#and some new jewellery (clearly)

[simsdoll]

𐙚 ‧₊˚ ⋅

[mv1simp]

Based on darling 🍑 🛒 anon’s request: max x inexperienced best friend!reader who hears him complaining about how hard it is to find a girl who’ll match his freak in bed 😼

Birthday Sex ♥️

Max Verstappen x Best Friend!Reader

don’t need candles or cake, just need your body to make (birthday sex, it’s the best day of the year, girl)

As Max’s best friend since childhood, you know him better than anyone. You’re determined to find the best birthday gift after he’s outdone you the past three years. Just when you’ve given up all hope of beating him you overhear him complaining that none of his recent girlfriends let him hit it just the way he likes. Bingo - you’ve just thought of the perfect gift!

Content includes: 18+ MDNI, smut, dom!max, inexperienced best friend!reader who gets railed lol, size kink, anal, creampie, sloppy drunk sex!!, WC 3.3k

You slump your head down on the table and groan, making your best friend Selena quirk as brow at you as she sips her strawberry iced matcha. Across the room, the elderly librarian scowls and points to the sign clearly labelled “University Library - Quiet Zone for Finals Study”. You roll your eyes and drag Selena away to some dusty bookshelf’s well away from the old crone. You still haven’t found a present for Max? Your friend muses as she noisily slurps her drink, eyeing the dubious titles on the ancient books. Shaking your head, you whine about how you’ve spent weeks thinking of what to gift the F1 driver. You and Max have been best friends since childhood, having grown up literally 2 doors down from one another. After getting over the initial boy/girl germs phase, you’d both connected over a like for video games which had turned into a loyal and supportive friendship into teens and adulthood. And of course, you both strongly believed in work hard, play hard, and frequently would be seen doing multiple shots together out in the Monaco clubs after a race weekend or post exam season.

Despite all the time you’d spend together, things had never crossed the line past friendship. It was always heavily speculated in the media, of course, as well as constant teasing from the other paddock members and your friends and family, but both you and Max dismissed it. He treated you like one of his guy friends, inviting you over to game or come onto his private jet with his other mates to fly out for a race weekend. And of course, being good friends with a millionaire driver meant being spoilt, especially on your birthday. Max always picked up on your hints and outdid himself every year. Last birthday you’d had not one but two custom made jewellery sets delivered from Cartier when you’d mentioned them in passing, and the year before that unlimited VIP box seats to your favourite soccer team and access to his private jet to get you there.

So that’s why you’re desperate to find Max the perfect present for his birthday this year. You want to spoil him just like he spoils you! But he’s been busy with his new girlfriend, a Spanish model he met in St Tropez, and you in the final semester of your English Lit degree and you haven’t had a chance to hear what’s he’s been interested in lately.

You’ve thought up countless ideas, but what do you get a man who literally can afford anything he wants? You’ve cycled through all of his likes, finding that he already owns everything you could possibly buy. Your friend Serena is useless as she watches you plead up at the ceiling (dramatic, sure, but desperate times call for desperate measures) asking for any Gods watching above to send you a sign of the right gift. You could always just get him a vibrator, she joked as she slurped her iced coffee. You know, like the one I got you? Have you been using it? Seriously, we need to end this dry spell and get you dicked down- At that point the old crone of a librarian had let out a scandalised gasp as she overheard and kicked the pair of you out.

You’ve almost given up completely and drop by his apartment a few days before his birthday, ready to just directly beg him to tell you what he wants and put you out of your misery. You let yourself in, already familiar with his spare key hiding location for years. And then you stumble across a conversation that’s not meant for your ears as Max’s deep voice carries around the corner. He’s on video chat with one of his mates playing an e-sim racing game, but they’re definitely not talking about racing strategy.

I don’t know mate, why is it so hard these days to find a chick who’ll let you hit it raw? one of his friends complain over the speakers. Your eyes widen, hand rushing up to stifle your gasp as you realise they’re talking about what they like in the bedroom. You and Max had never talked about something like this, and you’re about to turn and leave - when your best friend says something you’d never expected him to say. He snorts, murmuring that sure, getting to finish inside was good but the real challenge was convincing a girl to let you fuck her up the ass.

His friend laughs on the screen, wholeheartedly agreeing, saying Ah, I see even a F1 driver can’t find a girlfriend who’s into that freaky shit, huh? You miss Max’s reply because his cats, Sassy and Jimmy, have started to walk over to you curiously. You hightail it out of his apartment, desperate not to get caught eavesdropping with your blushing face and jumbled thoughts. You only let yourself calm down once you’re in the safety of your much smaller apartment, sinking into your sofa and recounting what you’d heard. You and Max had never ever talked about sex, even though he treated you like his guy friends, that was a line you’d just never crossed. You’d never have guessed he was into something so naughty like not using protection or…what had he said? Up the ass?

You’re not 100% sure on what he means, with your rather…limited sexual experiences. While Max regularly slept with multiple different flings and models, your hook ups could be counted on one hand. You’d lost your virginity, of course, to an awkward college boyfriend that Max had hated and eventually told you to break up with. But apart from a few sloppy handjobs or quick drunk blowjobs, you really hadn’t explored much else. You were jealous of how much more experienced Max was than you, having sometimes overheard him and his latest girlfriend celebrating a race win from a neighbouring hotel room. But it looked like despite all of the girls he’d been with, he wasn’t getting the satisfaction he wanted in bed. And apparently what satisfied the Dutch Lion was fucking girls who let him take the condom off or use their ass to his liking.

Determined to find out more about what exactly Max wanted, you open the private browser of your laptop and type in a porn site you’d looked at a couple times before. You navigate to the tags, scrolling until you see the category you wanted to research. As you wait for the top trending video in the #Anal section to load you bite your lip, suddenly nervous. Why did Max say he wanted that? It sounded dirty and painful and just wrong. Was there something you were missing?

Then the video started playing and within seconds you’d lost any inhibitions you had. Hypnotised, you watch the screen where a small, tan skinned girl is face down and ass up, with a much larger man running his tongue obscenely through her asscheeks. She’s moaning wantonly, clearly enjoying it, and then his sizeable dick is bouncing out against her bum, messily pounding her pussy first, and then - and then-

Your doe eyes widen, fixed on the laptop with a gasp as his tip slides past her pussy and into her other hole, the one you hadn’t even known could fit a guy’s dick inside it! You’re enraptured, not wanting to blink as you watch her asshole get completely ruined. Your lace thong is rapidly soaked by your wetness as you start panting, finding yourself turned on in a way you’d never ever been before. This is what your Maxie liked? It was so hot, you think sluttily, shamelessly slipping your tiny manicured fingers into your panties to finger yourself at the forbidden thought of you and Max acting out the activities in the video. You cum far too quickly, head tossed back in pleasure. Afterwards, you know you should feel embarrassed and guilty, but instead all you can think about is how badly you want to try having sex with your other tight hole.

And you know exactly what to gift your best friend. Max deserves to get exactly what he wants, after all.

Soon you’re watching dirty video after video every night, telling yourself you need to practise the positions and expressions yourself. But really you’re just addicted to the moaning of girls getting their asses abused by huge cocks, or having the coy smirks wiped off their faces and instead rolling their eyes back as their pussies are pumped full of cum. The bullet vibrator Serena had gifted you as a joke now finds itself making its way in between your dripping thighs, as you cum nightly to the fantasy of being able to provide Max with that pleasure. If his latest girlfriend of the month wasn’t willing to put out for him, you certainly had no problem helping your best friend out instead.

You make sure you’re ready by the time his birthday party rolls around, being celebrated in style aboard his yacht that’s docked in Ibiza tonight. You’ve chosen your outfit carefully, a tight red minidress that shows off your plump ass and tits, complete with strappy high heels. It highlights your ample curves, very different from his usual fling’s stick thin figures. And speaking off - you knew that he must have broken it off with his latest girlfriend judging by the fact that she wasn’t here tonight. Your suspicions are confirmed when a mutual friend tells you he dumped her just two days ago, citing a difference in personalities. More like a difference in kinky preferences, you thought deviously. You just needed to confirm that Max was willing to cross the line of no return in your friendship. Judging from the way his gaze had turned dark and hungry when he’d seen you step onto his boat, roaming over your figure, you were pretty confident that you’d be able to proceed in unveiling your gift.

As the party continues well into the night, you join everyone in dancing and drinking, using the tequila shots as an excuse to why you’re suddenly grinding your fat ass back into Max’s crotch amidst the crowded makeshift dancefloor. When you hear Max laugh in delight, strong hands possessively curling around your hips to keep you against him, you know he wanted you, too.

So when the last of the partygoers are heading off the yacht to join the others in the Ibiza clubs, you take Max’s hand in yours to tug him away, back onto the other side of the yacht where you’re well away from anyone’s eyes and facing the night ocean. He willingly goes, checking out your curvy ass from behind, his own face flushed from the drinks he’d had. You’re tipsily giggling that he had to open your present! as you gently push him onto the outdoor couch, plucking your cutely wrapped small gift box and offering it to him. As he opens it, you eagerly sit down by his side, pressing in close to his warm, toned chest with the excuse of its cold, Maxie.

You don’t miss how his gaze drops to your plush tits, which bounce with every movement and show off your hardened nipples as you’d chosen to only wear a skimpy lace bralette underneath. He easily plays along with your excuse, wrapping his thick arm around you to pull you onto his lap and settle against his broad figure. You giggle again when he finally opens the gift box, only to find it…empty? He looks up at you, laughing as he assumed you’d forgotten to pack your present in your drunk antics tonight.

But the plan in your mind is razor sharp as you breathily press kisses to his stubbled cheeks, making his lustful gaze flicker to your lips as the tension between you two grows. You whisper that you hadn’t forgotten, in fact, you’d gotten him the perfect gift, exactly what he’d been complaining to his gaming friends about not being able to find. The present was just inside you, was all!

Max is still adorably confused, not entirely sure what you were referring to as you slide off his lap after pressing a barely there kiss to his lips. He watches you curiously as you press your blushing cheeks into the sofa and stick your thick ass up in the air. Your already tiny minidress slides down your hips, exposing your soaked, lacey thong that barely covered the true surprise - a cute heart shaped butt plug. Max’s jaw drops and for a minute he thinks he must be dreaming, or had gotten super drunk, or this was some sick joke his friends had set him up for. Until you seductively jiggle your hips at him, fat ass bouncing, your sweet voice almost innocently asking if he likes his gift?

Oh, I fucking love it, sweetheart he assures you with a wicked grin, once he realises just what you were giving him. It’s so much better than anything I could have asked for. Your pleased giggle quickly turns into pleased moans as he plays with the toy, teasing you by slowly pulling it out a bit before sliding it back in. He pulls his raging erection out of his pants, telling you to come here and suck me off, getting his cock ready to fuck you. You obediently lick up and down his length, covering it with your messy drool and lip gloss, making sure it’s as wet as possible. His muscular neck is thrown back against the sofa as he moans above you, a strong hand tangled through your curls as he tries to control the pace but can't resist your talented mouth teasing his over sensitive tip. He almost cums from your enthusiasm, hips stuttering and he swears in dutch as he has to forcefully pull on your dark locks to move your plush lips off him. You cheekily grin up at him, winking, asking was that too much for him?

He tosses you around in half a second, making you giggle into the soft pillow as he raises your ass into the air, growling that he’d have done this a long time ago if he knew what a needy slut you secretly were. You shake your hips enticingly at him, ass bouncing, enjoying how his sexy voice got even deeper and accented when he was dirty talking. Swearing at your tempting display, he delivers a strong smack to your cheeks, and then a second one for good measure, before nudging his cockhead up against your dripping slit. He hushes your whines, telling you that he needed to get a taste of your pussy, the one he’d been dreaming about when you’d stay the night after a late movie and rub your ass into his erection in your sleep, edging him for hours. Did you even know how many times he had to go jerk off to the mental image of your ass in the shower?

You moan in pleasure as he fucks you sloppily, whispering about the time he hadn’t been able to resist and pulled your panties down in your sleep, wanting to jerk off to the real thing and leaving his cum all over your caramel skin. Th-that’s soo hot, Maxie you whine, already feeling fucked out of your mind. Go-go on, cum instead me, you say breathlessly. I started the pill just for your present tonight!

Groaning at your naughty confession, he pumps one last, deep thrust before he's tensing above you, a bruising grip on your hips as he holds you still to drain his load deep inside you. He's panting deeply as his head comes to rest on the back of your neck, the two of you enjoying your blissful comedown together for a few minutes. You can’t believe how heated things have gotten tonight after being friends for years. We could have been hooking up this whole time, it was so good Maxiee you whine against his lips as he presses his tongue into your pouting mouth.

Chuckling at your eagerness, he filthily whispers that you could start by giving him the next part of his birthday gift, hmm? You nod breathlessly, unable to say no to your precious Maxie. He palms your juicy asscheeks with his large palms, squeezing at your flesh greedily. Soon enough he’s fingering your tight, winking hole from above you, telling you to hold your asscheeks apart for him as he messily spits right over where he plans to fuck you. Just the tip, right, Maxie? You repeat again, feeling unsettled with not knowing what he was doing behind you, when he stopped to stare at your cute little hole for a few minutes. Your blushing face is still buried into the cushions as your nails dig into your bouncing ass and hold it apart for him. I've never had anything...inside there before, you say, cheeks warming. So you can't stretch it out, okay, I read that it-

Yeah, yeah baby Max says distractedly, hypnotised by your inviting tight hole that is filling him with a growing desire to ruin it every passing second. Whatever you say. Dousing himself in lube from the supply he keeps stashed in between the couch cushions, he approaches you from behind, his erect cock standing stiff as you jiggle your hips. His tip nudges against your back entrance, making you moan excitedly at foreign but tingly feeling. Then he’s thrusting his leaking cockhead in and out of your hole, and you’re babbling incoherently, your face turned to the side as you gasp mouthfuls of air. Oh, it feels sooo good, mmhhh, yes Maxie-

He growls approvingly at your desperate whining, smacking your red asscheeks again and again to make them bounce. Feels amazing, right baby? he hums into your ear, pressing his abs down against your back. The new position makes his cock accidentally slide in just a little more and you arch your back more when the tingly feeling gets stronger as he slips a large hand around to toy with your sensitive clit. You’ll let me put in just a little bit more, right baby? Max whispers huskily, his hungry eyes taking in your drooling, fucked out face. You were in so much bliss he doubts you’d be able to say no to anything he asked for. O-ok, a little bit more- Ohh!

