#and did not do my body any favors this weekend on several fronts

[prince-liest]

FLOPS DRAMATICALLY ONTO MY BED

I AM. HOME. And ready to never drink alcohol ever again.

[nyxdelanuit]

Feral (Tendou x F! Reader)

Hey! Here’s Nyx being super late with a collab fic for the Haikyuu Headquarters Collab, which can be found here! 

Special shout outs to @the-great-queen and @fallingintoimagination for getting me hooked on Feral Tendy <3 and @mammonrights for bein a heathen with me.

Warnings: Biting, Marking, Slight breeding kink cause it’s me, A lil bit of predator/prey play, and NSFW abound~ 

You quite enjoyed the calm, lazy weekends where you curled up with a book or movie, ignoring the outside world and the coming work week. The same couldn’t be said for your friend, currently draped over your lap, whining.

 "I'm so bored, let's do something fun." Tendou looked up at you with pleading eyes as you kept watching your show. You were only a few episodes out from the season finale, and you weren't too keen on stopping now.

 "I am having fun, Sa-to-ri." You grinned, glancing down at him, "It's not my fault you don't have any taste." He pouted at you, the teasing something that had thrived in your friendship.

 “It’s not my fault I’ve already read the whole series before the show started. I could tell you what happens if you want.” Your attention turned fully to him, what he wanted all along.

 "You wouldn't dare, Tendou." You tried to keep your gaze hard on him, despite the growing grin on his face.

“Ooh, pulling out the last name, that hurts.” He put a mocking hand over his chest. “And I wouldn’t have to ruin the whole series for you if you just entertained me a little.” You huffed, pausing the show and giving him an unamused glare.

"Fine, and what do you want to do exactly?" He sat up, leaning in close to you. You could feel the heat of your face at his nearness but kept up your mask. It wasn't new for you and Tendou to flirt like this, but it never failed to excite you.

 “Would you believe me if I said you?” The coy grin he wore made you roll your eyes.

 “No.” You turned your face away, trying to calm your desperate heartbeat before you gave him more ammunition to tease you. His calloused fingers slid under your chin, bringing your face back to his gaze.

 "I think you're lying… you want it, don't you?" You bit your tongue softly, trying to weigh your options. Tendou would notice right away if you lied, and you wouldn't dare tell him the truth, that you had been dreaming of the day he'd finally make a real move.

 It seemed Tendou was especially impatient that day, pressing a light kiss to your lips before retreating, hopping off your couch to stretch. “Let’s play tag.”

 You were snapped out of your stupor at the kiss by his words, wondering if you had possibly imagined it. "W-what?" His eyes drifted to yours with a predatory smile.

 “Tag. If you can keep away from me for… hmm… fifteen minutes, you win. We keep watching your show, no more complaints from me.” You furrowed your brows.

 “Satori, we’re not kids anymore. I figured you’d want to go out to a club or something, why tag?”

 “Cause it’s fun. Live a little, play tag with me.” He shrugged and held out a hand, which you reluctantly took, pulling you to your feet.

 “Fine, and what happens if I lose?” His eyes glittered with a curious mischievousness, and you were almost tempted to pull your hand away.

 "I'll think of something. Now for the rules. No leaving the house, no locking doors. I'll give you a 30-second head start. You can hide if you really want to." His grin only grew as he spoke, showing his excitement for your little game. You rolled your eyes again, ignoring the spark of adrenaline that ran through your veins. "Sound good to you?"

 "Yeah, sure, Satori."

 "Then… Run." The look in his eyes sent a shiver down your spine, and you couldn't help but wonder if this was how a rabbit felt staring into the eyes of a wolf. Once he started counting, you were pulled from your frozen state, turning and bolting down the hallway. You could still hear him, his singing echoing through your house as he counted down the seconds to his hunt. With no more than a handful of seconds left, you crept into the ancient wardrobe in your room, thankful you hadn't had the time to fill it properly. You bit at your lip, trying to get the door to close from the inside was harder than you expected.

 Your breath hitched as you heard his footsteps, far too close for you to fiddle with the door anymore. You pressed yourself into the dark of the wardrobe, hoping it was enough to conceal you as his shadow snuffed out what remained of the light.

 Your hands flew to your mouth, holding in your breath along with the whine that threatened to escaped as he paused in front of you.

 “Come on out sweetness, maybe I’ll make your punishment something we’ll both enjoy?” His voice was deeper than usual, a darkness you’d only caught glimpses of before now on full display. You shouldn’t be enjoying this as much as you were, the heat pooling in your stomach as he lingered. Something about the tension, the anticipation of being found was a drug to you.

 He slowly moved away, something you only noticed by the return of the light. You sat for several long moments, trying to hear past the blood rushing in your ears as you peeked through the door. The room in front of you was empty, and he could no longer be heard. If you wanted to run, now would be the time. Cautiously, you pushed open the door, creeping out one leg at a time until you released a shuddering breath, straightening your clothes.

 "You should probably run now, little lamb." The voice made you jump, even more so the sight of Tendou, leaning against the door you had just open, a malicious grin splitting his face in two. You ran without any thought, slamming doors behind you as you tried and failed to remember your house's layout. Every step, every labored breath you took, you could hear him nearing. You could feel him hot on your heels, to the point where the doors were no longer falling closed behind you, merely bouncing off his extended arm, slamming against the wall.

 You had made a mistake somewhere in your panic. A room with no other doors, no easy means of escape, just you and Tendou standing at separate sides of the room. All you could do was watch as he closed in, your heart jack-hammering against its cage. The only way out was around, to fake out the former Guess Monster of Shiratorizawa.

 Breathe in, breathe out- glance to the side, opposite of where you were planning of going. Your mind was working faster than you thought possible, acting on the barest hint of thoughts as Tendou's hands neared you. You ducked, somehow slipping through the narrow escape between his arm and his body. Your lungs burned as you ran, the peals of laughter echoing throughout the halls as the hunt continued. How long could fifteen minutes be?

 Each step, each ragged breath sent a fire through your veins. Maybe Tendou had the right idea, when was the last time you felt this alive? Slipping through doorways, skidding along tiled floors, nervous laughter seeping through your lips as his cackling rang in your ears. Faster, quicker, just seconds ahead of his hands, you ran. You couldn't hide, not anymore, all you could do was hope that you were faster than him until the clock ran out.

 You somehow found yourself back where you started, the timer of his phone counting down the last seconds of your game. You had won, you knew it, just a few more seconds…

 A shrill scream tore through your throat; you had let yourself get distracted. Calloused fingers wrapped around you, holding your arms tight to your chest as the alarm rang through the house. You had almost won… Tendou pulled you flush against his chest, every inch of him wrapped around you, pressed against your back.

 “Too bad, little lamb.” He taunted, his lips brushing against your ear. “You were so close.” You hadn’t even noticed the whine that escaped you until you heard him chuckle, low and dark. “You stopped there near the end… did you want me to catch you that bad?” You shook your head, belatedly noticing how his hands sunk into the plush of your chest. “You can deny it to yourself all you want, but your body says differently. You haven’t even tried to slip away.” He moved his head to brush his lips against your neck, the barest brushes of skin. There was no fighting the shiver of pleasure that ran down your spine or the gasp that slipped past your lips.

 You resisted even less when he turned you, pressing your chests together as his head dipped to kiss you hungrily. You opened to his whims easily, tongue and teeth clashing with no other thought than the hunger that burned deep in your stomach. When had your hands buried themselves in his? When had he stopped kissing you in favor of trailing bites down the length of your neck? It was happening so quickly, and yet it seemed as if this had been building up as long as you could remember. He devoured you, as he did so many other things. Headfirst into his passion with little regard to anything else as his rough hands slid under your shirt, quickly pulling it up and over your head. He barely pulled away to pull his own off by the collar, whipping it to the abyss that existed outside of you and him.

 Throughout the house, he led you, a trail of clothes littering your path. He was nothing but a storm of lips and teeth, marking every inch of skin he could reach, claiming you as his prize. He hadn't even stripped you of your underwear, but the way he was grinding against you, laving his tongue over the deep imprints of his teeth had you writhing for release. Finally, a single finger dipped between you, dragging over your covered folds and feeling the dampness that made the fabric cling to your skin.

 “Pretty little lamb, I’m going to destroy you.” He chuckled, his breath falling heavily against your neck. You nodded, already a whining mess.

 “Please, Satori… I want you, please.” Was that your voice? You hardly recognized it, buried beneath all the lust and longing weighing down the tone.

 He spoke mockingly as he slowly pulled the last scrap of fabric down your legs. “I knew you wanted me, little lamb… but I didn’t mind playing our little game to make you admit it. You opened your mouth to refute him, to say something in your defense, but the only thing that came out was a sinful moan as his teeth sunk into your thigh, marking you so close to where you wanted him.

 Words failed you, lost in the haze that was Tendou Satori, and all you could do was pull him in closer, desperate to feel him inside of you. He fit against you so well, the feeling of his lips on yours was a drug like no other. You melted against his touch, conforming to his body as he hitched your leg high up on your hip. His touch on your hip was firm, holding you still as he teased at your entrance, watching your face with a sadistic smile.

 Ever so slowly, he sunk in, his mouth open as he let the softest of groans escape him while he watched you writhe as you tried to push down further on his length. "You know, little lamb… I never said what I would take as my prize…" You attempted to clear your cloudy eyes, focusing on his gluttonous face.

 "I thought this…" A sharp thrust, bottoming Tendou's length inside you brought your sentence to a breathy end, but you tried to continue on, "I thought I was your prize?"

 “Hmm… but you gave yourself over to me without me even asking… I guess I’ll just have to cum in you as my prize.” It shouldn’t sound so appealing falling from his lips, but all you could do was keen out, desperate for him to take you in any and all ways he wanted. He won you fair and square.

 “Please, Satori, whatever you want, just move!” His smile darkened, a calloused finger coming up to brush lightly against your cheek.

 “How can I resist when you beg so nicely for it?” With that last word, his hands returned to your hips, holding on in a bruising grip as he pulled out slowly, watching the tears gather on your lashes as you pleaded for him to move faster. As soon as the tip traced your entrance, something in him snapped. He bucked into you wildly, pulling a loud moan from your lungs.

 Gone was your lazy, teasing friend that you spent calm Sundays with, replaced with a hungry animal, intent on devouring you from the inside out. Each roll of his hips pushed you further from your thoughts, focusing only on the carnal way he hunched over you, sucking deep marks into your skin to remind you long after this was over of what he turned you into. Just a mewling, desperate mess, falling apart underneath him, pliant to his every touch. And touch he did, imprints of his hands seemed to be carved into your hips, the ghost of his teeth in every bite he laid on your skin still stinging, only heightening the pleasure of his cock pistoning within you.

 The pleasure became overwhelming, and you dug your nails into his shoulder, desperate for anything to ground yourself in this moment. It only spurred him on further, a deep growl rumbling in his chest as you marked him in kind. Some small stake that showed you weren't just a passive participant in his game. You pulled him close with the grip you held on his shoulders, panting heavily on his shoulder before you bit into his neck, mirroring one of the many marks he had left on you. The whine you pulled from his throat only made you moan against his skin as he pushed your legs higher, trying to find a better angle to sink into you as you savagely attacked his neck.

 You only pulled away when you felt the peak growing impossibly close, a breathy moan of his name bringing him back to himself.

 “Please, Satori, I’m so close.” You let the tears spill from your lashes, twin rivers framing your face as you stared up at him, pleading. “Fill me up, please.” He groaned lowly, pulling back just enough to sneak a hand between your bodies. Those stupid, calloused fingers you had grown to appreciate so quickly deftly found your clit, sensitive from all the friction of his rutting, and he relentlessly assaulted the swollen nub. You felt him start to twitch inside you as you tensed, finally cresting in pleasure.

 He was thrown violently into his orgasm as you cried out his name, clenching your fists around his shoulders once more. Each thrust as he worked through his release brought you closer to over-stimulation, the added friction on the edge of pain as he filled you.

 The house was finally quiet, the only sound coming from your intermingling breaths, heavy and satisfied. He collapsed next to you, content to relax against your pillows as you processed all that had just happened. When you remained silent, he turned his eyes to you with a grin. “We can go watch that show now.”

 You couldn’t stop the nervous giggle that escaped you. “After all that, you want to go watch that show?” He nodded, smirking.

 "Yeah, why not?" He sat up, stretching out his shoulders, and giving you a good view of the angry red lines you had left all over him.

 “So… do we just pretend this didn’t happen?”

 "I don't know what you mean, I thought I made it pretty clear." You wished you could see his face as he got up for even a hint of how he felt.

 “What do you mean, Satori?”

 “I won you.” He sung, “I marked you inside and out. You’re mine now.” He turned with a mischievous grin, and you wouldn’t be surprised if this was the outcome he wanted when he walked through your door this morning. Still, you stood, walking over to him and running a hand down his chest.

 “You did, didn’t you?” With your confirmation, his grin softened to a more sincere smile, ducking to place a kiss to your cheek.

 “So, time for your show, little lamb?”

[lancermylove]

Mixed Signals (Oneshot)

Fandom: Obey Me

Pairing: Barbatos x fem!Reader

Warning: N/SFW! I MEAN IT! Kinda slow burn.

Requested by: Anon

Prompt: Hi. Could I request a one-show with a female reader and Barbatos (Obey Me). It's holiday themed so if it's not you cup of tea I understand. Both are attracted to each other but never said anything, though they have friendly banter often and think the feelings are mutual. There's a party going on and they end up under the mistletoe. She thinks it's going to give them an opportunity to open up to each other but he is reluctant to do it (fearing she likes one of the brothers).  After he pecks her cheek she thinks she read the signs wrong & feels down. After the party she decides to find his room. She confesses her feelings, he explains why he acted the way he did. He didn't want to do it just because of tradition, he wanted it to mean something. Maybe he mentions wanting to know a side of her the brothers don't & keep it to himself. I'd like it to be cute but spicy so you can go as n.sfw-ish as you feel comfortable. I hope it's not too long/confusing. Thanks.

A/N: I know you said n.sfw-ish, but it turned into n.sfw...no wait, DETAILED N.SFW. XD Also, I know Barb’s bedroom is filled with door, but I’m just going to pretend he has another room that’s like a normal room. 😂

Word Count: 2,973

———————————————

Your first day at Devildom was completely unexpected. Aside from being teleported into a different world, and that too hell, you didn't expect to meet such good looking men.

As time passed, you met all the brothers, angels, Solomon, and Diavolo. You found each one attractive in his own way, but you never considered dating any of them. That is until you attended the party at Diavolo's castle and met Barbatos.

When you saw the butler, you couldn't take your eyes off him. Was it his looks? His calm demeanor? The sense of mystery about him? You couldn't put your finger on it, but you were drawn to him.

Unfortunately, since you lived at the House of Lamentation, you rarely saw the butler. Your eyes yearned to catch a single glimpse of the green-haired man, and one day, your wish was granted by none other than the demon king himself. Diavolo invited you to his castle to ask about your stay and experience at RAD thus far. On top of that, he informed you about your weekend meetings with him.

"(Y/N), I would like you to visit me every weekend to share your experience and progress in Devildom." Diavolo flashed a friendly smile, "Also, if you don't mind, I would like to hear stories about the human world. Your world intrigues me."

You immediately agreed to his invitation and took it as an opportunity to meet Barbatos.

At first, Barb simply greeted you while serving you refreshments and then excused himself. As you visited the castle more frequently, the demon butler became friendlier towards you. He started to converse with you, asking about your day and classes. To your surprise, he even asked about your favorite foods, so that he can prepare them for your next visit. You merely took as his kindness, not realizing that Barbatos began to develop feelings for you.

Even the Ruler of Devildom noticed the changes in his trusted butler when you were around. Diavolo wholeheartedly supported Barbatos's feelings for you. Every weekend, he made excuses to show up late for the meeting, allowing you to spend more time with the demon butler. Slowly, the two of you began chatting about topics other than food and Devildom. 

Your friendship grew to the point where Barbatos invited you to help him in the kitchen as an excuse to spend more time with you. More than anything, the demon enjoyed teasing you - smearing flour on your cheeks, dabbing icing on the tip of your nose, playfully arguing about Devildom food being better than human food. His actions made you think of him in a different light. No man would tease and banter with you to this point if he didn't like you, right? You didn't get the answer to your question until Christmas came around.

Diavolo planned a grand party for all the important people of Devildom, and of course, he invited you. You donned your finest outfit, picked by none other than Asmo. The Avatar of Lust knew about your feelings for Barbatos and supported you.

"Sweetie, when I'm done, you'll look so beautiful that Barb won't be able to take his eyes off you." Asmo winked while applying blush to your cheeks.

The fifth-oldest brother was not kidding. When you entered the party, everyone stared at you in awe, including the demon brothers, angels, Solomon, and Diavolo. Unfortunately, Barbatos was nowhere in sight, so you exited the party in search of him. Though you looked and looked, there were no signs of your crush anywhere, not even the kitchen.

You returned to the party once more, hoping to find him there; instead, you found yourself standing under a mistletoe. As you stared at the green branch overhead, you wished that by some miracle, Barb would join you. Unbeknownst to you, your partner in crime noticed you staring at the mistletoe and immediately found Barbatos, dragging him in front of you.

"Sweetie, I found him! Barbatos, (Y/N) has been looking for you everywhere." Asmo chuckled, "Hm? Why are you blushing, (Y/N)?"

The Avatar of Lust moved his eyes to the branch above you and gasped, pretending he never saw the mistletoe above you. He glanced at Barbatos before shifting his eyes up, clapping his hands together. "Barb, please do the honors of fulfilling the Christmas tradition!"

This was the happiest moment of your life. To think that you were going to kiss the man of your dreams, all thanks to your fairy demon. While you indulged in the thought of how the kiss will feel, you failed to notice Barbatos hesitating. He slowly leaned in, but instead of kissing your lips, he pecked your cheek. The butler quickly excused himself, leaving both you and Asmo in shock.

Your chest tightened, making it difficult for you to breathe. You instantly walked out of the party with Asmo following in your trail.

"Sweetie, please wait," Asmo gently held onto your arm and pulled you closer to him, turning your body to face him. The demon cupped and wiped your tear-stained cheeks.

"I...am stupid," you began and bit your lower lip, fighting the tears threatening to escape your eyes, "I thought he liked me, but I misread everything."

"Don't say that, dear." Asmo drew you into a hug and rubbed soothing circles on your back. "Please calm down and don't jump to any conclusions. Talk to Barbatos first."

You weren't sure why, but a strong feeling told you that you didn't misread the signals. Barbatos was not the type to get friendly with just anyone. You thanked Asmo for comforting you before rushing to find your crush, knowing well that your heart was not going to be at peace until you got the answers to your questions.

After a while, you found yourself standing in front of his bedroom door. You raised a shaky hand to the door and took a deep breath before hitting your knuckles against the wood. The butler was stunned to see you but stepped aside and invited you into his room.

"Did you lose your way?" He questioned, closing the door behind you.

You weren't sure if he meant 'lose your way' in a literal direction or figuratively, but you pushed on. "Barbatos, do you have time to talk? I need to tell you something."

The butler studied your averted eyes and red cheeks as he nodded. "What would you like to tell me?"

"When I first came to Devildom, I was surprised to see the men here. I found them all to be attractive in one way or another, but none of them tugged on my heartstrings. That is...," your voice turned into a whisper, "until I met you."

Upon hearing your words, Barbatos's eyebrows tugged up as his body stiffened. He remained silent and waited for you to continue.

"I felt drawn to you and wanted to spend more time with you. That's why I always looked forward to the weekend." You couldn't bring yourself to look at his face, so you continue speaking with your eyes glued on the stone floor. "When you started to spend more time with me, I was very happy. Um..."

You gathered the courage to lift your head and look at the handsome demon. Barbatos stared, expressionless, but you didn't let that faze you.

"I thought you liked me. Your behavior around me was different, bu-but...," you curled your damp hands into a fist, preparing yourself for the worse as you asked, "why didn’t you kiss me properly under the mistletoe? Did I misread your signals?"

You felt your eyes stinging, but you dug your nails into your palms to hold back the tears. Barbatos didn't expect you to ask him such a direct question, but much to your shock, he smiled.

