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simonsrosebud · 4 months ago

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my aftg fox children headcannons (guys be nice to them okay)

Dan & Matt:

They have two boys, Jace and Abram Boyd, one year apart (Abram wasn’t planned hehe) by the time Dan is 32.

Dan/Matt aren’t religious, but they still assign godparents to their kids. Jace’s godparents are Wymack and Abby, Abram’s are Neil and Renee.

At first Neil said no. He didn’t think that responsibility was something he could handle until he eventually got a call from Renee. “I know why you’re calling me” “I figured you would. I warned Matt and Dan that you may not respond in the way they wish, they don’t take it personally,” she’d said. Neil knew it wasn’t personal, but he admitted he also didn’t see the point and couldn’t be cut out for that. “I think you may misunderstand their intentions, may I try to clear it up?” Renee explained that, really, it was only a title, a glorified uncle of sorts, since the boys weren’t getting baptized and they weren’t putting their godparents in their will’s like old tradition did. “It’s a way to showcase the love and trust they have in others; you, me, Coach Wymack and Abby”. “It is an excuse to spoil them rotten,” Andrew had added when he talked to Neil. Renee told Matt to wait a bit, not to push, and a week later when Neil was randomly on the phone w Matt he said “I’ll do it, by the way. The kid thing- The godfather thing.”

Naming Abram was a struggle. They wanted something meaningful since Jace’s middle name was David. It wasn’t until Dan asked Matt what Neil’s middle name was that they got cookin. Neil was in the off season when he was born, so he drove out (accompanied by Andrew) to Atlanta from Columbia and they asked Neil when he got there.

Their backup name was Joshua (aka Josten) in case Neil wasn’t comfortable with Abram. Luckily it only took a few minutes of blue-screening for Neil to shake it off and allow it. Abram was Neil’s one real name, the one thing he’d kept all those years, the thing that made him feel grounded and safe. But Neil was 27. He hadn’t needed the name since he first moved away from PSU at 23 and was alone again. The kid deserved something safe.

ANYWAY. Jace is a certified hetero and goes to University of Miami for college. He grew up playing exy and baseball but once he was a sophomore in high school he quit exy and stuck to baseball all through high school. He’s 5’10.

Abram plays midfielder for soccer and used to play backliner for exy. Abram goes to PSU and rooms with Elliot (Andriel’s adopted kid, just wait it’ll make sense i promise), joins a campus soccer team, then makes the PSU team his sophomore year as a walk on.

Abram is 6’1. Has massive game but doesn’t use it bc he’s kinda oblivious. Very silly and energetic and comes off flirty sometimes when he’s just being nice and goofy. He later attributes it to the fact that he didn’t know he was bisexual until senior year of high school.

Abram fucking fawns over Elliot 3 months into living together bc he realizes he’s kinda in love with him. Never lets it show bc he won’t ruin their friendship and plus they share a room tg. Def foams at the mouth when Elliot comes back sweaty and shirtless from runs. Once Elliot is eating a banana and out of nowhere says “You ever eat a banana and wonder how the fuck girls suck dicks?” in the dining hall and Abram chokes on his drink so bad it comes out of his nose. Horrified.

Neil & Andrew (ik hold on):

Blake (f) and Elliot (m) Nelson.

Andriel had no intention of ever having kids bc no.

However, when Andrew and Neil are 42/43 and living in South Carolina again, Andrew notices that there are footprints in Neil’s garden. Then he sees it again and sees that the footprints continue towards the shed in the backyard. He checks their cameras to see that it’s a young girl coming and going with Neil’s electric bike a few nights a week from 12am-4am. The third time he waits inside the shed and promptly scares the living shit out of her.

QUICK VERSION: Andrew catches Blake sneaking into their backyard shed and borrowing Neil’s electric bike at night a few times a week, lets her use Neil’s old raggedy bike that hasn’t seen the light of day in years, turns a blind eye when she returns it run over, gives her bus money instead, goes back and forth with her for like 1.5 months, points out the bruise & bandages she shows up with one night while he’s sitting outside at 12am (insomnia), doesn’t see her for 2 months, shows up at the 24 hour CVS she works at 3-4 nights a week and sees the bruises on her hand and throat through her turtleneck while she thought no one was looking, threatens to call the police post-shift at 4am and sits with her through a panic attack bc “He’ll- I’m only 15, they’ll make me quit my job and we can’t to afford- and they’ll split us up, and he- Elliot won’t- he can’t- oh my god” and then takes her to his house w consent, briefs Neil bc those kids need to get out of that house but they’re not staying here, Neil who somehow takes it all without a second thought and says “well not forever, but definitely for the night”, takes Blake and Neil (awk first meeting) to Blake’s house and gets Elliot out of the house while their dad is gone (Elliot has a black eye and bruises from rough fingers on his forearm and says dad left in a rampage when he saw u were gone, and i told you that job wasn’t fucking worth it).

Elliot doesn’t trust either of the men after what his sister protected him from and doesn’t know wtf is happening bc he thought Blake had been borrowing her friend’s bike. They stay in Andriel’s guest bedroom for the day, Abby is retired by now but only lives 45 minutes away. Neil takes charge of calling her despite Andrew thinking there’s more pressing matters like kidnapping 2 teenagers. “You didn’t kidnap us, idiot, we came with you” Blake says.

Long story short, the siblings end up staying with them longer than they thought due to lawyers and police and safety.

It becomes kind of a lost and found situation. What was once “while we get legalities figured out” became “until your father’s trial is over”, which stretched into “no way they’re getting sent to XYZ” and “until they can find someone competent enough to handle trainwreck’s, they’re stuck here” and “Dan won’t care if we bring them to Thanksgiving, right?” “Amalia’s been playing exy since she could walk, Kevin, Elliot started a year ago” “Elliot knows Santa isn’t real, right? That stops at, like, 12?” “I’m not teaching her to drive, I’ll get myself killed” “If your mouth gets you kicked out of school, don’t come crying to me” “Addie & Annie keep telling Blake to spend a weekend in Atlanta” “I’m not telling her not to date, she scares me” “Just because your mother wasn’t worse doesn’t mean she was good”

Until one day, two and a half years later, Blake hands Neil an application for adoption, who tilts it towards Andrew, who silently takes it and begins to fill it out.

Blake is 5’0, Elliot is 5’9. Blake is blonde and Elliot has light brown hair, and while they’re not ghostly pale, both of them burn in the sun in .2 seconds.

Elliot does cross country and was training for a 10k when they left their dad so Neil gladly continues that. He’s in awe when he finds out who Andrew and Neil really are, not because he knows their names but bc once he watches their old games it’s like watching gods to him. He’s a true golden retriever which isn’t helped by his ADHD, anxiety and mild dyslexia, which he doesn’t get medicated for until he’s 16.

When Elliot was 13 he almost drowned in a lake bc he was never taught how to swim. When their dad found out he took him back to the lake against his will and kept tossing him in the lake until he kept himself afloat enough to pull himself up onto the dock, nearly coughing up water. It was so traumatic to a young kid that Elliot had a problem with bodies of water after that. Instead of being fine just not going in, he avoids pools or lakes entirely. Beaches are give or take since he can sit far up on the sand.

Elliot watches exy with Neil and feels cool about it; latches onto King instantly and vice versa bc she’s an ESA and his anxiety is through the roof half the time.

Elliot gels very quickly with Jace and Abram when Andriel brings them to Thanksgiving at the Boyd’s house. Once he gets the boys’ numbers they add him and Blake to the groupchat they have with Kateaaron’s, Kevin’s, and Allison’s kids.

Later, when Elliot goes to college at PSU, he and Abram room together. They become even more attached at the hip (impossible) and Elliot becomes infatuated with Abram in a totally normal way that he eventually figures out by spring break is definitely bc he wants to fuck him. But Elliot is chaotic and too anxiety ridden to ever make a move so he bides his time being innocently flirty that comes off as being silly, and doesn’t complain when Abram wraps his arms around him or lets him sleep back to back in Abram’s bed after Elliot has a bad nightmare or can’t turn his brain off at night.

Eventually, sophomore year when they live in a house with 3 other guys, Elliot climbs into Abram’s bed face down after a night out, almost half on top of Abram. They’re literally both so drunk. “You’re in my bed,” Elliot slurs. “S’my bed, babe”. Elliot lifts himself up on his elbow over Abram’s (warm and shirtless) chest. “Who you callin babe?” Abram giggles lowly and Elliot leans down and kisses his cheek, “You can be my babe, babe” he boops Abram’s nose and giggles drunkenly, and his head is dipped low already when he lets his lips lightly press down on Abram’s chin, simply touching, before actually pressing a kiss there after a second. Abram’s hand comes up just as he presses that second kiss down, tangling into Elliot’s hair, and when Elliot pulls his head back up Abram’s grip tightens. Abram tilts his chin up and kisses just beside Elliot’s mouth, pulling him down fully and kissing him deep after the two pause against each other for less than a moment.

Aka, they hardcore make out. We’re talking ass grabbing, lib biting, neck sucking, Elliot straddling Abram, a bit of dry humping, Abram pressing him down into the mattress and moving down to-

Anyway, when they wake up Elliot runs to the bathroom connected to Abram’s room to throw up, and when he notices Abram come to the doorway he says “Dude, you sucked my dick” into the toilet bowl “you’re, like, really good at it, too” immediately wretches again. And it’s probs the hazy hangovers, but Abram says, “Yeah, been wanting to do that for a while” “Thank god, I’ve been dreaming about you doing that since last year… Hey, B?” Abram hums and Elliot doesn’t even lift his face from his arms over the toilet seat before asking “Wanna go out with me?” cue gagging, but luckily Abram splashes his face w water and leans down to just kiss the back of Elliot’s neck “oh that was hot” Elliot mumbles. “Yes, I’ll go out with you” “Thanks… Hey B?” another hum “Can you start the shower and also kill me while you’re at it?” “Whatever you want, babe”

Junior year Abram has to live at Fox Tower but Elliot and the other 3 guys stick together. Except Abram is closer with these guys so he ends up sleeping in Elliot’s bed like 4-5 nights a week. Elliot is an absolute THEIF of clothes too, like if Abram comes over he’s going home without a hoodie.

Elliot calls him B or Bram, most recently babe. Abram calls him baby, El, and sometimes sugar when they’re alone.

Blake is queer too which Neil gets really relieved by because how tf do u give a girl the talk. Turns out Andrew had already done it bluntly and against her will when she first went on a date at 16.

Blake doesn’t go to uni but gets her associates at a community college and Allison somehow gets her an internship with a PR agency, shocking considering her no-filter and sailors mouth.

Aaron & Katelyn:

They have identical twin girls: Annalise and Addison.

The twins are… not planned… they’re 26 and Aaron’s in his last semester of med school while Katelyn is nearing the end of her first year of residency (bc exy players 5th year). Thankfully Aaron had already been matched with the hospital Katelyn was at for his residency.

Aaron gets genuinely terrified when she tells him over the phone like 3 days before he was due to visit. He calls Andrew bc it’s too soon and this isn’t supposed to happen and he doesn’t know how to be a parent when the only one he had was a piece of shit and it’s the first time Andrew hears him audibly diss Tilda without adding “but she was my mom”. Andrew doesn’t say much, but he does say “You had a terrible childhood, yes?” “I mean, yeah” “Good. Don’t replicate it, and maybe yours won’t hate you.” and it’s enough.

All of this is thrown out the window when they find out they’re having twins. Aaron almost faints.

Annalise’s nickname is Annie and sometimes Anna by school friends. She has zero preference between the three options.

Addison rarely gets called her full name other than teachers, gets called Addie.

Andrew calls them both by their full names.

Katelyn has no middle name, so when her and Aaron get married she made Mackenzie her middle name and took Aaron’s surname.

Aaron calls his girls Ad/Addie-baby and Anna-bear.

Addie’s middle name is Mackenzie, Annie’s is Nichola…. you know why🥹

When Katelyn has to full name them she’ll typically yell “Annalise Nick!” and “Mackenzie!”

Aaron didn’t like the nickname Annie bc she’s a redhead and “orphan annie” felt weird bc he and Andrew are orphans. But Katelyn loved the name and it came naturally from others so he got over it.

Addie is bisexual aromantic. Annie is straight.

Addie goes to University of Georgia, and Annie goes to PSU for their really good speech pathology program (the twins are a year older than Jace/Blake and 2 years older than Abram/Elliot so Annie was the first kid to go to PSU).

The twins grew up in Chicago until they were 11, then moved to Atlanta, Georgia. Since they’re close to U Georgia, Addie tells her parents they’re only allowed to visit when she says so she’s not suffocated. Annie is more of a homebody so she not only loves that Dan is at PSU, but would let Kateaaron visit every weekend if they wanted (daddy’s girl).

Allison:

Maybe she gets married maybe she doesn’t, regardless I like to think she doesn’t for a while and ends up adopting a 3 year old named Sabrina.

Sabrina grows up to be a natural honey blonde just like Allison and coincidentally has her same smokey grey eyes.

Queen of nicknames: Sab, Bri, Brina, Briners, Reynolds.

Sabrina never puts a label on her sexuality and is pretty fluid with it, just doesn’t rlly give a fuck.

Grows up in Miami but they go to NYC every winter break and normally 1-2 times every summer. Grew up traveling with Allison but not enough that it affects her childhood.

Goes to NYU. Eventually helps Allison run, design, model for her fashion empire.

Has like a million followers on Instagram, has modeled for Victoria Secret, has been a brand ambassador for Moschino and goes to Paris fashion week w Allison every year once she’s 16.

Since the Foxes go on vacation every summer together, Sabrina grows up very close with the twin girls since they’re the same age. Brina and Addie *experimented* together when they were younger bc they didn’t wanna go to college not knowing anything. Since then, every time they see each other they end up hooking up. They’re very touchy feely with one another, but Brina is kinda like that anyway. Addie only tolerates her and Annie being like that.

They jokingly call their situation “best friends who bone”. Realistically, they’re in a (long distance lol) queerplatonic relationship that just includes sex. Annie secretly thinks Sabrina is aro as well but keeps it to herself bc it doesn’t matter to label it.

Kevin & Thea:

Amalia Day🫶🏼

Youngest of the kids, 3 years younger than Abram/Elliot. They weren’t necessarily concerned with the prospect of kids, so she isn’t born until Kevin is 32 and Thea is 36, not even a full year after she retires due to one too many knee injuries. She goes to Kevin one day after practice and kinda straight up says, “I want a child- No” she cuts him off “I’m 36, I want to be a mother, I want to be a mother with you, and I don’t want to be seventy when she goes off to college” but Kevin just says “She?” “Yes, I’m not bringing another spitting image of Kevin Day into this world”.

Clearly, they do have a girl. Despite Thea’s blunt and sometimes abrasive approach to some things, she takes to being a mother with all the gentle-ness that Kevin remembers of his own, and it’s enough to calm him about being a father (bc we all know Kevin was shitting his pants the whole time).

Amalia is tanner than Kayleigh was, but it’s unnerving how similar she looks to Kayleigh. It makes Wymack a complete pushover for her (though he always says no at first just to say he did).

Amalia grows up playing exy, of course, but also soccer and dance which pains Kevin and Thea reminds him to stfu. Thankfully for him, she’s really fucking good at Exy and gives up dance by the time she’s 8 and soccer by 11.

Plays for the US Teen Exy All Stars team (idk made it up). She plays offensive dealer. Her playing becomes Kevin’s dare I say obsession, but he becomes good (by force of Wymack, Thea, Andrew and surprisingly Jean) at being normal about it- not forcing exy down her throat and pressuring her. It’s good that she’s not a striker living up to Kevin’s legacy.

Amalia makes a Twitter when she’s 16 and it lasts about 3 weeks until Kevin finds out and makes her give him her password to monitor the account. Smart, giving the family’s status and her age, but she acts like it’s the end of the world.

If it wasn’t for Wymack, she would probably be an entitled brat. He keeps her humble along with the other kids.

Terrible fucking driver. Like holy shit.

Thea learned French over the years, so they raise her speaking English and French. As a teen she says she wishes she spoke German instead since Andrew, Aaron, Neil, Nicky, Erik, Annie, Addie, and Blake (eventually) all speak it.

She eventually goes to play for USC Trojans, plays pro, and goes to the Olympics as a 4th year senior in college.

Ages:

Sabrina Reynolds, the twins

Blake/Jace

Elliot/Abram

Amalia

All the kids are one year apart, with Amalia the youngest at 3 years younger than the boys and 5 years younger than Sabrina.

That’s all folks holy shit this was long. Maybe I’ll expand on it soon

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space-mango-company · 8 months ago

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Stranger | Chapter 3

Chapter Links: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]

TW: none for this one, I think

Tags: Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen x Atreides!Reader, Arranged Marriage, Eventual Smut, POV Second Person, No use of y/n, Original Characters, Canon What Canon

Word Count: 1.4k

A/N: Unedited for now! Holy moly, sorry for taking so long on this one. I was kinda drowning in uni work the past week. The next chapter should come sooner, I hope. Also just wanted to say thank you so much to those who take the time to comment!! I really really appreciate the kind words. You guys are super sweet. Mwa mwa.

The inky black fireworks exploded in the distance as you were led back into the underground chambers of the arena. Your eyes are relieved to escape the infrared sun. Heavy doors open for you once more. The na-Baron stands, chest exposed, skin slick with sweat under the artificial light. His blown-out eyes hone in on you as you enter. He makes his way to you holding the blood-stained handkerchief.

"Did you enjoy the show, my lady?" His chest heaves and you feel his heavy breaths as he leans into your ear, voice even more raspy, "Aren't you something, little hawk."

He holds the cloth up as if giving it to you but when you reach for the handkerchief he snatches it away.

You sigh and lift your veil, a sweet smile plastered on your face, "A most impressive demonstration, na-Baron. You are as formidable as they say."

Feyd-Rautha takes a moment to scan your face. He doesn't know what your game is but he wants to play.

His breathing has settled. He raises a hand to reach for your cheek but you move past him. You walk towards a table displaying knives laid over a cloth. You pick one up to examine. The blades remain uncleaned, the blood from earlier in the day already beginning to dry. You sense they will be kept that way.

"You have good form. Clean, precise," you say, holding the dagger in a reverse grip, edge out. "You enjoy it, don't you?"

From behind, you feel Feyd-Rautha close the distance between you once again.

"Perhaps you enjoy it a little too much," you turn to him, "I'm sure you let him disarm you on purpose. For the show."

Feyd-Rautha tilts his head and allows himself a small smile. "You should return to the fortress, my lady. I have duties to attend to," he touches your armed hand and gently takes the knife from you, "and my uncle would like to see you."

Despite being shielded from the black sun, you elect to keep your veil for your lunch with the Baron. You excuse the chill running down your spine as the coldness of the high, stony walls of Fortress Harko as Iassa escorts you to the dining hall. Iassa kept her head bowed, you noticed, hands folded in front of her. She didn't need to look ahead to know the way.

When you arrive, large doors open to the sight of the Baron floating at the head of the table. There was only one other seat at the side of the table a few feet from him. Despite that, there was a full spread of food which his servants were already feeding him.

You had done your best to avoid the Baron in your short time here, but it seems this meeting was inevitable.

"Lady Atreides," his eyes turn toward you lazily. "Come. Eat."

"Good afternoon, Baron," you curtsy as you enter. Iassa bows to you and waits outside. You take your seat, "will it only be us, my lord? This seems a lavish spread for only two people."

"Are you calling me a glutton, girl?" he spats.

Your heart takes a beat as you try not to stare at his grotesquely large body.

"We are Harkonnen," his husky laugh rings through the room. "We may lavish as much as we please."

You exhale the breath you were holding and let out a small laugh. Of course. They were the richest house in the Landsraad. The Harkonnens must be accustomed to excess.

"Soon, child, you will be Harkonnen as well," he says in that gravelly voice that is so uncomfortably similar to Feyd-Rautha's. "Is that what you want?"

The question takes you aback. No one has ever asked you this question before. This betrothal has been decided for so long, you've never even thought to ask the question yourself. It was all you'd known. Your duty. You had never bothered to imagine what your life would have been if you weren't destined to marry the Harkonnen heir.

You regain your composure, "Baron, it is my honor to unite our Great-"

"Drop the act, child!" he barks. "Perhaps you fear me, but if you are to become 'family', I will not have the patience for charades. Speak plainly. Do you want to marry my nephew?"

This has been a most unusual exchange. At least compared to what you're used to. Always taught to be sweet and pleasant. You suppose you had nothing to lose, considering the Baron killing you would start an all-out war. You take a moment to think, and then a deep breath.

"I am a woman, dear Baron. There is not much for me in this life. Indeed, tales of your house's savagery are well-known throughout the systems, and in Caladan more than most. But had I not been betrothed to your nephew, I would only be married off to some other lord or count or whatever, gentler than Feyd-Rautha they may be," you swallow. "Perhaps, I could have been trained a Bene Gesserit sister. However, to become the wife of the heir to one of the most powerful houses in the known universe—there are worse fates."

The Baron stares, seemingly satisfied with your answer. He waves his servants away. "Eat, child. Waste not the food of one of the most powerful houses in the known universe."

He begins to glide towards the doors on his side of the hall and his servants scurry to lay down their forks and follow after him.

You look to the remaining servants in the dining hall, then to the mounds of food on the table. Your first dinner on Giedi Prime had felt suffocating with all the nobles around and Feyd-Rautha smugly breathing down your neck. You pile your plate high.

In your quarters, Iassa helps you out of your clothes and into a warm bath. You don't wait for her and begin scrubbing your skin with a rag yourself. Between the heat from the morning gladiator fights and your tense conversation with the Baron, you were happy to wash the sweat off your body.

"Is this alright, my lady?" Iassa is trying to wash your hair with the lightest touch, "Does it hurt you?"

"No, no. It's quite alright." You take over and she moves to begin scrubbing your legs.

You're grateful you brought bottles of your own hair soaps. You notice Iassa is intently observing how you washed your hair and you appreciate her wanting to learn. Although, you surmise she might not have a choice. Her black choker seems to stand out even more against her pale skin.

"How was your day, Iassa?" you say as you lather your hair.

She pauses in confusion. "It was quite alright, my lady," her voice is soft and polite.

"Do they treat you well?" you knew it was a futile question.

"I am property of House Harkonnen, my lady," she says as she pours more water into the grey stone bath, "I am treated appropriately."

"Yes, but do you mean appropriately as in well or appropriately as in—" your desperate attempt to make a friend seems to be slipping through your fingers. You let out an exasperated sigh, "I know it's only been a few days but, do I treat you well, Iassa?"

She takes a moment and smiles up at you, "My lady has been most gracious." You see in her eyes she means it.

"You were right about the na-Baron," you say, "he is formidable indeed."

"I'm pleased my lady was impressed," she wraps a robe around you as you rise from the bath.

"Well, I don't know about impressed," you say as you step out, "he is a decent fighter, certainly. Perhaps it is a difference in the fighting styles of our worlds."

After helping you dress, Iassa bows and leaves you to retire. Her grey robes flowing behind her.

Once alone, you find your father's dagger in your belongings. The Baron's earlier question comes back to you. Is that what you want? To marry Fayd-Rautha? That night, you sleep clutching the knife close to your heart.

When you awake the following morning, you are greeted by a servant girl bringing you breakfast.

"Where is Iassa?" you ask.

"She has been relieved, my lady," the girl looks even younger than Iassa, "I am Zora."

Your brow furrows, "What does that mean, 'relieved'?"

When Zora remains silent, you get up from the bed.

On the dark grey of your vanity, you notice a black strip of leather. A choker identical to your new servant's but it was unmistakable who it belonged to. Your mind ran through the whys and your blood began to boil.

Chapter Links: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]

Taglist: @torchbearerkyle @austinswhitewolf @dreamlandcreations @emeraldsgirl @strawberryfieldsforevermore @bornslippys @vexis-world @aoi-targaryen @alexandrainlove

#feyd rautha x you #feyd rautha x reader #feyd rautha fic #feyd rautha #feyd rautha harkonnen #dune #dune part two #baron harkonnen #vladimir harkonnen #house harkonnen #house atreides #atreides reader #giedi prime #austin butler #space-mango-company #fic: stranger

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allaboutnayeli · 11 months ago

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my favorite view ( elisa de almeida x reader )

prompt: the times you take photos of elisa on vacation and the one time she takes a photo of you.

author notes: of course had to pump out another almeida fanfic, missed my baby. i actually have like two fanfics planned after this so be ready for that. also i wrote this while being the sickest i ever been so mercy please ty

with off season finally being here, elisa and you didn't waste any time booking a flight straight to brazil. it was time for you two to relax and forget about the troubles of the season.

in a little surprise, you decided to bring along a polaroid camera. wanting to take some pictures of the beautiful scenery and of an even more beautiful sight, elisa. your girlfriend seemed to have the same idea but you wouldn't know of that until much later.

on the first day of your long waited vacation, elisa and you decided to go to the beach. it was a nice sunny day as you lay on the beach towel you bought along. with elisa trying to built an sand castle beside you. she has her tongue sticking out the side of her lips. clearly focusing all her attention on her sandy masterpiece.

your hands reach for the polaroid camera in the beach bag on the not elisa having side of your body. sneakily you hold the camera in your hands and take a few pictures of elisa in her sand castle making glory. the clicking sound of the camera makes the french player look to the side at you. laughing loudly once she realizes what you're doing. "stop being a creep, baby" elisa says as she looks at you.

you sit up on your elbows before shrugging. "it's not creepy if you're my love so shush" you say as you take another photo of elisa's laughter. she tries to take the camera out of your hands, but you lean out of her way. "a girl can't even take pictures of her girlfriend in peace anymore," you sigh dramatically. elisa just pouts as she lays in defeat on top of your waist. "not if i can't do the same" she says muffled as she lays her face on top of your skin. it was a cute sight, but not enough for you to give her the camera.

"just get your own, baby" you say softly as you tangle your left hand in her hair. she just pouts at you even more.

the next photos of elisa you was able to get stealthily was after dinner. elisa and you had just came back from a nice dinner at the hotel's dining hall. which had a decent performance that almost put you two to sleep. now elisa and you were lazing around sleepily on the balcony of y'all's hotel room.

the sun was steadily setting with a mix of orange and blue painting the sky. alongside some pink. your eyes are hanging dangerously close to closing when you look over at elisa. she is already fast asleep on the cushioned beach chair. her hair being a little messy from her previously getting comfortable on the chair. the french player's face is just adorable with how peaceful she looks. it was a no-brainer to take a picture, so you did just that.

getting up from your chair to go back into you two's hotel room. digging into your bag to grab the camera before coming back out onto the balcony. the polaroid sits comfortably in your hands as you snap a few photos of elisa sleeping. a few giggles coming from you as you take a few more. even taking a selfie with her sleeping in the background. eventually the tiredness from dinner catches back up to you and you lay back down on your cushioned seat. setting the polaroid down on the small table next to you before drifting off to sleep.

the next day, you and elisa are getting ready to go out on the town. wanting to see the sights you two heard about online. you are in the bathroom trying to do your hair in the mirror. not sure on whether to do an half up half down or just simple braids.

"babeee" you whine out to elisa as you try to think of the seemly hundredth hairstyle to do that would best beat the brazilian heat. she peeks her head into the bathroom doorframe. laughing at the mess you made all over the sink with various hair products and claw clips. "hm, what is it?" she smiles at you as she walks in fully. backhugging you before nuzzling her face into your neck.

