
“The deal was to help me prove I didn't do it so I could get my wife back. You've proven the opposite. I have done e-everything she accused me of.” Bucky’s face screwed up in pain. “I thought it was fake, but it was me the whole time. I
 I cheated on my wife. That means I lost my job, like I lost her.”
Tony puffed out his cheeks, letting out a long exhale. “Look, I just got to second base with The Hulk a few moments ago, so I'd call this extenuating circumstances. As much as I dislike you, it would be cruel to punish you for what happened. Consent is a two way street and that wasn't the case here, what that witch did negated that
 And it pains me to say this, but I think we all owe you an apology.”
Bucky knew he should have felt some relief at Tony’s words, but there was only guilt. He hurt the person he'd vowed to love and protect, the details didn't matter. He wasn't sure how to make it better. Would she even believe what happened? Would she forgive him and take him back? He wasn't sure he deserved to be.
Natasha decided to say what they were all thinking. “How are we going to explain all this to Y/N?”
---------------
Natasha walked into her apartment, a ziplock of the blue dust in her pocket. She quickly spotted Y/N on the couch in her pajamas. She took off her shoes and sat down next to her.
Y/N smiled, “Welcome home Nattie. What did Tony have you doing that had you out so late?”
The redhead took a deep breath as she turned to face her friend. “Before we start, is this what you’d been smelling on Bucky?” Nat pulled the bag out, opened it and held it just under Y/N’s nose. Careful not to let her get too close.
She recognized it all right. Y/N frowned, “Yeah
 What the hell is it? I figured it had to be some kind of icky perfume.”
Instead of answering, Nat got up to let the rest of the group inside.
Y/N eyed Tony and Bruce suspiciously as they shuffled in. Both of them looked like they wished they were anywhere else. “Why does this feel like an intervention?”
Tony winced, “It kinda is.”
She quirked an eyebrow at her employer, “Are you retiring again?” Then she saw Bucky slowly step into view. He looked utterly defeated, movements rigid, eyes downcast. This was the first she's seen him since the fight. Emotions hit her like a tidal wave. Shocked, upset, betrayed. “What the fuck is this, Nat? I can't be here if he is.” Y/N tried to retreat to her bedroom, only to be stopped by Tony’s hand on her shoulder.
He coaxed her back to the couch. “You're gonna want to sit down for this one, kid. We have a lot to go over.”
The group did their best to explain what they discovered. How they were victims of a jealous witch hellbent on destroying their marriage. That the powder made Bucky unaware he was with Tanya, because his eyes only saw Y/N. He believed it was his wife, even though everyone else, and video, showed the real person. Y/N was reluctant to believe them. Witchcraft, spells, this was more than her brain could handle right now. It could not be real. Why were they suddenly on his side?
“It’s very real, Y/N. I wouldn’t lie to you, especially not for him. Thanks to that blue crap I got a little too up close and personal with Banner earlier.” Tony pointed to Bruce, “You may see the big green over there, but I see Pepper.”
Natasha interjected, “Actually you groped him after we told you it was Bruce.”
“Semantics.”
Y/N’s body felt frozen in place, her mind running a mile a minute, as she came to terms with what she just learned. “But
 but that would mean
” She gave her husband a panicked look, tears in her eyes, before having to turn away.
Natasha, seeing the look etched on Y/N’s face, began rubbing her back. “Are you alright? You're going to worry a hole through your lip if you don’t stop biting it.”
“No, I'm not alright. Nothing about this is alright.” Feelings warred in Y/N’s gut, the guilt slowly seeping in and suffocating her. She buried her face in her hands before screaming. “Fuck!” She put her legs up, lowering her face between her knees. “This is so fucked. This is so fucking fucked up.”
Bucky felt even more guilty seeing his wife’s distress. Maybe she was better off in the dark, hating him. He nervously stared at the floor by Y/N’s feet. Sneaking glances at her reaction before reverting his gaze in shame. He was an active participant in this mess. He could understand if she never forgave him.
Tony agreed with Y/N’s summation. “The skank is in the wind, but we will find her. We can't arrest her legally, the law hasn't caught up with the mystic world, but I assure you she will be punished for her crimes.”
Natasha continued soothing her friend. Promising that she would personally see the witch suffer and spend the rest of her short life in agony. After allowing Y/N to cry for a few minutes, she ushered Bruce and Tony out. Indicating with her eyes for Bucky to take her place next to Y/N. She then announced she would be going to bed to give the two of them time alone.
The former couple sat in awkward silence. The truth of the situation crippled them, making both terrified to speak. It was so quiet Y/N could hear the rush of her pulse. She didn’t know what to say. A chapter in her life she thought was closed suddenly burst open and in bright neon pointed out how wrong she had been. That vile witch assaulted her husband and she thought
 but how could she know... Oh god, what did she do? She wanted to apologize, but she couldn’t instantly erase the bad feelings toward him that still resided in her heart. It was all too much.
Bucky faced her with a broken smile, his eyes pleading, “Y/N...” He reached out to hold her, but she moved away from him.
“I can’t, I can't do this right now. I’m sorry. I need time to process all of this. I’m so sorry.” Y/N asked him to leave and walked to her bedroom, shutting the door.
Bucky watched her walk away from him again. Feeling just as crushed as the first time. He reluctantly got up and left the apartment. He wasn’t sure where he was going, but he didn’t want to go home. It didn’t feel right without her.
---------------
Y/N unblocked her husband
 ex-husband
 husband’s number. Honestly she wasn’t sure where they stood right now. Swallowing her uncertainty, she hit the call button. Her stomach flip flopping as it rang. Bucky sounded rough when he answered, but his voice perked up when she asked to come by the house to talk. He agreed to meet her there in an hour.
She hesitated at the door, unsure if she should knock or use her key. Bucky opened the door before she could decide, he’d clearly been waiting by it. He greeted her, his smile not reaching his eyes. It made her heart clench. This shouldn’t be this hard.
Walking into the house felt foreign to her. How could two weeks seem so much longer? Nothing was different from the last time she was here, and yet everything was. Bucky followed Y/N to the dining room table. It felt like a neutral enough space. He sat across from her, immediately extending his right hand to hold hers. She curled her fingers in, letting him know his touch was not welcomed. She was not ready to feel the warmth of his flesh on hers yet.
“I'm sorry.” He lowered his eyes, sadly. He couldn't stand the look on her face, knowing he put it there.
“Stop.” Y/N shook her head, “You shouldn't be sorry, I should.”
“Honey, you have nothing to apologize for.”
“I do though. I acted like such an asshole and you didn’t deserve it. You didn't
” She sniffed and wiped at her watering eyes. “God, everything is so fucked up right now. I’m still struggling with all of it. I’m ashamed of how I behaved.”
“Don't be. You're a strong and capable woman, Y/N. If it
 if I had hurt you intentionally like that, I’d deserve worse. You handled it the way you should have. There was no way for you to know it was anything else. Fuck, I didn’t know.” Bucky leaned back in his chair, running his fingers through his hair in frustration.
“I’m not strong. I've been a wreck without you.”
Bucky couldn't help the spark of hope her words created. Maybe she needed him as much as he needed her. “Me too. It's been hard sleeping alone. I’ve missed you so much. It doesn't feel like I'm living if you’re not there.”
Y/N felt something inside her tear open. “We can't just go back to how things were. I can't pretend it never happened... The horrible things I felt, the things I'm still feeling.” She let the hot tears slide down her cheeks. It was too much to bear. “I’m sorry, I’m trying so hard, I know I'm wrong. I know the truth now, but my heart refuses to believe it. I still feel betrayed. My heart and my trust are broken and I can't just wash it away. I know that's not fair to you. I know it wasn't your fault, but I'm not sure I can get over it. I want to so badly. I don't want to lose you, but how can we move on? I don't know what to do, Bucky, I can barely stand to look at you. When I do, I see you with her. Hear the things you said to her. Saying you loved her, wanted a baby with her
”
“I thought it was you. I never would have... I only love you. I want babies with you, no one else.”
She was sobbing now, unable to hold back. “I hate this. I wish I could forget. I'm so sorry.” Y/N knew she abandoned him when he needed saving, and she hated herself for it. He needed her and she didn't even give him a chance. She broke his heart
 she's breaking his heart, because her own felt impossibly and irrevocably shattered. “How could you not know it wasn’t me? You should have been able to tell. There had to be red flags telling you something was wrong.”
Bucky didn’t know how to answer that. How he never suspected. He couldn’t say which memories of Y/N were really her. To him, it was her the entire time. He’d been happy. These last few months were good ones, or so he thought. Which memories did he make with the wrong woman? He didn’t know. Near as he could tell, the entire year had been poisoned, and he enjoyed it. He refused to ask Y/N about every moment, what was real, when was it her, too afraid to know the answer. How could she stand to be around him? “I didn't mean to break us.” He cried with her. He didn’t want to lose his wife, not when he had a chance of keeping her. “I need you, Y/N. I need my wife. Please tell me you still want to be that. That you still want me as your husband. We can't undo what's happened, but we can repair our relationship, right? We can get past this.”
Y/N finally looked at him, really looked at him. His tears matched her own. His face as heartbroken as hers. Two fractured souls mirroring each other. This was still her husband, she still loved him, still wanted him. “What my brain knows and what my heart remembers are at odds right now. It will take time, but I want to try. I want to fix us.”
They calmed down enough to talk more. Trying to hash out the details of how they were going to proceed. Agreeing to start slow, not jumping into anything, not forcing it. Y/N was going to continue staying with Nat until she felt comfortable enough to move home. He walked her to the door when it was time to leave.
Bucky grabbed Y/N’s hand before she could go, needing the contact, needing to keep her with him just a moment longer. He pressed desperate kisses to her knuckles. “I love you, Y/N. Tell me we're going to get through this,” he begged for reassurance. Worried that she was already too far gone from him to ever take him back.
Y/N looked down at their connected hands and nodded. He reluctantly released her, but could not watch her leave. Flinching at the sound of the door closing
 At least this time he knew she'd return.
Chapter 7
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niffala · 3 years ago
Text
Baby Blues (Pt. 6)
Warnings: Angst, heartbreak, cheating mention, manipulation, noncon/dubcon mention, making up
A/N: Reader insert version found here. 18+ only due to smut and noncon/dubcon situations. No stealing, no reposts, no translations, no feeding to AIs. Comments, reblogs and likes are always welcome and appreciated.
Chapter 5      Series Masterlist  Main Masterlist
Chapter 6
Tony repeated the expletive, looking at Natasha and Pepper-Bruce who looked just as uncomfortable. Well that came so far out of left field, he could never have predicted his investigation would lead to this
this witchy business. It wasn’t metal arm’s fault. They villainized him when he needed their help. Shit! And poor Dani... double shit!
Bucky's heart twisted painfully, the back of his neck and cheeks burned, his head throbbed. His teammates
 former teammates were staring at him apprehensively. It took him a few minutes before he found his voice. “May I request a few hours to gather my things and send communication to Steve before... before I’m fired.”
“Fired?”
“The deal was to help me prove I didn't do it so I could get my wife back. You've proven the opposite. I have done e-everything she accused me of.” Bucky’s face screwed up in pain. “I thought it was fake, but it was me the whole time. I
 I cheated on my wife. That means I lost my job, like I lost her.”
Tony puffed out his cheeks, letting out a long exhale. “Look, I just got to second base with The Hulk a few moments ago, so I'd call this extenuating circumstances. As much as I dislike you, it would be cruel to punish you for what happened. Consent is a two way street and that wasn't the case here, what that witch did negated that
 And it pains me to say this, but I think we all owe you an apology.”
Bucky knew he should have felt some relief at Tony’s words, but there was only guilt. He hurt the person he'd vowed to love and protect, the details didn't matter. He wasn't sure how to make it better. Would she even believe what happened? Would she forgive him and take him back? He wasn't sure he deserved to be.
Natasha decided to say what they were all thinking. “How are we going to explain all this to Dani?”
---------------
Natasha walked into her apartment, a ziplock of the blue dust in her pocket. She quickly spotted Dani on the couch in her pajamas. She took off her shoes and sat down next to her.
Dani smiled, “Welcome home Nattie. What did Tony have you doing that had you out so late?”
The redhead took a deep breath as she turned to face her friend. “Before we start, is this what you’d been smelling on Bucky?” Nat pulled the bag out, opened it and held it just under Dani’s nose. Careful not to let her get too close.
She recognized it all right. Dani frowned, “Yeah
 What the hell is it? I figured it had to be some kind of icky perfume.” 
Instead of answering, Nat got up to let the rest of the group inside. 
Dani eyed Tony and Bruce suspiciously as they shuffled in. Both of them looked like they wished they were anywhere else. “Why does this feel like an intervention?”
Tony winced, “It kinda is.” 
She quirked an eyebrow at her employer, “Are you retiring again?” Then she saw Bucky slowly step into view. He looked utterly defeated, movements rigid, eyes downcast. This was the first she's seen him since the fight. Emotions hit her like a tidal wave. Shocked, upset, betrayed. “What the fuck is this, Nat? I can't be here if he is.” Dani tried to retreat to her bedroom, only to be stopped by Tony’s hand on her shoulder.
He coaxed her back to the couch. “You're gonna want to sit down for this one, kid. We have a lot to go over.”
The group did their best to explain what they discovered. How they were victims of a jealous witch hellbent on destroying their marriage. That the powder made Bucky unaware he was with Tanya, because his eyes only saw Dani. He believed it was his wife, even though everyone else, and video, showed the real person. Dani was reluctant to believe them. Witchcraft, spells, this was more than her brain could handle right now. It could not be real. Why were they suddenly on his side?
“It’s very real, Dani. I wouldn’t lie to you, especially not for him. Thanks to that blue crap I got a little too up close and personal with Banner earlier.” Tony pointed to Bruce, “You may see the big green over there, but I see Pepper.” 
Natasha interjected, “Actually you groped him after we told you it was Bruce.”
“Semantics.”
Dani’s body felt frozen in place, her mind running a mile a minute, as she came to terms with what she just learned. “But
 but that would mean
” She gave her husband a panicked look, tears in her eyes, before having to turn away. 
Natasha, seeing the look etched on Dani’s face, began rubbing her back. “Are you alright? You're going to worry a hole through your lip if you don’t stop biting it.”
“No, I'm not alright. Nothing about this is alright.” Feelings warred in Dani’s gut, the guilt slowly seeping in and suffocating her. She buried her face in her hands before screaming. “Fuck!” She put her legs up, lowering her face between her knees. “This is so fucked. This is so fucking fucked up.” 
Bucky felt even more guilty seeing his wife’s distress. Maybe she was better off in the dark, hating him. He nervously stared at the floor by Dani’s feet. Sneaking glances at her reaction before reverting his gaze in shame. He was an active participant in this mess. He could understand if she never forgave him.
Tony agreed with Dani’s summation. “The skank is in the wind, but we will find her. We can't arrest her legally, the law hasn't caught up with the mystic world, but I assure you she will be punished for her crimes.”
Natasha continued soothing her friend. Promising that she would personally see the witch suffer and spend the rest of her short life in agony. After allowing Dani to cry for a few minutes, she ushered Bruce and Tony out. Indicating with her eyes for Bucky to take her place next to Dani. She then announced she would be going to bed to give the two of them time alone.
The former couple sat in awkward silence. The truth of the situation crippled them, making both terrified to speak. It was so quiet Dani could hear the rush of her pulse. She didn’t know what to say. A chapter in her life she thought was closed suddenly burst open and in bright neon pointed out how wrong she had been. That vile witch assaulted her husband and she thought
 but how could she know... Oh god, what did she do? She wanted to apologize, but she couldn’t instantly erase the bad feelings toward him that still resided in her heart. It was all too much. 
Bucky faced her with a broken smile, his eyes pleading, “Dani...” He reached out to hold her, but she moved away from him. 
“I can’t, I can't do this right now. I’m sorry. I need time to process all of this. I’m so sorry.” Dani asked him to leave and walked to her bedroom, shutting the door.
Bucky watched her walk away from him again. Feeling just as crushed as the first time. He reluctantly got up and left the apartment. He wasn’t sure where he was going, but he didn’t want to go home. It didn’t feel right without her. 
---------------
Dani unblocked her husband
 ex-husband
 husband’s number. Honestly she wasn’t sure where they stood right now. Swallowing her uncertainty, she hit the call button. Her stomach flip flopping as it rang. Bucky sounded rough when he answered, but his voice perked up when she asked to come by the house to talk. He agreed to meet her there in an hour.
She hesitated at the door, unsure if she should knock or use her key.  Bucky opened the door before she could decide, he’d clearly been waiting by it. He greeted her, his smile not reaching his eyes. It made her heart clench. This shouldn’t be this hard. 
Walking into the house felt foreign to her. How could two weeks seem so much longer? Nothing was different from the last time she was here, and yet everything was. Bucky followed Dani to the dining room table. It felt like a neutral enough space. He sat across from her, immediately extending his right hand to hold hers. She curled her fingers in, letting him know his touch was not welcomed. She was not ready to feel the warmth of his flesh on hers yet. 
“I'm sorry.” He lowered his eyes, sadly. He couldn't stand the look on her face, knowing he put it there. 
“Stop.” Dani shook her head, “You shouldn't be sorry, I should.”
“Honey, you have nothing to apologize for.”
“I do though. I acted like such an asshole and you didn’t deserve it. You didn't
” She sniffed and wiped at her watering eyes. “God, everything is so fucked up right now. I’m still struggling with all of it. I’m ashamed of how I behaved.”
“Don't be. You're a strong and capable woman, Dani. If it
 if I had hurt you intentionally like that, I’d deserve worse. You handled it the way you should have. There was no way for you to know it was anything else. Fuck, I didn’t know.” Bucky leaned back in his chair, running his fingers through his hair in frustration.
“I’m not strong. I've been a wreck without you.” 
Bucky couldn't help the spark of hope her words created. Maybe she needed him as much as he needed her. “Me too. It's been hard sleeping alone. I’ve missed you so much. It doesn't feel like I'm living if you’re not there.”
Dani felt something inside her tear open. “We can't just go back to how things were. I can't pretend it never happened... The horrible things I felt, the things I'm still feeling.” She let the hot tears slide down her cheeks. It was too much to bear. “I’m sorry, I’m trying so hard, I know I'm wrong. I know the truth now, but my heart refuses to believe it. I still feel betrayed. My heart and my trust are broken and I can't just wash it away. I know that's not fair to you. I know it wasn't your fault, but I'm not sure I can get over it. I want to so badly. I don't want to lose you, but how can we move on? I don't know what to do, Bucky, I can barely stand to look at you. When I do, I see you with her. Hear the things you said to her. Saying you loved her, wanted a baby with her
” 
“I thought it was you. I never would have... I only love you. I want babies with you, no one else.”
She was sobbing now, unable to hold back. “I hate this. I wish I could forget. I'm so sorry.” Dani knew she abandoned him when he needed saving, and she hated herself for it. He needed her and she didn't even give him a chance. She broke his heart
 she's breaking his heart, because her own felt impossibly and irrevocably shattered. “How could you not know it wasn’t me? You should have been able to tell. There had to be red flags telling you something was wrong.”