You cry out as he doesn’t hesitate to slip inside you even further. It’s a good thing you can’t see the filthy mess behind you because Max has bullied an easy third of his rigid, veiny shaft inside your gummy walls. He groans against the back of your neck, sending shivers down your spine as he praises how good you take his fat cock, better than any of his girlfriends. He knows just what to say to have you seeing stars as he continues to shove more and more of himself into your tight hole. Fuck schat, giving me the best birthday treat ever, I’m gonna be addicted.

You’re on Cloud 9-, pink tongue poking out of your mouth and drooling all over the cushion, pretty doe eyes rolled all the way back as Max pounds into your all too willing body. You can barely reply coherently when he croons that he’s just gonna slide a bit more in, that’s right, just like that, you can take it for him, right?

His whole cock is buried inside your ass now, beads of sweat running own his toned abs. And soon you’re screaming his name as he greedily fucks you, grunting with pleasure at each thrust. You can only cross your fingers and hope none of your friends come back from the club early.

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A/N: back to my old FILTHY ways after writing a 9.5K mafia fic just to give u all whiplash will finally be posting part 2 of earned it v soon with dedicated hot husband max hehehe 😝

[cuddlytogas]

So I accidentally almost got into an argument on Twitter, and now I'm thinking about bad historical costuming tropes. Specifically, Action Hero Leather Pants.

See, I was light-heartedly pointing out the inaccuracies of the costumes in Black Sails, and someone came out of the woodwork to defend the show. The misunderstanding was that they thought I was dismissing the show just for its costumes, which I wasn't - I was simply pointing out that it can't entirely care about material history (meaning specifically physical objects/culture) if it treats its clothes like that.

But this person was slightly offended on behalf of their show - especially, quote, "And from a fan of OFMD, no less!" Which got me thinking - it's true! I can abide a lot more historical costuming inaccuracy from Our Flag than I can Black Sails or Vikings. And I don't think it's just because one has my blorbos in it. But really, when it comes down to it...

What is the difference between this and this?

Here's the thing. Leather pants in period dramas isn't new. You've got your Vikings, Tudors, Outlander, Pirates of the Caribbean, Once Upon a Time, Will, The Musketeers, even Shakespeare in Love - they love to shove people in leather and call it a day. But where does this come from?

Obviously we have the modern connotations. Modern leather clothes developed in a few subcultures: cowboys drew on Native American clothing. (Allegedly. This is a little beyond my purview, I haven't seen any solid evidence, and it sounds like the kind of fact that people repeat a lot but is based on an assumption. I wouldn't know, though.) Leather was used in some WWI and II uniforms.

But the big boom came in the mid-C20th in motorcycle, punk/goth, and gay subcultures, all intertwined with each other and the above. Motorcyclists wear leather as practical protective gear, and it gets picked up by rock and punk artists as a symbol of counterculture, and transferred to movie designs. It gets wrapped up in gay and kink communities, with even more countercultural and taboo meanings. By the late C20th, leather has entered mainstream fashion, but it still carries those references to goths, punks, BDSM, and motorbike gangs, to James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Mick Jagger. This is whence we get our Spikes and Dave Listers in 1980s/90s media, bad boys and working-class punks.

And some of the above "historical" design choices clearly build on these meanings. William Shakespeare is dressed in a black leather doublet to evoke the swaggering bad boy artist heartthrob, probably down on his luck. So is Kit Marlowe.

But the associations get a little fuzzier after that. Hook, with his eyeliner and jewellery, sure. King Henry, yeah, I see it. It's hideously ahistorical, but sure. But what about Jamie and Will and Ragnar, in their browns and shabby, battle-ready chic? Well, here we get the other strain of Bad Period Drama Leather.

See, designers like to point to history, but it's just not true. Leather armour, especially in the western/European world, is very, very rare, and not just because it decays faster than metal. (Yes, even in ancient Greece/Rome, despite many articles claiming that as the start of the leather armour trend!) It simply wasn't used a lot, because it's frankly useless at defending the body compared to metal. Leather was used as a backing for some splint armour pieces, and for belts, sheathes, and buckles, but it simply wasn't worn like the costumes above. It's heavy, uncomfortable, and hard to repair - it's simply not practical for a garment when you have perfectly comfortable, insulating, and widely available linen, wool, and cotton!

As far as I can see, the real influence on leather in period dramas is fantasy. Fantasy media has proliferated the idea of leather armour as the lightweight choice for rangers, elves, and rogues, a natural, quiet, flexible material, less flashy or restrictive than metal. And it is cheaper for a costume department to make, and easier for an actor to wear on set. It's in Dungeons and Dragons and Lord of the Rings, King Arthur, Runescape, and World of Warcraft.

And I think this is how we get to characters like Ragnar and Vane. This idea of leather as practical gear and light armour, it's fantasy, but it has this lineage, behind which sits cowboy chaps and bomber/flight jackets. It's usually brown compared to the punk bad boy's black, less shiny, and more often piecemeal or decorated. In fact, there's a great distinction between the two Period Leather Modes within the same piece of media: Robin Hood (2006)! Compare the brooding, fascist-coded villain Guy of Gisborne with the shabby, bow-wielding, forest-dwelling Robin:

So, back to the original question: What's the difference between Charles Vane in Black Sails, and Edward Teach in Our Flag Means Death?

Simply put, it's intention. There is nothing intentional about Vane's leather in Black Sails. It's not the only leather in the show, and it only says what all shabby period leather says, relying on the same tropes as fantasy armour: he's a bad boy and a fighter in workaday leather, poor, flexible, and practical. None of these connotations are based in reality or history, and they've been done countless times before. It's boring design, neither historically accurate nor particularly creative, but much the same as all the other shabby chic fighters on our screens. He has a broad lineage in Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean and such, but that's it.

In Our Flag, however, the lineage is much, much more intentional. Ed is a direct homage to Mad Max, the costuming in which is both practical (Max is an ex-cop and road warrior), and draws on punk and kink designs to evoke a counterculture gone mad to the point of social breakdown, exploiting the thrill of the taboo to frighten and titillate the audience.

In particular, Ed is styled after Max in the second movie, having lost his family, been badly injured, and watched the world turn into an apocalypse. He's a broken man, withdrawn, violent, and deliberately cutting himself off from others to avoid getting hurt again. The plot of Mad Max 2 is him learning to open up and help others, making himself vulnerable to more loss, but more human in the process.

This ties directly into the themes of Our Flag - it's a deliberate intertext. Ed's emotional journey is also one from isolation and pain to vulnerability, community, and love. Mad Max (intentionally and unintentionally) explores themes of masculinity, violence, and power, while Max has become simplified in the popular imagination as a stoic, badass action hero rather than the more complex character he is, struggling with loss and humanity. Similarly, Our Flag explores masculinity, both textually (Stede is trying to build a less abusive pirate culture) and metatextually (the show champions complex, banal, and tender masculinities, especially when we're used to only seeing pirates in either gritty action movies or childish comedies).

Our Flag also draws on the specific countercultures of motorcycles, rockers, and gay/BDSM culture in its design and themes. Naturally, in such a queer show, one can't help but make the connection between leather pirates and leather daddies, and the design certainly nods at this, with its vests and studs. I always think about this guy, with his flat cap so reminiscient of gay leather fashions.

More overtly, though, Blackbeard and his crew are styled as both violent gangsters and countercultural rockstars. They rove the seas like a bikie gang, free and violent, and are seen as icons, bad boys and celebrities. Other pirates revere Blackbeard and wish they could be on his crew, while civilians are awed by his reputation, desperate for juicy, gory details.

This isn't all of why I like the costuming in Our Flag Means Death (especially season 1). Stede's outfits are by no means accurate, but they're a lot more accurate than most pirate media, and they're bright and colourful, with accurate and delightful silks, lace, velvets, and brocades, and lovely, puffy skirts on his jackets. Many of the Revenge crew wear recognisable sailor's trousers, and practical but bright, varied gear that easily conveys personality and flair. There is a surprising dedication to little details, like changing Ed's trousers to fall-fronts for a historical feel, Izzy's puffy sleeves, the handmade fringe on Lucius's red jacket, or the increasing absurdity of navy uniform cuffs between Nigel and Chauncey.

A really big one is the fact that they don't shy away from historical footwear! In almost every example above, we see the period drama's obsession with putting men in skinny jeans and bucket-top boots, but not only does Stede wear his little red-heeled shoes with stockings, but most of his crew, and the ordinary people of Barbados, wear low boots or pumps, and even rough, masculine characters like Pete wear knee breeches and bright colours. It's inaccurate, but at least it's a new kind of inaccuracy, that builds much more on actual historical fashions, and eschews the shortcuts of other, grittier period dramas in favour of colour and personality.

But also. At least it fucking says something with its leather.

[lokideservesahug]

Always With Me

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Pairing: Charles Leclerc x reader (I think gn)

Warnings: Nothing, just a(n inchident?!? Sorry lol) short thing :).

Notes: CHARLES WIN IN MONACO!!! WOOOOO❤❤❤ I was inspired by something @a-beaverhausen said when we were talking about Charles and his jewellery in the cool down room (or more particularly, the blue set I've never noticed before)!!

Summary: Your boyfriend is famous for his jewellery. But you can't help but pay special attention to his newst additions.

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Charles wore a lot of jewellery, you know that. Everyone knows that. Whether it was the rings he's worn for years or the friendship braclets given to him by a multitude if fans over the race weekend, he always wears some kind of jewellery. So despite you loving and caring for your boyfriend deeply, you didn't pay much mind to any new additions to his person with how often his wrists sported new accessories.

However, when you watch the projection of the three podium sitters in the cooldown room, your attention is fixed soley on your boyfriend. Or more particularly what he's doing. You find it both endearing and extremely sweet that one of the first things he does after every race is re-adorn himself with his staple jewellery (whether he DNF's or wins for the first time ever in his home track). Yet, more particularly, you take notice of the more expensive looking set of bracelet and ring he's currently putting on (rather attractively you must say).

Now, Monaco is a busy weekend because:

a) It's Monaco for crying out loud and

b) It's Charles' home race of course.

So you noticed that he had new, clearly expensive looking jewellery this weekend but hadn't had the time to fully take it in. Yet as you look at it you swear that it's the familiar shade of your birthstone. You, however don't have much time to ponder on it before the crowd goes wild with applause and Carlos makes his way on to the podium and you wait excitedly for your boyfriend to make his Monaco podium debut.

☆-☆-☆-☆-☆

Light cuts softly through your soft slumber and you feel your boyfriend nuzzle futher into your shoulder and groan slightly. As most would expect, last night's celebrations were off the charts. But, that also leaves your boyfriend in a very hungover, very clingy state. You, fortunately (having the saner mind last night out of the two of you) decided not go get wasted and so that left you able to admire your drowsy boyfriend who was currently waking from the last holds of slumber. He throws his left arm over your waist and that's when you notice his jewellery again.

Exactly as you expected. The lovely shade of your birthstone greets you or rather the sight or many of your birthstones on his ring and bracelet meet your curious gaze. You hear a soft grumble and then "Bonjour ma chérie." You chuckle at his gruff voice. "Morning Charlie." You kiss the crown of his head. "How is my favourite Monaco race winner today?" You feel his toothy grin against your chest and hear his chuckles. He awners your question and you distantly clock his far off words but don't respond.

"Darling?" You hum at him and meet his soft gaze. "What has you so distracted?" You shake your head slightly and your eyes catch in to his bracelet once again. "Nothing." He follows your gaze and blushed once he realises the object of your attention. Charles buries his head in your chest once more and mumbles something inaudibly. "Pardon?" You softly beckon the man to repeat himself. He lifts his head but refuses to meet your eyes "I said. I was hoping you wouldn't realise that." You tilt your head at his words. "What? Why?" He shakes his head and his cheeks warm again. You smile fortly at him. "Come on you can tell me. I just want to know about your new jewellery. I didn't take that as your style." Charles meets your eyes and elaborates. "It's just a friend of mine wanted to make some jewellery for me when you were away a few weeks ago." You hum at his words and gesture his hand for him to continue. "And I just really missed you and didn't like feeling like that. So I thought if I had jewellery of your birthstone it would be like I always had a piece of you with me."

It was now your turn to blush at his clearly love filled words. "Oh..." Despite making the connection that his jewellery was made of your birthstone, you hadn't hadn't bold enough to make the assumption that he had done it deliberately for you rather than it being a consequence. "Well." You softly kiss his nose. "I think it's sweet." You smile at him. "Although, I can't say I don't feel a bit left out." His face swiftly splits out into that full face grin you fell in love with. " Well mon ange, I can easily fix that."

And despite your teasing words holding no weight, his certainly did. And he proved this when two days later, he gifted you a small box with a rather large, attractive opal of his birthstone sat on a gorgeous chain and a promise of a ring coming soon. Only he didn't specify exactly what kind of ring he meant and he knew that the one he was going to gift to you also came with very important question...

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Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!

As always, likes, reblogs and especially feedback is always welcome!

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[axelsagewrites]

Where Am I?*Part Seven

Pairing: modern!f!reader x (to be determined...soon...) Ubbe, Ivar, Sigurd, Hviserks, Bjorn

Series Summary: After falling head first the reader wakes up face to face with a group of strangely dressed men who look eerily like the vikings she studies

Word count: 1511

Part one Part two Part three Part four Part five Part six

Masterlist Here

Slowly but surely, you were settling into this new Viking lifestyle. That doesn’t mean it didn’t have its draw backs.

“There just innards!” Sigurd half yelled as you tried not to puke.

“I don’t care its gross!”

“Its food!”

“Not yet it ain’t!” you gagged, remembering how he tried to make you disassemble the deer. You’d went back home a shuddering mess and luckily Bjorn said he’d do it for you. But Sigurd wasn’t letting it go, “What’s the big deal anyway? it’s done now,”

“Because you get the princess treatment,” he rolled his eyes as he continued to cut up his onions.

