#honestly i would love at least 3 islands.

[orpheusofthestars]

new life goal is to save up for a switch lite so i can have a 2nd acnh save file

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

I THINK YOUR LOVE WOULD BE TOO MUCH ; SATORU GOJO

summary; satoru knows that you’re worried about something. he just doesn’t know what.

word count; 4.1k

contents; satoru gojo/reader, gn!reader, sickening amounts of fluff, (that’s literally all. that’s it. thank you for your time), you’re both down horrendous, the ”something” reader is worried about is very very silly <333, mostly satoru’s pov!!

a/n; i love this man so fucking much my chest hurts so i dug up the sappiest wip i could find in my drafts <333 you can tell i completely lost the plot halfway through but just pretend that i didn’t ok. i dedicate this to gojo nation :3

satoru feels your stare prickle at the back of his neck.

he’s rummaging through the fridge, one hand on his hip, grabbing two cans of iced tea from the bottom compartment. peach for him, lime for you. his infinity is down, the pads of his fingers meeting chilled aluminum, condensation licking at his skin.

but the goosebumps that sensation causes is nothing compared to the ones he gets from this — your stare digging into the back of his head, your attention aimed directly at him. when he turns around, closing the fridge with a bump of his hipbone, you freeze. like a deer caught in headlights. 

satoru grins.

”you checkin’ me out?”

”no,” you blurt. his smile only grows.

”aw…” he waltzes across the room, from the kitchen island to the living room, fuzzy socks against the floorboards. ”what’s up, then? something on your mind?”

with a clink, he puts the cans of tea down on the coffee table. you murmur out a breath of thanks, but make no move to reach for either of them.

now that he’s close enough to see you properly — he thinks to himself that you do look a little ill at ease. something in the crease between your brows, shying away from the eye contact he wants. something in the way your voice comes out somewhat strained.

”it’s nothing… i just —” 

you stop. gaze fleeing from his own, slipping down to your lap. he thinks you look particularly small like this. curled up on his expensive couch, curling in on yourself; gnawing at your bottom lip.

”… i’m being dumb.”

satoru hums. tilting his head, taking you in — wasting no more than a mere moment before taking action. 

you feel him plop down next to you, a shift in the weight bearing down on his couch. comforting. when you glance up, he’s smiling, patient and light. hand sneakily slipping between the cracks of your own, squeezing your palm, running his thumb over the ridges of your knuckle.

”wanna tell me about it?”

from behind the black layer of glass obscuring your frame, satoru watches you intently. watches your expression shift, drinking in the twitch of your brows, how the colour of your eyes flickers in the light. the way your soul sulks and sputters under the weight of his all-seeing gaze. 

you part your lips. slowly, searching for the right words — only to close them again.

you try once more. hesitant. 

all you can manage is a frustrated huff.

”it’s nothing, honestly,” you’re quick to backtrack, wincing inwardly. ”i've just… been thinking. i guess.”

a hum. his smile doesn’t waver. ”about what?”

you avert your gaze. biting your lip, again, turning away from him; resting your chin on the heel of your palm. avoiding his stare like it could turn you to stone. he barely picks up on the words you murmur, flowing out beneath your breath.

”i... can't tell you.”

satoru raises a brow. 

a moment passes. two, three — the silence is telling. you can hear the discontentment in his voice, despite his attempts to mask it.

”why not?”

”i… haah.” you scoot away, just a little more, turning away so he can’t dissect your expression the way he’d like to. ”i just can’t, okay?”

silently, silently, he observes you. the little of you he can see, at the very least; fixating on the side of your face, your cheek, those fluttering eyelashes. as if it could tell him something. you can’t see the way his eyes narrow, behind his shades, black glass shielding you from the weight of his scrutiny.

satoru bites back a huff. 

curiosity and impatience aside, he feels offended. thoroughly so. he doesn't like it when you shut him out, like this, when you don’t allow him to soothe you.

your relationship has been a slow one — steady, a kind of settling in he never thought he’d experience. calm waves lapping along the edges of smooth sand, washing away tiny pebbles and handfuls of sea glass; delicately coming closer. getting him used to the sensation before gently urging him to take a dip. 

that’s the kind of love you share. 

so it stings, a little, when you won’t let him return the favour. it stings in the same way his phantom scars itch on cold nights.

he knows opening up isn't easy. for you, for anyone, least of all for him — but he still finds himself feeling a little bit dejected. because he's supposed to be your safe space. the person you can trust with absolutely anything.

(if he can’t be that, for you, then what the hell is he even good for?)

he can’t help but feel the slightest tug of worry, too. seeing the tight line of your closed lips, that hardness of your expression. the unmistakable stress accumulating in the corners of your eyes.

but he doesn’t voice that worry. he simply gives your hand another squeeze, and smiles a little wider.

”try me.”

a sigh flows from your lips. ”you don't get it, satoru.”

your voice has a bite to it, now, just a little harsh. something akin to a soft hiss — defensiveness, he ultimately settles on. but why?

”it’s —” you muster up a glance his way, the slightest little peek, before turning away again. blurting out the words on the tip of your tongue. ”it’s so fucking embarrassing. you’ll laugh.”

satoru blinks.

”… huh?”

”you’ll laugh, and you'll tease me, and — ” he feels your hand slip from his own, muffling a groan as it covers your face. ”i’ll never live it down.”

you’re hiding, squirming, and satoru’s curiosity increases at an alarming rate. he leans forward, trying to catch a glimpse of your face, but you don’t let him. 

now he’s nothing short of intrigued.

”i won't,” he says, simply. voice as clear as glass. you scoff into your hands.

”you will!”

”i promise you i won't laugh.”

”you always say that.” a sigh falls from your lips, deep and heavy, as your hands finally slip down to your lap. ”but you never mean it. you’ll laugh so much. i know you will.”

you bite down on your lip. he wants to cup your jaw and kiss you, mend the bruising with a swipe of his tongue — but he tactfully decides against it.

”it’s — it's so…” you trail off, fidgeting with your hands, nervously linking your fingers together. gazing down with a pout. ”so stupid.” 

”baby…”  his voice takes on a fond tone, tender and patient. everything he strives to be, when it comes to you; you and you alone. ”c’mon. you can tell me anything.” 

with a sense of delicacy, he takes your hands into his bigger ones. tucking them into his palms, bringing them into his own lap — meeting your meek eyes. 

”right?”

through the blue of his gaze, he watches you falter. watches your eyes soften, crumbling a little, as you silently weigh your options. you look flustered.

then you slowly part your lips.

”you’re gonna think i’m just joking, or whatever, but — but i mean it. i’m…” your throat bobs with a shallow gulp. ”i’m seriously worried.” 

satoru nods. ”i’ll take you seriously.”

you look up. all you’re met with is a reassuring smile, familiar dimples, the slightest hint of a kind blue behind his shades.

and you finally give in.

”i… i think i might —”

shifting and squirming, your gaze flits from spot to spot, hands still intertwined with his own. you’re caged in, forced to face him, and it only adds to your nervosity. his eyes never leave your face.

”i think… i…”

your voice comes out sounding tiny. gaze stuck to the couch beneath you, as your lips form around the right syllables, and you finally blurt out out the words you've been trying to keep at bay —

”i think i love you too much.”

…

silence.

you still refuse to meet his gaze. a red hue crawls up your neck, spreading to the tips of your ears, heartbeat pounding under your ribs. the sentence spills out of your lips like an arrow; so rushed he barely deciphers it in time.

before the silence can swallow you whole, you continue. trying not to stammer, holding back an embarrassed wince. pouting softly, brows furrowed as your clammy hands twitch anxiously against his own. ”like... to the point where… it drives me a little insane.”

and then you wait. with bated breath, too embarrassed to look up, bottom lip tensing and softening between your teeth. dreading the explosive reaction he’ll undoubtedly give you.

… except it doesn’t come.

he’s not saying a word. nothing. the silence is so deafening you could cut it in half, lingering, festering in the air around you. all you hear is your own stupid, erratic little heartbeat — refusing to settle down. 

a couple painful moments pass, before you physically can't take it anymore.

as slowly as you can muster, your gaze travels upwards — from his lap to his chest to his exposed collarbone, until his face finally enters your field of vision. you can’t resist the temptation.

(why is he being so quiet? satoru is never quiet.)

you meet his gaze. or what you think is his gaze, anyhow, because you can’t see the way his eyes are squeezed shut. what you do notice is the twitch of his lips, quivering ever so slightly, as if unsure of which direction to go — and you know one of satoru’s sharp teeth must be biting down hard to keep them in place. his shoulders are shaking, only barely, and he breathes out sharply through his nose; in a desperate attempt to keep his promise.

desperately struggling to maintain his composure. 

he makes the mistake of opening his eyes, and all that effort goes down the drain. met with the sight of your flushed face, wide eyes, shining with embarrassment and disbelief. 

like a stack of cards blown over by the wind, satoru’s poker face crumbles. he fails to bite back the wide grin that breaks out across his lips, showing off the white of his teeth, and a soft bout of fresh laughter flows from out his lips.

you gape at him. 

then your brows furrow, harshly, and you choke on a scoff. with a start, you’re scrambling to stand up, tugging your hands away from his. 

”see?” you hiss, almost tripping over your own two feet as you shoot up from the couch. ”i told you! you're laughing!”

(you sound so embarrassed he thinks he might cry.)

satoru gives up. laughter reverberating throughout his entire body, deep and loud, from the very bottom of his gut — enough to have him clutching at his sides. that only makes you flush deeper, glare harder, and all he can think is that he wants to kiss you silly.

”you promised!”

”i’m —” he chokes on a sharp wheeze, one hand reaching out to keep you from leaving. ”i’m sorry, baby, i —”

but he only ends up doubling over. sputtering with laughter, feeling the leather of the couch meet his cheek. you turn away sharply, and he pulls himself up again. ”wait — sweetheart —” 

a fond chuckle rumbles through his chest, his long arms circling around your waist and pulling you into his embrace. caging you in. you struggle helplessly, trying desperately to break free, but it’s useless — he’s the strongest for a reason.

all you can do is writhe and grumble under your breath, inhaling a familiar scent of vanilla and musk. the fabric softener he uses puts your senses hopelessly at ease, but he’s still laughing — so you can’t help but kick and struggle seamlessly.

”let me go, satoru!”

said man chokes on another little laugh, shoulders shaking, tucking you so close he can feel the pitter patter of your heartbeat against his stomach. you’re so upset with him. but he can’t stop, can't reel it back in, and every weak punch to his chest and muffled protest just makes his composure feel more out of reach. he tried his best. 

he really, really did. 

he tried so hard not to laugh.

(”i think i love you too much.”)

god. just what is he supposed to do with you, huh?

”i’m sorry,” he grins, almost entirely out of breath. ”’m not doing it on purpose, you're just —” 

a sudden fit of giggles. 

"you're so cute.”

”satoru, it’s — not funny,” you whine, practically burning up. every single sound he makes buzzes in your ear. ”i’m serious. i —”

you squeeze your eyes shut. giving in, finally, allowing yourself to melt into his arms. limbs losing their feistiness. he delights in the sensation.

”you don't get it.”

it’s a whisper, muffled against the fabric of his shirt, but he hears it nonetheless. deep breaths, he reminds himself. it’s hard to take such an adorable confession seriously, but he tries. for whatever reason, you genuinely sound troubled. 

”wait, so you —” he bites back an amused breath, but can’t hide the palpable smile in his voice. ”you love me… too much?”

a groan. you hide away, nuzzling further into his chest; your safe harbour. 

”… i told you it was embarrassing.”

”it’s not,” he’s quick to console you. ”i’m just confused.” a big palm glides across the back of your head, smoothing down your tousled hair. he pats your head softly. ”i mean…” 

a deep inhale. his heartbeat finally settles into a calm rhythm, slow and steady, lungs flooding with oxygen. he breathes out through his nose.

”is that really such a bad thing?”

”it is.” a frown finds its way onto your lips. your reply is instantaneous. ”i don’t think it’s normal. i’m just…”

satoru listens. patiently, feeling your fingers grip onto the edges of his shirt — comforting yourself with the soft fabric. then you sigh.

”i don’t know. i just can’t, like…” you grapple for the right word, moving your hands haphazardly, blurting out the first thing that comes to mind. ”comprehend how much i love you.”

satoru bites back a smile. 

(his heart flutters, flutters, flutters, like cherry blossoms on a windy spring morning.)

before he has the chance to, you part your lips again; speaking in a soft voice. resigned, he thinks. ”it’s just weird. it’s not exactly bad, but —” 

you bite down on your lip. 

”... it’s scary.”

a soft coo buzzes in your ear. satoru can’t help but pull you closer, closer still, smothering you in the warmth of his embrace. conveying what he knows will be too much for you to hear in words — what he knows he couldn’t convey in the language that you speak. you feel warm, still burning up a bit. like a little firefly. 

he isn’t faring much better, though; a vague heat blooming under the skin of his nape. smiling so wide his cheeks are starting to hurt.

(what on earth did he do to deserve you?)

a firm jaw settles on the top of your head. satoru parts his glossy lips, voice flowing out somewhat breathlessly, affectionate as can be. 

”don’t you think i feel exactly the same about you?”

his pulse trembles against you. when you strain your ears, you can hear the rhythmic thumping of his heartbeat, mingling with your own; still resounding in your ears. 

”… i dunno.”

satoru’s hold around you tightens, ever so slightly. something in the way he cradles you, strong arms around your waist, a low hum accompanying the light squeeze of his limbs. he can’t see your face, from this angle, but his pupils still flicker downwards — hungry for a glimpse of your expression.

then he smiles. 

”i’m terrified of you, y’know?”

you blink. once, then twice, eyelids fluttering. a moment of silence passes.

”… huh?”

”beyond terrified, actually,” his smile builds into a grin. ”i’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it. no one scares me more than you do.”

satoru pulls away, just a little, just enough to finally get a good look at you. your eyes are brimming with confusion. a large palm goes to cradle your cheek, and he tilts his head — inhaling a breath.

”i love you so much that it hurts.”

…

a soft chuckle slips from out his lips, when he catches your flustered, wide-eyed stare. sneaking a hand towards the small of your back, leaning in to press a kiss against the apple of your cheek.

”i adore you,” he whispers, smooth syllables melting into a purr. you stiffen under his touch. his fingertips trace the lines of your jaw, lips trailing down to your neck, chaste and sweet as he nips at the sensitive skin. muttering under his breath. ”you have no idea.”

and you truly, truly don't. satoru doesn't think you even know the half of it. 

you can’t possibly know what you mean to him — that your very presence makes him forget who he is, what he has to be, a weight on his shoulders he grew used to long ago. you can’t possibly know that just the feeling of your hand in his makes the distance between you feel so inconsequential. 

you are the most precious thing in his life. he doesn't think you could ever understand the weight that sentiment carries — he wouldn't want you to. 

and here you are, so awfully worried, because you're too in love with him. he still can't help but grin. you’re so sweet, so silly. the words make him feel as if his heart is crumbling.

”… i can't believe you’re real sometimes.”

something tender rests under the whisper. something frighteningly sincere. it makes you feel a little like you’ve been sliced open. it’s raw, it’s heavy and light and it’s love. it’s satoru — all his little inconsistencies, and the stability beneath it all. 

and some part of you knows that he's telling the truth. that he understands your ridiculous little confession, your embarrassing worries. satoru understands. 

that alone is enough to quell the turmoil in your chest. 

(what he gives you is a love as boundless as the sky; one that covers everything you could ever be. unconditional.)

”so there’s no need to worry.” 

he pulls back, lips leaving your skin. you still feel their warmth linger. his shades have slipped down, barely hanging on to the bridge of his nose, and you can see the blue of his eyes. they’re shining like jewels, soft around the edges. consumed by love.

”there’s no way you could ever love me as much as i love you.”

gazing into his eyes, as if hypnotized by their glow, your own gleam with a mesmerizing shine. glazed over with something sweet and wonderful, something satoru wants to burn into his retinas so he never forgets it. he wishes he could wring it out of you and put it in his pocket — but it looks prettier behind your cornea.

he savours the moment, slowly, until it abruptly ends.

with a second of pause, your brows draw together, forming into an irritated furrow. lips tugging downwards into a frown. ”that’s not true.”

satoru blinks. still smiling. 

”i love you way more,” you huff. petulant, almost, something soft and amused in your tone. he thinks the sound fits you more than anything; unburdened and stubborn.

(as charming as you are, though — this is one battle he refuses to lose.)

”nu-uh,” he pokes the tip of your nose, delighting in the soft flutter of your blinking eyelashes. ”i love you more. sorry, sweetie.”

a huff. ”you don't.”

”i do.”

”you don't."

this time, you're the one reaching out, the pad of your finger landing on the tip of satoru’s nose — teasingly trailing up to the bridge of it. his heartbeat stutters, but he feigns nonchalance, raising an unimpressed brow; eyes unknowingly gleaming with mirth. 

and mischief.

you barely have time to react. one moment you're seated on satoru’s lap, the next you're looking up at him with your back against the couch. he towers over you, keeping your hands pinned above your head with a single palm. 

a familiar chill runs down your spine.

”i do,” he grins, free hand reaching towards you. recognizing the danger of a situation you've been in more times than you can count, you try to squirm away — but you don't get very far.

satoru’s fingers ghost over your sides, and panic floods your wide eyes. 

even though you know exactly what’s about to happen, a yelp still pushes past your lips when he begins to tickle you. mercilessly, fingers trailing over your most sensitive spots. all you can do is squirm, trying your damnedest to bite back the bout of laughter crawling up your throat —

but apparently neither of you are very good at that.

when the familiar cling of your laughter finally spills past your lips, flowing into satoru’s ears, his smile blooms into a grin. big and happy, childish in its innocence — not even attempting to hide his joy. his own giggles melt into your soft wheezes and desperate pleas, as you struggle to break free, straining against the firm hold he has on your wrists.

”i love you way, way, way more,” he continues to tease, halting his movement just enough to let you catch your breath. ”it’s not even close.”

even as giggles breathlessly spill from your lips, you manage a shake of your head. ”no, you —”

”wrong answer.”

he cuts you off with a smirk, and the torture starts anew. you can't get the words out, caught in your throat and muffled by a loud squeak, followed by forced laughter. satoru watches, in pure adoration, waiting for the moment you finally relent. 

it doesn’t take long.

”f — fine, fine!”

he stills. eyes crinkled, shades barely hanging on to the bridge of his nose, fighting the urge to keep going. if only so he can hear your melodic giggles.

”can’t we —” you struggle to catch your breath, words stuck between bouts of leftover laughter. cheeks flushed and chest heaving. ”just call it a tie?”

satoru pauses. he drags it out, exaggerated, building up suspense. eyes narrowing playfully. ”hmmm…” 

then he smiles. a soft, resigned little thing. 

”alright, alright.” he leans forward, keeping you in place. ”that works, i guess.”

and then his lips meet yours. soft and glossy, tasting of cherries, a pleased sigh against your mouth. you’re still panting a little, but he doesn’t seem to mind — slow to pull away, with a drawn out mwah, grinning boyishly at your disheveled state. he lets your wrists go free.

an unimpressed look is all you give him, quick to melt into a soft chuckle. 

”well, that’s that.” you push yourself up with your elbows, fixing your tousled hair. ”now we can forget this ever happened.”

satoru raises a brow. 

”oh, i dunno about that,” he purrs, voice ripe with mischief. a teasing glint flashes in his eyes, as he scrutinizes you, and it’s enough to have your face heating up again. the sight makes him coo. ”you love me so much you can't comprehend it, huh?”

you blink. it takes a moment for your expression to shift, from bafflement to embarrassment — but he thinks it’s all worth it when it does. barely restraining the urge to kiss you again.

”satoru…”

a giggle leaves his lips. reaching a hand out, he pinches your cheek. ”you’re cute.”

with a roll of your eyes, you swat him away; unable to bite back a smile. “quit it.”

”aw.”

he looks so smug. you can’t help but want to bite back, somehow — so you muster up your most shit-eating grin, a distinctly teasing lilt coating your sugar-sweet voice. 

”you love me so much that it hurts, huh?”

satoru blinks.

endearment blooms, in the depths of his cerulean eyes. he watches you carefully, awfully amused — thinking to himself that he must be rubbing off on you. what a scary thought.

”yeah,” he breathes, a sigh laced with sincerity. cupping your cheek with the palm of his hand, settling on the option he knows will fluster you most. ”i do.”

this time, you’re the one who blinks. once, twice, before letting out a groan — slumping against his broad frame. satoru chuckles, breathlessly, consumed by you; by every move you make. all six of his eyes aimed directly at you.

(if he gives you the sky, then what you give him is a love as steady as the ocean; one that’ll drown every bit of his sadness. entirely unyielding.)

”can’t you ever just let me win?” you mutter, breathing in his cologne and tugging at his shirt. pressed up against him, on his couch, safe and secure. right where you should be.

he noses at your neck, pressing a little kiss against your pulsepoint. a quiet, quiet offering at the altar of your soul. ”nope,” he hums, smiling cheekily. 

”i love you too much for that.”

[bluejeanstrash]

tags: boyfriend! seungcheol x reader, domestic scenes, mentions of pregnancy, mentions of marriage | wc: 744

‘is he okay?’ 

‘mmm’ seungcheol nods, carefully closing the door behind him. ‘he’ll be fine. he fell asleep but i’ve kept the puke bucket next to the bed incase he needs it’ 

‘cheollie, we really need to throw that thing’ you make a face, thinking about how many times it had been used. 

‘yeah, but people keep throwing up in our house!’ 

‘that’s because you keep making them drink way too much!’ seungcheol’s “home bar” was 3 bottles short of a liquor store. he was extremely proud of his collection and very generous with it, offering offensively expensive drinks to any and every guest that entered your home.

tonight, passed out in the guest room was hoshi, who had been taken out midway through his fourth drink. he hadn’t even made it to the dinner part of the dinner party you both were hosting.

seungcheol pouts in response, picking up a dirty glass left on the bar ‘do you want me to do the dishes, my love?’ 

‘nope, i’ve got it. can you clean up and take out the trash instead?’ he gets on it right away, pausing for a second to rub your shoulders when bringing the glass over. a second turns into a minute, and the rub into a mini massage as his fingers move deftly, kneading all those little knots away.

‘thank you baby, i needed that’ you sigh, and the next thing you know his arms are wrapped around you, his chin resting on the slope of your shoulder ‘you know what was really nice today?’ 

‘hmmn?’ 