"i don't know what hairstyle to do. i was going to just leave my hair down, but it's so hot here" you say as your hands go down to sit onto of where elisa's are hugging your waist. "maybe.. just do a ponytail?" she says. the suggestion just makes you roll your eyes. "too basic, babe. c'mon think of something cuter than that" you smack your lips in frustration. elisa just gives you a kiss on the cheek before pulling away and heading back out of the bathroom. "i've had short hair for so long, so i can't be much help" the french player says as she sits down on y'all's bed.

after ten minutes of debating on whether to wear dutch braids or just a ponytail like elisa suggested you finally decided on the dutch braids. braiding up your hair in the matter of minutes before leaving out of the bathroom. flopping down on the bed, feeling mentally exhausted just from the hairstyle situation. elisa chuckles seeing you, "great choice, baby." you just groan in response.

now it was elisa's turn to do her hair. despite having short hair, she put effort into her hair every morning. making sure to comb it nicely and make sure it falls in the right way. the french player gets up off of the bed and heads straight into the bathroom. shaking her head at the mess you left behind. she starts to comb her hair as she looks in the mirror. you finally sit up, enjoying the sight of elisa fixing up her hair. time for another photoshoot. you grab the polaroid camera out of your bag that sits on the floor next to the bed. expertly taking photos of elisa. the main ones showing her in the mirror doing her hair and the rest showing her smile and laugh as she recognizes the clicking sound of the camera.

"you're always taking photos of me and never let me take any of you" elisa says as she sits her comb down. coming out of the bathroom. she tries to steal the camera from your hands, but you dodge her and hide it behind your back. "because i'm suppose to be the photographer here, baby. not you" you say in-between giggles as elisa chases you around you two's hotel room.

"that's not fair!" the french player whisper shouts at you as she finally catches you. pinning you down onto the bed, putting all her weight on top of you so you couldn't escape. your noses touch as you smile at her, "it is fair. just continue looking pretty for me so i can take some nice photos of you."

your girlfriend just rolls her eyes at you before kissing you. you drop the camera onto the bed before your hands go to the back of her neck. kissing her back gently. elisa pulls away for a moment to whisper against your lips, "better be glad i want to kiss you so bad right now or that would had been my polaroid camera." you just pull her back down into a kiss.

it was near the end of you two's vacation when elisa finally got her chance to take photos of you.

it was late at night with you two chilling in the hot tub in bikinis. you were joyfully soaking up the warm water and the nice sight of elisa's abs. being able to spend this time with your girlfriend was nice and was a great reward after a long season. "definitely going to miss this weather when we get back to france," you say as you close your eyes. sighing out in satisfaction.

"mhm, definitely" elisa mumbles quietly. it was suspicious how quiet your girlfriend was being. usually she was overly hype until the moment her head hit the pillow. you decide to just let it go, feeling too relaxed to care.

that was until you hear the sound of a click. you open your eyes to see elisa smiling at you as she holds your polaroid camera in her hands. "gotcha, babe" she says as you come close to her. trying to take the camera away from her, but no use. she holds the camera above her head as she smiles down at you.

"just sit there and look pretty for me, babe. i wanna take a few more photos" elisa winks at you as she pushes you gently back to your spot from before. now it's your turn to be photographed.

#elisa de almeida #elisa de almeida x reader #woso x reader #woso fanfics

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burntheedges-updates · 1 year ago

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over again, chapter 4: first date

Joel Miller x f!reader summary: you fell in love with Joel Miller in Austin, Texas, in 2001, but you thought you lost him and your whole family in 2003 when the world turned upside down. now it's 2024, and you find the surprise of your life waiting for you in Jackson, Wyoming. or, five times you and Joel fell deeper in love, on both sides of the apocalypse (and one time you did something about it) 18+ minors DNI

chapter tags/warnings: fluff, flirting, banter, angst, panic attack, dancing, pining, kissing, the smut has arrived, pet names (darlin’, baby, honey, pretty girl), Joel calls reader a good girl, neck grabbing (no breath play), light manhandling, grinding, spit kink, oral (f receiving), fingering (f receiving), p in v sex (w/ condom), mention of breasts/nipples, praise kink, if I missed anything please let me know! If you'd like to skip the smut, check on ao3 - I've got notes there about what to skip a/n: Welcome to chapter 4! A day early!! It’s time for these two to go on a first date… and another first date, 20 years before. And oh yeah, the smut is here. The country night club in this chapter is based on one I frequented in the south in the early 2000s (lol). music note: More songs are mentioned in this chapter! All songs mentioned in this fic are on the playlist, which is linked below. word count: 13.3k

series main post | series playlist | ao3 | ch 3 || ch 5

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Chapter 4: First Date

Jackson, Spring 2024

You have dinner with Joel and Ellie a few more times over the next few weeks. Sometimes just the three of you, and sometimes with Tommy and Maria as well.

(Maria has warmed up a bit to Joel, following his return with Ellie in tow. She’s blunt and opens up more easily to people that have the Joel stamp of approval, which is just Tommy, sort of Maria, and you – all of the adults in her would-be family that don’t know how to talk to each other quite yet.)

Joel manages to join you for lunch a few times as well, and he listens to your tales of the gardens and the stables with the same slightly incredulous air that Tommy still does – you, an indoor girl, enjoying working outdoors. Anyone who knew you Before would never believe it, but no one here except the Miller brothers knows enough about you to find it at all odd. He laughs almost as loud at your story about getting stuck in the manure as Tommy did witnessing it. Right in the middle of the dining hall.

You and Joel also spend a couple of afternoons listening to the songs on the CD with Ellie and telling her a bit about each one. She likes the faster songs, like “Arrasando” and “Fruta Fresca”, and the ones that make her laugh, like “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” and “Pickup Man.”

(You tell her the story of how a woman hit on Joel in the grocery store parking lot, leaning suggestively on his pickup truck, and how she quoted the song (you know, there’s something women like about a pickup man), and how you and Sarah never let him live it down, singing the song to him every chance you got, playing up different parts (I never knew you were a pickup man!). You even got him to sing along eventually. She laughs so hard at your reenactment of it all that she falls off the couch. She and Sarah would have gotten along like a house on fire, you think.)

She scoffs a little at the romantic songs like the teenager she is.

Listening to the songs is hard, and you notice that Joel skips a couple of them (you don’t blame him, and both of you avoid the other’s eyes when he does). But Ellie brings a brightness to every room she’s in. Even as she’s cursing up a storm about missing her favorite food in the dining hall one night because of family dinner - right up until Tommy walks in the door with a plate, just for her. You can feel something in yourself start to bloom again as you tell stories about Sarah and Joel from Before to this child who asks questions about unexpected things, like strobe lights in clubs and menus at fancy restaurants and piñatas at family parties. It lets you take a step back and try to see it all through her eyes, unfamiliar and new. It’s refreshing even when it hurts.

You think it’s having the same effect on Joel, but you haven’t talked about it. You can only see what he’s showing on his face and you think it mirrors what’s on yours. You haven’t talked more about your 20 years apart, other than some small details here and there. Ellie hasn’t asked again. You see him looking at you sometimes like he wants to ask, wants to reach out, but he always hesitates. Slow.

After a few weeks (almost a month since they’ve been back in Jackson) of getting more comfortable around each other, Tommy ramps up his campaign to get the two of you to join him at the bar one night. You’ve been there with Tommy a few times, of course, but you haven’t been one for lingering there since you’ve been in Jackson. You were on your own for so long that at first it was odd to be around so many people. You know Joel has been with Tommy a few times, but he didn’t stay long, either. Always wanting to be home for Ellie.

Eventually Tommy pesters you into agreeing by getting Maria to hang with Ellie for the night – as much as they haven’t quite bonded yet, Ellie is still curious and a bit excited at the prospect of a baby, and the plan is for her to help decorate the nursery. You saw the look on her face when Joel referred to the baby as her cousin, and you think Ellie herself can’t look straight on at the emotion that came over her in that moment. She’s still getting used to the whole family thing. You and Joel are too, but you’re easing back into something you had once and lost, which is different than discovering something you’ve never had at all.

The night of your outing you don’t let yourself dither by your closet. You allow yourself two options and once you decide you head downstairs to meet Joel and Tommy by the road. For a moment you marvel, again, at the novelty of doing something that used to be mundane – choosing your outfit for a night out.

Tommy looks like he used to at Christmas, so excited to drag you both out of the house. Joel looks just as handsome as always — shoulders broad in his flannel shirt — but he’s also side-eyeing his brother like he might want to put him in a headlock if he doesn’t stop spilling good cheer everywhere.

“Alright, Millers, let’s get this show on the road.” You tuck an arm through both of theirs, one on each side like you used to do when you went out dancing. For a moment the once-familiar feeling of being surrounded by your family like this takes your breath away. But the three of you easily fall into step as you head towards the only bar in town.

“You should bring your CD out sometime, get everyone to dance.” Tommy looks hopeful as he makes his request, glancing between you and Joel as you walk.

“Maybe. I don’t want to lose it, or break it.”

“I know, sunshine – we can be careful.”

You shrug, and ask what kind of music is going on tonight. Sometimes there’s live music, a few people in town who can play various instruments, but often it’s this old-as-dirt jukebox that sometimes needs coaxing to play more than a few chosen songs without going rogue and disregarding whatever you picked next. Sounds like tonight is a jukebox night.

The three of you arrive at the bar, and as Tommy moves to enter ahead of you, Joel lets his hand slide down to twine his fingers through yours. He squeezes your hand as the two of you step inside, reminding you of all the times he did that to reassure you Before, when you were still learning how to dance. It makes you smile.

Tommy waves you over to a table in the corner and heads to the bar to get drinks. You slide in beside Joel, feeling a bit awkward as you turn to him while you wait for Tommy to come back. “He’s just as smug as he was that first time you and I went line dancing with him.”

Joel huffs a laugh, looking uncomfortable in public in a way you’d never seen him Before. He keeps checking on the people in the bar, eyes never staying in one spot for long as he sweeps them over the room. As he turns back to you, he replies, “Tommy loves to make me uncomfortable.”

You tilt your head at him, considering. “I get now, I’m not totally comfortable here either, but then? You always seemed so confident when we went out dancing. Helped me shake off my nerves.”

“That was because of you, darlin’.” He leans closer. “It was impossible for me to feel uncomfortable with you on my arm. All I could see was you, anyway.” You duck your head a little to hide your reaction from the room, and he gives you that half smile that raises goosebumps down your arms, like it always did. “Before I met you he used to drag me out and I probably stuck out like a sore thumb, anxious and frowning in a corner by the bar.”

You laugh at the image, just as Tommy returns with your drinks. “What are you two laughing about over here, hmm?”

Your eyes meet Joel’s again, and he’s giving you a warning glance against Tommy’s teasing. “We’re just reminiscing about going out dancing.”

Tommy grins widely. “I’m telling you, we can have a dance night here. Just need the right music for it. The jukebox does alright, though there’s a lot of slower songs. It doesn't have the widest selection.”

“Neither do I, with just the one CD.”

Tommy shakes his head at your response. “Ah, but what a CD it is! I remember that mix. Sarah always had a way with a playlist.” You notice Joel shifting his weight at the mention of Sarah, but you decide not to draw attention to it.

“You just want me to embarrass myself with how little I remember.”

“Nope, not going to fall for a tall tale like that, sunshine. I heard from Ellie that you two still got it.” Tommy winks at you. You forgot what having a brother was like, with all the teasing, and you can’t help the swell of emotion in you as Tommy grins at you. You take a sip of your drink to cover it, and cough.

“What the hell is this?”

“What, you don’t like it? It’s the strongest thing we got.”

“Did someone make this in their bathtub? I thought we had whiskey in this town.” You hold up your glass to the light, eyeing the light brown liquid distrustfully.

Tommy smirks at you. “Sure we do, sunshine, but tonight’s for having fun.” You roll your eyes at him. Joel is hiding his face in his hand, but you know he’s just trying to hide how much he’s laughing at your back and forth.

“You, Tommy Miller, are trouble. Just as much now as you ever were then.” You point at him and go for a stern expression, but you miss by a mile when you start to laugh. He laughs, too, and Joel just shakes his head at the both of you.

“Aw come on, I’m an upstanding member of the community these days, you know? No one’s dragged me out of the drunk tank in Jackson.”

“Jackson doesn’t have a drunk tank, Tommy.”

“Semantics, sunshine.”

You and Tommy keep the show going through your first drink with only a little bit of input from Joel, but you can see him smiling and starting to enjoy himself. With the second drink comes the return of Tommy’s campaign for dancing.

“Look, I’ll go pick out a song from the jukebox, and I swear it’ll be a good one. See, there’s already a few people dancing.”

You look over, and sure enough, there are a few pairs sort of swaying in place by the jukebox. You turn back to Tommy with an unimpressed look on your face, but he grins unrepentantly. “You’ll just have to show them how it’s done, won’t you?”

He heads over to the jukebox anyway, so you turn to Joel. “What do you think? You up for it?” He looks around the room before his eyes return to yours.

“I’ve never turned down a chance to dance with you, darlin’, and I’m not about to start, even here.”

His words send heat rushing towards your face and you bite your lip to hide your reaction. He sees it anyway. “Smooth moves, Miller, as always.”

He shrugs. “With you, it’s always just been a matter of letting myself say what I want to say or what I’m feeling and somehow it works. I was never this smooth before you, so you should blame yourself, you know, you bring it out in me.” You shove his shoulder, laughing a little. “Or maybe it’s only meant to work on you.” He smiles a little when you roll your eyes, trying to hide the effect his words have on you. You wonder if the drink has opened him up a bit tonight, after your weeks of progress so slow you’ve almost been standing still. The thought makes you hesitate.

“Really, though, this is ok?”

He regards you for a moment, and his expression turns intent. He leans in to whisper in your ear, “it’s more than ok, darlin’. Let me show you.” You shiver all the way down your spine. You nod.

Tommy returns triumphant from the jukebox – he’s set the next two songs, but then can’t make any promises about what comes after. The first is playing now, a slow song that won’t really do, but it’s already almost over. Joel stands and extends his hand to you to guide you out of the booth and towards the small dance floor on the other side of the room near the jukebox.

Right as you get there the track changes, and you hear the familiar opening notes of “The Fireman.” You have to give it to Tommy – this is a good choice. Good for dancing, but not one that either you or Joel associate too many memories with. You take Joel’s right hand with your left as he places his left on your back.

“You ready?”

“Get on with it, cowboy.”

He smirks, and does just that. He doesn’t hesitate, just starts two-stepping across the small dance floor. It becomes clear pretty quickly that not only do the two of you remember the steps, you’re almost, if not just as good together now as you were then. He starts to get a little fancy with it and throws in some spins that lead you from one end of the dance floor to the other, followed by a pretzel. You find yourself laughing, exhilarated, and you see a similar expression on Joel’s face. He looks lighter, his shoulders a little taller. He brings you back to face him, doing some simple steps for a moment, and then gets a glint in his eye that you remember well.

“Joel–” is all you manage before he spins you out, pulls you back in, and you fall into his arms as he dips you, tipping you over his knee and off your feet, just for a moment. It’s not the fanciest move you’ve ever done with him, but it leaves you breathless, faces close together as he holds you there for a moment, smirking.

He sets you back upright, and slows it down a bit. You can’t drag your eyes away from his but neither of you say anything. It feels like you’ve created a bubble where it’s still 2002, and you and Joel are tearing across the dance floor in one of the clubs in Austin, like no time has passed. You even heard Tommy whistle over the music when Joel spun you off your feet. Just like old times.

As you let your body take over, you start to feel a tingling sensation that travels from the base of your spine all the way to the top of your head. You’re getting overwhelmed, and your body knows what to do, but your mind is checking out. It’s like you're experiencing two things at once – your memories, and what’s happening now. You realize that you and Joel are still moving, but both of your expressions have gone still and unreadable. When the music stops, so do you, and for a moment, neither of you move from your embrace.

Suddenly you notice that your heart is racing. You’re sweating and you’re out of breath. When did that happen? Joel’s chest is heaving, too. Distantly you remember Tommy saying he had no idea what song would come next and you wonder if you should move aside.

Before you can move even a finger, you hear the jukebox switching tracks, and you see the next song slam into Joel like a freight train. The first notes are barely over and he’s already pulled away from you, turning sharply and heading for the door so fast you realize your hands are still hanging in the air where he left them as the door to the bar closes behind him. You let them drop and start to move, you’re not sure where to, when you feel Tommy come up next to you.

“Hey, sunshine, you alright?” HIs hand comes up to support your elbow as he moves in front of you and blocks the room’s view. You want to respond, but all you can hear is Lonestar singing about being in love, and all you can see is the Millers’ backyard in 2002. You feel the ghost of Joel’s hands on you and you swear you can hear him singing “Amazed” to you as you sway in place. You remember choosing this song for your first dance at your wedding. You blink your eyes, dazed.

You fist your hand in Tommy’s shirt, shaking him a little. “I need… outside. I need to go outside. Tommy, take me outside.” He’s already leading you to the door before you finish speaking.

Outside, you turn sharply to the right, planning to prop yourself up against the outside wall of the bar and remember how to breathe, but you find that apparently Joel had the same thought. He’s got one hand on his chest and the other in a death grip on the frame of one of the windows. He’s gasping for breath. You and Tommy call out at the same time, but you don’t think he hears you.

Tommy starts to move towards him, but you elbow him away and slide between Joel and the wall, putting your right hand to his chest and moving his right hand from his chest to yours. “Joel, look at me.” He sucks in a breath and does, clutching at your shirt where you put his hand. “Breathe with me, ok, baby?” He doesn’t respond, but the two of you lock eyes and you start to breathe together. You can see Tommy out of the corner of your eye – he’s turned his back to the two of you, ushering people on as they pass by.

You breathe together for a little while and eventually, Joel’s breaths come more easily, as do yours. You feel his hand relax and yours does the same where you’re clutching his right arm, holding him in place. Both of you are shaking. He tries to speak, clears his throat, and tries again.

“I can’t…” You shake your head sharply, afraid to let him finish that sentence. He moves his hand from the window frame to your cheek in response and smooths his thumb across your cheekbone. It settles you.

“Let me try that again. I’m sorry, darlin’, I don’t know if I can be that man anymore.”

You’re confused. “Joel, what man?”

“I’m not…” he takes a deep breath. “I’m a mess. I know I said slow, and we are moving slow, but I can’t see my way to our destination. I’m not the man I was Before and I don’t know if I can be him again.” He looks at you, eyes wide and afraid, and suddenly you’re angry. The words that have been caught in your throat for a month finally spill out.

“Joel, I’m not who I was Before, either. We’ve talked about it a little, but there’s a lot you don’t know about me yet. Who I became and what I did. You don’t have a monopoly on the pain of the last 20 years, alright?” He opens his mouth, but you shake your head and tighten your grip on his right arm. “No. We need to talk, and we need to learn about each other. But the truth of you is still there.” You flatten your hand over his heart. “I can see you in there, Joel Miller. I can see you in how you parent Ellie and how you talk to Tommy and how you look at me. I can see the way you take care of us and the way you’ve started to step up to help the people here.” You grip his shirt and shake him a little, doing everything you can to keep eye contact. “It’s scary, sure, I’m terrified. But I’m not giving this up before it even starts because it’s hard, or because sometimes the memories will overwhelm us. I already lived 20 hard years without you and I’m not doing it again. Not when that’s not what either of us really want.”

Joel looks like you cracked open his chest, actually gripping his heart in your hand instead of his flannel shirt, his expression wild.

“All I’m asking, baby, is that you try. I can do one step forward, two steps back. As long as we keep going forward, it doesn’t matter how much we backtrack on our way.” He doesn’t respond right away – he looks over your face, and down to his hand on your chest and back up to meet your eyes. You can see tears glistening on his eyelashes.

“Alright, darlin’. You don’t have to convince me to go after what I want. I’ve just been afraid to let myself have it. I don’t… I don’t want you to discover I’ve become someone you can’t abide.”

You bring both hands up to cup his face. “Joel, I’m afraid of the same thing. But I want to figure it out together, not apart.” He nods, and turns his face into your right hand, taking a deep breath. You feel him kiss your palm, lightly, and you shiver. “We can still take the long way. I just want you to walk it with me.”

You feel the adrenalin of the last fifteen minutes start to leave you and suddenly you’re a bit unsteady on your feet. He holds you up, moving his hands to your waist.

“Are you alright, darlin’? Let’s sit down.” You shake your head.

“I think I’d like to head home.”

“Let me take you home, then.”

You both turn to find Tommy has moved a bit further away, but he’s still guarding you both from the foot traffic at the door. He looks over when you look at him, and smiles a little ruefully. “I’m sorry about that, y’all.”

“Nothing to apologize for, Tommy.”

“I can get that song off the jukebox–”

Joel interrupts him, firmly. “No, leave it. I might…” he sighs. “We might want to hear it. Later.” You smile at him a little as he tucks your right arm through his left.

You say goodnight to Tommy and start to head home. The streets of Jackson are dark and quiet. You’re both quiet, too, letting the intense moment you just had settle as you lean on each other for support. Soon enough your houses come into view, and Joel walks all the way to your front door before he stops and turns to you and says your name softly.

“I have to thank you. You always know what to say to get me out of my head.”

“You always did the same thing for me, you know? We were good together for a reason.”

He smiles, and nods. “I know it.”

You reach out to pull him in for a hug, and you both squeeze a bit tighter than you have so far, since your reunion. You feel his left hand cup the back of your neck as the right slides down your back and pulls you closer. You’ve been through an emotional wringer in the last half hour, but you still feel your body start to respond to this man. Like it always has.

You turn your head so you can speak quietly into his left ear. “I enjoyed our dance, you know? Before all that.” His hand takes a firm grip on the back of your neck and you shiver.

“Oh, I know you did. I could tell.”

You laugh, and smack him lightly on the shoulder. “Oh yeah? Well you were enjoying it too, I could see it.”

“Never said I wasn’t. Never could take my eyes off you on the dance floor.” He pulls back a bit, and you meet his eyes. Gone, for the moment, is the worry from before – what you see in his gaze makes your breath catch in your throat. He smirks at you and runs his thumb up the side of your neck.

“Can I kiss you goodnight, pretty girl?” As he says it he tilts your head up towards his. Joel has always called you darlin’, from the very first time you met, and you love it. But there were some pet names he only used at certain times and, well. Pretty girl has the same effect on you now as it did then. Between that and his hand on your neck you swear your feet float off the ground.

You’re breathless, but you manage an actual response. “I thought you’d never ask, cowboy.” He huffs a laugh at that, and then pulls you in close.

You’ve kissed Joel Miller countless times. He kissed you for the first time in his backyard in Austin in 2001 and after that you can’t even recall every time or place you kissed this man, there were so many. You wouldn’t say you got used to it, but you did come to expect it – Joel Miller, available and ready to be kissed by you, whenever you’d like. You knew him inside and out and you’d kissed him everywhere and every way you could imagine, back then.

But everything about this kiss is new.

Joel softly presses his lips to yours, tilting your head with his grip on your neck, strong and confident. You circle your arms around his waist, moving even closer as you press into the kiss. He moves with you, pulling back a little, but returning almost immediately and kissing you a little deeper, a little firmer. You part your lips and you feel him inhale sharply before he slides his hand down from your waist to brazenly grab your ass, deepening the kiss just a bit, running his tongue along your bottom lip and groaning slightly as you bite softly as his lip in response.

You’ve touched him where you’re touching him before and he’s touched you like this. But it doesn’t feel the same. It feels new, and heady. It feels like a first kiss and a millionth kiss all at once. He’s kissing you like he knows you, and he clearly remembers what you like, but it’s also like kissing a stranger. One who’s picked up new moves that just echo the ones you remember from Before. One whose body is familiar but also different, changed and aged in ways you haven’t had a chance to explore just yet.

Joel shifts his weight in a way that turns you slightly, allowing him to slide his hand down further and grip the back of your thigh before pressing you against your own front door. He uses his grip to pull your leg up, stepping closer and pinning you in place with his hips.

He tilts your chin up again with the hand on your neck and uses his thumb to open your mouth wide. You’re pressed tight between him and the door, sinking into your growing arousal, sinking into him. He looks down at you, mouth held open and waiting for him. You feel hot and dazed, watching as he runs his tongue across his own bottom lip slowly. He meets your eyes, gaze heavy, before lowering his head and devouring your mouth. You sneak your hands inside his shirt to run your nails up his back as your tongues tangle. Joel moans, so quietly you almost don’t hear it, and thrusts his hips into yours. Your breath catches as you feel his arousal meet your own. You feel desire pooling in your lower abdomen and your legs start to shake.

You might have gone on like that all night – you might have let him fuck you against the door, unashamed, outside where anyone can see you – but a door a few houses down suddenly slams shut, startling you both.

Joel almost jumps away from you at the sudden interruption. Not far, he’s still got his hands on your hip and your neck. Your hands rest on his belt. He’s breathing hard and you suddenly realize you are, too. You shake your head, blinking, and start to claw your way back to awareness – your connection was so familiar, so easy, so much like Before. You’d sunk into those depths like slipping into a dream.

You blink at each other before you both let go at the same moment, standing up straight and stepping away. He lets his eyes dance over you, taking in your mussed clothes and swollen lips, before closing his own and pressing his palms to his eyes. He takes a deep breath. You can see the familiar outline of his cock in his jeans, and you force yourself to look away.

“I need to… I’m sorry, darlin’, but we shouldn’t. Not yet.” You nod. You try to convince yourself it’s the smart thing to do, even as you feel the pull of him like a magnet. Even if all you want in this moment is to pull him inside and make him finish what he started, just on the inside of the door this time. For some privacy.

“We still need to talk,” you manage. Your voice sounds unfamiliar to your own ears, but Joel nods in response. “But we agreed, right? This, us, together – that’s the destination. Even if we take it slow.”

“Slow,” he repeats, eyes lingering on your lips. He blinks, and meets your eyes. “Slow, yes.”

“We should walk away before we jump each other where the whole town can see.” You smile as you say it. It doesn’t sit right on your face. You take a deep breath and move to open your door without taking your eyes off Joel.

He smiles back, and nods. His attempt looks just as uncomfortable as yours. “Alright, darlin’, I’ll see you tomorrow? Or soon?”

“Of course. Tomorrow.” Your feet feel rooted in place until he finally manages a step off of your porch. Your face feels like a mask as you try to present something pleasant, agreeable, fine with watching your heart walk away from you. The connection you just reawakened pulls taut between you and tugs at something deep in your chest. You keep your eyes on each other, and once he reaches his own porch you finally open your door. You take one last look, chest tight, before entering your houses at the same time.

Inside, you close your door and immediately slide down against it to sit on the floor, head in your hands.

...

Austin, Spring 2001

You and Joel talked a few times between Sunday and Friday – standing in your front yard, once, and over the phone twice, finalizing your plans and flirting so much you found yourself not paying attention and getting wound up in the cord of the old phone that came with the house. He told you not to waste your limited texts on him, the dinosaur, but you texted him a couple of times anyway. Sarah must have taught him a few things because he actually sent you a winky face back once. It made you laugh and clutch your phone to your chest like some kind of swooning maiden. You told Emily, your friend at work, and she laughed at you so hard she snorted soda up her nose at lunch. Served her right.

Friday arrived just in time to save you from working yourself up too much into a state of anticipation and nerves. You made yourself stick with the outfit you had picked out on Wednesday night when you talked to Joel on the phone and tried to figure out what was appropriate to wear dancing. He told you you’d be beautiful no matter what, but you wanted to look good on his arm for your first – and long awaited – date. You ran the outfit by Emily, too, and she gave it her official born-and-bred-in-Texas stamp of approval. (She also told you it was a good idea to wear jeans, because everyone else would likely do the same.) It wasn’t going to get much better than that.

