#and i am excited for what's next for this series

[javierpena-inatacvest]

Chapter 21- Paradise

Summary: Now that you and Javi are married, it's time for you to enjoy two weeks of nothing but your three favorite "S's"- Sun, sand, and sex. Lots of Sex.

Word Count: 13.9K

Warnings: SMUT (18+) unprotected p in v sex, oral (f and m receiving) vaginal fingering, praise kink, marriage kink, big, fat, nasty, unspeakable breeding kink (WHOOPS), stopping birth control/starting a family, kind of semi-public sex (sex on the beach hehe), alcohol/drinking (y'all are getting wasted at the pool), I'm convinced these two can't have sex without getting caught (sorry, Chucho), Javi in a bathing suit, these two are so stupidly in love

A/N: ..... Hey.... Y'all remember when I actually wrote for this story.... 😭 I'm genuinely SO sorry that this chapter took me literal months to finish, but she is finally here!!! Thank you so much for all of your patience and the love you've shown these two even in this story's absence 🥺 I hope you enjoy these two horndogs on their honeymoon!!!

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“We have all of our bags?” 

“Yup.” 

“Passports?” 

“Mhmmmm.” 

“Plane tickets?” 

“Yes.” 

“We’re positive that we have-” 

“Baby, I promise, I triple checked everything this morning, it’s all waiting by the front door, all we have to do now is just wait for my dad to pick us up and take us to the airport, and all my wife needs to do is take a deep breath and relax.” 

My wife. 

Even though you had been married for less than 24 hours, you knew the sentiment of finally getting to be Javi’s wife wasn’t wearing off on you any time soon. 

Javi smiled, playfully crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow at you as you ran through your honeymoon inventory again, knowing damn well you looked like a fool in your frantic pre-traveling state. You more than trusted that Javi had everything the two of you needed before you left for the airport, but you just couldn’t shake the fact that you felt like you were forgetting something, despite all your checks and re-checks. 

“Well, your wife will be much more relaxed once we land after being trapped in a flying tin can and have two feet on the ground again.” You sighed, trying not to let your fear of flying override your excitement to finally arrive in the Bahamas later that day. “God, I feel like I forgot to pack something important but I can’t figure out what.” 

As you stared in frustration at your pile of suitcases, you could feel Javi sneaking behind you, flushing his chest to your back as his arms wrapped around your waist, pulling you closer to him as he rested his chin on your shoulder, planting a soft kiss on your temple. 

“I think I know what it is.” Javi smirked, his kisses traveling down your jaw as he nipped at your ear, making you turn your head back toward him in confusion. 

“Oh, so now you’re a husband and a mind reader. That honestly will come in very handy.” You teased, giggling while you shifted around to face him, draping his arms around his neck as his hands traveled down your waist, reaching down to grab a handful of your ass. “Jesus Javi, what in the world am I forgetting, because you seem pretty darn happy I can’t remember it.” 

“You really don’t know?” Javi asked, almost mockingly, tightening his grip around your hips, peppering kisses along your jaw and neck, the hot words of his breath dancing across your skin. 

“No, Mr. Mind Reader, I don’t, and you’re making it very hard to concentrate and figure out what it is.” 

You were trying your best to genuinely let your brain run out its train of thought, but as Javi’s kisses across your collarbone became wetter and sloppier, trying to form any sort of coherent idea was practically impossible. 

Javi paused for a moment, reaching both hands up to cusp your face, his broad hands cradling your jaw as his thumbs swiped across your cheeks, looking up at him to see the boyish grin spread from cheek to cheek. 

“You’re forgetting something because you’re forgetting to bring it on purpose. Something we threw away this morning, remember?” 

Oh shit. 

You were forgetting something. Only, now that you finally remembered what it was, you couldn’t be happier that you had forgotten it. 

Your birth control. 

As Javi watched your face quickly fade from confusion to delight, your grin was just about as wide as his, biting down on your lip to try and contain your excitement while your heart felt like it was going to beat out of your chest. 

The two of you could actually start trying for a baby. 

“You remember now?” Javi teased, laughing to himself at how wide your eyes had gone, practically beaming from the inside out at your husband, feeling butterflies swirl in your stomach and heat building in your core. 

Leaning up, your mouth met Javi’s in a sloppy dance of tongues and teeth, lips crashing together in electric excitement, grabbing a fistfull of the fitted green t-shirt covering his chest and tugging him closer towards you. 

“How much longer until your dad is supposed to be here?” You rasped, already breathing heavily from your frantic kisses and anticipation. 

Quickly, Javi looked down at his watch wrapped around his wrist, the gears turn in his brain, calculating if the two of you had enough time to do what he knew you were proposing. 

“Fuck- Like, 40 minutes?” 

Without saying a word, both of you agreed in silent, rushed nods that 40 minutes was enough time to give yourself enough of a buffer, and the risk definitely didn’t outweigh the reward, knowing there was no way in hell that you could wait an entire plane ride and arriving at your hotel room to fuck. 

In an instant, your mouths were crashing together again, Javi grabbing the underside of your thighs to hoist you up, wrapping your legs around his waist as he carried you back towards the couch in the living room, the back of his knees hitting the sofa as he collapsed into his seat, you still straddling his lap without ever parting your lips. 

Javi’s hands crept below the hem of your shirt, shuffling it over your head and tossing it on the floor before shuffling your shorts and underwear off to join your top in a crumpled pile on the floor. Your hands worked rapidly at the waistband of Javi’s shorts, lifting up off his lap to push them down his thighs, revealing the hard and weeping mess his cock had already become since carrying you over to the couch, your cunt aching at the sight of his length and how desperately you wanted to be filled by it. 

“God, I wanna fuck you so bad.” You whimpered between your wet kisses, shifting yourself closer to hover over his dick, so turned on that you were convinced that your arousal was already dripping down your thighs at an embarrassing rate. 

“Baby, you have no fucking idea.” Javi groaned, dragging his fingers through your folds, your body jolting at the sensation at the pads of his fingers rubbing over your clit, throbbing and aching under his touch. “Jesus Christ, you’re so fucking wet.” 

Reaching down to wrap your hand around the base of his cock, stroking it a few times, you slowly lowered yourself down onto his tip, knowing that with your limited time and how turned on you were, you didn’t want to feel anything besides the sweet sting of Javi’s stretch filling you to the brim. 

The two of you moaned in unison as you sank down on his length, bottoming out until you had taken every inch of him, taking a second to adjust to his size before rolling your hips over his lap in figure eights. 

“F-fuck, you feel so good, Javi.” You whined, circling your bottom half faster, the friction of the hairs at the base of Javi’s cock rubbing deliciously against your clit combined with Javi groping at your breasts, sucking at one of your pebbled nipples while he rolled the other between his fingers, making your breath hitch in the back of your throat. 

Javi began to let his hips rut up into yours, thrusting his length deeper into your cunt as you rode him, his hands sliding down the sides of your body and wrapping around your ass, massaging the plump flesh between his fingers while his lips crashed into yours again, catching each other’s muffled moans. 

“F-fuck…”  Javi whined, tightening his grip to try and maintain his composure as his thoughts began to flow straight from his brain through his mouth. “I’m gonna fuck you so full of me, Osita. Fuck a baby into you, get you pregnant, watch you grow our our kid and give us our perfect family.” 

“Oh my god- fuck- yes. Please, Javi. Fuck, I want you to knock me up. I wanna- fuck- I wanna  make you a daddy.” You moaned, running your hands through the dark curls of Javi’s hair as he began to pound into you even harder, his fingertips gripping your hips with bruising intensity as he guided you up and down his cock, the two of you both so lost in your own pleasure that you hadn’t heard a faintly familiar voice echoing from the front door. 

“Javi, Mija, I know I’m a little early but I figured you’d rather get to the airport earlier than later!” 

Little did poor Chucho know that today was one of the few times in his life that he would regret showing up anywhere earlier than expected. 

Surprised by the lack of response, despite the packed and stacked bags waiting by the front door, an unsuspecting Chucho kicked off his boots and began meandering down the entryway towards your living room, where and even more unsuspecting you and Javi were half dressed and sprawled across your couch trying to make a baby. 

“Javier? Mija? Are you two ready to leave soon? I was hoping that- Oh Dios Mio!” 

“AHHHHHHH!” 

With Javi’s back to his dad as you sat in his lap, you were the first to lock eyes with your now father-in-law, your jaw practically falling to the floor as you let out a panicked shriek, causing Javi to whip his own head around, terror running through his veins as he frantically threw you off his lap and tried to cover the both of you with the nearest blanket he could find. 

“Jesus Christ, Pops!” Javi shouted, hands covering his face that had turned bright red in quite possibly the world's worst kind of embarrassment. “Why are you here so early?! Please just, I- I don’t know, for Christ’s sake, please go wait outside!” He sighed, pointing towards the front door where Chucho had just regrettably entered from. 

“How was I supposed to know!? I figured I would be safe! Say no more, I will just go wait on the front porch. Aye, aye, aye…” Chucho replied, quickly scampering away towards the door, eyes peeled to the ground and arms up in self-defense, waiting until you heard the soft slam and clicking lock behind him before peering out from underneath your blanket shield. 

“Jesus fucking Christ…” Javi groaned, hands still covering his face as you looked up at him, cheeks glowing beet red in embarrassment. 

“Please don’t tell me your dad just walked in on us having sex…” You winced, absolutely knowing the answer to your question, but still somehow praying that maybe, just maybe, you were imaging things. 

“... My dad definitely just walked in on us having sex.” Javi sighed, his face as almost as red as yours, scrambling to find your clothes scattered between the cushions, tossing them over to you, frantically trying to cover yourself up to save any ounce of dignity you had left. 

“Well, looks like I am going to start walking to the airport because I don’t think I can ever make eye contact with your dad again…” You muttered, making you and Javi laugh just enough to try and ease the uncomfortable tension, wondering how in the world you were supposed to spend an entire ride to the airport with Chucho without wanting to crawl out of your skin. “I thought you said he was supposed to get here later!”

“Well that’s what I thought too, but apparently not!” Javi grumbled, shuffling his shirt over his head, combing his hand through his hair to try and fix the mess you had made raking your fingers through it. 

“Guess we won’t have any worries about getting to the airport on time…” 

“Guess you’re right about that. Fuck me…” 

“Sure you don’t wanna start walking?” 

While Chucho, you and Javi had seemingly made a silent pact to not say a peep to each other the entire car ride for the duration of your drive, every passing second seemed more awkward and uncomfortable than the last, truly regretting your decision to not grab your bags and walk along the highway to try and catch your flight. 

It wasn’t until Chucho began pulling up to drop the two of you off that he decided it was time to break your truce, his eyes meeting yours in the rear view mirror as the two of you sat awkwardly in the backseat, bracing yourself the moment you could feel his mouth begin to open. 

“You know, the night of our wedding, Lucia and I just couldn’t keep our hands off each other either, it was so-” 

“Dad!” Javi interjected, his face physically scrunching in pain at the thought of how his father planned to complete the rest of that thought, trying to cut him off before he could get any further. 

“Lo siento (Sorry)! God forbid I try to do something to ease the tension!” Chucho chuckled, throwing his hands up in defense at his statement. 

“I don’t think where you were headed was the way to do that, Pops.” Javi muttered, letting out another deep sigh of embarrassment. 

 “Well lucky for you, it looks like we’re here.” Chucho smiled, pulling into one of the parking spots outside of your gate and turning off the ignition. “Here, let me help you with the bags in the trunk and-” 

“Nope, already got it, Pops, please do not get out of the car.” Javi begged, practically sprinting out of the backseat to the trunk, you quickly following behind him, beginning to sheepishly unload your luggage from the car. 

Of course, Chucho being Chucho was not about to take no for an answer, slowly fumbling his way out of the car to greet the two of you at the trunk with a mischievous grin stretched ear to ear. 

“Pops, please, I told you I’ve got it, I-” 

“Oh hush, Javier, I am just coming out to say goodbye, yo promento (I promise).” Chucho laughed, grabbing Javi by the shoulder, giving him a little shake. 

“Bye Chucho.” You grimaced, leaning in reluctantly for a hug. “Thanks for dropping us off. S-sorry about earlier.” You couldn’t help but wince again, eyes darting to the ground at your last sentence. 

“Oh mija, don’t apologize. Could be worse.” 

“I’m not really sure how it could be…” You whispered under your breath, just loud enough for Javi to hear, making him hold back a snort. 

“Besides, I think this bodes well for my bet I have placed.” Chucho smirked, crossing his arms over his chest as the two of you looked at him in confusion, 

“Your bet?” Javi asked, raising an eyebrow at his dad. 

“Mhmmm. The bet between me, your family, Mija, and the Murphy’s.” 

“As much as I love a vague and cryptic guessing game, any chance you’re gonna tell us what that bet is?” You laughed uncomfortably, looking back between Javi and Chucho. 

“Oh, don’t you worry, Mija. I think the two of you will know soon enough. Okay, enough of that! I will let the two of you go. Have a safe flight and a wonderful trip. I couldn’t be happier for the two of you. Enjoy your first of your many amazing adventures as a married couple.” 

While you couldn’t deny you still weren’t far off from wanting to find the nearest hole and disappear in, you couldn’t help but feel your cheeks warm at the sentiment of Chucho’s well-wishes, placing your hand in Javi’s and squeezing it tight, beaming up at your husband with love and excitement. 

“Thanks, Pops.” 

“Claro (of course). Alright, mijos, adios. Have fun. But not too much fun, if you know what I-” 

“Yup, we know exactly what you mean, bye, Dad!” Javi grunted, gently turning his father around and pushing him back towards the car making him laugh, giving the both of you one last wave goodbye before disappearing down the road. 

“Jesus Christ, I’m glad that’s over…” Javi sighed, wrapping his arm around your waist, pressing a kiss to your forehead. 

“You can say that again. What bet do you think he was talking about?” 

“Honestly, no fucking clue. And truth be told, right now, I couldn’t care less. Because right now,” He paused, leaning down to hold your cheek in his palm, forcing your gaze up at him, “all I care about,” he paused once again, planting a playful kiss on your lips, “is getting my beautiful wife onto this plane so we can start our honeymoon.” 

“Say it again.” You smiled, pressing up on your tiptoes to kiss him back. 

“My wife. My beautiful, amazing, drop dead gorgeous wife, who has single-handedly made me the luckiest man in the entire world.” Javi smirked, biting down on his lip as his grip tightened around you, making you giggle. 

“Easy there, Romeo, we still have a whole flight to get through, ya know.” 

Fortunately, your flight and arrival to the Bahamas was much less eventful than anything that had happened this morning, the embarrassment of your father-in-law’s unfortunate timing quickly fading away as you strolled up to the front desk to check into your room for the next ten days of nothing but what you had deemed your three favorite “S’s”- 

Sun, sand, and sex. 

Lots of sex. 

“Hi there! Welcome! My name is Cassandra, how can I help the two of you today?” A woman smiled politely from behind the check-in desk, quickly clacking away at her keyboard. 

“Hi. We’re checking in for Peña.” Javi beamed, grabbing your hand in his, gently rubbing his thumb over both sets of rings wrapped around your finger, knowing there wasn’t a chance in hell he’d ever get used to the fact he was lucky enough to get to call you his wife for the rest of his life. 

“Perfect! Let me get right on that.” She nodded, fingers tapping across the keys as she looked up your information. “Any special reason for your stay here?” 

“Honeymoon.” The two of you answered in sync, laughing to yourselves at your well timed response. 

“Well why didn’t you say that to begin with?! Let me see if I have anything I can upgrade you to for your stay!” Cassandra scoffed, almost comedically offended that your opening line hadn’t been “It’s our honeymoon, upgrade our room please!” 

“Oh, you don’t have to-” 

“Oh, honey, please. This is my favorite part of my job. Absolutely the least I can do for the two of you. Congratulations. Just give me one second here and…. Ah! Yes! I thought this one was available. Let’s upgrade you to the Ocean View King Suite. This one is one of my favorite rooms. You get the most beautiful view of the sunrise right from your balcony!” 

You and Javi looked at each other beaming, grins plastered across your faces in surprise. “Thank you so much, this is so nice of you to do for us.” You smiled. 

“Of course. Least that I can do. Like I said, it’s one of the highlights of doing this job. Alright, well, here are your room keys!” Cassandra grinned, passing the key cards and room information over the concierge desk and handing them to you and Javi. “If you head over to your right, there’s a bay of elevators that will take you to your room. I hope that you two have a wonderful stay, and enjoy your honeymoon!” 

“Thank you again, we really appreciate it.” Javi nodded, stuffing things into his pocket before leaning down to give you a kiss and reaching back to grab his suitcase and your hand in his. 

As Javi turned, leading the two of you towards the elevator, you couldn’t help but laugh at Cassandra’s face, her eyebrow playfully raised and head nodding in approval, pointing at Javi and giving you a thumbs up, as if you needed more confirmation that you had made a top-tier choice on the man you were going to spend the rest of your life with. 

“What’s so funny?” Javi smirked, tilting his head in confusion at your giggles as the two of you stepped into the elevator with the small crowd of people on their way back to their hotel rooms. 

“Nothing. Just some reassurance that I cleaned up pretty damn well in the husband department, which I can’t say I disagree with.” You snickered, reaching up to wrap your hand around his jaw, squeezing his cheeks in your grasp. 

“You’re such a dork, you know that?” 

“A dork who is now your wife, thank you very much.” You sassed, crossing your arms over your chest, making the two of you laugh quietly to yourselves until the ding of the elevator caught your attention. “Oh! I think this is us!” Quickly scrambling to grab your suitcase, you dashed out of the elevator as the doors parted, followed by Javi, trying to keep up with your excited pace. 

“Alright, Mrs. Dork, we’re room 2331.” Javi grinned, pulling the information from the front desk out of his pocket, scanning the hallway for rooms approaching your number, watching you search in front of him with detective-like accuracy. 

“Okay, let’s see, 2329… 2330… Here! Here it is! 2331!” You beamed, showing off the number of your room Vanna White style to Javi as he began to slip the room key into the card reader, pausing for a moment to stare at you with his sweet brown eyes in the midst of your goofiness. “What’s that look for?” You teased, smiling back at him. 

“Just reminding myself of how lucky I am. I love you, Mrs. Peña.” 

Mrs. Peña. 

You couldn’t help but let your heart skip a beat at the sound of him saying it, still not quite sure that the incredible reality of your new last name had completely sunk in with you yet. 

“I love you too, Mr. Peña. Now, you gonna open this door so we can put this room to use or what?” You smirked, raising your eyebrow at him playfully, gesturing towards your hotel room door. 

With a quick swipe of your room key the two of you unlocked your door to get a first glimpse of your hotel room. At first, the both of you were convinced you must have been in the wrong place, because this was the most beautiful, luxurious hotel room that you had ever laid eyes on. Complete with a giant king bed covered in fresh white sheets, free standing tub, huge couch and living room area, newly renovated, and most impressively, a huge set of sliding glass doors that lead to your balcony overlooking a breath-taking view of the beach and ocean below you. 

Mental note to self- you owed Cassandra at the big desk the biggest thank you ever. 

