#based on a fictional couple I adore so so much

[pinklikeroses-artonly]

Tiara x Jack

Wedding attire 💞💗💕

[unproduciblesmackdown]

Lackadaisy Enrichment

[theyanderespecialist]

Vox's Doe (Headcanons) Yandere Vox X Female Alastor Reader (Hazbin Hotel)

[Hello, My Sexy Muffins! I am back with a new chapter! This one is with a Yandere Vox X Female Alastor Reader, where you take the place of Alastor as a female version of his! So Good Luck, please enjoy this chapter!] 

(Disclaimer: Vox is Not Yandere In canon! This is just for fun and not to be taken seriously at all! Simping for fictional characters and yanderes is fine! Just do not be illegal or gross about it! You know who you are! You Dirty, Flaky, Biscuit! Yanderes are not ideal partners to have in real life! Also, remember to separate fiction from reality and headcanon and canon!) 

(This is based on headcanon and some theories I have)  -Yandere Headcanons With Vox X Female Alastor Reader From Hazbin Hotel- 

.Vox died in the 1950s and he came to hell. 

.Before he met Valeinto he met you the Radio Demoness an older woman. 

.As you died in 1933. 

.He was down bad for you and knew that he wanted you in his life. 

.He was still a man who would love you a lot if you were a housewife, but also he loved how independent you were. 

.So he is torn on how he should treat you, he respects you as an overlord, but he is still a bit sexist in he would love you to be a homemaker. 

.Which causes issues with how he treats you? 

.He has a deep love for you and found himself wanting to become a overlord with you. 

.He would be the very possessive type which does not fly with you very much. 

.He does not like sharing you and sees you as his wife and so that means no other man or woman or person should try and steal you away from him. 

.Since you are The Radio Demoness you are a good cook and so you do end up cooking for him a lot. 

.Which he adores because he would be eating fast food far too much without you. 

.You end up making a lot of pancakes for him as the sweet tooth is strong. 

.He would deal with rivals by using his mind control powers to prevent them from being in love with you. 

.He abuses this cause he does not want anyone to be able to steal you away from him. 

.He is a petty yandere in which he would be super petty with the slightest things that his rivals did for you. 

.Even if the person is not a rival he is a bit paranoid that almost anyone and everyone could be a rival and he Is not going to tolerate that. 

.He is a bit controlling and cares a lot about image. 

.So he tries his best to have his influence on you. 

.He wants to marry you and have you as his wife. 

.But you keep up a boundary with Vox, and do not want to marry him, this frustrates him behind belief. 

.He just wants to marry you and have you as his wife, you are his pretty little darling and you would be such a great wife! 

.He almost treats you like a trophy a prize as you to him are such an amazing, powerful, beautiful, woman. 

.He is the type of man and yandere that would see you as a prize. 

.He does end up dating you back in the day before he met Valentino. 

.And he cherished you as his most precious item. 

.Of course, he was also a bit controlling, okay that is a lie, he is an extremely controlling yandere. 

.In which you could see and what you could do. 

.He would want to keep you from other overlords and not want to share you with anyone. 

.He would have wooed you by treating you like an equal but once he started to date you he slowly became more controlling and he tried to keep you in typical gender norms. 

.In which he once again wanted you to be his wife and the picture-perfect homemaker. 

.So this would cause issues between him and as a yandere, he does not understand why 

.You two were once a power couple, but Vox had slowly ruined that by being a completely controlling yandere. 

.When you break up with him he lashes out at you, saying how could you leave him!? He was the best man for you. 

.He takes it very, very personally. .He makes it his mission to make you want him back and make you beg for him. 

.He will have you no matter what and will have you begging him to make you a housewife~  .Mark his words. 

.When you two were together he had made grand gestures. 

.He is the type of yandere that is go big or go home! 

.Where he spoils his darling and treats her like the queen that she is. 

.Also, he is a super possessive yandere that would kill for you. 

.He can be protective of you and would defend you when together. 

.But back to his petty side, when you left him he was so petty that he would be the most petty ex. 

.Being the type to not let go that you broke up with him! HIM! 

.He is still madly and obsessively in love with you and even when he ends up with Valentino he cannot get you out of his mind. 

.When you come back after seven years. He is pissed off but also so happy that you are back. 

.He is jealous that you are around the princess of hell and knows that he cannot let you get close to her. 

.You are his woman and his future wife, he will destroy that damn hotel. 

.To make sure that you have no one to go back to. 

.Also at this point he will share you with Valentino, but he will be your main husband mark his words. 

.Do not get it twisted he will drug you with Velvette and Valentino's love potion. 

.Making you see just how good he can make you feel and make you swear your soul to him. 

.When he finds out that someone already has your soul it pisses him off beyond belief. 

.You are HIS And someone else HAS YOUR SOUL! How Dare They! .You are HIS! BODY MIND AND SOUL! His Sweet, sweet Doe~ 

[YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS another chapter is done! I hope that you all enjoyed this, and stay sexy! All of My Sexy Muffins!] 

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Alan & Jeff Forever!

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Jan 2024 Wk 4

Ongoing Series - Thai

The Sign (Sat YT) ep 10 of 12 - I am a little concerned that this is getting too big for its britches, rather like Phaya’s recently recovered snake… shall we say? Adding in yet another character at this juncture isn’t the best idea. Still, I love how this show makes me cackle laugh with grandmas + Yai and then TENSION.

It’s a wobbly kind of balance but a balancing act is happening nonetheless. It makes the pacing of this show good. It may be all over the place but I'm never bored.

Pit Babe (Fri iQIYI) ep 11 of 14 - No trash talk this week, I was charmed & delighted. Who knew I would actually enjoy this show? Certainly not me. (not much of a...) Trash watch happening here.

Cooking Crush (Sun YT) ep 8 of 12 - I am pretty much skipping most of the 3 chef friends, and all of the side dish action (sorry Neo). And with OffGun apart for most of this ep, it didn’t hold together since they are the glue. Sigh.

Last Twilight (Fri YT) ep 12fin - Okay let’s talk about it.

Mhok should have gone off with someone else. Day treated him like shit and never once apologized. To assume an apology isn’t necessary is to pity Day in the exact way he didn’t want. (On a complete aside, one of my favorite Thai restaurants back in my mispent youth was in Hilo, HI… ah memories) meanwhile the "passing escalators trope" activated in the land of malls (it’s been a while my old friend).

Anygay, I hold that Mohk was not a fault and Day was the one who needed to apologize.

Although they did have one of BL's BEST ever face touch moments. 

In conclusion: 

The story of a blind man and his caregiver falling in love. Mark is great. JimmySea are spectacular. The support cast is GMMTV-good. And for the first 3/4 this BL was something rather special. But it was let down by its ending (for which I entirely blame the author). In order to like this show you must buy into the premise that Mhok was in the wrong and caused their breakup. If you don’t believe that, you won’t like this BL. Also "fixing a disability = true happiness" is gross messaging. For me, endings counts for a lot and this one was ultimately “happy” but felt like a failure. 7/10 and I was sorely tempted to go as low as a 6/10, so it should count itself lucky 

I dithered my darling BLabies... I dithered A LOT over this one. But JimmySea alone held this one up.

GMMTV we gotta talk. You're fielding some of the world's best pairs right now. It's time to get them equally good scripts.

For Him (Thurs iQIYI) ep 9 of 12 - This installment had too much of the side couple in it. Although it was nice to see First/Dream (Twins) again. He's still a cutie, even playing a straight. 

My Universe (Sun iQIYI) ep 23 of 24 - I have to say I’m very glad we are on the last installment of the series. Narcissistic hairdresser starts seeing a spirit in a mirror. Turns out to be a friend from his youth who he thought was dead. This one is kinda sweet, and I find the premise interesting. Is the kid actually dead and a spirit? Or is there something else going on? I am intrigued. And I like the actor playing the kid in the mirror. I suspect this will be sad tho.

Time the series (Thai Gaga) ep 3 of 10 - I don’t exactly know what is going on. And frankly I don’t particularly care, either. So far nothing seems to be happening, and I really intensely dislike one half of the main couple. DNF welcome 2024 here we go 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Love For Love's Sake (Korea Weds iQIYI) 1-2 of 8 - based on the Manhwa Love Supremacy Zone by Hwacha (they should have kept the original title). I adore the premise. IRL person has been sent into fictional universe to save a side character from doom. Fantastic. Every fanfic author's dream. Also, I love that our POV was the bad boy in high school so there’s also a redemption arc going on. I adore this kind of isekai (if you wanna call it that). Puppy/cat pairing too! 

Although I Love You and You AKA Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yaro ka (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 3 of 10 - Oh my goodness they too cute. Basically dating. Although only one of them realizes it, and he is such a drama queen. It’s GREAT. Also they are both so damn gay. I love the supportive bestie trying to cope with the girl who has a crush on his gay bff. 

Happy Ending (Korea Tues YT) 1 of 3 - Strongberry is back and it’s very them and very atmospheric and cute. I’m enjoying it. 

Sahara-sensei to Toki-kun (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 7 of 8 - Japan giveth and Japan taketh away again. Look, I just like the lost love teacher/teacher couple better. I'm assuming they'll have to do a time jump in the final episode to make this one work at all. 

I am SO GLAD we have KBLs back on our screens.

It's done

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - will binge when I have any spare time. 2024 is crazy busy for me so far.

The Servant and the Young Master - from Vietnam so I assume it's on YouTube. I never even noticed. Anyone?

Began Beginning (Myanmar YouTube) - Is TRUST Entertainment bringing us the first ever Burmese BL? I don't know if it's really the first, but @heretherebedork vouched for it, so I will give it a watch through.

Beside You (Thai ????) - a 3 ep short that's supposed to have aired but I can't find it.

It's Airing But...

[NO INTERNATIONAL] Cherry Magic (Sat YouTube) ep 3 of 12 - yeah Japan put the smack down on our boys. Sadness. You can use a VPN if you like. Read all about it here.

Ossans Love Season 2 (Japan Gaga) - 5 years later, will anything have changed? This is Japan so… probubly not. I won't be watching this. I disliked Season one and actively hated the follow ups. No thank you.

Playboyy (Thurs Gaga) 14 eps - Dear Playboyy, it's not you, it’s me… I hate you. You’re about as deep (and as palatable) as a shot glass of cum. While I'm sure you’re someone’s kink, you're my weakest link. Goodbye. I DNFed this at ep 5. Frankly I'm impressed with myself for getting that far.

The Whisperer (Sun ????) 10 eps - Ends next week. Thai horror BL that ALSO involves cheating (what joy is mine). I don't think even the perfect single dimple can motivate me to watch. Word is... it's terrible.

7 Days Before Valentine (Weds WeTV) 10 eps - Giving me Luminous Solution vibes. I'm waiting to binge if safe.

Dead Friend Forever (Thai Sat iQIYI) - horror, meh, tell me if it's worth my time?

In Case You Missed it

All my year-end round ups:

TOP 10 BL Trends of 2023

Top 10 BL Secondary Pairs of 2023

2023 BLs Best Trope Execution Awards! TOP 10

All the BLs Announced for 2023 that didn't happen

BL 2023's Best:

Back Hugs Thailand & Elsewhere

Cute Bits of Domesticity

Boys Feeding Boys

BOOP!

Best Cuddles

Heads in Laps

Touching Head Touches

Thailand Put His Head on Your Shoulder

Put Your Head on My Shoulder (not Thailand)

BEST KISSES (not Thailand)

BEST KISSES FROM THAILAND

Next Week Looks Like This:

2/2 City of Stars AKA Fueangnakorn (Fri YouTube?) 10 eps - An actor falls in love with a programmer and the narrative intends to “explore the ramifications of being public figure in the social network era who must endure critics, bullying, and defamation.” Looks like another Lovely Writer/Call It What You Want sort of thing. But helmed by Star Hunter? Chaos will ensue.

2/2 Anti Reset AKA Anti-Reset (Taiwan Fri Gaga?) 10 eps - from Vidol (who aren't doing us very proud right now) - Human and robot find love.

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Say what you like about this show (and I have) they do some very gay cuddling. (Him the series)

I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.

This show, damnit, so close to being genius. (Last Twilight)

I don't that's a hardshi,p grandma ... although it may be a hard ship... get it.

I'll stop now.

(The Sign)

(Last week)

[therhythmafterthesummer]

A Mutually Beneficial Agreement (M) ~Bang Chan | [2/3]

Pairing: Demon!Chan x AFAB.Reader Themes: Supernatural AU | Angst | Smut | Some fluff Word Count: ~14k | AO3 Synopsis: Your favourite demon seemed to be full of surprises, some you could more than get used to, but others that… you weren’t sure you could get used to at all. [You can find part 1 of this story here]. Warnings: religious themes · pet names · alcohol consumption · harassment (it’s kinda mild but still yucky) · corporate bullshit · there’s a lot of focus on the reader’s feet, but not in that way · graphic depictions of intercourse (smut warnings under the cut).

Author’s Note: because i am incapable of being normal, here’s a part 2 to what was supposed to be a fun little one shot. especial thanks to @notastraykid and @decembermoonskz for reading this before anyone else and sharing their very valuable feedback with me💜

Due to all the abovementioned warnings, this story is intended for an adult audience only. Minors please do not interact.

< Part 1 | Part 3 >

Smut Warnings: literal monster cock · oral [F.Rec] · rimming [F.Rec] · unprotected penetration [piv] (the reader is presumed to be on birth control) · lack of aftercare (due to unforeseen events. you know i don’t write my Christophers like that, but i figured i should give a warning for those of you that get triggered or feel yucky after reading something like this).

Disclaimer: the story presented in this work does not represent Stray Kids in any way; anything described in this story and all actions performed by the characters are purely fictional, this was created just for good fun.

The marble wall was cool against your back, a complete contrast to the heat against your torso. A thin sheen of sweat was starting to coat your skin, enough that the friction produced between your back and the wall with each movement was starting to become uncomfortable, but, being honest, it was hard to register it. It was hard to care about it at all.

The place was cool around you, yet you were burning up. You couldn’t keep your eyes open, all you could do was hold onto his shoulders, trusting him enough to not let you fall while he held you in his arms and took you wholly, right there against the wall, right here on sacred land.

There were pants and heavy breaths and quiet moans mingling with the sound of frogs croaking somewhere outside. They were always loud at this time of the night, loud enough that you could hear their symphony in here.

Plush lips were attached to your collarbone, gently nibbling and sucking on the thin skin. The attention alone easily pulled desperate whines out of your mouth, but, coupled with his calculated thrusts, it all had your mind completely melting into a puddle.

You clawed at his back, sometimes ruffling the dark feathers under your fingertips. He’d always shiver whenever you touched him here, especially towards the base of the appendages. 

He was so good.

He was so, so good, and you just loved him so much. More than you’d ever loved the sun. 

You were convinced meeting him was the best thing to ever happen to you. He was warm and caring and just absolutely everything. He’d become your everything. 

His presence soothed you, his displays of affection made you feel full, he managed to satisfy you in ways you’d only ever dreamt of, and he simply made you feel things you’d never felt before.

How could you possibly need anything else? 

You didn’t.

You just needed him.

His pace was relentless, his tail wrapped around your thigh, just because it could, and you vaguely realised you’d been caressing one of the horns on his head along with his feathered appendages. His wings enveloped you both, shielding you from the outside world, they provided a warm, safe cocoon just for the two of you.

Against everything you’d been taught, against every single belief you’d been indoctrinated into, you simply adored him. 

When he pulled away from your neck, you couldn’t help but open your eyes. He looked at you like you were the sun. Like he adored you. 

Staring into that gentle brown, you could feel that pool of arousal in the pit of your stomach steadily filling up, you could feel yourself falling deeper and deeper into this seemingly endless lake of lov–

Your body jolted at the sound of your alarm.

You hated alarms. You needed them, but you always hated them. Sleep was precious to you, it let you disconnect from the world around you, it recharged you, which was exactly what you had needed before you took this nap earlier this afternoon.

Tonight was important, so of course you set up your alarm, even if you hated it. You couldn’t just sleep it off and miss everything, not after weeks and weeks of planning.

As you sat up on your bed and stretched your limbs, you could feel warmth all around you. You dreamt often, several times a week since the day you gained awareness. However, you could never remember your dreams. Whenever you woke up, it seemed like that feeling of warmth was all you had left.

It almost made you feel… sad. Or, maybe a better word to describe the emotion you felt would be melancholy. Why you felt this way, though, you weren’t sure.

No point in dwelling on it. Tonight was the big company event you’d been waiting to attend for months now. You were hoping to do some networking, to make acquaintances with some of the higher-ups, so you had to look and act your absolute best to achieve that.

A good scrubbing, and a scalding-hot shower later, you stood in front of your bed, staring at the two outfits you had splayed out on top of your duvet. A bright red dress, very short, very… slutty. It would certainly drive attention to yourself, which was kind of what you wanted, but would that be the type of attention you needed? Your friend had told you any attention was good attention, but was it really?

The other dress was a bit more modest. Royal blue, with the tiniest bit of sparkles sprinkled all throughout. It wasn’t as short, but it had a slit that was high enough to drive attention, while also sitting low enough for it to not be too much. It was honestly your preferred option. You’d worn it before, you knew you looked good in it, and you felt fairly comfortable wearing it.

So you did.

Eye make-up to match and a lipstick to contrast adorned your face. You started putting on your jewellery, trying on different options to make sure you wore the most suitable accessories.

As you did, the energy in your room shifted. The air got thick, in that exact way that made you dizzy, that almost made your knees buck under the pressure.

“Oh? Going somewhere, pretty thing?”

Of course Chris would choose the worst possible night to appear in your bedroom… Of course just his presence and the sound of his voice would light up your insides like a Christmas tree.

“I am”, you replied simply, fastening your earrings before you finally turned to look at him.

