#hopefully in like two months it’ll be okay

[cruelheartland]

New job is hmmmm but alas I must persevere

[katsu28]

first time for everything

pairing: oscar piastri x reader

summary: a lot of things were in the cards for oscar’s first home race. he just wasn’t expecting confessing his love for you to be one of them. (3.3k)

warnings: maybe a swear word idk

a/n: my first oscar fic! not sure if i've got his personality down quite yet but hopefully i've done him justice :)

“You’re nervous.” 

Oscar tore his attention from his phone camera, where he was messing with the swoop of his hair for what had to be the fifth time. He shook his head, though you could probably see right through him. “No, I’m not—I just didn’t sleep that well last night.”

“Yeah, ‘cause you were nervous for today.” 

“I’m fine.” 

“It’s okay to be nervous, Oscar. I’d be more worried if you weren’t.”

You were right, he was nervous about a lot of things—this weekend was his first home race, the first race you were able to attend during his time as a driver for McLaren. But the first thing he learned from competing at this level was to never let his nerves show. Put up a front, make it seem like he was cool as a cucumber so people wouldn’t doubt him, let his skills on the track do all the talking. 

Normally, Oscar was good about that. But you could see right through him. You knew him well enough to know how he was feeling and how to help, even if he himself didn’t quite understand it. 

The story of you and Oscar was quite the cliche, really. He knew of you through a friend of a friend and was instantly intrigued without even meeting you, managed to reach out, and the rest was history. 

You hadn’t even met each other face to face until a month into your constant texting, but when you did finally find the opportunity to meet up in person, it was like you’d both found the other half of yourselves in each other. While Oscar was more of a straight to the point, cut and dry kind of guy, you managed to bring him out of his shell a little bit, to get him to expand his horizons (within reason, of course). 

You were the opposite—always smiling, always happy to try new things, warm and sunshine-y and everything in between. Oscar toned you down without holding you back, reminded you to take a breather before immediately jumping into the next exciting thing, to enjoy what you had while you had it so you wouldn’t miss anything. 

He’d only just gained the courage to ask you out a few months back, but it only seemed fitting that you were here with him for his first race in front of his home crowd.

“It’s a lot to process.” Oscar admitted, letting his shoulders creep up towards his ears in a shrug. You leaned against him, looping an arm through the crook of his elbow and slipping your hand into his for a reassuring squeeze, pressing your chin against his bicep. “I just don’t wanna let anyone down, y’know? Wanna make everyone proud.” 

“You’re going to do great. I promise.” You said firmly, reaching up to push his hair into its perfect place. Oscar nuzzled into your touch on instinct, letting you cradle his cheek in the palm of your hand. Your thumb swept over his cheek a few times, lulling him into a sense of contentment. 

“Forget me. How are you feeling?”

“I’m excited! I’ve never done something like this before.” You replied, letting your hand drop. “And kinda nervous, but it’ll be fine, right?” 

“Yeah, ‘course it will.” 

“Have any sage words of wisdom for a first time paddock goer?” 

“Oh, you know me. Keep your head down, walk fast. There’s gonna be a lot of cameras, lots of fans, they’re all gonna want something from you. I’ll be with you as long as I can, so I’ll be there in case things start to get out of hand.” 

“Can I say hi to the fans?” 

“If you want to, yeah. They already love you.” 

That was another thing Oscar had to be worried about. Today was a day full of firsts, it felt like, because it was also the first time you’d be making your public debut as a couple. You’d already become a fan favorite when the two of you were just friends (two very mutually pining friends, no less), but making your relationship paddock official seemed daunting. 

Oscar wasn’t at all worried about what people would think. In fact, he didn’t really care. He was happier than he’d been in a long time and nothing would change that. What he was worried about was how you’d be treated. Oscar loved the fans, he really did, but there were always that handful who thought they knew him—knew what was best for him. Knew who was best for him. 

If he could protect you from any harm that could possibly be aimed your way, he’d do it in a heartbeat, but things could get so very unpredictable out there. The best he could do was keep you close. 

Your grip on Oscar’s hand tightened just the slightest bit at seeing the sheer amount of people outside the window. Noticing this, he rubbed his thumb along your knuckles soothingly. 

“You don’t have to come along.” He said softly. You tore your eyes away from the passing crowds to look at him. “There’s a back entrance, you can go through there.” 

“No, it’s alright! I’ll be fine.” 

“You sure? It’s okay if you're having second thoughts, sweetheart.” 

“I’m not, I promise. It’s kind of a lot, but nothing I can’t handle.” You said firmly, more for yourself than anything. Oscar squeezed your hand with a soft smile. “If you can do it, I can do it.” 

“There you go. You’ll be the star of the show. Everyone’ll be like Oscar Piastri who? There’s the most beautiful girl in the world, and just some guy.” 

You had to bite back a laugh at his words paired with the deadpan expression gracing his face. Oscar always seemed to know how to get you to relax. 

“Well, you’re the hottest just some guy I’ve ever seen.” You pressed a kiss to his cheek, smiling at how his fair skin immediately flamed hot under your lips. 

Despite your previous hesitation, you looked entirely in your element as you made the walk hand in hand, looking around with bright eyes and an even brighter smile. Oscar couldn't help but watch you take it all in, not bothering to mask the awe in his eyes as he did so. He wouldn’t be surprised if photos of him looking at you made it to fan Twitter by the end of the day. 

Oscar was whisked away as soon as you got through to hospitality, giving him barely enough time to say goodbye to you before he was shuttled to meeting after meeting, press conferences and pre race interviews, a thousand things to do in the few hours he had before he had to get ready for free practice. 

He was already exhausted by the time he made it back to his driver’s room, pushing open the door with a heaving sigh. You glanced up at the commotion he was making, smiling at him warmly and setting aside your phone.

“Hey, you,” You hummed, holding out your arms towards Oscar as soon as he closed the door behind him. 

“Hi.” Oscar sighed, folding you into his embrace as comfortably as he could in the cramped alcove. There was barely enough room for one person on the bench, let alone you and your boyfriend with his broad shoulders. You shifted sideways to solve the problem, throwing your legs over Oscar’s lap, to which his hand immediately came to rest on your knee. “I missed you.” 

“Wish I could say the feeling was mutual.” You teased. Oscar rolled his eyes goodnaturedly, giving your leg a gentle pinch that you giggled at before leaning in to press a quick peck to his cheek. “I missed you too.” 

“What did you get up to while I was gone?” 

“Oh, so much! I took a walk around the paddock just to check everything out, and I kinda got lost, but someone helped me find my way back eventually.” You shrugged, not noticing the way Oscar’s eyebrows flew up into his hairline. 

“Wait, you got lost? Why didn’t you call me?” 

“You were busy.” You said, very as-a-matter-of-factly. He blinked at you slowly, a blank expression present on his face. “I’m a big girl, Osc, I can find my way around just fine.”  

That made Oscar falter. You were right. He cared so much, especially about you—so much so that sometimes he forgot you were entirely capable of taking care of yourself. 

“A lot of people asked to take pictures with me. Me! Isn’t that crazy?” You exclaimed, beaming bright. “I promised one of them your sweaty fireproofs in return, but that’s beside the point.” 

“You what?” He spluttered, eyes widening almost comically. His fingers froze in their fiddling with the rings adorning your fingers. 

“I’m kidding, obviously. Lighten up, Oscie, jeez.” 

Oscar rolled his eyes playfully. “Right, well I’m glad you’re having fun.” 

“You know what would make this day even more fun?” 

“I don’t think I want to.” 

You stuck your tongue out at him before continuing. “Can I meet Charles Leclerc? Is that something you can pull off?” 

Technically speaking, it would be extremely easy for him to pull off. All he really had to do was bring you over to the Ferrari motorhome for a quick introduction, and he was sure Charles would take a liking to you, just like every other driver you’d gotten to meet so far. You had that kind of persona; one that made people want to get to know you. 

Oscar quite liked that about you. What he wouldn’t like as much was you being immediately wooed by the driver’s seemingly irresistible French charm. And yeah, you were Oscar’s girlfriend and Charles also had a girlfriend of his own, but still. Nobody wanted to see the girl they loved fawning over another man, even one as cool as Charles Leclerc.

But Oscar would never tell you that, because he loved you, and he’d do anything to make you happy. 

“Uh…yeah, sure. I could probably get you an intro, if that’s something you really want.” He heard himself saying, scratching the back of his neck. His heart thudded a little harder in his chest at the way your face lit up. 

“Really?” 

Oscar smiled tightly. “Why not? D’you wanna go now? There’s some time before we need to be on track.” 

“That would be amazing, Osc.” 

“Right then, let’s go.” He nudged your legs off him, heaving himself to his feet with a groan that would usually be associated with someone much older than him. You threaded your fingers through his as soon as he finished popping all his joints like an old man, following his lead out of the room and the motorhome, all the way to the bright Ferrari red building a few doors down. 

Luckily, Charles was sitting at one of the tables in the main area, so you didn’t have to look far to find him. 

“Charles, mate, you got a second?” 

The aforementioned Monegasque tore his attention from his phone upon hearing Oscar’s voice, an easygoing smile already present on his face. “Oscar! What can I do for you, mate?” His eyes found you next, and he nodded politely. “Hello!” 

“Hi.” You said quietly, clinging to Oscar’s hand tightly. This feeling was foreign to you. You’d never been so stunned into silence by someone before, but maybe that was because you’d never met someone as well known as the Charles Leclerc. 

“This is my girlfriend. It’s her first time in the paddock and she’s a big fan of yours, figured I could introduce the two of you. Y/N, Charles. Charles, Y/N.” 

“Ah, yes, I’ve heard much about you!” Charles exclaimed, popping to his feet. He moved forward to embrace you, wrapping you in a warm hug like he’d known you for a long time, let alone just met you not even fifteen seconds ago. 

Oscar never really understood the whole hugging thing Charles had going on. Maybe it was a French thing. Either way, the hug seemed to have shaken you out of whatever starstruck daze you were in, because you straightened up. 

Charles smiled warmly. “Welcome to your first race. I trust they are treating you well over at McLaren?” 

“There’s definitely a few perks.” You replied, returning his infectious smile. You squeezed Oscar’s hand as you said it, and part of him felt a smidge proud that you considered him a perk. Charles laughed goodnaturedly. “I hate to sound so forward, but I wanted to say I love your music. The way you play piano is…the only way I can think to describe it is beautiful.” 

“Oh wow, you—thank you! That means a lot, thank you. Do you play?” 

“A little bit, but I haven’t had much time to sit at the bench lately.” You replied, giving a haphazard shrug. Charles nodded sympathetically, like he understood the troubles of carving out time to play. “D’you mind if I ask you a bit more about your inspiration while I’ve got you?”

“Of course, yes, yes, I would love to talk about it!” 

Oscar touched a hand to the small of your back to snag your attention for a second. He liked music as much as the next person, but not as much as you and Charles, it seemed. “I’ll be over there.” 

You nodded, popping up on your tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek before returning to your animated conversation with Charles. 

Now, Oscar wasn’t a jealous guy by any means. On the contrary he was always quite calm and collected, so he thought he’d be fine. Secretly a little miffed, sure. It was nothing he couldn’t handle, but actually seeing you go starry eyed while talking to Charles sparked something inside him. He didn’t know how hard he was squeezing the can in his hand until he felt liquid trickling down the sleeve of his fireproofs. 

“Ah, shit.” He muttered, shaking out his arm frustratedly. 

“Stare at her any harder and she might burst into flames, mate.” 

Oscar glanced to his left to see Lando standing there, arms crossed over his chest, expectant brow arched. 

“Dunno know what you’re talking about.” Oscar grumbled, moving to toss the now crumpled can into the nearest rubbish bin. Lando looked wildly unconvinced. “What?” 

“Don’t feed me that shit, Oscar, you’re way too easy to read for me to believe you’re not absolutely fucking in love with Y/N.” 

Oscar made an offended noise from the back of his throat. “I am not easy to read.” 

“Mate, you’re the openest book in the history of open books right now.” 

“Openest isn’t a word.” 

“Whatever! Stop deflecting.” Lando scoffed, wrinkling his nose. “You love her. Tell her that.” 

“I can’t. I mean, I shouldn’t.” 

“Why not?” 

“What if it’s too soon? What if she doesn’t feel the same way yet?” 

“You’re kidding, right? Please tell me you’re kidding.” Lando groaned, letting his head tilt back in exasperation. Oscar squinted at him, unamused. “Oh, you’re serious? Mate, come on. Just today, in the half a day I’ve known her, I’ve seen the way she looks at you when you’re not looking. I see the way you look at her when she’s not looking. It’s obvious. You’re both obnoxiously in love with each other, and it’s sickening.” 

The corners of Oscar’s mouth lifted into a grin. “Really?” 

“Oh my god, yes, really. I mean honestly, how dense can you be?” 

“A lot, it seems.” Oscar cast another glance at you, feeling a lot better than he had a few minutes ago. You were laughing at something Charles had said, but now all that was running through his mind was how pretty you looked when you laughed. How happy you looked talking to a person you held a lot of admiration for. Professional admiration, nothing more. 

Part of him felt a little guilty. He should’ve been supportive the whole time, not sulking around being a jealous little prick thinking you would ever choose Charles over him. 

“No point in overthinking it now, bro.” 

“Since when did you become such a wise old man?” 

“Oi, watch it, you muppet. I’m only two years older than you.” Lando huffed, rolling his eyes. “And I’ve always been wise, thank you for noticing.” 

“Sure you have.” 

“Tell her.” 

Oscar nodded once, accepting the clap on the shoulder Lando gave him. “I will. Thank you.” 

“Of course. And if you ever need any more advice, come on down to Lando’s love shack, where you can get—” 

“Leave now, I’m begging you.” Lando took the hint, wandering away to go wreak havoc somewhere else, leaving Oscar alone with his own thoughts as he waited for you to finish up. It wasn’t long until you were making your way back over, practically aglow with excitement as you approached him. “Made a new best friend, have you?” 

You snorted, clearly amused. “Oh, of course. We’ve already arranged to go on a double date when we’re all in Monaco at the same time.” 

“Ha ha, very funny. You do know Ferrari’s one of our top competitors, right?” Oscar laced his fingers through yours once more, letting your joined hands swing between the two of you as you walked. 

“You know what they say—keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. Consider my blossoming friendship with Charles your way into the heart and soul of Ferrari’s strategies. You’re welcome.” 

You were just joking, of course, and it made Oscar smile. Lando was right. Oscar was in love with you. He tugged you off the main path suddenly, leading you to a more secluded area between motorhomes. 

“Osc? What’re you—” You were entirely cut off by him stopping in his tracks, and before you could comprehend what was happening, he was kissing you. He curled a hand around the back of your neck, the other coming up to cup your cheek gently. 

It was by all means a sweet kiss, but a completely unexpected one nonetheless. Oscar had never been a public display of affection sort of guy before, so for him to kiss you out of the blue where anyone could see you…well, let's just say there was a first time for everything.

To say you were taken aback was an understatement. You let out a noise of surprise, but returned his kiss wholeheartedly as soon as you realized what was happening. 

“That was new.” You breathed as soon as he pulled away, splaying your palms across the firm plane of his chest to steady yourself after he’d kissed the living daylights out of you. Oscar’s eyes fluttered open slowly, a dazed grin stretching his lips. “You feeling alright, babe?” 

“I love you.” 

Immediately, you beamed, lighting up faster than a bonfire on a warm Melbourne night. “Yeah?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Well, it’s about damn time you said it.” You poked his chest playfully, stifling a giggle at the way he did the biggest double take ever at your words. 

“You—hang on, what?” 

“I was waiting for you to be the one to say it first.” You shrugged. Oscar’s brow scrunched in confusion now. “Didn’t wanna scare you off and lose one of the best things in my life.” 

“So…you do feel the same way?” 

You reached up, smoothing a stray curl away from his forehead fondly. “Do I love you? ‘Course I do. I think I’ve loved you since the first time we met.” 

“That was a good one, I should’ve said that. You’re so much better at this than I am.” 

“What can I say? I’ve got the best just some guy as my inspiration.” 

“I see what you did there. That’s gonna become a thing now, isn’t it?” 

“Oh, Osc,” You sighed, patting his cheek affectionately. “It already has.” 

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[r4fe-cam3ron]

— YOU WERE THE BEST, BUT YOU WERE THE WORST. | ex-boyfriend!r. cameron x reader

warnings; this is not canon to ‘outer banks’! this will definitely be a slight ooc rafe, slight fluff (short lived, i’m so sorry), hurt, no comfort </3, angst this is so long i apologize.

an; starting off my exbf!rafe masterlist RIGHT (hopefully, maybe) with this piece. honestly don’t know where the plot came from </3 i was thinking of what to right and was listening to ‘i love you, im sorry’ and it popped up in my head thankfully. feel free to leave requests for rafe/ex!rafe as well! but again — i am only on the second season sadly (soon i’ll be on the third! i’m just bad about watching shows). so any rafe requests will pertain to s1 & s2 as of right now! okay, i am done ranting - apologies </3

Double date night - something that you rarely look forward to, even if it’s just once every four months. Especially since it’s still slightly awkward between John B and Rafe, though, you don’t mind the boy. And you love spending time with Sarah. 

Sarah glances at you from the other side of the table, lifting her brows slightly. “We’ll be right back.” She stands from her chair, holding her hand out towards yours. You take her hand, standing with a small smile. 

“You both have to go at the same time?” Rafe asks, brows pinched slightly as he glances between the two of you, crystal blues lingering on you. John B discreetly nods in agreement. 

“Yes,” Sarah answers before you could say anything. “You wouldn’t understand. We’ll be back in five,” She pulls you with her but stops and turns once again. “Try not killing one another while we’re gone.” Her eyes stay on Rafe longer than John B. 

“Mhm.” He waves his hand, slumping back into his chair slightly. Sarah grins and pulls you towards the bathroom once again, stepping inside. 

“So?” She drops your hand. You turn towards her. “Did you open it?” 

“No,” You shake your head quickly. “I don’t…” Sighing, your shoulders drop. “I don’t know how to tell Rafe I even sent in an application,” Sarah’s smile slowly fades and her head tilts slightly. 

“He thinks I agreed on staying here with him while Ward is giving him more opportunities. After a year,” You lean against the sink. “I don’t know if he’ll be happy about it. Especially with it being so far.” 

“It’s a six hour drive,” Sarah deadpans. You stare down at the ground. Sure, it wasn’t that far. But you’d truly be homesick. She leans next to you. “Who knows, he might go with you.” 

“Yeah, right,” You scoff. “His home is here. He’s made that clear already, Sarah. Besides, I don’t even know if I’m going to go.” 

Sarah stares at you - eyes narrowed. “This is your future,” She points at you. “Rafe…he loves you,” She nods, face softening. “And he wants the best for you. He’ll understand. But the longer you wait to tell him…” She trails off, lips pressing into a tight line. 

You sigh and nod. Rafe will be, well, angry - even if the anger would be unnecessary. “I’ll talk to him,” You nod. “But, it’ll only be just a…hypothetical question I’ll ask.” 

Sarah groans slightly, shaking her head. “Insufferable, I tell you,” She mutters, pushing her hair back. “Alright, let’s get back out there so they’re not alone much longer.” 

You nod and follow her back to the table, sitting back down next to Rafe. His arm slings around the back of your chair within a matter of seconds and you lean into the touch, goosebumps raising slightly from where the tips of his fingers trace across your arm. 

Fumbling with your fingers on your lap, you’re unaware of how zoned out you are. 

You’ve always wanted to go to college - prove and make something of yourself and not end up like another woman on Kildare Island who marries for money and then stays in an unhappy relationship with a man who could care less if she even went missing. 

Your mother and father as an example. 

You’re not unhappy with Rafe, and you also know he’d do anything for you if you asked him - the food on his plate, the shirt off his back, anything. 

But, again, this is a chance to prove yourself - especially after many demeaning comments made in passing by friends or family. They always burned even if you laughed them off, nodding in agreement, then cry yourself to sleep that night. 

University of Georgia. Sarah was right. It was only a six hour drive - you could come back on weekends and stay. Yet, you still weren't sure if you’d gotten in. The letter was on your desk, sealed, and waiting to be ripped open with anxious hands. 

“You okay?” You blink a couple of times, looking over to meet Rafe’s gaze, his face melted with slight worry. 

“Yeah,” You smile softly. Sarah watches quietly. “Yeah, I’m okay. Just tired.” You whisper softly. 

Rafe nods and takes that as his cue, reaching into his wallet. “Here’s our half,” He passes Sarah the cash. “I have work early in the morning, so we are gonna go ahead and head out.” 

Sarah nods and stands, pulling you into a hug as Rafe stands off to the side, waiting patiently, though his stance was awkward. “Text me.” She whispers. You only nod, pulling away. 

“Bye, John B.” You wave as Rafe’s arm wraps around your waist, pulling you towards the exit. John B waves with a soft smile. 

You shiver when you step outside. “Dude is so weird,” Rafe mumbles, shaking his head as he pulls open the door for you. “Didn’t even talk the whole time you and Sarah were in the bathroom.” 

You roll your eyes and look at him. “Did you even try talking to him?” 

His bottom lip pushes out slightly as he shakes his head. “Nope,” He shuts the door and you watch as he rounds the truck, getting into the driver's side, quickly starting the engine. “Seat-warmer? On or off?” 

“On, please,” You watch as his finger presses the button. “And how do you expect him to start a conversation when he doesn’t know what to talk about with you?” 

“He could’ve said or asked anything. I’m an open book - I’ll let you know if I want to talk about it or not.” 

You hum and nod, leaning your head back into the headrest as your eyes slowly close. 

“Hey,” Slowly opening your eyes, you peek over at him. “Are you okay? You seem…” He trails off, trying and thinking of a word that doesn't seem offensive. “off?” 

“Oh,” You nod, reaching your hand over to grab him. He grips softly three times. “Yeah. I’m okay.” 

Rafe stares at you quietly. He knows you’re lying but he’s not the type to push unless it truly affects him. You’ll come to him when you want to talk about whatever is on your mind. 

Nodding, he squeezes your hand back three times. A smile pulls at your lips as your eyes drop to your hands. 

—

“I’ll be back. I’m gonna go grab something to drink,” You step out of the bathroom, dressy clothes switched for one of Rafe’s shirts and some shorts - movie attire. “You want anything?” He shakes his head and puts his phone down on the nightstand. 

“I’m good.” 

Nodding, you walk down the steps, leaving Rafe alone in your room. You move quickly, grabbing a water bottle from the refrigerator and a pack of gummy’s that were still in the bag from the quick grocery run you both had made earlier. 

Jogging back up the steps, you smile and kick your door shut gently. “Did you find a—” You stop when you see Rafe closer than expected, standing by your desk with an envelope in his hand. 

He holds it up. “What is this?” 

You shift, gulping quietly and averting your gaze but quickly look back. “Uhm…a letter.” 