"You did not misread my signals. I presumed that you held feelings for one of the brothers, considering you seem to be quite attached to them." he paused to see your reactions and chuckled. "As for the kiss, I apologize for hurting your feelings. I want our first kiss to hold meaning, not for the sake of tradition. Also, I did not want to kiss you in public."

Barbatos stepped closer to you, delicately wiped away the tears collecting in the corner of your eyes, and whispered, "I apologize for causing your pain and bringing tears to your eyes."

“Y-You like me?” You couldn’t believe your ears and weren’t sure how to react. You always dreamt of this moment, but now that it arrived, you were at a loss. 

“I do.” He pressed a kiss to your forehead and looked into your eyes. "Might I be selfish enough to ask for a favor?"

"S-sure."

"I always considered the brothers lucky for being able to get friendly with you. How I wished my lord had asked you to stay in this castle instead." The demon butler gave a small smile. "Would you be kind enough to show me a different side of you? A side that not even the brothers haven't seen."

It took several seconds to digest his words, and you weren't sure what exactly he meant. So, you pursed your lips and closed your eyes, waiting for him to kiss you. Barbatos held a finger to his lips and chuckled, finding your action adorable. He rested his hand on your cheek delicately as if he was touching glass.

"I am not familiar with the traditions in the human world, so forgive me if my words frighten you. Physical intimacy holds a deep meaning for me, so my love, would you permit me to hold you? Would you be mine?" Barbatos held out his hand in front of you and waited patiently for your reply.

You stared at him with your lips ajar. ‘Be his...what does he...?’ 

A deep shade of crimson covered your cheeks as you gasped, clamping one hand over your mouth. Your heart jumped with joy as your head spun slightly from the sudden rush of blood. Only when you nodded did the demon plant a tender kiss on the back of your hand. 

Barbatos placed butterfly kisses on your face before capturing your lips. He gently pulled away from the kiss, his hot breath tickling the lower half of your face. Barbatos slide the tip of his tongue along your lower lip, waiting for you to part your lips. A shade of red once again spread across your cheeks, but you granted him entry. The demon impatiently thrusted his tongue into your wet cavern while his hands stroked the curves of your waist. He explored your mouth and rolled his tongue on yours. 

You dug your fingers into his jacket as his hands began to roam freely around your heated body. Barbatos drew his tongue out and wiped saliva running down your chin. He ran a finger up your back, tracing the zipper of your fitted dress before tugging down the pull tab. Not breaking off eye contact, Barbatos helped you out of your clothes and undergarments. Feeling the cold air against your warm skin, you shivered and crossed your arms over your chest.

"You look breathtaking," he complimented, scooping you in his arms and walking towards the bed.

The red on your face grew darker as you nuzzled your face in his warm neck. He gently set you on his bed and straddled your body. Barbatos tugged his gloves off with his teeth while giving you a teasing smile.

"You are such a tease." You mumbled and tried to pry your eyes from his face in vain. He chuckled at your statement and continued his venture.

Taking hold of your hand, he kissed your fingers, the back of your hand, and up your arm. Barb trailed wet kisses to your shoulder, neck, and up to your lips. He pecked your lips before tenderly kissing down the other side of your neck and to your chest.

You watched him examining your mounds, finally realizing that your dream was coming true. The man you yearned for was in bed with you, physically showing his feelings for you. ‘This isn’t a dream, is it? This is...really happening.’ 

The demon butler rolled his tongue on your perked nipple before taking the bud into his mouth and sucking on it. Gasping loudly, you closed your eyes as your heart pounded against your chest. You ran your fingers in his hair and dug your nails into his scalp, prompting Barb to take your whole breast into his mouth as his free hand massaged the other mound. Your muffled cries only added to his desire.

After leaving both your breasts sore, the green-haired man processed to kiss down your stomach while caressing the side of your hips. His touch was even more satisfying than you had imagined in your fantasies. He pushed your legs apart only to have you press them back together.

Barb brushed your pelvic bone with the tips of his fingers and smiled tenderly, "Let me see how beautiful you look."

Though you were nervous, you gave in to his request and slowly parted your legs. He sat in the middle, taking hold of your right leg and ghosting his lips over your ankle. The entire time his eyes stayed glued to your glistening womanhood. Barbatos trailed his lips up your leg, leaving goosebumps in his wake.

"My love, you are beautiful." He whispered, his hot breath caressing the area between your legs. He sunk his teeth on the side of your thigh, marking you as his before pressing his lips deeply between your legs. 

"A-ah, Barb." You groaned, arching your back.

Your voice was music to his ears. Barbatos slowly ran his tongue up and down your slit, drawing more lewd sounds from you. 

“You taste so sweet,” he groaned, pressing the tip of his tongue to your clit, sliding it down to your entrance. Shifting his eyes to meet yours, Barbatos shoved his tongue inside your entrance.

"Oh my god," you exclaimed in a breathy voice, earning a witty reply from your lover in return.

"There is no god here, my dear."

Barb teasingly thrusted his tongue in and out a few times, earning a series of moans from you in return. He licking up to your slit, and without warning, he pushed two digits into your entrance, wiggling his fingers to get a feel of the soft flesh inside. You yelped, gripping the bedsheet with both your hands.

"B-Barb. A-at least wa-warn me."

"Where's the fun in that?" He chuckled as he gently began stretching your insides with his fingers.

Barbatos withdrew his long fingers, earning a disapproving groan from you. He brought his digits to his face and licked them clean of your essence. "I could get used to this taste."

You averted your eyes and bit down on your lower lip to suppress a groan.

Maintained eye contact, he stood up and started to undressed. The butler took his time, peeling each layer off one-by-one until you cried, "Barb...hurry!"

"My, someone is impatient." He teased while pushing his pants down to his ankles. You stared hungrily at his precum-soaked erected manhood.

Barbatos positioned himself between your legs and pressed his tip at your entrance. "My love, are you sure about this? If you are not ready, then I do not want to pressure you into this. We can always-"

Not being able to take it any longer, you shot your eyes to his face, "Barb, I want you NOW!"

The butler let you a small laugh at the unexpected reaction as he gripped your hips. Little by little, he pushed his length inside, taking care not to hurt you. You cried as your inside stretched to accommodate his large size, tears collecting in the corners of your eyes.

"Are you alright?" He asked, concerned by your pained expression.

"Y-Yeah," you managed to answer.

"You are taking me in quite well." He stole passionate kisses while cooing words of praises as you adjusted to his size. When you gave him the green signal, Barbatos slowly started to move inside you. You held onto his arms as your body gave into the intense pleasure. He studied you with a smile, watching you melting under him. Barbatos was truly happy to finally become one with you.

The butler hovered over you, sweat bead rolling down his face. He kissed you hungrily as he changed his angle to hit you deeper. His focus was on you, and his only goal was to please you. Barbatos took note of every expression, movement, and sound you made.

"There! B-Barb h-hit t-there." Your voice drove him mad, but your words made him crazier, "ugh...g-go f-faster." 

The butler pinned your trembling hands next to your head, pulled out his length, and slammed into you. He hit your sweet spot with enough force to make you scream his name. Though he had picked up his pace, Barbatos tried not to be rough with you. He wanted your first time with him to be passionate and memorable. 

As you got closer to your climax, Barbatos moved his hips faster against yours, leaving you a moaning mess. The sound of your bodies slapping against each other and your mewls filled the room. Not long after, your vision went white as your body shuddered under the demon. Your head was spinning as your essence coated his length. Barbatos held you closer to him, his thrusts losing their rhythm. Soon after, he pulled out and released on your body, coating you with his essence. The butler rested his forehead against yours as he caught his breath.  

"Thank you for agreeing to this," Barbatos whispered in a breathy voice, "I promise to always be there for you and love you till your last breath. N-No, continue to love you even after your last breath."

———————————————

➣ Obey Me Masterlist ➣ Buy me a Ko-fi or Commission?

[7wanderingpaws]

Captain Bucheon 05

(gif is not mine!)

Warnings: language, tension, (a bit unedited)

Word count: 3.6K

story masterlist masterlist

tags: @wooya1224 @to-all-the-stories-i-love @jennxx3 @realllllrica @energeticsirens​ (let me know if you want to be un/tagged)​

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<– Previous

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Fifth: Birthday Party

The winter season had finally given way to spring, the cherry blossoms blooming around the campus. Your dorms still sucked, but one thing that was good was the beautiful pink trees welcoming you whenever you left or arrived from school or work. The entrance was full of cherry blossoms, and when you rushed to your early classes in the mornings, you'd catch cats curled up and sleeping on the fallen leaves.

Even though you enjoyed winter, you couldn’t deny the magical hope spring always managed to plant in you. If the smog wasn’t too severe (and in spring it always was) you could smell the distant scent of flowers, grass and life. Students and professors were scattered around the campus, making videos and pictures, the white and pink cherries a huge attraction even for the dullest person out there.

For some reason, however, this season also made you incredibly sad.

A very unnerving, in the corner creeping, emotion of yearning, longing, pining and all the other synonyms that expressed missing something you couldn’t quite pinpoint were eating you away. The sadness that made your mood so incredibly low and sad that you couldn't enjoy the cherry blossom season as much as you used to. It was a huge love of yours; every year during high school taking a long walk, wearing the uniform skirt not so horrible anymore while you and Yuyeon laughed at something stupid. That magical instance when the gentle breeze blew and the leaves created a pink rain fall--

Someone hitting you with folded paper was what snapped you out of your thoughts. You turned around, glaring at the intruder. “Yah, Oh Sehun!” you shouted, scowling.

Sehun was smiling brightly, your face expression entertaining him. “You looked like you were thinking too deeply. Didn’t want an accident.”

You rolled your eyes and watched him sit down on the bench opposite you. He put his backpack next to him before leaning on his elbows on the table. “Meaning?” 

“You don’t think, you just do stuff. Thinking could have damaged you further and we don’t want-“

Your fist landed on his bicep and he laughed harder, not even bothering to fake the pain. “You are so dead, Sehun!”

After he calmed down he pretended to tap the tears away around his eyes which made you roll your eyes again. “Anyway, you know it’s next weekend, right?”

You frowned. “What is next weekend?” 

Your question came out like a bite of an angry dog but you almost immediately forgot about your bicker when you spotted Yuyeon from afar; she was mingled among a small crowd of students but you could see whom she was talking to very well. After all, you saw the guy almost daily. Chul. 

They seemed to be deep in conversation and he was nodding thoughtfully, taking her every word. While she was explaining something, he looked up to run his eyes over their surroundings carefully which, in your eyes, looked a little off.

“Hey-“ Sehun waved his hand in front of your face, “I’m right here, don’t ignore me. And Yuyeon was supposed to tell you.”

You snapped your eyes back to Sehun, still frowning. “She didn’t tell me anything regarding next week.”

Sehun groaned like a kid. “You’re a terrible friend anyway! You should have known it’s my birthday!”

Your eyes widened and you scrambled for your school diary (that was a huge mess) and aggressively listed through the pages until you landed on the second week of April. With small letters, Sehun’s birthday was noted on the paper with a little flower next to it.

“I’m not a bad friend, look,” you pouted, pushing your diary in his face. 

With a sigh he was fast to push your hand away. “Well, mark it better. You’re coming for a little camping trip.”

“Camping trip? During school?”

Sehun looked at you dumbfoundedly before he started to giggle. “This is university, sweetheart, there is no such thing as school night anymore, and it’s funny that out of all people you complain when you’re the naughtiest kid on the campus. And besides, it’s on the weekend. You don’t work either,” he clicked his tongue and then proceeded to flick your forehead. “So no excuses.”

“Ouch, you DUCK!” you growled, massaging the throbbing skin with your fingers. “Why is your birthday in April out of all months!”

“Whoa, whoa, I could hear you guys from afar already,” a new voice chirped in and your eyes immediately snapped towards your best friend.

A little shocked at her cheerful attitude, you looked at the place you last saw her with Chul but, of course, he was nowhere to be seen anymore. The last thing you'd expect her to be like after a conversation with Chul was cheerful.

“It’s your fault, Yuyeon-ah. You forgot to tell Nari that I’m having a camping trip.”

“Oh,” Yuyeon seemed genuinely surprised as she sat down on the bench next to you. “It slipped my mind completely - and no, not your birthday but the trip!” She held her hands up quickly in defense before he could flick her forehead as well, Sehun’s scowling eyes sending daggers her way.

“Wonderful friends I have,” he muttered and shook his head in disappointment. “Well, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to. Thankfully I have friends who actually care,” he said and stood up, throwing his backpack over his shoulder.

Both you and Yuyeon followed him with your eyes, perplexed at his sudden change of attitude. “Where are you going?” you spoke up at the same time with Yuyeon.

“Have some stuff to do for class. See you, losers!”

“What did just happen…”

“Well. Whatever, Sehun is weird,” you dismissed, not sparing his retreating figure any more glance as you turned to your friend. Swiftly bringing out your phone from your pocket, you searched for one contact you saved in the morning, and pushed the device into Yuyeon’s hands, ignoring her perplexed expression. “I need a favor. You need to call the police for me.”

“What?” She was only able to raise her eyebrows and give you a pathetic look. “What is it about?”

“I need them to come during the festival, it’s the security measures,” you said, almost whining because you yourself hated this irrelevant task you were given. “And I can’t risk that someone particular will pick up the phone.”

Yuyeon sighed but she had a soft expression as she nodded. She still threw you a skeptical look. “First of all, it’s bold of you to think that you’d have the pleasure to speak to the captain of the police himself when I’m sure they have some lowly workers doing this kind of job. Second? Fuck Chul. The hell is he thinking - giving you all the trash work, as if he isn’t the student president.”

Yuyeon mentioning Chul when they were just meeting minutes ago didn’t sit well with you. She didn’t mention talking to him whatsoever and you concluded she didn’t have the intention of doing it at all. Observing her for a little longer, you decided to deal with that problem later. She was your best friend. She would never do something to harm you.

After explaining all the details to Yuyeon, she finally called. It took almost fifteen minutes with the whole call procedure until you could talk with the relevant person in charge. To your and Yuyeon’s surprise, they already knew about the topic.

“Oh, so the event has been reported? And you already have a team to send for that day?” Yuyeon was repeating everything the person on the other side told her, giving you a surprised stare.

You shrugged, albeit worriedly before muttering under your nose: “Why did that fucker-“

“Alright, great. Thank you!” She put down the phone with a huff. “Well, that’s that. They already knew about this.” Her knee was going up and down, her teeth gnawing on her lower lip, tearing the dried skin. “Is Chul testing you or something? Why is he making you do stuff only for it to be already resolved?”

You shrugged again. “At least it’s done. Thank you,” you murmured, widening your eyes into those of a puppy before you pushed out your lower lip, pouting.

Yuyeon rolled her eyes and flicked you on the forehead. What was it with your friends flicking you today?

You scrubbed at the red spot on your forehead as she said: “Don’t mention it. What wouldn’t I do for this troublemaker, huh?” She smiled at you and pushed your phone into your hand. “Are you confident about running? And MCing for that bitch?”

You deflated even more. Your body was not built for running. And Siamsa requesting you to be the MC was just as suspicious as the whole police thingy being already resolved. “Nope! But who cares! It’s Oh Sehun’s birthday and you didn’t even bother telling me about the camping trip?”

She looked surprised for a moment before she realized something. “Oh, right, it slipped my mind. I have class projects and well… sorry. I was supposed to tell you.” Yuyeon looked apologetic and you wanted to ask what was the issue but decided against it.

“It’s okay. But I think he is legit mad.”

“I know.”

><

After that, the days became a blur. You tried your best to juggle running between studying sessions. Sometimes you would stay in the dorm room but the squeals of girls on the corridor would irritate you to the bits which eventually led you out of the dorms and into a coffee shop. 

Assignments were piling up and Sehun’s trip was happening just before the midterms which wasn’t the best news. You tried hard to focus but the unstable job you had was also giving you a hard time. There had been another case where you didn’t manage to bring a box to the right door yet… much later you received a confirmation text. It was giving you stress. And you started to regret taking up the job at some point. Someone must have been delivering them. You were suspicious of this for a while but was too preoccupied with the task at hand to try to catch the culprit.

Well, could they be called a culprit when, in fact, they were doing you a favor? If more than anything, it was the unsettling feeling that you were being played by someone you probably didn't know, since Chul was doing anything but talking about this job.

Instead, he was always hot on your heels, were it the running practice that you swore you’d give up, because coach Lim was relentless, or he was bothering you about the damn MC thing, bugging you about doing well and trying to be your best possible version. Just thinking about having to pretend in front of Siamsa, when you knew she was Baekhyun's ex, and a complete piranha behind the scenes, made you go nuts. It had certainly been a while since you wanted to be done with something this much and at the same time dreading the moment it would come.

If that wasn't giving you anxiety, you also had to make sure not to go to the running track outside of your scheduled training. The possibility of running into Baekhyun was scaring you. Unable to pinpoint why exactly, you just decided to ignore the topic, despite finding yourself daydreaming about facing him again. Daydreaming about certain moments with him that actually happened, but they were buried deep inside you, hidden under stocks and stocks of much more memorable memories than those created with him.

Since you never saw him after that incident where you slapped him, you were more relaxed (and a little guilty).

Currently, you took the empty beer bottle in your hands, music blasting loudly as you stood up on the top of the table, enjoying the cheering from your small audience that you stole away from the birthday boy, Sehun.

You pushed me away with your very hands

Once were so wanted by me

As soon as Yuyeon recognized the lyrics, she jumped up to join you, taking an empty soju bottle in her hand and made a microphone out of it. You were fast to drape your heavy arm around her neck and shouted:

What can I do?

What should I do?

I no longer have your breath with me

But I am still loving you

Sehun was facepalming in the background because you had been high on this song since last year, after the harsh breakup. He knew the signs very well and he could only sigh harder when he saw a message from the only person missing at the late night party:

Just arrived

Coming in now

“Oh, dear,” he scrunched up his face, looking at you exaggeratedly rolling your hips to follow Rain's dance moves. He had to admit you were too good at those moves.

As soon as you heard cat calls, your hands went flying up to your hair, lifting it up to reveal your neck before you pushed your bum out, sliding your hands lower, outlining your breasts.

“Jesus, she is on fire!” someone shouted.

You giggled loudly and Yuyeon slapped your butt, making you squeal before the both of you continued with the song that made you want to weep and give up yourself to someone at the same time; give up yourself to a certain someone.

With the way you used to look into my eyes

You dramatically turned to Yuyeon who mimicked you, both of you staring into each other's eyes before you turned back to back, feeling her bum pressed into yours. With a swift sway of your head, you got rid of your messy hair that was obscuring your sight, spotting a mop of messy blond hair before singing:

Please turn back to me and just feel my heart

And could you please tell me

Your eyes locked with Baekhyun's who was standing motionlessly on the doorstep, staring at you with an unreadable expression. 

That you still love me

The words left your mouth, and you became breathless. 

Was it the booze? Or did Byun Baekhyun just look hundred times more appealing to you after drinking? What was the captain even doing there in the first place? Wasn't he a little old to be here celebrating Oh Sehun's birthday with the kids that he thought you were?

Not daring to even blink, you continued your charade, enjoying the way his eyes wandered down your body when you swayed your hips to the rhythm, rolling your hips to the surface of the table and enjoying yourself a little too much. You were wearing hip jeans and a crop top, the textile straining over your breasts just the way you wanted it to be tonight. The revealed belly and the dimples on your lower back just above the belt of your jeans was teasing enough to bring a little craze to the audience you earned. Your want doubled with the knowledge that Baekhyun was present.

Eventually, you turned to Yuyeon and finished singing the heartfelt song, while your brain was trying to ignore the fact that the person you imagined in this song was present in the room.

“Hey, thanks a lot for dropping by,” Sehun greeted Baekhyun when he walked over to him. Baekhyun had a slight smile on his lips.

“Happy birthday, buddy,” he wished and bumped fists before patting him on the shoulder. “You decided to keep a low image this year?” asked Baekhyun when Sehun pushed a red cup into his hand and sat next to Sehun, once again angled the way so that he could see your eyes the whole time.

Sehun raised a thick eyebrow before tipping his chin towards yours and Yuyeon's direction. “Is that what you call a low image?”