“Holy shit, Javi. This is gorgeous.” You muttered to yourself, dropping your bags off at one of the closets at the front of the room as you began to wander and explore, gently poking and prodding around as if you were a tourist in a museum, rather than a hotel guest in your own room. 

“It’s got no lack of options, that’s for sure.” Javi laughed quietly to himself, following behind you as he set down his own bags before doing an investigation of his own, the majority of which was spent watching you excitedly explore the in’s and outs of your new home for the next 10 days. 

“No lack of options?” You asked, tilting your head in confusion, as you turned towards Javi, hands resting on his hips with a smug grin spread from ear to ear. 

“Mmmhmmm.” He replied, making his way towards you until his hands were wrapped around your waist, pulling you against his chest to force your gaze up at his brown eyes, pooling with an equal combination of excitement and mischief. “No lack of options in this room for places I get to fuck my beautiful wife.” 

“You’re so bad!” You teased, giving him a little slap to his chest as the two of you laughed, knowing that you had the exact same thought, he was just the first to say it. 

“Oh c’mon, like you didn’t think the same thing.” 

“Okay listen… you’re not wrong. I would be a liar if I didn’t walk in here and think about how many different furniture choices we could fuck on before we had to leave.” You sighed in a playful defeat, your breaths slowly transforming to light and giggly to low and needy as Javi slid his hands resting on your hips down to your ass, palming it in his grasp. 

Craning his head down to rest in the crook of your neck, you couldn’t help but moan as he sucked at your pulse point, wet kisses consuming your neck and jawline as a damp patch began to pool in your underwear, falling apart under Javi’s touch. 

“Well if that’s the case, what should we break in first, Osita? What does mi esposa (my wife) want? ” Javi hummed, slipping his hands under the waistband of your shorts and underwear, pushing them over your hips and down your legs until they pooled around your ankles, leaving your bottom half bare. 

Snaking his hand between your bodies, you whimpered as his fingers ghosted over your core, grazing over your clit with just enough pressure to make you shutter in anticipation, feeling the slick of your arousal beginning to coat your thighs with want and need. 

“F-fuck-” You stammered, trying to string together anything that resembled a coherent thought, “The b-bed. Fuck me on the bed, baby, please.” 

Without another word, Javi had scooped you up under your thighs, forcing your legs to lock around his waist as he carried you toward the bed, mouths crashing together in a hungry mess of tongues and teeth. 

Javi set you down, gently laying your back on the bed just enough to let your lower half hang off the edge so he could make a home between your legs, draping each one over his shoulders and pushing them open further to reveal the wet, puffy mess in between your thighs. 

You should have been embarrassed with how worked up you already were from a few kisses and some ass grabbing, but with how excited you were to be here with your husband, without a worry in the world besides how many times you could disrespect your hotel room before you had to leave, you had no shame in how you were already dripping with anticipation as Javi’s eyes locked on your core. 

“Fuck, she’s so pretty.” Javi cooed, admiring the glistening sheen of your slick covering your folds, planting gentle kisses along the soft skin of your thighs, creeping closer and closer to your center. You sat up on your elbows to watch as Javi’s fingers lazily traced your cunt, collecting your arousal, rubbing with just enough pressure to make your clit throb even harder than it already had been. “Always so wet for me, Hermosa. My perfect wife. Fuck, I still can’t believe you’re all mine forever.” 

“Forever.” You whimpered, breath hitching in the back of your throat as Javi’s tongue dragged across your core with a broad, flat stroke, looking up at you with those devastatingly sweet, chocolate brown eyes, pulling off you with the look you knew all too well meant you were absolutely a goner. 

“Tastes so fucking sweet, baby.” Javi hummed, carefully bringing two fingers to your core, sinking them inside your weeping hole to prod steadily against your g-spot 

“Oh my god, fuck-” You whimpered, Javi working at a painstakingly slow pace that still had you writhing under his touch, his mouth and fingers moving in the perfect combination of pressure to already have a tingle beginning to build at the base of your spine despite the fact he had just started eating you out. 

Your jaw went slack as his digits prodded faster, his tongue swirling and flicking against your sensitive bundle of nerves, ragged moans and whimpers escaping from your lips, growing louder and more wonton by the second. 

“That’s my girl.” Javi cooed, pulling off you just enough to catch your attention, his fingers never faltering in pace, “Fuck, I could listen to you like this all day, Osita. All the pretty noises my wife makes just for me. C’mon, baby. You want everyone here to know who makes you feel this good, huh? Tell them, sweet girl, who makes you feel this good?” 

“Y-you, Javi, fuck- You do, baby.” You moaned, feeling your pussy begin to flutter around Javi’s fingers as his smug smirk pressed back against your cunt, now sucking at your clit with a ferocious switch intensity he knew would send you over the edge in an instant. 

Squeezing Javi’s head between your thighs, you cried out louder, chanting his name like a prayer with each second you grew closer and closer to your end, feeling arousal creeping through your body at a rapid rate. 

“Javi, Javi, fuck- Oh, baby, Javi, I’m gonna- gonnaahhhhhhh-” 

In an instant, your orgasm crashed through you, filling you with all consuming pleasure that had you seeing stars, sobbing out as your cunt clamped down around Javi’s fingers that were pulsing inside you through your high. 

At this point, you were probably close to suffocating your poor husband, but it was his own damn fault for knowing how to make you cum so hard, your soul just about left your body. 

Finally regaining enough inhibition, you let your legs fall open, freeing Javi from the thigh prison he had trapped himself in, still smirking with delight despite his red face and shortness of breath. 

“Jesus Christ, Osita.” He laughed, standing up as he began to shed his clothes, tossing his shirt and shorts in a crumpled pile on the floor, followed by his already tented and stained boxers, revealing his painfully hard cock, slapping against his stomach and bobbing between his legs as it was freed. “You tryin’ to kill me, baby?” 

“I could ask you the same thing.” You huffed, chest still rising and falling with heavy breaths as you came down from your high. “Sorry, not my fault you make me cum so hard I put you in a headlock between my legs.” 

You and Javi both couldn’t help but laugh as he helped you slide further up the bed, crawling over you and caging you under his broad body, peppering every inch of your body with kisses and intentionally tickling you with his mustache in all the places he knew made you giggle the most. 

“If I die between my wife’s thighs buried face deep in her pussy, I’d die a happy man.” 

“Well I have no plans on intentionally murdering you on this trip, so count yourself safe this time, Peña.” 

“Baby, I’m convinced you’re just trying to kill me slowly this entire trip, considering you have nothing packed in your suitcase besides bikinis and sundresses.” Javi sighed, arms planted around your head as he laid overtop of you, kissing up your collarbone and neck, all the way up your jawline. 

“Javier Peña, we are literally on a tropical vacation to the Bahamas. Would you have liked me to pack, a parka and snow pants?” You teased, breath hitching in the back of your throat between giggles, trying to maintain your composure between the wet, hot kisses, Javi was planting across your skin. 

“No,” He grumbled, “You’re the hottest woman I’ve ever fucking met, baby, you don’t think people aren’t staring at you everywhere you go? I can’t fucking blame ‘em, but they better notice that ring on your finger and know you’re off limits.” 

Heat crept through your cheeks, butterflies swirling in your stomach from what he had said, picking up on the notion behind his thoughts. Javi wasn’t a jealous man, but fuck, was he a protective one, and God help any man who tried to knowingly make a move on you while he was around. 

He wanted everyone to know you were his, and you just as badly wanted everyone to know he was yours. 

“Maybe just the ring isn’t enough, baby.” He smirked, nipping and tugging at your skin with his teeth as he snaked his hand between your bodies to stroke himself and line his cock up with your entrance. “‘Cause you know what else isn’t in your suitcase?” 

Your birth control. 

You didn’t have to say a word to know exactly what Javi meant, your face swelling with a mixture of excitement and want. 

“Javi, oh fuck-” You moaned, cut off by the sweet sting of Javi pushing into you, filling you up with every inch of himself until he had bottomed out, stalling for a moment to let you adjust to his fullness before slowly dragging his cock in and out of your cunt. 

“Maybe,” he groaned, biting down on his lip at just how good you felt around him, warmth and wetness coating his length with each stroke, “Maybe that ring on your finger isn’t enough, Ostia. Maybe once they see you pregnant with our baby growing inside you, they’ll know you’re mine.” 

It never failed to amaze you just how Javi knew how to make you short circuit with words alone, hoping the entire resort didn’t hear the absolutely pathetic whimper you let out at the idea of finally carrying his baby, showing off your family to the world, and the man who had given it to you.  

“Fuck, knock me up Javi. Wanna- wanna make you a daddy.” You whined, wrapping your arm up around his neck, running your fingers through his dark and sweaty curls, tugging him closer to you until your mouths were molded in a messy clash of tongues and teeth. 

“Christ- Yeah, baby girl? Fuck, I’ll give you whatever you want. I’ll fuck myself so deep inside you, it’s got no choice but to fuckin’ take. Keep you stuffed with my cum every day until it sticks.” Javi groaned, gritting his teeth as he grabbed the backs of your thighs, pushing them to your chest and pulling you closer to him so your back began to arch, giving himself the perfect angle to split you open and keep every last drop inside of you. 

You could feel every inch of Javi filling you, perfectly punching against that soft, spongy spot inside your cunt with each thrust, keeping your thighs still pressed against your chest as the lower half of your legs wrapped around the small of Javi’s back, ankles locking together to keep him as close and deep inside you as you could. 

“Dámelo, papi.” You cooed, wicked smile stretched from ear to ear watching Javi physically having to stop himself to let out a strangled groan, clenching his jaw and scrunching his face to keep from busting right then and there.  

“Jesus, fuck-” Javi grunted, finally gaining enough composure to open his eyes and look back down at you beneath him, smugly smirking, “That’s how this is gonna go, huh?"

The chocolate brown of Javi’s eyes began to darken with lust, dragging his cock out and ramming into you so deeply, a pathetic whimper fell from your lips, nearly knocking the wind out of your chest feeling him practically in your stomach. Your whimpers quickly turned to sobs as he did it again, slowly dragging his length out of your wet, warm walls before pounding back in to you with a blinding intensity. 

Leaning down, Javi grabbed your arms, pushing them outstretched above your head until your wrists were crossed over each other and Javi had them both in his firm grasp, pinning you to the bed with the weight of his body and grip. It was like something feral had ignited inside him, brow furrowed and teeth gritted with a laser focus, snapping his hips to thrust himself deeper and harder, melting you to a helpless puddle beneath him, your cries of pleasure and desperation only egging him on more. 

“You want me to fill you up, baby? Then you’re gonna be a good girl and take every last fucking drop. Every. Last. One.” He huffed, syncing his words to each thrust, keeping a bruising grip over your wrists with one hand, and digging his fingertips into the meat of your hips with his other. “Tell me what you’re gonna do for me, baby girl. Tell me whose pussy this is.” 

“It’s yours, Javi. Fuck, fuck, fuck- it’s yours, baby! I- oh shit- I promise I’ll be a good girl and take it all. Want you to fill me up, Papi.” You sobbed, arousal seeping through your veins as Javi’s cock punched against your g-spot over and over, each stroke faster and more intense, blinding your body with pleasure. 

Your hotel room was drenched in the borderline pornographic sounds of skin slapping against skin, wet squelching of your pussy squeezing Javi’s cock tighter and tighter as you could feel the coil beginning to tighten in your stomach, crying out without any inhibition for your volume, Javi grunting and panting with equal intensity. 

“That’s my girl. You gonna let everyone hear who this pussy belongs to? Let everyone know that I’m gonna fill you up and get you pregnant?” Javi mewled, watching the way your eyes were nearly rolling in the back of your head, snaking his hand gripping your hip down between your bodies to rub firm and frantic circles around your clit to help push you over the edge knowing how close you were. 

As soon as the calloused pads of Javi’s fingers were pressed against your sensitive nub, you were seconds away from the brink of collapse, cunt clamping tighter and tighter around Javi’s cock, choking it with your velvety walls. 

“Yes, yes, yes, fuck, fuck, I’m so close baby. Don’t stop, don’t stop, please, fuckfuckfuckfuck!” 

Instantly, your orgasm crashed through your body, blinding white heat flooding your vision, pleasure shooting through every inch of you to the point you felt like you had left your own body. You could feel your body going limp beneath Javi, knowing he wasn’t far behind you given all his tell tale signs as you soaked his length with your arousal. 

Javi’s thrusts had forgone any type of rhythm, now sloppy and erratic, his balls tightening and tensing in his stomach, babbling and moaning in your ear, whispering sweet nothings before he found himself in the same state of you. 

“That’s it, hermosa. Cum all over my cock. Cum all over me before I fill up this tight little pussy so full it’s got no choice but to take. Oh fuck- Fuck, can’t wait to get you pregnant. See you carrying our baby. Gonna make you the prettiest fucking Momma-ahhhhhhh, fuck!” 

With one final stutter of his hips, Javi was painting the inside of your cunt with thick, warm ropes of his spend, keeping himself flushed as tight as he could to your pelvis, making sure a single drop didn’t escape as he plugged you with his cock, cumming so hard he couldn’t help but whimper. The weight of his body slumped on top of you, syncing your heavy breaths, the sticky and sweaty sheen of your chests pressed together as Javi planted a slow and sensual kiss on your lips, swallowing your moans in his mouth. 

“Holy fuck.” You half whispered to yourself, letting out a bliss-filled giggle.

“Jesus Fucking Christ.” Javi panted, quietly laughing along with you, gently brushing the damp and wild strands of your hair out of your face, “Fuck- You gotta be careful with that “Papi” shit, Osita.” 

“Oh yeah? And why would that be?” You teased, smirking as you raised an eyebrow at him and bit down on your lip, knowing damn well why. 

“Because if you keep that up, I don’t think we’re ever leaving this room.” 

After dinner and giving a few more pieces of furniture in your hotel room a good test run, the two of you had happily called it a night on day one of your honeymoon, eager to explore the rest of the resort as the two of you rose with the golden rays of the sun beaming over the horizon of your ocean view window, flooding your room with warm and welcoming sunlight. 

As much as the both of you were convinced you could have easily spent the next 10 days without leaving your hotel room, you made a pact that you would spend some time going to explore the rest of the resort after spending some much deserved post-wedding de-stressing in the sun by the pool, drinking as many mojitos and frozen daiquiris as you could stomach. 

And as amazing as non-stop sex with Javi would have been, soaking up in the sun poolside with a drink on one side of you and a shirtless husband on the other, you’d say that this was a pretty close second. 

“Another one?” Javi smirked, eyebrows raised at you as his brown eyes peeked over the edge of his aviators, gesturing at your nearly empty glass. 

“I mean… if you’re offering.” You giggled, tipsy after a few drinks and hours baking in the sun, happily holding out the remainder of your mojito for Javi to exchange for a new one. 

“I think the bartender and I are about to be on a first name basis pretty soon.” Javi laughed, shuffling out of his beach chair, grabbing his empty cup along with yours to bring back with him to the poolside bar that had been visited a questionable amount of times by the two of you since you had gotten to the pool this morning. 

“Yeah? Are you gonna tell the bartender the frozen strawberry margaritas you’ve been getting from him all day are for you and not for your wife?” You teased, pulling your sunglasses down to look at Javi, playfully rolling his eyes back at you. 

“Shut up. They’re fucking addicting. You had one, can you blame me?” 

“I’m just giving you a hard time, Mr. I Won’t Drink Anything But Beer and Whiskey. Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me. Although, I’m sure Steve would get a kick out of knowing you’ve downed like, 7 of these since we’ve gotten here.” 

Setting down both of the drinks, you found yourself in a fit of squeals and giggles as Javi reached down to scoop you up out of your chair, carrying you bridal style to the edge of the pool before jumping in with the both of you, the refreshing cool of the pool water crashing over you as your bodies bobbed under the surface. 

“Pendejo!” You laughed, splashing Javi as your heads peered above the edge of the water, Javi shaking his hair, damp and clinging to his forehead from your added assault, grabbing you by the waist before you could go any further, shifting you to wrap your legs around him as he held you, childishly swaying you through the water. 

“Te amo, esposa.” (I love you, wife) Javi teased in a mocking tone, responding to your name calling. 

“Joke’s on you, because I wanted to get into the pool anyways. You’re lucky you’re handsome. Mojito me, Peña.” You splashed again, rolling your eyes at his over exaggerated kiss before he swam away, shooting you a wink while he waded his way to the poolside bar. 

It wasn’t long before Javi was making his way back, a drink in each hand, happily handing you your mojito as he got to the edge of the pool where you were sitting, lifting himself up to sit beside you and take a swig of his margarita. 

“Miss me?” He smirked, raising his eyebrows at you. 

“Terribly. Most agonizing 6 minutes of my entire life.” You teased, playing into the dramatics as Javi picked up your left hand, admiring the diamond ring and wedding band adorned on your finger before gently kissing it. 

“Sorry to keep my wife waiting. I hope that you’ll accept this mojito as a token of my apology.” 

“I think that’s a fair enough compromise.” 

After a few more hours and several drinks later, it was safe to say that you and Javi had definitely both been in better states than you currently were, too far gone to care about the potential consequences of tomorrow’s hangover to stop yourselves. 

“What time do you think it is?” You asked, sunkissed body sprawled out across the pool chair. 

“Wife O’Clock.” Javi answered, snickering to himself at his answer. 

“Javier Peña, that’s not a real time, you dork.” 

“Half past mojito. A quarter ‘til my next margarita.” 

“Jesus Christ….” You paused, one of the life guards crossing behind you catching your attention, “Hey, excuse me! Do you know what time it is?” 

“Uhhhhh, looks like it’s almost 6!” The lifeguard replied, looking down at his watch before continuing on his path. 

“6?! Oh shit!” You gasped, sitting up straight in your chair. 

“What? What’s happening at 6?!” Javi inquired, seemingly less concerned with whatever was supposed to be happening then that had you so riled up. 

“Javi, we're supposed to be at dinner right now! We made reservations at that italian place, remember?!” You grimaced, frantically starting to grab the towels and clothes you had scattered around the pool deck. 

“Oh fuck! Shit, uh- okay, here, lemme help you!” Javi joined in on the gathering of any item that belonged to you that he could find, tossing it into the bag you had brought down with you, hoping that you didn’t forget anything that had come with you to the pool. 

While the haphazard gathering of items was a good enough sign to any onlooker that you and Javi were more than likely intoxicated, the both of you didn’t realized just how drunk you were until you both tried to stand up out of your beach chairs, grabbing on to each other in a wobbly dance of giggles.  

“Woah, I think I drank a little lotta margaritas.” Javi stammered, laughing to himself. 

“Fuck, I did too. Jesus, how many do you think we had?” You giggled, face scrunching in anticipation of the number that was definitely going to be higher than you had intended when you came to the pool this morning. 

You could see Javi trying to drunkenly calculate his trips to the pool bar in his head, counting across his fingers in a serious concentration, tongue sticking out of his mouth, as if it was going to help him focus better. 

“Let’s see, I think after adding them all up… We drank a lot.” 

“If we can’t even come up with a number, that’s not good. Fuck, I didn’t even bring real clothes! Our room is so far from the restaurant, there’s no way we’re even gonna be close to making it!” You pouted, shrugging your shoulders in defeat. 

