#but then it’s like. Why can’t you call more? why can’t you text me? why not? but i guess it’s not fair if i don’t do the same. idk.

[changingthingslikeleaves]

Buck keeps busy. He helps Eddie pack the house. The landlord in El Paso covers utilities, but he changes the billing address on Eddie’s NFL+ and MLB.TV subscriptions, reminds Eddie that the password to Buck’s Disney Plus account is in the email that Buck sent him the day after he signed up for it. He calls movers and gets quotes, finds Eddie a place to do the 60,000-mile service on his truck, maps the three closest grocery stores to his new house like Eddie didn’t spend the first eighteen years of his life in El Paso and is incapable of feeding himself.

It's what Buck does. He has to be useful, anticipate what Eddie needs, because that’s all he can do right now. Of course Eddie has to go, no matter what, because of course Christopher is the most important thing.

Keeping busy gets him through it all, from that first house viewing on Eddie’s couch to the last piece of tape on the last box. He doesn’t see Eddie off when he hits the road at 10 A.M. on a Saturday, because it’s hard enough saying goodbye at 8 A.M, when Eddie leaves after spending the night at Buck’s loft, his own bed packed into a U-Haul trailer attached to his truck’s towing hitch. Eddie’s got a couple final errands in town and then he’s getting on the 10 headed east.

And when Eddie’s gone, he finds stuff to do around his loft. He could go over to Maddie’s and help her sort through Jee’s old clothes and toys to figure out what she can use for the new baby, but it’s a better idea to stay home, at least this first day, to hide his red eyes. He rearranges his pantry, goes through his spices and throws out anything over two years old, moves his bed and nightstand to dust behind them.

Somehow he finds enough to occupy him the whole day, with occasional breaks to watch the most brainless documentaries he can find on Netflix. At midnight he falls into bed, hoping he’s done enough manual labor to exhaust himself and quickly drop off to sleep. At 12:03, his phone pings with a text.

9342

He stares at it a second, trying to parse why Eddie is sending him a random string of numbers.

everything ok????

this house has an electronic door lock that’s the code to get in. i guess it saves me from having to mail you a key

Buck’s surprised how much it hurts, the pain of Eddie being eight hundred miles away and yet right next to him, connected by cell phone towers and a bond that won’t break, no matter how much it’s stretched.

*

Eddie can’t be late on his second day of work. He should have had plenty of time, but when Christopher had called—actually called, on his phone—he’d dropped everything to have a conversation with his kid before his school day. By the time they’d made plans to meet up on Eddie’s next day off, his cereal had gone soggy and his coffee had cooled. He hasn’t stocked up on protein bars or shakes yet, so he’ll have to wait for whatever is available at the station.

As soon as he pulls the front door shut behind him, patting his pockets to make sure he has everything, he realizes that his phone is still in the house. The house, protected by the electronic lock, with the code carefully saved on his phone.

“Shit, code, what’s the goddamn code,” Eddie mutters. Four digits, can’t be that hard. After a few more days it will be worked into his muscle memory, but he’s only used it three times so far. 9234? No luck. 9423? Still no. At this rate he really is going to be late for work, and he reaches for his phone to call his captain, but the phone is still inside the house and the door is still locked.

“9342.”

Eddie starts in surprise. It’s not the voice of a helpful neighbor, or his landlord arriving in the nick of time, or even a divine intervention to help him get to work on time. He knows that voice, even before he turns around to see Buck, leaning against the side of his Jeep, legs outstretched and arms folded like the hero of a teenage rom-com. The captain of the football team, waiting outside the auditorium to surprise the gawky girl with the lead in the school play.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Buck unfolds his arms and walks toward him, his long legs closing the distance in five quick strides. “You sent me the code. I had to make sure it worked.”

He leans past Eddie and punches the numbers in the lock, which clunks satisfyingly open. Buck doesn’t move, his chest brushing against Eddie’s, his mouth a breath away.

“Good thing you did,” Eddie says, not even listening to the words as they come out. How can he pay attention to anything else when Buck is here, right in front of him, right where he’s supposed to be?

“You should probably write it down.” Buck moves somehow closer, and his hands settle on Eddie’s hips. “In case you ever lock your phone inside again.”

“I don’t think I’m gonna be here very long,” Eddie says, closing that final inch between them in a kiss that’s sweet for a second before Buck sighs and opens his mouth, and Eddie is officially late to work, and he doesn’t care.

and well in a world where eddie does end up getting a rental in el paso for a little bit; buck is receiving a text from eddie the first night he’s gone that just inexplicably contains 4 random digits and nothing else. he is instantly replying: everything ok???? to which eddie responds with: this house has an electronic door lock 😐 that’s the code to get in. oh well. i guess it saves me from having to mail you a key. and buck has to actively rub at his chest to comfort himself over the fact that the only person he has ever felt so emotionally and intimately close to is now so physically far away.

[watarfallar]

Giving y'all more presents because I'm feeling generous <3

Grian: What's that? Scar: Chocolate. Grian: What's chocolate? Scar: Candy. Do they not have candy where you're from? Grian: Yeah. Grapes, nuts. Scar: No wonder you're so bitter.

Scar, clearly drunk: Grian, hit me another drink… wooOO HOOoo… Grian: I think you need a therapist and not a bottle. Scar: I think yooOOoou need to shuUT YOUR MOUTH!

Grian: I won a new phone in a race. Scar: Huh? What kind of race lets you win a phone, Grian? Grian: A race between the store owner, the cop, and me.

Scar: I feel awful about killing you. Grian: Scar: Even though technically you never even died, so I don’t know what you’re bitching about.

Grian: So I can either do something dumb that could very well get me injured or I can listen to Scar and not do the thing, Grian: Well there’s a clear right answer here. Grian: proceeds to throw five packs of mentos into a barrel full of diet coke

Scar: Stop doing that. Grian: Stop doing what? Scar: Saying things that make me wanna kiss the hell out of you.

Grian: Gets down on one knee Scar: Oh my god! It’s finally happening! Grian: Collapses Scar: The poison’s kicking in!

Scar: I want you back… Grian: 3 words, 8 letters. Say it, and I'm yours. Scar: I got food? Grian: …you know me so well.

Scar: raises eyebrows Grian: Put those back down!

Grian: You’re kind of a pushover, aren’t you, Scar? Scar: …I’m sorry. Grian: See!? That’s exactly what I’m talking about!

Scar: What’s your favorite high school memory? Grian: LEAVING. FUCKING LEAVING!

Grian: Strawberry milk doesn’t taste like strawberry OR milk. Scar: Go the fuck to sleep Grian.

Scar: Why is it that I always lose things as soon as I need them? Grian: Actually, it's not that you lose things when you need them. You lose them a while before. It's just that you LOOK for things when you need them. Scar: Okay yeah thanks Grian, that's great but WHERE'S THE FUCKING FIRST AID KIT?

Scar: We have a problem. Grian: No, YOU have a problem. I have an idiot who keeps making them.

Grian: Hey guys, today Scar pushed me, so I'm starting a kickstarter to put them down. Grian: The benefits of killing them are that I would get pushed way less.

Grian: I know what you're up to. Scar: Really? Because I barely know.

Scar, peeling a banana: May I take your jacket, sir? Hahahaha. Grian: Do you think other people can’t hear you?

Scar, peeling a banana: May I take your jacket, sir? Hahahaha. Grian: Do you think other people can’t hear you?

Grian: What’s the dumbest thing you believed as a child? Scar: That naptime was a punishment.

Grian: I'm tired. Scar: You slept for three hours last night! Why are you surprised?! Grian: I'm not surprised. I just wanted to complain about it.

Scar: Will you date me? Breathe if yes, recite the Bible in Japanese if no. Grian: 初めに、神は天と地を創造されました。 Scar: What the…? Grian: 地球は形もなく虚無であり、暗闇が深海の面を覆いました… Scar: Is that actually the Bible?! Grian: …そして神の霊が水面の上に浮かんでいました。 Scar: And you stopped breathing, too?! Grian: そして神は「光あれ」と言われました。 Scar: Christ, it would have been preferable for you to just have beaten me up and called me gay!

Grian: Ah, Hello again. We really need to stop meeting like this. Scar: Maybe we would, if you would sTOP BREAKING INTO MY FUCKING HOUSE!!!

Scar, texting Grian: Hey do you like anyone? Grian: Yeah you Scar: Oh, I'm sorry we're just friends Grian: *Yeah, you? Grian: Oh haha sorry lol Scar: *dies inside*

Grian: Oh, fiddlesticks! That really ruffles my feathers! Scar: Please, just say fuck.

Scar: Even Grian and I have been getting closer. The other day, they gave me half of their sandwich. Grian: I mistook them for a garbage can.

Scar: I want a bf. Grian: Do you mean best friend, boyfriend or bread feast? Because you’re being really vague here.

AND A BONUS LIFE SERIES WINNERS:

Grian: If I fall... Scar: I’ll be there to catch you. Cleo: looks at Scott What if I fall? Scott: Then I’ll fall with you, never leaving your side. Martyn: watches these two interactions Martyn, to Pearl: And if I fall? Pearl: I’ll be the one who pushed you. Joel in the corner grumbling about how Lizzie isn't here:

[bullet-prooflove]

Wishful Thinking: Alden Parker x Reader

Tagging: @kmc1989 @mandy426 @caffeinatedwoman @elefrog25-blog @toheavenwmydrms

Companion piece to:

Pillow Talk - Alden realises he's a shitty husband.

Two Points For Honesty - Alden makes a confession about his time on the run with Viv.

Wild Flowers - You confront Viv about what happened with Alden.

The Duck Pond - You try to tell Alden how you're feeling.

The Westminster Orchid is dying, you watch as the white petals crinkle under Alden’s inattention, the stems starting to shrivel. You’ve tried watering the thing, giving it specialist food but day by day it seems to wither.

Your marriage is in a similar state, it’s been over a week since you’ve spent more than five minutes with Alden and you feel the chasm in between you grow exponentially.

You sigh as you check your watch, quarter past eight.

He was supposed to be home three hours ago so you could make the drive down to the Inn at Warner Part for a weekend getaway. The plan was to take some time off, reconnect, that’s what he had promised you that morning after the duck pond. It didn’t matter that you weren’t eating together or barely sleeping in the same bed because you’d have this time to reconcile, to take a breath.

You can’t believe what an idiot you’ve been, splashing out an extravagant amount of money for something in the depths of your heart you knew wasn’t going to happen.

Wishful thinking at it’s best, you realise.

You’ve called him a few times and left a couple of messages but there’s been no response. He must be still caught up in that case, the one with Viv. That hurt you’ve been feeling, it rises up in your chest once more, constricting it.

This is what Kris used to do to you, leave you waiting hours for something that would never happen. It feels like it’s ingrained into your psyche to fall into this trap, to be perpetually caught in the middle unable to move or make a decision.

If you leave you’re contributing to the problem, widening that distance. If you stay you’re going to be miserable and you don’t want to be that person again, the one that’s on standby waiting for the moment her husband decides he needs her.

Fuck it, you think as you raise to your feet, there’s no point in letting the weekend stay going to waste. You’ll cancel the couples events and go wine tasting by yourself.

When you climb into the car you send a final text before you turn your phone off, tucking it into the glove compartment of the vehicle. You’re done with trying to talk, you don’t want to hear the excuses or even worse the silence. You just want to sit in a jacuzzi bubble bath with a glass of wine, watching the shittiest reality TV you can find because right now watching other people’s train wreck of a life feels far better than the one you’re currently living.

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Like My Work? - Why Not Buy Me A Coffee

[sad-girl-hours23]

Hold Me Hostage, Arrest My Attention

For the @tevanadvent2024 Day 4: Hostage & Day 5: Attention

Rating: E

Tags: Orgasm Delay/Denial, Daddy Kink (not really, but just in case)

Word Count: 1,157

Buck hasn’t seen or heard from Tommy in three weeks. Not since Tommy checked on Maddie and him at the hospital after the kidnapping/hostage situation. They’d had a brief, neutral exchange in Buck’s hospital room, but then Bobby and Hen had shown up and Tommy snuck out before Buck could ask him to stay.

He’s wanted to reach out so many times but what would he even say?

Thank you

Why haven’t you called?

Please Daddy can you fuck me until I forget my own name and that you ever broke my heart?

Buck sighs and goes back to scrolling through Instagram until a text post catches his eye. It reads: Hostage or not, sometimes it’s just nice to be held.

He takes a screenshot. Stares at it for a minute in his camera roll. He shouldn’t. But he’s feeling a little sad and even more petulant. He still misses Tommy even if he’s no longer baking about it. He’s lonely. And he’s horny. He misses sex and he’s angry that even the thought of being with somebody else makes him sick and so he hasn’t even tried. 

He sends the photo. If he can’t have Tommy, at least he’ll have gotten his attention.

His phone vibrates with a message and it sends a thrill up his spine. Before he can open the message, two more come in and the panic sets in. Fuck. What did he do?

He ignores the call coming in. Considers going for a run instead to distract himself. Thinks better of it and opts for a shower instead.

∗∗∗

There’s a knock at Buck’s door just as he’s finished drying off. He ties the towel around his waist and pads to the door.

Buck tries to act surprised, maybe a little confused, but he can’t help the smile that creeps onto his face. “Tommy?” He lets Tommy in and closes the door, resting against it.

“What is wrong with you?”

“Wha—”

Tommy shows him their text thread, already open on his phone.

Buck lifts his chin. “I meant to send that to Eddie.”

Tommy hums. “Did you also mean to like fifteen of Eddie’s photos from 2019?” 

Buck smirks and shrugs. “Had to get your attention somehow.”

Tommy moves closer but doesn’t touch him and before he can do something considerate like ask if Buck’s okay with it, he grabs Tommy’s face and kisses him.

Tommy’s stubble scrapes against Buck’s freshly shaved skin and Buck gets hard so fast he’s dizzy with it. “Bed,” he says, in between kisses. “I need you in my bed like yesterday.”

Tommy looks between them where Buck’s dick is poking out of the gap in the towel, hard and already leaking, and he chuckles. “Baby, I don’t think you’re going to make it that far.” 

“Oh fuck you, Kinard.”

Tommy hums. “Not tonight, dear.” Then he drops to his knees, takes Buck into the wet heat of his mouth, and gives Buck the quickest, most dizzying orgasm of his life.

Buck’s still panting and clinging to Tommy’s shoulders when Tommy suddenly lifts him in a fireman’s carry.

Buck laughs, his first genuine one in months. “Oh my god, put me down you beast.”

“Not a chance, Buckley,” Tommy says, carrying him upstairs. 

∗∗∗

Buck groans and clutches the sheets underneath him, which are soaked with a mixture of his sweat and drool. His chances of crying or coming are pretty even at this point. Except, Tommy won’t let him come, not until he’s named all of the U.S. state capitals. In alphabetical order by state. Buck scoffed when Tommy had set the terms. Easy, he thought, I could do that in my sleep. 

It’s not so easy with Tommy’s tongue in Buck’s ass, his cock leaking into the pillow supporting his hips and it feels like Tommy’s been eating him out for hours and he’s still a little come drunk from his first orgasm and he’s only up to—oh, fuck— “Carson,” Buck moans. “Carson City.” Memories of a late night wiki deep dive ping in his mind. “Oh hey, did you know—”

Tommy chuckles. “Darling, do you want to have to start over? Again?”

Buck whines. Tommy can’t expect him to name fifty state capitals and not go on a tangent about any of them…he knows what he’s doing. And, oh fuck, does he know what he’s doing.

When Buck finally makes it to “Cheyenne,” Tommy calls him good boy and pushes three fingers into his eager, spit-soaked hole and Buck comes so hard he passes out.

∗∗∗

When Buck comes to, Tommy’s next to him, propped up on his elbow. He slides a warm washcloth over Buck’s sticky, cooling skin and doesn’t meet his eyes.

Buck stretches and groans. “We should definitely do that again.” Right now, he thinks, and tomorrow, and every day after. 

Tommy stops his movements and tosses the washcloth aside. “I’m not some toy that you can just pick up and play with when you feel like it, Buck.”

Buck’s brain isn’t completely back online yet, and flashes of a forgotten memory rise to the surface: Buck at age ten, bored and rustling through the garage for something to do. Finding a tub of Maddie’s old Barbie dolls and accessories. An hour later, marrying Ken and G.I. Joe in a gazebo. 

Buck faces Tommy, thinking he would be amused by the story, but stops short at the stormy look on his face. Oh, it’s not a game anymore.

Buck sits up. “Are you serious? You broke up with me, remember?”

Tommy makes a move to get up from the bed, but Buck’s faster, pushing him back down with a firm hand on his chest. 

“You decided you were done with me,” Buck grits out as he straddles Tommy’s hips. He shakes his head, even though Tommy won’t look at him. “No that’s not right—you decided I was done with you.” Buck grabs Tommy’s cleft, forcing Tommy to face him.

There’s a flash of warning in Tommy’s eyes. 

“Who the fuck said I was done with you?”

Tommy stays silent, a stubborn set to his jaw, but he doesn’t look away.

Buck brings Tommy’s hands to the top of the bed, interlacing their fingers. “I’m not done with you.”

Tommy doesn’t pull away.

∗∗∗

Buck wakes the next morning, loose-limbed and lighter than he’s felt in months. The strings of anger that had been holding him up effectively cut, all the fight thoroughly sucked and fucked out of him.

There’s a solid wall of muscle and heat at his back, one hand curled possessively around his waist, small puffs of breath against his neck. Buck turns in the embrace. “Tommy?” he says quietly, like Tommy might disappear if the voice of his hope is too loud.

Tommy opens his eyes. “Evan?”

“You stayed.”

“Yeah,” Tommy says, running his hand through Buck’s curls. “ Guess I’m not done with you yet either.”

Also on AO3

[fashionteahouse]

Totally random but could you write like an alternate ending one shot with Edward and y/n from the the story please lowkey wanna see that play out

ooo sure okay 💜 hope you enjoy :)

out of your league - paul edward x reader (alternate version)

AN: for the paul lovers, all i have to say is, i’m sorry 😭 ! don’t read if you are a paul lover !

read out of your league part 21 for context :)

The solemn was great but you were sure that your decision was the right one. Your mind was like a tornado by the way thoughts kept coming through.

At the jet landing, Larry and his girlfriend gave you a quick but tight hug before getting into their own car that had someone holding the car door open for them.

A car was waiting for you as well, with Edward holding the door open. You get in the passenger seat and Edward swiftly puts your luggage in the trunk, making sure to keep his quickness at a human level.

The trip was silent but the sound that beat around the car from the busy city life was heard. Reality had set in. You made your choice. Your choice to stay.

The traffic was bad, your eyes were glued to the window. The sky was starting to darken even more than it was, cold rain started to patter softly. A flick of the windshield wipers was heard.

