#didn’t turn out how I liked but I created something!

[luiluvr]

let it grow || luigi mangione

dad!luigi i love u forever :( based off this request! spent a lot of time listening to let it grow, cause the Lorax soundtrack goes hard, also this is to the person who wanted boy dad luigi!! <3

WARNINGS: none! no uses of y/n, & i didn't give the kids a name this time — leaving it to ur imagination! slightly proof read

SUMMARY: after taking a wind-down shower, you hear murmurs from the kid's bedroom, Luigi is reading them his (and their) favorite bedtime story: The Lorax.

WC: 1k

The Lorax. Always The Lorax. 

Luigi’s all-time favorite as a child, he was so giddy when you both finally had children of your own – he made sure he had the book on hand at all times. Even when they were babies that didn’t fathom what was happening; he’d read to them. Again and again, honestly you get sick of hearing the same story all the time. It’s meaningful to him, which is respectable, for it being a children’s book it reflects the real world plenty.

Most kids wanted to read other books by now, but your two sons never complained once when they asked Luigi to read to them. When he pulled out The Lorax, they’d be so excited. They just loved hearing him read, he had this aura. He would express the characters so well, exclaim and imitate sounds; so the kids preferred him reading over you. You read to them every so often when Luigi wasn't readily available, but besides then, he was theirs for bedtime stories.

For the night you left Luigi to get the kids tucked in to bed while you showered, you needed that fifteen-minutes of peace and quiet, he never turned down the opportunity to do something with the kids while benefiting you in the process.

You managed to wash off, get your hair dried so it wasn’t uncomfortable to sleep at night. Luigi didn’t seem too invested in doing a lot tonight, so you figured he wouldn’t. Until you went out into your room and heard some murmuring down the hallway. You raise an eyebrow and slowly walk towards the noise, mid-cleaning your ears.

“That was long, long ago. But each day since that day I've sat here and worried and worried away. Through the years, while my buildings have fallen apart, I've worried about it with all of my heart.” Luigi’s voice echoes softly as you peer into the door, smirking softly as he uses his best Once-ler voice.

“But now,” he says softly, “Now that you're here, the word of the Lorax seems perfectly clear. UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.” The two boys with thick curls on their small heads, similar to Luigi’s – look at him. Listening intently. Despite hearing this story a hundred times before, it was as if they were still taking it in for the first time – all over again. They were curled on either side of him, watching the pages. 

His gaze shifts to the boys, and he smiles, not quite finished reading but wanting to interact. “So, what does that mean exactly?” 

“If somebody doesn’t care, then nothing’s gonna get better?” For kids their age, they caught onto things well. Or it’s the fact Luigi has explained every waking detail of this book even though they 100% didn’t understand the worldly concepts connected to the writings.

“That’s right, so suppose something’s not right in your life, you have to care a lot about it to actually fix it. You can say ‘yeah, I want to be better about this,’ but never do anything. It can also mean about different timeline movements that changed our world today. Like racial equality, or women’s rights. If no one ever actually cared enough to change those things, do you think the world would be how it is?”

“No.” The youngest says. He’s only three-years-old so his vocabulary was still a work in progress. 

“I don’t think so dad.” The older boy murmurs from his bed.

“You’re right,” he began, until your older boy interrupted. “Dad, do you think when Dr. Seuss was  writing that he was thinking about the world we live in rather than the one he created?” His voice was pitchy, and he stumbled on a few words, but for a five-year-old it was rather impressive – even to you.

Luigi smiled at that, he was so proud his boy was learning, soon the youngest would pick up on it too, he was just too little right now. He only liked the drawings – a very simple boy. “Absolutely, kiddo. If I could prove any theory I’ve ever had, it would be this book, right here,” he gestures at the small hard-back cover he’s had since he was a child. “Is based on our reality.” 

It always fascinated you how Luigi had such a way with the two little ones. “So… Catch!’ Calls the Once-ler. He let something fall. ‘It’s a Truffula seed. The last one of all! You're in charge of the last of the Truffula Seeds. And Truffula Trees are what everyone needs. Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with care. Give it clean water. And feed it fresh air. Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack. Then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back.’

“They let it grow!!” Your oldest giggles. He really liked the book, but Luigi recently introduced them to the animated film, and he adored the music the most.

“They let it grow indeed.” He smiles.

Luigi flipped through the final two pages, gently shut the book and gazed over his sons. They gave him cheesy grins as he sat the book on a small shelf by the bedside, your oldest scurried back to his bed across the room, while the youngest admired his father – and for a moment his eyes flicker to you.

You winked at him before Luigi gave them both goodnight kisses. In unison their youthful voices, “Night daddy!” 

“Goodnight you two, get lots of sleep. I love you.”

“Love you too!” 

“Wuv you!”

Luigi chuckled, and turned off their lamp, leaving only the illumination from a small dinosaur night light you bought when your first was born. You waited outside, causing Luigi to jump slightly when he shut the door. “You’re always lurking around, y’know that?”

You chuckle, “yes, how cruel of me… Those kids are going to be able to repeat that book word for word one day.”

“Yeah, well. It teaches them a really important lesson.”

“Does it?”

“Very much so, my love.”

“And what’s that?" You grin, holding his arm as you both walk to your room.

"That I was the only one willing to read to them."

[kxsagi]

Heyyyyy pretty, hope you're doing great!!!! I have a request (I'm never stopping to haunt you everywhere in your notification) so i don't have any characters in mind for this so you can choose (expect Kaiser) x reader where reader has a plush or merch of them and like wears it or keeps it somewhere obvious around their house cause she's proud of the player/star they became

Thank you beforehand!!!!!💕 and also here's some flowers cause you deserve them💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐

“𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲”

a/n: heyyy lovey i’m doing well and i hope you are too! thank you for the flowers 🥹🥰

i couldn’t choose so i turned this into headcanons instead if that’s okay! (this is my first time doing so asknksnsldnglslkfgs) + i'm so sorry but i love kaiser

ft. isagi yoichi, bachira meguru, nagi seishiro, reo mikage, chigiri hyoma, itoshi rin, karasu tabito, yukimiya kenyu, itoshi sae, kaiser michael

isagi yoichi - “you love showing off your boyfriend’s success”

🧸 you have a shelf dedicated to his memorabilia, including a signed jersey and a plush doll of him, placed proudly in the living room. 

🧸 when friends or family visit, you subtly point it out, saying things like, "oh, that's just his plush. it’s adorable, right?"

🧸 you’ll send your boyfriend pictures of his merch around your shared house, playfully teasing him about how much you’re surrounded by him. 

⚽ he’s a bit shy but incredibly touched, replying, “wow, you really have a whole shrine to me. i guess I’m flattered… or should i be worried?” 

bachira meguru - “you keep his merch in unexpected places” 

🧸 you keep a small plush of him in your car, so when you’re driving, you can glance at it and think of him. 

🧸 you always have his keychain on your bag, a subtle but constant reminder of his accomplishments. 

🧸 his signed soccer ball sits on your desk as your little good luck charm whenever you work. 

⚽ he’s genuinely touched, but also amused, texting you, “i didn’t realize you were taking me everywhere. maybe i should get a tiny version of you to keep in my locker too. that way, i’ll always have you with me!” 

nagi seishiro - “you create little rituals around his fame”

🧸 on game nights, you’ll watch his match with his plush sitting next to you, as if the plush is cheering along with you. 

🧸 after each match, whether he wins or loses, you take a selfie with his jersey and plush, sending it to him with a sweet message like, “you did amazing!” 

⚽ he laughs and shakes his head, playfully replying, “you’re going to have me beat by the plush at this rate lol. but seriously, you make me feel like i’m your MVP every game.”

reo mikage - “you love to surprise him with little gifts”

🧸 after an important game, you’ll gift him personalized items with his jersey number or even something referencing his childhood. 

🧸 sometimes, you get him exclusive limited-edition items from his own brand or the team, showing just how much you support him beyond just the merch. 

⚽ he’s touched by your thoughtful gifts, often pulling you into a hug and saying, “you’re too much, you know that? this means more than you’ll ever realize. i’m so lucky to have you.” 

chigiri hyoma - “your friends know how much you love him and his journey” 

🧸 whenever you talk about your relationship, you’ll mention his soccer career with glowing pride, even bringing up how you proudly display his merch at home. 

🧸 your friends always know which game he's playing next because you can’t help but talk about how excited you are for him. you even have a countdown for his next match on your phone screen. 

⚽ he shakes his head, laughing at how much you talk about him, “you’re so proud of me, i feel like i should give a speech or something. but seriously, i’m grateful you’re always cheering me on.” 

itoshi rin - “you’re his biggest fan, even in private moments” 

🧸 you wear his team’s merchandise (like a hoodie or a cap) while the two of you hang out at home. 

🧸 sometimes, you’ll wear his jersey to bed, saying it’s comfy, but it’s also a reminder of how proud you are of him. 

🧸 every time he scores, you’ll replay the highlights and cheer for him like you’re at the stadium. 

⚽ he grins and playfully teases you, “you’re the best cheerleader i’ve ever had. but, if i’m being honest, i think you wear my jersey better than i do.” 

karasu tabito - “you tease him about how famous he’s become” 

🧸 when you’re out in public with him, you playfully mention how you might need a bodyguard soon since people keep asking for his autograph. 

🧸 you’ll jokingly “fight” over him with fans who try to take pictures with him, saying, “hey, he’s mine, back off!”

🧸 you refer to his plush as "his mini-me" and makes it clear that you’re not jealous of his fame, you’re proud of him. 

⚽ he laughs and playfully pulls you closer, saying, “you’re too cute. if you want, i’ll just stay by your side so no one else can have me.” 

yukimiya kenyu - “you cherish his personal touch on his merchandise”

🧸 you keep a collection of his signed posters and photos framed around the house, often adding little notes on them like “best goal ever” or “miss you here.”

🧸 every time you buy a new piece of his merch, you take a picture of it and send it to him with a text saying, “i got another piece of you.”

⚽ he’s a little speechless and incredibly moved, replying, “you’ve really made me feel like i’m part of your home… and your heart. i’ll never take that for granted.” 

itoshi sae - “you have a soft spot for his signature items” 

🧸 his signed cleats sit on a display stand in your shared bedroom, and you always tell visitors about the first time you saw him wear them. 

🧸 every time he gives you a new item – whether it's his hoodie or a scarf from his team – you wear it immediately and don’t take it off for days. 

⚽ he finds it both adorable and a little funny, sending you a message, “i can’t believe you wear everything i give you like it’s your personal uniform. i must be doing something right.” 

kaiser michael - “you’re never afraid to show off your pride” 

🧸 you’ll bring your plush to any event or social gathering they attend together, saying, “i’m taking my boyfriend with me!” 

🧸 even if the two of you are just relaxing, you’ll throw on one of his team scarves, proudly draping it around your neck as if it’s the most casual thing in the world. 

🧸 sometimes, you even match your outfits to his team colors, always making sure your accessories tie back to his career, as if you're subtly celebrating him wherever the two of you go.

⚽ he raises an eyebrow and chuckles, “is this how it’s going to be now? you’re taking my plush to the grocery store too?” he laughs, adding, “i love it. you make me feel like i’m on top of the world.” 

© 𝐤𝐱𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐢

[xxchaosjojoxx]

Hi!! I saw you were taking requests, could I request a Trafalgar Law x Female Strawhat Reader about little moments where Law slowly falls for the reader starting where they first meet on Sabaody Archipelago to the end of Wano if possible? Oh and can I also request the Reader to not have a devil fruit? 😁

A/N: Thanks for both of your request. I hope I did you guys justice <3 @leafcollectorr

Love at third sight (Law x female strawhat!reader / grumpy x sunshine)

The first time Law saw you he knew exactly that you were trouble. That smile you wore while your captain punched this celestial dragon was captivating. Soon as this dude flew to the ground you went towards your captain. “I have the feeling we made a good impression back there.” You giggled.

Even when Eustass and strawhat fought with him against the marines he could still hear your laughter and joyful and especially loud words of encouragement.

“GO get em Captain. Punch them right there. YEAH like that.”

“Looking good tomato head. He flew out of the ring.”

“Wow grumpy cat, your devil fruit power is so cool. I wanna be next. This looks funny.”

Eustass and Law were fast turning our heads towards you. Their faces are bright red. Was it embarrassing for them? Hell yes.

“DON’T CALL ME GRUMPY CAT!” - “WHO IS A TOMATO HEAD WOMAN?!”

That damn smile of yours, made your eyes sparkle like a jewel.

Law was glad that you parted ways that day. Even so, your smile, your voice never left his mind. “How annoying. This damn woman is like their captain.”

The second time he saw you was back on Punk Hazard. After escaping, Law was now on the thousand sunny. And he regretted it very soon. Luffy thought that an alliance was something to eat or a friendship pact. He always thought that Luffy was annoying with this friendly and joyful temper but you? You were louder and happier than your captain.

Law soon retreats, looking around the sunny.

As soon as he saw the medicine room he entered. “That furball is really a doctor huh?” He inspected everything closely. Noticing a lot of bottles with different herbs, powders and flowers inside.

Law took one out of the shelves, reading the label with a frown expression.

“Never heard of it…” he murmured to himself.

“This is a special one. I created it by mixing those two herbs together. It’s an ointment for bruised and even burns”

A soft voice was heard and Law turned around in shock. You stood there, in your hands were the two herbs you talked about. “You did this?” Law asked.

You nodded. “Yep I’m a pharmacist you know? Chopper is the yin to my yang. We are a good team.”

Law blinked a few times, slightly confused.

“I’m surprised.”

