#but that's where death of the author comes in!

[writingblogsandothers]

The Chosen One

Part 6

Writer's Note: A bit shorter, this one! Sending all the love, as per X

Word Count: 1.5k

Warnings: Mild Taunting/Teasing // Mild Fear // Mild kissing // Mild indications of sleeping together (nothing overly descriptive)

Use of She/Her/Lady - Female Pronouns

Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4 // Part 5

Aurelia woke from her sound slumber with a glimmer of light beaming through the heavy curtains that adorned her windows. She could hear a gentle snore, and when she looked over to her left, she saw a shirtless Geta lying next to her. She studied him carefully. His eyelashes lay curled against his soft cheeks. His nose, perfectly curved. Lips, plump and kissable as she only realised too quickly last evening. He was like a drug, the finest opium of the land wouldn’t be as addictive as he was.

The prior evening was everything she could have dreamt of and more. Geta was no longer so tyrannical, but loving and caring. He took his time with her, ensuring she benefitted from all actions and caressed her gently. She hoped this Geta was here to stay.

Geta stirred from his sleep, opening one eye to see Aurelia staring at him with intent. He smirked at her, “Good morning Wife, I trust you slept well?” Aurelia nodded, smiling, “Yes Husband, the best sleep in years.” Geta scoffed in response, getting up from her bed and walking toward her chair where his robe lay. Aurelia didn’t like to admit, but she did sneak a look at his great stature as he strutted over to the chair.

“I have to leave to attend to brother’s meeting. It’s to do with our games.” He strutted over to her bedside, crouching down to meet her face, taking it in his hands, whispering “Keep the bed warm for me…” he kisses her gently to which she blushes in response. Geta storms out with authority, while Aurelia forces herself to get up and prepare for her day.

***

The day was uneventful, and Aurelia made her way to the dining hall where she was met with Geta and Caracalla, as well as some of his cronies. She sat beside Geta who looked to her and held out his hand to take hers in his.

“Brother, don’t let it go to your head… seeing you so weak, holding hands, looking like a love-sick lion cub, it’s not a good look for an emperor.” Caracalla seethed.

Geta looked back to his brother, “Caracalla, maybe you should find yourself a wife. It may help you to think clearer…”

Caracalla laughed, “Ha, ha. Brother, how you amuse me with your fickle thoughts.”

The two engaged in an icy stare for some time before Caracalla began again, “Aurelia, I was just telling your betrothed of my plans for your games to celebrate your union.”

In a bid to try and win Caracalla over, Aurelia entertained him. “Oh Emperor, please do enlighten me – what excitement can we expect?”

“I have planned many festivities, naval battles, chariot racing, the lot. But I was just telling Geta – we want new blood. I have our troops out now gathering new men to fight. Oh it shall be wonderful, aren’t I great at crafting gifts for others?!”

Aurelia smiled back, fearful of the sick mind of her brother-in-law. She was far from naïve; she knew what this meant. Games meant death. Games meant bloodshed. Games meant innocent animals being slaughtered, maimed and injured all for the enjoyment of the crowds, and more so to fulfil some sick desire within Caracalla, and dare she even think, Geta.

She replied, “Yes Emperor, you are most kind.” Geta squeezed her hand in response to acknowledge her appreciation for his brother.

“I proposed the games begin tomorrow, the sooner the better. I shall meet you both on the royal balcony at midday. General Acacius and Lucilla will be in attendance, as well as a new friend of mine. I think you will both love him. Until then, I bid thee a good evening.” Caracalla rose from his seat, whistling at the two males, and three females who were littered around him to follow him.

Geta stood, “Come Empress, let us get you prepared for tomorrow’s festivities.”

***

Tomorrow arrived in the blink of an eye. Alba swarmed into Aurelia’s room, helping her pick out a baby blue dress for the first day of the games. “Empress, are you ready for the starting of your ceremony?”

“Yes Alba, I am not sure what to expect however.”

“My Lady, just sit and smile. It will appease both Emperor’s and crowd.”

Aurelia nods while Alba applies blush and eye liner. She steps back to admire her handy work, “Beautiful. Now my lady, let us get you down to the royal balcony.”

As they made their way down the hall and approached the royal balcony, they were stopped by a guard. “Where do you think you are going?” the guard barked. Aurelia was taken aback, “Sir, I am here to be seated with my husband.” The guard roared in laughter, “Pah! As if you would be married to anyone seated in here.” Aurelia had flash backs to how she once felt when she was first appointed into the palace. The commotion outside had perked the ears of those within the balcony. Geta stood to see his wife, looking beautiful as ever, crying outside the entry way.

He approached the steps, and shouted “What’s going on here?” The guard turned around and bowed, “Emperor, this imposter is trying to gain access to the balcony. I must banish her at once.” Geta took stride down the steps and approached the guard, “Does that make you feel big belittling my wife like that? Hmm?” The guard was completely taken aback, “Sire, I-I” “Yes, you opened that big ugly mouth of yours before you thought and took in her beauty. Look at her. She’s mine. My possession. She should be welcomed in here with open arms. Yet here you are, a low-life like you. You have belittled her in front of her subjects. Apologise. APOLOGISE TO AURELIA NOW.”

“Empress, forgive me, I did not realise it was you. I-”

“ENOUGH PEASANT. She will not give you forgiveness for you are not worthy. Now, I think there is a lovely spot for you out there in the theatre, don’t you brother?”

Geta turned and sure enough Caracalla was close at hand, “Oh yes brother! Nothing would please me more to issue him to join in the games – how fun!”

The guard was ushered by two others who brought him to the lower levels to meet his fate. Geta took Aurelia by the arm, “Are you okay, my love?” Aurelia looked to him with great adoration, despite him essentially signing a man’s life away, “Yes, Emperor.” With a smirk, he led her into the balcony, when she was stopped by Lucilla. She took her into her arms, an embrace which Aurelia greatly appreciated. She handed her a small bunch of lavender, “For the smell, my dear. It can send one astray – this keeps the senses pleasant for a while.” Aurelia thanked her greatly, she was a kind lady and one she liked to keep as a friend. She greeted Acacius with a curt bow, to which he took her hand and kissed it gently. Caracalla was next, to whom received the same greeting, he kissed her hand and took her into an embrace which shocked her, “Sister, I think you are going to love the Gladiator march – it’s the first thing to happen!” She giggled and thanked Caracalla for his efforts.

“Oh, please allow me to introduce you to Macrinus – he is a new friend. He produces only the best gladiators, all of which are featured here today.”

A tall, bearded man stood to take Aurelia’s hand in his, “Pleasure to meet you Macrinus.” He bowed and gently kissed her hand, “Pleasure is all mine, Empress.” She curtly nodded and made her way to Geta, who took her hand in his and approached the front of the balcony, waving to his subjects and showing off his new wife.

They made their way to the seats, when the Master of Ceremonies announced the Gladiator March. “Oh, this shall be fun!” Geta had a menacing look in his eye, and looked over to his brother where they shared a hand hold and a giggle to one another. Aurelia sighed, trying to keep up appearances and not look so concerned for the gladiator’s well-being. The march began, and droves of fighters took to the arena, each one marching around and forming almost snake-like formations. Marching. Marching. Marching. Until two particular gladiators caught her eye. She felt like she knew them from somewhere. She leaned forward in her seat and squinted her eyes in a bid for clearer eye-sight. She audibly let out a loud gasp and threw herself back in her seat. For she realised she did know the two.

It was her brothers.

Looking round to Geta, he was zoned in on the festivities, clueless to her outburst. Aurelia moved her eyes to Caracalla who grinned like a Cheshire cat, “Surprise!”

Part 7

[theconflicted]

Maybe I'm dumb, but what the heck makes people think Vi is a child? Sure, she's kinda bratty, but she's;

Allowed to go into a death pit where no one's come back alive.

Crossed and Survived a desert by herself

Is given the legal authority to arrest people

Buys real estate

Understands the value of money and that she can't just take it from people

Knows how to find and (more or less) get into at least one criminal establishment

Fights monsters that are well known to kill people

Enters a battle arena for gladiators

WITH DEADLY MONSTERS

Is knighted by a queen

What the heck in-game suggests she's an actual child?

Never played Bug Fables but i want to deaw the cast. I just found Zasp, Vi, Mothiva, Kabbu and Leif so far. I love them all

omg :D!! totally valid their designs are so simple and easy to draw that's part of the fun of drawing them haha, my favorite is vi :] she's a lil gremlin

[padfootfest]

Padfoot Fest 2024 Reveals

Hello everyone!

The time everyone has been waiting for has come. It's been a week since our last Padfoot Fest work was posted which means we can now reveal all the authors, so everyone can run to show more love for their other works.

As mods, we would like to sincerely thank all the participants. We are immensely grateful to them for creating a great variety of fics, all celebrating our beloved Sirius Black. We love the works, and we are so so proud of everyone's efforts. We are so thankful for all these works that contribute to the amazing thing that is the Marauders fandom.

Moreover, this was the first year of our fest, and we are overwhelmed with the interest it has garnered. We would like to thank everyone who keeps following, reblogging, commenting and so on. We also can't wait to introduce more events in the following months that will help us shorten the time we've got to wait until the second year of Padfoot Fest opens in 2025. So stay tuned and keep sharing the Padfoot love.

Now without further ado these are the amazing writers from Padfoot Fest 2024 in the order of their posted work. Click the title of the fic to read their works.

tenrousei_kuroi - Is It So Frightening (to have me at your shoulder) (Regulus Black/Sirius Black, Regulus Black/Remus Lupin, Regulus Black & Hermione Granger)

LippSkinn - Silence (Sirius Black/Remus Lupin)

shadowmun - Hero with no name (Sirius Black/Evan Rosier)

Soulniar - Freres, Pour Toujours (Regulus Black & Sirius Black)

LadyofWiltshire - I Really Don't Know Love At All (Sirius Black/Remus Lupin)

dystopianRebel - Soulmates by Arrangement (Sirius Black/Rabastan Lestrange, one-sided James Potter/Lily Evans, Catriona McCormick/James Potter, Peter Pettigrew/OFC)

RockOnGoldDustW - Kiss With A Fist (Sirius Black/Hermione Granger, Sirius Black/OFC)

EastWindmlk - two for divine, three for magic (James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/James Potter/Lily Evans Potter)

sliebman10 - A Flicker Of Hope (Sirius Black & Minerva McGonagall)

emlovessid - two paper airplanes (Sirius Black/Remus Lupin

veganbutterchicken - Where There Is Love, There Is Faith (Sirius Black/Remus Lupin)

Grey_Kenaz - A Prank Gone Awry (Alphard Black & Sirius Black, Regulus Black & Sirius Black, Sirius Black & James Potter, Sirius Black & Walburga Black, Orion Black & Sirius Black)

MidnightStargazer - An Omen of Death (Regulus Black & Sirius Black)

FivePips - Call it Pathetic or Poetic (Sirius Black/Remus Lupin)

procrastinator123 - Grim Hunt (Sirius Black/Kingsley Shacklebolt)

HuntersWithCellPhones - I would not ask and neither would you (Regulus Black & Sirius Black, Regulus Black/Barty Crouch Jr.)

EuripidesTrousers - The Road to Sweetwater (Sirius Black/Remus Lupin)

maraudersaffair - Lucky for You (Sirius Black/Bill Weasley)

EllieMarchetti - A Ghost from the Past (Sirius Black/Hermione Granger)

onehundredflamingos - always yours (Sirius Black/James Potter)

atropos_aeneas - just being neighbourly (Sirius Black/Remus LupinSirius Black & Remus Lupin)

youprettythings - I'm Waiting Here For You (Sirius Black/Remus Lupin)

andthemarauders - Halloween 1981 (Sirius Black/OFC, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Remus Lupin/OFC)

RockOnGoldDustW - Nowhere to Run (Sirius Black & Andromeda Black Tonks, Regulus Black & Sirius Black)

goldenpropeth - everywhere (i want to be with you) (Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, Sirius Black & Hope Lupin, Sirius Black & Lyall Lupin)

Strawberrybasil - Seeking Omens (Sirius Black & Harry Potter)

[haveyoureadthismcytfic]

Summary:

“The Angel of Death, the ferryman of the Styx, the terror of the western seas. One of the most feared captains ever to sail, and yet, I have to wonder… how did a man like you end up all on his own? We searched the area where you were found—not another soul in sight. So,” He fixes him with a long look, allowing the silence to hover like a dark cloud, the words rolling off of his tongue with all the venom and smugness he can muster, “—tell me, Philza. Where is your crew?” — OR: Technoblade is a naval captain, and Phil his unwilling prisoner. Somehow, they manage to come out of it as friends in the end.

Author: @bunfloras

Note from Submitter: *The* Emduo pirate au. Feral phil, captain techno, ghosts, and the sea.

[beardedmrbean]

A British mother who hid her sick baby in a drawer under her bed for the first three years of her life has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison for what authorities described as “extreme neglect.”

The girl, who “hadn’t known daylight or fresh air,” was only discovered last year, when the mom’s partner heard her crying inside her house in Cheshire, England, Senior Crown Prosecutor Rachel Worthington said.

The tot was malnourished and unable to crawl, walk, talk or communicate in any way when authorities found her.

“This child has never had a birthday present, a Christmas present or anything to recognize these days. She’s had no interaction with any of her siblings,” Worthington said.

The mother, who has not been identified for legal reasons, had confessed to four charges of child cruelty in October before her sentencing on Tuesday.

Judge Steven Everett told the court the woman had “starved that little girl of any love, any proper affection, any proper attention, any interaction with others, a proper diet, much-needed medical attention,” the BBC reported.

“An intelligent little girl who is now perhaps slowly coming to life, from what was almost a living death in that room,” he added.

The girl was born in 2020 with a cleft palate inside a bathtub at the Cheshire home, according to the Crown Prosecution Services. 

The mom initially fed her, but then, for reasons still unknown, she put the baby in a drawer in her divan bed and left her there, only opening the drawer infrequently to feed her milk-soaked cereal through a syringe and change her diapers, prosecutors said.

She kept the baby a secret from her other children, whom she continued to take to school as she went to work, leaving the baby in the drawer for hours on end.

“The baby’s growth and physical and mental development was severely impacted by the lack of care, attention and food and the restrictions of a life spent in a drawer,” the Prosecution Services said in a statement.

The woman’s partner finally discovered the child in February 2023, after he had gone back into the house to use the bathroom after the mom left her keys in the door and he heard crying. 

She typically never let him go upstairs alone, prosecutors said.

He followed the noise and found the baby girl with matted hair and clearly looking malnourished. Horrified, he fled the house and called his own mother, who in turn alerted the mom of the defendant, who then called authorities.

“(The baby) stared at me and was rocking back and forth. I looked at her mum and asked, ‘Is this where you keep her?’ The mother replied matter-of-factly, ‘Yes, in the drawer,’” one social worker who responded to the scene testified.

The mother “did not show any emotion” and “appeared blasé” about the situation.

“I asked had anyone else ever seen (the child)? Mum stated no,” the social worker said.

“It became an overwhelming horror that I was probably the only other face [the baby] had seen apart from her mother’s.”

In addition to the untreated cleft lip and palate, the baby girl was suffering from dehydration, malnourishment, a swollen abdomen, bad diaper rash and weak muscle mass. She also had floppy limbs and swollen feet.

“At the age of 35 months, her development was markedly delayed and was the equivalent to that of a 10-month-old” as a result of the neglect, prosecutors said.

The child was rushed to the hospital and within two weeks was vocalizing and making her needs heard. She has undergone two surgeries to fix the cleft lip and palate, but additional surgeries will be required.

The mother later told investigators that she’d been in an abusive relationship with the father of the baby and didn’t want to tell him she was pregnant.

 “This child has been subjected to extreme neglect of her health, development, and basic care needs since before she was born,” Worthington said.

“This case has shocked all the prosecution team and has been very difficult to work on. After reading the evidence, I had to take myself away and try and process what I had read,” she added.

[only-lonely-star]

can you do dallas winston x soc reader where she invites him over to her house and it’s super pink and girly and he wants to look at every little thing! love you’re work btw!

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ Pretty in Pink . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁

Warnings - Pure fluff. Established relationship between a soc!fem!reader and Dallas Winston.

Summary - If it were up to him, he would never leave your room ᯓ ᡣ𐭩

Author’s Note - Thank you so much for this request!!! I’m truly so happy to hear you love my writings, it means the world to me 🫶🏼. I sort of took ‘house’ and turned it into bedroom, so I hope this is still okay skhfhsjjs 😭. I had a lot of fun with this one, I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do!! 🩷🩷

Word Count - 1.1k.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁

Applying a thin layer of tinted gloss, you puckered up and smiled upon the reflection in your vanity mirror. The white, wooden piece blended with the rest of your room perfectly as it leaned against the floral wallpaper adorned in patterns of pink peonies. Pink - you were certain there wasn’t a color as perfect as the pastel hue that flooded your room. As a finishing touch, you doused the sides of your neck in a fancy perfume, one that cost a fortune. The bottle was, of course, a baby-pink heart with a white ribbon tied around it. You felt ready to take on the world.

Leaned against the windowsill of your bedroom, your eyes longed to catch a glimpse of that rusted, old Thunderbird that Dallas typically took you around the city in. You could hear it a mile away, the noisy vroom of the vehicle, and the screeching shrill of its breaks. The stars cast a beam of light against the pavement to your driveway, ensuring he’d find his way there eventually.

Although you loved him to death, this boy had never spent a second in this house past your doorway. Tonight was different - he wasn’t dropping off flowers, knocking on your door to shower you in drunken kisses, or even luring you into his car to sneak out for the night. He was staying over. In your bed. Staying in your girly bedroom. Just at first glance, it was clear Dallas was no softie. He didn’t care for frilly pink bows or dainty jewelry, he was as masculine as they came. A hint of nervousness formed at the pit of your stomach as your brain worked double-time to map out every negative outcome possible. Maybe he wouldn’t like it, it would be too overwhelming - the possibilities were endless.

Just as these thoughts began to overwhelm you, the repetitive ring of your doorbell brought you back to reality. He was here. You raced for the front door without a second thought, leaping down the staircase, taking two steps at a time. Once you had reached the door, you flung it open with excitement, only to wrap your arms around his figure. He wore a cocky grin, a classic expression he often used in moments like these. You felt the jerk of his body as he stifled a laugh. “I saw you yesterday,” he commented wittily, slowly running a hand up and down your back.

You stood on the tip of your toes, planting a kiss on his cheek. Without waiting a second longer, you snatched the boy inside with a simple yank to his arm. “Come on, get out the cold, Dal,” you teased.

Dallas glanced down at his boots, giving them a quick stomp or two before taking a look around. “So this is your little mansion, huh?”

“Mansion,” you scoffed in reply. “This ain’t even the best part! Come on upstairs with me, I’ll show you my room.” You ran a hand up and down his sleeve as a signal for him to follow your lead.

Dallas let out a low whistle, slowly making his way up the staircase. His eyes darted in every which way, gliding his hand the entire way up the wooden railing of the staircase. “Shoot - I’d sure like to live in someplace like this.”

“Yeah? Well, you’re living in my room tonight,” you responded cheekily, biting back a smile. As you reached the final step, you guided him down the hallway which led to a number of bedrooms, each decorated in their own unique way. Dallas poked his head in each one, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion as to which was yours. “Dal, it’s this one.”

He whipped his head around, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Continuing to follow your lead, he carefully took in the new environment. Pink, flowers, ribbons, lace, hearts, dolls - it all hit Dallas like a tidal wave. His dull eyes were now filled with excitement at the sight of it all. “Jesus Christ,” he scoffed, “l think you might like the color pink.”

Letting out a burst of laughter, you ushered him inside. “Who would’ve thought, right?”

Dallas’s attention was immediately drawn to the white jewelry box with flowers painted along the side. He curiously stepped closer. He traced his finger along the woodwork, whistling lowly, “This a dollhouse or something? Looks like it would be for a-.” His attention diverted quickly, just before you could correct him. Dallas smiled in fascination as he caught sight of a small ballerina placed on a shelf near the closet doors. He inspected its fine details, running his fingers along the figure.

Before his interest was sparked again, you decided some commentary was needed. “That’s actually a music box, if you look at the bottom there’s a little knob.”

Dallas had his fingers twisting relentlessly around the knob before you even finished that sentence. He set it back down on the shelf, watching the little dancer spin around as the steel comb inside produced a delightful sound. “No fuckin’ way…” his voice trailed off in awe.

“You like that?” you chuckled, standing beside him to observe the figurine. It felt strangely comforting seeing Dallas with such youthful wonder in his eyes.

“That’s so cool, man, I want one,” he shifted his gaze from the music box back to you with a genuine smile.

“I have to show you this doll, I’ve had it since I was…five? I don’t know,” you spoke excitedly, dragging him towards your bed.

Kneeling beside the bed frame, you reached underneath it to retrieve a box. This box was worn out, each crease and wrinkle in the cardboard, a sign that it was well-loved over the years. Out came a porcelain doll, dressed in a white, ruffled dress with a lacey bodice that was colored in a soft shade of pink. Her hair was blonde and curled to perfection, a small bow added to accessorize her faux hair. Dallas stood over you, his thumbs in his jeans pockets. “She’s gorgeous, I bet that thing is worth more than my life.”

You gently stroked the back of her hair, admiring the delicate fabric of the miniature dress. “Hell- who knows?” You began to pack the doll up once more, hearing the shuffling of Dallas’s feet along your carpet. You paid no mind to this at first, assuming he was checking out more of your belongings. It was only then, that you stood up to find Dallas cozied up in your bed underneath a heap of fluffy pink and white blankets, holding a teddy bear against his arm. He had thrown on a satin sleeping mask adorned with small red hearts. Dallas had truly made himself at home, despite standing out more than any unique decoration in your room. He had a field day in your dollhouse of a room.

“How do I look?” he asked playfully, adding a hint of sass to his voice.

In adoration of a softer side you’d never seen before, you pounced onto him as you let out a giggle, wrapping yourselves in the plush blanket. “You look so pretty in pink.”

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!! I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS ONE!!! 💋

- Sophia 🫶🏼

[cantareincminor]

Fandom Wrapped (Reader Edition) 2024!

Thanks to the wonderful @kattyelf for creating this template! Links and detailed reviews under the cut.

Disclaimer: I probably read hundreds of SxF fics in the past year, and it was not easy to choose which ones to put in the list above (or below)! This fandom is full of wonderful, friendly creators and I am so glad to be part of it. I also had to narrow it down to only the ones I read and reread in 2024, not 2022 or 2023. Finally...I also happened to read many good fics only once. Sometimes a fic is just too painful or sad to reread, especially if it's not finished.

Favorite fic and author: After peace by @unhappy-sometimes!

I could gush about unso for a whole post and not be done, but I will try to contain myself. Her fic After peace originated from an AU comic she drew where Twilight was forced to retire early due a major injury, and drifted aimlessly until WISE asked him to take care of an orphan they had rescued from Project Apple. There are several things that amazed me about this fic and cemented it in first place for 2024:

The premise. It was original and so full of potential.

How personal Twilight's journey felt to me. I didn't have a life-threatening injury, but I did put my career on hiatus in the past year and have often struggled with questions of -- what am I worth when I'm not "doing" anything? I was so used to going 150% in the rat race and coming out on top at great personal cost to health and family; even if all that was bad, how else can I get that sense of accomplishment? How can I stop wanting that sense of accomplishment?

Her style, which is both vivid AND concise. The fic was around 22K words if I remember correctly, with a well-constructed plot, character arcs, plenty of emotional beats, and a satisfying resolution. I often wonder if my writing is too verbose and when I see something like After peace, it challenges me to do better.

