#her double bed is in the living room but it works lol

[shevaults]

yesterday i unboarded shaun's room in nora's house, put the crib in the closet and decorated shaun's room for a 10 year old and it felt nice, especially after having her board up hers and nate's old bedroom as well as shaun's at the start. idk it's little moments like that when roleplaying in the game that make it fun to me

[jeneveuxrein]

needy (BLACKPINK Rosé)

word count: 3.3K

(i'm a bit rusty, lol)

You hear an exaggerated sigh behind you. You ignore it, choosing instead to smirk at your screen as your team continues with its quest. 

Your online friends would call you a complete idiot for not doing what you should be doing versus what you’re actually doing. 

It wasn’t intentional. 

At least on your end, it wasn’t. 

Well, to an extent. 

You shouldn’t be focused on finding this stupid shield Jungkook read about from a gaming article with this new update. 

You should, however, give all of your attention to the woman laying on your bed. 

But it’s not that simple. 

See, the thing is, when you meet someone as famous as Park Chaeyoung, or Rosé, or your favorite Rosie or Chaeng, there are rules you’ve established to make this relationship work.

Rule number one: no one can know unless it’s disclosed to her company. Privacy and all that, not only for her, but for you as well. 

Rule number two: you specifically aren’t allowed to date anyone else. The rule applies to her because you are officially together, like boyfriend-girlfriend kind of together, but she likes having so-called power over you. 

Rule number three: if you’re in each other’s presence, undivided attention is a must. Time is precious for the both of you after all. She has a hectic schedule that takes her all over the world while your line of work has you constantly troubleshooting to make sure everything runs smoothly. 

So it was a surprise when Rosie showed up at your apartment a little before midnight without a heads up. She knew what you were doing this evening, but you hadn’t heard from her since morning. You, being you, figured she had an event or a rehearsal or something that kept her occupied. Not that you weren’t involved in her life, but her schedule constantly changed. It was hard for you to keep up. 

Rosie lets out another exaggerated sigh that it actually distracts you, causing your character to die in this part of the quest. 

“Dude seriously?” Jungkook’s voice is in your headphones, chuckling. “You of all people dying to that?” 

“Shut up,” Is all you say, swiveling your chair around to your girlfriend dressed in more comfortable clothes than what she arrived in—your clothes specifically. She has a habit of rummaging through your drawers. Not that you minded, she looks hot in whatever she wears. There was just something about her wearing your clothes that had you feeling some type of way. You mute your mic, double checking it is in fact muted before asking, “Everything alright?” 

“I’m over and my boyfriend won’t spend time with me,” Rosie huffs out, crossing her arms. 

“If I knew you were coming over, I wouldn’t have logged on,” You roll your eyes, glancing at the screen to thirty seconds left before you respawned. 

“I called,” Rosie glares. Someone else might’ve folded under her gaze, but it doesn’t intimidate you. 

“And my phone was in the living room,” You say, slightly apologetic, but the respawn sound plays that has you turning back to the screen. 

“Yeah yeah, play your stupid game,” Rosie mutters, which you hear loud and clear while the rest of the guys talk about their day. 

See, meeting Rosie was pure chance, a deal of the hand you weren’t expecting. Your gaming company drove the development of her group’s mobile game and when it was time to launch, the members of BLACKPINK were there.

At the time, you were just one of the developers since you had more of a managerial role and took it last minute. You were overseeing the game’s development more than anything, giving your two cents as needed, but were hands off for the most part. 

According to Rosie, as she told you during your first date, you were indifferent to meeting them as opposed to everyone else on the team who brought merch for them to sign. She noticed you before the other three girls did, and made sure she personally introduced herself to you. 

Rosie’s beautiful. You’re not blind. You get the appeal. You guessed it was that you treated them like normal people instead of idols that had most of your coworkers swooning in their presence.  

She’s also clingy, not that you minded. She’s slowly told you about her past relationships–lies, cheating, using her. It left wounds of insecurity that have made her feel unsure of who she could trust her heart with. 

One drunken night after spending it at Jennie’s, tangled in your sheets, Rosie told you she felt safe with you. 

Though, as of this moment, you sense the irritation rolling off of her. 

“What the fuck?” The controller falls into your lap when you see Rosie suddenly beside you. 

“You good over there?” Tae asks. 

“Yeah, I just gotta mute myself for a sec, my girlfriend’s calling me,” You mute the mic again, grabbing the controller before turning to Rosie. “What?” 

“I’m bored,” Rosie states simply. 

“And you want to watch me play?” 

“Can I?” You raise an eyebrow, knowing her too well that she’s up to something. 

“Did you want me to grab you a-” Rosie doesn’t let you finish, opting to sit in your lap. “Okay fine, no funny business.” 

Rosie shrugs, settling comfortably against you as you unmute yourself, “Sorry.”

“Are you in trouble?” Jungkook jokes. Your friends know of your girlfriend, but you have yet to give any information on her. Again, privacy and all that. 

“No, she’s just being needy,” That earns you a slap on the arm and a glare.

Your friends laugh, which Rosie hears, slapping your thigh this time. You squeeze her body with your arms before resting your chin on her shoulder as you continue playing. 

Time goes by, Rosie starts squirming in your hold. She was never one to sit still. You let go and she tilts her head back onto your shoulder before she relaxes against your chest. It’s nice being with her like this. She comes over often, but not often enough. 

You haven’t seen her in almost two weeks. The group just finished their last leg of their tour before their encore performances begin. They have a show in France in a couple weeks, which you’ll be joining them. She asked if you wanted to go with them to the states so you could visit your mother in San Francisco. You had to check with your boss, but it was likely you’d be going as well. 

Rosie mutes your mic, “Are you almost done?” 

“Not really,” She sighs against your body. “What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing,” Rosie pouts, but she does something you were expecting. She slightly rolls her hips. It’s subtle, but it’s enough. 

“Chaeng,” You deadpan, eyes still focused on the screen. 

“What?” There it is. The tilt in her voice, that if it was anybody else, they’d fall for her feigned innocence. 

But it wasn’t anybody else. It was you. 

“Don’t,” Rosie rolls her hips against you again, this time, perfectly against your cock. “Chaeng.” 

“I’m just trying to get comfortable, you’re not exactly ergonomic,” Rosie shrugs, rocking her hips against you once again. 

Your cock stirs at the movement. You take a deep breath, refocusing yourself as your team continues the quest. 

Tae asks you a question, forcing you to reach around Rosie to unmute yourself. “Yeah I’ll check that.” 

When you mute once again, Rosie asks, “How quiet can you be?”

“What?” The question catches you off guard because Rosie’s standing up and unmutes you. She turns to smirk and drops to her knees in between your legs. Your eyes widen, shocked at her boldness. You’re about to say something when she holds a finger to her lips. 

“Fuck,” You groan into the mic when Rosie slips her hand underneath your sweats, wrapping her hand around your half-hard cock. 

“What happened?” You barely hear someone ask. 

“Nothing,” You grit out, eyes watching Rosie push your sweats down just enough to free your cock. You let out a hiss as the cool air of your apartment hits your skin. “I’m good.” 

She starts off slow, moving a loose fist up and down your length as the blood in your body rushes south. By the time you’re fully erect, she lets go, and you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. 

Rosie’s face lights up, and you know that look. It spells trouble with a capital T, and when she stands up in between your legs, pulling her (your) boxers down, you have a clear picture of what’s going to come next. 

It was meant to be a joke when you mentioned it on FaceTime while they were touring in Australia. You had this fantasy of her keeping your cock warm while you gamed. She asked if you actually wanted that, knowing how much you took gaming with your friends seriously. You shrugged, off-handedly commenting that you thought it would be hot. 

You didn’t go into much detail of how you envisioned it. It was just a fantasy, but when Rosie turns around, her shapely bottom waving in your face, this was so much better than what you imagined. 

Rosie mutes you again, her face slightly turned to you, “Still want to play your game?” 

It’s a challenge. A very dangerous one that you don’t know the outcome of, but you’d bet everything to find out. Even if that meant you have to fuck Rosie against your desk for being this needy. 

“Yeah,” Your voice comes out hoarse, hardly recognizable in your ears. 

“Fine.” One hand rests on your desk as the other reaches for your cock, angling it as she takes all of you in one smooth move. 

“Jesus Chaeng,” You nearly drop your controller as one hand shoots to her hip, gripping tightly as her walls squeeze around your cock. It knocks the wind out of you, feeling just how wet and warm she is.

“Isn’t this what you wanted?” Rosie slightly pants, leaning on your desk as you feel her walls stretch to accommodate your size.

“I don’t know,” You pathetically moan out as she sits up straight against your chest. 

“Keep playing,” Rosie unmutes you before slowly rocking her hips. 

You don’t know how the fuck you were supposed to focus when she feels so fucking good wrapped around you, but you push through. 

You tune in to what your friends are talking about, ignoring the small mewls Rosie lets out as her hips move in a circle on top of you. You try to be engaged, commenting here and there, but it’s hard to care what they’re saying. 

You close your eyes, dropping your head against the chair when Rosie lifts her hips along your length before dropping her weight against you. 

“Fuck,” You mutter, but it’s loud enough for your friends to hear. They ask if everything’s alright and you immediately snap back to the screen as Rosie repeats the movement again and again and again. “Yeah, I’m fine,” You grit out after she lands on a particularly hard thrust, walls tightening as she takes a breath. 

You’d give yourself a pat on a back for how far you’ve made it. The amount of self-control you have when it comes to your girlfriend is usually very low. You don’t need much convincing when it comes to having sex, but you want to hold out as much as possible to see where it takes you. 

It’s not everyday Rosie uses your cock to fuck herself. She has, but that’s usually on a bed or in your car, where she has your full, undivided attention.

Rosie brings your hands against her lower stomach, resting the controller against her as she undulates her hips. Any vibration from the game has her body reacting, which by default, you reap the benefits. 

Rosie reaches forward, the mic turning off once again, “I’m going to cum,” She moans out. 

You didn’t think she’d get there that fast, but it is hot to get fucked while your friends are oblivious to what’s going on. She loves performing for thousands of people at a time, but you know her favorite performances are for you and you alone. 

“Go ahead baby,” You murmur, eyes watching where you’re connected, her hips hypnotizing you as they move. “Make yourself cum since you couldn’t wait for me.” 

The words set her off as her body quivers, shaking on your lap as her orgasm hits. Her head snaps back and she holds onto the arm rests as she tries to shut her thighs at the pressure inside her body. The only obstacle is your hands and controller dropping, keeping her spread open as you feel a sudden wetness cover your sweats. 

“Did you just squirt baby?” Your lips ghost over her skin, sweetly kissing her behind the ear. 

“No,” Rosie mumbles weakly, resting her head on your shoulder as she catches her breath. 

“No? Then why are my clothes soaked?” You thrust up from your chair, knocking the wind out of her as she lets out a filthy moan. 

“You came,” She moans as you rock up again, enjoying the sensation. 

You click your tongue, shaking your head as you decide you can’t hold back any longer. Keeping her on top of you, her walls snug and hot, you unmute for the last time, “Ayo, I gotta go.”

Rosie tries to stand, but your arms around her keep her still, filled. 

“Dude what? We’re nowhere near done,” Jungkook whines and you roll your eyes. 

“I realized I didn’t finish something. I can pass on the shield. I’ll log on again sometime this weekend,” You say curtly without giving them a chance to respond, quickly exiting the program before tossing your controller on the desk. 

You stand, easily taking your girlfriend with you as you push her forward, folding her against your desk as she rests on her elbows, back perfectly arched, keeping your bodies connected. 

“Baby,” Rosie whines, your cock still nestled deep inside her.

“Jesus fuck Chaeng,” You pull your hips back, looking at your cock covered in her slick. “You’re a fucking menace.” 

You snap your hips forward, groaning as your cock fills her.

“How else was I supposed to get your attention?” Rosie moans, pushing her ass towards you to take you even deeper. “You chose a game over me.” 

Your hands grip her waist, stopping any movement from her as you just breathe since both of you know what’s coming next. You lean forward, kissing her head, “Don’t act like that. You know you still have all of my attention.” 

You draw your hips backwards, but before you thrust, Rosie speaks, “Then fuck me like I do.”

Never one to not obey Rosie, you do just that. 

You thrust into her experimentally, getting your bearings before you completely lose it since it has been two weeks too long and the amount of dirty texts and pictures you’ve exchanged is never enough. 

“Baby please,” Rosie begs, head slightly turning before nodding. 

The control snaps and you’re thrusting wildly, her hips slamming against the desk, before she could react. 

One of the best parts, aside from you care deeply for and can genuinely share your thoughts and feelings with, is that Rosie always welcomes being fucked hard. Sure you’ve had sex at a much tamer, slower pace, which is just as great, but it’s the best when it’s been a while and the only thing either of you could focus on is tearing each other apart together. 

“Missed you so much,” Rosie whines, doing what she can to meet your thrusts. It isn’t much since you’re practically nailing her against the furniture. 

“Missed you too baby,” You groan as her walls start to clamp down to keep you inside. 

One hand lets go of her waist, raising it slightly before your palm makes contact with her ass cheek. She lets out a moan, pressing her face into her arms, slightly embarrassed by how her body reacts to the pain. You watch her skin slowly turn red, spurring you on even more. 

You feel your peaks coming soon just based on how much easier it is. Her pussy’s slickness lets you slide in and out with ease, but there’s another thing that Rosie loves and it’s how vocal you can get. 

Praise is all around her, but the praise she adores the most is when you tell her yourself. 

Your hand grips her waist again before you let your thoughts fall freely from your mouth. 

Fuck you feel so good baby. 

Couldn’t wait for me huh? Needed my cock so badly.

You look so pretty, letting me fuck this pussy.

You were so hot taking me while I played. 

Bounce on my cock next time, let my friends hear what a good little slut you are. 

Rosie screams as her orgasm rips through her body taking you with her. Your hips stutter into her and your vision goes white as you hit your climax. You couldn’t pull out since she was doing everything to keep you in. 

“Holy shit,” She moans out, back tensing as you feel her release over your cock, making a filthy mess as you paint her insides with your cum. 

You immediately wrap your arms around her stomach, pulling her into your chest as you groan out the remainder of your orgasm. 

It takes you a minute, but you collapse on your chair, the wheels slightly rolling backwards while Rosie falls flat on top of your desk. 

The sight of your girlfriend, fucked out, panting, has you questioning why you didn’t give your attention in the first place. You feel a second wind coming as the smallest bit of cum dribbles out in between her lower lips. 

“Can you go again?” You ask after a few minutes, staring as more of your cum falls out. You almost reach out to push it back in, but you spare her the overstimulation.

Rosie stands straight before turning to you. She bends to kiss you softly on the lips, sitting on your lap, and circling her arms around your neck. 

“Quick nap?” Rosie offers, peppering kisses over your jawline, which of course, immediately gets you worked up. 

“Fine,” You pout like a petulant child. 

You swoop your arms underneath her body, making sure you have a strong grip before standing. You literally have BLACKPINK’s lead singer in your arms, and any physical damage to her would automatically fall on you. 

Rosie giggles as she holds on, telling you not to drop her or the girls would come after you. You roll your eyes, knowing it’s an empty—sort of. The only member you’re actually scared of is Jisoo, while the other two are like the little sisters you never wanted. 

Once you gently lay your girlfriend down, you reach for the bottoms she was wearing, tossing it to her. You change into a different pair of sweats, noticing how much of a mess was actually made before joining her back in bed. 

“Hi,” You whisper, a small smile tugging at your lips as you stare at your girlfriend. You still couldn’t believe she chose you to date out of everyone else.

“Hi yourself,” Rosie smiles, burying her face into your chest. “I missed you.” It comes out soft, shy even, because feelings are still hard for her to put into words. 

“I missed you too,” You bring your lips to her forehead. 

There’s something else you want to tell her, something you’ve been holding in for a couple months at this point. You want to say it now, but when you hear light snores, you know it’s not the time. 

You say it anyway, “I love you.” 

--

--

--

[skele-bunny]

hello !! i tried to send a request on my fic blog but it wouldn’t let me LOL

ANYWAYS, i read ur Phantom angst w his past and starting from square 1 again and it was so heart breaking, as someone who’s had setbacks like that - i just love how you wrote everyone in that fic so much

i was wondering, and you can totally ignore this if it’s stupid, if you could write about Phantom finally coming out of that and getting better ? i’m a sucker for hurt comfort and wanna see Phantom happy and comfortable with his pack again :)

have a wonderful day/night !! 🦇

Fore sure!

You Came Back To Us. (CW) Phantom/Everyone

CW - Implications of past abuse, sa (but this is a fluff fic!)

Characters: Aether, Dewdrop, Phantom

Divider by @ wrathofrats

The quiet sound of talking bustled in the kitchen and dining room, the pack in their daily routine of getting things started. Mountain stayed at the helm directing Rain and Cirrus for what he needed to cook, Swiss helping to plate each item that was finished, Aether double checking each eating restriction and preference was correct, Dew starting the fixing of the table while just as equally quiet making sure the others made their beds and got the common room cleaned.

It was important to them that they kept their routine, not only setting the pace for that day but feeding ten ghouls was insanity and could quickly become exhausting if not separated equally. Usually, there'd be music playing and humming—but not as of recent. Their little bat who they purposely excluded from working in the mornings to sleep in was still too startled at loud noises.

It had been exactly two months since the 'reign of terror' Aurora called it, Phantom coming face-to-face with his tormentor for the last time. While it had a happy ending, the epilogue didn't. Countless nightmares, regression back to an old headspace, and just an empty look that showed of not only suffering but exhaustion. Phantom had given up completely, relying on his pack to take care of them since they no longer had the desire for anything—even living.

Of course they'd take care of him, they were their mate, their little bug they adored more than anything in this world. When Phantom first became Topside, it was always rocky for a good while, unsure how to approach this scared ghoul that cried and backed away if you dared to get near. Dew knew he didn't make it any better, but they had moved past that. It took so long for their bat to come around, showing their smile and personality, even making friendships with eventual relationships. The pack had worked so hard to influence it, once again with taking care of him.

Just because Phantom lost his progress, didn't mean they'd stop trying again. It was just a set back that with time and patience would be alright again. They'd all been there in some form of way with their own issues and addictions. So, it was important to continue on, show Phantom some normality of routine like before the reign; so that's what they did.

Sunshine had finished first, helping Aether grab each plate and set them down at respective seats. Her smile was contagious, joking under whispers which always got Aether to grab his chest as he laughed, fangs curling past his lips with joy. Aether grabbed a plate that held the design of 'Scream' and a small tumbler with 'Dracula', rolling his eyes at another terrible joke Sunshine made before he walked to a specific door. He used his foot to knock before adjusting the items and letting himself in.

Curled in the corner of his bed, Phantom stayed under the covers but his eyes open to follow Aether's movements. "Good morning cutie!" He had whispered to his successor.

Phantom stayed silent, chewing on his finger but eyes never once leaving Aether as he sat down the items and picked up the barely touched remains of dinner from last night and placed them in a container to the side.

"For your wonderfulness, you have a chicken biscuit with a jelly doughnut. Honestly, bug, I'm jealous of what you got!" Aether teased, sending a wink to the smaller quintessence. "Gonna have to tell our tree out there to make me one too."

The elder showed his palms before getting closer to Phantom, lightly running his magick through his frame, closing his eyes as he searched and felt around. "Your fever dropped, that's good... You hurting anywhere?"

