#but that commercial is now my single favorite commercial ever

[catalinemorosetheblog]

Sometimes, I feel like Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is like “The Tumblr of Late Night Tv”.

No, I will not give context.

[monimccoythings]

Cuteness Overload

Just saw the movie. What a masterpiece. And (spoiler warning) I'm glad they did Charles Martinet justice even though I still think it should have been him voicing Mario. And of course, I'm in love with Jack Black's portrayal of bowser, excellent representation of a good creepy and psychotic villain that stole the entire movie. I loved it so much I'm writing a Y/N fic (My favorite little hoe, but this time is more on the platonic side). This contains a huge spoiler for the movie, specifically the ending. I'd recommend to watch the movie first.

Next Parts: 2, 3, 4, 5

So, a couple of weeks ago your entire neighborhood got destroyed because of some epic anime battle that just casually happened over there. How cool is that? Or how horrible, because thanks to that you just have to take the biggest detour ever known to man to get to work. But hey, at least you had a nice walk.

You getting into the mushroom kingdom was entirely by accident. Yes, you were curious about that new world but never had the time or will to go on a transdimensional travel. Thank goodness there was an open sewer hole laying there (which you completely missed) to help you take the initiative.

If you didn't took into account that nightmarish journey through the tunnels, the Mushroom Kingdom was a pretty interesting place to be. The toads were very friendly and kind fellas, some of them carefully checking you out for injuries and advising you to go see the princess in order to help you get safely home.

Okay, forget about the journey through that cosmic rabbit hole, going up to the castle was way worse. You didn't remember having exercised that much, not even in P.E. You swore your vision was blurry after all that.

Princess Peach was the most loving, kindhearted badass you had the pleasure to meet. That kind angel sent down from heaven upon seeing your miserable state, generously offer you to step in for tea and pastries, while the royal doctor (another toad but this cutie came with a stetoscope and a labcoat) made sure you didn't had seriously injured yourself with the fall.

As dignified and courteous she tried to act. It was obvious she was very excited to meet another person from Brooklyn. Soon you found yourselves engaged in conversation. It felt easy talking to her, like you were talking to an old friend. You suddenly felt very glad you didn't see that sewer hole.

Mario and Luigi stopped by as well, and the second they opened their mouths you recognised them as those two dudes from that dope ass commercial. So they were the ones that were in the middle of the battle in Brooklyn. Good for them, you were glad things turned out great.

You were having the time of your life, they were really chill and easy going people, which put you more at ease. As time passed, you heard the faint sound of a piano being played. When you asked your new friends about it, they just shrugged and Princess Peach gave you a half smile saying that it was her "pet turtle".

Whoah. This was truly a magical place. Her pet turtle played the piano?? And very well by the sound of it. Peach asked you if you wanted to see it. Of course you wanted to see it! Mario and Luigi gave each other uncertain looks, but in the end they just shrugged it off.

After a long walk through the hallways you finally reached a room. The toad guards immediately stepped away when they saw their ruler approach, but gave you a look full of suspicion. Peach softly reassured them.

She opened the door for you and let you in. The room wasn't any different from the castle except that it was completely devoid of any furniture but a single golden cage with THE TINIEST TURTLE PLAYING THE TINIEST PIANO YOU HAD EVER SEEN.

Said turtle was now looking perplexed and midly annoyed that it had been interrupted, but its eyes lighted up when they landed on Peach, who suddenly looked very done and tired. But how could you notice when its mere sight alone was too much for you to bear.

It was SO CUTE. SO DARN CUTE. Cuteness overload. You had died and were sent to adorable heaven where tiny turtles played teeny tiny pianos. You made sure to tell it that several times, making Mario burst out laughing. And it got even better from that moment, because out of that turtle mouth came the most colorful collection of threats and insults in a HIGH PITCHED voice that made your heart melt. Because of course it, he, had a high pitched voice. That only made you gush out more, you loved animals but specially you absolutely adored reptiles.

Mario was literally holding himself against the wall to keep himself from falling for laughing so hard. Luigi was cry laughing and Peach was trying to cover her face, but it was clear that from the way her shoulders rose and went down that she was practically wheezing.

You asked Peach if you could hold him for a while, to which she seriously, or at least she tried to sound serious in the middle of all that laughter, answered that it was too dangerous to let him out. But how could something as darling as that do any wrong? Peach gently pulled you out of the room, but not before you let out a "Bye bye, piano playing turtle, I love you." To a very blushing and mortified turtle.

Turns out that the turtle had comitted war crimes. Very bad war crimes. And even though he was still a little cutie to you, he got what he deserved and shouldn't be let out under any circumstances. Still, you were def going to visit him again.

[azzifudd]

streams

paige bueckers x azzi fudd

summary:

Jon Wanna explain why my friend asked me if it was true that you and Paige were making out at a bar last night

Jose WHAAAAAAT

four times paige & azzi were on tiktok live

rated: teen

2.8k words

disclaimer: you kinda have to know about the lore surrounding all those lives they've been a part of to fully understand this. this is based around existing events, but obviously a fictional interpretation of those events. also a warning that this is sappy as hell

[AO3 LINK]

“Let’s go! Two more points!” Paige’s shout echoes through the room. She stands from the bed and howls at the top of her lungs.

Azzi is unfazed. She knows just how much Paige loves LeBron. In fact, to her embarrassment, she has spent countless nights staring up at his face as she laid in Paige’s bed.

She hears Amari proclaiming that she’s single and sees Paige go over asking to be dapped up.

“Someone said Paige has a girlfriend and I have a boyfriend.”

“Paige does not have a girlfriend,” Inês protests, or maybe it’s Ice, Azzi can’t really tell, too distracted by Paige who has come back over to the bed and is leaning half over her with a smirk. Azzi rolls her eyes, but still returns the soft peck that Paige presses to her lips.

Then she playfully shoves Paige away, letting her get locked into the game again while she reclines on the bed. Almost immediately, she finds herself becoming extremely bored. Maybe she’d be interested in watching if LeBron was getting the record against Steph, but he’s not. Azzi didn’t even recognize the team he’s playing against.

She grabs Paige’s ever present iPad and pulls up her favorite game.

Paige stares back at her, eyes wide and incredulous. “Azzi, we can’t play- Are you serious? She wants me to play a game right now, when LeBron’s about to get the record?”

Azzi pouts at her, but Paige doesn’t give in. Instead, she jumps up, yelling, “Lock in!” as the game returns from commercial break.

But when not even half a minute later, a foul is called, Azzi takes advantage.

“Free throws! Come play,” she demands, and Paige flops back onto the bed without protest. Inês makes a whip motion with her hand, and Paige gives her the middle finger.

“Don’t laugh at me,” Azzi whines.

Eventually, the game starts again, and Paige stands up, shouting about the gameplay. LeBron finally breaks the record and everyone screams in celebration. They all watch the ceremony before Amari begins to wrap up the live.

“Only cuz of LeBron, not cuz of Azzi.” Paige says, when a viewer mocks them all for shutting up at Azzi’s complaint. But she still crosses back from the other bed, laying beside Azzi for some quick cuddle time before she has to go back to her room.

“Paige, someone’s gonna take you to breakfast,” Amari reads.

“Better not.” Azzi mutters, under her breath as the others laugh.

Amari ends her livestream, and they spend a little more time messing around, until they realize that it’s almost curfew.

Ice turns to Azzi’s bed which has been suspiciously quiet for the past few minutes.

“She’s asleep, already?!” Paige appears to be deeply asleep, mouth slightly open and face pressed into the pillow as Azzi cuddles in behind her.

“Shush, you know she has trouble sleeping sometimes.” Azzi whispers over her head.

“Well, she’s gonna have to have trouble sleeping in our room, because I’m not getting in trouble when the coaches come for room check and lover girl is missing because she’s over here being your little spoon.” Ice grabs a pillow from Inês bed and whacks Paige in the face with it.

“Bruh, what the hell?!” Paige sputters.

“Let’s go! I want to sleep too.”

“Ugh, fine.” Paige stands and quickly gathers her things before going to stand beside Azzi’s bedside. Without a word, their friends turn away as Paige leans down to kiss Azzi goodbye.

The next morning, a knock sounds at Paige’s door.

“Ice, answer it.” Paige shoves her head under a pillow.

“You’re closer to the door.” Ice complains.

“Freshman duty.” Paige fires back.

“I’m not even a real freshman!”

Knuckles rap against the door again. “Room service!”

Paige finally drags herself to the door and pulls it open. The hotel employee wheels in a cart full of food, transferring it onto the table in the corner of the room. Paige thanks him and he leaves.

A full breakfast spread covers the table. A small white card sits by itself on a plate at the center of all the food. Ice wanders over, drawn by delicious smells. She picks up the card, snorting out a laugh at its contents.

“Thank you, Azzi.”

Paige’s face scrunches up with confusion before she takes the card from Ice’s outstretched hand.

Enjoy your breakfast.

Love, Not Paige’s girlfriend

//

Azzi wakes to the sun shining directly into her face and her bed moving beneath her.

It’s only when the bed groans in pain that she realizes it’s not the bed that’s moving, it’s Paige beneath her, burying her face into the crook of Azzi’s neck.

“Why do you sleep with your blinds open?” Paige hisses, clearly as hungover as Azzi feels.

“I do not sleep with my blinds open,” Azzi rasps, unable to raise her voice above a whisper as her head pounds. “I didn’t have time to close them after you threw me onto the bed and koala bear’d onto me.”

“You know I get cuddly when I’m drunk.”

It’s an understatement. Azzi is still foggy on some of last night’s events, but she can remember how Paige had spent half the night latched onto their teammates and the other with her hands glued to Azzi’s body.

Azzi throws the blanket over both their heads, hoping the darkness can help them recover before they have to wake up. But before they can get any meaningful rest, a knock sounds at the door.

“Hey, are you guys decent?” Caroline’s voice comes through the door. “I’m coming in, in three, two, one.”

She still gives them a few more seconds. She’s one of the only girls on the team that hasn’t walked in on them, and she wants to keep it that way.

Azzi has poked her head back out of her sheets, but Paige remains hidden, just a lump in the blankets.

Caroline places a bottle of Gatorade and a bottle of coconut water on the bedside table alongside some pain killers.

“Caroline, my angel.”

Azzi sits up, throwing back the pills with a deep swig of the coconut water. She nudges Paige, who simply rolls over and buries her face in Azzi’s stomach.

“Dude, drink the Gatorade.”

Paige cracks an eye, looking up pitifully. “Feed me.”

“Ugh.” Caroline makes a disgusted noise. “Well, when you guys are good, Ice brought breakfast. Not sure how much you remember from last night because you both were pretty gone, but something happened on Ice’s live that you’ll wanna see.”

“Um, that don’t sound too good.” Paige has finally propped herself up to take light sips of the Gatorade that Azzi has passed to her.

“It’s not a huge deal,” Caroline says, clapping her hands together. “Just something you should know about.”

“We’ll be out soon,” Azzi replies, and then Caroline exits, leaving a confused Paige and Azzi behind her.

Azzi sighs and reaches for her phone, shocked to see her group chat with her brothers has over ten unread messages.

Jon Wanna explain why my friend asked me if it was true that you and Paige were making out at a bar last night

Jose WHAAAAAAT

The rest of the texts are mostly them arguing about a clip on tiktok and asking Azzi if it means that she and Paige are coming out.

She tilts the phone to let Paige read the messages.

“What the fuck? Ice! Isuneh!” Paige gets out of bed, suddenly very awake and heads toward the dining area, Azzi following close behind.

A bunch of the girls are gathered at the dining area, some eating and some clearly waiting out their hangovers.

“Good morning, Paige and Azzi! I brought breakfast.” Ice says, her voice sounding falsely positive.

“What happened last night?” Paige questions, taking the last available seat next to Ice and pulling Azzi to sit on her lap.

Ice winces and slides her phone over. “Before y’all get too mad, it’s been wiped from TikTok and not that many people saw it.”

The video is only a few seconds long, a grainy snippet from Ice’s livestream from the night before. The camera pans along the bar, showing Jana, then Caroline deep in conversation with Azzi who is wrapped up in Paige’s embrace. They watch as Paige’s hands roam from low on Azzi’s hips, up toward her back as she turns toward Paige with a hand on her face. And then the camera is jerking and the frame fills with Ice’s shocked expression.

“Bro, you need to warn us when you’re on live. That could’ve been so much worse.” If Ice had kept her camera on them for even a second more, it would have been much worse.

“I’m sorry, but I did! It’s not my fault you can’t keep your grabby hands off!”

“You know I can’t help it. Did you see her last night?”

Even now, Paige’s arms are wrapped around Azzi’s waist, and her chin is tucked over her shoulder as they look down at Ice’s phone.

Ice rolls her eyes as Azzi smiles, pleased at the comment.

Suddenly, the smile drops as Azzi looks sharply at Ice. “No more lives. You’re banned.”

“What?! That’s not fair!” Ice looks pleadingly at Paige, always the more lenient of the pair.

“Let’s just chill on the lives for a bit, aight? At least until this blows over.”

Everyone agrees, and after Ice apologizes one more time, Paige and Azzi take their breakfast back to Azzi’s room so they can get some more sleep.

Paige only lasts three days before she lets Ice and KK back on live.

//

It’s nearing 11:30 PM when Paige tells Ice and KK that she’s heading out.

“Girl, boo.” KK shoots her a thumbs down. “I thought we were gonna play some more Fortnite.”

“Nah, I’m tired dude. Supervising y’all on live took a lot out of me.” Paige smirks as KK rolls her eyes and Ice, the main instigator in most of their slip ups, muffles her laughter.

Paige leaves them to their own devices, slipping out of the apartment. She doesn’t tell them the real reason she’s leaving early, that Azzi had made it clear that if Paige showed up at her door past midnight, they would both be sleeping alone that night. The girl takes her sleep seriously.