“Yeah,” He scoffs, stepping closer. “I see that it’s a letter. When did you even apply?” 

You lift your right shoulder - a quick shrug, eyes now looking at the envelope he now holds rather than his face. “F…four months ago?” You wince, peeking up at him quickly before looking back down. “I was going to tell you—”

“Oh, you were?” 

“Yes,” You quickly nod. “Yes, I was. I haven’t even opened it. But even if I did get in, I don’t know if I’d truly go, Rafe. You’re overreacting.” 

“You never even told me you wanted to go to college,” He shakes his head, fingers itching to either crumble the letter or rip it. He was trying to hold it together. “We had a plan, remember?” 

“What plan? The one where we stay here while you work and I stay home and do the same thing over and over everyday? Have a kid or two?” Your eyes now lift to look at him. 

“Yes! That one,” He holds his arms out towards you. “The one we both agreed too.” 

“I never agreed to that. You made that plan yourself and just filled me in on it - never once asking what I wanted,” You scoff, pushing past him. “If you truly believed that’s what I wanted, you don’t know me at all.” 

“Then tell me what you actually want.” 

“I want a life!” You drop the stuff in your hands onto your mattress, turning towards him. “A life! One where…where I get a degree in something I enjoy! Or even own a little shop and sell…antiques or food or whatever,” 

“I don’t even know if I want kids, Rafe. I want…” You trail off, looking at him as you feel your eyes begin to sting. Don’t cry, don’t cry, do not cry. “I want someone who wants to…move, explore, do something that they want instead of listening to their parents because they think it’ll make them happy.” 

“You think I’m working there just to make my dad happy? You don’t think working there makes me happy?” 

It doesn’t. He’s been more angry - even at the littlest things. He looks more drained, tired. He doesn’t enjoy it, but if it gets his fathers praise or attention, he’ll do it. 

“No. I don’t,” You shake your head. You debated on even answering that question, but you notice how his expression changes slightly, the anger wavering. You step closer, staring up at him. “I know you aren’t happy, because I know you,” You place your hands on his chest softly. 

“I know you. But you don’t even know what I want.”

Rafe is silent now. You notice he’s grasping at straws to find something to say. Something to fight back with. You wait patiently, allowing him to conjure up something. 

“Me,” He lands on, brows slightly pinching together. You notice how tears line his waterline. “Me. You want me. A life with me.” 

“I do…I do so badly, Rafe,” You whisper, hands lifting to cup his cheeks. The tears roll down his cheeks now. He rarely ever cries. “But I also don’t want a life like my mom and dad,” Your thumbs push away at the tears. 

“I can’t have you getting upset or angry with me because I want to do something with my life,” You drop your chin slightly to follow his eyes when he looks away. “Georgia isn’t far away and you’re acting as if it is.” 

“That’s not…” His jaw clenches and he pulls away from your hold. You drop your hands by your side, watching as his eyes shut and he forcibly shakes his head quickly. “No. You’re being confusing. I’m not…I’m not angry or upset with this,” He holds up the letter. 

“I’m angry that you didn’t even want to talk to me about it.” 

“I have,” His head quickly turns to look at you. “I’ve told you so many times, Rafe, that I wanted to go. Because of how many times I’ve been told I’m not even smart enough to get into a school like that - that I’ll end up just like them.” 

“That’s being hypocritical, don’t you think?” 

Your face drops into confusion, head tilting. “What?” 

“You want to go to college to…prove yourself or whatever,” He waves his hand in the air. “But…you’re telling me I’m working for my dad because I want to get his praise or attention.” 

“That’s different—”

“It’s not any different,” His voice raises slightly, your mouth quickly shutting and eyes darting away as your arms cross over your chest. “We both want to prove ourselves to our parents and whoever else has doubted what we could do,” It feels weird to Rafe to admit that out loud. 

He looks down at the letter and holds it out towards you. Your eyes glance at him before his outstretched arm. “Open it.” 

Your eyes quickly look at him once again. Hesitantly, you reach out and pull the sealed letter from his grasp. Flipping it over, you try not to seem too desperate when ripping it open. The envelope falls to the ground as you unfold the paper, eyes darting over the words. 

Congratulations. 

Congratulations. 

A smile pulls at your lips, eyes looking up at Rafe who stands there, watching quietly. “I got in,” You whisper. He nods slightly and looks down at the paper that shakes slightly in your grasp. “I got in.” You voice a little louder, looking back at the letter. The tears that finally break loose and slide down your cheeks, drop onto the paper. 

“Congratulations.” Rafe nods. You quickly look back at him, placing the paper on your desk, stepping closer. 

“You could come with me,” You nod quickly, smiling softly as your hands cup his cheeks once again. “Yeah. You could come with me. We could get a small apartment close to the college - I wouldn’t have to live on campus,” 

He stares at you quietly. “We could actually live together. Come down every two or three weeks to visit friends and whoever else,” Your smile would usually be contagious - now it just makes him angry. Your touch is making it feel as if you’re burning him. 

“We could also stay for the weekend since it’s only a six hour drive,” You let out a small laugh, dropping your hands to his shoulders. “Rafe, come on. Act a little more—”

“What, happy?” His tone causes the smile to slip from your lips. His hands lift to wrap around your wrist, pushing your touch away from him. 

“Well, yeah,” You stare at him. “I’m…I’m telling you we could actually live together in our own space and you’re not even…” You trail off. 

“Yeah, well, I’m not exactly too happy that you decided it would be okay for me to just uproot my life from here to go with you.” Oh, Rafe, shut up, shut up, shut up.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“That I’m not doing that!” He throws his hands up. “I’m not leaving everything behind here that I’ve slowly worked through! Dad would never let me hear the end of it.” 

“Is this about me or your dad? Do you not remember when you used to come here just because he would kick you out for weeks before even letting you come back home?” Your own voice begins to raise. “Do you seriously trust him enough to work with him or is it just for the money that he is able to provide?” 

His jaw clenches and he shakes his head. “I don’t have to listen to this,” He walks past you and grabs the duffle bag that sits on your chair. You turn and watch him, lips parting as he begins to stuff his things into his bag. “I don’t have to listen to your version of a ‘perfect life’ when I can have that.” 

It’s like he’s trying to convince himself that he would still have that perfect life when you decide to leave everything behind - leave him behind. 

“You don’t think we could build something up together and have that be perfect?” You walk over towards him as he turns. He stops and stares down at you. “You don’t think we could build our own home together? Something better than here?” 

His lips pull into a tight line so he doesn’t say something he regrets. He steps into the bathroom, removing his stuff before stepping back towards his back. 

“Rafe…” You watch him. “Rafe, please. Why are you being like this? I just want you to talk—”

“I’m angry because you can leave but I can’t!” He turns towards you. You stumble back slightly but quickly regain composure, eyes widened slightly. “You can leave everything behind and you’ll be fine. But if I do…” He lets out a laugh which sounds more like a scoff before shaking his head. “I’m not you. I care too much.” 

“You…” You watch as he zips up his bag. “You think I don’t care? Why do you think I wanted you to come with me?!” 

“Money.” 

The anger that builds in your chest makes you feel as if you’re sweating profusely. “I would never be with you just because of the money and you know it, Rafe,” You jab your finger into his chest. “I love you! That’s why I wanted you to come with me! This whole argument could’ve been avoided if you’d just understand me!” 

“Yeah, well,” He grabs his keys from your desk. “You said you didn’t want to end up like your parents.” 

“Rafe, don’t do this,” You step closer. “You’re being irrational for no reason.” 

He glances back at you one last time - watches how your lip quivers, eyes pleading with him. “Please.” You whisper. His eyes drift over towards your desk, the letter on top taunting him. 

He steps out of your room, slamming the door behind himself. You stand there, staring at the closed door waiting for the moment he steps back in, laughing in your face about how he got you and you’d punch him in the arm. The night would continue with a movie and sour gummy worms. 

Yeah. That sounds perfect. 

But the sound of the front door opening and closing downstairs and the start of his truck has that wish shattering. You rush towards your window, peeking out the curtains. His tires squeal on the pavement as he backs out and speeds off. 

Pulling back, you slowly walk towards your bed and sit on the edge. Your eyes stare at the floor as your hands rest in your lap. Your heart beats uncomfortably fast. 

You slowly reach for your phone, immediately texting Sarah to come over. 

After the texts she sent go unanswered, she’s there within ten minutes and running up the steps. Opening the door, her eyes dart around the room, before they land on you. 

You slowly look over at her. “I got in.” 

Her smile is immediately, mouth parting to speak but she quickly stops when she watches your face crumble, a sob leaving your throat. The door shuts and she quickly walks over, pulling you close to her.

You cry until your eyes are heavy and your throat hurts. You pull away slowly and Sarah looks at you sadly. Your eyes linger on her skin, reaching over and wiping away your tears that had fallen, making a slight face. “I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t apologize,” She shakes her head, reaching for your hand. “What happened?”

The explanation was hard to get through, some tears and pauses along the way but Sarah nods, face remaining morphed into sadness. 

“Then he left.” 

Sarah lets out a small sigh. “I mean, he was rejected from that college. Maybe he’s just…” Your brows furrow slightly, head tilting. “Maybe he’s angry at himself - which doesn’t excuse—”

“Wait,” You quickly cut her off. “What do you mean, he was rejected from that college? When did Rafe even apply?” 

She stares at you quietly. “Uh,” She shifts. She thought Rafe might’ve told you - she thought wrong. “He applied last year. He was so excited when he got the letter. He had me open it because he was so nervous,”

Looking down at the loose thread on Sarah’s shorts, you frown at the thought of Rafe being excited then learning that it wasn’t what he was expecting. “He thought I was being mean,” Sarah nods. “I actually felt bad for him. He was…Rafe is smart - when he puts his mind to it. He had the grades for it. Especially when you two started talking,” 

Your eyes lift and she smiles sadly. “He hammered down then,” She nods. “Dad offered to, uh…” She shifts uncomfortably and messes with the bracelet on your wrist. “He offered to pay the school a lump sum of money.” 

“Rafe told him no, because he wanted to get in without that kind of help,” Sarah nods. “Dad laughed. He told Rafe he wasn’t sure why he thought he would be able to get in. He left for four days after that.” 

Thinking back, you remember one time when Rafe had come to your home closer to his graduation. He seemed more sad than what he usually did. When he stepped in, he mumbled some excuse about Rose wanting him out. 

“I never knew any of that. He didn’t tell me.” 

“I know,” Sarah nods. “That still doesn’t give him any right to say and do what he did to you though.” 

You nod, looking towards the picture frame on your dresser, shoulders dropping slightly. “I don’t know if I can leave now.” 

“Hey, no,” Sarah grabs your face and turns it back, lowering them to your shoulders once you’re staring at him. “You’re not backing out on this. This is your chance to have a future. You can talk to Rafe, but do not let him change your mind about going.” 

“This could’ve been avoided, Sarah.” Your lip quivers and head shakes. 

“It could’ve,” She agrees with a small nod. “But him seeing that letter did not need to cause this,” She motions towards your face. Did not need to cause crying for almost an hour straight. “He has every reason to be upset or jealous - whatever he feels. But he should feel happy for you.This is a big accomplishment.” 

Nodding a bit, you smile softly. “I’ll try talking to him,” She nods. “Thank you for coming. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” 

She smiles. “Not a lot.” She teases. 

You laugh softly, leaning your cheek over onto her arm that remains close to you. “Do you mind staying?” You whisper. 

“Not at all.”

—

| FOUR MONTHS LATER. 

| I know you’re not speaking to me. But I'd really like to see you before I leave. 

| Say a proper goodbye. 

| Please come with Sarah. 

READ AT 12:30PM. 

Your heart breaks but it’s something you’ve grown used to over the four months away from Rafe. Quickly dropping your phone, you look over when the door opens. 

Your mom smiles softly when she sees you folding a shirt, stuffing it into a suitcase. You’re leaving some clothes home, in your room, but taking some with you. Your dad had given you a free range of spending after learning about getting accepted. 

That’s the first time you’ve ever felt as if he was proud of you. 

“I can’t believe you're leaving me,” You turn and send your mom a small smile. “I’ll be home every four weeks unless something important comes up. And for holidays. You could also come see me.” 

“I don’t like driving and neither does your dad, you know that,” There’s something that wavers in her voice that has a frown pulling at your lips and fingers gripping the material you hold. She steps closer and clears her throat. “Are you sure you want to leave early?” 

You stare at her quietly for a moment as you actually think about backing out of this whole thing. You wanted to leave a month early so you can explore a new place, maybe meet some new friends. But you also didn’t want to leave everyone else behind. 

But you wanted to leave everyone behind at the same time. 

A part of you felt bad for leaving your mom - although another part doesn’t. She never really showed she cared, but maybe that wasn’t her fault. 

“I’m sure. I want to make sure I know where everything is,” You nod, turning back to your bag. You finish with the shirt in your hand, zipping up your bag. “Sarah, John B, and everyone's on their way to say bye.” 

She doesn’t know about the fight with Rafe. And you did not want to tell her - she’d find some way to blame you for it. 

You also didn’t feel like crying once again. 

She nods and smiles softly. “Come with me. Your dad said he’d get your bags.” 

You're surprised, but nod and follow behind her down the steps. Your dad was in the kitchen, giving you a small smile in passing before he walked upstairs. 

You turn your attention back, eyes dropping to a box. “What’s this?” 

“A care package,” She nods. You eye it before looking at her. “Do you…remember those homemade cookies we used to make with one another?” 

“Oh, I don’t—”

“I made some,” She quickly cuts you off. You, of course, remember making those cookies. They were the best cookies you’ve ever tasted - nothing has yet to top them yet. You were smush surprised she even made them. “Last night. I was…I was up late making this with some of the other snacks you used to like as well.” 

You pull the box closer, opening it and peeking inside. Your heart stops for a moment before glancing up. “Mom—”

She circles around and grabs your biceps softly. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there the most when you needed me,” Your eyes begin to sting. “When you were older. I should’ve stuck up more for you and been there. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” 

She pulls you towards her quickly, squeezing you tightly. You can’t remember the last time you hugged either one of your parents. Not one of those side hugs, or hugs that you do for a family portrait and quickly pull away after the flash goes off. 

An actual bone-crushing hug. 

Your arms slowly wrap around her, before your eyes slowly squeeze shut, moving closer. 

“My baby,” She whispers, pulling away and pressing a kiss to your temple. “I’m so sorry.” 

You smile softly, shaking your head quickly. “It’s okay.” You whisper, breath shuddering slightly as you wipe your tears with the back of your hand. She reaches up and wipes at your other cheek. 

“I’m so, so proud of you, you know?” 

It’s strange. The words she says have your face crumbling and another shaky breath escaping you. You never knew if she was truly ever proud of you or not - you still wasn’t for sure, the words could just be in the moment - but it still renders you breathless all the same. 

You jump slightly when you hear a honk outside. Your eyes dart towards the front door before glancing at your mom. She nods. “I’ll get your dad to carry this out too.” 

You nod and start to walk out of the kitchen. You pause and turn back around, hugging her tightly. “I love you, Mom.” You whisper softly. 

Her arms tighten once more for a second before releasing slightly. “I love you, sunshine.” Suddenly, you’re a little girl again, beaming at her when you pull away. 

You quickly walk outside, smiling softly when you see the people who are standing outside, waiting by your car. Walking over, JJ is the first to see you. 

“Hello, Miss Georgia.” He grins, walking over. Everyone glances over. You embrace him in a hug, smiling softly. 

“Hello, JJ,” You laugh softly, pulling away. “Thanks for coming. Sorry that it’s gonna be a short goodbye too - I want to get going before traffic hits.” 

“Then we better get to it,” Topper says from the side. “There’s a concert going on today.” 

You hum softly and hug JJ once again, patting his back softly. “Don’t get yourself into too much trouble.” 

“No promises.” It sounds like he sniffles at the end, but you pull away to hug Pope next as JJ turns and fixes his hat. 

“Make good choices and study.” He reminds you. You pull away and stare at him, grinning. 

“You’re so studious, Pope.” 

He smiles softly and pulls you into another quick hug, patting your back before moving to stand next to JJ. You hug Topper and Kelce next - a side hug, but it was still nice of them to come tell you goodbye. 

You hug Kiara next, promising to text her and send her pictures of the sunsets - mountains, too, if you go hiking. 

John B gives you a small smile. Sarah pushes him slightly. “She doesn’t bite,” She shakes her head. “Well—”

“Hush, Sarah,” You warn, hugging John B. You lower your voice. “Take care of her, okay?” 

He nods and steps away. You smile at Sarah and hug her tightly, feeling her fingers grip at the material of your shirt. “I’m sorry he didn’t come. I tried.” She whispers. 

You nod. “It’s okay…” You whisper. Pulling away, you smile and take a look at everyone. 

“I love you guys,” You nod. “Thanks for being here. It means a lot.” 

“Anything for you,” JJ smiles. “But we can’t watch you leave. Otherwise, we will follow you.” 

Letting out a small laugh, you nod. “Then you guys better go. I’m about to leave after I tell mom and dad bye.” You motion over your shoulder. 

They all walk towards their cars, goodbye’s and ‘I’ll see you soon’ filling the space. You watch as everyone disappears before turning. You see both your mom and dad standing and waiting patiently. Walking over, you smile. 

“Okay…I guess this is the part where we hug and I promise you I’ll see you both soon?” 

The man chuckles and pulls you close. “Exactly,” He pats your back, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. You allow yourself to be selfish and indulge in his attention. “I love you. Text when you get there, okay?” 

You nod. “I will. Thank you, dad.” 

He presses another quick kiss to the top of your head, pulling away. You step towards your mom first, pulling her into another tight hug. “Call me whenever you need to. When you want to come back.” She whispers. 

You smile and nod. “I will. I love you.” You feel her nod and you pull away from the both of them, walking towards your car and slipping inside. You glance in your rearview mirror, watching as your mom lingers on the doorstep as your dad passes by, stepping inside. You frown slightly. 

The attention he had given you was short lived. 

Sighing, you turn on your car and hover your thumb over the START button on maps. Your eyes lift once again towards the house. The door shuts once again. 

Your eyes begin to sting as you look away once again, clicking the button. 

“In .3 miles, make a left…” 

Rafe pauses as he watches your car make a quick left, disappearing from his view. Rubbing at his face, he looks over at the packed bags in his passenger seat. 

He backed out. 

He packed his bags. Drove to your home to see if the offer still stands - to see if you still wanted him to go with you. Then he stopped before he even pulled into the driveway. 

He didn’t know why he couldn’t push himself to do it, no matter how many times he kept saying that’s what he wanted. He wanted you. He wanted to make a home with you. Have that perfect life that you believed in. 

He didn’t know what was holding him back. 

Starting up his truck, he stares at the mailbox in front of your house. He clears his throat and quickly pulls into the driveway, getting out and making his way up to the door. He knocks and waits. 

Your dad answers, brows slightly lifted. “Oh, Rafe,” He then pinches them together in confusion. “Didn’t you already say goodbye?” 

“No,” He shakes his head quickly. “I, uh…I was at work.” He lies. 

“Well, I’m sorry, kid. You just missed her,” He motions towards the end of the driveway. “I could call if you want—”

“No,” He quickly stops him. “No…I don’t want to hold her up if she had a timeline she wanted to follow. Thank you, though, sir.” 

He nods and begins to shut the door. “Wait,” The door opens once again. “This might be…” He trails off. It wouldn’t be weird. As far as they know - hopefully - you both are still together. “Would it be okay if I go up to her room?” 

The older man’s brows lift slightly, shrugging. “I don’t see why not.” 

Rafe nods and steps inside when he steps away. “Thank you, sir. I’ll be quick.” He makes his way towards the steps, quickly jogging up them and towards your room. 

He opens the door, stepping inside before closing it behind himself. He slowly steps in and stuffs his hands in his pockets as he looks around the room. 

Sitting on the edge of your bed, he smiles to himself softly. It did feel strange sitting in your room, without you. 

His eyes land on the photo on the nightstand, picking it up carefully. It had been moved from your dresser, closer to your bed. He didn’t know if that was good or bad. 

His chin quivers and drags his thumb across the dried flowers that had been stuffed under the glass. They were from your second date - Rafe had been late, Ward holding him up to do something that could’ve waited.

He wanted Ward's approval and put you last. He thinks that was the first time he ever did that. You never held it against him. 

Kicking off his shoes, he shifts around in the bed as he lies on his side. He holds the frame close to his chest, arms crossing over it protectively. 

He was never the one to get close to people. It was a surprise that he had even let you get close enough that you knew his little tics he would do when he was nervous, lying, or joking. 

Close enough that you knew him better than he knew himself. 

More than he knew you. 

The thought makes his eyes squeeze alongside the painful squeeze of his heart, the heel of his palm pressing in between his brows. His phone is weighing heavily in his pocket - his mind screaming for him to just call. 

But he didn’t want to hold you back. He knew you were meant for something greater than this place. Your friends. Him. You deserved to prove yourself in a way he never could or never will be able too. 

He loved you too much to hold you back. 

He loves you too much. 

His eyes grow heavier, the hold on the frame loosening as he slowly falls asleep to the scent of your sheets that smelled of both you and him. 

That smelled of home.

— tags; @starkeyvhs ; @clairoscharm ; @oceanblvd111

| please do not steal my content! feedback, requests, comments, & reblogs are appreciated & very welcomed. ᢉ𐭩

[hellodarling1357]

Can i ask for Cassian x reader fic where the reader becomes friends with Bryaxis?👀

Like someday she decides to go down to the lower part of the library and meet the monster everyone is so afraid of... and finds Bryaxis, silly guy who just wants some friend to talk to. And the reader begins to visit him from time to time, chatting nicely and just having a good time

And poor Cassian so stressed out with these two😮‍💨

Friend and Foe

Hello!! Thank you for sending me this request, it was so much fun to write!! Sorry it took me so long but hopefully the Domestic Cassian makes up for it, we love a man who can cook 🥹

Bryaxis really is just a silly, goofy guy

Enjoy 🥰

Word Count: 3.1k

After being mated for all of two months, Cassian had basically begged you to move into the House of Wind with him. It really hadn’t taken much convincing, especially after Rhysand had ensured you that you wouldn’t be imposing.

So the very next day, your belongings were all packed, Rhys using his magic to move them for you, and Cassian was helping you do a final sweep over your old apartment, barely containing his excitement as he reassured you, yet again, that everything was sorted.

“Okay, I think I’m good. Ready to go?” You asked with a final glance around the room.

Cassian, who had given up on trying to convince you to stop fussing and had instead decided to sit on the floor by the window, jumped up with a broad grin stretched across his face.

“About time.” He teased, pressing a soft kiss to your lips, your forehead, then your nose, before wrapping an arm around your waist as he led you outside.

As soon as you had locked the door behind you, Cassian was scooping you into his arms and leaping into the sky, flying you towards your new home.