Bucky didn’t know how to answer that. How he never suspected. He couldn’t say which memories of Dani were really her. To him, it was her the entire time. He’d been happy. These last few months were good ones, or so he thought. Which memories did he make with the wrong woman? He didn’t know. Near as he could tell, the entire year had been poisoned, and he enjoyed it. He refused to ask Dani about every moment, what was real, when was it her, too afraid to know the answer. How could she stand to be around him? “I didn't mean to break us.” He cried with her. He didn’t want to lose his wife, not when he had a chance of keeping her. “I need you, Dani. I need my wife. Please tell me you still want to be that. That you still want me as your husband. We can't undo what's happened, but we can repair our relationship, right? We can get past this.”
Dani finally looked at him, really looked at him. His tears matched her own. His face as heartbroken as hers. Two fractured souls mirroring each other. This was still her husband, she still loved him, still wanted him. “What my brain knows and what my heart remembers are at odds right now. It will take time, but I want to try. I want to fix us.” 
They calmed down enough to talk more. Trying to hash out the details of how they were going to proceed. Agreeing to start slow, not jumping into anything, not forcing it. Dani was going to continue staying with Nat until she felt comfortable enough to move home. He walked her to the door when it was time to leave.
Bucky grabbed Dani’s hand before she could go, needing the contact, needing to keep her with him just a moment longer. He pressed desperate kisses to her knuckles. “I love you, Dani. Tell me we're going to get through this,” he begged for reassurance. Worried that she was already too far gone from him to ever take him back.
Dani looked down at their connected hands and nodded. He reluctantly released her, but could not watch her leave. Flinching at the sound of the door closing
 At least this time he knew she'd return.
Chapter 7
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goldengypsy7 · 4 years ago
Text
One Drink Away
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 Summary- Jubal says to OA there is no such thing as a recovered alcoholic – all it takes is one bad day. Well here is one bad day that leads Jubal to a bar but somehow Jubal gets roped into a Speed Dating event instead. One of the women may even catch his eye. Some angst Jubal with him almost breaking his sobriety.
It looked so harmless in the glass, the clear liquid gently fizzing away in his hand, tantalisingly harmless. The tonic water bubbles rise, pushing the ice from side to side gently in the tumbler and coating the slice of lime with tiny balls as it bobs on the surface. Jubal’s hand closes around the glass, not raising it from the bar but just cradling it in his hand, watching the bubbles. It could be sparkling water. It could be lemonade. He wished it was either; that he had that kind of self-control. He knew what he should do – put the glass down and walk out of the bar. The little voice in the back of his head was screaming at him to just let go of the glass; he had already lost his wife, his kids. It pleaded with him to not risk his career too – he had barely hung on to that last time around. Without the sobriety, he didn’t get to be a Fed, it reasoned. Did he want to be though, came the small hiss from his shoulder – it brought forth the images. Images he had tried so hard to remove from his mind, but had decorated his computer screen and the JOC all day – battered and bruised women, their lifeless and hollow eyes gapping out of the screens. The families sorrow and anger as they sat defeated in their conference room; their sobbing and wails still echoed through the recesses of his mind even now – hours later. His hand tightened on the glass and the cold edge of the glass touched his lips. Tiny specks of the liquid dotted the top of his nose and upper lip as the tonic fizzed, the ice clinking against the glasses rim. One sip and all of the cries and lifeless broken bodies would go away – it would blissfully silent. His resolve breaks and just as the cool liquid collides with his dry lips and threatens to spill into his mouth, a hand settles on his arm.
 Startling, he jumps, vodka tonic sloshing sideways over the side of the glass and over his hand and chin, dripping on to the bar below. Grabbing the damp napkin his drink had been on, he presses this to his face, wiping away the droplets from his beard and lips as he turns.
 “Oh my god. I’m so sorry for startling you!”
 The young man looks mortified as he hovers behind Jubal slightly to his left. His eyes dart to the man’s hand still attached to Jubal’s arm and the hand is quickly removed. Before Jubal can turn away or say anything the young man continues to speak rapidly, words tripping over each other in his haste,
 “I thought maybe you were here for our group
”
 He gestures an arm behind him at a small group gathered by the double doors leading to the restaurant seating of the bar. As two scantily-clad women moved from bending over a table just to the left of the doors and moved arm in arm giggling through the doors. Jubal’s eyes focused on the sign by the table that they had been obscuring and reading it, his eyebrows raised.
 “
I thought I would come and check but its so loud in here and I thought I would just tap your arm and then you moved and
 and I’ve spilt your drink everywhere. Oh god! I’m so sorry, I’m such a clutz! Here
 let me
”
 Another napkin was shoved at Jubal’s hand, knocking his glass again, causing the ice cubes to rattle against the side in protest at the jolting.
 “It’s okay.”
 Jubal tries to placate the man, pushing the glass across the bar towards the barman and pressing the napkins to the pool of vodka left in a ring on the bar in front of him. A small flicker of relief fills him as he realises in all of the commotion, not a drop of vodka had passed his lips – just run down his chin and hand.
 “It’s just
 well two of the men haven’t shown up and it’s going to throw all of the numbers out. We barely have enough men signing up as it is and we’ve had no walk-ins tonight either. I was kinda hoping you were one of the two missing ones and I’m still talking
 Todd get a grip”
 The last part of the sentence was quieter as the man berated himself.
 “Wouldn’t I be too old – isn’t there an age limit to these things?”
 The words came out of Jubal’s mouth before he had a chance to stop them. Sudden hope flickered in to the man’s eyes as he recognised a person on the verge of joining.
 “Not at all – there is no age limit. You would be amazed how many of the women like an older man – more experienced you know! It would be completely free – of course there is usually a charge but seeing as how we are two short and I’ve chucked your drink everywhere
”
 Between Todd’s quick rambling and his insistent hand on Jubal’s arm, Jubal found himself swept across the room and filling in his details on the form pushed in front of him. Excuses pushed to the tip of his tongue, yet Todd was barely stopping for breath as he continued to talk,
 “It’s super easy, all of the women are seated at a table the whole time. You sit across from them and you have 8 minutes with each woman. On the bell you move clockwise around the room – that’s to your right each time. The women don’t move at all. When you’ve been all the way around, the whole thing ends. You will have a sort of tick sheet – tick which women you would like to talk with again and give it into us at the end. If you and her sheets match, then we will pass you her phone number and you can contact each other – that simple. Most of them will hang around at the end, get a drink at the bar etc. Obviously, any rude or pervy behaviour and you are out.”
 A sheet of paper and a pencil is pushed into Jubal’s hand as he is guided to a table and pushed into the chair. He turns but Todd is gone again, moving across the room to help another woman discreetly remove a table and two chairs from the circle. Turning away from Todd’s disappearing back, he faces the woman sitting across from him. The first thing that he notices is that she’s young however this is quickly replaced by the small bemused smile that she is trying to hide behind her hair, which is swinging loose around her face and down her back.
 Jubal jumps slightly as a bell sounds from one end of the room and the woman’s smile grows into a giggle as his pencil almost rolls off the table with his jolt. It is stopped by a slim hand that darts across the table to grab it before it tumbles to the floor. Voices around them start, the volume growing and growing as seconds pass; odd nervous laughter dotting through.
 “Do you want to
?”
 Jubal’s eyes dart from the pencil clasped firmly in his fingers to the woman opposite as her soft New York accent filtered through the surrounding cacophony of noise. Of course, she was expecting him to speak, his mouth opened and his voice engaged and he started to talk well before he thought of what to say,
 “I
 uh.. well I’m divorced, got two kids – a boy and a girl. I’m a federal agent and 
um a recovering alcoholic. Been sober almost 4 years and almost broke that about 20 minutes ago if uh
 Todd hadn’t literally bumped into me and somehow got me to agree to this and
 and that’s
 that’s more than you needed to know.”
 Jubal’s usually confident voice had been reduced to stutters and stumbling over the words spewing from his mouth suddenly. He trailed off as his brain caught up with him and ducked his head away from the women to look at the label of the bottled water on the table in front of him instead.
 “That was honest – don’t get a lot of that with these things usually. Mostly posers or men with only one thing on their mind. Well, in the spirit of being honest, I’m single. My last boyfriend cheated on me with most of lower Manhattan – well the ones in skirts anyway and I have a very big weakness for shoes – I buy far too many of them!”
 As she talked, Jubal moved his attention from the bottle in front of him up to her face. As she realises she has his attention and made eye contact with him, she smiled. It lights up her face, making her green eyes sparkle and dimples appear in her cheeks. Jubal felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth in return as she continues to speak,
 “For the record – I’m pretty sure Todd has bamboozled all of us into one of these things at one time or another. I know most of the girls – there is no need to be nervous, none of us bite. Well
 Tanya at table 4 might but she does have a thing for guys with beards so maybe keep the table between you and her.”
 For the last part she leaned towards him across the table, nodding towards a woman two tables down from them with her head. Bleach blonde, her black dress was so low cut her cleavage was almost falling out of the top and her red nails looks so long they could be claws. Turning his attention away from Tanya, he darted his gaze back to the woman in front of him. She winks conspiratorially before sitting back in her chair again, settling backwards to tip her head to the side to gaze at him,
 “How long have you been divorced? This the first time dating after?”
 Jubal clears his throat, twirling the pencil around his fingers once before answering,
 “Uh
 4 years now. And yeah I suppose this is the first time – work usually gets in the way which is a complete excuse now I’m saying it out loud
”
 “Its always tough getting back out there. Tough to realise everything is over and you need to move on – gotta be harder when you have two kids.”
 Jubal huffs a small laugh as he moves to rub his thumb along his top lip, nodding in agreement.
 “Enough about me – what about you. How long have you and your ex been broken up?”
 She tilts her head, green eyes flitting over his face and he has the distinct impression that he is being read. The look reminds him of Maggie and Dana when they are trying to figure a perp out. Just as the feeling starts, she flicks a smile and inclines her head – letting him change the subject away from him.
 “Two years. Moved in with my sister for a bit while we sold our apartment – would not recommend moving in with siblings again after living on your own – absolute nightmare. Uh
 not real excuse for not dating again after only that trusting someone is hard – ya know.”
 Jubal had just enough time to murmur an agreement when the bell clanged, jerking them out of their little bubble and back into the room. Around them chairs scrapped as the men got ready to move round. Blinking at the sudden stopping, Jubal moves to pick up his piece of paper and pencil as the man to this left starts to move towards their table, his shadow falling over them. Fumbling, Jubal gets a few steps away before her voice stops him, making him turn back,
 “Hey – I never got your name.”
 Turning he gazes at her for a second, before realising that she was right. They hadn’t exchanged names.
 “Huh sorry, Jubal”
 Her smile again lights up her features as he moves back towards her reaching out his hand in an automatic movement. He was so used to immediately shaking people’s hands at the Bureau as they exchanged names, that he had started to do the exact same thing. Before, he could over analyse however, a soft warm hand had slid into his.
 “Alice”
 Her voice answered his as their joined hands squeezed for a second palm to palm before a small cough from the man currently seated at Alice’s table caused them to break apart. Alice raised her eyebrows with a small eyeroll as if to say, ‘see – poser or player’ before turning to sit back down again.
 Jubal turned to sit at the next table – facing a young black woman who appeared to be young enough to be his daughter at least. Sighing inwardly, he pushed a smile on to his face as Scarlett introduced herself. This time, he reined himself in with the commentary however, Scarlett didn’t seem to need much help with the conversation, filling most of the 8 minutes with words such as ‘Tik-Tok’, ‘Instagram’ and claimed herself to be an ‘Influencer’ whatever one of those was. Scarlett had seemed to think this was impressive, Jubal wasn’t sure what one was or how this could “change her life”. Jubal just hoped the confusion hadn’t shown on his face too much throughout the conversation. The bell could not come fast enough.
 The next few tables did not get any better – Elsie decided to tell him all about Ginseng Tea and its wonders of helping with erectile dysfunction. Jubal wasn’t sure why Elsie decided to tell him all about this and was starting to get a small complex about his age until Jenna at the next table told him Elsie was telling all of the men this and spent her 8 minutes apologising for Elsie – apparently, they were roommates and good friends.  Maria divulged the best way to rear a Labradoodle. This would have been helpful or at least interesting if Jubal knew anything about dogs – he had had a fish growing up for all of a week before it died and was flushed down the toilet. Maria then tried to sell him a Labradoodle and was very insistent even after a very glad Jubal told her his building would not allow pets – yes even very well-behaved ones.
 Then came the dreaded woman – Tanya. Jubal was not one to judge, especially on appearances. But he was beyond definitely sure that that level of plastic could not be healthy in Tanya’s face
 or her chest either. Tanya’s hand gripped down on his arm, her talons
 sorry nails dug into his skin for the entire time as she pushed her chest into his face and answered all of his polite questions with thinly veiled innuendos and cackling at her own puns. Jubal had never willed a work call to interrupt his night so much since he had joined the Bureau.  Thankfully the 8 minutes ended quickly and he was round to the last women – Sheena. Sheena managed to hold a conversation with Jubal for the whole 8 minutes without making him feel old or making him want to run away and hide.
 With that people finished filling in their sheets of paper and stood, handing them to Todd and his female minion as some filtered out of the door and the rest moved to order a drink at the bar. He remained seated as Sheena moved away to the bar, staring at his seat of paper. He could safely say no to 6 of the women immediately – yet his pencil hovered over Alice’s name. Looking up, he scanned the crowd and found her, standing hip to the bar as she laughed along with something Sheena was miming out beside her. Her brown hair fell down her back, her jeans were tight to her curves but her shirt was looser, draped over her body – hiding her figure. Shaking his head, he turned away muttering to himself ‘silly old fool’ his pencil moved and marked Alice’s section too. What would a beautiful woman like that want with him? Passing his paper to Todd with a nod, he walked out of the bar and into the cool night air, pulling his coat on he turned and headed towards the subway.
 Sitting in the subway car however, he pulled out his phone and looked at the screen. No messages, no calls. Shoving the phone back into its holster on his hip, he thought back to the yes tick he had put on Alice’s line of his paper. Divorced, alcoholic, bumbling fool - she was probably just being nice and putting him at ease, he thought shaking his head. Idiot he berated himself. Yet, as he walked up the steps and out on to the street again, he thought back to her smile, her sparkling eyes, the way her hand had felt in his.
 As he exited his bathroom, his bedroom was bathed in the white light from his phone. Frowning, he moved across the room to where his phone sat on his night stand. Pushing the home button to get the phone to light up again, he saw a message from an unknown number on his screen,
 Its Alice. Glad we matched – maybe talk again some time?
 Sinking down on to his bed, he stared at the words on his screen and tried to ignore the fluttering in his stomach that the words had created. Maybe not so bumbling after all.
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samwilsonsbabymama · 4 years ago
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All the Things (Your Man Won’t Do) 18+
Pairing: Sam Wilson x Black Reader
Summary: Everyone around you sees how crappy your boyfriend treats you. How long does it take for your old friend Sam Wilson to convince you that you’d be better with him?
Warnings: Crappy boyfriend, unfulfilling relationships, not cheating but persuasion, nothing too sexual
A/N: So I listened to All the Things (Your Man Won’t Do) by Joe and I got Sam Wilson vibes BIG TIME and I had to write this lol This is the version that I listened to, the above link is to the music video where I got some of my inspo from lol There’s no real difference other than the length of the song lol
Word Count: 2,500 ish
v2- I typed all of the texts out in this version so people can see them if they don't load on the other version. Sam is italicized and reader is bolded. I tried to separate them. Let me know if the format is messed up 💖
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You stood at the counter, ringing up your last customer for the night. It had been a long but exciting shift. You’d gotten a chance to see an old friend of yours, Sam Wilson. You’d seen him on TV fighting alongside, and against, the Avengers. No one believed that you knew the Sam Wilson, especially your boyfriend. It was great seeing him again. You two talked for a while when there weren’t many people in the store, and you exchanged numbers, excited to catch up with him soon.
As you locked up the store, you thought about the good times that you spent with Sam in college. You knew how he had been planning on joining the military and you were glad to see that he was doing well for himself. 
You sighed in annoyance when you heard a clap of thunder over your head as you looked around. Your boyfriend was late once again to pick you up. You absolutely hated waiting around for him, and you hated it even more that he used your car while you were at work.
Deciding not to wait for him, you pulled out your phone and ordered yourself a Lyft when you received an incoming text.
Hey Y/n. It’s Sam.
It was good seeing you today.
Hey Sam!
Yeah, I really enjoyed seeing you as well 😊
You checked your Lyft’s location, noting that it was just around the corner. You shifted your weight onto your other foot as you waited when you saw the headlights from the car come around the corner. You adjusted your bag once again as the driver pulled in front of you.
“Y/n?” the driver asked when you opened the door.
You nodded your head, “Yeah, that’s me.” You slid into the back seat and closed the door. You were settling in when your phone buzzed again in your hand. Once you were completely settled, you unlocked your phone and opened your text stream with Sam.
I don't want to sound too forward, but I was wondering if you would like to grab a drink with me sometime? You know, catch up some more.
But, I understand if you don't want to.
I would love to catch up sometime!
Great! How does tomorrow sound?
Tomorrow sounds great! Though, I think I should mention that I do have a boyfriend. So this would be just as friends.
You chewed your lip as you waited for his response. You hoped that he still wanted to meet up. You spent the rest of the car ride trying to distract yourself from waiting for Sam’s reply, and when you made it home without hearing from him again, you were a bit upset with yourself. Maybe you shouldn’t have brought up your boyfriend. Maybe he did just want to catch up as friends and you just ruined that possibility.
You let yourself out of the Lyft after handing the driver a tip and glanced up to your apartment. The living room light was still on, which meant that your boyfriend was home, he had clearly forgotten to come pick you up. Again. You rolled your eyes and trudged up the stairs and contemplated whether or not you wanted to argue about it or not. 
That decision was made for you when you walked through your door to find him laid back on the couch with dirty dishes everywhere.
“Damn, Ty!” you groaned then slammed the door. “You said that you were going to clean up!” you kicked off your shoes and began picking up the mess that he made.
“My bad, Y/n,” he mumbled without taking his eyes off the TV screen. “You know it was my day off.”
You rolled your eyes, “Yeah and I had to work all day! You didn’t even cook? Come on, Ty. You said that you would help out more.”
He waved his hand as if dismissing you and you made your way to the bedroom to get ready for bed. You wrapped your head up in a pineapple before hopping into the shower. Once you were done, you put on lotion and brushed your teeth. Ty had made his way to bed while you were in the shower and he looked to be sleeping already. You pulled back the covers on your side of the bed and flipped on your reading light and opened your book. You were halfway down the page when your phone buzzed.
You smiled when you saw Sam’s name on your screen.
I'm not surprised that someone cuffed you lol
Just friends it is then
Do you work tomorrow?
I'm happy to hear that. Yeah, I work tomorrow but I don't close.
I get off at 3. Where do you want to meet?
Have you heard of Pietro's Bakery?
YEAH! I love their cinnamon rolls!
I know the owner. Let’s meet there at 4?
Wait! How do you know the owner?
😅Friends from work
I'll introduce you.
Awesome! I can't wait to see you again, Sam.
Me too. Sleep tight, Y/n
Good night, Sam 😊
And for the first time in months, you fell asleep with a smile on your face.
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 Work was going by slowly for you and you kind of anticipated that it would. Whenever you were excited about something, time seemed to slow down.