She can imagine how much shit she would get from the girls if they knew how she refused to even consider spending a single night away from Azzi, but she doesn’t care. She just wants to be near Azzi, always.

Paige lets herself into Azzi’s apartment, which is dark and quiet, with all its occupants asleep or on the way. She heads into the bathroom, brushing her teeth with the brush she keeps there, and gets ready for bed.

When she finally makes her way to Azzi’s room, she’s surprised to see light still shining from beneath the crack of the door. She eases the door open, as quiet as she can. She isn’t surprised to find Azzi asleep, with a book in her lap and her glasses falling off her face.

Paige doesn’t try to stop the grin that spreads across her face at the sight. She moves closer, putting the book on the bedside table and carefully sliding Azzi’s glasses off her face. Then, she turns off the light, flooding the room with darkness.

“Mm,” Azzi hums as Paige slips under the covers next to her.

Paige shushes her, trying to ease her back into sleep as she pulls Azzi’s head to rest on her chest.

“Go back to sleep, baby. I’m sorry I woke you up.”

Azzi murmurs something else into Paige’s neck, clearly more awake now.

“Watch out for my boyfriend.”

Paige has already closed her eyes, but they shoot open when she registers what Azzi has said.

“Huh?”

Azzi smiles lazily, stretching her body until she’s pressed head to toe against Paige’s.

“Y’know since I apparently have a boyfriend now, he probably wouldn’t like finding me in bed with someone else.” Their legs tangle together beneath the sheets.

Azzi’s words finally register, and Paige groans in understanding.

“What the hell? How’d you find out already?”

It couldn’t have been an hour since the moment where Paige had had a too visible reaction to KK reading a fan’s comment claiming Azzi had a boyfriend and that she was with him at that time. She hadn’t been able to stop her growing smile, and before she even realized it, she was scratching awkwardly at the bridge of her nose, trying to distract from her reaction and Ice and KK’s muffled laughter.

“Ice texted me, but I’m sure it’s all over Tiktok already.”

Azzi shifts again, until she’s seated astride Paige’s hips, hands splayed across the hard, flat plane of Paige’s abdomen. Paige inhales sharply as the other girl begins a slow glide in her lap, hands immediately find their place among familiar curves.

With a sure grip, Paige guides Azzi into a heavy grind, pulling their bodies together until they are both panting. Azzi dips her head to give Paige a searing kiss, tasting mint and something distinctly Paige.

When they part, Paige snarkily says, “What would your man say about you kissing someone else like that?” But the effect is slightly lessened by how breathless she is.

Azzi reaches down to tug her shirt over her head before leaning down again. She whispers, “Stop talking,” against Paige’s lips. Paige does.

//

When Azzi texts that she’s on her way over to the hotel, Paige drops Drew off with Ice and heads to the market next door. By the time she’s done, Azzi’s dad has dropped her off at the front.

It’s been just over a week since Paige has seen her, but Azzi is always a sight for sore eyes. She looks smaller than usual with the big brace over her knee, and when Paige hugs her hello, she holds on just a little longer than what might be considered casual, pressing her face to her favorite spot where Azzi’s neck meets her shoulder and sneaking a kiss there.

“I missed you,” Azzi breathes into her shoulder.

They text almost constantly, and are on FaceTime whenever they’re free, but it’s not the same as being together. It takes Paige back to the years before UConn, before she knew what it really meant that she would sometimes miss Azzi so much it felt like a wound.

She squeezes Azzi around her waist one more time before pulling back and leading her up to the room. She swipes the key to unlock the door and holds it open so Azzi can limp through in front of her.

Ice has taken Drew to bother some of the other girls, so they can have some much appreciated time alone.

Paige has barely shut the door behind her when Azzi is crowding her up against it, throwing her arms around her shoulders as her crutches clatter to the floor. Paige catches her around the waist, dropping her shopping bag on the floor, and lets Azzi kiss the hell out of her.

“You really missed me, huh?” Paige rasps as Azzi moves her lips down the line of her jaw, her neck. Her hands reach down to palm Azzi’s ass, pulling her closer and squeezing.

She knows something is wrong when Azzi pulls back, releasing a choked gasp. Her head ducks down to stare at her knee, throbbing at the sudden movement. When she looks up at Paige again, her eyes are wet.

“I can’t even kiss you without hurting myself.” Azzi lets out a bitter laugh.

Paige remembers the back and forth of emotions that came with such a big injury. How one moment it could be like nothing had happened, but then something would remind you and the world would feel like it was crashing down on you.

She pulls Azzi into the room, helping her to take a seat at the end of one of the beds before going back to the door to pick up her bag.

Paige comes back to kneel in front of Azzi handing her the bag with an uncharacteristically shy look on her face. Azzi pulls out an only slightly crushed bouquet, two family sized bags of her favorite chips, and a stuffed plushie.

Azzi stares at the gifts for a second. She shouldn’t be surprised at Paige’s thoughtfulness, not when she’s been this way for as long as they’ve known each other.

But she loves how Paige can still surprise her after this many years. She just loves her.

So she places the gifts gently to the side, cups Paige’s face between her hands, kisses her softly, and tells her just that.

💗 I love you, Pookie. 💗 9:13

😡🙄 9:14

love you too 9:15

[noxturnalnymph]

Mutual

Steve Murphy x F!Reader (3.6k)

Summary: You and Steve spend some late nights in the office together, finding a new way to work off some of the frustrations of the never-ending hunt for the narcos.

Warnings: Basically all smut (and a big ole cock). Infidelity (only if your name is Connie).

A/N: A gift for one of my favorite - and long time - mutuals, @toxicanonymity. Thanks for everything you do for this community and for always being there whenever I need anything. Love you lots!!

You walk into the mostly-empty office holding two styrofoam cups of coffee and wearing a beleaguered expression. Immediately your eyes are drawn to Murphy’s hands, his elongated fingers, stained purple and red beneath the skin, cuts still oozing at his knuckles. You watch him stand up, take off his jacket and loosen his tie, then resume sitting behind his desk, completely ignoring your entrance. 

“You’re here late,” Peña offers.

“Yeah, well some of us can’t get away with doing whatever we want,” you quip back.

Peña’s hand flies to his chest and pouts his lower lip as if your words have wounded him. You roll your eyes. You look back towards Murphy and can’t help but notice that he’s not wearing his wedding ring. You wonder why. He still hasn’t looked up, busy flipping through paperwork, making notes in the margins.

“Seriously though, why are you here so late? I bet your boyfriend doesn’t like that,” Peña teases.

“I’ve told you several times that I don’t have a boyfriend, Peña.”

“And I’ve told you several times to call me Javi,” he coos. You resist the urge to roll your eyes again as he maintains eye contact. “Besides, if you’re single, why don’t I ever see you going on dates?”

“Because I’m here, working through dinner with you cowboys!” 

Steve huffs a laugh at that and when you look at him he’s finally looking your way, eyebrows raised and pointing to one of the steaming cups in your hand. You hand it over, his long, bruised fingers brushing over yours during the exchange, and then offer the other cup to his partner. He doesn’t reach for it.

“Actually ma’am,” Peña says in a mock accent as he tips an invisible cowboy hat to you, “this ole cowboy has a late dinner date.” He grabs his jacket off the back of his chair, hastily shoves his arms into it, gives a wink to you, and heads out without another word.

“Don’t mind him,” Murphy says, “a ‘late dinner date’ is just code for hooker.”

Now it’s your turn to chuckle. Why isn’t he wearing his wedding ring tonight? Maybe he took it off earlier when he was washing the blood from his hands but… No, you don’t remember seeing it then either. You realize he’s looking at you, watching you stare at his fucking hands. He’s gotta know you like his hands, right? It’s not awkward. He’s gotta know.

“That looks painful,” you don’t look away from them. “Was it worth it?”

“I dunno yet,” he goes back to flipping through his papers. “Ask me tomorrow.”

Murphy’s little stunt earlier didn’t just mean his hands were a cut-up mess, it also meant he’d have pulled the short straw to finish the paperwork needed to try and sweep it under the rug. If all went well, and they’d put the right amount of money into the right people’s pockets, he could get away with having beat that snarky reporter’s face in and no one around here would be asking too many questions in the morning. It’s going to be a long night. 

You grab the papers off Peña’s desk, carry them to the far end of the office, not your normal desk, and begin typing up his notes into a formal report. Your normal desk was upstairs outside the Ambassador’s office, being one of his attachés meant you traveled with him in-country and helped during his posting at his discretion. You were one of his favorite attachés and that came with a lot of perks; always flying with him and his family in the private jet instead of slumming it in commercial, a plant-covered, sun-lit desk by the window, and always being trusted with the most confidential of orders. 

Unfortunately for you, lately, his orders had you spending long-nights with the feckless DEA agents trying to make orderly, lawful reports of their chaotic and illicit methods to catch the narcos. The ambassador trusted few else but you to spin their lawless nonsense into cohesive accounts with diplomatically-acceptable language. You knew your long hours were appreciated - by the Ambassador if by no one else - and you really didn’t have much of a life outside of work, so it wasn’t the worst problem to have. Besides, working late came with its own set of perks.

---

You’re not sure how much time has passed but as you wrap up typing Peña’s chicken-scratch, you look up to see if Murphy is anywhere close to being done only to find him not at his desk. You wait a few minutes and when he still hasn’t returned you get up and walk past it. His desk is more centrally located than the one you were using and from here you can see the whole office. The coffee cup sits empty, the ashtray overflowing, his coat hanging limply from his chair. But no Murphy. You walk towards the main entrance, pass the department secretary’s desk, call out his name, and receive no answer in return. 

Just as you’re about to turn and go back to your work, you see just a fraction of movement out of the corner of your eye. The blinds in Messina’s office just beyond the secretarial desk are all closed except the ones covering the window on the door, which are raised just a fraction. 

Is he? Again? He must like this more than you thought. 

You make your way to the DEA lead’s office door and test the knob - unlocked - just like you knew it would be. Pushing the door open slowly and flipping on the lights has you greeted with a groan. It’s Murphy, sitting on his boss’s leather office couch, cock in hand. 

“When we say you DEA boys do nothing but sit around all day with your dicks in your hands, this isn’t what we mean,” you tease. He doesn’t even try to cover himself, doesn’t make a move to hide what he’s doing. This is definitely part of it. He likes this. You’ll have to play your part. “What kind of a man has to jerk off at work? Things really that bad at home?” 

He groans again, and you watch his big right hand squeezing himself at the base of his thick cock. You’re not sure how long he’s been in here but he’s apparently just been edging himself, if the ruddy head and pearlescent beads leaking from his tip are any indication. Just based on the size of him you always thought he might have a respectable dick, but the fact that it still looks massive, even in his giant fucking hands, is even more impressive. 

“Sorry you had to catch me like this,” he grumbles, as if he didn’t orchestrate this entire scenario for that very reason. He hasn’t resumed touching himself, he just holds it - enormous and erect - like an obelisk of flesh. 

“I don’t think you are sorry, you filthy pervert.” You close the door behind you and walk to Messina’s desk, sitting on the edge of it facing him. “I think you fucking love getting caught with that big cock out, don’t you?”

He sucks air and squeezes even tighter as you watch the clear precum flowing out of his slit and running over his flushed head.

“C’mon, Murphy,” you begin to slowly unbutton your blouse. “You’d better get it over with before more people walk in here and see that big, fat cock of yours.”

Almost like he was waiting for your permission, he begins pumping himself, using the viscous liquid running down his shaft to lubricate his strokes. You untuck your blouse and pull it off completely, folding it next to you on the desk while you watch him - completely dressed - jerking off. Aside from his loosened tie thrown over his shoulder, he’s still wearing the same outfit he came to work in, not even the blood-spattered sleeves of his rumpled white dress shirt have been rolled up. Just like last time, and each time before that, the only skin he’s showing you are his hands, wrapped around his dick and balls. 

You pull your eyes away from what his hands are doing and make eye contact with him, seeing him break away to watch you undo your bra, letting it fall slowly down your arms to reveal your breasts to him. You set it next to you on the desk and sit back on your hands, sticking your chest to the sky. He doesn’t take his eyes off you when he speaks.

“Gonna take more than that, honey. Do it like last time.” And there it is, the first time he’s acknowledged that this is a repeat occurrence.

Like last time. You’d thought last time might have gone too far, thought maybe you’d scared him off, especially since it was weeks ago that it’d happened. But apparently not. Apparently it wasn’t too much. Apparently it was just enough… and he’s been thinking about it happening again.

You stand up off the desk, slowly pulling down on the zipper at the back of your skirt, letting your breasts push forwards while your hands work behind you. You watch as he licks his lips, tugging slowly up and down his shaft, gently squeezing his balls with his left hand. You pull your skirt down your legs, folding it and placing it with your other clothes next to you. You stick your fingers in the waistband of your pantyhose and underwear - the only clothes you have left on - and watch him slowly nod his head, eyes glued to your center, ready and waiting.

You slowly pull down your remaining garments, feeling the relative chill of the office air hitting your bare cunt as you bend forward. Once the hose is at your ankles you turn around to brace yourself on the desk, giving him the view you were just denying him. He moans, lowly. You bend forward, a hand on the desk, and slip off each shoe one by one, pulling the hose and your underwear over each foot. You finally stand to place them on the desk with everything else and then turn back to face the couch.

He’s slowed down so much his hand is barely moving now, just brushing languidly over the head of his cock, smearing the steady flow leaking out. You sit back on the desk and slowly, so slowly, spread your legs open. You hear him growl a yeahhh in response. “This what you wanted, Murphy?” You tease.

“You know what I want,” he whines through clenched teeth, “so give it to me.”

“I don’t think you’re in a position to give me orders, you fuckin’ creep,” you snap, knowing it goes straight to his cock by the way his left hand tightens on his balls.

