#and the authors note on the science behind it that wasn't able to be in the book is so cool!!

[teamchasezwrites]

Saved By The Mountain Man

Word Count: 21, 574

Characters: Drew McIntyre/OC

Genre: Smut

Tags: Explicit Sexual Content, Vaginal Sex, Oral Sex, Rimming, Spanking, Daddy Kink, Praise Kink, Overuse of Pet Names, Strangers to Lovers, Snowed In, Flirting About Murder, Slightly Insecure Plus Size Female Character

Summary: Melissa gets lost on a back country road looking for an address as a huge winter storm moves in. After crashing her car, a stranger rescues here and takes her back to his house.

Author's Note: Whew! I apologize for the absence. This story sucked all my creative juices from my body. I actually stayed up all night to finally push through and crank it out because for some reason my brain works better from 10pm to 6am. I also apologize for the 20K words... it wasn't supposed to be this long. You will see similarities between this and "Still of the Night". This story was born from that story as I had the stranger idea while writing it, but kept with the ex. This story is a complete stand alone. Enjoy!

Saved By The Mountain Man

“Come on,” Melissa whispered into the silence of the car as she trudged along a back mountain road. She was certain if she pulled a map out of her glove box the road wouldn’t even be marked. It seemed less of a road and more of a path cut amongst the trees.

Darkness was falling swiftly in the late December day. Though not officially winter yet, Snow Miser reached out and had a strangled hold on the entire state. Bitterly cold temps came before the Thanksgiving turkey was even thawed and continued to hang on. The weatherman said they were in for a brutal winter. Something about an Arctic blast.

“I’m moving to Florida,” Melissa muttered as she re-gripped her steering wheel. Her hands were placed at ten and two; a direct contrast to how she normally held the wheel. Her back was ramrod straight – something she will definitely be paying for later. God she wished she had one of those Jacuzzi type tubs. The one with the jets. The one deep enough to actually submerge her body instead of just teasing the tops of her thighs. That would feel glorious after a long day trapped in her car driving all over the county and the surrounding ones.

Her entire body was tense. Not only was the darkness falling fast but the snow was as well. A winter storm warning was in effect for the entire state. Depending on where you got your weather information, anywhere from a light dusting to twenty feet of snow was expected.

Thank God she was off tomorrow.

If she was ever able to finish her current shift.

The last patient on her route today as a home health care nurse was a seventy five year old man recovering from triple bypass. The incision wasn’t healing properly. Judging by the notes in the system from his normal nurse, the incision was as stubborn as the man.

“Probably because he won’t fucking take it easy.” The words of frustration slipped out into the silence of the car. The radio turned down because for some reason that meant she could see better… or something like that. She didn’t know the exact science behind the phenomenon but it worked.

Her whole job was finding tiny little houses on random back roads. A huge case of irony if there ever was one considering she was directionally impaired. Tell her to head north and she was liable to curl up in a ball on the floor. She needed more concrete instructions. Something a little more tangible. Turn left at the old Pizza Hut was more her jive. The universe like to play cruel tricks on her though because with this job, the stars always seemed to align to give her the most out in the boonies patients.

Either that or her boss hated her.

Either could be true and on any given day it was probably both.

Melissa blew out a breath. The windshield wipers worked to remove the snowflakes. Her headlights caught them falling as far as the illumination. Accumulation had already started. She could see the snowflakes attaching to the brush on either side of the road. Flurries blew across the road. Trees loomed on either side of her. Huge trunks with tall canopies. She was certain the road would be a beautiful drive in the summer with the trees full of leaves. Even in October with the fall foliage of rich warm colors on display. Right now it was bleak. The trees were ripped of their leaves leaving behind a skeleton like appearance. The underbrush grey and dead.

All she wanted was to finish up her last patient and go home. Home to where her pets were waiting for her. A ten year old tortie named Loki who was every bit mischievous as its namesake. Just last week he managed to knock the toilet paper off the holder and carry it into the living room where he proceeded to shred it.

Everywhere.

A full roll.

Two ply even!

She also had to basically baby proof the pantry because Loki would stick his paw under the accordion door and pull it open. Anything on the shelves in plastic wrapping – rice, beans, tortillas – was fair game. Trying to sweep up white rice on a white linoleum floor was pure hell. She was certain it was used as a torture mechanism in some far off country she couldn’t find on a map or even pronounce.

Then there was Thor. A five year old dachshund she adopted with her last boyfriend. She eventually kicked the boyfriend to the curb but kept the dog. After all, cruel and unusual punishment was still illegal in the United States and allowing the dog to go with Jason was both. Though if she had to dig one more sock out of his bed… He was the reason her pinky toe was currently pressing into the soft inside of her Sketcher slip-ons instead of encased in cotton. It’s not as if she hadn’t already forked out hundreds of dollars on an exorbitant vet bill to dig a sock out of an intestine. Least Loki only took bites out of tortillas and flung rice like he was at a wedding. He didn’t make her count socks and panic when the dryer decided to lose one.

That’s what she had waiting for her at home. A neurotic cat and a dog with a case of pica.

And her current book boyfriend.

Atlas.

God she wanted to crawl into his book, cast Isolde aside and take her place in the magical mythical kingdom. Atlas with his long dark hair and beard covered cheeks. Eyes of steel. Deep dark pools that commanded loyalty, demanded respect. A glint that showed he was willing to make a sacrifice to protect what was his. The tattoos covering his body telling a story; showing his past, his legacy. The black ink covering rippling muscles…

She wanted an hour alone with him. Hell she wanted an entire day so she could spend time tracing those intricate designs inked on his skin with her tongue. To feel his muscles quivering beneath her touch. To hear his breath catching.

“Fuck I need to get laid,” Melissa muttered. The lake to catch any fish for that particular aspect dried up months ago. Now she was left with her own devices. Literally. A well endowed dildo that felt particularly yummy but really failed to capture the pulsing warmth of a real cock and her trusty vibrator which never failed to do that trick but lacked any real meaning and intimacy.

She needed an Atlas.

Melissa sighed and brought her attention from her nonexistent sex life back to the road. The snow was still billowing down; accumulating at a much faster rate than the forecast predicted.

Naturally.

Where the hell was the turn to George’s driveway?

Melissa slowed. The light press of the brake pedal caused her car to wiggle on the slick road. She was shocked it was even paved. As it stood there were no lines or even reflectors. Her hands tightened on the wheel and the car steadied. She continued on; her eyes peeled. It was nothing but snow and trees. There was no break in the trees to signal a driveway. No mailbox. No red reflector staked in the ground to grab the headlights. No reflective green house number sign attached to a mailbox to help first responders pinpoint the right address.

A glance at the dash showed the clock already struck five. Quitting time. She should be in town by now heading toward her one bedroom apartment. Maybe even swinging through the Sonic drive thru. The stretch of her scrubs across her thighs told her to eat the salad and grilled chicken she meal prepped over the weekend for the week though. That was Sunday however. When she was feeling motivated to start eating healthier. Enough to meal prep a week of meals. To remove the clothes from her treadmill. Now that it was Wednesday her lip curled in disgust at the thought.

The water in her Stanley in the cup holder at her elbow tasted nothing like the Dr Pepper she wished it was. The tuna salad made with yogurt more than mayonnaise and served with spinach leaves and grapes she had for lunch tasted good, but not as good as a Sonic burger would taste. And tater tots. Milk shake.

Shit she was hungry.

The celery and carrots she had for a snack after the tuna didn’t come close to curbing her hunger. Tomorrow she was adding peanut butter. Peanut butter was a good source of protein. Least it added something to the vegetables so it wasn’t just bland.

Curbing the thought of food, Melissa reached into the cup holder for her phone. She lifted it up until she was able to hook her pinky and ring finger on the wheel and use the other fingers to hold the phone. The movement caused the screen to light up. A photo of her pets grabbed her as did the SOS in the top right corner where bars were supposed to be.

“Of course there’s no service,” Melissa grumbled and let the device drop back into the cup holder. No service meant no Google maps. No phone call back to the office. “Damnit,” she blew out a breath. She couldn’t even turn around. There was no drive to pull into and back out. The road wasn’t even wide enough for her to flip around. She could try but more than likely she’d end up recreating the cart scene from Austin Powers.

A glance in the rear view mirror showed complete darkness. No headlights coming up behind her. No distant illuminations on the horizon of the town lit up. No stars twinkling in the night sky. Not even the moon shown down. Her windshield offered much of the same. No porch light breaking through the snowfall to welcome her. Just complete and utter blackness. No sense of civility anywhere. It truly felt like she was alone.

Where was Atlas when she needed him?

Melissa continued on. By this time she’d given up looking for George’s drive. She just wanted to see any hint of civilian life. She’d even take a washed out dirt road leading to an old watch tower. Anything to be able to turn her car around and head back the way she came. Back toward at least a bar of service so she could pull Google maps up and find out where she was and the quickest way to get home.

A flick of her wrist had the wipers kicking up another notch as the snow continued to fall around her. She hated driving in the snow. Hated driving in the rain too. She really just hated driving period. She would love to be a passenger princess. Being able to sit in the passenger seat and not have to worry about directions and navigation. No anxiety about missing a turn or the exit or driving in an unfamiliar area. Just able to sit back and look at everything passing her by. Fingering the radio controls continuously searching for songs she could sing along with loudly and out of tune. Sunglasses on her face. The window rolled down. Arms raised and hips moving to the song on the radio.

Wind whistled as it rushed by her car. The trees offered a make shift tunnel allowing the wind to be harsher. Snowflakes fluttered all around kicked up by the wind. It wasn’t blizzard conditions which she was immensely grateful, but visibility was dwindling. Another flick of her fingers caught the arm controlling her headlights. Her brights turned off allowing her to see a little better. It didn’t look like she was standing on the bridge of the Enterprise going warp speed through space. She knew the snow was out there though. The winter storm coming faster than expected.

Maybe not.

She hadn’t actually checked the weather since lunch.

A press of her foot had the gas pedal depressing a little more and the car picked up speed. Tension coiled in her belly. Her fingers straightened on the wheel leaving her thumbs curled beneath the black leather. She flexed her fingers back and forth a couple times before she wrapped them around the wheel once more. She could hear the crunching of the tires over the snow gathered on the road. Her eyes flickered toward the rearview mirror more out of habit than to actually see behind her. If she could see she was certain the landscape would be a pristine mantel of white only broken up by two twin tire tracks. No one else was dumb enough to be out in this weather. At least not where she was.

The ends of the earth apparently.

At this rate she wouldn’t be surprised if she simply drove off over the side sort of like Thelma and Louise.

Glancing back out the windshield a scream bubbled up in her throat and out. Standing in the middle of the road was the largest buck she’d ever seen. One her Pappy would have been ecstatic to see through his scope. She, however, was not happy to see it through her windshield. He was large and majestic caught in her headlights with the snow swirling around. She slammed on her brakes and her car started to fish tail on the slick road.

Her eyes grew as wide as the deer’s. Her hands fought with the steering wheel to keep the car on the road and its backend behind her. No matter how she worked the wheel, her speed paired with the slick road caused the back end to dip out. The rear tire caught the snow covered grass of the small berm. With a scream her car tilted and she was thrown against the driver’s side door as the car slid off the road. Her head smacked the cool glass and she moaned at the blossoming pain.

It only last a few seconds at most. The most terrifying seconds she ever lived through. The echoing of her scream in the cabin of her car. The crunch and groan of metal as the car bounced into trees thankfully stopping her descent. She sat frozen in her seat. Her body leaning heavily against the driver’s side door with the car’s tilted angle. She was afraid to move. Her headlights illuminated the scene in front of her. Nothing but tree trunks and brush as far as she could see.

With a slow movement, Melissa reached out and turned the key. The engine ceased immediately. Silence engulfed her. The headlights cut off after ten seconds and she was enshroud in complete darkness. The deer long gone; leaping away from the road and disappearing into the night as if he wasn’t responsible for the predicament she found herself in.

‘Typical man,’ she thought. Her heart beat wildly in her chest. Her eyes wide as she stared out into the night. Her breath was harsh coming out in billowing gasps. She swallowed deeply and fought to get her breathing under control. When she felt she had her wits gathered, she slowly let herself relax against the seat back. Then she let her foot off the brake pedal where she still had it mashed to the floor.

The car never moved with any of her movements. The ticks, whirls, and clicks echoed from the dash as the engine cooled. Other than the wind outside it was the only sound.

Other than the blood roaring through her ears.

What was she going to do now?

A quick look at her cell phone showed the device was still in SOS mode. Completely useless. Even if it wasn’t what would she tell help on the other side? She wasn’t even completely sure where she was. Was she even on the right road for George’s house or did she mistakenly turn off on the wrong road without noticing? Would the emergency services be able to even pinpoint her location using GPS? Could they even get to her? She wasn’t injured so it wasn’t a priority.

Another option would be to get out of the car and try to find help. A glance out of her windows told her that was the worst idea she ever had. More so than the perm she got in the eighth grade that aged her about two decades and fried her hair so bad it took years to finally grow out. She knew how long she’d driven in the direction she was headed. There was nothing behind her for miles. Ahead of her was the great unknown. Sort of like Schrodinger’s Cat. There could be help just ahead or she could walk for miles further and further away from the civilization she craved so much.

“Looks like we are staying here,” Melissa spoke out loud. The moment the words left her mouth, she shivered. A full body tremble as the chill of the night started to seep into the cabin of the vehicle; slowly but surely overriding the warmth built up from the heater. Her coat was tossed in the backseat. She didn’t like to wear it while she drove. It felt too constricting. Unfortunately it wasn’t the heavy coat she wore when she needed to dig her car out after a snow storm. She didn’t even have gloves or a toboggan; choosing to leave them at home since she spent very little time outside of her car. Even the shoes on her feet were just regular ones. The kind that provided comfort for someone who spent a lot of time on their feet not the kind that protected against the elements.

“Shit,” Melissa muttered. Not only was she woefully under dressed to spend who knows how long in her car, but she was unprepared in provisions. She had no emergency kit tucked away in her trunk like her father always told her and harped on her about. She always brushed him off stating she’d get one. “Sorry Daddy…”

She held off as long as she could which wasn’t as long as she’d hope but all too soon the cold had her reaching for the not-quite-a-winter-coat in the back seat. Instead of threading her arms through the sleeves, she wrapped it around her upper body like a blanket. Her shoulder blades against the seat trapped it to keep it from falling. Her fingers gripped the inside lining. She tucked her chin down and blew out a breath. Her toes stretched and moved and dug into the soles of her shoes. Anything to keep the blood moving and to help ward off the cold.

It was futile she knew. The temperature was going to do nothing but drop the darker it got. Below freezing before midnight then into the teens in the wee hours of the morning. Fear began to set in. The car would protect her from the snow and the wind, but the hunk of metal would do nothing against the cold.

With a shaking hand, Melissa reached out and turned the keys. The car started right up. Cool air blew through the vents; the engine already having lost its heat. She pressed the brake and sent the car into park. Her headlights cut through night. The snow now falling heavier. Her wipers went into motion clearing her windshield of snow. The brake lights cast a red glow behind her, but it offered little in actual help to see. Not that she didn’t know what was behind her. The same that was in front of her.

Nothingness.

Melissa’s eyes grew heavy as the clock on her phone ticked over to ten. Five hours had passed since she became stranded. In an effort to save gas, she only let the car idle for fifteen minutes an hour. It was barely enough time to chase the chill away before it was time to shut it back off, but she didn’t want to take a chance of running out of case once the temperatures really dipped later on. She was supposed to get gas on her way out of town to George’s house so they she could just head on home afterward, but her mind blanked and she’d driven right on by the gas station. Someone better at math than her could probably figure out how long she could keep the car on without running out of gas, but she didn’t even know where to begin.

“Maybe they should have taught us this instead of trying to figure out why Sally had so many watermelons in her car,” Melissa muttered. She hated math. If someone asked which book made her cry, she wouldn’t name something like The Notebook or Angela’s Ashes. No she would, with a straight face, tell them her Algebra book.

With the top of the hour upon her, she reached out and started her car once again. Headlights cut through the darkness and she flipped the brights on to watch the snow swirling around her. If she wasn’t trapped in her car she would be mesmerized by its beauty. The fat flakes falling on her just cleaned windshield. And she was sucked into it. Her eyes hooked on following a single flake against the dark sky. Watched as it fell down and stuck to the windshield right in front of her. The flake perfectly shaped as another laid right next to it, overlapping. She remembered cutting out similarly shaped ones as a kid and taping them all over the living room window.

The wipers erased the scene in front of her but she remained fixed on the falling flakes, laxed into a trance. Her eye lids were heavy as she watched flake after flake fall creating a winter wonderland scene on the windshield only for its beauty to be eclipsed by the wiper blades.

Time flew by and all too soon she was cutting the engine. The headlights turned off sending her in to darkness again. The heat ceased and the chill was quick to move in like the warmth had never been there at all. She pulled her coat tighter around her and settled back in her seat. She blinked heavily; the long day catching up with her. She knew she should try to stay awake A sleeping body couldn’t turn on the car during the next hour but it was a losing battle. Her arm was heavy as she reached for her phone to set an alarm. It was the best she could do.

The trees creaked with the blowing of the wind and the snow continued to cover her car. Melissa dropped her phone back into the cup holder and pulled the coat around her body once again. As her eyes drifted shut, she wished for Atlas to save her.

*~*

Drew adjusted himself in the seat of his truck; pushing his body to sit up straighter. The windshield wipers earned their worth as they moved across the glass with barely anytime to reset. The snow coming down faster now than it was when he climbed in his truck at the airport. It was like someone was standing overhead with a bucket of the stuff. An endless supply of white fluffy flakes covering everything it touches. On top of the wind blowing it all around making visibility nearly impossible.

He was supposed to be home by now, but mechanical issues on his first flight and then a straight up cancellation of his connecting flight turned what was supposed to be a simple four hour flight into a thirteen hour affair. He was bounced all over eastern seaboard trying to make his way home. Trying to beat the impending storm. The universe was against him though. Now he was driving directly in it in his quest to make it to his house. An oasis away from people surrounded by nothing but trees. His entire job was in front of people. Performing in front of them. Socializing with them. Being pulled in one direction or another. That was work life. He balanced that with a quiet solidary home life.

Just him and his cats. Chaz a black loveable cat who was almost his partner in crime. He followed him everywhere. Napped on his lap often. Hunter, a fluffy half Maine Coon who was still rather elusive. It took him a long time to finally warm up to him. A visitor would send him into hiding for an entire day. Then finally there was Toby whom he affectionately nicknamed, ‘Fat Toby’. The overweight cat was on a forced diet which he considered cruel and unjust. Toby not him. Drew sided with the vet in this case. Fat Toby tipped the scales at almost twenty pounds so he was on a strict diet with plenty of minutes throughout the day of chasing the laser pointer.

The only thing going right for him today was the fact he made sure to stock up on provisions Thursday morning before he flew out. Usually he’d go shopping when he got back in town, but knowing the storm was coming he didn’t want to put himself in a bind by racing against weather. The storm could very well hit sooner than forecasted and be worse than expected. He wasn’t sure about the timing of the storm, but it definitely felt worse. He didn’t care. Once he made it home he wasn’t leaving until Friday morning. Thankfully Smackdown was only a short flight away this week to give him an extra day at home.

If he ever made it home.

The four wheel drive was already engaged as he turned down his snow covered road. This far out his road would be one of the last to be cleared by the county. It wasn’t a high priority with so few houses littered on the country road. Each house owned huge swatches of land. A lot of it wooded. What wasn’t own by private citizens the state owned. Depending on the snowfall and the time, he sometimes got his tractor out and plowed the road. Other times he let it go and enjoyed being unable to go anywhere; choosing to sit inside his house in front of the huge windowed wall staring out over the land and the trees watching deer and other animals mosey through.

Drew’s face pinched into a frown as he noticed the identical paths cutting through the snow in front of him. The continuous snow fall nearly covered them making them hard to see. He really only noticed because they were unexpected. Why would there be tire tracks on a near deserted road? Apparently one of his neighbors had a late night trek like he did though it was weird for one of them to be out with a storm of this magnitude on its way. They – like him – enjoyed the solitude and made sure to stalk up in advance when storms were imminent.

He was near his drive when his headlights caught the reflection of break lights. The lights bounced off the red coverings of a sedan that had no business being on this road, much less out on a night light this.

“Shit,” he muttered as he slowed his truck to a stop. The sedan careened off the side of the road and tipped down the small embankment. He grabbed his heavy coat from the passenger seat. Throwing the truck in park, he climbed from the warmness of the cab. The wind whipped around him, through his jeans and the thermal shirt exposed by his open coat. His regular shoes slid in the fresh powder and he cursed himself for not having an extra pair of boots in his truck.

A part of him wished to find the car empty. Though he knew if that was the case, it was a good possibility the occupant had foolishly decided to climb from the car and walk for help. They’d be who knows where outside in the middle of a storm and freezing temps. If the person was still in the car there was a great possibility he’d have a house guest for at least a day. Driving back into town to deposit the driver somewhere would be nearly impossible.

His hand caught the trunk of the car; fingers brushing through the snow. Cold seeped into his skin making him colder. He walked along the passenger side of the car, keeping his hand in contact with the vehicle in order to stabilize himself. Reaching the passenger side window, he knocked on the snow covered glass. “Hello? Is there anyone in there?” He waited a beat for an answer and when he received none, be brushed his hand on the window removing the snow. Another curse left his lips when he noticed the driver slumped toward the driver’s window.

“Hey!” Drew yelled and knocked on the window once more. The person in the car never moved. He brushed the snow off the door handle and sighed in relief when the door opened without issue. The temperature inside the car was nearly as cold as the outside temp. His lips thinned and he reached out putting a hand on the driver’s shoulder. He gave it a little shake. “Hey wake up!”

The driver’s moan was soft and it definitely did not do something to his insides. He frowned harder as he watched the driver’s head turn toward him. The soft skin. Thick eye lashes resting upon rosy cheeks. The pitiful excuse of a coat for this time of the year fell from her chest revealing dark colored scrubs wrapping a full figured body. His cock stirred in his jeans and he berated himself in his mind for reacting this way to a woman in obvious distress.

“Miss?” Drew spoke again. This time he tapped her cheek lightly, frowning as he felt the cold skin.

Melissa’s groaned as she lifted her head. A muted pain running down her neck at the awkward angle she’d fallen asleep in. It caused her to once again wish for that Jacuzzi tub. She shivered violently and felt the cold against her body. The temperatures must have drastically fallen while she was sleeping. Starting the car every fifteen minutes might not be feasible anymore. She might have to keep it running as long as she could to make it through the night.

A soft caress on her cheek made her frown.

“Miss? You gotta wake up for me.”

