#and then after that i'll look into Underline too

[not-poignant]

January-June Merch!

So I can finally show the merch (the reward for the Vexteria tier on Ream and Patreon) from this drop, as it's just been shipped out to everyone safely :D

In the Raven Prince bundle there are:

4 unique vinyl stickers (I've been testing these on my water bottle and they've held up really well over a 3 month period. I wouldn't say they're dishwasher safe, but for general usage on items like laptops, water bottles etc. they're probably the hardiest stickers I've used!)

A5 Leatherette Hardback Journal with bookmark ribbon and outer band to keep closed, with 192 lined pages

Sticky pad notes (50 pages)

Individual, personalised letter <3

I've learned a lot in the past six months and I'm excited for the next six. I think I'll be looking at either 'the girls' (Julvia, Gulvi and Fenwrel), or a quotes drop that probably focuses on Gwyn and Augus and some of their more iconic quotes!

[yanderenightmare]

your vocab is really rich, what's ur secret

oh! uhm... excellent question!

Read! And every time you stumble upon a word you've never noticed before or know but don't often use, put it in a list, write down its meanings, and try using it the next time you write! (I'll put my list after the cut)

Read different things! Different authors and different styles, especially poetry! I mean, if you're looking to fatten your vocab, reading poetry is one of the best ways to do it. Poetic writers must search far and wide for the perfect words to create rhymes and rhythms and audibly pleasing sentences---they practically do all the work for you! Honestly, I am so serious about this. One of the best things you can do is buy a fat compendium of poetry with all different authors and eras. Get you some Edgar Allen Poe, Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson, and Shakespeare if you want to hurt your head. Also! The same goes for music! Try listening to the lyrics---you'll probably hear some words you've never thought of using in your writing.

Here's a cheap trick for bilinguals---write something in your own language and put it through Google Translate. Honestly, I've found so many words just by doing this.

Every time you feel you've used a word too much, or anytime a word bores you to read, search up its synonyms and try using something you've never used before---don't stop the search until you're satisfied. Sometimes, it takes me more time to find just one word than it takes to write an entire post. Not only does this enrich your vocab, but you've probably just written a whole other sentence with newer meanings and more nuance!

Make your own synonym lists! Seriously! Because you can only find that many creative synonyms by searching up "word+synonyms."

Additionally! Think outside the box! Often, the best synonyms are those words that aren't actual synonyms at all. If you read poetry, you'll see poets use unorthodox words in place of something all the time---it's called a metaphor. Take flesh, for example---you can use fat, meat, muscle, brawn, beef---but you can also use cake, down, plume, pillow, softness, etc... I find this one especially useful for writing erotica, as you have to describe a lot of the same actions and body parts over and over and still make it interesting. (I'll add my synonyms list after the cut)

Also! This one is trickier, but instead of using words and synonyms, try making sentences that can replace the word instead---such as longer metaphors and fuller descriptions! This aligns with the literary device of "showing vs. telling." Of course, outright telling has its uses too and should not be disbarred entirely from writing, but often, it's showing that persuades the reader more. For example, instead of saying nervous, make sentences that describe how the character in question showcases nervousness---does their throat close up, do they sweat, do their eyes go wide, do they stutter, do they fiddle with their fingers, pick their nails, bite their lip, kick the ground, hunch their shoulders, look away, blush, flush, cry, run away or do they feel stuck? Describing these things helps the reader better understand the type of nervousness the character is experiencing. Hence, it makes for not only more interesting writing but also clearer writing!

A similar literary device is "focus and expanding," which slows down the reading or puts focus on certain aspects of the text by describing something to a great extent. If, say, this nervousness the example character is experiencing is of great significance, then that's what the readers' takeaway should be. But the reader won't think too much of it if the text simply states that they're nervous without underlining it. Luckily, there are plenty of ways of doing that, firstly through showing vs. telling, such as in the examples above, then metaphorically, such as "the ground seemed to swallow him up, down the guzzle of a monster with an appetite for disaster---darkness ensued like a storm cloud, cold and clawing with a weight heavy enough to nail him to the spot---all eyes were on him, unblinking and all-seeing, no matter what, he couldn't escape, he was stuck, glued to the ground by the soles of his shoes." I mean, the options are truly endless. These metaphors piled together are also a form of focusing and expanding, but you can take it even further than that by focusing on a small detail and giving it significance. For example, say the character is sweating because he's so nervous---you might focus on a single droplet of sweat instead of everything else, "A chill ran down his back. No, not a chill--sweat. Cold and creepily tracing the rigid bones of his spine. He can't move--if he moves, then they'll see. The sweat will seep into his shirt, and everyone will know what a sweaty and pathetic wreck he is. So, he can't move. No, yes, leave it alone. The droplet continues, running down the cold skin of his clammy back, sliding undeterred until meeting the band of his boxers and disappearing in the fibers. He swallows thickly and sighs with relief--only for another to pill at his nape, tracking the same course as the former. A vicious cycle is forming. He needs to get out of there!" And that's focus and expanding, folks! Focusing on something minuscule and expanding it by using it to describe what the character is feeling. It's a way to have a fresh take on something that's been written a thousand times before, such as "he was nervous."

Anyway, I might have gone a little above and beyond, but really, all these literary devices are ways of "expanding vocabulary" or at least giving an impression of it.

NEW WORDS

Manically---like a maniac

Despotic---like a dictator, having unlimited power over someone, often using it unfairly and cruelly

Chasm---a deep fissure, like a ravine, wound, or metaphorical rupture

Shunts---track-change basically, scoots to the side

Dearth---a scarcity or lack of something, a shortage

Raucous---making a harsh or loud noise

Innocuous---not harmful or offensive---harmless and safe, but also bland and unremarkable, maybe even a little boring

Lanyard---the woven necklace of a festival pass

Gossamer---fine spiderwebs, almost mesh

Cossetted---care for and protect in an overindulgent way

Beribboned---decorated with many ribbons

pupil-fat---cool way of saying enlarged pupils

Chitters---snickers, like a bird

Decadent---corrupt, depraved

Blotting---either soak up and absorb, or stain, or obscure

Barbell---a bar “pole” with attachments on each side

Bunting---of animals, when they butt or rub their head against you

Garnet---red

Cherubic---angelic, plump cuteness, quality of a child

Haunches---hips

Sodden---soaking

Waxing poetic---speaking in a flowery or poetical fashion

Inkwell---a container for ink---a dark well

Rend---tear in two, or more pieces

Ebb---recede, go back, like a tide wave

Webbed---like a duck's feet

Cloying---sickly sweet

Saccharine---oversweet

Apple of your cheek

Swathes---wrap, swaddle

Shroud---obscure something

Moonstone---to describe something grey and dusty, but pretty

Kinked---tangled, messy

Leaden---heavy, dull, slow or the colour of lead, grey

Stygian---devoid of light and brightness, hellish

Flaxen---of hair, champagne colored---ashy blonde

Tepid---lukewarm

SYNONYMS

Related to sucking cock:

Swallow

Glug

Drink

Eat

Guzzle

Receive

Take

Suck

Suckle

Slobber

Gargle

Gurgle

Drool

Gulp

Gobble

Stuff

Glut

Choke

Gag

Lap

Lick

Kitten-lick

Slurp 

Allow entry

Related to kissing:

Kiss

Lock/brush lips

Tongue-feed

Suck faces

Smooch

Peck

Snog

Canoodle

Related to biting:

Bite

Graze

Nip

Nibble

Sink teeth into

Chomp

Related to crying:

Whimpering

Mewling

Bleating

Whining

Snivel

Sniffle

Cry

Sob

Bawl

Hiccup

Spluttering

Blubbering

Coughing

Croaking

Related to pre-cum:

Ooze

Leak

Weep

Well

Drip

Dribble

Flow

Drain

Bleed

Sweat

Seep

Pill

Pearl

Cry

Related to fear and panic:

Hysterical

Wild

Manic

Uncontrolled

Unrestrained

Frantic

Frenzied

Restless

Hectic

Sporadic

Swivel-eyed

Related to screaming:

Scream

Yell

Wail

Yelp

Yip

Yammer

Squawk

Howl

Squeal

Shriek

Related to moaning:

Moan

Whine

Yelp

Purr

Hum

Croon

Related to overstimulated moaning:

Mumble

Croon

Warble

Quaver

Burble

Bumble

Hum

Slur

Ramble

Mutter

Whisper

Stammer

Stutter

Scramble

Jumble

Muddled

Babble

Blubbered

Splutter

Blurt

Related to groaning:

Groan

Grunt

Growl

Grumble

Grouch

Hiss

Guttural

Feral

Rusty 

Throaty

Wet

Sloppy

Related to angry noises:

Howl

Roar

Bark

Grizzle

Grump

Related to surprise or fear:

Gasp

Gulp

Choke

Suck in a sharp breath

Flinch

Jump

Jostle

Wince

Hiss

Pull back

Related to comforting:

Coo

Fuss

Comfort

Hush

Shush

Tsk

Mollycoddle

Nurse

Cuddle

Babying

Consoling

Soothe

Loving

Smothering

Hug

Hug tight

Cocoon

Snuggling

Swaddling

Rock back and forth with

Cosseting

Petting

Overwhelm

Related to begging:

Beg

Pleading

Pray

Bargain

Related to soreness and pain:

Ache

Sore

Throb

Swollen

Fattened

Welted

Related to taking cock inside entrance:

Swallow

Receive

Take

Suck inside

Stuff

Fill

Allow entry

Submit to

Ease inside

Bully inside

Squeeze inside

Force inside

Push

Pry

Related to how the hole squeezes:

Kissing

Fluttering

Hugging

Pressing

Squishing

Squeezing

Tightening

Pulsing

Related to a wet hole:

Slush

Squelch

Squishy

Creamy

Sloppy

Wet

Soaked

Slosh

Sop

Cry

Slick

Weep

Drool

Gush

Swollen

Velvety

Gummy

Cotton

Silken

Satiny

Related to thrusting:

Squeeze into

Pound

Jam

Ram

Rut

Loll

Rock

Thrust

Stuff

Bottom out

Fill

Fit

Nestle

Cram

Prodding

Poking

Kissing

Hammering

Jack-hammer

Smack

Slap

Ream

Related to pleasure:

Ecstatic

Opium-eyed

Euphoric

Elated

Thrilled

Blissed-out

Rapturous

High

Cloudy

Numb

Related to overstimulation:

Overstimulated

Outdone

Aching

Burning

Sweating

Feverish

Delirious

Febrile

Numb

Immobile

Dazed

Dull

Related to being dumb, high, or overstimulated:

Ditzy

Dumb

Clumsy

Silly

Foolish

Giddy

Brainless

Dizzy

Fuzzy

Dopey

Whimsical

Fickle

Featherbrained

Daft

Hare-brained

Awkward

Graceless

Blundering

Bumbling

Klutzy

Clueless

Cloddish

Dense

Related to the body and the flesh:

Tender

Supple

Soft

Creamy

Plush

Doughy

Cakey

Downy

Pillowy

Malleable

Squeezable

Biteable

Pliable

Touchable

Putty

Plume

Related to cuteness:

Cute

Cherubic

Adorable

Sweet

Soft

Precious

Darling

Lovable

Endearing

Baby

Related to weak or smallness:

Breakable

Brittle

Weak

Fragile

Dainty

Delicate

Frail

Flimsy

Vulnerable

Petite

Small

Little

Tiny

Feeble

Defenseless

Powerless

Helpless

Worthless

Hopeless

Related to struggling:

Struggle

Winding

Striving

Straining

Toiling

Playing

Wriggle

Wiggle

Twist

Shake

Tremor

Shiver

Quake

Related to men:

Vulgar

Loud

Oafish

Rough

Rude

Rustic

Gruff

Gross

Doltish

Barbaric

Bearish

Beastly

Churlish

Coarse

Swinish

[ilovechuuy4]

⋆｡°·☁︎ When you hold me, its always better.

Husband!Fyodor x Gn!reader

Warnings; Possible OOC || Nothing

A/n; This is specifically for my bsf @luvfy0dor / @luvfy0dor-main there isn't anything special going on just personal stuff :3 I love you so much ur the best of friends and I hope this cheers you up just the more ૮₍´˶• . • ⑅ ₎э (All lace / dividers by @anitalenia )

𓏲 ๋࣭  ࣪ ˖ Fyodor is the type of Husband to hold you and tell you everything is fine after an overwhelming and stressing day.

You hated this feeling, it was overwhelming and suffocating. The stress and angry swallowing you whole, everything today was sickening, from the people at work to how unwell you felt. But you had to admit, the comforting yet bitter contact of Fyodor's icey hands was enough to help you relax. The two of you snuggled up in the bed bodies pressed against one another, cause for the past 2 hours he'd been calming you done from your stress high. Your head resting one your husband's chest, dozing off a bit. "Mhm, myshka. If you're tired don't you think you should go get ready for bed?" He asked, his voice underlined with that thick Russian accent that you loved so much.

No, I don't want to sleep. Keep talking to me." You hummed softly, shivers running down your spin at the feeling of his fingers soothingly rubbing your nape. A smile etching onto his face as he looks into your eyes. "Oh, sweetheart. Don't push yourself too much, if you're sleepy, sleep. I'll be here." He spoke, massaging your neck slowly as you look up at him. You sit up in his lap reaching up and threading your fingers through his dark, raven hair. "I'm not that tired. It's just it gets really comfortable." You said with a smile, scooting closer to the Russian man as you let your arms wrap around his shoulders. His slim arms tentivley encasing over your waist, his face nestling into the warmth of your neck.

"Whatever you say, my myshka." Fyodor huffed, pulling away from you, his deep, violet eyes staring into your e/c ones. His eyes were filled with unspoken love, he didn't even have to tell you how much he adored you, cause you knew already. Your hand cup his pale face, thumb rubbing the corner of his mouth as you lean in, peppering kisses to his nose, under eyes, and the corner of his mouth a a gentle smile on your face. "Come here, stop teasing me like that." He said, a slight pout under his tone, you couldn't have but laugh quietly, leaning in as your lips meet his. A content hum rumbled in his throat as he kissed back, fingers massaging your hip bone soothingly.

After a minute or two, you pull away with a cheeky grin, your eyes meeting his. They were full of love and affection as he stared back at you with a down pulled smile. "I adore you, I adore you more than I ever thought I could," He let out a shaky sigh before continuing. "You deserve so much more than l offer. You're too sweet for the world." He cooed, his voice full of sincerity as he slumped his body against yours. "Oh, Fedya. Don't think like that, you're more than enough." You reassured, hand soothingly rubbing up and down his back that was cover in a thick, smooth knitted sweater. A quiet groan was heard against your neck causing you to let out a soft scoff.

"Don't get all pouty and whiney now." You teased causing him to jerk up from where he slumped into your body. "I'm not, I'm just simply.. Touched. By your way of words." He said with a huff. It made you smile, seeing some real emotion on such a dull yet loving face. You enjoyed times like these. "Cmon, let's get to bed now, my love." He said, pulling you close and pulling you down to his side. This was a dream to you, one you never wanted to wake up from. "Goodnight, myshka. I love you truely." He cooed one last time, his voice filling your ears as you dozed off.

A/n; THIS IS SORTA RUSHED I GUESS I HOPE IT DOESN'T FLOP˚‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )‧º·˚

[sansaorgana]

— NEW MEMORIES

PAIRING — Erik Lehnsherr x fem!Mutant!Reader

SUMMARY — You're excited to celebrate holidays for the first time in a long time and you prepare the school for Christmas and Hanukkah but your husband's attitude differs, which leads to an argument. You accidentally reveal too soon that you're expecting, which ruins a surprise.

AUTHOR’S NOTE — As usual, Reader’s mutation is NOT specified. I checked online Hanukkah's date for 1973 and I hope it showed me right that it started December 19th, which means it would overlap with Christmas. I also tried not to specify if Reader would celebrate only Hanukkah with Erik or Christmas, too, so I hope it's not very exclusive, because I imagine that even if she is not a Christian or Jewish, she would still want to celebrate Hanukkah because of her husband. In this fic, Erik and Reader are both teachers at Xavier's School, probably after Days of Future Past happened but with less shitty ending for Erik 😂 I also wanted to write a part when the baby is born but I decided the time difference between the scenes would be too big so I'll just write another fic 😁

WARNINGS — mentions of parents' death (Reader's backstory is similar to Jean Grey's)

WORD COUNT — 2,220

ENGLISH IS MY SECOND LANGUAGE.

NEW MEMORIES

December has never been your favourite time of the year. Most of the time it was a reminder that you weren’t normal, that your life wasn’t usual and that whatever all these people in Christmas commercials had was out of your reach.

But in 1973, for the first time in your life, you were actually excited. And since Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters was open again, you had plenty of people to share your excitement with. Lots of students volunteered to help you with decorating the place for the upcoming Christmas and Hanukkah celebrations. That year was one of those when the two of them overlapped.