You rolled your eyes and tried your best to focus on the carrots. Then you heard a sniffle, “Dude, are you crying?”

“No!” he spat, “It’s the onions,”

“It’s only because you’re crushing them, here- “you tried to help him, but he snatched the knife back, “I’m just trying to help,”

Sigurd rolled his eyes, continuing to cut the onions through his tears, “Well you’re helping wrong,”

That’s it. you gave it. you dumped the carrots you’d just cut into the stew and stormed away, ignoring his protests.

As you made your way to the market you breathed a sigh of relief when you spotted Ivar and Hvitserk at a stall. They smiled as you approached but you just groaned, “Is he always such a control freak?” They glanced at each other before nodding in unison, “Next time give me a heads up,”

“You never listen when we do,” Hvitserk teased.

“That’s cause you give terrible advice,” you hummed sweetly, “You boys having a shopping spree?”

You had all came to a mutual understanding that you would no longer be explaining every little modern phrase or idiom since you wanted to keep your sanity intact. Now they just guessed and hoped for the best.

“I think?” Hvitserk said, “I need leather to make a new bag and Ivar just likes looking at shiny things,” he said as he nudged his younger brother.

You just smiled, confused by the slight blush on his cheeks and Hvitserk’s sniggers. Clearly you hadn’t noticed Ivar checking you out. “Mind if I tag along?”

Walking around the markets of Kattegat was both chaotic and oddly relaxing. You probably would be nervous if you weren’t flanked by at least two sons of Ragnar at all times. You were stood admiring a jewellery stall while Ivar argued with the stall owner over a price of a carved dagger head. Hvitserk in his true fashion was chatting up the stall owner’s daughter.

“Which one do you like?”

“Jesus!” you span around, pushing Ubbe back, “don’t sneak up on me,”

The older brother laughed as you let out a sigh and turned back to the stall, “Sorry, sorry. You make it too easy though,” he held his hands up in mock defence as he peered over your shoulder.

You rolled your eyes before picking up one of the bracelets. It looked like silver, iron maybe, you weren’t a hundred percent sure on what was used these days, but it was beautiful. An open bangle with a Viking cross on its face, Celtic banding going along the sides. “This is cute though,”

As you looked up you saw Ubbe nodding to the guy before they began to barter, “You really don’t have to- “Ubbe didn’t even respond as the men continued to haggle. You stood, unable to intersect, until eventually Ubbe handed the man some coins, “You didn’t need to buy it- “

“I wanted to,” he said, taking it gently from your hands and placing it on your wrist. You coughed a little, trying to force the butterflies out your stomach but when Ubbe looked up at you with a little smile you had to look away.

“Thank you,” you muttered.

-

Later that evening you were all sat around the fire after polishing off the stew Sigurd had made. “That was one good deer,” Hvitserk said as he laid back, resting his head in his hands as he faced the sky.

“Would’ve been nicer if I had some help to cook,” Sigurd grumbled.

Eyebrows raised at his comment but despite how petty you wanted to be you decided to ignore him. When Bjorn looked at you, eyebrow raised, you mouthed ‘tell you later’ and stood up. “Anyone else want more wine?”

All cups went into the air. You laughed as you grabbed the jug, topping off all the cups. Of course you started with Sigurd, not before asking, “More wine?” with a sweet smile. To which he grumbled a quiet yes. You rolled your eyes before turning to the rest of the boys.

You were honestly surprised Bjorn actually joined you all for stew. Ragnar had joined you all but skipped out on the post dinner drinks to go annoy Floki about some boat while Aslaug disappeared into her own world.

Not wanting to disturb her you all decided to start a bonfire a short walk away while you all relaxed. “Thanks,” Bjorn muttered as you finished filling his cup. He raised an eyebrow when you sat down between him and Hvitserk’s star gazing but didn’t protest. “New bracelet?”

Instinctively your hand went to your wrist, holding the bracelet lightly, “Ubbe got me it,”

Ubbe nodded silently while Ivar’s eyes went wide before trying to appear calm, “When?” he asked.

“When you were threatening to demonstrate all the things you could do with a dagger to the owner of the stall,” you smirked. Ivar rolled his eyes, but it was Hvitserk laugh that caught your attention. “What?”

“Oh, nothing you sweet summer child,” he teased. As Sigurd snorted at his joke you decided to be mature. So naturally you hit Hvitserk. “Hey!” he whined, rubbing where you smacked his shoulder.

“Are all Vikings horn dogs or is it just him?”

“I’d ask what that means,” Ubbe laughed, “but I can take a guess,”

“Hey, I just like a little fun,” Hvitserk protested with a laugh, but you just rolled your eyes.

Before this conversation could get any worse for you, you decided to change it, “So what Viking training do I get tomorrow?”

“We have to do training tomorrow,” Ubbe said, before giving his brothers a pointed look, “and no getting out of it this time,” he said only to get waved off. You saw a slight smirk on Bjorn’s face as he watched how his younger brothers interacted. It must be quite odd for him, you thought, being so much older yet still only being a brother.

“I guess I have been a bit of a distraction,” you laughed before laying down next to Hvitserk to look at the stars.

You didn’t need to look up to know Sigurd was nodding his head. “A welcome one though,” Hvitserk teased, his head rolling over to smirk at you. You just hummed at him, before turning your attention back to the stars.

“I suppose I shall entertain myself,” you sighed and before anyone could protest you decided to add, “and if anyone ruins my long lay in, I shall use the skills you all taught me to stab you,”

“You become more like us every day,” Ubbe laughed. The chatter continued but you found your attention being lost more and more as you gazed into the sky.

You couldn’t help but let your mind wander. Did your family miss you? Were they looking for you right now? How much time had even past back home? It’s only been a week here, yet it felt like a lifetime. Did they even know you were gone?

“You, okay?” Hvitserk’s hushed voice snapped you out of it though not loud enough to distract the others from their conversations.

You turned your head to him and that’s when you felt the wetness on the side of your face. Quickly you whipped the tears away, “Yeah sorry. Was just thinking,”

“It’s alright,” he said, a soft smile on his face, “What about?”

You debated saying nothing, but his sweet smile made you, “Home,”

“I’m sorry,”

“It’s not your fault,” you said, turning your head back to the sky.

“Can I admit something rather selfish?” he asked and when you glance over you also noticed his eyes were back on the stars.

“Always,”

Finally, he met your eyes again, “I’m glad you’re here. Even if it means…you know,”

You smiled lightly, “I’m glad to be here, in a weird, twisted way. I just hope someday I get to go back. I miss it,”

“What was it like?” he asked.

Your eyes went back to the stars as you began to retell your tales. Stories you once thought were insignificant meant so much. Hvitserk listened to it all. After what felt like an hour of talking you finally let him get a word in edge wise, not that he was complaining, “I hope I get to come with you, even for a little while. You can show me your world,”

“Id like that,” you smiled before you both just lingered in the comfortable silence.

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[the-fandom-abyss]

Prompt: here

First Sentence Prompt

“How will I explain this to the others?” Melissa chastised herself for leaning in, for brushing her lips against yours. She swore that she wouldn’t, that she couldn’t and yet, she moved closer. She was spiralling with thoughts of her fellow teachers, how they would react to the news.

“You say, that you slipped and fell?”

“Be serious!” Melissa paced her living room, panicked that Jacob would be home any minute. She didn’t intend to bring you to her home, or to become quite intimate with you. She clearly didn’t think it through and now she had to deal with what will come next. “How will I explain that I brought home the temp? That I’m thrice their age and that I should have known better”

“The temp? Like I’m some stray you found on the street?” Melissa halted, her head slowly turned to you. She was thinking out loud, she never gave a thought to how you would feel, how you would want to proceed.

“No, that’s not what I meant. People may think that I used my power over you or worse, took advantage” she nibbled on her lip in worry, her fingers playing with the jewellery on her hands.

“I don’t think that and isn’t that all that matters? I like you Melissa and I would like to pursue this, I don’t care what others think” her heart thawed at your words and the confidence behind them. She just needed to get out of her head.

[grinsgrimmy]

Hello, Writer-nim! ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა

I'm a new fan of your blog! I really like how you write! ₍⑅ᐢ..ᐢ₎ ᡣ𐭩 I saw that your drabble request slot is still open. I'm just wondering if you'll be able to write a character from 'Death is the only ending for the Villainess'? For Callisto Regulus, specifically? ʚ(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )ɞ

Like, Reader finds a jar that's full of trinkets and it's so familiar to her because these are all the trinkets she gave to him since they met. And it's like Callisto's greatest treasure. ૮⸝⸝> ̫ <⸝⸝ ა

Thank you in advance, Writer-nim! 화이팅~! (ㅅ´ ˘ `)♡

Ｔ Ｒ Ｅ Ａ Ｓ Ｕ Ｒ Ｅ .

ㅤᯓᡣ𐭩 𝖢𝖠𝖫𝖫𝖨𝖲𝖳𝖮 𝖱𝖤𝖦𝖴𝖫𝖴𝖲 𝗑 𝖠𝖥𝖠𝖡!𝖱𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋

DEATH IS THE ONLY ENDING FOR THE VILLAINESS

๋࣭⭑ֶֶֶָָָ֢֢֢𖹭 drabble. (816 words)

sum. you found a jar on callisto's dresser. the content in the jar were familiar to you

note : thank you for your request and kind words, anonie! it took me a while to do this because i could not exactly understand callisto's personality for some reason. I ended up summarising his personality to be NEARLY the same as sylus from love and deepspace. regardless, I FINALLY DID NOT GO OVER THE WORD LIMIT !!

drabble request slots have reopened !

ㅤ⪩⪨ m.list

“aren't you so bold to snoop around the crown prince's bedroom, dear?”

callisto mused, leaning against the doorframe with that insufferable, arrogant smirk of his. he eyed you going through his bedroom with an amused glint in his eyes.

clearly, he was enjoying the sight of you getting caught in the act.

you did not actually mean to snoop around callisto's bedroom. you had been waiting for him when he was busy getting dressed. since you had nothing to do, you let your eyes mindlessly wander around his massive yet empty room.

it was not as though you were trying to find something. you were just idly passing time while waiting for him. but then your eyes landed on something that sat sitting on his dresser that was oddly near his bed.

before you could think twice about what you were doing, your curiosity got the better of you. hence, you ended up investigating what that odd thing could be.

when you gazed upon the item. it was an old, weathered glass jar, though the content within it were certainly new. you took a moment to process what exactly it was that gave a tug of familiarity.

the trinkets were so familiar to you.

you would have not bat an eye on that glass jar if it were not for the contents in it.

then, callisto caught you in that moment.

which led to callisto standing in the doorway, giving the most annoying smirk known to man alongside that look of bemusement.

you felt your heart racing when you were caught. though you knew you were not guilty, you felt as if you were touching something so incredibly intimate to him.

you straightened up immediately. your hands instinctively moving to your back to hide the jar you took from his dresser.

you took another long gaze in the jar without shame to ease your curiousity. after processing it, it caught you by surprise when you realised what those were.

the trinkets and other items within it were tiny gifts you gave callisto over the course of your time together.

small tokens of affection or silly, spontaneous, or callisto decided it would be better to steal it from you.

each trinket within it brought back memories of the two of your shared moments you did not know you needed to remember.

a pebble from your garden that you gave to callisto during your early days of meeting him to boldly mock him. several jewellery you gifted (and stolen) to callisto. two overworn handkerchiefs and other tiny content you saw—

all these small, seemingly insignificant gifts you had given to him,

you never realised he had kept them.

it hit you hard. you could not even comprehend what you felt seeing the jar.

affection? adoration? nostalgia? disbelief?

there were too many thoughts running through your mind.

your fingers tightened around the jar unconsciously, as if shielding the vulnerability you felt at that moment.

callisto, the annoyingly observant man that he is, noticed your change in expressions. he gave you a knowing look as he took a slow step forward to you.

“i had no idea you were so sentimental, darling,” he commented with his usual teasing tone, yet it was laced with something more.

you opened your mouth to speak, but your words were tangled in your throat. you were caught by the strange, warm ache in your chest that you could not explain.

“i didn't know you kept these...” you croaked out, trying not to sound vulnerable, but your voice was softer than you intended. you glanced at the jar again with disbelief.

his lips curled into a tiny, gentler smile, yet he managed to maintain his arrogant smirk after. he took the jar from your hands carefully. you noticed he was cradling it almost reverently, scared it would break.

“this is where i store my greatest treasures,” callisto murmured, his voice almost tender when he glanced at the content within the jar.

his eyes shifted to you. he placed the jar where it belonged, then his fingers brushed against yours. he gave a knowing grin. “if i could put you in here, i would,” he said teasingly, but you could sense that he actually meant it.

he then leaned down to press a kiss to the top of your head. the warmth of his lips lingered longer than you expected. it was a quiet gesture, but it was profound to you, as if it were a promise.

in that moment, you realised it was not just the objects that made you sentimental, it was that callisto had truly seen you. all these tiny things could have been easily overlooked, but he cherished it.

callisto cherished you.

"thank you," you whispered. the words carried heavy meaning. you gave him a smile, a sincere one without artifice. a smile that caught callisto off guard.

callisto then smiled, a smile that matched yours— genuine and sincere, far more than either of you had anticipated.

・❥・want a hc / oneshot? please consider commissioning in ko-fi !

[suroweczka]

Zoro Proposes to you (fluff)

summary: Zoro gets caught by Nami and Robin while looking at engagement rings. With a little help of his crewmates, he proposes to you, in a Zoro way of course. Purest fluff 🩷 zoro x female reader

word count: idk, you’re welcome

“Alright, everyone! We’ve got some time to explore! I hope to eat some delicious meat!” Luffy shouted, filled with excitement, as The Thousand Sunny docked at a small island. The crew quickly disbanded, eager to enjoy their time in the new place. Zoro, however, felt a different pull that day.

The crew scattered into the bustling town but the noise and chaos of the main square didn’t appeal to him. Instead, he opted for a stroll through the quieter, narrower streets that meandered away from the commotion.

Here, the streets were lined with quaint shops, their signs creaking softly in the breeze. Zoro found this setting much more to his liking, a welcome escape from the chaos he had left behind.