You oblige him anyways, knowing you need this just as badly as he does at this point. You take the middle finger of your dominant hand and run it up and down your slit, lips parting easily since you’re already so wet. You’ve probably been wet since you noticed he wasn’t wearing his wedding ring earlier. Maybe the rumors about Connie leaving the country were true, maybe his marriage is actually over. So if that’s his excuse for being a horny pervert, what was yours?

You tease your finger over your hole, spreading your legs wider so he can see every slick movement you make. You drag your wetness up to your clit and part your folds with your other hand, drawing smooth circles around your sensitive bud. 

“You’d better hurry up, you disgusting deviant, because I’m leaving the second I come,” you command.

You don’t bother to wait for him to look you in the eye to measure your sincerity, you just increase the pace and pressure of your finger and throw your head back, moaning in ecstasy. You can hear him speed up his movements, can hear the sound of skin on skin schlocking quicker as he chases his release. Last time didn’t take long. Last time you got a few circles over your clit and he was coming all over his pale-yellow dress shirt. Last time you had to finish yourself at home, reduced to fantasizing about his cock while you cried out alone in your bed.

The thought has you changing course. Maybe you can actually come this time, if not before him at least the sound of his grunting orgasm could push you over the edge. It won’t be too much, right? He’s gonna get off - again - so why shouldn't you? You drag your fingers back to your hole, leaking wetness down your thighs. He makes a sharp intake of breath. Your head is still thrown back but he’s clearly watching you. You slowly insert two fingers, coating them with your wetness and then pumping them faster in and out.

The sounds of your fingers squelching in and out of your wet hole fill the room now, drowning out his pistoning hand and huffing breaths. It’s probably why you don’t hear him get off the couch, don’t hear him walk to the desk, don't hear him panting right in front of you. You don’t even know he’s there until the heat of his left hand is spanning across the inside of your thigh, halfway between your knee and your core.

You lift your head quickly, a sharp intake of breath instead of a scream, and see his nearly-black eyes watching your faltering hand with rapt attention.

“Can you fit a third?” he rasped. “I bet you can.” Your pussy clenches around your fingers.

You know a snappy quip wouldn’t go amiss but for some reason - with the heat of his hand matching the heat of his gaze - you can’t seem to get one past your lips. You drag your fingers out slowly and line up a third with the other two, already soaked and dripping. Steadily, you insert them back in your greedy hole as he squeezes your thigh - his massive grip taking up an obscene amount of real estate on your leg - and brings himself so close that you can feel his moving knuckles wafting cool air over your wet lips.

His dick is so fucking close. It would be so easy for him to just fucking stick it inside you. But he’s married. That’s what he’d made sure to say the first time… and the second. I’m married, as if it meant anything to you. Just help me out, he’d begged, and you were more than willing. Just a married guy needing a pretty, eager girl to look at. You’d been dreaming about Steve Murphy’s dick since he wore a tight pair of jeans his second week here, and you got a glimpse of the massive bulge he had hidden in them. Well, it was hard to hide, and now you know why.

But then you remember - eyes darting to his left hand, still hot on your skin - he’s not wearing his wedding ring. 

“You ever fuck a woman with that cock, Murphy? Or just your hand?”

The sound that comes out of his mouth can only be described as a whimper. He moves his hand up your thigh, closer to where you want it, and squeezes your flesh again. His fist is making practiced moves over his length, starting mid-shaft where his girth widens and pushing up over his crown with fluttering fingers. He’s giving himself pressure on the underside where he’s most sensitive, then gathering the constant stream spilling down his cockhead and over his knuckles, and spreading it out on his downstroke. You feel him press in closer, so close, his eyes not wavering from your fingers plunging in and out of your sopping hole. 

Then, it happens.

He’s moved so close that his knuckles graze along your spread lips, hitting right at your clit - four in a row - like the brief kiss of a vibrator. You almost scream. And Murphy notices. Oh, does he notice. Your movements have come to a halt, as have his, and you both wait to see what the other does next. A sly grin settles across his face.

“I thought you were in a hurry?” He taunts.

He pushes his left hand down into your thigh - spreading you open to your limit - and takes his right hand off his dick. He grabs your hand by the wrist, pulling your fingers out of you with a wet, suctioning noise. You watch him put your hand onto his dick, covering it with his much larger hand, and spread your own shocking wetness down and back up his shaft. He lets your hand go but before it can resume its place inside you, he���s closed the gap, pushing his pelvis forward, bouncing his cock against your hooded clit, causing you to twitch at the sensation. 

“You’d better hurry up and come, honey, before Javi comes back to see you spread eagle like this.”

“Fuck you,” you manage to choke, hating how he thinks he has the upper hand now.

He stops tapping his rounded head on your sensitive bud and instead rubs himself left to right, the change in movement hitting you like a lightning bolt. 

“You’d better come before I do, naughty girl,” he continues to tease, echoing your earlier demand.

“So give it to me,” you answer, echoing his. 

He pushes forward, cock held tightly in his fist, and fits his wide head into your hole, making you gasp. You brace for the rest of it - the stretch, the sting - but it never comes. You wiggle your hips, even tilt your pelvis towards him the little bit you can from your position on the desk, and all you feel is his fist hitting your sticky lips.

“Murphy.”

His stupid fucking grin. Hmmmm? He’s watching you struggle.

“Quit playing around,” you whine.

“Quit playin’ around,” he repeats. He lifts his dick upwards, popping it out of its shallow entry, then slowly lines it back up, bumping around clumsily - on purpose - before putting just the tip back inside you.

“Fuck you, Murphy,” you hiss.

“Fuck me?” He repeats the motion of popping himself out, poking around, and then giving you just a fraction of what you know he could be giving you.

“Fuck me, Murphy, fuck me.” You throw your head back as he goes through the motions a third time. “Please, Murphy. Please fuck me.”

He lines himself up again at your weeping hole, but this time you feel both of his hands grabbing at the meat of your hips. He pulls you down onto him and pushes himself up into you in equal measure, slowly but steadily filling you up. You hear him groaning, hear yourself whining, high-pitched and strung-out. You feel the sting, you feel the stretch, you feel the weight of him pressing into you until his pelvis bumps yours. You’re both watching where he’s disappeared into you, the silence stretching on.

“You ready for this big fuckin’ cock, honey?”

“I’ve had bigger,” you lie.

He pulls back quickly and slams forward into you, rocking the desk you lie on, and knocking over a cup of pencils. You both ignore them clattering onto the floor as he pounds into you relentlessly. The wet smacking noise of your bodies clapping together, the huffing groans coming out of both your mouths, the smell of sweat and sex and coffee. He fills you up so perfectly, hitting every place deep inside you that you never even knew existed. It’s so much better than it was in your fantasies. You reach down to touch your clit and this time it’s you that comes after only a few circles around it.

You can’t fucking help yourself. His bloody knuckles turned white with their tight grip at your hips, his furrowed brow and utter concentration - pupils blown large - staring at himself fucking your cunt, his grunts of pleasure as he finally finally gives you his fat fucking cock. You cry out his name, feeling yourself clench around his length, flooding him with your release, hearing the sounds change from lewd to obscene. And you watch his face go from focused to downright pained. 

He pulls himself out of you with a snarl and pumps his cock overtop you - coming immediately - white ropes covering your belly. He groans through it, continuing to cover you with a surprising amount, then leans over you and with his cock in hand, rubbing it into your skin with his dick. He rubs his cock back and forth, pumping it lazily, rubbing his sensitive head against your sticky skin and continuing to shudder from the overstimulation. Once he’s squeezed the last of his climax out, he steps back and tucks his dick away into his pants.

---

“Sorry again,” he mumbles, running his hand through his hair as you redress on shaky legs. “I really oughta stop doin’ this shit at work. It’s inappropriate, like you said.”

“Uh huhhh,” you answer, unconvinced. 

You wish you had it in you to continue this little charade but you’ve just orgasmed all over someone’s desk and your cock-drunk little mind is having difficulty making sense of anything right now. You reach down to slip on a shoe and although you were bracing yourself on the desk, you still begin to tip over. Murphy catches you with a gentle but firm grip, his huge hand curling around your arm and settling you upright. His hand remains holding you, the heat of it burning you through your blouse.

“Maybe next time we can just go to my place,” he purrs, meeting your surprised look with a wink.

.

(other stories in the Mutual Universe if you're interested - the prequel to Mutual is The First Taste, & there's also Saturday Steve for some Solo Steve Murphy action)

.

Boyd Tax: handsssss

[h8ani]

Tokyo Revengers Headcanons

Crack Edition: Moody GF On Her Period

Requested!

A/N - I hope 4 headcanons was enough! Feel free to request again! PSA this is my first headcanon so bare with me

Credits! The dividers were made by @benkeibear if you’re ever in need of any borders or dividers :)

𝙈𝙞𝙠𝙚𝙮 𝙎𝙖𝙣𝙤

This man will do everything in his power to NOT piss you off

For someone as dangerous and terrifying as he is

Hearing the slam of the front door has his knees buckling

The house being a mess was a constant argument with you two and the last thing he needs is the demon coming out of you

The house is spotless

Laundry folded and put away

Breakfast, lunch & dinner made to perfection just for you

You have this man feeling pressure from the moment he wakes up when he hears you groan in pain from your cramps

He’s scrubbing the counter tops one morning focused on cleaning when he turns around and flinches so hard he slips once he sees you

“Why’d you fall?”

“Floors looked dirty, needed to clean ‘em…”

𝙈𝙞𝙩𝙨𝙪𝙮𝙖 𝙏𝙖𝙠𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙞

Mans has your period symptoms and remedies down to a T

Your cravings are no joke

Hangry AF

24/7

No breaks in between at all

All of Toman fears your time of the month and they only know it’s time when they see Mitsuya carrying a bag of snacks with him

While he’s in his meetings you have the bag to yourself

But when everyone is conversing and you catch Smiley joking around with you and you don’t find it funny at all

That boy swore he saw his last day

That is until Mitsuya comes by and hands you a bag of your favorite chips

Anger diminished

Crisis averted

Smiley can live to see another day

You turn to look for another snack when you see a pack of cookies waiting for you on the steps of the shrine

Then a few more steps and you see a drink

And then more snacks

And more

What you’ll think of as a treasure hunt to find all of your snacks is actually Mitsuya leaving a bunch of snacks for you to distract you

All of Toman is in his debt for this

𝙃𝙖𝙣𝙢𝙖 𝙎𝙝𝙪𝙟𝙞

He actually likes your cranky side

Mainly because he actually doesn’t bother you and it’s everyone else that has to watch out for you

You’re fairly okay when it comes to your period

You can do things and move around, so that didn’t stop you from asking Hanma to go to the farmers market with you

You make it through the entire trip without flipping out on anyone

That is until Hanma is paying for the groceries and items you two found when he hears a loud thump and a groan come from behind him

He turns to see you beating a grown man with a single pineapple

Where you found another he doesn’t know because the one you picked out was in his bag

He just watches you destroy the pineapple against the defenseless man because man, it was a sight to see

He only picks you up once he hears the man make a sexist comment

Hanma saw your eyes dart to the broom display a few feet away and he could only imagine what you were planning to do with those

𝙍𝙖𝙣 𝙃𝙖𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙞

Ran is probably the worst one to be around on your period

He thinks everything is just so funny

You’re overly emotional? He laughs

Because “Why are you crying at the chef boyardee commercial?”

“He found his way back home! He was left behind!”

He finds you most amusing when your anger spikes

Because why is his sweet little girlfriend turning into a demon of the night

You were snapping at him, snapping at his brother, you even snapped at the poor couch pillows going as far as chucking it across the room causing a glass to break

After that Ran’s eyes locked on his brother who was behind you with a cross necklace hanging from his hand and a squirt bottle

Rindou began chanting “Begone Satan!” while spritzing you with the squirt bottle

Let’s just say the necklace was now broken and Rindou was soaked, bottle now empty

Ran just sat back and watched while his brother now believed that the devil was in fact inside of you

[venusvity]

˚˖𓍢ִ໋🍒✧˚.⋆ UR MY BABY! HELLO, I'M BAEBI!

cw: sexualization + controlling company

  JUNG YOONAH took on the stage name BAEBI in 2018 upon her debut with VENUS and the world was never the same.

Baebi would take the world by storm with her solo debut the same year Venus would debut, sparking much discussion among fans over favoritism, a debate that still rages today. But who cares about favoritism when the music is good? Bubble Pop! Would take the Kpop world by storm, becoming the song of the summer.

It peaked at number two on South Korea's Gaon Album Chart and charted atop the US Billboard World Albums. As of 2023, it has sold 560,000 copies in South Korea. 

Bubble Pop! 's commercial success was the main contributor to Angelico Entertainment's leading music sales. The song peaked at number one in South Korea, where it has sold over 2.5 million digital units. To accompany her solo release, Baebi held a series of small concerts called Baebi's Summer Splash. She was awarded Best Female Artist at the 2018 Mnet Asian Music Awards and at the 2019 Golden Disk Awards.

Chart data is boring. Let's talk about something else.

Returning just a few months later with the mini album "Tell Me More" and a title track of the same name, fans grew slightly more concerned over Yoonah's concept as a soloist. According to her most dedicated fans, her sound and look were very mature, very sensual, and bordering on sexual, which didn't really match Yoonah's character.

No one would be shocked at the music and content Baebi would be releasing when looking at her creative team:

The Son Brothers, Jinhwa and Roan, would be the proud creative directors behind all of Baebi's solo work. Bubble Pop! would be Son Roan's, later turned CEO of Angelico after his brother departed from the label to become CEO of Mydol, Angelico's now parent company, first project in the Kpop realm.

"I like working with Baebi because she's something different than what you're used to seeing from the other idols out there. You can do things with Baebi you can't normally do with other idols and I find that very exciting." – Son Roan when asked about the Baebi brand in 2020.

