#exasperatedly mumbling to herself like

[echo-has-queries]

*Marinette, re-doing all of her Adrien Chloé collages in a crazed frenzy*

Fix that looks like Adrien salt and Chloé sugar at first glance only for the fic to slowly reveal that both of them are trans, transitioned before the fic started, and thought it would be hilarious to switch first names, so they’re actually both completely in-character

[disneyprincemuke]

meet me in the afterglow * fem!driver

does sorry even work after you hurt the people you love?

pairings: oscar piastri x fem!driver, logan sargeant x fem!driver, sebastian vettel x fem!driver

notes: once upon a time, this 2025 szn only had like... 3/4 parts? and because i have 0 self control, it's now split into 9 parts... i promise the next part is actually the last part and there's no more surprise angst so here's the kind of comfort fic...? lolsie

(series masterlist) | (📂 2025: fall from grace)

(prev)

she stares into the restaurant where the group of blondes sit, trying to count in her head if she should finally announce her presence.

she’d been lurking in the group chat watching them make plans. plans that included her by default yet she still hesitated to bring herself out to meet them.

perhaps it’s too soon to be here? unless oscar wasn’t lying when he said that her other friends miss her too despite isolating herself for more than half the year.

“what are you doing lingering out here in the cold?” a familiar voice fills her ears with a soft chuckle. “come on in and join us for lunch, silly.”

“oscar,” she laughs sheepishly, scratching the back of her head. “i’m afraid it’s too soon for me to be here. i’ll just head back home.”

oscar tilts his head and furrows his eyebrows. he watches her turn on her heel and starts walking in the direction of her apartment. “what?” he grabs her wrist and yanks her towards the entrance of the restaurant. “no, you told me you’d join us today. you got ready and everything — even did your makeup! you look great, mate.”

she tries to pull herself back. “i don’t even know if they want me here.”

“remember what i told you yesterday,” oscar stops in his tracks and turns around to face her, “sometimes it’s all in your head. this time, trust me when i say it is. liam and mick missed you just as much as we did.”

she hesitates for a moment but eventually nods. oscar cheers and pumps his fist in the air. “great! then let’s go.”

oscar guides her into the restaurant and slowly approaches the table where their friends sit.

liam scowls at logan, “i’m seriously curious about whatever the hell goes in your head.”

“what do you mean?” logan asks, slightly hurt, “it’s a legit question. they’re just infected — sick, perhaps — so technically they’re still human.”

“point taken, but like… i wouldn’t consider them human still,” mick mumbles hesitantly, seemingly in deep thought over logan’s question. “but that’s just a very… peculiar question.”

“if rocky was here, she’d entertain me unlike you losers,” logan scoffs, folding his arms over his chest. “your answers are basic. i want an actual nurturing conversation about zombies and their human rights.”

“you guys got an extra seat for me? i have opinions about zombies and human rights,” she says softly with a smile. “i know i haven’t joined you in a while and i’m sorry. but if you let me—”

“oh, you’re here!” mick jumps up from his seat. he rounds the table and shoves oscar away from her then throws his arms around the small girl. “there’s always a seat for you! what do you mean?”

“welcome back,” liam beams with a nod. “mick here has a list of gossip he wants to talk to you about.”

logan scowls, “gossip that he refused to tell us unless you’re around.”

“well, why would i tell you boring idiots are gossip i worked so hard to get?” mick scowls, rolling his eyes. he starts to guide her towards his seat and pulls out a chair for her to sit next to him. “for a bunch of uninterested answers and sighs?”

“i could be—”

“whatever!” mick says exasperatedly, rolling his eyes. he sits her down in the seat and takes his own, pulling his phone out from his pocket. “so i have a list. let’s start with whatever the hell is going on with red bull and max.”

liam watches the girl walk out of the restaurant first, with the ruse that it’s too warm inside the restaurant. he excuses himself from mick, waving him off nonchalantly as he tries to settle the bill.

“i’m glad you’re back,” liam hums with a smile, approaching her with his head dropped and kicking rocks on the ground. “missed you, mate.”

“thanks,” she laughs, looking up from her phone. “i’m sorry i clocked out for a while there. i didn’t know how to cope with the year we were having.”

“it would’ve been nice to have you around,” he admits softly, finally stopping by her side. “this season has been so cruel to us. wish we had each other a little bit more, you know? we could’ve just gone through it together.”

she throws her head back. at some point in the year, she did consider that. but she’d tried getting herself to reach out to liam, but by that time, it felt like a case of too little too late.

“i know,” she sighs with a small smile. “i’m sorry. i thought you were doing perfectly fine without me.”

“the world’s always been a little harder on you, let’s admit that,” liam rests his arm on her shoulder, “we’re just glad that you’re back. you look like you’ve gotten back the colour in your face.”

“yeah, it’s about time,” she nods. “so, about your offers from other teams. anything that stood out to you yet?”

liam grins. “i’ve been meaning to talk to you about that after summer break. i didn’t think i’d see you til then,” he laughs. “they’re gonna announce it on the first race weekend from summer break.”

“you made a decision!” she shrieks. though, she feels her chest slightly tighten. liam avoiding a direct answer can truly only mean one thing and it’s that she’ll have to cozy up with some new driver that isn’t one of her closest friends. “that’s amazing, i’m so happy for you!”

“i’ve re-signed with andretti, mate. a year extension and if it goes well next year, i’m definitely staying a little longer,” liam jumps up and grabs her shoulders, “we’re going to be teammates forever!”

“what?” she almost drops her phone from the bombshell he’s dropped on her. “you’re not leaving?”

“don’t tell the guys yet, it’s a secret til then!” liam immediately recomposes himself when the doors open and their friends walk out.

“what are you girls giggling about?” oscar snorts, shaking his head. “keeping secrets from us?”

“it’s a teammate thing.”

“what are you doing still in the car?” logan hums, hunching to look into the car. the girl continues to sit in the passenger seat and looks ahead blankly. “oscar’s already at the door, dude. let’s go.”

“what if they hate me forever?” she frowns, turning to logan with slight tears in her eyes. “i sucked. not very family-friendly of me to act the way i did. and missing the anniversary party? not very cool either.”

“just get out of the car,” logan snorts, finally opening the door for her. he points towards the house and looks back at her. “come on. your dad told us he made your favourite cookies if it will help get you inside.”

she rolls her eyes. “you told papa i was coming?”

“just him, i promise.”

“boo. you suck.”

but she follows logan out of the car anyway. she watches as logan drags both of their bags towards the door and gives her another smile. then he walks down the pathway through the front yard to make his way to the front door.

she watches from the car as the front door opens, revealing her mother with a wide grin as she greets logan and oscar with open arms, yanking them in for a tight hug and kisses on cheeks. she only gets noticed when oscar steps aside to point at the car.

“you’re here!” her mother shrieks, hands on her cheeks as she pushes past the 2 boys in front of her. “my love, i missed you so much! i’m so glad you’re here!”

she remains in her position, hands fisted by her side as she watches her mother thread the stone pathway to walk over to her. “you look amazing. i’m so happy that you’re here.”

arms are thrown around her tightly, catching her off-guard. she’s barely even got the chance to get her carefully constructed apology out. for how she’s acted, for how she treated everyone in that house for the couple of days she spent in it.

“i’m seriously so glad you’re here. good thing i made your favourite,” her mother shrieks, starting to yank her towards the house. “and papa made cookies! then blythe stocked up on the ice cream you like hoping you were coming by with oscar and logan.

“dalton’s going to be so glad that you’re here.”

“dalton?” she asks in surprise, lifting an eyebrow as she follows her mother into the house. “isn’t he mad at me?”

her mother grins and stops right before they enter the kitchen. her cheek is cupped by her mother tenderly and the other hand brushes through her hair. “blythe sat both ciara and dalton down and told them off. i’m sorry i didn’t see you were struggling — i thought i was helping. i didn’t know.”

“you know?” she tilts her head with furrowed eyebrows. tears fill her eyes as she slumps her shoulder. “i didn’t mean to take it out on you. you know i love you, mama.”

“it’s okay. you’re still just my baby,” her mother sighs, pulling her head in to rest on her shoulder. “i should have known you were just overwhelmed. i’m sorry i didn’t notice and drove you even further.”

“oh, cool! you’re here!” dalton’s voice echoes in the house, making her jump off her mother. “i made you cookies!”

“did not,” ciara scoffs, rolling her eyes, following dalton down the stairs. “we had to buy a new batch of ingredients cause he put the egg whites in with the batter.”

dalton shakes his head disapprovingly as he passes the mother and daughter. “they told me too late. they’re not the best at instructions and that’s why you can tell ciara works all by herself in a measly little studio — can’t lead for shit.”

ciara smacks the back of his head. “fuck you.” the younger girl turns to her oldest sister with a smile. “welcome home. we set up just dance so we can watch logan trip over his feet all evening.”

“hey!”

apologising should come easy, she’s already done it attempting to make amends for the past 2 weeks with everyone. though she can’t ignore the churning in her stomach as she walks down a familiar hallway.

drafting the apology speech in her hotel room came naturally to her. with logan and oscar’s nod of approvals, suddenly she was ready to head out.

but there’s still the worry that it could be rejected.

who would want to take her back, anyway? it’s a miracle that everyone else in her life has received her with open arms after the way she acted.

she stares at the plain door for a moment and takes a deep breath. she just has to say she’s sorry, that’s all. just like how she told her friends she would.

she bites down on her lip as she finally musters the courage to land a knock on the door.

“give me a second!”

“okay, no rush.”

footsteps from inside the apartment halt for a moment. she hears heavy footsteps approaching the door and something dropping on the floor, then stumbling, making her smile to herself. then she hears the locks click hurriedly before it’s yanked open.

matt sighs in relief and throws his head back. “thank god it’s actually you. i thought i was going crazy hearing your voice.”

“over exaggeration,” she points out with a small smile. she sucks in a deep breath and exhales shakily. “hi.”

“hi,” he slouches slightly and leans on the door frame. “why didn’t you tell me you were coming? i could’ve picked you up from the airport.”

she waves his concerns away with a soft laugh. “it wouldn’t be a surprise if i asked you to pick me up, would it?” she looks down and extends her hands, a bouquet of flowers pushed into his chest. “these are for you.”

“what?” surprised, yet he still takes it into his hands. “what are these for?”

“i’m sorry,” she says softly, pursing her lips with a soft shrug. “i didn’t wanna do it over the phone or make you fly to london just so i can do it there… i blew things out of proportion and i pushed you away when all you wanted to do was help. i’m the one who burned us down.”

“they’re apology flowers?” he points out, slightly amused, scanning the bouquet with a smile. “you came all this way to say that to me?”

“i didn’t know how else to show you how sorry i really am.” she shifts uncomfortably and tucks her hair behind her ears. “i’ll spend forever making it up to you, i promise. i should have coped better and—”

“i missed you,” he says in a sigh. he puts the bouquet down on the top of his shoe back and lunges forward to throw his arms around her. he squeezes her tightly and buries his face into her hair. “you seriously should have told me you were coming.”

“matt—”

“i’m so excited that you’re finally here! i was taking kota out on a walk the other day and i walked past this new ice cream shop. i think you might really like it there,” matt starts to ramble, pulling away. “just give me 20 minutes and let’s head out for a date? how does that sound?”

she blinks, slightly taken aback by how he’s reacted. “what?”

“i haven’t been away that long, have i?” he stares at her curiously, furrowing his eyebrows. “you still love ice cream, don’t you?”

“yeah, but… you know… i was so mean to you for so long. shouldn’t you be a little angrier at me for what i did? i was such a bitch.”

“you were having a hard time,” he says immediately as she tries to berate herself. “i don’t blame you for that. it’s okay; we’re okay.” he pulls her into his apartment. “i’m just glad you’re back — my girlfriend’s back!”

“hi,” she greets with a smile, catching the older man off-guard as he approaches her. “fun summer break?”

sebastian flinches slightly and looks around him. there is nobody else here that she could be speaking to but him. “hi?” he smiles hesitantly. “it was. how was yours?”

“it was alright,” she shrugs, pressing her lips together into a thin line. she moves towards her bags to leave an empty space open for sebastian. “i got you something over the break. i went to los angeles for a couple of days.”

he tilts his head and jab his finger into his chest. “you got me something? on your trip?”

“yeah,” she grins. she turns away momentarily to grab something out of her bag and turns to present a pair of mugs to him. “i’m sorry i broke our matching mugs that one night in the paddocks. and i’m sorry i was a total bitch the entire season and that i was a big fat meanie, as dalton put it.”

he laughs, throwing his head back. if you’d asked him, he would have been more worried if they started the second half of the season with her still in the trenches.

it’s relieving to see that she’s gotten colour back into her face, making conversation and looking well put together. if her behaviour continued any longer, he’s afraid it would have become permanent at some point.

“you’re okay now?” sebastian grins, patting her on the head. she beams and nods. “okay enough to eat some ice cream?”

“yes,” she sighs exasperatedly with the roll of her eyes. “i can’t believe i haven’t eaten ice cream for 2 months. can you believe i stayed away that long?”

“honestly, i thought all this stemmed from the lack of ice cream,” sebastian jokes, poking her shoulder. “welcome back, kid. let’s make the best out of the rest of our season, okay? no more cowering into the corner — we face it head on.”

she nods firmly. “okay.”

taglist: @wcnorris @treehouse-mouse @laura-naruto-fan1998 @mindless-rock @vellicora @ironmaiden1313 @elliegrey2803 @33-81 @darleneslane @nikfigueiredo @happy-nico @namgification @localwhoore @c-losur3 @notawc @sadg3 @kazuha-pista-badam @mellowarcadefun @megatrilss1885 @peqch-pie @woozarts @meadhbhcavanagh @2bormaybenot @a-disturbing-self-reflection @mclarengf @xoscar03 @nomie-11 @green-thots @tinyhrry @iwilleatyourgod @inejismywife @love4lando @louvrepool

[darylsfavoritegirl]

Yk that argument Daryl had with Shane at the barn? Put your own spin on it and include the reader somehow, maybe she even tries to break them up and he is still pissed. Afterwards he goes off to sulk in his anger trying to ignore you, but it’s too hard

۶•ৎ

The Odd Man Out

There you all were, away from Hershel's house, near the barn. Your heart was pumping blood more than what felt like necessary, your knees had become weak, all ready to betray you and cause you to collapse to the ground.

"This is unacceptable, man." Shane breathed out with fire, drawing circles infront of the barn gate.

"All this time..." He didn't finish his sentence and chuckled exasperatedly.

"Shane. Calm down. This is Hershel's land."

"I'll- I'll find a way to figure this-"

Shane came at Rick when Lori got between the two of them, pressing her right hand to Shane's chest. Her eyes scolded him as Shane gave her a quick stare and rolled his eyes.

Shane was staring at the barn gate, hands rested on his hips, shaking his head as all you could hear was him mumbling to himself.

Your eyes scanned the barn and its perimeter, observing every distressed face.

"You know we gotta leave man. Now we been talking about Fort Benning for a while..." Shane turned to all of you as Rick didn't let him say a word and raised his hand as a warning.

"We can't leave." He shook his head.

The side of your eyes caught Carol and how he wrapped her arms around herself, bottom lip trembling, eyes glossy with tears to come.

"My daughter is out there." Her voice was shaky. She looked taken aback as everyone gazed upon her. You could tell she didn't like to be the center of attention, especially at a time like this.

"We're gonna find your daughter, OK?" Lori rushed to Carol, offering a sense of support as she squeezed her arm, they were glued to one another.

Your eyes shifted to Shane as you shielded your eyes from the sun. He studied your face for a second or so. A faint snicker painted his lips. He knew why you had stayed quiet so far, he was the one that you spoke in discreet -though you felt that the cat was gonna be out of the bag any second-

You felt uneasy under his gloomy gaze as you looked away, changing your position in which you rested your entire body weight on one leg, arms crossed. You eyes were fixated on the others for a brief second to see if anyone caught that tense eye contact you happened to make with the most troubled man in the group.

Shane walked past you, not skipping to give you one last dark stare as he made his way to Rick.

"I think it's the time that we all start to just consider the other possibility."

You sensed everyone tilting their heads to his direction. Daryl stood next to you, you almost heard his breathing go more and more shallow, irritation growing denser through his veins as he fixated his eyes on him; squiented as ever, dauntless as ever.

"I ain't leavin' no one behind." He squiented his eyes at him, his body still as a stone as you could see he clenched his jaw firmly.

Shane ran his hand through his shaved head as he clasped his hands over it.

"Nah man, I-" Shane were to start another babbling session on a bothersome argument right when you flinched at Daryl's loud words.

"I'm close ta findin' dis girl. I jus' found a damn doll two days ago" He was coming at Shane when you felt like it was time you partook in this before it got out of hand.

"You found a doll, Daryl. That's what you did, you found a doll."

Shane pressed his lips together as he leered at Carol before speaking.

"All I'm sayin' is she could've been dead by now and we're-"

"Enough. Shane, enough." You looked at him in disbelief, eyes wide with your hand reflexively being up in the air towards his direction as a sense of warning before he took this any further.

"Ya dun' know the hell yer talkin' 'bout."

It was Shane one side and Daryl on the other side. Things got ugly pretty swiftly as you had to step back when Daryl came at him but it wasn't a few seconds later that you stepped in once again, punches flying in the air, some hitting your chin with their elbows. Your head and body were thrown back by their aggression reflected on their action.

Dust particles, the strings of hays that were laid out on the perimeter were awakened by this fallout. Your eyes got stung by them, this was like hell that you had no control in whatsoever.

"Hey, you back off."

"Come on now." Dale asserted.

It was Rick, Lori and you trying to break them up. Under the heat of the sun, with your red faces and greased clothes were you tossed in a fight near a barn full of walkers.

"Leave. Leave now." You demanded Shane. You pointed him with your finger, forehead wrinkled and brows creased as he clapped his hands in an amusing manner.

"You got a real mouth on you, I'll give you that." He cackled and continued with his chest heaving.

