#fuck it we ball. posting it on ao3

[thatlittledandere]

Yukari's mother doesn't talk to her sister often, aside from asking her for money. This is why, by the time Yukari hears her only cousin is a guy now, she has no idea how long he's been out. She's happy for him though; they may not have seen each other since they were children, and may not ever have been close, but life is too short for pretending to be something you're not.

This is also why she doesn't really know what to expect from their eventual meet up. She's prepared for him having outgrown her, despite being younger by two years. She's prepared for not recognizing him from a crowd immediately. She's prepared for the kinds of clothes her aunt would have never bought him when he was five.

It's been more than ten years, and all of these changes would occur more or less even without transitioning. Heaven knows Yukari is different now from how she was before her father died.

So she's also prepared for her cousin's voice sounding more masculine. She's prepared for something different, for sure. What she is NOT prepared for, however, is something familiar. It catches her completely off guard.

Her cousin notices this. She brushes it off as his voice being a little similar to her friend from high school.

She doesn't have the heart to tell Yosuke this friend passed away three years ago.

[spacesapphi]

There's Always Time

WAOW uploading my first Stardew fic, surrounding mostly Marnie this time!

Synopsis: Today's the day Marnie decides she'll get Lewis to go public with their relationship. She's determined to let nothing get her down, but the day seems to have other plans for her. Perhaps a certain adventure can remind her of the good in life

Word count: 8,412

CW for mentions of a previous death and drinking

Story below the cut!

Important note! A few parts of this fic have Pennsylvania Dutch words written in it, so I have a small translation section up here. Keep in mind that I am fairly a beginner at the language and doing my best grammatically given the few resources that exist 🙏

Distelfink- a folk art symbol of a bird that represents happiness and fortune

Aendi - Auntie

“Ach, schlecht exempel” - Ugh, bad example

Schatz- treasure/dear, used often by parents towards their kids

“lieb dehr beed” - love you both

Gottverdam - damn it!

zwieschpalt- troublemaker

onto the fic!

Mondays were supposed to be a calm day off for Marnie, a day where she had time to herself, things to look forward to besides her normal chores. Jas would be at school, Shane at work, and she would be able to bask in the peace and quiet. Usually she’d take time to work on her quilting, or go chat with the women in town at Pierre’s, pretending to shop as they gossipped. This Monday was special, however. She had a date with Lewis tonight, and she had a very important question for him.

It seemed every person and creature in this household had other ideas for this particular morning, however. She had been woken up at 7 am to the sound of a disagreement brewing in the kitchen, a sour start to her morning.

“Jas you need to put your shoes on, now.”

“But I wanna go say hi to the cows before we go! Pleaaaaaase!”

“We’re already about to be late for school and work, kiddo, we don’t have time.”

��I always say hi, they're going to be sad if I don't!”

“And I'm going to be sad if I get fired, let's go.”

“PLEASE.”

“No.”

Her nephew’s exasperated voice permeated through the door. This scene wasn’t too uncommon for their household. Jas liked an exact routine for each morning; get dressed, eat, say hi to the animals, then leave for school. She wanted it to be exact and punctual each day, but there were many days that threw a wrench in the schedule. Now that it was thrown off, the young girl immediately was put in a mood, and that was putting Shane in a mood as well.

“Yoba I’m too hungover for this” he thought to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose as he took a deep sigh, “Look, Jas, if I bring home a treat for you today, will you get your shoes on?”

The young girl thought for a moment before nodding, running off to her room to grab her little mary jane shoes. Shane gave a small sigh of relief, not having the energy or willpower to battle with her any longer.

“Ach, schlecht exempel… You shouldn’t give in like that.” Marnie scolded, walking to stand next to him, “It’ll spoil her.”

“You win some, you lose some, and I’m already losing the battle with my patience.” her nephew groaned, “I’m willing to get her a snack if it means she gets to school on time, and I get to work on time.”

Marnie opened her mouth to speak, a lecture already brewing up in her head, but she stopped herself. He was in no mood to receive advice from her, especially parenting advice, and she didn’t need more bickering this early.

“Okay, okay…” she pursed her lips for just a moment, “You remembered to fix the cabinet by the way, right? I wanted to get it decorated today.”

“Yeah, yeah I think I did,” he shrugged.

"You think you did, or you did do it?" Marnie raised a brow.

Shane thought long and hard. The last few days were a blur, but he believed he had a memory of doing it. After a few seconds he nodded, "Yeah... I did, don't worry," he gave her a brief smile, keeping a hand on his throbbing forehead. He was beginning to regret the previous night.

“Are you hungover again?” Marnie asked exasperatedly, “You can’t keep doing this to yourself, schatz.”

“I don’t want to talk about this again, please?” he grumbled defensively.

“This is the third day in a row, I’m wor-”

“Please stop.” Shane looked at her with an expression halfway between embarrassment and annoyance. He knew he had a problem and Marnie was only looking out for him, but it didn’t make him feel any less shitty about it, “Sorry.. I’m sorry.”

His aunt nodded slowly in acknowledgement, looking fairly frustrated herself, “Listen, I’m going to be heading out as soon as you get home, so you need to be here with Jas,” she changed the subject.

Shane raised a brow, “Where are you going?”

“If you must know, I’m meeting a special someone for a date,” a tint of blush appeared on her cheeks.

“Aendi I know it’s Lewis.”

Marnie’s face went white, “Is it that obvious?”

Shane winced uncomfortably, giving her a slow nod. Marnie and Lewis' relationship had to be the worst kept secret in town. The pair pretended like no one knew, but nearly everyone was acutely aware of the couple. It was almost a game amongst some of the townsfolk betting on when they would finally crack and admit it.

“I'm ready to go now...”, Jas stepped back into the room, fully ready for the day. A pout sat on her face, the girl still obviously very upset about the change in routine. Shane looked at his watch, huffing in annoyance, “Ohhhh Morris is gonna fuckin’ kill me.”

“Language.” Marnie warned, lightly hitting his arm.

Shane huffed and motioned to the door exaggeratedly, “Alright kiddo, we gotta run let’s go.”

“Remember, come straight home after work!,” Marnie called out, “No saloon.”

“Yeah, I get it.” Shane mumbled, feeling just a bit offended, “I can go a night without being there, you know,”

“Just a reminder,” she said, “I’ll see you two soon, lieb dehr beed!”

The pair gave her a wave as they ran off, racing against the clock to get where they needed to be. Finally, Marnie had the house all to herself. No disagreements, no problems, just her and the ranch. There were chores to do of course, such was life, but she didn’t mind them all that much. Nothing was going to keep her down, because tonight would be the night her life was going to change, and for the better this time. Tonight, she was going to tell Lewis they were going public about their relationship.

She smiled at herself in the vanity mirror in the foyer, fixing her hair into her signature braid. She felt confident, she felt good! After tonight she wouldn’t be Lewis’ little secret. She was going to be able to hold his hand in the town square, waltz with him at the Flower Dance, openly go on dates at the saloon. Just the thought of it made her heart soar. Nothing could ruin her mood.

That was, until she stepped into the kitchen. It was a complete disaster. Remnants of Shane’s 2 am freezer raid and mess from the breakfast he made for Jas littered just about every counter and surface. Cans next to the recycling bin, a frozen pizza box haphazardly teetering on top of the microwave, dishes stacked on the stove, table and counters. From being in such a rush he had neglected cleaning the scene, leaving it to Marnie instead.

“He’s doing his best… he’s trying… I have to give him that.” she thought to herself, holding her head in her hands. She waited for the tight feeling in her chest to dissipate before taking a deep breath to ground herself. It was just a little bump in the road, an obstacle she could easily tackle.

“Nothing is going to get you down. You got this, Marnie,” she reminded herself. She just thought of Lewis, of their rendezvous tonight, and she felt just a bit lighter.

It didn’t take too long to clean up, she thanked Yoba for that. Didn’t make it any less frustrating, but she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind for now. There was no time for her to feel bad, she couldn't allow herself. As long as she had been running the ranch, she had been seen as a beacon of positivity in town. It was a hefty title to carry, a draining one even, but if she just kept smiling, life would go by just fine.

She didn’t want to ruin the kitchen she had just so perfectly cleaned, so she just threw a frozen breakfast sandwich in the microwave, leaning against the counter as she waited for the timer to go down. Looking to the old clock on the wall, she tsked seeing the time. It was already half past 8, the morning flying by in the blink of an eye. She had so much she wanted to do before meeting with Lewis tonight, and she wasn’t sure she’d have the time for it all. Cleaning the coop, working on her quilt, and decorating that curio cabinet in the foyer. Only three tasks, but time consuming ones. She removed the sandwich from the microwave, blowing on it before tearing into it as she arranged the schedule in her mind. The coop would likely take the longest, and it was a priority. Best to get it done early before it got too warm.

The coop was loud and lively, the hens strutting around impatiently as they waited for Marnie to open the little hatch that led them out to their field. Donning her work gloves and boots, the woman waded her way carefully through the flock and unlatched the hatch, watching amusedly as the chickens ran on out to bask in the yard. It never got old, seeing them get so excited like that. She grabbed the pitchfork from its hook on the wall and gripped it tight. Time to get this done with.

As she scraped up the old straw from the ground, Marnie let her mind wander, imagining the evening ahead of her in great detail. She could practically feel it, sitting with Lewis at his table alone in the candlelight as they talked about their future. Marnie would suggest they finally tell the whole world about their love for each other, abandoning all worries. They could get married, have a beautiful ceremony in the middle of town for everyone to see. She had her mothers wedding dress somewhere stuffed in a hope chest, a beautiful gown any woman would feel like a princess in on her special day. She could feel her heart swell with childlike glee as she thought on it more. Today was the day, and she couldn’t be more excited.

A shrill squawking from the yard broke her from her frilly daydream, one that she knew meant trouble. Throwing down her pitchfork she shuffled her way through the hatch door, catching a view of one of the hens squeezing through a gap in the chicken wire, running off into the forest with reckless abandon.

“Mathilde! Come back here!” she called out, “Gottverdam!” she vaulted herself over the fence, immediately regretting the decision as she felt her body ache. She wasn’t young enough to be able to pull stunts like that anymore.

The little brown hen was much faster than her, darting in and out of trees as Marnie chased after her. The tricky thing was an escape artist, and she had no idea what danger waited out there for her. Wolves, coyotes, bears, all creatures who wouldn’t think twice about eating her up. Marnie didn’t want to run into them either, knowing full well she couldn't fend them off. Why did everything have to be so difficult today? Was it some bad luck day where “the spirits were displeased” as the farmer always put it? Whatever, that wasn’t important. What was important was finding Mathilde before something else did.

She could hear the hens soft clucks, but had no idea where they were coming from. The forest tended to have an echo to it that made noises carry. She tsked and called out for her once again, hoping Mathilde would run to the sound of her voice. Suddenly, the clucks turned into panicked squawks, sending a shiver down Marnie’s spine. She could finally tell where the noise was coming from, just a few feet away over in the clearing beyond the brush. She picked up a hefty stick, prepared to fight whatever creature had gotten to her poor little hen. Running towards the source of the sound, she held the stick over her head, preparing to lunge.

From behind the brush, a man stepped out, holding the hen in his arms. His face contorted in terror as he saw Marnie lunge towards him, dodging out of the way before he got lobbed in the head with the stick. The rancher yelped, stumbling back as soon she registered that he wasn't a wild animal.

“I’m so sorry! I thought you were an animal.” she apologized profusely. She dropped the stick, taking a good look at him. Shaggy gray hair hung in front of his wrinkled face, a patch over his left eye. A bulky cape hung from his shoulders, shrouding his frame in mystery, the silvery glint of a sword sitting at his waist. Her eyes widened as she recognized him.

“Marlon! Oh I’m so sorry!”

The man chuckled, “It’s quite alright, ma’am.” he held out his arms, Mathilde resting in his hands, “I take it this one is yours?”

“Yes! Thank you so much, really,” she took the chicken in her arms, scolding her like a child, “You zwieschpalt, don’t do that to me! What if this nice man hadn’t found you?”

The chicken just stared at her with blank eyes, obviously not understanding the danger of her escapade. All she knew was she wanted to run around and play, and there was a whole forest in front of her! Marnie held her close to her chest and smiled, looking up at the mysterious man, “What brings you down to the forest today? I don’t see you near town unless we’re having a festival.”

“The new farmer reported seeing some creatures around here, monsters from the damned mines who got bold and decided to take a chance out of the caverns.” Marlon sighed, “No matter how many times we slay them they just keep coming back.”

Marnie raised a brow, “I haven’t seen any monsters,”

Marlon put a hand on his sword's hilt, a small smile on his face, “Then I’ve done my job well… I must be going now lass, but it was good to see you again.”

“Oh…” Marnie frowned in disappointment, “I’ll see you at the fair next week though, right? I can’t wait to show you what I’ve been working on!”

“Aye, you will. Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Marlon gave her a short salute, “Take care, Ms.Yoder.”

The man walked off, his mysterious aura still captivating the rancher. She held Mathilde closer and whispered, “He’s handsome, don't you think?.... Don’t tell Lewis,” the hen bawked in response, getting a small smile from her owner, “Let’s get you home.”

Walking briskly back to the ranch, she was thankful that seemingly none of the other hens had squeezed their way through that little gap. Hauling herself over the fence, Marnie placed the hen back down in the pen, watching her run off to her little flock of friends, squawking away as if she was telling them all about her escapade. The rancher reached into her pocket, pulling out a fabric scrap and looping it through the chicken wire, tightening the part that split. It was a temporary hold for sure, but hopefully would ward off the hens from getting bold again until she had the material to properly fix it. If Marlon was right about monsters coming down to the forest, she didn’t want to have to go run after one of them again.

Going back to finish cleaning the coop took quite a bit of time, but Marnie was proud of her work. The enclosure smelled fresh and clean, fresh soft straw laid down on the ground for the hens to roost in. She herself wasn’t exactly the cleanest after finishing though. Sweat from the heat clung to her skin, stray pieces of straw sticking to her hair and clothes. She checked the little watch on her wrist, 1:00pm. She had just enough time to get ready and work on the curio cabinet before her date with Lewis. She hated pushing off the quilt work again, just itching to pick up sewing again, but it would just have to wait for now. Such was life.

But oh, how fun it was getting ready. Marnie felt just like those princesses in those movies Jas loved to watch, dancing around as she donned her favorite dress, mind full of thoughts of her “one true love”. She decided on a nice, purple gown for tonight, sewn in a similar cut to her everyday wear, but much more lavish. The fabric was soft and high-end, detailed embroidery along the bodice and skirt's hem. A silk shawl was wrapped around her shoulders, pinned in place with a brooch she’d gotten from her mother. A little distelfink was painted on the front of its opaline surface, a prized possession she hoped would bring her luck and new beginnings this evening. In the spirit of doing something new, she decided to keep her hair down, finding she loved how it framed her round face. Hopefully Lewis loved it too.

She felt beautiful, like a new woman. The stressors of today were the last thing on her mind, and oh how glad she was for that. A life that was simple meant that many days she had nothing more to do than stew on what had happened. Maybe that all would change too. With being in the public eye, maybe she could have more say in town, have more to do, places to go. She loved her family and her ranch, but she wanted, needed, more. And Lewis would provide that for her, she knew he would.

It was 5:30 now. Marnie had time for just one more thing before she had to get going. She looked to the little hope chest that sat at the foot of her bed and grabbed a heavy box from the bottom, full of old trinkets and heirlooms. Little porcelain statuettes, vases, and even some jewelry. But the most important piece of all was the music box that lay at the bottom. Marnie gently grasped it, removing the cloth the protected its fragile form and taking a good look at it for the first time in years. Upon a pedestal with a turnkey stood a glass statue of a dancer dressed as if she were at a ball, arms held out wide in a pose of triumph. The name “Mona'' was inscribed in gold lettering at her feet, a name that made Marnie’s heart ache.

It had been 27 years since she had passed now. She still missed her sister dearly, and cherished every last bit of her memory that remained; family photos, Shane, and this music box. Putting it out on display had been an idea for some time now, but only recently did she have the heart to pull it from storage. It was difficult seeing reminders of her even after so long, but it was time to confront this feeling again. The birthday they shared was coming up, and it would be nice to have something of hers in the main room. It would be the center of attention, the centerpiece on the middle shelf that caught everyone's eye. Ever so carefully, she placed it on the shelf, hearing the soft clink of porcelain against the wood. Removing her hands, she stood back to take a look at it, a small smile on her face. The cabinet was beautiful, fitting in perfectly with the decor of the foyer. It made the counter area look homier too. This is exactly what she needed to finish off the day.

But then, the shelf slipped. The support hadn't been placed as promised, causing the wood to crack under the weight of the heirloom. Without time to react, the antique slipped and crashed onto the floor, shattering on impact. It took her a moment to process, a sick feeling in her stomach when she saw the dancer in pieces, an echo of the music box components ringing out discordantly. All she could do was stare, hands shaking as a silent rage built up inside of her. The frustration that was pent up in the back of her mind burst from its confines, making her dizzy with anger. Why couldn’t one thing go right today? Why couldn’t she just have a simple, peaceful morning, why couldn’t she trust her nephew to fix something so simple? She knew it wasn’t out of malice, rather forgetfulness, but somehow that made her feel worse.