He could feel Phantom rustle, shaking his head no in response. "Good, good."

As he went to move away, Phantom's hand quickly darted out to grab Aether's wrist, the two holding eye contact. "Yes, bug? What's the matter?"

It was silence, Phantom slowly closing his eyes again but his grip on Aether never faltered which made the older quint move to his knees on the floor, letting Phantom do whatever he needed to. He sent a smell of comforting pheromones and his purrs began, equally making Phantom purr in response. It was another minute before Aether felt his ear twitch, their mental link slowly connecting.

"I want a bath..."

"Okay, we can do a bath. Do you want me to get Swiss or Rory?" Aether simply hummed, not denying the smile that came over his face.

Phantom shook again subconsciously. "No, you."

So, with gentle hands, Aether peeled back the multitude of blankets that swallowed Phantom whole and gently went under his knees and back to lift them. Their head butted against his chest, claws slowly kneading on his shirt. They moved to the bathroom where he was carefully stripped, watching the tub get filled with bubbles. Their baby bat held deeper eye bags and his frame much smaller than they'd like, but he was alive. He leaned forwards against Aether who at first took his affection as a response to trauma, trying to move but that idea was replaced as Phantom kept purring and his hands went back to kneading.

Aether was positive Phantom fell asleep in the tub at least twice, once when his nails carefully raked through the different colored strands on Phantom's head, a second once his wash rag started moving in gentle circles. Aether kept whispering where he was moving even if Phantom was lost in their slumber to even hear it, the retired ghoul adjusting to get his lower half and underside so Phantom didn't have to move. He felt terrible waking the poor thing up to get dried off and in a new pair of clothes, heading back to his bed.

"There we go! One clean bat with yummy food waiting for his tummy, how about that!" Aether cooed, carefully laying him back down. A kiss was placed to Phantom's forehead, his purrs never stopping. "Do what you can today, alright? I may have also sneaked you chocolate milk instead of water this morning."

"Thank you."

Body language couldn't lie as the moment Phantom spoke, Aether's tail wagged like no other. He simply smiled with one more kiss before heading out, inhaling sharply and rubbing his misty eyes. The others were waiting patiently for Aether, looking at him with heightened curiosity.

"Sorry, tommy wanted a bath and... He spoke to me." Aether smiled wide again, watching his packs faces light up in return.

The sound of purrs and little chirps began to fill the room, Aether catching the sight of a few of their tails wagging just as much as his. He sat down next to Dewdrop, with once last glance towards the door, before bowing his head as it was Swiss' turn to lead them in prayer. With the pack joining together for a 'nema', only a single fork was picked up before the sound of a door opened.

Heads instantly turned with bodies, smiles returning as Phantom stood in his doorway with his plate and tumbler in hold. He eyed Aether who got the hint and walked over, crouching down to the bat's height and listening to their link. There was a moment of silence before Aether nodded and lifted Phantom with a carefulness as he held his items tightly. The pack assumed them to be returning back to the room, Phantom getting too overwhelmed—but to their surprise, Aether walked towards them. There was a quick rearrangement of Phantom's chair going between his and the pack leader's, Dew taking his items and welcoming him down.

"Hi there, itty bitty." Dew teased, offering his hand which Phantom took. "I'm happy to see your face."

Phantom's ear twitched before his own tiny smile joined, laying his head on Dew's chest. Dew opted out of breakfast to continue being a pillow for his mate, their tails interlinked but slowly helping Phantom sip his drink and even nibble the top part of his biscuit.

Dewdrop cocked his head as he noticed the straw being darker than normal. "Is this water?"

He eyed Aether who simply looked away. "Oh you're terrible!" He teased.

A giggle.

A giggle sounded and Dew looked down at Phantom, his cheeks a light purple and eyes scrunched as he smiled.

"Is that funny to you?" Dew questioned light-heartedly, scoffing as Phantom nodded with another laugh. "Oh you naughty bat, I can't believe you and Aether would conspire against me."

Swiss perked up, pointing his bacon at Dew while covering his mouth as he talked with food in. "Ohh, let the kid be! If I had to drink bathwater every day, I'd go crazy too!"

"Swiss, I'm positive if one of us offered our bathwater we just bathed in for you, you'd drink it like a dying man." Mountain snapped back, causing eruptions of laughter at the table, even Dew couldn't help himself.

"You guys are terrible to me!"

The fire ghoul warmed himself just a bit as he felt Phantom adjust closer, completely laying his body weight against Dew—closing his eyes and starting to knead once more. After the fact, they knew they'd retire Phantom back to his bed from using the bare energy they had, but for now, they enjoyed their tired company as Dew gently rubbed his back.

There was an unspoken agreement to continue talking at a lower tone, letting Phantom peacefully sleep for once but trying to continue their routine. Their bug twitched some before sighing in his sleep, hands gripping Dew's shirt so tightly while they let out a small trill. Dew moved his hand from Phantom's back to the dip behind his ear, slowly rubbing and watching as Phantom's shoulders released again and his purrs kicked up again.

It had been so long since the table was full and the last time anyone heard his mewl-purrs. Oh, how they all missed it so much. Dewdrop couldn't help himself as he gave Phantom's body a light squeeze, his own eyes becoming misty as he held his bat in his arms again like he had prayed and craved for.

Their collective wish had been granted.

[bella-rose29]

Deck the Halls (and not your partner) - part 12

it's here everybody

I just want to say a HUGE thank you to everybody that has read and enjoyed along with me, whether that was in the form of reblogging with commentary, leaving a comment or kudos, or even if you just read it and moved on, and to everyone who binge read after the whole thing came out, or stumbled across it months after it finished, thank you to you too. this has most definitely been a labour of love, very self-indulgent at most points, and I have thoroughly enjoyed writing every word (although maybe not so much when Steph was being a grade-A Bitch), and I hope you enjoy this last part!

while the main work of this series is over, keep an eye out for holiday specials (bc I can't just let go of my schmoopies forever)!

Warnings: swearing, mildly spicy bit near the start, you might cry from this being the finale (I did lol), flustered/awkward lockwood, oh you also might cry from the part in the middle/end because I'm evil and can't let you have a fully happy ending (@ the anon who requested this hopefully this satisfied the masochistic urge hehehe), if I forgot anything it's bc I'm tired while I write this

Word count: 6.3k

series masterlist

“Are you sure you’ve got everything? It’s a long way to go if you leave something behind,” Ben said, peering in on Anthony and Y/n where they sat in their loveseat. 

They had packed pretty much everything but their wash bags (which they would need tomorrow morning) and pyjamas (which they would wear tonight), and now they were cuddled up in front of the fire that was roaring in the hearth. “Yeah, I think so. I’ve checked and double checked so if we leave anything behind then we’ll just have to make do.” Her father nodded, smiling at them before ducking back out the room. Everybody else was gathered in the kitchen, making drinks and getting dinner (leftovers and an assortment of deli), which meant that Y/n and Anthony had the living room to themselves. “You alright?” she asked, voice quiet. He hummed in answer, the low sound vibrating in his chest and through her head where it laid on his shoulder. 

“I’m more than alright, darling. Looking forward to being home again, though. Not that I haven’t enjoyed the last few days,” he hurried to add. “I just miss sleeping in my own bed.”

“I get that.” There was a momentary lull in the conversation, both of them basking in the warmth of the fire and each other. “Wait. I feel like we should probably… talk about when we get back? And what… what we’re going to do about…” she trailed off, waving her free hand between them. 

“No, you’re right. We should… we should definitely talk about that.” Another lull, although this one was slightly more tense. “I mean-” Anthony cut himself off with a huff, and she felt him clench his jaw from where she was nestled underneath it. “If you wanted, you could move out of the attic? Obviously if you’d rather stay rooming with Lucy then that’s fine too, I just-”

“Where would I go if I wasn’t in the attic?” She cut him off when he started to ramble, lifting up her head to frown at him. He flushed a delightful pink that wasn’t too dissimilar from the socks he had on, and opened and closed his mouth a few times before turning even more red and answering. 

“In… in my room? It’s a big bed, although not quite as large as the one here, and I’ve got extra pillows if you wanted. But if you would rather stay upstairs then that’s fine too.” He was fidgeting, his leg bouncing and his tongue darting out to wet his lips, and Y/n smiled softly. 

“If you’re sure you don’t mind?”

“Of course I don’t mind, darling.” The blush stayed on his cheeks but his worry eased. “I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t want you there.”

“Then… when we get back tomorrow, can I just go straight to bed with you?”

“Absolutely,” he grinned, and she couldn’t help but mirror his smile, pressing a small kiss to his lips. 

“Ew, go suck faces somewhere else.” Y/n rolled her eyes at Will’s teasing tone, flipping her middle finger up at him and putting it away swiftly when Tom walked in, already snacking on the food on his plate. She hadn’t heard Will come in, which was quite the feat given how loudly he was chewing, but he was smiling behind his comments as he settled into an armchair. He was ecstatic that he could openly tease his younger sister now (much to her chagrin) and had wasted no time in doing so. “Bet you two are glad you’re going home?”

“Yeah. It’ll be nice to be back in London, I think,” she replied, shifting around in Anthony’s lap to face the room a little more. “And I miss the others. I did call George the other day after we booked our train tickets, just to let him know what was happening and when we’d be back, but the reception is so bad up here that contacting any of the others has been tricky.” Lucy had been somewhere near them visiting Norrie, but her signal had been awful too. Y/n hadn’t seen the point in calling when mostly it was just static. 

“I didn’t realise you’d called George,” Anthony said. 

“Oh, yeah. I knew he’d be at Portland Row so I figured I should let him know why we weren’t there. He said he wasn’t gonna spend the entire holiday with his family because of the whole ‘your siblings are engineers, so why aren’t you’ thing that always happens.” George had been the first friend that Y/n had opened up to, despite sharing a room with Lucy. They had been researching for a case together in the Archives late into the night, early on after Y/n had first joined the agency, and something about the calm atmosphere and rustle of the papers had meant that when George asked about her backstory in a tea break she had spilled it all. Lucy had been next, also late at night while the boys were on their own case, and Holly not too long after. But George had been the first, and the two of them had been close ever since. He’d opened up to her about his own family, and they’d found they had more in common than they had originally thought. 

“Well, it’s a good job you called. I imagine he would have been quite worried about us.”

“Us? No, George was definitely only worried about me. He didn’t once ask about you.”

“Rude.”

“I’m just telling the truth, it’s not my fault your ego can’t handle it,” Y/n teased. Anthony scoffed, fighting the smile that was breaking through. 

“Sure, Schmoopie.” Her responding glare would have been enough to make even Barnes shrink back, but Anthony could see that it lacked any heat when directed at him. 

He did yelp when she jabbed him in the side though, and her grin turned devilish. 

~~~

The next morning, Anthony was awake before Y/n was. 

At some point in the night she had obviously grown cold, as the duvet was bunched up more on her side than it was his, leaving most of his body out in the not-so-warm air of the bedroom. He didn’t mind, though. Not if it meant that she was happy. 

He didn’t often get the chance to admire her in the morning, not without her knowing he was doing it (not in a creepy way, it just meant that he often got caught and she often made fun of him), so he took his time now. 

He didn’t think he would ever get over how gorgeous she was. 

There was barely any light in the room, but from what little he could see she looked like an angel, especially in the t-shirt of his that she kept stealing. He didn’t mind that either, mostly because somehow she made it look so much better than he ever could. Anthony wasn’t a fool (although given his behaviour over the past few years there was definitely a strong argument against him), and he was well aware that Y/n knew the effect her wearing his clothes had on him. He’d had to excuse the two of them the other day when she’d come downstairs for breakfast wearing his grey hoodie and her pyjama shorts, and when they reemerged from their room nobody commented on the flushed faces or the messy hair of either of them (Y/n had stayed in the hoodie, too). She’d teased him mercilessly since finding out, and now he finally had an opportunity to gaze lovingly at her without her poking fun at him. 

“Morning.” Damn, he must have cursed himself and made her wake up. 

“Good morning, darling.” He smiled at her, wedging his arm under his head while he watched her wipe the sleep from her eyes and turn to face him. “Did you sleep alright?”

“Yeah. Like a log. You been awake long?” She reached out for his hand where it rested on the pillow between them, and he gladly let her thread her fingers through his. 

“Not really. Any good dreams?” There was a pause where she flushed, and Anthony’s curiosity only grew when she shook her head. 

“Not… not that I can think of.” She was avoiding his eyes, which meant she was lying. He smiled, huffing a laugh before shifting his weight. 

“Are you sure, darling?”

“Prick.” He laughed properly at that and propped himself up on an elbow. Y/n had covered her face with her hands to hide the rapidly growing flush, and she was shrinking further into the mattress with every passing second. “It wasn’t even- we were just, like… in a field.”

“What?”

“We were just having a picnic in a field. It was sweet.” She still hadn’t moved her hands so Anthony had to strain a little to hear what she was saying, but the amusement was very present in his voice when he next spoke. 

“So why are you acting like we were doing something else?” There was another pause, and he raised his eyebrows. “Were we doing something else?”

“It might… have ended up that way…”

“I see,” he said, moving again to prevent the arm under his head from falling asleep. Instead of lying back down, however, he pushed himself further up, placing one hand beside Y/n’s head and the other at her waist, slotting a leg between her thighs. He felt her shiver in response, and he gently pried her hands away from her face, lacing his fingers through hers and holding their joined hands in position on the other side of her head. 

“Anthony,” she whispered, lifting her hips a little and brushing her nose against his. 

“Yes?” He could feel her breath on his mouth, could feel it hitch when he let go of her hand to trail his own down her arm slowly, then tracing a path down the side of her body to her thigh. She didn’t answer him, instead reaching up to grab the back of his neck, tangling her fingers in the hair there (god, he loved it when she did that) and kissing him in a way that reminded him of honey. It was long and slow, both taking their time to bask in each other, although if she kept tugging lightly at his hair in the way that she was then he might have to speed the pace up a little. It was ridiculous, the power she held over him, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. If she was an angel, then he would gladly fall into hell a million times over for this little piece of paradise he was experiencing right now. 

He wasn’t sure how long they were there for, kissing, laughing softly when the t-shirt got stuck around her head, tangling limbs but never taking it further than a few bold touches just in case someone walked in with the morning tea, but it felt like barely a few seconds and eternity at the same time. 

When Ben did eventually knock on the door, Anthony went to answer, collecting the teas with a smile and a thank you before kicking the door closed. He smiled down at Y/n where she lay in bed, eyes closed to the light of the lamp that had just been flicked on, and planted a lingering kiss on her forehead. The action had her smiling immediately, and Anthony felt his heart jump in his chest. 

They spent most of the next hour lazing in bed, trading more kisses and soft touches before their stomachs started complaining and they were forced to get up and have breakfast. 

A million times, Anthony mused as he watched Y/n get stuck in her (his) jumper. A million times and more, and he had definitely fallen for her already. 

~~~

“Alright, you’re absolutely sure you have everything?”

“Yes, Mum, just like I was the previous six times you asked.”

“I just want to be sure! Who knows when we’ll next see you!” The statement hung in the air for a few seconds, the words sinking in and nestling into everybody’s minds. 

“Soon,” Y/n said, her tone decisive. “As long as Steph and Linda aren’t there.”

“I think I can live with that,” her mother grinned. Anthony and her father had been pulling their bags out of the car and were just now rejoining the gathered family members. Her parents were here, as was Will, but everybody else had stayed behind. They had said their goodbyes back at the house, with promises of phone calls for Nana Jean and Gramps and games of whatever Tom liked the most when she next saw him. Olivia had pretended to be indifferent about her sister leaving, but had squeezed just that little bit tighter when Y/n had said that she really needed to go. Y/n had pretended not to notice the slight shine to Olivia’s eyes, opting to ruffle her hair and laugh instead. Sam and John had wrapped her in hugs so tight she thought she might pass out before even stepping foot outside the house, and had left one last remark of ‘if you hurt her, we’ll kill you’ with Anthony before waving them off cheerfully as though they hadn’t just threatened murder. 

“Right then, Squeak. How long ’till your train?” Will asked, placing an arm over her shoulders and drawing her into his side. 

“About thirty minutes?”

“Why do you always get here so early? You could have had another cup of tea!”

“Uh, no, we couldn’t. Have you got any idea how much can go wrong with trains?!” Will just laughed at her, shaking his head in disbelief. 

“You’re ridiculous, Squeak.”

“You love me anyway though.”

Their parents stepped over then, having finished talking to Anthony about… whatever they had been talking about (she had been too busy with her conversation with Will to hear), and wrapped her in a teary hug. “You promise you’ll come back sometime next year?” her mother choked out, pulling back and holding her daughter by the shoulders. 

“Promise, Mum.” Her father hugged her then, letting Will comfort Emma. 

“I love you, Y/n. You’ll call us too, won’t you?”

“Of course,” she replied, huffing a laugh. “I already said I would about a hundred times.”

“We’re just making sure! Right. Off you two go, then, or you’ll miss your train.”

“Ben, they’ve got half an hour.”

“I know that, Emma, but what if something goes wrong?”

“Dad, please don’t jinx it. I’ll let you know when we’re back, alright?” She moved away, grabbing the handle of her suitcase and frowning when she felt Anthony’s hand already there. “I can take my own luggage, Ant.”

He shrugged. “I know. But I’ve got two hands and you have the tickets.”

“Your logic doesn’t make much sense; I also have two hands. And anyway, you could have your bag and your ticket, and I could have mine!”

“Just- just let me take your luggage, darling.” How could she say no when he was looking at her like that? She relented her grasp on the handle, casting him a mock glare before turning to look at her family one last time. 

“Have a safe journey, you two,” her mother said with a smile. 

“Yeah, get back home safe,” Y/n responded, starting to move towards the station entrance. She could hear Anthony behind her, the suitcase wheels dragging on the concrete while his repurposed kit bag bounced against his side. 

“You alright?” he asked once they were on the train, bags safely stowed. 

“Yeah. Looking forward to being home again.” It was funny, really. The last time she had been on a train she would have scowled at herself for calling Anthony Lockwood’s house her home, but now here she was, doing it without a second thought. 

“What are we going to tell the others?”

“Well… it’ll be late when we get back, right? I mean it’s already three o’clock now and it’s getting darker, so maybe by the time we get in they’ll be in bed? Or on a case if they managed to get a client. We could just do what you said and see how long it takes them?”

“I think you coming out of my bedroom in the morning would be a pretty big hint, darling. But I do love a game,” he grinned, already thinking about their friends’ reactions. “How do we think they’re going to respond?”

“Not a clue. George will probably say ‘I told you so’ or something.”

“Was… was that meant to be an impression of George?”

“Yeah?”

“Darling, no offence, but I think you might be worse than me.”