"Now you care? 'Cause last time I checked you were the one who said 'it's a waste of time anyway' " He waved his hands next to his head theatrically and thinned his voice as if to mock you.

"That's not what I said prick." You stepped forward, walking slowly as you widened your eyes. You were trying to catch your breath, unevenly panting as your eyes were out of focus.

It was Daryl's voice that stopped you

" 'S this true?" He had his hands on his hips, gazing upon you through his lashes. It was like he was let down, couldn't even stomach looking you in the eyes, though his eyes had an uneasy beam to them, as if what you were about to say meant more than what both of you could ever dare to imagine.

"No" You shook your head, you clenched your fists without noticing. You felt goosebumps swarming all over your body, somehow making you chill under the radiant sun.

"Fuck no." Your head turned to Carol instinctly, and then the others.

It was a moment of suffering. You, standing toe to toe with everyone. Their hesitant stares, their subtle glances that traveled back and forth with everyone else but you had riled you up yet you knew you were in big trouble and perhaps in the wrong.

You spanked your forehead with both of your palms, inhaling a huge breath in as you shut your eyes and stared all of them back.

"Come on. That motherfucker's lyin' to your faces."

" 'S he?" Daryl inquired, though his tone gave away that he thought he knew the answer. You could never wrap your head around how a redneck like him, could be so tender to a woman he despised. Yet there comes to question, didn't he despise you all? What had happened that he was now a decent person, defending someone who wasn't his blood nor his kin like a sworn confidant behind closed door?

Your eyes darted to the others.

"You believe him?"

Them looking down at their shoes was your answer.

"Stupid bitch."

Daryl mumbled under his breath as he walked away with slumped shoulders and a crossbow he had put aside.

Your face went white, shoulders sagging as you did what you had thought of doing all along.

You kept breathing sharply, turning around and lunging at Shane. He took a step back, eyeing Rick specifically to come and get you as he already had done so.

"Lying son of a bitch." You spat, your hair was everywhere on your face. You could hear your heartbeat in your eardrums.

"Easy. Easy." Rick kept his hand above your cleavage, fingers gripping the sides of your arms.

"I'm fine." You fumed as you moved your hair aside from your face.

"Wha's with all tha' if he 's lyin?" Daryl commented while he was tapping his feet to the ground, resembling a jaded eleven-year old in a family gathering. He pointed at you with his hand as he emphasized on the word "that". You had gone mad infront of all of them. You were bewildered, brows raised with a blank stare in your eyes for a few seconds.

"Look, that's not what I said at all." You began. You pouted your face as soon as everyone started putting your words into your mouth and jabbering.

"Geez, am I the only one who gives a damn 'bout this lil' girl?" Daryl snapped, walking around in circles and spreading out his accusing tone to everyone.

You shook your head in apace, trying to select the proper words to utter. You pressed your lips together, face heating under the wrathing heat wave. You looked around like a child in need of emotional support. Hands on your hips as Rick took a step ahead.

"Everyone go. Now. We'll sort this out tonight."

You got a chance to gaze upon Daryl for the first as his eyes were fixated on Carol. After all, they had formed a relationship out of this. You barely remembered anyone getting along with Daryl or him with others. You walked towards the house with thought filling your head and the misconception you felt needed to be debunked.

Few days passed, everyone still being furious with you. Little Sophia coming out of the barn as a walker didn't aid to your situation whatsoever.

You were sitting on a rock near the fields on Hershel's property. One of your elbows were resting on your knee as your other hand was supporting your chin. You were observing the stubble land laid out infront of you, cicadas jumping from one to another.

The wobbly wind was aggravating with the way it was blowing hot air to your face and body when your eye caught someone walking out of the woods into the stubble field.

Your position changed gradually with you fixing your hunchback as your arms fell loose next to you and you stretched your body a few inches taller to see who it was.

Daryl.

His eyes were checking out his surroundings as his crossbow was swinging on his hand. He wiped his hand on his forehead when his eyes noticed you.

Uneasy features were tugged on your face, not knowing what to do or say.

He passed by you, putting his best work not to acknowledge your existence.

"Daryl." You softly said.

Though your hands were resting on the sharp-edged rock , head slightly tilted and eyes scrutinising your knees that had scrapes all over it, you somehow managed to sense him throwing his head back and fully preparing himself to say a word to you.

"Yeah." He reacted.

It took a while for you to turn and face him entirely. He was looking rather fed up with you. His lips were pale and pressed, his goatee beard all tangled, he must've been scratching it and running his fingers through it, you assumed. It was something you had noticed him doing back in the quarry.

"I'm sorry but all I said was 'we might be better off elsewhere' when I happened to be absent-minded around him. You know-"

He squinted his eyes at you, his chest heaving up with a heartburn as he barked.

"Ain't ma headache no more."

"The girl 's dead."

He pointed one of his stained arrow at you, a vein appearing on the side of his neck. He was blaming every inch of you from head to toe.

You stood infront of him, pupils dilated, hands in a loose punch as no amount of air was enough to fill your lungs.

"And I'm terribly sorry-"

"No yea ain't." He came closer at you, crossbow on one hand and arrow on the other. His neck was stretching forward, sweat beading the below of his hairline.

"Don' give me tha' crap." He used his arrow once again, pointing it at you in a circular motion.

"Yer upset only 'cause he outed yea like tha', infront of the whole lot."

"You hear yourself?" You gasped slightly at his words. You were more confused than angry.

"Whatever dis is, keep it ta yerself."

You heard the fading tone in his voice, he grew less and less attentive with you within 5 minutes.

He adjusted his crossbow and arrows on one hand and started ambling towards the house with his hand scratching the back of his neck.

Sun shone through his golden hair, he was walking aimlessly. It was like you had sucked away the energy left in him for the day.

"Your one stupid motherfucker." You hissed, standing on your tiptoes and extending your torso forward to make sure he heard you.

It was all a misunderstanding, Shane twisting your words back then and now no one giving you the time to explain yourself but only putting words into your mouth. You had lost all hope for the situation for the time being, after all it was still so fresh, everyone was still so vulnerable. No one could even dare trying to foresee anything.

"What'd ya say?" He turned his head towards your direction, his body adjusting to his head gradually.

"No one is listening to me but they're believing that troublesack for a man." You fumed in one breath, you avoided eye contact with him.

He blew raspberries without sticking out his tongue, his cynical body language took over your mentality.

"Yer a real peach with yer tears n' all." A half smile on his lips, completely not interested in what you had to say. He had biases about you all along, this was only the cherry on top.

"Do you really think I didn't care about Sophia the slighest?" You asked with an ajar mouth, eyes fixated on his body as in order not to miss anything you could interpret for your own good.

His neck stretched forward once again, the glazing sun was aiming right at him, perhaps this wasn't the best time.

"I ain't yer buddy, ain't yer nothin' " He growled, his hands were gripping his weapon as he wiped his sweat with his arm.

"I sure ain't the one yea should be makin' amends ta" He hushed, turning around.

"I'm not making amends!" You declared.

Which was true, you weren't. You just hoped for to be understood and not have everyone jump into conclusions about you.

You heard him murmur "Sure sounds like it." As he was making his way through the long stubble to the van.

That night, on a chilly weather were you above the van with Dale as you were assigned to assist him during his watch.

You sat on one of the camp stools, shotgun laying between your thighs vertically. Though Dale was sitting infront of you, your eyes were fixated behind him. The long roads, the long fields.

"Hey, old man. Rick wants yea back at the house."

You flinched at Daryl's voice becoming less and less muffled as he came near the van.

"Ohh what now." You heard Dale complain under his breath as he got up.

"Heads up." Daryl warned as he threw his crossbow on top of the van while he was yet climbing the ladder.

He didn't expect to see you there. His eyes flickered across your face for a moment or so as he looked around subtly, obviously looking for Glenn with whom you were replaced to assist Dale.

"The hell?" He inquired deadly with half-lidded eyes as he straddled on the chair infront of you.

"Just don't even talk if you aren't good with words." You huffed, not even seeing him fit to make eye contact with.

He remained silent as he rubbed his eyes. He hadn't been getting any sleep.

"Ain't no need fer words with yer bullshit." He scoffed, resting his head on his hands, looking around just like you.

"All this time spent together and you haven't figured out what kind of a person I could be. Not even the slighest, huh?" You sighed, not rushing, taking your time with each word.

Your heart was sinking down your torso, it felt like. Your eyes were droppy, fingers at the tip of the shotgun, seeking to be occupied by anything. Anything but him.

His eyes were glued on your eyes as you weren't bothering to meet with his gaze.

You pegged him for a complex man at all times, deep down you always knew he wasn't someone easy to come terms with. You were not gonna be seen by him, not in this, not in anything.

But at that exact moment, when two of you took a minute to enjoy the calmness, quietness around you, letting your minds talk to yourselves instead of words, you dared to hope for a change.

He could change after all, you saw it with your own eyes.

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

A/N: well this request had been on my asks since the beginning of this year... so i hope you still enjoy this anon!! also dumb me accidentally replied to a different request🥲🥲 so if that anon got the notification, im sorry, feel free to request whatever you want bae!!!

also i think i never wrote for season 2 daryl before huh? i hope this was satisfying, he was some constant-nagging redneck in season 1-2 but we love him

[fleuraimer]

Something with dumbification, please!! Anything from the smut starters would be amazing

oooh ok coming right up! kinda made my own prompt/au for this so hope u like nonnie <333

wc: 1.6k

cw: smut. minors dni. 17+. alcohol consumption. d/s dynamics. oral (m receiving). dacryphilia. degradation&dumbification kink. pet name bunny. pls lmk if i missed anything!!

Y/N never thought she'd find herself intertwined with the likes of a biker gang.

They say love makes people do crazy things, though.

"C'mere, Bunny!" Bucky shouts over the commotion swirling through his house, cold neck of a beer bottle clutched in his large, tattooed hand. She glances at him from her spot by the television, where she'd been conversing with the other girlfriends' and female members. Though, suddenly their once riveting topic of conversation is no longer interesting to her.

She knuckles out of her position sat between Peggy, Steve's girl, and Natasha, another member, on the couch with a half-hearted mumble of departure—a departure met with hootin' and hollerin' from her girls', cheering her on in her rousing endeavors. She throws them a desperate look over her shoulder, something that surely reads as please, shut the hell up. They snicker amongst themselves, but otherwise leave her be.

The excitement running through Y/N's body—butterflies with flower petals for wings, fluttering—blooming—soft in her stomach, strays squeezing their way into her throat, stuttering her words—is solely a product of the man beckoning her. She's practically skipping over to his place by the pool table, cue clasped in the hand not holding his beer.

Her enthusiasm is decidedly muted, no less—forcibly subdued—when her approach comes to stop in front of him, hands cradled behind her back, lashes fluttering with her demure gaze peering up at him from underneath. She bites her lip to suppress a giddy smile.

"Hi, Bucky," she mumbles to him as his fist—fingers still clutching the neck of the bottle—moves to her waist, along the side, up to the expanse of her back over her cherry red, tight blouses, through the space between her arms and arching back. He tugs her into him, making her stumble over her feet—legs like Bambi's, just like her eyes, button nose, and pretty, sweet lips—and fall into his chest. Her fingers unfurl from behind her back to swing in front and grip at his pecs, steadying herself there.

He smiles down at her, fond, "Hi, Bunny."

They're pulled from their little bubble when a hand shoves into Bucky's broad shoulder.

"C'mon, Dude, y'brought her over here to help us, not eye-fuck 'er in front of everyone," his pool partner, Sam, groans exasperatedly, though her throws Y/N a sly wink over Bucky's shoulder. She smiles, and shakes her head at his pointless antics.

Bucky sets his drink, harder than necessary, on the ledge of the pool table. Starts to turn, with this ridged, irate look in his eye that has Y/N bringing her hands up to keep his shifting shoulders facing her, not keen to wipe blood from his knuckles.

"He's teasin'," she whispers to him, right hand sliding up the thick of his neck, to his ticked jaw to cradle, thumb soothing over his chiseled cheek. He barely flits his gaze to her's before he's trying to spin out of her hold again—iron-clad, surprisingly, for someone so Bambi-like.

"He's fuckin'—"

"Teasin'," she says again, firmer this time. She brings his eyes back to her's, "What'd you need me for?" Bucky looks at her with that same indignant spark, merely dulled, and his shoulders sag with defeat.

"What was it y'was tellin' me 'bout the other day, the law of— 'f inflection?"

Y/N snorts, smile curling at the edges of her lips, but she can't help the flutter in her heart at his words. He'd been listening, remebered even—incorrectly, but, it's the thought that counts—what she was talking about when she'd been prattling on and on, mindlessly, about her latest physics assignment.

"The Law of Reflection?" She mutters up to him. He nods cartoonishly, and her smile widens. She reaches for his pool cue, "May I?"

He offers her the cue and then lifts his hands in surrender, smirk hinting at his mouth. "S'all yours, Bunny."

She takes the cue and turns on her heel to face the pool table, unfazed by the many eyes surrounding her, watching the game between Sam and Bucky, and Steve and Tony unfold.

"The Law of Reflection states that when light reflects off a smooth surface, the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence," she assesses the position of each pool ball still sat on the table. "Stripes?" she mutters to her biker, getting a rumbling grunt in response. She nods, and bends to lean against the table, lining the cue up with a ball. "In other words, if you hit the ball into the ledge at a 60 degree angle—" she shuts one eyelid, focuses on the projection in her mind, mumbles just loud enough for those around her to hear, "—it should bounce back off at the same angle," and gives the ball a sure nudge. It rolls into the side of the pool table at said 60 degree angle, and bounces off the exact same way, opposite direction, directly into the middle left pocket. She smiles to herself, and stands to her full height, "Simple."

It was most certainly not simple, if the confounded looks gracing the faces of every biker listening to her mini lesson is anything to go off of. She only cares about one biker, though, and turns to face him immediately after finishing her presentation.

"Y'get it?" she chirps, going where Bucky guides her as he wraps his arm back around her waist, pulling the pool cue from her hand.

"Yeah, Bun, I got it," he smiles at her, pressing a kiss into her temple. He doesn't get it, but he knows if he drags her over here next week to do it all again, she'd explain it with that same pretty smile on her face. "Smart girl, is that what them fancy college courses been teachin' you?"

She smiles sheepishly, nods.

He drops his head down to her height, lips to the shell of her ear. "Tryna make me look stupid n'front 'f my boys?"

The deepness of the infliction of his tone—something reserved for her, dark and in need a satiating, raw and searching for a place to reside, a cave of refuge, a hole—heightens her senses and makes them all fuzzy in the same moment.

Her lashes flutter, eyelids suddenly heavy.

"N— No, Bucky! Never."

"Hmm," he hums, dismissive. The hand pressed to the small of her back slips lower, down to the swell of her plush ass, gripping, squeezing. "You'll jus' have't make it up t'me later, won't you, Bunny?" He knocks his knuckle under her chin, pool cue shifted as far from her face as possible, to make her look at him.

She nods, eyes flitting down to his soft lips. "Yes, Sir."

He pats her bottom twice, "Good girl, now go back there to y'girl's, Bunny, and sit pretty f'me."

——

On her knees, hands folded behind her back, with his cock shoved down her throat, is how she makes it up to him.

"Tell me, Bunny," he grunts, fingers dug into her scalp, dragging her mouth along his tongue, spit-slicked lips sucking, spit-soaked tongue petting, laving against the girth of his shaft, stretching the corners of her mouth, straining.

"Hmph hmm," she noises, eyes wet and lashes clumpy. He yanks her off with a stinging tug to her hair. Webs of drool cling from her mouth to the length of his cock as she pants, hiccoughs short breaths and claws into the flesh of her forearms. "Don' 'member, Sir," she whines, reaching to slip his cock back between her lips. He keeps her off by his grip in her hair, smirks all mean like when the tears bordering her lash line leak down to her rosy cheeks.

"Don' remember?" he croons, pressing a thumb past her parted lips. "C'mon, Bunny, think f'me—what happened to my smart girl?" She whimpers, melting into his hold, allowing him to move her—control her, like a puppeteer, fingers tangled in strings, steering their toy.

"Can't!" She cries after a brief moment of thought.

"Yes, you can," he groans, pulling her sweet, crying face into his cock, hips canting up to smear her pouting lips over the swollen, ruddy tip. "Tell me, Bun, tell me what y'been learnin' in all those fancy classes a'yours."

Her eyes roll back and her lashes flutter, tongue unfurling from her mouth, lapping at his hard cock. He moves a hand down to smack her cheek, not soft but not hard, just enough to bring her back.

"Fuckin' tell me, Bunny."

"Don' know!" she whines, lips downturned in a frown. "S'too hard, Sir, I don' know, can'— I can't—"

"Shh, shh shh," Bucky hushes her, reaffirming his grip in her scalp with one hand and fitting his other one to the curve of her jaw, bringing her back down on his cock, tip forced between her blubbering lips. He watches as the thick length of him disappears inside her soft, hot little mouth, groans long and low and deep as he sinks into her throat, head tossed back and Adam's apple bobbing as her button nose nuzzles into the sparse trail of hair at his navel. "Dumb Bunny," he mumbles sweetly as his head rolls forward, eyes fluttering to his smart, cockdrunk girl on her knees for him. "Little, useless thing, only good f'takin' m'cock in all y'tight holes, yeah?"

She gurgles something incoherent against him—mouth drooling, leaking over him, pooling at his full balls—that has his hips stuttering, cock forced farther (if that's even possible) down her throat while he moans from the vibrations of it, rocking through him, from the tip of his cock to the tips of his toes.

"Shit!" he curses, chest starting to shake with a soft laugh. "S'a good girl; forget y'fancy homework but y'always r'member how't suck m'cock, don'chu Baby?"

She nods from under his oppressing grasp on her hair.

He snorts, "Yeah, my dumb fuckin' bunny."

——

a/n: bang! bang! slumber party continues!! hope u like :))

not edited/proofread!!

