#babes i promise you there are other options available

[chrysalispen]

you know i feel people can write what they want but damn if my #1 biggest turnoff from reading other people's ship fics isn't seeing sexual assault used as a plot point, especially pretext for hurt/comfort. ESPECIALLY if the one doing the assaulting is someone who would literally never in their lives

[biteofcherry]

We're going to have a little monster-y fun 😈

I'll be posting polls in which you get to pick what kind of monster/creature fits a babe best, BUT there's a trick! Once you pick a monster, it won't be available for other babes. Example: if you vote werewolf for Ari, then Steve, Bucky, or others won't have the werewolf option in their poll. So we get a variety of monster boyfriends and not just a clan of vamps 😆

One poll per day, so that you can expect a week of fun.

Will the polls result in some Halloween season fun? Well... who knows 😏🤭 but I make no promises!

[androgynousblackbox]

How To Lose a Lucifer In 10 Days. 19 [Appleradio, Radioapple]

Step 19: Divorce him

"Frankly, how many of your suitors I am supposed to tolerate in this dimension?" Alastor was still huffing, even in front of the enticing smell of the freshly cooked meat nearby. "One was already pushing it, Lucifer."

"First of all, don't call them suitors. That makes it sound like I was ever available since coming here and that was literally never the case" pointed out Lucifer, turning off the fire. Despite the tentacle wrapped around his middle, he had no issue moving around the kitchen to look for another plate to serve the meat for Alastor and then some pasta for himself. Alastor, supporting his hip against the counter at his side, dismissed the correction. Suitor, potential targets, it was all the same anyway. "Second of all, I don't think you have to worry about that one at all. She had barely any light for me when she thought I was her Lucifer, as opposed to how much she had for Charlie. It was just a temporary confusion that is being solved right now. I wouldn't be shocked to know she only hugged me for the sake of Charlie more than anything else."

"I don't care for her motives" growled Alastor, glarring to the entrance of kitchen as if it could travel through the ear to shot the queen in the head. "She clearly feels entitled to your presence anyway. And why not, right? The queen and the king has a natural ring to it, doesn't it?" The snear of Alasto could be heard at a distance on his voice.

Lucifer sighed deeply in silence. He turned to his husband and took his hand, waiting for Alastor to actually look at him before opening his mouth.

"Well, she is not" said calmly. "She can be the queen of the whole universe and it won't make any difference. The only royal I care about in this dimension is already here" added, squeezing his fingers in a comforting gesture. "You have nothing to worry about, alright?"

The pupils of Alastor seemed to get bigger for a second as they regarded him. But that only lasted that moment before he looked the side, clicking his tongue.

"Tell that to that woman" spat finally.

"I will if I have to" said Lucifer, floating in the air in order to reach the cheek of Alastor with his lips. There were times in which the height of his partner was an inconvenience to say the least, but no that one. His wings worked as a barrier for Alastor to not have any other option than to see him, any part of him. "I love you, you dumbass" gently, he kissed the corner of his mouth, petting the start of his ear.

Alastor tilted his head slightly, as if making a show of avoid the caress, but his ears twitched all the same. His semi closed eye still bore into him. After a while of battling with himself, the smallest bleat in the world escaped him. The softest they sounded, the more Alastor was trying to repress them. For Lucifer, that made them all the sweeter.

"She better not try to touch you again" warned, finally reclining against Lucifer's hand. It was almost funny the contrast between his body language looking for more affection while his words still sounded completely serious. "I will kill her. Charlie will have to understand I was left with no choice."

"I won't let her. I will teleport myself away if she tries to" promised Lucifer, kissing his forehead. Only then the small crease between ALastor's eyes flattened again and he seemed to relax. "It's just a misunderstanding, babe. Nothing else" He nuzzled his head for a bit. The hands of Alastor landed on his waist, their natural place of rest, and the thumbs massaged him slowly, without rush. Lucifer separated slightly to hold his face up and smiled. "Hungry now?"

The chest of Alastor rise and fell calmly as he nodded his head. With that, Lucifer kissed his cheek again and went back to the floor

He filled two plates and send them flying to the table, taking out some wine from the fridge to serve as well in glasses he conjured himself. He frowned to Alastor until he reluctantly sat in front of the meal and started eating, his ears going down at his enjoyment despite himself. Damn it, why did it have to be so good?

Lucifer poured both their drinks and sat as well, sighning as he supported his chin on his hand.

"The other Lucifer never talked to you about his Lily?" He spoke when Alastor was on the second bite and therefore, in a more receptive mood. "I was just told that they fell together from the garden of Eden, separated and she was gone. I even thought she was dead, but didn't want to pry Charlie more if the wound was still fresh. Kind of a dick move too when she already didn't had her father with her either."

Alastor took his time chewing before saying a word. He considered correcting the name of the queen for his husband and that thought ran away as soon as it emerged. That woman should have been with her daughter from the start if she wanted something like being accurately remembered by.

"He tried to" recognized at last, his gaze fixated in the table. "In some misguided attempt to sympathize with me, I guess. I didn't want to hear your voice talking about you missing someone else, so I shut it down" Lucifer reached out his hand to let it lest on his knee, squeezing once. The king bit his lips as if he didn't know what to say to that, but Alastor didn't need anything. He put his palm on top and pat it softly. That contact was more than enough instead of words. "Outside of that one attempt, his main concern was always Charlie" finalized.

"Huh" Lucifer exhaled. His eyebrow went up for a second. "Well, that tells you something already, doesn't it? I must have exhausted everyone here talking about you before you came in."

It wasn't a surprise to hear those words. He had done the same back at home, both to annoy the other Lucifer at the start of the exchange and because it just came natural to him. But have the confirmation of that exact impulse shared between them felt good all the same.

"Indeed" agreed with a nod. "Maybe the split wasn't all that amicable."

"Charlie wasn't very keen on telling me a lot either by herself" remembered Lucifer. With a finger he controlled his fork to start reuniting the spaguetti by spinning. "It could be for any reason, though. Maybe it just never came out the topic. In any case, if she is here again, I hope that helps Charlie somewhat until her actual father is back. Regardless of the history of her parents, that is still her mom."

Alastor hummed. He could respect that, at least. As long she stayed away from what was rightfully his. For a while they only concentrated each on their meals.

"He did say something the first night he was at the hotel" commented at last. "Something about how a you without a queen to fall with would get lonely enough to get desperate. A desperation I took advantage of in order to secure our marriage."

Lucifer snorted. But at seeing Alastor drink from his glass, without any signal that it was a joke, he chuckled harder.

"Really? I mean, sure, I won't say that it was all rainbow and roses all the time, but give me some credit."

"That is what I said" Alastor was satisfied that they had agreed on that point without discussing it. His king might have allowed their marriage in the first place to placate his solitude, that much was true, but that would have never sustained them for as long as it did. Alastor could create a story about when his motivation changed for their little fawn, but in truth he could never be too sure as to in what point Lucifer became the one that made him feel less lonely instead of the other way around. It just happened, without plan, without any intention, and before he knew it was too late to even want to stop it. "Oh, also, apparently I have used our daughter to baby trap you and as leverage in our entire relationship. Oldest trick in the book, he called it."

"Oh, well, obviously. I knew that already" Lucifer smirked big, his shoulder moving with his interior laughter. "Just like our new baby is just another ruse to manipulate me into giving you… uh… something."

"The inheritance, dear. No to mention raise them to dethrone you someday and declare me the only king" provided Alastor helpfully. "Please, keep up with my evil deeds. Or don't, it makes it easier to control you."

"Right, right, of course" Lucifer nodded very serious. He reached to his side and Alastor followed the same path until their lips brushed each other. Lucifer took a hold from the back of his neck to keep him in place as he licked the mouth in front of him. "What is your excuse for being the most precious thing I have seen?" murmured, running a finger alongside the line of Alastor's jaw and pressing harder over the exact place where he could feel his pulse quickening slightly.

Alastor had been called a lot of things through the years. Nightmare, terror, monster, handsome, gorgeous, dangerous. Sometimes by the same kind of people. But only Lucifer ever used that soft kind of language to describe him. He wouldn't say that they made him melt inside, but they certainly did something that no other compliment could achieve. As if lodging themselves on a hole he didn't know existed until then, another ancor whose chain were inherently tied to one man and one man alone.

"Easy" said Alastor, smirking back. "So you would let me get away with anything I want. I planned every little detail to perfection, my love. You never stood a chance."

"Ah, shoot. Fooled again" Lucifer grinned as he deepened the kiss, his hands grabbing handful of red and black strands. The taste of the tomate sauce on his spaguetti perfectly combined with the smoky meat of Alastor. "When you kill me for the crown, make it quick, babe. You know, as a courtesy."

"Relax, my dear" Alastor sighed, a breath that Lucifer eagerly stole for his own. The king's mouth pressed against his cheek and further down. His sharp teeth nibbled at the skin of his throat, but it was the hand that caressed his spine the one that made him angle himself better, offering more for the taking. "For you, I will make it the most gentle death I can offer."

"I knew I could count on you, babe."

The warm tongue pressed against his pulse like the finger had done before and Alastor's mind quickly flashed to the events of the other night, when Lucifer had drinked out of him like a new opened up bottle. His breathy praises about how utterly delicious he was were engrained on his mind.

He couldn't remember everything, unfortunately, but that was one of the few thing that had remained with him even after coming down the high. Before him, Lucifer never once felt hungry for blood of his own heavenly kind. To know that he had managed to corrupt the king the hell to make him into another cannibal was one of the best feeling he ever had, dead or alive.

"Ah, sorry, sorry!"

Alastor cracked his neck turning to growl, fangs out, at whatever had dared to interrupt them. The fact that the interruption in question was a Charlie letting out a squeak as she covered her eyes did calm him down momentarely. Until he noticed the queen laying her weight against the frame of the door and he growled again. Lilith had her arms crossed and a perfectly composed expression, barely changed by the arc of her eyebrow.

"Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to!" Charlie went blindly to the fridge, stumbled into the counter and searched on the cupboard. Her shoulder were scrunched up as she gave her back to them. "I was just looking something to eat, sorry!"

"Sweetie, this is your kitchen" Lilith sighed indulgently. "If anything, they should apologize for disrespecting your space like that."

"Disrespecting?" The nerves of Alastor fizzled out like a cat dumped in cold water. His smile grew in his face as if it was about to split his whole head in two. "What did you think was going to happen, your Highness? I can assure you, we have our own room if it becomes necessary."

The upper lip of Lilith curled tight upward. The gesture was satisfactory while it lasted, however brief it was before she glared over at Lucifer. Lucifer returned the look with only a small aproximation of his eyebrows. He then soften up when seeing at Charlie. She already had a package of cookies in her hands, but haven't turned, as if not daring to move from there.

"Don't worry, duckling, it's fine" said to her with a kinder tone, getting his hand up to the shoulder of Alastor. "We didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

Alastor threw a glance her direction and frowned slightly.

"Is that all you are going to eat?" Alastor sneared at seeing the package she was holding. An old knowing rejection grew inside of him, after years making sure that his little fawn wouldn't ruin her appetite with snacks. Adult or not, she couldn't just stuff herself with sweet for a meal of the day. That just wasn't going to cut it. "Dear, there is still spaguetti that Lucifer made in the pot. You can get that or Lucifer can make something else."

"Oh, no, that is fine, really" Charlie said to them, but Lucifer snapped his fingers already. A plate came out floating at the side of the princess as the food jump to it, a single fork standing upright from the small mountain formed. "Oh! Thank you" after a moment of hesitation, she took it on her hands.

"You can also sit with us if you want" offered Alastor, pulling out a chair with his shadow. The dark silhouette made a show the seat like a chef offering it to its favorite client. It dissolved with a grin only after he gained a chuckle from Charlie.

If it had been anyone else, Alastor would have already kicked them out to keep enjoying their meal together.

"Thank you" said Charlie, going to the empty space as Lucifer made appear a glass of juice for her. "Vaggie had some stuff to handle in the city, so I was planning to order something later on. Oh, mom, there is still some more if you want!" offered, suddenly looking up to the woman that slowly moved to grab another chair.

"It's okay, darling, I can take care of it myself" Lilith sat down and snapped her own fingers. A gourmet meal that surely would cost a fortune in any restaurant appeared in front of her, along with fine silver cutlery and her own glass with golden details alongside it already filled with dark wine.

"Neat trick" said Alastor, tilting his head. "It would have been neat to feed your own daughter with it, too."

"She already has food. Thanks to Lucifer" Lilith swayed her wine on her glass before taking a small sip, undisturbed. Alastor saw Lucifer tensing up as he got closer to him. "So!" said Lilith before anyone could add anything else, perking up. She put her elbows on the table to hold her chin between her two hands. "Charlie has told me the last news. Lots of things have changed around here. I would still like to hear from you two, if you don't mind" said with polite smile, no real warmth reaching it.

"Not a lot changing, really" commented Lucifer, hugging him side way. Alastor felt the tail wrap around his middle. At some point during their kiss he had dissolved his tentacle, but the contact was back there and that did make it a little better. "I just never had a Lily in my world. Years passed, met Alastor, got married, had Charlie. When she grew up, she made her own hotel that is almost an exact replica as this one. It's kinda amazing how little things have changed, actually."

"Amazing, yes" Alastor detected a new sort of tension on her smile that, for as brief as it was, made him smile wider. "How long have you two being together, by the way?"

"85 joyfull years" answered Alastor, smiling down to Lucifer, who smiled back. The king laid his cheek against his shoulder and he took the chance to kiss his blonde hair, because he could and that queen couldn't. He did not miss the way that Lilith's eyelashes came down halway her vision, unimpressed. "Almost a century, isn't that right, dear?"

"86 this year" nodded Lucifer against his shirt.

"Although with our new wedding, we could renew the date."

"We should, probably. Since it's going to come out sooner now."

"We want to have our wedding as soon we are back, before the pregnancy makes it more complicated to celebrate with the rest of our family" explained Alastor, his neck making an aundible crack as he looked again to the queen. "Surely you understand, your Majesty."

"I do" Lilith left her glass to a side so she could start eating, cutting dowm with graceful movement that sliced through her food easily. "How long has it been since you end up in hell, Al?" asked, the polite smile back in place.

Alastor tigthned up his jaw. He did not like feeling like there was a purpose more than mere curiosity behind that question.

"94 years."

"Ah, I see" Lilith's smiled extended over her face. "Yes, I imagine that 86 years can feel impressive for a young mortal soul. My sweet Charlie right there is 200 years old and, as you can see, still so youthful" Charlie shrinked on her chair with a little smile, not really wanting to participate of the conversation. "Now, the real trial of fire comes out around the first five hundred years, though. Once you survive that, the rest becomes so much easier to handle. You truly get to know someone in that time period. But I am sure neither of you have to worry about that, when that time comes" she ate a portion of her food, her perfectly white teeth in view for only a second. Alastor finally found the one single trait that Charlie had taken from her. Those two single pair of fangs that were more humanoid than most demons. "So, you were never married before, Luci?"

"No" Lucifer frowned at the diminutive, but a quick glance to Charlie took away his desire to protest about it. He looked over at Alastor, rubbing his side with a hand. "Nobody ever was like Al, so there was no point" The growing static that started to increase its volume lowered again, becoming a calming white noise in the background. "I was very picky" commented with a shrug.

Alastor chuckled pleasantly, brushing his fingers through Lucifer's hair.

"Not about anyone could handle my king" confirmed, caressing the red dots with his thumb. "He knows it for sure because he dated all across hell before I ever existed. Just for curiosity, your Majesty" added with a bright grin, "how long was the other Lucifer dating before chosing you, one of the two only human beings at the time? I just can't picture Heaven being too diverse of a dating pool. Aren't all of them essentially just your brothers, dear?" Alastor looked at his husband, pretending he didn't saw the way the polite smile slipped off Lilith's face to be replaced with a big pile of nothing.

A default expressionless queen regarded Lucifer.

"Oh, dating did not exist at all before humanity, babe."

"Really?" Alastor clicked his lips. "Well, that is unfortunate. Experience goes a long way for building relationships and character. But I am sure you have no reason to worry about that, your Highness" He examined his claws. "Obviously everything turn out alright in the end anyway. No doubt you had other things to take care of than to concern yourself with the fact your ex-husband wasn't in the same dimension as you anymore."

Lucifer couldn't help to let out a small snort, that he quickly covered up by clearing his throat. Charlie looked at her mom with a face that screamed she did not want any confrontation, but she wanted to know as well.

"I did, actually" Lilith remained as calm as ever, delicated cleaning up her mouth after another bite. "I was working on important matters, but I always kept an eye out for my little princess" She directed a smile to Charlie, who returned after a second, less open than the queen's.

"Huh" exhaled Lucifer, twirling his fork with one finger in the pasta. "How long were you doing that, by the way? Wasn't like five years? Nine, duckling?" asked to Charlie. "I can't remember exactly."

The princess threw a look at her mom. Only after Lilith's nod, she pressed her lips together and turned to Lucifer.

"Seven" said finally, swallowing down like it was costing a great effort to do so. "But" added with emphasis" the important thing is that she is here now! Papa…" She let her eyes find Lucifer again, as if apoligizing for her words "papa hasn't always been the most… reliable presence either."

"Still?" Lilith sighed, swinging the liquid on her cup. "Luci always had a bad habit of getting lost in his own mind. I am sorry that is still the case, sweetie" she sounded sincere as she reached out a hand covered in a black glove, over the table, until the hand of Charlie.

Alastor felt Lucifer tensing up at his side as the king adverted his eyes. That was true of him as well. He wasn't the one being called out for it, but it made little difference when he could still recognize the same trait.

"It's fine" said Charlie, to her mom and to Lucifer, as if sensing he wanted to protest. Her hands closed over the fork she was gripping with a bit too much strenght, but quickly relaxed again. "He is getting better now, mom. I know he is. He helped out to rebuild the hotel and has been a great help around. Well, for the most part at least. According to Al, he has been working nonstop to try to get back here. Right?" Her hopeful expression almost in its entirety the underlying sadness, the heaviness behind her words.

Lucifer winced, rushing to drink some more of his own drink.