“How was LA?” he asks you softly, dying to make conversation as he noticed your reserved presence but, you jumped at the voice snapping you out of your thoughts.

“Huh?” you ask him in a small voice.

“How was LA?” he asks again.

“Horrible.” you say, not changing the volume as you speak in a small voice.

“Really?” he asks in slight astonishment. You huff out a small sigh as you watch the rain roll down your window, it looked really close to tears. You just silently nod.

After some time, he looks over to you, “Do you want to listen to some music?”

“If you want to, you can turn some on. I’m not stopping you.” you say in a whisper.

It was low like a hum, the music starts to play from his stereo. The classical song that you told him you liked. You give a slight incredulous look, “Really?” you ask.

His lip lifts up into a smile only just a little, as he looked to you. In a way, it did soothe you a bit. It helped clear the thoughts in your mind. Your sadness started to slowly turn into a tad of anger.

If Paul was going to make an ultimatum like that, you thought, “Fuck it.”

It simply wasn’t fair. If the shoe was on the other foot, you wouldn’t make him choose like that.

“Are you hungry?” he asks and you notice that the song had ended, what’s now playing is something he seemed to enjoy as you didn’t know the song.

You shrug.

“Y/N, we can’t start this again.” he says softly.

“At least let me…get settled in first. I just want to decompress for a second.” you say. He complies.

The route to your apartment was in your eyes as you looked through the windshield at the street. You get out and your luggage is already in his hand as you move inside of the building.

“I will be quick.” you tell him and he nods as he walks to the sofa that he knew for sure that Alice had picked out.

You sit alone in your bedroom on your bed with your jacket still on. You checked your phone. It was evening now. No calls, no texts, just nothing. You toss it to the side on the soft surface and look to the floor for a moment with a frown with slump shoulders.

Your eyesight begins to blur as tears splat on your lap. You don’t make any noise but a deep breath as your face feels hot. This was something that you wanted so badly.

A soft knock makes you collect the tears from your eyes with a soft sniff.

“Yeah?” you call out after clearing your throat.

“Everything alright?” you hear through the door and you’re already up and walking towards it. You open it and Edward’s face is painted with slight worry.

“Yes….Let’s go.” you say to him as you now have yourself together.

You stared at the bubbles that floated about in your untouched drink. You forgot what you ordered.

“You’re upset…Why?” he rings out softly.

“I made a sacrifice.” you say lowly.

He stared at you even though your eyes were glued to the cup in front of you.

“Do you want to talk about what it was?” he asks.

You don’t say anything at first, but the words were at the tip of your tongue. You raise your eyes to his intense but amber eyes as you began to speak. You had his attention.

“Being here. Coming back here means I lose….him.” you say and you look down. He watched you.

The waiter comes before he could speak, he sets your plate down and you give him a quiet thank you after he says that the plate is hot.

“I’m sure you didn’t lose him.” he says to you as he slightly shakes his head.

“I did.” you say with such finality. You then take your eyes off of him before unwrapping the silverware. You stab your fork into your plate and you eat in silence without looking back up at him.

That night, you called and called Paul. There was no answer. No text back. Acceptance seeped into your body.

The next morning, Alice made you get out of bed. She wouldn’t stop calling to the point that it was your alarm. After getting dressed from your shower, you pull on your jacket and feel in your pockets. The sharp edge of the thin paper poked your fingers and you pull it out. You stared at the amount of 0’s that would change your life. This solidified that you are able to now be the artist without the starving part.

Alice sat with you in the office of a financial adviser at the private bank. You were quiet and let her do most of the talking.

“Do you want to draw later?” she asked softly when they had to answer a quick phone call. You look to her and she looked hopeful. She did nothing wrong and sketching usually made you pour out feelings that were deep within. You nod. She smiles excitedly.

“Okay and you’re good to go.” The fiduciary financial adviser says with a smile and you and Alice rise up.

“He didn’t answer at all?” she asks in disbelief. You told her that you haven’t spoken to Paul.

“No.” you say looking down at the sidewalk with your hands stuffed in your jacket pocket.

“Don’t jump to conclusions just yet. Maybe he’s in his wolf form and can’t answer.”

You sighed, “Alice, it’s the afternoon. He would’ve called me by now if not sooner…..” you say in defeat as you both walked.

Alice bells out a happy hello to her brother who is at his piano. The face on his was shocked that you had came in through the door right behind her. He gets up and walks over to you both.

“Where’s Jasper?” you ask to no one in particular.

“He went to visit Emmett.” Edward replies.

“You didn’t go?” you ask him as you took off your jacket. Edward almost immediately reaches out and you place it in his outreaching arms. He shakes his head.

“Come on!” she says excitedly.

She takes your hand and Edward watched as you disappeared with his sister.

The mannequin this time had nothing on it. A soft grin forms on your lips. You turn to Alice who is setting down plain white sheets on the large workspace.

“You didn’t make anything?” you ask surprised.

She just gracefully twirls as you stare at what she has on.

“Wow.” you just say and she just smiles.

As the sounds of pencils started to scratch into the room, she asks you, “So..Have an idea on what you would want to do for your birthday?”

You shrug, “Probably just treat myself out..Or something.” you say with uncertainty. That’s when her face stretched into a bright smile.

“What?” you ask her with a knowing grin.

“Nothing.” she says as she starts to color in the design she’s making.

“Yeah, right.” you say shaking your head with a chuckle and go back to finishing your own work. You didn’t care too much about drawing the clothes in a technical manner.

“So..What did you and Edward do for the two days I was gone?” you ask.

“We just did what we normally do. It was a bit boring to be honest.” she says.

“Really? I mean…You can guys can basically do anything.” you point out. This makes her laugh a little.

“But, I didn’t have anyone to do this with.” she says.

“Mm.” you say with a nod as you finish up with what’s on your paper.

It seemed as soon as you both got done, Edward appeared in the doorway.

“Look at what we made.” Alice says to him and waves him over. He enters and his eyes flicker to yours first. You put a hand over it. Alice nudges your hand, “Y/N.”

“It’s not as good as yours.” you say with a slight frown.

“Who cares.” she says with a smile. You let your hand up and Edward is now beside you.

“It’s good Y/N.” he says to you as he inspects it. You thank him even though you don’t fully believe him.

“Alright, you two. I have to hunt and by the time I get back, Jasper will be here.” she says to you both and you follow her out of the room.

“You’re not going?” you ask Edward after Alice had made her departure.

“I went when you and Alice were away.” he says. You nod. You cross your arms and your eyes go to his abandoned piano.

“What were you playing?” you ask. He doesn’t say anything immediately as he walks to the bench but doesn’t sit down.

“How about I teach you instead.” he says with a warm smile. You put your head slightly up and he chuckled at this.

“Come on, it’s easy.” he says as he gestures for you to come.

You flop down and stare at the keys. They were like a foreign language.

“I’m not going off of anything you say is easy.” you say as you turn your head to look up at him. He stared down with liquid gold eyes with amusement.

“A child can learn what I’m about to teach you.” he says as you turn back around as he stepped closer behind you.

“Place your fingers here.” he says and demonstrates with his own as he leaned his arms over your shoulder. You follow and you hold back your flinch from his fingers brushing briefly against yours. You sit up straighter with square shoulders.

His fingers press yours down and have you repeat the first sequence. You do so before he teaches you the next sequence and you do that before you start from the top.

“See?” he says as you play on your own. You never thought you would be able to play a song on the piano but, to be fair, it was easy. The notes weren’t complicated and the melody was simple.

After you play with ease, he suggest another set of notes to make it sound a bit better.

As you play around with it, you couldn’t help but softly ahh out at the fact that you were getting the hang of the instrument. He slowly reached back over and adds onto the melody that you were already playing. You both were now playing the piano together.

He retracted his arms and it makes you stop. You turn around and the prolonged eye contact that he gives you makes you nervous. You look down. He senses this and holds out his hand. You stare at it for a moment before taking it.

You shivered slightly as he held onto your hand and leads you to a room. His hand felt like a stone that you had picked up in cold weather.

Your body froze as you stared at the piece he had bought from you. It was nicely placed and it seemed to go really well with the room. You let your eyes travel about.

“This is your room?” you ask quietly and look to him. He nods. You hum a response.

“I can’t believe you bought it.” you say with a sly grin as you continued to look at. You had to admit, you were glad that your hard work didn’t go to waste.

“I just couldn’t resist.” he says. The room seemed like something was missing. You look around with furrowed eyebrows and he watched you.

He watched your face return back to neutral. He wanted to know what was on your mind as you were clearly thinking hard.

“What is it?” he asks.

“Oh..Nothing..” you say with a soft chuckle. It seemed embarrassing.

He brings out an encouraging grin, even subtly swinging the hand that was still attached to his, “Tell me.” You felt his thumb brush against the back of your hand. You look down and back up at him and his gaze back at you with a fond look.

“You don’t have a bed.” you say and he chuckles out and you continue, “But I forgot. You don’t sleep.” you say with a soft smile that came on your face without permission.

“You’re right.” he says to you.

“So like…Do you miss it?” you ask. You genuinely wanted to know. He leads you to a large plush chair that was in his room. He sits down and your hand is still attached to his as you look down at him. He tugs it slightly and you hesitate as you look at his lap.

You decide to sit on the arm of the chair, letting your legs and sock covered feet rest between his leg. You two are now close. You focus on breathing as you realize he never let go of your hand.

“I do now.” he tells you. You look at him in astonishment. You didn’t expect that answer.

“You do? I would figure that’s the part that didn’t really matter.” you say.

“Well.. I didn’t care too much for it..But…” he says but trails off. Silence fell in your ears and you look away from your piece that you were glancing at and look at his face.

“But what?”

“I wish I could dream.” he reveals in a voice that’s dripping in velvet.

“Hm…Fair…What would you dream about?” you asked him.

He then looks down a bit and you match his lax grin.

“Don’t leave me on a cliffhanger.” you say humorously.

“I don’t want to scare you away. That’s all.” he tells you softly.

“A little too late for that. I’m literally hanging with Dracula right now.”

He laughs out, even tilting his head back and you can see the glisten of his white teeth from the light.

“What do you dream about?” he asks. You shake your head and sigh a little, “Don’t change the subject.”

“If you tell me, I’ll tell you.” he says. You roll your eyes a bit, “You’re so unfair.”

“An eye for an eye.” he says with a grin.

You huff out a bit before you just shrug, “Random stuff really. I go on adventures in my dreams. If I were to make a movie about my dreams it would be a mind trip.”

He unclasps his hand from yours before reattaching it. You watch this.

“Come on.” you trail out encouragingly but softly as you see that he’s hesitating still. He swallows just a bit before speaking out, “This. Us. The things that we do.”

Your breath hitched. For some reason, you didn’t expect that to be his answer. You blink at him to see if he would joke or saying, “Just kidding.” but he doesn’t. He just waits for your reaction with his intense eyes.

“Wasn’t expecting that.” you replied with pursed lips as you were in thought. You get up, making sure to not let yourself stumble and wiggle your hand free from his.

You walk to a record collection of his and choose to look at that with your hands on your hips.

“I scared you away.” he states as he speaks over your shoulder.

You bark out a laugh, “That didn’t scare me.”

He picks up a record and you watch him as he shows it to you. He slides it out and placed it in the record player. You continue to watch him.

He turns back around to face you once the needle hits the track and the record spins. The melodic rhythm fills the room. He’s standing close in front of you and reaches down slowly to grab your hand again. This time you’re not shocked by the difference of the body temperature.

What you’re shocked about is the fact that he pulls you fluidly to him, he carefully placed your hands on his shoulders and he placed his on your waist. Feet started to move and you follow his. No words were said as the slow song played. It reminded you of a vintage romance movie. So much, that you swallowed from nervousness.

You see a mirror and you catch the reflection. It looked like a romantic painting. You didn’t know how to feel about that, as you didn’t know if you were overreacting.

You lightly huff out a tiny laugh and look down.

“What?” he asks as a small grin danced on his lips. You shake your head a bit, “I never thought I would…I don’t know…Slow dancing?”

“You haven’t done this with anyone else before?” he asks and you catch the slight surprise. You shake your head. Before you knew it, he lifts you a small twirl happens as you clutch onto him. You laugh a bit. He sets you back down on your feet with a warm smile, his finger slightly brushed the exposed skin from your shirt lifting a bit. Goosebumps appear and he takes one of your hands and hold it. He lifted you up as easily as one could lift a doll, placing you on your tippy toes on top of his feet.

He looks down at you and you look up at him. He looks content. As if he could look at you all day. Thoughts are empty as you watch him lean closer and closer slowly. You were almost to his height this way, so he didn’t have to move too far. He placed a kiss on your cheek. You jerk from surprise but luckily he holds you up in a firm hold.

“I’m sorry.” he whispers out, his eyebrows are knitted together.

“I…” you just say but you couldn’t think of anything to say. You were ashamed that a spark was felt on your cheek. You felt guilty.

He sets your feet to the floor and steps back. An apologetic look is on his face.

“I’m gonna use the restroom.” you quietly say with your head down.

In the mirror, the reflection reached and the fingertips touched the touched cheek. You let your eyes fall with your hand.

You reach into your back pocket and pull out your phone. There was nothing. Still no texts, no calls, or even an attempt to reach out. You shove it back into your pocket.

You walk out and you catch Edward brooding in his chair. His eyes lift up to you standing in his room. Your hands rest on your arms as you watch him.

“I’m sorry.” he says again and looked like he wanted to kick himself.

You shrug, “It wasn’t on the lips.” He doesn’t say anything but doesn’t take his eyes away from yours.

You sit back onto the arm of the chair, just like how you previously were.

You place both arms on your knees as you both stare at each other. You watch as he graced his fingers on your hand.

“You don’t know how good it feels to do this without my throat severely burning.” he says softly. You nod in understanding.

“I have to confess something.” he then says.

You take his hand fully. Hoping it was enough for him to spit it out. It was.

“I did have a breakup with Bella…”

You snort, “Why did you lie?”

“I felt foolish…That meant that I had to come to terms that I agreed to a relationship with the greatest prey a predator could ever come across. Her blood sang to me.” he says.

“What does that mean?” you ask.

“Her blood was like a siren to vampires. It smelled sweeter than most. More mouthwatering than most.” he says and sucks in a breath he didn’t have to take, “I couldn’t be with someone like that….It’s not like that with you.”

“My blood sucks.” you joke quietly. Edward forms a slight grin.

“I don’t even think of your blood. I just think of you and what you do.”

“Yeah, right. You’re only just saying that because I’m immune to your power.”

“Not completely immune. I can see the colors that try to merge with each other. I love your mind….With Bella I just read nothing. Pure nothing.” he reveals.

“Answer me this.” you say and he says to you, “Anything.”

“What did Alice see? Remember I asked you what else did she see? I know you lied, Edward.” you say.

“This will scare you away definitely.” he says with a nervous smile.

You throw your arms slightly up to gesture to your surroundings. You give him a humorous look.

“A kiss on the cheek scared you.” he teases. You then playfully nudge his chest.

“Stop being chicken.” you say as you wait for him to continue.

“She saw….Y/N can we please talk about something else?”

“Noooooo.” you say.

He huffs a bit but you patiently wait.

“She saw our future together. That’s all I will say.” he says and rises up. You follow him.

“Was it good or bad?” you ask him.

“Neither.” he answers and you both are back in the living room, “It was great.”

“W…What about…” you start but shake your head and sit on the large sofa.

“What about what?”

“Paul. Does that mean I broke up….With him?” you ask.

“With the way we were acting, I hope so.” he says with a bit of hesitance as he sits next to you.

“We….were doing something dirty?!” you ask nervously.

He chuckled, “Get your mind out of the gutter.” he taps your temple a bit in a playful way, You roll your eyes a bit.

Alice comes in right in tow with Jasper. Jasper smiles and says hello to you. You greet him back.

“Congratulations, Y/N. Your piece really was amazing.” he says to you. You smile and thank him.

Alice tugs his arm, tugging him away with a smile you knew all too well. Edward rises and you look up at him.

“They’re about to go at it.” he says with a slight grimace and jerks his head to the front door. This actually made you chuckle.

You get up quickly and he hands you your jacket. You both agree on walking.

Side by side, the pace match each other’s.

“I didn’t know how much I was impacted by your presence until you were only gone for two days.” he told you.

“What do you mean?”

“I thought I was going mad…Who told you to wrap me around your finger?” he says as the arm of his jacket brushed against yours. You didn’t mind. You weren’t focused on that, you were focused on with what he was saying.

“You’re annoying.” you say with a soft smile.

“I’m serious.” he says to you, displaying his own smile.

“Was I…Happy? In the vision.” you wonder.

“I’m guessing so. Do you smile when you’re not happy?”

You shake your head.

You both look at books. You both talk about what you both find is interesting. He takes you to get something to eat.

He steadily holds the spoon as you lean forward and capture it in your mouth.

“Is it possible for someone like you to overeat?” you wonder after you sit back in your seat. You didn’t want to say it out too loud in public.

“Yeah. It’s like a weird liquidy feeling inside.” he says with a crooked grin.

You raise your hand to get the spoon back. He didn’t want to give it back.

“I can feed myself.” you say with a grin.

“I..Like this.” he says with a content grin and waits for your reaction. When you don’t give him one, he scoops a bit of your food onto the utensil again and holds it out for you to take a bite. You only have to lean forward just slightly since you both were already in close proximity.

“What did you do while I was away?” you ask.

“The usual.” he shrugs. He continued to stare for a moment before saying, “It definitely felt like something….Or someone was missing.”

“You’re saying that to make me feel important.” you say with a grin.

His face is serious, “I’m serious.” he says. The spoon softly clatters back onto your dish. He takes your hands that are resting close to him on the table. Both thumbs scrape against the back on your hands. The butterflies that came scared you.

You retract your hands and look down.

“What is it?” he asked feeling confused. You don’t say anything but the waitress comes back over with a smile asking how the everything was, you let Edward answer as you take small bites of the rest of your food.

“Everything is fine. We can get the check.” he says to her but he doesn’t look at her. He just watched you.

She leaves and he calls your name, even going as far as covering the hand that’s still on the table.

“We have to stay friends. Nothing more.” you say with a shaky voice.

“So we’re friends. I thought you hated me.” he teases and as much as you didn’t want to, you laugh a little at his statement.

“I hate no one.” you say.

“If we’re friends, does that mean I can still see you?” he asks you.

You push your empty plate away from you slightly and just give him a glance. You lift a shoulder up slightly as you felt nervous.

“Am I that boring?” he asks plainly. You lean forward a bit, “No.” you say with a chuckle.

“I want to be honest. I know I lied to you about Bella and I’m sorry. You’ll get nothing but the truth from me.” he says.

“It’s okay. At least you told me before I found out in a different way. I want to be honest too. I don’t know where I am with Paul and I don’t want to complicate things.” you admit.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“Do you enjoy the time that we do spend together?” He asks as he holds your eyes in his.

