#i did not expect him to sit back down again when i logged back in today

[evergreen-dryad]

i think, as a treat, i am always going to sign off with alhaitham sitting here from end of act 4 of sumeru archon quests, so everytime i log in i am treated to the sight of him freshly sitting back down and reading a book

(that is, if I CAN BEAR TO NOT START ACT V for a WHILE, the sumeru archon quests have been too good. previous quests i dragged through like chores but this?? lapped up like anime episode binge. had to make myself slow down after act 3)

fr tho that's peak canon behaviour

when traveller has taken poking nose elsewhere: standing up and maybe doing something else

when traveller (and by extension paimon) is there: r e a d o n l y

[finelinevogue]

a winter solstice like no other

summary - exchanging on winter solstice gifts leads to new revelations

pairing - azriel x reader

word count - ~2k

It was the night before Winter Solstice.

The house was full of laughter and love as fae’s alike drank mulled wine and snacked on Christmas puddings.

There was an air of happiness that hadn’t been around for the longest time. It was peaceful and comforting. Family was important sound this time of year and you were glad you had a good one to spend it with.

You were quite happily sitting in the corner sofa, tucked under a blanket you had knitted, drinking hot cocoa whilst the others danced near the log burning fire.

“Mind if I sit here?”

You turned to see Azriel ask you for a seat next to you.

“Of course. You don’t have to ask, Az.” You smiled at him, pulling the blanket back so he could sit down.

His large frame took up most of the rest of the sofa, so you threw the blanket over the top of you to keep you nice and warm.

“How are you enjoying this year’s Winter Solstice?” He asked you.

“Better than last year.”

Last year had been a truly sad one for you; spending it alone in a home that wasn’t even yours anymore. The war had taken everything from you, but in return it gave you this wonderful family and more than several places to call home.

It was Azriel who had found you cold and alone, and it was Azriel who took you to his family when you need people the most.

Everyone had warmly greeted you.

You had never expected to find another family.

And you certainly had never thought you’d find your mate because of it.

But here Azriel was. Your mate.

Your mate who didn’t know he was yours.

Every moment you spent close to him, you wondered how he couldn’t possibly feel the magic that you felt for him. His eyes didn’t light the same for you as yours did for him, which is the only way you knew he didn’t know yet.

You didn’t want to force him into something that he wasn’t ready for, though. Especially when he clearly had some feelings for Elain.

The three brothers and three sisters seemed destined to be, and yet you had mated to Azriel. There was almost an element of being terrified that you’d ruined a natural order if you accepted the bond between you and Azriel when Elain was right there.

“Present time!” Cassian cheered, breaking you from your thoughts.

Cassian jumped over the back of the sofa to land next to his mate; Nesta.

“You imbecile.” Nesta punched him when he knocked the wine in her hands onto her leggings.

“I love you too.” Cassian kissed her head in return, making everyone chuckle.

Everyone had their presents under the tree already, but you had left yours upstairs just because you didn’t want to intrude on their space.

You pulled the blanket off you and stood up, Azriel’s hand catching you and making you jolt with electricity.

“You okay?” He asked, looking concerned.

“Yes.” You chuckled at his worry, “Just going to get some things. Save me a seat.”

“I will.” He let go of your hand and you went off.

Your room was tucked in a small corner of the house, as you didn’t want to take up too much room. A lot of the rooms had already been taken so there wasn’t much choice, but your room was beautiful nonetheless.

It overlooked the mountains of Velaris and into the valley below. If you ever needed a reminder of how lucky you were, all you had to do was look out your window.

You picked up your presents in your room, collecting them in your arms. You tried to juggle them as you went to open the door, only for them to spill on to the floor and go everywhere.

“Oh, Mother above.” You mumbled, picking them all up again.

Once you had made your way downstairs, you re-entered the living room only to find your seat next to Azriel taken.

Elain had joined him.

Azriel didn’t look overly happy that she was there and he kept playing with a loose thread on the blanket you’d made as a distraction.

No matter, you smiled as you entered and handed out gifts to everyone.

Everyone thanked you as you passed out their respective gifts.

“You didn’t have to do this, Y/N.” Rhys spoke. “I haven’t been able to offer you the full wage you deserve this year.”

“And you’ve apologised for that countless times, Rhys. Yet, you forget you don’t charge me rent here so I don’t mind spending my wages on you and your family.” You handed him his gift.

“We’re your family too, remember.” Feyre smiled and thanked you as you gave her hers.

“I know. I wake up grateful every day.” You reshuffled the gifts to get a second for Feyre, “And an extra something for your birthday.”

“You are bad, Y/N… I told you not to.” Feyre tutted you.

“You deserve it.”

“Y/Ns right, darling.” Rhys kissed Feyre’s forehead.

You wandered back to Azriel and Elain, only holding one more gift.

“Oh.. Mother…” You started to swear.

“What is it?” Azriel asked.

“I must’ve dropped your gift on the way downstairs Az. I’m sorry, I’ll just…”

“Hey, it’s fine. You can pass it me later.”

“You sure?” You asked, feeling bad.

“Mhm.” He warmly smiled and leant back into the sofa.

You handed Elain her gift, before rounding the room to sit on the window seat just to the side of the room. You would’ve sat on a sofa, but there was no room left and you were the last to join the inner circle so it only made sense.

“Are we ready?” Cassian asked, looking around the room. “Then let’s go!”

Everyone began unwrapping, oohing and awwing over their gifts.

“Y/N..!”” Rhys laughed.

You smiled brightly as you noticed Rhys had opened his gift. You knew that he had been complaining that his feet had been getting so cold recently, so you had decided to knit him some slipper socks. They were in a gorgeous black with silver blobs that were meant to look like stars.

“Are they okay?” You asked shyly.

This was your first year of gift giving and you didn’t want to do it wrong.

“Perfect! Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome. Just a tiny thank you for helping me this past year.”

“You know we don’t need your thanks, Y/N, but you’re welcome anyways.”

As they continued opening presents and you opened yours, everyone was grateful and happy. Cassian was miffed that he got gag-gifts, but then again he hadn’t bought anything serious for anyone else.

You got to your gift from Azriel and stopped before you could tear, setting it to the side.

You looked up to Azriel and he was frowning at you, possibly thinking you didn’t care to open his gift. You gave him your kind eyes before he could think further.

“I’ll wait for you.” You mouthed across the room.

He smiled and nodded in agreement.

His gaze was broken from you as Elain nudged him to open her gift for him.

He slowly unwrapped the gift and everyone stopped to see what had made him gasp.

He slowly pulled out a Sapphire gem. A real and rare one. It was a gem that was meant to fit perfectly into his Truthteller blade.

“W-wow.” He raised his eyebrows in shock.

“I saw it the other day and just knew it was for you!” Elain giggled.

“This is far too much.” He shook his head.

“Oh please… It’s barely anything.”

You gulped at the site. If Elain thought that was nothing then your gift for him was truly worthless.

A rare gem? There was no competition, but if there were then Elaine would have won before you’d even started.

You wished more than anything that you could afford a lovely present like that for Az, but your money was often spent elsewhere through charity or simple living bills.

Everyone looked upon the two of them carefully.

Feyre knew that Azriel was your mate because you were making yourself miserable by keeping it to yourself, which obviously meant that Rhys had to know. So they didn’t look too comfortable with the gift exchange.

Rhys was trying to contact you through his mind tricks, but you didn’t let him. Not because you didn’t care, but because you knew you’d be upset the moment he tried to console you.

Whilst Elain and Az continued to have their moment, your own heart breaking a little, you quietly made your way out of the room.

You ran upstairs as quick as you could and shut your bedroom door behind you.

Opening the window, you stuck your head outside and let out a big breath - letting everything go. You felt like you could cry, but nothing good would come of that so you tried to console yourself the best you could with the fresh air and view of Velaris below.

“You o–”

“Mother of…” You turned around so quickly that you hit the side of your head on the glass window.

“Oh Gods, Y/N!” Az exclaimed as he shut the door behind him and ran over to you.

His hands took ahold of your face carefully, tilting your head to the side where you’d hit it. Instead of a pink mark, he noticed the tears instead.

“Hey, what’s with the tears?” He softly asked, wiping a thumb over your soft cheek.

“Sorry!” You laughed, “It’s been a bit much today already.”

“Tell me about it.” He answered sarcastically, before continuing. “I mean… a sapphire?” He whispered the last bit.

“Oh.. Yes. That - uhm - that was very thoughtful of Elain.” You took a step back from Azriel, wiping under your eyes.

You leant back against the windowsill and looked towards Azriel. He was carefully watching you like he didn’t quite understand something about you.

“What?” You asked.

“I have something for you.” He said, sitting back on your bed. He patted the spot next to you and you - not too eagerly - went and sat next to him.

He handed over a small blue wrapped box, as delicately wrapped as a professional would have done.

“It better not be a sapphire.” You joked.

“Oh better give it back then.” He tried to reach back for it, but you laughed and pulled it away. Turning back, you didn’t expect him to still be so close.

The bond inside of you was fluttering like a billion butterflies wings. You cleared your throat and looked down at the gift again, making Azriel lean back a bit.

You carefully opened it and found the box beneath the paper. It had a little infinity sign engraved in silver on the top of it.

You furrowed your eyebrows and swallowed back the growing lump at the back of your throat.

“Az…”

He stayed quiet.

“T.. This is from the ‘Bonded Mates’ gift shop.”

“I know.”

You gulped and turned towards him, tears in your eyes as the warmth in your chest started growing and growing. Your heart felt like it was growing three sizes and your chest was being directly pulled towards his.

“You… You know.” You let out a soft sob.

Azriel’s tears built up in his own eyes, “I do.” He nodded, confirming what you thought.

“Az.. For how long?”

“Since the day I met you.”

You let out another sob, feeling slightly more than overwhelmed right now. You nodded your head continued to look into his eyes, seeing your other half look back at you.

“You never said. I thought you liked Elain.”

“I must admit, even I thought I liked Elain at the very beginning, but I slowly realised I was only trying to like her for the sake of the ‘three brother’s and three sisters’ hypothesis. In reality, all I felt was a tug towards you and every day since I have tried my best to not overwhelm you because all I want to do is bond with you.”

“You knew! All this time.” You cupped his cheek and he leant into it willingly.

“Yeah.”

You leaned closer to him and his face, “So did I.” Azriel smiled so widely at that, “And I accept you. For infinity.”

“And I accept you, for anything and beyond infinity.”

His lips touched yours before you could even take a breath. You chest tugged towards his and your heart felt like it was overloaded with love and power. You felt yourself literally tether to Azriel and it was quite possibly the best feeling in the world.

Before you could both get carried away you pulled back.

“Wait, wait, wait…” You gasped.

“What?” Azriel looked concerned.

“Your gift!” You stood up, wiping under your eyes yet again.

“Oh screw the gifts.” He tugged on your hand so you fell back on the bed, back laying flat.

Azriel creeped over you and held his weight up above you.

“Az!” You laughed. “Get off, you big brute!”

You tried to push him off but he was as steady as a mountain. He couldn’t be moved and you accepted your defeat with a huff and a smile, allowing him to watch you.

He was quiet for a moment, no telling why he pulled you back. It seemed like he was simple mesmerised with every detail of you.

“What?” You asked.

“I’m just grateful that it was you.”

You knew the ‘it’ in question was the bond and you had to gulp back another set of fresh tears.

Instead, you leaned up and kissed him again. Softly pressing your lips into his and kissing him like he deserved to be kissed. He’d been waiting, what felt like an eternity, so might as well show him why he was made to wait all this time.

You moved back down but Azriel followed you. His arms cupped themselves over your head and encased you beneath his wholly.

He didn’t let his lips free from yours, not even for one breath. You both felt like you were each other’s air. Azriel kissed and kissed you like he would never get to kiss you like this again, even though it was your first time.

“Az..” You tried to pull away again.

“Try and stop me from kissing you again and see what happens.” He warned you, and you responded by tugging his hair at the back of his neck. He moved back at the flinch of pain.

“Listen to me.” You smiled.

“No.”

And he leant back down to start kissing you again, moving his lips in such a way that you were starting to forget everything other than him.

You sneakily moved your hand up beneath his caged arms and attempted to capture his cheeks to stop him, but his shadows already knew your plans and caught your arm along the way. The shadows pinned your arm up behind your head and you huffed into your kiss.

“I don’t know whether to be offended that you keep wanting to get away from me, or not.” Az stopped kissing you to speak.

“You should. I want my gift.” You pouted.

“Oh. Do you now? Well I want to kiss my mate to make up for all our lost years, so I guess I’ll just do that instead.” He was about to lean back down to you but his shadows held him back instead. “What?”

“Seems they can listen to my thoughts now. Now stand down, Sir.”

He didn’t get much of a choice as his shadows pulled you off him and allowed you to slip away.

“You little demons.” Az groaned but allowed them to anyways, because it was worth seeing the smile as your opened your gift.

It was the daintiest bracelet you’d ever seen with a tiny little dagger charm on it. You absolutely loved it and were more happy to receive this than a thousand chariots of gold.

“Thank you. Put it on for me, please.”

You held out the bracelet and your wrist to Azriel and he carefully took both and put it on. It looked perfect against your skin and Azriel couldn’t help but smile that a little part of him was worn by you.

“Beautiful.” He said, kissing the back of your hand.

“It is. You chose well.”

“I honestly didn’t think this would have gone as well at it has. I was starting to think you’d never feel the bond.”

“The feelings mutual, darling.” You chuckled. “Now!”

You started rummaging around the room to find Az’s gift. You looked everywhere until you found it rolled away, tucked in a corner.

You grabbed it and walked over to Azriel. You stood in front of him as you handed it over.

“Happy Solstice.” You smiled.

“Thank you.” He said before opening it gently, savouring the time and effort you put into the wrapping.

As he opened it, you remembered how insignificant it was compared to Elain’s gift.

“Now, I know it’s nothing too extraordinary but I know how sensitive your hands get in the cold so I…”

“You knitted me fingerless gloves?” Az held up the deep blue coloured gloved, the tips of the fingers missing. There was a mitten like part to it that could fold over the fingers should he wish to keep them warm.

“I know it’s not a sapphire, but…”

“It’s not.” He said and you nodded, “It’s better.”

The smile on your face was unmistakable and he wanted to see you smile like that every damn day for the rest of your existence.

“Okay.” You said, trying to believe him.

“No, come here.” He pulled on the back of your waist until you toppled into him and straddled him on his lap. “It’s better. Best gift ever and not just because it came from you. It was so thoughtful. Thank you.”

You leant forwards to kiss his inviting lips.

And not for the last time, that was now for certain.

[luvyeni]

MY SHY NEIGHBOR ( chapter. 20 )

— CHAPTER TWENTY: movie date pt.2 🎥🤍…

— 𖦹 warnings? 18+ CONTENT MDNI!!, making out, oral ( m. receiving ), language

previous chapter - next chapter - my shy neighbor masterlist

“I’ll be back in a minute.” He nodded, watching you take the bowls that your fruit was in, walking out of the room. He looked around the room, your dog resting on end — the tv playing your favorite movie.

