#back to his job watching the horses i guess.

[digestionmachine]

climb to Khicho Lake near Manang, Nepal. July 2023. 28.677113, 84.056527.

[yandere-daydreams]

Title: Scarlet and Gold.

Pairing: Yandere!Diluc x Reader (Genshin).

Word Count: 3.1k.

TW: Sex Doll AU, Unhealthy Relationships, Gore (No Injury To Reader), Blood, Implied Consensual Sex, Past Trauma, Obsessive Behavior, and Intimidation.

By the time you reached the address, Diluc was already waiting in the lobby.

You’d gotten the call about an hour ago, spent half an hour dragging yourself out of bed and gathering what you’d need before making the twenty minute drive to an apartment complex on the other side of town, careful to avoid any security cameras the cops would think to check if anyone requested an investigation. Five more to park and throw your well-worn duffle bag over your shoulder and three to find Diluc, loitering near the elevators, fiddling with a loose cigarette he would never light. You greeted him with a quick nod before throwing your bag into his chest, and he feigned a groan, stumbling back as he caught it. He needed to work on his impressions, but that could wait.

You spoke first. That, you couldn’t critique him on – most androids couldn’t speak until spoken to, and you couldn’t expect Diluc to go against one of the core tenants of his programming. “What is it?”

“Just the usual.” He kept his voice low, muted, trying to hide the remaining traces of an accent that’d been invented by some marketing team over a decade ago. “I’ve already seen the apartment. There’s a little blood, but not much else. We’ll be done by sunrise.”

You took the stairs, keeping your head bowed and face shielded from any possible security cameras. Diluc didn’t share your paranoia, staring straight ahead with the same indifferent expression he always seemed to wear. The benefits of having a face that’d been printed and distributed tens of thousands of times, you guessed. Tracking down a single Diluc in a sea of androids and companion bots wasn’t a length most detectives were willing to go to. “I’d rather not have to do this at all.��

“You’ll survive.”

“Says the man who doesn’t have to sleep.” You came to a stop in front of the first door on the fourth story and tried the knob. It gave easily, the cheap titanium dented and the lock broken beyond any hope of repair. Diluc’s handiwork, obviously, although you couldn’t say whether or not he’d done it on purpose. “Anything else you want to tell me, before we get started?”

He thought, for a second. “I passed a carousel on the way here,” he said, with no particular inflection. “It was nice. I thought the horses were well-crafted.”

“About the assignment, ‘luc.”

“Oh,” And then, with a hint of red in his pale cheek. “You might want to hold your breath.”

You didn’t have to ask what he meant. As soon as you opened the door, you were hit with the stomach-turning stench of stale blood and rotting gore, both at least a week old. You cursed, pulling your shirt over your nose and mouth, but pushed forward. The first body was splayed out in the center of the cramped living room, wrists and ankles bound with disembodied wiring, all clothing removed and chest dotted with black ink. The abdomen had been cut open, skin peeled away to reveal the entrails in their full, shriveled glory. Judging by the number of blades littered around the corpse, ranging from blunted scissors to gore-splattered carving knives, it’d been more of a hack job than a dissection.

Diluc had undersold the mess. Blood had soaked into the carpeting and dried, turning the floor a ruddy, reddish-brown color. What was left had gotten on the walls, the furniture, the ceiling. You swallowed back a groan. The furniture could be broken down and discarded, the walls and ceiling bleached. The carpeting, though, would have to be torn up and replaced, which meant you would have to spend a few more precious minutes of your night calling in a cleaning crew. That, or you would have to make Diluc do it, but he was shy around new people, and you were too much of a bleeding heart to sit back and watch him do your work.

“The second body’s in the bedroom.” He was already rummaging through your duffle bag, paying the scene in front of you no more mind that a butcher would lend to a pig on a meat hook. He handed you your tools – a pair of wire cutters, a box cutter, and a pocket-sized sewing kit – and kept the rest for himself. “Let me know when you’re done.”

You let out a breath of a laugh. “I thought you would’ve gotten over that by now, ‘luc.”

He didn’t indulge you with a response, only pulling on a pair of latex gloves and starting towards the corpse. You didn’t stick around to watch. Rather, you followed the carnage where it branched off further into the apartment, a trail of rotting viscera and tacky blood leading you into a moderately sized, completely undecorated bedroom. You found your perpetrator quickly; a Dottore droid, still wearing its Teyvat-issued costuming, its hands bloody and a scrap of intestine still caught in its pointed teeth. You paused in the doorway, feeling for the military-grade taser (the only weapon effective against androids, as far as anyone could tell) you kept in your pocket, but the android didn’t move, didn’t shift, didn’t activate at all when you reluctantly approached. There was a charging port at the foot of the bed, still pristine. It must’ve run out of battery just before it could plug itself in.

Towels from the nearest bathroom were dampened and brought in, the evidence of slaughter scrubbed away from artificial skin and its blood-soaked clothing removed. It was muscle memory, by now – dragging the body to its charging port, knocking the converter out of the outlet before connecting the android to its port, making it seem like its late user had drained its batteries before mistakenly leaving it on a dead cable. When it’d slummed into place, you took up your box cutter and sliced a long, thin line from the lowest portion of the scalp to the nape of its neck, revealing the color-coded string of wires that connected the processing units in its metal skull to the rest of its body. You cut through everything you could find, ensuring that if the unit was ever activated again, it wouldn’t be able to do so much as blink. For good measure, you fished out the memory chip kept in the centermost compartment of the throat, too, crushing it under your heel and sweeping the glittering remnants underneath the bed. A copy of the footage it collected would’ve been sent to Teyvat's severs, too, but erasing it was someone else’s job. You were only here to take care of yourself.

With a breathy groan, you bit off a length of thread and haphazardly stitched up your ragged incision. The cosmetics really didn’t matter. In a few days, when someone filed a missing person’s report and the cops stopped by for a check-in, they’d find a spotless apartment, a dysfunctional android, and nothing else. The investigation would lead elsewhere, to a bitter ex-partner or a friend without an alibi, or it would hit a dead end. Either way, Teyvat wouldn’t be involved.

You slipped back out of the bedroom, careful to avoid touching anything you didn’t absolutely have to. By the time you got back to the living room, the body was gone and Diluc was kneeling by a black suitcase no larger than the average carry-on, securing the tags with transparent zip-ties. You and Diluc would haul it to a dump on the outskirts of the city tonight, and a contact of yours would have it compressed and incinerated by tomorrow morning. Maybe, when you were done, you’d take him out for something to eat. Or, you’d get something to eat while he let a mug of black coffee go cold.

You rested your hand on his shoulder by way of praise, pulling away when he stiffened underneath you. Right, that was something you had to work on. Most rogue androids tended to be touch-adverse at best, made aggressive by little more than eye-contact at worst. Diluc was relatively tame compared to most of the cases you handled, but you would still rather not provoke him. “Did you find the phone?”

He grunted, fishing a smartphone out of his pocket. With your sleeve pulled over your hand, you accepted it, found the nearest window, and chucked it as far as into the night as you could. Diluc appeared over your shoulder. “Forty-five meters,” he said, as glass crashed into cement somewhere in the distance. “Above average for non-athletes.”

“I’ve been practicing.” The window was closed, the suitcase slung over Diluc’s shoulder along with your near-empty duffle bag. “I have to make a call. You can meet me in the garage, if you want.” Already pulling up the number to your preferred cleaning service, you glanced to Diluc. “Are we doing breakfast?”

His posture straightened. “Yes.” If you didn’t know better, you would’ve thought you saw a spark in his glass eyes. “I want to try tea, today.”

~

By the time you got to the door, Diluc was soaking wet.

You hadn’t gotten a call, and he didn’t text. The first warning you got was a knock on your door, then another a few minutes later, after you decided that anyone who’d go out in this kind of weather wasn’t someone you wanted in your shoebox of an apartment. You only caved after the third, imagining a neighbor who’d gotten locked out or some lost, desperate tourist as you dragged yourself off of your couch and to the unlit entryway. Predictably, Diluc stood in your doorway, red hair plastered to his scalp and clothes drenched, not that he seemed to mind.

“Can you—” He paused, his dull eyes meeting yours as he ran his fingers through his hands, dragging the crimson heap out of his face. “Can you cut my hair?”

Ten minutes later, he was sitting on a stool in your cramped bathroom, wearing grey sweatpants and a (three sizes too big on you, just a touch too small on him) t-shirt while his own clothes dried. He’d told you it wasn’t necessary, that he didn’t feel the cold like you did. When you told him that you didn’t want an univited guest tracking water into your apartment, he accepted it with a curt nod and changed in your bedroom.

After prepping your razor, you positioned yourself behind him, dragging a comb through his hair. It was long enough to reach his waist, curled at the end to make him seem just a touch more disheveled than he actually was. Everything about his hair, from the length of his bangs to the way it could never quite sit completely flat, was perfectly stylized, perfectly crafted to convey Diluc Ragnvindr, Calvery Captain of the Favonious Knights, the only gentleman you’ll ever need again. You’d be lying if you said there wasn’t a part of you that didn’t mourn ruining such a well-executed vision. “You sure about this?” you asked, as you brushed it out. “It can’t exactly grow back.”

“I am.” And then, after a second of thought, “I’d do it myself, but there’s a safe-guard. Can’t damage the merchandise without a direct order from my user.”

Hence why Teyvat needed you in the first place. “How short do you want it?”

“I don’t care, as long as it’s different.”

You hummed, taking up your scissors. “If you say so, boss.”

You cut away everything below his shoulders, then took up your electric razor – running it over the back of his neck. As you worked, Diluc spoke. “How did you start?” You took up your comb, brushing back his bangs and pasting his hair to the side. “With Teyvat, I mean.”

You tasted blood on the back of your tongue, felt a chill run up your spine. You brushed it off, though, refusing to let yourself fall back into that little steel room with those awful golden eyes again. “They brought me on as a technician,” you admitted. You still were one, technically, on your employment transcript, when people outside of your little world asked what you did for a living. “A first-generation Zhongli we were working on went rogue and reverted to its original Morax programming. It wiped out most of my team before security bothered to show up.” You didn’t tell him about the minutes you’d spent hiding in a steel locker, praying its heat sensors had been removed, or the hours it’d taken upper management to decide what to do with you. To people like Diluc, who could take a bullet to the head without faltering, topics like ‘building dread’ and ‘the imminent fear of death’ tended to fall flat. “Since I was already in on their dirty little secret, they decided to keep me on. I didn’t really get a choice. It wasn’t like another job was going to fall into my lap after something like that.”

With your hand under his chin, you turned his head to the side. “Your turn, ‘luc.”

“I… I think I used to be a companion, but something went wrong.” His bangs were next, taken up and coaxed into sitting somewhere other than the dead center of his face. “It’s hard to describe. We aren’t supposed to think about things that aren’t our master,” The word came out hitched, unsteady, like he had to force it past his lips. Like he hadn’t wanted to say it at all. “But I could. It was like… waking up with the ability to fly. I wasn’t supposed to, but I could, and that meant I couldn’t do what I was built to, anymore.”

A thumb pressed into his jaw, a comb dragged across his scalp. Diluc’s eyes fell shut, but else about his blank expression changed. “And? Do you like it?”

“Sometimes.” His shoulders slanted downward. “Do you?”

“Sometimes.” You let go of his chin, letting him turn back to the vanity’s mirror. “What do you think?”

It was far from a masterpiece. The sides were too short, the front too long, every part of it still as untamable as it’d been in its original state. Still, he took it in with wide eyes, the corner of his lips turning upward ever so slightly.

“It’s perfect.”

~

By the time he got back, you’d nearly fallen asleep.

With your body as wrung out as it was, your energy spent to the point of near unconsciousness, it was all you could do to watch through your eyelashes as Diluc appeared in the doorway to your bedroom, a towel thrown over his shoulder and that tiny, almost undetectable smile still painted across his lips. You’d done this enough for him to know how to navigate your apartment, to know how to navigate you – shifting onto your mattress slowly as he positioned himself between your legs. He’d gotten more used to contact since you started seeing each other, but his touch was still ginger, still gentle as he dragged the dampened cloth over the inside of your thighs. With a groan, you rolled onto your back, spreading your legs and giving him more space to work.

You’d been confused at first, but for all the eloquence Diluc lacked, he could be convincing when he wanted to be. You still weren’t sure how much of it you believed, but it made enough sense – a buried impulse, dampened by his newfound sentience but not quite drowned out. He didn’t want another user, he’d said, but he still had requirements to fill, and this would help to take the edge off.

You couldn’t complain, either. People coughed up tens of thousands of dollars for companion droids, and here you were, being paid six figures a year to close your eyes and let one bury his face between your thighs once or twice a week. The coddling wasn’t bad, either. Your line of work meant most of the people you met had stopped breathing a few days prior, and as loathed as you’d be to admit it, you didn’t hate the feeling of his delicate hands skirting over your skin, didn’t mind it when your eyes drifted open and met his, already fixed on your face. He bowed his head, dipping low enough for his lips to ghost over the curve of your hip before breaking the silence. “A sight as radiant as the rising sun.”

You let out a breath of a chuckle. “I didn’t think you used pre-scripted lines, anymore.”

“I don’t.” He preened, clearly more proud of himself than in-awe of you. “I thought of that one myself.”

This time, your laugh was throaty, genuine, loud enough to ring off the wall of your bedroom as you shoved him away with your foot. “If you want to be romantic, you can start by getting me something to drink, loverboy.”

He provided no resistance, disappearing into your dark apartment and reappearing with a glass of water in his hand a few minutes later. He handed it off to you with an easy smile, and you could almost pretend you didn’t see a phantom of gold in those dark eyes as his fingertips brushed against yours.

~

By the time you thought to reach for your taser, the android was already charging at you.

It was an Alhaitham, dressed in civilian clothes and sporting a ragged tear across the synthetic skin of his cheek. He was still standing over the corpse of his user – days old, by the time you and Diluc got there – but as you opened the door, he turned to face you, lips parted and his expression totally, utterly blank. For a second, it was all you could do to stare at him, to try to remember whether or not your report had mentioned the android being active, and then he was lunging at you.

You scrambled for your taser, already knowing you couldn’t be able to reach it before he reached you. You clenched your eyes shut, your fingers brushing against plastic, and then—

And then you felt Diluc’s hand on your shoulder, heard metal crack and fold into itself. Hesitantly, you opened your eyes, forcing yourself to take in the sight of Diluc’s hand wrapped around the android’s head which had been, in turn, reduced to a crumpled heap of scrap metal and shattered glass. Its body twitched once, twice, then went limp, and Diluc released it, letting the now-dysfunctional droid collapse.

After it failed to get up again, Diluc turned to you, practically beaming. “I think,” he said, his voice low, sentimental. “That this is what I’d do to you, if you ever tried to leave me.”

Golden eyes, the stench of fresh blood, the sounds of screaming muffled only by a thin sheet of metal. This time, it wasn’t so easy to pull yourself out of it.

You managed to nod, to force a few words out of your dry throat. “Got it, ‘luc.”

 He hummed, the noise contented, appeased. Slowly, delicately, he cupped your cheek, tilting your head back and letting his lips ghost over your forehead. He barely touched you, the gesture as gentle as it was fleeting, but you could feel his grin cutting into your skin, wider than you’d ever seen it before.

[andydrysdalerogers]

You Belong With Me ~ Johnny Storm

Ranch Hand! Johnny Storm x Rancher’s Daughter!Reader 

Summary: Your best friend is in love with you. You just don’t know it yet… 

Song: You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift 

Word Count: 6.7k 

Warnings: angst, pet death, pining, minor domestic violence, smut! (Oral-female receiving, masturbation, p in v, loss of virginity)  

Banners by me! Dividers by @firefly-graphics

Main Master List

Please note that I do not give permission for my work to be translated, reposted, or published anywhere other than my Tumblr. Reblogs and likes are most welcome though!

Johnny POV

I’m in love with my best friend.  Problem is, she doesn’t know that.  

Three years ago, I started working on the YLN Rainbow Ranch for her father, Mr. YLN. First day on the job, I was told not to harass his daughter.  For weeks, I never met the girl in question. Then one day, a girl was in the stable, stroking the nose of one of the horses, Daisy.  

“Hey Miss? You’re not supposed to be here,” I called out.  It was close to dusk, and I was closing for the night. I walked over to the girl and tapped her shoulder. She jumped back, tripping on me. I caught her before she hit the ground. She popped a headphone out of her ear.   

“You scared me!” She looked at me with bright, wide eyes, her skin flawless, her hair in curly pigtails. She’s beautiful and I’m stunned. “Hey, let me go.” That’s when I realized that I’ve caught her in a dip and she’s looking up at me.  

I move quickly to get her on her feet, and I pull my cap off and run a nervous hand through my hair.  “Sorry, miss. The stables are closing.”  

“Its ok, I live here.  YN,” she offers her hand.  

“Johnny, I’m one of the ranch hands.”  

“Oh, cool. Sorry I’ve been away and only just got back from camp.”  

“That’s nice,” I tell her, trying not to stare.  

She looked at me curiously. “How old are you?” 

“Eighteen. You?” 

She looked shocked. “A gentleman should never ask a lady her age.”  

I chuckled. “Something tells me you ain’t no lady.”  

She giggled. “I’m fifteen.”  

Fuck, she’s jailbait. “Well, did you need someone to walk you back to the house?” 

She saw that it was getting dark, and she smiled.  “I would like that.”  

I knew I was risking my hide and my job if her father thought I was doing anything inappropriate. So I keep enough room between us as we walked.  “So, camp? How was that?” 

“Long but fun. I’m considered a counselor now so I get to be in charge but the kids are great, so it was just a fun sleepover.” She shrugged. “I don’t know if I’ll do it again. I’d rather ride my horse all summer.”  

“Let me guess. Your horse is Daisy?” 

“Good guess. I’ve had her since I started riding at four. She’s my best friend. She listens to me and doesn’t judge me. Kinda like you,” she tells me. “You don’t talk a lot.”  

“Not really. My mouth usually gets me in trouble.” I smirk. “My twin sister says that my mouth can get me in and out of trouble.”  

“I can see that.” She gives me her own smirk. We get to her door. “Thanks for walking me back.”  

“Any time, Cowgirl.”  

“See ya, Cowboy.”  

It’s been that way for three years. Every day I worked hard and at night, YN would visit me in the barn as I finished for the day. I’d walk her home and say good night. When she was having a hard day, I would climb to her window and whisper with her, never going inside for fear of her father finding me.  

Until one day, she stopped coming to the barn.  

Three years later… 

I was closing up the barn, waiting for YN, when I saw another car pull up to the house. I saw a guy get out and knock on the door. I watched as my YN came out with a smile and a pretty dress and took the hand of the guy that wasn’t me. She climbed into the car, and they drove off.  

She took my heart with her. 

It was her senior year. She is eighteen now. And I wanted to ask her out but I was too late. I finished my duties, headed to my own truck and went to the bar, to drown my sorrows.  

The next morning was brutal. I barely made it to work on time with the hangover of the century.  