‘you know when joshua’s friend…mark? yeah, mark. when he thought we were married’

it was first time it had ever happened. ‘so, how did you and your husband meet?’ mark had asked.

‘oh, he’s my boyfriend’ you had corrected him and moved on, but seungcheol was stuck right there. boyfriend? no, that just wasn’t going to cut it for him anymore. why would he ever want to be called your boyfriend when he could be your husband instead? a demotion, really.

‘i liked it. a lot. husband-’ he presses a kiss to the warm skin of your neck ‘-and wife’, and another, before pulling you into him. he brings his arm forward to turn off the tap before turning you around to face him.

‘what do you say? should we do it? get married?’ each question asked in between little pecks.

‘if this is your idea of a proposal-’

he chuckles, circling back ‘get married. make you my wife. get you…pregnant’ seungcheol feels a little giddy honestly, giddy at his own words. he’s already made up his mind — he wants this future, and only with you.

‘you want to put a baby in me?’ you tease, starting to feel a little hot under your clothes.

‘oh, i want to put many, many babies in you’ he mutters, his lips parting yours, impatient hands coming around to untie the knot of your apron.

‘want to put one in you right now...’ he grabs your ass to lift you up, your legs wrapping around him instantly. you pull off your rubber gloves, tossing them aside and lock your arms around his neck. you kiss him, a little needily, tugging at his hair to let him know you need him right here, right now. he turns around to take you to the kitchen island, opening his eyes for a second to see hoshi — hoshi who’s discreetly trying to make his way out of the kitchen.

‘shit!’ seungcheol’s grip on you loosens abruptly before he catches you, carefully putting you down.

‘sorry! i’m so sorry!’ hoshi covers his eyes, stumbling back ‘i didn’t see anything. i just..i threw up..in that bucket thing and didn’t know what to do with it’

‘it’s fine, it’s fine. go to the room. i’m coming’ seungcheol takes a second to calm himself down, taking deep breaths to redirect his blood flow.

‘this is what it’s going to be like with a kid, you know’ you joke, bending to grab the fallen gloves which doesn’t help his raging boner at all ‘at least hoshi can clean up after himself up. who’s going to clean up our child’s projectile vomit?’

there’s a moment of silence.

‘not it’

‘not it!’

you both giggle — you turning back to do the dishes, and seungcheol going to check up on hoshi, both of you back in the moment, dreaming of the future to come.

[heartsforseo]

Straw hats with a member/ S/o who still sleeps with plushies.

A/n: so I’ve been gone for almost 2 months but shhh I got some motivation now😼😼. PLUS I got this inspo from reading something somewhere. SO TY FOR GIVING ME THE THINGY TO WRITE AGAIN. request=open requested: <yes> <no> wc:970 ft: the straw hats (excluding chopper) warning: ??

⭑Luffy honestly wouldn’t care. If he ever crashes into your room (girls' room) and sleeps on your bed, he’d even shove the stuff toys away.

⭑When he sees your pouting/sad face he’d be clueless and continue whining for you to hop on the bed with him.

⭑When you finally told him why you were mad, he just tilted his head and let out a LONG sigh

⭑Would use his gum-gum abilities and get all your stuffy back in the bed (while groaning. He does NOT want to share)

⭑Speaking of sharing, why coddle a plushie when you have Luffy? Would def get jealous and maybe even tear one of them.

⭑P.s. He did…

⭑Zoro, just like Luffy, couldn’t be bothered. He’d probably think of it as a design at first. I mean, a pirate sleeping with plushies??? That’s rare

⭑But as the creator said, everyone in the crew is a weird person. So, here you are—in your room. Shock and in awe.

⭑Believe it or not, Zoro was sleeping with one of your plushies (that looked like a reindeer…)

⭑He had always denied sleeping next/with them. (Only if you convinced him enough, he’d let out a groan but still follow)

⭑You’d have to tease him about it now. I mean, Zoro sleeping before you??? Shocking with that 3 hrs sleep schedule.

⭑And a certain chef might’ve heard what you’ve said and used it against a certain swordsman…

⭑Nami, would even tax the poor plushies:~((

⭑Jokes aside, she’ll think of it as cute and nice decorations. They’re cuddly, colorful, and good for distress.

⭑But sometimes there’s a limit. She couldn’t even sleep on her OWN bed cuz of how many you got.

⭑Would roll her eyes when she saw you pout and give you a 35% discount.

⭑To help you get “rid” (as she says) of plushies, she’ll take a mini tangerine and place it on her work desk.

⭑Now she talks to it after dinner, drawing the map of the world.

⭑Ussop I’d say would make a story about how he once traveled to a stuffed toy island.

⭑Everything there was colorful, soft, and cuddly! He’d even point at one of your plushies and say he met them on the island!

⭑Your plushie would just stare and stare and stare… Until Ussop had to let out a fake cough and do his other stuff.

⭑He’d ask for your permission to get one of your plushies for support. (You said yes ofc).

⭑Now, whenever he has to modify Nami’s weapon/ whenever he’s alone from the group—he’ll hold the small plushie tightly and hug it, waiting for ideas to pop up.

⭑Sanji the beigest of them all. I could see Sanji:

⭑1) getting jealous about it. You have a whole husband in front of you. And you’re picking the plushie to cuddle…THAN HIM?!

⭑Would give the plushie dirty stares (especially if it was given by someone not him/by his crew)

⭑When you’re doing something else, he’d wrap his arms around your waist and rest his head on your neck.

⭑He’d give the plushie a smirk and laugh a bit. (Nurse gising na po sya)

⭑OR

⭑2) Sanji would write that down in his “All about Y/n!” Notebook and put hearts all over it.

⭑He would give you plushies, and on every island you visit, he insists on getting you at least one stuffed animal.

⭑Would even sculpt one of his foods as your plushie.

⭑Plus he’d get all giddy iddy when he sees you coddling the plushie he bought. It’s really satisfying to see when the person you love appreciates what they give you.

⭑Robin would let out a smile and maybe even tease you (when she's feeling it)

⭑Might get jealous when you're spending more of your time with them. She's your crew member and s/o, you should focus on her!

⭑She once woke up with your back in front of her, and you were cuddling your plushie.

⭑Sad to say you couldn't find your stuffies for a week… :(

⭑But Robin was there for you!

⭑In the end, it was a win-win situation!

⭑FRANKY FOUND IT CUTE CUTE CUTE.

⭑While you were worrying about how he'll react (unknowingly to you, he already found out and named one of them cola jr.) Franky already made a small plushie (robot) that does the SUPEERRRRRRR with him.

⭑When he saw you sad that one of your plushies got teared up, he'd secretly take it and repatch it (w/h metal scraps)

⭑Would sweat when you confronted him about it, and even DENY IT.

⭑"Franky you're the only one I know that'd use metal scraps for repair…"

⭑"Oh."

⭑Brook is a cutie patootie.

⭑He already knows what you like, from the panties you wear to the plushies you like!

⭑Would make one of those and have some delightful little tea parties. If you're too occupied to join in, why not let your mini-version take part instead?

⭑Anyways, if you'd ever show him a soul king merch/plushie. HE'D FLY OVER THE MOONN.

⭑He didn't know they were selling those! Especially when the cane he has can be removed and shown as a knife.

⭑Our good boy Jinbe.

⭑While on his trip, he saw a lot of them. But of course wouldn't bother to buy one.

⭑I mean, you're on a business trip for sake. And a pirate should always be ready and need no time for aesthetics.

⭑Well, that's what he thought BEFORE he met you. When he saw your room he was SHOOK

⭑How did you have time for all of this? How were you gonna sleep? How will you keep them clean?

⭑Many thoughts were roaming in his head. But when he saw your adoring smile, he made up his mind and would do anything to make you happy.

⭑Even keeping your plushies clean.

A/n: I hope you all enjoyed it. nd sorry for the almost 2-month break.

[ravenslvt]

why does your best friend’s brother have to be so hot??

☆ suna rintarou x f!reader (pt.4) ☆

links to pt.1 pt.2 pt.3

cw: porn with feelings, major confessions, lots of fluff, oral sex both m and f receiving, face sitting, suna has feelings.

the silence of the kitchen felt deafening. you and rintarou sat on the stools of the kitchen island counter while his sister stood at the other side, staring at you two. your legs swing, dangling off the tall stool with anxiousness filling your stomach.

“so… you two… have been-“ the younger suna starts.

“ami i-“ her brother speaks first, cutting her off

“shut your ugly mouth rintarou.” she scolds him. you stay silent.

“we literally look the same??” he puts his arms up in defense.

“rin, please stop talking…” you mumble to the middle blocker next to you. he just sighs and slumps in his seat.

ami takes a few breaths before speaking.

“i’m not mad okay…” she fidgets with her manicured nails while she talks.

“i just wish you didn’t feel the need to like, hide it from me, y’know?” she sighs. you two just nod. you felt awful, you two were the people she trusted most in this world.

“you’re right-“ you finally gain the courage to speak, but immediately getting cut off.

“not done talking” she scolds, saying your name in a warning tone. you pipe down.

your best friend’s eyes go to you. for such a cute girl, she sure knew how to make you tense up just from a look. her face softens suddenly.

“so, why did you feel the need to hide it from me? we both know you’re probably the only person i’d be comfortable with even dating my brother.” ami has a sort of frown on your face. it makes you sad the fact you hurt her.

“well we aren’t really even dating…”

“we’re not?” the brown haired man looks at you.

your eyes snap to rintarou.

“no, rin, we only hooked up like four times-“

“FOUR TIMES? it’s only been two weeks?- sorry my bad.” ami puts a hand over her mouth to quiet herself.

“well, yeah, but i was hoping-“

“is this really the time to talk about this right now?” you whisper to the man. he shuts up real quick. you look back to your best friend, giving her a genuine look.

“i’m sorry i hid it from you, ami. i guess we- well i at least was just scared you’d hate me or something. i never intended to lie or hurt you, we just got kinda caught up in it.” you honestly admit. she just nods, then glares at her older brother. “and you” she seethes. his eyes widen at her sudden switch up.

he may be her brother, but he's also a guy, and you are her best friend.

“my best friend? really, rintarou?” her arms are crossed over her chest, eyes boring into her brother’s head. rin sits up straight.

“look, i apologize for not telling you, truly, but i’m not sorry that i did it.” he says, looking back over to you. you drop your face into your hands. the man you loved was such an idiot.

ami sighs and speaks again after a few moments, making your head perk back up.

“i’m not upset. plus, it would be kinda hypocritical of me to be mad at you two.” she finishes, looking at you.

oh right. the miya twin…

rin looks between the two of you.

“um, what do you mean?” he has a curious but anxious look on his face, brows furrowed.

“you wanna tell him or should i?” his sister looks to you in consolance. you point at her. “this is your business, girl. all you”

she lets out an annoyed sigh before speaking, shifting uncomftorably between her feet.

“i’ve kinda been… talking to osamu since i graduated, but you can’t be mad becuase you’re also literally fucking my best friend soo…” ami says all in one breath. rintarou has an unreadable expression on his face.

“well, obviously.” he scoffs. both of your eyes widen.

“you knew?!” she yells in a suprised tone. he just nods.

“well no shit, he’s the one who told me to invite you to the party in the first place. plus i saw your name pop up in his phone when we went to lunch last week.” her brother explains. you just sit back and watch this uncomfortable situation unfold.

he looks at you. “you knew too?” he casually asks. you nod.

“well obviously, she’s my best friend.”

“hear that rin, my best friend” ami sticks her tongue out at her brother. you smile at the shift of the room, going from all serious to a sudden playfulness, the way ami always knew how to do.

“now go to your room or something, i wanna talk to her alone.” she points at the stairs for her brother to leave. he rolls his eyes, patting your head before leaving the room.

a few seconds pass, and she takes his seat, sitting next to you. she swirls the stool around to face you, voice dropping to a hushed tone.

“so… do you love him?” she curiously asks, with genuine curiosity.

“do you love osamu?”

“shut up, i asked first.”

“i do” you say without a second of thought. she just smiles. all anger from before subsiding into genuine happiness.

“you’re still gonna hangout with me though, right?” she asks, back to fidgeting with her fingers. you roll your eyes.

“of course i am. i’m still sleeping in your room everynight till i leave-“ you start.

“oh c’mon, she doesn’t get to hog you!” rintarou yells from the stairs, eavesdropping on your conversation. you both glare at him.

“no one asked you, rin!” she yells. you both laugh at the way he storms back up the stairs.

she'd be having a talk with him later too.

you talk about everything. osamu, the party, your plans in the next week before you leave.

you were relieved, your guilty conscience completely lifted from having to keep this secret from your best friend. you never expected her to approve, but she was happy both her best friend and her brother are able to find comfort.

plus she knew he had a fat crush on you the way he was staring at you the entire party the night before. she was drunk, but not stupid. her brother was so obvious. maybe it was just a suna thing.

but the thought that you gave him all those marks weeks ago made her shiver. gross.

there was only three days left until you go back. you’ve spent your last days going on mall trips, to the movies, taking walks in the park with your best friend. (and rintarou when he refused to stay at home, saying it was for your guys’ ‘protection’)

he just wanted to spend as much time near you before you left.

“stop moving” you warn rintarou, placing the sheet face mask onto his constantly jerking head.

“it’s cold…” he complains. you just roll your eyes.

“you’re the one who wanted to do this.”

“well yeah, because you were doing it.” he pouts. you giggle at him, your own skincare face mask soaking on your face.

ami left for osamu’s about an hour before, but not before giving you guys a ‘do NOT fuck’ warning. you both just smiled and nodded your heads.

“you’re cute.” you give him a small peck on his lips, one of the only parts that the skin care mask wasn’t covering. his hand reaches for your own, lacing his fingers with yours.

“be my girlfriend.” he softly says, his eyes meeting yours. you were glad this sheet mask was covering your face, or he’d see how flustered you were.

“what?”

“do you not want to?” he asks, a hint of concern in his voice.

“well of course i do, but i-“

“be my girlfriend then. please?” he squeezes your hand. if your face wasn’t covered he’d be holding it.

it was kind of silly the seriousness of this conversation compared to the way you guys had literal sheets on your face.

“i live three hours away, rin.”

“so what? i have a car. i’ll drive down every weekend to see you, baby.” he assures you. his eyes read nothing but honesty and love.

“i couldn’t ask you to do that… you're so busy with volleyball”

“you wouldn’t. i want to. if it was up to me i’d keep you here. or even go with you." he chuckles, "i'll pay for your train rides to come to my games, i’m graduating in two years, we’ll figure it out.” you could see his small smile. his fingers gently brushing over your knuckles.

“okay” you nod.

“okay?” his eyes light up.

“yes” you laugh, he stands up from his chair, leaning down to kiss you, but you two couldn’t do much with these stupid sheet masks.

“take this shit off i wanna kiss you” he rips his own off his face making you pout.

“you’re supposed to leave them on for ten minutes”

“i don’t care, they were like a dollar each” he scoffs, gently peeling your own soft wet mask from your face. he was the one who went into the makeup store with you earlier to purchase them in the first place.

“what a money waster.” you smile up at him. the skincare residue making your and his skin shiny. he couldn’t lie, your guys’ skin looks fantastic.

he grabs your face, finally giving you a real kiss. your lips meet sweetly. you’ve kissed several times by now, but this time was different. it was full of tenderness and love instead of the usual rushed tension.

it was like you have all the time in the world.

his hand reaches in your hair, deepening the kiss. you sigh when his tongue rolls together with your own. your hands plant at his chest, you could feel his muscles through his shirt.

he snakes his free hand around your waist, bringing you to press against him.

you felt your panties dampen when his hand slides down from your waist, to your hips, to your ass.

“so…touchy” you mumble between kisses. he just smiles.

“you make me like this” he replies, gently biting your lip.

your hands go up to tangle in his own hair, tugging slightly to tease him. he just groans.

“c’mere, baby.” he sits on his bed, reaching his arms out to you. you join him, hopping onto his lap and kissing his face.

“wow, your skin is really smooth…” your hand goes to gently caress his face. he leans into your palm like a cat, making you giggle.

his eyes never leave yours, so full of sincerity and love.

“want you to touch me, rin.” you bring his hand to your lower stomach. he just chuckles.

“now who’s the needy one?” he mumbles, kissing you again before his hand slips into the waistband of your pants into your panties, his middle and index fingers finding your clit.

“this wet just from kissing?” he chuckles at you, making you pout.

“m’sorry” you whisper, stuttering when his fingers rub gently at your sensitive bud.

“don’t be sorry, pretty. it’s hot.” he smiles, pulling you back to shimmy your cute pants down your hips. you help him, throwing them on the floor of his room.

you’re left in your his oversized t shirt and your panties, moving to sit on him on the bed, but he stops you. you give him a questioning look.

“wanna try something.” he lays himself on his bed, propping himself up on his elbows to look at you.

“want you to sit on my face.” he cheekily smiles, your eyes widen, but your insides tingle at the thought of it.

“i don’t wanna hurt you…” you nervously gulp. he scoffs.

“i could lift three of you if i needed to. i’ll be fine, sweetheart.” he assures. you reluctantly climb on the bed, still a little scared you were going to suffocate him. like he reads your mind, he speaks.

“if dying by your pussy is where i’m meant to die, it’ll be an honorable death.” this makes you roll your eyes, peeling off your underwear. before you could throw them to the side, rin snatches them, tucking them in the drawer next to his bed.

“hey!” you scold him. he rolls his eyes.

“need something to remind me of you.” his smug smirk made you want to slap him, but also want to kiss him. you opted for the second option. your tongue’s swirling together in a needy messy kiss.

he pulls back, laying himself back on his bed. you let out a breath, crawling up to him and nervously straddling his face with your thighs, facing his legs.

you gasp when he pulls your hips down to seat yourself on his face, his hot tongue swiping over your slick cunt. your face screws into tight pleasure as his tongue prods into your tight hole, making you grind down into his face.

his strong hands hold your hips down as if you were hoping to escape. your eyes flutter open while his tounge switches between playing with your clit and proding into your weeping hole.

your mouth waters at the sight of his erection begging to be released through his sweatpants. poor guy was grinding up into nothing. you lean down, reaching to rub him through his pants, making him groan into your pussy.

you hurriedly push his pants down his hips, along with his boxers. he was so tall you couldn’t reach your mouth to his cock in this position, making you pout. so instead you take your hand and stroke his veiny cock, his moans being muffled by him sucking on your clit.

you pump his cock, using the slick of the precum beading at his tip to lubricate him. his hips stutter into your hands as your finger runs over his tip, the slit of his dick leaking precum over your fingers. fuck how badly you wanted to lick it up.

you moan when his tongue explores your soaking pussy, your hands continuing to tease his raging cock. the tip bright pink from all your teasing.

“feels so good, baby, fuck!” you whine, your hips instinctively rutting into his face. he moans in acknowledgment, urging you to keep touching him while he eats you out like you were his last meal. his grip on your hips never faltering.

your wrist starts to ache from the constant pumping, but the pure pleasure of him licking and sucking at you was all you could think about.

this position was so fucking good. the way he had nothing to do but eat you out until you were trying to lift yourself off of his face, the pleasure becoming too much.

he pulls you back down in an instant, your constant squirming earning you a harsh suck on your clit, making you whine.

“rinn-“ you mewl, your thighs starting to quiver around his head. you’re panting, the strokes on his cock getting quicker and messier.

“f-fuck… keep doing that and m’gonna cum, baby.” he groans into your wetness. you let go, hands gripping at his abs as you feel yourself become undone.

your hips grind uncontrollably into rintarou’s mouth, heat pooling into your lower belly as you feel yourself clench around nothing, the feeling of him suckling at your clit making you cum all over his mouth.

you let out moans of his name, panting before finally moving off of him to let him breathe.

you move yourself between his legs, looking up at him. his lower face was covered in your cum and he was breathing heavily. you licked your lips at the sight, bringing your attention back to his raging cock.

you smile up at him, giving his member small pecks, making his breath stutter.

“want you to cum in my mouth, rin.” you look up at him through your lashes, tongue delving into the slit of his head, making his hips sputter and hands grip in your hair.

you giggle, swirling your tongue around the head before taking him into your mouth, bobbing your head up and down. he lets out dirty groans and grunts, his grip in your hair only getting tighter and tighter.

he knew he was gonna cum soon, already being so worked up from you jerking him off before. that along with you cumming all over his face just a few moments before.

his hips jerk off the bed with a loud groan when you take him as deep as your throat allows you, hands gripping into his strong thighs. you moan when his salty cum shoots down your throat, practically filling your mouth. you swallow it all, only a dribble falling past your lips, swollen and wet.

once he settled, you pulled off of him with a small pop, a string of cum and spit connecting your lips and his cock. you could feel his piercing gaze on you, his grip on your hair turned into soothing strokes.

you hold back a giggle at the way he looked at you with full admiration in his eyes. like you were the most precious thing he'd ever seen. he pulls you up, immediately connecting his lips with yours. the way you both tasted each others releases made you sigh into his mouth.

you laid on his chest, kissing eachother gently. you pull back, smoothing down his hair.

he speaks first, your name coming off the tip of his tounge like a beautiful hum.

“i love you” he breathes out, his eyes searching your own. your heart quickens in your chest.

“you don’t have to say it back-“ he starts.

“no. i love you, rintarou.” you confess, leaning to kiss his cheek. he gives you an uncharacteristically loving smile. you’d never seen him in this sort of light before.

your mind completely avoiding the fact that in three days time, you’d be hours away, long gone from here.

“you guys didn’t fuck, right?” ami scolds, eyeing you two as you three ate the dinner she so graciously brought home for you.

“nope. on our best behavior.” rin responds, giving your thigh a squeeze under the table.

well, technically he wasn’t lying.

masterlist

a/n: ‘i have plans that i cannot share w you right now, because the haters will sabotage me’ wink wink. only planning one or two (maybe even three) more parts of this *cries*

☆ taglist: @jennasquishy8 @nekee-lilac02 @riiceandsoup ☆

[luffyvace]

Vinsmoke Sanji x male reader

Wano Sanji>> 😍🧑‍🍳💋

I won’t tolerate any hate for me writing Sanji x a male reader if you don’t like it block me :)

Sanji loving a male has two possibilities of how it happened: A) an au where he’s bi or smth or B) he loved women until you. Now he respects women and loves you!

let’s go with B for the sake of making you feel as special as you are 😉👌

honestly from here you can basically just read any Sanji headcanons and know what your relationship is like so I’m not gonna repeat the traditional sanji things 😅 but from now on male reader will be heavily implied/mentioned :3 💗

Sanji as a boyfriend is a great punching bag if you have anger issues and sparring partner! 😁 if your a hot headed person he’ll let you punch him as many times as you want til you get all your emotions out. He knows what it’s like to bottle it up and he’s rather have you take it out on him then implode it on yourself. Now, others he doesn’t care about unless they’re a woman. Will still side with you tho

”hey watch where your going!”

