#and this week has not gotten any better we have been super short staffed because of flu and multiple illnesses

[ayesukkhapisit]

riggerbison -> ayesukkhapisit

it's bestie's birthday month so naturally i will ride and die with them

tagging a few especially those in my tracked tag so you know i'm still here and still looking

@akkpipitphattana @chayatorns @aurorakhaotung @khaotungthanawat @khaotunq @nick-nellson @taeminie @sherrymagic @spicyvampire

[chuffyfan87]

Hiding. Part 54c (NSFW)

"But that will leave us short staffed!" She complained.

“Leave the staffing to me, it’s my job.” Charlie replied.

"Trust you to pull rank!"

Charlie rolled his eyes, “Please, we’ll manage.”

"Urgh! Can we go home now?" She asked as she attempted to manoeuvre the crutches so she could leave the cubicle.

“Doc, is she allowed to go home?” Charlie asked Harry.

"Yes providing she behaves herself and does as she's told." He turned to Duffy. "Or I will have no choice but to have you admitted."

“Are you listening?” Charlie smiled, “Thanks Harry.”

She stuck her tongue out and pulled a childish face in response.

Harry laughed and left Duffy and Charlie to it.

By the time they arrived back home a short while later Duffy had decided that she could manage by herself.

“Don’t need my help huh?”

"No, come any closer and I will stick this crutch somewhere painful!"

“I see your feisty side is coming out?” He smirked.

"Another word and I really will shove this crutch up your arse!" She glared as she stood up out of the taxi.

He chuckled, “You’re very attractive when you’re angry.”

"You honestly think you're getting lucky tonight?"

“You’re on bed rest. Doesn’t look like I’m getting lucky for the next two weeks.”

"I'm willing to risk it if you are!" She giggled as they entered the house.

“You’re so naughty.” He laughed gently as he followed her into the house.

"Its one way to get things going." She shrugged.

“And you say about me and my old wives tales.” He closed the door and removed his coat.

"It worked with Emily." She retorted.

“Tomorrow, we can try? But only if I feel you’ve rested enough.”

"Fine." She grumbled. She paused as she contemplated her shoes and the stairs.

Watching her, he asked a couple of minutes later. “Would you like a hand?”

"It doesn't seem like I have much choice." She admitted begrudgingly.

He helped her with her shoes and then up the stairs to bed. “This wasn’t what I had planned for our child free evening.”

"What was your plan?"

“Dinner. Plenty of sex.” He laughed.

"Sounds good to me." She giggled. "We could eat in bed?"

“It’ll have to be a takeaway?” He pouted, “What do you fancy?”

"How about a curry?" She chuckled.

“Too messy.”

"But I have a real craving for one!" She pouted. "You wouldn't deny your heavily pregnant wife something she really craved would you?"

“Hmm, it depends.” He smirked, “What’s in it for me?”

"My eternal gratitude."

“Is that all?” He laughed and kissed her tenderly, “What kind of curry?”

"Hmm... A vindaloo?" She smirked.

“Is this part of your plan to induce your labour?”

"I don't know what you mean..!" She giggled.

“Of course you don’t. Curry? Final answer?”

"Yes, a vindaloo curry please." Her smile was full of fake sweetness.

“Your smile is so fake. But a vindaloo it is.” He ordered them both a curry.

"Thank you!" She wriggled on the bed trying to get more comfortable whilst he called to order the takeaway.

He sat on the bottom step as he ordered the takeaway and stayed to wait for it to arrive.

She was still trying to find a good way to sit when he arrived back upstairs with the food.

“Are you still fidgeting?”

"You try getting comfortable when you resemble a blimp! I swear, I thought I was massive when I had the twins..!"

“You’re not massive! You, Mrs Fairhead, are beautiful.”

"I swear I'm nearly as wide as I am tall!"

“No you’re not! That’s all in your head.” He dished up the food onto a plate, along with a naan bread and handed the plate to Duffy.

She began to tuck into the food wincing as she swallowed. "It was just a bit warm." She explained, catching his concerned look.

“Hot you mean.” He laughed.

"No, I meant the temperature. I can handle the spice just fine!"

“Ah, alright.” He kissed her cheek before taking a mouthful of his food.

They ate their food in a companionable silence. Once she'd finished eating Duffy handed her plate back to Charlie.