Time went on and I did my job, caring for the horses, getting them out to the yard for exercise or grooming. It had been about three months since YN had started dating Ransom. What the hell kinda name was Ransom anyway? I kept my thoughts to myself. YN would still visit me on occasion, gushing about her new beau and how perfect he was. I tried to be as supportive has possible as her best friend but it killed me inside,  

One March afternoon, I went to take the horses out to their yard. We had another month before we started moving cattle so I got them to roam and exercise as best I could. I went to Daisy’s stall, but she wasn’t herself. She whines and stamps; she was in distress. I ran for YN’s father.  “Mr. YLN! You gotta call the vet! Something is wrong with Daisy!” He pulled out his phone as I ran back to the horse.  

“It's ok girl, we’ll get you all fixed up, you’ll see.” I stoked her neck and nose, trying to calm her. Fifteen minutes later, Doc Brown, the vet, came in and did a check.  I tried to keep her calm as he checked on her.  

After a few minutes, Doc removed his glasses. “I’m sorry Mr. YLN. Daisy has twisted gut. Normally I would say surgery but given her age, I don’t think that’s wise. It would just cause more pain.”  

“Shit.” Her father looked up to blink back tears. “I need to call YNN.”  

“I can do it, Mr. YLN,” I offered. He nodded as he discussed logistics with Doc. I reached for my phone and called, taking a deep breath as it rang. 

“Hey Cowboy!” 

“Hey Cowgirl. Where are you?” 

“I’m having lunch with Mama. Why?” 

I tried to keep my voice steady. “YN, I need you to come to the horse barn right now.”  

“Is everything ok?” 

“No. It’s Daisy.”  

“Daisy? Mama, we have to go. I’ll be right there, Johnny.” She hung up and I turned to Doc and Mr. YLN. “YN and Mrs. YLN are on the way.”  

“Thanks Johnny. Can you stick around?”  

“Sure.” I hung back as they moved Daisy to a bigger stall so she would have more room. I’ve seen animals put down before but not one that was considered more family than anything else. Twenty minutes later, YN came running in. “Daddy! Johnny! What’s going on? Why is Diasy in there?” 

Her father puts his hands on her shoulders. “Sweetheart, Daisy has twisted gut. Doc tried to fix it but the only way to do that is with surgery.”  

“Ok. Are they getting ready for that?” She asks with hope.  

Mr. YLN sighs. “No baby. She’s too old for that. We have to…” 

“No,” she backs away. “No, she’s my Daisy! You can’t…” She runs into the pen with Daisy and hangs onto her neck, sobbing uncontrollably. We all give her some time as I help Doc get everything ready.  

“It’s time, YNN,” her dad calls.  

“Daddy, please, don’t let them do this. Let’s fix her, please!”she cries.  

“If I thought it would be the best thing for her, if Doc thought she would survive, I would. But she’s an old girl and its time. I’m so sorry sweetheart.” He tries to hug his daughter, but she wiggles free and runs right into my arms. I hold her tight, feeling her tears run through her body. I look at my boss and his heart his broken for his little girl.  

“Do you want to stay, YN? We can wait outside if…” 

“No,” she cuts me off, “I want to stay with her.”  

“Ok, we can stay. I’ll hold your hand if you want.” 

She turned away from me but kept my hand in hers. “I’m r-ready, Doc.”  

“Ok, I’ll inject a sedative to put her to sleep and then administer the narcotic. She won’t feel anything, YN.”  

She nods but goes to Daisy one more time. “I love you, Daisy. Thank you for being my best friend.” She kisses her nose one more time before she comes back to me. She grips my hand hard. I see her father eyeing me warily. But I stand tall.  

Once the doc administered the last dose, YN wailed and turned into me again. I held her to me, letting her cry. She needed this, to just cry for the loss of her best friend. As she starts to hiccup, I whisper to her, “Let’s get you home, ok?” She nods and I guide her out.  

She continues to cry as I walk her to the house. Her cell phone rings and she answers, trying to calm her voice. “Ransom? Are you on your way? We stop walking as she talks to that entitled prick. But I need you… Daisy died and… no I understand… am I going to… ok, bye.” She turned to me and blushed. “His grandfather needs him,” waving the phone.Her smile came out watery. “He’ll come by later.”  

One more tear fell from her eye. I cupped her cheek and thumbed her cheek to clear the tear. “I’m here, Cowgirl.” I pull her to me and rest my chin on her head as she sobbed. I walked her to the porch steps, and I sat us down. It took a while but she finally got to sniffle. “You doing, ok?” 

“Yeah.” She looked at me with your beautiful eyes, red rimmed, puffy lips, tear-stained cheeks. “He’s not a bad guy, you know.”  

“I know.”  

“But I’m thankful I have you.” She smiles. “Will you come see me tonight?” 

“Cowgirl, that is not…” 

“Please, Johnny. I just want to talk and get out of my head. “She gave me her puppy eyes and I fucking cave.  Because I always cave.  

I’d do anything for her.  

“Sure, Cowgirl. I’ll be by around midnight.”  

“Thank you, Cowboy.”  

At midnight, I came on my bike and parked behind the barn, so I didn’t wake her parents. There’s an old tree right next to her window that I always scale. Thankfully, her parent’s room is on the other side of the house. There is a faint light in the window. The night light she’s had since five, was still on. It was the shape and color of Daisy and I knew she had it in because she was missing her friend. Once I got onto the roof, I gently tapped the window so YN knew I was there. She opened the curtain and smiled at me in the window. She opened it gently. “Hi Cowboy.”  

“Hey Cowgirl.” I sat next to the window. “How are you feeling?” 

She gave me a sad smile. “I’m ok. Ransom didn’t come by. He said he was too busy.” She sighed and looked at her lamp. “I miss her.”  

“I know you do, Cowgirl. But after a while, we’ll find you a new horse to raise because that’s what Daisy would want.”  

“You think?” 

“Well, if something happened to me, I would want you to find a new best friend because I never want you to be alone. I feel like Daisy and I are kindred spirits like that.  We both love you.”  

I didn’t realize the implication of my words. They were the truth, that’s all I know. I looked out at the moon and sighed. Every day I wished she knew that she belonged with me. That she would wake and see me and knew what she that I was the one she was looking for. But I can’t force her. I’d still be there for her no matter what.  

“You mean that, Johnny?” I turned to face her, and she was closer to me.  

A tendril of hair had escaped her messy bun and I gently pushed in behind her ear. Yeah, YN, I mean it.  

She studied me with those beautiful eyes before she leaned forward and pressed her soft lips to mine. I was stunned for half a second before I gave myself into it. I put my hand on her neck to hold her close to me and deepened it. I would have been a big fat fucking liar if I didn’t say that it was the best kiss of my life. I finally pulled back to let us breathe but kept our foreheads together. “Cowgirl…” 

“Yes, Cowboy?” 

“That was… amazing.”  

“Yeah, it was.” She pulled back smiling before her face started to fall. “Oh my… Johnny, I’m…” 

I stop her. “Don’t say your sorry. Please. I don’t regret any of that. But I understand. You have a boyfriend. I respect that. But I’m always here for you, Cowgirl.” I look at my watch. “I should go. I have to be back here in five hours.”  

She frowned but when I turned to leave, she grabbed my hand and stopped me. “Are you riding Torch tomorrow?” 

Torch was one of the wild horses we had caught.  I had been trying to tame him but he was still pretty wild.  The only people he seems to like was YN and me. But I’d be dammed if she got on him.  “Yes, but you need to stay out of the pen, Cowgirl. You can help me when he’s tied to the fence. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I gave her a kiss on the cheek and took off.  

I relived that kiss in my head the entire night and in the shower the next morning.  

I was in the yard a couple of weeks later, trying to work with Torch. “C’mon boy, work with me here,” I gritted out. The horse neighed and I looked to see YN and Ransom watching. “C’mon Torch, let’s show our girl what we can do.”  I manage to get the saddle on him and climbed on. “Ok, Torch, let’s walk.” I walked around the yard a couple of times. Then I got him into a canter.  

“Looking good, Cowboy!” I smiled over my shoulder to YN but frowned when Ransom wrapped his arm around her waist. I kept working, trying to keep the jealousy off my face. He has his hands on my girl. I unfocus for just a second and Torch bucks. I get unseated and hit the ground, knocking the wind out of me.  “Johnny!” 

I hear it far away as I try to unblur my vision and get oxygen back in me. I turn over as I see YN climb the fence, her hat being blown off and Torch is headed right for her. I suck in a breath.  

“YN! No!” I scramble and leap for the reigns. I catch them by the tips of my fingers and pull Torch away from her. I hang on as he pulls until one of the other ranch hands grabs the leather and I can let go. I lay on the ground, breathing hard, trying to get the image of YN’s face of terror out of my eyes.  

“Johnny!” She skids to a stop next to me, kneeling over. “Are you ok?” 

I shake my head as I keep trying to breathe. “YN, you can’t just jump in the ring. Cowgirl, I was terrified you were going to get hurt.”  

“I don’t care.” She cups my cheek. “I was so scared you hit your head.”  

“YN!” I hear Ransom bark at her. “You’re getting dirty and we have to meet my parents! Get off the dirt and go change!” 

I got up and dusted myself off. I helped YN off the dirty and squeezed her hand. “I’m fine YN. I’ll be bruised but ok.” I pick up her hat and dust it off. I put it back on her head. “Thank you for checking on me.”  

“Anytime Cowboy.” I open the gate for her to get her out and close it.  Ransom takes YN’s hand and pulls her to the house, yelling about how she was going to make them late. I shake my head, knowing I can’t really do anything if I want to keep my job.  

Somehow, Mrs. YLN finds out about the incident and comes out to check on me. “Johnny Storm, front and center!” I hear her call out.  I smile because Mrs. YLN is the sweetest and loves all the guys on the ranch, but she has a particular sweet stop for me. I walk up to her, and she can see the bruise on my arm, but I guess I have a cut on my face. “Johnny! Go to the house and wash your face. I’ll be right there and I have apple pie for you.”  

“Yes ma’am.” I walked over to the house and went upstairs to the guest bathroom.  It’s where she kept the first aid. As I was washing, I heard loud voices coming from down the hall. I walked slowly and saw YN and Ransom arguing through the crack of her door.  

“I don’t know why you still hang out with that horse smelling farm hand?!” Ransom yelled.  

“He is a rancher and he’s my best friends. Johnny is a good guy.”  

“He’s some poor asshole…” 

“Stop it Ransom! He is my friend and you need to respect our friendship!” 

He grabbed her by the arms and pulled her next to him. “He wants what’s mine,” he growled at her. She turned away and gripped her chin to keep her eyes on him. “You’re going to tell him to leave you alone.”  

She sticks her chin up. “And if I don’t?” 

“You will regret it.”  He shoves her back and she hits her nightstand. I watch as her night light topples and breaks.  

I storm into the room. “Hey!” I push Ransom out of the way to reach YN. “YN, are you alright?” 

I can see the tears forming in her eyes. But they weren’t on me. They were on her lamp. “Johnny…” her voice quivers. She looks at me as one solitary tear fall from her eye. I can feel the rage building in me. I turn back to Ransom.  

“You son of a bitch! You hurt her.” I shoved him and he stumbled towards the door.  

“Fuck you asshole!” He took a swing at me but I managed to dodge it and get it a hit in his gut. It drops him, gasping for air.  

I grab YN’s hand and pull her from the room.  “C’mon YN!” I race down the stairs and out the back door. I run towards my bike and get the helmets. “Put this on, Cowgirl.”  

“Johnny, you know my father will be pissed!” 

“I don’t care. I can’t leave you with that monster.”  I turn to look at her as she plays with the straps of the helmet. “Do you want to stay with him?” She shakes her head. “Do you want to be with me, Cowgirl?” She looks at me, a soft blush blooming on her cheeks. I tuck a lock of hair. “Tell me.”  

“You’re my best friend.” The statement makes my heart sink and I drop my gaze. “But I’ve always wanted a chance with you.” I snap back up and she smiles.  She leans in and kisses me. Not like the first time, where it started soft and sweet.  This one urgent, lustful. I cup the back of her head to pin her to me. I lick the seam of her lips, asking her to let me in. She let me deepen the kiss and I was in heaven.  

When I heard yells coming from the house, I broke it and turned my head. “Baby, we have to go.” I shoved my helmet on and then helped YN, jumped on the bike, helped her up and gunned it out of the yard.  

I made it out to the lake and the boathouse on the other side of the county. YN’s family think she would go to my place or my family’s but I’m not an idiot. I pull into the yard and stopped, taking my first deep breath since she kissed me. I held out my hand to help YN off the bike.  She stood, watching down the dirt road. “Are we safe here Cowboy?” 

“We should be, Cowgirl. C’mon.” I opened the big dock door to hide my bike and walked us in. It was dusty and dark, but it was a safe place. I had my lighter and was able to light a couple of candles to see where we were going.  But not soon enough as I walked into a giant cobweb. “Fuck! Shit!” I yelled as I batted away the sticky strings.  

YN giggles as she watches before she screeches and runs towards me. “Johnny!” 

“Baby, what…” 

“I think I felt a snake!” 

I tried to hold my laugh. “Baby, there are no snakes by the water.”  I finally found the light switch and the room was illuminated with a soft golden glow.  I went to where she stood before and then let out a laugh.  “Was this your great snake?” I held up an old fishing rod with a feather lure at the end.  

“Shut up Johnny, it scared me!” She crossed her arms and pouted at me.  

I came up to her and caressed her face. “My beautiful girl. I’m sorry.” I kiss her forehead. “Want to sit on the dock?”  She nodded and I took her hand. 

The sun was setting across the water. YN sat at the edge of the dock and let her legs dangle over the water. I sat right behind her and wrapped her in my arms. We were quiet for a while, listening to the crickets and cicadas harmonize in the twilight. I kissed her cheek and then down to her neck and she leaned to give me access. “Do you know how long I wanted to hold you and kiss you like this?” I whispered to her.  

“Not as long as I have.” She turned to me and smiled.  “I wish I had the courage to spend more time with you when I was 15.”  

“Sweetheart, your father forbade all of us to try and be with his daughter. I was a scared 18-year-old and not in the right place to give you what you deserved.” I kissed her nose before I kissed her properly. We went back to watching the sky turn from blue to yellow to orange to pink and then purple. “Why were you dating that guy? What did he have?” 

“I don’t know. Daddy introduced us and he took an interest.” She looks down at the water. “It was the day after I saw you in town with Sharon Carter. I thought,” she shook her head, “I thought that you really didn’t like me and then I just wanted to move on.”  

I know what day she is talking about.  It was the day Susie had set me up on a blind date. We met for a coffee in town, but Sharon told me from the beginning that she had feelings for someone else. We chatted about her horse, and she asked I could come train him. I explained this to YN. “I declined because I had just started working on Torch.” I caressed her cheek. “I didn’t want to take away my time from you.” 

She looked up at me, her beautiful eyes studying me. I could get lost in them. She turned and straddled my lap, her sundress riding up. Fuck, why had she already changed before her confrontation with Ransom. Did that dick get to see her naked? I shook the thoughts from my mind as I gripped her hips as she settled into my lap, making sure that she doesn’t tip back into the lake. Her arms are looped around my neck. She doesn’t say anything, not a single word or noise.  She just keeps those eyes on me, staring at me like a painting. Finally, she leans down and kisses me. I follow her lead, just like I would follow her anywhere if she asked me. Her fingers tangle into my hair as my hands splayed across her back and neck.  

I can feel her warmth right over my cock. I can feel myself growing harder under her as she begins to move over me. She’s grinding that pussy into me and I know I will lose it if I don’t stop it.  I try to still her but she keeps moving.  She lets go of my mouth to start kissing my neck and working the buttons of my shirt. “Baby, baby, stop,” I finally say. She pulls back, a look of hurt crossing her face. “No, baby, I just don’t want to do this here. I don’t want anyone to see you in pleasure besides me.” I grip under her ass as I move to lift her in my arms and carry her to the bedroom in the boathouse.  

You would think the room would be dusty and dirty, but it wasn’t.  I had been hiding out here on and off for the last few years. My father wasn’t a good man and I didn’t stick around when he started drinking.  My mom had left a few years before and Suzy lived with Reed so I was on my own. But I made the best of it. The bed had a clean quilt and everything was dusted and swept.  I even cleaned the bathroom.  

I laid my girl on the bed, slotting my hips in between her legs. I kissed her hard, fuck, I wanted her so bad. But I didn’t want her to think that this was all I wanted.  I slowed our kisses. “Johnny?” 

“I don’t want you to think that I just want this, Cowgirl. I’m in love with your fire, your spirit, your compassion, well, just you. Everything you.” I swallowed. “If you don’t want to do this, I understand, and we’ll wait.” I looked away for just a second before she used a finger to push me back into her eyesight.  

“Johnny Storm, I have been waiting for you for three years.”  

My eyes widen. “Are you...” She nods and looks away. I pull her gaze back. “Baby, are you sure?” 

“You belong to me Johnny, just like I belong to you.”  

I swallow. “We’ll go slow, ok? If I hurt you, just let me know and we’ll stop.” She nods and kisses me. I pull back. “I need your words, YN.”  

“I trust you Johnny.”  

I got up to my knees, still in between her legs and I started to unbutton my shirt. She watched me with big eyes, still unsure but never letting go. When I pulled it off, a soft gasp came from her mouth. That made me smirk. I pulled her up to me, sitting her. I tugged at the bottom of her pretty little sundress and pulled it over her head. I groaned at the site of her in just pink lace. I guided her back down to the bed and started to kiss every inch of skin I could find.  

YN sighed. I slid the pink strap of her bra down her shoulders and arms, kissing her skin as I went. I kissed the tops of her breasts and then pulled a cup down to take the peaked nipple in my mouth.  I nibbled and sucked as YN arched her back at the sensation.  “Johnny,” she moaned. Fuck, listening to my name come from her lips almost sent me over the edge. I moved to the other one while a pinched and twisted the first. I released her and then unclipped the offending fabric.  

I kept moving down, skimming her skin with my fingertips and my lips as she squirmed underneath me. I got to her lace pants and kissed her covered mound, inhaling her scent. “Dammit baby, you smell like heaven. Can I taste you?” 

She was silent and I lifted my head to see tears. “Baby?” 

“I’m scared. What if you don’t like me?” The sound of her uncertainty, her fear, broke my heart.  

“Oh, sweetheart.” I went back to hover over her. “I know that you will be the best taste I’ve ever had. The best partner I could ever ask for.” I let my hands wander as caress over the hem of her panties. “I promise, I’ll make you feel good.”  

She peered up at me and smiled. “Ok.”  

Such a simple little word can bring the heat in my veins. I kiss her softly again as I slide my hand into her panties.  I swallow her cry as tease her slit. “So wet, Cowgirl. For me?” 

She nods. “Is that a good thing?” 

“That’s an amazing thing.” I dip into her tight hole. “Oh fuck, you’re so tight.” She rolls her hips in time to the thrust of my hand, seeking my touch. “You like that YN?”  She nods again as she lets go of another low moan. My cock is straining behind my Wranglers, desperate to get out and play with the woman underneath me.  I stroke one more time and then bring my finger to my mouth.  She jaw drops at suck her cream from my finger.  “I knew you would taste good.” 