Joel was going to pick you up at 7:30 after he dropped Sarah off for her sleepover. At 7:15 you were standing in your entryway with nothing left to do, feeling a little foolish. You looked around for something to occupy you and had just decided you’d put some dishes in the dishwasher, maybe, when there was a knock at the door. You glanced at the clock –7:17 – and raised one eyebrow while opening the door to find Joel on the other side. He was wearing cowboy boots, black jeans that were so tight in the hips it should have been illegal, and a button up green shirt that made your mouth water at how it showed off every line of his torso.

“A bit early, aren’t we?” you teased, leaning your shoulder against your door frame and crossing your arms.

“Well hello there, beautiful. I couldn’t wait any longer to see you. And you answered that door pretty quick, you know, to be teasing me like that. Were you waiting for me?” He grinned at you and winked. What a flirt.

“Maybe I was. You’re looking pretty sharp yourself, cowboy.”

Joel offered his hand to you and you took it, stepping outside to join him before locking your front door. “Ready to go?”

“Lead the way.”

He handed you into his truck and set off for the taco place he’d been on you to try for months.

(He’d learned earlier in the week while you were talking in your front yard that you still hadn’t gone, and the incredulous way he said your name had made you laugh.

“How? Darlin’, we told you about it months ago!”

“I’m busy, ok! And maybe I was waiting for an invitation.” You smiled and raised one eyebrow at him.

He grinned, but shook his head.

“Well, this can’t stand, darlin’. Seems like I’ll just have to take over from here, hmm? Make sure my girl is getting the best Austin has to offer.” He definitely caught your reaction to my girl, stepping closer and cupping your face with his right hand. You smiled at him, a little dazzled.

“Pretty sure of yourself, huh, cowboy?” You smoothed your hands around his waist and linked your fingers at the small of his back.

“Nah. Pretty damn sure of how much you deserve to be taken care of, more like.” You felt like you were going to swoon again, and really, twice in one week? This man.)

So you headed towards the taco place in the truck. Joel asked you about your week at work, how your students were doing, and he smiled a little when you told him that Emily approved your outfit for a night of dancing.

“You tell her thank you from me, darlin’, I sure do approve, too.” He reached over and set his right hand on your thigh, squeezing gently. You laughed and rolled your eyes a little, moving to hold his hand.

The taco place turned out to be pretty crowded, but there were plenty of tables outside and soon you were settled with tacos and drinks. Your table was cozy, a two-person set-up right towards the end of their outdoor deck, which was strung with fairy lights.

“Well? What do you think?”

“It’s lovely, Joel.” You felt his boot slide forward and settle against your foot. You smiled at him, resting your chin in your hand. “I’m glad you asked me out.”

Joel reached over and ran his thumb across your bottom lip, fingers cupping your jaw. “You got no idea how glad I am that you said yes, darlin’.” You opened your mouth to respond, but he left his thumb there, right in the middle of your bottom lip. He pressed down gently and you couldn’t help but dart your tongue forward to meet it. You watched as he inhaled sharply, staring at your mouth. You opened a little wider.

Joel shook himself and cleared his throat, pulling his hand away. “We should eat, baby. We got some dancing to do later.” He picks up a taco.

You smiled, enjoying the effect you clearly had on him, as strong as the effect he had on you. “Right. Dancing.” He shot you a look, picking up what you were implying.

“Eat your tacos, troublemaker.”

“Yes sir!” He coughed at your response, and you laughed, finally relenting. You picked up your own taco and took a bite.

You moaned.

“Joel! This is amazing!” You looked up from your food to find him watching you, dark eyes intent. “What?”

He just grinned, slow and smooth. “Nothing, darlin’.”

You narrowed your eyes at him, but didn’t press.

Over dinner you talked more about your week, about the family party the Millers had coming up, about your worries for your students as you hit the midpoint in the semester. Joel asked you about your coworkers and some of your students by name, and your heart warmed just knowing he remembered them from the stories you’d told him. That he listened and cared.

He told you about the projects he and Tommy were working on now, and some of his frustrations with his crew and the clients. You realized, as you listened, that Joel had never really held back from sharing himself like this, not with you. You knew all of his crew by name and reputation, at this point. You could ask after their partners and you knew their roles on the team. He’d been opening himself up to you the whole time, just like you had with him. You’d barely noticed at first because you hadn’t had anything to compare it to, no idea he could be so careful and distant with people he didn’t know. Knowing him the way you did now, well. You smiled, still listening.

The fairy lights were setting everything off in a warm glow, but you felt like that glow was inside of you, too. Like the connection between the two of you was lighting you up from the inside. Your fingertips were tingling.

You wrapped your ankles around one of his under the table and squeezed. He winked at you in response.

Around 9 you got back in Joel’s truck to head to the club he and Tommy had told you about. Apparently they sometimes played Latin music, but tonight was going to be all country, which meant two-stepping and line dancing. You felt your nerves, which had faded during dinner, start to return.

“Joel, you sure I know enough to go dancing? We barely got started last week.”

He reached over and set his right hand on your thigh again. “You’re ready, darlin’. Just follow my lead – I won’t throw anything too fancy at you.”

You sent him a look. “Something tells me I shouldn’t believe you.”

He grinned, tapping his fingers against your thigh, sending tingles down your spine. “I did say nothing too fancy.”

You soon arrived and Joel opened the car door for you in front of a large wooden building with neon figures in cowboy hats dancing across the facade. He took your hand again, lacing your fingers together, and started walking towards the entrance where there was a small line. It moved quickly and way too soon you were moving inside. Joel squeezed your hand as you entered the club.

The first thing that hit you was the sound – “Ain't Goin' Down ('til the Sun Comes Up)” was blasting through the dark space. You looked around, noticing the tiered side areas with tables and couches surrounding a huge dance floor sunk into the middle of the club. It was absolutely teeming with people line dancing on one side and two-stepping on the other. You looked at Joel and grinned. “Where to first, cowboy?” He smiled back and tugged you towards the dance floor. As you approached you noticed the bar nearby on the first level.

He leaned close so you could hear him, his lips brushing your ear. “Let’s get a drink and then we can watch for a minute, let you get comfortable.” You nodded, smiling at how well he anticipated what would put you at ease.

He got you drinks and somehow snagged a high bar table close to the dance floor. You stepped up to it and he stepped up close to you, to your side and behind you, curving his left arm around your waist. He put his mouth next to your ear again. “What do you think, darlin’?”

You leaned back a little, letting your back touch his chest as you turned towards him to reply. “They’re dancing pretty fast out there, Joel. I don’t think I can keep up.” He raised his right hand to touch your chin lightly, turning your head to the left a bit.

“Look over there, do you see the split?” As soon as he pointed it out you saw it. Yes, there were some dancers going so fast it made your head spin, but there was an area off to the left where pairs were dancing slower, and some looked like they were still learning, like you. “Everyone here is real polite, real aware of each other. No one’ll make you go fast before you’re ready.”

It reassured you, and you leaned back a little more into his chest. He tightened his arm around your waist. “Thanks, cowboy. That does make me feel better.” He grinned at you and winked again.

As you finished your drinks he pointed out people doing the steps he’d taught you, showing you the different ways they could fit together with other things you hadn’t learned yet. You realized the song was changing, and “My Maria” started up. It was a bit slower than the songs had been so far, which seemed like a sign.

You turned to look at Joel. “Should we give it a go?”

He looked surprised, and then pleased that you suggested it. “Let’s get out there, darlin’.” Before he moved away he leaned in for a quick kiss, stealing your breath and then grabbing your hand to lead you to the dance floor. As you reached it, he turned backwards, leading you with both hands into an open spot. He moved you into the stance he’d taught you on Sunday.

“Just follow me, baby. I’ll guide you right.” You nodded and took a deep breath, and then he started moving.

It amazed you how quick you shook off your nerves in Joel’s arms. He was right, you did have a good handle on the basic steps, and he smoothly led you around your little area of the dance floor, deftly steering you around other dancers. He even threw in a spin that left you a little dizzy. “Joel!”

“Sorry, darlin’.” He grinned, not looking sorry at all. “Just wanted to give it a try.”

You smiled back, charmed by his easy confidence on the dance floor. “Just warn me next time.”

A couple songs on the slower side followed “My Maria.” After three, you felt like you were letting the dance happen more naturally instead of staring at your own feet so much. Joel was smiling at you softly, and soon he sent you into another spin and caught you close. You stumbled a little and smiled at him. You realized neither of you were moving. You’d frozen in the middle of the dance floor, when his gaze darted down to your lips.

You'd moved a little closer, breathless, when the crowd suddenly cheered, startling you into stepping back and looking around. You looked at Joel, who was grinning.

“What’s going on?” you asked, but then you heard it. Most of the men were leaving the dance floor – the women in the room took over as “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” started up. You laughed, but then stopped when you realized Joel was moving away, too.

“Wait, I don’t know what to do!” You were about to get corralled into one of the lines of dancers that was forming around you.

“Just follow along!” he called, grinning. You looked around and saw a woman you didn’t know beckon you closer.

“I’ll show you! Come on!” She broke it down for you slowly, and soon you were moving with the rest of the crowd. It wasn’t that difficult, you realized, just showy. You noticed some were throwing in spins and kicks, but you focused on the basic steps. Once you had a handle on it you looked up, looking for Joel.

When you found him, you almost froze in place. He was looking right at you, and by the look on his face, you knew he hadn’t looked away from you once. He was watching you with dark eyes, intent. It sent a shiver down your spine and you wanted to run to him, or for him to come back and dance with you again. He had a hand on his chin and he slowly rubbed his thumb along his lower lip as you met his eyes. You stumbled a little over the next step and he smirked, not meanly, more knowingly. You smiled back.

For the rest of the song you felt his eyes on you, and you felt like you were dancing only for him. It made you a little bolder – you swayed your hips more and looked at him out of the corner of your eye. His gaze was angled low. It spurred you on.

By the end of the song you were breathless, and you’d worked yourself up so much you needed a break before you hauled off and dragged him into the bathroom. When you met his eye you knew he was feeling the same way.

The crowd surged a bit as you approached, and you tipped forward into his arms at the edge of the dance floor. “How did I do?” you asked, grinning. He studied you, looking slowly down your body and back up. Your face heated in response.

He leaned forward, arms around your waist, lips brushing your ear again, and said, lowly, “I couldn’t keep my eyes off you. You tore up that dance floor, baby. Let me take you for another spin.” You closed your eyes and leaned your head against his, overwhelmed.

“Be My Baby Tonight” was playing then, and it was fast and a little intimidating. You turned your head towards him. “Get me a water, first, and then you can spin me all around the dance floor, cowboy.”

He ducked his head into your neck, leaving a kiss behind your ear, and then nodded. He turned and headed straight to the bar as you leaned against the high table next to you for support. You steadied yourself, taking several deep breaths. Dancing now. More of… that later. The thought made you chuckle, but you closed your eyes briefly against the heady anticipation it sparked in you at the same time.

Joel reappeared back in front of you quickly, drinking his own water and watching you intently as you finished yours. “Daddy’s Money” faded into “Shut Up and Kiss Me” as he grabbed your hand to lead you back onto the dance floor without saying a word. Your heart was racing as you followed, eyes locked on his.

The practice and the line dancing had flipped a switch in you, and you found yourself adding little things that made the dance your own. Swinging your hips a bit slower, throwing in an extra twist, spinning faster. Joel met you step for step and encouraged you with every addition. The rest of the club fell away as the two of you moved in sync. You barely noticed when he threw in a new move – a backwards spin of some kind. He smoothly guided you in and out of it, grinning smugly when it worked.

You danced straight through two more songs (“Fast as You” and “God Blessed Texas”, which the crowd loved). When “What About Now” started you found yourselves pressed even closer together, after the crowd that had formed for “God Blessed Texas”. You kept moving, but Joel caught your eyes right as the chorus started and your breath caught. He pulled you close and, to your surprise, sang softly into your ear, “How ‘bout tonight? Baby for once let’s don’t think twice.” You knew he could play guitar, and he’d mentioned before that he’d wanted to be a singer when he was a kid, but he’d never sung for you. You felt his voice, soft like velvet, sink deep into you and you squeezed your thighs together.

You pulled away and caught his eye, coming to a stop on the dance floor. He looked uncertain for a moment before he saw the look on your face.

“Let’s get out of here, cowboy.”

He smiled wide and immediately turned and led you through the crowd towards the door. It took longer than you wanted but eventually you emerged into the cool night air outside of the club.

At his truck he stopped and slipped his arm around your waist. He whispered in your ear, “where to, baby?”

“Take me home, Joel.”

“Just home?”

You smirked at him. “Why don’t you get me there and find out?”

He laughed, opening the door for you and jogging around to throw himself into the driver seat. As soon as he had the truck in drive his right hand was back on your thigh. Higher this time, and with his thumb rubbing a small circle into the outside while his fingers gripped the inside firmly. You sighed and sank a little lower in your seat. He glanced at you, and stood a little harder on the gas pedal.

Joel must have set a record between the club and your house, but soon enough you were pulling up in the driveway and he was opening the car door for you once again. You walked to your front door with him hovering right behind you, hands lightly brushing over your hips as he moved in step with you.

You unlocked the door, but before you could open it he grabbed your hips and spun you around. You found yourself sandwiched between him and the door, left hand firm on your hip, right hand against the door to the side of your head. The echo of your dance positions made your heart race.

He leaned in close, brushing his lips across your cheek before murmuring in your ear, “you got plans tonight, pretty girl?” You heard yourself gasp, lightly, and reached out to loop your fingers through his belt buckles.

“Met some cowboy at the club. He followed me home, trying to get in my pants.”

Joel laughed, and moved a little closer. His left hand moved from your hip to your neck, thumb in front along your collarbone. “Well, are you going to let him?”

You hummed and pretended to think about it. “I dunno. You think he’s any good?”

Joel met your eyes, sliding his left hand to the back of your neck and squeezing. You inhaled sharply and you knew he could see the effect he had, written all over your face. He leaned in and his lips brushed against yours as he replied, “well, baby, you can be the judge of that, alright? After I make you come on my hand,” he kissed you, “and my mouth,” he kissed you again, “and my cock,” he kissed you one last time.

Your head was spinning at his words and you could feel your arousal pooling in your underwear. You thrust your hips against his right thigh, firm between your legs. He squeezed his hand around the back of your neck again and you gasped as he moved back a little.

“Well then, cowboy. Take me to bed.”

He reached behind you and opened the door, pulling you in by the waist as he deftly maneuvered you around it and into your dark hallway. He pulled the door closed and locked it with one hand behind him, never even moving away from you, before backing you into the wall to your living room.

“I’ll take you to bed, pretty girl, but I think I’ll take you right here first.”

Your back hit the wall but he didn’t stop, moving forward until his front pressed all along yours. He caught your lips with his, moving his hand back to its new spot around the back of your neck in a strong grip. With his other hand he undid your jeans, then used both hands to start to pull them down. You reached down to help, but stopped when you realized Joel’s eyes had caught on your underwear. Particularly the lace.

“This for me, darlin’?” As he asked he slipped his fingers into the slide of your underwear before moving his hands around to the back and reaching inside to grab your ass cheeks, one in each hand. You thrust your hips towards his, brushing lightly against his jeans.

“You see any other cowboys here?”

He grinned. “I think I like the idea of you picking these out, thinking about what I might like.”

“Wait until you see what else I’ve got up there.”

“Oh, I plan to.” He stepped back in to press you against the wall, moving his left hand back to your neck and his right hand around to the front to slip inside your underwear. “Mouth or fingers first, baby? What do you think?”

You let your head fall back and rest against the wall, breathless at his question.

“Come on, baby. Good girls ask for what they want.” As soon as the words left his mouth you whined, surprising yourself, a tiny noise in the back of your throat, barely there at all. But he heard it. “Oh, do you want to be my good girl?” The effect his words had on you was obvious – chest heaving, eyes closed, heat rushing to your face. “That’s good, baby, that’s real good. Now tell me what you want.”

You took a few deep breaths, trying to focus as his fingers moved lower in your underwear. “Your mouth.” You opened your eyes to see him grinning at you, eyes dark.

“That’s my good girl.” He leaned forward, voice low in your ear. “Now, let me hear you moan for me like you did back in the restaurant, got it? I want to hear it, baby. Don’t hold back.” And without another word, he sank to his knees in front of you. You steadied yourself on the wall behind you, unable to tear your eyes away from him as he pulled off your shoes, and then your jeans, and then your underwear. You stepped out of them as he ran his hands back up your legs to your hips. He placed a light kiss on each of your hips, sending sparks straight to your pussy. Your legs started to shake. His right hand moved back down to reach behind your thigh and he lifted it over his shoulder. Any self consciousness you might have felt at opening yourself to him like that was immediately quashed by the hungry look on his face.

“Oh, pretty girl. I can’t believe I waited this long to get a look at this pretty pussy.” He leaned forward and placed a kiss just above your clit. You took a breath that sounded like a sob. “I’m going to treat you right.” He was looking straight at your pussy as he said it.

He leaned in and started with a slow lick, from your hole all the way up to your clit. You felt it like a tremor that ran from your toes to the base of your spine, almost taking you out at the knees.

“Fuck.” Your hands flew to his head, tangling in his hair, but not pushing. He glanced up to meet your eyes before doing it again, this time maintaining eye contact. You felt like you were about to hyperventilate.

“Breathe, baby. Let me make you feel good.”

You whined again, softly, and he grinned. As he moved back to press his lips lightly to your clit, he brought up his right hand to tease his fingers at your entrance. He pressed his tongue down on your clit slowly, softly, before tracing the tip of it towards your hole. He pressed there, hinting at pushing his tongue past your entrance. You tightened your hands in his hair and he smiled, kissing you, right there, and then slowly pushed his tongue inside while his fingers moved up to brush against your clit.

You felt like you were floating, like last week when you danced, and again tonight when you were so in sync on the dance floor. It was like he could read you and knew what you wanted before you knew you wanted it. He thrust his tongue inside, curling it a way that made you gasp, pushing your hips towards his face involuntarily. You moaned, low. He caught you with his left hand on your hip and pushed you back into the wall.

“Good girl. Let me hear it.” He teased you again with the tip of his tongue. "You taste so good, baby. I could stay right here for hours.” You shuddered and he moved his fingers down to circle your entrance again. He pushed one slowly inside you. At the same time, he placed an open mouth kiss directly on your clit, lightly tonguing it as he found the spot inside of you that made you shiver.

He kept it up as you moaned again, mercilessly thrusting his finger inside while lavishing your clit with attention from his lips and tongue.

You felt your orgasm start to build slowly, from the base of your spine. It radiated up your back and tingled over your scalp, overwhelming you entirely as you pushed down with your hands in his hair and thrust into his mouth. His hand and shoulder held you up as your knees shook. “Joel, I–”

“I know, baby. I can feel you squeezing my finger. That’s it, pretty girl, let me see you come.” The wash of fire over you made you arch your back, and you called out his name as it took you. He worked you through it until you gently pushed his mouth away.

You heaved a breath and looked down at him, finding him just as wrecked as you, his entire face wet from being buried in your pussy. You watched as he used your hip to pull himself up, standing over you as he pulled his middle finger from inside you and slipped it into his mouth. His eyes slipped shut and he made a noise like he couldn’t get enough. Your mouth went dry.

Joel opened his eyes and reached for you, pulling you into his chest. “That’s one, baby. Ready for two?” You shuddered but fell forward, into his arms.

“I think I need to lie down first.”

He grinned, and wrapped his arm around your waist, drawing you close to lean on him and walking backwards while holding you up. “Let me take care of that for you.”

“Joel, I can walk!” You laughed as you said it.

“Nonsense, darlin’. Happy to have you in my arms, now that it’s my job to make your legs shake.” He winked at you and tightened his hold around your waist, drawing you into a kiss at the bottom of the stairs. You couldn’t help but notice how good his arms looked, supporting you like that. You tucked your head into one side of his neck and kissed lightly behind his ear and along his hairline. He tilted his head to give you better access, humming. Then he lightly swatted your ass cheek.

“Let’s get upstairs, pretty girl.” He encouraged you to go up in front of him, and you grinned over your shoulder at him, knowing exactly why. He stared directly at your naked ass, unrepentant.

Once you reached your bedroom you started to pull your shirt off, but he suddenly grabbed you by the hips and turned you towards him. He reached around behind you to grab your ass in both hands, pulling you into a searing kiss. Before you knew it he was walking you towards the bed, letting you fall onto it backwards. You bounced slightly and your legs splayed open as he stripped off his shirt, grinning at the sight of you.

“Look at you, pretty girl. Why don’t you take off that top for me.” You did, and watched him remove his boots and jeans, too.

Soon he was crawling on the bed, leaning over you on his left elbow while he slid his right hand up your leg, over your torso and finally to your cheek, where he pressed gently to turn you towards him and into a kiss.

“I dreamed about you like this, you know. For a while now.” As he said it he moved his hand back down, teasing your nipple lightly. “You, spread out on a bed, just for me.”

You kissed his cheek as he turned to look down your body, which squirmed a little under his gaze. “I did too, Joel.”

“What did you dream about, baby?”

You bit your lip to hide a smile. “Everything.”

He hummed, and moved his lips to your ear. He murmured your name. “I thought you wanted to be a good girl for me, hmm? Now, what did you dream about?” As he said it he tweaked your nipple slightly, making you gasp.

“Your mouth,” you breathed it so quietly he nudged you with his nose to spur you on. You cleared your throat. “Your mouth, and your fingers. Can’t keep my eyes off your shoulders, never could, even that first day. Couldn’t stop imagining them moving over me as you fucked me.” Your voice was steady, but Joel took the opportunity to drop kisses down your neck, moving towards your chest. You started talking faster. “Your arms, holding me up as you fucked me against a wall. Your lips… everywhere. Your thick fingers, sneaking inside my underwear. Being full of you. Being good for you. Using my mouth on you, sucking you off. Riding you in the backyard. Sneaking into the bathroom together on a night out. Sneaking over in the middle of the night to wake you up by sucking your cock. Waking up to your mouth…” You sucked in a breath as he lightly took your left nipple between his teeth. Your mind blanked. You couldn’t remember anything more. “Everything, baby.”

He twisted his tongue around your nipple before sucking a kiss into the side of your breast. You sank your fingers into his hair as you arched towards him.

“That’s my good girl, yeah? Where should we start?”

“What?”

He looked up at you. “Pick one, baby. Let’s cross something off your list.”

You smiled at him, a little shy. “What about your list?”

“Well, we have plenty of time. And don’t you worry about that.” He crawled over you, legs on either side of your hips, bulge obvious in his underwear. “You’re my list, baby. Everything you said, and everything else we can do, anywhere we can do it.”

You thought about calling him on the lack of specifics, like he did to you, but you knew you’d rather let him follow through on that promise.

“I want your fingers, Joel. Mouth, fingers, then cock, right?” You looked him straight in the eye as you said it. “How many do you think I can take?” He blinked, and then grinned wickedly.

“A good girl like you? I think you’ll take as many as I want to give you, don’t you?” Before you could respond, he leaned down and captured your mouth with his. This time he skipped past any build up and tangled your tongues together as he pressed down on top of you. Your legs were still trapped between his as he ground his cock, still hidden inside his briefs, against your hip. You ran your nails up his back and into his hair.

He shifted his weight to the side, freeing your left leg, which he grabbed at your thigh to push it to the side, opening your pussy to him again. He traced his fingers lightly from your knee to your hip, still kissing you deeply. Once he reached your pussy he traced through the remnants of your first orgasm.

He pulled back slightly, still close enough that his lips touched yours. “Is this pretty pussy always this wet?” You moaned as he slid one finger between your folds, teasing at your entrance.

“It is for you.”

“Even when you touch yourself, thinking about me?” Your face heated a little, and you turned your head. “Don’t be shy, pretty girl. Nothing gets me going faster than thinking about you – how you look when you’re concentrating, when you’re dancing in your kitchen, when you’re relaxing on the couch in those little shorts you wear around the house.” As he spoke he kissed along your jaw and pressed gently with his finger at your entrance. Almost inside. “I think about your hair on my pillow, your thighs around my head, your mouth on my cock, your pussy on my face, your legs around my waist in my shower, and I can barely keep myself from coming in my pants like a teenager.” He slid his finger inside you, and you moaned again, clutching at his shoulders. “That’s it, baby. Now tell me. Do you get this wet when you touch yourself and think of me?” His voice was stern and his finger curled inside you, making you push your hips towards his hand.

“Yes,” you breathed, turning your lips to his. “I’m always wet for you, Joel.” He took your mouth again, thrusting his tongue as he thrust his finger inside you.

“Good girl.” His voice rumbled, low, deeper than you’d ever heard it. He slipped another finger inside you. “That’s two fingers, baby.” He thrust his fingers in and out of you as he devoured your mouth. He slid his left forearm along the bed until his hand was behind your head and he gripped the back of your neck again. “Let’s try a third, hmm?”

You curved your hips into his hand as he added a third finger, stretching you wide and filling you up. You could feel a buzzing in your ears and a tingle at the back of your neck where he held you in his strong grip.

“That’s so good, baby. Taking my fingers so well. How does it feel?” He squeezed the back of your neck with his left hand as he curled his fingers upwards inside of you. You heard yourself whine before you realized you were doing it.

“Tell me, pretty girl. How does it feel?”

You sucked in a breath, and replied, “it’s so good, Joel.” You clenched around his fingers. “I – I need–”

He sucked a kiss into your neck, and then under your ear. “Tell me.”

“My clit—” you trailed off again as he moved his thumb right where you wanted it. You closed your eyes. He started drawing circles with his thumb as he thrust his fingers into you. You clenched your fists in his hair and in the sheets. You could feel it coming.

“Joel, I’m close,” you arched your back into him as he held your neck down in his hand.

“I can see that, baby. Don’t you want to be good for me? Let go, and let me see you come. I want to see it up close this time, see your pretty face.”

As soon as he told you to, you did. Blood rushed in your ears as you arched your chest off the bed, thrusting your hips toward his hand. The orgasm took you hard – you saw stars, felt it radiating out from your core to the tips of your fingers and toes. You might have called his name, but you couldn’t be sure. When you came down you heard yourself breathing hard and realized Joel was murmuring your name in your ear. “That was beautiful, darlin’, I’ve never seen anything so pretty. I knew you’d come so nice, you had to, so fucking gorgeous. Prettiest fucking pussy I’ve ever seen, and all for me. You were such a good girl for me, honey.”

You caught your breath, and then caught his face between your hands, pulling him into a searing kiss. He smiled at you after. You slid your right hand down, trailing over his chest and into his underwear. You gripped his cock in your hand. “I believe you promised another on this cock, cowboy.” It was his turn to moan and thrust his hips forward as you ran your thumb across the tip.

“You know I’m good for it.” You helped when he reached to push his underwear down, then kicked it somewhere on the floor. You took his cock in your hand again, marveling a little at the girth.

“I knew you were big, Joel, but damn.” He straightened his shoulders a little, looking smug. He caught your eye and winked.

“You knew it, huh?”

“You weren’t the only one looking, baby. I’ve seen you in your swim trunks. And that day your pants slipped down a little, on the ladder? Well, you should have worn a belt, is all I’m saying.” He laughed.

He raised his right hand to trail his fingertips down your face and neck, and traced the shape of your right breast lightly. “Maybe I wanted you to look.” You tightened your grip on his cock and he pinched your nipple in response before moving his hand lower and cupping your pussy.

He pressed his forehead to yours. “Are you ready for me, pretty girl?” he shifted his hand to your thigh, pushing slowly to make you bend your knee up to your chest. You nodded. “Hmm, I want to hear you say it.”

“Fuck me, Joel. I’m not waiting any longer.” He lifted his head and grinned at you. You grinned back. He reached over and grabbed a condom from your nightstand and made quick work of opening it and slipping it on.