You held it in. You didn’t admit nor deny. You both stared intensely at each other. The waitress then comes and gives Edward the bill back.

“Ride or walk?” he asks you.

You shrug as you look at him.

You ended up going home. The ride home had a tense cloud but it was expected. You call Paul again and again. You call one more time and he picks up the phone.

“Yes, Y/N.” The voice is annoyed.

“Hey.” you say into the line.

“What do you want.” he said flatly. It had no energy. You knew that you were the cause of that.

“I just wanted to check up on you.” you say in a small voice.

“I’m fine.” he just says and you wait to see if he would speak again. He doesn’t.

You finally say something, “I know you’re mad at me.”

“I’m not doing this over the phone.” he says impatiently.

“What you’re doing is being an ass right now. I just want to talk.” you say feeling frustrated.

“Talk? Talk for what? You’re going to always do your own thing anyway.” he says.

“You’re so cold and for what?” you ask him in disbelief as a pang hits your chest.

“Now, I’m cold.” he says sarcastically and huffs out a laugh, “I can’t do this.”

You stand up and grit out, “Can’t do what?” Your anger rise. You refused to believe that he was serious. “Can’t do what?!” you ask louder.

“What’s the point in trying to be with someone who always goes against you? Who doesn’t love you back? Who doesn’t seem to care about the connection that’s shared? I’ve tried Y/N. I’m tired Y/N. You want to talk about cold, it’s you. You know and I both know that you’re not even coming back.” he spits out.

“Unfair. You don’t love me. You don’t talk to someone you love like that, threatening breakup-“

“Save the bullshit. I did! I wouldn’t say shit like that to someone I don’t love. You don’t love me. It’s all one sided. You’re so fucking blind to see it. Wake up!”

“Did? So, the times that I went against everyone just to be with you, didn’t matter huh?”

“You know what I mean and you wouldn’t have to give a fuck about everyone if you knew what you wanted in the first place. One minute, you make it seem like I’m your priority and the next, you make it seem like I’m not. You don’t even know what you want.”

“I do. I do.” you say as the silent tears fall onto the wooden floor.

“You don’t.”

“I know what I want. I want someone who’s not going to control me. It’s like you’re ruining this for me on purpose. It’s always your way or ‘we’re done’ well guess what? Let me give you your way. I’m tired of you always threatening me. If you want us to be done, fine. We’re done.” you choke out and press the end call. You throw your phone down on the ground in an angry grunt.

The phone vibrates and you pick it up. You slide your finger on to the screen and he immediately starts talking, “First of all, no one is controlling you and second, just remember that it’s you who wants to end things shitty. Then, you’re gonna fucking hang up on me? Talking about how we’re done?”

“Oh, now you care!” you say as you pace, “I haven’t even heard from you! You can’t do this remember!” you say angrily in the phone, taking it away from your ear to speak directly into the speaker.

“I’m not fucking doing this. This is toxic. I fucking can’t.” he says.

“You’re toxic. You’re cancer. I cared about you and you didn’t care back unless you need your dick wet. That’s the reason why you want me home. This imprint is just an excuse for you and your wolf to dominate me.” you hiss out.

“Look at how you’re fucking talking…Cared?…..” he grits out.

“I’m not being stuck in La Push just to make you happy. You know what? Just because you can’t leave doesn’t mean you get to take it out on me! Us living together isn’t working. I don’t even want to come back….To your house. I want a boyfriend not a father!”

He hears your angry breathing as you pace.

“My house….You’re talking crazy. I bet you don’t have an answer on when you’re coming home. You’re doing this shit on purpose. You know that Larry said you can come home but you’re going off of some psychic leech who doesn’t give a fuck about you except for your blood.” After a beat, he speaks again, “You cashed that leech’s money, didn’t you?” he says menacingly. You didn’t recognize this person on the phone. He didn’t recognize the person on his line.

You not saying anything told him the answer.

“Bye, Y/N.” he says.

Click.

You stare at the screen. It cracked. You groan and throw it down again. But, harder. You slowly say on the bed, staring at the wall, your adrenalin comes down. Reality sets in. You realized your fuck up. Your face crumbled.

Face down, you angrily cry into your mattress. Your body and your shoulders shake. You never been this mad before. You cry about the cruel things that you said. You couldn’t take them back. You think about the cruel things that he said. He couldn’t take them back.

He told you he loved you, but you felt that there was no way he could never love you after tonight.

With a pounding headache, the morning light flashed you. Your phone didn’t work anymore. The screen was discolored and cracked, you couldn’t see anything on it. You just cried. You slept when you felt sad. You couldn’t explain the heaviness that you felt.

A knock scared you, making you jerk out of your sleep. You ignored it. They kept knocking.

Swinging the door open, you don’t say anything but stare at the person in front of you. They saw that you had on the same clothes from yesterday but they were wrinkled on your body.

They step closer and you step back and close the door. Their foot wouldn’t let you.

“I’m worried.”

“Don’t be.” you hiss out.

“Me and Alice tried calling you.” Edward says.

“My phone is broken.”

“Just please tell me what’s wrong. I won’t say anything and will let you talk.”

“I. don’t. want. to. talk.”

“Can I at least get your phone fixed?”

“I don’t want it anymore.” you say and leave the door and go to grab it from your bedroom floor from where you discarded it.

You walk back to his body and put it in his hand roughly.

“Keep it.” you say.

“You said we can be friends. Why won’t you let me help you as a friend?” he asks you as he peered down at you.

“There’s nothing you can do.” you say in defeat and looked down. He slides the no good phone into his pocket.

He places two hands on your shoulders and pull you to him. You frown a bit until your head is now on his chest. He just holds you to him without saying anything.

“How did this happen?” the worker asks you. You take in a small breath as you start to feel embarrassed, Edward places a hand on your back.

“I threw it down. I was angry.” you just say.

“The screen is absolutely no good. It needs a replacement.” the worker says as they inspect it some more.

“No need to fix it. I’ll just get a new one.” you mutter. You then follow them to pick it out. He gives you your old sim card and gives you the bag that contained your new device. Before you could pull your card fully out of your wallet, Edward’s chip is already stuck in the machine.

You both are in no rush. He carried your box after discarding the bag.

“You’ve done enough.” you say as you face him before going inside of your own place.

He placed a hand on your arm and it halts you. He searched your face for a moment.

“What really happened? Why were you upset?” he asks you softly.

You look up at the sky.

“I ruined everything.” you say flatly.

“Do you want to talk about it? I do have forever.” he says, trying his best to bring humor into it.

“No.” you say as you then look down. “I need to be by myself.”

You walk away.

You stared at the glowing phone in your hand. It’s the most you’ve been called from the pack. The most was from Sam, your stomach dropped at the fact. You turn your phone off. You didn’t want those emotions to spill out again.

The only that open in your art room was the window. You just let it out in there. You had no direction as you worked. It was all impulse.

A stretched canvas was covered by the time sky was dark. You didn’t care that your hands and your back was hurting. The theme was self hatred. The theme was self sabotage. The theme was loss.

You sit down and put your head to your knees, starting to cry some more.

When you woke up, you winced as you rose up from the hard floor. Your hands and fingers were stained by you didn’t care. The same clothes from a day prior were once again on your body.

You felt too ashamed to look into the mirror. Under the water, the same thought floated through your mind.

“What am I going to do?”

You sat on the bench, finishing a hot sandwich. Eating it on autopilot, you stared at the same spot in front of you.

You feel your phone in your pocket buzz and pull it out half heartedly.

“Yeah.” you say, lacking any emotion.

“Y/N, what the hell is going on?” the voice coated in authority.

“A lot. I don’t want to talk right now.”

“If not now, then when? We have to talk. Paul fucking snapped.”

“It’s what he always does. As soon as he doesn’t get his way. The one time I’m doing something for me it’s a problem. I’m here for work and I need to focus.”

A pause soon took place before Sam talked again, “There’s still a chance to resolve both of you guys’ issues. Now, you do have to come home so you both can talk and work it out. You’re his imprint.”

“His. It’s all about him, I guess.”

“Y/N, don’t be like that. This isn’t like you. It feels like I’m talking to a completely different person. What’s really going on?”

“Nothing! Oh, I know. Everyone’s trying to parent me instead of letting me live my life. My dream was to always do this. With or without Paul. I thought the imprint was about him making sure I am happy too?”

“It is. No one’s trying to parent you. However, Paul is in bad shape. I want you both to really get through this and not fall apart. Especially not right now.”

“Too late. We said too much that we both can’t even come back from. I’ll talk to you later.” you say. Sam calls your name but you hang up. You put your phone back into your pocket.

The next few days, seemed like a daze. You only remember bits and pieces. Like Emily calling you. That’s how you knew, it was definitely over.

As you got dressed for a dinner meeting with Larry, a knock hits your door. You open it and it’s Alice.

You both talk as she zipped you up from the back.

“It’s really over.”

“I’m sure it’s not.” she says, throwing your idea away.

“He got Emily to help him move my stuff out.” you say flatly.

Alice pauses and looks at you from behind before standing in front of you.

“Are…You okay?”

“Life keeps on going.” you say with a soft shrug. She then wraps her arms around you.

You watched as Larry talked loud with a man that he knew for years. He owned his own high profile gallery and wanted to know if Larry stumbled across any talent.

Larry brought you.

You didn’t drink leisurely. But you did tonight.

“I know she has something done. Y/N.” Larry calls to you. You look at him. He’s wearing a humorous smile, he was tipsy.

“You got something done?” he asks you and you nod and he laughs nudging the client who’s very pleased.

“Bring what you got into my office tomorrow.” he says. You nod.

What you brought, he liked. He actually vocally loved it. You forced a soft smile to be polite. He shook your hand and offered to buy it off of you.

“How much do you want for it?” he asks as Larry sits on the edge of his office desk, hands in his pockets. The man had an elbow resting on his hand as he looked at the work you did.

“Um…” you say as you look at it, “Whatever you can give me.”

He was generous. Too generous. Your eyes bulge out of your sockets at the amount of 0’s. Larry and the person who paid you, shook each other’s hand with a smile. They promised each other to catch up with each other soon.

Coming out of the office, you stopped past your apartment to get your book. You didn’t want to be stuck in the boxed home. The wind wasn’t blowing too bad.

You were entrapped into the storyline of your book. You hear faint movement from the small table you were sitting at. You look up to see liquid gold staring back at you. You look back down to the words.

“Congratulations on your piece being sold.” he says.

“Thanks.” you mutter.

Some time slowly went past as you tried to concentrate back onto your book but you just couldn’t. You get up and Edward thought you were leaving. You instead went to a table that had a puzzle laid out. You focused on that.

He slides the piece that you were looking for in your direction. You stare at it. You sigh. He doesn’t say anything.

“What do you do when you want to crawl into a hole and die?” you ask him quietly as you snapped the piece into place.

“I just go away for a while.” he answers.

“Maybe, that’s what I need to do.” you mused.

“Maybe.” he says back.

He speaks again, “I’m going to Ithaca again. Would you come?”

You look at him. He’s waiting for your answer.

“I have nothing else better to do.”

A night of sleep later, you watch the road in front of you as he drives on it.

You were surrounded by hugs and talks of how happy they were to see you.

“Surprised that Alice isn’t here.” Esme says.

“Her and Jasper decided to stay back.” Edward answers.

“How long will you be with us?” Carlisle asks with a smile as he looked down at the bag that Edward was carrying.

“It’s just for a breather.” Edward says.

“It’s not much, but thank goodness there’s a bed for you to sleep in.” Esme says as she guides you up the grand stairs, into a spare bedroom. It was very spacious.

“I appreciate this. Thank you.” you say.

“Just let me know if I can help you with anything.” she says. You nod and she starts to leave but you say, “Wait.” She stops in the doorway, eager to hear what you have to say.

You hesitate but her eyes were warm enough for you to feel comfortable enough to continue, “How….How do you get over feeling heart broken? This is the real reason for the getaway.” you say in a small voice. She steps in and has a sympathetic look on her face.

She extends her arms out and you step in them. She rubs your back as you hug her back.

“Just feel it and then let it go.” she says. You both step back and look at each other. You nod in understanding. She touches your arm in a gentle manner.

You sketch in your book with your knees up as you sat on the bed. It was causal. You let your mind feel and run through the memories of you and Paul. You let yourself feel the emotions and the feelings that wanted to overflow.

You hear your name being called and you jerk from being startled.

“Scared me.” You say to Edward’s figure in the doorway.

“You scared me. I’ve been calling your name.” he says.

You pause as you look at him.

“You have?” you ask. He nods. You watch as he moves closer into the room. He sits on the edge of your bed.

“You can talk to me if something’s wrong.” he says.

You set your book aside and you watch as his eyes couldn’t help but flicker to the open page.

“It’s not finished yet.” you say to him.

“I wouldn’t have been able to tell.” he says bringing out a soft grin. Nothing is said for a moment.

“See anything? Read anything?” you ask and point to your temple. He nods a bit.

“I’m sorry, Y/N.” he says sympathetically. The way he says it made it seem like he was the one who hurt you.

“What doesn’t kill us really makes us stronger.” you say, chuckling a bit at the cliché.

“You are strong.” he comments quietly.

In the kitchen, you stood next to Edward as you watch him stand at the island as he pours piping hot water over a tea bag that’s resting in a tea cup.

He slides you the cup and the small bowl of sugar cubes.

It was only you and Edward in the living room after you had drunken your tea. It soothed your throat. The television wasn’t on. You both talked.

“So…He just moved your stuff out?” he asks quietly.

“Yeah. A friend of mine helped him and…Everything’s back at my family’s home.”

“How come you never really talk about your family?”

You shrug.

“I don’t know. Plus, they’re always so busy.” you answer. The times that they were there, they would be so tired from working that you felt bad to bother them. You knew it was so you could live comfortably. But, you missed that family orientation. The pack gave you that, but you didn’t know if that was even on the table still.

“Is that what made you like doing art so much?” he asks. You nod.

“I was a lonely kid. Art was always my friend.” you say.

“When you moved out, was it a relief to them?” he asks.

“Not a relief but, they were just glad that I found someone who made me happy.” you say. You look to him.

“You don’t have to answer, but since changing, do you miss your real parents?” you ask.

Edward mused, he spoke out, “Yes. But, I know that my mother was on her last breath begging Carlisle to save me.”

“She knew?” you ask surprised.

“I’m not sure if I’m quite honest.” he answered.

“Were you the only child?” you ask. He nods.

“This might be random but since you’re who you are…Are you able to have children with someone?” you ask.

“No.” he answers. You’re confused.

“I have nothing but venom through my body. Excluding the blood from when I feed.”

“Wow.” you say.

“Would you want children in the future?” he asks.

You shrug, “They’re a lot of responsibility. So, I’m not sure.”

“And expensive.”

You give him a look, “I think that’s the last thing you have to worry about.”

He makes smiles a bit, “Still, we can’t leave that part out.”

“What about you? Would you want children if you could have them?” you ask and he looks at you while you ask this question.

“With the right person.” he answers.

Rosalie enters the room, she takes a glance at you. “What are you doing still up?”

“It’s early.” you say.

“It’s the middle of the night.” she says.

“What? I can’t be apart of the party?” you ask. She grinned at this.

“I heard talks about children we can’t have.” she says as she sits down in a chair facing the both of you.

“You wanted a family?” you ask. She nods. You then find out that she’s a New York native.

“What part?” you ask.

“Rochester.” she says. You nod in acknowledgment. You all fall into casual talk and you see the sibling dynamic between Rosalie and Edward. The bantering between them were tossed back and forth.

You started to yawn. You rise up. Edward followed you with his eyes.

“Goodnight, Rosalie.”

“Goodnight. Or should I say good morning.” You both smile at each other.

You turn to Edward who’s watching you in a relaxed state. You lightly smother your hand on his that was resting on the arm of the sofa. You peer down at him as he looks up to you.

“Goodnight, Edward.”

“Goodnight.” he says with a warm smile.

You slept until you hear a knock on your door. You sit up and rub your eyes with the soft, warm blanket.

“Come in.” you say in your morning voice and yawn. You open your eyes from your yawn to Edward holding a breakfast platter.

“You didn’t have to do this.” you say as he placed the platter over your legs.

“It was nothing.” he says. As you ate, he asked, “Are you feeling better?”

You slowly chewed, “It will take time.”

Edward took your empty dishes and told you, “We should be back soon. Me and the others are going out to hunt.” You nod.

You get ready for the day, shaking your head at the fact that Alice snuck in some clothes. You then lounge while reading a book.

Your mind started to trail off and you started thinking of Paul again.

“Just let it go.” you say in your head as you closed your eyes.

But you couldn’t. You still felt the connection there.

You call Jared.

“Y/N, Y/N, Y/N.” he says as he picks up the phone. The voice wasn’t happy. He was disappointed.

You sigh a bit, “Hey.”

“You know you fucked uo right?”

“I know….Wheres Paul?” with deep shames

“He hasn’t been here in days. He won’t shift back.”

You sit up straighter, “Have him call me. I know I said things I didn’t mean and I really want to apologize to him.”

“I think…That’s not going to work.” he says.

“Why not?”

“He played back everything and I saw everything. Y/N, you really broke his heart. You’re all that he had. You of all people should know that. I really can’t believe you.”

“Yes.”

“Hold up.” he says and it’s silent. However, he’s still on the line. Your heart pounds in your ears.

“Yeah.” It was blunt. No feelings.

You open your mouth to say sorry, but you felt like it wasn’t enough. You close it back. You let out a breath that he hears. He then speaks again.

“Y/N. We have to be apart.”

Your heart felt like it was being squeezed.

“I know that you know that you know that your stuff is back with your family.” There was no ill intent in his voice.

“Yes.” you say.

“I’m going to let you do your career. I won’t hold you back. You do you and I’ll do me. Whether you hate me or not, I’m still your protector. You won’t have to worry about me stepping on your toes, Y/N.”

“I don’t hate you.” you whisper as you hold your head.

“But, I’m gonna go ahead and go.” he says and before you could finish saying okay, Jared was back on the line.

You don’t know how you stayed with your head down with your forearms on your knees, but you sit up when the room light turns on.

You blink. Rosalie stares at you.

“Everything alright?” she asks from the doorway.

“Time will tell, then I would know.” you say.

She furrows her eyebrows in thought. She took in the statement.

Edward watched as you followed Rosalie. You walked down the steepness of the wooden stairs into the garage.

You just look around as the shiny cars and she stops in between two cars.

“Which one is yours.”

“Both of them.”

“Nice.” you say.

You sat on a stood as you watched swiftly clean the car. Still slow enough to have something to do in order to talk to you.

“So it was Edward, then you, then Emmett, Alice, and then Jasper.” you say after she tells you about her. She told her truth. She liked being human.