- you

”excuse me??”

- random woman

”please excuse us, my lady, my lovely boyfriend~ (😍) is trying to get through”

- Simpji

Sanji is really strong so as a sparring partner he’s great! You can tell him to stop holding back as much as you want but you can’t rely on him for that. 😊 He would rather just be used as a punching bag honestly, he doesn’t wanna hurt you!! 😓 Will be 00.1% less lenient if your strong like the monster trio buuuut not a big difference. He’s not underestimating you at all! You can tell by his constant praises on how strong you are- but he just doesn’t wanna hurt his DAAAARLING FUTURE HUSBAND~ (😍)

if your weaker, he insists you won’t have to train much because he’ll always protect you. Just like he has the instincts to detect a woman’s tears, he now has the ability to tell if you need help! His heart will clench and his stomach will twist before he darts off to find you without a word (despite worrying your crew-)

Will spar with you if your really serious about getting stronger to help protect you and your crewmates. But he might suggest you get a weapon built by Usopp (or Franky) first.

”MY LOVELY BOYFRIEND IS SO KIND~ HE WANTS TO GET STRONGER TO PROTECT EVERYONE!~~ The rest of you jerks better be grateful!! 😤 -not you! Nami-San! Robin-Chwan!”

No matter your body type Sanji will dote on you! 😘 ABS⁉️ AN ALL OUT NOSE BLEED!! YOUR SO HANDSOME HE JUST MIGHT PASS OU- 😴 A dad bod?? 😍😍 AWOOGA~ Sounds sensual and sultry to him 💋💋 On the chubbier side? STILL HOT!! Mwah! Come over here sugar lips 😜

- his words not mine 😚

his dates can vary from really romantic to more casual, depends on what type of guy you are. If your in tune with your emotions like him you guys’ll probably seem a lot more cheesy- IN A GOOD WAY‼️💗 Otherwise, if distant or just put up a front, etc then he’ll tone it down. His side of the party will still be uh, not necessarily dramatic but dramatic, on the other hand. What I mean by that is he’s still a simp but your dates won’t be so cliche, at the least. More so activities like festivals, carnivals, roller skating, all that good stuff!

of course he can always arrange a time on the merry/sunny for a food date where he cooks all your favs!…one prob tho..Luffy. 🤦‍♀️ Actually, a good time to get away with a dinner date is when Luffy’s not around! And by that I’m talking when he’s on an island exploring and Sanji tells the others to go on ahead, leaving you two alone on the ship! 😁👍

Sanji thinks your so cool when you fight tbh. It doesn’t matter how strong or weak you are, you’ll always look tough while fighting 💪 If your weak he’s got your back!! Of course, likewise if your strong, but he worries 0.1% less if you are. He will forever be concerned about his boyfriend’s well being 🤷‍♀️ At the very least he knows you could handle yourself on your own if there’s a 0% chance that he can’t come to your aid. (He will always show up for you 🙏)

The op men seem to be more annoyed with Sanji’s simp behavior so if that’s you….it still won’t change anything…feel free to kick him tho! He’ll let you 😘 He has a nose bleed after too (not only cuz you kicked him but bc you looked hot while doing so 😍) Yeah the grind never stops, and that’s on simping 😜👍

Will let you call him any nickname! Or insult- you could practically hate him and he’d still be your loyal lap dog 🐩 Bro is down on his knees down bad 😭🙏 ‘Even when he calls me crude cook~ HE’S STILL THE MOST GLORIOUS MAN IN THE WORLD!~ 😻” If your pet/nicknames are more romantic or loving it’ll give him an even worse nose bleed for sure. He gets butterflies either way- of course. 😂

If you were to ever get hurt he’s going to quite literally hurl his boot at their face, and I’m not implying he takes his shoe off. Naturally, this outcome only happens with a man. If a woman is beating you he will prioritize your safety and run away with you. Or distract her so you can get Nami or Robin.

⚠️Skip if you haven’t watched Whole Cake arc⚠️

(Now, for a head’s up idk how Sanji’s fam works bc I’m not on whole cake yet-) Sanji’s family will likely diss him even further for being a man who likes other men. Reiju might support him- but his father will be utterly disappointed! ‘Now he can’t even marry a women to strengthen they’re bloodline!’ (Sanji’s dad<< 🙄) But don’t worry ik for a fact his super awesome boyfriend came through to save the day 🦸

(Back to regual hcs, mini Whole Cake spoiler over 👍)

This hc right here kinda gn but he will give you the biggest, happiest, silliest smile ever if you compliment his eyebrows. Or at least say they don’t look silly/you like them. IK he’s not necessarily insecure of the look overall but bc his doesn’t look like his family’s eyebrows, but it still makes him feel better about it ❤️‍🩹

so yeah please do compliment him on it 💗

I don’t really like to talk about who’s the “dom” in the relationship but I’m gonna mention it just this once and hear me out‼️

He’d be so flustered if you were!! Like?? Your taking care of him?? Being protective over him?? 😻🙏 AWOOGA- 💥 (he passed out) You could practically demand anything from him anyway but imagine him having a nose bleed all down his face as he stutters out a “yes sir” and immediately gets on the job 🙌 Bonus points if you have a deep voice 🤷‍♀️ (Not even in a suggestive way, btw, just genuinely having rizz 🤪🙏)

Or maybe he’s the “dom” He’d be so happy to take care and protect you, as he always is. But this time he cranks up his flirting game x200. Like he’s actually trying and not just using simp, servant, slave rizz (LOL- 😂)

Think about him leaning in real close to your ear, lowering his voice, before saying “I’ve cooked you a meal 😏” (or smth I ain’t the rizz master-)

You get my point! Case closed ok? Point is he’d be a lot more smooth than a simp. Ya got me? Good.

Edit: I added more! ψ(｀∇´)ψ

Reqs officially back open!! Now I’m just gonna freelance and write from my list

[blughxreader]

Do you think escape for batsis is in the realm of possibility if she pretended long enough? I’m talking like 5-10 years of playing the long game. Enough time to gain everyone’s trust, and maybe she even grows to like them too, but still wanting her freedom back, would she possibly be able to escape the manor with enough time and ingenuity?

... Trips outside with Platonic Yandere Batfam... HC

Honestly, I doubt you could escape. Between the chip they secretly planted in your leg upon your kidnapping, the hidden agents that trail you on your outings, and the Bat's propensity to have their eyes on you at all times... it's unlikely.

But if you convince them you love them and if they're comfortable with their security system, you can finagle your way into a cozy little adventure outside!

In the beginning, after a year or two of living at the Wayne Manor and warming up to the Bats, they would consider letting you leave the house. At first it's only to private islands during carefully scheduled vacation times.

Luxury villas, private chefs, un-disrupted skylines, new books / notepads / art supplies so you can capture the moment (and so they can frame it)... It's pretty sweet actually, especially if you've ever had an "old money aesthetic" Pinterest board.

Just you, a charcuterie board of aged meats and cheeses, and Dick's leg against yours because he insists on touching you... and Tim's camera shuttering every 4 minutes... and Damian's loud insistence on having your eyes on him... and and and

After a few years, if they feel like you genuinely love them and are happy then you can convince them to let you go out! Just allow 1-3 business days for preparation.

(Also: trips outside are also an excellent bargaining chip for rights with you. Tim's "Sleep in my bed for a 10 consecutive (preferable) or nonconsecutive days this month and we can get boba and browse a bookstore" vs Damian's "If you tell Jason he's fourth favorite, I will ask father to rent out Gotham Museum for the evening so we can view the new post-impressionism exhibition" (I.E. he wants to go SO BAD but is afraid of rejection))

Jason and Damian are the easiest to convince. Just offer them an in-depth discussion on a book you two read together or a drawing/reading date, and they'll call all necessary contacts that second.

Dick and Bruce are like, "hn. but there's plenty of things to do at home."

If you begged, Dick would fold faster. Like, "Fiiiine. But only if we can rent the venue and go in disguise." Because he's not mentally prepared for paparazzi to think you two are dating.

Bruce, on the other hand, has three sleepless nights leading up to the outing and insists you hold onto him without fail the entire time.

He's most likely to rent out the rooftop of a restaurant and hire a famous ensemble. The Batkids are invited sometimes, but these trips are mostly for you and him to make some memories. Tim, Steph, and Duke 100% will pretend to be waiters. Dick disguises himself as the pianist and fumbles through the first few songs before he's invited to eat with you two.

Last but not least, Timmy. Hardest to convince but you can also get some unique, crowded locations out of him. However, because it's crowded he will handcuff you two together. Sorry, not sorry.

It might be fun going to a gaming arcade and playing a single player game with each of your hand's though. He might also introduce you to his friends as well! Game nights with them are always exciting.

for more yandere batfam, visit my masterlist!

[ezlo-x]

“Wow I hope BotW gets a sequel someday…” - my TotK summary <3

It’s been a year, and honestly. I did not complete that game at all. I watched lets plays and cutscenes in youtube and a few playthroughs of my friends. And every time, my regret of buying this game grows ever so slightly. I know I sound mean and harsh but I prommy I got nothing against ppl who actually enjoyed TotK. This is more of my personal experience of how my excitement playing this game completely burned me out less than halfway through the game.

Gameplay

I’ll start with gameplay first, as I have issues with it. Let’s start with the physics of the game itself. Ngl, there was a small worry in the back of my mind when I realized there would be in-game physics and that you have to rely on those said physics. I personally don’t have a good experience with game physics and they usually tend to frustrate me. Which somewhat happened when playing the game. It didn’t happen too often, thankfully, maybe because the zonai parts didn’t tend to last long. Speaking of Zonai parts and builds

I wish building Zonai stuff was a bit more fun. Or at least give us more time to experience our builds. We already have a disadvantage by having a limited amount of batteries that you have to slowly upgrade throughout the game. So, seeing that one of your Zonai pieces starts to flash and disappear is annoying. I understand we can obtain more zonai parts throughout Hyrule, but I wish it lasted long enough. Also, the fact that you can’t really travel a lot in many of the builds, oh how disappointing it was to build a cool Zonai truck with big ass wheels but get frustrated that it couldn’t pass through a few bumps on the road. I feel like the Hoverbike is the best Zonai build of the game.

The Ultrahand is fun when trying to solve puzzles or merge random items. Fusing weapons, on the other hand, is my favorite thing in the game. There’s something really satisfying about fusing a really powerful weapon together. I really don’t mind that the weapons are breakable if that means I have a spot to make a strong weapon. Weapon durability never really bothered me. Both games push you to explore around to look for weapons. I think it would be boring if they weren’t breakable.

The shrines are a big improvement from BotW's shrines. I wished there were more challenging Shrines over the many King Rauru blessings. I can't really say much about the dungeons as I only completed two out of the five. But I think there was a bit to be desired; it's almost a Zelda dungeon.

Sage abilities. I want to speak to the game designer who thought it was a great idea to activate the sage abilities with the same button you click to pick up items on the floor. A total downgrade to the way you’d activate the Champion abilities in BotW.

Rupees. I would like to speak to the game designer who thought it was a great idea that you now have to manually press A to pick up rupees from the floor rather than casually walking in front of it to automatically pick it up. From my previous point, do you know how many times I’ve tried to pick up rupees only for Tulin’s ability to fly them away from me?

The sky islands, ohh boyyy, finding out that they had to reduce the amount of sky islands is disappointing, but I understand in a game design aspect. BUT it is disappointing that the game was advertising itself for the sky islands, only for there to be very few in the final. Like remember back in 2021 when they were advertising SkSw HD, and then i think a year later a totk teaser dropped and Link was falling from the skies? Good times ❤️

The Depths: I enjoyed the Depths a bit more than the Sky Islands. But it does get boring after a while if you’re not there to fight monsters or look for treasure, which is also disappointing. I love the OST descending down a chasm and entering the depths. Also, don’t get me started on how frustrating it is to use Zonai builds there compared to the surface or sky islands.

I think those are all my thoughts on the gameplay. I still have a few more issues with it but I feel like it mixes with the story so lets get that over with

Limitation vs Freedom

My biggest issue with this game is that it gives you the freedom to do whatever you want. However, there is still a story attached, and the story still wants to play out linearly. So, we have a game that grants you total freedom on how you want to play this game, but the story is still linear. But even if you decide to experience the story while doing dungeons and shrines. The game doesn't update with the piece of information that you discover.

The Dragon Tears are a really flawed way to experience the story. Zelda's memories are scattered across Hyrule; the number of times I've seen ppl say they accidentally got the tears out of order cause they thought it was similar to BotW's way of getting the memories. Basically, if you happen to be near one memory, you might as well get it cause it'll get annoying to go back and forth. Only to the person's shock, they got a cutscene meeting the Queen and King and then going up the Hebra region as that's the closest memory from the previous one. Just to see Queen Sonia dead on the floor.

What also bothers me is that the game doesn't update when you make a discovery in these memories. For example, I found out that Phantom Ganon can transform into Zelda in the memories and walk up to the NPCs in hopes of a change of dialogue. But getting nothing, walking up to Purah, Tulin, then Yunobo, and seeing no change of dialogue got really tiresome. It's as if the game doesn't believe you're smart enough to connect the dots.

Also, for people who decided to explore and get the Dragon Tear memories before entering any dungeon. There is very little change of dialogue, suddenly the game strangely punishes you by not letting the npcs acknowledge what you just discovered. While it's not an actual in-game punishment, you're stuck with characters asking a million questions that you already know of. Suddenly, the game's freedom to do whatever you want gets put to a halt because you decide to have the freedom to experience the story however you'd like.

NOW I get to move the part that I’ve been waiting (dreading) for!!

Lore

Sheikah Tech…I don’t care how simple the explanation is on why they are gone. It is probably the dumbest explanation I’ve seen. The fact that it wasn’t even questioned in-game and by the developers baffles my mind. How does it vanish in thin air? Their explanation is that the Calamity no longer exists doesn’t make sense to me either. The Sheikah tech has been there for more than 10k years but only in a dormant state. I don’t want to ask any more questions, or I’ll be here all day, but it drives me up a wall how the lore of the Sheikah got shafted to the side for the new stone technology aesthetic. Speaking of which-

Zonai in general. The fact that WE DONT EVEN GET LORE from the Zonais aside from being viewed as gods is sooooo ughhhhh I wish there was more. Why are there two remaining Zonais? (This probably got answered tbh but idc to look) Who’s the ancient hero and how come he looks like a Zonai or just in fact a different race we’ve never seen before?

Draconification…god. I have many thoughts and also many thoughts about the secret stones. It is an idea that I find interesting and could’ve worked for me. If it didn’t contradict itself in many aspects, as in how becoming a dragon, you will lose your sense of self. I think it would be a nice foreshadowing of the fate Zelda could’ve had. I think making the other dragons take a role in that and expand on it would’ve worked. Idk I think instead of implying it, it could’ve been expanded and shown a lot more severity of the situation.

Apparently I don’t got much on lore, but you know what I got much of????

STORY

This one is going to be a FAT one so bear with me. God where do I even begin here, I'm going completely omit the part where the game feels like it’s gaslighting you through the npcs cause I feel like everyone knows that.

My biggest frustration with this game is that it has such interesting story concepts and cinematic moments. But I can’t but feel like these moments were there first, and everything else was built around it. However, whatever suspicion I feel about how they created this story, only to my shock and horror that there isn’t a credited group of people in the credits, only an outside team (company?). Before I continue, I think it’s dumb when people say TLoZ didn’t have much of a story when previous Zelda games had a storyline to follow (OoT, MM, WW, TP, fucking…even Link’s Awakening, and more). So yes, TLoZ does have stories. It’s not just about the dungeons if I'm being honest.

What I find so odd is that Monolith Soft has games such as the Xenoblade games, where the latest game of that series does have a credited team of writers. Hell, BotW had two credited writers. But I won't go far speculating why they decided to hire a company outside the team to write TotK; it is only interesting to me why they did that. Since there really isn't a solid team of writers, I will focus my issues on Fujibayashi as a story writer; after all, he is the director of this game. And I've seen multiple interviews after the game's release where he explains a lot of the game's "lore" and story that should've been easily explained in the game in the first place. I think this will be me sharing my opinions rather than critiques... boy where do I even begin...

Sages—the ancient sages, not counting Mineru, are pointless. I felt no connection seeing the Ancient Sages meet their predecessors. Can't believe Age of Calamity made me feel more strongly about the Champions meeting their predecessors than the ancient sages did. - I also think they really don't share anything important. Maybe the first time, yes, but you could easily remove their cutscenes and just have Mineru explain how everything went down, and nothing will change. - Now, to the present Sages, I can't really say much, sadly. Tulin and Yunobo were the only characters for whom I completed their quests, and I enjoyed their character arcs, especially Yunobo's. If I could pick up TotK again, I would try to do Riju's arc, as it seemed really fun to play from the playthroughs I've seen my friends do. I don't really care for Sidon. Before I dropped the game, I was going through his quest and got really irritated fast for many reasons that I have mentioned here previously.

King Rauru and Queen Sonia – There has never been a character that I've enjoyed where I think they deserved much better than what they were there for. I get it; Sonia was only there as the character to be killed off to move the plot forward, but oh my god...I could've saved her. I wished we could've seen her more involved in the story than just standing by Raruru's side. - King Rauru, my brain turns foggy when I think of this man, and sometimes there are too many words to explain my issues. But to water it down, I feel we centered ourselves too much on these characters who don't even affect the main protagonist to some degree. Sure, King Rauru first appears at the beginning to show you his magic hand abilities. But I guess I was hoping something like how the previous TLoZ games had your companion help you throughout your journey and are the key fact of many things in the story (Midna and KotRL appear in my head when I mention this).

Zelda—sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I think this game would've been 10x better if she had been the protagonist. I know it probably wouldn't make sense because she turns into a dragon by the end but Idc. What frustrates me about Zelda is that she's given very few options. It's a war or nothing. It's becoming a dragon or being stuck in the past forever. I guess that's the tragedy of her story, but instead of me feeling sad, it frustrates me.

Link—Oh god, here we go. Link has a very small role in this, and you can disagree with me. But how is it possible that this is one of the few Links that has little involvement in the story? Link just happened to stumble into a bigger mystery than it already was. Link didn't even prove himself to Ganondorf why he's a threat to him aside from the first cutscene and Rauru.

Ganondorf - .........I hope this is the last time we see Ganondorf in the series. I know that sounds shocking, but if Fujibayashi is going to take the lead in storytelling for future games, I don't want him to make another iteration of Ganondorf. To me, Fujibayashi works better by making completely new Zelda villains. Ghirahim and Kohga are perfect examples. Ganondorf in this game was so underwhelming and disappointing. He never directly confronted himself with either Link or Zelda. Gameplay wise, he's great, but the story? What is he doing here? Literally, it feels like they only brought Ganondorf back because people questioned about Ganondorf back in BotW.

Conclusion

There are many aspects of the game that I enjoy; however, in my case, the bad outweighs the good. That's why this game frustrates me: There was a lot of potential to be seen. There is probably more for me to say that I'm either intentionally leaving out or just forgetting cause there are many things. Happy one year TotK 🎉🎉🎉

[fayes-fics]

Doctor’s Orders

Pairing: Benedict Bridgerton x fem!reader, modern AU

Summary: Someone decides to play doctor to ameliorate your bad day…

Warnings: 18+ smut, minors DNI, doctor/patient roleplay, dom/sub tones, ‘medical examination’ with use of stethoscope and latex gloves, voluntary breathplay, cardiophilia, vaginal fingering, edging.

Word Count: 4.5 k

Authors Note: this is a long-awaited (9 months!) request fill for the lovely @eleanor-bradstreet. My dear, I hope this is somewhat worth the wait. To anyone medically trained, yes, I know what he does is wrong/inaccurate, but that’s the whole point: he’s a somewhat clueless but enthusiastic roleplaying boy, not a real doctor. Thank you to @colettebronte for the read-through and suggestions. Enjoy! <3

It’s been one of those spectacularly shit days at work. When you get to your boyfriend’s flat, all you want to do is shower, crash out and watch brainless TV together.

“Bad day?” Benedict intuits, wandering over from the kitchen, casual in shorts and a t-shirt, as you drop your bag like a tonne of bricks near his front door and pout.

“Hate my job,” you whine, burying your head into his shoulder as he chuckles affectionately, pulling you into his arms and busses a kiss onto your temple.

“No, you don’t; you love your job. You just didn’t love it today,” he smiles into your hair.

“Urgh, fine, yes, Mr EQ, yes, that's true,” you huff his neck, enjoying his clean scent.

“Come with me, my stressed-out noodle,” he offers good-naturedly, withdrawing from the embrace and lacing your fingers with his. He backs up, pulling you along with him further into the flat.

“Where are we going?” you pout again.

“To eat, I made us dinner,” he smiles, something melting in your chest at the sweet gesture. 

“Do I have time to shower first?” you ask, wanting to remove all physical traces of this workday from your skin.

“Of course, be my guest,” he nods towards his room, with the en suite bathroom beyond, and you drop a kiss on his cheek as you go.

—

Fifteen minutes later, you emerge freshly showered and wearing some of his clothes- a t-shirt that swamps you and jogging bottoms you have to roll up at the waist. You take a seat at the kitchen island and tuck into the amazing-smelling food he has laid out, even giving you a comedic bow as you reenter the room.

The food tastes like heaven, and you can't stop the appreciative moans at the flavour explosion on your tongue.

“Fuck Ben, this is delicious,” you assert as you swallow the mouthful.

His face lights up with that beguiling smile that hooked you in the first place all those months ago, and you can't help but lean in and give him a quick peck.

“So do you want to talk about the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day? Or is this more of a big glass of wine and stfu sort of deal?“ he hedges amiably, assessing your needs.

You sigh as you finish your next bite. “Honestly? I don't know. I’m so stressed about it all I sort of don’t want to talk about it. I feel like I need to be one of those Regency ladies who is prescribed a trip to the seaside for my nerves, you know?” you jest, circling your empty fork in the air to highlight your point.

He barks a laugh. “Funny you should say that; I was just reading a book about hilarious historical cures.”