“Arsehole.”

~~~

It was dark when they got back, although that wasn’t a surprise given it was the middle of winter. 

Anthony had unloaded the bags from the taxi, smiling and thanking the driver with both words and payment, and had turned around to see Y/n stood on the pavement. She looked exhausted, rubbing her eyes and yawning while she waited for him to finish up. The gate stood locked, and 35 Portland Row seemed empty, the windows as dark and grey as the sky. 

Weird, he thought. Maybe they’re out on a case.

He shouldered his bag and pulled up the handle on Y/n’s suitcase just as the last of the noise from the taxi leaving died off and the road went quiet. Then he heard a scream that was so piercing he dropped the luggage and clapped his hands over his ears, squeezing his eyes shut as though it would save his hearing. A ghost? Only Visitors could make a sound that fear-inducing, and if the chill that crept along his spine was anything to go by he would need some sort of weapon. Maybe their best bet was to get inside the house, so he reached for his keys and tried to block out the screaming. 

His keys. 

Shit, where were his keys? He looked up to see if Y/n was alright, if she had maybe had the wise idea to remove herself from possible danger before he did, and his heart stopped in his chest. 

The gate was still closed, and 35 Portland Row still empty and cold. Somehow it felt a whole lot darker than it had just a few moments ago, and Anthony belatedly realised that it might have something to do with the rapidly spreading blue tinge on Y/n’s arm. He couldn’t see any Visitors nearby, or any death glows that might have been stepped on by either one of them to provoke an attack, but all of that had happened so fast that he didn’t have time to process any of it. “Darling? Darling look at me.” He couldn’t hide the tremor in his voice when he spoke, memories of another time a girl he had loved died in much the same way, and he refused to let that happen again. “Let’s get you inside, yeah? There’s some adrenaline shots in the hallway, I just need you to stand up for me, darling. Y/n, please. Please, just stand up.” Why was she so heavy? Why was he so heavy? Was this what dying felt like?

“Anthony?” 

Why did her voice sound so far away? No. He couldn’t let this happen. He tried to lift her again, but somehow she was even heavier than before. Maybe he was tired, or too weak. 

“Anthony, what’s going on?” Her face was blurring and he realised that it was because he was crying, but his hands were too weighted to lift and wipe the tears away. 

“I don’t know,” he muttered, his voice cracking. “I don’t know, darling. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. You’ll be okay.”

“Anthony!” 

That had been louder, as though she were talking right into his ear, and he gasped for air and sat bolt upright. 

“Anthony, are you okay? You looked-”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, eyes blinking back the harsh light that threatened to turn him blind. 

“What are you sorry for?”

“I can’t… I can’t help you,” his breath was coming faster now, and vaguely he noted that there was someone nearby offering him water. His gaze was solely fixed on Y/n, though, and-

Wait. Hadn’t she been on the floor? Now she was on his left where before she had been on his right and in his arms, and her arms were the colour they always were, no blue tinge in sight. “Anthony, what were you dreaming about?”

He stared at her, partly in realisation that none of it had been real, but mostly in disbelief that she wasn’t dying in his arms in front of their home. “What?” The train carriage came back into focus, checkered seats and wooden table forming solid shapes in his line of vision. The view out the windows was barely visible from how dark it was. 

“You were asleep, and then you started… I don’t know. Twitching, I guess? And you were talking but I couldn’t make it out but you sounded really sad, and-” He cut her off by launching himself at her, wrapping his arms around her torso and burying his face in her neck and holding his breath. “Ant?” She paused, slowly bringing her own arms around him and shifting position so that she was more comfortable. “Are… are you breathing right now? I’m gonna need you to breathe for me, Ant, can you do that?”

He did, and immediately choked on a sob. It hadn’t been real, and she was alive. They sat there for a long time while he cried, and then even longer after his tears had subsided and he was just sniffling into her neck. He didn’t know whereabouts they had been when he first woke up, but Y/n finally moved him off of her the station before theirs. “Sorry, just need to shake my arm out. You’re heavier than you look, you know.” They both sat up, and Anthony went to take a tissue out of his coat pocket. “Here,” Y/n whispered, reaching up to wipe his face with her sleeve. Her hands were gentle, barely-there touches on his cheek, but Anthony needed more. He pushed her hand to his face, focusing on the pressure and the warmth of her skin, and the callouses that had built up from being an agent all these years. A few seconds later he felt her forehead against his, and her breath on his mouth (her breath was warm too), and her other hand slipping into his hair, holding him as close as possible. “You’re okay. It’s okay. We’ll be back soon, alright? I think it’s only about ten minutes until we get to our station and then we can call a taxi and go home.”

“Okay.” Whoever it was that had been offering water earlier had left the bottle on the table, and he reached for it now, twisting the cap and downing the liquid. “We’ll be careful once we get out though, right? Because it’s dark and there could be Visitors, and we don’t have our rapiers, and-”

“Anthony, we will be absolutely fine.” Her tone was firm and she pulled his chin up to stare directly in his eyes. “The taxi will drop us off right outside, and if you like I’ll take the keys and get the kettle on. Or you can do that and I’ll get the bags, or we can get our own bags and go up together. Whichever you feel most comfortable with, yeah?” When he nodded she sighed, letting go of his chin and holding his hand instead. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. But if you do, I’m here, alright?”

“I know. Thank you.”

He didn’t let go of her hand until they were safely back in 35 Portland Row, front door shut and locked and bags in his room ready to be unpacked in the morning. 

~~~

Lucy Carlyle had had the best sleep of her life. 

She’d come back from seeing Norrie the day before, the freak snowstorm keeping her from getting back sooner, and the journey had been so horrific she’d passed out the moment she got into bed. Screaming children and drunk men had populated the carriage, creating so much noise that she hadn’t been able to go to sleep on the train, and she was starting to look like Lockwood with the bags under her eyes. 

Now it was nearly midday, and she had managed to crawl out of bed, sling on some clothes, and stumble down the stairs to put the kettle on for some tea. 

Given how late Lockwood and Y/n must have got back last night (it had been after her, and the clock in the hall had shown a time that was both far too late and far too early for her liking), she had been expecting them, as well as George, to be in bed. But then again Y/n hadn’t been in the attic with her when she’d woken up just now (although her vision had been rather blurry, so she totally could have missed a whole human being in the room), so maybe she was already downstairs?

What she hadn’t expected was walking in to the kitchen to see both Y/n and Lockwood having a normal conversation (well, as normal as conversations in this house could go, she was quite sure they were discussing frogs), in which neither of them was glaring or looking like they would commit a felony at any given moment. Lockwood was leaning back against the kitchen sink (looking very snug in his grey hoodie and comfy trousers), mug of tea in one hand while the other braced his weight on the counter, and he was chatting happily to Y/n (who was wearing what looked suspiciously like one of Lockwood’s jumpers). She was sat at the kitchen table, cupping her tea with both hands, and the smile on her face, Lucy realised with a start, was genuine. 

“… Morning?” She started, pushing the kitchen door open and moving further into the room, eyeing her friends. 

“Morning, Luce,” Lockwood replied, taking a large gulp of his tea. He didn’t seem fazed by the incredibly strange situation that was happening right now (was this some sort of a fever dream? Maybe she was hallucinating from sleep deprivation or something), and Lucy nearly poured the still-hot water on her hand instead of in the mug. “Sleep alright?”

“Uh… yeah. What time did you two get back last night?”

“Oh, I don’t even know,” Y/n started. “Definitely past two in the morning, but we were so tired we didn’t really look at the time.”

“Right.” There was a pause while Lucy finished making her tea, and as she took an experimental first sip she regarded them over the top of her drink. “So… Y/n. Did you just collapse on the sofa downstairs or something? I didn’t hear you come in last night.” The other girl froze for a moment, and if Lucy wasn’t a trained operative then she probably wouldn’t have noticed it since her panic was almost instantly replaced by forced calm. 

“Oh, uh…” she glanced at Lockwood, who made some sort of face in reply. “… no?”

“Huh, you must have been quiet, then. That or I was sleeping like a rock.”

“Sure,” Y/n said, a weird look on her face. She was smiling, but almost like she knew something that Lucy didn’t, and that puzzled her. A chuckle sounded from the corner of the room, and under a blue and white striped tea towel, Skull had woken up. 

“You’re really going to take that for an answer? She didn’t even pick one!” Lucy frowned, begrudgingly realising that Skull was right. Y/n hadn’t really answered her question, and what had happened at her parents’ house the last couple of weeks for her to stop trying to kill Lockwood by glaring at him? 

As nonchalantly as possible she asked “So you were quiet? Or was I sleeping like a rock?” 

“Um… I was quiet?” She didn’t sound very sure, and Lucy’s suspicion was growing at the same rate that Skull’s grin was. 

“I know for a fact she didn’t make it all the way up the stairs last night,” he said, some of the sludge in the jar forming comically large eyebrows that waggled around. Now that was interesting. Why would Y/n say she’d been quiet coming in if she had never come in in the first place? Lucy was just about to ask that very question when George trudged into the kitchen, oversized shirt thankfully covering what his lack of trousers didn’t. He pushed his glasses up his nose and squinting at the people gathered. 

“… What’s going on? Y/n’s not trying to murder Lockwood.”

“Why is that a thing?! I’m not always trying to kill him!”

“In fairness, it was a regular occurrence, dar-” Lockwood’s mouth snapped shut, cutting off whatever he’d been about to say. Lucy saw his jaw clench, unclench, then clench again while he flitted his eyes closed in some sort of silent prayer. 

“Yeah…” George said. “This is weird.” He stood at the head of the table, lifting a hand to scratch at his side like a monkey. “Dare I ask how your Christmas was?”

“I mean… Steph and Linda were there, but after I slapped Steph and Mum shouted at Linda they left.” Lucy stood straighter in shock, pushing off the counter she had previously been leaning on. George was similarly surprised, but Lockwood? Lockwood was grinning with pride. 

“You slapped your cousin?!” George exclaimed, a smile growing on his face. “Like, you properly hit her?!”

“I mean… yeah?” Y/n replied, taking a sip of tea. 

“It was awesome,” Lockwood added, and Lucy and George shared a look. 

“You think he would have said that before?” Skull piped up again. “I certainly don’t. Something happened while they were away, that’s for sure. And I know what it was!” He said the last part in a sing-song voice, face turning over in the jar. 

“Yeah, well you could just tell me,” Lucy muttered, drawing everyone’s attention. “Sorry. Skull’s talking.”

“Where’s the fun in that! Better to watch you figure it all out on your own!”

“Bastard.” 

George had started making his own tea, popping two slices of bread into the toaster and giving it a good whack when it didn’t immediately start working. Satisfied that his breakfast was underway, he busied himself with his drink. “So Y/n… how come your suitcase was in Lockwood’s room?” he questioned, turning and pushing his glasses further up his nose. Lucy tried to disguise her shock, but that resulted in a small smirk instead, her eyebrows rising while she regarded her friends. 

Lockwood answered. “She didn’t want to lug it all the way up the stairs, not with the time being what it was. It just… hasn’t been moved yet.” Y/n nodded, a little too enthusiastically, and cast a worried glance towards Skull. 

“So Y/n and her suitcase slept in Lockwood’s room?” George asked, still probing for answers. He had a little smile on his face, one of those ‘I figured it out’ ones that when she had first joined the agency, Lucy had mistaken for ‘I’m better than you’ smirks. She wasn’t far behind him, and if she hadn’t already figured it out then the reactions of Y/n and Lockwood were enough to confirm her suspicions. 

“Yeah, that’s right,” Y/n said, sipping her tea. There was a brief pause in which Lockwood nodded, smiling softly at her, and then it set in. Lockwood looked like he had malfunctioned, the cogs in his brain turning but not producing any kind of reaction other than a blank stare with confused eyes. Y/n choked on her mouthful of tea, spitting some of it back out into the mug and resting it on the kitchen table while she coughed. Immediately Lockwood’s brain started functioning properly again, and he quickly put his own tea down and went to help Y/n, fussing over her like a worried parent. 

Skull was chuckling in the corner again, and Lucy couldn’t help but join in. George laughed too, his mirth only growing when Lockwood and Y/n turned and glared at him. “Alright,” Lucy started. “Why was Y/n sleeping with Lockwood?”

“I wasn’t sleeping with him!” the other girl spluttered, apparently thinking that Lucy had suggested that the pair of them had had sex, and George was now nearly doubled over with laughter. Lockwood smirked, and before Lucy could protest he was already opening his mouth. 

“I mean not last night, but there were plenty of times at your parents’ house where we-”

“OH MY DAYS NO, STOP-” Y/n got up, all but tackling Lockwood to the ground and slapping her hand over his mouth to prevent him from finishing his sentence. Lockwood went down like a sack of potatoes, and the ‘oof’ he let out on impact had made Lucy snort into her mug. “They don’t need to know that, idiot,” she whispered, but since sound echoed in the kitchen Lucy and George could still hear her, even after the toaster popped loudly. 

“How long have you two… been like this?” Lucy asked, waving her hand in their direction where they now laid on the floor. Lockwood tried to talk but Y/n’s hand was still firmly keeping his mouth shut, and while he was attempting to prise himself out of her grip she was apparently too strong. Lucy didn’t want to think about how much his jaw would hurt afterwards; she had had pillow fights with Y/n that had ended with trips to the medical cabinet because the pair of them got too ambitious with their hits. 

Y/n answered, still attempting to maintain some dignity. “On the floor? A few seconds-”

“Let me rephrase,” Lucy cut her off, putting her finished mug of tea down on the counter with a decisive thud. “How long have you two been together?” Y/n stilled, giving Lockwood time to wriggle out of her grasp and glance awkwardly between his gathered colleagues. He pushed himself to sit back against the kitchen cabinets, one arm resting outstretched on his knee while the other scratched at his neck. He was nervous, then. He looked like he wanted to answer, but he was still shifting his gaze between them all. 

“Uh…” Y/n started. There was a pause, and then she sighed. “Dammit.” She fished around in her pocket and pulled out a slightly crumpled five pound note. Lucy frowned for a moment, wondering what the hell a fiver had to do with this situation, then huffed in surprise when it was passed very begrudgingly to Lockwood. He looked very pleased with himself, accepting the money without moving much, hand outstretched to catch the note between his index and middle fingers. 

“What was that for?” George asked, although he’d just taken a mouthful of his toast so it came out more muffled. 

“Lockwood said we wouldn’t last a day keeping it secret from you both, and I bet that we could.” Y/n shrugged, shuffling around on the floor to sit between Lockwood’s legs. He didn’t get the message at first, too busy stuffing the money into his hoodie pocket, but after a sharp jab to his thigh he moved, wrapping his arms around her waist and complaining when Y/n shoved her elbows into his middle. 

“I swear you do that deliberately,” he muttered, but there wasn’t any malice behind it like there would have been before the holidays. 

“I don’t! If you keep complaining about it then I will do it on purpose, dickhead.”

That was better. Lucy shuddered at the thought of the two of them being overly sickly sweet, all cuddles and pet names like ‘Sugar’ or ‘Schmoopie’, and was instantly glad that the competitive streak in them both had apparently stayed. It would be a lot easier to stomach living with a new couple if they weren’t being insufferably cute. 

“So… you bet on your own acting skills?” questioned George, finishing his slice of toast. “Seems a bit stupid, really. You’re both awful at acting.” Lockwood and Y/n stopped bickering, instead staring up at George in shared outrage. 

“How dare you! I’m a charades champion!”

“I can act, it’s Lockwood that’s the problem!”

They spoke at the same time, both pointing at Lockwood for their respective comments, and Y/n took a moment to take in what he’d said. “Charades champion?” she said, drawing out the syllables and turning slowly to look at him over her shoulder. “We already talked about this, Ant. Using props is cheating, so you lost every game you played!” Lucy frowned. ‘Ant’? Since when had Lockwood let anybody call him Ant?! Apparently he didn’t mind, instead being too busy looking at Y/n with hearts for eyes while he tried (ineffectively) to argue his case. It was obvious that Y/n would win, given how wrapped around her little finger Lockwood was, but the argument wasn’t really an argument. More like… friendly teasing. Lucy could deal with that, she decided. It was much better than having to comfort one of them or convince apologies out of them after a screaming match. 

Skull had gone silent in the corner, but there was a smile in the sludge. He almost certainly had some information, but Lucy could get the details out of him and her friends later.

For now, she was content to watch them be a proper family for the first time since Y/n joined, even if Lockwood’s laughing face was being shoved away from the aforementioned girl as he tried to kiss her in an attempt to apologise for cheating at charades. 

tag list (if you're on here twice or I forgot you I'm so sorry, this tag list is honestly such a mess whoops):

@strawberryloveyyy, @chameleon021, @genderfluid-anime-goth, @cottagecore-babe, @anthonylockwoodandco111, @a-taken-url, @ahead-fullofdreams, @aislinrayne, @anathemaloren, @anthgoldenhrry, @augustisintheair, @aysha4life, @briar-rose23, @curseofhecate, @dangelnleif, @edible-rat-vomit, @el-de-phi, @ell0ra-br3kk3r, @ettadear, @fearlessmoony, @fudosl, @idkbubs, @imaginebeingmentallystable, @informedimagining, @karensirkobabes, @lady-ashfade, @light-23, @locklyebrainrot, @locklyle1kanij, @locknco, @magicandrosewaters, @mentallyillsodapop, @mischivana, @mitskiswift99, @mrsklockwood, @mrsyixingunicorn10, @newbooksmell777, @no-morning-glories, @novelizt, @phlooper, @ran23sblog, @reggiepeterss, @simrah1012, @somethingrandomwatzit, @star-of-velaris, @superpositvecloudshipper, @t2sh0, @taygrls, @tournesol77, @whistle1whistle, @whenselenefallsinlove, @wordsarelife, @y0urm0m12, @zoom1374, @asyouwish-fromcabin3, @rhysand-devorak, @a-candle-maker, @h0lyheck, @apple-bottom-jeans6, @icantwaittoliveandlearn

@neewtmas, @bobbys-not-that-small, @avdiobliss, @demigoddess-of-ghosts, @maraschinomerry, @lewkwoodnco, @uku-lelevillain, @oblivious-idiot

[arcane-vagabond]

OMG WAIT ok so have you ever seen the office? Do you remember the episode where Pam is in labor and Jim is freaking out? There’s one scene where Jim noticed Pam changed clothes and asks her about it and she kind of laughs/shrugs it off and says “my water broke”. He doesn’t quite process it at first but after she walks away it sinks in. I can SO see Jake being freaked out when his wife goes into labor and driving himself crazy and begging to take her to the hospital. He steps outside of their house for a moment, but when he comes back inside he sees her still doing chores/busy work and realizes she changed. He asks her about it and she laughs/shrugs it off and tell him about her water breaking. For a second he’s like “oh yea ok” but then it sinks in after a second and he like chases after her like “wait WHAT” and “ANGEL, I THINK WE SHOULD REALLY GO NOW”.

He’d be the epitome of a nervous wreck first time dad during labor and delivery. Also I just KNOW that he is the most supportive and wonderful husband during labor- like, the gold standard.

Okay, full disclosure, but I've only seen the Office once all the way through and that was YEARS ago lol But I love this idea!!

-

Jake stopped in his tracks. You were standing at the kitchen counter cutting vegetables for supper, but something was off. Your hair was pulled into a messy bun and sweats covered your nine month baby bump, but he was sure you had been wearing shorts before he ran outside to check the mail.

"Did you change?" he asked quizzically. You looked up at him with wide eyes before looking down at your attire.

"Oh," you said. "Yeah, my water broke."

Jake hummed. "Hm. Okay."

He made it just past the archway into the living room before doubling back, eyes wide. "Did you just say your water broke?"

"Uh, yeah?" you replied cautiously. Jake stares at you.

"Well, don't you think we should be going to the hospital about now?"

"You think so?" you asked, looking down at your stomach with a thoughtful frown. Jake scrambled for the stairs.

"I'll grab the go bag! You wait in the car!"