It had been a good date — and it was going perfectly into the evening, he felt like he could just be himself around you, he didn’t feel the need to be shy or timid around you, but when he did, you didn’t tease him about it, you let him just be him.

His phone rang, knocking him out of his day dream, he looked at the call log, rolling his eyes answering it. “What do you want jisung?” He said.

“Yah, is that anyway to talk to your hyung like that.” The boy was about to curse his elder out when you entered the room. “Who you talking to?” you asked, picking up the dog, putting her on her bed. “Night sweet girl.” You turned back to him waiting for his answer.

“Oh, no one.” He said, jisung scoffed. “No one? I’ve known you since you had braces, don’t treat me like this.” Jeongin face turned red, cause even though he wasn’t on speaker, you could still hear due to the boys loud mouth. “You had braces?” you smiled. “You just keep getting cute.”

“Oh she heard me i’m sorry.” Jeongin scoffed. “No you aren’t, I hear you giggling, i’m hanging up.” He said. “Have fun! Use protection!” His eyes widened in horror — he seriously was just betrayed by his own friend.

“Use protection?” You smirked, “Were you expecting something tonight?” You teased, he stuttered trying to speak. “N-no I swear I wasn’t.” You laughed, he was going through the motions, you probably thought he was creep. “Innie, calm down.” The nickname made him stop in his tracks — he’d been called that numerous times, but it felt different being called that by you.

“I’m sorry.” He said, but before he could say anything, you climbed into his lap, straddling him. “stop apologizing.” You said, running your hands through his black locks, he closed his eyes to contain himself, but you were literally straddled him — not to mention your low cut tank top showed off your cleavage and he was fighting his own demons trying not to look.

“Look at me.” You pouted. “Please.” He made eye contact with you, his eyes traveling to your lips. He couldn’t hold back anymore — grabbing the side of your face, pulling you into a kiss, your lip’s colliding together. He groaned into the kiss, you smiled into the kiss as he took the lead.

Slow kissing — turned into a full blow make out, then to heavy petting — his hands resting on your lower waist, rubbing your sides, you sighed into the kiss, almost sounding like a whimper, jeongin felt his cock hardening in his pants.

You felt it, slowly moving your hips. He groaned into the kiss, you smirked grinding down harder. “o-oh fuck, we have to stop.” He pulled away. “Why?” You pouted. “Didn’t you like it?”

Of course he did, a little to fucking much. “Y-yes but.” He moaned as you moved your hips again. “Fuck, fuck I like it too much.” You smiled. “Then let me keep going.” You kissed his neck. “Y-you don’t have to.” He groaned, as you kissed up and down his neck. “I want to.”

He watched you get lower and lower, until you were sitting on your knees in between his legs, your ass was up in the air, as your face was closed to the bulge in his pants. “Can I take these off?” He nodded, you unbuckled his pants, he lifted his hips up, letting you pulled his pants down, taking them down, throwing them off the bed.

He sighed as you kissed him through his boxers. “Sh-shit.” You reached up, grabbing his waistband pulling his underwear down, sitting right below his hard cock.

He was big, a vein tracing all the way up to his mushroom tip — you just wanted to run your tongue along it, it made your mouth water. “Fuck you’re so big.” You grabbed the base, giving him a few kitty licks, before taking him into your mouth. “Oh fuck!”

You bobbed your head up and down, stroking what you couldn’t fit in your mouth. “Y-Your m-mouth feels g-good.” You hummed around his cock, taking the rest of him into your mouth.

Gathering your hair into a ponytail so that he see your face, you looked up at him through your lashes. “Fu-fuck you look so pretty, fuck i’m not gonna last.” He groaned.

You began to go faster, swirling you tongue along the vein. Jeongin felt his cock twitch, he was gonna cum. “I-i’m gonna cum.” He expected you to get off, but to his surprise you didn’t — instead you took him all the way once more, he moaned out, cumming.

His warm cum filling your throat, he threw his head back as his seed filled your mouth. “Fu-fuck.” You took his cock out of your mouth, wiping the access off your lips, pushing it back into your mouth.

His face was red, covered in sweat. “Th-thank you.” You sat on your knees as he tucked himself away. “I-I can…” he trailed off, but you shook your head. “it’s okay.” You said. “Y-you sure, I don’t think i’m that bad.” You laughed. “I don’t doubt you for a minute with those pretty lips.” He smiled shyly. “But i’m okay for now, i’m just really tired.”

“Do you want me to leave?” He questioned, you furrowed your eye brows at him. “Of course I don’t, I already told you I wanted you to stay.” You said. “Yeah, but like on the couch right?” You shook your head, rolling your eyes playfully.

“I literally just gave you head, no I don’t mean the couch.”

— ( taglist. CLOSED ) @soulsbbg @k-poplv @yourmomscuntis2tighy @bbokarimenu @enczen @queen-in-the-shadows @thesweetesttattoo @ririlinoriri @aloverga @ashiitex @ddazed-lhs @heartsforhyunjin @chlodavids @simp4myself @surefornext @lostwonderwall @xxr-s4sha @charmer-c @vixensss @frobin4ever @bmnyy @semi-semiisbae @m111nho @i2innie @aalexyuuuhm @iraa567 @cheshireshiya @ihrtlix @abbiestearsricochet @niaalove @skzswife @babrieeee @thisisnotjacinta @luvskai @ikeusol @costalmaine @whos-kkira @minhosprettywife @hey-hey-heybitch @jeongins-version @denisaandreea20 @lovesunshinefelix @222brainrot @thatgirlkay @ss3oung @number1jeonginstan @whitney190 @jongseongsluvr @chesemonky @worcesheshestershiresauce @puppy-minnie @prettygirlsstanskz @hanniemylovelyquokka

©LUVYENI

[floressokaap]

"What Was I Made For?"

Pairing: John Dory x Reader

Content Warning: none! Enjoy! :)

A/N: Hello! The majority of my fics will be AFAB w/pronouns unless specified/requested! Thank you!<3

Photo credit: etherealfeature on Instagram!

John Dory. You really didn't know exactly how to describe him. Many people describe him as somebody with narcissistic tendencies, and absolutely selfish. And, they were right. But what a lot of trolls didn't realize was the fact that you are in love with him, and he unfortunately stays trapped inside his mind for so long that he doesn't quite realize how good he has it right now.

After saving Floyd, everyone that parted ways started their recovery process due to their own talents getting slowly sucked out from them by ex superstars Velvet and Veneer. Floyd stayed with Branch in his underground bunker, Clay went back to the mini golf course with Viva to situate her reunion with King Peppy after the last Bergen attack, and Bruce went back to Vacay Island to be with his kids and Brandy. What did that leave you to do? The only thing you ever thought to do; To take care of John Dory and help him recover in Rhonda, wherever the roads took you both.

"JD, what are you doing?" Your ears perked at the sound of blankets rustling against the couch cushions. There was silence before a response was heard.

"I'm not doing anything, I'm resting like you're wanting me to."

You put a magazine down on the table and glanced over at him. He was slowly reaching for his jacket and goggles, and seemed restless. "We need food-" "JD, we already have food here for the both of us." He clenches his jaw slightly. He knew you were going to be hard to get through. "I need to check Rhonda's oil." He quickly sat up, and threw his fur coat on, slapping his goggles into position against his forehead. "You need to rest-" "I don't need to, I can't just NOT do anything, I'm the leader, I HAVE to be productive and do my part to make sure everything's perfect."

"John Dory, we're not doing this again."

He continued standing up and walking towards the side door. He looked down at the door handle, contemplating on your concerns before brushing them off his shoulders and walked out on you. You furrowed your brows and sighed in frustration.

You couldn't count how many times John Dory would have his perfection episodes, and pushed himself over the limits. Every time you call him out on those moments and try to calm him down, he refuses, and shuts himself out. You let him have about ten minutes of alone time outside before you eventually stood up from your seat and walked out Rhonda's side door. You expected him to be near her, but he was nowhere to be found. "C'mon JD.." you shook your head to yourself as you slowly walked around the forest where you were camping at. You started to worry before you found him sitting on a fallen tree log lying against the ground. He had his head lowered, and his forearms against his legs, staring at the earth beneath him.

You smiled in relief, because he didn't go very far as you knew deep down, and you slowly made your way to the seat right next to him. His shoulders fell more when he snapped out from his train of thought, and glanced over to look at you. You could see the pain in his eyes. His eyes were dry, and the crows feet near his eyes were more prominent and defined. "JD, are you.. alright?"

"Yeah, of course I'm alright!" He put on his photogenic leader and big brother smile on his face. Why couldn't he open up to you.

"JD, I know you're not alright, something is really bothering you. Why do you feel like you need to be perfect all the time? Even when your body doesn't even have the strength to begin with?" His jaw slacked a little at your forwardness, but he then clenched his jaw and darted his eyes away from yours. "Please, don't shut me out like this. You do this every time." He squeezed his eyes shut. He hated being confronted like that. He knew you, and he knew you would keep trying for an answer. He didn't have an escape from you. He let out a very shaky and slow sigh. There was no going back for him.

"My brothers, they all said I never changed. I mean, we almost didn't even save Floyd because of it." He shook his head disappointedly to himself and balled his hands into fists. "I'm the oldest brother, the leader, it was predetermined for me to be this way! And everybody has something to say about me! Why! They can't see the work I put into everything I do to be perfect! My brothers can't see that either." He frowned a lot, and his ears drooped downwards in disappointment, vulnerability, and freight. "I have to be this way, for everybody's sake. My own sake. This is what John Dory is. This is what I was made for. I was made to carry the responsibility. What else could I have been possibly brought here for?"

You immediately reached over and put your hand on top of his before he could even mutter another word out from his lips.

"JD, you.. you are so smart, strong, talented, and it kills me that you can't see that in yourself. So what if your brothers are right? There's nothing wrong with that. It's something different when you don't feel like you deserve that kind of commitment from people, even your own brothers, because you're too good for it. They say those things, and bring up a lot of the past because they care for you, and they really do love you. You can't change the choices you made when you were a teenager, but you can decide how that will build your character in this moment." John Dory stared at your hand slowly intertwining with his, you could see the tears in his glistening eyes. You could see the vulnerable, younger, and even current John Dory in his eyes. You could feel the fear, worry, responsibilities, and faults he made; and how much it absolutely eats him up and keeps him hostage in his own mind.

"(Y/N), where is this all coming from? Why?-"

"I've always felt this way, JD. When I got to know you and your brothers while we were journeying to Mount Rageous, I realized that.. nobody really hardly ever gives you enough credit for the things you deal with alone. Your brothers' own experiences with you are valid, but, I see the work you're putting into making sure you're still needed here, as a big brother, and.. as the man I'm in love with." You feel your heart shoot itself into your throat before sinking straight down to your stomach.

John Dory's eyes immediately widened, as his shoulders and back tensed up. You could sense the change of mood in him, and there was no way he was going to run away from his problems now like this. You tightened your grip on his hand and leaned towards him, putting your lips against his tense ones. It felt like time had completely frozen, but the world was still spinning as you felt John Dory's lips move and lean into the kiss more and his calloused gloved hand cup your cheek shakily. He then pulled you as close as he humanly possibly could with his arms wrapped around your waist. You could feel the passion behind his lips, and body language, along with the tears going down his tired cheeks. He pulled away from your lips slowly, and immediately slid his goggles off his face, tossing them aside to the ground and starts pressing his forehead against yours, letting the tears fall down from his cheeks.

"(Y/N).. thank you. Thank you so much."

"You don't need to thank me for that, JD. It's true. Everything that I said was and is true. I will stand behind it every single second of every day. I promise you that." His eyes stared at you lovingly as a soft smile spread across his face showing the slight wrinkles and crows feet that peek from his eyes and mouth.

"Oh, uh, here, you must be cold." He took off his fur coat and wrapped it around your figure. "We've been out here for a while now." You nodded and proceeded to stand up from the log, holding your hand out. "Let's go warm up inside Rhonda." John Dory nodded as he took your delicate hand in his rather large and tough hand. He smiled lovingly at you as he guided you back to Rhonda, who still kept her engine on and the inside very warm for you two.

You adjusted the couch cushions and made room for you and John Dory to spoon together, him being the little spoon tonight while you wrapped your arms around his torso.

"I love you, (Y/N)" You smiled lovingly to yourself as you squeezed him softly. "I've waited a long time to hear those words from you, John Dory." "Oops, sorry." He laughed playfully and nervously as he rubbed and massaged your knuckles with his thumb.

You pressed the side of your head against John Dory's shoulders, listening to the calmness and relaxation of his body. This may have been the only time he's ever been this way, for anybody, even himself.

But who knew that with the cards he was dealt with in life would be the turnaround point of his character, and even your own freshly started relationship with him; And you would be there every step of the way. That meant through the days he is the happiest with himself for being a good leader, and through the days where he would question his entire purpose with trying to maintain the perfect harmony, the perfect family and if that was really all there was in this world.

He knows now that's not true, and he can once in his life relax and be comfortable with himself, regardless of the past life he made.

He can finally start living his new life, with you and his real, true, full family.

[astarionancuntnin]

Undisclosed Desires (Chapter 2)

summary: its the day after you and astarion indulged in each other's embrace. it shouldve been a once done deal, nothing more, but that last night ended with you questioning your feelings for the pale elf. you struggle to come to terms with those and the day might prove more difficult as you get trapped alone with him in a secluded dungeon

or in short:

rating: E

word count: 4k

pairing: astarion x you (fem!reader, sorceress tav)

cw: 18+. smut, porn with little-to-no plot, karlach gets hurt for the sake of the porn (shes doing her part o7), denial of feelings, sexual tension through the roof, dom!tav/reader, teasing, dry humping, begging, ear licking, vampire bites, kinda praise kink, sorta breeding kink, your honor- theyre both brat switches fighting to top the other.

a/n: at long last, chapter 2! i had so much fun with the dialogues, i hope you enjoy them as much as i did uwu. also, inspo song at the beginning is the same as chapter 1, but a different part of the song, and end of chapter song is a different one (that i linked at the end). let me know how you feel about the dynamic in this chapter 👀

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I shut my eyes

You call but I just cut the line

I know your style

I know that you want one more night

And I'm backsliding

Into this just one more time

-

You wake up this morning to the sound of your companions talking nearby. Instinctively, you reach for the spot next to you, only to find it empty. Figures. If it wasn’t for the aching pain in your muscles and the dizziness of your mind, you’d think what happened last night was just a dream.

The way Astarion had ravaged your body, how feral he was, the taste of him on your lips, how he felt between your legs…

Instinctively, you rub your thighs together, chasing the feeling from the previous night. You already feel that warmth between your legs as a result of those memories flooding back to you. You hear laughing outside your tent and it brings you back to the present moment ; your companions are probably waiting for you.

You quickly push aside any thoughts of him and reach for your clothes to get dressed up for the day. You take some time to prepare for what your companions have to say about the sounds that came from your tent last night. They had to have heard.

As you take your first step outside, Karlach is the first to greet you.