[patrophthia]

make you mine | sirius black

⇢ now playing ‘get up’: track 1

pairing: sirius black x reader

wc: 1.7k

genre: angst (maybe)?, one sided pining but not really, shy!reader, maybe OOC sirius

summary: it’s hard having crushes, it’s even harder when you’re someone who’s on the shyer side crushing on someone as popular as sirius black; good things lily evans has it in herself to play a little bit of matchmaker!

Opposite attracts. That’s what they say. And for the most part you believe it’s true. Take magnets for example: the same forces repels whilst the opposite poles pulls each other in. 

You believe that it’s true once again when you realise that you might just be very attracted to someone who was quite literally the opposite of who you are. 

“So who is it?” Lily asks, sitting down besides you. “Don’t feed me the whole ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about spiel’ you’ve been more smiley lately, who is it?” 

You actually hate Lily Evan (well . . . It’s debatable, she’s your best friend after all). “It’s no one important.” 

“It’s not?” She says slowly, as if she was testing out the words. “Is it a crush or a boyfriend?” 

“Crush. No more questions.” 

“Is it one of James’ friends?” She asks, pushing at your buttons. “Is it Sirius?” A gasp. “Seriously? Him of all people?”

Okay now you do actually hate Lily Evans. “It’s not that big of a deal,” you mumble, avoiding her eyes. “It’s a small crush, it'll go away.” 

“It better.” Despite her words, her green eyes lights up, excited by the prospect of your love life. “How long has this ‘small crush’ been going on? Why didn’t you tell me?” 

 “A week maybe?” You lay your head on your table. “Didn’t tell you because I knew you’d act like this.” 

“Like what?” She feigns a pout. “Judging you for your horrid taste in men? Let’s be honest here, it’d be a hassle to date Black.” 

“You say that as if Sirius would ever date me.” 

“Now why would you say that?” Lily frowns now, pushing her red hair back behind her ears. “Sirius is a huge red flag, yeah, but he’d be lucky if he ever lands you.”

You know she means well, but in truth; you’d be the lucky one if you landed Sirius Black of all people. “Does he even know my name?” 

“He—” Lily pauses, “—I think he does.” She then sighs exasperatedly. “But even if he doesn’t, what does it matter? It just means that you’d have new ground to cover when you go out with him.” 

“You expect me to talk about what my name is on my date with Sirius? —if I even land a date with Sirius.” You say incredulously. 

“Not just your name,” Lily says. “It’s just one of the many conversations you could have on your date with him. And on that other matter, it’ll be easy for you to land a date on Sirius, he’s Sirius for Merlin’s sake.” 

“He’s Sirius, Lils. Not a playboy,” you mumble. “I doubt he’d go out with someone who’s not even half as good looking as him.” 

Lily grumbles, reaching over to pinch at your sides. “Are you really saying that about yourself? HAVE YOU SEEN YOURSELF, Yn?” 

Overly supportive, that’s what your best friend is and despite her other annoying traits —like knowing you so well she was able to tell that you had a crush on her boyfriend’s best friend in a split second, you know she means well. 

“It’s not just about looks, Lils.” 

“Hey! You’re the one who brought looks into this conversation,” she argues. “And if it’s not just about looks, Sirius will still be lucky to have you because you’re annoyingly fun to be around. So just— ask him out, Yn. The worst he can do is say no.” 

Yes, the worst he can do is say no. But that single no would be enough to ruin your entire week. So you’d settle for just admiring him from afar. 

Except —well, Lily has other things planned.

“Sirius, this is Yn,” Lily says with a sly smile, “Yn, this Sirius. Remember his name, I know he has a forgettable face.” That little— 

“Hi Sirius.” Is all you say to him, nothing more, nothing less; he doesn’t need to know about how he’s been plaguing your mind all week. “You don’t have a forgettable face, don’t worry about it.”

Sirius is kind enough to laugh it off, smiling fondly at you. You like him, you think— no, you know, you do. “I don’t even know why Evans is introducing me to you, I know you, Yn. We’re in the same classes, I’ve known you for the last seven years of my life.” 

“I know you too, Sirius.” You gulp, trying to think of something else to say. What was wrong with you today? You’re normally a little more talkative than this. It's something odd about Sirius that makes you feel this way though, maybe it’s because of how sickeningly handsome he is. Yeah, that’s it. Blame it on his handsomeness. “I’ve always known you too.” 

“Mhmm,” Lily hums —maybe a little bit too delightfully. “So tell me Sirius, I’m a bit curious here. What do you look for in a significant other?” 

Is she— really doing this? Right now? 

Sirius chuckles, playing it cool. “Are you hitting on me right now, Evans? Is prongs not enough for you?” 

Lily scoffs, rolling her eyes. “You wish. I’m just asking because I wanted to know what it takes for the notorious Sirius Black to finally settle down.” 

Sirius mulls it over for a second. “I guess I’m looking for someone loud (not you), funny (you at times), understanding (you guess), and kind (you could only hope you are).” He glances at you, then adds. “It wouldn’t hurt if they were pretty too.” 

If that’s what it takes for Sirius Black to settle down, maybe it was time for you to start working on those traits. You need to start taking the initiative because even though you might seem super shy, you’re convinced (been convinced by Lily) that it’ll only take you a minute to make Sirius Black yours. 

So, throughout the next hour of you, Lily, and the Marauder’s little hang out session, you try to be more vocal. Talk more, making yourself heard as much as possible despite hating the attention that came with it. 

You crack jokes, here and there; a few funny enough to earn a pity laugh from Lily until you give up completely. Maybe comedy wasn’t your strongest suit. 

You try your best to offer advice when Peter confides his problems with the group, only to realise a few minutes too late that it was better to listen than to say. How understanding could you be if you weren’t even listening to the explanation in the first place? 

And as for being kind? Everybody could always be a little bit kinder, that’s not excluding you. 

Maybe you weren’t really fit to be the one Sirius Black settles down for. Maybe it’ll take more than a minute to make Sirius Black yours, maybe it won’t even happen at all. 

You need to take a breather, you think. You excuse yourself from the group, startling Lily slightly as she begins drifting off on James’ shoulder. You take a deep breath the second you find yourself alone. Letting yourself reiterate your situation. 

You like Sirius Black. Terrible so. You don’t know why you do. You just know that you like seeing him pass by you in the hallways, like seeing him live his life as the popular guy from Gryffindor, like seeing him smile fondly at you when Lily introduces you to him, likes hearing him say that he knows you, he knows you and what you horribly like most: is hearing him say that it wouldn’t hurt if his significant other was pretty as he looked at you. 

It’s sick. It’s sickeningly twisted how such words—mere actions could have such an effect on you. If only you weren’t so shy around him, maybe then you could tell him just how much liked him. How much it ached you to yearn for him as much as you did despite knowing nothing about him past his pretty face. 

“Is it okay if I join you?” It is sick how he finds it in himself to seek you out at a time like this. You nod, and he leans against a wall close by. “Are you okay? You seem different today.” 

You’re quiet for a moment, you then turn to him slowly. “How so?” 

“You’re louder, I’ve never seen you speak so much in the last seven years I’ve known you. You also made jokes which were weird since you’ve always been the one for snarky comments.” And when you furrow your brows at him, he explains himself. “I overhear them sometimes when you mock the Professors. I guess. . . You’re just not the you I know today, is something wrong?” 

You blink slowly, processing the words. Sirius noticed those things about you? “I guess I’m just tired.” 

“You’re loud when you’re tired?” He says with a sly smirk. “Are you sure you’re not just trying to impress me?” 

And if you were? “No.” 

Sirius frowns playfully. “Awh, and here I thought I finally had my chance with you.” 

“What?” You’re pretty sure your brain is short circuiting because there is no way that this conversation is real. Nope. Not at all.

Sirius chuckles at you, finding you more than just adorable. “I fancy you, Yn. I’ve fancied you for a while now, I just didn’t want to say anything because I knew you were shy about these things so I waited for you to take the first move. But it’s been months and I’m getting tired of waiting so I asked Evans to introduce us tonight just in case you didn’t know who I was but you still wouldn’t take the hint.” 

“When will you take the hint and make me yours, Yn?” 

You feel as though your heart was in your throat, staring at Sirius who has patiently waited for you all this time. And you wondered if he’d wait even longer if you asked him to. “Sirius,” you say first, his name feeling foreign in your mouth. It’s both so familiar and new at the same time. “Sirius, I don’t know what to say.” 

“You don’t have to say anything,” he responds carefully. “I just need to know if you feel the same. A nod. A kiss. Anything. Anything to mark me as yours, I will take it.” 

You don’t say anything and he tries to be okay with it, he tries to give you time. You’re not like him, you don’t think like he does, your thoughts differ from his and he thinks that’s why he likes you so much. He likes you so much because opposite attracts, and you are different from him enough for him to feel drawn to you. 

“Sirius,” you say finally.

Sirius watches you with bated breath, “yes?” 

“Let me take you out on a date,” you say first; Sirius waits for you to say more, of course he does, he’ll wait for you even if it’s all he’ll ever do. “And then I promise to make you mine. Does that sound okay?” 

Sirius nods. Of course he nods. Who was he to ever deny you anything?

— from bee: 1/4 of our four boys down! super shy is probably my least fav track on the ep but is still super addictive to listen to

[torreshalstead]

bad idea right?

Summary - He was the boy who broke her heart. But it was just a drink.

He was the one she wanted to spend forever with. But it was just a drink.

Getting a drink with her ex-college boyfriend, that was a bad idea right? Vanessa definitely thought so but Hailey was choosing to ignore her. Because it was Jay after all, her Jay.

AO3 Link

Now

‘Are you serious Hails?’ Vanessa whined, dropping her head down at her best friend's words with a soft groan. ‘Do you not remember why you broke up with him? Or more importantly, do you not remember the wreck you were when you did?’

‘Of course I remember,’ Hailey muttered, her cheeks flushing a gentle pink. There was some truth to what Vanessa was saying she knew that but she wasn’t willing to fully acknowledge that in her current state. Her stubborn streak was as loud and proud as it ever was. ‘We aren’t getting back together.’

‘No, you just think that you can have no strings attached sex with your ex who broke your heart!’

‘He didn’t break my heart,’ Hailey mumbled even though she didn’t believe her own words.

‘You were the one who broke up with him Hailey but that doesn’t mean he didn’t break your heart in the process. I was there.’

‘I know you were V and I love you for it but this isn’t going to be like that,’ Hailey implored, reaching across the small dining room table to grasp her friend's hand. ‘This is just going to be sex, if even that.’

‘It can never be just sex with you and Halstead,’ Vanessa sighed but squeezed Hailey’s hand anyway. ‘How did you run into him anyway?’

‘You know the bar down on Morgan and Lake?’ Hailey said and when Vanessa nodded in understanding she continued, ‘well I was in there waiting for Sam to meet me and he was working behind the bar.’ She shrugged as if running into your ex boyfriend from college who you hadn’t seen in years was a normal everyday occurrence.

‘Wait, you were waiting for Sam?’ Vanessa’s eyes widened and Hailey immediately regretted her words and wished she had changed the story, in the true version she didn’t come off all that great. ‘You were waiting for the guy you were meeting for a 3rd date, 3rd date Hailey! And you and Halstead were making sex eyes at each other over the bar? Girl, are you serious?’

‘Firstly, Jay and I were not making sex eyes at each other. I spotted him, smiled, he smiled back and we struck up a conversation,’ she shook her head in mild irritation but she couldn’t be too annoyed at her friend, she knew how the story sounded.

‘A conversation which ended with you deciding to hook up for some casual fun?’ Vanessa rolled her eyes. ‘Explain this to me like I’m an idiot because I certainly feel like one right now.’

‘It was just a conversation, there was no deciding anything,’ Hailey said exasperatedly but with one look from Vanessa she knew she had no choice but to continue. She loved her best friend dearly but she was like a dog with a bone some days, she couldn’t let things go and Hailey hated talking about her feelings which led to some slightly frustrated conversations between the pair. ‘When Sam walked in, it cut the conversation short so Jay and I exchanged numbers and agreed to catch up again.’

‘In front of your boyfriend?’

‘Sam is not my boyfriend,’ Hailey countered quickly. Maybe a fraction too quickly.

‘Oh? I thought you liked him.’

‘I did- I do,’ Hailey babbled. ‘I guess I just realised after seeing Jay that what we have is nothing compared to what I had in the past, best to cut it off before anyone gets hurt.’ That’s what she was telling herself anyway, she felt guilty about calling it off with Sam over a text when she was still sitting in the car park but she couldn’t help herself. She hadn’t so much as thought about Jay Halstead in at least 5 years, but after just a brief conversation she realised how much was still unsaid between them.

—————————————————————————

Then

Hailey walked into her dorm, her smile wide and arms full of boxes. She had finally made it to UofC, she had survived and made it out, and she never needed to look back - her past was just that, in the past. She was now a freshman at her first choice college on a full scholarship and even though she tried not to show her pride, she was incredibly proud of herself. She had worked so hard for this and it had all been worth it.

What she hadn’t factored in was moving into a college dorm by herself. All around her, parents and siblings were loaded with boxes and comforters and printers and clothes, chatting keenly with their loved ones decked out in family member merchandise, UofC Dad’s hat and Mom sweatshirts must have been on sale she mused. She felt like she stuck out like a sore thumb. A sore thumb without anyone to help her. Without anyone who loved her.

‘Need a hand?’ A smooth voice asked, jolting Hailey out of her miniature spiral and almost causing the box of psychology books to fall from her hands. ‘Sorry!’ A pair of hands reached out to steady the boxes, fingers brushing against hers in the process. A pair of deep green eyes appeared over the top of her boxes, a mop of brown hair with a slight curl framing a freckled face. ‘Didn’t mean to scare you,’ he said.

‘I was daydreaming,’ Hailey shook her head with a gentle smile. ‘Help would be appreciated if you don’t mind?’

‘Don’t mind at all,’ he said, smiling wide and displaying a set of very straight and very white teeth, dental hygiene clearly factored highly in his priority list. Hailey chided herself immediately for such a bizarre thought about a stranger but something about his smile wasn’t allowing her to formulate logical thoughts. ‘I’m already moved in and my roommate appears to be MIA so I’m all yours.’

He spoke so easily, like making friends and starting up conversations with complete strangers came naturally to him. Hailey guessed, as they walked towards her dorm after the boy had taken the heavy box of books from her, if she looked like him, she would have no problems making friends either.

Hailey didn’t hate the way she looked, but she didn’t love it either. Her hair was blonde, but a slightly mousey blonde and she hadn’t ever had the tools to be able to straighten or curl it properly so it hung down a mix of both but neither at the same time. She was short, barely 5 ft 2, and somehow that seemed to give people the right to look down on her, literally and figuratively. Her legs were a little scrawny, the knees looking a bit too large against her thighs - she had plans for these though, she was going to be joining the volleyball team and hitting the gym. Scrawny legs would soon be a thing of the past.

But this guy, this guy was tall, Hailey would estimate 6ft and change. He had broad shoulders, but not too broad like he wouldn’t fit through a door but that he could carry a heavy box without too much hassle - a truth he was demonstrating right now. His eyes rivalled those of Hailey’s favourite lead male character in any of her fluffy romance books that she loved to get lost in. And his hair made her want to reach out and run her fingers through it. Though she wasn’t sure that would be a way to make friends so she refrained. He was currently leading the way through the building which seemed to be purposely designed as a maze to get all the freshman lost, and Hailey had already had to draw her eyes away from his arse on two occasions. His jeans fit him perfectly, and she was only human after all.

‘You said you were in 237?’ He asked as they took a left at a T junction and continued down another corridor that looked exactly the same as the previous one.

‘I did,’ Hailey confirmed.

‘Here you are,’ he said dramatically, coming to a stop outside of a door with a whiteboard on it, on which someone had written Hailey in block capitals and Vanessa underneath it. Vanessa must be her roommate, Hailey wondered if she would be in there when she opened the door. The nerves at meeting someone new were being overpowered by the possibility that this could be a built in friend, someone she could count on and rely on. Someone who would like her for her.

‘Thank you,’ Hailey said with a smile, fishing out a key from her back pocket and opening the door with it. The room was empty, her roommate had yet to arrive. That meant Hailey got first choice of the beds.

‘Guess both our roommates are MIA,’ the boy said, walking in behind her and standing slightly awkwardly with the box still in his hands.

‘You can put that over there,’ Hailey gestured to the desk on the left hand side of the room, slightly further away from the door. ‘Thank you again.’

‘Not a problem,’ he said, placing the box down as if it had weighed nothing. ‘So are you Hailey or Vanessa?’ He asked, head cocked slightly to the side like if he concentrated hard enough he would be able to tell which name suited her best.

‘Hailey,’ she smiled, holding out her hand slightly awkwardly.

‘Jay,’ he said, shaking her hand. ‘Do you have more boxes you need bringing up?’

‘It’s okay, I can do it,’ she said with a shake of her head.

‘Strong independent woman,’ Jay smirked. ‘I like that, but I’m happy to help. Truly.’

He seemed genuine and Hailey did have a lot of boxes tightly packed into the back of her beat-up Camry.

‘Well if you’re sure,’ she smiled.

‘You can buy me a burger as thanks,’ Jay winked and Hailey followed him out of the door, keeping her eyes firmly away from his arse this time, although it took a lot more willpower than she would have imagined.

‘You drive a hard bargain Jay,’ she chuckled. ‘But I accept.’

—————————————————————————

Now

‘Is today the day?’ Vanessa asked as she took out the Tupperware with yesterday's leftovers in it to split it into two smaller boxes for their lunches.

‘Is today the day?’ Hailey repeated with a huff. ‘If you mean is today the day I am meeting Jay for a drink, then yes.’

‘A drink? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?’

‘A drink is what it is, if it leads to something else, then it does. I’m a big girl V, I can have casual sex with someone without it leading to marriage and babies.’

Vanessa paused and turned to look at her slowly. ‘No one said anything about marriage and babies, Hails. I’m just saying maybe this isn’t such a good idea.’

