#begging photo arrangment not to break

[helldenizen]

Here's a masterpost for John Doe so he can be a part of @smallartistocbracket

I'm sorry in advance for all my description and text, I'm god awful with writing text and whatever I made up is kinda difficult for me to articulate. If there’s something you don’t get from this description, or have some general questions about John Doe(or my other characters) you’re free to ask!

They are an eldritch being who despite their pretty grim nature, generally is pretty chill. What makes them quite different from other eldritch beings is that they developed a genuine interest in humans. This is also why they have a pretty consistent human body avatar, which they use to interact with people and just hang around in the deep forest of their realm.

His powers are “Delusion” and “Lost”(explanations for those under read more)

Some bullet point facts:

They use any pronouns, but prefer they/him.

They managed to befriend one human, who is a conspiracy theorist and cryptozoology enthusiast(and who is also my other OC: Irwing Pasternak)

Their favorite animals are maggots(and he's generally really like insects, bugs and worms)

Their current avatar body is 188 cm(6’2 ft)

John kinda doesn't understand the way humans communicate with speech properly. So their speech patterns and intonation are all over the place. He doesn’t use intonation on the whole sentence, instead he uses it on every single word. He uses different intonation for every word, and he also makes small pauses between words.  (and that’s apart from them obviously, not understanding some social norms , a.k.a. “things you aren’t supposed to speak with others about”)

Smile is kinda the “default” of his face. It’s also important that no matter the expression he makes, their mouth will always be kinda open.

More info(and art) under the cut:

There’s quite a lot of things I made up about him, but a lot of them are related to other characters and aren't polished enough, so I will write some essentials.

What’s his “Delusion” power?

John Doe is one of four “eternal lies” siblings, and his birth name is Delusion. Though the name doesn’t represent what they are as a whole. John “Delusion” Doe represents the way consciousness affects and interacts with itself. Reflection, Imagination, and everything physiological(and psychiatric) is in his prerogatory, no matter how exactly it affects someone. You can say they kinda “keep” all those things in reality.

What’s their “Lost” power?

But there is more. First, a little background. You see, in my made up universe eldritch beings either spawn into existence themselfs or they are created by another one. If an eldritch being decides to create another one it is expected to do so alone. And that's how it went until John Doe, they were created by two pretty different beings. That’s why he’s responsible for two quite different powers.

“Lost” power makes things, well, get lost. But it’s not just power, it’s kinda the way he “feeds”, and is similar to what is breathing for humans — they are constantly “doing” it, can control the rate and some other factors to an extent, but most importantly, they can’t just stop it.

What can get “Lost”? Everything: humans, animals, plants, different inanimate objects, even information. 

But very basically, getting “Lost”, is being sent to John’s realm, and the consequences of being there. You see, the more you’re in this realm the more information about you is being erased from existence. So even if you get out of there(which is possible), you can find out that your friends and family don’t remember and even legal documents regarding you. If you spend enough time in the realm you will start losing memories yourself, and the end result of this is that you stop existing altogether. Though it’s highly unlikely that you will survive long enough to enter that stage, because this “Lost” realm is pretty dangerous.

On how his avatar body is made

Oh…um…buckle up with this one. And I think this one can be kinda distressing (yea this one, not the whole “Lost” realm stuff). 

You see John can't just create a body for themself out of nothing, he must use something for it. And the thing is, he can only use something that is lost in his realm. If he wants to look human… well… while it is technically doesn't matter if someone/something is alive for him to "use their matter" John really doesn't like the idea of actively killing someone, so he just waits for them to die… and he uses human corpses… and, like, he can just overtake it or "stitch" body from several corpses, but he learnt how to deform body matter that he “owns” to some extent… their avatar body is like, a corpse amalgamation. 

So, basically, what I'm saying, is that his body tone appears purplish, for a reason.

John also struggles with keeping eyes solid because of this, so they don’t actually recreate human eyes with their form. Instead he either makes you see(makes you hallucinate, basically) purple and yellow irises in place of eyes or just normal eyes(that depends on the situation). But mostly, they just wear shades.

[1800-lemonadeg1rl]

Isolation

Part two of the craving you series (part 1)

Dark! Wanda Maximoff x reader

Minors dni!! Masterlist°•☆

Summary - you settle into your new job while Wanda undos your life

Warnings - manipulation, dark Wanda, obsessive Wanda, unhealthy obsession, breaking and entering, theft, bribery, catnapping, Wanda calls herself mommy, not proofread again srry

Words - 1.8k

A/n - this took me ages to write srry, I still think part one is better tbh

When you first got the job as Wanda's personal assistant you expected it to be strange like the meeting you'd had in her office prior, the one in which she'd has you begging on your knees. Much to your surprise however Wanda was more professional than ever, keeping to herself and only talking about work matters. Little did you know this was because she was too busy eyeing you up to make conversation.The job itself wasn't much too difficult either perhaps even easier than your original job and for the same wage. Your days consisted of planning phone calls, picking up mail, getting her lunch and coffees, taking notes in meetings, arranging taxis, responding to emails and then collapsing in to bed with your darling cats.

Wanda watched on eagerly as you slipped into a blissful false sense of security over the weeks working. Enjoying every second especially since she got to gaze at you every second of the day. The way you did your hair each morning, how you rolled around your wheeled chair had you been sat too long, the same pen you always fiddled with in meetings, how your nose scrunched when your were confused, the cuteness of your little yawns when you were tired. It was all the little quirks she hadn't got to see in you before that she grew to love now.

Her obsession love for you only grew the more time you'd spent with her. Your little smiles and nervous way of talking had her fighting back blush. Wanda was always ever so excited for you to go out on some pointless errand so she could take a look in your bag, one time even being lucky enough to find your treasured journal. Her favourite page, which she took photos of so she could re read it anytime, read as; 'my boss Wanda has been more kind than I could ever wish for, with giving me a new job instead of just throwing me out onto the streets. I wish she could know how grateful I am to still be employed as she could have easily had rid of me. I've always had such a good gut feeling about her as a boss and it's finally been proved correct.

I'd never admit this aloud as I don't think it's appropriate for work but I think Wanda is possibly one of the most pretty women I've ever met, she always has a radiant smile when she looks at me joined with such cute freckles.' Oh if only you knew how Wanda swooned when she read that entry.

Slowly though this new found closeness was not enough for Wanda, she felt as if your gratefulness was dwindling and the time you spent together was hardly enough for what she craved. For what she needed.

Wanda needed a new way to make you come to her to make you rely on her. She needed something you loved, she just had to think of what. That's when she figured it out, she was watching you through her computer one night as you lay in bed peacefully sleeping beside your cats. She knew how much you loved them, how lost you'd be without them.

Her plan was simple, tell you she was going out for lunch with a friend when really she was heading over to your flat to take Marlo and Nixie. Arriving at your flat she saw the front door unlocked and tutted to herself, how silly you really were lucky she was looking out for you or someone could have just waltzed right into your home. Stepping through the front door she was overwhelmed with a euphoric feeling of being surrounded by you and your things. Briefly forgetting about the cats she went around your room, going through your wardrobe, admiring your jewellery and lying down in your bed. But all that wasn't enough for Wanda she wanted a little souvenir from her trip and that's exactly what she got. Going back into your wardrobe she carefully went through your underwear drawers deciding to take a matching red lacey set with rhinestoned buckle, you wouldn't need them anyway the only person you should be trying to impressing was her.

After successfully stifling your underwear she moved onto getting the cats. She'd brought her own little carriers for them, Wanda was no monster of course she'd never harm the small animals you held so close she'd just keep them safe and away from you for a while. Marlo was easy enough to convince to get in the carrier being friendly and easy going almost just like you however Nixie was another story hissing and trying to claw at Wanda anytime she tried to pick her up. Lucky for her shed planned this having overheard you discussing with a coworker several weeks ago about how Nixie didn't tolerate strangers unless she had some catnip. Needless to say she'd prepared for this event. Smiling to herself as she poured the catnip into the carrier and trapping the unsuspecting Nixie inside.

The next day at work Wanda hid her smirk well when she saw you shuffle in with puffy bloodshot eyes with big dark circles underneath, deciding to feign concern instead.

"Oh darling, what's up? You can tell me anything." A comforting smile on her face makes you sure you can talk to her about the cats.

"My.. my cats went missing and no one can find them." Your voice is hoarse from crying as you speak and more tears threaten to fall from your eyes.

"That's no good at all sweet girl." She stands from behind her desk walking over and engulfing you into a strong hug. "If there's anything I can do to help you at this difficult time don't hesitate to let me know." She tells you in a warm voice as she pulls your head closer into her chest making it hard for you not to become flustered.

"Thanks, thank you miss Maximoff." Your stumble through your reply while burying yourself into her strong body.

A few days later and your cats still haven't returned and you find yourself further falling into despair.

That's when you find a letter in your house. One that pushes you over the edge. The one you never wanted to see. An eviction notice. It felt like the life you'd fought so hard for, one you'd dreamed of since childhood was being torn apart before your eyes. As if God was punishing you for some unforgivable sin.

Wanda watched on eagerly as she saw you find the eviction note in your pile of post, a sick grin contorting on her face at the sight of your misery, at the knowledge she'd be the one to bring you back up. The one to heal you. The one you'd grow to adore, worship and crave as she did you.

Of course she was at fault for that letter after having heavily bribed your landlord to get rid of you. At first he was much opposed claiming you to be 'one of his best tenants' and how you never missed rent but after seeing the cash being offered to evict you he couldn't help himself. Wanda knew he'd break easily after all Money really is the root of all evil.

When she saw you sobbing at the kitchen table, shaking hands clutching the eviction notice she wished she could comfort you and tell you it'd all be okay. To hold you tight like she did not a few days ago. Wiping the tears from your delicate face, once you were hers you'd never feel this kind of pain again. Your suffering was only temporary but still it broke her heart to see you so down. Obviously she'd never regret what she'd done. It was all for you.

When you were next in work you felt and were sure you looked like hell. All your energy had been spent trying to find somewhere new to stay but all properties nearby were so expensive or just boxes. Your regular floral dresses had been replaced with knit sweaters and plain black trousers as if this was your autumn, the beginning of your end. When you saw Wanda it didn't help the way you felt when she appeared more put together than usual, her suits crisper somehow and jaw sharper as if while your life fell apart hers had blossomed.

"Darling, you look ill has something happened?" She asks with a practised act of sympathy, she already knew exactly what had happened after all she'd orchestrated the undoing of your life.

"My landlord evicted me for no reason and-.. and-.." You felt yourself becoming choked up as you struggled to tell Wanda what had happened. She picked up on your feelings almost as if in tune with your mind and quickly pulled you into her before beginning to stroke up and down your back in comforting patterns.

"Its okay, I'm here darling. Nothing bad will happen just tell mommy what's wrong." Your eyebrows raised at what she called herself but for some inane reason decided against questioning her.

"And.. I cant find anywhere to stay and my-.. m' cats are still missing and I'm gonna be homeless." She knew youd begun crying when she could feel damp on her blouse where your head lay. Wanda pulled your head back to face her and stroked across your cheeks in such a gentle fashion that you felt you legs may give out beneath you.

"Well you could always.. nevermind it wouldn't be appropriate." She says with pause to look down at your face. "Oh screw it. I can't stand to see you go homeless over some stupid eviction, y/n if you wanted you could stay in my home until you find somewhere permanent." What Wanda hadn't quite anticipated was the way your eyes lit up at the suggestion, she thought you'd have needed much more convincing than you did.

"I.. if your sure it wouldn't be a bother."

"Sweet girl you could never bother me."

That night Wanda took you over to her house and gave you a tour. It was the biggest and fanciest place you'd ever been. More things existed than you thought one person could need. She had everything from pools to inside tennis courts, acres full of forest land to a sauna. You finally understood what it must feel like to be rich. Wanda claimed her guest rooms were under renovation so you'd have to share her room for now. When you accepted sleeping next to her she was so ecstatic she could barely hide it behind the mask of sympathy anymore.

Tags: @reginassweetheart @alexawynters

[r3starttt]

OBLIVIATE | 00

ellabs x reader | series m.list | > CHAPTER ONE

an: comment to be added to the taglist!

SUMMARY: Amidst the seemingly flawless life, at the peak of the perfection, a looming fear emerges from the very plan that set everything in motion. It shadows you and your wife like a persistent ghost. Memories of youth and a vow to eternal love now cling relentlessly, tempting them to give it another chance.

CW: WIP. +18 content. poly relationship. threesome. sexting. smut encounters. description of sex. modern au. famous au. college au. ex to lovers. time skips.

hockey player! a. rockstar! e. actress! r.

Faded Polaroids lingered between your fingers, each one handled with the utmost delicacy and love.

PROLOGUE

You and Abby had just moved for the third time this year. This entire week had been a blur of sleepless nights spent unpacking. Abby had refused to allow anyone else access to the privacy of your new home, earning frequent scoldings from you, constantly reminding her how things could've been much easier that way.

You only accepted her request because of a very specific person on your mind.

Since your careers took off, neither of you had had a proper chance to settle down. Constantly rushing for interviews and switching roles between trophy wife and fame that left little room for stability.

As you organized the fancy shelfs she bought for the leaving room, Abby found a box filled with memories from her teenage years—music albums, books, and albums she had brought from her home after your marriage, knowing how much you cherished such things.

Taking a break to eat and rest, you both decided to sift through them. You laughed at her old photos, where she looked adorable or, as she called herself, 'nerdy' with her first pair of glasses. Constantly melting at her baby pictures, falling even more in love with the woman before you.

However, the comfort dimmed when you found a particular Polaroid—one you had once begged to take so you would never forget that day. Abby rested her head on your shoulder in the photo, your arms on each side, holding the camera, an auburn girl on your other side.

"What's that?" Abby's voice took you off trance. Your eyes flickered between the Polaroid in your hand and her face, simply leaning the picture to her.

"Guess we mixed them last time" She muttered quietly "Thought you put it here on purpose" a dismissive tone in those words, such a fake acting.

"Nah, I've got a whole box for it" you met her eyes. Your eyebrows furrowing at the tone on her voice, mocking you.

"I've been thinking about her" You handed her another picture, a small dog on Abby's lap. An intent to distract her from the emotions your words might evoke.

"Yeah?" Her hand brushed yours as she took the Polaroid. "What about her?" The couch creaked as she shifted closer to you.

"How's she doing?" you whispered, breaking the silence that kep on growing between both. "You've herd the news." Abby inquired, quite nonchalantly

"I miss her," you admitted. Saying it aloud felt strange, almost wrong- it left a bittersweet taste.

You hoped she would say something, but instead, she was distracted by another Polaroid she handed you seconds later. It was one you had never seen before, there she was, Ellie Williams

-

It all started with what was supposed to be a studying session, for you.

Both of them, well, Ellie had offered to help you with some math things you were having issues with. Abby decided to join 'I don't trust you two alone'

After that day, their need for you became a constant, unwavering presence. If they had been touch-deprived before, yearning for your glance, your kiss, any sign of affection, it only intensified afterward.

They craved your proximity, your touch, your attention, and it was undeniably tempting.

You agreed with both to let it as a sort of open relationship, a friends with benefits arrangement.

Mostly because you knew it would never work if the three of you stood together.

Not with Abby's aspirations and determination to study something to make her dad proud. Ellie, being deeply invested in her studies, aiming for success- hungry. And you who could only wait for that lucky signal, that defining moment to steer you toward your life's purpose—anything to keep you occupied.

Abby constantly showered you with affection and care, feeling a physical need to spoil both of you. She would often send videos or pictures of her sweaty abdomen post-gym session, accompanied by messages asking if either of you needed anything. "Have you eaten yet?"

On the other hand Ellie kept sexting whenever she had the chance, sending you both nudes with the excuse she needed an opinion before sending them to a girl she'd just met. Which wasn't completely fake- it just happened way too often to not be on purpose.

So, why not give it a chance. If it worked, great. If not, well, you'd find a way to make it function as long as you needed it.

> CHAPTER ONE

- taglist: @softlysunrays @eyesfullofsttars <33 | @cowboylu @ennabear @satellitespinner @flowrmoth

[bakuhatsufallinlove]

Clarification regarding MHA’s final chapter being published in a double issue

Weekly Shonen Jump’s annual publishing schedule plans for 52 issues. However, it might confuse you to know that those numbers begin in December, not January. For example, Issue #1 of the 2024 run was actually published in December of 2023, following 2023’s Issue #52 which was published in November.

WSJ also accounts for holiday breaks in this scheduling. Since 2016, they have released at least four “double issues” per year in accordance with Japanese holidays: Christmas, New Years, Golden Week, and Obon Festival, which fall in December, January, April, and August respectively.

As a result, you get back-to-back double issues in late December/early January, then a double issue in the last week of April and the first week of August.

Despite what you might think, double issues do not contain twice the amount of content.

Indeed, they occasionally have a couple extra color pages or two-page spreads than usual, but the main thing that is special about them is the “JUMP cast photo” covers. Weekly covers may highlight 2-3 characters from a couple series, or go for a bigger “splash page” look incorporating different series and more characters.

But double issues, without fail, cram absolutely everybody in there—the protagonist from nearly every series currently running in the magazine gets a spot on the cover, often with each of them matching in theme, as with this Christmas-themed one from the 2019 serialization:

And this year’s own Year of the Dragon New Years cover!

Obon’s double issue tends to have the summer theme, obviously, as we can see here with 2020 and 2022:

I even researched the last few times a series ended in the Obon double issue, and that would be Act-Age in 2020 and Nisekoi in 2016. From some light reading, Nisekoi typically had 16-17 pages per chapter, while the final chapter had 24. Act-Age, on the other hand, pretty consistently had 19-21, and its finale had 20 pages.

I researched how many pages MHA typically has for the Obon issue.

I also researched these numbers for the Golden Week double issue and it was similar, don’t question me, okay, I’m a freak.

These aren't noteworthy numbers; My Hero Academia has always varied between 15-21 pages, ebbing and flowing. Horikoshi said shortly after the Uraraka vs. Toga finale that his editor arranged for each chapter to be 15 pages because that was the number he could consistently complete, since sudden deviation or incomplete pages can cause serious stress to the rest of the publishing staff who have to arrange new chapters from around twenty different series every week.

From this information alone, we have no reason to believe the final chapter of MHA will contain double the typical number of pages.

However, we do have some tankōbon math to do here.

Volume 41 is being released a few days before the final chapter. We don’t have official confirmation, but most of the recent volumes have had 12 chapters and ended on a cliffhanger. In light of this, I suspect volume 41 will cover 411 through chapter 422, thus beginning the final volume, volume 42, on chapter 423.

The longest MHA tankōbon release has been 216 pages long, while the shortest is 184 pages.

We know we will get five more chapters from now, ending on chapter 430.

Every tankoban has at least 4 pages of table of contents and copyright, so the math works out this way:

4 pages + 45 pages with chapters 423, 424, and 425 = 49 pages Longest outcome: 216 – 49 = 167 167 divided into 5 new chapters: 33.40 average pages per chapter Shortest outcome: 184 – 49 = 135 135 divided into 5 new chapters: 27 average pages per chapter

This average is quite shocking to think about and begs the question, “what the fuck is UP, Horikoshi-sensei!?”

The recent trend of 15 pages per chapter for all eight chapters plus the four for table of contents/copyright would yield only 124 pages, which is definitely too few for release. I think there is a strong possibility we will get that upper range of his page count average, 20-21, until the end, which would yield about 154.

I said 184 was the shortest, but technically volume 7 had a unique release with 169 pages plus a drama CD and booklet, which makes me wonder if the final volume might have some sort of special content?? Or possibly volume 41 will end at 421, making it 11 chapters long while volume 42 is 9??

This answers some questions while raising a whole bunch more. I can't wait to find out~!!! <3

Note: I gathered most of the precise numbers-and-dates information referenced in this post—and my Jump GIGA post—from a fan-made Jump Database. Special thanks to the very dedicated people who maintain it.

[namjoonscoffeeshop]

Picnic In The Rain

A part of DEEP series ✧ Pairing: Yoongi x reader ✧ warning(s): bad driving ?

✧ genre: fluff? (idk just got home from work and i'm tired) ✧ word count: a/n: just got home and right away started editing the chapter. I hope you all like it! I reread this over and over, if there are any mistakes...my bad.

Yoongi's 21st birthday

"Don't peek!" y/n says as she quickly glances to see if he had pulled down the blindfold off his face. Yoongi on the other hand was just laying back on the passenger seat taking in the breeze. His senses sharpened, smelling the subtle hint of her perfume mixed with the earthy smell that proved he was right and that it will rain soon. "yeah yeah" he can't help but smile, it was his birthday and she begged him to spend the day with her.

Amused he teased her, saying he had made plans with his friends, she pouted and hid the very visible picnic basket behind her “alright” she gave him a forced smile. Not able to hold back his laughter he breaks character instantly pulling her into a hug.

The car pulls to a sloppy stop making his body jolt forward, his hand reaching for his blindfold but she quickly grabs his arms, pushing them down “No don’t! Sorry I'm still getting used to driving” sighing he doesn’t fight back “I’ll help you out, I’m serious don’t take it off!” running out the car she quickly goes to his side, helping him out.

After walking for what felt like forever, she finally lets go of his arms. Yoongi heard her run off but he stood still and waited. “Ok you can look now!” “Are you sure?” he grins.

“Yes!” Asking again in a teasing tone “Are you really really sure?” groaning she runs back to him, “you’re so childish” without giving him a chance to retort she pulls down his blindfold. As his eyes adjusted to the sudden exposure to light he looked at his very excited friend, her lips curved up into a warm smile as she stared into his eyes. She had set up a rather large picnic blanket, his favorite food spread along with a cake.

The open field with wild flowers surrounding them made him chuckle, it was everything she loved. “Let’s do this quickly, it’s going to rain soon” taking her hand in his he walks towards the blanket.