“Hey Soldier! Slept well? Doubt it was restful but it looks like you had the time of your life!” She nudges you.

“You can say that again! Those screams made me believe she was dying in there!” Shadowheart shouts, sitting near the campfire, before her and Karlach start laughing.

You feel yourself turn redder after each remark. Hells, I didn’t realize how loud I was.

“It did sound… intense. Are you sure you’re alright?” Wyll speaks up, more worried about you.

You lift your blushing face which was hiding in shame between your hands. “Oh, yeah no, I’m fine just- um,” you turn to Shadowheart, “Can I ask you to cast lesser restoration on me, please?”

She looks at you puzzled, “Can’t you cast it on yourself?”

“The only thing I wanna cast on myself at this very moment is eldritch blast, now, can you please cast the damn spell?”

“So much for the ‘great sorceress with limitless talents’,” she mocks you, reminding you of the very words you used back when you introduced yourself to her.

“SHADOW.”

“Fine, fine,” she scoots over the log, making space for you. “Come here, I’ll take care of you.”

You walk over to her and you sigh as you sit down, completely slouched over.

“Gods, he really did a number on you, huh,” she casts lesser restoration and you straighten up, instantly feeling much better. 

“Yeah, you should see the other guy,” you say, smiling, proud to have gained back your wits.

“Speaking of,” Wyll interjects. “We haven’t seen him all morning. We fully expected him to come out of your tent.”

“Huh, I did wake up alone,” you confess. “I just assumed he went back to his tent.”

“Heh! Maybe he’s still in there recuperating from your night together!” Karlach shouts, before laughing some more.

“Alright, alright, I’ll go check up on him,” you roll your eyes as you get up to walk towards his tent.

You’re glad it’s placed far enough from the campfire to be out of your friend’s sights. You didn’t want to give them more ideas if they saw you with the vampire this morning. You call out his name before opening the flap of his tent, only to reveal it to be empty. 

“Looking for something?”

You slightly jump, as if you were caught doing something you shouldn’t have, and quickly turn around to face him.

“Gods, you startled me.”

He walks towards you, shirtless, with his hair still damp from his morning bathing and his trousers hanging loosely around his hips.

“Terribly sorry dear, I would never do this to you intentionally.”

His little smile is unnerving. Your heartbeat quickens, and you frown at yourself; You can’t allow yourself to falter this early in the day. You take a deep breath, your way to gain back control over yourself. 

“We’re almost ready to leave, so I came looking for you,” you try to look elsewhere but you’re mesmerized by his sight.

“Well, here I am now. Can I… help you with something?”

He raises his hand and strokes your cheek gently with the back of it, his face dangerously getting near yours. You feel your face burning hotter and it takes everything in you to push yourself away from him.

“We should really go, just– get dressed. I’ll uh, I’ll wait for you around the campfire with the others.”

You turn around completely flustered and walk back to your companions.

“Again?!” Karlach exclaims as she sees the state you’re in. “At this rate, you’ll turn redder than me!”

You wanna crawl into the depths of the hells and never come back up.

—

Today’s quest brings you to a secluded dungeon. Your findings from the previous days led you there in search for more information about an artifact you previously found throughout your adventure. If you’re correct, you should find here what’s missing for it to work. Now the only thing left to do is actually finding that missing piece.

With a swift flick of his wrist, Astarion opens the door to the lower grounds. As the door opens, you’re greeted by damp air and a musty smell. The place is dusty and covered in spiderwebs. Whatever you’re looking for must be here judging by the fact that no one has been down here in ages. You all walk in and notice that the place is a damned maze filled with countless rooms. You split up from the group, starting the search on your own, and the first room you walk in greets you with an absurdly obvious trap. You sigh, discouraged, as you fall back against the wall next to the entrance. Guess I won’t be able to avoid him much longer.

“Astarion? A hand?!” Your voice echoes through the hallways, followed by the sound of his footsteps.

He makes his way towards you nonchalantly, “You called, dear?”

“Can you take care of this?” You point towards the device.

He leans over you, his arms caging you between him and the wall, “I could, if you were to ask nicely.” His face hovers dangerously close to you, you can feel his cold breaths ghosting over your lips. It would be so easy to just tilt your head up and close the gap… No, you can’t let him win this. Last night was just a mutual agreement. An exchange of sorts. Nothing more, nothing less.

You cross your arms over your chest, creating some distance between the two of you, “Don’t push your luck.”

“Oh well, I assume you know how to deal with such an intricate mechanism then, if you’re so much better than I am?”, he wears his typical shit-eating grin.

You roll your eyes and step over your pride, “Fine. Can you please disarm this trap so we can carry on?” 

“See? Now, was that so hard?” He gives you a playful look before getting to work.

You stand next to him as he fickles with the machinery when you hear a loud commotion from afar.

“FUCK!”

You recognize the voice from your fiery friend and waste no time running towards the source of her scream, only to find her in a terrible state with Shadowheart kneeling next to her. Her leg is barely recognizable. Whatever got her rendered her unable to fight from now on.

“What happened?!”

“Godsdamned trap got me, shit!” She keeps groaning in pain.

“Alright, Shadowheart, do you think you can take care of her wounds?”

“I can stabilize her, but she won’t be able to carry on with her injuries, we need to head back to camp as soon as possible so I can tend to her,” she explains.

“Okay, okay,” your eyes wander between your friends as you’re thinking of a solution. “Yeah, okay, you’re right, I’m not risking Karlach’s life on this,” the cleric nods in agreement, “But we can’t back track now. Who knows what else this trap triggered, it might’ve alarmed someone. We are so close to finding the answer, I can't risk letting it slip past us.”

Shadowheart raises as she’s about to argue but you cut her off, “Don’t worry, I still believe you two should head to the camp. Astarion and I will carry on.” You feel Shadowheart’s glare of disapproval. “I swear we’ll be careful and we’ll run back to you guys should we encounter a situation that's too much for us.” You try to reassure your friend.

“Oooooooo, keeping Fangs all to yourself?” Karlach never missed an opportunity to tease you, even when in insufferable pain. You could respect that.

“Oh please, if it were up to me, he would be the one in that trap.”

“Rude,” Astarion remarks from behind you. You can’t help the smirk creeping up on your face.

“Fine,” the half-elf frowns in resignation. “We’ll head back– but don’t do anything stupid.”

“We wouldn’t dream of it,” Astarion adds sarcastically, as the two walk away.

With half of your party gone, you lose no time continuing your research. You didn’t want to spend any more time than necessary with half the manpower in unknown territory. You pass a few halls and rooms, each containing an absurd amount of traps for what little they were hiding, slowly getting discouraged from your lack of findings, when you hear rumble afar.

You both still, listening to the sounds, when you realize they are making their way towards you. 

“Hide!”, you barely whisper.

Before he can react, you roughly drag Astarion with you in the next open room and slam the door behind you. You acted faster than you could think ; the sound of the door was loud and the footsteps are now getting faster and louder. You try to remain calm to avoid drawing any more attention than necessary when you see the expression change on your companion’s face, followed by him yelling.

“What in the sweet hells is wrong with–!”

You don’t give him time to finish his sentence as you push him against the stone wall by his waist with the force of your whole body, while your other hand covers his mouth. You stare intensely into his eyes and mouth a “shh”, as silent as you can, to convey the urgency for him to shut up as the rumble of the footsteps get even closer to your location. He blinks rapidly and nods, understanding your motion, but brings his hand up to remove yours from his mouth. You hear the footsteps stop nearby and your heart pounding in your chest as your breathing stills. Your eyes dart towards the door, anxiety building up in your chest. Anything could be outside. You cannot risk getting into a fight you couldn’t handle. Against his own good, Astarion speaks up yet again.

“Let’s just kill–”

And you shut him up, again. 

This time, with a kiss.

It’s a surprise to both of you. It was sudden, instinctive. You’re not sure what took over you, but at this moment, it seemed to be the best course of action. You stay motionless for a moment before pulling away, slowly. You hear the sounds outside your room getting further away and you finally breathe out in relief. He looks at you with an annoying smile painted over his face.

You notice him observing you. “You really need to learn when to shut up,” you say, a poor excuse to try and justify your actions, as a blush takes place over your cheeks.

His lidded eyes observe your lips before making eye contact again, “And you think you know better?”

“I know I do,” you frown slightly. 

He keeps smiling, that damn annoyingly confident smile. “I’m afraid you’ll have to teach me, then. I’ve been known to be awfully loud.”

You scoff. The audacity of this man.

Initially, that first kiss was never supposed to lead to anything else. It was spontaneous, a means to an end, just like your last night spent together. Anything to stop him from talking, whatever would save you from being found. But you couldn’t deny the feelings that fluttered in your stomach, the butterflies in your chest. 

He continues, his words dripping with sarcasm, “I’m sure a sorceress of your expertise must have some way to silence a noisy rogue like myself.”

You realize then : all along, you didn’t hate him, you hated the fact that you were attracted to him, to that damn attitude of his. Truth is, you couldn’t have enough of that banter between the two of you. Every morning, that was the thing you were looking forward to. There was no denying yourself anymore ; you chased the feeling of arguing with this overblown, pretentious asshole. You wanted him, in more ways than one, and in any way he would offer himself to you.

“I can think of a few tricks,” you lean over him the same way he did you earlier, your faces barely an inch apart.

“Try me,” his voice is barely a whisper by now.

You let your feelings guide your next move as you pull him in by the collar of his armor, crashing your lips against his. If he saw this as a game, you intended to win. As the kiss depends, you’re taken back to that scenario you played in your head the night before, prior to Astarion’s visit.

At the next corner, you would’ve pushed him by the waist against the nearest wall and shut his pretty mouth up. 

Your kiss started out rough, but it quickly became passionate, it engulfed both of you into a world of your own. His hands roamed up your back and down your waist, pulling you in closer, reaching for more contact. Your sorcerer robe allowed for you to feel how tightly he grabbed you and yet, it didn’t feel like enough. You wished for nothing more than having your skin being ravished by his touch.

You would’ve taken the chance to let one of your hands roam through his silky smooth, curly hair, pulling it enough to get a moan out of him. 

Oh, and how soft it was. Freshly washed from this morning, his curls felt like silk through your fingers. You let your hands linger in his hair, combing through it, before lightly pulling it back. He groans in your mouth as a response, not parting from your lips just yet, and you smile through it.

How you would’ve parted his legs with your own, and grinded against his crotch, feeling his growing bulge.

You easily push yourself between his legs and grind against him. He pulls back from your kiss then, gasping in surprise. With the threat outside the room being long gone, you welcomed any noise you would get out of him. You feel his cock getting harder against your leg and you keep rubbing him up and down, creating more pressure over his member. He rests his head on your shoulder, breathing hard, his hold on you getting tighter. 

“Hells, darling, I didn’t think you had it in you,” he pants.

“Mmh, seems like I’ve got a lot more to teach you then.”

You reach for your trousers under your robe, letting them fall down after loosening  your belt, before reaching for his, pulling them down just low enough to expose his cock which is already leaking with pre-come. He hisses when you grab a hold of him, your mere touch sending shivers down his spine.

You smirk at the visible reaction he has to you, feeling powerful over him. Such a contrast compared to your last night tryst. This time, you were guiding this dance.

You guide him towards your entrance, only to grind yourself over him. He slides so easily between your wet folds and you can’t help the moan escaping your lips. The friction over your clit is nothing short of euphoric. You swing your hips back and forth, coating his length with your arousal, as he holds onto your waist for dear life. You grab his face and pull him closer so your foreheads touch, then take a moment to admire the mess you’re making of him, and by the Gods, what a pretty mess he was. His parted lips, gasping between each stroke you would allow him, his eyes fluttering open, lost in the feeling of your thighs squeezing him, his roughed up curls from the sweat building up on his forehead. 

He was beautiful.

You feel him moving on his own, trying to change positions so he has more control, but it's not something you will allow this time. You take his hands from your waist and push them against the wall he was leaning against, never stopping the rhythm you had going on. 

“What do you think you're doing?” Your voice is coated with desire.

“Please, let me in,” he begs.

“Do you think you deserve it?”, you say, playfully.

“Gods, I– yes, yes I do!”, he whines.

“Beg more.”

“What?! I will not–”, before he can finish his sentence, you reach for his ear with your tongue and give it a lick from the base to the tip. “Mmmgh ah, fuck–” 

“What was that?” You nibble on his ear.

“I– Ah–,” his entire resolve crumbles. “Please, love, I need you please,”  he begs again, his voice faltering.

You continue to lick and nibble on his ear. “See? Now, was that so hard?” you tease, using his own words against him.

“Oh, you little– ah–!”

You cut him off as you raise your leg to hook it to his hips allowing you for a better angle as you push him inside you slowly. You’re so wet from teasing him that he slides in without any resistance.

You throw your head back, taking in the feeling of him filling you, and at the vision of your exposed neck, Astarion leans in the crook of your neck, bared fangs scratching the spot he previously fed from you. You feel his cold breath along with the wetness of his tongue, lapping at your healed wound. You sense what he wants to do and although you crave it and you would let him do it, you don’t wanna give in so easily.

You stop all motion and with him buried deep inside of you, your hand lingering in his hair grabs a handful of curls to pull him back, away from your prized neck, holding him in place. 

He growls insistently, his true nature coming back to him.

“Give me one good reason,” you tug harder.

Through his ragged breath, he smiles playfully, “I just wanted a snack for the road.”

“You drank last night, you don’t need it,” your tone comes out raspy and aggressive despite your enjoyment of the situation.

“But you want this,” he pauses, watching your reaction. Your answer isn’t spoken, as much as it’s seen : your chest rises higher with each panting breath you take, your eyes flutter, drunk on lust, and your core is dripping wet, your combined fluids leaking against your leg. “Don't you?” He knows both of you know it's a fight for control. 

You thrust roughly, once, to reassert your position over him, making him whimper. “And just what makes you think that?”

He locks eyes with you, a grin painting over his face. “You seemed to enjoy it last time.”

“Hardly.”

“My dear, you can deny it all you want, but I can read you like an open book.”

You hated how he always managed to have the last word. One day, you tell yourself, It’ll be me. But for now…

“Shut up and bite me.”

The second you let go of your grasp in his hair, Astarion dives in the nook of your neck, plunging his fangs in your pulsating vein. You cry out at the sharp sting you feel and once the initial pain settles in, you pick back up the rhythm you had earlier, making the elf groan as he drinks you in. He was right, his bites had the effect of an aphrodisiac on you. You would never tell him though, his ego was inflated enough as is, admitting it would only make him more insufferable than he already is.

His hold on you became tighter and the more he drank, the less your strength allowed you to keep your position, but the build up down your stomach only grew. You didn't want to falter so close to the end.

“Astarion…” you warn him.

He growls against your neck and takes one last sip of your liquid gold before removing his fangs from you, licking off the new wound he created to clean you up. That's something else you could appreciate from the vampire ; no matter how selfish you found him, he did seem to respect the boundaries you established. He would absolutely push all of your buttons but when it came to sex he seemed more attentive, responsive. You never wanted to fall for him, but your heart had other plans.