The rage was quickly joined by a heavy weight of sadness, pulling Marnie to her knees as she looked at the scene in front of her. Shaking hands picked up the shattered porcelain pieces in front of her, careful to not cut herself on the sharp edges. She wanted to cry, to scream, but she couldn't. Something in her mind stopped her, as much as her heart begged her to. Scooping the broken pieces into her arms, holding it close to her heart, she stood and placed them on her shop counter. She felt sick to her stomach.

The front door swung open, the sounds of laughter flooding through the front doorway. Shane walked in, looking much better than this morning, with Jas sitting on his shoulders. She held the previously promised treat in her hand, a little pastry that her godfather had “borrowed” from the backroom at work. She was chattering away about some new book Penny had her reading at lessons, and Shane contentedly listening to her rambles. He lifted her off his shoulders, placing her gingerly on the ground, “Alright chickadee, why don’t you go say hi to the cows now? I’m sure they missed you today.”

Jas nodded excitedly, running off towards the kitchen door that led to the animal housing. Her giggles echoed out as she closed the door, her ever-so-loud voice still audible through the walls as she greeted the animals. Shane smirked and shook his head, turning to his aunt. He held up a little takeout bag with the saloon logo, “Hey Marn, I got dinner handled for me n’ Jas tonight. If you need to go now we’re fine.”

“I thought you said you fixed this.”

Marnie didn’t so much as turn to face him, her voice uncharacteristically ice cold. It sent a shiver down her nephew's spine, his smile dropping into a concerned expression, knowing he screwed up, just not how. He looked over to where Marnie was facing, seeing the collapsed shelf of the curio cabinet and tiny glass shards on the floor. Oh shit. He thought he had fixed that already, he truly did.

“Aunt Marnie I’m so-”

Marnie held up a hand, cutting him off, “I don’t want to hear it.” she turned to face the doorway, still refusing to look him in the eye, “I’ll be home late tonight. Leave the door unlocked for me.”

She stepped out without another word, refusing to look him in the eye. Shane was left alone in the foyer with a heavy guilt sitting in his stomach. With Marnie gone he could see the mess on the counter, approaching it to see what had broken. The first thing he saw was his mother's name. The guilt sat heavier, a sick feeling accompanying it. He didn’t know her for all that long, Mona had died when he was barely old enough to remember her, but he knew how much she meant to his aunt. And now, another act of his forgetfulness had destroyed something of hers. He felt like shit, and he knew Marnie deserved to be angry with him. Hell, he was angry with himself. What a mess he was making of things. He thought back on the entire day, cringing as he realized just how badly he had messed up. His attitude this morning, the mess in the kitchen, and now this. He had to make it up to her, he just had to.

Jas stepped back inside, not initially noticing the mess, “I’m back! I told Bertie aaaaall about today, she’s such a good listener!”

“Watch out for the glass!” he warned, pulling her away from the cabinet. Damn, he needed to sweep that up.

“What happened?” she asked, confused at the sight before her.

Shane peeked into the kitchen, grabbing the broom and dustpan off the hook on the wall, “I made a mistake, but I’m gonna make it up to Aunt Marnie. Wanna help?”

“Yeah!”

—------

“You’re going to have a good night… Don’t let this steal your joy.” Marnie whispered a little affirmation to herself as she approached the steps to Lewis’ home. It did little to ease her heart, but she needed to stay positive, at least appear positive. That’s what Lewis loved so much about her anyways, her ability to always be such a sunbeam even in the hardest of times.

The front door swung open with a creak, the mayor she loved standing in the doorway. Lewis was dressed in his favorite attire, brown suspenders and a deep green dress shirt, but Marnie thought it looked lovely. The mayor looked to the left and right, as if to check that no-one was watching. Once he saw that the coast was clear, he pulled her inside, wrapping her in a tight embrace.

“How are you doing, dear?” he whispered, kissing her cheek softly. Marnie smiled, letting out a small laugh as she leaned into the crook of his neck, “Better now that I’m with you.”

Lewis grinned, eyes crinkling up in the corners, “That’s good to hear…” he motioned to his dining room table, now decorated with candles and a lace tablecloth, “Why don’t you sit, I made your favorite tonight.”

All the anger and frustration was quickly returned to the back of Marnie’s mind. None of it mattered now that she was in Lewis’ arms. For now, there were no troubles here. Lewis indeed made her favorite, a hearty farmers lunch. It was a simple dish, but one that had many good memories attached to it. Just the smell transported her back to a simpler time, a time when everything was right in the world.

The couple made small talk, speaking about the town, all the hot gossip that had been spreading around. Pelican Town looked like a sleepy little village from the outside, but one would never guess how much drama was unfolding behind closed doors. Everyone had something going on, and with such a tight knit community that meant everyone knew about everything. The conversation switched to Lewis’ day. Not much interesting going on with him, he was afraid. He gardened, took a walk around town, and spoke with the new farmer in the town square about a secret little quest he had asked help with, but that was about it.

“ Nothing wrong with a simple day!” Marnie mused, taking a sip of her drink, “Sounds peaceful.”

“I guess it was,” Lewis chuckled, “How about you? What has my angel been doing today?”

“Oh you know, the usual. Cleaning, tending to the animals, decorating. Wasn’t much more exciting than your day, unfortunately.” the voice in the back of her head gnawed at her, begging her to be open about what had truly been going on. Against her better judgment, she listened, “Actually, maybe that’s not entirely true.”

“Hmm?”

“I… had a hard day actually.” she mumbled, “There was a spat this morning, one of the chickens got out, and-”

Lewis put up a hand, cutting her off, “Don’t you worry about all of that dear, just focus on the positives.”

“But-”

“Marnie, dear,” Lewis put a hand on hers, “It doesn’t help to dwell on the negative. We’re here now, we’re having a good time. Let’s look to the future.”

Marnie pursed her lips, pulling her hand away slightly. Lewis was never someone who enjoyed talking about serious things, and she understood, but it didn’t make it hurt any less. Maybe he was right though, maybe she needed to focus towards the future.

“Well….” she began, folding her hands neatly, “I’ve been thinking recently.”

Lewis raised a brow, “About what?”

“About us.”

“What about us?”

Marnie sighed, taking a deep breath. Here goes nothing, “I want to make our relationship public!”

She looked to her lover with a hopeful smile, scanning his face to see what he was thinking. Lewis didn’t look impressed with the idea, quite the opposite really. He sighed and put a hand to his head, “Marnie…. No.”

“What do you mean no?” Marnie felt her voice grow defensive, a tightness in her chest, “Lewis we’ve been dating for 3 years now and you refuse to tell anyone!”

“You know I can’t!” Lewis scoffed, “I have a reputation to uphold in this town, an image to maintain. What would people say if they knew about us?”

The sentence stuck a dagger in Marnie’s chest, the heartbreak obvious on her face. Lewis stammered, holding up a hand, “Wh-what I mean is-”

“Are you embarrassed of me?” Marnie warbled, feeling tears form in her eyes.

“Marnie, please-”

“NO, Lewis.” the woman stood up, lunging across the table to get closer to his face, “Why would telling people about us hurt your reputation? Why would I ruin your image?!”

The mayor tripped over his words, trying to find a way to say what he wanted without getting her angrier, “I just meant that people may look at me differently if I tell them about us! You understand, don’t you? The mayor of Pelican Town with a rancher? What would people say?”

“I don’t know, maybe they’ll say they’re happy for us? Maybe our friends will celebrate?” Marnie snapped, “Are you embarrassed about my job? I make a good and honest living, Lewis. I’ve carried my family’s farm on my back alone for decades!”

“And I’ve carried this entire town on mine!” he snapped back.

“Please, I know all about what you actually do: Nothing!” Marnie hissed, “Ever since you became mayor this town has gotten worse! The community center is gone, Joja is ruining the small businesses, the bus is still broken! The only reason anything gets done around here is because the new farmer is pitching in! That’s your job Lewis, not hers!”

Lewis stood from his seat, slamming the chair angrily into place, “How dare you. After all I’ve done for you and your family... If it weren’t for me inviting Joja to this town, your layabout of a nephew would be jobless and still in debt!”

“You don’t get to talk about him like that!” Marnie barked. As much as she got frustrated with Shane, she never tolerated anyone speaking ill of him, even Lewis, “I don’t want to ever hear you talk about my family that way again.”

Lewis threw his arms up in exasperation, “Where is this coming from?! You’ve never acted like this, this isn’t you.”

“Well maybe it is! You never let me talk about these things! I’m so tired of acting happy all the time, Lewis…” she paused to catch her breath, holding her head in her hands, “I’m tired of all of this. You get so upset with me when I try to talk about my problems. “Just focus on the positives!” , well maybe I don’t want to! Maybe I’m sad, an-and I need help, because I don’t know what to do anymore!”

She finally broke out into sobs, letting the sadness take over for the first time, “I’m the only one keeping my family together, Lew. If I were gone tomorrow, everything would fall apart. I can’t keep being the only person who has it together and I’m so tired of doing it by myself.”

“You aren’t doing it by yourself, you have me.”

“Do I?” Marnie snapped.

There was a tense silence for a moment, Lewis just staring at her with such shock. Marnie had never cried in front of him before, never spoken against him. He didn’t even know what to say. All Marnie wanted was for him to comfort her, for him to take her in his arms, to tell her he was there for her. She needed someone to finally let her be free.

“I’m sorry you feel like I’m such a terrible person.” Lewis’ voice dripped with contempt, “I’m trying Marnie, but you can’t just throw all of this onto me with no warning. That's not fair.”

Marnie looked up, staring at him with puffy, tear filled eyes. Did she just hear him correctly? Her face contorted to one of anger, arms falling to her side, hands balling into fists. How could he say that to her, like she was the one who was the problem. Lewis approached her, holding his arms out like he was ready for an embrace.

“But it will be okay, Marnie. I love you, I want to be with you.” he hugged her, but Marnie wouldn’t return it. She stood still as a statue in his arms, rage undeniable.

“I forgive you too, Marnie. Why don't we just try to talk about something nice, hmm?”

The rancher pushed Lewis away, staring at him in disbelief. She didn’t have the words to describe how betrayed she felt right now. Lewis had the audacity to look confused, as if he had no clue why she’d be so upset with him.

“I… I need to go.” she choked out, shaking her head slowly. Lewis groaned, “Marnie stop, we can still have a good night.”

“No.” she hissed, putting a hand on the front door handle, “I’m leaving.”

“Marnie!”

“What?!”

“Go through the kitchen window. I don’t want someone to see you and get ideas.”

Marnie opened the door, giving him one last look, one full of anger and exhaustion, “Goodbye, Lewis.”

She couldn’t be at the mayor's manor, she couldn’t be home, and she wouldn’t be able to handle the saloon. Marnie felt like she didn’t belong anywhere right now, and maybe she didn’t. She felt free, finally letting her feelings be known, but that freedom had a price, and that price was finding out how alone she really was. Lewis’ words and reaction stuck with her, infecting her mind and making it spin. She didn’t know who to trust anymore, the person she thought she could trust with her life completely broke her heart. Was she really that shameful? What was so wrong with her that she’d ruin his reputation? She stormed off into the mountains, the brisk autumn evening breeze frigid against her cheeks. She was thankful that she dressed warm.

The mountain lake was always beautiful at night. The valley didn’t have the light pollution of the city, meaning stars were visible as far as the eye could see, reflecting onto the water’s surface. Sitting under the oak by the lake’s edge on her own, she curled her knees close to her chest, letting herself cry once more. It was a quiet, mournful sob, a heart-wrenching symphony of every horrible thing that had piled up since Yoba knew how long. Marnie had tricked herself into believing she was happy for so long, using every distraction she could to block herself from seeing how terrible things were. They didn’t work anymore though.

“Fancy seeing you again.”

Marnie snapped her head up to see the source of the voice, finding herself once again staring face to face with the leader of the elusive Adventurers Guild. She wiped her tears, and sniffled, “Marlon? I’m sorry, I hope I’m not causing any trouble.”

The man sat next to her, shaking his head, “On the contrary. I don’t mind your company.” he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, holding it towards her, “Though, if you’re not in the mood for it, I can leave.”

Marnie scoffed, a bitter smile on her face, “Thanks. Not many people seem to care what I want around here.” she took the handkerchief, dabbing at the corners of her eyes, “It’s been… a terrible day.”

“Would… you like to talk about it?” Marlon asked awkwardly, “I know we’re not awfully close, but I’ve never been one to turn down a story.”

“Well..,” Marnie started, “My family is a mess, one of the chickens escaped, I broke an heirloom… and….” she buried her head in her knees, “And the man I thought I loved doesn’t love me...”

She began to cry again, not even caring that Marlon was watching. The adventurer sat quietly, nervously putting a hand on her shoulder as a quiet signal to let her know he was listening. The rancher sniffled and looked to him, “You must think I’m a baby for being this upset over it. There’s people dying in combat right now and here I am crying about this.”

“You’re not a baby.” Marlon affirmed, his voice gentle and genuine, “You wouldn’t say that about anyone else in your shoes, would you not?”

“Well… no.”

“Then why are you so hard on yourself?”

“Because I’m supposed to be the one who has everything together!” Marnie growled out, “Everyone always looks to me as someone to lean on. Lewis, Shane, Jas, everyone, they need me. I can’t sit here crying like this over one bad day. I have to be there for them.”

“But then who’s there for you?” Marlon questioned. It seemed to throw Marnie off, her expression just a bit surprised.

“No one, I suppose.” she mumbled, “I guess that’s a sacrifice I’ve accepted. It’s life, you know?”

“No, I don’t. You can’t just be out there on your own, lass. You need someone who cares for what you need and want.”

“I don’t even think I know what I want anymore... I don't want this but what can I do? My life’s already set out for me; not like I can change it.” Marnie mumbled.

“It’s never too late to make a change, to be happy.” Marlon stated, “There’s always time,”

The rancher laughed softly, “You think so?” Marlon nodded in response.

Looking up to the sky, Marines eyes softened, “Well... I always wanted to be an artist. I went to school for it actually, textile arts.”

“Is that so?” Marlon smiled, leaning back against the tree behind them, “You’re such a natural with animals, I didn’t take you for that type.”

“Ranching is nice, but it was never my dream. Trust me, I love the animals, but that was more my sister’s passion.” Marnie’s face grew solemn, “When… our parents passed, she took over the ranch so I could pursue my dream. I was doing so well, I had a good job in the city already lined up for once I was out.” she took a deep breath, “Mona died the year I graduated, left the business and Shane behind. We don’t really have anyone else, so I had to turn down the job and come home.”

She turned to face Marlon, surprised to see his normally solemn face full of pity. Shaking her head, she turned away, feeling almost embarrassed, “I don’t know why I’m telling you this, I’m sorry. Mona’s just been on my mind recently and Lewis doesn’t like when I talk about it.”

“Lewis? Is that the man you were talking about earlier?” Marlon felt an odd twinge of jealousy in him, “I never thought you two were… on those terms.”

“Well not anymore!.... Maybe… I don’t know,” Marnie scoffed angrily, “Apparently dating a rancher would look bad on someone so important as our mayor. He tried making me climb out of his window because he was too embarrassed to have me seen leaving.”

“Why do you put up with this?”

“Well why do you ask so many questions?”

“I… don’t know.”

“I guess I don’t know either.”

The two sat in silence for a moment, neither certain how to continue the conversation. Marlon had gone from knowing little about Marnie to knowing what she had barely discussed with her own lover within a night. He never knew there was so much to her, their conversations at festivals never piercing past the surface of small talk. But now, all he wanted was to be closer to her.

“I think you should try pursuing your dream. again” he finally said, staring off towards the lake, “You’ll regret it if you don’t.”

Marnie shook her head, “Oh, I couldn’t leave the animals behind, or the business. It’s been in my family so long… And my nephew, bless his soul, he’s not ready for that responsibility. He won't admit it, but I see how his eyes light up when he does work around the ranch... Still, I know he’d have a hard time on his own. I’d be selfish to leave.”

“Then teach him how to do it and follow your own dream. Don’t you think you deserve to be a little selfish? Even once?”

Marnie chuckled, shaking her head, “It’s a bit too late for that, don’t you think?”

“No… Better to follow your dreams late than to let them die.” he let out a laugh, “Hell, Gil and I didn’t even start adventuring until we started going gray ourselves. As long as you’re still in this world, you have time.”

“Why are you being so nice to me?” Marnie questioned. It was almost suspicious how kind he was being. She wasn’t used to this, “What do you get out of this?”

“Nothing. I just want to be nice to you.”

A strange feeling came over her, almost a feeling of... love? It was true, she didn’t know Marlon that well. Besides the short conversations they had every once in a while, he was a mystery to her. But he was kind to her without any expectations in return, and he spoke to her like she was a person. He didn’t shy away when she showed emotion or encourage her to ‘just be happy’. It was nice. He was a good man, a kind man. With him, she felt seen in a way she never did with Lewis.

Slowly, she leaned her head against his shoulder, the poor man feeling his heart beat out of his chest. He had always loved Marnie from afar, but never spoke more than a few words to her before tonight. And now, she was confiding in him as if they had been close friends all their lives, sitting with him while they looked at the stars. He felt like the luckiest man in Pelican Town. They basked in the comfortable silence between them, Marlon slowly sliding his hand along the ground to reach Marnie’s. Feeling his touch, she moved to meet him as well, interlocking their fingers. It was just them, the lake, and the stars. No one else existed to them in the moment, and for once today, Marnie was truly at peace.