As he wandered down the lane, a small jewelry shop caught his eye. Its window displayed an array of elegant pieces, each one glimmering under the soft light. Zoro paused, an unexpected sense of curiosity bubbling up inside him. Nothing on the display caught his eye in particular, but it reminded him how he had been thinking about taking the next step in your relationship for a while now.

He pushed open the door, his hand a bit shaky as he didn’t quite know what to expect. A small bell tinkled over his head as he entered. The interior was warm and inviting, adorned with beautifully crafted displays showcasing rings, necklaces, and bracelets.

As he wandered through the aisles, he felt a bit lost. He didn’t know exactly what he was looking for. He stopped at a display that featured an array of rings, the choice was overwhelming, he suddenly became anxious, hoping nobody would approach him.

“May I help you, young man?” a voice chimed, pulling Zoro from his reverie. “Looking for something special? Perhaps for a special someone?”

“Shit…” He mumbled to himself as he noticed an elderly man with a warm smile on his face walking towards him.

“N-not really… just browsing. Actually, I didn’t mean to end up here” he replied, his cheeks turned all red. “I better go now, goodbye” he said awkwardly and stormed out of the shop. 

As he closed the door behind him, he heard some giggles in the distance. 

“Have you got lost again?” familiar voice sounded and he realised it was Nami, accompanied by Robin, having fun of what they had just seen. 

“Just… Exploring” He tried to sound as casual as possible but puzzled face said everything.

“Interesting choice” Said Robin “I did not know you were into jewellery, engagement rings to be precise” Nami and Robin shared a glance, their eyes sparkling with mischief.

Zoro’s face turned all red. “What the hell are you talking about?” He barked, clearly annoyed. “I don’t have time for your crap”He turned away and rushed in opposite direction, hoping they would leave him alone and never bring up the topic again.

“Wait!” Nami shouted. 

Robin used her devil fruit powers to stop Zoro, a pair of hands emerged from the pavement and grabbed Zoro’s ankles, which resulted in him landing on the ground.

“Leave me alone you crazy women” He looked up from his spot, furrowing his brows.

“We can help, you know…”Nami leaned closer, lowering her voice conspiratorially “We know (Y/N) well enough to say what she would like. Besides, I wouldn’t trust your taste”

“I do NOT need your help and it has nothing to do with (Y/N)!!” Zoro could not let them win, that would be embarrassing.

Robin chuckled softly, clearly not buying his act. “Don’t be so stubborn. It’s not a secret you two have been in a relationship and it’s only natural you want to take the next step” Robin said calmly, trying her best to encourage him “We can help you make it special. You want it to be perfect, don’t you, Zoro?”

After a moment of hesitation, Zoro nodded slowly, unable to deny the truth. “Yeah, I do.”

Nami clapped her hands together excitedly. “Then let’s go back to the shop! We have to find something that captures both of your personalities.”

“Personalities? It’s just a ri…” Zoro didn’t even manage to finish his sentence as Nami grabbed his arm and dragged him back to the shop.

“Show us the most beautiful and expensive engagement rings you have to offer here, sir!” Nami leaned on the glass counter, her eyes were sparkling, full of thrill.

“Expensive?” Sweat dripped down Zoro’s face, he was sure he would regret his decision to let Nami help him with the purchase.

“Relax, leave it to me” Nami winked

“I did not expect you to be back so soon, young man” the jeweller smiled, leading them to a display case filled with elegant rings. “Here are our customers’ favourite pieces, each and every one made with great precision, though a bit on the pricey side” 

“Pricey…” Zoro gulped.

“Perfect!” Nami squeaked but her enthusiasm was slightly suppressed by Robin, as she gently lied her hand on her shoulder.

“I know we offered our help, but I think Zoro should have a say as well” she said, glancing at his terrified face. “What do you think, Zoro? Anything you have in mind?”

“Ugh… I dunno… I didn’t want it to be very flashy to be fair…”

“What about this one?” The old man pointed to a delicate silver band adorned with a single emerald at its center.

“This one looks nice. Green is your colour which will make the ring remind her of you” Nami pointed out.

Zoro stepped closer, his heart racing as he imagined slipping the ring onto your finger, seeing your eyes light up in surprise and joy. “I’s alright I guess”he said quietly. “I will take it”

“Very good choice, sir. I shall pack it for you”

It might have not been the most expensive ring, as originally planned by Nami, but still not quite cheap. She guessed Zoro didn’t have enough money as he nervously started counting all the Berries he had in his wallet, all covered in sweat. 

“I got you” she whispered 

“Thank you, but it is my responsibility to pay for my woman’s ring”

“Oh, I will make sure you pay me off, don’t you worry” Nami winked.

“I have no doubt about that. And how much interest will you charge me?”

“Well, as it is for (Y/N) and it’s such a special occasion, let’s say 0%...” Nami smiled ominously “…As long as you pay me off within 3 months. Then it’s 50%”

“Jesus Christ woman… I shall make sure I pay you off within that time then…” he sighed.

“All done. Thank you and please visit us again soon” the elderly man handed a small bag to Zoro.

“I am not planning on proposing again in the near future” Zoro muttered which made Robin chuckle. “Hopefully it will be your first and last time”

After finalizing the purchase, Zoro felt a mix of excitement and anxiety. The hardest part was yet to come.

“Sooo… How are you going to propose?” Nami asked as they were all heading back to Sunny. 

“What do you mean? I will just give her the ring” Zoro replied like it was very obvious.

“You can’t be serious”

“What else am I expected to do?” He was not ready for what Nami would come up with.

“Proposals aren't as straightforward as a fight. You’ll need to think about the setting, the words, and also the timing”Robin smiled gently.

“Why is this so complicated? I already bought the damn ring." Zoro groaned, rubbing the back of his neck.

The girls giggled at his cluelessness.

“I would suggest finding some quiet spot, far away from nosy people, so you can both savour this intimate moment in peace”Robin said.

“Yea! And it will be less embarrassing if nobody sees you when she says no” 

“Nami…”

——

As they walked along the path leading back to Sunny, the group stumbled upon a charming clearing in the woods. A quaint little bridge arched over a quiet river, surrounded by tall trees that swayed gently in the evening breeze. The scene looked like something out of a dream.

"This is perfect," Robin murmured, her eyes lighting up as she observed the peaceful ambiance.

"Even you can’t mess this up, Zoro," Nami added, nudging him with her elbow. "Just propose here.”

Zoro gave the scene a brief glance, scratching his head. "Y-Yeah, I guess this could work."

"Here’s what you do," Nami began, holding up her hand as if to count the steps. "Step one: ask her to go on a walk. Step two: lead her here without acting suspicious. Step three: say something from the heart. Not about swords, by the way. Step four: kneel when you give her the ring.“

Zoro frowned. "Why would I kneel? I’m not bowing to anyone."

Nami rolled her eyes. "It’s not bowing; it’s a romantic gesture! Just do it."

Zoro gave her a big sigh but didn’t say anything.

As they made their way back to the ship, Zoro’s thoughts wrestled with the advice. He didn’t want to mess this up, but all this planning was starting to make his head spin. When they reached the Sunny, his focus snapped to you, standing at the dock, gazing out at the horizon. The light of the setting sun bathed you in a golden glow, and Zoro felt his chest tighten.

He approached you casually, trying to act as if his heart wasn’t pounding like he was in the middle of a battle. "Hey," he called out, his voice gruff. "You wanna go for a walk tonight? Got somethin’ to show you."

You turned to him, surprised but smiling. "Sure. Where to?"

Zoro shrugged, keeping his tone even. "You'll see."

As you nodded and walked off to prepare, Zoro felt the weight of the ring in his pocket. He muttered under his breath, "Step one down, I guess."

——

Zoro walked beside you, his hand clasping yours tightly. His palm was sweaty, a rare sign of nerves that immediately caught your attention. You glanced at him, noticing the tension etched on his face.

"Are you okay?" you asked, your voice laced with concern.

"I'm fine," he replied gruffly, his eyes focused straight ahead. But his tone betrayed him.

You raised an eyebrow, stopping in your tracks. "Are you sure? You seem… distracted."

He glanced at you briefly before looking away. "Just walk, will ya?"

Suspicious but deciding to let it slide, you followed him through the quiet woods. The sun had set, leaving the clearing bathed in soft twilight. When you reached the charming little bridge, you stopped, stunned.

The gentle sound of the river flowing below, the glow of fireflies flickering in the air, and the serene quietness made the place feel almost magical. You stepped onto the bridge, leaning against the railing, and gazed out at the scenery.

"This is beautiful," you murmured, completely taken in by the moment.

Behind you, Zoro shifted awkwardly, his heart hammering in his chest. He knew he was supposed to say something. There was supposed to be a lead-up, something heartfelt, and maybe even—ugh—a kneel. But every piece of advice Nami and Robin had drilled into him fled his mind.

Before he could overthink it, Zoro reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring. Without a word, and with his face burning red, he slipped it onto your finger while you were still admiring the view.

The sudden sensation of cool metal against your skin made you freeze. You looked down at your hand, your breath hitching when you saw the simple, elegant ring now resting on your finger. Turning slowly, you found Zoro standing there, stiff as a board, his arms crossed and his face an alarming shade of crimson.

"Zoro…?" you started, your voice soft with disbelief. "Is this… what I think it is?"

He looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess so," he muttered.

You couldn’t help the giggle that escaped you. "You guess so?" you teased, raising an eyebrow. "You’re going to have to be a little more specific, swordsman."

His glare snapped to you, embarrassed and annoyed. "Don’t wind me up! You know what it is!" he barked, though his tone held no real heat. “Just stop teasing me and give me the answer!”

You laughed again, covering your mouth with your free hand. "The answer? How can there be an answer without the question?"

Zoro groaned, dragging a hand down his face. "You’re impossible," he grumbled. For a long moment, he said nothing, and you thought he might refuse. But then he took a deep breath, glancing at you with a mixture of frustration and vulnerability.

"Fine," he said, his voice low but steady. "Will you marry me?"

The way he said it—so blunt, so utterly Zoro—made your heart swell. You smiled, your laughter softening into something warm and tender. "Now, was that so hard?" you teased gently, stepping closer.

He grunted, still avoiding your eyes. "So… what do you say?" he asked, clearly flustered but trying to sound nonchalant.

You smiled even brighter, wrapping your arms around his neck. "Of course, it’s a yes."

Zoro exhaled, his shoulders relaxing for the first time all evening. "Good," he muttered, his lips quirking up in the faintest of smiles.

As you admired your ring, Zoro shifted awkwardly, still feeling the weight of the moment. He glanced down at your hand, then back at you, his expression hesitant.

"Uh… do you want me to kneel or something?" he asked, his voice gruff but tinged with genuine uncertainty.

Your laughter burst out before you could stop it. You shook your head, wiping away a tear of laughter.

"No, Zoro," you said, still giggling. "It’s not necessary. I wouldn’t expect that from you."

He blinked, looking almost relieved, and a small, genuine smile crept onto his face. His hand came up, rough and calloused, to gently stroke your cheek. The action was tender, so unlike the usual brusque swordsman you knew.

"I love you," he said simply, his voice steady and sincere.

Your heart fluttered at the words, a warmth spreading through your chest as you leaned into his touch.

"I love you too," you replied softly.

Zoro leaned in, closing the small distance between you, and kissed you. It wasn’t dramatic or overly passionate, but it was perfect—grounded and filled with quiet conviction.

When he pulled back, his smile lingered, his eyes holding an unusual softness. "I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us," he said, his voice low but filled with certainty.

You smiled back, your hand finding his. "Me neither."

As the two of you stood there on the bridge, the quiet river flowing below and fireflies dancing in the air, you felt nothing but peace and joy. For all his cluelessness, Zoro had shown you exactly how much he cared in his own unique way—and that was more than enough.

[nayatarot777]

Karma For Your Fake Best-Friend

• Pile One •

The first message that I’m seeing is that your fake best friend will have to give birth (figuratively) to a very difficult beginning. This is part of their karma because this beginning is full of Saturnian energy, and Saturn is the planet of karma. They will have to help other people with very difficult times in their lives which may be something that they didn’t do before because I’m picking up on a very selfish energy from this person. However, now other people’s situations and what other people have created for themselves and their lives will leave your best friend as the helper - which they’re clearly not happy about. I’m hearing that this person made their bed and now they have to lie in it. They’re stagnant. They feel restricted from creating anything new in their life. For someone in particular, I’m getting a very dark message and that’s about how your best friend could experience difficulty either literally giving birth or difficulty getting pregnant which will cause a lot of distress. The burdens that they are feeling from this karma are going to make them feel extremely aged. They are going to feel like they’re the one who is being forced to be responsible in comparison to everyone else - for the sake of everyone else - while they’re feeling like this should be in reverse. They feel like everyone else should feel responsible for them but that’s not going to happen.

They’re going to lose a lot. Their life is going to seem empty and bare. This could be about them losing possessions that they found integral to their identity such as clothing and jewellery, or they could lose their money which was a huge part of their identity. I’m just seeing this person really having to count their blessings and the little that they have left. I’m also hearing that this person is going to become physically sick due to anxiety and this will show on their face and in their body. They’re going to look physically unwell and that feeds into the message about them feeling like they’re physically and internally aging under this difficult change. One of the things that they are going to have to count as a blessing are the positive memories that they have from the past. They’re going to have to hold onto these memories quite tightly because they are incapable of creating new and positive memories for themselves again. They feel restricted from creating anything in their life. They’re not going to see a way out of their anxiety. They are constantly being placed in positions that confuse them. That make them worry and that leaves their minds incapable of interpreting what they need to clearly. They’re going to be trapped in their head and feeling like there is no way out.