“Shut up, you’ll jinx it”

After eating the food and a slice of cake he watched her as she stared at the photos in her hand which she had just taken. He stared at the clear sky thinking his sixth sense failed him and it truly wasn’t going to rain. His attention was pulled from her as his phone ringed, taking it out of his pocket and he frowned. Wasting no time he hangs up, “was it your friends? I bet they’re mad right? Since you had plans with them” he grinned, there was a hint of guilt in her eyes but she didn’t know he lied. His friends planned nothing because he told them that the day was yours before you asked.

But before he could tease her, it began to pour. “Oh my god I told you not to jinx it!” she shrills as the two quickly stand up. Running towards the large tree for cover yoongi turns to find her picking up some of the items “are you serious” he yells running back, he grabs her arm.

Under the tree. Both drenched, they look at one another before laughing. "happy birthday" she says for the millionth time, giving her a small smile he pulls her into a hug, gently kissing her forehead "thank you" he felt how she held her breath before giggling as he pinched her ear. "is there something you want?" she suddenly asks, wrapping her arms around his waist. her chin rested on his chest as her eyes looked up at him. 

"more?" he chuckles looking back at the destroyed picnic arrangement she had done for him. "this is not a gift, just...what would we call this"

"a mess" 

"hey!" she pushes him away, rolling her eyes jokingly. 

"i'm serious is there anything you want?" he hums as if thinking, but the anticipation she was feeling broke as he shrugged. annoyed she crosses her arms and looks away.  "how can it rain and be sunny at the same time" she mutters.

The sudden wind made her shiver but he stood firm as his eyes never left her. For he did not feel cold at all, her carefree, cheerful, lovely spirit was like a fire. Which attracted a lot of people and even if that did bother him, he never wanted to try and control that fire.

All he needed was to be near it. That was his wish. 

taglist:

@baechugff

@thetaehyungstan

@yoongibaybee

@gimeow

@pjmsneverland

@eissenheimer

@taetaechim7

@acquiescence804

@seoullove96

@waitaminswife

@keshiadeija

@gaby-93

@amarawayne

@ykkjm

@ot72025

@joonie1213

[leejenowrld]

hey saw you’re doing an “ask the characters” for the new jeno fic so i thought i’d ask jeno and yn some questions.

to jeno, what’s your favourite thing about y/n? do you still feel sorry about ghosting her during your exams? what’s your favourite thing to do with her when having sex? has yn met your parents? what did they think of her?

yes! i am, i know a lot of people loved it for mfal so i thought i’d open it up for this :)

jeno — how confident and self assured she is but how her kindness and open mindedness doesn’t come in expense of that. i also adore how talented and committed she is to the things and people she loves, she cares a lot, she’s taught me a lot about what true love should look like and the art of dedication

jeno — of course i do, at the time i didn’t realise how upset it truly made her and i’m annoyed at myself for being so careless with her emotions. so from now on when i’m busy i always try to make time for her and prioritise her, it’s what she deserves, and she does the same for me. i don’t ever want her to feel forgotten again.

jeno — mmmh i love everything about sex with her but i just love when she’s under my complete control, when i’ve got her hands tied or i just tell her not to move her hands or arms and she listens to me because she’s my good girl, when her body is spread out and open just for me, when she squirms beneath me and shouts ‘daddy’ and fuck, the way she looks at me, her eyes wide, her chest heaving, especially right before I tighten my grip around her throat. when i pull her close, spit into her mouth, watch her swallow it down and beg for more. just when she lets me do anything i want to her

jeno — she has! i arranged a dinner pretty early on in mine and yn’s relationship because i was serious about her and wanted to show her that. she was incredibly nervous and shy, it was so cute, she got them the nicest gifts ever and really stressed about what to wear/say/do and how to act but i just reassured her that they’d love her. y/n was super shy at first, just like she always is when meeting new people and in environments where she’s not used to, she’ll always cling to me and it’s cute, she’s cute but seeing her get comfortable after time? breaking out of her shell, becoming more at ease… god, it reminds me of why i fell in love with her. my parents love her, they see how happy she makes me and how blessed i am to have her love and it’s so heart warming to see her get along with my parents. i’m surprised because there’s times y/n will send me a photo and she’s with my mum and my older sister and they’re just doing girl stuff and it’s ??? wow. she is fr the love of my life. the first night i introduced y/n to my family, my mum and dad pulled me aside and told me “you have to marry her.”

[ysmtttty]

Red Ferrari

Chapter 11

Summary: Azris AU, where Azriel is a mechanic and has his own service station. One day, Eris comes there because something is wrong with his car

AO3 link Chapter 10 Chapter 12

"Are you going to be late for work?" Azriel asked, glancing at the clock panel while they were driving back to the city, trying to avoid as many bumps and traffic jams as possible. It was Monday, and even the countryside roads were packed with cars.

"I wanted to persuade you to drop me off at work," Eris replied.

"So, can you survive one workday without a suit?"

"I can just buy a new suit before work," Eris snorted. "It only takes a second, considering I already ordered it."

"I don’t know why I expected to hear something else," Azriel laughed.

After kissing Azriel goodbye, Eris headed straight to the nearest tailor shop close to his office, where he usually ordered his suits. This time was no exception, except he had messaged them in advance the day before, asking for a rush order and paying extra for the urgency.

After his visit to the tailor, Eris went straight to work. There was a lot of paperwork ahead and no cases to work on. Just a boring Monday. His lawyer reported that there had been no news from Morrigan recently, but a new lawyer had contacted him. However, they hadn’t said anything useful—just introduced themselves via email and then failed to respond to further messages.

Eris could have pondered what kind of game she was playing this time, but he didn’t care. He had rested, arranged a date, and everything in his life was relatively falling into place. There was no news from his father, but Eris had learned to consider that a good sign. The less he knew, the less chance there was of being drawn into another shitshow.

Lucien was spamming his phone with a bunch of photos taken during their time at his countryside house, while they weren’t in the most sober state of mind. Eris put his younger brother on silent mode, continuing to work but sneaking a peek at the photos during his lunch break.

He was surprised to see himself with alcohol-flushed cheeks, smiling and laughing, almost sitting on Azriel’s lap. Honestly, Eris wanted to check his eyesight because he hadn’t seen himself like that in a long time. It was as if he was looking at someone who looked a lot like him but wasn’t really him.

The slight feeling of unreality from the photos was eventually replaced by light amusement as he browsed the rest, including one where his hounds had gathered around Jurian, begging—demanding—the last pieces of meat from the plate he held high above his head.

The other photos were either blurry, crooked, or full of drunken fun that they probably should be ashamed of. In the past, Eris hadn’t appeared in such group photos, and even if he did, he’d sit at the table with a small smile, watching the others. But never like he appeared in these photos.

Lucien had noticed it too, already sending several witty messages that Eris simply ignored.

The rest of Eris’s workday was filled with countless pointless meetings about everything under the sun: budgets, staffing, and so on. A typical Monday, but he got through it quite easily, still feeling rested after a good weekend.

However, upon returning home, he felt that something was wrong again. Now that he was convinced his intuition rarely failed him, Eris remained alert. He considered calling the building security, but if it were Keir’s men, no security guards would be of any help—only the carpet would get dirty.

So, he went inside anyway, looking around and frowning. Everything seemed fine at first glance, but as he walked further into the apartment, the familiar and irritating scent of vanilla hit his nose.

"Hello, Eris," Mor beamed at him from his chair, where she sat with her long legs crossed in red shoes.

Eris would have preferred if it were Keir’s men.

***

After their countryside trip, Azriel returned home to a few problems. His apartment was still in the same disarray it had been during his depressive episode, so he spent another two hours cleaning up the place, trying to get things in order. And it was both energy- and time-consuming.

Afterward, he was met with an empty fridge and an almost empty wallet. Well, he had his savings, but a paycheck was definitely better. He thought about calling Cassian to ask for a loan until he decided whether to work at another workshop or finally hear out Rhysand. Now that Azriel was being so kind, he could at least try. But for some reason, Rhysand’s betrayal felt heavier. Even more painful.

So, for now, he stayed like the stubborn idiot he was, with a not-so-promising amount of money and the prospect of starving.

By noon, Cassian messaged him, urgently asking for a shift replacement at the workshop, even knowing that Azriel was temporarily on leave. He still asked, saying it was really urgent. Knowing that you don’t leave friends in trouble, Azriel agreed, asking in return for a lunch treat.

He realized how urgent the situation was when Cassian agreed to that condition.

When Azriel arrived at the workshop, he was greeted by two hot dogs, a very tense best friend, and Rhysand, who stood nearby, staring at him almost without blinking but still too afraid to approach.

"Don’t tell me that…" Azriel rolled his eyes and groaned, realizing what kind of "urgent" situation this was.

Cassian gave him a guilty look and shrugged, as if to say, “Sorry, but I want my friends to make up so we can all be friends again, so I had to.”

"I'm leaving," Cassian said, patting Azriel on the shoulder. "Don’t kill each other."

Azriel watched him leave with irritation at those words but understood that enough time had passed for them to have an adult conversation. Even if he didn’t want to. Even if the memories still brought a painful ache in his chest.

Rhysand finally approached him after Cassian got into the car and drove off. Lucky guy, Azriel thought, watching him go. He probably got full pay for today’s shift anyway.

"Az," Rhysand began quietly, and Azriel looked at him wearily. "I’m sorry."

Rubbing his face with his hands, Azriel just nodded in response, allowing Rhysand to continue as he bit into one of the hot dogs.

"It was wrong of me," Rhysand continued, fidgeting with a button on his shirt sleeve. "I should have told you as soon as I found out, not hiding from you as I did."

"When did you find out?" Azriel asked dully, feeling the need to qualify the moment. "About all of this."

"When you said his name," Rhysand admitted. "I knew the name of Mor's husband—the one she asked me to help her divorce. There aren’t many lawyers named Eris, and even fewer that fit the description of 'rich bastard.'"

"One in a million," Azriel chuckled humorlessly, his lips curling into a smirk. Rhysand swallowed and nodded.

"Mor told me a lot of details about the divorce," he continued. "Believe me, I understand how wrong it was to take her side after everything that happened between you two. But there are certain circumstances that make it impossible for me to leave her."

Azriel just shrugged, showing that he didn’t care that Rhysand was helping Mor. What he did care about was the fact that Rhysand had chosen to hide from him the truth that Eris and Mor were married and going through a divorce. Because telling him would have been solidarity—it was simply a basic right to know what was going on in his own life.

It hurt him that the person Azriel believed he could trust, someone he could trust with his life would hide such a massive mess from him, one he barely managed to deal with and that nearly cost him two people who were very important to him.

"Come back, Az," Rhysand said quietly, looking at him with pleading eyes. "Please."

Azriel held his gaze, still unsure if he even wanted all of this. Rhysand’s apology felt more like an explanation than genuine remorse. An attempt to justify himself, but nonetheless, it was a first step.

Knowing how much Rhysand hated being wrong and apologizing, it was probably a big step for him to swallow his pride and do it. Now that enough time had passed since the incident, Azriel could assess the situation without extra emotions, not fearing being impulsive.

So he decided that maybe it was worth accepting this almost-apology.

"I’ll return to work," he said but raised a hand to stop whatever Rhysand was about to say in response. "But that doesn’t mean I fully forgive you. In fact, I haven’t forgiven you yet. But I’m also not going to stay angry like this."

"So, baby steps?" Rhysand asked, somewhat disappointed but still hopeful.

"Baby steps," Azriel nodded. "One of the next steps could be considering buying a new engine for my motorcycle or tickets to a game," he added jokingly, lightening the mood, and Rhysand chuckled softly.

"Mercenary bastard," Rhysand shook his head.

"You're still at fault, you don’t have the right to insult me," Azriel smirked.

He hadn’t yet forgiven Rhysand, but a weight was lifted from his chest. Holding a grudge was exhausting, and honestly? Azriel was getting tired of it. So he was ready to give his best friend a second chance, ensuring that Rhysand would never do something like this again.

"I’ll also consider a raise as an olive branch," Azriel grinned slyly.

Rhysand laughed again and rolled his eyes. "If a good chunk of clients didn’t refuse after finding out you were temporarily on leave, I wouldn’t even think about it. But if it gets you back, name your terms. Just don’t lose your head."

"Oh, my client base is a very strong leverage, something I now know I can lean on."

Rhysand just shoved his shoulder, and Azriel shoved back, laughing.

"Idiot," Rhysand whispered, wrapping his arm around his shoulders, happy when Azriel reciprocated the gesture. "I really am sorry."

"I’ve already listed a few conditions for earning my forgiveness," Azriel said in the same light-hearted tone.

And since Cassian had already left, but the shift was still ongoing, Rhysand convinced him to stay and work for double pay. Azriel wasn’t stupid enough to turn down such an offer, especially when he was already going crazy from boredom at home. So, the next few hours were spent in the workshop garage.

Rhysand told him about his romantic escapades with Feyre, which had recently become more tense because her ex-fiancé had started stalking her. Azriel listened to it all like a podcast while he worked on the cars.

He even shared a story in return. He talked about how they went out of town over the weekend, in broad strokes and without too many details. Azriel wasn’t ready to share the specifics about Eris with Rhysand just yet. Despite wanting to mend things with his friend, Azriel still hesitated to say anything until Eris and Mor's divorce was finalized.

Rhysand seemed to pick up on this but made no comment. Either he understood it was deserved or simply didn’t want to ruin the good mood, which felt both relieving and fragile as porcelain.

At some point, Rhysand said he needed to pick up an order from the florist, and Azriel just waved him off, telling him not to hurry. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy Rhysand’s company, but working in silence in the workshop was something he preferred more than chatter.

There was something therapeutic about it.

But as soon as Rhysand left, about ten or fifteen minutes later, a painfully familiar car pulled into the workshop. Azriel glanced up, saw the license plate, and grimaced with displeasure. His frown deepened when Mor stepped out of the car, flashing a smile and bright red heels matching her lipstick—or lipstick matching her heels, which didn’t matter since she never bothered with colors, always choosing the same one for everything.

"Rhys isn’t here," Azriel told her coldly.

"Will he be back?" Mor asked calmly, clearly ignoring the hostility in his voice. She took a few steps closer, and Azriel rolled his eyes, closing the hood of the car he was working on and wiping his hands on the nearest towel.

"Maybe," he shrugged. "Go chat with Amren, she misses you."

Mor laughed, but Azriel hadn’t meant it as a joke. It was a very open "get out of my sight, woman."

"Amren doesn’t miss anyone," she said, leaning against the garage wall. "But I missed..."

"Amren?"

"You."

Here we go. Azriel sighed heavily and looked at her with a gaze full of disgust, causing Mor’s smile to falter slightly, though it didn’t disappear entirely. They were exes—the kind where she was the one who cheated on him with his best friend, never officially dated him, saying he’d embarrass her in her high society. The latter was said not so directly, but it was very clearly implied.

"Do you need something?" Azriel asked dryly.

"Can we talk?" Mor smiled sweetly at him, and for a second, in that gaze, in that smile, something of the girl Azriel once fell in love with flicker. The one who made him lose his head. The one he wanted to save. And then he reminded himself that she had never wanted saving and had never responded to his feelings with sincerity.

"We have nothing to talk about, Morrigan," he said, and Mor only looked at him with those "cute" sad eyes, almost like puppy eyes, and he almost felt sick. Azriel couldn’t understand how he had ever thought that expression was adorable.

"Az, we both know it was a misunderstanding," she said. "Between us."

"There were a lot of misunderstandings between us. One of them was us, in general," Azriel responded harshly, staring directly at her. "And you're married," he nodded at the ring on her finger.

Mor hurriedly put her hand in her coat pocket and shrugged. "Eris and I are getting a divorce."

Hearing his name from her lips felt strange. Even more strange was realizing what they were to each other. Despite Azriel having had enough time to come to terms with the idea, it still didn't help.

"Speaking of Eris," Mor suddenly said, sighing heavily and putting on her usual poor-me act. "Can you listen to me? Please."

Azriel pinched the bridge of his nose. "You won’t stop until you get what you want, will you?"

Mor shook her head. Azriel waved her off, returning to the car hood and continuing to tinker with it, avoiding looking at her while she began her story.

Mor rambled on and on. About how she had been forced to marry Eris against her will, how she drowned her despair in drugs, and of course, how endlessly grateful she was to Azriel for staying with her during this tough time in her life.

It all sounded like nonsense, like a cheap ploy to get his empathy. Azriel was too old to fall for such tricks.

Then Mor told him about how Eris had proposed the divorce, apparently through threats, claiming he couldn’t stand being with her. Azriel didn’t bother to mention that he had already heard Eris’s full side of the story. He let her play the victim, as she often did.

"My father is threatening me," Mor suddenly said, making Azriel look up at her. Given recent events and his overall knowledge, he knew Keir was a dangerous and despicable man. But at the same time, she might be exaggerating again. "He told me I must convince Eris not to file for divorce by any means necessary. But when he did file..."

"You tried to change his mind by threatening to take the property?" Azriel raised an eyebrow.

"Not exactly," Mor shook her head, sighing, biting her lower lip. "I want to run away, Az. For good."

She paused before continuing. "I want to go to Europe again, get a new passport, a new identity, and just disappear off the radar forever. I can’t stay here, Az. It’s too dangerous for me."

Azriel sighed heavily and looked at her unimpressed. "You know you could have asked Rhysand for help. Hell, Cassian, or even me. Eris would have given you fifty percent of the property anyway, so what was the point of waiting? You didn’t need to cause this whole shitshow just to get enough money for your little movie-cliché escape."

Mor only slumped and bit her lip harder. "I want stability. And for that, I need more money, Az. I need to know I can protect… never mind. Just understand, I’m not doing this for no reason."

"Mor, stop," Azriel growled irritably. "Cut the crap and say it outright—you want to take Eris’s money just because. Just because you need to make him suffer. Because you get this weird, sadistic pleasure from making people around you suffer while you play the victim. And I’m not even saying this out of anger, just from years of experience and observation."

"That’s not true," she said quietly in defense. "It’s really not. Understand, Eris is just a rich idiot with a silver spoon in his mouth and a trust fund. He might have deserved—"

"Shut your mouth," Azriel snarled. "You’re definitely not the one who can say what he deserved and what he didn’t."

Suddenly, something dangerous flickered in her eyes. Something that made Azriel frown and tense up. Mor's expression shifted from that of a poor lamb to something curious, but not just any curiosity—something dangerous.

"I was his wife for four years. I know what I’m talking about. And how long have you known Eris?" she asked.

"Long enough," Azriel dismissed.

"Are you friends?"

"None of your damn business."

Mor tilted her head to the side, then smirked for just a second. She pushed away from the wall. Azriel, watching her, narrowed his eyes, unsure of what she was doing.

"I have to run, Az," she said in that same sweet voice. "Tell Rhys I dropped by."

Azriel just waved his hand, indicating that he wouldn’t be passing anything on to Rhysand, and wishing she’d disappear as soon as possible.

***

"You’re really not happy to see me?" Mor's smile widened even more across her face. She rested her cheek on her hand, which still bore her wedding ring. Eris hated that diamond more than anything in the world.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked, approaching her. Mor was still comfortably seated in the chair, feeling no ounce of guilt. "You do realize this is breaking and entering. I can easily file a report on you."

"To your great disappointment, you can’t," Mor replied with a knowing smirk. Eris had underestimated her intelligence. "I’m still your wife."

‘Not for long,’ Eris thought but didn’t voice his thoughts. She knew that herself. Soon, they’d be divorced, and the issue of property would be left to chance. Maybe he’d get lucky, maybe not. Eris had slowly come to terms with the injustice, understanding that Mor would undeservedly get the money either way.

Still, she irritated him. Just the sight of her in his apartment, sitting so nonchalantly in his chair and flaunting the diamond on her ring finger, made his blood boil with anger. If only he had known what kind of woman she was, he would have discussed her addiction with Beron right away, hoping the thought of sickly offspring would alarm his father enough to cancel the engagement.

Maybe Eris should have done that. It didn’t occur to him at the time, being young and focused on other priorities. Or maybe he felt sorry for her, knowing Mor’s father would marry her off for profit no matter her feelings. And who knows what kind of scumbag she could’ve ended up with as a husband. Eris wasn’t a saint either, far from it, but he’d always been indifferent to her, never touching her more than necessary, and they had reached a truce rather quickly.

"And how long have you known how to pick locks?" Eris asked dryly, knowing Mor couldn’t have had any keys. He had changed the locks the day she moved out. "Or is this a habit from your junkie days?"

"You think I was breaking into apartments to scrape up money for the stuff?" Mor scoffed, wrinkling her nose in dramatic offense. "No, my ex taught me. Funny you haven’t had that experience yet. But don’t worry, it’s coming, and you’ll learn."

Eris’ heart skipped a beat. "Ex." It was still ahead of him. And damn it all, Mor was talking about Azriel.

If up until now, her presence had been tolerable—something he could endure before calling security on her unannounced visit—after the mention of Azriel, he grew angrier than he’d wanted to in front of Mor.

"Don’t make that face," Mor laughed sweetly, watching his futile attempts to maintain his composure. "Azriel really is a good guy, isn’t he?"

"Shut up," Eris growled. "You have no right to talk about him."

Not after Azriel had told him the full story of their relationship.

"Wow, you two really do share the same reaction," Mor laughed, watching him with interest. Eris immediately regretted losing control.

Mor examined her nails, feigning indifference to the situation. Eris thought that soon he might be facing a court case for murder, not just a divorce.

"What do you want, Mor?" he asked again, coldly and clearly, stepping closer and towering over her.

Mor looked up at him with a bored expression, pretending she didn’t care. She held his gaze and smiled again.

"You’re so serious, I can’t," she teased in a sing-song voice. "I spoke with Azriel today."

Nonsense. Azriel wouldn’t have let her near him, Eris thought. He narrowed his eyes, letting Mor know he saw through her lie, but she didn’t back down as he had hoped. Instead, she continued.

"It’s true," she said. "We accidentally ran into each other at a café today. Small world, right?"