‘Vanessa,’ Hailey sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

‘I’m only saying Hails, I love you dearly but I also remember how much it killed you to end it with Jay before.’

‘That was then,’ Hailey said matter of factly. ‘This is now.’

‘So things have changed?’

‘I’ll text you when I’m on my way home,’ Hailey said, grabbing the Tupperware a little rougher than she aimed to and shoving it into her bag. She knew Vanessa was only trying to protect her but she wished she would back off a little. Hailey knew what she was doing.

Didn’t she?

—————————————————————————

Then

Hailey and Jay were inseparable from that first day on campus, nothing romantic happened between them for the first semester, they were purely friends. They became a little foursome; her, her roommate Vanessa who she got on with like a house on fire, Jay and Jay’s roommate Mouse, who was a little quirky but made them laugh until they couldn’t breath. They went to the Friday night games together, ordered pizza and watched movies in either of their dorm rooms and even sat in the library studying together.

College was turning into everything Hailey had hoped it would be, she had made the friends she had always longed for and she could finally be herself away from the negative environment she had been raised in.

She had told Vanessa some things about her home life but had rose tinted it a little, blurred the edges of some of the more grizzly details. The only person who had heard the unfiltered truth was Jay. She didn’t know what it was about him that made her feel so comfortable she opened up but she had, and in return he had revealed the truth about his childhood as well. They leant on each other, understood the slight flinches when voices were raised at tailgates or threats of fights were made. He had grabbed her hand and walked her to quieter areas more than once. She didn’t hate it when he held her hand.

Quite the opposite in fact.

It was Jay who made the first move, although Hailey had been hoping for a couple of weeks that he would. They had been edging closer and closer to the line, longing glances, lingering touches, hugs lasting more than a couple of seconds but still it remained platonic.

Until it didn’t.

Hailey was studying late in Jay and Mouse’s room, Vanessa was at some Chemistry event at a college in Wisconsin for the weekend and had made the boys promise to look after Hailey in her absence. Hailey didn’t need them to look after her but it warmed her heart that Vanessa cared enough to ask them to. She hadn’t had someone who watched her back before, it was nice.

Jay offered to walk her back, it was only the floor below and one corridor across but she agreed, her heart starting to beat faster as they walked slowly side by side through the empty corridors.

‘This is me,’ Hailey said light-heartedly when they reached her room. She didn’t need to say it, Jay had visited her room almost everyday since that first time at orientation - he knew exactly which door was hers.

‘So it is,’ he said quietly, not making any effort to turn back and return upstairs. Instead, he glanced down at her lips before his eyes flicked up to her eyes again, a silent question, an unspoken request.

‘Yes,’ Hailey whispered, stepping into his space with a surge of bravery she didn't know she had.

She didn’t know what happened first, whether it was one of his hands on her hips, the other buried in her hair, his lips on hers or his tongue begging for entrance at the seam of her mouth. She was suddenly surrounded by Jay and found herself pulling him closer, closing the gap between them that was already almost non-existent and wanting to lose herself in the smell of him, the taste of him and the feel of him. He overpowered all of her senses and took away her breath.

Hailey had kissed a boy before, well she had thought she had. But at this moment, she wasn’t sure she had ever really been kissed before. It had never been like this with a heat pooling in her lower stomach, her nerves tingling, a groan being pulled from her throat.

Jay pulled back before Hailey wanted him to and she had to stop herself from pulling him back to her immediately.

‘I’ve been wanting to do that for so long,’ Jay whispered, pushing a piece of hair that had fallen out of her braid back behind her ear.

‘What took you so long,’ she breathed with a chuckle.

‘I have no idea,’ he said before lowering his lips to hers again but this time it was gentle, soft, like she was something precious that he wanted to savour.

—————————————————————————

Now

Hailey considered Vanessa’s question as she drove towards the bar on the west side of the city where she had agreed to meet Jay. Had things changed? It had been 10 years since she had last seen Jay at their graduation and hadn’t spoken a word to him. 11 years since she had pulled the plug on a relationship that had turned into more than she had ever thought it could be.

She had fallen in love with a boy in college and happily lived in that fantasy until it threatened to turn into something more.

Hailey believed in love, she wasn’t a complete cynic. However she didn’t believe in marriage. She didn’t want to have kids, at least not her own biological children. She didn’t feel any maternal draw but recognised that she might change her mind one day but had promised herself if she did, there were plenty of children in Chicago that needed a loving home and she could provide one.

Jay and her had never discussed marriage, they were far too young and so the topic never came up. They simply lived in the moment, they went to class, had fun together, spent every waking hour together either alone or with their friends, all loved up and innocent.

And then, at the end of her junior year at a birthday dinner with Vanessa, her new boyfriend Kevin, Mouse and them. Jay had gotten down on one knee and asked her to marry him. She hadn’t even said no. Just turned on her heel and ran, ignoring the calls after her and the questioning looks from the other patrons in the restaurant. Just ran.

And now she was running back to him again. Back into his arms for what? Because the sex was good? Because he had been the sweetest and most caring person she knew? Because he had been her best friend - not a fact she would ever admit to Vanessa?

Was her friend right? Was this truly a bad idea that was only going to lead to her getting hurt again? Because running away from the boy she loved in the middle of a crowded restaurant was a pain she never wanted to experience again. She didn’t know if she could go through the pain of losing him a second time.

—————————————————————————

Then

Hailey lay with her head in Jay’s lap on the picnic blanket he had spread out in the back of his truck. They were supposed to be watching the movie that had been set up and projected onto the side of one of the campus buildings but they were playing their favourite game instead, this or that. It had started before they were a couple as a way to get to know each other, but now it would happen in the middle of the night when they were wrapped up in only each other, whispered in the backseat of Mouse’s car as he drove their little group, which had now expanded to include Vanessa’s football player boyfriend Kevin, to the nearest cheap diner for dinner or whenever else they felt like it.

Jay was running his fingers through Hailey’s hair, the movements threatening to send her to sleep.

‘Mountain or a lake?’ Jay asked.

‘Lake,’ Hailey mused.

‘You just want to see me without my shirt on,’ Jay muttered back.

‘Guilty as charged,’ she smirked, not opening her eyes but knowing Jay would be smiling too. ‘Peanut or Original?’

‘Original, if we are talking about M&M’s.’

‘Would we be talking about anything else?’

‘Big or Small?’ Jay asked after a moment’s silence.

Hailey frowned before opening her eyes, ‘what?’

‘Big or small?’ Jay repeated, a soft smile tugging on his lips.

‘In context?’

‘Hmmm,’ Jay pondered, dramatically tapping his finger against his cheek. ‘In the context of a wedding.’

Hailey’s breath hitched in her throat, her eyes widening in shock however Jay continued to smile. ‘Neither,’ she said quickly, pushing the panic that was rising in her chest back down. ‘Just you and me.’

‘Perfect,’ Jay said, his smile widening as he leant down to press a gentle kiss to her lips. She smiled into it, glad they were on the same page.

A marriage, and a wedding - these were not things Hailey ever wanted. But Jay, that was something she wanted forever. And she was so glad he felt the same way, that they could live their happily ever after without it becoming some legal agreement or a trap that people got stuck in.

——————————————————————————

Now

‘Hailey,’ a hauntingly familiar voice called from across the bar. When Hailey turned to the direction it came from she saw Jay standing tall at a table tucked into the back corner of the warmly lit room.

‘You came,’ Hailey said with a small smile as she approached the table.

‘Did you ever think I wouldn’t?’ Jay cocked his head to the side, the eyes that had filled her dreams for the past decade sparkling back at her. ‘You asked me to.’

Hailey felt the colour rising in her cheeks slightly as she took the seat opposite him, taking a moment to look at him all over. The person who she once knew better than anyone else.

The years had been kind to Jay Halstead. He was still tall, still broad but his arms were more toned than they had been at 20, pulling the shirt sleeves taut across the muscles they were hiding. His stubble was no longer patchy, he had learnt how to style his hair although the want to reach out and run her fingers through it still coursed through Hailey and made her fingertips itch. The wrinkles by the side of his eyes that always deepened when he smiled were more intense than they had been. But it was still her Jay.

It was still the Jay who had carried her boxes into the dorm on that first day and had never walked out of her life. But she had walked out of his.

‘How have you been?’ Jay asked, nodding at a nearby waiter to call him over. ‘The usual?’

Hailey nodded, unsure if she still had the ability to speak. Something about seeing Jay again, just the two of them, had rendered her speechless.

‘A Whiskey Sour and one on the rocks please,’ Jay said to the waiter, passing over his credit card for the tab. ‘Thank you.’

‘Thanks,’ Hailey risked it and the word came out in barely more than a whisper but at least her vocabulary had returned.

‘So, how you been?’ Jay said again, his smile still fixed on his face as if he couldn’t see the bizarreness of their situation.

‘Bit of a big question to start with, don’t you think,’ Hailey breathed out. A small chuckle accompanying her words.

‘Are you happy Hailey?’ Jay asked sincerely.

‘Yeah,’ Hailey said, and she meant it too. ‘I am.’

‘That’s good,’ he said, his smile warm and welcoming, the same smile he used to give her when they woke up together and their worries were limited to deadlines for papers or where they were going to eat that evening. ‘I only ever wanted for you to be happy Hailey.’

‘I know that, Jay,’ she said, ringing her hands together underneath the table. ‘I think I sho-’ she started but Jay interrupted her before she could say anything else.

‘I’m sorry Hailey,’ he said quickly, the smile morphing into something far more painful, his eyebrows knitted together in the middle, the frown lines deepening on his forehead. ‘I really am.’

‘For what?’ She asked genuinely.

‘For whatever I did that made you run like that. For whatever I did that hurt you so badly you didn’t want to see me again, talk to me again. For everything or anything that made you think I wasn’t your person anymore,’ he babbled quickly. It was so unlike Jay to babble. He was normally the one who spoke coherently, who considered his words carefully before voicing them aloud. To see him like this was unusual.

‘You didn’t do anything, Jay. Not really,’ Hailey shook her head.

‘I must have done something Hails,’ the old endearment slipped off his tongue. ‘One day everything was perfect and the next Vanessa was telling me you didn’t want to see me and I didn’t even know where you lived in your final year.’

Hailey pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and nibbled on it nervously. She hadn’t anticipated having this conversation tonight. She had imagined it would be fun and light hearted and they might make out outside the bar. She hadn’t expected him to want to lay it all out, what had happened all those years ago. But, as she took a deep breath, she realised he was owed an explanation.

‘Okay,’ she said, stealing herself for what was about to happen. To potentially burn the remainder of the bridge that was still smoking from the blaze that had burned through it years ago. ‘I thought we were on the same page.’

‘We were,’ he started but one look at her face seemed to tell him she needed a moment to speak her truth so he gave her a small nod to continue, a silent promise that he wouldn’t interrupt her again.

‘You brought up marriage just that once, in the back of your truck and I said I didn’t want that, I just wanted us. And I thought you did too. You knew about my parents, about how my mom got stuck in a marriage she couldn’t get out of with a man who used to…’ Hailey swallowed and blinked harshly, willing any tears that were brewing to not fall. ‘Well you knew. And I thought you understood, that I didn’t want that. And not that I thought you would be that man Jay,’ she added as she looked at the broken face of the boy who meant everything to her. ‘You were perfect and honest and true and nothing like him. But I never wanted to get married. I still don’t.’

‘And then you got down on one knee and it felt like you were giving me an ultimatum. That I had to marry you or I would lose you, so I lost you. I couldn’t stay and have you tell me you didn’t want me unless I was your wife, so I ran.’

‘You ran,’ Jay muttered, a tear was inching its way down his cheek but he made no move to wipe it away.

‘I know it wasn’t fair of me to not tell you, but I couldn’t face you. You had my heart Jay and I couldn’t watch as you broke it in front of me.’

‘I wouldn’t have,’ he said quietly but Hailey wasn’t listening. A decade of emotions were pouring out of her like a dam that had burst in a flood.

‘I wanted a future with you I did, but I didn’t want the wedding, the marriage or the babies and I panicked. I had thought we were on the same page, wanted the same thing but then you were there with a ring on one knee and it felt like the rug had been pulled out from underneath me. I loved you so much Jay but I panicked.’

‘I wouldn’t have broken your heart Hailey,’ Jay said again, a little louder this time and Hailey stopped suddenly, her eyes wide as she looked at him, suddenly hearing the words he was saying. ‘I thought I was doing what you wanted, I thought you wanted a marriage, not a big wedding, not a small wedding but just us two. I wanted to elope with you but because it was what I thought you wanted not because it was what I needed. I just needed you Hails. Only you.’

Hailey could feel the tears streaming down her cheeks now and if she was paying any attention she would have chided herself for not wearing waterproof makeup but she couldn’t focus on anything but what Jay was saying.

‘So you didn’t want to marry me?’ She asked, her mouth hanging open slightly after the question was voiced.

‘Of course I did,’ Jay said and Hailey felt a piece of her heart break off into her chest. ‘But I wanted you more. And if I knew you didn’t want to get married, I never would have asked. We could have lived happily ever after without the rings, without the kids, with a dog if that’s what you wanted. I would have given you anything you wanted, Hailey. I just wanted you.’

‘Why didn’t…’ she tailed off. But she knew the answer to the question without having to ask it. ‘Because I didn’t give you a chance to explain,’ she exhaled, the realisation coming into focus.

‘I thought you didn’t love me anymore,’ Jay said frankly, swiping the back of his hand across his cheek to catch the loose tears. ‘I wanted to fight for you but if you didn’t want me, then it only seemed fair to let you go.’

‘I wish we had spoken back then,’ Hailey said, sniffing quietly and taking a sip of her barely touched drink. ‘Could have saved a decade of pain.’

‘We were kids back then Hails, kids who didn’t really understand what love was,’ he shrugged slightly.

‘And now?’ She asked, unsure if she was dreading his response or hoping for it.

‘Now we’re not kids anymore,’ he said. ‘Now we understand that sometimes you have to fight for what you love, that it’s not always easy but it’s always worth it.’

‘Are we worth it?’ She asked, wanting to reach out and clasp his hands, feel his rough skin against hers for the first time in years and not just in a dream but she didn’t allow herself to do it.

‘I think so, I think we could be,’ Jay said.

‘I think so too,’ she breathed, the years of heartbreak and anguish lifting off her shoulders. She loved his man, she had loved him as a boy and tried to tell herself for years that she had moved on, that her heart didn’t need him anymore. But with him sitting in front of her, she realised she had lied to herself. Because she still loved him, of course she did. Her feelings had never changed, she had simply tucked them into the back of her mind, into a cupboard she daren’t not open. But those doors were wide open now, their contents strewn everywhere.

‘I still don’t want to get married,’ she said.

‘That’s okay,’ Jay said, reaching across the table to cradle her hand in his. ‘I just need you, I don’t care if we don’t share the same name, or wear matching rings. We don’t need those to prove our love for each other.’

‘You’re sure?’ She asked.

‘As I was the day I met you Hailey,’ he smiled and squeezed her hand. ‘I knew it was a good idea to talk to you that first day.’

‘I guess it was,’ she said, smiling what felt like the first true smile she had worn in years. ‘A good idea after all.’

[gayerthanevertbh]

labyrinth: 3

warnings: minors dni, masturbation, dirty talk, degradation (slight?), sexting (slight), minor fighting, slight angst.

summary: your sister cheated on her wife, so the broken wife takes an interest in you instead. was everything just a rebound between the two of you? or is there something more?

notes: this is very short since i’m out of my writers block, so please bear with me for now. the next chapter will be longer and more interesting, as i hope. enjoy!

navigation | series masterlist | series taglist

“Do you want to buy a box of Canada Dry?” Wanda asked, lifting a box of Canada Dry cans. “We got rootbeer at home, but you like ginger ale, right?”

“I guess so,” I sighed, pressing my thumb and forefinger together. I'm not sure why I felt so anxious. It was mostly because I felt guilty, disgusted, and like a jerk. I've never liked feeling that way, but I am, and it hurts. “Could you get some gummies, please? My friends and I plan to go out tonight.”

“Where exactly?”

“Don’t know,” I murmured, walking back to the aisle I was in; she was following me. My friends were a bad influence on me, but I had a reason to hang out with them. It's mostly because I felt lonely and needed a social life, which is probably a reasonable explanation. I looked around to see if any tissues were left, but the left side rack was empty. Why did this grocery store look so gloomy? “Do you know where I can get some paper towels?”

“I don’t think they sell that here, Y/n.”

"But they're paper towels," I pointed out. Well, they’re incredibly ridiculous if they don’t sell paper towels. "This store is strange. Can we go somewhere else?”

My sister sighed defectively and walked to the checkout line, where we saw Natasha standing at the front door, talking to a girl. Wanda and my footsteps came to a halt. What is she doing here? I thought. Is she stalking me? No, that’s impossible! Why would she be following you? You’re crazy. But maybe I'm crazy. Perhaps delusional. Natasha smiled as she approached her soon-to-be ex-wife, not giving me the slightest attention I needed.

“What are you doing here?” asked Natasha with a pondering voice. She looked at Wanda’s cart and formed an “O” on her lips. “You’re buying groceries? Here?”

“The market is crowded,” Wanda explained exasperatedly, itching to leave her presence. She was full of guilt. “Listen, maybe we shouldn’t talk here–”

“Why? Are you embarrassed by your sister?" She chuckles, wrapping her arms tightly around herself. It was up to me to feel guilty. I felt like I would puke whenever they had a strained conversation. She looked at me for a split second before returning her gaze to Wanda.

“It’s not about that, Nat.”

“Then you wouldn’t be afraid to talk to me, right?”

The tension was getting worse; I was going to be sick.

“How are you, Y/n?” she asked me, her eyes finally staring at mine. I took a deep breath and answered her quietly: “I’m doing good, how about you?”

“Peachy if you asked me.”

Wanda sighed through her nostrils, mumbling to her wife. “Can you please not do this here? It’s better if we talked outside.”