For some in this pile, this fake best friend downplayed your anxiety or treated your anxiety as if it wasn’t a real thing or as if it wasn’t important, and now they’re experiencing severe anxiety that’s trapping them in a mental space that they don’t want to be in. There are three cards in total here about new life and new creation, so there’s a major emphasis on how nothing new will come into their life for a very long time because the energy of Saturn is very slow moving. It’s the one of the slowest moving planets in our solar system, so any karma - positive or negative - that we experience due to Saturn is prolonged for a very long time. This person‘s life will consist of the same-old stressful, burdensome routine. They have to watch everyone else around them in their life, moving onto bigger and better things. Moving onto new pathways and lifestyles that clearly fill them with inspiration and joy and happiness, but they’re going to be left out of this. This is definitely affecting their dating life too. They’re not going to experience meeting anyone new and their dating life could be something that they identified with. They could be very relationship-oriented people and they might feel like they don’t know what to do without a partner. Whether this is a committed partner or someone who is just entertaining them for the time being. Either way, they’re not going to experience any new flame or any new passions in the area of dating. This person is having to feel fragmented. There’s a lot of dissociation here. They feel like they can’t get up off the ground and they feel like they can’t move forward in their life because they’re plagued with a sense of weakness and fragility. Their mind is very fragile too. They feel like they are a very fragile person who’s easy to damage and break. They feel very broken. Especially mentally. Their intuition is also going to be damaged. Their perspective on people and things as well as themselves will also be very distorted. They won’t be able to see clearly in an intuitive way.

Extended Reading: How Do They Feel + What Do They Think About You/This Situation?

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Personal Reading Info

• Pile Two •

This fake best friend pretended to be innocent. They wore a mask of someone who was all about helping and healing, as if they were someone who couldn’t hurt a fly. But in actuality, they pretend to embrace and accept others for the sake of helping people who they’re actually leading to their demise. It’s almost like this person sees people as lambs who they lead to slaughter. They underestimate other people’s intelligence and it’s probably because they prey upon genuinely innocent and soft people - and you are most likely one of them. However, as their karma, they’re going to end up being seen as the innocent lamb being led to someone else’s slaughter house. This sounds very graphic because it is. It’s very sinister - just like their energy is. They’re going to be baited by someone who also portrays themselves as innocent, just like they do, and whoever this person is that meets your fake best friend, they are going to see your best friend as a genuinely innocent and unassuming victim of their’s. This person is encountering someone who is exactly like them and this is someone who they’ll be in a very strange romantic relationship with.

They are going to be drained by this person energetically because this person is a huge energy vampire and this person is also very possessive over this fake best friend. However, the possessiveness is overlooked by onlookers because this person pretends to be loving and innocent towards your fake best friend, but there’s something very strange about their relationship. This fake friend is clearly not happy in this relationship but they feel trapped. And they might not even know why because, on the surface, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong. But energetically they are picking up on the fact that this person that they’re in a relationship with is someone who is actually very dangerous for them to be around - although they can’t pinpoint why. This person who they’re with has a very good mask of innocence. It’s funny how this works because you’d think that your fake best friend (being a master of glamour magic to the point of being able to lure people in with an innocent facade) would also be good at pointing out another person’s fake and innocent facade - but they’re not. This fake friend will be trying to practice positivity but they’re going to struggle with this. They’re not going to see a happy horizon for them to move towards.

They are going to feel a sense of emptiness as if there are holes in their soul that they can’t fill. As if there’s a hole in their mind that they can’t mend. They’re going to feel like they can’t make sense of anything nor can they feel anything. This person is hitting rock bottom. There’s something about this person’s ability to learn being painful for them. This is a very painful learning experience for them. The lesson that they attract what they are. And that because of the fact that who they are is not a good person, they’ve attracted someone who is not a good person either. It seems like whatever they feel like they know about relationships or people or themselves is being shattered. They might have perceived themselves as a very intelligent person who could get away with anything if they were sly enough, but that ego is being shattered and it’s almost like they’re seeing the Uno reverse 😂. They felt like they were the one in control of others this entire time. When in reality, they’re the ones being controlled and encroached upon. People aren’t going to have sympathy for this person when they cry about how depressed they are. Nor about how much pain they are in. Nobody is going to have sympathy or empathise with them and that’s most likely because people can’t really see or feel the sinister energy from their partner like they can. I’m also seeing that people will dismiss their feelings and tell them to just be positive. Kind of like toxic positivity. Their anger and triggers in this relationship will also be downplayed and dismissed by their partner, so there’s an energy of them forcing themselves to pretend to be happy when they’re actually the complete opposite.

Extended Reading: How Do They Feel + What Do They Think About You/This Situation?

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Personal Reading Info

• Pile Three •

This fake best friend was someone who enjoyed invading your boundaries and violating your boundaries too. This is someone who tried to dominate. This is someone who makes people feel like they are vulnerable and powerless. This person brought a lot of death moments to your life. A lot of permanent endings. They could’ve tried to dominate your energy and your boundaries through clinging to you in someway or trying to always be around you, and this was the way that they tried to cause permanent endings in your life. By distracting you from the things that you needed to do or not leaving you with enough space and time to focus on yourself. They made you feel obligated to do this. As for their karma, they’re experiencing all of this for themselves. They’ve invaded someone else’s boundaries and that person is getting vengeance. Your fake best friend is going to feel the need to go into hiding. And this is some intense isolation which is something that they are not used to because I’m seeing that they are quite vampiric towards others’ energy. They feed off of other people. So this intense isolation will cause them to feel very alone and ignored.

I’m seeing a lot of paranoia for this person. They’re not going to let anyone in because they’re trying to get away from the person who is now trying to invade their boundaries - but this is someone who your fake best friend invaded the boundaries of first. This person acts like they’re not aware of how they hurt people, but this person’s karma is that they’re going to hurt themselves and not even realise it. They’re going to be blinded to the pain that they are causing themselves through this paranoia and through this overprotective energy that they have over themselves. This person is trying to find peace inside of that isolation, but this is out of reach for them because they know that someone is extremely vengeful and out to get them. Someone is looking for them and waiting to act on their vengeance and this fake best friend can’t relax.

Extended Reading: How Do They Feel + What Do They Think About You/This Situation?

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Personal Reading Info

[chronicowboy]

i've become too attached to my own spec so it's becoming its own post. so as a callback to last time bobby was forced out of work in season 2 and everyone came to him to complain about tyrannical interim cap han i want everyone going to him to check up on him in his involuntary retirement slash recovery which clearly devolves into each of them complaining spectacularly about gerard. but whilst this is happening in each scene bobby's trying out a new hobby. so like buck comes over and starts complaining about gerard being homophobic to hen and how it's absolutely disgusting and blatant and he's ordered this super secret spy pen to try and capture some of the harassment tp send to the higher ups meanwhile bobby's knitting a really terrible scarf like you can't really tell it's a scarf so we'll just call it indiscernible project #5 (the background is just full of yarn and half-finished projects). hen comes over to essentially curse gerard out for the triplewhammy of racism, homophobia and sexism - aisha eats the most eloquent rant in the world about and all of us quote it and write odes to it and get it tattooed on us. bobby is giving her his full attention as he tries out a bit of claywork, the scene ends with him offering up one of his deformed pots for her to smash to maybe help her let a little bit of anger out (hen accepts but she says it's only to put the poor thing out of its misery, bobby smiles to himself because it feels like old times in the firehouse). eddie comes to complain about how difficult it is watching everyone be hurt ny gerard over and over(he's fully compartmentalised the discrimination he's getting) and also how buck's not really seeming to grasp that gerard is being homophobic to him as well as hen (he's super fixated on this he has no idea why and he's unwilling to examine it too closely) bobby is attempting a still life portrait of a fire extinguisher, it's actually pretty good. chimney comes over and goes on an absolute cunt-serving, dick-gagging, he ATE monologue where he takes barely a breath the whole time and kenneth choi gets an emmy on the spot for it. bobby is attempting to make his own jewellery (he's working on a little bracelet for jee-yun at this point). dragons i'm asking for a flight to LA and $1,000,000 to make this happen

[lucy90712]

Valentine’s Day

Jude: 

- Jude likes to go all out for Valentine's Day as it's the one day that he can spoil you and show you how much he appreciates all the sacrifices you've made for him without you telling him off at least too much 

- Since moving to Madrid your schedules in the morning never line up so you don't get to see each other in the morning but before going to bed Jude sets out the things you needed for breakfast which made you life a lot easier 

- seeing as Jude made your morning better you thought you'd make his morning slightly easier too by having coffee prepared for him and you prep his usual breakfast so he can just put it all together and eat it 

- as he didn't get to see you in the morning as soon as he finishes training he picks up some lunch and heads to where you work so you can eat lunch together on your break 

- all your coworkers are so jealous that Jude is so cute as their partners never think to do anything like that for them but as much as they are slightly envious they tell you not to let Jude go as you've clearly found a good boyfriend 

- he doesn't like leaving you but at some point you have to get back to work so he leaves you but not before being rather dramatic and giving you lots of kisses 

- once you finish work and arrive home he is telling you to get yourself ready as he's going to take you out to dinner you want to just get dressed and go but Jude encourages you to take a bath and do what Jude calls your fancy skincare 

- after taking longer on your appearance than you ever have you are finally ready to go but before you can leave Jude has to give you about a million compliments on everything from your dress to how your makeup makes your eyes stand out 

- he takes you to a small nearby restaurant which he has rented for the night because he wanted to take you out like normal boyfriends do but he didn't want to have to deal with crowds and people bothering you so he decided this was the solution even if it did cost him a lot of money but he doesn't tell you that part 

- after a lovely dinner you go back home and got yourselves into bed as life goes on and you both have things to do the next day but before you go to sleep Jude gives you the presents he got you 

- he got you some beautiful jewellery which you had been looking at for a while which you are so grateful for but you two agreed not to get each other gifts so you didn't have anything for him so you felt bad but he insisted that it was ok and he didn't need anything other than you 

Fermin: 

- your relationship is very private no one outside of your friends and family knows you two are together and have been for a while and you both want to keep it that way so valentines is always a private affair 

- even though you won't be going out Fermin still wants to do something nice and spend time with you so after he's done with training and meetings for the day he comes straight to pick you up from uni as he knows you'll be in the library all day if he doesn't come and get you 

- when he arrives he texts you and you come right out of the library and to his car where he takes your bag from you and gives you the tightest hug and kiss before getting back into the car and going to his place 

- back at his place when he opens the door for you you are greeted with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and some chocolates which he set up before he left in the morning as he knows you'd love it and thank him forever which you do 

- after a lot of cuddling on the sofa and just talking for hours about a lot of nothing Fermin suggests making dinner together as its something you don't get to do very often and and you can't just go out to a restaurant 

- neither of you are brilliant cooks but you know the basics so you both find a new recipe you want to try and give it a go which comes with a lot of laughs and messing around but that's the fun part 

- as everything cooks Fermin cleans and doesn't let you do any of it but as soon as he's done he his arms wrap around your waist so he can hold you close as you watch over what is on the stove 

- Fermin is usually pretty touchy but he gets even more clingy on days like this he just loves to have you close and show you how much he loves you because even though he does it every day he thinks you deserve extra love on Valentine's Day 

- after dinner you suggest watching rom coms and Fermin agrees even though he hates them but he secretly gets very involved after just a few minutes as he gets annoyed when you pause the movie to go to the bathroom which you have to tease him for but he takes it as he knows you are joking 

- at some point time slips away from you so Fermin asks you to stay the night not wanting you to have to go home so late even if it would be him taking you home plus it means getting more time with you which he will never complain about 

- while in bed you finally exchange gifts which aren't anything fancy just little heartfelt things you know each other will love and Fermin gives you a card which has the most heartfelt message in it that has you on the verge of happy tears because it means so much seeing how much Fermin loves you 

Joao: 

- Joao has to go to training before you get up but he still takes time out of his routine to make you breakfast and bring it to you before he leaves which gets him more than one good morning/ goodbye kiss from you 

- he doesn't like to leave you on any normal day but he especially doesn't like leaving you on Valentine's Day as he wants to spend the entire day loving on you but he can't so instead he just make sure he gets home as quickly as possible from training 

- when he gets home you are still working as you work from home but Joao wants to spend time with you so he grabs a chair from the dining room table and sits with you at your desk to just watch you work 

- if it was anyone else you'd be annoyed at the presence next to you just watching but because it's Joao you don't mind he is also quite useful if you need any papers from across the room he'll get them for you or if you need to remember something he'll write it down for you 

- once you finish work you barely have 2 seconds to shut down your computer before Joao is taking you away from your desk so he can have all of your attention for the rest of the day 

- he suggests that you bake some valentines cookies together as he knows you love baking and it means you'll have sweet treats to eat for the next few days which is always great 

- you look up a recipe for some heart shape cookies but it wouldn't be you if you didn't modify the recipe a bit so the cookies become chocolate chip and you have to use some food colouring to make them red 

- once the cookies are done baking you make some pink icing so you can write on the cookies for a bit of fun you write some really cute things on yours for joao and he sort of does the same some of his say cute things but others say stupid things 

- your evening consists of eating cookies and cuddling on the sofa as that's all either of you wanted to do 

- right before bed you both exchange cards as you had agreed not to get each other any presents as neither of you need or want anything 

- the card Joao gave you was so sweet he had clearly spent a while thinking about what to write which means a lot to you as he's often really busy so for him to spend his free time writing something for you really makes you happy 

[diagnosedpsychosis]

FALLING ASLEEP AT WORK

I just wanted to thank every one for the love I'm receiving for my other little imagines, and to let you all know that if you have anything you want me to write (character or prompt, or both) just let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Description: You had a crappy morning and are clearly struggling to stay awake. Aaron offers the two seater couch in his office to you.

Word Count: 2.7k

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You absolutely hated wearing your glasses. You despised them to no end, and in a perfect world they'd never of been created. You hated wearing them. The way they dug into the bridge of your nose. The fact they'd slip every 30 or so seconds so you'd have to readjust them. How if you pushed them up, the second you'd try to take them off they'd tangle in your hair and create a small knot you couldn't detangle until later that night. The way that the lens was so powerful that whilst it gave you perfect vision, it also elicited a powerful headache.

You loved how they looked, but far out did you hate how they felt.

Today wasn't a good day for you, in fact you couldn't even remember your last good day, but today trumped all your other bad ones. You'd woken up to the night-time construction work happening on your street at 3 in the morning. When you finally managed to get back to sleep an hour and a half later, it turns out some of the tradesmen out front had accidentally hit a water pipe and it blew up out of the ground and into the air. So not only were you now awake at 4:30 am, but you were also getting drenched as everyone in your building was evacuated out, instead of staying inside, away from the burst.