“Yeah.” she says lightly as she treated the task with such diligence. However, it looked like an editorial photo shoot for a magazine.

“You learn any of this stuff in college?”

“From high schools and universities that I have graduated from of course. Electrical engineering, astrophysics, and business, degrees in all of them.” She says with a soft smirk, “Also, I help keep Carlisle up to date on the latest advancements since so I also studied medicine.” She’s proud of herself. She looks to you.

“Busy and brilliant.” you comment. You were impressed. She softly flips her hair without any hands, only a little at that statement.

“When my future car gets messed up, I know right who to come to.” you day and she laughs lightly.

“Or buy another one.” she says with a grin.

“Nah, I would just hold onto it. It has to be on its last leg in order for me to just buy another one.”

“I heard your birthday was coming up. Have any ideas of what you’re going to do?” she asks.

“No idea. Most likely spend the day by myself and treat myself.”

Her chuckle kind of caught you off guard as she looks at you.

“What?” you ask.

“I doubt you will be by yourself.” she points out with a soft grin.

“Well….Definitely can’t go home for my birthday.” you say sadly.

“There’s more to do here than….There.”

“Im supposed to listen to the native who won’t show me around her city?” you tease and you saw her white teeth flash.

“I will show you around. But, me and Emmett are getting married again soon.”

“How sweet.” you comment with a sappy smile as you slowly spin while sitting on the stool.

As you move through the home, you hear Emmett’s loud booming voice.

“Come on!”

He was intently watching the television as people in hard helmets were tackling one another on the field with a brown football. There was a significance in the scores, you were guessing the team Emmett was rooting for was losing. You watched this until the announcer transitions into a commercial break.

He starts to vent to Carlisle about how it’s a shame that his team was losing to “horrible players.” Carlisle lip turns up only a little at his son’s frustration with the sport. He then turns and sees that you’re watching the scene.

“You seen that right?” Emmett asks you. You nod.

Carlisle chuckles as Emmett starts talking to you about interceptions and you just stare at him as you were never really into football. But, you still nod and hum out responses as he talks with his hands. The sound of the game resuming from break makes him then turn back around and watch the screen.

You feel something in your hand and you look down. Then back up to Edward’s soft expression.

“Esme wants to check up on you.”

He leads you through the home and into Esme’s workspace. Blueprints of architectural drawings were spread out on her desk. She looks up with warmth as she sees your face.

You move in closer as her maternal nature made you feel at ease.

“Are you okay?” she asks in concern. You nod.

“Did you think about what we talked about?” she asks.

“Yes.”

Edward looks between you two and he doesn’t hide his quizzical expression. Esme softly laughs at this as she takes a look at his face.

“This is girl talk, Edward.” she states to him. You didn’t notice that his hand was holding yours until he had to remove himself.

With him gone, you reveal your phone call to Jared. You kept it discreet as possible due to his super hearing, but you were thankful that she was able to read between the lines.

“I was all that he had. The guilt feels worse than the words that were being said.” you say.

For him to be their mortal enemy, she doesn’t show it as she genuinely says, “I’m sorry.”

Then subject smoothly changes as you point out her home renovation plans. You find out that’s what she likes to do.

“I have degrees in art and photography as well.” she says.

“I’m mad, you never told me you had a degree in art.” you tease and she chuckles.

“Yup. I’m so impressed with you though. You’ve never been to college but yet here you are knocking things out of the park like a pro. You really have a gift.” she says.

“Thanks.” you say.

“Edward has to bring you around more often so that we can have our own little art session. Maybe you can teach me a thing or two.” she says and you shake your head, “Me teach you?”

She smiles, “You’re doing something that I’m definitely missing.”

“An art session would be nice.” you say and she’s pleased with this statement. You look down at the blueprints of interior and exterior designs that were at her fingertips.

“I designed this home.” she says and you’re impressed as you really look around. You make note to take a closer look of the home when you leave her workspace.

“Did you design the home in Washington?” you ask. She nods.

“When I saw the house for the first time, I just kept thinking about how good the build was. It was impressive.” you say.

“I appreciate that. I actually would like to design a home for you.”

“No, no, no need.” you say but she overpowered your statement with, “Yes. And I want to.” with a smile.

“Why are you guys so…Welcome? Especially to me…A human.”

“I can’t speak for anyone else but, me and also Carlisle see how happy you make our dear Edward.”

Your stomach drops and you stutter out, “Oh, um…Me and Edward are just friends that’s all.” You say fidgeting with the small magnetic balls that rested on her desk.

“Well, you’re a good friend to him. He’s more lively around us instead of usual brooding self. Oh, you should see the look on his face when we ask about you.”

You nervously chuckle as the small ball clacked softly with the other one, her actions reminded you of a mother who was embarrassing you.

You ate a bowl of soup as you listened to Emmett get mad at the television that contained the players who tiredly walked with their hands on their hips.

“A loser team beat them. A team that doesn’t come close to their record at that!”

You softly chuckle as you know how that feels. You didn’t expect Edward to enter in. You nod your head in acknowledgment at his presence.

“And Esme wants me to bring you around more often.” he says as the bickering continues.

With a soft grin, “That doesn’t bother me.” You then look at him watching you and you continue with narrowed eyes, “You weren’t supposed to be listening in our girl talk.”

He taps to his ear, “You know I can’t help it.”

“You could’ve…I don’t know. Ran off somewhere.” You shrug as the spoon touch your lips.

“Run where?” he asks.

“Like I would know. You know this place better than me.”

“I want to show you something tomorrow.” he says.

“If it’s bad, I’ll pass.” you say.

A melodic chuckle rings out that makes you look at him, “It’s nothing bad. Why do you always think of the worst?”

“To brace myself for impact.”

“I impact you?”

“Not too much.” you say at his smile.

He takes your empty bowl away as soon as your spoon sets down. He comes back when you move off of the chair.

“Are you up for another match?” he asks you as you move into the living room.

“Another match of what?”

He puts an arm around you and steers you to the small table with the chess pieces sitting tall. You give him a look. He looks back.

“I’m not going to do you like that. I whooped you so bad last time.” you say and you couldn’t help but grin when you heard Emmett’s abrupt laugh.

“You were scared during the entire first part of the game. Don’t get cocky now.” Edward teases.

He sits down and you flop down at the small table in the corner.

He was in charge of the black pieces and you were the white.

“Ready when you are.” he says as you were supposed to make the first move.

You do so. He was relaxed. You stare as he move his piece without hesitation.

You move again and he moves after you.

You stare at the board in disbelief. Your jaw was dropped, he beat you in the matter of four moves. You didn’t know how it was possible.

He takes a finger to move your mouth up to close it.

“Keep the flies out, shall we?”

You nudge his hand which makes him laugh. You rise up and he calls for you to sit back down. You shake your head slightly and move to walk past him to the staircase but he lightly grabs your hand with both of his.

You halt your steps but you don’t look at him.

“I didn’t know you had a sore loser attitude.” he says and humor is coating his tone.

“Whatever. It’s still 1-1.” you say.

“I’ll go easy this time.” he says and this makes you look at him. He’s enjoying this. You playfully roll your eyes. You let him lead you to him as he softly tugs you. You peer down at him.

“It’s just a game Y/N.” he speaks out.

“You think I don’t know that?” you say to him. You feel his fingertips caress your hand as you say this to him. He doesn’t say anything as a warm smile dance on his features.

“Maybe we should end it here. I won so you got me back.” you suggest. You tried to keep your voice even as best as you could.

“You know you’re the only person I can play against fairly.”

He laughs at your loathing expression at the thought of another game.

“Please?” he bells out. You sigh as you look at his face.

“Will it get you to leave me alone?” you ask without any weight as you then take a seat across from him. Your legs brushed his and he didn’t mind. He instead set the pieces back on the right place on the board without rushing.

“I’m not sure about all of that.” he says with a crooked grin.

You both didn’t finish the game. He savored it out to the point where you resigned from the match. The amount of pieces you both had were equal to each other and you know that he did it on purpose.

“This doesn’t mean you win.” you say.

“It’s a tie anyways.” he says with a grin.

“I’m going to bed.” you say. You noticed that the others weren’t in the living room with you and Edward.

“It’s still early.” he says as you rise up and he rises too. He takes your hand again, “Watch something with me.” he persuades.

“Another vintage movie?” you ask as you let him lead you to the spacious couch.

“It doesn’t have to be.” he says.

“I was just teasing.” you say. He relaxes as you sit down next to him.

He was impatient as you ate breakfast the next morning. You raise your eyebrow at him as softly drummed his fingers on the table as you took your last bites.

“Ready to go?” he asks as soon as you put your dish in the sink.

“I just got done.” you say with your hands up defensively.

You didn’t expect him to lean forward and zip your coat up for you when you were finished putting your arms through the jacket.

You watch him as he then takes your hand, leading you outside of the home. Before you knew it, you were on his back as he ran with such blurred speed.

The wind wasn’t blowing as bad as you thought it would be. The landscape looked as if it were untouched. You greedily took it all in as you were sliding off of him.

You take steps forward as it was spacious. It looked as if it could go on forever and ever. The blooming plants made you forget that it was ever chilly outside.

You look to Edward, “How do you even-” you start but look ahead again as you answered your own question.

He interlaced his hand with yours and brought you down with him. You sat close next to him as you look at the joined hands.

Not taking your eyes away, “Do you remember what I said?”

“I could’ve ran off somewhere?” he asks you and you look at him as he grins. You lift the joined hands that never detached and nudge them against him and you say, “No. Not that.”

“Then what?” he says.

“That…You know….That we’re friends.” you say as you look down. You didn’t say it out loud loudly. A loud volume of words seemed to be out of place for a scenery like the one you were at.

“I know. My Dracula mind didn’t forget.” he says and you both breath out a soft chuckle.

He watched you however, stare at the hand that he was still holding. Your face was blank but he knew that you were thinking.

“Does this inspire you?” he asks you carefully.

“Anything does.” you say.

“So does that mean….I inspire you?” he asks. He meant it as a joke but his ears heard your heart thump an extra beat.

You instead stare at the distance. You didn’t see the happiness that danced on his face.

You look back down when you felt his hand let go of yours. He is sitting back with his elbows resting beside him.

You copy him. He turns his head to look at your face. It was pleased.

“Does this feel good? On your skin I mean.” you ask.

“The weather?” he asks in confirmation. You nod.

“So so.”

“Is that your version of my ‘it’s alright’ ?” you ask and you watch as his face is full of amusement.

“Nothing beats your ‘it’s alright’. You make it so obvious.”

“Is that so?” you ask sarcastically.

“Answer this then. What do you think about the time that we spend together?” he quizzes.

“Its……” you instinctively replied but you roll your eyes as his eyebrows raise with a smile. He was ready to laugh at you.

“It’s horrible. You’re the worst person to hang out with.” you say but his melodic laugh is being heard in your ears already.

“The worst person shows you the best places.” he comments as he stared at you.

“It’s not all that great.” you mutter but his amusement never faded.

He takes your hand again and lays down on his back. He placed your hand is placed on his hard chest. The chill of his skin made little goosebumps rise on your arm. You furrow your eyebrows as you stare at the soft material of his shirt.

“What are you thinking about?” he asks you as he watched you.

“I don’t know why it never occurred to me that you don’t have to breathe. Your chest doesn’t rise up and down like mine does.” you observe.

“We don’t have to. But, it’s uncomfortable for me.” he says.

“Uncomfortable, how?”

“It’s how I sense my surroundings. Plus, it’s a familiar action.”

You nod.

“You’re so warm.” he comments.

“You’re so cold.” you comment back as he then slides your hand up to his cheek. It felt like you were touching a statue.

You couldn’t help but to feel with your hand. He lets you. Your fingers trace the smoothness of his cheek before you slide them slowly down to his jawline. His blinking starts to slow.

You had to admit, the longer your hand was on his skin, the surface of it didn’t feel freezing. Your body temperature adjust to the touch. You peer down as your hand was now rising on his forehead. Slightly hooded eyes stared back at you with such intensity, in the pit of your stomach a wave of sensational energy violently fluttered about. Your hand slides up and disappears into his hair and you pull your hand away like it was fire. You didn’t expect it to feel like rich silk. Sitting up fast but nervously, you try to keep your breath even.

“Something wrong?” he asks as your eyes wildly look everywhere but him.

“Are you sure you weren’t dazzling me?” you softly ask with your eyes closed. You sit with your knees up to your chest. He sits up as well, he’s forearms rest against his knees. He’s very close and tilts his head to have a better look at your face.

“No. I wouldn’t do that to you.”

You don’t look at him.

“Is that why you’re scared to look at me?” he asks quietly but it sends a chill in your ear.

You slowly turn your head to his direction but your eyes are still down. Your eyes watched as he didn’t have to wear a jacket, traveling up his shoulder, that’s when seen a glint hit his exposed neck. It reminded you like a gem. You let your eyes travel up more, you mentally kick yourself for them to land at his lips, because when you look up into his set of eyes, his gaze is on yours as well. It’s very in tune. A look of yearning that almost scared you.

You were afraid to react, not out of fear, but you didn’t know how to react. Your breath changed its pattern when his hand slowly reached out. You eyes fluttered closed as you felt the soft but firm brush of the hook of his index finger traveling down your cheek. It was like he knew right where touch.

Without missing a beat, his finger hooked under your chin. A thumb follows, brushing across the bottom of your lip, which causes it to crack open just slightly. He hears the quiet but shaky that flowed out. You close the crack of your mouth and you blink. His hand now cradled the side of your face. You place a hand over his, matching your fingers up with his. It was as if he was trying to figure you out with the way he was looking.

His hand traveled down to the side of your neck. You keep looking ahead at him as he now holds the nape of your neck. Before you know it, he’s on his back from sitting up and your head is close to his chest. He holds you close this way. You place a hand on his chest, lifting your head lightly to look at him and he had a look of contentment. Your hand slides up his chest, all the way up to his cheek.

He turns his head and you close your eyes as you felt his lips brush the front of your throat. Your head moves down slowly as your forehead and now against his. Both of your eyes are closed, both of his eyes are closed. Noses touched.

You then open your eyes and sit up slowly. His hand falls majestically from the nape of your neck, now around your waist and you are on your side. You watch as his face looks and faces up to the sky. He breathes in and his eyes fall to a close.

You both take your time walking. You both brush against one another with the steps that were being taken.

He pushed open the door to the home that contained his family. Your arm is stretched from him tugging on your hand, the same hand he made sure to keep a hold of.

Your fingers are holding the white sheet on paper. The crease lines were still evident but you continue to stare at the drawing.

“You still have this.” you state as you continue to look at the photorealistic image in your hands.

“I keep it on me when you’re not around.” he states.

You’re eyes look up and a lax smile stretched on your features, “Like you miss me that bad.”

As you stand in front of him, paper in your hands, he’s sitting on the couch that’s in his room. His hands are on your leg as he looked up at you, “I even miss you when you’re asleep.”

His hand is smothered over your hand as it rests on the table. You ate the dinner that Esme learned to make. Her smile was big when you complimented it.

You sat against the headboard, knees up with your sketchbook resting in your lap. Your hand worked the page as you drew in colors. Putting your own twist to the field you saw today. The scenery being drawn gave you a sense of utopia.

You yawned as you felt your eyes droop. You turn off the lamp and drift off to sleep.

You felt something ticklish in your hand. You tossed and turned your head as you thought it was in your dream but your body gained consciousness. You blink open your eyes to see Edward’s fingers lightly touch yours.

You turn over and groan a little, “My mouth was open and everything.”

A light chuckle comes from him, “You’re fine.”

You sit up straighter on the headboard and he has a seat on the edge of your bed. He picks up the book that was resting beside you. You rub your eyes as he takes a long look.

“Is this the place we went yesterday?” he softly asks.

You pull the book from his hands as you felt a touch of embarrassment, you stuffed the feeling down as he looked at the new spot your set it at.

“It’s really good. You made it better than it actually is.” he says to you.

“No, that sight was amazing.” you disagree.

“That picture was amazing.” he says and you give him an amused look. You get out of bed.

In the sunroom, you lounged as you were focused in your sketchbook. You had received an email and Larry wanted to see if you could make another piece for his gallery to start the new month coming up, off to a great start.

You sketched of ideas but nothing seemed to stick.

You grunt as your brain ran out of ideas. It started to travel elsewhere. Your hands were craving something but you didn’t know what.

The others came back from hunting but Edward didn’t. You tried your best to not ask where he was, you felt like it would give something away if you did. You just didn’t know what.

That night, you helped Esme build minutare models of her interior designs that reflected her blueprint sketches.

You thought about making a minutare home like how you were helping Esme with but, you didn’t know how to amplify it. You wanted to make something so good that it shocked you.

“How was you and Edward’s outing yesterday?” Esme softly asks as she paints a mini chair in her hands.

“It was good, he showed me the most amazing field of nature where flowers bloomed. I drew what I saw. I have to show you.” you say.

“I would love to see it.” she comments as she sets the chair down to dry.

You silently paint a chair of your own until the question wouldn’t stop eating at your brain, “Where is he?”

“He told us he was making a quick trip. He told me to tell you that he will be back before you know it.”

You nod as you set down the chair to dry.

It was still early when you were woken up out of your sleep. You decide to use the bathroom and brush your teeth. You lay back down. You don’t want to head downstairs just yet.

You close your eyes. You hear the door creak open. You slowly open your eyes and see Edward smiling softly down at you. He’s sitting close to where you’re laying.

You sit your body up and before you could hesitate, you wrap your arms around him in a hug. He’s been gone for three days.

“Are…Are you alright?” you ask him as your chin rests on his shoulder.

His hand brushed your back, creating a chill down your spine.

“I am now.” he says.

You pull back and he watched you with a warm expression. His hand comes up to brush your cheek and your eyes immediately close with a flutter at the fact. You tried to calm your breathing from starting to shake.

You learned another song. This time you didn’t care about the trial and error. Your fingers flexed in the keys as you tried to play the full variation that he taught you. Edward sat next to you, his arm wrapped around your lower back with his hand resting on the outer part of your thigh.

Rosalie walks past, “You’re lucky Y/N. He acts funny when I ask to play his piano.”

“You play?” you ask impressed.

“She plays sometimes.” Edward brushed off.

“I’m the next musically inclined after you, Edward. Don’t start.” she seethed. A smile cracks your lips.

Esme allowed you to work in an art studio that she had. In under the condition of, “Please show me what you make.”

You forgot to close the door all of the way. As you paint the base colors on your canvas, you catch Edward walking in, in the corner of your eye.

You slow your movements, your mind focused on how you were being perceived.

His hands were in his pockets he watched you work without confidence.

“What about people watching you work make you nervous?” he asks.

You grip your wooden brush tighter in your hand as you blink at the material.

“I don’t know…It just happens to be that I do best when I’m alone.”

“When did you realize this?”