*****

You had been to the House of Wind multiple times, but this time felt different; you weren’t going there to visit Cassian, you were going there to live with him, to start your life with him.

You nuzzled your face into his neck, pressing kisses along it as he tightened his grip on you, quickly approaching the balcony that jutted out of the mountain.

Upon landing, you prepared yourself for Cassian to place you back on your feet. Instead, he shot you another wide grin and walked towards the balcony doors with you still in his arms, not letting you down until you had crossed the threshold.

“Welcome home, sweetheart.” He softly said before pulling you in for a kiss.

You smiled against his lips, realisation finally hitting that this would be your everyday from now on, the thought causing you to wrap your arms around his neck and tug him further down to you.

“Now, please remember,” Rhysand’s voice drawled, “this is still a shared space.”

You broke away from your mate, cheeks reddening in embarrassment, but Cassian simply looked annoyed at the interruption.

Giving him a sheepish smile you, for the hundredth time, thanked Rhys for letting you move in.

“Don’t mention it, it’ll be good to have you around.” He brushed off as Azriel entered the room.

“Especially if it means we no longer have to listen to Cassian complaining about how much he misses you, how far away you are, how—” But the Shadowsinger was cut off by Cassian throwing a book at his head and shooting him a glare.

You grinned at them all and laughed alongside Rhys, surprised at how quickly you had grown comfortable around Cassian’s brothers after only really meeting them a few weeks ago.

“Anyway,” Rhys interrupted, picking up on the taunt that was seconds from escaping Azriel’s lips, “We were just heading off. Figured we’d give you the night to…settle in”

With a wink at you and a teasing ruffle of Cassian’s hair, the two males made their way out towards the balcony before flapping their wings and heading towards Velaris.

“So…” Cassian started, eyeing you with an intensity that you had first seen after accepting the bond. “Where should we start?”

You knew he wasn’t talking about unpacking.

*****

It had been three months since you had moved into the House of Wind. Cassian had made space in his room for all of your belongings and the two of you had set out redecorating it together to make a space of your own.

You had fallen into a routine, not just with Cassian, but with Azriel as well.

Your mate had decided to take it upon himself to set up a training and defence program for you. But, when he first caught sight of you in your skintight Illyrian leathers, he had quickly decided it wouldn’t be the most productive use of your time and had handed the task over to Azriel instead; although, not before muttering to keep your leathers on for later, with a wink and a pat on your ass as he sauntered back inside.

You had also grown a lot closer to the rest of the Inner Circle, finding that there was always someone floating around if Cassian was away.

Now, however, you slumped into one of the plump armchairs and let out a sigh. Cassian and Azriel were both away checking in on the Illyrian war camps, Mor and Rhys were at the Hewn City, and Amren… you weren’t entirely comfortable spending time alone with her just yet.

Deciding you couldn’t spend another day aimlessly roaming around the house, you made your way towards the library that was built into the mountain.

You had dragged Cassian there after first moving in, spending hours marvelling at all of the books whilst your mate trailed after you, looking as though he wanted to be anywhere else. You, however, happily let him follow along, handing him book after book to carry for you with a cheeky grin that he couldn’t say no to.

This visit, however, had you wanting to explore the deeper parts of the library, with a sudden desire to browse through some of the ancient texts that you hadn’t had the chance to peruse yet.

The further down you went, the more intrigued you were by the seemingly never ending darkness that spiraled into the depths of the library.

Whether it was out of boredom or pure curiosity, you pulled one of the swinging lanterns from the wall and let it guide you through the inky black space, the lights from further up growing smaller and smaller with every step, the shelves of books coated in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs.

Despite the silence and the darkness of the unknown space, you felt at ease as you reached, what you could only assume to be, the bottom of the black pit.

Edging further into the space, the light coming from your lantern begun to flicker and you tensed at the sudden rustle of movement from behind you.

“Hello?” You cautiously called out, stretching the lantern further out to illuminate more of the room. Straining your ears, you listened closely for the slightest sound of movement, instead, however, a small cluttering sound bounced across the floor and ended by your feet.

Looking down you saw the small stone that had been thrown from the darkest corner of the space. Not quite knowing what to do, you slowly leant down to pick it up, turning it over in your hands a few times as you squinted into the darkness.

There was another quiet rustling noise and then another stone came into view, stopping where the other one had landed.

You picked this one up as well, your expression a mixture of puzzlement and amusement. With a quiet laugh to yourself, you gracefully threw the first stone back into the corner, watching it bounce across the floor before disappearing into the darkness.

A pleased sounding gasp of excitement filled the space around you and then the stone was bouncing back towards you in a hurried manner. You were smiling now, throwing both stones back and waiting with anticipation before they were sent your way again.

Still feeling unsure about playing this game with a creature shadowed by darkness, but not being one to question the weirdness that seemed to live within the Night Court, you sat cross legged on the ground and continued to bounce the stones back and forth.

“I’m Y/N, by the way.” You said into the darkness, feeling somewhat silly and not expecting the reply that followed.

“I know. I’m Bryaxis.” The chilling voice of the darkness replied.

*****

After that initial trip to the pit of the library, you found yourself heading down there at least once a week. You continued your game of throwing the stones back and forth but as the visits built up you found yourself asking questions about the creature and, in return, he provided you with a deep insight into the long forgotten histories of the world.

Walking back into the House of Wind after one of your library trips, you were surprised to find Cassian in the kitchen surrounded by numerous pots and pans and piles of food.

“Hi,” You greeted excitedly, leaning up on your tiptoes to plant a kiss on his cheek. “You’re back? I thought you wouldn’t be home for another few days. And you’re cooking?”

Hand still holding a wooden spoon, Cassian turned to face you, his other hand cupping your cheek as he lent down for a kiss.

“Hi,” He said against your lips. “Az took over for me,” Another kiss as he backed you against the counter. “Thought I would surprise you.”

You hummed against him, content in letting him wrap his free arm around your waist as he hoisted you onto the kitchen bench, legs coming up to wrap around his waist as you deepened the kiss and knotted your hands through his hair.

A sudden hissing sound had Cassian jumping back and turning in horror as the pot of boiling water started to splatter out across the stove.

“Where were you, anyway? You weren’t here when I got back.”

Content to have your mate beside you again, you absentmindedly swung your feet as you helped yourself to the pile of cut carrots he had set aside.

“Down in the library.” You answered between mouthfuls.

“Oh?”

You dipped the carrot into the bowl of a sauce looking substance, deciding you liked it and going back for seconds. Cassian, noticing this, flicked your nose and moved the sauce out of reach.

“That’s for later.”

You poked your tongue out as you jumped off the bench and moved to stand next to him as he stirred the still sizzling pot.

“Yeah, it’s a bit weird. A few weeks ago when you were away I got bored and wanted to explore the library a bit more,” Cassian turned his back so you helped yourself to whatever was simmering on the stove, earning your nose another flick and a sound of mock outrage from your mate.

“Anyway,” You continued as you lent against the bench, content in watching him cool for you. “I got right down to the bottom of the pit and met this creature,” You weren’t really sure how to describe your newfound friend, you had never actually seen his true form. “And we’ve sort of become friends, I guess?”

You laughed at the silliness of how it sounded, not noticing how Cassian tensed. “You never mentioned anyone else living in the library, his name is—“

“Bryaxis.” Cassian interjected, looking at you with an expression of horror and concern.

“Yes, that’s him” You said excitedly, still missing your mate’s distress.

“Y/N,” Cassian took your hands in his trembling ones and looked over you as though checking for any signs of harm. “Please tell me you’re joking. Did Rhys set you up?”

You stared back, surprised by his response, “Cass? What’s wrong?” But he didn’t seem to hear you.

“Have you seen him? Are you hurt? Y/N, how long has this been going on?”

“I’m fine? And no, he always stays in the dark. Why are you freaking out?”

But Cassian couldn’t answer, simply pulling you into a tight hug as he buried his face in your hair.

“Promise me you won’t go back.”

“Love, you’re starting to scare me—“

“Y/N, I need you to swear it to me. I can’t believe I didn’t know this was going on…” He trailed off, the haunted gleam still present in his eyes.

You were stunned by his reaction, not once had you seen Cassian acting so spooked. Sure, he tended to get a bit possessive around other males but this was entirely different, he seemed completely and utterly fearful of the thought of you being in Bryaxis’ presence.

“What happened? He’s never done anything to cause me harm. We just sit and talk and throw stones back and forth… Is there a reason he’s down there?” Maybe you had missed something, and Bryaxis was, in fact, some sort of monster.

Cassian pulled back, still somewhat wary but you could feel the tension leave his body.

“No, he’s always just been there. I had… an encounter with him, years ago—“

“Did he do something to you?” You cut in with concern.

“No, but… You said you haven’t seen him?”

You shook your head, still at a loss for what had brought all of this on.

“Good. Good,” Cassian muttered to himself now, turning back to finish dinner. You silently got some plates out for him to serve up and opened a bottle of wine, still watching your mate from the corner of your eye.

*****

You were both sat at the table but Cassian couldn’t seem to bring himself to eat, merely pushing his food around on his plate.

With a sigh, he looked up at you, “Y/N, you know I’d never usually ask this of you, and be so…,” He trailed off, swirling his wine before taking a sip. “Please, I really don’t want you going back down there.”

Now it was your turn to sigh, putting your fork down as you reached out to grasp his hand.

“How about this, you come down there with me—,” Cassian started to interject but you gave him a warning look to let you finish. “You come down there with me. You can see that he’s not this monster you seem to think he is, and if not, then we’ll talk about it. But I’m not just going to stop visiting, as weird as it sounds, he’s my friend.”

Cassian knew there would be no changing your mind on this, so with a grimace of a smile he reluctantly agreed, sighing at the beam of a smile that lit up your face.

*****

It had taken weeks to get Cassian back into the library, and not for a lack of trying on your part. Whenever you were both not doing anything, you would suggest heading down there. And every time you did, Cassian would suddenly have something he needed to do, or would mercilessly distract you and leave the library as a long forgotten thought in your mind.

This time was going to be different, you refused to let him weasel out of it again.

“Love, what’re you doing right now?” You innocently asked as you sat yourself in his lap, wrapping your arms around his neck.

“Nothing, nothing at all.” You expected as much, especially when he lent in and trailed lingering kisses along your neck.

“Good,” You stood up, pulling him with you. “Come with me.”

Your conspiratorial grin had Cassian thinking your mind was on something else, so he eagerly followed after you, pausing when you walked in the opposite direction of your bedroom.

“Sweetheart…?” You just walked back to him, holding his hand and dragging him alongside you.

Once you got to the library entrance, it finally clicked what you were doing.

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Cassian.” You said but he was slowly taking backwards steps away from the library door.

“I just remembered, Rhys needed me to—“

“No he doesn’t. I already checked.”

The frantic panic in his eyes had you almost feeling bad about deceiving him. Almost being the key word.

“Cassian,” The commanding tone of your voice had him stopping in his tracks. “If you don’t come down there with me, right now, then there’s no more sex.”

He gave you an unconvinced look, clearly thinking he was calling your bluff.

“I’m serious. This has gone on long enough. No more sex until you go down there. In fact, I’m staying at the town house until it’s done.”

Cassian stared you down with a torn expression of frustration and disbelief. You stared right back, letting out a sigh of relief as you watched determination spread over his face.

“Fine,” He was a man on a mission, marching towards the library and grabbing your hand in his as he walked by to keep you at his side. “Let’s get this over with.”

*****

You didn’t even try to stop your delighted grin as you headed down into the deepest depths of the library.

As the lights flickered and as darkness started to surround you both, you felt Cassian beginning to tense and slow his pace. Refusing to let him change his mind, you sent a wave of emotions down the bond that told him exactly what he would be missing if he bailed on you now. Cassian squeezed your hand in response, his steps picking up as you reached the bottom of the pit.

“Bryaxis?” You called out, rubbing your thumb in soothing circles over Cassian’s hand when you felt him tense up beside you.

There was movement to your left and then the lamp you had brought down with you flickered out. You could feel something curling around you, flicking your hair in a playful manner, causing you to smile. This was going to be fine.

You turned to Cassian to tell him as such, but the chilling voice that you had since grown accustomed to spoke up in a rasp.

“I didn’t think I would be seeing you again. Not after last time, Lord of Bloodshed.”

You sensed, more than saw, your friend move around your mate and that seemed to be too much for Cassian.

“No. No, Y/N, we’re done here.” And then he was holding onto your hand as though his life depended on it and bolted back towards the stairs.

Your confused laugh sounded out and was met by the amused laugh of Bryaxis swirling through the darkness.

“I’ll see you soon, friend.” His voice followed after you, all traces of the harrowing rasp he had used on Cassian was replaced by a genuine fondness.

“I won’t bring him next time,” You replied in farewell, gesturing towards your mate who was frantically trying to drag you away.

Cassian let out a groan. He knew there was nothing he could do to convince you to never come back down here. You gave his hand a reassuring pat, sending a wave of gratitude and love down the bond. You didn’t know what had happened between Cassian and Bryaxis during their last encounter, but at least your mate had tried to face him for you.

[wildrangers]

Hii, i have a matt smith fic idea, wherein it's matt's birthday and the reader have the most precious gift to him like she gifted him a box with a positive pregnancy test in there and matt's reaction is priceless and their dogs are also happy wiggling their tails and kissing them, just them having a precious moments

Hello anon, thanks so much for the request! 

Tropes & Topics: pregnancy, fluff

Word Count: 1K

Your heart’s in your throat as you gently place the bow on top of the final gift you’d prepared for Matt’s birthday. Gift giving is one of your love languages, so you’d been planning what to get him for months. What ended up being the biggest gift, however, was an unexpected surprise for both of you.

You and Matt had gotten engaged at the end of August, so the discussion of family planning had obviously come up. Both of you were open to kids but were also comfortable not having them; you used protection but, clearly, that wasn’t foolproof. You hoped this would be a happy  surprise for him as it had been for you once the shock wore off. 

You hear the door open, Matt’s gentle voice and the clack of Billy’s nails on the flooring drifting towards you in the kitchen. You take a deep, steadying breath as you stand up, ready to greet them since you’d been out all day at work. 

“Love?” he calls.

“Kitchen, darling” you respond, rearranging the stack of gifts next to his chocolate cake. Billy charges in and you kneel to greet him, scooping him up in your arms. 

“I should have known better” Matt grins at you, taking in the scene before him. “You’re incapable of not going all out for a birthday, even when you say you won’t.” 

“But it’s what you love about me, right?” you reply smiling, heart steadying as he wraps you in his arms, head resting atop your own.

“Of course, darling. Now, which one is the finale?” he questions before giving you a brief, sweet kiss. Since you love gift-giving, your tradition for every holiday or celebration is to allow Matt to pick any order for opening his gifts except the one you were most eager for him to have–that’s saved for last. 

Billy squirms so you place him on the ground before pointing out the oblong, newest addition to the stack, “Purple bow is last.” 

He nods, tearing into each gift and showering you with thanks and affection for each new item revealed to him. “Okay, last one” he looks at you, brows raised, as he gently shakes it, pretending to try and guess what’s inside, “Maybe a watch based on the shape?”

“It’ll certainly last you a lifetime” you reply and his head quirks in curiosity as he removes the wrapping paper. Any semblance of calm you’d managed to gain leaves as you tuck your hands into your sweatshirt pocket to hide their shaking.

He shoots you a playful look as he jokingly, painfully slowly raises the lid of the box, completely unaware that his dramatics, normally endearing, are skyrocketing your pulse even further. You force a smile but he must read something in the expression as he reaches for your hands that are safely tucked away from him. He looks at you uncertainly and you just nod towards the box. It’s always amazed you how much you two could communicate through looks alone. 

His eyes widen as he removes the pregnancy test from the tissue paper and you note the slight quiver of his hands. “Love?” he questions softly, eyes not leaving the item in his hands. 

“Hopefully a happy birthday surprise?” you say quietly, your voice breaking slightly on the final word. 

His eyes shoot to yours and he quickly pulls you back into his arms. “Of course, my love, the happiest surprise” he promises and you feel your shoulders loosen, tears gathering as you burrow into his chest. “I’m sorry I worried you, I’m just shocked.”

“Well, that makes two of us” you joke, pulling away slightly to look up at him, his arms still firmly around your shoulders. You two stare wordlessly into each other’s eyes for a moment before a huge grin splits his face. “What?” 

“You’re going to be the mother of my child” he whispers, almost in awe, and his hands move from your back to cup your face gently as he kisses your brow. “You’re going to be an incredible, incredible mother.”

You’d successfully fought back your tears but his statement pulls a quiet whimper from your throat as tears cascade down your cheeks. “You’ll be an even better father,” you reply, equally quiet. 

The grin never leaves his face as he gently kisses away each of your tears. “When are you due?”

“Late May” you smile, watching as he calculates the possible conception date based on that. 

“You’re joking” he laughs, pulling you into his chest again. 

“I’m not” you giggle, hugging him tighter around his middle.

“Our engagement celebration was a wild evening” he acknowledges and you nod, laughter erupting from your throat at the memory. He pulls away and drops to his knees before you. He carefully lifts the hem of your sweatshirt and you take it off completely, leaving yourself in just a crop top.

You watch as his hands reverently rise to your stomach, gently caressing just below your belly button before he closes his eyes and presses a series of soft kisses to the area. More tears rise to your eyes but you blink them back, wanting to imprint this memory into your very being so you never forget it. He lays his cheek on your stomach and you stay that way for a few breaths, soaking in this joyous, intimate moment. As you run your hands through his hair, you feel wet spots developing on your skin. “Matt?”

He looks up at you, eyes glossy, his smile somehow even wider. “We’re having a baby.”

“We’re having a baby” you confirm and he leaps up, lifting you off your feet to spin you around. You clutch his shoulders giggling as Billy yips around your ankles, swept up in the excitement. “We know, Billy, sorry, first human baby.”

“Oh shit, I shouldn’t be swinging you about!” he realizes, placing you back onto the floor, steadying you as you laugh more. 

“I’m fine, Matt, just don’t throw me and I’ll be fine…we’ll be fine.” 

“We have to tell everyone” he says eagerly, reaching for his phone.

“Babe, can we please eat cake first? I’ve been craving it all day.”

“Of course, my love, anything you and little one desire is yours.”

[msschemmenti]

sing with me please

emily prentiss x singer!reader

prompt: reader and emily are dating and she’s a rising artist on her first small tour. she’s been gone for weeks but is back in dc for a show. obviously emily is there and reader begs for emily to come on stage and sing their song with her to close out the show.

a/n: au inspired by this picture of paget and this series i’ve been writing for myself about a singing reader/oc. also this is not proofread at all. let me know what you think— and if you’re interested in more stuff like this :)

song featured : juna - clairo

“God, i can’t wait to see you.” y/n breathed down the phone quietly.

“Oh trust me, I’m right there with you. I’m starting to think I should’ve just taken the time off and gone with you.” Emily groaned into the phone from her desk.

“Oh I don’t want to hear it, I tried everything I could to get you to come along. And I mean everything. But you’re married to the job.” y/n replied with a tease.

“Aw, come on. I feel like I haven’t been here long enough to take three months off to follow my pop star girlfriend on her first-ever tour. Plus, it’s not like the world knows who you write all those love songs about anyway. And stop saying I’m married to the job, you know I hate that.” Emily all but whined.

“Right right right. Well, none of that matters now, because in just a few hours you’ll be front-row being serenaded for a good two hours.”

Emily grinned at the thought of having her girlfriend’s attention in a room full of fans. “Having my favorite singer’s attention in a room full of her adoring fans, sounds like a dream come true. What time should I get there?”

“Looks like this shoot is going to run over, so I might not be able to see you before the show. Either way, DeeDee has your name on the list already so you’ll be taken to your seat as soon as you’re there. Are you bringing anyone with you? I can give DeeDee their names too.” y/n rambled in thought.

Emily eyed the bullpen curiously, she hadn’t exactly thought to ask if anyone wanted to go with her. It felt a little too personal and after all this time on the team, she feared Garcia’s reaction to her having a serious girlfriend without her knowledge. “No, it’ll just be me. I’m sure everyone has plans. It is Friday after all.”

y/n chuckled softly at her girlfriend’s words, “Okay, make sure you text me when you get to the venue so I can let everyone know.”

“Yes ma’am. And after the show?” Emily asked hopefully. She really missed having her girlfriend home.

“I’m DC based for the next three months.” y/n grinned.

“Oh thank God.” Emily sighed in relief causing y/n to giggle softly.

“You can thank DeeDee for convincing the label to let me write and record here.”

“Well DeeDee has a very expensive bottle of wine with her name on it.”

There was a bit of shuffling on the other end of the phone and Emily knew the signs all too well, “Listen Em, I’ve got to go. They’re ready for the next outfit. Remember to text me.”

“Okay, I will. I’ll see you later.” Emily smiled.

“Yes, see you later. Love you.” y/n whispered before ending the call and handing her phone back to her manager.

-

“Hi DC.” y/n spoke into the microphone with a bright smile. The room filled with cheers almost instantly as she spoke and her cheeks grew red under the praise. “Oh you all are too sweet. How are we feeling tonight?”

y/n scanned the audience waving happily until her eyes fell on the VIP area she’d requested for Emily. Her eyes lighting up instantly as she caught Emily with her hands cupped around her mouth cheering with the other fans in the room. Sending a wink in her direction y/n spoke in the mic, “You all look so beautiful tonight. Thank you so much for coming out to my final show on my first tour. It’s been so fun meeting and talking to everyone but I’m very happy to be home. With that being said, let make this the best show yet!”

-

Emily was on cloud nine. She was absolutely beaming with pride and she couldn’t think of any place she’d rather be. When y/n said she’d be serenading her all night, she really hadn’t been kidding. As much as she could without making it too obvious, she practically spent the last two hours gazing lovingly into Emily’s eyes. And Emily felt mighty special. Her favorite voice, just for her.

“DC you’ve been so amazing tonight. I don’t think I’ve felt this happy in a long time. My favorite city, in a room full of my favorite people. It’s so so good to be home.” y/n spoke as the band set up for the last song of the night. “As you all know, we’re on our very last song and as much as I hate to end this night– I’m so excited to sleep in my own bed.”

y/n sat on the stool center stage and shuffled some papers on her music stand with a smile. She looked over to Emily with a mischievous smile that had her heart trying to beat out of her chest.

“This last one is very very special to me. It’s my biggest song and the reason I’m even on this tour. But more importantly, it’s about the most important person in my life. My love, my light, my muse.” y/n spoke eyes trained on Emily the entire time. The room awed and cheered happily at the mention of their favorite artist’s secret girlfriend. “I’m lucky to have her here with me tonight and I know she’s going to hate me for this but I wanna do something a lil different for my last show. Em, will you sing with me?”