You cross your arms around his neck, closing any remaining distance between your two bodies and with all the energy left in you, you thrust harder, and faster, letting yourself get lost in the overwhelming feeling he provided between your legs. Now that you had experienced him once, you craved getting filled up by him, only him, as much as possible, as much as he wanted to. You wanted to be his. 

“Darling, I’m close–”

“Come, let go for me,” you breathe in his ear before licking him again. “You’re so pretty when you come inside me.”

Your last words combined with the stimulation you’ve given him trigger his collapse in your arms. He grasps your hips vigorously, pulling you flush against him, allowing him to unload himself deep inside of your womb. You fall over the edge shortly after, drinking in the feeling of his semen filling you up. You fantasized constantly about being filled to the brim by him. Used over and over again, leaking from his seed, the act merely done to defile you in his image. You clench around his length, your legs shaking as you picture yourself overflowing with his come and ride out the wave of electrifying pleasure that courses through you.

As you come down from your high and let your leg down, you reach for something to grab a hold of so as to not completely fall over. Astarion had completely slouched over the wall you fucked him over, he was not an option. The nearest thing that seemed solid enough was an empty torch holder placed right next to the door which you grab without second thoughts. The last thing you expected was for it to pull down as you grabbed it. Even less that it opened a secret trap door in the middle of the room, from which a pillar came out of. You stay in place for a moment, piecing together what just happened, with Astarion making eye contact with you, just as puzzled as you were.

Before you now stands an altar with a very clearly placed piece of dark metal, shaped strangely like the pattern you remember being described in the previous document you found. You put your trousers back on, dismissing the mess between your legs, and grab the missing piece, connecting it to the artifact you held, to see it click in place.

“No fucking way.”

Astarion smirks, as if he was responsible for your discovery, proud of himself, “Wouldn’t have found that out with Karlach now, would you?”

He will never let you live this down.

-

When you're around me, I'm radioactive

My blood is burning, radioactive

I'm turning radioactive

My blood is radioactive

My heart is nuclear

Love is all that I fear

[navybrat817]

The Red Woods

Pairing: Lumberjack!Steve Rogers x Female Reader Summary: Steve tells you a story as he keeps you warm by the fire. Word Count: Over 2.7k Warnings: Implied sex, spooky story (violence), attempted scare, humor, Steve Rogers (he’s a warning, okay?). A/N: Fic #5 for Navy's Trick or Treat Nonsense belongs to Lumberjack!Steve thanks to this poll winner. ❤️ Not beta read and written on my phone, so any and all mistakes are my own. Divider by the talented @firefly-graphics. Please follow @navybrat817-sideblog for new fics and notifications. Comments, reblogs, feedback are loved and appreciated!

The moon and stars lit up the night sky, beckoning you to go outside and bask in the beauty. Cold settled into your bones as you stepped outside and shivered. It was chillier than you expected and you debated going back into the comfort of the cabin. Steve had already started the bonfire nearby though and you knew the heat from the flames would warm you up.

So would your lumberjack.

Steve carried an extra load of wood from the shed as you walked toward the fire. He set up a spot for you to sit beside each other, but you had a feeling he'd have you in his lap as the night went on. He liked having your body close to his, whether it was after a long day of work or coming home after a mission. You enjoyed it, too, because he enveloped you with his love.

"Sorry, sweetheart," he said, catching the slight tremble in your body as you took a seat. "When I suggested the fire, I didn't think it would be this cold."

"It's okay," you assured him as he added another log to the fire. The rich and powerful scent from the smoke soothed you as you stared into the flames. "But what made you so adamant to have one tonight?"

"No particular reason," he replied casually, wiping his hands before he sat down beside you. It was a bit too casual, but the red and orange from the flames dancing along his face distracted you. The urge to reach up and touch his beard was strong. "Wasn't something I really got to do in the city."

Part of you would always love the city. So would Steve. There was always something to do and inspiration could be found around every corner. It didn't mean it was home though. It was a place to visit, to remember. Your place in the woods with each other was where you were meant to be.

And the love of your life provided plenty of inspiration if you ever needed it.

"I don't remember ever having a fire there," you said after thinking about it. There weren’t many places to have fires. Your old apartment didn’t even have a fireplace.

"Hardly ever saw the stars," he added.

You nodded a little, your fingers scratching along his chin. If your touch was too cold, he didn't make a big deal out of it. "I didn't really get to appreciate the stars from my old apartment either," you said, tilting your head to look up at the sky. "But out here? It's like they serenade us. It's a chorus that resonates with the moon until the sun comes up."

Steve wrapped an arm around you, allowing your body to heat up more. He was your own personal heater. "Even when you're not writing, your words are beautiful."

You couldn't blame the fire or his body for the heat that filled your face. His opinion on your writing meant the world to you. "You're just saying that to get in my pants," you teased.

He chuckled as his mouth moved close to your ear. "I already did that this morning," he whispered.

You exhaled, remembering the two of you tangled up in each other. Lazy, soft kisses and lingering touches as he made love to you. His large body pinning yours to the mattress, his hips thrusting in a slow rhythm like the gentle waves of an ocean. You nearly sobbed when you came, his head thrown back in ecstasy as he quickly followed.

You had lovers before Steve, but he taught you the true meaning of making love.

"And I'm sure you'll do it again before the sun comes up," you whispered.

"If I have my way," he said, pulling you closer. Your hand fell to his shirt, gripping the flannel. Your super soldier was insatiable some days, but you weren't going to complain when you both reaped the benefits of his appetite.

"It's too bad the gang isn't here. Otherwise we could tell spooky stories," you said. Maybe you could invite Bucky and Jewel over another night for dinner. It was nice that Steve had one of his best friends not too far away. Sam also didn’t mind making trips to visit.

"Well, you and I can still tell stories to pass the time," he said, kissing the top of your head. "How about I start? Even though I’m not the best storyteller."

“That’s a lie. You’re a great storyteller,” you said, lifting your head and seeing a hint of a blush in his cheeks. With his deep, commanding voice, the man could read the phone book to you and you'd listen. You teased at times that he could do a podcast if he wanted to. Or erotic recordings. "And I don't scare easily, but you can try."

You didn’t mind a healthy dose of fear now and again. It was natural and helpful in some situations. It was also fun and exciting in the right setting, like this.

"I'm sure you've heard all sorts of different stories about creatures and spirits who live in the woods," he began, which earned a nod from you. "Local legend says there's a spirit right here who controls part of the forest: The Lumberman."

"Wow. A lumberjack is telling a story about a lumberman? How original," you said, your deadpan expression dropping when he pinched your side. "Hey! I was kidding."

"Let me tell the story," he said, brushing his lips against the top of your head again as an apology. "They say long ago that a lumberman lived in the deepest part of the woods. He had no family or friends and mostly kept to himself. He only ventured into town to sell the wood he chopped down."

"A loner," you said, already invested.

"Yeah, he was. Not unfriendly. Just a quiet man. And all was well until a local woman went missing. The town searched everywhere for her and couldn't find her. It was like she vanished without a trace. Her family demanded answers, so people shifted the blame to him," Steve explained, a slight breeze rolling by.

You frowned as you listened. It was just a story, but you knew how dangerous mob mentality could be. "What happened?"

"A group of men confronted him in his home and demanded to know what he did with her body. He swore he didn't know what happened and that he would never hurt a soul, but they didn't listen. They were out for blood,” he said, sadly shaking his head. “When he still refused to admit to any wrongdoing, the men took turns hacking him up with one of his axes and burned his cabin to the ground. They even brought the axe back as some sort of trophy, stained with his blood."

"Jesus," you whispered, scooting a bit closer.

"It was only after they killed him did the girl show back up in town alive and well. Not a scratch on her. She had gone a couple towns over to meet up with some guy," he said, rubbing your arm.

"So they condemned an innocent man to death," you said.

"They did," he said, nodding toward the trees. "Most of the townspeople didn't venture to his part of the woods out of fear that his spirit would seek revenge. And they were right."

You raised an eyebrow and waited for him to continue.

"Over the years, hikers and locals who were brave enough to go on his old land went missing. Their bodies were never found, but people say you can hear their screams echo through the air if you get close enough,” he said, pausing to look around with a somber expression. "And that they became part of the trees."

Glancing around as well, it was difficult to make out the trees in the darkness. "They became part of the trees? How?"

"As you get closer to his land, you can see faces twisted in pain in the bark if you look closely enough. Some even say there’s blood in the sap and dripping from the branches. They even renamed that part of the forest the Red Woods since the paths have inexplicable red dirt, like blood had seeped into the soil," he said, lowering his voice as if to tell you a secret. "It’s like a warning to turn back."

"That is not why they call it the Red Woods," you argued, though you weren’t completely sure now. You actually had no idea why the area got that name.

"That’s how the story’s told."

"So an innocent man was hacked to pieces in his home," you said slowly. "And now he kills anyone who steps into his territory?"

"Condemned to a terrible fate. Just like he was," he said as simple as that. "And people still go missing to this day."

You smiled a bit. There was nothing at all uplifting or funny about the story, but Steve spoke with such seriousness that you almost believed the tale was real. "Okay, but why is he still haunting the woods? If it's revenge on the men who killed him or the townspeople in general, he wouldn’t go after random, innocent hikers."

Steve’s head tilted as he looked at you, something a bit more sinister in his gaze. "Isn’t it obvious? They took his axe. He’s waiting for someone to return it."

A heartbeat passed before you huffed. "Of course, he is. The axe that the men brought back as a trophy," you said, gesturing toward the toolshed. "It’s too bad you don’t have it. You could help put his soul to rest."

"What if I told you I do have it?" he asked.

Your heart rate increased before you huffed again. "You’re a great storyteller, but a terrible liar, Beefcake."

His eyes shot to yours, maintaining eye contact as he reached beside him. You raised an eyebrow when he held up an axe. You had to admit, you knew his tools well and that was one you didn’t recognize. "See? Still stained with blood," he told you, holding it closer to the fire so you could see the blade. "Should we go into the Red Woods and return it?"

You didn’t admit that your stomach turned a little as you brought your hands up and slowly clapped. "Bravo. You went all out for this story. And, no, I’m not going into the woods when it’s this cold out," you said before a snap from a twig nearby drew your attention, making you tense up. "What was that?"

"What was what?" he asked, setting the axe down.

"Oh, you had to have heard that. Your hearing is ten times better than mine," you argued, standing up and narrowing your eyes to try and see when you heard another twig snap. You froze before you began to giggle. "Okay, Bucky! Come on out! I know Steve put you up to this."

Steve jumped to his feet and pushed you behind him. He wouldn't let anything happen to you. "Buck isn’t here. He's at home with Jewel," he said in a hushed tone.

"Wait, you didn’t convince him to come out of the woods to try and scare me?" You asked, placing your hands on his back when he shook his head. "Okay. It’s probably just an animal then."

SNAP.

"I don’t think an animal did that," he whispered, guiding you toward the cabin. Maybe it wasn’t a joke after all. "I think we should-"

"Give…" you stopped at the sound of a demonic voice just beside the toolshed, your heart thumping. "Me…" a man stepped out of the darkness, dragging his left foot behind him. "My…" His decayed skin was caked with blood as he lifted a hand. "AXE!"

Your eyes widened before you snapped out of your stupor. "Oh, fuck this," you muttered, pulling away from Steve who called after you. Grabbing your shotgun from the porch, you brought it to your shoulder and cocked it. "I don’t have an axe, Lumberman, but I’ll shoot you in your fucking face if you take a step closer."

"Whoa!" Steve shouted, holding out his hand for the "zombie" to stop. "Don’t move. She’s serious!"

"Fuck," the zombie muttered, tapping the side of his neck. "Seriously? I really thought I’d get you," the demonic voice fading to a normal tone.

"CLINT?!" you guessed, lowering your gun. The former Hawkeye nodded. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"For the record, this wasn’t my idea," Steve said, an innocent look in his blue eyes. "And I told you she wouldn’t get scared. I don’t know why you insisted on this."

No wonder he wanted to have a fire tonight.

"Okay, okay. It was my idea. Everyone is off doing their own thing and I just wanted to have some fun," Clint explained, walking closer toward the fire as he began to peel the makeup away and toss it in to burn. "This didn’t work on Jewel either! She grabbed one of Bucky’s knives and almost stabbed me."

You laughed a little. No doubt Bucky was both proud of and scared for his girl for that move. "Maybe because, I don’t know, in the story Steve told the Lumberman was hacked to pieces and you’re clearly not. There was also no indication that the Lumberman could leave his territory. Everyone went missing on his land. So why would he be here?"

Clint exchanged a look with Steve. "She has a point," your husband said.

These men are defenders of the universe.

"Yeah, okay. Thanks for that," you said, putting the gun back where it belonged. "I have to ask though, why prank me? And why prank Jewel?"

Clint shifted a bit on his feet. "So the guys could be heroes? But seeing as how you grabbed a gun and Jewel grabbed a knife, I think you two are good."

You had to smile as you turned your attention back to Steve. "You wanted to be my hero and protect me from a zombie?"

With a sheepish smile, Steve nodded and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I did," he said in a small voice. "It’s stupid, right?"

Your man, a true hero who saved hundreds of lives, simply wanted to protect you from anything bad. You never loved him more. "It’s not stupid. I think it's kind of sweet," you assured him. "Clint, please, put out the fire and get the hell out of here. Steve, get inside so we can have sex and get warm."

Clint coughed into his hand. "Can I at least get a coffee before I go? I was out there for a while and it’s a little chilly."

Steve ignored his friend as he gave you a smile. "You’re really going to sleep with me after we tried to prank you?" he asked, looking at his feet for a split second. "And you know I’d never want to scare you, right?"

"Yeah, I’m really going to sleep with you. And I know the last thing you’d ever want to do is frighten me. All you want to do is protect me," you smiled. You weren’t going to deny yourself pleasure, especially since you were starting to get cold again. "But for the record, this is pity sex for failing your prank and not grabbing the gun first," you added, giggling when he took two large steps toward you.

Clint stared after you as Steve grabbed and pulled you toward him, fastening his mouth to yours. "So, is that a no on the coffee?"

Your friend eventually got his coffee before he went on his way. After Steve thoroughly wore you out, he promised to stick to cuddling in front of a fire moving forward. Making love in front of a fire was also on the table, whether it was in front of the fireplace or outside under the stars. Though he never did tell you where he got that axe or why it really looked like it was stained with blood.

But maybe you could convince Clint to take that axe into the Red Woods and show Steve how to really scare someone.

Oh, these two. Love and thanks for reading! ❤️

Masterlist ⚓ Steve Rogers Masterlist ⚓ Ko-Fi

[tearsonmarz]

Scarian Flirting and Fishing pt. 1

“Are you alright?” Raising his head Grian looked up to see a guy with brown hair and muddy green eyes examining at him.

“I’m fine.” He brushed off, going through the items he had acquired in the past hour. “Where did a put that flint and— ah!” Muttering to himself- trying to not pay any mind to the weird guy watching over him- he lit a fire and began to prepare his lunch.

“You don’t exactly seem fine.” Grian shot a look at him before rolling his eyes and going back to his cooking. The brunette cleared his throat before walking towards him.