Chris sat cross-legged on your bed, barefoot, clad in that flowy, hanbok-like, silky suit he always wore. The colour matched his eyes, black, barely even reflecting light.

Placing his hands behind him, Chris leaned back and looked at you. You could feel his gaze trailing your form, from the crown of your head to the tip of your toes.

He seemed to be fixated on the silver ring you’d put on one of your toes for a moment, right before he returned his eyes to yours and offered you a smirk.

“You look good”, his tail unravelled from where it'd been resting around his waist, and the tip of it started to mindlessly trace the side of his thigh.

A smile spread across your face. “You think so?”

With a slow twirl, you offered him the full three-sixty view of your outfit. By the time you were looking at him again, his tail had fully wrapped around his thigh.

“I do. It’s a shame that such a pretty dress will be torn to pieces soon”.

You clicked your tongue at him disapprovingly, placing your hands on your hips. “This was an expensive dress, you know? Unless you can replace it, I won’t give you consent to do it”.

As the words left your mouth, a pout formed on Chris’ lips. It honestly made him look… adorable. What an odd gesture for a demon to make, but you had long since stopped trying to understand his ways.

“So it’s your work thing, huh?” Chris un-crossed his legs, letting them fall from the edge of your bed to plant his feet on the floor. While he was still leaning on his hands, with his legs spread like this, a small–and very horny–part of your brain started urging you to get on your knees. But you just… ignored it.

It still surprised you that Chris remembered these things. You vaguely recalled telling him about this a couple of weeks ago, right before you fell asleep after hours and hours of letting him have his way with you. Sometimes, the things he remembered about you made you wonder what he did when he wasn’t here. Did he just have a supernatural photographic memory, or did he truly care? You never really got the courage to ask…

“Mm. Tonight’s the big event”, you briefly looked at the clock on your bedside table. You had to leave soon, otherwise you might get stuck in traffic, which could possibly ruin your plans for the night.

Chris just hummed in acknowledgement, but he didn’t say anything else. You didn’t, either. You simply walked towards your bed, and, ignoring that sudden urge to straddle him and settle yourself on his lap, you sat down next to him before you reached for your heels.

The heels matched your jewellery, they weren’t necessarily comfortable, but they certainly went well with this dress. You slipped one of them on, and just before you started wrapping the long straps around your heel, Chris moved.

“Let me”, he mumbled, kneeling in front of you and taking the straps out of your hands.

It was honestly insane how the mere contact of his fingers on yours made your heart skip a beat. You supposed it made sense, considering who he was, or, more accurately, what he was, considering what you often did together… 

Slowly, gently, Chris started wrapping the straps around your heel, making his way up your leg. You just looked at him, alternating your focus between the horns protruding from his skull, to the features of his face, and to his hands diligently working your heels.

“Tonight I might not be… I might not have enough energy for, uh… Y���know”, for you to fuck me until I can’t remember my name, would’ve been an accurate statement, but you honestly felt like saying it out loud would trigger something. It wouldn’t have been the first time you missed an appointment you had because you’d said something similar…

Chris chuckled, finally tying a knot to keep the straps in place just below your knee. Thankfully, he’d used enough pressure for them to be secure around your leg, but not enough to cut your circulation. 

His attention shifted to the other leg. Holding your ankle, he eased the matching heel on your foot before he started repeating the motions with the straps of this one. 

Chris was working very slowly. Almost as if he was dragging out the moment…

You realised he was, in fact, stalling, the moment you felt his lips on your shin. Saliva started pooling in your mouth at the sight and the feel of his lips on your skin. His eyes were closed, but he was somehow still performing his task with ease, all as he pressed lingering kisses up your shin, until he reached your knee.

For a moment, your subconscious was screaming at you, telling you to open your legs and let him ease himself right in between them, but, not only could you not let that happen right now, it also didn’t seem like that was Chris’ goal. On the contrary, his lips stopped at your knee, right before he opened his eyes and looked up at you.

If you looked hard enough, you could’ve sworn you could see stars swimming in the endless darkness that were his eyes.

“It’s okay, sweetheart”, his lips brushed against your skin with every word, and, somehow, that was the moment you started to feel your cheeks heating up. “I’ll be honest, it’s not like I’m thrilled about it, especially not after seeing you like this, all dolled up… But it’s fine. You’ve got your own life to live, after all”.

A gentle smile made its way to his face. It seemed to contrast with his overall look, with his horns and the void in his eyes and just his aura in general… But, somehow, it still felt genuine. It always did with Chris.

You swallowed the saliva that had pooled in your mouth, and it wasn’t until Chris looked away from your face to focus on tying the straps of your heel, that you were finally able to look away from him to check the clock.

You sighed. “I have to go”.

With one final kiss to your shin, Chris finally let go of your leg and stood up from the floor. He offered his hand to you, you simply took it and let him pull you up from the bed before his arm wrapped around your waist and his tail found your thigh. 

You held your breath in anticipation, closing your eyes only when his free hand found your cheek. 

You felt his plush lips on your forehead, and, for a moment, you could’ve sworn you had started trembling.

Chris was so warm. His closeness made you dizzy, the way his tail tightened on your thigh made your mind wander, it made you remember what it could do, what he could do to you… 

Before you knew it, your hands were buried in his hair, and your lips were on his, savouring the taste of him on your tongue. Sweet, but not overly so. Just perfect, like the flavour had been crafted specifically to your own tastes. Chris’ hold on your body tightened, and the moment his tongue made contact with your lips you simply let him in, because why wouldn’t you? 

You figured a small treat couldn’t hurt… As long as you didn’t let him get you out of your dress, as long as you managed to pull yourself away from him within the next five minutes, it should be fine. You deserved this much.

A few moments passed. Moments where all you could register was both halves of his tongue and his lips and his warmth. But then he pulled away from your lips. You mindlessly chased after him, because you just wanted more. You really, really deserved it. You needed it.

Chris just pulled back a bit more, fixing his eyes on your lips before he pressed his thumb to your lower lip. He swiped over the plump, moist flesh, and his eyebrows furrowed the tiniest bit.

“This is some good-ass lipstick. Not even a single smudge…”

He sounded genuinely annoyed by it, and it honestly made you chuckle. “Maybe they should add demon-proof as a selling point”.

Chris chuckled at that. With a shake of his head, he returned his gaze to your eyes, just as he pushed his thumb inside your mouth. You gladly accepted it, gently sucking it further in as you slowly ran your tongue over the pad of it. 

“I’ll drop by later to check in on you anyway, alright?”

You hummed in agreement, letting his thumb fall out of your mouth. He could drop by at any time, regardless of how inconvenient it could be. Honestly, you wanted him to drop by… You just hoped you did have enough energy left later in the evening.

Chris opened his mouth to speak, but whatever he was going to say died on his tongue, cut off by the shrill of one of your trillion alarms resonating in your bedroom. 

With a deep breath, you finally let go of him. His tail loosened from where it’d been holding onto your thigh, finally moving away from you completely as you started to walk away. It left the faint imprint of snakeskin behind, and the area started to redden as well. Quite noticeably, if you might add.

You weren’t sure if you were mad about it or not.

With one final look at yourself in the mirror to fix your hair and make sure your make-up had, in fact, not smudged, you finally took your clutch from where you’d placed it on your dresser hours ago. 

“I’ll see you later, then”, was the last thing you told Chris before you left your room, trying to ignore the odd–and completely out of place–empty feeling that started to settle in the pit of your stomach.

Two hours into the event were enough to remind you why you usually didn’t attend these things. Yes, you’d managed to make yourself known to some important people, you’d done exactly what you came here to do, but you were starting to wonder if it had been worth the hassle at all.

Your lower back was screaming at you, your feet ached, and suddenly sitting at the bar and drinking a few cocktails sounded like the only possible thing that could keep you from ripping your jewellery and heels off of your body. The music blaring through the speakers didn’t help one bit, it seemed like happy hour had started, and people were going absolutely crazy on the dancefloor.

Good for them.

Not good for your overstimulated senses, though. 

You hoped that at the very least, the next time you applied for a higher position, you wouldn’t have to go through so many hoops to get it. You were good at your job, better than some of the people in power in this company, but ultimately, knowing someone important would always give you the upper hand.

It was detrimental to your financial independence. More money meant less time paying that debt that seemed to always be looming over your head. If only your mother hadn’t done what she did, maybe you wouldn’t have to be working here at all…

“Can I offer you a drink, pretty thing?”

You felt your skin crawl at the voice resonating next to you. Turning your head, you found your sleazy co-worker deep into your personal space. He reeked of alcohol and tobacco, and you honestly hated it.

You hated him in general. He was always inappropriate, misogynistic, and condescending. Unfortunately, the man was kind of smart, as in, there was no physical proof of his unacceptable behaviour, which was exactly why Human Resources never took you seriously when you reported him.

Swaying the glass in your hand the tiniest bit, you silently let him know you already had a drink. You hoped he’d take the hint, but clearly, he didn’t. He stood over you, with that disgusting smile on his face, waiting for your answer.

“No, thank you. I’m drinking something already”, you took a sip of your drink, trying to ignore his existence altogether.

“What about a dance? Mm?” He placed his clammy hand on your bare shoulder. God, you wanted it gone immediately. “I’m sure this lovely dress you’re wearing would look great on the dancefloor”.

You were two seconds away from throwing your drink at him. For a brief moment, you debated on doing it. On one hand, you’d give him a very assertive message, maybe it would stop him from making advances at you altogether. But, on the other hand, that’d cause a scene, and you weren’t sure you were ready for that kind of attention. It could jeopardise the good impressions you’d made tonight…

“Ah, there you are. Everything alright, sweetheart?”

Your eyes widened in shock, and your head snapped in the direction of the familiar voice. The shock wasn’t only due to his presence, it wouldn’t have been the first time that Chris randomly popped up around you when you were out and about, but, usually, he appeared only for you to see. 

Looking at him right now, it was clear that this wasn’t one of those cases. 

His hand found the small of your back, the gentle warmth emanating from his palm was a complete contrast to the stuffy feeling of your co-worker’s hand on your shoulder. Even if Chris looked different, there was no denying who he was, there was just no doubt in your mind. You could feel the familiar feeling of butterflies fluttering in your stomach as you stared at him, even when he looked this… normal.

There were no horns on his head, and his hair had been straightened. There was no tail dragging behind him, and, most shockingly, there was no darkness in his eyes, they were just… brown. Regular brown eyes, like any other man could have.

But… Chris wasn’t any other man.

“Who the hell are you?” After giving Chris a once over, and after noticing the undeniable proximity he had to you, your co-worker removed his hand from your body, but not without letting his fingertips graze your skin as he did.

The motion was repulsive, like the rest of him was. It had you almost gagging, but you tried your best to contain yourself, you didn’t particularly feel like displaying any emotion that could be used against you. Because, even if he was the harasser, you knew he was more than capable of turning any blame on you.

Chris offered the man a friendly smile, one that, quite honestly, didn’t really reach his eyes. “Oh, I’m just the plus one”, he gestured to you with his head, moving his hand from the small of your back to instead wrap his arm around your waist.

You’d learnt with time that Chris was a very… territorial creature. You supposed it made sense that he’d consider you part of said territory, all things considered.

“I–I didn’t know you had a boyfriend”, your co-worker looked at you with furrowed eyebrows, it almost felt like he was reprimanding you, like he was implying you had somehow cheated on him for having a ‘boyfriend’.

Chris wasn’t your boyfriend, though. He was… He definitely was… Well, he was someone in your life, that much was certain.

Before you could even speak, Chris had opened his mouth. “We like to keep things private, and between friends only”.

Your co-worker just scoffed, mumbling something to himself. Chris took the opportunity to speak again. “Fancy a drink? What do you like? Vodka? Whiskey?”

The man was clearly taken aback, but he answered anyway. “Rum”.

“Rum it is, then”, Chris signalled the bartender and asked for two glasses of rum, all without removing his arm from your body. If anything, he seemed to be getting even closer to you.

You almost wanted to roll your eyes. What an absurd exchange this all was… You’d never been too fond of overprotective men getting into your business, but, you’d have to admit… It felt a bit different when that overprotection came from someone like Chris.

They both started talking about nonsensical things. Topics you weren’t really interested in. You honestly preferred for it to be this way, you’d come to the bar to try and enjoy some peace, after all. At least, the music had started to lower in volume, and the songs being played seemed to be getting slower and calmer as the minutes went by.

When the bartender came back with Chris’ order, the demon finally let go of your waist so he could take both glasses in his hands. You blinked a bit as you watched him give one of the glasses to your co-worker. For a moment, you could’ve sworn the liquid had turnt much darker than the one in Chris’ glass.

You didn’t have enough time to focus on it too much, though. Your co-worker downed the rum in one ungracious gulp, making you scrunch your nose in distaste. 

Chris gave you a small smile before he returned his eyes to the man in front of you both, taking a single sip of his drink. His eyes were different than usual, but you could see mischief dancing in them.

For a moment, you wished his attention was on you again, instead of that idiot stumbling in front of you.

After a few more words that you didn’t quite hear, your co-worker finally said his goodbyes.

Good fucking riddance… 

The friendly mask crumbled off of Chris’ face as soon as the man started to walk away. He stared daggers at his back until he got lost in the sea of people. You supposed you shared the sentiment, but that didn’t really make any of this make one bit of sense.

“Done showing your feathers, you all-mighty peacock?” You couldn’t help but say before you brought your glass to your lips to take a sip.

Chris’ eyes returned to yours, chuckling as he brought his hand to your shoulder, to place it right where your co-worker had earlier. Your body’s reaction was completely different this time around, though. A shiver threatened to rush up your spine, but not out of disgust. Quite the opposite, actually.

“What? You know very well this doesn’t even come close to me showing my feathers”, Chris’ fingers found your ear, he caressed your earlobe with his thumb and index finger, further agitating the flying critters in your belly. “Besides, that would imply I felt threatened by that guy. If anything, his vibe just pissed me off”. 

“Fair enough”, you shrugged, drinking what was left of your cocktail before you settled the glass on the bar. “Now, enlighten me, please. Why the hell are you here?”

Chris looked at you for a few seconds, before a smile spread on his lips. “Dance with me and I’ll tell you”.

Your eyes went wide in surprise. It seemed like that was Chris’ mission tonight, to completely surprise you. 

The music had finally settled to slower rhythms, you glanced at the dancefloor, only to find couples dancing to the intimate tunes. It was nowhere near as packed as it’d been before you came to the bar, but there were still enough people that you would blend in just fine, so you figured there was no harm in humouring him. “Fine. Let’s dance, then”.

Chris offered his hand to you, which you accepted. He guided you to the dancefloor, leaving his barely touched glass of rum completely forgotten on the wooden surface of the bar.

Your feet were still aching, but you felt fine enough to handle a couple of dances. Deep down, you genuinely just wanted to enjoy this one in a million opportunity. This wasn’t something you did often. When would you ever get the chance again to dance with someone you were so intimately connected to?

As soon as you made it to the dancefloor, Chris placed a hand on the small of your back to pull you flush against his body. You just followed his movement, moulding yourself to his body, holding onto his shoulder and his hand as if they would be the only thing to keep you swaying your hips to the gentle music.

He was always so goddamn warm… His presence enticed you, just like it always did. Even with this… odd look of his, you could still feel the effect his energy had on you.

“You look so weird”, you mumbled in his ear as you continued to follow the music. Chris chuckled softly, lowering his hand the tiniest bit on your lower back. “Don’t get me wrong, you still look handsome. But… ‘suppose I’ve gotten used to seeing your true form”.

“You think I look handsome in my true form?” There was a teasing lilt in his words, and, somehow, it amused you.

“‘Course I do. Wouldn’t let you fuck me if it weren’t the case”.

You felt Chris’ sharp intake of breath next to your ear, and his hands tightened their hold around you. “Don’t make me think about fucking you, pretty. I might end up taking you right here if you do”.

You scoffed a bit, with no real malicious intent in the gesture. “Be honest with me, do you need me to bring attention to it for you to think about fucking me?”

“Ah, you caught me”, Chris chuckled softly. As you danced, he pressed a lingering kiss on your cheek, right before he mumbled, “Maybe I think about you a little too much”.

Those simple words immediately kick-started your heartbeat. How foolish of you to let his words affect you like this… Chris was a demon. The demon you’d summoned in a moment of weakness. He was just that, nothing more. “Is that so?”

“Mm…” Chris’ hum vibrated against your cheek, it almost felt like it was penetrating into your skin and rattling your insides. 

There was barely any space between your bodies, you occasionally looked around you to make sure no one was paying too much attention to you, but for the most part the only thing you could truly focus on was the melody floating in the air, and Chris’ presence all over you. 

“Why do you think I keep coming back for more?”

That had you inhaling a shaky breath.

This was nothing.

It meant nothing at all.

It was just Chris playing into your deepest desires, giving you what you needed, what you’d asked for from him. You were well aware of that, but… sometimes, you kind of wanted to believe there was truly more to it.

“Is that why you’re here tonight, then?” Your lips ghosted over his skin when you asked the question, just because you had wanted them to. You wanted to feel his smooth, heated skin, and if you couldn’t have your hands on his bare body because of his perfectly tailored deep blue, almost black suit, you might as well make do with his cheek.

“Pretty much. I was already up here, so I decided to stick around”, you were sure Chris was close to straight up placing his hand on your bum with how he kept moving it a bit further down as time passed, but, at this point, you didn’t care about stopping him at all. “As creepy as it might sound, on the days that I can, I find myself around you quite often. I just never make my presence known”.

You pulled yourself away from him a bit so you could look him in the eyes, completely perplexed. 

Chris chuckled at your reaction. “Don’t worry, pet. I only do it in public places. I don’t follow you to private spaces, and if you’re at home, I just show myself”.