Emily’s face was beyond red. She was staring at her girlfriend in shock and awe. Not only had she just told this room of people she was the muse for most of her discography but now she wanted her to get up on the stage to sing with her. She was shaking her head in disbelief and fear before she could even think about it. And she looked at her girlfriend like she’d grown a second head.

This only made y/n smile more, “Please Em. You’re my favorite duet partner and I’ve missed singing with you more than anything.”

Emily was cracking. Between y/n’s words and the adorable pout she was sporting there was only so much more she could take from the woman she loved before giving in.

“Everyone, let’s give her some encouragement. Can we chant ‘Emily!’? y/n asked the audience and like the loyal fans they are, their screams filled the room. And there was really nothing Emily could do at that point. Throwing her hands up in surrender, she walked toward the stage looking extremely nervous as the room cheered.

y/n moved to help Emily up the stairs and onto the stage with a blinding smile. “I can’t believe you just did that.” Emily grumbled softly as she rested her forehead against her girlfriend’s.

“Kinda surprised you came up.” y/n grinned so hard her cheeks hurt.

“Well, you unfortunately know that i will do anything for you baby. and you sure know how to milk it.” Emily replied and smiled as y/n pulled her toward the stool. She sat Emily down and turned toward the crowd.

“Alright everybody, this is the last one. If you know it sing along.” y/n placed the microphone on the mic stand. She could practically feel Emily’s nerves radiating off of her but knew once this moment would live with them for as long as they lived. y/n stood between her legs and placed a kiss on her nose lovingly before cueing the band to start the song. “Just you and me, like at home.” She coaxed before she started singing the opening line of the song.

“Come to me slowly. It's when you talk close enough that I feel it on my skin, breathe it in.”

The room buzzed in anticipation when y/n nudged Emily softly and stroked her cheek in encouragement. Emily was nervous but she truly felt like she could do anything with her girlfriend’s eyes trained on her. “Most of these days I don’t get too intimate. Why would I let you in? But I think again.”

y/n smiled instantly, throwing in some of the background vocals while Emily sang. She started timidly but with the love shining in y/n’s eyes, she grew more confident with the words. Plus the cheers from the audience helped quite a bit. They joined together sweetly, Emily taking the melody and y/n harmonizing with her as they went. “I don’t even try. I don’t have to think. With you, there’s no pretending.”

When they got to the chorus y/n smiled and turned her head to the crowd, “Come on everyone, You know me, you know me. And I just might know you too.”

The smiles on both women’s faces were permanent as y/n pulled Emily up to dance with her across the stage. In a room surrounded by people who loved her girlfriend, she knew without a doubt that none of them could compete with her. They finished the song with the help of the crowd and when the music came to an end, everyone screamed their appreciation. y/n grabbed Emily’s hand and pulled her into center stage with a laugh.

“DC, give it up for the love of my life!” And despite y/n’s hand on the small of her back, Emily timidly tried to hide from the praise. The applause died down a bit and they wished everyone a farewell before heading backstage.

Finally in the quiet of her dressing room, y/n pulled Emily into a bruising kiss. Pulling away was not a priority, but when it became a necessity their foreheads rested together.

“DC give it up for the love of my life?” Emily teased.

“Yeah. That’s you.” y/n shrugged with a smile.

“Mmhmm, is that so?” Emily asked, squeezing her waist.

“It better be so. I’m sure it’s all over the internet by now babe.”

Emily groaned, “Of course it is. You are so lucky I love you.”

y/n shrugged with a smile and reached up to pinch Emily’s cheek, “Oh I know baby, and I wake up every morning so grateful. And lucky me, I get to wake up in your arms for the next three months.”

Emily sighed happily, pulling the singer into a hug. She mentally prayed for the serial killers of the world to chill out for the foreseeable future and kissed y/n’s head. “Welcome home my love.”

-

y/n

liked by prentissemily, and 9,000 others

dc, i love you. but not as much as i love em.

thank you for an amazing first tour. my heart is so full and i can’t wait for the next one. y/n 2 loading…

ps. whoever took that second picture— i owe you my LIFE

pennythegreat @prentissemily — rue when was this?

prentissemily literally what does this mean?

prentissemily my superstar xx

y/n my muse xx

[lunajay33]

Change Part.2

•🩰🎀🩷•

Summary: Y/n is a loner but loves ballet but her family doesn’t have enough money for her to dance at the studio, Daryl is a redneck who hates people and prefers bikes, until one day these two run into eachother and their lives change drastically, will Daryl toughen her up? Will y/n soften Daryl? Or both? How will things go when people start coming back from the dead

Pairing: Young Daryl Dixon x f!reader

A/n: This is going to be a series, it’s gonna start with how they met eachother and their lives before the apocalypse, eventually it’ll blend with twd story line!!

Part.1

•Masterlist•

It had been a week since Daryl and I’s first time hanging out and things have been nice, if that’s the word that could describe complete peace and acceptance around him, he’s the first person to ever see me for me and treat me normally, like o wasn’t a burden or a weirdo quiet loner

At school we’d help each other throughout class, well mostly me helping him when he didn’t know the answer to a question on our daily biology work book, and he started to sit with me on the bench behind the school bordering the towns woods, same as today

“So what do you have for lunch?” I asked as I sat cross cross facing him

“Just a sandwich, sucks” he said shrugging his shoulders

“Here you can have my chips” I said handing him my little bag of sour cream and onions chips

“Nah it’s yers” he said waving his hand

“You’re having them” I said placing them down next to him so he couldn’t refuse

“I’m not that hungry anyways so it’s fine” I said as I took another bite out of my green apple, I don’t know why but I’ve just lost my appetite lately, maybe it was the stress at work plus home life plus school stacked on top of each other but I tried not to think about it too much

“Ya sure? Ya should eat more” he said squinting at me

“I’ll be fine I’ll just eat when I get home maybe…..maybe if you’re not doing anything would you like to come over?” I asked hesitantly, we haven’t hung out, outside of school since Sunday and now it was Friday and I was just crawling to be alone with him again

“Sure, I ain’t got nothing going on” he said as he ripped open the chips but I swear I saw a faint smile

The bell rang signalling the end of the day, I went to my locker, pulled on my coat and stuff my textbooks into my bag for the homework I had to do over the weekend, I closed my locker jumping when I saw Daryl already there with a smirk

“Jerk you scared me” I said laughing as we started heading for the exit, the gust of fall air felt amazing, fall was always my favorite the leave turning to burnt orange and falling to the ground, the wind with the aroma of wet leaves it was comforting

We got some weird stares from people like the snotty preppy girls but when I looked at the football team all huddled by the car lot by heart dropped, Jackson looked at me with so much hatred and I knew it was because he hated the dixons, I wasn’t embarrassed of Daryl, he’s my friend I was just scared of what Jackson would do

We continued walking towards my house, it was silent most of the way

“So….how much more money do ya gotta save for ballet lessons” he asked his hands stuffed in his baggy cargo pants

“Well the lessons are a hundred dollars a month so for a year it would be twelve hundred a year so I’m really far off, I only get paid 9 dollars an hour at the dinner and i don’t get that many shifts so it’s starting to become just a dream plus I’m probably too old now” I said upset knowing now that doing the math I’d probably never get to be that ballerina I always craved to be, to dance in those pink slippers and tights, to feel the music move me

“I can help ya, I got some extra money” he said with these hopefully eyes I’ve never really seen on him before and it made my heart thump

“Are Daryl I can’t have you do that, it’s your money you worked hard for, it’s okay I’ll just watch Swan lake over and over again” I said laughing pathetically trying to make this situation not as awkward and sad, but wasn’t that just me? Awkward and sad

“But it’s yer dream”

“Ya it’s just a dream but it’s fine Daryl, I’m sure I can find something else to make me happy” I said smiling at him as we finally made it to my house, we went straight to my room dropping our bags and stripping our jackets to flop down on the bed and just look at the ceiling

“Show me this swan lake yer always talkin ‘bout” he said as he laid his arm behind his head looking at me with a smile that warmed my heart, if this is what having friends was like I’m glad I finally had one

“Okay!” I said as I jumped up and put in the vhs into my dingy old tv hearing the tape wind up and appear on screen all grainy but beautiful, I sat back down next to Daryl as we watch the whole dance I knew every move, every turn of music notes it was amazing

The black swan was devastatingly beautiful, and the song change when she appears hits me deep inside and my skin shivers with amazement every after the numerous amount of times I’ve watched this, then it was over and the tape cut off

“So how did you like it?” I asked excited for his impression

“I ain’t one fer this kinda thang but it was…….cool”

“It’s kinda like us, I’m the white swan that everyone runs over and you’re the strong black swan, sad and beautiful” his face turned red as he cleared his throat and looked away

“Nah stop that” it was cute making him embarrased in a sweet way

“Well it’s true maybe you could learn it and dance with me” I said 100% joking knowing that would never happen but would be funny to see

“I ain’t gonna do that, but…..I’ll watch ya dance” he said looking back at me the pink tint still lingering on his cheeks

“I just need slippers first” I said laying back down next to him

We must have fell asleep because we were abruptly woken up to my door slamming open and Jackson and his one jerk friend coming in, we shot up in bed and I instantly felt scared

“Jackson what are you doing?”

“Really a Dixon, I knew you were a slut” he said as his friend laughed

“What no he’s my friend, just leave”

“If you’re gonna sleep with whoever what about my friend here” his friend came up to me grabbing my arm and trying to drag me off the bed but I held on tight to the sheets

“Leave me alone, let go” I said panicking, I felt his grip let go and when I looked Daryl had him on the ground punching his face in, Jackson grabbed him and threw him back

“Get the hell outta here, ya ever touch her again and yer dead, I swear I’ll kill ya” Daryl groaned as they both left shutting the door

Daryl led me back to sitting on the bed, his touch was comforting and warm compared to the harsh cold grip I was just in

“Are ya okay?” He asked making me look at him as he wiped my tears away

“I think I’m gonna be sick” I whined the anxiety so high I didn’t know what to do

“Shhhh yer safe now just breath”

He helped me relax but that thought of not being safe alone scared me, what if Daryl wasn’t here? What would’ve happened?

“Daryl….will you stay with me tonight?”

“I don’t know ya sure ya want me here”

“Please I’m scared to be alone with them here”

“If that’s what ya want” he said getting up and taking some blankets from my closet setting up a makeshift bed on the floor right next to my bed, the adrenaline crush was hitting me hard and I was exhausted, I laid down facing him, seeing him sprawled out just as tired as me

The moonlight from the window was bathing Daryl in a silver hue, he looked almost ethereal and I felt my heart thump again, I’m glad I met Daryl and that we were paired in class, he feels safe, he feels like……like my hope

“Goodnight Daryl”

“Goodnight ballerina” he said huffing a little laugh but my heart filled with joy hearing that, this was my first sleepover ever and it wasn’t how I thought I would start but I’m glad he’s here non the less

Part.3!

Taglist: @pinchofthetwd @bigbaldheadname @strawberrykiwisdogog @h0n3y-l3m0n05 @l0kilaufeys0n7 @welcumetomyescape @severelykinky @tesfayera @daryldixmedown

[darkniters]

jschlatt who gets you to appear briefly in a video

in the video, things are about to change, schlatt talks about how the content on his channel is going to not constantly be tiktok reaction videos.

however, he really needed someone to hone the point home for the audience that he doesnt want to keep up this content anymore (like he needed it, i doubt we wanted it too)

one evening, after editing the video, he walks out to the main living area of the apartment, where he sees you lounging about on your phone, cats laying on either side of you.

he smiles, he then circles around and comes in front of you, sitting in the small space left on the couch. as you lower your phone, you offer him a small smile.

he begins his proposition: “how’d you like to appear in a jschlatt video, sweetheart?” he offers quietly, his voice gentle as if he went any louder it’ll falter your decision.

you look at him confused, you didnt NOT want to appear, but this came out of nowhere. you never discussed anything about you appearing on camera or making you guys public, so the proposal took you by surprise.

“whats it for?” you quiz, not entirely sure where this is leading. he smiles in return.

“i need you to pretend to tell me off, in a sense. you know like, ‘schlatt we’re going broke you gotta stop tiktok reacting’ or something. nothing serious, and if you dont want to its okay.” he explains. you nod your head, imagining how it would go down.

“yeah i can do that, do you wanna do it now?” you ask. you lift yourself up from the couch, the two cats meowing in discontent due to the shifts in weight.

“yeah if you dont mind, i’ll just pretend you come into the room and do it.” he stands up and reaches out his hand for you to grab, and you both make your way into his recording room.

he sits himself down in the chair, and then gets his recording software up and running. once everything is tested and ready, like his mic and such, he turns his body to you.

“alright so yeah, just come in and say like ‘you gotta stop tiktok reactions its ruining this family’ or something really over dramatic. just a quick bit, nothing more.” he explains.

“right, got it.” you nod. you leave the room and close the door behind you. schlatt starts blabbering on about something, and then yoy open up the door.

“schlatt you gotta stop making tiktok reaction videos, we can’t afford to live here anymore.” you say sadly. he looks at you with a distraught look in his eyes.

“oh god.” he lets out breathily. “oh fuck.” he stares into the camera.

“somethings gotta change around here.”

he then suddenly breaks character and bursts out laughing. “that was perfect thank you so much.”

he stops the recording and bounds over to you, wrapping his arms around you and pecks your forehead, then your lips. “you’re so good.” he whispers.

“thank you,” you breathe back, pecking him again on the lips. “can’t wait to watch it back when it’s uploaded.”

-

a few months later, the videos live, and you’ve forgotten about the bit you both did.

“even my girlfriend has had enough of my bullshit!” he exclaims through the screen. when suddenly a familiar scene plays on your screen.

you smile, and you see yourself doing some horrible acting, not looking good but looking decent, hair flat and wearing loose clothes.

schlatt leaves the office, and offers you a grin.

“videos live, i hear youre already watching it?” he asks, hearing the video play through your phone. you nod, looking at both of you stare eachother out on your screen. then. you notice something.

schlatts eyes can be seen from the side of his face, and his eyes are bright and glistening as they stare at you, before they lose some color when he looks to the screen.

his eyes are filled with so much love for you, and his audience, hopefully, will see that too.

[juletheghoul]

Chores

AN: So, things got in the way - as they usually do and I couldn't post on Sunday. Hopefully this makes up for it! This is the third installment, part one is The Party, and part two is The Date. This is totally unbeta’d, so expect a few mistakes lol. Hope you enjoy xox. 

Pairing; Frankie Morales x f!reader

Warnings;  piv sex (wrap it up), swearing, dirty talk, Frankie eats pussy like the champion he is, a tiny little ball tug lol, creampie, let me know if I missed anything.

Word count; 2.1k

reblogs are appreciated

Masterlist

He’d been at your place the whole weekend, most of the week too. There were more and more of his things popping up amongst yours, a flannel draped over the back of your couch, his smaller toolbox near your front door, a toothbrush plopped in the cup beside yours on the sink. You saw them all, and relished the way they made your insides feel all warm and fuzzy. Relished how he managed to make you feel safe with his jacket hanging on the coat rack and his big work boots by the door. 

His presence in your home, in your life—your bed, was so welcome. Necessary even. 

Crucial. 

It had been months since that first date, when the dinner reservation had been missed, replaced with ordering in and a night full of sex and laughter. Months of learning everything there was to learn about one another; like the way he took his coffee. Or the fact that he snored, even though he insisted that he didn’t. You’ve learned that he’s thoughtful. He notices, he listens. 

He’s a quick study, both inside and outside the bedroom. 

He’s an avid reader. He wears glasses. 

He prefers action movies and thrillers, grumbles playfully when you put on a romcom but always gets invested, nonetheless. He’s a great cook, but he can’t bake for shit. 

You’ve learned that despite already having been married, he’d been an intensely lonely man.

You watch him from your place at the table, enjoying the breakfast he’d made for the two of you. The messy halo that is his hair, combined with the worn cotton of his t-shirt make him almost irresistible. 

“Anything you want to do today?” He smiles, catching you staring. 

“I have a few things in mind.” You smile back. “Laundry’s piling up, some groceries definitely wouldn’t hurt.” 

He hums around a sip of coffee.

“You got a list? I can go for you.” Your mouth cracks open with a smile.

“You’d go for me?” You reach your hand over towards him and he takes it instantly, his dimple making its first appearance of the day. 

“Of course, baby. Make me a list, I’ll go, while you start the laundry.” He pulls you gently from where you sit and you let him guide you around the table to sit across his knees. “Of course—“ He skims the tip of his nose along the column of your throat, his lips pressing soft kisses as his arms wrap around you oh so comfortingly. “It’ll cost you.”

“Oh, and just what exactly is it gonna cost me?” You wrap your arms around his neck, curling your fingers into the thick waves of hair at the back of his head. 

“I haven’t decided yet.” His lips are petal soft against the exposed skin of your shoulder. “Maybe I wanna spread you out and use my tongue, just how you like.” You shiver at the tone of his words, pressing yourself closer.

“Now how am I supposed to get anything done when you say things like that?” You pull his face up to kiss him, soft and sweet.

“Because it’s better when you wait a little, you get all wet thinking about it, just how I like.” He presses his lips to yours, chaste for a moment before slanting his head to kiss you properly and lick into your mouth, pulling a moan from somewhere in your throat.  

He pulls away just as quick as he started.

“Okay, let’s do what we have to do.” He smiles, and you try to remember how to function. 

-

The machine vibrates against your hip, the spin cycle doing its thing and while you wait, you think of him. You practically feel him inside, the stretch of him, the way he likes to hold your thighs open for his tongue. It’s enough to make you hum dreamily, to make you smile, to make you drip into your panties. 

The blissed-out smile shifts into a frustrated eye roll.

That tease, with the lingering kiss he’d laid on you at the door, the meaty grab of your ass before jogging out to his truck–grocery list in hand. The machine chimes, and you turn away from your steamy thoughts with a sigh, trying–and failing–to focus on the task at hand.

-

You catch him smiling as he tucks the purchases away. He notices, but never acknowledges the way you’re ogling him. He knows his words had the desired effect, and can see it in the way your hands fidget, the way you practically vibrate. 

“How’s the laundry coming along?” the innocent words do not match the sultry tone of his voice in the slightest. He thinks he’s so fucking slick, and most of the time he is but you know he’s just as wound up as you are. You can see it too, the way his eyes have tracked your every movement since he stepped through the door–the way his thumb swipes across his bottom lip every so often. 

“Last load is in the dryer.” Your voice is light, and you wait for him to turn to look at you before walking out of the kitchen and towards the bedroom, knowing in your heart he’ll follow. 

You aren’t in the bedroom ten minutes before he proves you right, finding you undressing casually. 

“What are you doing, baby?” He stands at the door, arms crossed and leaning against the frame.

“I’m going to lay here, naked, and spread out–just how you wanted me.” You toss discarded clothing items into the laundry basket as you speak to him, smiling at the hungry look on his face, “isn’t that what you said?” You unclip your bra, his gaze raking over you greedily as he moves to join you. You watch him now, your bottom lip caught between your teeth as those big hands you love pull his soft cotton t-shirt up and off, revealing that golden skin you can practically taste. 

“Are you now?” He asks even as he watches you scoot back, his tongue dipping out to wet his lip as your legs drop open, showing him just how right he was about the state you’d be in. “God, I can see how fucking wet you are from here.” He already sounds wrecked, his voice dripping in lust, in love. 

You smile from your place on the bed, leaning on one elbow while your other hand slides down to where his eyes are locked, fingers dipping into the pool of slick with his name on it to give your clit a quick, delicious swirl. 

“All yours Frankie, baby.” You spread the lips of your sex open and he groans, now frantic to kick his layers away in his haste to reach you. 

He all but growls, his hand wrapping around the reddened tip of his cock, giving it a couple of strokes before he falls into the bed, and your arms. 

There is no preamble in his kiss, no warm up, no chastity. His tongue is obscene, it seeks out yours and lays down the law. His kiss heats your blood, it makes your pussy throb, makes you all slippery for him. It claims you for his own every single time and when he moves his mouth down to your jaw, your neck and further down still, it leaves you drunk. 

Your fingers run through his hair when he latches onto one nipple, and then the other, teasing you further still. 

“God–I wanted this all fucking day–” You can’t help but gasp when he uses his teeth, the tiny edge of pain heightening the arousal, a boyish grin on his face as his tongue soothes. 

“I know baby, me too, thought about this–” He positions you how he wants you, legs up, bent and open. His hands pull you closer to his mouth, roughly and he stares at your cunt like it’s the gates of heaven, “been daydreaming about tasting you all fucking day.” He dives in, his tongue slipping in as far as he can to drink you down from the source before honing in on the center of your universe. 

Just like his mouth lays claim to yours when he kisses you, his tongue lays claim to your cunt when he eats it. He relishes it, savors it. For him it’s an art, and he’s a prodigy. 

It’s embarrassing how fast he manages to have you mewling. 

His fingers spread your lips open, exposing the plump little jewel of your pleasure for his mouth. He smiles before letting his saliva drip onto it, chasing it with tongue. 

“Oh fuck–” his rhythm is perfect, precise, the wet steady glide of his tongue rocketing you towards your orgasm much faster than he had any right to and when his fingers slide in to slowly tap tap tap at the spot only he ever seems to find, your universe explodes. The orgasm rips through you like a sunburst, lighting up all of the nerves in your body as you float away. 

He slows, but doesn’t stop. 

It’s less intense, but no less passionate, his tongue moving again to drink your release down, moving away only to lick your slick off of his fingers. He places a kiss on your mound, another on your belly, trailing them up and stopping to once again give your breasts the attention they deserve. 

“Good?” He skims his nose along your neck, waiting until the gears of your mind start up again. 

“Uh-huh,” Your arms feel heavy but you need him closer and you wrap them around his neck to pull his mouth towards yours, “you always make it so good.” you can taste yourself in his kiss and it always gives you a thrill. “How do you want me?” 

“On your knees.” He scoots back, his hands landing heavy on your hips to get you where he wants you, and despite him having turned your legs to jelly, you scramble to get there. 

His palm lands a solid crack on the cheek of your ass and you let out a breathless laugh, his eagerness to slip inside the slick fist of your pussy ramping up your arousal once more. He doesn’t disappoint, he never does. 

Even with the stretch of his fingers, even with the way you’ve been aching for this all day, it’s intense.

“There it fucking is,” your heart races, the sound of his voice, the fucked out tone of it is enough to make you moan, “how do you always feel so fucking good, huh?” He punctuates his question with a harder thrust, the blunt tip of his cock practically hitting your womb. 

You have no words for him, all you can do is press your face into the mattress and focus on the bruising grip of his hands on your hips, on the wet sounds between your legs, on the way your nipples rub against the rumpled sheets beneath you. 

“No words for me?” He’s cocky, in more ways than one as he thrusts into you hard enough to make your flesh bounce. “This what you wanted?” his words are breathless, but his rhythm is steady, “You wanted my big dick huh baby?” you moan because yes, this is exactly what you wanted.