“What are you doing?”

“Your logs seemed a little out of place. Wouldn’t want to burn yourself now, would you?”

“It’s fine, I can take care of myself. Why don’t you just mind your own business.” He scoffed, fixing the logs himself and shooing away the stranger.

“I’d love to, but sadly I’m cursed with wanting to help people. Especially wanderers who can take care of themselves.” The stranger shot Grian a wink to his disgust.

Deciding to ignore the man, he put is food to cook before going back to looking through his haul. Name tags, saddles, boots, bottles, fish, junk, junk and more junk. Nothing of interest and certainly not what he was hoping to find. After roaming the stream for an hour you’d think he’d find something of note, but nope! Just more trash he’d have to toss out once it had accumulated enough to be dragged instead of carried.

“So... what are you hoping to find.” A yelp came out of Grian, he stared daggers into the man hovering over him.

“What is wrong with you? Can’t you just leave me alone?”

“Sorry, you just seemed so lost in thought, you didn’t even realize your food was finished.” The stranger chuckled to himself as red painted Grian’s ears.

“You could’ve just said so.” He pouted, earning a grin from the man.

“Does this mean I can stick around?”

“I’d like it if you didn’t, but I have a sneaking suspicion that you won’t listen.”

“Ah, you already know me so well. I can already tell we’re going to get along.” Without another word, he went to sit down next to Grian. “I’m Scar by the way. What’s your name?”

“Grian” He spoke in between bites.

“That’s a bit of an odd name. It’s suits you.”

There was something about this guy that Grian couldn’t quite put his finger on. He didn’t know him, but every fiber of his being was telling him this man was going to cause him quite a bit of trouble. Then again, anyone who tried to openly flirt with the first person they see, is bound to bring trouble wherever they go.

“Now that we’re acquainted, do you mind telling me what you’re looking for?” Grian slowed his chewing, pausing to think about whether or not to tell him. They had just met afterall, there was really no point in telling him. It’s not like this guy was going to stick around for very long.

“Uhm… It’s a little personal—”

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to pry. But I guess that’s what I get for being a little nosy.” Scar laughed it off. Even though it felt like he had messed up, Grian did appreciate him backing off.

“Well, I will say, it’s just a book. Nothing too special. Just something that I need.” This much should be fine right?

“A bit odd, but I guess it’s fitting.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, I just... You seem a bit unusual? Not in a bad way! Just out of the ordinary. I don’t know what I’m saying half of the time, so don’t mind me.” Shaking his head, he drew himself forward. “I didn’t mean anything of it. I just wasn’t expecting that.”

Without another word, Grian packed away his things and grabbed his fishing rod. Returning to the river, he sighed hoping for something different to be caught on his line.

“Was that sigh for me or for you?”

“Me. Do you just never make any noise when you move?”

“I’m quick, and fast like a cat. Of course, I’m not going to make any noise—” He stumbled as Grian turned to him.

“Obviously not as graceful.” Grian smirked, “You might do with a couple of dancing lessons.”

“Oh, I don’t dance. That is unless you want to teach me?”

“You couldn’t pay me enough.” He reeled in his line after feeling a bite, already knowing it was just another fish.

“I’d think I’m better company than all these fish you’re catching.”

“At least they’re quieter than you are.”

“Ouch, sick of me already? It’s hardly been any time at all.”

“Feels like forever.” Grian whispered underneath his breath before casting his line again.

“Already talking about our future? You must be a man after my heart.”

Part Two

[bloo-the-dragon]

Heads and Tails

This took me way too long to write. Hah...

A small follow up to the first (two) chapters of In Our Dreams written by my good friend @emrystheblue please go read it first if you havn't already!

Anyways - Ruin suffers from chronic pains due to a crooked tail a result of a badly healed break from long ago. Today the pain is a little worse than usual and Eclipse tries to help. Little over 4k words be prepared should you hit that read more!