Everything had been cleared rather quickly and soon enough everyone was filing back into the building at 5 in the morning. You had an hour and a half until you had to get up and get ready for work, but this mornings events left you wide awake and unable to sleep despite how desperately you craved it.

So you decided to have an actual shower. You got undressed, took all your jewellery off, stepped under the shower head, pulled the tap and...no water came out. You spent five minutes trying everything in your power to get it working when the memories of this morning hit you and you realised the construction workers had hit the main water source.

You were frustrated, tired, naked and on the verge of tears not because you were actually upset, but because you were so overwhelmed. You had been so tired the night before and were so excited to sleep the night away, but the day had other plans for you and now you felt partially blind, struggling not to fall asleep standing up every time you blinked and your eyes lingered closed for a couple seconds longer than usual.

It was too late to get anymore sleep in before work, so wanting to at least fix one issue you walked back into your room, threw on a nightie and grabbed your contact lens case from your bed side. Walking back into your bathroom you opened the little container, your hand beside it on the sink as you bent to grab the saline solution from the cabinet, but as you went to stand back up your hand slipped and a second later you heard a plop sound come from the toilet.

You stood, frozen in time and just shut your eyes. Breathing in and out slowly you imagined all the things that could've possibly fallen in the toilet. You could just buy a new toothbrush if that's what fell in. A new roll of floss was only a couple bucks. You thought of everything that wasn't exactly what you knew it was, purely just cause you couldn't have a worse morning.

But then you opened your eyes, found your open eye contact container floating upside down in the toilet and stormed back into your room to scream into your pillow that held mascara stains.

That was how you found yourself walking into the Quantico building, with the old black framed glasses you'd stopped wearing a year or so ago perched on the bridge of your nose.

"Hey gorgeo- Whoa" Derek's hands flew straight up in the air in defence, cutting himself off mid greeting as your exhausted eyes snapped to him. You didn't look scary whoa, or ugly whoa, you looked 'I haven't slept in years and my slightly red eyes are begging you to knock me out so I can sleep for an eternity' whoa.

"Morning" You grumbled, unable to even offer Derek a grateful smile as he slowly passes you the same coffee he brings in for you every morning. You two stop at the elevator, your tired eyes staring at the metal doors, and Derek's watching and worrying about you as you slightly sway back and forth.

"You look rough. Bad night?" Rough? Bad night? You felt like hell and that was underexaggerating it.

"Stupid construction woke me up, hit a main water pipe, evacuated my apartment building, left me showerless and then stupid me knocked my contact lenses into the toilet" Derek sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth, reaching out and rubbing your back for you, trying to relieve some tension. You arched away from him, and caught his frown in the elevator door, offended you flinched away from his touch.

"If you keep rubbing my back I'll fall asleep on the spot" You mumbled, barely having the energy to even speak.

"You're not going to be productive if you're fighting to keep yourself from falling asleep all day. Just go home" Derek hoped he didn't sound rude and dismissive, and thankfully relief flooded his body as you looked up and offered him a lazy smile.

"I love how concerned you are about me, but I can't go home."

"Why not?" Derek asked, frowning. It was either just go home now or get up to the sixth floor, struggle and then have Hotch tell you to take the rest of the day off, neither of which you wanted. You loved your job, you wanted to be there more than anything, but...maybe a power nap isn't such a bad idea.

"Cause then I'll be letting the team down" Derek laughed, the elevator doors opening as he slung his arm over your shoulders and practically dragged you out.

"No you won't. You look like hell, every one will understand" You squinted your eyes up at Derek as you glared at him.

"So much for calling me gorgeous" You grumbled, Derek pushing on the bullpen door and shoving you in first before following after. He used his arm around your neck to pull your head toward him, before planting a kiss to your cheek.

"Y/n, you're absolutely breath taking, but you also look like hell" You huffed, glaring at Derek before pulling his arm off of you and taking a seat at your desk. You had barely been sitting for 5 seconds before Emily stopped in front of your desk.

"I haven't seen those frames in ages. What's it been, a year?" She asked, her loud voice gaining Spencer and JJ's attention, the latter standing to join Emily at your desk.

"I hate 'em" You grumbled, glancing up at the two girls before looking back down at your desk. Emily and JJ frowned, glancing at each other, wondering what was wrong, but all questions were answered as Derek swung around in his desk chair grinning.

"She flushed her contacts down the toilet" You sucked in a deep breath, side eyeing the direction Derek's voice came from before unpacking your bag, pulling case file after case file out, and neatly stacking them on your desk.

"Usually the nerdy teen in a high school rom com takes off her glasses and puts contacts in, but here you are, choosing not to conform. Good for you" Emily teased as you looked up at her, ignoring JJ and Derek's snickers.

"I love you Em, but I'm moody and running on about 2 and a half hours of sleep" Her mouth formed an 'o' shape as she held her hands up in defence and backed away slowly.

"Drift, caught" She said before turning and heading back to her desk. You sighed to yourself, turning back to face your desk properly. You noticed in the corner of your eye Spencer leaning forward in his seat.

"Are you alright, y/n?" You looked up and toward Spencer, offering him a tiny, appreciative smile as you slowly nodded your head.

"I'm alright, thank you Spence. Just a lot of night time construction going on lately. It's keeping me up" Spencer nodded his head once before sitting back in his seat and looking down at the case file open in front of him. Slowly, you sunk back into work, despite the overwhelming exhaustion consuming you. Spencer's silence lasted seconds.

"I know I live a little further out of the city-" Spencer began, sitting forward again and easily gaining your attention, "but if it gets really bad you can always stay on my fold out couch."

You couldn't fight the smile on your face as you stared at the genuinely caring and compassionate kid in front of you. Spencer had always felt like a baby brother to you, but he had the protectiveness of an older brother.

"I might just have to take you up on that offer" Spencer smiles before getting back to work and losing himself in his own mind instantly. You look away from him before half swinging around in your chair and looking in Derek's direction. Derek feels your eyes on him and looks up, frowning as you point at Spencer, mouthing 'real friend'. He rolls his eyes, a playful smile on his face as he shakes his head and gets back to work.

For at least 3 hours you manage to keep yourself awake. Cup of coffee after cup of coffee, after energy drink, after standing in front of the freezer in the kitchen, make you think you've finally got used to being awake. But then people start leaving at around 11:30, starting lunch breaks and you start getting tired again purely at the thought of eating and doing nothing.

Hotch glances out his window, looking into the bullpen when his eyes catch you frowning at your desk. From where he is it looks like you're stuck on whatever you're working on, when in reality you'd blinked but were yet to open your eyes. Noticing most of the others aren't in the bullpen to help, he stands up and makes his way out of his office.

"Y/n?" He calls from the top of the stairs, his usual frown deepening as you don't answer. He notices you don't have headphones on and wonders if maybe you're just lost in your head, too focused to even hear him. But then he walks down the steps, getting closer, and notices the slow rise and fall of your chest.

Hotch had heard about your morning, after all, it was hard to not hear the booming voices of your team as they all spoke too loud for such an early hour in the morning. So when he stepped even closer, and noticed the faint exhale every time your chest fell, he wasn't surprised to realise you were asleep.

Despite the fact you were at work where you were supposed to be busy 24/7, Hotch wanted you to sleep. He had every intention to slowly back away and return back to his office, but you looked so uncomfortable. Your head was almost completely tilted down, chin on your chest as your shoulders hunched over. You would be beyond sore when you woke up, and Hotch didn't want that for you either. So slowly he stepped closer before crouching down in front of you.

"Y/n?" He spoke softly, placing one large hand on your knee, and the other on the chairs arm rest. You stirred but didn't wake up, instead letting out a heavy exhale as you further sunk into the seat. Hotch patted your knee with a little bit more force, using his hand on the arm rest to lightly shake the spinning seat.

Slowly, you opened your eyes, the same frown you'd worn all day glued to your face as you looked up before back down, your eyes widening when you realised who was crouched down at your knees. You immediately sat up straighter, and a little more awake as you cleared your throat, immediately starting to apologise.

"Oh god, Hotch. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" He quickly cut off your rambling with one single amused raised eyebrow. You sputtered on your words, tilting your head slightly in confusion as you stared at the slight smile playing on his lips.

"You're going to give yourself a hunch back if you continue to sleep sitting up" Your hardened expression slowly softened, a light laugh passing by your lips as you raised your hands to rub your eyes.

"I know, I'm sorry. I was doing so good" You scolded yourself, disappointed you'd fallen asleep and your boss was the one to find you, out of everyone.

"For someone running on two and a half hours of sleep, you've done good" You sighed, keeping your hands to your eyes to block out the light.

"You heard about that?" You ask, spreading your index and middle fingers apart to peak out at Hotch. He nodded, his smile still small and soft as he stared up from you, not having yet moved from below you.

"Voices travel" Hotch replied.

"Sorry" You mumbled apologetically, eyes following Hotch as he used your knee to push himself up, going back to his naturally towering height.

"Make it up to me by moving to the couch in my office?" He asked, using his foot to spin you and your chair out from under your desk. You snorted, leaning back in your seat and crossing your arms over your chest.

"Sounds more like a win for me" You stated, Aaron shrugging as he stuffed his hands in his pant pockets, his gaze unwavering, locked on you.

"You get to sleep, I get my smart, refreshed agent back. It's a win win" You absolutely loved the sound of a nice couch nap, and in Hotch's office of all places.

"Really?" You asked, Hotch slowly blinking before nodding and offering you a smile.

"Mhmm" With a dramatic huff, you stood like you were being forced to do what he said, when really you could kiss him for the suggestion.

"Well... only cause you won't shut up. I've never met a man that begs so much" You pushed your chair in, following Hotch up to his office.

"I don't know if that's what I'd call begging-"

"It is" You quickly cut him off, your grin widening as he glanced back at you over his shoulder, with his smile still present. You stepped inside his office, immediately making a b-line for the couch under the window that lead outside.

"You can close the blind if you want" Hotch pointed at the open blind behind you as he closed the door to his office, grabbing a coat off the back before making his way toward you.

"It's not going to make it harder to see for you?" You asked, wanting to make sure he was 100% okay with it. He snorted, stopping in front of you and holding the coat out, waiting for you to take it.

"I think I'll live, y/n" You took the coat with an appreciative smile, watching him turn around and walk behind his desk, before you closed the blind. You put your arms through the coats sleeves, the back of it against your chest like a blanket. You went to lay down but quickly looked to Hotch.

"You're sure this is fine with-"

"Yes....the company is nice" Hotch replied softly, now sat behind his desk, flicking through a case file. The corners of your mouth slowly spread into a genuine smile.

"Even mine?" You asked, watching Hotch as he looked up and away from his work, his eyes latching onto yours.

"Especially yours" You bit back a tired grin, turning away from Hotch to hide the blush quickly rising to your cheeks. You laid down, bringing your knees to your chest as you snuggled into the large coat Hotch had grabbed off the back of his door for you. You felt your eyes grow heavy, but just before you let sleep overcome you, Hotch spoke again.

"Just don't snore" You laughed, shaking your head lightly.

"No promises."

[rauchendesgnu]

"Would you like a seat?" Gerry asks over his shoulder as Sam follows him deeper into the apartment. "Only if it isn't a bother," Sam says despite the throbbing in his hip. "Oh, it's no problem at all. Let me just--" The young goth rushes ahead into some sort of studio, clearly expecting Sam to follow. Every spot in the room is either occupied with a painting, or painted on, or splattered, or filled with utensils, tools, and other stuff that is necessary for art. Gerry sweeps a pile of pencil sketches from a chair and offers it to Sam, who sits gratefully, eyes still wandering over the atelier in overwhelmed amazement. "I can make some tea?" Gerry offers. "Oh," Sam says with an awkward smile. "I'm more one for coffee." "Do you mind if I make one for myself, then?" "No, go ahead." The sounds of an electric kettle being filled and switched on reaches Sam, whose eyes fall onto the sketches. He leans a bit closer to get a better look. It's not very polite, to go snooping into the drawings of a potential friend, but he can't help himself. He's always been so damn curious. The first sketch shows a short, thin man with dark hair that is starting to go grey despite his young but tired face. His brown skin is covered in scars and his eyes are glowing. Sam blinks, and for a second he feels like the drawing blinks back at him. He quickly moves the sketch to the bottom of the stack and shakes his head. It's the sleep deprivation. He's not starting to see movement in traditional sketches. The next few sketches show the same man, over and over again, eyes blazing, mouth set in a thin line, exhaustion weighing down a face that could once have been called handsome. He's not the only one, though. There's a second man, tall and broad, with red hair and a dusting of freckles on his nose and cheeks. He's barely recognisable in the fog that surrounds him that gets thicker with every new sketch Sam discovers. The last one is that of a man who wouldn't have looked out of place in Pride and Prejudice (as written by Cassandra Austen), with a neatly pressed collar and a cravat, as well as jewellery in the form of eyes. His grey eyes are intense, piercing Sam through the page. Sam is about to put the sketches back when a piece of paper slips, and his heart stops. The woman on the paper is a detailed pencil drawing of Celia. It's almost scary how perfect that sketch catches her likeness. Surely Gerry would have needed more than one look at her to draw her so realistically? Sam fights the wave of jealousy that wants to overtake him. It's none of his business who Celia meets in her free time. There is only that one sketch of her, and as Sam finds the last page, he's a bit disappointed to discover that there is just two sentences scribbled in nearly illegible handwriting.

The maze is sharp on my mind. The angles cut me when I try to think.

They are underlined with so much force that the pencil nearly broke through the paper. In the kitchen, the kettle turns off, and Sam quickly places the pages back in order. "Gerry," he says when his host returns, mug of tea in hand, "who are these people you sketched?" Gerry glances over his shoulder, then shrugs. "Now that you say it...I have no idea. These are from a while ago. Why, did I accidentally draw someone you know?" He says it with a smile, like it's a joke between artists. Did I accidentally draw you? Sam's gaze drifts back over the man with the glowing eyes. "I don't know," he says softly. "I don't know."