You’d cleaned almost every aisle of the bookstore and made sure that all the books were facing the right way in the aisles that you cleaned. You’d fluffed pillows refilled coffee mugs of those that needed them and eagerly helped patrons that asked for help. You were intent on keeping yourself busy.
You’d looked at the clock for the millionth time and loudly groaned when you saw that it was only 1:30. You still had an hour and a half left of work.
You looked up eagerly when the chime above the door went off and crinkled your eyebrows when you saw Ty walk through the door. You watched as he scanned the room and make his way over to you when he spotted you.
“I need your car,” he said once he reached you and you rolled your eyes.
“Hey Y/n,” you said in a mock voice. “Can I borrow your car?”
“Hey, Y/n, can I borrow your car?” Ty repeated with a dry voice.
“Why?” your hand was on your hip as you waited for his response.
“Because I have to work late tonight and I’d rather not take a Lyft.” Ty held his hand out for your key and you looked him up and down.
“So how am I supposed to get home?” you said, your foot tapping with annoyance.
He shrugged, “Take a Lyft. Look Y/n, give me the damn keys, I’m about to be late for work.” 
You crossed your arms and pursed your lips, “That sounds like a personal problem.”
“Look, Y/n, I really don’t have time for this,” you could tell that he was becoming agitated. You fished your keys from your pocket and handed them to him, and he snatched them from you and turned to walk away.
“You’re welcome,” you mumbled. “Make sure you put some gas in it too!” you yelled at his retreating form.
“When you gon let him go, Y/n?” your coworker, Tanya, asked you as you walked back up to the front of the store. “The way he treats you isn’t right, and I know you know that.”
“Yeah, I know. I just
 I don’t know,” you admitted. “I know he loved me once, but now I don’t know. Now I think he just sees me as
 less. Ya know. Like, he barely touches me anymore, not even a hug. It’s like our relationship has run its course but neither one of us wants to be the first to say goodbye.”
“Wow,” Tanya dragged out. “Quoting Gladys Knight?” she chuckled. “Look, you deserve someone that’s gonna love you no matter what. Someone that worships you and brings out the best in you and Ty does not do that. He never did, and you know it. I say, be the first one to say goodbye, because you deserve way better than he can give you.”
You chewed your lip as you thought about what she said. Your three-year relationship with Ty was stagnant, and you couldn’t think of a time when it wasn’t. There was no fire, there never had been, and honestly, your fights weren’t even fights. He typically just sat there as you complained about his mess or that he forgot to come pick you up, something that happened way too often for your liking.
You groaned at your situation wondering how you managed to dig yourself into this hole.
You finished helping one last customer before you clocked out for the day. Now that you didn’t have your car, it would take you longer to get there. You decided to walk instead of catching a Lyft. You needed some time to clear your head before meeting up with Sam.
You window-shopped as you made your way to the bakery. You took in all the sales and wished that you could stop and partake in some retail therapy, but you continued on.
You made it to the bakery sooner than you had hoped, but you didn’t have anywhere else to go so you went in.
You walked to the counter and ordered yourself a cinnamon roll and found a seat in the corner. As you waited, you people watched the patrons in the bakery. Some were old, some were young, but many of them were around your age it seemed. Most of them came in with their families, and it made your heart hurt a little. When you were younger, you thought that you would be married with a couple of kids by now. You had plans after college, but for some reason, they didn’t pan out for you. 
You picked at your cinnamon roll for a few minutes before a shadow cast over you.
“You’re early!” Sam’s booming voice startled you.
“Hey, Sam!” you slid out of your seat and threw your arms around his neck. You melted into his embrace; it felt like you belonged here. Quickly shaking yourself from your thoughts, you pulled away from him and sat back down.
“I’m glad you came, Y/n,” Sam’s smile took up his entire face. That was one thing that you loved about him, his smile was infectious. You couldn’t help but to smile when he did, and his smiles were always genuine, never forced.
You two talked for hours, you didn’t even notice that the sun had gone down.
“Hey, Sam,” a woman with fire-red hair appeared next to your table.
“Wanda, hey, this is Y/n. Y/n, this is Wanda, she owns the place.” Sam introduced the two of you and you smiled as you shook her hand.
“Nice to meet you, Y/n,” she smiled brightly at you. “I’ve heard a lot about you over the last few years, Y/n, it’s great to finally meet you.”
You looked to her in confusion before she continued, “He said that you’re the um, what did you say, Sam?”
“It’s not important, Wanda,” Sam said, clearly trying to get her to move on.
“That’s right, you’re ‘the one that got away’,” she winked at you with a smirk on her face before turning to Sam once again. “I’m going to head home, will you lock up for me?”
Sam nodded once again, “Good night, Wanda!”
You watched as Wanda walked away laughing to herself at Sam’s obvious discomfort. “Well, she’s sweet,” you commented once you heard the back door lock.
“Yeah, and a pain in my ass,” Sam grumbled. “Look-”
You cut him off, “So I’m the one that got away?” you chuckled.
He shrugged, “I had plans to come and get you once I got out but I was kinda messed up after Riley, then Captain America needed me, then the whole Thanos thing. I just wanted to be at my best when I finally did get to see you.”
“Sam, I have-”
“You have a boyfriend, yeah I know.” he scrubbed his face with his hands. “Can you tell me that you’re happy with him, Y/n?”
You remained silent, giving him your answer.
“We have history, Y/n,” Sam continued. “You know you’re mine, and you know I’ll do all the things he won’t do. I’ll do them for you.”
“You know I remember that night? And I know you remember it too.”
Your eyes fluttered closed as the images of that night flashed through your mind.
The two of you panted as Sam thrusted into you, his hips moving at a slow pace and your nails dragging down his back. He fit so well inside of you, like he was made for you. You’d lost count of how many times he’d made you cum already, but you could feel another orgasm stirring. He whispered in your ear, telling you how good you felt wrapped around him.
You’d imagined this many times before, but nothing, nothing, had prepared you for how he would actually make you feel. 
Sam’s hips began to move faster and his hands moved down to your hips to hold you into place as he fucked into you. Your breathy moans filled the air as he grunted in your ear. You’d never heard anything sweeter than the sound of his voice as the two of you made love.
In that moment, you imagined your life being filled with this. Coming home to Sam, loving him, and having him love you. That was something that you could get used to.
You snapped out of your thoughts when Sam squeezed your hand, a smirk on his lips because he knew what you had been thinking about.
“Y/n, he treats you like your nothing,” Sam said instead. “You’ve told me about all of the times that he’s taken your car and had you find your own way home. I wanna do all the things your man won’t do.”
You chewed your lip, “I hear what you’re saying, but-”
“What good is a diamond nobody can see?” Sam asked. Your hand rested in his as his thumb ran over your knuckles. 
You shrugged, “We’ve been together for three years. It just doesn’t feel right leaving him, ya know?”
“You’d rather spend the rest of your life unhappy?” Sam lowered his voice and leaned closer to you over the table. “Y/n, you know I can make you happy. You deserve it.”
“Sam I-,”
“You say you need someone to be there for you,” he interrupted you again. “To love you all night long
I don't think you have to look no further because I'm right here. And I'm ready to do all the things your man won't do.”
You locked eyes with him once more, and you saw nothing but sincerity there. Sam was your safe place. He was your home, and he was right. You didn’t have to look further. He was the one for you.
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mcnamaste · 4 years ago
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Task 001: Character Playlist.
Another case of Affluenza - a Dylan McNamara playlist
Snippets of Lyrics below:
Side A + Dylan’s vibe 
1. all in my head (flex) - Fifth Harmony feat. Fetty Wap
Flex, time to impress Come and climb in my bed Don't be shy, do your thing It's all in my head
fun fact - the original song that they sampled this chorus from actually goes like this: 
Girl flex, time to have sex Long time yuh have di rude bwoy yah a sweat Girl, flex time to have sex Look how long yuh have di rude bwoy a sweat
thanks for coming to my ted talk
2. ain’t my fault - zara larsson 
It ain't my fault you keep turnin' me on It ain't my fault you got, got me so gone It ain't my fault I'm not leavin' alone It ain't my fault you keep turnin' me on I can't talk right now I'm lookin' and I like what I'm seein' Got me feelin' kinda shocked right now Couldn't stop right now Even if I wanted, gotta get it, get it, get it, when it's hot right now Oh my god, what is this? Want you all in my business Baby, I insist Please don't blame me for whatever happens next
3. sugar - Maroon 5
I'm hurting baby, I'm broken down I need your loving, loving I need it now When I'm without you, I'm something weak You got me begging, begging I'm on my knees
4. stupid love - Lady Gaga
You're the one that I've been waiting for Gotta quit this cryin', nobody's gonna Heal me if I don't open the door Kinda hard to believe, gotta have faith in me
 5. desperado - Rihanna 
If you want, we can be runaways Running from any sight of love Yeah, yeah, there ain’t nothin' There ain't nothin' here for me There ain't nothin' here for me anymore But I don't wanna be alone
6. pray for me - The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar
I'm always ready for a war again Go down that road again It's all the same I'm always ready to take a life again You know I'll ride again It's all the same (Ooh, ooh, ooh) Tell me who's gon' save me from myself When this life is all I know Tell me who's gon' save me from this hell Without you, I'm all alone
Who gon' pray for me? Take my pain for me? Save my soul for me? 'Cause I'm alone, you see If I'm gon' die for you If I'm gon' kill for you Then I spilled this blood for you, hey
7. 24k magic - Bruno Mars Pop pop, it's show time (Show time) Show time (Show time) Guess who's back again? Oh they don't know? (Go on tell 'em) Oh they don't know? (Go on tell 'em) I bet they know soon as we walk in (Showin' up) Wearing Cuban links (ya) Designer minks (ya) Inglewood's finest shoes (Whoop, whoop) Don't look too hard Might hurt ya'self Known to give the color red the blues
Ooh shit, I'm a dangerous man with some money in my pocket (Keep up) So many pretty girls around me and they waking up the rocket (Keep up) Why you mad? Fix ya face Ain't my fault y'all be jocking (Keep up)
8. bed - J. Holiday 
Wanna put my fingers through your hair Wrap me up in your legs And love you till your eyes roll back I'm tryna put you to bed, bed, bed I'mma put you to bed, bed, bed Then I'mma rock ya body Turn you over Love is war, I'm your soldier Touchin' you like it's our first time I'mma put you to bed, bed, bed I'mma put you to bed, bed, bed
9. don’t judge me - Janelle Monáe
Even though you tell me you love me I'm afraid that you just love my disguise Taste my fears and light your candle to my raging fire Of broken desire
But don't judge me I know I got issues, but they drown when I kiss you Don't judge me Baptize me with ocean, recognize my devotion
10. the greatest - Sia 
I'm free to be the greatest, I'm alive I'm free to be the greatest here tonight, the greatest The greatest, the greatest alive
11. love in this club - Usher feat. Young Jeezy 
You say you're searching for somebody that'll take you out and do you right Well, come here, baby and let daddy show you what it feel like You know all you got to do is tell me what you sipping on And I promise that I'm gonna keep it coming all night long
12. u don't have to call - Usher
Aw, girl, your face is saying, "Why?" Tears in eyes Should've been more smart about it Should've cherished me, listening to friends Now it's the end And again, no story can end without it
Side B + Annalise Young (Infidelity & Divorce)
1. forgive me - Chloe x Halle
Baby, what you think this is? Why you wanna plead the fifth? You ain't gotta tell me what it is 'Cause I saw the messages You must got me fucked up You must got me fucked up I think I had enough
So forgive me, forgive me I been goin' too hard in your city So forgive me 'cause I'm not teary Best believe I'll move onto better things
2. makes me wonder - Maroon 5
Wake up, blood-shot eye Struggle to memorize The way it felt between your thighs Pleasure that made you cry It feels so good to be bad Not worth the aftermath, after that, after that Try to get you back
I still don't have a reason And you don't have the time And it really makes me wonder if I ever gave a fuck about you
3. maps - Maroon 5 
I miss the taste of a sweeter life I miss the conversation I'm searching for a song tonight I'm changing all of the stations I like to think that we had it all We drew a map to a better place But on that road I took a fall Oh, baby, why did you run away?
I was there for you In your darkest times I was there for you In your darkest night
But I wonder, where were you? When I was at my worst Down on my knees And you said you had my back So I wonder, where were you?
4. mend this love - Vaults
Take me from the edge Steal a step and lead me back from harm Hold it in your hand Crush it into crumbs like nothing's wrong
And tell me "right what you wanna know? Take what you wanna hide It's too late to mend this love" And tell me "go where you wanna go Break what you never had It's too late to mend this love"
5. wicked game - Chris Isaak 
The world was on fire and no one could save me but you It's strange what desire will make foolish people do I never dreamed that I'd meet somebody like you And I never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you
No, I don't wanna fall in love (This world is only gonna break your heart)
6. love’s divine - Seal
Then the rainstorm came over me And I felt my spirit break I had lost all of my belief, you see And realized my mistake But time threw a prayer to me And all around me became stil
7. beautiful mistakes - Maroon 5 & Megan Thee Stallion
It's beautiful, it's bittersweet You're like a broken home to me I take a shot of memories And black out like an empty street I fill my days with the way you walk And fill my nights with broken dreams I make up lies inside my head Like one day you'll come back to me
8. i’m not the only one - Sam Smith feat. A$AP Rocky
You and me, we made a vow For better or for worse I can't believe you let me down But the proof's in the way it hurts For months on end I've had my doubts Denying every tear I wish this would be over now But I know that I still need you here
You say I'm crazy 'Cause you don't think I know what you've done But when you call me baby I know I'm not the only one
9. perfect illusion - Lady Gaga
I don't need eyes to see I felt you touchin' me High like amphetamine Maybe you're just a dream That's what it means to crush Now that I'm wakin' up I still feel the blow But at least now I know
It wasn't love, it wasn't love It was a perfect illusion (Perfect illusion) Mistaken for love, it wasn't love It was a perfect illusion (Perfect illusion)
10. don’t walk away - John Legend feat. Koffee
We can't go out like this It's just the two of us We should be making up We could be making love Didn't  used to talk like this Now you say you're giving up Took too much to build this house I don't wanna sit and watch it burn down I ain't leaving, I ain't leaving, I ain't leaving, I ain't giving you space I will not be replaced I don't wanna save face Don't leave me open, leave me open, leave me open, leave me open like that Whatever love we had We need to get it back
11. if I could have you back - Aly & AJ 
On the subject of you being gone forever I still can't believe it, I can't see it I should just stop counting days On the subject of the future Wouldn't it be nice to leave it open ended And pretend it could go either way
If I could have you back again I'd think about it once or twice, I guess If I could have you back I'd reconsider, maybe I'd say yes On the other hand, it would be better to have a life Without the constant indecision over If I could have you back If I could have you back
12. fairplay - Kiana Ledé
I think it's kind of funny You could say you love me Turn around and play me, yeah I think it's kind of funny You say things you don't mean Underestimate me, yeah
I have always done right by you Said you're never going to lie, liar Shit gon' come around full cycle I flip the script on you
Tell me why you mad Tell me why you're hurt Bet you didn't think that the tables would turn You gon' fuck around I'ma do the same How you like that karma? How you like that karma? Yeah, that's just fair play
Bonus: 
busted - The Isley Brothers feat. JS 
Busted, It's 2 o' damn clock in the morning, where you been? (Baby didn't you get my 2-way I was with my girlfriend) You are lyin', I called Kiesha and Tanya And they were both at home (But I didn't say them though) Well they're the only friends I know Girl you better (Wait before you get all upset here's the truth) Talk to me (I was with my girl when she got some bad news) And...? (Her man cheated, had her upset and confused) But baby what's that got to do With you coming in at 2? (I'm telling you, now she was so upset She asked me to stay with her) Well why didn't your ass just pick up the phone and call me? (I was gonna do that but it slipped my mind I'm sorry) (But I'm telling you the truth) Yeah, well I got something for you... Tell me what's her name? (Sharon) Where does she live? (Uuummm...) Her man's name? (Billy) She got kids? (I think one or two) She got kids? (Baby yes, no) That's one thing I got to know How the hell is she your friend If you don't know if she got kids?
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cakesunflower · 5 years ago
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Quiet Hours [College!Luke AU] Ch. 15
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Previous Chapters: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14
Chapter 15
LUKE WAS ALL sorts of pissed off; the kind that had his jaw aching from clenching it so hard and hands perpetually formed into fists to prevent himself from punching something. He was familiar with this type of anger, the one that stemmed from betrayal and hurt that skipped right past being upset and festered in the stage of something akin to hatred. Luke never thought he could truly hate someone, but not for the first time he was debating against that idea when it came to the two people he was thinking about.
“Just don’t go,” Ashton shrugged, looking at Luke as if he didn’t understand what the big deal was. “Then you won’t have to see them.”
Luke shot his friend an aggravated look. “It’s my nan’s seventy-fifth birthday, Ashton. I have to go.” If he didn’t love his grandmother so much, Luke would just spend the weekend on campus instead of going home to celebrate with his family—which included his cousin Max and Luke’s ex—and Max’s current—girlfriend Gwen. He was in no mood to see the two of them flaunt a relationship that was created at the expense of Luke’s heartbreak.  
“Take someone with you as your date,” Michael suggested from where he sat at the kitchen counter, busy on his laptop as he did an assignment. He then glanced up, looking at Luke, who sat on the couch. “And by someone I mean Ophelia.”
Glancing at his friend, Luke furrowed his eyebrows at Michael’s proposition. Propping his right elbow on the armrest of the couch, Luke used his fingers to worry at his lower lip as he thought about the idea. It wasn’t a terrible idea to bring Ophelia to the party, but introducing her to his family seemed to be a bit too soon, especially since they only just figured things out to be together. He didn’t want to use her as a way of spiting Max and Gwen to show that he was fine after what happened. He didn’t miss Gwen, by any means, but he was still pissed. Still hurt.
Ophelia didn’t even know about Luke’s ex, Gwen, cheating on him with his own cousin and Luke didn’t want to just tell her so she would come with him just to show the two people that betrayed him that he was better off—even if he was. Luke wasn’t comfortable with using Ophelia in that type of way, but maybe if he told her then she wouldn’t be offended. She’d understand.
So that’s why Luke was now knocking on the apartment door next to his, smiling as the door swung open to reveal Laurel. He was glad to see she was okay after what happened at the party a few days ago, and the pain in his knuckles that had followed was worth it. “Hey,” he greeted the blonde. “Is Ophelia here?”
Laurel opened the door wider, nodding inside the apartment. “She’s in her room,” she chuckled, earning a thanks from Luke as he wandered in and heard Laurel shut the door behind him. He waved at Tanya, who was munching on a bag of Cheetos as she watched The Bachelor on TV, before wandering down the hall and stopping in front of Ophelia’s closed door.
He knocked twice, hearing her call out, “come in,” before opening the door and stepping inside the familiar bedroom. Luke saw Ophelia laying sideways on her bed, watching something on her laptop. When her eyes landed on Luke, she paused her show and sat up. “Hey,” she smiled, crossing her legs.
“Hey, sweetheart,” Luke greeted, shutting the door behind him. The blinds were open, sunlight streaming in and drenching the small plants on the windowsill. “You busy? Wanted to ask you something.”
Ophelia shook her head, tilting it to the side curiously. “What’s going on?”