After all your classes on Friday, you worked on yet another room of the house with the help of a few students. When you finished it was almost ten pm so you told them goodnight and went straight to your bedroom. Erik was already there, reading a history book and making notes.

“What is it about?” you asked him with a smile as you began to take off your clothes. You were so tired that you decided to take a shower in the morning and now just change into pajamas.

“Napoleonic wars,” your husband answered without looking up. “I have a feeling he might have been one of us.”

“Aren’t we, like, a product of this century?” you asked and put a nightgown on. “Come on, it’s late, let’s go to sleep,” you stood behind him and placed your hands on his shoulders.

“I’ve only just begun,” he explained. “I need these notes for Monday.”

When you managed to convince Erik to join you at school and teach history, he was unsure about it but he promised to give it a try. Just like you promised you would leave with him to live in peace somewhere else if he wouldn’t like the life at Charles’ school. But one semester later he was already very engaged in his work. Students respected him although you could see that they were also a bit scared of him, which was understandable.

“You’ve just begun?” you laughed a little.

“I was playing chess with Charles earlier,” Erik answered with a nod and hummed after underlining a line in the book.

“Is this why you’re so tense?” you asked as you slightly squeezed his stiff shoulders. “Did you lose?”

“I’m not tense,” he tried to shake you off.

“Talk to me, Erik. It’s not gonna work if you refuse to talk to me,” you reminded him sternly and he sighed before putting the pencil down and closing the book. “We need to be open about what is bothering us, you promised me we’d make it work this time,” you added.

“Yes, I know. But I don’t want to hurt your feelings,” Erik turned his head around to look at your face. You took a step back and furrowed your brows.

“What do you mean, Erik?” you asked.

He hesitated before saying anything and a million of possible scenarios started to come up to your mind.

“You don’t like it here?” You inquired. “You want us to move out?”

“No, it’s not about that… But…” Erik swallowed thickly and took a deep breath in. “I don’t like what you’re currently doing. I’m sorry. I don’t want to take your happiness out of it.”

“What am I currently doing?” you couldn’t understand what he was saying.

“Christmas and Hanukkah preparations,” he explained and you blinked a few times as your brain needed to process that information.

“Wait, what?!” you raised your voice a little. You didn’t want to scold him for expressing his feelings but you just couldn’t understand his reaction. “We’re going to celebrate for the first time in such a long time, and what’s more important, we’re not gonna be alone in this. We have our friends and students here. For the first time December is a positive time of the year to me… to us,” you tried to explain your point of view nervously. Erik was only looking at you and blinking slowly, patiently waiting for you to finish. “But I don’t do it for myself. I mostly am doing it for you, Erik. I wanted you to be happy, too. I wanted you to enjoy something that had been taken away from you a long time ago.”

“It reminds me of Hanukkahs with my parents,” he finally spoke up and you pursed your lips for a moment before opening your mouth again.

“So you don’t want to ever celebrate again?” you asked to be sure.

“No, I don’t think so,” he shook his head.

“Why can’t you let yourself be happy, why are you torturing yourself further? I don’t get it, I’m sorry,” you tried not to be irritated but you felt utterly disappointed. You sat on the edge of your bed and hid your face in your hands.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to be a killjoy.”

“Too late,” you murmured, fighting your tears back.

“I know that most of the students will be celebrating. I think I’ll just leave for a week somewhere. I have already discussed it with Charles and he said there are a few things I can do for him at that time,” Erik’s voice sounded casual like he was discussing business for you.

“You want to leave us during Christmas time?” you moved the hands off of your face and looked up at him angrily.

“(Y/N), please, I don’t want to fight about it…” Erik sighed. “Why can’t you just understand that I don’t want to…” he clenched his jaw and looked away. “I don’t want to create new memories like this because it would remove the ones I already have… with my mother.”

“And you think she wouldn’t want you to celebrate holidays with your new family? You don’t think she’d want you to be happy?” you stood up and looked down at him. You felt like a bitch but his explanation made you even angrier.

“I don’t know what she’d want because she’s dead!” He stood up and raised his voice.

“So, I won’t be able to celebrate ever?! Because you don’t want to create new memories?” you put your hands on your hips.

“I’m not forbidding you to celebrate.”

“I don’t want to celebrate without you, don’t you understand?!” you yelled and rolled your eyes. “And when our child is born, you won’t celebrate Hanukkah with them either?” you asked and then you closed your mouth quickly. Your anger made you reveal a few things too early.

“What child?” you could see Erik’s face becoming pale within a second. “(Y/N)?”

“It was supposed to be a Christmas surprise… But since you won’t even be here, I guess I can tell you now,” you shrugged your arms. “I’m pregnant,” you announced and turned around to avoid looking at his face. You were scared of his reaction.

You didn’t know how long it took him to finally do something. Was it a very long minute or was it ten minutes of a heavy silence between you two…?

“(Y/N), I’m sorry,” he finally whispered. Apologizing wasn’t his strong trait. You sensed him standing behind you and putting his hand on your shoulder shyly. You didn’t push him away but you didn’t lean back towards him as usual either. “For how long do you know?”

“Two weeks. It’s the second month,” you answered, your eyes focused on the wall in front of you as you tried to fight the tears back. “Are you even happy?” you dared to ask and your lower lip trembled because asking it out loud made your heart break.

You were trying to give him a normal life, to give him family and happiness, joy around Christmas time and all that. But he seemed to prefer to dwell on his past. You didn’t expect him to forget about his mother or about the pain, of course not. Your past wasn’t exactly pleasant either. But you wanted to be happy despite that, you wanted to have a family, you wanted a new start in life, another chance.

“Of course I am,” Erik answered and gently turned your body around so you would face him. However, you tried to avoid his eyes. “But I’m terrified,” he confessed.

“And you think I am not?” you looked up eventually as a few tears rolled down your cheeks. “I’m a monster, Erik. You think I’m not scared of hurting them by accident?” you asked.

When you were about twelve years old, you caused your parents’ death after having an argument with them. Your powers were out of control and you were locked in a mental institution for underage girls by people who didn’t understand that you weren’t crazy nor really dangerous. That was where you met the person who made you realize who you were and who was the only person there who wouldn’t treat you like a monster; although that was the word you could easily call him with. His name was Sebastian Shaw – but he introduced himself as Doctor John Smith. He was experimenting on you for a few years and although it had been a traumatic experience, you learnt how to control your mutation thanks to him. That was also how you met Erik – he found you not so long after you turned eighteen years old and left the institution. You started to work as a waitress and he was hunting for the man who had used your pain and suffering to perform experiments on you to deepen his knowledge about the various mutations. You decided to join Erik because your life didn’t seem to have any purpose anyway.

“You’re not a monster,” he sighed and pulled you closer to wrap his arms around you. With one of his hands he held the back of your head and caressed your hair. “You were just a child and now you’re older, you can control your powers. You’re extraordinary,” he whispered the words of comfort and kissed your forehead. “I’m not scared about you hurting our baby, I would never. I trust you with my life,” he assured you and it was comforting to hear that.

“Creating new memories doesn’t wipe out the old ones,” you cried out and pressed your face deeper into his chest. “Believe me, I wish it worked this way. I wish I could forget. I begged Charles to make me forget but he refused to do it to me,” you confessed and Erik raised your chin to make you look at him again. He hadn’t known about that before.

“You haven’t told me that,” his face was full of pain and worry.

“It was when you were in jail. I begged Charles to remove all the pain, the memory of my parents, the memory of Shaw… Even you. I begged him to even remove you from my head. But he told me I wouldn’t be myself any longer. He was right and I hate that. I hate that what I am is made of pain and suffering,” you sniffled. “That’s why I want to make good memories so badly, do you understand? I want to celebrate with you like we never have before. I want to laugh and feel safe. Like I belong somewhere, surrounded with friends and students, with my husband by my side and my baby growing inside of me. Do you understand my point of view now, Erik?” you bit on your trembling lip.

“Yes, my liebling, I do,” he nodded and leaned in to kiss your forehead and then the tip of your nose, which made you giggle through the tears, until eventually he pecked your lips.

“But I don’t want to force you either,” you sighed. Now, when all your emotions were finally out and you calmed yourself down, you decided there was no point in pushing him into something that would make him feel uncomfortable. “If you don’t want to celebrate, it’s alright. We both have our right to deal with whatever that has happened to us in our own ways. I’ll still have fun with all the rest, don’t worry about me,” you assured him.

“No, you were right. About me choosing to torture myself instead of allowing myself to enjoy my life,” Erik caressed your cheek and you cracked a smile. “And I can’t miss my child’s first Hanukkah either.”

“I want them to have a happy childhood,” you told him. “Like we never had.”

“I know. I do, too,” Erik placed his hand on your belly and caressed it gently, like it was made of glass. “I will protect them from everything, I promise. No human will hurt our baby.”

You smiled at him and cupped his face before leaning in to give him a proper kiss this time.

But you didn’t tell him that what you feared more than humans hurting your child was actually the child turning out to be perfectly normal. You were afraid that a man so prejudiced towards humans as your husband wouldn’t love his child fully if they weren’t a mutant. You couldn’t tell him that, though. You didn’t want to fight with him anymore that night. Instead, you just kissed him. After all, you’d still have a few years before you’d find out if the baby was a mutant or not.

MASTERLIST

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

The Farmer's Daughter 2

Warnings: non/dubcon, and other dark elements. My username actually says you never asked for any of this.

My warnings are not exhaustive but be aware this is a dark fic and may include potentially triggering topics. Please use your common sense when consuming content. I am not responsible for your decisions.

Characters: Walter Marshall

Summary: You notice a peculiar change in a family friend. (short!reader, sorry size kink is out)

Part of the Backwoods AU

As usual, I would appreciate any and all feedback. I’m happy to once more go on this adventure with all of you! Thank you in advance for your comments and for reblogging.

Your dad sits in the worn-out recliner, silent as the radio buzzes on an AM station. Your mother places a glass of water next to him but he doesn't acknowledge her. You've never seen him like this. Your dad's always been lively, often talking back to the radio. But now, he's like a shell, just staring.

"The rehab nurse will come tomorrow," your mom nears, "he just needs some rest for now."

You nod and back out of the room, a grim coldness in the air despite the warmth of spring flowing in from open windows. You enter the kitchen as your mother trails after you. Without a word, she flips on the burner beneath the blackened silver kettle. You lean on the square island and trace a finger around a ring in the wood.

"Do they know how it happened?" You ask.

"A clot. They say... things like that are hard to catch," she sniffs, "but it doesn't matter now. All that matters is he's home and alive and... he's going to get better."

"I'm sorry, ma," you frown.

You cup your chin and glance over at the door. When you looked in your father's eyes, it was as if he didn't know you. He just smiled weakly then went back to staring. What happened to man who used to jump down from his tractor to the dismay of his wife?

"We'll have to figure out what to do about the planting," your mother hums and chews her thumb. She pulls her hand away and stretches out her fingers, "Timothy's done a lot but... we'll never catch up at this pace."

"I can help," you offer, "ma, we'll make it work."

"No, I need you in here," she counters, "I'll be taking care of your dad. The hospital gave me all these pamphlets; exercises and all that..." she blows out a heavy breath and flattens her palm to her forehead, "how am I going to do all this?"

"Ma, we'll all help," you offer, "it's okay. We'll be okay. Dad will be okay."

You come around the counter and offer a hug. She latches onto you and rocks you in place. As she holds you, a rumble underlines the chatter on the radio humming from the front room.

You part and look over at the open archway to the hallway. You glance at your mother and give a nod. Visitors already.

You go down to the entry way, wondering where Timothy went. He was just out on the porch fiddling with some car part or another. You open the door and lean back on a heel as Walter greets you with a nod.

"Hey, hope I'm not... imposing."

"Um, dad just got home. He's..." you peek over at the front room, "resting."

"Of course, I figured, I just wanted to drop this off," he holds up the basket in his right hand, "had some extra stuff in my pantry."

"Oh, Mr. Marshall," you accept the basket, "thank you. You didn't have to--"

"Walt," he corrects.

"Walter," your mother's voice carries through the hall as she pads up softly, "oh, Walter, how kind."

She looks at the basket as you grasp the handle and Walter lets it go, the weight nearly bowling you over. You do your best to keep it above ground level.

"Heavy," he warns too late.

"Please, come in," your mother beckons.

"I wouldn't want to disturb him," Walter puts his head down, almost meekly. "Just wanted to bring some stuff."

"No, no, please, I just put the kettle on."

"Uh, alright," he accepts reticently. "Thanks, Maddie."

"Not at all," she assures and turns to sweep back down the hall.

He steps in and bends to untie his stained tan boots. He leaves them on the mat and faces you. You give an awkward smile and take stunted steps with the weighty basket.

"Here," he swipes it back as he catches up to you, "don't hurt yourself."

You let him have it. Your arm hurts. He follows you into the kitchen and places the basket on the island as you round to the other side.

"Black tea?" Your mother offers.

"Sure," he stands sternly, arms straight, stance wide.

She takes down three cups as you languish in radio's buzz. You never said much more than a few words to Walter. Walt. He never says too much either, he was always just a sounding board for your father's yammering.

"God!" The back door swings open and hits the wall, causing you and your mother to yelp as Walter merely looks over dully. Your brother clamours in and skids to a halt.

"Timmy, the floor," your mother reproaches.

"Dang it, sorry ma," he huffs, "I just... the tractor's smoking."

"What?" You and your mother stammer in unison.

"Yeah, black shit all out the exhaust."

"I'll have a look," Walter offers.

"Oh, hey, Walter," Timothy grins dumbly.

"You're so kind, Walter, but we can get Vol down here--"Don't bother with the bill," Walter shrugs off, "I'll get my boots."

Your mother sighs and you shake your head at Timothy. She might just be right. There's no way the three of you can get the spring planting done, especially if he's going to treat the tractor like one of his dinky cars he played with as a kid.

[coldbronzemoon]

Danny Fenton, Totally Mortal Hero Consultant (DPxDC)

Snippet for an AU I'll probably never fully write where Danny takes a job as a consultant for the Justice League to help with ghost and demon bullshit. It's a pretty good cash flow to help him with college, after all, and very flexible hours.

He just claims all his knowledge comes from his parents. Unfortunately, the JL has caught word of the elusive yet active hero Phantom, and want Danny to help them meet and assess him. Whoops.

Over the phone, Tucker sighed. “Good Christ, Danny, why do you keep doing this?”

“I’m not doing anything,” Danny said immediately. He winced at the vague sound of screaming below. Demons sucked. “I didn’t know the JL thing was gonna have me finding Phantom. How would I? They were talking about tracking down powerful ghosts, I was assuming Ancients!”

Tucker sighed again, which was really quite unfair of him. “Mhm. Well, Fenton Catcher?”

“Probably not. They know me pretty well at this point, and unlike what Sam says I can be professional. I’d confuse them with the… uh…”

“Stoner shtick?”

There was more screaming happening, but judging from the pitch it was a demon screaming this time. Danny checked the situation. Yep, demon getting their ass kicked. He didn’t need to get involved with a blaster. Yet.

Instead, he scowled at his phone. “Stop calling it that.”

“You’re gonna tell me flanny Danny wasn’t a pitch-perfect stoner, huh? With the chill vibing and the dopey look?”

“I hate you.”

“Love you too, bud.” 

The sound of a clacking keyboard that had underlined their conversation stopped. “But seriously, Danny, what the hell are you gonna do with this?”

“Uh, lie, probably,” Danny said, because it was very likely.

“Alright, smartass, what are you going to do when that lie backfires on you like literally every other one does?”

“That’s when I start gaslighting, gatekeeping, and girlbossing, babe.”

He had a hard time hearing Tucker’s distant groan of “Why am I still your friend?” on account of the sudden explosion. Danny checked again. Hm. Demon dude had a nasty fire thing going on.

Danny switched on his Fenton water gun—holy water included!-- and shot the demon in the face. They let out a cracking hiss of rage, but dropped the fire spell thing. He waited for them to stop looking around wildly for the culprit for a moment. 

He went back to the call. “‘Cause you loooove me, Tuck. From the bottom of your twice-dead heart.”

“Unfortunately,” Tucker deadpanned.

Danny just cackled. It was lost amongst the sound of supernatural bullshit below.

“Anyway, I’m still figuring out my plan A, honestly. Might bring in gray-man?”

“Amorpho’s an asshole, though. He’ll ruin the whole thing by taking the opportunity to shift into a JL member for a bit.”

Hm. True.

“Yeah, but he’s the main guy I know with that power set.”

“Ask after Desiree?” He could hear the immediate distaste in Tucker’s voice. “Ugh, pretend I didn’t say that. That’s worse than Amorpho.”

“It’s awful,” Danny agreed easily. 

Desiree was actually pretty alright nowadays, mostly on account of Danny remembering the last couple minutes of Aladdin and wishing she could refuse wishes she didn’t want to grant. That had made her happy enough to stop actively picking fights. 