THIS WAS UNSO'S FIRST FIC EVER. THE HELL. It's like a freshman album that gets put up for a Grammy.

Fic(s) I reread (plus runners-up):

That Time Yor Seriously Thought About Leaving by peonydee: This is a WIP with one more chapter before completion, I believe. Peonydee's style is unique in how it's hard-hitting and disarming at the same time. Yor and Twilight find themselves in impossible situations, their relationship tested to the limit (and one of them in a close brush with death), yet there's still an undercurrent of wry humor, almost fatalistic due to the fact both of them have been steeped in death and dirty work for decades, yet still hopeful and reaching for each other. I also cackle every time she makes Twilight go off on a mansplaining tangent without ever using the term outright. A masterpiece of show not tell.

Is It Really All Right? by zyzy1083: This one is tender. A jealous!Loid fic with a fascinating portrayal of Loid from Yor's perspective. The imagery of a dark sea choking down any true thought or emotion from breaking for air will stay with me for a long time. There's also the fact she basically made up lyrics for an indie song as part of the plot and I had to ask whether it was a real song. Finally, there's the fact she was bold enough to portray Loid as less than a perfect, kind, smiley husband toward Yor, but in a believable way. He snaps at Yor at times. He loses his patience. It feels like a real relationship, in the awkward tension when one partner wants to talk and the other absolutely does not want to talk. I admire that courage and wish more authors would take that risk (calling myself out I guess!).

Green-eyed Monster by bigbruja: another jealous!Loid fic that's lighthearted and fun. This is a comfort reread. I enjoy seeing Loid recognize the threat of a supposed "old friend" of Yor's, questioning his own feelings and how far he needs to go to fend this guy off. The guy is a Garden assassin, unbeknownst to him. I also love Yor's own inner struggle of just wanting everyone to get along, but showing steel when she needs to.

dalliance by rosetintednerdglasses: this is a WIP, but it is HILARIOUS and I hope everyone will go encourage this author to pick this fic back up when they have a chance. TLDR, Twilight (in disguise) is sent on a joint mission with Thorn Princess and flips out internally when he sees it's Yor. Handler then orders him to ensure Thorn Princess continues to cooperate. So as Twilight, he has to sort-of honey trap Thorn Princess, while as Loid he has to keep Yor happy. Poor Yor believes she's torn between two different men and close to cheating on Loid! Situational hilarity all over the place, and fun world-building, like this other WISE agent randomly named "Steel Bunny" (LOL).

Not According to Plan by @kyrathel: love you girl! This is a gift fic for me, but that's not the reason I reread it (even though it's a WIP as well!). It's SO FUNNY. Twilight gets it in his overly anxious head that he MUST defend his wife from the bullies at City Hall, so what does he do? HE INFILTRATES CITY HALL AS A NEW FEMALE HIRE. The world absolutely needs more petty!Twilight! The latest chapter features laxative brownies. Enough said.

Let's start living dangerously by @beannoss: I specifically reread the later parts when dumb Twilight gets over his dumbness and finally talks to Yor! And they kiss again! I love the way huhwaku (beannoss) portrays overthinking Twilight AND overthinking Yor. And also, the simplicity of Yor at the same time. The voice she uses for both of them is refreshing, it really puts you in the mindset of the character. Yor's giggles ("teehee!") as she teases Twilight about his little perfectionist habits are a cute touch to a gentle, heartwarming fic about these two highly competent professionals just starting to take baby steps in how to be competent at a relationship.

Fic that made me emotional:

100% Perfect by @sometimesiship. Where do I begin? How about with the gut aversion I initially had to the premise of a futuristic AI dating bot AU, due to all the tragic, dark AI movies I have watched? But as it neared completion, someone convinced me to give it a try and I AM SO GLAD I DID. You can see my gushing comments in almost every chapter. The development of the relationship between human Yor and AI Loid is so natural, funny at times, poignant always, and beautifully written, even though from an objective standpoint not much exciting stuff happens (I mean canon-typical excitement like murders and spy missions). Sometimesiship has a way of describing emotion that is so raw -- she can portray the same emotion a dozen different ways with analogies and setups and dialogue and whatever -- and it still doesn't feel old. And the emotion that dominated the second half of the story was grief. Basically the grief of loving someone you know you're going to lose. Like being the spouse of a terminal cancer patient. I didn't cry while reading, but it was a closer call than I have had in a VERY long time. So much beauty and humanity in this story. And spoiler (?), it's a happy ending. So I hope you all go check it out!

That's a wrap! If you read this far, stay tuned for a Writer version of Fandom Wrapped 2024!

[evervigilantnightshade]

The Line - Part 7

Reader and John have always straddled the line between playful flirting and taking things further. However when they are forced into a safe house and a secret comes out will they be able to save what they were heading for or is all lost.

Reader x John Price, Ghost, Soap, Gaz, Laswell, Original characters.

MDNI

Warnings: Angst, violence towards reader, reader attacked by men, a pup gets hurt (but don't worry he's ok) Blood, fluff, flirting, a bit of light smut. Death and killing on missions, Father of reader's death mentioned. Simon's past mentioned

Authors Note - It's here, the part you've all been waiting for. The truth

MASTERLIST

They sat around the table, Simon sat on Y/N’s right and Price on her left. She was drained and didn't have the energy to do this. She looked over at Simon who looked nervous. 

“Do you want me to tell them?”

“No I can do it.” He took a deep breath. “Just tryin to figure out where to start.” 

After taking a moment he looked at Soap, Gaz and Price. When he looked over at Y/N she was biting her thumbnail with a look of deep concern on her face. That’s when he realised that he had been so caught up on how telling the team would affect him and his peace he momentarily forgot that by exposing all of this, she was being put in a place of vulnerability too. 

“I need to tell you a bit of background first and it won’t be short.This farm, our home. It’s Y/N’s family home. She grew up here. Her dad was a military man and growing up all she ever wanted to do was follow in his footsteps. So when she enlisted she worked damn hard to do just that. She ended up with top marks in both her physical and written exams. She excelled and joined an elite Canadian task force. After being with them for a bit she was chosen for the Specialized Snipper Program in the UK, and that’s where we met.” 

He took a moment to look at her to make sure she was ok, and then continued. 

“I was a weird, intense angry loner that was hyper focused on training and being top of the program. She was the only female and had the same goal and intensity. No one spoke to either of us, so we started working together. We challenged each other and would argue over who was better. I wasn’t there to make friends but I started not minding being around her.”

He saw Y/N smile at that and then continued. 

“At Christmas we all got leave and when Y/N found out I had nowhere to go she decided I was coming home with her. She didn’t even ask me, she just walked into my room, handed me a plane ticket and told me to be ready in an hour. Deciding whatever she had planned had to be better than staying on base, I obeyed.” 

He looked up at the guys now. 

“I don’t exactly talk about it but I had a fucked up childhood. Real traumatic shit. So when we got here and the first thing Momma Lynn did was hug me, I uh.. I was shocked. In my experience parents don’t hug. But instead of backing off when she felt my tension she just gave me a quick squeeze and then pulled back, looked in my eyes and gave me a kind smile.”

Y/N reached over and squeezed his hand.  

"Y/N has four sisters so the house was busy and loud.” He chucked at that. “I remember walking into the living room and all the girls were playing a board game at the dining room table and they were bickering and yelling at each other one moment and then next laughing loudly. Her dad was sitting on the couch reading a book. I looked at him and asked him if all the noise bothered him. He looked at me and then the girls and smiled. He said that no it didn’t bother him, in fact it was his favourite sound in the world.”

Y/N reached up and wiped a tear that was rolling down her face. 

“Again I’d never experienced anything like this before. Even on Christmas morning I sat back and watched as they all opened presents for each other, just enjoying the moment. Then Momma Lynn handed me some gifts with a smile. I’d never gotten a Christmas gift before, I just stared at them, and I’ll admit I almost didn’t want to open them, instead I wanted to tuck them away forever, charish them. 

Y/N saw me and sat beside me, she grabbed my hand and squeezed it before encouraging me to open them. I expected something generic like a box of chocolates and some socks but it wouldn’t have mattered what it was, I would’ve loved it regardless. Instead I opened the first gift and it was an artbook and some really nice drawing pencils. Momma Lynn was watching and she explained that Y/N had told them that I like to doodle all the time and that I was really good. 

The next gift I opened was a nice wooden box with my last name etched on the top and inside was a high end gun maintenance kit. When I looked up her dad just looked at me and explained he’d gotten one from his father when he joined up and he’d done the same for Y/N. I actually got a bit emotional and had to pretend like I had to use the washroom so I could gather myself.

It was the best Christmas I had ever had in my life. When we were leaving Momma Lynn took me aside and made me promise to come home with Y/N the next holiday we had leave and of course I agreed. After that, I started wearing the mask, because I had something I cared about.” 

Simon looked up and saw everyone looking at him intently, listening to his every word. 

“For the next year, anytime we got leave I came home with Y/N and by the following Christmas, Momma Lynn and Y/N’s dad sat me down. They told me that they wanted me to be a member of their family. They told me that they thought of me as one of their kids since the first Christmas and they wanted me to feel the same. I actually cried openly for the first time in years. I had a family. They’d even set up a bedroom for me, said I could come and go as I pleased but hoped it was more coming than going. The girls all felt the same and so that was the day I gained a mom, a dad and five sisters. It wasn’t legally done but that didn’t matter to any of us. 

Then something unexpected happened. I fell in love. We both fought it for a long time. I didn’t want to jeopardise what I had and even though it killed me, I refused to risk it. It wasn’t until Mom and dad sat me down one day. They told me that nothing I could ever do would ever change the fact that I was their son. She gave me her grandma’s ring and both gave their blessing. So five years ago, I married Y/N’s sister Ava. Y/N was my ‘best woman’, we had the wedding in the yard and it was the happiest moment of my life. That was until this past April when Ava gave birth to our daughter Clara.” 

He glanced  around the table and saw tears in not only Y/N’s eyes but Soaps as well though he quickly wiped them away.

“Something you should know is Y/N had been asked to join the 141 before I was. Kate had approached her because she’d been doing work for her and knew how good of an agent she was. Then Price approached me. We discussed it and she offered to back out, let me have the team. I wanted to work with her again and knew she deserved a spot on this team though. So I told her if we kept our relationship with each other a secret, if we pretended we didn’t know each other to protect the family then we could be on the same team. She hated the idea of keeping secrets but agreed. 

There are several reasons why I didn’t tell you, and I didn’t let Y/N. The first being that this family, my family, is more important to me than anything in the world and I would die before ever letting anything happen to them. We make a lot of enemies out there and I keep them protected by keeping my mouth shut. The second reason is that when I have this mask on, I’m Ghost. I do what needs to be done and get as dirty as I need too. But when I’m here, the mask comes off and I’m Simon. Sharing that’s hard for me. It’s a trust that I have to build and makes me feel incredibly vulnerable. You’ve only ever seen me as Ghost and I wasn’t ready to share this side of me with you at the time.” 

“Are you ready now?” Soap asked 

“I am. I’d been thinking about it before I found out that we were coming here. Y/N had told me she wanted to tell John the night we blew up the warehouse, before things went to shit. I’d come to the conclusion that it was time.” 

John looked over at Y/N sadly. God he fucked this up. 

“So you and Y/N aren’t married with children.” Gaz confirmed

“No Gaz, we're not married with children. We do love each other though, just in a sibling way instead of romantic way.” Y/N shrugged

“Never said I loved you.” Simon teased beside her 

“You do all the time you softy.” 

“Ok but I still don’t get all the secrecy behind Y/N and her background.” Soap said confused. 

“Well that is another thing I suppose.” Simon looked at Y/N and she nodded. 

He got up and walked over to a painting on the wall, pulled it forward revealing a safe. Typing in the number he opened the safe door and pulled out a file, walked over and placed it on the table. 

Y/N ran her finger over the top of the file and frowned. 

“I know at this point it doesn’t matter much anymore but this is my full file, no holds bar. The reason everything is redacted is because of our dad. Like Simon said, he was a military man. The issue is that he is a very famous man in the military community. His call sign was Phantom 1.” 

“Holy shit, your da is Phantom 1!” Soap exclaimed. 

“I don’t understand, who is Phantom 1?” Gaz asked 

“He was an insanely efficient agent ‘n’ a fuckin amazin sniper. He wis sae weel known in the community that when he died last year, they had tae have two funerals. One fur his folk and one for a' th’ military personnel that wanted tae attend. They even streamed it tae bases a’ over the world. His identity was sae weel hidden that his folk had tae wear veils ‘n’ masks to his funeral! He’s a legend.” 

Soap looked up at Y/N then realised what he just said.

“Oh shit love, I’m sorra.” 

“It’s fine.”

But she felt a lump form in her throat. She looked over at Simon and he squeezed her hand. 

“I’ll take it from here. As Soap said, our da was good at what he did, but with that brought enemies. Hence our super secret, super protected ‘farm’. There are cameras everywhere, the walls behind the hedges have motion and weight sensors, there’s a lock down procedure for the house. It’s how Y/N grew up. So when she joined up they knew that if anyone found out that Y/N was his daughter there was a chance that she would be used as leverage to coax him out of retirement or to just get plain old revenge. So they scrapped any connection to her dad and that included Canada. Hence the redacted file.” 

Y/N looked up at the team and sighed.

“I’m going to ask that even though I’m probably not going to be on the team after this, to protect this information even after I leave? Even though he’s gone we still don’t want this information leaked.” 

“Can we talk about that please Y/N?” John asked 

“Not right now. I’m emotionally and physically exhausted. I also don’t think any of us are in the right mindset at this moment to discuss. So let’s table it for now. I’m 10 feet away from my momma and I just want to get up there.” 

They all nodded and she gave them a soft smile. 

“Si rules?”  

“Yeah ok. I guess now that we’ve explained the situation I’ll get into rules and all that fun stuff. Like any other house, be polite, try and limit swearing especially around the kids.”

“Though they are used to it. Uncle Simon has a potty mouth and has to put a loonie in the jar every time he swears” Y/N added and the group laughed

“They’ll hold you to that too. The money goes to them so they’ll call you out every chance they get. Little buggers.”  

“What ta hell is a loonie?” Soap asked and Simon chucked

“A dollar. It’s a coin. I have a bucket of them in my apartment, remind me to give you some. Anyways it’s a free roam house, the kitchen is open, nothing’s really off limits. The biggest rules are no weapons on person. Don’t worry there are stashes all over the house, we just don’t want the kids seeing a gun peeking out from behind your shirt or god forbid one of them getting their hands on one.”

“How many kids are there here?” Gaz frowned

“Well our sister Charlie has two, a boy named Ky who just turned eighteen and a girl named Meadow who just turned fourteen. Then our sister Brooke has twin girls that are five, Freya and Idun, we call her Edie. Those are the ones you have to watch out for. Then me and Ava have Clara that’s eight months. Y/N and Ems are child free.” 

“And they all live here?” 

“No, but they’ve been told to come here for protection. Ava and I live here. Dad converted two rooms in the basement into a small apartment for us. Y/N lives here too, and has a room in the basement as well. Then Momma Lynn obviously and recently our Grandma moved in so mom could take care of her.”

“Which ones are single?” Soap asked with a smirk 

“Johnny I swear to god if you even look at one of my sisters I’ll rip your dick off.” Simon growled. 

Beside him though Y/N looked at Soap and mouthed Emma and Charlie. Then smiled and winked at him. 

“Alright, the last rule’s the most important. We don’t talk about work. Ever. So no chatting about past missions, injuries, guns, no call signs, none of that. If we need to talk about anything we come down here.”

Everyone nodded in agreement

“So that’s it. We’ll go in the room next door, it has lockers for all of us so anything that doesn’t fit in that standard is put in the locker. Laswell also sent over some stuff for us to make us comfortable and it’s been placed in your locker. Any questions before we call it?” 

Everyone shook their heads and as Simon stood up, Soap and Gaz followed suit and they headed out of the room with the exception of John and Y/N. She picked her file up off the table and held it out to him. 

“You can read it if you want. I’m not hiding anything anymore. All my merit is listed out for you.” 

He looked at the file and then took it from her hand. 

“Y/N, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for all of it.” 

“I know. Me too. But what’s done is done and even though you’re sorry it doesn’t erase the things you said, or what you’ve done. We’ve got to move forward, it’s just not the way I thought we were going too or how it would look.” 

“Is there anything I can say to fix this? You said you love me and I need to tell you…” 

“John, stop. It’s too late. And anything you say at this point just seems disingenuous. Like you’re only saying what you think I want to hear to fix this. It’s over, we have to accept that.” 

She left the room and John felt his heart break. He placed the file on the table and followed her out of the room. 

[cosmicjoke]

What people seem to constantly misunderstand about what Akimi Yoshida said regarding how Ash couldn't have just gotten away scot-free from his life of crime is that it ISN'T Yoshida saying Ash "deserved" to die. Yoshida frames Ash as a hero from beginning to end. He's shown to be a genuinely good and kind person, that goodness remarked upon again and again by multiple characters, and his death is seen as a tragedy. That should be enough to convince people that Yoshida didn't hate Ash or think he deserved to die. The fact she frames him in such a positive light shows she understands that Ash is a good person that was forced into doing terrible things for his own survival and the survival of others. So this insistence that she thought he deserved to die because she said in some fan-translated interview that he couldn't just walk away from his life of crime, or that there's a price to be paid for murder, is ridiculous. It relies on nothing but assumption about the character of the author.

It's also a problem in fandom, in general, where interviews with authors, in which they're often giving on the spot and half-baked answers to random questions without any prepreation, are given greater credence in interpreting the author's intent than the actual, published work itself. How about letting the work stand on its own and interpret it as is? I've seen so much hate lobbed at Yoshida for supposedly hating Ash or thinking he deserved to die, when the actual story itself does nothing but portray Ash as deeply sympathetic and tragic. Again, no one could read "Banana Fish" with any level of reading comprehension and come away with anything but the impression that Ash is the hero and a good person who's life and death was deeply unfair and unjust. That fact alone should override any answer Yoshida gave in any interview, especially when it's obvious how much Yoshida hates giving interviews and very obviously, intentionally gives half-assed answers that she doesn't put much thought into. It's clear from the work itself that Yoshida has a great love for Ash as a person and as a character. She based his design off of River Phoenix, her favorite actor, she shares her birthday with him, and again, the way she frames Ash and his actions is as that of a hero, from beginning to end. I don't know, maybe it's because she sees Ash as a hero herself?

Ash dying only demonstrates the point further about how child abuse ruined Ash's life. He was led into a life of crime because of the abuse he suffered, and the fact it was that life of crime that led to his eventual death, with it basically being a gang dispute that got him in the end, only further drives home the point of how devastating and ruinous child abuse is. Ash wasn't a criminal because he was a bad person, he was a criminal because the abuse he suffered drove him to become one, and then, eventually, that life of crime he'd been forced to lead came back on him in the form of Lao stabbing him, which is what I think Yoshida actually means when she says Ash couldn't just walk away from the life of crime he'd lived. That inability to walk away further demonstrates the tragedy of the abuse Ash suffered, because it shows how it forced him into doing things which eventually came back to haunt him, things which he couldn't "escape". Lao stabbing Ash was in consequence to his being a gang leader, and his being a gang leader was a result of the abuse he suffered. The two things are interconnected with one another. It's not about Ash deserving to die because of the lives he'd taken, it's about how the life Ash was forced to live as a result of his abuse eventually led to his death. That's where the whole notion of "you live by the sword, you die by the sword" comes from. It's not necessarily a moral condemnation of the person committing acts of violence, but an acknowledgement that violence begets violence. That violence is cyclical. But the fact of Ash's death as a result of his life of crime only further demonstrates the true devastation wrought by the abuse of children, and that's the ultimate point of "Banana Fish's" ending. It's meant to force us to face, through the tragedy of Ash's death, the tragedy of his life in turn.

[rafesbabyg1rl]

You were asking for reqs for rafe x reader, if you are taking them, I have one in mind. In which rafe is extremely possesive of bsf reader, and gets easily jealous. One day she was at a kook party, and a guy approached her and they started to talk and that sh*t went down, rafe got aggressive and almost beat the guy to a pulp. Reader is like a shy cute innocent, bimbo type. And smut after the scene if you write it.

Summary: Innocent!reader X possessive!Rafe, bestfriend!reader X bestfriend!Rafe. Summary is basically the anonymous ask!

Warnings: Rafe is possessive of reader. Established friendship. Rafe almost beats a guy to death. Mentions of drugs (no actual drug use), alcohol consumption. Lots of smut; p in v, unprotected sex, oral (f receiving), fingering, loss of virginity, SLIGHT degradation (some praise too). The classic 'what are we' at the end. The L word.

Word Count: 6.1k

Author Note: Hello Beauties! Thank you for the support and kindness you've all shown me. And thank you for this ask, I really enjoyed writing it. I hope I did your idea justice. Sorry that this is a bit long, it just sort of happened. Also, I hope you all enjoyed the holiday yesterday, well those that celebrate. I'm hoping to finish part four of The Watcher soon so I can get it out, life has just been so exhausting. Anyways, please enjoy and feel free to leave feedback! I love you all, thank you so much!! Stay freaky y'all.

Your best friend, Rafe, had asked you to go to a party with him. Well, more like he had told you to go. Although it’s not like you’d ever miss the opportunity to party with your best friend. So, here you are; walking around the side of Topper’s house, looking for Rafe. You two didn’t come together, he got here before you. He knows you don’t love being around his ‘friends’ and their various illegal substances, even though he says he’s clean, he likes to have time with them before you get there. 

You round a corner, now entering the Thorton’s backyard. You look for Rafe as you work your way through the loud and busy crowd. You hear a friend call your name, you turn your head to her, and she waves you over. You approach her and a few others with a smile. You greet them.

The other girls chat amongst themselves as your friend speaks up, shouting over the music. “Hey!” She’s over enthusiastic per regular, probably a bit drunk too.

“Hey!” You shout back. 

She begins, “Oh my god! I have to tell you something. Guess who I saw—”. Usually, you’d want to hear all the gossip she’s about to ramble to you, but not right now. “Do you know where Rafe is?” You shout over her, cutting her off.

“What?” She asks, stepping closer to you so she can hear you.

“Do you know—” You’re suddenly interrupted by some guy standing beside you. You turn to face him.

“Hey.” He says, his tone confident. A cocky grin spreads across his face.

“Hi.” You smile politely, “Do I know you?”. You say hurriedly before turning back to your friend. She looks between you and the guy a few times before facing you and giving you a knowing smirk. You know what that look means and before you can say anything, she walks away. Leaving you alone with him. You roll your eyes at her playfully, although you really are annoyed that she didn’t tell you where Rafe is. 

Slowly, you turn your head back to the guy, flashing him another fake smile. He grins again before speaking, “No…no you don’t.” He pauses, stepping a bit closer to you so he doesn’t have to shout over the music as loud. “I’m Devin.”

Your fake smile is getting awkward, but you don’t know what to say. You don’t care about talking to him right now. “Nice to meet you, Devin. B-but I need to–”

Devin cuts you off, “Let me get you a drink.” 

You laugh shyly, “Oh...I-I’m okay, I actually have to…”

“Let me just get you a drink, it’ll only take a second.” He moves closer to rest his hand on your lower back for a slight moment, to get you to turn toward the drinks. 

Rafe was on the back patio sitting on one of the couches when someone had mentioned to him that they saw you. He went to go and find you, which is when he spotted you laughing with some guy, who moments later put his hand on you. Rafe’s already had a few drinks tonight, so his judgment clouded even more than usual, especially when it comes to you. 

As you walk towards the drinks, Devin’s hand falls and he follows close behind you. 