Baekhyun shook his head, but he was amused. He let his eyes wander back to you for a moment, just when you were getting off the table. One guy held your hand, helping you down while bulging his eyes at your breasts. Baekhyun suppressed the annoyance bubbling inside of him at the sight. “Did she have a lot to drink?”

“Well, she had enough to become her old self,” mumbled Sehun, taking a calculating sip from his beer. “Enough to want to make a scene, so I'd watch myself if I were you.”

“She hates me. I don't think she'll even acknowledge me.”

Sehun let out a snort and Baekhyun shot him a curious look. “That whole fucking song was about you. She acknowledged you just fine.”

Baekhyun let out a breathy laugh of disbelief. The images of meeting your heated gaze over the crowd while you were rolling your hips around left him just a little breathless. You were too sexy for Baekhyun. And too forbidden.

Before the both of them could fall into silence, Sehun said: “Did you resolve anything with Siamsa? I love you, dude, but I can't let your stupid ex ruin Nari anymore.”

Baekhyun wasn't surprised at the change of the topic. Sehun had been bugging him after he found out you were requested by Siamsa herself to be the MC of her short stage during the university festival.

Baekhyun was restless about the whole deal, especially after her unexpected visit at his place. About that he didn't tell the younger male, not wanting him to worry even more. “Don't worry, Sehunah, I have it under control.”

“Well, make sure you really do,” muttered Sehun as he leaned closer to Baekhyun. “She acts strong, but she is anything but that.”

><

It was two hours later when you found yourself in the crowd, dancing by yourself. Yuyeon wasn't around anymore, being snatched away by a guy while you were drinking shot by shot, enjoying yourself and at the same time desperately trying to stay sober because Baekhyun was lurking around. And that made your heart beat too wildly; the alcohol had nothing to do with it.

There were so many bodies around you, sweating and grinding against each other. It almost made you want to turn back until you felt someone’s front pressed to your back. Under normal circumstances you’d immediately pull away but his scent wafted over your senses and you just knew.

It was him.

His breath was on the back of your hair, a little irregular, and then you felt his feather touch on the inside of your arms as he trailed his fingertips over the sensitive skin of the inside of your elbows until he let them dance over your wrists and pushed the fingers through the slits of your hands, interlacing your fingers.

Spikes of electricity shot through your insides and you hummed though you knew he couldn’t hear you over the loud music. Involuntarily you pressed yourself back and his breath fanned your neck as he lowered his head.

There were so many things you should have done immediately; push him away or walk away but despite your turbulent emotions that kept clashing in a fight with brain and heart, you felt safe in his arms, in his presence and his touch. His nose traveled your cheek and he nuzzled the side of your face with his. Your heart was about to jump out of your rib cage. The urge to just turn and kiss him was so strong but ugh. You still hated him so much. So, so much. To the point you wanted to scream and shout and at the same time kiss him senseless and let him have his way with you.

“Why is it that whenever I try to avoid you, you appear?” he murmured into your ear and you tried to shimmy away from the ticklish feeling. “Why is it that whenever I’m with another one, you’re the one I see behind my closed eyes?” You felt the lightest of touches of his lips that were parted, so smooth and so alluring, teasing you on the side of your cheek. “Why is it always you, Lee Nari?”

You almost thought it wasn't real. It couldn't. Baekhyun would do anything but a move on you.

But one swift turn and you faced him, his eyes focused on yours. “And why is it always you, Byun Baekhyun?” you squeezed his fingers gently, still interlaced with yours. 

“You should go and rest, Nari, you had enough to drink,” he told you suddenly, moving closer. He realized that booze was talking more than what he would have said under normal circumstances.

Breathily, you zoomed in on his lips, bewitched by the way they shaped whenever he said certain words. The would pucker and form a cute pout and-

“Nari, let's get you to sleep,” he repeated.

“Do you still want me, Baekhyun?” you asked instead, almost eagerly.

Baekhyun wasn't surprised, yet he didn't answer. You were intoxicated and he expected some kind of confrontation, but the longing in your eyes spoke volumes and he knew you wouldn't be slapping him tonight. He had only two cups of beer but he already knew he was acting braver than he should have. The need to kiss you and just be with you only grew and alcohol made his well preserved restraints weaker.

“You don't want me anymore, right?” you said, misunderstanding his silence. You stepped away. “If I would have wanted to build up the bridges you would have said no and still play with my feelings,” you whispered, heart-broken. Even though I still want you so bad…

><><><><

A/N: I do not know when will be the next update, sorry about that. Ive been focusing a lot on AY since my writing juices are overflowing for that story for now. Sorry to make you wait and I do hope you stick around ☺💛

This chapter is a little breaking point; next chapter the festival is going down! Poor Nari...

Here is my new curiouscat if you want to let me know your thoughts ^^

[grantiskeith]

The Garden Path to Hell (William x reader) Pt3

Words: 1.5K

Warnings: Biting, kissing, vampires, mentions of blood

I wrote that night off in my head as a bad dream. I went back to my garden every weekend and I never saw anyone go into or out of my neighbor's woods. My thoughts were focused on getting my garden ready for a long winter. It had been several months since I saw William, I think he decided to keep his distance. Until tonight. The sun had just disappeared behind the horizon and I was ready to go back to my car and drive home. I would have if I had not seen him strolling down the path toward me. "Moin Moin" I called out to him. I wore a poker face to hide my excitement at seeing him again. "Hello my Maus, your garden is as beautiful as always" he bent down and took my hand, he placed a light kiss on top. He looked up at me over his glasses, "Although it is not nearly as stunning as its creator." He was smiling and I could see his fangs. Were they always there? Or did he just stop hiding them from me? "I have come to invite you to my house. I have been in possession of Chateau Margaux for quite a long time. There has been no one quite as elegant to share it with until I saw you tonight." I blushed, "careful with the flattery Mr. Solaire, blandishment will always get you what you want." He gave my hand back to me. We walked from the edge of my garden, through my woods into his own. We walked slowly, occasionally stopping altogether. He was an expert on all manner of subjects: mathematics, physics, philosophy. I learned he spoke German, English, French, Polish, Russian all fluently along with several other languages he "could not seem to master given all the time in the world." "Charlie Parker?" I said to him as we got to the front entrance of his hidden forest manor. "I thought you would favor the more classical jazz of Bill Evans or early Miles Davis" "Parker has a certain quality of randomness, so I can listen to his styling repeatedly and always be amused. That is important when it could get stuck in my head for 50 years." He led me to a private library where we sat on leather reading chairs and drank wine 4 times as expensive as the house I was raised in. "I have never thought about time until I met you William Solaire." He cocked his brow in interest. "I have an expiration date, although I do not know when. I use that day, when it comes eventually, to plan my life. I set my goals, I create my intentions with that day in mind. It motivates me and inspires me. I may not see tomorrow, so what do I intend to do today." "I remember thinking that way. To be completely honest, I never stopped thinking that way. Even as a vampire, tomorrow is never promised. I have found that if you are unable to live for yourself, live for others" I was sitting on his desk with the wine glass in hand while he sat on a reclining leather desk chair. "Ah, so that's the secret to a happy life?" "That is the secret to always finding meaning in the little things I do. Whether it is asking a progeny how his classes are going or walking through a garden. To answer your question, my Maus, I believe the secret to happiness is scouring the dirt for something that brings you life and letting it take you as far as possible. Not abandoning it, nor locking it in a cage, just following it" "I have always been told that the secret to happiness was love and loving something forever" "Ah" William looked out of the window. It was too dark outside to see anything but my reflection. He did not appear in the window. "Loving has always been a great passion of mine. It has always been temporary as everything I have ever loved has come and gone" he looked at me and smiled but his sliver eyes were worn. "There was a phrase I used to hear when I was young, 'Das Blaue vom Himmel versprechen.' It means a promise that is made in vain." I put my glass down on the table and leaned in to hear more. "When someone promises to love me forever, it only appears to be their forever" Getting up from his chair, he leaned in closer, nearly at a whisper. I felt his breath on my cheek. "Behind my immortality is a mortal man. I'm just a man searching for someone who brings me life"

I lowered my volume to match his and got closer to his ear, "If I could bring you happiness for only one night, would that be a promise from a blue sky?" "This moment is my promise, Maus" he closed the gap and laid a kiss on my cheek. The next kiss landed on my mouth. And again. William lifted my chin up towards him. I sat up and wrapped my arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. He let my mouth go and instead kissed down my neck. Starting until my ear, he caressed my chin. Slowly, meticulous, calculating. I took a very deep breath. He sent another slow trail down my neck. He picked one spot he found one spot particularly interesting on my neck and kissed around it. I loosened my shoulder and tilted my head and exposed more of my neck to him. A sigh escaped my mouth as he clamped and sucked the skin around that exact spot. I threw my hands up to his chest. He stepped back for a breath, pressing my hands into his chest. "You're good at that," I said breathlessly. "500 years of practice" he got close to my mouth again. "Your heart beats faster when I get closer to nerves in your neck." He stole a peck on the mouth. He smiled, "it also beats faster when you're embarrassed" "William," I said in a more serious and firm voice. "What happens if you bite me?" "You will give me, in a more literal sense, the life I mentioned and in return, you will feel pleasure flow to every corner of your body" he took another step back from me. He seemed to shift from a vampire back into a person. "Maus, I had no intention of biting you nor letting anyone else do so tonight. I apologize if I led you to that assumption and I regret any actions I may have taken to pressure you into asking that question. Your company is all that I desired." "No, no, there's no need please" I took my hand back and placed it back on my neck. He slid it down to my shoulder. "I was just curious" I looked down, we were silent for a moment. "Does it really feel good?" I asked. "That is another skill I have mastered over the centuries." I pulled his collar to bring him closer and got in close to his ear, "please bite me." It did not take too much more convincing after that. He offered his hand as I got myself off his desk standing next to him. He kissed down my chin to the center of my neck. His arms were wrapped around my shoulders, slightly dipping me to his side. "Just pull my jacket and I will cease immediately," he said. He kissed and nibbled his way down the front of my neck. I had never felt so exposed and vulnerable and yet so safe and guarded at the same time. I did not even know he had bitten into me, there was no stabbing or biting feeling. I may have thought it was a kiss if I didn't feel a wave of warmth engulf my body. He pushed my chest more closely into his own. My head was lost in ecstasy. I couldn't have produced a coherent thought if I tried. My eyes only saw the tops of the bookshelves with my head tilted back. My hands were balled into William's shirt although my grip was loosening. I could hear him sucking and swallowing. It sounded like a lot of blood. Oh my God! What was I doing! I felt my heart speeding up and a series of heart palpitations followed. There was a nick in my neck as he quickly let me go. I winced at the sudden teeth scratching against my skin. "My Maus, are you alright?" He helped me sit on the desk chair. He looked over his glasses to look at me. I lifted my hands to his cheeks. His skin was warm. That's my own blood, I thought to myself. For the first time since I had known William, I saw his eyes turn blue. Only for a moment before it faded. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I just got freaked out" "Stress can cause your heart to beat like that" William put his hand over the marks on my neck. I felt my skin pull tight, he healed them leaving me just as before. "That abrupt end left a small scratch, you were not meant to feel any pain." He searched with his eyes for any other sign of damage done. "Would I be fit to drive?" I asked "How about you stay the night?" William smiled.

[blatant-attitude]

I couldn’t think of a good title for this one. It’s not one of my favorites I’ve written— but I can’t find any other area of this mini fic to try to spruce up and make better. I hope you guys enjoy it! ;)

Emily is jealous of Beth; Aaron is oblivious.

She can't tell if the headache is from the hangover lingering in her skull, or from the glaring across the table at the brown-haired woman with the overpowering cheap perfume from the over bubbly smiling-to-early-in-the-fucking-morning smile and laugh making google eyes at her boss.

JJ passes her a Tylenol as the waiter sets down Emily’s order of a hamburger, no onion in front of her. The waiter sets a grilled chicken salad in front of that wanna-be brunette bimbo who has an arm wrapped around Aaron’s own arm. Emily pops the Tylenol with a gulp of her large water before springing up from the table, mumbling something about peeing and washing her hands before she eats.

She can feel the team's curious eyes burn into her back as she disappears down the hallway that contains the bathroom. It's not long before JJ and Garcia are both coming to the bathroom after her. They study her with curious eyes while Emily washes her hands and refuses to acknowledge the two that just walked in.

“Em, honey, are you ok?” JJ asks her tentatively, stepping forwards and placing a hand on Emily’s shoulder. Garcia stands back still, watching with curious eyes.

“No. I'm not ok, JJ, because I am crazy head over heels in love with that man out there and he has another brunette wrapped around his arm, and she's not even that pretty.” Emily responded in petty, eyes welling up with tears. Her hands wipe at her eyes, clearing them of her unshed tears.

“Oh, honey.” Garcia pouted to Emily as she wrapped her in a hug, squeezing her to her chest. “You are going to be just fine, do you want me to shut down all of her credit cards? Or maybe make her nose and forehead look bigger in all of her pictures?” She offers up, which is enough to have Emily letting out a little laugh.

“No, let's not incriminate you in the process. Besides, her looking bad in pictures won't change her looks in real life.” Emily responds, pulling back and wiping her eyes again. “I think I'm going to head home. I'm still tired, and I can't promise I won't say something I might regret come Monday.” She opens the door, not leaving any room for conversation.

Morgan, Reid, and Rossi watch her as she exits and asks the waiter for a box. Aaron twists his head around and looks for a minute before turning back to the woman next to him. Garcia and JJ rejoin the group, giving a simple ‘she-just-isn't-feeling-well’ as an explanation for her sudden departure.

________________

Several days pass by before Morgan begins questioning her about what happened. ‘You weren't actually sick Saturday, were you?’ he begins which makes her roll her eyes.

“Derek, I really don't want to talk about this.” She sighs, wishing they were trapped in this car for another hour with each other. “I was hungover. That’s it.”

“Oh, so it doesn’t have anything to do with Beth and the obvious eyes you’ve been making at Hotch since you got back?” He slings at her, which makes her anger begin to explode.

“Derek Morgan, I told you I did not want to talk about this. If you say one more word I will unleash hell onto you.” She seethes, teeth clenching and brows furrowing.

He remains quiet for the rest of the ride, but she knows her outburst was enough of the answer he needed. Derek Morgan knows that Emily Prentiss is in love with her boss, and said boss has no idea.

________________

The coffee is shit, and so is the weather outside in Seattle is much the same. It’s been stormy, raining constantly, who’s is to be expected of Seattle. She can only assume that Rossi has just come inside from the rain because he steps up next to her soaking wet and begins pouring coffee.

“He is truly oblivious, isn’t he?” He comments as he brings the coffee to his lips, turning and leaning against the counter. Emily follows his gaze from where she stands, letting it land on Aaron hovering above a table and reading a file with JJ and some rookie cop.

“I’m not sure what you're talking about.” Emily denies it, leaving it there. They both let her say it, and they both don’t mention it’s a lie. They let silent understanding settle between them before he gives a silent nod and leaves her in the room to be by herself again.

Emily plasters on an unbothered face once more and heads out to solve the case.

________________

“How did it go with Hotch?” JJ questions when Emily and the man in question arrive back from interviewing a family member. JJ sits down at the desk chair next to Emily in the conference room of whatever town they're in this weekend. Emily just glances up from where her head is bent down into a file, dark hair falling around in a curtain around her as she does.

“It went like it always does. We found things out and we left.” She snapped back to her friend before turning her head back into the file in front of her. JJ just gives a sigh, not budging. She’ll get more information from the brunette soon enough.

It takes two hours before Emily is pulling JJ into a bathroom with frustration plastered across her face. “Why is he so stupid? Am I not being obvious enough? I mean, I don't want him to be unfaithful to his...whatever they’re calling it-- because I know his fidelity means so much to him. Especially after that stunt that blonde bimbo he married pulled on him. I don't know what to do anymore, JJ.”

Emily is upset; that JJ can see. JJ also knows that Emily just needs someone to listen to her so she can get the frustration out. “Feel better?” Emily just glares up at the question, scoffing in amusement. “No, but thank you for listening.”

The two leave the bathroom with curious looks from deputies, and the rest of the team members. JJ brushes it off, but Emily sends glares to her colleagues of the FBI. Hotch returns her glare, face set sternly as it meets hers across the room. Reid glances down, seeming to wish he could disappear with the tension in the room. Morgan and JJ just watch the two, eager to see who’s going to break first. Rossi gives a little chuckle, shaking his head as the two brunettes continue to stare at each other head-on. Emily turns away first, choosing instead to return her mind to her file.

________________

Emily’s morning spent with Derek looking at houses and talking about foundations has her rethinking even buying a house. The case comes in while they’re still looking at homes. They arrive on the scene quickly, and Emily has to force her mind to focus. Why does he have to look so good in a plain t-shirt and some jeans?

When the bomb went off in the bank, the only thought in her head was how she was going to tell him how she felt, because she wasn't sure she would make it through the day if this is how it was going to go. Covered in soot, she worked her way into a room where she could hear a faint scream for help and found an older couple.

By the end of the day, she was disarming a bomb around her best friend's man while still covered in the soot from the first explosion. She clips the wire with the hope that she's got it right, and feels her body break into chills of relief when she does. She leans to the side, feeling her racing heart slow with her panting breaths as she leans back. Body weak with the crushing adrenaline high.

Morgan and Aaron come running up the stairs to where she’s now sitting next to an equally breathless Will. Morgan begins to clip the chains around Will while Aaron offers Emily a hand to pull her up. The slight contact has Emily’s heart rate picking up and her stomach clenching together as she remembers what she’d told herself earlier in the day.

A wedding is (secretly) planned for the next day and everyone is leaving in favor of a shower and sleep before she's got a chance to pull Aaron to the side by herself. She stands in the shower letting the scalding water run down her body, doing what she told Clyde she would do. The conversation plays over and over in her mind, keeping her awake through the night.

“...but um..If I had more help-- say, running the London Gateway Office. You’d get your answer a lot quicker.”

“Yeah, you should fix that.”

“Well, I'm trying.” A job. He’s offering her a job.

“You have always had bad timing.” She thinks of Aaron. Of his new love for this brunette. Of her infatuation with him that he can’t see.

“Oh, come on Emily, don't you miss this?” She does...somewhat.

“I--Yeah. I will.”

Emily zips her dress with the conversation on her mind still. A job running the London office. Even thinking about it has her head spinning so much she’s unsure of when she arrived at the party… wedding.

Emily’s conversation with Derek ends with a sad sigh and Penelope spewing something garbled into her drink as she leaves and Hotch, Jack, and her enter the room. Derek leads Jack and the other woman away to the fountain, leaving her with him. “How are you?” He questions with an easy smile that has her shaking her head with a deep sigh. “That bad, huh?” Easy conversation leads to an agreeable breakfast date where they can talk about it, but Emily knows deep down she won’t go to that date. She’ll say what she needs to say tonight, and that’ll be the end of it.

Easy dancing on the boxed-off yard with the team, being passed through their arms until she lands in Aaron’s arms has her laughter flowing freely. Being held here, in his arms, is what has her realizing that maybe she always knew they weren’t going to last. Maybe that part of her is what made her want to accept the job in London.

“We both know that I won’t be at breakfast in the morning. Clyde Easter offered me a job running the London Office. I've decided to take it. You and I both know that I was always going to leave again. I can't grab onto my life the way it was before Doyle.” Her words are whispered softly against his shoulder as she leans close to him. Soft hands trace to grab his face, turning his eyes to meet hers. “Aaron Hotchner, I love you. I have loved you since I first saw you all those years ago in my mother's home, and I continued to love you all this time. Until the next time.” With a sad smile and a chaste pressed kiss to his lips, she pulls back and leaves the yard.

The rest of the crowd stare in shock. Emily has just kissed Aaron in front of his date. “Aaron?” Emily hears Beth because that's her name, Beth, question in shock as she steps up to him and grabs his arm gently. “Beth, I’m-- I’m so sorry. I've got to go after her.” Aaron’s voice carries across the yard as he jogs after her, following her inside and catching her arm just inside the door.