“Well I know better than to keep a pretty girl like you waiting.” He shifted his weight, hovering over you. You moved your hands to his hips, but he picked up your right hand with his left and laced his fingers through yours before pinning your hand to the bed above your head. You shifted into it, loving the feeling of being held in place. You traced his shoulders with your eyes, watching as his muscles moved to hold you there. He tucked your left leg around his waist, your right rising immediately to meet it.

Then he reached down to take his cock in hand and tease along your pussy from your clit down to your hole.

“You’re so wet, baby. Ready for me, hmm?”

You curved your hips towards him, catching the tip of his cock between your folds. “Always, Joel.”

He thrust his hips forward in response, notching the tip right at your entrance. “Christ, darlin’, this is already so fucking good.” He was watching, looking at his cock just kissing your pussy. You felt heat rushing through you, watching him look.

“Now, cowboy. Give it to me.” He met your eyes again and did exactly as you said, pushing inside, studying your face. Your mouth fell open as you felt first the head and then the rest, stretching you wider than his fingers. You watched him lick across his bottom lip as he filled you up. He was staring at your open mouth. You were panting, tongue lax, surrendering to the stretch. You watched as he let spit gather on his tongue and then slip out, falling directly from the tip of his tongue into your open mouth. You caught it on your tongue and held it there. Your eyes snapped back to meet each other’s gaze as you moaned, loud. He thrust his hips forward, filling you the rest of the way in one swift motion.

He leaned down and licked inside your mouth, running his tongue along yours as he pulled back and slammed into you again, pushing you up the bed. For a moment you were both in a frenzy, your hips crashing together as you opened your mouths wide, tongues tangling, breaths coming hot and fast.

You twisted your hips, squeezing your legs around him, and he pulled his mouth away from yours. “You are so fucking hot, you know that? I ain’t never seen anything like you, never felt anything like this.” He was breathing heavily as he sped up his thrusts, reaching around your left hip and squeezing your ass cheek in his right hand. Pulling your pussy closer with his grip. “You’re taking me so well, such a fucking good girl for me.” You gasped, tossing your head back. “Feels like this pussy was fucking made for me. Christ.”

You could barely breathe, but you managed, “It was, Joel. All yours. No– nobody else.”

“Fucking right, all mine.” He pulled almost all the way out before slamming his cock back in. He tilted his head down and nipped at your neck where it met your shoulder. “All for me.”

“Yes, baby. Give it to me.”

He growled, speeding up his thrusts. He slipped his right hand from your ass back around your hip, sliding his fingers down to your pussy again. He tapped your clit once, sharply, and you let out a sound you’d never heard yourself make before. It sent a piercing arousal through you that made you tighten your legs around his waist. He grinned, and did it again, before starting to work at your clit in time with the strokes of his hips.

He licked from your collarbone to your ear, whispering, “You ready to give me that third one, baby? I want you to come on my cock.” You whimpered and nodded. “Let me have it then.” He was filling you so perfectly, you could feel your orgasm building again. “Let me see it again. Prettiest sight I’ve ever seen. Show it to me, baby. Please.” He bit down on the hinge of your jaw and you felt it hit you again. You squeezed his cock, tight, clenching your pussy as you came. This time it didn’t stop, the movement of his hips and fingers just kept it going, longer than you’d ever felt before. You fell into it. “Good girl,” he grunted as you felt his hips speed up, losing his steady pace. You felt like your orgasm shifted into a new gear as you clutched at his hair and cried out. He thrust hard into you one last time and your eyes flew open, yanking his face from your neck to watch his face as he came.

You locked eyes as you both tumbled over and came down the other side of the most intense orgasm you’d ever had in your life. You were breathing hard, breath mixing together as you stared at each other.

“Fuck,” you whispered, and one corner of his mouth lifted in a ghost of your favorite half smile. “Holy shit, Joel.”

He brushed his nose slowly along yours and moved his hips forward one more time. You gasped. “I knew it’d be this good,” he murmured. “Had to be. Fucking made for me, I knew it.” You smiled softly and pressed your lips to his cheek and the corner of his mouth. He caught your lips in a gentle kiss. “Such a good girl, all for me.” Despite how you’d spent the last hour with this man, you felt your face heat a little. He kissed your cheek.

You both took a deep breath and he pulled out slowly, catching the condom with his right hand. He moved away to dispose of it and you stretched languidly, twisting your hips. You’d never felt so content, so satisfied.

He came back quickly, cloth in hand to clean you both up before slipping under the covers with you. He pulled you close, tucking your head onto his chest and gripping your waist firmly with his arm down your back. With the other hand he traced designs on the arm you had flung across his chest.

“I’m mighty glad I asked you out tonight, darlin’.”

You smiled into his chest. “I’m mighty glad I said yes, cowboy.” He laughed at your imitation of his accent.

“I don’t sound like that.”

“You sure do.” He reached down and tapped your ass lightly in retaliation.

“Don’t you want to be nice to me, after I was so nice to you?”

You lifted your head to look at him, and he was grinning. You shifted your weight so your left hip rested on top of his, bringing your left hand to support your chin on his chest as you looked at him. “You and I both know you like it when I tease you.” He shook his head, but couldn’t hide his smile.

“Well, you got me. But it just means you fit right in.” You were a little dazzled at the idea of fitting in so well with his family – you knew he meant Sarah and Tommy.

For a moment you just looked at each other. His eyes swept over you, catching on where his now soft cock rested against your hip. You felt your heartbeat begin to slow and enjoyed the feeling of Joel pressed against you everywhere. You let your eyes start to fall shut. He reached over and tapped your chin lightly.

“I know it’s early, darlin’, but I can’t help but imagine sharing a bed with you like this all the time.” He met your eyes, a little hesitant, as he said it.

You tilted your head into his hand and twisted your knee between his, trying to sooth him by getting closer. “It might be early in terms of how long we’ve been doing this, Joel, but we’ve been heading this way for a long time. Since we met.”

He nodded. “I know it. But I still don’t want to rush it – I want to savor every moment that gets us there.” You smiled at the acknowledgement that you were both in this with the same goal, same dream. “And it’s not just about this, you know, even though you blew my fucking mind tonight. I love watching you get to know Sarah too, and seeing how we fit together. Everywhere.”

“Me too, Joel. She’s important to me, and I want this to last.” You looked at him for a moment, and then smirked. “We can take the long way, get lost in it a little bit. Do some exploring.”

He eyed you, and you could see that he was trying not to smile. “Exploring, huh?” He moved his right hand to your lower back and pushed down firmly, moving your hips to meet his as he thrust upwards. You felt his cock stir against your hip. “Well, you just let me know what you have in mind. I’ll be ready.”

...

a/n: chapter 5 coming Sunday, 8/27 :)

a/n: ch 5 now posted!

Tag list: @morgaussy @jay-zzle @bluetattoos @dins-riduur-anthe

Club playlist (all songs are on the series playlist) Ain't Goin' Down ('til the Sun Comes Up) John Deere Green My Maria I’m in a Hurry (And Don’t Know Why) (This Ain’t) No Thinkin’ Thing Man! I Feel Like a Woman! Be My Baby Tonight Daddy’s Money Shut Up and Kiss Me Fast as You God Blessed Texas What About Now Boot Scootin’ Boogie

#joel miller x reader #joel miller x f!reader #joel miller x you #joel miller fic #joel miller smut #joel miller fanfiction #tlou fanfiction #tlou fic #my fic #over again fic #x reader

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andrealvsbooks · 14 days ago

Text

Demons

Who is Lizbeth Potter really?

That's a question that gnaws at Lizbeth herself. All her life she has felt strange as if a piece of her life was missing, when at last it seemed that the moment of answers would come, everything seems to get worse.

What seemed like a simple tournament in which she would also see her boyfriend Peter Pevensie again, becomes her biggest problem while she deals with new powers, a new identity as hated as the girl who survived and lies.

Have I mentioned yet that she now has a voice in her mind that says it's her dragon pestering her all the time?

Yes, Lizbeth Potter's luck couldn't get any worse.

English isn’t my first language, so if you see any mistakes or things that look weird please tell me so I can fix them.

Chapter 1

POV Lizbeth

It's been two days since the Quidditch World Cup. Death Eaters showed up, and someone conjured the Dark Mark, which caused chaos that still feels fresh in my mind. After the train ride back to Hogwarts and receiving a letter from Sirius, I am now sitting in the Great Dining Hall, next to Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, my best friends, waiting for Dumbledore's welcome speech. Apparently, he has a very important announcement to give us.

Oh, I almost forgot: I haven't introduced myself. My name is Lizbeth Potter, I'm 14 years old, and although I'm just beginning to discover the extent of my powers, I already have a story to tell. I have a boyfriend named Peter Pevensie, whom I met in the Muggle world. He told me about a magical place called Narnia, and I confessed to him that I was a witch. We spent a lot of time together, but one day, he and his brothers just… disappeared. It was as if they had evaporated, as if no one but me remembered that they ever existed. Ever since then, I've been searching for answers.

When I returned to Hogwarts after that summer without Peter, I became obsessed with understanding what had happened to him. Eventually, I discovered that his disappearance was part of his return to Narnia. Now I wait patiently for the day when I can see him again. Because, after all, if magic allowed me to remember him, doesn't that mean we will meet again someday?

-Well, now that you are all seated I have some announcements to make: Mr. Filch the janitor has asked me to remind you that you are not allowed to do magic in the corridors, I also remind you that the forbidden forest is absolutely forbidden for all the students as well as the first and second year students are forbidden to go to Hogsmeade -Filch entered and approached Dumbledore, As I was saying - he continued, smiling at the crowd of students in front of him- we have the honor of hosting an exciting event that will take place over the next few months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It gives me great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will take place at Hogwarts this term.

-He's staying with us! -said Fred in a loud voice. Almost everyone laughed, and so did Dumbledore, as if appreciating Fred's intervention. -I'm not staying with anyone, Mr. Weasley -he replied, -although, speaking of staying with people, I was told a really good joke this summer about a troll, a witch, and a leprechaun walking into a bar… Professor McGonagall cleared her throat noisily. -Eh… Well, perhaps this is not the most appropriate moment…. No, it's true -said Dumbledore- Where was it? Ah, yes, the Triwizard Tournament! Well, some of you probably don't know what the Triwizard Tournament is, so I hope those of you who do will forgive me for giving a brief explanation while you think of something else. The Triwizard Tournament originated about seven hundred years ago, and was created as a friendly competition between the three most important schools of magic in Europe: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. A champion was chosen to represent each of these schools, and the three champions participated in three magical trials. The schools took turns hosting the Tournament, which took place every five years, and was considered an excellent way to establish ties between young wizards and witches of different nationalities as well as to invite rulers from one of the worlds around us… until the number of deaths grew so high that they decided to discontinue the tournament.

-The number of deaths? -Hermione whispered, a little frightened.

But most of the students in the Great Hall didn't seem to share that fear: many of them whispered excitedly, and even I was more interested in hearing more about the Tournament than worrying about deaths that had occurred over a hundred years ago.

-In all this time there have been several attempts to hold the Tournament again -Dumbledore continued -none of which were very successful. However, our departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Sports and Games have decided that now is a good time to try again. We have worked flat out this summer to make sure that this time no champion is in mortal danger.

I'm going to try it! -said Fred Weasley, his face lighting up with excitement at the prospect of such glory and riches. He must not have been the only one who was imagining himself as Hogwarts champion. At every table, I saw students looking at Dumbledore with rapturous expressions, or whispering to their neighbors in utter excitement. But Dumbledore spoke again, and the Great Dining Hall fell silent once more. -Although I imagine you are all eager to take home the Triwizard Tournament Cup -he said -the Headmasters of the three participating schools, in agreement with the Ministry of Magic, have decided to place an age restriction on this year's contestants. Only students who are of the required age (seventeen years of age or older) will be allowed to propose themselves for consideration. This -Dumbledore raised his voice slightly as some people made noises of protest in response to his last words, especially the Weasley twins, who seemed suddenly furious- is a measure we deem necessary since the tasks of the Tournament will be difficult and dangerous, no matter how many precautions we take, and it is highly unlikely that students below the sixth and seventh years will be able to cope with them. I will personally make sure that no student under that age cheats our impartial judge to become Hogwarts champion -His light blue eyes sparkled especially brightly as he winked at Fred and George's faces, which showed an expression of defiance. So, please don't waste your time introducing yourselves if you are under seventeen. Now without further ado, let the Beauxbatons students enter!

Suddenly, the huge doors of the Great Hall opened with a solemn echo, and the murmur of students faded into an expectant silence. In walked a group of girls in elegant sky-blue uniforms, their cloaks billowing softly as they passed, as if a mysterious wind were surrounding them. Each of them moved with impeccable grace and amazing synchronization, performing a delicate and harmonious dance that caught everyone's attention. Their movements were smooth, and each gesture carefully calculated. It was impossible to look away. As the show progressed, I could see some of the students begin to blush, enraptured. Ron, in particular, was completely mesmerized, his cheeks taking on a bright red color that went unnoticed by anyone. Hermione, the twins and I couldn't hold back a laugh at his expression, a mixture of admiration and rapture that made him seem completely oblivious to our surroundings.

When the students finished their presentation, a huge woman appeared behind them and started walking towards Dumbledore. In all my life I had only ever seen one person as gigantic as that woman, and that was Hagrid. It seemed to me that they were exactly the same height, but even so (and maybe because I was used to Hagrid) that woman seemed even bigger. Taking a few steps, she stepped fully into the area illuminated by the dining room light, and it revealed a beautiful face with dark skin, large black crystalline eyes, and a sharp nose. She wore her hair tied back at the base of her neck in a shiny bun. Her robes were black satin, and a multitude of opal beads glittered around her throat and on her thick fingers. Dumbledore began to applaud. The students, imitating their headmaster, clapped as well, many of them standing on tiptoe to get a better look at the woman. Smiling graciously, she advanced toward Dumbledore and extended a glistening hand. Though Dumbledore was tall, he barely had to bend down to kiss it. -My dear Madame Maxime -he said -welcome to Hogwarts. -Dumbledog -Madame Maxime replied, her voice deep- I hope you are well. -In excellent form, thank you -Dumbledore replied.

Without another word Dumbledore directed the Beauxbatons students to sit at the Ravenclaw table while Madame Maxime sat at one of the free seats at the teachers' table. -Now, our friends from the north, let us welcome the proud students of Dumstrangs and their headmaster Igor Karkarov - said Dumbledore. For the second time, the doors of the Great Dining Hall opened, and this time they revealed a group of burly, imposing-looking young men. They were tall, with serious faces and intense gazes, and they moved forward in an intimidating line. Every step they took echoed off the ground, and with calculated movements, they tapped their staffs in unison. In perfect synchronization, they traced figures in the air with flames that seemed to emanate from their staffs, forming orange and golden sparkles that illuminated their faces and gave the place an almost mystical aura. Leading them was a man of sinister bearing, who wore on his shoulders a cloak of singular skin, smooth and of a silvery tone that reflected the light as if it were made of pure metal. His hair, of the same silver hue, fell in an orderly fashion.

-Dumbledore! -he shouted effusively as he climbed the slope- How are you, my old companion, how are you? -Splendidly, thank you, Professor Karkarov! -Dumbledore replied. Karkarov had a pasty, affected voice. He was tall and thin like Dumbledore, but his white hair was short, and his goatee (which ended in a small curl) did not quite conceal his weakly pronounced chin. Arriving before Dumbledore, he shook hands with him. -Old Hogwarts -he said, looking up at the dining room ceiling and smiling. His teeth were quite yellow, and notice that the smile did not include his eyes, which kept their cunning, cold expression- It's great to be here, it's great….. As the Durmstrang students made their way to the Slytherin table at Dumbledore's direction, we saw a boy, with his nose, prominent and curved, and thick black eyebrows. To recognize that profile I didn't need Ron's punch in the arm, nor did I need him whispering in my ear:

-It's Krum! I don't believe it! -Ron exclaimed in amazement- Krum, Lizzie! It's Viktor Krum! -Ron, for God's sake, he's just a quidditch player! -said Hermione. -Nothing more than a quidditch player? -He's one of the best seekers in the world, Hermione! I never would have guessed he still went to school! Before Ron could express his excitement any further, Dumbledore spoke again, causing the dining hall to fall silent again.

-And finally, we welcome the rulers of one of the many worlds that exist. This year we have the pleasure of welcoming the kings and queens of Narnia.

What?

The doors to the Great Hall slowly opened, and an imposing figure filled the doorway. A huge lion with golden fur and deep, serene eyes walked in with calm, confident strides. Following him, in an elegant formation, came Peter, Lucy, Susan, Edmund, and a taller young man with a noble bearing and dark hair I didn't recognize. Awe and excitement made me grip Hermione's hand, who seemed quite curious.

As they reached the front of the Great Hall, the lion stopped in front of Dumbledore. The headmaster greeted him with a smile.

—Aslan, old friend —Dumbledore said, bowing his head slightly in respect.

—Albus, it's good to see you again —the lion replied, his deep voice leaving us all astonished.

An absolute silence took hold of the room. Students and professors were stunned until Fred and George broke the tension.

—The lion... —Fred whispered in amazement.

—He spoke! —George added.

—Awesome! —they both exclaimed in unison, prompting some laughter among the students.

With a playful expression, Dumbledore looked at everyone and introduced:

—Dear students, it is an honor to present the kings and queens of Narnia: Queen Susan, Queen Lucy, King Peter, King Edmund, and King Caspian. They all come from a world called Narnia, filled with magic and adventures.

Following Dumbledore's lead, the kings made their way to the Gryffindor table, while Aslan walked toward the professors' table. I suspected he might be another judge for the Triwizard Tournament.

Fred and George, ever curious, quickly approached the newcomers.

—Hello, kings... —Fred said with a playful grin.

—And queens —George added with a slight bow.

—We’re the Weasley twins, and we welcome you to Gryffindor —they both said proudly.

Peter smiled and nodded formally.

—It's a pleasure to meet you, Fred and George.

The twins laughed, giving him a light pat on the shoulder.

—No need for so much formality, okay? —Fred said, winking—. Here in Gryffindor, we consider ourselves the lions of Hogwarts. We’re brave and loyal, and besides, the Potter family has always been in this house —he added with a proud smile.

I shot him a mildly annoyed glance at the mention of my last name, while Susan looked on with curiosity.

—Potter family? —she asked, intrigued.

—Yeah, yeah —George said, pointing at me—. Lizbeth Lilian Potter, our friend since day one. Come on, we’ll introduce you to her. We’ll tell you how she saved the Philosopher’s Stone, defeated a basilisk, and rescued her godfather.

As the Narnian kings approached, Lucy stepped forward and hugged me warmly.

—Lizzie! —she exclaimed with a big smile.

—Lucy! —I replied, wrapping her in an equally excited embrace.

Hermione watched the scene with a furrowed brow, clearly confused.

—Do you know each other? —she asked, looking at Lucy and then at me.

—Well... —I started to say, noticing Peter taking a seat next to me. With a calm smile, he took my hand, intertwining his fingers with mine, giving me the courage to continue—. We met in the Muggle world when Peter and his siblings moved near the Dursleys' house. At first, we were just friends, but over time, something more developed —I added, smiling—. Peter and I have been together for almost two years.

A murmur of surprise swept across the table. Just then, the food appeared on the tables, distracting everyone’s attention. As we ate, the conversation shifted to the Triwizard Tournament. When dinner ended, Dumbledore stood up again and walked over to a brown box next to the professors' table, capturing our attention once more.

—Your attention, please, I would like to say a few words —he said, standing next to the box—. Eternal glory awaits the student who wins the Triwizard Tournament, but to achieve it, they must survive three dangerous tasks...

But at that moment, a deafening thunderclap rang out, and the doors of the Great Hall flew open. A man appeared in the doorway, leaning on a long staff and draped in a traveling cloak.

All heads in the Great Hall turned to observe the stranger, suddenly illuminated by a flash of lightning that lit up the ceiling. He pulled down his hood, shaking out a long mane of hair that was part gray and part black, and walked toward the professors' table. A dull thud echoed with each of his steps across the Great Hall. He reached one end of the professors' table, turned right, and limped heavily toward Dumbledore. Another flash of lightning illuminated the room. Hermione stifled a gasp.

That light highlighted the man’s face, and it was a face very different from any I had seen in my life. It looked as though it had been carved from a piece of wood worn by time and rain, by someone who had no idea what human faces looked like and who was also not very skilled with a chisel. Every inch of his skin appeared scarred. His mouth was like a slash at an angle, and a large chunk was missing from his nose. But what made him truly terrifying were his eyes. One was small, dark, and shiny. The other was large, round like a coin, and a vivid, electric blue. The blue eye moved constantly, never blinking, darting up and down, side to side, completely independent of the normal eye... and then it would turn white, as if looking inside the man’s head.

The stranger reached Dumbledore. He extended a hand as roughly formed as his face, and Dumbledore shook it, murmuring words we couldn't hear. He seemed to be asking the stranger questions, who shook his head, remaining unsmiling, and answered in a very low voice. Dumbledore nodded as well and gestured for the man to take the empty seat to his right. The stranger sat down and shook his mane to get the gray hair off his face; he reached for a plate of sausages, lifted it to what remained of his nose, and sniffed it. Then he took out a small knife from his pocket, poked one of the sausages at one end, and began to eat it. His normal eye was fixed on the sausage, but the blue one continued darting back and forth without pause, moving in its socket, focusing both on the Great Hall and the students.

—I present to you our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher —Dumbledore said cheerfully, as the room fell silent—. Professor Moody.

Normally, new teachers would be met with cheers and applause, but this time no one clapped, neither the professors nor the students, except for Hagrid and Dumbledore. The sound of their hands clapping resonated so sadly in the silence that they quickly stopped. Everyone else seemed too stunned by Moody's strange appearance to do anything but stare.

—Moody? —I whispered to Ron—. Mad-Eye Moody? The Auror?

—It must be him —Ron said, sounding scared.

—What happened to him? —Hermione asked in a very low voice—. What happened to his face?

—I don't know —Ron replied, watching Moody with fascination.

Moody seemed completely indifferent to this cold reception. Ignoring the jug of pumpkin juice in front of him, he rummaged again in his traveling cloak, pulled out a flask, and took a long swig from its contents. As he lifted his arm to drink, the cloak lifted a few inches off the ground, and I saw, from under the table, part of a wooden leg ending in a claw.

Dumbledore cleared his throat again.

—... just to clarify the procedure we will be following. But first, for those of you who don't know them, allow me to introduce Mr. Bartemius Crouch, director of the Department of International Magical Cooperation —there was a hint of polite applause—, and Mr. Ludo Bagman, director of the Department of Magical Games and Sports— They applauded much more for Bagman than for Crouch, perhaps due to his fame as a Quidditch Beater, or perhaps simply because he looked much friendlier. Bagman acknowledged the applause with a jovial wave of his hand, while Bartemius Crouch neither waved nor smiled when presented. Remembering him in his immaculate suit at the Quidditch World Cup, Harry thought the wizard’s robe didn’t suit him. His bristle mustache and the straight part in his hair looked very odd next to Dumbledore’s long, white hair and beard—. Messrs. Bagman and Crouch have been working tirelessly over the past few months on preparations for the Triwizard Tournament —Dumbledore continued—, and they will be with me, along with Professor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, and His Majesty, Aslan, on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts.

At the mention of the word "champions," the students' attention increased even more, dispelling the tension that Moody's entrance had caused. Perhaps Dumbledore sensed the sudden silence because he smiled as he said: —Mr. Filch, if you would be so kind as to bring the chest...

Filch, who had gone unnoticed but was paying attention in a corner of the Great Hall, approached Dumbledore with a large wooden box studded with jewels. It looked extraordinarily old. Murmurs of interest and excitement rose among the students. Dennis Creevey stood on his chair to see better, but he was so small that his head barely popped above the others.

—Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman have already examined the instructions for the trials that the champions will have to face —Dumbledore said as Filch carefully placed the chest on the table in front of him—, and they have arranged all the necessary preparations for them. There will be three trials, spaced throughout the school year, that will measure the champions in many different aspects: their magical abilities, their daring, their deductive skills, and, of course, their ability to face danger. At the mention of this last word, an absolute silence fell over the Great Hall, and no one seemed to breathe.

—As you all know, three champions compete in the Tournament —Dumbledore continued calmly—, one from each participating school. The perfection with which they carry out each of the trials will be scored, and the champion who has obtained the highest score after the third task will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial judge: the Goblet of Fire.

Dumbledore took out his wand and tapped it three times on the top of the chest. The lid slowly creaked open. Dumbledore reached in to pull out a large chalice, roughly carved from wood. It wouldn't have drawn attention if it weren't for the trembling bluish-white flames that filled it to the brim. Dumbledore closed the chest and carefully placed the chalice on top so that everyone present could see it well.

—Anyone who wants to volunteer as a champion must write their name and the name of their school on a piece of parchment in clear handwriting and toss it into the chalice —Dumbledore explained—. The aspiring champions have four days to do this. Then, on Halloween night, the chalice will give us the names of the three champions it deems most worthy to represent their schools. Tonight, the chalice will be displayed in the entrance hall, accessible to all those who wish to compete. To ensure that no underage student succumbs to temptation —Dumbledore continued—, I will draw an age line around the Goblet of Fire once we have placed it in the entrance hall. No one under the age of seventeen will be able to cross the line. Lastly, I want to emphasize to all who are thinking of competing that careful consideration must be given before entering the Tournament. When the Goblet of Fire has selected a champion, he or she will be obliged to continue in the Tournament until the end. By putting your name in the Goblet of Fire, you are signing a binding magical contract. Once turned into a champion, no one can back out. So you must be very sure before offering your candidacy. And now it seems to me that it is time to go to bed. Good night, everyone.

As we all stood up, I took Peter's hand and quickly led him to a more secluded corner of the hallway. Without thinking twice, I hugged him tightly.

—I’ve missed you so much, Peter. I’m glad you’re here —I whispered without pulling away from him.

—I’ve missed you too, Beth, more than you can imagine. I love Narnia, but… by Aslan, I’ve never missed anyone so much —he replied. Hearing him call me by that nickname he only used filled me with warmth.

—How have you been? I can’t wait for you to tell me everything…

But before I could continue, Susan appeared with a soft smile.

—I’m sorry to interrupt, but Aslan wants to talk to us, Peter. It’s great to see you again, Lizzie.

—Su! I’m excited to see you too —I exclaimed, happy. I had forged a good friendship with her during the summers at the Dursleys' house.

—I’ll see you later, okay? —Peter said, though it was clear he wasn’t very happy to have to interrupt our conversation.

—Sure, don’t worry. Besides, I have to go show a new girl around the castle. We have the whole year to catch up —I replied, smiling as I caressed his hands.

We said goodbye with one last exchange of glances, and I headed off to find Professor McGonagall for instructions on where to find the new student. As I walked, I thought about how promising this fourth year looked.