“Yeah…?” your interest piqued.

“Dorset left it out,” he explains, referring to his roommate, a junior doctor at Guys Hospital. “It's hilarious. But I don't think they would diagnose you with a trip to the seaside, at least not based on what I’ve read.”

You swivel on your stool to face him. “Oh no? Then what would I have been prescribed, Dr Bridgerton?” you jest, leaning your chin on your hand and arching a challenging brow. But you don't miss how his pupils dilate a fraction as you address him such.

He turns towards you with a laconic smile. “You likely would have been prescribed a course of pelvic stimulations.”

You are glad you hadn't taken another bite of dinner, as you would have sprayed him with food with that spit take.

“What?!? No!” you laugh incredulously.

“Don't believe me? Go look,” he challenges, gesturing to the book on the coffee table.

“So… Is that what I think it is? Women would literally be told, medically, to masturbate?” you giggle, disbelieving.

“Oh no,” he corrects. “You wouldn't do it; the doctor would.”

“What the…??”

“Yup… ‘to alleviate the female hysterics’,” he chimes, affecting an old-timely announcer voice.

“With what?” you ponder aloud, still utterly perplexed.

“Hands, I would assume,” he breezes. “Why? Would you like a helping hand?” he winks, wiggling his eyebrows comically.

“I mean….” you trail off, still laughing but feeling a tiny buzz between your legs at the idea. “I'm not going to say no… Doctor Bridgerton,” you banter back.

Benedict puts down his fork, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallows his bite of food and turns slowly towards you, an enigmatic glint in his eye.

“Well, now, you will need a thorough medical examination before I can determine if such a prescription is even the correct one,” he throws out, still with a jovial air, but the dropped octave is decidedly suggestive.

“How long until I can get an appointment?” you shoot back, feeling the atmosphere in the room shift, the dynamic between you playful but with a definite undercurrent of heat now.

“The doctor is always in… for you,” he answers, a hand landing heavily on your knee. “If you are ready, please go wait in the exam room,” Benedict responds, signalling to the sofa, that hand squeezing slightly. “The doctor can be right with you.”

You giggle and shoot him a ‘Are we really doing this?’ look. When he nods, you wiggle off the stool and drift over to the sectional as he disappears down the hallway, your half-eaten dinners now very much abandoned. Little butterflies in your stomach as you perch, eagerly awaiting his return.

When he re-enters the room, you almost forget how to breathe. He has obviously raided his flatmate's room and come out wearing a white doctor’s overcoat, his shapely calves bare beneath the hem, a stethoscope slung casually around his shoulders. He has also dug out his reading glasses to complete the look. He is so utterly convincing you don't know what to think, except…. Oh fuck yes.

“Good afternoon, Miss y/l/n,” he greets, stepping effortlessly into the roleplay. “I'm Dr Bridgerton. Tell me, what ails you today?” 

He sits on the coffee table right in front of you, looking at you expectantly for your response.

“Hello, doctor,” you begin, stilted, still a little discombobulated by his appearance and how utterly aroused you are by it. “I… I am overworked in my job and don't know the best way to relieve the stress I feel….” 

“Well, I am sorry to hear that. Let us do a basic examination so I can rule out any possible physical ailments and go from there.” Before you can respond, he produces disposable gloves from his overcoat pocket and snaps them on, your tummy fluttering at the sight of them pulling taunt around his long fingers. 

Oh, he means it.

He leans in, his hands cupping your jaw, warm even through the latex. You whimper quietly, realising he is pretending to feel the lymph nodes beneath your ear for swelling. But he doesn't let go; he just stares you down, his eyes glittering in the lamp glow. 

“Say ahhh,” he prompts.

You open your mouth instinctively, just like at the doctor’s. He pivots a hand so his thumb gently presses down on your tongue as he peers into your mouth.

“Hmm, I see no evidence of an oral infection. But I should check via other means too, to be thorough,” he murmurs, pupils dilating as you cheekily close your lips around his thumb and suck on it suggestively. The powdery flavour on the glove somehow just heightens the heat you feel spreading inside.

“Behave please, Miss,” he rebukes, but his actions say otherwise - extracting his thumb and trailing your saliva in a line down over your chin, your neck, resting it in your suprasternal notch as his fingers curl around your neck and tug you towards him.

His kiss is deep and breathtaking. His tongue unfurls into your mouth and probes yours as if this, too, is a thorough examination. You follow his lead, letting him dictate the terms, wanting to follow wherever he is going with this.

“I think we can rule out anything in your mouth being the problem,” he opines drolly over your lips. 

“Thank you, doctor,” you respond coquettish.

“Let me listen to your lungs to ensure there are no respiratory problems. Remove your clothing, please,” he orders brusquely, sitting back.

“All of it?” you inhale sharply.

“I suppose just your top for now,” he revises, looking a tad impatient.

When you whip off the top to reveal you are without a bra, his eyes flash, and the tip of his tongue pokes out as your nipples pebble in the cool air of the room. A wave of something behind your ribs as he unfurls the stethoscope from around his neck and places it in his ears.

“Please keep your hands at your sides at all times. And beware, this may be cold,” he warns.

You squeak as the cool metal is placed onto the flesh above your left breast, your hands curling around the sofa edge by your thighs so you keep them as told.

“Breath in deeply for me,” he instructs, and you do, taking a deep inhale, feeling your body bloom with his proximity as his face squints in concentration. When he doesn't say exhale, you hold, unsure what else to do, your lungs feeling tight. It seems much longer than necessary. “And out”

He drags the bell over your sternum to the same spot on the right side. 

“Again” he orders. You follow the instructions, taking a deep breath. “Hold it,” he alerts, as you start to feel the struggle for air. You do his bidding, feeling that trademark ache under your ribs under the exertion. “And release,” he instructs just as you want to disobey.

“Good,” he rumbles, “just one more.”

You pant lightly as he drags the scope down between your breasts, then jump as he presses it low into the sensitive spot where your ribs meet on your diaphragm. 

“In and hold.”

As you do, he tilts forward and suddenly seizes a nipple between his teeth. You make a strangled noise in your closed mouth, a zipping thrill right down to your clit. The surprise makes air escape out your nose, fingers grasping the cushion.

“No,” he gruffs into your breast, not looking up at you. “I told you to hold. You hold your breath until I say you can release,” he lectures. “Now breath in and hold it,” his voice taking on a steely edge that makes your pussy constrict.

Wordlessly, you do as told, and this time, he swaps to your other nipple, biting down, then lathing with his hot tongue as you struggle—tight lungs, intense pressure behind your cheeks. The thronging pleasure around where he teases you makes it an almost impossible task; starting to struggle a little, your body twitching, fingers and toes flexing.

“Let it out,” he permits, and you open your mouth, the air escaping in a loud ‘pahhhh’ sound.

“Well, I think your lungs sound very healthy,” he breezes nonchalantly as if this is just how a doctor does an exam.

“That’s good,” you defer to his faux expertise even as you feel his saliva drying on your areola. 

“Now, let's test your heart,” he proceeds, pulling the stethoscope from his ears so it rests around his neck. “Remove the rest of your clothing now, please, Miss.”

“Is that strictly necessary, doctor? Just to listen to my heart?” you waver, even as your hands go to the ties at your waistband.

“I am the doctor here, am I not?” he counters, raising a brow.

“Yes,” you demure, a pulse around your clit at how thoroughly he inhabits this role.

“You may find it easier to stand,” he chuckles as he watches you shuffling, struggling to remove your bottoms while seated. 

So you do as he suggests, his breath ghosting over the sensitive skin around your belly button as you push the loose jersey material over the swell of your hips. He growls at the other surprise lurking—you wear no underwear, your bare slit inches from his face as the clothing pools around your feet, now utterly naked.

“Is this okay, doctor?” you simper, looking down at him sitting on the coffee table as he finally tilts his head to look at your face.

“Lay down on the exam table,” he commands, his pointer finger jabbing towards the chaise.

“Make me…”

Your tongue rebels before your brain can engage, wanting to see how much he will take control if you act out. He springs to his feet, towering over you, inches from you, and grasps the nape of your neck, forcing you to look up at him.

“Are you questioning my methods?” he interrogates, his hold strong but not hurting.

Oh, yes, Benedict, well done.

“No, Doctor,” you simper, attempting to look innocent but knowing your eyes must be fully dilated by now, distracted by the pulse you see in his throat.

“I need to be very thorough before I can diagnose you accurately, Miss,” he cautions. “Do you hear me?”

“Yes, doctor.” 

“Good. Now lay down,” he instructs brusquely, releasing his grip.

You drop to the sofa and lay out for him, a thrill zipping over your skin. He places a large cushion beneath your neck and head so you are tilted up and can see down the plain of your naked body.

“Now be very still and be very quiet. Keep your hands at your sides. Whatever I do to you is to ensure your heart is healthy. Do you understand me?” he tutors, his eyes roaming your body covetously.

“Yes, doctor,” you confirm, knowing your chest is rising and falling rapidly, the anticipation burning in your being.

He places the stethoscope directly over your heart and loops it back into his ears, the cool metal now a balm against your flushed skin.

“You have a good strong heartbeat,” he states casually, “But it is a little slow for my liking….”

His gloved hand loops around the leg closest to him and hauls it wide into his lap, your knee brushing a prominent bulge under the overcoat that makes your insides clench at the very thought of his cock.

“Stay still.” 

His clipped reminder is delivered as he trails his fingertips along your inner thigh, his other hand still holding the stethoscope against your chest. Your breath stutters as his latex-covered fingers nudge your folds, already weeping.

“Well, I see there is certainly no problem with your ability to get aroused,” he intones smokily with a tantalising brush over your clit. 

His moves are unrushed, his touch maddeningly light, not nearly enough, barely a glance over your soaked flesh, making you ache for more. After a few moments, you whine and defiantly attempt to push into his touch.

“Did I not tell you to be still and quiet?” he arches an eyebrow, and you pout but still yourself and fold your lips inwards under your teeth. “That’s better. Now let's see what happens when I….”

He expertly plunges two long fingers into your pussy, your arousal leaking over his gloves as he does so. He hisses his approval at your heated cling, pushing deep as you swallow your gasp, biting your lip to prevent any more sound from escaping. His fingers hook, and his wrist twists in slow corkscrew turns, dragging thoroughly over your walls as if giving you an internal exam. You crave more: more fingers, movement, friction, more of anything, your fingernails scratching against the fibres of the sofa, keeping them at your sides as told, even as you itch to grab his wrist and direct his motions.

“Interesting,” he mutters, his fingers swirling slowly, probing inside as he drags the scope fractionally on your sternum.

You utter a silent curse, your body already quivering. The room filled only with the sound of your ragged breathing and the sodden noise from between your legs as he leisurely rocks his gloved fingers into and out of your pussy, you suctioning around his knuckles, the stretch with each stroke making you want to beg for him to make you come.

“Your heart is definitely strong,” he declares, “but I think we need to put it to the test properly.”

His thumb presses onto your clit, and it's like a lightning bolt through your being. Something about the fact it's not his skin on yours lends an extra frisson. You can feel the warmth of his pad behind the latex barrier as he flicks against your swollen nub.

“More, please, Doctor Bridgerton, please,” you entreat desperately, attempting to tilt your pelvis to ride his hand.

He groans at your use of his name, not chastising you for vocalising. His rigid cock brushes your knee held in his lap as he surges his hips fractionally, your legs spread obscenely wide as he finger fucks you, his stethoscope leaving a circular imprint on your chest, almost bearing his weight into your skin. God help you both if his flatmate cuts his night shift short.

“Your bpm is rising,” he reports as his fingers move faster, wringing filthy noises from your body now, pushing harder with every stroke, his thumb circling your clit with unerring pressure. You just moan a litany of ‘Dr Ben’, and ‘yes’ and ‘please don’t stop’ as you spiral higher.

“That's it, yes, that's what I like to hear,” he encourages, “it's like music.” 

Even you can tell your heart is thumping now, hearing it loud in your own ears as the blood rushes to your head. Just as you are about to crest, he suddenly stops his ministrations and withdraws his fingers. You cry out as he rests the soaked glove on your lower belly, pressing down softly from the outside on that spot that aches for more, your own juices dripping down between your bum cheeks.

“Shhh shh,” he pacifies, the scope he still holds with his other hand feeling heavy on your flesh as his prideful gaze travels up your panting body, gleeful at his ability to do this to you. 

You plead with your eyes as his eyes finally reach your face, silently asking him to finish.

“Wonderful, your heartbeat is so strong in my ears,” he sounds almost wistful, dreamy. 

Your breathing slows, even as you feel the burn of an orgasm so denied, your pelvis throning, your clit painfully engorged.

“Hmm, let’s go again, shall we?” he smirks.

That’s all the warning you get before he plunges his fingers back inside, this time using three, the latex glove squeaking slightly around his palm. You scream and cant your body up off the sofa to the point he briefly lets go of the scope; his glove presses down on your diaphragm, forcing you back flat so you cannot ride his fingers like you want to.

“Please, doctor…” you beseech, voice reedy and wanton, uncaring about anything but being hurled over that divine edge.

“The more you ask, the less I am inclined to deliver,” he menaces. “I will just edge you all night and listen to your heart thumping so hard for me it sounds like it wants to break out from under your ribs.” he jerks the scope pointedly over your breastbone. 

You close your eyes and bite your lip, resigning yourself to obey. That he might keep you on edge for so long, you cannot bear—you need to come like you need air.

His handsome face is smug as he once again probes your body from inside, almost experimenting based on the tiny whimpers you make. He jabs a spot that makes your entire body spasm, and a crooked, dangerous smile spreads over his features.

“Oh, look what we have found,” his chest resonant with pitch, the tone dark and sweet.

Once again, you beg silently, but he indulges in the tease. Tapping gently on the spot rather than rocking into it, a slow, gentle touch that makes every nerve jangle, like an itch you cannot scratch hard enough.

“I love to see you like this,” he admits breathily as he keeps us at that vexing pace. “So strung out and desperate to come. You would do anything I told you to right now, wouldn't you? If I just promised to let you over the edge.”

You are nodding vigorously before he even finishes his sentence, his triumphant expression almost galling if not for the desire writ large on his face.

“Good,” he snarls and starts to jab on that same spot. Desire roars fire in your veins, and you scream, your body trembling. He leans over and captures one of your nipples in his wet, warm mouth, and you scream again, uncaring what any of his neighbours may think.

You are dangling on the edge, reality bleeding into pleasure when once again he stops, and the noise that escapes your lungs is feral—a wretched groaning wail as an inferno licks around every edge of your being.

“Listen,” he growls, roughly yanking the tubes from his ear and placing them over yours. The noise is almost deafening, a thumping rhythm so fast it is virtually interpolating and looping upon itself. It's fascinating and life-affirming even as your body cries out, your clit pulsing in tempo with the thrumming beat. Greedily, he grabs them back and places them over his ears again, moving the bell to the right, his breath gusting hard.

“Touch yourself,” he orders gruffly.

It doesn't take moments for your hand to slide between your legs and catch your clit, a hardened, searing nub so wet you can hardly find grip and so distended it doesn't even feel like your body.

He leans possessively over you, a vein in his neck pulsing as he listens intently, his eyes pinging between your face, the scope on your naked chest and your hand between your legs, rubbing vigorously.

When his fingers sink back inside you, your knuckles cradled in his palm as you strum your clit, it hurtles you instantly over. You grasp his bicep as you crest the wave, your whole body held taught then snapping, shuddering and pulsing forcefully around his fingers as you tumble down that abyss, his stethoscope almost bruising your breastbone as you writhe, him singing your praises. You don't recall the next few moments, floating far away as everything is fuzzy, as if behind a gauzy filter. 

“Oh, that was perfect,” he attests sotto voce as you return to yourself, shaking with tony aftershocks. “You should hear how alive your body sounds when you come like that. Fuck that was amazing…” he seems almost dazed, his fingers dormant inside you.

As he withdraws from you, you emit a mewl, overwrought and shaking from the intensity. 

“Well, Miss,” he begins, slipping back into his roleplay. “I can say without a doubt you are very healthy, so no concern there. I can also tell your stress level is much lower now. Thus, I shall be prescribing you a minimum of two orgasms a day. Purely for your health, you understand,” he adds with a knowing smirk.

“Yes, doctor,” you nod drowsily, slurring slightly. “Should I administer them mysel…?”

“No,” he cuts in. “I'm afraid it requires a medical professional such as myself to ensure correct dosage,” his tone gravelly, snapping off the gloves from his hands, balling them up and tossing them aside. “You will need to see me morning and night for at least a month until I can properly assess whether the treatment plan is effective.”

“Yes, Doctor Bridgerton,” you purr sibilant, too strung out to do anything but languidly agree to everything he says.

As you go to close your legs, he grabs your kneecap, preventing you.

“Oh no, we are not done here,” he intones with a tinge of menace.

“No?” you stutter.

“No, I need to be very thorough,” he counters, his voice rich like velvet. His bare fingers trail ticklish patterns over the crease of your knee as he smiles perilously, enjoying keeping you on tenterhooks. “I am nowhere near done with your treatment for the day. You have only had one climax, and I do believe I said you need a minimum of two per day," he reminds you, his stare blistering. 

You watch, almost stupified, as he removes the stethoscope and swivels to kneel between your legs, grabbing them and pushing them high and wide apart, the burning stretch along your inner thighs making you gasp.

“Now, are you going to do exactly what your doctor tells you to do this time?” he grills, his fingers digging into your flesh, his gaze intense.

“Yes, Doctor.”

“Good,” the word resonates through his being as his hungry stare slips over your body, down between your legs. “Now I think you need something more substantial than fingers, don't you?” he smirks playfully.

“Please, yes, please, Doctor Bridgerton,” you implore, canting your breasts up towards him, your eyes covetously sliding down his body as he hovers over you. Your breath quickens when you see the clear outline of his cock bulging against the overcoat. Oh god, is he naked under there? The thought makes you clench again.

You raise your hands and tug at the collar of his overcoat until the first popper opens, revealing his constellation of freckles. When he doesn't stop you, emboldened, you pull again, each popper relenting, a larger slice of his naked torso revealed with each ping. By the time you are down to the last two, you see the trail of hair from beneath his belly button and moan.

“You have been naked this whole time, doctor?!” your voice hitching almost scratchy.

He grabs your hand away, pressing it into the cushion above your head as he bears you into the sofa with his weight, one of that last fastened poppers snagging cold metal against your swollen clit.

“I cannot ask my patients to be naked if I am not as well, surely?” he rumbles, hot in your ear, his warm chest covering yours. He grabs your other wrist and guides it to the same place. “Now, hold onto the cushion under your head and don't move your hands until I say so,” he orders, his smoulder turning lethal as you do as told. 

He pulls up slightly and yanks the rest of the coat open, throwing it aside, giving you only a fleeting glance before surging his leaking, heated cock right over your slit.

“God, Ben, fuck me,” your errant internal monologue slips from your tongue before you can stop it.

“Who is Ben?” he quips duskily, rocking in a distracting manner, his tip glancing into your folds. “There is only Doctor Bridgerton here tonight.”

“Doctor Bridgerton,” you amend, fingers curling into the seam of the throw cushion, fighting the urge to grab him, “please fuck me.” 

He smiles triumphantly and lowers himself over you so you are swamped by him. 

“Well, as you asked so nicely…” 

Benedict taglist: @makaylan @foreverlonginguniverse @iboopedyournose @aintnuthinbutahounddog @severewobblerlightdragon @margofiore @writergirl-2001 @heeyyyou @enichole445 @enchantedbytomandhenry @ambitionspassionscoffee @chaoticcalzoneranchsports @nikaprincessofkattegat @baebee35 @crowleysqueenofhell @fiction-is-life @lilacbeesworld @angels17324 @broooookiecrisp @queen-of-the-misfit-toys @divaanya @musicismyoxygen84 @benedictspaintbrush @miindfucked @sorryallonsy @cayt0123 @hottytoddyhistory @truly-dionysus @fictionalmenloversblog @zinzysstuff @malpalgalz @panhoeofmanyfandoms @kinokomoonshine @causeimissu @delehosies @m-rae23 @last-sheep @kmc1989 @desert-fern @starkeylover @corpseoftrees-queen @magical-spit @bunnyweasley23 @how-many-stars-in-the-sky @amygdtjhddzvb @sya-skies

Dividers credit: @/firefly-graphics

[araremonaka]

If you don’t mind me asking, have you had any ideas on how the other trolls work in the pirate au? I’m not sure how much music would differ between troll types but I would think they each adjusted to the sea in their own way. The techno trolls wouldn’t be too affected since they already live underwater, but the others would.

The rock trolls might be island hoppers, taking small but fast ships between islands.

I could see classical trolls having very large ships with wide masts they can perch on.

And I think it would be neat if the country trolls became more like kelpies, adapting to live in the sea rather than sail across it.

I don’t know if funk would change much. Their spaceship seems like it would keep them pretty safe.

But I digress. Your au is so fun and I adore your art. Have a lovely day :)

I LOVE YOUR IDEA FOR COUNTRY OMG I hope you dont mind if I steal it lol I couldnt think of how they wouldve adapted honestly

I do have a couple of ideas for how the others adapted though :3

Techno doesnt have much of a change other than being the biggest tribe. Looking into the ocean at night you might see colorful lights flickering in and out.

Rock trolls have the most land, they lived on a volcano once hundreds of years ago now that the volcano is underwater it made a bunch of islands for them to live on. They still sail around on ships (Rock World tour CRUISE..)

Funk spaceship

The Classical trolls lived on hills and mountains before, they have the least amount of land as a result they would start building up into the sky with airships. I really like the idea of them also building a bunch of bird house looking structures in the ocean to live in.

During the flood hundreds of years ago the troll tribes were united. In a time of suddenly having to adapt to living on water where they should all be working together the Pop trolls committed their first and biggest act of thievery, stealing the strings for themselves.

This was the beginning of their reign of terror on the sea, they were the most feared troll tribe in the ocean. The leaders of the other troll tribes having enough each agreed to take a string and sail far away. Although this didn’t end their life style as pirates, this was the last of what was known of the pop trolls.

[fluffyglass]

Which grumpuses does yolka like best, and who does shelda trust to babysit her? P.s. I love her sm, the babything.

The Complete Yolka Babysitting List, with stats and extra details (might edit later)

Filbo

Babysitting Comfort: 3/5

Fun Level: 4/5

Shelda's trust in them: 1/5

Filbo likes watching over Yolka, but he's very nervous about messing something up. Shelda shares this sentiment and is never too keen to let him babysit, given his. Filbo-ness. Yolka, on the other hand, likes hanging out with Filbo a lot. I mean hey, he loses track of her so fast she can go on a little adventure! Somebody please teach this man basic responsibility.