The world might be small, but the city was huge. If they had met, it was definitely not by chance. Eris thought about how Mor's family had a habit of stalking and why he always ended up being the target. Besides, he hardly believed Azriel would go to any café today, considering he told Eris himself that he was going to buy some more frozen pizza today.

"And?"

"And I found out a very interesting little detail," Mor smiled sweetly, standing up from the chair, forcing Eris to take a step back. "At our first meeting, the three of us in the restaurant, I wondered why my dear husband and my even dearer ex both got so angry." She placed her thumb and index finger on her chin, rubbing it as if in deep thought. "And today, I decided to test my theory."

With each word, Eris reminded himself of who her father was and how unhappy he’d be if Eris killed her now. He hadn’t wanted to kill her when she first started blackmailing him with the video. But now? Now the situation was getting more serious, and Eris knew where this conversation was heading. That’s why he didn’t want to listen further, didn’t want to give her the chance to say it.

"Our parents would really enjoy this detail," Mor delivered the final blow, making him freeze for a split second. She savored the danger of the situation while clearly enjoying the show she had orchestrated, relishing every moment, catching every fleeting emotion on his face. "Especially your father."

"What do you want?" Eris asked hoarsely.

He hated feeling helpless. His lifelong need to keep everything under control—honed through years of experience and drilled into him—was now swiftly and relentlessly crushing him, clouding his ability to think rationally.

Mor laughed, clearly pleased that her plan had finally worked. She adopted a thoughtful look again, then smirked, but without any sweetness or exaggerated charm. Her smile was filled with venom, predatory and smug.

"Your Ferrari," she simply said. "That’s just for starters."

Eris only looked at her, unsure if this was some idiotic joke or if she was serious. But Mor just extended her hand, palm up, and tilted her head to the side. "The keys," she demanded.

Alright, this was exactly the kind of thing he expected from her.

"Don’t act like a bitch," Eris hissed. Mor’s eyes gleamed even more sarcastically, knowing she had the upper hand. "You’re bluffing."

"What makes you think that?" she scoffed, tossing her hair back. "You said the same about the video, but I still have it. And it threatens to fall into the wrong hands."

Of course, she wouldn't miss the chance to mention that as well.

"Your cousin is his best friend, and you've known him for over a decade," Eris coolly stated, sticking to the facts. "You wouldn’t put Azriel’s life in danger just to beg me for a car."

Maybe she would. Eris wasn’t sure about anything anymore, but he desperately wanted to believe that Mor wasn’t a total bitch and had some heart. Or at least basic brains. Given that her legal case and lawyer were being funded by her cousin, it was unlikely she would be reckless enough to truly threaten Azriel.

"I’m not ‘begging’ you for the car," Mor corrected him, clearly displeased with his choice of words. Too bad, but in Eris’s eyes, she was still a beggar, just from the world of the rich. "I’m taking it because I want to. And you’ll kindly hand it over to me."

They stared at each other for a long time, neither willing to back down. Eris was ready to burn her at the stake, and Mor would have gladly watched his panic. But no way was he going to show it. He wasn’t panicking yet—at least, not fully—but the tension was there. And it was strong.

"Do you really want to bet your partner’s life just to see if I’m bluffing or not?" Mor fluttered her eyelashes. "Once again, with the video, you also said it was a bluff. I wouldn’t take such risks, knowing your father’s reputation," she paused, allowing her words to increase the tension even more.

He realized he didn’t want to give any answers. He didn’t want, damn it, to do anything except for Mor to leave.

If she wanted the Ferrari for that, so be it. He had no energy left to argue, resist, or prove his point. In truth, his strength had run out much earlier—not today, not yesterday, and not even a week ago. Eris had genuinely considered just signing any document she put in front of him and walking away. He didn’t want any of this.

He didn’t want to deal with his father, didn’t want to find out if Mor was playing him, didn’t want to take the risk. Once, he would have gone to any lengths to deny her a single cent. Once, he would have insisted that she was bluffing. Once, it would have been easier for him to judge the situation.

But not now. Not when, for the first time, he had something to lose. And it wasn’t about the money.

Eris quietly cursed, running his hand through his hair. He reached into his jacket pocket and handed her the key fob, holding it between two fingers, dangling it above Mor’s open palm. He smiled crookedly and, letting go of the fob, opened his mouth to mockingly wish her a safe trip, but at that moment…

Mor withdrew her hand.

The keys clattered loudly to the floor, lying at her feet, between her annoyingly red high heels. Eris looked up at her, but Mor’s expression only carried mocking undertones.

"Pick them up," she said in a serious voice.

A command. Eris stared at her as if she were insane. He knew that every step she took was calculated to knock him off balance as much as possible, to pull the ground out from under him and never let him rise again. But this was something he hadn’t expected from her.

"Pick them up, Eris," she repeated, gesturing with her eyes toward the keys lying at her feet.

The red heels contrasted sharply with the white carpet, and the fob between them only reminded him of the mess he had gotten himself into by getting involved with Mor. Perhaps she was a creature from hell, sent to earth for his soul as punishment for his family’s sins. It would explain her unnatural love for the color red.

"Get the hell out of my apartment," Eris firmly told her, looking her in the eye.

"Your apartment?" Mor smirked. "Don’t worry, I’ll fix that soon too."

"Leave," Eris repeated even colder.

"I just remembered that a little bird told me my father recently paid you a visit," Mor suddenly said, clearly feeling that she couldn’t back down just yet, and her earlier threats had started to lose their effect on Eris. "What do you think, would my father like to know about your… extracurricular interests?"

Eris was a good lawyer, which meant he knew when to show emotion and when not to. Right now, every instinct told him this wasn’t the time. But those same instincts also reminded him what he could do.

And so, in response to her threat, he only laughed.

"You find my words funny?" Mor arched an eyebrow, crossing her arms and impatiently tapping her manicured fingers on her forearm.

Eris stopped laughing, sizing her up. "Emerie Arden," he said coldly, mentally savoring the way Mor’s face fell, and pure fear flashed across her features for a second before she managed to hide it, "twenty-seven years old, works part-time in Illyria, and performs as a drummer with the Valkyries at local bars. I can even give you her insurance number if that was not convincing enough."

He didn’t want to. He really didn’t want to involve this girl in his and Mor’s dirty dealings. But today, right now, Eris didn’t care that he was involving the innocent. Fuck it. Mor had dared to openly threaten him, and she was getting what she deserved. He wasn’t going to apologize.

Honestly, he enjoyed giving her a taste of her own medicine.

"I know her performance schedule, her shifts at that restaurant, and if you don’t believe me," he grinned predatorily, "I can attach proof to the next email, dear wife."

Mor looked at him with pure hatred, clearly ready to pounce on him if she had only enough sense to realize he was stronger.

"Your first mistake was sneaking into my apartment," he said in a low voice, taking a step toward her, suppressing a smirk as Mor stepped back. He knew who he resembled at that moment, and for the first time in his life, the comparison to his father didn’t repel him. Here, it was appropriate. Here, Eris didn’t care how much like Beron he was, as long as it worked. "The second and fatal mistake was bringing Azriel into this conversation. And the third, threatening me through him."

Mor’s back hit the wall as she took another step back. Her eyes still gleamed with anger, begging to erupt, but something in Eris’s expression made her hold back. Something in the unhealthy gleam of his eyes and his grin.

"You’re not the only one who figured out how to dig up dirt on someone’s personal life," Eris said coldly, leaning closer to her, still keeping a certain distance, as if afraid of catching something from her. "You might think we’re even now, standing on the edge of mutual destruction, but that’s not the case. I have all the resources to protect Azriel, something I can’t say about you. Emerie will suffer regardless of how this plays out, so I suggest you behave wisely."

"Go to hell," Mor hissed.

"And by 'behave wisely,' I mean refraining from such remarks directed at me," Eris continued unperturbed. "You’re going to be a good little girl, retract the property division lawsuit, and run off with your tail between your legs while I handle the grown-up details of our divorce. And if you don’t piss me off by then, maybe, just maybe, I’ll give you enough money for you and your latest plaything to escape unscathed. Do you understand me?"

With indifference, he held her gaze, swirling with emotions. Frankly, he didn’t care what she thought of him. But in her eyes, Eris saw understanding. That was enough.

"Get out," Eris repeated harshly for the third time.

Mor walked past him, and as soon as the door slammed, Eris could breathe again.

tag list: @sizzlingstarlightsky @isnotwhatyourethinking @molcat07 @chairofchaos @lilah-asteria

[absurdthirst]

Religious Corruption: Our Gentle Sin

Professor!Dave York x Virgin!F!Reader

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 12.2k

Warnings: Religion kink, corruption kink, innocence kink, age gap, unbalanced power dynamic, grooming (?), professor/student relationship, blasphemy, vaginal fingering, oral sex (female receiving), panty kink, exhibitionist kink(?), oral sex (make receiving), filthiness with rosary beads, desecration of Holy spaces, daddy kink, baby/little girl pet names, spanking, orgasm denial, loss of virginity, explicit photo without consent, vaginal sex, cum swallowing, mentions of analingus, face sitting, pussy spanking, unprotected sex, angst, heartbreak, controlling parents, arranged marriage, family drama, threats of disownment, derogatory language (whore), children, mentions of pregnancy.

Comments: Now that the truth has come out - you were a conquest for Dave York's corruption kink - it's time to see how the dice fall. Do you go back to what your parents want for your life, or do you let Dave back in?

Co-written with @pedropascalsx

!!Additional Warnings!! - There are themes in this fic that might be disturbing to some. Religion/Power Dynamics/Age Gap - consume at your own risk.

|| MasterList || Religious Corruption MasterList ||

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Click Keep Reading only if you have read the Rating and Warnings and understand the warnings may not be complete to avoid listing spoilers. As AO3 says 'creator chooses not to use warnings'. You also agree that you're the right age to be consuming anything here.

His calls go straight to voicemail. His texts are rejected. You've turned off the app that allows him to see where you are. You've blocked him. Dave stares at his phone and the ache in his heart is nearly overwhelming. He wants to drive straight to your dorm and beat on the door, demanding that you listen to him but he knows you need space. You need to calm down in order to listen and he needs to organize his own thoughts and figure out how to explain.

Sitting down at his computer, Dave opens up his official school email and starts to type.

Sweetheart,

I first want to tell you that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for hurting you and making you cry. The only time I like seeing tears on your pretty face is when you are overwhelmed. Feeling good and I know you were not feeling good when you left tonight.

You were right. It started out as a conquest. Your virginity was a prize for me to claim. I never have been a moral or righteous man, you have to know this. Why else would corrupting you be so sexy to me? Why would making you break all the promises you made to your parents, to yourself, to God, be such a thrill? I guess you are right. I am evil.

But.....something changed. I know you saw the girls before you. The other 'good girls' that I corrupted. They were....victims of my own sins. They were prizes that were tossed away when the innocence was gone. If you read the book, you saw that I wrote a lot about them and there is very little that has been noted about you since the day I took your virginity. It's- I stopped writing because I - fuck, I don't even know why, really.

I realized yesterday that I had stopped. That it had stopped being a game for me. I brought you home. None of the others were ever allowed to spend the night, to stay with me. I never wanted them here. I kept the journal at home because they were not there and I just- didn't feel the need in writing down everything that I had done with you - to you.

Please talk to me. Please give me a chance to explain in person. To apologize. I owe you an apology, baby girl. I will get down on my fucking knees and beg for forgiveness if you will just talk to me. To let me show you that it's not a game anymore. Honestly it might have never been. I don't know. I just know that I hate myself right now, I hate that I hurt you and I hate that I can't pull you into my arms and hold you.

Talk to me, scream at me, hit me, I don't care. I deserve it. Just....please believe me when I say that I love you.

Dave

He stares at the email. Unhappy with how inarticulate he sounds, how badly he conveys his emotions in this. It's hard to try to write what he is feeling when all he wants to do is pull you into his lap and promise you with his kisses that you mean more to him than just a page in a trophy book. That he needs you to be happy. Dropping his head to his hand, Dave rubs his eyes, watery and red, and looks back at the email again. 

He knows you might just bin it. So instead of hitting send, Dave saves it as a draft and closes his laptop. He'll talk to you tomorrow in class.

*

The second you climbed into the uber you had blocked his number, not wanting to hear his excuses, not wanting to be suckered in by the man you know you love. The man you know could never love you.

You sent an email out to the Faculty supervisor advising that you didn’t feel Dave's class was for you and that you’d be dropping it from your timetable immediately. 

*

You began sobbing again as your uber pulled up outside your dorm, the driver shot you a reassuring look as you climbed out. 

You took your time approaching your building, not wanting to be back in the cold and lonely dorm room you had rarely stayed in the past few months. Only really staying when Dave had to speak to parents or had a faculty meeting that would be running late. 

It’s weird. That’s the first thought you have as you open the door to your room, it feels like home. But not the one you had made at Dave’s. The one you spent years growing up in, cold and lonely, too scared to make too much noise and too anxious to ever feel comfortable in. 

You trace the crappy wooden desk with your fingers, your bible, rosary and cross tucked neatly in the corner. Gifts from your parents that have since that been used as props in the depravity you played out with him.

‘What did I do?’ you murmur out loud as tears drench your puffy cheeks.

A week. That’s what you gave yourself, a week of no classes, a week of living off sandwiches and only showering when you couldn’t put it off any longer. Lying comfortably in your bed with your phone switched off and making no effort to contact the outside world, apart from when you switched on your laptop in midweek and ordered an insane amount of food from instacart to be dropped off outside your door.

You wondered if he tried to call, you wondered if he’d noticed his number was blocked. And then you started to wonder if he’d simply moved on to the next girl. That particular thought makes bile rise in your throat and threaten to spill out across your bedsheets.

*

Dave didn't sleep. Tossing and turning all night, he was on his phone every fifteen minutes. Checking to see if you messaged him, if he had missed a call. Several of his own texts pinging back as undeliverable since he was blocked. He had almost gone out to buy another phone to try to talk to you but decided against it. You wanted space and he decided to give it to you even though he hated it. 

He doesn't see the email until he is nearly ready to leave for campus. The Faculty advisor for the freshman class, your class, with an email title containing your name. 

Making him sit down and listen to his heart pounding in his ears as he clicks on the email. Disappointment, heartache and anger at himself swirling in the pit of his stomach as he reads that you are dropping his class, effective immediately. 

Shit. Dave shakes his head and snaps the laptop shut. Needing to talk to you, he stops himself from going to your dorm and beating on your door. He'll give you a week to calm down. You deserve it after what he's done.

*

A knock at your door pulls you away from the book you’re half paying attention to. ‘That was quick’ you think to yourself, assuming that it must be the driver dropping off the Oreos and Jalapeño Cheddar cheetos you had been craving. You quietly creep towards the door, and peer through the peephole. ‘Fuck,’ you mouth as you slowly move back away from the door.

An entire fucking week. It's how long it's been since you walked out of his house and of his life. 

Dave is fucking miserable. Hating how he keeps looking for you in class, despite knowing that you've dropped it. Deandra tapping on his fucking door during office hours and raising his hopes only have them die a swift death when her overeager and too cheerful face pops in the door. He's come close to canceling classes all week, but he would have to explain that to the department heads and what could he possibly tell them?

He's rearranged his house. Driving the two hours out of town to where he would take you shopping. Far away from the college and anyone either one of you could possibly know. You love window shopping and imagining. A swivel chair, one that hangs off a base and allows you to spin around completely had been your favorite and you often moaned about having enough money to buy it. Telling him in detail exactly where you would put it in his home. It now sits right where you wanted it. To the left of the table where he sits to grade papers. It lets him imagine you sitting there. 

Now, he's caved. Standing in front of your dorm door. Knocking quietly and praying - despite the fact that Dave York doesn't pray - that you will open the door and talk to him. He's not even seen you around campus and he's worried. Unable to ask anyone who knows you without making it seem suspicious, apparently both of you had been very good at keeping your relationship hidden. 

He shuffles slightly, reaching out and knocking just a bit harder, more insistently. Listening for any sounds of movement from within the small space.

You’re not sure if you want to open the door to slap his face or just smash your lips against his. Why is he here? And what more could he possibly want from me? 

You quietly creep back into bed, pulling the covers all the way over your head and fighting to keep the tears threatening to spill down your face at bay. This week has been filled with tears, anger, upset, reasoning and being unable to hide from the fact that you’re completely and utterly in love with a man who set out to ruin you from the second he saw you. 

And now he’s here, just a few feet away.

He makes himself look like an idiot. Several students study him curiously as he stands outside your door but they don't say anything to him. Still he waits, knowing that if he says anything, you won't open the door for him. 

Finally, another person comes up the call, bag in hand. Hustling with the energy of someone who is trying to get things done, they barely glance at him before they check their phone and look at the number on the door and drop the bag on the handle. Stepping back and taking a picture before turning and walking away at the same impatient pace. 

Of course, Dave is curious. Finding Oreos and Cheetos in the bag, he's miffed you aren't eating properly, but he's happy you are at least eating. Instead of staying, making you open the door to him in order to get your food, he gets the message. You don't want to see him. Sighing softly, Dave puts the bag back on the door handle, a little heavier with his own addition and turns to walk away - kicking himself for being responsible for all of this.

*

You’re not sure how long you stay hidden under your blanket, but the knocking had stopped at least fifteen minutes ago and the chime from the laptop had informed you that your delivery was outside. 

Slowly you sit up, before taking a deep breath and wiping your cheeks with the backs of your hands.

Eventually you take small steps towards your door, peering through the hole and seeing an empty hallway. You open the door and quickly grab the bag hanging from your handle. 

You empty the plastic bag over your bed and raise your eyebrow at a package of sugar cookies that you never ordered, cookies you recognize as being from the grocery store you two would go to out of town. Where he’d hold your hand and insist on paying for whatever ingredients you had loaded into the cart for the meals you’d cook.

You pick up the plastic casing and turn it upright and what you see makes your heart stutter. Your breath hitches and a fresh stream of tears spring to your eyes.

A polaroid clearly taken from his kitchen of the pink velvet swivel chair that you absolutely adored sitting in every time you went to that store. You can feel the plush material on your fingertips now. Two words written in sharpie on the white frame around the photograph ‘Come home.’

Confusion wracks your body, anger slowly joining it, ‘Why is he doing this?’ you murmur, ‘Is this just part of the game he seemingly loves to play?’ 

‘Enough is enough’ you think as you throw the cookies and the photo in your nightstand drawer, you are going to take a shower and you’re going over there to confront him. He will not hurt you anymore.

Dave hates waiting. It’s something he’s always known about himself but he’s learned it’s especially hard now. 

After leaving the cookies and the photo, he had driven home. Changed into comfortable clothes and started waiting. The blinds open and his phone in his hands at all times, he watches for any sign that you are willing to talk to him, to forgive him.

He waits. And waits. The light from the day fades and you don’t come.

*

The last two weeks had been miserable.

You had felt more determined than ever to go and face Dave, ready to listen to what he had to say and go on from there.

You grabbed your toiletries bag, and some fresh clothes and made your way down to the showers. Taking the time to freshen up, and think through what you were going to say to him. You’d grabbed the same yellow sundress from the first time you’d gone to his house, not realizing until you’d put it on. You fixed your hair and made your way back down to your room.

The sight of your door slightly ajar sent a shiver down your spine, you knew you had locked it before heading to the showers. ‘Dave?’ you questioned quietly before taking a deep inhale and pushing it all the way open. 

“Where on earth have you been?” your father bellowed from across your room, “We haven’t heard from you for over a week. You haven’t attended classes… We were worried sick.” You  had remained entirely still throughout his ranting and raving, him refusing to let you have a single word in as he went off at you. 

Your mother sat silently on the end of your bed just shaking her head at you repeatedly, “Your father is right,” she eventually said, “We didn’t raise you to be like this. We spoke to your advisor and he’s agreed to let us take you home for a few weeks, we have something important to discuss with you.”

“No,” you call out, “I’m not going… I can’t. I have things to do. I have class—.”

“You have to do what me and your mother say,” your father says with a scoff, “You have ten minutes to pack.”

Pleading and begging your Mother fell on uncaring ears, she simply walked to your door and waited on the other-side. Listening to you sob as you threw some things in a bag, including the cookies and photo from Dave. 

You decided you would text him that night, and arrange to meet up when you returned home unaware of the news awaiting you. 

*

“You want us to what?” you said in utter disbelief, “I barely know him.” 

A chorus of laughter filled the room as you looked across at the face staring back at you, the grin on his face mocking and slightly bored, “You’ve been in my bible study for six months,” he says nonchalantly, “Our parents agree that we would be perfect together.”

“I-uh, I—.” You attempted to get out a sentence but your father quickly cut you off. 

“To the joining of our families,” he said as the room erupted with cheers, and a ring was hastily shoved down your finger. 

In less than twelve hours you’d gone from being comfortably laid up in your college dorm to being dragged home and engaged to a boy you’d barely spoken ten words to. 

Stories were exchanged about how his parents had met at St Brennans just like yours and now you and Joshua. Tears spilled down your cheeks as they celebrated your impending union whilst acting like you weren’t there. Whilst pretending you weren't silently sobbing at the end of the table, because they were snatching your life from you. 

Over the next two weeks you had been taken for a dress fitting, the dress already chosen and approved by your father, you’d sat sheepishly in a cafe whilst they tested cake samples and your stomach threatened to spill its contents everywhere and you’d been given a date. July 1st.

Despite being an adult and able to make decisions for yourself, your parents had decided you still needed to be punished for disappearing for a week, so they took your phone. Locked it away in your father’s office and refused to give it back to you until the day you were going back to St. Brennans. 

Joshua had informed you that he would be driving you both back with a wink and you wanted to scream.

*

The drive back was as uncomfortable as you expected, Joshua had gotten into the habit of calling you ‘babe’ and it made you cringe internally every time. You couldn’t understand it, he was so comfortable being pushed into a marriage arranged for him, and so receptive to you being his wife without knowing you.