“You look beautiful tonight, you know,” Marlon finally admitted. Marnie lifted her head from his shoulder, looking at him with surprise. A tint of blush crept up the guildmaster’s face,” You always do...”

“Marlon…”

“Please, let me finish.” Marlon clasped her hand between his, squeezing gently as he looked at her with longing, “Marnie… I don’t care for many of the festivals in this town, but I always go for a chance just to see you. I make up reasons to go into town, since there’s a chance I may be able to say hello. You are the most beautiful woman in this town, this world, and anyone would be so lucky to have you in their life.”

He paused, waiting for a moment to see her reaction. He half expected her to run off, finding his confession offputting. But she didn’t. She just stared at him, the same longing in her eyes, silently begging him to continue.

“You deserve to have someone that looks out for you. I want to be that someone and I’ve wanted it for so long... I need you to know that. I apologize if it’s made you uncomfortable.”

“...Quite the opposite, really,” Marnie whispered, leaning in closer, “I think I’d like to know you better, Marlon.”

“As do I,”

Closing their eyes, they moved forward, lips gently pressing against each other. Marnie felt something now she had never felt with Lewis, a feeling she couldn’t exactly place. There was always the thrill of secrecy with the mayor, the feeling of the forbidden that made the adrenaline flow when they kissed. But Marlon made her feel safe. Being with him in this moment was soothing, warm. Her heart was racing, but for entirely different reasons now, good reasons.

The pair pulled back, unable to look each other in the eye from how flustered they had gotten. Marnie toyed with her hair, rubbing strands between her fingers nervously, “Can I see you again tomorrow?”

Marlon cupped a hand to her face, brushing his thumb against her cheek, “You are always welcome at the guild… Stop by at 7 tomorrow night.”

“It’s a date,” Marnie smiled. She stood up, brushing stray grass and leaves from her skirt, “I have a long walk home, I should get going.”

“I can come with you,” Marlon offered, “The mountains get dangerous at night, all sorts of creatures crawling out of the mines looking for a poor soul to follow.”

Marnie gave him a playful jab in the side, “Oh stop it, you’re not scaring me… a walk home does sound nice, though.”

Marlon smiled, holding out a bent arm for her to hold onto, leading her down the mountain. The feeling of the unknown that had been around them for so long was gone. They knew each other for such little time, but Marnie felt like she could tell him anything, as did Marlon. He told her all about his escapades in the mines, the monsters he faced and wild tall tales of his brushes with death down in those depths. She wasn’t sure how much of it was true or a legend, but she was entirely enthralled. The cadence of his storytelling voice, the excitement with which he spoke, it made her feel alive in a way that she never felt alive before. She’d grown so used to the same old stories; weeding the garden, standing in town square, visiting the local businesses. There was nothing wrong with a simple life, but this is what she wanted, no, needed more than anything. She needed someone who could excite and surprise her, and someone who listened.

It was near midnight by the time they reached the ranch. The moon was at its peak over the mountaintops, soft sounds of crickets chirping in the bushes. The lamp next to the door was lit, the soft yellow glow encircling the pair in angelic light as they said their goodbyes.

“I’m glad you found me again.” Marnie mused, taking his hands in hers, “Thank you, for everything.”

“Anything for you,” he responded, giving her hand a gentle kiss, “Have a goodnight, Marnie.”

The two parted ways, Marnie stepping softly through the door of her home, shutting it softly as to not wake Jas. The overhead lights in the foyer were on, buzzing softly. It initially frustrated her. Shane always forgot to turn them off before going to sleep, making for an expensive electric bill, and she wasn’t exactly made of money. But something caught her eye. The curio cabinet was polished and cleaned to near perfection, as was the once dusty floor. The glass shards that she had left behind were nowhere to be seen, only her own shiny reflection.

But most importantly was what was inside the cabinet. The middle shelf had been properly fixed, a support anchor screwed in beneath it. On top was Mona’s music box, glued together the best it could be. There were little gaps here and there, chips on the paint, but it was whole again. She gently picked it up, rubbing her thumb over the name on the pedestal. A little piece of paper, a note, sat next to it. Scrawly letters in Shane’s handwriting were scribbled on the front in pencil. She picked it up, squinting to read :

“I’m sorry about the mess I caused. It’s not fair to you. You’ve done a lot for me and Jas and I wanted to show I actually appreciate it. It’s not perfect, but we tried to get it fixed up.

I know I screwed up today. I’ve screwed up a lot recently. But I want to be better for you and Jas, and I hope you can forgive me for everything.

-Shane”

Marnie looked to the direction of her nephew's room, smiling softly. It was gestures like these that reminded her of just how sweet he was. Shane wasn’t all that different from her really, and she understood just how easy it was to fall into the habits and behaviors he had picked up. She tried to be patient, give him the time and support he needed, the same that she needed when she was in his place 27 years ago. It was taking time to get back to normal, or something close to it, but these moments made her feel like things could be okay again.

Marnie gently placed the note on her shop counter, making her way into her bedroom with a small smile on her face. She turned on her nightstand lamp, sitting down on the old bed that sat flush against the wall. She pulled Marlon’s handkerchief from her pocket, rubbing a thumb over the fabric. It was a simple little square with basic stitching around the edges, the fabric a faded robins-egg blue. It meant everything to her. The initially unassuming rag was a symbol of a great change in her life, a change she never saw coming.

The adventurer had given her a new lease on life, hope that despite her situation, she could still continue to do more. Marnie could be more than just the little rancher in Cindersap forest, more than what was expected of her in this life. Lewis never made her feel this way, and she was beginning to wonder what she ever saw in that man to begin with. Perhaps it was out of desperation, out of a desire for anyone to even look her way and consider her desirable, no matter how they treated her. The bar was pitifully low, but Marlon had raised it to the stars in just one night. She could actually imagine the future she wanted with him, Lewis’ face fading from those visions. Holding hands as they strolled in town, waltzing together at the Flower Dance, and maybe even getting married. Today was a good day, she decided, just not in the way she ever expected.

She turned to look at the dial-up phone on her dresser. She had made an important decision, and it was time to let it be known. Picking up the receiver, she dialed in Lewis’ number, waiting anxiously for a response. She half hoped he’d pick up so she could hear his reaction in real time, but mostly prayed that he was asleep. Ring after ring droned out, until a prompt to leave a message started. Taking a deep breath, she spoke softly, yet firmly into the receiver.

“We’re done.”

[pitter-patt-art]

Ace Attorney AU August (halfway progress update!)

Okay technically it's the 16th (lol, 17th by the time this is done) so a little over halfway actually, but still I thought since I haven't had anything finished to post the past few days this would be a fun alternative!

I've been going a little nuts (affectionate) over @augustwritingchallenge's AU-gust prompts list this year so August has been a wild ride (about 40k words of one, in fact. so far.) but seeing as I will get attached to even the jokiest of AU ideas instantly, I've completed* a whopping 5 whole fics of 16, lol. Considering the shortest of those is over 3k and the longest is over 12k, I think the problem with not finishing these in a timely manner is entirely on my verbose foolish thick skull, haha, but I'm still having a blast with it.

Here is my ao3 series where I'm posting!

And a rundown / progress report / quick teaser of all the AUs including those I've yet to finish, if anyone's interested:

(*by "completed" I should note two of the already posted fics are basically assuredly going to be continued past the challenge, but let's say "completed enough to post and be on theme")

1. Canon Divergence - complete - 4.5k words ("For the Murder of Mr. Wrong" link)

Mia POV, gen. What if Dahlia succeeded in poisoning Phoenix and framed Doug Swallow instead (and then Mia defended him in court)? Basically a 3-1 rewrite. Fun Fact: I only came up with this AU because before I even remembered AU-gust existed at all, I'd come up with like 4 totally separate AUs in which I poison Phoenix in various ways With Real Consequences because it amuses me, lol, but he survives all those other ones and I eventually realized I hadn't even considered straight up killing him off yet so I figured I should try it at least once, haha.

2. Colorless - complete 1st chapter - 3.2k words ("Grey Matters" link)

Phoenix POV (for 1st ch --prob alternating after), wrightworth. "You can't see color until the first time you touch your soulmate"-soulmate AU. 1st chapter is their first meeting as kids (skipping the class trial itself). Fun Fact(s): I really love a color soulmate AU! Big fan of the "only see the color of their eyes" type of one too but uhhh on top of that working better for things that have wild anime eye colors, you could not pay me enough to try to figure out what the HELL is going on with Ace Attorney eye colors at any given time lmfao. (Also--spoilers for what i haven't written yet but hey if you're here you earned it--this IS one of my very many "teehee what if i poison Phoenix just a smidge as a treat for me" fics. NOT my fault the man ATE GLASS. That's on him.)

3. Dark Academia - complete "1st chapter" - 4.4k words ("The Spirit of the Laws of Magic" link)

Mia POV, lanamia. Magical boarding school setting featuring corruption and missing-student conspiracies and a most likely overthought system of magic with hierarchies and prejudices in societal views of academic/formulaic vs folk/innate magic. Fun Fact: I really thought for SURE i was going to skip this day entirely, lol. (foolish.) I don't think i've actually ever personally read anything "dark academia", technically--so if this doesn't read EXACTLY that way, there you go, but i did my best. I also then thought I could live with keeping this vague but I accidentally thought about it too long so... plus at least two people on top of myself at this point have expressed interest in more of this and so I have some semi-concrete Plans™ now.

4. Zombie Apocalypse - conceptualized (but not started)

Concept: probably gen and Phoenix POV, but also because I'm me and they're them, at least a little bit wrightworth even if it isn't necessarily explicit in any meaningful way bc they are Not Normal about each other lol. A little sketchy on how much of an "AU" this counts for, since it could probably be argued to be canon compliant somehow, but basically just: Universe where they make a Pride and Prejudice and Zombies-type Steel Samurai reboot movie thing (featuring, you guessed it, zombies), and Miles comes over and forces Phoenix to watch it with him just to have someone to bitch about it at, and then during that time Maya blows her way into Phoenix's apartment as well with the exact same intentions except her "day job" isn't quite as time-sensitive-strict so she's already finished watching it earlier and knows all the spoilers. Honestly a good chance Phoenix and Pearl (who came with Maya) end up hiding out in the kitchen together to let Maya and Miles rile each other up in front of the TV, but I'm never exactly sure where they'll take me once I wind them up and set them loose on the page, so who knows. I also hadn't necessarily determined the exact time frame yet but for it to make sense as a reboot-type movie/special episode/whatever it probably should be 7yg-or-later so Trucy may or may not be there as well. (That said, in my struggles to complete an actually short one-shot, I probably shouldn't even include Pearl let alone Trucy, lol.) Fun Fact: I also thought I'd skip this day bc I'm not the biggest zombie guy in the world, and to be fair, I managed to do Way Less with it than the dark academia prompt so, yippie?

5. Chess Players - incomplete (currently 3k word WIP)

Miles POV, wrightworth. Miles is a chess grandmaster and back in Japanifornia for the upcoming world cup tournament, but his greatest challenge is actually to FINALLY best Franziska in their annual who-can-get-the-best-Christmas-gift competition. Luckily, he just so happened to hear of an artist who makes bespoke chess sets, so the plan is to get a custom board made for Franziska without her finding out. The plan is not to get trapped in a weird art collective labyrinth with some model-photographer named Cindy who keeps hitting on him but also happens to be protective of the artist he's there to see because "she and her boyfriend kinda-sorta owe him big time", but this is what he gets for coming here without doing any extra research into the artist besides seeing his work and hearing only "his name is White, or, eh, something like that, you know how those artist types are" from Mr. Amano. (AU where we replace law with chess and no I don't think Phoenix could necessarily hack it in the top-world-grandmasters-level of chess tournaments HOWEVER have you considered he DID go to art school so what if he just tries selling custom chess sets until somehow that reconnects him with Miles. Is that somehow a more insane plan than studying law? Maybe. Did Manfred still shoot Gregory but now it was over fucking chess? Maybe. Idk. But I did let Greg live this time at least!) Fun Fact: we can all DEFINITIVELY blame my lovely, terrible, very wonderful friend Ben (shameless friend plug! she's an outstanding writer and has some AA fics of her own too!! @kindlystrawberry on tumblr!!) for making a total joke about "well what about au where they make chess pieces instead" while i lamented not knowing enough about chess to write an actual match and spawning this ENTIRE concept. It is her fault. 100%. She is the guilty party. (I want to finish this one VERY BADLY. Save me.)

EVIDENCE!!!!! Guilty.

6. Reality Show - incomplete (currently 700 word WIP)

Phoenix (& Franziska) POV(s), background wrightworth wedding planning going on as set up but it's also definitely just one of my many excuses to set Phoenix and Franziska up as bitchy worsties who can't admit they enjoy each other's company and will cut you down if you suggest it as such. So far I've only written the quote "set-up" section which is in Phoenix's POV, but that was SUPPOSED to be like 5 paragraphs and cut away and then lead into my actual plan for the main body, which was to be in Franz's instead, so. This is very similar to the zombie one in that it's them watching reality tv instead of being contestants on a show (I don't personally like or watch a lot of reality tv so my creative well was somewhat dry on how to make that work) and then I accidentally thought about Phoenix and Franziska watching something just to judge and tear apart the decisions of every person on it and that was too fun to not consider further, haha. Basically the plan is just they get left alone together and don't know what to do with that and end up wine-drunk and making fun of some reality dating show of some kind and Miles and Trucy come back to them losing it together over something stupid and are like "......uh. what's happening." Fun Facts: I really love the thought experiment of Franziska somehow discovering how often Phoenix's internal dialogue/reads on situations and especially people can be So Bitchy And Judgey despite his affable complexion, and her unfortunately finding his opinions to SOMETIMES be somehow slightly okay. Moderately correct, even--occasionally. I know the section she follows you-as-Phoenix around in T&T is really not long at ALL, but I adore it. There's something about it that so badly makes me want to force them into proximity more (to both their chagrin, I'm sure).

7. Farm/Ranch - complete - 12k words ("Two Little Dickey Byrdes" link)

Gumshoe POV, gumbyrde (tho i still think dickeybyrde is a funnier ship name). 5+1 things--except more like maybe 7-or-8+1 to be honest--so it's more: over 5 times Dick and Maggey sit on a wall together and 1 time they find someone else there instead. AKA: Dick runs his family's small farm (think fantasy farm like in a farming sim or maybe horse girl novel type of thing that has nothing to do with what a real farm is like lol don't worry about it) and Maggey starts working at the next farm over as the latest of her many odd jobs. Fun Fact: oh god this one got so far away from me. it was not supposed to be this long lmao. it's literally the elaborate set-up to a very silly Nursery-Rhyme-I-Didn't-Even-Know-About-Prior-To-This -based punchline!?! still, i was pleasantly surprised by how happy i was with this once it was done... two sittings and about 16 total hours later. haha).