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pantoneyoongi · 1 year ago

Text

the sun & the stars | 01 | kth

title ; the sun & the stars pairing ; taehyung x you

word count ; 5.4k

description ;

taehyung’s known you almost his whole life - his sister’s best friend, the girl who invades his home and his life on the daily. you’re the one who gave his sister the nickname ‘sky’ to begin with - and also the one who relented when he whined about it at age five and said okay, you can be the stars, then.

it’s funny, because to him, you’re just the petty, mischievous neighbor from across the street with a penchant for stealing his snacks. but over the years, you’ve somehow landed yourself a reputation that stretches beyond the 1.5 year age gap he has with you - for someone who generally likes to keep things low key, you sure have a way of drawing attention.

sky’s friendly, teasing best friend is known for being cold, impassive, and immovable. which is weird, because when he’s around you, all he sees are unabashed grins and terrible jokes. until he realizes maybe he doesn’t know you like he thought he did. maybe they’re right - it just so happens that the walls you throw up around him look a little different from the walls you throw up around everyone else.

tracklist ; willow - taylor swift, give me your forever - zack tabudlo ft. billkin, limbo - keshi

notes ;

ok so i don’t have a masterlist for this yet but this is going to be part of a universe called the sun & the sky universe, about two besties and their love lives and friendship and originally it was supposed to be a one-shot for each character but i have spiraled wildly out of control and now this character (sun) has a mini-series, oops.

anyway this is the first installation in the sun & the sky universe and eventually i will get around to making a masterpost. thank u for reading !!

tags ; college!au, best friend’s little brother!au, childhood friends to lovers, you have a cold/ice princess reputation, angst, fluff, mentions of absent parents and financial instability, you’re referred to as ‘sun’, taehyung’s sister referred to as ‘sky’, mentions of some dude being kinda pushy at the beginning, some business major slander (sorry) (sort of), there will be pov switches later, there will also be seokjin slander (he’ll deserve it unfortunately i’m so sorry), slow burn?? i think??, brief mentions of infidelity at some point later too, honestly this whole fic is probably more about friendships than it is about romance but anyways, yes this is the fic that i wrote 10k for and then randomly decided to rewrite the entire thing bc i have no control over my life thank u very much, anyway here it is i hope u like it

to be very clear: you don’t like freshmen.

irritation crawls up your spine, and you spare just enough time to glance both ways before crossing the street to reach your friend, who looks increasingly uncomfortable. she’s already backed up enough that she’s only centimeters from the wall behind her, which, in case the relief on her face at the sight of you didn’t already spell it out, tells you plenty enough that this one’s persistent and unwelcome.

“hey.” you don’t raise your voice when you reach them. you generally make it a point not to expend more energy than absolutely necessary, but particularly when it comes to men, and especially when they’re harassing your best friend. you hardly look his way, instead speaking to your friend with a tilt of your head towards the campus dining hall. “let’s go.”

jinyoung calls you blunt and a little rude (affectionate), but you prefer the terms ‘concise’ and ‘clear’. as in, you are concisely and clearly indicating the freshman should leave. you know, something about a-b conversations and how he should c his way out.

your shoulders raise ever so slightly when, predictably, the freshman opens his mouth to argue. that’s the thing about freshmen. and transfers. and men who don’t know what’s good for them: they don’t know you, and they don’t know your reputation, and that causes more problems than you care to deal with.

lucky for him, he happens to know someone who’s been out of the womb for longer than the ten seconds this kid appears to have been. in your peripheral, you watch the freshman get yanked back by a junior you think might’ve been in one of your roman history lectures last semester. “what the fuck is wrong with you,” he hisses to his friend, eyes darting nervously between the boy and you. his voice raises to normal speaking levels. “i’m so sorry. he’s so sorry for bothering you,” and then he’s dragging the kid away with hushed, frantic whispers. you watch them cross the street and head down and away, before turning back to your friend.

“you good, sky?”

she gives you a half-smile. “i’d be better with food in me.”

your lips twitch, and you sling an arm over her shoulders, tugging her through the dining hall doors. “good thing that’s what we’re here for.”

your reputation is more tall tale than fact, but you let it carry you through the four years of high school and now clean through your four years of college, too. for a group of students who are so rarely capable of meeting your eyes, they speak fairly condescendingly about you. it probably has a lot to do with the ‘sun’ nickname, seeing as it just seems laughable to associate the most well-known star in the galaxy with you.

you’re not warm. you don’t light up a room. none of the good cliches line up with you, and to most people, the nickname is more irony than anything else. but you didn’t get the nickname from them, you got it from sky, shortly after you gave her hers when you were seven.

(seven year old you was a lot friendlier.)

your eyes slide closed, chin propped against your palm as you wait at the lunch table. sky is grabbing food while you save the table, waiting for her brother and his partner in crime to show up.

the four of you grew up on the same street - sky and taehyung in the house across from you, and jimin a couple doors down. jimin and taehyung are technically the same age, the way you and sky are too, but taehyung’s birthday is so late in the year that he’s two grades below you instead of just one. they say you and sky have been inseparable since day one, but taehyung and jimin must be conjoined at the hip - you don’t find one without seeing the other.

you feel someone brush past you, a hand hovering by your head, but before it can nudge you, you say with closed eyes, “watch it, kid.”

your eyes flutter open, finding jimin pouting in front of you, hand returning to his side. “how’d you know it was me?”

“who else would dare?” you arch an eyebrow, and he sucks his teeth, dropping into the seat diagonal from you. taehyung takes the seat to your left, nodding his head in greeting towards you.

your lips quirk to the side. “do i not deserve the honor of your voice today, taetae?” you give him doe eyes, just to watch him scowl at you.

growing up with taehyung and sky right across the street from you meant watching taehyung turn from an adorable toddler, to a mildly annoying child, into a definitely annoying teenager. this also included a two year stint in which taehyung refused to speak to you (or in general, really), only making vague grunting noises and giving you curt nods in an attempt to come off as stoic and brooding.

(as a shock to no one: it was ineffective as far as ‘stoic’ and ‘brooding’ go.)

ever since he decided to grace you with his voice again, you take any chance to remind him of it. you grin wickedly as he lolls his head back with a groan. “i was shy,” he protests, bordering on a whine.

you scoff. “i’ve known you since you were three, fuck outta here,” you cuff him lightly upside the head, taehyung’s lower lip jutting out at the action. “you were just an angsty teenager.”

sky makes her appearance at that moment, setting her tray down. “can confirm,” she agrees with zero proper context. “you were just an angsty teenager.”

taehyung huffs. you poke your tongue against your cheek, amusement lighting your eyes. he tries to glare but taehyung’s always been a little soft on you, even if he won’t admit it. he marks defeat with a switch in subject. “you look tired.”

you sputter out a laugh. “i’m a college student,” you smack his shoulder lightly. “i always look tired.” you redirect your attention back to jimin and sky, joining the conversation they’d started, but taehyung stays quiet, studying you. eventually he gets up to grab food, jimin following after him, but you opt to just lay your head against your forearm, letting sky pat your head sympathetically.

you raise your head only when the boys return, eyes widening slightly in surprise when taehyung comes back with two trays, sliding one in front of you wordlessly. “you raised him well,” jimin sighs dramatically to sky. “treats his elders with respect.”

“that makes one of you,” you quip, just as sky goes, “are you calling me an elder?”

the two of you burst into laughter at the look on jimin’s face, halfway between being offended by you and defensive against sky, and while you’re busy teasing jimin, you don’t notice taehyung watching you, wondering how anyone can see you as cold and standoffish, not when he sees you like this, voice loud and eyes crinkled in the corners, always the brightest whenever you make the people you love and care about laugh. they say you’re cruel and unforgiving, but he’s known you for years and he doesn’t really feel like you’ve changed much - still wildly dramatic and bitingly sarcastic - and also apparently still endlessly prone to stealing food from him and sky, he thinks dryly, as he throws you a dirty look for snagging a french fry off his plate despite having your own.

you smile pretty at him. “sharing is caring, taetae.”

he can’t retort when you blink your eyes at him like that because there’s just no winning when it comes to you. all he can do is let out a deep sigh and fight the smile making its way onto his face when your laughter chimes in his ear.

“what if,” you start, just for jinyoung to cut you off.

“no.”

you throw the towel down onto the table, affronted. “you didn’t let me finish.”

he stares flatly at you, then makes a jerky, ‘go-ahead’ gesture with his hand.

“what if,” you start again, pointing your finger at him. “i drop out of school-”

“what if,” jinyoung smiles like he’s got knives for teeth. “i get you fired?”

you scrunch your nose. “then i’d be young, dumb, and broke.”

“just like all the cool kids,” jinyoung sighs, clearly not giving a fuck. “hurry up, we got company.”

the bell above the restaurant door rings as probably an entire fraternity funnels in, forty-five minutes before your shift ends. “perfect,” you mutter, picking up your towel again, scrubbing the table clean while jinyoung puts on a (notably knifeless) smile for your customers. the closing shift can never end quietly, always some group coming in last minute to interrupt your peaceful night. you always know jinyoung happens to like you because he sidles up to the group with his full charm and a notepad, ready to take orders, letting you slink off to the back to finish cleaning up so the two of you can get out of here as quickly as possible as soon as the sign flips to ‘closed.’

jinyoung returns to the back to rattle off orders five minutes later, then leans with his back to the counter as you rinse dishes to put into the industrial dishwasher. “you should stop taking extra shifts. your eyebags have eyebags,” he informs you, as gently as he can. you glance at him, wondering if it’s worth it to flick him with water. but you know he’s just trying to be nice, so you opt against it.

you suck in a breath, setting another dish down onto the rack. “i can’t,” you shrug. “i am, in fact, young, dumb, and broke.”

he presses his lips together in a non-smile. like you, jinyoung is here on scholarship and part of the pity-party program your school has for kids who meet the criteria of “too poor to afford higher education.” you met him in said program over the summer, when you were all forced to come in for summer classes, just in case you came from a district without sufficient resources to teach you calculus.

he runs a tired hand through his hair, offering you a small smile before heading out with an array of dishes balanced impressively on his arm. the frat has approximately twenty minutes to shovel it all down before the restaurant officially calls it lights out. you have no doubts they’ll make it with time to spare.

you flip the settings for the dishwasher and let it run, tugging off your gloves and wandering towards the front. absently, you stare out the glass that makes up the storefront, eyes nearly glazing over until you spot them - your head lifting slowly as you lean forward a little to squint.

she’s a little too far out, but the person heading down the street looks an awful lot like sky, flanked by someone who looks half a foot taller than her, which is saying something, considering sky is half a foot taller than you. your head tilts, curious, but by the time you’ve blinked enough times to get your vision back in focus, they’re out of sight.

shaking it off, you check the clock to see that you’re ten minutes to closing, confirmed by the way you hear the frat boys noisily filing back out just the way they came in. jinyoung’s eyes meet yours and you give a tired nod, the two of you working in tandem to clear the remaining dishes to finish cleaning up and close up shop.

jinyoung bids you goodbye outside the restaurant with a pat on the shoulder, parting ways. it’s late, little ways past ten at night, and you slump your shoulders as you trudge down the street back to your apartment.

you take a half step back when taehyung’s face suddenly appears in front of yours, familiar dark eyes peering at you. he’s got his hands in his pockets and he’s bent over slightly to meet your height, and you frown at him. “what are you doing here?”

“jimin dragged me out,” he explains, straightening back up. “but now they’re getting drunk, so.”

of the four of you, jimin’s always been the only one with anything close to a social life. he parties, he drinks, he gets hungover, and then he gets straight a’s. go figure.

you hum, the two of you falling into step together. the silence is comfortable, padded with the general ruckus of the downtown, cars speeding past and drunk students being rowdy. you make your way back to the main streets on campus, taehyung slowing his steps to match your snail pace.

“sun,” he breaks the quiet between you. you look at him.

he opens his mouth to speak, but there’s only empty air, the words dying on his tongue when he sees how dull your eyes look after a long shift. your eyes have always sparkled, glinting with trouble and quick wit, so it sort of stings to see the light fade out with how weary you are.

“never mind,” he smiles, tilting his chin towards your building’s front door. “we’re here.”

you look confused but don’t press the matter, patting him on the arm with a warm smile. “get back safe. thanks for walking me home, tae.” you tip-toe to ruffle his hair, like you always have, despite the near foot of height he now towers over you with, then disappear into your building without a second glance back.

taehyung sighs, hand absently pressed to the spot where you’d touched his arm. he knows your smile better than anyone else’s, that dazzling grin of yours that you reserve only for your closest friends. even when taehyung went through his brooding phase, you always offered it out to him with a friendly wave.

the campus might not understand the nickname ‘sun,’ but taehyung knows it suits you perfectly.

“am i still allowed to live in your basement if i fail out of college?”

you punctuate the end of your question by dropping the bag of take-out you brought with you onto the table, though the end of your sentence sort of peeters off a little when you realize there’s someone else departing the table, a low voice murmuring a goodbye to your friend. you don’t catch his face before his tall frame walks away, but your brows furrow, puzzled. you don’t recognize him.

“i think you’d live in my basement regardless of what i say,” sky responds, seemingly unaware of your perplexion. “but unfortunately you’re not allowed to fail out of college.”

your eyes are still on the man who’d just left, even as you pull out the take-out and hand it over to sky. you’re tempted to ask, but when you glance back at her, she has an unnervingly neutral expression on her face, and you falter, deciding to drop it.

sky likes to keep her circle small. most of the time it’s just you, jimin, and taehyung, though both of you do still keep in touch with yoongi and hoseok from high school, and there is that one girl from her major, soojung. but for the most part, sky prefers keeping to herself, so much so that on occasion she’ll just drop off the grid without any warning. you suppose you’re like her in that way, though her version of dropping off the grid is usually more accidental (read: a new video game came out and she forgot she has to remind people she’s alive) whereas yours tends to be very intentional (read: you’re overwhelmed and so much as seeing or interacting with another person could equate to a new, special kind of torture, built explicitly for you).

you slide on a smile for her, settling down into your seat. “eat,” you gesture. “need at least one of us to make it past graduation if i’m gonna live in your basement.”

as sky tucks in, absently scrolling through her phone, your mind wanders. it’s not that you need to know every last detail of sky’s life, but she’s your best friend, and it just tends to happen, anyway. sky’s life is so heavily interwoven with yours, since you were five and moved into the house across the street from hers, and she let you into her home like you’d always belonged there.

then again, that was a boy you’d seen walking away. your eyes shift back to sky, who isn’t paying you much mind, and you look away again. the truth is, the tightly bound friendship you hold with sky feels as fragile as it does indestructible, and you have no one to blame but yourself.

food is your love language. giving it, receiving it, whatever the case is - it’s love. it might also be your sole motivator for doing just about anything, but that’s besides the point.

you use food as a means of taking care of the people around you. it’s not exactly a flashy show of affection, but you don’t have a particularly heartwarming vocabulary, or the disposition to shower people in your affection, so this is what you do. most people seem to take the hint. you figure that’s why taehyung puts up with you on at minimum a weekly basis, grabbing a meal together whenever he’s free.

today, he’s seated at your kitchen counter, glancing around your apartment like he hasn’t been here a million times before. you set your ever-gourmet pot of instant noodles down on top of a pot holder. “ta-da,” you beam at him, waving your hands dramatically. “my specialty.”

“you treat me so well,” he says dryly, but his eyes are affectionate and he’s still picking up his chopsticks almost immediately, tongue poking out at the corner of his lips in anticipation. you press your lips together to hide a smile, watching him gather noodles, messily sucking them into his mouth, flicking soup everywhere.

you click your tongue a little but don’t nag, though the look you give him makes him settle down a little, chewing slower and acting at least somewhat more like a civilized human being. he looks properly chastised, and the corner of your lips lift in a small smirk of amusement.

the two of you eat quietly, taehyung because he’s always been quiet and you because you’re lost in thought, enough so that you forget to entertain taehyung the way you usually do (read: complain about almost every class you’re in and lament your age, as if you’re anything more than a year and a half older than taehyung, max). your eyes are distant, chopsticks absently picking up noodles to eat, on autopilot.

you glance back to taehyung, who doesn’t seem to mind your quiet. he’s used to your noise, but you suppose at some point he also grew used to your quiet, too. maybe that’s just what decade-long friendships are like. you learn the usuals, the unusuals, and all of the in between.

teeth gnawing at your lower lip, you wonder if he knows about the guy who’s been hovering around sky. this guy who sky doesn’t want to introduce to you, not yet, which means he’s important enough to her that she cares whether you meet him or not. whether because your opinion matters or because of something else, you haven’t figured out yet.

taehyung’s eyes rise to meet yours, chopsticks halfway to his mouth when he sees the way you gaze at him thoughtfully, head tilted to the side. your brows are drawing in, and he wants to press his fingers to the crease in the middle, undo the tension, but instead he just asks, “something up?”

you hesitate. for just a fraction of a second, but he catches it. because that’s what decade-long friendships are like. but you’re too quick for him to push it, too easily pull on a smile and reach over to tug on his ear like he’s still a child, nagging at him. “i’m fine,” you admonish. “don’t you worry about me, kid.”

he grumbles something incoherent and swats at your hand, grumbles bordering on whines when you don’t let up, until he catches you grinning at him, mischievous as ever. you retract your hand, satisfied by the grumpy look on his face, though your smile falters a little when you see that it’s not enough to wipe the worry in his eyes.

you focus on your food instead, just so you can avoid that look. but you can still feel him staring at you, like he’s waiting for you to give in to him, so you lift your head back up with a beam and start rattling off, extensively, until he loses that look in his eyes. until he’s back to just regular taehyung, sky’s little brother taehyung, neighbor from across the street taehyung, and not grown-up taehyung, walks you home taehyung, eats with you weekly because he doesn’t want you to be lonely taehyung.

you’re not ready to admit it. taehyung’s only gotten more handsome and charming in his own right over the years. it makes it so that you can’t stand the way that he looks at you sometimes, like he can see right through you.

he’s not supposed to. he’s taehyung. he’s part of your safe, little bubble; the one you built, where the sun can only shine.

waking up is such a miserable experience, you muse.

it’s ass o’clock in the morning. honestly, any time you need to wake up before noon is ass o’clock, but you have to study for your exams and you have a help desk shift later too, so unfortunately, 7am it is.

you force yourself to roll out of bed, look vaguely human-shaped (aka: wear respectable enough clothes), and lug yourself to the library. you could study in your room but you’re a weak bitch and the bed being two feet away is too strong a temptation. therefore: library.

you find a corner to hide away in, scribbling away in your notebook in hopes of retaining an ounce of the information you’ve written down. the hours pass like that, and by some miracle, you don’t develop a stress-induced headache by the time you need to leave for your shift.

you toss your belongings into your backpack, tugging it onto your back, a quite physical reminder of the weight on your shoulders.

you don’t necessarily think that life is unkind to you. you just think everyone gets dealt their deck of cards, and yours happens to be slightly shittier. but hey, if you’re broke enough, you get free housing at the nicest set of apartments on campus, so you win some, you lose some, right?

the losing part right now is the multi-set of jobs running you into the ground. between the restaurant, your help desk job, and the work-study program, it’s a miracle you haven’t failed any of your courses.

you heave a sigh, letting yourself feel bad about it for a minute. you deserve at least that, in the quiet of the library this early in the morning, while most of campus is happily sleeping in on a saturday.

‘most’ is the key word here. you should’ve known your best friend has the integrity of a monk, seeing as she’s at the library at nearly 10am on a weekend.

you slink your way over to her, sneaking up behind her and slinging an arm over her shoulder, mouth already open to whisper-shout her name - that is, up until you spot the man standing before her.

the smile slides off your face immediately. for someone at his towering size, he’d been pretty well hidden behind the shelves. he looks suspiciously close in height to the person you’d seen that night at the restaurant, and the other day when you’d brought sky lunch.

he smiles politely at you, dimples denting in his cheeks. your frown deepens. you’re certain now, that you don’t recognize him in your catalog of sky’s acquaintances, and she seems comfortable around him, much more than she is around any of her classmates.

“hi, sun,” sky greets, gentle smile rising to her lips, though you’re too busy sizing up this guy she’s talking to. he’s sort of huge. he has kind eyes, though, hair swept off to the side, white tee tucked loosely into light colored jeans. but you still stand wary, too familiar with boys who have sweet dispositions and not enough good intentions.

see, the first thing anyone notices about sky is that she’s nice.

well, okay. the first thing most people notice about sky is that she’s pretty. elegant, like she was a princess in some past life, between her perpetual good posture (what college student do you know that isn’t hunched over like a gremlin at least 73% of the time?) and perfectly set hair, not a strand out of place. she’s pretty, in a way that carries into her personality, patient and open. she’s always listened to whatever blown-out-of-proportion story you have for her, letting you drag her into any and all of your bad ideas, no matter the consequences.

the point is that sky holds the sort of kindness that knows no boundaries. she’s content to go with the flow, and despite all the times she’s been let down by passing acquaintances who you’ve ensured can no longer call her a friend, she’s still willing to help. she gives out second, third, fourth chances, doesn’t let the hurt get in the way of her ability to care.

her walls don’t go up as high as yours do. so you make every effort to make sure that the people who take advantage of that never get a chance to hurt her.

“who’s this?”

sky blinks, looking between you and him. christ, he is massive. his biceps are probably the size of your head.

you mostly keep your eyes on him, but turn to glance at sky when she takes a minute longer than usual to answer. she looks a bit startled, like she’s just now realizing you’re actually here; moreover, that you don’t know who her new friend is.

“oh,” she says, lips turning downwards a little, conflicted. something inside you flinches. but then her expression clears and she smiles. “this is namjoon. we have class together.”

namjoon lifts a hand to wave even while you’re narrowing your eyes at him. but still, your hands return to your pockets and you take a step back, forcing your stiff shoulders to lower.

you’re intruding, you realize. sky is having a moment with this tall, handsome person who could probably twist you into a pretzel if he wanted to, and you’re intruding.

a weight sits on your chest at the realization, but you force a smile to your face for sky. you and your reputation and your trust issues need to step out of this.

“i.. i gotta get to work,” you say, anxious hands tugging at your backpack straps just for something to hold onto. “i just popped by ‘cause i saw you.” you glance towards namjoon, trying your best to maintain the smile you generally reserve only for close friends, but it turns too quickly into a grimace so you settle for a curt nod of acknowledgement, before lifting a hand to sky. “see you ‘round.”

you pretend not to notice how sky’s expression falters, heading out without turning around once. the discomfort rolls over in you, pulling at your heart, keeping your shoulders tense.

the way sky looks at namjoon is different. you can tell. two minutes in the same space, and you know sky isn’t just being polite like she was raised to be. she’s content to be around him, their eyes darting to meet each other in quick glances, like it’s difficult to let their gazes stray for too long.

namjoon doesn’t give you any immediate warning signs, and sky’s gotten a lot better at picking her friends. you don’t have to protect her, she’s perfectly capable of it herself. but you still feel wary, still worry that dimpled, unassuming namjoon will fuck her over like any number of people have in the past.

including you, your brain reminds you. you’re the worst one.

your heart tightens in your chest and you shoulder your way out the doors of the library, like barreling into something will shake off the memory any easier.

high school is hard for anyone. emotions are at all time highs; everything feels like it’s high stakes. grades, friendships, romances. everything is always, constantly, on the line.

sky always says it’s not your fault. kim seokjin was not your fault. you were teenagers - kids, really - but no matter how she spins it, you know you’re the one who messed up. even if sky doesn’t blame you, you still do.

how are you supposed to trust your instincts, when the last time you let your guard down for a boy with a disarming smile, he hurt not only you, but your best friend?

sky’s your most important person. her family was there when no one else was, and they didn’t ask questions, either. you don’t think you’ll forgive yourself for letting her down once, and you know you can’t afford to let it happen again. no matter how many times sky says you’ve never had anything to apologize for.

you’re so lost in your own head that you almost bump into someone, so wound up that you nearly fire off immediately before realizing it’s taehyung standing in front of you, looking equal parts amused and concerned. “i think i know what they mean now when they say, ‘blaze a path,’” he muses, and you scoff at him, shoving him to the side without any real force.

“walking with purpose is not what that metaphor means, tae,” you keep marching forward, not bothering to check if he’s matching pace. he’s got long legs, he’ll be fine. “‘blazing a path’ means-”

“sun,” taehyung interrupts, voice low enough that you actually stop lecturing him. his voice softens a little. “you alright? you look like-”

you don’t let him finish, nor give him the courtesy of even a glance his way. “i’m dandy, taetae. just going to my nine to five.”

“you don’t have a nine to five. you’re a student.”

“good job, einstein. wanna tell me how the sky is blue, too?”

“sun.”

you know you’re being curt. you’re lashing out at the wrong person and you stop in your steps to breathe in deeply, exhaling slowly.

“i’m just tired,” you finally spare him a look. you sigh. “i’m sorry. but i really do have to go to work, and if i don’t haul ass, i’m gonna be late.”

he looks at you like he doesn’t believe you, but you both know he’s going to drop it. “you should sleep more,” he settles on. you know he’s about to lecture you with a series of hard facts. “people need eight hours-”

you smirk at him, “you know damn well there’s not a single college student out there getting eight hours of sleep.”

he shrugs. “maybe the business majors?”

you snort. “no. they’re out partying.”

he snaps his fingers. “right. forgot about those.”

“you can forget about parties when your best friend is jimin?” you ask in mock amazement. he scoffs out a laugh in return.

“shut up, sun. i’m serious, you need more sleep. you look like death.”

“oooh,” you tease. “you really know how to make a girl feel pretty.”

taehyung turns his gaze skyward, and you know he’s asking some higher being for the patience to put up with you. you snicker, patting him on the arm. “you’ll get it when you’re older,” you blink forlorn eyes at him, smile overly sympathetic. he scowls back. you make a vague attempt at hiding your amusement, but otherwise continue towards the office, taehyung keeping you company. he doesn’t say anything else, just walks with you. you don’t ask where he was supposed to be headed before you bumped into him, and he doesn’t tell you, either.

it’s when you’re almost at the door that you break your silence, that nagging feeling pulling and pulling at you until you crack. “hey,” you spin towards him, stopping in your tracks right in front of the building. “do you know a namjoon?”

he tilts his head, surprised. “namjoon? yeah, he’s like uhh,” taehyung pauses to think. “i think he was sky’s project partner or something, and now they’re pretty good friends. they have class together. why?”

you make a noncommittal noise. “nothing. just saw them together earlier. sky’s never brought him up before.”

you try not to think too hard at the way taehyung’s eyebrows shoot up. it’s a sign that you’re not overthinking this, that it is weird that sky never mentioned him, because sky tells you everything.

but she didn’t tell you about namjoon.

#taehyung x you #taehyung x reader #taehyung x yn #taehyung #taehyung x y/n #series: tsns #series: kths

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annie-creates · 2 years ago

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To meet you

Pairing: Lady Lesso x reader

Genre: fluff (I guess)

Words: 1400

Note: Can we appreciate the fact all my fics have an exact number of hundreds of words so far? The idea for this came with the song Enchated by Taylor Swift. Also I hope this is gonna be good, it's something a bit different, so feedback is appreciated.

You landed in a field of flowers, surrounded by tiny flying fairies. They showed you the way into the school for good, your home for the next couple of years as you have learnt. You got a beautiful dress, the ladies in the groom room styled your hair and sent you on your merry way. Needless to say, you were completely captivated by the fairytale place. It was like a dream you didn’t want to wake up from, a real castle to live in. And you were gonna become a real princess? Talk about dream come true.

“Welcome, first year students. I’m professor Dovey, dean of the school for good.” The lady in golden dress introduced herself after you all quieted down in the meeting hall.

“And I’m Lady Lesso, dean of the school for evil.” A slightly taller woman stepped from behind her with a naughty smile and your breath stopped. She was absolutely enchanting. Those red hair, long legs and sparkly eyes with a little devil in them completely engulfed you.

“Now, we have had some changes here lately in the schools merging. We believe it will give you many new opportunities and perspectives, however outside of your classes your own faculties still stand.” Dovey explained, and even when you did your best to listen carefully, you couldn’t take your eyes off the other lady. It’s like you were magnetized to her.

In the next few days you’ve learnt to orient in the labyrinth of the school, successfully finding your classes, the dining hall or the library after a few tries. All the good classes were fun, the evil ones not so much. The teachers were quite unforgiving and tough, yet sadly you didn’t have any lessons with the dean of evil herself. So your only chance to meet her were the occasional school meetings, meal times or random passings in the hallways.

