#best way to cope with stress

[avonne-writes]

Balance

Lucemond, arranged marriage smut, 700 words

On AO3

A drop of sweat swells in the hollow between Luke's clavicles. The soft linen of his bed sticks to his back, cloud-light fabric woven with threads of gold befitting a royal marriage. His legs are spread to the edge of pain, an ache settled deep and unrelenting in his hips as his husband's weight pins him to the bedding. Where the hot brand of a palm kneads at his inner thigh, his flesh sizzles with pleasure, and he squirms for more of it, for the force to quench his hunger. Candlelight flickers on the coloured windows. 

Luke's eyes close. 

His chambers are hot and stuffy with the scent of crushed flowers. Jasmine, rose and ambrette from the Queen's garden. To ensure vigour, a servant said before she left him with the marble-cold figure of his husband. They stared at each other from opposite sides of a room split by a ray of moonlight. Flames reflected in sapphire, embers simmering in a dark brown gaze.

Are you going to fight? Aemond hissed under his breath, wary but eager in the same frightening way Luke was. Luke bared his teeth. 

Theirs is a marriage of necessity, but there's obsession and desire weaved into their resentment, and Luke loved the thrill of the fight more than the purpose of it. He loved it even more when Aemond's icy grip overpowered him. Gods, you are nervous, he taunted through a laugh and got kissed breathless for it. 

Aemond doesn't feel cool to the touch anymore, his nerves lost to his lust now. His warmth is the heat of a dragon as it prepares to devour its next meal, hard lines against Luke's chest and down where he craves him the most, and his breathing licks at Luke's lips like fire. 

"Good boy." Aemond dips his chin down to steal a kiss, a bite of sweet peach as Luke opens up for him. "Mine now. Mine to have as I please." 

"You wish." Luke chuckles. "As I please."

The next thrusts rock him deeper, but Aemond doesn't protest his words. As the loud slapping of their bodies echoes through the room, he seals his lips to Luke's skin and trails down over its heaving planes until he finds that ticklish little hollow where Luke's heart pounds, and soaks the saltwater right up from it. His sated sigh is the brush of a spring breeze. All Luke wants is to whine and whimper and beg him to make the pleasure peak, but he keeps his mouth locked, not willing to grant the sounds of his bliss to the maester listening dutifully behind the door. They're his and Aemond's only. His wedding night may be an affair of politics but his joy will remain his.

"Is it hard enough?" Aemond whispers into his ear. Barely-there stubble pressed tight to Luke's cheek. His back is slippery under Luke's hands, the moonstone spill of his hair stuck to the crease of Luke's elbows and the damp space between their chests. 

"I need more." Luke swallows around a desperate sound. "Higher."

His fingernails carve their love into the muscles shifting in his embrace and draw a hiss. Aemond captures Luke's hands in his rough touch, splaying Luke's softer fingers apart on the mattress, wedging between them and squeezing. Luke squeezes back. 

They stop fighting their bliss to fly on it instead.

 

 

When the waves are settled and there's nothing left to chase, they bask in the quiet glow of the candles for long minutes. Luke finds that he enjoys this almost as much as his first time being taken - being able to stroke Aemond's drowsy, naked body is a wedding gift to himself. 

The maester cracks the door open, peeking in to check what he needs to, but Aemond just fits his hand around Luke's jaw and turns his head away from the man to kiss him. Luke lets him taste his mouth to his heart's desire. 

"Most unusual." The maester mumbles but leaves them to it. 

Luke smiles. Aemond smells like fire and the thin air high up in the skies, and he wonders if his own scent is the sea that pushes them into a balance of souls.

[thebirdandhersong]

Lol. Lol. Lol.

[katyspersonal]

These are my personal thoughts on stuff that has been bothering me for almost a decade now. I kind of went from "It would be more merciful to do an abortion because my child would live in horrid if not dangerous conditions and be taken away for their own sake" to "Maybe they'd conclude that they love living even if they were dealt a losing hand and had only adversity. Even if they DO get taken away from a person financially incapable of caring for them and live as orphan. What if they will be happy to exist anyway? I can't make this decision for them. This is something person can only decide themselves and it is called "suicide", (but I'd still do everything I can to not allow that)".

I know I speak as though it is 100% guaranteed I'd be a single mother, and it is true. I can only possibly get pregnant..... against my will, to put it this way. And yet I am always scared that this "fate" will find me anyway. I am pretty sure fixations on potential threats is some type of paranoia. I've just riched the conclusion that I do not have enough ambitions and life itself to refuse being bound to someone. I just go to work, play videogames and obsess over my interests. Why I believed I'd seek abortion at all cost is because I could not care for a child when I am myself like a child. In every sense of this word but physical. But, again, if it became THAT bad, someone else would, then. I've just been thinking about the whole concept of not letting someone to exist "for their own sake" and I think I grew out of it? Sort of? Because losing misery means losing happy moments too, and someone might see them worthy to suffer for, no matter how rare they are. I can't just assume someone else will be as depressed about existing as me. Everyone is different.