He took her plate and got up from the bed. “I’ll be back in a minute. Let me get rid of this and wash up.”

"OK." She replied before accidentally burping really loudly.

He laughed as he left the bedroom and went downstairs.

By the time he came back upstairs she's rolled onto her side and gotten somewhat comfortable though the fact she now had raging heartburn wasn't helping matters.

He lay behind her. His hand cupped her bottom. “Your body is bloody amazing, you know.

"We'll ignore the fact it's falling apart in the process!" She chuckled as she shifted backwards towards him.

“It’s done amazing and incredible things.”

"Feel free to show it how much you appreciate all its done." She whispered.

“I owe you a foot massage.” He whispered against her ear.

"I was hoping for more than that!"

“You need to rest.” He nibbled her ear.

"I'm laid down aren't I?" She smirked, shifting slightly so her bottom pressed up against him.

“You still need to rest.” He licked her earlobe. “Please?”

"You know you want to..!" She teased.

“When don’t I?” He smirked, “No. You’ve had a busy day and you’re exhausted. I will fuck you for as long as your heart desires but tomorrow."

She pouted, disgruntled that he clearly wasn't about to change his mind. "Well tonight has totally sucked!" She grumbled.

“I know, I agree.” He kissed her neck before moving to the foot of the bed and giving her that promised foot massage.

She hissed as he took hold of her feet even though he was purposefully gentle.

“I’m incredibly proud of you, you know.” He said gently after a while of massaging her feet in complete silence.

"Despite the fact I put myself in hospital this evening?"

“Yeah that was silly.” He smiled sadly, “But I should’ve known something like this would’ve happened.”

"You do realise that we'll never hear the end of it..." She sighed, smiling.

“Hear the end of what?”

"I'm sure they're all speculating on how I ended up in there."

“Well the doctor knew you’d had your midwifery exam. You should’ve seen his face!”

"It was a requirement of my course." She shrugged.

“Yes but not when you’re 38 weeks pregnant.”

"I didn't pick the date."

“I know.” He looked up at her and smiled, “Your drive and determination is another part of you that’s sexy as hell.”

"I didn't like the idea of waiting a whole year because of just one requirement."

“I know.”

"Luckily graduation isn't for a couple of months." She chuckled.

“Ah, least you don’t have to graduate heavily pregnant.”

"The robes are probably about the only things that would fit me right now!" She laughed.

He laughed gently, “Duffy?”

"What?"

He held her gaze for a moment, “I love you. Really love you.”

She blushed, not sure what had caused his sudden shift in mood. "Have you done something I'm gunna be mad about?" She asked with a nervous giggle.

He shook his head and answered back, “Just wanted to tell you that I love you.”

"Ok." She smiled softly.

“And that I’m proud of you.”

"I can't quite believe that I'm going to be a graduate. I always thought that people with degrees were super smart."

“You are super smart. Always have been.”

"Hmm... If only the girls from school could see me now, they'd have to eat their words!"

“I take it people bullied you?”

"You'd be amazed how many things kids can find to comment on." She sighed.

“Kids are just cruel.”

"Yeh and I was the short, fat, ginger thicko with no dad."

“I bet you weren’t.”

"I'd love to see your evidence to argue with me on two of those points!" She raised an eyebrow, a smirk on her lips. "Because you of all people should know that I'm a natural redhead..!"

“You are. That’s where you get your fiery temper from.” He laughed.

She turned slightly to stick her tongue out at him, rubbing her chest gently as she did so.

“It’s a sexy temper.” He chuckled softly.

She shook her head fondly as she tried to sit up.

“You alright?”

"Hurts." She mumbled.

“Heartburn?”

"Maybe." She hiccuped and then burped.

He laughed, “Very attractive.”

"Not..." She just about managed to turn her head away before she was sick.

“Oh babe.” He sighed softly and grabbed the bin, handing it to her.

She was sick a couple more times before she sat back.

“You feeling better?”

She nodded weakly.

“Are you sure?”

"Maybe that curry wasn't the best idea..." She sighed.

“No maybe not.” He rubbed her arm.

"I just want this over with."

[vorthosjay]

Let’s Talk About Return to Dominaria Episode 9

This one is a fast one, because it’s late, but I feel like there’s a lot to talk about. Here’s the story link. I got exactly what I wanted from Jaya and Karn, but the compressed timeframe for the story and some transitional problems become apparent here. Sorry it’s late, but it’s been a super busy week at work and I wasn’t able to fit it into my usual lunchtime routine.