“Thought so. People always assume that I am an idiot or just naive. And you know why?” You asked, walking towards your desk, grabbing a notebook.

Law observed every movement of yours closely.

A soft and yet sad smile was on your face as you turned towards him, looking him directly in his eyes. You offered him the notebook. “Because I always wear a smile and show nothing but joy and happiness. You thought so as well, right?”

Law couldn’t help but blush as your words. Taking the notebook from your hands and trying to avoid your gaze. “I didn’t -”

“I hate when people are lying.  It’s ok because it might be for the best. People should underestimate me. That is the best way to help Luffy and the rest of the strawhats. Just be honest with me please.”

Law couldn’t help but staring back at you. “You are quite the clever girl.”

This time the smile was reaching your eyes as they began to sparkle once more, like back there at Sabaody.

“Really? Wow, that's a huge compliment coming from you. If you wanna read some of my research, go for it.”

“Will do it. Thank you.” A smile was on your face…again.

He sighed. Law was about to leave the room but turned around at the door frame. “I should be honest right? Even though your smile annoys me at first, it is still pretty.”

You couldn’t help but blush, trying to sutter a sentence but the words didn’t wanna come out.

Law couldn’t help but smirk. “Good night y/n-ya”

The following days he read your notebook, impressed about your knowledge. He didn’t think that you would be smart and strategic. You only made dumb jokes along your crew. And everytime he saw you enjoying your everyday life with the people around you or being clumsy, he felt a little at home. It was like his crew and corazon was there with him.

The third time he noticed you, really noticed you was back at Zou. After rejoining you and the rest of the strawhats after departing ways in dressrosa he was glad that his crew was safe and sound. Thanks to you, Chopper and the rest of the strawhats.

“Captain!! This girl is such a lifesaver. It stung a little but now I have no ouchies any more.”

Bepo said while cuddling Law.

“Captain Y/N-chan should join us. She is a perfect match for our team.” Shachi said.

Penguin nodded. “She is a perfect match for me as well…”Shachi  punched his friend in the ribs. “I mean for our team. Hehe. But seriously captain. She is the perfect fit for us.”

Law could see that you made a good impression. You were such a sweetheart towards his crew, smiling and laughing with them. Dancing and singing with Shachi and Penguin at the party later that night. They were right. You would be a perfect match for the crew, but the truth was, you were part of the strawhat crew.

The night went on and soon enough they fell asleep one by one. Law was sitting near the campfire, enjoying this peaceful and calm night sky.

He closed his eyes. Everytime your smile was on his mind, since the day he first saw you on Sabaody. But after spending time with you on Punk Hazard and on the ship, your eyes and your sweet nature was all he could think of.

Law noticed right away that someone was right beside him.

As he opened his eyes, he saw you. Standing there with a light blush in front of him.

“Sorry to disturb you, Traffy but…”

You looked shyly towards the ground.

“You don’t disturb me… and what is a Traffy?”

You looked up at him and a big smile was on you.

“That’s my nickname for you. Is that ok?”

You asked nervously while taking a seat next to him.

He couldn’t help but notice how cute you were looking right now.

“Call me ‘Traffy’ if you want but not when the others are around.”

“Why not?”

“It’s embarrassing.”

“Calling you ‘honey’ in front of them is more embarrassing.”

His face turned crimson red. “W-Where is this coming from?”

“So can I call you Traffy now in front of everyone?”

“Only if I can call you ‘sunshine’ in front of everyone.” He smirked. He knew you would be so shy and easy to tease. You would surely deny it.

“Do you mean it?” Your voice was a mere whisper, a deep red was seen on your face even in the dark. Law couldn’t help but turn his head away from you. “I said it so you could stop with this nickname nonsense but…you remind me of a ray of sunshine. In a good way.”

Law could feel your head leaning onto his side.

“I’m glad that you don’t hate my sunny personality anymore. And I’m glad that your crew doesn’t hate me as well.

He laughed. “Please you are like them. There is no way anyone would hate you, for being yourself.”

“You have a beautiful laugh, Trafalgar.”

Law froze in place.

He turned his head towards you again, looking at you. You were already looking at him and soon enough your eyes met.

“I should probably go.”

You tilted your head in confusion. “Are you tired?”

He swallowed hard. “Not yet but it might be for the best.”

Your eyes scanned his gaze and his lips.

“Are you sure?”

He nodded. “Would it be such a catastrophe if I told you that I fell for you?”

Law couldn’t help but caress your cheek. “Would it be selfish of me? Being a part of your crew? After we finish our mission?”

Your foreheads touched and you could feel the warmth of one another.

“It might be a mistake to love me.”

“You had such a hard life. Your crew loves you and wants to help you. I wanna love and help you as well.”

Your soft lips kissed his foreheads in a loving manner.

His hand holding yours, caressing the back of it with his thumb.

“Let me be your sunshine please.”

His lips found yours. The kiss was gentle and loving. “You sure a grumpy cat like me deserved such a ray of sunshine?”

“100% sure”

[love-quinn]

— COMPLETELY UNREAL

summary — despite your best efforts, remus lupin is determined to get to know you.

warnings — reader with general anxiety

pairing — remus lupin x fem!reader

pronouns — she/her

word count — 2.1k

note — clearing out my drafts, this has been here 5ever. enjoy

The common room was one of your least favourite places to be, but your dorm room was worse, so there you were. It was getting late, and you had a potions assignment due the next day, so you were sitting in a quiet corner trying to work on it. Well, trying to want to work on it. You were only just passing by the skin of your teeth, and if you failed this essay then it would bring your grade down from an Acceptable to a Poor, and that meant that you wouldn’t be able to get the NEWTS you needed. You weren’t sure what those NEWTS were, as the idea of having to do anything after finishing school filled you with fear, but you figured it probably would have something to do with potions. You sort of just picked the electives you enjoyed and then did your best.

Unfortunately, your best didn’t seem to be good enough with this essay, as you had been working on it nonstop for the past four days and you still had another 10 inches of parchment left.

“Disfigurement,” a voice came from above you. You looked up from your homework at a boy, looking bashfully at your parchment.

“Excuse me?”

He had the good graces to look embarrassed by the way you were looking up at him. “Disfigurement is one of the major side effects of using lacewing flies in the potion, a big part of the reason that it’s level three restricted by the ministry,”

Now, normally, a man standing above you and explaining something that you already knew would absolutely ruin your day, Merlin only knew it happened often enough. But normally, the men doing it didn’t look like they were talking about it out of pure interest.

His eyes got slightly dimmer as he realised your annoyance, a darkened honey colour that people wrote songs about. “Sorry, I should’ve- Just because you paused writing doesn’t mean you didn’t know what you were talking about. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” You decided on after a minute. You knew who he was, of course, you didn’t spend seven years in the same grade as someone without learning their name, but you were nearly one hundred percent certain he didn’t know yours.

“I just came over for…” he gestured uselessly at the small collection of cups on the table beside you, with a metal pitcher of ice cold water that stayed full no matter how much you poured it. A group of boys in your year had tried to use it to flood the common room one time. You had a sneaking suspicion the boy in front of you had been involved, despite the fact that he never received detention for it like the others did.

“Go for it.”

He poured two glasses of water and paused, looking at you. “I really am sorry. I’ve offended you.”

“I’m not offended,” you replied honestly. “I normally would be, but I’ll allow it just this once.”

The boy cracked a smile, slightly crooked, and it evened out his whole face, as though he had been created just to smile like that. “Thank you, then.” He corrected softly. “For not being offended by my interruption.” He put the cups down gently and looked for a moment as though he might shake your hand, before thinking better of it and leaving them hanging uselessly by his side. “I’m Remus.”

“So I’ve heard,” you didn’t mean to sound pretentious. “I just mean- we share a lot of classes, so I’ve seen you around a lot.” Now it was your turn to be embarrassed.

Remus continued smiling. “No, I know. I see you all the time. You always snag the good table in the library.” He gestured to you, testing your name out experimentally on his tongue, as though afraid to get it wrong. You nodded.

You liked studying in the library because it made you feel like an actual student. Doing homework on your bed, while the more common alternative, made you feel as though you were doing it wrong somehow. As if, because you hadn’t put in the effort to go all the way to the library and bring your study materials with you that you didn’t deserve to do well on whatever it is you were working on. “Do I?” your voice sounded far away, even to yourself.

“I’ll forgive you, though,” Remus said good naturedly, noticing your change in tone. This interaction had gone on far too long for your liking. You were beginning to feel exhausted. How embarrassing.

Talking to strangers for longer than ten seconds makes my stomach do a backflip, you thought bitterly to yourself. That was why your dorm room didn’t feel as welcoming as it was perhaps meant to. The girls in there talked, like they were friends. And they were friends, it was easy to see that.

You’d been so removed when you first started at Hogwarts, when you were only eleven. So overwhelmed by the hundreds of rooms and the hundreds of students, that when your roommates stayed up all night chattering and getting to know one another, you had felt nothing inside you aside from a desire to go to sleep. It took weeks before your nerves calmed enough to even attempt to contribute to their conversations, and by the time you had realised that maybe you did want to be friends with them, they had accepted your silence.

You gave Remus an awkward smile, the polar opposite of the one he’d given you. As if your grinning was a defect, not something you were designed to do. Sometimes it felt like maybe you weren’t.

He was still standing there. How could you make him go away without explicitly telling him to? You felt nauseous, squirmy under his gaze. Why hadn’t he left yet? “That essay Slughorn gave us is a real doozy, isn’t it?”

You cracked a real, genuine smile at his word choice. You didn’t know anyone who used the word ‘doozy’ and the best part was, it seemed to be entirely unironic. “Yeah, I guess.”

“I was planning on spending the afternoon up in the library, working on it.” His hand fiddled with the hem of his button-up. “Any chance I could sit at the good table?”

You nodded almost instantly. “Yeah, no, sure. It’s all yours. Sorry, I didn’t mean to hog.”

“You’re not,” he let out a breathy laugh. “You’re jumpy, aren’t you?” You felt it, and your cheeks burned at the notion that he could tell. “If you wanted to still study at your same table, and I was also to study there, both of us in complete silence, then I don’t think that would be so bad?”

Remus could see that you wanted to say no, and he didn’t want to push it if you were clearly uninterested, but he also knew that it had been seven years of you being the only Gryffindor girl he’d never spoken to, and also being the only Gryffindor girl he’d ever felt a strong desire to speak to. The others were great, sure, Lily and Marlene had become friends to him more concretely now that Lily and James were seeing each other, and Alice had always been sweet. You, on the other hand, had been described by your roommates as sad. Not ‘pathetic’ sad, but a more deep sadness.

“She’s awfully kind,” Marlene had told him once, hushed in the back of a History Against Magic Lesson. He hadn’t remembered how your name had been brought up. “Think she just likes it quiet.”

“The table’s yours,” you offered. “It’s okay. I can just study down here, it’s warmer.”

“It’s louder, though,” Remus reasoned. “Up there there’s no… well, no guys coming over here to explain something you probably already understand.”

“I thought you said you were going to be there?” You were genuinely confused at what he was asking of you by this point, but he laughed it off. You staved off a frown.

“I always find that homework is nicest when you’ve got someone there,” he offered finally. “Even if you’re not talking, just purely sitting there.”

You didn’t see how that would help at all. You’d probably be too distracted by anyone to even get any work done. But, you realised with a start, the notion of someone wanting to spend time in your vicinity, as innocent as Remus’s intentions were, made your heart ache.

He probably just wanted to be able to sit at the good table without putting you out, you understood that. But at the same time, if he really wanted to sit there, and he really wanted to not disrupt your routine, then you didn’t see why not, even though maintaining eye contact with him for any longer than a second felt as though you were going to combust in a caramel-irised explosion.

“You can come,” you conceded, gently, hoping as not to come off rude or too territorial about your space. Perhaps it would be better if you studied outside, or in an empty classroom. That way you weren’t getting in his way.

“Excellent,” he was talking too loud, and he could tell that by the way you shrank back in your seat.  “Maybe I can finally get my transfiguration grade up, Merlin knows you’re doing well in that class.”

Why would he say that? That made him come across as a stalker who knew all your grades. He hoped you didn’t think that implied you did need help in potions. Your reactions weren’t giving him much, and it was making him nervous. He definitely shouldn’t have come over here, but he had been scrambling for something to say, and now he had to take water over despite the fact that no one had asked for water.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine.” You closed your textbook so gently it didn’t even make a paper noise as the cover closed. “But if you really do need help, then I might be able to.” You offered him one final smile, cheeks tinged with a visible blush.

You hoped he couldn’t see how dizzy you were getting. You wanted to go to sleep and pretend this was all a dream so you could go back to ignoring Remus’s existence like he could go back to ignoring yours.

Unfortunately for you, though, he’d found your little hidey-hole study space that you occupied yesterday, coming in to tease you light heartedly about abandoning him for transfiguration. You didn’t not want to talk to Remus, it was nothing about him. He’d been nothing but sweet and funny in the very limited interactions you’d shared, you were the issue.

“Should’ve known you’d ditch me,” he’d said with a sigh as he sat down, opening his textbook up. You found you didn’t mind his being there as long as you weren’t expected to contribute much to the conversation.

“Thought it would be obvious.” You’d attempted to match his airiness in your tone. It came out strangled.

He sighed gently. “I wanted to pretend it wasn’t so, sweetheart. I thought you and me had something special. I told you about disfigurement in potions and you tell me about disfigurement in transfiguration.”

He’d been attempting to do the spell for about an hour, trying to turn a ball of yarn into a scarf. It was a simple spell that’d normally be of no issue to him, but he just couldn’t get it this time.