Natasha looked at her wife for one last time before saying, “I’m going ahead; you can have fun fucking other men.” before Wanda could even apologize, the woman strutted out as the door dinged loudly when it closed. I looked at her for a split second before walking away because I was embarrassed to look at her. I was ashamed and enraged that I had slept with her wife.

And I, my friends, was the issue.

Natasha lets out a quiet grumble as she pumps herself faster, trying to catch her release. Nothing has ever turned her on; even a pornographic video wouldn't make her dick hard. Call her a disgusting pervert; she has been thinking about her wife’s sister instead of the woman she loves.

Well, used to love.

Her appendage grew harder from the thought, and she couldn't help but moan in her bedroom as images of Y/n flashed through her mind, almost vividly. The older woman licks her lips hungrily – furiously jerking herself off.

“Suck it,” she commanded as I looked up at her with teary eyes. Her voice was soft and soothing, if that's the best way to put it. "Hurry up, baby. I’m so hard for you.”

"B-But—" Before I could even say anything, the tip of her cock slipped into my mouth as she threw her head back to enjoy the sensation of my mouth. She couldn't get enough. She grips my ponytail and pushes my head slowly, watching intensely at her length disappearing within my lips.

“You’re such a whore, aren’t you, sweetheart?” she chuckles deeply as her buttcheeks clench with my saliva coating her dick. “Keep going for Daddy, be a good little girl for me.”

Her hips start to thrust back and forth, imagining that my mouth was my cunt instead. Although she prefers my mouth more since she once mentioned that I could do anything with my tongue and my pussy could never do the same. She whispered darkly, “Too big, huh?”

I nodded, whimpering as her dick pushed deeper into my throat.

“You’re my little slut, my sweet tiny whore,” she sighs blissfully and grabs the base of her cock and pumping it slowly. “Oh, your mouth feels so fucking good… you’re my little virgin, right? God, your mouth is a virgin for me.”

Natasha closes her eyes, reaches for her tip, and squeezes it, which makes her shudder. “God, you feel amazing, Y/n…”

She pulls out her cock, covered in my saliva, and says, "I'm going to cum in your slutty mouth." This makes her grin like an evil woman. She wraps her hand around her dick and starts pumping it rapidly, pulling my mouth closer as she gets closer to her climax. “Open your mouth for my cock, baby girl. G-Gonna cum right now–”

Natasha arches her back as she spills over her stomach, a thick white substance coating her skin. “Fuck–Oh god…” she sighs and spurts cum all over her abdomen, unsure when she will stop. All she could think about was Y/n submitting to her while she fucked her dumb in the bedroom she used to share with Wanda. The thought of having an infatuation with the little girl is so sinful that it makes her cock rock again just thinking about it. The woman sighed loudly and wiped her hand on her used shirt as she felt Y/n taking all her milk.

“God,” she whispers hoarsely to herself. “I’m a pervert.” but she could hardly blame herself. Y/n did submit to her – there was nothing she could do but give her the same attention; it was mutual. As she looks down at her flaccid penis, she imagines the girl being her wife instead of Wanda. Well, that is something. She pondered, making her create a small smile on her face. As soon as she was about to touch herself, her phone vibrated – making her jolt up and look at her phone, wondering who had texted her.

Y/n: can I see you tonight? I want us to talk.

Natasha had a sinister thought. What if I send her a dick picture of mine? She thought. As she swiped her phone to open her camera, she stopped. If Wanda saw the photo, everything would fall apart, making her the helpless villain. But her self-esteem was gone; she wanted to jerk herself off thinking about Y/n, who drives her insane these days. She would scream at her if her therapist found out about this incident. This was a terrible but appealing idea.

She takes a screenshot of herself holding her dick and sends it without hesitation.

Now she just has to wait.

After what seemed like hours, the girl replied.

Y/n: your cock is really big…

Natasha chuckles to herself and gently touches her penis, tilting her head slightly. Her cock twitches in her hand as she quickly types on her screen and sends a small message.

Natasha: Show me your tits.

Y/n: wanda is downstairs. i can’t.

Natasha: I want to see your tits. Make my cock hard, baby.

She waited for two minutes and received a photo from the girl. Y/n was pressing her breasts together, creating cleavage. Her dick got harder from the image, and she quickly saved it in her gallery. I’ll feel guilty later.

Natasha: Fuuuck… Mmm, wanna cum all over that titty of yours.

Y/n: finish yourself off, tasha. ‘m with wanda right now :(

Natasha: Go to your room and make Daddy feel good.

Y/n: tasha…

Natasha throws her phone on the mattress and jerks herself off again, fapping and slapping, filling her bedroom as she closes her eyes tightly. She imagines Y/n in her bed with her legs pried open and her mouth. The things she could do to her make her crazy – insane almost. She reaches the base of her cock and thrusts slowly in the air, hoping to find her fleshlight to finish the job. But the woman couldn't get up; she couldn't get enough of the young girl's mouth and cunt. As she approaches her climax, she pulls out her phone and searches for a photo of Y/n to coat her cum on. She eventually came hard, and her cum was all over the screen of her phone.

She proudly smiled to herself, knowing that her little girl would always be a slut for her.

She became desperate, wanting more of the girl until her last breath; she was in love, deeply in love with Y/n.

Maybe not her, but the body that she had.

oof what an ass she is

[thatsmzbitchtoyou]

Stranded Chapter 2

Summary:  Tossed overboard and lost at sea, Bucky washes up on an uninhabited island.  Injured, lost and scared, with little to no wilderness training, he fights to survive.  But is he really alone?

Warnings: bodily injury, mentions of sexual harassment/assault, eventual smut

Previous chapter Next chapter

Bucky was woken up by someone shaking him.

“Bucky, you need to wake up,” a voice said. 

Bucky groaned, his body feeling heavy.  He vaguely remembered a woman…Y/N… stranded….  He tried to open his eyes but his head was pounding.  He felt like he was boiling, his body covered in sweat but shivering violently.  

“You’re burning up, we need to cool you down,” she said, trying to pull him off the bed.  He finally peeled his eyes open, looking into a pair of worried eyes.

“Huh, pretty,” he mumbled, a goofy smile on his face.  

Y/N scoffed before tapping his cheek firmly.  “Come on, Bucky!  Get up!”  He groaned as he slowly lifted himself.  Y/N put one of his arms around her shoulders and led him out of the plane.  He trudged next to her back to the waterfall, his steps clumsy and his head leaning on top of her head.  Once they reached the rocks Y/N turned to him and started unbuttoning his shirt, pulling it off then reaching for his pants.

“Hey now,” Bucky giggled deliriously, “take me out first at least.”

Y/N didn’t say anything and pulled his pants then his underwear down, helping him step out of them before stripping herself.  She pulled him to the water and had him step in, submerging him up to his neck and having him lean his back against her front.  She positioned herself against a wall of the pool and wound her arms around his shoulders to keep him afloat. 

Y/N cupped some water in her hand and ran it down the side of his face and repeated it all over his face, neck and hair.  As she ran her fingers through his hair he hummed.  The cool water was helping his body temperature regulate.  

They sat in silence for a long while, listening to the waterfall until she started humming again.  Bucky was slowly becoming more aware, his mind finally catching up to what was happening.  He felt her breasts against his back, his butt nestled in between her legs.  He tensed, making her tilt her head to look at him.  “You okay?” she asked, her eyebrows furrowed and a small frown on her lips.

“Yeah I’m…” he stared at her.  “I’m sorry,” he sat up and floated away from her.  Y/N watched him worriedly, following him in the water.

“You were burning up, let me see,” she said, holding her hand up to check his forehead again.

“I’m fine,” Bucky waved her off, continuing to move out of her reach.

“No you’re not,” Y/N said, sounding more annoyed.

“Y/N,” Bucky held his hands out to her.  She stopped.  “I can’t…I can’t do this,” he said and hauled himself out of the pool, quickly grabbing his clothes and heading back towards the plane.  He heard Y/N get out of the pool as he staggered back to the camp.  She quickly caught up to him as he was buttoning his shirt back on.

“What is your problem?  I was just trying to help you.  You’re fever spiked and the only way to cool you down was in the water–”

“I know!  And I appreciate that,” Bucky grumbled as he reached the plane.  It was dark out, the only light coming from the fire outside.  

“Then what’s going on?” Y/N asked as she followed him into the plane.  He headed towards the back.  “Don’t you dare think that you can sleep on my bed after this whole weird interaction!” she yelled at him.  Bucky stopped and looked at her surprised.  “I was just trying to help,” Y/N sighed exasperatedly.  “If you don’t want my help, then you can go fend for yourself.  I just didn’t want to watch another person die.  But fuck me, I guess.”  She walked around him to the back room and closed the door behind her.

Bucky rubbed his face roughly with his hands.  Being stranded was making him insane.  She was just trying to help, the only help he was going to find, and he had to go making it weird because they just so happened to be naked.  His body still felt heavy, but the cool water had helped clear his head and made him feel a lot better.  He walked to the door and knocked on it softly.

“Y/N, I’m sorry.  I…I appreciate your help, I’d probably be close to death if it weren’t for you helping me.  I was just…being naked kinda freaked me out, I’m sorry.”  He listened carefully but heard nothing.  He sighed heavily and as he turned to sleep in a chair the door opened.  He looked back and saw her peering around it.

“You’re going to have to get used to being naked around here,” Y/N said, an amused smirk on her face.  “No other options really.”

“You’re right,” Bucky laughed.  “I made it weird, and I’m sorry.  Thank you for helping me,” he said as he leaned against the door frame.  

Y/N opened the door wide and stepped closer to him.  “Look, we’re both stuck here.  And to be honest, it’s nice to have someone else.  But we’re both going to have to work together and get past the weird stuff quickly.  Can you do that?”  Bucky nodded.  “Okay then.  Now get back to bed.  You still need to rest,” she pointed to the bed, moving out of the way to let him lay down.  He did as she said and got himself comfortable again.  Y/N then moved to lay next to him, keeping some distance between them.  “Goodnight Bucky.”

“Goodnight Y/N,” he yawned.

[divinemare]

Cruel Cauldron

✎ᝰ┆azriel x oc

ᝰ┆part four

part three

—— —͙ – -

The room was deathly quiet, no one moved a finger, or breathed too hard.

Everyone waited anxiously, their hearts beating so loudly that the symphony confused to whom each beat belonged.

Karina was shaking her foot up and down as nerves consumed her entire body, creating knots in her throat and stomach with the uncertainty of her horrifying situation.

She could still feel the aftermath of what had happened on the balcony, stirring her heart, altering her senses.

Azriel too, it seemed.

The male sat opposite to her, his shadows moving in frustration and despair, nervous, anxious, covering his master in a dark, shadowy cloud.

Karina rolled her eyes as those of the male, with whom she ended up bound for the rest of her life by the Cauldron's cursed grace, were on her, burning holes of rage into her skin.

As if she was to blame for all of this.

"Of all the people in this fucking world, it had to be you," Karina broke the silence with an exasperated sigh.

"I strongly share the sentiment," Azriel mumbled with his teeth tightly clenched.

Karina had seen him angry, frustrated and exasperated with her before, but now he really looked as if at any moment he was going to rise from his seat and choke her to death.

"Don't even think I'm going to agree to spend an eternity with you, I'd rather gouge my eyes out with my own fingernails than spend a single day with you."

"Don't be so flattered, princess, I'd rather hang myself with my own shadows than spend an eternity with you."

"Oh, I'll hang you with-"

Before she could finish her threat and cause the vein in the Shadowsinger's forehead to pop, the wooden doors to the Meeting Hall loudly creaked open, and everyone quickly rose from their seats to bow by placing two fingers on their foreheads towards the Queen.

"Some manners I’ve taught you, Karina."

At that moment, Karina began to reevaluate that option of throwing herself off the balcony again, caught between Azriel's piercing stare and her mother's scrutinizing one.

"Sorry, mother."

Queen Verena completely ignored her daughter as she walked to sit at the head of the table, her long white dress, along with the thousands of silver, black and red jewels, trailing across the floor in a way that almost seemed to be cruel, as if the pure color in the female’s dress became obscure, leaving a trail of blood and death wherever she walked.

"Sit down, please," she gestured to Feyre and Rhys, and they all immediately returned to their places. "We seem to find ourselves in a rather peculiar predicament here, don't you think, High Lord?"

"A rather unexpected one, no doubt, Your Majesty," Rhysand nodded agreeing with the female, Karina could see from her position the flicker of his exhausted and anxious eyes that he so nimbly hid from her mother.

"And what do you suggest we do? You do understand that we were here today to negotiate peace agreements, not to discuss yet another problem."

Peace agreements, yeah, right.

Karina refrained from rolling her eyes, her mother was a terrific fucking liar and manipulator.

"I understand that, but-"

"Mother, if I may speak, please," Karina interrupted Rhys, seeing the dark gleam in the Queen's eyes that made her bones shiver, she was most definitely planing something, something bad.

Arisa tried to stop her, but the Queen was already looking exasperatedly at her youngest daughter.

"This is between me and Azriel. As unfortunate as that sounds."

"Karina, my naive child, you are a princess of these lands, they are outsiders who have yet to pay the blood debt they brought to our people with the death of our beloved Yvett, does that sound like a small thing to you?"

"Mother-"

"Arisa, take your sister outside, you can tell she's still a little shaken up about what happened," without even looking at her, Verena waved a hand dismissively towards her daughter.

"Mother!"

"Come on, Karina, please," Arisa rose from her seat, silently begging her not to make any more fuss.

Karina sighed in frustration, walking out in exasperated big steps, with her heart on her mouth and a terrible feeling in her chest.

Azriel watched as his mate walked away with an explosive anger that almost made the fae lights in the room burst, feeling her anger, her despair in his chest as if it was his own.

He only came back to the conversation when the bone-chilling voice of Queen Verena spoke up after the oak doors were closed with a defiant push of Karina’s power.

“Now, where were we?”

៚ ·

Azriel clung to the calm that his shadows were trying to bring him as he weighed the whole situation on a mental scale.

On one hand, they had a chance to sort this whole mess out before it got out of hand, and Prythian would find itself in another war that this time, they were in no condition to fight. But on the other, this deal meant giving the pleasure of taking control to a female they still had no idea what her intentions were, let alone her true plans.

Not to mention, spending eternity irrevocably attached to a female who he couldn't even tolerate being in the same kingdom as. Well, Azriel could begin to think of all the ways he would rather end that "eternity" sooner.

His shadows whispered in his ears the arrival of Rhys and Feyre before Azriel heard their footsteps, and as he turned around, his High Lord and Lady were looking at him with weary, troubled expressions.

There was a long silence before Rhys spoke up.

“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, Az, you know that, we’ll find another way,” he assured him with a ghost of a smile, his eyes failing to cloak the tiredness in them.

“There is no other way, Rhys, you know Queen Verena will use this as an excuse to start the war she so desperately wants, and we’re in no conditions to start another war with such a powerful enemy right now. I’m doing this.”

He had already made up his mind. As high of a price it was to stop the conflict, as dreadful as that whole situation was, it was a price Azriel was willing to pay in order to keep his family out of harms way.

Feyre gave a step towards him, her sweet expression twisted in worry.

“Az, we don’t want you to-”

Azriel stoped his High Lady giving a step towards her and touching the female’s arm in a reassuring, determined way.

“Feyre,” he tried to smile, showing both High Fae he had made up his mind, and there was nothing they could do about it. “I’m doing this.”

And Mother helped him from now on.

៚ ·

Karina had been subjected to various punishments of her mother throughout the centuries, one would think that, somewhere along the way, she should’ve know by now not to cross the female’s patience, but that was not the case just yet, as she was fervently following the Queen’s steps behind with a piece of her mind she was not about to hold to herself.

“Mother,” Karina tried to stop her mother as the female went on and on about the arrangement that had been struck without her a few hours ago.

“You’ll be sent off to Prythian on Saturday, prepare your bags,” Verena pretended her daughter’s voice was a whisper of the wind, as she usually did, and completely ignored Karina’s call for attention.

“Mother, please…” Karina gave a step closer to the Queen, furrowing her brows as she begged her mother to listen to her.

“The papers have been signed, the ceremony will take place in two months from this very day,” but as expected, Verena didn’t even so much as look in her direction.

“Mother…”

“Your engagement party will be right here, whilst the mating ceremony will be held on the Night Court.”

Like. Fucking. Hell. It. Would.

“Mother!” Karina shouted, exasperated and, honestly, desperate.

“Karina, you know I don’t like it when you scream,” the older female sighed and turned around to look at her daughter as if she was a child throwing a silly tantrum.

“Then stop and listen to me! I don’t want to do this, I don’t…” She was so mad she couldn’t even find the words to express herself.

Her mother had practically sold her out into a marriage she was not even little bit willing to participate in.

“Too bad, then, because you are,” Verena only raised an eyebrow, indifferent to her daughter’s despair.

“Mother, please!” Karina cried.

This is not how she wanted to get married, this is not how she wanted to start a family, but most importantly, this is not who she wanted to do this with.

“Please don’t make me do this, I don’t…I can’t marry him,” for maybe the first time in all her centuries of life, Karina showed her mother something else rather than defiance, she showed her vulnerability, her eyes gleaned with tears as she gave a step closer to her progenitor, hoping that some little part of the female she used to be once upon a time showed itself for her daughter once more.

“Why not.”

“Because I can’t! I don’t want to! He hates me.”

And because I love someone else. Something Karina decided not to tell the female, in case that would become yet a bigger reason for her mother to marry her off even faster.

A moment of silence stretched between the two Basdearg females. Karina held her breath expectantly, while her mother stared at her with an intensity that could freeze a grown male’s bones. She waited and waited and waited for an answer, and prayed to the Mother and Cauldron and every God she knew.

“Well, then you have two months to either change how he feels towards you, or learn how to live with that. You may not see it yet, my dear, but you’re about to become our most brightest dream, and their worst darkest nightmare.”