A twang of guilt built up in your stomach as he went on and on about the life he was expecting for you both, clearly excited to follow in his parents footsteps and you hated that you couldn’t relate. 

He thinks you to be this pure and innocent girl, one who lived to serve Christ but the reality simply couldn’t be further away.

*

Dave sighs, not even bothering to pull out his phone and check to see if you have messaged him. You've completely ignored him, refused to answer your door the six times he has gone back to your dorm to talk to you and managed to avoid him on campus. 

He needs to just accept that you want nothing to do with him and move on, but he's finding it hard to do. Which is wild considering he was already planning on how to end things when he met you. Starting a relationship that had a finite expiration date and now he was the one that was hanging on like a pathetic sap. Secretly, he believes he deserves it. 

The knock on his door makes his traitorous heart gallop in his chest, although he knows it won't be you. It will be Deandra. Coming once again to flirty and very obviously try to get closer to him. It's making him extremely uncomfortable. To the point where office hours are now taken with the door open when a student is in his office and there is a camera set on his bookshelf to record the interactions. He doesn't trust her and he doesn't want her to be able to say that something inappropriate happened when it didn't. Ironic considering what he has done in this office.

*

You check your emails the second you arrive in your dorm, plugging your phone into the charger and waiting for it to finally switch on for the first time in weeks.

**RE: Meeting with your faculty supervisor.**

You click the email and see the date and time, and groan out loud seeing you have less than 15 minutes to get to her office on campus. 

You slip on your shoes and grab your key, having no choice but to leave your still dead phone on your nightstand charging. 

The halls are busy, most classes having just ended meaning that the halls are filled with your peers spilling out to make their way to their next classes.

“Oop, sorry,” you yelp as you bump into someone, too busy checking the time on your watch to realize where you were.

Dave reaches out, reflexively taking the errants students' shoulders so they don't fall. His own apology dying on his tongue and all he can do is whisper your name. Shocked that you are here, his heart pounding and his mind racing - wondering why you are here now. He had been trying to get away from his office and now you are running into him.

Your hand instinctively comes up to your chest as you steady yourself, “Hi,” you breath out, unable to ignore the warmth that floods you after seeing him for so long, “I have a meeting with my fac—.” You begin to say, about to ask if he’d meet you for a coffee somewhere or maybe you could go for a drive to talk. And that’s when she bounces out from his office, a smug smile spreading across her cheeks as she sees you.

Dave doesn't even notice that you've stopped talking, that your entire body has stiffened. The sound of his office door closing doesn't meet his ears or register at all. 

You're wearing a ring.

You're wearing an engagement ring. It's not a purity ring. It couldn't be a promise ring. It's a solitaire, a pretty ugly one, if he were to say something. Marquis cut and a tiny chip of a diamond, but it's an engagement ring for certain. 

His heart shatters and it's all he can do not to grab your hand and rip it off your finger. To fling it as far away from you as he can. His vision blurring for a dizzying moment before he blinks and looks up at your face.

“Professor York,” you simply say, voice dripping with venom, “Deandra.” You look at him one more time before pushing past them both and making your way to see your advisor. Feeling the familiar sting of tears welling up in your eyes as you continue onwards.

Shit. Dave's eyes slip closed and he realizes what you thought you just walked into. He shakes his head and calls your name, but you don't turn around. Refusing to acknowledge him. Deandra moves up beside him and huffs, making him turn towards her in annoyance at her ruining seeing you again. 

"What?" He demands, refusing to be nice after she had ruined his one chance to talk to you. Before she had come out of his damn office, you had actually seemed happy to see him. 

"I'm just surprised that she's back." Deandra sniffs, staring after you unhappily. 

"Back?" Did you go somewhere? Did something happen to you? Are you okay? The questions swim in his mind but he doesn't ask them. 

"Yeah, her parents pulled her out for two weeks." She supplies smugly, like there's something wrong with you and she's obviously more superior because her parents haven't pulled her out. Dave wishes they would. "Joshua from the bible study group was bragging that he was getting engaged to her when he went home this weekend."

Dave's jaw clenches, fury flooding his entire body. You were being handled. Forced into a marriage your parents arranged for you to marry a good, 'Godly' boy. Something you had worried about to him while you were in his bed and he assured you wouldn't happen.

*

Your meeting was a disaster, you could barely concentrate as she handed you three weeks of missed assignments, three weeks of homework to catch up and read out a letter from an anonymous member of your bible study group about how disinterested you appeared to be. How your phone would go off and you’d make a lame excuse and practically run out of the building somewhere. 

She gave you some feedback from a few professors who had been pretty complimentary but made the same comments about your head seemingly being elsewhere else. And then she made a standoffish remark about you understanding where they’re coming from. 

You apologized about fifty times before she dismissed you and you carried the stack of paperwork you needed to catch up on. You weren’t to go to class tomorrow she had said but as she wanted you go concentrate on catching up.

The door of your room swings shut behind you as you throw yourself down on your bed, your phone has finally charged enough to switch itself on and you pick it up and start going through your notifications. 

A few missed calls from your parents as expected, some texts from the kids in your bible study group and nothing from Dave. Which should come as no surprise to you seeing as you blocked his number, but still stings.

‘Probably been too busy with Deandra,’ you grit out from behind your teeth.

*

Maybe marrying Joshua won’t be as bad as you think. Yes, you’ll probably end up living the exact same life as your mother, and you’ll never be truly happy. 

But you can’t hurt the way you’re hurting right now, if you never let anyone as close to you as you let Dave you repeat to yourself. 

You look down at the ugly ring on your finger and you sigh.

*

Dave's strides down the hall of the dorm room are filled with anger. Some students recognize him, skittering out of the way. Or maybe they just see an angry older adult and decide to vanish, but he quickly makes his way to your room again. You will talk to him. 

This time he doesn't knock. Grabbing the handle and growling when it turns in his hand. Pushing the door open to your room and stepping inside before practically kicking the door shut behind him. Making you jump out of your skin when he startles you.

You’re in the middle of an essay for your English Literature class, and the door flies open scaring you half to death. Dave strides in the room and lets the door slam behind him. 

“If you’re looking for Deandra, you’re in the wrong building,” you spit at him before he can speak.

He ignores the barb, knowing you won't believe him if he tried to tell you that nothing happened with her. Especially because of your jealousy before. "Is this what you want?" He demands, eyes sparkling with anger. "Really want?"

“What are you talking about?” Completely oblivious to the fact he’s seen your ring.

"Joshua." He spits the boy's name with the same venom that you had said Deandra's. Jealousy drips from his tone but he will freely admit that. He'd confess every sin to you if you would let him. "You're going to marry him?"

You feel your chest constrict as you realize he knows, “How did y—,” you begin to say before stopping, “Why do you even care?”

"Why do I care?" Dave repeats your question and chuckles angrily. "Why do you think I care, little girl?" He demands, stepping closer to you and it's still too far away for his liking. "I waited for you to talk to me, and you- you ran off and let mommy and daddy pair you off."

“Fuck you,” you spit back at him, “Some of us don’t have a fucking choice, Dave. You think I wanted to go with them? Have to sit there and listen as they discussed whether I’d ever been kissed before? Discuss my virtue like it’s the only thing that fucking matters? Have to sob silently at the fucking dinner table as they toast crappy champagne and celebration a union that I don’t fucking want. All whilst the man I lo—,” You shake your head at him again. 

“Clearly you’ve found your next participant, so why don’t you run along and find her.”

"I haven't touched Deandra." Dave hisses, scowling at you and the scene that you've painted of what has happened. It pisses him off and hurts him because he knows you were unhappy because of him. "I'm not going to touch Deandra." Or anyone else. He wants to say but you don't want to hear that. You aren't ready to hear it yet.

“Really?” you scoff, “Not as fun when they’re throwing themselves at you. But I'm guessing that’s technically what I did… Took the other months, didn't it? And it took me days.”

"Shut the fuck up." Dave growls, angry that you would talk down about yourself. He wouldn't let anyone say something like that about you, not even yourself. He shakes his head and glares at you. "Don't talk about yourself like that."

“Why not?” you say with a shrug, “Is that not what you would have written about me when you got bored of me and filled in your little diary of conquests.”

"Fuck this." Dave knows he could get slapped but he doesn't give a fuck. Surging forward, he grabs the back of your neck and crushes his lips to your desperately. Pouring every ounce of frustration and love into the kiss.

You hands float midair as he pulls you into him, his mouth covering yours as he kisses you deeper than ever before, part of you wants to push him off and tell him to fuck himself but a bigger part of you doesn’t, so you don’t, you let him kiss you like he needs it to survive. 

You finally pull away and repeat the six words you’ve said numerous times to your parents and hope that this time they don’t get swept away or completely ignore, “I don’t want to marry him.”

"You're not fucking marrying him." Dave promises you, his hand reaching for yours to pull that piece of shit ring off like he had wanted to earlier. Hating how he has to let you go, but this is important. 

He's gentle with your hand, sliding the ring off so he doesn't hurt your finger but once it's off, it clatters to the floor and he's dragging you back to him.

“You need to explain, Dave,” you say as you place your head on his chest, “You need to tell me why you did it.”

He closes his eyes, knowing that he owes you this. He owes you so much but he at least owes you an explanation. He takes a minute so he doesn’t just kiss you again. "Sit down, baby girl." He urges you softly. "I- I'll tell you everything." His hand slides up and down your back slowly before he lets you go.

You sit down on the bottom of your bed and rest your hands in your lap, “Tell me.”

There's symbolism in the way that Dave kneels down in front of you. Not only so he can look you in the eyes, but he is literally kneeling at your feet. Laying his sins bare in front of the woman he has wronged and hoping that she forgives him.

"You- you were right." He starts off, not willing to insult you by denying it. "I started this out with every intention of taking your innocence. Corrupting you."

Your hands tighten together and he hates the way your breathing hitches. "I- It's a thing- a kink, I guess. Taking someone innocent and pure, virginal and turning them into.....a slut." God, it sounds horrible when he says it out loud.

Dave doesn't touch you, sensing you would recoil if he tried right now. "So when you- when you showed me that you had a crush on me, I chose you." He takes a breath. "But baby, I- I need you to know that it didn't- it changed. It completely changed."

You squeeze your eyes closed, his words making you feel a little dizzy, “When did it change?” you ask, “What makes me any different from those other girls?”

He wants to tell you that it's the night he took your virginity, because that's when it started to shift. At least from what he can pinpoint. But you wouldn't believe that. You would think that he was just trying to say that your pussy was too good or something like that. 

"I don't know." He admits quietly. "I- I never went shopping with them. They never spent the night at my house. They didn't know where I live." He had made sure that there wouldn't be any dramatics brought to his home. "I didn't want them with me all the time. I didn't love them."

“You say that like you loved me,” you whisper back, unsure whether you’re reading between the lines, or if he just admitted to loving you.

"I didn't love you, past tense." Dave whispers just as softly. "I do love you. As in, I haven't stopped." He shakes his head and murmurs your name, "I love you."

“I don’t want to be here,” you admit to him, your hand coming up to touch his cheek, “Take me home, Dave.”

He had thought for a second that you would slap him. He would have deserved it. Your hand on his cheek makes him close his eyes, relaxing for the first time since you had fled his house so many weeks ago. Calling it home makes his heart skip a beat. Nodding, he swallows harshly. "Get your stuff, sweetheart. Whatever you want to bring." He won't assume you want him, he won't assume you are going to his home to sleep with him but he wants you to be comfortable.

You pack a few things, mostly just stuffing them on top of the stuff you already had packed from your trip. Dave picks up the pile of paperwork you need to work on and your laptop, as you bend down and collect the ring he had thrown across the room. Setting it on your desk with a little note simply saying, ‘I’m sorry.’

"Let's go, baby girl." Dave is impatient to get you home. Especially when you told him that Joshua was going to drop by to see how your first day back was when he got done with bible study. He wants to be gone because he will hurt the boy's feelings.

You follow him out the door, pulling it shut but not bothering to lock it. You want Joshua to get his ring back and anything of value is coming with you. You walk side by side with him down the hallway, your shoulder lightly brushing against his as you do so.

"I came by your room a lot." Dave admits as the two of you walk towards the exit. "I- I wrote you an email that night. Never sent it, thinking I would talk to you the next day in class. But-" He doesn't finish the statement, knowing you know what happened. He just wants you to know that he hasn't just forgotten you.

“Can I read it?” you ask as he holds open the door for you, “If you still have it?”

"I do." He follows behind you and looks around to make sure that your fiancé isn't nearby as he guides you towards his car. "It's saved as a draft."

You walk silently to his car, ignoring the confused looks from other students as he carries a stack of your things. He opens the trunk and you carefully place your bags in there and make your way to the front. Sliding in the passenger seat and waiting for him to drive you back to his place.

As soon as he has left the campus, Dave is handing you his phone. "Open the emails and go into the drafts." He has nothing to hide from you and it will allow you to read it while he's driving. More importantly, you would see when it was written.

You don’t want him to see you cry, but with every new sentence your heart aches a little harder, you’re still so unbelievably angry with him and you don’t know how long it’ll take for you to let it all go. “Why didn’t you send it? This was written that day, Dave.”

"Would you have read it?" He asks, looking over at you seriously. "Or believed a word I said?"

“I don’t know,” you admit honestly, “maybe, maybe not.” You look out the window as your complex disappears from sight, and you play with your hands in your lap. A small smile briefly landing on your lips as you get a flashback to the first time in his car. “You bought the swivel chair?”

"Stupid, I know." Dave huffs to himself, wishing that he knew what you were thinking right now. "I just- I needed to imagine you there. It- it didn't feel like home anymore."

“Did spending that much money help?” you say with a small giggle, “It's nice that you were thinking of me.”

"It didn't help, but I was hoping that you would come back and enjoy it." He hums, smiling at the sound of your laugh. He hopes that your good mood will help, since he's not done confessing. "There's something else that I need to tell you." He confesses, looking over you briefly before looking back at the road. "About all of this."

“What is it?,” You say glancing over at him, he’s focusing on the road a little too hard. Almost like he can’t bring himself to look at you.

“You remember all the pictures I took to show you what you looked like?” He asks. Of course you remember. After every filthy, depraved thing that he had done to you, he had shown you how beautiful you looked. Cum coating your face, your tits. The first time he filled your pussy with his ‘seed’. His view when you sat on his face. You bouncing on his cock. All snapped to show you how filthy you were. He loved every single one of them.

“Yes,” you sat quietly, “Why?”

Dave is quiet for a second, the words heavy on his tongue. “I kept them.” He confesses, wanting everything to be in the open. He doesn’t want anything else to pop up and it requires him to come clean.

You nod, not entirely surprised if you’re honest and you lightly tap your fingers against your knees, “Has anyone else seen them?”

"Never." Dave growls out, disgusted with the idea of anyone ever seeing you like that. "I never sent them to anyone or showed them to anyone but you. They were- they are in a password protected file on my phone."

“Okay,” you breathe out, “I- I am not surprised that you kept them. It’s okay. Thank you for telling me.”

He's shocked that you aren't upset. Looking over at you to gauge what you are feeling as he drives gives nothing away. "Do you want me to delete them? I will, I'll let you delete them, go through my phone to make sure I don't have them anywhere else."

“Did you take photos of the others?” you ask, that thought threatening to spill tears from you.

"N-no." Dave shakes his head quickly, unsure if you will believe him. "I never- the first time I took a picture like that was because you wanted to see it and I- it was perfect."

“I remember,” you say, and you believe him. He’d always made it clear that he’d never do anything that wasn’t specifically given the green light and you were confident that he would have had those rules with the others, so you don’t think he’d lie. If he had done so, they would have consented. 

“You don’t have to delete them,” you announce, “As long as they’re safe.” 

"Do you want to see them?" He asks softly. "I'll give you the password. So you can check."

“Yes,” you say, sucking in your cheeks, “I would.”

Dave gives you the password to the file after telling you where to go on his phone. He even gives you the code to unlock it since it's gone dark after you read the email, wanting to show you that he has nothing to hide anymore. The password is your birthday.

A small fleeting smile creeps on your face as he tells you the password. “Mhmm,” you hum, and then you slowly start to scroll the hundreds of photos.

Dave sighs softly at how well you are taking this. Silent as you scroll through the photos that had recorded practically every lewd act the two of you had done together. Most of them were taken in his house, but a few in his office. 

While you had been gone, it had been all he had to keep him sane, another the last two pictures in the album were his favorite. The first was a picture of you sprawled on his chest, fast asleep as you curled into him. The other is when he had to slip out of bed to pee and you stole his pillow to cuddle. Both of them made his heart clench although he hadn't realized why at the time. 

“They are great pictures.” Dave murmurs quietly. 

You hum in response, riding out the rest of the car ride in a comfortable silence.

*

It doesn't take long for Dave to pull into his garage again, happy to be home and he sighs as the garage door closes behind the car. "We're here." Dave murmurs, looking over at you and wondering why you want to be here. You haven't told him anything about what you are feeling or what you want to do beyond wanting to come here.

“We’re here,” you echo as you unbuckle your seatbelt and open the door. You walk around to the trunk and pick up your bags and he grabs your laptop, leaving the stack of papers in his trunk. You wait for him to start walking to the house before following him, unsure what you want to say, unsure what’s about to happen, but feeling glad to be back here.

Once Dave puts everything down on the table, he's running his hands down along his jeans nervously. "Is there anything else you want to know? Questions you have?" He asks softly. He's off balance right now, the dynamic has shifted and right now you have all the power.

“Not right now,” you say. The swivel chair immediately grabs your attention. He had placed it so close to where he marks his papers that he could reach out and touch you without needing to stretch at all. 

“I’m a little hungry,” you admit, still focusing on the chair.

"Food." He can do food. Nodding, he motions towards the chair. "Sit down and I'll make you something to eat, sweetheart." He tells you, turning back towards the fridge and stove. "I'll make you some breakfast." You love eating breakfast anytime of day and it would be easy to throw together.

“That sounds good,” you say, slowly walking towards the chair, brushing your fingertips across the velvet and then slowly lowering yourself down on it. Swiveling it so it’s facing Dave in the kitchen. You sit and watch him cooking, watching the way he’s focused, measuring the ingredients for pancakes so precisely and mouthing the method as he prepares the batter.

You haven't said that you want to be with him and there is a worry that you are stringing him along to make him twist in the wind for awhile before you tell him that he's fucked up too much for you to give him another chance. He tries not to concentrate on that. "Did you- why did you go home?" He asks.

“I didn’t have a choice,” you say honestly, “I was getting ready to come here. My parents had arranged for me to have time off of school. I tried to say no to them.”

Dave shakes his head, annoyed at your parents for meddling in your life. Taking away the minute freedoms you had since attending college. "I'm sorry, baby girl. I know you had to hate that."

“I had this big plan to come here, Dave, I had so much I was going to say to you. To tell you,” you bite down on your lip to suppress a sob, “I was ready to talk to you.”

"You can tell me now." Dave looks up from the pancakes to gaze at you softly. "Everything you wanted to say. I deserve it."

You look up at him and those big puppy dog eyes, “I was going to tell you that I’m more than just a clergyman’s daughter,” you feel the tears you didn’t realize had built up in your ears start to drip down your cheeks, “I was going to yell at you and tell you that I didn’t deserve it. But mostly I just wanted to see if you were truly sorry.”

"You are more than a clergyman's daughter." Dave will admit that easily. "It- there's also a religious aspect to my sexual appetite." He rolls his eyes and gives a slightly self deprecating sigh. "It has to do with that. I deserve to be yelled at. You do deserve better. So much better than me. But baby, I am sorry.

“I know you are,” you reply softly, “I know you’re sorry baby.”

"I- how much of the book did you read?" He asks, wondering what you remember about it.

“Not much,” you shrug, “Figured out pretty quickly what it was. And seeing my name and the amount of days…” You don’t want to finish the sentence, you simply shake your head and shrug again. Blinking away the tears still streaming down your cheeks.

"Are you ashamed?" He asks, knowing that it's a difficult question. "Of sleeping with me?"

“No,” you say as you stand up and take a step towards him, “No. I’m hurt that it happened the way it did, but I'm not ashamed.”

"I meant what I said." He rasps out. "I- it was always your decision. If you had- hadn't wanted to, I wouldn't have-" He shakes his head. "A few days, a few years - you're worth the wait."

“You would have waited a few years?” you say with a raised eyebrow, “Mhm.”

"Before you?" Dave shakes his head, admitting that he wouldn't have waited. He would have moved on. "No, I wouldn't have. But you? Baby girl, you just- you don't understand."

“I do,” you say quietly as you take his face in your hands, “It’s just gonna take a while for things to heal.”

"I know." Dave knows that you don't trust him, you shouldn't trust him. He closes his eyes at the feeling of your hands on him, grounding him and proving that you are real and here. "But you aren't marrying that twerp." He grunts.

“I’m scared,” you admit as you pepper the lightest of kisses on his lips, “I don’t know what’s gonna happen when my parents find out.”

"Fuck them." Dave growls, angry that they would essentially sell their daughter because that's what they were doing. "I won't let them affect you."

“I don’t want to think about it right now,” you mumble, “And I don’t want you to burn my pancakes.”

Dave rolls his eyes and huffs, turning back towards the pancakes to flip them to the other side. "Now who's bossy?" He grumbles.

“I learned from the master,” you say as you take a seat on the counter, “And don’t forget the chocolate chips.”

"The next one will be chocolate chip." Dave promises, moving over to the pantry so he can get the mini chocolate chips to add to the pancakes.

“I’m going to tell my parents tomorrow,” you say as you pop a handful of chocolate chips in your mouth and swallow, “Worst thing they can do is stop paying my tuition and get me kicked out and drag me home right? They can’t force me down the aisle.”

"They can't force you down the aisle if you're already married." Dave murmurs, plating up a pancake and measuring out the batter for the next one. The idea of you marrying that little asshole pisses him off and he won't let that happen. Nor would he let them control your life anymore.