After nearly forty minutes of mumbling all but silently to himself so as not to disturb you, you had enough. You reached over and, so delicately he’d thought at first it was simply a breeze, uttered the spell while controlling his hand movements. A long, thickly knitted navy scarf burst from the ball of wool, landing pooled by his crossed legs. You looked up at him, expecting to be reprimanded for the touching, knowing you would have done exactly the same.

“You’re not real,” he said after a moment. Sometimes you felt that way too. “We’re officially studying together every time now.” He grinned to himself, picking up the scarf and wrapping it securely around your neck multiple times, tucking the ends into your jumper. It was soft. “Every single time, you little wonder.” You maybe didn’t mind as much this time as you had when he’d last suggested it. Your smile was almost hidden behind the mass of fabric you’d just helped him conjure, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t see it.

[cheshireliam]

"The Past Records: Liam Evans & Harrison Gray" Party Event: Chapter 2

Beyond The Red Herring

This is a fan-made translation solely for entertainment purposes with no guaranteed perfection; expect mistakes, grammatical errors, and some creative liberties. All original content and media used belongs to Cybird. Please support the game by buying their stories and playing their games. Reblogs appreciated.

Read this before interacting

Ellis: “There’s no need to get along”... I can’t imagine you two ever saying that to each other right now. 

Roger: So how did you end up getting along?

Liam: I think our first mission together acted as a major turning point in our friendship. Do you still remember it, Harry? 

Harrison: Yeah, of course. 

Harrison: We were completely out of sync back then, compared to now… 

Harrison’s lips twitched like he just swallowed something bitter, and then he began recounting the events of that mission—

<< Harrison’s POV >>

Our first mission was to investigate a corrupt police officer who aided in a criminal's escape in exchange for monetary gain.

But the target realised someone was watching him, and set up a trap for us instead—. 

…

While hiding ourselves behind a shipping container, we struggled to catch our breaths.

Liam: *pant*, *pant*... Harry, you alive…?

Harrison: … I am. Also… don’t call me by any nicknames.

Liam: Ahaha… if you still have the energy to complain about nicknames, I guess your condition isn't too bad… 

Superficial wounds caused by bullets grazing our skin marked our arms and legs. 

They weren’t life threatening, but our situation was far from ideal. 

Liam: … I can’t believe we walked right into a fake deal and almost got killed by mercenaries hired by the target. 

A certain phrase suddenly came to my mind, “Red Herring”.

It was a classic misdirection tactic seen in mystery novels, used to lead the reader away from the truth by diverting their attention onto something false. 

We had taken the bait and failed to notice the mercenaries sneaking up behind us.

Liam: At a glance, I’d say we have about 10 of them surrounding the warehouse.

Harrison: Sitting here won’t solve anything. They’ll discover us sooner or later. We’ll make a move at the same time.

Harrison: They don’t seem very skilled. With two of us striking together, we might be able to create an opening. 

Liam: Okay, counting down. 3…

Harrison: 2…

Liam: 1! 

Liam jumped out of hiding first.

Liam: Eh!? Why didn’t you move on “1”!?

Harrison: I thought we were counting down as in “3, 2, 1, go”...! 

Liam: You should’ve said so earlier! 

That was no time to be squabbling about our differences in countdown methods— 

Male Mercenary: They’re over there! Kill them!! 

— Several guns pointed at us. 

…

Alfons: What would your way of counting down be, Lord Elbie?

Elbert: Ready, go? 

Liam: Lord Elbie’s so cute! 

Ellis: What about Jude? 

Jude: Use yer brain to figure it out. 

Liam: Jude’s harsh! 

Jude: If ya really need one, I’d say “ready set go”. 

Liam: Oh, that’s exactly what Harry said later on! 

Harrison: That’s because no one in their right mind would get confused with that simple three-step countdown. 

Harrison: Anyway… we really were completely out of sync back then.

Ellis: But since you two are still alive, that means the mission was a success, right? 

Harrison: Kinda. Honestly, it was sheer luck. 

— And so, the Lying Fox recounted the past once more. 

…

Liam: … Good work, Harry.

Harrison: … You too.

The men we took down laid unconsciousness around us. 

Liam: Still… ahahahaha!! 

Liam: Messing up a countdown…! I… I’ve never been in a near death situation over something so stupid before…! 

Harrison: Haha… it really is stupid. 

Free from the crushing tension of a life-or-death situation, we felt an odd sense of camaraderie. 

Liam: Your shooting was amazing, Harry! Every bullet fired was bullseye! 

Harrison: You’re exaggerating. It wasn’t that perfect. 

Harrison: Besides… I was only able to aim well because you kept disappearing and throwing them off. 

Liam: Ahaha… then I guess this win belongs to both of us 

While still lying on the ground, Liam extended a hand toward me.

The day we first met, I saw through his lie about us possibly “getting along” and refused to shake his hand.

(But I guess it’s fine now.) . 

Acknowledging that we survived because of both our efforts, I reached out and shook Liam’s hand. 

Harrison: … But I do have a complaint about the way you fight. 

Liam: Whaa? A complaint? 

Harrison: You kept running right into my line of fire. What if I shot you by mistaken 

Harrison: The way you move, it’s as if…

I couldn't bring myself to say it was as if he “had a death wish”. 

Liam: Ahaha… I just like the thrill. 

Harrison: Have you already forgotten what my curse’s ability is?

I hinted to Liam that I knew he was lying.

He responded with an awkward laugh.

Liam: Right. You can tell when I’m lying, huh. 

Liam: The reason why I never hesitate to put myself in danger… 

Liam’s lips were moving, like he wanted to say something, but the words never left his mouth. 

Liam: Huh? That’s strange, sorry… I can’t seem to put it into words. 

Harrison: … You don't have to.

Harrison: Like I’ve told you before, we’re only colleagues. 

Harrison: The only things we need to be telling each other about are the signals for making a move during missions, and details of our abilities…

Harrison: How fast we can run, how well we can swim… that sort of stuff. 

Harrison: As for the things buried deep within your heart… there’s no need for me to know about them. 

Harrison: Just as long as I know you’re the kind of guy who willingly throws himself into danger’s way, that’s enough for me.

Liam: … You’re kind, Harry.

Liam’s soft voice melted away into the night air.

At that moment, I thought of the term “Red Herring” again.

Just like how a mystery novel misled its readers, diverting their attention from the truth…

Perhaps, I was also being misled by lies and thus unable to see the real Liam. 

[aryadelvich]

hii... Well, I'm on vacation at the beach and I'm really terrified of the sea, I'm anxious that a wave will drag me away or that I'll be too stupid to swim and I want to know if you can please write something where Luigi comforts me and helps me overcome my fear during the vacation...

Hiii! Sorry for the late reply. I’m guessing you’re not on vacation anymore, but you can keep this for the next time you go to the beach. Hope it helps! 💕💕

The view was magical. You were sitting on the beautiful white sand, and to your left stood the famous Mauna Kea mountain. Luigi and you had gone on a trip to Hawaii, and every moment together felt like a dream.

Before leaving, a slight anxiety had lingered in your mind. You and Lu had only been together for a few months, and you wondered if spending 24 hours a day together would become tiresome, if being so close all the time would create tension. Of course, there were small arguments from time to time, but nothing serious. Luigi was a sweetheart, always attentive.

He was the one who planned the outings, found the best restaurants, and organized the itineraries. He knew how to solve any problem that arose and always made sure you had eaten and drunk enough. Every morning, before you were even fully awake, he would place a steaming cup of coffee by your bedside along with a light breakfast, knowing that you struggled to eat too early.

When you walked along the beach, he made sure the sun wasn’t too harsh on your skin, carefully applying sunscreen to you every two hours with gentle, precise movements. If he noticed you squinting under the bright light, he would bring you a hat without saying a word.

And then, there were those little gestures that made all the difference. Like this morning when he had slipped out quietly to bring back your favorite snack, spam musubi, and tucked it into your bag without a word. It wasn’t until midday, when your stomach started to growl, that you found it. He watched you with an amused smile as you devoured it, entertained by your enthusiasm.

He reassured you, made you laugh, and shared countless anecdotes every time you visited a place or monument. But more than anything, he helped you face your fears.

Unfortunately, you were terrified of the ocean. The thought of the waves pulling you away, the current being too strong, not having enough energy to swim, or having a panic attack in the middle of the water filled you with anxiety. At first, you hadn’t admitted this fear to him, but over time, Luigi had noticed.

"You’re not coming to swim?" he asked, curious.

"No, I’m just going to stay under the umbrella and read a book."

Luigi narrowed his eyes slightly, unconvinced.

"But I want to swim with you. What if we pretended to be mermaids? Or even better, what if we went diving off that little hill over there?"

He pointed to a small rocky formation where vacationers were taking turns jumping into the crystal-clear water.

"Sorry, Lu, I…"

You trailed off, unable to finish your sentence. It was hard to admit.

"Is something wrong? Since the beginning of the trip, you’ve only dipped your feet in the water and nothing more," he asked, this time more concerned.

You bit your lip before taking a deep breath.

"Promise me you won’t make fun of me?"

Luigi frowned, as if the very idea of mocking you was absurd. But quickly, his expression softened, becoming reassuring.

"Never. Tell me, I’m listening."

"I’m afraid of the sea…"

He immediately placed a comforting hand on your thigh, his thumb tracing small, soothing circles on your skin.

"Oh, I see… Is there a particular reason, or is it just an instinctive fear?"

"Just like that… I swear I’d love to have fun in the water with you, but I just can’t. I’m too scared. I’m afraid the waves will pull me away, that I’ll be too anxious to swim, and as soon as I can’t feel the ground under my feet, I panic."

He didn’t respond right away. Instead, he wrapped an arm around your shoulders and gently pulled you closer to him. He pressed a kiss to your temple before whispering in a tender voice:

"You don’t have to justify yourself."

He held you a little tighter, as if to shield you from the fear that haunted you. With Luigi, you knew you never had to force yourself, that he would never judge you. He wouldn’t rush you; he would take his time, with you, at your own pace.

Luigi kept holding you, letting the silence settle for a few moments. He wasn’t trying to minimize your fear or force you. He was thinking, searching for the best way to help you without pushing you too hard.

Then, gently, he asked:

"What if we went in together, just up to our knees? No further. We’ll take it slow."

You hesitated. The very idea of going deeper into the water made you anxious, but Luigi was there. There had never been anyone you trusted more.

"You promise we’ll go slowly?"

"Promise. I’ll stay by your side the whole time. And if you want to stop, we’ll stop."

You nodded timidly, and he stood up before extending his hand to you. You took it, and together, you walked toward the shoreline.

The first waves lapped at your feet, and your heart immediately started racing. Luigi felt it and squeezed your hand a little tighter.

"Look at me, not the water. Breathe slowly… inhale… exhale… There, just like that."

You followed his rhythm, focusing on his eyes rather than the waves. You moved forward slowly, and soon, the water reached your knees.

"You’re incredible," Luigi murmured with a smile. "Look at everything you’re already doing."

You looked down and realized that despite the fear twisting your stomach, you were really there, in the water, much further than you had ever imagined possible.

"I… I’m doing it," you whispered, almost in disbelief.

Luigi nodded. "Yes. And what if we went just a tiny bit further? Just so the water reaches our waists. I’ll hold you."

Slowly, you moved forward. Whenever your anxiety spiked, Luigi stopped and reassured you. He told you ridiculous anecdotes to distract you, making you laugh. And as time passed, the fear seemed to fade.

"Now, hold onto me," he said, turning to face you. "I’m going to show you something."

He slid his hands under your arms and encouraged you to float. You resisted at first, but he supported you, never letting go.

"Trust the water, let it carry you… You don’t have to do anything, just breathe. I’m here."

Then, slowly, you let go of the tension, and your body floated on the surface. The warm water surrounded you, the sky stretched above you, and for the first time… you didn’t feel fear, just an immense sense of freedom.

As you finally floated, rocked by the water, a sudden euphoria overtook you. You had done it. After years of fear, you were there, in the ocean, and you no longer felt like you were in danger.

You turned your head toward Luigi, who was watching you with a radiant smile.

"You did it," he murmured, his eyes sparkling with pride.

A wave of emotion washed over you, and without thinking, you straightened up suddenly and threw yourself into his arms. But in your enthusiasm, your weight pushed against him, causing him to slip slightly underwater.

"Mmmph!"

Luigi briefly sank before resurfacing, spitting out a bit of water, his soaked hair sticking to his forehead.

"Oh my god, Lu! I’m so sorry!" you exclaimed, panicked.

He shook his head, laughing, wiping water from his face. "No, no, it’s fine! You’re just stronger than you look!" he teased, his hands still on your waist, keeping you steady.

You pouted guiltily. "I just wanted to thank you… not drown you."

He chuckled softly and pressed a hand against your cheek. "If that’s how you thank me, I’m willing to sink over and over again."

You blushed slightly before kissing him again, more gently this time. He kissed you back tenderly, his arms wrapping around you without hesitation.

"Alright, now that you can float, are you ready for our next challenge?" he asked with a mischievous smile.

You raised an eyebrow. "What challenge?"

"Swimming to that hill and jumping with me."

You playfully smacked his shoulder. "Don’t push your luck, Mangione."

"Okay, okay. But admit it, you’re a little tempted…"

You rolled your eyes with a smile. Maybe you were.

In the evening, after a long day of excursions, he pulled you close into the hammock of your bungalow, gently rocking you with the tip of his foot. His hand traced soothing circles on your back as he whispered sweet words into your ear. He knew exactly how to calm you, how to reassure you, how to make this trip not just an escape, but a precious memory to cherish forever.