He doesn’t falter as he leans forward, draping himself over your back, his hand sliding around from your hip to swirl around your clit and the effect is almost instant. Your legs tense as he pulls a shorter, but more intense climax out of you. 

“That’s it, get me all fucking wet.” He breathes the words into your shoulder, and now he’s somehow pressing closer, getting as deep as he can get. 

His breath ghosts along your skin where his face is pressed against your shoulder, raising goosebumps in its wake and all you want in this moment is to have him fall apart. His strokes are steady as the idea pops into your head and you’re almost drunk on the effect it’ll have on him. You reach down between your legs and gently grab his balls, tugging at them softly. 

It’s like pressing a button, and he explodes inside you. You relish the punched-out groan he lets out when he fills you with his come, grinding it deep as he collapses onto your back. 

It takes him a minute to catch his breath. 

“Good?” You ask him, mirroring his tone from earlier and he lets out a breathless laugh. 

“Yes, you fucking got me.” He pulls out with a hiss and lays next to you, a blissed out smile on his face, letting out a deep breath before pulling you to lay your head onto his chest. Golden hour shines through the cracks in the curtains, and the comforting thump thump thump of his heart under your ear lulls you, makes you tired and sleepy. He hums, his heart slowing down and now he’s tired too, and the two of you fall asleep together, tangled up and comfortable.

-

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[5ueckers]

you belong with me — teaser

a/n : i wanted to have this finished by today but 😢 here's a lil snippet instead! for context, this specific part takes place in july of 2019, before the start of p's senior year of high school, and reader is her best friend and teammate. happy valentine's! 💕

paige doesn’t get what you see in him.

for one, he’s really not that cute, contrary to what all your other friends believe— there are a million five–foot–ten boys with curly blond hair and green eyes in the world, and you’re pretty enough to have any one of them that you want. for two, he’s so boring. he’s always got you holed up at his ridiculously large house doing something lame, when you could be with her, actually having fun. and lastly, he’s not even that good of a boyfriend. sure, he takes you out on dates and drives you around in his stupid car and surprises you with flowers and gifts, but those are all things she’s done for you and she’s only your friend. it’s the bare minimum, and you deserve a lot better than that; you deserve the world.

she thinks she might actually be sick, watching him tuck a stray piece of hair behind your ear and smile at you, leaning in for a kiss. his face is actually so gross, she gags.

“stop, leave her be,” azzi’s voice comes with a little laugh as her hand closes around paige’s forearm, tugging playfully, but the blonde still struggles to tear her eyes away. “paige.”

“they’re disgusting,” paige gripes as she finally looks away, taking a sip of her dr. pepper, not even bothering with her burger and fries anymore. witnessing that interaction ruined her appetite.

“they’re in love,” azzi teases, dragging out the ‘o’, and paige grumbles around her straw, eyes rolling dismissively.

you aren’t in love with him. yeah, it’s been three months since you officially started dating, but paige actually knows you; you’ve liked plenty of guys since she met you in seventh grade, and none of them have ever really meant anything. soon enough, you’ll get bored of him, just like all the others, and it’ll go back to just being you and her again, like it should be.

hopefully, that’s before the season starts in november. she doesn’t want to have to see you with him at homecoming, or even worse, at one of your games— she’d really be revolted, then.

“no, i agree with p,” kayhla chimes in on the conversation. “get a room!” she shouts, hands cupped around her mouth to accentuate the sound, earning the attention of you, him, and everyone else in the wendy’s.

your eyes get all wide and your cheeks tinge red, and the table erupts into giggles at your embarrassed reaction. you step away from him, finally, and turn back to the counter, smiling politely at the cashier as she slides a tray of chocolate and vanilla frosties toward you, and another toward him. paige can’t help but feel a bit smug when you return to the table and reclaim your seat next to her— it’s an end–seat, so he has to sit across from you both. she casually stretches her arm out over your shoulders, and shoves a spoonful of chocolate frosty into her mouth with her free hand.

“you guys are mean,” you say, reaching out for one of her abandoned fries. you don’t do anything about her arm.

“don’t be a freak, then,” paige replies, and you jab her in the side with your elbow, which only makes her laugh harder.

“oh, you have no right to be calling anyone a freak,” you retort playfully. “don’t make me bring up last summer—”

“woah, nah, okay! okay, you win!”

paige throws up her hands in surrender, and everyone at the table laughs again— everyone, except for him. you, on the other hand, laugh especially hard. she can’t lie, it’s vindicating knowing there are parts of you that he hasn’t yet breached, that she can make you laugh this hard and he has no clue why.

that she actually knows you. unlike him, paige isn’t temporary. you’ll get bored of him, and things will go back to being the way they’re supposed to be.

just you and her.

[toxic3mmy]

[guys im so sorry if this sucks! ik a lot of you wanted a pt 2 so here it is. even if it sucks, it’s got smut so hopefully it’ll make up for it hehehe]

prompt: you and alex hate each other but one night of your sleep talking changes everything (continued)

warning: smut

part two

you weren’t sure if you wanted to be honest and just talk to alex about your dream last night. the thing is, this wasn’t the first time this happened and you felt too embarrassed to admit that you’ve been fantasizing about him for months now.

a loud whistle quickly dissipated the millions of thoughts running through your mind. you look over and see rubius smiling and waving at the two of you with the rest of the gang.

“what do you guys think about taking a break from the beach and going out for a bit? i heard there’s an event going on kinda like a carnival and also a bonfire. what do you all think?”

everyone agreed happily and gathered their things to get back to the hotel.

you looked over at alex and saw him already staring at you. he quickly looked away and made himself look busy.

everyone decided on picking up some street tacos on the way to the hotel since y’all had eaten hours earlier and it was almost nighttime.

the group headed to their hotel rooms where some showered and got ready for a night out while others took naps.

you were nervous about alex bringing up the whole dream thing again so you practically ran to the room and hopped in the shower. this time, your shower was quick as you wanted to eat and nap after being in the sun for so many hours.

you saw that alex was also eating and watching tv.

you began to multitask between eating and applying a little bit of makeup so that you didn’t have to rush when you woke up.

the two of you ate in silence and soon alex got up to shower.

you finished off your food and decided to dim the lights for your nap. it took you a few minutes to fall asleep but once you did, you fell into a deep slumber.

alex also decided he wanted to nap and so he got into bed next to you after his shower.

“y/n? are you awake?” he asked quietly

no answer

alex sighed and leaned over to kiss your forehead as lightly as possible. and with that, you both were asleep.

______

the air was filled with children laughing, spanish music, and the sound of roller coaster rides. there were so many decorations and pretty lights all around you.

you smiled as you looked around and took in the moment. your friends were people you loved and were so eternally grateful for.

“guys! over here!” tina smiled and waved us over

we played a bunch of games together and it got super competitive at some point. then we kinda paired off and rode some rides.

you got on a few with tina and it was overall just so much fun.

before heading to the bonfire, we all decided to get on the ferris wheel. we lined up and everyone gave each other strange glances, almost giggling to each other.

“next!”

you sat down and one of them shoved alex up and you realized that they planned this. you sigh annoyed but let him sit next to you anyways.

alex was also not so happy about being stuck with you on such a slow and romantic ride.

it was quiet for the first few minutes and you blurted out what had been weighing on you for a long time.

“why do you hate me?”

“um.. what?” alex said a bit dumbfounded

“i just want to understand what made you hate me… i mean, when we first met i was nice to you and you were immediately cold towards me. ever since then i just returned that energy but, why? what made you so hateful towards me?”

“y/n, i—”

“please alex… just tell me and i promise i won’t bother you ever again. i just really need to know” you looked down at my hands in my lap

“it’s pretty obvious y/n” alex said in an annoyed, almost angry tone

“well then maybe i’m just blind… please?” you beg, your eyes tearing up a bit, your heart feeling heavy as you knew your friends really just wanted you two to get along, i mean that was obvious

“let’s just say… my reasons are personal, okay?!” he raised his voice at you

you choked out a little sob as it was all so overwhelming

“i want t-to get off this r-ride!” you sniffled and tried desperately to hold in your cries

“hey, hey i’m sorry.. y/n i really am sorry. please don’t cry” he held your face gently in his hands and you looked into his eyes, tears streaming down your face

“okay, the truth is… i never liked you because well i didn’t want you to know that i actually have um feelings for you… you’re way out of my league and you never look at me in that way yet you flirt with legit any guy you meet! i mean, cmon, am i not enough?!”

you began to sob once again, using your hands to cover your face. suddenly, alex leaned forward and hugged you.

it took you a few seconds but you hugged him back tightly and continued to cry

“shh, im sorry. its just a touchy subject for me. ive never been one of those guys who had girls flocking to them… if anything i always chase girls but i always feel like im not enough..”

you look up at him and wipe your tears. you nod, listening to what he’s saying. just as you were about to reply, the ride stopped.

“come on, let’s talk some more about this at the beach bonfire” you get off first and offer him a hand to get off

you held one anothers hands until alex awkwardly let go. the two of you walked in silence as you tried to come up with a response to his insecurities.

“i think you’re enough, alex… i honestly think you’re more than enough for anyone.”

“really?” he looked at you with hopeful eyes

“really. and um… about last night… i was having some uh inappropriate dreams of y-you and im really sorry if it made you uncomfortable, i totally understand” you ramble and see alex smile softly

“i know.. you said my name… what exactly were we doing in your dream?” he teased you, still smiling

“i was uh.. y-you were… i don’t know, okay?!” you huffed feeling a bit nervous

“i need a shot if we really are going to get into this” you said, sighing a bit

alex agreed and the two of you took one shot together, then two, and then three.

you felt really warm inside and almost giddy at your confession that you had cooking up in your head

“we had sex!” you practically yelled and the people around you turned to look at you. all you could do was smile sheepishly

“come on, let’s talk over here” alex said as he took you by the hand and lead you to a more secluded and darker area on the beach

“sorry about that.. im a bit nervous” you laughed uncomfortably

“it’s okay.. i already knew what we were doing in your dream. i just wanted you to admit it” he smirked and you couldn’t help but gasp and smack his arm

“you’re embarrassing me on purpose, you ass!”

alex leaned forward and pushed you against a nearby tree

“if you want.. i can admit something so that you’re not the only one feeling embarrassed”

“okay..?” you asked, curious about what he was going to say

“you were moaning my fucking name in your sleep last night y/n.. you don’t know how badly i wanted you to wake up with my tongue buried deep inside you.. you’re such a fucking tease” he said as he looked into your eyes and you almost moaned at his words

“you… i… what?” your jaw dropped at his colorful words, you immediately felt heat rush to your lower half

“y/n, i never really hated you. i hated that i couldn’t be with you. and my god you just love to be a tease. you always wear such tiny revealing clothes. do you do that for yourself or for me? tell me y/n, how often do you have dreams of me fucking you, hmm sweetheart?” he chuckled in your ear huskily

“i always dream of you fucking me senseless alex.. i hate the shit out of you but i guess my pussy doesn’t, she’s so wet for you right now.. can i show you?” you didnt even bother waiting for his response as you grabbed his hand and slipped it underneath your dress, moving your panties aside as you guided his fingers between your wet folds

“jesus fucking christ… you really are wet..” alex groaned as he moved his fingers closer to your entrance, teasing your quivering hole gently before quickly plunging in two fingers

you moaned incredibly loudly at the feeling of him inside of you and immediately, alex used his other hand to cover your mouth. he looked around and saw that a few people looked around curiously. finding it amusing, he laughed.

you inhale his scent before kissing him gently.

the two of you kissed for practically ten whole minutes without stopping.

you then start to suck on the skin beneath his ear and lower on his neck

“mmm, que rica mami” he whined as you continued to lick and bite his skin

“fuck.. we can’t do this here you fucking slut, let’s go” he grabbed your hand harshly, leading you to your friends

“hey guys, y/n had a bit too much too drink and i think i’m going to take her to the hotel before she passes out here. see you all tomorrow!” alex said hurriedly and rushed you away from the beach

the two of you said nothing as alex pulled you to the hotel as fast as he could

the second you made it to your room, alex locked the door and pulled off your soaked underwear. he walked you back and onto the bed as he said,

“you’re such a tease y/n. i uh.. i know we just made up and we barely talked about liking each other but is it okay if i uh made love to you?”

you nodded and smiled at how cute he was for asking you

alex then pushed you back and crawled over you

immediately, he spread your legs and licked your wetness with groans of pleasure

your eyes rolled back as he slipped two fingers inside of you, curling into the perfect spot. he drew patterns on your throbbing clit with his tongue.

“oh fuck, yes give it to me please!” you screamed out as he curled his fingers so so deep inside of you

your hands pulled on his hair as he ate your pussy like a starved man

“alexis… oh alex, you feel so good!”

you were grinding deliciously onto his fingers and tongue. he sped up his pace and you saw stars as you climax with a loud scream of his name. alex smiled into your pussy as he slowed down and soon stopped altogether. he pulled away and got up as you caught your breath.

“be back” he said quietly

you couldn’t help but slip your hand into your panties and touch yourself at the thought of alex who was about to fuck you.

“oh fuck.. mmmf” you whimpered as the wet sounds of your fingers rubbing your pussy filled the room

alex went to retrieve a towel and a condom from his things.

“here hermosa, let me clean you—”

you were completely naked and touching yourself.

it would be a lie to say that alex didn’t spring a hard on from the sight of you and the words you were saying.

“god y/n, you’re such a needy little girl aren’t you? here sweet girl, put this on me so i can fuck you senseless” alex handed you the condom as he laid down on the bed

you threw the condom to the floor and tugged off his pants and climbed on top of him. you placed the tip of his cock at your entrance, enjoying the sting of his size.

alex was whimpering loudly. you bottomed out and it felt like nothing you’d ever felt before. you steadied yourself with your hands on his chest and knees to the bed as you began to move.

alex gasped as you did so, watching the way your breasts moved with every move you made.

“you’re so so tight.. ugh so fucking good mami” he groaned as his hips jerked up into you

you bounced on him at a quicker pace and moaned loudly, not being able to contain yourself. you started to slow when your knees started getting tired. alex grabbed your ass and held you as he started to thrust into you like his life depended on it.

“alex… you’re so so big… please stretch my pussy” you whined as his pace increased

one of his hands made his way to your clit and your pleasure intensified.

“right there! don’t you fucking stop!” you panted and moaned sinfully

“cum for me y/n, be a good girl” alex demanded

“im so close… ugh! breed me daddy! i want to feel your cum dripping out of me, please!” you practically screamed

“oh i’ll breed you baby, i’ll fuck my cum into your sweet tight pussy” alex panted

your pussy tightened around him and he sped up as you came with lewd words spilling from your mouth

a few more thrusts and his warm seed filled up your tired cunt

you tiredly got off of him and laid down next to him

“what do we tell the others?” you asked breathlessly

alex simply laughed

“we don’t have to worry about that just yet. for now, i just really want to fuck you again, if that’s okay i mean” alex said a little nervously to which you laughed at

“oh shut up, this time you do the work my knees are fucking killing me” you said

“okay sweetheart, you just lie back and let me do all the work” he said sweetly as he crawled below you and kissed up your thighs

let’s just say, your friends definitely heard you guys make up all night long.

[strangersteddierthings]

Writing prompt from this list, requested by @luciana-rowan. #60. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to seduce me." with Steve seducing Eddie with dnd.

This was supposed to be like 1.2k tops however you activated my secret trap card, which is DnD.

-

“Okay, that’s gotta be all there is, right?” Robin asks as she flips through the book again, pausing to flip back and forth between two pages, eyes narrowed like these pages have offended her personally. She’s leaning against the customer side of the counter at Family Video, and Steve is on the other so they can be facing each other.

Steve is double checking all the notes they’ve written out on notebook paper, Robin’s neat print mixed with Steve’s quick scratchy penmanship. They’ve finally condensed the contents (pages and pages of contents) into easier to look through notes and once they close Family Video, Nancy and Jonathan are going to join them at Steve’s and help him and Robin organize the notes in a way that will flow and be easier to follow.

Nancy because she’s good at the organization part, and Jonathan because he’s the only one of them that’s ever even played Dungeons and Dragons, even if it was only twice (he’s a good older brother, after all).

“Jesus Christ, I hope that’s all,” Steve slides the notebook across the counter and offers up a hand for the Dungeons and Dragons book. They swap, to double check that neither has overlooked anything.

“You know,” Robin says, “this is a lot of effort for one game. Do those kids really have all this memorized?”

“Seems like it,” Steve groans, running a hand through his hair. “That’s why I need the cheat sheet. I can’t be holding up their game for twenty minutes just to look up if something is allowed or not.”

Robin looks across the counter and grins at him. “I think it’s so sweet that you’re finally gonna agree to play. Going to this much effort for it, though... You might make Dustin cry.”

“Well, that’s the goal now,” Steve laughs. “Dustin cries or I’m flipping the table.”

“Well, now I want to be there. Either would be great to witness!”

“It’s not too late to make you a character,” Steve says, aiming for nonchalance and knowing that he might have hit the mark for anyone else, but this is Robin, and she’s always seen right through him. She was the one he ranted to this last time Dustin had asked (read: begged) Steve to join a game, the time that worked because Steve could no longer think of reasons to say no. He had said no, though, to Dustin’s face, but once he got home, he scooped up Eddie’s damn Dungeons and Dragons player handbook. Then called and recruited Robin to help.

Robin’s smile softens into something less teasing. “I can join, if it’ll make this less awkward for you.”

Steve’s surprised by her answer. “Oh. You’d- really?”

Robin shrugs. “Yeah, dingus. You might have had a long-standing weird vendetta about being asked to play but. Well, no one’s ever asked me before, so I guess I never had to think about if I would or not. It’s like you said on the phone ‘it might be nice to just to fight imaginary monsters for once’.”

“Our characters could be twins.”

Robin grins but before she can respond the ding of the door chimes. Steve swipes his hands across the counter, causing the book, notebook, and pencils to clatter behind the counter out of view. Back to work.

-

It all started when Dustin asked him to stay for a game months ago. It was the third Dungeons and Dragons game he’d dropped him off at after they’d survived Hell for the fourth (hopefully final) time.

“We play the game, but it’s also a time to like, catch up and chat,” Dustin said, all but pouting at Steve.

Steve had put his car in park and shut off the engine. “If Wheeler’s basement still smells, I’m leaving.”

“Yes!” Dustin cheered.

So, Steve followed Dustin into the Wheelers’ house, called a hello to Karen Wheeler, and made his way to the basement. There had been several startled looks in Steve’s direction, but he’d just walked past the table and plopped onto the end couch beside El, like it was something he did every day. Eddie, Will, Lucas, Erica, and Mike were already sitting at the table, using whatever they could find as chairs. Dustin and he were the last ones to arrive it seems.

El smiled up at him. “Hi Steve. It is nice to have company. I have been watching by myself, since Max can’t get down the stairs yet.”

Well, fuck. Now he’s got to walk Dustin in every time in case El’s in the basement, all lonely on the couch, watching her boyfriend play make believe. “Happy to keep you company, El. You have any idea what’s happening here?”

“I have an understanding of the story, yes,” El nodded and slid across the couch to be close enough to whisper to Steve. She filled him in on what she knew, which is not much because it was a new campaign, but she had sat with Mike and Will when they made their new characters and had been to the two previous games.

When the game got going, Steve watched as El leaned forward on the couch, elbows on her knees and chin in her hands. She had seemed raptured with the story, so Steve started to listen in, too. Dustin must have done a shit job at explaining how this game was played these last years, because as he had watched it progress it seemed more enjoyable than it had sounded when described.

More than that, Steve watched as the stress of real life melted away from the kids and Eddie. They were no longer a group of outcasts who had gone through Hell and barely survived. They were a group of friends having fun in a way Steve couldn’t remember experiencing since he had been in elementary school.

It was two more games and one pool party at his own house later before Steve got the idea to offer his dining room up for the game. Specifically, because at the pool party he saw Max sitting in his living room and did a double take at her, the pieces slotting together in his mind. Max couldn’t manage the steep stairs at the Wheelers house, but everything she needed to get to at Steve’s house was ground level – kitchen, bathroom, living room, dining table.

Next session before everyone scattered to the wind, Steve had said, “Hey, what do you say about moving this game to my house?”

Everyone sitting at the table whipped around to stare at him, mouths open and everything.

“What? My house doesn’t smell like armpit and, uhh, Max could come hang out again,” Steve shrugged and was almost mowed over by how quickly El threw herself on him, wrapping his waist in a hug.

“Yes! Yes!” She answered for everyone.

The next game was moved to Steve’s house. He’d rotated the couch so it would face the dining room table so Max, El, and he could sit comfortably and had even bought a bunch of snacks and soda.

Eddie had been the first person to show up. It had taken him four trips back and forth from his van to the dining room to unload everything he’d brought.

Steve eyes it all critically. “I haven’t seen you use half this shit when you play at Wheelers, yet to lug it back and forth. Do you really need it?”

Eddie shrugged, “Who knows? Better to have it and not need it or whatever.”

 “You load and unload all this shit every game?”

“Yeah. Wheeler helps usually but he isn’t here so….”

“If you had asked, I’d of helped,” Steve said. “I didn’t know you would need it, or if you’d want it.”

“Oh.”

Steve’s not sure what to think of Eddie sometimes. They’re friends now, or at least friend-adjacent. Well, it didn’t used to feel like ‘friend-adjacent’ until Steve started to sit in on the Dungeons and Dragons games. He got to see a freer side of Eddie, then. One that smiled and laughed a bit more than Steve ever saw. It’s fine. Steve’s fine. He’s not- he is not hurt that Eddie hides this part of himself from Steve.

Besides, Steve knows he’s the problem. Because Eddie doesn’t have this problem with Robin, or Nancy, or Jonathan. He’s seen Eddie relaxed and chill when they hang out, so long as Steve keeps his distance. And even if he hadn’t been sure that he was the issue before, he was after the first time they made eye contact during a game (accidentally) and he watched Eddie reigning himself in. Made himself smaller right before his eyes. Steve doesn’t understand why but he does his best to give Eddie space.

He thinks, maybe, that he makes Eddie uncomfortable on some level. He doesn’t know how, or why, or if he can change it.

Anyway, the next few games after that Steve helped Eddie unload and reload his van until he finally offered for Eddie to just keep the things he didn’t need at his house.

“If you don’t, y’know, use all of this to actually plan each session, you can just keep it here,” Steve said as they cleaned up, Max, Lucas, Erica, and Dustin helping, since Eddie had offered to pick them up and drop them off this time.

Eddie paused in his gathering of papers to study Steve before saying, “You sure?”

“Yeah. It’s not like I use the dining table unless you guys are here. So, just take what you use and leave the rest.”

Eddie took the Dungeon Master book but left his copy of the players handbook.

-

And those series of events have led to this Thursday night, with Robin, Nancy, Jonathan, and himself sitting at his dining room table, making a character sheet for Robin, and polishing up the one Steve had already made, because Steve isn’t embarrassed about asking for help these days. Jonathan even brought him the set of dice Will had given him when he’d played.