Wambus

Babysitting Comfort: 2/5, later 5/5

Fun Level: 4/5

Shelda's trust in them: 3/5

Wambus was a little freaked out around Yolka at first, to be completely honest. Him and Triffany had always discussed having children of their own, but never got around to it, and suddenly he's being asked to look over this mystery infant?? However, he's kind of like your dad who doesn't want to get a dog. After a single afternoon, he's hooked. Just imagine them taking an afternoon nap in a rocking chair with Wambus's hat covering Yolka's entire head. I could hear that "Aww" all the way from here.

Beffica

Babysitting Comfort: 1/5

Fun Level: 2/5

Shelda's trust in them: 2/5

Honestly, if Beff can get out of babysitting, she always will. She's got snooping to do, she can't sit around with some weirdo baby. What's she supposed to say to her? I found out that your weird uncle is a karaoke singer? She is not lasting a second. Yolka does like her camera though, once again to Beff's dismay.

Gramble

Babysitting Comfort: 2/5

Fun Level: 5/5

Shelda's trust in them: 4/5

Probably one of the most ideal babysitters, at least if he wasn't so freaked out by the prospect of looking after a baby. As long as he's not alone (say hi to Auntie Wiggle!) he's pretty much golden. Yolka loves to play with his snax, and he basically has a built in playpen to keep her in one place. Eight out of Ten, wish he wasn't scared of kids.

Wiggle

Babysitting Comfort: 3/5

Fun Level: 4/5

Shelda's trust in them: 3/5

An audience that won't criticize her? Count Wiggle in! As long as she isn't in the middle of writing her magnum opus, Wiggle's always open to play with Yolka, even letting her play with some of her less fragile instruments. Yolka is going to be a famous triangle player one day, she swears by it.

Triffany

Babysitting Comfort: 5/5

Fun Level: 3/5

Shelda's trust in them: 5/5

Probably Shelda's safest bet if she needs to leave Yolka with someone. Wow! A decent, responsible adult on Snaktooth Island! Who can believe it? Yolka might not be crazy about bones but by Mother Naturae is Triffany trying to teach her. Sometimes if she's good she's allowed to put one in her mouth for a minute.

Cromdo

Babysitting Comfort: 4/5

Fun Level: 4/5

Shelda's trust in them: 1/5

Hello, opposite of Triffany! Cromdo is never allowed to babysit Yolka, because he- without fail- will attempt to convince this infant to join his business. Yolka is the lead manager of Cromdo Mart, and has also been taught plenty of words that a child her age really shouldn't know. Yolka loves him, Shelda hates him.

Chandlo

Babysitting Comfort: 3/5

Fun Level: 5/5

Shelda's trust in them: 4/5

If Chandlo's in charge of Yolka, then one thing's for certain; that infant is getting some GAAAAINZ! Usually he'll play games with her, sometimes picking her up and helping her dunk a ball into one of those kiddie basketball hoops. He witnessed Yolka's first steps but he refuses to tell anyone, lest he ruin the magic for Shelda.

Snorpy

Babysitting Comfort: 1/5

Fun Level: 1/5

Shelda's trust in them: 2/5

And now, categorically the worst possible choice, yet still more likely to be chosen over Cromdo. Snorpy is absolutely convinced that Yolka is secretly a Grumpinati spy robot, and would rather be as far away from her as possible. If he's in charge of her, he'll just set her down somewhere and watch her intently to make sure she doesn't start shooting lasers out of her eyes or something. Yolka doesn't like him.

Floofty

Babysitting Comfort: 2/5

Fun Level: 5/5

Shelda's trust in them: 1/5

If anyone is asked to babysit Yolka less than Cromdo, it's Floofty. For a long time, Floofty was only interested in Yolka due to the curious circumstances of her birth, but after studies determined that she was just a normal grumpling, it was already too late. Floofty is Yolka's favorite babysitter. She absolutely loves them, and the feeling... isn't exactly mutual, but Floofty does get a thrill out of "babysitting" Yolka when they know Shelda doesn't want them to. They're both menaces.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk

[the-ninjago-historian]

New Article! Scrapped Season Concepts!

We've all heard of the scrapped Cowboy inspired season of Ninjago. But few know there was many more ideas that were ultimately scrapped! Today, we'll be looking at this scrapped season, along with many other abandoned concepts from Lego Ninjago artist Matt Betteker! And try to unlock some of the mystery behind them! Let's go!

1: The Dawn Of The Devourers, Lloyd vs Pancho, The Race, and Adventure

Clearly inspired by Western movies, this epic adventure seems it would have pitted the Ninjas against a Great Devourer riding band of outlaws, (One of which is named, Pancho) in search of perhaps some sort of treasure! This concept is extremely interesting, since it shows the existence of multiple Great Devourers! One of which looks a bit like Wojira! This season also seems to take inspiration from Incan civilizations, going by the jungle tomb-like building in the concept Adventure, and the Incan style Pyramids in the background of Lloyd Vs Pancho. Overall, this seems like it would have been an epic season. I can only imagine what the concept titled, The Race would have looked like animated. I honestly wonder why it was scrapped.

(I love the little detail of Cole manning the guns and Wu driving the wagon. Good father and son teamwork. Lol.😂)

2: The Lightning Temple and ThunderTown

What are these concepts for? Who's to say. It could be a very early version of Prime Empire. Going by the circuitry style painting on the temple in the concept called Temple Of Lightning, and the overall lightning themed atmosphere. OR, it could be an early design for the Island of the Keepers. Whose to say? But either way, it's a really cool concept and I'd love if they could reuse it some day.

3: Clockwork, The Ancient Ones Return, The Gold Army Meets Fibo, and The Gold Collector

This concept looked like Crystalized, Master Of The Mountain, and Hands Of Time all rolled into one!!! The gold and white color palette seems incredibly similar to Shintaro's. Meanwhile, clockwork patterns and style are reminiscent to Hands Of Time! And last but not least, the floating island looks almost like the Crystal Kings from Crystalized! This season would have had all sorts of crazy stuff! The main villain, (Known as The Gold Collector,) seems to have been very interested in two things. Gold, and Clockwork stuff. And it seems he or she would have been collecting gold to perhaps bring back the Golden Army shown in the artwork The Gold Army Meets Fibo. Who is this mysterious Fibo? A time traveler perhaps? Look at the flowing swirls of clock styled energy surrounding him. Very intriguing.🤔

If Ninjago had a steampunk inspired season like this, I would have been thrilled! It's to bad this concept was abandoned. But I would love to see what fans do with it!

4: Hunt For The Lava Hammer, and Cole Lava Blade

An early version of Master Of The Mountain, or something else? Going by the mining style machines and side characters in the backgrounds of both these pieces, this could have been a mining themed season centered around Cole. Even Cole's outfit is designed to look like a mining or construction outfit. Almost reminiscent to Lego City's Volcano Explorers line.

5: The Dragons Tribe, and Hunt For The Elemental Shurikens

There isn't much to say about this one. As we can't really take many clues from it. But going by Lloyd's outfit, and the lush green plant life, I believe this could be an early version of The Island. What really interests me is these Elemental Shurikens. What are they? Unfortunately, it doesn't say. But I'm sure they would have been interesting! Also, look at that dragon guarding her nest. The patterns on her are beautiful!

6: The Journey of Lloyd

All these piece were under one title. The Journey Of Lloyd. How mysterious.👀 So what is this collection of concepts? Just by looking, you can tell this was no ordinary season. The muted color palette and the more mature atmosphere all seem to point to something bigger. Was this perhaps a scrapped version of the Ninjago Movie? Or something else? Perhaps a Lloyd centric story, in which he goes an epic adventure all his own! Whatever's is was, it looks amazing. The love how much more mature and darker it feels. Surely a concept worthy of a nail biting, heart racing, action movie!

7: The Dragon Mask

A single concept amongst the others caught my eye. It didn't seem to fit with any of the other concept seasons. What is this dragon mask? It could be an early version of the Dragon Forms seen in Crystalized. But whose to say? Still, a very striking design! Feel free to comment your theories about it!

Want to look at the artwork straight from Matt Betteker himself? Here's his Art Station account with the exact art pieces we went over today.

Thanks for reading everyone!

[zahri-melitor]

The thing that actually most frustrates me about Damian's pets is not only that it's turned into a gratuitous menagerie that only show up en masse because it's now turned into 'Damian likes animals, give him another pet' without considering how many he already has, but that the basis of a good story already existed before we ended up where we are today.

The problem is that we wouldn't be in the situation we are today with them if not for Grant Morrison.

Because look, if you read Batman and Robin 2011 on its own, Tomasi and Gleason do a solid job of using Titus as a route to demonstrate Damian's growing responsibility and ability to show affection and connect with Bruce. Titus is explicitly framed as a responsibility, as 'a boy and his dog', and one dog around the Wayne household is pretty common (usually an Ace). It's the opening steps to more story about Damian trusting others.

If Damian loved animals and stopped to play with kittens in alleys and just had Titus at home, we wouldn't be in this situation.

Bat-Cow, and honestly Alfred the Cat, are what caused the problem.

Bat-Cow as a concept is inherent Silver Age ridiculousness (what a surprise from Morrison), but also Damian saving a milking cow who is being sent to an abattoir is far more of a demonstration of what we end up getting, which is what looks like a possessive level of hoarding. Damian not only saves the cow, but wants it installed in the Cave, even though that is a terrible environment to keep a cow in, and there's very little point in having a cow living on the Wayne property. And what annoys me more is that nobody will let the cow just quietly disappear off panel never to reappear again (she's at least now been on a 'farm' since Joker War and Bruce losing Wayne Manor).

Alfred the Cat irritates me in that he's just a duplicate story to Titus, only done with less effort and entirely because Grant Morrison never reads anyone else's work AND Morrison wanted to give Damian a pet to humanise him right before killing him off. Alfred is a narrative device and annoys me because a good editor would have had Morrison just use Titus instead, who could have hit very similar beats, rather than Damian acquiring three separate pets in just over a year of comics, right before dying (and as far as Morrison was concerned, dying permanently). A pet is for life, not just a reward because you're getting killed.

And from there on, it's just turned into 'oh Damian likes animals!' so we get Goliath and Jerry the Turkey (who I believe recently emigrated to main canon in the last few years rather than being in Lil Gotham). And the story doesn't know what to do with so many animals, so they disappear entirely aside from occasional art cameos, Super-Pets stories, and about one story beat ever 3-5 years. He's endlessly going through the story of 'why' he acquired a pet to humanise him, rather than being humanised by playing with a long term pet.

There's also a narrative problem where we never actually ever see Damian caring for his animals (outside of Titus and occasionally Alfred the Cat), but what scenes we do get of people looking after the animals are all scenes of Alfred and Bruce checking in on them because Damian's not available. So while the dialogue in those scenes tends to be 'oh Damian would normally be doing this but'... we don't see Damian doing it. We only see Alfred and Bruce doing it. Or Maya, who's looking after Goliath. And given how often Damian runs off to find himself on an island, a lot of that pet care over the years has been from Alfred and Bruce, because he's not been living at home.

And yes, there's also the issue that Damian And His Pets is rather similar to the self-centred position Damian has on his various clones. He considers his clones his brothers; but the narrative is frequently setting that up in a manner that suggests this is grace that Damian especially extends to them because they are his clones. It's not really grappling with the concepts of extending that care and humanism to people or animals that are not 'his'.

It's just endlessly frustrating to me, because if Damian just had Titus, I think both Titus would appear on panel more often (and thus have more narrative use), and there would be the potential to build further plots out from Titus, if writers wanted to explore the themes around what pet ownership can demonstrate.

[sweetlittlegingy]

You Can Call Me Babe For The Weekend

✦ Previous Chapter | Next Chapter |Better Man Universe

✦Pairing: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x Single!Mother

✦Word Count: 15.4K

✦Warnings: Fluff, slight smut angst, mentions of abuse (previous relationship), self-hate, protective brother Bradley (let me know if I missed anything.)

✦A/n: This is out two days later than I planned, but you asked for a long part. So, here it is! I'm pretty proud of this one, it was definitely writing from the heart. Much Love - G

✦Library (Follow for updates! I no longer have a taglist.)

You were ecstatic that the work week was over, you were even more pleased that you had gotten off work early. You had finalized all the flight planes for next week and had already started prep for recruitments. You’d only been back on the North Island for 4 months, but time had flown. You had gotten into a comfortable rhyme, working under Cyclone and Warlock, even forming a “friendship.”

You and Warlock got along great, and you considered him a good friend, though you and Cyclone still had your moments in which you completely disagreed with each other. Most the time it was a contest between the two of you, to see which of you would break first.

For the most part, your work life at Top Gun couldn’t have been better. You had also heard from your father that Commander Kazansky was pleased with your work, and how quickly you had the office back up to naval standards.

Your life outside of Top Gun, well just outside of the office, was great as well. Bradley had introduced you to some of the other pilots, who welcomed you into the small group with open arms. You had even created a pretty strong bond with one of Bradley least favorite people, Lt. Jake “Hangman” Seresin.

Bradley had a talk with each of you when he learned that you had been hanging out in the beginning. Bradley had made the point that he didn’t fully trust Jake, and thought that it would be better if you avoided him. He was convinced that Jake was going to hurt you, even more than you already were.

You had told Bradley that you were in fact a big girl, who could take care of herself and that you didn’t think Jake was like that. You also promised Bradley, that as of right now, you had no intention of getting in a relationship, and that Jake was just a good friend.

That was 3 months ago and though Bradley had let up a little bit, he was still holding strong on his big brother position. Ready to defend and protect you at all costs. It was honestly hilarious how serious he took it. Though you were extremely thankful in knowing that he would always be there if you needed him.

You knew that the group usually got together at the Hard Deck for drinks every Friday and you, luckily, were going to be able to go as well. Your parents had offered to watch Mathew over the weekend, claiming that they hadn’t seen him in forever.

They had just seen him on the prior weekend, when you all got together for Amelia’s birthday, but who were you to deny them of the little munchkin. Mathew was already 2 and a half, quickly changing from your baby into a little boy, and they wanted to get as much love in before he got too active for them to handle.

You hadn’t told Bradley or Jake that you would be coming out, just in case plans changed, and you didn’t want to disappoint anyone.

Pulling up to your parents’ house you went to get a sleeping Mathew from his car seat, the drive wasn’t long from base only 30 minutes, but he was due for a nap, and he’d been teething morals. Meaning he hadn’t been sleeping well and was grumpy all the time, the extra sleep time was greatly welcomed.

Situating Mathew on your hip, you grab his bag from the passenger seat, and he wakes slightly. He wraps his arms around you, nuzzling into your neck and falls back to sleep, just as your mother comes out to meet you.

“Hello sweetheart, let me take that for you.” She takes Mathew’s bag and goes to give him a kiss on the head. “Has he been asleep long? Your father is just in the kitchen, he’s so excited to have him all weekend. Got’s all sorts of plans.” She gives you a teasing smile, poking fun at your father.

“He fell asleep on the drive and daddy just loves his grandbabies. Don’t make fun of the poor man, he doesn’t know what to do with himself now that he’s retired.”

When your father found you were moving back, he decided that needed to retire. Claiming that he needed to be able to help you with Mathew. He most defiantly didn’t expect all the open time he had, which led to him doing all sorts of home improvement projects. The newest being, the sandpit and playset in the back yard.

He claimed that the kids needed it. Though Amelia was ten now, and claimed it was for babies. While Mathew was still too small to play on anything, fully by himself.

You were thankful that your parents were so involved in Mathew’s life and wouldn’t complain at their antics.

“Honey, Y/n is here, and you need to turn down the TV. Maty is sleeping and I don’t want that football game waking him, it’s a rerun anyway.”

Rounding the corner, you see your dad; he had been making lunch, though when he sees you, he quickly comes over to take Maty out of your hands. He gives you a quick kiss on the head and goes to lay Mathew down in the play pen that they kept.

“Thank you so much for watching him, Mom. It really means the world and if you need anything just call.”

She gives you a nod, while putting the bag away and unpacking the frozen snacks you had brought.

“Sweetie, you seem to forget we raised you and Penny, both troublemakers.” Your dad lets out a chuckle and starts on lunch again.

“Me and your mom have everything that Maty could need, I even got teething gel today. Now you get out of here, you’re making me miss the game.”

You go around the counter and give each of them a hug and tell them thank you once again. Muttering that they could call you if they need anything and you would be right over. They roll their eyes, telling you that they know, but they had everything under control.

Heading out the front door, leaving them be, you yell out an ‘I love you’ and you officially had a whole weekend off.

No job and no kids.

You were more than ready for a drink.

You went back to your house to do a bit of cleaning and get changed before you headed to the Hard Deck for the night. You decided on wearing your favorite red sun dress and sandals, you couldn’t remember the last time that you had dressed up and gone out. The light makeup that you added to your everyday work makeup, complimented your eyes, and enhanced the color. You had finished off your hair, happy to take it out of the low bun that were required to wear at work.

You got to the Hard Deck around 7, and the bar was already packed. The crowd of patrons all happy that it was the weekend, and ready to start it off with a bang. Eighties rock music could be heard playing over the jut box, causing a since of nostalgia to spread through you. Your father had played eighties rock throughout yours and Penny’s lives, so it was no surprise that Penny had some cataloged in the player.

You see Penny standing at the bar, chatting to Mav, and when she sees you a massive smile spreads across her face. She waves you over, already starting on your drink.

“What have you made for me this time, Pen?”

When Penny had bought the hard deck, it was just after your 21st birthday and you’d made a game out of her surprising you with a new drink every time you came in. She’d known that you weren’t fond of beer and had taken to learning different drinks made from hard alcohol.

You say your hellos to Mav, giving him a hug and ask him about his day. He reply’s by lifting his beer, and that’s more than enough to tell you that it had been a long day.

“I know how much you love your tea, so I went with a Lemon Bourbon Sweet Tea.” She slides the drink to you, patiently waiting for your approval.

“Why don’t you every make me any special drinks?” Mav questions Penny, earning him a smack on the arm.

“Because you only drink beer or whiskey, so don’t you even start whining.”  

Looking at the duo, you’d never understood why they weren’t officially together. The both of them had plenty of reasons that they would give you, but each of them was insignificant, when anyone could clearly see that they were in love with each other.

After taking a sip of your drink, you sing your sister praise, claiming that she was the best big sister. The warmth of the bourbon fills you and you can already feel the tension of the week leave your body.

“Is everyone here yet?” you ask, while leaning up against the bar. It was so packed that you hadn’t even tried to find your group of friends in the mass. The thought of trying to find them, without any help, in the wave of khaki uniforms sounded less than appeasing and you weren’t about to try.

“Yeah, they got here a bit ago. They’re all over at the pool tables, though I’m surprised Rooster or Hangman haven’t seen you and dragged you over yet.” Mav tells you as he takes a sip of his beer.

You look around the room once again, still not seeing them. Catchting your gaze, Penny motions to the far back corner. Rising up on your chair to see over the crowd, you see the back of Jakes perfectly styled hair. He’s lent over the pool table lining up a shot, and you can’t help but let your eyes wander. You loved when he wore his uniform, it fit him perfectly and stirred all kinds of emotions deep in your core.

On the side of him you see Bradley holding a pool que, and his mouth moving. You had no doubt that he was talking shit to Jake, trying to rile him up, though Jake seemed unfazed. You see the que slide back in his hand, then forward sending the black eight ball into the top left corner.

“I didn’t tell them that I was coming in, I had to make sure Mom and Dad could watch Maty.” You climb down from your chair, spinning back around to Penny and Mav. Taking a large sip of your drink, the bourbon burns as it goes down. The heat warming your chest and making you lighter. You’d need a few drinks if you were going to see Jake bent over the pool table all night.

Your relationship together had grown fast and strong, and the small crush you’d started to develop only continued to grow.

At first you didn’t know what to do with the blooming feeling in your chest, by now you had just learned to ignore it. Jake was a great friend, and you would never want to risk it.

He’d also never showed any interest in you, at least none that you had noticed.

You had yet to realize it, but Lt. Jake Seresin was completely enamored by you.

As the eight-ball landed in the pocked with a clack, against the other ball, he rose up hand out for his winnings.

“Pay up Rooster.” The cocky smirk, that seemed permanently etched on his face, lifted just a bit more with the win.

Rooster smacks a fifty into the palm of Jakes hand, muttering that he needed to use the bathroom and left the group. As Jake turns back around going to reach for his beer, out of the corner of his eye he sees you. Turning to take in your full frame as you walk through the crowd to him, his smirk turns into a full-blown smile. He’d never seen you all dolled up, and though he thought you looked beautiful in whatever you wore, you in sun dresses were now his favorite.

The red fabric fit you perfectly, tight around the chest, then flowing down to the middle of your thighs. His chest clenched as he sees your red lips, break into a smile and how you quicken your pace through the crowd.

Setting his beer down, he didn’t pay any attention to Payback saying that he had next game, and moved to meet you. He held out his arms reaching out for you and grabbed your left hand. Having you do a twirl for him, he’d never seen an angel on Earth, but by God you looked like one.

“My God. Darlin’ look at you.” You blush at the tone of his voice and give him a hug, while hiding your face in his chest.

Whispering down into your ear, you feel his warm breath upon you, and you can’t stop the shudder that goes through your body. “I’m mean it sweets, you look beautiful.”

Leaning up you give him a kiss on the cheek and mutter a soft thank you. It’s crazy to think that Jake had only been in your life for 4 months, it felt like you had known each other forever.

The way that your body easily relaxed around him, unsettled you at first, you had tried to put up walls, but it was no use. It was like Jake was the missing puzzle peace in your life, the friend that you had always wanted. Even if it could never be more, what you had with Jake was something precious. It slightly confused you, and yet it made you whole again.

“You sure know how to make a girl blush.” You go to walk to the rest of the group, in hopes of cooling down your burning core. Though before you can go far, Jake is pulling you back into his arms. He pulls you so that your back is resting against your chest, while he hugs you from behind.

“Need you to myself for a bit sweets, missed you.”

The both of you enjoying the comfort of each other, and you fall deeper into his chest.

As he starts to sway you both to the slow country song that had switched over on the player, he brushes a kiss to the top of your head. His soft voice drifts to your ears, as he quietly sings the old George Strait song.