Chandra’s Outburst by Yongjae Choi

Chandra paced back and forth on the loose dirt near Karn's crater, waving her hands. "Are you kidding me? You've been lying all this time? Why?" They were surrounded by piles of smoldering trees and pieces of wrecked automatons, the air heavy with smoke. Furious, she faced Luti. Or Jaya. Or whoever this was. "Why would you do this to me?"

"Not everything is about you, Chandra." Jaya was annoyingly calm.

I already love Jaya. I’m very, very happy with how this reveal was pulled off, and I’m glad Jaya is way more than her Mother Luti persona.

Jaya sighed. "A long time ago, I went to Regatha, helped a few people, got drunk, talked a lot, apparently did some very impressive pyromancy, then left. Two hundred years later, I went back and found they'd started a religion based on me." She folded her arms and admitted, "It was all a little embarrassing, frankly."

This is quite possibly the best quote ever.

"I didn't want to be a religious icon, but I had to make sure they weren't misrepresenting me!" Jaya said, as if it was obvious. "And I thought I owed them a little guidance. Where do you think the monastery kept getting those 'long-lost writings of Jaya Ballard' from?"

This is EXACTLY what I called out in Jaya Ballard Returns. I love that this blows Chandra’s mind.

Jaya laughed. "Oh, don't look like that." She sighed and her expression turned serious. "I felt guilty. I never meant them to take me that seriously, but there they were, years later, treating me like an all-knowing deity. But I liked the work they were doing, helping young pyromancers. I'd been aging for sixty years, and I wanted to do something worthwhile for what was left of my life." She eyed Chandra. "You have some idea of how hard it can be to help those kids. They're impatient, reckless, refuse to listen to anyone . . ."

THE SHADE. Jaya is like

"And now I'll let you tell me what I need to know to be a more powerful pyromancer."

Jaya took the goggles, and her expression turned hard as stone. "Absolutely not."

"When I was Mother Luti, you dismissed me as a useless old woman. As Jaya Ballard, suddenly I'm worth listening to."

"What are you digging for?" She had been so busy arguing with Jaya yesterday, she hadn't even thought to ask.

"The Cylix," he told her. "It was created by Urza to help defeat the Phyrexians. I intend to take it to New Phyrexia and detonate it there."

"So it's like a bomb? A giant bomb?"

"Exactly like a giant bomb," Karn said.

A couple notes here.

Urza did not create the Golgothian Sylex. I can absolutely see why history would think he did.

“Sylex” is not a real word. Everything after antiquities has used Cylix. This is not an error but the fixing of an error.

"Yes, to help protect the excavation from Multani's attacks. In his semiconscious state, he senses that the Cylix is being uncovered, brought closer to the surface, and he fears it. For good reason; it caused great damage to him.

Ha! I apparently called this one, almost exactly, last month.

"Yeah." Still watching Karn, Jaya shook her head a little. "Everyone I've talked to thinks the Phyrexians aren't a threat anymore, but . . . He needs to do this. I just wish he didn't."

Chandra frowned. "They destroyed a whole plane, so why is destroying them a bad thing?" The problem with interplanar threats was that by the time you realized you were in danger, it was generally too late to do anything about them. Or that was how it had worked with Bolas on Amonkhet.

"Because it means he'll have to go back there." Jaya grimaced. "And that could be a disaster for a number of reasons."

It could be! We don’t know what effect it will have on New Phyrexia. A mission to New Phyrexia, in general, is fraught with dangers, not the least of which is Karn’s recapture.

But Chandra looked back at Multani. Karn had said he was semiconscious, that he would never do any of this if he was awake and aware. She didn't want to leave him like that. And she thought she knew a solution. "No, you two go. I want to try to fix this."

"Fix it?" Jaya asked, startled. "How?"

"Something a friend of mine showed me."

They’re leaning into Gruulfriends here a bit, aren’t they?

She said, "I know you can hear me. I know you don't want to be like this, you don't want to hurt people. That's not what you are. Think about water, still cool water. Flowing over your skin, your bark, into your branches and leaves. You're a light, floating on that water."