The Scottish accent rolled over her. Its warm melodic sound seeping into her warming her from the inside out. It’s how she imagined Atlas sounded. She blinked her eyes open and gasped seeing a face so close to hers. A scream ripped from her throat as she sat up quickly, pushing her body back toward the door as her hand frantically tried grabbed the door handle.

“Whoa whoa whoa!” Drew tossed his arms up in the arm, hating how the woman flinched at the movement as if she expected him to hit her. He backed away to give her breathing room. “I’m not here ta hurt you...”

“That’s what murderers say right before they snatch you and take you back to their lair.”

Drew’s lips twitched. “I’m not a murderer.”

“Exactly what a murderer would say.”

“I don’t have a lair. Just a house right up the road. In fact I’m fairly certain it’s not even my house anymore. My cats have taken it over and just allow me to live there. If they could figure out how to open the tuna can, they’d probably toss me aside in a heart beat.”

Melissa felt herself relax just a little bit. Did murderers own cats? Was that one of the characteristics amongst serial killers? “Mine likes to throw uncooked rice everywhere.”

Her words caused the man to chuckle and she shivered. Not in cold though. Oh no. That chuckle caused her pussy to clench and wetness to pool in her panties. Jesus she was sitting in a frozen car and she wanted to rip off her clothes she felt so hot.

“Fat Toby likes to steal food. Your food. My food. His brothers’ food. Food that’s already in the garbage. I’ve fetched an entire stick of butter from his mouth after he knocked the dish off the counter and stole it.”

Melissa giggled. “Fat Toby? You have a cat named Fat Toby? I guess you can’t be a killer.”

“He’s on a forced diet much to his distain. Hopefully it will be some motivation to get him back on the straight and narrow.” Drew took the moment to reach out his hand again. “Let’s get you out of here. My house is just up the road. Get you out of the cold and warmed up.”

“Oh I…” Melissa looked out the windshield. The snow was already piled up. There were only a few small spaces left where she could see out. Mostly at the bottom where the glass was still heated from the car’s blowers. “Can’t you just pull me out and I’ll continue on my way?”

Drew shook his head. “There’s no way your car is making it anywhere in this snow Lass. It’s really coming down now. Your tracks are barely visible out here. I promise, on Fat Toby’s empty stomach, you’re safe with me until morning…”

“Until morning?” Melissa turned her head back toward Drew. “Is that when you ravish me? In the morning’s light?”

“Only if you ask for it.” The words slipped out before Drew could stop them. This was not the proper time to be hitting on someone. Though… He watched as Melissa’s eyes ducked away from his. He’d bet his entire paycheck the redness in her cheeks had little to do with the cold.

Melissa had no idea what prompted her to say such a question. Jesus she really was an idiot. Her cheeks flamed – on fire with embarrassment. With arousal as well. She wondered if that was true. If she only had to ask and he’d take her.

“Please?” Drew lowered his voice as he continued holding out his hand. “I would give you character references but we are kind of pressed for time. Very much longer and we’re going to be sharing the same cab searching for warmth…”

Melissa’s mind exploded at his words. Images of their naked bodies entwined together beneath blankets sharing body heat in order to say warm. Her lips parted and her breath grew heavy. Her heart beat faster and she slowly reached out. Her hand slipped into his and she shivered at the electrical current zipping up her arm.

“Easy Lass,” Drew spoke calmly as he helped her climb over the center console and into the passenger seat. He kept her hand wrapped in his as she turned in the seat to place her legs outside of the car. “Wait…” his words caused her movements to halt and she looked at him with questioning eyes. Her blue eyes a little too trusting of him than he should be comfortable with. After all, he didn’t even know her name. She should not be looking at him like this. He couldn’t dispute the fact that it did something to him. The big doe eyes peering up at him, seemingly ready to offer him anything.

“Change your mind about offing me?”

“No,” Drew chuckled and shook his head, giving a small eye roll. “Your shoes…” he said looking down at the Sketchers on her feet.

“What about them?” Melissa followed his gaze to stare down at her feet. They were tiny, only size fives. Her best friend loved to make fun of her feet; how she could still wear kid shoes. Personally she thought her friend was jealous she couldn’t wear the cool light up shoes or rock a pair of Hello Kitty print.

“Not exactly meant for walking in the snow.”

“In my defense I thought I’d be home before the snow started.”

“You and me both Lass.” Drew bent down and worked an arm beneath her knees.

“Hey…what are you…” Melissa started shifting in the seat, swatting at his chest. It did nothing because in a couple of seconds she was out of her car and in his arms. An embarrassing shriek escaped and she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Grabby hands! Put me down!”

“No.” Drew said simply. He accepted her weight in his arms and adjusted his hold better now he was standing. It helped with her clinging to him like a sloth he held on a trip to Australia earlier this year. Not that he would ever tell her he compared her to a sloth. His mother didn’t raise a complete idiot.

“I’m too heavy,” Melissa protested weakly. Her words had no effect. She was carried away from her car toward a full size truck sitting in the middle of the road.

“You’re perfect.” Drew’s voice darkened at the negative statement. She didn’t feel heavy in his arms. She felt… right. He clenched his jaw at the feelings. They weren’t necessarily unwanted, but this wasn’t exactly the time. He still didn’t even know her name.

The driver’s side door still hung open. Drew berated himself for not having the foresight to shut the door to keep the heat locked inside. The inside was liable to be just as cold as the outside. He was somewhat placated with the knowledge it wouldn’t take long to restore the heat. He gently placed her down in the driver’s seat and reluctantly pulled his arms away. His eyes met hers beneath the glow of the dome light. The seat nearly had them at the same height, though he still came out slightly taller. He wondered how they would match up standing together. She was a small thing in his arms. It brought on the urge to protect her. Get her back to his house and warmed up.

Drew’s eyes scanned her face. The shining blue eyes. The rosy cheeks and red nose. A pink tongue peeking out from between full lips as it swept a path across that bottom lip he wanted to sink his teeth in. His cock hardened in his jeans as he thought about that tongue trailing over his body. He pulled his eyes away from lips and forced himself to back away. “Sit tight.” He shut the door a little harder than necessary and marched back to her vehicle welcoming the cold this time hoping to tame his body.

A backpack sat on the floorboard and he picked it up placing it on the passenger seat. He put her phone in the front compartment and grabbed the charging cord just in case she was one of those Android freaks. A quick perusal of the backseat offered nothing of importance. He pulled the keys from the ignition and the coat from the driver’s seat. Now that it was in his hands, it was more pitiful than he thought. It was more of something one would wear on an early spring day rather than in the middle of December.

It stoked an anger deep in his belly that she could be so careless in her preparations. The sneakers on her feet would have absorbed water immediately had she needed to start walking. The coat that couldn’t withstand a small breeze. Driving around in the middle of a snow storm in a vehicle that wasn’t equipped to handle the snow. What angered him the most thought, was her deciding to just sleep in her car. No one to come and rescue her. If he hadn’t come along… if he hadn’t been delayed in his travels…

He grabbed her things and shut the door. Snow fell off with the motion. He hit the button on her keys and heard the locks engage before turning back to his truck. In the little time he was gone, there was already a thin layer of snow covering his tracks. He could just make out her silhouette still sitting in his seat. He could feel her eyes on him watching as he trekked back to her. He opened the door and met her gaze. His breath catching seeing the smile on her lips.

“I feel like a little girl sitting in daddy’s seat,” Melissa laughed as she kicked her feet. She needed another femur or two stacked onto hers to even reach the pedals from the position of the seat. Her fingers just barely grazed the steering wheel.

Drew’s eyes darkened at her words. His hands tightened on her things; knuckles turning white. The seemingly innocent jest stirred something deep within his gut. Something visceral, clawing to get out. He imagined the word daddy dripping off her lips in a much different situation. Her spread out on his bed, stripped naked begging him to take her. Begging for her daddy to take care of her. “Move.”

The words came out much harsher than intended. Her eyes widened and he saw them flash slightly with fear. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. The smile on her lips fell. Her eyes slid away from his as she turned in the seat and climbed over the center console. The apology died on his lips as his mouth dried. His eyes were drawn to her body as she moved. The blue colored scrubs pulled taunt over her ample ass and thick thighs. His fingers clenched tighter itching to reach over and sink into the lush flesh.

He wanted to drape her over his lap at the end of his bed and bring his hand down over the meaty flesh of her ass. Wanted to color the pale white skin red with his swats. Wanted to hear her heavy breaths. The soft moans. Wanted to feel her squirming on his thighs. Her rosy nipples brushing against the coarse hair of his legs. Wanted to feel the wetness leaking out of her, coating her thighs.

His cock pressed uncomfortably against the zipper of his jeans. The coldness in the outside air did little to cool his body. Burying his dick in the snow probably wouldn’t have the desired effect. He was hard as a rock and knew, once he got his house guest settled for the night, he would have his cock in hand; stroking himself in quick movements while her voice echoed through his head begging for his come to fill her up.

It was awkward climbing into the truck with his hands full and his cock hard. Once he was in the seat, he used the cover of her coat to quickly adjust himself through his jeans before he passed them over to her. “I uh… I wasn’t sure what to grab. Just your bag and your coat. I did pull your charger. I didn’t know if you were a normal person with an iPhone or a monster.”

Melissa snorted as she accepted her bag and coat. She held them on her lap like a barrier. There was a small swatch of fear pumping through her now that she was sitting in the cab of the man’s truck. It was one thing to accept the help of a stranger on the side of the road. It was something completely different to willingly get into a vehicle with that stranger and allow him to take her to God knows where. She knew how far she was from town. She knew how many houses she passed on her trek to George’s. She was all alone.

With a strange man.

She looked at him from the corner of her eyes as he put the truck in gear and they started moving. The only sound in the cab was the air blowing from the vents. The air warm; nearly suffocating, but she was afraid to move to turn it down. The glow from the dash lights did little to soften the man’s gruff appearance. His prominent cheekbones and strong chiseled jawline were covered with a well groomed beard. Long brown hair was pulled back into a pony tail. The dome light in her car showed her sharp blue eyes. All that paired with his straight nose signaled a ruggedness that brought up another issue… As if the possibility of being murdered wasn’t enough.

She was completely turned on.

His appearance. The hero complex. His strength. The hard body she felt against hers as he carried her to his truck. The muscular thighs she saw from the truck headlights when he was walking back to her car… minus the tattoos he could be hiding under his coat, her stranger stepped right out of one of her books.

Her very own Atlas.

She wanted to take him apart piece by piece. Starting by taking his hair from the elastic hair tie and allowing it to fall down around his shoulders. She wanted to bury her hands in the strands using it as a guide for his head as she drew him to her lips. Her mouth watered thinking of her lips touching his. The fullness. The softness. The sharp nips. The velvety touch of his tongue against hers. The velvety touch of his tongue in other places.

She squirmed in the seat, pressing her thighs together.

“You okay?” Drew asked and reached out to mess with the controls of the heater on the dash. It was already set on max and the vents were angled toward her. “We’re almost back to my place. I’ll get your warmed up.”

‘You already have,’ Melissa thought. His voice – the Scottish lilt – the sultry rhythmic cadence enveloping her. She eyed the space between him and the steering wheel wondering if there was enough room for her. Her face flamed with a combination of arousal and embarrassment. “You know I don’t even know your name.”

Drew spared her a glance out of the corner of his eye as he kept both hands on the wheel. The truck moved along slowly. Snow crunching beneath his tires. The weatherman’s snow call had to be complete wash or else he missed an update. “Drew. My name is Drew.”

‘So not Atlas…’ Melissa thought with small disappointment. Of course she was a far cry from Isolde. “I’m Melissa.”

“Decided I’m not going to murder you?”

Melissa laughed softly as the truck slowed and Drew made a left turn into a driveway less than a mile from where she went off the road. “Oh no… Jury’s still out on that one. Figured maybe if I’m nice enough I’ll win you over. If not, well then I’m not above begging.”

Drew’s mind morphed into an entirely different scenario than the one going on in Melissa’s head. She was spread out on his bed, his face buried between her thighs. His beard coated with her dewy wetness as he licked and teased her folds bringing her close to the edge before backing off. Her soft cries filling his ears as she begged him to let her come after he held her off for so long. Of her poised on her hands and knees, ass in the air displaying herself to him. Her voice heavy with arousal as she begged for his cock. Begged for him to take her.

His jaw was tense as he shook off the images. He lifted his hand to press the button on his garage door opener attached to the visor above his head. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Melissa flinch in her seat. His arousal swiftly faded at the movement. He couldn’t imagine the feeling swirling inside the woman. First from the initial wreck to then being stranded on the side of the road for who knows how long to finally having to rely on a complete stranger for help. She had no idea he was completely harmless. Docile as Fat Toby. Telling her wouldn’t be enough to quell her fears. He had to show her.

“I’ve been out of town for a few days, but I made sure the house was stocked because of the storm,” Drew spoke. He worked to keep his voice even, relaxed. “I was going to make myself a sandwich or something easy. I’ve been traveling all day between delays. I can’t say for certain what cell service is like right now. It’s usually pretty good during bad weather but I do keep a landline just in case since I’m so far out. You’re more than welcome to call whoever to let them know you’re okay.”

Even had he spoke the words he couldn’t help but hoping the person she would call would be her parents or even a best friend. While no ring shone on her finger it didn’t mean there wasn’t a boyfriend or even husband worried sick at home. Jealousy rose from deep in his belly at the thought. “You’re also more than welcome to take a shower. I can lend you some clothes.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to just thank him for the offer and brush it all away with wanting to just crawl into bed, but couldn’t help but moan softly at the thought of a shower. Hot water to chase the lingering chill away. To wash away the weariness of the long day. “A shower would be lovely…If you promise not to kill me until at least after.”

Drew grinned at her words as he pulled the truck inside his garage. “Scouts honor. No maiming of house guests until after showering and eating.”

“That’s right. Can’t kill on an empty stomach.” The truck shut off and there was nothing left to do, but open the door and climb out. Whatever happened, happened. Her fate was sealed the moment the headlights of his truck caught her car.

The smile was still on Drew’s lips as he hit the button to close the garage door and climbed from his truck. He grabbed his bags from the back seat and met Melissa at the front of the vehicle where he walked her to the door that led to a mud room. Even though it was just him living there, an assortment of different types of shoes lined the floor from house shoes, to sneakers, to hiking boots and snow boots. Varying jackets hung on hooks. A light zip up hoodie to his heavy sub zero winter coat. He kicked off his shoes and wheeled his suitcase a short distance to the washer. He left it sit to be tomorrow’s problem.

“You can leave your coat and shoes here and I’ll show you to the shower unless you want to eat first?”

Her stomach growled filling the silence causing Drew to laugh and her face to redden. “Guess that answers that.” Melissa slipped her feet out of her shoes and hung her coat up on one of the empty hooks. She kept her bag in her hand as she followed him from the mudroom and into the rest of the house.

“Sandwiches okay?” Drew asked as they entered the kitchen.

Melissa nodded as her eyes took in the rooms before her. The floor to ceiling windows in the living room that promised a gorgeous view. The dark tones that spoke of masculinity. The stone fireplace that made her want to curl up on the brown leather couch beneath a blanket with a hot cup of coffee.

The kitchen complemented the living room well. It gave off comfort and home. The oven on the wall made her envious. It was one of her dreams when she finally purchased a house. To have a double wall oven like her Granny used to have. She remembered it well during the holidays when the kitchen was the busiest room in the house and food was constantly moving in and out.

“You have a beautiful house.” Melissa stood across the island from him as he moved through the room pulling items from the refrigerator.

“Thank you,” Drew said as he put the sliced lunch meat on the counter, followed by the deli cheese, a tomato, head of lettuce, pickle jar, mustard, and mayonnaise. “Sadly I’m not here often. Travel a lot for work.” He grabbed the bread from the pantry along with a couple of paper plates. He really wasn’t in the mood to do dishes; even the few they would produce.

“Me too.” Melissa moved and washed her hands in the kitchen sink, using the dish towel hanging on the handle of the dishwasher to dry her hands. She moved back to the island and grabbed the loaf of bread putting two slices on each plate. “Well, my travel is local so it’s a lot of driving. I just have an apartment but some nights depending on the day I’ve had it feels like an oasis.”

“That’s what this is. I spent a lot of my life in public I needed something private.” Drew grabbed the cutting board and a knife from the block next to the stove. He quickly sliced a tomato. When he looked up he froze seeing Melissa’s lip curled. “What?” He glanced down at the tomato on the cutting board. It was sliced nearly perfect. His hand still held the knife and he chuckled. “I promised not ta hurt ya until after food.”

“If you feed me that disgusting stuff,” Melissa waved her hand in the direction of the offensive tomato. “It will be me doing the hurting.”

“You don’t like tomatoes?”

“No,” Melissa’s lip curled in disgust again. “God they are gross.”

“Who doesn’t like tomatoes?” Drew asked as he placed a slice on his sandwich on top of the turkey and cheese Melissa had already placed on the bread. He left hers void of tomatoes.

“Me. Raw tomatoes are gross.”

“Next you’re gonna tell me you don’t like ketchup.”

“Oh no. Love ketchup. Salsa too. Even spaghetti sauce. I just can’t eat raw tomatoes.”

“Definitely weird.” Drew stated as he boxed up the remaining tomatoes and slid them in the fridge along with the cheese and lunch meat. When he turned around, Melissa was ripping a couple leaves of lettuce off the head to put on their sandwiches. A weird feeling washed over him as he watched Melissa finish up their sandwiches, slathering on the mustard and mayo before placing the bread on top. He didn’t even flinch when she picked up the knife to slice their sandwiches in half.

“We all have our quirks.” Melissa shrugged and followed him to the small kitchen table that sat in front of a sliding door. The pane offered a reflection of the kitchen but if she focused hard enough she could see the snow piled on the deck.

They sat silently with their sandwiches, each lost in their own thoughts. Neither made a move to start a conversation. Despite the fact they were complete strangers, the silence didn’t feel awkward. It was nice. Almost comforting. Nice to not have to eat alone. Just having another body in the same room made a difference. Before too long their food was gone and Drew was throwing their plates in the trash.

“Why don’t I show you were you can sleep? The room has its own bathroom so you can shower,” Drew led Melissa down the hall to one of the spare bedrooms. The other bedroom was currently made up into a home gym though he was in the process of creating a bigger space for a gym downstairs, but he wasn’t in a hurry. It’s not like he needed the room.

The room was very basic. A queen bed the focal point with matching end tables on either side. A lone dresser along the wall with the door to the bathroom. Minimal décor hung on the walls and cluttered the flat spaces. It made Melissa’s heart twist thinking of Drew not having very many visitors. She wanted to ask about his family. If they were all back in Scotland unable to visit as much as they liked.

Another twist caused her jaw to clench thinking of the visitors he did get not needing to sleep in this room, but behind one of the other closed doors she knew held a master bedroom. She had no right to be jealous. After all she had no hold on the man. He was simply a good Samaritan helping her out in her time of need.

Speaking of need…

She watched wantonly as he walked into her bathroom and the light flickered on. She heard cupboards open and close. The scrapping of a shower curtain being pulled along the metal rod. When he reappeared she had to mentally shake herself. His lips were moving but she wasn’t catching the words. “What?” She asked, her face heating once again in a blush. “I’m sorry. I guess I must have zoned.”

Drew smiled, preening on the inside. If she zoned, then her eyes froze on his lips. He licked his lips and nearly groaned as her eyes followed his tongue. A hunger filled her eyes and he had to force himself not to throw her down on the bed they stood beside. “Everything you need should be there. Shampoo and stuff in the shower. There is an extra toothbrush on the counter. A couple towels. I’ll be back with something for you to change in to. I’ll leave them on the bed.”

“Thank you.”

Melissa waited until Drew left before she released her breath. Her shoulders sagged and she rubbed her hands over her face. “Get a grip…” she told herself. She gave herself a shake and went into the bathroom. Lusting over her temporary roommate was not going to help. She should shower and go to bed. It was already way too late. Her brain was operating on too little sleep. She’d be able to think more clearly in the morning. Work on getting her car unstuck and getting back to town and home. Hopefully the roads would be plowed quickly.

‘I wish I could be plowed quickly.’

With a groan she walked into the bathroom and turned the shower on. She wasted little time pulling her clothes off and climbing under the hot spray. The shower head felt like heaven and she had a thought of stealing it for her apartment. She pushed the intrusive thought away and continued her shower wanting to be quick but the warm water felt too great. When the last of the chill left her body, she used the shampoo to wash her short blonde hair. The body wash smelled like coconut and shea butter and she wondered who purchased the items. If he randomly picked out the bottles without care or someone else did – like a housekeeper or ex-girlfriend.

Before her thoughts could go down that rabbit hole, she turned the knobs. The shower shut off and she pulled the curtain open, reaching for one of the towels on the sink. She dried off quickly before wrapping the towel around her. She opened the bathroom door slowly and peeked out into the bedroom. The light was still on. Her bag still sat on the bed where she left it. The door closed. The room empty. The only difference was a pile of clothes sitting on the bed telling her at some point Drew had come in while she was showering to drop off the promised change of clothes.

The bedroom was much cooler than the bathroom. She stepped into the room, holding the towel to her chest. The clothes turned around to be a pair of drawstring gym shorts that promised to go below her knees and a soft, well worn t-shirt. Using the towel to dry herself more thoroughly, she then pulled the shirt over her head. It fell to mid thigh. It smelled of him and she absolutely did not bring the shirt to her nose and breathe in.

Along with the clothes was a charging block that did not make her fall in love. She dug her charging card from her bag and slid the USB into the block before she found an outlet behind one of the bedside tables. With her phone plugged in, she put her bag on the floor out of the way and laid the unused gym shorts on top of the dresser. In the bathroom, she hung the used towel over the shower curtain and picked up her dirty clothes. She folded them neatly knowing she’d have to put them back on tomorrow. After brushing her teeth she turned off the light and made her way back into the bedroom. She sat her clothes down on the dresser and pulled the covers back.

Shutting off the overhead light, she slipped beneath the blankets with a sigh. Her body relaxed into the soft mattress cheering for the sweet relief. Her eyes closed and she breathed gently. The house was silent and she figured Drew was already in bed. He mentioned his own plight of a long day. There was the soft creaking of the house shifting as the wind blew outside. The soft sounds of snowflakes falling. The thump of her heart in her ear.

She figured fear would keep her awake. A stranger just down the hall she wasn’t sure she could trust not to murder her or worse while she sleep. She’d watch too many serial killer shows and police procedurals she should have been running for the hills. Or at least to have swiped the knife she used to cut the sandwiches to keep clutched in her palm under her pillow. Fear of being miles and miles away from help.

It wasn’t fear causing her body to hum. It wasn’t fear causing a wetness between her thighs. It wasn’t fear causing her legs to shift listlessly.

No.

It was longing.

It was want.