[bananasplit133]

OH THANK GOD, I'VE BEEN SO DEPRAVED OF CONQUEST CONTENT, ILY 🙏🙏

I'll make sure to stalk your page from now on, love your work ❤️❤️ (⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠)

THANKS, ANON!!! HERE'S YOUR LITTLE CONQUEST FANFIC!!!

After the Fall

Conquest/Reader (Conquest appreciation post)

-----

The streets of the city lay in ruins, remnants of the chaos left by recent battles scattered everywhere. Buildings were reduced to piles of debris, and the air was thick with dust and a sense of despair. You navigated carefully through the wreckage, your heart heavy with determination. Supplies were running low, and injured civilians were in desperate need of help.

As you turned a corner, you spotted a few people huddled together, whispering nervously. You approached them, ready to offer what little assistance you could muster. But before you could reach them, a flicker of movement caught your eye.

In the distance, you saw a figure hovering slightly above the ground. The person was dressed in flowing white clothing, and though he appeared old, there was something unsettlingly powerful about him. His stance was rigid, fists clenched at his sides, and you felt an instinctual wariness creep over you.

You hesitated for a moment, weighing your options. The streets were already filled with too much fear; you didn’t want to provoke anyone, but curiosity tugged at you. Gathering your courage, you stepped closer to the figure, calling out, “Excuse me! Are you alright?”

As you approached, the man turned to face you, and your heart skipped a beat. One of his eyes was blind, while the other bore into you with an intensity that made you swallow hard. “Who dares to approach me?” he asked, his voice low and rumbling.

“I’m just trying to help,” you said, your voice steadier than you felt. “There are a lot of injured people around. I thought you might need assistance, too.”

He studied you for a moment, confusion evident on his face. “You approach me, a being of power, without any weapon? You are either foolish or brave.”

“Maybe a little of both,” you replied, a hint of defiance creeping into your tone. “But I’m not afraid to help someone in need, even if you don’t look like a normal civilian.”

“Normal civilians tend to avoid me,” he said, his voice cold. “They know the consequences of approaching someone like me.”

You raised an eyebrow, feeling your irritation rise. “And what does that say about you? If people are too scared to come near you, maybe you should rethink your approach.”

The figure seemed taken aback by your words, and for a brief moment, his expression shifted. “You speak with conviction,” he said, a hint of curiosity breaking through his otherwise serious demeanor. “Most would cower at the sight of me.”

“I’m not most people,” you replied, crossing your arms. “What’s your name?”

“They call me Conquest,” he said, his voice steady. “And conquering... is precisely what I intend to do here.”

“Great. Another villain with a superiority complex,” you muttered under your breath, your frustration bubbling to the surface. “You really think you can just come in here and take over? Look around you—this place is already a wreck.”

“I do what is necessary,” he replied, his tone unwavering. “The weak must be ruled by the strong, or chaos will reign.”

“And what about the people who are trying to rebuild?” you challenged. “They need hope, not fear. You think conquering is the answer? You’re wrong.”

“Hope is a fleeting emotion,” Conquest stated, his voice steady. “It crumbles in the face of reality. Fear ensures compliance and order.”

“Order based on fear isn’t true order,” you argued, feeling the heat of the moment intensifying. “People need to feel safe, not terrorized. If you keep using fear as your tool, you’ll only create more enemies.”

He stepped closer, and you felt a surge of adrenaline. “You presume to lecture me on how to rule? I have faced countless foes, and none have stood before me with such audacity.”

“Someone has to challenge you,” you said defiantly, refusing to back down. “People can’t live like this, and I won’t let you dictate how things should be.”

Conquest studied you, a flicker of amusement in his eyes. “You are intriguing, human. Most would have submitted to my power, yet you confront it directly.”

“Maybe I’m just tired of all the villains thinking they can walk all over us,” you replied, a mix of frustration and determination fueling your words. “You think strength comes from terrorizing people, but it doesn’t have to be that way.”

“Strength is all that matters in this world,” he said, his tone firm. “You are naive if you believe otherwise.”

“Maybe I am,” you admitted. “But I’ve seen what happens when fear reigns. It doesn’t unite; it divides. If you want to conquer, you’ll only create more chaos.”

He took a step back, the tension between you thickening. “Your conviction is commendable, but it may also lead to your downfall.”

“Maybe,” you replied, feeling a mixture of defiance and uncertainty. “But I’d rather fight for what’s right than submit to someone like you.”

For a moment, silence hung between you, and you could see the conflict brewing in his expression. He stepped closer again, looming over you, and your heart raced.

“I have seen many come before me, and they all feared what I could do,” he said, his voice low. “And yet, you stand here, challenging me. It’s… amusing.”

“Glad I can entertain you,” you replied, crossing your arms defiantly. “But I’m not just here for your amusement.”

“You are certainly more resilient than most,” he mused, his tone shifting slightly. “But you should understand that I do not play games. I am here to conquer, but I shall find Invincible first. Tell me where he is located.”

“And if I refuse to help you?” you asked, narrowing your eyes.

“Then you will remain in the dark,” he replied, his tone cool. “I will not hesitate to act, and you will find that I am not a force to be trifled with.”

“Great, just what I need,” you said, feeling a mix of annoyance and determination. “Another villain thinking they can control everything.”

He tilted his head, clearly intrigued by your boldness. “You are quite feisty for someone so vulnerable. I find that amusing. Do you truly believe you can stand against me?”

“I don’t have to stand against you,” you replied, your heart racing. “But I won’t let you hurt anyone in the process. People deserve better than to live in fear of you.”

With a flicker of movement, he was suddenly in front of you, towering over you with an intensity that made you stumble back slightly. You caught your breath, looking up at him in surprise.

“Such spirit,” he said, almost admiringly. “But do not think that your bravado will shield you from the realities of this world.”

Before you could respond, Conquest leaned down, his lips brushing against yours in a startling kiss. His teeth grazed your bottom lip, and he pulled back just enough to draw blood. You felt a jolt of shock and confusion, your cheeks flushing as you processed what had just happened.

He groaned at the taste, an unexpected sound that sent a shiver through you. “You are intriguing,” he said, his tone shifting slightly. “But I have a mission to complete. I will find Invincible.”

You stood there, stunned and blushing, unsure of what to say. Conquest straightened, his demeanor changing as he returned to his more imposing self. “I will return for you after I deal with him.”

“Wait, what?” you managed to stammer, still trying to wrap your head around the kiss. “You can’t just—”

“I can and I will,” he replied, turning away, leaving you bewildered in the ruins. “Consider this a warning. You may find yourself drawn into a world you do not yet understand.”

As he floated away, you felt a mix of emotions swirling inside you—anger, confusion, and an unexpected thrill at the encounter. You had confronted Conquest, a being of immense power, and now you found yourself entangled in something far greater than you had anticipated.

You took a deep breath, the weight of the situation settling in. This was far from over, and you were determined to stand your ground. If Conquest thought he could just conquer everything without consequence, he was in for a surprise.

[priyajoyy]

You don't have to write Melissa out or even include her. She can be in the background. Just a quick comment about how she's Shauna's new minion and fuck toy but Shauna Don't let her get close to Bunny, because Melissa is into doing dirty work and that could tarnish Bunny. Maybe Lottie and Nat also have a say about how they don't want Bunny anywhere near Shauna's chew toy.

Wrote a response to this forgot to post it and am now rewriting because I’ve had more time to think about it 😭

Deffo wanna do something similar to this in terms of how Natalie and Lottie are so against bunny being involved in Shauna’s new weird toxic situationship with Melissa

However like I’ve just mentioned here I lowkey wanna create a mini secondary love triangle thing with the three of them too 😋

Like where Melissa is lowkey trying to take Jackie’s place and Shauna is letting her, using her to make a version of the threes friendship where they were a throuple like Shauna kinda always wanted 😭😭

I feel like the writing for what I just said didn’t make sense soz

I’ve already said I’m thinking of having bunny be the one to cut bens leg because Shauna makes her

But I kinda want Shauna to use Melissa as another tool to get bunny to do what she wants 😋

Like Mellisa will be where Shauna does most her corrupting and stuff because she likes having bunny docile and innocent, plus Melissa is so so willing to be corrupted

And Shauna will deffo use this to her advantage and then use Mellisa to make bunny do what she wants her to (eg cut bens leg because they’re both pressuring her to and telling her if she don’t they’ll have to kill him)

Bunny will be pretty ambiguous towards Melissa getting involved with them both.

It’s pretty late into the wilderness at this point so she’s already very much under Shauna, Nat and lotties control and very Stockholm Syndromey

So most of her normalcy is gone in her life at this point, and she just kinda goes along with it

At the beginning, before she runs away and hides with Ben in the woods, Melissa provides her with some much needed comfort that the girls havnt been providing her with and she can’t get from the others because they’ve been cutting them off from everyone

However when she comes back it’s gonna be the complete opposite

Melissa and Shauna have bonded (aka Shauna has turned her into a little rabid dog) while she’s been gone and Melissa is more than willing to join in on being super harsh with bunny when she gets back

Shauna, Nat and Lottie are so mad with her for leaving them and Melissa won’t hesitate to help double down on her

[naturallyteal]

Arrangements

A klon poem inspired something for “Arrangement” for GOetry Monday , prompt by @isiaiowin

(Rated mature I guess, so you have to click once if you want to read it.)

Dovetailed fingers, ink black talons

Between soft but manicured hands

Slot your thigh between mine, thin/wide

Twisting tongues, in and out, right/wrong

Curvy tum, gibbous moon, convex

Flush against concave, one and whole

Lay you out, under me, spreadeagled,

Arrange your body on the bed

Locks on sheets, red on blue, pearl on black,

Either way, switch with me, up/down

All the ways we fit together

Hellfire heat burns skins and cores

Holy water melts us both now

We fly, you and I, no too-high

Time halts, float in space, no up/down

I’m you, you are me, we’re an us

Rearrange so we lay like spoons

Never part again from you, Love

This is eternity, Baby!

This bliss! Now kiss. Dovetailed fingers.

Do you hate it when people create something and then tell you how unhappy they are with how it turned out and that it’s no good etc.? I hate that. I never do that. I’m doing it now, because I really need to say it this time: this was a very tough one for me and I’d already given 3/4 up, but then the deadline was postponed, and I put in even more work, and I’m happy with maybe 3 or 4 lines, trying to emulate the rhythm, the in-line rhymes, if not the full set of rules for a klon poem. So I just didn’t want to scrap it all but I’m not proud this time, because I couldn’t get the rest to flow. And the “fanart” is on the same unsatisfactory level. There you go, I did it, self-depreciation! Argh! 😝

[nalitali]

Remember me…

Javier EscuellaxF!Reader

——————————————————————————————————————

Author’s note: Aaaayo! This one is gonna be an angsty stuff I created in my yarn of *happiness* ………hihi. Inspiration by the c.ai bot by @cadmusthe6th Warning: angst, light smack on our boy's cheek, mentions of rdr2 events, hurt/no comfort Summary: everything goes to hell, you can feel something is different with your lover, so you decide to dig into it... W/C - 3983

————————————————————————————————

You were standing by the tent your lover was in. The shared tent the two of you occupied for a many days and nights as the time and place allowed to. You took in the courage you had all the time in yourself, stepping in. Seeing him standing by the cot and tugging the knife behind his belt, then straightening his vest. Deep in thoughts, and maybe he wasn’t that deep in them, but he surely acted on it. He didn’t even tilted his body not even his head to face you. You could hear in the distance behind the flacks the mere conversation and laughter, probably by Bill or Micah, so before you could just make yourself lost in your thoughts. Your partner turned in your direction.

“I don’t have much time right now” Javier said.

His voice was strained with annoyance as he seemed to be rushing to leave as soon as possible, probably sensing the upcoming conversation or maybe it was the fact that he was avoiding you at all cost. “Dutch wants to talk to me.” was the rest of the sentence, finally turning a bit around, facing your face, but not meeting your eyes. It was almost laughable to you. Once a man who would make time for you every single opportunity, at every single given chance he had, was now a man being almost molded into avoiding you.

"Dutch can wait" you said, standing into his way as he wanted to leave.

“Y/n, move.” He sternly said, attempted to sidestep you but failing, as you blocked his way once more. He let out a low huff. You could have felt the frustration building up in his body.

“I mean it, I don’t have time for this.” He warned, trying to get past you once again, acting like you don't know him and he doesn't know you. Like the two of you haven't been moving around each other for so long. "You don't have time for your woman now?" You asked him, staring and patiently looking into his eyes. Your arms being by your body. You were still near 'calm'. Corner of his lip twitched with irritation, his brown eyes hardening somewhat as they met yours. You have never seen him to look at anyone like this- tho maybe you did see that. It was at the enemy side, at the side when he cut the throats or shot them between their eyes, but never at you, or you thought so. “You’re being childish.” Javier scoffed, attempting to make his way past you once again, yet he was unsuccessful. You stepped into his way again and you prayed that he would have got the memo of not running away from this conversation. Not away from you.

“I have more important things to do than talk with you about-”

"Its been two weeks since you talked to me Javier…"

You cut his sentence with yours, demanding a solid answer for this behavior he was putting on for the last period of time. Javier was trying to look everywhere but just not at you, his hand were along his body, but his fingers were fidgeting with his belt a bit. Yours eyes caught that, but then went right back to your eyes. “I was busy.” He muttered back. Javier knew he was avoiding you, he damn well knew about everything you felt and how you felt. He pushed aside any sense of guilt or regret, focusing entirely on anger that was filled now in his veins and mind.