Unfortunately, spending the entirety of one’s afterlife twisting the wording of wishes to their worst form made it hard to stop being an asshole. Who knew! So getting Desiree to split him in two for like a week had a 50/50 chance of fucking up his work relationship with the literal league of superheroes irrevocably. And this was his main cash flow right now.

So, no Desiree, no siree.

“Come up with something better then, asshole.”

Danny hummed and, since the heroes below were focused on the demon, lifted up a little and did a thoughtful back flip. What to do, what to do…?

Oh!

“My cousin!” he exclaimed.

“What cous—? Oh, Ellie.”

“Yeah, Ellie, Tuck. Which other cousins do I have?”

Tucker scoffed. “You literally have that whole Nightingale thing going on through your dad?”

Danny couldn’t help the face he made. The remaining Nightingales were worse than his parents somehow. “The Nightingales don’t count.”

“You can’t just say they don’t count.”

“I can say that, actually, and I will. They’re, like, cousins through my great-great-great-grandpa anyway.”

“Isn’t there a fight going on over there? Should you be shooting someone?”

 “Yeah, probably.”

He peaked down through the window once more. The heroes must have gotten the first demon to leave while he was talking, because the horned demon fighting them now was a truly unfortunate shade of yellow-green instead of purple. Or maybe it had transformed for some reason? They had it about as in-hand as the other one, though, so Danny definitely didn’t need to go down there. He shot the maybe-new demon in the face real quick.

“Anyway, Ellie can totally help out, she’s been practicing with changing up her looks. She’s also more, uh, malleable than me, what with her situation and all. Looking fully like Phantom shouldn’t be hard.”

Tucker hummed. “She’d try to embarrass you though.”

“Yeah, that’s a problem.” Danny spun in place. “I could bribe her?”

“With what? Her life doesn’t involve needing much cash.”

“She doesn’t get out to the Zone very much. Not many of the inhabited places, anyway. I can promise her the weird apple things Dora’s been growing with Sam’s help, she loved those.”

“If you think that’ll work…” Tucker trailed off dubiously.

Danny laughed. “She’s annoying sometimes, but she’s not gonna fuck over my job if I ask her not to. I’ll just bribe her extra hard for resisting the temptation to mock me.”

“Fair enough.” The clacking of keys resumed. “I’ve really gotta pay attention now, someone’s trying to stop me from getting into this database. Someone half-decent, actually, did they upgrade? Hm. Make sure no one died, yeah?”

“They’re alive. Bye, Tuck,” Danny said, and ended the call.

He shoved his phone back into his jacket pocket and made his way down the stairs. The fight outside he had been stationed for was basically over—Captain Marvel and Green Lantern (Danny was pretty sure he had accidentally learned the dude’s actual name at some point, but hell if he could remember)—had pulled out the magic restraints one of the other consultants had handed out.

That had probably been Constantine. Ugh. Constantine. Dude could stand to lighten up a little; skulking and smoking all the time wasn’t the base state of someone enjoyable to be around. Then again, Danny knew he annoyed the shit out of some of the league with his own attitude, so he maybe shouldn’t talk. But at least he was annoying with a smile!

Case in point: Danny grinned at the heroes. “Got it handled?”

“Suppose so,” said the Green Lantern, “though a little more help would have been nice.”

Captain Marvel was too busy getting in a minor tussle with the demon to say anything either way.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m like, pretty mortal,” Danny said. “I’m not fucking with demons right where they can hit me. And I did shoot him!”

Green Lantern rolled his eyes, but admitted the point. Danny cheerfully flipped him off anyway.

“I’ll be heading out, then, the hellmouth this guy crawled out of is like three miles away.” Captain Marvel said, hauling the handcuffed demon over his shoulders like a very angry backpack.

“Oh, one more for the road!” 

Danny hit the demon with a final water gun shot. Hissing and scrunching their face like a cat, the demon tried to lunge at him. It wasn’t very successful. Weirdly non-verbal for a demon, who usually had to talk to make deals and steal mortal souls, but Danny wouldn’t judge. Might be a minor demon. A really basic imp? Who knew.

“Stop being a little bitch and you won’t get spray-bottled, asshole,” Danny chided.

With a loud laugh, Captain Marvel sped away.

[uchinagai]

19 “it’s me before her” - Karina smau

(half written; word count: 783)

Younger was sick and tired of everything that was happening. The girl she was interested in and showed interest in her hasn’t spoken to her all of the 3 hours she’s been here. Aespa was shooting teasers for their comeback and y/n said to her that she would swing by for her but here she was doing anything BUT paying attention to her. Older was either on her phone typing something violently, which was suspicious to her, or speaking to ningning and Giselle.

Which angered her more.

Older didn’t know Giselle at all but here she was laughing and giggling with the girl. It was mostly Giselle cracking jokes while y/n laughed along.

The girl's laugh was so beautiful but there was no time for that.

She needed to get her attention.

So when she finished shooting, she walked over to the two and put her arm around y/ns shoulder so casually as she looked at her with a smile.

“I'm done with mine.”

y/n was lost for words. Sudden skinship and eye contact made her lose her mind in seconds and felt her legs go weak for whatever reason.

“U-uh that's great! we should wait for ningning to finish up–”

“Aren’t you here for me?” Karina asked with a small pout. y/n was gonna lose it.. There is no way she’s gonna fall for a girl this easily. It's not fair. She looked away with a hint of blush.

“I promised ningning to wait for her”

“Aww shucks, then we will wait together and go to the park,” Karina suggested as y/n agreed.

“Sounds like a plan”

“Great I'll get changed then”

y/n hummed in agreement as Karina walked away while the Japanese in front of her gave her stupid smile.

“What?’

“Are you in love with my leader?”

“no, I'm not.”

“Sure and there’s a flying pig behind you.” “Where?!” older yelled as she turned excited causing staff to be slightly startled by the girl's outburst. Japanese let out a huge laugh as she threw her head back slapping y/ns thigh as the older looked at her annoyed.

“Not funny!” she said as she crossed her arms with a pout while the girl laughed even more.

“It was the top 3 funniest things you have done ever since you arrived!!”

“Wait what is the other 2?”

“Well when you got us drinks and forgot about your friend's allergic reaction to the ingredients and second is losing your shit every time my Karina looked at you and you either choked on your drink or just look away embarrassed”

“Was it that obvious?”

“Even staff in the back noticed!” the girl said as she laughed again, slapping y/ns thighs again as she laughed. It was obvious the girl had a hitting problem while laughing so the older took note of it.

As they laughed Karina finished up getting ready and walked over to two girls. Her eyes hawk onto Giselle's hand that rested on y/ns thigh after laughing so she sits next to y/n looking at Giselle with a look that girl caught onto easily and removed her hand.

y/n looked to her side seeing the black-haired girl sitting next to her. She had put her hair in a loose high bun, and the dress she was wearing had leopard print as a design with a short hemline, falling right above mid-thigh. The dress was well fitted around her small waist, the skirt was flowy, and for legs, she wore black thighs underneath knee-high black boots. It was a simple yet beautiful look that made y/ns breath hitch. The girl next to her smiled at her as she noticed that y/n's eyes lingered on her look for a while.

“y/n”

“Yeah?” the girl snapped out of the trance as she looked at her face. Her makeup was perfect too. Nothing too much, it made her look clean, subtle, and elegant. Light fair skin with a tint of blushes and reddish underlines for her eyes topped with brown light eyeliner. Her lips were perfectly shaped too. Her lips have a soft, pinkish hue that compliments the overall natural look. Her bangs also covered her and the girl was probably the most beautiful she has ever been so far even if it's the first time they met.

“We should get going, ning finished up and is changing now.”

“Alright finally!!” the girl said as she got up and stretched a little causing her sweater to lift. y/n grabbed all of her belongings making sure to double check and turned to Karina.

“Let's get going then.’ she said as she offered her hand to Karina which younger accepted in a second and took it into hers.

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t a g l i s t: @shozeu @yoontoonwhs @1luvkarina @yeetaberry127 @xen248 @lisaswifey @gtfoiydlyj @addorations @pandafuriosa60 @saysirhc @aerithykly @whr4nakin @multiliker @sixflame438 @chenlesfavorite  @spidrgamer @hyessemble @doublebunv @yuyuy90 @aerithykly 

[wandussyfantasy]

request for a natasha x gp reader fic

where they’re high school sweethearts and natasha has always babied reader or whatever (it’s be cool to have some moments from high school)

cut to powerbottom/mommy natasha having soft sex w reader, lot of caressing, sweet talk, forehead touches, and praising from both sides

idk i have mommy issues and i wanna be babied by a girl in the future 😍

This Love is Ours

Summary: A glimpse of the life that high school sweethearts Natasha Romanoff and Reader have lived together.

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Reader

Word Count: 5.5k

WARNINGS:

18+ ONLY, MINORS DO NOT READ & DO NOT INTERACT!!!

insecurity, smut, g!preader, powerbottom!Natasha, oral, praising, creampie, and fluff

𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐍𝐒𝐅𝐖 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓. 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐂𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍.

(Present)

“Babe,” Natasha whispers sweetly into your cheek as she rocks your shoulder. “Baby,” she calls again and you groan. “Come on, it's time to get up. You can't be late for work,” she says. Your eyes open and you flash her a tired smile. 

“Five more minutes,” you negotiate. 

Natasha shakes her head, “No, I'm sorry sweetie. When school is out, you can sleep in all you want. But for now, you need to set a good example for those kids.” 

You sigh deeply because she is right. If the teacher isn't ready for class then how are the students supposed to be? “Okay, okay,” you say, sitting up. “I’m awake,” Natasha rewards you with a soft kiss. 

“Go shower and brush your teeth. I'll go get your breakfast ready. I'm not sending you with lunch today, by the way,” she says as she gets out of the bed herself and pulls on a black silk robe. 

“Oh? Why not?” You frown. You love the lunches that she packs for you. 

“Well, I thought I'd come have lunch with you,” she smiles and you can't help but feel so lucky to have her in your life.

“That sounds fantastic,” you say as you undress. “Some of the teachers will be happy to see you. They're always asking how you are and when they'll get to see you again,” you tell her. 

“That sounds like a plan, love.” Natasha blows you a kiss before rushing off to make breakfast. You hop in the shower and take care of your morning routine so that you are dressed and ready at the kitchen table when Natasha is serving the both of you. 

(Past)

You look across the classroom at the girl with dyed hair and dark clothing. She was possibly the most beautiful girl you've ever laid eyes on. Definitely the most beautiful in the entire school. Guys and girls were always tripping over themselves to get her attention. You are somewhere in-between. A freak. You doubted that she'd ever look your way. That she could ever want someone like you. 

“Y/n Y/l/n and Natasha Romanoff, the two of you will be working together,” the English teacher states. You had completely zoned out, forgetting where you were. You look down at the information sheet that had been passed out about the project. It was comparing movies and the books they're based on. When you look back up, the most beautiful girl in school is staring at you. She waves with a confident smile. You wave back with a nervous one and anxiously wait for the teacher to dismiss the class to discuss with their partners. 

Natasha meets you halfway and the two of you stare at the sheet that had the list of approved books to choose from. Looking for anything that jumps out at you. “How about The Boy In The Striped Pajamas?” She asks. 

You look at the title you had just underlined and smile at her. “I was just about to suggest that,” you shyly reply.

“Good, that's settled then,” she says as she underlines it as well. “Now we just need to plan how we're going to meet up to work on the project.”

“I work at the video store after school,” you say. “We can watch the movie there for free and take notes. It's pretty empty most days.”

“Okay, that's good. I'll check out the book at the library and we can read it together too,” Natasha says. “Except on game days,” she says a little disheartened as you ask why. “My boyfriend, Bucky. He's on the basketball team and even though I quit cheer, he still wants me there to support him.”

“You quit cheer?” you hadn't heard that news from the grapevine. That's something that everyone would be talking about. 

“Yeah, it was too time consuming. And stressful. It was causing my grades to slip and I want to get into a good school,” she explains. 

“Good for you for knowing your limits,” you commend her. 

“Thank you,” she says gratefully. “Not many people see it my way. Especially not Bucky.”

“I’m sorry,” you give a sympathetic frown. Natasha shakes her head and moves on from the subject.

(Present)

The bell goes off as you are finishing your review of what will be on Friday's exam. “Alright, class dismissed. I don't want anyone to be late for lunch,” you shoo them out the door. They file out as Natasha squeezes by them with lunch bags in her hands. “Oh it's so crazy to see you in this classroom again.”

“Me? I'm still not used to seeing you as a teacher. Especially not here,” she says as she picks the lab table that the two of you sat at together in your senior year that the two of you were partners for. 

“Yeah, I'm not sure I'm ever going to be used to it either. But, it's what I have until I get a better job opportunity,” you say as you sit across from her. “Did you ever think you'd be back here?”

Natasha shakes her head as she sets out the spread of food. “Nope, I thought if I ever came back here, it was either for a ten year class reunion. Or it was years away when we had to come in for parent teacher conferences for our kid.” 

You smile at the thought, “So we have a kid now?” 

“Maybe one day,” she takes a bite of a chip with a grin. “I mean, we haven't exactly been careful after our wedding.” 

You shake your head, “Not here. Students come in here a lot for extra studying time.”

Natasha laughs, “Still such a good girl in school I see.” 

You roll your eyes, “Well, unlike you, people can see the effects you have on me.” You allude to the extra body part between your legs. “The last thing I need is for the whole school to find out I'm a freak of nature.” 

Natasha sighs, “I understand what you're afraid of. But I really wish you'd stop thinking that way. You're not a freak of nature, please stop saying that about yourself.”

You nod as you chew your food. “Okay,” you swallow, “I’ll try to stop saying it.” 

“Thank you,” she leans over the table and kisses your cheek, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” you grin. 

(Past)

You are sitting with your friends, Peter, Ned, and MJ discussing the next out of town decathlon location when someone else joins the lunch table, scooting in next to you. “Do you guys mind if I sit here?” Natasha asks after she's invaded the space. 

Ned loses his words as he tries to answer. Peter and MJ are wide eyed as they look at you, who isn't as nervous as they thought you would be. “Uh, sure. It's no problem,” you smile. While working on the project, Natasha had confided in you about changes she is making for herself. That she hadn't liked the path she was on. It didn't feel like her anymore. Which hurt her friends and made it hard on them and her. They were all focused on things she now loathed. It didn't mean she loved being their friend any less. It just made it harder to spend time with any of them because they were all doing the same things together that she couldn't be part of anymore. 

Earlier this week, she ended things with Bucky for good which made things awkward at the lunch table. Her friends are his friends too. They weren't sure how to act around her because she seemed fine with the break up whereas he was a complete mess. He broke down in tears at any reminder of Natasha. And they found it to be cold of her that she didn't shed a single one when they were telling her a funny story that involved her ex. They panicked when they mentioned his name, she didn't bat an eye and waited for them to finish. 

It led to a confrontational conversation that made her realize, as she was going through her self discovery journey, she was hurting them in the process. So she decided to distance herself from them until they could understand what she was going through. 

The separation made her realize how out of touch she was with the world outside of her friend group. She had virtually no one. Until she realized that she had you. “How has your day been so far,” she asks you, sincerely. 

“Not too good,” you frown as you recall the start of your day was soured by Bucky Barnes slapping your books out of your hands. “But I think things are going to start looking up from here,” you boldly wink at Natasha and she blushes. “How about your day?”

“It’s getting better,” she fills her utensil with food from her tray and smiles. 

“So what brings you down to our level, Nat?” MJ asks, ignoring the glare you give her. 

“I don't believe you guys are lesser than anyone else,” she corrects the self-deprecating jab. “But what brings me to the table today is that I finally started living my own life and Y/n seems to be the only person in this world willing to support me,” Natasha elaborates. 

You shrug, “You deserve to march to the beat of your own drum.”

“You’re too kind, Y/n,” she says. 

“I’m only stating the truth,” the nonchalant act humors your friends who try to hide their laughter behind their hands but don't do a very good job. You choose to ignore them. 

(Present)

You walk through the door to the aroma of one of Natasha's best dishes. When she got laid off from her dream job, she hadn't a clue what to do with herself. Until the two of you started cooking together and eventually she began to try out new recipes on her own. Now she is running a successful social media platform on being a housewife. She was taking the best care of you possible and although she works from home, she is the breadwinner of the two of you. 

“Something smells amazing,” you say as you walk into the dining area where she is putting the finishing touches on her setup. You stand in the walkway and lean against the wall as you admire her. She dusts her hands off on the skirt of her dress and smiles up at you with a question as to why you're staring. “I’m just trying to figure out how I got so lucky,” you answer, a little lost in a haze. 

Her cheeks brighten to a rosy pink as she gestures to the chair in front of you. “Well, come on, we don't want the food to get cold.” She slides into her seat. 

“Okay,” you join her at the table and the two of you dig in. She asks how the rest of your day went and you ask her the same. “Oh! A few of the students that saw you on your way out recognized you from your videos! They couldn't believe that you're my wife,” you say with a laugh. 

Natasha is amused as well, “Oh yeah? What’d you say to them?”