“As if that makes it any better, creep”, with a smirk on your face, you scoffed, tightening your hold on his shoulder as he kept guiding you in your dance.

Chris didn’t have any remark to bite back, he just smiled at you, in that way that turned his eyes into little crescents. Cute…

As you looked at him, in his tailored suit, wearing that small flower brooch which suspiciously matched the colour of your dress, with that slit in his eyebrow and his brown, very human-looking eyes, you couldn’t help but feel like you were missing something. Like there was a little gremlin in the back of your mind trying to hand you a piece of information, but it couldn’t quite find it.

“This look of yours… You look familiar”, your eyes jumped all over his face, taking in his features.

His very handsome features…

Chris blinked a bit in silence before he replied to you. “‘Course I do. I’m… well, me”.

“You do. But, y’know… That’s not what I mean”.

Chris just shrugged. “I just look like every other guy out there, probably”.

Every other guy just wouldn’t look this… this good. Besides, he did look like himself somehow, just without his demonic traits. Same face structure, same body built, but even then, there was something in his eyes that felt… oddly familiar.

You didn’t say anything else, just hummed to acknowledge him before you leaned into him to rest your cheek on his shoulder as you continued to dance.

You spent a handful of songs more on the dancefloor, until you just couldn’t ignore the many different parts of your body that were bothering you. After a simple ‘Chris… My feet hurt…’ your unexpected companion for the night took you to the closest surface you could sit on. 

Twenty minutes later, and after saying your final goodbyes to your bosses and any other relevant person you’d interacted with that night, you were in the back of an uber. With none other than Chris himself, as if he even needed a car to get places.

“Haven’t been inside one of these in decades…” Chris mumbled in your ear, just loud enough for you to hear.

You hummed to let him know you’d heard him, but it was hard to tell him anything when one of his hands had found its way into the slit of your dress, and he’d boldly placed it on your bare thigh. The way his lips pressed slow, gentle kisses on your neck, certainly didn’t make it any better.

Oh, how easy it was for him to rile you up… Sometimes he didn’t even need to do anything. A simple kiss on your pulse-point was all it took for heat to gather in the pit of your stomach.

You could tell he had no intention of dragging his hand further up your thigh than it was necessary. He simply caressed your skin up to a certain point on your inner thigh, and then squeezed a bit on his way down, again and again…

The sound of taps brought your eyes away from the sight of Chris’ hand to instead look right in front of you, where the driver was tapping a plastic board hanging from her seat. ‘No sexual activities on the backseat. The driver of this car reserves the right to deny service’.

“Oh, don’t worry, ma’am”, you tried your best to steady your voice as Chris kept kissing your neck and your shoulder, completely unbothered. “He just gets a little clingy and handsy after drinking, but he’s mostly harmless”.

A lie, but a lie you had to say to this woman. Because how else could you explain any of Chris’ habits to this stranger you would probably never see again?

The woman in front of the wheel sighed, tiredly. “Men, am I right?”

“Damn right…” You replied simply, returning your attention to Chris’ hand that seemed to be groping you with a bit more force now, but still not reaching any indecent territory.

Mostly harmless, hm? Is that so, baby?

Oh, no…

Dealing with his touch was one thing, but dealing with his touch while he spoke right into your thoughts required a completely different level of self-restraint.

With a deep breath, you crossed one leg over the other, not only trapping his hand between your thighs in hopes of hindering his movements, but also trying to get some relief from the ache that had been steadily building between your legs.

Chris’ hold on your thigh tightened all of a sudden, almost, almost making you squeal out loud. You should be given a fucking prize for how well you kept that sound inside of you.

Mmm… Wanna keep my hand stuck right here? I don’t want it to, though. If only it could be my head clamped between your thighs right now instead… Wouldn’t you like that, little human?

You closed your eyes as you felt Chris’ lips press a kiss behind your ear. With a deep breath, and a tight hold on the seat’s edge, you tried your best to keep yourself aware of your surroundings. If you gave into temptation, you just knew you wouldn’t want to be taken out of the headspace Chris would pull you into.

This was going to be a long, long ride home…

Walking into your building, hand in hand with Chris, with a human-looking Chris, was certainly not something you could say you did every day. 

What was even more unusual, was being inside the dingy, crammed lift of your way-too-old building, grabbing a fistfull of Chris’ dark hair as his lips and his tongue danced slowly against yours.

It was all so, so weird… not only the feeling of a totally normal tongue that you weren’t used to. It didn’t feel bad or wrong in any way, but it almost felt like… like you were coming home with someone after a date.

Whatever it was that happened tonight, certainly wasn’t a date. It was nowhere near close to being a date… You needed to remind yourself that Chris was not someone you’d gone on a date with. But, honestly, it was a bit hard to convince your brain of that when he held you so close by the waist, when his lips moulded so perfectly against yours that you barely heard the lift reach your floor.

Before you knew it, Chris had scooped you in his arms. You couldn’t help but yelp in surprise as you held onto his shoulders for dear life. “What’s this for?”

Chris shrugged, stepping out of the lift and walking down the corridor towards your door. “You said your feet hurt”.

You didn’t say anything, just stared at his side profile until he finally reached the door to your home. Only then did he turn to look at you, almost blinding you with the smile on his lips.

Chris… he was just way too handsome, something as simple as a smile, regardless of how he looked, was enough to have your cheeks heating up.

How silly of you…

But even more silly, was how you leaned in to press a soft kiss on his cheek, mumbling a quiet ‘Thank you’ before he finally placed you on your feet so you could open the door.

The moment your feet touched the ground you were reminded of just how much they hurt. Curse this pretty, but uncomfortable footwear…

Regardless, once you’d wiped your heels on your doormat enough times to not feel guilty about stepping into your home with shoes on–because there was just no way you could undo all these straps standing right outside your door–you simply got your keys, unlocked the front door and walked into your flat, with Chris following soon after.

When he stepped out of his shoes, they just dissolved into a dark mist, and as he took his suit jacket off, this one did, too. The motion left him shirtless, because why would he wear a shirt under his suit, when he could spend the entire night with a good chunk of his chest exposed, right?

“I’m gonna just… take my make-up off and have a quick shower”, you turned away from him and started making your way to the bathroom.

“Oh, let me help you”.

You looked back at him again, with one of your eyebrows arched on your face, questioningly. Chris just brought his hands up, giving you one of his signature wolfish grins that made your heart flutter a bit in your chest.

“Got no ulterior motives. Promise”.

He sounded genuine, like he honestly wasn’t trying to just get into your knickers. So, after a moment of consideration, you hummed in agreement, resuming your walk.

“Did you get what I suggested last time?” He asked once you were both within the echoey walls of your bathroom.

“I did. It’s already inside the shower”.

After your last… encounter, Chris had insisted you got a shower stool. ‘I can’t keep cleaning you up on the toilet like a savage! Get one of those shower stools, it’ll be easier for both of us…’ so you did. You’d admit you’d already used it, people truly disregarded how much easier it was to take a shower after a long day when you could just sit down to do it. 

Chris’ hands found your hips, and he gently caressed the swell of them as you stood in front of him. “Good. Turn around”.

You did as asked, and, slowly, he started to unzip your dress. As he did, he walked further into your personal space, not fully pressing his body to yours, but enough that his body heat enveloped you.

You could feel his lips ghost the skin of the nape of your neck before he placed a lingering kiss on it. The gesture made you swallow, it made you feel tingly all over, enough that you kind of wanted to ignore how sore you already were from the long night. You could surely survive a round…

“I’m… I’m gonna remove the glamour”, Chris mumbled against your skin, just as he finished unzipping your dress, and brought his hands to your shoulders, sliding them right under the straps. “Just giving you a heads-up”.

“Why? You think I’ll get scared?” you chuckled, just as your dress fell to the floor, leaving you in just your heels and your underwear. You carefully stepped out of it, and kicked it somewhere far from the shower’s entrance.

“Dunno… You’d been seeing me as just a regular guy for a couple of hours”, Chris expertly undid the clasps of your bra. He removed it carefully before you heard the unmistakable thud of it landing on top of fabric–on top of your dress, you presumed. “It could be kinda jarring to suddenly see me with… well, my add-ons”.

You chuckled again, bringing your hands to your breasts to gently fondle them, trying to ease some of that uncomfortable feeling that lingered after having worn a bra for too many hours.

As if his demon form could do anything other than arouse you at this point… These days, just the sight of him made you salivate like a dog; it was practically a pavlovian response at this point. 

You remained facing away from him as he slid your panties down your legs. He, obviously, didn’t waste the opportunity to place some kisses on your buttocks on his way down, a motion that was steadily turning your brain into putty.

However, he truly didn’t seem to have any… sinful intentions. Chris just asked you to lift your feet so he could take your underwear and throw it on the pile of clothes that had gathered by the entrance of the room. 

When his hands were on your waist, you finally turned to face him. 

There they were again… those eyes of his that were seemingly endless, dark and void like the night’s sky. His tail calmly swayed behind him, mindlessly dragging on the tiled floor, and his horns… You honestly felt like they just complemented his features so well.

Maybe you were just a sinful little human like he always told you…

Chris stood there, just looking at you, holding your waist while you took him in. The suit trousers were gone, he was dressed only in the silky slacks he usually wore, with his chest still on full display for your ogling eyes.

You brought your hands to his arms, feeling his skin under your fingertips as you dragged them all the way to his shoulders, where they stopped briefly before you brought them to his chest.

For a moment, you could’ve sworn his skin was getting redder wherever you touched him, but you figured it might’ve been the lighting in your bathroom.

You removed your hands from his chest only to cup his cheeks. You used them to move his head all sorts of ways. Left, right, up, down… admiring every single one of his features from every angle you could think of. He let you, of course. He always did. Chris often let you play around with his body however you wanted, and if you ever did something he didn’t like, he’d just stop you and tell you. That was part of your agreement, after all…

When you finally straightened his head so you could look directly into his eyes, you started stroking his cheeks with your thumbs. “See? Not scared”.

Chris grinned at you. He bent his knees and interlocked his arms under your backside to lift you off the ground before he started walking. “Not very smart of you, is it?”

The shower door opened on its own, and Chris stepped inside with you in his arms, just so he could place you on the shower stool you’d gotten upon his request.

“You wouldn’t hurt me”, you said matter-of-factly, and, as the words left your mouth, you realised you genuinely believed them.

Chris laughed at that, reaching for the showerhead to get it off of its holder before he knelt in front of you. “Are you sure about that, pet?”

He placed the showerhead on the floor, then started undoing the straps of your heels, very, very slowly…

“If you wanted to hurt me, you would’ve done so when I let you shove your monstrous cock up my ass”, you watched as he finally removed one of your heels, and dropped it in the air for it to float out of the shower before he started undoing the other one.

“Just like I told you earlier, don’t make me think about my cock up your ass, pretty human. Not unless you want me to do it right here, right now”, he replied simply before he instructed you to take off all your jewellery while he worked your remaining heel off of you. 

You took everything off as requested. As soon as you were finished, Chris had already taken your heel and your toe ring off. He opened his palm for you to place all your accessories in, and, once you did, he just dropped them in the air for them to float out of the shower as well. 

Once he’d taken the showerhead in his hand, the tap opened on its own, it seemed to be moving behind you to adjust the temperature, while Chris let the water run over his free hand. When he’d clearly deemed it to be the right temperature, he took a hold of one of your heels and started wetting your feet. 

You couldn’t help but close your eyes and hum as soon as the water touched your skin. The warm temperature was highly appreciated, it was certainly helping ease the dull ache that you’d been feeling after standing in those stupid heels for so many hours.

Chris repeated the motions with your other foot, until your skin was wet enough to his standards, you supposed. The water flow stopped when the tap closed behind you. Your shower-gel floated from the shower caddy to his hand, so he simply uncapped it and squeezed some of the contents in his palms.

He lathered the gel between his hands a bit before he brought them to one of your feet. With gentle motions, Chris massaged your foot, working the suds on your skin.

You really, really appreciated it. It seemed to be further easing the pain, but, as you looked at him, you just couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “Have you got a thing for feet?”

Chris bursted out laughing as soon as the words left your mouth, and he looked up at your face without stopping the motions of his hands. “Not particularly. You don’t think I would’ve done something about that already if I did, darling?”

You smiled at him, shrugging. “Dunno. You seem to be pretty focused on them tonight”.

Chris shook his head a bit before he returned his attention to your feet, gently placing the one in his hands on the floor before he took the other to repeat the motions. “You’ve been wearing open shoes all night, sweetheart. I’m just making sure you’re cleaned up thoroughly”.

You supposed you couldn’t argue with that. After all, you had stepped in quite the number of sticky puddles at the event, so this was probably a good idea.

As he finished up lathering your feet, and even a bit further up your legs, you were suddenly curious about something, so you asked, “Do you do this to the other people that are summoning you?”

You’d never really asked Chris about this… You’d think about it sometimes, though. How many people might be just… enjoying his company. You tried to always push the question to the deepest recesses of your mind, since it always made an uncomfortable feeling settle in the pit of your stomach. 

Which was a bit dumb on your part.

Chris wasn’t yours, that much you knew. You didn’t think he could even be yours in the first place. He was, after all, a demon.

Would you even want that? What would you even do with a demon? Other than fucking, that was.

It was a thought you honestly didn’t want to entertain. You didn’t think you had the right mind to even think about that possibility right now.

He was quiet for a moment, mindlessly massaging your calves. With a deep breath, Chris shrugged, right before he reached for the showerhead. “I only let myself be summoned by one person at a time. Last time I was summoned, I might have. But there weren’t showerheads like these back then, so it wasn’t this easy”.

Your jaw went slack. Back then, he said? Back then?!

“When was the last time someone summoned you before I did?” You just couldn’t keep the surprise from your voice, it was noticeable enough that it made Chris look up at you, while he blindly rinsed your lower legs.

“Dunno, maybe a handful of centuries ago?” He replied simply, like it was nothing.

“Centuries?!”

“That’s what I said, darling. Yes”, he chuckled, just as he stood up. “I’m gonna get you all wet alright?”

He was clearly amused by what he said, like a young boy would be after telling a dirty joke. You barely had any time to react before he was pointing the showerhead at your face, making you squeal in surprise and snapping you out of your stupor.

“Chris!” You tried to cover your face with one hand while blindly reaching for his hand.

“What?” He was… he was giggling. It wasn’t the first time you heard him giggle, but he didn’t do it as often, and, being honest, it was contagious.

“Oh, stop it! Gimme–gimme the showerhead!” You were now giggling yourself. Had it been anyone else, you might’ve been annoyed, but with Chris, you were just… amused.

Maybe you were more tired than you thought.

“Nuh-uh!”

There was a bit of back and forth, until you abruptly stood up from the stool and managed to get the showerhead from his hand. You turned it against him, making him gasp as he got drenched.

“My slacks!”

“Now you care about your slacks? They were already wet when you were touching my feet like a weirdo”, you were just teasing him, of course. You were sure the smirk on your face was enough for him to know.

For a brief moment, you saw his slacks evaporate into dark mist like the rest of his clothes had done earlier. Just for a brief moment, because almost immediately after, the showerhead disappeared from your hand and your chest was pressed to the cold tiles of your shower’s walls, so suddenly it made you gasp. 

You felt the loud smack on your buttock before you heard it. The sound bounced off of the walls, joining the unexpected moan that came out of your mouth. 

“Behave, gorgeous. Hm?” Chris was still chuckling, holding your buttock tightly in one hand, while he held the showerhead in the other, pointing the water flow at your lower back.

You turned your head to look at him, as much as you could without fully turning your body. “You started it”.

“Mm… Fair enough”, Chris pressed a brief kiss on your shoulder, before he pulled himself away from your space–as much as he could within the space of your shower. “Sit back down. We’re not finished”.

You turned around and offered him a smile before you leaned in. After pressing a quick kiss on his cheek, you brought your lips close to his ear. “Yes, sir”.

Before he could retaliate, you simply did as asked, and sat down on your stool, batting your lashes at him in feigned innocence. Chris just scoffed, and knelt in front of you once again. Right then, your make-up remover balm and gel floated inside the shower, and right into your lap. 

“Do your pretty face, I’ll take care of the rest, yeah?”

You hummed, opening the balm’s container and gathering the needed amount so you could start your skin care routine. It was kind of amusing to see him right now. Still kneeling, sometimes going into a crouch, fully naked, half-hard as he diligently lathered you up, but not really making any advances.

You weren’t really surprised, honestly. You’d already told him earlier in the evening that you probably wouldn’t be up for it, so unless you explicitly told him, you knew he wouldn’t make a real move

Even after the playful encounter, though, and as you kept cleansing your face, Chris’ words still lingered in your mind. A handful of centuries ago, he’d said… 

Demons didn’t mix with other demons, not sexually, at least. That was something Chris told you once in passing. If that was true, and he hadn’t been summoned by a human in centuries, Would that mean you were the first person he’d laid with in centuries?

That was, if he hadn’t found himself entangled with a different being altogether… There was a small part of you that doubted that was the case, though. Or, more accurately, that wished that was the case.

But why? Why would that small part of you wish for that? It was foolish on your part, for sure…

Chris wasn’t yours. You had to constantly remind yourself of that fact. He couldn’t be. You couldn’t mix… like that.

When you were finally fully cleaned up and refreshed, Chris helped you towel dry your hair and the rest of your body. It was way past midnight, and the long evening was certainly catching up to you.

After he brushed your hair and you got into your fluffiest pyjamas, you were finally tucked into bed. Chris simply laid down next to you on top of the covers, propping his head on his hand as he looked at you.

His hair was slightly damp still, but steadily drying in a messy pattern of curls that seemed to be further swallowing the base of his horns.

“You look better with curly hair”, you mindlessly mumbled, with your eyes barely open.