(Also on a03!)

~~~

A thump and a crash followed by a sharp squark was the oh so wonderful alarm Eclipse had to wake him that morning.

Or afternoon. Evening? Something along those lines. How long had he been asleep?

He blinked blearily at the wall, his fuzzy processors struggling to boot up fully and leaving him briefly disoriented. For a split second his memory glitched and he forgot where he was and who he was- but a small refresh quickly fixed the issue, leaving only a small log in his files as the only evidence something had occured despite him not recalling it. Eclipse simply ignored it though. He was more than used to it.

Once his processors finally finished booting up, Eclipse raised his head sluggishly to regard the doorway, squinting as he tried to remember what had woken him up. Another small thump and an annoyed sharp chirrup from across the apartment slotted the jigsaw piece of memory into place and the dark orange robot deadpanned. Ah. Ruin.

The hell was that fish up to now?

Resisting the strong urge to flop and sigh into his pillow, Eclipse grumbled, sitting up and swinging his legs around to stand. A short bout of dizzyness had him placing a hand on the desk to keep his balance, and the other against his head, displacing the rays that crowned it. After taking a moment to gather his bearings and for the dizzyness to subside, the dark coloured animatronic wearily trudged the short distance across the small bedroom and into the main living area.

The immediate first thing Eclipse noticed was Ruin was on the floor next to a toppled over table lamp. Panic flared within him briefly but then the mer let out an annoyed growl as he tried to push himself up from the floor. Eclipse caught a glimpse of the mers legs trying to form but failing causing hm to flop back down again with a loud thump.

Well that explained the noise.

Eclipse leaned against the doorway and crossed his arms in an unimpressed manner. 'What the hell are you doing?'

Ruin clearly hadn't expected Eclipse was behind him as he squeaked in surprise and turned his head toward the orange and black animatronic, a sheepish look crossing his features and the yellow frills that crowned the mers head pressing back a little.

'Oh! Eclipse! He- hello I didn't see you there' a nervous laugh followed by a small cheep, 'I um... did I wake you? I'm sorry! I was just trying to get to the couch you see and... Well.. ' The mer trailed off and Eclipse followed his gaze down toward Ruins crooked tail that was now partially coiled around him. Ruin gave it a small flick when he realised Eclipse was looking too but winced as he did so.

Eclipse frowned. Shifting himself off the doorway, he took a few steps forward and crouched down with a small grunt as he begun to inspect the mer. Ruin had since stopped trying to form his legs which Eclipse was internally glad for as seeing them form always weirded him out. But going by how the fish was trying to form them combined with the obvious sound of him falling over before, they must have disappeared without the mers input.

He glanced up and raised an eyebrow at Ruin. 'So what happened to your legs? Did they run away or something?' 

Ruin chittered in a way that Eclipse couldn't tell if was amusement or annoyance. 'Ahh very funny. But hmm... i've mentioned before it does require some ah... effort on my end to keep them extended yes?'

Eclipse nodded. 

'Yes yes! Well- Umm..'

The mer trailed off again suddenly becoming a lot more sheepish as he glanced away from Eclipse who's frown deepened. 'So... what? You lost focus?'

Ruin whistled quietly, and he winced as he shifted himself. 'In a manner of speaking...'

Eclipse's gaze returned to the tail, taking note of the faint tremors running across the scaley skin and how curled in and guarded Ruin appeared to be with it. He tilted his head thoughtfully, rays slowly spinning before halting with a click as he came to a conclusion.

'It's hurting again isn't it.'

It wasn't a question. Ruin let out a nervous laugh followed by a small whistle, drumming his webbed fingers on the floor.

'Aha... Well, yes but you needn't worry yourself dear I'm pretty used to it at this point as you know-'

Eclipse gave him a look and Ruin shrank into himself a little, mismatched sky blue and scarlet eyes flicking downwards as he became very interested all of a sudden in the carpet. 'Anyways enough about me, how are you feeling dear? Did you sleep well?' A pair of white pupils appeared which looked up to meet Eclipse's. 'No nightmares i hope?'

Eclipse gave him a sour look at that question but opted to ignore in favour of reaching his hand out to hover just above the shivering scales but refraining from touching. 'Why the hell didn't you tell me about this? And just how long has it been hurting for?'

The mer's tail twitched and he huffed with a small fishy pout. 'It's very rude to ignore someone you know-'

'Answer the damn question Ruin'

Ruin's head fins flattened back at the sharp tone in Eclipse's voice and the robot felt a tiny spark of guilt at his small outburst. He took in a simulated breath and followed it with a softer, 'please.'

There was a few seconds of silence from the mer before Ruin let out a sigh, his shoulders slumping in clear defeat. 'A few days..'

Eclipse snapped his head up to stare at Ruin in disbelief. 'A few days?! You've been in pain for days and and you didn't fucking tell me?'

Ruin's head fins flattened back again very briefly before flaring out and flickered in clear irritation.'I didn't want you to fuss! You've not been well yourself dear-'

'I'm fine Ru!'

'No you have not been fine Eclipse!' Ruin cuts him off with a sharp click, and his tail thumped the ground behind him. However doing so was clearly a mistake as the mer let out a pained hiss, coiling in on himself as he chittered out some explicitives in his own tongue. This immedietely alarmed Eclipse but Ruin held up a hand before he could do anything, gritting his sharp teeth as he continued, his voice laced still with soft hissing and chitters.

'You have not been fine. You have been sleeping restless for the past few days, but that's not even the worst of it! You- You've been...' Ruin paused, drawing in a deep breath. His eyes fall away from Eclipse, his claws gripping and digging into the carpet in clear distress.

Eclipse sat a little stunned, simply observing Ruin as the navy blue mer continued to claw at the carpet. He then releases an exasperated sigh and imitating a habit Ruin had done with him many times before, reached out and somewhat awkwardly placed his hands on top of the mers webbed ones who went very still at the contact. He didn't pull away though, and a small cheep brought Ruin's eyes back to meet his.

'I've been what Ruin?' Eclipse prompts his tone a touch softer than before.

Ruin was silent a lot longer this time. His head fins twitched, flattening back and flaring out again multiple times betraying his inner emotions. Eventually he huffed a small sigh followed by a soft whistle. 'You've been forgetting things dear.'

Eclipse tensed. 

Oh.

So that's what it was. 

...Well shit.

Eclipse looked away from Ruin, his rays retracting a bit. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't already aware of it. He knew that since a few days ago his memory has been acting up again, and while he hasn't been losing huge chunks there have been spotty moments he can't recall. Ruin had been helping to fill in the blanks for him though, and in fact now Eclipse thought about it, the mer had been hovering around him a lot more than usual lately.

Eclipse tolerated the clinginess even if it irked him a bit at times. But it had helped on a couple occasions. Small moments where he'd wake up from a nap and forget where he was who he was, but then he'd get a face full of yellow frills or a tail flopping over his stomach and it'd bring him back again.

Even today, when his memory began to fail him after waking up the sounds of Ruin in the house kept him grounded. Speaking of, he must have fallen silent for too long as Ruin cheeped softly and Eclipse felt his thumbs gently stroking his hands that still lay atop the mers. He lifted his eyes up to meet the mismatched pair of sky blue and scarlet ones that were focused on him in concern.

Eclipse huffed, giving the mer's hands a gentle squeeze. 'Alright. Fine. So my memory is shit it always has been and some days its worse than others' He notes how Ruins claws dig into the carpet again but he chooses not to mention instead continuing with 'but right now I'm fine. I'm managing. You on the other hand-'

He glanced thoughtfully at the mers tail. 'I'm going to assume you can't walk or move much right now, because of the pain right? That's why your legs disappeared too. Too much pain to focus or whatever.'

Ruin was silent for a moment before he sighed and then nodded. 'Yes. That is correct unfortunately.' 

The dark animatronic hummed, wracking his broken brain for remedies on pain relief. They didn't have any painkillers in the house as Eclipse hardly saw the need to stock up on them as they did nothing for him. He wasn't even sure if they would help a magical creature like Ruin but he made a mental note to buy some next time he went to the store anyway. Granted he didn't forget that too.

The mer seemed to realise what Eclipse was thinking and he perked up a bit, 'If you'd like to help, some ice from the- the...' Ruin paused a moment muttering something in his own language before continuing with 'freezer yes! Some ice from there should be enough to help ease it a little!'

'We only have so much ice right now Ru and not enough to cover all of' Eclipse gestures to Ruin 'that.'

'...Are you calling me fat?'

Eclipse ignored him, his brow furrowing as he considered something. 'I wonder...'

The animatronic goes silent for a moment that is just long enough that Ruin begins to worry that he's zoning out again. He jolts slightly when Eclipse suddenly leans back and smacks his hands on his legs as he comes to a conclusion.

'Alright Ru. Bathtime.'

Ruin blinked, taken off guard by the sudden change in subject. 'What?'

Eclipse didn't give the mer any time to fully process before he moved forward and slipped his arms under Ruin who cheeped in alarm.

'E-Eclipse wait wait WAIT- '

Ignoring the mers protests, Eclipse grunted as he hoisted the mer up who released a rather undignified squeak. As Eclipse took a moment to adjust his hold on the mer and maintain his balance, Ruin warbled out a mix of words before finally managing something understandable.

'E-Eclipse, dear please is this really necessary-'

Ruin was cut off by Eclipse shooting him a glare and he shrank down a bit, giving a nervous chuckle.

'Ah... This isn't up for debate it it?'

Eclipse said nothing simply turning and heading toward the bathroom. Ruin signed flopping in his arms. 'As you will then.'

Eclipse pushes open the door to the bathroom with his foot, shuffling himself and the fish inside being careful not to bump the mers tail on the doorway. He set carefully Ruin down on the mats and the mer let out a questioning chirrup as Eclipse leaned over the bathtub. The animatronic cheeped back put of instinct but said nothing as he turns on the faucets. Once the tub reached just above half full, he turned off the taps before turning to Ruin and pointing at the water.

'Get in.'

Ruin blinked looking between Eclipse and the half filled tub. 'Pardon?'

Eclipse gives him a deadpan stare before sighing and bending down to pick up Ruin again.

'Ah- ah- Eclipse wait what are you doING-'

Ruin cuts off with a small alarmed squeak when the tip of his tail comes into contact with what turned out to be surprisingly cold water. Normally this would not be an issue for the mer as he's swam in cold waters before but going from relatively warm room temperature to rather chillingly cold water was a bit sudden even for him.

As such he coiled his tail up best he could despite the sharp aches shooting through his tail and pressed himself closer to Eclipse, glancing between him and the cold bath. It doesn't take long for Ruin to catch onto what Eclipse's intention here is and while it is very sweet even so...

A nervous laugh escapes him. 'Ahh.. Eclipse dear while I'm sure the intention here is well meaning are you sure this is... a good idea?' The mer eyed the bath tub warily, curling maybe just a bit closer to the robot holding him. 'It does seem a bit.. excessive does it not?'

Ruin trailed off, his nervous gaze meeting Eclipse who simply stared back with a half lidded gaze. 'No.' He deadpanned and Ruin yelped as he was plopped straight into the icy water.

Ruin splashed about a bit and Eclipse had to take a couple steps back to avoid the worst of the cold water as some sloshed over the side of the tub. Finally Ruin righted himself, poking his head up out of the water and looking quite bewildered. He locked eyes with Eclipse and an annoyed pout crossed his fishy features followed by a small hiss.

'Proud of yourself are you?'

Eclipses deadpan stare cracked as a smile tugged the corner of his mouth. 'Very.'

The mer rolled his eyes and sank more into the water in defeat. 'Of course you are.' He sounded exasperated but there was a small chirrup added to the end of his words that told of him not being genuinely mad.

Eclipse settled down beside him crossing his legs beneath him. 'How do you feel now?'

Ruin grumbled, though it was more a soft low warble. 'Adjusting. Still sore but it is easing up a bit. However' He shot Eclipse a bemused look, 'I would appreciate not being dunked straight into cold water without warning next time dear.'

Eclipse huffed and crossed his arms. 'I'm not apologising. You needed this.'

Ruin hummed followed by a gentle whistle. 'I know dear. I.. I know.'

They sat in silence as Ruin relaxed more into the tub. Eclipse notes he still looks tense and he watches how Ruins tail quivers. Maybe he made the water a bit too cold, and he asks Ruin who waves him off. 'No it's fine dear. I'm just sore still. Give it a bit and i'll be fine.'

Eclipse wasn't fully convinced however. He knew the cold would help but it clearly wasn't working as fast as he hoped. Should have expected this, of course with flesh wounds the pain couldn't simply go away that easily. Made him glad for once he was made from metal and wires instead of flesh and bone.

Eclipse wracked his mind again for anything else that could help ease the pain more for his fishy companion. There was something he could try, something he'd known about for a while. In fact he'd considered it already before the cold bath thing but he wasn't sure how well Ruin would feel about having a sore and sensitive area touched. Another shudder and a small subdued hiss from Ruin was all the prompting Eclipse needed though, and he tapped the side of the bath with a single finger to get the mers attention.

'Can I.. try something?' Eclipse asked, gesturing his hand toward Ruins tail. Ruin tilted his head curiously, his tail twitching but he doesn't move away.

'I.. suppose? What was it you were wanting to do?'

'Something I've seen humans do. It's meant to help ease pain' Eclipse added on when he noticed how Ruins head fins flattened back slightly.

The mer seemed a little unsure but he nodded. 'I trust you dear. Go ahead'

Alright. Now he's just not gotta mess this up. Tentatively Eclipse extends his hand toward Ruin' tail, half expecting the dark blue mer to shift away but he remained still, simply watching as the animatronics fingers made contact. Eclipse very slowly and gently applied pressure as he begun to run his hand across the scaled skin, being careful to avoid the torn fins.

The scales were cold under his fingers, thanks to the water but it wasn't really a bother. He continued to run his fingers across the area applying gentle pressure as he moved his hands across the mers tail. He could feel the uneven shape under his hands reminding him of the crooked bones that lay beneath the flesh. He tried not to think about it too much, lest the anger of what those humans did to the mer cause him to accidently unsheath his claws. That would certainly not be of any help here.

'Is this... helping?'

Ruin who had been leaning his head contentedly against the bath side opened a sky blue eye. 'Hmm?'

'This is it.. helping at all?'

Ruin hummed followed by a soft whistle. 'It is! The pain is lingering still I'm afraid but this is helping make it more' another small whistle as he closes his eye again 'manageable.'

Eclipse hums but says no more, continuing the movement as he let's his thoughts wander, specifically to earlier when Ruin said he'd been having memory trouble again. Eclipse was still aware of it of course, infact he knew when it had started, ever since he woke up that night with Ruin laying on top of him and the mer had refused to shift for a couple hours after. Not that Eclipse could complain, the extra rest had been well needed afterall. 

He frowned, his fingers absentmindedly drawing circles in the mers tail. Now he thought about it... he didn't recall anything from that night. At all. And while he had later found Ruin had been rummaging through the freezer again, he had also found some of the furniture had been knocked over or moved. Eclipse hadn't thought much of it at the time being too tired to bother, but now...

A chilling revelation runs through his endoskeleton spine. Had he... had another episode? Had he chased Ruin through the house but he didn't remember it?

Usually his episodes were nothing more than moments of sudden aggression but they were usually just angry snappish words and insults directed at anyone in the near vicinity. Nothing ever physical, and Ruin knew well enough to leave Eclipse alone whenever those happened. 

But now he was wondering... what if it changed that night? What if it got worse and he chased Ruin down?

His fingers go still as Eclipse stares down at the yellow lined tail, turmulous thoughts overloading his mind and not realising his fans beginning to speed up.

Did he do this? Did he hurt him?

'Eclipse?'

Eclipse jolts not realising how still he had become and looks to Ruin who now has both eyes open, looking at him with concern.

Ruin cheeped. 'You were zoning out again sweetheart. Are you alright?'

'I'm-' Eclipses voice box glitches and he takes a moment to reset it before trying again. 'I'm fine... but.' He looks to Ruins tail again, conflicted emotions swirling around inside of him, making hm feel sick. He didn't want to ask but at the same time he had to know.

'What happened that night? Did i...' the words die in his throat. Eclipse doesn't know if he has the mental capacity to hear the answer.

The mer tilts his head, his eyes scanning Eclipses face. 'You mean the one from a few days ago, yes?' A silent nod. Ruin sighed, resting his chin on the edge of the bathtub as he reached out a webbed hand to brush Eclipse's rays. 'No it... it wasn't anything you did if that's what you're worried about. I... you.. you were calling for me.' A small sheepish chuckle followed by a small sad cheep, his thumb tracing a pattern on the dark orange ray. 'I might have panicked a little.'

Eclipse would have snorted at that but all he could manage was a half hearted huff from his vents, too focused on leaning against the gentle petting of his rays. 'Because of the fish? The very ones you know you're not allowed to have?'

A stuttered chirrup 'w-well yes! But...' Ruin trailed off with a whistle, sinking into the water a bit and withdrawing his hand much to Eclipse's internal dismay. 'You... you were panicking too dear. And when I made it to you you didn't.. '

'Didn't what?'

'...you didn't recognise me.'

That makes Eclipse freeze, his hand that had begun massaging the scales again going still.

'..What?'

Ruin sank even more, a low whine escaping him. 'I don't know why. But you looked at me and.. it was as if I were a stranger. But you kept calling out so... I kept calling back.'

Eclipse stares at Ruin, not knowing what to say and any words that he does attempt to form die before they can even be processed in his voicebox. He tried to access the memory files from that night but nothing came up either. The files were non existent. They must have corrupted and his systems deleted them during a reboot which means he must have crashed again. He hadn't had a crash for a long while so that was concerning.

And the fact Ruin had witnessed it too. Eclipse felt guilt knaw at him on the inside, and he released a shuddery vent. 'I.. I didn't mean to scare you.'

A soft chirrup. 'I know dear. I'm just glad you came back to me.'

This time a distant thought in the back of Eclipses head poked up but he immediately shut that thought out. No he was not going back into that line of thinking again. Not now. Not now...

However he didn't want to talk about it anymore. Knowing that he was experiencing crashes again was already in and of itself a great concern. He knew what those meant. And he could only hope it was just a one off this time.

'Do you want to watch a movie?' Eclipse suddenly blurted out. Ruin blinked at the sudden change in subject, and Eclipse himself was surprised by his own suggestion. But before he could backtrack, Ruin perked up with a small grin.

'Certainly! That would be nice!'

Eclipse felt his frame relax a little. 'Alright. How's the tail?'

Ruin hummed, flicking his tail a bit and sending a small water splash at Eclipse who hissed and swiped at the water droplets. Ruin trilled in amusement. 'It's feeling a little better!'

Eclipse huffed, wiping water from his face. 'Good' he stood up with a grunt, 'well when you're ready hop on out and we can go put one on.'

Ruin chirruped in reply and he rolled around in the tub a bit before hoisting himself up and slipping out and onto the mats. He released a small trill when Eclipse threw a towel over his head and began to playfully growl and hiss as he swiped at the offending soft material. Eclipse snorted at the dramatic display, and knelt down again to help dry the wriggling mer whos energy quickly waned and Ruin releases a soft warble as he leans back against Eclipse letting him finish drying him off. He still nipped a bit whenever the towel brushed his nose.

Once done, the dark orange and black animatronic tossed the damp towel into the laundry basket and grabbed a fresh dry one to wrap around Ruin before hoisting him up into his arms. Ruin doesn't complain this time, instead hooking an arm around his shoulder and pointing dramatically to the doorway.

'To the couch we go! Onwards my noble steed!'

Eclipse rolled his eyes but he couldn't help the small smile that tugged the corners of his mouth. He takes them to the living area and sets Ruin down onto the sofa, who let's out a small chirrup and curls up onto the pillows under the soft towel with a content trill. Eclipse meanwhile goes through the selection of dvds from the drawer under the TV. 

'Alright what's it gonna be Ru? You can pick this time.'

A small hum followed by a click 'Shrek if you wouldn't mind dear!'

'Again? We've watched it three times already.'

'And we shall watch it a fourth time! It is a good film. But we could always watch anime instead-'

'No no Shrek it is' Eclipse mused, deftly plucking the disc out of the casing and slotting it into the player. 'We're not watching another twelve hours of One Piece.'

An amused chirrup. 'Very well then!'

As the movie starts up Eclipse plops onto the sofa beside Ruin who quite quickly shuffles up and crawls onto Eclipse's lap. Normally Eclipse would not permit such close cuddlyness but this time he allows it. In fact he even wraps an arm around the mer and helps pull him up a little more so Ruin's head is tucked under his chin, the yellow frills brushing against his neck. Not an entirely unpleasant feeling Eclipse finds.

'Could we watch the other ones too?' Ruin asks as he snuggles into the comfortable hold.

'Yeah we can do that. Except the third film. That one's shit.'

A small chuckle, 'it's existence is well ignored i assure you.'

The two fall into a comfortable silence, with Eclipse holding Ruin close with one arm while his other continues to gently and half mindlessly massage the mers tail. Ruin does not seem bothered by it, and going by the faint rumbling emitting from him seems to be enjoying it still. Ruin likewise keeps one of his webbed hands over the one Eclipse has wrapped around him, his thumb rubbing circles on the back of his metal hand.

As the movie begins, Ruin tilts his head back a bit to regard Eclipse who raises an eyebrow. 'What?'

Ruin chirruped before gently nuzzling his head against Eclipse's chin. 'Thankyou dear.'

Eclipse's fans sped up a little and he simulated a cough to hide it. ''Yeah sure. Don't mention it.' 

Ruin whistles but says no more, and the two continue to watch the movie.

[rebeckalindahl]

The Neighbor

Part 1

The first time he saw it, he thought he was having a nightmare.

He was holding a cup of coffee up to his lips, about to take a sip, watching the new neighbor stand at the stump between their houses where they split the logs for their fires.

She was smallish, thin but moderately athletic. Her shoulders were broad, but her hips were slim.

So when she picked up the axe, he expected her to be pretty strong. I mean, you need to be strong to split wood.

Magnus had been doing it his whole life, he had almost always lived in the country. But the new neighbor... there was something soft about her, something...sad but a little bit angry.

Perhaps it was the way she gripped the wooden handle of the axe, or the way she set her jaw as she tried to pick up a piece of wood that would even give Magnus a challenge.

And there were other pieces of wood for her to pick up, but she was set on that one.

Magnus took a small sip of coffee and watched her struggle to set the large log on the stump.

"No, don't do it..." he whispered into his quiet cabin.

He watched her take a deep breath and step back, lift the axe... and then bring it down on the log.

Magnus winced and sucked air in through his teeth as her whole body reverberated with the shock of the impact. And the log remained unsplit, unfazed by her attempt.

"Shit," he whispered.

He watched as the new neighbor let the axe fall to the ground and wrapped her arms around herself as she walked back to her cabin, obviously in pain.

"Didn't anybody teach you how to split wood?" he said, as if he wasn't talking to his empty cabin, as if he was talking to her.

He shook his head and watched her go inside her door and then he went to sit down.

The next morning, he went out to split some wood. He moved the large log she had put there the night before. He had no idea if she was watching him, but he hoped she was. He chose a small log, he tapped the axe into the top of it and then he picked up the wood with the axe and tapped it hard a few times on the stump until it split into two pieces. He did it again, and again, and again.

He dared not look at her cabin, but he hoped she could see him and she would know better what to do the next time she needed wood.

Then he split a few larger logs, maybe a few more than he needed to, leaving some for her to split like he had at first. It was how his father had taught him when he was small.

She watched him from her window, tears in her eyes. And the tears weren't because she couldn't split wood, and they weren't because her arms and back were still sore from the last time she had tried. Salty tears rolled down her cheeks as she watched the neighbor split the wood, her mind filled with everything she had lost, the life she didn't have anymore.

[ruewrote]

𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑡 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑒.

PAIRING: jj maybank x fem!reader WARNINGS: some strong language GENRE: angst, fluff, friends to lovers SONG INSPIRATION: worst of you by maisie peters WORD COUNT: 1k

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you stood at the end of the dock, at your spot. the tip of your shoe skimming the surface of the water, shivering at the cool breeze that brushed past you.

wrapping your arms tighter around your body, searching for any type of warmth and comfort as you checked the notifications on your phone for what felt like the fifteenth time that hour, some were from pope and sarah but none from jj.

he promised he'd be here this time! you should've known.

this was the third time in two weeks that you would make plans and something had come up, his empty promises filled you with hope, only for him to be a no-show.

the sun was now setting. tears stung your eyes, sniffling whilst looking down at the ripples of the water finding no interest in doing what you were originally here to do.

"im so stupid, i really thought he was going to be here." shaking your head, more tears fell down your cheeks as you stood.

the walk home was absolutely miserable and the rain that had started to drizzle didn't help either. the few drops turned into heavy showers, having felt there was no need for an umbrella earlier on your clothes were now soaked right through down to your underwear.

opening your front door you were greeted by your excited sister waiting for all the juicy details, knowing that you were gonna confess and helped you get ready for the occasion too.

the tears that had once subsided now came flooding back, she just wrapped you up in a firm hug as you sobbed in her arms.

after you had calmed a little she sat you down asking you what happened or if he had rejected you, but you just explained how he never showed up. how he never even sent you a text about it?

"im gonna kick his ass! who even does that? no, no, no let me rephrase that. when has jj ever done that? especially to you of all people!"

that got you thinking, obviously, him not showing was really hurtful in general, but at the same time, it confused you since this was the boy who wouldn't let you carry your school bag as long as he was around or would bring you your favorite coffee in the morning even if he was late.

for the next couple of days, you avoided jj, which wasn't hard since he had different classes than you that week. the times that you guys did bump into each other you either made up an excuse or joined the sea of people who were rushing to get to their next lesson.

this had been far from easy for you, there hadn't really been a time when the two of you weren't together.

now you're here, sitting by yourself in the library doing your history project here since your laptop decided to stop working halfway through.

hours had gone by and you had made a ton of progress on your work, now sitting back and taking a long sip out of your water bottle as you proofread what you had written only to be interrupted by a loud bang from the entrance of the building, making you jump and turn to investigate.

a mistake on your part since you made direct eye contact with the mad blonde. ducking your head, gathering your things together before logging off seeing if there was any way of sneaking past him.

"what have you been?" fuck.

you tried to ignore and walk around him but were only pulled back to face him by your arm. gentle, his touch was so light like it always had been. he'd never hurt you. no matter how angry he got.

"answer me!" jj exclaimed, only to be shushed by the librarians.

everyone was now looking at the two of you, so you grabbed his hand, dragging him out of there. of course only for it to be pouring again.

"you have the audacity to be trying to call me out on this when you've ghosted me for almost a whole week and then expected us to just go back to normal? like everything's okay between us?" you scoffed, running your hands through your hair, huffing out a laugh.

"i was...busy, i couldn't help it! im sorry okay?"

having heard enough of his shit you walked out into the cold with jj following close behind you.

"y/n talk to me!" he shouted over the loud pattering, stopping you in your tracks, whipping around to face him.

"do you know why i asked you to go to our place the other day?"

he just shook his head.

"i have yearned for you for years, in secrecy and silence." your voice was almost a whisper, but he heard you.

"what?"

"its you jj, its always been you... im in love with you." both of your chests heaving heavily, finding it hard to catch your breath in the rain. tears filled your eyes as you tried to look everywhere but him. his stare felt almost too much.

"but you never said anything?" jjs voice broke as his own tears caressed his cheeks but were quickly wiped away by the raindrops.

"how could i? you're looking at me but you don't see me jj. do you know how that feels? i just want you to see me. please."

that's when he strode toward you, placing his hands on your hips and pulling you into him, your arms wrapping around his neck. tilting his head to the side as his lips brushed against yours.

his hands slid to your lower back, deepening the kiss. reaching up you intertwined your fingers in his hair lightly pulling at the wet strands, a muffled groan left him which only made you smile as you pulled away.

"i love you too, by the way, i didn't know if i made that clear or not?" jj joked which only made you playfully punch him.

the next day the two of you were both cuddled up in your bed sniffling, very sick from stupidly standing in a literal storm yesterday, but hey it was totally worth it in the end.

© ruewrote.

[crazylittlejester]

Uh, here! Have a little story!