Where Atlas used to be in her mind was now Drew. With the sound of his laugh in her eyes and the sparkle in his blue eyes as he promised to wait until morning to maim her and the feeling of his hard body against hers from when he carried her to his truck and the look in his eyes when she said the word Daddy…

Her hand traveled down the t-shirt. Fingers caressing over her belly to her thighs and back up. They danced over her breast; moving inward toward her hardening nipple. Her index finger swirled around before brushing over the hardened nub. Her breath caught and she moaned softly. She pinched her nipple rolling it between her thumb and index finger. Her legs shifted and her thighs pressed together.

She pulled at her t-shirt. The material drifting up her thighs offering a soft caress of its own. Her hand soon met the warm skin of her belly and she gently moved across her skin. Her body heated as her arousal grew. She dipped lower to the dark brown curls framing her pussy and lower still until she met her slick folds. Her legs parted on a sigh and one finger slipped between, coating the pad in her sticky cream.

‘Bad girl touching yourself like this in a stranger’s house. What if he hears you?’

‘Maybe he’ll spank me for being naughty…’

Her pussy clenched at the thought of her over Drew’s lap while his hand peppered her backside with sharp stinging swats. Occasionally one of those swats would come down on her throbbing pussy. Her finger teased her opening and the wetness she found there. She dipped her finger through it before tracing back up her folds to her clit. She circled the sensitive nub before pressing her finger to it causing another moan to fall from her lips.

Panting softly, Melissa swiped two fingers through her folds and pressed them deep inside her. Her palm rest against her clit and she shivered. Her ass clenched pressing herself more on her fingers. Her head arched back baring her neck. She imagined feeling a whisper of lips to her neck. Of teeth nipping at the tendon. Her pussy clenched around her fingers and she slowly pulled them out before pressing them back in once more. After a couple more strokes she brought the soaked digits to her clit.

Her legs spread beneath the covers opening herself up. She wished strong hands were gripping her thighs, spreading her open. Holding her on display. Her empty pussy clenched and she started rubbing her clit as a quick orgasm built in her belly. It didn’t take long before she was releasing with a soft gasp. Her teeth bit into her lips to hold in the whine as her fingers worked herself through her release. Her legs trembled as nerve endings fired through her body.

A few moments later, her eyes opened in the darkened room. Her hands fell away from her body. Her shirt all akimbo under the covers. Legs still splayed. While completion rolled through her there was a sense of emptiness as well. Of being unfulfilled. While she may have orgasmed, her body was disappointed. It craved much more. It craved Drew. Her own personal Atlas come to life. With his deep blue eyes. His sweet soft voice that could turn stern and hard as it did when he told her to move from his seat in the truck. God that one spoken word caused her panties to be soaked. His hard, sculpted body she wanted to run her hands over. Feel every line and ridge of muscle. Find out if his cock was proportionate to his body.

Desire warmed her again at the thought of his cock pressing inside of her, stretching her. His hips snapping to hers.

‘Go ask him!’ That had to be the devil voice urging her on. How could she knock of his door and ask him to split her in half?

‘You never have to see him again after tomorrow! Live a little.’ That voice sounded like her best friend. It held merit. She wasn’t a one night stand type of person, but it had been a really long time since she felt a man between her legs. What did she really have to lose? If he turned her down, she could feign delirium from the crash and being up for almost an entire day. Maybe claim fear thinking she would freeze to death and die on the side of the road.

‘Do it.’

Melissa was tossing the covers back and opening her door before she even realized she was moving. Once in the hallway, the other side of her brain that had been suspiciously quiet a few moments ago was now telling her to get her ass back in bed like she was a child. A little girl.

‘A little girl who needs a daddy…’

The devil voice was back and this time she was inclined to agree with it. All of her previous relationships she’d been too afraid to voice her needs… but maybe this time… with this stranger… she could get what she needed.

She was hovering at the door she assumed was the master bedroom. No light shone from beneath door and she stood frozen with indecision. If he was already asleep she didn’t want to wake him. If she didn’t try, she would regret not making that leap. The wallowing was getting worse as she bounced back and forth on either foot. Just when she was about to chicken out and turn away, the door swung open revealing a naked from the chest up Drew backwashed by a soft amber light coming from a bedside lamp.

Melissa’s mouth dried as she stared at Drew’s chest. The broad shoulders and well defined pec muscles. Dark coarse hair covered his chest hiding the darkened skin of his nipples and down the center of his stomach. The outer edges of his abs were lined; circling down toward the inside of his hips drawing her eyes more than the happy trail. Black gym shorts hung low on narrow hips and stretched over thick thighs.

Her eyes raked down to his strong calf muscles and back up his body. The return appraisal much slower. She usually preferred men more meaty but there was no denying her body’s instant attraction to Drew. Narrow hips didn’t give her much to hang on to while she was sucking a cock, his thighs more than made up for it. Her hands fisted, itching to dig her fingers into the meaty muscle. Her eyes danced over his chest, her mouth watering as his pecs twitched. First the left one, then the right one. His massive shoulders and bulging biceps with their curling veins down the insides all the way to his forearm. She wanted to lick each of them all the way down to his fingers where she wanted to suck one of the thick digits into her mouth.

She followed the vein of his right arm back up his arm and over his hairy chest and up where she finally met his eyes. The bright sparkling blue was no more. They were darkened like a storm raging on the waters.

“If you don’t want to find yourself spread out on my bed, I suggest you go back to your room.” Drew gripped the door knob in his hand so hard he was surprised it didn’t crush in his hold. He knew the moment Melissa left her room. He laid in bed waiting for the eventual creak of the stairs telling him she was heading downstairs hopefully to the kitchen for a drink and not to do something stupid like leave. He should have thought of bringing up a water when he dropped off the clothes, but he walked the downstairs making sure everything was locked up tight like a zombie. Just hearing the water from her shower hitting the porcelain bottom of the tub after running down her body was enough to bring him back to hard. The thought of her standing there naked…

When he didn’t heard the creak of the stairs, he stilled and turned an ear. The shuffling of feet on the floorboards coming closer to him. The sound stopping right outside his door. He waited on suspended breath to see what she was going to do. Would she knock or just come in? Was she needing something? Help? A question? Reassurance that he was in fact not a crazed psycho who was going to kill her?

His dick was what she had to look out for.

Did she feel the pull between them? The instant draw the moment their eyes met in her car? Did she see the desire in his eyes like he thought he saw in hers? Was she coming to him now to give in?

When she failed to make a move and continued to hover outside his door, Drew lost his patience. He turned on his lamp and tossed the covers back. When he opened his door all words died on his lips seeing her standing before him wearing just his shirt. The shirt draped on her like a gown brushing against her thighs and he had qualms about pressing his palms to those thighs and drifting them up her body bringing his shirt with them until he bared her to him. Her hard nipples pressing against the fabric calling out to him.

The open want in Melissa’s face had him instantly rock hard. He felt her eyes raking over him, blatantly checking him out. Every thought and emotion flickering across her face. It took everything he had to not reach for her. To offer up an out before he resorted back to the days of cavemen and just took.

“Please…”

The voice came out soft, barely heard even in the quiet of the night. His cock pulsed at the word ready to do her bidding.

“Please what?” Drew’s accent was thicker with the combination of the late night and heavy with need. He gripped the door knob again, digging his toes into the floor in an effort to stay where he was. He needed the assurance of what she was asking.

“Please Daddy.”

Drew’s control snapped. A growl came from the back of his throat as he grabbed her. The soft gasp from her lips was swallowed by his mouth as his lips slammed down her hips. There was very little finesse as he was fueled by desire and need. He licked at her lips incessantly until she opened at his prodding. Her mouth was warm and welcoming as his tongue stroked hers taking control as he explored every inch.

His arms wrapped around her pulling her into his body. Their height difference had him bending and he lifted her effortlessly in arms. He felt her hands scrambling for purchase until they wrapped around his neck. His hands trailed down her back until her palmed each of her ass cheeks. His brow furrowed in confusion as he moved his hands searching… When they met the warm skin of her ass without any barrier he groaned and ripped his mouth from hers. “Naughty little girl… wearing no panties…”

“Maybe you should spank me…”

Drew’s eyes flared and his fingers dug into her ass pressing her against his stomach. “Do you know what you’re asking for?”

Melissa’s face was hot, surely as red as the tomato from the kitchen. Her eyes dropped away from Drew’s face and she gave a little shrug.

Drew released his hold on her, allowing her to slowly drop back down to the floor. He groaned as she rubbed over his hard cock on the way down. His eyes clenched shut and he breathed deeply. He opened them and looked down at the woman in his arms. He gently cupped her chin. “If you want me to spank you, I will. If you just want to ride my cock and go back to you room, say no more. If you want to sit on my face, I’ll do it until I pass out and enjoy every second of it. What do you want?”

Melissa shrugged again. She tried to look away but he wouldn’t let her. He held her gaze demanding an answer. “I don’t know. I know I want you… it’s all I can think about… I’ve never… been spanked before or called someone Daddy… I kind of like it… And the thought of you taking me over your knee and spanking me…”

“Tell me Lass…” Drew’s feather light touch of her chin contradicted the tension dripping from his body.

“It gets me so turned on that I…”

“That you what?”

“I fingered myself until I came.”

Drew’s eyes darkened at the knowledge. While he laid in bed trying desperately to get her off his mind, she lay across the hall with her fingers in her pussy thinking about him. He growled. “I didn’t give you permission to touch my pussy did I?”

“No,” Melissa shook her head. She pressed her thighs together against the wetness gushing from her center. Her thighs were already slick.

“No what?”

Melissa’s eyes met Drew’s again. She gulped. “No Daddy.”

“Bad little girls need to be punished.” Drew took her hand and led her into his room where he sat on the edge of his bed. “Lay down over my knee.”

Melissa gulped and slowly moved to lay over his knees. His hard cock pressed against her stomach. The softness of the shirt she wore teased at her nipples sending tiny shivers through her body.

“Relax for me sweetheart,” Drew’s softened voice was the cause of her tremor this time. “You say stop, I stop immediately. No questions.”

“If I say stop… can we still do other things?” Melissa felt her body relax at Drew’s words feeling a little better that if she didn’t like it he wouldn’t continue.

“We can do anything you want,” he ran his hand up and down the softness of her thigh to the curve of her ass just showing beneath the drawn up t-shirt. “Okay?”

Melissa nodded. “How many?”

“I don’t know. How many spanks should a naughty girl like you get? Playing with Daddy’s pussy without permission… Showing Daddy this gorgeous ass when you were climbing over Daddy’s seat earlier….” Drew ran his hand up over Melissa’s ass still keeping the t-shirt as a barrier. “You had Daddy rock hard right then… wearing no panties. Just my shirt…” He slowly drew the shirt up with his fingers making a walking motion.

The shirt bunched at the small of her back revealing her ample behind. Drew groaned softly and traced his fingers up and down the swell of one ass cheek, each pass getting closer and closer to her center. He could feel the heat. The smell of her arousal invaded his nose. His cock pulsed in his shorts, leaking pre come.

“Please Daddy,” Melissa begged softly, squirming in Drew’s lap chasing his hand movements hoping to get his fingers where she wanted. The earlier orgasm did very little to quell the need inside of her. If anything it just took a little off the top leaving her with plenty of time to play.

The sound of skin hitting skin hit Melissa’s ears first before the sharp sting of pain penetrated. She gasped and froze.

“Stop squirming,” Drew said sternly. “Only good girls get Daddy’s fingers in their pussy. You wanna be Daddy’s good girl?” His fingers trailed over her folds in a teasing a touch.

“Oh,” Melissa moaned pressing her ass to his hand. “Yes Daddy. I’ll be a good girl.”

“We’ll see,” Drew hummed. “I think we’ll do five. I want you to be a good girl and count them for me sweetheart. Take your punishment like the good girl I know you are,” he murmured softly, his fingers lightly caressing her ass. He could feel the slightly warm skin from his first swat and couldn’t wait to feel the heat when he spanked her for real instead of the tiny swat to gain her attention. “You ready Princess?”

“I’m ready Daddy.”

Drew raised his hand and brought it down on Melissa’s ass. The slap echoing in the room along with Melissa’s gasp. She squirmed and he pressed the palm of his left hand down on the small of her back. His fingers digging into the flesh. His right hand rubbing the stinging skin. “Count for me Sweetheart.”

“One…” Melissa said, her body in slight shock. She wasn’t sure how she felt. The sensation felt weird and she wasn’t sure if she liked it or not. Before she could think on it first another slap stung against her skin overlapping slightly with the previous. The sting was sharp. Drew wasn’t hitting with playful swats. “Two.”

“Good girl Princess,” Drew murmured. “Your ass looks so good with my hand print on it. After I pepper your ass I want to grip it in my hands and spread you open and lick you from your ass to your slit… Does Daddy’s girl like that?” He asked feeling her body tremble. “You want Daddy to bury his face between your thighs?”

“Yes,” Melissa moaned and pressed her thighs together.

“If you’re a good girl,” Drew spanked her ass again in two quick successions. The last one drawing a moan as she counted out the number. “I think my Princess likes having her ass spanked.”

Melissa nodded her head. “Yes Daddy. It feels good.” And it did. She wasn’t sure if it would but that last one hit a place deep inside her. Her pussy gushed and she was certain he could feel her wetness on his thigh as it trickled down her leg.

Drew brought his hand down one final time. Her voice cracked on the count and he lightly ran his fingers over her ass. Warm heat rose from abused skin. Each pass of his fingers brought a shiver. “You’re such a good girl. Your ass looks so beautiful all red from my hand. You look so gorgeous laying over my lap.”

“I’ve never felt…I think… I think I could come from that.”

A tremor worked through Drew’s body at the thought. Of smacking her ass, peppering both cheeks until they were an indiscernible red. Of spreading her legs apart a little further until her pussy was displayed. Then having one of the smacks hitting her pussy and seeing the reaction. He pressed his hips up seeking relief, his cock pushed against her stomach. “Oh baby girl…” he moaned. “If you could come like that… I almost want to try…”

“You can spank me some more,” Melissa shook her ass in a teasing manner hoping to entice another swat or two.

“I can guarantee if I do, I will end up coming in my shorts Lass.” Drew moved his arms and helped maneuver Melissa from laying on his lap to sitting on it. He scooted back on the mattress to allow her knees to get better purchase thus bringing her center right to his hard cock still hidden in his shorts. He palmed her ass and rocked her against his cock. The movements caused his eyes to close.

“Does Daddy want his cock sucked?” Melissa inundated her hips in Drew’s lap. His cock pressed against her center, hitting her clit on each forward movement.

“God yeah,” Drew moaned. He blinked his eyes open, bringing Melissa into focus. The red hues on her cheeks a sign of her arousal. The embarrassment long gone. “Suck Daddy’s cock Pretty Girl. Get it all wet and ready for your pussy.”

Melissa slid off Drew’s lap and onto the floor in front of him. Raising up on her knees, she reached for the waistband of his shorts. The bulge was quite impressive and she couldn’t wait to see what he was hiding from her. He lifted his lips as she pulled down his shorts and his cock slipped free bouncing against his stomach. She moaned at the sight. He was long enough to question if he’d fit with a girth that promised a delicious stretch. It curved slightly with a vein running on the underside. The mushroom head was read and glistening with a bead of pre come and her mouth watered desperate for a taste.

“Fuck,” Melissa moaned and reached. Her hand circled Drew’s hardened length. He has hot and hard in her hand. The shaft smooth.

Drew moaned at her touch and his head fell back toward the ceiling. His eyes closed as his lips parted. “Fuck Mel…”

Melissa licked her lips and leaned forward. She licked the drop of pre come off the head and moaned at the salty flavor. She licked the tip in teasing short flicks with the tip of her tongue to long flat strokes. As she worked the tip her hand moved up and down his shaft.

“Fuck yeah,” Drew moaned. “That’s it… suck my cock…” His breath stuttered as she sank past the tip and back up. “Yeah, take it. I know you can take my cock Baby Girl. You’re such a good girl.”

Motivated by his ramblings, Melissa let her mouth fill with saliva before she used it to coat his cock. She let it fall from her mouth to his tip where it dribbled down the shaft to her fingers. Her hand moved up and down in soft tugs smearing the spit around. She let more fall from her mouth but this time she followed it with her mouth, sinking down until she met her hand. A moan hit her ears and she sucked, hollowing her cheeks to apply pressure.

“Fuck you take my cock so good Princess. That’s it,” he murmured as she lifted up only to sink back down. Her hand moving in contrast creating a tantalizing effect. He lifted his head and stared down at her. His cock pulsed seeing her lips stretched thin around him. His cock shiny with her spit as she pulled off. Her tongue stroking the underside, flicking the small flap of skin from his head to his shaft. “You look so pretty with my cock in your mouth. Taking me so good…”

Melissa stared up at him from beneath her eyelashes. She moaned. The vibrations causing him to moan and hiss at the sensation. She sank back on his cock taking him deeper yet until her gag reflex and she popped off, her hand stroking up and down. She swallowed him again meeting her hand before she started bobbing.

“Oh fuck yeah,” Drew moaned. He threaded his hand through Melissa’s hair. His fingers twisting in the short strands. “So good… So good… Fuck Mel… that’s it…” he babbled. The words falling from his lips as she expertly worked his cock. She wasn’t even deep throating him. She didn’t need to. Between her hand and her tongue working the underside of his cock and her head bobbing…

Melissa moved her free hand from where it had been digging into his thigh to his balls. The movement caused his hips to snap sending his cock deeper into her throat. She pulled off with a cough, her eyes watered.

“Shit… sorry Lass…” Drew tensed trying to get his body back under control. The whisper teasing touch to his balls was like a bottle rocket going off.

Melissa held his cock in her head and lined it up with her mouth. She sank down again. This time she kept going. Breathing through her nose, she relaxed her throat until her forehead pressed against his stomach and her nose into the soft skin where his pubic hair should have been if not shaved clean. She pressed deeper yet and felt his cock pulse on her tongue. Drew’s hand tightened on her head and she felt a tremor coarse through his body. Concentrating as hard as she could, she worked her throat until she was able to swallow.

“Oh fuck!” Drew shouted feeling her throat close around the tip. He used the hand in her hair to yank her off him. He stared down at her with wide eyes, gasping as he sucked air into his lungs. Come leaked from his cock as he stared at her. Her watery eyes. Stained cheeks. Swollen lips. “If you want to swallow Daddy’s come, do that again.”

Melissa placed her hands on either of his thighs. She tugged at the gym shorts until she were finally free to fall to the ground giving her unfettered access to his body. The glorious body she was seeing for the first time. Drew’s hips may have been narrow and trim but they gave way to muscular thighs. Well defined hardened quads that made her want to place a knee on either side and press her pussy down and ride one.

“I want you to eat my pussy”

Drew’s eyes darkened. “Get your ass up here.” The words came out through gritted teeth.

She stood before him. Her hands teasing with the hem of his shirt as she hesitated in pulling it up her body. “I uh…” her eyes dropped away from his as embarrassment once again worked its way into the moment. “I’m not a little girl… I got some rolls…”

Drew reached out and pulled her back between his legs. His ran his hands up her thighs and over her hips. “I know exactly what you have and its held me in a damn near trance from the moment I carried your in my arms.” He leaned forward pressing his face against her chest. His arms wandering up her back. They hit no obstruction and he groaned. He turned his head and nuzzled a breast through the shirt. He lifted his hand holding the ample breast in his head as his tongue swirled around the nipple drawing it into his mouth. He sucked gently wetting the surrounding fabric.

Melissa gasped softly. Her arms wrapped around Drew’s shoulders cradling him to her breast. Her pussy clenched at the line of arousal triggered from the soft nip of his teeth on her nipple. “Drew…”

“Bare yourself to me Mel,” Drew whispered softly as he changed breasts. “Let me see you. Let me worship you…”

Melissa leaned back breaking Drew from her breast. She gripped the hem of her shirt and pulled it up over hear head in a quick motion. It dropped to the floor behind her and before she could blink, Drew was wrapping his arms around her waist pulling her back to him. His mouth latched onto her nipple once again. Her head fell back and she buried her fingers in his hair. The strands soft and silky like she thought.

“Such a good girl for me,” Drew murmured tracing his tongue around one hardened nipple. He blew gently on the taunt peak. “Get up here and lay down for me baby girl. Let me worship you like a real man should.”

Melissa climbed on the bed and lay in the center. She watched him with hooded eyes.

“You’re gorgeous,” Drew leaned down and kissed her. Only their second kiss after that fiery one at his bedroom door. He was almost lazy with his tongue strokes asking for her to let him in. The first taste had him threading his hand under her head at the back of her neck. Tilting her head for the perfect angle. Without breaking the kiss, he moved to straddle her.

“Drew…” Melissa moaned when he kissed down her neck. She turned her head, baring her neck much like she imagined doing in the darkness of her bedroom across the hall. Another moan left her lips feeling his teeth nip at the tendon. Her hands grappled at his sides trying to pull his body to her but he stubbornly held himself up. “Please…”

“Patience Sweet Girl… I’m not done worshipping you.” He kissed along her shoulder and back before moving down her chest. There he did what he said he was going to do. He worshipped both breasts. He drew one pebbled nipple into his mouth while he rolled the other between his thumb and forefinger. He bit gently grinning when he felt her hips rise searching.

When he switched, he let his hand trace down her stomach. Her hand threaded through his hair again, holding him to her breast. He felt movement near his face and cracked an eye open seeing her other hand kneading her breast. He watched as he flicked his tongue over her nipple where she pinched her nipple. Her lower body rocked back and forth and he let his hand finally drift toward her center.

His fingers met the downy soft curls framing her pussy before they reached heaven. He sank between her wet folds with his index and middle fingers. She was slick and ready to go. “So wet for Daddy…”

“I need you Daddy please,” Melissa whimpered as her hips chased his fingers.

“Listen to you begging for me,” Drew left her breast and kissed down her stomach paying attention to the feint stretch marks. He traced them with his tongue before placing kissing over each one. “You’re so beautiful…” In what felt like an eternity, he was finally between her legs. He scooted low on the bed to fit his shoulders between her legs and draw him up close to her pussy glistening with her arousal and previous orgasm. His cock twitched at the though of watching her fingers tease her clit and press deep inside her.

“Please eat my pussy,” Melissa hips continued to rock back and forth. Pressing up into the air searching for relief. “I need it so bad.”

Drew hummed as he traced a finger along her outer lips. Her thighs spread even wider in a wanton movement opening herself up wider for him. He hooked his hands under her thighs and wrapped them around her hips so he could hold her in place. He didn’t want her squirming away from his touch. He wanted to taste everything she had to offer.

One strip of his tongue up her center and he was forever hooked on the taste of her. “I wanna hear you Baby Girl. No one around for miles. Don’t you keep your screams from me.”

“I won’t. I won’t… Just please…” Melissa words fell off into a moan when Drew’s tongue touched her center. She pressed her head back onto the pillow as his tongue licked her from slit to clit. “Fuck,” she moaned as his tongue continued the long strokes as if he were cleaning up a spill. Each one starting at her opening and ending at her clit where he would give it a teasing nudge.