2020 Baebi hit a career-high with her mini album "Glassdoor" and the lead single, Gashina. This song was everywhere, but even more to an extent, no Angelico artist had ever seen. Baebi was an international sensation. She'd go on a mini world tour as a soloist, the first and only Venus member to do so, promoting internationally, being the first soloist under Angelico to do so internationally.

A point of contention in Baebi's career is the botched release of her first full album, "Hello Baebi!" with the poorly promoted single, Hello. When Baebi was coming back, you knew about it, your friends knew about it, your mama knew about it, hell, even your grandma knew about it. For Hello Baebi? Not a peep. Even Baebi fans were confused when Ktown4u posted a pre-order poster for the album before Angelico even posted teasers. Which, mind you, she only got four photo teasers and a single video trailer for a full album.

When the comeback happened, promotions only lasted for two weeks, something unheard of for Baebi and the outfits? Fresh off the Forever21 rack. The stages? Bare. Nothing. The MV? Budget cut in half. Something wasn't right...Then when you looked at the album credits, neither of the Son brothers were anywhere to be seen. The entire album was made by Baebi herself, something she shared often on her Instagram or during the few interviews she did during this era.

Either way, Hello Baebi, her one cute era completely controlled by her, was deemed a flop and the Son brothers used that to their advantage, taking full creative control over Baebi's image again.

Which is where Touch came in.

Touch was noted for its overtly sexual music video, on-the-nose sexual lyrics, and latex outfits Baebi would promote in. The single, which was, of course, promoted ions better than Hello Baebi!, was phenomenally on the charts and in sales, "proving" that the mature concept is what people wanted from Baebi. At least, that's Jinhwa's belief.

Baebi's release after Touch would be a mini album titled "Stupid B—" with the promoted track TWIT. Fans that worried for Baebi would be soothed by this less sexual yet mature concept and the actual look of enjoyment on Yoonah's face when performing the song, something that seemed to be lacking when she was performing Touch.

After a year break from solo activities, Baebi would come back swinging in 2024 with her second full album, "Choke On It," and the title track LIPLOCKER, which was a hit, of course. Though the concept was leaning more toward sexual than mature, Baebi seemed more comfortable performing and actually had fun during this promotional period. She'd go on to say that LIPLOCKER was her favorite comeback since Hello Baebi!, which fans are hesitant to believe, but whatever makes her happy!

[goldenfigtree]

Operation: Pamper Condor One

Summary: It’s your one year anniversary and you decide to make it your mission to give Leon the treatment he deserves.

Pairing: Leon Kennedy (any Leon of your choice tbh) x Fem!Reader

Warning: toothrotting fluff

Note: yeah I know, I know it’s spooky season but I’m a lover for the aesthetic of Valentine’s Day and thought it’d make this Drabble even more romantic. Sue me! Either way I hope you enjoy! This one is one of my longer ones.

February 14th was a day you despised with every fiber of your being. The hearts, roses, and the sickly shades of red and pink never swooned you. Any mention of the holiday earned a gag and an eye roll from you in return. Mainly because it reminded you how single you were, but you never said that aloud. Instead you went with the more indirect reasonings when questioned,

“Valentine’s day is just another unnecessary commercial exploitation” was your favorite one to use. But deep down, you envied those who got to celebrate having a significant other, wishing you could join in all of the fun. That is, until Leon Kennedy came along. Being the cliche and cheesy guy that he is deep down, he decided it’d be romantic to ask you to be his girlfriend on Valentine’s Day at your doorstep with an oversized bouquet of roses. One year later and your perception of this romantic holiday had completely been redefined. That’s what love does to you, you guess.

And now here you were, a week before Valentine’s day secretly planning the most romantic evening you have ever planned in your life. To be fair, it was the first romantic evening you ever planned, making it the most romantic thus far. It being the first romantic date you had planned made you all the more excited and anxious to make sure everything was absolutely perfect. Not one candle or balloon was out of place. Despite all the chatter from your friends, saying that it should be the boyfriend planning these sort of dates on this holiday, you didn’t care how you may look putting this together. More important matters were at hand, specifically Leon not really being the same since his last mission.

You remembered clearly how exhausted he looked when you picked him up from the airport, how he practically fell into your arms, how permanent his frown has been since then. You hated seeing him like that. You wish you could take his pain and exhaustion away, but you couldn’t, and that you hated more. So, in hopes to lift his spirits, you thought of Valentine’s day being the perfect opportunity to give him the treatment he deserves, especially on a day that the both of you held dear to your hearts. Screw the tradition, the expectations, all you cared about was getting your Leon back. The Leon who was serious to some but especially giddy and happy with you. The Leon who always had a twinkle in his eye when explaining something he was passionate about. You were getting him back if it was the last thing you did.

The week flew out the window with the fiercely cold winds of winter, and the time had finally come to execute Operation: Pamper Condor One. Wearing a lipstick red chain knit sweater and a pair of jeans, you pull your hair up into a bun at the top of your head and wrap it with a white scrunchy with tiny hearts. Looking in the mirror you didn’t expect to come to this point in your life. You didn’t think you’d ever enjoy today like this, much less with someone who made life worth perceiving at a different, more positive angle. But, you weren’t complaining, you liked this new you and you sincerely hoped that you could bring the old Leon back tonight.

Looking around your apartment with brows furrowed, you murmured your checklist to yourself to ensure everything was in place. It was safe to say that you went all out with this one. Heart shaped pillows replaced your usual everyday pillows on the couch, candles were lit everywhere in the house to the point where it was almost a safety hazard, and most importantly, rose petals scattered on the sheets of your bed. Nibbling on your thumbnail, your mind spirals in a panic as you wait for him to arrive.

Is this too much? Will he hate it?

You thought to yourself looking around the apartment from your couch, your legs crossed and your one heart patterned sock covered foot bouncing anxiously. So deep in thought, you jump at the sound of Leon’s familiar knock, one he came up with so you knew it was him at your door. Standing up so fast, you begin to almost see stars as you clumsily make your way to your front door and swing it open.

“Hey beautiful” Leon greets, his voice soft, sentimental, yet so very exhausted. With an oversized bouquet of your favorite type of flower in his arms, he has to tilt his head to the side to look at you.

“Awe you shouldn’t have!” you gush happily as you tug his arms toward you to lead him inside.

“You didn’t think I’d forget our one year did you?” He grunts as he places the bouquet down on your kitchen counter.

“Never” You reply with a giggle as you watched him lean back to stretch his back,

“Jesus, those are heavy” He groans to himself, “you also have something coming in later tonight”

You couldn’t help but snicker at his obliviousness towards his surroundings, as he continued to speak,

“I also got us a reservation at your favorite restaurant, we’re supposed to be there in… wait what’s all this?” he asks softly, turning around and taking notice of the romantic ambience of your apartment.

“I’d cancel that reservation if I were you, because we’re not going” you say leaning against the kitchen counter, crossing your arms,

“We aren’t?” He asks cautiously, turning back to you. You smile smugly and shake your head,

“Nope, tonight we’re going to be focusing on you” turning him to face you and wrapping your arms around his neck, you place a soft peck on his lips as his eyes turn up in thought,

“Me?” He murmurs against your lips, earning an agreeing hum from you in return,

“Go sit at the dining table, I’ll be there in a minute okay?” still a bit unsure of how this evening was going to turn out, he eventually nods and makes his way to your circle dining table. Noticing a wrapped box leaning against his chair, wondering what it could be.

Not long after, you walk out with a pizza box in your hand, Leon’s eyes immediately light up noticing the emblem on the top lid,

“Is that–”

“Your favorite? Of course” you triumphantly respond, placing the box on the table and opening the lid. The savory aroma of melted cheese and pepperoni filled the air which filled Leon’s eyes with excitement. Something you hadn’t seen in a while, seeing it now made your heart soar. So far, your plan was going swimmingly. Serving him a slice, you place a kiss on his forehead and sit across from him. While taking a bite of his pizza, he looks around at all your hard work and attention to detail in awe,

“Babe, you did all of this…for me?” You look up from your plate and reach out to take his hand with a loving smile,

“Well, you’re always taking care of me, I thought maybe I could do it for a change” You explain, a bashful grin growing on your lips as you squeeze his hand. His eyebrows furrow as his mouth falls slightly, something told him it was because of how he’d been acting since he came home. Guilt washed over him, he thought he had hid it so well. But this extravagant gesture showed him the opposite of what he thought was reality. You had often asked him what happened and if he was feeling okay and in return, he just shrugged it off. Telling you not to worry about him, that he could take care of himself. Little did he know how much that isolated the both of you back then. But he saw it now,

“Baby, I’m sorry for being so off lately and shutting you out. I thought I was protecting you but I think I did the opposite” your eyes softened at his words as you stood from your chair. Kneeling down you take him in your arms and kiss his forehead,

“I know” your breath brushed against his skin, causing his shoulders to drop slightly, “You were trying to tough it out right?”

With a soft exhale through his nose, he nods his head slightly, “You know you don’t have to carry this weight on your own right? That’s what I’m here for” you continue brushing some his hair away from his face,

“I guess, I don’t exactly know how to do that” resting your forehead against his own, you rest your hands behind his neck, the pads of your fingers making his eyes flutter slightly in bliss,

“Don’t worry, I’ll make it easier for you, starting tonight”

A small smile grows on his face, your soft voice always being music to his ears, and knowing you cared this much, to do all this for him. Since you two had intertwined your lives, you continued to show him what he had been missing. What he yearned without knowing. Nodding his head, he leans in to press his lips to yours. His hands gently lifted you closer to him and before you knew it, you were sitting on his lap, legs dangling over his right thigh as your lips failed to pull away. Every kiss rebukes all anxieties and fears from both of your minds. After one last peck, his lashes flutter down as he notices the wrapped present against his chair again. You notice and with a chuckle you reach down and place it on the table,

“Happy One Year my love” you coo nuzzling your head against the side of his. You wished you could take a photo of the look on his face as he eyed the carefully wrapped box. He looked like a little boy on Christmas Day,

“go on, open it” you urge. With a quiet laugh he makes the first tear of the paper and then another tear. With your legs swinging, you watch him open the box and pull out a T-Shirt and read the words. His smile widens as he reads it and out comes a laugh you missed so dearly, like a dream that flees from you the moment you awake.

“My Girlfriend Is Hotter Than You” he reads it aloud and places a smooch on your cheek, “that she is, that she is”

“That’s not all” you say with a smirk, earning an eyebrow raise from him,

“Is there something else in the box?”

“Nope” your hands leave his neck and reach the hem of your sweater, beginning to lift it from your body. A motion, you noticed, made Leon’s cheeks redden. You lift it over your head and drop it to the floor to reveal your matching t-shirt,

“My Boyfriend Is Hotter Than You” in bold black letters matching him. He practically gasps and tightens his arms around you peppering kisses along your neck, making you giggle from his excitement,

“And you said you hated these type of shirts” he points out smugly,

“What can I say? You’re a bad influence on me” you retort back, standing up from his lap and extending your hand,

“C’mon the night isn’t over” Leon’s ears redden from your words, as he takes your hand and lets you lead him into the bedroom. Sitting him on the bed, you grab his shirt and lift it from the bottom, with a shy yet excited twinkle in his eyes, he lets you. Placing it neatly on your dresser, you sit behind him on the bed,

“What are you doing?” Leon asks with a look of intrigue on his face,

“Giving you a massage, duh” you tease,

“Oh, I thought we were gonna…” he clears his throat and rubs the back of his neck with a sheepish chuckle, “right” he adds, sounding a tad disappointed. Pressing a kiss on the back of his neck, sending shivers down the man’s spine, you ruffle his hair and whisper in his ear,

“Maybe later” you almost saw his ears perk up from your words as your hands stroked along the scars littering his back. You remembered the first time you saw those scars. Wanting to kiss every single one of them away, knowing how much of a burden they casted on your lovely boyfriend. Resting your hands on his shoulders, your thumbs knead the area beneath, feeling the pent up tension,

“Does this hurt?” You ask with uncertainty,

“No, feels good” he murmurs, his eyes gently closed. With a sigh of relief you begin to rub down and knead every area of his back. Sighs and grunts escape his lips as he feels his body tense and relax from your touch. You smiled softly, glad to see him receiving the attention and care he deserved. You couldn’t imagine how tense he must have felt using his body so brutally to survive and play hero. You could feel the exhaustion, pain, and stress leave with every manipulation of muscle, “I love you” he murmurs again, his eyes half lidded and a dreamy smile on his lips.

“I love you, too” you softly respond, hugging him from behind, “how do you feel now?”

“Amazing” he mutters under his breath, “Thank you”

You can’t help but gush at his words, always so sweet, so polite. Getting up from the bed you run to the bathroom and take one of your clay masks and place it on your dresser,

“You’re really spoiling me here” he comments bashfully as you also come back with the leftover pizza in the pizza box, his gift and turn on the tv.

You chuckle and begin opening the clay mask and walk over to him. He widens his eyes and holds his hands up, “Wait, lemme do something first” he says, causing you to lift your brows curiously. Grabbing the t-shirt you gifted him, he slips it on and admires the letters spreading across his chest, “Okay now you can continue”

“So you like the shirt huh?” You tease smearing the teal paste onto his forehead,

“I thought I made it obvious” he retorts back sassily, closing his eyes. You roll your eyes and continue smearing the mask on his face,

“There all done, now just relax” you reassure, pressing him farther onto the bed,

“Wait, you’re not wearing a mask” he points out taking the paste from you, “c’mere”

“Leon, this is about you remember” you protest,

“Last I checked, it’s our one year anniversary, not mine. Now come here, I’m not doing this alone” he adds the last part sternly, making you sigh in defeat and scoot over to him so he can apply the paste onto your face. You can’t help but smile as you watch him carefully apply the paste on your face as neatly as possible. After he finishes, he kisses your lips earning a sound in protest,

“Babe, you’re going to make the mask crack” you say sheepishly,

“Tuff” he remarks, hovering his body over yours to kiss you more deeply.