Chris smiled at you. “You didn’t like my straightened hair earlier? I thought it’d be a nice change”. 

You hummed, shaking your head slightly from side to side. “T’was fine. I just like your curly hair so much more”.

“I’ll keep it in mind”, scooting closer to you, he draped an arm over your waist to pull you to him.

“You do as you prefer, though”.

“I don’t have a preference”, Chris mumbled, just before he leaned in to press a kiss to your forehead.

The lamp on your bedside table switched off, and your eyes finally closed fully. Chris seemed to snuggle even closer, lifting your head a bit so he could bring an arm under your head to curl it around your shoulders.

“Thank you for your company tonight”, you whispered the words against the skin of his neck, where you had buried your face as soon as he’d pulled you close.

“It was my pleasure, pretty thing”, Chris’ other hand slowly caressed your back, further relaxing every muscle of your body. “Thank you for letting me keep you company”.

You hummed, pressing a brief kiss on his neck. “M’sorry if we didn’t… Y’know…”

Chris chuckled softly at that, and if you didn’t know any better, you might’ve thought he sounded incredulous. “That’s nothing to be sorry for”.

Silence stretched for a few moments, all you could hear was his steady breathing, faint voices from the party happening in the house in front of your building, and the odd car passing. You could practically feel your body fully relax, being lulled to sleep by Chris’ warmth.

Just before you fell asleep, you vaguely heard Chris mumble against your hair.

“With a bit of luck, I’ll be back in a couple of nights…”

Attending that company event all those weeks ago certainly worked in your favour. You’d had an interview a couple of days ago, and the odds were certainly promising. Nothing was certain yet, though. You never believed anything told to you at work unless it was written down on an email, but you held some hope.

Unfortunately, you’d also had a nasty encounter with the debt collectors… You’d managed to pay them part of the money your mother had owed them, but they were trying to increase interests. You still weren’t sure how you managed to leave that place without being shot, considering the nasty words you spat at them.

They did increase the interest, but to a much lower percentage than the one originally proposed, which you supposed was… not good, but also not bad.

The events of the week had caught up to you, which was why you were grateful that it was Friday night, that you were lying comfortably on your bed, and that you had your favourite demon’s head between your legs.

Chris always provided much needed relief. You didn’t want to think about the corporate world or what your mother had done to get you so deep in this mess… Sometimes, it was almost like he knew you’d been needing exactly this, to be so lost in your pleasure that you were numb, that you couldn’t even remember what had you so wound up in the first place.

It kind of made sense, since that had been your original arrangement… It was exactly the reason why you’d sought him out in the first place, or part of it, at least.

Something seemed different lately, though. 

The other night, after the company event, it’d been the first time Chris had just… stayed with you without engaging in any sexual activity, which puzzled you. Not only that, but, after that night, that started happening more frequently.

It wasn’t like you were mad about it. You realised you didn’t need to have sex with him to get that feeling of relief after meeting with him, which was fine. Maybe more than fine. Still, you couldn’t help but wonder why he wouldn’t make a move sometimes.

You’d been meaning to ask him about it, but you hadn’t really built the courage to do it. You weren’t even sure why you needed to hype yourself up to do it in the first place.

Tonight, though, you didn’t want to think about that.

You doubted you could even think about anything at all when Chris had you just… like this.

His tongue diligently worked you up, the two halves of the appendage danced around your clit so deliciously you could barely keep your eyes open, and the texture of it further enhanced those jolts of pleasure running up and down your spine. Chris’ name would occasionally escape from between your lips as a breathless whisper, and you could practically see him rut into the bed as it did.

Bringing both of your hands to his head, you took a hold of each horn with a firm grip. Chris’ eyebrows furrowed, he moaned, positively heating you up further. You saw his eyes close when you started to gently stroke the base of his horns, softly dragging your fingertips from where they started protruding from his head, before your attention shifted and you caught a couple of his dark strands between your fingers.

His tail thrashed, swishing from side to side before it shot to your ankle. It wrapped around your limb, slowly climbing up a bit before it tightened its hold, and he used it to move your leg further towards your chest. You weren’t really sure who was being louder right now, his grunts and moans sent vibrations through you, his quickening tongue had you trembling with need, and you were so, so ready to finally get your relief…

Chris’ tongue moved further down, licking at your entrance briefly before it found its way to your ass. You couldn’t help but mewl under his motions, fully aroused by the feel of that wet muscle on your sensitive skin, of his nose catching at your entrance. His own noises of pleasure fueled you, it made you believe that Chris enjoyed being right here as much as you did. 

“Chris… I’m… I’m so close–” Your sentence cut short when he returned his tongue to your cunt, when he pushed his forked tongue within your walls and his nose started to nudge your sensitive nub. 

With his arms under your thighs, his hands on your hips, gripping you tightly, Chris kept you pressed to the bed, preventing you from pulling away from him. The grip of his tail on your lower leg tightened, your grip on his horns tightened as well. He was fully submerged in you and that heaven between your legs, and, before you could even let him know, you were trembling with the strength of your release.

It didn’t matter how much you writhed and whined, he just interlocked his fingers over your tummy and kept you right where he wanted, making your mind go numb under the motions of his lips and his forked tongue.

Stars…

All you could see were stars.

Stars and feathers and soft gentle light…

As you came down from your high, Chris finally relented a bit. He pressed the flat of his tongue against your clit, giving you slow, gentle licks that helped prolong your pleasure. He was so good to you, better than you could’ve ever expected. He always knew what to do, how to make you feel good, and every time you laid on your bed with him like this, you were reminded of that fact.

You finally let go of his horns, and started tracing the elegant curve of one of them with your fingertips. Your other hand remained mindlessly playing with his curls, almost tenderly, and Chris just hummed, sounding just immensely satisfied.

He finally removed himself from your centre, but he stayed right there, with his hands still holding you down as he left kisses on your inner thighs. As he did, you couldn’t help but stare at his back from where you were still somewhat propped on your pillows.

You were barely capable of focusing your tired eyes on it, but you honestly couldn’t help but feel curious again. You always did whenever you looked at him, whenever you saw the scarred tissue running parallel to his spine. ‘It happened a few millennia ago. They were left behind after my wings were ripped off of my body’, he’d told you once, but he didn’t elaborate further. If anything, he’d avoided the topic altogether after that.

He had finally stopped licking at your core, which you appreciated. Right now wasn’t a moment for overstimulation, and he seemed to have caught up on that very quickly. As he pressed kisses on your inner thighs, you couldn’t help but bring your foot to his back, barely applying pressure with the ball of it on one of his scars.

Chris’ whole body jolted, his lips immediately detached from your skin with a gasp, and, in the blink of an eye, he was on top of you. With both hands pressed to the mattress at either side of your head, he looked down at you.

You swallowed, suddenly transfixed by the darkness in his eyes. 

“Does it… Does it hurt?” Your voice was barely a whisper, gentle, and, even to your ears, it sounded like you cared. You supposed you did. It was hard not to care when your protective walls were down, when you’d bared yourself to this demon above you so many times, in more ways than one.

Chris shook his head, licking his lips. “Doesn’t really hurt anymore. It’s just… this tingly feeling…”

He readjusted his position, so he could properly kneel between your legs. His tail had loosened its grip, it ran gently up and down your calf in tandem with the tip of his cock on your folds. You held your breath in anticipation, bringing one of your hands to hold one of his wrists, and the other to cup his cheek.

Taking a deep breath, Chris closed his eyes, keeping the slow, teasing motions of his length between your legs. He turned his head the tiniest bit, and placed small pecks of his lips on the palm of your hand.

He was, truly, the oddest demon you’d ever met.

Not like you’d met any demon other than Chris, but he just didn’t fit the idea you had of someone like him.

With his lips still pressed to your palm, with his eyes still closed, he finally plunged himself right into you. You couldn’t help but gasp in surprise. Even if it wasn’t the first time he’d been inside you tonight, the suddenness of it all caught you off guard.

Only when he was fully sheathed within your warmth did he open his eyes. They were dark, endless pools of black like they’d always been, lustful, sinful, but… there was something else there. Something that made you shiver under his heavy gaze.

“F–Fuck…” You swore under your breath, dizzy with the feel of the ridges and bumps of his monstrous cock stimulating your walls. “So big…”

Chris chuckled, lowering himself to his elbows so he could briefly claim your mouth in a sensual kiss. 

“That’s what you’d asked for, no? A big monster cock to fuck you stupid”, he mumbled the words against your lips, just as he started to move, slowly, almost teasingly rocking his hips. In and out, in and out… “That’s why I’m here. Isn’t it, pet?”

You whined, closing your eyes and further pushing your head against the pillow. You could feel your mind turning hazy once again, lost in the feel of Chris in you, on you, all over you…

“Isn’t it?” Chris repeated his question, a bit lower this time, barely even audible over the squelching sounds that started to resonate in your room.

Was that the only reason? A big monster cock?

You’d convinced yourself that had been exactly it, but now, you weren’t so sure.

Your body had a tendency to act on its own around Chris, to do things without receiving the proper, logical signal from your brain, which was probably why you found yourself shaking your head before you could stop it. He didn’t say anything about it, though. He just kissed you. Kissed you like he needed you to keep breathing.

His hips sped up, his weight fell further on you, his firm chest rubbed against yours with how close you were. You wrapped your limbs around him, heels interlocked around his torso and your hands palm flat on his back to keep him in place. You needed him closer, as close as he could be. You wanted him to crawl inside your skin, to become one single soul. 

Although, you supposed his lack of one made it a bit difficult.

That was alright…

Yours could be plenty for both.

You could feel the tip of his tail dragging up and down the back of your thigh, enticing you, provoking you. Chris was grunting in your kiss, pushing his tongue against yours, tugging your lips with his teeth, and you figured this was as close as you could be.

That was fine.

At least, for now.

Your hands found the scarred skin of his back, and you gently traced the outline of it with your fingertips. Chris seemed to have started trembling under your tender motions, his lips disconnected from yours, and his heavy breaths filled your senses when he rested his forehead on yours.

“Do you… Do you regret it?” You asked between broken moans, tightening your legs further around him.

Chris shook his head, and he started to thrust harder into you, further pulling desperate sounds out of your mouth. “Would do it all over again…”

You shivered as soon as the words left his mouth, your walls clenched hard around his length, and Chris swore under his breath. 

Dragging your hands down his back, they found the base of his tail, and it stiffened up into the air as soon as you touched it. Chris whined, hiding his face in the crook of your neck, being mindful to keep his horns out of the way.

You were barely coherent under his quickening motions, unable to produce any sound that wasn’t his name or those that manifested your pleasure. Leaving one hand at the thick base of his tail, stroking the area, you brought your other hand to one of his horns, gently caressing the keratin. Chris’ hips stuttered, his previously controlled thrusts turned into an uncoordinated tempo, and his desperate moans and pleas of your name became more frequent. 

“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, if you–if you keep doing that, I’m gonna–gonna come…” Chris mumbled, but despite his words, his hips didn’t stop. 

With your mouth next to his ear, making sure he could hear every single moan, every single sigh coming out of your mouth, you whispered. “…Good”.

His pace was brutal, erratic, his cock brushed all those incredibly sensitive areas within you, just like you needed it to, and when his tail found its way between your bodies for the tapered tip to stimulate your clit, your eyes immediately rolled to the back of your head.

For you, my love… I’d do it all over again…

Chris’ thoughts slipped into yours, just as a broken whimper escaped his throat and he finally let himself go within your walls.

You weren’t sure if it’d been the motions of his tail, or the feeling of his cock repeatedly splitting you open, or the words he’d poured into your mind, but before you knew it, blinding hot pleasure overtook every single one of your senses. Was there anything else in this world that wasn’t Chris and his tail and his horns and his cum inside you?

At this very moment, you really couldn’t come up with anything off the top of your head, you could barely form a single coherent thought.

A few breaths passed, just before Chris’ lips found yours. He pressed pecks on your lips, and your hands simply buried in his hair to keep him close as you left kisses of your own on his lips. Tired kisses, yes. But kisses nonetheless.

Kisses that just seemed to perfectly finish your seemingly never-ending night of nothing but warmth and intimacy.

When he pulled away, he started pressing slow pecks on your cheeks, finishing off with a final, lingering one on your forehead before he finally pulled out and rolled off of you.

There was a moment where all that could be heard were heavy breaths, and the swish of Chris’ tail on your bed sheets. You were basking in that post-orgasmic bliss, enjoying the satisfying aches of your body.

You felt light, but full. 

Full of Chris.

Both physically and spiritually.

There was a small smile on your lips as you enjoyed those last blissful moments…

But then your eyebrows furrowed.

Opening your eyes, you stared at the ceiling for a moment. Something was weighing heavy in your mind, like your brain was trying to tell you something that you couldn’t quite hear, or that you couldn’t quite comprehend.

Propping yourself on your elbow, you looked at Chris. His eyes were almost closed, he even looked relaxed, but as he took in the look on your face, his entire expression shifted.

He looked worried, concerned…

“What’s wrong, pet?” He propped himself on his elbow as well to get to your level, and you immediately sat down fully, ignoring the feeling of foreign fluids coming out of your body.

“What was that about… about you doing it all over again for me?”

Chris’ eyes widened. He remained silent for a few moments, but then you saw his Adam’s apple bob, and his eyes started jumping all over your face for a while. For a long, quiet while.

He wouldn’t say anything, you didn’t think you’d ever seen him this paralysed before. Chris wasn’t someone that just got paralysed. He was a demon, for crying out loud…

“Chris?”

His expression shifted once again, to one of complete neutrality. Like he’d never even shown emotion in the first place.

“It was just… Y’know, a heat of the moment thing”, he stood up from the bed, abruptly, breaking eye-contact for a moment before he tried to pull you into his arms. “Don’t look too deeply into it. C’mon, let’s go to the shower”.

You moved away from his reach a bit, which made him frown.

You didn’t buy it.

For some reason, you just didn’t buy it. Chris was an honest being, he’d always been. Sometimes you’d wondered if he’d been deceiving you for real like all those priests your mother followed would say, but you never truly felt like he was lying. And as you heard him speak just now, you realised that you’d been correct.

Because, right now, he was lying. You could just tell he was, he sounded so insincere, like not even he could believe what he was saying.

You arched an eyebrow, just looking at him, not saying anything, not moving from where you were sitting on the bed. Chris’ eyes fixed on your hand, and only then did you realise you’d been gripping the bed sheets in a tight fist.

“It’s nothing. You know I ramble a lot, it was just one of those things I say sometimes. C’mon…”

Chris did ramble a lot, and he did say a lot of things in general when you were having sex, but they were always things that made sense within the context, things he thought, things that always felt like he meant them. That, coupled with the fact that he just wouldn’t look at your face, was enough to further trigger the alarms in your brain.

“You didn’t just say it. You thought it”, you saw him swallow again, you could see and hear his tail relentlessly moving behind him, hitting the floor, your bedside table, a chair… “Chris, look me in the eyes and tell me again it was just a heat of the moment thing”.

He remained quiet, unmoving, completely frozen on the spot. There were not only alarms in your brain now, but anxiety was also quickly building within you, although you didn’t quite understand why.

“What do I have to do with the fact that someone ripped off your wings?” 

Chris finally reacted. He brought a hand to his hair, ruffled it as a tired sigh fell from his lips. “This is… It’s not… I mean, it just slipped out of my head, but it’s not like, you know…”

Now he was truly rambling, and it just irked you. “No. No, I don’t know”.

“Let me just… I need to clean you up, okay? You need to drink something, we can talk about this later–”

“No”, you said firmly, tightening your grip on the bed sheets under you. “You’re hiding something from me. You’re lying to me. You’ve never lied to me. Why? Why are you lying?”

Chris sighed, turning his back to you and walking towards your open window. He held onto the frame, but he didn’t move further.

You stared at the scars on his back. The original wound must’ve been deep, traumatic to the skin, leaving keloids behind upon healing. He had other scars, too, but none stood out quite like those two did.

You stood up from the bed on unsteady legs, and made your way to the window. The aches in your body you usually enjoyed so much were just inconvenient like this, which reminded you why Chris was the one to take you in his arms everywhere after hours of nothing but sex.

Chris let go of the window’s frame, and instead brought both hands to his head, where he gripped his hair and the base of his horns as he mumbled to himself. “Shit… I should’ve been more careful… This wasn’t supposed to be like this…”

“What wasn’t supposed to be?” You reached for his back. The moment your fingertips touched his scars he immediately whipped around to face you, looking at you with a deep frown on his face. “God, would you just say something?”

“Don’t!” Closing his eyes tightly, Chris held his head in his hands, shaking it from side to side. You took a step back at the tone of his voice. He’d been loud, louder than he’d ever spoken to you. “Don’t say Her name. This is all Her fucking fault. If She had just let me do what I wanted, we wouldn’t be like this”.

“Who’s she?” You were beyond confused, raising the tone of your voice in response to his own increase in volume.

“God!” Chris said it like it was a name. Not an expression of frustration, or confusion. It was a name. He was talking about God as if they were someone, as if she was someone. “You wanna know why I was thinking what I was thinking?! Because She took you away from me! And when I tried to get you back, She turned me into this!” He gestured to his eyes with two of his fingers, as if that made this make sense at all.

Chris didn’t seem like he was thinking, he was just talking, rambling, venting, rendering you speechless in the process.

“If She had let me just get you back we wouldn’t have to be in this endless, agonising cycle. She always let’s you fucking die, and I always have to watch! I’ve seen you die more times than I have fingers on my hands. I’ve had to wait centuries for you. Sometimes even millenniums! All on my own, because She just loves to play with us like we’re her little figurines. She just loves to see me suffer, to make you suffer, just because I wouldn’t do exactly what She wanted me to do! Do I wish She wouldn’t have taken my wings? Yes. Yes, I do! But even then, I’d do what I did again! And again, and again, and again! I couldn’t just do nothing”.