“Emily, wait! How long? How long have I been blind?” The question has her giving a dry laugh but his hand tightens around her wrist in seriousness. “After your divorce. I knew before then you wouldn’t have gone for anything offered because you are too good of a man. After the divorce, I started flirting then, but it seemed that you were the only one who hadn’t noticed. Then Foyet and Doyle happened, and now here we are. You're with Beth and I’m flying across the Atlantic to take a job with Interpol.” There’s a slight pout to her mouth when she finishes talking.

Aaron feels the pulse speeding up in her wrist where he holds it. His other hand reaches up and cups her sharp jawline. He presses another kiss to her lips, pressing hard enough she feels her lips will bruise. Foreheads rest against each other when he pulls back. “I’m sorry I didn't see it earlier. Maybe we could've had something amazing.” He drops his hands from her, backing away from where she stands and he leaves. Walking back outside to inevitably explain everything to his girlfriend, who stares at the both of them in complete shock.

@florenceremingtonthethird - A tag as promised : )

[ncssian]

A Favor: Part Two

Nessian Modern AU

Masterlist

a/n: im so sorry i know i need to start editing these

***

Nesta stands in her guest room at Cassian’s cabin, hands on her hips as she eyes the garbage bags full of things she managed to salvage from her old apartment. 

All of her rain-soaked clothes sit in two huge bags, waiting to go through the laundry, while her books are carefully spread out on the windowsill, floor, and anywhere they can catch enough sunlight to dry their pages. Nesta almost cried when she saw that Lorene had salvaged her few adult coloring books and the art supplies to go with them, still dry. 

For a brief moment, she’s glad she didn’t buy any physical copies of her textbooks this year— the loss of that money would be too much to bear.

A brief knock sounds at her door, and Nesta spins to find Cassian standing there, laundry basket in hand. “I can take your clothes down for you if you want,” he offers, lifting his own basket with a hand. 

Nesta’s lips tighten. He wants to do her laundry with his. Their laundry will get cleaned together. Her underwear will get tangled up with his. 

Cassian’s brow furrows. “Nesta?”

This is her new reality now. She’ll have to accept it at one point or another. 

“We can do separate loads if you want,” Cassian adds. “Feyre told me you— well, she said you might be more uncomfortable with some things than others. It’s totally fine if you don’t want your clothes mixing—”

“No.” Nesta finally snaps out of it. “I don’t care about the laundry. My clothes are right here.”

 Because she has a sneaking suspicion she might be being unintentionally bitchy again, Nesta helps Cassian drag her bags of drenched clothes downstairs. 

“I feel sort of bad for bullying you into this deal,” Cassian rambles as he dumps clothes into the washer. “Which is why I need you to know you can enforce whatever rules and boundaries you want while you’re here. If you’d prefer I never speak to you for the rest of your time here, I can manage that, too.”

Nesta looks at him with a hint of disbelief. Sometimes he says the oddest things. “I don’t want you to never speak to me again.”

There’s relief in his sagging shoulders. “That’s good,” he says as he pours out detergent. “I mean, I was a little worried you were against this so much because you hated me, but you don’t know me enough to hate me, do you?”

Hate. Nesta rolls the word over her tongue, tastes the hard corners of it, and decides it doesn’t fit for Cassian. Not even close. She wonders how to articulate this to Cassian.

She settles on: “You seem nice enough. Obviously, since you’re letting me live in your luxury mountain cabin for free. But I don’t want to set any boundaries while I’m here. You shouldn’t have to change your normal lifestyle just for a guest. Do whatever you want; it’s your place.”

Cassian presses a button and the rumble of the washing machine begins. “I want you to be comfortable,” he says, turning to face her completely. “Whatever you need, Nesta, seriously.”

For starters, it would make Nesta comfortable if he didn’t say her name like that. His earnestness makes her skin itch, but she’s not going to tell him that. 

Instead, she bravely lifts her chin. “I’ve been pushed so far out of my comfort zone that I don’t think I know how to find my way back.” The honest truth. “At this point, you might as well keep me out here.”

Cassian’s eyes narrow. “If you don’t tell me what things bother you, I’ll have to find them out for myself, you know.” It sounds like a challenge.

“Go ahead,” Nesta deadpans. She doesn’t know what Feyre’s told him about her, but contrary to popular belief, Nesta isn’t a glass doll. Sensitive, high maintenance, yes, but fragile? Never.

She turns on her heel and leaves Cassian in the laundry room, determined not to let her circumstances get the better of her while she stays here.

***

Cassian takes everything back. He’s obsessed. 

He can’t pinpoint the exact moment, how or when or why he decided he likes Nesta. Maybe it was an amalgamation of different things, but by the time she settles onto his living room couch with a box of takeout Thai food, it’s safe to say he’s fascinated.

She’s nothing like how Feyre talks about her. She’s barely anything like the woman he met at the dinner party two years ago. The problem is, Cassian hasn’t pinpointed what she’s like. There’s still too many walls in place, but here, as she slurps noodles unabashedly while watching TV with an intense fixation, she’s softer than he’s ever seen her. Maybe it’s because she doesn’t feel the need to defend herself to a sitcom; there’s no self-consciousness, only a deep focus on the Community episode they’re currently watching.

Cassian splits his focus between offering commentary in an attempt to make Nesta laugh and observing her reactions from the corner of his eyes. A few things he’s noticed so far: 1) Her cheeks bulge like a squirrel’s when they’re full of food; she seems to have no shame about this. 2) She isn’t inclined to respond to Cassian when he makes comments on the show, but the corners of her mouth tilting up imply that she likes it anyway. 3) She watches sitcoms like she’s studying for a final exam about them. 

When the episode finally ends, she turns to him and glances at his hands. “Are you going to eat that?” she says. 

Cassian glances down at his untouched container of food, a little surprised, but hands it over to her without a fight. He can’t pretend it doesn’t do something to him to see her eyes light up over something as simple as curry and rice. 

Nesta’s poking her chopsticks around the box when she notices Cassian watching. “What?” she says, immediately on the defensive.

“You eat funny,” he admits. Her brows furrow so deeply he thinks they might create a permanent indentation. He’s quick to add, “It’s adorable. Seriously.” It isn’t something he would have said yesterday, but he’s taking Nesta’s words from the laundry room to heart. He won’t put a damper on his personality as long as she can handle it. 

Her hand comes up to self-consciously touch her cheek, but she quickly drops it. “Play the next episode,” she says as she picks up her chopsticks again, and that’s the end of that.

***

Cassian wastes no time coming up with ways to push Nesta out of her comfort zone, just as he promised. The next morning, he greets her downstairs in nothing but a pair of sweatpants. Nesta takes a long, slow blink at his bare torso, muscled arms, and brown skin, and turns around to get started on making breakfast. It’s not good enough— he catches a glimpse of her reddened cheeks when she reaches for the milk container anyway.

It’s only until they’re both settled in the living room after dinner that he realizes he doesn’t have the upper hand he thought he did. 

Nesta is stretched out on her stomach on the Persian rug in an oversized tee and nothing else. Her bare legs swing in the air behind her, and she’s listening to music and coloring. 

Cassian’s unanswered emails sit abandoned on the phone in his lap. He truly can’t stop staring; there’s just too much to absorb.

For starters, she wears glasses. Big, round, gold-rimmed glasses that are almost slipping off her nose at the moment. That revelation alone is so affecting that he has to quickly move on to other, smaller details. Like the sound of her uncapping different markers and filling in smooth lines on the page before her. Cassian feels a desperate desire to see what she’s coloring. Her hair is up in a ponytail, and her legs…

Cassian can’t say that ever since he first took notice of the beauty mark at the corner of Nesta’s lush mouth that he hasn’t wondered where else on her body she might be hiding little moles and freckles. He just never expected to get an answer so soon. Because right there, where her shirt rumples up to reveal her bare thigh, is the smallest dark spot. 

He wants to put his mouth on it. 

His own thoughts take him by surprise, and he realizes he’s gripping his phone so hard the screen might crack. 

He uncurls his fingers from the phone and squeezes his eyes shut against the wave of desire crashing into him. Desire and something else, something achingly fond and frustrated at the same time.

“Cassian?” The sound of his name has his eyes snapping open. Nesta’s watching him, brow furrowed. “Are you feeling okay?” she asks.

He feels stupid for trying to play this push-and-pull game with Nesta, because it’s barely even started and he’s already losing. “I’m gonna go put a shirt on,” he mutters, moving to get up.

Nesta’s lips turn down a little. “And ruin the view?” She says it completely seriously, not a hint of slyness to her words.

Cassian’s ass falls back into his seat in pure surprise. His eyes widen. “Was that a joke?” Did Nesta Archeron just make a joke?

Her frown turns deeper. “I don’t think so. Was it funny?”

“It was teasing.”

“Then it wasn’t a joke.” She shrugs and returns back to her coloring. “If you put a shirt on, I’m putting my pants on,” she says without looking up. 

Cassian has absolutely no idea what he’s gotten himself into. But he doesn’t move from the couch for the rest of the evening. 

***

By the end of the weekend, Nesta has gotten the hang of being around Cassian. There are several occasions in those first couple of days— slips of the tongue, really— where she pauses in trepidation, worried she’s said or done too much. She is always doing too much. But then Cassian grins, or laughs, or as of more often lately, teases her right back, and her muscles can relax again. 

He has also relaxed around her. Nesta knows that quiet front he put up when they first met was partly for her benefit, because the more comfortable they become with each other, the more he reminds her of the Cassian Feyre’s always talking about. And yet, the person he is with her is nothing like the person she’s seen hanging around Feyre’s inner circle. This person doesn’t make her feel excluded or ignored. It’s the exact opposite— she hasn’t been on the receiving end of this much male attention since Tomas. 

And as much as it surprises her to like it so much, she’s not in the mood for his particular brand of teasing at seven in the morning on a Monday. 

She stumbles into the kitchen fully dressed and more than a bit disgruntled, needing the strongest cup of coffee available to get through her morning classes today. Cassian is already sitting at the island with his laptop, and raises his brows to see her up this early. He dares to smile at her before the sun is even fully up. “Glad to see you woke up ready to play, Nesta.” 

Nesta almost throws her empty mug at his head. “Don’t talk to me,” she says, thumping her mug down beside the coffeemaker. 

Taunting becomes questioning as he eyes her outfit. “You have somewhere to be at this hour?”

“I’m a law student,” she grumbles, punching buttons on the coffeemaker. “I have morning classes three days a week.” It’s unacceptable, but it isn’t the worst thing she’ll go through as she tries to get her J.D.

Cassian sits up straight at that. “Who’s taking you to class?” Her car is still in for repairs, and she has yet to rent one to make up for it.

“I’m Ubering,” she tosses over her shoulder.

“That’s ridiculous,” Cassian says. “I’ll drive you.”

Nesta spins around at that. “No way in hell.” She throws whatever bite she has into her refusal. 

Cassian is unfazed. “It’s on my way to work.”

“You work from home.” He’s not even dressed.

“Then today is the day I’ll make a stop at corporate headquarters. My subordinates get to see my pretty face for once, you get to go to class, and we all win.” He grins, and in this moment Nesta truly hates his grin. It lights up his whole face in a way that should be illegal. He’s probably robbed banks with that grin. 

Nesta doesn’t have the brain capacity to argue with him. She doesn’t even feel like criticizing the fact that at twenty-seven, Cassian runs the entire security division of Night Court Inc. thanks to the help of the CEO, also known as his adoptive brother.

She’s never met anyone who makes nepotism look so good.

Grabbing her steaming coffee mug and taking a deep sip, unflinching at the feeling of her tastebuds being burned away, she meets Cassian’s expectant gaze. “Get dressed.”

***

When Cassian texts to ask her when she’s getting out of class, she doesn’t expect him to actually show up outside the law building with drinks and a paper bag of food. She has to stop and glance around for a moment, as if he could possibly be here for somebody else. 

Approaching him cautiously, Nesta takes the cup holder from his hand and inspects the contents. A green tea and a rainbow-colored slushie. She looks back up at Cassian, and he smiles. “Shall we?”

They end up settling under the shade of an oak tree on the lawn outside where her Principles of International Law class is held. “So how was your day?” Cassian asks as he bites into a burrito. 

Nesta can’t remember the last time someone asked her that and sounded genuine about it, and she almost doesn't know how to answer. “It's noon,” she says.

“Fine. How was your last four hours?”

“Nothing more interesting than yours.” She eyes his outfit at that. She’s never seen Cassian in this manner. Work Cassian wears expensive buttondowns tucked into slacks. Work Cassian must use some kind of fancy product on his hair to make it so flowy, because for the first time ever, he looks exactly like the amount of money he makes. “You look so...adult. I’d almost buy it if you didn't have the taste palate of a five year old.” Nesta sips from her tea.

He actually rolls his eyes at her. “You wish you had what it takes to handle an every-flavor-slushie.” Because that's what he’s drinking, a heart attack in a 32 ounce cup. 

“That's bait, and I’m not falling for it,” Nesta says through a mouthful of burrito. 

“You don't need to.” He offers the drink out to her. “Try it.” 

Nesta stares at the cup, chewing slowly. Usually the thought of sharing a straw with someone would disgust her, but— 

She just wants to know how it tastes. Swallowing quickly, she grabs the drink. “Whatever,” she mutters, and wraps her lips around the red straw. 

Cassian watches intently as she takes a deep pull. Ten different flavors hit her tongue at once, and she thinks her brain spasms. She's too tough to make a face, and swallows the slushie like it's nothing.

“You like?” Cassian looks hopeful.

Nesta slams the cup down. “It’s disgusting. My point was proven.”

He laughs. “Weak.”

More easy moments pass like this before he says, “I wish you came around Feyre’s more often. I could have gotten to know you earlier.”

Nesta stills, food halfway to her mouth. “What do you mean?”

Cassian shrugs. “It just seems odd that we’ve talked more in the last three days than in the last three years I’ve known of you. Why don’t you hang out with Feyre like Elain does?”

She stiffens, and considers whether the conversation is even worth continuing. “Feyre’s always with you guys,” she chooses her words carefully. “There’s rarely time left for me.”

She waits for Cassian to tell her that sharing exists, and that she’s allowed to be at Feyre’s place with Feyre’s friends at the same time, but he just watches her patiently. Waiting for her to go on. 

“Besides, I used to come over all the time before my sister moved to Velaris. You were there, too.”

“I was?” That gets his attention; he drops his food and turns to face her fully. “What are you talking about?”

Nesta nods, but an odd, old feeling is bubbling up in her chest. It tastes hard and a little sad. “I doubt you noticed, but I was there. In the background while you guys got drunk or laughed together.”

He huffs an odd sort of laugh. “Don’t be ridiculous. I would have noticed you from a hundred foot radius from Feyre’s apartment. We’ve only seen each other twice before this weekend.”

Nesta is caught between disbelief and disappointment, but she hides it well with a scoff. “We’ve only spoken to each other twice, idiot. I’ve seen you plenty of times.”

Cassian looks like she just came up to him with scientific evidence that the sky is green and grass is blue, and he can’t wrap his mind around it. “That just doesn’t make sense,” he says.

Nesta raises a brow. “Are you implying I’m lying?”

He shakes his head quickly. “No, but— it’s like you’re saying I failed to notice a fucking lion in the room every time I didn’t see you. It’s just not something someone fails to notice. It’s impossible not to notice!” He throws his hands up.

You’re impossible not to notice. Nesta has no idea what to make of that, or whether she should be insulted or not. He didn’t say it with the same backhanded tone as so many of the people she knew in high school, but it didn’t sound like high praise, either. On the other hand, the words are so ironic they’re almost funny.

She settles for a shrug and begins sweeping up her napkins and trash. “Well, it isn’t impossible for a lot of people.” The look she throws him says clear enough, Including you.

He works his jaw, seeming upset, but helps Nesta up from the ground anyway. Walks her all the way back to his truck in near-silence and drives them home.

A/N: you’d think the ‘ready to play’ line was a cute reference but i actually just suck at writing banter so i needed to borrow from sarah.

tagging: @ladywitchling @sjm-things @thewayshedreamed @drielecarla @sensitiveillyrian @superspiritfestival @aliveahaahahafuck @cupcakey00 @sayosdreams @rainbowcheetah512 @claralady @thebluemartini @nessiantho @missing-merlin @duskandstarlight @lucy617 @sleeping-and-books @awesomelena555 @julemmaes @wickedqueenoffantasy

if you want to be added or removed please send an ask or dm!

[aerinsfables]

Flower Shop AU, part 3

See part 2 here.

——

Monday morning found Bracken back at the shop again. He normally had Sundays and Mondays off, but the sister who worked with him and their mother had had a conflict that day and asked him to cover her shift. “Besides,” she’d reasoned, “You’re always there, anyway.”

He’d made to protest that, despite her comments, he did in fact have a social life (not an entirely truthful statement), but then he saw her excited face and remembered that she was planning to surprise her girlfriend with a lunchtime marriage proposal, so he ultimately smiled and told her he’d be happy to take her shift if she promised to bring his soon-to-be sister-in-law over that night for dinner.

Today’s list of tasks included signing for a delivery of several different types of lilies, making some general “have a good day” and “I love you” bouquets for passersby who might wish to stop inside and pick up some flowers for their friend or significant other during the day, put together a special birthday order to be delivered tomorrow, purchase more flowers which would be needed for a couple of large arrangements that had been ordered for an upcoming funeral, call a few customers to let them know their orders were ready to pick up, and of course, more corsages and boutonnières for the coming weekend. His father would be arriving later that morning to assist, but Bracken always opened the shop, so he’d be on his own for another two or three hours.

Bracken took a peek into one of the refrigeration units inside the shop and pulled out two vases with arranged flowers and colorful ribbons. He placed those on top of the front counter and returned twice more to pull out a total of four additional vases, all of which he placed on the countertop. His trained and careful eye examined each of the arrangements to check for droopy buds, wilting leaves or other problems, but he found none; his mother had assembled these particular arrangements, and her work was flawless as usual. He called the first customer to let them know their order was ready to be picked up, and was midway through dialing the second customer’s phone number when a flurry of motion caught his eye and caused him to turn his attention to the street outside. The shop itself was located alongside a relatively busy street which usually experienced a lot of pedestrian, bicycle and vehicle traffic, but Bracken’s jaw dropped when he saw what had managed to pull him out of his work mindset.

Kendra. She was being pulled by a taller man - a bit roughly, Bracken noted, and also very obviously against her will - from the cafe across the street toward a car which had been parked not far from the very flower shop where Bracken was located.

Well. That wasn’t going to stand.

He was out the door in a flash, without bothering to lock up. Kendra looked like she was in trouble, and although he still didn’t really know her, he’d be damned if he sat back and witnessed anyone being forced to go anywhere or do anything against their will.

“You think that was funny?!” Bracken heard the man yell at her. “You leave those crazy ass flowers on my doorstep, then ghost me all weekend?! What the hell is your problem?!”

“Leave me alone!” she cried as she struggled to break free of his hold on her. “Stop!”

Run faster.

“Hey! Kendra!” Bracken called as he ran. His hail grabbed the attention of both parties, and he managed to intercept them before they made it all the way to what Bracken figured was the man’s car.

“Get lost,” the man told him.

“Let me go!” Kendra shouted, tears streaming down her face.

Bracken placed his hands on top of Kendra’s arm, then pried the man’s hand off of her and set her free. “The lady wishes for you to leave her alone,” he said simply. The man, who had dark, curly hair and what would probably have been handsome features if his face weren’t contorted in rage, yanked his hand out of Bracken’s grasp and moved to take hold of Kendra again. Bracken stepped between them, effectively blocking the man’s access to Kendra with his own body. “Excuse me,” he said. “I don’t know who you are, but it’s time for you to leave.”

“I told you to get lost,” the man positively seethed. He looked like he was going to hit Bracken, who was prepared to defend himself, when another man suddenly dashed in front of Bracken and knocked Kendra’s assailant to the ground. Bracken knew the newcomer - his name was Warren, and he and his brother owned the cafe across the street.

“Who the hell do you think you are, dragging Kendra around like a ragdoll?!” Warren yelled. “I warned you. I straight up warned you. Get out of here. If you know what’s good for you, you will never come around here again. Got it?!”