After a moment, you hear a mix of gasps and ‘ooohh’s’ from everyone. You turn to look behind you where everyone seems to be gathering. You find that Devin isn’t behind you anymore.

Immediately your eyes land on some commotion in the crowd, you squeeze through the ring of people forming around the area. Shit. You run forwards, pausing just before the fight. 

Devin is flat on his back, Rafe straddling him. Rafe has Devin’s shirt clenched in one fist, holding his head off the ground as he repeatedly drives his other fist into Devin’s face. 

“Rafe!” You shout. Keeping your distance, not wanting to get too close while he’s out of control. You’ve seen how he can get. In the years that you two have been friends, you’ve had to calm him down from countless fights, since nobody else can ever seem to do it. But, when nobody else steps in to try and stop the fight, you step closer, knowing something has to be done. “Rafe, stop! Stop it!” You scream. 

Devin’s completely unconscious, his nose is probably broken, but you can’t really tell; his face is a swollen mess of blood and bruises. You can’t stand here and watch anymore, and nobody seems to be listening to your cries for help. Because nobody is stupid enough to get in Rafe’s way while he’s like this. You step behind Rafe, putting your hands on his shoulders. You try to pull him back all the while trying not to get punched.

“Rafe! Look at me! Look at me, Ray!” Rafe turns his head to the side, momentarily stopping his actions, letting Devin’s head rest on the floor. You put a hand up to cup his cheek. Speaking quietly now as you plead to him. “Rafe…c’mon, that’s good, h-he’s had enough…”. Your tears slow, but your breath is still erratic as you look at the unconscious man. 

Rafe turns back to the guy, your hand falling from his face. Rafe pulls Devin’s head up, like he was going to punch him again. Instead, he lets go, letting the boy's head hit the floor. Rafe stands up without a word and grabs you by your wrist, tugging you away. 

Before you know it, you’re being shoved into your best friend's truck. His random mumbles don’t make much sense to you, talking about ‘he got what he deserved…Should’ve fuckin’ killed him…yeah, should’ve fucking killed him for that. Touchin’ what’s mine…’

When you get to Tannyhill, Rafe wastes no time pulling you into his room. You sit on his bed stiffly, waiting silently as he paces the room.

“Rafe?” You call out softly. “You okay? What happened back there? What was that?”

“He touched you.” Rafe states. His tone is low and rough, sending a chill down your spine. Even after all the years you’ve been his best friend, you still never know how to act when he’s like this. 

“Barely. He barely touched me.”

Rafe completely disregards what you say, shaking his head and blowing out a jagged breath as he continues to pace across his room, a bit slower now. “Why was he even talking to you? You were supposed to be with me. I told you to go to the party, not him.” 

You take your chance to get a word in as he spews out angry nonsense. “I was looking for you and he started talking, ‘wanted to get me a drink. I was just being nice; I didn’t know who he was. I didn’t even want to talk to him, I was looking for you, Rafe. I don’t even see why that matters–”.

He pauses, looking over at you. His movements are sharp as he strides over to you. “Don’t see why it matters…?” He repeats your words, more for himself than to you. “It matters because you’re mine.” His words are sharp, definitely directed to you that time.

“Rafe…you almost killed him…because of me? I don’t get it Rafe; I don’t nearly kill all the girls you fuck.” You state.

Rafe lets out a breathy chuckle before speaking. “Still don’t get it, huh?” Rafe laughs. “God you’re so innocent. So naive.” He pauses, stepping closer until he’s standing in front of you, looking down at you as you sit on his bed. “I need you, y/n. I can’t…god, I can’t even fuck anyone else anymore without thinking about you. I can’t let anyone else have you, got that? You understand now?” He asks harshly as he runs a rough hand through your hair. 

You try to swallow the lump in your throat. You look up and nod weakly, causing Rafe to flash a devilish grin. “Yeah?” He asks quietly, his voice coming out low. 

“Yeah…” You mumble back brainlessly, too shocked by your best friend's confession. You had always thought Rafe saw you purely as a friend. Although thinking back, you don’t know how you ever thought that with how he acts, especially lately. 

No time is wasted as Rafe quickly leans down, capturing your lips with his. The first kiss is hesitant, and you don’t kiss back. But when he pulls away to look at you, trying to gauge your emotion, you lean in. Your best friend takes that as a sign to continue. His lips quickly find yours again. When he feels you start to kiss back, he escalates things. Kissing you more roughly now, acting as though he’s a starved man and your lips are his meal.

His hand moves from the back of your head to your throat, lightly squeezing. At first you don’t even realize, too distracted by the feeling of his tongue entering your mouth. But when Rafe squeezes your neck even tighter, you move your hands to reach up and wrap around his wrist in an attempt to pull it away. Your mouth still occupied by his, the kiss is too fucking good to break. It feels like everything you didn’t know you needed. He’s giving you what nobody else could, because only he knows exactly what you need and exactly how to give it to you. Your lack of breath reminds you of your situation and you pull away from the kiss momentarily.

Rafe’s grip loosens as he pulls his head back so he can look into your eyes. “Tell me you want this.” He mumbles breathlessly. 

You search his eyes as you catch your breath. Nodding, you finally speak up. “I want this.” You say definitively.

Not even half a second later, Rafe’s body crashes down onto you, pushing you down so that you’re laying on his bed. Rafe has one arm beside your head, holding himself up as his other remains on your neck. He hovers over you, one knee pressed between your thighs. Rafe leans down, his lips attaching to your neck, kissing and sucking frantically at your skin. He’s been waiting so, so long for this. 

His lips find your ear, softly biting at it before whispering. “Let me take care of you, baby. You want that, hm?”. While waiting for your response, his free hand traces down the side of your body until it reaches the hem of your skirt. He moves his face to the other side of your head, giving some attention to your other ear. “Need your best friend to help you feel good…give you what you need, yeah?” His hand slips under your skirt, slowly gliding up your inner thigh, sending shivers through your whole body.

“Yes–” A moan escapes your lips, interrupting you. Your eyes meet his before you continue. “Please Rafey…need you…”

His lips meet yours at the same time his hand meets your clothed cunt. He kisses you sloppily, exploring every part of your mouth with his tongue. Your hands come up to rest on his chest, your touch sending shocks through him. He rubs you through your panties. He can feel as you grow more needy, the wet spot on your panties getting larger. 

He can’t believe this is actually happening. He’s wanted to do this to you for so long; he’s dreamt of this moment happening in almost every way possible, but this…he never could’ve imagined this feeling. “Fuck…you’re so wet f’me already.”

“Ray…please…” You can’t help but rut your panty-clad cunt against his hand, searching for friction. Usually you’re never this bold, but you’re comfortable with him. You always have been, he is your best friend after all. You just pray that he understands what you need. 

Except Rafe doesn’t respond in the way you had hoped for. No, instead he pulls his hand out from under your skirt, eliciting a whine from you. He presses a genuine, wet kiss against your parted lips before moving down your body. Rafe slides down, kneeling onto the floor in front of the bed. He grabs you by the back of your knees and tugs you down towards him until your ass is at the edge of the bed. Without breaking eye contact, he swiftly removes your skirt. He spreads your legs, making them bend so your heels are on the edge of the bed. Eagerly, he presses wet, sloppy kisses up your inner thighs, his eyes trained up on you.

The sight of him like this between your thighs, doing exactly what you need…it drives you crazy. You lean your head back, letting out a moan as Rafe mouths at your entrance through the fabric your panties.

It’s not long before he’s peeling back your panties as well, sliding them off of you completely. Your legs threaten to close from insecurity, but your best friend is sure to hold them open.

“Fuck…this pussy’s even prettier than I imagined, baby. Soaked…just for me.” Rafe leans in, his mouth hovering just above your core. He silently asks for permission.

Being your best friend, Rafe knows that you’ve never done this before. No guy had ever wanted to date you while Rafe’s your best friend, they could see that you’re his, even if you couldn’t. 

His breath is hot on your bare center, he watches as you squirm and clench around nothing. Eagerly you nod, giving him permission. And within seconds his mouth is on you.

At first, he’s slow; gentle as his eyes continue to meet yours. He licks a warm stripe up your center, briefly pulling back to watch your reaction. Your head falls back, your mouth parted, and eyes closed as you experience this new sensation that your best friend is so generously giving you.

Rafe begins to lick and suck at you. His tongue circles your clit as he looks up, knowing you’d like it. A moan slips past your lips as your hand flies to the back of his head, the other gripping onto the sheets beside you. 

“Nnnghh…f-fuck, Ray…” You whine as his tongue fucks you relentlessly. He only mumbles against you in response, sending vibrations through your core. This felt even better than you had ever thought it would. When you heard people talk about sex, you didn’t think it could actually be this good. Though maybe that just has to do with the fact that Rafe’s your best friend, and he knows exactly what you need.

“Yeah?” One of his hands leaves your leg and moves to grope your tits through your clothes. “You like this, huh? You’re just a slut for your best friend, hm? Letting me have you like this…”

“N-need you…” You mutter, grieving the loss of his tongue on you. He stares at you with a devilish glint in his eyes. 

“I know, baby. I know.” Rafe’s mouth continues to work on you. His tongue gathers some slick from your entrance and brings it up to your clit, circling it with his tongue a few times before repeating the process. 

The feeling in your lower stomach is starting to build. It’s getting hard for you to sit still for him. It’s even harder for you to stay quiet. A plethora of moans escape you as Rafe’s mouth stays busy between your thighs. Your hand holds his head down, your other grips the sheets underneath you. 

“Rafe…please. S’too much, I can’t—” You whine. 

“Ah ah ah…stop running, baby. I got you. I got you.” Rafe’s grip on your thighs tightens, keeping you in place. “God,” He mutters breathlessly. “You taste…you taste so fuckin’ good. Hiding this from me all that time, hm?” He leans back down and continues his ministrations on you.

Your toes start to curl, the band in your stomach threatening to snap. Suddenly he stops and before you get the chance to look down to see why, one of his fingers is prodding at your entrance. “Gotta stretch this pretty little pussy out, yeah? Don’t wanna hurt you.”

You nod, allowing one of his thick, long digits to slowly slide into you. You almost scream when he starts to move it, his mouth working on you at the same time. Rafe adds another finger, now thrusting two in and out of you. 

“Fuck baby, you’re gonna squeeze my cock so good. Jus’ gotta get you used to this, hm? You gonna let your best friend be the first to fuck you?” Rafe asks. You nod in response, agreeing to his words. Rafe’s fingers spread apart inside you, stretching your hole, preparing you for his cock. His tongue pauses again as he looks up at you and correct his previous statement. “The only one to fuck you.” Rafe puts his head back between your thighs, his fingers fucking you mercilessly as his tongue sucks at your bud. 

You nod again, followed by a whine. “F-fuck…Ray. I-I think I’m gonna…”

“Yeah? You gonna cum for me, baby? Hm?” 

“Mhmm…yes, fuckk–” You respond, your fingers fighting to grasp onto the little hair he has. Your thighs begin to squeeze around him, causing him to pull his head up against the force of your hand on him. 

“Just a little more, baby. You can take it. I know you can. You gonna let me help you finish? You wanna cum?”

“Yes! Yes! Please Rafey…please let me cum.” Your begging makes him chuckle briefly before going back down on you. His tongue moves with precision, working on you with a purpose; to make you cum. 

Without warning, the band in your stomach snaps. You scream out his name as his tongue circles your sensitive bud and his fingers pump in and out of you slowly. Your best friend continues to work you through your first real orgasm. You’ve never felt anything like this. Why the hell did you wait so long to do this with him?

“God…baby. You’re so fuckin’ perfect. You have no idea how long I’ve waited to hear those pretty sounds.” Rafe carefully slides his fingers out of you, making you clench around nothing at the loss of him. He gets up from his knees, standing over you again. Rafe’s face glistens with your slick. His hand moves up to brush your hair back while he brings his free hand up to your mouth. “Open.” He orders. You oblige and he pushes two digits into your mouth. “Taste that? Taste how fuckin’ good you taste?” He pulls his fingers back, immediately moving down to kiss you. You can taste yourself on his lips. Rafe climbs on top of you, his mouth finding the sweet spot behind your ear. He whispers, “You okay?”

“Mhm…better than okay.” You reassure him. Your legs are still shaking with the aftershock of your orgasm. 

“Good.” He mumbles against your skin. “‘Cause I’m not even close to done with you, baby. We’re just getting started.” He doesn’t wait before he’s pulling off your shirt, kissing down your chest. Soon after, he unclasps your bra with one hand, pulling it off of you and tossing it onto the floor somewhere. 

His lips are vicious, attaching to any and every bit of your skin. His hands gently cup your breasts, his mouth finding and attaching to one of your nipples. His eyes stay trained up on your face, he likes seeing how you react to his touch. He pulls back, straddling your lap. Your hand shoots out to grab the hem of his shirt, trying to tug it upwards. He smirks and quickly does it himself, tossing it aside. He watches you like prey as your eyes skim over his bare chest. 

It’s not like you haven’t seen him shirtless before, you have, many times. But no matter how many times you see him like this, you’ll never get used to it. You’ve never seen him in this way though. It’s different, more intimate. You’ve never shared this kind of intimacy with anybody before. And you’re glad you’re doing it with your best friend, whom you’re comfortable with. 

The low light of his bedside lamps reflecting off of his toned skin, damp with sweat. You let out a slow breath as you take in the sight. “Fuck.” You mutter. 

Rafe leans down, kissing and nipping at your earlobe. He whispers, “Like what you see?” He laughs. 

You nod your head eagerly. “Mhmm…”

“Use your words baby, you’re a big girl, aren’t you?” 

“I…y-yes.” You whine as you wriggle underneath him, trying to squeeze your thighs shut in search of some much-needed friction.

Rafe knows what you need. He knows that you’re ready now; ready to give him everything, let him take your innocence, your virtue. He uses one hand to prop himself up as the other works at his belt. Once you realize what he’s doing, you try to help him out, eagerly unbuckling his belt as he kisses you passionately, like he’s never kissed anyone else before you; like you’re the only girl on this fucking planet. 

Once his belt is off, you work at his pants. He leans up so he can tug them off, throwing them aside with the rest of the discarded clothes. All that’s left between the two of you now is the thin fabric of his boxers. You can feel his hardened form pressing into your leg as he kisses you, practically devouring you. Without thinking about it, you find your hand tugging at the waistband of his boxers. You beg. “Please”, your lips whisper into his ear as he bites at your neck. “Rafey…”

He leans back again, this time getting off of you and standing at the side of the bed and in front of you. You can’t help but touch yourself as Rafe frees himself from the constraint of his boxers. You watch as his hard cock springs up, hitting his stomach when it’s finally freed. He smirks, leaning down to remove your hand from yourself. 

“I got you, baby. I got you. I’ll take care of you.” He mumbles, moving his hand over your core again. His strong fingers circle your clit. Your breath hitches as you watch him touch you, his other hand holding the base of his cock.

“Rafe?” You manage to ask through your cries. 

“Hm? What is it?” Rafe says your name softly, encouraging you to continue. 

“Will it hurt?” You’ve heard that the first time can be uncomfortable. And judging by Rafe’s size, this was going to be more than just uncomfortable. But that doesn’t mean you’re going to back out of the situation, you need this. You need him.

Your best friend’s expression becomes more serious as he looks at you. His hand comes up from your core to brush a strand of hair behind your ear, his touch lingering. “It might, baby. It might be a little uncomfortable for a moment, but I’ll do my best to make it feel good, yeah? I’ll go slow. And if you don’t like it I want you to tell me. You’re okay, baby. It’s just me, your best friend. I’m gonna take care of you. M’kay?” You nod in response, his eyes darting between your eyes to get a sense of what you’re thinking. Rafe clicks his tongue. “Ah, ah. Use your words, pretty girl.” His hand reaches out for your chin, tilting your face up towards him. 

“Please Ray…”

“Please what?”

“Fuck me…” The words sound so vulgar coming from your sweet, innocent mouth. He’s never known you to speak this way, but he’s not against it. He pumps his fist over his cock a few times, his head leaning back as he lets out a groan. “Please Rafe…I-I need you in me…”

Your words snap him out of his amazement. “Atta girl.” He replies. You can feel his tip gently rub against your slippery entrance. Your warm juices on his cock feel better than anything he’s ever experienced. You’re like a drug to him. A drug that he can’t get enough of. 

He pulls back before you can get used to the feeling of him. He leans over you, reaching into his dresser drawer. When he moves back over you, you see the shiny square wrapper in his hand.

You place your hands over his as he tries to open the condom. “No…”

His head snaps up at you. “No…? No what?” He asks, confused. “You don’t want to do this?”

“No…Rafe, I-I want this. I just…I want to feel you. No…no condom.” You explain.

“Fuck, y/n. Are you sure?” Rafe’s disbelief and shock is very apparent in his tone. 

“Yes, I’m sure. I’m on the pill.” You confirm.

“God, how much more perfect can you fuckin’ get?” He chuckles, making you huff out a quick laugh. 

Soon his lips are back on yours as he uses his hand to guide his glistening, pink tip back to your puffy cunt. Slowly, he pushes into you, just so that the very tip of his cock is inside of you. He looks up to your face, pending your reaction. 

“F-fuck…Rafe.” Your hands move to his hips, pushing him further inside. Rafe gives in, pushing another inch into you. “Mnghh, fuck…Rafe.” Rafe settles there for a moment before giving you another inch or two. Each time he moves, he looks to make sure you’re still enjoying it, giving you a minute to adjust each time. When he finally bottoms out, you feel so…full. The pain is there, but it doesn’t last long, fading into a light discomfort as your soft walls mold to his shape. You involuntarily squeeze around him.

“Shiiiitt, baby…Squeezin’ me so tight.” He pauses to kiss you, his lips soon finding that soft spot behind your ear that makes you shiver. “M’gonna move now, alright?”

“Mhm…please…” You whine. You hook your arms under his, bringing your palms up to grip onto his back. Rafe continues to kiss all over your neck and chest as he slowly pulls out of you, until only the tip is left inside. Without warning, he pushes into you a bit quicker this time, with a bit more force than before. But you’re not complaining. You cry his name out, your nails digging into his shoulders. He begins to move at a slow, steady pace as he whispers sweet nothings into your ear. “F-fuck…” You yelp, gripping onto him even harder.

“Fuck, baby…your nails, they hurt.” He mumbles amusedly into your ear as he nips at it. Immediately your grip loosens. You feel terrible but can’t manage to muster up an apology since you can’t think clearly with how his cock is repeatedly kissing your cervix with each thrust. 

“Faster.” You beg, pressing your forehead into his arm. He listens cautiously, carefully picking up the face. He lifts one of your legs over his shoulder. The new position allows him to hit an even deeper spot inside of you. When his digits start to circle your clit you almost let out a scream, making him chuckle. 

“Such a fuckin’ whore for me, hm?” He laughs as he fucks you senseless.

“Fuck…Rafey, no, I…I can’t. Can’t take it.” You moan, throwing your head back as your eyes squeeze shut. 

“You can and you will.” He speaks emotionlessly, overtaken by pleasure. Rafe’s hand moves from you clit up to your throat again, he applies a bit of pressure. Your hands leave his back and wrap around his wrist. Your eyes stay shut as your face contorts into that of pure bliss. His thumb slides into your mouth and you suck and bite at it, trying to distract yourself from the overwhelming feeling of him fucking you. You don’t see how you can ever stop; this feeling is…unlike anything else you’ve felt before. “You got this baby. M’almost there. You can let go, baby. Just let go f’me.”

Sooner than later you feel the newly familiar feeling of pressure building in your lower stomach. When it snaps, your body tenses up, a wave of moans escape your mouth as the band snaps and pleasure washes over you. Rafe continues to fuck you slowly, his movements becoming more sporadic than strategic.

“Fuck, where do you want it?”

“My pussy, please Rafey…fill me up?” You ask, eyes wide with tears as you look up at him. “Please?”

“Shit, you sure?” Rafe groans, barely able to hold on any longer.

“Y-yes...I’m sure.” Only seconds later you can feel his warm seed spurting out inside of you. Your gummy walls soaking him in as they squeeze around him, milking him for all that he’s got.

“Fuckk y/n. Do that again.” As he thrusts into you without any specific rhythm, you obey his words, squeezing tightly around his length again. Rafe lets out a guttural moan, tossing his head back for a moment before looking at you again, watching how well you take him, as if you were made for him. The way he fills you up you is like pieces of a puzzle, just meant for one another. “Shiiitt…you’re so fucking tight. Squeezin’ ‘round your best friends cock so good.”

After you’re both worked through your orgasms, he pulls out of you. You groan at the loss of him, feeling a big opening left where he had been. Rafe leans down to press a deep, meaningful kiss to your lips. He pulls back, wiping your hair and sweat from your face with a proud smile.

“God, baby. You did so good, so fucking good. That’s a good girl. My girl, yeah?” He leans down again, pressing a kiss to your neck. Rafe whispers in your ear. “m’so proud.” Before pulling away completely, he presses a kiss to each of your cheeks, your nose, and one final kiss to your forehead. 

You turn on your side to face him as he lay on the bed beside you. “Rafe…” Your voice shows your exhaustion, but also your hesitancy.

He turns on his side to face you as well, propping his head up against his hand. “Hm?” He says with a smile. He can’t help it, it’s impossible for him to see you and not smile after what you just did. 

You flop back down onto your back, staring up at the ceiling. It’s too hard to say this while looking at his beautiful smile. “That was…” 

“Incredible?” He interrupts, his fingers lightly tracing up and down your arm. 

“What was that?” You blurt out, scared that if you don’t say it now then you never will.

Rafe’s smile fades quickly, he props himself up on his elbows, staring down at you with furrowed brows. “Woah woah, woah. Hey. What? What d’you mean?”

You give a light shrug, his fingers no longer moving over your skin. You avoid looking at his pretty eyes. “I mean like…what happens now?”

He sighs, laying back down next to you, looking up at the ceiling. “Well, you’re my girl now, yeah? I thought that was obvious.” 

“Your girl? The Rafe Cameron I know doesn’t do girlfriends.” You say lightly.

“That’s because I never wanted one. I never…needed one, I’ve got you.”

“So…we’re friends?” You ask, attempting and failing at trying to hide your emotions.

“We are, aren’t we?” Rafe responds, not knowing what his words imply or how they’ll make you feel.

“Yeah…yea we’re friends.” You say dryly. 

He turns his head to face you. “Hey. Y/N. What’s wrong? Hey…hey, talk to me.”

“Nothing, Rafe. I’m fine.”

“Jesus, no you’re not. C‘mon baby, what is it?”

“Nothing!” You snap. You’re angry about your own reaction, feeling stupid once the words leave your mouth. Grabbing the sheets, you cover yourself up.

“Did I do something? What’d I do?” Asks Rafe, making you feel worse about yourself. It’s not his fault you feel like this. “Is it what we did? Look, I’m sorry if—“

You cut him off, not being able to listen to him blame himself. “I just…I don’t think friends do what we just did.”

“Jesus, y/n. Look…” He trails off, cursing himself. “Do you not wanna be my girl or something? ‘Cause I can—“

“No, Rafe. I just…I don’t get what you mean. Your girl?”

“Yeah.” He says, confused.

“Like…your girlfriend? Dating? Us?”

“Fuck. Yes, baby. My girlfriend.” Rafe says the word as though it’s a pain to say it. “Will you be my girlfriend? Please?” You could tease him about the way he’s practically begging you.

“Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?” You joke, not being able to resist. Rafe laughs, glad to hear your usual self. 

“Well, I’m kinda hoping that I’m your…boyfriend, now.”