The Australian sat down on the bed, sliding off his slippers to sit cross legged right in front of her. He didn’t know why he felt so nervous. Ophelia was one of the sweetest people Luke knew, and if he explained himself he was sure she’d understand. “Okay, um,” he began, clearing his throat as fingers absently twirled one of his rings. “I have to go home this weekend for my grandma’s birthday and, uh.” He stopped briefly, but the encouraging raise of Ophelia’s eyebrows prompted him to continue, “my ex is gonna be there with my cousin and I was hoping you’d come with me because I just—I don’t wanna deal with them, y’know?”
Ophelia blinked at Luke, hazel eyes slightly widened in shock. Then, she blurted, “your ex is dating your cousin?”
Luke didn’t blame her expression as a humorless smile tilted at his lips. “Cheated on me with him, actually.”
This time her jaw dropped, completely taken aback. Honestly, she genuinely didn’t understand how or why someone would cheat on Luke. Other than him being confusing at times, Luke was a great guy to be around. It was no secret that Ophelia adored him; adored him as a person and was obsessed with the way he looked at, kissed, and touched her. To Ophelia, Luke was unfairly perfect, if she didn’t consider the mess it had been for the two of them to acknowledge their feelings—though she could be partly blamed for that too—so why someone would cheat on him was beyond her. Luke had Ophelia entranced by just his gaze, feeling excitedly powerless against him in the most enjoyable of ways, so leaving him for someone else sounded ridiculous.
She was also kind of flattered that Luke wanted her to come with him. The most they’d done was confess to each other that they wanted to be together—did that mean they were together? Ophelia wasn’t sure, but she found herself kind of okay with that. Because she told Luke she wanted to be with him after he’d told her the same, and with assurance, that was enough for now. Ophelia figured that Luke asking her to come with him was to distract himself from watching his ex-girlfriend be all over his cousin, and a nagging voice in the back of her mind wondered if there were still unresolved feelings on Luke’s part.
But the hopeful expression on his face, the way he chewed his lower lip and blue eyes seemed a bit worried, had Ophelia giving Luke a small smile as she shrugged. “Yeah, sure, I’ll come,” she finally said, watching as Luke’s eyes widened slightly.
“Really?” he questioned, brows risen. He hadn’t really expected for her to say yes right away—not that he was complaining. As soon as her answer had registered in his mind, Luke felt his heart do an excited leap. “I—you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I don’t want you to think I’m usin’ you to make my ex jealous or anything. It’s just that I don’t wanna show up alone and her be—”
“Luke, stop,” Ophelia cut him off with an airy laugh, finding it endearing how he was suddenly a nervous rambling mess. While she was still trying to work out if Luke had any feelings left for this ex of his—and bitterly hoping that he didn’t because that would kind of suck—Ophelia felt a small sense of relief at his reassurance. He looked genuine in the matter. “I don’t mind. No offense, but your ex sounds like a bitch and your cousin a dick for doing that to you. I’m happy to go with you.”
She felt her heart do that giddy flutter in her chest at the sight of the relieved smile that stretched on Luke’s lips, dimples appearing under the dark blonde facial hair that decorated his sharp jaw and around his mouth as his hands reached forward and grasped hers gratefully. “Thank you, darling,” he breathed out, squeezing Ophelia’s smaller hands. “You’ve no idea how much this means to me. I swear I’ll make it up to you when it’s over.”
Ophelia’s lips pressed together, the corners of her mouth tilting upwards as she grabbed her laptop and reached over to rest it on her bedside, eyes meeting Luke’s. Her smile turned slightly coy, hand that was still holding onto Luke’s as she used it to tug him closer. “You can start now,” she suggested boldy with a quirk of a brow, her smile widening as Luke mirrored her expression, not even hesitating to lean towards her as he immediately picked up on what she was saying.
A low, throaty chuckle escape Luke, though it was silenced the second Ophelia’s hands grasped Luke’s face and pulled his lips to hers, feeling the familiar thrilling shock course through her body as his soft lips met hers. Luke smiled against her mouth, never tired of kissing Ophelia as he got on his knees and grasped the back of Ophelia’s, using his grip to unfold her legs and pull her towards him. She effectively slid down, left hand going to the back of Luke’s neck as she laid down on the mattress and pulled Luke on top of her. Her heart rang in her ears and her body grew warm in excitement as Luke deepened the kiss, feeling his tongue against hers and the ends of his curly hair tickle her face as he hovered above her.
As he kissed her, hands sliding under her shirt and prompting Ophelia’s heart to skip a beat at the feel of his cool rings against her warmed skin, Luke couldn’t help but notice the change of taste in her lips. “Changed your watermelon chapstick for strawberry, huh?” Luke murmured against her mouth, supporting himself on top of her with his arms as he trailed open mouthed kisses along her jaw.
Ophelia let out a breathless laugh, eyes shut as she reveled in the scratch of his beard against her skin, fingers threading through Luke’s curly locks. “Yeah,” she whispered, heart thudding rapidly in her chest as she felt Luke lightly bite at the spot that connected her jaw and neck, “you like it?”
“Mhm,” Luke let out a deep hum, bringing his mouth back to cover Ophelia’s, licking at her lower lip as he smirked, “love strawberries,” before grasping the hem of her shirt and tugging it upwards.
Ophelia grinned, a pretty flush across her face that made Luke’s heart drum thuddingly as she leaned up slightly to allow Luke to fling it right off of her. The immediate tightening in his sweatpants could be felt against Ophelia’s clothed core as Luke let out a deep breath, blue eyes trained on her bare chest as his hands immediately came up to grasp her full breasts. “No bra?” he smirked, watching in satisfaction as Ophelia arched into his touch, eyes closed and sharp breath expelling from her parted pouty lips. Luke leaned down, keeping his gaze trained on Ophelia’s pleasured expression as he let his lower lip drag against her perky pink nipple, mumbling, “you’re too good to me, pretty girl.”
The way her head tilted back, exposing the expanse of her neck as a soft moan escaped her begged Luke to get rid of his sweatpants as soon as possible. But he took his time, wrapping his lips around her nipple while his right hand  ever so slightly squeezed the soft plush of her other breast. One of Ophelia’s hands were at the back of his head, fingers gripping his curls while her other pushed back her own hair from her forehead and teeth sunk to her lower lip to stop any sounds from escaping. Her roommates were still in the apartment, after all.
“Come on, Luke,” Ophelia finally breathed out, her voice uncharacteristically raspy from the pleasure his mouth and hand were delivering to her chest. Luke watched as she opened her eyes, hazel eyes darkened with pleasure as she begged, “get down to it already, please.”
Luke wasn’t one to deny her what she wanted, though when he lifted his head he kept his lips wrapped around Ophelia’s nipple, teasing it lightly with his teeth. Ophelia dropped her head back, muttering a soft, “oh, God,” as Luke smirked to himself before sliding down even more, letting his fingers hook into the band of her night shorts and pull it down her legs as he went.
Luke let out a throaty groan when he realized Ophelia was completely naked in front of him and completely ready for whatever Luke was about to do to her. But Luke couldn’t help but stop for a moment, sitting on his knees at the sight of the breathtakingly gorgeous girl laying on the bed. Whether she was naked, in sweats or dressed up—Ophelia managed to take Luke’s breath away and cease the beating of his heart in half a second. She was flawless in his eyes, and Luke found himself wondering how he got lucky enough to have someone like her interested in him.
When Ophelia let out another small whimper, Luke was thrown back into reality and he instantly reached to the back of his shirt, taking it off and discarding it somewhere on the floor before pulling of his sweatpants. The room was slightly cold, but goosebumps had no chance of raising on his skin at the brilliant heat he felt spreading throughout his body at the sight of Ophelia and the anticipated thrill of being inside of her in a matter of moments.
“Wait,” Ophelia suddenly said, reluctantly leaning up on her elbows and reaching over to pull open her bedside drawer. Luke watched, eyes following the lines and curves of her gorgeous body, before Ophelia tossed the royal blue packet towards him. He caught it, mentally berating himself for forgetting the condom as he used his teeth to rip open the corner of the packet.
His gaze was fixated on Ophelia, her chest rising and falling in eagerness while she watched through a hooded gaze as Luke slid the condom on, a hiss escaping pass his teeth at the feel of the latex. Luke leaned to hover over Ophelia once more, right arm supporting him once more as his left hand lined his shaft up to her awaiting entrance. Their hearts were thundering, which was ironic because they’ve done this a number of times yet the thrilled beating of their hearts and the dizzy pleasure they got in their heads never ceased.
Luke’s head was above hers, curly hair curtaining his cheeks as Ophelia’s right hand reached up to push it back, fingers tangled in and their breaths mingling together as Luke’s blue eyes locked with her hazel. “Ready, sweetheart?”
Ophelia nodded quickly, humming her agreement after hearing Luke’s words over the pounding in her ears, though she still felt the smile twitch at her lips. It immediately disappeared, replaced by her eyes shutting and lips parting with a quiet moan as Luke entered her swiftly, familiarly, his guttural groan joining in with the sweet sounds she was making as his forehead dropped to rest against Ophelia’s. “Fuck,” he rasped, unsure if he would ever get used to the way she felt around him, so ready and so fucking amazing, eyes squeezing shut. “Feel so good, pretty girl,” he couldn’t help but add, pulling out just a bit after she nodded in approval before jutting his hips forward once more, swallowing the moan that escaped Ophelia by pressing his lips to hers.
The movements of his hips meeting hers were slow, purposeful, and Ophelia’s arms looped under Luke’s, pulling him down on her and nails scraping down his muscled back that had yet another deep groan sounding from Luke’s throat. Their lips moved together bruisingly, every sense filled with each other as their bare chests pressed together while their tongues met. Ophelia felt that familiar overwhelmness she felt every time she and Luke were joined together so intimately, incredulous at how dizzyingly fantastic it felt to have him fill her up so completely. Every thrust had her heart threatening to burst out of her chest, and every whispered encouragement from Luke intensified the warmth on her face and prompted even more quiet moans of Luke’s name to spill from her lips.
It wasn’t long until both of them could feel the recognizable clenching in the pits of their stomachs, Ophelia’s legs that had wrapped around Luke’s hips to deepen the feel of him beginning to shake as he effectively brought her closer to the edge. “Oh, God, Luke,” Ophelia groaned against his mouth, their lips pink and swollen from the kisses they refused to end. “I’m gon—”
Their noses brushed together, Luke not letting up from the thrusts of his hips into Ophelia’s as her nails on his back egged him on, heart thumping and ring clad fingers clenching the bed sheets next to her head. “Let go for me, sweetheart,” Luke croaked, accent thickening as he buried his face in the crook of Ophelia’s neck. He breathed in her familiar fruity scent as her hands pressed against his back at the feel of his beard scraping her skin. The tension that had built up in their bodies finally released explosively as Ophelia’s back arched and teeth clamped on the skin of Luke’s shoulder.
Both of their bodies pulsed shakily, heavy breaths and moans they attempted to keep quiet falling past their lips as head spinning orgasms igniting their skin yet slowly loosened the tightness of their limbs. Once spent, the room full of the sounds of their heavy breathing, Luke found himself laying on top of Ophelia, still inside her yet not being able to bring it in himself to move just yet. Ophelia didn’t mind, eyes closed and a blissfully pleased smile tilting at her lips as her hands remained on Luke’s back. “Just so you know,” she found herself speaking, her voice still a whisper as she tried to catch her breath. “I still expect a little something after the weekend.”
Luke’s broad shoulders shook as a deep chuckle rumbled, face still buried in her neck as Ophelia felt his lips press a kiss at the skin there. “Absolutely,” he murmured back, before his arms slid around her bare back to swiftly flip them on the bed, earning a startled yelp from Ophelia as she was now suddenly on top—with Luke still inside of her.
They got rid of the used condom, throwing it in the trash as Ophelia remained laying on top of Luke, bringing her blanket up to cover their bare, spent bodies. She felt so small against his broad chest, laying with her cheek pressed against it as she felt the tips of his fingers lightly trail down the expanse of her back, the soothing gesture along with the thrum of his heartbeat making her eyes flutter closed. Ophelia smiled sleepily—she definitely wasn’t going to get tired of sex with Luke.
*******
Luke’s mother was the sweetest woman Ophelia had ever met. From the moment Luke and Ophelia showed up at the doorstep of his home, Liz Hemmings was all smiles as she hugged and kissed her son before greeting Ophelia with a motherly hug as well. She then had one of Luke’s older brothers, Ben, take her bag upstairs to the guest room before dragging Ophelia into the kitchen, asking if she wanted anything to eat.
Ophelia and Luke were the first to arrive at his house, and since his home was a near three hour drive from campus, the two were spending the night instead of making a total of a six hour trip in one day. Her stuff was in the guest room, much to the disappointment of Luke, but Ophelia didn’t mind—sharing a bed with Luke lately ended up in sex and Ophelia didn’t think it was a good idea to do that with Luke’s family under the same roof.
“Your mom’s adorable,” Ophelia commented once she joined Luke in the backyard, where the party was mostly set up. It was November but it was still warm enough on this particular day to have an outdoor party—Ophelia would fight anyone who said climate change wasn’t a real thing. “She’s into photography?”
She had noticed the Nikon camera the blonde woman had hanging from her neck, one hand almost always on it as if she was always prepared to take a picture. Luke chuckled, ripping open a bag of Tostitos and emptying it out in a bowl on one of the lawn tables that were set up outside. “When she’s not teaching math, she’s taking pictures,” he nodded in confirmation as he crumpled up the bag in his hands. “She’s pretty good, too.”
“Does she do it professionally?” Ophelia asked, hugging her cardigan closer to her as a light breeze blew past. It was warm out, but the occasional wind rose goosebumps on her skin.
“On the side, yeah,” Luke nodded, glancing over Ophelia’s shoulder as his older brother Jack walked out and towards a Bluetooth speaker set up on the side, connecting his phone before a Duran Duran song began playing. “Oi, Jack, when’s everyone gettin’ here?”
“Aunt Penny and the others just got here,” Jack responded, shooting Ophelia a friendly grin before going back inside the house.
Turning to look back at Luke, Ophelia raised an eyebrow. “Do you have a lot of family in the States?” she asked, a question she had been wondering about but never really prodded Luke on. He was Australian, obviously, but she didn’t know that he had lots of relatives here in New Jersey.
“My dad’s side, yeah,” Luke told her as he led her across the yard towards the backdoor. “He grew up in America and wanted to go to uni in Sydney so he moved back, met Mum, and then when I was five we moved here.”
“Your accent’s pretty thick for someone who grew up in America,” Ophelia teased, feeling her heart flutter happily as Luke draped his right arm over her shoulders to pull her closer as they walked.
Luke chuckled, left hand running through his curls as his boots thudded more heavily than Ophelia’s as they got to the porch. “Spent a lot of my vacations back in Aus, since Mum’s side of the family’s still there.”
Entering the house—Ophelia enjoyed the delicious smells of food inside—the two of them caught sight of a couple being greeted by Luke’s parents, as well as two young children running down the hall, squeals of laughter escaping them as they each latched onto Luke’s legs. “Wh—hey!” Luke laughed as Ophelia stepped to the side, a smile growing on her face as Luke bent down slightly to ruffle the tops of the two kids’ heads. Both blonde, one boy and one girl as they cutely grinned up at Luke. He mirrored their expression, blue eyes lighting up happily as he mused, “how’re you doin’, kiddos?”
“I missed you, Luke,” Luke’s eight year old cousin, Holly, smiled up at him as she and her twin brother, Jake, finally let go of Luke’s legs to let him stand properly.
“Yeah,” Jake piped up excitedly, and Ophelia crossed her arms over her chest as she watched them with a smile tugging on her lips. “You gonna play your guitar for us?” he then asked, and Ophelia noticed that unlike their older cousin, the two little kids were American—which, she figured, wasn’t surprising.
Luke chuckled, ruffling the little boy’s hair once more. “Maybe later, buddy,” he relented.
“Who are you?” Ophelia blinked at the sudden question directed towards her, eyes landing on Holly who was peering up at her with curious brown eyes, head tilted to the side.
Her brother looked up at Ophelia as well, both of them looking expectant as Ophelia’s lips parted, slightly taken aback at the sudden attention the two of them were giving her. Fortunately, Luke quickly swooped in, grinning, “this is my friend, Ophelia.” Crouching down to his knees, Luke put his arms around either of the twins’ shoulders, smiling up at the girl who was most definitely more than just a friend as he introduced, “Ophelia, these are my cousins Holly and Jake.”
“Hi,” Ophelia smiled at them, offering a small wave at the two children who easily returned her grin.
“Luke! Come say hi to Penny and Darrel!” Luke’s mother’s voice sounded, and the twenty-one year old ushered his younger cousins off to the backyard before meeting Ophelia’s gaze and nodded his head towards the front of the house, a silent request for her to follow him.
Luke’s aunt and uncle were gathered in the kitchen with his parents, immediately and excitedly pulling Luke into a hug as loud chatter filled the room. Ophelia stood idly, awkwardly by, making conversation with Jack’s girlfriend Celeste until Ophelia heard Luke’s aunt say, “oh, is that your girlfriend?”
Unable to help herself, Ophelia glanced where Luke stood with his aunt and uncle, taking it as her cue to introduce herself as she offered a smile. “Oh, uh,”  Luke fumbled, earning quizzical looks from the two adults as Ophelia pressed her lips together. Luke’s blue eyes then met Ophelia’s hazel, and she saw something flash in his. There was a gentle look of realization that fluttered across his features, before a smile quirked at his lips and he looked back at his aunt and uncle. “Yeah, she is.”
What they were to each other wasn’t something Luke and Opehlia had discussed, but to hear him put a label on it had Ophelia’s heart jumping right into her throat. Whether it was officially or not, Ophelia felt a sense of relief flood through her at the thought that being his girlfriend was something Luke wanted.
Even if her presence at Luke’s house was mostly to be by his side whenever his cousin and ex-girlfriend showed up, Ophelia was glad to be there. Sure, she hadn’t really expected to meet his family already, but there was a warm contentment that engulfed her being in Luke’s home with him. So she smiled at each and every relative of Luke’s that arrived, more than happy to meet them. Especially his grandmother, who they were celebrating today, and Ophelia loved that the small woman was lively as ever. Particularly when she had Luke bend down so she could reach up and pinch his cheeks like he was a ten year old.
Most of the guests had arrived by three, the music playing through the speaker as they all gathered outside. Luke’s father was manning the grill and if people weren’t eating the hot dogs and burgers being made on that then they were munching on the different pastas, mashed potatoes, and other foods laid out. Luke’s dad had two brothers and a sister, so they were all here with their spouses and kids, the yard full of people chattering and having a good time—and every introduction included Luke telling them that Ophelia was his girlfriend.
The smile that pulled at her lips wasn’t something she could ever hope to stop when the word left his lips. She never missed the brightness in his blue eyes, either.
“Oh, Max, you’re here!” Luke’s aunt Hilarie exclaimed, catching Ophelia’s attention as she lowered her can of Coke and looked towards the woman. Hilarie was hugging a blonde boy, another girl standing on his other side that Ophelia couldn’t quite see as Hilarie continued, “I thought you’d never make it.”
“Sorry, Mom,” the boy, Max, laughed lightly, and Ophelia immediately blinked in realization as the name sunk in her mind. Her eyes darted around the yard, no longer paying attention to the conversation she was in with Celeste and another one of Luke’s aunts, before they finally landed on the boy she was looking for.