And with those words, Verena left her daughter standing in the middle of the hallway with her heart on the floor and a anger that threaten to crumble the floor at her feet.

៚ ·

Three weeks later…

And that’s how she had ended up here, in Prythian, all on her own with her things being carried out of a ship, in the Night Court’s port, with a raging fire inside of her that swallowed her whole every time she thought about the bargain her mother had struck with the High Lord and Lady of this damned Court.

A marriage agreement, a sentence that would bind her for however long immortality would last for them both.

[starryficsfinishwen]

[Slight NSFW] love me harder ⋄ chrome one-shot

heaven sent you to me

a.n. // just chrome. and this artwork plus love me harder by ari and the weeknd just gave me ✨inspiration✨ and I promised other PGR character stories but don't worry! will post it very soon mwehehe

pairing // chrome glory x f!commandant reader

c.w. // sexual tension kek. some fluff. in denial chrome. just chrome. reader is wearing a skirt. mutual pining ofc. guess some suggestive parts here too

words // 2,988

For the first time in his life, Chrome was disoriented.

Core captain of Strike Hawk, "Smith" — and many other titles that one could imagine in Babylonia. Chrome was a prodigy, a masterpiece carved to perfection; no problem that would pass him would ever escape his mind.

Yet, there was this one thought that somehow made all the titles he had rendered useless: you.

The esteemed and beloved commandant of Gray Raven. You were supposed to be nothing more but a colleague to him. But since all the missions that fate and the council had brought together...

A sudden banging sound reverberated along the four-cornered walls of Strike Hawk's dormitory, causing the occupants inside to jump in surprise.

❝Captain!❞ Kamui's voice shook Chrome back to reality. Blinking a few times, he drifted to the large cracks of the table before him.

❝Ah,❞ Chrome sighed, sinking back to his chair, ❝Sorry, guys.❞

❝Captain, if the recent missions are bothering you, you should consider taking a break.❞ Wanshi yawned, resting his chin on his propped palm, ❝you seem to be out of place lately.❞

❝Wanshi's right, capt.!❞ Kamui beamed as if a tail was wagging behind him.

❝That's also the fourth time this week.❞ Camu snickers, causing Kamui to nudge him with a mumble.

❝I know,❞ Chrome sighs once more, running a hand over his hair, ❝I'll consider your suggestion, Wanshi. Thank you.❞

❝I guess I'll talk to the commandant again today. I'm sure she wo-❞

Chrome shot up from the chair, attempting to stop Kamui from standing, ❝-don't!❞

However, the hard force of Chrome's hand colliding with the table became the final blow to it falling apart, making Camu holler with a burst of loud laughter. Ridden with a creeping warmth to his cheeks and embarrassment, Chrome covered his face from the rest of the baffled Strike Hawk members.

Wanshi though had a curious expression on his face. ❝Captain, do you not want to see the commandant?❞

❝Of course, I do.❞ Chrome spoke, still looking away, ❝I just. I wish not to disturb the commandant with such trivial matters like these. I can fix this.❞

Kamui, in an attempt to console the laughing Camu, spoke, ❝true, but I always talk to the commandant. In fact, she likes it when she keeps visiting here, y'know.❞

❝Still,❞ Chrome coughs, ❝this is the least we can do for her. She doesn't have to be distracted by us again.❞

❝Hey, capt.,❞ Wanshi pipes, ❝are you sure you don't want to disturb the commandant, or are you just looking for excuses to not see her?❞

Chrome looked up to see Wanshi's signature sleepy expression on his face. Disregarding the familiar warmth tingling his ears, he scoffed, ❝of course not. I'm not avoiding the commandant.❞

❝The other day, when we met the commandant by the hallway, you just passed her instead of waving back at her.❞ Kamui nodded.

❝and you also said you didn't want to see her face.❞ Even Camu finally snapped out of his laughter.

❝It's not like that, you guys!❞ Chrome exasperatedly sighed, ❝I was just busy thinking.❞

❝Everyone here notices, captain. Even the commandant herself,❞ Wanshi shrugs, ❝I think you should at least clear it up with her.❞

But alas, despite Chrome's smart brain, his pride was on another level.

❝I can fix it myself.❞

A master of weapons.

Yet, a jester in fixing things. Chrome feels like a clown, really. Bet a clown has a better life than him right now.

As Chrome puts down the chunk of wood on the table he tried to fix, he can't help but wonder once again. These few weeks were pent-up pressure — especially after the confrontation with the agent. How the missions that made you closer to him, and the feelings he was not supposed to feel kept resurfacing, no matter how many times he's denied it. Were constructs supposed to feel this way? He tries to remember the directions and the basic functions of a construct. Yet, no notable data would pop up.

Was he really having feelings for you, or was his M.I.N.D. overloading?

Chrome was no stranger to these feelings. Other than the books he used to read back when he was human, he has always dreamed of having to love someone, too.

Perhaps it was time for him to call for Lee's help. Or Asimov's. Whichever was suitable for his situation. Yet, as if the universe heard his plea, there was a ring from the front door of their dormitory. Probably from the delivery, thought Chrome. Though, by the time he opens the door, the cold seemed to pool over his feet.

❝Chrome-?❞ your equally confused and surprised expression mirrored his.

The world really had to play a game with him, huh? Despite the raging feeling his chest was digging in his chest, he stepped away to make room for you.

❝Commandant,❞ even trying to level his trembling voice, he tries to welcome you, ❝I'm...really sorry for disturbing you. You must have had a lot of things to do.❞

❝No, it's okay, Chrome.❞ You assured, lightly laughing, ❝I'm not disturbed at all. It's a pleasure to be around you and the rest of the Strike Hawk members anyway...❞

Your gaze drifted to the scene behind you, before looking back at an expectant Chrome. ❝Wanshi, Kamui, and Camu are not around?❞

❝Ah, they said they would be out to training. I guess you can say it'll just be the two of u-❞

Chrome promptly looks back at you, who had an eyebrow raised. Coughing, he looked away from you. ❝-um, don't mind that. Please come inside, commandant.❞

Being the gentleman he is while trying not to be with you , he tries to make you settle well into the room. Serving snacks, giving you water — anything just to keep you entertained.

All the time you tinkered around with the monitors, grateful for Chrome's hospitality, Chrome can't help but look at you. The expertise in everything — despite him being at the same level as him. In fact, he felt more embarrassed though; a mere thing such as fixing a broken table was done by you instead of him.

Unfortunately, you're also now lounging in Chrome's room. Sitting so pretty on his bed, paying attention to your work; and he, admiring you.

❝Chrome,❞ you coughed, finally catching his attention, ❝so, um. Kamui told me you've been occupied lately.❞

❝Yes, I have been. Fa- I mean, Mr. Smith has been keeping tabs on me, and I've decided to take on a lot of tasks to keep me busy.❞ He sat opposite of you, careful not to somehow face you.

❝Busy enough to not talk, I presume?❞ The hint of sarcasm was somehow noticed by Chrome, who sighed in regret.

❝I-I'm sorry, Commandant. It really just slipped my mind.❞ Awkwardly scratching the back of his nape, he looks at you apologetically, ❝I'll try to notice you more.❞

❝It's not that I blame you, Chrome.❞ You reached out to caress his hand, the Captain with his eyes wide open, ❝I'm just worried about you. I think you should ease on the tasks, hm? I think that should stop you from overworking yourself.❞

As you spoke ever so softly and calmly, Chrome, on the other hand, felt a wave of unwelcomed warmth crawling once more on his skin. A myriad of memories prior to switching to his Glory frame also began to replay in his M.I.N.D., making the heat rise to his cheeks.

❝Chrome?❞ You asked, stepping forward to look closely at his reddening face, ❝are you alright? Are you overhea-❞

Before you could touch his face, a sudden jerk on the ground caused the both of you to lose balance — and the both of you tumbling to the floor.

A shake occurred before the lights of the dormitory turned off, switching to the emergency red lights. Your vision fails to return as a cushion was smothered to your face, still not used to the dark.

❝Emergency shutdown commenced.❞ The automated voice blared through the speakers before Celica's voice comes up. ❝Apologies for the sudden power interruption. We'll get it back shortly.❞

❝Chrome,❞ you huffed, ❝you alright?❞

There was no response. You tried looking up, and you were met with dimly glowing, shocked blue eyes. You, then, realize you were on top of the Captain. Chrome, even in the dark, had cheeks burning noticeably with the glow of his eyes.

Unknowingly, the grip you never knew was on your waist was gripping you tightly, ❝u-um...Commandant, are you alright?❞

❝I am, what about you?❞

Chrome sucks in a breath. ❝I should...get you to bed.❞

Chrome remembers how ethereal you were, even in the middle of the haze he was in.

It was a life-and-death situation: a scary, uncertain future if he were to undergo the switching of his new frame. Yet, you were there. How, despite his humanoid sense, your touch felt human. How, in the dim light of the operating table, your soft voice managed to calm him down. How, in the haze and the will of your support and care for him as you kept him in control in his M.I.N.D., greatly affected him in a good way. It was enough to keep him alive, it was enough to let him see another day with you.

Perhaps, that was the day he fell in love with someone — you.

But you deserved someone better than him. Someone that was human. And that's what made Chrome hesitate.

The raging feelings that danced wildly in his chest felt like they wanted to break out as he held your hand. The both of you were sitting at the edge of his bed. You both tried to get out, but unfortunately, even the power source made the door unlockable. The only light source you had was the emergency lights and the glow of his eyes...and the heat of your hand radiating off of his own.

In the first few minutes, you've joked that you would have to use him in evening patrols. It did take a laugh out of him, but now you were both back to zero.

❝I remember that you were scared of the dark.❞ Chrome whispered. You nodded, faintly glad he remembered that trivial information.

❝Yeah. I hate that I can't see a thing.❞

❝Do you still feel uncomfortable? I can brighten up my eyes for you.❞

❝No,❞ you squeezed his hand, ❝I feel completely fine if you held me like this.❞

Though, you were even more uncomfortable with the awkward small talk and in-between silences. You wished nothing more than to make him talk more. And so, determined to make him break the silence, your own heartbeat started to beat loud as you mustered the courage to speak the very question you've been wanting to ask.

❝Chrome, can you please tell me the truth?❞ you began, mouth trembling, ❝I think you've been ignoring me lately. Is something wrong?❞

And again, the Captain is silent. Sighing, you prod on, ❝I don't get if it's your professionalism, but it's not like we're not friends or something. Was it what I said last mission? Did I offend you?❞

❝No-❞ he sighs, ❝-it's nothing like that.❞

❝Yeah? Why are you really ignoring me, then?❞

❝...it's hard to explain.❞ was all he said.

And it made you scoff. At first, you were letting the issue go because you respected his privacy. But now, even his initial reason wasn't that applicable; it seemed like lying.

And so, you let your mouth do all the thinking instead. ❝okay, fine. To be honest, I don't believe you. I mean, why though? I know Asimov has been keeping an eye on you and you're both keeping me out of the true reason.❞

❝Commandant,❞ if you hadn't listened to his voice. then you would have missed the slight growl he made as he spoke of your title.

❝I'm right, isn't it? That Asimov is making you play a little game? That's why you're ignoring me?❞

To be honest, you seem to sound more like a brat at that point, but the bitter words seem to endlessly flow out of your mouth.

❝Honestly, Chrome, that's just low. You may be not one of my constructs but I care for you, too. Asimov's little game won't try to-❞

❝-[Y/N].❞

The next time you blinked, you fell into the bed. Wrists gripped above your head and the ability to talk seemed to disappear as Chrome's face hovers above you, dangerously close.

❝This is why I'm ignoring you.❞

Even in the dark, your eyes were mesmerized by the heat of Chrome's glowing and hungry gaze. Your breath was held in the way he had your hands, and the growing weight between your legs as he settled nicely there.

❝You have no idea how much you've been driving me insane. Whenever our paths meet, you make me feel like this. Whenever you're so close to me, I want to keep you right here in my arms. When I see other people talking to you, I want to take you away from them so that you can only keep your attention to me.❞

A tiny gasp escaped your lips intertwined with his low groan as you felt the lingering touch of his other free hand on your thigh, skirt rising as he lets your legs wrap around his waist. Both of your breathing became labored — the hand that was on your leg had his index now tracing the outline of your jaw, before settling on your bottom lip. His eyes were no longer on your own, instead, they were looking at your lips.

❝You make me want to do things to you like any human would want to do with someone they love.❞ His voice was now a whisper, the heat on your cheeks rising, you feared he'd notice.

❝Like what?❞ You whispered back.

Without a word, his hand was trailing down from your face to the curves of your hips, before easing to rest on your exposed thigh. You breathed a gasp as his touch felt like fire trailing on the light marks his fingers left.

❝You make me want to touch you.❞ He spoke, fingers now rising to trail on your hips, a delicate trace of aimless lines that tickled you, ❝you make me think of things that aren't supposed to be thought of.❞

Now, his fingers are on your stomach, two of them mimicking footsteps as they danced on the surface of your exposed stomach. ❝You make me want to feel you.❞

And now, his hand was back on your cheek, thoroughly cupping yours so gently. His eyes trailed back to your own. The breath you held was exhaled, in time for him to open his mouth.

❝You make me want to kiss you.❞

For what it's worth, you've always liked Chrome. For as long as you can remember.

He was always kind to you, always a gentleman. There was never a time when he was never far from you, or from the times when you've been in trouble. Chrome was always there to save you, to be with you.

Even now, with the weight of him in between your hips, and the proximity of your faces that no breath could escape the both of you as your lips were aching to be touched. You wanted no more than for him to shove himself on your needy lips.

But here we are anyways: speechless. No words could escape your lips and no kiss would happen unless you would try to do something.

But Chrome must have noticed your uncertainty, as he quickly excused himself from your warmth (and frankly, you hated the unknowing cold). His cheeks and ears were of the brightest shade of pink you've ever seen, even in the dim light.

❝C-Comandant.❞ Chrome stuttered, looking anywhere but you, ❝I'm...I really am sorry. That was wrong of me to do that. I will let you stay in my bed, and I'll be by the other room.❞

Was he leaving again? Full of frustration, you sat up and yanked him by the cuffs of his uniform as hard as you can, making him turn to look at you. Forcing your strength to drag him to your seat, you successfully switched positions: him laying on the bed, and you, enclosing him by straddling his hips.

❝Why didn't you do those, then?❞ You glared at him, ❝if you wanted to touch me, feel me, kiss me, or whatever — why didn't you?❞

The surprise in Chrome's glowing eyes gave you a sense of pride. ❝I...I was never sure you would even like that.❞

❝You...❞ the words died in your throat. His hands were now situated at the back of your thighs, squeezing them softly. ❝Then, you should have asked, you idiot.❞

❝Commandant,❞ his voice was now another whisper, ❝I'm not a human. What if I can't satisfy you as another human could?❞

This time, it was your turn to speak. Your hands wandered along the creases of his forehead, to the tip of his nose, the shape of his jaw — the urge, the need to touch was growing impatiently in your stomach and drawing a haze in your head. Especially with his own hands encouranging you in your ministrations.

❝Chrome,❞ you leaned, lips a hair's breadth away from touching his, ❝you just need to love me harder, then.❞

In the next few touches and times, there was no other words to say — only the language of unspoken love and longing for two people.

...except that the lights were finally back on.

❝Yo, captain! You never guess what kind of freaky stu- GAH?!❞

And alas, the poor soul of Kamui, who walked into a new territory, was scarred for life as he witnessed the sneak peek of his captain's private life.

At least, now — for the first time in his life, Chrome understood.

Please don't steal, copy & paste, or repost this elsewhere without credit from me!

extra a.n.: wasn't supposed to include the Kamui part but honestly, it seemed funny lmao

[y-umiko]

RED | RAN H.

Requested by🛍️ Anon — for the 2k event Prompt: "You didn't have to use her like that" Warning: Curses, mention of cheating, yandere tendency and blood a/n: sorry it took so long T-T and guys this turned to someeting dark idk what happened so read at your own risk.

If Ran didn't know any better, he'll say you look hot as you barge into the VIP room in the club, you were fuming but that sly smirk didn't leave his face. red did always look good on you.

"did you have to stop so low as to use my sister against me?" you growl towards him, a deep scowl on your face and Ran knew that look, you were beyond mad.

shooing the few others with him out of the room, he grabs his half-full glass on the table, swirling its red contents as he smirks at you, "effective, isn't it? you're here"

you scoff in disbelief, "My sister is crying her eyes out right now, was breaking my heart not enough for you?" you flung your arms in the air exasperated, remembering your sobbing sister as she tells you how Ran had cornered her and flirted with her, days after you two broke up.

in his defense, Ran knew you the best, he has seen every side of you, the good and the bad, and he knew the only way to get a reaction out of you or to get your attention again was to flirt with your sister, and probably make her cry. cruel but this is Ran we're talking about.

if ever, you should have known he'll result to an underhand tactic like this because while Ran knew you the best, you knew him better than anyone and you never think any different of him.

"you didn't have to user her like that!" you spat, eyes burning with anger at his audacity to take a sip from his glass before slamming it down on the table.

"I wouldn't, if you had just talked to me" he argued back, voice raising more than he liked it, as he pulls himself up from his seat as he walks towards you.

"talk to you?!" you asked exasperatedly, "after what you did? you really are something, I tried really hard but I can't see that you cheating, warranting me to talk to you"

"I told you, she just flung herself to me, she's a nobody" he defended as he stops a few inches away from you. bringing up his hand to cup your cheeks but you were quick to slap it away.

"fuck you, Ran!" you said with venom, "don't ever get near me, nor my sister, or anyone in my family again"

you warned as you turn around to walk away from him, for good, but Ran wouldn't be having any of it as he grab you so abruptly, and before you can curse at him again he slams his lips against yours.

his kiss was passionate and filled with everything he felt for you, heated and burning red. but as soon as his lips separated from yours a resounding slap echoed in the room. and as soon as Ran glances at your expression, his heart sinks.

tear-stricken face and lips trembling, his eyes soften ever so slightly. the gravity of the situation weighing on him, as he suddenly hated the idea of him being the very reason for your tears. if your crying and sobbing days ago as you curse at him for catching him with another woman didn't break his heart, the sight of you looking up at him with so much hatred and resentment right now does the damage.