The doorbell rings making Leon pull away, his eyes filled with excitement,

“It’s here” he whispers to himself, hopping off the bed and making his way to the door. Coming back he holds a gigantic teddy bear, the exact one you were eyeing while the two of you were running errands together,

“You didn’t!” You gasp,

“I did” effortlessly, lifting the teddy bear that was half the size of him, he places it next to you, “like it?”

“I love it! Thank you” you gush hugging the bear tightly.

“Alright alright, I’m right here you don’t need to cuddle it now” he adds, a tinge of jealousy in his tone, pushing the bear aside and collapsing onto you earning an,

“Oof” from you as you wrapped your arms around him,

“I think I’m ready to talk about it all now” he says as he lays his head against your chest, looking up at you with puppy eyes. You feel all your worries of this plan being a disaster fall away from his words,

“Well go on, I’m listening” with a long, tired sigh he begins to explain everything. The horrors, the betrayals, the losses he endured to make it home. You kept quiet and let him talk about it. Your hands massaging his scalp to comfort him. Once he was done, he lifted himself up from you to look into your eyes,

“I really am sorry for shutting you out. I was just.. afraid of burdening you”

“What you go through, I want to go through it with you. I wish you understood that, that’s what I mean when I say I love you”

“I understand that now.” He begins to say, “we’re a team right?”

“Exactly, you’re so smart” your compliment causes him to blush and smile,

“What was it you said about doing something later?” He says endearingly,

“I said maybe”

“Is it more of a yes than a no kind of maybe or…” he responds suggestively, pressing himself against you making you blush slightly, “Because I think I owe you something in return for all of this, princess”

“If it frees your conscience, sure” wrapping your arms around his neck you lean forward and share a kiss with your lover. Feeling his smile curve against your own, it was safe to say Operation: Pamper Condor One was a success.

[zot3-flopped]

Two months prior to its release, would-be doyens of Swift’s Tortured Poets Department have taken its barbed track listing very literally, leading to intense, often nefarious speculation regarding Swift’s six-year relationship with the British actor Joe Alwyn, which seemingly ended in early 2023.

The album’s title, revealed onstage at the Grammy awards, was quickly linked to a December, 2022 interview with Alwyn and Paul Mescal in which they revealed that Andrew Scott started their group chat, the Tortured Man Club. (“It hasn’t had much use recently,” Alwyn said: you wonder if it’s undergone a recent revival.) Swift revealed the leading track list a day later: My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys, So Long, London, I Can Do It With a Broken Heart, The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived, to name a few, sending fans wild with speculation.

Swift, obviously, has every right to sing about her relationships however she wants to (no apologies to Eamonn Holmes). But in the absence of any music, some fans have spread baseless, dangerous and even libellous allegations about Alwyn’s conduct (which, for obvious reasons, I can’t repeat).

Last month, a brief fan-shot video of them dining in a New Orleans restaurant in December, 2022 was recirculated online with AI-doctored audio that made it sound as though Alwyn is saying “you don’t get to tell me about sad,” a line printed on the back of one of the new album’s four physical editions.

When Swift recently told a crowd that she was “lonely” when writing her 2020 album Folklore – some of which was co-written with Alwyn during the pandemic, a lonely time for most – fans took that as further confirmation of their theories. A live medley of three songs that all appear to reference cheating threw petrol on the fire.

Swift could make this stop. She is no stranger to airing her displeasure with the likes of Ticketmaster, Scooter Braun, Spotify and Apple Music, and, occasionally, politicians. Before she released Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) last year, she gave a veiled speech at one Eras tour date effectively asking fans not to go after John Mayer, whom she dated when she was 19 and he was 32 and is understood to be the subject of that album’s Dear John.

“I am not putting this album out so you should feel the need to defend me on the internet against someone you think I wrote a song about 14m years ago when I was 19,” she said in Minneapolis.

But for whatever reason – and obviously, no member of the public has any idea what transpired between her and Alwyn so far – this time she has opted to stay quiet.

Establishing a baseline for conduct is neither commercially risky nor unprecedented: just last week, Ariana Grande said, after the release of her post-divorce album Eternal Sunshine: “Anyone that is sending hateful messages to the people in my life based on your interpretation of this album is not supporting me and is absolutely doing the polar opposite of what I would ever encourage”.

It feels like the endgame of a cat-and-mouse act that’s gone too far. Swift’s gestures towards meaning have led every single thing she does to be considered a kind of marketing, a clue to be solved. It leaves a superstar who’s usually hot on her messaging open to misinterpretation: hints about her personal life are turned by some fans into witch-hunts for anyone perceived to have wronged her; her current silence on politics allows politicians to invoke her name, from the New South Wales police commissioner quoting Swift’s anti-haters lines while defending police to Joe Biden joking that the matter of her apparently much sought-after endorsement is “classified” on Late Night With Seth Meyers.

When Swift made a blandly neutral handwritten post encouraging US citizens to register to vote on Super Tuesday, some fans speculated that her unusual left-leaning handwriting was the real indication of her loyalties – suggesting they’re so starved of substance that they’re reading into empty messages because of this dynamic she has established. (The more likely explanation is the insane way she holds a pen.)

For Swift to only direct fans as to her wishes when it suits her, it weakens her status as a truth-teller. If the comparisons with Dickinson mean anything, she might remember that nothing in the world has as much power as a word feels like the endgame of a cat-and-mouse act that’s gone too far.

[unnoticed-poison]

𝚈𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚎! 𝙳𝚊𝚛𝚔! 𝙷𝚊𝚣𝚋𝚒𝚗 𝙷𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚕 𝚅𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚇 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 °【 𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝟒 】𝕻𝖆𝖗𝖙 𝟐°

Paaaart two is ouuuuuuut!

【 𝕿𝖗𝖆���𝖑𝖊𝖗 𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕 】

【 𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝟏 】

【 𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝟐 】

【 𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝟑 】

【 𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝟒 】 𝕻𝖆𝖗𝖙 1

【 𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝟒 】 𝕻𝖆𝖗𝖙 2

Chapter 5 is on AO3, Wattpad and Quotev :3

Anyways, enjoy ❣️✨

˖๑‧˚꒷꒦₊꒷꒦︶︶₊꒷꒦˚‧๑˖𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 ˖๑‧˚꒷꒦︶︶₊꒷꒦₊꒷꒦˚‧๑˖

Back at the hotel, Dicckie was discussing with Alastor about the commercial issue.

"HAH me? making a deal with 𝘺𝘰𝘶? Don't make me laugh."

Was the moth's reaction to Alastor's offer.

Did the bastard think he was a fool?

He'd rather rip out his remaining eye than strike a deal with that freak.

Alastor let out an amused chuckle as he lightly tapped the moth's head with his cane. " Not for your soul of course! Just a simple deal that is all!"

He had no use of such a worthless soul like his anyway.

Irritated, Dicckie swatted the cane away with his hand. "What could a demon like 𝘺𝘰𝘶 possibly want other than my soul?"

"Easy! I do this stupid commercial for you, and you never ask me to engage with this technology ever again, it's simple!"

"I mean.."

"Or! Charles can come back to absolutely nothing!" Alastor said with a careless shrug. "Your choice my friend!"

.....

"Fine." The moth grumbled, handing over the camera with a resigned sigh.

"Wonderfu-!"

"Sir! Sir! Sir!"

Nifty called with a bright smile as she barged into the room and pulled on his coat.

Alastor looked down at her with a soft smile. " Yes my dear?"

The little girl pointed to the living room and exclaimed. "Charles is on tv! He's famous now!"

What?

"Oh is that so?" Alastor said, his voice tinged with curiosity while tilting his head as the two men silently glanced at each other.

This was bad news.

"YES! Come and see!"

Was the last thing she said before running off.

Dicckie was suspicious now.

"Those meetings were never broadcasted before, what changed now?"

Alastor put his arms behind his back as he started walking. "Ooh I have a feeling I know who's behind this, let's just go for now and see how's our little prince holding up, shall we?"

Dicckie nodded and stood up.

Once they got there, they saw Angel Dust and Husk sitting on the couch, while Nifty laid on the table, swinging her feet while her single eye was glued to the tv screen.

The man grimaced when he heard 𝘩𝘪𝘮 speak.

"-I failed to seduce her-"

'You have got to be kidding me..'

Angel rolled his eyes with an unimpressed look while texting on his phone. "It's no wonder looking at you."

The moth sat down on the couch beside Husk as he watched the scene unfold.

Like every year, his ex-boss kept babbling about useless, unrelated stuff so that the meeting time would go to waste and the other party wouldn't have much time to say anything.

"Got a good 275 sir."

𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥?

Dicckie scoffed, what a rookie number, looks like Lute was still as slow as ever, he used to score much higher.

Of course, not as much as her, but still enough to be considered one of Adam's favorites.

Well, 𝘦𝘹-favorite now.

"You know those are my people, right..?"

"Of course! And that's what makes it even better!"

He sighed, his former boss hadn't changed a single bit.

Just as he expected, the man refused to listen to anything Charles was saying and began mocking him.

"-To move up the next extermination."

WHAT?!

Oh this was bad.

They could only watch in silence as Charles got thrown out of the room.

"Looks like Lucifer's brat fucked things up for us all! What a shocker, I'm sure your father will be 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥."

Alastor's eye twitched when he heard that.. insufferable voice.

He will make sure to deal with the man later.

........

Angel Dust snickered. "There goes our chance at survival, not that there was any to begin with." He mused, turning his attention back to his phone, frowning as hundreds of texts from his..boss kept coming in.

Alastor tapped Dicckie's head with his cane again and spoke in a mocking tone. "See? What did I tell you? Though I'm sure you expected this to be the outcome as well."

"Shut your damn mouth you-"

"Excuse me, are those yours?"

That voice....

Dicckie's eye immediately snap back, his heart skipping a beat at who he saw.

'It's her..'

"Oh look a pretty angel!" Nifty pointed.

Oh yes, she looked as beautiful as ever.

"Oh my! Is it just me, or does this woman look H.O.T!"

Dicckie frowned as the spider was basically undressing the woman with his eyes.

"Believe me, it's just you." Husk groaned while drinking his beer and glancing at the woman.

That was a lie.

"Aww what's wrong whiskers, upset that I'm not paying attention to you?"

"You wish."

Noticing the bloody hammer, Nifty added while jumping up and down on the table. " OOOH she's pretty AND a bad girl! I like her!"

Alastor hummed as he looked at the woman.

She was quite the beauty indeed.

Glancing down at Dicckie, he blinked when he noticed the stunned expression and the faint blush covering his cheeks.

Oh?

Interesting...

Feeling Alastor's gaze on him, the moth shot him a glare. "The fuck you looking at?"

"I couldn't help but notice that you look quite infatuated with her, tell me, is it love at first sight, or perhaps..." he glanced at the woman then back at him. "You know her already?"

?!

Shit!

"What the fuck are you babbling about!"

"Relaaax I was just playing with you~ there's no need to get so upset," he said, turning back to the tv.

This was now even more entertaining!

Wait..

What was Charles doing?

Everybody stared in shock as the...accident happened.

Husk spat out his drink.

Nifty covered her eye.

Angel raised a brow and smirked. "Looks like someone got lucky today."

Dicckie resisted the urge to punch Alastor when he started laughing, not noticing that his grip on the cane tightened.

This bastard was enjoying this!

Turning back, he could only watch with a heavy heart and pray for Charles.

This was 𝘯𝘰𝘵 going to end well.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪

............

......

You two stayed motionless on the ground for a few moments, neither of you making a single sound.

....

Charles, upon hearing the sound of your nails slowly scratching across the ground, immediately snapped out of it and got off of you, staring down with widened eyes at what he had done.

Shit shit shit shit!!!

What have he done!?

He quickly helped you set up to your knees and started taking off his jacket.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!!" He exclaimed, avoiding looking at your cleavage with a red face. "I don't mean to!"

Just as he placed the jacket on you, the door in front of them opened with a loud thub, revealing Adam with a scowl on his face.

"What the FUCK is all this nois-"

The words brutally died in his throat when he saw this sight in front of him.

.........

What the 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬 was he seeing right now.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪

Dicckie winced as he witnessed the two angels get involved.

Now it was really over for Charles.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪

....

"YOU LITTLE SHIT!!"

In a blink of an eye, Charles found himself on the ground, groaning in pain while holding his broken nose.

Feeling something cold on his neck, he opened his eyes to see Lute looming over him, his mask gone, revealing his piercing eyes and twisted face full of hatred, the man tightened his grip on the spear, pressing it against his neck further.

Leaning in closer, and in a voice full of wrath and scorn, he spat out his words.

"You think you can just come in and humiliate one of our finest angels with your filthy hands and get away with it?"

Charles shook his head. "NO! I-"

"Save it you piece of shit."

While the two were arguing Adam moved over to you and helped you up to your feet, before spreading his golden wings to cover your body.

Turning his attention to the blonde, his expression shifted to a menacing glare while clenching his teeth.

"YOU FUCKING LITTLE LIMP DICK DEMON THE FUCK YOU TRYNA DO HUH?? TRYING TO GET YOUR DICK WET OR SOMETHING?!"

Flinching as the spear dug deeper into his flesh, Charles held his hands up. "That was not my intention I just-"

"Shut your fucking mouth, honestly, what else did I expect from Lucifer and that bitch's whiny brat? you-"

You remained silent during all this, unsure of how to react to everything that just happened.

You were just humiliated on live television, thousands of filthy sinners have seen you half-naked...

Suddenly, you felt a small tap on your leg and a voice spoke.

"Are you ok boss?"

Looking down, you saw Scramble glancing up at you, concern clear in his eyes, his hat was nowhere to be found and....

You paused when you noticed something horrifying.

Was that a 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬 in his shell..?

With your eyes slightly widened from shock, you bent down and picked the egg up, your fingers lightly caressing the crack, afraid of causing any further damage.