The man on the ground held a hand to his cheek. Bracken could see a bruise already forming below his eye. “You’re psychotic,” he said to Warren.

“And you’re an astounding piece of trash. If I hear about you hurting Kendra ever again, you’ll be buried trash. Have I made myself clear?” Warren’s face was flushed, and his fists quivered with what Bracken recognized as barely-concealed rage.

Bracken turned toward Kendra, whose cheeks were wet from continued tears and who also cradled her arm - the one the man had grabbed - in front of her. “Are you injured?” he asked as gently as he could.

She shook her head no.

“Do me a favor and get her out of here, Bracken,” Warren said, his eyes trained on the guy who was still lying on the ground. “I’m going to stand here and make sure this loser leaves.”

A small crowd of people were gathering to watch the show, and Bracken agreed that it would be best to remove Kendra from the situation. With a careful hand, he lightly touched her back and gestured toward the flower shop. “Would you like to come inside for a moment?” he asked.

Kendra didn’t verbally respond, but she let him guide her away from the scene and into the store. Bracken led her into the back room, the one he and his family primarily used to store their tools and miscellaneous supplies (vases, plastic wrappings, ribbons, the die-cut machine and materials, shears and scissors, etc.) and pulled out a chair for her to sit on. He then retrieved a couple of water bottles from the refrigerator in that room and passed one to her. She accepted it, but didn’t say anything, and continued to weep.

Concern flooded Bracken’s brain. He didn’t know who that guy had been, but after witnessing the altercation outside, he could understand why Kendra wasn’t in a condition to speak at the moment. “May I see your arm?” he asked.

Kendra hesitated, then stretched her arm out in front of her. It was red around her wrist, and looked tender. He wouldn’t be surprised if bruises started to form later. “It looks alright,” he stated. “I don’t have any ice, unfortunately, but I do have another chilled water bottle I can offer you, if you’d like to use it as a cold compress for now.”

“Th-th-thank y-you,” she gasped as she tried to control her sobs.

His heart went out to her. Was it inappropriate for him to hug her? Probably. She didn’t know him! And he was positive that he was making her feel awkward while he just stood there and watched her cry. He placed a tentative hand on her upper arm. “Would you like to have some time by yourself?”

She gave an emphatic nod at that question.

Bracken withdrew his hand and said, “You’re safe here. Stay as long as you need to. I can order in lunch for the both of us, later, if you’d like. My father will be here in a couple of hours, but I can tell him to leave you alone.” He cast his gaze around the room and found a few boxes of tissues, opened one, and set it down on a countertop near Kendra. “For you,” he said. “I’ll be right outside this door, making phone calls and otherwise managing the front. Feel free to call for me if you need anything.”

A shaky “thank you” was received, and he pulled the door shut as he exited. Later, when she’d calmed down, perhaps he’d ask her some of the questions which were bouncing around in his mind. Who was that guy? Did she want to press charges? Get a restraining order? Was her house safe from him? What had she been doing around this area?

Not that he was upset she’d been right outside - he was actually glad for that. He had no idea how she knew Warren, and couldn’t have predicted his involvement, but at the very least, Bracken was glad to have been able to help in some way.

Speaking of Warren. His entrance into the store caused the little bells at the front to ring. Bracken greeted him and said, “She’s safe, she’s in the back room here,” and pointed to the door behind him. “She wanted some privacy.”

“Thanks for your help out there,” Warren said. “That piece of shit finally fled the scene after he screamed some more. Dumbass thinks he can hurt Kendra. She’ll be staying with me, at least until he’s no longer a threat. Idiot.”

“I’m glad she has someone like you to help her,” Bracken replied. “Her wrist, where she was being pulled around, may start to bruise later. I didn’t notice any other injuries, thankfully.”

Warren placed a hand on Bracken’s shoulder. “Seriously,” he reiterated. “Thank you for your help. If you hadn’t intervened…” he trailed off. “You gave me the extra few seconds I needed in order to jump over some customers and get out there. Thanks again.”

“It was no trouble,” Bracken said. “I couldn’t watch that happen and not do something about it. Kendra doesn’t deserve that treatment. No one does.”

“It was trouble, but I’m grateful you were there.” Warren removed his hand. “Is it okay if I go see her?”

“Be my guest,” Bracken replied. “If you know her well, I really think she could use a hug.”

“That girl is my honorary baby sister,” he said. “She’ll get as many hugs as she wants, and then I’m taking her to my house where she’ll get all the comfort food she could ever need, along with the TV remote. I’ll give her the rest of the week off, if she wants.”

“She works for you?” Bracken asked, unprepared for that particular realization. She worked across the street?

“Yeah,” Warren said. “That douchebag showed up and took hold of her right when she was walking in for her shift. Busiest time of the day. She didn’t even make it to the front door.” He looked at the door behind Bracken again, who caught his cue.

“Go right inside,” Bracken told him. “Stay as long as you’d like.”

“Thanks again,” Warren repeated. “Seriously. Thank you.”

It wasn’t much longer before Warren and Kendra exited the flower shop, with the former shielding the latter from view. Bracken bid them both farewell, and best wishes, then resumed making phone calls to his customers.

Later that afternoon, shortly before Bracken left for the day, an email popped into the store’s mailbox. He recognized it as an answer to one of the surveys they always sent out after someone picked up their order. This one was from Kendra.

A five-star ranking, accompanied by the simple words, Thank you.

He broke protocol and responded back to her. You’re welcome. Please be safe.

—————

Read part 4 here!

[news-of-the-day]

2/14/22

US inflation hit a 7.5% annual rate of inflation, the highest in forty years. (WSJ)

The Ukrainian situation is ongoing with parties saying talks are still on the table. German Chancellor Scholz is also now personally involved, traveling to Kiev and then Moscow. Biden and Putin had a phone call, but it wasn't fruitful. (Politico)

Afghanistan is experiencing extreme dire straits since the fall to the Taliban. One of the issues is the Afghan government housed $7B of its money in the US, and the US froze those funds upon the Taliban takeover, so the group had no money to provide for infrastructure, medical needs, etc. Biden announced families of 9/11 victims could try to get about $3.5B of that, which is deeply angering a lot of people. (NYT)

A Canadian court ordered Ambassador Bridge between Canada and the US to be reopened, and the police spent most of the weekend clearing out the truckers who blocked it. There are still plenty in Ottawa, and Prime Minister Trudeau is looking for ways to clear that out. (Globe and Mail)

The International Court of Justice ordered Uganda to pay the Democratic Republic of Congo $325M. I am going to have to extremely abbreviate the context of the Second Congo War in this explanation, so please bear with me. Essentially the Rwandan Genocide spilled over into the DRC (then called Zaire). The Tutsi fighter group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), is based in Uganda, and when it saw the DRC's government was favoring the Hutu and attacking Tutsis, it invaded with Ugandan support and installed its own president, Laurent-Désiré Kabila. Kabila started having difficulties holding onto power, so he called in foreign aid, and what followed was a war that involved nine countries, left millions dead, stripping of DRC's natural resources, rape, child soldiers... Seven years ago the ICJ demanded Uganda pay $11B, but Uganda is poor as well and said it could not afford that amount, so that's why it's been dropped to $325M. (Independent, Voice of America)

I was asked by several people about the mask mandate in NYS. The mandate required private businesses to demand masks and/or vaccines, but now that it's expired businesses can choose on their own to have those rules. The mandate is still in place for restaurants, gyms, and venues. Masks are still mandatory for schools (for now), public transport, hospitals, nursing homes, and jails. (NY1)

Even when he was president, Trump and the National Archives had a tense relationship. Legally he had to relinquish all of his paperwork, but he had this habit of tearing up papers, which the National Archives then had to tape back together. With the current January 6th investigation, it came to light Trump took a lot of records with him to Mar-a-Lago, including stuff that was classified. The National Archives had to get boxes from his residence, and threatened to get the Justice Department involved. (The Hill)

Someone asked for clarification on the RNC censuring issue. On paper, censuring doesn’t have any consequences, it’s just an upper body telling a politician “you messed up.” That's about it. I’m not familiar with the national committee procedures, but in congress usually the person has to sit through a panel where their colleagues tell them how much they messed up, which is really humiliating. Censures are relatively rare (the House I think has only censured less than twenty people in the last century), so when it happens it’s a pretty big sign the politician did something really, unequivocally bad. That’s why this is a big brouhaha because the RNC is saying it’s a horrible thing to be involved with the committee that’s trying to figure out what happened on the January 6th.

As I stated before, on paper censuring doesn’t do much, but there are usually unofficial consequences that follow. Like the congressman may find it’s harder to get their bills through or they may be removed from some committees. I’ve never seen a national committee censure before, but my guess is the RNC won’t put as much support behind Cheney and Kinzinger now, like less money or assistance for reelections.

[densi-mber]

Frozen, Part 3

A/N: Here is the third and final part of Frozen.

When we were last with Densi, they were facing impending hypothermia and Deeks had just suggested naked cuddling.

***

“Deeks, this is not a time for jokes,” Kensi sighed, or she tried to. It came out as more of a croak, her throat dry and hoarse from the cold. Each word made her throat ache, like it was being tore from her.

“Who’s joking? I am completely serious,” he insisted. “Skin-to-skin is proven to be one of the best defenses against the cold.”

Kensi rolled her eyes, not really sure why she was protesting, but not feeling like giving in. Maybe it was because she didn’t want to admit the situation was as dire as it seemed.

“We have the fire.”

“And it’s barely providing any heat.” He stepped closer and tipped her chin up. His fingers were red, but still made Kensi’s skin burn with the difference in heat. “Face it, Kens. Our clothes are soaked, we’re quickly heading towards stage three frostbite and impending hypothermia and if we don’t do something soon, we’re going to start loosing appendages. And I happen to like my fingers and toes. As well as a couple of other essential parts.”

Pulling in a small breath that burned her throat, Kensi glanced at the fire. Damn it but Deeks was right. She could barely feel it even from half a foot away and she was freezing.

“Fine,” she said, finally relented. “But we need to stoke up the fire and have things set up so we don’t have to get up a bunch.”

“Sweet. I’ve always wanted to spoon for survival.” Deeks ignored her glare in favor of moving the cot closer to the fire. She watched him for a moment, worried that he was straining himself too much. Even with the liquid stitches, he could reopen the cut which would put him at risk of more bleeding and possible infection.

Worry wasn’t going to save them though so she pushed those thoughts away, and added several more pieces of wood to the fire, moving the rest in easy reaching distance of the cot.

Kensi had a roll of string in backpack and together they ran it across the room to hand their wet clothes on and then tucked the three, depressingly thin, blankets around the thin mattress on the cot. By the time they were finished, her fingers were barely moving, and she felt increasingly lethargic.

She fumbled with the zipper on her coat, grabbing at the pull several times without any success. Deeks already had his boots and coat off.

“Oh baby, come here,” he said, noticing her struggle. Kensi was cold enough to let him lead her to the cot and not resist when he began tugging off her boots. She gasped when the cold air hit her now less protected feet. “Sorry.”

Deeks grimaced as he removed her coat, jeans and t-shirt, revealing more reddened skin. He stripped off his own thermal shirt, which was partially dry near the shoulders and used it to dry some of the moisture from her damp hair, which was frozen in icy tangles around her face.

At any other time, she would be distracted by the sight of him half naked and kneeling in front of her while he slowly undressed her. Now she just wanted to get them both under the covers as quickly as possible.

Wordlessly, Deeks left her to finish undressing and to hang up their clothes then dried his hair with one sleeve of his shirt. Kensi slid under the covers as he ran over in just his underwear and crawled in beside her. He tossed his boxer briefs over the side of the cot a second later, making a face.

“Never liked those anyway,” he commented, drawing the layers of blankets over their heads.

“Get over here,” Kensi croaked out, drawing him closer. She hissed at the initial contact, feeling like her skin was burning, but knew it was a good sign that she wasn’t completely numb. Deeks wrapped his arm tightly around her, his hands resting on her lower back, and intertwined their legs, creating a barrier all around her.

Cradled in his arms, she felt marginally warmer, but there was a fine tremor running through her now. Deeks held her even tighter, like he could somehow will away her hypothermia induced tremors.

“God, this would be so much more fun in Malibu,” he sighed a few minutes later. “You could wear that blue bikini of yours, the one that almost got us kicked out of Mammoth last year. I’d even break out my short shorts. Just laying out in the sun, surfing, and eating fish tacos.”

“I think you’d turn into a fish taco if I let you.” Her skin still ached a little but the combination of their bodies pressed together and a tiny of heat coming from the fire was starting to thaw her bit by bit.

Deeks contorted his head to look down at her, his expression skeptical.

“Uh, I seem to remember you were the one who ate six tacos all on your own last time.”

“I didn’t have any lunch that day,” she explained reasonably. Drips of cool water were beginning to trickle down her back from her thawing hair. She shivered again and burrowed a little further into Deeks’ arms, tucking her head between his shoulder and head.

“Mm, we probably should have eaten something before we got naked,” he said, his voice sounding slow and deeper than normal. It made her think of the sun, laying on the beach like he’d described.

“I’m not hungry.” She let out a giant yawn, wanting nothing more than to close her eyes.

“We can’t fall asleep,” Deeks muttered right before her eyes slipped shut.

***

“We should come here more often,” Kensi said, her voice light and dreamy as she trailed her fingers up Deeks’ chest. The sun beat down on his head while waves gently crashed against the shore. He swung both legs up onto their lawn chair so Kensi straddled his thighs. He fiddled with the blue string of her bikini and she smiled mischievously, leaning to whisper in his ear.

“Go ahead, no one’s around.”

Just as he was loosening the knot, a figure bent over them, blocking out the sun.

“You got a pulse?”

“I think they’re just asleep.” A hand shook Deeks’ shoulder and he turned away from it, wincing as a blast of cold hair hit his face. “Deeks, wake up.” He popped one eye open, trying to figure out what Callen was doing at the beach with him and Kensi. And why it was suddenly freezing.

“Callen?” he mumbled, rubbing at his eyes. He tried to sit up, inadvertently flipping the covers off Kensi. She yelped and sat up suddenly, looking around with a wild expression.

“Callen, Sam, what are you doing here?” she said, her words a little slurred as she tried to pull the blanket up around her shoulders.

“We tracked you using the GPS in your phones,” Callen answered. “Nell got worried when you didn’t check in yesterday.”

“Thank god for Nell.”

“Unbelievable,” Sam said, coming to stand beside Callen. “In the middle of a blizzard and you still can’t keep your clothes on.”

“We were huddling for warmth,” Deeks said, trying to sound dignified while he started shivering again. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s like 10 degrees out there.”

“And you just had to get completely naked.”

“Our clothes were wet,” Kensi said, brushing a handful of hair back. It was completely disheveled, sticking out in several places, and he had to resist the urge to lean over and kiss her.

“Speaking of clothes, you wouldn’t happen to have a some, by chance.” He leaned over and plucked at his shirt which was torn and still damp. “And maybe a parka or two?”

“We got you covered,” Callen said with an amused smirk. “Sam, you want to call Nell and let her know we found them?”

“I’ll get her to send a medivac too since we’re never getting an ambulance all the way out here anytime soon,” Sam added, eyeing the wads of discarded gauze and bandages. “Which one of you knuckleheads got hurt?”

Kensi immediately pointed to Deeks, having no problem selling him out.

“He’s got a 2 1/2 inch cut, not too deep, but it was pretty bloody,” she reported. “I did my best with the medical glue. He still might need some stitches though.”

“Traitor,” Deeks said and Kensi shrugged, patting his shoulder with mock sympathy. Sam walked off to call Nell while Callen pulled sweatshirts and pants from his backpack and tossed them on the cot.

“I’ll give you guys a couple minutes.” He turned go, but then turned back, gesturing between them. “If I hear anything even remotely suspicious going on in here, I’m tasing both of you.”

Kensi made a scandalized sound as Deeks shivered beside her, his hands tucked in his armpits.

“Believe me, this is one of the few times where sex sounds absolutely unappealing,” he assured Callen.

They dressed quickly, moving out of the relative warmth of the blankets as little as possible. Once they were clothed again, Deeks tugged Kensi against him, kissing her firmly.

“I’m really glad we didn’t freeze to death,” Kensi said as he held her tightly. “Or lose any...appendages,” she added with a smirk. He picked Kensi up, intending to carry her from the cabin, and then abruptly sank back down with a grimace.

“Ok, maybe we should go to the hospital,” he decided, clutching at his stomach as something twinged and possibly tore. Kensi helped him back down to the bed with a sigh.

“Well, I guess we’re not going to Malibu this weekend.” Deeks groaned again, his dreams of sun and bikinis quickly evaporating.

“I hate snow,” he said vehemently.

[hockey-prose]

Bitty Breaks the Internet

Summary: The AC in Jack and Bitty’s apartment is broken. So what better way to beat the heat than go out on the water? Bitty wears a new swimsuit, Jack takes his picture, and the picture ends up online. (Cross posted to AO3.)

It all started with that blasted weather. Simply put, it was stifling. Bitty was used to dry Southern summers and slight humidity. But he wasn’t prepared for this years incredibly humid Eastern summer. It made it worse that the AC in his and Jack’s apartment was broken and wouldn’t be fixed until next week.

So, while the two of them were boiling in their apartment, Bitty got a text from his mama.

Mama: Dicky, why don’t y’all just rent a boat and stay near the water for a few days?

That’s a great idea! Thanks Mama!

“Jack, honey,” Bitty said, adopting his extra thick accent. He knew it meant Jack would give him anything he wanted because he was sweet on his Southern side.

“Yeah, bud? What’s up?”

Bitty sat up, allowing the washcloth soaked in ice water to fall to his lap. He looked to his fiancé across the couch from him. It was so hot that the only parts of them that had been touching were their feet and ankles. There were at least 10 fans angled towards them.

“How about we rent a boat for the weekend? It’s the off season for you, and my deadline isn’t until next week.”

Jack lowered his phone, revealing the hair plastered to his forehead. Bitty’s heart squeezed with love for his man.

“I don’t know how to drive a boat.”

Bitty smacked Jack gently on the thigh.

“I do, honey! I spent I don’t know how many hours on boats in Georgia. Good Lord, the sunburns I’ve gotten. The point is that I know how to drive and I could teach you.”

“Do we want to invite other people or just have it be us?”

Bitty thought. As much as he loved every one of their shared friends, it would be nice to be just the two of them. Quiet.

“I think just us for this first time would be nice. Just the two of us?”

Bitty heaved himself forward to slide between Jack’s open legs. Jack’s eyes widened, but he covered Bitty’s hands where he’d placed them on his chest. Jack hummed.

“I like the sound of that. Want me to see if I can find any boat rental places?”

“How about we look together, huh handsome?”

The week came and went, and on Friday afternoon, Jack and Bitty took to the water at Providence Marina. Turns out, Marty had a boat docked there and gave Jack the keys to use it. The cooler that was clutched in each of their hands contained beer, soda, chips, sandwich fixings, fruit, and lemon blueberry mini pies.

After everything had been situated on the boat, and they’d had an awkward conversation with one of Marty’s dock neighbors, Bitty pulled them out to sea. They didn’t go very far, just out of view of the docks, and dropped the anchor.

Bitty turned on his portable speaker to some soft pop music, stripped off his clothes, and began making house on the boat. He could hear Jack snapping pictures with his camera. A quick look revealed that the subject was him.

“Well, now, Mr. Zimmermann. Who said you could take pictures of me just before I was about to fix you a sandwich,” Bitty sassed, planting his hands on his hips.

Jack took the camera away from his face, a love struck smile on his lips. He was also shirtless, and had laid himself on the deck of the boat to get a good angle.

“Sorry, Bits, you’re just so gorgeous I couldn’t help it. That swim suit is definitely doing you a favor.”

Bitty felt his cheeks warm, and a smile cross his own mouth. He’d bought the suit as soon as the boat was secured. It was almost a Speedo with just a bit more length. The print on them was white with light and dark blue sail boats.

“Oh hush now.”

A click.

“Jack Laurent Zimmermann!”

The afternoon passed with Bitty alternating between sunning himself on the deck and taking dips in the water. Jack kept mostly on the boat, occasionally dipping his legs in when Bitty swam. By the time they pulled into the dock, his shoulders were bright pink and he winced when he lifted the cooler.