“Just put on the cute little dressy thingy over your bathing suit. Or just go in your bikini. You’re so hot they have to let you in.” Javi smirked, biting down on his lip as he looked you up and down, giving you his best drunken attempt at his bedroom eyes. 

“Unfortunately for you, I don’t think the other patrons of this resort want to watch me eat pasta half naked, ya sicko.” You teased, giving him a nudge to his stomach a little harder than you had intended. “Okay, cover up will have to do, I guess. Do you have your shirt?” 

“You don’t wanna watch me eat pasta half naked?” 

“As much as I’d love to, maybe another time, weirdo. Okay, we have to go! Or else we’re not getting any pasta, naked or not! Focus, Peña, focus!” You commanded in your best pretend stern voice, grabbing the rest of your things in your hands while Javi stood there, admiring you like the drunken, lovesick fool he was. 

“You’re so fucking sexy when you’re bossy.” Javi smirked, raising his eyebrows at you, “Okay, fine, fine fine, let’s go. Lead the way, Mrs. Peña.” 

If you didn’t feel drunk enough after simply trying just to stand up out of your pool chairs and collect all your belongings within a 5 foot radius of you, you sure as hell did trying to drunkenly navigate the resort to find the restaurant you were looking for. After asking several employees, you somehow managed to stumble your way through the hotel to find your intended location, “Ciao!” , one of the higher-end dining experiences the two of you had planned for your vacation. 

“Hi. We are married, and we are here to eat pasta.” Javi proclaimed to the hostess at the front of the restaurant, who was looking back and forth between you and Javi, riddled with confusion not only by Javi’s opening statement, but from the fact the two of you were nearly out of breath from running around every inch of the resort, clearly drunk, and still dressed in your swimsuits. 

“Ummmm, okay? What’s the name on the reservation?” The hostess asked hesitantly, flipping through the pages of names and times written down for seating tonight. 

“Peña. We were supposed to be here at 6 but we had a lil too much fun at the pool, but not enough fun that we completely forgot about dinner! We’re really sorry!” You explained, trying your best to keep your composure, biting your tongue to subdue your drunken giggles. 

“Yeah, like, so sorry. I had a lot of margaritas today.” Javi added, turning his head to let out a little burp at the end of his sentence. 

“I don’t see any Peña’s on the reservation for tonight….” The hostess sighed, flipping back and forth between today’s pages, clearly not amused by either of your antics. 

“Oh no… Does that mean we’re not getting pasta? Shit.” Javi pouted, crossing his arms over his chest like a little boy. 

“Oh wait, are- are you sure it was a reservation for today? I see Peña on here at 6 for tomorrow?” 

“Oh shit…” You and Javi replied, nearly in sync, visibly grimacing at the fact that you had spent the past 45 minutes in an alcohol induced frenzy, running through the resort to find a restaurant you weren’t even supposed to eat at until tomorrow. 

Whoops. 

“My bad….” You shrugged, sheepishly frowning as you looked back and forth between the hostess and Javi, “Okay, well, um, we’re gonna- We’re gonna go then.” You winced, grabbing Javi by the hand to slowly drag him away from the restaurant, hoping that the physical distance would somehow spare you the embarrassment you had just subjected yourself to. 

“You’re fine, just- We do ask that our guests wear more, um- appropriate attire when they come to dine with us.” The hostess scoffed, huffing at you and Javi, looking you up and down with your beach bound outfits and hands full of pool accessories as you continued to back away. 

“She doesn’t wanna see us eat pasta in our bathing suits?” Javi whispered in your ear, making you snort so loud it almost hurt your chest, trying to keep from bursting into full blown laughter before making it out of eye and earshot of the hostess, jabbing him in the stomach with your elbow, only spurring him on further, “She doesn’t know how sexy you’d look shoving a fist full of garlic bread down your throat with nothing on but a bikini? Her loss.” 

Now out of sight of the restaurant, you and Javi exploded into an obnoxious fit of drunken giggles, feeling completely idiotic for wasting nearly the last hour of your night in a whirlwind journey to nowhere. 

“Well, looks like no pasta for dinner tonight.” You sighed, playfully throwing up your hands in defeat. “I am starting to get really hungry though… Like too hungry to go back up to the room and change and then come back down and wait at a restaurant for more food.” 

“Yeah, shit, I’m really hungry too… Wait!” Javi paused, his face lighting up with excitement. 

“What, Jav?” 

“Didn’t we pass a pizza place on the way up to the room when we first got here? 

The grin on your face was now equally as wide, almost certain that you and Javi were having the same drunk recollection. 

“I knew there was a good reason I married you.” 

Somehow or another, you had not only managed to find your way to “Papa’s Pizzeria”, you had managed to successfully order an extra large pizza for the two of you to split, and make it back to the room without any pizza casualties on the way. 

Even a drunken you couldn’t help but realize how lucky she was to have married a man like Javi, and not just because of his excellent memory for pizza restaurants- What you had been through in the past hour and a half could have easily sent any other couple into an ugly spiral of arguments and blame they’d cast upon each other for “ruining” the rest of their night. 

You’d been witness to so many relationships and marriages where couples barely managed to genuinely enjoy each other’s company, let alone have fun together. Cohabitation drenched in resentment and unhappiness towards each other, forced proximity the only thing keeping them together.  

You were positive that there would never be enough “thank you’s” that you could send out into the universe for letting you marry your best friend. 

Because what would have been a soiled evening for so many others, was quickly turning out to be a better night than you could have ever imagined, plans tossed out the window to sit cross legged in your king sized bed together, bodies draped in fluffy hotel robes as you mowed down on slices of pepperoni pizza, giggling over shared, drunken secrets with your favorite person in the world. 

“Okay, your turn now.” You snickered, shoving another bite of lukewarm pizza into your mouth, giving Javi a playful shove into the sea of pillows at the head of your bed. 

“I just went!” He protested, trying to talk through the mess of cheese, sauce and crust he was still chewing. 

“Nuh uh! I just did, remember? We got off topic because we started talking about the Farrah Fawsect poster you had in your room that your mom made you take down, but you were the one who asked me about who my first celebrity crush was, remember?” You insisted, pointing your half bitten piece of pizza at him, forcing him to hold up his hands in defeat. 

“Okay, okay! Can’t blame me for forgetting after thinking about that poster, though.” Javi shrugged, smirking at the thought of his 12 year old self gawking at the beautiful blonde actress hanging above his bed, “Shit…. Gimmie a second, let me think.” 

“I’ve given you plenty of seconds, goofball! Like all the seconds I spared you thinking about Farrah.” 

“Shut up. Okay,” he paused, taking another bite of pizza, “who was your first kiss?” 

“Really? Why, you gonna go hunt him down?” You snorted, feeling like you were gossiping with your teenage best friend at a sleepover rather than with your husband, Javi laughing along with you as he shook his head, “It was Jack Mullins in the 7th grade.” 

“Okay, and?” Javi prodded, smirking as he interrogated you for more information. 

“It was at a Halloween Party my friend Sarah had at her house. I’m pretty sure we were playing truth or dare, and all my friends knew I had a massive crush on him because he was the cutest boy in the 7th grade. So they dared me to kiss him and I did it. It was so awkward, and I had no idea what I was doing. Pretty sure we kissed while the “The Monster Mash” was playing, too. I was so embarrassed after that I cried in the bathroom and then walked home and didn’t even say goodbye to anyone. Didn’t ever think I’d speak to him again and he ended up being my date to prom.” 

“Wow. That was a way better story than I was expecting to get. “The Monster Mash”? Truth or Dare?” Javi chuckled as your cheeks turned red, watching your eyes at his enjoyment of your story. 

“Okay, I was 12 Javi, some of us were weird, awkward teenagers. I’m sure that you were very easily the Jack Mullins of your middle school and had girls at the door lining up to kiss you.” You rebutted, having seen plenty of pictures of teenage Javi, thanks to Chucho, knowing whatever awkward phase he went through was only a fraction of your pre-teen pain. 

“No, I wasn’t. I was a pretty shy kid. All my friends had their first kiss way before I did.”  Javi shrugged, now sounding slightly more embarrassed. 

“Okay, so what? They were 12 and you were 13? I don’t believe it. I would have had the biggest crush on you in middle school.” 

“I’m being serious!”  

C’mon, Javi, if I’m telling you about my Monster Mash kiss, I get to hear about yours!” You insisted, giving him the biggest fake pout that you could muster until he gave in. 

“I- I was 16 when I had my first kiss.” 

“You’re joking.” 

“Why would I joke about that?” 

“16?!” 

“Osita, you’re making it sound like I was 72 when I had my first kiss, not 16.” 

“Considering how cute you were, yeah, I am! Okay, spill! Now I need to know!” 

“I’m telling you, I was a shy kid. Didn’t really come out of my shell until 10th grade when I started doing swimming. There was a girl on the team I always thought was really cute, but I was too chicken shit to do anything about it. All my friends had girlfriends and dates to go to homecoming with, and I didn’t have anyone, so they forced me to ask her. She turned me down, told me she already had a date. I was devastated. Went to a party with the team after, got drunk for the first time because I was so upset, and ended up kissing my friend’s older sister, Katie. Made out in the laundry room in the basement for the rest of the night. My friend found us after he realized we both had gone missing and ended up punching me in the face and almost breaking my nose.” 

“Holy shit. That’s a way better story than mine.” You gawked, eyes going wide at the turn Javi’s story had taken. 

“I wouldn’t say way better, just stupid.” Javi huffed, “You do dumb things when you’re young.” 

“Well, you must have been a pretty good kisser even back then if she made out with you for an hour. Honestly, would have been dumb if she didn’t make out with you, in my humble opinion.” You giggled, scooting closer to Javi as you snuggled into his lap, resting your head on his outstretched thigh and letting out a big yawn. Resting his hand on your back, Javi pulled you closer, running his fingers through the sun kissed ends of your messy hair, smiling at all the tell tale signs sleep was beginning to creep through your body and the way you snuggled up next to him. 

“Okay, one last question because all these mojitos are catching up to me and I’m getting sleepy.” You mumbled, feeling your eyelids begin to droop as you curled up in the warmth of his body, comfort flooding over you from Javi’s presence. 

“Okay, hermosa. Your turn.” Javi cooed, his voice softening to match your sleepy tone, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of your head. 

“If you could change anything about your life, anything you want, what would it be?” 

Javi paused for a moment, his fingers still daintily stroking across your hair and back as he thought. Truthfully, there were plenty of things he wished he could change about his past. It would take him less than a minute to come up with a list longer than most people could muster in a lifetime. He had wasted so many years of his life, bitter and remorseful about the things he had done, condemning himself to suffer the consequences of his actions. And yet, somehow, despite all of the things he could have said, out of all the painful things he wished he could go back in time to change, there was one answer that prevailed above all the rest, an answer that couldn’t have been easier to choose.  

“I wish there was a world where I would have met you sooner. That I would have gotten to love you just a little longer.” 

He waited for your response, settling into the silence until it was broken by one of your soft snores humming against his thigh, signaling to him you were sound asleep in his lap, not having heard a word you said. He laughed softly to himself, remembering the first night he had stayed at your apartment, and how it had ended just like this, conversation flowing until the early hours of the morning until you couldn’t fight sleep any longer, eyelids shutting as you fell asleep in his arms. How he watched you gently drift to dreaming, wondering if he was, too. That somehow, some way, the world had managed to bring the two of you together. And even if he wished he would have gotten more time to love you before you’d met, Javi knew that he’d be forever grateful for every minute he had left with you. 

Despite the raging hangover the two of you had the next morning after you woke up from your alcohol and pizza induced coma, the rest of your honeymoon had been some of the most fun that the two of you had had in years. You’d spent multiple days at the pool, soaking up sun on the beach and swimming in the ocean, eaten so much delicious food you were convinced you were going to combust, drank more mojitos than you’d like to admit, and had even gone snorkeling on a tour through some of the islands outside your resort. 

You also had been having so much sex, you were starting to feel bad for the rooms on either side of you. 

Everything about your honeymoon had been everything you’d ever hoped for and more, but with only one full day left of your vacation, you couldn’t help but feel a little sad that your perfect trip to tropical paradise was coming to a close. 

“What’s that look for, porbrecita?” Javi laughed, sneaking up behind you on the edge of the balcony, watching you watch the sunrise with your cheeks propped up in your palms, pouting at the way bright pinks and oranges were greeting the sky. Standing behind you, he snaked his arms around your front so he could bring your back to his chest, kissing the top of your head while his arms settled around your middle. 

“I don’t want our honeymoon to end.” You sighed, craning your neck just enough to look at Javi over your shoulder, “I’m sad it’s gonna be over.” 

“I know, mi amor, me too.” He softly chuckled, planting a long kiss on your cheek, the whiskers of his mustache making you giggle, “But what if I told you I have one more surprise for us before we go home tomorrow?” 

This made you swing all the way around, now chest to chest with Javi as you looked up at him in confusion, “What? I thought we were spending our last day on the beach just hanging out?” 

“Well we are, but what if I told you I rented one of those fancy cabanas at the end of the beach for us to use to celebrate our last day here?” Javi smirked, watching your face light up at his proposition. 

“Wait, actually?” 

“Yes, actually.” 

“But aren’t they like, super expensive to rent for the day?” 

“I mean… they’re not that expensive.” 

“Okay, the pause tells me that you spent way more money than you needed to on this, Jav.” 

“And what if it was? I’m not allowed to wanna spoil my wife on our honeymoon?” Javi grinned, gently cupping your face and playfully shaking it, making you laugh again. 

“Your wife doesn’t need to be spoiled, just getting to be here with you is more than enough.” You paused, giving Javi a little nudge as he dramatically rolled his eyes at you, chuckling to himself, “What, you goof?” 

“I hope you know that because you’re my wife, I’m planning on spending the rest of my life spoiling you, whether you like it or not. I’d give you the fucking moon if I could, Osita.” 

“Well lucky for you, a day at a beach cabana will do just fine.” 

While you never would have asked Javi to purposely spend extra money on things you really didn’t need to make your trip any more special than it already was, you couldn’t deny that spending the day in your own private cove of the beach in a luxurious cabana with food and drinks being served to you at your request wasn’t a bad way to spend the last day of your honeymoon. 

The daybeds in the cabana had made a perfect place for a shady, mid day nap for the both of you, lazily waking up from the soft kiss Javi had planted on your shoulder, exposed from your bikini top, freckled and sunkissed from days in the tropics. 

“I’m gonna go for a swim, Hermosa. Be back in a sec.” Javi cooed, gently stirring you from your catnap. 

“Mmmmmmkay.” You smiled, flipping over for another kiss on the lips before Javi slipped out from the flaps of your tent, softly blowing in the breeze. You sat up on your lounger, the sight of Javi in nothing but his bathing suit waking you from your brief sleep in a matter of moments. 

Even though you had seen Javi in nothing but bathing suits for the past 9 days, you were convinced it was a sight you’d never find yourself getting over. There was no doubt that you had always found him incredibly attractive, but something about this trip had skyrocketed him to another level of sexy you didn’t even know was attainable. You weren’t sure if it was the unbuttoned floral shirts, excessive time spent shirtless, his messy and wet beach hair, or just the fact that now you got to call him your husband- truthfully, it was most likely a combination of all of the above. 

You perked up, pulling back the fabric door of the cabana enough to watch Javi’s arms stroke through the ocean, popping his head above water with a brief shake before he was shallow enough to touch the sandy bottom again. As he sauntered in from the ocean, you couldn’t help but admire the width of his shoulders and chest, glistening from the sun and salty water. You let your gaze travel down to his swim trunks, feeling your mouth water at the way they hugged his waist and crept up his thick thighs. With each step closer to shore, you couldn’t stop staring at the way his trunks were clinging to his lower half, perfectly outlining his generous length. 

Javi must have noticed the way you were staring at him by the subtle smirk that had broken out across his face as he approached the cabana, eyeing you up and down right back. 

“You have a good swim?” You asked, feeling your stomach swirl as you took in every inch of him, glowing in the sunlight. 

“Mhmm. Did you have fun watching me swim?” He teased, tongue tracing over his teeth while he raised his eyebrows, knowing damn well the effect he was having on you. 

“Maybe. What, I’m not allowed to enjoy the view? Not my fault my husband is so handsome.” Your smirk was almost as wide as his, biting down on your bottom lip as Javi entered the cabana, letting the flap to the entrance close behind him before caging your body under his on the lounge chair, trailing hot, wet, kisses across your chest and stomach. 

“Say it again.” He mewled, looking up at you with his big, brown eyes as his kisses trailed lower and lower, watching as he began to settle himself at the edge of the chair between your thighs. 

“My husband is so handsome. You’re so handsome, Javi.” You sighed, feeling the damp patch in your swimsuit bottoms growing, soaking the fabric with your slick and arousal. 

“You’re so fucking good to me. Fuck, I’m so lucky.” He groaned, slinging your thighs over his shoulders, eyes still locked on you while he began to tug at the strings of your bikini, leaving your bottom half bare. 

There was a part of you that knew you should be worried about someone catching the two of you, barely concealed by the flimsy confines of your cabana, but the part of you staring at your husband between your legs about to eat you out seemed a lot more convinced that this was the best idea Javi had all day. 

“You’re so fucking perfect. Everything about you. I’m the goddamn luckiest man alive, you know that baby?” 

Your response to his question was nothing but a ragged moan, feeling him draping his arm over your hips to hold you in place as he slid two fingers into your heat. He curled his hand to reach the spot inside you he knew made you crumble before diving back in between your legs, beginning to lick you up like a man starved.

His tongue swirled against your clit, the firmness of each stroke and the deep press of his fingers making you writhe under his touch, shooting your hand down to grab fistfulls of his damp, curly locks to brace yourself as he ate you out relentlessly.

“Oh my god, fuck, Javi. Fuck, you feel so good. Fuck-” 

You could feel him switching tactics, latching his lips around your sensitive nub, rapidly sucking at the throbbing bundle of nerves, working his fingers deeper in your cunt as he felt you begin to clench around him. 

“Fuck Javi, fuck, right there baby- fuck, I’m close.” Your fingers were buried so deep in his curls, tugging just enough to pull his face closer to you as you could feel your orgasm building at the base of your spine, desperate for him to give you your sweet release. 

His thick fingers bumped along your g-spot, curving them ever so slightly in the way he had memorized like the back of his hand to make you come undone. The tingle along your spine quickly spread down your legs, pleasure building rapidly throughout your body as you felt yourself on the edge of release. Lifting his arm off your waist, he reached up to grab your hand laying out on the lounge chair, engulfing it in his grasp as he intertwined his fingers with yours. 

“Dameló, (give it to me) sweet girl. Let go, baby, I’ve got you.” 

You could feel the pressure inside you snap, the tingling in your veins quickly transforming into full blown pleasure as your orgasm swept through you. You gushed around his hand, cunt clenching down on his fingers as you came, losing all sense of inhibitions as you cried out with a volume much louder than intended. 

But with Javi’s fingers still curled, prodding against your g-spot, you had a feeling those cries weren’t coming to a halt any time soon. It was only moments after your orgasm had finished he was already on a mission to give you another, tongue lapping up every ounce of your slick as it pressed against your clit. 