You turn your head at where he’s standing and grin, “I don’t know. Are you trying to distract me or something?”

“No. If I wanted to distract you, I would’ve done it by now.” he says. You roll your eyes playfully.

You kept smudging the colors, having to continue to redo sections over. You shook your head as you mumbled out disapproval statements. What seemed stressful to you, seemed like inspiration to him.

He sat in the room as he felt like it was a sight too see.

“Do you want to take a break?” he asks as he watched you wipe your forehead with the back of the long sleeve shirt you wore.

You shrug and turn the canvas around and stomp out. He follows you out. You stomp up the stairs. You try to close the bedroom door without looking but he kept it from shutting as he followed you.

You flopped across the bed on your stomach. Your head rest on your folded arms.

“Stop being so hard on yourself.” he speaks out.

“Edward, let me sulk.”

“Sulking isn’t going to make you finish.” he says with a hand resting on your back.

“It’s so bad, it would be a sin to approve of that.” you say in defeat.

“The only sin is that you have destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing.”

He watched you sit up and look square at him.

“I know where you got that from.” you say.

He brings on a grin.

“Who?” he quizzed.

“Dostoyevsky. Now, this is a serious matter. I don’t want to work on my birthday.” you groan and lay back on your stomach.

”Pace yourself. Allow yourself to embrace your human flaws.”

“That’s not helping.” you say muffled as your face was down with defeat. There was silence. But your mind wasn’t.

He watched as you slowly rise and head back into the art studio as you left in. You cut up cardboard. You plug in a glue gun. You get to work.

Edward comes in right when you paint over the last bit of your newly designed piece. You feel him over your shoulder and is glad that the weight is off of yours.

“That looks like us.” he says.

“That’s because you want it to be.” you say to him but to be fair, you just did what you felt.

Esme stared at it in awe. The smile on her face looked proud in a way. It was so good, she gave you a hug.

You left the piece in there to dry and you tiredly rub your hands together underneath the running water. It was late into the night. You were able to head off upstairs for bed until you feel a hand tug your hand to guide you to the kitchen.

“I’m tired.” you softly whine.

“You haven’t eaten since early this morning.” he says. You ate fast so you can lay down.

However, your bedroom was feeling a bit hot due to the heat that blew from the vents.

“Do….” you shake your head and say, “Goodnight.”

Before you bury yourself fully under the covers, he steps away from the doorway.

“What were you going to say?”

“It’s a bit…Hot.” you say. Edward then steps forward.

“You need to cool down?” he asks carefully and you nod.

You didn’t know what you were expecting but he lay close to you. A much needed chill ran through your body as you lie on your stomach and his hand is flat on your back.

You woke up to a whisper. You couldn’t figure out what it said but your body shifts into consciousness. A hand runs down the back of your shoulder and you open your eyes.

“Happy birthday.”

“Thanks.” you say with a tired grin.

You sit up and stretch. You get his attention.

“See? Imagine if I didn’t get done yesterday.” you point out.

He grins and nods in agreement.

Before you could process anything else, Alice bursts through your bedroom and you smile as she wrapped her arms around you. The hug was firmer than usual as she was excited.

“Happy birthday!” she squeals.

“Thank you, thank you.”

She pulls your hands up and you’re up and out of bed.

“I have your birthday outfit. I’m going to go get it. Edward out.” she shoos off.

“Wait, Y/N. Just come with me I have to show you something.” he says.

“Let her get herself together first.” Alice says as her eyes roll.

You hold up a hand to Edward with a smile, “It will be quick. I’m just getting dressed.”

You stood in the mirror and you immediately got nervous. The outfit was good. Too good. It looked as if you could be in fashion week with the matching set. She tugged your hand to go downstairs but you resist.

She watched you as you sit down in a chair. You keep your legs together as you were wearing a skirt.

“You…Don’t like it?” she asks as you looked down. Your face didn’t show enjoyment.

You look up at her and you reassured her crushed face, “Alice stop it, I love it. It’s just…” you stop and she sits on your bed as she peered ahead at you.

“What is it?”

“I’m nervous.” you reveal.

“Don’t be. You’re about to be surrounded by people who can’t wait to celebrate your special day.” she says. You nod. A phone call makes your phone buzz beside you and you pick it up.

“Happy birthday, Y/N.” you hear and you smiled.

“Thanks, Emily.”

“Any plans? What are you doing?”

“I don’t know. I’m going with the flow of today.” you say.

“Well, I won’t hold you but, I miss you so much! I know you’re out there doing great things and I just wanted to say how proud I am of you but I know that you will get through anything.” she says. You knew what she was implying, you tell her you miss her too. You really did. You followed Alice down the stairs, the small clack was heard from the footwear Alice brought to go along perfect with what you had on.

Edward was waiting for you at the bottom of the stairs.

“Okay. I’m all yours.” you say. Without missing a beat, Edward says, “Look outside.”

You open the grand front door and outside sits a luxurious car with a present bow sitting prettily on top.

You turn and sees Edward’s smile directed towards you.

“Happy birthday.” he says again. You gasp and bend your knees slightly in disbelief, “Edward.” you say. He chuckles at your reaction.

“Edward, are you….Fucking kidding me?” you say with shock and he pulls out the keys, dangling them and you were in total disbelief as your hand closed around them.

You grab the keys and his hands, “Edward. This isn’t real.” you say. You don’t know if you’re trying to convince him or yourself. Alice had a camera at hand, smiling at the moment.

He peers down at you as he takes your hand and opens the driver door with his other hand.

You were overwhelmed. He watched from the passenger seat as you touched the steering wheel with such care. It was almost as if you were afraid to touch it.

He starts the car for you and the engine purred to life. It rode really smooth as you test drove it. You couldn’t stop smiling.

He soaked in the hug that you gave him as you kept telling him thank you. His arms were snug around your waist.

You received hugs and received “Happy birthday”s from the rest of the family.

Esme made you breakfast and held out your plate.

You slowly chewed and looked at Edward who smothered your hand that was on the table you say at.

“I can’t eat. I’m too excited.”

A crooked smile hit your way, “No, no. Eat.”

Your head was on his shoulder as you sat next to him on the piano bench. He played a happy birthday song with his fingers. It was just the two of you.

He held your hand as you both took slow steps in the museum you both were in. By the time you two were in an art gallery, his arm was snug around your shoulders.

He held you close as you entered the home and the Cullen family screamed, “Happy birthday.”

You let out a thank you as the room was filled with balloons and on the wall was balloons that spelled out, “Happy Birthday.”

Alice shoved her present in your hands.

“Sheesh, already?” you ask.

“Yes! Now open it!” she says. You rip it open and it was a black box. You crack it open and it was a Van Cleef bracelet.

“Oh my god.” you say in shock. You dangle it with your fingers as you take a look at it.

“Do you like it?” she asks.

“Yes.” you breathed out, “Alice, I can’t accept this-”

“It’s my gift to you! Happy birthday.” she says with a bright smile. You give her a hug and as Rose steps forward, Edward clasped the bracelet around your wrist.

“Here’s mine.” she says and you take it.

“I’m scared. We already started off strong.” you say and soft chuckles fill the room.

You crack open Rose’s gift and it was a necklace from the same brand.

“I got you the necklace to match with the bracelet.” she says. You thank her immensely and give her a hug. She carefully placed the necklace around your neck.

Emmett excitedly gives you your gift. You tear it open and you start laughing. A handheld game box was now in your hands.

“Thank you.” you say and give him a hug and he says, “I already added myself as a friend.”

“Of course you did.” you say with a smile.

Jasper hands you your gift and it was games to go with the game. You hug him.

Esme and Carlisle hand you a gift with smiles on their faces.

Tearing it open, you gasp and you almost started to tear up.

“You guys can’t be serious.” you say and they’re smiling.

“We feel like you should have something from one of the greats.” Carlisle says.

“One day, you will be up there with one of the greats.” Esme says and you shake your head.

“No.” you say and they disagree.

You have Edward hold the painting, you hug them both.

“Thank you so much.”

Rose, Alice, and Esme disappeared in the kitchen. Emmett didn’t waste any time to tell you to get on your new gadget.

Edward haves a seat in a chair. You feel him touch your hand. You look up to him and he tugs your hand to pull you to where he was sitting.

You slowly sit down and your shoulder leans against his chest as you and Emmett play together on your handheld game. His hand rests on your knee. You laughed at Emmett’s competitive nature.

Alice bounced out, her camera was in hand. You set the game to the side as Rose and Esme brought out homemade ice cream and cake.

“Smile!” Alice says with a smile. You give a polite smile and Edward wraps his arms tight around your waist and he slumps you to him. You both face the camera. The camera flashes and you rise up meet them as they walk to you with a lit up cake.

Happy birthday was being sung and Alice snapped pictures while singing in high octave that was above everyone else.

You close your eyes with a smile and then blew out the candles.

As you cut your own slice of cake, Edward taps you. You turn around a very large bouquet of flowers that bloomed strong.

Your hands go to your mouth as you gasp. He places them in your arms with a content smile. You set them down on a table and your arms wrap around him. He sways you side to side for a bit.

You both sit across from each other as he held the spoon out. He fed you the homemade ice cream.

“It was really great. Thank you.” you tell Rosalie and Esme and they both are pleased that you liked it.

Edward holds out a wrapped gift and you look at him. You both were sitting on the couch in his bedroom.

“You already got me something.” you say.

“I know but, you will like this.” he says with a hand on your back.

You pulled out a cd player that operated on both being bluetooth and wired. He watched as your smile grew.

“There’s already a cd in there.” he says.

You go to pop it open but he places a hand on your hand to halt you. You look at him.

“Just play it.” he says. You nod and you say, “Be right back.”

You grab your headphones and sit down back next to him. After connecting your headphones, you extend a headphone for him to stick on his own ear. He gladly sticks it in his ear and you click the play button.

You softly chuckle as the song was familiar. You were in shock.

You take the headphone out as the song ended. You look at him.

“How did you do this?” you ask.

He brings on a soft grin, “I pulled some strings.”

You pop open the cd player and lift up the cd, reading it out loud.

“Y/N and Edward piano duet.”

He sticks his hand in his pocket and pulls out a folded piece of paper, handing it to you.

“Now, what is this?” you ask him.

“Something I made.” he says softly.

“Before I read this, answer me something?” you ask him.

“Anything.”

“What’s your motive?” you ask as you look down.

“My motive is to always be around you. To get to know all of you.”

You breathe in as you unfold the paper and read the note in your mind.

Can feelings shared , be set to unfold?

Offering my heart for you to hold.

The sweetest music I have found

The ring of your laughter, such a joyous sound.

Wanting to learn your thoughts, dreams and fears

And to whisper secrets in your ears.

Breathing life into me with such ease

Drawing me to you compellingly.

Here I stand with a hopeful plea

To conquer this world, just you and me.

Your eyes travel to the bottom of the page, it showcased a drawing that he did by hand, it was with pen. Permanent.

Two figures were together, holding each other close, depicting such devotion.

You slowly look from the page, your heart rate was higher than normal. He was waiting for your reaction and you swallowed and refolded the paper.

“But, I’m a human.” you say sadly. You felt it couldn’t work.

“It doesn’t matter to me.”

When you don’t say anything a hand holds yours as he continues, “You showed me there’s more to my soulless life. You’re my angel.”

You were overwhelmed with emotion.

You tried to cloud your brain with activities to make yourself not think about what happened. You didn’t have a definite answer.

So you joined Alice as she danced. You would’ve thought it was her birthday as she had so much fun. Jasper couldn’t help but join his wife with a smile.

You blinked awake as you tossed and turned that night.

Edward was gone in the morning. You wondered if it was because of the day prior.

He came back right when it was time to leave, you had to drop your piece off to Larry.

“You can drive…If you want.” you say as Edward put your bags in the trunk. To be fair you didn’t trust yourself to be on the road.

He drove as you looked out of the window. You glanced at him as he was in his own head.

“Say something, please.” you say softly. The silence weighed heavy in the atmosphere.

He stared ahead and he seemed conflicted.

“I said everything I needed to say.” he says quietly.

You look down.

Larry chuckles richly as you unveiled the piece. Larry greedily looked as he walked around it. He claps his hands together before turning to you with a big smile.

He then gives you a present.

You look down in surprise.

“Open it up.” he says with a grin.

You rip it open and pull out a subtle but diamond studded watch. It dazzled brightly and you look at him.

“Happy belated birthday.” he says and you give him a big hug.

You come out, Edward hold the door open for you. You slide in the car and he catches the flashy watch.

“Larry gave that to you?” he asks. You nod.

“Did he not like it? You look a little down.” he says.

“He loved it actually.” you say softly chuckling. He hums a response. It’s silent again. When he slows to a stop in front of your apartment building, you turn to him.

“You can….Come up if you want.” you sheepishly say.

He thinks for a moment, before saying, “I didn’t eat today. I’m going to hunt.”

You nod.

“I’ll bring your stuff up.” he tells you and gets out.

Before he leaves out of the door, you hug him. Your head was in the middle of his chest. He looks down as he holds you back.

“Are you sure it doesn’t matter?” you choke out.

He takes a hold on your shoulders and looks you in the eye, “It doesn’t matter. I only want you.”

Your body feels hot at his words.

“Will…Will you come back?” you ask.

“If you want me to….Do you want me to?” he asks.

“Yes.” you say.

He leans forward slowly, you feel his cool lips touch your forehead. You close your eyes as he lingers on your forehead.

You hung your painting up in your living room, you step back and fix the crookedness of it.

The flowers sprouted out of the clear vase that Alice had set on the table.

You sat by the window in your bedroom as you sketched idly. You paused as you couldn’t help but flip back to the page of when you two were in Ithaca, the big field.

You stare at it. The buzz of your doorbell jumps you out of your thoughts. You rise up and walk slowly towards the door and unlock it.

You lie on your back, your head is turned in his direction. He watches you as he lies next to you.

His hand cradles your cheek and you both blink at each other. You slide your hand up to his, to hold onto your cheek. It was as if marble was touching you, but the hand cooled down your burning cheek.

Faces were close together as you both flutter your eyes to a close. Softly his lips brushed yours in a gentle way.

He pulled away but you chased for more. You both meet each other again, you hold him close so he doesn’t pull back fast.

His eyes squeezed shut as your fingers made him feel something that felt foreign to him. It was a rush. He knew that if he was human, his body would be filled with butterflies.

Next to you on your nightstand, a printed out picture of you and Edward from your birthday was faced up.

You both silently look at each other as you both lie close. You didn’t want to feel nothing else but the feeling that you were feeling right now. A wave of serenity. With that, the sappy smile was on his face was contagious, as you matched it.

It took some getting used to, but you found out that Edward was scared to open mouth kiss.

He didn’t know what would happen if you were to accidentally swallow his saliva, his venom. Alternatives had to be made. He didn’t mind the fact that you liked to kiss him on his face, not always on his lips.

Your contract ended, you sat in Larry’s office as he looked right at you. Edward sat next to you in a pair of sunglasses.

“So when’s the wedding?” Larry asks. The ring sat strong on your finger. It was Edward’s mother’s. You wore it with pride.

You look to Edward and he replies, “Next month.”

Larry looked at the two of you.

“So, what are you going to do Y/N? Are you extending it with me?”

You suck in a breath as you shake your head.

“We’re- I’m going to relocate.” you tell him.

“Okay, where? I even have a gallery in London. We made great business together.”

You nod, “Yes, I know. But, I need to branch out more. I don’t want to be stagnant.”

“You weren’t stagnant with me.” he pleads.

“It was nice doing business with you, but I got a better opportunity in France.” you say.

“Who’s representing you?” he presses.

“Nobody. I’m going independent.” you say. He accepts this but, he was sad to see you go.

You hold Edward’s hand as Alice shows you everyone she invited.

“Don’t you think we should elope instead?” you ask.

“No, silly! This is a celebration! Everyone has to come.” she says.

Edward turns to you, “If you want to elope we can.”

Alice’s face falls and you quickly say, “It’s alright. We can elope first and then have the wedding to the public.”

She brightens up and claps with excitement.

The climate was warm. Edward’s eyes came alive as you stood in front of him. The ceremony was small and in an intimate setting.

Carlisle married you both on your elopement. Edward carefully kissed you as he cupped your cheek and his family were the only ones who were in attendance. You didn’t mind since you weren't nervous around them.

The island that Esme gifted you both was where you both sat and looked at each other with anticipation.

He was the one who wanted to wait.

“The first time I want to make love, it will be with my wife.” he told you one night as you tried to feel him up. You understood.

Now, it was you who was nervous. He was the one who had to reassure you. You didn’t expect his cool skin to feel good against yours, but to be fair, the air in the bedroom had raised in temperature.

You suck in a breath as your legs were over his shoulders, he kept whispering how beautiful you were.

Your fingers twist in the sheets at the sensation. As he kept pumping, your body got used to it. Gasps of pleasure breathed out of your mouth. He was firm and it hit the right spots that has you trembling with ease. You then knew that he was perfect all the way around.

He didn’t last long but you didn’t care, he was a virgin after all.

He couldn’t get enough. The next morning, he held you close he rocked into you. The bed under you both gave out, you panicked only for a second but, he gave you a kiss as he told you, “Don’t worry about it.”

Kim whispered as Jared listened closely. He was sad.

Paul walked in. He changed, his presence was on edge, if people feared him then, they definitely feared him now.

“What’s going on?” he asks as they both went quiet as soon as he entered.

Kim worriedly looked at Jared.

“I’ll tell him.” he tells her. She nods and leaves out of the kitchen of the home her and Jared had gotten together.

“You might want to sit down for this.” Jared tells his friend.

“Who died?” he asks.

“Nobody… Kim ran into Y/N’s parents.” Jared says and Paul responds to your name. He still felt the feelings, your name still affected him. He felt one day you were going to change your mind.

“She okay?”

“I don’t know. She’s getting married and they asked her if she was going to the ceremony.”

Paul snorts, “Who’s the square?”

Jared watched as Paul contorts into a fit of rage, even that he’s never seen before. A mixture of hurt and betrayal was deep in his features.

When Sam went to look for him, the thoughts in his wolf mind was dark. He knew then that he went rogue. Paul had successfully detached himself from the pack.

[kissme-withyour-cherrylipstick]

Merry Kissmas, Day 23

Merlin has never been so miserable. After what happened over the weekend while Christmas shopping and all the things they said to one another, Arthur pulls a two-point lead. And kisses him like that . Merlin is so confused now. He must have misunderstood everything from the past three days, because he was starting to believe it was possible this was more than a game, but now everything is upside-down again and Merlin is left hanging.

When Arthur texts him, his heart leaps into his throat.

“What is it?” asks Gwen, who has been wonderfully supportive and perceptive throughout this whole ordeal.

“It’s Arthur. He wants me to come to his office.”