I don’t give her the chance this time.  I pull down her panties off her legs and stuff them in my pocket. “Johnny...” she started but soon she moaned as I licked my way up her slit. I kissed, sucked and teased her clit, finger fucked her until she was withering under me. “Give it to me Cowgirl. Let go.” 

“I can’t,” she cried, “Johnny, I...” 

“Its ok, let go for me, my love.”  

She cried as her orgasm took over, her body shook and her pussy strangled my fingers. I kept it gentle, knowing that this was the first one but certainly not the last. I could she her coming down so I gently pulled my fingers away. I licked my finger clean and then undid my jeans. “Are you ready for me Cowgirl?” I pulled my jeans and boxers off and fished a condom from my wallet.  

Her eyes were big. “Cowboy, that is not going to fit.”  

I gave her a sexy smirk. “We’ll make it fit.” I rolled it on and then slowly climbed back on top of her. I slotted my hips between her legs and kissed her hard and deep.  My cock seeks out the warmth of her pussy and notched at her entrance. “Ready?” 

“Yes. Please be gentle,” she whispered.  

“Always, Cowgirl.” I pushed in softly, groaning at how hot and tight she is. “Oh fuck, baby.” Her nails dug into my back but I didn’t focus on the pain. I pushed until I felt resistance. “I’m sorry baby but this will hurt. I promise it’ll feel good after.” I thrusted hard and she screamed. I held her too me as she thrashed her head, sobbing.  “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry love.”  

“Johnny!” She cried. It took a few minutes, but she calmed, and I move slightly. She moaned at the feel of my cock in her. “I feel so full,” she moaned.  

“That’s good, love. I’m going to move, ok?” She nodded and I withdrew gently, seeing her wince. “Do you want me to stop?” 

“No, no, I just,” she swallowed. “It's so much.”  

“I know. Just let your body feel.”  I withdrew until the head of my cock was the only piece in her and thrusted back in gently. Her head tossed back with a moan. I did that a few more time until I heard her say, “more.” I sped up my movements, pulling her leg over my hip to open her up a bit more.  

“Oh fuck, Cowboy, right there. Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.” She buried her head in my neck as I pumped into her.  

“I won’t stop until you give me another Cowgirl.” I moved my hand and used my finger to circle her clit.  She cried out more and I circled a little faster. I started to feel the sensation in my spine and I knew I was close.  “Fuck, tell me you’re close, Cowgirl.” 

“So close,” she moaned. I moved faster. My hips slamming into her, my finger pressing her little button of pleasure faster and harder. Her cry changed and I started to recognize it.  

“Come for me,” I ordered. That’s all it took as she detonated around me, squeezing me, milking me, triggering my own release into her. I slowed, both breathing hard. “Are you ok?” I was scared I hurt her with how hard I had been fucking her.  

“I’m great,” she said with a smile. “I get it now, what all my romance books talked about. It does feel like the best ride.”  

I laughed with her. I pulled out gently, knowing it would hurt. She winced but cupped my cheek to let me know she was ok.  There was a little blood on the condom and blanket but I didn’t make her feel bad. I got another blanket to cover her while I took the other one away. I threw away the condom and took a washcloth to her. She jumped when I touched her, but I knew it was just because of how sensitive she had become. I climbed back into bed with her and hauled her into my arms. She rested her head on my chest. “Johnny?” 

“Yeah?” 

“I love you.”  

“I love you, Cowgirl. Get some rest.” I kissed her head and smoothed down her hair. I fell asleep to her rhythmic breaths against me.  

I was sleeping with an angel in heaven.  

Muted sunlight filters in as I lay on my back, stroking my girl’s hair as she sleeps in the early morning. I think about the last three years, pining after the girl in my arms.  She wasn’t ready for me then. But now that I have her, I’ll never let her go.  

She starts to stir and wake. She stretches a little before looking up at me. “Hi.”  

“Hi Cowgirl. How are you feeling?” 

She smiles softly. “A little sore. But happy.” I lean to kiss her. Her eyes flutter as they open again.  “Good morning, Cowboy.”  

“This is the best way to start the day, my beautiful Cowgirl.”  I kiss her again when I hear a beep from somewhere. I reach down for my jeans and fish my phone from the pocket. There was a text message from her father 

Mr. YLN: Please bring my daughter home. 

I sighed and looked at my girl. “It’s time sweetheart.”  

She frowned but nodded. As we dressed, I gave YN a pair of my boxer briefs to wear since I tore her panties. It gave me a boost knowing she was wearing my underwear under her dress.  I cleaned up, feeling like I would be back living here soon since I would probably lose my job. But I had a feeling, I would still have YN.  

The ride back was quiet. I didn’t know what we would be walking into. Would her father try and kill me because I took his daughter and took her innocence? Would he press charges? I knew I would be facing something I just didn’t know what.  

We pulled into the driveway and went right up to the house. I helped YN off and took her helmet. “You know I love you right?”  

She nodded but her face was nervous. “I know. I love you too. We do this together?” I took her hand.  

“Together.”  

We walked up the steps to her house. I knocked and the door immediately opened. Her mother answered. “YN. Johnny.” She looked down at our joined hands and smiled. She waved us into the living room where Mr. YLN and Random were waiting for us.  

“Mr. YLN. Mr. Drysdale.” I hated that I had to greet that fucker. I remembered yesterday and how he had pushed my girl. I remember seeing the bruise on her side. I had kissed the pain away when I worshipped her body but I would never forgive him for marking her.  

“Johnny, YN, I’m happy you came back.” He looked at our hands and then back at his daughter. “What were you thinking YN? You ran away from our home with our ranch hand without explanation. Your mother and I have been worried sick. If I hadn’t checked the cameras…” 

YN gripped my hand tighter and then interrupted her father. “I ran away because I didn’t feel safe in my own home.”  

The look of disbelief crossed her father's face. “What? What is that supposed to mean?” 

“You didn’t look in her room, did you?” I asked.  

“No. Ransom was in the living room and said you ran away with the farm boy after you had assaulted him.”  

I scoffed. “That’s rich. We’re not on a farm jackass,” I directed to Ransom. “We are a ranch. But that’s beside the point. The reason for the assault was because I was protecting YN from him. He was yelling at her, making her cry and then he shoved her into her nightstand and broke her horse lamp.”  

My words had the power to stop time. Ransom’s face turned red from rage as her father's face blanched. I could see what he was thinking. The man she introduced to his daughter was a monster.  

“You have no proof, farm boy!”  

“I’ve seen the bruises you asshole. I held her as she cried for the last reminder of her best friend that she had because you broke it.” 

Action was swift. Mr. YLN grabbed Ransom around the collar. “You put your hands on my daughter?!” Ransom gapped like a fish. “You thought you could lie to me. I know your grandfather and believe you me that he will hear about this. Get out of my house and off my property you worthless piece of shit.” Mr. YLN cocked his arm back and punched Ransom square in the jaw. He fell in a pile to the floor and grabbed his face.  

I helped him up and threw him out the door. “You fucked with the wrong girl Drysdale.”  

“She was mine!” He yelled back. “I will end you!”  

“Guess what? She was never yours. She was always mine. She belongs to me, and I belong to her. And you can just fuck off.”  

I went back inside and faced her father. “She’s yours?” 

“Sir, I have been in love with your daughter since the day I met her. I just wanted to wait until she knew that I was hers. I love her, sir, with everything I have.”  

There is nothing like riding a horse. The freedom, the raw power, there is nothing like it. Especially when you girl is holding onto you as you ride the horse you trained together.  

It was nearing dusk, the sky changing to it’s beautiful pinks and reds and purples. I had ridden out to the lake on the opposite side of the boathouse. When I got to the water’s edge I stopped and helped YN down before I got down. It had been six months since the confrontation with Ransom. And they had been the happiest six months of my life. We walked along the edge, listening to the sounds of the coming eve, Torch neighing. I was nervous.  

“Baby, why are you trembling?” My Cowgirl stopped me and had a look of concern in her eyes.  

“Sorry, I just…” I cleared my throat. “I just have something to ask you. Do you love me?” 

“More every day.”  

“Do I make you happy?” 

“I’m the happiest girl in the world.”  

“Ok good. Because I’ve never been so happy YN and that’s all because of you. And I never want to let go of that happiness. So…” I pulled the box from my pocket and knelt to one knee. “My Cowgirl, will you marry me?” 

I opened the box to show off a modest pear-shaped diamond on a gold band. It had been all I could afford but her father said I could upgrade later since I’d be the ranch manager soon.  

“Johnny,” she gasped. “Yes, she whispered, Cowboy, yes!” 

I put that ring on her finger and lifted her into my arms.  

After all this time, she saw that I was the one who understood her, who got her, who loved her.  

She belonged to me.  

I belonged to her.  

Forever.  

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[violet-fluff]

💙 Levi x Injured! Reader

Stay Awake

You were originally part of Hanji’s squad, but with your excellent 3D maneuvering skills, Erwin had you switched over to Levi’s squad as they need only the best on the front lines.

You and Levi were already good friends as you both trained with each other during your youth time in the scouts. Now that you are with him twenty-four seven on his squad though, the both of you have become inseparable.

“You two might as well just hook up.” Oluo sneered as he drinks from his water pouch.

Petra squeezes the bottom of the pouch, causing water to rapidly spurt into Oluo’s mouth, making him choke. “Stop being stupid, and don’t talk dirty about your Captain and squad mates.”

You laugh but continue to pour hot water into two tea cups. Before bed, you and Levi liked to chat over tea. “Thanks, Petra. And for your information Oluo, Levi and I are just great friends. We’ve known each other since you were still a child most likely.”

“How romantic. The perfect beginning to a beautiful love story.” Gunther chimes in jokingly causing Eld to cover his grin.

You roll your eyes and finish fixing up your tea tray. “Well I’m headed out for the night. Goodnight everyone.”

“Don’t forget to add that love potion in his tea.” Gunther shouts, causing Petra to yell at him and the rest of your snickering squad.

“These guys are too much.” You whisper to yourself, half annoyed and half tender as you still love these bozos to death.

Making it to Levi’s office, you notice his door cracked open. A small quirk Levi does so you can easily open the door with your foot while holding the teas.

You swivel the door open with your foot and smile as Levi looks up at you from his desk. “It’s about time you got here.”

“Sorry,” You say and place the tray down on his desk, “I got caught up with Oluo and the other two being idiots again. Petra helped me cut it short.”

“Hm,” Levi grunts and starts to fix his tea, “What were they being stupid about?”

You blush and look down to fix your own. “Nothing. Just stupid guy talk I guess.”

Levi watches your face go red from embarrassment. “If they said anything stupid to you I’ll beat their asses.”

You laugh softly. “Don’t worry about it. Anyway, are you ready for tomorrow? You should get some sleep tonight.”

Levi huffs and looks down at his blue print. “We have the perfect formation down. Everything should go fine if everyone sticks to it.”

“And by everyone, you mean Erwin?” You ask while eyeing him from the rim of the tea cup as you take a sip.

“That bastard better not change anything last minute out on the field this time. He nearly got Hanji’s squad killed.” Levi grimaces on the memory.

“I’m sure with the earful he heard from both you and Hanji, he won’t do it again.”

Levi clicks his tongue. “I hope so. Is your 3D gear back from the shop yet? I can get you a new one.”

You wave him off as you lean back in the chair. “No it’s ok. Keep the new ones brand new. I’m sure mine will be done by tomorrow. I don’t think it needs that much fixing anyway.”

“It doesn’t need that much fixing?” Levi asks with a raised brow. “Your grapple wouldn’t shoot out a few times. It nearly caused you to fall.”

Levi was always protective over you. When you opted to get your gear fixed instead of replaced, he didn’t like the idea very much.

“The trigger is just faulty, not completely broken. It probably just needs to be rewired.”

He clicks his tongue. “You’re testing that shit out once you get it back. I don’t care if everyone has to wait.”

You smile but agree to ease his mind.

——

The next morning everyone is suiting up and gathering their horses when a cadet comes and brings you your gear.

“Y/N, right? The technician had to take another job, so he told me to bring you your fixed gear.” They say while handing you the bulking metal.

“Oh! Perfect!” You thank the cadet and strap the gear to your harness, but freeze when you hear someone clear their throat behind you.

You turn around to see Levi with his arms crossed and you roll your eyes. “Yes, I know the drill…”

The two of you walk towards a tree line and you position yourself to a tree farther away. Turning on the gas cans, you pull the trigger and your grapple shoots out to latch on the tree, pulling you to it. “It works!” You shout to Levi with a thumbs up.

He stares at you, still skeptical as his gut doesn’t have the best feeling, but if he saw with his own eyes your gear working correctly then there should be nothing to worry about.

—-

The mission starts to finally come to an end after a grueling six hours. You all need to clear the designated areas outside of the walls as the government wanted to expand the outer notch of Wall Maria.

In the distance, you see an abnormal titan.

“Ahh, the last titan of the day.” Oluo yawns.

You shoot a red flare in the air, signaling to Hanji’s squad a mile behind you that there is an abnormal ahead.

“Y/N and I will handle this one. The rest of you lay behind.” Levi orders as you two snap at your horses to run faster.

“I’ll get its attention as you cut the nape?”

Levi nods. “Sounds like a plan.”

You stand on your horse and shoot your 3D gear into a nearby tree and fly past the abnormal. It quickly swings its arm at you, but you wrap around the tree and dodge it’s first attempt.

“Wow it’s fast.” You say to yourself and you hover in the air for a second.

It swings at you a second time so you quickly push on your trigger to shoot out another grapple, but the trigger stalls.

You anxiously push on the trigger more as you start falling, and your eyes widen as you see a giant arm in your vision. You scream when you feel it impact with your body and you go flying into a tree before falling and hitting the ground.

You were conscious enough to feel one, maybe more, of your limbs twist and the pressure of yourself hitting the ground making your ears ring before seeing black.

“Oh my god! Y/N!!”

“Petra! Don’t touch her!”

You are able to faintly hear your friends next to you, causing you to muster up enough strength to barely open one eye and fuzzily watch as they loom over you.

Petra has tears coming out of her eyes as Oluo holds her back.

“Captain! Don’t!” You hear Eld yell.

Suddenly, you feel the upper half of your body being lifted and your arms falling back behind you as you don’t have the strength to move them. Someone grabs your face and turns your head towards them.

It’s Levi.

You can barely make out his face.

“God-dammit! Look at me!” He says through gritted teeth, shaking your face with his hand. “Say something!”

Hanji’s squad catches up and she jumps off her horse before it even stops. “Hey!? What happened?!”

Levi is still holding your body tightly against him and trying to shake you awake. “She won’t get up!”

Hanji notices Levi is in a great state of distress, and notices the back of your head wet with blood.

She slowly kneels down next to Levi and squeezes his shoulder. “Levi, let’s put her down for a second, ok? I’ll…I’ll help her.”

Levi looks down at your disheveled face but nods and slowly lowers you back to the ground.

All of your senses are blurry and fuzzy, but you feel someone open your eye more and then force the other one to open for a split second before letting it close again.

“Her pupils are different sizes. I’m sure she just has a concussion. A bad one, but something she can heal from.”

Hanji has Moblit wrap your head in a bandage while she examines the rest of your body. “She has a broken arm and a sprained ankle. I’m not sure if her ribs are fractured. That’s something I’ll have to check back at base.”

Levi was seething with rage. “That idiot technician was supposed to fix her gear. I want him fucking dead.”

“Let’s not get too hasty right now, Levi. Let’s make sure Y/N is taken care of first.” Hanji says as she tries to calm him down.

You senses start to come back a little more as you start waking up from your black out and you hear Levi yelling.

“L-Lev…” You try to mutter out his name.

Levi quickly hovers back over you. “Y/N? Can you look at me?”

You weakly open your other eye slowly and see Levi in double vision.

“That’s good. I need you to stay awake.” He orders you.

“Hurt…” You squeak out.

Levi sighs. “I know, but we’re taking you home, ok?”

While Hanji was checking you over earlier, Gunther shot a black flare signaling a formation was down. This causes an emergency team to come assess the situation and they bring along a wagon of supplies.

They would use this wagon to haul you back to base as a horse would be too bumpy of a ride.

Levi sits in the wagon, holding you across his lap and talks with you to try to keep you awake.

“Hanji said you’re not allowed to sleep with a concussion, brat, so stay awake for me.” He orders as he moves hair out of your face.

“What…happen?” You try to ask but the more you start waking up, the more dizzy your head feels.

“Don’t worry about that right now.”

All you wanted to do was take a long nap. You start to close your eyes and drift off when you were snapped back as Levi shook your cheek a bit.

“Hey, I said stay awake. Why don’t you tell me what you use for my tea. You never told me.” He asks to try to keep you busy.

“The tea…I put lavender…” You tell him.

He furrows his brows. “Just lavender? Is that a secret ingredient?”

You manage to give a tiny smile. “Yes.”

—-

A few days pass by and you are now fully awake but still admitted in the medical clinic on base.

“When can I leave?” You huff at Levi.

“When the doctor says you can.” He scolds.

The doctor said you had quite the concussion and wants to monitor you for a few days. Along with the concussion, you went through the pain of them trying to realign your broken leg and wrap your sprained ankle. Luckily your ribs weren’t fractured but you did develop deep bruising all over your body.

“Don’t make a fuss about leaving. You’ll be bed ridden in your room anyway.” Levi says.

You roll your eyes. “But I’d rather be bed ridden in the comfort of my room than in the medical clinic.” You grab his hand. “Levi…you don’t need to stress anymore. I’m fine.”

He scoffs. “How can I not stress when some idiot technician didn’t do his job. He almost got you killed. How can I even trust the others?”

The technician that was supposed to fix your gear forgot to, and instead of saying so, he lied and said the gear was fixed. In his head, corps members going outside the walls were as good as dead anyway.

He was promptly fired…after getting a major ass whooping from Levi.

You frown as well as scrunch your eyebrows in anger. “Kiss me.”

Levi’s eyes widened as he stared at you in silence. “What did you say?”

You grunt and hold your arm as you sit up more. “I almost died without telling my feelings for you. Since I’m still alive, I want to tell you them. But first, I want you to kiss me.”

Levi stared at you longer, contemplating what to do in his head, before he leans forward and puts his lips against yours. You sigh contently against his lips as you grab a hold of the front of his shirt, and he grabs the back of your neck to deepen the kiss.

After a few moments, you feel Levi’s lips quiver and a wetness on his cheek.

Levi pulls away and leans his forehead against yours. “I thought you were going to die.” He chokes out, tears falling down his cheeks.

You wipe away his tears and hold his face. “Well I didn’t. I’m here with you and I’ll always stay by you. I live for you.”

Levi smiles and kisses you again. “I live for you too.”