“And who exactly would I be married to?” you ask, not completely believing what you’re hearing.

“Who do you think?” It stings, the knowledge that you had never even given the idea of a future with him. Hypocritical of him, but still.

“I’ve dreamt of it,” you admit, “Those nights when I was snuggled up on your chest listening to you snore. Me and you. Somewhere far from everyone else, a small courthouse. 

“I don’t snore.” Dave lifts a brow at you, smirking slightly when you roll your eyes at him. “Your parents have no control over me. And I don’t give a damn what they will say.”

“Dave,” you snort, “I’m pretty sure there’s a question you’re supposed to ask me, if you’re serious.”

“You want me to ask you now?” He asks, pointing at the pan. “In front of your pancakes?”

“Are you scared I'll say no,” you say before you whisper, “In front of your pancakes?”

“Yes.” Dave concentrates on flipping the pancake a little more than he probably has to. “I’m a lot older than you, I did a lot of things you shouldn’t forgive me for, some would say I groomed you.”

“Mhmm,” you say, “Some would say I waltzed into your bedroom and started to strip in front of you… old man.”

“You did strip in front of me.” Dave can’t help but smirk. “Spread your legs and begged me to fuck you, little girl.”

“I might need a refresher.” You say with a wink, “Hurry up with my pancakes.”

Dave growls and his cock twitches at your playful and bossy command. “So bossy. Going to spank you if you keep it up.”

“I think if anyone deserves a spanking here right now, it’s not me.”

Dave smirks and moves another pancake to the plate. “Are you saying you want to spank me, little girl?”

“If you don’t hurry up with my food, I might have to.” You sit as you reach over and pull the plate towards you.

Chuckling, he shakes his head and turns to get the syrup and the milk out of the fridge. “Eat up, little girl, I’ll make your eggs.”

*

You’re all snuggled up in the swivel chair, watching Dave mark a few papers before you yawn loudly, and he immediately turns to face you.

“Do you- uh, want to sleep?” Dave asks, setting down his pen and deciding that he is done for the night.

“Sleep sounds good,” you say with another little yawn. “You all done?”

“I can be.” Dave stands and starts shuffling the papers, stacking them on his laptop and turning to you. “Let’s go to bed, sweetheart.”

He stretches out his hand for you to grab, and leads you up the stairs to his bedroom.

Dave turns towards you once you are in the bedroom. Earlier, you had brought your stuff up here and he doesn’t know what you’ve done with it, but he doesn’t see your bag. Reaching up, he cups your cheek gently and leans in to kiss your forehead.

“Goodnight, baby girl.” He murmurs softly and steps back so he can go sleep in the spare room. He’s not going to push you and just having you under his roof is enough right now.

“Where are you going?” You ask clearly confused.

Dave frowns and turns back to you. “I- you want me to sleep here with you?” He asks, feeling like it would be the last thing you would want.

A small laugh slips through your lip, “You think I want to sleep in your bed without you?” You shake your head before running your hands over your hair, “Get into bed, York.”

“Shut up.” Dave blows out a huff and reaches back to shut the door to the bedroom. Just a habit of his.

“You shut up,” you counter back as you pull off your sweater, and start unbuttoning your jeans.

He smirks slightly, happy to see your spunk showing and he starts to undress. His eyes are fixed on you though, watching you like it’s the first time he’s ever seen your body.

You look up and see him staring at you, “Dave,” you murmur as you step out of your jeans, “Are you planning on sleeping in your clothes? Because I'd much prefer it if you didn’t.”

“I’ll get undressed.” Dave promises you. “Just admiring the view. I’ve missed it.”

“Yeah?” you ask softly, knowing it drives him crazy when your voice is dripping with innocence.

He groans, knowing you will see that he’s already half hard when he pushes his jeans down. “Yeah.” He rasps out, tossing his shirt aside and reaching for the button of his jeans. “A lot, baby girl.”

“Show me how much, Dave.” You whisper after you take off your bra and start to push your panties down your legs.

“Jesus.” He exhales roughly, his movements speeding up a hell of a lot more now that he has permission to touch you.

You lay down on the bed and slowly spread your legs, watching him palm himself through his boxers, “I want you to taste me.”

“With fucking pleasure.” Dave groans, quick to push down his boxers and he kneels on the bed. “I’ve missed the taste of your sweet pussy, tasting you cum for me.”

“Shut up and do it then,” you order as his hot breath ghosts over your thighs.

“Bossy.” He nips your thigh before he winks at you and lowers his mouth to your cunt.

“Don’t tease,” you beg as he places his mouth on your soft flesh.

He doesn’t. He gives you exactly what you want. Slow, thorough drags of his tongue through your folds so he can make sure he tastes every inch of your cunt.

Within seconds he has you squirming beneath him, lapping at you like a man starved as you moan his name over and over again, “please Dave,” you start to beg, desperate to feel release for the first time in weeks, feeling no shame in how quickly he has you on the edge.

You are still so sweet, so innocent and it makes his cock throb. Your body rocking down for more of his touch along with the breathless moans of his name. Dave dips his tongue inside you before curling up to suck your clit into his mouth. One hand letting go so he can push three fingers inside your tight little hole.

You gasp at the intrusion, the stretch overwhelming and simply incredible all at once. He curls his fingers up inside of you as his tongue teases against your clit, and you cum hard, taking the both of you by surprise.

Dave groans, pressing into you harder as the slick of you cum coats his fingers, wanting to make it so good for you. Absorbing all your sounds and basking in them.

“Dave,” you whine as his tongue refuses to let up, continuing to lick your bundle of nerves, despite your whimpering.

Dave just hums, eyes flickering up to watch you squirm. Your eyes flutter and are not able to stay open as you try to not push him away.

“It’s too much,” you whimper as he doubles down on his efforts, flicking your clit with his tongue and thrusting his fingers in and out of your heat and pulling your second orgasm from you with a smirk across his face,  “No more, I just want you inside of me.”

Dave grunts, unhappy that he can’t pull orgasms out of you until you’re a mess, completely melted into the bed. But he’s also aware of the fact that he’s getting a second chance right now so he lets go of your clit and kisses it, groaning at how slick his fingers squelch when he pulls them out of your pussy and shuffles to kneel between your thighs. “You want me inside you, little girl?” He asks huskily, wrapping his wet hand around his cock and slowly jerking himself.

“I need you inside of me,” you say as you wet your lips, watching him slowly stroke his cock. “I want to feel you deep inside of me.”

“Fuck.” Dave doesn’t tell you the truth. That if he fucks you again, he’s not letting you go. Instead, he nods, shifting so that he is hovering over you and smirking as he slides the head of his cock around your clit, teasing it until you whine before he lines himself up.

“Don’t tease,” you beg, desperate to feel him inside you again for the first time in weeks. “I need you, Dave. I need this.”

“I’ll always give you what you need, baby girl.” He vows, slowly pushing his hips forward and dropping his head down to hang between his shoulder blades as he groans out your name.

The stretch of him always makes you wince, a little jolt of pain that promises so much more pleasure. One of your hands comes up to touch his face gently gripping his jaw as he fills you to the hilt. “Make me feel good,” you whisper as you pull his face down towards yours, needing to feel his lips on top of yours.

It’s the best order that he could ever be given. Normally, he would take it to heart, snapping his hips into you so brutally the bed would hit the wall. This time is different. This time the tempo of your slow, languid kisses is the same tempo of his hips. In no rush for it to end, Dave makes sure you feel every second of his cock dragging through your walls as he pulls back, only to fill you again just as slowly.

His slow pace is almost dizzying, every drag of his cock notches against that little spot of paradise inside of you, and you feel consumed by him in the best kind of way. All of your senses are occupied by him, the taste of his mouth lingers on your tongue, the warm inviting scent that is so uniquely Dave fills your nostrils, the soft grunts he gifts to you with every loving thrust flow into your ears, his eyes bore into yours and you feel his soft touch everywhere. His lips capture yours again and the second they part you’re spilling the words that have lived on your lips for what feels like forever, “I love you, Dave.”

Dave freezes. He knows you love him, he’s seen it, he’s felt it. But this is the first time he’s heard the words out of your mouth, directed towards him. 

He lowers himself to his elbows, pushing his arms under your back and gathering you close as he pushes deep. “Marry me.” He begs against your lips right before he kisses you with enough passion to steal his own breath.

“Yes.” You say against his plush lips, before you feel your walls begin to contract around him, your orgasm plummeting towards you both as he rocks himself in and out of you.

It’s perfect, you’re perfect. For the first time in weeks, Dave feels completely at peace, even as the demands of his body mount. Kissing and praising you softly while you tremble underneath him. Panting into your mouth when you are urging him to cum.

“Fill me up.” You say as you feel his cock start to throb against your walls. In this moment you know that you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be, and despite the fact you have a lot to work through, all you feel right now is safe.

“I love you.” Dave groans out, pushing deep and emptying himself into you, physically and spiritually with the most intense orgasm he’s ever had.

“I love you, too.” You say as you press your lips to his, “I really love you.” He moulds his lips to yours again, whilst wrapping his arms around you, his softening cock still comfortably nestled in your heat as he just holds you. Kissing you with as much passion as he can muster as you run one of hands up and down his spine and gently hold the back of his head with the other.

Dave shifts to his side and then his back, bringing you with him as you both roll over and you sprawl out over the top of him. Like his own personal blanket and he doesn’t want you to move.

You nuzzle your face into his neck as he reaches down to bring the blanket up over you both and you hum a sigh of contentment, “You feel like home, Dave York,” you mumble, voice thick with sleep as you drift off comfortably in his arms.

*

The two of you are tangled together, sleeping peacefully and would have continued to sleep if it weren’t for the sudden and demanding beating on the front door. Making you and Dave both jump and look around for a second before the doorbell starts peeling out incessantly as whoever is at Dave’s door demands to be acknowledged.

“Please don’t tell me you have a secret wife, I don’t know about,” you mumble as you watch him jump out of bed, and then you hear a voice you’d recognise from anywhere.

The banging on the door gets more incessant and your father’s voice bellows out over and over that he knows you’re in there.

“Shit, that’s my parents” you hiss as Dave pulls on his pants, whilst studying your face, “How the fuck did they find me so quickly?”

Dave shakes his head, wondering if they have tracked your phone. He doesn't say it outloud, but he had been tracking you with your permission, but who is to say they didn't do it without you knowing?

"Do you want to stay here?" He asks, knowing he will deny you are here and demand they leave if you want him to.

“Yes,” you answer almost instantly, “I want to stay with you.”

"No baby, I mean do you want to stay up here and I'll get them to leave." Dave clarifies, knowing that you might not be up for a confrontation with your parents.

You nod as the sound of your dad's banging gets louder and louder, “Please.”

Dave nods, leaning down and kisses you quickly before grabbing his jeans and rushing out of the room as he pulls it on. "I'M COMING!" He bellows as he thunders down the stairs and snatches the door open with the angriest scowl he can pull on his face. "What do you want?" He demands harshly, making the man at the door - your father - abruptly step back at his greeting.

“We are here for our daughter,” your dad announces, before straightening his spine and huffing out his chest, “And we aren’t leaving without her.”

"Your daughter?" Dave looks behind him and scoffs. "Don't see anyone but me here." He turns back, his eyes narrowed. "So I suggest you leave."

You hear your father bellow your name again and you sink under the blankets. 

“We have it on good authority that she left with you yesterday,” your dad challenges back, “And we aren’t going anywhere until she’s coming with us.”

"Lower your fucking voice." Dave barks, furious that your father would disturb his neighbors. He shakes his head, knowing that playing dumb won't work, so he switches tactics. "Last time I checked, your daughter is an adult and can go where she pleases, with whom she pleases."

“Our daughter is engag—.” Your dad begins to yell as Dave takes a step towards him. Seizing her opportunity, your mother immediately pushes her way through the small gap Dave leaves in the door. 

She screams your name, the shrillness of her voice sending a shiver throughout your body, “Get downstairs now, do not make me come up there.” 

You groan as you kick the blanket off of you and roll out of bed. Bending down and grabbing Dave’s shirt from yesterday. You hear Dave yell as your father barges his way into his house, and starts bellowing your name. Slipping on his shirt, you slowly make your way down the hall and to the top of the stairs.

Dave huffs, pushing past the older couple to stand at the bottom of the stairs. A silent sentinel between you and your parents. He can see the abject horror on your parents faces and doesn't give a shit as long as you are okay. "You need to leave." He demands again, crossing his arms over his chest.

The sound of your fathers disgust hits your ears like a tonne of bricks falling right in front of you, “You need to leave,” you echo, “Dave’s right.”

"Dave?" Your mother's voice cut through the air like a knife. "Your professor? You call him Dave? You're sleeping with him!" Her face is a mixture of horror and shame, looking at you like you have killed her.

You make your way down the stairs and stand next to Dave, “I am an adult,” you say, your voice shaky as not sounding anywhere as brave as you’re willing it to, “And I want you to leave.”

“You’re a whore,” your father immediately counters back, “Dressed in his clothes… Sleeping in his bed.”

His words feel like a bucket of ice water being dumped on your head, and you look over at Dave, his face contorted in anger and his hands balling up in fists.

You reach over and grab one of his hands, “Get out of our house.”

You are the only thing holding him back from tossing both of your parents out of his house on their asses. He knows you love them still, despite trying to control your life. "We are going to the school." Your father hisses, righteous indignation pouring off of him in stinking waves. 

Dave barks a laugh and shakes his head, smirking angrily at the other man. "No you won't." He sneers. "To tell them that two consenting adults are sleeping together?" He asks, aware that you could possibly be tossed out for violating the morality oaths the school has. Firing him would be more difficult since he has tenure, but not impossible. Still, your parents won't risk others finding out. Their pride was more important than their daughter. 

"You would have to tell them that your daughter isn't pure. That you failed as a Godly example. People would find out, people always talk. Wonder what kind of house you ran." He taunts, moving his hand from under yours and he wraps it around your waist, pulling you against him protectively. "And you will not talk to her again until you apologize for calling her a whore."

Your mother takes a step towards you and shakes her head, “Go upstairs, get dressed and get in the car,” she orders, ignoring Dave and narrowing her eyes on you, “We can tell Joshua and his family that we found you in a hotel, and this little mistake—.”

“No,” you yell back at her, “You can call me a whore. You can get me kicked out of the college I didn’t want to go to in the first place, but you will not call my fiancé a mistake. The only mistake I’ve made was not sticking up to you both sooner. So leave. Go back home and go tell everyone that your perfect little daughter is nothing but a filthy little whore.”

"Fiancé." Your father bellows in anger, puffing up again. "Your fiancé is the boy we picked for you. Not this, this - man!" He scoffs. "He doesn't want you. He wanted to taint you, to get you to sin. Spoil you for your husband. The girl told us about him."

“The girl? What girl?” you ask, “What are you talking about? And again. I am an adult. I don’t need you to pick a boy for me.”

"You are our daughter!" Your mother shrieks, spit flying from her mouth as she screams at you. "We decide what is best for you, you disobedient child!"

"The girl. The one that said she was in Bible study with you." Your father answers, ignoring his wife's outburst.

“Deandra?” You say with a laugh, “The girl that’s been trying to fuck Dave since the first day of class?”

You turn to face you Mom and shake your head, “Yes your daughter, but not your goddamn property. Just leave. Now. I’m not going with you. I’m not marrying Joshua and I’m not spending the rest of my life too scared to speak up anymore.”

Dave is proud of you, immensely proud of you for standing up for yourself. Looking over at you with a smile and nod of encouragement before he looks back at your parents. "You can leave now and we will talk later on when you've calmed down. Or I will call the police and have you arrested." He tells them, his tone flat and serious. "Your choice."

“If you don’t come with us now,” your father says after pulling your mother back to his side, “You will never be welcome in our home again.”

Dave squeezes your hand and you can sense he’s about to snap but before he has a chance you give your dad a little shrug, “I was never really welcome in the first place.”

“You truly are a disappointment,” your father says as he grabs your mom's hand and leads her towards the door, “When he wakes up bored of you and you have nothing and nowhere to go, don’t come running back to us.”

“Jesus.” Dave strides to the door, making sure that your parents are barely on the other side before he slams it and locks it. Turning back to you with a look of compassion and sympathy as you stand there on the last step of the staircase, looking lost. “I’m so sorry, baby girl.” He murmurs, rushing back over to you to pull you into his arms.

The tears that you expect you start welling up in your eyes, don’t come, instead a wave of relief floods through as you nuzzle your face in his neck, “I love you, Dave.“

“I love you.” He wants to assure you that none of what your parents said will come true. To tell you that you have nothing to worry about, but he will do that later. Right now, he just holds you. Needing you close and letting the relief of you staying with him course through his veins. There had been a moment where he thought you would give into them.

You rest your forehead against his relishing in the feeling of his arms wrapped around you, before whispering “Chocolate chip pancakes?”

He chuckles softly, knowing that you need something comforting right now and he will give you whatever you want. “Pancakes sound perfect, sweetheart.” He kisses your forehead and pulls back to look into your eyes. “Extra chocolate chips.”

[Five Years Later]

The sound of your twin daughters giggling happily fills the air as Dave dumps another bucket of sand in front of them, whilst insisting that he’s going to build them a castle fitting for his little princesses. 

A smile spreads across your face as you finally feel ready to reply to the email that has been sitting unanswered in your inbox for days. 

You rest your free hand on your growing bump and the sun immediately reflects off the gorgeous ring on your finger. You open the camera app and snap a photo of the bump housing your unborn son, your ring, the back of your girls heads and a gleaming Dave staring up at you with the most loving smile splashed across his face. 

You attach the photo and simply type back,

Hello, 

I have all the family I could ever need right here with me, so no, no you can’t meet my children. 

I couldn’t protect myself from you both for so many years, but I will make sure I keep them safe from the hatred you spew under the guise of religion.

Despite everything, I wish you both well. 

Goodbye.

*

Looking up at you, Dave is once again struck by how serene you look. Perched on a lounger with your toes in the sand with the umbrella overhead, you are basking in the warm sun without being overheated whilst looking like an angel in your white bikini. His son on display underneath your breasts. 

Five years since that horrible night where your parents disowned you and left you with Dave, he hopes you’ve never regretted a day of it. 

Marrying quietly at the courthouse, the two of you had very deliberately started your life together. Dave taking another position at a different college, one that didn’t hold bitter memories for you. Your own education now firmly in your hands and he had meant what he said when you would do what you wanted. 

The girls were born three years ago, his princesses, and he adored coming home to you and them every night. Now, the next one - your prince -  is on the way to complete your little family.

Dave has everything he’s ever wanted. Almost. He sends you a small, dirty wink before turning his attention back to the girls. Later tonight, he’ll corrupt you just a little bit more.

[elusive-roetato]

Hi I took a SEQA class last fall and learned about comics

Here are some photos of my notes that aren't super helpful on their own, so I decided to explain things further with visuals from comics I drew for or following this class

The writing on that blue sticky note is hard to read, so: Panel Hierarchy Size - Big = Important Color - What "pops out" is important Elimination of BG - Discards extraneous detail Elimination of Frame - Remove border = More important

Also, some things not included here that I remember being told:

Don't overload your speech bubbles! My professor told us to imagine that each bubble is something being said in one breath. Obviously there are no concrete rules, but generally, if you'd take a breath somewhere, break it up into a new bubble or even a new panel. You don't want to make the audience read massive clumps of text.

Vertical panels will force readers to slow down. If you want them to linger on something, you can make it vertical. But remember, if you have two panels stacked on top of each other and another one next to them, readers are used to moving one direction continuously, so don't make them jump back and forth from the top panel to the side to the bottom one. Go top to bottom, then to the side.

This is a big one I see people struggling with a lot, but it's REALLY jarring if you mess it up. You want to arrange speech bubbles to be read in order. Make it very clear what the correct order is. The hierarchy typically goes like this: Top to bottom, then left to right (if you're in the west). If you have a character on the right and their speech is meant to come first, put their bubble higher in the panel than the other characters', I beg of you.

ANYWAYS. More stuff below the cut. I won't be describing each illustration in ALT text (I'm sorry) but I WILL transcribe all my handwriting there.

Here's a comic that net me my highest grade of any assignment that quarter, which was very surprising because my apple pencil broke right before I could start it and I ended up being unable to get a replacement until the day it was due, after which I drew for 10 hours straight to get it in on time BUT THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT.

Moving on.

Here are two pages from unrelated comics that both feature the Aspect to Aspect transition! One for suspense and one for comedy.

Here's some use of Moment to Moment transitions, again for varying purposes.

I'm not a teacher, so I'm sure I could have done this better, but hopefully this can at least offer some help to someone

[itstheghostofmypast]

After Midnight

HongJoong x (F)reader

(Reader is Jongho's cousin)

Summary: Late night coffee trips and splattered emotions. Secrets kept by intention and secrets that were just words unspoken. How long could he cling onto the feeling without letting it slip, or would facing it become a bigger issue than how he'd often look at her loving eyes and trip?

Photo credit: to rightful owner : https://pin.it/7aIO4Lg

"Can you please stop being over dramatic, we won't do anything." Wooyoung declared from across the room, laying on the sofa as he tossed his comic book aside. Yunho, who was sitting at the other end of the same couch nodded, "You realise we aren't perverts."

"Hyung, please, I am begging all of you do NOT do anything weird." Jongho sat on the floor, in front of Seonghwa who was extremely confused, but patted the younger one's head nonetheless.

"Of course, I know that!" The youngest whined, "But you guys get so excited and- and SAN HYUNG BREAKS STUFF AND YEOSANG HYUNG IS SO CLUMSY-"

"What is this about anyway?" Seonghwa asked, looking around for their 'captain', who had asked him earlier in the day to gather all the boys for he had someone to introduce to them.

"Basically, remember San wanted to do a barista bit, so manager-nim got it arranged, the owner is this loser's cousin and he's afraid we're going to do something to mess it up", Mingi declared, not sparing a glance from his phone.