You reach across the table to hold her hand and rub your thumb along her knuckles. “That most days I don't believe it either,”  you wink at her and she blushes again. 

“I swear, you make me feel like a giddy teenager trying to hide her crush on you every time,” Natasha raises your joined hands to her lips. “I’m just as lucky to have found you, you know?” You shake your head and put your utensil down to hold her hand in both of your hands. 

“It’s funny that you mention hiding a crush. Did you ever know that I was crushing hard on you back then?” You ask. 

This makes your wife burst out in laughter for a moment while you ask what's so funny with a growing laugh. “Nothing, nothing, it's just,” Natasha catches her breath. “We’ve been together for almost ten years and you've never asked me this before. But yes, baby, I knew. Well before we worked on that project together actually.” 

Now you're blushing, “Oh gosh,” you groan as you drop her hand to cover your face. “And to think I'd feel less embarrassed if I waited ten years to ask you.” Natasha scoots out of her chair to join your side. 

“Aw baby, don't be embarrassed. I was very flattered by it back then,” she tries to comfort you. 

You cringe at the memories and feel a little guilty. Natasha’s delicate touch gets you to stop hiding your face and you frown. “Did you ever think I was only supporting you during your tough time because I might have a chance with you? Because I swear, that was not the case.” 

She combs her fingers through your hair to comfort you as she shakes her head. “No, of course not. In fact, you being a friend to me without making a move is what made me fall for you.” You listen to her with the same intent you always have and her heart swells. People often stopped paying attention to her words because they would get lost in a fantasy about her. She only knew because they would lick or bite their lips as she rattled on about something. Some guys even pitched a tent in their jeans. “See, Y/n, other people tried to reach me during that time in my life. But all I ever was to them was an object. They wanted to sleep with me for bragging rights or be able to flaunt a relationship with me around. You just wanted me to be happy and feel comfortable in my own skin.” She kisses your cheek, “That made me fall for you then and every time you stand by me during some crazy life transition, I fall for you all over again.”

You kiss her on the lips now, she reciprocates it with a deeper intention. “I think I'm ready for my dessert now,” you say as you catch her lips again in another kiss. 

“I didn't make any,” she says. 

“Good, because I'm not talking about food,” you say as you stand up and sweep her in your arms. You take her to the bedroom and gently lay her in the bed as you fall on top of her. “I love you so much,” you say as you caress her cheek and gaze lovingly into her eyes. 

Natasha pushes on your shoulders and you move off of her. “Undress,” she tells you as she works to get out of her dress and you do as she says. Once the two of you are lying on the bed naked, you gravitate towards each other as you always have. You lay on top of her again and take a moment to appreciate her soft, smooth skin against hers. She dances her fingers along your back and you glide yours down her arm. “You’re so beautiful,” she whispers. You accept her words and swallow the rebuttal you want to say. You don't need to guard against her compliments. She means them wholeheartedly. 

You kiss her slowly this time and her hands flatten against your back. She spreads and closes her fingers around your skin in soothing circles as she deepens the kiss, keeping the slow pace. As you move the tips of your fingers down her torso, you leave a trail of goosebumps. She shudders under your touch. “I miss your lips when they're not on mine,” you whisper. “I love the sounds you make,” your pointer finger dips between her vulva and her thigh, “When I make you feel good.” She lets out a soft noise as you touch her there. 

“You know just what I like,” she says as she presses her lips to your cheek. “I love how patient you are,” she says as she kisses behind your ear. Her hands make their way to your bottom, she squeezes. “I also love your ass,” this comment makes the two of you laugh a little. “What? It’s a good ass,” she squeezes you again. 

“I love how silly you are,” you grin at her as you enter her with two fingers. Her breath hitches at the sudden intrusion. “I love how you keep me on my toes.” You slowly pump your fingers in and out of her and she squirms from your movements. “You’re constantly changing and growing and you continue to let me be a part of it. I appreciate that so much, my love.” You kiss her collarbone. Then trail kisses up her neck and back down to her collarbone. Her body reacts to every little movement. Encouraging you to do more. 

When your trail of kisses reaches her collarbone again, you don't kiss back up. This time you continue down. You take her supple breast into your mouth and curl your fingers inside of Natasha just the way she likes. Her hands shoot up your back and find their way into your hair. She combs her fingers through your hair as you pay attention to each breast. Licking circles around her nipples. Sucking on as much of her breast as you can fit in your mouth. All while playing with her sensitive clitoris and slowly using your fingers inside of her. 

Your cock hardens against her thigh and she wants so desperately to have some of the attention on you. “Baby,” she calls as softly as she had in the morning. Her breast falls out of your mouth with a pop as you look up. “It's your turn now,” she says and you nod, pulling your fingers out of her. You were a little disappointed that you didn't get to make it all of the way down her body, but you knew that you would get your chance with your mouth between her legs eventually. 

Natasha sits up and gently guides you so that you're laying down on the bed. She lays on top of you and starts by placing two sweet kisses on your chest. One on each breast. She then kisses down your torso until she reaches your penis. “You’re so beautiful,” she says as she makes eye contact with you. Knowing how insecure this body part makes you. Natasha takes you into her hand and kisses the head of your penis. Then she kisses down the base of your cock. With the tip of her tongue, she makes her way back up to the top and has you enter her mouth. Her warm, wet, soft lips have you moaning at the contact. Nothing compares to the way she sucks you off. 

Over the years, the two of you have been asked if things ever get boring between the two of you in bed. It's been asked by short-lived couples that aren't sexually or emotionally compatible with their partners. The two of you weren't ever offended by the extremely personal question, you always had the option not to answer. And as the two of you have only ever been sexual with each other it was a natural curiosity. It was an easy no, neither of you get bored in bed with each other. It's not everything to the relationship that the two of you have. Which is what has made the relationship as strong as it is. And whenever either of you have a sexual curiosity, the both of you are open to exploring it together. But for the most part, neither of you needed any of those. 

Simple nights like these, where you take time to love each other are the best nights. Natasha takes her time with sucking your cock and you enjoy spending as much time as possible with your tongue in her pussy. Then, when the two of you are connected, it's not about rushing to the finish line. It is all about listening to each other's bodies and acting on what they are telling you. Not being selfish and only taking, but giving so much back that you both end the night overly satisfied. 

When Natasha is done licking and sucking on your cock, she kisses her way back up your body. Once she reaches your lips, she traps you in a deep kiss that has both of you humming in delight. “Sit up,” she says and you do. You lean your back against the headboard and wait for what she's going to do. Natasha climbs onto your lap and puts both of your hands on her bottom. 

You grin as you give the cheeks a firm squeeze. “Talk about a nice ass,” you compliment, making her blush. “You have an amazing one too, my love.” Your playful mood quickly leaves as she rolls her hips against you. The soaking warm lips of her pussy cover your penis causing you to groan. Oh how you love feeling her against you. 

“I love how easily I can make you fall apart,” she says as she continues to roll her hips. You respond by kissing her cheek. Natasha dances her fingers lightly up your arms. Across your shoulders and down your back as she moves her body against yours. Matching her rhythm, you roll your hips with hers. You keep your hands on her ass because that's where she wants them as you wait for the go ahead to enter her. The two of you kiss again, your tongues sliding against each other. Natasha pulls away and holds your face with one hand. You lean into her touch as you maintain eye contact. “Enter me,” she whispers. Not breaking eye contact, you lift her up and aim your cock at her hole with your hands. 

Slowly, you lower her onto your cock. Her tight walls grip at you as you enter her, inch by inch. She breaks the contact as she moves her gaze to your thick cock stretching her. “I love you,” you whisper as you kiss her forehead. “You are so amazing,” you guide her further on. “You are the most wonderful woman I know,” you state once you're all the way inside.

Natasha sits for a moment, enjoying the full feeling she gets when you're inside of her. “I love you too,” she says as she adjusts her grip on your shoulders. “You and I were made for each other,” she starts to move on your cock and you drop your head back, allowing her full access to your neck. 

(Past)

You and Natasha have been dating for well over two years. She has met your parents and they love her. You have met her family and they welcomed you with open arms. Everything fell into place smoothly. Although the first time you met them, her father made a rather crude joke about liking that his daughter is with a girl because now he doesn't have to worry about her getting pregnant. It had hit you that you had been lying to your girlfriend. You laughed awkwardly, feeling a bit guilty because you still haven't revealed your penis to your girlfriend. However, without even knowing, she didn't find the joke very funny and she shut her father down for the “gross” comment. 

It has been an easy couple of years hiding this piece of you. The two of you were more focused on connecting on a deep emotional level than you were on the sexual side. She liked talking to you and how you listened. She liked being there to support you as much as you support her. She really loved being held by you more than anything when watching movies and shows together. There was something special about the relationship she had with you, the sweet kisses every now and then, the flirty comments that made her blush, the romantic dates that you and she arranged for each other. The way the two of you were able to hang out with friends either separate or together without feeling anxious. She trusted you more than anything and you felt the same way about her. 

That being said, the two of you, though eighteen, are hormonal teenagers. As the two of you have grown closer, tension has begun to build. Natasha’s friends have all bragged about losing their virginities and even told the truth about how it was quite disappointing and not at all what they expected. She even had to console a couple of them after they were dumped because that’s all the other person wanted from them. If she were with anyone else, she might have been afraid to take that extra step. But she wasn’t with just anyone in her eyes. She was with the best person ever. She was with you. Natasha had no doubt in her mind that this step would only bring the two of you closer and she wanted to feel that closeness with you. 

You were terrified that she would hate you when she found out. At the start of your relationship you thought that maybe you should disclose this information before things went too far. But every time you tried to start the conversation a voice in your head would convince you that maybe the two of you wouldn’t be together forever. So, what was the harm in having as much time with her as you could? Now, as she gets a little more aggressive in make-out sessions you begin to fear that you can’t hide your secret anymore. And you aren’t sure what will happen when she finds out. As much as you know she loves you. 

Then Natasha brought up the subject one night. It was during your graduation vacation that the two of you had saved up for. Both your parents and her’s helped you cover any extra costs and your parents even allowed you private access to their lake house for the two weeks the two of you wanted to use it. She was thinking about this subject for months as every little thing you did turned her on. She thought about approaching the subject before prom but then she thought about how cliche it would be to lose her virginity on prom night and it lost its appeal. 

She was going to push the subject away until some time in college. To see how long the two of you could last without that element in the relationship. Besides, if this was something that was relationship ending, she didn’t want it to happen before the two of you had to be roommates for a year. The two of you tried to listen to everyone and not plan a future around each other so you applied to schools separately. Not letting the other know where. 

It just happened to be fate when the pair of you were offered full scholarships to the same school. Then came the dorming issue. Should you two live together? Are you ready for that step? Then with further research it was a requirement that freshmen spent the first year in a suite of four. You and Natasha applied to share the suite with two friends that were also going to be attending the school. They weren’t sure at first if they wanted to share the suite with the couple but Wanda and Carol thought they were better off with them. 

Natasha couldn’t be more ecstatic about living together. And after spending the past couple of nights with you, she could see this life being forever with you. 

“How do you feel about that?” Natasha asks again, snapping you back to reality. 

“I am scared,” you say with vulnerability causing a waiver in your voice. 

Natasha scoots closer to you on the couch with worry in her eyes as tears fill yours. “Why are you scared, baby? You know that I love you with all of my heart.” She tries to comfort you. 

You take a breath as you avoid looking at her, “Because, I’m a freak.” 

“No, baby, you’re not a freak. Why would you say that?” She tries to get you to look in her direction but you refuse. 

“I’ve been keeping something from you,” your voice cracks as you finally face her. “I haven’t been completely honest with you about me.” 

She pulls away from you. Now Natasha is fearful of what you might say. She wasn’t ready to lose you and this wasn’t the way she wanted it to go. Especially not on such a great trip. “What have you been hiding?” She carefully asks. Not certain if she wants her world to come crashing around her just yet, but is hopeful that whatever it is won’t be as negative as you’re making it out to be. 

You take a breath and clench your jaw as you muster up the courage to say, “I have a penis.” 

“I’m sorry?” Natasha wasn’t sure if she heard you correctly. She thought you were going to say that you have cheated on her or worse, that you fell out of love with her. 

“I have a penis,” you repeat with shame. 

Natasha is confused now, “But you’re a girl? Or are you transgender?” The two of you have been in the same classes since elementary school. It would have been big news if someone was transgender in their school. Hell, the two of you have had periods at the same time. 

You shake your head and swallow thickly, “No, I have a penis and I have a vagina. I was born this way.” 

As Natasha processes she begins to relax. “Oh,” she says, “Okay.” 

Your face contorts in confusion now. “That’s all you have to say?”

Natasha shakes her head and takes your hand in hers, “No, that’s not all. I’m sorry.” She clears her throat as she thinks of what to say. “My love for you isn’t lost because of this. I’m sorry that I haven’t made you feel comfortable enough to tell me about this sooner but I don’t see this as being a problem for us. I love you for you, Y/n. That includes your heart, mind, and body in all its unique beauty.” 

Tears fall from your eyes freely, “You are the most amazing person in the world. What did I do to deserve you?” The two of you share a sweet kiss and after a romantic meal, that night, the two of you learn what it means to unite as one. 

(Present)

Natasha is riding you as you lose all thought that isn’t just her and the way her body feels connected to you. “Oh baby,” she pants out as your thrusts get a little hurried as you get closer to your climax. “Are you ready?” She asks and you nod mindlessly. “Okay,” she says as she picks up her pace a little bit. She wasn’t as close but she didn’t mind helping you reach your orgasm. Natasha knew you wouldn’t let her end the night without helping her with hers. She pulls your head to her chest and she tangles her fingers in your hair as she coaxes you to finish. “Cum inside me, baby,” she whispers. “It’s okay,” she kisses your temple, “let go, let go.” 

You let out a few soft moans against her neck as your thrusts come to a stop as you empty inside of your wife. Filling her with your cum. Natasha strokes your hair as she kisses your forehead and cheek, telling you how good you have done. Once you have caught your breath and can feel your body again. You pull her off of your softening cock. Your cum slowly slips its way out of her entrance and falls onto you. “Lay down my love, let me take care of you.” 

Natasha nods and you make room for her to lay next to you. Once she is comfortable you kiss a path down her body until your head is between her legs. You clean up the mess your semen had made until all that’s left on her skin is streaks of your saliva. “Right there,” she says as your nose presses into her clitoris and your tongue is in her folds. “Ohh, that’s it,” she says as you press further into her. Moving your tongue in her the way that you have learned makes her react the most. Her thighs tighten around your head as you work harder on her mound. She begins rocking her hips which moves your head along with her. When your lungs begin to beg for air, you lift your head and substitute your fingers for your mouth. You kiss the skin surrounding you as you rub her clitoris and when you return your mouth to her pussy you are rewarded with her orgasm. 

You keep your mouth on her until she relaxes and loses her grip on your head completely. You make your way back up to her body with lazy kisses as you are as spent as she is. You fall beside her, placing one final kiss on her shoulder. “I love you, forever,” you tell her as your arm drapes across her. 

She gives a tired smile as her tired eyes droop shut. “I love you too,” she kisses your nose, “forever.” 

The End.

[neoarchipelago]

And they were Roommates (part 6)

A/n: ok here's a little warning. First from now on i'll take a bit longer to publish because ... work. It's also slightly shorter than usual

second i've realised that i had completely forgotten that Keller is the last name of the character Alex. So i do want to underline that it is not in fact alex Keller.

third, thank you so much for the love you have given to this story, it warms my heart. I hadn't written in a long time and i was afraid to post anything. I'm really happy that you guys like it.

Fourth, thank you so much for the little ideas you send me, they're very helpful. I apologise if I fon't translate the full idea into the story but i try to add any little thing you send my way.

fifth, you are entirely allowed to fucking hate me.

Warnings: as usual, cursing, violence, mentions of death.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

"(Y/N)". 

You smirked.

"Yes?" You questioned, glancing back as you sat at the counter in the kitchen. 

"What time is it?" He asked from the couch. 

"It's 7pm" you answered. 

You smiled down at your computer. (Y/N). You had heard him say your name more than a couple dozen times today. Since you both told each other your real names, he had seemed to chant it non-stop. At any little question or situation. 

"Y/N." 

You rolled your eyes. 

"Yes Simon?" You chanted sweetly. 

A few seconds ticked before he answered. 

"I have to tell you something." He answered, tone serious. 

You paused your current activity to turn in your seat towards him. He was looking back at you. 

"I have a Mission scheduled." He warned. 

"Oh. Alright." You answered cautiously. 

"I won't be here for a while." He announced. 

"For… a while?" You frowned. "How long?" 

"Around 2 months." 

You swallowed, looking away. You didn't exactly know how to react. Obviously he had missions. You found yourself in a mix of sadness, worry and frustration. 

"Y/N." 

You looked up at him. By the look in his eyes, you felt like he was going to ask if you were ok. And you didn't want to answer that. 