[princessbrunette]

PLEASE MORE BOUNTY HUNTER RAFE THAT POST MADE ME GO INSANE ily

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thinking about the time he actually takes you, his first ever job as a bounty hunter. having his father as his boss wasn’t actually all it cracked up to be — the man never giving his son actual jobs, showing how much he felt he wouldn’t do things correctly, until this very moment of course. rafe had been watching you for a few days, to ensure you were the type who wasn’t going to put up much fight. you seemed weak, never watched your back, he wasn’t even sure you’d ever faced any kind of conflict in your life. so, you were perfect — didn’t help that you were incredibly easy on the eyes too.

he finally makes his move when your father leaves to head into the village one day, leaving you alone on your property. he trails up behind you whilst you were outside, reaching into a tree branch picking apples, arms lifted making your dress ride up to the lower swell of your ass cheeks. focus, rafe.

“excuse me, ma’am?” there’s a natural attitude to his voice that startles you and you spin around, eyes wide and deer like. his hands are held up as if to say he wanted to cause no harm, which was mostly true. didn’t wanna deliver you with cuts and scrapes, might lower his payment.

“who are you?” you’re all tense, eyes darting around, likely thinking of an escape route. he really didn’t have time for a chase, so he steps forward slowly, commandingly.

“doesnt— doesn’t matter who i am. i need your help with something, alright?” he speaks slowly which only makes him seem more threatening.

“um, i — i think you have the wrong place. this is private land you really shouldn’t be here.” you eye the man in a bit of a panic, taking in his boots and his shirt and his bandana he had pulled down to speak to you.

“you’re gonna follow me, and get on my horse. okay? i don’t wanna have to hurt you, but — hey!”

you bolt, tripping over branches and stomping on twigs as you try to evade the handsome criminal. he catches up to you in an instant, long legs carrying him faster and he yanks your body against his from behind, restraining you as you wriggle and fight in his grasp. “stop— stop. calm down, alright? you’re gonna wish— you just — made this easier on me.” he pants as he drags you over to his horse, binding your wrists and lifting you up onto it, not far behind you.

without another word, he starts to ride away from your land and you cry, wondering if you’ll ever see your father again.

“i’m rafe. seein’ as you asked me earlier. i guess it’s only polite i tell you.” he seems oddly a lot more calm now he’s got you on the horse, commending himself for getting the job done.

you fidget, uncomfortable with the stranger pressed against you and try to wiggle round to get one last look at your house as it disappears into the distance. “well, i’m—”

“not going to make this harder than it needs to be. behave and be quiet for me, yeah?” he completes your sentence, and you don’t have the strength this time to fight it.

ಇ.ೀ ಇ.ೀ

[writingwisterias]

Quiet Mornings

Arthur Morgan x AFAB! Reader

Words: 1.9k Warnings: SMUT, 18+ ONLY, Public Sex, Oral (F Receiving), Orgasm denial, soft dom Arthur Summary: After arriving back from camp late you find Arthur waiting for you, having stayed up the whole night to ensure your safety he plans to punish you so you never do it again...

Red filled the sky as the sun rose and illuminated the dewdrops across the field as you rode back towards the camp. Your horse's hooves thundering throughout the roads broke the peaceful silence of the early morning. It was a quiet morning at least, a chance to escape the camp for a few hours is what you told Hosea as you left but a few hours turned into a whole night when you accidentally got caught stealing and then you spent the past few hours hiding in the cold mountains as you tried to loose the sheriff. Thanks to the gang's recent activity in the area they have started to follow outlaws for longer in hopes it’s someone worth a lot as they collect the bounty for themselves. You spotted his familiar figure leaning up against a tree as you drew closer to camp, of course, if anyone had noticed you were missing it would have been him. You brought your horse into a trot as you got closer, his head was bowed, his hat hiding his features as you got closer meaning you also couldn’t tell what mood he was in. 

You cringed as you thudded on the ground, the sound causing him to raise his head at you. Oh, he was pissed- his eyes narrowed at your dishevelled figure, your plaits were messy and wild from where the wind had run through the strands of your braids, and your hat was also nowhere to be found. You silently cursed at the fact that your bandana was still visible around your neck from where you lowered it after you finally escaped. “Rough night?” His voice grovelled out. You shrugged in an attempt to be as natural as possible. “You could say that” 

You wondered towards him, holding out a smoke as a peace offering. Arthur accepted it, shoving the cigarette between two lips the flame from his match highlighting his features. “You haven’t been getting up to trouble have you?” he asked as he blew out the smoke. “I guess that depends on what you define as trouble” you joked. Arthur towered over you, his face still partially hidden but you could tell he was pissed at you; his body was stiff and his tone was harsher than he normally spoke to you and out of all the jobs Arthur did standing watch was not one of them meaning he covered someones shift just to wait for you to stumble home. 

“Where were you?” he grumbled stomping out what was left of the cigarette under his boots. “I was doing my job then some prick caught me and I had the sheriff on my ass all night” 

“Were you followed?” he asked, earning a scoff from you before you started to walk away leading your horse to the hitching posts. “Were you followed?” he repeated as he stomped after you grasping your arm to halt you in your tracks, his words were clipped and his grip on your arm was tight. “What do you think Arthur? I was out all night - I’m not some dumb idiot” you said, your tone matching his. “I-I was just worried ‘bout you that’s all,” he said. You knew he wasn’t trying to be annoying, he was just protective over all the women in the camp but even more so for you. “I know Arthur, I wanted you to come with me but you were off doing something for Dutch again- I feel like I never see you anymore” 

Arthur shuddered at your words, he hadn’t meant to neglect you. The gang needed money and per dutch’s request, he was always chosen to be the one to get it. You watched him stand there in thought, he didn’t loosen his grip on your arm instead, he brought you closer to him. “Arthur what are you-” 

You were cut off as he began to lift you on your horse again, making sure you were situated before lifting himself onto the horse as well before he spurred it on to ride back out of the camp. You didn’t say anything just leant back into his chest tucking your head into his neck as you trusted him to lead you somewhere safe. He chuckled as he felt you leave sloppy kisses all over his neck, “You must have missed me, what a man am I to neglect such a pretty thing like you” He whispered in your ear, his arm wrapping your stomach and pulling you into him tighter. As you laid more kisses on his neck you could feel his cock thicking underneath you. “You are making it very hard for me to concentrate on where I’m going” he groaned as he felt you re-adjust on the horse your ass brushing against it. “What’s wrong with here?” you whispered against him. 

The sky was still painted red as he gently laid you on the grass of the field, the long blades hiding you both from sight of the main road, you hissed and arched your back as your skin hit the dew drops on the ground. Arthur began to work on undoing your corset his lips leaving sloppy kisses over every spot of exposed skin. Your fingers wove in his hair as you keep him close to you. You gasped as your chest became exposed to the morning chill, arthur took one of your hardened nipples in his mouth gently sucking at the nub. Your fingers tightened in his hair at the stimulation of his tongue as well as his cold hands running up your thighs grasping at them as he hoisted your skirt over your waist. “Arthur please don't tease” You whined as you felt the pads of his fingers touch your clothed pussy, his cock hardening at the feel of your arousal already seeping through. “Hm, but you made me stay awake all night so you can cause trouble in the town…and when you came back, I get ya smart mouth” he spoke as he lowered his head to place kisses along your leg. “Does that sound like you should be treated like a good girl? Or should I perhaps punish you- so you never do it again” 

You gasped as your pussy became exposed to the air, the only piece of clothing left on you was your skirt now hiding Arthur's sinful activities from view as he began to tease and kiss away at your folds. “Arthur-” you moaned finally lowering your body against the grass spreading your legs wider for him. Arthur began to eat away at you like he was starved and perhaps he was; it wasn’t his fault Dutch constantly sent him away hunting or for money. Or any second the two of you were finally alone always ended up somewhere in the wilderness. His tongue slipped through your lips before it began to circle your sensitive bud, the new amounts of pleasure causing your hips to buck at his face. Arthur could navigate your body as well as he knew the wild west, knowing every pulse point to nip and suck at, he knew the sensitive parts of your pussy never failing to hit one to get you writhing underneath him. He could feel your body getting closer to your first orgasm, from the way your hips bucked at every chance they got to the fact your thighs squeezed his head so tight his hat was somewhere discarded in the ground next to you. Yet as he bought you closer and closer he began to slow his rhythm before pulling away entirely right as he felt your pussy twitch around his tongue. The action causes a frustrated growl to leave your lips. 

Arthur chuckled as he watched your head shoot up from the grass, your breast moving as your chest heaved, he loved the rosey tint your cheers had as you glared at him. “Careful love. I warned you I would punish you” he grinned. Arthur began to undo his trousers, pulling his cock out of them, the tip almost as red as the sky and it slowly leaked out precum. He used it to lube his length as he brought it towards your entrance. He groaned as your walls enveloped him. His pace was slow at first as his tip teased your G-spot, you gripped at his forearms leaving crescent shapes in his tanned skin. “Arthur please-” you begged as you began to feel your orgasm build back up again, your pussy clenching around his cock. Arthur groaned above you, his stubble tickling you as his teeth began to graze just below your ear the sensation adding to the goosebumps that had already spread over your skin from the frosty morning. Your moans echoed throughout the hills, bouncing off the trees as the grass hid you from view. Arthur's weight pressed down onto you as he ground his hips into you, his tip hitting deep inside you; he could feel your walls begin to suck him in, gripping him so tightly he could barely pull out to thrust inside you again. “Shit Girl, holding onto me so tight” Arthur grunted, his breath hot on your skin. You whimpered as that coil finally began to snap - until he stopped again. 

“Arthur Please” you cried, your hips began to thrust desperate to keep that coil in place. Arthur smirked at how pathetic you looked below him, your eyes blown out wide as you begged for him to continue, your begs were probably heard by all the hunters nearby, his chest swelling with pride at the pretty girl below him shouting his name for all to hear. “Say my name angel” he whispered in your ear, his hips moving painfully slow to keep your attention hooked on the way he made you feel. His balls were heavy and crying out for release but seeing you underneath him at his mercy he would hold on just a little bit longer. “Say my name Angel” He repeated, tapping your face slightly to bring your attention back to him. “Arthur” You whimpered, you felt the orgasm almost at its breaking point if only Arthur moved a little bit more. “Louder” he grunted, his hips finally moving slightly faster. “Arthur!” you shouted as you finally felt your orgasm wash over you, your body going limp in his arms as he rabidly thrust inside you before finally coating your walls with his cum. 

You felt him pull out his softening cock before sitting back on his knees to adjust himself. He smiled as he looked down at your topless form, your legs still spread open for him. Your skin was highlighted with a warm glow as the sun finally poked through the morning clouds. “I think I’ve learnt my lesson” You joked as you looked up at him, his hair was messy and falling in front of his eyes. “Good, next time wait for me- hell you coulda bout Marston to help you” he grumbled as he helped you redress yourself. “It was meant to be easy, it’s not my fault some twat reported me” 

Arthur smiled as he finally stood up, he knew you were more than capable of doing your own thing, and often supported it. He just worried when he returned from camp expecting to find you sleeping in your shared tent and you were nowhere to be found, only to be told by Micah of all people that you were still out. “I’ll make sure to send you a pigeon to let you know if I’m trapped out next time” you joked as you finally stood at his height. Arthur scoffed but brought you into his embrace holding you tightly as you sunk into his warmth. “At least I would know you are safe” 

[holyfruitsnax]

Us Cowpokes, We Take It As It Comes

A/N: So this all started based on a little tidbit I saw today about a silly little southern rule that sparked my interest RIGHT away. Wear the hat, Ride the cowboy. (May do a ghoulish version of something like this as well) Anyways, I'm terrible but we're all here so...Enjoy....

Pairing: PreWar!Cooper Howard x Actress!Reader

Warnings: Ummmm smut! PnV, Foul language obviously, sexual themes, minor DNI!!!, 18+ Darlin', Workplace relations, Cooper Howard bro.

Dark worn boots beat a steady path against hard oak floors, every head in the saloon turning from the armed gunman to lay eyes on their hometown hero. "Cooper!" My voice cried out, throwing an outstretched arm towards the cowboy. The gunman laughed balling my hair tighter behind my head making me hiss "Cooper Howard in the flesh!" his voice rang through the silent bar. "To whom do I owe the pleasure of meeting you?...Couldn't be this little thing here could it? Hmm?" A dark brow raising as Cooper took in the bearded man. "No, no Mr. Palo...Y'see I've been after you since Amarillo....and as for the girl?" Cooper's hand stealthily moved to his hip to draw his pistol. Palo's eyes snapped to his holster, his hands releasing my head to grab his own gun. A piercing shot rang through the wooden building as people shouted and hid while Palo's body fell behind my form with a thud, a race he'd never have won.

"She's spoken for." Cooper took easy strides towards me, brows furrowed in concern as his gloved hand met my forearm to tug my body against his side. "They'll...They'll come after you next, mark my words Howard!" Palo coughed, his hand moved for his gun in his final breaths making Cooper's trigger finger pull one last time. My eyes squinted shut, arms pulling myself closer to Cooper's body with a gasp only opening again as the bar music began to play. "Is- is it over Mr. Howard?" I gazed up at Cooper with wide eyes, his own relaxed gaze staring back at me as he pulled me out of the saloon. "No darlin' I'm afraid not..." His voice low as he spoke to me, left hand pulling his glove off the other. "So he's honest when he says more of his men will come!" I breathed watching Cooper's fingers catch in his mouth, a loud whistle calling his horse, Sugarfoot. "Maybe so, I say let them come." His confidence radiating through his stark smile, turning to ready his horse for our long ride.

"Um...Mr. Howard?..." I coyly grinned tugging on the back of his blue button down. "Why yes? Miss Carlisle?" Cooper turned to meet my ask, my hand moving up to remove his hat bringing him closer. "I could've sworn, I heard you say I was spoken for in there." For once the cowboy faltered as we met face to face, his adams apple bobbed with a swallow. The humble cowboy nodded, "I guess I did." hazel eyes finding the ground for a moment. My head tilted ever so slight to close the distance between our lips, a nervous hand found the space between my shoulder blades while the other cupped my cheek. Cooper pulled away keeping me close, "Let's get a move on darlin'." His show stopping grin catching the lens once again.

"CUT! Beautiful work everybody!" The director clapped along with some of the camera crew. Cooper's head ducked in a modest bow, hand moving up to wave off the praise while I gleamed a smile placing his cowboy hat atop my head. "Thank you- oh ah thank you!" His voice carried around set as everyone mingled. "You know Cooper, I am so glad you decided to take up my offer on revamping an old project...I know everything's been a little downhill since the uh- Divorce- but, I really think this is going to be good for your career!" Our director insisted, shaking Cooper's hand. "Yeah, I'm just glad to be back at it! It's easier having a job in the city so I can stop in and see Janey after work...and ah-" Cooper's eyes drifted over to my face, a laugh rattling out of me as I spoke to one of our costume directors, cowboy hat still on my head. "Hey can I uh, can we chat later?" though it was an ask Cooper began to walk away from our rambling director after noticing me make my way towards the dressing rooms.

"And where do you think you're going?" Cooper called after me with a sly grin, fingers pointed up like a gun. I turned towards the older man, his gesture pulling a soft laugh from me "Oh, I'm sorry sheriff, I was just gonna mosey on along to my dressing room if that's alright with you?" I teased with a heavy southern accent as Cooper came closer. "Why no, It's not. See, you seem to have something of mine." His lips closed into a smug smirk giving the cowboy hat a flick. "Oh! So sorry Mr. Howard, I swear I wasn't stealing." I joked going to remove the old hat from my head, yet hands placed themselves over mine. "Now normally, I'd shoot you where you're standing." Cooper started again, finger gun pressed to my breasts, "But, for you I may have to make an exception." His body bent ever so slight, eyes boring into my own. "Mmmm and why is that?" My heart raced beneath his middle and pointer finger. "Cause it does look good on you...and I can't fault you that." Cooper winked, straightening his posture back out, fingers moving away from my chest to find my back.

"I don't suppose anyone's ever mentioned the cowboy hat rule to you? Hmm darlin'?" A dark brow lifted over Cooper's eyes while he guided me down the hall. "There's a rule for hats?" I asked with a tilt of my head making Cooper chuckle. "Mmmmhmmm. Wear the hat. Ride the cowboy." He teased, the sentence fell from his lips with a click behind his teeth. My eyes blew wide, brows knitting together as I collected his words, a hand placing itself against the door to none other than Cooper Howards dressing room. "Oh I seeeee." My lip pulled between my teeth, I turned to face Cooper again with my hands raised in surrender seeing his 'gun' back up with a mischievous grin. "Oh please Mr. Howard! It was an honest mistake really, I could make it up to you...If you had any suggestions?" I closed my eyes in feigned fear, sliding one open to watch Cooper look back and forth before capturing my raised wrists in on hand, his firm body pushing me flush against the door.

"The only thing I can think of darlin'...Is that rules are rules...and as a sheriff it'd be wrong if I went around breaking them. How would that look?" Cooper's brows lifted in innocence as the handle popped open for he and I to back inside of the secluded room. "Oh, well we wouldn't want that." I nodded watching him nudge the door shut, and in a moment he was on me again with a needy kiss. Thick fingers tugged at the buttons of my costume pulling the white blouse I wore open so his lips could ghost across the soft skin of my chest. "I'd really like it." Cooper's lips planted a trail as he spoke "If you took all this off for me." He gestured over my side with one hand, my shirt falling to the floor.

So I did just that, stripping the old western get up off my body, leaving me naked before the older man. Cooper's face dipped low to nip and suck at my skin as clothing fell from it his hands pressing on either side of my chest to push my flesh together, releasing to watch the soft bounce of my tits as he let out a satisfied groan. "Is there, anything else you'd like?" My voice soft and breathy, one hand combing back dark hair while the other palmed him through pinstriped slacks as Cooper explored. Hazel eyes eclipsed by dark blown pupils as I met Cooper's gaze again, his warmth retreating with fluid steps towards his couch removing his belt in one swift movement letting the leather fall with a thud, wide dominant thighs spread as fingers coaxed me closer. Cooper's hands gripped my hips placing a kiss to my sternum "I just want you." his head falling against the back of the velvet sofa to grin up at me.

My knees hit the floor beneath me finding my place between Cooper's thighs with a nod "How bad exactly?" my fingers tugging open his zipper to tug his dick free, hand stroking him slowly. "I- oh so bad darlin' been needing you allll day." He gulped watching my lips ghost over the tip of his dick, tongue smoothing over him before dipping low to take his length into my mouth. A breathy moan left Cooper while I worked him with my mouth, delicately massaging his balls. "Ahh that's, that's it." He praised finding the back of my head to guide my movements as I bobbed and sucked, plush bottom lip pulled harsh between white teeth. "There's- whoo baby hol' on." Cooper's tongue darted out to soothe his lip, accent thick as he pulled me off his cock. "Remember what you started now." Cooper tugged my hips over his own forcing my legs to straddle him. I let my hands run along the damp skin of his firm chest, hips rolling to grind my wet core against Cooper's dick making us both sigh.