"Your shell..."

"It doesn't hurt that much boss!"

........

Your eyes narrowed as you shot the demon a furious glare.

Carefully lowering Scramble back down, you shoved Adam's wings away from you.

"I will move up the damn exterminat- hey where are you going!?"

Looking over your shoulder, you smiled at your boss. "There's no need to do that Sir." You said, making your way over to Charles and Lute.

You had a more suitable punishment in mind.

Standing behind Lute, you spoke. " Please step aside Lute."

"But he has to pa-"

"I said, step aside."

.....

Lute gave in to your demand, quietly stepping back to let you stand in front of Charles, the two men looked at each other with confused expressions, waiting to see what you were going to do.

"I swear it was an accident!" Charles tried to explain as you helped him up, his hands stained from the blood that was flowing down his broken nose. "I'm really sorr-"

You softly pressed your finger against his lips, silencing him instantly.

Confused, a faint blush spread across his face from the contact.

With a subtle grin gracing your lips, you gave him a playful wink before proceeding to lift your leg and deliver a swift, powerful kick right to his most sensitive area.

˖๑‧˚꒷꒦₊꒷꒦︶︶₊꒷꒦˚‧๑˖𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 ˖๑‧˚꒷꒦︶︶₊꒷꒦₊꒷꒦˚‧๑˖

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! ❣️

Btwwww! One of my new friends made a Fanart for this fanfic! I can't post it now since it's a huge spoiler for future chaps so I won't post it until we reach that chapter.

Let me just say that I looooooooooooved it!!

That shit made me happy and motivated me so much I wrote the chapter in two days 😭

Buuuut

I drew the cute eggs! My friend helped with background so I could write the draft.

This is for chapter 1

And this is for this chapter!

Oh yeah future chapters will most likely be posted on AO3, Wattpad and Quotev

If you have any questions, feel free to ask ❣️

[brandyllyn]

Silk from their soul (26)

The Ghoul / Cooper Howard x f!reader [no use of y/n]

Rated: T Words: 1.2k Summary: Lotta time between now and later

Series Masterlist My Masterlist

If the facility weren’t built by Vault-Tec it’s damn close to it. Every line and door reminds him of those damn commercials he used to do. It’s even underground, although it doesn’t look like it was ever used the way the Vaults were.

“You gonna turn some lights on?”

She glares from the console she’s squatting next to. He could help, but he’s as liable to rearm the security system as he is to lend a hand. Instead, he leans a shoulder up against a rack of boxes, chewing the inside of his cheek and squinting into the dark.

This facility of hers ain’t much to look at. One of those big blast shield doors and an elevator down to just a couple of rooms. She’d ignored the first two, so he’d done the same, but if they were just gonna stand in the dark he might as well go see what was worth salvaging.

“While you’re messin’ with this shit I’ll-”

He winces at the sudden light, tipping his head down so the brim of his hat shades his face. After he blinks away the spots he glances around the room, noting that she’s working on a big computer terminal.

It’s a lab of some sort, not that he has a clue what kind. The space is large, one wall taken up by refrigerators full of strange colored liquids. There’s a few tables scattered throughout, and past them he can see the human-sized tubes that must be for making more of her.

He shifts his feet, antsy to get back above ground. This was her mission, and he was here to support it, but being down in a Vault made the soles of his feet itch. Behind him the rack creaks and he adjusts so he can see what he’s leaning against.

It’s not very big, maybe the size of a large bookcase, with drawers about a foot square. Each one has a number and he makes note of the closest ones.

#055  06/12/2267 -  #054  03/14/2262 - 

He scans the cubbyholes, frowning at the dates. Some are only days apart, but most are a few years. On his end there’s several with only a single date.

“What the hell are these?”

She glances over from the console she’s working on and frowns. “What’s left of my sisters. After he got the hang of it he only made new ones when he needed to sell us.”

He does some quick math. “These are only a couple of years apart. There some kind of nursery round here?”

“We’re made fully grown, or thereabouts.” She waves a hand at the rack of human-sized tubes. “See?”

He didn’t see but he wasn’t worried about that. There’d be plenty of time to figure all this shit out. Some of the ones to the left had two dates - presumably both birth and death - while others… well, he had to assume they were still alive out there.

“These the ones we’re going after?”

“I’d like to.”

Looked like less than a handful, shouldn’t be too bad a job. Out of curiosity he moves to the beginning of the line.

#001  07/18/2143 - 07/30/2143 #002  07/18/2143 - 09/03/2144 #003  02/05/2145 - 06/22/2146

He grunts, tracing a finger over the short dates. These must’ve been failures, clones that didn’t mature. Pausing, he scans across the fifty-odd drawers. What was it she’d said? Just missed unlucky thirteen?

#014  05/13/2153 - 

The date halts him in his tracks and his jaw drops as he looks over at her.

“This right?”

“What?”

“Twenty-one fifty-seven, that the year you were born?”

“Made,” she corrects, finally moving from the console to walk towards him. She’s gorgeous, skin unmarked and hips swaying under that scrap of dress. “And yes, I believe so. I was always Galen’s favorite, he never wanted to sell me. But… things happen.”

“But that would make you…”

“Hundred and twenty? Something like that.”

He gapes, stunned for the first time in years. She laughs and touches his chin, gently pushing it up.

“Don’t look so shocked, I get the feeling you’ve got a few more on you than that.”

“Yeah, but I look every one of mine.”

He’s not jealous. Well, he’s a little jealous. But mostly just that she got to keep her hair. He still misses his.

“You do,” she agrees, sliding her arms around his neck. “And I love it.”

He harrumphs and lets her kiss him. She tastes as sweet as always and he wracks his brain for the nearest available surface. It turns out to be a lab table and it only takes a sweep of his hand to clear it of detritus and hoist her giggling body onto it.

“So just how many gals we gotta go rescue?”

She’s nibbling on his neck and he tilts to give her better access. “Two out there, two in cryostorage in here.”

“Cryostorage?” He hums softly, pushing her dress to her waist. “So there’s two more of you in here just waiting for me to lock lips with them?” She nips and he shudders, jerking her hips forward. “A whole harem of beautiful women, begging to do what I tell them.”

He’s goading her and it works. She bites at his neck, hard enough to leave a mark, and it makes his cock go so instantly hard it hurts.

“You’re mine,” she growls, gripping the back of his head and forcing him to look in her eyes. “I’m not sharing.”

“Good,” he grunts, “I don’t think an old man like me could keep up with more than one of you anyway.”

Her warm chuckle makes his toes curl. “You planning to keep up with me Cooper?”

“Long as you’ll have me,” he tells her solemnly. Something soft enters her eyes and she wraps her fingers into the collar of his coat. He leans forward of instinct, intending to nuzzle against her, and at the last moment turns it into a soft sweep of his lips across hers instead. “I don’t know how many days I got left, but every one of ‘em’s yours.”

She kisses him and he holds her close. There’d be time later to figure out what to do with numbers fifty-four and five over there. Time to talk about his own mission and what her part would be in it. 

But there were a lotta days between now and later, and he intended to enjoy every one of ‘em.

☢ ☢ ☢

For updates follow and turn on notifications for @brandyllyn-writes

[fullsunsets]

Thanks to @jmagnabo92 @myheartalivewrites @henryspearl @iboatedhere @thesleepyskipper for tagging me

To celebrate hitting 50k words in my RBB fic, I will be sharing one of my favorite moments ever.

How a wonderful, funny, kind, and handsome man like Henry Fox is spending Valentine’s day all alone with his annoying straight friend and not on some romantic ass date is beyond comprehension for Alex.

“I honestly don’t understand how you’re still single,” Alex blurts out and Henry freezes midway through grabbing the last can of beer.

“I— well…” Henry tries to start, but he keeps opening and closing his mouth like a blobfish. And Alex might have lost count of how much he has been drinking because he finds Henry’s whole reaction cute.

“It’s just… You’re such a cool guy and honestly, the fact that no guy has snagged you for a date, today of all days, feels so wrong to me. They have no idea what they are missing,” the filter between his racing thoughts and his mouth is already faulty when sober, so there is no surprise it’s nonexistent when he’s drunk. 

Henry looks at him surprised, almost as if he is trying to make sense of the scene playing in front of him. “I honestly don’t mind, the holiday is so commercialized anyway. I’m——”

“H, I’m not dumb,” he turns to his friend and they are currently staring at each other, “You are a hopeless romantic who dreams of the day you’ll get your love story worthy for an Austen heroine. And while I am sad to inform you that you are not an Austen heroine, but Mr. Darcy, my point that you are a sucker for love still stands. You deserve being knocked off your fucking feet, someone to take you to some fancy ass restaurant, to take you around the Smithsonian and hear you go on your cute little rants, baby. And the fact that no guy has given you that, fucking pisses me off. Instead, you are stuck with me getting piss drunk while we watch Star Wars and argue about which movie is better for the umpteenth time,” he looks at Henry straight in the eyes, hoping he gets Henry to see he deserves so much better. 

“Alex, I didn’t know you were hating spending the night with me that much,” Henry teases, but at this point, Alex has become almost an expert in reading him and can see the tension in his shoulders.

Almost as if he actually believes what he just said, and that just breaks Alex.

“That’s not what I’m trying to say, asshole!” he glares at him and Henry chuckles, “No, H, I’m so serious right now, you have no idea. This is the best night ever, and I will never take this for granted. But you deserve the world! The point is that you should be out having cheesy-ass dates with the love of your life instead of being stuck with your straight friend who is too annoying to get himself a date.”

“So if you had a date for today you would have dumped me?” Henry jokes, but then Alex freezes.

He never told Henry about the girl who tried to ask him out last Saturday after trivia night. She was cute and even Nora pointed out she looked like Alex’s type, although he doesn’t know where she gets that his type is blond. They dated and Nora is very much not a blond. However, he already had made plans with Henry and he didn’t want to leave him all alone on Valentine's day. At least that’s what he told Nora and his sister, but he can’t shake off the way they looked at him, as if he was the dumbest person they know. 

And honestly, he probably is, because who turns down a date to hang out with their friend. Someone he has only been calling a friend for a few weeks.

Yet, Alex doesn’t care if he and Henry have only been friends since late January or for 5 years. That's his best friend right there. He doesn’t care what Nora has to say about it. He’s allowed to have two best friends.

“No,” he admits and Henry’s eyes widen, “I already made a promise to you and I don’t break them.”

Tags: @theprinceandagcd @luainthewild @benwvatt @onetwistedmiracle + open tag

[candieduranium]

owlish traits of an owl therian

this is a dump of all of the owl-like things about me over the years

tw for sh

• ever since i was little, like 4 years old, i ran around the house and flapping my “wings”. my mom found it cute and funny and praised it. i also used to associate the people i knew with different species of birds. i would think of some people as bluebirds, some as finches, etc.

• the bump in my upper lip is slightly more pointed than most folks’, so it’s like a :} shape. kind of like a beak! i used to hate that point and would bite and chew at it in an attempt to break it off simply because i thought it looked ugly, but now it’s honestly one of my favorite things about my appearance.

• i’ve always been so interested and fascinated with birds. it’s natural and probably very common for a therian to have been interested in their kintype(s) for a long time before awakening as a therian, which is what happened to me. it wasn’t specifically owls for the majority of the time, but recently i discovered such a strong connection and self-association with barn owls. this is what awakened me as a therian.

• phantom limbs. so, so many phantom limbs. for years i’ve felt like my arms were supposed to be wings, my legs should bend differently. i used to play with my shadow so much and try to manipulate it so that my arms looked as close to wings as i could get them.

• my sense of smell. my mom has a bad habit of turning on the gas stove and accidentally forgetting to make sure it’s lit and not just spitting out a bunch of gas lmao. i can smell it within seconds that it happens. every. single. time. barn owls have a keen sense of smell, like me. super smelling, or hyperosmia, is something that i’ve felt i’ve had for years from being especially sensitive all sorts of smells. i once smelled a gas leak at home that my parents didn’t and immediately alerted them. it was quickly fixed, but i don’t know what could’ve happened if i hadn’t caught it.

• i like planes… classic birdkin lol. i’m not scared of flying. in fact, i might even become a commercial airline pilot as a career someday, but that’s definitely up for change and not set in stone.

• “early bird or night owl?” gimme your best guess lmao.

• my glasses!! i have thin, roundish glasses which are mostly a silverish color with black on the front. many people have likened me to harry potter (rip. kill that little br*’ish boy.) which i… unfortunately see. but since im growing my hair out now it’s definitely not as obvious as it used to be. i got them before i awakened as a therian, but its funny to me that i just naturally chose a frame that already makes me look so owlish.

• i pull at my hair and pick at my skin when im anxious, which is also what birds do when they are stressed for extended periods of time. they pull out their feathers, and i pull out my hair, usually my eyelashes or on my arms.

these are all of the things i can think of at the moment, but i mentally point out little habits and traits i have that are similar to the ones barn owls also have. i’ll probably add on to this list more whenever i catch a new one.

but lastly, don’t think that you’re not a therian if you don’t have experiences like mine! you could be like the polar opposite of your kintype(s) irl, and it does not diminish your validity in the slightest!

[chloecherrysip]

As much as I mourn all the lines that appeared in mario movie trailers but for some reason, didn't make it to the finished product (RIP "I'm not afraid! I'd do anything for my brother!" YOU LIVE ON IN MY HEART ALWAYS AND FOREVER), I've been thinking about "I hope you told your brother how much you love him, because you're probably never gonna see him again" and the rest of that whole dialogue exchange in particular from this specific trailer and how much I wish we'd gotten that moment because I think it would have helped spotlight a vital aspect of Mario's character that the movie already does a REALLY good job with getting across in the first place: the way he communicates how he feels through action and acts of service instead of words!