"Why do you keep calling my name?" You asked. 

He remained silent. You stood up walking to the couch letting yourself fall next to him. He closed the file on his lap, red letters stamped on it. 

"Simon ?" You pushed. 

"I don't." He defended. 

"Simon." You scolded kindly. 

He groaned, looking away. 

"How will you know if I'm addressing myself to you?" He debated. 

"We literally are the only two people here." You chuckled. He ignored it. 

You sighed, shrugging. You turned to the TV letting yourself enjoy the time you could spend with him. The tv played with whatever show was on as you started to think about something to order for dinner, too tired to cook. 

"I like it." 

You blinked. 

"Hm?" You questioned, turning to him. 

He raised his hand, turning your head so you looked at the tv instead. 

"I said. I like your name." 

"Oh. Really? It's nothing extraordinary though." You said blushing a bit. 

"I was curious. After a few weeks. About your name." 

You tried turning your head to him but he repeated his move, groaning annoyingly.

"It's… delicate…" he praised. 

You felt your heart rate quicken. He.. liked your name. 

"So… you like how it sounds?" You asked. 

"Pretty much." He said matter of factly. 

"Alright." You nodded. 

"I like… that it's your name."

You turned your attention back to the TV, your mind unable to process anything after what he had just told you. 

"I.." you started after a long minute. 

"I like when you say it…" you said in a low voice. 

The rest of the evening was spent very calmly. As per contrast to the rest of the week. 

You sighed, grabbing your things to head out. Simon had been spending more and more time at the base. He had been preparing with the squad, preparing gear, tactics and training harder.

You could feel it. He had progressively grown colder. The ghost taking its rightful place, ready to hunt its target. You could feel him being careful around you, his mood had a drastic change and it seemed he tried to keep you away. 

You tried to give him the space he needed. But you grew more and more worried and sad as the days passed. 

You walked out of the door, walking down the apartment complex. 

You stopped and cursed as soon as you walked outside. 

"Hey Sparrow! Ready?" 

"Soap. What are you doing here?" You asked, obviously already aware of the answer. 

"Price asked me to come pick you up on the way to the base." The sergeant answered with a smile. 

You rolled your eyes. Walking to him he opened the passenger seat for you. You thanked him, sitting and buckling your seatbelt. You watched the man skip to his side and get in. As you started driving to the base you asked. 

"How is he this morning?" You asked. 

"Well. Murderous." He smirked. "He's been training with some recruits coming along on the mission this morning and I think he's making them regret ever enlisting." He laughed. 

You sighed. His mood had been becoming more and more sour. Not necessarily because he didn't want this mission, but mostly because he was entirely focusing on his target. The thought made a shiver down your spine. 

"I don't think I'll be of help this time." You said. 

Price had been asking you to come by the training sessions or after meetings to try and soothe his moods, but the closer the day of departure arrived the harder it became. 

"Ah, don't worry. We're used to it. He's not entirely bad. As soon as he'll be in the field, he'll be the LT we're used to." He said. "We, the squad. I don't think you've seen him like that. But not sure… he wants you to." He said with a smile your way. 

You bit your lip. Did you want to see him like that? A part of you did want. Another felt anxious at the thought. 

The rest of the ride was spent in small talk. The closer you got to the base the more you could feel your body fall into a stressful state. 

When soap parked in front of the training grounds, you walked out before entering the warehouse, the first thing you heard was the sound of people talking. The place had been rearranged as a training ground. Various dummies, people sparing at each other on mattresses. 

Soap dragged you towards the rest of the squad a bit further from the rest. 

"Here's our little bird." Price smiled. 

You sighed but threw him a weak smile. You turned your head to the closest training mat. A breath caught in your throat. He saw fighting. With a man that surprisingly was a bit taller than him, also wearing a mask, though much looser. You watched the punches and kicks being thrown. They weren't holding back. Suddenly Ghost body slammed his opponent to the ground, the sound echoing. You flinched. That must have hurt. 

"Don't worry, sparrow. They're used to it." Price tried to reassure you. 

"Sure… if you say so. He seems to be fully into it." You commented. 

"He is." 

"I don't understand captain. Soap said it's usual for him to behave like this before a mission. Why do you want me to show up everyday?" You asked, turning to him. 

He put a hand on your shoulder, walking you a few steps away from the rest of the squad. 

"This time is a bit different. He seems. Frustrated." 

"I don't think my presence helps." 

"It does a bit. Though I know it's getting harder for you to deal with his mood. Today especially. The departures date was moved. We leave in 48h." He said with a sorry look. 

You took a moment to process the information.

"It's not hard to deal with it. I'm just sensing it's being more and more useless. He's getting frustrated at me." You answered honestly. 

"I don't want you two to fight. You don't have to go see him." 

"I'll try. One last time." You replied with a soft smile. 

He nodded. You turned back to Ghost. The fight was over, his opponent walked away, slightly limping and rubbing the back of his neck. You walked towards him. 

"You ok?" You asked lowly. 

"Ah, ja, I'm ok!" He answered the taint of accent on his words. 

You smiled, continuing your path towards the man readjusting his gloves. 

"Hey." 

He stiffened, looking back at you. 

"Why are you here?" 

Ouch. You smirked at him. 

"Price asked me to come check something for your mission." You lied. 

He nodded. His chest heaved, his breath had quickened from the physical exercise though he didn't seem out of breath.

"Will you be home for dinner?" You asked. 

"I don't know." He answered in a cold tone. 

You could hear, Price started to walk up to you too very slowly. 

"I can keep a plate for you if-" 

"Sparrow. I'M BUSY." He barked, the sound echoing. A dreadful silence stood in the whole place. Everyone had stopped talking.

You flinched. Not enough for the others to see but he had noticed. The sound of small talk started again, probably under Price's glare.

"I'm sorry Ghost." You tried. Standing your ground hands behind your back. 

"Lieutenant." He corrected coldly. 

Price had finally reached the both of you. 

"Fine." You spat back, the staring match now showing off both of your frustrations. 

"Do you need anymore help captain?" You asked, not dropping your gaze from Ghost. 

"No sparrow. Thank you and I apologize for-" 

"It's fine. If lieutenant Riley wants to be a dickhead that's on him." You said, visibly angry and visibly taunting the man. 

You turned around walking to the rest of the squad. 

"You good?" Gaz asked.

"I'm perfect. I'll see you guys another time." You said with a smile towards them before exiting the perimeter. You took a deep breath outside. Fuck. What was wrong with him? The behavior had changed so drastically. A week ago, he was chanting your name in every sentence. Now he refused to even say it. He was cold. It was hard to hide the fact it was hurting. You were trying to see his point of view too, but you missed his old self. 

You closed your eyes for a second. You had work to get to. So you did. 

You had stalled. A lot. It was very late. You didn't need to be at the base. You could have spent the day working from home. Fuck you had finished all your work. Yet it was 9pm. And you were only turning the key in the lock to the apartment now. 

You didn't want to fight again. You didn't want to fight before he left. You dropped your things on the ground and fell face first on the couch. The house was silent. Dark. It felt odd. You turned, grabbing a pillow and hugging it. You closed your eyes. Several minutes passed by before you heard his door open. You sat up as he walked into the living room. 

You shared a look. He seemed annoyed. His new signature mood.

"What?" You spat. 

"Don't." He warned. 

"Don't what?" You replied in the same tone. 

"Don't be a brat." He said. 

You laughed coldly. 

"I'm not the one being a brat Simon." 

"Lieutenant." He corrected it once more. 

You rolled your eyes. 

"Why did you pass by the training grounds again?" He asked. 

"Because Price asked me to." You answered honestly. 

You stood up walking to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. He stopped you halfway, grasping your arm. It wasn't soft but he was still careful not to hurt you. 

"Sparrow. Don't come insult me in front of my men." He said in a serious tone. 

"I didn't. I came to ask you something. You fucking yelled at me." You answered. 

"I have other things to do other than giving you attention." He scolded. 

"I didn't ask for attention." You replied, taking your arm back and crossing them over your chest. Fury growing in you.

"Y/N."

"Oh, we're back on a name to name basis?" You asked sarcastically. 

He frowned. You were pushing his buttons. Unfortunately for both of you, he was too. 

"Sparrow. You and I are not-" 

"What? We're not friends?" You asked, interrupting him. 

He stood there, silent. 

"Is that what you're going to say?" You started now letting your anger finally out. 

"Are you going to push me away again? And then leave without saying a word?" You continued your tone slowly rising. 

"Are we going to fight until you leave and then you'll come back as if nothing happened? Fuck Simon! It looks like you're doing this on purpose!!" You ended. 

And suddenly it hit you. Like a shit ton of bricks.

"You are…" you said in a whisper. 

He turned away. 

"You are! You're doing it on purpose. You're making us hate each other before you leave on missions." You said, incredulous. 

"Y/N stop." He warned in a tone that promised repercussions. 

"Why? Why are you doing this?" You asked, stepping closer. 

He seemed to think for a minute. 

"I'm a soldier. I go out there. I kill and I very possibly… get killed." He explained. 

You frowned in confusion. He groaned in annoyance. 

"I might not come back." He said abruptly. 

"I know that. So what? You think making me hate you is what…? Going to make it… feel ok?" You asked. 

He looked straight at you. 

"My death isn't something that deserves mourning." 

You blinked. You couldn't believe what you were hearing. Anger spoke volumes. Actually it moved fast too. You didn't exactly know how you grabbed the pillow from the couch and started hitting him with it. 

"SIMON, FUCKING RILEY, DON'T YOU EVER SAY THAT AGAIN." You punctuated every word with a hit. 

He groaned. You were really hitting his last nerves. 

"I care! I fucking care! It's not up to you to decide if I should or not!" You said, this time tears prickling at your eyes. 

He noticed. You hit him harder trying to hide it from him. He grabbed the pillow, snatching it from your grip and throwing it somewhere in the room. He grabbed your wrists making you back up against the wall. 

"Calm down." He tried, his voice slightly calmer. 

"No! Fuck Simon!" You scolded. 

You stared at each other. 

"Lieutenant Simon ghost Riley, you better come back to me." You whispered. 

He didn't say anything. He leant forward, letting the top of his skull mask rest on your forehead and hissed a fuck. Your breaths mixing together. 

"If we hate each other. We have nothing to lose in this situation. We shouldn't have…been friends in the first place." He explained in a whisper.

"Do you hate me?" You asked in a whisper too.

His grip on your wrists tightened. He didn't answer. 

"If I don't come back. You're going to have to deal with it." He answered coldly. 

He let go of your arms, stepping back as you looked at him, eyes wide in shock. He simply turned around. And walked out of the apartment.

You bit your lip closing your eyes. God. He was stubborn. You were hurt once more. Even if you knew he didn't mean it. In his stupid attempt to spare you from being hurt, he ironically hurt you. 

You took a deep breath. You wanted to sleep, forget this whole discussion. You wanted to roll into your blankets. So you did, and you let sleep take you. 

That morning, you had gotten up with very little motivation. You had realized quite quickly he had not slept home. You tried to go about your day but your mind kept running back to him. Was he really going to leave with saying goodbye? 

The hours ticked and the more the realization settled in. He wasn't coming back. You decided to go to the base in the afternoon to drop a report. You had met with the squad, avoiding talking about their lieutenant. You told them goodbye, threatening to go find them if they don't come back. They had announced they were leaving late in the night, the departure being changed again. 

You were going to miss them. You had started to get used to their presence. To enjoy their company. They had grown on you. 

You walked home pretty late. Feeling devastated by your roommate's behavior. You wanted to see him. Talk to him. Hug him before he left. But it wouldn't happen. The thought making you want to cry. 

You walked into your apartment. The silence felt horrible. You dropped your coat over the couch, slowly walking to his bedroom. A shy knock on his door was heard. It was the only thing heard. Nothing. Your hand reached for the doorknob slowly. Turning it, you opened his door. Empty. He wasn't there. 

You turned around, feeling the need to go back to your bed. You froze. Your door was open. You frowned, slowly walking into your room. You noticed a bag on your bed. You approached, sitting next to it. You opened it, taking out the soft object inside. 

You stared at it. Tears rushing down your cheeks. It was a squish-able round plush. Of the grim reaper. It was black, with a cute skull for a face. You hugged it. 

Knock knock knock. 

You looked up. Holding the plush, you stood, walking to the door. You opened it. 

"Hi! I'm… Sergeant Hansen… I'm your new neighbor… are you ok?" 

You stared at the man in front of you.

He wasn't going to say goodbye.

----

tags:

@lemontails @cabreezer0117 @tomhardy411 @brxghtixghtz @shuttlelauncher81 @pinkdazelight @sirenbunnylol @snortangeldust @novausstuff @gasstationfifacard @emotion-not-hot-yes-hotel-trivago @simpforavillain @minimisthios @catied32 @poohkie90 @watermaylon-writes @thereealink @meimhem @sorryi-mtrash @gaymistakeboii @bittersw33t-lotus @gh0stm3g @freckledmuffin @itsasecrets-things @xback1021 @connierk690 @feedthefandoms995 @friendlyneighboorhoodgothicpagan @dead-noodles @friendly-reject @critter-mylo @honeymariee @badame0224 @kitty-satan1 @all-good-things-have-an-ending @tianotfound @thriving-n-jiving @hailstrum18 @kiruoris @thats-s0-ravenn @orcasarebigbabies @makastaco @abajointrossyearl @kaylynninice24 @cated18 @swg141 @ghost-2513 @whore4dilfs @yggrid @jaehyacinths @juneitoo @popevickysmainbitch @topgirl17 @mildlyhopeless @feyredarling92 @thegirlintheshadows101-blog  @badbittywitty @yourmom3-5 @tapioca-marzipan @xoprincesslea @here4thespice @goldyghoul @wolfyland07 @chingaderastillidie @d4z01 @stokcholm @khjssss @julesclues @hopefuloperaangelnerd

[guitarstringed-scars]

on stage- s. hinata

whenever you're ready

masterlist

you put your phone away into your bag, straighten up your papers in front of you, and look up to the stage for the first audition. the girl who goes first is a familiar face, the lead in your last production, so obviously she gives the audition of a lifetime.

“she's good. i mean, obviously.” you lean over to akaashi, whispering once she exits the stage. akaashi scribbles something in his notes.

“i agree. i think she could easily play one of the leads.”

you shoot him a thumbs up as the next auditioner enters the stage, for possibly the most monotone audition of all time. you end that not as good one with a quick “thanks for auditioning!” 

this is going to be a long day.

18 auditions later, and its time for a well deserved break. you and akaashi head out to the lobby of the theater and stand in front of a busted up vending machine. 

“got a quarter? i've only got 2.” you ask, eyeing the m&ms sat in the second level of the machine. 

“nope, you could ask bokuto. He’s always carrying around loose change.”

“good plan.” great plan actually, you think, maybe he's with the ginger from earlier.

with that the both of you round the corner of the lobby, where you spot the trio of volleyball players.  

oikawa notices you two first, “well if it isn't the famous writer and less famous director!” 

bokuto and the other guy turn to you two quickly. ignoring oikawa, you turn to bokuto. “Do you have a quarter?”

oikawa frowns once he realizes he's being ignored.

“yup! what do you need it for?” “vending machine around the corner.” 

the ginger cuts into the conversation at this point, “theres a vending machine here?” he asks excitedly.

“yeah, its just around the corner! want me to show you?” you respond, hopefully not sounding too eager. you shoot keiji a quick side eye, and he fortunately catches your drift.

“i'll stay behind, i'm not super hungry.”

“i'm shoyo by the way!”

“so...whats it like directing plays?” he asks, finally figuring out where to put his collection of quarters. you swiftly put your phone down.

“uhm...it's really fun. getting to direct has always been a big dream of mine, and getting to actually do it is super great, even if it's a play instead of a movie. this show might be my favorite so far. why'd you decide to audition?”

he punches in the number combination for his drink of choice, “oikawa told me i had to, but now that i'm here watching the auditions, i'm super excited! everything about it seems so cool!"

you both laugh. the vending machine clangs as the drink hits the bottom of the chute. he picks it up and hands it to you.

“i'm hoping this will convince the director to cast me.” he smiles at you, hand outstretched.

"bribery doesn't work on me,” you laugh and accept the drink, “just have a decent audition, and you'll be fine. thanks though.” 

shooting him a quick, nervous smile, you turn back into the empty theater and have a seat at the empty table.

15 mediocre auditions later, oikawa is finally up on stage. he performs the monologue perfectly, and is met by audience applause once he finishes and takes a bow. you roll your eyes, but smile at him anyway, shooting him a thumbs up. it was a perfect auditon to be fair, not that you'd ever tell him that. after torus dazzling performance, shoyo takes the stage.

“woah! how am i meant to follow that up!” he exclaims. you grin at him from the audience.