~~~~~

"This would be easier if you'd sit still."

Wild curled his fingers into the fallen log he was sitting on as the Captain once again brought the saltwater-soaked rag up to his reddened ear. A pair of brand-new earrings with bloodied posts sat on the bark next to him. "I'm trying," he said, wincing and pulling back again. In lieu of a fight-or-flight response, he shifted in his seat and occupied himself by readjusting his hair band. "Why's it have to burn so much, though?"

Wars sighed and set his rag back in the bucket. He gave Wild's shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Because it's killing the infection. Let's see how we're looking now." He shifted his hand to the back of Wild's head, who in turn leaned forward. With his other hand, Wars pressed gently against the back of the miniscule hole in Wild's ear. He winced sympathetically when more blood and puss oozed out. He fished the rag out of the bucket and resumed his work.

Wild didn't even know Legend was around until he climbed over the log and sat down, his back leaning against it. Legend looked over at the sparkling (albeit gross) earrings, then up at Wild's feverish ears, and folded his arms. "This is why we don't have nice things," he huffed.

Wild shrugged. "What did you expect me to do with them?" he asked, gritting his teeth as Wars soaked more of the disinfectant down into the wound.

"Sorry," Wars muttered, not looking away from the infected piercing as he dipped his rag into the bucket again.

"I guess I just expected you to, I don't know, switch them around like anyone else would???" Legend sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I certainly didn't expect you to just jab them through your cartilage. Go figure."

"Well, I thought that they would all look nice together!" Wild had pulled his hair over the front of his shoulder, weaving small braids into the tips. "And how else are you supposed to pierce your ears?"

Wars paused, looking Wild dead in the eyes. He spoke with crisp (almost sharp) enunciation. "You're supposed to make sure everything's clean. And that you keep it that way." Wild gulped and nodded, and Wars resumed.

Legend chuckled and leaned back, arms draped over the log behind him. "I guess we should just be relieved that you failed to convince Sailor to let you pierce his ears! I doubt he'll ever go for it now, though."

"I think you'd be surprised," Warriors added off-handedly, still fixated on the task at hand.

"But I mean, still, didn't you have to keep your original piercings clean?" Legend asked, gesturing with his hands as he spoke. "Or did you just let them fester so long they stabbed over in self-preservation?"

"I dunno." Wild shrugged, now braiding the smaller braids together. "I've had earrings for as long as I can remember." Legend nodded, rubbing the back of his neck.

"There. I think that's all of it, at least for now." Wars dipped his rag in the salt water one last time, now wiping down the earring posts. "Will you want help getting these back in?"

"I've got it, thanks though." Wild slid them back into his ears, wincing only slightly. "Seriously though, thank you."

"Oh, don't thank me yet," Wars said, as he began gathering all his things. "We'll have to do this several more times, I'm sure." He tried to put on a sympathetic smile, as Wild visibly drooped.

"Well, you won't be receiving any more earrings, that's for sure." Legend stood up and stretched, pretending to ignore Wild's dramatic and betrayed gasp.

"Surely you jest? Surely I've learned my lesson??" Wild clasped his hands pleadingly, batting his eyelashes and pouting.

"Nope, don't wanna hear it," Legend said, turning and walking back to camp. "You can't be trusted. From now on, you're only getting earcuffs, and those little clasp-ons they make for small children."