Drew licked up the remaining remnants of her earlier orgasm before he hardened his tongue and penetrated her hole. He pushed in as far as he could go. Like a cave explorer mining for the next rare mineral. Her taste and smell consumed him. It coated his beard and he never wanted it to fade. Wanted to be able to catch her scent whenever he was gone.

He extracted her nectar with his tongue. Her hips rocked against his face and he wanted to roll them over so he was beneath her. He wanted her knees on either side of his head and her pussy above him.  He wanted to feel her movements as she rode his face. Rocking and twisting as she chased her orgasm.

His tongue was wicked, drawing out moans and gasps from between her lips. He wound her up expertly with licks, sucks, and deep movements mirroring his cock. She gave him what he asked for. Her moans were louder than they ever been; free and unashamed of her arousal. He did it all with barely touching her clit – swollen and pulsing with need. Her fingers gripped the comforter on either side of her. Her hips moved in jerky movements hindered by his hands holding her in place. She hoped his fingers left marks. “Drew…”

“Nuh uh,” Drew clucked his tongue. “Who am I? Who is between your legs right now? Whose the one making you moan and beg?”

“Oh God…” Melissa sobbed as his tongue gave another teasing swipe over her clit. His head moved down taking that masterful muscle away from the place she needed it the most. It speared her once more, going as deep as it could. She could feel the tip working her walls collecting her essence as she produced it. Then it was gone and moving again but this time down more until she felt his tongue nudging at her pucker. “Oh…”

“Who am I Baby Girl?” Drew licked at the tight muscle pushing her hips up to give himself better access.

“I…” Melissa’s eyes nearly rolled to the back of her head when she felt his tongue enter her ass. It was a new sensation. She was never into anal play before. The weirdness soon gave way and she was pushing back against Drew trying to get him deeper. “Please…Oh God please…”

Drew hummed against her as he moved back to her front. He released one hand from her hip and sucked two fingers into his mouth. When they were slick with his spit, he quickly pressed them deep inside Melissa’s pussy. His moan joined hers feeling her clench tightly around him. “Whose pussy is this Melissa? Who’s making you feel this good?”

“Oh God you. You are,” Melissa sobbed as she rocked on his fingers. The tension was coiling deep in her belly. The familiar pull winding tighter and tighter. She was almost there, but it wasn’t enough to send her over. “Please. I need to come. Make me come…”

“Who am I Mel? Who’s making you a mess right now? Be a good girl Mel..”

“Oh God,” Melissa clenched around him at the mention of being a good girl. God she wanted to be both his good girl and naughty girl. “I am a good girl. You’re good girl…”

“That’s right,” Drew murmured as he worked his fingers in and out of her slick, swollen hole. He licked at the entrance, shifted his free hand to press against her stomach in an effort to keep her from moving too much. “You are my good girl… I bet you’d come right now if I rolled you over and spanked you.”

“Please… oh please… Daddy…Daddy I need…” She felt wetness gush from her at the thought. There was little doubt in her mind that she wouldn’t explode from one swat on her ass.

“Shhhh… Daddy’s got you. He knows what you need… taking my fingers so well. I can’t wait to see my cock sliding in and out of you.”

“Yes… please… I need your cock Daddy.”

“You’ll get my cock as soon as you come all over my beard. Now Baby Girl,” he withdrew his fingers and latched onto her clit. He sucked it into his mouth, his tongue flickering over it. He barely had enough time to wrap his hand back around her waist. Her hips shot off the bed as she a scream tore from her lips. His eyes drifted shut as her orgasm washed over her. He sent his tongue deep inside her taking everything she offered.

He kept his hold tight until he felt her body slowly relax back into the mattress. Her body spasmed. Tiny little jumps of her legs. He slowed his licks before withdrawing completely. He sat up on his hunches and stared down at her; watching and waiting.

Melissa’s eyes fluttered open and she turned her head to see Drew smiling down at her. His grin wide. “You don’t have to look so cocky.”

Drew chuckled and fell back over her, catching himself on his hand before he crushed her. “You are…my new favorite taste.” His grin widened seeing her blush. “Next time I want you to sit on my face so I can drink it straight down. Like a nectar from the Gods.”

Melissa was afraid her face was going to be permanently red from all the blushing she was doing. She raised her hand to cup his face and drew him down for a kiss. She moaned softly tasting herself on his lips. Her lips parted as did his and this time, her tongue chased the taste into his mouth. She ended the kiss with a nip to his bottom lip. The movement had his hips pressing into hers. His hard cock nudging against her center. She spread her legs in welcome. “I feel as if I’ve been a good girl. Give me your cock Drew.” She took a swipe across his lips with her tongue. “Fuck me like you wanted to do when I was bent over the center console of your truck.”

Drew groaned and reached for his cock. He stroked it a couple times before lining it up with Melissa’s center. He looked at her with questioning eyes giving her the chase to put an end to their craziness, but she looked at him with trusting eyes and other emotions he wasn’t sure he wanted to name. He pushed in and a long moan tore from his lips as her heat enveloped him. She was tight – her walls gripping him. He pulled out when he was only half way in. His cock came out covered in her creamy arousal and he sank back in.

“Fuck fuck fuck,” Melissa chanted. Her fingers gripped his biceps, her nails digging into his skin. She was right. The stretch was delicious. She’d never felt so full.

“You’re so tight…” Drew reached the hilt; his hips against hers. His cock fully inside her. He blinked his eyes open, staring down at her. His pupils blown wide with desire. “I’m going to wreck this pussy for everybody else.”

“Good because it’s yours Daddy.”

“Fuck yeah it is,” Drew pulled all the way out only to sink back in. He did this a couple times to let Melissa get used to him. When her eyes flashed with annoyance he gave her a grin and snapped his hips home causing her to moan. The moan was choked off by another when he pulled out and slammed home again.

“Drew…” Melissa gasped raising her hips to meet his. He settled into a rhythm. A torrid pace. Hips slapping against hips. His pubic bone assaulting her clit each time causing her to moan wildly as pleasure began to build once again.

A fine layer of sweat covered Drew’s body. His heart pounded rapidly in his chest. She begged him to fuck her and that’s what he was doing. Like a piston on a car engine his hips moved. A pace he wouldn’t be able to sustain for a long time, but he didn’t need to. His own orgasm was in his grasp. Building from the moment she accused him of wanting to take her back to his lair to murder.

She was partially right. He did want to take her back to his lair and he did want to do nefarious things to her. Like fuck her senseless.

“Drew… Please…” Melissa’s hands wrapped around his back and pulled him down to her. She welcomed his weight on her. She hiked her legs higher changing the angle of his thrusts. A moan tore from her lips.

“Do I need to pull out?’ Looking back Drew would be proud of himself for even having the wherewithal to ask such a question.

“Fuck…” Melissa moaned. “No… In me. Please come in me. Give me your come Daddy…”

“Fuck,” Drew answered with a gasped breath. He pushed himself up and caught Melissa’s leg tossing it over his shoulder. He moved rolling his hips up to the new angle.

“Oh!” Melissa gasped as Drew’s cock hit deep inside her. Each trust caused her body to tremble and shake. Her breath hitched. “Oh… oh… oh…. I’m gonna come. I’m gonna come.”

“Come on my cock like a good girl Mel.” Drew forced out between clenched teeth. Sweat beaded on his forehead and he stared down at her watching as her eyes fell shut and her lips parted. “Let me hear you Sweet Girl. Scream as you come on this dick.”

Melissa screamed out Drew’s name as her body exploded and she was tossed over a cliff.

“Oh fuck…fuck… fuck…” Drew chanted as Melissa clamped down on him. He felt warmth coat his cock and a wetness run over his balls. With one final curse, he slammed home. His cock pressed deep inside her as his orgasm exploded over him. His cock pulsed shooting rope after rope of come with each gasping breath. Each time his cock pulsed her body clenched around him sending shivers down his spine. It felt like got zapped with a large electrical current. All his nerve endings were firing at once.

He slumped over Melissa, still breathing heavily. His body twitching sporadically. His heart threatened to beat right out of his chest and he drew in big breaths in order to help his oxygen deprived lungs.

“I uhm… I think I made a mess…”

Drew lifted his head at the embarrassment in Melissa’s voice. He stared down at her and ran a finger down her cheek. “That’s because you squirted all over my cock like a fucking good little girl.” He moaned softly feeling her clench around his softening cock still tucked inside her warm, wet heat. “Fuck that was so hot.”

“I’ve never done that before…”

“Good,” Drew’s voice was smug as he dipped down to kiss her possessively. When he broke the kiss he pushed himself off her with a groan. His legs threatened to give out once he was standing but he was able to lock them in. He reached for her hand. “Come on. Let’s shower and I’ll change the sheets.”

The shower took longer than expected when Drew’s wondering hands coaxed another orgasm from Melissa’s trembling body with his fingers deep insider her. He then sucked those fingers between his lips, licking every bit of her come from them before the shower washed it away. When they were finally back in the bedroom, she helped him change the bedding trying not to be too embarrassed by the big wet spot.

“Sleep Baby Girl,” Drew murmured once they were snuggled beneath his blankets. Her head on his chest. Her leg tangled with his. His fingers combing through her hair. They drifted off to sleep in a matter of moments.

*~*

The sound of meowing pulled Melissa from a deep sleep. She groaned and snuggled deeper into the covers. A furry face pressed nudged hers and she turned her head away. “Go away Loki. It’s my day off.” The nudging persisted no matter which way she turned her head. With another groan she was forced to open her eyes.

And nearly screamed.

The cat staring back at her was not Loki but a huge Maine Coon. Had she left the door open last night and a cat wondered into her apartment? With a gasp she sat up. The cat jumped from the bed. Its paws hit the floor with a thud as it scampered across the floor struggling to find traction. If it was a cartoon, the carpet would have been bunched up under its feet. She stared around the room that was most definitely not her bedroom as last night slammed in to her.

Work.

Lost.

Wreck.

Stranger.

Sex.

More sex.

Her face warmed and she covered it with her hands. Her muscles protested politely… deliciously. Her inner woman purred contently.

Or that could have been another cat.

She had sex with a stranger last night. More than once after she woke sometime during the night to him slipping his cock inside her from behind. He apologized for not asking in her ear as he seated himself only to be shushed by her words.

‘This is your pussy…’

She didn’t even recognize the woman from last night. A delirious woman strung out on lack of sleep. She must still not be fully recovered because she was definitely thinking about round three. The smart thing to do would be to get out of bed, get her clothes on and call someone about her car… and her animals.

“Shit,” she muttered and tossed the blankets back revealing her naked body. She shivered against the slight chill in the room and wanted nothing more than to curl back up under the blankets. She found her discarded shirt still laying on the floor and slipped it on. The hallway was empty as she made her way back to the bedroom she was supposed to sleep in last night. She froze when she stared at the dresser.

It was empty.

Not only were her clothes not there, but neither were the pair of shorts she chose not to wear last night. She turned around in the room thinking maybe she wasn’t remembering correctly, but there were no clothes. None on the bathroom counter or laying on the floor. None messed up in the unmade bed. None on the floor on the other side of the bed. Even her bag proved to be void of her clothes.

‘Did he take her clothes in an attempt to keep her hostage?’

Melissa’s eyes darted to the doorway but Drew didn’t appear. The house seemed quiet though the smell of coffee filled the air. She nearly let her nose lead the way but forced herself to stay put. Her phone still laid on the bedside table; still on the charger. Breathing a sigh of relief she quickly picked it up and breathed a sigh of relief seeing full bars.

“I do like seeing you in my shirt Lass.”

Melissa whirled around at the voice a soft gasp falling from her lips. Her heart kicked up an extra beat or two. From being scared or the fact Drew stood in the doorway wearing nothing but the same low slung gym shorts from the night before. His chest bare. In his hands were two coffee mugs. Steam billowing from the tops.

The smile on Drew’s lips fell when he noticed the phone in Melissa’s hand and the way her eyes darted around the room; settling on anywhere but him. ‘Regret,’ he bit back a sigh. He should have known. He pasted a smile on his lips though he didn’t feel it. He raised his hand, nodding toward the coffee cup. “I brought you coffee. I wasn’t sure how you took it. I have cream and sugar in the kitchen. I ah… left out ketamine.”

Melissa’s eyes shot from the coffee mug where she found herself staring more at his fingers – the same fingers he pressed deep inside her not that long ago to his eyes. His expression was guarded but his lips twitched in jest at his joke. She blew out a breath forcing herself to relax. “But the towel I’m gonna use to dry my face after I wash it is soaked in chloroform?”

“You caught me.” Drew grinned. “I was just finishing setting up my dark and sinister murder dungeon.”

“New leg shackles for me?” She felt her herself begin to smile with their light teasing.

“I went all out for you.” He watched as her eyes drifted back to her phone. “You can call anyone you want. I’m not holding you hostage… not unless you want me to tie you down.”

Warmth shot through her at his words. The ghost feel of cool leather straps buckled around her wrists holding her to the headboard of Drew’s bed. A matching set holding her ankles down. Her legs spread. Her pussy on display. Her body quivering in anticipation. Unable to get away; having to take what he gave her. Begging him to touch her. Begging him to stop teasing. Begging for his cock…

“Never play poker Lass,” Drew’s voice was gruff. His body tingled with awareness as he watched the emotions playing on Melissa’s face. The open want. Pupils dilating. The blue of her eyes darkening. His cock twitched behind the gym shorts he wore completely interested in finding out more about the look. Right now it was taking everything he had to keep his own eyes on her face and not on her bare thighs and the hem of his t-shirt. Fingers ready to divest her of that blasted article of clothing and the promise of heaven it hid.

“Why?” Melissa asked, her head tilting in confusion.

“Because it’s telling me right now that you wouldn’t mind being tied up in my lair…”

Her face heated and she dropped her eyes. He was definitely right. She wouldn’t mind being held hostage here…Wetness pooled at her center and her pussy clenched in excitement as a wave of arousal coursed through her lighting every single one of her nerves until her body was humming. Her nipples hardened beneath her shirt and she pressed her thighs together. She took a breath in an order to cool herself, but she knew stepping into a freezer wasn’t enough to kill the heat Drew cultivated within her. “So you do have a lair!”

Drew’s laugh was strangled. Melissa crossed her arms as her exclamation. The shirt she wore rose at the movement baring more of those thick thighs he wanted wrapped back around his waist. The hem sat dangerously close to exposing her center. The movement also pushed her breasts up and together. Hardened nipples poking through. He had to lock his knees before he sank to them ready to worship. “I held off making breakfast to let you sleep. I heard you moving around up here…”

“A cat woke me…kept nudging me. Probably wanted me to get out of his spot.” She turned from Drew to look toward the window. The curtains were drawn shut blocking out the weather outside. “How’s the weather?”

“Someone really shook up the snow globe,” Drew said as he placed the coffee mug he brought Melissa on the bedside table. “It’s still coming down pretty good out there. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is almost a foot.”

“Damn…” Melissa sighed, a frown on her lips. Her face crunched in disappointment. “No way I can go home?” She looked at him with a hopeful look on her face.

Drew shook his head. It was one of the first things he checked when he woke earlier at the incessant meowing from Fat Toby demanding to be feed. He didn’t make it very far out his front door before realizing they were definitely stuck. “Sorry Lass. There’s a lot of snow out there. I have a tractor to clear my drive and I can plow a path out on the road, but I don’t know how far I would be able to take you. With the snow still coming down, the plows probably haven’t been anywhere near my place.”

He hated to see the disappointment on Melissa’s face. It twisted him up inside. “I promise you’ll be safe here. I have plenty of food. Generator if the electric goes out. Plenty of firewood for the fireplace…”

“And my clothes.”

The words caused Drew to freeze. The accusatory tone. “I tossed them into the laundry when I threw my travel clothes in. They should be just about done.”

“And the shorts you gave me?”

“The shorts?” Drew looked around the room and for the first time realized how baron it looked. A hotel room was more welcoming. During his time off he was definitely going to upgrade his guest room. “I must have picked them up when I grabbed your clothes. They should be just about done. I’ll go check.”

Drew was gone before she could sat anything. She sighed and reached for the coffee he brought her. The liquid was still hot, like he took it off burner and poured her a fresh cup. She moaned at the taste. She sat on the bed, but quickly stood realizing the show she’d be giving when he returned. Though…

Giving her head a shake she lifted her phone. There were a few missed calls and texts. Her boss. Co workers. Friends. Neighbors. Of course the time she wasn’t on her phone and readily available everyone wanted to talk to her. She could stare at the device all day and no receive a call. She checked in with her boss and co-workers. Telling them an abridged version leaving out a lot of details. Then she checked in with one of her neighbors. They were friendly enough to exchange keys in case of emergencies but not real close. She blamed that on the decade age difference. Her neighbor promised to look after her pets until she could make it back home.

“Sorry about that,” Drew said as he come back into the room carrying Melissa’s clothes and the shorts. “I also have some sweats if you’re cold.”

Melissa shook her head and accepted her freshly washed clothes. She was disappointed in the time he left and returned, he’d thrown on a t-shirt. His hair was brushed back into a low pony tail. Compared to him, she felt naked. She practically was. “These are fine. Thank you.”

“I’ll leave you now. Please make yourself at home. I’ll be downstairs if you need anything.”

He was gone again at her thanks and Melissa tossed the clothes to the bed and went into the bathroom. She washed her face and brushed her teeth. A travel sized deodorant was unearthed from her bag thanking herself for the foresight to carry a small toiletry bag with her. The bag was filled with small items she might need in case she needed to refresh herself.

Back in the bedroom she crossed her arms in front of her and gripped the edge of the shirt ready to pull it over her head and change back into her clothes. She hesitated.

What if…

She shook her head and pulled the shirt up baring her bottom before she stopped again. Maybe fate decided to work in her favor for once. Toss her a little gift…

A six foot five gift from Scotland…

She just had to unwrap it.

Her arms dropped away from her shirt. It fell back down her body; the fabric tickling her thighs. She stared at her clothes on the bed. The plain white bra and black underwear peaking out of the tangle of her blue scrubs.

Melissa licked her lips thinking of what was hidden beneath Drew’s shirt. The hardened chest with bulging pec muscles. Sloped shoulders. Flat stomach with a happy trail she wanted to follow with her tongue. Powerful biceps strong enough to lift her up and press her against a wall. Hands big enough to splay over her wide hips…

Her body hummed with arousal.

She had two options. Get dressed and spend the next day existing in the same space as Drew waiting for the hours to pass until the roads were clear and she could get home or she could spend those same hours expanding a one night stand; shaking her inhibitions allowing herself to be sexually free with someone who seemed to be just as willing to explore her sexual desires. When would she ever get the chance to be with someone like Drew?

After plugging in her phone, she squared her shoulders and left the room leaving behind her scrubs…

…and underwear.

The creak of the stairs gave her away. Drew placed his cellphone down on the arm of the couch and turned his head when Melissa came into view. His lips parted and his breath released as his eyes scanned her body. The shirt clinging to all her curves. Bare legs down to her bare feet. His cock hardened and his hand fisted on cushion beside his thigh. Awareness swarmed him. He watched as she entered the room; her eyes never leaving his. He felt caught in crosshairs. Pinned. Unable to move.

He couldn’t find himself to care.

His body lit. Arousal built. His muscles tensed. She stood in front of him like a goddess stepping from his dreams. Before he could lean forward and press his face into the soft cushion of her belly and wrap his arms around her, she was climbing into his lap. He leaned back against the back of the couch. His hands raising to her hips. Fingers splayed over the offending fabric keeping him from that soft skin. Her knees came to rest on either side of his hips and then the heat of her center was pressed against his straining hard cock. His fingers dug into her skin as he gripped her hips and he moaned as her hips moved on his cock.

“You don’t have panties on…” He hissed at her movements and flex his hips, pressing up against her.

“It’s my only pair…need to conserve them…” Melissa’s hands held onto his shoulders as she rocked on his lap. His hard cock at her center. Only his shorts keeping it from being inside her.

“You move passed thinking I’m going to kill you?”

“Maybe not with a knife across the throat but probably with that big cock of yours…” Melissa’s breath caught as his hard length caught her clit and she sought to find that feeling again, rocking in a way to stimulate her clit. She dropped her head back her eyes drifting close. She could feeling the liquid practically dripping from her soaking the front of his shorts. Fire lit deep in her belly.

“Get in the bedroom now,” Drew growled. His hands held her so hard, her hips could barely move. He held her still so he could rock up in to her. The scent of her arousal filled his nose, clouding his mind. Breakfast a distant memory. The only thing he cared about was sinking his dick deep inside Melissa.

“No,” Melissa dropped her head to stare down at him. Her thighs pressed against his. Her fingers digging into the hard muscles of his shoulders. “Right here. Wanna ride you…”

Drew groaned and quickly reached to push his shorts down enough to free his cock. His cock stood up, painfully hard. The head already leaking. “Ride me baby…Let me feel that pussy.”

Melissa lifted her hips and slowly sank down on Drew. Her soaking wet walls made it easy for him to slide in. Their groans mixed when she was fully seated, his cock deep inside her. She clenched around him milking him. A shivered worked through her. She locked eyes and started rocking feeling the push and pull of his cock on her lips.

“Fuck yeah,” Drew breathed. His hands drifted down from her hips to her ass. He pulled the shirt up and out of the way until he was holding nothing but skin. Deliciously soft, warm skin. “That’s right. Ride Daddy’s cock…” He helped her rock on him. Pulling her down as he pushed up pushing his cock completely inside her. “I wanna get you on your hands and knees…” he rubbed his hands over her ass. “This ass up in the air for me…fuck you just like that. Fucking into you so hard and so deep. My hips slapping against your ass…” he swatted her ass with a hand. The slap echoing in the room. “God you’re perfect,” he moaned when she clenched around him, her breath catching.

When his hands slid up the small of her back, Melissa reached for the hem of the shirt and this time, she whipped it over her head. Her breasts bounced free. Nipples at attention begging for Drew’s mouth and he didn’t disappoint. She moaned and dug her fingers into his hair when his lips closed around her nipple drawing it into his mouth.

“Yes,” she hissed and arched her back. The movement pressed her breast further into his mouth and her pussy into his crotch. A shock rocketed up her body as her clit rubbed against his body and she moved quicker.

“That’s it. Ride my cock Mel,” Drew whispered as he enveloped her other nipple. His tongue stroking over the pebble. His teeth clamped down in a tiny nip. It drew a moan from his own mouth when she clenched him harder. He felt his hair fall in his face as she pulled the elastic free. His cock pulsed. “You’re gonna make me come already… you’re pussy feels that good. I can’t get enough. I fucking hope it snows forever so I can keep fucking you…”

Melissa cried out when his fingers dipped between them finding her clit. Her movements turned into a frenzy. She wasn’t sure if she was chasing his cock or his fingers. They both felt so good. His cock hard and hot, stretching her to the limits. Hitting deep inside her. Each stroke hitting a spot that made her see stars and bring tears to her eyes. His fingers slippery with her juices circling over her clit. Her body trembled.