"Absolutely" confirmed Alastor without wasting a second. He placed a hand on the lower end of Lucifer's back and draw with his fingers the line of his spine through the fabric. The tension of the king started to dissolve slowly. "It hasn't been easy, but every challange that man had on his way he has taken it head on. All for the sake of returning to his dear daughter" Alastor made a point to look at Lilith at the last part. "The very first day the exchange happened he was already desperate to come in. I can't imagine the torment that it would have been for him to stay away even longer than he has already. Please, don't misunderstand me" clarified, taking a relaxed sip of his own wine. He enjoyed leaving that momentarely silence hang in the air. "I am well aware that Lucifer had his flaws and I got to see a few while we were in the same space. However, lack of caring was never one of them."

The smile that Lilith gave him was short. It wasn't a smile of fondness or affection. Even without the powers of Lucifer to see it, Alastor would have it hard to believe that woman still had anything close to what he had for his Lucifer regarding her ex. It wasn't hatred either, just a resigned distance where at least some trace of contempt laid. Alastor would know a thing or two about people inspiring that into him, so that at least could recognize.

"I don't doubt that" Lilith circles her finger over the rim of her glass, sighning. "Good intentions were always there, and we know what they say about where those tend to lead us to" She chuckled softly, taking some more whine. Her lips painted in a dark purple that it was almost black shined after she licked them, eyes fixated on the table. "Unfortunately, actions didn't always follow through. That was more my part of things. Dreams are only as important as the energy put into them to make them come true. Like Charlie did" Lilith lifted her gaze for her daughter, her smile more sincere as her eyes lost all of their edges. "Your hotel has caused already quite a conmotion, hasn't it? I am proud of you, apple tree. You gave those upstairs something really worth worrying."

Charlie's pure unfiltered delight at hearing those words appeared as soon as it was gone. Her eyes turned into white cloudy storms as she settled into her chair, finishing her meal. Lilith's face fell, confused, until her attention was naturally attracted to Lucifer staring back at her.

"Did you…" spat, narrowing her eyes as long, heavy black horn sprout from her forehead. They curved around the shape of her hair as the world spilled out of her, her tone going higher at the incredulity of what happened, "did you just put a illusion spell on my daughter? What gave you the right?"

It would have been easy for Lucifer to just say that he was the king and that gave him every right. But that wouldn't have been Lucifer and Alastor knew it.

"It was that or blow every toilet in the hotel to call her attention. Her hotelier is gone for the day, though, so that just felt adding stress where it wasn't needed" Lucifer straighten up, putting both his arms now on the table. He wasn't sorry in the slightest. "She just thinks we are all having a lovely conversation here, so you don't have to worry about her. I just didn't want her to listen to us as we finally speak like actual adults."

"I thought we were doing that already" Lilith sneared at him, more openly than before.

"No, my darling is right" said Alastor. "Surely, you are not going to speak openly around her. Sometimes parents just need to protect their children or save information they don't need to know. I completely understand that, you can believe me on that, but something here smells rotten."

Lucifer nodded slightly.

"How do you know what was the reaction of Heaven about the hotel?" asked point blank. "You kept an eye on Charlie for eight…"

"Seven, dear."

"Yes, thank you. Seven years, but didn't appear to rebuild the hotel or the many months after that. We know what was Heaven's reaction because we were there with our daughter when she find out. That girl" said, pointing at an enchanted Charlie still enjoying her lunch with easy content" thought you were gone. I thought you were dead with how everyone did not speak about you. Where were you actually, Lilian?"

Alastor bite down his lips to contain his snort. Not at the slip of Lucifer, but the utter annoyance that permeated Lilith's face before she composed herself.

"Lilith" corrected.

"Wait, really?" Lucifer blinked slowly. At the irritated sigh from the queen, he shrugged, as if that didn't mattered that much anyway. "Alright, if you say so. Where were you, Lilith? Why are you appearing right now?"

"I think I was quite explicit already about it" Lilith huffed through her perky, perfect nose. "I was working for the wellbeing of my family. Lucifer did not have the will to do it, so I had to step in. Congratulations to you then" added, snapping her attention back on Alastor", if you are that confused by that notion. Maybe you were lucky to land with a different Lucifer, but that wasn't in the cards for me."

"Mine is better, I will give you that" recognized Alastor with mirth, never the one to miss an opportunity to brag about what was his. "Even then, I can't picture even a lesser version of my husband just being okay with his adoring partner staying years away from him and their daughter working on something. I guess it's better that you two split then" He directed a pointed gesture of his chin towards the golden ring that Lilith very clearly still had.

Not a round ring with engravings like his, an accesory like any other if not for the value they could put on it. A manifestation of pure solid magical energy tying two people together that could never be taken out in normal circumstances. He wasn't anywhere close to saying it out loud, but he missed feeling his when it was there.

"Lucifer knew it would take some time" Lilith examined her hand casually, a brief hand to his own making him want to close his fist. "I only did what was necessary. It may have taken a little more than expected, but it was for the sake of our family."

"Abandon your family and leave your daughter in the dark for their sake. How noble" Alastor couldn't help to chuckle. Before Lilith could reply to him, he continued: "And, if it's not too much of a bother, your Majesty, how well did that work turned out to be? For what miracle should we thank you for after disapearing from the face of hell all this time? Charlie would love to know the rewards for the sacrifice her mother made."

Lilith straighten on her seat, crossing her legs under the table.

"I don't believe any of that concern you" said slowly. "The matters of this dimension, reality, or however you want to call it, have nothing to do with any of you."

"Ah" Lucifer suddenly snapped his finger, pointing to Lilith. "You were up in Heaven, right?" The careful constructed composure of Lilith crumbled in a single blink and Lucifer started laughing, holding to the arm of Alastor, who had to start laughing too. "Seriously!? I was just trying my shot there!" He wheezed, reclining his head forward. "You have to be kidding me! Seven years trying to deal with them? Wait, wait, wait, don't tell me, I can guess this one" Lucifer managed to control his smile to put a thinking expression as his hand rubbed his own chin. "It didn't even fucking work, didn't it? Whatever you were asking of them, they didn't gave it to you or put some stupid condition in the way as if they were the ones doing the favor for you. Either way, they dumped you here when you weren't already useful for them there."

When a slight blush started to creep in through Lilith's face, extending from her neck, they both started snickering.

"All of that talk of how inefficient Lucifer is as a king" said Alastor, taking out his monocle to clean up the tears under his eyes, "and only to trust in Heaven like that?"

"They never listen!" Lucifer shook his head, his own cheek stretched out by his smile. "Ever, ever, ever. Oh, and you know what, babe?" added, patting his chest with a finger.

"What, darling?"

"I bet you anything that her Lucifer also told her that too."

"I find that very easy to believe, my love. Not really worth the bet."

"No matter where we end up, nobody fucking listens to me when I say that! I am just the bitter old little devil who made an oopsie, what do I know, right?" Lucifer rufled his hair, a tinge of frustration layering his words, but quickly he was back to laughing when Alastor snorted loudly at his side.

It was more than what the queen of hell was willing to tolerate. She slammed both her hands on the table, effectively silencing the pair of them in a second.

"It worked!" She snarled. "If you must know so badly, it did work! Thanks to me being over there, they never harmed any of the hellborn in this plane! Never, until my own daughter put herself in their line of fire, went after any of them! That was the only concession they were willing to make! I thought if I was there I could convince them directly to stop the extermination altogether!"

Lucifer and Alastor looked at each other. Then they both made a sound like a deflating balloon, laughing even worse than before.

"Oh my, you really think you did something!" Alastor was almost amazed as he stared at the queen. "That makes it even better of a joke!" finished, slapping his own knee.

"I made the exact same arrengement back at our place, without ever have to give them anything else but the promise I wouldn't intervene" said Lucifer, as soon he was able to regain some air. "As long they could come down and eliminate sinners, they did not give a solitary flying dingy fuck! I am sorry to be the one to break it to you, Lilian" Alastor covered his mouth to barely control his fits. Lucifer ignored him", but you did not need to go there for that to happen! At all! You could have stayed with your family all this time and fight with them here!"

"Get a proper divorce wouldn't have been a bad idea either" Alastor giggled when Lucifer pushed his shoulder, incredulous that he would even say that. "What? Give that poor man an actual closure would have been more merciful and smarter that just trust in Heaven's word."

Lilith glared at him.

"And I suppose you are the expert?" scoffed.

"Yes, actually!" Alastor perked up with glee, showing off his teeth. "I spend five months incarcerated by Heaven when a little slip redeemed my soul and send me there. Very much against my will, I must add! So when it comes to know how much Heaven is willing to listen any dissenting voices, I have plenty of my own experience to talk about. They offered me deals as well to come back home. I rejected all of them because I knew being owed to Heaven was never going to work in my favor."

"Oh, but that is not all!" added Lucifer, hanging from his neck. "Because not only were they keeping my husband, the King's consort and father of the princess of hell, there during all that time. They also were not planning to tell me shit about it! So my Charlie and I were left to believe that he was gone for good. Eliminated from existance forever. Now, I knew they didn't like me very much after the whole fall from grace or whatever, but I gotta admit: I didn't see that one coming. They really outdid themselves on the whole don't giving a fuck category."

"Luckily I made my own way home" Alastor hold up the chin of Lucifer to kiss his chin. The frown that was starting to form on the king's face dissolved as he looked at him. "Withouth any help from them."

"Hell yeah, he did" Lucifer started to smile as he wrapped his other arm around Alastor's neck, coming closer to him.

Alastor tilted his head to accomodate the lips of his king. Their kiss was slow and drain out a most beautiful humming out of Lucifer. When they separated, those yellow eyes stared at him with a glistening spark and Alastor wanted to go for another.

"Wh-what?" That was the first time that the queen was positively speechless. Alastor frowned when Lucifer turned his attention to her. "You… you went to heaven? What do you mean a slip?"

"I had a temporary death and was send there" Alastor shrugged, taking away any importance that could have. "The important part was my retainment."

Lilith blinked a couple of times.

"You were redeemed?" said slowly, as if making sure with herself that she was using the right words. "Everything my daughter is fighting for… you got it?"

"And then he came back, did you forget about that part?" Lucifer made a head gesture to Charlie. "She knows already, by the way."

"And judging by your reaction, you had no idea" added Alastor. Lilith's purple eyes widened for a second, all the confirmation that he needed, and he chuckled again. "Oh, but don't feel too bad about not being told that in all those years you were essentially abandoning your daughter. Heaven was just as surprised as I was when it happened. In fact, they didn't know why it happened at all, which does make it a tad more complicated to promise any soul a sure way into it. If it ever happens on this side, I wouldn't be surprised to know they were not planning to tell anyone down here, not even your royal ears, your Highness. Not unless they saw any gain from it."

A long moment of silence passed through as the queen lowered her head. Her chest barely moving with each breath was the only indication that she hasn't been frozen by a spell. Lucifer started casually playing with the hair of Alastor's nape, waiting on her to react. Alastor inclined his neck towards the touch as his hands locked around the king's waist. There was no reason to rush any of them for them.

Finally, Lilith lifted her gaze to find Lucifer's.

"Take that spell from my daughter" said firmly, straighten up. Her eyebrows were two straight lines in a expression of sternness that wasn't entirely directed at them. "I need to talk to her."

Lucifer made sure that Charlie had already eaten enough from her plate before conceding. Charlie rubbed her eyes briefly, the normal yellow tone of always and a smile back on her face that turned into confusion when Lilith stand up. For her, they were just having a polite and friendly conversation about the renovated hotel and what they could do next to it, so seeing the serious expression of her mother as she kneeled to her side and took her hand seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Sweetie, I am sorry for cutting this visit" started Lilith, brushing a tendril of Charlie's hair behind her ear and cupping her cheek. "I need to speak with a few people in the city. But as soon as I am done, I will be back here, alright? We can have your favorite dinner back at the palace and you can present to me that girlfriend you keep mentioning. I am sure she must be a charming girl."

Charlie's face light up at that.

"Really?" said, squeezing her hand back. "Oh, mom, that would be great! But uh…" she turned to see Lucifer, who had returned to his seat already, "maybe we should be looking trying to get dad back?"

"We can take care of that, duckling" Lucifer flashed a grin for her. "It has been a while since you two saw each other, right?" said, patting Charlie's shoulder and ignoring the glare from the queen. His words were for the princess anyway. "Enjoy this day with your mom, it's okay. We are going to be just talking plans the whole time."

"Indeed, and it will be extremely boring" confirmed Al. "We will inform you of anything we decide to do later on" promised, winking an eye to her and he did threw a glance to Lilith when she didn't seem to like that either. "For today you can relax."

"Alright" Charlie sighed. "I hope this one is the one."

"We will manage" said Alastor, rubbing the side of Lucifer when he felt him tense up.

Charlie nodded and turned to her mom, giving her a hug by the neck. It started soft, but then she squeezed harder and harder until Lilith laughed, patting her back.

"I know from where you are taking those bad habits, dear!" commented, standing up to leave a kiss on her forehead. Lucifer cleaned up the table with a flick of the wrist, even from the leftovers of Lilith, and stand up with Alastor's hand in his. He could continue eating in the staff room if he was still hungry, but they had intruded enough already. No matter what they though about the woman, she was Charlie's mom and Charlie did deserve a break after the dissapointment of yesterday too. "I will come back as soon I can, sweetie. That is a promise" assured the queen, brushing her hair back.

"I know a Lucifer who heard that once!" couldn't help to add Alastor into the air, snickering as Lucifer kept pushing him outside of the kitchen.

"You are the actual worst" whispered Lucifer once they were in the hallway.

Alastor noticed that, despite that, he was still fighting to contain a smirk on his face.

In a place made of darkness, Alastor opened up his eyes. This darkness wasn't the one created by his shadows or one merely created by the abscence of light. It was a weight, it was air, something real and solid that was constantly breathing. Whenever he was called to its interior, there was no doubt that the only reason that force wasn't crushing him, digesting him at his first breath, wasn't because it couldn't or didn't want to do it. Rather because the one holding the wheel had no given that order yet.

"Pet, pet, pet" a cheery voice that came out of nowhere and everywhere at the same time. A voice that made itself known in the middle of a loud party and enchanted everyone who heard it. Beautiful, charming, melodic. The perfect recipe that just needed the right words to convince anyone of shooting their own mother or voluntarely fall into the abyss. Sometimes sounded like his mother, when she wanted to laugh at him. She didn't for the moment. "Yesterday there was quite the commotion at the edge of the city, hasn't it? I haven't seen that kind of power in a very long time. With the king of hell giving him kisses and telling him what a good job he made, no less! You didn't tell me that you had acquired such interesting friends recently."

"They are both irrelevant" The reply came out easy, natural. Alastor wasn't really sure if his mouth was actually moving or his thought were being transmitted some other way. He was aware of his body like a foreign presence that was close, but not enough. "That sinner is a new temporary guest at the hotel. He will be gone shortly so I saw no point to try to bring him up. I wasn't aware that he and the king had any kind of relationship before until yesterday."

The darkness pulsated around him with a silent purr that ran through his entire body.

"Oh? But you still hang out together, don't you?" asked the voice.

"Charlie keeps telling me to keep them company" Alastor shrugged, or thought he did, which may as well be the same thing in that place. "They want to mess around and, as the kids would say, find out. Charlie is so very insistent to make them feel welcome and apparently I am the only one available to fulfill that role. The king, by himself, is not enough with how socially indept he is."

"You poor little boy" She started laughing, her voice bouncing from place to place. Alastor would try to follow her with her eyes without ever seeming to get closer. "So that is how it is? It must be so frustrating to being forced into such a position by the princess. It's not like you are actually getting anything from it."

"Indeed. It feels like I am babysitting most of the time" Alastor swallowed through a throat that felt at his left. "But at least it keeps her happy and relying on me, so that is better than nothing."

"Her trust in you is a valuable resource" she conceded. "Powerful friends are good to have, Al, I keep telling you that, but you don't listen. Are you sure that sinner can't just be disuaded to make a deal or two?"

"I guess I could try" lied Alastor with ease, because one never just said no to her directly. "I am afraid that is a long shot, though, with the king insisting to be so close at all times."

"See into it anyway. Everyone needs a favor sometimes, it wouldn't hurt" That wasn't a clear order. Alastor knew very well the difference, so he could relax a little bit. "What were you doing in that place anyway after those two broke the ground?"

"Taking a few snacks, of course! There was such a conglomeration of people and no one taking a bite. It just seemed like such a waste to not take advantage of the situation."

"That hug the king gave you was cute though" Alastor gripped to his control over his body with all his might. His hearbeat didn't raise. His breathing remained the same. Not even the best polygrapher would be able to detect the slightest change on him. They wouldn't know how much that genuinely surprised him. It was always a gamble to know how much she could see or not, which was probably exactly what she wanted him to assume about her. That way the question was always hanging over him, chasing him over anything he did. "Such cute little friends."

"The king is just way too sentimental. We both know that very well. Give him a little bit of attention and he thinks the world of that someone. I am afraid he has misinterpretated my attempts to keep his daughter pacified as sincere, which has resulted in interactions such as that one at the drop of a hat. If it were any other hellish being I would have no issue shacking him off, but considering his power I am left with little to no choice."

"Mmm, that is true! Lucifer never knew how to read a room. I can only imagine how frustrating it was for you. But luckily now that other sinner is around to hopefully make him feel less lonely!"

"One can only hope" Alastor smiled, waiting to know what actually did she need from him in the first place.

"Yes, because it would be a pity to start making friends with Lucifer when that wasn't a part of our agreement. I can't have you getting too close to one of the major players just yet, Al. Too soon for that."

Alastor already was assuming as such, but the confirmation still left a sting somewhere he couldn't pin point.

"I don't believe there is anything to worry about" assured confidently. "I haven't forgotten what we agreed" added when he could percieve something going around his back, like a breeze on a portion of skin that wasn't covered by his suit somehow.