"It's not like we'll do anything on purpose," Wooyoung muttered causing everyone but the maknae to chuckle. "Listen to me, she just started her business and she's the family's favourite and if something happens to-"

"Calm down." Seonghwa placed a hand on his slumped shoulder, squeezing it lightly as he gave him his signature smile, "Hongjoong and I'll make sure nothing of the sort happens, okay?"

"Speaking of Hyung, where is he?"

☕

"You ready?" He placed his hand on hers, eyes still on the road, giving it a light squeeze.

The thing is, she wasn't nervous, but she knew he was. She had already met his parents and his brother, in the six months of being together and other than him assuring her about being liked by them, she was sure about their positive feedback of her as well. So, why was he so nervous about introducing her to his friends?

Though Hongjoong claimed to be a calm and expressionless individual, she knew he was far from it. There were many things that he'd do that would give away his feelings, from the way he'd bounce his leg every time he was worried, to how he'd randomly smile at himself when he was happy, to how he'd initiate physical contact when he was nervous, such as now. He was never a handsy person, which is something she loved about him, for he'd never initiate anything unless he got her approval first. The first time he held her hand was after they had been dating for three months, the full-on fingers locked together. He was nervous that day as well, standing in front of his parent's door as he waited for someone to open the door, praying the night would go well.

So right now, their hands were in the same position, gripping onto hers as if he was afraid she'd disappear, which is why she thought distracting him would be a good option.

"Joongie?"

"Hmm?"

"You know Ateez?" She felt how sweaty his palm got at that, glancing at her as he licked his lower lip, "Yeah? What about them?"

Frowning she shook her head, "No as in, do you know the group? Have you heard their music before? They want to do a show at my cafe and I agreed, I do need the money but I was wondering, if you're free that day, you could be there with me?"

He parked right in front of the gate of a house and looked at her. "Sometimes I forget how out of touch you are with the world." He pointed out, causing her frown to deepen as he chuckled, leaning closer to peck her.

"I'll be there." With that he was out of the car and was opening her door for her, holding onto the bag of pastries she had made for them before closing down her cafe.

Still sceptical, she stepped out before linking her arm with his, her nerves getting to her as she stared at the house. "We- I mean...what if they don't like me and you and I have to break up and--" she whispered only to be cut off by his firm, "They will like you."

☕

The eldest got up when they heard the doorbell ring, "Listen, he had to introduce us to someone, so everyone please be nice okay?"

"Hope it's a turtle." Yeosang whispered to himself, earning a look of confusion from Wooyoung who also muttered, "What is wrong with you?"

"Did you all listen to what Hyung said!?" Jongho asked, trying to bring back the topic needing everyone's attention, this is why he asks HongJoong to do things, they listen to him. Speak of the devil, he turned to the door when he heard their captain, "Everyone, I'd like you to meet-"

"Jongho?"

"Y/N?"

"Eh?"

"Eh?"

"Eh??"

"Eh???"

"You...know him?" Hongjoong cut the session of their confusion, staring at the confused faces of everyone else too.

"We're cousins."

"WHAT."

"Hyung's already made moves on your cousin, bro." Wooyoung snorted, high-fiving San whose boisterous laugh echoed across the walls, the faces of the two cousins reddening, for different reasons.

"HYUNG WHAT THE HELL- Y/N WHY WOULD U DATE SOMEONE YOU JUST MET?"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?"

"Jongho, I've known her for more than half a year." Their leader rubbed his temples, "If this is because of the cafe thing, then I assure you, I did not know the cafe owner we had been in touch with was your cousin, who also happens to be my girlfriend."

"Wait..." She pulled away from him to glare at him, "You're an idol- wait." Turning to look at Jongho, "You're part of Ateez?"

"Yes, get with the program sister." He snapped only to apologise as soon she raised an eyebrow at him, but it was HongJoong's death glare that had him apologising twice.

"I am." He cleared his throat, before introducing each member, "This is Seonghwa, that over there is Yunho, next to him is San, Yeosang and Wooyoung on the couch and of course, you already know Jongho." Placing the pastries on the coffee table he turned to look at her, for she had not moved an inch from the doorway, "I...I'm sorry for not telling you earlier when we started dating, I thought you really were joking about not knowing any other group after EXO or VIXX, but I soon realised how out of touch you were with pop culture...so I...didn't want to ruin it.' he mumbled the last part, only for her to stare at him then aimlessly nod.

"He's told me a lot about you" Seonghwa offered, placing a hand on her shoulder, "please have a seat," he glanced at Wooyoung and Yeosang who got up to give her space to sit.

"How about you guys talk and I'll go make some tea." Seonghwa motioned for Hongjoong to follow and the younger one knew he was going to get an earful.

Y/N sat there staring at her hands, he had kept it from her since they were together. Exactly who was she in a relationship with? What else was he lying to her about? Is that why when she told him she doesn't like the concept of dating pro-idols, he avoided her for a week? Was she some form of mere entertainment-

"Y/N?"

She looked up at her name being called, she wasn't too good at learning the names of strangers she'd just met, but she could tell San's face apart from all of them, his name did reflect his physical being.

"Yes?"

"Did you make all of these?" He asked with a boyish smile, "No wonder Hyung was obsessed with your cafe."

She couldn't help but chuckle at his comment, watching everyone nod in agreement, except for Jungho who was still sulking on a single seater, arms crossed, glaring at Y/N.

"Yah, stop being rude to our guest." Wooyoung scolded, flipping the lid of the box and showing the abstract logo, "How on earth did you not know this was from your cousin's cafe."

"Because I don't go prying into people's lives." He huffed, side-eying Y/N who rolled her eyes.

"Kinda think it was hyung prying into your life..." Yunho mumbled before grabbing a tart only to stop when he heard her gasp.

All worried eyes looked at her, even her cousin.

"YOU'RE RICH, YET YOU JUST GAVE ME A FRUIT BASKET ON MY BIRTHDAY?"

☕

"I thought you said you've told her." The eldest began as he placed the cups in a tray, staring at the water boil in the kettle, he knew if he made eye contact with the leader, the younger one would lose all confidence and quiet down.

"I um...I tried to, many times I swear, usually something would come up and remember when she said that thing about the idol? I couldn't just take a risk, not after she told me she really really liked me, and I tried telling her three days ago too, but she was so busy with what she called a new venture and in the car ride today she told me it's with Ateez!" He argued, whining as he sat on a bar stool, laying his head on the marble countertop, feeling the cool sensation against his warm, buzzing forehead.

"So, what will you do now?"

"I don't know...I do like her-"

"Then tell her- no, you should have told her from the start." he sighed, staring at the steam slowly begin to seep out of the spout of the kettle.

HongJoong was about to respond but the loud noises from outside caused Seonghwa to sigh and motion for him to go check it out.

Stepping into the sitting area he saw Jongho on the ground, curled up in a ball wincing every time he got smacked with a cushion, thrown by none other than Y/N.

"What's going on?" he asked only to meet the glare of his girlfriend who ignore him and sit back down frowning.

Yeosang just patted his shoulder and muttered, "Jongho may have crossed a boundary. Also, we'll be in our rooms, call us when...everything okay...or at least when the tea is ready."

With that the others followed him out, Yunho dragging a whining Jongho by the ankle. If HongJoong wasn't scared of his relationship, he would've laughed at the sight. The room was filled with awkward tension, a million questions running through his mind, followed by the scenarios he assumed would play out. He was the leader, he was supposed to be good at communication, but to some extent that skill did not cross over to his personal life, restricted to only their professional industry.

So he stood there staring at the floor, hands by his side, wondering how to approach this, without hurting her or at least by not worsening the situation. Glancing at him she realised he must be off to his usual internal battle, that's the first she had noticed about him. However, he would just freeze in place, vividly having an internal monologue with himself, turning it into a debate.

"I'm sorry, we're closed for the night," she said as she twisted the key to lock the glass door, her eyes meeting with dull orbs. She could see the electric blue hair peaking from under a beanie, college students were weird these days. No, their parents were, her parents never even let her dye her hair to a lighter shade, let alone bleach it.

"I" Pulling out the key she turned to him completely, waiting for him to continue his statement. Only then did she take in his appearance, bigger than her, but smaller than the usual students who drop by, dressed in all black, covered with a giant black coat, the academic look of defeat completed by the backpack slinging off his shoulder.

Hongjoong had gone through possibly the worst day of his life. He had gotten up to the sound of the members fighting in the kitchen, which was very rare, especially if it was San arguing with someone, said someone being Yeosang. He knew the boy was patient, but under the immense pressure of the comeback, everyone was slowly cracking and it could only take so much for Yeosang to do as well. He would constantly remind the members that the boy has his limit too, and pushing him to it would be bad because while the quiet one was extremely understanding, his tongue was sharp enough to slice any man, woman or child in half. And that had happened,

"Hyung why not?" San had argued, about something extremely stupid.

"because I don't want to, just because you guys yell doesn't mean I'll always listen," he mumbled back scrolling through his phone.

"It's one backflip! Do you think I won't be able to catch you, you're already so small and-" his words were cut short as Yeosang slammed his phone on the counter and glared at San, "Small? I'm not small you giant man child, I am not a toy for you to toss around, go bother someone else."

"Yeosang..."Seonghwa sighed, noticing the frown present on San's face, he knew the younger one wouldn't answer back, just bottle it up.

"What? What Yeosang? I am sick and tired of this nonsense, everyone has a limit!" uncharacteristic volume of his voice startled everyone, the younger ones staring at their breakfast as he looked directly at Seonghwa, "You can't start a fight or throw an insult and expect me to always shut up and take it!"

"That's enough..." Yunho mumbled, placing a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it lightly as he noticed his lower lip trembling, "No!" he slapped his hand away, "You all say whatever you want! And I just have to listen to it?! Why?"

"Hyung we aren't against you-" Jongho was about to continue but stopped when he met the icy gaze of Seongha- shit.

"You're not the only one here Yeosang." his words were sharp, with no warmth to them, "You don't want to do something- fine. But we're all under some kind of stress." he hissed, earning a scoff from the younger one, made the others gasp in fear. No one, not even HongJoong had scoffed let alone responded to Seonghwa when he was angry.

"You got a problem, Kang? You take it up like a man." the screeching of his chair echoed across the kitchen as he stood up with a force that scared Yunho enough to come in between their glare, begging the older with his gaze, "H-hyung come on, this isn't us. We're all just a little worked up." he looked at Wooyoung who for once looked scared as hell, "Y-yeah, let's all just apologise to each other." he aided his older friend and gulped when San shook his head staring it at his lap, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Oh look, big baby can start shit but not apologise?" Yeosang was practically shaking in anger at this point, he knew he was being rude, hurting San, and disrespecting Seonghwa, but if he was hurting then so would everyone else.

"What did you say?" Seonghwa shoved Yunho aside only to stop as his gaze locked with someone outside the kitchen. He let out a sigh before sitting back down, glancing at Yunho who looked at him with fearful eyes, slowly nodding at him. It was when Yunho sat down that others including, San looked up and Yeosang to craned his neck to look back and saw their captain. His giant glasses were at the tip of his nose, magnifying the dark circles under his tired, puffy eyes. He looked more tired than the rest of them, hw also looked more disappointed and upset than the rest of them.

Entering the kitchen he looked at the mess before shaking his head, going over to the counter to get himself some coffee, waiting for them to feel his presence. That's what he'd always do, just sit there or stand there stand in silence observing them. Two reasons; firstly he wanted them to realise their mistakes and secondly, he needed time to form words that were supposed to diffuse the situation.

"So, I guess I overslept through this," he said, back leaning against the counter, holding the warm mug of coffee in his hand as he stared at them. "I'd ask who started it, but I don't care, tell me, who wants to end it."

"I'm not going to, it's not even my fault," Yeosang muttered playing with a fork.

His eyes moved to San who looked at him before lowering his gaze and shaking his head.

He let out a sigh before downing his coffee in one go, placing the mug on the counter, "Fine. I'll go first." he said staring at them, "I'm sorry you guys have to work so hard to achieve your dreams."

"Hyung..." San mumbled but was cut off by HongJoong, "I'm sorry you all are so stressed and worked up, I wish I could take that from you all, but I can't no matter how hard I try. But if there's one thing I'm not sorry for, it's your crappy attitude, and I don't remember ever encouraging that we come at one another in the hardest of times."

Mingi looked at HongJoong, knowing how he was one of the people here who had to face the heat from all ends, someone who would cover for them blindly, no questions asked. So it is natural for him to be disappointed in this situation, given it involves the two people who fight the least.

Everyone thought San would be the first to apologise, but when Yeosang spoke up, even HongJoong was surprised, "I'm sorry...San, I shouldn't have lost my temper, but I'm not doing a back flip." he said looking at the boy who as staring at his lap before turning to the eldest and taking a deep breath, "Hyung, I'm so-"

"It's fine" Seonghwa cut him off, "Just...be careful next time, ya know." he gave him a small smile before everyone looked at San who sniffed.

"San? Do you have something you wanna say to Yeosang?" HongJoong asked, really in no mood for this to continue.

He was about to ask again before a choked sob left the big boy, causing them all to sigh in defeat, they knew once he'd reached the point of anger he'd just break down and cry himself to sleep. Usually, they'd let him, but HongJoong wanted him to apologise to Yeosang, so it would be fair.

He called out for the boy again but stopped when Yeosang got up, presuming he was going to leave, but once he walked over to the boy, a small smile made its way to HongJoong's face.

Sighing Yeosang patted the younger one's head, mumbling, "I forgive you...and you aren't a man child...though you are annoying sometimes." the younger one pulled him into a bone-crushing hug, whining out apologies into his shoulder, Yeosang wheezing out its okay, please don't crush me to death.

After that, HongJoong told them to take the day off and that he handle the manager himself. With only a mug of coffee in his system, he had gone to the studio, explained and begged the manager to let the rest take a day off, and in return, he would work on their album in the studio. To his luck, he was allowed to do so.

Unfortunately, he had started working at around, 10 am and by the time he felt that his body was demanding proper food and rest, he had realised that it was past midnight. Hence he had run out of the building to look for anything to eat, to kill his hunger and the banger headache that ran around, screaming in his skull.

He had recently been told by Bang Chan about a new cafe, where the owner was relatively young but paid no mind to celebrities or anyone else, just asked them to have a good time and the coffee was a blessing itself. This is why when he finally made it to the shop, lady luck was once again not on his side.

She was closing up and although he wanted her to listen, he had no real words or energy left to ask - beg- her to open the shop again, just for him, just this once.

"We open at 9 am, you can come by then." she gave the kid a tight-lipped smile, noticing how he never continued his statement or moved.

She had no plans on entertaining a brooding college student at this hour, hence, she was almost ten steps away when she heard a low but very loud growl. Slowly turning around to lock eyes with him, he quickly bowed embarrassed as hell, standing up straight to leave but his stomach was quicker than him.

A stiff giggle escaped her lips as she looked at the embarrassment behind his eyes, the rest of his face was covered by a mask but she could tell by the reddening of his ears that he wanted the earth to swallow him whole.

"Alright, here's tart and here's your coffee, now," she frowned at him with her hands on her hips "This is not a healthy meal, young man, nor do I open up for students in the middle of the night. So, eat up and go home, and don't tell your college-" she paused when he took off his mask, and beanie, eating, no swallowing down the food, "Highschool? Either way, high schoolers shouldn't be out t this hour." she continued to berate him, no more concerned about him being a customer but him as a child. She remembered her cousin pulling shit like this, staying up late at night and for her to help him with his homework before class.

"And which school allows you to dye your hair-"

"I'm 24 years old by the way."

"It's unreasonable- I- sorry what?"

It was then that the two learnt something about each other. He was older than he looked and she loved to nag. Neither found it a problem after a week of him showing up at this hour- which was reserved only for him.

Hence, much like that night she saw him staring at her, well actually he was in thought. It didn't take long for her to figure out that it would usually be her who would address the elephant in the room, him being more of an introvert. Lucky for her, her ambivert personality made it easy for her to deal with just about anyone.

Patting the place beside her she looked at him with pleading eyes. "Wanna...talk?" she muttered, although still a bit upset.

Sighing in defeat he went and sat next to her, placing his hand on hers, unlike how they made fun of him for being small, he was always glad to know that she was smaller, her hands were a good size smaller than his, which is why he loved holding them.

"I know...I should've told you." he sighed glancing at her, only to find her staring at him with full force. That was another thing about her that he had to learn the hard way. The days when he decided to ditch her when she had shown her displeasure towards idols and dating such.

He had td Seonghwa, who had suggested perhaps telling her, to which he argued with the "She's too headstrong- it's like...convincing Jongho to lose a game so Yunho doesn't feel bad."

So, naturally, he had decided to not go there anymore, or at least tried to. For three months he had been a regular 1 am customer - no- a friend, a potential lover, he says potential because he could see the way her cheeks would be dusted with pink when he'd compliment her baking, or how she'd avert her gaze every time they'd lock eyes for longer than 5 seconds. He was ready to dive in and tell her about his job, himself, and his dreams.

That is until she told him how she was not into pop culture, her cousin being in some idol group was hectic for everyone and stressful, she had seen the elders in her family stress over him. She wasn't into the fandom wars too, music should be enjoyed, not be fought over.

"So, like...no band or group?" he asked taking a sip of her new variation of the coffee of the day- reserved just for him.

"Well, I used to be obsessed with EXO and...for some time with VIXX but, that's about it."

"You don't even know which group your cousin is in."

"Nope, don't care, punk owes me a decent birthday gift though."

Swallowing the lump in his throat he smiled at her comment, no longer interested in telling her about anything. To him, she was a peaceful, pure, pretty little girl, if she was truly happy not knowing things like these, then there was no way he was going to drag her into it all.

That's why he had decided to not go there anymore. Even when Bang Chan had texted him, asking if he liked the place, he said it was 'okay'. Truth be told it had been a week since he had met up with her, let alone call her- he had been ignoring her texts too. It had been going weirdly okay, it had been a week, no other member but Seonghwa knew about his secret friend- ex-friend and much to his surprise the older hadn't pushed him into meeting up with her again.

He wasn't going to go to her, yet, he stood in front of her cafe, staring at the dim light that was on, it was 00.58 am. Two more minutes and he'd step into the cafe- why? Simple.

For once he was free before midnight, for once he was going to go to sleep before midnight. Flopping face down on the pillow, he was almost gone to meet the sandman when his phone buzzed. Assuming it was the manager he squinted at the bright screen:

☕: Hi, I just wanted to apologise if I've said or done something to upset you. I know you aren't responding to me, which is fine, but I need to know if I should move on and forget our friendship. Tonight's the last night the cafe will remain open till 1 am.

(00.15)

That's all it took for him to go rushing towards her, no way in hell did he ever want her to think this was her fault, let alone apologise for something she didn't even do. It's not like she knew he was an idol, nor did she ask before they developed feelings for one another.

01.00 am

Taking a deep breath he walked into the cafe, closed the door behind him, and went to the table at the corner, nearest to the counter, where he saw a cup of coffee and a new pastry on a pretty plate.

Sighing he looked around before sitting down, waiting for her to come before beginning to eat, like he usually would. And just like usual the door kitchen doors opened and she came out with an empty tray, frowning. This was the first he had seen her frown, the first time he had seen a small crease between her eyebrows and a small pout replacing her usual smile.

Did she not want to see him today-

"Oh, you're here?"

Never mind, she just didn't see him sitting there.

Wordlessly nodding he gestured for her to sit down, he was going to do it tonight. Tell her the truth, so the ball would be in her court. He had enough happening on this side of the field to be dealing with this too. He liked her, he really did, he enjoyed knowing someone who was disconnected from his bustling world of stardom. One could also say he was truly inspired and somewhat intimidated by her straightforward personality and way of life. He'd usually ponder for hours before saying anything to anyone, she'd take 2 minutes, not that she was brash, but she was honest. There were many things she'd do that would remind him of Jongho and it somewhat scared him.

But he was ready this time, he was going to do the same thing she would always do, tell the truth.

Glancing up from his now empty mug to meet her burning gaze. He flinched and tried to pass a cheesy, heart-stopping smile, but he got nothing in return. Weird, fans would usually love it.

"Are we friends or not?"

No, they were not friends, he didn't want to be just friends with her.

"No."

She looked at him for a second, taking in his small rejection. She'd be lying if she didn't feel sick to the core, for almost a week she was waiting to see him. So desperate, she wasn't even sure if it was platonic anymore, but that made it worse. Never had she felt the urge to be around someone, that too with someone who barely spoke, often did the listening and then just ghosted her.

Taking in a deep breath she slowly nodded, feeling the dejected atmosphere settle around her. Perhaps she wouldn't even open the shop tomorrow-

"I want to be more."

His words echoed across the empty shop, only then did she realise he had moved right in front of her. Pulling her up to stand, cold hands cupping her warm face as he looked at her with love wrapped with guilt.

He didn't know why he had blurted out either of the things he had just said, but all he knows is as soon as he saw the defeated look in her eyes, he decided to not tell her about being an idol- perhaps it was him being selfish, wanting to experience the love that was not bound to his career, or maybe he pitied her, for falling for someone who had been lying to her, or maybe, just maybe, he had realised that it would have become difficult for him to pull through without her, especially when he had shown up as soon as the message of parting was delivered.

"I'm sorry." he whispered turning, "But, please try to understand, when you said...the idol thing, I did try to pull away but." Moving closer she continued to look at him with eagerness, wanting him to continue, she knew it was better for him to let it out of his system.

"But?"

"But, I couldn't" and just like that it was like they were sitting there at the cafe. Back to that very night at post 1 am, staring at each other, him confessing to her as if his life depended on it. Alone, together. He cupped her face again, just like that day, licking his lips as he glanced at hers, never understanding why he thought kissing her was better than using words to express himself.

If Wooyoung would even get a whiff of this then he'd never let it die, demanding something stupid like "Kiss me to convince me Hyung."

"Will you keep staring or say something?"