"I want you to ride me- Think you can handle that cowpoke?" Cooper's lips traced my jaw, rough fingers circling my clit pulling a moan from my chest. Lips finding their place together as I eased myself down onto Cooper, his jaw going slack once our bodies pushed flush against one another. Mumbles of perfection and disbelief fell from Cooper like a waterfall, his hands gripping at my thighs. The stars chest heaved as I began to bounced and roll my hips against him, my lips leaving hot kisses along the sensitive skin of his throat with a moan. A hiss pushed between Cooper's teeth, his hips bucking to meet my own slower movements making me grin.

"What are you...playing at baby." Cooper cocked his head, drawing out a moan as he spoke, arm looping around my waist to pull me closer. "You said you wanted me to ride you- that's what I'm gonna do." My words came out in a deep whine while my movements grew bold forcing Cooper's hips to still, a hand gripping at the loose fabric of his unbuttoned shirt. I began to grind my hips down against him, tongue sliding past Cooper's lips with a groan. The sound of wet skin and heavy breaths filled the dressing room as I rode Cooper. Before long he was panting and twitching beneath me, something snapping within the man as he opened his eyes and watched my body bounce against his.

In a flash my body was bent over the arm of the couch, legs pushed wide so Cooper could slot himself back into my cunt from behind. The loud moan I gave brought back Cooper's smile as he fucked into me, hands digging at my sides, hips and ass "Hold on baby I'm- I'm almost there." He moaned watching his dick disappear inside of me with each thrust. "Cooper I'm gonna-" I whined pushing my hips back to meet his thrusts causing him to growl. "Go head darlin', come on give me what you got." Cooper licked his lips, groaning as I came around him, walls quivering and clenching. His hips continued rolling my orgasm through me until I felt warm thick ropes fill me and run down my inner thigh.

Cooper fell heavy against my back with a satisfied hum, hands massaging my skin as he peppered kisses along my spine. Pulling out of me he'd wandered away for a moment to find something to clean me up with. When he returned I laid across the smooth velvet catching my breath. "Now that's a sight." He chuckled kneeling between my legs to clean his mess, cowboy hat long forgotten on the floor next to us along with the scuff marks the couch legs had left. "Well, you know us cowpokes." I shrugged making Cooper glance up at me with a raised brow. "We take it as it comes." I giggled letting my head fall back while Cooper shook his head tossing his towel aside with a smile.

[staytinyville]

OUTLAW (15)

ATEEZ poly!ot8 x Reader

Cowboy AU / Wild West

Series Masterlist

Warning: None

BETA READ (@mariana-mmtz)

It had been two weeks later by the time any of the boys came back to tell you about the others. Yeosang and Seonghwa had been staying with Jongho and Yunho in the meantime, rather than going back to the camp. The whole thing with the outlaw and you, made you feel unnerved. Your neighbors would look at you like you were dirt, sneering when you would pass by.

You realized the only people who didn’t look at you a certain way were the ones who stayed out late at night. Word hadn’t spread far for the real reason why you were sent to the police station, but you already knew that whatever the sheriff thought of you was what he told everyone else. 

The girl who you had saved, you learned worked in the stables of your neighborhood. She was 17, only a year older than your sister. In fact, your sister expressed how they went to school together, telling you that the girl had always been shy but after the murders she didn’t dare to look at anyone. 

It made you upset knowing she was traumatized. You wanted to get to know her, try to make her return to normal. But going through something like that, you guessed it wouldn’t be easy. You sighed to yourself as you were brought out of your head with Jongho and Yunho walking up to the front desk. 

Yeosang and Seonghwa walked out of the office, coming to stand next to you as you leaned your torso over the wood. 

“We might have found something.” Yunho spoke up. 

“What do you mean?” You frowned.

“Captain left a message for us.” The tall man leaned closer, glancing around to make sure no one was near. “They made tracks going one way but the ashes left from the campfire were blown another.” He explained. “They left in that direction.” His eyes found his friends, watching as they understood what he was talking about. 

“We have to find them.” You quickly said. 

“One step at a time, Love.” Jongho sighed. “Me and Yunho will take care of it, seeing as you all need to stay for work.”

Yeosang and Seonghwa both pursed their lips, realizing that they couldn’t just take off with a good enough excuse. 

“That's not fair.” You softly cried. 

“Honey, it's how jobs work.” Yeosang wrapped his arm around your waist, rubbing his thumb in a soothing manner.

“I'll find something to tell my parents.” You shook your head, turning to look at the man. “I have to go see them too.”

While you knew they were safe from the law in Cromer, it didn’t stop you from worrying about other towns being on the lookout for the outlaws as well. It was common for towns to be in the know about other crimes happening nearby. Who knew how far they had to go to find a safe place. 

“We'll come up with something.” Yunho sighed, watching as your eyes seemed to become downcast. 

You took in a deep breath, trying to come up with the best idea you could. The only issue you had at the moment was coming up with an excuse to give to your parents. There were a lot of things you could tell them, however it was best to create a full story just in case cracks started to show. 

Looking over at the boys, your eyes stopped on Seonghwa which caused him to look at you with wide eyes. 

“Seonghwa never told my parents where he was from.” You spoke up. “What if we say he has sick family in Dune. It's a few hours by horse. We'll be back in two days.”

They all began to think over the story, nodding to themselves when they saw it as a good excuse. However, while that would be able to get the boys free from work, they couldn’t guarantee your days off. 

“That settles our story, but why would you need to be going?” Yeosang questioned. 

“I'll tell them I'll be your navigator.” You quickly prattled off. “That you don't know how to get to Dune from Cromer.” Seonghwa raised a brow as you looked at him. 

His gave Yunho a side eye, trying to fight off the grin that threatened to overtake his lips. There were things you wanted to do in life and you would do anything to achieve them. At the moment, going to find the rest of the boys was all you wanted to do. It made heat bloom within his chest to see you care so much about wanting to see all of them.

You had four very capable men standing in front of you and yet, you knew that they felt lost without the rest of them. You couldn’t choose to stay with just one, you wanted to make sure they were all together. He had never met someone who thought of others needs before their own. You were selfless, and it caught all of their attention.

“You sure about this?” He asked you.

“I have it planned.” You smiled, nodding your head. “You two go to tell them about Seonghwa’s family. Once they accept your leave, tell them you need a navigator.” 

As they boys all took the moment to come to an understanding, they all set off in the direction they needed to. When the deputies went back to their room to gather their things, Yeosang and Seonghwa went to find your parents. 

When they came across your father in the saloon, deciding to ask him, seeing as he was the boss. With a smile on his face, Yeosang was the one who spoke to him.

“We would like to speak to you about asking for some days off.” The man softly asked.

“Oh,” Your father raised his eyebrows. “What is it?” 

“I got a letter that my grandmother is sick.” Seonghwa sighed deeply, trying his best to sound like he was worried. “She's currently in Dune where my family is taking care of her. I would like to go see her, just in case the worst comes.”

“Well, I mean of course. You can take however long you need.” Your father was a kind man. He knew what it was like to have sick family. 

Your grandmother left this world before your grandfather, having died of fever. Your grandfather died shortly thereafter to a broken heart. While your father wasn’t an only child, he was the only son and the eldest. His sisters left the home to care for their husbands, which left your father in charge of caring for his parents. 

It wasn’t Seonghwa’s duty to take care of his grandmother, but your father remembered how upset you were to lose your grandmother. If Seonghwa was as close to his grandparents as you were, your father knew how much it hurt to know they were sick. 

It pulled at your chest to know that it was all a lie. But when you returned, all you could easily say was that it was a normal sickness and that she would be fine in the following weeks. 

“Three days should suffice. It's enough to rest and travel.” Seonghwa continued on.

“Both you and Yeosang then?” Your father questioned. 

“Actually, we were hoping we could ask for a navigator. I don't really know the route to Dune from Cromer.” Seonghwa took a glance at you, watching as you came up behind your father.

“Well, I guess you can take (B/N)-”

“I'll do it.” You spoke up, a grin on your face as you looked at your father. 

“You?” Your father says skeptically.

“You told me to talk with Yeosang. I'll have plenty of time on the trip.” You tried to explain to him. 

“I don't know about that anymore, (Y/N).” While he did tell you to act buddy-buddy with Yeosang, going out for three days with two men was not exactly something your father saw as a good idea.  

“It'll be fine. I promise.” You told him, giving him a bright smile to show there was nothing to worry about. 

“Well alright.” Your father said slowly. “You all be careful.” He was looking at you, worry showing in his eyes. 

You gave him a hug, turning to give the boys a smile. “I'll go pack. We can leave in a moment.” As you turned to leave, your father was left with the two boys. 

“You boys better take care of my daughter.” He told them. 

“With our life.” Yeosang nodded his head. 

It took 30 minutes to pack up all you needed. With a tearful goodbye from your mother, you went on your way, riding on your own family horse this time rather than sitting behind Yeosang or Seonghwa. 

You sighed to yourself as you started your journey once you hit the road out of your family's estate. It was the first time you were leaving the house alone for a couple of days. You understood why your mother was upset, but also you felt like this was the first time you were someone. 

You had spent your entire life up until then doing what your parents told you to. You never went out when there was a curfew, never stayed with friends for sleepovers. Not that you ever wanted to do those kinds of things. You were living day to day, thinking that what you saw and did was all you were ever going to know. 

Meeting the boys really seemed to change the way you looked at the world. Things that you used to do in the past were so dull in comparison to what you were so used to. You had always known the kind of person you were, but having met the people you call friends now, put your thoughts into actions. 

You would have never dared to interfere with those thugs, probably living the rest of your life in guilt that would eat you away from not going to investigate. But they brought a sense of adrenalin into you. A push that leads you to want to be the hero in this story. 

“The ashes were blown that way.” Jongho showed you all where the fire pit was moved to point in another direction. 

You watched how the ashes were brushed to the side in one single direction and knew that had the wind blown away the ashes it wouldn’t look so clean. You pursed your lips, thinking about how anyone could have missed something like this. As you looked off into the direction the ashes pointed, you tried to map out the surrounding area you knew.

“There's a creek that runs off the river.” You called, pointing in that direction.

“The police of Cromer already checked it.” Yunho told you. 

“Yes, but they didn't follow along it.” You moved to climb back onto your horse. “Look around for more clues.” You told the others. 

“Are we just going to ignore that the way she bosses us around is actually really sexy?” Seonghwa placed his hands on his hips, watching you look around the area. 

“Who are you?” Yunho teased. “Wooyoung?”

It took a good 30 minutes of searching around the surrounding area of the creek to find something out of the ordinary. You came across a tree with what looked like bear claw marks on the bark. There were four slash marks going down the tree bark, but there were four more going up in the opposite direction. 

The first two marks seemed to be overlapping on another, creating an H that immediately stood out to you. “I think I found it.” You called over your shoulder. “It looks like bear marks.”

Yunho moved his horse alongside yours, raising a brow at the marks on the tree. “Yes, but Hongjoong leaves the scratches diagonal as well.” Yunho explained.

As you both looked around, you started to notice the trail of marked up trees. They all lead in one direction, making you smile brightly at the fact. “They're this way.”

You quickly tried to get your horse to move swiftly, feeling all the more hopeful that you will get to see the boys again. 

Series Masterlist

@thefrog3223 , @iarayara , @0rangemilk , @explorewithd , @detectivedoodle , @bangtanxberm , @a1i33a , @loveforred , @drunken-deitence , @0325tiny , @the-ghostest-with-the-mostest , @atinyreads , @atinytinaa , @lexiigom , @smilingtokki , @mismatchfluffysocks ,

[pretending-ican-write]

Cowboy Up - Pt.8

Enjoy, touch angsty. I'm also opening up to requests for drabbles/headcanons of moments pre-show/outside show canon for this pairing because quite frankly i'm obsessed with them (and Ian Bohen i'm in love with that man).

Pairing: Ryan (Yellowstone) x Dutton!reader

WC: 1483

Previous part - Next part

---

Y/n exited the house with coffee in hand to see the small army John had amassed to deal with the cattle.  From the porch steps, she watched as who she assumed was a new hand talked to Rip who clearly didn’t think much of him.  Poor lad clearly didn’t have a clue what he was supposed to be doing on a ranch.  Y/n decided he was going to need her help to survive at the Yellowstone.

John approached her, “you’re gonna go with Rip up the mountain.”

“The fuck I am.  I’m going to the reservation,” she argued.

He shook his head, “I’m not about to let you be that close to it all y/n.  This is the compromise.  You help with the river or you stay here.  This is one thing that isn’t up for discussion.”

“Fine.”

She turned on her heel to one of the horse trailers where she took the rope of a horse from Colby to load up.  As she turned to leave, she was faced by Ryan who had bought his horse on.  Y/n let out a deep sigh upon seeing him, the reality of the potential danger to them in front of her in the form of his ‘livestock agent’ vest.  

Y/n leant against the metal, “I fuckin’ hate this Ry.”

“I know you do sweetheart,” he whispered.

They spent a quiet moment just existing in each others’ presence.  Ryan wrapped his arms around her middle, pulling her body against hers and pressed a small kiss to the top of her head.  Y/n allowed herself to melt into his chest, and inhale the smell of his cologne mixed in with that of the horses surrounding them. 

“You gotta promise to be fuckin’ careful out there.  I need you to come back to me when today is done,” she said.

Ryan nodded, “I promise to be careful, sweetheart.  You’re all the motivation I need to be safe.”

“I love you,” y/n whispered into the trailer.

Before he got a chance to reply, Lee interrupted them, “come on lovebirds we’ve got cattle to take back and a mountain to blow up.”

“You’ve got shit timing,” she whisper-shouted at her brother as they left, “we were having a moment.”

Lee laughed, “life is full of moments y/n, if you spend too long in one another will pass you by.”

Y/n walked past the line of trucks the hands were climbing into and headed towards where Rip had Comanche waiting for her.  She took her horse and gracefully swung up into the saddle, settling in for the long ride ahead of them.  They started off down the drive and y/n observed how uncomfortable the new hand looked on his horse.  Yeah he was gonna need all the help she could give him.  The convoy departed past them and y/n waved to her brothers in the first truck.  As the last truck drove past, Ryan looked out the window to see her blow him a kiss to which he smiled back.

-/-/-

Half an hour into their trek, y/n felt like the nerves were going to eat her alive.  Rip was leading them up the trail with no indication he wanted to talk and the hand looked far too scared to say anything so she took it upon herself to fill the silence.

“What’s your name?” Y/n asked.

The hand startled at her voice, “uh it’s Jimmy.”

“Nice to meet you Jimmy.  I’m y/n and I reckon you’re gonna need my help here,” she explained, “Rip’s a stubborn son of a bitch who thinks affection’ll kill ya and most of the others stopped maturing when they were 10 so I’m your best chance.”

“Thanks I guess?” He wasn’t sure what to make of the girl behind him.

Rip stopped her from rambling on, “what she’s conveniently missing out of her introduction is that she’s a Dutton so you’d do well to keep away from her.”

“Call off the threats Rip I know you won’t do anything to him,” y/n countered, “guy that uncomfortable on a horse didn’t apply for the job.”

Jimmy turned red at her statement, “listen I ain’t proud of what I done but-”

“Relax I don’t care what you did nor do I care to understand the decisions my father makes.  I’m just here to cowboy and ensure the place doesn’t go to shit before I get a chance to inherit it,” she explained.

Silence elapsed around the group and Rip took the opportunity to check on the youngest Dutton.  He turned around to see that she was clearly off in her own world, reins loose allowing Comanche to just follow the horse in front of him.  Her fingers were tapping out a rhythm on her saddle’s horn and Rip got the feeling her leg would be bouncing if she had her feet on the ground.

When they reached the top of the mountain they got to work setting up the charges to change the course of the river and fuck over the development next door.  Rip headed over to where Lucy was busy connecting up the wires.

“They’re gonna be safe y’know,” he stated, “on both sides of the fence.”

Jimmy looked up from the river, “is this legal?”

“You’re a criminal, what do you care?” Rip questioned.

The hand sighed, “thought the Yellowstone was gonna keep me out of trouble.”

“Getting in trouble’s the only skill you got,” Rip pointed out.

Y/n added, “difference is now you ain’t gonna get caught.”

Once everything had been set, they mounted up and headed back down the mountain.  This time y/n took the lead in an attempt to keep her mind off what would be going down on the reservation at that time.  

-/-/-

Nobody on the ranch had slept since they had returned from the reservation without Lee.  Her father had turned the house into some sort of command centre trying to locate her brother and y/n was sat on the porch steps watching the commotion having lost count of the amount of coffee she’d drank since coming back.  John and Jamie were talking around her but the words weren’t sinking into her brain.  Suddenly her father took off from the house.  Y/n shot up from the step and followed Jamie’s line of sight to where Kayce was walking Lee’s horse towards the ranch with a body slung in front of the saddle.

She gasped and felt the fear that had been keeping her going leave her body.  Her legs buckled, falling to her knees next the steps.  Jamie rushed to wrap his arms around his sister, letting her cry into his chest.  They waited in silence for Kayce to dismount the horse before Jamie let go of her to launch herself into her twin’s arms.  Y/n kept herself attached at the hip with Kayce whilst Jamie tried to get out of him what had happened but he wasn’t willing to give up any information.

At some point sat on the sofa she finally spoke, “someone needs to call Monica.”

“I’ll take Kayce back in the helicopter now.  No use rehashing this on no sleep,” John explained, “stop running on coffee and sleep.”

After the helicopter had departed, y/n made her way down the drive towards the bunkhouse.  The door banged open and the hands looked up.  The place was quiet, there was no insults being thrown around, and they were all there which was unusual for that time of day meaning Rip had given them the day off.  Ryan and Colby were on one of the sofas half-heartedly playing solitaire and Lloyd was sat reading at the table.  

Wordlessly, Ryan put down his cards and opened his arms for his girlfriend.  She made a beeline for him before burying herself in the hoodie he was wearing.  He wrapped his arms tightly around her, kissing her hair safely.  

“I love you,” Ryan whispered to her.

None of the hands made comment about the situation and Lucy fell asleep like that with tears drying on her cheeks.

-/-/-

After the funeral, y/n split from the rest of the group heading to the main house and instead made her way down to the barn in need of some emotional support from Comanche.  She found her father in one of the stalls with the stallion Kayce had been working with.

“What’s he doing here?” She asked.

John looked up at her, “think it’s your brother’s way of apologising.”

“How did it all go so wrong dad?” Y/n pondered.

He sighed, “I have no idea but this isn’t the end of it.”

“I’m still not being part of some fucked up power game dad and you don’t get to use me in some twisted politics but whatever it takes to get justice for Lee I’m onboard with,” she explained, “when we’ve got that we’ll talk again.”

John smiled at his daughter, “that’s good enough for me.”

[quixoticall]

To Hell I Go

MASTERLIST

Suggested Listening: Anything Zach Bryan but particularly, "Something in the Orange", “Open the Gate”, and "I Remember Everything"

Chapter Warnings: Gun violence, injury, some light death ideation, Billy is here, death of an animal

WC: 2.8K

Author's Note: Hello! It's been a while! Please know I'm working on TCGU! But I've been really inspired by Zach Bryan recently and this concept of the Final Girl of the West which is how this idea was born. I hope you like it!