“Hmm…let me think…” You say, tapping your chin as if this is something you need to contemplate. You can see his demeanor sadden from the corner of your eye, causing you to look over at him. “What’s in it for me?” You add, a smirk threatening to appear on your face. You can barely hold back your laughter at this point, but he still looks so sad, like a puppy who can’t have a treat. “Jesus Rafe, I thought you’d never ask.” You don’t even give him enough time to respond before you’re on top of him, his lips immediately seeking yours.

“Yeah? You mean it?” He asks between kisses, almost nervously. 

“Of course I do, Rafe. ‘Promise.” 

You always know just what to say to him to calm down his mind, he loves that about you. “Fuck, you have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this. God, I fuckin’ love you.” Your eyes widen at his confession, you look down at him. He’s almost just as shocked as you are. He didn’t even know he felt that way. The words just slipped out, but they felt so right. “Fuck, no, I meant—“ Rafe starts, but you cut him off. You kiss him again,  passionately. This kiss shows him exactly how you feel, somehow being more intimate than having sex with him was. 

“I love you, Rafe. I promise.” You know how he can feel like everybody is against him, so you try to reassure him as much as you can. You’re the only one who’s ever made him feel cared for; he just never wanted to fuck things up with you. “Please just…can you promise me that you’ll stop beating up random strangers who talk to me? ‘Cause I don’t care about them, Rafe. I care about you.”

This is all so new, talking to each other in this way. But it’s how you’ve both always felt. “But y/n, he-“ Rafe pauses, reconsidering his words for you. He sighs and then mumbles, “Yeah…I’ll try.” He looks back at you, you with a stern look in your eyes. “I will. I promise.”

You smile, leaning down for a kiss. Quickly, things start to escalate again. Rafe flips you both over so he’s on top. He leans down to kiss your neck, sucking and nipping at it as he works his way down, kissing every inch of you. 

“Mnmh…fuck…” You moan.

Rafe smiles against your skin. “Yeah, baby? That feels good huh?” You only nod eagerly as a response. Rafe takes hold of his already hard cock, using his fist to pump over himself a few times, letting out a low growl. He rubs his dewy, pink tip over your sticky hole. 

You let out a moan, still being sensitive from your previous orgasms. “F-fuck…Rafe, m’too sensitive, s’too much.” You whine.

“Shh…shhhh baby, it’s okay. I’m not gonna do nothin’, jus’ wanna show you how proud of my girl I am.” His mouth works it’s way down, landing back between your thighs. Your boyfriend softly bites at your inner thighs, his eyes staying trained on you as your face contorts in pleasure. Eventually he finds your soaking core, lapping up the mix of your juices. You feel his fingers gather some of your arousal, mixed with his cum. Before you know it, those fingers are deep inside your throat. “Taste that, baby? Hm? Taste how fucking good we are?” 

You nod, whining when his mouth finds your core again. His tongue flicks at your most sensitive bud, making you jump. Although Rafe only holds onto harder the more you try to run. “Baby, it’s okay. Let me take care of you; clean you up.”

It doesn’t take long until you’re yet again, a shaking, crying mess underneath him. When his mouth works it’s way back to yours, you can taste both of you on his tongue. “Fuckin’ love this pussy. I fucking love you.”

You smile a weak, tired smile at him. He rolls off of you, flipping you both on your side so he can spoon you. He kisses your shoulder, his fingers lightly tracing mindless shapes into your skin. “I love you too.” You respond as you drift off to sleep in your boyfriend's arms.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed. Please feel free to leave more asks, I will most likely get to them at some point. Thank you!

[ghostyeyestohide]

What If My Heart Beats Faster?

(I Put A Spell On You Finale)

Pairing: Terrance (Foe) x Valerie (Plus Size Black Fem OC) x Junior (Foe) x Hen (Foe)

Warnings: angst, fluff, blowjob/handjob, dirty talk, memories of sexual contact, happy ending, panic attack, cussing, tears, cause of death revealed, fear, emotions, faux death (side effects of erasing memories), planning pregnancy, mentioning of blood, and Non-Canon/Canon.

Summary: The day Hen and A.I. Junior didn’t want to come has finally arrived. And this greatly affects Valerie and Terrance, who’s life changes after this.

Parts: Part One • Part Two • Part Three

A/N: This is really the end of this. Can’t believe it. But, I’m also happy cause I got that Exotic Travelers series otw + the Macrinus one shot. I want to thank everyone who loved this as not only did I want to at least be one of the few to write about Foe Terrance, but to see how I would’ve written Foe if I was apart of the writers room. And I do apologize if I got some details wrong. I haven’t watched it in a year. Enjoy and send ya around! 🫶🏽🫶🏽

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do not copy or repost my work. I do not authorize it.

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Valerie is in the shower, washing her body as the memories from two nights ago plays in her mind.

Terrance eating her out, her blowing Junior, watching them fuck and kiss, the dance with Hen, the moans, her making out with the men all played as she begins touching herself, gently massaging her breasts before rubbing her clit.

“Fuck….” she whispers, laying against the tiled shower wall as the hot water and steam hits her body.

She begins rubbing faster as the memory of her getting double penetrated plays, her breathing becoming stiffly. As Terrance releases inside her, she also meets hers, feeling her body tense up and shaking. After relaxing from her high, she rinses her body again before getting out of the shower, wrapping herself in a bath robe.

Walking into the bedroom, she sees a bouquet of roses and three different sizes white boxes lying on the bed. Thinking he must’ve slipped in while she was in the shower, she picks up the envelope attached to one of them. She opens it and pulls out a note that read:

“Hey, baby. I know you were very lonely last night with me not being next to you. So was I. And no, I didn’t do what you think I did. I heard your order subconsciously. Even if you didn’t say it. So, I went into the city and bought you your favorite flowers and some things I want to see you wear tonight. Almost like you’re my personal prize. For now, I have to check on him, Hen, and when real Junior is on his way. See you soon, Val.

- T. “

She smiled, kissing the note before putting it back carefully and tossing it on the bed. Grabbing the first box, a small one, she removes the top, revealing itself as a matching dangling diamond earrings and diamond choker jewelry set that has the same exact design of her engagement ring. She gasps, gently picking up the items.

“Oh wow. He finally found it.” she said, remembering she mentioned wanting the set to him a long time ago, but had no luck since it sold out quickly after restocks.

After placing the set on her vanity table, she grabs the medium box, taking a seat on the bed. Placing it on her lap, she removes the top, revealing a pair of brown pumps, lined with a forrest green patch on the back. She traces it before placing her foot in it, making sure it fits, which it does.

She takes it off and pulls the final box, believing it’s the outfit. Removing the top, she sees a forrest green fabric. Pulling out, it reveals itself as a long dress with a reveal cleavage line that has a seen-through bottom that shows where the inner dress stops at, which is above the knee.

“Oh my……” is all she could get out, thinking if this is too revealing or he really does want me to feel like a prize.

Standing up, she walks to the mirror and presses the dress to her body, seeing his vision. Smiling, she hangs it up on a rack and begins getting ready for Junior’s homecoming.

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A few hours go by and Valerie, now wearing a satin robe and has hair rollers in her head, walks into the kitchen, looking to get something to drink.

As she takes out a bottle of water, she hears a hard knock on the front door, making her jump a bit. Cautiously, she walks to the door, pulling the curtain back, and peering out the window. She sees Junior, all tensed and pacing, on the porch.

“What is he doing here?!” she whispers as she opens the door.

“I’m sorry for showing up, but I can’t go back there, Val.” he says, walking past her.

She nods in an aggravated manner, closing the door behind her. She turns to look him, but he’s not behind her. Looking around, she searches the house for a few minutes before finding him in the kitchen, laying against the island.

“Junior….you can’t be here.”

“You have to listen me! This is all a setup!“ he says in a irate voice.

“For what?”

“Him! He’s the one who’s gonna be here while I’m gone.”

“….what?” she said with a confused expression.

“Its him. He’s gonna replace me. I thought I would let you know so when he leaves you, it’s not the first time you’re finding out.”

Staring at him with a baffled look on her face, she breaks out laughing, making him look at her in a confused way.

“It’s not funny…..he’s really playing the both us.” he says as her laughing grows louder.

Finally, she catches her breath, grabbing the water bottle and taking a few sips before clearing her throat.

“You’re funny, but seriously. You need to leave. He’ll be pissed if he comes home and finds you.” she said, gently pushing him.

“What?! Valerie, I’m being serious! I have proof that he is going to be my replacement!”

“Junior, if that was the case, you would be deceased right now. Me included. Now please go!”

“Why? Don’t you see he’s just dumping you out here so you have nowhere to go?! You come from nothing like you said!”

“I’m not stupid and he’s not throwing 8 years away for Hen!”

“Some people can be deceiving!”

“Yeah? Why don’t you take a look in the mirror for once?” she said, giving up on pushing him.

“What is that suppose to mean?”

She chuckled, stepping into his space.

“…It means you wasn’t like this two nights in that room, drunk off your ass.” she whispers, leaning forward.

Junior steps back, staring at her bizarrely, with her smile dropping.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You don’t remember? Or is this your way of hiding the fact that you’re gonna miss the both of us, or just him?” she asks, sending him a smirk.

“Why the hell would I be doing that? See, you’re not realizing he’s not suppose to be alone with my wife! You been falling for his lie too long!” he replied, very angry as he pointed at the door.

Looking at him dazedly, she’s thinking why doesn’t he remember what we did. Then it hit her: he erased that memory out of his mind like he said he would. She smiled, covering her mouth to not let out a laugh.

“Oh, now you’re getting it through your fucking head. Your husband’s a fraud!”

“No, he’s not. If anything, he’s a genius who has a great self awareness skill that they’re gonna teach the new OuterMore generation one day. God, I need to fuck him when I see him.” she says, whispering the last part to herself.

“No. What we need to do is go save my wife and we can all escape from thi-“ he says as he grabs her arm.

She snatches it back, slapping him across the face as a reflex. He yells, grabbing his face.

“Are you insane? I’m not in danger and neither is you! All you have to do is go back home to her and everything will go back to normal!” she responds, very irritated.

He looks at her, very enraged. He walks towards her slowly, making her back up until she’s leaned up against the island. He places his hands on each side of the island, blocking her in. She leans back slightly as he leaned forward.

“…fine. You can stay here and continue living under his control like you been doing. But me? I’m getting out of here. And I’m taking her with me. If you get consequences because of my decision, that’s on you.” he whispered, turning to leave.

Scoffing really loud, she follows him, watching him walk.

“He doesn’t control me.”

“Yeah fucking right.” he mumbled, making her even more heated.

“He listens to whatever I want to make sure my needs are met. You know why? Because he actually loves me.”

“Oh please. You two aren’t as different as you believe.”

“We are. You wanna know how? He didn’t start treating bad because he didn’t want to hear my suggestion of visiting downtown or a big city due to not wanting to lose me. He values my feelings, and he actually holds himself accountable if he does anything I don’t like that hurts me. He loves this job, but he would never put it over me, no matter what. He knows how to love. I’m sorry for whatever memories the real Junior put inside you because if this assignment taught me anything: even if you attempted to fix something that’s broken, it can’t be salvaged if it’s damaged a lot, no matter how hard you try.” she said, immediately gasping, regretting what she said.

Junior stopped in his tracks, replaying the last part she uttered. Slowly turning to face her, he looks at her, appalled.

“…what do you mean the real Junior?” he asks.

“….I’m afraid I said too much.” she whispers.

“No, no. What are you trying to say?”

She stares at him, afraid to respond to his question. Then, she feels a sharp pain on her lower hip, making her wince and collapse as she grabs it. Junior runs over, kneeling as she begins to breathe very harshly.

“Where does it hurt?! Maybe I can get you ice and it will calm it do—“

“What I need you to do is shut the hell up right now! It’s just a painful shock that goes….away….after….a few…moments.” she says, her words trailing as the sensation winds down.

Weirded out by what he witnessed, he backs away, fearing what was going to happen next. She checks and moves her hips, seeing if something’s out of place so she can tell Terrance.

Feeling a loose screw sticking out, she gets up and walks carefully to the kitchen, looking around for a small tool box. Checking the drawers, she comes across nothing until she sees a box in the fifth one and takes it out. Opening it, she looks through it to find a screwdriver with the same edge to fit until pulling one. Placing it on the screw, she twists it, feeling pressure each time until it’s back in its socket, no longer out of place. She looks at Junior, who is now standing up, horrified look across his face.

“…..are you….not…t-the real Valerie?” he asks frantically.

“…..no. You’re not the real Junior either. That’s why he—we— came back after two years. The time has ended.”

“What?” he said, looking distraught.

“He’ll be home in less than four hours.” she replied, holding back sadness.

“…does Hen kn—“

“Always did. That’s why she was acting odd with you the whole time. Him questioning, doing measurements, checking your health, following everything you do….just to make sure you’re not slowly realizing you’re the replica.”

He looks around the room, in shocked that everything he thought he knew was all just to trick him.

“Is she coming home too?”

She shakes her head, hoping he’ll stop asking before the pressure of revealing the truth settles in.

“Why not?”

“….she’s dead. Died about five years ago.” she admitted, with shame behind her tone.

“…..did he kill her?”

“No! He would never do…..he would never….do that…” she said, her voice breaking as she begins to cry, slowly falling to her knees.

Junior, feeling empathetic, walks to her, kneeling down. He pulls her into his chest, letting her cry everything out as he rubbed her back. After a few minutes, she lifts her head, slightly wiping her already swollen eyes.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to throw that accusation out like that.”

“You’re fine. But no. He didn’t kill her. He loved her too much to ever do that.” she said, sniffling.

“Then what happened? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Sighing, she gets up, walking into another room. A few minutes later, she returns with a file folder, handing it to him. He hesitantly grabs it, putting it on the floor and opening it as she heads to the kitchen.

Inside, he finds pictures of her, her and Terrance, some baby photos, documents of many things, her birth certificate, and her ‘cause of death’ report next to a group photo, in which he picks up, of her and others, wearing OuterMore gear, with a sign that says: Group 1 - May 1, 2060.

“Is this a mistake? I thought the space program didn’t launch until ‘61?”

“It didn’t. The program launched in 2060, meaning they been doing it for five years, not four. They changed it to cover their tracks.” she says, sipping her water.

“Why?” he asks, looking at her.

“….the first launch was a failure. A tragic one that no one saw coming. Not even Terrance.”

“What was it…”

She sighed, walking back to him to sit in front, sliding the folder between them as she cleared her throat.

“Every thing I told you and Hen about her did actually happen. She is from New York, she doesn’t know her family, she was bouncing back and forth between jobs because of harassment, she did meet Terrance at his post-grad party, they did get married after six months of dating, and she did travel with him for these assignments. He didn’t make none of this up for me to say, these are the memories that were implanted so I can function exactly like her, even though I’m just her replica.”

“Does it feel odd?”

“…at first, it did. But that’s because I had no idea what was going on truly and he was hurting really bad because of what happened, which is what I’m about to tell you.”

She exhales slowly, feeling herself tensing up.

“I’m sorry if I get very emotional. Not only is this…very hard to talk about still….it was never Terrance’s fault. He still believes that til this day, even though he’s been over it, but…it’s a haunting memory to carry on, you know?” she says, trailing off as the sheer weight of it.

Junior nods, gently rubbing her hand. She smiles a little, looking at the group photo.

“The program launched, so they had their first lottery. It was random and included everyone who lived in the United States for more than 15 years. Hence why they went with 15 people. And she got selected, much to her and Terrance’s surprise. She was scared because she didn’t think it was gonna happen this soon. But, since he worked on this program, she trusted a lot with everything, so it’s not like nothing could go wrong.”

She looks at him, seeing the somberness filling up in his face.

“The day came. She was nervous to leave him behind, but he encouraged her a lot to have fun in space, saying he’ll still be here in two years, almost like a promise. They kissed and hugged one last time before she got on the ship. He didn’t know that would be the last time he’ll see her alive.” she says, looking at the death report as the memory of latter played in her head.

“It took off, in which they called a “successful launch from base”. But, a few minutes after takeoff, two of the engines went out, making the ship move but not as fast. None of the crew knew what happened until it was too late. Cause a few moments later, the ship exploded, killing everyone on board.”

“My god…..” he whispered.

“They couldn’t believe it. They made sure everything was fine. Nothing seemed off and they had a test run, which they passed. What did they accidentally overlook? The fuel tanks. The gas from their boosters leaked into those due to the seals being loose, which they still don’t understand how that happened. But, when that gas mixes with the fuel tanks gas…..well, you see the result.”

“Was all this explained to you immediately? When you woke up?”

“….no. When I woke up, I was expecting him to be there, taking in my design, my behavior, the way I moved, the way I was examining my surroundings….”

She looks at their wedding picture, hanging above the fireplace.

“He didn’t come home for three days. I tried to get in contact with him many times, but his calls went to voicemail. I contacted OuterMore, who said they were going through this tragedy each time, but they’ll rely the message. I was angry because I thought I did something wrong and he was purposely avoiding me. When he finally came home, I was ready to argue about it, but….he looked so worn out. He definitely was crying, his eyes all red and a bit swollen, chapped lips, disheveled clothes, moving very slow.”

She looks down, trying to not cry again as that night begins to play in her mind.

“When he saw me, he stopped. I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t. I just….walked up to him, expecting him to back up, but he stood there, kept his gaze on me. I touched his face, gently tracing over his lips, and quietly asked what happened?” as she wipes her eyes.

“I guess the sound of hearing her voice again broke him because he fell to his knees and started crying against my stomach, holding me very tight. I let him stay there, rubbing his head and absorbing his sadness. For the next two months, he was very distant, but was slowly explaining what had happened, what I was, and them trying to figure out a solution to keep us functioning past the two years since they immediately decided that they weren’t taking us back when the deadline came.”

“Did you feel like it was damage control?” he asked, but she shook her head as she looks at him.

“Like I said, it was an accident. They didn’t know the seals were loose. But it was very uncomfortable with different OuterMore employees stopping by every day to examine and update you until the solution came. Of course, that caused a bit of a strain between us.”

“Why?”

“….you don’t really get over losing your spouse. But, you also don’t like when even your own co-workers are making the replica of your spouse uncomfortable with changes and there’s nothing you can do about it. I tried to vouch for them as them doing their job, but he didn’t wanna hear it and just kept ignoring my suggestions. That made me question if I even wanted to be married to him still.”

“But you two got over it.”

“Yeah. After I ran away.”

“…..you ran away?”

“It was a day that none of the workers came. Like a holiday or day off, can’t remember. It was raining too. A lot for Cleveland. He was being a pain in the ass, stressing from work and stuff. So, being a good wife, I was trying to calm him down, made his favorite meal and just give him love. He liked the meal, and was enjoying me kissing him, even rubbing on him but of course, a phone call of OuterMore just had to interrupt this.”

“Damn.” he said, laughing which made her laugh as well.

“Don’t get me wrong. I was sexually deprived and wasn’t about to force him to fuck me. But, I was very annoyed with that and just let him have it as soon as he ended the call. Asking him why are you treating me this way, I know you’re going through it with losing her, but I don’t like feeling the burden of it, and asking him to just love me, not push me away. He berated me, saying I’m doing the best I can to make sure I can move on from this, saying its harder for him because he has to spend the rest of his life with a replica of his dead wife ruining….”

Her voice trailed off as she became very teary eyed, trying to clear her throat.

“When I look back at it, I can tell he didn’t mean it. He was just reacting off anger and instantly regretted it as soon as he was done, noticing I had a terrified look on my face.” she said, sniffling. “He tried to apologize, saying he didn’t mean it, but I didn’t want to hear it. So, I slapped him, said fuck you, and ran out of the house in tears, ignoring his pleas.” she said, watching the memory in her head.

“Not sure how far I ran because I didn’t know the Cleveland area that well. I know I was by a bridge that faced the skyline before it started to rain. So, I went over to this dark area, which was a bad idea cause dogs started to bark and I fell a few times to get away until I was under this big tree. Covered in mud, hair was just ruined, and my dress was ripped. I sat close to it and just cried, thinking he wasn’t going to find me and I was gonna die. I fell asleep a few minutes later, as the rain picked up, which felt very calming in that moment.” she said, smiling a bit.

“When I woke up….I noticed I was in the passenger seat of a moving vehicle, wanting to get out. But as I was about to find something to open the door, I feel a hand touch my thigh. I looked over and I saw him, eyes & nose red and swollen. He had been crying, fearing he had lost me for good. He didn’t say anything, just gently pushing me back into my seat, signaling everything is going to be okay.” she said, tugging at her robe.

“When we got home, he turned on the shower for me. He removed my dress, panties, and shoes before letting me walk into and wash up. He removed his clothes and joined me, helping me wash my hair and scrub my body. I felt like I was being pampered, with him not saying anything, just being active. As we got out, he oiled up my body, just gently massaging it into my skin, which felt nice. Next thing you know, I’m on my back, getting fucked like it was our last time toge—.” as the memory of him fucking her in missionary played.

“Alright, I don’t need to hear that.” said Junior.

“Just saying, Junior! Asking me who pussy it is, saying you’re mine, don’t forget that, worshipping me….he was really sorry. Sure, we went back to our regularly scheduled program, but he started paying attention to me, love me, and console me. And we just grew from there……that’s all I wanted.”

“And you got it.”

“I know that’s what you want, but in your situation, it’s not possible. Which is why you need to go back or risk getting Terrance in trouble.”

“What happens if I refuse? Just go AWOL?”

“They take me away. He loses his job. And I probably will see him again, just everything is gonna to be er…..”

As she’s about to say something, the burning sensation returns, this time, feeling even worse and making her scream as she touches it, falling back and wincing in pain.

“Valerie, are you okay?!” he asks, kneeling next her as he touches her.

“You have to leave!” she yells out, trying to ease the pain.

“But you hurt.”

“I will be fine! It’s not worth getting caught over. Please….just go.” she replies, groaning as the sensation starts spreading.

Hesitate to leave, Junior looks at her one more time before getting up and running out of the door, taking the shortcut back home through their backyard.

As her groans turn into cries, she begins saying little prayer, hoping she’s not shut down as her breathing sped. Finally, after a few minutes of agony, it stopped, with her breathing returning to normal. She begins to cry, scared of what’s going to happen next.

🜲 🜲 🜲 🜲 🜲 🜲 🜲 🜲 🜲 🜲 🜲 🜲 🜲 🜲 🜲 🜲 🜲 🜲 🜲 🜲 🜲 🜲 🜲 🜲

About 45 minutes later, the front door swings up, with Terrance walking in.

Having an infuriated look across his face, he checks around the house to see if Junior was there, finding no traces before heading upstairs.

After checking the guest room and hallway bathroom, he walks into the bedroom, pushing the door open hard, making Valerie, who was doing her makeup again, jump.

“….was he here?” he asked in a stern voice, examining the room.

“…..no.” she replied, lying through her teeth.

“Why the long pause?”

“You scared me?” she said, looking at him.

“….Ima ask you again. Was Junior here?”

“And I’m telling you again: no.” she replied, looking away from him.

“….okay, okay. I see you wanna do that.” he mumbled, removing his jacket and tossing it on the floor.

Locking eyes with her through the mirror, he closes the door, calmly walks towards her, who resumes her routine, not trying to show she’s hiding the truth.

“….you know I can tell you’re lying, right?” he asked, flashing a small grin.

“How so?” she asked.

“It’s almost….” as he looks at his watch, “three hours before real Junior gets here. And normally around this time, you’re done with your hair and makeup. That’s one thing.”

“I could’ve woken up late.”

“See? That’s how I know you didn’t. You said could’ve.”

She rolls her eyes, breaking his hold as she got up and walked into the bathroom.

“There you go, walk off as soon as I point something out.”

“Did something happen?” she asks, popping her head out the door.

“You’re not usually an asshole when you come back to check on me.” she said, standing in doorway to look at him.