"I know you don't, Al! If I thought that for a single moment, you wouldn't be standing where you are right now" Another chuckle, this time closer to his ear. Or inside his ear. Or inside his brain, between the grey matter and his skull. Behind his eyes. Somewhere his claws tensed up briefly with the need to dig inside to try to take her out. "But nevermind that! I didn't bring you here to tell you the obvious. More interesting things that you babysitting a lonely king are happening! Some little pawns that haven't moved in a long while are suddenly going at full speed! You haven't heard of anything important happening, did you?" As Alastor was preparing himself to deny it, she continued. "One of them was close to where you were yesterday. You didn't notice?" her voice almost sounded concerned, like she felt pity of how oblivious he was.

Alastor clenched his teeth.

"No" said finally. "Maybe if you tell me who that is, I could stop them."

"Who said I want you to stop them?" She laughed over his left shoulder, light and charming. "No, no, that is way too boring! If anything, if you see them in the future, give them a little hand! As a show of good will, of course. We have to let all the players move before knowing what we should do next, isn't that right? Where is the fun otherwise?"

There it was. The pressure on his neck that wasn't just his neck, pulling tight and quick into whatever made his soul inside his body, pending on an edge he wasn't aware of until then. The cold that washed over him and had only slightly to do with fear or dread. There was no real choice.

"Absolutely" said, widening his smile, wherever it was. "I will make sure they get everything they need."

The weight lifted off, only slightly.

"T hope so. I have no use for a pet that is broken to the point it can't do the most simple task."

He could almost see her smile in front of him before the darkness, with everything that came with it, suddenly retreated and he stumbled on an empty room as if he had just gone up an elevator. He managed to grab himself to a nearby wall before going on his knees. For a moment nothing of what made him was real, but that was something he was expecting so he didn't panic. Slowly he started moving each finger in his hands. The ears at the top of his head. His legs recuperating their firmness over the ground.

When he looked at a clock on the nighstand, he was surprised to see that already a big portion of the day had gone past him and it was the afternoon. Their damned sun had to start coming down in the horizon. Alastor checked himself on the mirror of the bathroom and didn't move from there until he managed to convince his face to smile as usual. No traces of panic or aprehension were acceptable on his eyes.

Only once he was sure nobody get a read on him, he came out the building, where someone had already cleaned up the owner's gut from the sidewalk. Apparently that was a musician that practiced at horrible hours of the night, being the annoyance of all of his neighbors. Alastor actually didn't know if that was true or just a story she told him to excuse using his place. There was a guitar upstairs, and he was dead already, so might as well could be.

When he finally reached the hotel, it was officially night. He had only give a few steps in when he heard the voice of one of his biggest source of stress calling him.

"Alastor, buddy!" Lucifer waved at him from the bar where he and Al were drinking. The dark tail of the king now around the other's leg rather than his waist like usual, but that made small of a difference. At least they weren't doing that weird eye focused thing while whispering things to each other. "There you are! I was wondering when you were going to come in."

When Alastor made his way over there, he kept his hands at his back. He did not look at the face of the monarch mora than he needed to. The stupid thing on his chest could be stupid, but he wasn't. At least Al seemed politely interested on their conversation rather than openly antagonistic.

"Any updates on our stone hunting, your Majesty?" asked before anything else, because that was the only thing that mattered.

"Yeah, actually!" Lucifer finished the long tall glass he was taking and swivel on the seat. "We went with Vassago and we have the stone recharged and a new location. The place is kind of a warehouse so we think it could black market shit moving around for some rich asshole. They could be making the exchange right there. There is going to be less people than on the auction, but also!" added, making finger guns, "Less chances of explosions trapping us underground. So that is cool, isn't it?"

At last, some actual relief. If they moved fast enough, maybe he could avoid giving a "helping hand" altogether and just let Lucifer give him a piece of the stone.

"Great. It seems that you have made some progress today. We can talk about the details tomorrow in the morning" declared, turning on his heels. "For now, this is it for me. Good night to all of you!"

"Hey, wait" called Lucifer, chuckling to himself. "Charlie and Vaggie are gone, so we were thinking of watching a movie in the lobby. Al prepared some snacks already and we are just waiting on Angel to bring the pizza. Don't you want to join?"

"No" Alastor said it more abrupt than he intended. When he turned his head again, he smiled wider even as Al's eyes now were staring into him. "I mean, for goodness sake, no, of course not! You can enjoy your greasy fun all you like for me, though! I have better things to do, like laying in bed and count slaughtered sheep."

"Are you sure? The movie we got is an old timey one. A musical! I know cannibals tend to like those" added, winking an eye to Al, who gave him a smirk in response, before his eyes returned to Alastor. "Later we can try a horror one. You can complain about the fake blood all you want!"

"Tempting. But no" said, lifting his chin. "Have a good night, your Highness."

"Ah, but…" before Lucifer could say anything, Alastor had already disappeared into his shadow. He could still hear when the king turned around on his chair and asked to his companion. "Should we have told him that Lilian is back first?"

[queen-scribbles]

👑 - Person who raised your OC and/or was important during their formative years

For Tala, if you're game? 👀👀

Ohhhh, you have no idea how much I love you right now <333 I've been dying to talk about Tala's mentor, so thank you for the motivation. ---

Tala grew up in an orphanage run by a temple of Lathander. (It's positioned along the foot of a mountain range, hence Mountainsward as a surname for all the kids raised there.) She's been there since she was very young; four at the oldest. And while her acceptance by the other kids has, ah, varied, especially among ones who came when they were older and had more time to develop biases, the priests and staff were always kind.

Tala's mentor, Cameron, is a former adventurer who serves as historian and record-keeper for the temple. He was injured helping defend a village from a group of raiders, which left him with a serious limp and strong recurrent pain in his leg and back. Hardly ideal physical condition for a life of wandering when there were other options available. He has a good attitude about it, referring to teaching as his "latest adventure" and joking about a roomful of 8-14 year olds being more daunting than any beast he faced on the road. He would frequently bribe reward good behavior during history lessons with tales of his adventures, and between how much he'd done and how eloquently he relayed his tales, that was plenty to persuade a gaggle of unruly kids to sit still long enough to learn history first. xD

Tala, however, needed no bribing, she just loves learning(though she's just as enraptured by his tales a the rest). Cameron shooed off kids who were picking on her a few times, she asked for extra book recommendations for various periods of history or wars or whatever for fun reading, and a mentorship was born. :D He encourages her in her studies of both history and religion, is always a calming presence when she gets upset about teasing, gives her challenging writing assignments that make her really dig into research. They develop a father-daughter bond over the course of a couple years.

When he's not teaching he's usually sitting in the gardens to enjoy the sun, sometimes with mending to help out the head laundress(Tala suspects he's sweet on her, but not strongly enough to actually say anything). He was an adventurer for 20+ years, ofc he knows sewing basics. (a skill he'll teach anyone willing to learn) He will sometimes go for walks, but those are usually not long and on relatively flat ground if he doesn't want his back to start spasming.

It's when she's sixteen Tala learns the raiders he got injured fighting were orcs. :) Seeing as a fair number of the other kids can't stop hassling her based purely off orcs' reputation(never mind a) she's only HALF orc and b) they've never encountered an orc themselves), she's very confused why he's never had a problem with her. When she finally asks him about it, Cameron chuckles and says it would be silly to resent a babe who like as not isn't even from the same clan. "Besides, hard t' hate ya when one of the first things y' did was steal Abbess Gereldyne's freshly laundered wimple t' help patch up Toya's scraped knee. I could never hate someone with a heart like that."

When Tala sets off adventuring(bc she wants to do like he did) he's very much "proud papa sending off his little girl" never mind said little girl is now four inches taller than him. xD He makes her promise to tell him all about what she sees and does, and gives her a journal with Lathander's symbol on it(she filled that very fast, but still hangs on to it to show him. It's probably her most prized possession). That's why she's so studious about writing/drawing things that happen to her, she wants to keep record off it anyway, but she's also very excited to tell him and doesn't want to forget anything. She's pretty sure the whole tadpole scenario tops anything he went through. :P

And of course I made him in the BG3 CC; he's very teacher-shaped xD Greying red hair, skin still has a bit of a tan(and FRECKLES), hazel eyes, always smells like ink and herbs.

✨OC Background Asks✨

[skyler10fic]

To Have and to Hold: Ch. 7 Captured

By Skyler10

Summary: Honeymoon destination revealed, Bobbi and Hunter come back into the picture ;) (pun intended), and Daisy and Carol stretch that Mature-for-sexy-times rating after some dressing and undressing.

Read on Ao3

------

Spring indulged the city with a sneak preview of its glory with a sunny, warm week to end March. All knew that it wasn’t here to stay just quite yet, but it was coming in full soon, a promise, a kiss of days approaching. 

For the past rainy week, Carol had dedicated her free time to honeymoon planning. She knew they wanted something relaxing, beachy, and new to both of them. After her talk with Daisy about making more decisions regarding the wedding, though, she was careful not to lean too hard on Daisy to make the final call. She clicked through search results for LGBTQ-friendly honeymoon destinations. There was no point in looking at islands that didn’t want them there in the first place. Every destination listed in Europe looked gorgeous but far away. Within the US, Hawaii seemed ideal but also far in the other direction. Miami seemed within their budget and fun, but not as relaxing. And hot and humid. They needed something farther north. 

One website offered just the thing: Pegasus Resort on Cape Cod, especially run by and for LGBTQ couples. They would take a ferry boat ride to and from the cape. Besides planning their activities, all she would have to do is book their flights and hotels. And a dinner for the resort’s upscale restaurant, of course. The other restaurants were more casual, and Provincetown had more options, but a special romantic dinner was basically a requirement for their honeymoon.  

Carol heard Daisy come in from her yoga class and called to her. “Hey! How was yoga?” 

“Hi. Good.” Daisy walked into the dining area where Carol was sitting at the table with her laptop and snacks. She leaned down to peck a kiss to Carol’s cheek. 

“I’ve got a honeymoon plan ready if you want to hear it?”  

“Ooo honeymoon? Uh, yes, obviously.” Daisy scooted one of the other chairs next to Carol’s so she could see the screen and took a few grapes from the snack plate. 

Carol took her through the Pegasus Resort website, photos of the area, and a few ideas of things to do. 

“And best of all, it fits the budget.” 

Daisy’s eyes widened. “For real? Babe, I’m so impressed. I’ve never been to Cape Cod.” 

“Me either! It’s not set in stone yet, so if you want to change anything, we can, but if not, I’m going to get it booked.” Carol’s mouse hovered over the Book Now button. 

Daisy bounced in excitement. “Yes, book it! While it’s still miraculously affordable.”  

Carol set to work filling out the information. Daisy weighed in when necessary, and soon enough, they had all the transportation and accommodation confirmation emails in their inboxes. 

Carol relaxed into her chair. “Whew, it feels good to have that done.” 

Daisy stood and reminded her, “Next up, our appointment with Bobbi and Hunter to talk about decorations and photos. We have about half an hour.” 

“Half an hour, huh?” Carol let her eyes linger over Daisy’s sports bra, bare midriff, and form-fitting yoga pants. 

“Unh-uh,” Daisy shut down her line of thinking. “I have to actually shower and get ready, and that is not enough time. Tonight. After.”

Carol stood and kissed Daisy with a promise on her lips. “Tonight it is.”

Daisy smiled against her and pulled away reluctantly. The clock was ticking and they couldn’t miss this crucial appointment.  

—----------- 

When Daisy and Carol arrived at the cottage and half-acre grounds that now served as Bobbi and Hunter’s office, they learned Hunter was out shooting some B-roll for another wedding video, but Bobbi was ready for action. She had only been in the business a few years, hence her availability so soon to their date, but she already had a system for each element: decoration packages, florists she worked with, photoshoot options… she even had suggestions based on their colors. She may not have had a long resume in the business, but she certainly had the skills, style, and strategy to be a rising star within it. 

Daisy lit up at Bobbi’s guidance and competence. Carol still didn’t know the difference between a dahlia and a peony, but seeing Daisy happy was all that mattered to her. Being out of her element didn’t help with her resolution to be a more active participant, however, so she relied on Bobbi’s photos for visual references. 

After hours of decoration options and floral arrangement talk, Bobbi sent them outside to walk around the grounds for a break. Bobbi said it would help her get a sense for how they interacted naturally. She’d be nearby if they needed anything, and she would shoot a few practice candids but not close enough to hear them talk. 

The spring breeze was still chilly enough for them to wear their leather jackets (brown and relaxed fit for Carol, black and stylishly cut for Daisy), but the fresh air helped them unwind. They made their way down a dirt path to a pond lined with willows. Carol slipped her hand into Daisy’s as they walked and tried not to be self-conscious that Bobbi was watching them. 

“So,” Daisy began as they reached the pond, “what are you thinking of all this? You’ve been quiet.” 

“Right now,” Carol stalled, “I’m thinking about how your hand fits in mine and how beautiful this all is. If we weren’t already here to plan our wedding, I might propose.” She leaned in toward Daisy and winked. 

Daisy smiled but didn’t let her off the hook that easily. “And what about in there?” She tilted her head toward the cottage. “I know this isn’t really your thing, but I want you to be happy with it too.” 

Carol tried to put some of the terms together correctly. “I think the corsage ideas are exactly what your mom, grandma, and Aunt Wendy and Victoria would all wear, which is a wide range of personalities, so that’s something. And the… mmm… hanging things for the chapel walls? Also good. How about you?” 

“Yeah, for sure.” Daisy squinted against the sun as she looked out to the pond. “I’m honestly not sure we need decorations for the aisle. The chapel is so small, you know? I also wanted to ask you first, before Bobbi brings it up, what do you think about a unity candle in the ceremony? Or something like that?” 

“Unity candle? I don’t know. Tell me more.” Carol furrowed her brow and tuned in. The flowers and ribbons and table centerpieces were one thing, but ceremony symbolism and meaning-laden rituals were another. 

Daisy let go of Carol’s hand and held up two imaginary candlesticks. “Okay, so we’d each have our own candles lit before the ceremony, or we can light them, but the point is we would use them together at the same time to light a bigger middle candle. The important part to me is that we don’t blow out the individual candles.” 

“Ah. Right!” Carol followed the metaphor. “So we’re still individual people, but also we’re a couple. And getting married doesn’t change that we’re each our own person.”

“Exactly.” Daisy shrugged. “If you want to. If that’s too cliche or cheesy, we don’t have to, though.” 

“No, no, I like it. So Bobbi’s going to ask us to pick out candles then, right? Because I have to be honest, I haven’t given much thought to wax color and consistency or height or whatever.” 

Daisy smiled and slipped her arms around Carol’s waist. “I don’t think we need to stress about it too much. They are pretty basic and I have one or two in mind.”

“Thank you.” Carol leaned in and kissed Daisy sweetly. “And the candle is accurate because you light me up.” 

Daisy pulled back but kept her arms firmly around Carol. “The fire-themed puns are already starting?” 

“Well, you do set my heart aflame,” Carol explained. 

“Here we go,” Daisy sighed. 

“One, this was your idea, and two, you are the light of my life. You might even say my love burns for you.”   

“Done?”  

“For now, yes. For the rest of our lives? Just getting started.” Carol assured. 

Daisy rolled her eyes and kissed her. When they parted, she shook her head. “Now you’ve got me thinking of them too.” 

“Yes! I want to hear it!” 

Daisy dropped into a sultry voice. “Babe, you’re the hottest thing since fire was discovered.” 

Carol tried not to laugh. “Okay, we’ll work on it, but a solid start. A+ for the sexy tone, though.”

“Thank you,” Daisy said proudly and then noticed the sun was lowering in the sky. “We should wrap this up. But I haven’t forgotten about tonight.”

“Me either.” Carol winked. 

They walked back to the cottage to finish their appointment with Bobbi and discuss photo poses and locations. Bobbi showed them the practice shots she had taken of their break, and they scheduled some photos of the two of them in normal clothes and some in their gowns. 

—--------- 

On Sunday afternoon, picking outfits for the photoshoot (besides the wedding gowns, of course) led to a full circle moment. As Daisy sat on the bed looking at makeup pro tips and couple posing ideas, Carol put on her deep red jumpsuit and black blazer that looked like the one she had tried on in white at the bridal shop. 

“How about this?” she asked to get Daisy’s attention. Daisy looked up from her computer and took in Carol’s outfit. 

“Yes, please.” She didn’t hide her lingering gaze. “I know exactly what I would wear with that one too.” 

“Yeah?” Carol stepped in front of the closet door mirror, which was long enough to reflect the whole outfit.

Daisy set her laptop on the bedside table and walked up behind Carol. “Three words. Little. Black. Dress.” 

Carol’s eyes met hers in the mirror. “But which one?” 

“My turn to try on.” She closed the closet door behind her so it would be a surprise until she had it on. When she opened it, Carol was sitting on the side of the bed, idly scrolling through the poses Daisy had left open on her computer. 

“How’s this?” Daisy asked, one hand on her hip with the other gesturing down the dress. Carol’s eyes followed her hand and continued down Daisy’s strong legs. Daisy had added heels for maximum effect, highlighting her calves. 

Carol walked over and stood beside her in the mirror. “Very sexy. Look at that power couple. Damn.” 

Daisy turned and pulled Carol in by the hips for a surprise kiss and then backed away just as quickly. “Okay, we have to pick out the casual outfits before I jump you for real.” 

“We have time for both,” Carol pointed out and took off the blazer. She hung it on the hanger and then took off her jumpsuit. “Your choice. I can put on my shirt or not.” 

“Stop,” Daisy whined. “You know I’m highly distractable. Shirt on first, I find something that looks good with it, and then I take it off. In that order.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Carol winked. She decided to speed up the process by walking into the closet and picking out a navy and lavender plaid button-up for herself and a blouse in a matching lavender top for Daisy. “I figured out we have these weeks ago and thought they might be good.” 

“Our wedding colors! Wow, these colors really are us.” 

Carol handed her the blouse. “And I figured we’d just wear jeans with them.” 

Daisy took off her black dress and heels and put on the blouse. She passed Carol and picked out a pair of jeans from the closet. “Hmm, these.” 

They were not her most comfy jeans for everyday wear, but they complemented her form in the right ways for a photoshoot. Carol picked a similar pair for herself. 