“I told you to put on some more sunscreen, honey. There’s some aloe at home, but it’s gonna take more than that.”

“Bits, bud, don’t feel too bad. I’ll wear sunscreen tomorrow and bring a shirt too.”

“You still want to go out tomorrow?”

The couple buckled themselves into Jack’s car.

“Of course, Bits. You looked like you were loving it out there. As long as it makes you happy.”

Bitty leaned across the center console and planted a kiss on the underside of Jack’s jaw.

“You’re so sweet, honey. As long as you’re up for it.”

By the end of the weekend, Jack had taken over 100 pictures. At least 50 of them were Bitty. There was a handful of scenery, other boats and the ocean. And then a few were of the two of them. One for each day. They had gotten progressively pinker as the days went on.

Sunday night, the couple went to a nice seafood just off the water before heading home to fall into bed for a restful night sleep.

Wednesday rolled around quietly, and Bitty woke to about a thousand notifications on his phone. Some were texts. Some were notifications on Twitter. By far the most notifications came from Instagram. Even though he’d made an account, Bitty barely posted to Instagram except to promote his cookbook.

Deciding to look at the texts first, he was greeted with no context chirps from his Samwell friends. All of them were about him in a swimsuit?

What?

Bitty continued to flick through his messages. There were individual messages from everyone on his former team, but also in the big “Haus 4.0” group chat.

Holster (Adam Birkholtz): dUDE BITTY MY GOD HOW HAVE YOU STAYED SO HOT????

Ransom (Justin Oluransi): Jack’s lucky that nobody saw your ass or the internet would be broken brah

Lardo (Larissa Duan): bro, bitty DID break the internet have you seen his insta and twitter??

Shitty (BS Knight): I swear on the gods above if Bitty was not single and I was not straight, I would sweep him off his feet

Nursey (Derek Nurse): chill. was truly a kim k moment for Bitty

Dex (Will Pointdexter): Love the confidence my dude. Was really a monumental picture tbh

Honey 💞: Can we not talk about Bitty like a piece of meat?

ERB: What on earth are y’all talking about?

Lardo (Larissa Duan): bits, you gotta check jacks insta first before you come in here and ask questions

So that’s exactly what Bitty did. Goodness knows where Jack was because he was not currently in bed with him. The last text he sent was at 8:45 am and it was now 9.

Instagram proved to be a tough navigator. Not because Bitty was media illiterate, but because the sheer amount of new followers he got prevented the app from running properly. After three app crashes, Bitty grew frustrated. He logged out of his public account and into his private one.

Once on his smaller scale Instagram, he searched Jack’s name. The most recent post was of their weekend relaxation trip. It was one of those collections of images. The first three were of the ocean, some seagulls, and the view from the front of Marty’s ship. The next six were of Bitty and Jack in various stages of couple poses. Somehow Jack had even managed to capture Bitty feeding him some grapes. But the last image was what set a fire under Bitty.

The picture was of that first day. Bitty was wearing his, now scandalous in his eyes, swim suit. His sunglasses were perched on the edge of his nose. You could see the heat he held in his eyes for Jack, who had been behind the camera. Admittedly, Bitty had not been thinking of his body image at the time of wearing that swimsuit. But now that he had attracted so much attention to himself due to his body, he figured a once over couldn’t hurt.

The Bitty in the picture had a firm stomach, no defined abs to speak of. What was the need for them? He was perfectly healthy. The cut of the swimsuit allowed the camera to see the faint lines that traveled down from Bitty’s hips past the line of his swimsuit. His hair was shining in the sun. The skin of the Bitty in the picture looked a little pale, but he had no qualms otherwise.

He looked good.

Putting the praise of his body aside, Bitty knew he needed to find Jack.

ERB: Thank y’all for your kind words. It means the world to me. Now I have to find Jack and have a word with him

Shitty (BS Knight): AAH SHIT JACKS IN TROUBLE WITH BITTY AHAHAHAHA

Lardo (Larissa Duan): pls don’t kill jack

Bitty locked his phone and went out into the living room. No Jack. The entire open concept apartment was empty. Bitty knew the bathrooms and home office were empty. The doors always stayed open unless there was someone in there.

As Bitty pondered how to find his fiancé, the door unlocked with a small click. Jack emerged with several bags of groceries in hand. Bitty assumed position with his fists on his hips, but this time around, it was not nearly as tempting.

“Jack Laurent Zimmermann.”

“Bits! Uh, hey.”

Bitty tapped a foot on the floor.

“Euh, I didn’t know that post would go viral. I tried to soften the blow by bringing home everything you’d need to stress bake.”

Bitty came forward, taking the bags from Jack and going to the kitchen.

“Crisse,” Jack muttered before following Bitty.

“Bittle? I’m really sorry.”

“I know,” Bitty replied, his tone light. “I’m not mad, Jack. I only wish you’d told me you were going to post that where my mother could see it.”

Jack made a groan of displeasure as he approached Bitty from behind. Firm, warm hands pressed themselves into Bitty’s hips.

“Sorry, Bits.”

“Stop apologizing, honey! I’m just gonna have to field a call from my mama. I don’t think this’ll be worse than the cup, but I guarantee my family will chirp her for the rest of time.”

Jack buried his nose in the crook between Bitty’s neck and shoulder.

“George said the PR was good. We didn’t really need any more positive additions, but it doesn’t hurt.”

“Well I certainly hope not,” Bitty said with a scoff. “You didn’t post a picture of me nearly naked on the Internet for nothing!”

Jack laughed, and Bitty followed not long after. Together the couple baked breakfast pastries and Bitty got his own revenge.

Jack’s picture was also shirtless, but he was wearing his sweatpants reserved for lounging at home. His arms and stomach were so much more than Bitty’s. He had a workout routine to keep up with.

Once again, the Internet broke because of Eric Richard Bittle.

[attackonmyself]

July 3--Untying a Bikini Top (NSFW)

^The swimsuit in question

Brought to you by @voltage-vixen​‘s Summer of Smut!

Warnings: cunnilingus, vaginal intercourse, semi public sex

Standing in my room in the private beachfront villa, I picked up the tiny piece of black fabric once again, and sighed. How had the girls convinced me to wear this? 

“Oh no no no,” I yelled from inside the changing rooms. “Not this one. It barely covers anything.”

I heard giggling outside, then Anna saying, “Come on out and show us anyway.” I sighed and tiptoed out to where she and Kiki were waiting. 

“Wow,” Kiki whistled. “That’s it. That’s the one you gotta take with you.”

“What!?” I cried. “I can’t be seen in public like this! The one time I tried to go into a lingerie shop, he pulled me in the opposite direction before I could even set foot in it. You really think he’s gonna let me out of our room like this?” I scrambled for something, anything to cover up with. There was nothing. 

“MC. You should know by now that he doesn’t let you do anything. You decide for yourself,” Anna reminded me. “If you really don’t like the suit, we won’t push the issue.” Kiki’s protests at that statement were silenced quickly. “But you do look stunning, and I personally think you should buy it. It’s not like you get to go on a spur of the moment vacation to the Spanish beachfront every weekend.”

“Unless you’re Victor Li,” I muttered under my breath. “But okay. If you guys really think it’s the one--”

“It is! For sure!” Kiki interrupted. “No way he’s able to resist you in that.”

“Why do I feel like you guys are more interested in getting me laid than I am,” I groaned.

“Just get the suit.” Anna stood up, and grabbed a giggling Kiki by the arm. “We’ll meet you out front.”

So I bought it. But, I was beginning to lose my nerve now that the time had come to actually wear the thing. Just put it on, I told myself. What’s the worst that could happen? 

I quickly slipped it on, a cover up over it, and then went into the lounge where Victor was waiting. He was reading something on his tablet, sipping his coffee on the couch. 

“Ready at last?” He teased, putting down the tablet and eyeing me as I walked towards him.

“I didn’t take that long!” I cried indignantly. “I just couldn’t find my suit.” A fib, obviously, but I couldn’t let him know that I spent five minutes worrying over what to wear when I literally only had one bathing suit packed. 

“Hmm.” He got up and ran his fingers through my hair. “The meteorologist predicted wind this afternoon. You might want to tie this up.” 

I pulled the hair tie off my wrist and put my hair into a quick ponytail. “There. Let’s go!” I grabbed the beach bag off a nearby chair and headed for the sliding door that opened onto the beach.

He chuckled at my enthusiasm, then followed me out the door, his loose white shirt flapping in the already present wind. 

We walked along the shore for a while. I commented on the various shells I picked up, putting each into a side pocket of the beach bag Victor was now carrying for me. The sun shone bright, warming our bodies despite the cool wind.  We eventually happened upon a secluded inlet surrounded by large rocks which blocked off most of the wind, and there I decided to make my move. 

“It’s kinda warm, don’t you think?” I commented lightly, slipping off my cover up when Victor was looking in another direction. 

“What, can’t take a little sunshi--” Whatever he was about to say next was cut off as soon as he saw my suit. His eyes trailed up and down my figure, and I began to get a little nervous. 

“See something you like?” I said in what I hoped was a sensual tone, but in reality was more likely a timid one.

“A bold choice,” was his first comment. “I will have to admit that I am glad we are alone here, however.”

My heart sunk. “It looks that bad?” I winced and looked at my feet, insecurity seeping in.

He padded over and lifted my chin with a finger, looking directly into my eyes. “Quite the contrary.” He set down the bag that was in his other hand. “But this will be for my eyes only, understood?”

Self-doubt still present, I asked, “So you do like how it looks on me?” 

His eyes darkened. “I do. But do you know what I would like even better?” My eyes widened as I felt a hand trail up my back, stopping to play with the tie. He leaned in close, lips brushing the corner of my ear as I felt the bow I carefully tied come undone. “I’d like to see it off of you and inside your overly large tote bag.” 

He tugged the halter over my neck, and I quickly slid my hands under his shirt, pulling him towards me and into a passionate kiss. He was the one to break it, leaning down to grab a towel from the bag and lay it on the sand. “Lie down,” he commanded. I obeyed, and as soon as my bare back hit the fabric he was on top of me.

His kisses moved down my neck and onto my front. He moved to take one nipple into his mouth as he untied the sides of my bottoms with deft fingers. His lips left me for just a moment. “We won’t need these any longer,” he said in a low voice, looking me straight in the eye as he slipped them into the beach bag. He trailed his tongue through the valley in between my breasts, then slowly downward, sending shivers up my spine. He approached my core, but sucked at the hollow of my hip instead of giving me what I wanted most at that moment. 

“Victor,” I groaned. “Please.”

“Please what?” Came the response. He left a soft kiss in the bruise he had just made, and rubbed his thumb in the space where my thigh met my torso.

“Please sir,” I shot back. Two could play at this game, or so I thought.

“Cocky, but you know what I mean. Be more specific,” he ordered, drumming three fingers on my left thigh. 

“Please...you know,” I blushed. I hated it when he did this.

“Use your words, dummy.” Victor gave me a rebuking stare. “Or you won’t get anything.”

“Pleasefuckme,” I said as fast as I could. For all my confidence in the office, I was never any good at dirty talk. 

“Better,” he praised. “But not yet. Have patience while I prepare you.” He ducked down, and  I felt only his tantalizing warm breath on my pussy for a moment, then sighed as he finally placed a soft kiss on my core. 

Despite having officially been together for six months, we had only begun to move to more intimate activities in the past two. I didn’t have much experience from previous relationships, but Victor hadn’t even blinked when I told him this, instead vowing that even though he wasn’t my first, he would be my last and best. He hadn’t been wrong, either. I quickly learned that he derived his own pleasure from giving me pleasure, and one of his favorite ways to do so was with his tongue and fingers between my thighs. 

He flicked his tongue back and forth over my clit, broad hands holding my legs apart. I let out several small gasps and moaned as he closed his lips over my folds. He took his time, thoroughly teasing me until I was dripping. Only then did he slip one finger inside me, somehow immediately hitting my sweet spot on the first try.

“Victor!” I cried out. He smirked, and added a second finger, scissoring the two to open me up. “I’m close.” I warned. I groaned as he removed his fingers, wiping them on my thigh. 

“Since you’ve pleased me, I‘ve decided to give you a reward.” He stated. “You get to choose where you cum.” He looked me in the eye, making sure he had my attention. “My fingers, my mouth, or--”

“Your cock, please!” Want overrode any inhibitions or shyness I previously had. “I want to cum on your cock.” My hands bunched in the fabric of the towel as I blinked back tears of pleasure. 

“As you wish.” I heard the sound of a zipper being undone, then felt the tip of his cock breach my folds. He let out a low moan as he entered me slowly. I grabbed at his shoulders, focusing on searching for a handhold to keep me from cumming that instant. He set a rather rapid pace, his own release closing in on him as well. All it took was his hand reaching between us to brush my clit and I was cumming--hard. I clenched down around him as ecstasy overtook every sense, and he carried me through the entire peak and come down, restraining himself until he was sure I was spent. He pulled out quickly, and with a few strokes spilled all over my front, both of us panting hard. 

After we regained our breath, he grabbed another towel and cleaned me off. As he stood up and brushed the sand off himself, I grabbed my phone out of the bag and texted my group chat with the girls: you were right, he couldn’t resist it. I heard many alerts go off as I put my suit back on, but ignored them in favor of grabbing Victor and pulling him into a deep kiss. 

[agentwhiskeysdarlin]

A Test of Patiences

Request: Reader who’s a hairdresser broke her arm and she walks catfish through putting her hair up for a date

Pairing: Frankie “Catfish” Morales x Fem!Reader (no y/n)

Rating: NC-17

Warnings: angst (nothing too bad), reader being oblivious, smutty smut times,  & unprotected sex (wrap it before you tap it)

Word Count: 3,634 (yup it’s a long one)

Author’s Notes: After stepping away for a mini break I came back and this happened. It felt like it went better writing a little at a time over the course of a week. I may be doing a lot more that way. I find it funny the title with the story is kind of going along with my writing and me putting it out. Not only for myself but for the people who wait on my content (if there is any). I really hope you guys enjoy this because I actually really love this even though the end is a little messy. It was a long ass day but I promised it would be out tonight so here it is. Feedback in any way is welcomed just please be nice I’m fragile. Emotional support credit goes to @clint-aww-no-barton​ , @discogrrl​ & @nymphonet​ because without them I probably wouldn’t be writing. Also if the ‘keep reading’ thing doesn’t work I am so sorry to those who get annoyed with long fics not having that. I am not sure what I am doing wrong for it not to work.

ao3 link for story

How in the world was you going to manage this all by yourself? You looked in the mirror at your overly recked self. Your clothes were the same from days ago, your hair was a mess and you were pretty sure you needed to shave everywhere. The bright blue cast seemed to laugh at you as you glanced at it in the sling it still rested in. All these years wondering this earth and never once had you broken a single bone in your body. That had changed just a few days ago and boy no one seemed to tell you how much a pain in the ass it would be. It had put you out of your beautician job until you were completely healed, which would be weeks. It was incredibly hard to do anything by yourself including writing a sentence because of course it had to be your dominate arm. To top the cake off you had a date tonight. 

  You wanted to call and cancel it so bad but it had been awhile. You had been talking to this guy for weeks now and he had finally asked you out and you might have agreed way too fast. You kept starring at your reflection like you might blink and suddenly you would be showered and ready to go. Unfortunately the world did not work that way. You let out a sigh of frustration before setting to work on the day long process of getting ready. 

  You had managed everything very slowly by yourself throughout the day. You showered, carefully shaving your legs, picked out an outfit which you also had yet to figure out how to get on but right now you stood in front of the mirror starring at your unruly hair trying to decide the easiest way to style it for tonight. After several moments of a careful look through in your mind of all the different hairstyles you deemed it impossible to accomplish alone. You let out a sigh before reaching for your phone and dialing the only person you know who would drop anything to help you no matter what it was.

  “Hello?” Frankie Morales, also known as your best friend, voice greeted your ear and you smiled.

  “Hey Cat! Listen I need a massive favor.”

  “What’s going on?” He always jumped to worry.

  “Could you possibly come over and help me with a few things? This damn broken arm is more of a pain in my ass than I thought it would be,” you gave a small chuckle.

  “I will be there in five minutes,” you could hear the amusement in his voice.

  “You are a life savor Cat!”

  “I only do this shit for you,” he chuckled before speaking his goodbyes and hanging up the phone.

  True to his word, Frankie knocked on your door before entering five minutes after the two of you had spoken. You gave him a wide smile and your best puppy dog eyes.

  “What do you need help with?” He stood there, hands on his hips looking around the house like he was going to find some project to fix.

  “Well me,” you pointed at yourself and his eyes landed on you before he raised his eyebrows at you.

  “I know this is crazy and you are definitely going to think I am after I suggest this but is there anyway you could help me with my hair? It won’t be anything really difficult I promise! All you have to do is follow what I say and it will be fine!” You mumbled on.

  “I can’t believe I am about to agree to this but yes I’ll help you with your hair,” he let out a chuckle and you let out a sigh of relief.

  “I seriously owe you one after this Cat! Anything you need! As soon as I’m better I’m your gal!” 

  He shook his head before you took your good hand and pulled him to the bathroom. You sat down on a stool and he took his place behind you. You had all the tools you would need laid out and Frankie eyed them nervously. You looked up at him and gave him a thumbs up before starting to tell him what to do. A braid was the easiest thing you could come up with but of course you had to add you on flare to it and Frankie followed every instruction you gave down to the wire. He had his brows knitted in frustration, his usual hat already off, but he listened to every word that came out of your mouth and watched your helpless hand motions in the mirror. 

  “Cat it’s perfect! I may have to hire you as an assistant,” you chuckled as you turned and gave him a one arm squeeze hug.

  “I think I will pass on that. No wonder women stress so much over their hair. Shit is hard to do,” he hugged you back his face burying in your neck.

  “I have one more favor to ask of you,” you pulled away once again putting on the puppy dog eyes.

  “I am afraid to ask.”

  “I just need you to help me zip up my dress when I get it on.”

  “Oh yeah that’s simple.”

  He followed you to your room and respectfully waited outside as you struggled to slip in the little black number you had saved just for tonight. 

  “So what are you getting all dolled up for?” Frankie asked through your door.

  “I got a date. I know the most unbelievable thing ever but yes that Mark guy finally asked me out,” you were incredibly excited but thanks to the door you didn’t see Frankie’s face fall at this news.

  He had it bad for you. Anyone could tell it, anyone but you that was. Ever since Pope had introduced the two of you he had fallen for you in every single way. He didn’t want to push the issue and kept his feelings hid mostly because he was afraid to ruin the friendship the two of you shared.

  “You can come in,” you voice pulled him from his thoughts.

  Frankie walked through the door and your back was to him. He could see the smooth skin that stretched the length of the zipper and it made him gulp softly. He was careful not to accidentally touch your skin as he zipped the zipper up, knowing he would lose it if he did. You turned around and he looked you over before he let a smile pull at his lips. He prayed you wouldn’t see the sadness hidden behind it.

  “You look so beautiful,” his voice was soft and he was careful to sound happy.

  “Thank you Cat,” a blush rose to your face as you smiled at him.

  You turned to look at yourself in the mirror and taking a breathe. With one last request to Cat and a simple shake of his head and a chuckle you finished your look off with simple jewelry and you took a glance at your watch.

  “I gotta get going. Cat I seriously owe you. Thank you so so much for this. It means a lot. I promise you this weekend I will fix your favorite meal and we will sit on the couch and watch our favorite movie,” you gave him a hopeful smile after giving him your best hug.

  “You don’t have to do that. You know I would do anything for you. Just have fun tonight okay?”

  “I insist on the dinner,” you gave him your signature look that told him that was the end of that conversation.

  He laughed and gave you another look over before following you out of your room.

  “I’ll walk out with you,” you grabbed your keys and purse.

  “Oh no tell me he is not making your drive there?” Frankie stopped dead, pointing at your keys.

  “Oh yeah. It’s not that big of a deal Cat, I can drive myself still.” You gave him a pointed look.

  “How in the hell do you drive with one arm? Nope I’m dropping you off and if I have to come pick you up I will do that too. No arguments. Put your keys away and go get your ass in the truck,” Frankie gave you a dead serious look and you had only started to open your mouth when he raised his eyebrows at you.