He lets out a harsh sigh before kneeling in front of her, being very close in her space.

“You tell me. Woke up, made breakfast with Hen, which woke him up. We all ate and told him that me and her are going in town for something and we’ll be back in a few hours or less. We actually went to headquarters to make final arrangements as we anticipate his return.”

“If you think submitting to me is suppose to make me ease up on you, it’s not working.” she says, walking past him.

He smirks before bouncing up to his stance, grabbing her by her robe train and turning her away from him, scaring her.

“We come back and he’s nowhere to be found. Didn’t even bother to take his truck. So now, we sent out search parties because it’s a good measurement for the company, right?” he whispers, walking her towards the bed.

“What are you doing….” she asks in an alarmed tone.

He ignores her, turning her around to place her on the edge, gently tracing her face.

“….WRONG!” he yells, slams his hands by her sides, making her jump.

He lets out a broken, haunting chuckle as Valerie feels her face beginning to burn because of his troubling glare at her.

“As I’m waiting for an update on him, Bill comes over. He was very chipper, praising how I did a great job with this one and is thinking about working on that special request I asked him for when I submitted the lab analyst application. Said I got the job. Meaning we’re staying here…”

“…so then what happen?” she whispered, but he shushes her.

“Now here he is, looking crestfallen as if I betrayed him. He pulled me to the side, asking me if everything is alright? and I said yes. Confused in my mind. Then he dropped it: he’s suspending me.” he says, kneeling in front of her, placing his hands on her thighs.

“…..don’t tell me its because of…..”

“Yeah. They’re opening an investigation of violation against policy article 7, title 2: non-sexual contact between the associate and assignment, consensual. Hen told one of them in secret while we were at the headquarters. Said she heard him moaning, my movements, and…..said to look into you as she heard your voice as well.” he said coldly.

Valerie’s heart dropped, hearing the news. She begins breathing erratically as tears begin to fall out of her eyes.

“They’re taking you tomorrow. I don’t know how long you’re going to be gone or if you’re coming back, but that’s his decision.” he says, rubbing her hands.

“They can’t! I refuse!” she yells, getting up as she pushes him off.

She begins pacing the room, trying to catch her breath as Terrance watches her, not used to seeing her react like this.

“You erased everything, right? Why can’t they just use A.I. Junior to dismiss her claim?!”

“They were. Until you got brought up. I’m sorry.”

“I shouldn’t have went into that room. I knew it was a risk, but god…I wasn’t prepared for this.” she says, breaking down as her cries fills the room.

He looks down, sniffling as he’s hurt at seeing her heartbroken like this, not wanting to cry with her.

“It’s not your fault. It’s mine. I should’ve stopped when he kissed me, but…..I gave into my own urges. And now, I have to pay the price…I’ll resign.”

“No! You worked too damn long for this, you can’t just give up!” she yelled, looking at him.

“They’re taking you and I can’t do anything until it’s over. Whether they keep you for good or you come back, I can’t fight it…I’m sorry, Val.”

“Then erase the memories then. You said it only takes 30 minutes, ri—“

“No!” he replied as he stood up, silencing her.

She looks away, wiping her tears as he walks to her, sitting down to face her.

“That machine is dangerous and can have long term effects on you if I hooked you to it. Plus, I don’t have it just laying around to use.”

“Then just turn me off.” she said as she lays on her back, looking at the ceiling.

“Why can’t you have hope that I beat this investigation?”

“Because when they see the way you were fucking him, they’re not giving me back to you. So let’s just get this over with and you can move on with your life.”

He laughs stiffly, fighting hard not to react angrily or break down.

“And what? Just accept the fact that OuterMore took away my wife twice? Keeping all of her DNA and data as if she wasn’t the love of my fucking life?! Is that what you want?”

“You were literally suggesting resignation and now, you’re upset that I’m suggesting a better solution?!”

“I don’t want us to be separated!” he yelled.

“Hell. I don’t want us to end…..it doesn’t feel like I have spent enough time with you.” he looks at her with pity in his eyes.

“Don’t say tha……” she whispers, tears filling up in her eyes.

He crawls next to her, laying down as he gently rubs her stomach, watching her tears fall.

“8 years. Three with her. 5 with you…..”

“….that’s almost a decade. And we did a lot of things. Visited different cities, tried different foods, you gifting me a lot of things, made love in different areas….and with other people.” she replied, making the both of them laugh.

“Yeah. I guess we did have a good ride.”

They laid in silence for a few moments before she looked at him, tracing his lips. Sitting up, she places a few kisses on him before giving him a passionate kiss. He tries to fight back, but she holds him down, climbing on top on him. He breaks the kiss, catching his breath.

“Baby, as I much as I want to, I have to get back soon.”

“Then let me take care of you real quick. Just so you’re a little more relaxed.” she whispers, slowly unbuttoning his pants and sliding her hand into his boxers.

“Val, plea…” he replied as she wraps her hand around his aching length, making him grunt loud.

“Come on. You’re already hard….at least let me fix this.” she replied, moving herself towards the end so his length is in her face, gently stroking him.

He lets out a few hisses, biting his lip as he unbuttoned his shirt and removes it, gently guiding her to his length to engulf it, in which she does.

“Fuck. God, your mouth is warm…..” he mumbles, watching her bobble her head up and down.

Sounds of slurping and moans fills the room as she removes his length from her mouth, catching her breath as she stroked it faster, locking eyes with him.

“You like when I do that? Make you wince and moan like a man should?”

“Yes.” he moans, feeling his release building up. “How are you so good at?” he asks her in a whisper tone.

“Cause you made me like that. You and your nasty ass thoughts begging me to treat you like you did something bad….” she replied, tracing his head with her tongue, making him moan loud.

“Mm, you’re sick. You know that? You enjoy watching your wife fuck a bunch of women while you play with yourself cause you’re a piece of shit…”

“I am.” he replied, letting out a groan as he feels himself getting closer and closer, making her laugh.

“Oh you are?”

“Yes. I’m a piece of shit.”

“I should deny your pathetic ass your release right now, but I wanna see you squirm as you look at me with those pitiful eyes one last time.” she replied, stroking faster.

“Yes. I deserve that.” he whispers.

“Come on. Give it to me.”

“Fuck.”

“Give it to me, you piece of shit!” she yells, sticking her tongue.

As she said that, his release washes over him, shooting into her mouth and face. She kisses the tip one more time before wiping her face with her hand, licking up every drop as he huffed and puffed. She smiled before fear struck her, fading into a worried look.

“…..he was here.” she confessed.

Terrance shot up, looking at her with an irate glare. He leans into space, making her look away.

“…..why was he here?”

“He was…was trying to run away, attempting to recruit me to join him and rescue Hen, but I told him no and to leave before you came back.”

“Is that all that happened?”

She went quiet, praying that he doesn’t explode at the next thing she tells him.

“He insulted me, saying I’m under your control and I….”

He leans closer, gently turning her face to look at him, regret all over her expression.

“Valerie, what happen….”

“…..I revealed the truth in the heat of the moment. Fuck, I’m sorry..” she admits, immediately crying.

Terrance looks at her with disgust before getting up, quietly putting back on his clothes, turning to the door.

“Where is he at?”

“Should be home. I told him its not worth going AWOL cause we could get in tr—“

“Oh, you remembered the we part in that moment, huh?”

“I just said I was heated!”

“That don’t mean shit right now! I told you countless of times to not let anyone’s talking get under your skin so bad that you reveal everything we worked hard on covering for two years!” he yells at her.

“You know she and I take no one’s shit, so sorry for defending me.”

“You’re not her!” he yells, shaking his head.

She gasped, caught off by that statement. Tears begin filling in his eyes, rage taking over his body.

“You will never be my Valerie. Cause she can manage anger control better than you can. That’s what makes you two different.”

She laughs stiffly, getting up to sit at the vanity, examining her face.

“Well, if she was still alive, she would’ve abandoned you for how much of a pussy you are. That’s why you submitted to her real easily because you’re used to being walked over by anyone. And eventually, she would’ve gotten sick of it.”

“You wouldn’t know. You’re just a replica after all.”

“A replica of your deceased wife that you refuse to move on from because deep down, you’re the reason she’s dead in the first place. You and OuterMore took her out and you hate that.” she says as she begins washing her face with a cleanser.

“Watch your fucking mouth.” he says, pointing at her.

“Go fuck yourself, Terrance. Maybe the way I’m feeling is the reflection of her true feelings. She couldn’t push it out before it was too late!”

“I said ENOUGH!” he yells, making her pause and turn to look at him .

“Go away. It’s not like you have anything left to say other than you fucked yourself over by immediately taking the job offer from them and dragged her into it.”

Terrance stares at her with an intense glare before walking towards the door and opening it, pausing in his movement.

“……I just wanted to say: I have always loved you. That was real. I’m sorry if you felt different from it.” he said before walking out, slamming the door.

She sits in silence for a few minutes before letting out a scream, crying into her hands. She looks at herself in the mirror, seeing how red and puffy her face is.

Getting up to go the bathroom, she finishes washing her face and reapplying her makeup before putting her dress and shoes on, finally being dressed.

Examining herself in the mirror, she smiles a little bit, trying to regain confidence in her and not show that they are fighting. Accepting what she sees, she turns to leave, but it stopped suddenly by her dress being caught on the knob of the lower cabinet.

“Really….as if this day couldn’t get worse?” she mumbles as she tries to remove it, but it doesn’t budge.

After a few more pulls, the dress finally unhooks, but opens the door and something falls out. She picks it up to put it back, but stops as she recognizes the ‘OuterMore’ logo on the top. Placing it on the counter, she lift up the top, which turns on instantly, popping up a screen that reads: OM Eraser V2.

“…..he lied or he fucking forgot.” she mumbled, going through the menu options.

Seeing the ‘Set Up Memories To Erase’ option, she clicks on it. Reading the instructions to insert where the holes are behind your ears, she retrieves her pouch, unzipping to use her magnetic tool.

Picking it up, she holds up a mirror to get a closer view, as she places it behind her left ear. Watching it connect to a spot, it lights up a white glow shield before it opens, revealing the two holes need on that side. She does the same behind her right ear.

Reading the instructions, she inserts a white colored tube into the top one, which instantly connects and lights up as she inserts the second tube, a clear one, into the bottom one, which connects and sucks out blood, which is to monitor her vitals as the process happens. She winces, feeling uncomfortable with these inserted in her as she continues.

“Please go through the files and choose which memories to erase to begin the process. Be weary of your choices as this cannot be undone.” the female generated voice said, presenting the files on the screen.

Carefully looking through them, she chooses the night they hooked up with Junior, the exchange she had with him in the hallway, her catching him playing with himself, any admissions of Terrance crushing on him, the moments she looked at the window of Junior watching them fuck, and lastly, the conversations from today.

“Before we proceed, you do have the option to import memories that didn’t happen, but could be created to make it seem like it was. Would you like to do that?” she asks, showing her a YES or NO option.

Valerie thought about it, concerned about what fake memories it’s going to implant in her head and is this going to ruin the real ones she still has. She worries if he’s gonna treat her differently when he finds out what she did or she’ll remember him at all.

After thinking on it for a few more minutes, she clicks the YES option, holding in her breath.

“The process will begin as soon as you click the BEGIN button. It will take 30-35 minutes to wipe everything out and you may experience a death that seems real, but it’s just fictional. Some short term effects include dry mouth, headache, confusion, pain/swelling, muscle aches, and fatigue.”

Looking at herself in the mirror one last time, she clicks the button, patiently waiting for it to happen. Looking at the white tube, it slowly begins to fading into a blueish-green color, signaling that the process is starting.

Suddenly, she feels a shock shoot inside her, making her collapse to the floor in excruciated pain, gasping for air. She begins to shake violently, feeling her body slowly shutting down.

“No….please..” she mumbled, trying to pull the tubes out, but gets shocked.

Her vision becomes blurry as she looks at the machine, which shows that 1% of the process has occurred.

Then her eyes begins to blink…

And blink….

And…..blink.

And….bli…

An……

She enters a deep, dark space. Just floating around.

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Valerie wakes up on a gurney, confused by her surroundings. Noticing she’s in a van by herself, she gets up and pushes the doors open, jumping out.

Noticing its dark and the area is surrounded by a lot of OuterMore employees, from crew building a satellite to associates chatting in circles, she concludes that this is not her house.

But whose house is it?

Feeling very sore and the headache is overbearing, she sits on the ledge, gently rubbing her head. Looking at her hands, she notices the dry patches of blood all over them.

“….who’s blood is this?” she whispers, feeling her mouth and throat being very dry.

She touches all over, seeing if they cut her open while she was knocked out until she touches the back of her ears, making her wince. Then, the bruising overtakes her neck, causing her to lay back. Then, a few visions, from yelling with her old housemates to her being harassed by group of men, played in her mind, making her jump up.

Why is that showing? What does it have to do with….whatever is going on now?

“Valerie?” said a slightly familiar voice, making her turn around.

A man in a black suit runs to her, carrying a bottle of water as she stood there, not knowing what to do or say. He tries to hug her, but she steps back, making him look at her in a confusing way.

“….honey, it’s me? Terrance? Your husband?” he said, holding up his hand to flash his wedding band.

She looks at him, not moving by what he said, still thinking. His gaze drops, turning into a worried look.

“Oh my god, you don’t remember anything…..” he whispered, sitting on the ledge before he dropped to the floor.

She looks around, noticing no one else is watching them before sitting next to him. About to say something, she begins to cough very hard due to the dryness in her throat, making him twist the cap off and press the bottle to her lips, signaling her to drink it, in which she does.

“….you woke up just in time for his arrival.”

“W-whose arrival?” she asks, looking at him.

“Juni…nevermind.”

“….are we far from New York?”

“Been far. 8 years straight.”

“…….was I kidnapped?”

“No. Not at all. You met me at my postgrad party. Went on a few dates, moved in with me, and we got married.” he replied, gently picking up her hand to show her the engagement and wedding rings.

“Do we have kids?”

“No. None at all. That’s what I was trying to make happen before my suspension.”

“Suspension…..”

“How do I explain this….um. The house we’re currently at? This is the house of my current assignment. He has a…robot version of himself living with his real human wife. He comes home in 45 minutes, but he’s not why I’m suspended.”

“Is she the reason?”

He smiled, in awe of how she doesn’t understand what’s going on, which is a side effect of temporary memory loss, which will return in a few hours or less.

“….yeah. But, it’s mostly my fault.”

“Why?”

“Well. To make a long story short: you’re not a human like me and her. You’re actually a robot version of my deceased wife, who died the day you were installed. So, because of this, we trained you to make sure you never reveal your true self to anyone, even the robots of our assignments.”

“So you’re my master.”

“No!” he says loudly, startling her.

“Sorry, no. I didn’t mean to say it like that.” as he rubbed her hands.” But no. I’ve always hated when anyone described it as that.”

“But, is it not?”

“Not the way I see it. You’re someone I know, not someone I just….own. But, I’m suspended because his wife complained to one of my co-workers, who told my boss, that I broke company policy. Which I did. And they’re investigating me…..and you.”

“Why? I didn’t do nothing.” she said, pointing at herself.

“Basically, you are company property, despite having my late wife’s DNA in you. Meaning we can check for memories. So, because you were a witness to the violation, they’re taking you away to see what happened. And if they determine that I indeed violated it, I get fired and they keep you for good.” he says, looking down.

“…..so this is our final goodbye? Is that why I have blood all over my hands?”

“I found you on the bathroom floor like that. Was coming back to pick you to bring you hereI didn’t tell them that part, or how you were hooked to the Eraser. Which I’m assuming is why you can’t remember a damn thing right now. Either you successfully got rid of the evidence or you accidentally erased everything.”

“Is this why everything feels…..groggy?”

“Mmhm. But it will go away.”

She smiles a bit before drinking more of the water. She locks eyes with a worried Hen on the porch, who looks away immediately as Bill talks to her.

“Did you two have a fight?”

“No. Haven’t mentioned that I’m aware of what she did.”

“No. You and….Valerie. Well, me.”

“Um….yeah. If anything, we said things we shouldn’t had.”

“Like what?”

He shifts in his spot, turning to face her, who’s waiting to hear his response.

“To be fair, I said she’ll never be real Valerie. All because I was upset that she revealed her true self and the robot’s actual self. Then, she said if real Valerie was still alive, she would’ve left me by now because I’m….”

He begins sniffing, which makes her slightly panic and rub his shoulder.

“We don’t have to continue if you don’t want to.” she said, gently wiping his face.

“No, no. Its fine. I’m just….getting emotional because the more I think about it, the more I realize that she would’ve been right. She did hate seeing me down whenever I came home and told her that they keep shooting down my ideas. She egged me on to stand up, which i slightly did, but that wasn’t enough. I do think she was uncomfortable with the treatment, but I wasn’t taking it seriously.”

“Do you wish you did all of this before she died?”

“Always. Not a day goes by when I don’t think about it. That’s why I listen to everything she tells me so I don’t make that mistake again.”

“…..what’s going to happen to me?”

He looks at her, gently tracing her face before looking at Bill and Hen talking.

“I don’t know. But whatever they find in your memories, it’s life or death for me. They might turn you off.”

“And what? They just keep her DNA while you’re banished? That’s not fair.”

“That’s life. And I advise you to drop it. I’m already under a lot of stress.”

“Fine.”

She lays her head on his shoulder as they look ahead, watching everyone prepare for Junior’s arrival. She looks up at him, taking in his beauty while tracing his lips.

“What does she like about you?” she asked, making him smile.

“Intelligence is what brought her in. The way I take care of her. How I’m understanding. Committed to pleasuring her needs. My accent is somewhere on the list.” he replied, making the both of them laugh at the last part.

“…..can I ask you something?”

“Mmhm.”

“Can you kiss me like how you kissed her? Like….the first time?” she asked, looking at him.

He smiles, gently pulling her closer as he kisses her, squeezing her hips. She wraps her arms his neck to deepen the kiss, getting lost.

Memories of the night they met, their many dates, the first time they hooked up, their wedding, their honeymoon, them visiting many different stores and monuments, and their nights watching the sky played inside her mind as she opens her eyes, realizing she’s not at the house anymore.

“What the hell is going on?!” she says as she breaks the kiss, immediately standing up.

“Valerie? Is-is this really you?” he asks, getting up as well.

“What? Why wouldn’t I not be me? Aren’t you suppose to be inside, ready to shut him off?” she asks, pointing at the house.

He wraps his hands around her face, pulling her close to examine if this is really her or this is a different one. She looks at him confused, trying to figure out why he’s doing this.

“….are you okay?” she asks, breaking the silence.

“Do you remember anything? Like at all?”

“Why wouldn’t I? I still have her memories.”

“No. Like today.”

“Um……we argued…..about something. You told me something happened with…..OuterMore? So…..I grabbed a device that…..I don’t know, it did something and I just passed out on the floor.” she said, trying her best to remember.

“…..do you remember what we did a few nights ago? With him?”

“……we did something with Junior? I thought he stormed off after I put Hen to bed?”

Terrance looks at her with an amused look. Then, he laughs happily as he picked her up and spun them around, being happy that she successfully erased the memories.

“It worked. It fucking worked!” he exclaims, kissing all over her face.

“Ah! What are you talking abo…..ooh.” she asked, but it cut off by a random sting behind her ears.

“Oh, my bad.” he says, placing her on the ledge before kneeling in front of her. “But….I think you saved us. You have to recover, that’s all. I’ll explain it to you when you’re healed.”

“…..should I be scared?” she whispers, looking at him.

“….depends on the long term side effects. Just be you as we do this as normal, okay?”

She nods, gently rubbing the back off her ears. He smiles kisses her forehead as a car pulls up to the house. Noticing who it is, he helps Valerie up, walking her into the house, as they pass Hen and Bill, who eyes her down.

Looking around the pink hue room, she takes in the familiar atmosphere as this is just another day for him and OuterMore.

Computers loading up, a massive suction bag to carry him out, everyone running around to make sure everything is ready to as the duo walk into the dining room, now an empty space with chairs, cameras, and microphones set up.

Almost like a production is about to take place and she’s just an extra in it.

“Sit back here. We’re about to begin.” he whispers, gesturing her to sit.

She obliges, adjusting herself as he hands her a wipe. Confused, she takes it, but instantly notices the dried blood all over her hands and wipes them off. He sends her a small smile before walking out the door to greet real Junior.

As she patiently waits, a group of OuterMore agents walk in, carrying something in a black plastic cover. Placing it in the center, they remove it, revealing an unconscious A.I. Junior lying, with his hands and ankles wrapped in chained metal bracelets, preventing him from moving.

She takes it all in, feeling bad for him that this was all just a planned stimulation as the real one lived in space.

“Hello, Valerie.” a familiar male voice greets her.

She looks up and notices that it was Bill, Terrance’s boss and the CEO of OuterMore, staring down at her. She sends a small smile to him.

“Nice to see you again, Bill.” she replied.

He nods before walking into a different room, wanting to watch from a distance.

A few minutes later, footsteps are heard walking through the door. Turning around, she sees real Junior walking, taking in A.I. Junior’s figure as Hen and Terrance walk behind him. A mini camera hovers over him as they got close, but Hen stays back, standing in the doorway.

“Hen?” asks A.I. Junior as he slowly wakes up, trying to map out what’s going on and move, but is immediately dragged down by the chains.

“Holy shit. It’s so fucking real.” said real Junior, looking at him in amazement.

He looks up, horrified that the person he replicates is standing in front of him, while having an audience watching.

“I know how you must be feeling, but I need you to stay calm.” said Terrance.

“No….no….” he said, trying to break free.

“I’m sorry that we deceived you, but it was the only way to test your full capacity and function.”

A.I. Junior looks at Valerie, who looks at him with sadness in her eyes.

“He’s not the replacement, Junior. Its you. This is Hen’s real husband.” he continued, pointing at real Junior.

“Where is she?! Hen! HEN!” he yells, not realizing she’s a few feet away.

“She’s safe. Standing by the doorway.”

“Is Valerie enjoying this? Watching you tear a marriage apart while she sits and does nothing?”

Terrance looks at Valerie, who looks down in shame, very uncomfortable that he mentions her. Hen looks at her, very angry.

“Who’s Valerie?” asked real Junior.

“My wife. Who has nothing to do with this. Just my support system.” said Terrance.

“She has a lot to do with it actually.” said Hen, who walks into the room.

“Or you’re just making up shit because you don’t like me.” said Valerie, who looks up immediately.

“Valerie, don’t.” said Terrance, but is instantly cut off by Hen.

“Oh, don’t fucking pretend you don’t know what you and him did just because my husband is back!”

“What is going on?” asked real Junior.

“A public psychosis.” said Valerie.

“Fuck you.” said Hen. “I know what I heard and you two can pretend it didn’t happen all you want! You guys are sick for bringing him into it.” Hen replied, pointing at A.I. Junior.

“I don’t know what she’s talking about, but I don’t appreciate being lied on in front of people right now and she’s pushing it.” she replied, getting up.

“People, we don’t need to get off the railings here. We’re all here to explain to him that everything he has done in the last two years was apart of his mission. How every memory was designed from what Junior told us before we implanted them, and every emotion is all from him.”

“You’re lying! Hen, tell him that he’s lying!” said A.I. Junior.

“Does that include you two engaging in sex with him? Hm? Or am I making that up?” asked Hen, getting in Terrance’s face, who backs up.

“Hen, are you okay? I never slept with him. I would never after he has insulted me numerous of times since we met!” yelled Valerie as she walks towards her.

Junior holds her back, with Valerie slapping his hands away, staring him down.

“Calm down.” he said.

“Or what? You’re gonna dismiss my feelings like you always have with her?! Because all of this here? Your fault for being a shitty husband! That’s why she had to fuck him while you were gone!”