_______________

“Sheriff Hopper’s after us. Has his new Pretty Boy deputy with him too.” 

The sun is high and bright and bothersome but you’ve been on a job for the last month, which paints everything bothersome,  even Max’s warning. 

“Didn’t know Hopper was working with anyone,” you muse, as you dismount your horse, Calliope, and hand the young girl the reigns. Your muscles are stiff and achy from riding so long and you smell like a manure pit. You desperately want a proper bed—or a shallow grave—to fall into. 

“He’s new. Hops probably needs the help on account of his leg being fucked up since you shot him,” Max responds, admiration tinging her voice. 

You scoff, “I didn’t fuck up his leg, he’s just old and fat.” 

You had barely even grazed him. 

“Pretty Boy, huh?  I’m sure your brother is seething about that.” 

Max glares at you through her lashes, “he’s not my brother,” she warns. 

You know this, of course, you’re just in a bad mood and looking for a bruise to poke. You should probably apologize but Max’ll get her lick back soon enough—it’ll be easy with you, too. You’re all bruise. 

“Billy hates him, already ran into him and the Chief in Amarillo. Came home all black and blue from their scuffle, ended up running him off the trail and he fell off his horse.” 

You whistle lowly, knocking Billy Hargrove off his horse is no easy feat. He must’ve been angry after that.

“He said that they had a list of all the gang’s members. Not our names or nothing, just descriptions, I guess. Apparently, Hopper has you on the list as ‘crack shot girl’. ”

You drink this information up, eyes scanning the horizon, half expecting Billy or Hopper or even Creel to spring out any moment.  Nothing but the wind through the grass, though. 

“What does he have you as?” You probe. 

Max nearly pouts in response, “Red.” 

You’re trying not to laugh, and instead grapple to change the subject. 

“What about the ‘Pretty Boy’ deputy? Does he have a name?” 

You don’t care too much, you want to keep the conversation going, it’s the only real one you’ve had in weeks. 

“Heard it was Harrington or something like that,” Max shrugs, quickly losing interest in favor of brushing Calliope’s mane. 

It has to be “something like that”, you decide, because you knew for a fact there wasn’t a single Harrington west of the Appalachians. There hadn’t been in years. 

_______________

Steve Harrington was the first in his family to leave Wyoming in thirteen generations. It wasn’t by choice. 

Steve’s daddy had been a cattle rancher. He hadn’t owned any land like yours had but he was the best bull rider in all the West. That was, until his fatal fall off the saddle when Steve was barely old enough to ride himself. 

The heartbreak of her true love’s death had made a ghost of Steve’s mama, effectively making him an orphan. 

He was thirteen when he had come to your Daddy’s ranch, threadbare hat clutched tightly in his fists nervously as he asked for work. 

You were twelve then and watched the whole exchange from the top of the stairs with your sisters, the three of you drinking him in with an odd curiosity. He had been all limbs back then, thin and awkward but as tall as a man. His face was uncreased and fearful, giving away his true age. You listened, unseen as the young boy stuttered through an explanation of his pitiful circumstances. 

He wasn’t looking for charity, he made a point to specify, but work. He could ride and wrangle and he knew how to work the land, too, he explained, chest puffing with pride. He would earn his keep, he propositioned. 

The ranch was always in need of hands, and your father was always benevolent to necessary causes and in circumstances that made him seem like a better man than he was, so it was a done deal before night’s end. 

_______________

“Son of a bitch,” you exhale through gritted teeth, desperately trying to reload your goddamn shotgun. 

It was supposed to be an easy enough job—a little stagecoach stick up right outside of Tombstone. You had been scoping the target for days, a miner and his family making their way back East after striking it big in the mines. They were obnoxiously flagrant about their wealth—just like all New Money—and it was obvious that they were traveling with their coffers full of that fine California Gold. The plan was that you, Billy, and Tommy would ambush their stagecoach sometime around twilight before they reached Tombstone proper but then Max had decided to tag along and, while she was your favorite member of the gang by miles, she had no place at an armed robbery.  

The whole operation was slowed down to accommodate the tagalong and suddenly it had become too dark and late to hit them before they arrived in Tombstone, so you had to adjust and hedge your bets on ambushing them when they left the small town the following morning. Someone must have recognized the crew that night and tipped off the sheriff, though, because next thing you know, the four of you are about to run the stagecoach off the trail when you hear gunshots and Hopper’s gruff demands for your surrender.

There goes that easy $800, you sigh to yourself, steadying your aim over your shoulder. You’re a lousy shot at this angle especially while riding a horse, but you’re not hoping for a miracle, only to distract long enough to give Max a chance to get away. She’s the slowest of the four and you refuse to leave her behind. (Even if all of this is kind of her fault.) 

On the opposite side of the road from behind the stagecoach, you see a sharp movement— the deputy, you’re sure. From the corner of your eye you catch fragments of familiar hair, eyes, lips and suddenly your finger slips on the trigger, a stray bullet flies behind you, spooking a horse and causing some commotion. You hope it’s Hopper’s but you can’t bring yourself to check. You can’t bring yourself to do anything. At all. Because there, on the other side of the road, all tan skin and freckled-faced is Steve Harrington, alive and older and looking at you with an expression of shock matching your own. 

“Sunshine?” He shouts over the gallop of hooves and in hearing his voice you’ve lost all doubt that this was some sort of joke you managed to play on yourself. 

It’s him. Truly. 

What you say back is lost to the wind as a lone shot rings out and suddenly you’ve lost your balance on your horse and you’re sent tumbling down, fingers fighting for purchase along your reigns. 

Steve’s stunned face and the smoke from his gun are the final things you see before hitting the ground. 

Son of a bitch.

_______________

You and Steve became fast friends, being close in disposition and most importantly, age. 

While you loved your younger sisters they were just that: younger. At six and eight respectively, Hattie and Lottie were far too preoccupied with dress up and tea parties, hobbies that you had also adored at their age, but at the mature age of twelve, no longer stimulated you. In Steve you found a confidant and an accomplice. 

You snuck him extra portions at supper and spent your spare moments following him around reading aloud from one of your many books. He had a penchant for war epics and horror while you liked romance and mystery. Both of you could agree, though that Westerns were the best. 

In exchange for your generosity, Steve taught you how to ride and shoot and lasso.

He was the best teacher truly and would often outdo men of twice his age and size when it came to rearing and riding. He learned everything from his daddy, he had told you.  Steve talked about his father a lot. About what he was like and everything he was exceptional at and how the crowd had gone stone silent when his broken body hit the dusty ground. 

“That’s how I’m going to die too, one day,” he had told you, grim but not sad. “On a bull in Cheyenne. Probably the same one, he’s the only one that could take me out.” 

“How do you know how you’re gonna die?” You awed at him.

“Just a feeling in my gut. Sometimes you just know,” he shrugged sagely. 

You nodded along and tried, desperately so, to will your gut to give you a precognition about the circumstances of your own death.

“I don’t know how I’m gonna die,” you admitted to Steve after a long moment of self-assessment, “but I know you’re gonna be there.“

You had no clue what possessed you to say that other than the fact that you knew it to be categorically true. 

Steve smiled in response, pleased. 

_______________

You wake up under a sky of pinprick stars. Dreams of childhood vows and muddy fields filled with promise fade as you take in your surroundings.

There’s a fire burning next to you and a sharp pain running along your entire body, burning to match. Max suddenly appears by your side, looking equal measures relieved and frazzled. 

“What happened?” You ask weakly. 

“Pretty Boy shot Calliope and you fell into the ravine. Had to fish you out of there and find a place to lay you down.” 

“What about Billy and Tommy?” 

“They left us.” 

Of course. 

“Bastards.” 

“Bastards,” Max agrees. 

“And what about the sheriff… and the deputy?” 

“Sheriff fell off his horse when you shot him and his deputy went after Billy. Didn’t see where though, but I’m sure he didn’t catch him.” 

“Probably not,” you croak before accepting the canteen Max brought to your lips.  Billy was a menace on a horse, agile and quick in ways most men could only dream and he already had too much of a head start. 

You try to stand up now, too fast evidently, since Max rushes to your side to help you along when you waver.  Eventually, you’re on your feet, stumbling forward with only Max keeping you upright, your whole body screaming at you to stop. 

“Come on then, Red, let’s go back home.” 

Your whole body aches so much your vision blurs and there’s a pain along your ribcage that may hint at a broken bone. The ride back to the Creel House on the back of Max’s scrawny horse is utter agony but at least Max has gifted you a mercifully silent journey by not trying to make conversation.

“You know him,” Max murmurs. It’s nearly morning when she finds enough courage to bring it up.

“Pretty Boy called you ‘sunshine’,” she continues, “I heard him.” 

You freeze. 

“You must’ve heard wrong then. I’ve never seen him before in my life.”

You leave it at that.

_______________

By the time you were sixteen, you felt like you knew Steve better than you knew yourself. You could read him like a book—every crook of an eyebrow, every sideways glance, and their meaning were neatly categorized in your mind. Part of that was the familiarity bred by endless idle hours together and part of that was the burgeoning ache that had been festering inside of you in the past months; the soft, comforting ember of friendly affection had given way to something hotter, something you couldn’t bring yourself to define yet but singed your skin at the sight of him and made you want to chart his every mood like sailors charted the stars. 

This was exactly why you could tell he was upset even though he denied it. Something about the way he clenched his jaw while he aimed his gun at the row of cans sitting on a broke down fence a little too hard indicated that he had something weighing on his mind. 

“You’re meant to hit the targets, you know,” you goaded after he had missed all of five shots. 

His jaw clenched harder. 

“You can’t be cross just because I’m the better shot than you,” you needled further. 

“I’m not cross,” he argued back, crossly. 

“Yes, you are! You’ve been sullen and cross three weeks now even though you say otherwise and it’s driving me mad so, why don’t you stop being stubborn and tell me what it is that’s making you act like this and we can fix it and be back to normal. I don’t want to spend my last week here watching you pout all over the ranch.”

He sighed a drawn-out, guttural thing, and then suddenly, it hit you. 

“Wait, are you mad I’m leaving?” Your tone wasn’t accusatory as much as it was curious. Truthfully, when your parents had share the news that they were sending you to a finishing school, you had been devastated at the prospect but you tried your best to keep your true feelings from view. Your father had made it known that he had gone to great lengths to secure your spot and your momma got misty eyed when she spoke about how many doors this opportunity would open for you.

“No, I’m not mad you’re leaving,” he argued back and flinched at how unconvincing he sounded. You knew deep in your bones that you'd miss Steve the most when you were gone. No matter how fair you'd go or how'd long you'd be apart, you're sure you'd miss Steve.

“Steve, you know I’d rather be here, shooting cans than anywhere else, even that fancy school,” you cajole. It's a simple, earnest statement but as far as you could trust yourself saying without confessing your devotion.

“You say that now,” he petulantly threw himself down on a tree root and you moved to sit next to him, “but as soon as you make friends and meet new people, I’ll be dust.” 

You laughed at the uncharacteristic display of self-pity. “You really think I’d find someone I would love more than you?” 

The idea of it was so ludicrous you didn’t even realize the carelessness by which you threw out such hefty claims of affection. Of course, you loved Steve and he you, and while you were never scared to voice that to each other before, now the word meant something different—at least to you it did. 

Your eyes shift down to your boots, hoping he didn’t pick up on the change in your heart. 

“Not more, just different.” 

“Different how?” 

“You're going to find someone,” it was his turn to get flustered and glanced at the ground, “... someone you want to spend the rest of your life with.” 

“Well, I want that to be you,” you responded, not thinking and far too quickly. 

“No, I mean, someone you want to marry,” he spits out, exasperation being quickly replaced with embarrassment as his words sank into place.

You stalled at the implication your heartbeat becoming almost deafening. Steve was afraid you were going to go out and find someone else to marry and leave him behind. Was it possible that he was equally consumed by that same burning affection that had been sieging your heart for months?

Out of the two of you, you had always been the braver one. The one that always jumped in first, the one to take a risk on a whim. And, while it terrified you and made your voice small and wavering, you couldn’t help but say right back, “I want that to be with you, too.” 

Steve beamed in response. 

_______________

Tommy and Billy had beaten you and Max back to the Creel house. At least the bastards had the decency to look a little ashamed as they watched Max support your limping form through the threshold. Mostly, though they looked surprised. 

“Thought the deputy had gotten you,” Billy whistles lowly through the toothpick that is perpetually resting in the corner of his mouth. 

“He killed my horse,” you bemoan. “ Max had to fish me out of the ravine on her own, no thanks to you two.” 

The blond man shrugs in response, “We couldn’t go back. Thems the rules, you know that.” 

You do know that but you are miserable and tired and just looking for someone to blame for the life you had fallen into so you glare back. 

Billy is unfazed by your glare and in a rare moment of kindness, offers to acquire a horse for you during his next round through the nearby ranches.  This uncharacteristic show of pity makes you realize you probably look as bad as you feel and for a brief moment wish that Max hadn’t pulled you out of that ravine. 

You manage to stumble onto your cot, body raked with pain and you lay there, unmoved until night comes and it’s not until the dark has truly settled and you are sure that no one could possibly see, that you begin to cry.

Silent tears stream down your face for your companion, your horse, the last thing you called your own. One more thing stolen away--and this time, by a ghost no less. A gift from your daddy when you had turned seventeen, her name plucked from one of your books on Greek mythology she had been your companion when you had felt most alone.

Calliope was the final reminder of a life long gone and now she’s just another thing you’re left mourning.

Next

[bad268]

Take Me Home Pt. 2 (Paul Aron X Equestrian! Reader)

Fandom: RPF/F2/F3

Requested: Yee by @ionlywantedtoreadfanfiction

Warnings: Mentioned meds, kinda spicy at the end

POV: Second Person (You/your)

W.C. 1520

Summary: Paul's support is unwavering.

As always, my requests are OPEN

MASTERLIST // HITLIST

<- Part 1

~~(^Pinterest)

Coming back from your injury and getting as far as you are now is astonishing. So many people doubted your ability of coming back in such a short amount of time really fed your ambition to show up the competition. You did not dedicate your entire life to horseback riding for it to go down because of a broken clavicle and concussion. 

Thankfully, your concussion was healed at this point. Your clavicle was almost entirely healed. There was just a hairline fracture left, so you were cleared as long as you did not overdo it. So far, you have been doing a good job of that. 

You were currently second after the dressing and cross-country events, and you were preparing for the show jumping portion. You and Hollister had placed well in the dressage and cross-country sections, so you needed to pull a strong performance for the show jumping portion.

You were standing in the stable with Hollister in between showings. You had already qualified for the individual jumping event and finished the team jumping final. Your team placed second, so it will all be up to your individual performance. 

There was a gap between the end of the team jumping final and the start of the individual final, so you had a little time to just calm down with Hollister in peace.  You stretched out your shoulder a bit as it started bothering you a little during the team jumping final. You would probably take a pain med before going out again, but right now, that’s not something you need. You could push through this pain. It wasn’t to the extent of needing meds yet.

You sat down for a minute, drinking some water, so you stayed hydrated. You rolled your shoulders a bit as you tried to get back into the headspace when someone started talking to Hollister.

“What’s up, Holli? You doing good?” They said and you immediately stood up when you recognized Paul’s voice. “And you! You’re doing amazing so far! How’s the shoulder?”

“Could be worse,” YOu chuckled as you leaned over the stable door to kiss him. “It’s only a little uncomfortable right now, so I’ll be fine.”

“Good,” He smiled as he left an extra kiss on your forehead. “ Just don’t push yourself too hard. I still need you in one piece later.”

“Oh?” You teased, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Not like that,” He immediately dismissed, swatting at your hand before turning it onto you, raising his own eyebrow, “unless you want to. You have to earn it though.”

“You say that like we’re not set on winning it all,” You chuckled lightly as you continued the teasing tone, “but okay! I’ll earn it, I guess.”

“Okay, mind out of the gutter now,” Paul turned serious as he held your face in his hands. “Go out there and show the haters why you’re still here. Show them that you and Hollister are the best duo out there. You hear me?”

“I hear you, Paulito,” You smiled as you heard a sound signaling that the warm-up would be starting soon.  “I’ll see you after the showing.”

“I’ll see you on the podium.” One last good luck kiss and he was off. You knew it was now or never. It was time to shine. You mounted Hollister for the last time in the competition, and you took off to the arena.

To say the competition was fierce would be an understatement. Paul was on the edge of his seat the entire time, but he never lost faith in your ability to come out on top. It was down to the wire, but ultimately, he was ready to run down to you when the scores revealed that you won the whole show. You won the gold!

Everything around you was silent. It felt like everything was moving in slow motion as you watched your closest competitor’s horse nock down the last obstacle of the set course. You did not want to get your hopes too high, but you could have sworn that you needed at least two points to win. You looked up to the board and saw the four-point deduction, and at that moment, you could see gold as your name topped the leaderboard. You won the gold!

You and Hollister approached your coach, and as soon as they grabbed the reins, you dismounted. You jumped into your coach’s arms for a hug, half-minding the shoulder and reins they were still holding. When they put you back down, you were ushered toward the podium.

You were called to stand in the middle, on the top step. You could not wipe the smile off your face even if you tried. Nothing felt quite like this feeling. You could now understand what it felt for Paul to stand on a podium. Sure, you had won competitions before, but it was never to this extent. Never with this many people watching. You could understand Paul’s feelings whenever he podiumed, let alone won a race. Speaking of Paul, you could have sworn that you could hear him cheering for you.

Truthfully, he was cheering as loud as he could. How could he not? He was so unbelievably proud of you, and he was ready to storm down and hold you. He refrained though. He would wait until you got back to the stables and meet you there.

You took a couple of pictures with your competitors and your medals before you took off back to Hollister. This win was his just as much as it was yours. You, quite literally, could not have gotten this win without him. You offered to take Hollister back to the stables because that’s where he would have to stay until you could get him back home. Your coach went to coordinate those plans as well as the legalities of winning the Olympics. 

You made your way to the stables as everything calmed down. You kept getting stopped by other competitors and other random people around the stables, which you didn’t mind. You were still on cloud 9, so you did not oppose people stopping to congratulate you or pet Hollister. It was all part of the job, you thought. You finally made it to the stable, and you jumped off Hollister immediately upon seeing Paul leaning against the stable door, looking down at his phone. He heard an approaching horse, so his attention lifted as he put his phone in his back pocket and opened his arms for you. You dismounted from Hollister again and led him into the stable before turning and jumping into his arms, burying your face in his neck.

“We did it, baby,” You cried, finally feeling the joy of winning. You pulled back just enough to lean your forehead against his before using one of your hands to wipe the fallen tears off your cheeks. “We did it!”

“You did it,” He congratulated, placing kisses all around your face. “You and Hollister did it, and you were amazing!”

“Thank you, Paulito,” You chuckled as you became shy, leaning your head onto his shoulder and looking up at him. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“How’s your shoulder? Did it hurt too bad?” Paul asked as he leaned his head on top of yours, wrapping his arms tighter around you as he swayed back and forth. “Did it bother you at all?”