8. Nomad - incomplete (planned/outlined)

Apollo (or possibly Klavier) POV, klapollo. Sort of Jove-Thalassa swap adjacent, but basically: AU where Jove survives the Khura'in fire but loses his memories for [contrived convince sake reasons]. (And also possibly loses some or all of his eyesight just to really go for the parallels?) Therefore: Jove and Apollo stay with Dhurke and Nahyuta and the Defiant Dragons for a time, while Jove recovers, but eventually they leave and head out on their own, just the two of them, and do the traveling musician thing, both because it's dangerous in Khura'in and Dhurke already canonically didn't want Apollo to get caught up in it and potentially get hurt to begin with and because with a functioning actual parent Apollo doesn't need to be taken in by him--and also Jove from what little we know seems like he prefers to be on the move and was already a world traveler anyhow, so even amnesiac maybe he gets a little antsy stuck in one place too long. And so like amnesiac Thalassa, Jove thusly becoming a renowned mysterious musician--and then Apollo, sweet tone deaf Apollo, becoming the sonager of all time (like a momager but...you get it) because he's not that into music but he IS into arguing for better conditions/making deals (contracts!! international legalese!! woohoo!!) with venues and promoters and stuff. And then--oops dang Lamioir still exists and now they have a meet-cute (2 electric bugaloo) (but by then it's later enough Trucy still exists because it will be a cold day in hell when I don't find a way to make her work) and they do music collabs or join up to form a group or whatever and OOPS this means now that Apollo and Jove are with Lamioir when The Gavinners / Klavier specifically meet her and get her to come to do the Guitar's Serenade concert eventually. And Apollo and Klavier ofc thusly also have a meet-cute and then talk and bond etc etc. AND THEN the au STOPS THERE and I DON'T think about how without Apollo Phoenix is totally getting convicted of Zak's murder because there's no way that trial works out as well for him with some other attorney and I also don't think about how reasonable it would then be that maybe Trucy ends up helping Valant with his work setting up the trick for the concert afterward on account of the one father in prison and the other being dead and having left behind a notarized confession clearing Valant's name of suspicion, etc. AND I DEFINITELY do not think about how i could then still so easily get everyone in one place at the concert for Turnabout Serenade and/or any possible funny Sibling (And Thalassa) Reveal that could happen i dont i dont i do not--

9. Accidental Baby Acquisition - conceptualized (not started)

Gen, possibly my weakest / least defined idea on this list, but basically: Phoenix kind of already lives this in canon, lol (insomuch as an 8yo counts as a baby) so I thought, well, how to take it a different direction, then? And I thought, I don't usually go for a Phoenix Fey kind of au because I personally really love the relationships he has with all the Feys as-is in canon and so it's not quite as funny to me as, say, a Miles Fey AU where like Misty and Gregory are married, or any of the ones in that bent, because I'm sorry but that's just SO funny (and sad, but mostly funny) any way you slice it--plus his NAME is RIGHT THERE mia-miles-maya he FITS--anyhow, that completely aside, there are just a lot of reasons I really love the platonic relationships the Feys already have with Phoenix and I don't think it NEEDS to be made specifically familial to still be so very important, y'know? BUT. That said. AU where Phoenix is idk abandoned as a baby or maybe his parents die young or something and it's like a Thing to leave babies at temples or churches or whatever, right? So like--Phoenix adopted by the Feys AU but only because the more i considered it the more i thought it would be WILD for him to literally know Maya her entire life, and it's fascinating to me to consider a Maya who ISN'T basically left all alone to her own devices (and Morgan's) and who has someone absolutely in her corner in the village the entire time even after Mia leaves (who isn't a baby when Mia leaves, love you tho Pearls), AND also and perhaps more importantly, the ships-passing-in-the-night-ness of a scene where, like: Morgan does something sketchy or whatever and Phoenix wants to keep Mia updated but for whatever reason decides to go down to the city and actually tell her in person and so he's waiting outside the courthouse or something (possibly part of or perhaps Most Of the reason he goes in person is because he knows her first courtroom trial is that day and he wants to see her + hear how it went) and when he gets there she's in a heated argument with some asshole in a fancy over-embellished jacket and once that guy leaves Phoenix is like "Sheesh, what's his problem?" You know???? And maybe he really would never even know!!!! Bc he grew up in Kurain!!!! And has no reason to care!!! About some random prosecutor who was mean to Mia!! Aaaah!!! So that, and on top of that, Diego would be there too ofc at that point, and I feel like he would ALSO be quite a funny interaction in this scenario. ("Wow, someone's popular, kitten, you have all sorts of guys waiting on a chance to talk to you, heh?" "Uh.--I'm sorry, WHAT did you just call her")

10. Enemies-to-Allies - incomplete (currently 370 word WIP)

Ema POV, faraskye. Cyberpunk AU where Lana is still under Gant's thumb and Ema, with no other way to stay close to her and getting rejected from any of the sorts of jobs she really wants to do, decides to just join the security force (or cyber police or w/e I decide to call it) and is tasked with hunting down the Yatagarasu, guerilla hacker supreme who is threatening the sanctity of the capitalist overlords. Except Ema's squad gets ambushed and she's captured and tied to a pole, and with her useless fop partner seemingly not coming to rescue her (if he even noticed her absence), she does some quick cost-benefit analysis and decides she didn't really like that job anyway and maybe there's another way she can get her sister back in her life. So she breaks free of her own handcuffs (which she definitely didn't modify into incidental ineffectiveness she's still testing for bugs) and helps fix the "Little Thief" device her captor seems to have broken despite how obviously valuable and impressive the tech is, and they eventually come to something of an agreement. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, and all that. Either Ema as the hardware-engineer one and Kay as the software-programming one as the two sides of the tech coin, or else Kay can just be like doing the physical sneaking kind of spy stuff only--or maybe she knows a little about software but not so much she's a pro the way she is with infiltration and such. Possibly toying with the idea Kay herself is just completely an android, but if not, I think she has some cybernetic cyborg things going on regardless. Possibly from or inspired by her father? I also like the idea that Gant did something maybe more drastic with regards to having dirt on Ema to get Lana to do his bidding--like maybe Ema has a whole cybernetic hand because instead of just her handprint on a leather jacket, Gant has some sicko jar with her entire hand in it in his office safe, or something. I don't know why this would be useful to him but it is certainly an image. I also find it funny if Miss Fingerprint Powder Enthusiast doesn't actually have any fingerprints of her own anymore somehow in this AU, lol.

11. Retail Worker - complete - 6.7k words ("The Bake Anything Boulangerie" link)

Apollo POV, gen. Phoenix gets a job at a bakery instead of the Borscht Bowl Club during the 7 year gap, and Apollo happens to stumble across it and ends up meeting the Wrights while he's still in high school. He becomes a regular at the bakery and is already close to them by the time "Shadi Smith's" murder comes around. And also, yes, sibling reveal right away--at least as soon as Phoenix realizes and can reveal it. As a treat. (Other reveals, though, I might put poor Apollo through on a delayed basis. Also as a treat, lmao, just not one for him.) Fun Fact: I'm being redundant bc this is also in my a/n, but, Baker Phoenix lives rent-free in my brain because Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright was in fact the very first Ace Attorney game I ever played, technically, and Maya and Phoenix semi-brainwashed in that bakery was literally one of my first impressions of them. ........followed immediately by starting a let's play of Justice for All (which i watched through the first case, after which I was like oKAY fine maybe i DO need more context here, i should probably figure out what the actual first game is, and went back to start the series properly at the beginning hahaha). What do you MEAN i have a disproportionate fascination with amnesiac Phoenix, even if I have yet to finish and publish one of my myriad AUs that utilize stupid, unrealistic, plot convenient re-temporary amnesia?? Hm???? Idk what you're talking about. Also everyone who complains about 2-1 is wrong lmao it's objectively (okay subjectively is what i'm saying yes BUT objectively) such a funny place to start without knowing broad plot strokes, it's great. I both knew so much and absolutely shit-all nothing about Maya after PLvPW and 2-1, LMAO. god.

12. Animagus Wings (Joker) - incomplete (planned/outlined)

Miles POV, wrightworth. Angel/Demon AU, except I'm playing super fast and loose with the rules on that because all my knowledge of Christian-mythos comes from firstly and unknowingly the Chronicles of Narnia and more recently and cognizantly Lucifer (Netflix) and Good Omens. I know that's probably more or less what we're all doing with this kind of AU but still, I'm not even sure I want to refer to Heaven and Hell here, I'm kinda on the fence about maybe just keeping it all very vague? I also accidentally semi-worldbuilt more than i intended incidentally on account of "But Then How-Why Names If Angelic Creatures?" Format-wise it would semi-follow gomens s1 where it's hopping through some meetings between long stretches but also a kind of pre- and post- Fall type of thing? And potentially à la Lucifer becoming, like, these are My Mortal Humans and i will be Spending Time With Them, screw you celestial duties, I'm making my own Free Will, etc. And i mean i guess Lucifer is also a crime procedural lmao maybe they still solve crimes in the end too. Fun Fact: I didn't want to do the original prompt for several reasons, and sure fuck jkr is one of them but even before I knew about her I still wasn't really the biggest hp person in the first place? So i wouldn't know/don't remember at all the way it works without having to do the specific research and i...don't want to haha. Hence. And I know the prompt seems to be using it loosely / might just be borrowing the word and not actually referencing hp specifically but tbh either way human-animal shifter things just in general I can be somewhat picky about haha. (Okay okay plus full disclosure the ONLY idea I have for this sort of thing actually ties into my day-3-dark-academia-extended-au-verse and i COULD make my life simpler by just connecting the two days but Heh who would I be if I simplified things for myself... *sigh*) All that to say: I saw "wings" on the wild card list and I thought, ooh, well that's still sort of a related concept! Let's tag that one in! So it's still kind of day 12 prompt-adjacent, if you squint.

13. Found Footage - incomplete (planned/outlined)

Video Transcript POV? Is that a thing? Possibly capped by a little Phoenix POV (but i don't want that to get too long), wrightworth. Larry's new girlfriend of the month bakes weed brownies and Larry does not realize this and swings by the Wrights' apartment to beg some kind of help off Phoenix and forgets the whole tray there somehow (because it's Larry) and they leave to deal with Larry's thing and by the time they figure the brownies out, in some twist of fate Miles and Trucy have been hanging out (last minute babysitter/adult supervision? but she's at the very very least 14 or 15 here and most likely older, and Nick clearly isn't the most strict about like uhhh supervision in general lol sooo idk. he's helping her with a project or smth. it doesn't really actually matter; he's THERE, that's the important thing.) The point I'm very clearly getting at is they accidentally get incredibly high (not dangerously so because I'm not going that far haha but also, neither of them has actually been high before, so they are Affected) before Phoenix finds out what was in the brownies and tries to warn Trucy and hurry home to like, dispose of them or at least put a warning label on them or whatever, but he is too late lol. By a lot. Definitely an underage drugs tag on this bad boy because it's definitely sometime 18-or-earlier for Trucy, let alone 21. (idk about other places but as a Californian I can tell you Japanifornia "LA" could theoretically have it legalized at 21 for anyone (like alcohol) and 18 with Dr's permission--which Trucy definitely does not have in this AU lol.) Basically, Phoenix grabs Trucy's phone to get photo evidence so he can let them never live this down (after making sure they're okay lmao), but he ofc doesn't get technology so he doesn't realize he leaves the phone still recording when Trucy asks him for something / needs his help, so the recording just keeps going and captures a lot of tomfoolery and eventually some inebriated-to-Extremely-sober Feelings-Adjacent confessions (or maybe more like allusions). Idk, this was actually a fic I thought of before August and wanted to use as an excuse to try a Weird Format for fun, but then i saw this was a prompt on the list and...well. Fun Fact: Cannabis was legalized in California on November 8, 2016 (the first election I could vote in!!! ......uh, rip. lol. but yeah babey I helped legalize weed at least!! gotta remember the positives), which means it was legal right in time for Miles' case(s) / Turnabout Goodbyes!!! Yay!! I mean, I suppose that's genuinely seriously one way to try to mitigate nightmares and manage insomnia--not that I think Miles Edgeworth would ever deign stoop so low as to use an aid to manage his severe PTSD and trauma symptoms, psshaw, who do you take him for? (Get these people some help lol. They all need so much therapy.)

14. Princes & Princesses - conceptualized (not started)

So I've been reading a lot (a LOT) of isekai and/or revenge reincarnation romance fantasy manhwas lately (like, oh, too many, hahaha. they're quite good and they're VERY popular in webcomics at the moment.) Soooo. Soft pitch: Apollo already gets slapped into so many wild backstories he's constantly trying to dodge in an effort to be just a Normal Guy, he's honestly, like, the PERFECT protagonist for one of these lmao. And tell me Kristoph doesn't make a perfect "Upstanding Duke" kind of persona, and Klavier couldn't be the "wild rake" younger brother no one expects much from, and all I'm saying is it wouldn't be that hard to contrive a reason Apollo tries to get Klavier to agree to a contract marriage the way all these stories go, lol. And also, something something, Apollo from the "real world" is an orphan/has an absent family (also like so many of these manhwa protagonists, lol) but then he gets to actually have one in his second life!! I'm such a sucker for that shit. Slightly harder pitch, and the reason I did not let myself actually start writing anything (...yet): so what if the actual plot of the "original romance novel" Apollo is familiar with from the "real world (Earth)" is actually about the slightly older generation and something something instead of admiring Phoenix as a defense attorney, it's just that he instead was Apollo's favorite "love interest" character (not, like, for himself, just the one he most liked to read about) in every way except what a blithering idiot he became when the author had him fall for the female lead--but BEFORE that, he's a cool information guild leader guy who seems like he's trying to work toward some way to improve conditions for commoners in the kingdom (but abruptly there are no more mentions of this after he gets involved with the lead, which is annoying). Aaaand... I guess what I'm saying is, Dahlia is the original female lead because she REALLY fits the whole White Lotus trope, and I'm thinking Klavier is the original male lead because A) hilarious, B) fits in with the idea there's more going on in the ACTUAL world Apollo ends up in that is written in such a way as to make things seem different in the novel (like, that Dahlia and Klavier are actually as nice as they seem and that the terrible things that happen around them are just the trials and tribulations of being main characters and not anything they're directly involved in). And Apollo, the character in the novel Apollo, is an adopted prince of Khura'in, but he's the sickly younger prince and of course not actually of the royal bloodline (and also a man, considering Khura'in is matrilineal), so Rayfa and Nahyuta are the ones the public and other nobles actually know and care about and deal with. But wait! As it so turns out, The Wright Anything Information Guild (I feel like the actual guild name CAN'T have their freaking name on it front and center lol but you get the idea) happens to know some other things that aren't really expanded on in the original novel, and might be key to preventing Apollo's death so he doesn't follow the path of the original story, and also idk maybe Apollo and Trucy are half-fae or something like that and instead of like Aw Yay Bracelet in this AU it's more of a secret Iron Shackle Tool That Will Hurt I Mean Totally-Definitely-Help Us Later (still, in a way, passed down to him by Thalassa, but more as, like... she's kind of a secret hostage and does not manage to hide pregnancy number one so Apollo's now also a secret hostage, but she manages to escape so they don't know about Trucy, only she didn't tell Apollo basically anything to "keep him as safe as possible" or w/e, and......) Well, anyway. It got away from me before I even really wrote anything, that's all.

15. Secretly Alien - unfinished (currently 2.6k WIP)

Trucy POV, gen. Apollo gets sick of very consistently always losing the card games they play at the Wright Anything Agency (usually and in the specific instance the fic starts, Bullshit/BS) and in a stroke of inspiration somehow ropes everyone into playing Among Us instead. ("What! It's still a game of trying to lie/trick everyone else--like you like!--but I actually stand a freaking chance, so we're playing this or I'm going home.") Yes. This is my Among Us AU. Hi. They play Among Us. I'm justifying this one as prime AU territory however because A) Among Us has to exist in this universe, and even more pressingly, B) I found a way to force Phoenix to have--for at least a period of time if not moving forward in perpetuity--an actual smartphone instead of a Nokia-type brick cellphone. Which even under the wild but somehow plausible considering Ace Attorney circumstances I contrived, is just automatically a complete AU lmao. Fun Fact: I am so mad this one wasn't just totally finished day-of, lol. Why I ever thought I could give myself run of an entire WAA 4-person conversation and NOT get instantly derailed is beyond me. (And I want to get the prosecutors there, too?? Someone take the characters away from me.) Anyway. No, I have not written ANY of the actual Among Us part yet. Sigh. Also I haven't personally played amogus since like, 2021? maybe? And I know (now) that it's been pretty updated since then, but, ehhh, I'm just gonna run off like, lockdown-era amogus rules and vibes, lol. If I can get to the game part.

16 - Hobby Drama - conceptualized

I'm going to go out of order this time to say: Fun Fact: I have ALWAYS wanted to write a Reddit-style fic!!! I absolutely love them and I've read some REALLY, really good ones, so I've always wanted to try my hand at it. So theoretically this is the perfect time to make that a reality and write a r/HobbyDrama subreddit fic, buuut I got stuck before starting because I'm torn on two possible routes to take it (I can easily foresee myself caving and just doing both lol). - Option 1: Steel Samurai fandom discourse, always a fun/funny thing to think about, definitely would enjoy having Maya and Miles post some stuff for that. - Option 2: courtroom law fandom discourse, because come ON, how are those galleries ALWAYS SO FULL. The little wiggling rabba-rabba onlookers have GOT to have investment in this shit. And why WOULDN'T they, honestly. I've seen those trials and I have, in fact, spent a Lot of time thinking about them, not that any posts I've made lately would reflect that in any way or anything. Like I know it's hard to tell, but if I can be invested in the Lawyers Fandom, who's to say the people in the courtrooms aren't????? And I LOVE an outsider POV fic actually, I think they're so fun. So anyway. Reddit fic. You will be mine. Just as soon as I can hone my energy

And, what the hell, since it's so late now by the time I complete this "Heh This'll Be So Quick To Throw Together" post, I'll include today's, too:

17 - Flower Shop - conceptualized (at work earlier today. lol)

AU where Daddy Hawthorne is like, 97% less shitty. And the Hawthornes have a flower shop instead of like a gemstone industry or whatever. And he takes both Dahlia and Iris with him instead of dumping one of his daughters at a fucking secluded mountain temple and seemingly forgetting about her forever. On second thought, maybe what I actually mean is he's like 999% less shitty, lmfao. Anyway, Iris POV, but Dahlia (while not a "nice" person by any stretch) is not pushed to such extremes or nearly as desperate as canon, so Valerie lives, Terry Fawles lives, Doug Swallow lives, and Dahlia gets to live a good life overall--because as much fun as I love using her as a villain, she's really such a product of the absolute worst circumstances and I really do find her interesting so I've been kind of wanting to explore her in a less cartoonishly evil light, haha. (Don't get me wrong, I do love the cartoonishly evil light too, but I like spicing things up sometimes.) Like, she does (more) normal teen rebellion things ("Look at my inappropriately older boyfriend, Dad" "I'm going to talk my way out of speeding tickets and petty shoplifting as a bid for attention" etc.) and she still totally orders Iris around and Iris still totally does whatever she asks very much to her own detriment and has to learn to break away and be her own person. Fun Fact: I have a very passionate love for Iris/Adrian Andrews. Is that. Um. Is that a ship anyone else has ever considered before? Is that just me? I'm not sure but very possibly I'll just make this a rarepair fic as a treat, for me alone, teehee. (Like... it's about the becoming the master of your own destiny it's about breaking out of codependent cycles it's about how I genuinely honestly think they'd be each other's type and have chemistry even though they've obviously never interacted lmao... idk what to tell you.)