Junior, with an appalled look, turns to Hen, who now has an exasperated expression on her face.

“…..you fucked him after you swore you wouldn’t?”

“Hen, please make it stop! He can’t take my spot!” yelled A.I. Junior, still attempting to break free.

“I thought we were genuinely getting along. Looks like I was wrong. You’re just another person who has to feed into someone’s needs to make them happy. And that’s why you two fucked him.” said Hen, looking at Valerie.

Valerie lets out a stifled laugh, rubbing her face as she sat back down, still laughing bewildered.

“Hen, did you drink too much or are you really that upset that he’s being shut off? Because where are you getting me and Terrance fucked him from?!” she asked.

Terrance turns his head to laugh, very amused that the memories did in fact erase from her mind as real Junior watches all of this unfold, just confused. Hen gets even more pissed, going to kneel by A.I. Junior.

“It was after you put me to sleep after we danced to Black Velvet! You told me to spend the day with him before he came home. I went to sleep and woke, hearing him moaning, with Terrance say something explicit to him. I fell asleep again, but woke up. I heard you get fucked by the both of them and you won’t admit it because you’re hiding him being bisexual as well.”

Valerie nods, completely intrigued by what she said before getting up, going to sit in one of the front row seats to face her as Terrance and real Junior watched.

“Wow, you definitely had too much to drink that night because what you just said is some of the most factious shit I have ever heard. This is probably you guys’ craziest assignment ever and now, this is probably the best one to end with before starting your new position, honey. Congratulations!” she said, clapping erratically.

“I’m glad you’re finding our pain humorous. But then again, you have nothing to lose anyway.” said Hen, looking down at A.I. Junior.

“I’m not laughing at your pain. I’m laughing at the fact that your marriage is so fried, you had to just make up shit to attempt to ruin not only mines, but cost him his job? Embarrassing. But let me clarify everything since you think you caught something.” said Valerie as she leans forward.

“Yes, he has had thoughts of sleeping with a man. Yes, I’m am attracted to women, hence why we tend to hook up with them. He hasn’t found one because he works too damn hard. And seriously, do you think he would just choose that to try it out with? Costing him everything? He’s not dumb, but clearly you are.”

“Watch it.” said real Junior.

“Let her be.” said Terrance.

“You wanna know what actually happened that night? After I put you to bed? I went to my bedroom, changed out of my dress, and was reading. They were doing another interview, which I thought was odd since it was pretty late, but didn’t say much. Suddenly, I hear this noise.”

She stomps her foot a few times, trying to mimic Junior punching holes in the wall.

“And he was throwing something around. I got worried, so I knocked on the door. My husband opens it, assuring everything was fine. But, I looked over his shoulder and see Junior laid up against wall, groaning as his knuckles were bleeding. That’s why he has those scars.”

Everyone looks at his hands, which confirms that he indeed has scars from that. He scoffs, not buying it.

“Then why did he say something explicit? And why were you moaning?” she asked.

“You must’ve heard him say “he was going fucking mad” then. Cause that’s what he said to me when I asked what happened to him. As for why I was moaning, you’re right. I was getting fucked……by him and him only. You were so drunk, you couldn’t comprehend that it was just me and him fucking, while Junior was passed out in the room. Which we left him there because we wasn’t sure if you wanted him next to you.”

“You’re lying. I just know you are.” said a tearful Hen.

“Well, we’ll see when the investigation is over.” said Terrance.

“What investigation?” asked Valerie.

“Oh, forgot to mention: she complained and Bill & OM have suspended me.”

“Of course. Of fucking course….” she said, crawling towards Hen.

“What are you doing?!” asked A.I. Junior.

“I’m not gonna do anything. I think it’s so foul that I had to put my business out there because of your intolerance to leaving.” she said, being face-to-face to Hen.

“Get away from me!” said Hen.

“No. Because I want you to feel how I’m feeling with how you have behaved towards not me, but Terrance since you agreed to do this program.”

“I didn’t want this! Never!” she yelled back, snapping her face towards her.

“You did. Because you hate it here. You want to explore and he doesn’t. You beg for your needs to be met and while replica has done a great job, real one won’t. You can’t make yourself walk out that door because you don’t know what’s he’s gonna do if you don’t come back. So tell me: why do you enjoy suffering like this?”

“Get away from her!” said A.I. Junior.

“Valerie, that’s enough.” said Terrance.

“No. No! I want to hear this because she’s fine with doing this to you.” said Valerie.

She slaps Hen, making everyone gasps as Terrance pulls her away, walking her out. Hen screams, grabbing her face while Junior tries to run at them, as Valerie continues yelling until he puts her in the car.

“What the hell was that?!” he asked, looking at her.

“She started it. And I finished it.”

“No. You made it worse and now, Bill is going to suspect something even more.”

“Let him! I don’t care anymore. I don’t ca…I don’t…” she said, before slowly drifting off.

“Valerie? What’s wrong? Talk to me.” he says, examining her by checking her pulse, stomach, and neck.

“I thin….i think I’m just tired. Just blew the rest of m…my energy.”

She rubs his face as she slowly falls asleep, exhausted from everything. He looks at her, places a blanket over before heading back inside, apologizing for her outburst before resuming everything.

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A few weeks later, Valerie and Terrance are in the car, patiently waiting to arrive to their destination.

Valerie, now fully recovered, looks out the window as Terrance finishes up his work before putting it in his suitcase.

“Do we have to visit them? Its our anniversary after all.” she said, breaking the silence.

“We have to. This is how the assignment always ends…..and the investigation closes.”

“Yeah, but why? She tried to ruin us and your job.”

“You assaulted her. You would’ve been home much sooner if you didn’t do that.”

“I was just trying to get back at her for her treatment towards you.” she mumbled.

“That’s not the way to go about it. You could’ve ended up being taken away.”

“Well, I’m still here and you still have a job. Can we move on now? This is not how I wanted to spend our anniversary.”

“You don’t have to get out the car. I’ll talk to them, which won’t be too long and then, we’ll be on our way to the headquarters.”

“Whatever…” she scoffed.

Terrance sighs, grabbing her hands and rubbing them.

“I promise the anniversary gift is worth the surprise in the end. Just be patient.” he said, kissing them.

Valerie removes her hands, ignoring him. He looks ahead, fearing that one of the long term effects might’ve gotten her: growing irritation.

A few minutes later, the car pulls up to Junior and Hen’s, parking in the front. The door unlocks and lifts up, with Terrance getting out and pushing it shut. He looks at her, shaking his head before walking to the porch.

She looks away, not wanting to look at him greet them. She takes out her book and begins reading, getting to the chapter where Lauren and her community are moving to a location owned by one of them.

“Cannot believe she actually slept with Bankole.” she mumbled, reading the page in front of her.

The door unlocks and lifts up again, with Terrance getting in, dragging it down to close it. He has an angry look, typing in the address to headquarters and waits for the car to move. He looks over at Valerie, who is still reading.

“She apologized.” he said, breaking the silence.

“Good for her.” she mumbled, not breaking her focus.

Terrance shakes his head as he laid back and closed, taking a nap as the car begins to move.

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“Well, isn’t it my favorite married couple coming to see me.” said Bill as Terrance and Valerie walks into his office.

Terrance greets him with a handshake as Valerie takes in the massively room he resides in.

The wall of big windows that shows the inside of the labs below, from researching, running tests, creating new liquids, and the design of the replicas to assignments getting measured for their spacesuits stands behind his desk and brings light into his dark colored office.

Books spread out, files all over the table, a big clock tower in the corner, and numerous lab coats all over the furniture adds to the busy atmosphere at OuterMore, which concerns her even more for Terrance’s recent promotion.

“Very busy as you can tell.” said Bill, looking at her with a peculiar look.

“You’re not gonna strap me down like you did during the investigation?” she asks, staring him down.

Bill grimaces as Terrance looks at her, gesturing her to let it go. She walks towards his desk, taking a seat in one of the chairs.

“I understand you still hold some feelings about what happened, but I do apologize for causing a bit of harm than relief.” he replied, taking a seat in his chair as Terrance sits next to her.

“Hm…..I’ll let bygones be bygones if you explain what is this gift he keeps egging on about?” she said, looking over at Terrance.

“Well, I’ll gladly answer that.” said Bill, going through the pile of files before find one and putting it in front of him.

He opens it, examining the documents inside as Valerie and Terrance wait patiently, with the latter constantly looking over at her unawareness, smiling to himself.

“So….Valerie. The reason he brought you here today is because I have made his special request a reality as the perfect way to celebrate your anniversary. But, it is entirely up to you if you accept it.” said Bill, looking at her.

“Okay. So what is it?” she asked, slowly becoming irritated.

“Before I get into that, I wanted to run something real quick with Terrance that pertains to Valerie before the unfortunate accident.”

“……what is it?” asked Terrance, with a puzzled look on his face.

“If I remember correctly, you and her made some big decisions just incase things go awry during the mission.”

“Yeah?”

“While I did create a pregnancy program for any replicated female assignment who’s looking to start a family incase the real one passes away during the trip, I found something that would be quite easier with some adjustments.” he said, getting up to pull out a black folder that has an unrecognizable logo on the front.

“Okay, so what did you find?”

Bill looks at him, smiling a bit before opening the folder to read it as he walks back over.

“I know grief is something that will never go away and causes you to forget sometimes, but this was interesting. It appears that a few weeks before the mission, Valerie froze her eggs……” he said, handing the folder to Terrance.

“What?!” said Terrance, taking it out of his hands to read the file as Valerie looks at him with a stern look on his face.

“Yes. Valerie froze all of her eggs just incase something happened. That’s her signature and in the notes, it says that you were aware, supported her decision to be cautious.” Bill furthered explained.

“I-I….” he laughed in disbelief. “I can’t believe I forgot about her eggs, oh my god…” he said, rubbing his face as he continuously read the documents over.

“It’s okay. Luckily, I found it so I can suggest an easier option if she….” said Bill as he looks at Valerie, who looks away from Terrance.

Valerie looks down, feeling herself get nauseous as the men continued talking. Her vision becomes blurry, head begins to hurt as the stinging sensation , that had been unleashing inside her these last few weeks, returns, making her collapse to the ground in pain.

Terrance immediately rushes to her side, raising his hand towards Bill to stay back as he gently picks her up, rubbing her stomach as she attempts to catch her breath.

“Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.” he whispers, mimicking the motion of breathing in and breathing out.

As she inhaling and exhaling, memories she has never seen begins to play in her mind: Valerie and Terrance talking about the eggs and what she’s gonna do, her waiting nervously at fertility clinc, her getting her eggs removed while sedated, and recovering afterwards, with him taking care of her.

The sensation fades away, making her look at Terrance, who’s checking to make sure she’s okay.

“…..that’s what she wanted me to see.” she said weakly, rubbing his face.

“What? Who are you talking about?” he asks, gently sitting her up.

“…..Valerie. She wanted me to see her at the clinic, freezing her eggs. That’s the memory she wanted me to find…” she replied, slowly becoming teary eyed.

He looks at her, gently rubbing her legs as Bill, who watches immensely, takes notes of what she’s saying.

“You think it was a sign?” he asked, his voice slightly breaking.

“Yes. I think she wanted me to see it as her way of giving her approval to go through with fertilizing her eggs and finally having kids....” she said, breaking down immediately.

Soft cries fill the room as Terrance pulls her into his chest, consoling her. Bill, feeling like he shouldn’t be present during this moment, quietly leaves the room. After a few minutes, she looks up, sniffling as she wipes her red, swollen eyes.

“….I don’t think I want to go through it, Terrance.” she confesses, gently removing herself from his chest.

“Valerie, don’t do this.” he said, pulling her back.

“No, cause she’s suppose to be here, experiencing this. This is what she wanted and I’m just a replica of her.” she said, gently pushing him back.

“Don’t say that!” he exclaimed, holding her hands.

“You always dreamed of having kids. I see the way you look at babies, watching children play, you browsing baby outfits while we’re out shopping, even you crying at little kid characters in films and shows. You definitely been waiting to be a mom and you wanna throw that away because you feel like you’re taking something away from her?” he asked, tears filling up in his eyes.

“…yes. This is something so special that you two hoped to experience when she was done with her mission. And it just doesn’t feel right. I don’t know if I’m just terrified of going through it or it just won’t work and I just don’t….” she replied, exhaling loud at the last part.

“Valerie. How long have we been married for?” he asks.

“…..9 years as of today.”

“And how long have you been living as her?”

“….5.”

“You had enough time to adjust to being her permanently. That’s something most of our replicas will never experience, unless a tragedy happens. I will never get over her death, but I also know she would want me to be happy and move on, never forgetting her. Which is why you’re here, still standing. And that’s something you should be proud of, Val.” he said as he cries, squeezing her hands.

“We go through things that every married couple go through and while some don’t make it, we did. It’s okay to be terrified of doing this. But you’re not alone.” he said, rubbing his head against hers.

“And if it fails, we’ll try again until we can’t anymore. I’m not leaving your side and will step in if I sense something is off. Even if I have to fight.”

“Don’t say that.” she whispers.

“They already made you uncomfortable a few times, I don’t give a damn.” he replied, making both of them laugh.

“Okay, you can have control this time.”

“I better. Cause you about to be on bedrest, carrying my baby. Or should I say…..babies!” he replied, kissing all over her face, make them fall over.

Valerie smiles, passionately kissing him as they laid over on the floor. He breaks the kiss, catching his breath as he looks at her, taking in her beauty.

“I’m assuming that’s a yes?” he asked, eyeing her.

“…..what are they gonna do to me?” she asked.

“Well. While the eggs unfreeze, they have to install like an incubator-like machine to act like a uterus for the babies inside you.”

“…..can I get removed afterwards?”

“Yeah. You don’t have to keep it if you don’t want to re-experience menstrual cycles or have more kids.”

“Thank god. Wait, does Bill do…..”

“No. Our women associates are only allowed to do that. He made that a priority in the policy in case one of the male lab workers messes up.”

Valerie laid back, thought about her decision for a few more moments as Terrance waited patiently for her answer, hoping she makes the right choice.

“……fine. I’ll do it.” she said, smiling a bit.

“That’s my girl.” he whispered, kissing her.

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A year passes, with Valerie and Terrance lying in bed, asleep. She wakes up, quietly stretching her arms as she looks at the clock.

7:18 AM.

“Damn, I’m up early.” she mumbled before yawning, turning to look at Terrance.

He laid sound asleep, with no shirt on. Just as she liked it. She gently traces over his face, not trying to wake him up as she scoots closer to him, lying on his chest. She kisses it gently, hearing him grunt a bit in his sleep.

“Come on. Wake up for me…” she whispers, placing kisses all over his chest.

He smiles before wrapping his arms around her and flipping them, with him being between her legs as she laid on the bed. He opens his eyes, looking at her with admiration before kissing her.

“You think you were something by teasing me like that?” he asked, rubbing her hips.

“I was missing your attention…” she whines, batting her eyelashes.

“At 7 in the morning?”

”Yeah? You see how fine you are?”

Terrance chuckles, trailing his hands towards her neck, wrapping them around it and pulling her close to him, making her gasp.

“I wanna fuck you so bad right now.” he said, pecking her mouth. “But you just got that incubator removed.”

“I mean…..they don’t have to know.” she said, kissing him back.

“I’m not causing you more pain down there.” he said, gently laying her back down, making her sigh.

“I can survive a fucking, you know?”

“After having our bundles of joy? Absolutely not!”

She turns away, playfully moving away from him. He pulls back, cuddling her as he kisses all over her neck, making her laugh.

“Oh, now you wanna love on me as I’m trying to get away from you!” she said, trying to pull away from him.

“I just don’t wanna break you. Even though..”

He kisses her chest, making his way to her arm as she holds back her moans, sensitive to his lips.

“These extra curves they put on you is tempting.” he added, kissing her side before trailing towards her thigh, placing a few kisses on it.

Suddenly, a baby’s cry fills the sound in the room, making the both of them groan, knowing day…..whatever number of parenthood is beginning soon.

“Told you she was gonna wake up first.” said Valerie, smiling at him.

“So Teyana takes after you after all!” he replied, earning a slap across his chest.

“Mama’s mini me, dada’s first name similarity.” she responded, sticking her tongue out.

He rolls his eyes, getting up to get their awaken child. Then, a second baby’s cry joins the first one with filling in the sound, making Terrance and Valerie laugh.

“And there goes Valen.” said Valerie.

“Probably wanted to sleep in if it wasn’t for his sister.” Terrance said sarcastically, walking out of the room.

“He takes after you after all!” Valerie replied sarcastically.

A few minutes later, the crying stops. Terrance walks back in, carrying their four month old twins, Valen and Teyana, in each of his arms, both cooing and looking around their surroundings. Valerie looks in awe, smiling that their babies came out not only healthy, but a perfect mixture of the both of them.

“Which one you want, baby?” asked Terrance, rocking the twins carefully.

“Hand me my oldest.” she replied, holding her arms out.

Terrance walks towards her and hands Teyana to her, which she gently takes out of his hold, placing her on her chest. which makes her smiles.

“Morning, my pretty girl.” she said in a baby voice, making Teyana coo as Terrance and Valen lay next to them.

“Slept well, youngin?” Terrance asked Valen, who is lying against his lap, moving around a bit.

Valen smiled, flashing his gummy smirk at his dad, who smiles back at him. Valerie gently lays next to him, lying Teyana against her lap. The twins interact with each other, making baby calls that only they know and their parents laugh at.

“Hey Terrance?” asked Valerie.

“Hm?” said Terrance as he looks at her.

“….thank you.” she replied, kissing him.

“For what?”

“…..for giving me a family.” she replied, holding back tears.

Terrance smiles, watching her interact with their children as he reminisces the day he met Valerie three days after real Valerie’s death….his heart beating a little faster.

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A/N II: Sorry for being a little late with publishing this. I’ve been busy with work and was fighting for my life in that Canvas Beauty Black Friday PreSale Live (got all the products I wanted!). Happy Thanksgiving!

Taglist: @urfavblackbimbo @blyffe @literallegendicon @kimuzostar @dionpierre

[seenoversundown]

For Death Or Glory : Epilogue

Jake Kiszka x Charlotte (Fem OC)

Warnings: 18+ Smut (you know the drill) Fluff, Romantic Themes, Drinking / Alcohol (once more- it’s a bar) Pining, Harmless Bullying, Swearing, Wholesome Family Fun (which is crazy to say considering what’s coming next)

Smut Warnings: Kissing, Oral Sex, Hands going places, Penetrative Sex | they’re both switches - do with that what you will

Word Count: 10.6k

Summary: It’s the bar’s second anniversary and a certain couple’s first.

Author's Note: I bet you thought we were done here 😉 You already know that I couldn’t let this end that easily! I knew from the start that I would have an epilogue for you, but as I was working on it, I had a thought— luckily for you.. I wrote it in. If you notice the word count, this is astronomically long compared to the rest of the story; I decided to add basically a second chapter once I had the idea. (If you need to pause, there’s a definitive break that you could absolutely stop at! I’ll add a couple ***’s so you know when)

Consider the second half like a bonus chapter if you will 🥰

Anyway this is getting long, I love this story, these two, and you guys for loving them with me. I hope you giggle and kick your feet over this monster of a chapter 🖤 this is definitely not the last you’ll be seeing of these two, but for now, let’s just enjoy this together 🥹

Forever - Noah Kahan "I won’t be alone for the rest of my life, I’ll build a boat for when the river gets high."

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One year later.. 

“That’s okay; just drive safe, honey.” 

I tucked my phone back into my pocket, grabbed a few stray glasses, and rounded the corner behind the bar. Thankful that the bar isn’t busy at the moment, even though I know we’re mere seconds away from the chaos that’ll ensue. 

Deciding to keep the tradition, the bar is only open until eleven tonight because of the holiday. All of our regulars will still make it a point to stop by tonight since it’s the floating anniversary of the official opening. I know there’s an actual date that we opened, but letting it change with the holiday every year is more fun to me. 

It’s nice getting to spend a few hours just working with Josh while everyone else is wrapping up work or getting ready for tomorrow. It is funnier that they’ll all show up tonight, even though we’re about to spend the next two days together. 

“What happened?” Josh asks, leaning against the bar. 

I look over at him as I’m setting all the glasses into the dirty bin, telling him, “Oh, she’s fine,” and letting out a small laugh. “She hit traffic, but she’s almost here– just feels bad she’s ‘late.’ You know how Char is.” 

He chuckles to himself, “Oh, that silly girl must have forgotten that everybody and their cousin is driving today.” 

“I told her that I didn’t care when she got here anyway,” I tell him, giggling at the thought of her stressing over the time. “We have the whole weekend together; I’m not going to complain that she’s twenty minutes behind.” 

Josh just smiles back at me for a second before breathing out, “It’s sweet that she still wants to soak up all the time she can with you, though.” 

“I hit the jackpot with her for sure,” I let out quietly, checking the fridges to make sure everything was good. “Are you good for a minute? I just need to answer a few emails real quick.” 

He shoos me away to my office, where I’ve sat to do a few admin things before it gets busy or Charlotte shows up. I mindlessly read through a few emails that can wait until after the holiday weekend but then start writing back to the more important ones. I know that I could realistically do these after she’s here but the last thing I ever want to do is be this level of distracted from her. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past year, it’s that I love my job, but I love her more. 

I fell in love with Charlotte within three weeks, and she’s only proven to me that it was the greatest thing I could have let myself do. Despite the fact that we don’t live very close to each other, the days we aren’t physically together fly by. It still lets her have some independence, even though I would have asked her to move in the day we started dating. I’m so used to the chaos that I don’t think she could ever bother me. 

Not that I have the most experience with relationships, but I would say that she is probably the most incredible girlfriend that exists. I still feel like I’m dreaming most days; the only downside is when she’s upset, and I can’t get to her fast enough. Not exactly proud of the few times that I’ve almost left the bar because she sounded a little too sad saying she missed me on the phone. 

“Hi baby,” Char’s voice rings through my office. 

“There she is,” slips out as I whip my head over to her. Quickly standing up, reaching for her hands as I got closer, I said, “I missed you.” 

“I swear nobody knows how to drive today,” she tells me in between kisses. “Literally, everybody just kept slowing down even though nothing was happening!” 

Chuckling at her, it’s precious when she’s worked up like this. Kissing her forehead gently before telling her, “Breathe honey, it’s over. You made it.”  

 “I know– you’re right,” She breathes out before quietly asking, “You’re sure your parents don’t mind me being here for Thanksgiving?”

“I think my mom would explode if you didn’t,” I told her. “Plus, I wouldn’t want you to spend the weekend alone.”

“I still don’t know what possessed my parents to plan a vacation during the holidays, but” she rolls her eyes with a laugh but squeezes my hands when she tells me, “I’m much happier to spend them with you.”

Kissing her a few more times before saying, “I’m just excited to have you here all weekend.” 

Pulling her out into the bar, sitting in the booth that the rest of the family will stake claim over later. She sat across from me, telling me about her day since we were both fairly busy and hadn’t gotten to talk much throughout the day. 

“Oh!” She pipes up. “I found this, and I thought you might enjoy it.” She hands me a folder with random paperwork, and I just look at her with my eyebrow raised. She giggles quietly, “Look at the corners, babe.” 

I start reading all her little notes. This is what she was doing the whole time. Every page with the margins filled with little intrusive thoughts she must have been having; ‘hands, hands, hands,’ ‘pretty mouth,’ ‘he’s so cute I could cry.’ Random hearts surrounded some of them, with my name written out in cursive every few pages, like a girl in elementary school.  

Thinking of all the times I would glance over at her, she would just be scribbling things down with a little smirk on her face. Or the way she would tuck pages away when she saw me coming over. 