Robin’s not going to join until the next game, but she is going to come watch. Jonathan had explained that adding one extra character would be easy to accommodate but adding two was harder.

“So, if you like the game and want to continue, talk to Eddie about finding a good way for Robin to join,” Jonathan says, pushing the finalized ‘cheat’ sheet and character back to Steve. “If you don’t like playing, she can just replace you next game.”

“Dustin’s going to lose his mind tomorrow,” Steve laughs, having found that the papers look good, and he should be ready to go.

“I think we’re all sticking around to see it,” Nancy says. She’s volunteered to bring Mike, Lucas, Erica, and Dustin tomorrow night, and Jonathan is bringing Max and Robin when he brings El and Will.

“Hey guys, thanks for this,” Steve says when they clean up and everyone gathers to head out.

“Anytime, man,” Jonathan nods to him as Nancy gives him a quick side hug. Robin gives him a hug that lasts far longer before following them out the door. Steve had asked if she wanted to stay over but her parents are expecting her home tonight.

Once Steve is alone, he heads to the phone and dials Eddie’s number.

Three rings and, “Wayne speaking.”

“Hi Wayne, it’s Steve. Uh, Steve Harrington,” Steve says.

Wayne doesn’t chuckle into the phone, because Steve’s not certain he can chuckle, but he’s definitely amused when he says, “well, Steve Harrington, Eddie’s not home. I can leave a note for him to call you back. I don’t know when he’ll be here.”

“Oh, a note’s fine. I’m usually up late anyway.”

-

It’s a little past eleven when his phone rings. Steve is half asleep on the couch, but the ringing wakes him right up. And if he trips over his own feet on the way to the phone, there’s no witnesses so it didn’t really happen, did it? “Eddie?”

A soft laugh on the other end of the line, “it’s like you were expecting me, Harrington.”

“I was. Or, uh, I was hoping you’d call any way, not expecting because that feels like… loaded somehow.”

Silence, then, “so what can I do for you?”

“Could you, um, come over early tomorrow? Like thirty minutes sooner could work. An hour would be better, though,” Steve looks down and realizes he’s twirly the phone cord around his finger. He stills his hand and yanks it away from the cord, tucking his fist to his chest to keep it in check.

“Oh, I know what you want,” Eddie’s voice says, suggestive in a way Steve can’t decipher, “Yeah, I can come over an hour sooner.”

He’s been caught before he can even surprise anyone, he realizes. That’s the suggestive tone. Eddie knows. And if Eddie knows what he wants, there’s no way Dustin doesn’t already suspect. Ah well. Surprise ruined but it’ll still be fun for the kids. He hopes. Steve puts a smile on his face so he won’t sound upset with himself when he says, “thanks man. I appreciate it. See ya tomorrow.”

-

Eddie arrives a little more than an hour early but Steve’s not going to complain. He’d been pacing in the kitchen near the front window, so he watched as Eddie pulled up. He has the front door open before Eddie is halfway to the door.

“Someone’s excited,” Eddie wiggles his eyebrows at him as he passes, moving to the dining room to deposit his armful of stuff on the table.

“Nervous, actually,” Steve says, shutting the door and turning to follow. He almost runs into Eddie when he gets to the turn that leads into the kitchen, and dining room beyond it. “Oh, hi. Thought you were at the table.”

Eddie looks confused. “I gotta go grab the lunchbox. Wait- did you say nervous?”

“What do you need your lunchbox for?”

They stand in the kitchen entrance, just kinda blinking at each other for a moment before Eddie says, in a very confused, slow voice, “maaaaybe I don’t know why I’m here early. What did you want?”

Steve heads to the dining room, motioning for Eddie to follow. He pulls out two chairs next to each other, sliding into one and waiting for Eddie to sit in his. Steve reached across the table, to the player’s handbook and the notebook under it, dragging them closer. He turns to be facing Eddie, sitting sideways in his chair now. “I wanted to see if it was okay for another person to join the game. Today.”

Eddie’s eyebrows get lost behind his bangs with how high he raises them. “What? Who do you know that wants to play?”

“Uh, me,” Steve says, pulling the notebook out from under the handbook, taking out his character sheet and flipping the notebook open to the end of his notes, where he’d taken the time to write out some bullet points with ideas for his character backstory. Then he fishes out the dice from his pocket and deposits them on the table.

Eddie is deathly still and absolutely silent. The only movement is his eyes, which flick between the dice, the pages, and Steve’s face. He’s quiet so long that Steve is worried he made a mistake.

“Or, uh, if you’d rather I not- sorry, I just- Dustin tries to invite me all the time so I thought it would be okay,” Steve says, moving to close the notebook. That’s when Eddie comes back to life, his hand flying out to catch Steve’s, halting his hand.

“No! No, of course it’s fine. I’m just- surprised,” Eddie says, slowly, “you’ve been so against it, very vocally, so I’m just surprised.”

“Yeah. I was kind of an asshole about it all, wasn’t I? But when I think about it, like really think about it, I don’t know why I was against even trying it, y’know? Leftover shit from high school, I think. But I’m not that person anymore, so…” Steve shrugs with one shoulder, not sure why he’s telling Eddie these things. They don’t talk like this, usually. Steve finds he wants to, though. “Plus, watching the games, it looks like you guys have fun. Like, real, forget about your day kinda fun. Besides, Erica enjoys it, and she’s the coolest out of all of us. If Erica likes it, it can’t be just a nerd game.”

Eddie laughs and Steve gets to see that carefree smile Eddie seems to reserve for the kids. “Can’t argue with that. Erica is the coolest of this lot.”

“So, here���s what I was thinking,” Steve says, pulling the notebook between them to discuss the ideas Robin and he had come up with. He was going to play a fighter, so he didn’t have to worry about memorizing spells. If Eddie’ll let Robin join, he’d like for them to be twins, or siblings of some sort at least. Eddie nods, jumps on that instantly. Offers for them to have been separated on accident, so they could work on adding Robin more naturally later, with their two characters having been looking for each other this whole time.

Before Steve even realizes it, he’s been word vomiting for far too long about his character’s backstory and why he’d want to join the Party and Eddie has been silent the entire time, just listening to him, a soft smile on his face. “So, that’s what I got for now.”

Eddie let’s out a whistle and says, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to seduce me.”

Steve’s brain skips, or freezes, or something, because it just replays that whistle and those words for a few second in his mind before it helpfully supplies the thoughts ‘yes’ and ‘I didn’t know I could seduce you’. He’s just had an epiphany. Unfortunately, his mouth is still working while his brain does this, so it says, “are you feeling seduced, Eds?”

“AHAHA!” Eddie lets out a laugh that is more a bark before he stands up quickly, the chair falling backwards because he hadn’t bothered to scoot the chair back to give him room to stand. “Funny. Dustin’s right, you’re hilarious. I need a cigarette,” and then he all but runs out the front door.

Steve just watches him go before picking up the fallen chair. He can’t wait for Robin to get here. He needs to talk to her.

-

When Eddie comes back in, it’s with Robin, Jonathan, Max, El, and Will. Steve slaps his notebook shut quickly and hopes that Will didn’t notice it. Eddie is talking animatedly with Will upon entry, though, so he seems safe. Robin fast walks to the table and scoops Steve’s dice and shoves them in her pocket, because Will will recognize them if they stay out.

Steve stands, notebook in hand, and grabs Robin’s wrist with his free hand and drags her out back. He makes sure the slide-glass door is closed firmly and leads her around to the other side of the pool. He doesn’t want any eavesdroppers.

“Robin. Ok, so you remember by sexuality crisis last year?”

“Of course, Michael J Fox in Teen Wolf got you hot under the collar,” Robin says, “how could I forget? You cried about it.”

“You cried about yours, too! I just wasn’t there for it.”

“Not mocking!” Robin holds up her hands in defense, “just saying.”

“Robin. I think I like Eddie.”

“Oh!” her eyes go wide, and her mouth stays in a little ‘o’ shape for a moment. Steve stands there, letting her process. “Oh. Ooohhhhhh. That- that makes sense in my mind in a way I cannot put into words. Of course, it’d be Eddie Munson -the exact opposite of Michael J Fox, by the way- to also get you bothered. Why didn’t I pick up on that? How did I not notice this?”

“Because, despite our best efforts, we have yet to successfully combine,” Steve says, linking his fingers the way Robin had that day in Family Video before unlinking them to flip a hand back and forth between them. “We do not have time for you to have a crisis about it because I am having a crisis about it, and one of us needs to be level-headed.”

“Right,” she sobers instantly. “Right. We cannot spiral together. You first, I’ll wait my turn. So, you like Eddie. Enough to…. Want to do something about it?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, that was a quick answer. You… you really like him. Give me the details. What am I working with here.”

Steve thinks about it. “When he held a broken bottle to my neck, I was terrified. And a little aroused.” Robin says ew. “I’ve thought he was hot since then. But… when he came to at the hospital, all high on the medicine. He’d smiled softly at me and the first thing he said to me was glad you’re here, big boy. I think the actual crush started then.”

“Make sense, tracks, what with your hero complex and praise kink,” Robin nods and paces before turning back to him. “And the realization?”

He can’t argue the hero complex and praise kink thing, because they both know that would be a lie, so he answers, “When I was done rambling about my character idea, he whistled and said If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to seduce me and my first thought was yes.”

Robin’s eyes light up before she starts marching in a small circle around him as she thinks out loud. “Fuck, Steve, you really don’t do anything halfway. Alright. So, you want to do something about this, but you have to decide what you want to do. Because you are my soulmate and I want you happy, but like Eddie is also my friend and if you are experimenting… Just. You have to be sure.”

“I’m sure.”

She stops her circling to squint at him and read his mind, he supposes, because her face lights up in delight. “Oh shit! It’s not sexy thoughts! You want to like, hold his hand and cuddle on the couch, and like, cook dinner together and serve him breakfast in bed and bicker about whose turn it is to pick up Dustin from school!”

“Jesus Robin, can you not shout that! We are out here, so they,” he flings his hand in the direction of the house, “don’t hear. But, yeah. I… I like him. A lot.”

“I can see that. Like, really see that. You like him so much that just his company would be enough. Disgusting. Let me think,” she waves him off, like he has been dismissed but instead she’s the one walking away, walking figure eights around area in front of him for a couple minutes before whirling around to say, “You have to make your character a flirt. An outright slut, even. For information gathering purposes of course.”

“What?”

“He plays all the other characters, Stephan,” she says, dragging out his name to make it sound like ‘Steff-fawn’, “and you know he’s good at this… being in character thing! So, like, if you can trip him up by being all flirty, then that’s like, got to be a sign that he likes you, too, right? If he doesn’t like you, he can take it in stride. But! If he’s crushing on you, too, this will be like, too good to be true to him, yeah? That’ll fluster anyone, especially if he plays on our team and probably hasn’t had many guys openly hitting on him. Plus, you can always tell when someone likes you. You haven’t been checking for signs that Eddie might like you because you weren’t even aware it might be possible. And I’m not going to get your hopes up, Eddie could be, like, a totally straight dude, but when will it ever be safer to test this?”

Steve nods. “Yeah… yeah. Eddie is good at this character thing. And I do know when people are interested. And this is safe. If I flirt and he doesn’t react, or if he recoils in disgust, I can write what I’ve done off as it’s the game and I’m just trying to be a good player. Oh God, Robin, what if he’s like not okay with gay people.”

“Then we bodily throw Eddie out your front door, never speak to him again, and tell Will he’s the new Dungeon Master.”

“That seems extreme.”

“It’d be fitting. Eddie didn’t bat an eyelash when I came out to everyone after my date with Vicki. He actually congratulated me. So, if he only hates gay men then he’d be a disgusting lesbian fetishist and he’ll have to go ASAP. I doubt that’s the case, though.”

Steve barks a laugh and jerks his head towards the house, an offer to return inside. They turn towards the house and are greeted by everyone lined up along the glass door and windows that lead to the pool. A few of them (Nancy, Max, Will) have the decency to try and pretend they weren’t watching by turning away quickly but otherwise everyone just stares at each other until Dustin hauls open the glass door and shouts, “Are you two fighting?”

“No, we aren’t fighting,” Steve says as he shoves his way past Dustin and back into the house. “Let me grab the snacks and the game can begin.”

Steve moves to the kitchen, with Robin and Eddie following behind to help gather all chips, dips, candy, and soda and deposit them on any nearby surface in the dining room. Steve then slides into the chair to Eddie’s left, where Dustin usually sits before anyone else can take that seat.

Dustin slides into the chair next to him instead of arguing about it, saying, “Captivated, aren’t you? Guess I’ll let you have my spot so you can pay attention better. Told you this game was great.”

“I’ll be paying plenty of attention, don’t you worry,” Steve says to Dustin before turning to Eddie, who has taken his place at the head of the table, and winking at him, “right, Eds?”

Eddie stops moving for barely any time at all, and honestly, if the whole point of where he sat wasn’t to be close enough to catch and catalogue all of Eddie’s reactions, he would have missed the freeze. “Oh yeah. Steve’s been following the story closely.”

Steve looks around the table and watches the kids exchange glances and shrugs before Eddie begins to recall what happened last game and where the Party is headed now. Steve waits for his cue. Eddie’s got several ways to introduce Steve’s character, just in case the kids don’t grasp onto the plot hooks. But they’re good players, who know when an adventure hook is being dangled in their face. When their characters read the notice board, looking for quests, and come across the one of a man looking to hire help in searching for his lost sister, they buy into it quickly.

“You find yourselves at the tavern where the help wanted poster said to meet. There are three other people inside this early in the day, not including the barkeep.”

“Can I go and ask the barkeep if he knows who put the poster up?” Will asks. Will speaks in the first person who it comes to his character far more often than anyone else, Steve’s noticed.

“Of course. The barkeep is a surly looking dwarf who keeps rearranging the glasses behind the counter. He sees you approaching and listens to your question before saying,” Eddie says in his normal tone, before dropping into a deeper, Scottish accent. “Aye. You passed him on the way in. He’s sitting there, close to the door.”

“Do we approach as a group?” Lucas asks, and after a quick discussion and confirmation that the table their quest giver is sat as has enough seating for them all, they agree to approach together.

Eddie nods and says, “You all approach the table and the figure sitting there looks up as you do. Steve, please describe what they see as they approach you.”

Steve opens his mouth to answer but the table explodes. Dustin shrieks and throws out his hands to grip Steve’s arm and just shake him. “Oh my God. Oh my God. OH MY GOD. STEVE!” Dustin is yelling basically in his ear. Everyone is exclaiming something in excitement, and it gets loud, fast. With no end to the onslaught of screaming in sight, Steve resigns himself to this fate.

It takes far longer than it should for everyone to quiet down, and Steve’s a little red after all of it. Because he hadn’t expected this reaction. He thought Dustin might be a little hyped, sure, but this level of love he feels from all these kids, and for them, and how doing something so small, like joining their game, brings them this much joy… He regrets not joining sooner, honestly.

Finally, they quiet and Steve gets to describe his character, Sir Gregor of House Buckington (Robin’s idea of a last name, he’s not afraid to throw her under the bus for that) and the game progresses. When Steve’s asked to make his first roll of the night, everyone jumps to offer their dice, but he just calls out to Robin. She still has his in her pocket. He shoots a look at Will, who he can see recognizes the dice, and smiles at him as he rolls his first D20.

It's almost two hours into the session before Steve sees his chance to flirt. The Party is trying to negotiate a discount for some healing potions, and they’ve failed their check. They can’t afford the potions and Erica, playing the rogue, offers to try and steal them.

“Can I give Erica advantage by distracting the shop keep?” Steve asks.

Eddie looks intrigued by these. “… Maybe. How would you distract him?”

“Sir Gregor will lean against the counter and say ‘Sorry about my companion’s awkward attempts to swindle you of your goods for a fair price. I should have stepped in sooner, but I was a bit… captivated watching you shut them down’ and try and fluster this guy by flirting with him.”

It’s a mixed bag of reactions from the kids that Steve barely hears because he’s focused on Eddie. Eddie, whose face looks a bit redder than it usually does.

“You wanna… flirt with the shop keep?” Eddie’s voice is a bit higher than normal too. Interesting.

“If that’s allowed.”

“Umm, uh, y-yeah,” Eddie stumbled over his words and Steve can feel himself grinning like the cat that got the cream. Eddie is flustered. Steve has flustered him. Oh. This is going to be a good game. “Roll a persuasion check.” Steve gets a 17. “Lady Applejack, if you would, roll sleight of hand with advantage as Sir Gregor seems to have successfully taken the attention of the shopkeep.”

“I am going to enjoy having Steve play,” Erica says as she picks up her dice. “No one else helps me steal things.”

-

They play for almost four hours, an hour longer than normal, but Steve is surprised by how quickly it slips by and finds that he’s a little disappointed that it has to end, especially since they’ve stopped one round into combat. It’s a terrible place to stop, but if the kids are any later getting home there might be a reckoning done by some parents. The only reason there isn’t one now is because Nancy, ever practical about things, called all the parents about an hour and a half ago to let them know the kids might be an hour or two late getting home.

“We’ll pick up next week,” Eddie says, standing to get a good look at the battle map to copy it into his notebook.

“You can just leave it out so you don’t have to recreate it,” Steve says, like he does every week. “I won’t mess with it.”

And like every week before, Eddie just pulls out his graph paper and starts to track how many squares apart everyone is as the kids pack up their own things and head out. Steve walks them all to the door and Robin hangs back to talk, waiting on the front step. Steve walks out and shuts the door behind him.

“He’s absolutely into you,” Robin whispers. “Do you know that this means? We can go on double dates! I’ll be Eddie’s fake date, because I’m not sure Vicki and Eddie should be left alone to conspire against us but-“

“I think it’s a bit too soon to be planning double dates, Buckley,” Steve cuts her off. “Yeah, Eddie’s into me. But like… into me? Does he even know he’s into me?”

“Right. Could also be in the denial phase, still,” she says, then deepens her voice in a poor imitation of Eddie’s and adds, “I think Steve is hot but in a purely platonic friend-like fashion.”

He laughs, shoving Robin towards Jonathan’s car, where everyone else is loaded and waiting, “go home.”

She leaves laughing and Steve waves them off before going back inside. He finds Eddie at the table, placing the minis carefully back into the tacklebox he keeps them in.

“Seriously, you don’t have to put everything away,” Steve says and Eddie jumps.

“Jesus! Don’t sneak up on me,” Eddie clutches at his heart dramatically.

“I didn’t sneak! You’re lost in your own head if you didn’t hear the door slam or my footsteps,” Steve leans back against the wall, watching Eddie. The other man nods to himself, hands still fiddling with a mini in his hand. The one he’d used for Steve’s character. Steve watches and wishes he could read Eddie’s mind as easily as Robin reads his.

“Thank for playing tonight,” Eddie finally says, placing the mini back onto the table instead of in the tacklebox before turning to Steve. “You did real good.”

Steve gives him a smile he hopes Eddie can see if soft and fond, “yeah? I put a lot of effort into this. Robin, Nancy, and Jonathan helped me.”

“You recruited all three?”

“Yeah. I wanted to put in the effort. I’ve watched several games now; I see how much time you all put into this. It’d be an asshole move to agree to join and not, like, at least read the rules.”

Eddie hums an agreement, “would be kinda asshole-ish, but you’re certainly not an asshole anymore.”

Steve fakes wounded, “you thought I was an asshole?”

“Well, it would be a pretty dick move on my part to think you’re an asshole after everything,” Eddie takes a step towards Steve, then seems startled at himself, like he can’t believe he moved. “Anyway, you willing to play again next week?”

“Yeah, man. Looking forward to it.”

“Cool. Cool,” Eddie nods before turning to gather up the stuff he brought with him. “I’ll see you next week, then.”

“Totally.”

Steve watches Eddie head towards the door and feels something like regret in his stomach. Logically he knows he doesn’t have to rush this. Doesn’t have to fling himself at Eddie immediately now that he knows he wants to, knows that Eddie is at least enough into him to get flustered with his ‘fake’ flirting.

But.

But Steve has lived through four apocalypses and Eddie almost didn’t survive one and life is worth taking a chance on doing things he never thought he’d do (like playing and enjoying a game of Dungeons and Dragons), so- He picks up his D20 from the table and gives it a roll, leaves it up to chance if he should do this now or wait.

It rolls around the table, bounces off the books still left on the table before rolling to a stop.

Eh, 8 is good enough.

“Eddie, wait!” Steve flings open his front door and shouts. Eddie, in the process of backing out of the driveway, brakes. Steve runs across his yard and Eddie, window already cracked, rolls it the rest of the way down.

“Yeah?”

“Wanna go on a date with me,” Steve says, then winces. He used to be better at this. “Please. I mean, go on a date with me. Oh, that sounds worse, like I’m expecting you to. Which I’m not-I don’t expect you to like me just because I like you. Fuck, I’m ruining this. Would you like to go on a date with me, please?”

Eddie just lets him shove his foot in his mouth, but he looks fond more than annoyed. Still, he says, “I, uhh, didn’t know you were… into guys.”

“Guys in general, sure. You, specifically? Ridiculously into you.”

That brings a smile to Eddie’s face. “Yeah?”

“So, uh date tomorrow? After I get off work?”

“Tomorrow,” Eddie agrees easily.

Steve watches Eddie drive away and suddenly he can’t wait for work tomorrow. Robin’s going to implode when he tells her.

-

-

Eddie, after getting off the phone with Steve the night before the game: Oh, he wants to do drugs before having to suffer through watching us play dnd again. Better bring my druglunchbox

[heavyhitterheaux]

Meet Me At The Altar

AN: for those that don't know angst is my specialty so be prepared 🤭🤭🤭

Synopsis: Your dream wedding to the love of you life is quickly approaching and you couldn't be happier. Little did you know, Joe hasn't been completely honest with you and you get a lot more than you bargained for when it finally gets revealed

Pairing; Joe Burrow x Reader

Joe Burrow Masterlist

Please Do Not Repost My Content Anywhere

You twirled around to show your mom, older sister, and best friend your wedding dress as final alterations would be made to make sure that it fit you perfectly. You were due to become Mrs. Joseph Lee Burrow in about another month or so and the closer you got to the wedding date, the more that reality was setting in. You had planned out your wedding with your big sister Marlene ever since you were eight years old while she was ten but swore up and down that she would never get married. 

She claimed that boys were too much trouble and maybe she was right.

She had been married before.

And divorced before.

Twice by the age of twenty five.

But you always had hope, and sure enough your dreams came true when you had met Joe and he had swept you off your feet. No one could compare to him and you had even confessed to Marlene that you knew for a fact that he was going to propose to you.

Within three weeks of you telling her that, he did while on a trip for the two of you to the Bahamas.

The engagement would only last a total of eight months with the two of you wanting to walk down the aisle as soon as possible.