Just saying the words like Nissa had, visualizing them, made Chandra feel calmer. I miss her, and I don't know if I'm ever going to see her again. Chandra imagined the light floating on the water herself and let her emotions still into a calm sadness. She remembered what Jaya had said about knowing your true self and added, "I know you don't want to hurt anyone. Sink into the water, find your true self waiting there. Remember—remember who you are . . ."

"I don't want to fight with you, Jaya. I'm sorry about how I treated you and I understand why you don't want to help me. I wouldn't want to help me, either. But I hope we can still be friends."

Jaya eyed her, a small smile tugging at her mouth.

Hey, more character growth for Chandra, that’s not all that common so I’m happy with this.

Teferi lifted his brows. "Karn could help. But you forget, I'm no longer a Planeswalker. Unless Bolas comes here . . ." He trailed off as Jhoira lifted her pendant and opened it. His eyes widened.

"I'd never forget that," Jhoira said, watching him gravely. The Powerstone in the locket was reflected in Teferi's eyes. He had recognized it immediately, felt its call to him.

Karn leaned forward to look. "It's your spark?"

Teferi's brow furrowed. "How?" he said.

"The Mana Rig." She held it out to him. "Will you take it back?"

Lol, okay, so this makes it pretty clear we’re not getting the metaphysics for how this happened. Just accept that it did. That’s fine, I doubt any attempt to explain the metaphysics of it would actually help in any meaningful way.

Teferi expended his spark on Shiv to restore it. I’m sure that if Jhoira could detect the dispersed power, she could charge a powerstone with it somehow. Not a big deal.

"He didn't tell you about the Black Blade," Liliana said, with an irritated glance at him. "It's a sword that slew an elder dragon, and Gideon is too delicate to allow us to use it."

I’m pretty sure this ends with Gideon using it (which we know from the flavor text) because he doesn’t want anyone else to make that sacrifice.

A thump of displaced air made him flinch, then with a sudden blaze of blue light, someone else stood in the compartment.

Gideon shoved out of his chair and grabbed for his sword. Jaya was already on her feet, Liliana threw herself back against the wall and lifted her hands to cast a spell, and Chandra vaulted on top of the table, fire already crackling around her hair. Then Gideon froze, recognizing the aether trail almost before he recognized the newcomer's face. "Jace!"

This is heavily incongruous with the time frame presented in the Ixalan story, where Jace has been for about five months.

The time from HOU to this story, as presented for Chandra, is less than two weeks.

That’s not a small discrepancy. A few days are whatever, a few months are... significantly confusing. 

I talk a bit about my unhappyness with this continuity error here.

Basically, I’m of a few minds about it. I don’t like being the continuity police, and I’m willing to overlook quite a bit. Dominaria is weird because there is a lot of deliberately misremembered history, too, so it’s not always clear whats a continuity error and what characters don’t actually have their facts straight.

I think what happened here is the timeline for developing Dominaria and Rivals of Ixalan’s stories overlapped, and some details were lost in translation. It’s entirely possible that, simply, no one realized the timelines didn’t match up. Ixalan was a labor of love by Kelly and Alison, along with editor Gregg Luben. Those credits show an incredibly short staffed creative team that’s only gotten more so. It’s possible that simply put, no one had time to triple check for continuity errors like that. The Jace scene, as written, isn’t a big deal because that kind of thing happens all the time in serialized stories like this, but there are a few other questionable bits of continuity in the stories for Dominaria that I’ve mentioned in this series as ‘huh?’ moments.

Ultimately, I’m going to chalk it up to growing pains. I’m looking at getting an interview with the new Senior Narrative Franchise Designer so we can get a better idea of what the story development process looks like these days.

*STRONG LANGUAGE WARNING, SKIP AHEAD IF NECESSARY*

And honestly, I’ve thought about it a lot, and you need to understand how much of a continuity clusterfuck most of Magic’s history is, especially regarding early Magic history. The difference of a few months is a big continuity error to us today, but that really just speaks well to the current creative team because once upon a time timelines didn’t line up, characters existed in different forms across different novels centuries apart, and the same location existed on completely different continents, among other shenanigans.

Dominaria’s issues are incredibly minor by comparison.

Jhoira smiled faintly. "I don't know what the future holds, and this might be a moment we both regret later. But this is a weapon you should have." She pulled the pendant off her neck and dropped it into Teferi's waiting palm. "Welcome back."