When they were dressed, they stood in the mirror together again. 

“What do you think?” Daisy asked.

“I think this is it.” Carol flattened her collar. Daisy turned to check out how her outfit looked from the back, and Carol wet her lips. “God, those jeans were made for your butt. I’m always both jealous and turned on when you wear those. It’s very confusing.”

Daisy laughed. “Like you can talk.” She swiftly squeezed Carol’s round bum in her tight jeans. 

“Hey!” Carol laughed. “Okay. That’s a casual outfit, a dressy outfit, and our wedding dresses. That’s enough, right? We still have two hours until we’re meeting Elena and Mack for dinner and to talk about the ceremony.”

“Yep,” Daisy popped the p. She grabbed a small black gym bag with rainbow handles they had gotten free at Pride but hadn’t used. “Anything we need for the photoshoot can go in here, and we can hang the other clothes in the garment bags with the bridal gowns.”

“Good plan.” Carol took the bag from Daisy and dropped it near the foot of the bed. “Okay, that’s enough dressing. Time for undressing.” 

Daisy kissed her and, as promised, unbuttoned her shirt until it was free. Carol took it and her undershirt off, and Daisy stripped off her own blouse and paused to kiss her again. She pulled away to hang the shirts on hangers so they wouldn’t wrinkle. Impatient, Carol wrapped her arms around Daisy from behind and unbuttoned her jeans while she was hanging the shirts. Daisy grinded back against her in retaliation, and Carol kissed her neck. 

“You know,” Daisy said, turning to unbutton Carol’s jeans in return. “This would go faster if we did one thing at a time.” 

“Okay.” Carol took off her jeans, laid them out on the bed, and stuck out her bum as she leaned over the bed and slowly and deliberately rolled them into a tight, neat log. She raised an eyebrow at Daisy, who was staring with her own jeans around her ankles. 

“Point made.” Daisy rolled up her jeans quickly and stuck both pairs in the bag. “We can worry about shoes later.” 

“Exactly.” Carol led her to the bed and in seconds, they were entangled, with hands tugging at undergarments and lips meeting again and again and thighs slotting naturally between each other. 

Daisy had an odd thought cross her mind that she was grateful to not only be born in an era and culture where they didn’t have to hide their relationship and could be married but also one in which they didn’t have to wait until marriage to have this. Not that it had ever been particularly accepted for queer couples to marry as long as they refrained from premarital sex, but it was more that she was relieved that figuring out sex wasn’t part of their wedding stress. Getting married had plenty of complications and emotions attached without that element. 

“What are you thinking about?” Carol asked as she saw the pensive expression on Daisy’s face. Carol stroked up and down Daisy’s side, and Daisy’s expression softened. 

“Just that I’m so glad we don’t have to figure this part out on our wedding night.” 

Carol involuntarily let out a little laugh and then agreed. “We would not have made it this long if we were supposed to wait.” 

“True, but can you imagine having to worry about not even knowing what to do and having our first time after all of this? Months of planning and scheduling vendors and life commitment, then to also be like sooo how does sex work anyway?” Daisy ran her fingers up Carol’s stomach to her breast and teased her nipple in emphasis. 

“That is way too much pressure for a honeymoon.” Carol rolled on top of Daisy and teased her inner thighs before working in to her warm, wet core. “Knowing every part of you, years of memorizing every sigh and gasp and moan… that’s what our honeymoon is going to be, and I wouldn’t trade one messy, imperfect night of all the time it took learning each other.”

Daisy bucked her hips into Carol’s touch and let out one of those moans. “Fuck, yes. Mmmn!” 

It hadn’t always been sexy to learn what they liked in sex, and they still tried new positions and toys on occasion that might or might not be for them, but their “Is this normal? How do we even do this?” days were worked out in college, during dates that turned into sleepovers and late nights studying for anatomy exams turned “studying” each other’s anatomy, so to speak. They had been young and awkward and new to it all together, and they found through experience what online advice in sapphic sex articles worked and didn’t for them. Now, as an established couple about to be married, they hardly had to think anymore about what to do with their hands, getting twisted up in the sheets, or being embarrassed or self-conscious about their bodies. Their legs and arms and lips and tongues seemed to just simply fit, as if they were made to be intertwined in lovemaking. But every movement and muscle memory was from years of vulnerable communication, awareness, and practice bringing them higher and higher out of the awkwardness of inexperience into the ecstasy of expertise. 

The wisdom from experience helped Carol time Daisy’s orgasm just so she was desperate but not frustrated. And it helped Daisy know when to reach for one of their vibrators, and which one, when Carol needed more to finally crest over the edge of pleasure. After Carol came, they kissed deeply, letting their tongues play, as the vibe still buzzed beside them. Daisy retrieved it and placed it between them, aligning with Carol’s folds so it was securely held against them both. She knew by now exactly where to put it and how to keep it there with their position.

“That took practice, for example,” Daisy panted. 

“It did, mmmhmm,” Carol agreed, turning it into a moan of pleasure.

Daisy did have to adjust it as her hips bucked, but they ended up coming together nearly at the same time, a rare feat, providing further emphasis that the work they had put in over the years was well worth every awkward, weird, imperfect moment it took to get there. 

—--------------- 

That night, as Carol was in the shower, Daisy had an idea of what her wedding gift to her would be. She searched her favorite wedding websites for the new-to-her term: boudoir photography.  She’d seen packages on Bobbi’s website, and looking into it, she thought Carol would appreciate it. It was a bit challenging to find pose ideas for brides that didn’t seem porny or made for the male gaze, but she could do the solo ones herself, and then if Carol was interested in some together, they could finish the shoot after the wedding with some creativity and adapting.

[pancakehouse]

heyy mads so actually i need more of your thoughts on amy/laurie and why you don’t understand people defending them…. i remember being kind of baffled by them when i read the book as a young teen so please <3 be a hater <3

hiii laura oh my god i will (gladly) be a hater it comes sooo naturally to me and we all rlly gotta be biting our tongues on here daily, don't we :-/

(pls ... if you are a passionate amy/laurie fan .. just close your eyes and keep scrolling babes i love you sooo much this post cannot hurt you i promise !!!)

OKAY. so i feel like the whole amy/laurie vs jo/laurie debate has been widely discussed (both on The Internet and in my household lol) but for me it's less that i think he should've ended up w jo and more that i think acting like a/l truly love each other and totally definitely make sense is so stupid. it's soooo stupid laura i am rolling my eyes!! can you see me!!!

and the reason i think this! is because, essentially, Alcott uses the four sisters to like ... represent the few limited life paths that were avail to non-wealthy american women in the 19th century, right?

like meg marries the man who is able (if only just) to provide her a stable home. beth pursues her music (piano? if im remembering right) and is content to live her life at home, with her family. amy wants to (and eventually does) marry a wealthy, cultured man of ~Society who can give her a life above the one she was born into.

jo is the wildcard, ofc. the one who goes off-script for the normal young woman, and ofc who alcott views as a reflection of herself. we know that alcott wanted jo to remain unmarried and was strong-armed by publishers to put her w someone, but if she knew she'd have to, then my only explanation for it to not be laurie was to spite the predictable narrative and spite the readers lol.

the guy jo does end up w is so random and just .. makes no sense. if you're making sense of it, you are having to reach so far up your ass to do so! sorry to be crass!!! (rlly leaning into my hater-moment oops)

anyway - the way this connects to amy and laurie is this:

i do not believe (and i'm sure we are not meant to believe) that meg married for love. beth (</3) did not marry ofc. and it's impossible to believe jo married for love if the author intended her to be unmarried. that storyline doesn't exist to me now.

and amy is the sister that is represented as a bit vain; a bit entitled and spoiled in the way youngest children are allowed to be. from the start, it's clear she plans to marry for wealth. even if we're taking from gerwig's adaptation instead of solely the book, then amy still isn't really represented as particularly romantic (the whole 'i'm not a poet' scene) (also tbf it's been awhile since i read the book, but imo she romanticizes her life, yes, but not love itself).

LAURIE is the romantic, the most so, out of all the characters. i genuinely feel like this is the ONLY reason ppl latch onto amy/laurie and try so hard to rationalize it .. bc they can't bear to think of laurie in a marriage that was w his next-best-option rather than True Love (sorry.. by no means a dig at amy...but cmon guys ..)

because i also feel like the only thing laurie really wanted even more than to spend his life w jo, is to be apart of the march family. it was always clear he wanted that, just as it was always clear he loved jo from day 1! and so the only conclusion i was ever able to come from all this is that he loved jo for being jo and he loved amy for being a march sister.

ah god sorry this is SO anysmally long i am SO SO sorry laura dear!! so grateful to you for this opportunity to hate on them (read: cringe & take the romance out of) them as a couple!!! but there is simply no scenario where i can imagine knowing a boy has loved my sister his entire life and then MARRY him after ?? bc she rejected him ??!!! esp knowing amy and jo's history of shared drama. esp bc the entire story is one of sisterhood!

like bro that girl (amy) has mentally been your sister-in-law for a decade ... and now we're saying we LOVE her? puke vom i hate it it makes me cringe and twitchy and yuck. its so weird ppl !!!! so weird.

[harrywavycurly]

Not to make your decision more complicated but I've been looking into buying a kindle too and discovered another option. It's called nabuk and it has android so I can have Spotify, Wattpad and other apps (i promise this is not an add lol).

I'm from Latinoamérica so I'm not sure if it's available in your country cause I think it's originally from Chile but i thought I'd let you know, just in case. If I end up buying it I'll let you know how it goes - L

Hiii babes!! See I just want it for reading, I don’t really need it for apps because I’d just use my iPad or phone. But that does sound nice!! If you end up getting it please let me know how you like it!! I have a few friends that would love something like that, I’ll have to see if it’s available in the US! Thank you!!!💖

[jotatetsuken]

Can I request for I want a baby prank with Guren Ichinose??? Ive been dreaming about that guy a lot recently <333

Awww sure thing Ro!!!! Guren's such a dreamy boy <3333 This gif and this website helped me channel my idea with this prompt for this scenario: Them huddled by the fireplace at night after making snow angels in the fresh snow. Oh and since it's been a while since I've watched Owari no Seraph, I'm sorry if this doesn't come out well. Oh and as a bonus, I thought of the song, Sweater Weather while writing this :D Anyway, let’s do thissss!

When we tell Guren Ichinose that we “want a baby”:

Warning: suggestive content <3, minors dni pleaseeee

Shyna's Seiyuu Birthday Celebration

He then brings his hand forward and introduces himself, “I am Guren Ichinose, the lieutenant Colonel of the Japanese Imperial Demon Army. I present to you two options: strive to live a normal life and risk being a target all over again,” then shrugs his shoulders and continue, “or you could join me and we could exterminate them together. You’ll be under my protection, I promise.” You bite your lower lip, pondering about the offer that was just presented to you. You weren’t someone that was into fighting, let alone slapping someone. But, in this cruel world that you were living in, you were needing to stand up for yourself. You then put your hand forward, accepting his offer. “I am (F/N) (L/N). I accept your offer, Lieutenant Guren,” you respond with a smile.

It’d been four years since the day that Guren kept you warm and safe from your vampiric partner, whom you'd run away from. You were working hard to join the Vampire Extermination Unit, but to no avail. It's not that you were weak. Oh, you certainly were not like the person Guren saw then. Lost, frail and having nowhere to go. You'd become stronger and smarter in your own right, being able to wield a sword faster than any of the initial candidates.

You were just too scared that you'd not be able to do your job well. Moreover, there was something that the Army didn't know: you'd begun a four year tryst with Guren. When you two weren't busy completing missions, both of you would find excuses to go to secluded places and immerse yourselves in each other.

From making out to lovemaking to doing it rough, you'd done it all. Every touch, every breath, every heartbeat. You'd made yourselves known to each other intimately.

You'd even decided to go on a couple of dates together, either by the vending machines or parks or by the fountains. His playful nature wasn't hidden from you, and he even had one of the best smiles in the entire regiment. He was also someone that valued teamwork and was strategic in his approach. It was official, you were becoming giddy over him.

But while you were slowly able to let your walls crumble down, Guren however, kept stuff to himself. While he was able to slowly reveal his past, you felt that he wasn't revealing enough. So, you came up with an idea.

You'd just come back from the hospital, where one of your friends had just given birth to a baby girl, where you'd warned your friend to run to a city that wasn't occupied by vampires yet, and promised her that you'd bring them back home safely. You'd then come outside your apartment to find Guren cladding thicker jackets on top of his uniform. He said, “Babe, let's go, it's cold outside,” with a big smile on his face. Taking you by your hand, he drags you outside into the snow, where both of you feel the chilly breeze hitting your face. Suddenly, you felt a ball of snow hitting your neck and you turn to see Guren throwing snowballs at you. You two have a good time together, chasing each other, frolicking in the snow, and making snow angels.

Later, you two come back to your apartment, take a huge blanket, sit on the couch and huddle by the fireplace. Snuggling up to him, you softly tell him with a smile, “Guren, I want a baby.”

His eyes widen in surprise as he didn't expect in the wildest of dreams for you to blurt it out. You suddenly hear his pacing heartbeat, and the moment you look into his purple eyes, he strokes your cheeks with his cold hand, asking you with a voice that seemed as calm as ever, “Are you sure that you want a baby?” You respond by nodding in agreement. You started to observe Guren even more.

“I'll think about it, okay? It's just, it's just...” You tried to complete his sentence for him, by saying, “A lot to ask for?” when he replied, “No, it's just that I've been wanting this too...” Your eyes widen in shock, “Wait, what? I thought...” He puts a finger on your lips and reply, “You thought I didn't want a baby, right? Truth be told, I wanted us to wait it out until this apocalypse is done with, because I'm scared of losing you the way I lost my family.” Your breathing hitched in your throat, with realization slowly hitting you. He's right. The war isn't over, not yet away. You nervously chuckle, “Alright, alright, chill! I was just messing around!” However, Guren's focus didn't move away from yours as he picks you up, off the blanket, from the couch in a bridal fashion. You flail your arms and legs as you protest, “Guren, babe, no....” That is when he places you on the bed, gently, as he comes on top of you and whispers, “Your wish is my command, baby....”

Finally omg! This took me a while, but I hope you enjoy it Ro! :D:D:D

[bisexualterror]

hello babes! so i decided to do my first official giveaway, for no other reason than i would like to give my lovely mutuals things! rules,  information and form to submit below! i will be tagging everything randomgiveaway2021 if you don’t want to see spam edits on your dash.

Rules & Information:

Last day to submit is Dec. 22!

You must be a mutual to submit. (Doesn’t matter how long, so long as you follow me and I follow you)

Like and reblog this post.

Use and send the form as a submission and not an ask. (I don’t care what blog you submit it to, so long as it’s filled to best of your abilities and submitted)

Limits: One edit/submission per person unless I explicitly say otherwise.

I reserve the right to decline any requests, as well as ask for further clarification.

Anything you ask for must have some type of resources for it or I can’t make anything.

I will be making things not only OC things, but fanfiction & fandom things in general.

Things I’m offering: Icons, headers, posters, manips (including OC crossovers) aesthetics.

Lastly, I promise to do try my best, but please be patient with me.

                                                   💗💗💗💗

OC Form:

What would you like?:

Faceclaim(s) & OCs name(s):

Fandom(s):

General aesthetics(if applicable):

Crossover vibes / ideas (If applicable):

Character tag (if available)

Pinterest (optional):

Quote(If applicable):

Username:

                                                   💗💗💗💗

Fandom & Non-OC Fanfic Form:

What would you like?:

Character(s):

Fandom(s):

Pinterest (optional)

General aesthetic and or color combo:

Quote (if applicable) :

Username:

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Tagging: @reykenobis​ @bravelittleflower​ @hughstheforcelou​ @bluejay-in-flight @lokitrasho​ @ocfairygodmother​ @randomestfandoms-ocs @thecaillic @darknightfrombeyond​ @darknightfrombeyond​ @booty-boggins​ @perfectlystiles​ @pondsocs​ @witchofinterest​ @akabluekat​ @reggiemantleholdmyhand-tle​ @foxesandmagic​ @jewelswrites-ish​  @ginghampearlsnsweettea​ @overashed​ @popeheyward​ @jayneladybright​

[smellsfaintlyofvanilla]

Imma be cheeky and write in twice! so home girl aka me has phat as crushes on half the Aot women. *SPOILER* A scene where reader takes the bullet for Sasha but lives instead of dies? xx

Honestly, I'm still reeling from Sasha's death, I need this :')

Promise

(Sasha Braus x Reader)

AU: Canon, divergent

Warnings: Injury, blood, season 4 spoilers

Category: Mostly fluff, a little angst

Summary: Arriving on the airship, Sasha and her S/O celebrate surviving the attack. While they're distracted, a little miscalculation comes aboard.

Words: 2.6K

A harsh breeze assaulted your face, recklessly blowing locks of hair in random directions as you zipped through the air with your ODM gear.

You gazed on at the destruction below. The city of Libero, Marley, had gone up in flames so unceremoniously mere hours ago. Bodies—civilian and military—were scattered on the streets like tiny shards of glass. The sight was horrid to you, and many others, of course. The destruction reminded you of the attack on Shinganshina all those years ago, and what you had seen that day. It was a wicked cycle, and one that was repeating, much to your sorrow.

It was a deliberate attack by Eren Jaeger, your soldier comrade in the Scouts. Once just a hotheaded idiot dead-set on freeing humanity, now an intimidating, powerful man, determined to put an end to Marley and win everyone's "freedom" back. That is, only, if you count genocide as a means to gain freedom.

It was ludicrous. You could never imagine trampling others' freedom in pursuit of your own. It was inhumane, cruel, but...

That's not what you should be thinking about right now.

Your feet hit the underside of the airship, and you slowly scaled your way towards the open door. A hand was outstretched towards you, and attached to the hand was the sun. Or rather, Sasha Braus.

You took her hand graciously, pulling yourself up with a grunt, steadying yourself in the ship before immediately pulling her into an embrace. She returned the gesture, wrapping her arms around your shoulders and burying herself in your neck.