AND THATS MY AU-GUST UPDATE POST!!!

If you made it this far, take a sprinkle of my undying affection, and may you be blessed with AU inspiration if you so desire it!! (If you do not desire it, hopefully you are not cursed with it. I do not take refunds if you are. Sorry.)

Wish me luck with completing some more fics soon!!! Unfortunately weekends are actually my least free time because I work the most and the earliest hours so I have less time and am more tired, but also on Wednesday I'm leaving for a family vacation, which will either be the BEST thing to happen in regards to AU-gust or the WORST thing lmfao. If nothing else I have 2 flights, and I actually Love writing on an airplane, so fingers crossed for it being Good. <3

EDIT: Now with part 2 for the rest of the month here!

[n0bluev]

@fushiglow hmm….wonder who i’d draw this for all of a sudden and why… 🤔🤔

[fortemelody]

born to cross post my fics to tumblr forced to only post them to AO3 becus my irls will see them / have two million drafts in my notes app that i will do nothing with

[getinthehandbasket]

This blog is AO3-positive

Friendly reminder:

If you think AO3 is awful and people donating need to die, go to hell, etc. - get the fuck off my Tumblr.

If you think AO3 is doing something with whatever "extra money" you think they have - get the fuck off my Tumblr.

If you think you need to "pay content creators directly" instead of supporting AO3 - get the fuck off my Tumblr.

AO3 exists for a reason. It's an ARCHIVE. It's not here for your political agenda. It's not here to alleviate your icky feelings. It's not here to only host you-approved content. It is here as an ARCHIVE. It is here as a NON-PROFIT. It does not allow things that are illegal in the US. It does not host CP. It hosts words. If you find any actual CP, not written words, please fucking report it.

Fanfic writers are not "content creators". We do not create "content" for you to consume. We do not (or at least legally cannot) make money off of our writing. We cannot use someone else's IP that is not in the public domain to make money. That is illegal. We also do not create things necessarily for your consumption. This is not a capitalist creator/consumer place.

You know what AO3 does with any money that isn't needed to cover their current bills? They use it to invest in their own infrastructure, to pay for professionals to come fix things or build new things, to pay for the lawyers' time when it's needed to defend YOUR constitutional right (according to the US constitution, since it's based in the US) to free speech. They don't make profit off this. No one is getting bonuses, or perks, or (in 99.9% of cases; the .01% have pretty much been already listed above) even a salary/paycheck!

You wanna go back to the bad old days? Fine, stay off AO3. You want to make your own archive where you can enforce your own rules? Feel free. You can even use AO3's existing code, as it's open-source and available to all! You want to make money off of your fanfic? Good fucking luck with that, I hope you can afford lawyers. Or don't mind filing off the serial numbers to publish it as original fic. Because no one noticed that Twilight was bad Harry Potter fic, that 50 Shades was bad Twilight fic, that the Mortal Instruments series was bad Harry Potter fic. Nope, absolutely no one.

[merlyn-bane]

WHO WANTS SOME PORN BITCHES

[aetisishere]

hello ! I was wondering is someone's up for beta reading my work? It's currently on hold as I'm really busy nowadays :(

If you're interested you can send me a message and go through my work if you like ( my ao3 is linked in my bio )

I legit idk how to find beta readers so this is my only hope hahaha

[old-knightsvow]

i hate dialogue tags so much i will do everything in my power to avoid using them. anyway rosie time.

[kneeslapworthy]

Chapters: 3/12 Fandom: The Mysterious Benedict Society - Trenton Lee Stewart, The Mysterious Benedict Society (TV) content warning for this chapter: mentions of disordered eating

chapter three is now up!!!! if there are any grave errors please let me know because i was tired when i edited this!!!!! this chapter is also way shorter than i remember it being but oh well!!!1!! also for all my nicholas girlies he finally makes an appearance!!!!!!

[beskad]

I spent a frankly EMBARRASSING number of hours re-writing and editing the opening to this dincobb fic over the last few days. I'm still not 100% happy with every part of it, but it accomplishes most of the basic ideas, themes, and plot threads it needs to so that I can proceed to put them in Situations 😎

[safyresky]

Crystal Springs Chapter 8: now on ao3!

Read it HERE

Chapter 8: Aftershock

Unable to recall what caused her to experience the weird blackout, Jacqueline tries very hard to work past it. By ignoring it. Jack is relentless in his older brother duties, making ignoring it impossible. A letter from home arrives for Jacqueline.

At this point I've gone from "every two weeks" to "throwing it up as SOON as I edit it one...last...time. This is going very well, yes yes.

I have also taken some advice passed around in lieu of AIs scanning the works on ao3, and have restricted Crystal Springs to registered users only. Sorry about that! It isn't restricted at all on the blue site so, go crazy over there if you like!

Wanna start Crystal Springs from the top? Read the Prologue: An Encounter on ao3 HERE and ff.net HERE!

Story summary under the cut!

It’s been almost a year since Jack Frost thawed and things are looking…well, not so great. Jack’s powers are seemingly gone. Without them, the Dome that keeps the North Pole safe from the cold and its magic controlled is melting, putting everything and everyone magical at risk.

Unable to hide his power shortage any longer, Jack is forced to admit the truth. Thankfully, there is a solution: enacting the Legate Law, bringing Jack and the sister that he hurt so many centuries ago back together again. But when Jacqueline starts experiencing destructive blackouts, the pair are forced to head back home to Crystal Springs, bringing Jack face to face with the rest of the family.

Needless to say, between getting his powers back, helping his sister figure out what in the FROST those blackouts even were, reconciling with his parents, meeting the two even younger siblings he didn’t even KNOW he had, NOT TO MENTION the ancient threat that’s had it out for the ENTIRE Frost family finally making a move?

Saving Christmas (regrettably) is looking to be a little bit…complicated.

[thepowerofswayze]

demonstration

originally on ao3

based on this post by @fantasylandloser

pairing: art donaldson (challengers, 2024) / afab reader [gender not specified]

word count: 1.9K

warnings & info: 18+, afab reader, college era art AHHH, friends to lovers, first time together, mostly smut, oral sex (reader receiving), art is a munch obviously, reader wears a bra and skirt

summary: Catching Art up on your adventures gets hard when he doesn't get your explanations, or your hand puppet examples. Looks like you just have to show him exactly what went down. Based on this post that i could not stop thinking about. :))

☆

“Oh my god, fuck you!”

Art chuckled from where he stood, watching as you tossed the t-shirt he’d balled up and chucked at you back in his direction. It fell harmlessly to the floor a foot from him, and you glared at him as he snickered, picking it up and putting it away.

You were visiting Art, your close friend from high school, at Stanford. At that moment, you happened to be explaining how an interaction at a party at your university had gone a couple weeks before. Art never really liked listening to you talk about guys- hence, the shirt thrown directly at your face when you’d started describing this particular frat boy to him in detail- but he’d given up complaining a while ago. It was either that or be honest about why he hated it so much, and that was never going to happen. So, he tidied up his room as you explained the lead up, the flirting, the stumbling up the stairs. He fell back parallel to you on the bed as you got to the “good part”, his head by your legs and an arm over his eyes, like he could block out the imagery.

“Anyway, I didn’t think it was a big deal at first, like when we were flirting, but then I was on him, kinda like-” You took a moment to sit up straight, grinning as art groaned and propped himself up on his elbows to see you better. He watched you attempt to mimic the position with your hands, your left hand being the guy you were talking about, your right being you.

To Art, it just looked like you were mashing your hands together. He looked up from your hands to see you raising your eyebrows at him, as if to ask if he was following. “Huh?” He said.

With an exasperated sigh and without another thought, you pushed yourself up on your knees and waddled over to him, swinging a leg over his body and hovering just over his torso. For a moment, Art just watched, bewildered, as you steadied yourself with your hands on either side of his head. He let himself fall back from his elbows, hands sliding up your hips and settling at your waist, catching momentarily on the fabric of your skirt. His fingers peeked just under the hem of your shirt. Your skin tingled where he touched you.

“... Like this,” you said finally, blinking at him for a moment. “Well, uh.” You moved your hands to his chest instead, careful not to push too hard (though with the muscle he’d acquired since he’d started playing tennis for Stanford, you were sure it bothered him much less than you thought). “More like this, I guess.”

Art nodded, quickly licking his lips before asking, “Then?”

You tried not to look at his mouth. “What?”

“Then what did you do?”

It finally hit you then: what the fuck were you doing, climbing all over your best friend to ‘show him’ how you and some guy had been fooling around a couple weeks ago? That would just mean fooling around with him, obviously. That wasn’t really the plan.

But, it was too late for your common sense to kick in now. There you were, your hips hovering over his, not quite touching yet. You watched his eyes dart down to your lips, then drag slowly back up to meet your gaze. You couldn’t wait here and think about what you’d gotten yourself into and how this would change your friendship forever, though you got the feeling he’d let you take as long as you wanted.

Then what did you do?

You steeled yourself, biting your lip and watching his lips part slightly as he tracked the action with his eyes. Then you took that moment to fully sit on his lap.

You could feel his chest expand beneath your hands with his sharp inhale, his eyes snapping down to your hips, then back up to your face.

“This,” you murmured. You’d intended for it to come out cocky, maybe even a little seductive, but you could hear the breathlessness in your own voice. You were trying your best to ignore the growing pressure where your hips met his, though really, it was hopeless. 

Art’s ears were burning a bright shade of pink. The urge to gently nip at them crossed your mind, just for a moment. He cleared his throat. “Then?” His voice was almost a whisper, chest rising and falling unevenly with his nervous breathing. The way he was looking at you, like he wasn’t sure you were real…

Fuck.

You leaned forward, trying not to let your breath stutter at the friction caused by the movement, until your lips hovered just over his. Then you kissed him.

You pressed your lips together gently, lingering for a moment before pulling back by centimeters. His lips chased yours, his grip on your waist tightening ever so slightly, and you were right back on him, lips falling open against each other. A soft sound escaped him as your hips shifted against his, along with a contented sigh from you. You repeated the motion, reveling in the low groan he let out, followed by your name murmured into your mouth.

Art’s lips were soft. And he’d shaved recently, you thought, hands cupping his face. The smooth skin of his cheeks was a stark contrast to the calloused hands he was now raking over your thighs, your skirt pushed up around your hips. You broke away from his lips, kissing down his neck instead, listening to the noises he made whenever you left a mark, whenever you ground against him just right. “Shit,” he gasped. “You’re- You’re sure?”

“Yeah.” You left another kiss just below his ear, before murmuring, “What is it?”

You could feel him all but shudder beneath you. “Fuck,” he groaned, then your name, before he looked you in the eye. You resisted the urge to dive right back in. “Let me eat you out,” he said, suddenly determined, though still flushed and dazed. “Please.”

All you could say was “What?” because, surely, this was one big dream.

“Please.” His hands hadn’t stilled, still rubbing shapes into your thighs, his hips rolling up against yours. “Can I?”

Your entire body was on fire. “Okay, yeah. Yes.”

He wasted no time flipping the both of you over, laying you against the bed so he could kiss down your neck. You barely had a moment to process, your hands moving to tangle in his hair, one of his knees slotted between your legs. He tugged at the bottom of your shirt, prompting you to lift yourself slightly and help him get it off. Your bra came next. “You, too,” you murmured, pulling at his shirt and making him chuckle. He reached behind his head, tugging it off in one swift movement and abandoning it beside your shirt and bra on his freshly cleared floor.

One of his hands slid down your chest from your shoulders, enclosing one of your breasts, the thumb circling your nipple. You bit your lip and sighed, pulling him down for another kiss by the back of his neck.

Art let his hand trail from your chest down the sides of your stomach, then slotted his palm right between your legs, over your underwear. You gasped quietly, pulling away long enough for him to return his lips to your neck, your shoulders, your collar bone. You murmured a couple choice words as he started to move his palm, rubbing at your clit through the fabric. The dulled sensation was almost enough on its own, paired with the kisses he left against your chest. “Arthur,” you whined, tugging at his hair. “Don’t fucking tease me.”

A grin overtook his face at the use of his name, his hands only slowing down, tracing torturously slow circles over you. Art only snickered at your glare before hooking his fingers into the waist band of your underwear, pulling it down and leaving you in your skirt pushed up to your waist. He watched you carefully as he slid further down so that his head was between your legs. His finger only traced a line from your clit to the bottom of your hole before whatever restraint he had was gone, and his mouth was on you.

Art’s tongue flattened against you, the warmth and friction making your head fall back as your eyes fell closed. “Fuck,” you moaned, hands threading into his hair as he answered with an equally obscene noise, muffled against you. ‘Hungry’ didn’t even begin to describe him, his mouth falling into a vague rhythm, eyes closed blissfully, whining into your pussy like it was doing him just as much good as it was you.

You thought about asking him to finger you while he worked, but his tongue prodded at your entrance and almost immediately, words escaped you. You brought one hand up to your face, clasping it over your mouth to muffle your moans, but Art stopped suddenly, watching your face. You whined your confusion, and he reached out to tug at your hand. “I wanna hear you. Let me.”

You blinked at him, chest heaving, and murmured “Alright,” before watching his head dive right back between your thighs, one hand still intertwined with yours. You had no choice but to moan unabashedly, your other hand busy pulling at his hair.  His free hand was wrapped around the outside of your thigh, pushing it in towards his head, so tightly you were sure it couldn’t be comfortable. But there he was, continuing to move his tongue against you like there was nothing else he’d rather do, whining and whimpering like you were his first meal in weeks. “Fuck, Art,” you cried, barely keeping your eyes open so you could watch him move. “You’re gonna make me cum.”

He groaned at that, relenting the pressure of your thighs against his head just long enough to reply: “That’s it, baby, please.” If he had anything else to say, he couldn’t keep himself off of you long enough to finish, already pushing your thighs back against his head, nose bumping against your clit as he bobbed up and down.

It seemed like that was all it took, really. You squeezed his hand and his head embarrassingly tight as you felt yourself tip over the edge, head thrown back and eyes squeezed shut. Art kept up his rhythm as you cried out his name, your hips rolling against his face. He didn’t stop even when you’d come down, chest heaving, until you basically pushed him off, desperate for a moment of relief.

He kept a hand on your thigh, the other untangling from yours to push his blonde hair out of his eyes and look at you. He was breathing as hard as you were, you noticed. His mouth hung open as he panted, the entire bottom half of his face coated in saliva and your arousal. Fuck, he was pretty like this. “‘S good?”

You shook your head, beckoning him toward you and pulling him down by the back of his neck when he was close enough. “You’re unbelievable,” you murmured, lips against his almost before you were even done speaking. You didn’t mind the stickiness. You pulled back to look at him, then glanced down to the tent in his pants. “Lemme return the favor.”

Art let out a breathless chuckle. “I don’t think I’m gonna last that long,” he said, somewhat embarrassed. “Not if you’re the one touching me. Not after this.” He gestured to the shine still on his face, to your thighs beneath him. Your face burned, and your smile was so wide that your cheeks hurt.

You shrugged. “Lemme try anyway,” you said, before bringing his ear down to your lips, nipping at the lobe gently. “Please?”

He couldn’t say no to you.

[joelsdagger]

all the things i would do || one shot

masterlist | ao3 | resources on how to help Palestine here <3

pairing: joel miller x f!reader

summary: porn no plot. joel finds an article of clothing that belongs to you and there’s nothing holding him back once he gets his hands on them. 

rating: explicit, 18+ MDNI 

content warnings: [Post Outbreak], jackson era, established relationship, implied age gap (25+ years), joel is canon age, slightly domestic joel (blink and it’s gone), joel has a panty kink, panty sniffing, masturbation (m), soft dom!joel, fingering, oral (f receiving), unprotected p in v sex, pet names (use of baby, sweet baby, sweetheart, love), smidgen of fluff (these two are so in love it’s sickening), an inkling of a size kink (but in my head joel’s at least 6’5, he’s a BIG big man in my brain), joel’s filthy mouth, praise kink, hint of sub!joel, nipple play, one use of the word ‘Daddy’ (moots don’t look at me I couldn’t help it), slight tummy kink/tummy worship, cum eating. Joel’s POV. No use of Y/N. No physical descriptions of reader other than having hair long enough that it’s past her shoulders. 

word count: 3.1k

a/n: so, a few things before we get started. i’m new to writing fics and this is my first time publicly putting out a fic that wasn’t just for shits and giggles for my friends and i and i’m so fucking nervous like the amount of times i’ve panicked over this is a little embarrassing to admit but we ball. shout out to @skrunkly-scrimblo for encouraging me to actually write this all those months ago and for all your brilliant ideas and encouragement and practically holding my hand through it since day one. another big thank you to kat, aura, and naya for beta reading and helping me during the editing process. okay i’m done rambling, enjoy some of the filth that constantly plagues my brain <3 

Joel’s eyes blink open slowly, the sun peeks into the bedroom through the curtains across the room. For a moment he searches for you beside him, but remembers you’ve already left for the day out on patrol duty. Joel harrumphs, still bothered over letting you and Ellie bully him out of his patrol duties. “You’ve been hurting yourself too much baby,” You had told him a few weeks ago over breakfast. “Yeah, you’re an old man now. You fall over one more time and you’re done.” Ellie snickers from her seat in the kitchen. Joel just rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to the dishes, but you had caught the small grin on his face when he turned his head back to the sink. Against the two of you, Joel never stood a chance.