You stood there, speechless, trembling, confused out of your mind. Before you could open your mouth Chris swore, a loud, aggressive, ‘Fuck!’ that had all items on your vanity flying onto the floor. Once again, he brought his hands to his head, resting his palms on his forehead as he fell to the floor, curling in on himself as he crouched.

There was silence for a while. It was deafening, suffocating, you felt like your legs, too, were about to give out, and you barely even registered your own voice coming out of your mouth.

“What… What are you saying?”

It was barely above a whisper, but Chris looked up at you anyway. His eyes were nothing but a black void, and yet, you could see his feelings painted all over his face… Pain, despair…

When he stood up from the floor, his hands were immediately on your cheeks, so fast you barely had time to react. “You were meant to be with me forever. I promised you a forever… But not like this. It wasn’t supposed to be like this”.

With trembling hands, you reached for his own that cupped your face, and pulled them off of you before you started walking backwards.

“You’re not making any sense. What the hell are you talking about…?” Your ears started to ring, your head started to hurt, and your vision spun.

“I should’ve told you. I shouldn’t have let it slip like it was nothing, I know I should’ve told you, but I’m a fucking coward and can never bring myself to”, Chris tried to walk closer to you, but you immediately walked away.

The back of your knees hit your mattress, and you immediately stumbled and fell ass-first on it. Your hands were shaking, the ringing in your ears seemed to intensify, and your chest started to feel heavy. “You… You should’ve told me what? I don’t understand a single thing, Chris. What the fuck are you talking about?”

Chris remained rooted on the spot, looking at you like standing right there was hurting him. “I’m not just a demon. I wasn’t even always a demon… My wings, my soul… God took them away from me because I tried to get you back from the underworld many, many years ago”.

Your lower lip started to wobble, your chest felt tight. Was he saying that… he lost his wings because of you? But that didn’t make any sense whatsoever to you. Chris just kept talking, rambling like he often did.

“Why do you think you’ve always been fascinated by the occult? It doesn’t make sense considering your background, does it? But you are. You always sought out that which was beyond, you’ve always been looking for me”, Chris walked closer to the bed, and your eyes remained fixed on his eyes, lost in the darkness. In the darkness that apparently had been your fault…

“I was one of God’s angels, you know? An obedient little servant… Always ready to do whatever She asked of me. That changed when I met you. Not this you, but the you in your first life. Since then, I am bound to you, I promised you I would be, and we are. But God just can’t let me have what I want… Because of what I did, because She banished me to the underworld, I can only leave it whenever you are looking for me”.

Chris laughed, but it wasn’t a humorous laugh, more one caused by absurdity, one that left a bitter taste on your tongue. “If your bond is so strong, then I’m sure you’d have no problem waiting for the call… That’s what She told me then. And… I suppose She was right. It doesn’t matter if it takes you centuries to be reborn. You always look for me. Whenever you reincarnate into a human, you always look for me”.

“N–No. I wasn’t– I didn’t…” This wasn’t what you’d been trying to do when you had decided to summon a demon… How could you be looking for Chris, when you didn’t even know him? You were calling to any demon… weren’t you? You were sure you’d been doing just that, which was why it was so hard for your brain to fully understand what he was telling you. “How could I? I didn’t know you before that”.

“You did!” Chris’ voice boomed in your room, the loudest, most aggressive you’d ever heard it. It made you jump on the spot, the way the darkness in his eyes started shifting, swirling into erratic patterns, the way his tail thrashed behind him, all of it combined made you feel uneasy. Especially when he was walking, getting closer to your bed. “You do! Listen to me–!”

“Stop it!” You raised one of your hands, with your palm facing him. Chris froze on the spot, just before he could climb into your bed. “Just… just stop shouting!”

Slowly, Chris’ expression changed. From that angry, frowning demon, to a look of shock, then concern. “I didn’t–I didn’t mean to–”

“Stop talking for a second, would you?!” You brought your hands to your face, and applied pressure on your eye sockets with your fingertips.

Your head was throbbing, overworked from trying to fully understand what Chris was telling you. Suddenly, you felt like crying. The tight feeling in your chest was suffocating you, his presence was suffocating you, and, before you knew it, you were sobbing, having a full on meltdown right then and there.

“Love, listen–”

“No! What do I have to listen to?! Huh?!” You could barely see him through your blurry vision, only able to barely make out the shape of his body and his tail anxiously moving behind him. “That it’s my fault that you’re like this right now?! That I’m somehow trapped in a cycle with you?! What the fuck is this about?! That just doesn’t make sense, Chris! You’re lying!”

“I’m not lying! I can give you all the details you want, but not… not like this, not right now. You need to calm down and–”

“I need to calm down?! Me?!” You scoffed, followed by quite possibly the most pathetic sob you’d ever heard. You were sure your head was about to explode, the ringing in your ears got even louder, and you just needed to breathe. “This isn’t what I wanted… It’s not what I was looking for… Please just… just leave”.

“What?! No. No, no, I can’t–!” Chris was scrambling, once again trying to get on your bed, trying to get close to you.

“I said leave, Christopher!” You couldn’t recognise your own voice coming out of your mouth, you could barely understand where you were, where was up, where was down… The world was spinning, your whole body started to hurt, and all you wanted to do was lay down and cry. Alone, in silence.

“No, no, no, please! Don’t use my name for this, it’s not fair! I can’t just leave you like this!” The air around you started to shift, like there was a strong current coming from the window, it had goosebumps rising on your flesh, it almost made you tremble.

“Please leave me alone, Christopher. I just… Whatever this is, I just… I just can’t–”

Chris fell to his knees, clutching his chest. His body was taut, like he was fighting that strong blow raking your bedroom, like it was taking every single bit of power he had to remain right there.

Between gasps, Chris crawled to the side of your bed. He tried to reach out to you, but you just couldn’t let him get any closer, you couldn’t, so you shuffled backwards, sobbing as you watched his hand fall on the edge of your mattress and gripping it tightly.

You could barely make out the features of his face, but you could tell he was looking right at you. 

“I know… I know it’s hard, but, please…” He looked like he was in excruciating pain, like he was about to rip your mattress with how tightly he was holding onto it. “Please, call for me. Whenever you’re ready, just call for me. I’ll wait. I’ll always wait–”

Chris’ form quickly evaporated into dark mist. The air in your room went back to normal, rather abruptly. The sudden shift had you collapsing on your bed and gasping for air.

It was all so much.

Whatever just happened, was just too much for you. 

The pain in your head intensified, you felt like the weight of the world had been placed on your chest, but, worst of all, you felt just so incredibly cold. So, so cold. Unbearably cold. So you reached for your bed sheets and threw them on your body to try and warm yourself up.

You spent a long time curled up under the bed sheets, with your face buried in one of your pillows while you just cried your heart out. You were hurting all over somehow. Emotionally, physically, spiritually… 

It wasn’t until your body had exhausted all remaining energy fuel within yourself that you eventually stopped crying. And as you laid there, dealing with all the different aches and pains of your body, just as you were about to pass out for the night, you finally understood why Chris had always been so insistent on aftercare.

It was, in fact, a very integral part of the act of sex. If you’d let him do it before this whole thing exploded, maybe you wouldn’t be feeling like a beaten up, empty tin can.

< Part 1 | Part 3 >

Author’s notex2: i am so sorry. the third and final part is currently being planned.

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General Masterlist

[avelera]

So I wrote 7,800 words of an entirely new Dreamling fic yesterday pretty much out of NOWHERE based on a what-if headcanon chat that got ENTIRELY out of hand.

Basically, I’ve always found it weird that Hob is, well, WEIRD for an immortal. And I adore it! There’s basically no other immortals in fiction, or very few, who consistently have a day job, don’t become superheroes of enlightened morality in a couple lifetimes, or otherwise leave normal mortal life behind. Except Hob.

But there’s other weird stuff Hob gets up to in the comics especially. Namely: nothing. He sees a Sea Serpent in Hob’s Leviathan and just sort of… shrugs it off. He supposedly ran into a vampire coven while hanging out with a Constantine and they killed Constantine and kinda left him alone. He seemed otherwise pretty unphased. Between 1689-1889, unless he’s with Dream, very little happens to him. He just seems prosperous in both meetings.

But while Dream is gone, during the Blitz, his wife Peggy dies in his arms. That’s pretty dramatic. That’s main character tragedy.

So what if… Dream subconsciously pigeonholes Hob as not a fellow immortal of increasing antiquity, now over half a millennia old, but… just a guy. Just the guy he met in 1389? That certainly seems to be part of why he reacts so poorly to being called lonely in 1889. He can’t fathom that the human mudpuppy he met in a tavern that was basically a hovel could suddenly have INSIGHT into one such as him. But Hob was over 500 years old at that point! And Dream respects other eldritch creatures like fae and demigods, even if they are younger than him. So what gives that he doesn’t see the 500+ year old immortal human as maybe capable of insight into the life of a fellow eldritch being?

Because Dream doesn’t think of Hob that way.

And Dream IS the human subconscious.

Things get really meta from there because right you’ve got all these Doylist reasons that Hob is Just A Guy who seems allergic to getting involved with any of the grand stories of Sandman except as a bit part. A minor character even in his own story. But since it’s a story about stories, you can make it Watsonian too.

Maybe because Dream doesn’t think HE has a story (he says, in the comic which is ABOUT his story, thus undermining his point with a 4th wall break) and Hob is the only person in his life who is basically a normal friend and not a subject or family member or eldritch colleague… does he mentally pigeonhole Hob as not having a story either but just being witness to other people’s stories, like Jim?

It’s kind of weird isn’t it how in Hob’s Leviathan he spends the whole thing WONDERING what secrets lie beneath the surface of the ocean but when the sea serpent bursts forth he just sort of… shrugs?

It’s a bit weird too, in the show, even though I adore how unexpected the beat is, that after 34 years’ delay, Dream shows up and Hob barely reacts except to quip that he’s late. Though I’m sure Dream was very grateful. 

… so I kinda wanted to do a one-shot about how this is actually an eldritch effect Dream accidentally cast on Hob. He sees Hob as just his normal friend despite being immortal. So Hob is Normal. Aggressively normal. He has a day job despite being 600+ years old. He exhibits none of the typical behavior one would expect out of a man who loves life so much he refused to die. And Dream realizes this when he learns that Hob’s 20th century was INSANE, filled with adventures and high drama and lost love and passion. A century where Hob was the protagonist in his own life story again. And it all abruptly stopped and he went back to having a normal human job the second Dream was free.

Anyway, Dream is gutted by the realization. The rest is them figuring out how the fuck this HAPPENED and if it can be fixed.

[lily-alphonse]

So I finally finished watching ATLA (the animated series) all the way through, for the first time. Here's my final reaction post! You can see the others at the first tag listed below (lily's atla reactions)

I had always known it was a good show from what little I saw of it. Im not a big TV watcher because a lot of it gets too intense for me. I can’t separate reality from fiction and get so stressed I would actually die watching something like Game of Thrones lol. So I’ve started going through series from my childhood and of course I was going to start with this classic.

(Im cutting this in case you are like me and took forever to watch this and dont want spoilers)

I unsurprisingly love this series. My boy Zuko stays on top, I love his emo ass. Uncle Iroh is a close second, I know, based lol. I was very pleasantly surprised by the Earth King, an unexpected little side character fave that I latched onto and WILL be writing for.

Honorable mention also to Appa. I adore Appa. His episode broke me. Absolutely broke my heart to see him lose his trust in people, and then when Suki found him OH MY GOD 😭 I was so relieved. (Which, btw, did not expect her to be such a big part of the series that was nice)

Speaking of animals though, the hardest I cried was for Roku dying with his dragon. When the dragon just jumped back in to the flames to die with his master I fucking lost it bro. It reminded me of how Aang and Appa nearly died together, and how Aang’s instinct with his dying breath was to protect them BOTH in that ball of ice BRO I SOBBED ALOUD.

Oh as far as characters I also have to mention the explodey eye guy. I love action and he was SO menacing I was always on the edge of my seat when he was around.

In general I love the scenery, I love pretty scenery and colors and I was so well fed. I am worried that if I continue on to LOK I won't like it as much, considering the time jump to the industrial era. I'm a renaissance faire girlie lol.

I love the heavy messages they didn't shy away from. I think the show probably helped conceptualize a lot of really heavy subjects for kids, and I'm grateful to it for that. How revenge hurts everyone, how mistakes don't define you, how grief works.

I love the friendship and found family, the Zuko adventures episodes were probably my favorite. I can see where everyone is coming from with their various Zuko ships, I'm hearing all of you. If I had to choose one, though, I might actually be pro Zuko/Aang? Which is kind of wild and unexpected because Aang isn't my favorite, but I honestly felt like their characters complemented each other the best. It's funny because I share Zukka art all the time and the only fic Ive read was a Zukka fic lol. They're hot together what can I say? I do like Sokka and Suki together though! I think the show really did them justice as a couple.

There were a couple of really cool moments in the ending. Toph falling onto the metal door and metalbending herself armor? SO badass. And Sokka's boomerang coming in clutch again. I love clever moments in action like that.

Overall, unfortunately... I did not love the ending. I wish I had more of a reaction for you, but I found myself being too critical in it, and that is not how I want to contribute to the fandom. I recognize it is a kid's show and I am an adult, and probably wouldn't have anything to say that hasn't been hammered into the ground over the years since it aired.

I loved the show, expect to see an Earth King fic from me someday (and maybe other ships? who knows). I might watch Gravity Falls next since I can't handle adult television lol. We shall seeeee

[princessbrunette]

im not a big john b girlie but you write him so well! your most recent one w toxicex!reader n all was so well written!

you seriously nail dialogue so well, they feel so human and their dialogue conveys such nuance and glimpses into their personality and motivations. i'm genuinely such an impressed by writing and incredible skill, you have such a seamless way with words, painting a really charged, and clear image of these characters and scenarios.

p.s some questions if youre willing to answer !

what got you into writing fan fiction?

do you write your own original stories, or are you more happy and comfortable exploring these fictional worlds as is?

would you say writing is an outlet for you, from life, or drama, or work?

when it comes to dialogue, what do you think is more important - what is said or what isn't and

do you have any particular literary inspirations for dialogue (i.e a film with good dialogue like 'before sunrise' or a novel like 'normal people' or something) or are you more thinking of just real, conversations or straight from shows (like outerbanks, and etc) and watching how they talk rather than trying to emulate any other style?

sorry if this sounds like an interview or if this is a bit much or overwhelming. i've been reading your stuff for like a good year now, and i'm just curious!

adore your work, hope all is well sending hugs n love :)) x

this is literally so sweet <3 made me so happy tysm!! of course i’ll answer ur questions ♡

what got you into writing fan fiction?

well tbh i’ve been writing ‘fanfiction’ since before i knew what it was. i’ve mentioned a few times on this blog but i had this little notebook (that i still have!) where i’d write loads of self insert stories when i was roughly 9-10 years old. i would insert myself into my favourite disney shows with the characters i had a crush on etc. it was my favourite thing to do, id bring my notebook with my everywhere and it could keep me entertained for hours! that’s probably where i got my start.

do you write your own original stories, or are you more happy and comfortable exploring these fictional worlds as is?

on tumblr particularly i’m more comfortable adapting universes that already exist because i enjoy the community i can / have built off relating characterisations with other people on the internet. i can have some sort of semblance of whether or not im doing an okay job based on the feedback. however, i grew up writing for a stage / screen too, which i’ve recently gotten back into and i do deeply enjoy creating a universe from scratch.

would you say writing is an outlet for you? from life, drama or work?

not particularly! moments in my real life have absolutely inspired by writing but i’m not sure i use it as an escape. as someone with autism, routine is really important to me. i write as part of my routine mostly every single day whether i post something or not — and if i don’t write i actually feel pretty thrown off. i also write in other forms, for example i love journalling. i think if anything were to be an outlet it would be that.

when it comes to dialogue, what do you think is more important? what is said or what isn’t?

that’s a really interesting question and honestly i’m not sure! i think it varies from fic to fic. i do think what isn’t said can be very powerful, however i believe in order to grasp what is being conveyed without words the reader would really need to understand the character — and to my understanding not every reader does. not only do i know that based off requests i receive occasionally trying to force characters into boxes i personally think they do not belong — but not everyone is here to understand, period. some readers are casual readers, just here to thirst because they saw a couple of edits they liked (which is great, no problem with that!) in which case i like to make my writing accessible to everyone and i try to make their intention as verbatim as possible.

do you have any particular literary inspirations for dialogue (i.e a film with good dialogue like 'before sunrise' or a novel like 'normal people' or something) or are you more thinking of just real, conversations or straight from shows (like outerbanks, and etc) and watching how they talk rather than trying to emulate any other style?

not any that i can remember! i focus more on trying to make my characters seem like they stepped directly off the show even if it’s based in an au. i want readers to be able to hear the intonation in their voice, understand why they’d stutter when they did, see their facial expression as they say it in their head the same way they would if they were watching outerbanks. however, when i read over my drabbles — i often reimagine them as if they were adapted to a film instead. i would give anything to watch all of my drabbles on a private screen, each of them produced in a sofia coppola style of cinema. that would be really fun and girly and aesthetically pleasing i think.

i hope that answered your questions adequately !! 🩷

[tales-from-drama-school]

Fictional characters based on whether I think they'd like vegemite or not

None of these characters have come anywhere near vegemite because they're not australian but I think whether or not you like vegemite says a lot about you so here we go

Aziraphale: he would not like it as a spread, it's a bit too strong for him, but he would LOVE vegemite scrolls (is this because he likes delicious cheesy pastry? yes. are vegemite scrolls delicious? also yes)

Crowley: Absolutely not. It's way too salty for him, and because he eats stuff very rarely, he would not choose to eat ThAT

Muriel: is still getting used to the idea of eating food and would straight up just refuse to try it

Maggie: Would try it. Would be polite and finish a sandwich made for it, but it's not something she would choose

Nina: Thinks it's fine but prefers Marmite (she's wrong but she's also british so it's fine)

Jon Sims: would love vegemite, he's that salty. He would also tell no one he loves vegemite and would stash a massive jar of it behind other 'normal' british foods in his cupboard.