He whispered it to you like a secret, only meant for you and you alone.

You’d loved how he was always soft with you, unlike how he was with his other friends. You felt blessed to know you were one of the few people that got the pleasure of not only seeing Hangman, but also Jake Seresin. The friendship that you’d developed was one of a kind, Jake made a point of proving that to you any chance he could. Which in no way helped your growing feelings.

The both of you don’t notice Rooster come back from the bathrooms, happily in your own world, in each other’s arms. Though Rooster is quick to notice Hangman disappearance, and when he asks everyone, Phoenix points one finger over in your direction. The smile that once graced Roosters face, drops as he sees the both of you and he can’t stop the way he rolls his eyes.

The group was used to seeing you and Jake hug, even during work hours, if you saw each other a hug would occur. It was like the two of you didn’t know how to not be touching one another. The whole group had known from the first time that they saw Jake with you, that he was in love with you. Though no one ever mentioned it, worried about how, not only you and Jake would react, but also how Rooster would react. He already had a hard time with your friendship and no one in the Dagger Squadron wanted to raise tensions between Hangman and Rooster.

They were also used to Rooster doing anything to pull you off each other, when asked why it bothered him so much. He had simply said that he didn’t feel like seeing his favorite person, hug his least favorite person.

The group snickered at Rooster, though it was Bob that made the jab at him.

“You better go do your job and get them off each other. Wouldn’t want Y/n to start liking Jake more than she likes you.”

The whole group breaks out in laugher, as Rooster gives Bob a horrified face, then hurries over to your side. You missed the whole interaction, and only noticed Bradley when he grabs your arm.

“Okay, that’s enough you two. Hangman get off her.” You go to protest Bradley, but he shushes you.

Jake lets you slip from his arms, giving your hand a tight squeeze and wink before looking at Rooster. “She might be your best friend Bradshaw, but she’s my girl.”

Rooster lets out a huff as Jake gives you another kiss on the cheek, letting you know that he needed another beer. He asked if you wanted another, to which you gratefully nodded, leaving you with Rooster.

“B, please be nice. He’s just a friend, and he means a lot to me.” You give Bradley your best puppy dog eyes, knowing that he could never resist them.

“You two sure act like more than just friends.” The statement makes you laugh, because of course Bradley would notice that you liked one of his friends.

“He doesn’t like me like that B, and it’s okay.” Your smile slightly falters, but you’re quick to fix it. “I’ll take him in any form I can get, I just don’t want to lose him.”

Bradley goes to protest you, to tell you that Jake most defiantly does have feelings for you.

“Please B, leave it alone.” You don’t notice the look of confusion that Bradley gives you, when you look back to the bar and find Jake already looking at you. “I can’t lose him; I don’t think that I could take it.”

You look back to Bradley and he sees the way that your eyes have tears lining them, pulling you into a hug. He couldn’t understand how you didn’t see how special you were and how much Hangman loved you.

He knew that your ex played a major part in your self-esteem. Bradley also knew that if he ever saw Adam again, he would kill him, without a second though. Bradley had flown out to Florida to help you pack, he’d seen the bruises and how you’d jumped at every little noise. You didn’t have to tell him, for him to know that you’d been through hell.

To see you opening up to Hangman scared him, because he knew that you’d been hurt in unspeakable ways. But Bradley knew one thing for sure, he knew that Jake loved you and would never hurt you like that.

So, he held you, hugging you tightly and muttered an okay. His voice cracked as he said it, though you couldn’t hear it over the noise of the bar, he brushed a kiss on the top of your head. Before leaving you, making sure that you didn’t see the tears now gathering in his eyes, you were his little sister and he just wanted to protect you.

Jake makes his way back to you in record time, handing you another bourbon tea, while he now was sipping a whiskey neat. His free hand comes to rest on the small of your back, as you both head over to the group.

Everyone is happy to see that you could come out, and tell you how much you deserve the night of relaxation. Jake goes to sit on a stool, his hand never leaving you as he pulls you to rest between his legs. He’s content to hear to laugh and talk with his fellow pilots, hanging on to every word that you have to say and your ability to talk just as much shit as he can.

A smile grows on his face as he hears you tell Coyote, exactly why he had been messing up on the drill today. You crafted each of their flight drills, so you knew how to perfect them to a T.

“I watched the tape before leaving today. You’re popping up too soon, which is causing you to undershoot it.”

Everyone gives you shocked looks, completely stunned because that is what Maverick had been telling them since they finished for the day.

“If you’re so knowledgeable about F-18’s, why the hell aren’t you flying. We could use another woman, to cancel out all the testosterone.” Phoenix questions you.

You fall back a little farther into Jake, contemplating how to answer. Few people knew about Mathew, out of this group it was Jake, Robert, and Bradley, not because you were ashamed. You were just a private person, Jake and Bradley of course knew because of how close you were. While Robert only found out accidentally, when he was dropping back a Tupperware dish of yours that Bradley had forgot on base, after bringing everyone brownies you had made.

Jake feels you tense up, gently rubbing your arms and kissing you directly in the middle of your shoulder blades.

“I was supposed to, I grew up around jets and have always loved them. Umm— when I got pregnant though, those dream had to change.” You feel Jake give you a squeeze, relaxing in his arms now that everyone knew, their silence deafening.  

It’s Robert that breaks the silence, “I was meaning to ask where little man was to night, just didn’t want to bring it up before.” He adds the end on rather shyly and you give him a look of understanding.

“My mom and dad are actually watching him for me.” The excitement in your voice doesn’t go unnoticed by anyone. Turning to Jake, wrapping your arms around his neck and his around your waist. “For the whole weekend.”

His eyebrows raise and a smirk graces his face, “So does that mean….” He’s giving you a look, that in combination with his open-ended statement, has the whole groups minds in the gutter.

“That we get to have a Saturday movie night… Yes, yes it does.”

Jakes fist pump, makes you laugh, loving the way that he gets excited to spend time with you.

“That means no Disney sweets, not even the live action ones.”

You put on your best whiny voice, “But I wanted to watch the live action Beauty and the Beast. Please, Jakey?”

You watch in real time as he instantly caves in, though before he can mutter a fine. You’re giggling, “I was just kidding, but happy to know I still got you wrapped around my finger.”

The comment stirs something in Jake’s core, though before he does something stupid, like kiss you, he resigns to tickling you.

Finally breaking out of his hold, you tell the group that you need to use the restroom and will be back in a bit. You make your way through the crowd with the biggest smile on your face, you had needed this night and were so thankful for the group of friends that were spending it with you.

You quickly finish using the bathroom, wash your hands and make your way back to the pool tables. As you get closer you see Jake, though he’s not alone. A beautiful blonde stands close to him, twirling her hair. Her intentions for Jake are clear to see, and you can’t help it when your heart breaks a little. They looked great together, both tens, and you were just the friend. You don’t want your reaction to ruin anyone’s night, so you put a smile on your face and keep walking. As you get closer, you see Jake say something to the girl and her face instantly falls. You make your way back into the group as she is leaving. Catching the daggers she shoots at you as she leaves.

Confused by her reaction you walk back over to Jake, resting once again between his open legs.

“What was that, looked like she wanted to kill me?”

“Nah, she’s just mad at me darlin’. Told her I wasn’t looking for a fuck.” You heart sinks a little, wondering why he would ever turn her down.

“I don’t mind Jake.” You look down toward your feet, wishing that you could be smaller. “I don’t want to ruin your night, plus she was beautiful. The perfect girl for you.”

Jake feels you start to shrink into yourself, and quickly lifts your chin with his thumb and forefinger.

“You’re my girl sweets. Could never want anyone else.” His tone deadly serious, and the look in his eyes feel like it might set you a flame.

For a minute you think that you might kiss, his breath mixes with your own. Your lips only inch’s a part, if you were to lift your head just a little, your lips would be slotted against each other’s. Burning red heat pools in your core, his eyes holding just as much heat, burning you in every way. Your surroundings fade away, the two of you consume one another wholly. That line in the sand between you and him, is nonexistent and in its place,

White Fire; pushing you closer and closer to the breaking point.

But if the heat pulsing between the two of you, and the yearning, meant you would get burnt…

Then you’d burn at the stake for him.

Before anything happens, Jake sucks in a sharp breath and pulls away from you. You take a step back, shaking yourself out of the haze. Your mind already criticizing you. How stupid could you be, to think Jake would want to kiss you.

Jake is shaking, he was so fucking close to kissing you. He’d only just snapped out of it, Roosters voice ringing out in his head. After that first time he’d met you, Rooster had cornered him and threatened to kick Jakes ass if he made a move.

He didn’t stop trying to talk to you and after he’d formed an actual friendship with you, Rooster cornered him yet again. Though this time, he’d seen how serious Jake was about you. So instead of threating him only, Rooster threatened him, as well as made sure Jake knew that you’d just gotten out of a bad relationship. He didn’t go into a lot of detail, but Jake knew Rooster had to fly down to Jacksonville, get you and Mathew, and that your ex was lucky he wasn’t round that weekend.

Jake knew that if he ever wanted a relationship with you, he had to go at your pace. Which meant that no matter how bad he wished he could tell you that he loved you, that he wanted to kiss you and someday marry you. He had to wait.

He would do anything to keep you in his life, even if that meant only ever being your friend.

It would break his heart, but he’d do it willingly.

If it was at your hands.  

“Come on Sweets, I think it’s time we head to bed.”

The soft smile he gives you is reassuring, and a smile slowly creeps back into your eyes. Jake clasps your hand in his, given yours a gentle squeeze, leading you out of the Hard Deck. The both of you forgetting everyone else, just happy to be back on solid ground with each other.

As you leave, you both can’t help but to think,

If this, holding each other’s hand in a silent love for each other, was all you got to have.

It would be enough,

having one another would always be enough.

…

You wake up dazed and slightly confused, you hadn’t fallen asleep in your bed. Yet here you are, wrapped up in your blanket and feeling completely rested.

After Jake had walked you to your car last night, neither of you wanted to leave the others presence. Being that it was only ten at night, you and Jake decided that he would follow you home and that you could start on your movie night. It wasn’t unusual for Jake to fall asleep on your couch, you would tuck him in, then head to bed yourself.

Though the last thing you remember from last night is, laying in-between Jake legs, snuggled against his chest, trying to stay awake.

Getting out of bed, you grab a hair tie, fixing you hair in a messy bun, and slip out the door in search for Jake. The smell of bacon hits you as you walk down the hallway, your stomach grumbling in reaction to the mouth watering sent.

Rounding the corner, you see Jake standing over your stove, his back turned to you as he hums to the music coming from your speakers.

This was your favorite Jake, all soft and warm, dressed in the sweatpants that he always left at your house and an old t-shirt. The fabric stretched across his back, worn down from the years that he’d owned it. Quietly walking up behind him, you wrap your arms around his waist, resting up against his back. Enjoying the warmth from his body and the calming rhyme of his breath.

“Good morning to you to sweets. Made you pancakes.”

You hum a good morning into his back, unwilling to let go of him yet. He reaches out to turn off the stove, before patting your arms in a signal to loosen up. Jake turns around and you can’t stop the smile that covers your face, as you take in his sleep filled eyes. Not thinking of anything other than the here and now.

“Hi” the word falls from your lips, as the only thing you can think to say this early in the morning. Jake’s smile back is the best response you could have asked for, though it’s followed up by him giving you a forehead kiss and for a moment you think that those may be your favorite thing.

He releases you from the hold and pushes you to the countertop, a plate already made for you. You say a small thank you, as he passes you a cup of coffee just how you like it. The routine of it all, feeling so domestic that it should scare you. It had always been easy between you and Jake though, fitting into each other routines perfectly.

Mornings like this were a rare occasion, Jake had yet to meet Mathew, and only stayed over when he wasn’t home. It wasn’t that you didn’t want the two of them to meet, you were just scared, worried that Mathew wouldn’t like Jake. With everything that the both of you had been through, bringing a new man into his life worried you.

Though between Penny and your parents, you and Jake had been able to have two sleepovers every month since you’d became friends, and a routine formed.

“What time do you want to head to the beach today? I was thinking that we could find a nice spot that isn’t too crowded, and you could continue reading me Gatsby. We should be able to finish it.”

Shaking your head at him, you finish off the bite of pancakes that you had been chewing. Jake didn’t cook for many people, and they were clearly missing out. Behind that cocky front, he was an amazing cook and made the best pancakes. A skill, that he had told you, came directly from his momma.

“That sounds nice, though I don’t know why you like me reading to you so much.”

Jake picks up the finished plate from in front of you, placing it in the dishwasher as you take another sip of coffee patiently waiting for his reply.

“It’s my favorite thing ma’ dear. Especially when you let me lay in your lap, and you run your fingers through my hair. It’s relaxing.”  You roll your eyes at the smirk he gives you, pushing off the stool and going to help him with the dishes.

Though he is quick to stop you, batting your hands away.

“Nope, you go get ready. I want to get there before all the good spots are gone.”

You give him a glare, annoyed that he wouldn’t let you help clean up after he cooked breakfast, but he just pushes you to your bedroom. Snaping you with a dish towel, the crack of it rings through the kitchen, and the sting on your left ass cheek makes you jump.

“You fucker.”

As you close your door, you hear his booming laugher echo through the house, please with himself.

You hurry to get ready and the both of you are on the road on the way to Jakes house, riding in his pickup. Music drifts through the speakers, the windows rolled down, the feeling of the salt air on your face is refreshing. Your sunglasses rest upon your face and you can’t stop the sneaking glances that you keep giving Jake. The sun cast over his face, highlighting his tan skin, one arm resting on the stirring wheel. While the other is resting on your knee, tapping to the beat of the music.

Peace, that’s what this moment is.

Utter peace.

And the smile Jake gives you when he notices you staring, giving your knee a squeeze, cements that thought.

Pulling up to Jake’s house, he tells you that he will be right back and that you are to stay put. You watch him as he runs up the steps, enjoying the sight of him. It’s your phone ringing that pulls you out of your thoughts, seeing that its Bradley calling.

You answer immediately, your tone light and happy. “Moring B, how are you doing?”

“You sound chipper. Bit early for you, isn’t it Y/n? Shouldn’t you be in bed still.”

“Haha, very fun.” You wish that he was here, to see the way you want to poke your tongue out at him. He was always one to give you crap for how much you enjoyed sleep. “I’ll have you know that we’re going to the beach. Sand and sun, well and Mathew, are the only reasons that I will happily get up early.”

“You and who are going to the beach?” You can hear the edge in his tone, cursing yourself for saying we instead of I’m.

“Um… well me and Jake are going to have a beach day.” You rattle off the words quickly, hoping that it’s still too early for Bradley to have heard Jakes name.

“Seresin, is taking you to the beach? Hmmm, okay have fun.”

The way he says it unsettles you. Knowing Bradley, well enough, to realize that he is scheming now. You say your goodbyes to each other, just as Jake is getting back in the truck. Clad in board shorts and a white t-shirt. He throws a bag in the back, filled with beach towels and an extra set of clothes, next to your own bag.

“All ready Sweets?”

“Most defiantly Jakey!” He grimaces at the nickname, causing you to giggle. His hand settles back on your knee, as he pulls from the driveway. Happy to get to spend the day alone with his girl. To have a whole day with you, all to himself.

You make it to the beach, the drive over slow, the both of you enjoying the car ride. Going on drives was one of your favorite things to do, especially with Jake. The atmosphere between the both of you was calm and relaxed, a comfortable silence as you hummed along to one of Jake playlists.

Pulling up to the beach, the sound of waves crashing against the sand is soothing to your ears. The cascade of blue and white washing over the sand, was always one of your favorite sights. The ocean had always been your home, always living nearby it, except for those two years when you were a teenager. Your father had gotten transferred, and though you knew it was only for a short time, you all agreed to spend the transfer together in the mid-west. When you’d finally gotten to come back to the North Island, you had decided that you always wanted to live by the sea.

The ocean and you shared a connection, healing your soul with each rise and recession of the tide. A reminder that like the tide you may fall, but you always rose again. After coming back home from Jacksonville, you found yourself constantly at the beach, it was the one place that your soul felt at peace. That your brain would actually be quiet, and all you could hear were the waves.

You didn’t catch the smile that Jake gives you as you watch the sea, the first time that you’d come to the ocean together, you had smiled the biggest that he’d ever seen you. He loved to see the calming affect that it had on you, like the ocean was calling out to you. It quickly became Jake’s favorite setting to see you in.

“Come on darlin’, let’s go find a spot.” The hand still settled on your knee gives you a squeeze, pulling you back to reality, causing you to look over at Jake. His green eyes staring back at you, with such wonder, that for a moment you think there could be so much more behind them for you. Brushing the thought off, as just that, and nothing more than your imagination. You unbuckle and getting out of the truck.

“I’ll get the bags; you get the cooler?”

“Yes ma’am.”

You follow behind Jake, letting him pick where you’d be settled for the day, the beach calm and quiet. Only a few other groups can be seen, still early in the day, and spaced far apart that you don’t have to worry about bothering anyone. You stop in the middle of the sand, far enough back that as the tide rises, you’d still be out of the way, but close enough that you could go swimming without fear of someone taking your things.

Jake settles the large blue ice chest down, flipping up his sunglasses, before giving you a bright smile, white teeth standing out against his tan skin.

“This good darlin’?”

“Perfect.” You move to start unpacking the bags, but Jake grabs them before you have chance. Settling for the smaller bag, you began pulling out the speaker and a few towels. Jake works on laying out a blanket and a beach umbrella. You had left your shoes in the truck, knowing that you wouldn’t wear them, but you grab Jakes, that he had taken off, and put them in your bag. Not wanting to lose them or forget them when you leave.

You pull off your denim shorts, not wanting them to get sandy, leaving you in an over sized t-shirt that you had stolen from Bradley years ago.

“I was thinking about reading for a bit, just enjoying the sun. Then maybe going for a swim later, if it warms up a bit. What do you think?”

“Sounds good to me sweets.” He goes to pull of his top, and your eyes fall directly to his torso. It’s not like you hadn’t seen him shirtless, but every time it made your mind go fuzzy. All the tan skin, harsh lines that no doubt take hours to maintain, and light scatter of hair that just below his board shorts. The new grey shorts don’t hide anything, you’re sure Jake noticed and happily picked them out. His cocky attitude, clearly stemming from the anatomy directly eye level with your face.

Quickly averting your gaze, you look back up Jake, hoping that your cheeks weren’t too inflamed. Doing everything in the world to clear your mind and not think about how he would absolutely split you apart. No matter how much you want the internal thoughts to be true, you know that thinking them will only break your heart.

Luckily Jake gaze wasn’t watching you but the water, rising and falling.

“Texas is beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but this is something else.” He gazes back at you, to which you smile.

“I know exactly what you mean. Now come on, I want to finish the book today.”

You settle yourself in the middle of the blanket, under the umbrella and reach for your tattered couple of The Great Gatsby. Jake slides down next to you nudging your thighs apart and settles between them. Resting under the umbrella he takes off his glasses and gives you a warm smile. One of your hands comes to rest in his hair, ranking through it, while the other opens the novel. He hums in content, closing his eyes, and then leaning over to kiss the inside of your thigh. Butterflies flutter in your chest and the show of affection, loving how comfortable he is with you.

Settling back for a relaxing afternoon, your dive back into the story that is Jay and Daisy.

“When I came home to West Egg that night I was afraid for a moment…..”

The story consuming the both of you, your surroundings fading away and transporting you back into the 1920s. Jake rarely moves, and when he does it so nuzzle closer into your hand. The soft strokes of your fingers in his hair comfort the both of you.

Jake wasn’t one to let people touch his hair, preferring it when it was neatly styled, not a hair out of place. Though on days when it was just the two of you, he left it without gel, knowing that you would both inevitably end up snuggling, and your hands would land in his hair.

Time seems to slip away from the both of you and it’s not till a football flies towards the both of you, hitting Jake in the stomach, that you realize how long its been.

As the ball hits him, Jake lets out a grunt and sits up, both of your eyes flying to the direction it came from. Just a few yards away you see the whole crew, led by Bradley, heading directly towards the both of you.

Jake lets out a load groan, falling back into you. Arms wrapped around your waist, hiding his face. His voice muffled, though you can still understand him. “It was supposed to be my day.”

He reminds you of a child, mad that they have to share their toys. You can’t help the laugh the erupts from your chest, running your fingers through his hair once again.

“I may have let it slip that we were going to the beach, when Bradley called earlier.”

“Sweeeettttssss” His whiny tone, only makes you laugh more.

“Jakey, it will be fun. Having all of us together, yeah?” He looks back up to you, then over to the group that is just out of hearing range still.

“Yeah, fun.” Jake grabs the football, moving to get out of your lap and pulls you with him. Throwing the ball back to Bradley, you both go to meet your friends. Though before you reach them, Jake turns back to you with a pointed finger.

“Don’t you even think about inviting them to movie night. I’m not above popping their tires, so they can’t drive.”  

Stunned slightly at his reaction, you just nod your head. To which he kisses your cheek before heading over to the guys. Bradley meets you first, carrying another cooler, not doubt filled to the rim with beer.

You give him a questioning glare, “‘Okay have fun’, my ass Bradshaw.”

“I have no idea what you mean Y/n. We were planning to go to the beach today and it just so happened that we both choose this beach.” He gives you an award-winning smile. “Great minds think alike.”

Happy to burst his bubble, “Yeah they do, I can’t believe that you and Jake thought of the same beach.” His smile drops and you leave him with a wink, heading over to see Robert and Phoenix.

After a few trips to the cars, you finally get all of their stuff unpacked and set up next where Jake had picked out.

The guys cracking open a few beers, deciding how the teams would spilt up for dogfight football. The sun sits high in the sky, the day heating up nicely, giving you a clear view of the group of, now shirtless, pilots. You, Phoenix, and Halo decide against playing, noting that the weather is perfect for tanning.

You pull off your t-shirt, and move to get comfortable next to Phoenix and Halo, the both of them already relaxing on the sand.

Grabbing your sunscreen, you apply it to your front and face, wanting a tan, but also needing the protection. You turn around hoping to ask one of the girls to do you back, but they are both already out of it. Sunglasses on, earbuds in, and closed off to the world.

A sigh leaves you lips, you look back to the guys not wanting to be a bother. But also, not wanting to chance your skin health in the future. Everyone in your family had sensitive skin and after your mother had a skin cancer scare, you religiously started wearing sunscreen.