Ophelia’s grip tightened on her can nervously, conscious of the nearly empty plate of food she was balancing on her lap, as she caught sight of the look on Luke’s face. He may be standing on the other side of the yard, but she could make out thinning of his lips and furrow between his eyebrows, gaze fixated on the newly arrived people. It was them; the cousin and the ex-girlfriend, and Ophelia wondered if she should go over to Luke to distract him in some way. That’s what she was there for, right?
“Luke, dude! Haven’t seen you in a while, man!” Max’s voice rung out, and Ophelia blinked in mild alarm as the new guy wandered over to Luke, casual and calm as if nothing was wrong.
Unable to help herself, Ophelia’s eyes wandered towards the girl following Max, feeling insecurity tightening her throat at the leggy, dark skinned girl with shiny, straightened hair that made Ophelia’s nicely French braided one look like a bird’s nest. The girl, whom Ophelia knew to be Gwen, was gorgeous and Ophelia understood why Luke would ever date her. By looks alone, this girl was a stunner.
Though, Ophelia tried to make herself feel better because if Gwen left her boyfriend for her boyfriend’s cousin, then that doesn’t say many good things about the kind of person she was.
“Oh, God,” Ophelia heard Celeste mutter, the younger girl looking towards the dirty blonde haired woman, surprised to see Celeste staring towards Luke in apprehension. “I hope Luke doesn’t take a swing at Max again. Nan’s gonna be pissed if they ruin her birthday.”
Ophelia was taken aback, brows rising slightly as she asked, “Luke and Max fought before?”
Celeste turned her body to face Ophelia, Aunt Leslie now having a conversation with Liz, as she nodded. “Oh, yeah,” Celeste informed, hazel eyes widening like she was confiding a big secret. She wrung her fingers together as she continued, “when we all went to Aunt Hilarie’s house for Thanksgiving last year and Luke saw that Gwen was there as Max’s date, shit hit the fan. Luke broke Max’s nose, he was so pissed off. And rightfully so!” Celeste shook her head, face scrunching in distaste as her eyes locked with Ophelia’s. “You ask me, Gwen’s not worth it. She cheated on Luke to be with Max—I wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up cheating on him, too.”
 Ophelia pressed her lips together, processing Celeste’s words as she straightened her back in the plastic lawn chair she was occupying. Truthfully, Ophelia wasn’t surprised that Luke punched out his cousin, but a little ball of dread did form in the pit of her stomach at the thought of it possibly happening again today. She may have only been here for a couple of hours, but Ophelia already adored Luke’s grandmother—and, God, she adored Luke, too. That being said, she didn’t want this day being spoiled by Luke and his cousin throwing fists at each other.
“I think Luke’s calling you.”
Blinking at Celeste in confusion, Ophelia followed the older girl’s gaze as she nodded forward, and Ophelia’s lips parted slightly in realization as she caught sight of Luke looking right at her. Even from the distance, she noticed the pleading look on his face, and Ophelia immediately stood up and excused herself from Celeste, putting her plate on the chair before crossing the yard and making her way over to the three people standing near the hammock Luke’s younger cousins were swinging on.
Luke felt relief course through him as Ophelia approached, replacing some of the irritation and frustration he had been feeling the second Max and Gwen had stepped into the backyard. Only a single thought had entered Luke’s mind the second he saw Gwen; he couldn’t stand her. Any positive feelings he had towards the girl were now gone, instead replaced with a screaming reminder of what she had done. Fortunately, Luke knew subjecting himself to having feelings for someone capable of cheating on another person would just make him look like a dumbass, and it was a good thing he didn’t feel for her what he used to.
He was pulled out of his thoughts once Ophelia neared them, coming to stand to Luke’s right as he watched a smile pull at her pretty pink lips, one that he recognized as her faux sweet one. “Hi,” Ophelia greeted in a friendly tone, cheekbones prominent as both Max and Gwen’s gazes snapped to the brunette at Luke’s side. “You must be Max and Gwen, right?” She didn’t wait for a response, sliding her left arm around Luke’s waist, the taller boy allowing her to pull him closer as she continued, “I’m Ophelia, Luke’s girlfriend.”
Luke stared down at her in a mixture of awe and amusement. She looked completely at ease, a glint in her eyes that was equal parts mischievous and contemptuous. The smile effortlessly tugged on Luke’s lips as Ophelia’s gaze flickered up to meet his, green eyes bright under the afternoon sun and gleaming in mischief before looking at the two people in front of them.
Max smiled at her politely, and Ophelia noticed that like Luke, he had blue eyes that accompanied his blonde hair, though Ophelia easily preferred the taller boy standing next to her. Luke’s own arm casually wrapped around Ophelia’s shoulders, his body relaxing being so close to her.
“Oh,” Gwen returned, her hand sliding down Max’s arm to grip his hand, a smile stretching on her full lips that Luke knew to be as fake as Ophelia’s. “It’s nice to meet you, Ophelia.”
Luke was trying desperately to keep his lips from forming a smirk, unsurprised that Gwen’s reaction of false politeness went completely over Max’s head. While he didn’t hold any feelings for her anymore, Luke still could read Gwen the way he used to be able to, and he was going to use it to his advantage to provoke a reaction out of the fake bitch—not a word he liked using towards a woman, but there was no harm saying it in his head. Especially towards Gwen. Ophelia was more than happy to help.
“Yeah, you too,” Ophelia nodded, hand on Luke’s back under the leather jacket he wore, feeling the soft material of his shirt under her palm as she added sweetly, “Luke’s told me lots about you guys.”
The uncomfortable expressions on Gwen and Max’s faces threatened a smug smirk to curl at Luke’s lips. His anger towards the two of them made him want to make them feel as uncomfortable as he could manage, and clearly Ophelia was on board with that. God knows Ophelia would’ve blown a gasket if her ex dated her cousin that they cheated on her with. It was just wrong.
Fortunately, Luke’s mother called everyone towards one of the circular tables that was pulled in front of Luke’s grandmother, placing the sheet cake in front of the older woman so she could blow out her candles and cut it. Everyone gathered around as Luke’s grandmother held the knife, his grandfather right by her side as Liz snapped pictures of everyone singing happy birthday to the seventy-five year old woman.
As they sang and clapped, Ophelia’s eyes flickered across the round table where Gwen was standing next to Max, and though the girl’s lips were moving to sing happy birthday, her gaze wasn’t fixated on the blonde to her left—rather, she was focused on the blonde next to Ophelia. “You know, if I didn’t know any better,” Ophelia spoke up quietly, hands still clapping as she leaned her head towards Luke. The taller boy leaned down slightly to his right, stopping his singing, though mouthing along, to listen to Ophelia’s low tone while keeping his gaze on his grandmother. “I’d think that Gwen still has some type of feelings for you.”
Luke blinked, expression morphing into one of weirded out incredulity as the singing turned into loud cheers, everyone clapping as Nan cut the cake. Luke clapped along, but he looked at Ophelia in bewilderment. “What?”
She shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest after she finished clapping and the sounds of Luke’s family members clamouring over his grandmother filled her ears. “She keeps looking at you like you’re a piece of meat and she hasn’t eaten in days,” Ophelia murmured, scoffing slightly with a slight shake of her head as she tore her gaze away from the other girl, meeting Luke’s eyes. Lowering her voice even more, Ophelia whispered conspiratorially, “a girl only looks at a guy like that if she wants to get dicked down.”
Luke pressed his lips together, stifling the snort of laughter threatening to blow past as they dispersed from around the table, walking further down the yard as he looked down at Ophelia disbelievingly. “Are you serious?” he said, allowing a short laugh to escape as the two of them settled on sitting on the grass, leaning back against the tall wooden fence that surrounded the yard. “Sweetheart, Gwen doesn’t want to get dicked down by me.”
Ophelia suppressed the smile from growing on her lips at Luke’s repetition of her words, finding him saying them somewhat amusing as she crossed her legs. The floral romper she wore allowed for the occasional goosebumps on her legs whenever there was a gust of wind, and now her bare skin was being tickled by the grass they sat on.
The yard was full of the light hum of everyone chattering, mixed in with laughter and music playing and it felt nice to Ophelia. She had just met these people only hours before, but she felt comfortable around all of them. Eyes wandering around, they landed on Gwen once more before she let out a breathy laugh and glanced at Luke. “Yeah?” she responded to his statement, watching as he turned his head to look at her with a quirk of his brow. “Then why hasn’t she taken her eyes off of you since she got here?”
Luke frowned, looking away and to where Gwen was. When his blue eyes met her dark brown ones across the yard, Ophelia noticed the way Luke’s Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat before his frown deepened and he looked back at Ophelia, stretching his jean clad legs out in front of him and lacing his ring clad fingers together on his lap. Ophelia couldn’t help the bit of relief at the sight of Luke looking completely turned off and disgruntled by Gwen’s gaze. “She care stare all she wants,” Luke said, “doesn’t mean she’ll get anything in return.”
He tilted his head back, leaning it against the fence and eyes going skyward, and Ophelia couldn’t help but keep staring at him. Luke closed his eyes as a gust of wind blew at their faces, tousling his curls, and Ophelia’s own eyes followed the curve of his nose, the fullness of his lower lip and the sharp line of his jaw, before having to look away quickly as suddenly images of his facial hair scratching her neck from last night began flashing through her mind.
Ophelia let out a breath. This was gonna be a long day.
--
tags: @irwinkitten​ @softforcal​ @astroashtonio​ @valentinelrh​ @sweetcherrymike​ @meetashthere​ @hereforlukescruff​ @novacanecalum​ @captain-what-is-going-on​ @angelbbycal​ @singt0mecalum​ @hopelessxcynic​ @lfwallscouldtalk​ @bodhi-black​ @findingliam-o​ @softlrh​ @calntynes​ @calumsmermaid​ @erikamarie41​ @quintodosuniversos​ @longlastingdaydream​ @babylon-corgis​ @lukehemmingsunflower​ @imfuckin10plybud​ @pastelpapermoons​ @conquerwhatliesahead92​ @rotten-kandy​ @metangi​ @neigcthood​ @ohhmuke​ @old-zeppelin-shirt​ @5sos-and-hessa​ @trustmeimawhalebiologist​ @vxlentinecal​ @pettybassists​ @vaporshawn​ @lu-my-golden-boi​ @buggy-blogs​ @visualm3nte​ @isabella-mae13​ @dontjinx-it​ @lifeakaharry​ @neonweeknds​ @antisocialbandmate​ @ixcantxdecidexwhosxmyxfave​ @calpalbby​ @grreatgooglymoogly​ @gorgeouslygrace​ @cocktail-calum​ @miahelizaaabeth​ @madelynerin​ @dramallamawithsparkles​ @theagenderwhocriedwolf​ @kaytiebug14​ @hoodskillerqueen​ @bitchinbabylon​ @empathycth​ @xhaileyreneex​ @inlovehoodx​ @calistheloml​ @aestheticrelated​ @bloodlinecal​ @sublimehood​ @madbomb​ @raabiac​ @britnicole11​ @outofmylimitcal​ @fluffsshawn​ 
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smolbeanethel · 4 years ago
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Nyx (Age: 19) (bi)
- She is a flying trapeze artist with her adoptive father figure
- MAJOR sweet tooth
- Loves to do other face paint and really- she just loves lending others a hand- it’s really fun in her opinion
- Tends to be a tad forgetful and it can lead to problems too
- Outside of her circus wear, she tends to dress a tad provocatively- and likes to keep up an “innocent“ act when it can sometimes be an act
- On another end, she likes to tease and make innuendos on purpose- then pick on her daring for having a dirty mind (when she knows exactly what she is doing)
- Has had a few close calls where she wasn’t caught by her partner but he’s always caught her in the end
- How she got into the circus troupe is something she doesn’t like talking about but it’s widely known that she did run away from her family and managed to stick around with the troupe
- Finds most jokes to be funny- even perverted jokes
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- Her yandere side is something else, she actually does tend to dig into her darling’s relationships and keeps them written down somewhere- just so she won’t forget. Her little journal is always updated too- and if by any chance she feels their relationship is about to be threatened- that name will be crossed off and eliminated
- Isn’t above asking her adoptive father for help in trapping her darling- she knows he tends to act as the doctor for the group too- but maybe he could drug the darling up or temporarily paralyze them
- Doesn’t mind taking care of everything for her darling when they are paralyzed- even doesn’t mind taking charge of the sex when it comes between them
- She does like to use sex as a means to stay too. Nyx feels like her body is still pretty good too- and will only ever allow her darling to use her from now on
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Nox (Age: 37) (bi)
- Nyx’s trapeze partner and doctor for the circus troupe
- Nox actually used to be a father to two girls, he adored them even after his wife up and turned his back on him- cheating on him after claiming that he wasn’t as visually appealing as he used to be
- His eldest daughter had actually fallen terminally ill and he really wanted her to get better- yet she kept getting worse and worse. Eventually she passed away in her room, and he kinda just fell apart - Nox couldn’t handle that and eventually sought to preserve her- by turning her into a doll and eventually... turning his youngest into a doll when she had gotten fatally injured
- This has kept being an occurrence when he obtained more dolls- feeling as if he was saving them or making them feel at peace
- He was actually requested to join the circus troupe by the ringmaster and agreed
- Nyx kinda reminds him of his eldest daughter which is why he tends to do whatever she wants
- Sex with him can go either way- he doesn’t mind allowing his darling to take control and doesn’t mind topping his darling too- he does try to be gentle but tease him or make fun of him and then all that softness is gone
- Hates sweets but always buys them for Nyx and will do the same for his darling if they happened to enjoy them
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- After his ex wife had left him, he had grown bitter and now that he’s attached to his darling, he will make sure they never get to leave
- You don’t really need your legs, do you? He can just fix them up? Maybe replace them with doll legs, you won’t be able to move but you won‘t have to suffer too much either
- Now he won’t go through with that if he is aware and certain his darling won’t leave but he will be keeping an eye on them
- Just as Nyx relies on him, he relies on her- she will be keeping an eye on whomever his darling is talking to and keep it written down to- reporting back to him with any slight change
- As for rivals, he will deal with them himself- but they won’t get the honor of being one of his dolls- they aren’t worthy
- Hates liars and will grown hostile if he figures out his darling is lying to him- don’t do it
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Tanya (Age: 25) (bi)
- Tightrope walker
- Also has a bit of a sweet tooth but tends to like spicy and sweet things together
- Likes to pull risky stunt— like walking on the tightrope without anything underneath to catch her fall (this always frustrates Nox)
- Adores magic tricks
- Her left eye is actually always covered as she doesn’t like anyone seeing that side of her face- and how it looks
- Loves pressing herself up against others- really likes pressing her breasts up against people? She loves her boobs
- Kinda used to others treating her poorly, especially from her childhood- and from what led to her hiding part of her face- she is terribly insecure
- Always wanted someone to tell her she is beautiful and to have someone generally be soft with her
- Hopes her body is enough for her darling- while she might be slightly thick, she does want their approval
- Don’t touch her ears, she gets huffy when you do - Pretty decent at archery
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- When it comes to eliminating rivals, she tends to make a game out of it by kidnapping and hunting them down? And uses her heightened senses to track them down too-
- Laces the tip of her arrow with some kind of poison
- Flat out ties her darling down somewhere, they won’t be allowed to leave- she won’t let the only kind person leave her like that
- Might also be one to try and use sex as a means to change their mind- she will do whatever she can to entice her darling and let them rail her
- Tends to nip and bite at her darling whenever they are getting too rowdy or out of control
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Tommy (Age: 23) (bi)
- He actually acts as a clown for the troupe and provides them with comedy
- Actually tries to tell his darling to leave when they first join the circus- he was only trying to look out for them yet that didn’t go as planned
- Acts harsh but really he’s a softie, he just doesn’t want anyone to get hurt or want their to be problems in the troupe
- His hearing is kinda failing him and he is close to becoming fully deaf
- Used to belong to Marx until he was able to break free
- Doesn’t get as much sleep- he spends many nights awake and often very sluggish
- Sometimes messes up during his acts but it only ever amused the crowd- so he pushes through the pain, even when he might be bleeding
- Thinks of the troupe as family and cherishes each of them, even if he will warn his darling to go away or steer clear of angering them
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- After some time he’ll gradually grow attached to his darling and if they do attempt to leave now- he won’t let them, he’ll get rid of anyone who even attempts to try
- He gave you a chance, you didn’t listen- and now you belong to him
- Makes a terrible mess out of whomever he has to kill make sure his darling stays- he’ll even let them come across the mess and push the blame on someone else? Clearly you are in danger- it’s safer to stay with him just so he can protect you
- He’s a lot more touchy with his darling now- and actually seems to try to please them more when it comes to sex- even allowing them to peg him if they really wanted? Despite how he felt with that kind of vulnerability in the beginning
- Kinda views his darling as a bit dumb- and might say so from time to time
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Dione (Age: 26) (bi)
- The ringmaster and partial magician
- Total gremlin- like down to her laugh and her general antics, she really can be so immature
- 4’10” and tries to wear heels to make herself look taller but when she is out of them, it’s kinda amusing
- Likes being manhandled and treated roughly- no matter the situation
- Might be flat chest wise but she doesn’t care- and she happens to think she has a cute booty anyway
- Always looking for others to join her troupe? She wants a big family- and more people to be close to her? She’s only ever had her older brother
- Her laugh is kinda loud and really- bizarre? kinda funny to hear too
- Has a different variety of strap-ons but honestly wouldn’t be upset if her darling wanted to take control? Just as long as she is fucked roughly and fast- she is chill
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- Her yandere side is definitely shocking? She always seemed so fun loving but now all the fun and jokes- have turned morbid?
- That side is only shown towards those she feels are getting in the way though- her darling will only ever see the more gremlin side- she wouldn’t want her darling to know what she’s done to keep them with her
- The great thing about having her troupe and them being like family is- more people to help her when it comes to murder? After all- Family will do anything for each-other? Why not murder?
- Dione‘s laughter during the time she kills her rivals is more crazed- and definitely insane, a far cry away from how her laughter is like normally
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missmonsters2 · 5 years ago
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From the Beginning
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Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Fem!Reader/OFC
Prompt Request: Anonymous - 16: Did you enjoy it? Making a fool out of me. - 19: You broke my heart. 
Notes: This was an incredibly hard challenge with these dialogue prompts and a happy ending LOL I hope you like it (this is probably as about as happy as it can get).
Warnings: mentions of past abusive relationships.
Count: 5585
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There was something off about your girlfriend, but you couldn’t be sure of what it was. You had been dating Natasha for almost a year now, and everything had been as good as you could expect it.
You guys definitely had some rough patches here and there, but that was because you had been through some really shitty relationships. You’ve been used, manipulated, and cheated on before, so you were a little cautious when dating. 
You had met Natasha at the police station when you were filing a restraining order against your ex because he would seriously not leave you alone and has taken to standing outside your house at all hours. 
It was freaking you out, thus the restraining order.
Just as you had just finished the application, the door opened to the station, and in came your ex with a black eye and a couple scratches. Behind him was a drop-dead gorgeous redhead. She was chewing gum, scowling at your ex.
A policeman came up to her to get the details and was cuffing your ex before you could even say anything.
The redhead looked over at you and raised her brow. “You’re the girl that he kept trailing.”