  He had his own looks to let you know that the conversation was over too. You couldn't help but smile as you sat your keys down and the two of you walked out of your house.

  “Have fun but be safe. Hey and no matter what he says you look beautiful tonight,” Frankie gave you a smile as he dropped you off at the restaurant.

  “Yes dad and thank you Cat,” you leaned in the passenger window and gave him a smile before turning and walking up the steps.

  It was a fancy place and luckily you had called to make a reservation earlier that week. You were shown your table after agreeing to sit to wait for Mark. The waiter brought you breadsticks and took your drink order before leaving you to it. You sat there watching the couples and families around you enjoying their meals and your eyes kept gazing over to the clock on the wall.

  He wasn’t coming. An hour late? Yeah he was definitely a no show. The poor waiter came to give you your last chance with the most pitiful look on his face. He knew all to well what was going on and you gave him an apology before handing some money to pay for your drink and a tip for putting up with you. He gave you a sad nod and you exited the restaurant trying to keep yourself together. You jerked out your phone where several unread messages from Mark sat there starring and laughing at you. You rolled your eyes, tears dancing at the edge but you swallowed them back as you dialed Frankie’s number.

  “What’s wrong?” How was he so good at this?

  “He stood me up,” your voice came out with a break in it.

  “I’m going to kill him,” Frankie was pissed.

  “Later, just please come get me,” you begged softly.

  “I’m on my way.”

  You hung up and stood there looking pathetic and trying so hard to keep from crying in front of the people who were sitting outside waiting for a table. You moved off to the side and sat down on a bench as you waited for Frankie to come save you from the humiliation. You soon heard Frankie’s truck and he pulled up and you didn’t even give him time to get out and open your door before you were up and inside. The second you hit the seat and pulled the door shut you lost it. Frankie let you sit there and cry for a second as he drove you home. He knew you well enough to let you get your emotions out.

  “How am I so damn stupid? Why did I ever think a man would ever want me!? I should have just known it was all too good to be true,” the word vomit came quickly and you sniffled between words as you filled the cab with your voice.

  “First of all you are not stupid at all. He is the fucking idiot here. He is no man for doing this to a women especially you. You deserve so much better. Hell you deserve the whole damn world,” he seemed to clip his words off at his last statement.

  “Cat…” you looked over at him.

  He pulled into your driveway, put the truck in park and turned it off before just sitting there. The air was full on tension and you wasn’t sure what to say nor what his statement really meant. It had your heart racing and you almost let yourself believe for a second it meant what you wanted it to.

  “Cat what did you mean by that?” You had dried your tears on your hands.

  “I meant exactly what I said,” he got out and started for your front door and you knew this wasn’t over.

  You got out and followed him, unlocking your door before stepping in. He stepped inside taking off his hat and running his fingers nervously through his hair.

  “It sounded like there was more of a hidden meaning there Cat,” your voice was soft as you looked at him.

  He looked at you for several moments. You both just stood there starring each other down. He seemed to be looking your face over like he was trying to figure out his next move. He took a step back like he was having a war with himself. You gave him this begging look, so desperate to know what was going on inside that head of his.

  “Oh fuck it,” he threw his hat before crossing the room to you.

  “Cat…” he didn’t let you finish.

  His hands came up to cup your face on each side gently before his lips crashed against yours. Surprise took you at first before you melted into him and kissed him back. You had always had a secret thing for this man. He was someone who had always treated you so incredible but you had pushed your feelings way aside because you didn’t want to ruin what the two of you currently had. It was wonderful to have him in your life and you didn’t want to complicate that or screw it up by making it a relationship. His lips were making you dizzy and running all your thoughts together. This is what it felt like to actually be kissed. To be kissed by someone you knew loved you even if they had never said it in this way. It was Frankie’s way of confessing his feelings to you and you didn’t mind one bit. He pulled away all too soon and you looked at him after your eyes fluttered open. You searched his puppy dog eyes as he seemed to search yours.

  “I’m sorry,” his voice came out rough and a whisper as he started to pull away.

  “Cat, wait,” you grabbed at one of his wrist keeping his hand on your right cheek.

  The shock on his face was evident and you couldn't help but to smile up at him.

  “Me too,” it was simple but he knew exactly what you meant.

  The smile that stretched his face was pure joy and happiness but there was still worry playing in his eyes and you seemed to wear the same look.

  “Do we want to do this?” He stepped back closer to you taking his other hand and landing it on your hip, pulling you closer.

  “I really want to but Cat we can’t let this ruin us. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

  “I promise you that I’m not going anywhere. I will fight for you until the day I die,” his thumb started to rub smooth circles on your face under your eye.

 “I promise to do the same Cat always.”

  “Then I think it’s safe to call you mind then huh?” His face broke into a splitting smile.

  “I’m yours Cat,” you let your smile match.

  His lips then crashed to yours and the kiss became deeper, with more passion behind it. Frankie was quick to reach down and pick you up bridal style before carrying you to your room. He kicked the door open and gently laid you down upon your bed never letting his lips leave yours. 

  “Should we with my arm?” You pulled away already panting as you look up at him.

  “I’ll be gentle I promise,” there was a hunger in Frankie’s eyes you had never seen before and it went straight to your core.

  Your lips connected again and Frankie crawled over you keeping himself up enough not to have hie weight on top of you. His hand went from your cheek down your neck pausing for a second to brush his thumb over your throat before traveling further. He let his hand settle on your breast before squeezing yearning a moan from you. He let his lips follow the direction his hands had just went as his hand went to your back. He slowly pulled your zipper down until he could successfully remove your dress. He was careful with your arm and his movements but unfortunately your sleeve ended up stuck and you couldn’t help the giggle that pasted your lips.

  “I’m sorry Cat,” a full on laugh bubbled up and Frankie couldn't help but to let one of his own go at the struggle you both were in.

  Finally you pulled your sleeve free and Frankie shook his head as he threw the dress somewhere in the room. He sat up to remove his shirt and his eyes feel over you. He let them rake over your body and you couldn't help the blush that rose to your cheeks.

  “You are so beautiful.”

  His lips came back to your skin but this time he started at your collarbone and started to travel further down. He reached behind you and undid your bra as he kissed the top part of your breast. He looked at your breast for a short moment before his eyes met yours and then he dipped down and took a nipple into his mouth. He sucked and bit pulling moans from your. Your fingers found their way into his hair and pulled slightly as he moved to give the other one the same care. He then crawled back up and reconnected his lips with yours. His hand traveled down pulling your panties down as far as he could push them without moving and his fingers brushed across your clit causing your back to arch and a cry to escape from between your lips. He let his fingers dip further down gathering the juices that had already gathered there. He pulled away to watch your reaction as he slipped two fingers inside of you. You let out a moan and let your head fall back. Frankie moved his fingers quickly pulling all the right noises from you.

  “Cat wait,” you quickly said reaching down with your good hand and stopping him.

  “Are you okay?” His voice was full of concern to match his face perfectly.

  “I want to cum with you inside me,” you blushed at your words and yearned a smirk from the man hovering over you.

  He reached down and kissed you deep again before standing up to remove his jeans along with his underwear. You watched him, biting your lip when you saw his already hard cock spring up when he slid his underwear down. You couldn’t help but to lick your lips at the sight before looking up at him. The look in his eyes was something you had never seen before. He was on you again this time with so much more momentum and he was quick to line up with your entrance and slip inside. You both let groans and moans fall from your mouths at the feeling. Finally feeling all of each other. He kept himself hovered over you to stay careful of your arm. He stilled for a few moments to make sure you were use to him before you gave him a nod for him to move. He started a pace that was quick but gentle. You let your good arm wrap around his neck and lace your fingers in his messy hat hair and pulling before connecting your lips back to his. You would never get tired of kissing this man. His kiss was so hungry and it gave him plenty of go ahead to pick up his pace and become a little rougher. 

  “You won’t break me Cat I promise,” you smirked up at him.

  That was enough for him to go harder. It was gentle and rough all at one time. He was so careful with you as he still snapped his hips into you over and over pulling noises from you that you had no idea you could make. You could feel yourself growing closer and closer to your release and it only caused you to let your good hand go from his hair down his back giving him decent marks to remember this moment. 

  “Cat I’m…”

  “I know sweetheart. I got you, let go,” he growled in your ear.

  His words sent you toppling over the edge as you came hard around him. All you could feel was him everywhere and all around you. He followed soon after groaning your name in your ear as he released himself inside of you. His forehead touched yours and you both panted heavily after finally riding out the high. Frankie had slightly gone limp and you noticed the pain that was suddenly climbing your arm.

  “Um Cat my arm,” you let out a slight hiss as he moved out of you and from on top of you all at once.

  “Oh shit! I’m so sorry! I forgot. Are you okay?” He went into panic mode immediately.

  “I’m fine Cat! I’m fine, “ you couldn't help the laugh that followed his panic.

  “It’s not funny!” He tired to be defensive but just ended up laughing along with you.

  “I promise we will do this properly after I get this stupid thing off,” you rose your arm up and rolled your eyes.

  “Hey it was still perfect,” Frankie spoke softly as he turned on his side.

  He bent down and kissed your forehead and you reached up with your good arm and rubbed at his cheek.

  “Yeah it was pretty perfect.”

Tagged: @jimmythegirl​ @arcadianempress​ @discogrrl​ @immundusspiritu​ @someplace-darker​ @beskars​ @talesfromtheguild​ @thisis-theway​ @on-the-razor-crest​ @fioccodineveautunnale​ @spookyold-saintjm​

[lovely-little-whumpee]

Yuliy Morrow - Capture

Alright so I went ahead and decided to publish it. Whether I’ll regret this or not has yet to be decided lol. 

Wordcount: 1.4k 

Taglist (let me know if you’d like to be added or removed): @king-ivory @shigar4kifuck3r

Cw: kidnapping, drugging, little bit of violence (not that much though)

“Alright Mr. Hernandez, have a good night!” 

“You too kid. I’ll see you on Monday, make sure you’re not late this time!” Yuliy chuckled as he exited the closing pizza parlor, heading to the small parking lot around the back where his bike was located. Truly, he’d only been late a few times, most of which was because he’d overslept after having studied for a test. He was sure he’d made up for the missed hours with his overtime, but his boss— Mr. Hernandez, never let him live it down, always joking about when he was going to be late next.

The frigid Autumn air chilled him down to his bones, and Yuliy wrapped his thin jacket tighter around himself. He’d yet to pull his winter coat out of storage, and he was sorely regretting his decision. He could see his own breath faintly in the air, and he tucked his hands under his arms in an effort to preserve some warmth. 

His bike was right where he left it, in that little section of the parking lot that was often overlooked completely in favor of spots that were closer to the pizza parlor. He’d had his bike stolen one too many times not to be overly cautious when it came to it’s safety. “I’m gonna get home, shower, and then sleep for the next twenty four hours,” Yuliy mumbled to himself as he unchained his bike, storing the lock and chain in the basket up front. 

It had been too long a week, and he was looking forward to the weekend, particularly the free hours that came with it. He’d been getting ready to mount his bike when he heard the noise. It was the sound of a woman crying, in distress but not seeming to be in danger. It wasn’t all that uncommon for people to hide in the alley beside the parlor, especially if they were homeless, and Yuliy sighed. He’d been hoping to get home a few minutes early. Still, he couldn’t just leave her there. 

He pushed down the kickstand and quickly re-locked his bike, before burying his hands deep into his pockets, walking to the alley from where the sound was originating. “Ma’am? Are you okay? What’re you doing back here?” He asked, trying to locate her through the darkness of the night. He kept an eye on the exit of the alley, not liking how dark it was and the fact that he’d left his bike. It would have been too narrow to comfortably fit him alongside it, but it still made him wary nonetheless. 

“Ma’am?” He asked again, just as he finally located her. She was curled up next to the trash can, on the opposite side from which he entered. She looked tired and disheveled, but not homeless, as though she’d run away from someone or something before she could get all her bearings. “Are you hungry? I could get you some of the breadsticks from the back,” he offered, knowing that although he’d clocked out for the night, Mr. Hernandez wouldn’t mind. Yuliy would pay for them himself if he had to. 

She didn’t make things any easier for him by stating what she wanted, in fact, she acted like she hadn’t heard him at all as she continued her weeping. Perhaps she was on drugs? Yuliy had dealt with his fair share of druggies, but they were usually somewhat responsive. He’d turned to go explain the situation to Mr. Hernandez, when he came face to face with another stranger. The man was big and broad, looking out of place in the narrow alley. He seemed like more of a body guard then anything. Yuliy went to take a step back, but behind him was the weeping woman, and so he couldn’t take more than half a step. 

Trying not to judge based on appearances, Yuliy spoke, “Oh— uhm sorry, do you know her? She’s been crying here for a while now.”

“This him?” The man addressed the woman, who actually responded, looking up at the man and nodding. Her face looked completely dry with what little he could tell from the pale moonlight above. Yuliy realized that he must’ve fallen for a trap or something of the sort, and quickly took several steps to the side, trying to get back to his bike, which was only a few feet away. Suddenly, there was someone else beside him, grabbing his arms and wrenching them painfully -ow-too-tight-I-don’t-like-this-my-arm-will-break- behind his back. Yuliy cried out, before stepping on the stranger’s foot, and instead of the grip on him being loosened, it got tighter. 

“W-wait just tell— just tell me what you want! I’ll give it to you!” Yuliy shouted, bucking his body in an attempt to get the man off him. “Money? Is it money you want?! I don’t have cash, but— but I’ll PayPal you or something, I swear!” He was desperate to get out of his unfortunate situation, and he didn’t care about the ridiculous things spewing from his mouth. It didn’t matter, not when he was -scared-dying-they’re-going-to-take-me away-no-please-don’t- being attacked. Yuliy could only hope that he was loud enough to get the attention of Mr. Hernandez, whom he knew hadn’t left for the night. He always stayed after a couple of hours to count the register and whatever else it was that he did during that time.

His hair was yanked harshly by the same stranger behind him, wrenching his neck to the side as the broad man advanced upon him, something in his hand. Fearing the worst, Yuliy renewed his struggles and attempted to scream, only for it to get silenced by a tight hand over both of his mouth and nose. His muffled begging -no-please-stop-I-don’t-want-to-die- went unnoticed as Yuliy finally discovered what was in the man’s hand: a needle. 

Almost without thinking, he kicked his foot, successfully kicking the bodyguard in his chest, sending him stumbling back. Not one to miss an opportunity when it presented itself, Yuliy slammed his head back, connecting with the assailant behind him. The stranger let go with a loud curse, and Yuliy didn’t hesitate, beginning to run out the alley the same way he came. He was right at the mouth of the alley when he was tackled to the ground, his head cracking against the asphalt painfully. “Someone help me! Please!” He shouted at the top of his lungs, right before there was a searing pain that traveled through his cheek. 

He didn’t know if he’d been punched or slapped, but he was glad that it had been the assailant from behind, and not the bodyguard, as he was sure he wouldn’t be conscious anymore had it been him. “Stupid fucking kid, more trouble than he’s worth,” the assailant mumbled under his breath, pinning Yuliy to the ground with a knee to his chest, his hands holding Yuliy down by his wrist, grip bruising. 

“P-please— I don’t know what you want— just tell me what you want,” Yuliy pleaded as the bodyguard crouched down next to him with the needle. He strained away from the other as much as he could, but was only able to move a few inches with the heavy weight pressing down on his chest -I-can’t-breathe-he’s-not-letting-me-breathe-he’s-gonna-kill-me- preventing him from fully inhaling. The man didn’t say anything, simply stabbing the needle into his neck and pressing down on the plunger with one fluid movement, as though he’d done it many times before.

It burned as it entered his skin, and he could feel the effects of it begin to start working immediately, his body rapidly losing strength. The next thing he knew, the assailant from behind had gotten off of him, and Yuliy found he couldn’t move even when he tried. What was happening to him? The broad man was talking to someone on the phone, and he strained his ears to pick up pieces of the conversation. “Korean kid... about 5’5” maybe 110 pounds… messy hair… okay, yeah boss I understand.” Yuliy’s vision began greying out, and no matter how hard he fought it, he couldn’t stay awake. The last thought he had was that his bike was probably going to get stolen again. 

Masterlist | Next

[trouvelle]

Red-Hearted Tragedy

For @tanteigisachi, thank you for pulling me out of my hole and back out here <3 You’re the kindest! I hope you can visualize the chirping birds and colorful butterflies and glittering rainbow that I’m presenting you this with (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ*

Fandom: Detective Conan/DCMK Pairing: Shinichi/Ran, (side Heiji/Kazuha and Kaito/Aoko) Rating: G Genre/Tags: Fluff, Domestic Warning: None

•

Shinichi has a theory about parenthood.

He used to think it’s not possible that once one becomes a parent, one also stops being anything else. Like the status he has right now. He was always known as a Great Detective of the East, the badass son of the famous writer Kudo Yusaku and a soccer enthusiast. Now he's barely himself, the state of parenting having sucked his body dry of anything remotely cool he had going on. Shinichi wonders if Ran feels the same. When Conan first arrived, they were extremely thrilled about finally being a family and so for a long while, Conan was pretty much everything in their minds. Ran started refusing to go to work at Teitan and Shinichi missed more cases than he can account for—all in favor of watching their baby grow healthy and in a strong household.

They succeeded. Conan is now a kind, obedient, smart and very lovely four year old and there is still nothing more important than him in his parents’ lives.

However.

It will be Valentine's Day soon and Shinichi would love for this to be their first Valentine’s Day without Conan's presence jumping and screaming for them to watch Pororo instead of opening a bottle of wine. Don't get him wrong, he loves his son. He just misses being romantic with his wife. That’s just tragic.

That's why he calls Heiji.

"Forget it," the guy says. "Kazuha and I had a hard time booking a nanny for Valentine's. She's pretty expensive and the only one who hasn’t been threatened by the twins so far."

Shinichi traps the phone between his ear and his shoulder while typing the report to finish up his latest murder case. It's the second case he’d taken this week. He's tired and grumpy and wants to end his week early to spend the whole Valentine weekend, but people seem to be exploding with their grudges, stalking ex-girlfriends here and murdering ex-husbands there.

"You should get them checked," Shinichi jokes half-hardheartedly.

The other gasps. Shinichi can practically hear Heiji’s Giant Head of Doom growing in size. "Don't insult my beautiful children!"

"You could at least ask your nanny to look after Conan as well. He's quiet, and you know he won't make any mess."

"Get your own nanny." Heiji scoffs. "Where ya’ at?"

Shinichi exhales. "Working."

"How many cases ya’ got this week?"

"Three. People really need to chill. It’s the holiday of love, not hatred. ” Shinichi answers with such exasperation and Heiji laughs. “I take it you’re just as busy as I am?”

"Nah, I got a murder and a robbery earlier this week but now I’m chillin’ and ready for the weekend." Shinichi just knows that his best friend is grinning ear to ear at this moment.

And so he decides he's had enough of him. He hangs up with a scowl, but not before sending one last grumble in Heiji’s way.

•

Ran places a cup of coffee in front of Shinichi, Conan's orange juice in one hand and this morning’s newspaper under her arm.

"He won't do it," Shinichi says.

Ran squints, sitting across from him at the dining table. "Kazuha-chan told me they’ve gone through a lot of trouble to find a good babysitter. I think that means they do not want to babysit this weekend."

"Well they just found one and he says he won't share." Shinichi sips at his coffee.

Ran chuckles, standing up and calling for Conan, who walks out from his bedroom already perfectly dressed (hair a mess, though). The four year old tiptoes to reach his juice box, jumping on the couch once the box is secure between his hands. Shinichi gulps his coffee before walking toward Conan and sitting himself next to his son on the couch.

"Hey," he says.

Conan blinks dazedly, clearly bored out of his mind and undoubtedly thinking about the comfort of his bed. It's barely even eight and the kid is already tired.

"So... today is a special day," he continues. Conan stares at him. "A special day for... daddies and mommies."

"Valentine's Day?" Conan asks. Shinichi frowns.

"Yes, how do you know about Valentine's Day?"

"Everyone knows about Valentine's Day, Dad."