Joel drags himself out of bed towards his dresser to grab a new set of clothes. He throws on a blue shirt that fits a little snug on his well built form, the thin material stretches over his broad shoulders, across his strong back, and pulls taut over his biceps and he grunts as he pulls a pair of dark wash jeans over his strong, thick thighs, securing them in place with a distressed leather belt that he’s had for years. Once he’s dressed, he takes in the mess in the room. He notices both of your clothes from the night before are still scattered around the room.  He bends down to pick them up, he grunts as his knees pop when he stands back up. He starts gathering them up to toss them into the hamper already overflowing with clothes. The last article of clothing out of place is yours. Your black lace panties on the armchair in the corner. He grabs them and his eyes widen when he feels it, the center still wet from him making you come earlier. His cock instantly hardened in his jeans.  

Joel turns on his heel and in just a few long strides he’s in your shared bathroom. He deliberately avoids the mirror, knowing that if he catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror he’ll disgust himself even more. Briskly, he sets the laundry hamper on the tile near the bathtub. Joel brings the thin black lace up to his face, closes his eyes and he sniffs them, breathing you in completely. He groans at the scent of you. His cock painfully hard now. He knows he shouldn't but he can't help it. He’s addicted to you and he knows he can’t wait til you get home. He knows he can’t wait to have his way with you, dig into you any way that you will let him. So, without another second of hesitation, Joel unbuckles his belt, a clink from the metal hitting the edge of the counter, unzips his jeans and takes his thick, heavy cock out, and then brings your soaked panties to his angry, leaking tip. His precum meets the wetness of your panties and he hisses at the feeling. With the wetness of the gusset of your panties acting as a lubricant, Joel begins to slowly stroke himself, wanting to take his time, savoring every feeling, relishing in it. Joel soon becomes too desperate for release, he quickly loses control, his hips moving faster to fuck his hand, his hand tightening around his cock, the grip almost painful now. His eyes are screwed shut, as he throws his head back, the night before instantly replaying in his head.

He had just gotten out of the shower to find you sprawled out on your stomach on your side of the bed, ankles crossed in the air. He rakes his eyes over your form until his eyes land on your ass. You were wearing the panties he was currently fucking his hand with. You didn’t notice him stepping out of the bathroom, too busy looking at the photo album you had just put together. It’s relatively new, most of the pages empty, yet you were looking at the photos you had taken earlier that week at the Tipsy Bison. The one that had your attention was a photo of you and Joel that Ellie had taken. Neither of you looked at the camera, the photo had captured you mid-laugh, head tilting back, eyes shut, it was a full belly laugh at something Joel had said. Joel’s arm was around your shoulder tucking you into his side, smiling down at you, a rare type of smile, one reserved only for you. 

Leaning on the entryway, his arms crossed over his broad, tanned chest, he smiles at the view. You’re in nothing but your panties in his bed, in his home. His feet move without thinking, walking over to you. He brushes your hair over your shoulder, tracing his fingers over your soft supple skin down your back and over the lace of your panties, and lightly pinches your ass. “So pretty sweet baby,” he says shyly, almost like he’s speaking to himself. You turn your head to look up at him, smiling. Wordlessly, he took the photo album from your hands, placing it on your nightstand. He gets in the bed, carefully sitting on his knees while attempting to avoid loosening the off-white towel around his waist. You roll onto your back to face him, his silver curls still damp from the shower as water still drips onto his strong shoulders. He combs his hair back after a shower and the ends tend to curl up around his ears. It’s been months since you last cut his hair but you like his hair longer, you had whispered to him in the darkness of your bedroom, your naked, sweaty limbs tangled up together between his sheets. From that night on he hasn’t asked you to cut it for him. He likes it because you like it. 

While you’re busy ogling him, Joel’s hands immediately reach to trace the floral lace pattern before toying with the little satin black bow at the center front. His rough, calloused hands slide up your bare thighs, wrapping his large hands around your thighs and he pries open your legs, his hazel eyes locked in on your center like a bullseye and you notice the cocky smirk he’s got plastered on his face, pleased with himself that he’s already got you wet for him. 

He brings two thick fingers to slide over your covered cunt. He feels the wetness on the material and he pulls back to look up at you and finds your attention on his fingers. “What a mess you made, pretty girl,” he murmurs. You’re watching the movement of his fingers, entranced by his fingers teasing your pussy as he glides them up and down your slit. He clicks his tongue at you, “so wet for me huh baby? Always so wet for me. So perfect,” he smirks to himself as he gently pulls your panties to the side, revealing your aching, needy cunt. He lowers his head placing gentle kisses on the soft skin of your inner thigh, his lips tracing and peppering your skin all the way towards your center, his mouth hovering over the place you need him most and you shiver beneath him. 

“Joel,” you whisper, he chuckles seeing you all worked up for him. “Baby please,” you whimper. 

“What is it baby?” he tuts, “use your words, sweet girl,” he tilts his head slightly with a smug grin on his face. His fingers move up and down your folds. 

“N-need them inside me, p-please,” you whimper as you claw at his forearms, clutching them for stability. 

“Alright baby, lemme taste her first,” He lays flat on his stomach, moves his arms under your legs, and hoists them up over his broad shoulders. He lowers his mouth onto your cunt and the tip of his tongue licks through your folds. He hums at the sweet taste of you on his tongue. He flattens his tongue and licks a long thick stripe and he groans lowly, the vibrations making you squirm under him. 

“Fuck, more baby,” you beg. You gasp at the hook of his nose bumping your clit. Your hands fly to his hair, eyes closing swiftly, brows furrowed as you let out a loud moan. 

“There she is,” he smirks. He flicks his tongue over your clit. His eyes slip closed as he relishes in the noises leaving your mouth, like music to his ears. Your hips buck up into his face, selfishly grinding your cunt for more. Joel’s eyes flicker back up your face, “eyes on me sweetheart,” he murmurs. Your eyes snap open to watch him as he brings his fingers back up to your cunt, two thick fingers dip into you and you can hear the wet squelch as he eases his fingers in, simultaneously, he circles his tongue around your clit. He pumps his fingers slowly in and out of you, his tongue lapping at your cunt. You feel the pressure building up more intensely inside of your belly and then you’re chanting his name as he curls his fingers inside you, petting at the spongy spot he knows will break you. He closes his mouth around your clit and he sucks hard. 

“Fuck, Joel, yes yes,” Your hips bucking up into his face, your legs start to shake as you come on his face and your cunt tightening around his fingers, a loud strangled moan filling the air. 

“That’s my girl,” he says as he watches you gasp above him, pressing a quick kiss to your clit. Your eyes flutter open just in time to see him removing his fingers, all wet and shiny, and putting them in his slick covered mouth, sucking them clean. 

Softly, he grabs your ankles, pulling you down towards the edge of the bed eliciting a giggle. His favorite sound…well one of his favorites. His favorite being the next sound that comes out of your mouth when he quickly pulls your panties down. He sees the wet shine of your cum in the center and his face lights up with glee. “You made such a mess ‘a your panties, baby,” he tuts before tossing them across the room. He unties the towel from his waist and lets it fall and it pools around his legs, revealing his thick, heavy cock, the tip angry and beads of precum seeping out of the slit. You place your hands around your thighs, slowly pulling them apart, presenting your already spent pussy to him once again and he groans roughly.

He leans forward, his fingers running through your folds once more, and you quiver at his touch. He gathers your cum on his fingers and strokes himself twice before he dips the wide tip of his cock inside of you. A whine leaves your lips. That. That was his favorite sound. He doesn’t push in further… he doesn’t move an inch. He’s teasing you…wants you to ask nicely for it. Like clockwork his voice laced with honey he says “Ask for it baby, ask for my cock.” 

Desperate, you whine again “please joel… I need your cock.” Your needy fingers trail lightly over his soft belly, sitting up slightly, you place soft kisses from his belly button down to the dark patch of hair above his cock, his body trembles at the feeling of your lips ghosting over his belly and a breathy moan escapes his lips. He laces his fingers with yours, bringing your hands near your head, his large form encompassing your smaller frame, he lowers himself down over you, his lips brushing against yours. “Baby, please. Please fuck my pussy” you mewl. He pushes his cock deeper, deeper, and deeper til the head of his cock kisses your cervix, provoking a loud groan from him against your ear as he nestles himself into you, where he belongs. 

“See baby all you had to do was ask politely” Joel cooes. He drags his hips back, leaving only his tip inside you once again and you clench around him. “Fuck, goddamn you’re fucking tight,” he grits. Slowly he starts thrusting his tip in and out. 

You whine again, “Baby don’t be mean. I want all of it.” 

“Shh..I know baby, I know,” he soothes. Then in one long single thrust, he wedges his cock back inside of you to the hilt, bottoming out into your cunt, hitting the spot that only he knows with a loud ragged groan into the crook of your neck. His cock is stretching you out, feeling every twitch, he’s everywhere and it’s overwhelming. He hitches your legs up towards your chest, opening you up more, your chest pressed tightly against his, he drags the weight of his cock languidly between your slick, moaning at the wet sound of his balls slapping against your ass fills the room. 

When you look up at him it’s like you can see a lightbulb go off in his head and before you know it, Joel’s large hands grab the swell of your ass, he picks you up, and repositions you both so he’s on his back and has you sitting on his thick cock. He wants you to ride him. In this position you can feel him in the deepest parts of your belly and it hurts just a little bit but you find pleasure in it, you always have.  

Leaning forward, you place your hands on the headboard and arching your back a bit more, Joel's head falls back down onto the pillows. At the sudden change of the angle, his eyes shut for just a second before he’s snapping them right back open. He doesn’t want to miss a single thing. He wants to see it all.  He watches how your breasts bounce as you move and quickly, he leans up to catch a nipple in his mouth. He’s licking and sucking all over your pebbled nipple and then his teeth graze along the hardened peak before swiftly pulling it between his teeth. He moves onto the other and he flicks his tongue over your nipple, he sucks and nips at it lightly before he lets your tit fall from his mouth, admiring the slight bounce of your breast before his eyes lock in on your face, watching your face contort and your mouth open while you seek your high. It's his favorite thing, watching you like this. 

“Jesus Christ, look at you, you’re takin’ me so well,” he groans. 

The grip of his hands on your hips tightens but doesn’t guide you, just seeks some ounce of control. You lean forward more so your clit brushes ever so slightly against the dark patch of curls at his base. The friction makes you approach your orgasm quickly. Joel’s eyes flicker down to where you two are connected, taking pleasure in seeing his cock splitting you open, watching as it disappears deep inside of you. 

“That’s it, baby. Fuck….use me. Fuck yourself on daddy’s cock, atta girl,” You roll your hips faster, grinding harder on his cock, greedy and desperate to come again. “C’mon baby, come all over my cock.” 

His words and your clit repeatedly pressing against him make your hips stutter and you clench around him as your orgasm finally washes over you, harder than before. Your body goes limp on his chest. Joel doesn’t let up, he grabs your thighs and lifts his hips, relentlessly fucking his cock up into you. His cock slams into you so hard the wet slapping sound of your bodies fills the room. 

You turn your head and press your lips to his ear, nipping at his earlobe, you spur him on “c’mon Joel, come for me baby,” you softly rasp. “C’mon baby, for me, do it for me love,” you whisper and he whimpers, his thrusts becoming faster, more erratic. You bite down on his shoulder to muffle the whines that leave your mouth as he fucks into you harder, your walls tighten around him, his cock twitches inside you before he hastily pulls out with a long pained groan and with his cock between your bodies, his cum spurts out, thick and warm, coating his stomach. A moment passes and you lower your lips down his chest, feeling the rough edges of his skin underneath your lips as you pepper open mouthed kisses along his strong torso, the soft skin of his belly, over the jagged scar on his lower abdomen, all the way down his happy trail, you feel him shiver beneath you. 

You sit up on his thighs, locking your eyes with his, you bring your fingers down to his cum on his stomach. You look back up at him, your gaze meeting his as you swirl your fingers twice in his spend and bring your shiny, sticky coated fingers up to your mouth, closing your lips around your fingers, sucking them clean. His mouth agape, he’s staring back at you while you use your fingers to lick up his cum, “dirty girl, one’a these days you’re gonna gimme a heart attack woman,” he groans. 

The memory of it all…you riding him, your naked breasts bouncing, his cock impaling you, watching it disappear inside you over and over, your cunt clamping down around his cock and the echo of your moans as you came last night playing in his head sends him hurtling over the edge.

His cock twitches in his hand, his other hand slamming down on the counter, he groans your name raggedly and his thighs quiver as he comes hard into his fist, harder than he ever has when jerking himself off. He pumps his release into your panties, hot, thick ropes of his cum painting the gusset. His cum spurting out seemingly endless for a man his age. 

If you were here in front of him he would pull the fabric up over your thighs, making you wear your cum filled panties before going about the rest of your day.

But you’re not here so instead he brings the cum soaked panties up to his face, eyeing his spend and your wetness for a moment. He stops himself and contemplates the idea in his head as he eyes the glistening sheen over the center. Just as quickly as the thought infiltrated his head, he decides against it and bunches up the thin material and tosses them in the old laundry basket sat in the corner of your shared bathroom. Joel tucks himself back into his jeans, washes his hands, limping slightly as he walks out of your bedroom and closes the door behind him leaving your laundry for another day.

[graendoll]

A number of fanfiction authors are pulling their fics from Ao3 because people are illegally selling bound copies of these fics on etsy.

Pretty sure this hasn't happened to any of my stories. And I have given permission to folks to bind copies for personal use, which is perfectly legal and just and this post does not apply to those situations.

But this needs to be said:

If you are the kind of person who would download something from Ao3....bind it....and sell it on Etsy...you're dead to me.

The fact that people have the balls to take creative works that aren't theirs, that are provided for free to the world because of the joy it brings authors to share their stories with people who love the characters as much as we do, and turn around and sell them for HUNDREDS of dollars is gross and morally corrupt.

And the people who buy these copies, knowing they are putting the entire world of fanfic at risk, are just as bad.

It is ILLEGAL to sell fanfiction. It is immoral to buy it.

Fanfic exists in a liminal space where writers are protected because no money exchanges hands. The greed of a few is going to fuck it up for the rest of us. If you see bound fics for sale, please report the sellers.

[genshinluvr]

Seeing Stars

Pairings: Various Honkai Star Rail Men x Isekai'd!Reader (Nanook x Isekai'd!Reader)

Summary: Your and Nanook's intimate moment was interrupted by your Astral Express traveling companions. Caelus spots a hickey on your neck, you make a poor excuse regarding that hickey, and all of a sudden, you find Nanook balls deep inside you. Needless to say, Nanook is called the Aeon of Destruction for a reason. And that reason isn't because of destroying the universe, but because he's going to be destroying your insides.

Note: First (horribly written) smut for Honkai Star Rail >:D I don't know how to feel about the smuts I write— I'm not a fan of the smuts I write, but I hope this is at least a tiny bit decent. For those who are new, I tried to keep the smut as gender-neutral as possible, but this smut does lean more toward AFAB!reader/female-bodied reader. All of my smuts do lean towards female!reader/AFAB!reader with gender-neutral pronouns. As usual, minors DO NOT INTERACT! I don't post anywhere else but on Tumblr (Genshinluvr) and on AO3 (Aaliah_exo).

Warnings: Horribly written smut, oral (both receiving), deep throating, fingering, hair pulling, biting, tummy bulge, Nanook's got a big dick (are we surprised? No), cervix fucking, creampie, slight overstimulation, squirting (Nanook is called the Aeon of Destruction for a reason ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°))

Word Count: 7k

You wake up to feeling someone snake their arms around your waist, pulling you against their chest. You crack one eye open and peek at the clock hanging above the door. You rub your eyes and stretch your arms and legs while yawning. A deep chuckle breaks the silence of your bedroom, causing you to jolt and turn to look at the person lying beside you. Nanook is propped up on his left arm, gazing at you with amusement.

“Why are you awake so early?” Nanook asks, peeking at the clock.

You stare at Nanook sleepily. Nanook looks away from the clock, and the two of you lock eyes for a moment. Aeons above… Nanook is so breathtaking. Nanook lies beside you with a soft groan, wrapping his right arm around your waist and bringing you to his chest. You instinctively wrap your arms around his slim waist and bury your face into the nape of his neck.

You sigh. “I can ask you the same. It’s early in the morning, and yet you’re over here, watching me sleep like a creep,” you joke, poking Nanook’s shirtless chest with your pointer finger. 

Nanook chuckles and tightens his grip around your waist, kissing the side of your head. You close your eyes and slowly drift to sleep. As you’re falling asleep, the door to your room slides open. You groan to yourself and continue to keep your face buried in Nanook’s neck. Whoever slides the door open, you’re hoping they’ll leave soon.

“March, if it’s you, please let me and Nanook sleep in peace. It’s still early in the morning, and I want to sleep in before it’s early afternoon,” you say, your voice muffled against Nanook’s neck.