“Come all over my cock Mel,” Drew watched the emotions flickering over her face. The gasping sob she released made him feel powerful. “Come on Daddy’s cock. Be a good little girl Mel. Let Daddy hear you…”

With a wail loud enough to make the neighbors concerned – if there were any – Melissa burst. Her orgasm washed over her, pouring all over his cock. Her breaths came out in gasps as her muscles clenched and her body twitched. She had no control over her body anymore. Drew grasped her hips moving her frantically up and down his cock. Then he was groaning loudly and she felt his come pumping into her. She moan softly as her body twitched. She clenched around him greedily trying to pull his come into her.

She collapsed against his chest breathing heavily. Her eye lids heavy. Love drunk or come drunk she wasn’t sure. Whichever it was, she was glad she made the decision to throw caution to the wind and live a little. If he ended up killing her, well at least she had good dick before she died.

“What were you doing out this way?” Drew’s voice vibrated in her ear where she had her head on his chest. His fingers caressed softly up and down her naked back.

“Going to a client’s house. I’m a home health nurse. He’s a crochety old man recovering from heart surgery. You probably know him since no one else seems to live on this road. George?”

Drew thought for a moment then shook his head. “No George lives around here that I know. Steve and Kim are the next house up a few miles. Then Doug and Sue. Gary.”

Melissa frowned and lifted her head. Her eyes met his. Her heart thudded at the lazy look in his eyes. Blue eyes as bright as the Florida sky where she vacationed the previous summer. The way her heart turned over should worry her, but her body was too sated to care. “Are you sure? George lives on West Mountain Road… 5674 West Mountain Road.”

Drew chuckled. The sound was soft at first before growing louder. Melissa face morphed into confusion causing him to laugh louder. When he was finally able to wrangle in his laughter his voice was still laced with merriment.

“Lass this is East Mountain Road…”

Embarrassment shrouded her. Once again her lack of direction foiled her. “I’m uh… not very good with directions…”

Drew grinned and cupped the side of her face. “Oh that’s not true Lass…” He slipped his hand through her hair and pulled her forward. His nose traced along her cheek as he breathed hotly. A soft growl rumbling from his throat. He felt her quiver and smiled. “You’ve followed my directions really well. Coming when I asked you to. Screaming my name so loud I bet Steve heard you all the way at his house…”

Melissa read plenty of smut romance novels and she found when the author wrote about the male growling, she never imagined it correctly. The sound coming from Drew’s lips directly into her ear sent shivers down her spine. Her pussy fluttered and she rocked gently hard to believe she was ready to go again. She could feel him hardening inside her. “You know… Scheherazade told a thousand tales to keep the King from killing her… I bet I can put a modern twist on that…”

“What’s that?” Drew’s breath caught as she rocked on him. The squelch of their coupling echoed in the room. His come already lubing her channel making the slide easier. He pressed into her; a tremor working over his body. A tiny little quake as blood rushed to his cock pulsing once again with need.

“I just gotta keep giving you my pussy every day.”

Drew groaned. “Fuck yeah,” he breathed. “You let me have this pussy every day and I won’t murder you. Keep ya chained to my bed for the rest of your life with my cock inside of you…”

Melissa lifted up off Drew’s lap. Her legs a little wobbly and weak from being in the crouched position. She took his hand and pulled him up. His come leaked down the insides of her thighs. His cock coated with their combined cream. Her mouth watered as she pushed his shorts down his legs to the floor. She wanted to swallow his cock and taste their flavors. Her hands moved quickly pulling at his shirt until he whipped it over his head. When he was gloriously naked she bent over the arm of the couch. Her ass in the air. She widened her stance to open herself up. “Please fuck me and don’t hold back.”

“Yes ma’am.” Drew moved to stand behind her. His hand gripped the base of his cock as he pushed his cock through her folds. A few more teasing movements had her ass pressing back to him. He sunk into her, sliding all the way to the hilt. His hips once again resting against her ass. He stared down at where they met, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth. Her pussy spread around his cock. Her pale ass begging for his hand prints. “The king had a thousand nights…” he said as he slowly pulled out. Her pussy gripping him tightly in an attempt to keep him locked inside.

Melissa moaned, ducking her head as her hands gripped the leather cushion. The position might be her favorite. The way he seemed to be able to slide deeper. The feel of his hard thighs and coarse leg hair against the back of her thighs. The strong grip of his hands on her wide hips holding her in place. She gasped as he pushed back in with a tantalizing slow movement. Her back arched and her head tipped back. His hand snaked up her chest to her neck where his fingers pressed gently. Her breath stuttered as he pulled her up with a light squeeze. She sank on his cock as her back hit his chest. His hand still on her neck is a firm grip. Her pussy clenched around his cock, fluttering frantically as she coated his cock. Her clit was swollen and pulsing, peaking from between her folds.

“Am I gonna get that many?” Drew growled in her ear, nipping the lobe with his teeth.

“To start…”

Drew dropped his hand down her body to her clit. One press of his finger sent her careening off a cliff in orgasmic bliss. When she slumped over the arm of the couch, he gripped her hips and started his chase.

[damagedintellect]

Skk Brainrot for Chuuya’s BDay

💌 When I said chibi was my dog this is not what I meant : Chapter 1  💌  

Summary: The minute he stepped into Mori's office Chuuya was already annoyed. While the Mafia dealt with foreign imports of all kinds, being told to investigate the strange influx of Stray Dogs across Yokohama wasn’t his ideal use of his skill set. Chuuya has always liked animals, animal's also liked Chuuya and he's always wanted a dog. He never expected to become a dog. The irony of Dazai calling him a dog all these years makes him want to scream. His ex partner has always been vocal about his disdain for two things. Now Chuuya is somehow both, and Dazai is the only one who can change him back.

Notes: Happy Birthday Chuuya~ I wanted to post something for Chuuya's birthday & this has been sitting in my drafts. Eventually this will have more than one chapter because I see the vision I just haven't had the time to write for it. Gonna base all the dogs on WAN.

💌 Word count: 3,754 💌  You Are Here | Next Chapter coming soon

The port mafia was practically "in charge" of every illegal trade in Yokohama so the sudden influx of stray dogs, breeds that were not known for being popular in Japan, tipped Mori off. He couldn't help but sigh rolling his eyes because he probably should have someone look into it. As silly as the situation may have seemed the Port Mafia has a reputation to uphold. Although the juxtaposition of sending an executive to investigate was also incredibly ridiculous but Mori has seen animals gravitate to the young man and knowing that a certain partner used to claim all the time that Chuuya was his dog, brought back a level of nostalgia that plastered a smile on his face. Chuuya on the other hand was less than pleased with this position. The mafia’s greatest combatant being used as a sheepdog to herd in a bunch of no names to the slaughter was a waste of time in his personal opinion. Don't get him wrong, he'll do it because Mori's command is law but he's still going to complain about it. 

The investigation didn't actually take him that long to trace it back to a series of missing people reports. One person went missing and suddenly there was a new dog on the streets. Although it seemed pretty cut and dry it was still concerning that the authorities haven't done anything about the disappearances. Most of the cases occurred near the edge of town where plenty of abandoned facilities were located. It was possible whoever was behind this was hiding there. Chuuya had only assumed what was happening, he had a hunch that it wasn't even animal's being imported. The power of science was a bizarre field to him, after all, he contained a power equal to that of a God.

What he didn’t expect was for it to actually be someone's ability. Why let the dogs out on the street if it was someone’s ability? He only had more questions but Chuuya didn't care one way or the other because what difference would it make to him. He was given the order to take them out regardless. Mori wanted the facility intact for further investigation after the group was swiftly dealt with but it was more of an afterthought. Chuuya didn't even bother taking reinforcements; he simply walked through the front door and watched as they realized nothing could touch him. He cleared out floors left and right until the only way down to the lower levels was an elevator. His ability should have been able to handle whatever trap had been set but then the room filled with gas, one of the very few things his ability had no effect on. Chuuya could only hold his breath for so long and despite manipulating the drop from the elevator to compensate for the impact of fall damage, he was already dizzy. By the time he forced the doors open, with a few steps out of the elevator he found himself collapsing to the floor.

His head had a dull ache that spread to the rest of his body. They didn’t kill or physically harm him yet which could only mean they want information but they must be more stupid than they look to not even bother trying to restrain him. All they did was put a cloth over him. His joints were sore as he tried to clutch his head. When he shifted the cloth fell off revealing not a hand but a paw. He wiggled out of what used to be his clothes to get a better look at himself. Observing the new changes to his body, he was a dog. A fluffy chihuahua if he had to guess by his reflection in the glass across from him. They seemed to have put him in some examination room. He turned around and shook his tail. The feeling of an extra limb was more apparent and weird but he didn't have time to dwell on it for too long. Someone was going to pay.

The familiar red glow covered his form as he continued what he came here to do. Being a dog wouldn’t matter in the end. He'd just change back after he killed the ability user, but even after clearing the building he didn’t. He ran up and down the empty halls struggling with the new sensation of walking. The panic was starting to set in. He still hadn't changed back and there was not a soul left in sight at the entire facility. That means they got away before Chuuya woke up. He grit his teeth. He didn't know how long he was out for and tracking them down would be a pain in the ass in the state he was in. The only thing that gave him some relief was that he came alone and that none of his comrades were in this predicament. He could only imagine the chaos an entire division of dogs would do.

Trying to sift through files with paws was a nightmare. It took all of his self control to not destroy everything in this godforsaken lab. Chuuya just hoped this weird organization didn't send back up his way otherwise he was screwed. He couldn't find anything important and his patience was running extremely low with how long it was taking to even grab a file from the desk. If he was human it would take him two minutes to settle this whole endeavor. Chuuya stopped dropping the papers from his mouth.

If he was human.

A wave of dread washed over him as he realized there was one person who could fix this.

Dazai.

He really didn't want to see the mackerel especially not like this but what else could he do. He couldn’t go back to headquarters like this. He couldn’t even phone for someone to help him, he tried. Even if someone picked up he could only bark and hoped they understood. All Dazai would need to do was touch him but there was one glaring problem with that. Dazai hates dogs. He wouldn't voluntarily approach them let alone pet one out in the wild. If Chuuya tackled him to the ground he would be forced to at least touch him right? He took off in the direction of the ADA without a second thought. Completely forgetting about his hat, his phone and the rest of his belongings. He sure had a lot of faith in Dazai’s ability.

Chuuya was exhausted halfway there. Walking on all fours was miserable considering the distance he had to cover and he was even using his ability to help travel which probably only made him more tired. Luckily it was so late in the night there weren't a lot of people or cars around. By the time he made it to the agency building he was ready to collapse. He sat by the door as the sun was already starting to rise. It would be hours before Dazai would show up. He let himself sleep in the meantime he was too tired to try and fight it.

“What’s going on here?”

A voice stirred Chuuya awake from his sleep but he didn’t want to wake up yet not after the night he’s had. He could sleep in a little more right? He didn't have to make his report immediately. He contemplated just how long he would sleep in before another voice joined the conversation.

“Hey Mr. Kunikida.”

Chuuya swears he’s heard the name before but it doesn’t fully click why. He was about to get up when he felt a hand smoothing out his hair. A warm feeling washed over him preventing him from wanting to move. He let the voices talk while he leaned into the unknown touch still keeping his eyes closed. 

“A lost dog, did you really think things through before bringing it here? Listen, it's a lot of responsibility taking care of a living creature.”

Lost dog

That broke Chuuya out of his pleasant stupor. He opened his eyes and got up abruptly. He was sitting in the white haired kids lap while a bunch of agency members were surrounding him. None of them were the one he needed to see.

“Dazai!” he tried shouting as he scrambled out of the kid’s grasp to find the waste of bandages. He briskly dodged the many hands that tried to grab for him. Finally being small came in handy for once. He cringed that he admitted that to himself. Chuuya sniffed the air and sure enough he could tell exactly where the brunette was sitting at his desk. As he bolted around the corner he jumped into Dazai’s lap almost knocking him out of his chair. He was pawing at Dazai’s chest trying to explain what happened to him but it only came out as incoherent barking.

Dazai frowned. All of his coworkers were fawning over an ugly mutt while he was making it a point to actually do some work. It was just a dog and a lost one no less. It already had an owner. What was so special about it? He had made his distaste for the animal apparent when Atsushi brought him up the stairs. Hadn’t he ever heard the phrase “let sleeping dogs lie” before? A single bark rang out from the conference corner causing him to turn his head before everyone’s panicked cries could be heard. It must have woken up and the amount of people surrounding the dog scared it away. Dazai should be fine at his desk or so he thought. The small runt tackled him almost making him lose his balance yapping up a storm. He frowned, glaring at the dog but that only made it continue barking and pawing at him. 

“Okay that’s enough.” Dazai snapped, holding the dog up with both hands. It was weird the dog stopped his infernal yelping, its eyes seemingly growing wide as both its tail and ears slumped downwards. Did the dog understand that it was being scolded? 

Atsushi stood in front of Dazai making sure the dog was okay “I thought you didn’t like dogs?”

“I don’t. Here, you take him.” 

The statement was dismissive as he tried to hand Chuuya off to Atsushi but before he could get a proper hold on him Chuuya jumped on to Dazai’s desk and started growling at the tiger boy. Dazai perked up again at the sudden change in the dog’s mood. 

“Maybe he can tell you’re a tiger.” he stated playfully.

“Or maybe he likes you, Dazai.”

Chuuya started barking again, taking an aggressive stance towards Dazai’s protege. Dazai stifled a laugh looking over the dog. It was a red long haired Chihuahua. The fur almost seemed unnaturally orange for a dog and paired with the black collar around its neck it almost reminded him of a certain slug. Maybe this dog was a Chuu-huahua with how little it’s temper was. 

"We should call him Chibi because he's so small." Dazai wanted to take a picture, draw Chuuya’s tacky hat on the dog and then send the picture to him. Of course he wasn’t going to because that was effort he didn't want to waste on the small creature but he still had the thought cross his mind.

Before Chuuya could bark in protest the president stepped into the room to address the obscure racket. They filled him in on the situation as Dazai resumed working, nudging Chuuya to get off the paper he was writing on and then completely ignored the dog. Naturally Chuuya stepped aside at a loss of what to do. The president was pretty okay with the agency taking care of the runaway for now until they found his owner but they would never find his owner since Chuuya wasn’t actually a dog. He hadn’t even noticed he was still wearing his choker which is probably why they thought he was lost. It fit loosely around his neck but since his coat of fur was so fluffy it wasn’t that obvious it didn’t fit him properly.

Chuuya was gutted that he didn’t turn back immediately but if he could just get Dazai’s attention the brunette would put it together. They could communicate nonverbally in the past with just a look. All Chuuya had to do was to make the stupid mackerel realize it’s him. He put his paw on one of the books discarded to the side. If he could make it float then his ex partner was sure to put it together right, but nothing happened. There was no red glow in fact Chuuya couldn’t even feel Arahabaki anymore not since the president said they would take him in. Was it possible that being a dog got rid of his ability? That can’t be right since he used it a few hours ago. He was more confused than worried. Dazai wasn't touching him; he should be able to use it. Chuuya grit his teeth but tried to appear calm. Chuuya glanced towards the president, was it possible it was his doing? He didn't actually know if the president had a special ability but it's also not like he doesn’t remember N explaining that animals are not capable of manifesting special abilities. It's just peculiar that he was able to use it when he first turned. Maybe it took him a while to fully transition to being a dog?

 He didn’t have much time to think about it as Kunikida tried to pick him up off the desk. He kicked his hand away and growled again. He refused to let anyone come near him. Chuuya might be a dog but he didn’t want to be touched again. Knowing how good it feels to be pet and pampered he’s afraid he’ll lose himself in the warmth, plus he needs to focus. His train of thought crashed when Dazai patted his head calmly saying “No one’s going to hurt you here. You can stop your growling. It’s annoying.” 

He didn’t miss the glint of daggers in the other’s eyes, it was oddly comforting. If it was anyone else he would have bit them but right now Dazai was the only one he trusted. Chuuya nodded at Dazai causing him to pause. Chuuya would smirk if he could because he understood what that look meant. It was a subtle gesture but since he’s known Dazai for years and in that split second he could tell the other was caught off guard. 

Dazai blinked, did the dog just nod at him? It was getting increasingly difficult to dislike this dog when it kept peaking his interest. Most animals have always hated him but cats usually were the only exception. They say that animals can judge a person’s character and it seems like every small creature in Yokohama, including a certain slug, got the memo but this is twice now that this dog seemed to understand his words. Not even the cats that approached him displayed such obvious strange behavior. He could also be reading too much into this situation because he simply didn’t want to be working right now but that was more to spite everyone over the dumb dog.

Before anyone else could touch Chuuya, he jumped down and scampered underneath Dazai’s desk sitting by his feet. He had a lot to think about and he was still tired. He thought about going back to the facility to try again but it was too far for his small stature to traverse back and forth constantly and now he'd have to shake off these schmucks to do it. Honestly he could try dragging one of these losers with him, they are detectives after all. One of them could put it together but he doubts any of them would follow a dog around town for that long without thinking they’ve gone batshit crazy. The biggest problem is he didn’t know who the ability user was and there was no way for him to communicate effectively right now especially since his ability disappeared. Or was there? He’d have to think of something.

Atsushi and Kunikida watch in awe as the dog practically follows Dazai’s command. They both peer under the desk to see him curled up by Dazai’s feet. Atsushi raised an eyebrow. 

"I'm not the only one who thought that was weird right?" Laughing awkwardly as he looked around when everyone circled the desk.

Kunikida pushed up his glasses "I guess he's a lot smarter than he looks." Chuuya peeked out to bark again before glaring at the blonde. He could see this startled Kunikida slightly. 

Dazai sighed "I think you guys should leave Chibi alone for a bit. Let him get used to his surroundings."

"I'm impressed. Dazai, I didn't realize you were so good with animals."

His frown deepened "I'm not, I'm just saying that he's only gravitating towards me because I'm the only one who's left him alone." 

Dazai shifted to see the dog still at his feet lazily pawing at his shoe laces. He rolls his eyes. This dog was more of a cat than a dog but he supposed that with its small frame it wasn’t completely uncommon for a chihuahua to be fast and nimble but that does take the proper training to accomplish. Just whose dog was this, unless, was it possible this is Chuuya’s dog? Dazai remembered the hat rack always mentioning that he wanted a dog but for some reason he never got one. He smirked to himself. If that was the case Dazai would keep him for a while. Maybe he could train him to mess with his owner a little bit but first he had to find out if this was, in fact, Chuuya’s dog. Unfortunately finding that out would be too much effort even if it was to annoy Chuuya. He dropped the idea entirely. At the end of the day it was just a dog.

Everyone went back to their daily tasks giving Chuuya a much needed break from being the center of attention. He lazily played with the laces of Dazai’s shoes. He really had nothing else better to do. He heard the shuffling of paper and the scribbling of pens filling the room. Chuuya only assumed Dazai’s partner was furiously trying to blitz through paperwork. Glasses guy seemed like the workaholic type. Although that gave him an idea. If Chuuya could get his paws on a writing implement he could try spelling it out for Dazai. He slowly got up and walked around the corner to Kunikida’s desk. Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch the dog except for the blonde. Gracefully he jumped up and knocked a pen and small notepad off of the desk. 

“Hey, what are you-” Kunikida stopped when he saw the dog try to take the cap off the pen. Dazai raised an eyebrow but knelt down to take the cap off for him.

Chuuya tried his best to write “help me” but when he looked down it was intangible scribbling. Next he tried to draw a fish which he was much prouder of when he really shouldn't be. Dazai tilted his head as everyone crowded around to see what the dog was doing. When there was still no reaction Chuuya rolled his eyes and drew a hat. Well he tried to draw a hat. Putting the pen down it looked more like a food bowl but come to think of it he hadn’t eaten anything and it was nearing lunchtime already. Chuuya placed the pen down sitting upright, puffing out his chest. Surely this was enough for Dazai to understand what was going on. 

There was a moment of silence from everyone before Kenji clapped his hands together "Oh I get it! He's hungry." 

Chuuya deflated, nosing the paper of the notepad to start over as the ADA were trying to figure out the food situation. Chuuya took his time with the next drawing. He needed to get it right this time but holding the pen in his mouth wasn't the easiest thing in the world when he had to pick it up from the floor. Luckily this time it was a recognizable fish. When he was done he pushed it towards Dazai stamping his paw trying to mentally communicate. 

Dazai tilted his head to the side "A fish?" Chuuya barked trying to correct it to "mackerel" but it was no use.

Kenji crouched next to Dazai on the floor. "Could it be, he likes fish!" 

The brunette raised an eyebrow before trifling through his pockets to pull out a can of crab. "Maybe he could smell this on me? That would explain why he tackled me earlier." He flatly added opening the can without a second thought. Seriously, what was he doing? He should let the others handle the pest. 

Chuuya stared at the open can silently laughing to himself. Some things never change, huh? Back when they were partners Dazai always carried around the same disgusting cans of crab with him. He contemplated pushing it away but at this point it was better than being relegated to eating dog food. Taking a hesitant bite it wasn’t as bad as he remembered it being. He lapped up the crab ignoring the rest of the office marveling his odd taste in sustenance.

"A dog who likes crab and Dazai? Atsushi, where did you even find such a creature?." Kunikida put his pen down for the moment. This situation was weird even for what they normally deal with. "Well he was just sleeping outside the entrance. I thought he was another stray until I saw the collar." Atsushi scratched the back of his neck. He didn't really think anything of picking up the dog since Kyouka had brought a cat to the office not too long ago. Kunikida pushed up his glasses “I guess Dazai should be the one to take care of it then.” Everyone in the

office nodded in agreement leaving Dazai in distress.

He scoffed “Why me? Might I remind everyone that I detest dogs!”

As Chuuya finished eating he casually walked back over to where Dazai was sitting and made himself comfortable in the brunette's lap. Kunikida laughed going back to his work. “Could have fooled me.”

Dazai grumbled, staring at the small creature. It wasn’t everyday that anyone trusted him enough to fall asleep in his presence. This dog really was like Chuuya. The thought only made him roll his eyes. “Yeah, as if.”

[queen-of-the-avengers]

Captain Marvel: Part Ten

Pairing: Carol Danvers x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2.4k

Warnings: canon violence and angst

Author’s Note: For the sake of the rewrite, Howard and Maria Stark dies on December 16, 1997 instead of 1991. Tony is 23 when they die.

x

Maria knows she has to do this with her best friend, so she calls her parents over to take care of her daughter. Maria tries to come up with an excuse as to why she's asking this, and you and Carol are off to the side with Monica.