(more under the cut because this got too long, haha)

Mario is usually a very quiet protagonist so this tracks with the games too, obviously, but even movie!Mario seems like someone who isn't overly verbose or who's especially eager to enter into heavy, feelings-based conversations (at least not without a struggle). Talking about his feelings might not come easy to him, and he maybe even forgets to say things outloud that to him, seem obvious. (Meanwhile, I think Luigi is always up for gushing about his favorite people (see the interrogation scene lol) and probably ends every phone call/text message exchange ever with "love you!" to Mario and his parents, to the point that he might accidentally say it to acquaintances and customers too on occasion, LOL).

So thinking about this exchange with Toad and how, even if the movie didn't acknowledge it past that point, this idea would be hanging over Mario throughout his journey hits harder because you can imagine him thinking: hey, when WAS the last time he told Luigi outright that he loved him that wasn't a distracted "yeah, me too" response to Luigi saying it first? Maybe it's been a long time. Too long. So long it's genuinely upsetting for him to realize! What if his brother doesn't actually know how much Mario loves him, because he does, he does so much, and he's been an idiot for going so long without saying the actual words and now he can't, he CAN'T and he would give anything in the world to go back and do things differently!

And of course, all this panic is totally unwarranted and even silly because I think Luigi knows like his own name how much Mario loves him. Because the audience watching this movie knows how much Mario loves his brother by that point! Mario never says the actual words - in fact, he never says anything particularly positive about Luigi, other than "you were great!" regarding the commercial in the very beginning - and yet it couldn't be any clearer!!! I think it's pretty impossible to come out of this movie (if you were paying attention in the least) not seeing that love plain as day in everything Mario does, down to the littlest things, because he is a man of action and that's how he expresses himself best!

You see it in how he shifts from mildly embarrassed to immediately Intense and Ready To Throw Down on a dime when Spike insults Luigi, you see it in how he pauses to open doors and create paths for Luigi to safely follow him through the construction site as he's parkouring, you see it when the dog becomes aggressive and Mario is just entirely focused on keeping Luigi behind him, pushing him out of harm's way, getting the dog's attention so it will attack him instead, etc. You see it in the warp pipe when his entire demeanor changes the second he realizes Luigi is in trouble, how he desperately paddles to reach him and grab his hand and comfort him about the situation. You see it in how his brother is front of mind for him at every point in his adventure and that's why he fights so hard to talk to Peach, why he agrees to the fight with DK, why he keeps trying even when things seem hopeless and no one believes he can do it. You see it written all over Mario's face during the reunion, every single little way he touches Luigi and brings him closer and checks in on him with crystal-clear relief and joy and gentleness!!! The "show, don't tell" aspect is just OFF THE CHARTS IN THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE because that's how Mario is. He's not so good at words and remembering to say them. When he loves someone, he wears that feeling, he lives that feeling in so much of what he chooses to do and how he interacts with the world, and while it's always good to say these things outloud now and then just to be clear everyone's on the same page (and I'm sure he does after the movie, haha), it doesn't make it any less meaningful. :)

[whore-era]

1k event: interview with ellie williams

☁︎ HAPPY 1K LOVES!!! i got this idea from @collegecraze as she does 'interviews' with characters of her game on her patreon and i thought it'd be funny to do my own with our very own angry lesbian <3 she's canon-typical in this interview! ☁︎ tw: alcohol usage, some sexual discussion but nothing too explicit

ellie: hello...is this thing on?

you: please...ellie...we're live.

ellie: oh we are?? sorry..

you: it's no problem! anyways....intro track plays...welcome to frankie's podcast! where we interview YOUR favorite 2D video game characters! and i'm your host!

ellie: what do you mean by 2D vide-

you: tonight, we have our favorite angry, murdering lesbian, ellie williams!!

cue round of applause

ellie: yea, sup.

you: so, ellie, tell us a little bit about yourself.

ellie: uhh, i'm ellie. i'm 19. i'm a part of the small community in jackson— lover of weed and space.

you: so you don't live with dina and jj anymore?

ellie: nah- wait, how'd you know that?

you: not important. so...you're single?

ellie: yeah but, look, i'm not looking for anything serious.

you: okay, okay, how about something casual?

ellie: yeah, sure, whatever. why are you asking me these questions? you said you needed help finding your dog when you dragged me away.

you: ......look, i needed an excuse to get you to agree to my interview. anyways! ya heard it hear folks, ellie is looking for something casual. *wink*

ellie: ...okay...

you: okay, ellie! next topic. do you think you'd ever get over dina?

ellie: uh...well...— do i have to talk about this?

you: yes. think of this as a therapy session.

ellie: well, i'm not sure. we went through a lot together and..i thought we were gonna be together forever, you know? but she doesn't really understand why i had to leave.

you: i'm sorry. must've been tough, how are you holding up?

ellie: i'm pulling through. traveling by myself is weirdly..therapeutic.

you: right, and you're travelling to california to find...abby, correct?

ellie: *cringes* yeah.. her.

you: and how do you feel about abby anderson?

ellie: i mean, i didn't kill her. that says something, right? but i just— i just can't get over what she— what she— i'm sorry...excuse me.

you: okay, frankie, take us to commercial break please.

"i'm sorry, ellie. i think we started the show off with a sensitive topic," you say, rubbing her back soothingly.

"it's fine, it's fine. she's not something i wanna talk about right now, anyways. we can talk about other things," ellie murmurs. you take the initiative to wrap your arms around her neck, pulling her in for a hug. you feel her tense in your arms, before she relaxes and wraps her arms around your waist.

"ready to continue?" you ask, and she nods, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye.

"yeah."

you: welcome back to frankie's podcast! we're still here with our favorite sapphic!!

cue intro track

you: so, ellie, how would you feel answering some questions from our lovely viewers?

she shrugs.

ellie: i'm down.

you: perfect! our first question is....'what makes you truly happy? where is your happy place?

ellie: hmmm....i think i'd have to say the museum of science and history in wyoming. uh, i like thinking of the memories i had there, with joel.

ellie has a small smile upon her lips.

you: how sweet. i'm sure joel is up there, thinking of all the memories you guys had together.

ellie nods, but you couldn't help but notice the sad glimmer in her eyes.

you: okay! second question, let me read this one. oh! uh— are you a top or bottom?

ellie chokes on her water, the liquid dribbling down her chin.

ellie: huh? what??

you: it's what the people want to know.

ellie: uh— i prefer being on top.

you let out a nervous cough.

you: good to know.

you were about to ask the next question until you see the producer, frankie, walk over to you both with two shot glasses.

frankie: okay, cuties, here's a shot of tequila, specifically casamigos reposado. think you both should loosen up a little bit.

you: can i get a chaser?

frankie: yea, sure, how 'bout you, ellie?

ellie shakes her head.

ellie: nah, i'm good.

frankie: 'kay, tough guy.

frankie leaves and shortly comes back with a coke, handing it to you and retreating back to her post.

you pop open the can, holding it in one hand, with the shot glass in the other.

you: cheers?

ellie: cheers.

she clinks the glass against yours, then downing the shot in one gulp. you gulp yours in one swallow, chasing it with the soda right after.

you: whew, that was nice.

ellie: yea, sure takes the edge off.

you: okay, next question. what is your ideal partner?

ellie: hmm...let me think. maybe someone who's really funny and smart too— not like book smart, but just smart. someone who i can really get along with, like a best friend.

you: how sweet.

ellie: yeah, i am.

you: ..okay, moving on. ass or ti-

ellie: ass.

you: you sound confident about that answer.

ellie: 'cause i love ass.

ellie narrows her eyes at you, and you look away, clearing your throat.

you: next question. do you love lana del rey?

ellie: ....who's that?

you: according to google, she's this indie rock singer. we could listen to one of her songs from her new album?

ellie: yeah, lets do that.

frankie hits a track, and music begins to play throughout the studio.

the track stops as the song comes to an end.

you: so, what'd you think?

ellie: first of all, she's hot as fuck. second of all, i could get down to her songs, s'not usually what i listen to but 's a pretty song.

you: yup, the bad bitches listen to lana.

frankie: my good friend, kittie, loves lana, ellie! i should give her your number!!

ellie turned, not hearing what the producer was yelling.

ellie: huh?

you: MOVING ON. how do you feel about pillow princesses?

ellie: love 'em. they're cute as fuck.

you: they are indeed. how would you feel knowing about a 1/3 of your fanbase are pillow princesses?

ellie: seriously?

you nod.

ellie: ....shit.

ellie smirks and relaxes against the cushion of the chair, manspreading her legs, the chemicals of the alcohol she consumed before taking affect on her brain.

you swallow thickly, wiping a bead of sweat, and reading the next question on the page.

you: okay, next question. what's your workout regimen?

ellie: uhh. don't really have one. running for you life and fighting infected with the strength of a powerlifter certainly helps.

you: that's it?

ellie: what do you expect me to say? i lift six out of seven days of the week and drink raw egg yolks?

you: okay...don't need to be so sassy. jeez.

she looks at you, and laughs, shaking her head.

ellie: what a brat.

you: .....are you trying to flirt with me?

ellie: and so, what if i am?

you: feeling confident now, are we?

ellie: the alcohol helped a little bit.

frankie: kids! keep it professional!

you: right, right. ahem, ellie. how do you feel so far? being on the show?

ellie: definitely feel more comfortable. the alcohol and the pretty host interviewing me helped a bunch.

you: me? y-you think i'm pretty?

ellie: yea, of course.

you: you're not too bad yourself.

ellie: yeah? wanna get out of here after this? get another drink?

you: we can leave right now, if you want to.

ellie: hell, yeah.

the both of you get up from your chairs, retreating backstage.

frankie: hey! you guys! we have to finish!!

frankie sighs, knowing you both were already on your way to leave the studio.

frankie: i don't even think she can legally drink here!!! oh christ.

frankie picks up the mic.

frankie: well! that's all, folks! and i wanna say thank you for 1k! hopefully next time we'll have ellie again, accompanied by abby anderson!

ellie peeks out from the curtain.

ellie: WHAT?!

frankie: goodnight, everyone!

a/n: let me know how yall like this concept :P and how i can adjust! love u bbs

[tomorrowsgardennc]

today, let's talk about

✨️ aphids ✨️

specifically, when you have a basic greenhouse enclosure (aka not a commercial-built high tunnel with all the accessories).

aphids will be a problem. guaranteed. this is due to lack of airflow (like, legit airflow from wind or a very robust intake/exhaust system). i have a fan or few for my greenhouse tunnel contraption, but it's more for to help prevent stagnant air and keep the temperature uniform. i'm not at aphid-prevention level of airflow yet. and that's ok, because over the past few years i have learned the signs and what to do about them and today i am sharing with you.

✨️ step 1: finding ✨️

there is one tell tale sign that indicate you are in the presence of aphids. just like other pests, the sign you'll see is poop. for aphids, this looks almost like white and clear glitter on leaves. on the soil, it will look more like white glitter. the leaves will also be very sticky. sticky, glitter poop.

✨️ step 2: locating ✨️

ok, we found the pest poop. now to find the pests.

aphids nom on two parts of the plant: the newest growth, and under the leaves. as you see here, the very tip of this pepper plant has some babies. now when we get to the next stage, keep in mind that since the aphids are here, you already lost the game. there's no hope in this new growth unless you do the following and final step.

✨️ step 3: elimination ✨️

no no, put that neem oil down. neem oil kills any and all bugs. it does not detect which is good and which is bad. no no, dish soap and water legit does nothing except wash the poop away; ignore what pinterest and the influencers say about that combo. ok, army of ladybugs bought at the local hardware store is good, but we gotta do one more thing before we unleash them. and that's 𝓼𝓺𝓾𝓲𝓼𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰.

legit, the only way to remove an aphid infestation, regardless of what stage of infestation ("beginning", "haha, i'm in danger", or "HELP I'M DROWING IN GLITTER POOP") the most effective way to have any hope of saving the plants is to squish the aphids. this will not happen all in one day, nor two days, or three. day three is when you unleash the ladybug army, though, and i'll explain why in a second.

day one you'll be in shook and overwhelemed, and squish to your hearts content. but you will not get every single one nor any eggs. day two will show progress. day three is now manageable, and all the subsequent days afterwards will be to ensure you got every. single. last. one. including the eggs that hatch.

✨️ final step: release the hoard ✨️

sadly i can't find my video of releasing ladybug hoards in the greenhouse in years past... so i'll just scatter ladybugs 🐞 as i type this 🐞 part out to help with the ambiance.

ladybugs and other happy 🐞 bugs love to eat aphids. why not 🐞 have them do all the work?

well, think of your favorite cake. like legit the most perfect cake you could ever imagine. mine is yellow cake with chocolate mousse frosting and sliced fresh bananas. mmmm...

now imagine 20 of those, 🐞 and they're capable of reproduction. don't ask how, but they do. at a rate of 10 cakes every 🐞 other day.

🐞 how long will it take for you to be able to eat all those cakes before they can stop reproducing??

also, keep in mind when you purchase a pack of live ladybugs, only about 2/3rds actually are alive in the packet 🐞 by the time they make it to freedom and the remaining will either die very shortly from the last bit of energy to be free and fly away or just fly away and enjoy being elsewhere because they're an 🐞 introvert who was just stuck in a bag for a month or so 🐞🐞🐞🐞 and fuck everyone and everything they just want to leave regardless of the buffet at their feet.

that will leave you with approximately 10 ladybugs. and now that 🐞 you have done all that squishing, they will keep the aphids in check and make sure they don't pop up ever again. now your plants will attempt to regrow and leaves or new growth they lost and be happy.

✨️ the end 🐞✨️

[cordonianroyalairlines]

All I Want for Christmas Part 2

Series: Cordonian Royal Airlines

Fandom: The Royal Romance

Pairings for series: Various

Pairing for this chapter: Riley x Drake, Liam x Max

Word Count: 2,848

Rating: General

Warnings for this chapter: none

Submissions: @choicesprompts rewrite challenge, holiday edition TRR x Untamed Heart (one of my all-time favorite movies). @choicesficwriterscreations holiday prompt: Stuck together in the snow; @choicesdecember2023 Christmas and @choicesholidays: This is the worst/best Christmas ever.