You were following a group of girls into your next class when she walked past you with a group of students, making you follow her with your head and bump into the girl in front of you when the group suddenly stopped. Lesso was passionately explaining something you didn’t hear, waving her hands around and not even noticing your glance, yet you were mesmerized.

The next time you were almost late to class, standing in the door for just a little too long, your eyes once again following the figure of Lady Lesso walking though the corridor even when your back was turned towards the hallway. You really wanted to step into the class on time, yet you couldn’t turn away from her until she rounded the corner and you couldn’t see her anymore.

You were sitting in the dining hall barely touching your plate, your eyes once again captivated by the figure sitting at the teachers table enjoying her meal. Fiddling your fork in the food you observed her light chatter with the other professors, hoping one day she’d speak to you so freely and without a worry like she does with them.

The whole year went on like this, pining after a woman who didn’t even know you existed. You tried to ensure yourself it was just an innocent teacher crush. That you didn’t really care that much. You didn’t really want her, you just liked her appearance, right? Like with famous actors or hockey players. It wasn’t a big deal. You’ll grow out of it eventually.

Yet when your first ever-never ball came, you couldn’t help but politely decline every invitation you got. Of course you knew Lady Lesso would never go with you, you weren’t even going to ask. But you couldn’t imagine spending the time with anyone else, so you opted to go alone, even if it meant getting a bad grade since you wouldn’t kiss anyone. At least you could spend the whole night undisturbedly watching her laugh and drink with her colleagues, even if you weren’t really a part of her world.

Your second year wasn’t much better. The evil dean interacted with your faculty more, which was nice since it meant seeing her more. It also meant more torture of the unreciprocated feelings you had. You couldn’t fool yourself anymore. No matter how much you tried to deny it, you were feeling something for this woman, and the stronger your feelings got, the better you got at masking it. If anyone knew about this it wouldn’t do any good. They’d probably expel you, and what more she’d think you’re just a weird schoolgirl with a crush.

So you continued to seek her presence only under the excuse of coincidence. You glanced at her when no one was looking. You followed her in the gardens only from a distance. As the whole year rolled around, once again you went to the ball without an escort. At this point you were the only princess who didn’t date anyone. Not that you cared.

You rather found yourself in the library buried in a magic book of spells you weren’t very good at since it was more of the school for evil’s specialty. But not everyone in the school for good would necessarily become a princess right? So you preferred to be somewhat prepared for anything, just in case. And you hoped that maybe the evil dean could find an interest in you through being such dedicated student.

Your third year came around and the dean of evil still hardly knew you existed. The excuse of an innocent crush was long out the window, but you didn’t have time to pin after her this time. You spent the whole year completing quests and missions with your classmates designed to prepare you for your fairytales. It was rare you had time to think about her or see her. Yet somehow your feelings grew even stronger with the distance put between you.

Your hard work finally paid of as you graduated at the top of your class. It wasn’t the results you hoped for, but at least it was something. You were getting ready for the storian’s ceremony, excited chatter all around you. Apparently being chosen for your own fairytale was a huge deal. Yet it wasn’t something you desired. All you wanted was to stay here, maybe become a teacher, and stay close to the woman you secretly loved.

Sitting in the meeting hall, every name the storian announced got a big applause and congratulations. Your eyes were once again fixated on the woman in a grey suit and dress coat, you probably knew all her angles by memory now. She sported a pleased smile for every chosen never, probably hoping they’ll finally win something. She was an epitome of grace, her elegant hands holding her cane, you could only imagine how skilled those fingers were.

“Y/n L/n.” sounded through the room and it took the girl sitting next to you elbowing you to get out of your shock.

You slowly stood up and came down to sign under your name in the book, accepting your fate. You walked between the deans, noticing their different yet pleasant perfumes. This was probably the first time you were this close to her. But this wasn’t a time to dream about the woman, you signed your destiny and walked into the room for the chosen ones like in a trance.

When you stepped into the room, everyone was excitedly piffling and laughing. It finally downed at you. You were leaving, tomorrow. You probably won’t see this place again. And if you want to, you need to defeat and probably kill one of the nevers sitting right beside you now. You slouched into a chair, rubbing your face. Was this a bad dream? Why was everything changing so suddenly?

As the ceremony ended, the deans came in to congratulate you once again and share some last advice. You listened to professor Dovey with only half an ear, your sight enchanted by the dean of evil again. You couldn’t help it. She’s been such a certainty in your life now, you couldn’t imagine you’ll never see her again. They sent you to pack and have a good last nigh sleep, but you couldn’t get your eyes off her, scared she’ll vanish the moment you do so.

Please don’t be in love with someone else. I’ll spend forever wondering if you knew I was enchanted to meet you.

#lady lesso x reader #lady lesso #lady lesso fluff #lady leonora lesso x reader #lady leonora lesso #leonora lesso x reader #leonora lesso #the school for good and evil #school for good and evil #tsfgae #sge #fanfiction #fanfic #Spotify

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vixen525noms · 10 months ago

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Special Gift Part 3

Another story that started out on my deviantart page. Like DCD it will be continued. A G/T story with a much more wholesome giant, but there will be vore.

It occurs long while after Defying Certain Death, but in the same world and both stories do eventually tie together.

Proofreader and creator of the character Birgit: @vore-scientist

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Connor was surprised to learn that this poor girl hadn’t even known giants were real before coming to this event. It had to be extremely overwhelming for her... No wonder she was so scared. But for the moment, she seemed to be cooperating. At least she seemed to know that she couldn’t easily escape. Honestly, it was best for her own safety that she remain with him, with the king. Even in his castle, Syor would be tempted to eat her... and wouldn’t necessarily be safe about it. Not that she’d be aware of the risk. He’d make sure to explain it to her later. He glanced down at her sitting in his hand as he started to walk to the banquet. She was calm for the moment. “I suppose I’ll need to get some wind charms for you as a precaution against falls,” he said, wanting to make his concern for her safety clear. After a moment she spoke softly, making his ears twitch as he focused, “I... I can use wind magic. And have practice against falls. I haven’t practiced magic that much... but I can do that much.” He could clearly see she was hesitant to admit she knew a bit of magic, probably worried he may do something to block it so she couldn’t use it to attempt escape. But if he was going to earn her trust, he couldn’t use anything she said against her. He made a mental note never to block her from using magic.

He paused near his throne on the way to the banquet, carefully picking up a human sized bracelet there with his claw tips and then setting it on his hand near Naomi. “If you wish, this is enchanted with a powerful protection charm. It means if any of the... less friendly giants tried to eat you, you would suffer no damage.”

Connor watched a look of horror cross her face at the revelation that giants did in fact eat humans. But he couldn’t hide that information from her if he was going to keep her safe. She needed to understand the importance of the bracelet.

“I’ll understand if you are wary of trusting it, but you’ll notice most of the visiting human diplomats wear one that has a gold gem on it like this one. The gold gem symbolizes to other giants that even though you have protection magic in use, you are off limits for anyone to eat without my express permission. I won’t force you to wear it, and you can remove it any time you want. I’ll eventually have a custom one made specifically for you, but this one will do for now, if you choose to wear it.” Recovering from her initial horror, he could tell she was now thinking deeply about this new knowledge, and what it meant for her new situation with him.

Connor watched her examine the bracelet, and smiled slightly when she put it on. He thought about how she tasted... He hadn’t thought about it much immediately, but now that she had on the protective charm... he was thinking back on it... she tasted really, really good. He suspected when her captors allowed her to bathe, they had included enchanted bath salts meant to enhance her flavor. Made sense, considering they wanted to make her into a perfect gift for him. But also meant others would be more tempted if they recognized the faint scent change caused by those salts. He had to fight the urge to snarl at that kind of manipulation. The poor girl may have been traumatized by how he acted, and he could have been so much more gentle and careful with her! Well, he wouldn’t trick her with that anymore. He wanted her to trust him, wanted it to be her choice from now on. If she ever made that choice.

He continued on to the banquet, entering the dining hall where others had started eating and sitting down at his place at the long table meant to host these sorts of events. He gestured for people not to get up when he entered. He hated all that formality and bowing. Let them enjoy their food. Once he sat, he placed his hand gently on the table palm up to allow Naomi to get off when she wished. The young woman was still nervous and hesitant, but got off onto the table after a moment, looking around. He watched her look over at the human table on top of the giant table where her former captors and other human representatives and diplomats sat, but she showed no desire to go near there. He didn’t blame her. He got the attention oft the human server that was refilling the glasses for the humans, “Can you bring her a plate, some utensils and a cup please? I believe she will be taking from my serving today.”

He could tell that the humans seemed surprised he would allow his new gift to take from his own dish, but he didn’t care what they thought. If that’s what made the girl more comfortable, that’s what he would do. He watched the server go to a cart with some spare dishes and get what Naomi needed, bringing it over to her. He sipped his wine briefly as he watched her take the dishes and then glance at his plate. She was clearly a bit overwhelmed. He set his wine glass down and took his first bite of food, wanting to show to her that it was safe so she would be more comfortable. The food was quite good, and he hoped she would be able to enjoy it once she was ready.

He smiled as she approached his plate and put a little of the potatoes on her own to start. He saw her eying the meat with suspicion, “I suspect you haven’t seen that type of meat in the islands. It’s quite good. Buffalo, very popular.” He cut off a small piece to take a bite, then cut a thin sliver so it’s easier for her to take a piece for herself. He watched her sniff at it a bit, “It definitely smells different from fish... and different from boar or bird...” Connor was glad she seemed to be finding her voice, “I’ve had boar, and always thought this was better. Especially the way my head chef prepares it.” He watched her cut off a piece and try it, and tried not to smirk when her eyes went wide and she took more.

She pauses after a moment, glancing at her cup. “I... need a drink. Can I have some of the wine?” Connor nodded, “If it makes you more comfortable, you can take it from my own glass so you are sure it’s safe. I’ll boost you up to it so you can scoop some out.” He could tell she was wary of being touched again, but also thirsty, possibly dehydrated, he realized, in addition to being sure this particular beverage wasn't drugged. He held his hand palm up near his glass, letting her take her time until she was comfortable climbing on to be boosted up. It took her a moment, and he didn't blame her for her fear.

Once she was finally on his hand, he lifted her up so she could lean over the glass and was careful to hold his hand as steady as possible. Connor wanted to demonstrate she could trust him even in such a mild situation. Since he already sipped from it, the liquid was lower down, and she was having a bit of trouble leaning over to scoop some into her own glass. While she would be an excellent seasoning to his beverage, especially since she had been bathed with those special salts, he resisted the urge to tip her in. He would not violate this show of trust. He frowned when he noticed she seemed unsteady. Even shaking slightly? Perhaps because she had never stood on flesh like this before. He kept his hand as stiff as possible, hoping she would recover from her lack of balance, but unfortunately, despite his best efforts, she lost her balance and fell in.

The Syor and Syorian at the table immediately start laughing, and after a moment the humans at their small table were laughing too. But Connor didn’t even crack a smile. Concerned she may think he had done it intentionally, he quickly slipped his finger in the glass to let her grab, scooping her up but letting her choose to hold onto him. As he picked her up he muttered the cleaning charm to clean her off, and set her down. “Are you okay?” He was relieved when she nodded and looked up at him. He watched her look around at everyone laughing before focusing on him again. She seemed surprised that he wasn’t also laughing. But why would he? He was horrified this could make it harder to gain her trust!

Connor set her down on the table again, and extended his claws before reaching in his cup, using his claw tip to grip the glass she dropped. The small glass slipped a couple times from his claws before he gave up and called the human server over. He held them delicately over his glass to retrieve Naomi’s dropped cup. The human didn’t even react to being picked up by the king, completely used to being handled by the resident giants in such a way. “Make sure to fill it while you retrieve it. I’m sure she’s still thirsty.” Once the glass was retrieved, the server was placed back on the table near Naomi. She took the glass when it was offered to her and they walked back to serve the human guests at the small table. Connor watched her staring at him, and finally cracked a smile at what she said next, “Thanks... for not laughing at me being clumsy.” Connor nodded, and sent the server to get a bowl, “They’ll be bringing out soup soon. That will help hydrate you as well, and you can scoop some of it from my spoon instead so no risk of falling.”

He watched her nod and sip the wine. Maybe it would help her relax to have a bit of alcohol in her system. Granted, it was very low alcohol content, bordering on fruit juice, but even that small amount could help. He waited to continue eating until she had calmed down enough to try eating her portion of food again, and was eager to find out her opinion of it.. His ear twitched slightly when she commented on it, “The food here is very different. The islands use some strong spices, like hot peppers. But while very different... it’s still good.” Connor smiled, “I’ll have to see about getting some of those spices and see if my chefs can learn dishes you are accustomed to. Perhaps I can even have some grown in the castle garden for accessibility.”

As he mentioned the chefs, the head chef stepped in carrying a dish, “New recipes and ingredients? I look forward to it.” As always, many of the human guests, and even some of the visiting giants, were surprised to see the head chef was a Syor when the kitchen boasted an ample human staff, as most Syor still had a reputation for treating humans like food. Although there was a couple guest Syor, mostly raised by Syorian, who weren’t seen as a threat. But Connor trusted this Syor, who had first started working in the kitchen when he was just a kid. He smiled, “Good to see you Birgit. I knew you would be up for the idea.” He saw Birgit looking at Naomi, curious that he was allowing a human to take directly from his plate. He quickly noticed the little one was nervous at another giant being here, especially one watching her so closely with a careful predatory gaze. He wasn’t happy when Naomi stopped eating, even if it was to move closer to him, because she was so scared. She had just started getting comfortable. But what happened next was far worse.

Birgit, seeing an opportunity for a little fun, slammed her hand down near Naomi after she set the food down. An intentional attempt to scare a human after confirming how nervous Naomi was with just a look. As Naomi instantly tried to bolt, Connor put his hand to block, the human bumping into his hand as he partially curled it around her. As he cupped his hand around Naomi, he glared at Birgit and gave a deep, threatening growl. A genuinely scary sound that had every giant and human at the table shocked because it was well known Connor tended to be mild mannered, but that was true Syor possessive instinct taking hold. Birgit was especially confused and a little scared. But after a moment she laughed. “Well, well. The hybrid finally bares his teeth, after nearly two decades I didn’t think you had it in you. Glad to see I was wrong.” Birgit pulled her hand back, demonstrating she was backing off of what was his, instead resting her hand near the human table. “I should have known it would take a special treat to bring it out of you.”

Connor noticed Naomi had sort of collapsed in place, clearly terrified after hearing the growl. He started to apologize, but barely got a word out before Birgit decided to reveal the real reason she rest her hand near the human table. Claws extended and she scraped them near the already unnerved humans, making several yelp in fear. He bared his fangs at her in a snarl, “Birgit that’s enough! Head back to the kitchen and quit terrorizing my guests.” Birgit smirked, showing off her own fangs “Of course. But it was a pleasure to see you really do have a bit of Syor in you.” Connor sighed as Birgit left, brushing a thumb over Naomi’s hair in an attempt to comfort her. He looked down at his new companion, frowning, “It’s okay. I just wanted Birgit to leave you alone. I’ll see later about finding spices and ingredients from your home.”

“I may already have some,” Connor heard the familiar female voice and turned to look at who had just entered the room. His steward had no hesitation about announcing her to the guests, “Presenting former-King Lana.” Connor was a bit envious of that short introduction. Those standing immediately bowed to her and Connor smiled, “Hello mother. Come to see the new house guest?” Lana nodded, smiling as she took a seat next to her son, setting a basket on the table, “Of course. I just had to stop by my garden. I must say when they asked me about your interests when seeking a gift for you... I hadn’t expected them to go this route.” Connor arched a brow, “They spoke to you about gifts?” Lana nodded “Of course, who else? I mentioned you enjoy music, you sometimes read, sometimes join me in the garden, but that you might be interested in reading about their history and culture because your greatest interest has always been small folk, especially humans. I suppose when they learned you had such an interest in humans, they had a different idea.”

Connors sighed and shook his head, “Well, mother this is Naomi. She apparently comes from an island nation that had thought giants are a myth. Naomi, this is my mother, Lana.” Lana smiled at Naomi, reaching in her basket and pulling out a hot pepper, setting it down next to Naomi. It was quite small compared to Lana, but still the size of an infant human. “You can use some of this to season with if you like, little island girl. I happened to get some seeds from the humans once, and boosted the size so I could test growing them in my garden. Too spicy for anyone here to want to try, but I would love to know if it turned out right.”

Connor watched Naomi’s near instant interest in the hot pepper; watched her lean in to cut a sliver off it and inhale the smell of it. He took a slight sniff, and even that much burned his nose and made his eyes water. Yet, it was with fascination that he watched her squeeze some of the juice on some of what she still had on her plate, then cut the pepper sliver up to mix in. He watched her savor the taste of the now spicy dish. He almost immediately decided he’d be bringing those to most meals despite how the smell hurt his nose. Any little thing to make her more comfortable, he would endure.

Seeing her relax and start to eat, Connor focused on his meal and ate some more, checking on his little guest every so often to make sure she was doing well. It was nice to see she had relaxed... his mom seemed to have a knack for knowing what foods or seasonings a person was partial to. He glanced down at her when soup was brought out, using his spoon to let her fill her bowl and watching her add hot pepper to it as well after tasting it. “Mom, your gift for food seems to have helped her relax a little more.” Lana shrugged, “Sometimes it’s the little things that make a big difference.” Connor sighed, “As much as I want to spend time with her, I do need to meet with the representatives after the meal. Would you like to show her to my room for me? I had the steward prepare a bed for her.” Connor watched his mom smile, “I’d love to.”

He saw Naomi looking at them, clearly wary. Connor smiled at her, “Just want to keep you safe. While most giants won’t hurt humans, there are some who will. My room is the safest place for you to relax and adjust, and I know my mom is very gentle with humans.” Lana placed her hand on the table near Naomi. “I can stand here a while, give her time to finish eating, and get used to me. Naomi stopped to stare a moment. Connor smiled, watching the human study the hand on the table, then glance at his. Probably noticing his mom’s fingers lacked retractable claws, unlike his own. “My mom is pure Syorian. I’m a hybrid. My dad was about half Syor and half Syorian. The head chef who was flexing her claws at you was pure Syor. Syor have claws and Syorian don’t. Syorian have healing magic, Syor don’t. Being from somewhere so far away you probably don’t know about any of that. Maybe my mom can teach you a bit and introduce you to some of the humans who live in the castle while I talk to the human representatives. I bet it would be much less scary for you to talk to people the same size as you.”

As Connor talked about the differences in giants, one of the wait staff brought a chair over for Lana to sit without moving her hand from the table. They all knew how stubborn the Queen Mother could be. She wouldn’t budge and would give the island girl time to adjust. She even seemed hesitant to sit down, but eventually did. He started to eat some more once he was sure his new companion was back to eating. He decided to avoid talking too much for the moment, not wanting to interrupt her eating or make her more nervous. His mother seemed to have the same idea. But eventually it was clear Naomi must be kind of full as she was eating much slower, likely wanting to prolong the meal to avoid being handled by giants. Lana turned her hand over to be palm up slowly. “Naomi, when you are ready, I would like to take you somewhere more isolated where you won’t be surrounded by people who tower over you. I am not going to rush you, but I would prefer if you get on my hand instead of me picking you up. I don’t mind waiting.”

Connor smiled, but then frowned as he noticed the head chef coming back out with desserts. He knew that even if Birgit did nothing, her presence would no doubt further stress Naomi and could delay her willingness to get on his mom’s hand. As Birgit started setting down desserts, Connor was a bit surprised that Naomi decided the best way to avoid further scares from the giantess was to scramble onto his mom’s hand in almost a panic. His mom arched a brow, and clearly glanced at Birgit before focusing on him. “Son... Am I to assume Birgit gave this girl a scare, considering she seemed to panic when desserts were brought out?” Connor sighed and nodded. Lana shook her head with a sigh, “Well, if nothing else it meant I didn’t have to sit here for a couple hours. I’ll take her to your room; see if I can get some of the human staff to visit.”

Lana stood slowly, and turned to leave the room, pausing briefly to look at Birgit, “Oh, and Birgit? I think we may need to have a discussion later about how to treat new arrivals.” With that final comment, Lana departed with Naomi in her hand.

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#giant tiny #size difference #terrasyor #syor #special gift #king connor #connor and naomi #syorian #my stories #my stuff #my writing #soft vore #gt vore #safe vore #unwilling prey #g/t vore #syor hybrid #Connor the giant

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pbandjesse · 1 year ago

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I am pretty exhausted. I am very glad to be home. Today felt a lot more normal after how chaotic yesterday was. I slept pretty well. And I felt alright when I woke up. Using the salonpas on my neck last night really helped. It still hurts but it's a lot better. Im trying it again tonight we'll see if it helps more.

I woke up and felt good. I thought I would like my romper but I ended up feeling weird all day. I don't know why! I love this outfit normally!! But I felt both to frumpy and to sexy?? Like I was just really uncomfortable.

I felt a little weird all morning and I felt like I could have been nicer to James. Like I didn't do anything but I felt like I could have been nicer. And then I didn't like my podcast. I was just feeling off.

And then when I got outside I found what I think is a bullet?? Next to the car?? Super weird. I thought it was just a piece of metal but I'm not sure. I showed it to Heather and she agrees it seems to be a bullet. Wild wild wild.

Camp was good though. A bit cold this morning. And I put a sweatshirt and walked around for a bit. They patched the dining hall and it was much more picked up. The nurse's office got a tarp over it. Day camp was back. Things were good.

I had a nice talk to Heather and sat in the office for a while. Eventually Cecilia and Annabelle came into the office and we discussed packing up supplies and getting ready for the end of camp. I offered to store all their stuff so we don't have to have it in Yukon. And everyone agreed so I would make sure 4 cabinets were clear and put labels on them.

And that lead me to want to start organizing and packing my own stuff. So then the art building looked like it was exploding it was such a mess pulling things out to pack and organize.

Which was very fun for me! I also made time to work on my painting. I got a lot done. In adding in texture and detail. I would sit outside and look at the building and I felt like I was getting good stuff done.

And the Hannah my cit came and she had a full leg brace on!! Cause apparently after she left yesterday she fell and jacked herself up. It's the same leg she had knee surgery on last year. So I was very worried for her. And she was apologetic for leaving early tomorrow because of her fall, that I didn't even know happened, so she brought me a cake pop!! I love cake pops so it was such a nice gesture even if it wasn't necessary.

She would work on organizing some boxes of materials to consolidate and get rid of trash. Because it's so hard for me to throw things away. She was super helpful and made it a lot easier on me. I would get a ton done inside while she worked outside.

And the groups would be good. Only one in the morning. Top bar made great art as always. And I worked on my knitting and my painting and enjoyed them making pretty things.

And then I had a two hour break. Which was nice because I got so much more done on the building. It's going to take all week but progress is progress.

Blanche was there borrowing bracelet string and she brought me a rubber snake to paint that belongs to one of her campers. I was happy to help and the camper was so happy when she got it back. She kept saying she loved me. It was very sweet. I hope the paint sticks.

Lunch was fine. The tater tots were nice. The sandwich was boring. I had brought pasta salad from whole foods so I wasn't hungry. I mostly just enjoyed sitting with the other specialty staff. I'm glad Ty has made friends in the YLPs, but I do miss him eating with us. I still had fun with Celia and Annabelle and Antonio. We had our specialty sauce and I showed them all the trinkets in my backpack. And it was nice.

The afternoon went well. My day campers did great stockade was nice. I organized beads. Poppy, a top bar girl, who didn't want to do BB guns, would come hang out with me and helped organize beads and I let her DJ and chose all the songs. Mostly Disney songs and the Barbie sound track.

The boys were good. But I was not happy with Jorge because he had a pretty bad cough and if I get sick I'm going to be furious with him. They all made good art but I felt really bad when two boys bracelets exploded when we tried to tie them. I felt so bad! Especially when the one told me it was his last week at puhtok ever!! He got a job at Rita's. I'm happy for him but still sad!! The children are growing up.

After my last day campers left I went down to the office to talk to Heather and Alexi about my fall schedule and plan. I'm going to do Tuesday to Friday 8 to 4, with Monday being a work from home office hours situation. Answering emails and such. I am very pleased with that. And I explained how the lesson plans are going to go and how I'm going to streamline everything. Heather is excited and is happy with the progress I've made. I told her what my plans were for writing out the lesson plans over the next week or so. And we are going to set up a new email address for feild trips and start reaching out to schools in the next week. Amazing. I'm excited.

I also chatted with Chris about a flag idea he had for next summer. Which I would take charge of and I think will be fun. Basically he wants me to sew little flags for the counselors to put their badges on. So I'm going to do some research for that too. Supplies and such. I have some ideas and I'm excited to put that together for him.

I had the horse girls last. And they did a good job. And because they were so self sufficient I was able to work on my painting. Which they kept telling me was so pretty and good. Which felt very nice.

After the horse girls left Hannah asked to try inverting on my silks. And she was very scared but she did it and I was very proud of her for not being scared. I would also hang from it s lot today. Working on stretching more. I am still get cramps in my calves which is frustrating but at least my neck is doing a little better.

I was glad to be done for the day. After Hannah left I locked up the building and went home.

People were driving very silly but I got back to my neighborhood in one piece. I went to Walgreens and got more of the salonpas patches and got my prescription. I was a little annoyed when I realized she never asked for my insurance. She was just goj g to charge me $39 when it was actually free with my insurance!! The card just hadn't been on file. But I figured it out before I paid anything and got my medication for free and was much happier.

They were fixing the gate on the front door so I got stuck for a moment. The guy was very apologetic but I was like. No it's okay!! You are doing your job!!

And then I was able to get home. I parallel parked. Very proud. James was making tomato soup from scratch. It smelled excellent.

I took a shower and washed my hair while James finished dinner. And we ate together on the couch. The food was very good. And it gave me the energy to work on my planning for an hour. I got some more layout down and some writing for the first program. I will keep working on it for sure but it's going well.

Since then me and James have just been resting together. Watching videos. Sweetp was being very bad but I still want to cuddle him even if he keeps attacking me.

We are watching videos now. Sending silly pictures back and forth. But now I am ready to go brush my teeth and go to sleep. I have really been happier coming home. I love staying at camp but I'm coming to terms with being okay with not feeling forced. I can stay sometimes, I can come home when I want. Everything is fine.

I hope you all sleep well tonight. Take care of yourself. Until next time.

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lyranova · 1 year ago

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Children of the Future: The World to Come

Chapter 9: Time

Hi guys! I know its been a while since I’ve updated this and I apologize, this is the last YuNeva one and the next ones will be YamiChar! I thank you all for your patience, and Solara (who is briefly mentioned) belongs to @/thoughtfullyrainynightmare while Rem is co-owned by me and @/loosesodamarble ! I hope you all enjoy~!

Word Count: 2,858

Taglist: @crazyclownthanos @loosesodamarble @acacia-may @thoughtfullyrainynightmare

Warning: None

———

“ Ma’am, are you alright?” A voice suddenly called out to Neva, pulling her out of her memories. For some reason her mind wandered back to the day she and her husband Yuno had gotten engaged, then their wedding day, and eventually to the day that Miku was born. She looked towards the voice and saw Claire, her personal guard and one of her Paragon’s standing there with a confused look on her face.

“ I’m fine, I was just elsewhere for a moment.” She chuckled as she shook the fond memories away, Claire tilted her head.

“ It looks like you were thinking of something pleasant,” Claire said softly. “ Should I not have interrupted you?”

“ No it’s fine,” Neva said, waving the girls worry away, and before she could say anymore she watched the dining room doors open and in walked Kya, who was now nearly 11 years old, with her guard Rosette, who was also one of Neva’s Paragons, following behind her.