"Bullshit, you and I both know that" I huffed back sternly, matching your energy. You could see his jaw tensed, his teeth gritting together at the sound of your given tone. “Don’t start with that.” Javier snapped back, coming a bit closer to you, staring deep into your orbs, knowing he was fighting almost a lost battle, he was avoiding you for a reason, after all.

You held his stare, not backing down. You had your share on what the reason might be, but you needed to clear the one, that would hurt you the most if that was the outcome, so you leaned even closer to him. Your breaths could almost mix together. " …..you found other to keep you pleased?" You muttered quietly but sternly, no space for any hesitation in your voice. Javier visibly stiffened at that, staring back at you. You could have seen his brain working on full speed.

“No.”

His response was firm and direct, lacking the usual soft tone he held when speaking to you, the kind that was only reserved for you before. And how long ago that before was. Something was happening and you couldn’t catch it, you couldn’t make it better, you couldn't understood it, couldn't place a finger on it and call it a day.

"…swear on it" You said, needed to be sure. Loyalty and honesty was the traits you were mostly depended to you. Javier stare was intense, but to your luck, it was always almost transparent, you could see that he was offended to be accused of something like this. He was many things, a thief, an outlaw, a murderer, but a cheat? Never. “I swear. I haven’t… found anyone else.”

His response was firm and confident, no room for any lies, although you still eyed him, but believing him. The confusion was more than present. "…okay, so what is it Javier?" You almost whispered, kept your voice in steady tone. Yet you needed to be persisted on this matter. His expression hardened once more as the question landed in the space all around, his guard going up as you asked him that. He hated being questioned, he hated how you had so quickly caught up to his change in behavior.

“It’s nothing.” responding in curt and cold tone. Refused to meet your gaze anymore, looking towards the open exit of the tent instead. Somehow it was easier to him this way. But not to you. Obviously not to you. So you moved your head to that direction so your eyes met once again. The needed connection that was hanging by a string now - as it seemed. "Talk to me-" You plead him almost. And what you received? A low, irritated huff of air left Javier's lungs as he continued to avoid your gaze.

“I said, it’s nothing. Just leave me alone.”

He was refusing to back down, refusing to allow you to question him any further in this. His hands were balled into fists, because you knew him so well, and he knew you as much. He knew that this talk is gonna unleash the things he desperately tried to keep down. To keep them as much away from his skin as possible. And that realization set your nerves and temper on fire.

"Its not nothing, this gang is my family and I see its falling down. Since Micah joined-"

“Don’t bring him into it.” He quickly cut you off, his words firm and sharp as he darted his gaze back onto you, an intensity present in his stare.

“Micah is family too.” He added, almost defensive sounding. You blinked once, then once again. Javier was usually the one the most questionable on the new members recruited into the gang. "….if you see him like that okay, but I don't" you said, taking a step away so the distance is more comfortable between the two of you. His eyes narrowing as you talked about that man. “Don’t be like this.” He hated your attitude towards Micah, of all people. It was odd, as he knew you never liked the gunslinger, but seeing your hate for him only stirred onto the wrong strings that should be left alone for now.

“Micah is loyal. He’s proved it.” Javier added, like this response would change anything in the view on that man.

"He is feeding lies and delusions to Dutch. Hosea saw it before he died-" you fought for your words, wanted so desperately from him to understand where your mind was.

“He has proved himself to be loyal. More than once… and what about you, hmm? Have you proven yourself to be loyal?” Javier spoke to you, took a step so he was directly looking at you. Letting you eat all of the accumulated tension. But to you? That was where he crossed any line given by him by God even. Ladies and gentleman, you were too stunned to speak for a few seconds. Even your mind had a problem to actually process what had just left Javier's mouth.

" ….I have been in the gang for six years, I think I don't need to prove myself to anyone-" you begun. The anger now matching the heavens gate.

“Yet here I am, questioning you.” He retorted with a scoff, it was almost as a layer of mocking covered it. He had no filter anymore, no shame in what he was asking you. He was simply speaking what was on his mind. And when you thought he couldn't sting you with his words more, he in fact did. “You’re not loyal, you’re more loyal to the damn camp dog most days then you are the gang-”

And that was the last thread that held your emotions in check. You didn't even register your hand moving fast forward in such speed, only understanding it when the skin made contact with another skin. Your hand slapped Javier across his face.

"How dare you" You spat to him, the words containing such a venom "..I buried Hosea’s body with my own hands with Charles...I stitched so many bodies, yours multiple times" a small almost broken-like laugh escaped your mouth "and you dare to speak to me like this? I gave my life to this family. And you have the guts to say I don’t! I gave my heart to you Escuella!"

You yelled at him. Javier grunted, his eyes coming cold at the sudden stinging pain on his cheek. But he refused to touch it, to acknowledged that he felt it in any way. He opened his mouth as if to speak…. But he said nothing, simply staring at you with hard eyes. He was now standing right in front of you, his gaze fiery, yet there was a hint of guilt that danced among the flames.

“Maybe you should’ve given it to someone else.” He spat, his words cold and harsh.

Till that moment you were angry, pissed and irritated. Name every emotion that could spike your blood pressure up. But those words? Coming from a man’s mouth you love? They hit you hard, very very hard. You were prepare for many things that he could have said to you, many hurtful ones. But those ones, they cut deep.

"…you don't mean that." You weren't sure if you tried to reassure yourself or denied his words. His gaze never faltered, never let a single regretful look land from his to your eyes even tho he could definitely see the pain he caused to you, the hurt that he inflicted into your system…. He clenched his jaw, his dark eyes hardening further as he said it again, confirming something you despise the most.

“I mean it.” the cold words left his mouth.

So you stared into his face. He changed, he was getting more and more distant every damn day. And this was the result. The harsh and cruel reality you were almost forced to live in.

"...Is Micah getting too in your head too?" You asked him, your voice being of the verge of doubts, but you needed to let him think about that he was disappearing from the sane and reasonable ground. Javier's reaction was exactly what you had expected from him. He straightened himself even more, getting even more defensive as he was moments ago.

“Micah has nothing to do with this.” Javier stated, his brown eyes that used to warm you, were now lacking any possible heat, coldly staring into yours as seconds passed. Your head was in even more mess that it was before, your feelings hurt. So, you stand your ground. Touching your chest with your fingertips, as if to emphasize the feelings you were feeling at the moment-at the entire interaction.

"Then where is the man that sang to me? That was happy to be by my side? Where is that men that made love to me and swore to never leave my side?" You stepped closer to Javier, eyes never leaving his. Voice being a bit strained, layers of multiple emotions.

He inhaled sharply, his eyes snapping to yours. His gaze hardening as he stared back at you.

“He’s gone.” He answered your question with a cold and cruel tone, refusing to give into the gut feeling that was telling him to drop this. To drop this foolish act about the already lost loyalty in the found family. Because deep down, he knew he was making a fool out of himself, but maybe one day he will let the acknowledgment come out of his stubborn mind. Maybe one day he will finally understand the mess.

But for you? His words cut even deeper, Confusion and hurt could be sculptured on your face. Your eyes pleading and holding onto the image in your head of how beautiful it all used to be, of how easy it was. So you asked him once again, here was the man you loved?

“I told you, he’s gone.”

Which he simply answered, repeated his words from earlier, his tone firm and final as he looked at the ground in an attempt to avoid your gaze. "Why?" You demanded the answer. The reason for it. Javier stayed quiet for several seconds, his jaw tensing as he continued staring at the ground, thinking on how to answer you. Because if he wanted /or needed/ to be honest even to himself. He didn't quite know. The whole situation and events happening...it was all strange, it was all wrong. But he needed to be strong, like Dutch asked him to be, no place for doubts. And they needed to be even stronger now, Javier told this to himself, to somehow cope with the fucked up reality. He swallowed hard before finally taking a deep breath and meeting your gaze once more.

“It’s simpler that way” he spoke. Giving you a a very vague response, leaving a lot of questions unanswered. "…simpler? To whom? To you?"

You scoffed at him, because there wasn't much to do, wasn't much any tone for him. You knew that this conversation would be painful. But damn..this was beyond that. His words were sharper than his knives. Javier's teeth gnashed together as he stared at you. He was refusing to back down now, refusing to soften, to let the facade die /which to him wasn't a facade, to him this, this version of him, was what he believed was necessary.

“Yes, to me.”

"Why? Why this change?"

Javier held your gaze for a moment. When he finally spoke, his words were a little quieter, a little harsher.

“I told you, it’s simpler to be this way. I don’t want this…” He said it to himself as much as you, his own conflicted feelings were making him feel in a way he didn't want to. But to you? His words fueled your anger, letting out a sharp exhale followed by a almost mocking laugh.

"you don't want this? You are saying it like this-" you pointed at us, at everything around the two of you. "..is just a game, like a toy! It ain’t Javier, I ain’t!" Your voice could be surely heard to outside of the tent, but that thought wasn't important in this moment. Javier suddenly grabbed your hand, his grip surprisingly tight as he forced your hand down. No tenderness, no nothing.

“It doesn’t matter what it is to you, I don’t want it.”

You were lost on words. Couldn't comprehend any single meaningful sentence. This in front of you weren't the man you loved. He was just wearing his face as a mask, pretending to be him. Javier was cold, unbothered, he was everything opposite to the man I fell in love couple years ago. You were trying so hard to bring him to the surface, to discharge this 'version' away.

"..I love you" you whispered with a bit broken voice, couldn't let all the emotion go. His jaw tensed, his expression hardening even further as you spoke those three words. He hated how that still affected him, how he couldn’t resist the pull of those three sweet words that could melt anything away. The words he used to whisper in your ears any chance he got. In the morning when he woke up, in the afternoon when he got back from some small job, at the late night talks around the campfire. When you sat next to him, as he sang the songs and the others from time to time engaged some words in them. It didn't matter if he whispered in Spanish or in English. They melt away your heart the same.

So when he heard them this time, he almost looked at you with disgust.

“Don’t.”

His words were harsh, cold and firm, hidden warning in them if you peaked. Refusing to allow those words to make him weak.

"...why this change?" you mumbled, the sad realization slowly hitting you. That this was inevitable from which ever perspective you were looking into it.

“I told you, it’s for the better.” Javier spoke. He kept his gaze on yours, his eyes unchanged. Javier was still holding on your hand, refusing to let you go. Unintentional. It was almost as if he wanted to keep you tethered to him, even if he was the one pushing you away.

You shook your head, letting your hand free from his grasp - he let you. "No….no! I gave you my heart, my loyalty, my everything! You at least owe me an explanation, to a woman you loved!" You spoke, demanding some logical explanation to this horde of tangled chaos.

“Maybe what I owe you is to just let you go, and forget ever having you met in the first place.”

Sharp words left his mouth, and with this, you could almost feel your heart break in pieces.

"…..Javier-"

You naively tried to hold onto. To hold onto the memories you both shared. To the passion and the comfort you held in your soul. It all shattered onto the ground. Like a crystal vase, delicate and needed to be handled almost in glass - being now thrown to the nearest wall. Demolished to the last bits. And Javier saw it, he saw the pain in your eyes with every damn word he spoke, the way your face crumpled as he continued to stab you more and more with his words. Yet he couldn’t stop /he reminded himself, he was letting his anger and conflicted emotions gathered control his mind.

“You never should’ve gotten involved with me in the first place. You’d be better off if you hadn’t.” He continued, a sparing thought didn't cross his mind. You weren't one to easily cry /or at least you told yourself this, but you could feel the tears coming ti the corners of your eyes. Almost mocking you, sitting there, threatening to fall in any given possibility.

"...don't be hurtful" You almost plead him with a whisper, bottom lip begun to tremble just a bit. But him? He said nothing, nothing, he just watched the tears forming in your eyes. Javier held your gaze as he said his next words, his tone a little less harsh, yet still cold. “Like I said, I’m doing you a favor by letting you go.”

"Favour?" you brokenly laugh at that word, it was like he completely lost the understanding of the meaning. "Javier you are breaking my heart" you whispered back, his eyes narrowing as your pained words reached his ears /and some part of him wanted to take them all back, to retract everything he said and pull you into his arms, to let himself feel the comfort and affection you gave him all over again, But not now: oh and how not now. Javier was overshadowed by the strings of manipulation, he wasn't doing anything wrong. You were the one now in his eyes.

But he didn’t, his gaze on yours, his own heart tearing in two as he coldly replied. “It’s a favor. Don’t you understand?”

"…everything is ruined. Hosea, Lenny, Sean...dead. Arthur is getting sick and you are joining Dutch and Micah on the denial train"

Your voice was breaking, the tear running off on it's own will. Your hands went to your face, holding it as a some sense of a reassurance. Shaking your head as if it could get all the things back to normal.

He scoffed coldly, not even dignifying your assessment of Dutch with a response. The accusation you pull on them. Javier opened his mouth but you couldn't handle more of this. So you just stepped away, felt another tear rolling down, joining her sister on your shirt. You couldn't win in this conversation. He made his mind and there was nothing that would change it. The man you once loved.....was long gone. There was nothing left for you.

"Then go Javier, go" You whispered. You needed to accept the reality, the truth you were living in. You couldn't hold onto something that wasn't there.

And maybe, you managed to get through the small crack that wasn't guarded by his denial. Because in that moment, he felt the distance growing between you both. And he wanted to reach out and take you back closer to him. But....that's in the world of buts. And you do not live in that world. Because Javier couldn’t do that, his heart remained hardened as he just stood there and watched you, watching the tear stream down your face. His words sharp and bitter.

“Fine. I will.” He took the needed steps to walk around you, to took the steps to exit the tent. Your crying eyes following his figure, mouth opening.