You looked over at all three of them to see them handing the box of kleenex to each other as tears brushed the corner of their eyes as they peered up at you.

“So, what do we think?” You asked them as your best friend and maid of honor Camille simply let out a sob.

“Umm, okay, so obviously Camille likes it. Just… girl…. Get yourself together. We have a month to go still. Now mom, Mar?”

“You look absolutely stunning and his jaw will hit the floor once he sees you.” Your mom said as she came over to you and grabbed your hand. She was proud that she raised two daughters who were successful and only wanted the best for the two of you.

“Gorgeous as ever, baby sister. He’s going to really love it. I’m so happy for you. Hopefully this is your first and last marriage. The last thing you want is to be like me and mess up not only once, but twice.”

“Mar, you simply learned a lesson from it. It’s not the fact that you messed up. You truly thought that the both of them were your forever, but it’s their loss anyway. I know how amazing my big sister is even if they don’t.” You said while smiling at her as she came to squeeze your other hand that wasn’t occupied by your mom.

“All they have to do is take in the back a little more and it’ll be a perfect fit.”

You had turned the key into your front door and was met with hearing the sound of the television from the living room. You figured that was where Joe was and you followed the sound to find him knocked out with your puppy Jonah that was a gift for you from Valentine’s Day earlier this year laying at his feet. You took the opportunity to hop into his lap while kissing his cheek. He woke up startled, but immediately relaxed as he saw that it was you and wrapped his arms around you.

“Mmm, when’d you get back, baby?”

“Just now, but you were too busy sleeping to hear me come in.”

“Did everything go okay with your fitting?” Joe asked as he was now massaging small circles along your back and kissed your forehead.

“Yes, and I’m so excited for you to see it. She has to take the back in a little bit at the top and it should be fine.”

“And it’s loose enough so….?”

“I’m not even showing yet so when we want to let everyone know we can, but for now it can stay between us.”

“But we have another month to go.”

“I promise that the design of the dress will make it very hard to tell if anyone is in there.” You said as Joe placed his left hand on your somewhat flat stomach before smiling at you.

“Can’t believe we’re going to be parents too. I couldn’t see myself doing this with anyone else.”

“Me either. Ever since that first date, I couldn't get away from you since.”

“Well, damn. You make it sound like I’m sort of a stalker.” Joe said and you simply laughed.

“You were very persistent I should say.”

“And being persistent led to me finding my wife.”

“And also led to you getting me pregnant.”

“Well it’s not like you exactly said no and you weren’t complaining when I had your legs on my shoulders.”

“Touche, Burrow.” 

“Calling it like I see it, baby.”

As the wedding date got closer, you noticed how Joe seemed like he was distancing himself from you. You just assumed it was because he had a lot going on and wanted to get finished before the two of you walked down the aisle so that all of his focus would be on you and the little life growing inside you. 

But maybe you were overreacting. 

Then again, he would be waking up early and coming home later more frequently. He would always tell you the night before if that would be the case for the following day, however, he hadn’t been doing that either which left you confused.

You knew your fiance inside and out and knew that there was something off about him so you took it upon yourself to send him a text around 3 pm asking him what time you would expect him back home. 

You- Joeyyyyy

He replied about seven minutes later.

Future Hubby- Yes, baby? You okay?

You- I’m fine, when should I expect you? I’m making food for us

Future Hubby- I’ll try to be back around 8 but no promises

You- I’ll expect you at 8 because your future wife hasn’t seen you all day and I miss you so make it happen

Future Hubby- Yes ma’am. You know you’re my priority. I’ll be there as soon as I can

You- Can’t wait 

“Is that her again?” Marlene asked Joe as the two of them were tangled up in her white bedsheets with her laying her head on his chest.

“Yeah, it is. I promised her that I would be back by eight so I need to leave soon.”

“When are you going to leave her? You said that we would be together and you keep putting it off.”

“First of all Mar, I’m cheating on my soon to be wife with her older sister. It’s a little more complicated than that. And when the hell did I ever say that? I never planned on leaving her for you. Let’s be real.”

“How so? And you have said it..”

“Do you not care about your little sister’s feelings at all?” Joe questioned her and she immediately rolled her eyes.

“Well, do you? I see that you’re here in my bed and not at home with her so what does that tell you exactly?”

All Joe did was sigh.

“She’s pregnant Marlene. I’m not about to do that to her.”

“Just pay child support, she’ll be okay. And besides, I’ve been meaning to tell you something.”

“What?”

“I’m pregnant too.”

Joe realized that he had only one month to go before he walked down the aisle to you, he wanted to spend as much time as he could with Marlene. The two of them had been sneaking behind your back for a while and as much as Joe was trying to cut it off, he didn’t have enough strength in him to do it. Something about her kept him wanting more and pulled him back in every single time.

The first encounter happened when she came over to the house, still distraught about her latest divorce being finalized. The two of them had been legally separated and Marlene wanted to see if they would be able to work things out, but it didn’t go like she wanted it to. She was looking for you, but Joe, seeing her so upset, invited her to come in and said that if he could help her in any way to tell him.

He helped her alright.

Making her cum over and over again in the bed that you two shared.

And you had no idea. 

But why would you suspect anything?

She was your older sister, your ride or die, one of your best friends that you trusted with your life so why did she feel the need to go behind your back like this?

Truth be told, she didn’t know why.

You were her baby sister and she would murder anyone who caused or brought any harm towards you, yet she was the main one doing it.

When she thought about it, keeping it a secret from you was the best thing that they could possibly do, but secrets eventually get revealed and she knew that she wasn’t ready to face you. There was no excuse in the world that she could give to you that would make you forgive her and she knew that.

Joe was everything to you and oftentimes you would confide in her about him and about your relationship.

She had never seen you so happy and even though she was happy for you, she couldn’t help but to feel jealous also.

She had already been married and divorced twice.

When was it going to be her turn to feel an ounce of happiness?

Joe was silent for a few minutes while trying to get his thoughts together.

“When did you find out?” Joe asked as he hung his head in disbelief. He could hide a lot of things from you, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to hide an entire human.

“About two weeks ago.”

“How far along are you and are you keeping it?”

Marlene got a confused look on her face and couldn’t believe that he had just asked her that.

“Are you serious? Of course I’m keeping it. And I’m about a month and some change in.”

“And we’re going to explain this to your sister how? Especially if they look like me! And that means you’ll be due before her. Fuck!”

“So I’ll actually get to have your first born and not her. I thought that you would be a little more excited than this.”

“Move so I can get dressed.”

Joe was now sitting across from you eating his dinner in silence and you couldn’t take it anymore. He had been quiet since he had gotten back home, only barely kissing you on the cheek and nothing else. You could tell that something was bothering him and you were going to try your hardest to get it out of him.

“Babe?” You said, but was met with silence.

“Baby?”

Silence.

“Joe?”

Silence.

“Joey?”

Silence.

“JOSEPH!”

“HUH?! What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong is that I’ve been calling you for the last two minutes and all you’re doing over there is staring into space. Baby, what is wrong with you? You’ve been off for these last couple of weeks.”

“I’m sorry, I just…. I’m tired, that's all. Wedding planning is a lot but I wanted to make sure that everything was the way that you wanted.”

“But it’s your wedding too, not just mine.”

“I know, but you know I’ll always do anything that I can to see you smile. I just love you a whole lot and I don’t want you to ever forget that.”

“Why would I ever forget that? And I love you too, more than anything.”

“We never know what tomorrow might bring and you know I’m always going to tell you how much I love you every chance that I get.”

“Are you sure that there’s nothing else bothering you?” You asked, looking across the table at him concerned.

“No, I promise.”

“Okay, well I promised to call Mar before I went to sleep so I’m about to go and do that while you finish.”

“I got it, baby. Just go ahead, I’ll be right behind you.”

“Okay.” You got up from the table while putting your plate and glass in the sink before going over to Joe and leaning down to kiss him. He eagerly kissed you back and it almost seemed as if it was desperate.

Like you were going to disappear into thin air once he broke away from you.

“I love you and I’ll never get tired of saying that, you mean everything to me and I can’t wait to marry you.” You said while smiling at him and running a hand through his hair.

“I love you too and you know that no one else compares to you. Can’t wait to change your last name.”

All you did was smile in return before leaving the kitchen and making your way to your shared bedroom as Joe was trying to come to terms with the mess that he had now made. How could he go into your marriage with this hanging over his head? It was only a matter of time before Marlene said something and he felt as if he had to do it first.

But knowing this, you probably wouldn’t forgive him so the wedding would be off the table. But he knew that you were the one for him and that he didn’t want to marry anyone else. No one else compared to you and he was beside himself thinking about how he had been hurting you these last few months going behind your back with someone who is that close to you. 

He didn’t know what to do and he obviously couldn’t tell anyone about it, so he had to come to a decision by himself.

And time was running out.

It was now two days before the wedding and Camille was trying to whisk you out the door since you would be staying with her until it was time to say ‘I do’. But you were too busy lip locking with Joe.

“Girl, will you come on?! You can have all the kisses you want from your man in two days because I promise you that he’s not going anywhere. JOSEPH! UNHAND HER NOW!”

“Camille, you have always been such a hater.” Joe responded before kissing the side of your mouth and finally letting you go.

“And I’ll be that because you are cutting into our quality girl time.”

All you did was laugh as Joe rolled his eyes.

“I guess I can let you go then. Less than 48 hours until we’re married.”

“I know and it just seems so surreal.”

“Can’t wait for you to meet me at the altar.” Joe whispered to you before placing a kiss on your forehead.

“And I’ll be the one in white.”

“Off-white, baby. Ain’t nothing virgin about your ass.”

“CAMILLE!”

“What? What did I say?”

Camille was now treating you to lunch at one of your favorite restaurants and she could tell that something was off and that you were deep in thought.

“I’ve known you since we were ten and I know you like the back of my hand. Spill it.”

“I…. Joe has been distant this past month and I don’t understand why.”

“Joe? Distant? Are we talking about the same person because? The one who was just all over you literally sucking your face off? That Joe?”

“Yeah, it’s weird. I kept asking him about it and all he said was that he was tired from all the things that we had to do for the wedding but it was weird. I could tell that he was hiding something because then he said something along the lines of for me to never forget how much he loves me and he’s always going to show that he does.”

“Hmm cold feet, you think?”

“No, that’s not it. But something is definitely off with him.”

“You’re probably thinking into this too much, babe. That man loves you and absolutely worships the ground that you walk on. Anytime you walk into a room, I swear his face lights up. He probably has wedding jitters. Everything is going to be fine.”

“You’re probably right, I just don’t want to lose him.”

“And you’re not going to. If he ever hurts you, you know me and Marlene will kick his ass. Now let’s go and get you married.”

“You look absolutely amazing.” You hear your mother say from behind you as she caught your eye in the mirror.

“Thank you, mom. Can’t wait for the rest of our lives together.” You said as you felt the tears coming on, but immediately heard Camille screech.

“NO! DO NOT CRY YET! YOU CAN ONLY CRY WHEN YOU SEE JOE! DO NOT MESS UP MY WORK WITH YOUR EMOTIONS! HOLD IN TOGETHER FOR ANOTHER TWO MINUTES.”

“Damn, who are you? The crying police?”

“I will stab you with my makeup brush, but I don’t think that your husband will appreciate that, but don’t push me Y/N!”

“Just for that I’m crying right when the music starts.”

“Make sure you don’t ugly cry. That won’t be cute for the wedding photos.”

Next thing you knew, it was time to walk down the aisle to your forever love.

With your arm locked with your fathers, you heard the wedding march and slowly began to make your ways towards Joe. When he looked up and saw you, his jaw immediately hit the floor. Once you finally reached him, your dad placed a kiss on your cheek before placing your hand in Joe’s who then brought it up to his lips to place a light kiss on it. 

Even now with him standing in front of you, you could tell that something was off. You figured that it would have gone away by now, but something was wrong and today was going to be the day that you got it out of him and wouldn’t be taking no for an answer. The last thing that you wanted was for your marriage to start out with the two of you keeping secrets from each other. 

But little did you know that he was about to tell you and that he was going to do it when you least expected it. 

When it was time to say his vows, Joe looked at you and saw how you were looking up at him with so much admiration and he knew. He knew at that moment that he had to come clean and would deal with the consequences later. 

As the preacher looked towards Joe for him to say ‘I do.’ he said something else instead.

“I… I can’t say that until I tell you something.”

Your cheeks started to get hot and your heart rate had increased. You looked up at him in a state of panic and rightfully so.

But then you heard Marlene’s voice behind you. 

“He’s been sleeping with me for the last four months and got me pregnant.”

Taglist:

@hoodharlow

@nattinatalia

@wickedfun9

@keiva1000

@dandelionwrites8

[dirtyvulture]

I Will Never Have You

??? x Beefy!Fem!Reader

“I Will Always Love You” - Alternate Ending 

18+ only, read at your own risk

Summary: After the traumatic events of IWALY, you find solace with someone else.

Word count: 4386

AN: I wrote this ages ago, but didn’t have the courage to post it until now. Enjoy? 😬

“So, I heard Kate has a girlfriend now,” Natasha says, coming up behind Yelena who beats furiously at a punching bag.

“Oh, yeah, she does. I didn’t know you wanted any updates about her,” Yelena responds.

“Is it you?”

Yelena stops mid-punch, causing the bag to swing back and crash into her body. She’s nearly knocked off her feet but grabs onto it to steady herself. “What?” She looks at her sister almost offensively. “No.”

“I mean, I wouldn’t be upset if you were,” Natasha deflects. 

“It’s not me, Nat.” Yelena slams her fist into the punching bag with so much force Natasha swears she hears her knuckles crack.

“Okay, okay,” Natasha backs off. 

“You’ll see for yourself,” Yelena says. “Kate is bringing her to Stark’s party next week.”

“That’s where I first heard about her,” Natasha replies. “Is it true she’s from California?”

“Something like that.” Yelena doesn’t seem entirely comfortable admitting to more details, meaning that she knows more than she’s letting on.

“Well, good for Kate.” Natasha is genuinely happy to hear that Kate has finally found someone for herself. Natasha knew Clint’s protegee had always been intensely interested in you when she was with you, but hopefully now that you two were broken and you had moved away, Kate’s been able to stop pining, just as Natasha’s had to do.

After the poorest choice of judgment she’s ever experienced in her life, which resulted in Natasha assaulting you and damaging your relationship beyond repair, she has never been the same. She knows she doesn’t deserve better and her actions still haunt her despite the dozens of therapy sessions she’s been to. Fury had you reassigned to a different division at SHIELD and after you moved away, you never made contact with her again. Natasha knew it was best for the two of you to keep your space, but part of her wishes she could see you again, talk to you again, even though she knows she would never be able to have you in the way she had before.

“Well, I guess it’ll be nice to meet her then,” Natasha says.

“Yes, for you and me both,” Yelena agrees.  

***********************************************************************

After a long week, Natasha reunites with Yelena to attend Stark’s party. She had been surprised her invite hadn’t been canceled, especially since she hadn’t seen any of her co-workers in almost six months since Fury removed her from the team. While she had long since adjusted to her new position, nothing could compare to the chemistry and energy of her old team. Sometimes she misses it so much she considers asking him to move her back, but she knows she wouldn’t be accepted back.

They don’t want to work with a rapist. 

Although she hadn’t been convicted for her crime and it was never publicly announced what she did, it seemed that everyone knew that was the reason you and her broke up. She would still stumble across cruel notes slipped into her locker, some threatening to out her and some threatening violent physical harm and occasionally death. There was no point in reporting any of them, since they all spoke the truth. So instead, she kept them all. 

The thrumming environment makes her just as uncomfortable as the familiar faces do. No one dares to talk to Natasha longer than a mandatory “long time, no see,” most of them turning instantly to her sister and engaging in conversation with her instead. Natasha feels the loneliness in her chest deepen. It could not be more apparent that no one wants her here, but as much as she wants to leave, being here is punishment enough for her.

Natasha follows Yelena around like a shadow, literally lurking behind her where she thinks no one will notice. They’re picking at a plate of crab rangoons when suddenly Yelena jabs her elbow into Natasha’s side. Natasha almost chokes on her food when Yelena says, “Kate’s here.”

“Where?”

Yelena points to the bar. Kate is standing there in a flowy purple dress that reminds Natasha of what teenagers wore to prom. Towering next to her is a familiar broad-shouldered figure, wearing a polo shirt in the same shade of purple. When both of them turn towards her and Yelena, Natasha almost faints.

It’s you.

How did you become Kate’s new girlfriend? Why did you say yes to her? A million thoughts swirl in Natasha’s head. You had told her a hundred times that you had no interest in Kate and even viewed her as a younger sister. Then how could this have happened? Did Kate slip something into your drink or hit you on the head? Maybe the trauma Natasha had caused you inadvertently gave you memory loss, and now you couldn’t remember that you didn’t even like–

“Sestra, are you okay?” Yelena interrupts as Natasha turns on her angrily.

“You knew,” she snaps. “You knew Kate was dating Y/N.”

“I was the first person she told,” Yelena admits. “And you know how Kate always felt about Y/N…”

“But it wasn’t returned!” Natasha hisses, although you standing next to Kate with your arm around her waist says otherwise. “How could you let this happen?”

“Let this happen?” Yelena’s eyes blaze with fury. “You’re the one who fucked up the relationship! Not me, not anyone else. And you know Kate would never hurt Y/N the way you did.”

Natasha swallows her anger because she knows Yelena is right. Because despite her faults, Kate would never do what she did to you.

Kate leans against you, her hand squeezing your bicep so hard Natasha is sure her nail marks are going to be imprinted into your skin all night. Marking her territory, Natasha scoffs, although how many times did she do the same to you before? She treated you like a piece of meat, like a possession she had ownership of, never like the human being you actually were. 

But Kate has never looked happier as she pulls you around in tow, although you look just as uninterested in being here as Natasha feels. However, when you make eye contact with Natasha, you freeze and Kate jerks back because she isn’t strong enough to move you on her own. 

Kate looks around frantically until she notices that you’re staring at Natasha, then she tugs you down to her level so she can whisper something in your ear. You shake your head, then nod and Kate kisses your cheek. Natasha wants to dissolve on the spot. Kate readjusts her grip on your arm and leads you over to Natasha and Yelena.

“Hi, Yelena! Hi, Nat,” Kate says first, waving to both of them in turn. “It’s good to see you both again, especially you, Nat. I know it’s been…a while.”

“Yes, hello, Kate.” Natasha notices Yelena move closer to her side, as if her sister is afraid she’ll try strangling Kate. 

“And you both already know Y/N, I think…”

You grin as though it pains you, your teeth clenched as though you’re purposely preventing yourself from saying something. 

“Anyway, we’ll be around if you want to catch up!” Kate says, and Natasha doesn’t miss the way she implies that if she wants to talk to you, she’ll have to talk to Kate too. Kate steers you off in another direction before Natasha can get a chance to say good-bye. Seeing Kate with you now makes Natasha wonder if this is how she felt every time she saw you with Natasha attached to your arm. It’s a sucky feeling. 

Thinking about Kate being with you drives Natasha crazy. Maybe it’s that Kate gets to spend every moment with you. Maybe it’s that Kate gets to call you hers now. Maybe it’s that Kate gets to take you to bed. Natasha remembers when that had been her; she had never been happier in her life. No wonder Kate looked so happy with you. There was just something about you that brightened something in everyone. 

And maybe Kate hadn’t had to do anything for you to turn to her. Maybe her carefree, simple nature was what you needed in your life after such a traumatic event. Natasha feels ashamed for thinking that Kate had to pull mind tricks to get you to fall for her. You deserved happiness, and if you found that with Kate, Natasha wouldn’t judge you or her for that.

Because one thing was clear now: there was no chance in the world Natasha was ever going to have you back.

***********************************************************************

“You okay, babe?” Kate says, resting her head on your shoulder. “We can get you a stronger drink if you–” She stops herself, her cheeks reddening as you stare down at the non-alcoholic margarita in your hands. You had given up alcohol since the assault and were surprised that Kate still didn’t remember this, especially after being with you for almost two months now.

“Uh, I’m sorry,” Kate rushes to apologize. “I’ll just get us some water.” Her hand brushes your arm as she turns away, waving down a waiter and turning back to push an icy glass of water in front of you.

“Thanks.” You take a sip, your hand shaking as you bring the glass to your mouth.

“Maybe we should go back to our room upstairs,” Kate suggests. 

“I’m fine,” you insist. Kate keeps rubbing your forearm, which you assume is supposed to be a comforting gesture, but she’s holding on too hard, almost like she’s afraid that if she lets go of you you’ll walk right back into Natasha’s arms. But that’s an unlikely possibility, even more unlikely than you getting with Kate in the first place.

You’re still not totally sure how it happened, but within the first few months of you being stationed out in California, Kate had texted you. It had started out completely innocent, with her simply checking in to see how you were adjusting, and you were grateful to have someone to talk to. It escalated one week when you admitted to having a really hard time with life and without being prompted, Kate flew over from New York to be with you. She stayed with you longer than she should have, but when she finally went back, you felt you couldn’t be without her. So, you soon moved back to New York and the rest was history. 

But it wasn’t perfect, as no relationship is, and sometimes you’re unsure if you made the right decision to come back to New York exclusively to be with Kate. She was a very nice girl, and since it was no secret how smitten she had been with you the entire time you were Natasha, you’re not surprised at how fast she warmed up to you. You, on the other hand, were facing some very complicated emotions and trauma, and it was difficult to tell if you had genuine feelings for Kate or were just using her as a crutch.

“Did seeing Nat upset you?” Kate asks, taking you out of your thoughts. 

“What?” You hadn’t even said a single word to Natasha. Yelena had warned you both that she would be in attendance tonight, so you had prepared an entire speech of how to confront her, but when you finally saw her again, you choked up. 

“It’s okay if it did,” Kate says, putting her arm around your shoulder now and pressing herself closer to you. “She really should be in jail for what she did to you–”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” you snap, feeling immediately guilty when you see Kate’s hurt expression. “I…just…maybe later,” you add lamely. 

Your therapist told you that opening up to a new relationship after what happened with Natasha would be difficult. Luckily, Kate had the advantage of knowing you before the assault, and what happened, so you didn’t have to fully relive the trauma and explain to her why you had trust issues or why you were now so guarded in bed. 

You hadn’t expected to do it so soon, and while Kate would’ve eaten you alive the first chance she got, to her credit, she waited until you were ready. The first time you two had sex, you were certain that Kate was going to pass out when she saw you lying shirtless on her bed, and then she asked you to take her in every position you could ever think of until neither of you could move the next day. But as much passion as there was, the whispered “I love yous” and kisses and cuddles felt meaningless and empty. You didn’t know what it would take to get to that level of emotion, and you wonder at all if you’ll find it with Kate.