My heart swelled, seeing that she had been secretly feeling the same way. It always felt like there was something more than ‘friends with benefits,’ but I was so afraid to get my hopes up. I chuckle to myself,  breathing out, “I love you so much.” 

Met with silence– we haven’t actually said that to each other yet. Not that I didn’t want to, but we both just nervously danced around it. My eyes darted up to her, realizing what I said. 

Her eyes are wide, “.. Jake.” I close the folder and set it in front of us. Shit. You’ve made it a whole year without letting it slip; that’s impressive enough, right? 

“Char,” I start; it probably is about time I finally told her. “It sounds insane, but I’ve basically loved you since the day you walked in.” 

She slowly blinked at me, “What do you mean? How?” 

It truly feels like I have to just come clean with it at this point, “I couldn’t stop thinking about you after you left that day; something about you just stuck with me.” 

“I felt like I ruined your whole day. You definitely seemed like you were panicking?” 

“Oh, I was,” I laugh. “But I thought about you every day until you came back.” 

“But—” she hesitates, looking down at the table for a second. “I cried in front of you, literally the second time we actually saw each other.” 

I nod at her, “Oh, I know.” 

“And I lied to you..” 

“Hun,” I start, grabbing her hand. “I would do it all over again a million times if it meant I got you at the end of it.”

She just stares at me, and I watch her eyes as tears creep in. She looks up, trying to fight the inevitable.

I reach up, knocking the little tears off her cheeks like always, before telling her, “You don’t have to say it back. Don’t feel like you have to. I’ll gladly wait until–” 

She cuts me off with a quiet, “I love you.” 

The sound of it practically knocks the wind out of me; I knew from the beginning that she would probably take a while to say it in general or even just say it back because she was so hesitant about her feelings. I never wanted to pressure her into it, even though a year ago, with us standing out in the snow, I knew I was in love with her. 

I slide out of my seat, take two steps to be next to her, squat down, and grab both of her hands. 

“Can I say something to you? I don’t expect anything from you after,” I ask, looking up at her.  

“Of course.” 

I look at her for a split second before I finally let it out, “I’m so, so in love with you, Charlotte. I’ve been waiting for you to feel comfortable saying it because I never want to overwhelm you or push you away. I can’t imagine life without you at this point; you mean everything to me, honey.”

Her eyes are so soft, and her lip quivers a little as she looks back at me. She whispers, “You’re gonna make me cry.” She leans down to me, leaving a few gentle kisses on my lips. 

“And you are far more than I could have ever dreamt of,” She says with a little sniff as she fights back the tears. “I’ve never known a love like yours. Some days I still don’t believe you’re real and that I’m lucky enough that you keep me around even when I’m such a pain in your ass.” 

“You’re my favorite pain in the ass, though,” I tell her, kissing her knuckles gently. My heart is pounding as she’s telling me the sweetest things; it feels unbelievable that she feels the same way. 

Her little giggle blesses my ears before she keeps going, her voice still breaking as she tells me, “I hate that you had to be let down so many times, but I’m so glad that every girl fumbled you, so now, I get you to myself.”

“I’ll be yours for as long as you’ll keep me,” I whisper to her, watching as her chin quivers. She let out a small ‘oh’ as her hand flew up to cover her mouth. Rubbing her legs for a second until she pulls me into a hug. 

I kiss the side of her head before mumbling, “Happy anniversary, hun.”  Leaning back and carefully wiping the tears from under her eyes, trying not to mess up her makeup. Quietly cooing, “Oh, my beautiful girl.”

“Baby, shhhh,” she laughs, looking up to try and avoid more tears. 

I chuckle to myself, letting out, “Oh, I’m sorry. I meant, my absolute knockout—“

Her laugh cuts me off, which I would let happen any day—anything to see her smile. 

I feel a tap on my back, bringing me back to real life. I turned, and honestly, I should have known. 

“Hi, sweetheart,” my mom’s voice rings through the bar. Josh got it from somewhere. Her arms wrapped me in a hug, rocking me back and forth. 

“I’m excited to see you too,” I laugh. She pulls back, brushing the hair out of my face like she always does, just staring at me for a second. 

Her eyes soften as we look at each other; she looks like she wants to say something but holds it back. That’s weird. Gently moving me to the side, her excited voice is back, “Don’t think I didn’t see you!” Charlotte quickly stands up, also getting pulled into a hug. 

“Mmmm, my other sweetheart,” she says, Char’s giggling as she gets the same treatment from my mom. “I missed you two.” 

My parents immediately loved her when they met. Whether it was because they were so excited that I finally found someone or because Char is an incredible girl, who knows? Mom was especially over the moon about her when she discovered that they both enjoy baking and reading. 

I was nervous at the idea of them meeting her, especially when we had barely even figured out what we were doing. But, the moment we walked into the house where they were staying, it went away. We took turns grabbing each other's hands for comfort because it was all still so fresh. It probably seems wild to introduce someone to your parents two days into the relationship, but I’ve never been so sure about someone. 

My dad’s arm slides around my shoulders, pulling me into him for a second. 

“Hey bud,” his voice is way calmer. “I see you’ve lost them.” He chuckles. I glance over as the two of them are fully in conversation, to the point that my mom has stolen my seat. 

“Looks that way, huh?” I laugh, hugging him back. Nodding towards the bar, I ask, “Want a drink?”

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My dad kept us entertained for a bit as he sipped his drink, telling us about the trip to get here. They seem to have the worst luck with flying. I take the chance to slip out from behind the bar, and I sneak off into my office, pulling out my phone, but I quickly get distracted when I hear my mom’s voice. 

“How are you doing sweets?”

I look over at her; she’s leaning against the door frame, her eyebrows raised. I tell her, “Curious about what you didn’t say to me earlier if we’re being honest.”

“You saw that, huh?” She scrunches her nose at me. I move closer to her so she won’t have to be loud. Her hand taps my chest a couple of times, letting out, “I forget how observant you are.” 

“Mhm,” I hum back. “So, spill. What is it?”

She lets out a little sigh, “I’m not gonna be able to get through this.” Her eyes welled up almost instantly, “Being in love looks good on you, Sweetheart.”

“Oh?”

She grabs one of my hands and tells me, “I can just see how happy you are when you’re with her.” A tear sneaks out as she looks at me. “I’m just so glad you found someone who loves you the way you deserve.”

Squeezing my hand a few times, “You’ve always been the sweetest of the three of you.” She pauses to look up, trying to stop the tears. “I knew how badly you just wanted to find someone.” 

“Mom,” I whisper, wiping her face off gently. 

“I'm sorry—I'm just so proud of you. Between the bar and taking care of her, I just feel so lucky to watch the young man that you’ve become.”

My arms wrap around her, rubbing her back a little before mumbling, “Love you.” 

“Love you, too.” She whispers before asking, “Why are you hiding in here?”

I lean back, smiling as I tell her, “Wanted to see if something got delivered.” 

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As I’m helping run some drinks to people for Josh, I hear Against The Wind by Bob Seger playing throughout the bar. Dropping the fresh drinks off to the table, I turn around to see one of Chuck’s friends about to sit at the bar with an empty seat next to him. He must be waiting for him. 

He’s an older gentleman; he definitely looks like he would have been a sailor of sorts. The idea hits me— where is my girlfriend? I think to myself, chuckling at what’s going to happen. 

“Char- honey,” I yell to her as I walk over to the table; she’s sitting with Quinn, Willa, and Sam- the usual, but Mom is with them tonight. 

Her eyes light up as I get closer, looking up at me, oh god,  I’m such an ass. She lets out a quiet “Hi.” 

Sliding into the booth next to her, my arm pulling her close to me. I point to the man, whispering to her, “Remember how I told you about the Old Port Pirate?” 

“Shut up,” her hand flew up to cover her mouth. “Babe, you actually weren’t lying?” 

I just shake my head, “Do you hear what’s playing right now?”

Looking at me with wide eyes, her jaw drops when she realizes, “Oh my god, it’s Bob.” 

She’s so cute, wow. I quietly laugh before letting out, “And you didn’t believe me.” Shaking my head subtly, she will probably kill me if she finds out that he isn’t actually the pirate. 

She leans close, kissing my cheek; the feeling of her lips on me still makes my heart skip. Her face lingers close to mine for a second, and she quietly says, “I’m sorry, baby. I won’t doubt you anymore.” 

She can never find out. 

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Glancing around the table, my mom has Sam and Willa entirely focused on whatever she’s telling them about, and Quinn has disappeared to the bar to talk to Josh. I steal a sip of Char’s drink, realizing it’s practically just water at this point, but before I get up, I have to tease her a little bit. If she thought I didn’t catch some of the little things she wrote down, she is sorely mistaken. 

“So, I did see in your little notes that you think my ass is,” I pause to clear my throat dramatically, “Cute enough to take a bite out of?”

“The heart wants what it wants,” she breathes out, a soft smile forming. Her hand reached up to fix a piece of my hair that was flopped to the wrong side. 

I lean in closer to her, whispering, “If you wanted to eat my ass, honey— all you had to do was ask.”

She barks out a laugh, whisper-yelling, “JACOB, WE’RE IN PUBLIC.” Her eyes darted over towards my mom and back to me. 

“All I'm saying is communication is important in a relationship, and you already know I won’t say no to you,” I tell her, shooting her a wink as I stand up from the booth. “I’ll get you a fresh drink.” 

“Wait—“ Her hand catches mine before I can grab her glass, tugging me to her. She gently kisses me, holding my jaw and wiping my lip off after. If she only knew, I literally couldn’t be bothered if she left any sort of lipstick, gloss, whatever on me—but it’s adorable that she does it, so I’ll never tell her. She quietly lets out, “I love you, baby.” 

“Mmm, I don’t think I'll ever get tired of hearing that,” I mumble against her lips, kissing her once more before telling her, “I love you.”

I wander behind the bar to grab her some water; she’s been alternating all night, so she “doesn’t feel like dying” tomorrow. Before I can bring it back to her, Mel grabs it from me. 

“I’m basically done for the night; I can deliver it for you,” she laughs out. 

Glancing over at the time, it is nearly closing time already. I look back over at her, “You can be free. I’ll let Danny go too if you guys want to get home.” 

“You’re the best,” she shoots me a little smile, dropping off Char’s water and immediately sliding into the booth with everyone. 

I start picking up a little after Josh, which is fine because he has been hustling around for a bit now. But I feel his presence behind me as I’m wiping down some glasses to put back. 

“Meant to tell you– I grabbed our mail earlier..” Josh mumbles to me. Quietly, he asks, “Did you buy a ring?”

“Mhm,” I hum back, turning to him. 

He glances over at Char before asking, “Is it..?”

I just nod, watching his eyes light up. 

Immediately, he tears up, letting out a quiet, “Oh my god—“ 

“Don’t cry,” I giggle. “I don’t know when it’ll happen; I just wanted to be ready. “

His hands landed on my arms, whispering, “I’m so happy for you.” 

“Thank you,” I whisper back. 

He just stares at me for a second, “She really is a good one.” 

I look over at her as she hugs our Mom for probably the hundredth time today. Sitting with all our closest friends and family like she’s been here forever. They really took her in so quickly, which, given the situation when we met, was the most incredible thing they could have done. My eyes shift back to Josh, smiling as I tell him, “I think I’ll keep her around.” 

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After saying our goodnights to the entire family practically, Char sat in her typical spot at the bar. Even after a year, nothing has changed with how we function. Whenever she comes down here for the weekends, she’ll just sit at the end of the bar if I have to close and pester me the entire time. And I would never ask for anything else. 

“Will you make my drink?” She asks, batting her eyelashes at me. Like, I would say no. 

“Well,” I glanced over at her, cocking an eyebrow. “You’re in luck; I’m the only option.”

Quickly mixing everything together for her, I bring it over. Carefully setting it in front of her, but not without leaning over the bar to give her a quick kiss. 

“The service here is exceptional,” she tells me, laced with a slight laugh. 

My eyebrows raise as I tell her, “You’re the only one getting that level of customer service.” 

“I’ve seen the way you talk to Eleanor,” she taunts. 

My eyes roll at her comment; I point at her as I whisper-yell, “DON'T START WITH ME.” Unable to keep the smirk hidden away. 

“I’m not jealous! She was here first,” she says, holding her hands up while giggling away. 

“You shouldn’t be jealous.” 

“Oh, I’m not at all,” she tells me matter-of-factly. Casually sipping her drink as she looked me up and down.  

“Good,” I laugh out, folding my arms across my chest as I watch her. “What’s with that look?”

She waves her hand, making me move closer to her. She so casually whispers, “Just— I love that I’m watching you mix drinks and be silly, but you'll also make it hard to walk tomorrow.” 

My head drops, taking a deep breath. This girl's favorite hobby is making me sweat, I swear. “Jesus Christ,” I laugh out. Pulling my wrist up to check my watch, “What time do we close?” 

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“Wait right here,” I tell her, quickly walking into my room to grab the gift I got her. Pulling the little bag from my closet and the flowers that I had sitting in water on my nightstand, I make my way back to her, mumbling, “These are for you.”

She pouts her lip, looking at me, “Jacob, you’re so sweet.” 

Kissing me before she looks in the bag, a little smile lacing her lips as she realizes. Pulling out the book she’s been eyeing every time we go to the store, with a few little things that I found at her favorite thrift store down here. 

“You’re too much,” she lets out quietly, setting everything back in the bag. “Thank you.”

I lean against the counter, and I look at her, quietly letting out, “Josh went to Quinn’s for the night so we could have the apartment to ourselves.” 

“Well,” She says, her hands sliding up my chest as she leans into me. “Isn’t that just sweet of him?” 

I hum back, letting my arms drape around her hips, “Mhmm.” 

“Get to show my baby how much I love him,” she breathes out. Her lips pressed into my throat quickly. 

I looked up for a second before asking her, “What has gotten into you?” 

“Hopefully, you in a minute,” the sultry tone of her voice made my knees weak. 

“Holy shit, hun,” I breathe out. “A bit needy, are we?” 

She nods, quickly kissing my jaw before letting out,  “I’m sorry, you’re just sooo—” She leans back, the look in her eyes making my heart race. 

“Is that right?” I pop my eyebrow at her, watching the goosebumps flood her skin. 

“Mhm,” she hums back. Pulling her lip in with her teeth gently before telling me, “Hot enough that I’d eat your ass or whatever.” 

My head falls back as I laugh, not expecting her to bring that up. Managing to tell her, “I love you so much.” 

“Mmmm, we really should have started saying that sooner,” she pauses to laugh for a second. “Hearing you say that makes you even hotter.” 

My hands slide to the backs of her thighs, picking her up and setting her on the counter. Moving in between her legs, but her skirt made it difficult to get close.  

“What about when I do this?” I ask quietly, pushing her skirt up so it sits around her hips. Her jaw drops slightly as she looks at me. I can see the way her breathing is already a little heavy. I lean down, kissing her legs, covered with her tights. Gently, I work my way up her thigh until I notice that I can see right through them as I get closer to her hips. I push her legs a little further apart– did she not..? 

I can’t stop myself from smiling against her. My hands slide up her legs, lightly letting my fingers rub over her clit through her tights as I look up at her.  

“You tryin’ to kill me?” I breathe out. “No panties?”

I watch the pink come up in her cheeks as she bites her lip.  

“Lay back for me,” I whisper between kisses against her hip. 

As she leans back on the counter, I hold her hips, pulling her to the edge, grabbing at the waistband of her tights, pulling them down her legs quickly. I kiss the inside of her ankle slowly, leaving wet kisses up her thighs until I get too close. Resting my lips against her pubic bone, I slowly smile against her skin, knowing it’ll drive her crazy. 

“Jake, please,” she whines. Didn’t take long at all. 

I ask quietly, “What do you want?” 

Pressing my lips against her clit gently and then just hovering, letting my breath hit her. 

“Mmm,” she hums out.  

“Oh, you want this?” I taunt her, flattening my tongue against her clit. Lapping at it a few times, pulling a loud moan out of her. My hands still hold her hips as my tongue is practically spelling her name, listening to the sweet sounds that pour out of her. I wrap my lips around her clit for a second, lightly sucking in. 

“Baby, oh my god,” she moans out. 

I hum into her, sliding my hand up to her chin, glancing up at her, tapping her lip a few times until she opens her mouth. I slide my middle and ring finger in, and she wraps her lips around them. Swirling her tongue around them as she moans from the way my mouth is moving.

One of her hands knitted themselves into my hair, and the other held my arm. I carefully pull my hand back from her when she lets out a louder moan, slipping them right into her. ‘Yes’ and ‘Fuck’ litter the air as I push them into her a few times.   

She props herself up, and I stand, leaning in to kiss her and start to pump my fingers faster inside her. She’s holding the back of my neck like it’s her lifeline. Adjusting my arm so my palm is flat against her clit, I curl my fingers up into that spot. 

“Jake, oh my god,” She moans into my mouth

I look at her for a second before whispering, “Soak my fingers, honey.” 

Immediately feel her hands grip my shirt, and the moans start falling out of her mouth. I can hear how wet she is and the way she’s starting to tense up on me. Leaning down, dragging my tongue along her, feeling her heartbeat. Looking back up at her as she breathes heavily, god, she is beautiful. 

“Jake.. baby.. oh.. oh my god, baby..” she mumbles under her breath as she gets closer. Her voice rises as she lets out a loud “Jacob.” That’s my favorite sound. 

Standing back up, her eyes flutter shut as she relaxes against me.  Her face is lying on my shoulder. 

“Come back to me, honey,” I whisper in her ear before kissing her cheek. 

She sits back as I pull my hand from her, “I wanna see something,” she whispers, grabbing my hand that was just inside her. Tugging it up, muttering a quiet  “Open.” 

Sliding my fingers into my own mouth, swirling my tongue around them, tasting her on me. I can feel my cock twitch. I don’t know what she’s doing to me, but it’s working. Her jaw dropped at the sight, and I let out a little groan just to really rile her up. 

“God, you’re so sexy, babe.” 

I can feel my face warm, giggling at her compliment. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the way she treats me.

“Come on,” I tell her, holding my hands out to help her down. As soon as her feet hit the floor, she swung me around. 

“Not so quick, handsome,” She giggles, pushing me gently against the counter. She unbuttons my pants quickly and tugs them down just enough. Her hand pulled my cock from my boxers and slid it into her mouth in one smooth motion.   

My hands gently held her head as she moved further down the length of it. Fighting every urge to let my hips thrust into her. The moment her nose barely grazed my stomach, my head fell back. How is she mine? When it starts to feel a little too good, I lightly tap her shoulders. Holding my hands out to help her up, I make her trade spots with me again, her back against my chest as I tuck my face into her. 

 “Can you bend over for me?” I whisper into her ear.  “Need to feel you.” 

She eagerly leans onto the counter; I drop down, licking a wide stripe up the center of her one more time, with my hands hooking around her hips so I can grab her ass. Leaving a little kiss against her before standing back up.  

I slip into her, letting out a little groan as I do. Even after a year, it still blows my mind how good she feels. Slowly rocking my hips into her, my grip on her hips tightening with every thrust. My hand slipped down, grabbing at her and pulling her back to me quickly. 

She moans quietly, “Baby, you feel so good.” 

My heart pounds at the sound. I start moving faster, fucking her harder. Listening to all her little sounds as I do. Without thought, my hand moves from her hip, coming down against her asscheek with a loud crack. The moan that came out of her practically made my mouth water but also made my face heat up, and grinned as I leaned down, kissing between her shoulder blades.

“You like that?” I mumble against her. 

Letting out a small “Yes.” 

“Mmm,” I hum out. “My sweet girl.” Slowing my hips down, tapping her sides gently. 

I mutter, “Come with me,” as I’m pulling her into the bedroom. 

I unzipped her skirt so it fell to the floor as she unbuttoned my shirt, pushing it off my shoulders. Her hands moved to push my pants down as I grabbed the bottom of her sweater, pulling it over her head. She pushes me back towards the end of my bed, gently pushing me to sit down. 

She unclasps her bra, letting it slide down her arms until her tits are on full display. “Fuck me, you’re so hot,” I let out as I watch her toss the bra onto the floor. 

She crawls into my lap and slips my cock back into her. Her lips pressed into me as she sat down. Rolling her hips against mine as we made out. My hands just run all over her, taking her in as she makes herself feel good.   

When I feel her start to move up, my hands move to hold just under her ass. Helping lift her up, watching her tits bounce as she rides me. 

Her hands hold onto my shoulders for support; as she leans in close to my ear, she mumbles, “Baby, your cock is sooo-” My hips jerk up as she tells me, making her moan at the feeling.  

My hands still holding tight onto her ass as she rides me. I just take her in as she writhes against me, my grip on her tightening a little. Her eyes meet mine quickly, the way her pupils dilate as she stares at me. 

Her sweet voice whispered, “Do it again.” 

My eyebrows pull together until her hand reaches down, tapping my wrist a few times, with a devious little smirk on her lips. OH. 

She rolls her hips against me a few times when I pull my hand back, bringing it back down against her quickly. The sound mixed with the moan she let out— I could get used to that. 

She moans out, “Fuck me, Jake.” 

One of my arms wraps around her waist, holding her close to me as I stand up. I lay her down against my pillows, still sitting between her legs; I lean over, grabbing a condom quietly. I know I won’t last long at this point, so I lean down and start dancing my tongue around her clit. Listening to her moans get higher pitched, her hands grabbing at my hair as she gets close. I plunge my fingers back into her, looking up at her when I say, “Tell me how good it is, honey.” 

Her jaw drops, and the grip on my hair is strong as I work her through her orgasm; the sound of her voice as she comes makes me weak.  

Sitting up on my knees, keeping one hand lightly rubbing her thigh, stroking myself a few times. I slide the condom on as she comes down, just watching her for a minute until she looks back at me. 

I slip back into her, leaning down and kissing her slowly. Feeling the way her breathing is still heavy, she lets out a happy little “mmm” against me. 

Starting to move my hips, I just look down at her. That’s my girl, my gorgeous girl. My heart starts to race as I take her in when I let out a quiet “I love you.” 

Her hands grab my face, pulling me into her. She kisses my top lip gently, the tip of my nose, and lingers her lips against my forehead when she whispers back, “I love you, baby.” 

We stay in this slow pace, littering kisses all over. Her hands basically touch any part of me that she can reach, as if she just wants to feel closer. Cradling her head in my hands, I just stare at her as my hips gently rock into her. 

God— she’s mine, I think to myself. She’s genuinely the most beautiful person I’ve ever known, and I get to have all of her for myself. My hips start to move faster at the thought. 

Leaning down close to her, I tuck my face into her neck, breathing her in. My pace picks up again; she’s mine. The thought makes me smile against her skin. 

“Fuck—mmm…” I groan; I can feel my orgasm starting to build. Snapping my hips into her a little harder,  “mine” slips out, and my eyes go wide. 

Until she whispers back, “Yes baby, I’m all yours.” My heart pounds at the fact she’s encouraging it. 

“Say it again,” I tell her, my voice a little louder. 

“I’m yours,” she breathes out in a moan. 

My eyes roll back a little at the sound, fuck.  

“Come on, Jake, show me how much you love me,” she tells me. My breathing starts to pick up, letting out little whimpers when I exhale. 

She keeps going; her voice is making everything so much more intense. Whispering, “I know you’re close; let me have it.” 

Feeling her legs wrap around me, Fuck— she’s so hot. She holds my face gently, moving me so her lips are just hardly hovering over my ear when she lets out, “Come, baby,” in the sexiest tone I’ve ever heard. 

My orgasm hits me like a freight train, moaning out, “Char—“ 

A minute goes by; she’s just running her hand through my hair, letting me cuddle into her. One of her hands slid down to just gently scratch my back; this is heaven. 