"But you're too young to..." he shakes his head. "Never mind. Are you ready for school?"

Conan stands up as if doing so is such a burden, and Shinichi thinks about talking to Ran about ways to make kindergarten seem more interesting for their toddler. 

•

There is no nanny available. All nannies were already booked by smarter couples that probably have been planning their Valentine's night for days. Shinichi and Ran are easily 'the rest'.

"Kuroba, please? Can you watch Conan just for one night?"

"It's Valentine's Day, Kudo."

"You told me that you don’t have any plans with Aoko anyway. You could use some company. Conan is nice company, he likes your magic tricks and he's an amazing listener. You can dump all your dissatisfaction with life and your father-in-law and the world on him, he won't even mind."

Kaito is beyond outraged. "First of all, I DO have plans with Aoko! It’s just that her father wants to have a Valentine's dinner with her that she can’t say no to.” Shinichi has to drag the phone away from his ear. “Second of all, ALL kids love my magic tricks and. And I am definitely NOT dissatisfied."

Shinichi wisely chooses not to point out the extreme dissatisfaction in the magician’s voice. "Please? Ran and I really need this moment. It's been ages since we went on a romantic dinner. We haven’t even had the chance to spend any alone time outside lately."

"And you blame that on your son." Kaito's tone is accusing and reprimanding.

"No. Yes, somehow, but, not in a bad way. It's just... Being a parent is hard. We focus all our time and energy on Conan and end up with nothing left for ourselves. I miss having a day for us, you know?"

There's silence. Shinichi hopes Kaito is trying to picture how hard it is to have a child and eventually consents, because he's Shinichi's last option. But to be honest, maybe it’s not the best idea to put in the magician’s head. He doesn’t want an angry Aoko coming for him.

"Ok, fine." Kaito answers and Shinichi punches the air in celebration. "Remember that you owe me another one and that I expect free food."

"You got it, Kuroba!"

•

If all kids are as calm as Conan, Kaito muses, then he can’t wait until Aoko and his bundle of joy arrives. He only prays that his child wouldn’t turn out to be as hyper as the Hattori twins. Conan doesn't seem affected by Kaito's presence, but then again, everything the kid needs is his pillow and a television. Preferably some cartoons.

•

Shinichi averts his gaze from the two just as his wife walks into the living room. Ran looks good. So good. And Shinichi's hands are sweating with anticipation. It's been so long since the last time they've gone out, just the two of them where clowns and kiddy toys aren't involved.

He approaches her, who is now leaning against the wall with arms folded on his chest and a fond expression on his face. She's watching Conan staring at the TV while clutching his pillow, the boy's eyes already drooping with drowsiness. Kaito sits next to him and occasionally attempts to chat, but Conan isn't exactly a conversationalist. He's one of the quiet ones. And definitely Shinichi’s son.

"He's so big," Ran mentions in that tone she only uses when talking about Conan. "Did four years really go by that fast?"

Shinichi sighs as Conan perches his head up to watch Kaito perform some tricks. "Why? Do you still think about him as a baby?"

"He's still a child. He still needs care." Ran bites her lips, worry washing over her features. "Maybe we should cancel Valentine's Dinner."

Before Shinichi can muster up an angry answer about several months without a couple's moment and the survival of their relationship while being parents, Kaito walks towards them.

"You guys should go or you'll miss the reservation," he says, that annoying complacent smile on.

"Do you have the list of things he's allowed to eat and do you have the list of numbers to call if something happens?" Ran fidgets with her fingers. Shinichi promptly holds her hands.

Kaito smiles. "Yep, I've got it covered, Ran-san. Just go and have a good time and come back early if you can."

They probably wouldn’t.

•

Shinichi also has a theory about having a good time on Valentine's Day.

For them, it's not possible anymore.

They make it to the reservation in peace and the lobster Ran ordered is on its way when Shinichi's phone rings. It's their home number, so it has to be Kaito. He takes a deep breath to mentally prepare himself for a disaster, but instead of destruction he gets his son's voice.

"Heiji jichan?" Conan says.

Shinichi pulls the phone away and glares at the screen. Why would his own son call Hattori, not him? Shinichi did set Hattori’s number on their speed dial after his and Ran’s, but nevertheless he is gravely disappointed.

"Conan?" he asks, Ran frowning.

"Oh Dad? Sorry, I want to call Heiji jichan. Goodb—”

Shinichi narrows his eyes and interrupts before his son can hang up. “Hey buddy, is everything ok?”

“Um, It's Kaito jichan, dad. He's dying."

Shinichi's brain processes the fact that his toddler is nowhere near harm, and he exhales very loudly in relief. And once he processes what his son actually said, he chokes on his own saliva. Ran leans towards him, eyebrows knitted together. 'What's wrong?' she mouths. Shinichi can't even bring himself to say it.

"What—” he coughs into the phone. "What do you mean, Conan? You didn't make someone stick a fork up the socket again, did you? Conan, I told you that is dangerous."

Ran gasps, horror freezing her face. Both her hands fly to her mouth as she stands up, dropping to the floor next to Shinichi's chair. He runs a hand through his hair and slowly shakes his head, reassuring her that their son is ok. Although there is someone dying and they should be on their way home already.

"He ate something from the fridge, Dad. Now he's moving funny and he sounds weird."

If he tunes everything out, he can indeed listen to faint noises in the background. That's probably Kaito having a hard time.

"What is it?" Ran asks, squeezing Shinichi's thigh.

"Kuroba ate something and is now dying."

"DYING?" She pulls herself up and paces around in panic. "He didn't eat the stew did he? Because Sonoko sent us that and she said it’s something called Bouillabaisse which is—”

“— fish... stew." Shinichi finishes lamely.

Which Kaito is tragically allergic to.

"We need to go," he jumps from his seat, drawing his wallet and throwing some money on the table. He wishes no one would steal it because they're in a hurry and he always sees people throwing money on tables at movies so he figures it works. Out of luck, the restaurant Shinichi picked is a few minute drive from their house. There's a nice chance they'll get to save Kaito.

•

Shinichi's theories have been proven correct:

1. He's no longer simply Kudo Shinichi, great Detective of the East and husband of Mouri Ran. He's now Kudo Shinichi, Conan's dad. 2. Therefore, it's tragically impossible to enjoy Valentine's Day with only the woman he loves.  3. His son is perfectly okay with conveniently inconveniencing his uncle Heiji at any given circumstance (in this case, he calls Heiji after Shinichi hangs up just to see which one of them would arrive to save Kaito the fastest). 4. Couldn't Kaito have picked another moment to try and die?

Shinichi's Valentine's Day is now being spent at the ER, with his four year old son fast asleep in his wife’s arms while said wife stares glassy-eyed at the television in the waiting room. It turns out that Conan was trying to call Heiji instead of him because he did not want to ruin the “special day for mommies and daddies” for his own mommy and daddy.

Well, it doesn’t really matter now. Everyone’s Valentine’s Day has been ruined beyond repair. It’s something they’d definitely look back and laugh about, but looking around the room, Shinichi’s certain that none of them has enough energy to muster a nice joke. 

Although, he actually chuckles when he hears Kazuha say, “I told you something was gonna happen tonight, Heiji. I told you so.”

There are bags under Ran's eyes and her hair is disheveled, the red sweater she'd carefully picked for their date now draped loosely around their son for his warmth. Shinichi snorts, feeling mocked. All he wanted was a romantic night with his wife. That's all.

He sticks his hand into his pocket, thumb flicking over the pendant of the necklace he was supposed to give to Ran as a surprise. It's a simple necklace. Not that he doesn't have the money—it's just that Ran doesn't care about expensive stuff. 

"Hey," A whisper pulls him from his reveries and Shinichi glances at his wife. Ran looks tired, but so damn beautiful. How could someone as gorgeous as her have ended up with a piece of geeky detective like him? "Don't beat yourself up."

He sighs, blinking as he drags the necklace out of his pocket. "We've changed, haven't we?" He brings his eyes up to Ran's.

“Of course we have. There are three of us now. It doesn't mean we can't have a good time. Look at Aoko-san and Kuroba-kun, I’d say they’re having it worse than us.” Ran smiles knowingly, hand caringly brushing over Conan's hair.  “Also, is that my present?”

Shinichi smiles back at her, lifting his hands. "It is... Yeah, it's supposed to be your present."

"I love it!" Ran laughs.

"I already know you do." Shinichi takes one last look at the necklace and decides that it will look better around Ran’s neck. He would gladly help Ran put the necklace on, but Conan is an effective clinger, both arms locked around his mom’s neck.

"Shinichi… thank you. I didn't have time to get you a present, sorry." She mumbles the last part of the sentence with guilt, eyes still locked with his. He can see the apologetic shine in her eyes, even though he doesn’t understand why she feels the need to apologize to him. He doesn’t want anything else from her. She’s already everything he can ever wish for.

"I don’t need anything else," he says, pushing the necklace into Ran's pocket before leaning over to peck at his wife’s lips.

—

Shinichi has another theory about this night.

It didn't turn out to be what he was expecting it to be: his friend almost accidentally killed himself; his four year old son almost witnessed someone die; his best friend is willing to drop anything just to attend to said son; they nearly ran over an old lady in their haste to go home to save Kaito's life (which was proven futile anyway, because Heiji miraculously appeared first to get them to the hospital) and all of them are now ending their very special night at the hospital as Kaito recovers from his near-death experience. 

It was a tragedy. Everything went wrong except for one thing. Shinichi and Ran went through it all together. 

[starrybethany]

Clayton Keller: Part 4

Word count: 2450

I wake up for the third time, sighing in frustration at the fact that I’ve been awoken from my slumber. Clayton woke me up twice during the night by kicking me- I don’t know why this man can’t let me have my space considering it’s a California-king sized bed, but for whatever reason he needs to be pressed up against me at all times.

I close my eyelids, planning on going back to sleep for a couple more hours before deciding to start my day. But something brushes against my nose. And then there’s a poke. I open my eyelids, and as much as I know that the adoring smile that’s on Clayton’s face should warm my heart, I narrow my eyes into a glare.

How dare he wake me up.

“Oh good, you’re up,” his husky, morning voice says. Butterflies fill my stomach but I make my eyes narrow even more at his words, still upset that he woke me up. He rolls his eyes like he knows why I’m upset and rests his head back down on the pillow, not taking his eyes off of me. “You’ll get over it.”

“What time is it?” I ask through a yawn.

“Nine o'clock.”

I groan. “My body still thinks it’s five o’clock. But maybe that’s because you woke me up several times last night.” I reach my foot over to kick his thigh and he grabs it, just holding onto my ankle.

“I did? Sorry about that.”

I don’t respond, resting my head back on the pillow and closing my eyes. I just want a few minutes of peace before I have to get up and start my day. Clayton begins to laugh so I open an eye, looking over at him.

“What are you laughing at?”

“You stayed over last night.” He reaches over, lacing his fingers through mine. “And I didn’t have to convince you too.”

“More like force,” I mumble. He makes a smart remark to that but I’m too busy thinking about his words.

Shit, I did stay over last night without a second thought. In fact, I cuddled him to sleep. Is that part of this arrangement? I thought this arrangement was mainly about sex but there seems to be more of an emotional connection than sex.

I feel like I’m in a relationship again and I’m not ready for that at this point in my life. That’s the whole reason why I rejected Clayton, I feel like I’m not ready emotionally to support someone else. Even just thinking about it almost gives me a panic attack.

“So does this mean that I don’t have to hold the contract over your head anymore?”

I snap out of my thoughts, looking over at Clayton. “What?”

“Now you can just hang out with me because you want to, not because I’m forcing you to. You proved it last night,” he points out.

“I stayed with you because I knew you would say something if I tried to leave,” I half-lie, reverting my gaze to the ceiling.

“That’s bullshit and we both know it.”

“Is it? Because I tried to leave that one night and you told me that I had to stay, so why would this time be so different?” I snap, turning back to glare at him. I don’t like the direction this conversation is headed in.

“Not a morning person, I see,” he murmurs.

I scoff, throwing my feet over the side of the bed to stand up.

“Where are you going?” He inquires.

“Home.” I grab my phone from his bedside table and head out of his bedroom and to the entrance. I’m pulling my shoes onto my feet when he makes an appearance, leaning against the wall like I’m boring him.

“Come on, you’re really going to leave because of a little teasing?” He raises his eyebrows.

“I just want to go home, Clayton.” I check to make sure my Uber’s arrived before yanking open his front door.

“Dang, I didn’t know you were this dramatic when I first started seeing you.”

I freeze at the words, anger flowing through my veins, before deciding to keep my mouth shut for once. I do slam the door for effect on my way out, fuming on the ride home.

I don’t have all day to think about how annoying Clayton is because I eventually have classes to go to, and honestly, it’s the perfect distraction. The girl next to me was confused about the lesson so I explain it to her in simpler terms than the professor used as we make our way to the parking lot where Betsy’s car that I borrowed is waiting.

I glance towards the direction of where I parked the car, freezing when I see a familiar person leaning against the vehicle.

“Y/N? You okay?” The girl asks.

“Yeah,” I respond distantly. Clayton noticed that I’ve seen him and stands up straight, his famous smirk spread across his face. “Um, does that make more sense?”

“Yeah, it does,” she nods. “Thanks for your help.”

“Anytime. See you next week,” I bid, hesitantly making my way to my friend’s car. “What are you doing here?”

“Felt bad after this morning so I decided to surprise you,” he shrugs like it’s no big deal but I can tell from his tone that he’s watching me closely for a reaction.

“How did you even know where I go to school?”

“I saw your shirt once and it had the school mascot on it. And I drive past here on my way to the rink every day so I’ve seen you a couple of times,” he admits.

I nod, crossing my arms over my chest and make eye contact with him. I don’t know why I’m giving him such a hard time, it’s not like our argument was that big of a deal. He was just pointing out that I stayed the night without a protest, but I guess I don’t like that I even did that so I’m punishing him for it. I know it’s not his fault and I know it’s petty of me to be acting like this, but I want to keep the upper hand in this relationship or whatever it is.

I feel like most of our rules favor him, so if I can win minor battles like this then I feel like we’re more equals.

“So I got you an apology present.” He pulls his hands out from behind his back and presents a small, square box to me.

I give him a questioning look but he nods towards the gift, so I take it into my own hands, brushing my fingers against his, and open the top of it. A bracelet with a thin gold chain with crystals around the chain lays in the box. It’s stunning. I’m not usually the type of person to wear bracelets, but I know once I put this bracelet on I won’t be able to take it off.

“Clayton it’s gorgeous,” I murmur, unable to take my eyes off of the bracelet. I know he has a smug look on his face from my reaction but I ignore it, setting the box on the hood to pick up the bracelet.

“Let me help,” he orders, taking the bracelet from my hands gently. I hold my wrist out to him and he wraps the bracelet around my wrist, the cold metal touching my skin. He clasps it but holds my wrist in his hands for a couple more moments.

I let him.

His hands drop and he takes a step back but his eyes tell me that he doesn’t want to.

“What are you doing tomorrow night?” He asks, rubbing the back of his neck shyly. It’s his tell that he’s about to ask me something important but wants to disguise it as unimportant, so I pay attention closely.

“I might go to the club with some friends but we haven’t planned anything concrete yet. Why?” Betsy said that she wanted to have a one night stand this weekend but I don’t know if she wanted Tyler and I to be her wingmans or if it was something that she was just going to do off of Tinder.

“We have a game tomorrow night and you should come.” I give him a look of uncertainty and he laughs. “Would it make you feel better if I used the deal against you?” I nod and he laughs again. “Rule three.”

“I forgot what rule three is,” I admit.

“You have to do romantic things with me. And going to my game is romantic,” he responds, leaning against the car.

I resist the urge to yell at him that he’s going to scratch Betsy’s paint, a fear of mine since she’s letting me borrow her property for free. “You think that me watching people beat you up and you beating other people up is romantic?”

“In an odd way, yes.”

“What time is it?” I tilt my head.

He raises his arm to look at his watch. “It’s two o’clock right now-””No, dumbass, what time is your game?” I giggle.

“Oh,” he blushes in embarrassment. “It’s at seven o’clock against the Winnipeg Jets.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Am I supposed to have any clue who that is?”

He cracks a smile. “Just know that you’re supposed to be cheering for the guys in red. I’ll leave you a ticket and an arena pass at the ticket window, just make sure you have your ID on you.”

I nod, watching as he walks towards his jeep. “Oh, and Clayton?” He turns around to face me, walking backwards. “Don’t lean against the car again.”

A cheeky grin covers his face as he turns back around and I try my best to ignore my blush as I get into Betsy’s Honda.

~

The usher leads me down to my seat and I’m surprised to see that there are already a few women and children in the seats next to mine. I smile politely at them as I sit down but make no effort to talk to them, instead pulling out my phone.

They talk in hushed voices to each other, trying their best to keep their words quiet but I can still hear some of what they’re saying.

“... Clayton can get a girl so pretty. No, really, aren’t you surprised, Ashley?”

“Say something to her!”

“But Clayton told us not to talk to her otherwise we’ll scare her off.”

Oh, so they know Clayton. How do they know Clayton? They’re gorgeous girls, don’t get me wrong, but they can’t be his hookups. He wouldn’t be as disrespectful to sit me next to his hookups, right? And they wouldn’t be friends if he was with all of them.

“Since when does Clayton control us, Rachel?”

“Fine, then you say something to her.”

“Hi.” At the word my head snaps up and I turn to see the brunette in the group is the one who’s talking to me. The two blondes are watching our conversation. “You’re with Clayton, right?”

“Something like that.”

She nods like she understands. “I’m Abby, Nick Schmaltz’s girlfriend, he plays on the team with Clayton. This is Rachel, Taylor Hall’s girlfriend and Ashley, Jordan Oesterle’s fiance.”

They look at each other excitedly, which I assume means they’re freshly engaged.

“So tell us more about yourself,” Rachel encourages, “Do you go to school?”

“Um, yeah, I go to a college not far from here.”

“Cool, what are you studying?”

I’m trying to be polite but this just feels weird to me. With the situation that Clayton and I are in, I’m not sure why he would invite me to his game and knowingly seat me next to some of the WAGs. It seems like something too intimate, something that a girlfriend would do and not a sugar baby.

I understand if he wants me to go to his games but to introduce me to people like I’m staying around for a while strikes me as odd.

We chat for a while before the game starts, then the conversation kind of dies down as we all focus on the game. I know hockey a little bit but I don’t know all of the rules so the girls explain some things for me when I rarely ask questions. I don’t want them to think that I’m dumb, even though I don’t know why I care what they think of me, so I keep most of my questions to myself and remain clueless.

I guess the Coyotes lose because the stadium is quiet as the game comes to an end.

“Are you coming to the locker room with us?” Abby asks as they stand up and collect their things.

“Oh, um, I’m not sure if Clayton would like that,” I confess.

“Well you have an arena pass so I’m assuming that he wants you to,” Rachel answers, motioning to the lanyard that I forgot was around my neck.

I follow them down to the locker room as they chat about the game, only answering questions when they direct them to me.

I wait awkwardly as all of these big men leave the locker room, approaching their WAG and greeting them before leaving with a friendly smile.

Abby, Rachel, and Ashley introduce me to their partners who exchange some kind words with me before leaving. All three girls make sure to get my phone number, promising me pedicures and a coffee.

I’m overwhelmed by the time Clayton exits the locker room and approaches me with a teammate in tow.

“So I heard that you lost,” I blurt out, unsure of what to say.

He smiles and the friend behind him laughs loudly and I quickly apologize at my words.

“So how did you like the game?” Clayton inquires.

“It was good,” I nod.

“Oh, um, Y/N this is my roommate and teammate, Christian. Christian, this is the girl that I was telling you about, Y/N,” the brunette introduces us and I reach out to shake his roommate’s hand.

What does ‘this is the girl that I was telling you about’ supposed to mean? What has he told him about me? Has he told him about our deal? Damn, I should’ve included a non-disclosure rule in the contract.

“Come back to our house with me,” Clayton demands. I roll my eyes but nod, knowing there’s not much place for argument.

And somehow I end up in his bed again.

“If I fall asleep here, wake me up,” I order, already feeling my eyes droop.

He doesn’t take me seriously because once again, I wake up in his bed.