"I'm sorry" he mumbled, words spewing his mouth as his pride was quickly overcome with guilt, "If I have to kneel and beg for you not to leave me, I'll do it, if it meant you staying'"

you yanked your arms out of his hold, and Ran is not a fool to grab them again. he watch you furiously wipe the hot tears coming and he wanted nothing but to wipe them for you but he was busy staring intently at you for some kind of sign that you will take him back but your eyes were dull and lifeless as you calm down.

"Please don't show yourself in front of me again" you deadpan as you sniff and left, taking his heart and soul with you, what he did was a mistake, a mistake that cost him life without you, a mistake he did out of temptation for he was weak against it.

So when the temptation to see you covered in red in the form of your blood pooling under you came over him, he was weak to resist.

Red did always suit you better

[imagoddamnonionmason]

Noble Blood: Medieval Fantasy AU

Fandom: Call of Duty

Word Count: 1403

Chapter: 2/?

Relationship: Knight!John "Soap" MacTavish X OC

Characters: John "Soap" MacTavish, Nanette Oakley (OC)

Summary: Ser John MacTavish walks Nanette home and conversation is... a little argumentative?

One might prefer a comfortable silence, if they were to resign themselves to the fact that conversation was not going to flow naturally, however, the silence between the two on the worn, dirt road was nothing of the sort. It was jagged, tense; it was painful, even. It was nothing less than what was to be expected, but one could wish it could be eased, even if only by a fraction. Alas, the Gods were not in a wish-granting mood and if they were, they were probably perusing through the list of miracles they could perform, not a little wish.

The only saving grace of this silence between them was the ambience the storm gave. The melodies of wind, rain and thunder came together in a nice song of storms. Despite the ambience’s naturally soothing presence, the droplets of rain still left a sting on their cheeks, causing them to tug their hoods lower over their faces in a miserable attempt at shielding themselves. Eventually, John opted for accepting his fate, that he had already braved the weather and gotten soaked, so what would it matter if a little rain drenched him once more. 

His main concerns surrounded the woman next to him, who, though she was ignoring him, had seemingly inched closer to his larger form. Most likely, this had happened subconsciously on her part, but that must indicate that she was colder than she would admit. 

After a short while, John cleared his throat, deciding to break the silence and plunge himself into shark-infested waters. 

“You look cold.” 

Ok, maybe he could have opted for a better ice-breaker, but he wasn’t given much to work with. 

“Great observation skills,” the bite to her tone didn’t faze him. 

The two fell back into silence. 

He walked a few paces more, and then he spoke again.

“Would you like my cape? I know it’s wet, but another layer won’t hurt-” 

“No.” 

“You sure?”

“Most definitely.” 

A beat. 

“You’re defi-”

“I said no.” She affirmed, her hand escaping from beneath the cover of the cape she held clutched around her body; it was flat and assertive in its gesture. It retreated back into what little warmth she had remaining, a little soggy from the slosh of rainwater that fell from the furs around her shoulders. A huff filled her chest, wholly and intensely, only to be snatched away on the intake by a sharp gust of wind. The gust snatched her hood down off her head and rain pierced her skin, a stray droplet hitting her right in the eye. 

“Oh- Gods damn. Bloody rain-” she muttered exasperatedly to herself, hand shooting out from the warmth to cover her eye, which was now stinging something furious in response to being accosted by the rain. She had ducked down, in a frail attempt to shield herself from any more of the watery onslaught, so much so that even her steps had slowed. John noticed this, as well as her mumbling, despite it being drowned out by the hum of the downpour and he came to her side. 

There was the feeling of rain hitting her and then there wasn’t. This difference caused her to peek up with her good eye to see that John had lifted most of his cape up and over her, a guard. His other hand moved from his side, taking hold of her soggy hood and pulled it up over her head. To begin with, it was cold and wet, but then it became bearable. 

“Not too long, now,” he said, “come on.” 

“I didn’t need your help-” she fought, but was silenced by the quick drape of heavy weight on her shoulders. John’s cape, which he was now wrapping securely around her. 

“You’ll catch your death if I don’t keep you warm and I can only deal with havin’ one woman angry at me, never mind four. And Lesley… has quite the temper.” He started to walk again. 

Nanette watched him for a second or two, then her face scrunched up; it was hard for someone to remain angry when the person they’re angry at is being nice. 

As she shuffled quickly to catch up with him, trying her best to get her footfalls in time with his own. Nanette muttered, “she sounds like someone I knew a while back. Shame that he up and left without a word.” 

A frown covered John’s features, but he didn’t bite back, instead, he was thankful she was talking at all. 

“Aye, then you understand why I’ve got to get you back safe and sound, eh?” 

If Nanette’s looks could kill, John would be a dead man. 

“You’re insufferable.” 

“Says the woman who’s being petty.” He retorted. 

“I am not petty.” 

“Seems that way from here.” 

“Gods, you’re insufferable and aggravating.” Nanette crossed her arms underneath the cape, her speed increasing somewhat, as her heart thrummed uncomfortably in her chest. That feeling, from a couple hours prior, started to bubble back up again and she felt herself growing closer to snapping his head clean off his shoulders. 

“You know what’s aggravatin’?” He asked, though she was certain it was rhetorical. 

“Do tell, I’m dying to know.” 

“You.” 

John had stopped walking and for the second that he allowed to pass between them, Nanette was about to continue walking; that was until he reached out, gloved hand clutching her upper arm and tugging her to him, “we were kids, Miss Oakley, kids. I left ‘cause I had no choice. I didn’t just leave you, I left my ma, my sisters.” 

“You could have told me.” She snapped. 

“I wasn’t given time.” His tone was filled with seething bitterness, laced with a sense of finality. He’d been right - there had been an argument on the horizon and though he knew it was coming, it didn’t make it any easier to do. 

A beat. 

“You’re not forgiven.” Nanette said, after a moment of silence. The two of them just looked at each other, daring the other to continue arguing and when that dare went unanswered, the tension visibly left their shoulders. 

“I can work with that.” John muttered, a slight smile creeping onto his face, “I always hated arguing with you.” 

Huffing, Nanette turned away and back into a firm stride, not willing to go soft on him quite that quickly, even if she wanted to. She was still very much angry with him, but now she wasn’t sure if she had the right to be; so, what better to do than to… ignore the problem for a little bit. There was certainty that she’d figure out whether her anger was founded sooner or later, but maybe their reunion had been sour enough for now. 

After another short while, Nanette had calmed down and that initial upset had decided to go back to sleep - it was now that she could feel the silence hanging over them and though her upset over him leaving was still very much there, she had also missed him. Maybe they couldn’t go back to where they left off, but she was loath to admit that, well, she had been a little petty.  

“I missed you, you know,” she admitted, quickly, and somewhat hopeful that the rain had absorbed enough of the sentence that John hadn’t caught it at all. But, the smirk on his face proved otherwise. 

“Yeah?” His tone was teasing. 

“Shut it.”

“No, sorry, go on.” 

“No, you ruined it.” 

“I won’t say anythin’ else,” he offered, sending a glance sideways, gauging whether he had actually ruined the chance of conversation. A fuzzy, warm feeling of fondness overcame him when he watched her try to resist him, flashes of their youth coming to the forefront of his mind. Truly, she hadn’t changed; she still crossed her arms and turned her head away so she couldn’t see his face, less his grin convinced her to surrender her defiance. Even now, did he really have such a hold over her? He couldn’t possibly be that charming? 

“I just meant that I was upset because I missed you,” she stated, “that’s all.” 

“Right,” he deflated a little, “for what it’s worth, I missed you as well.” 

After that, there was minimal conversation, but the walk was considerably more at ease than it had started, and though they still had a lot to work on, it seemed the two were on sturdier ground. 

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

Don't Go Blindly Into the Dark

Summary:

To hide that he can't read, Jan Van Eck has been forcing his son to pretend he's blind since he was eight years old. Wylan is now attending Ketterdam University, and meeting Jesper Fahey may very well be about to change his life. But is he safe to tell Jesper the truth? And what will Jesper say if he does?

Jesper is struggling to weigh up his life in the Barrel and his life at the University of Ketterdam, and there's a good chance that his growing debt is about to make the decision for him. He hasn't attended class consecutively for months, but maybe that will change when his newest project includes partnering up with Wylan Van Eck. But can he really leave the Barrel behind him? And how long can he keep up the pretence of who he thinks Wylan wants him to be?

Tags: @justalunaticfangirl @lunarthecorvus

If anyone else would like to be tagged let me know :)

Content warnings for this chapter: death, violence, implied sa references, trafficking references, abduction

AO3 link

Chapter 33 - Nina

Nina walked up the stairs of the Slat balancing a small basin of cold water between her arms, knowing it would not be enough. The swelling in Inej’s knee was not decreasing on its own and a simple damp cloth was going to do little, but Nina had no idea how to reduce it herself - only that ice and compression would help the process. Once Inej was back on her feet, Nina would demand she let her wrap her leg in tight, elasticated bandages, but for now a cool compress was going to have to do. She wasn’t expecting to walk almost straight into Kaz at the top of the stairs, and stumbled slightly so the water in the basin swished back and forth on the verge of spilling.

“Don’t bother helping me,” she grunted, glaring at him, as she struggled to readjust herself without dropping the bowl and throwing water all over them both.

Kaz just watched her, and as soon as she’d moved enough out of the way began to make his way down the first few steps. 

“Oh - Kaz,”

He turned back, looking at her expectantly. 

“Do they sell ice year round here, or just store it?” 

He shrugged. 

“Not a big market in the colder months, but it’s available. Not enough Grisha around for sellers  to store it on site though; you can only buy it in the Warehouse District,”

“I want to ice Inej’s knee,”

“I didn’t ask. Don’t waste your own money; there’s a couple of kruge in the safe at the Crow Club earmarked for medical, you can  pick it up before you go back if you have time, if not I’ll reimburse you afterwards,”

She nodded, though somehow she felt suspicious. 

“What do you want?”

He raised an eyebrow. 

“What do any of us want?”

And then he was gone, and Nina was staring exasperatedly at the empty space where he’d just been standing. She sighed. 

If Nina was to be entirely honest, she might not have minded delaying herself from seeing Inej for a second longer. She was still shaken by their conversation earlier, about the death of Liesbeth Stoevelaar. 

When Inej had fallen asleep in Kaz’s office at the Crow Club and Nina lifted her onto the floor to lay down properly, she’d been exhausted and in pain and almost definitely in shock. She’d killed someone, spent fifteen hours alone with a dead body whilst Nina thought she was sleeping, and dragged herself across rooftops and over the canal on a leg she could now, without the wild and screaming adrenaline coursing through her, barely take her own standing weight on. And then, half-asleep with her weight in Nina’s arms and her bare toes dragging across the floor like she was trying to dance through a hazy dream, she had mumbled so quietly that Nina had barely even heard her: 

“I’m gonna kill him,”

Nina was taken aback. Quite considerably, actually. She had never heard Inej express the actual intent to kill anyone before - and Nina also didn’t know who she was talking about. 

“Did she say something?” Kaz had asked, frowning, from where he stood on the other side of the room.

“No,” said Nina, soft and light, still gently lowering Inej towards the floorboards, “She just groaned,”

About two hours ago Nina had finally gathered herself together enough to ask Inej if she remembered saying it, and what she’d meant. Now she was shaken, and she knew Inej was too. 

“I don’t remember saying it,” she’d admitted, on a slow breath, letting Nina fluff her pillow and encourage her to lie back even though she didn’t look very happy about it. She yawned, “But I stand by it,”

Nina restrained the eyebrows she wanted to raise as she stepped back and returned to the little chair she’d pulled up to Inej’s room last week. She didn’t know what to say and for a long time it seemed like Inej didn’t either, but then she whispered:

“Riesen; The Black Tips’ boss. I don’t… No, I stand by it. I’m going to kill him,”

The conversation spiralled in a more emotional direction after that. Nina gripped Inej’s hand in hers, rubbing her thumb in a little circular pattern near the top of her knuckles. The rough skin of Inej’s fingers brushed against the back of Nina’s hand, like tiny, soft little scratches. 

“Do it,” she said, what felt like hours later, her free hand fumbling through her pockets because she was sure there was a handkerchief in there somewhere but apparently it was avoiding her, “Cut his heart out,”

Inej smiled softly through her tears, gratefully accepting the handkerchief once Nina had pulled it triumphantly from the inside of her sleeve. Her free hand stretched slowly to where her knives were lying neatly arranged on top of the tiny nightstand, and softly tapped the long dagger with engraved roses growing up the metal.

“With Sankta Lizabeta’s blade,” she promised. 

As Nina knocked on the door now - though knocked may be a generous word, she kicked it lightly for not being able to actually knock without setting the basin down - it was a moment before a reply came and she briefly wondered if Inej had fallen asleep. But then the soft response floated through the door, asking her not to come in yet. Nina waited. After a few minutes had passed, she ventured: 

“Inej? Are you alright?”

Inej had no longer been crying by the time Nina left her, and they’d left most of the conversation behind them, but it was clearly still holding her in a tight, unrelenting grasp. If Inej was struggling she probably wouldn’t want anyone in the room with her, but Nina could try to talk to her through the door. 

“One minute,” she managed, “I’m okay,”

Nina still felt a touch nervous when she was eventually bid entry, but once she was done wrestling the door open through the water basin she stepped inside to find that Inej was sitting up on the bed, steadying herself with a palm planted flat against the wall, and had changed into a set of soft nightclothes. They fitted her well and even though she was clearly not her usual self, Nina could tell how much more comfortable Inej was in these pyjamas than her previous set immediately. She did look small though, Nina thought, even without the oversized nightclothes shrinking her; she actually looked fifteen, if that, in this pale pink cotton, with her dark hair loose and spilling down her shoulders to outline her against the light leaking through the window. She actually looked like a child. 

“I can’t get my leg back in the sling,” she said a little sheepishly, eyeline dipping towards the duvet. 

“I’m impressed you managed to get changed,” Nina admitted, encouraging Inej to lie back as she lifted her ankle and slowly guided her back into the sling.

Inej winced a little as she bent her knee under the direction of Nina’s hands, so she could manoeuvre herself into position. 

“It wasn’t easy,”

“And your pretty new pyjamas?” asked Nina, as if she didn’t know the answer. 

“Kaz,”

Nina did her best to conceal her little smile behind her shoulder as she straightened out the fabric of the sling, quickly smoothing out her features as she righted herself again. 

“Well then we should all be concerned about the impending apocalypse,” she teased, “The machines are learning,” 

It was the early hours of the morning when Nina left the Slat; Inej had finally drifted to sleep and Jesper, though Nina knew full well his shift had finished hours ago, had finally appeared to sit with her for the night. Nina slipped out and hurried back up the Staves towards the White Rose; she had a client at 3 bells, the Barrel knew no traditional working hours, but then she was free right up til early evening. She was going to take the nap to end all naps. 

The streets of West Stave were busy, of course, and Nina had to wind her way through the crowds to draw herself a path. The Suli girl was outside the Willow Switch again, her hair spiralled so tightly that it was tugging at the corners of her forehead. The front pieces had been run through with some sort of gel to stick them in swirls against her skin, creating a pattern distinctly similar to the swirls of the tattoo on her forearm. She stood on the side of the canal in her alarmingly thin scraps of silk, waving prettily to the odd member of the crowd as the same magician Nina had seen make her appear from thin air a few weeks prior shouted to the tourists and beckoned for their attention. The Shu girl she’d performed with last time was notably absent. 

Nina paused for the briefest moment, glancing at her watch - two bells. She could afford to spare a minute. Because even from here she could see the tiny smidge of discolouration marring the acrobat’s cheek, and she knew. She’d been Tailored, and she’d been Tailored quickly. Nina took a slow breath, straightened her cuffs, and - even as her own thoughts shouted at her to just keep walking, turned sharply to her right and stepped through the gilded double doors of the Willow Switch. 

The girl behind the desk was about the same age as Nina but a little shorter, Shu but not the girl she’d seen before, with loose, dark hair and glitter painted on her eyelids. She looked up at Nina through thick black lashes, a coy smile dancing on her lips.

“May I help you?” she asked in honeyed, accented tones.

“The girl out there,” said Nina, “the acrobat-”

“She’ll be available later on, but I’m afraid the show can’t be interrupted,” she tilted her shoulder, drawing attention to the slip of her dramatic neckline, “But if there’s anything in the meantime…”

Nina swallowed. The mask slipped easily into place. 

“I saw her before, with a Shu girl,” she leant forwards and sat her elbow on the desk, so she could plant her chin in her palm, “Is she here?”

Behind the crook of her elbow, Nina’s free hand moved in a slow, secret circle. The girl’s smile stayed in place, despite a brief tick in her jaw.

“Not tonight, Miss, I’m afraid. She’s not working for a couple of weeks,”

She was telling the truth. 

“Can I ask you why?”

The girl stiffened briefly and Nina felt her heartbeat rise. 

“She’s not here right now,” she said, “but if I can help you-?”

Nina placed her free hand flat on the table. 

“What’s your name?”

“Kheja,” she murmured, eyes briefly flicking around the room as though someone might be watching her, “Or anything you want it to be,”

“Kheja,” said Nina, “I’m going to tell the truth now and I want you to hear me out,”

Kheja leaned back a little, the first time her own mask had truly fallen, eyes once again flitting about them both before she glanced quickly over her shoulder. She was framed by a curtain of weeping willow branches, floor to ceiling, trailing on the fake hardwood floors. Nina had assumed there was a wall behind it, but as she looked properly she could see light and shadow filtering beyond the leaves. 

“Are you allowed to speak in Shu?”

“If you want me to,”

Nina switched languages like she was slipping into a new pair of shoes; she hadn’t practised Shu in a long time and was maybe going to suffer blisters for it, but she would be able to walk just fine and last for the most part with reasonable comfort. 