Hours later, you're propped up in a hospital bed, Jake sat beside you as you groaned in pain.

"I know, mama, I know," he cooed, smoothing the stray strands of hair out of your face. "Can you breathe with me? Just like we learned in class."

"Jake," you cried, tears streaming down your face, "I can't do this. This-this is too much."

"Pretty girl," he cooed again, placing a soft kiss to your temple as you held his hand in a vice grip. "I know you're in so much pain, baby, but you can do this. You're the one person I know who can do anything. And just think about what's waiting on the other side of this."

"Jakey," you sobbed out, feeling the pressure build in your lower stomach.

"Alright, Mrs. Seresin. It's time to push now, okay?" your doctor said from the end of the bed.

"C'mon, mama, you can do it," Jake encouraged. Seconds later, a cry pierced through the room.

"It's a boy!" the doctor called out, holding up your son for the both of you to see.

-

And if you would like to see a continuation of this, you can head on over to this drabble right here!

[suniix]

02 | miyamura x reader

synopsis | moving to your grandma’s house is one step closer to helping you achieve your lifelong goal of having a normal high school year, but meeting a cute baker wasn’t part of the plan.

word count | 1k+

note | double posting today because why not. also, the show the reader’s grandma is watching is called la que no podía amar! i used that show because my grandma used to watch it and recently heard the intro song and it got stuck in my head lol

previous | mlist | next

You watched through the car window as buildings seemingly blurred together. Trees bloomed with bright flowers, a symbol that spring was here. The music playing in the car was drowned out by your own music playing. The low rumbling of the bumpy car was almost enough to lull you to sleep— almost.

The excitement of finally being able to live a normal high school life was enough to keep you awake.

Your mother shifted the rear view mirror to look at you through it. She saw you staring out the window with your earbuds in and lowered the volume of the music playing on the radio. She coughed twice which caught your attention. "So.. are you excited for the new school year?"

"Oh.. yea, I am."

Then there was silence.

You nervously tapped your foot, not liking the awkward atmosphere that now formed in the car. It was beginning to feel suffocating.

The relationship you had between your parents was complicated. You love them, truly, but their manner of parenting often left you wondering if they shared the same love for you. Their work had them constantly moving around and part of you hated them for not allowing you to make permanent friends. Sometimes it seemed as though you were never meant to fit into their busy lives.

The car slowly came to a stop in front of an unfamiliar yet familiar house. "Alright, we're here!" Your mom exclaimed, attempting to rid the awkward atmosphere.

You exited the car and took a moment to observe your grandma's house. You know you’ve seen this house before, but now the memory feels like a distant dream. The house was surprisingly big for someone who lived alone. The windows on the second floor were open and the curtains were drawn which allowed you to see a room's brown colored walls—a nice contrast to the cream color that decorated outside the house.

You heard your mother call and quickly turned your head to see her unloading your things from the trunk, motioning for you to come over and help. Grabbing a few of your bags you walk over to the front door and set them down on the floor.

You raise a hand to knock on the door but are disrupted by the sound of a wind chime ringing. It's a soft jingle, one that makes you stop to feel the breeze that comes with the sound. The colors of the wind chime are faded, most likely due to the sun's harsh rays, but the melody remains beautiful.

Your attention snaps back to the door once you hear it begin to creak open, revealing a familiar face you're happy to see. "Grandma!" You smile and reach out to hug her.

She chuckles and hugs back firmly. "Welcome home! You've grown so much over the years!" Simply hearing her voice made you feel at home.

She helped bring your bags inside despite you repeatedly telling her she didn't have to. She would just wave you off and respond with 'I know I'm old but my bones aren't made out of glass.'

You followed her up the stairs and she showed you your new room. The room had brown colored walls, a bed, and a drawer. You place your bags down and look out the window, noticing this was the same room you had been looking into earlier.

You walk out of the house to see if you forgot anything, only to see your mother closing the trunk of her car. She turned to look at you with a sad smile on her face. You both knew it was time.

You hated goodbyes. Despite you having to say goodbye many times you never got good at it.

She walked over to you and gently hugged you. "I'm sorry.. I know your dad and I haven't been the best of parents lately, but we still love you. I hope you enjoy this opportunity and make lots of friends."

You slowly wrapped your arms around her, returning the hug. It had been awhile since you'd hugged her, and now it'll be another awhile before you see her again.

The day passes quickly as you settle into your new life.

Your grandma would occasionally pop in to offer you pieces of sliced fruit which you gratefully accepted. By the time you finish unpacking the sun had already set and your body ached, begging you to rest. You gave in and plopped onto your new bed.

It didn't take long for you to unpack since you didn't have many items, but organizing everything was a tedious task that quickly became tiring. Slowly your room was beginning to feel like home. You were sure the feeling would only grow with the new memories you'd make.

Right! You quickly sat up in your bed. I should start by getting to know my grandma more!

Upon exiting your room you found your grandma sitting on the couch alone while watching a show. A sense of pity befell you at the sight, how many years had she sat on that couch alone?

Shaking that sad thought you stepped forward and sat next to her. Your grandma turned to look at you and smiled, "How're feeling sweetie?"

Your heart swelled at the sweet nickname. "I'm doing alright, what show are you watching?"

"Ah, I have no idea what it's called since it's in another language, but right now the main girl just took a job to take care of some boss to help her aunt with money. The guy she's taking care of is so rude! If I were her, I would've thrown him off his wheelchair and left to find a new job!"

You held back a laugh. Despite her joking nature you had a feeling she wasn't lying— she didn't seem like the type to put up with someone's nasty attitude.

"Do you want some coffee? We can drink some together as we watch the show." Your grandma offered.

You nodded happily. The late night cold air was beginning to seep through the windows and a warm cup of coffee would be a great way to warm yourself up.

Your grandma rummaged around the kitchen before coming out with two warm cups of coffee. She placed them on the small table in front of the TV and went back to the kitchen to bring back something to snack on. "Ah, we're out of coffee cake.. could you run down to the bakery and grab some?"

A chance to explore the neighborhood! "Sure!" You answered and walked over to the door, quickly slipping on your shoes.

Your grandma walked outside with you and slipped a fluffy sweater over your shoulders. "The bakery is just about three blocks down that way, then you take a left and walk straight. There's a sign outside, you can't miss it." She pointed down the street.

You nodded and walked in the direction she pointed in. You decided to walk slowly to familiarize yourself with the neighborhood. The lights in most of the houses were turned off since it was late, but the street lamps lit the way to your destination.

The walk was mostly silent, except for the occasional meow from a stray cat. Several of them had walked up to you begging for pets. It seemed like the cats welcomed you to the neighborhood.

The breeze nipped at your cheeks and nose making them feel numb. Your grandma was right to lend you a sweater, it was a cold night.

Your grandma was also right about easily finding the shop. Outside was a colorful sign promoting their special of the day, cinnamon rolls. Mm.. sounds tempting.. you thought. The soft chime of a bell was heard once you opened the door, complimenting the sweet smell of baked goods. It was warm and welcoming, along with the cashier's smile.

“Hello,” He bowed, “welcome to Cake Shop Iori. Our special for today is cinnamon rolls, would you be interested in any?”

Walking up to the counter you quickly glanced at the menu behind him before making your choice. “Hello, and yes! I’ll have a cinnamon roll with two slices of coffee cake to go please.”

He nodded before pulling out two bags from behind the counter and picking out the baked goods. You took this moment to admire him. His long black hair was pulled back in a half ponytail, revealing several of his piercings. His eyes were a vibrant blue and his bottom lashes were long, you’d be lying if you said you weren’t jealous. This guy was on a whole another level of beautiful, but you couldn’t shake the feeling that you knew him from somewhere.

“Um, your order is ready..”

Crap! Your face flushed in embarrassment as you realized he caught you staring. How long was I staring for? This is so awkward! You quickly pulled out your wallet to pay.

“Sorry for staring, I’ve just.. never seen someone with so many piercings.” You apologized, coming up with an excuse in an attempt to save your dignity.

He chuckled, “It’s alright, I get that a lot when I go out.”

You hand him the money and he accepts it. You watch as he pushes some buttons on the register and begins pulling out your change. “This might sound like a stupid question, but.. did it hurt?” You asked.

He paused for a moment before looking up at you confused. “I’m sorry?”

You quickly point to his ears. “Your piercings! I mean obviously I know it hurt, but did it hurt like really really bad?”

He smiled and shook his head handing you for change. “Like you said, they did hurt a bit. The higher I went up on my eat the more it hurt.”

“Ohh, well they definitely suit you!” You smile and slip the change into your pocket, grabbing the two bags containing your food.

You wave at him goodbye and exit the store, not noticing the rosy tint on his cheeks. On your way back home you try and think if there was any possible way you’ve seen that cashier somewhere else before, only to come up with nothing. Your mind wanders back to his blue eyes and suddenly a memory hidden deep within the back of your mind resurfaces.

A lonely boy standing in the back of the class all alone.

You wonder what happened to him after you left.

thank you for reading till the end! :D

taglist | @swtstrwbrri @aizawa-hatake

[honeysuckleharringtons]

Part Three: "Spilled Milk" ~ S. Harrington

Summary: (Then) Morning sickness has finally caught up to Reader, and unfortunately it has her spilling her guts in more than one way. — (Now) When Steve brings his roommate along with him to the coffee shop, the situation soon goes south when his friend starts to spill Steve's not-so-secret crush to a certain barista.

Pairing: Nurse!Steve Harrington x Fem!Byers!Reader

Word Count: 2,561

Content Warning: teen pregnancy, vomit/morning sickness talk, mentions of food, very mild swearing, lmk if i missed anything!

Extra Notes: this chapter took so freaking long to write because work is taking it out of me lol but i hope you guys enjoy!!

Originally Written: 11/05/2023 through 11/27/2023

honeysuckleharringtons' masterlist can be found here!

'brew and me' series masterlist can be found here!

[ Then, July of 1987 ]

One week. Seven days. One hundred and sixty-eight hours. Over ten thousand minutes. That was the amount of time that had passed since that little white stick had turned blue and changed your life forever.

One might've thought you would've been used to the information by that point, that excitement or anticipation or any kind of emotion at all would've at least crossed your mind once or twice. Instead, you still felt numb, guilt and self-loathing dripping through your veins as naturally as your own blood.

To make matters worse, morning sickness had finally caught up to you. When you weren't throwing up from shame and fear, you were retching due to the human life inside you that clearly wasn't happy with its environment. You were living on a steady diet of toast and Joyce's ginger tea, and you were quite positive your brothers had started to catch on.

The older of your brothers, Jonathan, had been home for summer break from college for barely two weeks when you found out about your current condition. The two of you had been inseparable since the day you were born, having been raised more like twins than individuals who were born a year apart. And since the day you started to speak in full sentences, the two of you told each other everything. But the idea of him finding out about this? To say it terrified you more than actually having the baby was an understatement.

On the opposite hand, you had your younger brother, Will. The baby of the family—for the time being, anyway. The innocent one, the one who you trusted with anything because he didn't really have anyone to tell his secrets to. You craved so desperately to confide in someone, and he happened to be the person you always went to. But telling him this would be like taking the last of his innocence, like forcing him to cross the line between childhood and adulthood with you.

That thought was nearly too much to bear, and because of it, you found yourself doubled over the toilet, nausea and guilt and anguish rushing through you from head to toe. You retched and gagged as vomit exited you once again, tears pricking at your eyes from the pain.

Joyce truly had tried her best to help you as much as possible, bringing you anything you needed and helping you back into bed. But being a single mom also meant taking care of her kids in other ways, and this particular day, it meant leaving you at home with the two people you dreaded speaking to the most at that moment.

A soft knock rapped against the door, and you knew just from the fact that he'd actually used his manners that it was Jonathan. "Are you okay? You looked pretty sick when you ran in here."

A small smile tugged at your lips at his concern, the first time you'd felt any positive feelings since you found out your news. "It's open, Jon," you called, pushing yourself up from where you lay flat on the tiles.

He pushed the door open slightly, just enough to enter the room before cracking it behind himself. Worry knitted in his thick eyebrows as he moved to sit criss-cross on the floor across from you. "This must be one hell of a stomach bug."

A sarcastic chuckle made its way out of your lips weakly. "Pretty bad," you said, unsure if you had the strength to muster any more words together. You pulled your knees to your chest, hugging your legs like your life depended on it. Your eyes went anywhere but toward his, knowing with just one look, Jonathan could convince you to spill even your darkest secret. Which, in all fairness, this might've been it.

"Hey," he started, a gentle hand coming up to meet your knee, "I know when something's wrong with you."

"Jon, it's-"

You didn't have to look up to know he was giving you that serious and stern look, the one that always reminded you that he was nothing short of your big brother. "Don't give me the stomach bug thing again. Maybe you can fool Mom with that crap and maybe even Will, but you're not fooling me. I'm your older brother, but more than that, we're best friends. I know when something is truly wrong with you, but I can't help you if you don't tell me what it is."

Instead of forming words, you simply shuffled across the floor and over to him, Jonathan instinctively opening his arms up to pull you into his side. Just as you expected, even the simplest of touches had you on the brink of tears as you leaned into his embrace. His crisp and clean scent filled you with a sense of familiarity. A feeling that was so comforting, so needed, and just so Jonathan.

Pregnancy must've taken away your knowledge of how time worked because once again, being in a familiar embrace had made you lose track of time. You really weren't sure if you'd been on the floor with him for five minutes or five hours before a certain someone alerted you of his presence from the doorway.

"Uh," Will started, clearly confused by the scene in front of him. "Why are you two hugging on the bathroom floor?"

Identical snickers tumbled out of both you and Jonathan, yours being slightly muffled by tears. You pushed yourself up before motioning the younger boy over with a wave of your hand. "Come here, Will," you said, the beginnings of a smile tugging at the corners of your mouth.

Despite the way he was looking at the two of you like you'd both grown an extra head, Will followed your request. He sat down criss-cross on the side closest to the door, and you were sure it was because he was secretly plotting an escape from his two crazy older siblings.

You tossed an arm around both their sets of shoulders, looking between the two of them with teary eyes. "Before I tell you guys the biggest secret you've ever heard, you have to promise me two things: one, it will not leave this house; and two, you'll still love me afterward."

Jonathan rubbed at your hair playfully. "Kinda hard to promise that second one when I never loved you to begin with, stinker." The statement earned him a teasing shove from you and a false expression of shock from Will.

Looking between the two of them, you felt your heart swell with luckiness. No person had ever been blessed with two better siblings than your own, you were sure of it. The older, a living, breathing personification of comfort, and the younger, a steady thing to hold onto when life felt wobbly. You wished it could stay that way forever, the three of you in your own private and protected bubble.

Unfortunately, the moment had to come to an end and your bubble had to burst. When you remembered the statement you were about to make, it felt to you almost as though the moment had been a passing second rather than the first eighteen years of your life.

That familiar numbness began to return, flooding to your fingers and toes first, and then starting to creep up your spine. You managed a shaky breath, avoiding both their gazes as you exhaled. "I want to preface this by saying that my boyfriend and I love each other very much, so you guys don't have to worry about him." The words came out choppy, anxiety clearly coating your throat.

You could almost hear Jonathan's eyebrows furrowing as he asked, "What's he got to do with…" His voice trailed, as if already figuring out exactly what you were about to say.

Another shaky breath escaped your lips as you lifted your head. You still avoided eye contact, this time fearful they'd see the panic-induced tears welling beneath your eyes. "I…" you started, knowing that once you said the words, there'd be no going back, "I'm pregnant."

Jonathan took the news exactly how you'd expected: leaning back against the counter, running a hand through his messy brown hair, and his complexion going from its normal pale shade to stark white. Will took the information much better than your older brother: not saying anything but pulling you in for a soft hug.

While the two of them processed the statement you'd made, a new feeling washed over you, like you were finally beginning to process the news yourself. Your nerves began to settle, and the nervous tingling in your fingertips was being overtaken by… relief? Excitement? Contentment?

[ Now, November of 1991 ]

Whatever the word was, you liked it much more than the horrible, guilty, suppressing thoughts that had been weighing you down for the past week. You'd be okay, no matter what happened. Because you had the best support system, one that made your heart swell with luckiness.

The bell chimed as the door swung open, pulling your attention away from the book you'd been reading in between taking customers. Normally, your attention would be on cleaning the equipment between orders or making sure tables were cleared off, but finals were only a couple weeks away, and that had stolen your attention this particular day.

"Hi, welcome to Brew and Me." The statement came out in its normal cheery tone, one that quickly gave way to an opposing expression as your eyes met familiar, wire-framed ones.

Steve stepped up to the counter as an unfamiliar curly-haired man followed behind him, digging in every single pocket of his leather jacket to find his wallet. In juxtaposition to Steve's neutral scrubs, the man wore a bright flannel beneath his jacket, and instead of having glasses perched on his nose, he sported sunglasses atop his head that were nearly hidden by his mop of dark curls.

You quickly turned your attention back to Steve, intrigued by whatever his order might be this time. "What's your guess this time, Lennon?" you asked, the words dripping sarcasm as your arms folded tightly in front of your chest.

Not taking the bait, Steve quickly changed the conversation. "Whatcha reading?" he asked, the words melting together in a way that made your stomach melt just the same.

Still, you wouldn't take the bait either, not backing down from your usual banter. "Mouth Hygiene by Alfred Fones."

"Sexy," he chuckled, earning a small snicker from the man behind him. Steve pushed his glasses up his nose, a cocky smirk appearing on his lips before he spoke again. "To answer your question though, I was wondering if I could just get today's special?"

"Something about me says, 'iced cold brew with cinnamon cold foam'? Good to know."

Steve leaned forward on the counter, and you had to resist the urge to watch his scrubs tighten around his muscled arms. "Well, it's like your personality. A little sweet at first, but then bold and bitter."

You started to reply but got cut off by another snicker from the leather-clad man standing behind your handsome nurse. "So this is the barista you're always talking about."

Before Steve could quip out a response, you met the two men with raised brows. Curiosity bubbled inside you. "Oh? Is that so?"

"Eddie, I swear to God, if it wouldn't get me kicked out of med school, I'd murder you," Steve grumbled.

The curly-haired man just smirked, a small huff of amusement leaving his lips. "You wouldn't dare. You love Chrissy and Wayne too much to ever hurt them like that."

"I could overlook it this one time, trust me," he quipped to Eddie. To you, he simply asked, "So, how's about that daily special?"

You quickly scribbled down his order before taking his money in contemplative silence. You knew Steve had a crush on you—that much was obvious, between his flirtatious remarks and endless efforts to get your phone number, not to mention his very generous tips—but the idea of him telling his friends all about you had butterflies shooting off in your belly like fireworks.

Steve soon headed in the direction of his favorite table, leaving Eddie to step up to the counter. His eyes narrowed in on the menu hanging above you, his tongue clicking as he contemplated his decision. Eventually, he landed on a white chocolate mocha, and your stomach growled at the thought.

"By the way," he said, sliding his money toward you, "he really does talk about you all the time, even if he's too shy to admit it."

Your cheeks flushed as you looked away, conveniently focusing on the cash register than on him. "Really?"

"Oh, yeah," he smiled. "Steve could go on and on for hours about your beautiful hair or gorgeous smile or whatever part of you he's thinking about that day. Just the other day, he wouldn't stop talking about your eyes. Not to mention, he's constantly raving about how no one could ever make drinks the way you do, hence why I'm here today."