“Javi, holy shit, baby, oh fuck.” You whined, bucking your hips towards his face and arching your back as he circled around your bundle of nerves, your moans and whimpers only egging him on more. 

Even after all this time, there was a part of you that still couldn’t believe how fast Javi could make you cum. He had memorized every twitch, every tug of his hair, every breathy whisper to know what made you fall apart under his touch, loving every second of watching you come undone for him. 

You could already feel the tingling of your next orgasm beginning to creep up your legs and into your stomach as Javi sucked at your clit, greedy for him to help you hit your second high. 

“Please don’t stop, Javi. Fuck baby, fuck, fuck, I- ahhhhhhhhh.” That was all it took before you could feel the waves of pleasure rushing through your body again, your pussy throbbing as your orgasm flooded over you. 

Your legs were all but jello at this point, trembling around Javi’s head, still buried between them. Your last two orgasms had been so intense, you weren’t sure you could take a third, but with the way Javi knew your body, you also were convinced it would barely take anything for you to cum again. 

“J-Javi- fuck, baby, fuck I can’t-”   

“Gimme one more, Osita. C’mon, sweet girl. Wanna make my wife cum one more time.” You nodded, looking down at the shine of your arousal covering his smirk, knowing that at this point, you were so worked up and overstimulated that just the fingers already inside of you really were all you needed to give him your last orgasm. 

Javi’s fingers had already sunk so deep into your cunt, already so overly sensitive to every push and pull of his hand, that the grip you had on his hand had become so tight, you could feel your knuckles turning white. You cried out his name as it fell from your lips, babbling incoherently as the third rush of pleasure crashed over you, gushing onto Javi’s fingers.  

“That’s my good girl. My perfect fucking wife. I love you so much.” Javi carefully pulsed his fingers a few more times as he felt you clench around him, making you hiss as he withdrew his hand now soaked in your slick, bringing the digits to his fingers to suck them clean with a satisfied smirk. 

It was only moments before his sly grin had quickly shifted to full blown panic, you, still too blissed out to wonder why he was scrambling to throw a towel over your bottom half and one to hide the erection under his as he sat himself in the chair next to you. Thank god Javi still at least had an ounce of inhibition left to see the footsteps of the server who had been periodically checking in on you strolling their way through the sand under the edge of the cabana, saving you both from what could have been an incredible amount of embarrassment. 

“Hi, how are you two doing? Anything else I can get for you right now?” Your server asked, peeking his head in through the flaps to see you and Javi trying your best to act as natural as possible. 

“N-no, I’m good. You good, honey? Need anything?” Javi asked, looking over at you as his hand ran over the back of his neck, trying his best not to grimace at the awkward tension stewing between him, you and your poor, unsuspecting server. 

“You know what, I think I’m gonna have another drink.” 

“Alright! Another mojito for you, ma’am?” Your server asked, whipping out his pad of paper to note down your order. 

“No, can you make this next one a Sex on the Beach? That sounds really good.” 

It truly took everything in Javi not to burst out laughing, choking on his own spit at your perfectly timed order, shaking his head at you in a humorous disbelief. 

“Perfect, well I’ll be right back with your drink!” 

“Thank you so much!” 

Once your server had disappeared, you and Javi erupted in hyena like laughter, the combination of your joke and almost fatal timing throwing the two of you into a fit of giggles. 

“You’re fucking ridiculous, you know that?” Javi chuckled, looking over at you as he shook his head. 

“What? It’s our last day, figured we might as well have a little sex on the beach. The drink sounds like it’ll be good, too.” 

Your mid-afternoon flight had made for an easy morning to pack up and soak in the last little bit of your honeymoon. It had given you just enough time to enjoy your favorite breakfast place, and have one more of the best blueberry waffles you’d ever tasted before your last shower (and shower sex) to get ready for your departure home. 

While you were sad your vacation had come to an end, there was no denying that every last bit of your trip was absolutely perfect, and even more so that you got to spend it with the most perfect person you could think of. You were convinced you could have gone anywhere in the world for your honeymoon and you would have felt the same- in the end, it wasn’t the destination that mattered, it was the fact you got to spend it with your husband. 

The fact that you got to spend every vacation together for the rest of your lives only made it that much sweeter. 

While flying would never be enjoyable, you were thankful your trip home was fairly painless, granting Javi’s hand some grace, considering you didn’t feel the need to keep it in an iron grip for the two hours it took you to arrive back home. 

You were also thankful that it was Steve and Connie who had offered to pick you up from the airport instead of Chucho, sparing you and Javi the same sort of awkward embarrassment you had endured on the ride to start off your honeymoon. 

Well, it may not been the same kind of embarrassment that you had experienced with Javi’s dad, but it was foolish of you to think that Steve was letting you get away scott free. 

At least he had managed to get creative with it, making a greeting poster with “Welcome home, lovebirds!” on it to help you find him and Connie in the airport crowd, making Javi let out a sigh loud enough that Steve probably could have heard it from the tarmac. 

“Hey! There they are! Welcome home, Mr. and Mrs. Peña!” Steve grinned, pulling you and Javi in for a hug as you found him, Connie following suit with a much less dramatic greeting for the both of you afterwards. 

“How was the honeymoon? Did you guys have a great time?” Connie asked, offering to take one of your suitcases, nudging Steve to do the same. “ 

“It was really nice. It was everything we could have hoped for. The resort was beautiful, the food was great, and the weather was fantastic. It really was perfect.” You smiled, looking up at Javi, nodding in agreement, reaching out to wrap his arm over your shoulder. 

“Thanks again for picking us up.” Javi chimed in, the two of you now following along behind your friends as they began leading you through the airport towards their car. 

“Don’t mention it, Jav. Least we could do.” Steve replied, reaching out to give Javi a little punch to the arm. 

“We’re super excited to hear all about your trip!” Connie added, looking back at you and Javi with a genuine grin. 

“Excited to hear if I’m gonna make good on my bet…” Steve muttered, laughing under his breath. 

“Steve! Seriously? You promised in the car you weren’t gonna bring this up!” Connie huffed, giving her husband a slap to the chest, and a grimace that clearly was the silent way to ask “Will you please shut up?” 

“What?! I put good money on it, I’m confident!” 

“Wait, is this the same bet that Javi’s dad was talking about on the way here?” You asked, looking back and forth between Javi, Steve and Connie in confusion, perplexed as to what you and Javi had to do with whatever bet he and the Murphy’s were in on. 

“Go ahead, Steve! Why don’t you explain?” Connie scolded, hands on her hips as she stared down her husband in all his big mouthed glory. 

“You bet on it, too!” Steve retorted, holding his hands up in defense, pointing at Connie to claim her as part of the guilty party to whatever was going on.

“What the fuck are you guys talking about?” Javi asked, trying to cut to the chase of whatever cryptic game they were playing. 

“After y’all left on your wedding night, we- shit, this does sound kinda bad when you say it to their face, huh?” Steve paused, letting out a huff as he turned back to Connie, grimacing in agreement, “Us and your family and your dad made a bet.” 

“A bet on…” You led, waiting for your answer. 

Steve sighed again, hands on his hips as he stared at the ground before looking back up at you and Javi, “A bet on how quick it would take after the wedding until the two of you announced you were pregnant.” 

You didn’t even want to know how red your face was turning, but judging by the sudden pink flush of Javi’s cheeks, you had no doubt you looked exactly the same, if not worse. 

“To be fair, your dad was the one who started it!” Steve exclaimed, pointing at Javi to let him know he wasn’t to blame for his friend’s embarrassment before shifting his finger to point at you, “And your brothers were the one who said we should make it a bet! I just wanted in on it!” 

“Jesus fucking christ.” Javi sighed, face in his palm as he rubbed his temples with the pads of his fingers. 

“I hope now you know we’re not gonna have kids just to spite all of you.” You teased, crossing your arms over your chest as you tilted your head at Steve. It was enough to catch Javi’s attention, eyes going wide that there was even a shred of you being serious, laughing to yourself as you watched the relief flush over him when you shook your head at your own joke. 

“Yeah, okay, whatever you say.” Steve chuckled, his voice oozing with sarcasm, simply shrugging before turning back around to continue your journey to the parking garage. 

Javi took his free hand, intertwining it with yours and giving it a gentle squeeze as the two of you trailed behind the Murphy’s soft smile on his face that despite his friends and families bet revolved around your sex life, there was a very real possibility that sooner rather than later, someone was bound to make their fifty bucks. 

“What’d you bet?” Javi asked, feeling entitled to know how Steve had gambled after he’d spilled the beans on his little wager. 

“Well, let’s see, y’all got married at the end of July, so July to August, August to September,” Steve paused, doing the quick math on his fingers as he calculated his answer, “9 months from now would be April, so I’ll be damned if you’re not tellin’ us your havin’ a baby by the fall and it’s here by the spring. And I know for a fact neither of y’all would be mad about that one bit.” 

And as much as you both hated to admit it, it was one of the few things in life that Steve Murphy was very, very right about. 

@chaotic-iguana @rhoorl @whyjuliaaa @bbiophiliaa @pertinentpostmortem

@angelofsmalldeath-codeine @pedrobaby @fatima-marisa @beboldbebravethings @poodlebae

@kittenlittle24 @3sriracha @jungchloee @perennialdoll247 @prettyinpunk85

@partyofone3413 @harriedandharassed @pedrohoe04 @theorganasolo

@endlessthxxghts @beware-my-thorns @missladym1981 @messinadresa @milly-louise @jay-zzle

@the-one-with-the-grey-color @persephone-girl @bitchesuntitled @pedropascallvr @millennial-teenybopper

@nastiasnow @vee-bees-blog @hopplessilse @mxtokko @its-nebuleuse @mandoisapunk

@msmorningstaarr @amyispxnk @honeyedmiller @mountainsandmayhem @picketniffler

@burningnerdchild @copperhalfcent @theoraekenslover @bloodyinspirationaldemon @vee-bees-blog

@samgirl4life @pigeonmama @pedr0swh0r3 @survivingandenduring

@javierpena-inatacvestnotifs

[y3sterdaysproblem]

smoke and mirrors - chris sturniolo

summary: your best friend Matt backs out of plans you had made together, so you replace him with his brother. the only problem is the two of you can’t stand each other.

{enemies to lovers, fake dating}

includes : explicit language, fluff, smut(penetration, oral, fingering, etc.), angst if you squint, lots of bickering, slow burn

wc: 2.4k

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a/n: first series! it won’t be super long, but I hope you enjoy. send requests for more fics!

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chapter one

“Matt, you can’t back out now!” You huff, crossing your arms over your chest as you stare at your best friend where he lays on his bed, setting his phone down to look up at you.

“I’m sorry, love, something came up and I can’t make it,” he apologizes, shrugging his shoulders. “I can’t get out of it.”

You groan, throwing your head back in frustration. You had a family wedding to attend and already RSVP’d with a plus one, which was supposed to be your best friend Matt, who had lovingly agreed to pretend to be your boyfriend for the night. Your family was super invasive about you getting a boyfriend, and you wanted to avoid all of the comments and questions by just pretending to have a boyfriend for one night at the wedding, but your plan was falling apart.

“What am I supposed to do? I already told everyone I was coming with somebody, they’re gonna know I was lying if I show up by myself,” you tell him, trying to rack your brain for any ideas.

“You could bring Nick,” Matt suggests, picking his phone back up and going back to scrolling.

You scoff. “Yeah right, like Nick could pretend to be straight for an entire night. He’d be caught in less than an hour.” You shake your head, moving to sit on the edge of the bed next to Matt. “I’m gonna have to go on, like, Bumble or something and find some random to go with me.”

Matt looks up at you over his phone, waiting for you to lock eyes with him before he starts to speak. “I mean… I know one other guy you could ask.”

You tilt your head, excited to hear the suggestion, before you realize who he’s talking about and your eyes widen, head shaking rapidly. “Absolutely not,” you put your hands up, pointer fingers crossed over in an X. “I am not asking Chris, no way.”

Matt raises his eyebrows and purses his lips. “I told you I knew someone, I didn’t say you’d like what I said.”

You roll your eyes. “He would never say yes to me anyway, even if I did want to ask him.”

Matt shrugs. “Maybe. You could always bribe him, he loves a good bribe.”

You think about it for another moment, knowing it would be easier to get Chris to do it than it would to find some random guy to go to a wedding as a first date, but the thought of spending an entire night next to Chris made your skin crawl.

The two of you had never really gotten along, even with you being around as much as you were, you guys never clicked, in fact it was the complete opposite, always insulting each other any chance you got, ignoring each other, and always avoiding being in the same room by yourself, even if only for a few moments.

“I mean… I could try but I really can’t promise I won’t kill your brother, Matt,” you half joke, but not really. “Might turn you into a twin.”

“That’s fucked,” Matt laughs, using his foot to kick you lightly. “I‘ll still be a triplet, even if you kill him. I’ll just be a triplet with severe depression and no will no live.”

“You’re so dramatic,” you tell him through a laugh. “Your life would be so much quieter, wouldn’t that be nice? You’d secretly thank me for killing him.”

Matt shakes his head at you with a smile, though his eyes tell you he thinks you’re crazy, before looking back down at his phone.

“Killing who?” A voice sounds from the doorway and you look up to see the man of the hour staring back at you, a disinterested look on his face.

“You,” you smile sweetly up at Chris.

“That’s nice,” he says, flashing you a fake, tight lipped smile before turning to his brother. “Hey, can you take me to go get food?”

Matt groans and throws his head back, closing his eyes. “But I’m so comfortable,” he whines.

You take a deep breath and consider your options. Chris, who you hate but have known for years, or a random guy who might be a serial killer? You’d definitely be safer with Chris, but the thought of having to be near him without his brothers for an entire night seemed like hell. Especially having to act like you were pleased to be in his presence.

“I’ll take you,” you speak before you can stop yourself.

Both Matt and Chris look at you with shocked expressions, Chris having a bit of disgust in his eyes.

“I’d rather starve, thanks,” Chris replies. “Matt, c’mon seriously, can you take me?” He asks again.

“Chris,” you say in a stern voice, standing up from the bed and walking towards him. “Let me take you. I need to talk to you.”

Chris watches you walk past him through the doorway and then looks back at Matt, shooting him a confused look, to which his brother just shrugs, before he leaves to follow you, finding you by the front door slipping your crocs on.

“The fuck is this about?” He asks, trotting down the stairs to meet you by the front door. “You in love with me or some shit?”

You look up at him with an unamused expression. “You wish I was in love with you.” You huff. “I told you, I gotta talk to you.”

You open the front door and head outside towards your car, opening the drivers side door. You look behind you and see Chris standing in the doorway, staring after you. “I’ll buy your food,” you tell him, and he immediately shuts the door behind him and walks up to your car. “You should’ve led with that!” He says.

You both get in your car and you start driving. “Where do you want to go?” You ask him, turning your head to see him on his phone. “Chris,” you push, reaching out to smack his phone out of his hand, causing it to land on the floor.

“What the fuck, dude. Unnecessary.” Chris huffs, reaching down to grab his phone, but he tucked it between his legs instead of going back on it. “I don’t know, McDonald’s?”

You groan. “You always get McDonald’s. Can’t we get like Popeyes or something?”

Chris looks at you, raising an eyebrow. “Well I didn’t know you were gonna eat, too, jesus. Sure, Popeyes is fine.” He goes for his phone again, but you reach out and grab his hand, stopping him.

“Wait,” you start. “I actually do need to talk to you.”

Chris sighs and puts his phone away in his pocket completely, looking over at you. “Okay, spit it out then.”

You flash a glare at him quickly before returning your eyes to the road. “So… Matt was going to be my plus one for a wedding I’m going to, but he can’t go anymore because something came up, and I can’t ask Nick because he’s gay and that just won’t work, and so that just leaves you.” You tell him nervously.

“So what if he’s gay, your family homophobic or something?” Chris asks, annoyance lacing his voice.

You sigh and pull into the Popeyes parking lot, pulling into a spot and throwing the car into park before you turn your body to face Chris. “No, they’re not homophobic. It’s just… I kind of told them I was bringing a boyfriend.”

Chris stares at you for a moment before laughing, completely unserious. “You? A boyfriend? That’s hilarious. I can’t believe you’re lying to your family about having a boyfriend.”

You don’t laugh though, you just drop your eyes down to your lap, knowing that this was exactly how the conversation would go.

“Wait a minute, that means you want me to pretend I’m your boyfriend? Fuck no, I’d rather be single for the rest of my life. Forget it, dude, you’re shit outta luck with me.” Chris shakes his head, bringing a hand up to run through his hair.

You nod and start backing out of the spot, heading towards the drive-thru. “Yeah I figured that was how you’d respond,” you murmur.

You guys order your food, and you still pay for it, staying true to your word, before heading home. It was a quick but quiet ride back, both of you getting out of the car without a word, not even a ‘thank you’ shot your way. You take your shoes off and head back up to Matt’s room, seeing him in the same position you left him in, only now he was watching a movie, and you got in his bed to join him with your food.

“How’d it go?” He asked, reaching out to steal one of your fries.

“Exactly how I expected it to go. He laughed in my face and said he’d rather be single for the rest of his life than pretend to be my boyfriend,” you tell Matt, looking down at him from where you sat.

Matt smiles up at you, reaching out to pat your leg. “Sorry, kid. You tried.”

You nod and look up at the tv screen, starting to eat your dinner.

-

The next day, you’re sitting on your couch panting your toes and watching your favorite comfort show when you hear the doorbell ring, startling you as you weren’t expecting anybody over today. You look down at your toes and swear under your breath, seeing that you smeared polish along your skin.

You set down the polish on the table and stand up, walking to your door and pulling it open, jaw dropping in shock when you come face to face with Chris, the last person you expected to show up at your door unannounced. You almost wanted to rub your eyes in case you were mistaking him for another triplet, but you knew your eyes didn’t deceive you.

“Chris?” You question. “How did you get here?”

He rolls his eyes at you. “I ubered?” He says like it’s obvious. “You gonna let me in or what?”

You take a step back and let him into your house, shutting the door behind him. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure?” You say, sitting back down on your couch. He follows and sits at the opposite end, looking over at you.

He ignores your question, watching you as you continue to do your toes, cleaning up the mess you made. “Why not just get your toes done?” He asks.

You look at him with an annoyed expression. “Costs money? Why spend money when I can sit around and do it myself?” You go back to painting your toes. “Why are you here?”

Chris shrugs. “Been thinking about what you said yesterday, about the wedding.”

You stop what you’re doing and put the polish back down, turning your attention on Chris completely. “Did you change your mind?” You ask him.

He sighs and licks his lips before speaking. “Consider it my charity for the year,” he smiles, tilting his head at you. “But I need a small favor from you.”

“A favor in return isn’t charity, Chris, it’s like… eye for an eye or whatever.” You look at him deadpan. Of course he’d want something in return, he could never do something for you out of the goodness of his heart.

“Whatever, dude, you want my help or not?” Chris asks. “If not I’ll just leave, doesn’t make a difference to me.”

You huff and give in. “Fine. What’s the favor?” You ask him.