Still shocked, you nodded dumbly. The police were telling you that he caught dealing some drugs and started a fight with the redhead over there. He was most likely going to do some time and asked if you wanted to file a restraining order still.
The redhead cut in, saying you still should. She was leaving after, and you turned your head to the officer and asked him to file it before running off to chase after her.
She was surprised when you stopped her and asked if you could at least buy her coffee for, in a way, saving you. 
It was a long shot. You could see her being the distant type, but to your surprise, she said yes. 
That’s how it all started. You honestly hadn’t really expected anything of it after the first coffee and getting to know each other a little bit. But then you kept seeing her everywhere.
At the coffee shop, at the grocery store, at the park. Hell, she even showed up at the yoga studio you go to often.
It weirded you the hell out, but she looked equally as surprised to see you every time. When you had asked her what brought her to this specific studio, she mumbled about it being mandated or recommended. 
Even then, you still didn’t really think anything of it. You were okay with a friendship with Natasha. At least she seemed honest and upfront, which you appreciated. 
There was a routine in your friendship. Get coffee in the morning, go your separate ways for work, grab lunch together, head to the yoga studio in the evening, and maybe watch a movie at night.
Obviously, there were days you couldn’t see her, but it never bothered you. 
So, one day when you were grabbing drinks together, and some douchey guy kept trying to get your attention and pull you onto the dance floor with him, you turned to Natasha to ask if you could go home now. 
But she was kissing you, pulling you into her soft embrace, and glaring at the guy until he left. 
“Why did you do that?” You asked softly. 
Natasha looked at you, trying to gauge your reaction to it, but you didn’t show anything.
She still held you in her embrace, softly trailing her fingers down your arm to lace your fingers together.
“Be mine,” she whispered softly in your ear. It was the way that she said it that made your heart flutter. 
Now, there were definitely times where the two of you fought. In the beginning, you were kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop. You were waiting for everything to go downhill, that she would yell at you if something were wrong, or guilt-trip you into getting her way, or even cheat on you.
Natasha made it very clear that isn’t who she was and for you to hold yourself back waiting on that would doom them. 
Sometimes you fought because you were 99.99% sure that Natasha was hiding something from you. 
You were a novelist, so sometimes the smallest detail would catch your attention.
And she was. 
Four months in and she let you know that she was an Avenger. 
Then the fights would shift into being with her could cause you harm, and maybe it was better to split up. 
The point is that every time you fought, there was a lead-up to it and you made up every time.
That’s why you knew there was something off with Natasha. You wrote trashy romance novels (not because you were entirely into them, but it pays well), and you literally wrote all these situations out.
Natasha had been quiet, distant, and unfocused when the two of you were together.
Then there were the late nights out and which she would always say it was because of work. It wasn’t like you could confirm it anyways with her being a secret spy and all.
You even tried to pick a fight with her once, but she just wouldn’t respond to your bait. 
You tried to not think of the worst possible scenario, which was she was cheating on you because you had already gone through this. You didn’t want your insecurities from past relationships to carry over into this one, especially since you’ve been dating for a year. 
You convinced yourself you were just being insecure, maybe even a little crazy. Natasha was a wonderful girlfriend. She was attentive towards you, gave you affection when you needed it, and gave you space when you needed it. 
The sex was great too.
There was nothing to worry about, you told yourself. 
It really just was work. She’s busy saving the world. She’s seen shit that would probably make you vomit. 
So, of course, sometimes she would just be distant or unfocused. People have different ways of getting their shit together, who were you to judge?
You took a deep breath and let it out slowly. 
Today, you were going to surprise her at the tower. You had brought her favorite lunch and everything, hoping to cheer your girlfriend up. 
“Hey, Happy,” you greeted with a soft smile, and the security guard returned it to you.
“Hey, here to see Natasha?” He asked. You nodded, holding up your bagged lunch. 
“Oh, I almost forgot.” You opened the lunch up and grabbed a sandwich out and held it to Happy.
“I made some extra cutlets, thought I might give you one.”
Happy took the sandwich with a huge grin, giving you a thankful look.
“Extra sauce?” He asked.
“Is there any other way?” You replied, and Happy let out an excited, ‘yes!’ before letting you pass.
You made your way to her office but found it empty. You were about to ask JARVIS where she might be when you bumped into Steve.
“Oh, hey, Steve,” you said, giving him a brief hug in greeting. 
Steve hugged you back with a bit of a pat before letting you go.
“Hey, here to see Nat?” He asked, eyeing the bagged lunch in your hand. 
You nodded but looked sheepish. “Yep! Sorry, didn’t pack any for you.”
Steve jokingly looked crushed but then laughed, “That’s alright, guess you’ll just have to bring me some next time. I think Natasha is in the training room with Clint. Want me to let her know you’re on your way over?”
You shook your head, “No, I’ll surprise her. Thanks!”
Giving him a quick wave, you made your way to the training room instead. 
You were already starting to feel a little better. Maybe you were just being a little crazy. 
You were approaching the training room, and you could see your girlfriend through the window of the door as she took down Clint.
Just about as you were about to enter, Clint started to speak. 
“Okay, so now that you’ve taken me down a couple times, you ready to talk?”
Natasha huffed as she got up and adjusted her tank top.
“Not really,” she said sullenly. 
Clint took his friend to sit at the edge of the ring where they had their legs hanging and arms on the ropes. 
“What’s the matter lately? You’ve been spending all your hours at work, and we don’t have any missions.”
Your heart drops when you hear that. The sense of dread clouds over but you force yourself to listen on (because you can’t stand it when you read a book, and this happens, and the main character leaves before hearing an explanation).
Natasha is twirling the ends of her hand wraps and then sighs. “I don’t want to go home. If I go home, then my girlfriend is there, and I can’t see her right now.”
Your cheeks tinge a bit red when you hear that, because ouch? You don’t think you’re that bad of company. 
“Why not? Just a couple weeks ago you were fine.” Clint asks.
Natasha is rubbing her temples before she looks at Clint with a guilty expression.
“I did something bad.”
Your jaw is clenching, that feeling is knawing at your gut again, but you hold on. Everything has a reasonable explanation. 
Clint sighs, pursing his lip at his friend. “What did you do, Nat?”
Natasha is back to playing with her hand wrap again. “You know Tanya?”
Clint scrunches his eyebrows as he tries to recall who she’s talking about.
“You mean from...legal?” Clint asks, a little unsure. He had only seen her a couple times, she mostly worked with Tony.
Natasha nodded. “Well, a couple of weeks ago, she came to me for help because Tony told her that I used to work in her position and she needed a little help with some of the forms and policies.”
“Okay?” Clint said, unsure where this was going.
“Well,” Natasha murmured. “She kept coming to me every time she needed help, I felt bad, so I kept helping her.”
Clint scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion. “Okay? Just tell Tony to tell her that she needs to ask her manager for help. Or ask Pepper.”
“That’s not the problem,” Natasha said, putting her head in her hands. “The problem is that we almost slept together.”
Clint started coughing as he swallowed his spit wrong. “What?!”
Natasha scrunched her eyes closed as she sighed.
“What the hell, Nat? Why did you guys almost sleep together? I thought everything was going perfect with your girlfriend!” Clint asked his friend, a tone of disappointment in his voice. 
You were lovely, in his opinion. Good for Natasha in a way you were both patient and didn’t take any shit.
“I don’t know. One moment I was helping her with a legal form and then the next we were kissing, and she was stripping on my desk.” Natasha recalled.
You were standing outside the door, back against the wall with your hand over your mouth as you tried to hide the sob that desperately wanted to escape. 
“When I realized what was happening, I stopped it. I haven’t seen Tanya since then, but now I can’t go home.”
“Why did you even let it get that far? Are you actually not happy?” Clint asked, worry in his tone. 
Natasha shook her head. “No, everything is going perfect. I don’t know...I guess I just doubted my feelings.”
You suddenly understood every main character in the books and why they left. It was just breaking your heart to listen to Natasha explain why she cheated on you.
You didn’t think you could keep quiet anymore, but there was no way in hell you were ready to face Natasha either. 
As quietly as you could, you gathered the strength to your feet and walked off to leave the training area. 
The tears were already furiously welling up in your eyes as you walked off as quickly as you could to leave the tower. 
You hit something hard and stumbled back a little bit.
Steve had his hands on your shoulders to steady you and keep you from falling.
“Sor--what’s wrong?” He asked, rather alarmed at seeing your red eyes and tears built up.
You looked at Steve and heard the question, and it was like the dam just opened.
You choked on a sob, hand to your mouth as your legs gave out. Steve immediately caught you, eyes wide as his heart thudded in his chest as he looked at the overflowing tears down your cheek.
He had never seen you cry. Throughout all the fights you ever had with Natasha, you had never cried.
Even when your ex got out of prison early and broke into your home, you didn’t cry when you called the police for help.
You didn’t even cry when the police called the tower knowing who you were and Steve had to help you get stitches (Steve had to stop Natasha from committing murder, but he was quite tempted to help her).
So, seeing you here, sobbing in his chest with your shoulders violently shaking concerned him considerably. 
You heard footsteps down the hallway and peeked out to see Natasha and Clint making their way towards you.
You tensed immediately, and Steve felt it.
Natasha had exited the room with Clint, feeling better about their conversation and knew what she needed to do. At the main entrance, they both saw you in Steve’s arms with your shoulders shaking, and alarm bells immediately started going off in her head.
She approached you, calling your name softly but you didn’t turn to look at her. So, Natasha gently put her hand on your shoulder to gather you from Steve’s arms, but the moment she touched you, you turned around and slapped her hand away.
You looked at her, eyes narrowed in anger with your brows pinched together as the tears kept flowing. 
But it was like just looking at Natasha broke you further, unable to keep that expression as you choked on another sob, turning away with your eyes closed. 
You took a deep breath, turning back and pushing your bagged lunch into her hands.
You didn’t look at anyone else as you turned back around and started to make your way out again. You didn’t say anything to Happy as he called out to you, just knowing you needed to get to your car. 
Steve looked at Natasha in confusion and Clint sighed, rubbing his hands over his face as he knew already what must’ve happened.
Natasha felt dread in her heart at the way you had looked at her, had slapped her hand away from touching you. She opened the lunch bag to see her favorite sandwich inside and a small note.
Taking the note out, she really felt her heart drop as she read it.
Hey babe,
Sorry if I’ve been annoyingly clingy the last couple of weeks. Just been getting crazy thoughts, but you’ve been such an amazing girlfriend. 
Always on your side.
Love you
It signed your name at the bottom. Steve had caught a glimpse of the note and looked at Natasha.
The guilt in her eyes made Steve clench his jaw as he turned around and ran out to catch up to you. 
He caught you just as you were getting into your car.
“Wait!” Steve called, holding onto your door before you could get in and shut it.
You were still crying as you clenched the top of your car door.
“Wait,” Steve said again, “I don’t know what Natasha did, but you need to come back in to talk about it. Whatever it is, you can work it out.”
You shook your head, trying to get into your car and shut the door but Steve would not let you. 
“You can--”
“She cheated on me, Steve!” You shouted, feeling the embarrassment leak in as you did.
It was silent for a moment. Steve didn’t know what to say. Of all the things he thought could’ve happened, this wasn’t it.
You looked at Steve, and it broke his heart to see how defeated you looked.
“She cheated on me weeks ago. I’m sure there are many explanations for it, but I can’t listen to any of it right now. Do you know how stupid I feel right now?” You stuttered slightly as you were trying to catch your breath.
You looked at Steve, who just stared at you with his jaw clenched and lips in a tight line.
“So, can you please let me go and so I can at least cry and feel stupid in the sanctuary of my own home?”
Steve looked at you for a moment more before letting go of your car door. You were about to get in and shut the door before Steve grabbed on again.
You were so close to just exploding when you looked at Steve.
“Let me drive you home at least,” Steve said, worried that you would cry on the way home and your tears would block your vision, and therefore, you would get into a car crash and die.
He held his hand out, and you sighed before giving him your keys and walked over to the passenger side.
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Steve had helped you into your house and into your room before he said he would check in on you soon and left. 
You cried frustratingly hard when he left. 
You never felt heartbreak like you did right now. It was like someone was squeezing your heart and your mind couldn’t help but replay everything Natasha said. 
God, you were so stupid.
Here you were, trying to make excuses for Natasha’s behavior, telling yourself you're crazy.
But she had almost slept with someone else and then hid it from you for weeks.
Were you that bad of a girlfriend? Did you treat her like shit? Is that why she doubted her feelings for you?
You just felt like there was something wrong with you. It has to be you, otherwise, how could every person you date treat you like shit?
You stayed in bed the entire night. Sometime later in the middle of the night, you had heard banging on your door.
“Baby, I know you’re home. Please open the door,” It was Natasha’s mumbled voice through the door you heard, but you ignored it. 
Minutes later you heard tapping on your bedroom window, but with your curtains shut, Natasha couldn’t see through it. 
“Please open up, I really need to talk to you,” Natasha was pleading through the window, but you had merely watched her silhouette silently.
It had gone on for an hour of Natasha asking you to let her in, but you had ignored her, putting on your headphones before turning the other way. 
It was stupid, you thought. Even though she had cut you deeply, you were still hanging on. She couldn’t break up with you if you didn’t let her in. 
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You didn’t leave your bed for weeks. Steve was smart enough to steal your keys when he dropped you off and made himself a copy so he could check on you.
“That’s kind of fucked up,” you comment into your pillow when Steve told you.
“Yeah, well, language, first of all. Secondly, as your friend, I need to check on you.” He was cleaning up your strewn clothes on the floor as he said that. 
You hadn’t really had the appetite to eat, and Steve demanded that you eat, even if it was soup.
He dragged you out of bed and made you go shower before having you sit in the kitchen as he made you some hearty soup. 
It was currently nighttime since Steve had meetings and other work stuff he had to do during the day, but you had appreciated his kindness nonetheless. 
He was in the middle of ladling soup in your bowl before he heard knocking on your door. Steve went to open it, but you stopped him by grabbing his arm.
“Don’t,” you say quietly. “It’s her at the door.”
Steve furrowed his brows together, and true enough, Natasha’s voice rang through the door.
“Steve! Open up, I know you’re in there with her!” It was accompanied by knocking on the door.
Now the both of you knew that she had been trailing him. Steve looked a little unhappy at that but still felt awkward that you wanted him to ignore her through the door. 
You both ate your meal in relative silence, mostly because Natasha had still been knocking. You were pretty sure she was contemplating breaking in, but maybe she refrained herself knowing Steve was here. 
Also, you had previous experiences with exes breaking.
Was she an ex?
“How often does she stand out there?” Steve asked. He usually came in the day time, so this hadn’t happened before.
You shrug, putting more soup into your mouth. “Every day. Sometimes an hour, sometimes three, sometimes all night. Guess it depends on how much times she has. She’ll move the bedroom window eventually.”
Steve’s eyes widen at the response, quickly looking at the door before back at you.
You were staring at the TV, but it was apparent you weren’t even watching it. He grabbed your bowl to put it down with a sigh.
“I think you should talk to her,” Steve said.
You sighed, pressing your palm your eye to relieve the headache.
“I know,” you whisper.
The two of you rarely discuss Natasha. You don’t ask him how she’s doing or if she’s said anything about you.
He tries not to bring up what happened as he can see the pain it causes, but he didn’t think you could let it go on like it has.
Steve put his arm on your shoulder, bringing you into a one-arm hug and patted your arm comfortingly. “Whatever happens, I’ll still be your friend and support you. Just talk to her first, she obviously really wants to. I’ll get her to give you some time to think.”
You nodded as he got up to wash the dishes as you headed back into your room to lie down. 
You could hear him open the door and Natasha’s voice.
“Why the hell are you at my girlfriend’s so often?” She asked, almost accusingly at him, and you rolled your eyes.
“To make sure she eats and does normal things after you hurt her,” Steve said, and you could picture her wincing as he said that. 
“You can’t keep standing here knocking at her door and window, Nat. Give her some space.” 
You heard a little more bickering, but eventually, the door closed, and the footsteps were leading away.
It was quiet that night. 
In a way, you felt peace. But maybe you had grown used to her presence through your door and window.
If you were really honest, you would just say you did miss her. 
As you were in bed that night, staring at the ceiling, you resolved yourself to stop moping around. 
You needed to live your life too, with or without her. 
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Your life had returned to normal for a couple days. You got up, got coffee, worked on your novel, got lunch, went to the yoga studio, ate dinner, worked on your book some more, and even watched some shows at night. 
It felt like shit, but you were surviving at least.
Natasha had stopped knocking on your door and window, so it did give you some time to think over everything. 
It wasn’t until the end of the week that you decided it was time to talk to her. 
You went back to the tower, Happy greeting you worriedly since you hadn’t shown up for a long time and was crying the last time you left.
It did spark some gossip.
“Natasha?” He asked, and you nodded. He told you what floor and room she was on. It was late at night, but apparently, she was still in the training room by herself. 
You felt slightly nauseous as you made your way to the training room. You could see her, the same way you did the last time you were here, except this time, she was boxing with a punching bag. 
She had worked up a slight sweat as she aggressively punched the bag hard enough to get it swinging. She pulled a combination of moves before hitting it one last time.
She stood back, sighing frustratedly as she ripped off her hand wraps and threw them on the ground.
You bit your lip for a moment before you opened the door and walked in. Natasha immediately turned around and saw you, shocked.
“Hey,” you greeted, internally rolling your eyes at how lame you sounded.
“Hey,” Natasha swallowed. 
You looked around the empty training room, swinging your legs slightly before sighing.
“I think we should talk,” you tell her. Natasha nods as you make your way over to her.
“I’m sorry,” you said at first, and Natasha looked wholeheartedly confused. “I knew you wanted to talk about it right away, but I was so hurt that I ignored you on purpose to hurt you.”
Natasha nodded rigidly again but tried to relax her shoulders and uncrossed her arms.
You didn’t really know how to bring it up because it was obvious the both of you knew that you were there that day.
“You cheated on me,” you said, feeling the pain cross over and your throat closing up a little as you said it. 
Natasha clenched her jaw, closing her eyes for a moment before she opened it.
“I did,” she admitted, and you felt your heart break all over again.
“But I didn’t mean to,” Natasha said, and you scoffed.
“No one means to cheat, Natasha. You don’t wake up one morning saying, ‘oh, today I feel like betraying the trust of my partner and destroy them.’ But it’s still a choice you make.”
You thought you were done crying, but the burning in the back of your eyes told you otherwise.
“It was a mistake, I stopped as soon as I realized.”
“Yes, right after you were about to sleep with her,” you bitterly recalled. 
“Cheating is not a mistake, Nat. I would never be able to do that to you. I couldn’t kiss another person without thinking of your tear stained lips on mine. I get that sometimes you have missions where you need to play a certain role, but that wasn’t the case. This was some girl from legal that you work with.” 
You were pacing back and forth while Natasha just stood there. You turned back, hand running through your hair.
“I just--why? Why did you do that to me? If you were having doubts, you could’ve just talked to me, asked for a break, or even just break up. Do you know how I felt finding that out? I kept wondering what the hell might be wrong with me. Am I not enough?”
“No, baby, that’s not--”
“Well, there has to be something wrong with me. You were keeping this from me for weeks! You kept coming home to me, late at night, while I tried to love you. I kept making excuses for why you were treating me like this, trying to convince myself that I’m just being annoying. Yet, you were getting fresh with Tanya from legal.”