Deciding that its best to ask them before they start the game, you hop up sheepishly making your way over. You’d decided that you would just ask Bradley, he’d done your sunscreen millions of times over the years, and you also didn’t give a shit if you annoyed him. That was the role he got as “big brother.”

Though before you can even call out to him, Jake is jogging over to you.

“What’s up sweets? Change your mind, and wanna play?” The smirk his gives you, does nothing for the raging wave of emotions that is you.

“I was just coming to ask Bradley if he could help me with my sunscreen.” You motion to your back, with the bottle in your palm. Given a sheepish smile, slightly embarrassed that you need the help.

His open, face up palm, clearly means that he wants the bottle.

“Jake, don’t worry about it. I can just wait, it’s only my back.” You’re quickly trying to back track, even though you were extremely close and always touching, this was different. You didn’t have a shirt one, his hands would be all over you and if you though your cheeks were inflamed earlier. You knew that if he touched you, you would quiet possibility implode.

“Sweets give me the bottle; I’m not risking you getting burnt.” The no shit tone, clearly met he wasn’t taking any of your shit and that if he had to hold you down, he would. A silent battle was coursing between the two of you, eyes staring, waiting to see who would break first. Jake lifts one eyebrow, a silent “don’t test me” spoken loud and clear. Begrudgingly, he had over the bottle.

A whistle and twirl of the finger from Jake, makes you turn around. Reaching up to hold your hair out of the way, you can feel the way your heartbeat speeds up. It rings loud in your ears, and you only hope that Jake doesn’t notice.

The slow anticipation kills you, and it’s the way his fingertips ghost over your shoulder blade, moving a stray piece of hair out of the way, causing a shutter to track down your spin and go goosebumps to cover your arms.

“You cold, sweets?” though the question seems sweet, the teasing tone in his voice is clearly anything but. All that you can manage is a nod, while he releases a chuckle. The ghost of his hands tracing shapes into your skin has your ears ringing. Hands falling down around your hips, tracing the top of your bottoms, then back up. Up the sides of your waist, skimming just under the curve of your breasts. You’re positive that your breath is coming out in soft pants.

Jake couldn’t help it, having your soft skin finally under his hands, the way that his mind had been begging him to. Finally able to, the way that his hand wandered was an out of body experience. One that he couldn’t stop even if he wanted to, which he didn’t. No, he wanted to memorize every inch of your skin, not caring that you both were out in public, with everyone’s eyes possibly watching. So, he traced just under the cusp of your heaving breasts, his own breath uneven, coming around to massage your shoulder blades.

With each push of his thumbs, loosening the tight muscles, you fall farther from reality. Jake was all consuming, pushing and pulling every breath from your chest. You can’t stop the way your shoulders sag, head dropping to the side as he pushes on a sensitive spot. A whimpering moan drops from your lips, and you can’t stop it. You didn’t want to stop it, only thinking in the heat filled haze that surrounded you.

Jake just about dies, there in the sand, and he would go happily. Taken by the sweetest fucking sound that he’d ever heard, he wants to draw a continuous string of those moans from your lips. He’d do just about anything to hear that noise again, but he knows that once you come out of the haze you’ll be embarrassed. He also doesn’t want to attract the attention of the guys anymore, then they already possibly are.

His hands move up to grab your hair from your hands, taking it and releasing it, just after placing a delicate kiss to the center of your shoulder blades. His mouth coming to rest by your ear, and his breath warms you, down to your bones.

“All done.” You imagine that his voice sounds just a breathless as yours and can only nod. Muttering a quick thank you and grab the sunscreen back before Jake can tell how needy he’s made you.

Your retreating figure leaves Jake alone, giving him time to process his thoughts, and notice the prominent bulge, that his grey fucking shorts do nothing to hide. Cursing himself, he shifts doing his best to hide it, trying to think of anything other than your soft skin and how you sound.

The thought of Rooster’s godforsaken mustache settles him enough that he’s sure the guys won’t notice. Now he just has to figure out how to forget the ordeal completely, how to let you take your time, and how not to make a move the second he sees you again.

…

Darkness settles across the beach as the sunsets, the cold seeping into your bones. As the guys work to start a bomb fire, wanting to make smores, you search through your bag looking for a sweater. Unsuccessfully, you move over to Jakes bag hoping that he was smart enough to bring one. He ran hot blooded and wouldn’t need one, so you weren’t too hopeful in your pursuit. Though when you feel the thick material, you pull it out and do a small happy dance. Slipping it over your head, the warmth of it incases your body. Smelling of jet fuel and his cologne, you want to sink farther into it and the warm feeling it gives you. Instead, you stand and make your way to the group, the bottom of the sweater reaching down, just below your butt and the sleeves covering your hands.

They had started to fire away from the previous placement of your things, not waiting to risk everyone’s stuff getting smokey. He had noticed you go off while they were setting everything up, knowing that you wouldn’t wander far, especially not at night.

He sees you, clad in his sweater, looking so warm and comfy. The light of the fire bounced off you, lighting up your gentle face and sea sprayed hair. He’d always been a bit territorial with you, though seeing you in his clothes, triggered a whole new level.

You were standing there, in his clothes.

You were his, whether you knew it or not.

You would always be his.

Walking through the group, thankful for the addition of a fire, you can feel yourself warming up even more. You gentle smack Bradley upside the head as you pass him, catching the tail end of a story about your childhood.

“Ouch.” He gives you teasing glare, while you stick your tongue out at him. Causing the group to laugh at your siblingish antics. “Anyway, she had convinced me to try and sneak into the hanger with her. But at the last minute backed out, even though I was already in the HANGER.” You can’t stop the giggle that bubbles up your chest remembering the day.

“I saw Mav coming, and I wasn’t about to get in trouble.” You say as you settle between Jake legs, him intently listening to the story unfold.

“You could have signaled me, but no you left me for dead.” The accusation causes everyone to laugh at Bradley’s exasperated sigh. “Mav made me clean the hanger floor with a toothbrush, A TOOTHBRUSH.”

“I offered to help—”

“Yeah, but he said that you couldn’t. That I needed to learn my lesson. I missed my date with Alison Reynolds because of you.”

You’d forgotten that bit, though hearing it makes your throw your head back in laugher.

“She was a bitch anyway B, I saved you.” You hadn’t stopped laughing and the middle finger Bradley flips you only makes you laugh harder.

He starts up another story, one that you aren’t apart of, while you relax into Jake chest. His arms rest around your waist, gently tugging at the sweater.

“This mine sweets?”

“It was, but it’s mine now.” You turn to give him a sly smile. “I’ll give it back, once it stops smelling like you, and pick out a new one.”

An amused smile graces Jake face, not the slightest bit stunned by your cheeky nature.

“You really are something else, you know that.” A shake of his head, and he’s pulling you in. Crashing you against his chest, where you end up settling for the night. Drinking beers and chatting with your friends. Enjoying each other warmth and the carefree nature of the group of friends.

…

Jake holds your form, as another fit of giggles pass through your lips. You, Phoenix, and Halo, had decided to break open the vodka, which had been a sight in itself. The three of you taking shots, to one up one another, Jake and Rooster had stepped in once you’d reached the giggling phase. The two claiming that it was time for bed and began breaking up the party. Jake only had one beer, once he realized that you would be drinking, he wanted to make sure you got home safe.

Forgoing the thought of you walking up the drive, he lifts you bridal style and carries you to your front door.

Arms wrapped around his neck; he only pauses to get your keys from his back pocket. Catching the sight of your glazed eyes staring back up at him, taking in every move he makes.

“Jakeyyyyyy, I love you.” The wording pauses him from opening the door, immediately looking back at your face. Though you’re no longer looking at him but resting your head against his chest.

“I love you too, darlin’” You miss the sad tone in his voice, only snuggling farther into him.

Getting into the house, Jake kicks the door shut and toes off his shoes, not wanting to get sand in the house. You shift in his hold just slightly, causing Jake to think that you’ve doused off. Making his way to your bedroom, he gently sets you on the bed, as your eyes peek open, and a soft smile graces your face.

“Need you to get changed darlin’. I’m gonna get you some water to drink.” The nod that you give him, reassures him enough, that he leaves you sitting on the bed and goes to get a glass of water.

Wanting to get out of your sandy swimsuit you tug it off, happy to feel free of its constraints. Throwing the tangle of clothing into a pile on the floor, you could deal with it tomorrow, you grab a pair of panties. Crawling back up the bed to grab Jake’s discarded sweater, you pull it over your naked form. You can’t stop the shiver and the heat that pools in your core as it scraps across your taut nipples.

A soft knock echoes through the room, and Jake is standing there in just a pair of sweats with a glass of water. Your eyes zero in on his v-line and how the sweats dip almost letting you see him. Your mouth goes dry at the thought, and you don’t hear Jake talking. Only realizing he’s said something, as he holds out the glass of water for you.

Crawling to the edge of the bed, you rest back on your knees, talking the glasses from him. It takes everything within Jake, to stop the groan that wants to leave his body. As you sit there so pretty for him, in nothing but panties and his sweater.

You’re trying to kill him; tipsy you is trying to kill him.

You finish the glass, then bend back to put the glass on the bed side table. Jake’s sweater ridding up your form, giving him the perfect view of your bent over ass, begging to be smacked. This time the groan falls from his lips. When you sit back up looking into his eyes, you find his pupils blown wide, begging to devour you.

“You need to go to bed sweets.” His words are firm, but is tone isn’t and you no longer feel like holding back. The rush of alcohol flowing through your veins, clouds your sober brain. The only thing you want right now is standing right in front of you.

Rising up on your knees, chest pressed against him, one hand resting on his chest, the other sliding down his arm. Your eyes never breaking apart as you take his hand, moving the sweater, placing it on the open expanse of your hip.

Jake’s touch is still light and unsure, he was positive that you were tipsy, tittering on drunk. Though, he swears your eye’s had never been clearer than they are right now.

“I want this, Jake. I want you.”

Before he can say anything else, before you could lose your nerve, the hand that laced around his neck pulls him down. Pulling his lips to yours, and as they meet, time stops.

You feel his other hand come and cradle your face. While the other is no longer palming your hip, but clasped around the side strap of your panties. Grasping them so tightly that you swear he might rip them of you.

The kiss is harsh, teeth and tongue clashing, both of you tired of holding back. Finally in each other’s arms, the only oxygen either of you needed would come from the others mouth. The flames that you had felt earlier, were nothing compared to this. Having Jakes lips slotted against your own, fitting together as if you were meant for one another. The both of you begging for the other to understand the silent commandment of love, of the feels never said.

Jake pulls away first, his heart stutter-stepping, working to control his breathing. He looks at you for any sign of regret and sees none. No, not regret, but a gorgeous smile graces your face. You break out into a giggle again, head falling to rest on his chest.

Worry clouds his mind for a moment, were you just tipsy and could act on your feelings, or would morning come, and you wouldn’t remember a thing. He feels his heart crack slightly, the thought of finally getting you, and then losing you once again kills him.

He brushes a kiss to the crown of your head, “Come on sweets, bed.”

This time you don’t fight him, crawling up to your pillow, Jake moves the covers out of the way, waiting for you to get settled.

You give him a soft, content smile as he tucks you in. He brushes a stray hair out of your eyes, cupping your cheek gently and laying one last kiss to your brow.

“Stay with me.” Your hand reaching up to clasp around his wrist.

Though the sad smile he gives you, causes you to loosen your hold.

“We need to talk about us first sweets. I won’t take advantage of you; you mean too much to me.”

With that he rises, flicking off your bedside lamp, ready to make is way to the couch and try and sleep. Though he doubts that sleep will come easy, leaving him ample time to over think.

Your soft voice calls out before he can shut your door, “We’ll talk in the morning though, right? I want this, Jake. I want us.”

Jake swears that he could hear a crack in your voice, as if you were fighting back tears.

“Course sweets, we’ll talk first thing.” As he closes the door, quiet words fall from his lips. Ones that aren’t meant for your ears.

“If you remember.”

….

Jake wakes up before you, honestly, he had never gone to sleep. His mind running on high, every possible outcome resulting from last night, on a never-ending loop. Each time he closed his eyes, he felt you, saw you blissed out on his kiss, could feel the way you fit perfectly against him. It was driving him crazy the waiting game, so at 4:30 he had decided to go for a run.

He got back to the house around 6, the beat of the pavement against his feet had helped. Grounding him to the right now, music blasting in his ears to fight back any intruding thoughts. He’d pushed himself this morning, the fifteen-mile run, exhausting him. Exhaustion and pain filled his body, the tightness in his chest was no longer because of you, but the harsh cold air working against his lungs.

He'd relished in the pain, sweat coating him after pushing just a little more. Jake had always used running as an escape from his problems, pushing himself to the point of breaking, hoping to feel something other his actual problem.

You were still in bed when he got back to the house, he’d checked in on you and found you face down, grasping your pillow as soft snores drifted past your lips.

You’d woke with a pounding headache, and a dull ringing in your ears. Harshly throwing the covers from your body, you stand up, dizzy for a moment, before your vision clears up. The darkness of your room a welcomed visual, knowing that light would only make you feel worse. Leaving the safety of your room, you head to the bathroom hoping to find some pain reliever. Your eyes squint, as the morning light beckons through the hallway window. You silently curse Mother nature for making the sun so bright, especially on day that you were hungover.

Making it to the bathroom you find your bottle of Aleve, taking the last two pill and mentally noting that you needed to pick up more. Shrugging off Jake sweater from last night, turn on the water, hoping side to side in hopes to keep warm as the shower heats up. Stepping in, you welcome the burning heat of the water, letting it wash away the sand and grim from yesterday.

You eventually make your way to the kitchen, the throbbing in your head subduing, and the welcomed smell of breakfast greets you. Not seeing Jake in the kitchen, you call out to him, while making your way the coffee pot. Fixing yourself the much-needed dose of caffeine for the day, knowing that you would be picking up Mathew soon.

You’d constantly been texting with your mother all weekend, receiving picture and text updates about he was doing. You’d enjoyed the weekend off, though you were extremely excited to have your baby back in your arms. While leaving him with your parents had become easier in the past four months, the amount to missed him never lessened.

Having not heard Jake answer, you casually walk around the house looking for him. Not finding him, you look outside, seeing his truck you know that he had to be around.

You hear a quite thudding sound, at first not noticing it, though as you got closer to the backyard the louder it got. Taking a sip of your coffee, relishing in the taste, before opening the back door and finding Jake.

His figure hunched over your raised flower beds, well the beginning of your raised flower beds. You’d been working them, not having much luck with Mathew always around. He constantly wanted to help you, which was great, except when it came to sharp tools. The only time that Mathew wasn’t with you was during nap time, and you’d learned that the pounding of nails woke him up. Leaving your beds unfinished, and constantly taunting you.

The click of the shutting door pulls Jakes attention to you.

“Your quiet the helper to have around the house, might have to keep you.” You give him a teasing smile, in hopes to pull a matching one from him.

You didn’t know what was going on, but the air between the two of you felt tense, like you were both on edge.

A smirk creeps on to his face, good enough for you, “I had to do something, while you slept the morning away.”

A quiet scoff leaves you lips, not making an argument against his stated fact, when both you and him know it’s the truth.

“How’d you sleep anyway darlin’? That vodka not hitting you to hard this morning, is it?” He sees you roll your eyes and lets out a laugh, which has you flipping him off.

“Phoenix and Halo, both better have hangovers this morning. It was their idea, and I’m going to be pissed if I’m the only one suffering.”

Making your way over to him, you settle in the grass next to him and offer him a sip of your coffee, which he gladly accepts. Glancing past the white fence, you can see the sun rising in the distance. Painting the sky pink and purple, Jake settles next to you, the both of you quietly watching the sunrise. Your body gravities to his, your head finding a home on his left shoulder, enjoying the peacefulness as you pass your coffee back and forth.

Jake had spent all morning trying to stay active, to keep his mind busy. Though now cuddled up against one another, sharing coffee and acting so domestic, his mind races out of his grasp.

“I’m surprised that your awake this early, getting you into bed was no easy feat.” He casts the line out, silently hoping that you remembered the kiss. Though not mentioning it, just in case you didn’t. Jake wasn’t going to thrust something onto you like that; not the kiss, not your confessions, and certainly not that he felt the exact same way.

Rooster had asked him to go slow, and he would. Hell, after Jake found out about your ex, he firmly stated that you would always have the deciding vote in whether a relationship ever occurred.

The groan the escapes your lips, has Jakes breathing stilled.

“I hope I wasn’t too much trouble, and I promise next time I will take care of you.”

Jake feels his heart drop, hearing the conformation that you had no recollection of last night, feels like a heavy weight settling onto his chest.

For a moment you think that you see the frown form on Jakes lips, though when you actually look at him a smile is in its place. The smile seems forced, not reaching his eyes, like you know his genuine smile does.

“No don’t worry darlin’ you were fine.”

His voice sounds distant and as he turns from you, the final look of his eyes seems dull and withdrawn. For some reason your heart aches, deep within you a knowing, that you were missing something. Though you have no clue as to what it might be, leaving you both in a vast ocean drifting farther apart.

….

You both work the morning away, subconsciously avoiding one another. Though when noon rolls around, you know that you have to head to pick up Mathew soon and you couldn’t leave Jake on unsteady ground. No matter what, you needed him; you just hoped he felt the same.

You hear him come back inside from the back, you call out to him, before you can give yourself time to second guess the decision. Rounding the corner toward the kitchen, Jake is covered in sweat, the morning sun grilling him. He had finished your flower beds, and was just coming to tell you when you called out.

“I need to pick up Maty soon, but I don’t….” the breath you take in is unsteady and as you look at him the gaze he gives you, steadies your racing heart. “I can’t leave you with tension in-between us.”

You watch as his shoulders drop and before you know it, Jake is taking you in his arms. The both of you holding on to the other, taking in the sound of the others heart beating.

“I know darlin’. Don’t you worry sweets, we are just fine.” His voice steady, unbreaking, comforting you, and even though you hadn’t talked about the unknown, for right now it didn’t matter. A problem saved for a later day.

You pull back from the hug and rest against the counter, slowly tracing patterns into his open palms.

“So, I was thinking that, maybe, if you wanted, you could come and pick up Mathew with me?” You can hear you voice shake as you ask the question, too afraid to look Jake in the eyes and see his answer.

A hand grasps your chin, tilting your face up, his eyes staring into your soul, looking for any indecisiveness.

“You sure?”

You can’t stop the smile that forms now, “Positive.” A nod of the head gives a second confirmation.

“I would love to meet Mathew darlin’. Thank you for trusting me to.”

You wrap your arms around him, before he can see the tears that line your eyes. As his hand comes up to stroke the back of your head, your positive that even with you hiding it, Jake knows that you are crying.

“It just really means a lot that you care.”

“He’s another extension of you sweets, I already love him.” His thumb slides up to wipe the stray tear that you didn’t notice fall. A nod of your head is all you have to offer. Amazed at how lucky you are to have such a loving, and caring man in your life.

Thirty minutes later the both of you are in your car, Jake insisted on driving, and you happily complied, your head still aching a bit. You curled up in the passenger seat, head resting back with your sunglasses secure on your face, avoiding the bright light that is the California sun.

“You want to put some music on Sweets?” Turning to look at Jake, his eyes still focused on the road, but his hand holds out his phone for you to grasp.

You type in his password, having learned it a while ago, when you ordered pizza for a movie night.

“Just find a playlist, whatever you want listen too is fine.” You hum in acknowledgment already in his music app and scrolling. There’s a number of playlists; flight music, beach toons, oldies, country favorites, but the playlist that catches your eye is one named Sweets. You pause, looking back over at Jake, then back to the playlist, and again back over to Jake.

He notices your glance fleeting between him and the phone, breaking his gaze on the road to look at you.

“You have a playlist named after me.” You had wanted it to be a question, though it clearly comes out as a statement. The flush covering his cheeks is answer enough that your statement was correct.

Jake averts his eyes back to the road, clears his throat, and hopes that his flaming cheeks are calmed down.

“It’s music that makes me think of you.” His hand resting on your knee, gives you a gentle squeeze, making your face now flush red.

Knowing that he had taken time and made you a playlist, fills you with warmth. You can’t stop the smile from forming on your lips, making you feel like a giddy schoolgirl. You press your playlist and begin to scroll, seeing songs that you knew and others you didn’t. Scrolling through the list you can’t believe how many songs; he’d saved for you.

“Jake there are over a hundred songs on here.” The disbelief is clear on your face and in your tone.

“I know.”

He’s not giving you anything, no show of one specific emotion. Your scrolling comes to an abrupt halt when you see the familiar song, I’m already there by Lonestar, the song that your mother played on repeat whenever your father was deployed. You press on the song, letting the music feel your car and you can’t stop the tears that lining your eyes.

Having no words, you look over to Jake and find his eyes already watching you. The tightness in your throat makes it so you can’t talk, afraid that if you do the tears would fall.

Jake notices the tears, removing his hand from your knee and clasps the hand resting in your lap.

The lyrics drifting through the speakers, ‘Said I really miss you darling. Don't worry about the kids they'll be alright. Wish I was in your arms–’

Both of you, taken with the words of the song. No words need to be spoken between the two of you. Fingers intertwined, and when Jake brings your hand up to his mouth, placing a gentle kiss on your knucks, your tears fall.

Your quick to wipe them away, hating that you are showing so much emotion. Emotions that you’re positive Jake doesn’t reciprocate, though in moments like this you’re not so sure.

Worry coats Jake features, fearing that making the playlist was too much. Scared that he might have just pushed you away. He starts you release your hand, though your quick to tighten your hold.

“No. Umm–.” You clear your throat before continuing, pushing past the tremble of your voice. “My mom, she… she used to play this whenever dad was deployed.”

Understanding crosses Jakes features, and his slacken hand grips on to yours once again. You give him a smile, sinking back into your seat, and bring your joined hands to rest in your lap. The both of you content to sit and listen to the music. To be in each other’s presence and know that while the two of you might not be officially together, you were far from apart.

Arriving to your parents’ house, Jake parks your car idlily sitting in his seat while you get out. He didn’t want to intrude and thought it best that he wait in the car. Jake had met admiral Benjamin before he had retired, even meeting your mother at Naval Ball one year and admired the couple.

Turning back around when you don’t hear the driver’s door open, you see an idle Jake sitting and taping his fingers on the steering wheel.

“You’re coming, aren’t you?”

His gaze snaps to you, a questioning look on his face. He looks so unlike himself, like he really didn’t think you wanted him to come with you.

“I didn’t wanna intrude Sweets.”