"...when you’ll be lonely, and cold…….remember me" you hoarsely mumbled, voice so tender. The last plea you asked from him.

He visibly stiffened as your words reached his ears, his feet momentarily faltering as he felt something in his chest. Javier didn’t turn around to look at you, refusing to see the pain and heartbreak that was on your face, caused by him. He just continued walking, his voice a bit louder but still cold as he spoke the next words over his shoulder.

“I won’t.”

Maybe it was the harshness, maybe it was the way he did not met your gaze, talking you off as you were some working girl on the street. It send the message, it was the last piece, the last fragment. You hid your face in your hand, sobbing hard, not caring about anything because you knew he wasn't there. And he would never bee by your side. You tried to at least cover your mouth so the whines would not be as that hearable by the ears you didn't want to be heard. But Javier heard them, but he just didn't care. He didn’t turn back, he willed himself to keep walking. Tried his best to ignore the pain he caused you, the pang in his chest, the way his heart was screaming at him, begging him to get some sense in him and apologize for everything... but he refused to let himself turn back, to give in to that part of him that longed for you and your affection.

He was simply gone, the man you loved has died this day, he died by a hand of a cruel creature that had hold of his body.

[agnieszkaloving]

I want to request nabu malikata/nilou! Fem reader

One-shot

Romantic

Character : phainon, mydei and anaxa

Fem reader who became a dancer in their planet's event, when the male character see reader's dance they became captivated by fem reader's beauty and her dance.

They start to talk with fem reader and then they fall in love with her, they start to court her but she is oblivious.

The Dance of Grace

The air was thick with the scent of incense and the rhythmic echoes of ceremonial drums. Lanterns flickered in hues of deep gold and azure, casting intricate patterns across the marble steps of the temple. The annual event was in full swing, a festival that honored the convergence of the stars, a spectacle revered across the celestial expanse.

And at the center of it all was her.

Clad in flowing silk that shimmered like liquid stardust, she moved with a precision that defied mortal limits. Her dance was a story, one woven with fluid grace,

Phainon

Phainon had witnessed many wonders across the reaches of existence. He had seen the breaking of planets, the birth of new stars, and the unraveling of time itself. Yet, as he watched her dance, a rare sensation settled in his chest, curiosity laced with something close to longing.

any calculation he had ever attempted to solve. Her every movement was deliberate yet unrestrained, her expression both serene and harmony.

"An anomaly," he muttered to himself, but the thought rang hollow. Because anomalies were meant to be solved, and she was a paradox he never wished to unravel.

___

Mydei

He is one of among the towering figures of the assembly, Mydei stood with arms crossed, his usual composed demeanor slipping ever so slightly. He had no patience for poetry or unnecessary sentiment, his world was built on structure, on unshaken resolve. And yet, something about her presence sent a ripple through his discipline.

Perhaps it was the way she embodied control within chaos of the people or how her bare feet brushed against the marble with unearthly precision.

When the final twirl of her performance ended with a graceful bow, he exhaled, realizing only then that he had been holding his breath.

___

Anaxa

Unlike the others, Anaxa made no attempt to rationalize what he felt. He had no need for logic when instinct spoke louder than reason. He had seen prophets, saints, and gods, but none had ever commanded his attention the way she did.

While the festival cheered in approval, his sharp eyes never left her. She was like a flame dancing in the void, unshaken by the weight of a thousand watching souls. He admired that.

And as she stepped off the stage, disappearing into the grand halls of the temple, Anaxa was the first to move.

___

The Courtship of the Three

The festival had ended, but the echoes of the music still lingered in the marble halls of the temple. The scent of burning incense mixed with the cool night air, and the once cheering crowd had dissipated into scattered groups of murmuring scholars, merchants, and nobles.

She stepped away from the grand hall, seeking solitude. The quiet of the temple gardens was a welcome reprieve, the reflection of the stars on the water a stark contrast to the heat of the festival.

The still waters of the reflecting pool mirrored the starlit sky above, and for a moment, she let herself bask in the quiet.

She wasn’t alone.

Phainon was the first to speak. "Your form is impeccable," he said, his voice measured. "Every movement precise. It’s rare to see something so well practiced that it looks effortless."

She turned, finding his gaze fixed on her

"I’ve practiced since childhood" she replied simply.

Anaxa leaned against a stone pillar, arms crossed. "Practice alone doesn’t create something like that." His tone was casual, but his eyes betrayed something else, curiosity, maybe. Or something close to respect. "You didn’t just perform out there. You commanded attention to the crowd. That’s not something you learn."

She gave a small shrug. "I don't know if it matters."

Silence stretched between them. The weight of their words settled in.

Her brow furrowed slightly. "You’re here for something."

Mydei’s voice was calm, but there was no mistaking the weight behind his words. "We don’t waste our time."

They were here because she had caught their attention, and not by accident.

___

Sorry if this is not in your expectations, i'm still sick and tried to do this.

[baura-bear]

Something possessed me. First thing I’ve drawn in months.

[leori-the-unlearned]

the way digimon does conflict/drama between two characters who should be or are close: chef’s kiss <3

the way sonic idw handles creating conflict/drama between two characters who should be or are close: *wilting flower*

[twentytwothings]

Thoughts on the Steve-Nancy-Jonathan love triangle of season 4

There are two main problems, in my view, with the way the love triangle is set up. The first is this:

Jonathan should have told Nancy the truth, and he should have done it right off the bat, either at the start of the season or even shortly before it.

The thing is, the root conflict between Jonathan and Nancy makes sense. Nancy wants to go to a different college than Jonathan does, one too far away from his family for him to be able to support them the way he wants to. It makes sense he doesn’t want to follow her to Emerson, and it makes sense he doesn’t want her to follow him to his preferred college by giving up on her own dreams either. But Nancy would understand the weight of this as well—she cares about her education and her future.

If Jonathan tells Nancy his reservations, maybe Nancy’s immediate response is, fine, I’ll come with you instead, but on the strength of both her own and Jonathan’s wish for her to follow her own path in life, I think they could both spend season 4 just… thinking. They have by now spent over half a year in a long distance relationship—are they prepared to continue like this through all those years of college? What about after? Who knows what the situation might look like by then, what new concerns might keep them apart? How much of their lives are they willing to dedicate to uncertainty and distance?

We saw in season 3 that their relationship, while rooted in love and respect, is hardly some perfect cloudless fantasy life. Now, building on this, let’s ask the next question: how much are they willing to sacrifice to keep it?

This would give Nancy something real to think through over the course of the season about her relationship with Jonathan and what she’s willing to give up for it. It’s something that requires looking within herself and drawing a conclusion—rather than just being left in the dark to be kind of annoyed and unsure of where she stands with him. As for Jonathan, it avoids making him the cause of the problem, and gives one of the few things he’s got going on this season more weight than a simple lack-of-communication plot.

The likeliest reasons I can think of as to why the showrunners didn’t go this path to begin with would be either 1) because they didn’t think the “separate colleges” problem would be big enough to matter if Jonathan actually said anything about it, in which case Jonathan just looks stupid, or 2) because if this is what breaks Nancy and Jonathan apart, then it wasn’t really an issue of incompatibility between them but just life getting in the way, which could in turn make an endgame Nancy/Steve pairing feel like just a consolation prize to Nancy when she couldn’t be with the guy she really wanted.

I can understand the second one, but I don’t agree with it. People aren’t made for one specific other person; they find someone out of many possible someones and then build a life with them.

Nancy chose Jonathan over Steve once before, that’s true—but they are all three different people now, particularly Steve, and isn’t that the whole thing making her reconsider her relationship with him to begin with? I don’t think you need to demonstrate that Nancy and Jonathan could never have worked out under any circumstances in order to allow Nancy to have an equally worthy, or better, relationship with Steve.

This is not to say that Jonathan and Nancy can’t come out of this still together; in fact, I think this version of events will make an eventual reconciliation all the stronger. If, at the end of the day, they find that yes, they are willing to do what it takes to stay together, whether that means giving up on their individual plans for the future or accepting years of staying in a long-distance relationship or something other than that again, it would feel like their relationship has survived a real trial-by-fire and come out stronger for it. It would, when all is said and done at the end of the final season, give the season 4 strain in their relationship purpose, as it would lead to a real affirmation of the strength of their commitment to one another. But as it stands in canon—assuming Nancy and Jonathan remain together in the end, won’t this little detour of theirs feel kind of weird? What does it provide their relationship that their disagreement in season 3 did not?

In season 4 as it is, Nancy lacks agency, and Jonathan is unreliable. The whole situation feels insubstantial, made up as an excuse for more relationship drama. But it didn’t need to be that way.

There is real weight to Jonathan’s dilemma. Instead of making this another flimsy story about lack of communication breaking a relationship apart—just take the issue at hand seriously.

The second main problem is that Steve and Nancy should have spent the season becoming friends more than anything.

The thing about Steve and Nancy’s dynamic is that it has always been defined by romance. We meet them when they’re already pretty much together, and it’s clear there was no real “just friends” period before that point—just a steadily building flirtation. When they break up in season 2, that also marks the end of their interactions altogether, except for a line or two taking place in a larger group dynamic at the end of season 3. Then season 4 puts them together again and they immediately return to flirting.

The problem here is that their relationship lacks a real sense of foundation. What lies beneath the romance, the dating aspect? I don’t know. I’m not sure they do either. In their time together, they have always adhered to it—and Nancy in particular spent season 2 seeming to be mostly going through the motions of it more than anything. What do they look like together without the societal framework of a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship to fall back on?

Additionally, Nancy and Steve have some real unresolved issues to work through. The show seems to have mostly decided the problem was just that Steve had a lot of growing left to do back when they were dating and leaves it at that, but the reality of their time together and how it impacted both of them could easily be delved into more deeply than that. Talking about it—offering each their perspectives, both what they thought then and how those thoughts have changed by now—would be a compelling way to show the two characters feeling their way back to something like solid ground with one another after so long adrift.

This—hashing out what went wrong in their old relationship—would be happening simultaneously as Nancy is contemplating her current one with Jonathan, pushing her to consider the two in relation to one another. Any hints of Nancy and Steve’s relationship blossoming back up come near the end of the season, when they’ve had time to settle back into being on good terms with each other, and it feels like something they unearth or build anew rather than them just kind of picking back up where they left off.

This also has the benefit of giving them more to do—more of a chance to grow, or to show how they’ve grown—than either of them really had this season otherwise.

Steve holds no speech about how it has “always been you”; he truly moved on in season 3, like he said, even if season 4 sees old feelings coming back to him. They might still talk about whether they might have made it as a couple as the people they are now, and this may or may not take the form of a confession. Eddie doesn’t make any claims about unambiguous signs of true love on Nancy’s part. Possibly nothing is ever stated explicitly—to avoid forcing the issue to come to a point, instead allowing them to potentially sink back into friendship at the end of the day—but there is a sense that an old door, or perhaps just a window, has been reopened.

Narratively, this will strengthen any potential endgame Nancy/Steve relationship, because it will give their difficulties in season 2 and time apart in season 3 greater impact. Their breakup mattered, and it defines their relationship even now, as they struggle to work through it. Their time apart mattered, and it changed how they feel about one another and the places from which they approach each other. It will also narratively strengthen an endgame where they don’t end up together, because their friendship will remain regardless now that it’s no longer dependent upon romance to exist; no matter what happens in the end, an important relationship was repaired and remains repaired, so the time spent developing it won’t feel wasted even if no romance ultimately comes of it.

Comparing canon—what are we left with if Nancy and Steve don’t end up together? What would be the point of it all? Steve-and-Nancy live and die by their romance, and so does the strength of their season 4 screentime together.

In this new version of the story, things don’t look too dissimilar to canon by the end of the season. Like before, Nancy has come to view Steve in a new light. Like before, Jonathan and Nancy still haven’t worked out their problems. Like before, all their relationships face an uncertain future. The destination remains the same; it’s only that the path there has been slightly altered.

[giraffeter]

I often see posts about curating your own online experience that make the point, “content creators aren’t your parents.” And, yes, that is absolutely true! And I try not to be like “as a parent,“ but as a parent…

EVEN PARENTS ARE SUPPOSED TO ENCOURAGE RESPONSIBLE READING/VIEWING BEHAVIOR. NOT filter everything ahead of time for their kid.

When my kiddo was 5, his pediatrician was asking him the usual Well Child Visit questions (“What are your favorite foods? What do you do to get your body moving? Do you know what to do if you get lost in a public place?” Etc.) and she asked, “What do you do if you see something on TV that scares or upsets you?”

I piped up like, “Oh, he doesn’t watch TV without one of us in the room,” which was true at the time and is still largely true now. She said, “Yes, but that won’t always be the case, so make sure you’re talking to him about what to do if he sees something that upsets him.”

So we started talking to him about that, and the answer is simple: “Turn it off or leave the room, and talk to someone you trust about what you saw and what you’re feeling.”

The answer is NOT “Ask your parents to make sure you never see anything upsetting again,” because that’s just not possible — and ultimately that would be doing the kid a disservice, since sooner or later he’s going to be out in the world where we can’t control what he watches or reads. That doesn’t mean we don’t try to make sure he’s watching/reading age-appropriate stuff, it just means that’s not the only safeguard he has — and that’s a good thing.

So yes, content creators aren’t your parents and aren’t responsible for making sure you never see anything you don’t like — but also, your own parents should have taught you what to do when that happens. So if they didn’t, take it from me, your internet mom:

Turn it off.

Walk away.

Talk to someone you trust about how you’re feeling.

And leave the person who created the thing that upset you alone.