He pulls out his phone, scooting a bit closer to you on the couch. “There’s this girl that will not stop hitting me up and she’s driving me crazy. I told her I’m not interested, I’ve ignored her messages, I even blocked her on snap to see if she’d get the hint but she still texts me every day.” He shows you all of the unanswered messages and your jaw drops.

“Holy shit, what does this girl see in you?” You laugh, reading how desperate she was for Chris.

“Funny,” Chris replies, unamused.

“What does this have to do with me?” You ask him, looking back up at his face.

“I think it’s only fair if I pretend to be your boyfriend at the wedding, you pretend to be my girlfriend on social media. Only for a few weeks or until she stops messaging me. Plus, you’re way hotter than her. ” Chris tells you, and by the tone of his voice, he’s completely serious.

You feel heat rising up your neck and you try to get it under control before your cheeks turn red. “You think I’m hot?” You ask him, a teasing lilt in your voice.

“Not the point,” he replies.

“So you tell me that you would rather be single for the rest of your life than pretend to be my boyfriend, and now you want me to pretend I’m your girlfriend?” You clarify, and he just nods, like it’s no big deal. “Pretending to be together at an event is one thing, but you want to take photos to look like a couple? That’s a little… intimate don’t you think?”

Chris shrugs his shoulders. “I’m a big boy, you’re a big girl. Don’t think you can handle a little physical touch without falling for me?” He smirks, leaning in closer to you.

You grimace and reach up to push his shoulder away. “Gross, dude. I could have sex with you and still not fall in love with you and your terrible personality.”

Chris gasps, fake shocked, throwing a hand to his chest. “I am a very good lover, why do you think this girl won’t stop texting me?”

Your eyes widen. “You had sex with her?!” You shriek. “Chris, no wonder she keeps blowing your shit up!”

Chris groans and throws his head back, leaning it on the back of the couch. “It was supposed to be a one time thing, I don’t know why she’s so hung up on me!”

You find yourself giggling a bit before you stop and clear your throat, not wanting to give Chris the satisfaction of making you laugh. You compose yourself and shake your head, clearly disappointed in the boy across from you. “Fine, I’ll pretend to be your girlfriend, but no kissing! I draw the line at kissing.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry, I don’t want to kiss you,” Chris cringes. “So… I guess we should start planning this?”

You nod and smile towards him, placing your hands in your lap as you guys start to figure out how to execute both individual plans.

-

a/n: this chapter is SUPER short but it’s kinda just to get a feel of the fic and how it’s gonna play out. I really hope you guys like this series im so nervous about it!!

taglist

@liiixsturniolos @madelinesturn @st6niolo @mattslolita @ifwdominicfike @sophand4n4 @chris-hallelujah @sophsturns @ariana2saucyy @045696

[mischievouslittlecreature]

@brummiereader Ahhhh, Brummie, this chapter was insane! 😱

For the whole beginning of this chapter I was so damn tense! 🫣 I was just waiting for Tommy to explode. And then to find out that she rejected the job offer! Girlie, no, what you doing!? You've gotta start building up your independence to get away from him!

For a silent Tommy, a scheming, concocting Tommy, was the worst version of your husband anyone would have the unfortunate pleasure of facing.

Ahhhh I love this line! Tommy is so scary when he wants to be! 🫣

It breaks my heart for Reader every time she gets these little glimpses of the man that she loved and married, only for him to vanish again 😔. His whole display with Mr. Wyatt at the pub was horrifying!

He could kick it down, he thought to himself, settling his hands on his hips, deciding that he would be the better person and proceed like an adult instead of following the bratty behaviour you had shown.

Dhjdklghjkfdg he really thinks that he didn't already come across as a childish brat during his giant hissy fit at the pub 🤦🏻‍♀️.

" I'm just keeping you safe..."

The saddest part is, I think he genuinely believes that. But at this point the only she needs to be kept safe from is him. You've done such a great showing how difficult it is to be around someone with such intense mood swings, and the stress that is has continued to have on Reader.

" Jesus Tom, it's starting to look like a bleeding cemetery down here"

This alone just says so much. Plus her asking what happened to the officer..eep! Tommy's really lost his mind, hasn't he? 🥺 At this point, all I can hope is that Reader and her daughter manage to get away from him.

Best not to look your demons in the eye, he said to himself as his gaze drifted down to the bloody image of himself staring back at him in the reflection of his wedding ring.

The IMAGERY of this, oh my god! It's too good!

I am so excited to see what unhinged things you have Tommy do next, hon. This series is fantastic! 🖤

Binding Love (Part Three/ Dark!Tommy)

Summary: An evening of drinks gets quickly interrupted by your husband's paranoia and demand for answers. How far will Tommy go in his quest to keep you as his wife? And will you ever learn of the sinful acts he's kept buried?

Warnings: Dark!Tommy, language, violence, psychological mind games, controlling behaviour, toxic relationship, manipulative behaviour, psychological abuse, mutual pining, angst, murder.

Word Count: 4.5K

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"So drinks on you, yeh Tom?" Arthur sniffed with an eager grin, rubbing his hands together as Tommy pulled the key from the ignition, silently surveying the dimly lit bar until his eyes found you sat behind the foggy window with a glass of wine perched between your fingers, your plump lips smiling to the unknown man accompanying you.

"What's with him?"John quietly muttered, resting his arm on the back of Arthur's seat as he cocked his head to your husband whose lack in response had both brothers regretting the night they had planned in the Garrison for an evening with Tommy's sour mood, and now, questionable motives.

" Y/N" Arthur mumbled back, following with a huffy sigh as Tommy's heart began to rapidly thud within his chest, a cold film of sweat settling on his creased brow as he took in the gutt punching sight of you sat in an intimate setting with somebody that wasn't him.

And then it came, a hand to your back, a brush of a thumb over your clothed skin. The catalyst that would stop him watching silently on the sidelines with gritted teeth, impatiently waiting for you to become aware of his presence before all restraints were lost, and he made himself known in true, Tommy fashion.

You had lied to him, Tommy's jaw clenched as he threw open his door, slamming it shut with enough force to rattle its metal frame before his heavy steps stormed along the cobbled path to the small, rickety tavern door. Lied.

" I'm sorry for wasting your time, Mr Wyatt" you looked into your glass, swirling the last of your Bordeaux into a crimson whirlpool as you regretted each spoken word that had your future slipping away from you.

" I just don't think I'm quite ready after not having worked for so long. And then there's my daughter, she needs me" your cheeks reddened with embarrassment, doubting your ability with a cascade of excuses, that you, you, would be a valued employee in a reputable company your husband would see it met its demise if you dared to take the job without his consent.

" I understand" the suited gentlemen replied with a brief, reassuring hand to your back.

"The position is yours, for when you're ready" he promised, giving you a way to enter the workforce as an independent woman, free form the constraints of your husband after things had settled between you both.

" Thank you, really" you replied with an appreciative smile, tucking a rebellious lock behind your ear as you brought your handbag into your lap.

" One for the road?" The raven haired man suggested, nodding to your glass as he scooted of his wooden chair to his feet.

" Oh...ok, why not" you nervously clutched your fingers around your clasped bag, eager to leave after having wasted his day, to get through the barrage of questions without hassle you knew awaited you when you returned home.

Eyes scanning the room, you held your breath as your gaze darted from every lone man to every darkened corner, expecting to see one of your husband's henchmen keeping a watchful eye on you.

But with the absence of Tommy and any punter sporting the infamously coiffed cut, you breathed a sigh of relief as a sense of normality to your evening relaxed your nerves.

Maybe Tommy had truly meant what he said? That he would try harder, change for the best? your chest filled with hope, dousing the flames of frustration you had with your husband's constant attempts to control your every move as you let yourself settle comfortably into your chair next to the crackling fireplace illuminating the lowly lit room.

Closing your eyes, you basked in the warmth of the flames heating your cheeks when a gust of wind followed by a scattering of crisp leaves drifted into the bustling pub as the paneled door swung open to the ring of the bell hovered over its frame.

Clutching your body from the sudden rush of cold, your eyes opened to the sound of the landlord lowly greeting his newest customer as a familiar, gravelly voice seeped its way through the rowdy laughs of men and women spending their weekly pay. Tommy.

"Fuck sake, 'ere we go" Arthur mumbled, faced with Tommy's true intentions for the night as he ushered John to the bar for the double whiskey, urgently calling his name.

With glaring eyes and long determined strides, your husband closed the distance between you as your spine stiffened with readiness, head nervously darting back and forth between Mr Wyatt and Tommy's feral stare, weighing him up with each heavy step when his attention snapped to you as you rose to your feet.

" Sit" he commanded as he pulled out the chair opposite you, calmly reaching in his suit jacket for a cigarette as you slid down into the wooden stool with widened eyes.

" Tommy i..." you stopped yourself as you watched him blow a billow of smoke to the ceiling, the fumes momentarily clouding the empty space between you until you were met with his darkened stare silently staring back at you like a disappointed parent would with their unruly child. The sight alone, enough to have your heart plummet to your stomach with dread.

For a silent Tommy, a scheming, concocting Tommy, was the worst version of your husband anyone would have the unfortunate pleasure of facing.

And yet here you were, your status as his wife not enough to save you from his anger and the torturous wait you'd endure until he finally snapped.

" I brought you here, remember? Our fifth date?" he broke the heavy silence that had settled above you both as you swallowed back your apprehension to talk, nodding to the memories he wanted to indulge in.

"Was quite eager to get out of here by the end of the night" his lips creased with a boyish smile, tapping the ash from the coiled cylinder of tobacco into the glass tray next to him.

"And if my memory serves me right, so were you" he leaned back in his chair, pointing to you with his cigarette perched between his fingers as he exuded the charm and allure you fell for all those years ago, your cheeks blushing at the glimpse of the man you had married.

With knowing looks mutually shared, you let yourself slip into the memory of that evening as Tommy's hand reached for yours, thumb brushing longingly over the indent where your wedding ring once sat, his hooded eyes drifting up to the soft smile dimpling your cheeks as your fingers danced in unison around his.

" And now that night's been stained" his mood suddenly changed as he dragged his hand along the wooden table away from you, the seething tone of his voice ambushing the foolish sentiments you still had for him, the shift away from his former self you'd spend nights yearning for brutally snatched from your hands.

" We were just having a celebratory drink, Tommy. I got the job, but...but..." You let the rest of your words fall to the back of your tightening throat, knowing the unconvinced cock of your husband's brow enough to come to the quick conclusion that he not only found your explanations feeble, but laughable. Convinced that your limited skills and work experience weren't adequate enough to get you a job you wouldn't have to flirt your way through for.

" Our daughter was asking after you, asking where you were before she went to bed" his brow of judgment lowered as he snapped his head away to the burning fire, abruptly changing the course of conversation to one that would have you feeling another dose of guilt for the day's events.

" Didn't have the heart to tell her that her mum's out fucking another man, ripping our family apart. Too busy for us, too busy to read her a bedtime story, give her a kiss goodnight. What are you not busy for, eh? he scoffed, knowing the exact combination of buttons to push to cause upset as he waited, watching your reaction in the corner of his eyes.

" Tommy that's not what's happening, it was just a drink" you began to panic, fearing the lengths your husband would go, the divide he'd drive between mother and daughter to get his way.

" I've not been with anyone, you know that" your eyes began to well with tears, feeling defeated by your six year olds name being brought into the conversation, from the heavy allegations he was now accusing you of.

" That so?" a small paper bag of ground ginger got tossed to you along with Tommy's rapidly seeping anger.

"You've been in my room?" Your eyes darted from the satchel of spices to the searing glare of your husband boring into you.

"Our room" he was quick to correct you, refusing to acknowledge your new living arrangements for what they really were.

" I can't sleep, I can't sleep because of you, Tommy. Because of you, because all of this, day in day out!" You snapped, throwing the bag at his chest as you stood up to leave, only to be dragged back down with a sharp pull of your arm.

"Here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna go outside and throw this shit up..." he seethed with disdain, wavering the packet in front of your teary eyes as he continued to believe his version of events.

" I won't" you interrupted, unwilling to cater to his paranoia as you whipped your head away from him.

" And if you dont...If you don't, eh?" He leant over the table, capturing your chin between his fingers, forcing you to acknowledge him. "I'll fucking make you. Understood?" you struggled with his tightening grasp, attempting to get away from his raging jealously and the spiral of paranoia he was adamant on bringing you down to meet him in the pits with.

" It's to fall asleep, Tommy. I'm not...I haven't been with anyone else" You shook your head of the tears pooled in your eyes, desperately trying to reason with the insanity that had overtaken any rational thought he had left.

"I won't have you seeing another man, do you understand me? I won't have my daughter around another fucking man, Y/n! Your dating life ends tonight" he abruptly pulled you into the table by your arm, his anger raging into your ear through gritted teeth.

" I'm not your wife, anymore. You don't get to do this, you don't get to tell me what I can and can't do!" the sting of your ribs hitting the wooden table, bubbling enough anger within you to bite back.

"But you are, sweetheart. By law, you still are" his fury rapidly sizzled out with a smug smirk as he let go, settling back into his chair as calmly as he first had.

" Excuse me, who are you?" Mr Wyatt suddenly appeared with two glasses of whiskey as you and Tommy stared each other down, your shaky body and tear-stained cheeks only a minor cause of concern for your husband, whose cold eyes continued to scold you.

" Here" Tommy pulled a note from the rolled bundle of cash within his jacket, sliding it into the man's chest pocket before taking the two tumblers of liquor he downed in succession.

" Go on then, fuck off" Tommy settled into his chair, ushering the man away like he was nothing but a busboy, slaving sixty hours a week taking orders from junked-up businessmen for minimum wage.

" I don't think he's listening to me, darling" Tommy's brow creased as he eyed up the man from head to toe who was stood momentarily stunned by the stranger who had not only taken his seat but whose brash attitude had just insulted him.

" Is this man bothering you, Y/N?" Mr Wyatt turned from the challenging stare of your husband to do the unthinkable, touch you.

Within the blink of an eye your husband snapped. Too quick for Arthur and John to react, too quick for you to pull him back. For in the mere seconds it took, Tommy had the man pushed up against the bar, a fist full of his collared shirt scrunched between his hands.

" First name basis, eh?" What were your plans with my wife tonight?" Tommy's fist began to twist the fabric of the man's shirt within his hand, cutting the oxygen from his heaving lungs.

" Tommy! Enough!" You screamed, trying to pull your husband from the man that had shown you nothing but respect, nothing but kindness.

" Fellas, fellas. Alright, come on now, ay?" Arthur settled his hand on his brother's straining arm, calmly nodding to the landlord behind the bar, that he, the eldest of the Shelby clan, had everything calmly under control for once.

"Nice suit" Tommy scoffed, patting down Wyatt's crumpled shirt before releasing his hand, taking in the terror he'd caused the fumbling man with a satisfied smirk.

"Here, have one on me" your husband tossed a coin to his feet, giving the man no choice but to lower himself to Tommy's game and pick up the penny in what one could only assume was your husband's way of belittling him even further.

Scoffing at the weak sight before him, Tommy's smirk quickly dissipated as he watched the gentleman who had accompanied you to the bar shoot you a look of both concern and mercy that you'd help him make it home unharmed.

" That's enough for tonight, ay Tom? Tom?" Arthur shook his shoulder with a firm shake, shaking him from the heavy silence that had descended over the room, that same concocting, scheming silence that had everyone tethering on the edge as to what your husband would do next.

Snapping his eyes away, Tommy turned to face the fear laced within yours as he rolled his shoulders, stare sheepishly darting away from you to clear his throat in attempt to recompose himself of the fury that was one stroke of a match away from igniting once again.

His anger with you had been laid bare for all to see, and as your husband waited for you to say something to mask the horrified face staring back at him, all you could do was stay silent. Concocting...scheming your way out of your dreaded marriage Tommy was hellbent on dragging everyone but himself down with.

Leaning the weight of your body onto the wooden table of your foyer, you kicked off your shoes one by one, silently glaring at your husband whose hooded eyes watched your every move over the tumbler of whiskey gripped between his fingers.

"How longs your silent treatment gonna last this time then, love? A day, a week?" A scoffing chuckle lowly rumbled from his chest as he swallowed back the last of the liquor, teeth baring at its sharp notes seeping down his throat.

"S'pose I deserve it" his brows rose to crease the thin lines on his temple as he settled his glass on the table beside him. The twisting pout of his lips enough to convince you that his version of taking the blame was in fact, a pitiful attempt to have you thaw the cold shoulder he didn't believe he deserved.

With no patience left to cater to his change in mood to one of self-pity as he brushed off the night's events, you turned for the staircase with determined steps in an attempt to distance yourself from his brooding temper.

" That's it then, eh? We're not gonna talk?" His eyes followed you as you reached the second floor of your home, catching the scoff that left your lips. A small show of defiance that had him bolting up after you within seconds.

Adamant on checking your daughter's well-being, you turned onto the dimly lit hallway with quiet steps when your course of trajectory got abruptly pulled in the opposite direction to your master bedroom.

"Eh! " He continued his attempts to have you face him, storming after your beeline for the adjoining bathroom as you removed the blouse that had started the argument as Tommy's reaching hands met with the slam of the door you had closed your self off behind with the turn of the lock.

"Y/N listen to me, you need to understand" he jostled the door handle with a frustrated sigh, eyes darting for something sturdy enough to pry it open as he kicked your discarded top to the side while you slipped your trembling body into your dressing gown.

He could kick it down, he thought to himself, settling his hands on his hips, deciding that he would be the better person and proceed like an adult instead of following the bratty behaviour you had shown.

" Darling I'm having a hard time with this, you're giving me a hard time. Open the door so we can talk" He rested the weight of his body with both hands laid flat on the bathroom door, shoulders looming over the dark shadow cast beneath him.

"You've lost yourself, Tommy" your sobbing response finally set itself free, the weeping admission enough to have your husbands clenched jaw grind away the truth he refused to face into passing words that held no weight.

" That man did nothing wrong, I did nothing wrong" you rested your body on the mahogany barrier separating you, head tilting back with a thud as your tears flowed free.

" I'm keeping you safe darling" a heavy sigh left his lungs as he propped his frame against the door.

"Y/N?" he waited on your response, hearing your breath drop with disappointment when a surge of nervousness heated your blood at the question that had suddenly crept into your thoughts after having seen Tommy's unpredictable temper that night.

" Tommy?" You turned on your side, cheek pressed up against the door as your trembling hand settled on the polished wooden, nervously picking at its carved frame as a wave of panic suddenly hurtled towards you.

"What...what did you do to that officer? Tell me?" the worst of your imaginative thoughts, of the potential horrors your husband could have inflicted, flashed before your eyes.

"You know his partner's been hounding me, don't tell me you don't. You have me watched every second of the day. Tommy?" You pleaded for answers as Tommy's pulsing veins ignited with irritation, his fingers curling into clenching fists at the mention of the man he was sure you had only accepted his offer of dinner to get under his skin.

" Open the door, sweetheart" Tommy calmly replied, fooling himself into believing he had a hold over his bubbling anger as you demanded answers for the whereabouts of the gentlemen you had spent mere hours with before his men put an end to your evening.