The moment was only brief, however, since the gazes of other soldiers were ever present, so you pulled away somewhat self-consciously.

"I'm so glad you're alright, Y/n." She sighed, taking your hand and squeezing it, a much more subtle gesture of affection. "God, I was so worried. I heard your squad was in a tough spot, and I tried my hardest to go look for you, but Jean he— he wouldn't let go, and—!"

"Sasha, Sasha, relax. It's alright." You smile, setting a hand on her shoulder, and it wasn't until know that you realized she was shaking. "I get you were worried, but I'm here now. I'm okay, we survived, that's all that matters."

You leaned forward, giving her a quick peck on the cheek that made her cheeks tint adorably pink. "Yeah, guess you're right..."

Suddenly, distant yelling across the ship caught your attention. Connie and Jean, both alive and well on the other side of the ship, were waving to you two, calling you over.

You turned back to smile at her, squeezing her hand in affirmation as the two of you made your way over.

"There you two are." Connie smiled, "I admit, I was a little worried this time. Things got pretty bloody out there."

Suddenly, he threw his arms around you, Sasha, and Jean, pulling you into an impromptu group hug. "I know this isn't fair to the others, but... I'm glad you're all okay. You guys are important to me."

Sasha smiled, putting her hand comfortably onto Connie's arm, holding onto him, whilst Jean groaned uncomfortably, shifting around awkwardly.

"Your gear is too damn clunky." He mumbled, worming his way out of the hug. Connie released his hold on you and Sasha shortly after, giving you a genuine, warm smile before de-equipping the gear from his sides.

You leaned against the wall with a groan, massaging at your temples in an attempt to relieve the tension in your head.

"You okay?" Sasha questioned, joining you on the wall as her body turned to you with concern.

"Yeah... Yeah I'm fine." You sigh, releasing your hand from your forehead. "It's just... I don't know... I'm just not used to seeing all this destruction. Until now, we've been fighting titans—not humans. I don't like all this death and destruction. It's so... unnecessary. I hate it." You state flatly, freely dumping all your worries to the auburn-haired girl. Despite what one might think at first, she was amazing at comforting people, and was always there when something was keeping you awake at night, or nagging at you during a day off.

"Babe, I get what you're feeling." She soothes, grabbing you by the shoulders and pulling you in, gently setting her hand on the back of your head to guide it to your shoulder. You silently complied. "This all is awful. That's no lie. It shouldn't have happened. But it isn't your fault, either." She said, running her fingers through your hair. "The responsibility is all on Eren. He started this, not you. Don't ever feel guilty about this."

You didn't respond verbally, instead tilting your head into her neck, allowing her to comfort you for a little while longer, indulging in the rare moment of vulnerability.

The moment was, once again, short lived, as a loud shout startled you out of your spot in the crook of Sasha's neck.

"It's our time to celebrate! The first battle of the new Eldian empire has ended in victory! We won!" It was the voice of Floch, a soldier you had soon grown to hate over your years of knowing him. Not only for his comments towards Armin, but also his support of the attack. He seemed not to care about the lives of Marleyans, rather caring about the success of prosperity of Paradis, or as he called it, "the New Eldian Empire".

"Ignore him." Sasha spoke to you, understanding how easily he would get under your skin. Soon, she started walking over to where Jean and Connie were standing, talking amongst themselves. You followed her wordlessly, deciding that distracting yourself with conversation would be the best option for now.

"Have you heard anything from Lobov?" You managed to pick up Connie saying, once you were in earshot.

"He should be coming up just about now." Jean responded, and you and Sasha took your places next to the two of them.

Sasha opened her mouth to speak, but immediately froze in her place, mouth slightly agape and eyes widened. She turned back to look at the opened airship door in confusion.

"Did you hear that?" She asked, turning back to the group. You, Connie, and Jean all exchanged confused looks for a minute, before Jean cleared his throat, preparing to speak.

"Hey, everyone, quiet down!" He shouted, attempting to gain control of the rowdy soldiers.

"Celebrate! It's our victory!" Floch raised his fist in the air, prompting everyone else to do the same, the group erupting into shouts and cheers.

"Hey!" Jean yelled louder this time, but to no avail.

You turned back to the airship door, scanning where Sasha had looked at moments prior, checking for any possible threats. You were about to turn back around, but an arm hoisting itself onto the airship caught your attention.

You froze in horror, watching as the soldier—a child soldier—rolled aboard the deck, a furious and determined look on her face as she pointed her rifle right into the crowd. Right at Sasha.

There was no time to think it out, to assess the situation—anything.

Without any hesitation, you lurched forwards to tackle Sasha and protect her from the—

*BANG*

The shot rang out, and even after the sound faded, a ring in your ears persisted, blocking out any and all noise around you.

The bullet shell clinked to the ground, and the soldier gazed on in bewilderment at what she'd done, finding herself shocked and unable to reload.

Jean took a quick glance at you and Sasha, both of you on the ground, blood already spilling onto the ground, and his mind clouded with rage. Without thinking, he drew his pistol from his waistband, drawing it up to his shoulder level and shooting back at the soldier.

Another soldier, also a child, a blonde one this time, climbed aboard right after, tackling the girl to the ground and saving her from the bullet, which ricocheted off of the metal beams of the airship and shot back at Jean, narrowly missing his face.

The other soldiers seemed to have gotten a hold of their senses, as they suddenly let out furious screams, charging towards the two children and relentlessly beating them, anger clouding their thoughts.

Sasha groaned from her position on the floor, dark vision finally materializing. She stirred, looking around and trying to gauge what had just happened, raising her hand to her forehead to try and push some of her hair out of her face. To her horror, though, the hand was wet. It was uncomfortably warm, yet characteristically crimson. Her gaze shifted to you in horror, still having your arms tucked protectively around her, shielding her from harm.

"Y/n!" She shouted, yanking you off of her, not realizing in the heat of the moment that that might hurt you. Your clothes were stained with blood, and you let out an involuntary groan in pain as you started to regain your senses.

"Y/n, come on! Where are you bleeding?! Where... where—?!" She searched frantically, her blood running cold and face paling as her hands grew bloodier and bloodier the more she searched. "Come on...!"

Suddenly, you moved your arm, grabbing Sasha's by the wrist and moving her hand away.

"S... Sash, stop, that hurts..." You mumble through clenched teeth, trying your hardest not to let Sasha realize the extent of your injury. Clearly, though, it wasn't working, as she only looked even more panicked at the thought of accidentally hurting you.

"Y/n... I..." She chocked out, tears starting to cloud her eyes as she desperately looked for something to do, something that could possibly help you in this situation.

"Bandages!" She suddenly shouted, "I need bandages! Somebody!!!"

You wince as your own hand starts to roam your torso, looking for the bullet hole. You let out a quiet sigh of relief when you located it—on your shoulder, close to your collarbone. Despite all the blood, it had thankfully missed any vital organs or major arteries.

"Here... Sasha..." You muttered, causing Sasha's head to snap back to your direction at your words. Your hand was cupped over the wound, as if it would stop the bleeding. Still, it signaled to Sasha where exactly the injury was, and you saw some of the tension lift in her face at the realization that it was a fairly nonfatal location, luckily. She took a deep breath in before speaking.

"Shhh... It's okay Y/n." She finally collected herself, calming herself down just enough to comfort you, just like she always had. "Lay down, take deep breaths, don't panic." She instructed, her hands gently pushing you down by your shoulders, and you did as she said wordlessly, being too tired to mutter any sort of affirmation to her.

Another soldier tossed her the roll of bandages, and she immediately started to unwind it, placing it on the wound and wrapping it around and under your armpit with swift precision and caution so uncharacteristic of her.

"Here, this should stop the bleeding a bit. You'll be okay, you'll be just fine..." She mumbled, though it seemed she was reassuring herself more than she was reassuring you.

You laid there in silence, staring up at the ceiling above you—occasionally grunting or wincing at the waves of pain that shot through you. Though, you somewhat reveled in the feeling of your lover carefully wrapping the bandage around your shoulder, taking great caution not to hurt you in any way.

You lolled your head to the other side, staring curiously at her. She was too focused to notice you at first, her tongue poking out of her mouth in concentration. Her skin was still somewhat pale, and adorned with a thin sheen of sweat, from the sudden panic and stress.

Finally, she finished wrapping up the bandage, cutting it from the roll and throwing it haphazardly to the side. Sighing, she gazed down at you, only now realizing you had been staring. She didn't seem to mind though, only reaching her hand down to cup your cheek, the warmth of your skin being a soothing reminder that you were still here—with her. You leaned into her hand, also enjoying the warmth of her skin.

She brushed the loose strands of hair out of your face, leaning down to plant a warm kiss on your lips, smiling as she pulled away, pressing her forehead to yours. You let out a small chuckle before placing your hand on her neck, pulling her down for another kiss.

Once separated, you slowly sat up, pulling yourself into a sitting position with all of the strength you could muster up.

"Ah, Y/n, try not to move so much..." Sasha mutters, worry dripping carelessly into her tone as her hands find your shoulders, guiding you to sit against the wall.

"I'm alright, it's... not so bad." You turned to smile at her weakly, trying to hide the pain's effect on you. It was in vain, however, as Sasha saw through your act quickly.

"No, you're not. Here—" She moved towards you, hooking her arm under your knees, the other one finding your lower back. Slowly, she stood up, carrying you bridal style. You instinctively curled into her chest like a child, gripping onto her shirt as a way to ground you.

To your dismay, though, she eventually stopped, gently laying you down on an old, stiff mattress. One of the infamous beds of the infirmary.

"C'mon, you need rest." She cooed, fluffing your pillow and lifting your head to place it under you. Carefully, she pushed you to the side, making just enough room for her to squeeze into the bed with you. She tucked the blanket over the two of you, lying on her side and facing you, your back turned to her.

She snaked her arm around your waist, pulling you closer and spooning you as gently as possible, as if you were glass, ready to shatter.

You closed your eyes, already feeling sleep and exhaustion taking over your body, the tension and pain slowly dissolving from your muscles.

The silence didn't last long, though.

"Why did you do that?" She finally spoke. Her voice was weak and shaky, trying her hardest to fight off the tears pricking at the corner of her eyes. "Why did you save me?"

"Why wouldn't I?" You rebutted almost immediately, like it was the simplest question she could've asked you.

"You could've gotten killed..." She whispered, pulling you closer to her, trying to get as much skin to skin contact as possible.

"So?" You shifted, turning your head around to face her, staring her down. A twinge of sadness poked at your heart at the sight of the tears in her eyes. You instinctively moved your hands to wipe them away. "I couldn't imagine a world where I would live without you, knowing I had the option to save you and didn't choose it."

She sniffled again, not fighting the tears that escaped her eyes. "But what would I have done if I lost you? I wouldn't know what to do... I couldn't live with myself if that happened."

"You don't gotta worry about that..." You mumbled, kissing away her tears. "No matter what, I'm not leaving you, and I trust you won't ever leave me. After all," You smiled warmly, causing a shy blush to rise to her cheeks. "We still have to get married after the war, and settle down in the forest with a few kids, just like you always said you dreamed of."

She smiled, a hopeful look sparking in her eyes. "Yeah, guess so."

You turned your head back over, closing you eyes.

"I promise you, I'll never leave you. Remember that."

"Of course," She smiles, leaning into the nape of your neck and inhaling your scent. "Of course I know that. I trust you."

"Love you..."

"Love you too."

This would probably be better if I didn't shoe-horn it in at 12AM but whatever, it's not super bad

[kariachi]

To make up for hurting Angelo’s heart earlier- some soft domesticy Osmobeast fic.

~~

There were multiple reasons Gar let his man know ahead of time when he intended to come back home to the apartment. Expecting him meant that Kevin had a much shorter moment of paranoia when the door opened. Zed was generally being distracted so he didn’t have to worry about her waiting in front of the door like a tense spring to knock him back into the hall. When stepping inside and getting hit with the smell of cooking meat, he could be certain there was another option already available.

Zed dropped her bone as Gar shut the door behind him, beelining and yet still reaching his side after Kevin.

“Babe,” he said, draping his arms around his shoulders.

“Beautiful,” Gar replied, hands automatically finding Kevin’s hips as he leaned up for a gentle kiss and felt every knot of tension in him melt away.

“Everything good?”

“As it ever is. Just missed you.” It’d been thirty-two hours that felt more like thirty-two years. Time somehow always managed to move slower when they were apart and nearby than when one of them was out of town. Laughing, Kevin kissed him again before he could pull away, their smiles mirrors. “How about you?”

“Had to make myself a pot roast or I was going to actually die,” he said with a shrug, “but otherwise, pretty standard. Chili in the other slow cooker for you.”

“Thanks, hun.” Reluctantly pulling apart, Gar gave Zed customary scratches and ‘good girl’s before following Kevin into the kitchen. There was already a bowl of chili and some biscuits sat on the table for him when he arrived and he immediately went to grab some honey out of the cabinet. “These biscuits look a lot less uniform than usual.”

“That’s because they’re homemade, so if something seems off please don’t keep eating them.” Gar blinked and stared a bit as Kevin threw his own serving of good together. “Remember when Zak and his brothers came over and we served them the Pillsbury stuff?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Yeah, he sent me a recipe- his gran’s- and a promise of surprise inspections in the future.” Snorting, Gar shook his head as Kevin sat down across from him with a smile. “So, I figured practicing would be a good idea. Like I said, if they suck don’t bother, Ben’s gonna be by tomorrow and I can force them on him.” Ever the supportive partner, Gar ignored the chili he knew from experience would be good and instead took a pointedly large bite of biscuit, sending Kevin chuckling. It wasn’t quite burnt, but it was a closer thing than he preferred.

“Could’ve done with a bit less time in the oven,” he admitted, loathe as he was to do so, “but other than that it’s fine.” It was a biscuit, he wasn’t exactly a connoisseur. It was too dry to be light and fluffy, but it was still perfectly edible and damnit he was eating it. Shaking his head, Kevin put a piece of roast that was really more fat than meat onto one of his own and went to town.

“I’ll take them out a few minutes early next time,” he said as he did. “Hopefully they’ll come out better.”

“I’m sure they’ll be perfect.” Kevin snorted with a smile and another headshake.

“Don’t get your hopes too high, Mossball.” Gar just flashed a grin around a mouthful of chili.

“Too late,” he said once he’d swallowed, gently kicking Kevin’s calf under the table, “my faith in you is insurmountable.”

[yuta-nakamots]

we go up - l.mk

Pairing - Mark x Reader

Genre - Fluff, College!AU

Warnings - one single mention of sex but no descriptions of it

Summary - Growing up was a part of life. Though you were scared of all that the future holds, you looked forward to going through it all with Mark right by your side.

Word Count - 4.2k

A/N - this was supposed to be released 4 days ago ahaha I passed all my classes so that’s really what matters. anyways, here’s this fic to celebrate Milly’s 3 years on Tumblr and 5 years for me and my blog

Written for the Moodboard Collab hosted by @bumblebeenct​​. Also part of the Neowinter Festival hosted by @czennienet.

Song: We Go Up. Color Set: #1.

Never would you have thought that you’d be on the path to living in the real world so soon. Summers were for relaxing and having fun but you’ll never regret jumping at the opportunity to travel the world with Mark Lee instead.

Mark’s parents were executives for a travelling company that offered a variety of trips all over the world. You knew it was part of their job to visit those countries and survey the different options available and put together plans based on them but with Mark having just graduated from college and you going into your final year, it was soon to be a job shared by both of you as well.

It hasn’t been long since you first began dating him, in fact, it hadn’t been long since you first met him on your first day on campus. Both of you were moving in on the same day and crossed paths as you were lugging your two loaded suitcases in through the main entrance of the dormitory. Your family hadn’t come with you, putting their faith in you to make it to your school on your own, so you could only guess how pitiful you must’ve looked to others.

“Hey those look pretty heavy, I can help you with that if you’d like,” you looked up to find the owner of the voice and were met by a handsome boy with a smile you’d never forget, “my name is Mark, by the way.”

“Uh, y/n, nice to meet you and yeah, actually, if you could take this one it would help me so much.” You told him as you pulled up the smaller of the two suitcases.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to take the larger one? I can handle it.” He looked at you with eyes full of interest, his pupils almost resembling boba thanks to the odd lighting in the hall.

You shook your head before turning to head to the elevator, “I only just met you, I wouldn’t make you do this. Besides, it’s not even that much heavier than the other one.”

“Alright, whatever you say. What floor are you on though? I can help you move in if you don’t have anyone else.” He offered kindly.

“I’m on the third floor,” you informed him, “but don’t you have somewhere to be? You couldn’t have just been sitting around in the lobby.”

You say his expression morph into one of panic before quickly relaxing, “oh, I was just on my way to the university center to pick up my keys and get my mail. Gosh, you made me think I was late to something important.” The laugh he let out was so full and loud, it felt as if it were reaching out to you.

“Are you sure you don’t have anything else you should be doing?” You question as you pressed the button for the elevator. “I’d hate to be the reason why you missed a meeting or something.”

Mark pulled out his phone as both of you waited for the elevator. “No, I’m pretty sure I don’t have anything else planned for today. I just had to move in earlier and that’s it, I don’t have any solid plans.” The doors opened and let out a few other people, who you guessed were also students, before you and Mark stepped in.

“I just met you though,” you pointed out, “how do I know that you’re not some weirdo that’s gonna try steal my stuff?”

He raised an eyebrow at you. “Really? I mean, not like in a bad way ‘really’ but I can promise you that I’m not trying to do anything bad.”

You hummed in mock sarcasm, “mmhmm, that’s what they all say.”

“If you don’t believe me I’ll give you my number if you want or like my room number, even-”

“Mark I was just joking dude.” You laughed, amused by how gullible the boy was.

“Oh…” he breathed, relief settling over him as the doors opened up to the third floor, “but can I still get your number though?”

“Beat me to my room and I’ll think about it.” You took off running in a random direction, unsure which way you were even supposed to go in.

Mark followed close behind, “wait but I don’t even know which room number to look for!”