“Oh. That’s not necessarily bad, remember what happened last time.”

“Yeah, but would he do that twice? I don’t think so.”

“He probably just wants some privacy.”

“Oh shut up , Gwen.”

She smiles that sweet smile of hers. “Do let me know what happens.”

The blinds covering the glass wall of Arthur’s office are drawn when Merlin arrives. Was Gwen right about the privacy thing? Strange.

“For what purpose have you summoned me to your chambers, my lord?” Merlin asks with a sarcastic bow as he enters and sees Arthur at his desk. The light in the office is dim with the blinds closed and Merlin is certain he’s never seen Arthur’s office like this.

Arthur grimaces. “Don’t call me that.” He stands and circles to the front of the desk and Merlin’s spine stiffens, weirdly terrified that Arthur will kiss him. He should have left the door open for a quick escape. But Arthur just leans on his desk like he did last time. “I wanted to talk to you.”

“Why?” Merlin can’t shake his suspicious feeling.

“I’m sorry about what I did yesterday.”

“What?” Of all the things, this is not what Merlin expected.

“I shouldn’t have done that after we basically agreed to keep it at a tie until Christmas Eve.”

“ What ?”

“It’s very near the end. I got a bit carried away. I know I upset you. I’m sorry.”

“That’s—” Merlin bites back his response, not wanting to admit the real reason he needed Arthur off of him at that moment. “Really?”

“Yes. To make it up to you, I want you to kiss me.”

I want you to kiss me . Why would he phrase it like that? This man is insane , Merlin decides. “Hm... I don’t know if I want to,” he hedges.

Arthur looks shocked. “If you don’t, I’ll be forced to kiss you and that will be it. It will be over.”

“Maybe it’s for the best.”

Now he looks hurt. “You don’t mean that.”

Merlin’s chest tightens and he steps closer, but not too close. “Arthur. I don’t want to do this if you don’t.”

“I do. I want you to kiss me.”

Those words again, combined with Arthur’s face, let Merlin believe that he really means it, that the game doesn’t matter anymore, that it’s no longer about points or winning or any of that bullshit and that Arthur really does just want Merlin to kiss him.

Merlin rushes forward into Arthur’s arms, only just making sure Arthur doesn’t kiss him first, and connects his lips to Arthur’s, surprised to find him so receptive, then his mouth opens and Merlin lets himself sink into the kiss, already so familiar and inviting, his hands tangling into Arthur’s hair and jacket, and he allows himself this moment for as long as he can before the thought that this is only a game comes creeping back in and he pulls away, but Arthur looks so invested that he goes back in for another, a short, indulgent kiss that immediately fills him with shame.

“I’m sorry,” Merlin says, stepping back from a surprised Arthur. “I know that doesn’t count.” He puts a hand over his mouth as the realization that he’s basically just told Arthur that this is more than just a game for him washes over him. “I’m sorry.” He turns and flees.

“Merlin—” Arthur calls, but Merlin is already gone.

Gwen notices something is wrong as soon as Merlin gets back to his desk.

“What happened?” she asks.

Merlin shakes his head. “I can’t talk about it right now.”

“After work? I’ll walk with you?”

Merlin turns his downcast eyes up to her with a sad smile. “Thank you.” Arthur may be his best friend, but Gwen is also his best friend. And less emotionally constipated.

Merlin manages to avoid Arthur out of embarrassment for the rest of the day, then slips out with Gwen as quickly as possible. It’s cold and dark out and they hold their coats close against the wind, but the lights of Christmas in the city illuminate their path.

“So what happened?” Gwen asks again.

“I don’t know how to explain it, really. It—it was like... his exact words were, ‘I want you to kiss me.’”

She looks dumbfounded. “That sounds like a good thing.”

“But—it’s just about the game.”

“Oh, Merlin.”

Merlin glances at her. She looks sympathetic, but still a bit exasperated at his idiocy. “There’s more. I kissed him. Twice. It doesn’t count after the first time. There was no reason to do it a second time. He knows. He knows how I feel. There’s no way he doesn’t anymore.”

“Oh, Merlin,” Gwen says again, still patient, just less so. “That’s why you’ve been avoiding him?”

“I know. It’s stupid. But I don’t want him to tell me he doesn’t feel the same way. That’s what I’m afraid of. I’m a coward.”

“That’s perfectly natural, Merlin. This can either go very well or very poorly for you at this point, but I’m sure it will go well. I know he feels the same way about you.”

“How can you possibly know that?”

“Merlin, you don’t get it because you’re in there,” she gestures at his face, “but the rest of us are out here, and it’s pretty obvious from where we stand.”

“What do you mean ‘we?’”

“The rest of us in the office. You’ve been kissing each other in front of us for almost a month now. It’s kind of a lot.”

“You’ve been talking about it with them.”

“I don’t need to. I can see it for myself. You two love each other.”

He stares at Gwen in apprehensive amazement, then turns his eyes skyward in agony. “I sure hope so.”

[gothamite-rambler]

Damian pressed an ice pack to his swollen eye, the aftermath of a dodgeball incident at school earlier that day. The gym teacher had thrown the ball at him for "asking too many questions"—except they weren't even playing dodgeball! Frustrated, he stewed over his options, realizing he couldn’t handle this alone; if he involved his brothers, they might end up getting arrested.

Damian (talking to himself, realization dawning): Wait a minute, my parents don’t even know how awful this gym teacher is! I’ve never told them, but that’s… not right. They should know, or this failed track star nut case will keep getting away with it. I can’t let this swollen eye be for nothing!

With a sigh, Damian removed the ice pack and pulled out his phone.

Damian (while snapping a picture of his injury): I hope they’re not disappointed in me for not fighting back.

He quickly sent the picture to both his mother and father in separate texts, captioned: Look what the gym teacher, Coach Marley did to me.

Talia, upon seeing the picture, spluttered tea all over her living room couch in shock. Her face turned an irate shade of red as she trembled with rage.

Talia: Oh, hell no!

Without a moment’s hesitation, she bolted from her seat, hopped onto a jet, and flew toward Gotham. Meanwhile, Bruce’s reaction was more restrained, though he nearly crushed his phone with his grip.

Tim (calmly, carefully taking the phone from Bruce): Bruce… Bruce, you need to breathe. Give me the phone; let’s keep this evidence.

Bruce growled in frustration but managed to take a deep breath, clearing his throat to contain his fury. School was closed, and it was too soon to go storming in.

Bruce: I need a night to work through this rage. If I go to the school now, I am going to shout a lot of hurtful things in her face because I can't hit a them!

Tim: That’s probably for the best. Do you need any of us to step in?

Bruce: No, I’ll handle this… but I have to call Talia. Damn it.

Tim: Do what you gotta do.

The next morning in her office, Principal Lynn sipped her coffee, reviewing reports, when she heard the sharp clacking of heels approaching. Suddenly, her door was kicked in, and Talia stormed inside, dragging the gym teacher along with her and tossing her onto the floor. The teacher barely appeared conscious and was crying heavily, bruised and battered.

Talia (pointing fiercely at the gym teacher): Explain to me why this harlot has been abusing my child and getting away with it!

Principal Lynn: I—

Talia (raising her voice): I paid you a significant amount to keep my son at this school, and you allowed her to throw dodgeballs at my child for talking?! Explain yourself, knavess!

Principal Lynn: Um, I can explain—

Just then, Bruce arrived, catching his breath as he took in the chaotic scene before him: the gym teacher on the floor, Talia standing over her, and Principal Lynn looking terrified.

Bruce: That… that harlot needs to be fired and arrested!

Talia: Thank you!

Principal Lynn: Right, on it. I’ll call the cops. Just don’t hurt me like you hurt her!

Talia: Call the cops, then!

Nervously, Principal Lynn grabbed the landline phone and dialed 911 while the gym teacher attempted to scramble to her feet. Talia, quick as a flash, delivered a punch to the teacher’s head, sending her crashing down again.

[kiestrokes]

Day 22: Jung Wooyoung | NSFW

▸ Idol: Jung Wooyoung of ATEEZ ▸ Rating: NSFW. Mature (18+) Minors DNI. ▸ Genre: active WIP, foreplay, sexual tension, feelings, slice of life. ▸ Vibe: this was the first ever fic idea that I had for ATEEZ back in 2023, I just was trying to find a plotline for it, aside from just a WooSan!threesome. College bestie Woo, hot neighbor San, eventual smut. Parts are loosely based on my funny irl experiences of my 20's. And I mean loosely, I didn't fuck any of my friends. ▸ Warnings: language, miscommunications, feelings of betrayal, bisexual struggles, soft angst and hurt feelings.

Sexually Explicit Content: sexual tension, consented kissing, over the clothes touch of the vagina, cuddling, idk there's nothing really here imo.

🗝️ Note: Has not beta-ed by me or anyone else. THIS IS A WIP! (it is being posted for my wipmas.) It is not complete; this is very much a rough outline/first run through. So I consulted my big three @chans-room @minisugakoobies @minttangerines for the special version of todays WIP-mas. Thank you kindly for putting up with me. Enjoy the king prawn meme edition of this 🤗 full text version at the end for those the photos won't load for!

Disclaimers: This is a work of fiction; I do not own any of the idols depicted below.

「 25 Hours: Hard, Soft and WIP-mas Masterlist 」

College friend Wooyoung. You’re in a coed dorm. You first meet Woo making out with another guy and just assume he’s gay.

The two of you go about your blooming friendship with no hiccups. He’s affectionate and cuddly with everyone so it never lingers in your mind to be more. Him sleeping over, cuddling, morning woods, dirty dancing, kisses.

Until you’re graduated and moved into an apartment together. You’re in the kitchen doing something. One of Wooyoungs causal partners compliments your butt and you’re surprised.

Wooyoung speaks up “right? She has a fantastic ass.”

“Since when do you look at my butt?”

“I’ve always looked at your butt.”

You shrug it off knowing how hyper sexual he is. Until you’re at a holiday party and see Wooyoung come out of the bathroom with a woman.

You’re confused.

One of your friends asks you why, you explain Wooyoung is gay.

“Well yes he’s bisexual.”

“What?” They laugh thinking you’re joking, “wait you didn’t know? I thought you two were” they hand motion.

You blink confused and text your college roommate. They confirm, informing your Wooyoung has given them several orgasms. The room spins and you excuse yourself. Leaving on your own.

Stumbling up your stairs since the elevator is broken. You slip on something and the new neighbor catches you.

Wooyoung comes running up then, greeting the neighbor and taking you into your apartment.

You blurt out “you’re not gay?”

Woo puts your shoes away and turns to you confused.

“Of course I am.”

He gets down on his knees to help you of out your tights like always. You stop him.

“No Woo you’re bisexual.”

He smiles at you, “yes silly.”

His smile slowly falls as you stare deadly at him. “Wait- you didn’t- how?”

He sits back, fingers braced on your calf for balance.

“Can we just go to sleep?”

You stand, after brushing his hand off. Wooyoung catches your wrist.

“Wait are you mad at me?”

You sigh, “no im just confused, we can talk about this tomorrow.”

His thumb traces circles over your pulse. “Ok.”

He leans in to give you his usual goodnight kiss and you pull away. The hurt written on his face. He lets you go to bed. The next morning he’s peaking in. You call him over and he wastes no time climbing in and cuddling you.

“I thought you knew.”

“It’s my fault for being so focused on my studies.”

“No!” You lay there listening to his heartbeat.

“Are you disappointed?”

“Why would I be disappointed?”

“Everyone loves a gay best friend. Bisexual is like the knock off verison.”

Woo looks sad, you sit up to look down at him.

“Bisexuals are definitely not the knock off gays. You can’t help what gender or non gender you’re attracted to.”

He reaches up to stroke your bottom lip, “you didn’t let me kiss you goodnight.”

You tug his hand down.

“It’s just a little different right now.”

Woo nods.

Things are kind of back to normal.

Both of you are crushing on the hot new neighbor. You haven’t let Woo kiss you goodnight. He’s sad but respects your boundary. Until it boils over one night and you two fight.

“I just miss kissing you goodnight.”

“You fucked my college roommate but never me, was I not good enough.”

Wooyoung gapes at you, hands tugging on his hair at the temples. Gets up. Paces and comes back.

“You were beyond good enough. So good I didn’t want to risk losing the friendship we were growing.”

You stare at him and then he scoots forward to take your hands in his.

“I never fucked you because you’re so much more than a causal lay to me.”

You nod. You let him kiss you goodnight that night, it’s like everything snaps. There’s a gasp and then Wooyoung has you pressed into the wall, more than a goodnight kissing you. You cling to him and his hand trails down your body. Heel of his hand pressing into your clothed cunt.

“Ahh Wooyoung” you gasp into the side of his neck.

And he backs off. Bracing a hand on the wall next to you.

“Sorry sorry. I’ve just been so worked up about our relationship that I haven’t gotten laid.”

He kisses your cheek and heads to bed without another word.

© COPYRIGHT 2021 - 2024 by kiestrokes  All rights reserved. No portion of this work may be reproduced without written permission from the author. This includes translations.

[blocksruinedme]

My hallmark Christmas Smalletho + smallidarity au. it was supposed to be a quick summary of an idea, surely less than 1k.

It's not done and it's over 5k. It's almost Christmas so I'm posting what I have, there will be more. If you want to watch it happen in real time, dm me here or on discord to join my server. You must be 1) 18+ 2) not morality cop. (kill the cop inside yourself who says to police other people. acab.)

Alright so. Joel is a big city boy who is burning out hard cause he's such a toxic sweat. he's in a long term healthy and happy relationship with jimmy. Joel spends december in to rural canada (not as rural as Joel claims) to take care of his great aunt trudy, who is packing up her house to move to assisted living near her daughter. He plans to spend christmas there because jimmy’s going to visit family, and he’s never been very into christmas.

Joel can work remotely and that's why he's the family member who got sent up to canada. He always liked her when he was a kid, but he was a kid and hasn’t seen her in ages. He went in expecting to find a frail old woman who needed to be rescued, out in the misery of rural...ality? but instead he finds someone feisty, who knows far more than he does about life, and is ready to knock him on his ass if needed. She's not being forced into anything. She used to be very physically active, mountain climbing and shit, but now she wants to live somewhere warmer and be able to call an uber. It's not assisted living, it's like the place my grandma lives, it's just age restricted and has like community center stuff. It’s even queer. Joel realizes in retrospect she was very lesbian coded but he was a kid, and then a sullen early 20 something. 

Every day Jimmy texts Joel to tell him to "touch grass" and Joel grumbles and finds different grass to send him a picture of. One day, bored, he wanders far afield while searching for slightly different grass.... 

Etho finds Joel down on his knees staring at grass. Etho looms over Joel and startles him. Joel yelps and stumbles, and Etho laughs at him and Joel growls like an angry tiny dog. Etho tries to soothe him but Joel rants at him and insults him while Etho tries to hide his amusement. Eventually Joel shouts and storms off and it's the most interesting thing to happen in Etho in years. Who is this guy?

(Note: Getting a bit of a pride and prejudice vibe, but with Etho being less of a bitch than Darcy. Go watch “Fire Island” for gay asian-american pride and prejudice it’s so good. Bowen Yang is Jane. Here, Joel (Elizabeth Bennet)  is convinced Etho (Darcy) is this big imperious asshole who thinks he's better than everyone, but Gem and his great aunt know he's a goober.) 

This is a really small town and Etho... ETHO IS FIXING TO GREAT AUNT TRUDY 'S HOUSE. Which Joel didn't know for a few days cause Trudy didn’t want to have work going the first few days Joel was there. Monday, Joel comes downstairs in his pjs and Etho and Trudy are having coffee together. Joel is in cutesy snail pjs got him for Christmas.

Joel is so angry, enraged, how dare big stupid Etho be helping someone he cares about. Joel storms upstairs (he knows he’s not subtle but it is HARD) and calls Jimmy to rant. After a few minutes, Trudy texts him and says Etho is outside. 

Joel comes back down, fully dressed, and Trudy lets him complain. Yes, she remembers him complaining about the nameless asshole the other day, and now it's the fucking guy fixing up the house so they can sell??? And he lives so close??? How dare he! 

Joel he can’t focus on work, no big deadlines because it’s the end of the year, and he doesn’t even have any meetings. They have a generous vacation policy and things mostly shut down in December. Joel sighs dramatically and shuts his laptop and sulks and paces and Trudy laughs. After an hour of Joel being absurdly grumpy, Etho comes in and says “hey sorry there's a thing I need to do but it's physically impossible without someone else, even for a big strong guy like me”.

Trudy and Etho laugh like there's an inside joke Joel's not part of and he seethes. He hates being excluded, especially if it’s because of *Etho.  And Etho says he'll look for other things he can do while he waits to get someone to help tomorrow. But Joel can't get home until the house is done, and that’s his excuse when he announces he's doing it. And Joel feels like Etho is being patronizing but he isn't. They do the task well, work together easily, and Joel also hates that. He hates everything about Etho, especially the way he stays out and helps Etho with other things even after that one is done. Clearly Etho needs… supervision. Can’t trust that big asshole.

Etho's over every single day for a week. Trudy is constantly finding excuses to send Joel out to offer Etho snacks, or to offer help carrying things. Joel fumes but never actually tries to not go. Trudy feigns "oh I'm too old to go offer him coffee" and it's bullshit and they both know, Trudy doesn’t even keep a straight face.  Etho is terribly amused to see he's being "set up with" Trudy's cranky great nephew from the city. Which is clearly a funny joke, Etho knows that he's a non-serious flirt, and that Trudy knows that, and Joel’s only here a couple weeks. Nothing could possibly happen. So Etho thinks clearly Trudy thinks Joel would enjoy flirting... and Etho quickly finds it really enjoyable to flirt with Joel.  Etho isn't analyzing that right now! Flirting is fun and this is a normal amount of flirting! Flirting is just fun! A game, a game where half the time he just lets himself be super awkward and jokey!  

Now it's Saturday afternoon and Joel hasn't seen Etho since Friday afternoon, and that's FINE that's GREAT actually! Because Etho is so annoying, and he stomps, and the construction work is loud sometimes and wakes Joel up - though of course by the end of the week Joel's out there most of the afternoon, and there hasn't been loud work in the morning. (Joel is too stupid to realize Etho did that on purpose, stopping the loudness in the morning. Such a silly boy.) 

So Joel is restless with no Etho to argue with and be annoyed by. (Note: Etho doesn't think they are arguing and Joel doesn't seem to be really annoyed, now does he?)

Joel goes out shopping and, like Joel was warned, the gps is really spotty out here. So he's pulled over the street and angrily trying to figure out how to get to the store before it closes. He's not going to go back to ask for help and it's just that there's no street signs most of the time, he's going through offline maps, he's absolutely so close to figuring it out when there's a knocking on his car and he SCREAMS. So loud Etho hears him outside Trudy's pickup truck. Joel turns and looks at him with a mix of confusion and rage and Etho steps back, waving. Joel rolls down the window and Etho explains he was waving but Joel wasn't looking up, and Etho instantly realizes Joel's lost and Joel is SO MAD. 