“Feel good, babe?” She asks quietly. 

I just hum back, “Mmmm.. mhm.” 

I can feel her kiss the side of my head a few times, so I lazily kiss her neck. Slowly but surely, I prop myself up to look at her. 

“Come with me?” 

She giggles, moving the hair out of my face. “Where are we going?” 

“I just want to shower real quick,” I tell her, suddenly feeling very vulnerable. My voice gets quiet when I let out, “But.. I want you to be there.” 

She leans up, kissing my cheek, “Okay.” 

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We both stand there in the shower, letting the warm water hit us. I’m just trying to prevent her from getting her hair wet so she can worry about it in the morning. But being able just to hold her for a few extra minutes was perfect. 

She leaned back and looked at me. Her voice was quiet, “Do you want to know when I realized I loved you?” 

“Of course,” I say with a small laugh. 

She smiles at me, her arms sliding around my neck, “Well, you know the one night that we went out together?” 

I laugh before saying, “Hun, we’ve done that a lot in the past year.”

“Oh, true,” she starts, giggling. “When we went on the unspoken date— we were still pretending we didn’t like each other that much.” 

“Yes, absolutely,” I laugh with her this time. “I was incredibly obsessed with you at that point, but yes, continue.”

Her face got a little red at my comment, but she finally told me, “When you were singing to me and making me dance with you— all I could think was how I could spend forever watching you just be happy like that.” 

“Forever’s a long time,” I whisper, my eyebrows raised at her with a little smile. 

She leans in close, whispering back, “Not long enough with you.” 

She is my wife; I’ll make sure of it. 

After spending a couple of minutes struggling to breathe while we made out, we were finally crawling back into bed. We lay there talking for a bit before she started to fall asleep. 

I can’t help but kiss the top of her head as she drifts off, mumbling into her, “I love you so much.” 

She looks up at me, her eyelids heavy, mumbling back, “I love you.” 

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Thanksgiving Day

Listening to the shower run and the random splashes from her washing her hair, I sneak into Josh’s room. Grabbing the package and quickly opening it. The small velvet box creaks as I open it. An oval cut diamond sparkles back at me, little clusters of diamonds sit on either side, and a dainty gold band. I hope she likes it. 

I’ve spent the last year watching her when we’re at stores where there’s jewelry or the occasional glance when I see her scrolling on her phone. She’s never been pushy about anything happening; granted, we just told each other, ‘I love you.’ But she is my little romantic lady, and I’ve watched her zoom in on ring posts, figuring out the things she likes.  I can’t wait to call her my wife one day. 

I wander back into my room, tucking it behind a few things on the shelf in my closet. Knowing she’s too small to get to it and chuckling to myself at the thought of her trying. 

The water shuts off, so I make my way to the bathroom to be a menace. Slowly opening the door, peeking in as she’s wrapping herself up with the towel. 

“Shit— I missed it.”

“Sorry, babes,” she sighs. “Gotta move quicker next time.” 

“I’ll wait,” I giggle. Watching her rub various products into her face. She keeps peeking over at me as I just lean against the counter. She’s so fucking beautiful. 

“Are you really just going to watch me get ready?” She asks through a laugh. 

I just nod at her, “What else could I be doing?” 

She steps over to me, giving me a kiss with a little grin on her face. 

“I’ll make you a deal.” 

My eyebrow pops up instantly, “I’m listening.”

“If you bring me a fresh cup of coffee, I’ll drop the towel,” she tells me with a little wink. 

My eyes widen at the proposition, and no words come out as I scramble to the kitchen to make her more coffee. I’ve never set up the coffee pot faster. 

Practically prancing back to the bathroom with coffee for both of us, holding hers out to her. I’m sure I look like a kid on Christmas, but when your girlfriend is as gorgeous as mine, it’s hard not to be excited. 

She takes it from me, sipping on it quickly, “Mmm.. thank you.” She tilts her head back with her lips already in a cute little pout, waiting for a kiss. I set my mug on the counter, cupping her jaw before kissing her. I feel the towel hit my feet, and the smile that creeps onto my face makes it hard to keep kissing her. 

“Have I told you that you’re the best?” I giggle against her lips. Backing up a little to take her in, I still get butterflies whenever I look at her. She looks at me through the mirror, my smirk selling me out before I can even ask her, “What if we just ditched my family and you stay like this instead?” 

“I think you’d like that a little too much,” she laughs as I wiggle my eyebrows at her. “Plus, your mom would never let you hear the end of it.”

“She already loves you. You don’t have to be on her side, you know?” 

“I’m just trying to save you from another sex lecture from her, baby,” she tells me, a shitty little smirk on her lips. I never should have told her about what my mom said; she’s teased me ever since because almost nothing is worse than to have your mom, of all people, talk to you about your sex life, especially as an adult.  

“Speaking of,” I start, knowing she’s going to yell at me for what I’m about to say. But it’s a little too fun to get her going. Fighting a smirk as I tell her, “If we sleep there, you’re gonna need to control yourself. I know it might be hard for you—“ 

“Excuse me?” She cuts me off. “You’re going to look at me right now and tell me that I have no self-control?” 

I let out a loud laugh as she stared at me. 

“Jake, be so serious,” trying to hold in her laugh, she rolls her eyes at me as she clips her hair up out of her way. 

“You’re right,” I tell her. “But, honey,” I move closer to her, sliding my hands around her waist, “How am I supposed to have self-control when you look like this?” Pressing a kiss into her shoulder. Letting my hands wander up, cupping her breasts and letting my thumbs run over her nipples lightly. 

Her head leans back against me, “Babe, you’re proving my point,” she whispers. She turns her face, kissing my cheek before looking back into the mirror to finish putting her makeup on. “Let me finish getting ready, and I’ll take care of you later, promise.” 

My eyes shoot up, and my hands drop to her hips. I hold them as I meet her stare in the mirror. I can see the red creep into my cheeks as she winks at me. 

“Char—“

“You’ll just have to stay quiet for me,” she says, immediately followed by her little giggle. 

My head drops back because I know I’m blushing hard at this point, “Oh, shut up.” I slap her ass as I move back to my spot, grabbing my coffee and sipping on it as she laughs at me. 

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After watching her eyes light up when she picks out what she wants me to wear. She insisted that we coordinate at least since it’s really the first holiday we’re spending together, and my mom is notorious for taking pictures of everyone throughout the day. 

She always looks good, but I can’t stop staring at her as we walk down to the car. In an oversized cream sweater with her tights and boots, she looks precious, especially so when she’s got her hand wrapped around my arm as we walk—opening her door for her and letting her get comfortable. I toss our bag into the back seat as I make my rounds to the driver’s side. 

Instinctually, I just hand my phone to her so she can pick music. It’s adorable how she tries to find songs that we both like, even though I don’t think I would question anything she puts on. 

Reaching over, she quickly slips her hand into mine. Spending the rest of the drive listening to whatever she picks and the little giggles that come out of her as she scrolls through things on her phone.

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“You ready for the chaos?” I whisper as I throw the car in park. 

She’s gotten more used to spending time with everyone, but adding my parents in is a different beast entirely. They all mean well; it’s just a lot of people with loud personalities.

She leans over to kiss me, whispering, “It’ll be fun.” 

I grab our stuff from the backseat, and as she comes around, I hold my hand out for her. Carefully walking up the dirt driveway, my parents are always choosing different Airbnbs to stay in, and this one is just in the woods this time. As we get up to the door, I turn around to look at her. 

“One more,” I mumble, leaning in to kiss her again. Her little smile against me made everything better. Knocking on the door behind me as I left a few small pecks on her lips. Hearing someone walking towards us, I pull away from her. The last thing I’m going to do is mildly embarrass her right away. 

“LOTTIE,” Quinn’s voice made me jump. 

They squeal and hug as if they don’t see each other almost every day, if not at least talking. They’ve become incredibly close over the past year, which probably doesn’t help that we’re all in the apartment often enough. 

“Which of my babies is that?” My mom’s voice carries from a different room. Waiting for her to come in, knowing exactly what’s going to happen. “Oh my goodness! Don’t you look so cute!” She pulls Char into a hug, and here we go. 

“Thank you,” Char’s sweet giggle laced it. “It already smells amazing in here.” 

“Oh, you’ll have to come see what I’m baking– actually, I may have you help me if you want,” Mom tells her, her eyebrows raised, knowing that Char isn’t going to say no to baking. 

“Ooooo! Yes, please!” 

We’ve been here for two minutes, and I’ve already lost her to my mom. This may be record timing. 

“Hi, Sweetheart, I didn’t forget about you,” Mom coos as she comes over to me, glancing at my outfit. “She dressed you, didn’t she?” 

I just nod, hugging her. Mumbling to her, “Where should I put our bag?” 

“Whichever room you want,” she tells me, “I’m just so happy you’re gonna stay the night.” Her hand patted my chest a few times.

I smile at her, “Of course.” She just looks at me, tucking my hair behind my ear before turning back to steal Char away. 

Wandering down the hall and choosing one of the rooms to throw our stuff in. Feeling a little insane as I just smile to myself, but every time we do something for the first time like this, it’s like I’m falling in love with her all over again.  

“Well, well, well,” Josh’s voice rings from behind me. 

I whip my head around, “Surprised you’re not out there with everyone?” 

“I was kicked out of the kitchen,” he tells me. “Apparently, they don’t agree with my ‘creative decisions’ or something.” Rolling his eyes as he folds his arms over his chest. “So, I’m going to force you to hang out with me instead.” 

“Ahh,” I let out, laughing quietly. “Just like when we were kids.” 

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We found ourselves sitting in the living room with our dad as the parade was starting on TV. Just catching up with him until we hear the front door open, knowing that it must be Sam. Listening to our mom holler through the house, “Is that my baby boy?” 

Josh and I look at each other from across the couch. He rolls his eyes, and I can’t fight the laugh that comes out. 

“I saw that,” our dad mumbles, a small smirk creeping onto his face. 

Josh, being who he is, shrugs dramatically and, with a sarcastic tone, lets out, “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Both of us giggled like children again. 

“You two aren’t as slick as you think,” he laughs. Groaning as he stands up from the couch, he gives my shoulder a squeeze as he walks past. 

It only takes a couple of minutes before he comes back to join us again, with Sam in tow this time. Sam plopping down near me, which is probably for the best at the rate this morning is going. Josh would probably be pestering him instantly. Our dad fell back into the spot he already had claimed. 

Spending the holiday all together was always nice, mostly because none of us were working, and we obviously didn’t get to see our parents all that often. Typically, Josh would get roped into helping our mom, but I think she’s really living her best life with Quinn, Willa, and Char in there instead. She’s always been outnumbered by us, so now we’ve all been told to keep out. 

Getting to spend time with our dad as an adult has been way more fun. He was usually the one in charge of telling us to ‘knock it off’ as kids and having to separate us when we were fighting. But now, we just get to enjoy hanging out with him and seeing him laugh at the stories we tell rather than have to lecture us. 

In the midst of a story from him, Quinn walks in, setting a tray of little snacks for us on the coffee table, pointing out one of them to Josh, but I couldn’t hear what they said because Char slid her hand over my chest from behind the couch. 

“Thought you might want this,” she says, handing me a hot cup of coffee. My head tilted back against the couch to see her as I carefully stole the mug from her. 

I just stare at her for a second, taking in how adorable she looks today, before mumbling back, “Thank you, hun.” She leans down, kissing my forehead before padding back off into the kitchen. My self-control really is low because I absolutely watched her walk away until she was completely out of sight. 

“You good over there, bud?” My dad taps my arm, bringing me back to reality as he chuckles to himself. 

My face heats up a little, but I just sip my coffee to try to hide it. 

“They’re always like that,” Sam chimes in, making a disgusted face at me. I flip him off as I take another sip of my coffee. 

“Samantha, I know you’re not talking,” Quinn says, making the rest of us laugh. “Don’t forget, I can hear you and Wills talking when you’re at our apartment.” 

His jaw drops slightly, just staring back at them. 

“Should I give examples?”

“Nope! I’d rather you didn’t!” 

Josh chimes in, “I personally think it’s cute how she has Jake wrapped around her finger.”

Our dad laughs as soon as it comes out, which makes me laugh. He isn’t wrong. Quinn kissed Josh’s cheek before prancing back off to the kitchen. 

“Hard not to be,” I mumble into my coffee mug. All I can think of is how she’s just the type of love I need in my life. She’s this incredibly independent woman, so confident in her career, and wildly intelligent— she blows my mind every day. But then she’ll come home to me on the weekends and melt into me, just wanting to be loved and so sweet. Or if I go to her and the bar has been overwhelming, she’s so gentle and takes care of me. 

The sound of Sam and Josh cackling brings me back while my dads mutters, “Oh, give him a break.” Probably good that I didn’t hear it. 

We all sat around as Dad updated us on how life outside of New England was. Telling us about all the little places they’ve found, their favorite restaurants, and the few friends they’ve finally made. 

“That’s great, Dad,” Sam chimes in. It feels like we’re all kids again, just hanging out with him; the thought alone makes my heart swell a little.

“You guys should come visit during the winter,” he tells us. “Get out of the cold for a few days.” 

I look over to him, “I’m sure we can plan something.” 

Hearing a fit of laughter coming from the other room, we all look at each other in silence. 

“That’s a scary sound,” Dad groans quietly, and we all giggle. “Everyone knows a secret about one of us now.” 

“Don’t say that.”

“Oh god.”

“No, no, no.”

He throws his head back in laughter, “Figured you boys would have learned at this point. Your mother loves to share secrets with anybody who will listen.” 

“Shit,” I let out under my breath. This isn’t the first time she’s been around Charlotte, but I’m usually right next to her, so the secrets have been kept to a minimum. I’m definitely fucked. 

Quickly distracted by the sound of little feet walking through the room, Iris runs straight over to Josh when she rounds the corner of the couch. He scoops her up in a hug, her little laugh making all of us smile. 

“I should have known that’s where she was going,” Danny’s voice cuts through the laughter, joining Josh and Iris on the other side of the couch. 

My dad has always loved him, well— both of my parents do. But he has an open invitation to every holiday that my parents decide to host. I think they like that he has Mel and Iris now, especially since none of their actual children are going to be giving them grandkids anytime soon. 

They’re mid-conversation when Sam abruptly jumps up, walks to the hall, and yells, “Mom! Santa is almost here!” Coming back to the couch, our dad shot him a wink.  

“Thank you, Sammy,” Mom lets out loudly as she scurries into the room, leaning on the back of the couch behind Dad. Everyone follows her in; Willa is plopping down next to Sam, and Quinn is sitting on the floor below Josh. There she is.

“Hey you,” I whisper as Char sneaks over to me, tucking herself close to me as we watch Mel tell Iris to look for Santa. My arm tugged her as close as I could because I knew I was only getting her for a couple of minutes. 

“Is this a thing?” She whispers in my ear. 

I nod, turning my face to whisper back. “My mom always makes sure that she comes in to watch Santa show up because we would get so excited when we were little. So now, we always make sure to get her before, and she always cries when he shows up.” 

Her little smile when she lets out a little “aw” before looking over to my parents. My mom’s arms are slung around my dad’s neck, and he has one hand covering hers. Her eyes already teared up at just the glimpse of Santa and Mrs Claus, but the tears finally fell when Iris jumped out of Josh’s arms, pointing to the TV. 

“Oh, what a sweet little thing,” Mom lets out quietly. 

I pull Char’s legs over mine, keeping my hand on her thigh. I want to just keep her to myself now. The urge to keep her trapped only got worse when she leaned her head against me. 

Before I knew it, chaos ensued yet again. My mom stole my girlfriend from me, not before I snuck about eighteen “one more” kisses on her— despite being told to get a room. 

Somehow, we all got roped into a game, or a handful of rounds, of hide and seek with Iris, proving that we are still just children. 

All of us laugh as we run around this house, trying to find places to hide that aren’t too hard for her to figure out. The only downside was dependent on who she found first. Unfortunately, Sam only plays to win, so if she found him first, we were all screwed; he would be holding her on his hip as he did all the leg work for her, making a scene when he’d find us, which made her belly laugh every time.  

We spent a few hours entertaining her when my mom finally announced that the food was basically ready. I wander into the kitchen to grab a drink, but I am sidetracked when I sneak behind Charlotte, sliding my arms around her. 

“Hi, baby,” she giggles quietly. 

I snuggle my face into her neck for a second, whispering, “I’ve missed you all day.” 

“I’ll be all yours soon enough.” 

I press a kiss to her cheek before letting go, asking, “What do you want to drink? I’ll bring it in there for you.” 

A collective ‘aw’ rings through the room, and I can feel my face heat up a little. At least they think it’s cute; I’ve just been bullied all day. I poured some of the wine from the fridge into her and grabbed a glass for myself. Going out of my way to give her a kiss, feeling her grab my ass as I turn to join the rest of the boys. I whipped my head to look at her, and she just smirked at me. She subtly blew me a kiss. She’s lucky she’s cute. 

Everyone slowly joins the table, taking turns grabbing food. There are at least fourteen conversations happening at once, but somehow, it’s not overwhelming. Char is sitting to my left, my hand finding comfort on her leg every so often. The conversations varied throughout the meal from everybody focused on Mom telling a story, likely about us as kids or just tapering off into a million different ones. Feeling her hand grab mine once she was done eating, she just mindlessly played with the rings I had on as we sat there. 

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After dinner was done, Mom insisted that none of the kids help with dishes but get into comfy clothes so we could watch Christmas movies together. We all say our goodbyes to Danny, Mel, and Iris since they have more families to visit. 

 I lay on our bed, watching her change into my sweatshirt and some leggings. She looks up at me, giggling as she pulls on some fuzzy socks, “they’re extra comfy,” she told me when she packed them this morning. 

“You ready, honey?” I ask as she sits on the bed with me. 

She lays back, throws her leg over my hips, and plants a kiss on me. Letting out a quiet “Almost.” She snuggles herself into me for a minute, which I won’t complain about. My hand squeezed her thigh a few times. 

“Comfortable?” 

She nods her head against me, “I’ve barely seen you today. Feels weird.” 

“I’m glad you had fun with my mom, at least.” 

She lets out a little laugh, propping herself up on her elbow before telling me, “She told me a little secret about you.” 

“Did she?” 

Her smile is wide as she stares at me, “Mhmm,” she hums. 

“Why do I feel like I know what it is..?” I mumble, squinting my eyes at her. 

Her sweet little laugh sneaks out, “Well.. something about you always crying over having to wash your pirate jammies?” Of course.

“Come on, if we don’t get up now, I’m never gonna go,” I tell her, patting her butt a couple of times. Why does she have to tell everybody that? 

“Oh, don’t be embarrassed!” She hangs on me as I sit up. “It's cute, baby!” 

“Yeah, yeah,” I roll my eyes at her, fighting a smile. “I’m sure she’s ready to spill all my secrets to you.” 

Her lips land on my cheek as she giggles at me, her hand holding the other side of my face. She whispers, “I’ll tell you my secrets later if you want.” 

Jesus Christ. I can feel my heart rate pick up, quickly spitting out, “Alright, you. Let’s go.” 

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We make our way out to the living room, claiming the corner of the couch that I’d been in all morning. I give her the actual corner of the couch and just pull the coffee table closer so I can prop my feet up on there. 

It’s not long before everybody else is coming in and getting comfortable. Sam and Willa steal the other corner since his legs are too long to be banished to the end of the couch. My parents sat between us, mom closer to me. 

Josh and Quinn curl up together at Char’s feet, just propping cushions up so they don’t squish her. Dad shuts off the big lights, just letting the little lamps try to light up this room. 

My mom changed it to The Grinch, and the tradition continued as we all curled up with our own blankets.

I feel Char adjust so she’s cuddled up on my chest, my arm wrapped around her to keep her close. Pressing a kiss to the top of her head without thought. My mom’s hand grazes mine, making me look over at her. She holds my hand for a second as we just stare at each other, giving my hand a few squeezes before she leans into Dad. 

And there we all sat, laughing at the movie like we do every year. Finally, feeling complete as the love of my life giggles against me while I’m surrounded by my family. It feels like nothing could get better at the moment until she tilts her head up, kisses my cheek, and whispers, “I love you.” 

I glance down at her, giving her a quiet kiss, hoping to not out us to the rest of the room. She just stares up at me, the green of her eyes hardly visible in the dim glow of the TV. But the butterflies still erupt inside me when she looks at me like that. I can’t believe I get to spend forever with her. Slowly blinking at her, I just take her in.

Finally, whispering back, “I love you, honey.” 

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Chapter Twenty-Five

FDOG Master Post | Masterlist | Playlist

Sam & Willa : Sparrow Of The Dawn

Josh & Quinn : Amongst The Stars

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Taglist:

@gvfsstardust @myleftsock @dont-go-home-without-me @literal-dead-leaf

@lizzys-sunflower @mackalah @klarxtr @edgingthedarkness @writingcold

@takenbythemadness @earthgrlsreasy @peaceloveunitygvf

@josh-iamyour-mama @anythingforjtk

@broken0mens @whereiskeara @gvf-luna @katuschka @threadofstars @i-love-gvf

@jazzyfigz @smoking-jakelane @gretavanfan @scoreofinfantryvines

@demonrat444 @hollyco @ourlovesdesire

@musicspeaks @wrldabomination @chloeshell1219

@becinabubblegvf @sanguinebats @lallisonl

@nicoleghost18 @lightmy-love @myownparadise96 @cheersdannyx2

@musicislove3389

[kindgreenape]

i think kim is just as complex of a character as harry, but i think a good amount of players (not all, but a chunk) choose to unflinchingly characterize him as “the Good Cop” and leave it at that.

[blueggrass]

i know theres not much of a fandom here for the will of the many but ,,,.., i just finished it and.,,,,, im in shambles. life is moving around me and I'm still in shock. I have things to do but i cant even think. what,, am i supposed to do. just go on? pretend im okay with this till the next one comes out??? I FEEL LIKE A ZOMBE. I FEEL LIKE NOTHING MATERS. ALL I FEEL IS-

i dont think ive ever been hit by a book hangover as much as this like wtf even was that /pos HELLO??? CAN ANYONE HEAR ME??? LKSJFLSKJBFLKSJBFLKSBFK:BSF:KBSF:KJBHSF:KJ

[heyclickadee]

*whispers*

Also, okay, despite the fact I disagree on the “physical strength and combat” and “emotionlessness” bit that whoever wrote the Tech entry in that new Clone reference book put down (I think the people who write the reference books tend to not always watch everything closely, and that people use “emotions” to refer to emoting, not internalized feelings, which is kind of annoying but in any case) I am looking at the wording of, “would give anything for those he cared about—even his life.” Because. That still doesn’t say Tech is dead. Still. Tech would die for the people he loves. That’s inarguable. That’s been inarguable since “Ruins of War.” Whether or not he died, though—that’s the part that still isn’t clear.

[wonder-worker]

"[Elizabeth Woodville] was the only member of [Crown Prince Edward of Westminster's] original 1471 council not already on the king’s council and her name headed the list of those appointed as administrators in Wales during Edward’s minority. [She remained on the council after it was expanded in 1473 and granted significant new governing and judicial powers]."

"In 1478 Prince Richard [of Shrewsbury] married the Mowbray heiress. Like his elder brother he had a chancellor, seal, household and council to manage his estates. His council, like that of Prince Edward, comprised the queen [Elizabeth Woodville] and a group of magnates and bishops, few of whom were Woodville supporters [...] It was Elizabeth who mattered, for Richard resided with her and Rivers treated his affairs as their own."

-J.L. Laynesmith, The Last Medieval Queens: English Queenship 1445-1503 / Michael Hicks, Richard III and his Rivals: Magnates and their Motives in the Wars of the Roses