Forget fireworks. With every word that passed through Eddie's lips, explosions of butterflies danced and spun around in your belly, tingles shooting up your spine.

After a few seconds, you finally gained enough composure to speak again. "Well, the feeling is definitely mutual," you admitted, your cheeks hot enough to steam milk.

"Good," Eddie said, the word quiet and simple and straight to the point. "He's a good guy. He's… a terrible roommate," a small laugh followed the remark, "but he really is a good guy."

The tingles on your spine somehow increased tenfold as you listened to Eddie's statements. You knew Steve was good, but hearing the people that knew him outside the coffee shop talk so highly of him made you swoon.

You didn't say anything in response, you were too busy trying to hide the blush burning across your entire face. You quickly got to work on their drinks, looking for any reason to avoid eye contact with the men. While it probably wasn't possible, you'd convinced yourself that one micro expression gone wrong could reveal every thought racing through your mind, and decided it was best to avoid the two until you collected yourself and your thoughts.

Still, your heart couldn't help but flutter at Eddie's words about the lovestruck nurse. Were it not for Mandy—and your trust issues—you might hop over the counter and give Steve your home phone number on the spot. After all, with every new day that passed and every new attempt at guessing your coffee order, you only found yourself falling for him that much more.

But you had a little girl at home, in need of protection. After all the sorry examples of men she'd had thus far in her mere three years on earth, it would take Steve a lot more than a couple of big tips and flirty banter for you to trust him.

So, you made quick work of changing the channel in your brain, no longer focusing on the one playing only lovesick lullabies and switching instead to one with barista ballads and zeroing your thoughts in on your work. If Steve really and truly wanted a shot with you, he'd have to work hard, no matter how sweet the things his friend had spilled about him were.

This is my formal apology stating that I am so sorry this was posted so late in the day! I had planned on queuing it for earlier in the day but didn't get home from work last night until super late. Anyway, I apologize and hope that next week's chapter will be posted on time!

-> taglist: @dungeons-are-too-cold @ducky-died-inside @awkotaco24 @liberhoe @princesseddie @corrodedseraphine @manuosorioh @esoltis280

[iwantacoolusernameman]

Akaashi Keiji x Reader

If It Was Him

Summary: After a breakup with your boyfriend, your friend Keiji is there to support you

Notes: unrequited love, idk can this be considered angst? if you're looking for a happy ending you won't find it here sorry lol

TW: mention of fighting parents/abusive household

While Keiji works day and night, whether he's at the company or at home, out and about making a living for himself, you are unable to land a single job. And oh, would it be a dream if that was your only concern. On top of that what that meant for you was that you were stuck at home with your parents who fought with each other day in, day out. Not the kind of bickering that couples and parents do, but the kind where it gets ugly and loud, stuff being thrown around and slamming doors, and tears in locked rooms.

You remember the night you yelled at your parents to get a fucking divorce already! in the heat of the moment in the middle of their screams. The house had gone quiet for the night at least but the very next day they were back at it again. If your dad wasn't home, your mom would sit around and cry. Maybe it made you a bad person for wanting to escape that place rather than support her but you couldn't stay.

That's how you found yourself spending most of your days at Keiji's place. Your friend since high school. He enjoyed the company in his lonely little apartment while you enjoyed the peace and quiet his home offered and neither of you thought it was weird when one day he gave you his second key. In case you needed a quiet place and he wasn't there to open the door for you, that's what he told you as you gratefully took the key from his hands, barely holding back tears.

Keiji wasn't sure when he fell for you. It certainly couldn't have been when you were still high school students in the same year. But as you two grew through the years, side by side, at some point he started noticing how there seemed to be a whole new light around you. You were the same person you always were yet at some point everything about you suddenly was so new to him. So when did he fall for you? He'd racked his brain about this question several sleepless nights with no clear answer. Was it when you had told him so casually about how you'd gotten back into contact with an old classmate and that you had a date with him a few months ago and he realized how much it stung his heart to picture you with someone who wasn't him? Or maybe it was when he found himself buying double the amount of instant ramen than he usually did because he knew you'd be around and oh, how he loved seeing your face light up when you saw your favorite flavor in his pantry as if you'd found a treasure of gold. The way your eyes lit up before him was enough to melt the stress of his day away.

"Keiji, do you mind if I take one of these? You have so many," you'd said while pointing at one of the many cups of instant ramen stacked in his pantry, unaware that the reason there were so many in first place was because he'd gotten them specifically for you.

"Sure," he'd casually shrugged it off like it was no big deal to him meanwhile his heart was doing a happy satisfied little dance. He loved being the reason you smiled so brightly. He loved taking a break from his work to sit down on his kitchen floor with you and eat those unhealthy cup noodles with you.

But now, you're not sitting on his kitchen floor, telling him a terrible dad joke you found online and watching him roll his eyes but still let out an amused huff. Instead you're in his bedroom and sitting on his bed, back against the wall with your knees pulled up and tears streaming down your bitter face.

"Why would anyone do such a thing?" You complain. Keiji glances sideways at you from his chair, his expression concentrated or frustrated, you can't tell. You just feel bad. And you didn't mean to make him listen to your relationship problems but he noticed that something was off not even a minute after you walked through his door and when he wouldn't let it go your emotions got the best of you.

"Sorry," you sniff for probably the hundreds time tonight. He is turned with his back to you again, writing something on his desk. The sound of his scribbling pen accompanies your sniffs and the rain against his bedroom window in the quiet room. Then a clicking cound comes from his pen before he turns his chair to face you.

"Maybe he's scared of intimacy," he says plainly, looking into your eyes.

"What?" You lift your head a little to meet his gaze, not sure if he's trying to console you or if he's talking shit.

"You know," he thinks for a moment. "You said he asked you on several dates, was always flirty and even got you gifts but the second you ask him about the whole couple stuff he packs his things and runs. Sounds like he's scared of commitment."

His words run through your mind for a moment. It makes sense and it should make you feel better you think but instead it just makes you feel worse.

"That's a shitty reason to use someone," you mumble through your tears, your head hanging low again

"It is.. I'm sorry."

"So he never cared about me.. He just had his stupid fun and enjoyed the attention. What an asshole."

Keiji looks at you with slightly furrowed brows. There's nothing he wants to do more than to wipe your tears away and make you smile again. Instead he sits there on his chair, feeling helpless and useless. And the fact that it's because of some guy that you're in the state you're in right now, only adds fuel to his frustration.

"Quite the bastard," he replies quietly. If it was him you'd fallen for, he thinks to himself, he'd make sure you always knew that you were his favorite time of everyday and his sleepless nights and tiresome work hours all felt bearable at just the thought of your name. He'd make sure you knew where you stood in his heart and mind and soul. But it wasn't him. And if a friend was all you saw in him, that he would be for you for the rest of his life. As long as he was allowed to share this little time you'd been granted on earth next to you, he would do just that, even if as just a friend.

"Gosh, I feel sick and ashamed," you admit, tearing him apart from his thoughts. You wipe your tears but they keep falling anyway.

"You didn't do anything wrong," he reassures you and you don't dare look at him, sinking your head completely into your knees.

"How is letting myself get used not wrong? I'm ashamed I ever liked someone like that."

The words you say leave a bitter feeling in his body and he can't tell if he wants to grab you by the shoulders and shake some sense into you or punch this guy in the face or bash his own head against a wall. He settles for letting out a sharp exhale. It's all he can do it seems.

"Hey," he gets your attention, his voice coming out a bit stern despite his effort to keep his calm. He stands up and walks over to sit down next to you on the bed. "It's still not your fault. You liked someone and tried your luck with it. It's not your fault he couldn't see how amazing you are. It's also not your fault he's got commitment issues. And it's also not your fault he chose to use you, knowing damn well what he was doing and lying to your face about liking you. None of that says anything about your worth. The guy's obviously got issues."

Your tears slowly dry up as he speaks. Should you be grateful of pissed? You know he means well with his words but they somehow still feel like salt in your wound. You also know he's probably right but that doesn't change the fact that you just do feel ashamed. How could you not? The ever so cautious you. The always doubting people's true intentions you. Just how could you have fallen for something like this? You slightly tilt up your head, revealing your red eyes and nose to him.

"Wow, thanks that was.."

"But you know I'm right," he cuts to word, noticing that his words probably didn't have the comforting effect he intended them to have. "Forget about him."

"I'm trying, ok?" Your voice comes out a bit sharp, surprising the both of you. You sigh, closing your eyes and leaning your head against the wall behind you. The lump in yout throat feels terribly difficult to swallow, you just want to throw it up. "It's not so easy y'know.."

He lets out a sigh as well and barely holds himself back from reaching out to wipe the tears off of your face and trace your cheek with his thumb. But you are too caught up in your own inner turmoil of emotions to notice how he's holding back and how the way he's looking at you is far from the gaze of a friend.

[t-thedigitaldiary]

Sincerely yours,

(part 1)

author’s note: heey,everyone.Basically this the first fiction i’ve ever written and I’m pretty new to this platform so I’m not entirely familiar with how to make my posts pretty but I truly hope you like it :).Also,for the hashtags,this work of fiction is not at all related to Ellie Williams (although the aesthetic is inspired by her in a.u fictions) nor the tlou world.I just really wanna be a part of the tlou fandom in here,since i will be posting related artworks later on and bc im new,i thought this was a nice way to start :).Last but not least,this piece is extremely personal to me and truly reflects my feelings.Anyways,hope you enjoy!

Warnings!: poor mental health condition (mention of depression multiple times & trauma,not in great detail though),violence (basically someone being hit with a water bottle lol)

Sunday afternoon. Ugh, you hated Sunday afternoons. Not because, like most people, you hated the upcoming Mondays, but because it was dull. Extremely dull, empty. You are not sure if the reason behind this emptiness is depression, but you have accepted it either way. Now that you think about it, you hated almost every afternoon. For the same exact reason. Even though you used to love the darkness of the night, something about the sun setting has now become extremely unsettling to you. ‘’Vitamin D my ass! ‘’, you thought. It wasn’t always like this, though. Something about the last six months has turned you into a living dead, a zombie if you may! No, actually, ‘’something’’ is a very unfair description of the cause. More like ‘’a very specific experience’’ has turned you. You had lost all your livelihood, all your appetite about almost everything and, suddenly, Sunday afternoons were not just dull, they were depressing. Just like every other afternoon of the week, just like every other time of the day. Every day. For the last six months. Wow. You thought about change a thousand times before. You prayed and you prayed that things were going to get better. You desperately asked the universe for a sign. A sign that you were going to survive this and live a happy life. No sign, no change ever came. Except for this peculiar Sunday afternoon. (Not so dull now, is it?)

You were laying on your back on top of your unmade bed. Blank white tee, black shorts, the same ones you’ve been wearing for over a week now (depression really gets the best of you, huh?). You were sitting with open legs and open arms. Your right, sock covered foot was bent and was softly brushing over your bare left knee. You had your hands thrown on top of your head. Someone that had just entered the room would’ve thought that this is the position of someone highly frustrated. Little would they know. In your mentally uncomfortable but physically soothing position you found yourself begging again. ‘’Please, universe, just one sign is all I’m asking for!” . You truly were desperate. You hated the life you were living, a life created in fucked up ways. All you needed was a sign. A sign of change, a sign that things were going to get better.

*knock knock*

The loud knocks on your bedroom door brought you back to Earth. What the fuck?! You were home alone for the entire weekend and you specifically remember locking the front door (you even double checked!!!). Now, you were not just surprised, you were also terrified. Whoever was knocking on your door definitely was not here for a good reason..

*knock knock knock*

You had no more time to think about it, you had to act. You went full-on survival mode. Even though you didn’t like the life you were living, you still wanted to live. You believed in that change. You collected every drop of bravery you had in you, grabbed your water bottle, the biggest object near and prepared for whatever it was behind that door. The knocks became louder and louder. You were sure now that within a bunch of seconds you were about to fight for your life. You shut your eyes close and took one last big breath. One last big breath befor-

The last loud noise heard was not from the knocking. It was the sound that your bottle and someone’s head made after they collided together. Oh, and the one of the body hitting the floor.

​

[kingdomof-omens]

The Best Way to Get Over Someone is to Get Under Someone Else

Masterlist Can also be found on Wattpad This is a work of fiction based on real people. If you don't like it, don't read it.

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Pairing: Noah x OFC, Jolly x OFC, Noah x OFC x Jolly

Warnings: threesome, double penetration, anal sex, shibari, female oral sex, P in V sex, praise kink (mild), degradation (mild), erotic asphyxiation, language, orgasm denial, slight BDSM vibes, mentions of cheating, barebacking (use protection!)

Note: This was a part two request sent in by FevMotionless on Wattpad.

Also, have this fic that I've spent weeks on. Writer's block was a bitch, so just take it lol.

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It had been almost a year since the night Noah made Ismine's fantasy come to life. She woke up the next morning with Jolly missing from their bed, already off to start his day. They didn't talk again about that night, but no awkwardness had come from it. Their relationships were the same as it had been before. 

In the time since that night, Jolly had even met and started dating a beautiful woman by the name of Jordan. Ismine and the guys had all met her and they all welcomed her with open arms, bringing her into the mix of their little chosen family. She got along with everyone, and Jolly was a lot happier than usual, coming up with some great ideas for the guys' new album.

That's why when Jolly seemed to distance himself from everyone in the house, it was something Ismine picked up on. She noticed he left his room less and less, even telling Noah he'd listen to a new song idea later which was incredibly unusual for the Swede.

So one night, while Noah was locked in their home studio, Ismine climbed up the stairs and carried her body to stand in front of Jolly's bedroom. There was no sound coming from inside and no light casting underneath the door indicating he was even in. But Ismine hadn't seen him leave in days and knew he was holed up inside.

Her fist had rapped on his door before she could even think about it, causing Jolly to stir inside his little haven. She heard him bite out a muffled "What?" through the door, so she grabbed the knob and entered.

Living with a bunch of men and seeing the messes they created was one thing, but the state of Jolly's bedroom was completely appalling to her. Especially since he was the neat freak of the bunch.

Food wrappers and cups had littered every surface of his room, notebooks and torn pages were thrown everywhere on the ground, and Jolly....poor Jolly was curled in his bed looking so disheveled.

His long hair was thrown up into a messy bun and he was wearing the same clothes from the last time Ismine saw him leave his space. And to be honest, he had a musk of BO coating himself indicating that he hadn't even taken a shower...which was concerning in itself.

"Hey bubs...been wondering where you been. I haven't seen you." Ismine spoke softly, making her way over food wrappers and torn paper to sit next to him on the bed.

"Yeah, well. You found me. Congratulations." He spit back, curling into himself further to hide away from her.

"What's going on in that brain of yours to make you become a recluse, hmm?" She reached out and pulled the tie from his hair out, his long tresses cascading the pillow. She attempted to run her fingers through his locks, but the mats and knots that had formed prevented her from doing so. Instead, she gently started working the knots out with her fingers, hoping he would open up to her.

All he did was huff out in response, hugging his pillow tighter to his chest.

"Joakim." She became stern, no time for bullshit or beating around the bush. "What happened?"

He let out a long sigh and threw the pillow to the side, sitting up against his headboard. Ismine started rubbing his knee as he picked at his fingers in his lap, his head hung low.

"She...she cheated on me. With some fucking asshole from the bar."

"Jordan cheated on you?"

"That's what I said isn't it? Yep. And quite a few times, actually. She claimed I was 'too busy in the studio for her' and she felt 'lonely'." He scoffed, rolling his eyes dramatically. "Fucking bitch."

"Is that what's had you holed up in here by yourself? Jolly...you know you could have came to us and told all of us. We're worried about you." Still rubbing his knee, her other hand grabbed his and held it, her thumb rubbing smoothing circles into the skin.

"Why? So you all can pity me like you're doing now? I don't need your fucking pity, Ismine. I need to bury myself in someone and just fucking forget her." 

Memories of their rendezvous a year ago flooded Ismine's mind and her eyes had widened in response. She let go of Jolly and put her hands in her lap to hide the excitement that was building from those memories.

"I, um..I can ask him." She whispered out, looking over to his side table to avoid his gaze.

"What?"

"I can ask him if he'd like to...you know. Share again. If that's what you need."

_______________

She was sitting on her knees atop Jolly's bed this time, hands currently being tied behind her back by Noah. He was taken aback by her request a few nights ago and asked if she was okay with it since he knew how Jolly could be after a breakup. He saw the multiple women leaving their house in relationships past, makeup smeared down their face and the limp they carried as they scurried out the door. He explained these things to Ismine so she knew what she was asking for, but she didn't mind. Noah had told her he didn't care as long as he was involved, so if Jolly got too carried away Noah could stop the whole ordeal.

As he tightened the last knot on the rope that was binding her arms behind her back, he kissed her temple and whispered encouraging words into her ear. Jolly requested to come in as Noah was already pleasuring her and her moans were going to be the call for Jolly to come in.

She was warned that it would be rough, and she'd be lying if she said it didn't cause her to squeeze her legs together, excitement pooling along her inner folds.

As Noah undressed in front of her, she could feel sparks igniting through her body, the anticipation of the night coating her insides. There were many times where she replayed the scene from a year ago through her head, getting herself off to the memories. She truly thought it was a one-time thing, and as her boyfriend tugged on his dick a few times before walking towards her, she was silently thanking whichever god granted her wish of it happening again.

Noah wrapped his long, slender fingers around the back of her head and tugged on her hair, bringing her closer to him. His mouth crashed into hers, his tongue quickly darting in her mouth, before pulling away and telling her to turn around.

Ismine nodded at the command and slowly walked on her knees to face the headboard of Jolly's bed. Noah's hand was still gripping her hair and he pulled her head back, forcing her to move her body backwards on the bed. When she was seated in the center, his other hand came to grip at her hip, and the hand tangled in her hair pushed her down, folding her in half.

"It's just us here, babygirl. I want Jolly to hear all of the pretty noises you're going to make. Got it?" Noah asked, letting go of her hair and sliding his hand down her spine.

"Yes, sir." She answered into the pillows, goosebumps forming on her arms.

Noah chuckled before lowering his body behind her perked ass. He took his hands and spread apart her puffy lips, eyeing the slick that was already coating her folds.

"Looks like you wanted this just as much as he did. Is that right?" He asked, taking a single finger and running it up and down her folds, coating the digit.

"Y-yes sir." She stumbled out, trying to force her body to keep breathing.

"Such a naughty girl. Why didn't you ask before, baby? I would've loved to see you come undone around him." His finger intruded her cunt on the last word, forcing a gasp to escape from Ismine. Her walls clenched around him at the intrusion and he felt his dick twitch in response. His finger started to slowly pump in and out of her, coating his hand in her arousal.

Ismine's face was turned to the door, low moans echoing through the room. Jolly wanted to hear her pleasure, and she made sure to make it so.

"God, I want to taste you." Noah said as he placed a kiss on her ass cheek and pulled his finger from her. She felt herself clench at the emptiness as Noah maneuvered his body to lay his head underneath of her, his hands coming around to grip her upper thighs.

"Ride me, babygirl. Cum on my tongue."

Ismine let out a long moan at Noah's words, forcing her legs wider. His hand came up to grip the rope holding her arms behind her back and he helped her raise her body up, coming to sit on his face. When she was steady, he let go of the rope and gripped her thigh tightly again.