[helloalycia]

the Clarks [five] // alicia clark

summary: you go on a supply run with Alicia and things don't go to plan, leaving her extremely pissed off at you. It takes a reality check for you to understand why.

warning/s: mentions of the dead, injuries, weapons and violence.

author���s note: and this is the final part! such a fun one to write and i do hope the person who requested it liked it! kinda went overboard but you all know the drill with me by now 😂

one / two / three / four / masterlist / wattpad

After being busied by chores and odd jobs around the stadium and then eating lunch, it was soon time to go on the supply run with the others. Alicia and I met the other two residents by the truck out front and we all made sure we were armed before heading out.

"This strip mall we're heading to should be clear enough, but we haven't had a team check it out in a while, so everyone be on high alert," Alicia warned everyone on the drive over. "Only go after the essentials, if there's any left. Ideally, some more clothes and shoes – stuff like that."

Everybody agreed, a focus in mind, and it was silent the rest of the way. Eventually, we arrived at the abandoned strip mall and Alicia pulled up, the four of us splitting into twos. They took to one side as Alicia and I took to the other.

Unfortunately for me, my thoughts were still on Rick and Alicia earlier, their flirting engraved in my mind and my jealousy still in full throttle. I couldn't help but bring it up.

"So, Madison and I were talking about the new residents earlier," I started, trying to make it sound natural. "Lots of good people joining us, don't you think?"

Alicia hummed as she kept her eyes peeled. "Sure is. It's amazing how big our little community has become."

I nodded in agreement, my grip on my knife tightening. "Yeah. New girl Sally is pretty friendly. Her kid's cute, too."

"Aw, yeah, he's adorable!" Alicia agreed with a smile.

"Yeah... there's Rick, too. What do–" I cleared my throat nervously. "What d'you think of him?"

She thought to herself, distracted by looking into the shop windows. "He's nice enough, I suppose. A bit too flirty for my liking, but nice. Definitely skilled with a knife."

What did that mean? She didn't like his flirty-ness? She did? God's sake, I needed more than that.

"Why? Did he say something?" she asked with confusion, glancing over at me.

I perked up, meeting her confused eyes. "What? No, no. Just wondering. I, er, thought the same."

She began to smile, unsure what I was doing, but nodded. "Right... weirdo."

Thankfully, she got distracted by a small thrift store and nudged me to follow her, and the conversation was dropped. There was lots of options to pick from, since it wasn't looted to the bare bones like other stores were, so we gathered what we could and loaded the truck.

Between that and the few others store, we managed to gather quite a few supplies, odd assortments of things but all that would benefit the stadium in the long run. As we were heading back to the truck, Alicia slowed down to look in the window display of a jewellery store. It looked pretty banged up on the inside, no doubt one of the first places to be looted back when the outbreak began, but Alicia was still intrigued.

"There's probably nothing worthwhile in there," I told her, but she was still up close to the glass, smiling at the rings on display.

"It's still pretty to look at," she pointed out lightheartedly, shooting me a smile before returning her attention to the rings.

Something about how excited she was for the moment made me smile to myself and I couldn't just leave it like this. She clearly wanted it.

"Then what are we waiting for?" I suddenly said, straightening up and going to the door.

There was a couch blocking the doorway, clearly put there by whoever had been here last, but it wasn't going to stop me. I began to lean against it in an attempt to push it out the way.

"Y/N, what are you–? Stop it, what if there's someone in there?" she followed after me, half scolding me and half worried.

"Only one way to find out," I said with a shrug, before finding enough strength to shove the couch forward, and it hit the tiled floor with a loud bang.

"Y/N," Alicia groaned at all the noise, but I ignored her and stepped over the couch to let myself in, before yanking open the other door so she wouldn't have to.

"After you," I said playfully, stepping to the side.

She fixed me with a disapproving stare but walked in, looking around. It was ransacked in there, as expected, but there were a few pieces of jewellery still on the shelves. We took a look around, Alicia warming up once she studied the displays. I could have watched her all day, the beautiful smile on her lips that matched the dazzle in her eyes. Seeing her happy was my favourite thing, as lame as it sounded.

"Okay, maybe you weren't that stupid to come in here," she admitted as we looked around.

"Let's not forget why we came here in the first place," I said with a smile, before leading her to the display window. "This one, right?"

I pulled out the ring from the display, a simple silver band with a gemstone embedded within the the metal. Holding it out to her, I tried to put it on her finger, but it was huge and would have fallen right off if I didn't catch it.

"Well, that was short lived," she said with a sigh, before trying not to laugh as she met my eyes. "Thanks anyway, Y/N. It was a sweet thought."

Unimpressed, I shook my head. "No way. That can't be it." I looked around, before my eyes fell to the stock room in the back. "Aha! There's gotta be more stuff back there. Let me have a look."

"Y/N.”

"Just give me a sec," I told her, before taking the ring with me and heading to the door.

Luckily, it was unlocked and I was able to walk right into a small closet-sized space that had an old, wooden shelf against one wall, full of stock.

"Alicia, I might need you to help me because there's a–" I began to call to her, but I was cut off by intense snarling from my right, and then something grabbed me.

I let out a yelp when I realised it was an infected man, the limited light from the front of the store shining through the door and letting me see his horrendous face. He must have been hiding behind a shelf, too late for me to see, and I struggled against him in the small space.

"Y/N!" I heard Alicia call, but I couldn't reply because if I moved my attention away for even a second, I was sure I'd get bitten.

He was so close to me – hot breath and rancid smell blinding me and burning my nose – that I couldn't find an opening to stab him with the knife in my hand. As I took a swing, he toppled right into me, knocking me backwards and to the floor with a thud. My head took the brunt of it, dazing me momentarily, but the snapping face coming at mine brought me back to reality and I just about managed to grab my knife again, stabbing him in the head before he could do any damage.

A second passed and his snarling ceased and I sighed with relief, feeling dizzy in the head. That's when I heard the creaking coming from my feet, and when I shoved the infected off my body, it was too late. The shelf against the wall suddenly toppled over, everything falling off and hitting the floor around me before the heavy shelf itself landed right on my leg, making me scream at the impact.

"No, no, no, no," Alicia suddenly appeared, taking in the scene, before scrambling for her radio and calling the others. "Guys, I need you at the jewellery store now! Y/N's hurt."

I forced myself to sit up, wincing at the shelf that was trapping my leg, and didn't move another muscle because it was too painful.

"You're such an idiot!" Alicia shouted at me, before kneeling down to grab the shelf. "I told you not to come here!"

As she attempted to lift it, I let out another shout of pain because she wasn't strong enough by herself and it was only making it worse. My leg was definitely broken and I wanted to throw up at how strong the pain was, but I forced my eyes shut and tried to push it away.

"You're so fucking stupid!" she continued to curse me out, but the worry in her voice was obvious. "I told you there'd be infected here!"

As much as I loved a good grilling, my head was still throbbing from before and I was still feeling dizzy, leaning on my arm to steady myself in the spinning room.

Finally, the others turned up and, between the three of them, they managed to lift the shelf up long enough for me to crawl out of it. My leg was definitely fucked though.

Alicia rushed to my side to help me stand, but I was nauseous as soon as I did and couldn't say anything for fear I'd throw up there and then.

"You didn't get bitten, right?" she asked, panicked and checking my face and neck.

I shook my head slowly, leaning my weight against her. "I think I'm gonna pass out, Alicia..."

"Help me get her to the truck," Alicia ordered the others.

After making it back to the truck, just about, we drove back to the stadium speedily, each slight bump making my stomach turn and head throb. Before I knew it, I was in the medbay back at the stadium, being sat upright on a bed and struggling to ease the dizziness.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Nick asked a nurse we had.

A bright light was shone in both my eyes, irritating me, and then the nurse replied, "She's got a mild concussion. Possibly a broken leg. But she'll live."

Nick grabbed my hand and squeezed it gently, and then my moment of peace was ruined when Alicia burst through the door with Madison in tow.

"You fucking fool!" Alicia suddenly snapped at me, glaring ferociously. "You could have died! And for what?! A fucking ring?!"

I winced at every word, her words ringing in my ear.

"She's concussed, Alicia," Nick told her sternly. "You're not helping!"

Alicia clenched her jaw, eyes full of tears, and after glaring at me once more, she left the room, slamming the door behind her. I jumped at the sound, surprised at how angry she was at me. Nick gave me a disapproving look but said nothing, and all I kept thinking was how badly I'd messed up.

After being checked out by the nurse fully and having some medication, I fell asleep with a broken but bandaged leg that I couldn't put weight on for a while. I woke up to Nick by my side, who immediately gave me some water and helped me sit upright.

The look he was giving me wasn't easy to ignore, so after downing my pills, I returned his stare.

"What?"

He blinked. "Y/N, what happened out there? Alicia is pissed."

I sighed, Alicia's angry expression imprinted in my mind. "We were at a jewellery store and I went in the back. There was an infected I didn't see, that's all. It got out of hand, but I handled it."

"Handled it?" he asked with exasperation. "You broke your leg and got a concussion!"

"Only a mild concussion," I corrected, before adding, "and I'm alive, aren't I?"

He shook his head, annoyed. "You have to be careful, you idiot. Your life isn't worth some stupid jewellery. Why were you even in there? We don't need that stuff here."

Feeling bad for worrying him, I said, "Alicia wanted to look and I just– I thought it would be nice, y'know? Make things feel a little normal again."

He sighed, his head in his hands. I frowned slightly, the guilt sinking in.

"Is she still mad? I asked, hoping she'd have cooled off by now.

"Uh-huh."

I chewed on my lip nervously, wondering how I'd get her to forgive me. Nick left to go and get Madison, who wanted to be called in when I'd woken up, and I hoped Alicia would stop by, too. But the blonde turned up alone.

"Madison," I breathed out, still happy to see her, even though she didn't look impressed.

"I'll save you the lecture," she began, taking my hand in hers, "but it was pretty stupid."

"I know," I agreed tiredly. "I'm sorry."

To my relief, she really did save me the lecture, instead squeezing my hand comfortingly.

"Is, er, is Alicia coming?" I asked lamely. "I wanted to apologise to her."

Madison smiled apologetically. "Maybe not so soon, hon. She's really angry."

"Right. I guess that's fair."

I had hoped to see Alicia over the next day when I was kept in the medbay, expecting her to at least visit me, even if it was just to shout at me, but she didn't. It stung a little, but I also felt horrible knowing that I'd pissed her off this much.

When I was finally allowed to leave, with the aid of some crutches, the first place I headed was to Alicia's quarters to pay her a visit. I knocked on nervously, anticipating what could happen, and then the door opened to reveal the Clark girl.

"Hey, remember me?" I joked, hoping to lighten the mood, and she simply rolled her eyes, about to close the door in my face.

"Wait!" I said, sticking my crutch in the way, and she stopped.

"What?" she snapped, green eyes darkened with fury.

Losing my humour, I met her eyes. "You didn't visit me."

"If I did, I would have strangled you."

Licking my lips at the awkwardness, I said, "Alicia, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you. But I thought you'd at least–"

I went quiet. Well, I thought she'd at least visit. She'd never been this mad before, not at me and not for something so minor. And the longer I fell quiet, the more her jaw clenched and she stared daggers into my eyes.

"Can we please just forget it happened?" I asked instead. "Move on?"

Without another second wasted, she said, "Whatever," then closed the door in my face.

I stared at it in awe, stunned at her behaviour. How could she still be mad at me, even after apologising?

Unsure what else to do, I left her place to go and sulk in the stadium's stands which were empty. What else could I possibly do for Alicia to forgive me? I understood I worried her, but I literally apologised and I was okay! She'd never been so mad at me before...

As I got lost in thoughts of the green-eyed girl, sulking and thinking and wondering what I could do, I almost missed Madison finding me and joining my side.

"You seen Alicia?" she asked, knowing I was going to talk to her daughter earlier. "How'd it go?"

I shook my head, still surprised at what occurred. "Not good at all. She's still so angry and I just– I don't understand why! It was an accident, Madison, and I apologised!"

Madison glanced at me from the seat beside me, quirking a brow, and I was even more confused.

"What?" I asked. What had I missed?

She sighed heavily, earning my attention, and looked me in the eyes. "Y/N, hon, I'm saying this with love," she started, "but you're so blind to what's in front of you."

Blind, and apparently lost too since I had no idea what she was talking about. She must have noticed, as she rolled her eyes with impatience.

"Alicia cares about you," she said in a knowing tone.

"I know that."

Closing her eyes with pursed lips, she waited a moment before clarifying, "No. She's in love with you, Y/N. She's been in love with you since you were kids. Of course she's angry, but she's mostly hurt. You almost died over something so stupid! Why else would she be like this?"

My jaw dropped as I stammered to find words. "What? She– what– how do you know that?"

Alicia being in love with me? There was no way that could be true. I refused to believe it.

"I know my daughter, very well," she said like it was obvious, before resting a hand on my knee. "And I know you, too. You feel the same, Y/N."

Immediately growing flustered, I avoided her eyes. She knew? How the hell did she know? I was certain I'd hidden it well. I couldn't have hidden it better!

Oh, God, she knew I was in love with her daughter.

"Hey, don't be embarrassed," she suddenly said with a quiet laugh, "it's okay!"

Horrified, I swallowed hard, knowing my face felt as hot as the sun right now. What did I even respond to that?

"I did think you'd have said something to her by now," Madison added. "It's a lot, I know. But, maybe, it's time you came clean and reassured her. Because, quite frankly, I'm sick of watching you both not do anything about it."

If Madison was right about me being in love with Alicia, then surely she was right about Alicia being in love with me? And if that were true, then... holy shit. I guess it made sense why Alicia was so angry at me – or upset, I now realised.

I couldn't find words, not when the confession was shocking me to the core, so I simply nodded slowly in response. At least Madison seemed to be okay with it, the whole me liking her daughter thing.

"You're gonna be fine," she assured me with a small smile, before squeezing my knee and getting up. "I'll leave you to it. Remember to rest your leg, Y/N."

It took me a while to accept the fact that maybe Madison had been right, myself reliving every interaction I'd ever had with Alicia since I met her, overanalysing and trying to gauge whether she may have cared about me like I did her. Two days to be exact, in which Alicia avoided me completely.

When I finally decided enough was enough, I went straight over to visit Alicia with the hope of finding enough courage to either tell her how I felt or get it out of her first. Clearly I was too scared to tell her myself all these years, so I wasn't too convinced it would go to plan.