Martin Blackwood: Would not like vegemite. He would try it at Jon's insistence and say, 'why on earth would you eat this?' and never eat it again

Gertrude: Likes vegemite but would only eat it when she's in australia. She is the most likely to have actually eaten vegemite out of anyone else on this post.

Gerry Keay: Would hate it. He'd take one bite of it and go 'bleARagh' and then go off and do Gerry Keay stuff

Tim Stoker: Is fairly neutral about vegemite. He would eat it if he was given a sandwich or a vegemite scroll but he would not actively choose to eat vegemite

Sasha James: Would not like vegemite. She tried it once while on a trip and despises it. Would not be at all surprised to learn that Jon likes vegemite

Not!Sasha: Loves vegemite so much it's disgusting.

Helen: Doesn't eat human food

Elias/Jonah: Elias's tastebuds do not like vegemite at all, but that doesn't matter because Jonah tried it once in a previous body and now eats it straight from the jar

Bruce: does not mind vegemite. He has had it a couple of times on various trips/various events and didn't like it but didn't dislike it either

Alfred: refuses to go anywhere near vegemite, as '[it] is an abomination.' Occasionally eats Marmite on toast.

Dick: also does not mind vegemite. Would not volunteer to eat it, but if forced to also wouldn't hate it

Jason: Hates vegemite. Too salty, tastes weird, why would anyone eat it. He only thinks this because he has only eaten it directly off the spoon

Cass: Would not like vegemite at all. Hasn't tried it, and will go out of her way not to try it, ever.

Tim: Likes vegemite. A good vegemite sandwich pairs well with black coffee. The salt and preservatives help keep his body functioning

Steph: Has eaten a vegemite sandwich once and was not impressed. Would probably like vegemite scrolls but doesn't know they exist.

Babs: If you presented her with a vegemite sandwich, she'd look at it and then look at you, and then you would leave.

Duke: Has never tried vegemite. Doesn't know what vegemite is. Probably won't unless one of his siblings decides to use it in a prank.

Damian: Likes vegemite insofar as it is associated with kangaroos and other australian creatures. Has never actually eaten it, and if he did he would hate it.

(there are a lot more batfam members and characters I could do here but the list is so long so I'm sticking to the faves)

Jude Duarte: Has not tried vegemite. Would love vegemite. (It's salty and therefore a very safe food in faerieland.) Someone get this queen some vegemite.

Cardan: Would not like vegemite at all, but understands why Jude does

Oak: Would despise vegemite. Too salty. Too...taste. As a kid he would throw it away, now he would politely but forcefully decline.

Heather: likes vegemite.

Vivi: Was introduced to vegemite through heather and now adores it.

Grima mog: tried it and loves it. Uses it everywhere. Like hot sauce.

Suren: hasn't heard of vegemite. If you showed it to her, she would be displeased. If she ate it, she would banish you from her court.

Taryn: only eats vegemite scrolls, has never tried the actual spread

I will add more by request

[juniperss]

“First Steps First” Jessamine ‘Lark’ Waterson (OC) x Neil ‘Chick’ Harding

A/N: so I’ve really been wanting to write something for Jessamine and Chick for a while but was super anxious and self conscious about it for a couple of reasons. The first being that I don’t write much fanfiction anymore and the second is because I’m not wholly convinced I nail the atmosphere of period shows/movies. But this idea just wouldn’t leave my head so I’m biting the bullet and swallowing my doubts!

This fic takes place in episode 4 during Dye’s celebration party (I can’t get over Harding saying “single fillies”, okay?) and inspired by the song “First Steps First” from the musical Bandstand. The song they dance to is “It’s Been a Long Time” and I don’t care that this version came out in 1945, it’s my favorite LOL

also hey autocorrect pls stop changing Chick to Chuck, thanks

Word count: 1,730 words (😧)

Warnings: none, other than the fact I don’t know how the military works so please ignore inaccuracies🤡😂 this is about the FICTIONAL version of Col. Harding

I saw that you said it was okay to tag you in OC stuff @rosies-riveters, so I hope this is alright and that you enjoy!

“Pardon my brashness, dear

Seeing you standing here

Dancing's more customary

For a soirée."

As much as Jessamine Waterson took pride in her work as a nurse on the Thorpe Abbots base there was no denying the fact that it was grueling, emotionally draining and often went without the accolades that came with other roles in the war. And while most days she was just fine with that, today had been particularly tiresome and Jessamine was glad for the change of pace the evening’s festivities allowed. The anxious energy that had gripped every person on the airbase had been exchanged for easy laughter, jokes, and celebration. After all, it wasn’t every day a pilot and crew successfully flew 25 missions. 

As she sat with Beth and Ginny, an American nurse and mechanic respectively, who had become two of her fastest friends, listening idly to them chat about the dances they’d returned from moments ago, it took much of Jessamine’s will to avoid allowing her gaze to linger for too long on the man who had just entered the room. She had spent months chiding herself for the way her heart started racing at the mere thought of Colonel Harding being so near and despite the effort she put into acting completely normal on the instances their paths crossed, she feared her feelings were all too transparent. 

 It was inconvenient to have a crush during war and even more inconvenient that it was on a man who was not only a good handful of years older than she was, but compounded by the fact that he was an American soldier. An American soldier who was dashingly handsome and confident, who had just looked in her direction and caught her staring. Jessamine busied herself with the drink in front of her trying to ignore the heat burning in her ears.

 “Oh well that was just adorable.” 

Beth’s voice with it’s charming southern accent was usually a source of soothing reassurance and good advice, was now riddled with mischief and good natured humor now that the two women’s attention was focused on their friend. “You know there’s no shame in a little flirting, a little conversation. Why don’t you go ask him to dance?”

Ginny nodded in agreement, leaning across the table, “It’s not like you’ve never spoken to him before,” before turning conspiratorially to Beth, “remember how she gave him pain medication for his headache that one time.” 

Jessamine’s hands came up to cover her face, the full weight of her body resting on her elbows as she suppressed a groan and a laugh. Of course the two of them remembered the  first time she had met the Colonel; a simple exchange of names and him asking for something for a headache. Jessamine, partly sleep deprived and partly fighting off the butterflies in her stomach fumbling with the bottle before spilling a handful of pills across the floor of the nurses station.

It certainly wasn’t necessarily the most romantic or charming first meeting on her part, but Col. Harding had only smiled before kneeling and helping her gather the runaways. There had been a quip about how she could’ve just said no that resulted in flustered laughter from her and another grin from him. And her friends hadn’t let her live it down since she confided about it to them the following day over breakfast. 

“I’m surprised he said anything to me after that.” Jessamine admitted and revealed her face to her friends. Though there had been more interactions with the Colonel after that, they remained confined to mostly professional settings save for a few pleasantries while off duty. “And to answer your question, Beth, I’m certainly not going to bother him and ask for a dance!” 

Ginny rolled her brown eyes and tossed her head back in a sign of exasperation, looking up to the ceiling pantomiming someone experiencing a great tragedy which in turn caused another round of laughter at the table. “Well, if he asked you to dance, would you say yes?” Beth finally asked.  This time all the hints of teasing had left her friend’s tone and there was nothing but curiosity and sincerity. 

Jessamine nodded slowly, allowing the fantasy to tease at the corner of her mind just for a moment but unable to answer because just as she parted her lips to reply another voice cut in. 

“Excuse me, ladies.” Colonel Harding’s voice sent a rush of heat through Jessamine’s body and she felt her posture straighten. She pried her eyes off of Beth to glance up, up, up at the tall soldier now standing beside their table and found that, despite him addressing them all, he was looking determinedly at her alone. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but I was wondering if I could steal Miss Waterson for a dance.”

“You’re not interrupting at all, sir.” Ginny chimed in, eyes flitting from the Colonel to Jessamine, “In fact, we were just talking about how much Jessamine was wanting to dance.”

Oh, that Ginny was going to get stern talking to later, Jessamine promised herself, but at that moment she was already standing. Hardings’ hand reached out and enveloped hers as he guided her to the dance floor. 

"Isn't the band sublime?

And as it happens I'm

Just in the mood to do

A two-step, Do step

Out on the floor with me.”

The two of them found a place surrounded by three or four other couples just as the band changed from the upbeat, two step to a slower tune that made Jessamine’s heart pitter faster. If Harding felt any nervousness at the now much more intimate situation the change of song put the two of them in, he didn’t show it. Instead he wrapped an arm around her waist with the ease and confidence of a man who knew what he was doing. Her breath hitching just slightly before she felt him placing the flat of his hand lightly, respectfully against her back. 

Every nerve was firing at once, each hair on her arms standing on end, she was sure of it as her mind raced. She was trying to remember just how one slow danced fighting through the nervousness, when she felt the firmness of her foot under her own. 

“I’m so sorry, colonel.” The apology came out high pitched and squeaky and with the attempt to pull away from the man in front of her. But Harding kept his gentle grip and shook his head.

 “It’s not the first time someone’s stomped on my foot. At least this time it wasn’t on purpose. And Neil is fine, or Chick if you think Neil is too familiar.” 

There he goes again, Jessamine thought, being so effortlessly charming and saving me from my own awkwardness. Sometime in the desperate squeak of an apology she had been repositioned to properly be dancing. One soft hand held in his much larger one, the other placed on his shoulder, and her face precariously close to his as she found herself peering up at him. The rhythm was easy to find with Neil leading and the familiar trumpet crooning at the stage and Jessamine had to fight to keep her eyes from closing. 

“Might you be charmingly coerced

No need to be so shy

Take reassurance, I

Know how to guide you through

The worst steps, first steps first

 “It’s not too late to admit you picked the wrong dancing partner.” Jessamine finally found her voice and the confidence to add just a bit of a teasing tone to it, a smile itching at the corner of her lips. Her cheek had come to rest just slightly against his shoulder as they swayed to the music and as a result her voice was slightly muffled by the material of his dress shirt.

 “You’re selling yourself short. It’s been at least a minute since we’ve had another incident. You’re a natural.” Each time he spoke she could feel the rumbling of his chest against hers and her head felt dizzy with the warmth and solidity of him. 

“And I’m certainly not going to say that after I finally got up the guts to come ask you for a dance in the first place.” Neil’s confession took Jessamine by surprise and she pulled back to look him in the eyes searching for any signs of jest but only finding an intensity that sent her stomach exploding into a storm of butterflies. 

“You...you had to work up the courage to ask me?” The image of Colonel Neil Harding having to work up the nerve to ask anything of Jessamine was too comical to be taken seriously but there was no denying the truth behind his statement. “You’re a beautiful woman, Jessamine. And smart and successful. Hell, you’d have every reason to reject a dance from an old colonel like me.” 

This was almost too much for Jessamine to take and she struggled to wrap her mind around his confession. All she could do was blink dazedly up at him as her cheeks flushed bright red. A smile broke out across Neil’s face and he laughed, arm tightening around her waist for a moment. “I hope that wasn’t too out of line and that I haven’t just read this entire interaction incorrectly. But your friends made it pretty clear to me earlier that you felt the same about me.” 

Oh…oh…oh it was all coming together now.

Jessamine couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled up from her chest and she leaned forward to rest her forehead against his shoulder. His own rumbling laugh was mixing with hers and soon Jessamine had relaxed with the words of his confession replaying in her mind. The song faded and another slow ballad picked began, nothing but their breathing and the shuffling of shoes on the floor mixing with the music to fill the space between them.  “So,” Neil murmured, dragging Jessamine’s attention to his face once again, “you do feel the same?” 

This time, Jessamine didn’t shy away from the intense and earnest way he was looking at her. Instead she lifted herself up on the tip of her toes just enough to bring her lips to his cheek. 

 She would have words with Ginny and Beth about this. But later…after another dance. 

Yes, after another dance with Neil.

[sunsetcougar]

hi. I just wanted to say that I love your AUs so much, like they’re so fucking cool it’s insane.

And i absolutely adore the way you represent exorcists, like nah, actually giving them justice. Making me giggle and twirling my hair when I read another one of your posts with soul crushing angst and pain

Thank you!! The exorcists fascinate me, and there’s only a couple of theories about their origins where they are not in some way victims themselves, which opens up a lot of story possibilities, ones I love exploring.

One of the most popular theories is that they’re Heavenborn, made for their role. If that’s true, I doubt they could just say they didn’t want to do it, based on what Lute did to Vaggie. So they’re trapped, even if they hate the blood on their hands.

Another theory says that maybe they’re kind of in between souls, ones who weren’t quite good enough for Heaven but not quite bad enough for Hell. Wouldn’t they then feel they owe a debt to Heaven for allowing them in? Again, they’re trapped in some way.

If they’re winners who died violently and are now seeking vengeance, they were victims in life. They’re not trapped in this one, but their actions are understandable. Very few people wouldn’t leap at the opportunity to get revenge on those who hurt them.

There’s just, so many possibilities and in most of them the exorcists are victims in some way. Obviously genocide is bad, I’m not saying it’s not, but this is fiction and there’s the possibility for these murderous angels to be so much deeper than the surface level we see.

[oristian]

Hey cutie, how are you, love your posts, would you share how you came to ship gwynriel/elucien? and your initial thoughts when you read about them?

Thank you so much, I love this! Time to absolutely gush about Elucien with an added bonus of Gwynriel. Let me take you on my reading journey for ACOTAR, because I love learning about where everyone began and where they are now!

I read the books for the first time in January. I had seen so many spoilers for months before I caved and bought the first book—my goal was to read it and tear it to filth because I was prepared for it to be mediocre and boring, and I had heard that it was full of smut. I was about to be its biggest critic just out of spite for Booktok ….. And here we are, now.

I actually went into the books shipping Feysand and Elriel based on everything that I saw on Tik Tok; I am a sucker for pretty artwork, and some of the videos I saw for Elriel seemed pretty interesting. I had not yet seen any other characters at that point. When I started reading the books, I read just for fun and really fell in love with Lucien and Nesta and that is where my focus fell—at that point, I was not thinking much on ships, but I knew that I currently was not a fan of Feylin and I already knew that Feyre was going to end up with Rhys.

When I got to ACOMAF and I saw that Elain and Lucien were mates, any thought that I had about Elriel literally died on the spot—everything made sense to me. I was already taken by Nessian, but seeing Elucien literally grounded me in place because of how much foreshadowing and symbolism they had as a couple. I immediately bought ACOWAR as I was still reading the ending and read it right after finishing. I was skipping full sections of the book just looking for scenes between Elain and Lucien, as that was all I cared about (I did eventually go back and reread it in full, for anyone wondering). No other fictional couple—besides Dramione and Chuck and Blair—has had me quite like they do.

I have said this so many times, but Elain and Lucien have the most insane amount of potential and compatibility out of any of SJM’s current couples. Everything about them is so complimentary and their book is about to end me. I could honestly talk about them all day if I had the time, but one day I plan on writing comparisons and symbolisms between them from each book in a comprehensive study—possibly when SJM announces the next book I will be more eager to do so.

As for Gwynriel, I knew from the second they met that they would be endgame. I have always been someone who is very in tune with the direction of a story, and I really adored Azriel and wanted the best possible love interest for him—originally, I thought that he would meet that person in his own book (or even Eris 🙈), until Gwyn came along. Most definitely my focus was on Nesta and Nessian in ACOSF, but I knew that Azriel had been included in this arc for a reason. Cassian easily could have been the only trainer, but including Azriel, as well? Something is being built up.

All of the little moments between Azriel and Gwyn were so pointed and written in such a way to draw in the reader’s attention. My original thought was that Azriel and Gwyn would get together by the end of the book, only because, at the time, I was not aware that there were more books being written after ACOSF. So, my thought was that Elucien and Gwynriel would happen in the background of ACOSF—I was disappointed if that was the case, of course. It was not until I joined the fandom in April that I learned that there were more books coming.

It was not until May that I learned about Azriel’s bonus chapter—and bonus chapters, in general. That chapter only solidified what I knew in that Azriel and Gwyn were endgame, but this time with the added bonus of them being foreshadowed as mates. The rest is history!

Sorry for the long winded answer, as you can see I am very passionate about my interests.

[dean-winchester-is-a-warrior]

Show Me What You're Hiding

Summary: Y/N gets a glimpse of Dean, and is desperate to see even more.

Warnings/Explicit 18+: Smut. Nothing too crazy. Nakedness, lustful thoughts, Dean objectification, and a smidge of dirty talk (from the reader.) Adorable!Dean being adorable, while simultaneously being the hottest fucker around. You know, that thing he's really good at.

Pairings: Dean Winchester x Y/N

Word Count: 685

A/N: Just a smutty little drabble brought on by @myloversgone and this hot af pic she sent me. It's obviously Jensen in the picture and not Dean, but after reblogging this post, and having these discussions with @eevvvaa, I've had this idea floating in my head, and combined with that picture, it just made this story happen in my brain. 😁 Hope you enjoy! 😊

Then earlier today, the beautiful @myloversgone sent me the INCREDIBLE pic above and this story pretty much materialized in my brain instantly. It turned out to be a bit more smut based than fluff based, but there's definitely fluff at the end. Hope you all enjoy it! 😊

A/N 2: As always, this is a different version of Jensen from within the Multiverse who is single. Absolute and complete fiction, of course.