You were crying again, and it was breaking Natasha’s heart to see you cry.
Wiping your tears away angrily, you glared at her. “Did you enjoy it? Making a fool out of me. How stupid you must’ve thought I was.”
Natasha finally has had enough and walked over and grabbed you by the shoulder to pull you into an embrace. You’re trying to push her away, but she’s way stronger than you, and she’s not about to let you go.
“No, I--baby, I’m the stupid one. I’ve never had someone before. I just got worried that the feelings I have for you was just because this is new to me. But the moment I got with Tanya, I just--it felt wrong. The thought of losing you terrifies me. I fucked up.”
You slowly stopped pushing against Natasha, only crying more heavily as you listened to her.
“I love you,” Natasha confessed as she held you close, nose buried in your hair. It only made you sob harder because Natasha had never said it while you were dating. You had lived with the fact that she might never say it, but she showed you all the time that she cared about you.
“You broke my heart,” you whimpered against her shoulder.
Natasha simply held you closer, stroking your hair as she mumbled she was sorry and that she loved you.
You eventually pushed away, the tears subsiding. 
“You knew from my past relationships that cheating is a non-negotiable for me. You can lie to me, you can scream and yell at me, you can even disappear for weeks on end, but cheating is something I can’t work out.”
Natasha’s face was falling as you were talking. 
“I want to break up,” you say and watch as Natasha looks like she’s been punched in the gut. Her eyes water, and you’re a little surprised as you’ve also never seen her cry. 
“Don’t,” Natasha pleads, a burning in the back of her throat as she looked you. “I can survive anything, but I can’t without you.”
You swallow painfully, “I know, but I can’t stay in this relationship without thinking about what you did. I can’t kiss you without thinking that you kissed her, touched her, almost slept with her.” 
The tears that built up in Natasha’s eyes welled over and she nodded stiffly. She understood, hell, she might even agree with your choice. 
Still, you stood there, taking in your now ex-girlfriend’s regretful and heartbroken face. You sighed.
“But,” you say and watch as Natasha snaps up to look at you. “I want to start over with you.”
The sheer relief that’s on Natasha’s face as she makes a move to pull you back into her arms and kiss you.
You stop her immediately with your hand up.
“I mean it, Nat. We’re starting over because even though I still love you and miss you like hell, I don’t trust you. We’re going to have to work through that.”
Natasha is nodding vigorously because fuck, this was better than nothing.
You give her a half-smile as she returns it with a sincere one of her own.
“Okay,” Natasha says. “What can I do right now?”
You adjust your bag on your shoulder and look around before looking back at her.
“Well, I’m not opposed to some coffee right now.” 
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“Fuck, Steve. If you don’t get me there on time, she’ll throttle you. Then I will strangle you. You need to step on the gas.” Natasha says as she’s gripping around Steve’s waist tightly.
“Okay, okay! I’m going as fast as I can. I’m ripping 90 in a 60 zone right now.”
“Go faster! I highly doubt a cop will give Captain America a ticket.”
Steve grumbles something under his breath that Natasha hears but ignores it.
God, you really were going to kill her if she didn’t make it. 
Steve ends up dropping her off with 28 seconds to spare. Natasha hops off, giving a slight salute to Steve as she books it in, weaving through people and even jumping over a coffee table.
Natasha lands right in front of you, slight huff in her breath. You raise your eyebrow at her, looking at your watch and giggling.
“Right on time with two seconds to spare. Impressive, Romanoff.” You tease her.
She grins at you, swooping down to kiss your cheek. 
“Even a mission can’t keep me from making a date with you,” she replies suavely, and you nearly roll your eyes. 
“Come on, my friend is about to open her first gallery.” You take hold of her hand and lead her towards the entrance.
It was a nice date, overall. Nothing extremely different or special for any reason. Natasha is walking you home, and you chat about some of the art pieces and people you met there. 
It was nice.
It was normal. 
She drops you off at your front door, kissing you goodnight as she’s about to make her own way home back to the tower.
Natasha hadn’t been allowed to stay the night with you since the incident. You were still both working on working out the issues, but it was progressing.
You stopped her before she could leave, grabbing onto her hand. Natasha looked back at you curiously.
“Stay the night,” you quietly say, licking your bottom lip as you looked at her. 
She looked surprised, almost unsure.
“Are you sure?” She asks, and you nod.
“I think six months is punishment enough, don’t you?”
You grin which causes Natasha to smile as well before you drag her inside, stripping her down to nothing, and letting her fall atop of you.
Natasha is kissing your neck, peppering kisses all the way up until she’s nose to nose with you.
“I love you,” she whispers against your lips.
“Be mine,” you say, the feeling and tone exactly the way Natasha had said it once to you.
And it made Natasha’s heart flutter.    
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slamsams-blog · 5 years ago
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A View To A Kill - #24WeeksofBond
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This week’s feature is 1985â€Čs “A View To A Kill”.  This would be Roger Moore’s 7th and final Bond performance, and judging by Moore’s appearance in this film, it really was for the best.  Man, am I torn with this one.  I know as a self-proclaimed “Bond Expert” I should hate this movie...take a look at any Bond ranking blog out there and you’ll find the usual suspects rounding out the bottom 5, this film included.  While it definitely has its faults (no pun intended), there is just something so unique and charming about this Bond adventure.  Maybe it’s the horses, maybe it’s the unforgettable May Day character, maybe it’s the Christopher Walken effect, or maybe it’s the way Bond cooks up a killer Quiche...whatever it is, I just can’t help but enjoy myself when I watch this movie.
It all starts with a fun ski chase scene where Bond is out trying to find the body of a missing 003...he finds him and discovers a microchip in his locket.  He must have been on the hunt for Zorin before Bond took over.  Not sure, I may have missed it, but eventually the ski chase scene boils down and Bond picks up a board from his snow mobile that got shot down.  This leads to “California Girls” playing while Bond snow boards his way out of a pickle.  Watching this now - it’s utterly ridiculous and doesn’t quite fit the vibe of the rest of the scene, but when I watched this as a teenager, I absolutely LOVED it and it still brings me back to when I was a kid watching these Bond films for the first time.
We are then treated to a bad ass tune by Duran Duran.  This song is one of my favorites.  When I think of this movie, 2 things pop into my head right away: that California girls scene, and the Duran Duran song.  So far this movie is hitting on all cylinders. 
But before we go on with the plot...let’s talk about the elephant in the room, shall we?  Bond is so uncomfortably old in this movie.  It’s a shame really, this movie has a wonderful plot with amazing characters, incredible action, and a killer score, but the only thing a lot of people take away from it is how old Moore is.  I don’t blame them, Moore is definitely a week past the sell by date here and he is still managing to get intimate with a few women.  Eh, I really hate to say it, but it was a different time I guess.  If Roger Moore had been a little younger or if Dalton had taken over this one...I think this movie would be towards the top of Bond lists everywhere.
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Onto the plot...
It turns out this microchip is a copy of a Zorin Microchip that are designed to withstand a nuclear blast.  So Bond is set to find Max Zorin (Christopher Walken) and see if there is anything suspicious.  Well turns out his horses are really good...that’s enough to get a green light from her majesties secret service.  Bond goes to meet some weirdo at the Eifel Tower to talk all things Zorin, but the weirdo gets killed by a poison butterfly toy.  That’s funny to write.  Anyways, now Bond is really on a mission...
The movie continues with Bond going under cover as a super rich and bossy horse buyer with another man from MI6 who is a horse expert.  This part of the movie is just light hearted and fun.  We see Bond bossing “Tibbit” around and schmoozing other party folk, and getting to know all the evil bad guys along the way.  This is where we find out that Zorin inserts these microchips into the horse for an added boost during races.
Not only do we get to admire some beautiful horses, but we also get our first glimpse at Stacy Sutton (Tanya Roberts) who will go on later to be Bond’s helping force in taking Zorin down.  She is seemingly getting a big pay off, for what?  We don’t know yet.  But instead of Bond getting information from her, how Bond usually does, in a steamy hotel on a moonlit night.  Bond finds himself in bed with May Day, and the audience finds themselves uncomfortable with seeing old Moore naked in bed with naked Grace Jones.
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Yeah....soooo anyways....
Like with most Bond movies, the plot always starts out rather simple but ends up being something bigger.  Yes, Zorin is cheating to win these horse races, by steroids and microchip injection...but then we also find out that Zorin is an ex-KGB who is now doing his own thing.  And apparently that thing is to destroy Silicon Valley, taking control of the microchip industry.  We never really find out why he needs this, other than having a monopoly.  But, why do you want a monopoly on the microchip business?  Seems rather lame in my opinion, but it’s Zorin, and he’s got his reasons.
We really don’t deserve a Christopher Walken here, but we get him and its wonderful.  Here is something I’ve never picked up before...apparently the old evil guy Hans Glaub was a nazi scientist who experimented with steroids in pregnant women in the concentration camps.  The women who gave birth, gave birth to kids with extremely high IQ’s but were psycho paths, leading Bond to suspect Zorin was a product of that.  NEVER KNEW THAT BACKSTORY UNTIL TONIGHT!  CRAZY! 
Well that definitely explains Walken’s performance.  Christopher Walken does a fantastic job of playing an extremely charming, highly popular public figure, but also a completely sadistic, ruthless killer who finds killing people “neat”.
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On top of having Christopher Walken and Grace Jones as the evil tandem, we get to witness some wonderfully absurd action.  We have a Horse riding obstacle course that Bond must complete with 10 guys trying to knock him off; we have a Fire truck chase scene with Bond hanging on the ladder as it’s swinging through on coming traffic; and of course, the final boss battle on top of the Golden Gate Bridge.  Some pretty awesome stuff here...but man is Roger Moore old.
Not only is this Roger Moore’s last Bond movie, it’s also the swan song for the best Moneypenny ever...Lois Maxwell - who had served as the Bond flirting secretary to M since the very first Bond movie.  Lois had a wonderful career in the Bond series, but she too was getting old.  It only seemed fitting that she and Moore go out at the same time to bring in some young blood.
Despite Moore’s age, and yes I know I’m beating a dead horse (that was an intended pun), but this movie does all it can to make up for it.  There are so many memorable scenes in this film where I simply cannot in good conscious give this movie a bad review.  I would definitely put this movie in a solid place in the middle of the pack, but not bottom 5, I mean come on, Christopher Walken alone moves the movie up 6 spots.  
This really was fun to watch tonight.  What did you all think?  Let me know!
Reviews from Friends:
Dan Perch
Bond as St. John Smythe has to be my favorite fake name😂 Walken and Grace Jones were such a cool team to watch!
My Mom
Omg Sam this was the best bond movie and a fantastic write up on your blog. I laughed so hard at your commentary. You have the makings of a professional critic. You just have to fix that “anyways” habit. I can now see how you boys got addicted to Bond. I would put this brisk and boisterous film way up near the top. My gosh you should at the very least give it another half star. I loved it.
Andrew Albertsen
This was always one of my favorites
Jake Benrud
I had some of the same thoughts about this movie! "California Girls"? Really? I also don't think that Bond's knees could take those jumps at his age. It does make it kind of a fun scene though. I have had the "A View to a Kill" song stuck in my head all week. It's one of my favorite Bond songs as well. I also enjoyed the twang of the electric guitar with the 80's version of James Bond Theme song in the action sequences. Grace Jones as May Day was great. It was kind of funny to see the death by the poison butterfly on a fishing pole. I must have missed the connection on how the Nazi scientist who did experiments with steroids in pregnant women ended up being a father-figure to Zorin. Also, how did he become a KGB agent if he was the product of a Nazi experiment? I guess he could have jumped ship to the next "evil empire." Walken played the part well. I liked his laugh just before plummeting to his death.
24 Weeks of Bond will return next Monday with - 
Goldeneye
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doof-doofblog · 4 years ago
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"I'm Sorry!"
Tuesday 9th June 2020
Good evening everyone! Hope you've had a good day! It's just hit me that after tonight's episode, we'll only have two episodes to view until the soap goes off air. I'm feeling a touch of sadness but I'm really hoping it won't be too long until the soap will be back on our screens. We should enjoy the last few episodes while we can! I just hope that come the last episode, it won't end on such big cliff hanger - i'll be so frustrated that I'll have to wait for such a lengthy period of time to find out the outcome! I'm sure you guys feel the same way? Let's just hope we're not waiting for months on end!
So tonight's episode was quite full packed wasn't it? I'm going to briefly start with Rainie and Max, it's really nice to see Rainie in a completely different light. I do fear that she will always been known as the terrible drug addict, and I guess there is always a possibility she could go back to her bad ways, but it's so nice to see her living a happy life. She's not interested in taking Max for his money. As she said, she has a good job and stable home as well as someone who loves her for who she is, plus she's clean, she's living her best life right now! Why would she need Max's money? She will find the money eventually for her wedding to Stuart and hopefully they'll have a happy life together. I thought it was really sweet when she said to Max that she actually wanted him to be happy to, I think that's all everyone wants. Max has had his fair share of women on the square but I believe only 2 of those women have made him genuinely happy - Tanya and Stacey! I do hope in time Max will meet someone and he'll be able to be happy, properly, once again.
So, does this mean Dotty and Peter are going to make a go of things? Even regarding that Dotty knows about Ian's secret. It's obvious that Ian is not going to approve, but in all honesty, what can he do? He can't threaten Dotty to leave his son alone, she will only threaten to reveal his secret. Ian is just going to have to suck it up and deal with it and hope to God that Dotty doesn't spill the beans. I know I've mentioned this already, but I can't help thinking about Bobby - even though he's not been seen in recent episodes, he was the one who started off having feelings for Dotty in the first place, how is he going to feel now knowing his brother has gone off with her? I didn't really know what to make of the scene where Dotty was trying to impress Peter by going for the jog ... I guess she wasn't trying to impress him, maybe just get his attention?! Again, like their flirting, I found it a bit cringe-worthy. But you know, each to their own? Do any of you guys ship Dotty and Peter? Or would you prefer to see them with other people? Perhaps you would've preferred Dotty to be with Vinny? They did start up a good, close friendship ... let me know what you guys think! Only thing now is, I have a feeling that Ian's secret isn't going to be kept secret for much longer?
Speaking of ships - does anyone else ship Billy and Karen? Poor Billy! Okay, the flour bomb was funny, but I did kinda feel that somehow, maybe he doesn't belong with the Taylor family. Mitch has done everything in his power to make him feel uncomfortable - even saying that he and Karen won't last for long and that Karen always goes running back to him. Mitch is clearly jealous! But I do feel that Billy does deserve happiness - however, what is going to happen when Honey returns? I'm assuming she will at some point, I don't think we've seen the last of her. But what is going to happen if Honey comes back and finds out that Billy has suddenly moved in with Karen? Isn't that going to break her heart? I mean, okay, Billy did cheat on her and she attempted to move on with Adam, but look how that turned out for the poor woman. She lost her self-esteem and confidence which caused her to relapse on her eating disorder, she then decided she had to leave the Square until she felt herself again, leaving poor Billy on his own. It's nice to see Billy happy with someone but I don't know whether he'll be able to commit to Karen, or whether he'll be able to feel he belongs with the Taylor family, especially with Mitch always at the sidelines, watching in on his relationship with Karen. What do you guys think? Do you think Billy and Honey will be meant to be? Or do you think he can gel well with Karen and the Taylor's and be a part of their family?! Also - yes! I am going to mention that EastEnders did make a comment about the size of Billy's manhood!!!!!! Sorry, but we don't want to know that, thank you!!!
Swiftly moving on ... I do wish that Phil and Sharon would come to some form of understanding with each other. I can understand both sides of spectrum ... Sharon made a terrible mistake of firstly, cheating on Phil, and then secondly giving up her own baby, but now she's trying to do the right thing and bring up her son with the man she loves. However, I can understand Phil's perspective aswell, he was heartbroken when he found out that Kayden wasn't his, considering he had adopted Sharon's elder son and became a father to him, to then lose him in awful circumstances, I guess he can't help but blame Sharon for Dennis's death. I do kinda think Phil is right, if she hadn't have slept with Keanu and got pregnant, none of this would've happened and Dennis would still be around now. It's clear that they do deeply still love each other, but Phil can't find it in himself to bring up another man's baby. When Ian came to collect Sharon's things, I love the way Phil put him in his place, its been obvious that Ian has been swooning over Sharon - Phil isn't stupid, he can see what he's trying to do! Hopefully Sharon will come to realise that also and will find out the truth about Dennis's death. I loved the scene between Linda and Phil, I think the words that Linda rang truth - you can't break a bond between a mother and their child, Phil and Sharon should be able to work things through because of their love for each other, if they want to be together, they should be able to be strong and make it work. However, I was surprised as Phil's revelation! So he is going to be moving into the Vic?! Is that going to be such a good idea, considering his past with the building? I mean, it was once his home also, but Sharon also lived there, could this mean they could end up fighting for the property? Or is Sharon going to remain living with Ian or will she live in the Mitchell household while Phil moves into the Vic?! I'm really eager to see what happens with that one, but I do feel we're going to have to wait a while unfortunately.
Uh-Oh! I have a bad feeling that things could be going from bad to worse for Chantelle. After asking Gray if she could use his car to do an errand for Kheerat, Gray was already annoyed that she was doing Kheerat favours, why is she still doing more? He made it perfectly clear that he didn't want her running around after him. I kinda panicked when Suki asked - wait no - told Chantelle to do those favours for her, it was just going to put her in an even worse situation with Gray. Even though I did think to myself after Chantelle missed her phone call from Gray whilst in the car, after Suki left, why didn't she just ring him back and explain? - But I know, that would've been too easy! - This is EastEnders after all and nothing is ever straight forward as that! So Gray has a tracker on his car, was he watching where Chantelle was going or had been? Then he realised it had been driven someone on a day it was supposed to be at the garage. Us viewers know that Ben used the car last week to drive himself to the job Danny and Phil were at. Gray has already asked Chantelle where she went that day and obviously, Chantelle has nothing to do with it, but Gray unfortunately doesn't believe her, he is going to be jumping to all sorts of conclusions, even possibly thinking that Chantelle is cheating on him? Is he going to become violent with her again? This is why I worry for Chantelle so much, she can't put a foot wrong otherwise Gray will hurt her, physically. The violence that he has put her through is horrific, I fear that until Gray finds out the truth about his car, he's going to become physically abusive towards her again. But even though Gray is paranoid about his wife's whereabouts, he's the one who kissed another woman - well technically she kissed him! Gray has been an absolute rock for Whitney in recent weeks as he's taken on her case. She's currently staying with them and over time, Whitney has become more and more infatuated with Gray. He's been so kind to her, saying all sorts of nice things to support her, even though - I do feel as though he was pushing and pushing her for more information when he took her back to the scene where Leo died, he kept saying "Go on! Carry on!", pushing her and forcing her to relive the moments when Leo died. I kinda found that a little hard to watch, I mean it was brilliant acting from Shona McGarty, but Whitney has already been through so much and she's told the story over and over again, why should she have to relive it? - Anyway she's become so in awe of Gray and his kindness towards her, she suddenly kissed him. Now we knew this was coming, but what does this mean now? Will Gray respond and act and perhaps have an affair with Whitney? Will Whitney be completely apologetic and try and forget the kiss happened? Will Chantelle find out?