The dumb part? I've came to this conclusion upon overanalyzing fucking Soulsborne videogames. I wish it was a joke, but I just have this neurodivergency that keeps me in permanent disconnect from "real" things and "real" people, and only through prism of special interests and characters things 'click' to me. It is like I am deaf, and fiction is my hearing aid. I still think it is so fucking funny that years of religion-based guilttripping, all these fake inspirational stories of struggling single mothers TV is filled with and having optimism hammered into my head by other mothers didn't change my mind on how having a baby is possibly the MOST cruel thing I could do all things considered. But then like, Melina yapped some sweet nonsense about not deciding for others that they'd rather not exist than suffer, and it sort of have been slowly growing ever since.

I also questioned whether this stuff got hard-coded into these games, but I don't think so? Miyazaki definitely loves motherhood but that's literally it. He just poured love for archetype into some characterizations, nothing more. It is more about how existence itself and its meaning is explored here. And how it clicked with what's been bothering me, because I am always scared that I am not safe from... that. Nobody with a working womb is, but I am fixated on this fear, as if this is doomed to happen. But the most dreadful part of it is kind of.. dissolving? Nothing could convince me I am strong and capable and not as stupid and helpless, no power in the world. But something could convince me someone would still love to live even with the trauma of having a mother so shit they had to be saved from her incompetence and helplessness

[itz-pandora]

What is the darkest character you have explored from a psychological point of view so far?

Hmm... Probably Silver?

Like I'd need trigger warnings just to TALK about what I do to him.

(look at tags)

[monards]

can a girl ramble aboutthe way you can interpret so many parts of the propaganda and characterization of rhine by other the people/general populace of teyvat as people largely antagonizing neurodivergent traits without being chased with pitchforks and torches.

[eldritchmochi]

its absolutely hilarious to me how much of coping skills involves feederism as a kink considering how much i personally hate eating

[redgoldblue]

.

[seaweedstarshine]

“It's a... wall? I... I don't understand.” “Of course you don't. You're only human. You can't even see it properly. This... view... it's your mind trying to cope with a visual it doesn't have the capacity to fathom. You want in on the Time War? Well, tough... it's Time-Locked!”

Panel redraw [X] from The Eleventh Doctor Year Two #4, (aka one of the best ever Doctor Who stories).

[the-trans-dragon]

Wow there sure are a lot of posts about [specific trigger I have] lately. I've unfollowed some people over it. Some have posted opinions I disagree with very strongly; some have posted opinions I do agree with. Either way it bothers me too much to see it. I don't want [specific trigger] mixed in with my Cat Photos And Memes App.

So if I've randomly unfollowed you recently, that is probably why.

[just-rogi]

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[nature-played-a-trick-on-me]

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[anotherdayforchaosfay]

I'll be working in my sewing room all day and would very much appreciate y'all sending me asks for my little breaks. Not sure what to send? Here are some ideas:

Tell me about a project you're working on or recently finished.

Did you recently reach a goal and want to share the news? Share it here!

Are you doing anything special for Halloween?

Please share slow cooker recipes! I'm vegan and on a gluten-free diet, so anything I can make in my slow cooker would be a welcomed recipe.

What are you looking forward to in the next two months?

Tell me about your pets, especially if they did something dumb recently. Dumb pets are the gifts that keep on giving.

You are not limited to that list, so no worries about that. Anon will remain unavailable until after the elections, possibly all the way through February 2025. I want anon to be an option for those who are shy, not for cowards sending me nasty asks full of hate and threats. If you're gonna say shit like that, say it with your whole chest and say it proud.

When I'm done with the current project, I'll be cleaning my sewing room and prepping for making some quick panel quilt tops. Unless I receive a commission, which would be nice. because I'm stressing out about paying off the last $640 of a $3k debt (water heater and installation). Only after it's paid off will I be able to save money for a game console to play Dragon Age The Veilguard. I'm rather upset I wasn't able to meet that goal yet, and too late to think I can do so before Halloween, when the game releases. I will have to blacklist all things Dragon Age so as not to suffer spoilers.

Yes, I am heartbroken, but all the more reason why I'm sewing so damn much. There's over $10k worth of my work listed in my shop, and it's hardly moved. If you would like to make my sad ass happy, go buy some of my stuff. If you're outside the US and considering purchasing anything from my shop as holiday gifts, keep in mind it may take 2-6 weeks to arrive if purchased now, and considerably longer if purchased after mid-November.

[thisdreamsalive]

Does anyone else whose 25+ look back at their teenage years and early 20s and is just livid about how the adults or adultier adults treated you like a stupid ungrateful brat who can't possibly suffer with anything because you don't have to (or they assume you don't) deal with Adult™ Problems like parenting, having a shitty job or trying to cover rent or bills?

Only to get older and be horrified because actually things were just as bad as you said they were because mental illness and trauma don't care about your age or how good your life looks to strangers who literally only know surface level things about you.

And now that you're an adultier adult, you don't have to fight so hard to be believed and no longer have have people assume the worst because of your age. Being treated like a person and having autonomy is a big part of why things aren't as bad now.

And it's just like wow you could have treated me with compassion the whole fucking time, you can shove it now.

[fruitmouse]

lot going on lots good lots bad but it’s WEIRD bc i’m still like surprisingly pretty present. exhibiting mindfulness and healthy coping mechanisms

[naivety]

this is why i'm a deadcoded samgirl

[dandy-lad]

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