“Maybe that’s the point!” You shout back.

continue as always, wild and free

Though he did not make it to your room before you, you still gave him your phone number to thank him for helping you with your luggage. Mark was kind enough to stay and help you unpack your things and get your room set up. He even accompanied you to get dinner from the cafeteria since it was already getting late by the time the two of you finished unloading everything.

Over the next few days before classes, you hung out with Mark and any other freshmen that you happened to run into. You found out that Mark was a business major and planned to minor in tourism industry management. As for you, your major was biology with a focus in ecology.

Mark seemed to love sharing about himself as seen from the way he eagerly told you about the company his parents worked for and how he was interested in someday becoming a part of it which was why he chose his intended path of study. You had come in the college with the intent of wanting to make a difference in the world and help tackle one of the biggest global issues, which is climate change, leading you to your chosen track.

Mark was a great listener and seemed genuinely interested in everything you had to say. If he thought anything was lame or dumb, he hid it very well because he seemed to be picking up all the information you put down. You had come in knowing that most people in large corporations didn’t think much about the environment. Either Mark was faking it to keep his new friendship with you or he genuinely held the same beliefs as you. You chose to believe it was the latter.

All throughout your first year in college together you and Mark stuck together, always preferring each others company, even within the large group of friends you managed to accumulate with him. Luckily he was only one floor above you so he wasn’t far away at all. If you ever needed anything, he really was ‘one call away’ and would come running even if it was just to catch a bug in your room.

Freshmen year came and went, both you and Mark went back home for summer vacation and came back to campus as sophomores. You both kept in touch and regularly updated each other on things like Mark’s trip to Britain with his parents. That was the first real glimpse you had into his dreams and goals for his future. Meanwhile you just ranted to him about all the terrible customers that came in at your part-time job, though he didn’t seem to mind at all and always offered you his company.

Sophomore year was when he asked you to be his girlfriend. After the two of you had eaten dinner together as usual and were walking back to the dorms, that was when he had finally made a move. “So, uh, I know this may be kind of sudden but I actually really like you.” He told you.

You looked up at him as you continued walking next to him. “And in what way, exactly?”

“In a ‘I like you as more than just a friend’ kind of way.” He replied, looking down at the leaf-covered sidewalk.

“Well lucky for you, I might just like you in the same way.” Mark’s head shot up and his eyes met yours.

He blinked rapidly and his gaze never left yours, as if searching for the truth. “Wait, like really?”

“Yes, really.” You pulled him closer to you so he wouldn’t walk right into the tree that was coming up.

“Does that mean you’ll be my girlfriend?” He asked after mumbling a quick ‘thank you’.

You stopped walking and turned to face him. “If you ask properly then I don’t see why not.”

“Oh, uh,” his eyes flitted left to right before finally settling on yours, “will you be my girlfriend?”

“No.” You tried to hold your laughter in the way his eyes widened but you just couldn’t. “Of course I’ll be your girlfriend you stupid! I didn’t say all of that for nothing, oh my gosh you really are so gullible.”

Mark’s mouth opened slightly before he closed it again and then burst out going “don’t do that to me for crying out loud! You don’t even know how I was actually about to cry if you said no just now.”

You grabbed his hand and quickly interlaced your fingers with his. “There, I’m sorry. Do you feel better now? Do you want me to kiss you to make you feel better?”

“Uh, yes? To both?” He spoke, still shaken from earlier.

You raised his hand to your lips, kissing that back of his hand with a smile. “Thank you for choosing me.”

i’m gonna try flying a little further

Things continued on in this way in your relationship, always keeping things lighthearted and never too serious. Thankfully both of you had past dating experience and weren’t completely clueless on how to act toward each other. One thing led to the next and you had your first kiss with him the day he was leaving to go home for winter break. “I love you, stay safe, don’t die.” You called out to him as he got into his uber.

“Got it babes, love you too.” He sent you a kiss before shutting the door which you happily caught and held to your heart.

It was during that break that the two of you told your parents about each other and things went surprisingly smooth of both ends. Mark had even informed you that his parents were interested in meeting you after he told them about your field of study. “Yeah they were so intrigued by it! They’ve been looking into more sustainable and eco-friendly options for a while now so I think this must’ve struck a chord with them.” He chattered excitedly over the phone.

“Dude, don’t make me even more nervous about meeting them-”

“Hold up, did you just call me dude?” He questioned.

“It’s not like you don’t call me dude as well.” You commented.

Mark let out a laugh on his end. “Alright, fair enough. But not to alarm you or anything, but they said that I could bring you along for one of our trips during summer if you’re down.”

“Oh my gosh, seriously?” You exclaimed.

“Yes, seriously,” he confirmed, amused at your enthusiasm, “should I tell them that you’re interested?”

“Mark is that even a question? Of course I’m interested.” Your excitement was almost bubbling over from the way everything seemed to be working in favor of you and Mark.

The next summer, you did indeed tag along with Mark and his parents to who were more than happy to meet you and share information on their company while visiting Nevada. Mark wasn’t lying when he said that you interests ‘struck a chord’ with them. Sometimes it seemed like you were more like their child than he was with how much his parents talked with you about possible green options to inquire for. It was thanks to them that you decided to minor in tourism industry management like Mark, even though it would set you behind one year in graduation.

Going into your junior year, you were able to put together a small scrapbook of sorts with all the pictures from the trip to Nevada and gave it to Mark to celebrate your one year anniversary. “Wait, when did you even take that picture of me though?” He asked while looking at the picture of him spread out on a hotel bed like a starfish.

“You smacked me with your arm so I woke up and it was like, seven in the morning so I decided to just fool around and take pictures of you,” you explained with a smile on your face, “if you look in that bottom corner, you can see my foot because I had to stand over you but not too closely so my legs were like a triangle over you.”

Mark shook his head as he laughed at your antics before gently closing the book. “I love you, you know that right?” He placed a kiss on your cheek and sat back to adore you with his eyes practically sparkling.

“How could I not? I’d be worried that you may not know that I love you.” You told him playfully, setting the scrapbook aside and straddling his lap.

“Baby, that’s the last thing you need to worry about.” His voice fell into its lower ranges as he began kissing you in a way he never has before. It was on that night, the night of your first anniversary that the two of you made love for the first time in your shared campus apartment.

make me beautiful in the memories

When you brought Mark home for the holidays, your family was more than thrilled to meet him and you thanked whatever supreme being existed out there for blessing you with him. He got along well with your parents and even became a favorite of all the younger kids, especially when he joined them in making a snowman out in front of your house.

“Look y/n! Marky helped us start building a snowman!” Your younger sister exclaimed before running off once again to join some of your cousins.

You watched as Mark helped them roll the largest ball of snow around the yard until it was at least a third of his height. “Come join us y/n!” He called out. “You can get the rocks and sticks to make his arms and face.”

One of your younger cousins came by to join you as you sifted through the snow to find nice rocks to use. “When are you and Marky getting married?” He asked.

“Married? We’ve only been together for a year.” You told the little boy.

“Oh, hmm, well it’s never too early to start thinking.” He decided before finding a cute little stick that he deemed fit to function as a nose for the snowman.

You joined Mark in rolling the second ball of snow while the kids made the last one. “So what was that I heard about getting married?” He questioned.

Suddenly your cheeks felt warm and your eyes darted away from him and back to the mound of snow in front of you. “Uh, nothing, one of the kids just was asking if we plan on getting married.”

“He’s right, you know,” Mark spoke quietly, “it’s never too early to start thinking about it.”

“I mean, we’re still so young though.” You told him.

“That doens’t mean I don’t see myself having a future with you.” Mark commented as he picked up the ball of compacted snow.

“Gosh, you’re so chessy. What next? Names for our kids?” You joke as you watch him place the ball on top of the largest one at his knees.

He winked at you once the snowman had his torso complete. “Already on it.”

Spring semester was spent planning for Mark’s graduation in the following year and getting the classes for your minor arranged. His parents invited you to go with them to Hawai’i which you politely declined, as you did not know much about the people and culture and did not have time to accurately research before going thanks to all the summer classes you were taking to ensure that you’d graduate on time.

You and Mark decided to live off campus for his last year in college and though it was inconvenient to have to cook your own meals and walk a little bit further to get to school, it was all worth it when you got to make the memories you did with him.

“So you just crack the egg and drop it in the pan?” He hesitated, the said egg hovering over the edge of the frying pan.

You rolled your eyes at him, “Mark, how many times do I have to tell you? You just crack it and let it fall into the pan. It’s not that hard.”

He mocked your expression after you said ‘it’s not that hard’ as he cracked the egg into the pan, yelping at the way the oil splashed up at him. You left to freshen up a bit, having been woken up by the ruckus Mark had made in the kitchen only to come back five minutes later to another bout of him yelling for help. “What now?”

“I, uhh, I think I burned the egg.” His face was tinged with shame as you came over to the stove, sliding the egg in question onto a plate before lifting its side to see that it was indeed burnt.

“I don’t know how you manage to burn an egg after I leave you for such a short amount of time.” You tell him as you pull another one out from the refrigerator. “Here, try again. You’re lucky it’s the weekend.”

“You’re not gonna let me stop until I’ve successfully cooked an egg, huh?” You shook your head to answer his question, causing Mark to let out a sigh before going to add a little more oil to the pan.

look time fly, we fly, changes come with time

Days like that were normal for the two of you, though more often than not, you chose to order food since Mark was clearly not very trustworthy in the kitchen and you weren’t all that better yourself.

Living with Mark was not always happy and fun, though. Sometimes the two of you fought and sometimes it was over the smallest things like how he didn’t put his clothes into his hamper after changing out of them or how you’d leave your belongings strewn about the apartment.

Being with him taught you that a relationship is a two-way thing. Everyone has their flaws and if you truly love someone, you’ll learn to work with them to get solve problems that arise or get around them.

Getting to live with Mark and see him everyday was certainly a lot more convenient, especially when both of you were swamped with finals and had little to no time to go out on an actual date. Falling asleep in each others arms and waking up to the sight of the other was enough for those times. In those mornings where you woke up before Mark and didn’t want to get out of bed just yet, you took the time to be thankful for the path of life you were on and how thankful you were to have met the boy in front of you.

It was moments like those that made it all worth it.

When Mark graduated in the following spring, you sat in the crowd alongside his parents, watching him and your past classmates walk across the stage and receive their diplomas.

“Ah, he looks just the same as when he graduated from high school.” His mother commented. She even pulled up his old pictures and showed them to you, making you laugh at how cute he was back then. You could hear his voice in your head, whining about how he’s not cute but you paid it no mind.

The rush of emotion you felt when the name ‘Mark Lee’ was called and he stepped out in his cap and gown was truly something else. You stood up and cheered alongside the rest of his friends who were seated around you, the bunch of you only getting louder when his head jerked in your direction and he smiled and waved to you all.

the reason why i can be fearless is because you’re looking at me with your two eyes

“That’s going to be you next year, you know.” Mark’s father stated nodding over to where Mark was playfully chest-bumping his fellow graduates. “Okay, well not like that, but you know what I mean.”

You let out a laugh as you watched Mark stumble and nearly fall. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

“Do you have any plans for summer, dear?” His mother inquired.

“I have a few classes from June through July but I believe I do not have anything for the latter half of June until school starts again in August.” You informed her.

“Would you like to come along with us to Paris then? We missed you greatly last year and felt you would have enjoyed the experience more than Mark did.” She explained as she pulled up more pictures of Mark though this time it was him in a botanically garden getting scared from all the bugs. “I’ll send this one to you.”

You thanked her with a smile on your face and graciously accepted her offer to travel with them to Paris. Mark was over the moon when he heard that you’d be going with them, especially since this was going to be the first time he’d be allowed to lead the meetings and events.

It felt like school hadn’t even finished from the way you went right back to work for your summer courses and Mark got to putting together his first few projects for the company. He was intent on showing the executives that he was a fully capable individual and was not trying to simple ride off of his parents achievements. You were proud of him for that.

By the time you all got to Paris, it felt like a much needed breath of fresh air from the constant hustle of school and work. One of the first places Mark took you to was one of the local night markets near the hotel you were staying at. You pulled out your light blue polaroid camera which Mark had gotten awfully used to within these past few years and took multiple pictures of him eating street food and walking around under the stringed lights.

i need you right here

“Oh, that fountain looks kinda cool.” He exclaimed, walking out of frame.

“Mark you can’t just do that when I’m about to take your pict-”

“Yeah yeah, you can take pictures here instead. It looks prettier.” You both paused to admire the sculpting of the stone and the way the water and the coins at the bottom of the fountain glittered under the night lights. Mark sat down at the edge of the fountain after a bit. “Here, you can take them now.”

You took a few before handing of the camera to him so he could take a few of you. “Have you ever thought that this is where we’d be after all this time?” He asked after giving the camera back to you and joining you next to the fountain. “Like, back when we were freshmen, we didn’t know where we’d be within the next few years and here we are, together, three years later.”

“I think you’re jet-lagged, babe, but yeah I see what you mean.” You agreed, falling into the rhythm of the way the water spilled over from the top tier into the lower ones and out from there into the base at the bottom. “We went from clueless freshmen to young adults breaking out into the real world.”

You watched as Mark dug around in his pocket, pulling out a single coin and enclosing it in a fist. “I wish for things to stay the same- no, for us to- wait, no, I wish for us to remain happy together while facing all the challenges that our lives have to offer us.” With that, he tossed the coin into the fountain and you both followed it as it sunk to the floor.

He pulled another coin out and offered it to you. “I wish…” you began, trailing off as you thought of what more you could possibly say, “I wish for us to stay together for as long as time allows and that we will get to watch each other grow and fulfill whatever plans that life has for us.”

As your coin hit the bottom, Mark pulled you in for a hug. “I really do love you, you know.”

“Yeah I know.” You hugged him back, enjoying the feeling of his arms around you.

“Look at me, babe.” He whispered, causing you to glance up at him. Whatever you were about to say was cut off by Mark’s lips against yours.

It felt like nothing else mattered at that moment. Nothing except your lips against his, his arms around you, your hearts and souls connecting as one.

we go up

[brendaaaa]

Happy Pair of Dinguses (Robin Buckley x fem!Reader)

“Y/n, I think we’re almost done!” Robin exclaimed excitedly from her chair beside you. You nodded, grooving your body to the Bon Jovi blasting out of Robin’s baby blue stereo. “I think so too, babe.”

You held up one of the last few puzzle pieces, squinting at it and turning it to the side curiously. It was brown with a green streak across it. “The hell is this?” You muttered to yourself, glancing at the reference image and trying to figure where it could possibly fit. “What do you think Stevie would say if he saw us?” Robin giggled, referencing your guys’ dingus best friend. You mimicked his voice, “Figures that you band and choir nerds would be doing a puzzle. Why am I friends with you again?” Robin laughed and joined in, “This can’t get out. No one can know that my best friends are so lame! It’ll be the death of me!” You both cackled together, enjoying the lovely activity of making fun of Steve. Yes, he was a douche, but your experience under the mall had bonded you three forever. You and Robin in a more-than-friends way, all three of you as possibly the strangest trio of besties that Hawkins had ever seen. Steve was mostly over the fact that you and your girlfriend were complete geeks, but he occasionally had moments where he would worry about how you two affected his popularity status. “Oh oh!” Robin exclaimed suddenly, snatching the piece you had been fretting over out of your hand. “I know where this goes!” She placed it in the correct spot. “What?” You exclaimed, sputtering. “I- right there?” Robin smiled cheesily at you with her eyes closed, “Puzzles can be deceiving, my love.” And that was true. Your puzzle was very difficult. It was abstract. It had squares, triangles and circles in various colors. It was a thousand-piecer in her dining room that you two had been working on in spare moments for days. Today you decided to actually sit down and finish it.

As of right now, you only had like twenty or so pieces left, but they were difficult pieces to place. “Yess!” Robin held up one of her hands and slapped it, giving herself a congratulatory high five. “Another one bites the dust,” she pointed at where she had just put in another piece. “Good job, babe,” you gave her a pat on the shoulder, trying not to be jealous that you hadn’t put in a piece in at least twenty minutes. It wasn’t your fault that Robin was insanely good at puzzles, as well as very proud of her skills.

You took a sip out of your glass of water, and the radio changed to play the song Paradise City, and you began to move with the sweet sounds of Slash’s guitar, and you sang along when the lyrics began. “Take me down to the paradise city, where the grass is green and the girls are pretty,” you sang in a falsetto voice, shooting a suggestive look at Robin, who bobbed her head to the music.

“Oop, another one!” she popped the reddish-yellow piece between her fingers into its rightful place. You groaned, half-joking, half-annoyed that you were struggling so bad.

You selected a yellow piece from the scattering of options that remained. “See this?” you held it right up to your girlfriend’s face. “I’m going to find this one’s place,” you promised, “I swear it!” She crossed her eyes at it, a laugh escaping her lips, and shook her head, grabbing a puzzle piece of her own. “Whatever y/n.”

You rolled your eyes at her, leaning in towards the table, intensely staring at the almost completed puzzle. Your impatience grew as you couldn’t find it, and as Robin kept inching closer to the finish.

Eventually, you just had to take a break. “Robin, I’m going to get some more water, kay?” She peered at you, trying to figure out what was up, “Okay. Don’t be long. We’re so close to finishing,” she gestured in front of her.

You nodded, grabbing your empty water glass, pushing your unkempt hair out of your face and walked to the kitchen, where you poured refilled your cup with water from the tap, leaning against the counter. You mentally shamed yourself for getting so frustrated with yourself at not being able to a stupid puzzle.

You weren’t exactly a perfectionist, but you were far from being okay with failure. You kept telling yourself that it was just something you needed to work through, but it seemed to never get better. You stood there for a moment, just staring at the oven door handle, lost in thought when Robin’s voice called you back to reality.