Etho says don’t worry, oh follow me to the store, I need to go to the store anyway. (note: Etho does not need to, he gets some stuff but he wasn't out of anything.) Joel is enraged when they get there because it's like two turns away! Etho could have told him! What, did he think Joel would get lost??? Etho doesn't engage with it, just chuckles and acts like Joel isn't Being Like That. He realized on Wednesday he could just ignore it and it would be fine. 

They finish shopping and Etho really doesn't want to say goodbye, though he tells himself he's just being nice to the traveler. He invites Joel out to go bowling, Etho genuinely is meeting people there. Why would Joel do that! When Etho is so annoying, he could go home and call Jimmy and maybe jerk off together, maybe just complain about Etho, but somehow it seems he said yes, why did he say yes, what the bloody hell now he's renting *bowling shoes*. 

Joel realizes Etho's asking him what he wants on his pizza (they sell it there) and etho knows Joel is vegetarian and isn't being weird about it, which Joel assumed everyone out here would be so he tries to hide it. He said he just wants cheese, then asks for pineapple to see if Etho is mean about it. Etho is not mean about it. By the time Joel has his shoes on, Etho is back and quickly describing people they are meeting and Joel is shocked Etho has friends. He knows that's rude and stupid but he just imagined Etho as a friendless introvert. But he's happy and comfortable with his friends - though it's true he only has a couple friends. 

And GOD DAMN IT but Etho is GOOD at BOWLING. Joel goes to the bathroom and frantically reads about how to get good at bowling real fast. Etho does not comment how it's obvious Joel is suddenly Trying Techniques. They eat pizza, they drink beer (joel doesn't really like beer, he's all into mixology but he drinks anyway after some complaints). Everyone can see they are flirting and generally think it's adorable. 

Joel finds himself genuinely comfortable - he blames the beer for dulling his senses. In truth, the beer is helping him calm down and drop some of his overactive brain that tries to protect him from pain by protecting him from everything. 

They finish a set, or a whatever a round of bowling is. People are taking a break, they go off for more pizza and giant pretzels and deep fried mac and cheese balls and the bathroom and stuff. Etho comes back with beers for himself and Joel. They wind up alone for a few minutes, as Etho teases Joel about his fancy cocktails, asks about them and mentally takes note of his favorites so he can go get the ingredients and... he's not sure what. The alone time stretches on a bit cause Etho’s friends are deliberately staying back and watching. 

Then Gem walks in.

Gem walks in the front door and finds the group trying to look innocent. They all walk back with her cause it would be insanely awkward to have Gem go over alone to Etho who is flirting with Trudy’s nephew who she’s never met. 

Etho isn’t sitting next to Joel, that would be too much to deny, which means once everyone is back they aren't sitting next to each other. Gem sits next to Joel and cheerily says she heard about the new guy, and Joel splutters and says he's temporary, and she's friendly and chatty but god Joel wishes he was still talking to *Etho*. He's so upset that it's true. 

Joel starts texting Jimmy just to have something to focus on, and goes to take his first turn, and comes back to his seat and... Etho and Gem are flirting, They are clearly flirting, and seeing it he realizes several things at once

A) Joel and Etho have absolutely been flirting

B) Etho is flirting with Gem like Joel isn't even there

C) It feels bad D) Joel hates that it feels bad

However bad it feels (a lot), Joel tells himself he can't leave because it would be obvious why, everyone would know he minded Gem and Etho flirting. Then maybe Etho would *say something* or even worse *apologize* and he'd die on the spot. Or maybe Etho wouldn’t say anything, wouldn’t care, wouldn’t offer to walk him to his car, and that’s terrible too. (And more terrible that he wants that)

Joel tries four times to explain the situation to Jimmy, and then just asks if he can do a call later, asking when is Jimmy going to bed.

[cut to: Jimmy looking at his phone with his brow furrowing, ready to stay up as late as Joel needs.]

Two people leave after that set/round, and Gem says Joel has drunk too much to leave, she can drive him home later cause she's not drinking tonight. Joel feels like he’d be sober fairly soon, but Gem’s not *asking*, she's informing Joel that therefore he should drink the beer she's handing him right now, and she's so nice and honestly so pretty and Joel's drinking the beer, and whoever he was splitting the pitcher with says they are done and Joel should finish it.

Why? Because tonight is unique and strange, and Gem has seen *something* and she's not going to let Joel go off and... sulk? She feels like this is a one time opportunity, if she lets Joel get away that'll be it, something will be gone, and for the worse. She can't put words to whatever is going on but she's going to be in control of tonight. 

Meanwhile Joel doesn't even think about the fact that he has a car here that will need to get back, he's so used to just taking cabs/lyfts around it just feels like an alternative to that. 

Etho does not comment, sipping his own beer... and getting another, because he also wants an excuse to not drive. Part of his mind is making a *fuss* about this behavior, making a fuss about the way he keeps looking at Joel, but he's ignoring it.

Eventually bowling is boring. Joel isn't as good as Etho, but he isn't always last, even while drinking. (Maybe everyone except Gem is drunk, but he’s not paying attention to anyone besides Gem and Etho). Joel is texting grumpily and Etho teases him about being grumpy, he says he's explaining to Jimmy that he's drunk on *beer* and it's appalling how far his standards have fallen, he gets over dramatic and silly

Due to miscommunication between multiple people, Etho has wildly misunderstood things and thinks Jimmy is Joel's long time housemate. He knows people in the city do that because everything is so expensive. They’ve lived together across multiple apartments, which sounds nice, to have a friend like that, a partnership of some kind.  Etho thinks they are both queer, which seems normal and also nice.

Gem laughs and asks what Joel normally likes to drink, and Etho starts teasing about Joel's fancy drinks, and Gem moves so she's as far away as she can be (it's a small space). 

[Gem is the woman doing math meme]

Joel winds up at Gem's place, which is walking distance away. He thinks it's because that's how he gets back home - to Trudy's, that is. He’s feeling so complicated and he hates it and there’s no way he can process it tonight. Therefore, Joel is giving himself permission to do whatever because he's very loud about how he's drunk on beer and it's too much liquid to put in one person and he's back to cocktails and shots after this. 

Etho teases him about being small and touches him and it's the first time they've touched. Joel is so ANGRY because he wants Etho to touch him more, touch him in other ways, and either Etho just flirts with people or maybe Gem's his *girlfriend* and Etho's probably *straight* this isn't the city why would he be....

They’re almost to Gem’s and  Etho bumps Joel's side with his own, teases him about thinking too much. Joel gets grumpy back and suddenly they're at Gem's, and it's five people and maybe Etho’s going to leave and it feels like if he does it’s forever, he’ll never see him again, but the other two disappear so fast and it's the three of them. Etho says he can't drive yet but he doesn't *seem* drunk - but then Gem is offering them cocktails, and Joel had sworn off more drinking but it's *civilized* here and Etho laughs so loudly and Joel should really just leave.

He doesn't.

In honor of the season, a prompt:

You have been tapped to write/direct the next Hallmark Christmas special. Which blorbos do you cast as your romantic leads and what's the summary of your feel-good holiday tale?

[steviescrystals]

i’m fr gonna lose my mind :)

[zouisalmightie]

.

[sluttyten]

the vibe of the day is to be in a bad fucking mood

[insanechayne]

~ ~ ~

[kissme-withyour-cherrylipstick]

Merry Kissmas, Day 24—Christmas Eve

Arthur is pretty sure now. The events of the last three days have been enlightening.

Merlin feels it too.

He wanted nothing more than to tell Merlin that it was okay, that he had nothing to be sorry for, that Arthur wanted the second kiss too. And a third and a fourth and—

He heaves a sigh as he stands in his kitchen on Christmas Eve morning, waiting for his coffee to brew. There is no work today, but he’s going to Morgana’s Christmas Eve party tonight, which will be in the office, and Merlin will be there.

He didn’t get a chance to tell Merlin anything yesterday. It seemed far too private to say in front of anyone else, and he worried Merlin would be too afraid to meet him in his office again. He considered texting and that was how he realized he didn’t know what to say. Well. He knew what to say, but every way he could think to say it sounded weirdly pathetic. Then he started to doubt if it was the right thing to do at all.

Maybe this is just what it's like when you kiss someone every single day for twenty-three days. Maybe he would have fallen in love with anyone if he did this with them. He certainly didn’t expect to fall in love with Merlin of all people.

This is the doubt he’s been wrestling with, but somehow he knows it’s not true. Somehow he knows this is real.

He knows because of how he always looks forward to Merlin’s kiss. How he always finds himself smiling when he thinks about Merlin, which he does a lot now. The warmth that spreads through him whenever he looks at Merlin, his tousled hair, his ears, the line of his neck, his dirty shoes that are completely inappropriate for an office setting.

He supposes he’s always been a little bit in love with Merlin. But this past month has really brought it to his attention.

At a loss for what else to do, Arthur calls Morgana.

“Hey, Morgana,” he greets, “I was just wondering... is Merlin coming to your party tonight?”

“Yes, as far as I know,” she answers.

“So he hasn’t told you that he won’t be coming after all?”

“Why, is there some reason you don’t want him to come?”

“No, I want him to come. I really want him to come.”

“Is there some reason you think he won’t?” When he doesn’t respond, she continues, “Why don’t you ask him?”

“Er....”

Morgana sighs. “Does this have anything to do with the weird game you two have been playing?”

“How do you know about that?

“Gwen.”

“She told you?”

“I have a right to know when you’re making a fool of yourself.”

“I should never have done any of that stuff in front of her.”

“Oh, she told me about the ones you didn’t do in front of her.”

“Ugh. Merlin. Is there no such thing as privacy?”

“So what’s the problem? Have you fallen in love?”

Arthur is silent.

“Oh my god, you have. Oh, Arthur,” and a hint of humanity slides into her voice, underneath a thousand layers of irony and condescension. “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what to do.”

“Oh, that’s why you called, you want advice.”

“No, no I don’t want your advice.”

“My advice is simple: follow your heart. Do what it is that you want to do.”

“That’s your advice? Why?”

“Because, I’m pretty sure Merlin wants you as much as you want him and I want him to be happy.”

“You really think that?”

“Yes. For some reason, he really likes you. God only knows why.”

“Thanks, Morgana,” Arthur says, then his sincerity runs dry. “I still think this is a trap.”

She laughs.

He hangs up.

In his own shitty flat that gets shittier the longer he stays at Arthur’s flat, Merlin is also thinking about the last three days and dreading the party tonight. The difference is, he’s still thinking about it in terms of the game. There’s no way he can win, and he doesn’t want to anyway. He thinks a tie would be the most preferable outcome, but at this point, it doesn’t really matter.

Except that Arthur will be insufferable if he wins. And he’ll remind Merlin about it at every opportunity, driving the knife deeper each time. But still, he can’t seem to bring himself to care.

Let him kiss me , he thinks, brooding into his morning tea. I want him to kiss me .

He spends the day dreaming about what it will be like and planning his reaction to it. He has every intention of kissing Arthur back. He’s done that several times and nothing has come of it.

As he’s sitting there, spiraling inside his own mind, he gets a phone call from Gwen and immediately answers it, desperate for anything. “Hello.”

“Hi, Merlin, are you busy?”

“No.”

“Would you like something to do?”

“Yes, please. God, yes.”

“Wow. Okay. I’m helping Morgana decorate for the party tonight and we could use an extra set of hands. And someone taller.”

“I’ll be right there.” He hangs up, leaps off of his chair, and gets ready in minutes flat. He already has his outfit picked out: black jeans that he thinks make his arse look good and an “ugly” Lord of the Rings Christmas jumper with all four hobbits on it.

“That was fast,” Gwen greets him at the door. She’s wearing a red velvet off-the-shoulder dress with her hair pulled back at the nape of her neck except for a couple ringlets that frame her face.

“You look amazing,” Merlin says, taking her in.

“Thank you.” She looks down. “I like your jumper.”

“Thanks.” They hug, and her embrace fills him with a sense that maybe everything will be okay.

“We’re in here.” She leads him further into the building where the party will take place, in the employee break room on the first floor and the wide open space in front of it. It’s a mirror of the second floor where Merlin works and he can’t help but look at and notice all the places that look like the places where he and Arthur have kissed. The front door. The desk that looks just like his. The boss’s office to the side. The table. Against the wall. He tingles at the memories and it makes his heart hurt.

“Lance!” Merlin cries when he sees Gwen’s boyfriend helping Morgana with decorations.

“Merlin!” Lance cries, then comes over and gives Merlin a hug.

“Long time no see,” Merlin grins.

“Yes, too long.”

“Hi, Merlin,” greets Morgana, who is stunning as usual in a green dress, her glossy black hair cascading over one shoulder. She wraps her arms around him and he feels blessed by her presence.

“Wait, I thought you said you needed someone tall,” Merlin says to Gwen, glancing at Lance who is roughly the same height as Merlin.

“We could use two tall people,” she says.

“I can give you a boost and you can help me with these,” Lance says, holding up some artificial mistletoe sprigs.

Merlin looks annoyed at Gwen. “Seriously?”

“Sorry,” she winces.

Merlin shakes his head and turns to help Lance. After Lance gives him a boost and he hangs the mistletoe, he slides down in his arms and they’re left standing together underneath it, looking into each other’s eyes. Merlin blushes, then lets go of Lance, pulls away, grabs Gwen, and throws her into Lance’s arms.

“Hi,” she blinks, grabbing his shoulders.

“Hi,” he smiles, looking at her with the most loving expression.

Merlin watches as they kiss, his smile fading after a moment, wishing he could have the same thing with Arthur.

He feels Morgana’s hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, Merlin. I have a good feeling about tonight.”

“Oh yeah? What do you know about it?”

“I know.” And there is a strange twinkle in her eye that gives him an unfathomable sense of hope.

Arthur always arrives fashionably late to Morgana’s Christmas Eve party, but tonight he finds himself impatient and eager to get there, so, after delaying his arrival as long as he can stand, he shows up less than an hour after it ostensibly started.

It appears to be in full swing; there are many people there, most of whom he knows, but there’s really only one person he wants to see.

“Hello, dear brother,” Morgana greets in her sarcastically sweet tone, coming at him from the left and putting her arm around him, a glass of what is probably champagne in her other hand.

“Hello, Morgana,” he sighs, slipping his arm around her waist halfheartedly.

“Merlin’s over there.” She points with her glass and Arthur sees Merlin’s dark hair just poking out above the heads of some other people whose faces he tunes out as he hones in on Merlin.

His palms sweat and his breathing is shallow as he makes his way into the breakroom where Merlin is standing beside a spread of Christmas desserts and, to Arthur’s dismay, is talking to Gwaine, looking very excited to be doing so.

Merlin turns when Arthur comes close and immediately looks annoyed. “Oh, of course you’re wearing a Lord of the Rings jumper. And of course it’s that one.”

Arthur looks down at Merlin’s chest and notices he is also wearing a Lord of the Rings jumper. “What’s wrong with this?” he asks, indicating his own jumper, with the White Tree of Gondor on it.

“You’re wearing that because you fancy yourself Aragorn.”

“And you fancy yourself Frodo.”

“Frodo is the main character.”

“And Aragorn is the rightful king of Gondor.”

They stare at each other in hostility for a moment, before Merlin breaks it with a smile, and Arthur has to smile back. “It is a pretty cool jumper.”

“Thanks. I like yours too.”

“Thanks. Would you like something to drink?”

“Yes, please.”

“Hi, Arthur,” says Gwaine as Merlin turns to fill a champagne flute for Arthur.

“Oh. Hi, Gwaine.”

“Looking forward to tonight?”

“Yeah, it should be fun.”

“I’ll meet you under the mistletoe.” He winks.

“No, you won’t.”

“I’m sure someone will.”

Just then, Merlin hands him his champagne. “Morgana always has the best drinks,” Merlin says. “She has some new purple... punch or something over there.”

“What’s in it?” Arthur asks.

“I dunno.”

“Is it good?”

“I dunno, is it, Gwaine?”

Gwaine takes a drink from his cup. “Very.”

“A bit of advice, for both of you,” Arthur says. “Don’t trust Morgana.”

“I trust her more than I trust you,” Merlin says.

“Oh yeah?” Arthur says, and steps closer to Merlin, who shrinks away just visibly, and Arthur fights the need to back off because Merlin is being ridiculous. “What do you think I’m gonna do to you?”

Arthur sees Merlin’s Adam's apple bob as he swallows. “I dunno. What are you gonna do to me?” He stands up straighter, practically daring Arthur to kiss him.

Arthur barely manages to tear his eyes away from Merlin’s lips. “Nothing.” He steps back and turns toward the table full of Christmas treats. He picks something up without even knowing what it is and puts it in his mouth. A biscuit.

“Well,” says Gwaine. “I guess I’ll see who else I can trap under the mistletoe.”

Merlin is surprised by how normal his and Arthur’s interactions are that night. All his anxiety melted away when he saw Arthur and they fell into their usual banter. They are inseparable all night. They eat. They dance. They drink. But still, Arthur doesn’t try to kiss him.

Merlin can’t understand why. Arthur would win. He’s got nothing to lose and everything to gain. It’s like he doesn’t want to win. It drives Merlin mad, and he’s torn between drinking as much as he can and staying sober so he can enjoy Arthur’s kiss when it does come.

The night creeps by and still it doesn’t come.

Finally, a slow song comes on and people are actually slow dancing to it. Lance is of course a great dancer and Merlin watches him and Gwen for a moment before Arthur approaches.

“Are you going to dance with me on this one?” he asks, slipping his arms around Merlin’s waist.

A spark crackles through Merlin’s body at the touch and his arms are circling Arthur’s shoulders before he can stop them. “Yes,” he hears himself say.

Arthur smiles at him as they begin to sway and Merlin can’t help but smile back as it goes on. He closes his eyes and leans his forehead against Arthur’s. They are the only two people in the world and it feels so strange but so right, moving like this.

“What’s up with you tonight?” Arthur asks after long moments stretch out before them.

“What do you mean?”

“You haven’t tried to kiss me at all. You could tie, you know.”

“I don’t want to tie.”

“Why not?”

This is the moment. Arthur is so close and Merlin could tell him everything, but as he stands on the precipice, he finds he is too cowardly.

Merlin is driving Arthur insane . They are together the whole night, so close they are almost touching, then when they do eventually touch, Merlin won’t tell him what he wants. Maybe it’s all the other people around.

He steps away from Merlin before the song is over and gives him a hard look. Merlin looks surprised, apprehensive even. Arthur looks around for an escape route, sees a broom closet, takes Merlin’s hand, and drags him in there, closing the door behind them.

“A closet? Really?” comes Merlin’s voice in the dark.