“ Good morning mama!” Kya said happily as she walked over and gave Neva a kiss on the cheek, Neva smiled softly and hugged her daughter back.

“ Good morning Kya, did you sleep well?” Neva asked and the young girl nodded briskly before the door opened again and Kito, who was now nearly 14 years old, walked in with his guard Raoul following behind. Raoul was also one of Neva’s Paragons.

“ Morning mom,” Kito said softly as he walked over and hugged his mother, who continued to smile warmly as she hugged him back and gave him a kiss on the cheek, causing him to pout.

“ Morning Kito, did you get enough sleep?” The boy muttered a quiet ‘yeah’ before he walked over and sat down beside her and across from Kya.

Next to open the door and walk inside the dining room was Neva and Yuno’s eldest daughter Miku, who was now 15 years old, and she was quickly followed by her guard Rem. Rem wasn’t a member of the Paragon squad, and instead was a normal guard like Ralph. She was very quiet and didn’t socialize with anyone unless they were Miku, which Neva could understand since she could be similar at times, but she was strong, trustworthy, and was very protective of Miku. Which proved that she was more then worthy of being Miku’s guard. But there was still something about Rem that made Neva suspicious of her, even if Miku fully trusted the older girl.

“ Good morning mother.” Miku said quietly as she walked over and kissed her on the cheek and Neva hugged the young girl.

“ Good morning Miku, were you able to get enough sleep?” She asked and the girl nodded. She had been having really strange dreams lately, and from how she described them they were borderline nightmares. But the girl simply nodded without saying a word, making Neva realize that the girl had probably had another nightmare again last night.

Finally, after waiting a few more minutes her husband Yuno walked through the dining hall doors. He was much older now then when Neva had first met him, but he was still just as handsome. He smiled softly at his family before he quietly greeted them with a ‘good morning’.

“ Did I keep you all waiting long?” Yuno asked as he walked over to his wife and gave her a quick kiss, Neva shook her head.

“ Nope, we all just got here a few minutes ago.” Neva said softly as she watched her husband sit across from them.

“ I got stuck in a meeting with my mother and a few nobles. They all want some sort of funding for a group project of theirs, and when my mother told them that they didn’t give us enough good reasons to fund it, they got…irritated.” Yuno said with a small sigh before he leaned back in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose. “ One of them even went as far as to offer their son as a suitor for Miku if we funded the project.’’

“ Surely you told them our children’s lives weren’t for sale? And that are more the capable of choosing their own suitors?” Neva asked with a raised brow and her arms crossed, Yuno didn’t say a word, he just gave her a look she knew all too well. A look that told her that he said all of that and then some. Yuno was just as, if not more protective, of their children then Neva was.

“ Did they forget that father even created a law that said we couldn’t be forced into an arranged marriage?” Miku asked curiously as she took a bite of her breakfast, and Kito nodded.

“ Nobles forget anything and everything unless it benefits them or they can somehow exploit it. And since they can’t really exploit that law they forget that it exists.” Kito told his sister in a matter of fact tone, his voice sounding similar to his father’s whenever he explained things.

“ Why are they that way? I mean, if I were them, I would want to get somewhere on my own merits, not because I cheated the system or used my connections.” Kya said with a pout, causing Yuno and Neva to giggle. She sounded so much like both her parents in that moment, especially her mother.

“ Not everyone is like you though Kya, the world is full of disgusting and greedy people who only know how to use people to get what they want.” Miku said with a bit of annoyance in her voice. “ Look at the nobles who tried to get father and grandmother to go along with their plan today; the moment they didn’t get what they wanted they immediately offered up their son as a bargaining chip. He was willing to sacrifice his own child and his future for money and personal gain. They’re nothing but greedy bastards who see people as pawns to be used whenever, and however, they see fit. And once the become useless they throw them away.”

The room went silent at Miku’s words. It was something they all knew all too well, especially after Yuno and Neva became King and Queen. They all had to be careful with who they trusted and who they let into their lives, especially their children.

“ How about we talk about something more…pleasant.” Yuno said after a few minutes and Neva quickly nodded in agreement.

“ Yes let’s do that,” She said after clearing her throat. Her mind began to race as she tried to think of what they could talk about now when it suddenly dawned on her. “ Oh I know, have you guys decided if you want to be Magic Knights yet? Or have you decided to stay here?”

It was something the Grinberryall family had talked about on a few occasions. The kids always went back and forth on whether they wanted to stay in Spade or if they wanted to go down to Clover and join the Magic Knights. But now Miku had her grimoire, and Kito would be getting his in a few months, so now they had to begin seriously thinking about what they wanted to do. But Neva and Yuno never pushed them in either direction, this was completely their own decision to make. And no matter what it was, they would fully support it.

“ I’m going to join the Magic Knights!” Kya said firmly as she slammed her hand on the table, causing everyone to jump in surprise. Yuno and Neva looked at her with wide eyes before they glanced at each other and smiled.

“ Are you sure? You still have a few more years to decide?” Neva asked but the girl quickly nodded.

“ I’m sure mama! I wanna be a Magic Knight just like you and papa, and I’m gonna be a member of the Golden Dawn with Alistar and Uncle William!” She said with firm determination in her voice. Her ambitiousness at the moment was was nearly identical to her fathers.

“ So does that mean I need to contact them and put in a good word for you with William and Alistar?” Yuno asked curiously and Kya quickly shook her head.

“ Nope! I’m gonna take the exam and get in on my own merits!”

“ Good, your father and I will be looking forward to hearing about it.” Neva said with a calm and proud smile on her face as Yuno nodded in agreement.

“ What about you Kito? Have you decided yet?” Yuno asked softly as he looked at his son, the young boy looked away and rubbed the back of his neck.

“ I want to go to Clover and become a Magic Knight too, but,” Kito glanced at his parents for a moment. “ I don’t want to be in the Golden Dawn, if I can avoid it I will.”

Yuno and Neva looked at him with wide eyes before looking at each other in surprise. He wanted to avoid the Golden Dawn? But why?

“ I…I don’t want to be in the Golden Dawn because I know what will happen. People will compare me to dad and I’ll always be under a microscope. If I do something wrong or if I don’t act the way they expect me to they’ll critisize me and say stuff like ‘How is he possibly Yuno’s son?’ ‘Maybe he was swapped at birth?’ ‘Maybe his mother had an affair? But that can’t be right, he looks identical to his father!’. I get enough of those comments here at the Castle, I don’t want to hear them from my potential squadmates too.” Kito said softly yet in a very honest manner, Yuno and Neva looked from their son to each other again.

Everyone had heard the comments and rumors that the servants would spread every now and then, but they had tried their best to keep the rumors from ever reaching their children’s ears. Apparently they hadn’t done a good enough job if Kito was constantly hearing about them.

It was true that Kito and Yuno were pretty similar in their looks, but Kito’s personality was closer to his mothers, especially when she was young. But there were moments where he would say or do something that resembled his father, and whenever someone pointed it out to the young boy he would always get upset and tell people not to compare him to his father.

Not because he hated his father, but because he loved and admired him so much.

“ I understand Kito,” Yuno said suddenly as the room had once again fallen quiet. “ You can join whatever squad you want, and your mother and I will support you.”

“ He’s right Kito, as long as you don’t join the Purple Orcas I will support you.” Neva said with a grin and in a joking manner, causing everyone in the room to laugh and chuckle.

“ Don’t worry mom, I already know what squad I want to join,” Kito said with a smile on his face, when his parents and siblings gave him an inquisitive look he crossed his arms. “ I plan on joining either the second or third best squads in Clover; The Black Bulls or the Crimson Lions. But personally I’m leaning towards the Crimson Lions.”

“ So does that mean I need to talk to Aunt Solara or Fuegoleon and have them put in a good word for you?” Neva asked curiously and Kito shook his head.

“ No, like Kya, I’m gonna take the exam.”

Yuno and Neva nodded at their son before turning to look at their eldest daughter who remained silent this entire time. In her purple eyes they saw an indecisiveness, and Miku was never indecisive about anything. She always knew what she wanted to do, and tended to stick with it. But right now…she looked conflicted.

“ I know I should know what I want to do, but, I don’t.” Miku admitted softly as she looked at her parents. “ I want to go to Clover and become a Magic Knight, but at the same time, I want to stay here a fulfill my duties as the Crown Princess, join the Mage Defense Divisons, and earn the trust of the people of Spade. But…I don’t know what to do.” Miku shook her head.

It really was a conundrum that Miku was in. On the one hand she wanted to go and see the world like her siblings, but at the same time she felt obligated to Spade, it’s people, and to House Grinberryall. Neva and Yuno looked at each other, they really didn’t have a good answer or words of wisdom for her.

“ You still have time Miku,” Neva finally said. “ You only just got your grimoire recently, and you can’t take the Magic Knight or Mage Defense Force exam until you’re 16 anyway. So you still have time to decide.” Neva said as she reached over and held her daughters hand before giving it a gentle squeeze.

“ Your mother’s right, you don’t to make your decision today, tomorrow, or anytime soon.” Yuno agreed as he reached over and gently patted his daughters head.

“ I just…don’t want to make the wrong decision and disappoint everyone. I don’t want to disappoint you, mom, grandmother, the kingdom, it’s citizens, I just don’t want to be a disappointment.” Miku said, her head hanging low.

“ Miku, listen to me and you’d better listen well,” Yuno started, his voice deadly serious as he kept his hand on top of his daughters head. “ You will never be a disappointment to any of us. So forget about us and the kingdom and all of that, the person you shouldn’t disappoint is yourself. If you want to go to Clover then go, if you want to stay then stay. It’s your choice Miku, no one else’s.” Yuno finished firmly as he patted her head once again. Miku looked up at her father with wide eyes, his amber eyes held a seriousness but also a gentle warmness in them. She looked over at her mother, who nodded, and her purple eyes held the same look in them.

“ No matter what I decide…you won’t be mad?”

“ No matter what.” Neva and Yuno said in unison and the girl just nodded simply before muttering that she still needed to think about it.

Soon breakfast ended and the children all walked out of the dining room, leaving only their parents and their guards.

“ I think we did a pretty good job raising our children, don’t you think?” Yuno said with a small smirk, causing Neva to chuckle but nod in agreement.

“ I think so too,” She said as she took a sip of her coffee.

“ I think we did such a good job that we could easily have another child and expect them to turn out the same way,” Yuno said as he gave his wife a look, she snorted and shook her head at him.

“ Absolutely not. Three children is more then enough I think.” Neva said and Yuno pouted a bit.

“ But four or five would be even better.” Yuno said, his voice obviously joking and teasing, and Neva shook her head before standing up, walking over to him, and sitting on the arm rest of his chair.

“ I take it you were reminiscing today as well?” Neva asked with a raised brow and Yuno nodded.

“ I was, it’s like…it’s like one minute our children were babies and the next their teenagers.” Yuno said with a sigh and shake of his head. “ Where did all the time go?”

“ It flew by like dust on the wind,” Neva said with a sigh before she rested her head on top of her husbands. “ Time is a funny thing; it can drag on forever, or disappear in the blink of an eye.” She placed a soft kiss on her husbands head.

“ When did you get so wise?” Yuno asked curiously and Neva smirked.

“ I’ve always been wise.” She said confidently but immediately frowned when her husband snorted.

“ Could’ve fooled me.” He said between chuckles, causing his wife to playfully hit his shoulder with a pout.

“ Wow, I completely forgot how rude you could be.” She muttered before she tried to stand up, but Yuno reached out, grabbed her waist, and pulled her down into his lap before hugging her tightly against him while apologizing.

As the King and Queen giggled and laughed, Claire and Ralph stood there with red faces and their eyes averted, meanwhile thinking the entire time: “Please get a room!”

———

Bonus:

“ Miku, are you seriously thinking of going to Clover and becoming a Magic Knight?” Rem asked as she followed behind her charge. Miku nodded.

“ I am, why?”

“ Um because I just came from there and don’t feel like going back? Not to mention I’m more likely to get reconized there then here!” Rem pointed out quietly as she stood beside the princess, who only smirked up at her.

“ And yet you somehow managed to make it all the way from Diamond to Spade without being discovered,’’ Miku crossed her arms and looked Rem in the eye, her smirk never leaving her face.

“ Crown Prince of the Diamond Kingdom; Remus Deomine.”

———

Thank you all so much for reading and I hope you all have a good day~!

#black clover oneshot #black clover fanfiction #children of the future the world to come #oc neva #oc; miku #oc; kya #oc; kito #yuno grinberryall #black clover oc #black clover oc fanfiction #yuneva #yuno x neva #neva x yuno

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cozykhaos · 1 year ago

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Lost in the Shadows

My Sebastian Sallow fanfiction! I do have several pages already written. It will eventually slightly stray from the game plot. I hope you enjoy!

Sebastian stared up into the most brilliant smile he had ever seen. Some part of him thought he'd be furious the first time he lost a duel. Especially to a nobody. An unknown 5th year. Before this, he had only seen the new girl rushing into Charms. Her hair piled in a messy bun, and strands of red locks in her eyes. Sebastian patted Ominis' leg, to bring his friend's attention to the new student. It took Ominis a moment to find the source of his friend's curiosity.

"Wonderful," Ominis straightened, his brow creasing in disbelief. "First class of the day."

Sebastian ignored his friend, too infatuated with the new girl. Before he could ask her to sit with him, Natsai had whisked the new girl away and class had begun.

He practically ran out of Charms. Sebastian barely gave Ominis enough time to get his wand out and say the spell that allowed him to see his surroundings. He had overheard her saying Defense Against the Dark Arts was her next class and he wanted to beat her there. He also knew how quickly he could get under Leander's skin. He would be seen by her this time.

Sebastian didn't expect to lose to her though.

By all means, this could be her first duel…

However, Sebastian was proud, and maybe a little smitten as those wild blue eyes crinkled at the corner, her grin widening as their fellow classmates celebrated her win.

She reached a hand down to him, offering to help him up. Sebastian took her hand, skin soft and cool to the touch.

She was absolutely magnetic.

Once on his feet, Sebastian dusted himself off. “Not bad for a beginner. You give as good as you get.” His eyes roamed over her. “Hm.”

The world is funny that way, not letting you know when everything is going to change for you. For Sebastian, it changed with August. A wildfire, with a spirit that was starting to burst forth. Sparks ignited when they made eye contact that first time, and he found himself drawn to her like a moth to a flame.

Little did both know that a gravitational pull would keep them orbiting each other now that fate found them together.

He wanted to impress, so he let her know about his rendezvous in the forbidden section of the library. Hoping she'd ask for a late-night tour. Instead, she quickly changed the subject before dashing off.

Making his way to the dining hall to meet Ominis for lunch he began to hear whispers about the new Ravenclaw Fifth Year. Mainly, everyone seemed just as fascinated by her as he was. She had been seen chasing moths, and deadline keys. She was solving puzzles to the several locked doors around the castle. Zenobia mentioned that she had sent August to find her Gobstones. Sebastian finally had her name and made himself a mental note to tell August the next time he saw her not to allow Zonbia to have her Gobstones back. She would be doing everyone in Hogwarts a favor, including herself.

He didn’t have to wait long to see the young witch again. When Professor Weasley originally summoned him he figured it was time for his first detention of the year. Instead, it was to accompany August to Hogsmeade.

“Ah, my new charge!” Sebastian was leaning against a wall in the Great Hall. He tried to look relaxed, and ever the rouge his reputation perceived him to be. Honestly, he hoped she couldn’t hear his heart hammering away at his ribcage.

They started outside, blinking as the sun beat down on them. Sebastian looked over to August, who had paused to braid her hair. He couldn’t help but watch her fingers as they nimbly worked through the blonde tendrils. Swallowing hard he began. “I was glad when Professor Weasley asked me to join you today.”

“As am I. At first, she seemed a little hesitant,” August’s voice trailed off.

“That sounds right,” Sebastian laughed.

“Then said you were a capable young wizard.”

“That does not sound right, but I appreciate the compliment.”

“Thank you by way, for showing me to Hogsmeade.”

“Of course! You’re the only one who’s ever bested me in a duel. The way I see it, I’d be wise to keep an eye on you,” Sebastian replied with a smirk and a wink. August’s face flushed red, at this moment, Sebastian determined this was his favorite color on her.

Things did not go as planned at Hogsmeade. Well… at first they did. Wand, check. Potions, check. Herbology supplies, check. Fighting a troll in the town square, unexpected check. Sebastian also didn’t expect August to fight so well. She was otherworldly and intense, a force of nature. She fought like she was conducting a symphony and dancing a ballet. Control, and grace, precisely coordinated, a two-step of body and soul. Then when she cast that final spell, Sebastian stared, dumbstruck. The previous feeling of being smitten quickly turned into something much deeper.

Officer Singer approached. Sebastian let August handle the talking. After a brief conversation, August seemed all too happy to help get Hogsmeade back in order. She ran from one location to the next. Putting together a newspaper stand, a food stall, and statues, all as if it was nothing. Sebastian waited for her next to the final collapsed building, knowing it would take two of them to repair it. Instead with a flick of her wand and “Repairo!” the building pieced itself back together, the tree in the front replanting itself in its pot.

Who the hell was this?

Brushing herself off August looked at him, the same smile on her face when she beat him at their duel.

‘That’s my girl’ Sebastian couldn’t help but think to himself.

“Now what?” August asked.

“Oh! Right!” Sebastian chuckled and looked around. “The Three Broomsticks! Assuming it isn't utter bedlam in there, you might even meet Sirona, the owner. She’s a good one to know.”

Sebastian’s hand casually bumped into hers. She didn’t jerk her hand away, instead, she shyly tucked a stray hair behind her hair, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. Sebastian finally built up the courage and went to reach for August’s hand. But the girl had stopped, frozen in place as she watched a shadow with a ridiculous top hat retreat down an alley.

Exchanging a quick look at one another, a thousand words were said. One asked if he would be at her side, the other saying that he would follow her into any battle now.

Crouched against the cold stone of the nearest building, Sebastian could hear what was being said, but could not see who said it. He kept August tucked against his side as she peered around the corner.

“You said you could get to the child when she came to Hogsmeade.” The first voice was rough and throaty. “You said, all you needed was a distraction. I gave you a distraction!” The voice rose, voice becoming full of gravel.

“I just watch a student take down your ‘distraction’” The second voice was smooth and distinguished. From someone who read the morning paper, and drank tea delivered by an abused house-elf. “Who is this child? What are you not telling me?” The second voice inquired.

The first voice responded. “All you need to know is that if you cannot get to the child, then you have no value to me.”

August had stepped out of the shadows of the house. Sebastian tugged her close again, now finally able see to the two men and goblin below.

“Let’s go!” August tugged on his sleeve.

“Did they see us?” Sebastian asked as they quickly made their way through the street.

“I don’t think so,” August’s lower lip trembled. This was the first time he had seen her falter. Her blue eyes became distant.

Cutting her off Sebastian asked. “What was that goblin doing with Victor Rookwood?”

Pausing August worked out a puzzle in her head, quickly connecting the dots. “Ranrok is working with Rookwood!”

Sebastian’s eyes grew wide. “The goblin from the Daily Prophet? I knew I’d seen him somewhere!”

Movement behind them caught his attention. The two men from the alley were now not far behind. “Quickly. Let’s get inside the Three Broomsticks!” Sebastian ushered August inside.

Bursting through the front door Sebastian could only hope they did not look suspicious to the other patrons of the establishment. However, considering the two looked a little worn from their earlier fight with the troll, and now running from several evil men, he would say they looked panic-stricken.

Finding a seat at the bar, the two teenagers sat.

“Look casual,” Sebastian said straightening his tie.

“Casual, yes,” August said before placing her hand on his and letting out a hysterical laugh.

“What was that?” Sebastian asked eyes darting between her hand on his and her.

“You said casual!”

“That was not casual! That was frightening!”

“I’m sorry I’m panicking!”

“Which is why we are trying to act casual!”

“What can I do - oh. There’s a face I haven’t seen before,” Sirona stepped in front of them from the other side of the bar.

Recovering August sat straighter in her seat. “It’s my first time here.”

“Welcome!” Sirona nodded. “Butterbeers on me.”

“Heard about the attack.” Sirona continued. “I shall be looking in on the other shopkeeps and residents shortly. Glad to see you escaped injury.”

Two full steins of Butterbeer landed on the smooth wooden countertop.

“Thanks to this one,” Sebastian nodded toward August. “Single-handedly took down a troll!”

Sirona looked to August, briefly glancing the teen over. “Is that right? Well done!”

Taking several deep sips from her cup, August looked over the rim. “Thank you for this.”

“My pleasure.”

Sirona planted her palms on the bar top. Mousy brown hair fell into her face. “I will say - trolls in Hogsmeade? That’s never happened before." Tapping the bar top she frowned. “Something’s not right. The only brutes we usually have to deal with are -”

As if on queue Victor Rookwood slung the doors open with a loud grunt as if not used to much physical labor.

With a click of her tongue, Sirona shook her head. “How timely.”

As the fierce woman rounded the bar, Sebastian tugged August's seat closer to him, then faced forward, becoming more interested in his mug, but keeping his hearing trained on the intruders.

“Was that Lodgogk I saw leaving just now?” Rookwood question. “Your clientele’s not what it used to be, Sirona.”

At the mention of her name, Sirona straightened her back. Voice smoother than the fire whiskey sold behind the bar, she replied. “Not to worry Victor. Once the two of you leave, the caliber of my clientele will greatly improve.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Sebastian caught the man to Victor’s right taking a step forward. “Wouldn’t do that if I were you, Theophilus.”

Victor motioned to his right-hand man. “Come now. No need for theatrics. I’m only here for this one, anyway.” Victor pointed to August, glowering at the young witch. With little hesitation (which Sebastian would admit he hated) August stood, and he stood with her. Ready to follow her into battle once again.

What had gotten into him? He was loyal to very few. But it had taken several years for his friendship with Ominis to become what it was. Outside of his fellow Slytherin, he couldn’t count on one hand who he would help with their Defense Against the Dark Arts homework, let alone fight Victor Rookwood.

Sirona looked over her shoulder. “My friend is enjoying a well-earned Butterbeer.”

Sebastian positioned himself in front of August. Rookwood stepped forward. “I only want a word.”

Sebastian’s wand was drawn before Victor’s foot could take another step. By that second step, every patron in the bar had their wands at the ready. Sirona stood tall between the students and Rookwood. “Perhaps you didn’t hear me. I said my friend is busy.” Anyone in The Three Broomsticks that night would tell you that Sirona’s voice had been dripping with poison as she spoke.

Glancing behind him, Sebastian saw August, wand ready to fight the dark wizard.

Others began to step forward. Rookwood glanced from one face to the other, before finally landing on August. “One would think you’d all had enough bloodshed for one day. Come Theophilus. The Three Broomsticks isn’t what it used to be. Let’s take our Galleons elsewhere.”

Glancing around the room one last time, Victor taunted. “You can’t drink Butterbeer forever.”

After making sure the two had left, Sirona returned to August’s side. “Seems you’ve made an unfortunate enemy. Watch your back. Rookwood and Harlow are worse than any troll you might encounter.” Sirona made her way past them, to check on her other customers.

“Trolls, Ranrok, and Rookwood?” Sebastian questioned.

August lowered her head, chewing on her bottom lip, deep in thought. For the first time, Sebastian began to question all of this. The mysterious Fifth year who yielded magic like she was Merlin. Who everyone seemed intrigued with. The girl who ran around the castle chasing moths, and solving riddles. Saw Thestrals and fought trolls with elegance and grace. Who was August? What had happened before she came to Hogwarts? “What you not telling me?” Sebastian pointed at the door.

Finally looking at him, she spoke in a hushed voice. “I promise to tell you everything, but perhaps it’s best I do that later.”

Sebastian sighed but relented. Nodding he said. “And on that note, I think we should head back to the castle.”

The two-headed outside into the cool night air. “I’m certainly glad Sirona was there. Told you she was one of the good ones.”

Agreeing August spoke. “I can see that. She didn’t seem at all intimidated by Rookwood and Harlow.”

“I do think you need to tell me why Victor Rookwood has you in his sights. But we can talk about it later. For the moment, we should return to the castle.” Sebastian said. “Professor Weasley’s certain to hear about the troll attack soon if she hasn’t already. Don’t want to risk another detention for getting back after hours.”

Walking back to the castle started in comfortable silence. After a few side glances at his new friend Sebastian finally cleared his throat.

"Yes?" August raised her eyebrows at the boy.

"I feel like, after everything today, you owe me," Sebastian smirked.

"Is that so?"

"Yes. I should be able to ask you a couple of questions."

After a moment of thought, August hooked her arm around his. Sebastian stood a little straighter, suddenly nervous about having her on his arm. "Well go on then, ask away."

"Where were you before Hogwarts?"

"I went to a private school. It is magical, but we learned very basic spells. Lumos, repairo, mending charms."

"Oh?" Sebastian raised an eyebrow. "You mean your school didn't trust eleven-year-olds with severing charms and chomping cabbages?" His voice dripped with sarcasm, causing August to laugh.

"Not at all! We learned about accounting, that was fun!"

Sebastian snorted.

"What's your name?"

August quirked her eyebrow up at him. "You know my name."

"Your last name," Sebastian deadpanned.

"Ooooh, why? Mad because I have an advantage on you Mr. Sallow?"

"Oh, I will never let you have the advantage," he purred.

August stopped in her tracks, mouth agape. Feeling all the rouge he talked himself to be, he placed a finger under her chin, thumb running over her bottom lip. "Name?"

"Lost."

"Come again?"

"My name. August Lost." Her lips closed around his as she spoke, causing goosebumps to race across his arm.

"August Lost," her name tasted like his favorite spells. Gunfire and pepper.

Clearing her throat, August stepped from him. Sebastian's hand almost chased her retreating form. Almost. Instead, he let the hand fall to his side.

"We should get back to the castle," her voice was stronger than she felt.

"After you, my dear," in a knightly bow he waved the way forward, letting her take the lead before following.

Sebastian was positive he would follow her anywhere.

#sebastian sallow #sebastian x oc #sebastian fanfiction #sebastian hogwarts legacy #hogwarts oc #hogwarts legacy #hogwarts legacy sebastian #sebastian sallow fic #Sebastian Hogwarts legacy

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mongrelmutt · 2 years ago

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✨️ 10 characthers, 10 fandoms, 10 tags

Tagged by @morepopcornplease Aaw thanks! 💚

In no particular order:

1. Obi-Wan Kenobi -- Specifically in the movies and the Legends books I read growing up. ((Not a huge fan of him in the "Clone Wars." He just felt "off" to me, especially with the whole forced tragic romance plot meant to make him more "relatable" or whatever /rant)) Anyway, cool dude. Aspirational. Wish I could be as dedicated to God and my Secular Institute as he is to the Force and the Jedi.

2. Camilla Hect and Palamades Sextus -- Yes, that's two characters, but [SPOILERS] they become one character (which made me very sad, who is this new person??? I want my friends back!) so 🤷 Anyway, love the "cousins who may as well be siblings" thing, very relatable, as well as all the non-romantic love feels. Plus Cam is just a bada$$ knife nut, and I'm also a sucker for nerdy characters, which they both are.

3. Hunter Noceda -- Uh, I relate to him to an uncomfortable level. Like certain scenes with him and Belos made me realize that my childhood was a biiiit more traumatic than I'd realized *nervous laughter* See also: sucker for nerdy characters. Boy is a total nerd.

4. Duo Maxwell -- he's obnoxiously friendly and I love him for it. Raised Catholic until his orphanage got bombed 🥺 Uses humor to deflect from his problems, something I would never do. When I was his age I also had a 3 foot long braid. Would 100% want to punch him irl LOL Named my cat after him because he, too, is obnoxious and friendly and 'wears' black and white.