" What did you do?" You slowly opened the door to be met with your husbands glaring stare, shoulders broad on guard as his tunneling eyes spoke his guilt for him. "Tom?"

"Tommy?" came a sudden knock to the bedroom door, jolting you from the shackling feeling of you feet adhered to the flooring as you waited on bated breath for his response.

"Yeh, go on?" Your husband cleared his throat, head snapping to the sound of one of his men's voices from the landing.

" Cars outside" the peaky informed, dutifully waiting on his next orders.

"Bring it around to the fields" Tommy's eyes flew back to you as the sound of his henchman's feet drifted away, your opportunity for explanations drifting away with them.

" Hey?" He turned back to face you, slowly approaching as you ran your fingers through your hair, turning from his sudden need to comfort you, his need to have you forget the questions that plagued you.

"C'mere, come on" came your husband's soothing voice, seeing the beginnings of a steady stream of tears well in your eyes as you swayed your shoulders back and forth, trying to shrug his attempts to calm you away.

" Enough, eh?" He insisted pulling you into his chest as you internally battled back and forth with your pining for him, until you let your body fall into the warmth of his strong frame, satisfying the yearning as his hands soothingly ran through the locks of your hair.

" What happened to us, hm?" He lifted your chin to up to his softening gaze, gently brushing the tears from your cheeks as exhaustion took over every ounce of energy you had left. Too tired to fight with him again, too tired to release the internal screaming that was shouting his role in the downfall of your marriage.

" I'm just keeping you safe..." His lips hovered over yours, your body rippling with a layer of longing to feel close to him as his fingers brushed down the curve of your cheek, dragging his thumb over your parting lips as he took his chance to soothe the mutual want to reconnect with a kiss to your lips.

Stifling the climbing moan from within your throat, you let yourself be free of your tangled emotions, leaning in to his hypnotising hold on you as your husband's own needs intensified.

Fingers trailing down your spine, you body stepped in unison with him pulling you back to the edge of the bed as a throaty groan left his lips.

"I can't stand this anymore. Fuck sweetheart, let me back in..." his breathy declarations heated your lips as his fingers squeezed the flesh of your thighs between his fingers.

But as the sudden feeling of his bucking hips met yours, seconds from being pulled into the plush fabric covers that awaited your bodies, you stumbled back.

What was wrong with you? Had he that much of a hold over you, that you'd be so weak to give in? Forgetting everything he'd done? you thought to yourself, mumbling words of regret as you shook your head.

" You're playing with me" Tommy raised his brows, finger pointing accusingly as he matched your slow steps back to the safety of the bathroom.

" I'm just one big fucking game, to you eh?" His voice began to turn, his straining need for you left unsatisfied as you fumbled with the door handle behind you.

"Hey!" His voice snapped, body lurching forward as you threw open the door, slamming it shut with the turn of the lock.

" Fuck!" You felt the shudder of his hands slamming against the wood as your chest heaved.

Perching yourself on the edge of the bath, you buried your head in your hands, pulling at the strands of your hair in frustration for having led him on, for making him think you had suddenly overcome the six months worth of stress he'd inflicted on you as Tommy's hollering voice reemerged with furiosity.

" Give a woman your hand she'll take your fucking arm, eh Y/N? I spoilt you! " He continued his onslaught of newly founded revelations, fueled by the frustration he felt about having been turned down by his own wife.

"You don't need me now, is that is? Want to make it on your own? Then go ahead, darling. Have at it!" he snatched your blouse from the floor, throwing it at the doors of your wardrobe before pulling all your clothes out to join it.

" No need for me anymore, eh? No need for these clothes, this jewellery!" he tossed the ceramic tray of diamonds and gemstones on top of the pile of your belongings before pulling the empty suitcase from under your bed.

" Giving you a head start, Y/N. Cleansing you for this new fucking personality you've adopted, your new fucking life!" he bellowed, snapping out each seething word as he crammed your clothes in the small bag.

Handles of the suitcase clutched firmly between his straining fists, Tommy's chest heaved as he came down from the surges of anger that had spurred on his outburst as his eyes darted to the bathroom door, waiting for you to emerge and reconcile.

"Fuck it" he mumbled under his breath, storming from the silence that had returned.

" Good luck ,sweetheart!" The slam of the bedroom door had his rage abruptly come to an end as you let your body cave in on itself, the bellowing voice of your husband replaced with a wave of dread that you had landed yourself in an even more dire situation than before. Shit.

" Tommy" the stocky Irish man handed him a flask of whiskey your husband downed the last of within seconds as his frame shadowed the beaming headlights of the car behind him.

"Jesus, mother Mary. Not again Tom" Johnny Dogs lifted the car boot to see the beaten body of a man drifting in and out of consciousness as Tommy pulled the cuffs of his leather gloves around his wrists with a stretching snap.

" Do I get to know what he did before I commit my saintly soul to hell for a second time this month?" Tommy's trusted friend probed as your husband dragged Mr Wyatt from the car boot into the darkened woods.

" Looked at me the wrong way" Tommy replied, heaving his body with strained grunts to the empty grave Johnny had dug at the back of your grand home.

" That so, ay Tommy?" Dogs questioned who exactly looked at who. Sharp enough mind to know the demons that had taken over his friends troubled soul, loyal enough to turn a blind eye to the lengths both he and Tommy had gone to conceal his jealous rages.

" A hand, John boy" Tommy's reply fell short, knowing his explanations would have him questioning his slipping paranoia as his friend grabbed the arm of Mr Wyatt, pulling him with Tommy into the six foot earthy hole.

" Jesus Tom, it's starting to look like a bleeding cemetery down here" Johnny pulled a smoke from his waistcoat, observing his handy work he spent five hours digging.

Looming over the unfilled grave, Tommy waited as the man who had interviewed you began to stir, waking up from the blow to the head one of his men had inflicted on him in the struggle.

" No...no, no, no! Help!" He began to scream, hands digging at the freshly unearthed mud as Johnny handed Tommy his gun.

" Nobody will hear you all the way down here, Mr Wyatt" your husband filled the chamber of his weapon, the click of the safety releasing sending a haunting echo into the stary sky. "Not for long, that is"

" It was just a drink, I...I" he mumbled his pleas for mercy as Tommy knelt down, resting his arms on bent knees as a cloud of chilled air fogged his face.

" That's what they all say, don't they?" he scoffed, darkening eyes staring down at the sobbing man below him.

" You see Mr Wyatt, my wife doesn't understand the dangers of this world. She's too kind, too forgiving...naïve" he shifted the toe of his boot from the man's scrambling hands with a smirk of enjoyment as Wyatt desperately tried to pull himself out of his impending death.

"And as her husband, it's my duty to keep her safe from the wickedness of this world. Sniff out the good from the bad" the man's attempts to escape suddenly came to an abrupt stop as the twisting face of your husband began to seal his fate.

" And you Mr Wyatt, well..." He lifted his nose to the night sky, peaked cap shadowing the taunting smile as he played out the decision he had already made.

"I can only smell bad" he abruptly rose to his feet, shooting the victim of his paranoia point-blank in the head as a breathy exhale of satisfaction left his lips.

As the sound of Wyatt's lifeless body hit it's final resting place, Tommy's shaky fingers, pulsing with adrenaline took the cigarette waiting for him from Johnny's weathered hands.

" Fill her up Johnny" Tommy gave his final orders as his eyes darted to the bag of clothes he'd dragged down for their own ceremonial burial.

" Those too" he pointed to your belongings, to the blouse tucked within your clothes that had the night's events take a deadly turn.

Tossing his gloves onto the hood of the car, Tommy wiped the splattered blood sprayed on his face with the back of his trembling hands as he came down from his murderous high.

Best not to look your demons in the eye, he said to himself as his gaze drifted down to the bloody image of himself staring back at him in the reflection of his wedding ring.

Shake hands with the devil and walk past him, the words of his Aunt justified his sins as he turned on his heel and left, coat casting a gloomy shadow over the grave of his victim being filled next to the drying soil of the one feet from it.

Two graves, two dead bodies. Land enough to fill a whole field of those that came between your marriage. Tommy would stop at nothing to keep you as his wife. Nothing.

Next Part coming soon!

Tag list: @peakyswritings @justrainandcoffee @garrison-girl-08 @meadows5 @lavender-haze-01

@strangeobsessed @ttae-yong @lemonwithstupidity @lindsay00000 @mischievouslittlecreature

@jbrownta @lau219 @whereismymindnow @honeymoon8 @bruhidkjustwannaread @strrvnge

@paintedinpinks @edgyficuselastica

[wonsiwon]

No more fuel | S.J.Y

paring | Jake x reader

summary | Y/n is in a secret relationship with her professor, Jake, but when a viral video exposes them, Jake pushes her away to protect their futures.

genre | angst

based on the series Strict Professor by ZSakuVA.

You were a college student secretly involved with Jake, your literature professor. Keeping your relationship hidden was essential, especially to protect Jake's reputation, as he was well-respected and admired.

In the beginning, your meetings were limited to his office, safe from prying eyes. But a few days ago, you both took a chance and met outside for the first time. Jake brought you to a museum he'd been excited to visit, wanting to share the experience with you. It felt special, stepping outside the routine and discovering a shared appreciation for something new together.

Jake's passion for art and history came alive as he explained the details of each piece, his voice low and rich with that thick accent that seemed like it was meant only for you. It was a side of him you rarely got to see in class, and you found yourself captivated—not only by the art but by the way he spoke about it, his eyes lighting up with enthusiasm.

It wasn't always easy. You both knew the risks, and sometimes the weight of secrecy was heavy. Despite of that, you couldn't bring yourself to care about what others might think. With Jake, it felt right—even if the world would never understand. You wanted to experience everything with him, to just be happy, without worrying about rules or expectations. But after that day at the museum, something shifted. Jake had dropped you off at home with the same warmth as always, but when the week began, things felt... off. At first, you tried to brush it aside, but slowly, the changes became too clear to ignore.

Jake started avoiding you. In class, his eyes no longer sought yours, and his once-frequent texts became sporadic, almost formal. Every time you tried to reach out, he seemed to pull back just a little further.

You couldn't ignore this feeling any longer. You had just gotten out of class a few minutes ago so as you walk through the hallway, you scrolled through your contacts, quickly pressing Jake's number when you couldn't find him in his classroom.

The phone rang once, twice, and then his familiar voice came through. "Hello?"

"Hey, how's it going?" you asked, keeping your tone as casual as always.

"I'm doing fine. And you?"

"Good... I'm good. Are you free?"

"Well, I'm rather busy right now, so—"

"Are you still at the university?" You stopped in your tracks, waiting for his answer.

"I'm still at the university, but I'm about to leave. Are you on your way home?"

"I am." you lied smoothly.

"Alright, then study well—"

"Where are you now?" you cut him off, quickening your pace down the hallway.

"At... at my car, but..."

"We need to talk." Your fingers gripped your phone tighter

"Can it not wait?" he sighed, sounding a little frustrated.

"When?" You raised an eyebrow, starting to feel impatient.

"Until the weekend...?" His voice trailed off, hesitant.

"Are you serious?" You stopped walking, confused and a bit annoyed .

"Yeah. I don't want to talk about this over the phone," he explained, his voice quieter now. "I'd much rather talk face to face."

You sighed, glancing around. "Then I guess I'll give you that." You pushed the door open, stepping outside. The cold wind hit your face, and your hair blew back.

"Huh? What do you mean?" he asked, clearly confused.

"I'm outside," you said, your tone flat. "Since you've been avoiding."

There was a long pause. "I haven't been avoiding you... it's just I've been a little busy with submissions and paperwork, so I thought it'd be best if—"

He stopped talking abruptly when he saw you standing right next to his car. You ended the call, tossing your phone into your purse.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows. He was wearing his glasses, suit, and bow tie, just like he had been this morning in class.

"We need to talk."

"I told you we should wait until the weekend," he said, taking his keys out.

"You said you wanted to talk face to face."

"We are face to face..." He stared at you, but then quickly added. "...but we're still at the university. It'd be better if we plan this for another day, when we're not in full view of the student body." He unlocked the car.

"Jake, what's going on?" You blocked his way, standing firm in front of him.

He ran his hand over his face, rubbing his nose bridge and letting out a heavy sigh.

"I've just been stressed." he said, his gaze meeting yours.

"About what?" you asked, your voice soft. "Is it about our date?" you added, referring to the museum.

"No, the date was—" He stepped back, letting out a frustrated groan. "We can't talk about this."

"Then when? Because every time I try to talk to you, you always seem to be busy or something."

"You really want to talk about this?" he asked, his voice laced with sarcasm, his eyes narrowing as he sighed and turned away, clearly trying to stay composed. "Get in the car.” For a moment, you didn't move, unsure. He gave you a pointed look and repeated himself more firmly, "Get in the car."

You walked around the car, he quickly glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then both of you jumped into the car.

"You need to have some awareness. Our private life shouldn't be a topic of discussion in public." He began.

"Then tell me what's wrong." you repeat, trying to catch his eyes, but he kept avoiding your gaze.

"I told you, I've been busy with submissions and marking assignments," he sighed, his fingers gripping the steering wheel as he put on his seatbelt. "Put on your seatbelt. I'll drive you home," he added, starting the car.

You clicked your seatbelt into place and then stole a quick glance at him, but the silence hung thick between you two as the car rolled forward. “What is there to talk about?" he muttered, his hands gripping the steering wheel. "This week's been busier than usual with someone leaving the department. I've had to take on more work. Julia's agreed to more duties in the literature department, so I've been given an assistant."

You tightened your grip on your skirt when you heard her name. Julia. One of Jake's coworkers. You'd never met her before, but lately, she seemed to be spending a lot of time with him. She was tall, smart, and had a great body—everything that made you feel uneasy.

"She's quite clumsy and skittish, but she's doing well so far.” Jake finished, his tone lighter as he even cracked a small smile.

"Do you spend time alone together?" The words slipped out before you could stop them, and the question seemed to freeze the moment. Jake's smile immediately faded.

"What? What made you ask that?" he glanced at you, clearly thrown off guard. "I do spend time alone with her, but she's just an assistant.” he explained.

"Is she new? I've never seen her before..." you crossed your arms defensively, still unsure of how you felt about her.

"Yes, she started this week. But that doesn't have anything to do with why I've been so busy." Jake clarified. You could feel your face betray a little insecurity, and he noticed.

"You think there's something between me and her?" he asked, his eyes flicking to you.

"Maybe." you muttered, playing with a strand of your jacket nervously.

"You want the truth?" he sighed. "She's stunning, and I won't deny that I can appreciate someone else's looks. But I only have eyes for you. I don't think of her in that way."

You barely breathed, trying to process his words. You hadn't actually cared about Julia that much, there was something else happening—something that Jake had been holding back. And now, it was spilling out.

"Haven't you seen the video?" Jake asked, his voice a little tense, eyes flicking toward you.

"What video?" You turned to him, a sudden wave of confusion and curiosity washing over you.

"We were seen at the museum by more than one student. Apparently, they took it upon themselves to follow us for a good while and recorded it all.” he explained, his tone tinged with frustration. Your mouth opened slightly, a lump forming in your throat. “You remember when we parted at the stairs, and I held your hand, just for that moment?" Jake continued, his gaze softening as he turned his attention to the road. You noticed his eyes were distant, as if he was lost in the memory.

You replayed the scene in your mind: the beautiful silver staircase at the museum, the brief but intimate moment when you both held hands, feeling like it could last forever. But it was just a second—a fleeting connection that now seemed to have been captured and shared with everyone.

"That one moment where I actually gave in—they filmed that too, and now there's no way to pretend that we randomly bumped into each other." Jake muttered, clearly frustrated. His fingers gripped the steering wheel tighter, as if trying to hold himself together. You could feel the weight of his words, the gravity of the situation settling over you. He continued, his voice lower now, almost regretful. "Even when I watched it, anyone could tell it wasn't just a coincidence. I didn't even realize how I looked at you."

Jake took a deep breath and exhaled sharply. "The comments were—shall we say—not approving. There were some that argued we're both adults who can date whoever. But most—" He paused, his voice faltering. "They were tearing you apart. Saying you were only doing it to sweeten me up for a higher grade. Others said you were doing it for extra credit."

You dropped your eyes to your lap, the words stinging harder than you expected. So that's why people were staring at you. You had felt their eyes on you all week.

Jake's voice broke your thoughts, his tone more somber now. "When I walk around campus, I see students and staff staring, like I've done something abhorrent." His jaw clenched as he stared ahead, a muscle ticking in his cheek. "When people don't have enough entertainment in their lives, they gossip and tear others down. They like watching the fallout of rumors, and even stoke the flames if they're bored enough. We can't give them more fuel."

Your eyes flickered toward him, a sense of confusion crossed your face. "What do you mean?"

Jake took a deep breath, his jaw tightening as he tried to find the right words. "I'm saying that this needs to end," he said firmly, his voice hard. "You have to stop. We have to stop."

You stared at him in disbelief, your mind racing as the words sank in. "What do you mean, 'we have to stop'?" you whispered, struggling to understand.

"I'm saying this... whatever this is between us, it needs to end. The way you've been persistent, the way you've been holding on, it's not good for either of us anymore. We can't keep doing this."

"But Jake, you said we could get through this together," you replied, voice trembling. "You promised."

He sighed, rubbing his temple. "I know what I said before. I know... But the reality is different now."

You shook your head slowly, still trying to process everything. "But you said... we could pass through this together."

Jake met your eyes, his face hardening. "I don't think we can. This video, it's out there. And while the university might not do anything about us, the damage it can cause? We can't come back from that."

Your breath caught in your throat, and for a moment, everything went silent. Your heart sank as you finally understood what he was saying. The weight of his words hit you like a brick, and the reality of what was happening came crashing down. You weren't sure if you could breathe for a moment, the air feeling heavy in your chest.

You felt the weight of his words crash down on you, your heart tightening with every syllable. "What? Do you expect that by coming clean, it will just be accepted?" Jake's voice was laced with sarcasm, his frustration clear. "I don't care about their acceptance of us, it's not their business."

"Then what?” you demanded, your voice shaking.

"What really irritates me is what they're saying about you," he muttered, his voice rising with anger. "Things that aren't even true."

You shook your head, pushing your hair behind your ear, trying to steady your breath. "Jake, I don't care what they think of me. I told you from the beginning," you said, a faint tremor in your voice as you glanced at the house, you were home.

He stopped, eyes fixed on the pavement in front of your house. "Listen," he began, hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles went white. "it was good while it lasted. We had some fun together. But now... this should come to an end."

You froze, the words hitting you like a slap. "Why are you doing this?" you asked, disbelief creeping into your voice.

"Because I've realized that my view of this whole thing was only driven by the forbidden nature of our relationship.” he said, looking at you. "It wasn't real."

"Don't you like me anymore?" you asked, your heart ached as you spoke, as if each word was a plea.

He exhaled sharply, a deep sigh escaping his lips. "I am attracted to you." he said, his eyes darting toward the road as if he couldn't quite meet your gaze. "But is it really worth it? Is my attraction and my need to have someone more important than your future? No. It can't be. I became a professor to nurture curious minds, not to mess with people's lives."