The beautiful divider below and at the bottom was created by @talesmaniac89

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You're trying desperately not to stare, but you simply can't help following the path taken by the drops of water that fall down from Dean's soaking wet hair and over his wide, thick shoulders. The droplets continue on over his bare chest, skirting around his nipples and then over his flat stomach. A couple of them spill into the groove of muscle that ripples down from his hips on both sides, creating a perfect V shape that leads to a patch of reddish blonde hair. 

And just below that hair, you catch a glimpse of what is being obscured by the giant hand that Dean has placed in front of his most intimate body parts. You can't stop the loud gasp that escapes you when you realize that you can still see a glimpse of him because his one big hand isn't quite enough to cover all of him. 

When he realizes that, he drops the toiletry bag he was carrying in his left hand, and it lands on top of the towel that had fallen from his hips as you'd bumped into him coming out of the shower room, just as you were heading in. With his other hand now empty, he uses them both to sort of cup everything and hide himself away. 

"Ah…shit, f-f-fuck, Y/N." Dean splutters. "I'm so sorry. I didn't, uh…didn't see you there."

The heat you can see crawling up his neck, and turning the tips of his ears pink is so unbelievably adorable. Given his Casanova reputation, you would have expected some smooth flirtation from him in a moment like this, or a few dirty-minded suggestions. But no, he's flushed and stuttering, and ridiculously adorable in his awkwardness. 

All the dirty thoughts are definitely coming from your direction. 

Given his massive strength, so blatantly on display right in front of you, and the obvious, god-given endowments he'd been blessed with (that are now hidden behind his two massive hands) his little blush is so out of place and unexpected that it makes you desperate to kiss him. Hard. 

You take a step closer to him and he swallows convulsively, his eyes wide. He bites into his bottom lip and you groan and place your hands on his bare chest. His freckled skin is cool and pebbled with goosebumps, whether from the cold air or your touch, you aren't sure. But you can feel his heart hammering beneath your palm and you know you need to check with him before you go any further.

"It's okay, Dean. I was the clumsy one, I should have paid closer attention." Your voice is rough with want and you lick your lips. Dean's eyes drop to your mouth and his breath becomes a bit ragged. You can see that the embarrassment and trepidation in his gorgeous, mossy green eyes are starting to be replaced with a kind of simmering heat.

You feel your core muscles clench around nothing and an ache begins to pulse in your pussy. You look up at him and decide to just go for it, praying for a yes.

"I wanna kiss you, Dean. No, I wanna do more than kiss you. I wanna lick you, I wanna taste you, bite you. I wanna ride you, fuck you."

Dean's eyes are round with shock once again, but you can see the desire still pooling there in the deep black of his expanding pupils.

"Do you wanna fuck me, Dean?"

Dean takes a second to breathe deeply through his nose, but then clears his throat and answers. 

"From the second I laid eyes on you, sweetheart."

His voice is deep and dark, and filled with overwhelming lust. You can see the shock beginning to leave him, and a smirk starts to form that tells you you're in for a long, wild night. 

Determined to stay on even footing with the sexy bastard, you grab his thick wrists, and yank his hands away from where they're shielding himself. You hear his breath hitch and you smile up at him coyly.

"Then show me what you're hiding there, big boy."

Tags under the cut:

1 - Jensen RPF + Any/All characters Jensen plays. @lyarr24 @deans-spinster-witch @impalaslytherin @maggiegirl17 @akshi8278 @candy-coated-misery0731 @nt-multi-fandom @deanswaywardgirl @slytherinlyn314 @globetrotter28 @jensensgirl @perpetualabsurdity @tristanrosspada-ackles @djs8891 @muhahaha303 @kayyay1219 @emily-winchester @recoveringpastaaddict @maximumkillshot @mimaria420 @sacriceria @envyaurora95 @lacilou @jc-winchester

2 - Dean Winchester Fics Only. @saikosheadcanons @lgranger67 @carryonwaywardgirl

3 - Any/All Fics (regardless of fandom/character.) @sunshineandwings86 @kazsrm67 @sexyvixen7 @alexxavicry @nancymcl @spalady26

4 - Everything (includes fan vid/DOOL edits as well) @unabashed-lover-of-fictional-men @awkward-and-indecisive @maliburenee @supernatural4life2022 @spn730015 @b3autyfuldisast3r @kickingitwithkirk @waywardbaby @foxyjwls007 @deanwanddamons @deandreamernp @deanwithscissors @myloversgone @snowlovespie @leigh70 @all-alone-he-turns-to-stone @charred-angelwings @hopefuldreamers-world @mysherlock221b @jensensgotyoudean @stixnstripesworld @thoughts-and-funnies @magssteenkamp @norman1967 @princessmisery666 @eevvvaa @mishkatelwarriorgoddess @deepsketchsupernaturalcowboy @b-i-t-c-h-i-e @twirpbunwarrior @mysweetlittledesire @waynes-multiverse @mrsjenniferwinchester @bernasaurus @jensenslady79 @courtn92 @avanatural @ellie-andthemachine @this-is-me19 @roseblue373 @katbratsupernaturalwhore @fanfic-n-tabulous

[balladedutempsjadis]

Ponniyin Selvan (The Book vs. Movie edition)

I've just today finished the five volumes of Kalki Krishnamurthy's epic historical novel Ponniyin Selvan, which was the basis for the two-movie series of the same name which I ADORED after I watched the first movie for the first time a couple of weeks ago. And ... I have some thoughts on the books and on the adaptation of the books. First of all, some general thoughts about the books:

I really wish I could read this in the original Tamil. In my understanding, these books are a beloved modern classic of Tamil literature, and the English translation, though perfectly fine and serviceable in terms of explicating the plot, rarely has memorable language.

Perhaps this is a function of the translation, or a different literary tradition, or the author's style (and I'll never really know which), but there is a lot of stuff that I can best describe as static. Actions and events are often described after they occur so as a reader, I felt distanced from what was going on in several scenes.

There are a LOT of coincidences (the entire Sembian Amuthan plotline is heavily based on coincidences) and repetition.

Even if I didn't know this was serialized, I would have guessed because of the repetition mentioned above, frequent flashbacks, and the padding out of some of the scenes. This isn't necessarily a bad thing (it reminds me of Dickens' novels, which I happen to be quite fond of) but it's definitely a hallmark of the novels.

I felt sometimes that Kalki was having a bit of a struggle with the historical characters having to do what they did in history versus his fictional characters like Nandini being able to do what they wanted. So sometimes I felt the characterizations were a bit lacking (and I definitely skipped some of Sembian Mahadevi's musings, SORRY!)

Now for the differences between the books and film versions (SPOILERS FOR THE BOOKS AND BOTH FILMS BELOW).

In general, with one exception I'll talk about later, I think the scriptwriters did an amazing job of adapting this immense series to film. In fact, for a number of things, I think they improved the pacing of the narrative and cut out extraneous stuff that detracted from the momentum of the main story - these were things that may have worked in a serialized novel but would have drowned even a gigantic six hour film series. All that follows is just my opinion, of course!

First of all, a fair number of characters were just cut out of the story, which I thought tightened up the narrative. (For example, Manimeghalai was completely unnecessary IMO for the story to proceed and she really detracted from the scene between Aditha Karikalan and Nandini when Karikalan dies; the intensity of that scene would have suffered from having anyone else observe it.) Poonghuzhali's brother and father (her sister-in-law Rakkamal is still there but not related) are gone in the film version. And that's all fine, I think it would have made things more confusing and I don't even think a tv series would have been able to use ALL these characters. (Also, I think I like that Poonghzhali seems more stable in the movie.)

I also liked that they cut out the astrologer. I thought the book relied way too heavily on the astrologer's predictions and while that may have been an accurate portrayal of 10th century Chola society, it also removed the jeopardy from the characters. If Arulmozhi Varman's sister would be confident that nothing terrible could happen to him because of the lines on his palm, then it was really hard to generate suspense about him within the story. (I mean obviously as readers/moviegoers we might know that he became Rajaraja Chola and therefore survived the assassination attempts, but his contemporaries and the fictional characters in-universe didn't know that he would end up being a great king.)

For me, it was more powerful to see how much the kingdom mourned him and his family mourned him than to have his sister shrug and be like "oh well, the stars don't say he dies so he's probably alive." And the way that they mourned him also helped develop their characters (To be fair, I also can't figure out what Kalki believed re:astrology either, because occasionally the author's voice is very skeptical about the astrologer as well.)

More controversially, I think they were right to cut out the whole Senthan Amuthan storyline about being the real son of Sembian Mahadevi and the previous king etc. etc. The hidden identity heir business was just way too melodramatic for me even in the book, and I don't think it would have worked at all for me in the movies. I mean, SA doesn't really even have much characterization in the book anyway (he's there a lot and helps out when he can but other than the fact that he loves Poonguzhali and has a nice voice, I couldn't tell you much about him.) Plus that would necessitate that Fake!Madhurantaka be Nandini's twin etc. and that would also have not been believable.

Now ... onto the main characters books vs. movie:

Aditha Karikalan: I honestly liked him much more in the movies than in the books. He was the tragic hero of the movie, with a clear arc, and Vikram brought oodles of charisma to his role. But in the books, he was a lot more opaque to me (his love for Nandini is not his focus - so he maybe falls in love with Manimegalai? - and that moment where he chooses to die isn't as crystal clear.) Also, Book!Aditha is a bit of an asshole towards all of his friends, frankly, which movie Aditha is not.

His chief faults in the movie are that he's ruled by his emotions (which is both why he sins against Nandini by beheading an unarmed man - Veera Pandyan - in a fit of rage that Nandini is pleading for his life AND why he tries to atone for that sin by committing suicide, which of course doesn't actually solve anything and in fact embroils innocent people like Vandiyathevan in a horrible situation).I still think he wouldn't have made a good king, not least because he would not listen to ANYONE'S advice, whether that someone was his grandfather, his friend, or his brother or his sister.

Book!Aditha might have made a better King - he actually goes to Kadambur not just to see Nandini, but partly in order to find out and allay the different Chola clans and possibly cement one of their loyalties by marriage to MM, so I thought that made for an interesting contrast. Even in the books, though, Kalki compares how the people mourned Aditha (as a great warrior whose absence threatened their kingdom's survival) and how they mourned Arulmozhi when he was believed to be dead (as a beloved son/brother even if they didn't know him personally.) The book (and movie though to a lesser degree because it's so preoccupied with Nandini/Aditha) has a lot to say about power and responsibility (so there are constant contrasts between not just Aditha and Arulmozhi but between the Pazhuvettarayar brothers and Arulmozhi - for example, over whether the Chola kingdom should supply the army in Elangai or whether they should live off the land. AMV is much more farsighted and knows how important it is to not make a conquered populace feel subjugated because they will rebel.)

Nandini: I feel like she was a lot more fleshed out in the film than Book!Nandini, and as she and Aditha were the emotional focal point of the movies, it makes more sense. Her motivations seemed clearer to me, and I also appreciated that we actually found out what happened to her, and she didn't just disappear off the page. I also liked, as mentioned above, that they didn't bother with the False!Madhuranthakan who was actually Nandini's twin etc. I liked that they fleshed out the love story between her and Aditha and gave Kundavai a role and also showed how it was Aditha's impulsive declaration that she would be THE Chola Queen that directly led to Nandini - who had done nothing wrong - being unceremoniously bundled off to wherever. (Would I also have liked a little more of how Aditha reacted to his family's banishment of Nandini? I think I would. Like we got a little bit of that in PS1 when he blames Kundavai for being jealous but not much more than that?)

Kundavai was very awesome in both book and film, but she had a lot less to do in the second movie. As I mentioned above, I loved that she actually believed her beloved younger brother to be dead so we got to see her reaction compared to Aditha's. (Aditha basically goes into beast mode and is like “I can fight whoever to avenge my little brother” and Kundavai is, as usual, a lot more rational even in the depths of grief.) I also really liked that brief scene the film gave us with all three siblings together which was a nice addition to the story. I felt there were not very many differences between Book! and Movie!Kundavai - although the book definitely played up her influence over her younger brother a bit more. She is the mirror to Nandini and maybe Nandini would have been like Kundavai if she had not had such struggles in her early life? I do like that in both books and movie, the female characters are so strong (I mean, well-characterized) and different from one another.

Vandiyadevan is just a great character! His resemblance to D'Artagnan was even stronger in the books (he had time for even more adventures) and his verbal sparring with Nambi was great and nicely translated to screen, I thought. I did think his presence in Kadambur and his (partial) witnessing of Aditha's death and aftermath was handled with more pace and worked better for me in the film (again, no Manimegalai was a great decision. And the picnic that Nandini goes on with Aditha and Vandiyadevan and MM and others (I think?) It was late at night when I was reading and I was like WTF so I might be misremembering it) dilutes the Aditha/Nandini meeting a lot. Anyway, back to Vandiyadevan - still sooooo charming. I loved Karthi in this role and am going to watch Kaatru Velliyadai (although I understand he's very different in that one!) sometime this week. But I found Book!Vandiyadevan lovely as well. I think his character translated perfectly from book to screen.

Arulmozhi Varman - I thought the books would focus more on him than they did, given that he's the title character. And I was a little surprised that he still wasn't the main focus of the books (though there's more focus on him in the later volumes), but there were some nice little character moments that I wish could have come into the movie. (Though there were a couple of things in the movie that I also really liked which showed his character beautifully.)

I read Kalki's afterword about how the pivotal scene in all of the books is Arulmozhi Varman's sacrifice of his crown, because that is an amazing thing for any ruler to do, to voluntarily give up his own power and step back. The books talk about the Chola ancestor Sibi, who was willing to give up his own life to protect a pigeon from an eagle because the pigeon was under his protection. I believe we are meant to understand Arulmozhi's sacrifice in a similar light. He is all about protecting the realm, even if it means sacrificing his own ambitions and that makes him Sibi's worthy heir. (In the Mahabharata, Arjuna is the peerless warrior prince, but his brother Yudhishtira is the Dharmaraja - the best of all; and I think we are meant to see echoes of Arjuna (and his son Abhimanyu, alone in the midst of his enemies) in Aditha and echoes of Yudhishtira in Arulmozhi.)

The books and the movie handle this immense sacrifice a little differently; in the book, we get a lot more motivation for that action: AMV is steeped in the history of the Singhalese kingdom and horrified by how bloody their succession battles were (he references fathers killing sons and vice versa more than once) and he is super clear that he doesn't want to bring that mess to the Chola kingdom or cause a civil war or anything like that. But there are two more elements as well, that I mostly got from the book: he truly loves Vanathi and she has sworn an oath that she doesn't want to be empress, so he can't have both Vanathi and the throne (but it's also a political decision, since if he's King, and marries Vanathi, then he'll be seen as privileging her clan above all others unless he marries a bunch of other girls as well). I also genuinely think he also wants to go hang out with Vandiyadevan and have adventures (while also doing the necessary jobs of fighting pirates and expanding trade and all that other stuff.)

The movies don't make that explanation as explicit, but there is this golden thread of self-sacrifice that runs through Arulmozhi's scenes in the movies as well: first of all, he refuses to take the throne of Elangai, though it is offered to him by the monks who crowned all the kings of the island. (This happens in both the books and the movie, but the books make this a more political decision - AMV says Elangai is too small for the scope of his vision, and that he doesn't want it to look like he's setting up a parallel second kingdom to the Cholas in opposition to his brother - whereas in the movies, it is clearly a matter of dharma. And the movie really sells that.)

Then Arulmozhi jumps into a stormy sea to swim to a ship full of people who want to kill him, in order to save Vandiyadevan. (I mean also some breathtaking confidence in himself that he and Vandiyadevan by themselves can defeat the Pandya rebels. He definitely does not lack for confidence :)) I cannot believe I actually forgot about this and had to come back and edit this post.I guess I am too used for Arulmozhi being awesome for this even to register on the scale?

The third self-sacrifice is when Arulmozhi is recovering from his life-threatening fever amidst the Buddhist monks at Nagapattinam. In the movie, somehow the Pandya assassins find out he's there and rile up the crowd which threatens to destroy the monastery which they claim is hiding their beloved prince from them. Although AMV is encouraged to slip away to escape the Pandya assassins, he refuses to repay his hosts by allowing their monastery to be destroyed. So he goes out to face the crowd, despite knowing that he's putting his life in danger by doing this. In the movie, he makes a choice to reveal himself and once again we see that Arulmozhi will always privilege the good of the people under his protection (the people of Elangai, Vandiyadevan, the monks, and ultimately the whole populace of the Chola Kingdom) over his own desires, and even his own life if need be. Over and over again, he shows himself to be the true heir of Sibi. (I also thought the elephant-goad plot was REALLY well done in the movie; even knowing obviously that AMV survived this, I was SO tense during that entire sequence. The book version just wasn’t as tense. Anyway …) So in the movie we keep seeing WHY Arulmozhi will be the great king he becomes but also why he will not take the crown at the end - and by not taking it, he makes himself all the more worthy of it.

In the book, in contrast, he leaves the monastery because there's about to be a devastating cyclone and it's not safe there any more. His disguise is revealed against his will by Rakammal hailing him as the prince; he's not given any choice in the matter. And he has very good and valid reasons for not wanting to reveal who he is which are also an excellent lead-up to his giving up the throne. Book!Arulmozhi wants to avoid a civil war over the succession at all possible costs. And he knows the public is fickle and easily swayed (there’s a whole subplot about there are rumors that HE had Vandiyadevan kill Aditha Karikalan so he - AMV - could be crowned, which only one character says in the film and everyone ELSE is like “Arulmozhi would NEVER!” But in the books more people seem like they are could be swayed by that thought - and giving up the throne to his father’s cousin is one spectacular way to give the lie to those rumors. And here’s also me, getting so angry on behalf of a fictional /historical character ;))

I think the movie version and the book version of this event both work really well for their respective media in terms of establishing who this man is, and what his character is, which lead up to his ultimate sacrifice.