[pedroscurls]

let me show you (one-shot)

summary: joel comes home and shows you (and mainly himself) that age is nothing but a number.

pairing: no outbreak!joel miller x fem!reader content warnings: EXPLICIT CONTENT (18+ ONLY MDNI), established relationship, age gap (joel's in his 50s, reader's 30), unprotected p in v (be safe folks!), oral sex (m and f receiving), fingering, mating press (i feel like this is joel's go-to), doggystyle, cowgirl, multiple creampies (oops), light manhandling, light marking, no use of y/n. word count: 5.5k a/n: so happy to take part at @yxtkiwiyxt's other "never have i ever" challenge for her one year writing anniversary!!! congrats on one year, kiwi - you're such a talented writer that it's so crazy to me that you've only been writing one year! can't wait to see what other stories you create - you got a lifelong fan in me and i'll read everything and everything you write 🫶. i chose joel miller and got the prompt: never have i ever had sex more than 3 times in one night. this is just complete filth, so please heed the warnings and most of all, enjoy <3

The entire drive home, Joel is seething. Hands gripping the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles turn white. Jaw clenching so hard that he’s sure he’ll end up cracking a tooth or two. He isn’t even sure why he’s so angry, why some other man’s words have such an effect on him. 

“Aren’t you old enough to be her father?” 

The frustration radiates through his entire body, tense and tight. The age gap had been something he was wary of in the beginning, but you had always been the one to reassure him that age didn’t matter to you. He tries to hold onto what you would tell him—how safe he makes you feel, the way being in his arms brings you comfort. 

“Aren’t you old enough to be her father?” 

He had fired that man the moment it left his lips. Tommy had to hold Joel back, and could see the way his older brother’s eyes darkened with rage. His personal life was off limits. You were off limits. After firing him, Tommy had convinced Joel to go home, that he needed the rest of the day to just cool off. 

And now, as he pulls into the driveway, Joel can’t help but hear those man’s words echo in his mind. 

“Aren’t you old enough to be her father?” 

He climbs out of his truck and storms inside. He knows you’re already home, knows that you’re probably deep in papers that need grading, knows that you’re going to be surprised to see him home so early… 

But Joel is determined—he’s suddenly on a mission to prove to himself that age is nothing but a number. 

He drops his keys in the bowl near the door, kicks off his boots and walks upstairs to your office. The door is slightly ajar and he gently kicks it open with his foot. You look up at him and the look of surprise flashes across your face before a large grin lines your lips. 

“You’re home,” you set your pen down and stand up from your chair. “Everything okay at work?” 

Joel just grunts in response, takes three large strides in your direction before he’s standing in front of you. “Need you,” he growls, his hand coming up to brush your hair away from your face and past your shoulder. He leans in, presses a soft kiss on your jawline and down the side of your neck. 

“Joel,” you whimper, moving your hands to rest on his hips. “Baby, hold on—What happened?” 

“Nothin’,” he mumbles, teeth grazing your pulse point. He hears you let out a whimper and it only fuels him further. Only he could pull those sounds out of you. Age gap, be damned. 

You try to push him away to figure out what’s truly going on, but he just wraps his arms around your frame and pulls you flush against him. Joel turns you so you’re leaning against the edge of your desk, your hands moving to his broad chest. 

“Joel—”

He pulls back and looks into your eyes. You can visibly see that there’s something bothering him. His gaze is dark, brows slightly furrowed, eyes narrowed, and jaw clenched. “Think you can stop grading for one afternoon, baby?” 

“Can you first tell me what’s going on?”

“Nothin’ goin’ on,” he lies, hoisting you up onto the edge of your desk. Joel immediately moves your legs apart as he steps in to stand between them. Slowly, his hands move along your thighs, gaze moving along your frame. There’s a hunger in his eyes, clear determination that you can’t put your finger on. 

“You’re lying. You’re a terrible liar, you know that?” 

Joel grunts and moves a hand to your cheek, thumb brushing lightly along your soft skin. “Just wanted to get home to be with my girl, that a bad thing?” 

“Not at all,” you answer. “But something’s clearly bothering you and—”

“Ain’t nothin’ botherin’ me, darlin’,” he interrupts. “Now, can you stop talkin’ so I can kiss you, hm?” 

“Me talking never stopped you before–”

Joel grunts in reply and leans in to press his lips firmly against your own. Immediately, your hands card through his hair, gasping when you feel the urgency of the kiss. His hands roam your body, already sliding them underneath your shirt. The way his lips move against yours—hurried and desperate—catches you off guard and you’re finding it incredibly difficult to keep up. You part your lips, slowly trying to pull away from him to truly get to the root cause for his sudden behavior, but he doesn’t let you. 

Instead, his large hands grip your hips, tug you to the edge of your desk so that his jean-covered bulge presses firmly to your already throbbing core. Joel’s lips move effortlessly against your own, tongue darting out to flick against your own. You whimper against him and he growls in response, pulling back only slightly to nibble on your lower lip—this action alone causes your legs to wrap around his waist and pull him even further into you. 

“Joel,” you mumble breathlessly, gently tugging on his hair to pull back from him. You’re breathing heavy, lips swollen, eyes dark when you finally look at him. 

“Gonna spend the rest of night showing you how much I love you,” he promises, rolling his hips against you. 

“Baby,” you moan out quietly. “You always show me how much you love me.”

“Hm,” he answers. “Not enough. Never enough.” 

“Are you sure you’re okay? Nothing happened at work?” 

Joel shakes his head once. “No, now can we stop talkin’ about work?” 

You nod and slowly move away from the desk to stand in front of him. You take his hand, play with his fingers before lacing them together with your own. “So, just me and you tonight?” 

Joel nods, “just me and you, baby.” He stares at you for a moment and all of a sudden, the man’s words from earlier comes back—serving as a reminder of why he had been upset in the first place. 

He releases your hand and tosses you over his shoulder. Joel hears you let out a quiet gasp of surprise, but he begins making his way out of your office and down the hall to the bedroom. It doesn’t take him long, but he can feel the strain in the center of his jeans when your hands begin to roam his body. 

Once inside the room, he tosses you onto the mattress. You prop yourself up on your forearms, but Joel—once again—tugs you to the edge of the bed. He wastes no time in hooking his fingers into the waistband of your shorts and pulling them down your legs with your panties, tossing the articles of clothing carelessly to the side. 

“Fuck,” he whispers to himself. He parts your legs and licks his lips eagerly, your sex glistening with your own arousal. 

Joel reaches down to undo his belt, followed by his zipper and button on his jeans. He pushes them down his legs, kicks them off to the side, and reaches for the ends of his shirt to lift over his head. Now clad in only his boxer briefs, Joel watches you remove your shirt as well, lying back on your forearms once you’re completely bare and naked for him. 

He reaches down and squeezes the length of himself, hardening even further at his touch. Joel leans over you, hand pressed on the mattress near your head as his free hand comes to settle between your legs. His fingers begin to make quick work, gathering your arousal on his fingertips as he teases your opening. 

“Always this wet for me, aren’t ya?” He whispers, leaning down so that his lips hover near your ear. Joel hears you let out a gasp when he slides in the tip of his middle finger—your walls welcoming him almost immediately. 

“J—Joel,” you moan, eyes fluttering. Joel slides his middle finger further into your depths, down to his knuckle, before he pulls it out completely. His entire digit is glistening and he brings it up to his lips, licking and sucking your arousal off his finger. 

“Christ,” he groans. “Can never get enough of you.” Then, Joel settles onto his knees in between your legs. He presses soft and light kisses on your inner thigh, gently nipping along the way. Though, once his lips hover near where you need him the most, he lets out the most animalistic growl you’ve ever heard. 

You sit up on your forearms, eyes glazing over and beginning to flutter when you feel him lick a stripe along the length of your sex. He keeps his eyes solely focused on you, one hand moving up your body to push you to lie back down. 

“Just relax,” he whispers. “I got you, baby. Always got you.” 

You finally fall onto your back when his lips move towards your clit, tongue flicking against you repeatedly. Your hands move to his hair immediately, pulling and tugging as he applies more pressure. 

Joel knows he could do this for the rest of his life if he could. He ruts against the mattress—your sweet taste only fueling him further. He grunts against you when you pull and tug on his hair and he can feel your arousal drip down his chin. He moves his hands to your legs, holding them apart as he pulls back to look down at you. 

“Look at you,” he says with a low groan. “Lyin’ there lookin’ so pretty.” Joel doesn’t let you get a word in because he leans back down, grips your thighs, and moves his lips to your sex. 

Your back arches—the burn of his beard scratching against your inner thighs, the way his tongue expertly moves in and out of you. A loud moan escapes your lips when you feel his thumb slowly begin to rub circles into your clit. You know you’re close, can feel the pressure building and building. When your eyes lock with Joel’s, you see the corners of his lips lift—the man is fucking grinning. 

He pulls away, but before you can whine in protest, he slides two fingers past your folds. Your hands move from his hair to the sheets, gripping it tightly as you feel him expertly begin to move his fingers in and out of your depths. You’re so wet, the sounds of his fingers squelching with each thrust into you mixes in with your moans. Joel knows—he always knows when you’re close. 

As he pumps his fingers in and out of you, Joel leans down and latches his lips around your clit. It’s just what you need to be pushed over the edge. 

Your back arches in the air, legs attempting to close and squeeze around his head—unintentionally—as your body trembles with pleasure. He slows his movements, pulling back and away from you. His fingers easily slide out of you—your arousal already staining the sheets of the mattress. 

You’re breathing heavily when you finally look in his direction. You can see your arousal glistening on his chin, over his beard. You watch him push his boxers down, his manhood springing at attention. Clearing your throat, you slowly turn on to your abdomen as he stands upright. Before he could even say anything, you reach out and wrap your hands gently around the base of his length.

You glance up at him—there’s just something in the way he’s standing above you that causes a shiver to run through you. He reaches down, gently pushes your hair away from your face, thumb brushing against your jawline. 

“So pretty, baby,” he whispers. His eyes flutter for a moment when you slowly begin to stroke the base of his manhood. When you lean forward to wrap your lips around his tip, Joel moves his hand from your cheek to the back of your head as a low groan escapes his lips. 

You hum in approval, feeling his hand slowly push your head down against him. You get the hint—moving one hand from his base to rest on his hip as you take more of him into your mouth. Your tongue swirls around him as your other hand strokes what your mouth can’t take. 

When you glance up at him, Joel’s head is tilted back—neck outstretched, veins more prominent, broad chest heaving up and down, and his lower lip pulled between his teeth. He always looked so beautiful like this. 

Suddenly, you feel his fingers curl into your hair and pull you away from his slickened length—it glistens with your saliva. 

You whine in protest, trying to lean forward to wrap your lips back around his throbbing manhood, but he clicks his tongue and holds you away from him. 

“Not gonna last if you keep that up,” he admits honestly. “And tonight, I want you as many times as I can.” 

“Joel,” you bite your lower lip, hands moving up his chest. “Once is enough and—”

He shakes his head and pushes you onto your back. His strong arm wraps around your waist and slides you further up onto the mattress as he settles himself between your legs. Joel stares into your eyes and with his free hand, grasps his length to run his tip along the length of your sex. He gathers your arousal around his tip, growling lowly to himself as he notches himself at your entrance. 

“Not tonight it isn’t,” he finally answers, pushing fully into you in one long and deep stroke. Joel groans when your walls envelope him—warm, wet, tight. He always loves it when he thrusts into you for the first time because it serves as a reminder of how perfectly you were made for him. He sees the way your face contorts into pleasure—mouth slightly agape and brows furrowed with a quiet whimper escaping your lips; he finds it so cute how you always try to hold back your sounds of pleasure. 

“J—Joel,” you moan, hands moving to come up to rest on his broad shoulders. 

Something in him snaps and there’s a primal urge that courses through his veins as he stares down at you. Joel takes your hands from his shoulders, gently placing a soft kiss on your knuckles, before he grabs your legs and places them over his shoulders instead. At the new position, he feels himself slide further into your depths and it only urges him further. He pushes into you, his own hands resting at either side of you as he pulls out to his tip only to thrust back into you. 

You’re folded in half—body beginning to tremble already as he picks up the pace in his thrusts. You had a very healthy sex life with Joel, but this time… this time it feels so different. It feels like he’s on a mission to prove something to himself. 

The sound of his skin smacking against yours echo the walls of the bedroom, your moans increasingly becoming louder and louder. Your hands move to his lower abdomen in an attempt to push him away because you feel the pressure creep up once more. He growls in response and grabs your wrists, pinning them above your head. 

“Close huh, baby?,” he growls.

“Joel, p—please,” you whimper, toes curling. You can’t move—hands pressed into the mattress, legs thrown over his shoulders, and his entire body pressing into you. It’s by far the most intimate position you’ve ever experienced and the way he’s slamming into you pushes you over the edge. 

“Joel!” You moan loudly, walls already clenching around him as your body trembles once another orgasm takes over your entire frame. 

“Fuck,” Joel groans, releasing your wrists to rest his own large hands on your hips. His own thrusts begin to falter as he feels his release begin to creep up quickly. He tries to think of something else, tries to make this last longer, but the way you’re tightening around him just pushes him over. 

He slams into you once, twice, three times before he releases into you. Joel lets out a guttural groan, the hands on your hips tightening its grip as he slowly rolls his hips into you. Slowly, Joel moves your legs from his shoulders to instead wrap around his waist loosely and he looks down between your bodies to see his spend trickling out of you once he pulls out. 

You’re breathing heavily, staring up at him with a dazed look on your face. You gently reach up to touch his cheek, feel him lean into the pit of your palm as he stares deeply into your eyes. “Where did that come from?”