She moaned again when she felt the flat of his tongue putting pressure against her clit and she waited for him to to lap at her. She looked down at Noah between her legs and he cocked a brow at her, silently reminding her that he had told her to ride him. She bit her lip in response, slowly starting to rock her hips back and forth.

He kept his tongue still against her, letting her chase her own pleasure against him. She rolled her hips back and forth over him, moaning out when he would curl his tongue and flick at her clit as her hips rocked back.

She could feel the warm embrace of her orgasm clutching at her insides, ready to snap and wash over her. That was until she felt a hand tangle in her hair and grip her strands tight making her wince from the sudden sting. 

Her climax rushed through her, causing her to cry out from the sudden pleasure and she pressed her hips down onto Noah's face to ride through the waves. She felt a mouth kissing her shoulder and she turned her head to see that Jolly had made an appearance, him being the one to pull her hair and cause her to undoing.

He smacked her ass as he kissed her shoulder, tugging on her hair to turn her head more to attack her lips with his. They shared a heated, messy kiss as Noah crawled out from underneath Ismine.

"Did he make you feel good, sweet girl?" He whispered as he pulled away from their kiss. His fingers tenderly traveled down her spine and over the mound of her ass until he was burying them in her cunt, feeling her soaked from arousal.

She whimpered out at his intrusion, her body accepting his fingers with ease. His fingers worked inside of her rubbing against the spongy spot until she could feel the coil tighten in her belly again, another orgasm approaching quickly.

Just as the stars were about to burst behind her eyes, he removed his fingers quickly from her, and pushed her down onto the mattress. "Jolly, please! I'll be a good girl, I promise. Please let me cum!" She begged the Swede as she was trying to rut her hips against the mattress for the needed friction.

Noah leaned down next to her face and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Oh, we'll make you cum alright. You'll be spent by the night is over. Your pussy will be so sensitive, you won't even be able to sit when we're done with you." He kissed her temple as Jolly smacked her ass again, forcing a long moan to drawl out from her chest.

Jolly turned to Noah with an eyebrow raised. "You got the stuff?"

He answered Jolly with a scoff, pointing to the varies objects laying on the side table. "Yeah, right here."

Jolly smiled in return, pulling his shirt over his head. He kicked off his sweatpants quickly, his hard cock bouncing against his belly as he laid down on the bed next to Ismine.

Hs hand caressed her cheek as he spoke softly to her. "Oh, sweet girl. Your boyfriend here is going to warm you up for him while you ride me. Think you can handle us both?"

Her eyes widened and she tried to turn her body to face Noah, who was now at the foot of the bed, stripping himself of his own clothing.

Jolly guided her head to look back at him, reassurance in his voice as he told her "we don't have to. It's up to you, we won't do anything you don't want."

She bit her lip, looking Jolly in his eyes. She could see the heat in them, yes, but she also saw care and compassion. This was Jolly's fantasy, one that he asked to be played out and she could back out with no harm, no foul. But deep inside, it was Ismine's fantasy, too. After the last time they were together, she would sometimes imagine a scenario when she had both men inside of her fucking her senseless. 

"I want it. Please, Joakim. I'll be a good girl, please just do it." She begged, raising her ass in the air for Noah, who had just popped the cap on the lube bottle, ready to squeeze some of the sticky substance on his fingers.

Jolly chuckled and raised his head at the other man, nodding at him to signal to help move Ismine on top of his body. Noah had a devious smile on his face and a hard cock to show that he, too, had thought of this as well.

The men helped Ismine maneuver so she was sitting on top of Jolly, and his cock was now pressed between her folds. Ismine couldn't help herself, rocking her hips back and forth on the Swede. The tip of his dick was hitting her clit just the right way, stimulating the aching bud.

Noah grabbed her hips from behind and helped her rock, pushing her body forwards and pulling it backwards. "Gonna cum on his cock, baby girl?"

Her eyes were closed, reveling in the pleasure as she nodded, moaning out a breathy "yes." Her eyes popped open when she felt a warm hand grip her throat, seeing the man below her biting his lip and feeling him tighten his grip on her.

She bit her lip and nodded, indicating to Jolly that yes this is what she wanted, and yes keep doing it. Just as her vision was starting to blur and little black dots creeped into her eyesight, the grip on her throat was released, and Ismine sucked in a breath as her orgasm washed over her again. She cried out from the pleasure as Jolly brought his hands to massage her breasts and Noah  let go of her hips. She bent forwards over Jolly as her pussy was clenching around nothingness, her whole body convulsing from the earth shattering orgasm.

Jolly wrapped his arms around her, grabbing the rope that held her arms back and planted kisses to the side of her head, whispering praise as she came down from her climax.

As the last waves were coursing through her veins, she felt a cold sensation press against her tight hole and her body jumped forwards slightly, causing the men around her to chuckle.

"Just breathe, sweet girl. Noah's going to get you ready now. You okay with that?" Jolly asked her, his hand tangling in her hair and his finger tips rubbing her scalp.

"Just relax baby. I'll take care of you while you ride Jolly." Noah soothed her, one of his hands rubbing her ass cheek.

She looked at the man below her and nodded, relaxing her body and slightly moving it backwards until she felt Noah's finger circle her forbidden entrance. Jolly's arms came between their bodies, gripping his length and pressing it against the entrance to her cunt.

"Now beg." He commanded, slightly entering the tip of his cock inside of her and withdrawing it just as quickly.

She moaned out at his words, trying to lower her hips to engulf his erection. Noah's hand gripped her hip, stopping her from moving.

"Please. I need you two. I need to feel you inside of me!" She moaned out, Noah's finger still circling her tight ring.

"You think she deserves it?" Jolly looked around Ismine, asking Noah.

"I don't think she wants it, to be honest. I didn't hear her beg enough." Noah answered, pushing the tip of his finger inside of her ass.

She moaned at the intrusion, the slight sting of pain quickly disappearing with the warm embrace of pleasure. "Please. I'll be a good girl. Just please do something. I need you so bad."

Jolly, finally satisfied, thrusted upwards into Ismine causing her to cry out. "Yes! Thank you!" She yelled out as her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

"Oh, so she likes to thank us for using her?" Jolly asked into the air as his hips moved to snap into her again.

Noah chuckled from behind Ismine as his finger slowly pumped in and out of her hole. He could feel Jolly working her from the inside and a low moan escaped his chest.

Ismine was panting above Jolly, reveling in the feeling of both of her holes being stretched. Even though she had just came, she could feel the coil in her belly starting to wind tight again.

Jolly had started to keep rhythm for her, a slower pace than he would like, but he wanted her to relax and be engulfed in the pleasure as her boyfriend worked her open for him.

He was twisting her nipple with the tips of his fingers when she let out a cry and moaned out "another" to Noah. Happy to satisfy, Noah pulled his finger out of her and poured more lube on his hand. His forefinger and middle finger pressed against her ring as he asked if she was ready. She nodded quickly, letting a low moan escape as Noah's fingers pushed forwards.

Jolly could feel Noah's fingers through her walls, and as weird that it could be out of context, he enjoyed the added sensation on his dick, moaning when he felt Noah scissor his fingers inside of Ismine and slowly pumping to open her up.

Ismine was above him panting with her mouth wide open, surrounded by a warm embrace of pleasure. Jolly took his hand off of her breast and his fingertips tenderly touched her lips. She looked down at Jolly and flicked the tip of her tongue against his finger tip, sending a shock straight to his member. He twitched inside of her and he could hear Noah moan, feeling Jolly.

Jolly's middle and ring finger entered Ismine's mouth, her tongue swirling around his digits as she gently suckled on them. Jolly bit his lip in return, moaning when she sucked harder. He couldn't help himself, really, when he shoved his fingers further into her mouth, touching the back of her tongue. She slightly gagged around his fingers causing Noah to moan from her body clenching around the two men as she gagged.

He kept his fingers there as she moaned out around them. Her saliva dripped down his hand as her eyes rolled to the back of her head, loving the feeling of being used.

Jolly's hips kept a steady pace fucking into her, not enough to bring her to her climax, but enough to make her brain melt into mush and make her relax as Noah pulled his fingers from her and lubed up his dick.

Noah leaned over the two on the bed, his chest against Ismine's arms that were tied around her back, as he started planting sweet kisses along her shoulder blade. He moved her hair away from her neck, sucking a purplish spot into the skin. She could feel him pumping himself against her ass cheek, and she moaned around Jolly's fingers again, so impatient for what was to come.

"You ready for me, baby?" Noah asked against the shell of her ear. With Jolly's fingers still in her mouth, all she could do was nod and moan out, hoping Noah understood how desperate she was to feel both of them inside of her.

"As great as her pussy feels, and how much I love being inside of her, I'm going to need you to hurry up because I really don't think I can last much longer." Jolly grunted below Ismine when her walls clenched around him.

Noah stood from the bed and added more lube to himself, chuckling at Jolly. "With as impatient as you're being, maybe next time we should tie you up and make you wait."

Next time. 

Ismine heard it, oh yes she did. And she'd be lying if she told you that phrase didn't throw gasoline on the mild fire burning in the pit of her stomach at this moment. She let out a guttural moan at Noah's words, ticking her hips forwards to meet Jolly's thrusts.

"My naughty girl here is more impatient than you though." Noah told Jolly, smacking Ismine's ass before lining himself up. Jolly buried himself to the hilt and brought his hips to a stop.

"We're gonna let him work himself inside of you, sweet girl." Jolly told Ismine as he removed his fingers from her mouth. "Tell us if it's too much. Okay?"

"I will. Just please. I need it" she begged the two men, leaning down into Jolly's chest more to spread her ass wide to Noah.

Noah placed his left hand on her hip, and, while gripping himself with the other hand, pushed the tip of his cock through her ring. Because he worked her open so perfectly while Jolly fucked her from below, the tip popped in with ease and Ismine let out a gasp at feeling Noah enter her.

He pushed his cock into her more with small, shallow thrusts. They had anal sex before, sure. But with an addition of another cock in the mix, Noah had to go slow to make sure her walls were ready to handle both of them.

When his hips finally met her ass cheeks, he let out a satisfied moan and gripped her hip with a force that was sure to leave bruises. With her hands tight behind her back, Ismine opened them and placed them on Noah's hips to keep him seated inside of her for a moment.

"How are you feeling, sweet girl?" Jolly asked her as his hand cupped her face and his thumb ran soothing circles on her cheek.

"So full...feel so good." She panted out, opening her eyes to look at Jolly. Jolly saw the intensity of the arousal in her pupils that were blown wide.

"Let us know when you're ready." Noah told her as he kissed her shoulder blade while the hand that gripped her hip moved to caress her side.

"M-move." She spoke out into Jolly's neck.

Hearing her command, Noah started to slowly thrust in and out of her as Jolly started to do the same. The two men were thrusting opposite of each other, making sure her holes were never near empty of them.

Ismine let out a cry at the pleasure. She was releasing a series of moans into Jolly's neck as the two men took what they could from her.

When the two men's thrusts increased, she could feel their rhythm overlapping each other, causing both of them to enter her at almost the same time. "H-holy shit. Oh my god, it feels so fucking good!"

"You fucking like this?" Noah asked her as Jolly gripped her hair, yanking her head back so she could look at his face.

"Yes, yes! Please don't stop." She moaned out as Noah slapped her ass.

"This what you wanted? Both of us- oh god, both of us having our way with you?" Jolly's grip in her hair tightened, a slight sting of pain shooting through her scalp.

All Ismine could do was moan out a "yes" as she felt Noah grab the rope holding her arms back and yanking her torso up causing Jolly's grip to let go. Jolly, instead, wrapped his hand around her neck, applying slight pressure.

"Think you can cum around us both?" Noah leaned down, grinding his hips into her.

"Gonna be a good...a good girl and cum for you."

Jolly's grip on her neck tightened, cutting off some of the blood flow to her brain. Noah brought his hand around her, running his fingers through her soaked folds to circle her clit as he continued to grind into her ass.

"God, you're so fucking wet for us, aren't you?"

"Like a needy whore." Jolly replied for her through clenched teeth. Jolly's hips were thrusting into Ismine with earnest now, trying his best to make her dive off the edge of the cliff before he reached his end of the finish line.

Jolly's other hand came up to pinch and pull at her hardened nipple, rolling the bud between his fingers. One of Noah's hands tangled in her hair, pulling taut. Ismine was loving the mix of pleasure and pain that her body was experiencing. She felt a painful sting when Jolly pulled her nipple and then slapped her tit, causing her eyes to roll to the back of her skull. At the same time, Jolly's cock had hit the sweet spot inside of her, a whine leaving her lips.

With Noah's cock working her from the backside, it put pressure on Jolly's, making it much easier for the Swede to angle his dick to constantly rub against the spongy spot that had her stringing moans and pants together.

Ismine could start to see stars forming behind her eyes, the lack of blood flow making her more light headed than she already was from Noah rubbing her clit viciously. Just as she was about to speak up and tell Jolly to let go, Jolly's grip loosened and she sucked in a deep breath as the wave of her orgasm crashed into her. She screamed out in pleasure as the warm embrace of her climax engulfed her. Noah and Jolly both released high pitched moans as they felt her walls clench around their cocks.

Noah slowed his attack on her clit, still rubbing the swollen bud to work her through her orgasm. As her body shook and twitched between them, they both kept fucking into her to chase their own releases. Noah could feel Jolly's thrusts through her pulsing walls become sloppier as his moans became louder. This, in turn, made Noah's eyes roll to the back of his head, his own undoing becoming imminent.

Before he could mumble out a warning, Noah's hips snapped to bury deep inside of Ismine, hot ribbons of cum shooting into her as a long whine escaped his lips.

Ismine was still moaning between the men, overstimulated from the feeling of Noah releasing inside of her as Jolly's cock pounded into her pulsing cunt. She couldn't form coherent words, her voice babbling away at the men trying to tell them how good she felt as Noah leaned onto her arms, panting against her sweat slicked skin.

Jolly's moans were increasing in pitch as his hips could no longer keep a rhythmic pace. His hand reached up and grabbed her breast, squeezing a little too tight to help ground himself as his climax punched him in the gut and stars burst behind his eyes. He buried his cock in Ismine's pussy, panting out between "oh god" and "holy shit" as his semen coated her inner walls.

Ismine couldn't help when her pussy clenched around Jolly, helping milk him of all his cum. She loudly moaned out as she felt his cock twitch against Noah's softening member from deep inside her core.

The three of them laid on the bed panting against each other's skin as they were coming down from their highs. Noah was the first to separate from the pile, removing his softened cock from Ismine and running to the bathroom to grab her a washcloth.

As he disappeared into the bathroom, Jolly lifted Ismine and placed her next to him on the bed. He sat up next to her and started undoing the many knots that had her arms secured behind her back. As he undid each knot, he rubbed soothing circles into her skin and kissed where the knots had lay. All Ismine could do was breathe out into the mattress, well spent from the night's activities.

Noah returned from the bathroom and spread Ismine's legs to clean the mess that spilled out onto her thighs as Jolly kept untying her. Noah was placing gentle kisses on her lower back as he cleaned her up, praising her as he took his time to make sure to not overstimulate her from the sensitivity.

Jolly finished untying the knots that held her captive and stood from the bed and grabbed his sweatpants off the floor, scurrying to the bathroom to clean himself off.

He returned from the bathroom and saw Noah laying back on his bed with Ismine cuddled into his chest. Noah was playing with a strand of her hair, twisting it between his fingers as hushed words were whispered into her ear. Jolly stood at the doorway gazing at the couple for a moment. The love between the two was something Jolly searched for in a woman, and maybe the reason he was so pissed at Jordan for cheating was because he thought he had found that kind of love in her. 

But Jordan was the last thing on his mind at the moment, especially when Ismine lifted her head off of Noah's chest and patted the empty space next to her as she grinned at Jolly across the room.

A smile formed on his lips as he stepped closer to the bed, turning out the lights before laying down next to her. She turned over and laid her head on top of Jolly's chest, causing him to pause with his arms suspended in air and glance at Noah to make sure this was okay.

Noah just chuckled at the sight of a frozen Jolly and wrapped his arm around Ismine's waist, his fingers grazing against the exposed skin on Jolly's torso. Jolly relaxed his body when he noticed that Noah didn't care that his girl was cuddled up to him, and he lowered his arms to wrap around Ismine, snuggling closer to drift off to a much needed sleep.

[honey-boyyoongi]

Pairing ➪ Reader x Yoongi||Part 54//??

Word count ➪ 1.5k

Warnings ➪ it’s not beta-ed; any mistakes are mine; mentions of self harm; mentions of scars; if you're name is crossed out it's because I'm unable to tag you;

Summary ➪ Min Yoongi, is a simple man. He likes his coffee black and iced, he enjoys his job, and he loves his baby girl. But what happens when the new neighbor, quite literally, drops into his life?

A/n: Wooooow it’s been a bit huh. First off, I narrowly missed posting this on Father’s Day, but oh well, belated works as well lol. Second off I’m sorry for not posting consistently. Thank you to everyone who read my fic while I was gone 💕. Sorry for throwing y’all back into this a little sad lol. As always any feedback is appreciated, and if you want to be added to the tag list please let me know.

P.S. I updated WWDITS!

Previous Next

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Minji laid on her unmade hotel bed, numb. The last 12 hours had felt unreal. She had a daughter, a beautiful daughter, that was all Yoongi with hints of her brother. She could feel flickers of life bloom in her chest when Mrs. Min talked about the toddler. It almost made Minji regret fleeing, almost. 

Minji forced herself out of the plush bed, stripping herself of her clothes down to her birthday suit. She stood in front of the mirror, examining herself; every mole, scar, stretch mark, and at the center of it all was the C-section scar from the child’s birth. Most days Minji could forget the long pink scar that decorated her lower belly. Sometimes the pain that comes from it will pull her from the fog she’s been sinking herself in. She dragged her index finger lightly across, remembering the child’s birth. 

Yoongi had freaked out that morning, Minji had gone into early labor a week before she was scheduled for her C-section. Yoongi had arranged and rearranged her maternity bag weeks in advance, making sure he kept the child’s belongings in a separate diaper bag. He double, triple, quadruple checked that they had the correct paperwork to check Minji in with no issues. Yoongi was on the phone with her doctor, informing her of the early labor, while Minji floated through his apartment. She could feel the child moving around, just as desperate as she to leave its confines. 

Yoongi tried his best to settle their nerves while they drove to their hospital, he guided Minji through the breathing exercises they learned at birthing classes. She remembered doing the bare minimum to ease the sharp pain traveling across her lower body. Minji felt that she deserved to feel the pain enveloping her. She held off until her doctor sedated her for her C-section. 

Minji watched as the tub she laid in filled to a less than ideal amount. The steaming water was stinging the skin it enveloped, and she sighed in relief. She allowed her body to relax, washing away the tension that had built up. 

Minji walked into the Min home, taking in the room that once gave her comfort. The hallway right at the entrance that was once lined with pictures of Yoongi, were now taken over by pictures of the child. No longer was her former lover’s story up for her to reread. The comfy dark gray sectional was still in its corner, and the rocking chair where she informed the Min elders of her pregnancy was occupied by an obscenely large stuffed bear. She could hear father Min humming along to the song playing from his ‘Alexa’, and their kettle whistling. Mother Min was going forward with the pleasantries, ‘You look great’, ‘I missed you’, ‘why did you leave’, ‘do you have a boyfriend’, ‘do you want tea’, ‘do you want to see pictures of Hani’? It was overwhelming.