"The words cut through you like a knife. You blinked back the tears that threatened to spill. "Jake, please... let's think about this again." you pleaded, trying to reach he's hand, arm anything "I—"

"No." he interrupted brushing you off, his tone colder than you'd ever heard before. "We can't continue this. I can't let you endanger yourself because of me. Now go. You're home."

You didn't want to leave. You couldn't leave. Your heart was in your throat as you reached out, desperate to close the distance between you, but his words kept you frozen.

"I don't care about what people think of me, Jake! I only want you, and only you." you said, your voice breaking as your hand reached for his. But as you tried to touch him, he recoiled, stepping back from you, his face twisted with frustration.

"What do you want from me?" he shouted, his voice growing louder. His eyes flashed with anger and something else—something you couldn't decipher. "My attention? A confession? I've given you that! I think about you so much it's almost unhealthy!" He took a breath, his voice lowering as his expression hardened. "It's not something I can't forget but it's something I can end, and that's what I'm doing right now."

You stood there, paralyzed by his words, the weight of the moment crashing over you. “I don't understand! Why, Jake, why?" You raised your voice, the tears falling freely now, your chest tightening with each sob.

"I'm doing this for you." he said, his voice softer now, though still filled with a heavy sadness. "So you can cruise through your education without distractions. No bullying, no threats..."

He let his head rest against the back of the seat, his hand covering his eyes. He rubbed them softly, the weariness evident in his expression. "I should have never given in to this... What was I thinking?"

And finally, those words hit you like a punch. Your heart clenched, the pain radiating through your chest. You couldn't breathe, couldn't think, just feel.

"So you regret liking me?" You whispered, your voice trembling, the mix of sadness and anger making your words sharp. "You regret all of this?"

"I didn't mean that." he said quickly, looking at you with intense eyes. "Don't put words in my mouth, Y/n." His voice was stern now, a stark contrast to the pain in your own.The car was silent for a moment. You could hear the soft hum of the engine, but it felt like the world had stopped around you. "I thought I was better than this." he muttered, almost to himself. "I can't give you more than I already have. I can't let you burn for something I need to control. I'm sorry."

"Jake, please, we can make it work—" you started but he interrupted you before you could say more.

"I can't give you what you want!" he snapped, his voice harsh, louder than before. The force of his words made you flinch, a chill running down your spine. "Not when you're robbed of your reputation because of me. I won't allow it. This is my choice. I'll learn, as I should have done from the beginning, to only admire you from afar."

His eyes were different now, colder, harder—something in them made you feel like you didn't recognize him. You shook your head, the tears blurring your vision. "No more... now please, leave." His voice was firm, almost desperate.

"Are you fucking serious, Jake?" You gasped, the disbelief clear in your voice. You couldn't comprehend what was happening.

"I have nothing else to say!" Jake shouted, his voice filled with frustration. "You can go back to flirting with your peers, but not with me! We're to have a strict teacher-student relationship from now on, nothing more." His words were cold, barely looking at you, as if he was trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince you.

"Have you lost your mind?!" you shot back, your voice rising in anger. "Are you listening to yourself right now?

"Explore your options!" He yelled back, his voice harsh, almost desperate. "I simply can't be one of them. I've said what I've said, that's it. Now leave, please."

You glared at him, your heart pounding in your chest. "Are you sure about this?"

"We can't go back. We're done!" he replied, his tone final, almost as if he had already made peace with it.

"You're a damn coward.” you spat, the words like acid in your mouth. With a sharp motion, you opened the car door and slammed it shut with all the force you could muster, the sound echoing in the air.

You stood there for a moment, feeling the air sting against your skin. Tears running down your cheeks and the weight of Jake's words pressing down on you with each passing second. You wanted to scream, to run after him and demand answers, but your body felt like it was paralyzed, unable to move.

His car was already disappearing into the distance, the sound of the engine fading away until all that was left was silence. The reality of what had just happened settled over you like a heavy blanket. You couldn't believe it—this was how it ended?

You wiped your eyes quickly, everything felt like it was spinning out of control. Slowly, you took a few shaky steps toward the door, your body moving on autopilot. You reached for the handle, but your hand paused. You stood there, the cold air biting at your skin, feeling like everything you thought you understood had been ripped away.

Finally, with a shaky breath, you opened the door and stepped inside, closing it quietly behind you. The house felt oddly empty, too quiet. You sank onto the couch, pressing your face into your hands as the tears came freely. You didn't know what to think anymore, didn't know what to feel. All you could do was sit there, the silence surrounding you, feeling the weight of the day events crashing over you.

[joannasprose]

CHAPTER ONE

—⊱✿⊰—

free Palestine, free Sudan—no one is free until we all are free.

hi ! I am so glad to share the first chapter of my little series Bite Your Tongue! :) I really do hope everyone enjoys this read,, and it eases your mind even slightly. enjoy :) 💜

content warnings: this chapter contains mentions of self harm, alcohol usage, drug use, and other mature themes. please do not read it any of topics might trigger you. ICYMI — if you’d like to read it on wattpad, for better formatting, and pretty images, my username is joannasprose 💜🗡️ :)))

—⊱✿⊰—

THE NIGHT THOSE feelings had arrived unwarranted, had been one full of an array of emotions. Questions danced across your mind in complete silence as you sat by yourself in the dark. Wondering, contemplating—anything that might solve the complexity in which your mind holds.

———

ITS A COOLER night than most.

You hadn't been one for it, the unrelenting cold. You run your hands over the exposed skin of your arms, and as you step into the crowded space—almost immediately met with smell of alcohol and artificial air wafting through it; you find yourself regretting the agreement of a night out.

The venue is filled with strangers; some stumbling over their own feet, others stand near the front door—strangers, in which you nearly have push past to get by, and finally, the weird sweaty smell that lingers in the air.

Perhaps it was the alluring feeling of relief, leaving the stress of life tucked beneath bed-covers, and consuming the potions that you knew Dina would concoct. Or maybe it had been her alluring words themselves; that somehow, in some way, had always seemed to persuade you. But the adrenaline, the tiniest bits of excitement that pooled in your mind slowly began to dissipates along with other things—and you find yourself cringing as you nearly bump into everyone around you.

Taking a vacant seat at the bar, in the far corner, you find that your heart is beating as fast as your thoughts. Another senseless night of watching strangers become too drunk to hold themselves up—and another wondering when it would end. And as your foot taps against the floor incessantly, Dina's hand to your shoulder is the only thing that pulls you out of that dissociative state.

"Hey! You made it!" she says, her words spoken loudly over the blaring music, leaning close to your ear, hoping to evade the mix of voices and music that seems to bounce off walls and blend together.

Now, as she takes a seat next to you—turning to her—you meet her eyes, looking over her thick eyelashes.

Dina Woodward always held some kind of edge to her. Whether that was in the way she dressed, the way she held her bluntness between her teeth, or her dark brown hair that fell past her shoulders tonight; all of it was piercing as a snake bite.

Yet she loved the simple things; the movies and books she would often find herself crying to, the vulnerabilities that steadily seemed to resurface. All of it had been put on display amongst the walls of your shared apartment.

"You asked me to come," you say. Dina rolls her eyes before taking a sip from the drink clutched in her hands, and then, "where's Jesse?" You could almost feel the annoyance hanging off her alcohol coated breath. Her frustration was not aimed towards you, but rather, the difficulty of her relationship.

"Wherever he is." She simply says, and this time, she brings the cup to her lips and swallows a mouthful.

You hum in response, settling your hands into your lap and watching as she sets her cup down on the wooden counter. "You want a drink?" She leans in close, nearly shouting in your ear when she does. You shake your head in response, and as she settles back into her seat, she rolls her eyes. "Seriously? I didn't beg you to come so you could stand off in the corner and do nothing."

Shrugging your shoulders, you speak: "Yeah? And if I get shitfaced, who'll drive us home?" You cock a brow, just in time to catch yet another roll of her eyes.

"What? Poor baby can't handle her alcohol?" This time, you're the one to roll eyes when she speaks. You had known Dina since the end of your 8th grade year in middle school—and since then, the two of you had always seemed to stick together like messily placed glitter.

"Shut up," you say, nudging her side playfully.

Suddenly, she perks up. Dina stands from her seat next to now readily getting up to move. "I'll be right back! Gonna do find someone," she says, looking off at whatever's behind you, before directing her attention back to you. "And I'm gonna go get you that drink." Before you could protest, Dina's already left your side, blurring into the sea of people.

You've found that you never enjoyed large gatherings. You never strayed away from them, but you had never indulged in them either. Your eyes skim across the room, watching people packed together as if they were in minimal space converse in undying conversations.

The moment Dina had left out of your sights, and the moment you turned back around towards the wooden counter—that unyielding anxiety had begun to latch on again like a vine infested bush.

You think about spring in your sophomore year of high school; one spent sat on Dina's floor, making shitty posters for her band on canvas using a free trial. That spring, one where it had been so humid, that you could almost find comfort even in its humidity. And you know it's because you'd hadn't met him yet—when he hadn't stuck his dog-teeth into you.

Your foot begins to pick up where it left off, tirelessly bouncing up and down against the floor. That same, grueling anxiety seems as though it begs to take root in your mind.

Terminal was the name of Dina's band. Herself, and two other girls around your age. You'd never met them, far too busy with cognitives of work and your home life to venture and leave. You had yet to see her preform either—not including when she'd play demos and such of what she had been working on.

You've heard them on CDs she would give you, recordings she made, "Why not just use Spotify? Isn't that easier?"  You asked her as she shoved her hand in the deep pits of her bag, searching for a few moments before pulling out the thing and giving it to you.

"Because we're broke as shit." She had replied, and as she lingers bitterly in your mind, you begin to shift in your seat, placing your elbow on the table and resting your head on your hand.

Dina didn't quite fit the 'normal' standard for the music she played. And that alone is what you always admired about her. Surely, her witty and snappy demeanor had made up for it.

Five minutes have gone by now. Five long minutes of no sign of Dina, no text message, and indication on when she would be returning. Pulling your phone from your pocket, holding it close to your face to unlock it—you open the messages between the two of you, now typing away on your phone.

YOU: hey, you okay? where are you?

A few minutes pass—one, two, three, four of them before you get a text back.

DINA: shit, yeah sorry. I'm with Jesse, I didn't mean to leave you I swear. We're talking now I guess

YOU: it's fine. I'm gonna head step out for a little bit. If you need me

DINA: are you okay? I can come back and talk with him later

YOU: Dina, It's fine, seriously it's just kinda hot in here

DINA: okay, text me if you need anything okay?

YOU: okay

———

( play Main Theme - soundtrack by Alex G )

Pushing past the mounds of bodies, letting countless of apologies fall from your throat is what annoys you the most. Not the fact that Dina had brought you here, and then promptly left you for Jesse. Irritation, as it had, slips past your barricade, and renders it all useless as you slither through the crowd, stalking towards the sign that read exit, in a bright, red neon.

You don't smoke and yet as you leave the venue, pushing your back harshly against the wall behind you, you found yourself wishing you did. The moon is a sharp blade of silver, keeping the alleyway alight, along with the street light that stands tall at the end of it.

For the first time tonight, you are truly alone. Alone with what haunts you, with your grueling thoughts and what the night has to offer you. Though, that unrecognized ache still curls inside of you. 

Maybe you would have still been alone, if the sound of footsteps weren't thudding against the ground, invading your silence.

You quickly lift your head up, eyes pouring over the stranger who approaches you, hands that had once hung at their sides for a brief moment, now pulled  promptly to either side of their head.

"Sorry," they pause their stride almost immediately, now only standing a few paces away from you. "Didn't mean to scare you or anything." Now, as you get a good look at the stranger—something about them had seemed so familiar as the moon puts their features on displays.

From a short distance, you almost couldn't tell if her hair was black or merely just a dark brown. Her frame is tall, not much taller than your own, but tall enough to vaguely stand over you. Freckles decorate her face like scattered paint, and her eyes are unreadable, they sit between a light green, and yet a much darker one. A Loose pair of blue jeans hug her waist almost perfectly, and on her shoulders, lays a grey flannel, along with a white tank top that displays only a hint of her collar bone.

It's a new angle for you. To see her fully. It clicks when she lowers her hand, when the shadow across her face now promptly falls and you finally get to see her fully.

Now, it's when you notice the scar that adorns her right eyebrow.

After a long moment, she speaks again, "You're Dina's friend, right?" She asks, moving to lean against the wall along with you, though she leaves a lengthy space between the two of you.

You nod hesitantly before speaking, "Yeah," you say, eyes watching closely as she shoves her hands into pants pockets, and then: "Aren't you the guitarist in her band?"

She scoffs, looking over to you with narrowed brows, "'Her band'," she questions, smiling with her teeth now, "it's Dina's band now?" She measures, amusement strung across her features.

"I mean, well, Terminal." You stumble on your words, though you find that the smile she held a moment prior still resides there, unwavering.

"Yeah. I'm in Dina's band. She asked me to come out here to make sure you were alright." Before you know it, shes pulled a hand from the depths of her pocket, holding it out to you, "Ellie Williams, and you, Dina’s friend?"

You roll your eyes, but nonetheless, you place your hand in hers, feeling as her grip tightens slightly around yours. Shockingly, it isn't harsh. You could practically feel the callouses on her fingertips, yet you find that her touch is still soft. Weirdly comforting.

"Y/N." You breath.

She smiles when you look at her, though this time it feels different from the others. More genuine.

Your eyes travel down to her hand, and slowly, they travel up her arm, only momentarily catching the black ink sunken deep into her skin—as well valley of red hidden underneath the sleeves of her flannel before she briskly pulls away.

"I haven't seen you around before," she mutters, her voice suddenly quieter, digging into her pockets before pulling an out a pack of cigarettes from them, taking one out of the pack while she holding it in her hand as she speaks. "You just moved here?" Ellie pulls a light out of her other pocket, flicking it a few times, and when it finally ignites a flame—she holds it to the bud.

"Yeah. Just moved here a few weeks ago." She hums, pulling the cigarette from her mouth, while then letting tendrils of smoke escape her lips, and with you watching guilty, she speaks, "You smoke?"

For a moment, you think back to the reason you left the venue in the first place. The undying conversations, the smell of alcohol seeping into your nostrils—and that brief annoyance you had willfully felt for Dina when she left. You think about it for a short moment, eyes still on Ellie, you heave a sigh, "A little," you say, which hadn't completely been a lie, yet not the truth either.

Her eyes watch over you for a moment, eyes wavering, she gestures the box towards you, and watches as you take one from the pack.

Slyly keeping the thing tucked between her lips, she lets you settle it between your own lips. Nearing you, again, it takes three tries until the fire ignites. She nears it to the tip of it, waiting, and then pulling away when she's sure it's been lit.

You inhale its smoke, tasting its bitterness, and take it all in, while briefly exhaling. A faint cough escapes your throat.

"What do you do?" She says, which startles you considering you had only just now gotten used to the brief silence. Pulling it from your lips, and looking over to Ellie as she stares at the puddle in front of her speak: "I'm a journalist. I also write books sometimes, working on my first one."

You watch her eyes rise, and you watch as a smile pulls at her lips, willingly, "Well shit," she says, a smile that you strangely find comforting—which is weird, considering you don't know her—curls on her lips. "Dina really does have some interesting friends."

"She doesn't talk about me?" You ask, feeling a sting of pain at the revelation, though Ellie is quick to crumble any of those feelings, "She does, I'm sure. I'm just not around much."

You hum in response tiredly in response before speaking, "What do you do?" You ask, realizing the cigarette had been hanging between your fingertips, the smoke vaguely emitting off of it. You pull it to your lips. "Well, as you know, I'm in Dina's band," you roll your eyes as you let smoke fall from your lips, "I've said that once. And this is my first time speaking to you, are you ever gonna let that go?"

"Nope." She says, quickly, too quickly for comfort.

"Anyway," she follows, "I'm also a tattoo artist."

Your brows perk in interest, eyes skimming over her skin, and in that moment, you watch as she turns away from you.

"Are you gonna show me any of your tattoos? Wanna try to impress me?"

Ellie hums, perhaps contemplating, perhaps alluding you to believe she is before she says, "Maybe another time."

A rebuttal lies on your lips, another strange urge to see the strangers hidden tattoos inked in skin, but you have restraint tucked between your gums. So you don't question her.

"Well..." you say, switching the topic, "I'm writing a piece on the Enchanting Beauty of Art," you say, pulling the almost finished bud to your lips, inhaling the smoke, and then promptly blowing it out.

You put it out on the brick wall, listening to its subtle hiss as you speak, "it's about art. Um, obviously."

Ellie hums, and then, "Is that your title," she questions. Now, you notice that she's already finished hers. The space between her lips are empty, along with her fingers, "You want me to give you some insight, or some shit? I'm not that good." She says, rather plainly.

"You're probably good enough. Better than me."

Ellie pushes herself off the wall. And for a moment, you begin to she's planning to get ready to leave before she pulls her phone from her pocket, opening it and handing it to you. "Text me. Call me, or whatever you want. I'll answer your questions."

Your brows raise when she spoke, looking down to her hand, and back up to her space, you find yourself yet again, stumbling over your words, "I mean. You don't have to, I was joking."

Ellie doesn't drop her hand, only a sly smile sneaks onto her lips again, though, you never even considered if it had left, "Well, if you were joking, then that's seriously fucking embarrassing on my part," she began, still gesturing towards you, "and to soothe said embarrassment, give me yours and I'll give you mine. Text me when you need it."

A smile creeps on your lips, it's undeniable, and you watch as her eyes waft over to the cupids bow of them, watching for a considerably long moment before saying: "Playing the guitar has helped me learn I can keep my hand up for a very long time," she shrugs, "might wanna take it before we spend the entire night out here."

You practically scramble to take her phone from your hands as you pull out yours. "Shit. Sorry."

You hold hers in your hand for moment as you pull out your own, unlocking it and then pressing the phone app and quickly handing it to her.

The both of you type away. She calls her own number, and you feel as the phone buzzes in your hands when she does.

Ellie slips her phone into her pocket when you hand it to her.

"You goin' back inside?" She asks, her eyes narrowing at you. You catch a hint of a sweet southern accent.

"Are you trying to get rid of me that fast?" You quip, and Ellie smiles.

She sighs, "Just wanted to make sure you got back inside safe so Dina's not on my ass again." You laugh, stuffing your phone into your pockets. You hum in response, and she bids you goodbye.

When you near the door, she watches and then turns on her heel. And for a moment, you watch her departure.

You feel the simmer of something bubbling up inside your stomach, something unrelenting as you walk through the double doors. You realize, as you shuffled through your pants pockets, that you've been clutching the abandoned cigarette the entire time.

You hadn't felt the burn. If there were one.

You think of Ellie's subtle, kind words, her restrained yet welcoming demeanor. And as you spot Dina in the crowd, ushering you over—you'd wished you met her earlier on.

———

THE FOLLOWING MORNING

10:37AM

STUFFING YOUR FACE with the hash browns Dina had gotten from the diner just down the street from your apartment, she spoke: "You saw Ellie, right?"

You hum in response, chewing your few, and swallowing it down, "Yeah. She gave me her number too." Dina's eyes narrow in interest. Sitting new to you on her brown two-seater, she slides herself closer to you. "Oh? And what happened after that?"