Smiling you walk around to his side of the car and open the door, grasping his hands, tugging him out with you.

“You could never intrude. Now come on, you have someone special to meet.” The comment makes Jake smile, more than excited to finally get to meet Mathew.

“It seems your right darlin’.”

You take hurried steps up the sidewalk, pulling open the front door without knocking. Your hands still clasped in Jake’s as you pull him along with you.

“Mom, we’re –”

Though before you can finish, little feet come padding down the hallway.

“Momma!” the screech of Mathews voice warms your heart, and you drop to your knees just in time to catch him. His little arms wrapping around your neck, while you rub his back, pulling him back to shower his face with kisses.

“Momma, stop. Tickles!”

His giggle make Jakes heart constrict, he had seen pictures of the little boy, but now seeing him with you, it felt like he was home. The little boy is a spitting image of you, from his hair, to skin tone, and even the way that his giggle matched yours.

“I missed you so much baby.” You place one more kiss on his cheek, before rising with Mathew settled on your hip.

“Maty, I have someone I want you to meet.” Your gaze flicks to Jake, giving him a soft smile, before turning back to Mathew. “This is my friend Jake, baby.”

Jake holds his breath, he’d never been so anxious in his entire life, Mathew’s opinion of him holding more weight than any general he’d ever met.

When the small boy makes eye contact, Jake gives him a soft smile and wave.

“Hey, buddy.”

“You like toys?”

The question makes Jake laugh, he was used to his nieces constantly talking about their toys, and he wasn’t surprised it was the first thing Mathew asked him. He had seen the multiple toys scattered around the house, and knew that Mathew had a love for Disney, specifically Buzz Lightyear.  

“I do buddy, my favorites Toy Story.”

The awe that spread across Mathew face, caused you both to laugh, happy to see him taken with Jake already.

“You know Buzz?”

You go to set Mathew down, his wiggling form clearly on a mission. Already moving for Jake, before you can stop him. Mathews tiny fingers clasp around Jake pointer, pulling Jake to follow him.

“Grandma and Papa got me new Buzz toys. Come see!”

“That’s awesome bud, let’s see ‘em.”

The sight of Jake, a fearless fighter pilot, that intimidated most people he knew, being pulled by your over exuberant two-year-old is a sight to see. Mathew pulls him into your parent’s family room, unfazed that he had only just met Jake. You follow behind the duo, and hear Jake acknowledge your parents with a kind nod, and a sir, ma’am.

Your mother gives you a questioning glance, though you father speaks first.

“Lt. Seresin, good to see you again.” His hand clasping on you Jake’s back. Removing himself from Mathew, who all but pouts at the loss of his new friend, clasp your fathers hand giving him a firm shake.

“Admiral Benjamin, it’s a pleasure to see you again.”

Your father and Jake get carried away in conversation, though staying next to Mathew to make sure he’s included. Jake bounces between answering your fathers’ questions and excitedly commenting on every toy Mathew holds up for him to view.

Your mother comes to stand next to you, leaning against the kitchen counter, knocking hips with you.

“You never said you were seeing anyone?” Her teasing tone makes you blush, knocking your hip back against her.

“I’m not, Jake is a friend.” You look over to the trio, finding the three most important men in your life. “A good friend.”

Though your mother doesn’t mention it, she notices the look in your eyes as you stare at Jake. It’s the same look that he had given your father when they first got together, and now here they were 40 years later.

Your mother brushes a kiss on your cheek, combing her hand through your hair and gives you a slight hug, before he heads to grab Mathew’s things from this weekend. You don’t notice her leave, your stare never leaving Jake and Mathew interacting, until she sets Maty bag on the counter in front of you.

“Sweetheart, what do you think about staying for dinner tonight.”

You look back to your mother, wanting nothing more than to have everyone together for dinner, though you aren’t sure if Jake made other plans for the night. You don’t want to be a bother to him and keep him from more important things.

“We would mom, but I don’t know what Jake has planned tonight and – ”

He hears you say his name, catching the tail end of the conversation with your mother. Jake tells your father that he would be right back and makes his way over to you. Your mother had left you again to go do something, so he quickly grabs your hand, pulling you in the hall away from others.

“Hey Sweets.” He gives you that award-winning smile that always make you stomach flip.

“Hey yourself! Maty seems to have taken right to you.” Your hand brushes down his arm, landing at his fingers, gently intertwining them together.

“Yeah, he’s amazing. You’re doing an amazing job darlin’.” His praise makes you preen, getting feedback from anyone about how you raise Mathew means the world to you, but hearing it from Jake makes it so much sweeter. “I heard your momma and you talking, and I heard her mention dinner. Now darlin’ if you don’t want to stay for dinner we can go. But if you’re saying no because you think I don’t want to have dinner with your family, well Sweets you are terribly mistaken. I want nothing more than to spend time with you and your family, to see this side of you.”

You scrunch you nose in delight, utterly amazing and yet confused by the hold this man has on you. “Jacob Grant Seresin, what in the world are you doing to me?” You gently click your tongue against your teeth at him, and he rewards you with a dazzling smile. “I guess we’re staying for dinner.”

Before you can move to tell your mother that plans changed, Jake swoops down and plants a firm kiss on your cheek.

“I guess we are.” His words are muffled against your cheek, yet you can still understand them. His hand sliding up to cup your cheek, thumb rubbing soft circles, far more loving than your relationship permitted. “Whatever it is that gets you smiling like that, darlin’ I’m going to be doing it for the rest of my life.”

“You’re such a sweet talker,” you shake your head at him, making to push him back to the living room. “You go play with Maty and dad. I’ll help mom start dinner.”  

He reluctantly lets you push him away from you, turning back one last time with a teasing smile. Falling back against the hallway wall you sit in silence, what the hell was going on between the two of you. You knew that you weren’t together, but you sure as hell acted like you were. You’d been so positive that Jake didn’t see you like that, and know he’s gone and confused you.

Smiling to yourself you could never be mad at him; you’d figure it out eventually. For now, though you were going to enjoy the time with your family, which now felt complete in Jake’s presence.

 Dinner had gone swimmingly, Jake and your father talking about his time in service. Your dad singing high praise for Jake and all he had heard from Admiral Kazansky. Jake had wooed your mother, being the ever-southern gentleman, that his momma no doubt made him into. Jake had completely surprised you, when Mathew asked to sit by him, wanting Jake to help him with dinner, and Jake not only complied, but did it happily.

He was a man after your heart it seemed.

As the evening came to a close, you noticed Mathew getting restless while lying in your lap. The five of you had decided to retire to the family room and talk after dinner ended. That was an hour and a half ago, and Mathew was officially done for the day. Knowing that the drive would take at least thirty minutes, landing you home at 8:30, and a half hour late for Maty’s bedtime.

Your mother had told you that he had taken a bath the night before, so you knew that he would be fine for the night. He would just need a diaper change and to get into his jammies, though the drive was likely to put him to sleep and you didn’t want to risk waking him.

“Mom, did you use that extra set of jammies I packed for Maty?”

Pulling for her conversation with Jake, you hadn’t meant to interrupt. You hadn’t even realized they had been talking; too busy making a mental check list.  

“No, I didn’t sweetheart, let me go grab them for you.”

As she leaves you, Jake moves over to you, standing behind you and the half-asleep Mathew, his hands resting on your shoulders.

“We going to head out, get little man to bed?”

You give a soft hum as confirmation, moving Mathew as his elbow digs into your stomach. You mom comes back with his jammies and hands them, as well as a nighttime diaper, to you. A quiet thank you falls from your lips, not wanting wake Mathew.

You set up from the couch, Jake moving to grab Mathew from your arms, waiting for you to lead him somewhere that you could change the munchkin in private.

You lead him to your old bedroom, which had been turned into a second room for Mathew when he stayed here. The toddler still fast asleep, head resting on Jake shoulder sucking on his thumb, while his other hand cling’s to Jake’s shirt.

“Alright bud, just lay down here for momma.”

Mathew barley shifts once Jake has him on the changing table, you make quick work of getting him changed. Only waking him once, though he falls right back to sleep as Jake runs his fingers through his hair.

“He likes you.”

A soft smile forms on Jakes lips, his hand moving to cradle his head as he picks him back up, ready to get him in the car seat.

“Well, he has good taste.”

You scoff at the statement, Jake already heading out of the room, your mind drifting and think about how good Jake was with Mathew.

You push the thought away, going out to meet your parents, who are already saying their goodbyes to Mathew and Jake. Each of them kissing Mathew head, causing him to snuggle deeper into Jake’s neck.

“I’m gonna get him strapped in.” You give him a nod, going to say goodbye to your parents. “It was a pleasure to see you again Admiral. Thank you for dinner, it was delicious Mrs. Benjamin.”

Both your parents tell him to come back anytime, as well as telling him that he can call them by their first names. Though he just nods, telling them thank you again, then goes out to strap Mathew in. The little boy, more than content with the idea of sleeping in Jakes arms all night.

You thank your parents for dinner as well as the weekend, tell them both how much you love them. They each kiss you on the cheek, walking you to the door. Though before your out the door you father speaks up.

“He’s good for you sweetheart, for the both of you.”

“It’s not like that daddy.” You can’t help the way your smile slightly drops.

“I’ve got my own eyes sweetheart.” He brushes a kiss to the crown of your head, giving you a hug. “I know exactly what I see. Now you get home, get Mathew in bed.”

Leaving them, with a soft smile, you can’t help but to wonder what exactly it is that your parents can see between you and Jake. Were you being completely obvious with your feelings for him?

Jake has the car started, Mathew buckled and sleep, with soft music playing in the car, by the time you make it out. A sight that you could get more than used to. Climbing in, Jake grabs your idle hand, holding it in his lap, and heads out the driveway.

The drive home was quiet, a comfortable silence. Mathew not waking, not even when Jake grabs him from the car seat. You grab his diaper bag, already in front of Jake to unlock the front door.  

“His bed, right?”

“Yeah, thank you.” Jake gives you a nod, and heads down the hallway. You place Mathew’s diaper bag down, ready for bed yourself. The weekend catching up to you. Conversations from earlier, making you replay every moment between you and Jake. Before you can throw yourself of the cliff, that is your mind, Jake reappears.

“Maty’s is out like a light.” He comes you rest across from you, leaning against the opposite counter.

“Thank you for everything today.” You look up into Jakes eyes, the deep green watching you carefully, assessing your every movement. Not giving yourself time to over think, you go and hug him. His arms wrapping around you just as tight, you can’t help but worry about the bubble you’ve created popping. If your about to lose, whatever you had created with Jake.

If it was only a phase, meant for the week, like a changing season.

It wasn’t something that you necessarily wanted to mention, and Jake have never said he liked you like that. Not even in the beginning of your friendship when it would have been so much easier to decipher feelings.

Now things were messy, he was one of your best friends and meant the world to you. You would never do anything to compromise that relationship.

On the other hand, you were positive that you were falling in love with him. You had noticed your feeling before, but seeing him with Maty…. It was like your whole world finally made sense.

You pull away from Jake, as a yawn falls from your lips. He chuckles at you, giving your hands a squeeze, then moving to the front door.

“I think that’s my que to leave Sweets.” He grabs his things off the couch, setting them on the floor and gives you one more hug. “Thank you for today, it means the world, that you let me meet Mathew. He’s amazing, just like his momma.” The kiss he brushes against your brow, causes your chest to ache.

The nod you give him, doesn’t, nearly, convey everything that you want Jake to know. But it’s all you can manage, when your already on the precipice of confessing information that could catastrophically ruin your friendship. If Jake notices how quiet you’ve become, he doesn’t mention it.

“I’ll see you later?” his question is open ended. Leaving room for you to say when, but you can’t bring yourself to answer.

“Yeah. Text me know you get home, so I know you made it.” It might sound controlling, but you would never stop caring about his safety.

“Course.” His hand slips from yours as he leaves. “Goodnight darlin’.”

“Night Jake.”

And just like that he’s gone, leaving you alone in an endless cycle of thoughts, a mess that you can’t process. One you’re not sure you even want to process. The ever-looming thought of heartbreak, and how maybe you weren’t meant for relationships seeps in.

Your back pushes off the door, double checking that it’s locked, and then heading to bed.

The weekend “off”, wearing on your mind more than any piece of work had ever. The thought of days filled with paperwork and flight plans, without cocky pilots that make your heart stutter step, sounds, even more, inviting with each passing second.

[sleeplesssmoll]

Do you think that the foundations staff considers vertin a bad omen (or like a omen for the storm) and do you think the foundation did it on purpose and she kinda is?

Like if you think about it how can they not? Vertin is the timekeeper, someone who can brave the storm and not be affected like at all, and every work place has gossip at least even a little and with vertin's kind of aloof or "emotionless" personality I can't imagine people who hasn't met her would have a good perception of her and even at the start of the game the female investigator says "your our timekeeper that means..." That means when vertin arrived that signals to the investors that the storm is near, and even the whole procedure of you can call for aid of the timekeeper within 24 hours of the storm honestly all of this kinda feels like it's designed to have the timekeeper synonymous with the storm because wherever she is the storm is always near, do you think Constantine did that on purpose to further isolate vertin? Honestly it feels like something she'd do

I don't think Constantine did it intentionally but it definitely works in her favor. Vertin is like an omen of death who shows up before the Storm. As an Investigator, she's the last person you want to see but it's also very important you recognize her.

Smoltin was a pain in the Foundation's butt, but Vertin is the respected Timekeeper who carries the highest authority during the Storm. Regardless of how they feel about her personally, they have to trust her or risk being Reversed if they are in the danger zone.

I can totally see unsavory rumors and gossip floating around because she started off at the bottom. She was he sole member of her department for so long which means people's imaginations have a chance to run wild.

Here's a fun game, what kind if rumors/gossip would be floating around? What are people saying behind her back?

1. "What the hell is the Foundation thinking letting her gather all these unhinged arcanists? She must have people the scenes."

2. "Why do people follow her? What is she offering them that the Foundation can't? She should be investigated. "

3. "I hear her Suitcase brainwashes anyone who steps inside to obey her."

4. "The only reason she's ranked above us is because she's immune to the Storm. She's lucky she even graduated! If she wasn't the Timekeeper, she'd probably be cleaning the Critter pens!"

5. "Does she even care?"

6. "I can't look at her. Everything I do I remember everyone else who didn't make it..."

7. "She's so touchy with all her people. Just saying, it's kinda weird. I think I saw her kiss her assistant's cheek! Isn't that an abuse of power?"

8. "The top student is following orders from the worst in the class. It's like a sick joke. If that's where hard work gets you, whats the point of trying?"

9. "I don’t even know what her face looks like because she always has that stupid hat on with that stuffy suit. She loves to show off, while we're stuck in black and white."

10. "The Timekeeper was originally a frog but she was transformed after the first Storm!"

11. "She took in Joshua? She must be facing hard times."

12. "I heard she joined Manus at one point. I don't think we should keep someone like that in charge of a literal army of arcanists."

13. "She met Arcana multiple times and lived! She could be secretly working for her."

14. "Her team of Arcanists survived the island but the human team didn't. We need to keep an eye on her."

15. "A face only a mother could love. Have I seen it? Well, no, but why else would she hide it. It's not like she's shy."

16. "What do you mean she? Isn't the Timekeeper a guy? But it's Sir Vertin, Lord Vertin, and so on! Vertin's not a girl name to begin with! Ugh these damn Arcanists always make everything complicated."

17. "I thought she was interested in me but it turns out she holds hands and gives gifts to everyone. What a weirdo! Thank goodness, I dodged a bullet–shut up, I'm not angry. Why would I be angry? She's not even my type!"

[missacidburn928s-heathenhideaway]

Don't care if it sounds cold. It is, what it is.

Bucky x POC!Reader, Ex!Steve x POC!Reader

Wordcount: 1394

Summary:

Steve returns 3 years after he left for the past. Wanting the life he had with you before back without consequence. Too bad you’ve moved on with someone he least expected.

Warnings:

Angst and Feels, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Domestic Fluff, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Steve Rogers Feels, Hurt Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes Feels, Protective Bucky Barnes, Exes, Sad and Sweet, Sweet Bucky Barnes, Moving On, Lovers to Friends, Friends to Lovers, Abandonment, Domestic Avengers

Notes:

Hello Heathens! Woke up feeling angsty, with a mighty need to finish this dialogue heavy drabble I started last week. Happy reading!

You’re preparing lunch in your modest kitchen, singing and dancing along to the music flowing from your bluetooth speaker, when there’s a knock on the door. Knowing Bucky can easily hear it and you're currently preoccupied you leave him the task of answering it. You listen to the door opening and murmurs of speech for a couple moments before it closes again and two sets of footsteps can be heard heading your way.

“Sam, what have I told you about at least texting before you come over.” You look up from the island, expecting to find a grinning Falcon before you but are caught off guard by the imposing form standing under the archway. “Steven?”

“Hey, doll.” He takes a step forward as you close your eyes, shaking your head to relieve you from the vivid hallucination that is taking up space in your home. It isn’t until Bucky places his cool metal hand on top of yours, giving it a squeeze, that you dare to open them again. 

“What are you doing here? And most importantly why ? You went after your happily ever after. You shouldn't be here.”  You blurt out, disbelief showing on your face. Bucky without hesitation makes his way to your side of the island, showing his support and making sure to be within arms reach if you need him. 

“It wasn’t quite as happy as I imagined it would be.” You watch his adams apple bob as he swallows. “All I wanted for so long was to have a do over with Peggy. So the first chance I had to fulfill that dream, I took it.” He places his hands on the island. “It was good at the beginning, but I couldn’t get you out of my head.” He locks eyes with you. “We barely spent any time together after a while. She was always working. Trying to better the world, leaving me alone with my memories of you. I found myself seeking out pieces of you in her. They always fell short. No one loved me like you. I wanted that back. So I decided I needed to come home.”

You take a deep breath to calm yourself, tears brimming your eyes as you hand Steve a dose of painful truths. "What we had was special Steven. I'll admit that. But it wasn't enough for you. I wasnt enough for you. Your head was always full of the what ifs. Your heart was never fully mine to begin with. I thought that as time went on, that my portion was growing in size. How wrong was I to believe such things.” A lone tear falls from your eyes. 

“I'm a firm believer of actions speaking louder than words. You leaving me behind for a chance with her that day was all the reality I needed. It broke me. You broke me. Honestly if it weren't for Bucky, Sam and Clint’s family I don’t think I would have had the will to endure all that pain. I wanted the ground to swallow me up. I wanted to not exist so I wouldn't have to feel the pain of being abandoned for a ghost of your past. I was real, Steve. I was there. I gave you the pieces of me I hadn't shared with anyone else before and you took all of that for granted. And now you're back and expect that love to still remain intact.” 

Your heartache seeps through your words, coating it in poisonous barbs, to protect what remains of the vulnerable organ. Bucky, your lover and loyal protector, moves in closer, wrapping his flesh arm around your waist, grounding you. “You have got to be kidding me. Even if I wasnt with Bucky, I wouldn’t take you back. Not after 3 years and having to rebuild myself. My standards have changed and you don’t meet them anymore.”

It’s as if your words delivered a swift punch to the gut for him as he lashes out with vitriol lacing his tongue. “And he does? My best friend. I always knew you had feelings for her. You couldn't wait to swoop in as soon as I was gone could you.” He has a white knuckle grip on the marble as he stares down the man he’s always trusted with his life.

Bucky just nods his head in disbelief as he replies. “I'm the bad guy, Steve, really?” He pulls you in closer to his side, done with the niceties. “If you must know. We didn't even broach anything near romantic until almost a year after you left us BOTH behind.” 

He clenches his jaw as he gets that possessive glint in his eyes and you know he’s not going to hold back. “When it finally happened, a natural progression if you will, there was no turning back. She became mine, as I became hers. It was fucking magical. She always came for me. On my fingers. On my tongue. Clamped tight around my cock like a vice. Squeezing the life out of me.” He husks, ghosting his metal fingers across your collarbone. “I helped her forget about the pain you caused when you left her behind for the past. I gave her an outlet for that agony. We sank into the darkness of our loneliness together. Don’t tell me that didnt mean something. Don’t be that daft Rogers. Our love for each other is bone deep.”

Steve stares at the both of you, a loss for words.

“Mama” comes over the monitor sitting behind you on the counter. You turn to see your daughter standing in her crib having woken from her nap. She continues on trying to get your attention, “Mama”, “Dada” the only words you can make out from the babble.

“I’ll get her.” Bucky kisses your temple and proceeds down the hall.

“You have a baby?” Steve chokes. “How old?”

“She’s 15 months old.” You state.

“So, she’s not mine.” He whispers out.

“Not a chance pal. She’s all mine.” Bucky beams as he walks back into the kitchen, your daughter Amara on his hip.

“You never wanted kids with me Steve. Certainly not towards the end. Why would you think she was yours?” You ask.

“Wishful thinking I guess.” He looks over at the sweet cherub face cuddling up against her fathers chest. “She’s beautiful.”

“Bug, want to say hello?” Bucky asks his daughter, a hand running up and down her back.

The toddler eyes Steve and squeaks out a “Hi.”

“Hello sweetness. You look just like your Mama, but with your Dada’s eyes. Such a lucky girl.” You watch as his shoulders slump. “I screwed up royally. I acted before thinking, once again, and look at what it cost me. Everything I ever really wanted was always right here with you and now I’m going to have to watch it from the sidelines instead of being the one to share them with you.” A lone tear rolls down his cheek. 

He wipes it away. “I know it’s not much, especially now. But for what it’s worth, I’m Sorry. Truly and deeply.”

“I know you are Steve.” You reassure him.

“We both do.” Bucky adds.

“I don’t hold it against you, ya know.” You impart, placing a hand on his. “If you didn't put me through all of that pain I never would have ended up here, with a life I never could have dreamt of. It’s not perfect, but that’s the point. It works for us and we’re happy. This home is full of so much love and communication. I had to be knocked down to know what I really needed in life. The things I wouldn't settle for. The things I deserved. I hope you can find that one day Steve. I really do.”

“Thanks, doll. I’m pretty sure that ship has officially sailed for me though.” He straightens himself out, Captain persona put back in place.

You give Bucky a look as he places Amara in her highchair. You can’t leave Steve in this state. No matter the pain he caused all of you, there is still love in your heart for him. “Stevie, would you like to stay for lunch?”

“I know Bug would love to get to know her Uncle Stevie.” Bucky states.

You watch a small smile emerge on his face. “I would enjoy that very much.”