“Do you want to go back upstairs?” Kate asks again. “Maybe we can do something to clear your mind a little…”

While Kate’s appetite was worse than a burgeoning teenager, she respected your boundaries and never pushed you into doing something you didn’t want to. You found that your libido was significantly lower than it had been before the assault, but once in a while it spiked, which Kate couldn’t be happier for.

And tonight was one of those moments. Seeing Natasha again was not only traumatic but frustrating, and you needed something to get your mind off her.

You grab Kate’s hand suddenly. “Let’s go,” you say, pulling her out of her seat and scooping her up in your strong arms. She squeaks as her feet leave the floor, wrapping her arms around your neck to steady herself. You ignore the burning eyes on your back as you walk out carrying Kate. 

***********************************************************************

You’re utterly impatient waiting for the elevator to take the two of you up to the suites. Every second that passes and you don’t have Kate underneath you makes your skin hot with need. By the time you finally make it to Kate’s room, you throw her onto the bed and take off your shirt and pants. Kate watches you in awe for a moment, like she’s still in disbelief that she gets to have you like this, before struggling with the zipper of her dress behind her neck. 

Once you’re undressed, you climb onto the bed with her and flip her over by her hips, ripping the zipper down so roughly you’re sure you’ve ruined the fabric, but neither of you seem to care. Kate quickly sheds the gown and pushes it off onto the floor, turning back over and looping her arms around your neck to pull you down into a heated kiss. 

When your teeth knock together, you wonder if you’re being too rough with Kate, but she doesn’t let you pull away. Instead, she wraps her legs around your waist, her ankles locking over your lower back. One of your hands finds her breasts in an effort to steady yourself over her, and she moans when your hand closes around the swell of her flesh. 

“Is this okay?” you finally break away from her lips to ask.

“Yes, yes,” Kate gasps. Her hands trace over your back muscles, before finally digging into your shoulder blades to encourage you to arch into her. She tucks her head against your chest and you feel her lips scraping against your collarbone, bruising your skin and marking her claim on you.

“Oh God, Kate,” you say, your center pulsing with need. You feel her hands come around your sides, brushing across your tensed abs.

“I want to ride you,” Kate demands, but quickly changes her tone of voice when she sees you glaring down at her. “I mean, can I…Can I ride you, baby?” 

It’s not a power play thing, you just don’t like Kate being forceful with her requests because it makes you feel like you don’t have a choice. Although you could say “no” at any point and Kate would stop, part of you is still subconsciously fearful that if you do, Kate won’t respect you and take advantage of you like Natasha did. You stopped drinking alcohol to make sure you were always in control of all your faculties, and your time with Kate so far had proved that she was a mindful and respectful partner, but the fear was still there. You wondered if it would ever truly go away or if you would be stuck battling it every single time you were in bed with someone. 

“Hop on, baby,” you tell Kate, switching positions with her and relaxing with your back flat on the bed. Kate throws one leg over your waist, placing her hands on your chest and slowly lowering herself onto your chiseled stomach. Her core is hot and wet and it excites you to see how desperate she is for you. 

“You feel so good,” Kate pants, slowly rocking back and forth. You take hold of her hips to guide her, flexing your abs until you feel like you can’t even take a breath. Kate moans as she bumps across the defined muscles of your stomach. 

“Look at me, Kate,” you grunt as her nails curve into the skin of your chest. You want to see the light in her eyes when she comes undone, hear the moans she releases because she’s used your perfect body to get off. 

Kate loses some of her rhythm as she forces herself to lift her head. Her blue eyes, swirling with lust and desire, lock onto yours, and you buck your hips suddenly, trying to angle your body to stimulate her into an orgasm. Kate grinds down on you, like she’s trying to stay seated on a bucking bull, but the movement is too much for her and she gushes across your stomach. You keep your firm grip on her waist so she doesn’t fall off, lowering your hips back onto the bed as she falls on top of you, panting hard. 

You stroke the back of her head until she calms down, and then Kate sits up with a mischievous look in her eye.

“Can I clean you up?” she asks.

You smirk at her. “Sure, baby. Make sure you get every drop.”

Almost as if your words alone were enough to reinvigorate her, Kate crawls down your body and you spread your legs apart to let her lie between them. She puts a hand on each of your muscular thighs to balance herself and lower her head to lap at the stickiness coating your abs. You moan as her tongue slides across your muscles, collecting up every bit of the mess she made. Your skin shines not with her cum anymore but her saliva and the heat in your stomach rages hotter as you watch her, her head dipping lower and lower until suddenly her mouth finds the heat between your legs and your back arches with a moan.

“Fuck, Kate,” you gasp, moving your hands to the blankets instead so you don’t accidentally pull her hair out. Her tongue pushes into you with some hesitance at first, but as soon as she tastes you, she dives in deeper for more. Her head bobs up and down as she sets a pace that’s a little too quick for your liking and you try to roll your hips to indicate a better rhythm, but Kate is too drunk on your taste, too excited to be in this position, to pay you much attention. And as hot as her mouth is, as flexible as her tongue is, it’s not enough to get you off. 

Kate may not be as experienced as your past partners, but sometimes you feel like she doesn’t even want or care to know what you actually like and what you don’t. While she’s never done anything to make you feel outright uncomfortable, you aren’t always satisfied with her efforts either–although she does try her best, that much is certain. 

Your excitement begins to dwindle as the minutes tick by and you’re no closer to orgasm than when Kate was still on top of you. You’re surprised she hasn’t gotten a jaw cramp yet, and you don’t want her to, so you move your hand onto her head and push her back. 

“Okay, okay, that’s enough,” you say, pretending to pant like you’re coming down from an amazing high. Kate sits back on her heels, wiping her lips with a grin. You know you’re just as guilty for not being honest with her, but for some reason, you just don’t have it in you to tell her the truth. This poor girl had waited years to be with you and probably thought she never had a chance in the world. You could give her this moment. There might not be more of them, anyway.

Kate crawls up to you to kiss you sloppily and you shy away, reaching over to the nightstand and twisting your elbow awkwardly to open the top drawer. Your fingers close around the rubber toy you’re looking for and you pull it out with a flourish, watching the way Kate’s eyes darken when she sees what you’re holding. 

“Think you can handle one more?” you ask.

“Anything for you, baby.” She kisses you again and gets off of you so you can sit up and pull the straps over your legs, positioning the toy between them. 

“Lie down,” you tell Kate, maneuvering yourself on top of her again. You can see the glistening wetness of her center and you know you won’t need any more lube, despite how large the toy is. Even in the beginning, you insisted on using a smaller size but Kate didn’t want that, saying that you looked the best with a big one between your legs. You didn’t argue with her on that and fucked her into the mattress until you were so exhausted you fell asleep with the strap still in her. 

You grab onto each of Kate’s ankles and hoist her legs up, holding them in a wide V and tilting her butt up just a few inches off the bed. Scooting forward until the tip of your cock presses against her entrance, you look down at her and ask if she’s ready. 

“Fuck me until I can’t walk,” Kate says, and she knows you’ll keep your side of the deal. 

You thrust your hips forward, gliding into her almost entirely in one smooth motion, and Kate throws her head back and moans shamelessly. You use your grip on her ankles to pull her forward as your hips move, increasing the power of your thrusts and the entire bed shakes with your strength. Kate bounces along the mattress, trying to reach for you, desperate for something solid to hold onto while you fuck her brains out. 

***********************************************************************

“I think I saw them head out earlier,” Natasha says, trying to act like she hadn’t had her eyes on you the whole time.

“So soon?” Yelena says. “Well, I think the only reason they showed up was to see you anyway–”

“I barely spoke to either of them.”

Yelena shrugs. “Did you expect them to hang around? After what you did?”

Sometimes, Natasha wonders whose side her sister is on. Then she remembers how Yelena had been ready to (justifiably) beat her to a pulp after she found out what Natasha had done. 

“Do you want to go now?” Yelena asks, although she senses that Natasha wanted to leave hours ago.

“Yeah, I think I’m done here.”

“Okay.”

Natasha plans on spending the night in her sister’s room, since it’s too far of a drive back to her place in Rochester. She goes up the elevator with Yelena, feeling a wave of sadness fill her as she remembered the thousands of times she had gone up to the suites with you, with her teammates. Those days were long gone. 

“Do you remember where my room is?” Yelena asks. “I have to grab something from the kitchen, so you can meet me there.”

“Sure.” But Natasha does not have the faintest memory of where Yelena’s suite is. She only remembers where yours and hers was. She wonders who’s moved in now and if they know the history of that room. It would probably be better if they didn’t. 

She wanders down the dark hallway, nervous to realize that all the doors look the same. In a moment of panicked judgment, she reaches for a random door handle and pushes it open. 

Just her luck, Natasha doesn’t stumble into Yelena’s empty room. It’s Kate’s.

Kate is lying naked on her bed with you equally naked and between her legs, holding them open at such a wide angle that even Natasha is impressed by her flexibility. Your abs flex as you jog your hips forward, slapping your thighs against Kate’s loudly. Natasha has a fleeting thought of being in Kate’s position before, but it is quickly replaced by shame and embarrassment.

“Uh, shit…” Natasha says, blush creeping up to the tips of her ears. She doesn’t know if either of you even notice her and quickly backs out, her heart pounding. She would never have you like that again, and it hurts her like a knife in her chest to know that she lost you to Kate.

Kate had seen Natasha peek into her room and never thought she would be so happy to be caught in a position like this. When Natasha leaves, Kate begs you to pound into her harder and faster, until you fear you’ll actually rip her in half. You don’t, but you do break the bedframe when it slams into the wall one too many times. Tony will not be happy to hear he has to order another bed for Kate. 

Kate practically screams when she comes undone, tearing at the sheets and pillows with clawed hands. You finally drop her legs, pulling your cock out and falling on top of her, your body slick with sweat as you lay flat against her. Kate rolls you to the side as you wrap your arms around her and she tangles her legs with yours, resting her head on your chest and telling you to hold her tighter. 

No other words are said, but the silence seems to communicate that both of you know this is a dream reaching its end.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

AN: Oh how the tables have turned...

This was a very different fic for me. I’d love to hear what you think! Especially from those who were anti-Nat endgame with the original. 👀

Please like, reblog, and comment! Follow for more content. 🥰

[sereneres]

dollz™ ³

newjeans x 6th member!reader / 0.8k

summary. — in which danielle has too much time on her hands. she also isn’t really there but we’re going to ignore that

warnings. — danielle is here yet isn’t at the same time

“this name thing is lowkey kinda hard.”

hyein huffs, rolling onto her side and raising an eyebrow at the older girl. “don’t you already have all of yours, unnie?”

“well, no, i still have to come up with with mine and ynnie’s.” hanni sighs, dropping her chin into her palm. “the others were easier. bbangsaz, kittyz, twotolz, niniz–”

“why are you and dani-unnie ‘niniz’?” haerin tilted her head. “couldn’t you just be ‘aussiez’? because you both came from australia?”

minji, sighing, patted the girl on the soldier with a look of faux sympathy. “don’t question it too much, haerin, you’ll just get lost in the complicatedness that is hanni’s mind.”

“hey, just so you know, danielle was the one who wanted niniz, not me!”

“oh.” minji blinked, then turned back to haerin to once again pat her on the shoulder. “nevermind haerin.”

“hey–”

hyein groans, turning to you as the two girls continued bickering. haerin, having already settled down on minji’s lap, starts to doze off.

“yn-unnie~” she whines, shuffling closer to you and placing her hands on your knees. “can you help me, please?”

her words are almost robotic, seeing as she had said them in english, and that, paired with the pouty look on her face, was enough to make you coo at the younger girl.

“don’t worry about it too much, hyein.” you murmured, placing a hand on her head and petting her. “it’ll come to us… hopefully.”

minji, being unable to move with a sleeping haerin in her lap, turns her head nearly one-hundred and eighty degrees to look at you. “maybe you should ask danielle for help. she’s pretty good at coming up with names.”

“sh– mph,” haerin yawned. “she made a list of ship names for us already. didn’t you guys get her message?”

“she did?” hanni frowned, picking up your phone. “when’d she send it?”

“hanni-unnie, that’s my phone–”

the older girl pressed a finger to your lips, her eyes fixed on the screen of your phone. “shush, yn, you weren’t using it anyway.” she paused. “uh, what’s your password again?”

“just use your own phone, unnie.” hyein sighed, plopping her head onto your lap. “it would be faster if you did.”

you too sigh, albeit more out of exasperation than tiredness. “debut date, hanni-unnie.” you reminded her for the nth time that month. “it’s our debut date.”

“right… did you use month day year, day month year, year month day, or year day month?”

“hanni-unnie.”

“okay, okay, i got it, no need to whine… oh wow this list is long–”

“what about barbiez?” hyein cut in, having pulled up the list on her own phone. “that’s pretty cute, right, yn-unnie?”

you hum. “it is, but i don’t think we can just use barbiez. for one thing, it would look weird being spelt with a z when everyone spells it with an s–”

“all of our shipnames look weird with a z though.” haerin muttered. “dani-unnie and i use ‘candyz’ and not ‘candies’…”

“and, most importantly, we could get into some issues using the name barbie despite not being affiliated to the brand.” you smile apologetically at the girl in your lap, the beginnings of a pout on her face. “sorry, hyein-ah, but we can’t use it.”

“what about bratz?” hanni suggested, having not paid attention to anything you had said. “you and hyein look like bratz, right, minji?”

minji blinks. “erm…” she glances at you, her silent plea for help plastering an amused yet small smile on your lips.

“we can’t use that one because, as i said earlier, copyright and or trademark issues, hyein.” you said. “also, i don’t think it would be a good look if we were called bratz. it’s too much like the word brats, and who knows how many people already think of us like that…”

“those pe’ple are jus’ haters, unnie.” haerin murmured sleepily. “ignore ‘em.”

hanni huffed and nodded her head in agreement with the younger’s words. “well said, haerin, well said.”

“okay, what about dollz?” minji asked, looking at hyein. she had, at somepoint, taken your phone from hanni and was going through the list danielle had created. “since you can’t use barbiez or bratz, why not just use dollz?”

“dollz.” hyein repeated thoughtfully, seemingly testing how the word sounded. “that’s…”

“it’s perfect.” you leaned forward, trying and failing to peek at the screen—it was a privacy screen, hence your failure—of your phone. “was it on dani-unnie’s list?”

the older girl nodded. “it was.” she gives you your phone before pointing at the name on the screen. “see, it’s like, ten or so names down from the first one in the third row.”

“oh… just how many names did dani-unnie come up with?”

“she came up with around twenty–”

“oh, that’s not that bad.”

“–for each pairing, excluding the ones we already made names for, so, around a hundred?”

“a hundred?!”

previous. / pairz. / next.

[gundamthey17]

Day 2 of Payneland Promptfest 2024

I know I'm a month late, but December ended up being a hell of a month. I do still intend to write all 7 prompts, so hopefully people aren't totally sick of holiday-themed stories yet. (It's still the holidays, right? lol)

Day 2: frostbite | “How did you even find this?” | getting dressed up

“Crystal!” Charles said excitedly.

“Gah!” Crystal jumped. “Don't startle me like that! You do know it's early, don't you?”

“No, I didn't. I don't sleep,” he replied. Unbothered, he barrelled on. “Have you heard of ugly Christmas jumpers? Or, wait, what do you call them? Sweaters? Ugly Christmas sweaters.”

“Yes, Charles, I've heard of them. What about them?”

“I just saw someone wearing one. They were big in the eighties. I can't believe they're still popular!”

“I don't know about still. More like again.”

“Do you know where to get them?”

“Uh… lots of places. Thrift stores probably have the best ones.”

“Can we go?”

“You want to go shopping. For ugly Christmas sweaters.”

“Yeah! It'll be brills!”

Crystal yawned and shrugged. “Fine by me, I guess.” It wasn't as if she'd had any other plans for the day.

“Great! You get Niko, and I'll get Edwin.”

A short time later, Charles was following Crystal into a thrift store, practically bouncing with excitement. Niko and Edwin were close behind.

Sure enough, the first clothing rack they saw was full of Christmas jumpers. 

“Ooh, what about this one?” said Niko, holding up a particularly garish jumper for Edwin to see.

Edwin frowned, unsure how to respond. “Um… it's…”

“It's mint, Niko!” said Charles. “I think I see some more jumpers over there.”

The next hour was a blur of Christmas jumpers, laughter, and (generally) good-natured teasing as the quartet each picked out a suitable option.

Charles found his jumper almost immediately. He spotted it from across the store, and his eyes lit up. “No way! Brills!” He practically sprinted over to it, leaving Edwin and the girls to follow at a more reasonable pace.

Edwin frowned again as Charles held up the jumper. It was mostly black and green, with some red details here and there. The central image was of a classic-white-sheet sort of ghost, with a red ‘no’ symbol over it. The bottom hem had an alternating pattern of Christmas trees and… some sort of squarish white smiling face wearing a hat. “Why does it say no ghosts?”

Charles sighed dramatically, running a hand over his face. “It’s Ghostbusters, mate. You’ve literally seen the films! This is their logo!”

“Ah, yes, I remember. What has it got to do with Christmas?” To his credit, Edwin seemed to genuinely be trying to make sense of the ugly Christmas jumper tradition.

Charles shrugged. “It was Christmas in the second one. But it doesn’t really matter. It’s in the style of a Christmas jumper. That’s the important bit.”

“If you say so,” Edwin replied, sounding thoroughly unconvinced.

Charles handed the jumper to Crystal, who glanced at the tag. “This is a double extra large. Are you sure you want this one? It’s not gonna fit you.”

“It’ll be fine!”

“Okay. You do you, I guess.”

Crystal had started out somewhat skeptical of the whole endeavor, but her mood had brightened considerably when she found a jumper that depicted the Grinch giving two middle fingers. She wordlessly draped the jumper over her arm and continued to peruse the rack, half-listening as Charles explained the Grinch to Edwin. Crystal didn’t have the patience to explain every pop culture reference, but Charles, for his part, didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he seemed to enjoy it.

“Right, so there’s this book, and this guy, the Grinch, absolutely hates Christmas…”

Niko insisted on scouring the entire store before she settled on a jumper. The one she picked featured a large Christmas tree in the center, and was covered in a dizzying array of baubles, garland, pompoms, and candy canes.

“That’s great!” Charles said.

“That’s… something,” Crystal added.

“It’s perfect,” declared Niko, and that was that.

Edwin, to no one’s surprise, ended up having the hardest time finding a jumper that suited him. Early on, he located a knitted blue and white jumper with a pattern of snowflakes across the chest and hem. He held it up hopefully, but Charles shook his head.

“Nah, mate, they’re supposed to be ugly Christmas jumpers.”

“I dunno,” Crystal muttered loudly to Niko, “the grandpa vibes are pretty strong with that one.”

“Given that I am likely older than your grandfather, I am not at all offended by that.”

Crystal ignored him, rummaging around in a pile of jumpers, until she smirked and held one up. “I found the perfect sweater for you, Edwin!”

Edwin turned, and his expression soured as he took in the picture of a fat, grumpy-looking cat, wearing a Santa hat and wrapped in Christmas lights, above the words ‘On The Naughty List’. “Absolutely not.”

As time went on, Crystal grew more and more impatient. “You know what your problem is?” she asked eventually. Edwin opened his mouth, but she continued. “I don’t think you have enough Christmas cheer.”

“I am plenty cheerful,” Edwin replied indignantly.

“Oh yeah?” Crystal grabbed a Santa hat from a display. “Prove it. Wear this.” Without waiting for a response, she reached up and perched the hat on Edwin’s head.

Edwin stiffened like a cat being forced to wear a strange costume.

Crystal snickered. Edwin looked to Charles for help, but Charles merely flashed him a cheeky grin, all crinkled nose and bright teeth. 

Niko looked around to see if anyone was watching them. Luckily, the shop was nearly empty. “Does that just look like a floating Santa hat right now?” she asked quietly.

“Most likely,” Edwin replied, snapping out of it. He quickly pulled the hat off his head and handed it back to Crystal.

Charles and Crystal both offered up several more jumpers, but Edwin rejected all of them. 

Suddenly, Niko’s eyes went wide. “I know!” she said, and without another word, hurried away to a back corner of the shop.

Edwin caught Charles’s eye, but Charles just shrugged.

Niko returned a moment later, holding a jumper that was somewhat similar to the one she had picked out for herself. It was red and had a large tree in the center, but where hers was covered in baubles and garland, this one only had lights.

Edwin kept his expression neutral as he said, “I’m… not sure that –”

“Wait! You have to see the best part!” Niko reached inside the jumper and did - something, and suddenly the lights on the tree began to glow and blink.

Edwin’s expression transformed into one of awe. “How… how does it do that?”

“Batteries! See?” Turning the hem inside out, Niko showed him a small, white box with a button on it, which was cleverly concealed inside the jumper.

“Good job, Niko,” Charles said. He smiled and put one arm around Edwin’s shoulders. “I knew we’d find you one.”

They made their way to the front of the store, where Crystal paid for the jumpers, and then they stepped out into the cold December day.

They waited until they were back in their makeshift office to put on the jumpers. Edwin grabbed his and Charles’s.

“Wait, so any normal clothes can become ghost clothes?” Crystal asked.

“Not exactly. There is a complex magical process that must take place, wherein –”

“Literally no one cares.”

Edwin looked so affronted that Charles actually felt bad for him. He leaned over and whispered, “I care. You can explain it to me later.”

“I have explained it to you before!”

“Yeah, well, this time I’ll listen, won’t I?” Charles replied with a grin.

The “complex magical process” turned out to be the boys just putting the clothes on, though Edwin insisted there was more to it than that.

“If you could just put them on and they vanish, why didn't you do that in the store?” Crystal asked.

“That would be stealing!” Edwin replied. He felt around the hem of his jumper for the mechanism Niko had shown him, and pressed the button. The lights on the Christmas tree blinked to life. Edwin smiled, looking relieved. “I was not sure that was going to work once the jumper ceased to be tangible. It seems it has successfully retained its properties. Though I do wonder about the batteries…” He trailed off as he caught sight of Charles.

The Ghostbusters jumper seemed to swallow most of his lithe frame. It nearly reached his knees, and the sleeves completely covered his hands. He was grinning from ear to ear. “Too-big jumpers are the best,” he was saying, to no one in particular. “It’s like being in a big, warm hug.” He flapped the sleeves for emphasis.

The sight caused a fluttering sensation in Edwin’s stomach. Without thinking, he leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to the corner of Charles’s mouth. He immediately drew back with a gasp, phantom heat rushing to his cheeks in an invisible blush as he realized Crystal and Niko were still right there. Before he could stammer an apology – to Charles? to the girls? – Charles closed the distance between them and looped his arms around Edwin’s neck.

“So, what do you think of ugly Christmas jumpers? Pretty brills tradition, innit?”

“I… am beginning to understand it now.”

Niko tugged on Crystal’s arm, and the two quietly left the room as Charles leaned in to kiss Edwin properly.