Minji nodded through the simple small talk, allowing the Min elders to talk about their lives within the last four years. They’d spent 3 hours on Mrs. Min’s community center stories, and if it hadn’t been for a neighbor stopping by, she’d still be speaking about them. She learned that both Mins’ had technically retired, but Mr. Min was still running his shop. While Mrs. Min would take clients once in a blue moon for events. While the trio ate lunch together, Minji caught herself tearing up. She had missed this feeling of belonging that enveloped her at the Min home. Mrs. Min kept her plate full, and Mr. Min made sure to pack up leftovers for her to eat at her hotel. 

After cleaning up, Mrs. Min brought out the child’s pictures. Minji was reading the short story of the child’s life, and she was conflicted. She watched as the child took her first steps towards Yoongi. There he was at every little song learned, art piece being made, movie watched, and word spoken. It never looked like there was a missing piece. There was no place left for her. Minji held back a sob that had built itself as she learned more about the child’s life. So far she had learned that the child liked pink, but hated yellow. She loved mozzarella sticks, cheerios, and watermelon juice. Tiana was her current favorite princess, while Moana sits at a very close second. The Mins’ practically glowed talking about the girl. 

Minji stared at the ceiling above, feeling droplets falling on the sides of her face, too numb to care if they’re coming from her or from her bath. Her throat became dry, and it became harder to swallow. Too tired to fight, she allows the sobs that she pushed down, rise once again. Her cries echo across the walls, somehow adding more layers to her misery. 

Mrs. Min wasted no time speaking about Yoongi. ‘I never liked her from the beginning,’ she said, and ‘That Jeon boy was trouble’, while she doubted his judgment of character. The way she recounted the first meeting was odd; ‘She was too friendly towards Yoongi’, she said. While Mr. Min would add that he liked how friendly the babysitter was. Mrs. Min didn’t like that she acted like a hostess when they had brunch. Mr. Min liked that she was helping Yoongi, as there was a large amount of food. Mrs. Min was not fond of the child being so close to the babysitter, and Yoongi not correcting her. Mr. Min was ecstatic that his granddaughter was comfortable with someone new. It went on like that for the rest of the talk, for every dislike Mother Min had, Father Min had a counter like. By the end she was visibly frustrated. 

Mrs. Min looked at Mr. Min with dark eyes, ‘Why are you defending her’, she demanded. Mr. Min sighed, ‘This conversation isn’t about the babysitter, it’s about Minji wanting to see her daughter.’ 

‘She deserves to know what kind of person our son has left our granddaughter with’, she sneered. 

Mr. Min grunted, ‘Yoongi isn’t completely hopeless, he’s very strict with Haneul’s care.’

Mrs. Min scoffed, offended that her husband wasn’t agreeing with her. Minji was confused, if this person was so horrible as Mother Min said, then why is Yoongi still allowing his child to still be in her care. Who was this person and why was she causing such a rift? Mr. Min stood from his chair, excusing himself, but not before telling Minji that he hopes she’s here for the right reasons. Minji tensed in her seat, she wondered if he knew that Mrs. Min had been reaching out to reunite her with his grandchild. 

Mother Min waited until her husband had left the kitchen to speak once again, she asked Minji to please see the child. She went on, and on about how the baby asked for her momma. ‘Any time we’re out and we see a mother and daughter she asks me where her momma is. I always tell her you were sick, but are working on getting better. I tell her you miss her, and want to see her. Hani wants you here Minji.’ 

Minji teared up, she didn’t know that her baby was asking for her. She had always felt like the baby would be better without her, Minji was aware of the baggage she carried, and she had started facing it little by little with her therapist. But they could never broach the topic of the baby, it opened a can of worms Minji wasn’t sure she wanted to deal with just yet. Mom told her to fight for her child, she had rights, and she should fight for them. She assured Minji that she’d support her through it, even offering for them to stay in their home while she had custody of the baby. 

Minji rubbed a scar lightening cream on her lower stomach. She climbed into bed holding her phone, with a new chat opened. She stared at the screen until it darkened, shoving it under the cold hotel pillow to keep it out of mind. Minji laid in darkness, allowing herself to get lost, and leave her body. 

Minji watched as the head nurse placed the baby in her chest. It didn’t look like a baby, and smelled like blood and something else she can’t remember. She couldn’t remember the inbetween, next thing she woke up to was a crying Yoongi holding a pink blanket with a tuft of black hair. Minji had left 48 hours after giving birth. Yoongi had begged her to stay longer, ‘I just witnessed your organs on a tray next to you, I think you should stay a bit longer Min.’ Minji refused. She promised Yoongi she’d take care of herself. As she got the last of her things she voiced her goodby, and her well wishes. A week later Minji was in her new apartment, with her new roommate, starting her new life. 

Minji had a lot of regrets in her life, but as she laid in her bed, she decided this was not going to be one of them. She reopened the chat she had closed. Once she was satisfied, Minji readjusted herself into her bed, hoping everything will be worth it

____________________________________________________________________________

02:37 Unknown

Hi Yoongi. Your mom gave me your new number.

I want to see my daughter.

Tag List: @unicornbabylover @halesandy @supernoonanyc @aianloveseven @hannahdinse8 @lyndseygoregasmxo @aunoiire @brbkpop @nochuwastaken @tinyoonsblog @borahae-reads @jinscharms @phenomenalgirl9 @yoongiigolden @girlwithluv0613 @yaboiithewreck @mint--yoongs @ysljoon @hyunjingin @yu-justme @damn-u-min-yoongi @lovelytaes-blog @so-da-1 @cruelsummer-s @seolaquotes @lovelgirl22 @dreamamubarak @leanimal90 @atinymonbebestay @astudyoftimeywimeystuff @jaiuneamesolitaiire @proudbtsstanfightmebeach

Fic Masterlist

[ask-sibverse]

✨✨✨OMG that Swad thinking Reader is Swan! How messed up and it seems Reader already has Stockholm Syndrome! I LOVE IT!

So what happens next? Does Swan get captured? Does Swad just keep getting more and more delusional about Reader?

I've honestly been low-key planning to write this bit since you guys started asking for Swad x Reader stuff. TW: Swad, stockholm syndrome, general fucked up in the head, kidnappings, sibling incest and noncon mention. (I struggle with explicitly describing those sorts of things, if you truly want that stuff and Swapdream A03 has plenty of it lol)

He finally did it. Dream finally caught his brother all for himself. You didn't see when it actually happened, but you watched from the hallway as he carried his brother's barely conscious body to the room that was specially prepared and kept ready just for Nightmare.

Dream spent... A long time alone with his brother. The room was next door, so you could clearly hear they yelling, and begging, and... Other noises, until it was quiet again.

You waited a bit before checking on Nightmare, curious. He was more injured and in pain than you could've sworn he looked like in the hall... Oh. That's what happened. You sat on the bed, feeling him tense despite his closed eyes.

Dream loved his brother, so he'd probably appreciate you helping Nightmare some, right? You hummed a song you'd been practicing, one full of calming energy and designed to soothe and heal.

Nightmare opened his eyes to watch you. "A... Siren?"

You blinked at him, surprised he was speaking. His voice was much softer and completely the opposite of Dream. Although they seemed opposites in almost every other way anyways. "Well, not a full siren. But probably descended from one."

He nodded. "Why are you here? You don't act like one of his followers."

"His aura doesn't work on me, and apparently I remind him of you. And... I cant really leave." You gestured to the collar around your neck.

"Do you want to leave? If you had the chance, I mean."

You shrugged. "I have everything I need here, great medical care, even the ability to learn magic."

"It doesn't bother him? You learning magic?"

"He encourages it. It keeps me entertained and he doesn't think Id ever be strong enough to do anything against him anyways."

You visited him sometimes, trying to see how you and he were similar. You both liked books, and reading. You both were more quiet, especially compared to Dream. Dream continued to dress you similarly to Nightmare, and it wasn't long before Nightmare had a collar similar to yours preventing his escape.

"Why are you keeping her captive here?" Nightmare demanded one day. "You have what you want, let her go free. She's a mortal, she should be able to live her short life freely."

"Now why would I do that? I basically have double of you. I cant let such good fortune go!"

"Well shit," Nightmare said quietly.

Huh. That... Wasn't an outcome you had considered.

[hazard-and-friends]

6 months!

Old. 6 months old. I've only had her for almost-4-months.

Successes:

No accidents since December 21, and the ones in the 2 weeks prior to that were zoomies-induced

Nice walker, can go on the harness and pull gently or (with lots of reinforcement, but she is 6 months) on the collar and not pull at all

Alone in the car up to 75 minutes at a stretch or at home, crated, with Hazard, up to 2 hours

Sit/down/touch all fairly good

Drop it VERY good, 99% of the time she will spit the item out.

Very nice toy skills! Will drop a toy and wait to hear "take it" (tug) or "geddit" (fetch)

Her dog-dog social skills are insane. She is so good at adapting play to different confidence levels, or backing off entirely if the other dog is uninterested. She can navigate weird personal conflicts (like when a BC bitch decided to resource guard me) with ease and draw shy dogs into play. If this holds true, she's going to be an exceptional dog for socializing others.

Work in progress:

She can sleep through the night but only if (a) minimal food in the 2 hours before bed and (b) she poops right before bed. Otherwise we get up around 3 am to poop. This past week she's also had a streak where she decides there's Monsters outside and needs to huff about it. That's been steadily decreasing but we're still working on getting the poop schedule right.

We've graduated from the no-spill bowl. MOSTLY she doesn't go swimming in the water bowl, unless she's overtired in which case all bets are off.

Recall is uh, extant. Usually. Which is very good for 6 months lol

Evening relaxing remains something we need to actively remind her to do. I'm typing this post in the bedroom with her, because she won't wind down most nights in the living room--and she won't usually put herself in the bedroom to sleep. So someone goes into the bedroom with her, closes the door, and just hangs out for the last 1-2 hrs before bed, and that's working okay.

She's not as people-friendly as I (after all of Hazard's issues) would like. She's EAGER to meet people but not eager for them to meet her, head-shy, will flinch away from strangers. Like Hazard once you're in her circle you're in, and you can do whatever, and it's a lot easier to get in her circle, but hmm. More love on this I think.

Cat skills: She LOVELOVELOVES the cat. Penny even loves her back. But if Penny is in an accessible place (ie, 95% of the apartment) K'seil is incessant about bothering her, unless being actively distracted.

Leave it/trash is like, she Wants A Thing In Her Mouth on walks sometimes. So she'll dive at trash and shove it in her mouth--not EAT it, rarely even CHEW it, just Hold In Mouth. Which is why her 'drop it' is so stellar. 95% of the time she'll leave it if I can get the cue out, but the reason this is a WIP is she needs the cue. She doesn't have any sort of default "oh I should ignore this" yet. This goes double for certain trash bins in the apartment--thus far no thefts of anything dangerous, but she likes to chew apart masks and eat clumps of shed hair. I know how to fix this I just haven't put the work in.

Counter surfing is juuuust about a success but I don't wanna jinx it XD Very early on she was very persistent about trying to put feet on the kitchen counter, and through consistently ignoring/redirecting her from that and rewarding a down in the kitchen, we have gone...like a week or so? Without any attempts to get on the counter. So that's very nice, both because I hate counter surfing and because it validates my R+ approach.

Bite inhibition/mouthing I think is a WIP but might be a success, she's still Very Sharp sometimes but that's also when she's aroused, so we might just be having arousal problems (because she is 6 months). On walks about 75% of the time she can take a treat from my fingertips perfectly gently. She's still very mouthy, including with new people which is Ungreat, but it's steadily improving.

Body handling, while SO much better than Hazard, still needs some love. She'll let me brush the dremel against her nails but not hold it there, and rear nails have been a no-go since I quicked her fairly badly there. Brushing is 50/50.

Yikes:

Dogs in complex. She's not really reactive beyond staring at dogs outside the apartment complex, but inside it (how does she know. why does she know.) she is loudly and quickly vocal about There Is A Dog Over There. Think husky noises. We're making progress on this but it is still deeply embarassing.

Home alone without Hazard. I haven't done as much work on this as I should, because she can be in the car alone for an hour, so if he's got a class I can just bring her. But it would be nice. Sigh.

[konohamaru-sensei]

dis one is for me since I like never request anything for myself | Nanami Kento x Kim Mae-Hui | having them give something of importance to them for you, as a gift (ie. "oh this is a necklace my late mum owned.. she always wanted me to gift this to someone i cherish.. have it. :)" )

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Q IM SORRY I IGNORED YOUR EXAMPLE AND JUST WENT WITH MY OWN IDEA LOL. Love you lots, thank you for always hanging out and rambling and giving advice and drawing so wonderfully and watching anime and being a A-Class human being.

In an unusual turn of event, Mae-Hui didn’t wake up until the sun was already high up and the morning was turning to midday. That really wasn’t usual for her, as she preferred to rise early, get her store, her plants, her bug friends in order, before she could really start the day. But sometimes, on rare days such as this one was, she forgot all about that and slept in.

Once she realised how late it had gotten she jumped out of bed, grabbing the first dress she could find on the chair next to the bed and buttoning it up as she made her way out of the room. In her hurried state she didn’t even spare a look in the mirror at the back of the room. Her hair was secondary now, she needed to check on her things first.

When she stumbled out of the bedroom into the living room area, feeling like a bear that had just woken up from an especially long hibernation she found Kento on the couch, legs crossed, the Japan Times in his hand. She would have made fun of him for his old man demeanour at the ripe age of 30, but was distracted by the fact that he was shirtless. 

Shirtless man in her living room, not a bad start to a morning. Even if it was late.

“Eh-” she let out, temporarily forgetting how forming words worked among human beings.

Kento let the newspaper sink and looked over to her. He was wearing his reading glasses, which just added to his overall look of an old man though he’d barely reached quater age. “Kin-sei,” he said and looked over the rims of the glasses right at her, “you are finally up.”

Mae-Hui curled her lips a little. Nanami Kento had, ever since she’d known him, been a sweet talker, but lately he’d taken a liking to calling her kinsei specifically. A sort of play on words about her nickname Kin and the word for star. Sure, he most often pronounced it like two separate words pulled together, but sometimes he fluently put them into one. 

Kinsei, in a convenient twist he had probably thought about when he came up with the nickname, was the name for the planet venus. He was essentially calling her a Venus. There were times like right now when that embarrassed Mae-Hui a little, but there were also times like last night where it had embarrassed her in a good way.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” she asked and hurried over to her balcony side plants.

Kento folded the newspaper: “You deserve sleep.”

He was so pragmatic it could almost be unnerving. “What about the store? I wasn’t up to open it!” She lifted her watering can only to realise that the plants had already been watered so she put it back down.

“I sent Itadori-kun to take care of it.” Kento stretched a little. “Now that he is soon to be a university student he should learn how to hold a part time job on his own.”

Kin couldn’t help but grin at the image of 19 year old Itadori Yuuji, known and renowned Jujutsu Sorcerer and Grade A sunny boy standing in her jewellery store. But then again it made full sense in some way. Yuuji would probably be so helpful to every customer that her sales would double. Maybe next time she could bring Megumi too then the clientele of female customers would probably double.

She turned on her heels and walked to her terrarium. “You are working that boy so hard,” she stated with a little wink in Kento’s direction so he knew that she only meant it jokingly. Still, she earned herself a classic Nanami deep-sigh in reply.

“I would say the work he does for you is more like a vacation,” he explained. “At least with everything else he sometimes has going on.”

The bug-friends in their terrarium were crowing happily around set out fresh plants that they were happily munching. Mae-Hui watched them move about and wondered how early Kento had gotten up to be able to take care of all of this. That he had gotten up and done all of that for her, just the general thought of that, already filled her with so much warmth that she could have jumped his bones. She kept it together though. For now.

“I thought you hate work,” she said instead, turning around to walk to the kitchen for a cup of tea. “Do you want the boy to get a normal job?” They always talked about Yuuji as if he was Nanami’s own son, when in fact Nanami hadn’t met him until 4 or so years ago and not really been his teacher either.

Kento sighed one more time. “What I want does not matter. Itadori-kun should decide what he wants.” Sometimes he was speaking in such a low voice that it almost left goosebumps on her skin.

In her tiny kitchen she found that a little teacup had been already prepared for her. Kento had filled the tea in a cup with a lid to keep the warmth inside. He had really thought of anything. At this point she wouldn’t even be surprised to find a full set of breakfast in one of the cupboards or the fridge.

“You look very good in this by the way,” he said suddenly. “Fits you better than I would have thought.”

Mae-Hui took a step back, the cup of tea still in her hand. “Eh-thank you,” she replied, wondering why he had phrased it this way. After all, he’d seen her in this dress just last night for dinner.

“The length of it just covers everything that needs covering, but also doesn’t cover everything. It’s nice, kin-sei.” When she turned she found him staring at her figure so much that it almost made her feel embarrassed once again.

What was his issue, she wondered as she walked from the kitchen to the couch. He’d seen all of this yesterday and yet he acted like he had never seen her like this before? She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the fridge door and then realised what he was talking about.

She wasn’t wearing her baby blue dress, the one she had extra chosen for their date last night. No, instead she was wearing a shirt like a dress. His shirt.

Mae-Hui stared at herself, then down to her toes and back to her mirror image. “Ken- I - I didn’t know that I put this on…,” she mumbled trying to make sense of what had happened. She had hurried out of bed and then ended up grabbing the wrong piece of fabric. The two of them often colour matched their outfits as they went out just because they liked colour matching and so a mistake like that was easily made.

“I don’t mind,” he said calmly. “I think it looks better on you than it would ever on me.”

She took the cup and sat down next to him on the couch. Half she had already lifted her hand to the top button of the shirt with the intention of giving it back to him, when she realised that she wasn’t wearing much underneath. That could have been sexy in any other situation than the balcony being wide open.

“I’ll wash it and give it back to you,” she said and leaned back into her couch cushions. “And from now on I’ll be a bit more careful about what I put on. Maybe I could buy a light kimono….”

Kento took a strand of her hair between his fingers like he often did when they sat side by side. He’d done it when they were younger and her hair lounger and he was still doing it now that she kept it shorter. Sometimes she joked that he would still do it even if she had a buzzcut. “You’d find a way,” she’d say.

“Just keep it.” 

Mae-Hui blinked at Kento in confusion: “Keep what? The shirt?”

“The shirt,” he nodded. “Now that I see it on you I realise it should have always been worn by you.”

Again with the sweet talking. In another life in which he wasn’t the kindest man in the world he would have made an excellent fuckboy. “But it’s your lucky shirt”, Kin touched the fabric at her chest.

How she had not recognised the shirt she had put on was beyond her, considering this one was so peculiar and different. It was definitely Kento’s favourite shirt, despite the stains and blemishes on it. He only wore it under a suit jacket when the fixes were not visible and only for work. There used to be a time when he’d change into a different, newer shirt for their dates, but Kin also liked it when he wore it. This was the lucky shirt after all.

A few years, almost like a different lifespan ago, he’d worn this exact shirt when he was called in to help out with the Shibuya commotion. And though he’d faced not one, but two almost impossible to beat opponents, he’d made it back to her. Sure, he’d sacrificed and arm and was now scarred on one side of his face, but he had come back. 