“I’m a Heartrender. I know that girl’s been Tailored,” she said in Shu, nodding vaguely towards the open doors and the street behind, “What happened to her? Where’s the other girl?”

“I don’t…”

“I’ll know if you’re lying to me, Kheja,” Nina lifted her hand up from the desk a little, and the girl swallowed tightly, “What happened?”

“I can’t tell you,”

“Kheja-”

“I told you,” she said smoothly, switching back to Kerch and letting her voice drift back to full volume, “Jeluna is not here. But if you are interested in Shu girls…” she smiled, her hand closing over Nina’s on the desk, “I’m sure we can find something else to entertain you,”

Kheja’s fingers began to chase up Nina’s arm, dancing across her skin. Her fingertips were smooth, her nails perfectly rounded and shimmering with gloss. Nina’s eyes drifted slowly upwards, for a moment studying the lines of kohl that had been reapplied below Kheja’s eyes; the vaguest remnants of a dark smudge left beneath them. She pulled her hand sharply away. 

“I really had my interests set elsewhere,” she said, also in Kerch, quickly sliding the tiny piece of paper Kheja had slipped her up inside her sleeve. 

“Then I suggest you take your interests elsewhere, Miss,” Kheja replied, and Nina noticed that her accent slipped slightly when she let her tone take on a sharper edge, “There’s nothing here for you tonight,”

She nodded quickly at Nina, her eyes betraying something that her face or mouth could not. Nina gave her as close to a nod as she dared to, then turned and rushed the last of her journey. She didn’t unfold the little piece of paper until she was upstairs in her room at the White Rose, with half an hour to get ready for her next job and a cup of tea sitting in front of her on the vanity. The paper was slightly crumpled and when Nina looked at it properly she realised the folds weren’t only from shoving it in her sleeve but at least some were older wounds the card had already borne when Kheja gave it to her. It was a Kerch business card, painstakingly copied printing that probably cost a fortune at one of the presses in town, for some legal firm in the Zelvar District. Someone must have dropped it or left it behind at the Willow Switch, but Nina paid it little heed as she turned the card over and let her gaze slip over the Shu characters inked on the back. Just three words, when she translated it. 

When had Kheja had time to write anything? The note must have already been written before she gave it to Nina; a pre-prepared cry for help, maybe, or a last desperate vouch to try to save Jeluna? Nina swallowed. 

The door swung open, there was no lock and knocking was a foreign concept to Feliks, and Nina was taken by surprise. She jumped, trying to shove the note out of sight and managing to knock her mug of tea straight on top of it. 

“Try not to ruin my furniture, Nina,”

She looked up to see Feliks’ impatient frown, hurriedly righting her cup and yanking the sodden paper up her sleeve as she apologised, before ringing the little bell for a servant.

“Did you want something?” she asked, glancing back to where Feliks was still just standing there, watching her. 

“What was your job on the Geldstraat the other week?”

Nina frowned. 

“Mister Van Eck asked me to keep it private,”

“You don’t work for him, Nina, you work for me. What was the job?”

“I work for Per Haskell,” said Nina, smooth as butter, “and for Kaz Brekker. If you want to know anything about my job then you are more than welcome to take it up with them, but my clients’ business stays with me,”

For a minute she thought he was going to protest, but then he just shrugged. 

“Fine. But whatever it was, he wants you back there tomorrow night. Good money,”

Nina tried to hide her surprise - and her panic. What did Van Eck want with her now Wylan wasn’t home? Did he somehow know the Dregs tried to stop his attempt on his son’s life? She felt her jaw tighten. 

“Will I see any of it?”

“Five percent commission on Tailoring,” said Feliks, “Everything else is salary,”

Five percent commission on Tailoring was absolute shit. But it was as much as she could get, and barely back from suspension for attacking a goddamn client in the middle of the lobby Nina knew she shouldn’t push her luck. She did anyway. 

“It’s a private job,” she said, “And to your own bad luck I can read Kerch, Feliks, I actually know what my contract says unlike half the-”

“Easy,” he growled, his eyes flitting darker. 

“Fifty percent of all private jobs is mine,” she pushed, “And you still owe it back to me for the last time I went,”

“You also missed the second time he wanted you to go,”

“Because you suspended me,” she snapped, “Whilst I was supposed to be there I was stuck in your office with Brekker swinging my feet off the edge of my chair like a schoolchild who got detention. That’s my money, and you’ll pay up,”

A very long moment hung in the air. 

“You go back to the Geldstraat tomorrow night,” he said, eventually, “And if you come back willing to tell me what the job was, you’ll get your money for both times then,”

Nina took a slow breath. It would be a good sized lump sum, half of it would be enough to keep her running for a month and the rest could go a long way in the savings for Matthias’ legal fees, if she ever managed to argue her way that far. She’d rather get what she was owed now and know that if she managed to find a way to skip out on returning to Geldstraat she’d still made some cash, but she knew really that she’d only end up with no choice but to do the job. She wouldn’t be able to have Inej tail her this time, but maybe she could have Jesper or someone walk with her to and from at least. 

“The deal is the deal,” she said, eventually. 

Feliks nodded. 

“The deal is the deal. Now get your damn kefta on, you’ve barely got twenty minutes before your next appointment,”

And before Nina was even finished biting back her argumentative response, he was gone. Adrian appeared not a moment after and Nina helped him clear up the spilled tea before she shoved herself into her uncomfortable fake kefta. The little business card fell out from the sleeve of her blouse, now sodden and tea stained beyond recognition. She threw the remnants away; there was no need for them now, and she doubted anyone would be able to make out the message even if they tried. She remembered it, and she remembered Kheja and Jeluna’s names. Hopefully that would be enough. She kicked her wastepaper basket back beneath the vanity and out of sight before she slipped downstairs to meet her client, as though if it had been visible the words would have bore right into her, burned across the room, screamed out loud. 

They took her. 

They took her.

They took her. 

[folkloreintime]

7 Days of Taylor Smut - Christmas Edition

Day 6 - rocking around the tree

summary: The tree isn’t the only thing getting rocked tonight.

warnings: smut, oral, fem!reader

word count: 477

You admired the multi coloured baubles laid out before you as Taylor fiddled with the tree. “I just can’t get these branches to look even!” She huffed exasperatedly, sweeping her bangs to one side. Decorating the tree was one of Taylor’s favourite holiday activities so she was obsessed with trying to make it perfect.

“Babe, I think having it a little imperfect would be nice,” You picked up a red bauble with glittery gold encasing and ran your finger across it, picking up the little specks of glitter. “Besides, nobody will look at the branches, they will only see these pretty ornaments.” You reassured her, lovingly.

“I’ll see it.” Taylor mumbled begrudgingly, a small frown on her lips. You noticed her somber and immediately made your way over to her. “Hey… It’s okay, love.” You cupped her face with your hand, using the pad of your thumb to caress her cheek. She leaned into your touch and gave you a tight smile. “I know. I just get-“ She gestured wildly, pointing to herself as if she was the problem.

You gently pushed her flying hands aside and leaned in to give her a kiss. Your lips touched hers so softly, but the intent and focus behind it made the expression of love even better. She gave you a genuine smile and drew you back in for another kiss. She laughed as your lips made their way to her neck. You sucked and nibbled on her warm skin, your hands wrapped around her back.

She moaned under your touch, as you grind into her, your knee pushing in between her thighs. Quickly, she started to undo her buttoned pants, her arousal turning into desperation. As she shoved them down to the floor, you dropped to your knees. You inhaled her scent and began to give her small kisses to her delicious thighs.

Painstakingly, you removed her panties and tossed them aside. She sucked in a breath as you looked up at her darkly while leaning in. Your mouth instantly made contact with her clit and you started to suck on her with increasing pace. You grasped a hand onto the thigh and rubbed it up and down her flesh and you continued to lick and suck all over her pussy.

She moaned and held your head with both her hands, pushing her fingers through your hair. Her noises increased as you pushed her over the edge and she stumbled backwards into the tree she had just spent hours putting up. Like a card being blown over by the wind, the tree toppled sideways and laid dejectedly on the floor.

You both gave each other a look as you burst into laughter. “I think you were right, babe. Nobody’s gonna notice.” Taylor said, smiling at you, looking at the wreckage before her, no longer worried about how it looked.

end.

[hollyethecurious]

CS WIP Wednesday Challenge - Week One

Week 1

👻 The WIP haunting you most (you know which one it is - it's the first one that came to mind when you saw this challenge)

Thank you again, @captainswanwipwednesdays for putting this challenge together! The WIP currently haunting me is Pan Says...

I only managed to add about 1200 words to it this week, but progress is progress, right? With any luck, I'll be able to finish this chapter within the next week or two. Until then, here is a small snippet of what's to come.

Emma was dressed in the wench costume; a more upscale version of the cheap, slutty knock-off one might find at a Halloween store. The women were dismissed and she’d been instructed to follow the Lost One, her trepidations spiking again as she padded down the corridor behind him. There were many twists and turns before they finally rounded a corner, revealing Killian standing in front of a set of double doors. Emma’s heart leapt at the sight of him and relief flooded her body. Well, first relief, then… something else. He was decked out in head to toe leather, his jawline manicured with an alluring amount of scruff and his eyes lined in a deep, rich kohl. His hair had been artfully tousled and his skin bronzed. Beneath the layers of black leather, he wore a smoke-like linen shirt, unbuttoned down to the v of his waistcoat, exposing a tantalizing amount of chest hair. The leather trousers were tight, but not so much as to appear painted on, leaving just a hint to the imagination of what lay beneath their laces. “Swan?” he said, in an amused and sinfully deep tone. “See something you like, love?” Now aware that her mouth had been hanging open, Emma closed it a swallowed hard before answering, “You look…” “I know,” he quipped with a cheeky smirk and smugly lifted brow, earning him an eye roll before his gaze raked over her once more. “You cut quite the figure in that get up, I must say.” “Cutting is right,” Emma groused, struggling against the tight confines of her outfit. “I can only imagine the impression this corset is leaving on my spleen.” “Your discomfort is a cross I am more than willing to bear… especially after my earlier one.” Emma raised her brows in response to his cryptic words and put-out tone. Scratching behind his ear, the tip of which becoming quite red, he confessed under his breath in a low mumble, “I’ve been manscaped.” Her eyes widened, and although she knew better from her earlier perusal, they fell to his chest, ensuring herself that the thick blanket of hair remained untouched. “Not there,” he said, exasperatedly. “Lower.” Emma tucked her lips between her teeth to try and stifle her laugh. His disgruntled tone and expression absolutely priceless, despite the circumstances. “Well,” she said, placing her hand on his arm in commiseration. “That makes two of us.”

[soenoire]

LIZ AND SHON CHAPTER ONE (preview) by Soe Noire

_______________

I GUESS THIS IS THE END, HUH?” LIZ SIGHED.

Her abrupt comment broke her best friend, Shon, out of their daze. They exasperatedly nudged Liz in the shoulder with their elbow. “Now don’t say that!” They scolded. Liz gave them a deep frown and rubbed her arm in response, mumbling something about assault and battery.

Shon began twisting the ends of their ginger curls, a habit they did when they were getting nervous. Not that we have anything to be nervous about, they thought to themself – though a bit apprehensively. “The buses are always mad late. Give it another five minutes and then we can start freaking out,” They said in a semi-confident tone.

Liz replied with an unconvinced hum; looking forward into the dark, disturbingly quiet street. They had both been standing at the bus stop for a while now, and while the last bus of the night was supposed to be there at 10PM, it was 9:58 and there hadn’t been a single vehicle in sight for almost 20 minutes. It was basically a ghost-town, and dread was beginning to stir around in her stomach. This don’t make no sense.. It’s a Friday night, where is everybody? She thought to herself. No cars, no fellow pedestrians, no open stores. Just the dull, drawn out hum of the street lights.

…And the janky, staticky, jingle of an old billboard that was slowly starting to piss her off. It stood way above the two of them, opposite the bus stop above what looked like an abandoned storefront. It had flickering, flashing lights and was really starting to become an eyesore the longer she stood there. Trying to block it out, Liz turned her head back to her best friend. “Right, but it's almost 10PM and it's crickets out here,” She pointed out. “And this looks like a sketchy ass area..I think we might’ve walked by a crime scene on the way here.”

Shon shook their head, playing with their hair at a slightly faster rate. For their own sanity, they brushed that possibility off. “That was definitely just trash. This city is dirty as hell, but not dangerous...I think.”

Liz thought to herself for a moment. While Cordero Heights wasn’t as bad as local news reported it out to be, it still had its fair share of weirdos doing weird things. Hopefully, they wouldn't run into any of them tonight. The walk from the party (that they had both quickly ditched after less than two hours) to the bus stop was pretty normal.

..Except for the trail of oddly shaped garbage bags that were dumped throughout an alley they had walked past. Liz had only noticed the scattered bags due to the annoying, droning sound coming from them.

Bugs. Liz grimaced at the memory. The sound of the flies had made her cringe, as the insects loudly buzzed around what she desperately tried to convince herself was just moldy food and miscellaneous junk.

But when she squinted at the trash piles as they both walked by, she could have sworn she saw a pale, wide eyed face gaze back at her, unmoving.

Her nose scrunched up at the recollection as she shook her head. “Naw, that was definitely a human body. This city is dirty and dangerous…It’s got mad versatility.”

Shon snickered, but patted their tote bag with reassurance.

“Well, we got semi-charged phones, pepper spray, and a mighty God on our side. Shit, I wish a nigga would try us, actually.”

Liz squinted at them. “ And if said nigga has a gun?”

Oh. They hadn’t really thought that far ahead. “Well…”

“..And if our phones die because you forgot the portable chargers?”

Shoot. Shon did forget to bring that. Both of their phones had just recently hit the 20 percentile warning, and there wasn’t an outlet in sight. On top of that, the few shops they had walked past on the way to the stop were all closed, so no charging their devices anytime soon. “I was in charge of packing that? That might have been my bad..” They mumbled sheepishly. “We might still be good though, right?”

But Liz didn’t hear them, as she continued to list off more rhetorical scenarios.

“...Orrr if the bus doesn’t come at all and we’re stranded in the middle of nowhere in a city forty-five minutes away from your house? Or if we can’t get a ride back? Or if we get mugged? Or even better, we try to walk home but get too tired and black out in an alley and get our organs harvested by the Hat Man? Or-”

Shon cut her off, anxiously stomping their foot. “Okay, I get it! Oh god, we’re doomed.. I fucked up bad, and now we’re doomed. What we gon do now? Where do we go? And who the hell is the Hat Man?!”

Liz paused, scratching the back of her neck.

“..Don’t worry about it.”

Shon crossed their arms tightly, staring at their shoes. “Well too late, cause now I’m worried as hell! I’ve basically killed us. There weren’t any Ubers available at that damn party and there sure as hell won’t be any out here now. We’re stranded out here.” Their anxiety was at an all time high. This was all their fault. It was their bright idea to go out tonight, it was their fault that they were both out here lost with dying phones, and it will absolutely be their fault if the two of them end up dead in a dumpster tonight. They hung their head in shame.

Liz mentally punched herself in the arm. Perhaps blurting out the worst case scenarios imaginable was not the best thing to do right now..especially if it was stressing out Shon. A bit flustered, she pushed some of her bright red locs behind her ear, giving them an apologetic look. “Okay, my fault. I ain’t mean to freak you out..We’ll be aight,” she said, but the worried expression on Shon’s face remained. The corners of their eyes were now wet, as panicked tears threatened to spill out, smudging their mascara.

Damn.

Liz took a deep breath, and stepped closer to Shon, placing a hand on their back. Her chin slightly rested on their shoulder as she spoke again, more confidently.

“ Hey, it's okay. We'll be aight, really. The bus could come any minute now, so there's still time. If not, worst case scenario, we walk back to the party and ask Nessa if we can crash there for the night. Or we just charge our phones there and find a motel and go home in the morning. Either way, we gon’ get back to your place safely with all our internal organs intact.. Only real downside to all this is that I’m definitely gon’ drag your ass all weekend for convincing me to go to that party.”

There was a brief silence as Shon blinked away their tears. They finally made eye contact with Liz, who’s giving them a soft “sorry for doing too much” smile. Thankfully, a small grin starts to form onto their glossy, painted lips.

“...That whack ass party,” Shon giggled.

Liz lets out a sigh, half in amusement and half with relief. “Lame ass, stale ass party. On god, I’ve had slices of white bread with more flavor than that whole event. Weak ass shit.”

That earned a laugh out of Shon. They shook their head as they began to recollect the mess.

“Yeah...I knew it was over when they started playin’ Nickelback fifteen minutes in. Now how am I s’pose to shake ass to that?” They asked, rolling their eyes.

Liz snorted. “Oh, so it wasn’t over when we first walked in and saw all that damn coleslaw? Knew it was a wrap right there and then. No pizza? No chips? Nothing for me to tear up? It feels racist, actually.”

“That’s what I’m sayin’ like-”

A loud honk blared in the darkness, as the sound of an upcoming vehicle approached the bus stop. Liz let out another relieved sigh when she saw the headlights of the bus, slowly coming down the street.

Shon let out a cheer of joy, doing a fist pump as they watched the bus drive towards them. “There it is! We’re saved! I got some change in my purse so I think we should be…hollon. Does that say-”

OUT OF SERVICE

Is what was written in bold, yellow text, as the bus made no signs of stopping and zipped right past the two teenagers. In a blink of an eye, their one way ticket home was already at the end of the street, fading into obscurity, and disappearing into the night. “Man.. what?” Liz watched the bus speed off, at a complete loss for words.

Shon on the other hand, was not.

“ Yeah.. the next vehicle that passes by, I'm jumping’ in front of it. It’s so over.”

(If you like enjoyed, read the whole chapter on my website for free! Chapter two comes out tomorrow🌀)

(And feel free to watch the pilot on my YouTube channel.)

Thanks for reading🌀