“Y/nnnnnnnn!” “What?” You called back. “Ready to put the last piece in, babe?” she asked, and you walked back to the dining room, confused. “Wait, aren’t you just going to finish it?” you said, brow furrowing. “No, no. You get to do the honors,” she held out the final piece, a blue one with a little orange in the corner. You felt a smile tugging at your lips as you took it from her, sitting down. “Right there,” she pointed to the only blank space still available. “Let’s do a countdown,” you suggested, and she smiled, “okay.” You made eye contact, “1…” Robin giggled with her adorable laugh that won you over every day. “2…” you said unison. “3…” you put the piece in, and it was a magical feeling, wrapping up all the loose ends, and completing this puzzle once and for all. You looked up at Robin, who had her head tilted and was smiling at you in a happy admiring way. “I love you, you know,” you blurted out, dead serious. Her eyebrows went up, and the corners of her lips perked up. She opened her mouth but nothing came out. You grinned at her. Not much that you said could ever make Robin Buckley speechless. This had done the trick apparently. “I-” she stuttered through her words, “Y/n, I love you too,” and you took her hand in yours, and like a happy pair of dinguses, you smiled at one another, lost in each other’s eyes.

Word Count: 1038

[kisskeiji]

P R O L O G U E

Lost & Found

WARNINGS: language, cheating, violence (?) 

 When it comes to love, we all expect a fairy tale, a happy ending where the prince and the princess stay together forever and ever. Where love remains untouched even when time passes by. In real life, that fairy tale means a future together, the need for domesticity and endless support from and for your loved one, at least, that's what she thought, and she was fine with daydreaming about a life together with the man she spent the last four years with.

Y/N was hardworking, in fact, sometimes, she was too much of a hard worker, pushing herself to the limit to fulfill all her goals. As a mass communication major, she studied hard every day and tried to keep up with everyone’s expectations, including her own. As a bartender, she worked every night at some popular bar to pay for rent, school and basic needs. Even when she came home at ungodly hours and passed out from exhaustion she was always up in time to get ready to head to class. As a daughter, she tried to make her parents proud by doing her best at school, catching up with them weekly and sharing all she could. As a sister and friend, she was doting and always available, up to anything, the type to make you laugh and stay with you at your lowest. And even with her hectic lifestyle where she barely had time for herself; she was a girlfriend.

Y/N was devoted.

She had more love inside her than she could ever handle. She loved with everything she had, and if she loved and cared for her friends and family, all her adoration and devotion was focused on her boyfriend, Iwaizumi Hajime. She loved the man dearly, he was the reason why she worked so hard, the reason why she kept going even when her own body screamed for help, and she tried so hard to make him happy and proud. So proud that he could see a future with her by his side. She wanted nothing more, even if it meant leaving a lot of opportunities behind just to be by his side.

You see, after being in a long-distance relationship for a little over a year, they both thought they could go through anything and still be there for each other. They both promised to never be apart for that long again, they couldn’t take it.

Everyone rooted for them, they saw their love bloom, grow and go through one of the roughest patches in every relationship. For everyone, including them, their love was invincible. Stronger than any bond. The type of love that lasts forever. But lately the love they both professed to each other was often overlooked, more like, all her sacrifices and efforts were not enough proof of how much she loved him.

She noticed. Of course, she did. When she started to stay more hours studying for her upcoming finals, when she took longer shifts at the bar and spent more time out rather than home. She noticed how his eyes lingered on her when she got up to get ready for school and how much he longed for her touch. She also noticed when he stopped.

‘He thinks I don’t love him’ She thought to herself. And she tried, she really did. By cooking his breakfast and lunch everyday before leaving, by leaving sticky notes where he could see them, by kissing him goodnight and texting him all through the day to check up on him. And still it was not enough.

Acts of service could never replace the value of intimacy and physical touch, and she knew that.

‘Just a little longer’ she tried to convince herself everyday when she walked home from work. ‘It will all be worth it.’

And that comes down to this very moment, when she opened the door of their  shared apartment with fatigue numbing her limbs and making her feel dizzy. She left her bag right beside her shoes and walked in. Something was off, that was all she could think of when she made her way to the living room.

A moan.

Her breath hitched for a second and with fear she looked up, finding Iwaizumi kissing another girl on the kitchen counter both missing many clothing items.

The world stopped. She couldn’t think of anything else more than the scene that unraveled in front of her. Was she dreaming? Because it was not funny, it felt more like a nightmare. The numbness of her limbs travelled all the way until it reached every part of her body. Tears gathering in her eyes but never falling. She just walked backwards trying to run away but at the same time unable to stop looking at him as heartbreaking the scene was, her eyes were on him filled with hurt and disgust.

Taking a deep breath, she turned around on her heels and tried to walk away, to her disgrace, her presence was sensed by the girl who was now in Hajime´s arms. Terrified she pulled away and told him to turn around and fear invaded his body. He turned around and saw her pick up her bag and leave the apartment without a word.

“Y/N!” He called.

“Who was that?” the girl asked petrified.

“My girlfriend.” He replied looking for his phone dialing her number.

“You had a girlfriend?” She asked. She didn’t know. When he didn’t answer her question, she hopped off the counter and tried to gather her clothes to get dressed.

He pulled his pants up and throwing his shirt on he ran after her. When he got to the hallway, he saw her on the elevator, pushing the closing button repeatedly for it to close faster.

“Y/N!” He screamed. She looked at him with nothing but pain in her eyes. His heart dropped “Babe. Babe please listen to me; I can explain but please come back.” He tried to talk to her making his way as fast as possible, but the doors closed right before he could reach her.

 Once she was out of his sight her shoulders dropped and released all the air she was holding in.

‘What the fuck is going on?’

Even when no one was watching the state of shock took all over her body, she just stared at her distorted reflection with blank eyes. A loud ‘ding’ followed by the doors opening brought her back to reality and she took a step out walking towards the end of the hall. Knowing he will be looking for her outside her only option was to hide somewhere else, luckily two of her friends lived a few floors above. With three knocks at the door she sighed once again and prayed for Akaashi and Bokuto to be home.  A minute later, Bokuto’s tall figure opened the door and greeted her with excitement.

“Y/N, what are you doing here?” He asked with a smile.

“Hey, Bokuto, uhm… Can I come in?” she asked trying to hide the urge to cry with a forced smile.

“Sure.” He moved out of the way and let her in “Are you okay though?” He asked once he noticed her unusual mood, before she could answer he called for his roommate “Hey, Akaashi, Y/N is here.”

“Y/N?” Akaashi’s head peaked from the kitchen as he watched her sit on the couch.

“Hi Akaashi, sorry for bothering you guys so late.” She forced another smile at him and waited for the inevitable question.

“Something happened? Where’s Iwaizumi-san?” Akaashi walked towards her.

“Outside.” She answered trying to find a way to explain what just happened. How are you supposed to tell people you just saw your boyfriend fucking another girl on your kitchen counter?

“Outside? What is he doing outside?” This time Bokuto took a few steps closer and crouched in front of her with concern on his eyes.

“He is looking for me, but I don’t want to see him right now.” She explained without looking at the two boys who stood in front of her. Before they could ask anything else, she spoke “I came home, and he was with another girl.”

“What?” Akaashi asked startled, regretting it almost instantly.

She sighed.

“He cheated on me.” Was the only thing she could say before she trembled and started crying, instinctively Bokuto embraced her in his arms and she broke down completely.

“What did I do wrong?” She asked in a whisper.

“You did nothing wrong Y/N, you gave your everything to him, it’s not your fault, it’s on him for taking you for granted.” Bokuto tried to console her, both of them letting her cry for a while knowing she needed to let it all out. 

“I’m gonna kill him.” The gray haired said once she pulled away.

“Bokuto.” Akaashi tried to stop him but he was already at the door.

“Bokuto, please don’t, he is going to know I am here, and you can get in trouble.” She said standing up.

“But he deserves it, Y/N, he made you cry and-”

“And it’s not worth it. Please don’t do anything stupid.” She said and he looked back at her unable to express his anger. It was so unfair for you to feel that way and he wanted nothing else than breaking Hajime’s nose.

“Fine. But if I see him near you, I will beat the shit out of him. We are not going to let him hurt you again.” He said as he walked back to the kitchen.

“Thanks. Can I use your bathroom for a bit?” She asked, looking at Akaashi.

“Sure, I’m making you some tea so you can calm down.” He said following Bokuto. She nodded and entered the bathroom.

She didn’t know what she was looking at. Was it the same person or her reflection was tricking her? She did not recognize herself at all. She felt stupid. For thinking their relationship would last forever, for loving so hard, for sacrificing everything for him and getting a heartbreak in return.

‘What am I supposed to do now? Do I know how to live without him?’ All those questions started to flood her mind all at once, there was no way she was coming back to him. She knew better than everyone that she was strong, but this was different, a different kind of pain, her heart felt heavy and she could barely breathe.

She joined her friends in the kitchen after a few minutes and a call to her sister, they both shared knowing glances as she entered the room, Akaashi finished brewing the tea and poured the beverage for her.

“Do you want to stay the night?” Akaashi asked as he handed the mug.

“Oh no, don’t worry, I just called my sister. I'm staying at her place tonight.” She explained taking a sip from her drink.

“Is she picking you up?” Bokuto asked.

“I’m taking a taxi; she doesn’t live that far from here.”

And so, she did, after she finished the tea Akaashi made and called a taxi. Bokuto made sure Iwaizumi was out of the way so she could leave accompanied by Akaashi who walked her to the car. She thanked him and gave him a hug before she left.

Walking back to his apartment, Akaashi saw Iwaizumi walking frantically inside the building while he talked to someone on the phone.

“Hey, Kaede, right? I don’t know if you remember me, I’m Y/N’s boyfriend.” 

Akaashi’s blood boiled when he heard him but decided to avoid an unnecessary argument that could possibly upset Y/N even more.

“Do you know where she could be by any chance? Oh, wait a second.” He said when he saw Akaashi walking back to the elevator. “Hey, Akaashi!” He called.

The former setter paid no mind to him, trying his best to not turn a round and give him a piece of mind on how he is probably the last person he wants to talk to and how he doesn’t deserve to talk to Y/N ever again until Iwaizumi got a hold of his shoulder and made him turn around.

“Can I help you?” He asked with clear annoyance in his tone.

‘He knows’ Iwaizumi thought. “Where is she?” He asked.

“I think that’s none of your business right now, Iwaizumi-san. She already had enough for the night, and being honest I don’t have a reason to associate with you anymore, so please, don’t come to me or Bokuto, we are not going to help you clean your mess.” Akaashi said, blue eyes piercing deeper than his harsh words, with nothing left to say he made his way to the elevator again.

“You don’t know what you are talking about, Akaashi, please where is she? I need to know if she is okay.”

“Good night, Iwaizumi-san.” With that the elevator doors closed and Hajime found himself alone once again. Feeling the anger building up inside him he cursed himself for being such an asshole. He knew damn well she did nothing wrong, and that angered him even more, he knew he was doing the wrong thing, he couldn’t even find the reason why it all started.

But it was too late and he knew that she won’t go back to him even if he begged, she asked for one thing, the bare minimum, what you expect from a partner; loyalty. And he failed to deliver that. He was fucked and he knew it, but he still had hope that she would at least listen to him. 

(a/n: hey! so uhm, this is my first time posting a hq fic and im really excited about it, i hope all of you enjoy it as much as i enjoy writing it, please excuse my grammar/vocabulary mistakes if you find any. feedback is appreciated. <3 thanks for reading once again)

masterlist

[mollymauk-teafleak]

Very Okay

I was consumed with the urge to write some domestic smut so here's some soft dads Widomauk just banging it out at the end of a long week. Huge thanks to my wonderful enablers @spiky-lesbian and @minky-for-short

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Please consider leaving a comment over on Ao3!

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“...and then Una said next week she’s swimming for her Level 2 badge and she’s a little nervous, she’s got to go a whole lap. She’ll be fine, of course, but she has that whole thing about putting her head underwater so we need to make sure we keep an eye on her.”

Molly nodded, shifting so his tail wasn’t trapped under his leg, “She’ll do a wonderful job, she goes through the water like a shark. Literally, with the teeth…”

“And Trinket needs a costume put together, it’s World Book Day on Friday and apparently preschool kids have Fairy Tales as their theme? So I was thinking we could just swipe something from when your theatre group did Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s a little short notice and I thought that would save you having to sew something new.”

“Yeah, he loves messing around back there anyway,” Molly nodded, pushing a lock of hair behind his ear, trying to angle his chest forward, “So, um…”

“Oh!” Caleb’s finger shot into the air, sending a wave of water over the edge of the tub, “Before I forget! I have to take the kittens to get their vaccinations at the vets tomorrow so if you could watch the bookstore for me, that would be such a huge help.”

“Of course baby, I can do that, but don’t you think we should maybe-”

“Thank you! I promise I’ll be super quick, I have this thing at the Academy, apparently professors are supposed to go to parties? That wasn’t on the job description-”

“Caleb,” Molly couldn’t help himself, reaching up and taking hold of his husband’s face, doing his absolute best not to laugh, “Listen, I love catching up with you but this is our date night and you were kind of about to start fucking me and it seems we’ve stalled a little? If we could get back on that, it would be great.”

Caleb took a few long, slow blinks, his eyes then travelling around him like he was only just noticing the fact that he was sharing a bathtub, naked, pressed up against his equally naked husband. Or rather, remembering that he was, it seemed like he’d been pretty into the idea when he’d been tearing Mollymauk’s clothes off and tipping him into the water.

“Oh,” his face flushed so quickly it can’t have had anything to do with the heat of the water, “I’m killing the mood, aren’t I?”

That was all of Molly’s available composure, he snorted as laughter tore it’s way out of his chest, sending his head knocking back against the rim of the tub. After a few moments, Caleb started giggling too, helplessly putting his hands over his face.

“I mean, it started well,” Molly cackled, hugging his arms around himself, as it happened sharing a tub between two people didn’t leave much water to cover you, “Y’know, growling that you were going to touch me until I screamed, that was a real good start to date night? It only went South when you started coordinating our schedules…”

Caleb groaned, tilting forward until he was resting his head on Molly’s shoulder, strands of hair falling out of his bun and drinking the water, “Sorry...There was just one thing I wanted to tell you and then it kept going.”

“It’s alright,” Molly chuckled, still cradling his head, pressing his lips to his head, “I do feel like we’ve hardly talked this week.”

“That’s just it!” Caleb sighed, melting a little in his husband’s arms, gingerly letting him take his weight, “Between the store and now me being an associate professor and you doing tech week, I feel like I only see you when I bump into you in the hallway.”

Molly had to admit he was right. Of course he was endlessly proud of his husband, the fact that he’d had the courage to even step over the threshold of the Soltryce Academy after everything he’d been through there, let alone accept a job and try and make the place better, was incredible. Making this huge step in his recovery all while maintaining the little bookstore he’d been running for the last few years, coming home tired and smiling every day, satisfied and certain of his place in the world. It was everything Molly had wanted for him.

But he couldn’t lie, he was starting to miss him.

Mollymauk smiled softly as he traced his fingers through his hair, “Well, I’m kind of glad it’s not just me who was thinking that...that’s kind of why I asked if we could make tonight a date night.”

Molly felt Caleb deflate a little in his arms, “And I turned it into some kind of press conference. I’m sorry, Mollymauk.”

Starting to purr, the tiefling’s tail found its way around Caleb’s leg, squeezing like some kind of comforting snake, “I’ll hear no apologies from you, Mr Caleb. What I wanted was to spend time with you and that’s what I’ve got. Minus clothes too, which is a nice bonus.”

Caleb made a soft, decisive noise, pulling himself back up, bracing his hands on the rim of the bath either side of Molly’s head.

“But if I went back to that whole ‘touch you until you scream’ thing? Would that be alright?” his smile turned crooked.

Molly unsuccessfully suppressed an undignified squeak of mixed shock and arousal, his smile flaring into a full blown grin.

“Oh that would be pretty okay too, yeah.”

Caleb gave one of those rough, rumbling laughs that Molly loved so much, the ones that only came out when Molly knew he was about to become the sole focus of Caleb’s not inconsiderable attention, when the brain that normally went in ten different directions and most of those on other planes of reality, was about to zero in on him and him alone.

Molly yelped as he felt surprisingly strong arms slide under him and lift him out of the water, sending rain pattering down from their bodies.

“Babe!” Molly locked his arms around his shoulders like a vice, “This is romantic and all but you’ve got skinny noodle arms!”

“Charming,” Caleb snorted, “You don’t weigh all that much, Liebling. I won’t drop you.”

Before Molly could properly address his doubt about that- he’d once watched his husband struggle for twenty minutes to open a jar of peanut butter that wasn’t even new- they were moving, water scattering generously along the hallway. Apparently lifting books all day was better for your upper body strength than Mollymauk had realised because, true to his word, Molly wasn’t dropped until he was tumbled into bed, Caleb following pretty soon after.

Eagerly he dragged him closer, pressing their lips together, barely letting a heartbeat pass before he slid his tongue across Caleb’s. He hiked his legs up around his husband’s waist like he was anchoring him there, like any bare inch between their bodies was just unbearable. Caleb’s hands felt like they were everywhere, so much so that Molly wasn’t convinced there wasn’t magic involved. Just the warm, roughened touch of his broad hands sliding across his shoulders, following the curve of his spine to press their bodies closer, kneading the softness of his thighs. Everywhere he needed him, Caleb was there and still it didn’t feel like enough.

Almost the exact moment he had that thought, he was turning, rolling, until suddenly he was on top and Caleb was grinning wickedly up at him, his normally bright blue eyes dark with want.

“Want to ride my tongue, Liebling?” he purred roughly, knowing the answer full well but still wanting to hear him say it.

Molly obliged him, whimpering, “Oh fuck yes.”

It wasn’t that people would look at Mollymauk and expect him to always prefer the dominant role in bed, he was well aware of the vibes he gave off and cultivated them carefully (though if anyone were to let their gaze linger more closely they’d notice the two fingernails on his right hand kept deliberately short). It was more that they would notice Caleb, hiding behind his hair and hunching his shoulders and never speaking above a low murmur and never imagine him as the kind of person to take control. Of anything really, let alone someone like Molly. He didn’t look like he could command a one person canoe in a swimming pool.

How little they knew.

Molly gripped the headboard so hard that the nails he did keep long and wickedly sharp bit into the wood, levering himself up a little, bracketing Caleb’s head with his knees. He hovered at first, even as his thighs trembled with anticipation, with the intense sensation of those eyes examining him meticulously. Suddenly he was incredibly aware of how wet he was, conscious of every bead of slick, every pulse of heat through him, the stiffness of his cock.