The person, you assume is March, huffs before stomping out of your room and sliding the door close. You peek from Nanook’s neck to see the bedroom is empty. You look at Nanook, who sighs and rests his head on the stacks of pillows. At least you and Nanook are alone, and March isn’t going to try to drag you out of your room at the crack of dawn. You stare at the Aeon of Destruction lying beside you. Nanook raises an eyebrow at you, the corner of his lips curving up into a smirk.

Nanook leans in and kisses the corner of your lips. You close your eyes and wrap your arms around his shoulders as he cages you between his body and your bed. You peek to see his arms beside your head, his biceps bulging as he adjusts himself above you. You gulp audibly when you notice he’s shirtless. While you did poke his shirtless chest not long ago, you didn’t fully realize that the Aeon of Destruction was shirtless the entire time. “How in the world did you not notice?”

“Why are you so pretty? Who gave you permission to be this breathtaking?” You mutter as your eyes trail up from his abs to his face.

Nanook laughs and grips your chin with one hand while balancing his entire weight with the other arm. You and Nanook look into each other's eyes, not saying anything. Nanook looks down at your lips, his eyes half-lidded. You bite your bottom lip, closing your eyes when his face gets near. 

Nanook’s nose brushes against yours, shutting his eyes. Nanook presses his lips against yours, lowering himself onto you. You wrap your arms around his waist, pulling him closer to you by wrapping one leg around his slim waist. Nanook breaks the kiss and begins pressing his lips on your jawlines. Nanook trails his lips from your jaws to your neck, kissing and lightly sucking on your neck.

You tangle your fingers in Nanook’s hair, tilting your head to the side to give him more space to leave small kisses and nibbles behind. Nanook kneels above you, slips his hands beneath your shirt, and gropes your chest.

“Fuck, Nanook,” you whisper, wrapping your other leg around his waist.

Nanook takes that as an opportunity to grind his groin against yours. You involuntarily squeeze your legs around his waist, whimpering when Nanook’s cock rubs against your aching entrance. You claw Nanook’s back as the Aeon continues to litter your neck with kisses. Nanook latches his lips against your neck, lightly sucking on your neck.

You run your fingers through his hair, rolling your hips against his. Nanook groans into your neck, his hands trailing from your chest to the globes of your ass, squeezing them tightly and making you grind your heat against his throbbing cock. You let out a quiet, strained gasp, eyes rolling to the back of your head when Nanook’s pubic bone presses up against your swollen bundle of nerves.

Nanook cups your face from under your chin and tilts your head up. You stare at Nanook— eyes glazed over with pleasure and want. Nanook smirks and pecks your lips. You pout at Nanook, getting ready to protest about him stopping, when there’s a knock at the door. You and Nanook freeze in your spots, slowly looking at the door like a deer caught in headlights.

You clear your throat. “March?” You call out.

“It’s Dan Heng. Did I wake you up by any chance?” Dan Heng asks through the closed door of your room.

“No, you didn’t wake me up. But what you did do is ruin the chance of me getting fucked deep into my mattress by the Aeon of Destruction, that’s what.” You think bitterly to yourself while Nanook cracks a smile beside you. Dan Heng clears his throat from behind the door as if he’s letting you know he’s waiting for your response. You shake your head as Nanook gets off you, lying beside you with one arm tucked underneath his head.

You sit up and rub your eyes with your knuckles. “Not really. March snuck into my room a moment ago, and I told her to let me sleep in. Did something happen?” You ask, pulling the blanket up to your chest.

“Uh, yes, we were wondering if Nanook is in the room with you. Caelus mentioned he peeked into Nanook’s room, only to see it was empty, and he speculated that Nanook snuck into your room,” Mr. Yang speaks up from behind the door.

Your eyes widen, and your head snaps in Nanook’s direction. Nanook looks unbothered as he settles in your bed with his hands behind his head. March went into your room not long ago, and she didn't tell any of the three men about Nanook being in your room? Either she's up to something, or she didn't mention it to the men because she forgot. You clear your throat, looking over at Nanook. The Aeon of Destruction shrugs his shoulders, closing his eyes and rolling over on his side to wrap his arms around your waist.

How are you supposed to answer Mr. Yang's question!? It's not like you're banned from sleeping in the same bed as Nanook, right? You open your mouth to answer Mr. Yang's question, but all of a sudden, Nanook gets off your bed and walks to the door. Your eyes widen, and you kneel, attempting to grab Nanook's wrist, but he slips from your fingers. Nanook grabs the door and slides it open, leaning against the doorframe.

“And there he is,” Caelus comments, propping his hands on his hips while staring at the Aeon blankly. 

Nanook raises his eyebrows at Caelus, who continues to stare at him expressionless. You toss your blanket off your body and stumble over to where the four men are standing. You can feel the awkward tension between them— especially between Caelus and Nanook. You clear your throat to break the awkward tension.

“Is there a reason why you were searching for Nanook? Did something happen?” You ask, scratching the back of your neck.

Mr. Yang smiles and pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Nothing happened. However, Caelus has voiced his concern over Nanook constantly disappearing in the middle of the night,” replies Mr. Yang.

Caelus looks away, clearing his throat. Caelus' cheeks and the tips of his ears are almost as red as Himeko's hair, only a couple of shades lighter. You chuckle while Nanook raises his eyebrows at the silver-haired man before you two. Nanook turns to you, giving you an exasperated look before turning to the three men outside of your bedroom.

Nanook pinches the bridge of his nose. “Listen, when I decided to take the form of a human, I did it to protect my little star, alright? I did not sign up to have people hovering over me and watching my every move,” Nanook states, crossing his arms over his chest while glaring at the trio.

Dan Heng, Caelus, and Mr. Yang all stare at Nanook. Nanook sighs, turns to you, and wraps his arms around your waist, bringing you toward him. You wrap your arms around his waist, rubbing the small of Nanook's back to comfort him. You're aware of how the other men act around you, but you don't think much about it. However, Nanook isn't fond that there are nine other people who share the same sentiments as he does when it comes to you, his little star, his little one.

“Do you not remember what happened prior to your arrival to the Astral Express, Nanook, Aeon of Destruction?” Dan Heng demands, crossing his arms over his chest while glaring at the towering figure beside you.

Nanook glares at the shorter man, his nostril flaring. “I am very well aware of what happened. Why do you think I am here?” The Aeon snarls.

By this point, Nanook and Dan Heng are standing toe to toe— Nanook glaring down and Dan Heng glaring up at the Aeon. Mr. Yang and Caelus place their hands on Dan Heng's shoulders, pulling him back. Dan Heng lets out an infuriated exhale through his nose, glaring to the side with his arms over his chest.

You clear your throat. “Nanook and I will get ready for the day now, alright? Let's talk after,” you say, turning away by is stopped by Caelus gently grabbing your biceps.

“Is that a hickey?” Caelus asks, his eyes zeroing in on the base of your neck.

You quickly cover your neck, eyes wide with shock and embarrassment. “Oh, fuck.” You did not know that the Aeon of Destruction left a hickey on your neck. You turn to Nanook, who looks away with his lips puckered. You narrow your eyes at Nanook, exhaling slowly through your nose while trying to remain calm. Great. First, there's tension between Nanook and Dan Heng, and now Caelus has decided to point out the apparent love bite on your neck, thus making the tension grow.

It's faint, but it's there. 

“It's not a hickey! I actually burnt myself with a hair straightener!” You say.

Okay, not the best excuse you can come up with, but it's the best you can do, and you're hoping they're dumb enough to believe your little white lie. But knowing the three men standing before you and Nanook, they're not as dumb as you hoped they would be in this situation. I mean, what else were you supposed to say? “Yes, it's a hickey on my neck. Nanook marked my neck, and before this entire interaction, we were so close to taking it farther, but that didn't happen?”

Mr. Yang leans forward to get a better look at your neck. He gently grabs you by the jaws and tilts your head to the side. If you weren't in an awkward situation right now, you would've been blushing like a teenager because of the way Mr. Yang grabbed your jaws. He's so gentle, but he also reminds you of a stern father who caught his kid doing something naughty. 

“It doesn't look like a burn,” Mr. Yang murmurs.

You grab Mr. Yang's hands and laugh nervously. “That’s because they're kind of new! I borrowed Himeko's straightener, and well, this happened,” you say, gesturing to the mark on your neck.

You release Mr. Yang's hand and rub the hickey. Aeons, this is even more awkward than you thought. Mr. Yang hums, crossing his arms over his chest, and looks at Dan Heng and Caelus. Just as you feared, Caelus, Dan Heng, and Mr. Yang don't believe your little white lie.

For now, the best thing you can do is to retreat to your room (with Nanook), get ready for the day, and hope that this entire situation dies down. You quickly retreat to your room, grabbing Nanook by the wrist and pulling him with you. Before you shut the door in Mr. Yang, Dan Heng, and Caelus' faces, you give them a fake smile.

“We'll talk about this after Nanook and I get ready for the day! While it's still super early in the morning, today will be the only day I get up early,” you say, slamming the door shut without waiting for their response. 

After you slam the door in the three men's faces, Dan Heng turns to look at Mr. Yang with a deep frown. Caelus pokes the inside of his cheek with his tongue, propping his hands on his hips.

“That is definitely a hickey on [Y/N]'s neck,” Caelus says.

Dan Heng rolls his eyes. “Do they think we're that stupid to believe they were burned by a hair straightener?” Dan Heng mutters, walking away with Mr. Yang and Caelus following.

Back in your bedroom, you walk to your dresser and pull out clean undergarments to change into after taking a shower. You're not the type to take showers in the morning, but this time will be the only time you'll shower in the morning. Well, “morning” since you're traversing through space, and there's no time of day, really. While searching for something to wear in your closet, Nanook snakes his arms around your waist and buries his face into the nape of your neck.

You close your eyes and rest your head against his before continuing to do what you were doing.

You're not sure what you want to wear. You're on the fence about whether you want to wear something short and breathable or long and warm because there's a possible chance the Astral Express is going to be stopping by Jarilo-VI. You blank out for a moment when Nanook's big, warm, calloused hands sneak under your shirt to give your chest a light squeeze. 

“Well, aren't you needy today?” You murmur, gazing at the Aeon of Destruction from the corner of your eyes.

Nanook ignores your comment, continuing to squeeze your chest and kissing your neck repeatedly. You shiver when Nanook presses his lips against a specific sensitive spot on your neck. Nanook smirks against your neck and continues where he left off before he is interrupted by Dan Heng, Caelus, and Mr. Yang. Nanook grabs the bottom of your jaw with his right hand, tilts your head to the side, and continues to nibble on your neck.

“Do you have any idea how irresistible you are?” Nanook murmurs against your neck.

You grab his hand from underneath your shirt and lace your fingers with his. “I could say the same with you. You're over here parading around my bedroom shirtless with your sweat pants hanging very low around your hips,” you reply.

Nanook hums against your neck, breathing in the smell of your shampoo. Nanook's eyes nearly roll to the back of his neck after taking deep breaths of your shampoo. He can never get enough of you, and the more he has to wait, the more he feels his sanity slipping away. Without thinking, Nanook opens his mouth wide and bites down on the area where your neck and shoulders meet. 

“Ah! Nanook!” You whine softly, shuddering in his arms as he manhandles you to your bed.

You fall limp in Nanook's arms as he practically drags you to your bed and tosses you like a rag doll. You stare at the ceiling— Nanook's shadow casts over you as he hovers above you, knees on each side of your hips. You gulp as the Aeon of Destruction cages you against your bed, his bangs nearly covering his eyes. Oh, you like this very much.

Nanook leans down, his lips beside your ear. “What is it, little one?” Nanook whispers.

You close your eyes, heart pounding against your chest as the Aeon above you softly nudges his nose against your cheek and slowly trails down to your neck. Never in your life would you think the Aeon of Destruction has a lot of pent-up frustrations. Can Aeons have babies? Can they reproduce? Nanook's human form certainly has a dick, but does it— Nanook bites down on your neck for the second time.

“You know I can hear your thoughts, right?” Nanook murmurs against your neck.

Your eyes snap open, and you look at Nanook like a fish out of water. Nanook pulls away from your neck and wipes his lips, smirking down at you. You gaped at him. 

“Wait, you can hear my thoughts?”

Nanook nods, his shoulders bouncing as he gazes at you with amusement. “Yes, I can hear your thoughts. Did you happen to forget that we're connected with each other?” Nanook asks, raising an eyebrow at you.

You squint at Nanook, not sure whether you should believe what he's saying or not. Maybe you can say something random, and he'll have to respond to your questions. The Aeon of Destruction mindlessly massages your hipbone, waiting for you to say something. Or at least think of something so he can reply. Aside from wanting you to respond to him, Nanook wants to fuck you against the mattress already. Blood continues to rush down to his semi-harden cock as he waits (im)patiently. 

You stare at Nanook like a deer caught in headlights. If you were to ask this question, would he hear it and possibly humiliate you for it? It’s worth a shot. “Do you know how bad I need you to fuck me into the mattress right now? I desperately need you inside me, or else I'll go crazy.”

Nanook smirks and leans down. “Is that so? You don't have to tell me twice, Little One. I've always wanted to hear what I can coax out of you while you're writhing beneath me,” Nanook murmurs. “Remember that dream of yours a while back?” He latches his lips onto your earlobes, lightly biting your ear.

Dream? Meaning the wet dream you had of Nanook before it was rudely interrupted by March, Dan Heng, and Caelus? The very same wet dream where it felt so real that it made you question whether it was a real thing or just a dream? You swallow the lump in your throat, sputtering out nonsense as you try to wrap your head around the wet dream you had months prior to Nanook's arrival.

“Wait, was that a dream, or was it mental communication the entire time?” You ask breathlessly.

Nanook shrugs above you, hands sneaking back under your shirt to squeeze your chest and tweak your nipples between his thumb and index finger. You gaze at the Aeon above you, wondering if what happened between you and Nanook was mental communication or if it was just another wet dream.

“Nanook?” You ask, lightly tugging on his soft hair.

Nanook snorts and releases your earlobe from between his teeth. The Aeon of Destruction will be destroying something else rather than the entirety of the universe. You would rather have Nanook destroy your insides than the universe, so you'd like to think you're saving everyone by letting the Aeon of Destruction become the Aeon of Destroying your insides. With one swift motion, Nanook tears your shirt off and tosses them to the ground.

Your nipples harden when cool air makes contact with your nipples, sending shivers down your spine. Nanook's lips trail down to your chest and suck on your nipple while tweaking the neglected nipple. You shudder underneath Nanook, wrapping your legs around his waist while he licks and lightly bites your nipples. You cover your mouth to muffle the moans, and Nanook doesn't like that. Without thinking, Nanook bites down on your nipple hard, making you cry out in pain.

“Nanook! Why did you bite my nipple?” You whine, gazing at the Aeon with teary eyes.

Nanook unlatches his lips from your nipples before sitting back on your bed. “I don't want you to cover your moans. I want the others to hear that I'm the one that's making you moan and whimper,” Nanook says, frowning at you.

You gulp and watch Nanook get off your bed and start taking his sweatpants off. You look away with embarrassment when you notice a prominent bulge beneath his boxers. It's bigger than you thought it would be. The Aeon grabs you by your ankles and pulls you toward the edge of your bed. You look at Nanook's face, making sure not to look down at the large tent forming in his pants.

Nanook chuckles, caressing your face. “Why are you suddenly shy, Little one? You were so bold and now look at you,” Nanook teases, lightly pinching your cheek. “A shy little thing.”

You bristled at Nanook's comment, looking at the Aeon with a heated glare. Unphased by your glare, Nanook laughs and leans down to kiss your lips. Nanook hooks his fingers around the band of your shorts and panties before looking at you, waiting for you to give him the signal to continue. Despite being the Aeon of Destruction, he sure is gentle. You nod, silently telling him to strip you bare. 

One minute you have your pants and panties on. The next, you're completely bare in front of the Aeon of Destruction. You quickly cover your naked body with your blanket, making Nanook click his tongue with disapproval. Nanook grabs the blanket from your grasp, yanks it off your bare body, and throws it behind him without breaking eye contact. Heat rushes to your cheek when you realize the Aeon before you are gazing at your body with hunger and lust. As if Nanook wasn't big already, you could've sworn Nanook's dick grew in his boxers.

“It's not fair that I'm the only one naked, and you're still semi-dressed,” you mutter.

Nanook takes his eyes off your body before gesturing for you to sit up. You push yourself up and look at Nanook quizzically as he grabs your hand and places them on his hips. You blink at him as he looks down at you, waiting for you to do something. You clear your throat, pointing at his boxers and then at yourself.

“You want me to take your boxers off?” You squeak.

Nanook smirks. “What else would I want you to do? Hm?” Nanook coos, squeezing your cheeks.

You feel a lump forming in your throat. You gulp for the umpteenth time and nod, grabbing the band of Nanook's boxers and sliding his underwear down. Immediately, Nanook's cock slaps his abdomen, startling you. Nanook's boxers pool at his ankles, and he steps out of them, making his dick bob up and down with the slightest movement. You stare at Nanook's cock with wide eyes, mouth agape. Huge is an understatement at this point. This man is undoubtedly the Aeon of Destruction because you know Nanook's cock is going to be destroying your insides.

“That's not going to fit,” you state, looking at Nanook.

Nanook shrugs, hooking one arm underneath your knees and the other under your back before tossing you on the bed. Nanook crawls over you and slides his hands up your legs and to your thighs, pushing your legs apart to look at your glistening folds. You're too busy staring at Nanook's cock. The mushroom tip of his dick is a deep red, pre-cum beating at the silt of his cock, dripping down the base of his dick. You lick your lips. 