"Your Mom's lucky. When they were handing out kids, they gave her the toughest one. Lieutenant Trouble," Carol smiles.

"You remembered!"

Carol had a whole life here without you, and seeing her with her other family gives you joy, but it also brings you pain when you think of how she was taken and the fact that she was taken in the first place.

"Is that mine?" Carol asks, noticing the jacket sitting on Monica's lap. The little girl starts to hand it over, but your girlfriend protests. "Oh, no. You hang onto it until I come back. There is something that I need your help with. I can't wear these Kree colors anymore, and since you're obviously the only person around here with any sense of style, why don't you give me a makeover?"

Carol stands and presses a few buttons on her wrist device that changes the colors of her outfit. Monica reaches over to try and goes through possible combinations such as bright red and grey stripes, orange, blue and yellow, black with neon stripes, and white with green stripes. None of them are the one until Carol sees the outfit Monica is wearing.

Red, blue, and gold.

"Well, since we're on the same team, why not those colors?" 

Monica messes with the device once more, and Carol's suit changes to red and blue with a gold star on the front. This is it. This is the suit and colors that best suit her. She kind of reminds you of Steve when he got his suit, but you push back those painful memories of your best friend.

"How do I look?"

"Fresh," Monica smiles.

"We need to get going. Yon-Rogg will be here soon," you say.

Carol and Monica say their final goodbyes before everyone boards the big aircraft. Talos' science guy stays behind to pretend to be Carol to stall Yon-Rogg for however long. He knows he's going to die when he figures it out, but he's willing to risk his life if it means Talos gets home safe.

Since you're such a terrible pilot, Maria and Carol are at the front while you, Fury, Talos, and Goose are in the back. Fury is petting and comforting the animal while Talos stares at him with horror in his eyes.

"You know, you really shouldn't have that thing on your lap."

"Our little alliance with you is tenuous at best. As long as she continues to freak you out," Fury picks up the cat and shoves her in Talos' face, and the Skrull jerks back in fear, "like that, I'm gonna keep giving her all the love and hugs she needs, right?"

"Can I ask you two something?" Maria asks the two shapeshifters on board. "Do you just turn into anything you want?"

"I have to see it first."

"Those are my rules as well."

"Can you all do it?"

"Physiologically, yeah, but it takes practice and dare I say it, talent to do it well."

"Maria, I wasn't born like this. I was given a serum that gave me these powers, so there is only one of me."

"Can you turn into a cat?" Fury asks Talos.

"What's a cat?"

"That's a cat," you point to Goose. 

"That's not a cat."

"What about a filing cabinet?" Maria asks. 

"Why would I turn into a filing cabinet?"

"I don't know about the Skrulls, but I can only turn into living creatures no matter how small or the kind of species. If it's alive, I can turn into them."

"What else can you do?"

"Well, apart from shapeshifting, I am able to control the four main elements. Whatever you want to call it, I can do a lot of pretty awesome stuff."

"A venus fly trap!" Fury exclaims, still on the topic of shifting into things. "I'll give you $50 right now if you turn into a Venus fly trap."

"Switching engines from Scramjet to fusion. Buckle up, folks," Carol advises.

Everyone buckles up in case something goes wrong, and Carol lurches forward at high speeds. Due to the severe altitude, everyone is pushed back into their seats. The plane jerks like how a commercial airplane would.

"Is this normal? Like space turbulence?" Fury asks.

"Pretty much," Carol answers.

Talos grabs Fury's attention and shakes his head to say that this isn't normal. The plane continues to fly upward, and as soon as the plane reaches just outside Earth's atmosphere, the plane stops producing the flames needed in order to fly. Everything inside the plane starts floating due to the lack of gravity. Yours, Carol's, and Maria's hair float along with a few pens that weren't locked down. If you hadn't buckled in when you did, you too, would be floating in mid-air. Similarly, Goose is floating upside down until Fury extends his arm, which Goose eagerly grabs onto. Then, Maria flicks a switch and gravity suddenly turns on inside the plane.

"Locking in the coordinate grid," Carol announces.

However, the only thing in front of you is an empty pad of space. Maybe the coordinates are wrong or maybe the lab moved because it's not here anymore. 

"Where is it?"

"It's here. It's gotta be here," Talos panics. 

"Is it in front of all that nothing or behind it?" Fury asks sarcastically.

There has to be some reason why the coordinates led you to this empty space. Carol presses some buttons on her wrist device, and the process of decloaking begins. If this is where the coordinates are, and there is nothing here, then it must be invisible.

"Decloaking activated," the computer chirps.

Suddenly, a bright light appears from the empty space, and a massive laboratory becomes visible. The title "Mar-Vell's Laboratory, Kree Imperial Cruiser" appears on the screen inside the spaceship. Carol flies closer to the laboratory only to realize there's a loading dock for incoming ships. Once secured inside, you five leave the ship in curiosity.

"Are we alone?" you ask when you walk into the main room. Across the room is the Tesseract connected to a big machine, and you walk closer to it with tears in your eyes. This is what you've been waiting for for almost one hundred centuries. "I can't believe after all this time, it's been here. I thought this was in the ocean."

"Is that it? The core?" Maria asks. 

"In her notes, she called it the Tesseract."

"This thing made me who I am today. This thing gave me my powers. This thing has been a pain in my ass this whole time!" you yell.

"It's okay," Carol whisper and puts her hand on your shoulder for comfort. 

"No, it's not okay, Carol. This thing needs to be destroyed. All this thing is going to cause is pain."

Carol understands where you were coming from, but in order to understand its power, it needed to be saved. She grabs the cube and throws it in the air only to catch it like it was a fucking baseball and not a killing machine. This thing killed your best friend and boyfriend. 

"Whoa. What was Lawson doing with all this kid stuff?" Maria asks and picks up a metal lunchbox.

Carol takes it from her, places the Tesseract inside, and locks it. You look around and take in your surroundings. There is something about this place, something off. On the glass table near the corner of the room is a mug with steaming hot tea in it.

You aren't alone.

"We're not alone."

Talos begins to sing loudly in his native tongue, and a swarm of scared Skrulls appears from their hiding places. An older one into the arms of Talos. If you had to assume, you'd guess that she is his wife, girlfriend, or sibling. 

"Talos!" 

"Soren," he sighs and hugs her tightly. 

"He didn't come for the Tesseract." Soren calls forth a child, probably her own, and the child makes herself known willingly. Talos leans down to get a better look at the child with a huge smile on his face. "This is his family."

"We didn't know what to do. Mar-Vell warned us not to send a signal for any reason or the Kree would find us," Soren explains painfully.

"You did the right thing," Talos whispers.

When the excitement of the family reunion wears off, Soren notices the group Talos came in with. She grabs her child and holds her protectively, even when Talos calms her down.

"It's okay, it's okay. She's alright. She's a friend. They all are."

"I'm not gonna hurt you. We're not going to hurt you," Carol says.

"They led me to you."

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

"If only I had known," you sniffle.

"Carol, Y/N, this is war. My hands are filthy from it, too, but we're here now. You two found my family. This is just the beginning. There are thousands of us separated from each other. Scattered throughout the galaxy."

Another Skrull child approaches Carol once she knows it's safe and took her hand. She directs her over to a pinball machine in the corner. The child points to the high score in glowing lights and points to herself to say she won that many points.

"If I played the same pinball machine for six years I'd have some high scores too," Fury comments.

Suddenly, the doors to the lab open and Yon-Rogg and his team march through with determination. Upon seeing the Kree, Fury draws his gun but Minn-Erva already had hers directed at him. She gestures to him to drop it and he has no choice but to listen. Talos put his family behind him but Yon-Rogg couldn't care less about them right now. No, he's only interested in you and Carol. Seeing his bitch-ass face makes you see red, and your eyes shine red like fire as your hands glow the same color.

"Fraternizing with the enemy? Don't be stupid, Y/N, you'll kill everyone here," he points out. It's true. If you used your powers, you'll blow this entire ship to pieces. "What did you do to your uniform?"

"They got in her head. Just like we thought," Minn-Erica says. 

"Oh, shut it, bitch," you growl.

"The Supreme Intelligence will set her straight," Korath says. 

"You can see they're not soldiers, let them go. You can have me," Talos tries negotiating.

"And the core?"

"You lied to me," Carol glares. 

"I made you a better version of yourself. What's given can be taken away," Yon-Rogg grins.

Carol tries as hard as she can to light up her fists, but they shortened out as if someone is controlling her powers from a distance. You notice something on her neck, something like a small device that is suppressing her powers. She doesn't know it's there or else she'd have taken it off a long time ago.

You turn to the other Kree and give them a malicious grin.

"I may not be able to use my fire power, but I have other ones."

The air around all of the Kree's heads begins to thin out while the air in the room stays the same. If they can't breathe, they can't fight. All of them gasp for air and fall to the ground, and you have to hold back your laughter. You're too busy focusing on them that you don't see Yon-Rogg sneak up behind you. He stabs something in the back of your neck, eliminating your powers for the moment.

"I've been waiting for this moment since I first saw you," he whispers.

He turns the device on and sends shockwaves down your body. With both you and Carol out of commission, the Kree can finally get what they came here to get.

When you wake up, you're not in Mar-Vell's ship anymore. No, you're in an all too familiar room with endless glossy floors and lights that descend from above. The man with jet-black hair stands in the middle of the room. Why does he look so familiar? When you think back to where you might know him, your head gets fuzzy and you get the worst headache ever.

Someone or something removed those memories from your head.

"There she is. I've got to say, I'm quite disappointed in you," the Supreme Intelligence says.

"There is no honor. The promise you made to me about honor and responsibilities is all a lie."

"Despite that, you performed well. You got us to the enemy. Thanks to you and jazz hands, those insidious shapeshifters will threaten our borders no more."

"I can't believe I ever thought the Kree would have the ability to change their ways. You're just as bad as Ronan. The Skrulls are just fighting for a home. You want to destroy them for what? Not submitting to your rules? Well, Carol and I won't do it."

You run at the man to attack him, but you go flying into the wall behind you with a flick of his wrist. You stick to the wall like glue so you're not going anywhere.

"It's cute how hard you try," he chuckles. "We needed you on this mission so you could lead us to the Tesseract. The power inside your veins wouldn't allow you to stay away. Plus, it is what you were looking for, yeah? You want to learn more about who you are and what Markus put into your body."

"How do you know about Markus?"

You slide through the sticky wall and come out on the other side where you can watch your memories play back in front of you.

"We know more than you think."

Each memory is of when Markus put you through each element trial. Through it all, the evil look on Markus' face never went away.

"You're no better than him," you turn to face the Supreme Intelligence.

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

Okay, you're done with this shit. You need to escape or else he will keep you here for as long as he wants. You need to escape if you want to help the Skrulls win this war.

"Do you know what the difference between me and Carol is?" The fire within you heats up slowly, and your skin glows with the embers of a thousand fires. "You've been able to control her through the device you slapped on her neck, am I right? Well, news flash, bitch, you can't control me."

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibary​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[the-mothmaam]

Anxiety - Where I'm at vs Where I was

I've had this book I've been through a few times now and I figured since I'm journaling - I might as well reflect on some of the highlights the book talks about.

These notes are reflections from "Unf*ck Your Anxiety: Using Science to Rewire Your Anxious Brain." I wasn't too impressed with the book, but only because I was expecting some hard science to be available in the book, whereas it was really all soft science with very little peer review to back up what was said. The Bibliography is quite extensive though and I'm sure the author (Faith G Harper) knew what she was talking about. Enough of it mirrored exactly what I learned in the hospital.

What It Feels Like Thoughts & Feelings Excessive Worry - I mean yeah, I did this all the time... about anything and everything. And its not that I don't now - its just that I can identify when I'm doing it and decide to shut it off.

Rumination - This still my biggest hurdle. If the hampster wheel get going its hard to slow down. Being able to bounce things off of people use to help a lot, but with fewer people in my life that is much harder to do. I try my best just to not even step on slippery slopes in my mind now. And while I'm not perfect, I am much better than I used to be.

Irritability / anger - This was my biggest issue. I was (and still am to some small degree) triggered by people not seeing the validity in my concerns. I know this was a huge contributor to strife between Jess and I. I worried, she didn't, I got angry because I felt invalidated. At the end of the marriage I'd already gotten much better though, because I had learned that it was easier for both of us if I just trusted her. But communication really got messed up there at the end and she didn't or couldn't always express her thoughts on things.

Irrational Fears and Phobias - I still have these. Too much bad shit has happened and I've never processed the trauma from a lot of it. So it's all "likely to happen again." Its why I assumed Jess ran off with Henry when I learned she was up there. I've had love interests choose him over me all my life. He says he would never do that again, and I have to choose to trust him. But things catch fire, people die, accidents happen all the time. I've just kind of chosen to become numb to it. The worst things that could happen to me have now happened. I'll lose my mom and the dogs, and that will be hard - but losing a kid, losing the love of my life... they are worse than any other loss I can imagine. So there's no point being scared now. It's haw I was able to go sky diving and do other scary shit. One day I'll die, and then I won't be scared any more. That's just the truth of it.

Hyper self-awareness - This one's been a roller coaster. I used to have very little if any self-awareness without hindsight. And I realize now why that was a problem. Being diagnosed with Asperger's gives me the why behind it. So now I'm just lot more self conscious about the things I do, the things I say, and the people I share things with. If its someone who doesn't or likely wouldn't understand me - then I keep my mouth shut. Sometimes I notice people making the same mistakes I used to, and I'll ask if they'd be interested in advice, but I always solicit before just blurting out what i think about what other people are doing.

Helplessness - I'm not helpless. But there's a limit to what anyone and everyone can do. I try to keep that in mind and measure my failures and successes within that range. (Most) Fish don't climb trees and (most) birds don't swim - at least not for prolonged periods of time beyond penguins and fouls.

Obsessive behaviors - Other than reaching out to Jess I don't think I have many of these any more. I still make lists, but they are more impromptu and used in situations where I know my bad memory WILL fail me if I don't.

Sense of "losing it" or "going crazy" - I mean certifiably? I am. So there's that. But my psychosis is behind me. I spend time with plural people and schizophrenics on the regular now, not to mention like... 95% of everyone I know is on the spectrum now. So "crazy" is a term I don't like to use. People have different experiences in life, sometimes they see things from a perspective I can't. FFS Sarah claims to be able to see through time to possible other life times. If that's what she believes - more power to her. Who am I to suggest what's right and wrong? I don't know shit.

Physical Body Symptoms

Falling asleep - this comes and goes. I take Melatonin to help. Still working with finding the right amount and blend to get good sleep but not be groggy the next day. Kind of picked caffeine back up as a bad habit as a result. I'm working on it.

Inability to rest - I try to meditate, probably not as much as i should. But there's a lot I personally want to accomplish, so the list just kind of drones on sometimes. But I've at least told myself that I'll never get it all done, so I don't need to stress what I haven't started.

Neck tension - This is the one thing that still flares from time to time, but I've learned yoga stretches and been to the chiropractor enough to know I can get it to settle down with enough rest and relaxation.

Stomach Issues - I eat gluten, I drink soda. It's 95% better. If I eat too much gluten, like 4 slices of pizza, I still get achy joints, but my digestive health is pretty much binary now, and switched to the "good" position way more of the time.

Sweating - So much less. Certain makeup still causes me to sweat because of clogged pores, but emotionally, I don't really sweat from stress any more. I think the medication helping reduce jitteriness is a big help here.

Hot / Cold chills / lightheadedness / shortness of breath - I've only felt that way a few times. And when I start to get that way I stop everything and sit down. It's like when Jess and I were at the county fair and she told me her anxiety was getting to her. Only now, I take my own advice too. I really regret being such a nervous wreck that I know my anxiety must have caused a feedback loop for her.

Lesser-known Symptoms

Perfectionism - There is no perfect, there never has been. I think that's what's frustrating in retrospect. I knew that and I was pretty close to living in the moment back at the end of things. But by then I think it was too late for Jess.

Indecisiveness - I still get this from time to time, but not as much as Jess ever did. I tell myself that I'll do things another way if the first way i try something fails or isn't fun. I wish I could have helped her approach things like this, but I guess that was her own hurdle.

Brain fog - The brain fog I have now is different than what I used to have and the psychologist told me that is just a side effect of the antidepressants. It used to bother me. But Amy put it well when she told me, I had something traumatic happen - traumatic things change people. You can't measure yourself to the old standard - this is the new normal.

Avoidance - This one is harder now. I know what it feels like to try and fail, or to try and be told its not enough. So sometimes I'm tempted just not to do that. But then I remember what it was like for me when I started to realize how Jess hadn't been honest about so many things because of her avoidance. I tell myself I don't want to turn that trauma into something generational, and I rip the band-aid off and just speak my mind. It also gives me a much needed reality check and empathy boost realizing just how hard it really must have been for Jess. Even when I tried to understand, it simply isn't something you can feel until you've been there. And she was raised that way... for decades... so that's why I've kept reaching out. I just want her to know that I don't judge her or her actions through the same lens anymore. She deserves to know that someone accepts her even with the mistakes she's made. I know I'd want that if I were in her place.

Low tolerance - Breathe Deep. Seek Peace. Even my children's stories knew that. Never too late to relearn something you've forgotten.

[ithehellisbucky]

An Apocalyptic Romance

Cha Hyun-Su x Reader

Requested: "Why do you keep hanging around me?! Go with her, don't you like her?!" "But I like you." @leedosbunnyboy

Word Count: 2.4k

Warnings: A lot. Suicide mention, self harm (not only Hyun-Su), reader smokes and has a nicotine addiction, blood, trauma, shock, canon level violence, PTSD, survivor's guilt, everything in canon just with reader in it

Author's Note: After writing this I don't even want to write for the MCU anymore. I'm just not into that anymore, so let me know about that. It was my birthday on monday. And let's just say that it was a birthday.

~

It wasn't like in the movies. Yes, some people stepped up and some people wielded weapons to defend themselves against the monsters. But it wasn't like that.

No one relished power or freedom in this new world. No one enjoyed being the product of a science fiction novel. This wasn't how anyone's future was supposed to go.

Your neighbor had just moved in a month or so ago. His hair almost covered his eyes and at first, the only sign that he was alive was the weekly ramen deliveries that showed up at his door. If you hadn't seen those, you would have thought that there was no one living there at all.

You both happened to peek out your door at the same time when you heard loud screeching from down the hallway. Slowly following a trail of torn apart ramen packet heading toward your across the hall neighbor- a model.

When you saw her dead cat's skull scrape across the floor, being dragged by a disturbing and grotesque blood-soaked hand, you weren't able to stifle your scream. Luckily, he quickly slapped his hand over your mouth and moved slowly back away.

Your feet were planted on the ground. You couldn't move, couldn't breathe. You barely recognized it when he wrapped the arm that wasn't over your mouth around your torso and began to drag you with what little upper body strength he had.

In the moment, you were too terrified to even pick your feet off the ground, which was almost a saving grace, but unfortunately, your neighbor was too busy making sure you didn't scream and kill you both, that he didn't do the same.

The crunch of the dry noodles made you both freeze in place. After this you weren't so scared of the noise your mouth would make when you opened it, so you screamed as loud as you possibly could and your neighbor grabbed your hand and you ran together towards the door to his apartment.

You couldn't tell what was behind you and you didn't want to know. All you knew was that the soles of your shoes were covered in the cat's blood, and you were shivering in fear. You couldn't even will yourself to cry.

Your neighbor had a different reaction. He stared into space, in shock. It was at this moment that you realized you didn't even know the name of the man who saved your life.

"Um, what, what is your name again." You stuttered, unaware of how you should even approach this situation.

His gaze at the door was unwearying. "Cha Hyun-Su," His voice and his body didn't react, almost like his brain was already so traumatized that this situation was just like weight on a broken scale.

"My- my name is (y/n)."

He turned his head to face you, and you almost saw a glimmer of something in his eye, but he didn't say a word.

Hyun-Su might've said something in that moment, but you would never know, because the doorbell rang and interrupted your eye contact, causing you both to stare at the red door in terror.

He grabbed a bat and slowly walked towards the door, eventually reaching it and look on at the security camera monitor. You heard him mutter underneath his breath something about her hands until you heard loud feedback like sound and a body-shaped dent rammed into the door. Hyun-soo backed away in terror and held up the hockey stick in defense position. You grabbed an X-Acto knife you found lying on the ground next to his bed and clutched it close to your chest, frozen in fear.

The both of you stayed perfectly still for another few minutes until the ramming finally backed away. Hyun-Su ran to his computer and sat down in his gaming chair, as you stayed in place as if someone had covered you in a block of ice and left you to thaw.

Hyun-soo muttered to himself and you stayed still, for at least 45 minutes. Unmoving and incredibly, incredibly fazed.

Slowly, you and your neighbor had figured out the basic rules of this new universe.

Don't confront the monsters, never get a nose bleed, don't make a sound, always save others, and never leave Green Home.

Over time, you found something with Hyun-soo that you could never find anywhere else.

It wasn't perfect. It couldn't be in an imperfect world. But the way you looked at Hyun-soo when you thought that he wasn't looking was the most perfect thing there was here.

You didn't talk about it. Somehow talking about it would make it real, and reality can be twisted and ruined.

When Hyun-soo's nose started bleeding on the first few days of your alliance, you were terrified. But you pulled yourself together because no one could have been more terrified than him. As wrong and badly motivated as it is, you trusted him to tell you if he thought he would hurt you.

Together you decided to take the fight to the monsters or die trying.

There was screaming outside of your window. Kids, screaming for their father from several floors above. You watched in horror as the monster tore their father from their building, and he fell onto the ground below.

By this time Hyun-soo was at the window with you today too. You managed to distract the monster and fight him off, and you set off on a mission to save the children.

On your quest, you met Dusik Hahn, a wheelchair-bound man who made weapons for you to fight off the monsters with. He made a knife stick for Hyun-Su, and he took your small Exacto knife and made it into a deadly dagger for close-range combat. Not exactly a situation you wanted to be in, but a situation you might as well be prepared for.

You made the slow journey to save the kids and ran into another group of two, the bassist that you heard thumping through your floor sometimes, and a god-devoted teacher wielding a sword.

You had managed to recognize the monster-hunting the children and narrowly rescued the kids in the meantime.

Right as you had made your way out of the direct danger, Hyun-Su stopped. His nose was bleeding.

"Take the children." He said, clutching his nose.

"Hyun-" You said, reaching for him and trying to help him.

"TAKE THE CHILDREN AND RUN!"

You didn't want to argue, you ran down the stairs and hid yourself and the children in a closet, praying to whatever cruel god was out there that Hyun-Su would be the one walking down those stairs and not a monster.

There was a thumping noise coming down the stairs, and you covered both the children's mouths and clamped yours shut. You only opened your mouth when you could see very clearly that it was Hyun-Su and not a monsterized version of himself.