Snorting at her words, a surge of confidence ran through him, as he raised an eyebrow, "Impatient aren't we?" Squishing her cheeks he pecked her pouting lips, "I was scared you'd leave me. I...was...a bit selfish I guess". Smiling at her glare he repeated the gesture, short and sweet pecks, using them to punctuate each statement;

"And I am truly sorry for it."

"I know you're mad at me, and you have every right to be."

"I just didn't know what to do anymore."

"I did want to tell you, each day, but each day I felt my fears grow worse."

"What if we broke up?"

"What if you begin to hate me?"

"I couldn't... I didn't want to risk it."

"For that I am sorry. But I will never be sorry for falling in love with you."

With one last peck, he pulled away, all confidence deflated as he sat back up, staring at his lap again. Two things were bothering him now,

a)would she forgive him?

b)is Jongho his ideal type?

"You...love me?" she whispered touching her lips that were still warm from his antics as she stared at the wall in front of them. Her face flushed at this thought, covering her face with her hands as she let out a muffled giggle before quickly turning to meet his confused stare.

"You do? Really?" she asked holding his hand in hers, shaking him a bit as he chuckled nervously, "Not how I wanted to confess, but yeah- do you?" he asked, trying to read her positive expressions over and over so he could calm down his insecurities and fears.

"To the moon and back."

His ears perked up at that mumble confession, eyes widening at the sight of her shying away after saying that out loud. But he pulled her back, arms wrapping around her frame like a rope as he pulled her closer, slowly resting his forehead on hers, glancing at her glossy eyes then lips back to her shy and pure eyes, then closed his own, relishing in the feeling of pure bliss of being this close to her, body and soul.

"EW HYUNG GET AWAY FROM HER!"

The two flew miles away, at the opposing ends of the couch. Faces flushed, both eying the floor like it was the prettiest thing in the world. Neither spoke a word and Jongho stomped inside the room and sat between the two. If she wasn't embarrassed about being caught by him, she would've smacked him on the head. She was the same age as HongJoong but she was older than this idiot. On the other hand, HongJoong still couldn't get over this giddy feeling of her reciprocating his feelings, his fingers were digging into his pants as he smiled to himself like an idiot.

"Glad to see everyone's happy." they turned to the door frame where Seongjwa came in with a tray, tea and cups atop. Thebothers followed in as Wooyoung winked at HongJoong who rolled his eyes and leaned forward to look at Y/N who was still staring at the floor before, a blushing mess before she turned to Jongho and poked his side earning a squeak from him, "Move."

"But!"

"👀" he stopped when he noticed how almost everyone was side-eying him, causing him to whine and get up. As her cousin was out of view, her eyes locked with a smiling HongJoong- he looked a bit too happy, leading her confidence to falter as she cleared her throat and turned to face the rest.

"Here." Yeosang smiled at her, handing her a cup, "I'm glad you aren't a turtle."

She took the cup with a thank you before raising an eyebrow, mumbling a 'what'?

"He thought hyung would bring a turtle," San interjected from across the room as he picked up two pastries, much to Yunho's displeasure.

"But we're glad you aren't a turtle" Wooyoung chimed, winking at HongJoong, "But shall we discuss PDA rules, so Hyung can keep his hands to himself and so Jongho doesn't lose his mind?"

Before the older could react her laughter interrupted them, she covered her mouth trying to contain herself as she shook her head, turning to smile at HongJoong, with a knowing smile, resulting in him giving her a pleading look and shaking his head.

"He's BLUSHING"

"AWW HYUNG YOU'RE ALL RED"

"DOES THIS COUNT AS PDA TOO?"

She laughed along to their teasing, glancing at HongJoong who grew redder with each comment, this was his world, his safe place, and he trusted her enough to bring her here.

While they continued to make fun of him amongst each other, they didn't notice her moving closer to him. She placed a hand on top of his, only for him to flip it, so her palm was facing him, locking their fingers together. This was the only form of PDA everyone should have been worried about because as simple of a gesture it was, it was the most intimate thing they'd do.

"Why do I feel like this wasn't a good idea?" he whispered to her, earning a chuckle, "It's okay, 1 am coffees are still reserved only for you." she smiled back at him, before turning to see how they had moved onto teasing Jongho who was hiding behind Seonghwa as his savior.

"Thank you," he muttered out of nowhere, unsure of what he was thanking her for, but the squeeze of his hand made him sigh in relief, leaning back and watching it all unfold, liking how everything had turned out better than he had expected it to be.

"Y/N save me!" Jonghoncalled out to her as she got up from her place, HongJoong having an amused smile plastered on his face, knowing her intentions.

Jongho looked up at her with expectant eyes, everyone else stopping their ministrations at once, only for Mingi to burst out laughing as she stopped by the coffee table, grabbed a tart and went back to sit next to HongJoong, "Once, this is over, how about I show everyone Jongho's baby pictures."

"Y/N NO!"

"YES PLEASE!" They all yelled, getting worked up and messing with the maknae. HongJoong patting her back, too giddy and relaxed to let anything bother him at this point, at least for the night.

A/N: Okay, so I hope ya'll like it. Ateez will be the death of me, I'm sorry. I can not. If you like my work, I'd be glad if you want to join my Ateez taglist.

[carefulfears]

I saw you tagged that photo of Mulder, Krycek and Scully as “I’m so fascinated by them”; can you talk about that? I don’t know if I’ve given too much thought to their dynamic before and I’m curious as to why you like them as a trio

anon, i want to walk you through a scenario. you’re a 29 year old medical doctor teaching classes at quantico after having been separated from your first assignment at the fbi. you miss your partner. you’re giving morbid lectures and nearly crying when a student says you sound “spooky” and arranging covert meetings at the watergate hotel.

one day, your ex-partner reaches out to ask for your help on a case! you’ve been waiting for this for months! you practically begged to autopsy a body covered in sewage waste and mutant worms for this!

he comes to see you about the case, and your face falls as you realize that he’s brought with him a new partner. “this is alex krycek, we’re working the case together,” he says. standing next to this barbie doll looking motherfucker (whose hand you pointedly refuse to shake).

your wary “trust no one” friend, who accused you of being a spy when it was your first day on his assignment, has seemingly taken to this new ally. they’re carpooling and saving each other’s lives in train stations and venturing into hostage situations without telling you. (“sounds like your new partner is working out…must be nice not having someone question your every move,” you tell him cheekily over the phone).

in a split second, a broken window, a mountaintop- your life changes forever. three months of missing time, and you come back to find a reopened office and an FBI agent without a partner; that hand you refused to shake participated in your violation, then disappeared without a trace.

it isn’t long before he’s back: one, two, three gunshots fired. a father. an apartment wall. a sister.

(though i don’t know if scully ever found out that krycek was there when her sister was killed)

in a moment of quick thinking and sweaty desperation, you break up a fight and trade a bullet in the deceiver for a bullet in your partner’s shoulder; less than a year after introduction in your autopsy bay, you save both lives.

over the years, he’s the shadow you can’t quite shake. when your partner makes his way to hong kong or russia, it’s not you that goes trailing after.

you do follow his tracks into a dark apartment, ask him, what are you thinking about? listen to him tell you about destiny. fate. the “inextricable relationships” of our lives.

when he changes his tune, suddenly willing to follow leads he had admonished you for suggesting, you could swear you heard russian translation.

(i know scully doesn’t know that krycek kissed him)

office fires, nanobots, and air force base abductions later, you strategize over chinese takeout and pizza. you stand at the head of the table, your partner two people removed, the russian to his immediate left.

perhaps it would be too much to ask, after the funeral, to grieve free of threat. nonetheless, there’s leather around hospital corners, broken vials in the garage, a seat taken at the bureau when you still don’t have one to share.

three more gunshots, the spy dies and you give birth on the same day. it’s colder without a shadow, though you can’t say you miss it.

you stand in a court of law and can’t help but notice, your partner looking over his shoulder.

[damagedintellect]

Trafalgar Law x reader

💌 Fake it till you make it: Chapter 9  💌  

Summary:  To avoid an arranged marriage set up by Doflamingo, Law needs to bring home a girlfriend during the Christmas break and you just so happen to be a theatre major in the same dorm at One Piece University. What could possibly go wrong?  

Tropes: College AU, Fake Dating, Idiots in love

💌 Word count: 4,531 💌 <= Previous Chapter | Next Chapter =>

It had been a few days since you got back from Dressrosa and the news of Law’s engagement had spread across social media like wildfire. It was posted all over click bait channels and anytime either of them made a public appearance they were seen together. You stopped looking at the photos after seeing the first few. Once you cleared your head and your eyes it was painfully obvious to you by the expression on Law’s face that he didn’t choose to be there but it still didn’t explain his rash behavior. You spoke with the rest of the gang about it in the morning since you had calmed down after seeing the surgeon last. If not for your own sake than for Corazon’s. There’s not much anyone could do without some sort of leverage in this situation so it was best to wait and gather as much information as possible but that was proving hard to do. There was nothing you could do without someone on the inside and with Corazon’s condition it was nearly impossible since no one else has a family in the same social circle. Sanji was your best bet and he seemed to be slowly chipping away at Pudding’s facade but who's to say what her true feelings and intentions are. It’s not like anyone knew who she was before everything happened anyhow.

The reasoning for the engagement was still a mystery from her side as well and you’re not going to lie it's starting to look like both Law and Pudding hate each other's guts. Which was odd considering your first few interactions together seemed like she was trying to steal Law away from you. The media doesn't see it that way. The articles always talk about how sweet and romantic young love is but the look they give each other, to you looks like they're on each other's last nerve. Bepo, Shachi and Penguin have been in frequent contact with Law since that night but he was generally a private person and some things never change. Luffy still wants to kick Doflamingo’s ass and has mentioned that no matter what the plan is he intends to do it regardless. The prospect of him going through with it scares everyone monumentally. After Nami's old landlord, the Crocodile incident and the government trying to revoked Robin's dual citizenship Luffy was already batting a hundred taking on big name corporations. Despite Luffy prevailing at each event, the chaos he created stressed everyone out severely which was why they were all terrified. Everyone except for maybe Zoro, he was just as rash as Luffy when it came to these kinds of things.

It all made your head spin. Being logical in this regard just left you more and more confused. Things still didn't add up from your point of view. There was no motivation from anyone or well none that made a lick of sense other than Doflamingo being an asshole just to be an asshole. Even then it still begged the question as to why this was his course of action. Sabo found it an interesting topic to discuss and you second that opinion because you can't see Law being good at running a toy empire. Sugar would definitely be a better choice for an heir. Sure Law was smart but he wasn’t into business or the industry as a whole. You couldn’t even imagine him dealing with kids since he didn't have the patience to be in pediatrics.

Speaking of patience, you were still seething over the turn of events but part of you was almost relieved that you could tell that Law was just as miserable. Or at least you hoped he was miserable. It was hard to say. Bepo,  Shachi and Penguin are your only sources of information and they're not sure how much you wanted to hear about your technical ex. Personally you were still pretty upset and being given all this reassurance of Law’s self-sacrificing nature almost hurts more than being dumped out right but there was no use crying about it anymore. You had already agreed to meet with Bon Clay to work on a set for the bachelor party. If anyone could get him to talk it was you. The voice in the back of your head was screaming for you to take a page out of Luffy’s book and just beat the information out of Law yourself but you were better at dancing than fighting. Although nothing could have trained you for how exhausting learning pole dancing could be. You admired Bon Clay immensely after your first practice. It wasn’t that hard to pick up thematically but the execution was a different feat of its own. In order for you not to raise any suspicion with being involved in the bachelor party you practiced on campus. It turns out that the campus already had a dance hall with poles installed. There’s a lot of misconception with the world of pole and pole dancing but it’s an incredible full body workout and a competitive sport. In the end you weren’t perfect but with each day you were getting better at it. Your mind was so preoccupied with it that you almost forgot that you had agreed to be Pudding’s maid of honor.

She texted you wanting to meet for lunch to discuss your so-called “duty” as maid of honor. Nami and Robin offered to go with you but you waved them off. You needed to go alone so you could get to the bottom of this once and for all. You were running out of time and you had to do something. Pudding had requested you meet at a small cafe on campus run by the culinary majors. You had always wanted to go but money was an issue, you scowled, that doesn’t matter now. It ticked you off beyond belief but a few hours earlier you had received an email that someone had wired you an exuberant amount of funds. It was under the Donquixote name but you could only assume that it was Law actually sticking to his word that he would pay you for your services in Dressrosa. It made you feel uneasy because on one hand, DAMN YOU'RE WORTH A LOT but also you are not quite sure if you should be proud of that. Furthermore, what a lame way to say it’s over. When you told the boys about it, Penguin only shrugged and showed you the text he received. There was a chance he was trying to take a stab at Doflamingo, although in the end it made you roll your eyes. Genuinely you could not understand what was going through the surgeon's head.

As you waited for Pudding you ordered some tea. She managed to show up by the time it arrived. "Were you waiting long?" She asked as she leisurely ordered, smiling like nothing had happened between the two of you. You added on a few pastries for the fuck of it before answering her. "I was, days in fact. Actually scratch that, it's more like weeks isn't it." You planned on giving her an earful. If you were going to suffer as her maid of honor you were at least going to get something out of it. Pudding only leaned back in her chair grinning at your response. "Look at you, you did notice. You should have said something."

You folded your arms across your chest, god the audacity of this bitch. "If you recall I did, you knew Law was my boyfriend."

She clicked her tongue at you "Well I was supposed to marry him more than six months ago but he ran away before even meeting me. Do you know how bad that's deemed for someone of my status?"

You scoffed "Big whoop, he stood you up. By the looks of it he did you a favor." You pulled out your phone sharing the best pictures displaying their obvious disdain for each other. "What happened to that clingy lovey dovey act you had at new year's. Aw was acting too hard for the pastry princess." you mocked in a pitying tone. You were going to sass the hell out of Pudding. Hopefully the more buttons you pushed the more information she’d spew just so she can have the last laugh. It wasn’t a perfect plan but it seemed to be working so far.

"Watch yourself. (Y/N), I can ruin your career before you even have a chance at life." She took a sip of her drink. "If you must know, originally I planned to make him fall in love with me and then break his heart but I miscalculated."

You rolled your eyes looking at your nails trying to be smug as fuck. "And you are telling me this because?" You drew out the last syllable rolling your eyes.

You could see you struck a nerve by the way she almost faltered but she cackled smiling almost maniacally. "I'm going to make his life miserable the same way he made mine and you can do nothing but watch. With front row seats too!"

At least that answers one question. You kept up your act brushing her off. "Cool and why would I care?"

"You might be a good actor but even you can't hide the fact you do love Law" she twirled her fork around before stabbing into the strawberry shortcake she ordered “It’s sickening really watching you pine after him.”

"Again and? I never said I didn't and you're one to talk, you have a crush on like Sanji of all people. So why does it matter?” That seemed to catch her off guard as she choked on her tea. She was too flustered trying to defend herself that she didn’t notice the pure reaction of shock on your part. You weren’t really trying to take a dig at Sanji, Sanji’s a great guy but he gets really weird around women at times. Regardless you were mostly joking, making fun of the two for hanging out all the time since meeting. “You’ve gotta be kidding me” you stare at her waiting.

She coughed trying to regain her repose “A-absolutely not! I-I’m just using him! Like you he’s just another pawn.” she paused to wipe her mouth with a napkin as dignified as she could. "Besides that's not what we're here to discuss." She handed you a thick three ring binder that has definitely seen better days. It was a faded pink suggesting its age, covered in stickers, flowers, hearts, and in big bold cursive lettering it read "Pudding's dream wedding planner."

She cleared her throat, diverting your attention from the book. Pudding almost seemed embarrassed blushing lightly as she tried to delegate you new tasks "Memorize everything in there and make sure things run smoothly. We have a dress fitting tomorrow and I've already picked out a day for the bachelorette party next week." You flipped through the pages of the moodboard style scrapbook. She must have been planning this since she was a kid. It had pictures of her big family with some of them crossed off presumably of who she didn't want to be in attendance. Favorite flower arrangements, songs, colors, cake designs you name it they were in there. The only thing that was oddly empty was the page titled bachelorette party. She must have seen you question the blank page because her posture shrunk ever so slightly inwards.

"It's traditional for the maid of honor to plan the events for the actual party itself. I invited Law's sisters and I was hoping you could invite Robin and Nami. It's okay if they say no. I understand I just don't want to invite any of my siblings."

You were surprised Pudding almost felt human in that moment right before she laid down a whole laundry list of things she absolutely detested and would rather die than part take in. You rolled your eyes "That doesn't leave a lot of options left. At this point I should just rent the Baratie and a karaoke machine and call it a night." Astonishingly she didn't hate the idea. Sanji must have told her about the place because she didn’t ask a lot of questions regarding the establishment. Conveniently all you had to do was send a quick text to Sanji and everything was arranged. Pudding checked the message before you sent it to make sure you didn’t pull any funny business. Little does she know you sent a second message while you pretended to put your phone away. You’ve heard that it’s common to book a stripper for this kind of event, instead you asked Sanji about the possibility of being a sexy bunny girl. As expected his response was something akin to “I can do a sexy bunny butler take it or leave it.” You only wish you could have seen his reaction to the message in person. You’re not sure why you’ve decided to put effort into your role. You could have easily put her through the ringer but it seemed to be more entertaining this way.

It turns out that when Pudding isn’t deciding to be a bitch she can actually be a decent human being. You ended up talking more about nonsensical things after everything was said and done. Had you met under different circumstances you might have actually been friends. Which brought up a good point skimming through the planner it didn’t seem like she had any. She definitely didn’t talk about any either but that’s not your problem. Personally your upbringing was also pretty shit but you didn’t take it out on others but c'est la vie. At least you got something out of the meeting. Although you were not sure what to make of the big picture just yet.

—

The next morning you were relieved to see Shachi, Bepo and Penguin getting ready to leave for Dressrosa. Interestingly enough their suit fittings overlapped with your dress fitting. Which meant that Law and Pudding were scheduled to have fittings at the same time. It was odd because you thought it was bad luck to see the bride in the gown before the wedding but it seems the place you were going to specialized in doing both fittings at the same time to make sure everyone matched. Apparently the owner of the place was a good friend of Giolla. Luckily they were already going otherwise you would have had to find your own way there and that would have been boring. This means you get to catch some extra sleep on the way. You could also mentally prepare for whatever bullshit awaited you.

That little voice in the back of your head still wanted to punch Law in his stupid brooding face. While you were known to act on impulse occasionally you were more concerned with not letting your emotions get the better of you. Law’s sisters were the other bride's maids and you were aware this was a set up. Pudding already revealed that she wanted to ruin your life as well as Law's so at this point you can't let her win. You wonder how Law’s going to react as you close your eyes and drift back to sleep.

—

On the other hand Law stirred from his slumber when he noticed an unfamiliar presence in his room. He woke up with a start as the entity whipped the curtains open blinding him as he tried to see who would disturb him. No one has bothered him since Corazon’s admission to the hospital. Everyone knew he didn’t want to be bothered and he's made it abundantly clear. Doflamingo was the only one who has recently pestered him but he usually only does so during the evenings. He frowned when he saw Pudding by the window. Law really wanted to roll over and act like nothing happened. Although he should be concerned that his family would just let Pudding into his room without his permission. At this point nothing really surprises him and he doesn’t know how he feels about that. He grumbled musing his hair before putting his hat on “Why are you here?”

Pudding jumped slightly not realizing the surgeon woke up “Am I not allowed to be here?” she smirked playfully as she rocked back on her heels “I would have thought my fiance would be happy to see me.” They both glared at each other for a moment.

“Let me make one thing clear. We might be getting married but that doesn’t make me your friend nor do I want to be. You are a nuisance and I have no obligation to entertain such an idea.” Law pulled himself out of bed to get ready for the day “I may keep up public appearances but outside of that I sincerely don’t give a shit what you do.”

She wanted to point out that he clearly had not been doing a good job but instead went for a better insult. “Wow, Do you kiss (Y/N) with that mouth?~ Here I thought you were supposed to be a gentleman.” She smiled wide and it reminded him of Doflamingo.

He frowned “Cut the crap, your childish facade doesn’t fool me, just tell me why you're here so I can move on with my life.” He started getting out of bed making it, almost hoping she would just leave him alone.

“Ugh, I really don’t know what she sees in you but whatever. Our fittings are today or did you forget.” Pudding leaned against the wall still looking out the window.

"I didn't forget, as I said before I don't care.” He pulled out some clothes from his dresser. “We don't have to arrive together, it's not like we scheduled a publicity stunt." He already told Bepo, Shachi and Penguin to meet him there as long as he made it there at some point no one could say anything about it. He's been putting in the bare minimum and hasn't been scolded yet. Not that it would change his demeanor. He's just fortunate that Doffy hasn't made any more threats for him to change his current behavior. Still he can't afford to let his guard down.

Law dressed into casual clothes. He was going to be trying on suits for a good portion of the day so he might as well be comfortable while he still could. He didn't indulge in any more of Pudding's banter as he left her to follow him out. His sisters were waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs playfully teasing him making snide remarks about one thing or another. Law could already tell he was going to hate the experience all together.

As they arrived at the location, Law's phone rang giving him a reason to stay outside. He wanted to prolong this as much as possible. It wasn’t an important call but he pretended it was making the scammer on the other end of the line confused. He hung up once his sisters and Pudding entered the building. He decided to go for a walk. The girls were most likely going to take longer than he was anyway, what's the point of waiting around for them to finish. He also wanted to prove a point by showing up late. Law doesn't like being told what to do.

—

Bepo, Shachi and Penguin were lounging around waiting for Law while you sorted through Pudding's wedding binder. You might as well make yourself useful while you wait for everyone to show up. You had shown the seamstress the styles that Pudding selected and were helping pull some possible dresses that fit the look Pudding wanted.