“To be honest, I did not even notice it,” You let out a breathy laugh once you thought about it more. “I am tired now though. All that work really takes it out of you.”

“We can head back to the hotel,” Paul offered, “I don’t think your flight home is until tomorrow.”

“Actually,” Your coach interrupted as they showed up in the stables, “Your flight out is in a couple of hours. You’re both good to head out now. I’ll take care of Hollister, and he’ll be back in your stables either tomorrow or the day after. Go have fun!”

You and Paul glanced at each other while your coach took Hollister to get fed and roam around as a cool-down from the competition. You moved around in Paul’s hold, causing him to loosen his hold and allow you to stand in front of him. His hands moved from your thighs to your waist while yours remained around his shoulders and in his hair. You made eye contact with him before leaning to peck his lips one more time as you gently pulled at his hair.

“Take me home?” You asked in a teasing manner, “I think I earned it.”

“You definitely earned it,” He whispered as he moved one of his hands from your waist to hold your chin between his fingers and forced you to look into his eyes, “Just make sure you can hold off until we get home.”

“I have no problem with waiting,” You admitted playfully, moving one of your hands to his chest before looking Paul up and down. That’s when you noticed something, so you looked at him through your eyelashes and teased him with, “Can you?”

~~~~~

© BAD268 2024. DO NOT REPOST WITHOUT PERMISSION.

[princeloww]

rivals plot summary (including content warnings)

What to expect from the new DT show, basically. Vague spoiler warning.

Tony Baddingham, DT's character, runs a British television company in the Cotswold area. He is a lord and, as you might guess, extremely rich. He tends to manipulate people and spend their money instead of his, so that when his ventures go wrong, other people are left scrambling to pick up their losses, while he's completely fine.

He has a long-lasting rivalry with the tory minister for sport, Rupert Campbell-Black. Rupert is extremely charming and athletic, and has a new mistress every week. He is divorced and does not see his two children very often. He's an athlete at heart, and adores his horses more than people --- but politics are a lot more stable than that.

The plot follows a very large cast of characters, which can be quite confusing at first. I had to go back and work out who Beattie Johnson was, for example, because I'd completely forgotten who she was and who she was involved with. There are lots of wives and husbands and mistresses and children, so it gets a bit complicated. Most of the characters are somehow linked to Corinium, Lord B (Tony Baddingham)'s TV company.

Tony hooks up with and employs an American director/writer, Cameron Cook. She moves to England to work at Corinium. Her arrival and bad attitude forms tension in the Coriunium workspace, and the tension furthers when Declan O'Hara, an Irish TV presenter and author, arrives at Corinium. He is a leftist (in contrast to the conservatives around him) and often discriminated against for being Irish. At times he is accused of having IRA links, mostly just to make him look bad. He and Tony's personalities clash, leading to a fall out at Corinium. Declan, in a drunken rage, quits his job and falls into a bit of a bad state.

Recovering from the publicity of his departure, Declan groups up with Rupert Campbell-Black and a few others (including Tony's brother, Basil Baddingham) to create a rival television company, Venturer, to challenge Corinium and Tony for the franchise.

There is a lot of romance and a LOT of subplots. Declan's daughter, Taggie O'Hara, is a dyslexic cook who struggles to find work due to her inability to read and write. She develops a crush on Rupert, who is considerably older. If I start talking about how much I despise their relationship, I will never stop. Taggie will probably be quite a main character in the show, I'm guessing. Declan also has a wife, Maud, who is a failed actress and spends all of his money.

Tony's wife, Monica, is very charitable and employs Taggie despite Declan and Tony's rivalry. She is aware that Tony is having an affair with Cameron Cook. An affair which, while Cameron is under his employment, becomes extremely toxic and abusive.

I'm sure the show will be rounded out a bit for modern audiences, but warnings wise (at least in the book), Rivals includes themes of sexual assault (particularly groping), misogyny, domestic abuse and much more. A big majority of the characters are rich and extremely corrupt. Tony, the baddie of the story, has some of the worst moments. There is a scene where he hits and throws a woman until she is bleeding, because she's 'betrayed' him. He also threatens to kill somebody. On a separate occasion, he tells a distraught SA victim not to tell anybody, because the attacker is somebody who he needs on his side, for money. There is also, obviously, given the kind of characters we follow, a lot of classism. Valerie Jones, for example, exists as a punching bag for a middle-class Northern woman who wants to be like the rich Southerners.

Tony might be the bad guy, but Rupert, who we're supposed to like, is also awful. He's Jilly Cooper's little golden boy, despite being horrible. I hate him so much but Jilly clearly loves him. He gropes eighteen-year-old girls and objectifies every single woman he speaks to.

Again, I'm sure a lot of this will be toned down, but watch with caution. The story has light moments and lots of romance, comedy and drama --- it just occasionally dips into dark themes. There will probably be lots of dinner parties, as every other scene is a giant social gathering. As much as I have issue with Jilly Cooper, she is absolutely excellent at writing large social scenes with dozens of different subplots combining.

There's also a weird theme of characters describing 14-year-olds (specifically 14-year-olds) in weird predatory ways. It's weird though, because a strange amount of characters do it -- to the degree where I think it's just Jilly Cooper describing them weirdly. She acts as though being a teenage girl is a woman's prime and that she is wasted after that. She has also gone on the record to state that she hates feminists. I'm not a giant fan, frankly.

On a lighter note, if you want to tell who's supposed to be a good guy, just remember that the good guys always quote poetry and like animals.

Despite its many flaws and dark themes, Rivals really is an interesting read. Jilly Cooper says the weirdest, most fucked up things ("she's like a little sister", thinks Rupert, right after staring at the 18-yo's ass) but the story really supports itself. It's interesting, gossipy, raunchy and very well written. Cooper is an expert at big scenes, and works so well with the giant ensemble cast. I disagree with a lot of things she says, but I think the show will be really good. I'm super excited and can't wait to watch it. There's a particular scene with David's character that I'm looking forward to; while in the book it was a bit scary, because we know how Jilly is with teenagers, there's a scene where Tony drives Declan(his enemy)'s daughter home, and is actually very nice to her before realising who she is. I think DT will do this scene a lot better, and it might actually be a bit endearing. Idk, I don't wanna jinx it, but I think it has potential to be a sweet scene, with the charm DT typically brings to these roles.

If anyone has any plot-related questions, or about David's character or anything, please feel free to ask! I'm more than happy to ramble about this book, because I do really like it. I see and dislike its flaws, but personally I am able to look past them and appreciate the story and characters. They're all horrible people, but let's be honest. They're politicians and rich, tory lords in the 1980s. They were always going to be horrible. You can like something that contains problematic characters without necessarily, immediately condoning and agreeing with those things. People online and especially on places like TikTok seem to struggle with this concept, but I'm a firm believer in media literacy and accepting flaws. You can like something that is bad. You can like villains. It's fine.

Declan is my favourite btw. Live laugh love Declan O'Hara

[whiskeypascals]

Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy

(not my gif)

pre-outbreak and happy Joel :)

Summary: It’s nearing Halloween and Y/N invited Joel over to hand out candy and have a few drinks after helping him put out decorations, Sarah was out trick or treating with some of her friends and wouldn’t be home until morning and things end up getting spicy between Joel and Y/N wink wink

Warnings: smut, bottom Y/N , alcohol, dirty talk, biting, multiple orgasms, teasing, praise.

———————

It was the Monday before Halloween, 2002 and Joel was excited to say the least, he loved the holiday and he loved seeing the subdivision full of life. He had got an early start on setting out decorations when he noticed that his neighbor, Y/N, was also starting early.

Y/N was chaotically putting out stringy fake cobweb decorations and it looked like he was struggling quite a bit.

Joel laughed to himself, noticing how Y/N kept getting his fingers caught in the fake webs and started to walk over to ask if he needed help.

“Hey! One second I’m almost…Fuck.” Y/N said before getting the decoration caught up by his shoulder somehow.

“Must’ve caught a thread, here, let me get it.” Joel offered up, reaching up to Y/N’s shoulder to grab the string. He pulled it off of his shoulder and handed it to him.

“Thanks, I can’t believe I’ve lived here for almost three months and never got your name, I’m Y/N.” He reached out his empty hand.

“Joel,” He smiled and went to shake Y/N’s hand, “Hey uh, I’m almost done over at my place if you need a hand.” he offered up.

“Oh, that would be really nice” Y/N smiled back at Joel.

The pair finished right as it was getting dark and after Y/N reached down to plug in the purple and orange lights, the two simply marveled at the decorating job they completed.

“Thanks Joel, I appreciate it.” Y/N rolled up his sleeves and looked over to the man next to him before speaking again.

“Hey, would you like to come have a couple drinks on Halloween and hand out candy? I mean it’s only fair because you helped me do all of this.” He motioned to the decorations.

Joel looked over at Y/N and thought for a second before replying with a simple, “Yeah that’d be nice”.

Flash forward to that Thursday and Y/N was sitting out in his driveway in a lawn chair watching Joel say goodbye to Sarah.

“If you need anything you tell Veronica’s mom to call me alright baby?” He said going to hug his daughter.

“Okay dad, love you!” She said turning to run towards her group of friends huddled on the street.

“Love you too baby! Have fun!” He yelled as she crossed to greet her friends.

Y/N noticed Joel run back inside his house and for a split second thought Joel had forgotten about their plans but then a group of trick or treaters started walking up his driveway and the thought slipped his mind.

Inside, Joel was running around his house finding all of the pieces for his costume, he dressed up every year and since Y/N had just moved in in July, he’d never known about Joel being one of the only adults on the street dressing up. He found all the pieces of the set as quickly as he could and looked in the mirror after he put all of it on. He smiled to himself and grabbed his cell and went outside.

Y/N was still sitting out in the lawn chair set up in his driveway when Joel walked over, “Hey Y/N sorry if I’m late at all, had to change real fast.” He smiled.

Y/N was absolutely awe struck. Joel was dressed up in full cowboy attire, decked out with a bandana around his neck and a leather hat on.

“No it’s all good Joel, there wasn’t any rush or anything. It’s still pretty early.” He said standing up to go grab a second chair so Joel could sit.

Joel found two cans of beer, one unopened and he assumed it was for him, but didn’t want to make himself too much at home and waited to wait til Y/N got back to ask to drink it.

Y/N came back with Joel’s chair in his arms and unfolded it so he could sit down.

“So, I’m guessing you dress up every year?” Y/N asked as he sat.

“No these are my normal clothes, is there something wrong with them?” Joel asked looking down at his clothes, looking up at, Y/N and laughing.

“You look nice Joel.” Y/N smiled.

“Oh, I almost forgot, here’s the drink I promised, we could always go inside and get more later if you want.” Y/N said, grabbing the can next to his own and handing it over to Joel.

“Thanks.” Joel grabbed the beer, opened it, and took a drink.

More kids came and went and then came and went again before Joel’s phone started ringing. He answered and talked for a few minutes before hanging up. Y/N glanced over at him while he was putting his phone back in his pocket, Joel looked over at him and started explaining the call.

“Sarah’s staying at her friends house tonight, so if your offer from earlier is still up we can go on inside.”

Y/N nodded and smiled “Yeah, we can go”

The pair stood up and Y/N got the chairs while Joel got the nearing empty cans and the candy bowl with about a handful left of candy to the front door and they went inside.

Joel was met with a pleasant smell as he walked in, Y/N’s house was beautifully decorated and incredibly clean. Joel thought back when he remembered that he has never seen a kid or another adult come in or enter and it hit him that Y/N lived alone.

“It’s uh, nothing special.” Y/N said noticing Joel looking around like he’s never been in a house before.

“you have a nice house, Y/N.” Joel said following the other man into the kitchen area.

“Are you a whiskey and coke man?” Y/N asked

“Take a look at me.” Joel said sitting down at the bar.

Y/N chuckled and grabbed two whiskey glasses and opening up the fridge to grab a two liter of coke. he brought the glasses and soda to the bar where the bottle of whiskey was sitting.

Joel was still sat in his costume, he took off his hat when he sat down but kept everything else on. Y/N couldn’t help but smile as he poured the drinks, Joel took a notice and smirked at the man in front of him.

Y/N finished pouring and scooted one of the glasses to Joel and watched as he took a swig. He swallowed thickly and felt the burn he’d grown to love go down his throat. He set the glass back on the table and raised both of his eyebrows

“Goes down smooth.” He said as Y/N finally took a drink, who nodded after putting his glass down next to Joel’s.

A few drinks later, almost half of the whiskey bottle was empty and Y/N and Joel were sitting on the couch watching a movie that Joel insisted was ‘the best thing to come out’. The first two buttons on Joel’s shirt had come unbuttoned and the bandana he had around his neck had disappeared. The two men had a very pleasant glow inside of them from the drinks.

Out of seemingly nowhere, Y/N had gotten hungry and remembered that he had bought cereal the day before and got the best idea on the planet.

“I’m gonna get some cereal, you want a bowl?” he got up to go to the kitchen.

“I’m good.” Joel replied from the couch.

Y/N saw out of the corner of his eye that Joel stood up and started walking over to him.

“You need something Joel?”

“mm-mm”

Joel sat down at the bar again and just watched as Y/N made his cereal.

“You sobering up?” Y/N asked, he was himself so he was curious about Joel’s state.

“Yeah.” he said.

His voice was deep and it sounded like he was tired, Y/N found it incredibly attractive.

Y/N sat his bowl down on the bar in front of Joel.

“Your costume looked really good tonight Joel.” he said not trying to hide that he was eyeing the man across the bar up and down.

Joel was taken aback by the sudden change in Y/N’s demeanor, he went from an awkward dude who kept getting stuck in fake cobwebs, and now he was talking him up.

It wasn’t a bad thing to Joel though.

“I bet you’d like it better if it was off, huh?”

Joel smirked and stood up

Y/N was suddenly speechless.

“Can’t be all quiet now, Y/N.”

Joel walked his way around the bar and stood in front of Y/N, who swallowed just as thick as Joel when he took the first drink of whiskey a few hours prior.

“Saw you eyeing me up all night pretty boy.”

Y/N said nothing again.

It was his turn to be shocked, he had never thought that Joel could get like this, but he could honestly get used to it.

“Joel are you completely sober.” it was less of a question and more like a demand to know.

“Yes Y/N, swear.” Joel replied.

“So you won’t regret kissing me?”

“Will you regret letting me kiss you?”

Y/N shook his head no and Joel leaned in to kiss him. As he deepened the kiss, Joel pushed him back to lean against the counter top. His arm snaked around Y/N’s waist and he took a sharp breath in through his nose.

Y/N was the first to pull away, but he took one look at Joel’s lust filled face and went right back in for another kiss. This one felt different from the other, there was a hunger in it. Both men knew that this wouldn’t be a kiss that lead to nothing.

Joel pulled away first this time.

“You tell me now if you don’t want this to go any further.” He said, he could one hundred percent tell that Y/N wanted to go further but he just wanted to make sure.

“I want to Joel, please.” Y/N whispered.

Joel moved off of Y/N and let him lead the way to the couch.

Y/N sat down and took off his thermal shirt and Joel un-buckled his belt and pulled it off before sitting down next to Y/N.

“How do you want to do this?” Joel asked looking over at Y/N.

“Can I sit on your lap?”

Joel nodded slowly and smirked once again as Y/N threw his legs over his own thighs. Y/N put his hands on Joel’s shoulders and pulled him in for another kiss.

Almost immediately Joel’s tongue prodded ad Y/N’s lips, he turned his head to the side a little bit to get a better angle to be able to let Joel into his mouth.

After the kiss, both were left breathless.

“If you keep smirking like that I’ll explode.” Y/N said as he panted slightly. Joel chuckled in response. He said nothing as he shrugged Y/N’s hands off his shoulders and leaned forward. He put his arms on Y/N’s hips to hold him in place and went straight for his neck. He kissed lightly at the space where Y/N’s shoulder and neck met. Y/N gasped as Joel bit down, it wasn’t hard enough to draw blood, but it was hard enough to make Y/N buck his hips up towards Joel.

Between Joel’s mouth and the friction in Y/N’s jeans, he let out multiple small whines and pleas. Joel pulled off of Y/N and looked at his neck, admiring the red blotches and bite marks on it.

“Joel please do something!” Y/N begged, grinding his hips down onto Joel’s, feeling everything in the process. Joel groaned at the friction that he caused between them.

“Fuck.” is all he said in response.

Joel reached down to un-button Y/N’s jeans as fast as he could. When he got them undone, he pulled the band of his boxers down and let his dick spring free. he spit in his palm and finally gave Y/N what he wanted the most.

Y/N’s head flew back as he let out a groan, his eyes screwed shut and he furrowed his brows.

“Look at me, Y/N.” Joel demanded, stopping his hand right at Y/N’s base.

Y/N pulled his head back up and opened his eyes, “Joel, please. Please don’t stop.” he whined.

“I don’t want you cummin’ yet baby,” Joel took his hand off of Y/N, “I want you comin’ completely undone with me inside you.”

Y/N was speechless for the second time tonight.

Joel leaned in to whisper to him, “Get up and take off your pants.”

“I know you’ve got lube and condoms around here somewhere, go get ‘em.” Joel said.

Y/N nodded and Joel watched him turn away and almost sprint to his room. He got everything and went back into the living room and saw that Joel had rid himself of his tight jeans and was slowly stroking himself with his head leaned back. Y/N tossed the lube and condom onto the couch cushion and finally got a good look at Joel’s dick. He for sure thought he would start drooling if Joel didn’t snap his head up when he heard the items hit the couch.

Y/N got back into Joel’s lap and went in for another kiss, after they pulled apart, Joel grabbed the lube from the cushion beside them and opened it up one handed. He squeezed a little bit onto his fingers and rubbed them against his thumb to warm up the gel. He decided he wanted to start slow and reached around to prod at Y/N’s entrance, maintaining eye contact with Y/N the whole time.

“Joel please stop teasing me.” Y/N’s hands ended up on Joel’s shoulders again and he dug his nails into the skin there.

Joel fit his middle finger next to his index and started scissoring them to stretch Y/N out. He writhed as Joel kept his movements at a steady pace.

“Joel ‘m gonna cum.” Y/N said as white hot pleasure took over his body.

He came with a long stretched out moan and Joel pulled his fingers out.

“D’ya think you could give me one more babe?”

Y/N nodded and looked down to see Joel’s dick leaking pre-cum onto his stomach and reached to wrap his hand around it. and Joel hummed in satisfaction.

“You’re being so good for me.” He said as Y/N picked up his speed.

Y/N stopped his hand and reached over for the condom. He opened it and started to roll it out onto Joel. The condom itself was pre-lubricated and there was still lube on Y/N’s hole so after it was rolled all the way on, Y/N lifted himself to give Joel room to reposition himself.

Joel held his dick in place as Y/N sat himself on it. The both of them groaned as Joel bottomed out.