You let out a sigh of relief and threw the door open, wrapping your arms around Hyun-Su and his blood-soaked hoodie. He awkwardly patted you on the back, body as stiff as a board, as that was the extent of what you could really do.

You didn't talk about what happened to him, or that you saw his eyes turn blackout of the corner of your eyes. He wasn't the same as he was before, but he wasn't fully a monster either. It was the only Hyun-Su that you had ever known. And you like what you see.

You dropped off the kids at Dusik's apartment and set off on a journey to the lobby on the ground floor.

There weren't that many monsters that attacked you on your journey down. You ignored all the ones that ignored you.

When you reached the first floor you saw a ghastly sight. Many of your neighbors were there, and they all looked entirely broken. You got the situation you described to by Eun-Hyuk, a medical student that you had seen around the building and working on his laptop in cafes near the apartment complex.

Everyone seemed pretty nice, except for the asshole convenience store owner. Some people hated Eun-Hyuk, but you felt bad for him. He didn't want to let that girl die and he didn't want to hurt people, he was just trying to save as many people as he could, and being a hero couldn't be easy.

You met his sister Eun-Yoo, you had seen her dancing on the roof when you went up there to breathe and to smoke. She seemed taken to Hyun-Su, and he seemed a little bit smitten by her. You hate to admit it, but you felt jealous.

She was beautiful, and feminine, and unapologetic, all the things that you weren't. He couldn't not like her.

When the rest of the neighbors found out that Hyun-Su was some sort of monsterized version of himself, there was naturally an uproar.

It was entirely silent when all of the residents were crammed into the preschool room, silently waiting for Eun-Hyuk to tally the results of the vote.

It was a tie. A perfect tie, between banishment and acceptance. Because that's how it always seems to go.

The nasty convenience store owner, Suk-Hyun, was screaming at Hyun-Su, right up until his nose began to bleed. He started pleading for his life, and Hyun-Su walked up at tallied the vote against himself, only to make sure Suk-Hyun went in with him.

When Hyun-Su and Suk-Hyun were trapped in an empty office, you brought him ramen and sat down in front of the chained storefront and ate with him.

Silently, you sat together. What you didn't know, is that whenever you were looking down Hyun-Su was looking at you.

Over the next week a lot of stuff happened, you rescued more people, lost some, been through more tragedy and trauma than anyone should have to go through in their entire life, and throughout it all, you and Hyun-Su stayed stuck together.

Hyun-Su and Eun-Yoo grew closer, they would talk together and you would often see her staring at him from across the room.

Eun-Yoo was good, and she was kind to the people that deserved it. Sure, she was violent, mildly sadistic, and cold, but she was still a good person. Yet you hated her. You hated her because Hyun-Su wanted her more than he wanted you.

It wasn't like you to be a jealous or pretentious or possessive person, but you wanted Hyun-Su more than you wanted most things. And sometimes life just works out that way. In horrible, jealous and violent ways.

You were sitting with Hyun-Su in an empty hallway on the first floor. You were both trying to ignore the fact that the door you were guarding had the bodies of a 10-year-old and a soldier behind it.

This world wasn't fun or easy. It was an adventure and it wasn't an epic. It was just real life. And real life is broken. You saw the scars on Hyun-Su's wrist when his hoodie sleeve rode up. You saw the way he looked at the sobbing mother mourning her daughter. You overheard Eun-Yoo talking about Hyun-Su killing himself.

You had scars on your body too. Cigarette burns across your hands from where the butt fell off, times where you pushed it into the palm of your hand and the sides of your finger when you were drunk or too tired to run it under water or throw it out the window and all you could do is lay there and take the pain.

Real-life was broken. Hyun-Su was broken. You were broken. This world is broken.

You realized that in your self-sabotaging state you had let a tear slip out of the corner of your eye.

"(y/n)." Hyun-Su was looking up at you from his ramen.

"Oh, uh sorry." You took your finger and wiped your tear away. He had enough on his plate already, he didn't need to know the raging jealousy that was growing inside you.

You were Hyun-Su's friend. He was your friend. He didn't love you, you were the person he could trust to remain consistent. He might not have loved Eun-Yoo, but he didn't love you. He couldn't love you.

"What's wrong (y/n)?" He was too pure. Someone who's been through so much and done so many bad, bad messed up things couldn't be that pure.

You didn't say anything. You took your spork and put another spoonful of hot ramen into your mouth. It burned a little bit, but you didn't mind.

"(y/n)?" He put down his food and scooted a little bit closer to you, still as shy as always "I need to know you're okay."

The link in the chain around your heart finally broke, "I'm not okay." You run your hand over your head as you look up at him, "You like Eun-Yoo, and that's okay, so why are you hanging out with me? I'm nothing compared to her!"

You finally shouted, agony stabbing through the heart that is no longer protected.

You put the ramen down and it kicks over when you stand up, water and noodles falling everywhere all over the floor. You don't even care, you just need to get away from Hyun-Su. You're walking away with a stomp when a hand grabs your wrist. It's Hyun-Su, obviously. Curse his weird half-monster superpowers.

"But I don't like Eun-Yoo," he grabs your other hand. "I like you."

It never even occurred to you that Hyun-Su could even like you a little bit. It was more like a fever dream that could never come true but that you can still fantasize about.

"What?" You ask, still not believing him.

He pulls you closer to him, little by little "I like you, (y/n)." This is the most assertive and straightforward that you had ever been. It shocks you. But he said your name, which means that he must mean you. He must mean you.

Before you realize it you are in his embrace and your arms are wrapped around each other. Finally allowed yourselves to be vulnerable within the comfort of one another.

You don't need to say anything, and neither does he, you both know exactly what to do now- just be there.

"Fucking finally," You both turn around and see Eun-Yoo standing at the end of the hall, a cigarette dangling from her mouth and a smirk on her lips.

~

My Masterlist

Requests are open!

~Taglists are open~

Permanent Tags: ​

Sweet Home:

[literallykenmaandshoyo]

Hi Kenma! i was wondering if i could request high school or college shenanigans with the chuckle sandwich boys? with a gender neutral reader too please

just them being platonic besties <3

and could I be dragon anon?

High School Shenanigans with the Chuckle Sandwich Boys

Chuckle sandwich x reader (gender neutral) (platonic)

Requested by dragon anon

Proofread: Nope

Music: It's All Futile! It's All Pointless by LoveJoy

Warnings: Underage drinking, partying, ditching class, being chaotic

Author's note: Hello! I love this! Of course, you can be dragon anon! This is gonna be a mix of headcanons and scenarios that I have in mind! I'm basing most of this off of my own high school experience lol

-Mod Kenma

Being friends with the trio that called themselves 'Chuckle Sandwich' was a handful to deal with. They were all chaotic in their own way, which made high school interesting.

You met Ted first. You were taking theater as an elective class and he sat behind you. He was super funny and you always laughed at his jokes. You two got closer when the class did an improv session. He pretty much carried and you played off of him pretty well. The teacher saw the potential between the two of you and ended up pairing each other for almost every project. Let's just say the two of you ended up with easy As.

You met Schlatt in your English class. Your class was reading The Great Gatsby and Schlatt always had something to say. He would also crack jokes but his would be darker. You would roll your eyes and chuckle at every quip he threw out, finding him annoyingly funny. When seats were rearranged, you two sat at the same table. Your other tablemates were never in class so you two were pretty much left to your own devices. At first, he would play devil's advocate to piss you off, making it hard to get any work done. Slowly but surely, you two were able to get along when it came to what you were passionate about.

And finally, Charlie. You met Charlie in your chemistry class. Your schedule had to be changed since you weren't given the right science class. You were sat at a table with only one student there, Charlie. He was a jokester and got scolded for talking in class. The teacher had hoped that you would straighten him out a little. With all that pressure on you, you assumed Charlie was a bad kid. When you watched him work, you realized that he has a knack for comedy and is really smart. You ended up opening to him more and became more comfortable around him.

One day, you were in line waiting for lunch. They were having your favorite and you honestly needed a pick me up. While in line, you were shoved into someone. You almost fell and the weight of your backpack wasn't helping. You were ready to just give up and cry till the person you ran into stepped back and held your shoulders. "Are you okay?" You looked up and saw Charlie, concern written all over his face. "It's been a rough morning." He nodded slowly and helped you move through the line. The two of you grabbed lunch and walked out of the cafeteria. Before you could scout out your own table to sit at, Charlie offered you a seat at his table.

At first, you didn't want to bother him. He had his own friends and you didn't want to intrude on that. But the smile he gave you made you give in. You followed Charlie to his table and were pleasantly surprised to see Ted, Schlatt, and a few other faces you sort of recognized. You sat down awkwardly, giving yourself enough space from the others. Not that you didn't like them, it was that you had never talked to any of them outside of the classroom. Little did the four of you know, this was going to be the beginning of a brilliant friendship.

You four end up eating lunch together more often till it becomes a daily thing

The first 'outside school' thing you guys do is study. I know it sounds boring but it was for a test you all had

So you two went to Charlie's house and studied. Well, kind of studied

It was the four of you goofing off while trying to get work done. It was a good time

You four have your own inside jokes that nobody understands

You know some of the bits from Chuckle Sandwich? You're in on them and you two reference those inside jokes all the time

The first birthdays in the friend group were chaotic. You guys had birthday bashes and spent most of the time playing video games and just hanging out

On days when one of you isn't feeling good, the other's will ditch class and focus on whoever doesn't feel good and try their best to raise the mood

Charlie got stung by a stingray and freaked you guys out

Like, how does one react in a calm manner when one of their best friends gets hurt in such a way

Most of the time, it's Ted and Schlatt trying to convince you and Charlie to ditch. It's always for some dumb reason too. Like Schlatt is hungry or Ted wants to sneak into the cafeteria to get milk cause he didn't get any at breakfast.

Sometimes, you guys will leave school early and play DND at Charlie's house. He teaches you guys and he is SO proud. The campaigns you guys play are so fun and you always have a good time.

Now, sometimes Schlatt gets invited to parties by his friends (Wilbur, Dream, Skeppy, Quackity) and spreads the invitation along

Most of the parties consist of loud music and drinking (pretty boring in my opinion)

So when you guys go, you hang out with other people

You usually sit and chat with Sapnap and Punz, watching them stroke each other's egos with a smirk and an eye roll

Schlatt is egging people on to do stupid shit while Ted is trying his very best to get Schlatt to stop

Charlie is just laughing at everything, especially when someone does something stupid

Honestly, you four have gotten caught doing stupid shit on campus. Here are some examples: Talking too loud in the library, stealing drinks from vending machines, accidentally breaking a printer, making those sticky note window art stuff, trying to highjack the speakers and play music, somehow playing apex on school computers, and the list goes on.

But at the end of the day, these three idiots are your best friends and you wouldn't change it for the world

[helloalycia]

worth the wait [one] // daisy johnson

summary: when your best friend, Skye, keeps running away from home, you're left to deal with the consequences, but then one day, she doesn't come back.

warning/s: mentions of unwanted foster kids

author’s note: this is a five parter and each chapter is quite long bc i got carried away. i've literally been working on this for so long so i hope there's still some daisy johnson stans out there to appreciate this!

part two | part three | part four | part five | part six | masterlist | wattpad

"She's the only person she talks to... doesn't listen to anyone... just try..."

I twiddled my thumbs as I refrained from rolling my eyes. Mr Lock was pretty stupid if he thought I couldn't hear him with the door slightly ajar.

"...can't do much... good student?"

"She'll tell you what she knows," I heard Mr Lock say more clearly, to the police officer, before the door got pushed open.

I glanced at him as he feigned a smile for my sake, making his way over to his desk and sitting opposite me. The police officer followed after him, taking a seat at the edge of the desk and watching me with curious eyes like she was studying my every move.

"As you are probably aware, Miss Y/L/N, your friend Skye has gone missing," Mr Lock began to explain. "Her foster family have tried contacting her, but they can't find her."

I felt nervous with the police officer watching me, trying not to glance her way for fear she'd know I was hiding something.

"We just want to bring her home safely," Mr Lock continued. "And you're the closest person to her."

It wasn't a question – he knew I was the closest person to her. We'd done this back and forth many times before, every time Skye decided to run away. And it didn't get any easier.

I swallowed hard. "If you're asking me if I know where she is, I can promise you I don't."

Technically I wasn't lying, so that wasn't too much of a stretch.

"Have you had any contact with her since yesterday morning?" the police officer asked.

I shook my head and tried to ignore how warm I was getting. "I usually meet her by the entrance before class, but she wasn't there. I thought she was just pulling a sick day or something."

The officer hummed in response and the way she didn't give away what she was thinking didn't help with my nerves.

"So, you know nothing of Skye's disappearance?" Mr Lock asked with a raised eyebrow. "Anything you can tell us will be greatly appreciated. Her family just want her home and we all want her to be safe. You know the drill."

"I want that, too," I lied as confidently as I could. "You know she's done this before... she'll come back. She always does."

Mr Lock sighed and rested his head in his hands; he was clearly exhausted from having this same chat with me every few months Skye decided to leave.

"I think that's everything," the police officer said, before standing up straight. She glanced at me, adding, "Thank you for your cooperation. Please let your teacher know if you hear anything from her."

I nodded awkwardly. "Will do."

Mr Lock stood up, hand on his hip with mild frustration. He nodded my way and waved a hand dismissively. "Okay, you can go now, Y/N. Back to class, go on."

I nodded and looked between them both before grabbing my backpack and heading to the door. I could hear them talking quietly though, and felt mildly guilty for lying.

"...does this regularly now," the police officer was saying. "She'll turn up."

"She's wasting our time," Mr Lock was mumbling. "She always does this and for what?"

I sighed inwardly before leaving his office and heading back to class. I continued on with my school day as normal, up until lunchtime when I got a message from Skye herself.

Heading to the toilets to ensure nobody would see me, I slipped into a cubicle and pulled out the burner phone Skye gave me the first time she ever ran away a few years ago. She was always cautious of being caught out but still wanted to be able to contact me, so this was her solution. I didn't argue it as I only ever wanted to make sure she was okay and I could at least talk to her.

She'd texted me, it reading: Meet me by the ice cream truck in the park after school.

I was relieved to know she was okay, since it was the first text she'd sent me since she left yesterday morning. But it was frustrating that she'd disregarded my many concerned texts before that.

With a huff, I replied: I'm doing good, thanks for asking. You could've texted sooner, Skye.

It took a moment before she responded. Sorry, mom

I rolled my eyes, knowing she'd have that annoyingly cute smile on her face as she texted from wherever the hell she was.

Another text came through from her. Sorry I didn't reply sooner. Everything cool with the cops?

I sighed and hastily replied: Everything is as cool as it can be. I'll talk to you later when I see you. You safe?

Every time she left, she came back without a scratch to my relief, but it didn't make me feel any better when she would leave again and again. Running was her way of rebelling against everything – the countless foster families she went through, the teachers who ridiculed her, the other students who judged her. I didn't know where she went – it would change every time and I was sure she was making it up to make me feel better – but I covered for her because I cared about her and didn't want her to push me away like she did with everyone else. It was getting old though.

Her text came through and the heaviness on my shoulders lifted with relief. I'm always safe. But thanks for caring.

I always care. You know that.

I do. I'll see you later, Y/N. Love you.

I love you, too. See you later.

She stopped responding and I put the phone away before taking a deep breath. Seventeen and Skye had me feeling like a soldier's wife at freakin' war. She was gonna give me a heart attack one of these days.

—

"Over here."

I spun around and felt my racing heart calm down when I saw the familiar teasing smile of Skye watching me behind the abandoned ice cream truck.

"You're okay," I breathed out with relief before moving forward and pulling her in for a tight hug.

She laughed but wrapped her arms around me, squeezing gently. "I always am, I told you."

I refrained from rolling my eyes as I pulled away, meeting her gaze. "I'll always worry, Skye."

Momentarily, her playful demeanour disappeared and was replaced with something genuine. "I know... sorry. Thanks for coming."

I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. "Skye, you can't keep running away like this. Mr Lock called me in again. Thinks I know where you are. Says your family are worried."

Skye snorted as she took a seat on the bench nearby. "They're probably throwing a party in my absence. This is just protocol for them. All of them."

I watched her with a pitiful gaze before taking a seat next to her. "The police came again."

"But you covered, right?" Skye asked with a quirked brow.

"Obviously," I said, making her smile, but I didn't return it. "I hate lying to them. It makes me feel... dirty."

"It's not like you're hiding the location of a war criminal, Y/N, chill," she teased, patting my knee.

"Where were you this time?" I asked, afraid to know the answer.

A grin appeared on her lips with remembrance as she reached into her backpack, pulling out a laptop.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Where d'you get that?" 

She seemed proud as she said, "I won it in a bet."

"Skye!"

"What? It was fair play and I happened to win," she said with a shrug.

I facepalmed. "Skye, if you needed a laptop, you should've asked. I could have asked my parents or– or– I don't know–"

"What? Fundraised for the poor foster girl in class who can't buy a laptop like everyone else?" she cut me off bitterly, before replacing the laptop in her bag. "I'd rather not."

I frowned, moving to rest a hand on her back, but she shook me off harshly before standing up.

"Skye, I didn't mean it like that," I said apologetically, standing up, too. "I just meant– I could have helped. I want to help. I don't want you to have to make bets to get stuff. I just want you to be safe."

Skye and I becoming friends was something I never could have seen coming, but when we were partnered in science class in middle school, we kind of just fell into each other's lives. I knew of her situation with her many foster families and always knew she deserved better. Sometimes though, I think she felt the difference in our lives when it came to little things like buying stuff, and I hated it.

"Skye–"

"It's okay," she interrupted, glancing at me with sad eyes. "I know you want to help. But I'm okay."

Treading carefully, I asked, "Where did you go then?"

She ran a hand through her hair. "Library."

I narrowed my eyes. "You expect me to believe that?"

She met my eyes and shrugged. "You don't have to, but it's the truth."

I couldn't be bothered arguing with her, so I simply played along. "Fine. You went to the library and won a bet with someone, getting their laptop."

"Exactly."

I gave her a knowing look. "When are you coming back? To school?"

She was about to respond, but her phone vibrated and she checked it quickly, her eyes lighting up. I tried not to roll my eyes at her change of mood, not wanting to imagine the bond she'd made with her new friends.

She finally answered. "A few days, I promise."

It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing, so I nodded. "Okay. A few days. You'll keep in touch though, yeah?"

"I will, I promise," she said with a small smile before moving forward and hugging me tightly. "Thanks, Y/N."

I sighed but returned her hug, knowing I couldn't stay mad at her for long. "Just please take care of yourself, Skye. And if you need anything – and I mean anything – just ask. Unfortunately, I have a soft spot for your dumbass."

She laughed and admittedly, my stomach did somersaults at the sound. She pulled away but kept within arm's reach, allowing me to see the honesty shining in her brown eyes.

"I'll see you in a few days," she promised. "I love you."

"I love you, too," I replied, watching as she stepped back to leave.

She sent a final smile my way before running away, leaving me standing there alone and with a worried heart.

"More than you'll know," I muttered to myself, knowing I could never tell her how I truly felt.

—

"Won't your mum kill you for this?"

I shrugged, leading Skye through the the party-goers and to the kitchen where the drinks were. "She's okay with it because she knows I'm responsible. Plus, I promised her I wouldn't get drunk."

Skye let out a laugh. "Right. You're at a high school party and you're not gonna drink. That's totally happening."

I poured myself and Skye a drink as I quirked a brow. "I never said I wasn't going to drink. Just that I wouldn't get drunk. There's a difference, Skye."

She seemed impressed as she nodded. "Sneaky."

I was invited to this party by some girl in class and thought it would be nice for Skye and I to go to since it had been a while since we'd hung out. She didn't want to go at first, but after a little convincing on my end, she joined me.

We ended up staying there for about an hour when Skye needed to go to the bathroom and I decided to grab a snack from the kitchen. As I was browsing the bowls and considering whether I wanted to risk grabbing food from a shared bowl, I felt someone tap my shoulder from behind me.

When I turned, I was surprised to see a very tall guy stood there with a smirk on his face.

"It's Y/N, right?" he began the conversation, before suddenly raising his hand and reaching for something in my hair. "Sorry, you had some fluff there."

I smiled awkwardly and pushed my hair behind my ear. "Er, thanks. Yeah, I'm Y/N. I'm sorry, I don't think I recognise you."

He shook his head. "I didn't think you would. We don't go to the same school. I saw you walking around and thought I'd introduce myself."

"Oh, er..." I didn't know what to say as I wasn't really interested in his clear advances.

"Can I get you a drink?" he asked suddenly, still smirking at me.

"I already have one," I said conclusively, before aiming to move past him, but he put his arm in the way. I looked at it before raising my eyebrow at him. "You gonna let me go?"

He snickered. "Come on, just let me get you a drink."

"I'm not interested," I told him straightforwardly before attempting to make another move, but he pushed me back gently. "Dude, come on."

"What's one drink gonna do?" he asked persistently (and annoyingly).

"I–"

"She said back off," another voice came out of nowhere, and suddenly Skye appeared and pushed the guy back harshly, stepping between us.

"Skye, I–" I began, but the guy was already glaring down at her with a fake smile on his lips.

"Or what?" he asked rhetorically.

She returned his glare and said nothing. I rested a hand on her arm and tried to tug her backwards, but she wasn't moving. Always the stubborn one.

"What are you gonna do, Skye?" he repeated with bitter humour. "You gonna call the cops? I heard they know you pretty well by now, don't they?"

"Don't speak to her like that," I said angrily, glaring at him.

He began to laugh, shaking his head, before finally walking away. I released a deep breath and watched as Skye turned around to face me.

"Are you alright?" I asked her gently, resting a hand on her arm as I found her eyes.

"Are you?" she countered, looking over me with concern. "That guy was a jackass."

"He was, but I had it under control," I said with reassurance, before downing the rest of my drink and throwing the cup in the bin. "You didn't need to step in."

"Uh, yeah, I did," she said, stepping in my line of sight. "He was a creep."

I rolled my eyes playfully. "Okay, Skye, whatever you say. Thank you."

"You're welcome, now can we leave?"

I shoved her in the shoulder slightly. "We're not leaving. Not yet anyway. There's a foosball table in the other room I wanna play with and you're playing, too."

She sighed dramatically. "Fine."

I grinned at her before dragging her to the other room by her hand.

Another hour passed when I unfortunately began to feel the effects of my drink that I later came to learn was spiked by the arsehole who tried to hit on me. I wasn't particularly aware of my actions, otherwise I definitely wouldn't have done nor said half the things I did. Things like playing beer pong for the third time in a row and losing every game.

"It's just me an' you, Y/L/N," Kate, the girl I was playing with, said as we both a had a cup left. "Think you can win?"