How does he get his spark back out, though? Does he eat it? I imagine this is going to be another one that’s just not explained.

[edourado]

Your Highness

Because I cannot, will not resist the pull Kastledevil has on me.

Come join our ship, we’re seriously under staffed. 

Is it possible, you ask, to write a threesome without smut? Yes, I tell you, yes it is. This is proof.

However, smut is always lurking. And it’ll come, eventually. For now, have some threeway romance. 

(Hey there @phenomenaaa. How you doing today? xD

If anyone else woud liked to be tagged on Kastledevil stuff, lemme know.)

Muah ;-*

Karen had been hit by a car.

At first, it was a nuisance. She sprained her ankle, her left side hurt like a bitch, her chin was scratched from when she hit the pavement, her elbow was bruised and sore, Ellison forced her to take time from work, she had to lie in bed the whole day.

It had hurt like hell, but she was fine, it was nothing big. Her boys, though, her boys went all out.

From day two, she was transferred to Matt’s apartment, because it was bigger, and the roof access made it so much easier for him and Frank to come and go at all hours, without having to worry about the neighbors.

Reluctantly, at first, Karen accepted her forced vacation. But Matt came back with food every day, Frank was going out less, they both spent more time with her. Not that she wasn’t before, but now she was treated with such reverence, she started feeling like an honest to God princess.

A week later and it was much easier to relax. She didn’t mind, really, being carried from bed to the couch or the dinner table by strong arms every time she felt like moving. She didn’t mind being catered to by Daredevil and the Punisher, one word enough to make them stay instead of going out at night. She didn’t mind being kissed and caressed with adoration way, way more often, and she certainly didn’t mind sleeping between them every night, her injured leg propped on a pillow, their combined heat almost enough to fight the cold winter air outside.

Karen didn’t mind at all.

“You really not gonna tell me who did this to you, huh?” Frank asked one evening, while they sat on the couch, her back supported on his chest, his fingers running a few strands of her hair between them lazily.

“I keep telling you, nobody did this to me. It was my fault”, she insisted, her leg stretched in front of her, an ice packon top of her ankle. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Still”, he said, his right hand picking hers up, stroking her palm delicately. “I’d like to know.”

“The guy took me to the hospital, Frank. He wasn’t trying to hurt me.”

He just grunted behind her while Matt arrived with her tea, rubbing Max’s back to make the dog get up and off the couch so he could sit.

“You know Jessica can find his name in two seconds, right?” he asked, moving the ice pack from her foot - which he supported on top of his legs - to her hip, the part that was still colored a sickly purple and sore.

“She won’t, I asked her not to.”

“I’m not gonna kill him, if that’s what you’re worried about”, Frank offered, as if that thought was absurd.

“I know. But I don’t want you scaring him to death, either. He was a nice guy, was more scared than I was. Apologised a million times, offered to buy me coffee.”

“That wasn’t him being nice”, Matt said, fingers still on the ice pack on her hip, other hand on her foot. “That was him making a move.”

“Oh, stop it.”

“He’s not wrong.” Frank mused behind her. “He asked for your number?”

“To ‘check on you’?”

“Because he was oh so worried?”

“No, he didn’t!” He had. But Foggy had gotten there before she could assure the guy - Greg - that there was no need, she was fine. “What’s for dinner? I’m hungry”, she said, inhaling the steam of her sweet vanilla tea.

“You want me to order something?” Matt caressed her uninjured leg while she rested her head on Frank’s shoulder.

“I’m getting kinda sick of take out”, the Punisher said, moving to get up. “I’ll make us something, how’s that?”

Karen smiled at him and moved to accept his kiss once he was up and off the couch.

“Thank you”, she whispered against his lips.

He hummed, kissing her slowly, taking his time. When he straightened up, his hand on her cheek was light and soft while he talked to Matt.

“We don’t have anything to cook, though, right?”

“Don’t think so.”

“Ok, I’ll go out, see if I can get something good.”

He moved to put his shoes and coat on, plus the three guns he never left without, and Karen reached to Matt, because she was becoming a spoiled brat who couldn’t be left unattended for more than thirty seconds.

“Oh”, she said to Frank. “Bring cheesecake.”

He offered her that side smile that he only offered to her. Maybe Matt, sometimes.

“Anything else, ma’am?”

“Surprise me.”