The last sacrifice is, of course, that he give up the kingdom that *everyone* wants him to have. I think in both the books and the films, it's clear that the weird succession situation from his great-uncle Gandaraditha's day (where the throne when to the younger brothers of the king, and then to Sundara Chola - AMV's father - Gandarathia's nephew - rather than to Gandaraditha's own son) was bound to create a locus for discontent and coups egged on by the enemies of the Chola Kingdom. And that internecine strife is, from Kundavai's and AMV's perspective, what killed their brother and even put AMV in line to the throne at all. (They don't know all the backstory about Nandini and Aditha's guilt and his essential suicide. Also, I think it’s an interesting contrast between Aditha Karikalan who offers to give up the throne - once to the council of plotters where he says he’d do it if he had an army to go get himself another kingdom, and once when he proposes to Nandini that they just run off together. Arulmozhi had his chance at a kingdom won by force of arms - Elangai - and said no, and when he gives up the throne at the end of the books/movies it’s for love of the country he was expected to rule, not for love of an individual.)

The one thing I wish the movies had done was flesh out the Kundavai/Vandiyadevan and Vanathi/Arulmozhi connections. The actors did a lovely job with what they were given just from facial expressions and eyes (Vandiyadevan looks hopeless in love in the course of a single conversation when he's dressed as Krishna's uncle) and I bought into Vanathi and Arulmozhi's love for each other with nothing more than him reading her message in PS1 and a couple of times they looked at each other (so much love for Jayam Ravi and Shobita Dhulipala's facial expressions which sold the connection), but IT WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE FOR BOTH THESE COUPLES TO HAVE A CONVERSATION! But I realize I've seen a couple of Mani Ratnam's Hindi films (Dil Se, and Raavan - though I really want to watch the Tamil version of that) and he does doomed romance very adroitly. (Although from reading the plots of his several other films, apparently he also does do happy endings sometimes and I sort of wish we could have shifted the focus from Nandini/Aditha A LITTLE BIT to maybe just get a tiny conversation between these two other couples the I also loved. But at least I got some crumbs in terms of the full videos of the songs of "Veera Raja Veera" (for AMV/Vanathi) and "Aga Naga" (for Kundavai/Vandiyadevan. (FYI, the Veera Raja Veera video song is super hot - Rajaraja Chola is looking at his beloved while she dances as though she is an extremely tasty snack he can't wait to sample :P)

ALSO, if anyone wants to make PS3 with these actors I WOULD LOVE YOU FOREVER. In my head, it would be about Vandiyadevan doing wild stuff and flirting with EVERYBODY while Arunmozhi Varman sort of sighs and goes along with him to try and exercise some control over him* because Kundavai will kill him if anything happens to her boo, and they keep getting embroiled in weirder stuff and getting hit on the head (Vandiyadevan) and chilling out looking at Buddhist cave art and talking to elephants (AMV) and Kundavai just sits back and continues to run the kingdom (because she knows that AMV will not let anything happen to her boo). And of course, Nambi would be keeping an eye on both of them as well. Meanwhile, Vanathi is doing lots of dancing and going on some of the art tours with her husband, and also hanging out with Kundavai and rolling their eyes over their husbands. That would be totally fine!

*one of the things I loved in the books was that Vandiyadevan is influenced by Arulmozhi to be more truthful and upstanding, while Arulmozhi gets more devious after he meets Vandiyadevan. I feel this dynamic (along with the real-life bromance of Karthi and Jayam Ravi - every interview I've seen with them is the two of them having a great time!) would be AWESOME.

OK, this is insanely LONG again but I really enjoyed the novels and the movies - each medium enhanced the other for me, and in my head, the version of Ponniyin Selvan is what takes the parts I liked the best in movies and film. So Movie!Aditha and Movie!Nandini, BOTH the Vandiyadevans, Kundavais, Arulmozhi Varmans and Vanathis live in my heart :D

And I've also acquired Anirudh Kanisetti's Lords of the Deccan (which is more about the Cholas' predecessors and opponents like the Rashtrakutas and the Chalukyas) and Kamini Dandapani's Rajaraja Chola, which is about Ponniyin Selvan (but also about his predecessors and successors.)

[legacyshenanigans]

What’ve been your favorite parts about creating Marvolo and Rowan? I’d love to hear your thoughts on how you decide on what direction to take their characters/how you decide their traits/etc 🖤

I absolutely adore them both and it’s super clear how much time and effort you’ve put into developing them. Like they both feel like they should absolutely be canon??? I’m curious about your process!

When I first ever mentioned them, I wouldn't have thought they'd grow to be such a huge part of my blog, Rowan was a pretty much a "place holder"  random character in a fic I did. And I started doing Marvolo stuff to give my HC for Ominis more depth and story line.

A lot has changed since the beginning of all that, and it's been really cool and nice to develop them here on my blog in real time and share it with the cult 😊💚

Naturally with them developing into romantic interests (for my brain 🤣🫦) I gave them some "likeable/desirable" traits and ways. But both of them have their fair share of "unlikeable and nasty" traits, which was really important to me in developing them, because I didn't just want to make a couple of "Gary Stu's" and I don't THINK I have. Both of them come with baggage and trauma, they're not perfect and never will be, and I really wanted to portray that in the numerous HC's ive done and a chunk of my writing. But having said all that, the "bad side" of things is actually one of the biggest reasons I'm so in love with them.

And of course in my posts I give them a mix, depending on my mood, sometimes I like writing about their softer sides with someone they care about, and other times I like to delve into their more depraved and wicked sides. Amd sometimes I like the silly things or putting them in silly situations.

At the end of the day these two men are fictional characters and can be anything I want or need them to be, but I still do try to stay true to "them" and the traits and their ways that I've given them over my time developing them as characters.

I'll be completely honest, the main person these men appeal to the most, naturally, is me, because I created my own lore for them based on what I like and my tastes. And I've said this before it's an absolute blessing and a huge plus that other folk love and enjoy them as much as I do. 💚😊🤍

Thanks for this question, Noxxy ❤️

And thank you for still being here. 🤍💚

[that-one-enby-ranger]

@iwtd-lmfao YOU BETTER FUCKING READ THIS

The poll is finished and it said to yap about RA, so I'm gonna do that while I should be doing schoolwork, and my friends are looking at men from Criminal Minds.

I first found Ranger's when I was at a library, and I wanted to find a new book to read. I was never really interested in medieval fantasy books, so I don't know why I chose Ranger's, but I did. They didn't even have the first few books there. The closest book they had to the first was the sixth, and I didn't know what reserving books back then was so I just picked up the sixth book and was like, "this is the closest to the first, it'll make more sense to read this one." It did not make sense, since the fifth was a fucking cliffhanger. Either way I got it out, read it and loved it so that turned into the best decision I have ever made. My dad then told me how to reserve books and I got the first one, started the series from the start and also loved it.

Originally Will was my favourite character because Halt was barely in the sixth so I didn't have the chance to experience the magic that is my lovely husband. I think it was a couple more books before Halt really became my favourite, and became the love of my life. Will has now gone quite down the list of favs.

My main favourite characters, in no particular order except for the first three are Halt (obviously), Crowley, Horace, Jenny, Gilan, Will, Rodney and Arald, mainly when they are together though because they are def best friends and you cannot convince me otherwise, Pritchard, and Pauline, mainly only when it comes to Haltine though.

I don't know when I started really liking Halt, but for years, don't know how long, he has been my ultimate favourite fictional character above any other character from any other media. I love him so goddamn fucking much. He started everything. He started my obsession with dilfs. Whenever I find new fav characters from other shows, I always like the characters that are similar to him, or remind me of him, and when describing those characters to people who don't know them I'll always go "he's kinda like Halt." My second fav ultimate fictional character is Izzy from Our Flag Means Death and he is very similar to Halt in my opinion and I love them both. Izzy even got seasick one time even though he's a fucking pirate. I was talking to my friend about watching Criminal Minds and we both agreed the Aaron Hotchner would be my favourite because based on the information we compared, Halt and Aaron are similar.

There is not a single goddamn day that passes where I don't think about RA and Halt.

Moving onto favourite books and then we can get back to my husband. My fav book in the entire series is Halt's Peril, mainly because its an entire book about my baby, and he's dying and suffering, and it's great. I like it when my favs are hurt and suffering as long as they don't die. I also like it when Halt's pissed off because its hot and he's pretty much pissed off throughout the entire book. I also like it when he's being a little sleepy cutie patootie because its adorable to think about, and he's unconscious for a lot of it. Pretty little boy. My second fav book is Kings of Clonmel because once again it's focusing on my pretty boy and we're unlocking trauma so it's amazing. Third one is probably Tournament at Gorlan because it;s CRALT. I don't have any ranking order for the others but some of my other favs are Seige of Macindaw, Ruins of Gorlan, Burning Bridge, Erak's Ransom and Battle at Hackham Heath. There's a bit of a theme with most of these, as in most of them have Halt in them.

Seige of Macindaw will always be special to me because it was the first one I read, and I suprisingly enjoy it for it not having a lot of Halt. I don't really give to shits about Willyss, but I really like them in that book. Plus, I love Keren, he's probably my favourite villain next to Morgie, and he probably had the most brutal death out of any of the villains unless I'm forgetting, and I really like brutal deaths because they're fun to think about. I know Jory Ruhl got set on fire, and that would bloody well hurt, but Keren got acid thrown into his eyes, and then pushed out a fucking window. And before he fell, he was caught on the window bars, which would have probably been sharp and stabby from when the acid was desroying them, and I be the probably dug into his skin, then he fell back and probs landed in a real painful position. I like to imagine that he pretty much fell on his head and it ripped apart kinda like that guy from Hot Fuzz, just not as extreme, or he landed on a weird position on his neck and snapped it really badly and there was lots of blood. I also love Horace in that book and loved Trobar and Malcolm. Another obvious reason why I love that book is because HALT CALLS WILL SON FOR THE FUCKS SAKE.

I would do anything to hear Halt call me something nice. Like darling. I'd do anything to just hear Halt speak, or to see him, or hug him.

I really wanna hear him speak, I bet he would sound sexy. He's got a fucking Irish accent and a deep voice that shits hot.

I don't think I've ever really cried over anything in the books, apart from one time. It wasn't when Will got taken, or Crowley or Alyss died. It was a scene in one of the TRR books where Maddie hugged Halt, and I was sitting in bed reading in the middle of the night and crying because I was really jealous and wanted to hug Halt so bad. I've had fantasies when I've been walking on a bushwalk and imagined coming across him, and I would just run up to him and hug him. I would probs get stabbed, but it would be worth it. I would love to get stabbed by Halt. I want him to yell at me

Sometimes when I'm bored I'll just pick up different books and flip to my favourtie parts and read those parts and get high off of it. I know how to get to my fav parts now. My biggest accomplishment is collecting all the books and all the Brotherband books. Screw any other real life accomplishment that may have some affect on my future, thats what I'm proud of.

There have bee multiple things I have started doing because of RA. Drinking coffee, archery even though I've basically quit because of ✨social anxiety✨ and I don't know why I started this sentence off by saying there was multiple things like it was going to be a long list, those are the only things I can think of right now.

I'm 80% sure I'm aromantic, or at least on the spectrum, and my sister most likely is as well, but we were talking about fictional characters that we would generally marry and date because we would both marry a couple fictional peeps. The conversation wasn't just about what characters we would marry as a joke, because otherwise I would have named all my favs, but we were ACKtually considering them and what we would one hundred percent agree to. It was a very serious conversation. Halt was the first name I said. No questions asked, that is the man I would marry. I WANT HIM SO BADLY HES MY LITTLE CUTIE PIEEEEEEEEEE. He could become a serial killer and kill heaps of people, being a onehundred percent selfish prick, an apath, not care about anyone else and be an arrogant douche bag and I would still be in love with him. I'm in love with Art the Clown and Pennywise for fucks sake they were on my list of people I would generally marry I don't think he would ever be that bad compared to them.

This man could commit war crimes and human attoricities and I would still call him my sweet little boy who deserves love and I could fix him just give me time.

This rant was supposed to be about the whole of Ranger's Apprentice but I ended up mainly yapping abt Halt. I didn't expect any different to be honest, he's my baby. I am very possesive over him my sweet little boy.

Anyway moving away from my cutie patootie (but I'll probably find a way to bring it back to him tbh) imma move on to the books and just say my opinions on them and random ass thoughts.

Ruins of Gorlan: One of my favs. I like origin stories and this is pretty much one. I also like training montages and things where people are just training and doing different things, but I mainly like them in books. and like the mentors if you couldn't tell. That's why I like ruins of Gorlan and The Outcasts because they're both similar in that way. My fav scene from it is probs the scene with Salt Peter because my boy was pissy, and also the scene with Alda, Jerome and Alda beatin' Will because my boy was pissy. I like the scene at the end. With the kalkara and my boys unconscious and hurt. AAAAA it's great.

Burning Bridge: I like the ending of it. Not the complete ending but the part with the last battle, and Morgie. I like Morgie. Did you know my husband is in this book? He's pretty good in it. Those chapters are the best. Especially THOSE four chapters with the sexy defrinistration and brouhaha. Beautiful man. Defend him with my life. The other chapters are alright. I like Gilan. He reminds me of Sodapop from the Outsiders.

Icebound Land: I like this one too. Honestly couldn't give two shits about Will and Evanlyn, or about Will's addiction. I understand that's a serious problem, but I honestly couldn't give two shits. Especially since it only lasted one book and then disappeared for ever and now only exsists in fanfics. I like the Horace and Halt chapters. I think this was the book where I really started to love Horace and he became my sweetheart. He's another character I would generally marry a be happy about it. Halt and Horace's dynamic is one of my favourites because they are just my little sweethearts. I love their weird father-son, uncle-nephew, older brother-younger brother kinda relationship they have going on. And their little arguements are funny. Horace is such a silly little innocent boy I love him.

Oakleaf Bearers: This ones alright. Not my fav, but I like it. Main thing I take from this one is that I love Halt and Erak's dynamic. Again the little sillies. That's probably one of the main things I love about this book. And a couple scenes.

Sorceror of the North: Why do I feel like I spelt this wrong. For a book that doesn't have a lot of my boy in it, I like it. It's funny because the two main characters that are in this one are Alyss and Will and I don't really care about them unless it involves their dynamics with the love of my life. I'm quite biased if you haven't noticed.

Seige of Macindaw: Love this one, part of the reason because its the first one I ever read, and because it's just great in my opinion. Keren is really cool and like I've said, he's my second fav villain. And Horace is in this one too! YAyyyyy! My sweetheart. He makes EVERYTHING better. Already talked about this one and why I like it so Imma move on

Erak's Ransom: I like this one too. Gotta a lot of characters I like in it, even if the chapters with just Will are boring to me. I like the scene where Halt gets beat up. I like seeing him vulnerable and hurt and in pain without actually dying and its cool.

Kings of Clonmel: LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE. My sweet little boy has so much traumaaaaaaaaaaa. It's beautiful. HE'S beautiful. I love the arguement scene between him and Ferris. I love hearing about his past. I don't really care about anything else. Just him. One of my fav scenes is the scene where he a little sleepy boy at the inn. So cute. My boy. My love

Halt's Peril: LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE. My boyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. I don't care if this book was basically just a sick fic and it has no plot relevance what so ever apart from a little trauma, I love it. I like things like that. That part where it said that when Halt was delirious when being unconscious and it said he was saying people's names, and it said that Horace didn't recognise some of them, I headcanon that one of those names was Pritchard's.

Emperor of Nihon-Ja: Honestly don't give two shits about this one. It's kinda boring to me. I love Horace though. The only interesting scenes are the ones with Halt, obviously. I like the scene where he gets super pissed at Cassie and Alyss. Beautiful

Lost Stories: It's alright. Liked it a lot the first couple times I read it, but started liking it a little less. Still good though. I'll let you guess what my fav story might be.

All TRR books: Don't care. I don't like Maddie for absolutely no reason, I don't like that Will is no longer baby, and my boy isn't in them as much. There are some ones I like, but I still don't give two shits about them. When new ones come out I pray that my hubby wubby will be in them, and then be terrified that he's gonna die. No joke, when the most recent one came out, I went to Whitcoulls everyday after school until it was there, and before that I had been stressing through out the entire week. I was so scared when I finally bought it I kinda felt sick. I would have cried so hard if he died, and bought another copy of the book just to burn it. I told my friends that I came to school the next day depressed, they would know why. I want him to be in those books, but I also don't want him to be in them because I'm scared he might die.

I SWEAR TO FUCK IF FLANNY KILLS HIM OUTSIDE OF THE BOOKS.

Halt's immortal I'm calling it now.

Tournament at Gorlan: Love. Love both of tey books, and this ones my fav. My little grumpy young boy. He would have looked so cute. He still does. In my mind anyways. Loved Pritchard as well. He's one of my fav characters even though he was only in half the book before he died but I love reading Halt and Pritchard fics. Imma write one where it turns out he's actually alive and he reunites with his son

Battle at Hackham Heath: The same thing, loved it. I wish Flanny looked more into Pritchard's death though because it happened right at the end of the first one, even though the two books would have had a time gap, still wanted to see it.

I want Flanny to write a third tey book set in between thoses two where it talks abt Pritchard's death more, and has lots of angst and shit, and also maybe has a scene with Thorgan the Smasher, because Halt and Crowley seem very gay right there. They were literally found cuddled up together, unconscious. If that's not gay, I don't know what is.

This rant about RA turned out to be one about Halt. It was mainly Halt, but I already knew it was going to be about him. If you have managed to stick around to the end, thank you for listening to my insanity. I am in love. Imma go flirt with Halt on charcater ai now.