I laughed as I rolled the ball between my fingers. "Third time's the charm...?"

The group of teenagers around us watched with anticipation as I aimed the shot up in my mind. It wasn't exactly helpful that I could barely stand up straight and my eyes were crossing over, making the cup move around slowly.

"One... two... three...," I counted down, before tossing the ball and watching it bounce off the side of the table and onto the floor. "Well, shit."

Everybody laughed as I ran a hand through my hair. Kate chuckled before grabbing the ball and lining it up. Miles better than I did, she aimed quickly and got it in the cup in one shot, resulting in cheers from everyone. I laughed and grabbed the cup, eyeballing the beer. I wasn't really a fan of beer, but a game was a game.

I downed the cup and pulled a face at how disgusting it tasted, before tossing the cup on the floor. I pushed away from the table I was leaning on, before falling back and hitting the floor, butt-first. I giggled to myself as I tried to stand up, but with great difficulty.

"Y/N, there you are!"

I looked up and lit up when I saw none other than Skye standing above me. She bent down and grabbed my hands before helping me stand up. I stumbled into her, but thankfully she caught my weight and let me lean on her for support.

"How did you get drunk so quickly?" she asked with surprise, leading me to the front door. "I've literally been with you. Until you ditched me twenty minutes ago which wasn't cool since I only came to this stupid party because of you."

I laughed. "I'm sorry. I saw the ping pong table and couldn't resist."

She sighed to herself before leading me outside. "You smell like alcohol."

"That's because I had some," I whispered not-so-quietly in her ear, before erupting into giggles.

"I gotta get you home," she mumbled, before searching my pockets. "Where are your keys?"

"My mum is gonna k-kill me," I realised, but a dopey smile was on my lips. "You have to sleepover."

She found my keys and began leading me to my car. "I'm gonna have to, aren't I? So much for not getting drunk."

I covered my mouth to try and stop the laughter from spilling out. She didn't seem amused as she managed to get me into the passenger's seat before rounding the car to the driver's seat. When she got comfortable, I watched her with a childish grin.

"You can't drive," I said in a know-it-all voice. "You didn't pass your test, silly."

She started the engine and began doing her mirror checks before pulling out, muttering, "Nobody has to know."

I watched as she drove, feeling exhausted but lighter than usual. She looked really pretty tonight. I wanted to tell her when we went to the party, but I didn't want her to get the wrong idea. Now however, it was all I could think about and my heart was fluttering at the thought.

"Here, drink this," she ordered, before throwing a bottle of water into my lap.

"But–"

"No buts, just drink it," she said authoritatively, glancing at me.

I didn't want to argue with her, so I began opening the bottle as I giggled to myself. "You said butts."

She groaned to herself and I drank the water as instructed, even if I really didn't want to.

Before I knew it, we had arrived at my house and Skye was helping me to the door.

"Your mum knows you're coming back late, so this shouldn't be a problem," she said quietly, mostly to herself. "Try not to make noise though, okay?"

I nodded obediently, before putting my finger to my mouth. "Sshhhh. Quiet."

She rolled her eyes before using my keys to open the door and drag me inside. I stayed as quiet as I could, letting her take me upstairs and to my room. Only, before we could go in, I heard my mum call out for me.

"Y/N, love, is that you?"

I stared blankly at Skye as she gave me a knowing look with wide eyes, nodding. I continued staring at her as my mum called my name again.

"Answer her!" she whisper-shouted to me.

"But you said to stay quiet," I said with confusion.

She facepalmed. "Just answer her," she said with frustration.

"Well then, no need to get crabby," I mumbled before calling out to mum, "It's me, mum! Skye and I are back!"

There was a pause before she called back, "Okay! Make sure you lock the front door!"

I snickered to myself as Skye shoved me into my bedroom before I could reply.

"Will do, Mrs Y/L/N!" Skye called out before slipping into my room with me.

She flicked on the light as I flopped onto my bed with a satisfied sigh. Suddenly, something was tossed onto my face making me groan as I pulled them off. I realised they were pyjamas.

"Get changed. Now."

I sat up and saw Skye watching me with a stern expression. I couldn't help but smile to myself, giggling. She looked really cute when she pretended to be angry.

"Y/N," she warned.

"I'm not tired," I lied, standing up. I wanted any excuse to keep on talking to her.

"I don't care," she said with a shrug. "You're going to bed whether you like it or not."

"But I wanna talk to you," I whined like a child, before moving forward to grab her hand.

She let go and gently pushed me to the bed. "Don't be a baby, Y/N."

I hugged her quickly, smiling to myself. "Thank you for being here. And for coming with me tonight."

"Yeah, yeah..."

"I'm serious," I said, pulling away and almost falling backwards, but she held me upright. "Thanks."

Her expression softened. "Unfortunately, that's what friends are for, Y/N. I wasn't gonna leave you."

I breathed out, momentarily startled by her sharp gaze. She had the most beautiful eyes, I always thought it. Somehow, she had the power to make me freeze up and forget everything I was thinking or going to say and I never knew why.

"I love you," I said truthfully, not caring what I was saying and too overcome with emotion to care.

She rolled her eyes, a smile of amusement dancing on her lips. "You gotta keep it down, Y/N."

I smiled widely. "But I do."

She gave me a knowing look. "I know you do. And I love you, too, but you have to get ready. Tomorrow morning is not gonna be kind to you."

"No, you don't get it, I really love you, Skye," I said, my mouth going dry as I stared at her with butterflies in my stomach.

"I know," she played along, patting me on the shoulder. "You done, idiot?"

"I'm in love with you," I blurted suddenly, smile disappearing. I stared at her, trying to ignore the blurriness in my vision. "I always have been."

Her smile seemed to fade when she realised how serious I had become. She licked her lips and shook her head slowly, lowering her hands.

"You don't know what you're saying, Y/N," she said quietly.

I grew distracted by her lips, barely acknowledging what was coming out of her mouth. "I do," I told her.

She didn't know what to say, and before I knew it, I had moved forward and pressed my lips to hers. It was something I'd wanted to do for so long and now that I was finally doing it, my shoulders felt lighter as if I wasn't carrying a huge secret on them anymore.

I closed my eyes and momentarily felt her kiss back, hands resting on my chest. It didn't last very long as she gently pushed me away, leaving me face to face with her flushed cheeks and swollen lips. I was sure I didn't look any different.

"You're drunk," she stated awkwardly.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and began to come to terms with what I'd just done, what I'd just ruined. I stepped back and shook my head.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and began to come to terms with what I'd just done, what I'd just ruined. I stepped back and shook my head.

"I'm so sorry, Skye. I–"

"It's okay," she reassured me. "Please, let's just get you ready for bed, okay?"

I avoided her eyes as I nodded, feeling my heart ache with discomfort.

When I woke up the next morning, I didn't remember much from the night before. At least not straight away. All I had to remind me of it was an insane headache that wouldn't go away and a rancid taste in my mouth. Thankfully, Skye caught me up with how drunk I was and how she had to stay with me to cover for me before she left me to shower and freshen up.

Unfortunately for me, showering and freshening up gave me enough time to remember parts of the night before, including the main bit where I kissed my best friend and expressed my feelings for her.

To say I was freaking out was an understatement. I couldn't believe I had done the very thing I had avoided for years. Seeing her at the breakfast table made me wonder why she hadn't mentioned it. Was she embarrassed? Did she want to pretend it never happened? Was she uncomfortable?

I wasn't sure whether to go along and pretend I couldn't remember it, or admit the truth and apologise profusely. In the end, I ended up doing the latter.

We were eating pancakes that she'd made with my mum as I spoke up.

"So, I, er, I'm kinda remembering some stuff from last night," I said awkwardly, glancing up at her.

She slowed down with her eating, avoiding my eyes. "You do?"

I nodded, looking back down to my food. "Yeah. Particularly the, well, I–"

"You don't have to say it," she assured me, and I looked up to see her watching me with a small smile.

"I'm really sorry," I got out with a deep breath. "I don't know why I did that. Or said those things. It was stupid."

"It was?"

"You should've left after that, but you didn't for some reason," I continued with a grimace of embarrassment. "We can totally pretend it didn't happen."

She chewed on the inside of her mouth as she nodded slowly in agreement. I nodded, too, eyes falling to my pancakes.

"Thanks," I mumbled. "And thank you for making sure I was okay. You're a really great friend."

She smiled at me with distracted eyes. "Anytime, Y/N."

[ailelie]

more summaries and reviews of books that don't exist

These are the last three titles friends provided. I wrote a summary or review of books as I imagined them.

In Glorious Repose

Before the Moon

A Melancholy Madman Carrying in the Crook of his Arm a Tiny Bomb

Summaries are below the cut.

In Glorious Repose

This nonfiction book is a wonderful and extremely well-written exploration of burial customs across the world and time. The best part, however, are the photographs. Sure, a lot are of the well-known famous graves, but a big chunk are more humble sites with some feature of note (e.g., epitaph, statuary, etc). Alternative practices such as donating your body to science and creating online memorials on social media are also explored. The book also includes a brief aside on autopsy and why families seek to find answers.

What really elevates the book, though, is its focus on the living and why we engage in such elaborate rituals with our dead. It discusses our hopes and fears for the afterlife and how we memorialize our loved ones. Death is part of life. These customs and practices aren't for the dead, but for those of us who remain behind. This isn't merely a ghoulish travelogue of gravesites. It is a celebration of living on after loss both personal and cultural.

One chapter that really stuck out to me was on Facebook memorial pages. The author interviewed a young woman who lost her best friend when they were still in college. The woman has, for years now, returned to the page yearly to post an update about her life. After the first couple years, the deceased's parents noticed the posts and reached out. The young woman now visits them whenever she stops back in her hometown. The author discussed how death can bring people together.

There was another story in a similar vein about a family in which the youngest daughter had long been at odds with her parents and hadn't been home in years. When her great-grandmother died, she returned home for the funeral and was able to reconcile with her parents and siblings. It wasn't immediate, but the lines of communication were open again and they had another chance at being a family.

It is a beautiful book in multiple ways. I definitely recommend reading it.

Before the Moon

All right. The first basic conceit of the stories is that each one completes the phrase "Before the Moon" with a different word or phrase. So you have "Before the Moon Was," "Before the Moon Cracked Like an Egg," "Before the Moon Rises," "Before the Moon Dies," "Before the Moon Held Footprints" etc.

Some of the stories are fantasy. Some are just modern literature. A couple are science fiction. One is a script for a comic book.

The second conceit of the stories is that they're all about different members of the Mochizuki family (Note: The 'zuki' in their name means 'moon'). The stories aren't connected in any way except sometimes they'll reference people from other stories (or, more likely, anecdotes in other stories). One modern literature story talks about an "old family story" but the events described match those of one of the fantasy stories.

Naturally readers of the book have attempted to arrange the stories in chronological order, but the one that makes the most sense following the references places the far-future science fiction story solidly in the center, which has led some readers to suggest that the setting in that story is merely metaphor.

One of my favorites in the collection is "Before the Moon Tripped Over Itself" which seems, at first, to be a diary entry from teenaged Mochizuki Miyu (whose name also has 'moon' in it) and how she embarrassed herself in front of the boy she likes. But, if you read between the lines, it is a story about Miyu forcing herself to have a crush on a boy when she really wants to date the boy's one-year-younger sister. And then there's a third level because Miyu talks about a few events in passing, but her details *completely* change the tenor of "Before the Moon Rises" from a pretty placid, dull story to an utter brick of a tragedy. Neither story is sad, but when you put them together, the implications are amazing and horrifying.

Another thing that runs through comes from "Before the Moon Was" a Meiji-era story that is, itself, a collection of paragraph-long bedtime stories parents tell their children. The last bedtime story never gets finished for unknown reasons. This story comes after the halfway point. That last story, though, keeps popping up and has a different ending each time. The fate of the characters in each tacked-on ending matches the fate of a character in one of the stories in which the story *isn't* told. They all match up except for one. In the zany science-fiction story "Before the Moon Cracked Like an Egg" the bedtime story characters are murdered. The *only other* story that doesn't have a match is "Before the Moon Was" which, of course, implies that the reason the story is never finished is because the storyteller was murdered. And this family has, for centuries, been drawing on other family tales to finish it.

Then, of course, you go back to read "Before the Moon Was" and you begin to realize that the stories were the parents' way of warning the children away from someone dangerous and that the parents were probably aware that they were going to be murdered. It is another story whose tenor completely changes once you make the rather convoluted connection to "Before the Moon Cracked Like an Egg."

Overall an interesting collection. Each story works on its own, but when you put them together just right, magic happens.

A Melancholy Madman Carrying in the Crook of his Arm a Tiny Bomb

This doorstopper of a near-future science fiction novel is good if a bit predictable, but. Okay, so I can't talk about this without spoiling it. The story just ends. Like wham and done. No aftermath. No check for survivors. No epilogue. It just *stops.* And sometimes I think that is clever but most of the time it annoys the absolute hell out of me.

The novel has three groups of characters it follows.

The first centers of Xander, one of a group of soldiers on the moon. This group is tasked with overseeing the nuclear missiles on the moon that are forever aimed at US enemies on earth. It is heavily implied throughout that Xander is the titular madman. However, while these missiles do eventually go off, Xander actually tries to stop the end of the world from happening. Xander is an amazing character. He got into the military because it was his only option for college (middling grades, low income family, etc) and now wants out more than anything, but has to wait 2 more years. His family has no idea that he is stationed on the moon. Then his computer is hacked and he gains a nonmilitary window to life on earth and finally he can get the word out about the moon, find out how his family is doing, and so on. It is a much needed lifeline. ...we'll get back to that.

The second focuses on Elina Madden and her campaign staff as she runs for president of the United States. Her section is often humorous, but also gets grimmer later on as she learns about a secret cold war that has been going on. It is through her story that you learn that *no one knows* about the moon missiles. The military does. Presumably enemy nations do. But the general populace? Clueless. And Elina learns that there are forces trying their best to tip the world back into war. Elina is caught then with keeping up her campaign and just focusing on winning or redirecting her attentions to this threat she's learned about it. It is all hush-hush and scandals and, honestly, her sections are my favorite in the book.

The third focuses on Abram Holt who is a college sophomore and computer hacker. During a hack he finds out about the moon missiles and manages to become secret email pals with Xander. Other than that, Abram does nothing. He promises Xander to tell people about the missiles, get information about his family, etc. Abram, however, just feeds Xander lies. He is genuinely the worst. His story also focuses heavily on the journalism professor he has a crush on (Naomi Bennet). Abram considers giving Naomi his evidence about the missiles and Xander but then decides against it because she "doesn't deserve it" as she treats him like any other student. Again, Abram is the worst and incredibly self-absorbed. But Naomi is great and when she's involved we get a glimpse of how the presidential race is playing out among regular people. She also discusses rising tensions with other nations with her students. Abram, using knowledge he's gained from Xander, participates in these, hoping to catch Naomi's eye.

I hate that I've talked about him so much, but I feel like I have to justify his presence. It is a scifi novel and he's lost in 'why doesn't she like me' land. He should be trying to get the word out about the missiles and running into the conspiracy Elina has found herself in, but he refuses to act. He is too selfish to act.

Anyway, Xander is handling conflicts among his fellow soldiers and prevents an accident that would have launched the missiles. Elina is investigating the secret cold war and building up leverage to prevent it from heating up. And then Naomi rejects Abram. And Abram uses his existing connection to Xander's computer to launch the missiles.

And the story ends with Xander gaping in horror at the earth exploding.

And that's it. Everything. Just. Ends.

[blub-blup-bup]

Chapter One

"How was your day at school sweetie?" Inko Midorya asked. She stepped out of the kitchen and walked over to her son. "I'm almost done with dinner."

"That's good, I'm starving. I had to skip lunch to help Uraraka find her necklace." Deku said, his stomach agreeing to the promise of food. Inko sighed and patted his head.

"Your not going to grow any muscle if you keep skipping meals, darling." By the way Deku looked, skipping meals were becoming a habit. His studies and training have kept him from eating. She worried that he'll fatigue and wound up hurt.

"I know mama. I've just been so busy, I don't really have time to eat." Deku walked into the living room and set down on the couch. He was exhausted from school and didn't feel like standing up at the moment.

"Well, how about tonight you eat two portions instead of one? Sound good?" Inko asked, walking over to Izuku and giving a kiss on the head. She headed back to the kitchen after receiving a lazy nod.

Time passed slow, it was practically killing the boy. He didn't want to wait for food but knew his mom couldn't cook any faster. His stomach complained every second, sending pain and growling loud. He swear he heard his mom giggling after a particular loud growl.

"Mom, is the food almost done?" Izuku asked.

"Now, now. Don't be so impatient." She said. "It's got a few more minutes left, see?" She pointed to the clock on the microwave, which gave no indication of how much time was left. Izuku sighed and rolled onto his side. He grabbed the remote, turning the T.V. on, and flipping through random channels. He ended up stopping on a news program, which was reporting a break-in at the number one hero's, Endeavor Todoroki, agency.

Deku paid close attention as they went over potential suspects and showed viewable evidence. Midorya was curious as to who would want to break into the agency. It could have been the league of villains, but he had a feeling they weren't responsible.

"Dinners ready. Come get it while your still alive, you starved boy." Inko joked, setting the table.

Midorya reached for the remote, when he saw a black figure in the corner of the screen. It stood behind the reporter, seemingly staring into the camera. It sent a wave of shivers down the boys spine. He grabbed the remote quickly and paused the program.

"Momma, can you come here for a second?" He asked.

Inko walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "What is it. New All Might merch?" She questioned. Deku shook his head and pointes to the paused figure. Ms. Midorya inspected the screen. She wasn't sure what she was looking at, seeing as how Izuku's finger blocked half of the object.

"Someones standing where the crime took place. Mom, we gotta tell someone." He shuffled through his pockets and pulled out his phone.

Since Deku moved his hand, Inko could clearly see the figure. She pulled her sleeve over her hand, using it to wipe the screen.

"What are you doing?" Deku asked, seeing his mom wiping the screen.

"Well, I was making sure it wasn't just a spot on the screen. I don't want to waste someone's time." She replied, putting her sleeve on normally and turning to her son. "Take a picture of it real quick." Deku obliged, pointing his phone to the screen and snapping a picture.

"Why do we need a picture?" Inko grabbed the remote and pushed play. The room filled with loud banging and screaming from the t.v. The two stood in horror as they watched people run away from the exact spot the figure stood, only a few moments ago.

"Oh no. What happened?" Inko said, worried about all the children she could see, and hear, from the screen. "Where are the heros?" She asked, watching as a child was thrown across the street. Inko had to turn her head, the scene hit too close to home.

Midorya pulled his mother into a comforting embrace. "I'm sure they'll be safe. I can see a few not allowed to use their quirks. The heros are taking action." Deku assured, gently rubbing his mother's back. She turned to look back at the screen. It showed the underground hero, Aizawa Shota, holding off the attacks. The villains that were able to leak through Aizawa's defence, were immediately faced with the voice hero, Present Mic.

Inko sighed and turned off the t.v. "We should eat dinner while it's still warm." Her enthusiasm from earlier was gone. Midorya nodded and followed his mom to the dinner table. They ate in silence, not having much to say.

Dinner went by and Inko shoed Midorya off to his room. He was to do his homework and get some rest. Of course, like the respectful child he is, Midorya started his homework as soon as he entered his room. It was simple homework, seeing as class was simply taking notes and answering a few questions.

Deku was half way done with his science work, when he received a message from Todoroki.

____________________________________________

Todoroki:

Hey, is it alright if I borrow your notes tomorrow? I dropped water on mine.

Sent at 8:54pm

Midorya:

Sure thing. I'll make a copy so you can keep them.

Todoroki:

Thank you and there's no need to make a copy. I'll do that myself.

Midorya:

How you going to stop me through text?

Todoroki:

Midorya.

Midorya:

Fine. I'll just make an extra copy for myself. See, not for you. It just so happens that the extra copy, for myself, are to be given to you.

Todoroki:

Fine. Since I can't stop you, go ahead and do if you want. Just make sure it doesn't bother your schedule.

Midorya:

Okay. See you tomorrow, Todoroki-Kun.

Todoroki:

Alright. See you tomorrow.

Seen at 9:03pm

____________________________________________

Midorya turned his phone off and grabbed the notes out of his bag. He set it to the side of his desk, so he would remember to do it later. Getting back to work, Deku's mind filled with many thoughts about scientific knowledge.

A knock on his door disrupted him, as his mom walking into his room. "Hey, sweetie. I wanted to tell you that there were no casualties in the attack. A few were injured but they will survive." Inko said, walking over to him and patting his head. Midorya gave her a relieved smile.

"That's good. I'm glad they're all safe." Deku said, turning back to his work. "I wish I was there to help." A thought crossed his mind but he shook it away, knowing there was nothing he could do. He didn't want to deluded his head with impossible fantasies. Just because he had All Might's quirk, didn't mean he could suddenly preform heroics much larger then the man himself.

"Impossible hope."

He knew it was useless to get there and save everyone, but he used it as inspiration. It sounds odd but Izuku liked to use situations he had no control over, and strive to grow into a hero that could at least save one person. He wanted to save everyone and to achieve his goal, he needed to start by saving one.

"Izuku?" Inko asked, gently shaking his shoulders. "Izuku, sweetie, your zoning out again."

He snapped out of his head and gave her a smile. "I'm sorry. I got distracted with my thoughts." He apologized. Inko stopped shaking him and patted his head. She told him it was okay and warned him about zoning out in difficult situations. She left soon after.

Izuku sighed and looked at the pile of work still on his desk. Giving a quick glance to his All Might themed clock, Izuku began finishing his homework, writing a copy of notes for Todoroki, and rewriting them in a neater style. He didn't want to hand Todoroki notes he couldn't read.

All finished for the night, Deku stood up and stretched. He walked over to his door, heading out into the hallway and looking for his mother. He found her sitting in the living room, folding clothes and watching the news. Izuku smiled and set next to her, grabbing a shirt and helping his mother fold the laundry.

"Izuku, you should be heading to bed soon. It's been a long day." She told him. Deku nodded and held his mother in a hug, laying his head against her. "I'm so lucky to have a child who tolerates hugs." She whispered loud enough for Midorya to hear.

"I know, I'm just so amazing." Deku couldn't help but laugh at his own joke.

"You silly goose." Inko chuckled, pulling out of the hug. "Off you now." she said, ushering Deku back to his room. The boy simply obliged, he didn't need anyone to tell him to sleep, just standing was a workout at this point.

"Night Night, Momma." He called out over his shoulder as he walked away. He could hear Inko's response when he turned into his room. Deku shut the door behind him and immediately flopped down on his bed, already getting lost in dreams.

[To Be Continued]

Word Count: 1,539

Chapter Count: 1/21

Time Count: ≈35-40mins

Author's Note: My Human Geography teacher got quarantined. :))