He winked at her.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

When the door closed behind him, she pulled Matt by the hand, who maneuvered himself gently until he was lying on top of her, avoiding all her bruises and injured areas.

“I’m a little cold”, she declared, hands around his shoulders, and then on his face, feeling the pleasant scratch of his stubble on her palms.

“I’ll get you a blanket”, he said, moving to get up, but she pulled him back, keeping him there by curling her uninjured leg around his hips.

“No, you be my blanket.”

Smiling, he moved them until he was lying on the couch, too, both of them on their sides, facing each other, legs and arms intertwined.

God, did he have to look so good?

Karen let her eyes wander around his face, down to his neck, fingers tracing his collarbone, feeling the hard muscles there.

“See something you like, Miss Page?” he asked, his own hand resting on her hip.

“I do”, she lowered her hand, finding the hem of his shirt and sneaking it under the fabric, feeling the hard muscles of his abs under her palm. “But stop reading me.”

“I won’t”, he said, moving just like so, enjoying her hand on him, tightening his own on her hip, bringing it closer to his. He smelled of her fabric softener and she smiled, remembering how she kept finding his and Frank’s laundry among hers and how her nosy neighbor thought all the articles of men’s clothes belonged to her “boyfriend”. Singular. “Reading you is my favorite thing.”

She smiled, moving her chin up so his teeth could find the skin on that spot on her neck that he knew exactly how to kiss. Frank wasn’t so good on that spot. He was good in others, but that one, Matt was sole champion of.

“Some would call that cheating”, she said, feeling the muscles of his torso move as he breathed.

“I call it an advantage”, he replied, pulling her to him by the small of her back, careful with her bruises. “That’s how I know you like this”, he poked his tongue on that sweet spot, making her close her eyes and enjoy the slight shiver that ran through her. “But I know you like this better”. He pulled on her hair a bit and, oh, yes, she did like that. A lot.

With her hand on his bicep, now, she rolled her hips against his a bit, letting out a sigh when he rolled his back, his mouth open on her, teeth and tongue hard at work.

“Everyone should have a boyfriend with super powers, I swear.”

He chuckled, ducking his hand under her shirt, rising it until his fingers were ghosting around the skin under her breasts. She always responded very well to that.

When Frank came back with Max, they were making out on the couch, Matt’s shirt on the floor.

“Frank’s here”, he said against her lips when he started down the hall. “He’s gonna be mad”, he said, and she could feel the little smile he had on.

She kept kissing him, he kept squeezing the flesh of her thigh, fingers going under the hem of her shorts to grab at her butt.

As predicted, Frank clicked his tongue when he saw them.

“Can’t leave you two alone for one minute”, he mused, closing and locking the door behind him again, Max trailing to the couch to inspect what exactly Matt was doing to his favorite person. “C’mon, Red, get off of her”, he said, walking past the couch to put the groceries on the kitchen counter.

“Or”, Karen said, petting Max quickly before pushing him away gently. “You could come here.”

“I can’t, can I? Need to make you dinner”.

Still, he took his coat off and bent from behind the couch to catch her mouth in his while Matt was, again, hard at work on that little spot on her neck.

While he kissed her, slow and open and sensually, his hand found Matt’s back, rising from between his shoulders to the back of his neck, where he caressed once before closing his fist, pulling on his hair, yanking him away from Karen’s neck, taking his own lips from hers, coming to whisper against his face.

“You’re supposed to be taking care of her, Red”

The smile Matt flashed him was lazy and a bit cocky.

“I am.”

Frank looked at him for a few seconds and Karen saw his hand rearrange around a chunk of Matt’s hair. He leaned in and touched the tip of his nose to his. After grazing their lips together for a fleeting moment, he turned his face to hers.

“Are you being good?” he asked her.

“The best”, she replied.

”Are you being good?” he asked Matt, turning his face back to his. Matt, again, smiled, nodded and leaned in, pressing his mouth to Frank’s for a few seconds, backing away with a nip of his bottom lip.

“Yes, sir. Go make dinner so we can all cuddle later”, he said, his smiling growing when Frank rolled his eyes before straightening back up, walking to the kitchen.

“I don’t cuddle.”

“Yes, you do”, she and Matt both replied, her hands on  his cheek, his eyes closed, focusing on the caress.