When you turned back around you were jumped by Baby 5 "(Y/N)!!! I've missed you!" She hugged you tight as she nuzzled into you. Sugar, Monet and Pudding were close behind waiting for their turn to give you a hug. As Monet went in for her hug she whispered into your ear "Law might be off the market but I'm free if you're interested." She winked at you as she pulled away. You blushed unsure if she was joking or trying to pull a fast one on you. She had a devilish grin as she walked by which didn’t help you figure it out in the slightest. Sugar was too busy eating grapes but she still smiled and waved at you while Pudding was looking at the dresses you picked for her.

"These are gorgeous. I don't know which one to try on first!"

A little part of you took pride in her comment which made you realize, where was Law? You looked over at Shachi and Penguin as an assistant talked with Bepo they both shrugged at you. It wasn’t your problem so you sighed and turned your focus back to your fitting. Pudding wanted the bride's maids to be in a light lavender dress that was short in the front but longer in the back. The style of the bust she didn't care that much as long as you all agreed on one uniform style she was fine letting you guys make the decision. You're not sure how long you all had been trying on dresses for but you were on your sixth or seventh dress when Baby 5, Monet and Sugar finally agreed on one everyone liked. Pudding was still deciding between two and the main stylist said this is where seeing it next to everyone will help. They had a specific divider where Pudding could stand and not be seen by anyone else while they took a mock photo of what it could look like on the day. Everyone was about to get into place when the rest of the group realized Law still wasn't around.

Pudding grumbled clutching her phone. Allegedly he was on the phone when they walked in but it had been at least an hour since arriving. Thirty more minutes passed before the girls started fuming. You're not going to lie, it was pretty irritating that he was seemingly wasting everyone's time because he didn't want to be there. You didn't want to be here either but you sure as shit weren't going to be the reason it dragged on longer than it has to. The boys started calling him and panicked from being scolded by Law’s sisters. Pudding looked like she was going to wring someone's neck and since she couldn't walk outside the divider to strangle one of the boys you feared it might end up being you. Luckily that's when Law showed up. He froze when he walked in staring at you for a moment longer than you would have liked before his sisters started a yelling match. You wanted to lecture him too but you huffed and turned away not wanting to give him the satisfaction. Especially when he refused to acknowledge you at the hospital. Instead you glared at him from a far while helping Pudding calm down from wanting to kill someone.

After Pudding reviewed the pictures the choice was clear. She chose her dress and everything was set. Everyone started to change out when you were grabbed by the arm. The girls were already in the dressing room and so were Bepo, Shachi and Penguin.

"What are you doing here?"

His tone confused you but you couldn’t control your frustration anymore "Oh so now you're talking to me!" Like always his expression was unreadable as ever. You scoffed "Don’t flatter yourself I'm not here because of you, Pudding asked me before the announcement was made!" You made sure to control your volume. You didn't want the others to hear your altercation but you were still aggravated about ready to foam at the mouth. Law let your arm go turning away from you. "That’s no excuse you shouldn't have accepted the offer."

You grit your teeth "And you shouldn't have wasted people's time!" You snapped storming off before you genuinely start something you know you couldn't finish. Penguin saw you walk off giving you a worried look as Law finally went to change.

You put on a fake smile and ignored the looks you got from the others as they passed you. They were giving you their farewells until the bachelorette party. You could really go for a drink right about now. You weren’t the kind of person to drink away your sorrows but at this point you didn't know how to feel. Things would be easier if you moved on but everyone was trying so hard for your sake. Going out of their way to help you get Law back, but is that even what you want anymore. As you walked back out it was just Bepo, Shachi and Penguin left standing there. They were tense, presumably they heard or were assuming what happened between you and Law when everyone was changing.

You sighed "When we get back to our side you guys want to hit up a club or something? I could really use a drink." No one questioned you, only nodding in response. You guys hit the dorms before going back out to see if anyone else wanted to come and not surprising anyone in the slightest Luffy managed to overtake the night by throwing a banquet at the dorms. Sabo said he'd look the other way, which he does often about alcohol in the dorms. Since Luffy does not like the taste of alcohol Sanji has been accustomed to making cocktails for those who still wanted the option.

This is how you ended up drunk sandwiched between Luffy and Ace fumbling around in their stupid impromptu kickline. Everyone was having a good time and it was the kind of thing everyone needed as midterms were approaching. Ace fell back on the couch taking you and Luffy down with him causing you to yelp and Luffy to laugh. You tried to get up but Luffy refused to let you leave the group hug as your struggles brought you all to the floor. Before you knew it he coaxed everyone to join the group hug somehow. You hadn’t even realized you started crying but unlike the last few times these tears weren’t so sorrowful. You felt at home here and you wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. That’s when you heard Luffy whisper “We’ll bring Torao back, whatever it takes.” Looking around seeing everyone’s smiles made you believe it was actually possible. You couldn’t help curling your lips up too “Whatever it takes.”

—

“I see, my apologies I will see to it personally.” Doflamingo put the phone down, his usual grin wiped from his face. It seems he wasn’t clear with Law the consequences of his actions. Doffy opened the file with (Y/N)’s picture paperclipped to it. He would be making some calls later and he wondered how the girl would handle it. It excited him. It's been a while since he’s had a play thing he didn’t select for himself. He chuckled darkly at the thought. Law had good taste, at least he managed to do something right.

___

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[nspdr-neo]

What happens if you take two sexually frustrated blondes and put them together in a room?You get Gladion and Lilie (aged up).

The two siblings were always attracted to each other due to their "super hot lusamine genes",but Gladion turned rebellious and joined Team Skull! There would be only one solution: Lilie would have to offer assjobs until she convinced Gladion to be on the right path again!

That would be fine and all,if it weren't for their (super hot) mom to catch them, and instead of accusing them, used some science to turn Gladion into an ass-loving brat who only wants to fuck his dear sister asshole.

Will she died by too much fucking ?

Will he turn a new leaf?

Will Hau stop filming this encounter?

Disclaimer: R18 material! If not to your liking then please do not view!

Will she die by too much fucking?

To answer that question: Arceus no~ Lillie was absolutely pro at giving assjobs and taking anal since Gladion was living back in Aether Foundation, with many people knowing the young woman and her slutty bubble butt as being the 'Hidden Light of Aether's bedrooms'! No matter how much he thrusted and slapped her doughy PAWG ass or took her in the bedroom, beaches, or even in a hallway when light's were out - Lillie was more than enough endurance to spare and always came back for more in her daringly short mini-skirts or white booty shorts or even approaching him in just a robes or naked (depends on her mood for the day)! Until he's reformed into his former good boy self again, she'll keep up this creamy war of attrition!!! For the sake of his soul! (even if deep down she knows its a pipe dream...and is very glad to keep up their current status quo~)

Will Gladion turn over a new leaf?

Nope! At least, not at the moment he would. Even if he was genetically boosted to want to fuck Lillie's ass out, he loved the freedom that came with being such bad boy and not being under his control freak of a MILF's thumb for so long (even if she did balance the craziness out with being such a knockout~) Okay, and maybe the allure of all those grunts lusting over him also played a factor into things. Lillie can try, she can twerk outside his door, she bend over naked in his bend, she can send him many photos of her in lewd outfits and captions begging him to stop by the Foundation (before just breaking into his place anyway): he admires his freedom that much more. And if it takes pounding her booty on a daily basis, repeatedly, to get it through to her thic(c)k skull? Well, its a price both were just going to have to pay~ (Not that he seemed to mind)

Will Hau stop recording them?

Also no! Ever since he caught wind of their little hook-ups by some grunts one day, he'd felt the need to 'document' their little arrangement (t-totally not because he's a voyeur!) and kind of, accidentally mind you, started a little wager between himself, Selene, former Trial Captains and some of their other friends who happened to catch him looking back at some recordings.

A lot of high stakes money being thrown around between their group on if Gladion will give up this day and go home? Or if Lillie would give up that day and decide to just rebel or pursue someone else? Or, which some were hoping to eventually happen, Lusamine would show up to make it a sexy Aether threesome and end it once & for all? It was a pretty heated affair and by now, their group of buddies were just too invested/bet too much on the line to turn their heads away from this situation by now.

...Plus, both Lillie and Gladion were so damn hot, that seeing them fuck like crazy was a rush that got their own sex drives pumping for afterwards~

[tilseptemberends]

Modern Elucien Fic concept/draft

I had an idea for a modern Elucien fic but I'm tied up in my current fic so this is all I've been able to get down so far. It combines elements from Acotar, Tog, and CC <3

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Elain had carefully selected her basket of flowers on her way to the port. She considered going back home to beg Feyre to come with her. Of all three Archeron girls, Feyre looked the most like their High Fae mother. Nesta followed after her but Elain… well it was very obvious to the people of Prythian that Elain Archeron was only demi-fae. Her face, though pretty, did not glow with the same kind of devastating beauty as her sisters. And her ears… while Nesta and Feyre both possessed the delicately pointed ears of the High Fae. Elain took more after their father. Her brown eyes and rounder features. Her ears only pointed enough to clue people in that she was not quite human. Not elegant like her mother's and sisters. But not soft and round like her father's either. Traveling with Feyre or Nesta made her feel safer. It was safer. Nesta and Feyre passed for High Fae easily, and they had crafted their demeanors to ward off anyone who would try to mess with them. But Elain had to keep pepper spray and a small taser in her bag. Because a young and quiet demi fae female… there were few things you could be that would put you in more danger than that in Prythian. No matter how many posters proclaimed the equality of humans and fae. At least it was better than on the continent… She kept one hand in the pocket of her cornflower blue peacoat, gripped around her phone as she took hurried steps to the port. 

It was a fae tradition that had her arranging the flowers in the basket. The chilled stone of the port edge bit into her knees as she nestled a few of her father's wood carvings in the center with one of her mother's necklaces. It had been unthinkable to most that their human father outlived their fae mother. And Elain wasn't sure how to deal with the fact that she had now lost them both. Elain hummed quietly as a few tears slipped down her face. A soft song. One that she had sung for her father many times. She wondered if it would feel like her heart was breaking again every time she heard that song on the radio now. 

She nearly jumped out of her skin when someone held down a pocket-sized pack of tissues. When she looked up she found two fae males standing there. One with blonde hair that he wore loose, clear green eyes and a heavy jacket layered over his beige t-shirt and sage green and grey flannel. He was the one holding the tissues down toward her. The other male also had long hair but his was a bright coppery red and he’d pulled it up and spiked a silver pick through it. His skin was an even golden tan and his eyes… he had one russet-colored eye but the other was a prosthetic. A golden mechanical replacement for what had been lost to that vicious scar that extended from his brow to the corner of his mouth. The copper-haired male was also dressed for the beginning of winter. A maroon coat over a lighter-colored turtleneck sweater and a knitted scarf. She looked between them anxiously, adjusting the position of her feet to spring away if she had to. The blond male held the tissue out to her again, 

“We didn’t mean to scare you,” he said and smiled at her when she dared to accept the offered tissues. She sniffled and opened the packet carefully. The blonde one knelt on the ground next to her. He set a basket similar to her own on the ground in front of himself. Inside his wreath of flowers lay a delicate handkerchief and a photo. A photo of what had to be the male when he was still young, and a beautiful female. Judging by their expressions in the photo Elain guessed that she must have been a close relative. “My mother.” was all he said to explain when he caught her looking. Elain swallowed and looked back down at her own basket. “I’m… I’m sorry for your loss.” 

The other male stood on the blond’s other side, gripping his own small basket in his hands, so tightly his golden tan skin had gone white at the knuckles. The blond’s brow furrowed in concern. Friends… these two were… friends. They had come together to support each other through the emotions that came with this offering to the Mother. The second male swallowed a breath as he knelt down. He reached into his sweater and pulled a thin silver chain over his head. She watched as he unclasped it and slipped the lovely rose gold rings off the chain. Engagement bands. Her heart sank as he set them both into his basket amidst the crimson flowers and autumn bright foliage. His hands shook as he set the basket in the water. His friend did the same with his own and then offered his hand to the copper-haired male. He did not object and gripped his friend's hand tightly. It was good that these two had each other to lean on, she thought and gently set her basket into the icy water. The tide would carry the offerings away, to a realm no living thing could visit. It stood as a testament to the love of the living for the dead. Elain rested her hands on her knees as she watched the baskets drift away. 

“I did… did not know about the proper rituals when my mother passed. Today I honor both of my parents,” she spoke quietly, and when she glanced over at the males she found the blond one was smiling at her. A warm sympathetic expression that had her pulling out another tissue. She extended the remainder of the pack to the copper-haired male who accepted it with a shallow nod. 

“My fiance.” he managed before wiping at his nose with one of the tissues. The blond squeezed his friend’s hand lightly.

[weebsinstash]

Honestly valentino is such a dramatic bitch that if you did ever leave, saying fuck it you’ll figure it out as you go, he’d lose his shit. Torn between worried and pissed and it would be so delicious for those who love runaway readers

Protags/FLs/Readers what have you that run away are my bread and butter and i need to do more running away fics. Funny enough I have a few ideas in my drafts but homie there's so much to dig through at this point 💀

Imagine setting a really polite two weeks notice on his desk (that you don't really owe him) about how you're moving and getting another job, and you're extremely nervous because he doesn't say anything after you leave it in his office, and he waits until your literal very last shift when you already have some sort of other arrangement set up or trying to when he finally says "so what the fuck is this about you trying to quit?"

I imagine so many different ways he's shitty to you. Ripping up your letter right in front of you, catching it alight with a lit cigarette before dropping it into a trashcan, merely crumpling it up and throwing it on the floor to show you your feelings and your wants are absolutely nothing to him, he really finds it so funny you were just going to try and leave? As far as he's concerned you have absolutely no reason to leave and it would have only negative consequences if you did. And considering he was already a grown ass man and has been dead for a few decades, I can imagine him acting like you're just some dumb little girl, just some cute little bimbo with all her big stupid ideas that doesn't know how to do shit compared to him.

Not to mention the grief you'd catch if you ran away and had to be rescued, say a rival of Val's has had his boys watching all his lil errand runners and knows you fetch his shit sometimes and they scoop you up to ransom you back, not knowing you've ran away and to your knowledge your former Overlord boss has forgotten about you. Meanwhile Valentino goes to do a drug deal or whatever mafia dealings he does and, oh what a surprise, there you are, tied up and gagged with your big watery eyes looking up at him in fear while also silently begging him for help while he's developing a rager and realizing you look pretty cute when you're bound and helpless. I've even thought of like, he saves you from being kidnapped or like has you resuscitated from overdosing or trying to kill yourself and he slaps you with the bill just so you owe him a debt he can slap interest on and keep you indebted to him for literally forever. And if you don't show up when he summons you, it's just a couple of texts to his Goon Group Chat and an order of "bring this bratty lil shit back asap" before you're being dragged back by his henches

Outwardly he'd try and act tough but we all know Val doesn't take his little "breakups" well. At first he says you're just a loser and he doesn't need you, doing his typical self-soothing denial routine of going to the salon, buying himself new things, posting to social media about how everyone is useless and he doesn't need them, like what he does when he breaks up wirh Vox before getting back together.

Homeboys up on here like "mothpimp posted at 2am: bitches ain't shit but hoes and tricks"

hellraiser42069, sending a photo of a familiar certain someone from a distance: I was just at the corner of 6th and mulberry, ain't this your bitch big v

mothpimp, already dispatching some of his lackeys to retrieve you within .00001 seconds: pfff that's stupid im a pimp not a simp 🙄 I don't chase no one 😤"

You finally see him again and he's clearly been pampering himself which is a dead giveaway for how you've gotten under his skin and he's all "look who came crawling back" when he knows full damn well he had to kidnap you to even have a conversation and fully refuses to acknowledge he's being legitimately creepy because you aren't even making him money like Angel or his other workers,you're just like. An unrequited crush almost. A little pet/companion/future fleshlight.

It's common with pimps and sex trafficking to force the workers to get tattoos or certain identifying marks of ownership to designated who they belong to but I imagine depending on the kind of story you've craving that Val's version of this, for the Reader, is basically having you constantly wearing things he's given you if not outright deciding what you wear and look like 24/7. That big hunky hellhound at the bar thinks you look cute? His pickup line dies in his throat when you spin around and you're wearing a choker with a big red bejeweled heart and he instantly knows that if he so much as says hi to you that there's a particularly aggravated moth sitting right across the room ready to shoot him dead out of sheer possessiveness

[tiincredibelle]

UNSPOKEN TRUTH

My ex-boyfriend of nearly 9 years dumped me on the night of November 11, 2023. We lived together under one roof for three years during the Pandemic until he had to return to Australia. He gave me an evasive explanation, saying he was tired of our long-distance arrangement and that we were both in pain because he had no idea when he would return to the Philippines. He said he had no idea how to take care of me or what to do. He told me it didn't seem right anymore. All he can feel is pain instead of happiness. He asked if we could take a break and heal. All I could get out of him when I asked why and whether I had done anything wrong was "Sorry." I even asked him if he had met anyone else, to which he replied, "Wala." He began removing our Messenger nicknames, deleting all of our Instagram photos, and removing his Facebook cover photo and profile picture. I could not understand why he had removed all of our social media pictures, even though he had advised me to take some time to reflect. I was confused because I knew we were on good terms that day; he even sent me photos from a Filipino party he attended with his sister.

After several days of him not returning my calls, I discovered that he was talking to someone else he met online and had a bouquet delivered to a girl in San Juan, Manila.

I was hurt, and I felt betrayed.

He surprised someone else with a bouquet on November 7, 2023, and he broke up with me on November 11, 2023. That made me think, which is why he quickly deleted all of our photos from social media. Perhaps he met someone and can now claim to be single.

For nearly three weeks, I begged him to return my calls and messages and to work on our relationship even though I'm in Pain.

Funny enough, even after he cheated on me twice, I still want to work on our relationship. In 2019, while I was working in Manila, I discovered that he was having an affair with someone here in Aklan.

Tangina no, tanga kong tinanggap ko pa sya..

Mahal ko eh, mas lalong mahal sya ng pamilya ko.

Nag beg sya na ayusin namin, at mag babago na sya, di na nya uulitin, But guess what? Eto nanaman.

It hurts, and the fact that all of my intuition was correct hurts even more.

Once a cheater, always a cheater. Ito talaga ang reality. Kasi kapag nagawa na niyang minsan, mas malaki talaga possibility na ulitin niya.

Nov 21, 2023, Our friend asked me to have coffee with her. She then told me that last October 10, 2023 that this guy told her that he is not feeling any spark with our relationship kasi matagal na kami, He even asked for advice kung gagawin nya. Pero sabi nya di naman sya makipag hiwalay, gusto nya lang hanapin sarili nya. Sabi ng friend namin, why not open up saakin para mapag usapan and magawan ng solution, try something na hindi pa nagawa namin. Andaming ways to reignite the spark. but he confessed na he tried omegle and met a stranger, which made him excited na di pa nya kilala yung tao and nag usap sila sa imsg. Parang naexcite sya sa getting to know each other stage.. but instead of fixing our relationship, nakita nyang solution is to find someone new. Mas Bata, Rich Gamer Girl. Tired na daw sya sa LDR set up, pero ang funny, LDR din pinalit. nagloloko tlga sya pag nagLDR kami even before.. Tanggap ko pa sana kung sa ibang bansa din ang pinalit eh.

He officially ended our relationship on November 23, 2023, He told me that I deserve a better person who wouldn't hurt me. He never came clean about the new girl, never expressed regret for his actions, and never acknowledged cheating on me.

As the days went by, I began to accept the situation and move on. I always go to church right after work, cry all I want, and give the Lord all of my cares and sorrows. He is still in my prayers. I'm praying for his health and that the university he applied will accept him.

He tagged the girl in a Facebook post he shared one evening, but it was customized to be hidden from my entire family, his family in Linabuan, his family in Ibajay, and close friends. I received the screenshot of the post from someone on his friends list who forwarded it to our mutual friend. I received the same screenshot from one of his family members in Linabuan as well. He removed his family, my family, and our mutual friends from his Instagram followers to prevent us from seeing his stories, but someone screen recorded the guy's instagram story that they are on video call and playing an online beer pong game.

After receiving confirmation that all of my suspicions and information about the girl were accurate, all that pain returned. All the memories and fantasies returned, and it caused me to doubt my own value once more.

I told him I had to block him on Facebook, but I never confronted him about the confirmed suspicion. It's funny how this guy twisted everything and placed the blame on me.

He said that I never asked him how his day was going or if he was okay. He also brought up the past, which was resolved years ago.. and that I always wanted it my way. I only want the best for him, but he doesn't seem to understand that. I acknowledged that I was at fault for constantly venting my frustration and negativity about my job, which caused him to burn out. He even said that since I'm the one who always talks, he didn't always have the right moment to open up. He never admitted that he was to blame for anything, not even for not sharing his emotions with me. Open communication is essential in a mature relationship. Cheating is never a good excuse for anything. In actuality, he is searching for a way out after being discovered to be unfaithful. He refuses to acknowledge that he is guilty and that he made a mistake. The Audacity.

This year has been extremely painful because I've been through betrayal, abandonment, disappointment, psychological abuse, emotional torment, and all the brutal things that a man could possibly do to hurt someone's feelings. I have died a hundred times, cried more than I could, and endured all those hurtful feelings all at once. But despite everything that happened, I'm still here fighting every battle that I have while doing everything I can to keep my sanity.

Was it hard to let go of someone you love so much?

Yes, It was. What we had was true and pure at some point in time. It was a beautiful & funny kind of relationship.. Until it wasn't. I tried to fix whatever could save what we have, but couldn't do it alone. Until I realized that, maybe it's time to stop trying to fix what's not meant to be fixed.. Letting go while still inlove with him was hard, but staying would've been harder. I didn't let go because I wanted to, I let go because I had to..

To the girl, He really loves suprises right? weekly bouquets? Here's the explanation in case you were unaware of it. There's nothing I can say if you knew he was dating someone else before you. All I ask is that you embrace and cherish him even more than I did. All the best to you two.