“you can start whenever you're ready.”

a/n: woohoo 2 chapters in 1 day and first meeting of shoyo and yn!!! i really like this chapter, even though theres a lot more writing than smau, but dont worry there will be a lot of smau in the next part! also i'm starting to plan a second fic, and i'm still trying to decide which character to use, so expect a poll coming soon for that!

taglist: @yuminako @mylahrins @/intergalacticrory @zzzlevislothzzz @hibernatinghamster @shoyosluver @/walllflowerrrsss

if you arent underlined i cant tag you !

[scarnatlover]

In the comfort of your arms

Summary: In light of shocking news, the refuge found within the comforting embrace of a girlfriend becomes an anchor, grounding one's frayed nerves and fragile spirit.

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Reader (romantic); Tony Stark x Reader (platonic)

Warnings: panick attack, mention of blood, mention of sex

-------------------------------------------------------

Y/N pov

Being the CEO of one of the most prestigious law firms is certainly not a point that everyone can get to. I'm not everyone. But that doesn't make it any easier. And it isn't.

Everyone thinks that because I'm the CEO, I don't do anything. Wrong. I do more than anyone else. I'm the first one in the office in the morning and the last one to leave at night. Constantly dealing with papers to sign, contracts to inspect, cases to review, in and out of courts, constant calls from people who want either me or one of my lawyers, meetings I have to attend, and so on.

Of course, competition doesn't help. Ricky's Corporation is the only company that is on par with mine. There has always been this rivalry. Where my company did not reach, his company did; Where his company didn't reach, mine did. In the end, for several years now, it has been mine that has prevailed, even if only briefly.

There were times when I told myself to shut everything down, that it wasn't worth it anymore, but Nat was always there with me to reassure me that everything I was doing was perfect and that I was at a great point in my career. And everything went back to the way it was before.

Until, Tony Stark showed up at my office, asking me to be his lawyer. After a long discussion, we both decided to embark on this journey together. What I didn't know was that being Tony's lawyer meant becoming the lawyer for the Avengers and Stark Industries as well, which was not in the contract but which I let go for fear of losing such an important client.

The only benefit that this choice brought me was the money that comes to us every time. Of course, Tony doesn't care much about his bank accounts. But that alone did me any good. Otherwise, the work has tripled, if not more. Many more meetings, many more documents, many more calls and hearings. Sometimes I can't even get home to Nat because of the work I have to do. Not to mention, I have to stop whatever I'm doing every time Tony calls.

Just like now. I was reviewing documents for an alleged first-degree murder case when my phone rang. I pressed the button and heard my secretary's voice on the other end of the line.

"Miss Y/L/N, Mr. Stark has requested your presence in half an hour in his office at Stark Industries" I heard that voice that usually told me good news; Not this time.

"Tell him I'm busy, I'll go to him as soon as I can," I said, continuing to look at the papers in front of me and underline the main parts of what was written.

"I'm sorry Miss, but he insists," she continued.

I got up from my chair, loosening a little the tie that Nat had tied around my neck this morning, a sign that I was getting nervous and not just a little. I picked up my phone and looked at the time. 3:57 p.m., weird that Tony was in the office at this time.

"Tell him I'm coming" I ended the conversation before ending the call for good.

I quickly gathered my things and then left my office, a little frustrated. I texted Nat that I probably wouldn't be home by 4:30 p.m., as we had arranged since we wanted to have an afternoon to ourselves.

I think the others who were with me in the building understood that this was not the time to speak to me or to stand in my way. When I got into the car, I leaned my head on the steering wheel, exasperated. I could feel my eyes filling with tears. I was tired, very tired. It was all too much, too difficult, too complicated, too tiring. But it has always been my dream to join a law company.

After half an hour, I finally managed to park the car in the Stark Industries parking lot and got out of the car; I made my way to the entrance of the hotel and as soon as I arrived at the reception I saw Happy sitting on a chair near the elevator, looking at me. I waved to him and he immediately reciprocated, even sending a smile.

Once Tony's receptionist gave me access, I went up in the elevator and pressed the floor number Tony had pointed me to. While it was going up, I pulled out my phone, expecting a message from Nat, but it wasn't there. My message had been ignored, but I could see that it had been delivered and even read. This only added to my frustration.

Finally, the elevator stopped, I got out but I stopped a few steps later because I saw the very person I expected to see only in the trials. Ricky Martin. I just hoped Tony hadn't called him too.

I walked over to sit on one of the free chairs, hoping Ricky wouldn't notice me. Unfortunately, of course, this was not the case.

"If it's not Y/N Y/L/N that sitting there" he practically screamed, some people turned to look at us a little badly.

"Hi Ricky" I replied annoyed and without looking him in the eye I could guess that he understood that he was bothering me.

Before he could say anything else, Tony opened the door, letting out the other person who was inside with him. I understood why Nat didn't reply to the message. She was with Tony discussing something. As soon as she saw me, she completely ignored Ricky, who was looking for her attention and headed towards me.

"I'm so sorry my moon, as soon as I saw the message I wanted to answer you, but Stark called me for a meeting about a mission. I have to leave now, I'll be back about tomorrow morning. I'm sorry I can't be with you as we planned, but I promise we'll be together tomorrow," she said with a pout, then took my face in her hands and gently leaned her lips on mine. Honestly, I was hoping that tonight it would be just me, her and Liho, but instead, there will only be the cat at home since after this news I didn't want to stay home alone, so I'll stay in the office.

I nodded and she looked at me with a mixture of confusion and concern, but before she could say anything, her phone rang. She looked at the screen and saw Clint's ID. "Fuck" she murmured giving me another kiss and telling me to warm up the food she had prepared in the fridge, before running to the elevator and getting in.

Sighing, I picked up the papers I had placed on the chair next to me when I sat down and walked into Tony's office.

As usual, it was a mess. But who would Tony Stark be if he didn't leave everything in disarray? I sat in the chair next to Ricky, without looking him in the face, leaving my eyes to focus only on Tony.

"You may be wondering the reason for this sudden call" he began and already from his tone of voice I knew that whatever was on his mind, I would not like it. "Given the events that are going on, I've been thinking a lot these days," he said, opening a drawer and taking out a packet of peanuts, starting to eat them and then continuing to talk. "I think instead of just Y/N, Ricky should be a lawyer for this company as well."

And at that moment, everything stopped. As if my whole life had just been thrown away. As if all my efforts, sleepless nights, and evenings spent in the office instead of in my bed had been for nothing. As if my dream of becoming the best has been shattered. Because that's exactly what happened. Ricky sat next to me, looking at me with a smug smirk.

The rest of the meeting was difficult; My leg was bouncing up and down, a clear sign that I wanted to get out of that place. Tony must have noticed this because he quickly finished his speech and then told us we could leave.

Martin left quickly, his smirk still on his face. I didn't move from my chair. I couldn't understand, I couldn't focus on one thing, I couldn't stop shaking, I couldn't breathe. He couldn't give anything.

The rest of the meeting was difficult; My leg was bouncing up and down, a clear sign that I wanted to get out of that place. Tony must have noticed this because he quickly finished his speech and then told us we could leave.

Martin left quickly, his smirk still on his face. I didn't move from my chair. I couldn't understand what was going on, I couldn't focus on one thing, I couldn't stop shaking, I couldn't breathe. I couldn't do anything.

I felt my clothes sticking to my skin, not allowing me to breathe, my hands were becoming numb, my chest felt like it was on fire, and I could feel my heartbeat in my ears. It seemed to go at the same speed as the F1 cars.

I didn't understand anything, I didn't know what was going on. I felt like I was dying, or fainting, I don't know which of the two. But thinking about it only made things worse.

Nat pov

I should have expected that. I can't have a night out with my girlfriend because my work is always in the middle. Sometimes I think about what our life would be like if I wasn't an Avenger. It would be very nice, but at the same time, it would not be the everyday life I know very well.

I was in the quinjet getting ready to leave when I heard the phone ring. I made a puzzled face before heading to the table where we usually outline the mission's plan of attack. I immediately saw that Tony was calling me and I sighed in exasperation.

"Tony, what's up, I've got to-"

"Nat, you have to come here to the office, it's Y/N." Hearing those words, I took my duffel bag, where I had my clothes since I had already put on my suit, phone and car keys.

"What's going on? What's wrong?" I asked frantically, running as fast as I could toward my Corvette, which seemed much farther away than I remembered I had parked it.

"I don't know, I think she's having a panic attack and I don't know what to do. I tried everything" he explained and finally, I got to the car, quickly entering it and, as soon as I put the keys in, I sped away, still on the phone with Tony.

"Fuck, move you shitty assholes" I yelled slamming my hands on the steering wheel, since those in front of me, even with the green light, didn't move and I was in a hurry.

As soon as I arrived, for the second time that day, I parked quickly, forgetting my bag with my house keys, wallet and phone inside, but at that moment, the only thing I cared about was my girlfriend.

Running, I entered the building, quickly showing my security badge and then running to the stairs, deciding that they would be faster than the elevator and let's face it, I don't think I've ever run so fast.

When I finally got to the floor where Tony's office was, I saw Ricky Martin smiling while he was on the phone with someone, but as soon as he laid eyes on me, he ended the conversation and walked over to me.

I wanted to go straight on my way until he started talking to me. "Your girlfriend's a failure, Romanoff," he grabbed my arm. "She has not succeeded and she will never be able to do anything in life. I bet she doesn't even you fuck well" when I heard the last words, I couldn't contain myself and punched him on the nose, both because of the words he was saying about Y/N, and because, as I said many times, I was in a hurry.

"My girlfriend," I replied as he held his nose while moaning in pain, "She's not a failure. You, Ricky Martin, are a failure. On her own, she's managed to go a lot farther than you. And it sure fucks me better than you Ricky, even if it doesn't take much, given the cock you find yourself down there. Even a rubber cock is better than yours" and I left, walking over to Tony's office door.

When I entered, I found myself in front of a scene that I had never seen before. Y/N, sitting on the floor with her back against the wall, her neck and arms full of scratches, some bleeding, some not, with her shirt unbuttoned and her tie thrown somewhere, crying and desperate, trying unsuccessfully to breathe. Tony, on the other hand, was crying too, probably because he felt partly useless because he couldn't help Y/N, and on the other hand, because he felt guilty thinking he was the one who created this situation. As soon as Tony saw me, he motioned for me to go to Y/N without worrying about him.

Calmly and quietly, I approached my girlfriend, so as not to panic her more. "Hey, my moon. Can you try to take big, deep breaths for me, mhm?" I said gently taking her hands, trying to stop her from hurting herself more. She just shook her head and then started banging it against the wall behind her.

"No, no darling, we don't do that, mhm. Sh sh sh, it's all right, I'm here. Can you feel me? Can you feel my hands?" I asked her and after a few moments, she nodded. I just smiled at her before bringing her hand to my chest, to let her feel my regular heartbeat. "Come on love, let's do as the therapist said, huh? Inhale for 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Hold for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 and finally exhale for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5" I patiently guided her as she did her breaths, just as her psychologist had instructed me.

"Well done my love, very good. But now we have to repeat them, okay? Just like before" I told her, this time bringing her head to my chest and squeezing her hard enough to make her feel that I was there with her, but that I didn't want to restrict her any more.

After a few minutes, finally, her breathing was regular again, although she continued to tremble, and a lot of it. I stood there with her on the floor sitting, gently stroking her hair and giving her the comfort she needed. Occasionally, I would give her a few kisses on the forehead or wherever I could go. "Do you want to go home now?" I asked her after a while longer, hoping for a positive response from her. As an answer, however, I only got a no.

"Love…" I whispered to her, a little disconsolate by her answer, but it was very predictable. From the beginning of the relationship I had understood that she, even if she was very sick, had to go to the office if she hadn't finished something and this caused a lot of fights between the two of us, but they always ended up with her in my arms crying while she apologized and me consoling her.

"I-I know, I know. But I've go-ot to get to the office quick, I-I've got t-to finish something quickly," she whispered in a faint voice, breaking here and there. Usually, I would have let her go, but in the condition she was in, it didn't seem appropriate, so I tried to negotiate

"Okay, let's do it this way. You and I now go home, take a bath together, put on matching pajamas and watch Moana until you fall asleep" I tried to convince her, also trying to make her sleepy by gently stroking her hair. She opened her mouth, probably to protest again, but before she could do so, I started talking again. "Liho can sleep in the bed with us and you can be the little spoon" and after that, I knew I had convinced her. I felt her body relax against mine, her regular breathing on my neck, her hands fisting my suit. When she finally nodded, I smiled and kissed her on the forehead.

We spent that night just as I promised. Liho was asleep next to Y/N who was next to me, with her head on my chest, curled up like a baby. I wouldn't change a thing at all. With her, I feel like I'm at home. And deep down, I was.

[ominoose]

𝐈𝐧 𝐌𝐲 𝐕𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐬

Pairing: Vampire!Jake Lockley x Afab!Reader

Prompt: CNC & Sharp Teeth

Summary: You're at a shitty Halloween party, drinking some punch next to a stranger in a vampire costume. Then you're trapped in a cab, realising far too late the punch was spiked with more than alcohol.

Warnings: Extremely dubious consent, aphrodisiac, alcohol, blood, smut.

WC: 2.2K

Kinktober Masterlist

The party had gotten off to a good start. There was alcohol aplenty, bowls of sweets and spiked juice, someone was in a corner handing out skeletal spliffs and the DJ was playing banger after banger. It had the makings to be a great party, except everyone attending seemed to be as dead as a corpse.

"I'll be back in a minute, just going to talk to a friend real quick!" And there went the one person you actually knew at the party, leaving you alone in the living room while everyone else milled around, not really dancing, just ghosting from person to person. Safe to say, the Halloween party wasn't very lively.

With a heavy sigh you force yourself up from the musty couch, heading to the kitchen for whatever concoction someone brewed in the punch bowl.

Someone was already there, leaning over the bowl to dip their cup in. They wore a long black cape, which hinted at a wide variety of costumes, from Zoro to Batman. As you rounded next to them, it was neither of your earlier guesses. Next to you was a man in a white shirt and tie, crisp black trousers, black leather gloves and sharp, pointed teeth.

The moment you're next to him, red eyes snap over to you. A single dark curl ghosts over his forehead, the rest of his hair hidden under a black flat cap. Altogether it was a pretty lazy closet vampire costume, but you weren't going to begrudge anyone for not dressing to the nines to attend a party. At least he went to the effort of adding a few specks of blood to the corners of his smirk.

Leaning forward to scoop your own cup in, he makes no attempt to move back and give you space, almost pressing against you. When you straighten yourself, his eyes are still on you, and oddly bright despite using only contact lenses.

"You look as lively as the guy I killed on the way here." The voice had a Spanish rumble to it, laced with amusement and casualness.

You sip the punch, hiding a chuckle at the line. It tasted different from the last time you'd been drinking it, the fruity flavour now underlined with something bitter. Before you're able to properly put your finger on the change your eyelids rapidly become heavy, and no amount of blinking seems to orientate you better as the room spins and becomes a blur. Alarm bells barely have time to go off in your mind before everything turns black, a faint array of screams being the last thing your conscious of.

A dull yet pulsating pain rolls over your shoulders and arms. You sit up, head and heart both throbbing in pain and terror as a sleek, black taxi interior unblurrs around you. Your mind was empty of any memories after the punch table, the only thing that stuck was the deep red eyes of the strange man in the vampire costume and the knowing smirk that curled at the very edge of his blood-stained lips.

Immediately you try to open the car doors to no avail, both are locked from the inside and no amount of thumping against the cold glass will attract help. The cab was parked in an empty, dingy ally, with only one light flickering at the far end, leaving you to strain your eyes through shadows. Its out of those shadows the stoic man emerges, a glowing red ember puffing between his curled lips, almost matching the red eyes pointed right at you.

The man slowly approached, seemingly enjoying the look of confusion and fear marring your face as you backed away from the glass, only to end up bumping against the other door. He stopped beside the car, staring a moment longer as he dropped his cigarette to the ground and stomped it out, eyes never once leaving you. The taxi door opened quietly as he stepped in, the flat cap on his head skimming the car roof as he lounges onto the back seat, thighs spread.

“Don’t look so scared, quierdo. If I wanted you dead, I’d have ripped out your throat with the rest of those lowlives.” The casual wave of his hand does nothing to quell your racing heart, thudding against your chest so heavily you can feel it in your throat. 

He leans forward, arms resting on his knees, close enough to smell the faint whiskey and tobacco on his breath.

“You know, you were the only one at that party, if I can even call it that, that seemed… real.” 

The words caught you off guard by how odd they were, the general bizarre nature of the situation only adding to your anxiety. Despite the fear clouding your mind, your eyes didn’t miss the sharp fangs that peaked out from his lip ever so slightly when he spoke, the dark red stains that speckled his previously crisp white collar, the red line that rolled from his jaw to his adams apple, glistening slightly under the yellow interior cab light.

“You weren’t entertained by the mindless chattering, not impressed by the countless pendejos trying to get their dicks wet, no. You sat on that ugly little couch like it was your throne, like it was all beneath you.” He had leaned closer as he spoke, towering over you as he spoke.