You squint your eyes at her, already knowing what she's suggesting.

"Jesus. Not like that. We talked, exchanged numbers, and said goodbye. That's it."

Dina rolls her eyes, taking the plate from your hands, and practically clutching it near her chest. "Yeah sure. I give it a few months and you guys'll be together."

Your eyes widen. You nudge her shoulder harshly, and when you do, the hash brown nearly falls to the floor—luckily, though, Dina held it more tightly just in time. "I'm just saying! She usually never..." you watch as Dina tries to finds the words, the laugh track from the show that plays on the tv is the only thing that seems to fill the silence before she speaks.

"She doesn't talk much. I thought she would tell you who she was, and that would be the end of it."

You think back on it now.

Ellie didn't seem to fit Dina's description. At least in your head. Part of finds yourself wondering what that Ellie is like. Though part of you wants to know more the Ellie you'd met last night.

You switch the topic. "What was that last night? Why'd you leave so suddenly?"

You watch as Dina looks over to you, the fork that you had once previously stabbed into the food, now flipping it over. "Jesse had flowers for me, he apologized." You could nearly roll your eyes at her statement, yet you only let out a half-hearted smile.

"Again?" You joke, though not really.

You expect Dina to at least get somewhat irritated with you. You'd assumed anyone would at a comment like that. Though, she only places the paper plate down on the wooden table in front of you both, and throws her arms over your shoulder.

"Yeah, whatever. Keep talking."

You shrug her off her of you, a smile curling on your lips slightly—you focus back onto the screen ahead, thinking back to Ellie's alluring smile, and the moment you do, you find yourself questioning why you're even thinking about her at all.

[gothamite-rambler]

Books are the best type of apology gift

Context: Harley Quinn continues her mission to get Jason Todd to not hate her, but she can't keep following him, she needs to talk to those close to him.

Orphan (Cass) and Spoiler (Stephanie) take a break from patrolling and chat about cartoon characters on top of a building.

Orphan: My favorite character would be Patrick.

Spoiler: No way! He's so annoying. I'm a SpongeBob girl.

Orphan: Patrick is lovably dumb, SpongeBob is too loud.

Spoiler: So is Patrick.

Orphan: Not all the time.

Harley: I've always preferred Sandy!

Spoiler screamed in fear, jumping into Oracle's arm as she screamed as well.

Harley (loud): Stop screaming! It's just me!

Orphan: Oh, hi Harley.

Harley (annoyed): Jacy I understand but why are you screamin'? I jumped into the conversation so well and you're screamin'? You're masters of stealth!

Spoiler: Thanks, but-

Orphan dropped Spoiler to the ground once the terrifying moment passed.

Spoiler: Ow!

Spoiler stood to her feet, rubbing her back.

Spoiler: You sneaking up on me always unnerves me.

Orphan: I could hear your footsteps when you made it to the roof, Spoiler's screaming scared me. SpongeBob fan indeed.

Spoiler: Stand by what I said. Back to Harley, hey it's good to see you again, minus the screaming. Sorry.

Harley: You're fine, I should be used to it by now. Spoiler for you and the dark suited one, Orphan?

Orphan: Correct, it's nice to see you as well. You came here for a purpose. Your body language suggests you’re stressed, what is it that bothers you?

Harley: Geez Batman wasn't kidding about your body reading skills. You got me, I need some help with Jason. He hates me.

Spoiler: He kind of has a disdain for everyone. Except for Nightwing, Signal... and Orphan.

Orphan nodded.

Spoiler: Wait, you know his real name?

Orphan: She was there when he died, she remembers his real name from that. She calls him Jacey as an endearing nickname.

Harley (resting her bat behind on her shoulders): Yup, which he hates. I save the kid when he's tied up in a building, we fought Snowflame and I gave him a puffy cat sticka, but he hates my guts. I get it, but we're trauma siblings! We have a special bond that can only be fixed with fighting other baddies.

Spoiler gasped.

Spoiler: Trauma siblings! That's me and Orphan! That doesn't work on him?

Harley: No!

Harley planted her bat on the ground, groaning.

Harley: I offered my therapy services, too.

Spoiler (doubtful): Yeah, but you're not an actual therapist, you-

Harley (aiming her bat at Spoiler's nose): If you say I slept with a professor to pass college, I'll bop you in the arm. I am intelligent! Wouldn't have gotten with Ivy if I was a ditz.

Spoiler (lowering the bat): Sorry, dude. To be honest, I got nothing to help you with. It took me two years to have Jason talk to me for longer than a minute.

Harley shoulders slumped defeated, unsure what to do next. Orphan taps her chin wondering what advice to give.

Orphan: It took a year and a half to befriend him, you're off to a good start with being nice to him. I suggest giving him a better peace offering. He likes books, get him a book.

Harley: A book? What's he into?

Spoiler (guessing): Mystery, fantasy, and historical fiction.

Orphan (correctly answering): No, it's sci-fi not fantasy. I'd recommend something akin to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, historical fiction he's been wanting to read Lady Macbeth and the Bridgeton series, any book will work there. His detective book interests are random.

Spoiler (mystified): Sometimes I wonder how you know these things.

Orphan: Batman keeps a file on his interests so he can send him the best birthday gifts. He has one for all of us.

Spoiler: Wait, is that why he bought those boxing gloves for my birthday last year?

Orphan nodded in response. Spoiler's eyes lit up as she fist-pumped in excitement at this revelation. Meanwhile, Harley mulled over the new information. With some cash stashed away from selling items she had snagged from the Joker a few weeks earlier, she realized she wanted Jason to see that she was trying to be a better person.

Harley: If books are a way to show that I'm trustworthy—or at least likable—then I've got some shopping to do! Thanks, girls… but mostly you, Orphan!

Spoiler (waving her hand, annoyed): Hey, I suggested books first!

Harley: You got most of 'em wrong and no suggestions. She told me about Bridgeton.

Orphan (gentle nod): No problem.

Harley waved goodbye, pivoting on her heel and sprinting across the rooftops with effortless agility.

Spoiler: I like her. She's insane, but likable.

Orphan: Agreed. Now Squidward or Mr. Krabs?

Spoiler: Mr. Krabs, obviously.

Orphan: We've arrived at another impasse.

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

The next day, after splurging two hundred dollars on books at a local shop, Harley stacked them neatly in Jason's car. Lacking the skills to pick a lock, she resorted to tossing a rock to gain entry. It might not have been the smartest choice, but then again, her critical thinking hadn’t exactly been sharp since she’d jumped into that vat of Joker toxin.

Jason arrived at his car that morning for a leisurely drive around town, only to be met with the sight of a broken window and shards of glass strewn across the front seat. He let out a resigned sigh.

Jason: Great, just what I needed.

He carefully wiped the glass off his seat while wearing gloves and then settled into the car. His gaze fell on a tote bag of books resting in the front passenger seat.

Jason: Why are there—who breaks into a car and leaves a gift?

His eyes then caught a note tucked within the bag.

Jason (reading the note): Jacey—Oh my God, how did she find out where I live?!—I bought a bunch of books I think you'll like, plus a few that helped me when I needed help, but mostly a lot of Bridgerton. I snagged the five new ones. I also found Lady Macbeth in a collector's edition. I paid for them with my own money, don’t worry, not stealing. I hope this shows I’m truly sorry for what happened to you.

Jason let out a long, exasperated sigh.

Jason: I hate that this is actually a nice gift.

He picked up the top book and realized it’s the latest Bridgerton novel.

Jason: God damn it, I didn’t even know this one was out yet.

With a mix of regret and lingering mistrust for Harley, he contemplated giving her another chance—after all, he had been given one himself.

Jason: She actually did something this nice? It’s a start.

Harley Saves Jason

[svartalfhild]

More thoughts!

Illario is extremely sus.

THE CAMEOS!!!!! IN MINRATHOUS!!!!!

I always knew from the lore that the First Warden was a little bitch, but actually meeting him is a next level experience. What a fucking asshole.

Taash is such a fun character. They're so delightfully blunt, but also sweet in their own way. The gamer bros are so mad about Taash and those whiny little pieces of detritus can go fuck themselves.

Every now and again, there's a wild Matt Mercer, and I'm delighted. He Has The Range.

I'm genuinely enjoying the puzzles, which is a wild concept for a BioWare game. Finally, some good fucking level design.

They keep dropping deep lore bombshells that have put years of me going full Pepe Silvia over this world to shame, and I'm so excited about it.

Ghilan'nain is a straight up nasty bitch in every sense of the term, which I already kinda knew from Tevinter Nights, but fighting her makes me think Rook should invent bleach just to deal with her mess.

Emmrich's personal arc villain has energy somewhere between Yzma and Doc Ock, and I am very entertained.

Emmrich may not wear black, but he's the gothest motherfucker in this entire series and I couldn't be happier.

Everyone is so concerned about Lucanis' pantry living and it's very sweet but also hilarious.

I love watching Lucanis develop friendships with everyone else. That's right; open your heart, sad bird man.

Love how Taash is immediately Lucanis' #1 fan for assassin reasons and he's so confused by it.

Unlocking the pieces of Solas' backstory is so fun because you get worldview-altering lore drops and then the Veilguard has a family meeting every time to discuss the new info and read Solas for filth.

Absolutely worth reading any codex entries related to the Lighthouse or companions, because you get fun insight into the daily domestic living of the Veilguard in the Lighthouse on top of whatever lines you already get about it when they're talking to each other at home. They really are like a household.

I enjoyed the Descent DLC of Inquisition, so Harding's personal arc is an absolute joy.

All the gamer bros complaining that the game isn't dark, mature fantasy like the rest of the series are honestly probably just mad at the lack of Desire demons, because there is absolutely no shortage of dark shit in this game, y'all. I mean, for fuck's sake, the major factions in the story include 1) a struggling abolitionist resistance movement that routinely tangles with people engaging in horrifying ritual murder, 2) a guild of assassins who have way too much political power but have also been forced to become a resistance group because their country has no army, 3) the supposedly apolitical army of people who poison themselves to fight evil until they inevitably die horrible deaths, and 4) straight up necromancers. And that's just the factions! That's not even getting into the plot!

Neve and Lucanis continue to have stellar chemistry.

Bellara needs so many hugs and it frustrates me that I can't provide them.

Experienced a very funny glitch during Harding's second personal quest in Act 2 where something seemed off about my Rook and then I realized that her left boob was missing. Her left boob was Sir Not Appearing in This Film. Straight up had decided not to participate in this conversation. I lost my shit. I may share a screenshot of it at some point.

Taash admitting in an argument with Emmrich that they don't like him because they think necromancy is freaky allowed me the opportunity to be like "Do you think that about me? 🥺" as a Mourn Watcher, which I'm so glad of, because a lot of the companions are uncomfortable with Emmrich's necromancy and I have been dying to get the chance to call them out for not considering how that would make Rook feel.

Emmrich made a move on my Rook last night and *fans self* hoo lord. Lucanis better show up with some extremely strong game very soon, otherwise he will have thoroughly lost to Thedas' very own Hammer Horror Man.

(Davrin fell out of the running pretty quick, since his personality ended up not fitting well as a romance for my Rook. Ironically, when they first announced the companions, I was almost certain I would end up being a Davrin girlie. Alas, he is not the type I'd thought he'd be. He also failed to show up in a waistcoat, unlike the other two, and we all know how weak I am for a good waistcoat.)

I love that Act 2 is just like The Gang Goes To Therapy. Sometimes this involves killing things. Or people. But not always!

Some fun DATV things I'm experiencing:

Playing as female Rook makes the first few quests until you get Lucanis very Girls Night, which I really started to notice after a friend pointed it out and she is so right.

Neve is bestie.

Lucanis' intro cinematic made me feel so attacked. That shit was so my brand lol.

Lucanis and Neve's banter is hilarious and if I don't romance Lucanis I may end up shipping him with Neve.

Did Bellara's first personal quest and almost cried. Hit me a little close to home.

Neve's hangout quest was delightful. I want to chat and snack and walk around with her all day.

Neve and Bellara's developing friendship is so fun. I want to see a scene where Lucanis gets involved in their cooking adventures.

Shopping and getting coffee with Lucanis was like Oh No He's Thoughtful And Charming And I'm Weak.

Chose Lucanis over Neve in that one decision that made me want to scream and now she's hardened and I'm so sorry bestie I was thinking of the defenseless people and I will never be okay again.

Varric playing mentor to Rook got me right where it hurts. He's there for when you need an adultier adult to tell you that you're doing okay and that he's proud if you. I cry forever.

Assan and Manfred are my SONS and I LOVE THEM and I make the most ridiculous noises when they are on screen. THEY ARE SUCH GOOD BOYS.

The quest to acquire Emmrich is fucking delightful if you're a nice Mourn Watcher and you bring Bellara along. Just three huge nerds enjoying each other's company while doing dangerous shit.

Davrin and Emmrich's banter is like two dad's comparing notes.

As a Watcher, Myrna kinda feels like my mentor-mom, which is funny.

More thoughts to come. Just wanted to scribble down a few things so far for the people to let y'all know I'm having a fucking blast.

[aterfish]

"And they don't know how much they’ll miss At least until you're gone like this"

other version under cut

and a closeup for his ID:

[themundanedumpling]

i can't stop laughing over some tiktok comments saying that they were expecting a sweet fluffy romance with korn and tonk LIKE THIS IS BOC AND SAMMON THEY DON'T DO FLUFF

if we're really making a comparison i would say kinnporsche is the most "wholesome" one boc has ever created

[kaethemetalidol]

drdt single handedly getting us all through this week huh.. time really does go by faster when you know you have something to look forward to!!!

[greatandholypangolin]

can I politely and respectfully disagree? I’m not really excited to have a long winding argument, but I want to add my own points here (important note- I’m not American but I am very aggrieved about the election and scared for the future. We’re on the same side here)

His original post. Personally, I don’t really read it as insensitive. The whole message screams shock and nervous laughter as a coping mechanism. He sounds actually upset about the election, but he’s trying to keep it lighthearted and surface level because - and this is something that took me a second to come to terms with - he has no obligation to make a political post. He’s a pg minecraft content creator. Hell, even the post he made is something that other hermits haven’t done. Because they aren’t political creators. And honestly, the “lol” kinda feels like it wanted to be a “wtf”, but that may just be my interpretation.

His next series is tweets was him taking a second to be political, and in them he aired his grievances with the election, which was genuinely him being upset with how easily the world can be swayed by an evil person, and reminding people to stay educated. I see no issue with that. Some important context is that he’s German, so his way of speaking is likely more blunt and rude-sounding when he’s neutral. That’s a language barrier and cultural differences thing, and it’s quite important to remember as you read through the conversation. Then in his top comment, he shuts down the political conversation, making it clear that he doesn’t want a political discussion and he just wants to do minecraft things, because he’s a minecraft YouTubers (WHICH HE IS WELL WITHIN HIS RIGHT TO DO). He says this in a lighthearted slapping-the-knees-and-standing-up way, because he wants to return the tone of the conversation back to his normal content about being fluffy or whatever he does on Twitter. It’s a cleansing, resetting statement, in a way. I also don’t find this insensitive. Yes, the election is very upsetting and dangerous, but he doesn’t want those emotions and heavy conversations on his Minecraft content channel, which is valid. It’s his content. He doesn’t need to talk about the scary things. In fact, for many people, this kind of content is good to get away from the scary stuff.

For his last tweet, to be totally honest, I’d also be shocked and confused if I sent what I believed to be a totally harmless tweet and a lot of people (who are already emotionally charged because of the election) said I was an awful, insensitive human and wished bad things on my child (real tweet). Again, remember the language and cultural barrier. Maybe he could have spent ages crafting the perfect apology, but he doesn’t think he needs to apologise for a harmless word, and frankly I don’t either (also lol can mean slightly different things in different countries, I use it to convey shock all the time, or in place of things like “what”).

I’m going to be honest, I might sound like a bitch for saying this, but I think a lot of people entered the conversation with doc already angry and upset about the election, and they almost wanted an argument with something tangible. Hate breeds hate or whatever the Star Wars guy said. And you’re valid for being upset, but if you look at his messages pragmatically, they’re not all that bad. Love you all, and I’m sending the atheist equivalent of prayers to everyone in America right now

Why the Doc hate? I don't watch him I'm just curious

I’ve been on twt ranting about this for like three hours and I’m tired but here’s the rundown

Doc made this tasteless post earlier today in regards to the U.S. election results

And then be followed it up with this series of tweets. Which I generally find distasteful. (Read bottom to top)

He said that he “Can’t be bothered by politics” when this is about more than that. This is about the literal rights and health of women, children, and all minorities being removed because of conservative America.

Than he basically did what he always does and cried to his community saying people are screaming at him because he wrote “lol” in the first image. When clearly that’s not the big issue people are having.

I haven’t seen anything past this tweet tbh so I don’t know if he’s said anything else and I’ve had lots of thoughts about this so sorry if it doesn’t make a lot of sense.

And, honestly, I may be taking this out of hand but I’m so tired of him trying to put his foot into conversations that don’t need his input. He did it with Palestine and blocked so many people over it and I won’t be surprised if he does it over this too. His privilege is showing and it’s disgusting :/

[oyeixcher]

Every DanYok Scene (1 ¦ ??)

Y: "Hey! Are you okay? Wake up! Wake up! Come on. You okay? Wake up! You alright?" ... Y: "Are you alright? You okay? What are you doing here? Do you work for Tawi?" D: "No." Y: "Can I see your face? Hey! Hey!"

[wundrousarts]

Mini Silverborn Countdown

If you’ve been around for a few years, you’ve seen me vaguely mention a “Silverborn Countdown Challenge” several times. It’s been delayed and changed as many times as the book itself, lol.

If anyone wants sort of a low-stakes, very chill and spaced out version of this ye olde never tackled challenge to complete in the next year before Silverborn, I propose what I’m doing:

Every 3 months leading up to the initial release, I am creating one thing based on each of the books.

January — Nevermoor

April — Wundersmith

July — Hollowpox

[edelweiss313]

Knowing Dark Dome's game release schedule, it usually takes them about 6-10 months to complete a game. Based on IG posts Girl in the Window took around ~7 months, Unwanted Experiment was 5 months, Nowhere House 7 months, Ghost Case 9 months, Haunted Laia was 6 months, Another Shadow 10 months, EFTS 8 months, and Beyond the Room was 10 months. This means Game #9 could be released somewhere between December of this year to April 2025.

For the plot, the most plausible story Game #9 could go with is either:

Adria ignoring Giselle's warning and just diving headfirst into witch research to save Meridia and Delian, giving us more witch lore

Direct sequel to Beyond the Room so Darien can be saved (perhaps involves his mother having to hire a certain detective?), giving us more witch lore

Something to tie in Unwanted Experiment

[themaybeman]

THE MAYBE MAN TRACKLIST

[chiarrara]

I KNOW Y'ALL ARE IN MOURNING OVER CHOSO AND THAT WAS VERY SAD I CRIED BUT I HAVE NOT BEEN THIS HYPE OVER A CHAPTER IN JJK FOR AGES I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER OH MY GOD THEY'RE GONNA KICK HIS ASS