A/N: So the end of this is based very loosely on a scene from Untamed Heart. I looked for a clip of the scene in question but couldn't find one. You'll have to trust me that this is one of the most underrated movies of all time. If you've never seen it, you should look it up and watch it.

“Hey, you okay?”

“What?” Riley glanced up in surprise, wiping the wetness from her face with the palm of her hand, “I’m fine.”

“Hm.” Drake grunted as he pulled out a chair and sat down without waiting for an invitation. “You don’t look fine.”

She tried to laugh and cry at the same time and the sound came out as a little hiccup, “Sorry, it’s just Christmas Eve, you know?”

“Yeah….” He said carefully, reluctant to reveal that he didn’t know, not really. He had a mother and a sister, but he wasn’t close to either one. “So, you had plans, I take it?”

“Of course! Every year we all go to my parents’ house for Christmas. My brother Ryder and his wife and kids, my sister Amelia and her fiancé, and my brother Jory will be home from school, and this is Declan’s last year at home before he goes off to university…. I’ll be the only one not there this year….”

“So, you’re close to your siblings?” He set the bottle and glass on the table between them and gestured toward it. “Drink?”

She shook her head. “No thanks. And yes, I’m very close to my siblings and my parents.”

“Would you like something else? I’ll buy you a drink. You can tell me about your siblings.”

“I wouldn’t say no to an amaretto sour…”

An hour later, she looked up to find him smiling at her softly. She flushed as she realized she had been dominating the conversation. “I’m so sorry! I’m just rambling on and on about myself and my family! Tell me about yours!”

“Nah,” he waved her off, “There’s not much to tell. I’d rather hear about yours. Your brother Jory sounds hilarious. Declan should definitely dump that guy, and I agree with Max about your sister. It sounds like she takes your love and support for granted.”

“Max and Amelia have never gotten along,” Riley said with a sigh.

“You’ve known Max for a long time, huh?”

“Since we were teenagers. He’s the one that talked me into becoming a flight attendant and got me this job.”

“You didn’t want to be a flight attendant?”

She shrugged as she pulled her drink closer to her and toyed with the rim, “I was deep in my I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up phase.”

“And now?”

“I like it. I don’t know if it’s what I want to do forever, but it’s really fun for right now. I have no complaints.”

The tension that had set in his back and shoulders at the thought of her quitting eased out of him as he relaxed back into his chair. “As airline jobs go, this is about as good as it gets.”

“You’re not wrong.” Not only did the private airline pay better than commercial airlines, but there were many perks from more flexible schedules to stipends for living expenses while traveling and generous bonuses. But the biggest benefit was getting to work with her best friend. All in all, she really couldn’t complain. “Thanks, Drake.”

“For what?”

“Taking the time to sit here and cheer me up. You didn’t have to do that. I’m sure you have plenty of things you’d rather be doing than listening to me go on and on about my family.”

He scoffed as he looked away from her and lifted his glass to his mouth. “I really don’t.” He was estranged from his family, single, and his only real friend was Liam. All of which was usually fine with him. He preferred it that way honestly, seeing himself as a lone wolf. Community and togetherness were overrated. He needed very little to be happy.

Something about this girl made him want more, though, and the feeling unsettled him.

“Well, at any rate, thank you,” she yawned, “but I should probably get back up to my room.”

“Oh, yeah, sure,” he glanced at his watch as he stumbled to his feet, “Me too. I’ll walk you up.”

The look she gave him sent butterflies exploding through his chest and he quickly clarified, “For safety, you know.”

“Right,” she nodded in agreement, but the smile that played across her lips said she understood exactly what was going on between them.

Good thing one of them did.

Entering the elevator, he reached out and pressed the button for the twelfth floor. He turned his head to find her giving him a measuring look. “What?”

“I didn’t tell you what floor I was on. How did you know?”

His eyes widened as he stared at her like a deer caught in the headlights. He had never felt so much panic surge through his body at one time and he had flown into combat zones before leaving the military for the private sector. His scotch-laden brain struggled to come up with a response that didn’t include telling her he had asked Liam what floor she was staying on. “Max must have mentioned it.” He mumbled.

“When did you talk to Max?”

He was saved from answering when her phone vibrated, and she quickly answered a text from one of her brothers. He heaved out a sigh of relief and changed the subject. “So, what do you like best about Christmas other than your family? The presents?”

“No,” she laughed, “The tree and decorations. There’s just something so peaceful about the lights and ornaments. Waking up to my mom’s ham and cheese omelets for Christmas breakfast. Oh, and I love the music!”

“Yeah? What’s your favorite Christmas song?”

“Jingle Bell Rock,” she replied without hesitation. “I know it’s not the most popular, or sentimental, but I love the beat and I love horses, so there you go. What’s yours?”

“Mine? Oh, no, I don’t have-“

“Come on, Drake, you have to have a favorite Christmas song!”

“Okay, okay, if you put a gun to my head then I guess I’d say it’s Do They Know It’s Christmas.”

Her mouth fell open. “Really?”

“Yeah, really, why is that surprising?”

“I don’t know. I figured you for a Rocking Around the Christmas Tree kind of guy. Why is Do They Know It’s Christmas your favorite?”

“I don’t know,” he jostled his body weight from foot to foot as he silently willed the elevator to hurry the fuck up, “I think it’s the juxtaposition of mindless consumerism with the destitution of impoverished peoples. It makes you think. Or it should.”

“Wow, Drake. You have hidden depths. I knew it!”

He arched an eyebrow at her. “You think about my depths?”

It was Riley’s turn to flush as she spun her body back to face the doors just as they dinged open. “Well, here we are!”

He saw her safely to her door in a silence that suddenly felt comfortable and right, as if him walking her to her door was a normal, everyday occurrence.

She opened the door and looked back over her shoulder, “Thank you again….for everything.”

“I should be thanking you for saving me from drinking alone. See you tomorrow, Riley.”

“See you tomorrow, Drake. Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas,” he said as her door closed.

He stood outside her door for a long moment as he talked himself out of knocking on it and asking her to let him in.

Relationships with co-workers never ended well. He would know.

He turned and started trudging back down the hallway toward the elevator when he was seized by a sudden inspiration. Whipping his phone from his pocket, his fingers flew over the keyboard as his pace quickened and he hurried briskly back to his room, a smile of anticipation curving up his lips.

***

The next morning, Riely rolled out of bed and pulled the curtains open to see the area blanketed in freshly fallen snow, but it was all on the ground. Nothing fell from the clear blue sky.

With a squeal of joy, she bounced back to the bed to grab her phone from the nightstand, preparing to call Liam and ask if they had a takeoff time and then Max to find out how things had gone with Liam the night before, but before she could dial either number, it vibrated in her hand. She glanced down to see a text message in the group chat Liam had created yesterday when he invited everyone to dinner. It was from Drake.

Meet me in the Mountain Vista conference room.

That was odd, but okay. She quickly dressed and hurried out into the hallway, bumping into Max as she did so. “Were you waiting outside my door?”

“I was about to knock! I guess you got the text from Drake?”

“Yeah, but it’s weird, right? I mean, his entire contribution to the group chat yesterday was the word okay. And not even the whole word, just the two letters O.K.”

“I don’t know, but I hope it involves food! Come on, let’s go!”

When they arrived at the lower-level conference room, Max pulled the door open, and Riley walked into a stunning surprise.

Christmas finery draped the entire room. A six-foot tree adorned the center of the raised stage at the front of the room, fully decorated, complete with an angel on top. There were gift-wrapped packages under the tree. Christmas music spilled out of the speakers and a buffet table lined the far wall. She turned in circles, taking in the decorations everywhere, her mouth agape, “What is all this?”

“Uh…” Drake rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Nothing. I mean it is Christmas! Just thought you- um, just thought everyone could use a little Christmas cheer this morning.”

“You did all this?”

“Yeah…”

“Drake, it’s amazing! But why? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining at all, but there’s a Christmas tree in the lobby.”

“I know, but that’s just a generic hotel tree for everybody. I thought you deserved something a little more personal.”

She stared up at him with wide eyes. “You did all this for me?”

“I mean….for all of us,” he declared hurriedly, turning away so she wouldn’t see the red coloring his cheeks. “I even managed gifts.” He plucked a package out from under the tree and held it out to her. “Don’t get too excited, they’re just t-shirts from the hotel gift shop. I got one for each of us.”

Riley watched as Drake tossed one to Liam, who had entered the room just behind them, and then Max. He kept the last one for himself. “Hope they fit.”

“How the hell did you accomplish all this?” A tinge of awe colored Liam’s voice.

Drake lifted his shoulder. “I just made a few phone calls and had things delivered.”

“They delivered all this in a snowstorm?” Max gaped at him.

“Well, the blizzard is over,” Drake scoffed, gesturing out the plate-glass windows along the side of the room. “This is just a lot of snow.”

“Ah, you missed your family today, too!” Riley gave him a sympathetic smile.

“Yeah.” Drake agreed as he turned his head to avoid the sharp look Liam gave him. “We should eat while this is still hot.”

“Ohhhh,” Max rubbed his hands together, “Good idea! It smells delicious!”

Drake followed behind Riley and Max toward the food. Liam sidled up next to him and lowered his voice so no one else could hear, “You never spend Christmas with your family.”

“What? Yeah, no, that’s….. you like waffles, right? Because I ordered waffles.”

“Oh, my god!” Riley exclaimed, “Ham and cheese omelets!”

“And bacon,” Max pointed out. “Don’t forget the bacon. Oh! And crepes!”

Her gaze slid thoughtfully to Drake as Max loaded his plate. “Did you order this because of what I told you last night?”

“Order what?” Drake shook his head as he reached for a plate. “I just asked for food. Lucky coincidence.”

“Okay.” She gave him an appraising look. He avoided direct eye contact with her.

The group sat down at a table near the center of the room and enjoyed breakfast together. Riley bit into a forkful of fluffy eggs, melted cheese, savory ham, and crisp onions as she took in the comforting twinkle of Christmas lights reflecting off red and gold ornaments. Max was already wearing the shirt Drake had given him and a Santa hat that he had produced from seemingly nowhere. All of it was set against the backdrop of sheer whiteness that could be seen through the conference room windows. Every ice-covered tree, bush and light post sparkled in the bright morning sun. A sense of peace and contentment that she hadn’t expected to feel on this particular morning settled over her as the group ate and laughed together.

Her phone rang. “It’s my mom!” she answered and after several tearful exchanges of I love you, I miss you and Merry Christmas, she addressed the group, “My mom wants to say hi to everyone.” She placed the phone in the middle of the table and pushed the speaker button so Catherine Brooks could wish the entire flight crew a Merry Christmas. “And especially you, Drake!” she gushed. “Riley told me about the tree and decorations. Thank you for making the day special for her. You’re a good friend.”

“I’m glad she liked it. I just thought we could all use a pick me up since everyone is missing the day with their family,” he lied. The truth was, he couldn’t stand to see her sad. The smile that had washed over her face and stayed there since she had first walked into the conference room made every bit of effort and expense he had gone to more than worth it.

Not that he was interested in her. He didn’t get involved with co-workers.

“Well, nevertheless, thank you and if you’re ever in our neck of the woods, we would love to meet you!”

“Ah…sure, that would be…all right…”

Drake was rescued by Max, who leaned over the phone to yell “I love you!” and “Merry Christmas!” at Riley’s family.

When every member of the Brooks family had spoken to both Riley and Max and the call was finally over, Liam looked up from his own phone and announced, “Great news…we can fly out now!”

“I almost don’t want to.” Max blurted out and then flushed from the tip of his nose all the way down to his toes. “I mean….I just meant this is nice, and it’s warm in here….”

“It’s okay, Max,” Liam grinned at him, “This has been nice, but we do need to get back home. If we don’t make it back today, we’ll have to reschedule tomorrow’s flight, and then I’ll have to deal with Madeleine and her bullshit.”

Drake shuddered. “Why the fuck did Leo give her part ownership again?”

“He didn’t give it to her,” Liam shook his head as he returned his phone to his pocket, “the judge in their divorce did.”

“Still. She acts like her twenty-five percent is controlling interest or something.”

“Tell me about it.” Liam was not overly fond of his ex-sister-in-law, but he couldn’t deny that she was skilled with the parts of the business he disliked, such as accounting and marketing. He just wanted to fly; and Madeleine taking over those parts, had allowed him to do exactly that.

“Well, I guess we should all go pack then,” Max headed toward the door, “You coming, Riley?”

“In a minute. You go on. And you’re still coming home with me today, right?”

“Bert won’t be home until tomorrow, so yes.”

Liam hurried across the room. “Hold on, Max, I’ll walk up with you!”

Riley and Drake watched them leave, then turned to each other. They stood silent and unmoving for a long moment in the middle of the Christmas finery, eyes searching eyes, unspoken emotions playing across both faces.

She took a step forward, “Drake…”

He caught her hand in his as she reached out for him. “Riley…we can’t…”

“And yet you did all this.”

“I’m sorry. It’s not you. It’s me.” He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the back of her fingers, then quickly dropped it. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, Drake, and thank you. Really. It means a lot to me.” She leaned in, went up on her tiptoes and placed a soft kiss on his cheek before whispering in his ear, “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone that you’re a gooey, mushy marshmallow on the inside. Your reputation is safe.”

A short laugh escaped him as she stepped away. He watched her walk to the door with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that was at odds with the soaring feeling in his chest.

She liked him, right?

Not that it mattered. It was a bad idea to get involved with a co-worker.

As she slipped out the door, panic sliced through his being as he realized that he was involved.

He was very involved.

He heaved a sigh that was full of both resignation and wonder as he made his way back to his room to pack.