Closer still, he moved until he was by your ear, warm breath huffing over your neck and sending goosebumps blooming across your skin.

“You were beautiful.”

The deep, gravelly cadence made your beating heart stutter. Your quick breaths caught in your throat. The closer he got, the more a strange heat slithered just under your skin. You’d attributed it to the alcohol or the now obviously spiked punch, but it was unnatural the extent it was reaching when he was near. The smirk grew as he licked his lips, nose nuzzling faintly just behind your ear.

Out of instinct you gasp, inching away only for a strong, gloved hand to grab your jaw and pull you towards the mans lips. His kiss was seering. Slow yet forceful, his tongue moulded into your mouth, exploring it all whilst sharp teeth caught against your bottom lip and left pearls of blood rolling down your chin. 

The man pulls back, red eyes glowing as he sensually sucks the blood from your lip, lapping the dribbles of it from your chin. The groan from the back of his throat was almost a growl as he locked eyes with you, his gloved thumb smearing crimson stains over your chin. 

“Draining you would be such a waste, hermosa. Such beauty shouldn’t be fleeting. It’s been far too long since a human has piqued my interest. Why don’t we see exactly how special you are, hm?”

As if to answer his own question the vampire tugs you securely into his lap as if you were a frail doll, grinding you into his crotch with a satisfied sigh. The movement caused your underwear to slide and pinch against you, somehow you’d become soaking wet with slick without realising. The strange heat from before was growing and now pooling in your abdomen. 

The man returned back to your neck, now nibbling your damp skin in between kisses, sucking at the droplets of blood that tried to escape him. Bruises and pinpricks quickly littered over your tender throat, but it was barely noticeable when he continued grinding up into you with increasing fervor, rutting like he was already fucking you. Two hands roamed and groped your sides, but you weren’t caged in by any means. 

The taxi door was still slightly ajar, the cool midnight air stoking more goosebumps over you, and in the back of your mind you knew if you acted quick enough you could jerk out of his grip and out of the door. How far would you get though, how long would you manage to run before he caught up to you? What else was this man, this vampire capable of? Any answers never surfaced, because your mind clouded any further thoughts. The arousal pulsing between your legs kept you rooted firmly in his lap, arching into his chest and hardness. Any alarms, warning thoughts or remnants of your fight or flight reaction became muddled with the growing need keeping you glued to him, although whether it was your own or the result of whatever concoction he brewed in the punch you couldn’t know.

In the midst of your muddled thoughts and heat, he’d carelessly ripped off your underwear in one clean tug before sliding his gloved fingers between your folds, curling the tips into your keen hole. A breathy moan escaped your throat that was still being marred by his fangs, accompanied by a low moan of his own.

“So wet for me, bebita.” His accented drawl was hypnotic, and his words were true. Never before had your body reacted in such a way for anyone, never ached with such primal need for another. His fingers spread the warm slick over your clit, rubbing in circles, causing you to whine and moan shamelessly into the night. You were putty in his hands, unable to think clearly beyond his touch.

With his right hand busy teasing your clit you didn’t notice when his left hand ceased its bruising grip on your ass and reached to his own crotch, unbuckling his belt and pressing his cock into you without warning. 

The air left your lungs, curling into him as much as you could, pressing against his chest, using his tie to secure him to you. Your cunt needed no time to adjust, already wet and loose and pulsating with pure need, allowing him in with frighteningly little fight. The ease seemed to please him, the deep moan he let out morphed into a chuckle that vibrated in his chest. 

Both hands came under your thighs, squeezing the soft cellulite as he leaned forward, smiling devilishly at your ear.

“Hold on tight mi amor.”

Those five whispered words were all the warning you were given as he lifted you up by the bottom, his cock sliding out of you with a wet pop, the tip just prodding at your hole before he slammed you down hard, his hips angling up to meet your descent half way. 

The first harsh thrust set the pace as he maintained his powerful assault, fucking the air out of your lungs with a barely restrained ferocity. Any moans or gasps you managed to get out were marred with garbled words, the sounds constantly being cut off from the force of his cock. It was unnatural how even without your clit being stimulated, the pleasure of his thrusts had every nerve tingling, every ring of muscle inside of you squeezing against him, trying to keep him there eternally. 

As your mind became more and more a slave to the blissful and supernatural fuck, your body was overwhelmed, like a toy being wound and wound to the breaking point, you were becoming undone. Stars were flashing over your vision, air was becoming harder to coax back into your lungs and your thighs were becoming a searing red from being slapped against his lap over and over. He was at your ear murmuring softly, yet his words were vulgar, spoken like vicious curses. Most of it you couldn’t make out in your disorientated, dick-drunk state, but one repeated phrase stuck out.

“Cum for me.”

Your body reacted on command, as if given an activation phrase. The effect was immediate, your legs filling with cotton, tongue tingling and toes curling. Your vision and mind went blank while the orgasm rocked you to your core and nearly gave you an out of body experience. His cock continued to pound into you and your pussy clamped around him for dear life whilst your thighs trembled, anchoring around the man for stability.

You weren’t aware that he’d came, only vaguely aware of his fangs piercing you one final time, his entire jaw clamping shut over your shoulder as he spilled into you. When the orgasm slowly faded and the air graced your lungs, only then did those repressed alarms pierce the fog clouding your mind. The reality of being confined in the cab with a supernatural being whom admitted to slaughtering everyone at the party dawned on you. The faces of your friend and acquaintances appeared with clarity, and your heart began racing. 

He stirred from your neck, fangs retracting at the feeling of your chest thudding alarmingly against his. As your breathing picked up his tongue traced over a vein as it curled under your jaw. 

“I knew you were special. You’re nothing like the rest of those vermin.” The vampire mused into your bruised and blood stained skin, seemingly indifferent to your rising fear.

“You’re mine.” 

His jaw clamped over your neck, teeth piercing your flesh once again. However, in place of his usual nips and kisses, his fangs encased themselves in your throat causing blood to gush down your chest in warm, wet waves. You barely had a chance to ball your hands into fist against his chest and push him off as the fog of heat clouded your brain and sapped your strength, the same heat that flooded your veins when he first approached you. This time something else laced too, something foreign and acidic.

“You’re mine, now and forever, mi vida.”

[leportraitducadavre]

Ino and Sakura

It's often said that Sakura cut off her ties with Ino for more reasons than just Sasuke. For some fans, she even did it because Ino was pushing her down purposefully in order to be always on top.

In that sense, and while this post has been written in another response, the other one will soon become a monster too huge to control, so I'll leave this here for better access and to better expand their relationship for those who are interested.

A warning you should know: Many images are shown while others are linked (pay attention to the underlined-bold words, they'll guide you to the image analyzed).

Despite the claims introduced before, on the panels we were shown their previous relationship during their childhood at no point did Ino seem to downgrade Sakura -either physically or mentally-, on the contrary, she's constantly shown trying to lift her spirits, like when she complements her looks:

Let the world see that pretty face!! Strike a pose!

At no point did Ino downgrade Sakura or put herself above; telling Sakura to show confidence doesn’t automatically put her in a higher position in their friendship.

To explain myself further: providing help when someone needs it isn’t the same as putting oneself in a morally or physically superior position. Their relationship is of equals regardless of Ino supplying emotional support. The fact that Sakura inwardly elevates Ino's relevance in their dynamic isn’t Ino’s responsibility as everything Sakura thinks of Ino is never expressed (translated, Ino isn't aware of her position inside their friendship, as she's never told her relevance). Furthermore, Ino never states that she considers herself attractive or prettier than Sakura herself, every time they speak on the matter Ino tells Sakura to be more confident as she has a "pretty face".

Him! Hah! He just struts around, acting like he’s so cool.

At no moment does Ino seem upset at Sakura for liking the same boy, in fact, she chooses to lie about how she feels for Sasuke in order not to start a conflict. This is, of course, not specified in canon, but since Ino doesn't display her feelings for Sasuke and, quite the contrary, she criticizes him, it's safe to assume she lied about her feelings.

And even if Ino is upset about Sakura liking the same boy as her, something that is neither expressed nor shown, she doesn’t act around it.

Furthermore, Sakura engages in conversations with Ino about Sasuke (Hey, Ino! Sasuke seems to like girls with long hair, so I’m going to grow mine…) and it doesn’t seem as if Ino dismisses the subject out of jealousy.

Everyone says you’re after Sasuke too, Ino…

I'm aware that some fans, specifically S//S and Saku-Ino fans, claim that Sakura assumed Ino liked Sasuke and Ino, in retaliation, started to like him back to make Sakura jealous (?), however, unlike those fans who think Ino's whole character revolves around Sakura (she is, indeed, a supporting character of her, but she outgrew her role to the point where she's barely seen with Sakura after the Chünin Exams) I do believe that Ino truly liked Sasuke and that she was indeed surprised by Sakura having equal feelings for him.

[I will here say that, personally, those who diminish Ino's feelings for Sasuke to use that "lesser" type of love (there's nothing like a "lesser" type of love, there're different ways to love someone. Caring for someone romantically doesn't reflect equally on each individual), as a justification why Sakura "deserved" Sasuke are carrying a sexist view inside their reading of the manga: Cartoon or not, Ino is still a representation of a woman yet, for them, she isn't as valuable as Sakura because she loved Sasuke in a different manner she did.

They're measuring Ino, Karin, and even Sakura's value by the way they display their respective feelings for a man.

In the same manner, Karin, who shows more sexual desire for Sasuke (I will not deny her romantical feelings, but she is clearly more driven by her sexual interest in him), is not less of a woman or less deserving of being with him because of the nature of her feelings.

There's no such thing as a "suffering-meter" that determines which character suffered the most out of love and, therefore, who deserves a happy ending with the object of their affection. That not only links love's nature primarily to suffering but also measures a person's romantic value in terms of how much pain they can endure (either for their significant other or provoked by their significant other).]

Again, Ino doesn’t act around her feelings for Sasuke (in the next flashback Ino -despite knowing Sasuke likes girls with long hair, keeps her own hair short) nor around her friend's attraction.

It was Sakura the one who decided to break their friendship because someone (unspecified) told her Ino liked Sasuke in the same way she did.

This is how we learn about their breakup:

Chapter 53

If it's true... that makes us rivals!

Keep in mind that, until then, we only knew Ino was Sakura’s rival, it's Shikamaru the one that introduces the idea of Sakura and Ino being best friends once, and we have these panels to understand a little bit more about their prior relationship.

This rumor is, in fact, truthful as they do become rivals -so why would Ino allow this break-up if she truly didn't like Sasuke? It makes absolutely no sense, meaning that this theory of Ino faking her attraction to Sasuke is completely false, as she canonically is infatuated with him. Furthermore, when confronted, she chooses not to lie about her romantic interest in him to Sakura. The expression of Ino when hearing Sakura’s words is “uh-oh!”, which means she was keeping her feelings secret from her friend.

In chapter 54, we have a sneak peek at Sakura’s development as a ninja: After Naruto and Sasuke fight Orochimaru (and pass out), and Lee sacrifices his well-being in order to save her from the Oto team, Sakura cuts her hair as to free herself from Kin’s hold. Up to this point, we know this part is significant because of what Sakura thinks before doing it, but by Ino’s reaction, there’s something far deeper going on (Hey, Ino! Sasuke seems to like girls with long hair, so I’m going to grow mine…).

Her attack against Zaku isn't successful and, after barely hurting him, she has no more energy to continue (so she bites him). And here's when we have Ino’s flashback:

Chapter 54 - The flashback continues but all have been addressed previously.

The rivalry was started solely by Sakura. There’s no denying that Ino took up on that rivalry and started to act consequentially, but she wasn’t the one initiating it.

"I noticed your hair is lot longer, Ino" "What is it to you, Sakura?!!"

Let's acknowledge something, in this specific panel, it was Sakura who started their interaction (in a hostile manner, also) because she wanted to tell Ino about her position in Team 7.

She assumed Ino grew her hair long because of Sasuke -it isn't clear when was their fallout, but it must have been years prior to their graduation, so either they didn't see each other as much (or at all) since they went their separate ways, or Ino grew her hair long shortly after the beginning of the show, so there were at least a few years after their breakup when she still has her hair short.

It's safe to assume Ino did, in fact, keep her hair long for Sasuke's sake, yet it's not confirmed she did so to appeal to him, as she keeps growing it after his departure and it's shown how most people of her clan have their hair in a ponytail style, including her father.

So Ino, you'll never beat me now.

Despite some translations stating that Sakura said “I won’t lose to you anymore” (we were shown at no point in the manga how Sakura exactly lost against Ino), the official translation states otherwise -Sakura never exactly “lost” against Ino, nor Ino against Sakura.

Sakura's statement is based on Sasuke being on the same team as her, therefore, for this fact alone, Ino will never "win". Their whole rivalry is based on Sasuke. Now that Sakura is assigned to the same team as him, she has a better chance of winning his romantic reciprocation, therefore, Sakura's prospects are better than her rival's, which makes her the sole winner.

Yet, regardless of their mutual hostility, Ino still jumps to save her former friend, which means that she still has a deep connection with Sakura. Her face when remembering their childhood was a deeply troubled one, perhaps even mournful. In addition, by this point, Sasuke is unconscious: He isn’t able to see Ino’s heroic act, something Ino is aware of yet acts as if that is the sole reason why she jumped in.

After the fight, we have these panels:

To put some context: Naruto asks Sakura who “these guys are” when seeing Shikamaru, Chöji, Lee, and Ino; and after Sakura “thanks them”, Ino thinks that she’s selling herself short. Ino is shown constantly either telling Sakura or thinking of her as someone pretty and capable yet still self-conscious, even tho Sakura would have likely died had Ino and Team 10 not intervened, as Sasuke awoke after their tactic failed. Ino and Team 10 were saved by Team Gai and Sasuke, not Sakura.

During their fight in the preliminary rounds (CH 71), Sakura is particularly cruel:

First of all, she claims control and power of decision-making over a boy who has rejected her advances twice and who's not even present at the moment (he could, and honestly would, easily deny them both of the romantical reciprocation they sought). She starts their fight by trying to downgrade both Ino’s self-esteem (physically) and status in their “rivalry” (which she claims is now non-existent, as Sakura is the "winner" by being in the same team as Sasuke) -Ino’s words are a response to Sakura’s attitude.

[Kakashi saying that Sakura isn’t mean doesn’t make it automatically true -first, Kakashi doesn’t know Sakura that well as to claim she wouldn’t bully a person just because (she often displayed such an attitude towards Naruto during their first interactions, particularly when she told Sasuke that Naruto was annoying because he was parentless, Kakashi saw and knew none of that). Second, what he knows about Ino and Sakura’s relationship is what he read on a piece of paper -he knows nothing about how they actually interacted, nothing about their “power imbalance”, and, furthermore, he does nothing about Sakura’s insecurities -he hoped that Sakura would come around when the Chünin Exams came, but the whole reason she did so was because of Sasuke’s support.]

Sakura internally acknowledges Ino’s relevance in her life (1 and 2) yet none of that is actually told to Ino -who’s left in the dark. The last impression she possesses of Sakura is about her not being good enough to maintain a friendship outside their respective crushes on the same boy. Sakura, even without them being friends, still seeks Ino’s acknowledgment -the only one who is then made to do something for their relationship is Ino.

Personal opinion: Sakura hasn’t surpassed Ino. Much less at this point in the manga.

It’s Sakura the one who makes their rivalry just about Sasuke (here), while Ino states that she will not allow her to “show her up” (thus, for her, it seems to be more than just their shared crush on a boy, even during Asuma's last speech he tells her not to allow Sakura to win in "ninjutsu and love"), Sakura solely focuses on being on the same team as Sasuke as a signal of superiority; something she did absolutely nothing to gain as it was mere luck:

The teams are to be balanced and that’s why they put the dead last (Naruto) with the Rookie of the Year (Sasuke), there’s no canonical mention of Sakura’s part in the matter. The belief that she was put there because she was the “brightest” is a fanon belief (x). Furthermore, according to the Report Cards in the First Fanbook, Ino was behind Sasuke; making her the second-best overall and the best kunoichi amongst them (x).

Furthermore, Kakashi specifically visits Naruto's house alongside the Hokage who introduces him to the team he'll be leading, and at no moment do they even mention Sakura.

Meanwhile Ino, canonically speaking, would never be put on the same team as Sasuke, as she's the Yamanaka heir -her destiny was always to be with Chöji and Shikamaru.

Here

I’m not your little tag-along anymore Ino

Sakura says this in order to gain an emotional reaction -Ino is shocked by the words because she's never shown to consider Sakura to be what her former friend claims she used to be. Sakura is then painting the memories of their relationship in a negative light, downgrading it. What for Ino was a real friendship, to Sakura was a relationship of power.

[This is not a negative thing per se, Sakura needed a support system that Ino provided as she was too shy to socialize with anyone. What she's saying now is that she doesn't need Ino in order to interact with others. For Sakura is a positive thing, as she probably hated being "Ino's tag along", however, that doesn't change the negative impact that it has on Ino who never saw Sakura as a burden.]