The shirt had been a little ripped, it had burned and lost a bit of colour, but generally it had survived in one piece. As if it was some good luck charm for him, he’d started wearing it on every job afterwards. Mae-Hui could not take it from him like this, it was what gave him confidence.

He sighed and then snailed his one arm around her shoulders. “Four years ago I used up all my luck with it in one night. But for you it might still have luck leftover. And I want you to be very lucky, kin-sei.”

Her lips curled another time. “Fine, I will make sure to wear it for you like this everytime you are around.” 

The declaration made him laugh. “Sure thing.”

They leaned towards each other and shared a kiss like this and Mae-Hui had to think of her earlier inner desire to thank him for being the most wonderful human being by jumping his bones again. 15 mins ago she had told herself she’d hold back, but now she thought it was maybe time to reconsider.

[theglowstickchronicles]

Long whiny personal update under the cut

Up early cause I picked up call today cause I need the moneys. I haven’t been the best tumblr friend lately, going a week or two between posting and not responding to anyone else’s posts. It’s been a really difficult autumn so far. If it makes y’all feel better I’ve also been a shitty friend IRL too.

Back in mid-September I got a regular old headache on a day off, took an Excedrin and sumatriptan that didn’t help but didn’t think much of it. Went to work the next day and it got progressively worse until I was cold sweating, nauseous, shaking, and having trouble seeing. My manager and both assistant managers were on of course and bullied me into going to the ED. Was there for about 8 hours getting CT scan, MRI, blood work, migraine cocktail, and neuro consult. Ended up being put back on my old dose of diamox and a 3-day course of prednisone with an emergent visit to my neuro-ophthalmologist the following week (since this was a Friday night).

She doubled my dose of diamox and started me on topiramate. We staggered this to try and suss out side effects and y’all…. Jesus Christ.

Without any attempt at eating better/dieting and absolutely 0 exercising (I actually had to cancel my hiking trip to the White Mountains / my first of the NE67, super sad) I’ve lost 15 lbs since Sept. 20. My days off are spent mostly laying in bed, although I picked up 4 hours of OT at work the other week and finally got a TV for my living room so now days off can also be spent on the couch. I didn’t decorate for Halloween. I haven’t mowed my lawn in a month (although to be fair it’s been super rainy on like every single day off, thanks New England). Haven’t picked my pumpkins from the garden yet! My house has been absolutely disgusting with bare minimum amounts of cleaning because I’m so tired and feel so shitty, although I just spent the last two days really working on it because I’m hoping to get my basement finally redone in the next few weeks.

Also started going to therapy cause like…this is not how I want to be living my life and sometimes I wake up and wish I hadn’t? And also like I stepped on Duncan’s foot the other day by accident and had a complete MELTDOWN about it. Like he’s fine and I still feel guilty and teary about it. Also. Like. I had a 5 year plan to start trying for kids soon cause I’m getting old and now I’m SOL???

Anyway. My therapist wants me to journal more and I HATE it but I’m gonna start tumblr-ing more and see if that helps. Will not be telling her that lol.

Thanks for dealing with me.

[gabriellerudessa]

Compass (Norm Maclean x OC) - Part XV

“What about just cutting the fabric?”

“Can’t go around destroying my clothes, Norm-boy. It’s hard to come by any that fit me.” Marigold shook her head, then grinned, the extra trouble one, even if somewhat forced. “But if you really want to and ask nicely, I’m pretty sure we can fix something up.”

AO3 | Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX | Part X | Part XI | Part XII | Part XIII | Part XIV | Part XVI | Part XVII | Part XVIII | Part XIX | Part XX | Part XXI (Smut) | Part XXII | Part XXIII | Part XXIV | Part XXV | Part XXVI (Smut) | Part XXVII | Part XXVIII | Part XXIX | Part XXX | Part XXXI | Part XXXII | Part XXXIII | Part XXXIV (Smut) | Part XXXV | Part XXXVI (END)

PLAYLIST ON YOUTUBE

Words: 3.319

Warnings: Gunshot wounds being taken care of. Spicy thoughts lol

XV

Marigold went first, and he followed close behind. On the inside, beside the door, there was a light switch; he flipped it, and lights overhead lighted up, showing a narrow straight hall, a metal staircase at the end of it, another terminal close to the door, and an intercom. The only sounds were their breathings and the electricity buzzing through the lamps and terminal.

They explored cautiously, but it soon became obvious there wasn’t much to explore. The place was empty, no people or animals, most of the doors boarded off with metal or wood, windows blocked off with wood and metal. Only narrow slivers of space between the pieces let in some of the fading light of day.

In the ground floor, only three rooms were accessible: a kitchen, with a wood stove, an old counter with a functioning sink, a cabinet, and a wood table that should already be ancient when the bombs hit, solid and stable, with a group of mismatched chairs around it; a living room, with one sofa and armchair carefully positioned around a moth-eaten rug, and a bookshelf, some of the shelves containing pre-war books and an assortment of decorations; and what they a called “storage-room”, full of boxes and lockers and tool cabinets, carefully organized from their brief inspection.

The stairs led to a longer hallway, but similarly to the ground floor, only three weren’t blocked off: a bathroom, the shower head rusted off and broken on the ground, but overall in working condition; a bedroom, with a double bed with bedsheets and covers properly made, a drawer and a tall wooden wardrobe; and what Marigold had called a “chem-lab”, with a desk with another terminal and a chair, and another wood table, this one full of lab equipment. It seemed to have everything he would need to make Goose’s recipes, if he had the time.

All the lamps seemed to be in working order, no lack of electricity, from wherever it was coming from, and his Pip-Boy’s Geiger count accused only the barest radiation on the water when they opened the taps. It was at a level that, according to Goose’s notes, they should be able to solve through filtering and boiling, more related to radioactive sediments than to the water itself.

The place was empty and dusty, paint peeling from the walls, the linoleum floor warping at some spots… But besides those expected signs, otherwise the place was spotless, in the sense that everything had its proper place, and lived in, with things scattered around indicating that someone had, at some point, lived there.

Someone had arrived at that store, closed what they couldn’t use, modified the rooms as possible, turned it all into a home… And then never returned.

While Norm was grateful, because they needed a place for the night, he couldn’t help but feel a pinch of sadness, trying to imagine what had kept its inhabitant from returning.

They ended back at the metal door, slightly open like they had left.

“See if there’s a stimpak here, I’ll lock the outside terminal.” Norm threw the bag at Marigold, stepping into the cramped hall, keeping the metal door open.

His fingers flew through the keypads as he put a new password in it, making sure it was the same level of security he had broken – it had given him trouble and he was certain it would give anyone else even more. Hopefully it would keep them safe throughout the night.

Marigold showed him three stimpaks and one med-x as he came back inside and closed the door.

“There’s also some radaway, food and water.” There was clear relief in her voice, her shoulders relaxing a little.

“Good. Where’s the better place to take care of your leg?” Norm asked while making sure the door was properly fitted in the frame, then used the inside terminal to lock it.

Another grind and muffled bang; he tried to pull at the handle, but it didn’t budge. Good.

“The kitchen. It has a sink, space, and places to sit.”

Marigold started limping away, and Norm followed, eyes glued to the injured leg.

The flow of blood had diminished, but not stopped, and he was pretty sure it was worse after her stunt of going up and down the stairs – he had tried to convince her to stay on the ground floor, but the woman was damn stubborn and refused to let him go up alone. At least they had stimpaks now.

Marigold was leaning against the table when he entered the kitchen, backpack, bag and gun above it, stimpaks and med-x close by. She kept the injured leg extended, trying to unbuckle the bag-belt from around her thighs, fingers sliding because of the blood.

Norm sighed and approached.

“Could you please let me help, for God’s sake?” he pushed her hands away and she let him, instead holding the buckle around her hips.

He unbuckled the uninjured side with fast movements, but the buckle on the injured leg was slippery with blood, and he needed to go more carefully, hearing Marigold curse and hiss under her breath as it became loose around her leg. She unbuckled the last piece and left the bag-belt above the table.

“I’ll take off the tourniquet now.” Norm touched the leather, looking at Marigold’s mismatched eyes.

She breathed deeply and nodded.

The coat’s belt was off in an instant, and blood poured out. He raised his eyes at Marigold again, and she had her teeth gritted, hands gripping the edge of the table tight enough that her knuckles paled.

Norm looked at the torn fabric, and noticed Marigold doing the same. It covered the wound on the outside of her thigh, and at most he saw how the fabric bent inside into the wound, some spots of blood already starting to dry.

“Fuck. Taking the pants and the bullet off will hurt.” She slumped in place.

“Can’t we just jab a stimpak in the wound?”

“If it was some common shotgun ammo, sure, but I can feel there’s something inside, that’s not normal with shotguns. Since some people put teeth and other nasty things in their ammo, it’s better we take whatever the bullet is off before we use the stimpak. And Goose would burst from the ground if I did any of this while there’s fabric in the wound.” Marigold’s hands dropped to the button and zipper of her pants.

Teeth as bullets? Wastelanders were insane.

“What about just cutting the fabric?”

“Can’t go around destroying my clothes, Norm-boy. It’s hard to come by any that fit me.” Marigold shook her head, then grinned, the extra trouble one, even if somewhat forced. “But if you really want to and ask nicely, I’m pretty sure we can fix something up.”

Norm spluttered at that, feeling the heat rising through his neck as her words sunk in – was she really suggesting what he thought she was while bleeding and in pain? – and Marigold winked even while opening her pants and pushing it down her hips, faded black panties becoming visible.

He dry-swallowed, looking away and feeling like a moron – for God’s sake, he wasn’t a virgin, and he had been ogling her the whole day with permission, what was his problem?

Marigold hissed as the fabric reached her thighs and started pulling at the wound, and Norm jumped ahead to help pull it down past it, doing his best to focus only on helping her. The pants stopped at her boots, and Marigold pulled herself sitting over the table with a sigh of relief.

The wound was still bleeding, with a central bullet hole, deep and gaping, with smaller wounds scattered around it, more burns than perforations, becoming sparser the farther they became from the central one.

His eyes wandered a little; the exposed skin, what wasn’t covered in blood, was slightly lighter than her face, but not by much, still golden-brown; multiple scars covered her thighs, lines and circles crisscrossing the skin, and those helped sober him up.

How many of those were a result of having to be a Black Widow?

He didn’t know. He didn’t know if he wanted to know. Too much pain so close to such a sensitive place… It was wrong.

---------

“I’ll get the things from your backpack.” Norm said quietly, and Marigold helped him, doing her best to not move her leg too much.

The wound was better than she had feared, worse than she had hoped. Thank God there were stimpaks in the bag, there would be no need for stitches and be too careful. And with them taking care of the wound so soon, one stimpak should be enough to heal the insides to a point where she didn’t need to worry about wound reopening and her bleeding out, or having deep infection – sepsis, as Goose called.

She also had found paper bounties, including hers, but since they were as safe as they could be, it could wait. Besides, the Bounty Hunter was dead, so that problem had been taken care of, at least for the time.

Marigold found her old pair of tweezers in an internal side pocket as Norm spread and organized the supplies close to her leg. The tweezers were rolled in a piece of fabric, too long to fit in the medicine tin.

“Spritz the vodka here and in my hands, please.”

“You’re not thinking of-”

“Taking it off myself? Yes I’m.” His eyebrows frowned and Marigold kept going before he could protest. “Sorry, Norm-boy, but I have more experience with this. I’ll still definitely accept any other help.”

Norm pressed his lips in a line, still frowning, taking the perfume bottle from the medicine tin and doing as she had asked, the smell of vodka spreading around them.

“How much will this hurt?” He asked, shining his Pip-Boy’s flashlight into the wound without her asking.

“Thanks for the light and… Lots, Norm-boy, but it’ll be worse if I get an infection, so…”

She shrugged, and jabbed the closed tweezers inside.

---------

Marigold cursed the whole three minutes it took for her to find the bullet and pull it out; it was lodged deep, blood coming out with her prodding the wound. Only the fact that she was feeling it, added to the fear of it being something that would cause a worse reaction if not taken out, kept her going.

Her fingers trembled as she managed to pull the tweezers out, the bullet held at the tip, and both almost fell to the table. Norm’s hands were there to take them from her, carefully.

“Fuck.” She mumbled a last time through gritted teeth, hands splayed against the wood as she leaned back, breathing deeply, eyes tightly closed. The pain had dulled, now that there wasn’t something inside flaring it when she least expected.

“Damn.”

“What?” She opened one eye, and noticed Norm looking at the bullet, hands stained with blood.

“It’s a tooth.”

“Told you.”

Norm shook his head, a small smile even while frowning, and put the tooth down.

“Now we can use the stimpak, right?”

“Yes we can.” She extended her hand, but Norm caught the stimpak before her, and Marigold raised an eyebrow at him.

“This I know how to do.”

She shrugged with a grin, leaning back again, just watching him.

“Be my guest, Norm-boy.”

He turned off the flashlight and approached, color appearing along his neck as he put a hand close to the wound – she couldn’t help but notice how his skin felt against hers, in general soft, even while she felt some smaller callouses; it was a good feeling, after all the pain –, pressuring to keep her leg in place. Carefully, he aligned the needle’s stimpak close to the wound and pressed, the needle sinking into the skin with little resistance.

Marigold clenched her teeth at the sensation, of the needle and whatever drugs cocktail inside of it spreading throughout her flesh.

The wound started burning from inside out, and as they watched, it knit together, the flow of blood diminished to a small trickle. The smaller burns around remained and there was still a small hole, but she didn’t felt that burning, spread pain anymore. And if the tooth had left any bacteria or whatever inside, the stimpak should’ve taken care of it.

Norm put the empty stimpak down and started cleaning the blood and the wound, before spritzing the vodka and spreading some healing powder over it.

“Do you have bandages or whatever? I don’t think it will be good to walk around with it all exposed, it’s worse than the one on your arm.”

Marigold had to stop and think for a bit, then pulled her backpack over and breathed in relief at finding the squares of clean bandages in a small plastic Ziploc bag – Goose always cleaned some and kept any bandages she cleaned and sterilized in them – and a roll of duct tape.

“Here.” She handed him the duct tape and took one square of bandage out, laying it over the wound.

“Duct tape? Really? This will take your skin off too.” Norm complained, even while still using the scissors to cut it.

“It’s what we have, Norm-boy.” She grinned and shrugged as he taped the bandage in place.

“I think that’s it. How you’re feeling?”

He stepped back and Marigold bent and extended her leg in test; she only felt the skin pull a little, nothing from the muscles deep inside.

“Tired, but overall just feeling the skin. Internal damage totally taken care of.”

Norm’s shoulders relaxed and he leaned against the table besides her, letting out a relieved sigh of his own.

Marigold leaned forward, elbows on her knees, and pressed her shoulder against his.

“Thanks, Norm-boy.”

He pressed right back.

“You’re welcome.”

There was a loud thunder, followed by a dull sound outside that she easily recognized: the sharp, fast wind of a rad-storm against metal and wood, whistling through any space it could find, but Norm’s Geiger count remained in silence, so the place was well isolated, thankfully.

It was a sound she had heard a lot growing up, and not always with a Geiger count giving her reassurance things were safe.

Norm tensed beside her, head bolting upright towards the sound.

“What’s that?”

“The rad-storm. Let’s hope it move away soon.”

---------

Rad-storm. He had been so focused on Marigold’s wound he had forgot those clouds in the horizon. He also hadn’t been expecting that sound, so… All-encompassing. It was clear it would be a noisy night.

“How long until it does?” He looked back at her, and Marigold was loosening her boots. “What… Are you doing?”

“I need to clean and mend my pants, can’t do it while using them.” She shrugged, taking one pant out and putting on the boot again. “And it really depends. It’s the first rad-storm of the season, so they can last at least a few day, but sometimes we’re lucky and they move fast.”

Norm nodded, dry-swallowing as she finished taking off her pants and dropped from the table, and really he should stop looking, she had said he was welcome to look while she had pants on, Norm, for God’s sake…

Marigold got hold of his chin and turned his head towards her face. Before he processed it, he felt her lips on his cheek, close to the corner of his lips.

“What-?” his neck, his face, everything was burning, and his heart beat so fast inside his chest that he thought he was about to pass out.

“For pulling me, that shot would’ve hit some big artery otherwise.” She interrupted him, turning his face and kissing his other cheek. “And this one for getting the door open.”

Marigold let go of his chin and stepped back, giving him the extra trouble grin before winking. Norm opened and closed his mouth, no sound leaving him, and something in her face twisted in a way that he only could call “smug”.

“I’ll use the bathroom upstairs to take care of these.” She raised the hand holding the bloodied pants and got hold of the medicine tin with the other.

“… All right.” He managed to say, and with that Marigold left the kitchen, limping a little, not a drop of shyness or whatever as she did it.

Half of him couldn’t believe how better her legs and behind looked without pants, the shift of skin and muscle as she moved making his mouth dry. Norm heard her steps fading up the metal stairs, a door closing, and slumped against the table.

“Holy… Damn.”

---------

Norm forced himself to take everything bloodied to the kitchen sink, methodically taking his Pip-Boy off before cleaning it all under the running water, then carefully cleaning all traces of blood from under his nails. Occasionally a thunder echoed, making him jump and curse – the holomovies and such in the Vault really failed in showing how loud they could be. And… Was that really how normal storms sounded, or just the radioactive ones?

His brain had tried to convince him to go up the stairs, knock on the bathroom door and ask if she wanted to have sex, determined that having her legs around his head would solve half of his problems – especially the ones bellow his belt, damn it. And if he hadn’t heard the door closing, he probably would’ve heard those horny thoughts.

But he had heard, and she had just gotten shot, and the both of them hadn’t even eaten yet, so really those thoughts weren’t the best judges of timing – they never were that good for starters, but they clearly had devolved in the surface.

The time it took to get everything clean was enough to get himself under control, for his problem to go away, and make his stomach rumble, just giving strength to his argument of “they hadn’t even eaten yet”.

As he stored everything of hers into the backpack, he found two cans; both had tapes to the bottom with “ant” written, and a small, simplified drawing of an ant besides it. The forks were a little harder to find, but he managed, ascending the stairs while holding both items.

He stopped in front of the bathroom door. He could hear her inside, humming an old familiar song, and unconsciously he tapped a finger against the can to the same rhythm – “’cause babe it’s just you”, the words softly reached him, more humming following them, and he shook his head with a small smile.

Good to see that some pre-war music had survived.

“Marigold!” He called, and the humming immediately stopped.

“Yeah?!”

“I brought a can of food for you! Ant!”

“Righty!” The door opened, exposing Marigold, still pant-less and with leather bracers and fingerless gloves missing, the sleeves of her shirt folded to her elbows, pants in the sink. “Thanks, Norm-boy.” She smiled as he handed her a can and a fork, digging in with the same gusto he had come to expect.

He forced himself to keep his eyes on her face instead of sneaking a look – all his talk of “timing” would flee his mind the moment he did it, he was sure of it.

“Is the blood coming off?”

“Most of it, yeah, but it’ll probably be forever stained.” She shrugged, leaning against the doorway.

“Need any help with it?”

“Nah, I have it under control. But tell you what, I was remembering that other terminal we saw. Think you can take a look, see if there’s any chance of anyone else appearing or whatever? I know you said the door hadn’t been opened in years, but… Just to make sure.”

“I’ll get right into it.” Norm nodded at her, a step already in the direction of the so-called chem-lab, glad to have something to do and distract his head from her.