“Hang on, I think there’s a light in here.” Merlin is leaning against the wall and Arthur has to reach behind him to find the switch. When the light turns on, he’s crowding Merlin up against the wall.

“What are you doing, Arthur?”

“You have not tried to kiss me all night. Why?”

Merlin’s look of indignation fades into something far sadder until he looks so completely miserable it makes Arthur feel like a terrible person for having done this to him. His arms are crossed, protecting himself from Arthur, but he goes slack, leaning against the wall, all possible traces of anger gone. “You know why.”

All Arthur can hear is his own breathing as he takes it in. He does know why. He’s known it for days. He feels it himself. Neither of them care about this stupid game anymore. It’s gone so far beyond that, it’s impossible to even remember what that was like.

Arthur closes his eyes, then opens them. “Let’s tie.”

“Hm?” Merlin’s brow quirks hopefully.

Arthur takes Merlin’s shoulders in his hands and leans even closer. “I don’t care about the game,” he says, his voice just above a whisper. “I just want you. Let’s tie.”

Then Merlin is leaning forward and Arthur has felt his kiss before, in fact, he’s felt this exact fervor behind it, but this time it is unbound by any pretense and Merlin tilts fully into it, grabbing Arthur and holding him close, so close it’s as if he can’t get close enough, their entire bodies pressed together in the closet, and Arthur finally lets himself go too, exploring Merlin’s mouth like he’s always wanted to and it’s warm, heat spreading like fire throughout his body at every contact point between him and Merlin. He pushes forward, crushing Merlin against the wall because he really can’t get close enough.

He has to pull away for breath and to look at Merlin, flushed and disheveled and beautiful in the harsh lighting.

It is far more than Merlin ever hoped for. Even with all the assurances from his friends and his decision to just let it happen and how seemingly romantic Arthur is being, his heart soars like he can’t believe when Arthur says, “I just want you.”

It is like a dream and despite how dirty it probably is in that closet, Arthur’s kiss is pure and right and sets Merlin alight his entire body over and there is nowhere he’d rather be than between Arthur and that wall. He tastes like biscuits and peppermint and champagne and love.

When Arthur finally breaks away, he is glowing. Even the fluorescent lighting loves him.

Arthur strokes Merlin’s face with his thumb. “You are so beautiful, Merlin,” he says breathlessly. “I’m sorry it took me so long.”

Merlin swallows. “Me too.”

“Now that it’s finally over,” he says, nosing Merlin’s cheek, “I wanna take you home,” a kiss to his jaw, “and I won’t stop until there isn’t an inch of you I haven’t kissed.”

“What? You don’t just say things like that.”

“I do now.” He presses closer to Merlin and a surge of arousal flows through his body like never before.

“Oh god, yes,” Merlin breathes. “Arthur. I don’t know if I can wait that long.”

“You’ve waited this long, what’s a few more minutes?”

“An eternity.”

Arthur kisses him again and it’s the first kiss that is free from the confines of the game. It’s strong and it’s sweet and so quintessentially Arthur. Merlin is thrilled yet not surprised at all that he knows it so well.

As they duck out of the closet, saying a rushed goodbye to the party in general, Gwaine can be heard saying to Gwen, “Finally.”

[waywardvagabonds]

Texted my therapist back yesterday mid-day to check in about an appointment again. She said she got a temporary space for in person visits but asked if I wanted to still do telehealth on the day I originally requested. I said I still needed the telehealth because that’s the only day I have off the rest of the month and could switch back to in person in November. Have not received a confirmation.

[sttoru]

pls pls pls 🥹 older bf! gojo fucking the attitude out of his gf

 𝝑𝑒 𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒. satoru picks you up after your lecture to spend quality time with you, only to realise you got an attitude that needs some fixing.

tags. dom older bf!gojo x female reader. smut, pwp but also with plot. age gap (reader early 20’s, satoru early 30’s). rough. hints of degradation. p in v -> unprotected. standing doggy. semi-public. spanking. hair pulling. name calling. creampīe. nicknames ‘princess, baby’. wc: 3.2k

“mind telling me who that was, baby?” satoru asks while he fixes his sunglasses. he pushes his hair back a little, walking beside you through campus. you had just finished your study session with a boy who’s in your statistics class. your lovely boyfriend offered to pick you up and take you back home after that.

though, despite the kind gesture, you’re still visibly stressed after revising the material. your mind is occupied with all sorts of stuff you need to know before your exam on thursday.

“just a classmate,” you respond curtly, not even looking at satoru. you’re speeding ahead of him, wanting to rush home already. you nibble on your bottom lip and your brows are furrowed due to the distress, “why do you care?”

that sentence came out harsher than you had expected it to. you don’t mean to be bitchy, but you’re under too much stress at the moment. your body reacts before you can withstand it.

satoru is silent for a few seconds. he’s surprised by the tone of voice you used. he keeps on following you, however, not letting your little comment ruin the conversation. he’s there to help you, not to make you even more upset.

which is why he tries to lighten the mood.

“oh?” satoru chuckles, his dimples showing. he easily keeps up with you, his long legs carrying him around quite fast. the white haired man pushes a strand of your hair behind your ear ever so gently, “did someone upset my little princess today?”

you don’t answer him. you’re focused on your phone, hurriedly texting your friend back while speeding past all the other students. you don’t even notice how the girls are gawking at your man—whispering about how handsome he is and who he might be.

satoru doesn’t pay them any mind. his sole goal is to gain your attention back. he frowns after his question is met with silence. the clicking of his dress shoes increases as he tries to get you to stop and face him.

“c’mon,” your boyfriend sighs and stands in front of you, stopping you to an abrupt halt. he holds your wrist tenderly yet firmly, letting you know that he wants to properly communicate with you, “y’ can’t ignore me.”

you yank your hand back, your irritated attitude visible in your actions. you look up at satoru, not caring about what he thinks or wants at the moment. you just want to go home and relax. everything is overstimulating you.

“i can and i will,” you huff before stepping aside to continue your journey out of the university’s terrain. your boyfriend’s frown only deepens. you’re not the only one who’s currently getting agitated. you push past a group of students who stood in your way, “let’s just go home.”

satoru’s eyes narrow. he doesn’t get upset fast—he rarely feels any kind of anger—but right now he can feel something itching inside of his chest. he’s tried not to let the jealousy get the best of him at first, but now with all the other emotions coming into play, it’s nearly impossible to hold himself back.

satoru considers himself a fairly mature man. he’s always been one, yet when it comes to you he can’t help but feel like he doesn’t have any control over his emotions. his body and mind act on their own.

“aht aht. not so fast, little lady.”

you suddenly feel yourself being dragged to the side. satoru’s grip around your arm isn’t harsh, but it sure is enough to make you stumble along with him. you click your teeth in slight annoyance after the initial shock settles in. you know there’s no fighting it; you don’t want others to witness your little squabble.

“hey, where are we going?” you ask, a slight whine leaving your throat. you simply want to go lay in your bed and avoid everything and everyone else. your eyes are focused on the back of satoru’s head as he guides you along. he doesn’t bother to face nor answer you.

you sigh and simply allow yourself to be dragged away. if you’re going to get a scolding, you don’t mind. you’re just going to hear him out and nod along so you can go back home faster.

you raise an eyebrow when satoru arrives at the bathroom on the second floor. “what the—” you’re confused as to what your boyfriend is trying to achieve. you quickly look around to see if anyone has seen you.

no one seems to be close. this part of the building has always been empty around this time frame anyway.

you’re pulled into the men’s bathroom after satoru made sure that the coast was clear. he gently pushes you into an empty stall and locks the door. “satoru, what’s up with you?” you sigh as you stumble back against the bathroom wall. it’s a hypocritical comment considering your own nasty attitude.

you try to push him aside, only for your boyfriend to force your arms around his neck, pulling you flush against him. your eyes lock into his and that’s when you notice how . . dark they are. the usual playful look is nowhere to be found.

“i’m just thinkin’ that y’r attitude needs some fixing, hm?” satoru whispers. a ghost of a smirk appears on his face—it’s a twisted one. wicked, with the thoughts of what he’ll do to punish you for your actions. he rarely has that expression when he’s with you.

he tips your chin up with quite some force, “i can help with that.”

everything else happens at a blink of an eye. one of satoru’s large hands slithers up your back to tangle in your hair and yank it back, exposing the column of your throat for his hickeys to take shape on. his other hand swiftly makes work of your pants and undergarments.

his jaw is clenched—the usual hint of gentle love in his eyes is replaced by lust fuelled by jealousy and frustration. satoru is not playing around either. instead of taking his time like he usually does when it comes to intimacy, he’s quick to discard both your clothing.

“fuckin’ tease,” the white-haired man mutters under his breath, panting with desire. he zips down his pants and frees his big cock from his boxers. “always pushing my buttons. isn’t that right, baby?”

satoru lets out a breathy, mocking chuckle. he fists the shaft slowly while his blue eyes roam over your body caged against him and the wall, “but i guess tha’s part of the reason why i love you—hah.”

you’re basically in shock at the sudden switch. your jaw is slack and your eyes are wide, but there’s an undeniable feeling in your chest that tells you you’re loving this change. you can’t deny the fact that you’re turned on. extremely turned on.

“‘toru, i don’t think it’s smart to do this here,” you murmur in a small voice. you’re trying to have some dignity, even now, when your panties are soaked and the scent of your obvious arousal is driving your man crazy.

“don’t care,” satoru shakes his head with a smug grin. his long fingers hook around the waistband of your underwear before flimsily tugging them down to your ankles. his eyes darken the second he sees the webs of sticky, translucent slick clinging from your panties to your puffy folds.

he grunts, his cock twitching painfully in his hand. he’s thinking of simply jerking off to the sight of you in front of him, but he decided otherwise. satoru smacks your clit with his fat tip, “should’ve thought about that before catchin’ an attitude with me.”

suddenly, he turns you around so you’re facing the wall. your nails dig into the flat surface of the tiles, catching onto nothing. you’re hoping that no one will walk into the bathroom. last thing you need is everyone knowing that you were getting your back blown out by your boyfriend on campus.

not that satoru would mind those rumors. it’d only fuel his (already) huge ego.

“oh, yeah— shit. you need this ‘s much as i do,” satoru groans as sinks his cock into your pussy, agonisingly slow, inch by inch. you shudder and hold in your moans as your velvety walls make part for him.

his hands spread your pert asscheeks, smacking the full globes before kneading them to soothe the pain. he continues in a low, dangerous voice, “you wouldn’t be so stuck up if y’ didn’t need this fuckin’ dick to shut you up.”

satoru doesn’t stop pushing in until his heavy balls are resting snugly against your bottom, warming his sack full of cum that’s aching to be released in your dripping cunt.

“ngh, ‘toru,” you bite your lip and try not to orgasm just from the feeling of being full— so full of cock that it makes you see stars, “just like that.”

the white-haired man responds with a satisfied grunt, sweat forming on his forehead from how hot and wet it is inside of you.

“oh, there she is,” satoru coos once he hears your whiny voice, that sweet voice he cherishes and loves. it isn’t cold nor avoidant anymore like before and that’s really all he wanted to acquire. he licks a stripe from the tip of your ear to the lobe, voice husky, “there’s the girlfriend i know. moan some more f’ me.”

you shiver as satoru’s lips connect with the back of your neck. after wetting the skin with his saliva, he bites. not hard enough to draw blood, but hard enough to leave a mark. you clamp around his dick in response and he curses under his breath.

“please, fuck me,” you breathe. you need more stimulation, need him to absolutely ruin you. the shallow and slow thrusts he’s giving are nothing but torturous.

satoru grins and rests his chin on top of your shoulder, large hands rubbing around your hips and lower abdomen, teasing your clit every now and then to get you even more pent up.

“fuck you?” he tilts his head, as if contemplating. he clicks his tongue and gives your ass a firm slap that nearly sends you over the edge. “hah, you should be grateful for what i’m givin��� you.”

but satoru’s weak for you. even if he’s trying to be the ‘mean’ and ‘cold’ dominant guy. his cock is aching to plunge in and out of your wet hole, to see you come undone and feel your juices coat his balls and thighs.

“fine. i’ll fuck you,” satoru relents with a roll of his eyes, acting like he isn’t desperate for you too. he grips your hips in a bruising manner and bites your shoulder, “—fuck you like the brat you are.”

your hands save your face from making contact with the wall as your body suddenly jostles back and forth in a speed you can’t even process.

“satoru!” you nearly scream his name out of pure surprise. the pleasure comes crashing down in waves, your pussy uncontrollably spasming around his girthy cock.

satoru grumbles something incoherent as he pistons his hips, ramming in your sloppy cunt while his eyes are fixated on your bouncing ass. white locks of hair stick to his forehead as he splits you open on his dick.

“so pretty,” the older man sighs. he turns your head sideways so you can look him in the eyes while he fucks you silly. he caresses your cheek gently, a contrast to the mocking grin on his lips and the rough thrusts against your ass, “too bad y’ got such a potty mouth on you.”

satoru pushes his index and middle finger between your lips to muffle your noises, “…but don’t worry, i’ll fix that for you. gladly.”

you eagerly suck on them between quick gasps of air, saliva trickling down his hand. your boyfriend redoubles his efforts, the fat tip of his dick hitting that special spot deep inside you.

his free hand reaches down to circle your clit. the double stimulation sends you into a state of pure bliss. your pupils are dilated as you struggle to find satoru’s gaze, head lolling back and forth with each powerful stroke.

perhaps this really was all you needed to help destress and forget all about your responsibilities. it feels good to not think about anything at all— your head empty except for the feeling of your cunt being filled.

satoru’s cock twitches inside of you with the urge to release a load in your womb. “give me it, please,” your voice is muffled as you plead with him. your hand sneaks downwards, trying to find his balls, “w-want your cum.”

your fingers toy with his sack once you find it. his pre-cum and your own juices now coat your skin as well, your hand enclosing around his balls, massaging them. it’s like you’re trying to coax his potent semen out of them and that alone makes satoru throw his head back in ecstasy.

“little cumslut. . .” satoru growls, brows furrowing as he tries not to shoot his cum inside of your greedy cunt right that second. the hand that was keeping you quiet quickly snatches your wrist and pins it against the bathroom wall.

“are you that desperate to get filled? yeah?” your boyfriend huffs, not stopping to catch his breath at all. his hips pound faster against your ass with renewed passion.

your lips are parted and they move, but not a single answer comes out of your mouth. you’re unable to think or talk because of the pleasure.

satoru takes that as a yes. the erotic sight of you being so lost in sin is enough to fuel his desire to fuck you harder. his hips never falter as he scoffs at your pathetic self, “tch, so addicted to my cock y’ can’t even answer me.”

you shake your head and search for your words. however, you fail, and all that you’re capable of communicating is what you need, “fuuuuck, yes i am—‘toru, need your cock ‘n cum— more.”

satoru lets go of your wrist to grab your jaw. he forces your head back again before he captures your lips in a bruising kiss. his tongue plunders inside your mouth, exploring every inch.

he pulls back to gasp for air and releases your jaw with a slight shove to grab your hips again. “more? hah,” the white-haired man lets out a haughty chuckle. he gives a particular hard thrust against your butt, tip kissing your cervix painfully yet deliciously, “y’ think you deserve more after that shit you pulled?”

satoru yanks your head back by your hair. the stinging sensation makes your scalp itchy, but it also increases your pleasure. he lowers his lips to your ear, his voice dangerously low, “nah, you gotta make this work.”

you could. you can make it work and that’s the truth. he could fuck you with just his tip and you’d be able to cum a couple times in a row.

jolts of pleasure run down your spine as satoru drives into you harder, the force of his thrusts rocking your entire body. you’re seeing stars and the words roll off your tongue, “please, mhh, almost there!”

satoru groans. he can feel the delicious fluttering of your cunt around his cock, the telltale signs of an orgasm building. he has half a mind to pull out completely and let you writhe and beg him some more.

he contemplates it for a few seconds. the second your eyes start to roll back, signaling your impending climax, his cock slips out of your pussy. you whine and push your hips back in search for his dick- to fill the void he left.

satoru jerks himself off at the pitiful sight. he rubs his veiny shaft between your slick folds before slapping the tip against your cunt, letting it catch onto your entrance for a few times.

“begging like that isn’t going to get you anywhere. y’ can do better,” your boyfriend encourages in a sultry tone. one of his hands rest on your tummy, fingers splaying over your clothed skin. another filthy smack of his tip against your slit makes you shiver, “come on.”

you bite your lip out of frustration. you arch your back each time the fat head of his cock catches onto your gaping hole, hoping to slip it in, but you can't. you tilt your head back and lock eyes with satoru close up behind you.

“please let me cum, 'toru. i'll be good, i promise,” you beg with a lewd pleading expression. one that make satoru's balls tighten with the urge to cum as well.

with a low groan, satoru snaps his hips forward, burying his dick inside of you once more, “there ya go. good girl, knew y’ had it in you.”

the praise and familiar feeling of his dick stretching you open is enough to push you over the edge. you nearly black out as your cunt spasms around him, your juices gushing out to coat his length and balls.

satoru grits his teeth once he feels your tight cunt clench viciously around his throbbing cock. your orgasm has a domino effect on your lover, causing him to hastily chase his own release. “shit! take it, princess. take it all inside this greedy fuckin' cunt,” he hisses and grinds his pelvis against the fat of your ass.

satoru buries himself to the hilt before his cock jerks and pulses, emptying his balls deep inside of you. his fingers dig into the meat of your butt, holding you in place as he grinds against you, making sure every last drop of his seed is nestled into your waiting womb.

“there y’ go, mhm—taking my load so deep,” your lover sighs and lowers his head, resting against your back. he hugs you tightly to his chest while you both catch your breath. he rides out his orgasm slowly, still grinding against you while he leaves lazy kisses on your nape.

a minute passes before you've regained your composure, somewhat. you smile as satoru kisses your temple lovingly, praising you for taking him so well. the switch back to his usual gentleman personality is much needed after such an intense moment.

“thank you, babe. i needed that,” you giggle as you rest back against his chest. thick, pearly globs of cum escape your pussy, dripping around his cock and onto your thighs, but neither of you could care less. the clean up is a problem for later.

satoru chuckles back at you as he leaves another loving kiss against your cheek. “i knew you did,” he murmurs and pets your head, “my poor girl has been working so hard on her assignments, hm? poor, poor baby.”

you playfully roll your eyes at the overexaggerated concern in your lover's voice, however you appreciate it.

satoru doesn't bother to pull out. first things first; he needs to get you all comfortable again and give you the aftercare you deserve. his hands massage your hips as he nuzzles his face into the crook of your neck, acting all lovey-dovey like he hasn't just shown you a more dominant side of him.

“how ‘bout we go home and order some food? we can cuddle and watch a movie together, ‘kay? i’ll take care of you, princess.”