5. Toph Beifong -- I just love her. Stan a girl who goes barefoot and shows affection through punches and sarcasm. Definitely quoted her whenever I got called out for traipsing into the dining hall covered in "a healthy coating of earth" after working on the farm. And she wears my fav color (green).

6. Ellie Sattler -- I was 7 years old when Jurassic Park came out, and the Scully Effect was real, except it was Dr. Sattler who was my inspiration. I so wanted to be a cool scientist like her when I grew up! (well, I got to be a scientist; alas, not nearly so cool). As a little kid, one of my fav games was imagining I was her, running through the jungle eluding deadly velociraptors! These skills eventually came in handy when escaping via the swamp from some older neighborhood boys who wanted to beat me up because I was best friends with a boy they didn't like 😅

7. Samwise Gamgee -- He's just the best 💚 (On an unrelated note: Sean Astin stole my best friend's pen in college lol)

8. Corvus -- Just a genuinely good, honorable dude. Loved his interactions with Soren and Ezran especially! Also envy his tracking skills, even if he did mistakenly think Ezran got et.

9. San -- Running wild with the wolves = living the dream. The cool mask, adorable kodama, knives, and token kind human friend are just bonuses.

10. Donatello -- Dork. Nerd. Least cool of his brothers. 💚 him. *hums TMNT theme song* ((TMNT is my original fandom, and the first movie I saw in theaters!))

10 tags: @delphinidin4 @morallydiseased @anneofbluetardis @monstrousgourmandizingcats @beanie-queenie @panharmonium @itsallwearecalledtodo and anyone else who wants to play!

#ask memes #memes #asks

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venus616 · 2 years ago

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i'm just saying you can do better; {p.p.}

Pairing: peter parker x f!reader (gif is tasm but you can interpret this as any peter parker)

Summary: tell me have you heard that lately? i'm just saying you can do better... and i'll start hating only if you make me. (lyrics by drake, marvin's room)

translation: you and peter have been best friends for years, you had a crush on him but eventually got over it and he noticed you're about to move on to some other guy. he just had to get something off his chest before you did that

Warnings: friends to lovers, smut, alcohol mentions (margarita, beer, shots), vaginal fingering/sex, oral sex, praise kink (if you squint), jealousy, language, unprotected sex, 18+, NSFW

Word Count: 5.6k (2.4k is smut LOL)

A/N: once i decided on a title for this fic i couldnt stop humming marvins room sjdjnfjnd but yeah this was fun to write it was a previously abandoned wip (my first one ever for peter actually) that i revised the plot for almost entirely and this came out way better than i expected shout out to my oomf / friend for reading both times

She usually kept to herself and her closest friends, Peter being her best one. And don’t get her wrong, she loved Peter. There were no words for how much adoration she had for him, but unfortunately, she wasn't the only one.

Peter was their college’s most eligible bachelor, how could he not be? Top of his class, the freshmen’s favorite Physics TA and possibly the cutest guy at the school. Don’t get him wrong, he’s not necessarily a playboy but it was definitely a step up from his social standing from Midtown High. He enjoyed the attention, he’d be a fool not to. Especially because he’s being noticed as himself and not just when he’s in the suit. So yeah, he went on a few dates here and there. Hooked up with a couple people in the bathrooms of frat parties. Even flirted while he was helping students on their problem sets.

Unfortunately for her, she had to hear all about it afterwards.

Whether it’s from his end, a guy talking about the encounter in the dining hall or a girl talking about it before her organic chemistry lecture. She wasn’t the biggest fan of it, it hurt seeing someone she loved dearly, after realizing how deeply that love ran once he was single again, not manifest into a deeper relationship. Peter had been a core part of her life since high school, Aunt May adored her, her family adored him. She was even there for his break up with Gwen Stacy so she could study abroad.

As they got older she understood those were the things that just came with being the best friend to someone who was as amazing as Peter which is why she didn’t risk changing it. She accepted her place in his life and eventually those feelings of consistent jealousy that would flare during the first few months of their freshman year subsided. Sometimes they would come back up but she pushed it aside as false hope as there were outside parties involved. For example, the few times when her friends (that weren’t also his) accused him of being flirty. Each time, nothing came of it. So she refused to read too much into it until he said it explicitly.

She finally chose to actively move on from this high school crush, that she even started seeing someone from one of her classes and they were planning a third date for this weekend. This, because of course, came up during their hang out with their mutual friends in her and Felicia’s campus apartment. They were hanging out to take the edge off after midterms from last week and crowded in the kitchen counter playing bartender during. This was one of the rare times Peter could make it, so she appreciated the quality time with him.

After Felicia made a small margarita for her, she started asking how it was going with Johnny from the Bioethics course. Everyone’s chatter dropped considerably because everyone was interested in the prospective relationship in bloom with the Johnny Storm. She stuttered before clearing her throat, clearly embarrassed.

“It’s fine. I mean, he’s really sweet of course. And fun-”

“So have you guys hooked up?” Felicia cuts off. Peter smirks before looking to her for her response.

She feels her stomach flipping at his sudden attention to her answer.

She plays it off before responding, clearing her throat. “Yeah,” she shoots a grin meeting with the eyes across the room before the room erupts in a light cheer.

“We’re actually gonna see eachother again this weekend and go to his place in the city.” She smiles to herself in excitement. She bites the bottom of her lip as her friends shoot quirked up eyebrow glances her way.

“Well let’s celebrate! You're gonna get some from THE Johnny Storm! Bottoms up!” Felicia announces. The rest of her friends follow suit as she tries to laugh off the burning up of her cheeks and ears, not realizing the news of her sex life would be this exciting.

Peter bitterly smirks before taking a swig of his beer. He didn’t understand why this was such a big deal that Felicia practically had to make a show of it.

He also didn’t understand his annoyance and attempted to play it off. It increasingly became hard as the questions advanced and she continued blushing, describing the last few dates with him. Peter’s ears particularly perked up at the study date she had with him, finding out that she had canceled on him for Johnny through this.

Peter felt a twinge of disappointment in his stomach at this, not knowing if it was friend jealousy or something more. He knows he can’t be exactly mad, since the hangout they had planned was usually offhand, and he more often than not skipped out on those due to Spider-Man activities, simultaneously lying. He couldn’t blame her for eventually reciprocating, but for a boy? He hadn’t felt that let down by her since she admitted to him she thought his Bugle coworker Eddie Brock was cute.

Peter took another swig of his drink distractedly, causing Harry to ask if something was on his mind, but he shook his head quickly, lying to alleviate any worries from his friend.

As the night progresses and everyone decides that they’re the perfect amount of buzzed for a game night. After a few rounds of the card game B.S., she decides Candyland would be perfect, remembering that she has the game in her room. Not wanting to get up, she asks Peter to get it for her underneath her bed while he’s up throwing away his drink.

He obliges and turns to her room door, opening it. His eyes narrow at the picture of him and her next to her bed, accompanied by other pictures he’s taken for their group outings. His pace quickened up across the room and he reached for the frame. Peter quickly turned behind him to make sure no one was coming in to check and turned back to smile at it. He remembered this day fondly, the day they went to the state fair and won her a plushy of her favorite animal. In this photo he noticed how big she was smiling while he was only smiling at her posing happily. Peter used his spidey skills to his advantage and just played it off, to soak into her admiration when he won.

He put it back down as he sensed the footsteps coming behind the door to reveal her opening her room door confused.

“Pete, what are you doing? Hurry up, Harry is suggesting body shots again.” She giggled before sauntering over his body standing in front of her nightstand. He chuckled at the comment before she crouched down to get the game underneath her bed. She rose back up on her feet to meet his eyes, following her.

“You’re being a weirdo,” She said putting her hand on his broad shoulder, with a false concern in voice causing him to laugh.

He inhaled a little before quipping. “Are you ditching me to hang out with this new guy?” His voice raised a pitch to ensure the friendliness of the inquiry, attempting to mask his genuine offense.

She then shrugged, and face suggesting she didn’t know or care what he was talking about. It was that moment Peter officially identified his feelings as jealousy.

“If you’re referring to the one time,” she emphasized ‘one’, making Peter feel guilty enough to hang his head low in response, “I canceled on you then yes.” She rubbed the hand she still had on him on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry and I’ll give you a heads up next time. Now can we go so you can stop acting like such a baby?” She playfully tapped his cheeks with her palm but he caught her hand, holding it a little longer than usual.

Peter drank her gaze onto him as his hand engulfed hers, still remaining on her face. His fingers intertwined with hers as he leaned his face into her hand. Her breath hitched at the affection he was showing and slowly removed her hands from his, worried that one of their friends would see them with the door wide open. She broke eye contact, suddenly finding the boardgame in her other hand much more interesting.

“C’mon, let’s go,” Peter’s voice interrupted her thoughts, and soon after so did his hand as it landed on the small of her back, caressing that area lightly until he found her hand again to quickly lead them way out the room.

The rest of the night was odd to say the least.

Peter’s hands were always grazing hers, or finding themself right on top of her thighs. Whether it was to flag her down from the competitive streak they were both showing from the game or laughing at her reaction to one of his bad jokes, his hands were just constantly on her body.

Similar to other instances where she felt confused by Peter’s sudden affection, she attempted to play it off, but it got to a point where it was causing her heart to beat faster and a familiar heat to form within her stomach.

She let out a silent breath of relief that her friends began to leave, expecting Peter to soon leave with Harry. She went to the kitchen to throw food away but found Felicia looking back at her with a mischievous but apologetic look on her face.

“What?” She raised her eyebrow, ready to exclaim at her for leaving her with a mess when she agreed to set up if Felicia cleaned at the end.

“I have plans, sorry babe, but I will cook and clean tomorrow. I promise!” Felicia then dashed out after hugging her body quicker than she could think to respond, followed by the door closing behind her.

She sighed, slightly annoyed that out of all times for Felicia to mysteriously disappear yet again, that she had to do it the night she would clean up. Quickly, she decided to get over it, said her goodbyes to mostly everyone and noticed Harry and Peter still talking. She decided to ignore it until they would eventually make their exit and started on the dishes while they had their conversation.

“You’re not coming back tonight man?” Harry asked, confusion all over his face.

“No I will. Something just came up, so I'll see you later, yeah?” Peter averted Harry’s eyes and Harry understood, or at least assumed he did. Just another one of Peter’s mysterious disappearances, so he left without any further questions.

Harry quickly said bye to the hostess of the night causing her to look up from the sink when she saw Peter still in their apartment.

“Are you still here, Parker?” She sounded in disbelief, causing Peter to scoff.

“Am I not allowed to spend quality time with my best friend now?” She looked up from the sink to see him clutching his heart as if he had been stabbed, making her shake her head at his dramatics.

“For your information, I wanted to stay,” He added on. She wiped down the sink and washed her hands before walking back into the main room where he had sat on the couch, landing on the spot in front of him.

“I believe it’s called overstaying your welcome,” She bantered, causing him to playfully push her by her shoulder.

“Whatever,” He rolled his eyes as the silence of the apartment filled the air. They both noticed it, realizing whatever was there in her room earlier was still in the atmosphere, especially prevalent now that they were officially alone.

“I can’t believe you’re going out with him,” He puffed, muttering it a bit low compared to his usual volume. She furrowed her eyebrows, annoyed at the insuitation.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She laughed pushing his shoulder back, mimicking his movement from earlier.

“No not like that, I just feel like you can do better than him,” Peter let the statement roll off his tongue and she froze in response, attempting to understand what he just said. Her eyes landed on the ground, avoiding him again before she could think of a proper reaction.

She quickly shook off what she thought it sounded like, which she thought was jealousy and just took the safe, protective best friend route.

“Should I have gotten your approval first?” She smirked, looking back up at him, reaching over to hold his hand in the safe way they always have.

Peter took it a step farther, just like how he did earlier, and intertwined his fingers with hers yet again.

“I think you should be with someone who’s more your type you know? A little more thoughtful,” Peter started, rubbing his fingers along the pad of her thumb.

“He’s cool I guess, but you shouldn’t be with someone who’s so cocky,” He stated, making her laugh, causing him to laugh as well.

“See you’re enjoying this. You want me to talk about him and beg you not to see him again?” Peter joked, causing her to gasp out as his accusations.

“Peter, you started this,” She pointed out, making his cheeks turn a few shades brighter at her acknowledgment. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you but it also just sounds like you’re describing yourself.” She comments before she could think, embarrassed at her assertion, but she knew if she didn’t call him out he wouldn’t stop it. The last thing she needed was one of her friends not approving of a guy she was seeing.

“I’m your type?” He clocked her. She didn’t know how to react so she watched his face for any hint of how to proceed. He only smirked with a smile playing on his lips, letting her know how much he was enjoying this.

“Oh shut up,” She smiles playfully before hitting him with her nearest throw pillow, him yelling out a whine, knowing it didn’t hurt.

“For your information,” She started, mocking his voice from earlier. “You’re being just as cocky as him right now.” She firmly stated as he placed the pillow back in lap.

Peter shrugged before readjusting himself to sit closer in front of her, dangerously close. It went back to feeling like 30 minutes earlier when he was all over her body.

“Yeah? But it’s okay when I do it.” Peter teased, leaning his head on the couch watching his presence words fluster her. He could feel her heart picking up its pace and it dizzied him, knowing the type of effect he had on her.

“I didn’t say that,” She argued back, making him draw his breath back in before egging on her claim from earlier.

“But I’m your type,” He stated, she sighed in defeat, knowing he wasn’t going to drop it and played into it due to this.

“I guess you are Peter,” She states lightly. If Peter didn’t have his Spidey senses on overdrive right now, he would’ve been convinced by the nonchalant act she put on right now. Instead, he respected her commitment to not allowing him to win, even when she’s flirting back.

“Then how come you’re not going out with me?”

What he said stunned her, she faltered momentarily before shrugging again with a smile.

“You never asked,” She stated, a smile bouncing off of her lips watching Peter form an answer. They decided to skip over the fact that they had been friends for almost 6 years, but she knew that her honest answer was that the mere idea of him going out with her was out of the question because of it.

Until now.

He remained still for a moment and she fixated on where their hands met instead, wondering if they had ever held hands like this before. While she was thinking, and while Peter used his free hand to tuck her hair behind her hair, she realized the answer was never, because it had always been much more innocent. However, tonight was anything but that.

“Can I try something?” His voice finally registered in her ears. Confused at his sudden switch, she nods.

Peter hesitates, going in to kiss her. Peter’s soft lips connect to hers as his hand cups her face. She instinctively deepened the kiss, silently asking for Peter’s permission to do so. Their breaths began to shake from the intensity of the kiss.

She practically lost her bearings when Peter’s hands made their way to her waist, pulling her towards his chest. She held onto his bicep, now flexed, as he hooked his hand underneath her leg to pull her around his hips where he sat.

They were an entangled mess, Peter placing her where he wanted and her obliging, but not coming up for air as she leaned even more into the kiss. Peter chuckled in between the kisses when he eventually grabbed her hips to hover above his own. She groaned at his strength, leaning back in to attack his neck and jaw in kisses.

She eventually started to nibble on his neck, finding his sensitive spot. He pants out, attempting to slow down her movements before bringing her closer.

“Fuck, you’re really going in on me there,” He muttered before he forcefully plopped her onto him causing her to grind on his forming erection, grinning at his acknowledgment. Peter placed his hand on her back and pushed her closer to his chest, nose and forehead pressed against one another with only the sounds of their breathing filling the room.

She leaned into his ear whispering lowly, “You like it.” She readjusted herself on him slightly, to grab on the waistband of his pants, tugging it down before snaking her other hand on the print straining against the fabric of his jeans.

Peter groaned, dick twitching in his pants from simultaneous surprise and arousal. He didn’t realize how different it would be sleeping with a close friend, but also underestimating how she would be in a sexual context.

He threw his head back as she unbuttoned his pants, in disbelief of what was happening right now. When he brought his head back up to watch her movements he saw her kneeled before him on the ground, rubbing his erection through his boxers.

“Fuck, slow down,” He breathed out while pulling his jeans off. Right after, Peter raised his t-shirt right above his abs while she pulled his boxers down, cock semi-hard.

Her eyes glazed over his body, only semi familiar with it whenever their friends went to the beach or the pool. She tried to hide her shock at he’s become exponentially toned since high school and just seemed to be getting bigger despite never actively going to the gym. She chose to pay it no mind and focused on his cock.

Mainly because she hated how attractive Peter looked right now, hair messy, shirt halfway off and looking down at her, closely watching her movements. The attention he was giving her was enough to make her want to shut down immediately. Their eye contact remained intense, both blown out with lust, both because of the compromising position the other was in.

She maintained eye contact and wrapped her hand around his length, slowly jerked her hand around him. When he was hard enough, she placed one hand at the base of his cock and another right on top, running her thumb over the slit a few times once the pre cum came out. She looked down at the wetness pooling out from him and focused on her movements, not wanting to lose this pace he had been receptive to. He was fully erect at this point, almost bucking his hips into her hands getting him off.

Peter was choking back his moans before he finally spoke. “Don’t be a tease,” He muttered.

She giggled and the noise went straight to his dick, causing him to buck once more in her hands.

Without saying anything, she placed the hand that had been on the base of his erection on his thigh and opened her mouth in an obscene way that was unfamiliar to Peter. Before he could take a mental picture of it, she slowly licked the underside of his cock up to his tip and wrapped her lips around him, her eyes never leaving his.

He whispered a curse under his breath from the scene in front of him, realizing this was just the beginning.

Her tongue swirled around the head of his cock, collecting the pre-cum that was previously spurting out and she dipped her head lower, dropping the eye contact to which Peter had a brief sigh of relief, becoming intimidated by the intimacy of it all. She shifted her focus on taking him whole and started to bob her head on him, engulfing his length with her mouth.

He started puffing out, mumbling praises that only encouraged her. “Fuck, you’re taking me so good,” She only nodded, attempting to take him deeper while swishing her mouth around him and continuing to bob.

Peter felt a tension forming in his stomach and wanted to tell her to stop but it escaped his head as quickly as it came because of how good her mouth felt. Peter fought the urge to instinctively thrust into her mouth and just cupped the back of her head, pushing the hair out of her face as she continued to gag around him, the wet noises mixing in with his moans.

“Don’t hurt yourself babe,” He said before moving a hand that was around her head to her cheek, making her look up at him. She bobbed her head a few more times, this time more shallowly and popped off his dick, gasping for air.

A trail of her saliva dripped from her lips to the head of his cock making his stomach burst with butterflies from the image of how flushed, and fucked out she looked from the immaculate head she just provided him with. His heart swelled from the action and all he could do was wipe the spit from her chin and cup her face.

“C’mere here,” He mumbled, bringing her to stand on her feet and lean down to kiss him. He kissed her rougher than the first time, presumably from the desire he’s built up from the foreplay. She was still trying to pace her breathing and he could tell so he slowed down, but snaked his hands down to the waistband of her jeans, reciprocating the unbuttoning of her pants like she had done for him.

She broke the kiss to replace his hands with hers and slipped them off. Shortly after she removed her top, revealing herself clad in some lacy underwear and a bra, standing before him.

“No fair, Parker,” She commented. He was briefly confused until she grabbed the hem of his shirt to remove it off of him, admiring his toned, relaxed figure in full view now. She kneeled back down on the couch cushions, her warm core hovering above his dick, teasing him as he could feel the heat on him with her knees on either side of his legs.

He brought his hand in between her thighs, attempting to move her underwear to the side but paused at the wetness of her through the fabric.

“So wet,” He tsked, making her smirk when he looked back up to her studying his movements. He placed her fingers firmly against her nub through the fabric, to which she grinded against, needing to feel his large fingers against her now throbbing clit.

“Impatient, too,” He added, finally moving her panties to the side to insert a finger, making her throw her head back. She unconsciously rocked her hip forward at the penetration to which he met by repeatedly thrusting into her before adding another.

Both his index and middle fingers were fucking her, long and slender but big enough to feel the pleasure of the stretch once she had relaxed around him. Peter eventually curled his fingers inside of her and flicked his wrists while inside of her, causing her to squirm on top of him. The sounds of her wetness coincided with her moans, progressively getting more sensitive and impatient.

“I’m gonna cum if you keep doing that,” She hissed at him, unable to control the steady rocking of her hips on his hands.

“Good,” He said with a hint of satisfaction in his voice. He brought his other thumb to rub her clit, making her movements sputter and breathing erratic as he played with her to her finish.

Peter felt her clenching around him more frequently and took advantage of it to thrust faster, curling his fingers back up to create more friction. She whined out at the change of pace and stimulation added onto her clit before eventually feeling the built up tightness in the lower pit of her stomach release, signifying her finish.

She continued to clench around his fingers as he continued to finger her despite her orgasm. She sobbed at the sensitivity she began to help but couldn’t help but continue rocking her hips into his fingers, riding them once again. She resumed panting out his name, begging him for something but couldn’t form the words.

“What?” He said, barely slowing down the thrusts of his fingers.

“Fuck me,” She responded, hardly audible from the groans surrounding the statement.

He nods, removing his fingers from her core, making her gasp at the sudden absence of him. She made quick work of her underwear, slipping them off her legs while Peter wrapped his hand around his cock, attempting not to completely jerk off to the sight of her.

She returned to her previous position, covering her completely naked form over Peter’s, feeling the tip of him right under to her wetness.

She sank down on him, both wincing at the feeling of each other. All Peter could focus on was the softness of being inside her, her skin, the flesh of her thighs being wrapped around him, the closeness of their chests being pressed up against each other and the brief vulnerability she was displaying by wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He felt faint at the presence of her scent while her head was tucked into his neck, combined by the steady sensation of her rocking her hips onto his cock.

“Peter,” She moaned.

“Yeah?” Peter was hardly taken out of his thoughts, answering automatically as he grabbed onto the flesh of her hips to control at the speed he thrusted into her from under.

“You feel so,” She groaned before continuing “So fucking good Pete. You feel fucking amazing inside of me.” She finished before plunging down faster onto him, making him look at her mouth agape. He could feel her clenching even harder and more frequently around him, combined with her wetness from the previous orgasm and just from sucking him off, it was almost too much.

Peter looked down to see where they connected and saw his skin glistening just from her arousal, and felt even more turned on.

“You’re gonna kill me,” He stated mindlessly, still in awe of how sexy she looked right now. In Peter’s point of view, he struggled with deciding what to focus on.

The way her tits bounced in front of his face, the way her ass and thighs felt when they smacked on top of his thighs repeatedly, causing the the jiggle of her body to be even more apparent, or how fucking close she was holding him. She alternated from both her hands clenching into his shoulders, or one hand on the nape of his neck and another pulling on his brown curls.

A bonus was how she sounded moaning his name and a string of praises for how he made her feel.

Of course, she noticed this.

“You like that don’t you?” Her voice caught his attention, barely realizing she was actually asking him a question

“What?” He breathed out, sounding just as fucked out as he looked, the sweat of each other making his hair stick to his forehead.

“When I say nice things to you,” She obliged to Peter’s physical request of her to slow down, which was him just forcing her movements to stop by the way he grabbed her.

“Mmm,” He didn’t answer, just closed his eyes and threw his head back on the couch, avoiding her quizzical stare.

“C’mere,” She said, pulling herself forward by pushing her weight on his shoulders and rising from his, now aching, cock.

Peter’s attention was caught, he shook his head in disbelief of her and opened his eyes, still hanging low to hide his irritation that her heat wasn’t surrounding him anymore.

“You’re so cute when you’re upset,” She fake pouted, then proceeded to giggle. Peter didn’t want to find it as cute as he did but he couldn’t help himself.

“You really are a fucking tease, you know that?” He growled before grabbing her by her thighs to lower herself back onto him and raised his hips from the couch to fuck her on his own pace. The force from his strength caused her entire body to rock from each thrust, but she relished in it, moaning out praise for how good it made her feel.

“Peter,” She yelped at a particularly hard thrust. “Just like that,” Peter’s head spun at this.

“Yeah, keep doing that, please,” She begged, fucking begged, Peter to maintain the force he had brought upon her. It was then he knew he played right into what she wanted when she taunted him for his praise kink. (He was then making a mental note of how well she knows him and how he’s probably just a little predictable.)

Peter was practically drooling to see her come apart on top of him like this, he threw his head back in the pillows once again to enjoy the view and moved one of his hands to her clit, putting pressure on her, bringing her closer to her orgasm.

He felt it building up by the way she clenched on his cock and couldn’t contain his moans any more.

“Moan, please I wanna hear you when you cum inside me,” She commented once he let a particularly loud one escape his lips. He was both shocked and embarrassed at the effect she had on him, because he almost came apart immediately at the invitation to cum inside her.

“You sure?” He whined, trying to bring her to finish before him.

“Yeah, I’ll be right there with you,” She said, finding his other hand on her waist and intertwining his fingers with her.

“Please?” Once those words left her lips he was finished. He instantly came inside her, her following right after.

Their orgasms swept them both away, sensitivity coming right after as she struggled to detach herself from him. Peter didn’t allow this and continued to fuck her through both their orgasms, relishing the pain and the pleasure this decision came with.

Her head was back in the crook of his neck when their movements slowed down and they had to catch their breaths.

Once their hearts reached a normal rate and they removed themselves off of each other, Peter broke the silence.

“Are you still going to see him?” He asked rather timidly. She didn’t understand the sudden shyness but decided not to comment on it. She shrugged in response before answering honestly.

“Probably,” She averted eye contact with him, looking at where their hands connected, ignoring their full frontal nudity because this was somehow more vulnerable.

Peter’s heart dropped, he wasn’t expecting that response, nor his reaction to that response. Without thinking about the weight of what he was going to say next, because he hadn’t been doing much of that tonight, he continued.

“What if you go out with me instead?”

She looked him in the eyes again before responding. She didn’t know what she saw in his eyes. It was a mixture of fear, desire and hope.

Then, it was her turn not to think before she responded.

“Like on a real date?” She realized how that sounded when she said it aloud.

Peter nods, knowing what she meant.

“I meant what I said about us,” He paused, watching for her reaction. She hung onto his words, encouraging him to continue. “I want to go out with you and if I’m your type then what’s stopping us?” He joked. In her head this was so unsurprising because it seemed right up his alley to joke about some offhand comment she made before they literally had sex and laughed, because of how predictable her best friend is.

“Well why didn’t you say anything before?” She inquires, shaking her head at how ridiculous he sounded. She studied his features again before he answered, watching him turn a few shades of pink.

“I didn’t want to mess anything up. I don’t fuck my friends you know.”

“Up until now,” Peter smirked at this comment, she was always so quick to rival his own quips.

He let the silence simmer before responding because he wasn’t sure just how she felt about this, him, or what they just did. He was afraid he had permanently damaged the friendship and wasn’t sure how he was gonna come back from it if that were the case.

So, he asked.

“Is it weird now?” He spoke barely above a whisper.

“What part?” She had to ask before she could answer.

“That we did it backwards.” He exasperated, feeling unsure of himself now that he had to verbalize what he meant.

She shrugged again, this time affectionately, not wanting Peter to get frustrated with her or himself.

“Maybe it can be a good weird,” She affirmed his anxiety by clarifying.

Peter’s stomach erupted in butterflies. “Yeah?” He raised his eyebrow in excitement.

“Yeah.” She bit her lip before leaning in to kiss him once again.

His hands dropped back down to her waist to bring her in closer as the certainty between them was solidified.

A/N: okay so when i was writing this i imagined comic book f4 johnny storm especially bc of the dynamic he has with peter in the comics (spideytorch my beloved) but when my friend reviewed this she asked if it was chris evans and while that wasn't the intention that made it so much better so just clarifying it wasnt on purpose but if you did that i hope it was fun

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