Frank started on their dinner, moving around the kitchen, chopping vegetables, frying onions, making Max cry at the scent of sizzling steak, working on the mashed potatoes Karen learned to love (any other mashed potatoes were unacceptable, now. She only liked Frank’s). Eventually, she asked Matt to let her up, and he carried and sat her on the counter, plopping a freshly washed cherry in his mouth.

“Smells good”, she praised, hugging Matt from behind, legs and arms around him while she watched Frank finish their lunch.

They ate at the table, her leg supported on top of Frank’s knees. He and Matt talked about the development of the last “case” they were working on, trying to determine if their lead that Fisk was still commanding Hell’s Kitchen from inside the prison was true or not.

When they were done, Matt offered to do the dishes, since Frank had prepared everything.

“I can help”, she said, moving to get up while Matt picked up their plates.

“Na-ah, Your Highness”, Frank said, getting up himself, motioning for her to stay, not unlike how he did with Max. “You sit down. There’s a slice of cheesecake for you.”

She smiled and waited as he went to get it. When she realized, after a minute or two of looking out the window, that it was too quiet, Karen turned around to find Frank holding Matt’s face to his, the fridge door open, kissing him slowly, but intensely.

“Hey!” she called. “I’m waiting!”

With a smile, Matt separated from Frank and walked to the sink to start on the dishes. Frank ducked his head and came back with her cheesecake, closing the door, walking to her.

“There you go, ma’am.”

“Thanks”, she said, lifting her face, asking for her own kiss, admitting to herself that she was so spoiled now, they turned her into an attention whore. “And I prefer ‘Your Highness’.”

“Copy that.”

She ate half of her cheesecake and insisted on walking to bed afterwards, limping, supporting her weight against Frank, since her leg and her hip still hurt. He said “fuck it” after five slow steps, not a fan of watching her wince and limp to the bedroom.

“There you go”, he said, lowering her to the bed.

After the dishes were done, Matt joined them on the bed, spooning her, bringing both her and Frank closer to him, and she actually thought that they were calling it a night, but after 20 minutes, he kissed the back of her head and got up, walking towards the place where he kept his suit.

“You’re going out tonight?” she asked, turning to him, feeling Frank pulling her against his chest.

“Yes, sweetheart, I have to”, he said, an apology in his voice.

“Hmm”, she said, watching as he shed his home clothes to put on the suit. “Is Trish gonna be there?”

He chuckled, angling his head towards her a bit.

“I think so. Why?”

“No, nothing. Just curious.”

He stopped, turned around and walked back to the bed, lying down on his belly, face close to hers, the tip of their noses touching.

“Are you jealous or Trish Walker?”

“No, of course not. She’s my friend.”

He waited.

“But…?”

“But I know you may have a thing for blonds.”

Both him and Frank chuckled.

“Wrong. I have a thing for a blond. And I didn’t even know the color of your hair until you told me, so.”

“Still.”

Offering her a sweet peck, he dropped his voice.

“Don’t be silly, Karen. Trish is just helping us with some information.”

“Ok. I know. Go.”

He lied there for a few seconds, probably trying to determine what to do.

“Ok”, he finally said, careful. “I won’t be long, though.”

“Fine.”

With that, she turned around and hid her face inside Frank’s chest, arm curled between them, urging him to hold her tighter. Karen felt him raising his head to look at Matt, and she still didn’t know how they managed to communicate without speaking, but they did, and they were.

“Claire gonna be there, too?” she asked, as if pushing him towards a decision.

“Alright, Your Highness”, he said after a sigh. He sat on the edge of the bed and reached for his phone. “I’ll call and say I won’t be able to make it tonight.”

She smiled against Frank’s chest, hiding her lips from herself.

When he was done with his quick phone call, he returned to his original spot behind her.

“There. You happy?” he asked, and she tried hard to detect anger or irritation in his voice. She didn’t. Only mild, not really serious annoyance.

“Yes. Thank you”, she moved her hips back a little, to mold herself to him while he adjusted the pillow under her injured leg.

Frank kissed the top of her head and Matt kissed the spot behind her ear, both had his hands on her, holding and caressing and soothing.

She was such a brat. Spoiled, full of demands, could not stand not being the center of their attention.

Well. A car had hit her. She’d start working on letting the princess go in the morning.

For now, she had some aggressive cuddling to do.

For more Kastledevil (and all my other work), check my fic master post (it’s permanently linked on my bio)