I found her at her quarters again, an old dugout converted into a room for her, and knocked on as confidently as I could muster. As soon as she opened the door, her expression hardened and she narrowed her eyes at me.

"I just wanna talk," I said before she could think to close the door on me.

"About what exactly?" she asked, her anger still as fresh as it was from two days ago. "About how idiotic you were trying to get a ring?"

Remaining calm, I said, "I just wanted to get it for you, Alicia. Give you a sense of normalcy again and–"

"I didn't ask you to do that!" she exclaimed, before scoffing at me angrily and walking further into her room.

Reluctantly, I stepped inside and tried to defend myself. "I know you didn't, but I wanted to! You seemed to like the display and I thought–"

"I don't give a fuck about a ring!" she shouted, glaring at me, and this time her hurt was present. "It wasn't worth dying over! I care if you're fucking alive! That you're safe!"

The guilt returning yet again, I nodded in understanding. "You're right. I get it. I'm sorry, Alicia."

"No, you don't get it," she retorted, frustration being replaced with worry. "D'you know how– how scary it was watching you back there? Hearing you scream and then seeing you– fuck! Seeing you look so– so fragile? And now look at you! Walking on fucking crutches!"

I chose to stay quiet as she continued to rant, my guilt deepening as she spoke her fears aloud.

"You can be so careless sometimes!" she added, a frown on her lips and glassy eyes darting between mine. "Though, I suppose that's why you're Nick's friend, right? He does the same fucking thing!"

"I won't do it again," I promised her. "I'll think next time."

"Yeah, I hope so," she said bitterly, crossing her arms.

I watched her closely, searching for a semblance of what I hoped to find. "I didn't think you cared so much."

My nerves were creeping in and I so desperately hoped she'd admit her feelings first, so I wouldn't have to.

She looked at me, face flushing shyly before looking away and playing it cool. "Of course I do. You're family. And Nick's best friend."

I waited momentarily, wanting her to say it, but she didn't. And I foolishly couldn't. I was too scared to put myself out there, even after all this time.

Unable to hide my frown, I nodded. "That it?"

She met my gaze, confused. "What else?"

Now it was my turn to grow shy and embarrassed, and I looked away, feeling a little humiliated. It wasn't Alicia's fault at all – she couldn't help how I felt. And maybe Madison had gotten it wrong.

Changing the subject, I shook my head. "Never mind. Sorry again."

I turned to leave, feeling her eyes bore a hole in my back, and somehow I knew that when I walked out of this door, there would never be another chance to tell her how I felt. After all this time, even if she didn't feel the same, maybe I should have finally come clean like Madison said. If I did and we could get over it, maybe I could finally move on?

"Actually no," I said, suddenly feeling an adrenaline rush as I turned around to face her. "I'm not sorry."

She quirked a brow. "Excuse me?"

I sucked up a breath and held her gaze, despite a part of me wanting to leave and never speak again. "I'm not sorry. Not for trying to get that ring. For worrying you, yes, but not the ring."

"Wow, thanks," she said sarcastically, but I didn't let it get to me.

"You wanted that ring," I reminded her. "You looked in that store window and you saw something normal and I wanted to give it to you. I'm not sorry about that. I went in there for you and, yes, you didn't ask me to, Alicia, but you didn't need to. I wanted to! To make you happy, I would do anything. I thought you knew that by now, but maybe I didn't make it clear enough."

Her expression softened as her eyes widened slightly. "What are you saying?"

Now or never, right?

"I'm in love with you, Alicia," I stated with all the confidence left in me. "I have been, since we were kids and since I was old enough to know what love is. And I've been terrified to admit it aloud, especially to you, but I can't keep it to myself anymore. I didn't mean to worry your or upset you or make you so angry, you have to know that."

She didn't say anything as she seemed to digest my confession, and the longer she stared at me without any indication to how she was feeling, the more stupid I felt.

"I can get over it," I told her with a small smile, avoiding her eyes. "You don't need to take this on or anything. I just– I had to tell you. If I've made you uncomfortable, I'm sorry and you have every right to stop talking to me."

"No, just–" she started, and I held my breath as she struggled to speak. "You're in love with me?"

"...Yes."

"I'm in love with you," she admitted, and I could have sworn I misheard until she repeated, "I'm in love with you, too."

"You're in love with me."

"I am," she said softly. "Why didn't you– why didn't you say anything all this time?"

I raised my brows. "Me? Why didn't you?"

She scoffed. "Seriously? I'm your best friend's little sister. How was I supposed to?"

"Exactly," I agreed. "You're my best friend's little sister. How was I supposed to?"

Her eyes flickered between mine. "Like you did just now."

My heart was thumping so loudly I was surprised she couldn't hear it in the quiet of her room. Now what?

"I care about you a lot because I'm in love with you," she said, stepping forward and shakily lifting her hand to cup my cheek. "I don't want you doing stupid stuff that could get you killed. Especially not for me."

"If I had known it was dangerous, I wouldn't have gone in," I told her seriously. "I promised you I wouldn't leave you. I meant it."

She tensed her jaw as she lowered her hand, resting it on my shoulder. "I'm sorry I got so angry and upset. I shouldn't have reacted like that, especially after you got hurt. I just– seeing you like that and knowing it could have been worse, it just– It was frustrating. And I didn't know how to express that, not without revealing how I felt about you."

"Yeah, I kinda thought I fucked everything up when you didn't stop by for a visit," I said, in an attempt to lighten the mood, and it seemed to work as she cracked a small smile.

"I should have visited," she said apologetically. "And I should have told you how I felt."

"Me too," I said gently.

She looked at her hand on my shoulder, avoiding my eyes, and I couldn't stop staring at her as she did. She felt the same way. How could that be possible? How had I missed it?

"Now what?" she murmured.

"Now..." I paused, making her eyes flicker to mine momentarily, hopefully. And, still on a high from being able to admit the truth, I asked, "Can I kiss you?"

She pressed her lips together, nodding slowly, and then I leaned in before I could stop myself, wrapping my crutch and arm around her waist to pull her even close. Her figure fit perfectly in my arms; her lips were as soft as I could have imagined; her fingers left goosebumps across my skin where she caressed my cheek. This was all I'd ever wanted, and now I finally had it.

We pulled apart for air and I was afraid that if I opened my eyes, she wouldn't be there and I'd have imagined it all.

"Y/N?"

I opened my eyes, only to be submerged in golden-green. "Yeah?"

"Thank you."

I lifted an eyebrow. "For?"

She didn't falter as she said, "For being here for me all this time. For not leaving. For keeping your promise."

I stroked her waist with my thumb subconsciously, eyes flickering all over her face, committing it to memory, and then a smile curled on my lips. "You don't know how much you've done for me, do you? We're even, Alicia."

She began to smile too, making butterflies blossom in my chest, and then just like that, she pressed her lips to mine and I was in heaven once more.

Looks like Madison was right after all.

[misseviehyde]

BYE BYE BOYFRIEND

You were kinda surprised at how well your Dad and your boyfriend Nate got on. Ever since Mom had left six years ago - you'd worried that your Dad was becoming a recluse, but he and Nate appeared to have discovered a natural chemistry that really brought the old man out of himself.

Your Dad was a rich successful CEO and he had always spoiled you and your Mom, until she ran away with one of his rivals and taken him for half his fortune. Now at last he seemed to have found a kindred spirit and be coming back to his old self.

Nate and your Dad began hanging out together - and soon you were even getting jealous that Nate was spending more time with your Dad than with you.

"Your Dad is the coolest, I feel so at home with him."

Then you noticed that Nate had a new watch... then a diamond bracelet. The jewellery looked kinda... feminine. It looked like the kind of thing your spoiled Mother always used to wear.

You began to suspect that something weird was going on. Your Dad seemed to enjoy spoiling Nate and he seemed to enjoy being spoiled. He became entitled and bratty. He began to expect to be treated kind of like a Princess.

Something weird began to happen. Nate began to lose weight and muscle. He even began to shrink. Around your Dad he became flirty and feminine. He looked kinda older and more mature. You were jealous of how good he began to look.

Nate's taste in clothing changed. He began to wear Dior and Chanel. Big belts and expensive white shirts... only they looked kind of like blouses.

Nate grew his hair longer and you began to notice your makeup was vanishing. He began to tan and shave his legs.

Then one day you woke up to find Nate getting dressed and putting on one of your skirts as if it were nothing unusual. He was exactly your size now... petite and feminine and as you noticed how smooth and perfect his body was you realised something else.

It had been months since you last had sex. As Nate pulled his panties and skirt into place you couldn't see any bulge.

The person who looked back at you looked like a woman. She looked like a bitch. Your eyes went to her chest and you realised she had tits. How had you not noticed before?

Nate got angry when you called him by his name. He said his name was Natalie now and she was your Dad's girlfriend.

You felt confused... it seemed wrong and yet so right.

Natalie was stunning. She looked so sophisticated and you were jealous of her pretty manicured nails and perfect feet. She was so much prettier and better than you.

When you saw Daddy that night and Natalie slid her arm into his, they looked like the perfect couple. Natalie laughed at your Dad's jokes and he clearly loved having her as his girl. She looked born to be his wife.

They got married a few months later and you were a bridesmaid. Natalie made some condescending comment about your dress and how you needed to find a man. By now it was hard to remember she had ever been your boyfriend. It was like reality had changed and Natalie had always been a woman.

You envied her. You envied how beautiful she was. She was perfect. The perfect wife and soon the perfect mother. As you watched her belly swell and she gave birth to a tiny perfect daughter... you somehow knew your inheritence was doomed.

Natalie was everything you could never be and you knew it...

[lexithwrites]

some headcanons for the ladies of the fandom, and no this isn't gonna follow canon, they're all a little gay at the least, so cry about it x

dorlene,,my loves, i feel like they met at a gig honestly, marlene is very tomboy/grunge and loves going by herself to bars and pubs where some local band is playing and she's a bit awkward on her own but once she has a drink and sees a pretty girl she's a lot more chill and confident

then she meets dorcas and she's fucked, so so fucked

dorcas is my goth queen, long black dress, buckled harness across her chest, sharp black nails, dark makeup and so much jewellery and marlene cant stop staring at her

she didnt think she liked goth chicks that much but FUCK this woman is a goddess, and shes tall,,,marlene is a sucker for taller women

shes so nervous trying to chat her up because dorcas' voice is like velvet, its so soothing and melodic and marlene thinks she might orgasm just from talking to her, and dorcas TOUCHES when she talks to you she's touching her arm and running a hand down her back and telling marlene she looks hot and marlene is so red

but they do exchange numbers and talk for days before marlene finally has the guts to ask her out and dorcas takes her to this restaurant and honestly they spend the entire night together walking around and talking and they go to marlene's and do makeout but nothing further, dorcas is also my demi queen and marlene is probably shaking with nerves lmao

also i feel like when marlene introduces her to the group they're all starstruck by dorcas too, dorcas is like the hottest woman they've all seen and dont know how marlene's nerdy ass pulled her but are so proud and happy

plus dorcas is the sweetest most gentle woman, she's so caring and attentive and pays so much attention to what someones saying to her, she remembers everything

also her and lily? besties, they're both into the same shows and they're both book lovers and talk for ages about fanfiction hehe

speaking of, my girl lily, she's basically walked out of the 70's and i love her for it

all flares and tie dye shirts, long, bright red hair and crazy bright makeup, her favourite colour is yellow and she loves flowers and summer and UGH okay

she loves 70's rock too, i feel like she kinda hides it a little but her and sirius bond over it very quickly

her entire apartment is very boho and there's lots of incense and candles and yes, shes a stoner, shes cool

very bisexual but basically only wants to date women as her experience with men (past a fling with james when they were teenagers) has been bad so she goes on a lot of dates with women to try something new and they didnt really work out past a few dates but she's hopeful

then one night she's getting drunk and a lil high with mary and she realises how pretty mary is, how soft her skin is, how fluffy her hair looks and suddenly they're really close and woah her lips are so plump and taste like strawberry wtf

i feel like her and mary hooked up once and got so nervous that they ruined their friendship that they didnt talk for a week until remus begged them too because he hates his two closest friends not speaking

when they do talk mary tells lily that she's had the biggest crush on her for so long but she didnt know how to say anything because lily had dated other people in that time and lily just feels her heart sore because oh,,,oh

mary is the sweetest girl, okay, she's precious and honestly its because of trauma and just her resilience to it thats kept her so loving and sweet, she deserves a fiery girlfriend like lily

mary has a big family and i'll stand by that, she has like four brothers and three sisters and she's the third eldest so she's taken care of them a lot too

she loves taking lily to her families home and introducing them to her girlfriend and honestly? they adore lily

she's cool and feisty and funny and she clearly makes mary very happy, but her older sisters do have a protective talk with her but they love her, they know she wouldn't hurt her

i feel like mary is a theatre girl too, she loves acting and directing and learning about sound and costume design, she's defo in the universty theatre department and lily is always coming in with a coffee and some lunch incase she forgets to eat, plus it makes mary blush when lily comes in because everyone stares at her

also in the theatre department is none other than xenophilius, a shy, whimsy guy who is dating probably the scariest yet coolest woman ever, miss pandora rosier

her and her brother were always into acting growing up and loved being in plays together, so they're defo in the department too

i feel like pandora loves making costumes and does the makeup for shows she isn't in and evan is a big sound design guy, so they're always backstage together as well as onstage

pandora is whismy goth, her and dorcas bonded over that when they first met in freshers, and she always smells of flowers and cigarettes from her brother

she also wears the TALLEST shoes ever because she's short, i love short panda

and xeno is the tallest lankiest mother fucker okay he's like barty height and so skinny, and he has a shock of white hair and heterochromia eyes and fiddles with his fingers a lot and pandora thinks he's adorable

they talk about true crime together and she reads his palm a lot and he does her tarot reading and its a beautiful, soft, loving relationship

but i feel like they're also a lil freaky,,,maybe some knife play here and there who knows, pandora is a wild card

her and dorcas became friends with the other girls through marlene and after that they're all insperable

they go shopping, smoke weed, hang out in the rosier's pool during the summer, its great

and marlene is the only driver so she takes them to the beach and down to brighton for the weekend so they can go to the gay bars together, its just great

i love my ladies, i hope this meal was filling