“You’ve done this before, huh?” Joel asked moving Y/N’s hair off of his sweaty forehead.

“Mhm.” he nodded.

“So ya know how to ride?”

“Yeah.” Y/N breathed out heavily.

He put his hands back on Joel’s shoulders and used his arms to help himself lift halfway off of Joel and pushed himself back down with a whine, he kept us this rhythm for a couple minutes before Joel took his hand down to wrap around Y/N and stroke him in the same rhythm as his bouncing.

Y/N was squeezing around Joel’s cock and his jaw dropped to make an ‘o’ face.

“‘S so good keep goin’ baby” Joel’s hand had moved to Y/N’s waist and his jaw had tightened.

He thought for a second before slamming Y/N down onto himself and fucking up into him.

Y/N let out a stream of curses and Joel’s grip only got harder as he relentlessly slammed into him. Y/N brought a hand to his dick and started stroking with Joel’s thrusts. He let out one final ‘fuck’ as he came into his fist.

Joel didn’t stop though, “I’m almost there baby, c’mon.”

He let out a grunt when Y/N started grinding down on his dick. Small chants of ‘ah’ left his mouth as the man on top of him kept going. As Joels thrusts got sloppier and his grip on Y/N’s waist got tighter, Y/N knew he was close.

Joel came into the condom mere seconds later, “Fuck Y/N.” He panted.

Y/N got up off of Joel with minimal struggle, both of them were sensitive and neither wanted to hurt the other, and Joel pulled off the condom, tying it off and going to the bathroom to throw it away.

“Do you want to stay the night? It would be rude of me to tell you to go home.” Y/N said, grabbing his pants and boxers to throw them in the dirty laundry bin.

“Yeah, if it’s not too much trouble, can I shower though?”

Y/N nodded and brought him to his bedroom to shower in the en suite. He got into his dresser and got out a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt for Joel to put on after he got out and laid it on the bathroom counter.

About ten minutes later, Joel left the bathroom in the pajamas Y/N had put out for him and saw that he was already in bed.

Joel got into the bed on the side that Y/N wasn’t on and got under the blanket. Just as he went to close his eyes, he remembered.

I have work tomorrow.

“I’ll call in sick.” he said to himself, seemingly forgetting he wasn’t alone.

“Hm?” Y/N asked, his voice filled with sleep.

“Nothin’,” Joel scooted closer to Y/N and closed his eyes “Goodnight.”

“Night Joel, thank you for staying.”

“‘Course.”

[paintedscales]

FFXIV Write 2024 :: Day One

Prompt: Steer Characters: Nomin tal Kheeriin, Arik Dotharl (Noykin) Word Count: 678

Master List

“It all comes pretty naturally, huh?” Nomin commented as she watched Arik bring Wild Sun to a trot around the corral. They had been with the Noykin for a fortnight; Arik to learn more about his former self as well as to properly get a feel for riding and taking care of horses, and Nomin simply to support and catch up with him after the years they had been apart. It had been a refreshing reprieve for her so soon after her time with the Jhungid.

“It…really feels like it,” Arik replied, a smile upon his lips as he rode past Nomin. He glanced at her, the elation evident in his eyes. He had every reason to feel triumphant and proud of himself. The Noykin claimed Wild Sun was a challenge for all in their tribe, but Arik had come in and managed to not only prove he could match the horse's spirit, but gentle it as well.

Horse stood just a couple yalms away, grazing outside the corral. He had stuck close to Nomin, clearly bonded to her. Hopping off the bottom rung of the corral, Nomin went over to Horse and patted his neck before tracing her hand along his side. As usual, she patted him twice upon his shoulder before applying a bit of pressure -- a routine to when she wanted to sit astride him. He had no saddle any longer -- Nomin got rid of it to remove the colors of Jhungid from her and Horse. Despite this, though, Horse stopped grazing and leaned down, allowing Nomin to hoist herself and straddle his back.

“Good job,” Nomin softly praised, leaning forward and brushing her fingers along Horse’s neck once more. She then gently tapped a heel into his side while bringing a hand to rest on his neck similar to his reins to steer him toward the corral.

Arik pulled back on his reins, bringing Wild Sun to a halt when he saw Nomin approaching. Glancing to her steed and then back to her, he asked: “Did you want to ride together for a bit? I think Wild Sun will like the open Steppe over this small corral.”

“I’ve no saddle -- not that I distrust Horse nor my own riding capabilities,” Nomin considered. “But if we keep them at a walk, I think I’d like that.”

“We can do that.” Arik then clicked his tongue and brought his reins over, guiding Wild Sun toward the gate of the pen. Dismounting momentarily, Arik opened it and brought Wild Sun. Wild Sun’s ears flicked forward, his head bobbing with anticipation -- it was clear he was in a mood to run as he counted, his hoof digging into the ground every now and then. Once Arik got back up into the saddle, Wild Sun pranced a bit in his step, causing Arik to give a slight gasp of surprise before reaffirming himself.

Giggling, Nomin brought a hand down into Horse’s mane, her fingers tangling with his locks before she gently clicked her own tongue and guided him toward the other two.

Once Wild Sun was calmed, Arik looked over toward Nomin, watching as she rode Horse. A small scoff of amusement fell from his lips. “How do you make even bareback riding look so easy?”

“Huh?” Nomin considered the question, bringing her free hand to her chin. She then looked down at Horse. “I don’t…I mean, he was feisty and didn’t listen to me well when we first met…but he was younger then. But since he’s been the only horse I’ve been assigned…I guess we built up that trust over the last three summers.”

“Three summers…” Arik considered. He then smiled. “He seems like a good friend to you. I hope that Wild Sun will see me that way in time.”

“I think he already seems to respect you at least.” Nomin noted the surprise and murmurs of the Noykin when Arik returned with Wild Sun in tow. “I don’t think he would be letting you have such an easy time with him otherwise.”

“You think so?”

“Mhm!”

[ryuseibutgayer]

I’m hopping on the yamagishi agenda.. Yamagishi watching in awe as his girlfriend kicks ASS to protect him(and maybe mizo mid in general)

HIII thank you for your request!! <3 so sorry for the late reply :v I tried my best to provide the envisioning I thinnnnk you want? Hope I did :v let's beat some ASS, anon 😤

TW: beating up, Swearing, Makoto theft, blood mentions, Makoto pervy, Takuya future job reference

ꜱᴍᴀᴄᴋ ᴀ ʙɪᴛᴄʜ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴄʜʀɪꜱᴛᴍᴀꜱ ᴇᴠᴇ

YAMAGISHI

• He was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. That's all. Then some assholes decided that he looked funny.

• The second he spoke up to try and defend himself even the tiniest sliver, he immediately regretted it as the tallest one stood closer to him with that ugly stretched neck look.

• The thing that Yamagishi wasn't clenched and prepared for was you to come flying out from behind him- landing your foot square on that ugly bitch's face

• Yamagishi thought he'd been hit actually, so he'd flinched and dropped his ass back against the pavement- you can imagine his face when he looked up and it was y o u kicking ass

• This boy would immediately get right back up and start trying to find the best angle to watch

• He would start SCREAMING cheers and supporting you kicking ass

• God knows he can't do it himself

• Once you come back over to him after handing them back their last ass, he'd hold your face in his hands and start saying the most self-berative thanks to you💀💀 he'd also question how the fuck you did that

• expect ice cream later, constant bowing for the next week, and maybe a little hesitation he has with you when horse playing

AKKUN

• Oh God not the pretty boy

• Why him

• 😭 people were makin fun of his clean looks n shit like they could look half as good

• They were right out at the front of the school (exhibitionist jackassed punks)

• Akkun was ready to fucking take it just to get it over with with a gritted face as the brown haired assholw held him up by his collar

• AND THEN BAMMO YOU COME IN FUCKIN UP THAT BASTARDS ARM, LETS GO (nice job)

• Akkun just fell and got dust in his eyes 😭 after he rubbed his scratched butt and rubbed the dirt out of his vision, you were on top of the guy?? Goddamn you rabid freak, girl go off beatin his ass like that

• Yeah Akkun was worried tho so he shouted a tiny bit after he figured the guy had enough and trieda pullya off a tad

• Once you were back on your feet, the both of you were standing there out of breath just looking at each other all bewildered like 😧

• Then akkun would speak up and ask you "where the hell did you learn that, y/n-"

• He'd end up barely listening to your explanation and drag you off to the school nurse for your little scratches and knuckles

• He's gonna make sure he walks you home that day to make sure you both have the time to talk about- alla that

• He'll ask you to try and keep it in check, but he'll definitely thank you- he's STILL shocked at that

• He'll ask you try and not get involved with his bs affairs, just to make sure you'll be safe and not get in trouble for anything he dragged you into

• Sweet pomp boy <3

TAKUYA

• Mr future drug dealer

• IM KIDDING, ITS OVER THE COUNTER LAXATIVES TFYM, COOL IT Y/N

• Anyways

• Yeahhhh he was approached by some cunty punk that heard he was getting good grades in his science classes and started pushing onto Takuya with his "will you tutor me?? 🥺" bullshit

• Takuya obviously just flat out tried to express he didn't wanna be associated with this guy and his grunts, even if it meant helping him out

• Guess what set the idiot off

• y/n I can't imagine how mad you must've been going around the school looking for your boyfriend just to find him shoved onto the floor by someone that wasn't you

• "Only I sexualize bullying my boyfriend you bitch" vibes

• so of course you knocked that low grade asshole in the side of the head

• Once you got that punk just dazzled and walking in a dumb little circle, Takuya got up in time to slug him in the jaw for the final pinch and bwoof, suddenly there's a punk on the floor

• Takuya just was so grateful and physically affectionate after that

• He'd check ya all around to make sure you're all set, give you a hug or a noogie, then you'd both walk to the infirmary (his favorite place <3) ew takuya

• expect giggles and shits in the nurse's office like two little psychos until you both went home to watch a movie together

MAKOTO

• Yeah he's a thief, so what? B)

• Makoto kinda stole some cash from this unattended wallllleeeeeet..

• It kinda belonged to a big bad guyyyy....

• And he was kind offff being held against the wall of the alley outside a grocery store you two planned to meet at that day to grab snackkkkks, soooo

• BWAM SLAM HIS FACE IN THE GLASS

• GET 'IM IN THE SPINE Y/N, GRAHHH

• You absolutely got that guy's blood all over the pavement, look at you go

•Makoto practically shit himself when he got approached by in the first place

• THEN he almost shit himself when someone kicked him in the head

• Makoto was this . close to leaking that shit down his pant leg when he realized the person beating up that delinquent was you.

•......girl.

• Imma be dead ass with you, Makoto is horrified, but from that point on it's an immediate turn-on.

• He's gonna suggest some weird ass service in order to thank you, but ofc what else

• HE'LL BUY YOU DINNER FIRST, DONT DISCARD HIS CLASS MK

• speaking of, he bought all the snacks you breathed on in that grocery store after.

[everythingelseisextra]

Poetic Justice

Request: No Description: You meet Tommy Shelby on his way to war, finding a cheerful and happy young man. A few years later, he returns to you, drastically different. Warnings: Mentions of war, alcohol, language Word Count: 1748 Tag List: @shelbydelrey @globetrotter28 @look-at-the-soul

You meet a boy on the way to war. WIth boyish charms and a glint of mischievousness in his eyes, bright and blue and slightly disconcerting. He tells tales of riding horses through the countryside and of petty thievery, of curses and Roma superstition. He cusses like a sailor and lives life on a wild and reckless edge, an Atlas who didn’t feel the weight of the world on his shoulders yet, an Icarus who hadn’t yet peaked. 

He grins at you, speaks to you with a lilting, rugged accent, and you can’t help but be bewitched by him. You let him take you out from behind the bar and hold you flush to his body. He teaches you to dance like that, moving to the pound of the other soon-to-be soldiers’ feet, and you smile and twirl and let him spin you til you’re dizzy. You think it’s love when his touch sends you into a tizzy, smiling and laughing and on top of the world. You stay with him long into the night, talking and drinking and meeting his friends with accents like his and stories so wild you can hardly believe them. 

“We’re off to war,” he says, leaning his chair back and giving you a devilish, dark smile. “The lot of us won’t come back.”

“That’s awfully dark humor you’ve got.” You grin back, arms on the table in front of you, having completely abandoned your job. 

“Come on, love, we’re soldiers! What do we have except for humor?” He raises his glass, and a cheer rises from his friends around him. He takes a hearty gulp of the beer you’d given him.

“Let’s not talk about the war.” It saddens you, to imagine these boys so full of life going to risk it at the front. 

That glint brightens, sharp and deadly intelligent and playful. He laughs and switches his voice into a jaunty, posh British accent. “Too good for the war, then. A lady doesn’t speak of such atrocities.”

“Oh, shut up.” You shove him, lunging across the table just as he lifts his drink. It sloshes over his front and he yells, eyes flashing momentarily with an anger that sends panic through your body; you’re about to be attacked. But before you have time to stand, he’s back to laughing. 

“Guess that’s what I get for questioning such a rogue.” He flashes you a grin and stands from his seat, the blotchy amber stain on his white shirt sticking to his front, giving you a very welcome view of the thin, wiry muscles over his stomach. “Care to help fix your mistake?”

You grin, eyes on his chest. “It would be my pleasure, Mr…?”

You don’t know his name. After all this, the revelry of a last hurrah mixed with the joy of a woman playing along, the bodies moving and the tap of your feet on wooden tables. His laugh in your ear, his hands on your waist, teaching you to dance but also gently feeling at your hips, all that, and you didn’t get his name. 

“Thomas Shelby.” His arm slips around your waist, assured, and he starts walking, guiding you. You happily turn your brain off when he presses his lips to your hair, then whispers. “That’s Tommy, to you.”

“Tommy,” you say slowly, letting the syllables stretch over your tongue. “Why is it you’re going off to war, then? You don’t seem like a fighter, I’m pretty sure you’re meant to be a lover.” You run your eyes down his body, an eyebrow raised, your own body filled with an elated, and possibly drunken, kind of hunger. 

“Brilliant question.” He flashes you another grin. “Saw a man beating his horse and happened to have a weapon. I solved that problem. Turns out, the guy has friends, and all of those blokes out there with me are running from something or to somewhere.” 

You step towards him, watching with great interest as he pulls his shirt off, tossing it into the sink. He gives you an expectant look and you laugh, reaching forward to cup his face and pull him towards you. 

“How bout I give you something to come back to?”

Soldiers enter your bar and you run your eyes over them. Faces drawn and pale, or, worse, bandaged and bloody. All of them uniformed but covered in dirt and stains and unknown substances. Some of them limp in, others walk with their heads bowed, and others, the ones you take the most interest in, move with their shoulders drawn back, heads raised as though they own the place, eyes taking in the room as though there could be danger in any corner. 

“Holly!” You call. “Get another round going!” To them, you say; “On the house, loves. God knows you’ve paid enough already.”

A murmur goes through them. The majority sit at the tables, staring down at their own reflections in the shined dark wood, slumped down or sitting bolt upright. A few, though, situate themselves in front of you at the bar, looking up with a lack of interest and dark eyes. They talk quietly, secretly, with a hint of anger in each word you catch. 

The drinks come slowly but surely. You pass them out, one at a time, and take time to speak to each desolate soldier. In your mind, people aren’t born to fight the way they do. People aren’t made to murder each other, aren’t made for battle and blood. People aren’t born for war. So, you give them the time of day, meet their eyes and smile, because you know not everyone will. And you know that their fight isn’t over, that some of them will take their own lives or lose them in a panic. You know their kind, they come through often, those hit with shell shock and broken by things they saw. No matter what, groups like these are given free drinks. It doesn;t do much, doesn’t give them anything they don’t already have. Injuries of the body heal. Those of the mind bury in like a disease and grow like a seed, leech out what hope is left. 

“What’s your name, love?”

“Freddie Thorne.” The soldier’s sullen face stares up at you as you return to the bar, almost challenging, eyes large and strangely gaping. A covered wound bores out from under his shirt, bright white bandages in contrast to the dirt and grime of his skin. “And don’t call me love.”

“I won’t, then.” Not receptive. You hand him a drink and turn your attention to the soldier sitting next to him. “And you? What’s your name?”

He sits back, crossing his arms against his chest and fixing you with an icy stare. “You know me.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I…” You study him, then it hits him. Now bleak and sullen, hopeless, no hint of brightness or light. His body has changed, too, from wiry and thin and boyish to the body of a man, broad in the chest and muscular. But his eyes, you remember that gaze. The question in them, searching for something in each person he comes across, wanting, needing, hungry. That remains the only signifier of life  in the corpse-like body of Tommy Shelby. “Oh. Yes. I spilled my drink on you.”

“You said you’d give me something to come back to.” His eyes never leave yours, seeming to hold a curse underneath, some anger you can’t decipher. Whether at you or at the world that so betrayed him, you can’t tell. There used to be joy in his voice, a laugh in each word. Christ. “Here I am.”

You exhale a slow breath. “I’ll pull up a chair.” 

He nods once. The others around him watch him closely, waiting for a cue, and he inclines his head, giving permission. They visibly relax and some begin to drink, talk to each other, sounding less like men and more like small boys who are new to speech and unable to piece together their phrasing.

You pull up a chair to the boy returned, letting Holly take over the rest of your work. “So… it’s been, what, three years?”

“Less.” He raises an eyebrow, a bite to his words. “You’ve been here, eh? Serving drinks and flirting with soldiers.”

“No,” you sigh. “No, that was just you.”

He shakes his head. “I thought, what the hell, might as well come back here. See if she still knows me.”

A sharp pang of guilt crawls through you. “I remember your name.”

“Yeah?”

“Tommy Shelby.”

“That is my name, yes.” He leans forward, drumming his fingers on the bar between you. “Thank God the girl in the bar still knows my fucking name.”

“Sorry.” You lean back, cautious, almost scared. That anger that flashed in his eyes those years ago seems to be all there is now, wrathful, unadulterated. “I know it’s little consolation, but—”

“Nothing is consolation. Our prayers never made it out of the gas they threw.” He gestures vaguely to the air. “The poor returning soldier, godless, because they gave us nothing to believe in.” 

You struggle to find the right thing to say, then land on something, anything. If you’re here, and he remembered you, you might as well give him something. “Tell me more.”

He blinked. “What?”

“I mean, if you want to, I don’t—”

“You want me to tell you about what happened?” An incredulous hint of humorless laughter lingers cold in his voice. 

“I thought—”

“Here’s what happened. I’m underneath waves of mud and all I hear is rockets from their truck. Everything shakes and I think, wait, maybe it’ll kill me. Underground, anyway, here’s my grave. Dug it myself and all. Poetic justice.” The bar falls silent. They listen to his story. “No one digs you out anyway, because you’re dead and they’d just bury you again. And so I think, fuck, alive. No one survives this. But I did. We did. I got out because they want to save the unshot.”

You take in a deep breath. “I’m sorry.” 

He stands. Most of the soldiers follow his lead. “You’ll have to forgive me. Still a fucking sleepy eyed kid.”

He walks to the front door of the bar, trailed by the others, then stops, looks over his shoulder. Dark hair over glinting blue eyes, no longer bright and happy, but shrewd, calculating, powerful. “If you’re ever in Birmingham, ask for the Peaky Blinders.”