No one would look at Caleb and see a man capable of nearly making his husband come from eyes alone.

“So cruel of me to make you wait,” Caleb’s voice was a rumble in his chest, “And yet you look so beautiful when you’re desperate…”

“Caleb,” Molly whined, teeth gritted, the lightest brush of his husband’s breath enough to make him beg shamelessly, “Please.”

“My apologies,” Caleb’s accent got noticeably thicker when he was turned on, like the part of his brain usually keeping him in Common was slipping. Or perhaps he just knew it drove Molly wild, “Just admiring…”

He took hold of Molly’s thighs and pulled him down, until Molly felt the rough scrape of his beard against his flesh, the contact after so long waiting wrenching a soft cry from him. Then he felt his wizard’s lips part, his tongue, warmer, trace a teasing path between the valley of him and the cry became a throaty moan. He couldn’t help it, almost immediately he was rocking his hips, seeking more, every nerve ending screaming for it.

Caleb tapped his thigh smartly, half in warning that he hadn’t given permission, half in warning that- while drowning in him would be a rather pleasant way to go- he’d prefer not to go at all if the option was there. Molly forced himself to still, even as it made him ache between the legs, tipping his head back and taking deep, desperate gulps of air.

Back in control, Caleb rewarded him with broad, generous strokes of his tongue, keeping it flat so Molly felt every inch of it. He took his cock in his mouth, rolling it around his tongue, scraping lightly with his teeth, kissing and lapping and sucking like he was eating some fruit. Finally, he found his entrance, probing gently and then far less gently, pulling him close so he could plunge deeper.

Molly was as vocal as ever, clinging to the headboard for dear life, tail stiff and straight in the air. He’d learned, he kept his hips still but there was no need, Caleb was in control. He rocked him back and forth, using every ounce of this surprising strength, giving Mollymauk everything he needed, leaving him nothing left to take.

Molly’s frantic, formless moans and screams haphazardly threw themselves into something close to words, “Caleb, I...oh fuck, baby, I’m...gonna…”

Through the haze of it all, he felt two quick taps on his thigh, Caleb’s affirmative answer. His signal that it was okay to fall, that Caleb would catch him.

And so he did. A last scream tearing its way from his raw throat, Molly’s shoulders locked and his chin hit his chest as it all rolled through him, as it lit him up from the inside out. He couldn’t have said how long it lasted, only that when it was done with him he felt as exhausted as he ever had. Enough that when he started to sway too hard and fell, he didn’t have the strength to catch himself.

But Caleb did. Moving quickly, he sat up and wrapped his arms around his husband, snagging him before he could tumble off the bed.

“Easy there…” he panted, grinning.

Molly’s eyelids felt leaden but he couldn’t bear not to look at Caleb right now, smiling wonkily back and leaning into his embrace, “You are fucking magical.”

Caleb giggled, gently laying him down against the pillows, curling on his side beside him. The lower half of his face was shining in the low light, his smile soft and shy and sweet again. Molly reached up and laid a gentle hand on his cheek, like he was worried he would disappear if he didn’t.

Caleb caught his wrist, turning his head and pressing a kiss to his palm, “I’m right here, Liebling. I’m right here.”

Molly exhaled in gentle relief, his eyes slowly gaining focus, “You...lie next to me. Tell me everything you want to tell me, all about your day, all about...everything. I just want to listen to you. And then when my brain puts itself together it's your turn. Okay?”

Caleb nodded, eyes wide and eager and loving, “Very okay.”

[suituuup]

pieces - chapter 4

summary: Five years ago, Chloe dropped off the face of the Earth. Beca didn't expect to see her again dancing in a strip club, out of all places.

rating: E (drug use, emotional abuse)

ao3 link

*

six years ago

Chloe glanced up at the Girls neon sign and adjusted her purse over her shoulder, sucking in a sharp breath. She wasn’t sure why she was so nervous; it was just dancing, right? Chloe loved dancing. Granted, it would be in a bikini and heels with mostly middle-aged men watching, a far cry from her performances as Bella, but she could do this. 

She didn’t have much of a choice, anyway. 

Money had been really tight lately, as it turned out living in NYC was really expensive, and her parents couldn’t help her much, given that they had already financed her seven years in Barden and her dad had health issues. 

It was one of her colleagues at the coffee shop Chloe worked at who told her about stripping. The money was a lot better and the hours were flexible, so Chloe could go to class during the day, study for a bit at night then head to work. Sleep would be scarce but… it was either that or she wouldn’t be able to pay rent this month. 

Sucking in a deep breath, Chloe pushed the door open and found it locked. It was only seven pm, but she didn’t want to bother the manager later in the night when it got busy. She knocked on the surface several times, the door eventually opening after a minute or two. 

“Yes?”  A slightly older woman popped her head out. “What can I do for you, honey? We don’t open ‘til nine.” 

“I know, um, I was hoping to see the manager? I was told there was an opening for a stripper position.” 

Her gaze swept over Chloe’s figure, and she smiled before opening the door wider. “Have a seat, I’ll call him.”

present time

“Marco, turn off your fucking phone,” Chloe groaned, patting the space next to her to wake him up.

The blaring alarm was jamming into her skull like a goddamn sledgehammer. When her hand only met soft sheets, Chloe’s eyes opened, instantly squinting against the blinding light. Marco wasn’t there. Not that it was much of a surprise, as he often slept around.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             “Fuck,” she muttered as she sat up, eventually locating the offending object and swiping across the screen until it turned silent. Chloe flopped back against the mattress, legs twisting into the sheets as she angled her face into the pillow. Her head was pulsing from a raging hangover and her mouth felt as dry as the freaking Sahara, but Chloe didn’t feel like moving. 

She didn’t feel like living. 

Each morning felt like having to claw herself a way out from underneath the rubble. Each morning felt like she had fallen a little bit deeper during the night. 

All of that because of one wrong step, and a tumble. 

five and a half years ago

Multiple Sclerosis. 

Chloe remembered the day her parents told her about it. She was eighteen, it was a warm evening in the summer. She had been stargazing, like she often did during those peaceful nights, making the most of Oregon’s gorgeous skies before she moved to Atlanta for college. 

Her mom called her inside, sitting her down at the table. Chloe could immediately tell something was wrong. 

Her dad was sick. Multiple Sclerosis, the doctor said. Chloe had heard of it, but she wasn’t sure what it meant. Her dad explained it was something to do with the brain and the nerves. He was starting to lose feeling in his right arm, and it would only get worse with age.

The news crushed Chloe; her dad was her best friend, her adventure buddy. He took her on camping trips before she could walk. They went fishing together, played ball on the nearby court, or went for runs on the beach on Sundays. He often talked about how excited he was to do all these things with his grandchildren in the future. 

Since his disease was late-onset, it progressed quickly. Her dad could no longer walk, and she could tell her parents were struggling with affording treatment, homecare, and equipment to make their lives easier. 

“More shifts, huh?” Greg, the club’s manager, asked her as he reclined back in his leather chair behind his desk, folding his hands over his stomach. 

“Yeah, I’m a little tight on money and would like to work two more nights a week.” 

She would figure out how to juggle stripping with school. She just would. 

“I don’t have any more shifts available, unfortunately. However…” he pushed to his feet and rounded his desk, leaning against it as he faced Chloe. “Clients like you. I’ve stopped counting the number of times they requested you for something private. So there’s always that option to make extra cash.” 

“Something private?” Chloe cleared her throat. “What um-- what does that entail exactly?” 

Greg smirked. “Anything goes for the right amount of money.” 

Chloe knew the more she thought about it, the most likely she was to chicken out. So she agreed. 

“You look like you’re going to be sick, hun,” Martha, the oldest stripper of the bunch, said as she approached Chloe. She sat in front of her vanity, mentally preparing herself to go into one of the VIP rooms with a client. “You need to pull yourself together, babe. The client won’t enjoy it if you’re nervous.” 

She reached inside her purse and produced a tiny zip-lock bag with a bit of white powder in it. 

“Helps to take the edge off, especially on your first time,” she added when Chloe glanced at her in shock. 

“I don’t-- I don’t do that stuff.” 

She knew drugs got around the club. Most of the girls used. Crack, ecstasy, heroin, meth… you name it, Chloe had seen it go around. But she promised herself she’d never go down that route. 

Martha shrugged. “Suit yourself.” 

Chloe lasted three weeks before snorting her first line. 

present time

“Fuck, where is it?” Chloe muttered to herself as she rummaged through her bag, eventually tipping it back so its contents spread over the mattress. 

She spotted the tiny bag and snatched it, smearing some of its content onto the small mirror laying on her bedside table. Her hand shook as she used an expired credit card to make a line, then grabbed the straw. 

You know that first cup of coffee of the day you can hardly function without? Well, that is what cocaine had become to Chloe. She used to justify her actions by convincing herself she could stop anytime she wanted to. But it was already too late. She was hooked, and it was too fucking hard to stop. 

As she plopped back on her bed and attempted to relax while the coke worked on her nervous system, Chloe thought of Beca. 

five years ago

Bree 💕

Chloe groaned at the name flashing on her vibrating phone and flipped it over, curling up in a ball on her bed. She had been ignoring most of the girls for the past few weeks. Every glance at the group chat reminded her of how much of a failure she was. 

Aubrey had just passed the bar. Beca had been nominated for a Grammy. Cynthia-Rose was a music producer. Stacie, a space engineer. And so on. 

They were all successful in life, while Chloe? 

Well, Chloe had dropped out of vet school. She was a stripper who pleasured men for a living. She lived in a tiny box apartment and spent her grocery money on crack. She got drunk pretty much every night and had absolutely no prospect in life. 

Their yearly Bellas reunion was just around the corner, and Chloe hadn’t replied yet, which was no doubt the reason behind her best friend calling this morning. And yesterday. And the day before that. 

Chloe couldn’t go. For the same reason, she couldn’t go home to her parents. 

The thought of it only fed that shame eating away at her soul. 

present day

Chloe hadn’t allowed herself to think about the Bellas in a long time, as it only brought heartbreak, regrets, and even more shame over how she had left things.

But then Beca showed up out of the blue, and Chloe’s shield instantly materialized. She saw it right there in Beca’s eyes; the pity over what Chloe had become. That unspoken reminder that she was a failure made Chloe want to crawl out of her own skin.                                                                               

Chloe wasn’t planning on using that business card. Even though Beca was on her mind near constantly, she couldn’t bring herself to call her. And then they bumped into one another last week, and despite the snark, what was left of the Chloe from six years ago within her thought it might mean something. 

A coffee. Coffee was fine, to start with. 

Sarah was unexpected, yet another proof of how together Beca’s life was. But Chloe pushed through the discomfort swirling around her insides, up until the money comment. Up until it further dawned on her that they now belonged to two very different worlds. 

Beca was probably a multi-millionaire. Aubrey was a lawyer. And Chloe? Well, Chloe was still just as worthless as she was five years ago. That shame she had somehow managed to bury all that time came right back around to slap her in the face. 

So she bolted, figuring this was the last she would see of Beca Mitchell. 

Except Chloe couldn’t stop thinking about her.

Grabbing her computer, she sat up against the headboard and balanced the device on her thighs, allowing herself to look Beca up for the first time in five years. 

Various photos of Beca on the red carpet and a Wikipedia page popped up, and Chloe clicked on the page, swallowing the lump forming in her throat as she scrolled down. Fifteen minutes later, she somehow found herself on YouTube, typing in the same name and clicking on the most popular video. 

Something unraveled within her as she heard that voice for the first time in half a decade. An array of emotions released, but one stood out over the others as it was a feeling Chloe hadn’t experienced in a long time: peace. 

Music hadn’t felt like music for a long while; Chloe had lost her connection to it somewhere down the road. She had grown numb to it, just like with most things that used to make her happy. 

But this… Chloe had forgotten what it felt like to be moved by lyrics. To feel comforted by a melody that felt like a warm blanket over her soul. Soon tears were slipping out of her eyes and Chloe didn’t do anything to stop them. She curled up in a ball and played Beca’s albums on shuffle for the next three hours, basking in that temporary moment of serenity.                                                 

When it eventually stopped, Chloe plucked Beca’s business card from her bedside table and grabbed her phone, blinking several times to clear her vision so she could punch in the right numbers. Her heart echoed in her ears as she waited for someone to pick it up. 

“BMLJ, Tara speaking, how may I help?” 

“H-hi, this is Chloe Beale. I was wondering if I could speak to Beca? Beca Mitchell.” 

“Hold please.”  

Chloe started picking on her nails, battling with the little voice inside her head encouraging her to hang up. 

“Chlo?” 

Chloe’s chest tightened at the nickname, and her voice stuck to her throat. “Hi.” 

“What’s wrong? Are you crying?” 

“No, I… I mean yes, I am crying but I-- I just listened to your music and-- it’s amazing, Beca.” 

“Oh.” Beca sounded surprised. A few beats of silence follow. “It means a lot that you liked it, Chlo.” 

It took Chloe a handful of seconds to realize she was the one supposed to say something. “I um, is this a bad time?” 

“No, no. What’s up?” 

Chloe sucked in a sharp breath as she picked at a loose thread on her sleeping shorts. “I um, well I was wondering if we could see each other sometime next week? I’m sorry about the other day, I wasn’t-- I wasn’t feeling great.” 

“You don’t need to apologize. And yeah, that sounds great. How about Thursday for lunch? Or a walk in the park, if you prefer.” 

“A walk in the park sounds good.” 

“We can meet next to the Roosevelt statue in front of the Natural History Museum at 12:30?”

“Okay.” 

“Chloe?”

“Yeah?” 

“I’m really happy you called. See you on Thursday.”  

Chloe’s smile felt like the first genuine one in too long. “See you on Thursday.” 

“What’s going on on Thursday?” 

Chloe jolted, looking over her shoulder to find Marco standing in the doorway. “Jesus, Marco. You scared the crap out of me.” 

two years ago

“I’m Marco, the club’s new manager,” the dark-haired man introduced himself, extending a hand towards Chloe. 

Chloe shook his hand. “I’m Ariel.” 

“You really are as beautiful as they say.” 

She glanced through the mirror and met his eyes; unimpressed. “Is it a habit of yours to hit on your employees?” 

He chuckled. “No. I guess you’re the exception.” 

Chloe wasn’t interested. At first, anyway. But Marco had apparently set his sights on her, and well, Chloe felt lonely. They played around each other for a few months, eventually giving in to their attraction towards each other. One night’s shenanigans blossomed into more, and Chloe found herself falling for her boss. 

And she believed him when he told her he loved her. He was the buoy in her storm, the hand that was pulling her from underneath the rubble. Chloe was so blinded by that that she didn’t pick up on his toxic behavior right away. 

“Here’s a thought,” he murmured one morning as they lay in bed in his luxurious condo. 

Chloe raised an eyebrow. She was definitely still drunk from last night, her recent hit of crack causing her mind to float blissfully. 

He set his chin on her hipbone as he lay on his stomach, looking up at her. “I don’t want you to work in the VIP room anymore.” 

“Are you jealous or something?” Chloe slurred, smirking to mask how desperate she was to stop working in the VIP room. It had crushed her spirit. “You know I can’t afford to only live on lapdances and the stage. I have rent and bills to pay.” 

He licked his lips, a soft smile spreading across her features. “I know. Which is why you should move in with me.” 

Chloe rolled her eyes. “We’ve been together only four months.” 

“But I love you,” he said, almost desperately. “And you love me too, right? We’re good together, baby.” 

A sigh flitted past Chloe’s lips. “Even if I do move in, I still have to take care of my dad.” 

“I know that too. And I want you to get a cut from the nightly profit, too.” 

Chloe should have known it was too good to be true, yet she agreed. 

It was another year before the veil lifted and Marco showed his true character. 

present

Marco ignored her. As he usually did. “What’s going on on Thursday?” He repeated his tone calm and collected as always. 

“I’m meeting up with Beca.” Not waiting for an answer, Chloe stood and padded out of the bedroom and towards the kitchen. It was nearly five, and she hadn’t eaten anything yet. 

“The chick from the 20 grand lapdance?” Marco followed, crossing his arms as he leaned against the counter while Chloe rummaged through the cupboards for a snack. “What’s her deal?” 

“What do you mean, what’s her deal? We’re just gonna catch up. I told you, we used to be friends in college.”

Marco’s features hardened. “I don’t want you to see her.” 

Chloe grabbed a box of crackers and rolled her eyes. “I don’t remember asking you for your opinion.” 

Marco approached, pinning her between his body and the counter. “Don’t talk to me like that, Chloe.” 

Chloe gritted her teeth and glared at him, standing her ground. “I never complain about you sleeping around with other women and you lose your mind over me meeting a friend? You don’t control me. I’ll meet her if I want to.”

She moved to get past him, yelping when he yanked her back by the arm. The anger swirling in his eyes made her choke on her saliva. 

“I don’t think you realize how much I’ve done for you, Chloe. If it weren’t for me, you’d still be giving blowjobs for a living.” He didn’t need to raise his voice; the truth behind his words was powerful enough as they wormed their way into Chloe’s brain. “Does she even know you’re a crack addict? That you can’t go more than five hours without a hit?” He continued, seemingly finding it satisfying to break through Chloe’s armor. “Maybe she’s just looking for a charity case.”

Chloe warred with her mind not to believe him, shaking her head as her insecurities muffled her anger towards Marco. “That’s not-- that’s not true. You’re wrong.” 

“Am I?” 

Chloe remained silent, doubt seizing her. 

“That’s what I thought.” Marco’s hold loosened. “Think about your dad, sweetheart. It would be a shame if you suddenly found yourself without a job and no money to provide for him. You know no other strip club will want you if I fire you. And that’s all you can do, isn’t it? Using your body to charm men into giving you money.” He squeezed her hip, leaning in closer so he was whispering the next bit directly against her ear. “So I would listen if I were you.” 

He walked away then, but his words remained, trapping Chloe’s mind in an invisible prison.