Sakura's views of their dynamic diminish its relevance in her life and put Ino in the wrong (almost making her the abusive side of the relationship). Ino never reached for Sakura in order to make her her “tag-along”, Sakura was the one who put herself in that position.

I'm not blatantly denying Sakura's views on their former friendship, but from what we can see in canon, those views are either a lie she tells Ino to emotionally drag her during their match (stated before by Kakashi, she wants Ino to take her seriously), or a twisted version of the events transpired.

Much like with Sasuke, the fact that Sakura puts the weight of her well-being on another person’s shoulders means that she’s not responsible for the outcome or what her actions might entail: That’s why she makes Ino responsible for their fallout -hadn’t Ino liked the same boy, she wouldn’t have ended their relationship.

Sakura calling Ino a witch.

At the end of their fight, is Ino who -again, reaches out to Sakura and waits for her to wake, and, again: She gives her support.

We have a new interaction between them in CH 93 -where we see both of them visiting Sasuke in the hospital and bringing him a flower, there, we get to see them talking outside a ninja setting and inside Ino's flower shop.

1) It's established Sakura doesn't visit the flower shop until then.

2) They still bicker over Sasuke, the basis of their relationship hasn't changed after the Chünin Exams, but they seem to get along better.

3) Sakura learned the flowers' meaning in order to compete with Ino.

They even sit together in CH 99 to see the one-on-one fights of the last round of the exams, and while both Ino and Sakura are equally concerned about Sasuke, it's Ino the one who tells Sakura to cheer Naruto on during his match. How is Ino this "bad person who diminished Sakura" when she shows nothing but concern for her crush (Sasuke), her former friend (Sakura), and her rival's teammate (Naruto)? Furthermore, in CH 105, Ino realizes Sakura's change in mood when she admits (internally) to being somewhat jealous of Naruto.

After Shikamaru's match, once Sasuke appears, Ino compliments Sakura's team, praising both Sasuke and Naruto; Sakura's reaction isn't shown as the main focus is Lee -who hears Ino speaking-, but it amazes me how many people try to paint Ino's character as "shallow" and a "bully" when she has done nothing but encourage and praise those around her even when they're not close enough to hear her.

Then, after Sasuke's Retrieval Arc, Ino even goes as far as to look for Sakura once Shimamaru's team returns (x), and she even prioritizes Chöji before Sasuke (who they don't know actually left, x). How is Ino such a shallow, careless monster (who doesn't truly care for Sakura) if she goes out of her way to find her and inform her of their friends' return? Wouldn't have she taken the opportunity to visit Sasuke by herself? Wouldn't she have chosen to visit her crush first rather than Chöji if she was that obsessed with him and against Sakura?

In a way, and this is not to diminish some of the writing problems the author has, Ino is a nice representation of how Kishimoto is actually capable of writing a girl with a simple crush on a boy, who still prioritizes friends and comrades above the man she likes. Sakura's behavior, therefore, can't be attributed to Kishimoto not "knowing how to write women", but to him giving Sakura specific characteristics that just happen to be disliked by the fandom. In retaliation, her stans decide to blame such personality traits on his "incapability" to write female characters before giving them the actual relevance they have over Sakura's character.

[a-aexotic]

hii i feel like john b doesn't get nearly enough fics and i <3 your writing so could i request a fic where he's having a rough day so he comes over and reader does her whole nighttime routine w him to help de-stress? 💗💗

ren's notes ! yes i totally agree, john b is so overhated for what

pairing. john b x fem!reader

warnings. literally nothing except fluff and ward being ward

➜ missing out on updates? ❪ navigation. masterlist. taglist. ❫

Today was not John B's day.

He woke up in a shitty mood and everything else just went along with that. He burnt his pancakes, he forgot to pay the water bill so he was stuck with cold water as a shower. He forgot to do laundry so he had to wear his dirty clothes. And the Camerons were being more asshole-ish than usual.

He just wanted to go home and eat, relaxing while watching a TV show. So why did Ward make him clean the yacht for the second time this week?

He texted you throughout working and you felt really bad. You wanted to do something that would cheer him up.

He heard a ding and pulled out his phone.

Y/N:) 💋☀️ oh, im sorry to hear that baby:/

Y/N:) 💋☀️ do u wanna come over and watch something?<3 maybe that'll help

Y/N:) 💋☀️ i love u jb:)

He smiled at your texts as he sent a quick text back, not wanting to hear another lecture about phones from Ward again.

JB 😎 No worries babe 😘💕 I love u too

JB 😎 That sounds like heaven 😫 Be there at 6 x

--

Work couldn't have even sooner for John B. He was so excited to go see you; he's felt like it's been weeks even though in reality, it's only been maybe a day. Today just felt so long but he knew that one kiss from you, and all that stress would go away.

He pulled up to your house and quickly got out. He was prepared to spend the entire night with you, sleeping in your arms so that all his stress would melt away.

He knocked at the door and your mother answered, letting him know you had just got down with your shower and that you were upstairs. She also reminded John B to knock before going in.

As he was told, he knocked before going in.

"Mom, I'll be down in a minute, let me finish my skincare."

"It's not mom, It's John B."

You quickly jumped out of your chair and ran to the door, opening it and embracing John B. He smiled at your enthusiasm.

"Oh, John B. I missed you."

He leaned into you, sighing in content. "Me, too, baby. Me, too."

"I was just going to finish my skincare and we can go get some popcorn and eat, okay?"

"Um, actually. I think after the day I've had, I need a mask."

You smiled at your boyfriend. Your glad your skincare is rubbing off on him because you wanted him to relax (you also didn't want him to age badly). "Of course, baby! Just uh, go take a quick shower and we can get started!"

He didn't even have the energy to be offended at your underlining comment so he just nodded and went into your bathroom, closing the door.

As he showered, you got the candy and popcorn ready. He got out and he sighed in relaxation. He then looked at the bowl next to your bed to find his favorite candy. "Ooo."

He took a handful before you came in with a huge grin on your face. "Okay, we have either a peach collagen mask or a vitamin d matcha mask."

He laughed immaturely at the mention of D. "Vitamin D, of course."

You rolled your eyes playfully as you put down the other mask, opening the vitamin d sheet mask. "Did you wash your face?" You asked before putting it on.

"Yes."

"With my CeraVe cleanser?"

He nodded and sighed as if that was the most obvious thing in the world. But if you asked him that a few months ago, he would've asked who CeraVe was and what a cleanser is. You're glad you've taught him well.

You smiled at that, nodding. "Good."

You put on the mask and John B felt his muscles relaxing from your soft touch, and the gentleness of the sheet mask on his face. "This feels so nice. I can't remember a time when I didn't use masks."

"Mhm, I bet your skin feels the same."

He sighed contently as you fully adjusted the mask to his face. You walked away towards your mini-fridge to get a Jade roller. You went back to John B and started massaging his face with it.

"Wow, this feels nice. Is how the rich feel?" John B commented as you laughed.

You kept massaging for a few minutes before stopping, making John B groan. You rolled your eyes.

"My arms hurt, John B, I can't do this until it dries."

He sighed and nodded, "Okay fine."

John B then went to go sit on your bed and turn on the TV as you put your mask on. John B then went to the bedside table and grabbed the popcorn, eating it happily.

You smiled at your boyfriend. You're glad that he feels better now. You got into the bed too, taking some of the popcorn and eating it.

"Okay, babe. It's your pick, what're we watching?"

"21 Jump Street."

You sighed. "... Again?"

"Oh shush, I know you love staring at Channing Tatum."

You rolled your eyes playfully, knowing it was true.

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

A letter to John's cousin Leila, dated January 1979

Thank you to @javelinbk's post for bringin my attention to this letter :)

I'm sure I made some mistakes in transcribing this, so if someone can figure out the bits I'm unsure about I'd be happy to edit them in! (EDIT: thank you to @ohblahdo and @the-bluebird-you-need for much needed corrections!) I also tried to keep it as close to his actual writing as possible but sometimes I can't tell if he misspellt things or if it's just hard to read. I bolded what he underlined.

FULL TRANSCRIPTION:

Dear Leila,

it's snowing;– outside the window in Central Park – I can see the Plaza Hotel across the trees – it's beautiful. I'm exhausted (still) after Xmas/New Year – they even have a thing called Thanksgiving a few weeks before Xmas (by the way I'm a Pagan – a zen Pagan to be precise – but that's another story!)

It looks a[s] if we got our wires crossed on the 'newspaper story' – ie. Mimi (who else!) told me you were upset about something I said (supposed to have said) in the newspaper about myself – anyway enough of that – it's obviously nothing – so let's forget that which we can't remember anyway!

I don't know why you were surprised by what I wrote you about your 'Russian Affair' – i thought I'd make it clear to you that the words were from a TAROT CARD READER – ie: I told him your story/birthdate etc – the words came through him – I just wrote down his 'prediction' (whatever) re:your situation! See? – so don't shoot the bearer of news!!

Sean is a beautiful wise 3 yr old (born Oct 9! – in case you didn't know) – what a handfull [sic] one is – I don't know how you manage all yours – well done! The fact that they have all their limbs + faculties is an accomplishment in itself!

Sounds like a good idea about giving yourself some time to 'play'! – 8 days doesn't sound like you're turned Gypsy 'tho'! – by the way –

– You better give us a fair warning if you're seeing [?] about 'popping over' here – ie: make sure I'm here – eg. tomorrow we leave (Yoko + me) for ..... Cairo, Egypt (ring a bell?!) – via Geneva – on a business trip – for about a week – I wish we could dig up some of your fathers relatives – do you know anyone there? an Uncle/Aunt?

– I'll send you a postcard –

I'm 40 next year – I hope life begins – ie. I'd like a little less 'trouble' and more – what? I don't know – I sent Stan [Leila's brother, John's cousin] a Xmas card (up north) – I don't know what it is with him – is he resentfull [sic] of me because I'm not dumb or what?! I guess he was always jealous of you – anyway I still think it's pretty mean of him – I heard a lot from him when he was piss poor – I shouldn't be surprised after all the bastards I've met these last 40 yrs or so

– if your [sic] ever in NRH Wales – look [?] up Julian – he's in Ruthin School – poor sod –

I though of you a lot this Xmas – the cottage – the record player – 'good ship lollipop' – 'I found my love on TREASURE ISLAND' – the OWL(s)? the shadows on the ceiling as the cars went by at night – putting up the paper-chains – even Norman turns into Santa Klaus in my memory! (muttering in the chair by the fire)

enough of that too!

Lots of love, to all of you, I'm sure we'll see each other v. soon – somewhere or other – I'm almost scared to go to England, 'cos I know it would be the last time I saw Mimi – I'm a coward about goodbyes...

Have a good year Keep healthy John 8^) xxx

Love from Sean & Yoko xx

[moonsandmobilityaids]

Ack... So uhm I suddenly had Bell's Palsy... I know that facial thing where it just goes down aha... And my usual smile being gone is just a wreck for me :"3... Used to smile a lot, now I just do this awkward :] cuz... My face drooping and all...

Ah request... Maybe a Bell's Palsy reader to gain me self some confidence? With Remus please... I mean Sirius is ok too but I think I'll connect better with Remus because he can relate with his face scar (if it makes you feel better why I said that... I have this long scar on my forehead too... Heh... Yeah)

It's alright if you won't as well. Bell's Palsy is a tricky one :"3

Thank you so much for this, and I really hope it improves soon.

Pairings: Remus Lupin x reader Summary: After being diagnosed with Bell's Palsy, Remus attempts to make you feel better. Warnings: Self-worth issues

You sit on the edge of your bed, your gaze drawn to the small mirror on your dresser. Your fingers trace the line of your jaw, stopping at the corner of your mouth where your smile used to be. Now it's a half-formed thing, one side of your face refusing to respond while the other moves with ease.

It's called Bell's Palsy, the healer had said, assuring you that it was temporary. But each day feels longer than the last as you wait for the normalcy that once was. You swallow hard, forcing down the lump that threatens to choke you, and try again. "Smile," you whisper to your reflection, but your lips barely twitch.

The sound of movement downstairs distracts you for a moment. Remus is there, probably preparing a cup of tea like he always does when he knows something is wrong. You can almost hear the soft clink of china against the kitchen counter, the low whistle of the kettle reaching a boil. It's comforting in its familiarity, yet it only serves to remind you of how different you are now.

Your fingers leave your face, dropping into your lap as you continue to stare at the mirror. The girl who looks back at you is a stranger, her features twisted into an expression you don't recognise. You want to reach out, to shake her until she wakes up from this nightmare, but you know it won't change anything.

Silence hangs heavy in the air, broken only by the distant sounds of the castle settling into night. You're so lost in thought that you don't even hear him enter. It's the faint knock at the door, the soft call of your name that finally draws your attention away from the window and back to the room.

"May I come in?" Remus's voice is gentle, almost hesitant.

For a moment, you don't respond, still caught in the web of your thoughts. But the door creaks open just slightly, revealing Remus standing there with a steaming mug in his hands. He doesn't wait for your answer, but steps inside, closing the distance between you with quiet certainty.

His eyes, always so full of understanding, take in your form huddled on the bed. They flicker with concern, tracing over the lines of fatigue etched onto your face. But he doesn't speak immediately, choosing instead to set the mug down on the bedside table and seat himself next to you. The silence stretches out, a comfortable blanket wrapping around the both of you.

"Still me," you whisper, voice barely there as you force the words past the tightness in your throat. "But it doesn't feel like me."

Remus only nods, his gaze never leaving your face. He waits, patient and understanding, for you to find the strength to continue.

"I can't even smile right anymore," you add, a hint of bitterness seeping into your tone. "How am I supposed to feel like myself when I look like this?"

Instead of answering, Remus reaches out, his fingers brushing against your cheek—the one that no longer lifts with the curve of a smile. His touch is feather-light, yet it anchors you, drawing a shuddering breath from your lungs. You lean into him, seeking the warmth that radiates from his skin.

"You're still you," he murmurs, a note of conviction underlining his soft-spoken words. "This doesn't change that."

Your head shakes almost imperceptibly, a denial born more from feeling than thought. "But it feels like it has. I look... different."

A pause lingers between you, filled only with the quiet crackle of the dying fire and the distant murmur of the castle settling into night. Then Remus's hand drops away, leaving a cool absence where warmth once reassured. His gaze turns inward, brows furrowing as though wrestling with memories reluctant to surface.

"You know," he begins, his voice a hushed confession in the dimly lit room, "I've felt that way before."

You blink up at him, confusion momentarily displacing your despair. The lines of his face, usually so open and readable, seem etched with a new depth of understanding, one carved from personal torment rather than empathy alone. Slowly, his fingers rise to trace the jagged scar marring his cheek, a rough-hewn testament to a transformation far more brutal than the one you now face.

"After I received this..." His touch lingers on the twisted skin, a silent acknowledgment of past pains. "I believed the same—that I no longer resembled myself. That I was... marred."

His words cause a sympathetic twinge in your chest, and without thinking, you place your hand over his on the scar. Remus's fingers twitch beneath yours, but he doesn't pull away. Instead, he smiles—a small, sad thing that speaks of shared understanding rather than mirth.

"I know what it's like to see something in the mirror that feels alien," he says, his voice barely more than a whisper. "But I learned something important. What truly matters, what defines us, isn't our faces. Not really."

Tears well up unbidden, spilling over onto your cheeks, but there's a warmth spreading through your chest that wasn't there before. Remus leans in, his forehead coming to rest against yours. His breath is warm, his presence grounding, and for a moment, the world outside falls away.

"I see you," he murmurs, voice barely above a whisper, as though the words are a secret meant only for you. "And I love every part of you, whether you can smile or not."

His declaration should be impossible to believe, yet something in his tone, in the sincerity of his gaze, compels you to trust him. And for the first time since this nightmare began, you let yourself accept the truth in his words. It's not about the way your smile may have changed or how your face feels different under your own touch—it's about being seen, truly seen, by someone who cares.

You attempt a small smile then, lopsided and unsure, but Remus's eyes light up as if you've just presented him with the sun. It's a small victory, one that doesn't erase the pain nor the uncertainty, but it's a start—a glimmer of hope in the darkness.

"See?" His voice is soft, the gentlest caress. "Still perfect."

Your heartbeat quickens as he leans in, his lips hovering just above yours. You want to respond, to meet him halfway, but your face doesn't cooperate quite the way you'd like. Remus doesn't rush you, though. He lingers there, giving you time to adjust, his breath warm against your skin.

With a small push of your will, you manage to close the distance. It's different—more difficult, awkward and not perfectly aligned—but it's soft and slow, filled with love. His lips meet yours in a way that's gentle, accommodating the quirks of this new reality. Despite the challenges, the kiss feels perfect in its own way. When you pull back, Remus's smile is the brightest thing you've seen in days.

"I love you," he whispers, his thumb lightly brushing your cheek once more. "Just as you are."

And for the first time since everything changed, you believe him.