Nanook runs his hands through his hair. “We'll make it fit,” Nanook states.

Nanook dips his fingers and runs them through your folds, making you shudder and gasp. Nanook inserts his index finger into your entrance, looking at your face for a certain reaction. You bite your lips and squeeze your eyes shut when his index finger continues to sink into your sopping-wet entrance. Nanook keeps your legs spread open with one hand as he continues to drill his index finger in and out of your squelching hole. 

“This is so embarrassing,” you whine softly, becoming flustered the louder the squelching gets.

You let out a shaky gasp when Nanook inserts his middle finger into your entrance. The velvety walls of your entrance squeezed and pulsed around his thick, long fingers. 

“Your body is reacting really well to what I'm doing,” Nanook murmurs, watching you gasp and arch your back when the tip of his fingers hit your cervix.

You grit your teeth and reach for Nanook's throbbing cock. Nanook rubs the bundle of nerves with the tip of his thumb, watching you let out a breathy moan and throw your head back with pleasure as you stroke his cock. Nanook groans, letting you stroke his stiff cock. The Aeon watches you stroke and squeeze his cock, rubbing your thumb over the bulbous tip of his cock and spreading the pre-cum around the tip of his dick.

While Nanook continues to finger you and stroke the engorged nub, you sit up to get a taste of his cock. Nanook looks at you quizzically when you sit up, unsure of what you're doing. You latch your lips around the mushroom tip of his cock, licking the pre-cum and briefly sucking on the head of his dick. Taken aback, Nanook moans and curls his fingers inside your entrance, making you jolt and squeeze around his fingers.

You begin bobbing your head on his cock, taking him deeper into your mouth. Nanook's fingers slip out of your entrance before tangling his fingers into your hair, tugging at the roots, moaning, and pushing your head further down on his cock. You nearly gag when the tip of his cock hits your throat. You wrap your fingers around the base of his dick, stroking the base of his cock while fondling and massaging his balls.

Nanook groans and starts thrusting into your mouth, fucking your face while tangling his fingers in your hair. His steady thrusts soon become fast, feeling his cock reach deeper into your throat. Nanook guides your head up and down his cock repeatedly until your nose is pressing up against his pubes. You dig your nails into his ass cheeks, tears brimming your eyes and rolling down your cheeks when his cock hits your throat. 

You take deep breaths through your nostrils, trying not to gag. Nanook pulls his cock out from your mouth and pushes you on your back, and spreads your legs wide open for him to see your slick entrance. You breathe heavily, wiping the tears on the sides of your cheeks while Nanook rubs the engorged bundle of nerves with his index finger. 

“Are you alright?” Nanook asks, looking at you as he continues to rub the nub between your legs.

You nod, sniffling. “Yeah, I'm alright,” you reply meekly.

Nanook hums before tossing both your legs over his shoulders with his face a few inches from your heat. You gulp, combing your fingers through Nanook's soft hair. Nanook pulls you forward and buries his face into your entrance, his tongue flat on your entrance and lapping up your juices. You throw your head back, and your back arches, thighs clamping over his head as the Aeon of Destruction eat you out like a starving man. You cover your mouth with your other hand, whimpering and panting against the palm of your hands.

Nanook swirls his tongue over your entrance, your bundle of nerves messily. The sounds of your muffle moans and Nanook slurping your juices fills your bedroom. Nanook penetrates your heat with his tongue, and the tip of his nose presses against your swollen nub. Nanook shakes his head, thrusting his tongue in and out of your heat, making you squeal.

“Oh, fuck, Nanook!” You gasp, feet planted on his shirtless back as the Aeon of Destruction continues to tongue-fuck you, bringing you close to your orgasm. “Nanook, fuck. I'm going to cum if you continue to do that!”

Nanook pulls away from your sopping-wet heat and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. Nanook crawls up to you, his arms caging you against the mattress. Nanook stares down at you, a sense of pride swelling in his chest when he sees the effect he has on you. Your eyes are glazed over with lust, and your mouth is agape while your chest is heaving with deep breaths. Nanook taps your cheek lightly to grab your attention. You look at Nanook with hazy eyes, taking gulps of air.

Nanook snickers and leans down, pressing his lips against yours. You close your eyes and wrap your arms around his shoulders, deepening the kiss. You taste yourself on Nanook's tongue— the tanginess pooling on your tongue as you and Nanook kiss. While distracted, Nanook grabs his throbbing cock and rubs the underside of his dick between your legs, coating his cock in your essence. 

The bulbous tip of his cock lightly brushes against your aching nub, causing you to hiss softly and shudder underneath him. Nanook pulls from the kiss and looks down as he lines the mushroom tip of his cock in front of your entrance. You lick your lips, lift your head to see what he's doing. Nanook presses the hot tip of his dick against your entrance. You gulp and look at Nanook, who's staring at you intently.

Nanook kisses your forehead. “Are you ready?” Nanook murmurs against your forehead.

You nod in response. After getting your confirmation, Nanook takes a breath and pushes the tip into your heat. You suck in a sharp breath when you feel the mushroom tip breaching your entrance, squeezing your eyes shut.

A deep growl emits from Nanook's chest as he sinks his cock into you. Nanook rests on his forearms as you wrap your legs around his waist. Nanook latches his teeth onto your neck, inching his cock into you slowly. Your velvety walls squeeze and pulse around his throbbing cock, driving Nanook crazy. You pant, digging your nails into his back and clawing Nanook's back, leaving angry marks behind.

The tip of Nanook's cock hits something deep inside you, causing you to tense up and wail meekly. Nanook pants looking down to see he didn't sink all the way into your warm entrance. Nanook almost sunk the entirety of his cock into your sopping entrance, but the bulbous tip of his cock hit something. Your thighs tense around Nanook's waist, legs trembling from your walls stretching around Nanook's dick to accommodate his size. 

“Nanook,” you whisper.

Nanook frowns, eyebrows furrowing. Nanook thrusts forward, trying to fit the entirety of his cock inside you, only for it not to work. Nanook leans down and preppers your face with gentle kisses. You pant against Nanook's neck, tears brimming your eyes each time the tip of his dick nudges your cervix. It hurts like a bitch, but it feels so fucking food. Nanook whispers a soft, ‘I'm sorry, Little one’ into your ears. You open one eye to look at Nanook, unsure of why he's apologizing.

Your eyelids fly open when Nanook grips your pillow tightly, ramming his cock all the way into your tight entrance. You wail and flail beneath Nanook, legs wrapping around his waist tightly as you whimper into his chest. Nanook groans and presses his hips hard against your hips, his nails digging into your pillow.

“A-Ah! N-Nanook!” You squeak, face contorting in pain.

Nanook pants, peeking down at you. You gaze at Nanook, tears in your eyes, bottom lips trembling. Nanook feels something stir within him when he sees you underneath him, naked, tearing up, stuffed full with his cock. Nanook's cock twitches inside you as he gulps. Nanook leans down and presses his lips against yours, wiping away the tear making its way down your cheek.

You involuntarily clench around Nanook's throbbing cock. Nanook hisses and pulls away from your lips, closing his eyes while trying to keep his sanity intact, or else he'll lose control. Nanook buries his hands in your hair, gently pulling your hair and tilting your head to the side to lightly nibble on your neck.

“Little one, you're so tight. Try to relax for me, sweetheart,” Nanook grunts into your neck. 

Nanook unlatches his lips from your neck before clenching his jaws as he tries to hold back the urge to fuck you into your mattress until you scream. You pant, digging your nails deep into Nanook's back as you try to take your mind off the fact Nanook shoved the entirety of his huge cock deep into your entrance. Fuck. Your swollen bundle of nerves is throbbing, and you feel your entrance becoming wetter with each passing minute.

You close your eyes, take a deep breath, and try to relax. How does one relax when you have a huge cock stuffing your hole? Nanook reaches down and begins rubbing your aching bundle of nerves with his thumb. You shudder in his arms, letting Nanook tweak your throbbing nub. Nanook kisses the side of your head, feeling you relax underneath him. You swallow the lump in your throat, patting his arm.

“You can move now, Naook,” you whisper.

Nanook nods and slowly pulls his cock out from your sopping-wet entrance, leaving just the tip of his cock inside you. Nanook gazes at his cock— it's soaked in your essence. Nanook glances at your puffy entrance; it's glistening in your juices. Nanook swears he sees your entrance pulsating with want. Nanook thrusts into your heat without warning, making you grunt and tense underneath him, your hands shooting up to grip your pillow. Dear, Aeons. You feel so full. Nanook looks down at your stomach and freezes. You look at Nanook quizzically before following where his eyes are focusing on. You look at your stomach to see a bulge. With shaky hands, you poke the bump and jolt. Nanook places his hand over yours and presses down onto your stomach. You let out a needy moan as pleasure shoots up your body. Oh, fuck. Nanook is so big that his cock created a tummy bulge.

Nanook leans down, his hair tickling your cheeks. “What do you want me to do to you?” Nanook murmurs against your ears. “Say it, and I will do as you say.”

You shiver and clench around his cock, making the Aeon above you groan and squeeze your chest. What you need Nanook to do is to fuck you until you see stars dancing behind your eyelids. You want him to fuck you into your mattress until your walls mold into the shape of his dick. You whimper and close your eyes, heat rushing to your cheeks as you think about having to beg for the Aeon of Destruction to destroy your insides and fill you to the brim with his cum.

“I want you to…” you trail off, whimpering at the slightest movement. “I want you to fuck me until I can't walk and…”

Nanook's eyes widen slightly before laughing breathlessly. “Oh? There's more?” Nanook jokes, rubbing the tip of his nose against your cheek, rutting his hips against yours. 

You cover your face and lightly hit his shoulder. “Nanook! Stop teasing me!” You whine.

“Alright, alright, I'm going to stop teasing you,” Nanook sighs, kissing your forehead. “Now, continue where you left off.”

You try to form coherent sentences, but the more Nanook ruts against you, the more your mind blanks out. You wrap your legs tightly around Nanook's waist, attempting to stop him from continuing, only for you to press Nanook hard against you. Nanook snickers and kisses your jaws, waiting for you to tell him what you want him to do.

“Gosh, just please fuck me until I see stars. I don't think I can wait any longer,” you whisper.

Nanook's chest rumbles with laughter, and he leans down. “If you insist,” Nanook says, kissing the corner of your lips.

Nanook adjusts his position above you, grabs your legs, and unwraps them around his waist. You look at Nanook, confused. Nanook throws your legs over his shoulders and begins plunging his cock in and out of you repeatedly. You yelp and grab his biceps, squeezing your eyes shut as the Aeon pistons his cock into your sopping entrance. You feel your juices pool beneath your bed, spreading to the back of your thighs and onto Nanook's pubes.

Your toes curl with pleasure, and your eyes roll to the back of your head as Nanook rams the tip of his cock against your cervix until you can't hold in your moans any longer. You let out a string of groans and curses, feeling a tight knot beginning to form in your lower abdomen. You clench your jaws when your legs start to feel tingly and numb. You close your eyes and rock your hips against Nanook's hips, his pubic bone pressing and rubbing against your swollen nub.

You shiver, and your velvety walls squeeze around the Aeon's dick. “Oh, fuck,” you whisper, clawing Nanook's back.

Nanook tangles his hands into your hair and pulls your hair back before biting down on your neck hard. You cry out in pain and clench around Nanook's cock as he continues to ram his dick in and out of your squelching entrance vigorously. You can see stars dancing behind your vision with each thrust. You tilt your head back against your pillow as tears trail down your cheeks. You don't know how much longer you can handle being fucked by Nanook. Nanook removes your legs from his shoulders, keeping your legs spread open as he pistons his cock deep into your quivering entrance. Nanook pulls his dick out, leaving only the tip inside before slamming back into your heat. Your back arches, and you choke out a moan as the Aeon repeats his actions. Nanook's thrusts soon become sloppy the longer he continues to ram the bulbous tip of his cock in and out of your dripping entrance. You claw your bedsheets, the knot in your lower abdomen becoming incredibly tight.

“Fuck, Nanook. I'm going to cum,” you whimper.

Your velvety walls squeeze around Nanook's cock tightly. Nanook groans and collapses on top of you as you cum around his cock. Nanook takes a deep breath before proceeding to plunge his thick, long cock in and out of your squelching heat. Nanook reaches for your engorged nub and begins pinching, squeezing, and rolling it between his thumb and index finger. Your eyes widen, and you squeal loudly, squirming beneath Nanook.

“It's too much, Nanook! It's too much!” You sob.

Nanook ignores your cries and continues to stimulate your engorged bundle of nerves while plunging his cock into you as deeply as he can get it. Nanook groans, shooting hot ropes of cum deep inside your entrance as the walls of your hole convulse around his dick. Liquid jets out your entrance, wetting Nanook's lower abdomen and pubes. Nanook gazes at you with wide eyes while you continue to tremble due to overstimulation.

Nanook releases your swollen nub and slowly pulls his cock from your entrance. Nanook groans and lays beside you, wrapping his arms around your waist and pulling you to his chest. You shudder and close your eyes while your legs continue to tremble. Nanook tucks your hair behind your ears, nibbling on your earlobe as he pulls the blanket over your naked bodies.

“Did you see the stars?” Nanook teases.

You look at Nanook with bleary eyes. “I think I saw something else other than stars,” you whisper.

You snuggle up against Nanook, closing your eyes. Nanook runs his fingers through your hair while you feel yourself start to drift off to sleep. Right when you're about to fall asleep, a knock is heard at the door of your bedroom. Your eyelids fly open, and you hold the blanket to your chest. You look at Nanook like a deer caught in headlights while the Aeon of Destruction yawns and peeks at the door, uninterested.

“Who is it?” You call out, clearing your throat.

“Are you two done with fucking each other's brains out? You've been keeping us waiting for a while,” Sampo whines from behind the door.

You sit up and look at Nanook in horror while the Aeon presses his lips into a thin line to prevent himself from bursting out laughing. You lightly smack Nanook's shoulders, cheeks flaming hot as you try not to freak out. Us?! What does Sampo mean by ‘us’!? Does this mean that other people heard you and Nanook fuck?! 

You toss the blanket over your head. “Who's at the door with you, Sampo? And how long have you guys been standing there?” You ask.

“Uh... Blade, General Jing Yuan, Luocha, Luka, and Gepard are also here with me. Mr. Yang, Caelus, and Dan Heng told us you were getting ready, but he didn't tell us that you and the Aeon of Destruction were getting freaky with each other,” Sampo says nonchalantly.

Luka laughs from behind the door. “I can see why he's called the Aeon of Destruction now,” Luka jokes.

You squeeze your eyes shut and bury your face into Nanook's bare chest. Can someone please end your misery?

"Do you guys think we'll get our turns next?" Sampo whispers.

Nanook raises his eyebrows at Sampo’s question. You peek your head out from underneath the blanket, hoping it won’t be very awkward after you and Nanook take a shower and show up at the Parlor Car. More importantly, you really hope the others don’t tell Mr. Yang, Dan Heng, and Caelus about what they heard.

Note: Not going to lie, I liked the first half of this fic, and toward the end is where I started feeling iffy about the smut. I don't know about you guys, but I think I have created a new headcanon lore of Nanook's title of being the Aeon of Destruction. Nanook is the Aeon of Destroying Insides, that's for sure. I'm okay with this smut— I think the PDA is cute, and the teasing. But overall, I think it's a meh smut (or maybe just horribly written, but whatever). Nanook got the majority of the vote— about over 200 votes. [This part is copied and pasted from the previous fanfic regarding the Discord server] For those who want to join the Discord server but weren't able to, here is the new temporary link to [Zhongli's Abode]! Please make sure to read the server rules— you can lurk, chat and hang out on the server if you'd like! If you don't vibe with the server, you can leave whenever you want ^^ To my new and/or returning readers, please keep in mind that I ONLY post on my Tumblr (Genshinluvr) and my AO3 (Aaliah_exo)! Nowhere else except Tumblr and AO3!

Taglist for the HSR one-shot series: @ashwasherelol, @mompt2, @elegantnightblaze, @lunavixia, @jadedist, @reversearrowhead, @pinksaiyans, @n8mareee, @aurelia-xyt, @lilliansstuff, @starrry-angel, @kaoyamamegami, @kodzuvk, @a-cosmicdawn, @theblades, @wntrsblvd, @raaawwwr, @immahuman, @irisxiel, @siaracarroll, @crazydreamcat, @sen-nes, @sagekun, @orichalcumthief, @dyingsweetmackerel, @rosiesareblue, @ichikanu, @asoulsreverie, @angelmican, @misdollface, @4-34-am, @sxftiebee, @hispasian-otaku (Accounts that I was unable to tag are not tagged in this fic. Those who do not want to be tagged in a specific fic are not tagged. Remember to check your settings to see if you're allowing people to mention you/tag you in posts or not)

Read more of my works on my Masterlist / Masterlist 2 | Maybe support me by tipping me on Ko-Fi or by reblogging my fanfics! ^^ I will also be posting exclusive fanfics on Ko-Fi as well very soon! I might post all of my stories on there too, but who knows. You can also tip me on Tumblr if you'd like as a way to show support! ^^