Joel shrugs and gently pecks your lips. “Just wanted you, baby.” Slowly, he pulls away from you and stands from the bed to grab a wet and warm towel to wipe his release from between your legs. He watches you shiver against his touch, eyes fluttering when the towel brushes against your most sensitive areas and he smirks. 

“Joel,” you whimper. 

“Sorry,” he grins proudly. Once you’re cleaned up, he sets the towel in the laundry basket and then falls back onto the bed with you. You lie on your side and he comes up behind you, arm draped over your midsection as he brings you flush against him. He peppers light kisses along the back of your bare shoulder. “Love you,” he whispers. 

“I love you too,” you tilt your head back against his shoulder and shut your eyes. “Made me tired,” you whisper, voice trailing off. “Didn’t even have dinner yet.”

He chuckles and shuts his eyes, holding you close. “How about we take a short nap and then I’ll feed you, hm? That sound like a plan?”

“Yes,” you reply with a small smile, turning your head just enough to press a soft kiss onto his cheek. “Maybe you should come home early more often,” you giggle.

Joel’s jaw tightens as the man’s words echo in his mind again. He doesn’t reply—just holds you closer to him and feels you relax in his embrace. 

Joel awakes almost an hour later—you’re still leaning back against him and his arm is still wrapped around you from behind. He can hear your quiet breathing, takes a peek in your direction to see you peacefully asleep. He feels you shift back against him and he’s suddenly aware of the lack of clothing that you both are wearing. 

His mind drifts momentarily, remembering the events that unfolded just an hour ago. He can still feel the anger bubbling within him, can still hear that man’s voice echo in his mind.

“Aren’t you old enough to be her father?” 

His arm remains draped over your waist and his large hand soon encompasses your breast, thumb brushing against your nipple. He hears you let out a quiet moan and Joel can feel his lower half begin to stir. He’s surprised that after an hour, he can feel himself getting hard all over again.

Slowly, Joel presses himself firmly against you from behind and moves his lips along the side of your neck. As he begins to pepper light kisses on your skin, his hand begins to massage your breast into the pit of his palm. He hears your breathing quicken and quietly—in that sweet voice of yours—you say his name. 

“Joel,” you whimper. 

“Shh,” he whispers, teeth grazing your earlobe. Joel releases his hold on you and gently moves you to lie on your abdomen. He quickly moves to hover above you, his legs placed on either side of you. His large hands move to your backside, spreading your cheeks apart as he lets out a low growl at the sight of you. “Can’t get enough of you,” Joel growls. 

He grasps his hardening length, tugs on it twice before he presses his tip into your slit. Slowly, Joel pushes his hips forward—you’re already so wet and gripping the head of manhood as he pushes himself further into you. 

Your hand reaches back for him, trying to press against his lower abdomen to stop him from pushing any further. You’re already so sensitive—walls quivering as he grabs both your wrists to hold against your lower back. With one stroke, Joel fills you to the brim and he feels you begin to squirm against him.

“Joel!” you exclaim, eyes falling shut as you press your forehead against the mattress. He feels so much bigger like this and when he pulls his hips back—your walls sliding along his length—only to slide back into you, it causes a loud moan to escape your lips. 

“H—-how?” you mumble, feeling his hand release your wrists only to grip your hips, pulling you to prop yourself up on all fours. 

Joel doesn’t reply, the man’s words echoing in his mind with each thrust.

“Aren’t you old enough to be her father?” — thrust.

“Aren’t you old enough to be her father?” — thrust.

“Aren’t you old enough to be her father?” — thrust.

Your hands grip the sheets so tight because Joel’s never been this rough before. With each thrust, Joel’s jaw tightens. He grips the back of your neck and pushes you face down onto the mattress as he slams into you repeatedly from behind. His skin slaps against your own and you can feel the tight grip he has around your hips—knowing that there’s going to be bruises there later. 

“J—Joel!” you moan into the mattress, pushing back against him as you feel yourself begin to reach yet another orgasm. Your walls begin to tremble, can feel a rush of wetness between your legs and the pleasure racking through your entire body. 

“Fuck,” he finally moans—your walls tightening around his length in a tight grip. Joel leans over you, hand moving from the back of your neck to grab a fistful of your hair to lift your head off the mattress. He breathes heavily into your ear as his thrusts begin to falter. “Come for me,” he demands, thrusting into you that your body jerks forward. 

“I—I can’t,” you whimper. Your entire body is on fire and you’re so close to the edge, but you’re holding back… and Joel knows because his eyes narrow at your words and he leans down to gently bite down on the side of your neck.

“I said,” he groans, delivering yet another hard thrust. “Come for me.” 

With his free hand, Joel reaches down and begins to circle your clit. It’s just the right amount of pressure for you to reach your peak. Your toes curl and your eyes shut tight as a loud moan escapes your lips. Joel smirks proudly, releasing his hold on your hair as he grips your hip instead. 

Joel delivers one, two, three thrusts before he releases into you. His eyes fall shut, head tilted back as he tries to catch his breath, slowing his thrusts as your walls continue to milk every last drop. When he finally pulls out, Joel opens his eyes to watch his release slowly drip out of you and onto your inner thighs. 

He bites his lower lip and falls back onto the bed next to you, lying on his back as he glances over at you. 

“Well,” you whisper, looking over at him. “That was something.”

“I wasn’t too rough, was I?” he asks with soft eyes—his big, brown, puppy eyes staring at you with concern now that his mind is clear. 

“Would you hate me if I said it wasn’t enough?” you tease, leaning over to peck his lips. “You promised me food and instead…”

“You were just so…” Joel bites his lower lip, his gaze raking over your frame with lust-filled eyes. “Inviting.” 

“Maybe I should sleep naked more often,” you grin, standing up from the bed to walk towards the bathroom to clean yourself up. 

“If you do that, ain’t nothin’ gonna get done,” he chuckles. Joel stands up as well, walking after you as he wraps his arms around you from behind. “What does my girl want to eat?” 

“Can you order a pizza?” you smile, wiping his release from between your legs. You toss the tissue into the trash and then lean back against him, head resting against his chest. 

“Of course, baby,” he smiles, turning his head to kiss your temple. 

You take note of the marks on your hips and the darkening spot on the side of your neck. You bite your lower lip and slowly turn in Joel’s arms, staring up at him as your arms wrap around his neck. “Gonna have these marks on me for a few days at least.”

Joel arches a brow, eyes glancing down at the mark on your neck before his gaze lowers to your hips. He blushes and rests his forehead against your own. “Sorry, baby.” 

“Don’t be,” you smile, hands playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. “I like it.”

“Yeah?” he asks, small smile lining his lips. 

“Yeah,” you nod. “I’m all yours, so let’s let the entire world know,” you tease. 

“Naughty,” Joel chuckles. 

“Only for you.”

Joel growls, hand moving to grasp your backside. “I like the sound of that.” 

“Mmm,” you smile. “I don’t think I can go another round,” you say honestly. “I’m sensitive all over and I’m hungry.”

Joel leans in, pecks your lips lightly as he pulls away slowly. “Maybe you just need some food because I am determined to have you one more time before we call it a night.”

“One more time?” you ask, eyes widening. “We’ve already had sex twice in the last hour or so and—”

“Then we’ll eat dinner and I’ll have you again,” Joel interrupts with a grin. “Don’t put anythin’ on. I’ll have pizza delivered.”

“You want me to walk around like this?” 

“Yes,” Joel growls. 

“Yes, sir,” you smile innocently. 

About thirty minutes later, you and Joel are in the kitchen with an opened box of pizza. He’s dressed only in a pair of boxers, but you’re completely naked—just like he said you should be. You’re sitting on the edge of the kitchen island with a slice of pizza in hand, humming contentedly as you take a bite. 

“Good?” Joel asks with a grin, his own slice of pizza in his hand. 

“Very,” you smile, finishing your first slice of pizza in record time. You see Joel arch a brow and you just roll your eyes playfully. “I gained an appetite.”

Joel chuckles to himself and moves to stand between your legs. “You did, huh? Why’s that?” 

“I came like three times already, baby,” you tell him, reaching for another slice of pizza. “I really don’t think I can do any more than that. I’m already—My body’s just so sensitive.” 

“Oh?” he asks, eyes looking at you from top to bottom. He moves his hands to your thighs and gently spreads them apart, looking between your legs to see your sex glistening. “How come you’re wet then, hm?” 

“Joel…” you whisper, setting the slice of pizza down as you wipe your hands with a paper towel. “I’m just—I’m always wet whenever I’m around you.”

“That so?” 

You nod, feeling his finger run along the length of your sex, gathering your arousal. You let out a quiet whimper, a shiver running down your body at the sensation. “Joel, baby…” 

“Always so ready for me, ain’t you?”

You nod, biting your lower lip. “Joel,” you repeat. “I—If we have sex one more time, I won’t last long and—”

“Shh,” he interrupts. “Let me just take care of you, baby.” Joel lifts you off the counter and sets you down onto your feet. He leads you to the couch in the living room where he takes a seat and shimmies out of his boxers, kicking them carelessly off to the side. He can already feel himself getting hard as he grasps his length and begins to stroke himself to full mast. “Come on, baby,” he urges, pointing to his lap with his chin. 

You nod and straddle his lap as your hands move to his shoulders. You slowly lower your hips to feel the tip of his manhood brush against you. Gasping, you lift your hips and stare into his eyes. Joel’s gaze darkens and he moves a hand to your hip, gripping it tightly as he pushes you onto him. Your walls—so wet—encompasses him tightly and he tilts his head back against the couch, a low groan escaping his lips. 

Joel feels so deep like this and you begin to roll your hips forward and backward. The hair at his base brushes against your clit and your body begins to tremble already. Your hips move so slowly because that’s all you can take right now, but Joel… It’s not enough for him. Even with your fingernails digging into his shoulders, gripping it so tight, Joel needs more. 

He moves his hands underneath you and lifts you slightly off his lap—just enough to give him space to begin thrusting upwards. Joel growls to himself as he looks up at you, your breasts bouncing as he thrusts upwards. 

“Joel!” you moan loudly, wrapping your arms around him as you press your front against him—holding onto him tightly. “Baby, please…”

“You feel so good around me, baby,” Joel whispers into your hair, eyes falling shut. “Always so wet for me, always so tight… Fuck, you were made for me.”

“J—Joel,” you whimper, feeling his hands move to your hips instead as you roll your hips against his own. You keep your tight hold onto him, gasping quietly as you feel your walls begin to tremble yet again. 

“Yes,” he groans, arms wrapping around your waist to guide you forward and backward on his lap. Joel knows he won’t be able to last either—he’s surprised that he was even able to recover so quickly in the span of two hours to do this three times. 

“Love seein’ you like this,” he says quietly, feeling your arms unwrap itself around his shoulders. Joel feels your hands move to rest on his shoulders as you ride him like your life depended on it. “Fuckin’ beautiful,” he grins, eyes scanning your face before his gaze lowers to your naked frame. 

“Joel, baby… I—” 

“I know,” he whispers. “Let go for me, darlin’. I got you.”

“Fuck!” you moan, head tilting back as you move your hips forward and backward quickly. Your body shakes with pleasure as the tightness builds and builds until you can no longer take it. You collapse into Joel, breathing heavily. 

Joel groans to himself as he grips your hips, guiding you along his length as he chases his own release. It doesn’t take long because when you whisper his name, he feels the tightness in the pit of his stomach break until he releases into you for the final time that night. 

Joel rests his forehead against your own, feeling himself soften while still inside of you and he makes no move in lifting you off his lap. Even as he feels his seed trickle down to the hair at his base, Joel keeps you seated on his lap, strong arms embracing you. 

“Thank god it’s the weekend tomorrow,” you whisper with a quiet giggle. 

“Why’s that?” he asks with a small smile. 

“Because I’m sure that I’d have trouble walking,” you answer. 

“You’re good for my ego,” he chuckles. 

“Where did all of that come from?” you ask honestly. 

Joel shrugs, staring into your eyes. “Nowhere.” 

“You’re lying.”

He sighs and finally asks, “Does our age gap bother you?” 

“What?” 

“I’m old enough to be your father–”

“I don’t care,” you interrupt him. “Our age gap means nothing to me…” 

“But it should, shouldn’t it?” 

“A bit too late for that, don’t you think?” You shake your head, lifting your left hand in the air and taking his left hand in your other one, showcasing both of your wedding rings. “We’re married now, baby. We’ve had this conversation before.”

“Some– Some asshole made a comment and it just got to me,” Joel sighs. 

“Did this happen at work?”

“Yeah,” he answers truthfully. “Fired him and Tommy had to stop me from doin’ somethin’ stupid and I just—” he sighs. 

“Well, you just proved that age is nothing but a number, Joel. We had sex three times in the last two hours… And I’ve never had sex more than three times in one night so…”

Joel lets a small smile line his lips. “Never, huh?” 

You shake your head. “You’d be the first.” 

“And your last,” Joel finishes. “I’m sorry it got me,” he sighs. “I don’t usually care what other people have to say about our relationship, but for some reason… This just got to me.”

“If our gap bothered me, I wouldn’t have married you,” you say quietly, hands coming up to gently brush his hair away from his face. “I love you. All of you.” 

“Even if I’m some old man?”

“An old man wouldn’t have been able to do what we just did,” you smile. 

He chuckles and gently pecks your lips. “Love you so much, darlin’.” 

“I love you too, Joel.” Slowly, you stand from his lap with a quiet whimper as you extend a hand out for him. “What do you say we take a shower and then spend the rest of the night cuddling?”

Joel smiles lovingly in your direction and stands from the couch, taking your hand. “That sounds like a great way to end the night, baby.”