A very interesting ending tonight that's for sure! What do you guys think? Are you guys feeling just as sad as I am that we only have two episodes left? I do have a little bit of news for you though, within the last few hours, it's been revealed that next week, Ben is going to collapse due to him battling a fever and still feeling unwell after losing his hearing completely, he will then confide in Jay and tell him the truth about his disability. Hopefully it wont be too long until the soap will be back on our screens full term, with 4 episodes being aired every week as normal! I personally can't wait for things to get back to some form of normality! Anywayz, look after yourself everyone! Keep safe and I'll be back again next week. Thanks everyone! Love you all xXx
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lanasaved · 5 years ago
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sssslithers onto the scene like nagini.... hlo! i’m nai n i’m rly excited to finally return 2 rp. uni is officially Over n i’m living bk at home nw so i actually hav free time again to write. c’est une.... how do u say.... Miracle! some of u might b familiar w lana already bt if not u can find out mre abt her under the cut n feel free 2 like this or hmu fr plots!!!
p.s. this is her pinterest for those of u tht like tht kind of thing
CIS-FEMALE — ever hear people say LANA JAMESON looks a lot like KRISTINE FROSETH? I think SHE is about 22, so it doesn’t really work. The DANCE major is a JUNIOR that is from ALBANY, NEW YORK. They can be + VIVACIOUS, but they can also be - IRRESPONSIBLE. I think LANA might be SHEEP. They are living in BALTA. ( nai. 22. gmt. she/her. )
some random aesthetics: a red water pistol topped up with caribbean rum and covered in stickers of cartoon pin up girls, a vinyl record whirring silently because you got too distracted by a stranger’s hands to reach over and flip sides, giant inflatable flamingos floating in the aftermath of a pool party, smudgy lipstick kisses left like an autograph on someone else’s mirror
ic im sayin she jst got bk from going abroad w louis, this kind of sleazy older man tht manages the camgirls on the website lana works fr. he calls himself a “big exec” at “the company” n mkes it all sound a lot more professional than it is. he also owns this big house w all these different rooms/settings fr the girls to film different kinds of scenes in n is looked up by a lot of ppl bt when asked why they look up to him, nobody ever rly seems to have an answer. jst...a shady figure. lana kind of.... went off the deep end lst semester n ended up deferring her next one after missing her big graded ballet recital. it’s a whole big mess n she’s wearin horse blinders to it. truly jst.... goin on holiday to ignore hw much she’s fuckin things up at school. queen of burying her head in the sand!
frm this point on ive jst pasted her old intro bc im the laziest woman alive n that’s jst life Babey
grew up in a big house in albany, NY, bt also spent time all over the place n was in the city a lot
okay so her mum is an old money socialite / three time campaign model way back when n her dad is a big record label mogul. he owns a label called jameson records n they repped a few big rock bands back in the eighties, altho they’re mostly known for ‘poppy injects’ whose lead singer had a big heroin scandal tht brought down his career. lana p much grew up around musicians snorting lines instead of spooning down cereal fr breakfast n her parents were v much absent her whole life
they’re pretty well off obviously n bc of her relation to such a big music industry figure she’s hung out w a fair few relatively high rep ppl thru her teens. she amassed kind of an instagram following mainly fr her style (v penny lane-esque in some aspects aka lots of fur cuff trimmed jackets bt then also jst
. a wild combination of everything honestly. pastel faux fur coats, seventies style platforms, flame red cowboy boots, pastel coloured fishnet tights n glitter used like highlight Everywhere) n bc she’s undeniably very pretty
her parents always kind of jst
 didn’t like her. it was v clear that she was an accident after her older brother caleb n that even when they just had him alone they weren’t cut out for parenthood. they always kind of jst
 ignored her n hoped she’d go away. she had to mke herself microwave meals when she ws only like 12 bc they’d forget to get her anything. once she went like 6 days without her mum even looking her in the eyes once
despite this tho!!! she’s always been insanely close w her brother caleb. he’s her whole world. thts why when he decided to sign up to the army she ws understandably scared bt supported him regardless. bt then he wound up getting discharged under grounds of severe ptsd when he witnessed his best friend die in an explosion tht took place in a shock raid. caleb returned home n he was never the same n lana kind of felt like he’d died out there too. he’s in n out of hospital a lot n it’s rly hard on her bt she doesn’t tlk abt it to anyone rly
growing up lana was always a huge social butterfly. jst literally
. knew everyone n everyone definitely knew her. she ws one of those girls tht ws kind of impossible to ignore or forget. very animated, always made u feel like u were the centre of the universe whenever she spoke to u, always made it feel like u were best friends even if ud only spoken to her once. she has this magnetic way abt her tht is kind of hard to find in real life. it’s something ud only rly expect out of a movie character
she’s always been insatiably spontaneous n adventurous. always doing something weird n wild every weekend. she has ten thousand stories tht always earn a laugh or a gasp over how ridiculously absurd they r
anyway so after caleb got back he was rly withdrawn n depressed. he shut lana out n was kind of harsh to her a lot of the time, always telling her to leave him alone or pushing her away. it didnt help either tht lana had a rly traumatic experience w some of her dad’s colleagues at the label when she ws 16 n he was away n she cldnt even tell him abt it once he was bk bc of his own traumas. she kind of jst shut it all in n kept it to herself
this obviously?? made her spiral a lot. she was already a girl tht loved sex (she’d only rly done foreplay before tho) but since her trauma it got
. completely out of hand. it got to a point where she couldnt rly go 2 days without it, probably not even 1. her lowest point has probably been scrolling thru craiglist for anonymous encounters n meeting up w strangers on there fr a quick fuck jst for the thrill even tho it’s insanely dangerous n she cld wind up getting herself killed. it’s v clear at this point tht she has a sex addiction whether she’s ever admitted it or not. in fact she’s so
 shameless in her endeavours tht she’s actually currently having an affair w her ballet instructor tanya who’s engaged to b married
she also currently? is working as a cam girl. she found this website bc she trawls
 porn stuff a lot n she wound up applying to work as one bc she thought it’d b fun n wld earn her some disposal income (even tho she frankly doesn’t need it bc she’s already well off). the guy tht manages all of the girls on the site is kind of suspect n it’s a whole plot i’m gna unravel where it’s actually like the front for a cult or something wild so. stay posted ig. kgjdkgjh
new development!!!!!!!! cue me trottin around doin jazz hands. she’s actually been cut off by her dad so she’s
.. living off the money she has left n has to look to find a job which is jst. a nightmare fr someone like lana bc she’s insatiably irresponsible n destined to be fired from anything she tries to hold down bt. it’ll be interesting bc this means she genuinely has to keep on camming even tho she’s starting not to want to any more bc of other circumstances i won’t elaborate on jst yet winks
personality/some fun facts: uncontrollably flirty. boundlessly confident. cld make a joke out a paper bag n her comedy is sometimes surreal / absurd. she tends to laugh when she feels like crying n has a smile brighter than a ray of texas sunshine. always dapples her fingers thru the breeze when she’s driving in a car w the window down. her fav book as a child used to b alice in wonderland n she’d fantasise abt having her own little wonderland too where everyone knew her name n asked her things n took her on adventures. at the time it didn’t rly strike her how evident it was tht that was bc she was so lonely. she almost always has some sort of sweet on her, whether it’s strawberry laces or gummy bears or cherry lollipops. she adores david bowie n prince n madonna n anyone tht’s a vintage style icon w little care fr what ppl think. wildflowers r her favourites bc they’re the brightest and u can’t buy them. she’s had like 8472493874 ‘relationships’ n none of them hav lasted beyond a month / hav been terrible / hav seen her being treated badly / she’s cheated on them. i dnt think she’s actually been w anyone she hasn’t cheated on in some form or another
plot ideas: exes tht lana’s fucked over hideously. she’d probably cheat a lot and it’d be a whole
mess. mayb someone tht flipped the switch and cheated on her? a cousin plot cld b fun too. a friend tht lana fel out w bc she slept w their significant other. someone tht’s getting lana into drugs?? she’s kind of impressionable/down for anything so tht’s a likely scenario she’d get into tbh. an unrequited crush!! (either way is cool). someone tht is just hanging out w her/using her bc she has a lot of instagram followers or they want to b signed to her dad’s label. someone in a band!! she’d probably make like penny lane n b their groupie/sleep w them all fgjkshgkh. umm a good influence too mayb? oh and a past summer romance/fling tht cld either have meant a lot or not have meant anything at all. bonus points if both of them hav a diff viewpoint on it. honestly?? anything is fine i cld ramble for days. let’s get wildt!
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samwilsonsbabymama · 4 years ago
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All the Things (Your Man Won’t Do) 18+
Pairing: Sam Wilson x Black Reader
Summary: Everyone around you sees how crappy your boyfriend treats you. How long does it take for your old friend Sam Wilson to convince you that you’d be better with him?
Warnings: Crappy boyfriend, unfulfilling relationships, not cheating but persuasion, nothing too sexual 
A/N: So I listened to All the Things (Your Man Won’t Do) by Joe and I got Sam Wilson vibes BIG TIME and I had to write this lol This is the version that I listened to, the above link is to the music video where I got some of my inspo from lol There’s no real difference other than the length of the song lol
Word Count: 2,500 ish
v1- This version has text message photos, I have another version that has them typed out.
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You stood at the counter, ringing up your last customer for the night. It had been a long but exciting shift. You’d gotten a chance to see an old friend of yours, Sam Wilson. You’d seen him on TV fighting alongside, and against, the Avengers. No one believed that you knew the Sam Wilson, especially your boyfriend. It was great seeing him again. You two talked for a while when there weren’t many people in the store, and you exchanged numbers, excited to catch up with him soon.
As you locked up the store, you thought about the good times that you spent with Sam in college. You knew how he had been planning on joining the military and you were glad to see that he was doing well for himself. 
You sighed in annoyance when you heard a clap of thunder over your head as you looked around. Your boyfriend was late once again to pick you up. You absolutely hated waiting around for him, and you hated it even more that he used your car while you were at work. 
Deciding not to wait for him, you pulled out your phone and ordered yourself a Lyft when you received an incoming text.
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You checked your Lyft’s location, noting that it was just around the corner. You shifted your weight onto your other foot as you waited when you saw the headlights from the car come around the corner. You adjusted your bag once again as the driver pulled in front of you.
“Y/n?” the driver asked when you opened the door.
You nodded your head, “Yeah, that’s me.” You slid into the back seat and closed the door. You were settling in when your phone buzzed again in your hand. Once you were completely settled, you unlocked your phone and opened your text stream with Sam.
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You chewed your lip as you waited for his response. You hoped that he still wanted to meet up. You spent the rest of the car ride trying to distract yourself from waiting for Sam’s reply, and when you made it home without hearing from him again, you were a bit upset with yourself. Maybe you shouldn’t have brought up your boyfriend. Maybe he did just want to catch up as friends and you just ruined that possibility.
You let yourself out of the Lyft after handing the driver a tip and glanced up to your apartment. The living room light was still on, which meant that your boyfriend was home, he had clearly forgotten to come pick you up. Again. You rolled your eyes and trudged up the stairs and contemplated whether or not you wanted to argue about it or not. 
That decision was made for you when you walked through your door to find him laid back on the couch with dirty dishes everywhere.
“Damn, Ty!” you groaned then slammed the door. “You said that you were going to clean up!” you kicked off your shoes and began picking up the mess that he made.
“My bad, Y/n,” he mumbled without taking his eyes off the TV screen. “You know it was my day off.”
You rolled your eyes, “Yeah and I had to work all day! You didn’t even cook? Come on, Ty. You said that you would help out more.”
He waved his hand as if dismissing you and you made your way to the bedroom to get ready for bed. You wrapped your head up in a pineapple before hopping into the shower. Once you were done, you put on lotion and brushed your teeth. Ty had made his way to bed while you were in the shower and he looked to be sleeping already. You pulled back the covers on your side of the bed and flipped on your reading light and opened your book. You were halfway down the page when your phone buzzed.
You smiled when you saw Sam’s name on your screen.
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And for the first time in months, you fell asleep with a smile on your face.
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Work was going by slowly for you and you kind of anticipated that it would. Whenever you were excited about something, time seemed to slow down.
You’d cleaned almost every aisle of the bookstore and made sure that all the books were facing the right way in the aisles that you cleaned. You’d fluffed pillows refilled coffee mugs of those that needed them and eagerly helped patrons that asked for help. You were intent on keeping yourself busy.
You’d looked at the clock for the millionth time and loudly groaned when you saw that it was only 1:30. You still had an hour and a half left of work.
You looked up eagerly when the chime above the door went off and crinkled your eyebrows when you saw Ty walk through the door. You watched as he scanned the room and make his way over to you when he spotted you.
“I need your car,” he said once he reached you and you rolled your eyes.
“Hey Y/n,” you said in a mock voice. “Can I borrow your car?”
“Hey, Y/n, can I borrow your car?” Ty repeated with a dry voice.
“Why?” your hand was on your hip as you waited for his response.
“Because I have to work late tonight and I’d rather not take a Lyft.” Ty held his hand out for your key and you looked him up and down.
“So how am I supposed to get home?” you said, your foot tapping with annoyance.
He shrugged, “Take a Lyft. Look Y/n, give me the damn keys, I’m about to be late for work.” 
You crossed your arms and pursed your lips, “That sounds like a personal problem.”
“Look, Y/n, I really don’t have time for this,” you could tell that he was becoming agitated. You fished your keys from your pocket and handed them to him, and he snatched them from you and turned to walk away.
“You’re welcome,” you mumbled. “Make sure you put some gas in it too!” you yelled at his retreating form.
“When you gon let him go, Y/n?” your coworker, Tanya, asked you as you walked back up to the front of the store. “The way he treats you isn’t right, and I know you know that.”
“Yeah, I know. I just
 I don’t know,” you admitted. “I know he loved me once, but now I don’t know. Now I think he just sees me as
 less. Ya know. Like, he barely touches me anymore, not even a hug. It’s like our relationship has run its course but neither one of us wants to be the first to say goodbye.”
“Wow,” Tanya dragged out. “Quoting Gladys Knight?” she chuckled. “Look, you deserve someone that’s gonna love you no matter what. Someone that worships you and brings out the best in you and Ty does not do that. He never did, and you know it. I say, be the first one to say goodbye, because you deserve way better than he can give you.”
You chewed your lip as you thought about what she said. Your three-year relationship with Ty was stagnant, and you couldn’t think of a time when it wasn’t. There was no fire, there never had been, and honestly, your fights weren’t even fights. He typically just sat there as you complained about his mess or that he forgot to come pick you up, something that happened way too often for your liking.
You groaned at your situation wondering how you managed to dig yourself into this hole.
You finished helping one last customer before you clocked out for the day. Now that you didn’t have your car, it would take you longer to get there. You decided to walk instead of catching a Lyft. You needed some time to clear your head before meeting up with Sam.
You window-shopped as you made your way to the bakery. You took in all the sales and wished that you could stop and partake in some retail therapy, but you continued on.
You made it to the bakery sooner than you had hoped, but you didn’t have anywhere else to go so you went in.
You walked to the counter and ordered yourself a cinnamon roll and found a seat in the corner. As you waited, you people watched the patrons in the bakery. Some were old, some were young, but many of them were around your age it seemed. Most of them came in with their families, and it made your heart hurt a little. When you were younger, you thought that you would be married with a couple of kids by now. You had plans after college, but for some reason, they didn’t pan out for you. 
You picked at your cinnamon roll for a few minutes before a shadow cast over you.
“You’re early!” Sam’s booming voice startled you.
“Hey, Sam!” you slid out of your seat and threw your arms around his neck. You melted into his embrace; it felt like you belonged here. Quickly shaking yourself from your thoughts, you pulled away from him and sat back down.
“I’m glad you came, Y/n,” Sam’s smile took up his entire face. That was one thing that you loved about him, his smile was infectious. You couldn’t help but to smile when he did, and his smiles were always genuine, never forced.
You two talked for hours, you didn’t even notice that the sun had gone down.
“Hey, Sam,” a woman with fire-red hair appeared next to your table.
“Wanda, hey, this is Y/n. Y/n, this is Wanda, she owns the place.” Sam introduced the two of you and you smiled as you shook her hand.
“Nice to meet you, Y/n,” she smiled brightly at you. “I’ve heard a lot about you over the last few years, Y/n, it’s great to finally meet you.”
You looked to her in confusion before she continued, “He said that you’re the um, what did you say, Sam?”
“It’s not important, Wanda,” Sam said, clearly trying to get her to move on.
“That’s right, you’re ‘the one that got away’,” she winked at you with a smirk on her face before turning to Sam once again. “I’m going to head home, will you lock up for me?”
Sam nodded once again, “Good night, Wanda!”
You watched as Wanda walked away laughing to herself at Sam’s obvious discomfort. “Well, she’s sweet,” you commented once you heard the back door lock.
“Yeah, and a pain in my ass,” Sam grumbled. “Look-”
You cut him off, “So I’m the one that got away?” you chuckled.
He shrugged, “I had plans to come and get you once I got out but I was kinda messed up after Riley, then Captain America needed me, then the whole Thanos thing. I just wanted to be at my best when I finally did get to see you.”
“Sam, I have-”
“You have a boyfriend, yeah I know.” he scrubbed his face with his hands. “Can you tell me that you’re happy with him, Y/n?”
You remained silent, giving him your answer.
“We have history, Y/n,” Sam continued. “You know you’re mine, and you know I’ll do all the things he won’t do. I’ll do them for you.”
“You know I remember that night? And I know you remember it too.”
Your eyes fluttered closed as the images of that night flashed through your mind.
The two of you panted as Sam thrusted into you, his hips moving at a slow pace and your nails dragging down his back. He fit so well inside of you, like he was made for you. You’d lost count of how many times he’d made you cum already, but you could feel another orgasm stirring. He whispered in your ear, telling you how good you felt wrapped around him.
You’d imagined this many times before, but nothing, nothing, had prepared you for how he would actually make you feel. 
Sam’s hips began to move faster and his hands moved down to your hips to hold you into place as he fucked into you. Your breathy moans filled the air as he grunted in your ear. You’d never heard anything sweeter than the sound of his voice as the two of you made love.
In that moment, you imagined your life being filled with this. Coming home to Sam, loving him, and having him love you. That was something that you could get used to.
You snapped out of your thoughts when Sam squeezed your hand, a smirk on his lips because he knew what you had been thinking about.
“Y/n, he treats you like your nothing,” Sam said instead. “You’ve told me about all of the times that he’s taken your car and had you find your own way home. I wanna do all the things your man won’t do.”
You chewed your lip, “I hear what you’re saying, but-”
“What good is a diamond nobody can see?” Sam asked. Your hand rested in his as his thumb ran over your knuckles. 
You shrugged, “We’ve been together for three years. It just doesn’t feel right leaving him, ya know?”
“You’d rather spend the rest of your life unhappy?” Sam lowered his voice and leaned closer to you over the table. “Y/n, you know I can make you happy. You deserve it.”
“Sam I-,”
“You say you need someone to be there for you,” he interrupted you again. “To love you all night long
I don't think you have to look no further because I'm right here. And I'm ready to do all the things your man won't do.” 
You locked eyes with him once more, and you saw nothing but sincerity there. Sam was your safe place. He was your home, and he was right. You didn’t have to look further. He was the one for you.
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