Legend let out a yelp of laughter as Wild came up and shoved him from behind, and tried to retaliate before they both took off running and laughing; shouting biteless threats and accusations all the while. Wars shook his head and smiled, following behind them.

~~~~~

So, uh, all this to say: keep yapping! Regardless of how involved I am with LU (my hyperfixations have been varying WILDLY lately), your posts always brighten my feed! Thank you!

THANK YOU FOR THE LITTLE STORY I LOVE IT SO MUCH!! This would absolutely happen to poor Wild

also im glad you like my yapping, i will continue to do so

[unformula1]

you’ll stay? (LS2 x OP81)

logan’s life is hard but he’s got oscar. w/c: 651 day 29 of loscar posts until we get a loscar podium (series masterlist) masterlist

Logan has never felt more alone. He sits on his bed, the cold embrace of his blanket enveloping him. His tears slowly flow out, tracing his cheekbones, clinging onto his chin before falling onto the bed. His head is tucked between his two knees, soft sobs echo in his hotel room. 

He’s alone. 

A knock on his door forces Logan to sit up and wipe his tears off. As he walks toward the door, he checks the mirror, cleaning off any trace of him crying from his face. Logan takes a deep breath and puts on a smile.

He opens the door and comes face to face with Oscar.

“Hi Logs.” Oscar waves, he’s holding a bag.

“Hi Oscar.” Logan says after clearing out his throat, his voice comes out more hoarse than expected.

“I didn’t see you at the party. Alex was there!” Oscar says.

The party. Logan forgot if he got invited but he wasn’t planning on going anyway.

“I crashed.” Logan deadpans, “I’m not gonna go to a party.”

“Yea… my bad.” Oscar says before he lifts up the bag, “I brought some pastries, my grandmother made them. Thought you might be hungry.”

Logan stares blankly before taking the bag from Oscar, “Thank you.”

“Mind if I come in?” Oscar asks.

Logan looks back into his room and hesitates.

“I mean if you don’t want me to then I won’t…” Oscar’s voice trails off.

“Come in.” Logan says.

“Oh. Cool!” Oscar walks into the room and takes a seat on one of the chairs.

Logan closes the door and places the bag on the table before sitting down opposite Oscar on the edge of the bed.

“How have you been?” Oscar asks, then instantly regrets it, “Sorry, stupid question.”

“It’s okay.” Logan says, he doesn’t exactly want to converse right now, he sort of just wants to cry.

“So… life’s rough?” Oscar says, “Sorry. Stupid again, I’m not very good at this whole… conversing thing.” 

“It’s fine.” Logan says.

“Do you want me to help you with… anything? You could talk to me right now.” Oscar says.

Logan sighs, “I just need to cry right now.” He says before flopping back first onto his bed.

“Oh… are you okay if I stay?” 

Logan nods, not sure if Oscar could see but Oscar stayed where he was, so Logan assumed he saw the nod.

“If you want me to leave anytime just tell me.” Oscar says before sitting next to where Logan was lying down.

Logan usually would never cry in the presence of someone else, he had a facade to keep up. However, right now, Logan couldn’t care less.

When he crashed, the only faces he saw were disappointed ones. They only got more disappointed in him when Alex scored points. All of them shot Logan with wary eyes. Alex was disappointed in him. James was disappointed in him. All of them were.

He tried his best, he really did everything he could to get better but nothing paid off. His dreams were like flashing before his very eyes.

Logan stares into the ceiling.

“Are you disappointed in me?” Logan asks.

Oscar shakes his head, “No. I would never be.”

Logan lets out a soft scoff, “Sure…”

“Hey! I would never be disappointed in you.” Oscar says, patting Logan’s thigh, “I’m always proud of you.”

“I literally crashed today.” Logan says.

“Everyone makes mistakes.” Oscar shrugs.

“Clearly I make more than others.” Logan scoffs, mostly at himself.

“Well, I believe in you then, I believe that you’ll get better.” Oscar says.

Logan lets out another scoff disguised as a chuckle.

“Yea…right…” Logan says, as he feels his tears slowly filling his eyes.

“Shut up mate.” Oscar says, “You’re an amazing driver, you will get better.”

Logan smiles slightly but the tears continue to flow.

“I’ll stay with you, every step of the way. Okay.”

“Promise you’ll stay?”

“Promise.”

[violetsaffron5]

NSFW Gojo Week (2)

Ao3 • Discord 18+ • Social Media • Series Masterlists

Pairing: Gojo x f!Reader

After a stressful week at work, Gojo invites you over to his place to blow off some steam. However, your plans for the night aren't what he expected.

cw: friends with benefits, bondage, brat taming (a little) oral, pussy rubbing, vaginal sex, creampie

words: 3.1k

Masterlist • Day 1 • Day 3

“He fucked up the veil, again.”

You whine, frustrated as you march into Satoru’s office. Ijichi has been getting on your last nerve recently. Within the last two weeks, he has missed putting up several veils and filling out his paperwork wrong.

And each of his fuck ups comes back to you to fix. It has resulted in having to stay late to fix his mistakes all because he’s your “boss.”

Satoru smirks, leaning back in his chair as you sit at the chair across from his desk with a dramatic huff.

“How is he supposed to be over budgeting and assigning missions when he can’t even do his most basic tasks the right way?”

Satoru watches you with an amused expression from under his blindfold, “You know, back in high schoo-”

“And he fucking spilled coffee on me this morning!” You grumble, accidentally cutting Satoru off, before waving your hand in the air absentmindedly at him, “Sorry, continue.”

He chuckles, leaning forward on his desk, holding his chin on his hand, “How about you come over tonight and tell me all about it?”

A smile pulls at the corner of your lips as your eyes flicker down to Satoru’s lips briefly before sighing heavily, “I can’t. I have to fix the paperwork. It’s going to take me literal hours.”

“Nah. I’ll make sure Ijichi does it.”

Your brows upturn at his kind gesture, even though you’re fully aware of the ulterior motive behind his actions.

“God, thank you.” You sigh in relief, “If I don’t get my brains fucked out of me this weekend, I am going to drown Ijichi.”

“Bring this same energy tonight, I like it when you’re feisty.”

You roll your eyes because you just know that he winked at you from behind his blindfold, even if you couldn’t see it.

“So, I was thinking-” Satoru begins before being interrupted again by your phone vibrating on his desk.

With a small pout, you check the incoming message, “I have to leave. Taking Nanami to his next mission.”

You don’t miss the way Satoru’s jaw tenses slightly as he nods his head, “My place, around 7?”

“Yeah, sounds good.” Before you walk out of his office, you turn to meet his gaze one last time, biting your lower lip and giving a soft, flirty smile before closing the door behind you.

You and Satoru aren’t exactly dating.

Well, you’re not together at all actually. Just casually fucking from time to time.

After work in his office. His place on the weekends. Changing the logs so you’re assigned to assist him with his out-of-town missions.

It’s all just… casual.

You met Satoru when you started working at the school as an Auxiliary Manager, helping handle day-to-day life for Principle Yaga and assisting sorcerers on their missions.

After training for several months, Ijichi decided to take a vacation, stressing that he couldn’t be around Satoru Gojo for another minute otherwise he was bound to rip out all of his hair and lose his shit.

You would have liked to see that, honestly.

You weren’t really sure why he needed a manager to assist him and drive him to his missions but you did it diligently nonetheless and you hit it off immediately, becoming instant friends.

Satoru was quick, handling the mission within a few minutes, and after, the two of you decided to go somewhere local for dinner. He told you how he likes to stress Ijichi out, and didn’t mean for you to get caught up in the fray.

You smiled at him shyly, told him you didn’t mind and that you’ve been having a better time with him than you expected, after hearing all the horror stories Ijichi had.

“Oh, yeah?” You remember him teasing with a smile, removing his blindfold to show his amused, bright azure eyes and you were pretty sure the world stopped moving at that moment. “We could keep having fun. If you want.”

You knew what he meant, you’re not naive. You saw the way his eyes flickered to your slightly parted lips and back up. He’s attractive, more so than you had ever imagined, and you were pretty sure he thought the same about you as he grinned playfully.

Biting your lip, you could feel your cheeks heat the moment you agreed, “Yeah… I’d like that.”

You were sure he was going to make a move on you that night as you stayed at a little hotel on the outskirts of Tokyo, but he didn’t. The two of you started hanging out at work and after - going out for lunch or dinner during your breaks, joking around, and watching movies.

Eventually, the benefits did start, and the benefits with Satoru are good.

Most people would think it’s because of his riches, and the penthouse apartment with a luxurious view of the Tokyo skyline and infinity pool that makes being friends with him so fun, despite his attitude.

He’s cocky, annoying, and can be downright childish at times.

But it’s actually when he’s sinking you down on his cock, and you feel like you’re being split in half by his rough thrusts that makes dealing with him and his antics worth every second.

By the time you’re able to actually leave the office and Ijichi’s clutches, Satoru had already gone home, long before you.

Satoru is quick to answer the door by the time you’ve arrived and knock gently a few times. He’s shirtless, a cocksure grin plastered on his face and in those gray sweatpants you like so much, hanging off his hip showing the sexy ‘V’ from his muscles.

It takes everything in you to smile back with a soft “hi,” kicking off your shoes at the entrance, and not immediately jump into his arms and wrap your legs around his waist.

Not that he would mind. You’ve done it before.

But you do actually want to vent to Satoru about work. He gets it and understands your frustrations. You’d talk to Shoko but she’s always so busy mending everyone’s injuries that it makes your complaints seem really not that bad in the grand scheme of things.

And Nanami… well, frankly he doesn’t give a shit because work sucks no matter where it’s at or what job you’re doing.

You watch as Satoru’s eyes trail your figure before turning around and grabbing two wine glasses from his cabinet, and grabbing the bottle the two of you were drinking from last time you came over from his fridge.

After work, you made a quick stop at home to freshen up and change into something a little easier to remove. And judging by the way Satoru’s eyes keep finding you each time he turns around, you’d venture to guess he’s a big fan of the little dress you put on.

“Did I tell you about the time,” You begin after Satoru fills your glasses, following him to the couch where you sit next to him, sipping on your wine, “Ijichi copied five hundred pages for Yaga but didn’t pay attention to the edges so none of them were aligned? And then Yaga blamed me and I had to spend my entire lunch break fixing it?”

Satoru hums as he watches you take sip after sip when you go into detail about your frustrations. Eventually, he takes the half-full glass from your hand and sets it on the coffee table in front of him before moving you to straddle his lap as you continue to complain.

“That’s crazy,” He murmurs into your neck as you feel his lips ghost around before nipping at a few spots gently.

You sigh, placing your hand on his chest and moving back slightly with a small pout, “You’re supposed to be listening to me complain until I feel better.”

“Thought you wanted me to fuck your brains out.” His eyes flicker between yours and down to your lips several times as he brushes a few strands of hair out of your face and tucks them behind your ear.

“I do, but…” You grab his hands, lacing your fingers together as span his arms along the back of the couch so he can’t touch you. He grins, watching as you giggle, struggling with the slight amount of pushback he’s giving you, “We’re friends, right? Friends listen to each other complain.”

He sighs, rolling his neck while muttering a faint “fine,” before moving his hands to your waist. He does actually listen this time as you continue talking to him, but not without rocking your hips against his ever so slightly.

“I just... I don’t understand how he became the Director,” You roll your eyes and sigh, knowing Satoru doesn’t want to spend the whole night talking about Ijichi of all things. “I feel like I just need to be in control of something for once, you know?”

Satoru grins, hands spanning your waist, letting his thumbs rub just below your breasts, “What’d you have in mind?”

“Well… There is something I’ve been wanting to try.” You bite your lip, looking at him with soft eyes, really unsure of how he’s going to take this request. “I want to tie you up.”

Satoru snorts, letting out a boisterous laugh and looking at you with the most amused expression you’ve ever seen, “Good one.”

“I’m serious. You do it to me all the time, I want to try it. Plus it’s not like you couldn’t easily get out of it if you really wanted to.”

Satoru stares at you, eyes narrowing slightly as he looks at the sincerity of your expression. His ocean-blue eyes flicker around your face, hands on your waist caging you into him.

If there’s one thing you’ve learned about your time with Satoru, it’s that he has a hard time resisting when you sweet talk him while fluttering your eyelashes with big doe eyes and a slight pout on your lips.

You’re not sure if he’ll go for it, but with the number of things you’ve let him do to you, you should be allowed to have something every once in a while too.

Just to try it. Once or twice.

Maybe more, if you both like it.

“Alright.” He agrees easily with a sigh, lifting you off his lap and beckoning you to follow him to his bedroom.

“That was easier than I expected,” You mutter when he emerges from his closet with a few silky light blue ropes.

“You’ll be begging me to take control soon enough.” He’s confident, cocky, like always. “Where do you want me?”

You nod towards the bed, he smirks, undressing, his growing length giving away his excitement as he gets on his large bed.

He lays at the top of the bed, moving a few pillows under his neck to give support so he can easily watch you in action.

“Hands up.” You instruct as you climb onto the bed and straddle Satoru’s waist, still fully clothed. He smirks, crossing his wrists and holding them over his head, watching intently as you snake your lower lip between your teeth, concentrating intently on tying the knot and ensuring it’s not too tight.

You didn’t ask for it so you’re a little surprised and excited to see he’s not using his Infinity around his wrists to prevent you from actually tying him up. You’ll have to thank him for that later.

Taking the rest of the rope, you intricately tie several knots along his elbows before moving down to his shoulders, chest, abdomen, and at the base of his groin as he watches with a mischievous smile.

“Been thinking about this for a while, I see.”

“A time or two, yeah.”

Sitting back on your haunches, you admire your work. Not professional by any means, since this is the first time you’ve done anything like this. But it’ll get the job done and serve its purpose. The color of the rope Satoru chose looks great around his pale skin, and the way the ropes are tied around his biceps and abdomen makes his sinewy muscles appear so much bigger.

“Proud of yourself?” He quips when he sees a slight smile growing on your face.

You hum, looking over his neatly tied-up body before meeting his crystalline gaze, “Can I take a picture?”

Satoru frowns deeply at your requests before rolling his eyes and agreeing. Probably thinking about all the photos he has of you he has stored away on his phone.

Scooting off the bed and grabbing your phone, you snap a few photos - little keepsakes of the time Satoru fucking Gojo let you tie him up and ride him like a mechanical bull, should it be the only time he allows this to happen.

As you undress, he watches with awe and appreciation for every dip and curve of your body, and you don’t miss the way his breath hitches slightly as you slowly crawl on the bed to straddle his lap again. With a small chuckle, you place several small kisses on his lips, not letting him deepen them like he normally would.

Instead, you kiss and lick along his jaw and suck a few spots at the base of his neck before leaving littering his shoulders, chest, and abdomen with little red spots where your teeth scraped, marking him as yours.

He can easily heal these at any time, especially after you’re done tonight, but part of you hopes he doesn’t.

Your touch is feather-light, feeling every part of his warm skin, feeling and watching the way each of his muscles contracts as you move them lower on his body until you’re swiping your thumb over his hardened cock.

A smirk spreads across your lips as you look up at him through thick lashes, feeling the precum that’s already leaking from his tip. His pupils are blown, more black than blue as you lean down, licking your lips, and placing several small kitten licks on the tip and underside of his cock.

“Stop fucking teasing me,” He spits while bucking his hips, trying to force you to take his length down your throat.

“Don’t be a brat.” You stare at him with the same icy look he gives you when you whine too much. His brow quirks up and a smirk appears on his lips knowing precisely what you’re doing.

“Can’t handle five minutes with a taste of your own medicine?” You tut disapprovingly. “Pathetic”

Satoru glares at you while you grab his cock, slowly dragging your hand up and down with no intention of speeding up. And with the way he throws his head back with a frustrated huff, you can’t tell if he’s hating this or loving it.

He hasn’t tried breaking free, so you’ll go with the latter for now.

You can tell how badly he wants you, and you need it too - need that release you’ve been craving all week. So you ghost your lips around his skin as you slowly bring yourself up to his lap once again.

A soft gasp leaves your lips as you rub your slick pussy on his cock a few times, letting your neglected click rub against the head of his cock before lining yourself up, bouncing on his tip with a few short bursts.

Satoru watches intently, lips parted with pinkened cheeks waiting, surprisingly patiently, for you to slowly sink yourself down like you have so many times before.

Instead, you take him by surprise, slamming yourself down onto his hips. You both throw your heads back in pleasure while he tugs on the ropes at his wrist in an attempt to touch you.

“Fucking shit,” He groans out in a deep raspy voice.

Sucking in a deep breath and releasing it slowly, you give yourself some time to adjust to being filled so completely by him. His chest rises and falls with each breath he takes as you place your hand on his knee, circling your hips against his and placing your other hand on your breast to get the stimulation you’re lacking from his hands being tied.

Usually, Satoru’s voice is deeper, more gravely, and rough with need when you’re fucking. But as he watches you squeeze your breast and pinch your nipple while moaning out so pretty as you bounce on his silky cock, he whines. A higher pitch than you’ve ever heard come from the man below you.

He’s staring at you with wide, pleading eyes. Watching where you’re connected with parted lips that are begging you not to stop.

And you don’t. Only because you might die right now if you did, with the burning sensation that’s quickly forming in the depths of your belly.

Satoru looks so pretty like this. With silk ropes that match his crystalline eyes, the soft pink blush from his cheeks has extended to the tips of his ears and down to his chest.

And god, the whimpers.

Fuck. You should have asked him if you could record this too.

One thing you learned about Satoru very early on in your friendship. He’s not an incredibly patient man. He can be, like how he displayed earlier in the night, but with your plan, you made one fatal flaw.

One he probably realized immediately, yet he let you continue on with your shenanigans. You didn’t tie his legs.

Lifting his knees, you’re forced forward, placing your hands on his chest and stomach, grabbing onto the ropes for dear life as he thrusts his hips, meeting your every bounce.

Skin slapping and moans quickly fill the room as he pistons into your hips at a relentless pace.

“So-so close,” You whine as you lean down and press your lips to his in a series of searing, sloppy kisses.

Your lips are barely moving in sync as you both concentrate on finding your releases, tongues pressed against one another and saliva connecting you both when you manage to pull away.

“Gonna- gonna fuckin’ cum, baby,” Satoru groans, “Gonna fill you up, gonna put a baby in you. You’d like that, yeah? Cause you’re mine?”

“Yes, yes, yes, fill me up, Satoru!” You chant, relenting control, despite you’re insistence on having it in the beginning, “Fill me up, make me yours.”

You both cry out, watching each other's faces contort in pleasure as your walls spasm on his cock so hard it’s like you want to keep him there forever. He can’t help the way he cums, back arching as a loud guttural groan fills the room once his seed is released into your throbbing pussy.

“God damn,” Satoru laughs, easily snapping the ropes with a flick of his wrist, pulling you into his chest. “Ijichi needs to fuck up more often.”

[drabblesandimagines]

Kitty (part 7)

Parts 1 - 6 here. Rei x (afab) reader fluff

-

You wake up to the sunlight streaming through the curtains, thankful for what turned out to be a dreamless sleep. You sit up in the bed, stretching, when it hits you. Wait… The last thing you remember was being in the car, on the way back to the apartment with Kazuki, so how did you get here?

It’s late, or late for you, as you note from the alarm clock displaying that it’s already half past nine. You’re still in your clothes from yesterday, so you quickly get changed and hurry out of the room. Rei often pops in to retrieve fresh clothes in the morning when you’re downstairs and you’re slightly worried your lie-in has thrown him off his routine.

You open the door and step out into the hall, where you can hear Kazuki humming away in the kitchen and Rei is sweeping around the ground floor – he must’ve heard the door open as he looks up in your direction, smiling shyly. There it is again – your stomach flips as you smile back before descending the stairs.

You pause at the bottom, feeling a little like a spare part due to your late wake-up. “M-m-morning.”

“Good morning!” Kazuki chimes back, a bright smile on his face as always. “Did you sleep okay?”

“Y-yes, thank you,” you nod. “H-how did I get t-to bed?”

“Well,” Kazuki scratches the back of his head, “you fell asleep in the car on the way home – you looked so peaceful I didn’t want to wake you. I carried you in and then Rei here tucked you up in bed.”

You look over to Rei, but now he’s concentrating particularly hard on one spot of the floor in a continuous sweep. The negative thoughts start to rise up – what a burden you are, can’t even wake up to walk up to the apartment, sleeping in… His voice pipes up in your head. Lazy, useless, worthless, waste of space… You bite your lip, trying to quell the unhelpful voices with distraction. Pain is a good one. You know if you were to voice these aloud that Kazuki and Rei would reassure you, that it’s fine, and that must be tiresome to repeat themselves. But you can’t help it – it’s a 180 whiplash-inducing turn from the past few years.

“Kitty?” Rei’s in front of you now, a hesitant look on his face as he breaks through your thoughts. He’s so good now at telling when you’re caught in your head. “Sorry if that wasn’t okay, you were really out of it.”

It clicks that he’s worried he’s overstepped a line by carrying you up there, and it’s sweet. “N-no, that w-w-was ve-very kind of you. T-t-thank you.”  

The shy smile appears back on his face. “That’s okay.”

“I saved you breakfast.” Kazuki interrupts. He’s removing containers from the fridge. “I’ll admit I went a little overboard trying to hit all the nutritional groups.”

“C-can I h-help?”

“Nah, just take a seat.” He points to the table. “It won’t take long.”

You sit down, feeling a little awkward as Kazuki continues retrieving things from the fridge and laying them out on the counter. You can’t believe he’s done all of this for you. Rei finishes sweeping and, after grabbing his mug and filling it with some juice, he hovers beside you.

“Mind if I join you?”

You shake your head.

He takes the seat next to you, bumping your leg with his own as he does so. You’re not sure if it was deliberate.

“How did you find the clinic?”

“It w-was g-g-good.” You pause, and close your eyes, preparing yourself mentally for the next sentence. “S-said the s-stutter was maybe psy-psycho-log… logical.” You force out, before opening your eyes. Thankfully he isn’t looking at you.

“Mm,” Rei takes a sip from his mug. “You should be proud of what you’ve accomplished so far too. It can’t be easy.”

Kazuki comes over with a loaded plate. It is a lot. He chuckles as he sets down a plate in front of you – you guessed you’d let your shock show on your face. “Don’t worry – I don’t expect you to eat all of it! Just a little bit of everything, hm?” He starts pointing around the plate, explaining what’s what and why it’s good for you. “I’ll grab the vitamins too – I put them up in the bathroom cupboard.”

“He made me and Miri eat everything too – said my diet could use it, probably.” Rei confides as you start on the food.

Kazuki returns with the paper bag in his hand and sits opposite you, digging out different bottles and consulting the instructions. It’s quiet for a few moments – just the sounds of Kazuki opening the pill bottles and removing a tablet, lining them up in front of you as your chopsticks scrape the plate.

He then retrieves what you presume is the anxiety medication – it’s in a cardboard box rather than a bottle – and reads through the leaflet carefully.

“What’s that one?” Rei asks, curious.

“Oh, I mentioned the panic attack the other night. Doctor said it could take the edge off. It’s obviously up to you, though, Kitty, if you want to take them. I know it’s not the most professional set-up there. I think the vitamins are a good idea though, but, again, it’s your choice.”

“N-no, v-vitamins s-sound good.” You set down the chopsticks. The doctor had listed symptoms last night of vitamin deficiency and they’d all rang true with you – fatigue, aches, bruises and wounds taking a long time to heal. There had been times when you’d got up too fast from cleaning the floors and felt woozy, having to sit with your head between your knees until it passed, hoping that no-one would see you and accuse you of slacking off. “I’m n-not sure on t-these ones.” And you pause, always bracing for a backlash, even though you know he’s said it’s your choice. “W-will t-they make my h-h-head feel w-w-weird?”

“Mm. There are a fair few potential side effects, that’s for sure. It’s what you feel is best for you.” He reassures again, passing over the box for you to take a look.

“Did he make you take something that made your head feel weird?” Rei asks, quietly.

“A-at the be-begin-ning, h-h-he made me t-take s-s-something to-to relax.” It was to stop you screaming and struggling, really, while he mulled over exactly what he was going to do with you.

“Relax?” Kazuki raises an eyebrow. Rei’s clenching his fists. He wishes the man wasn’t already dead so he could shoot him all over again and not make it as quick as a death as he’d had.

“It m-made m-me sleepy a-and f-f-fuzzy.” You swallow. “I d-d-don’t w-want to f-feel like that a-again.”

“Yeah, I think I can understand that. We’ll just keep these aside, as an option, okay? You all done there?” He gestures to the plate.

“Mm. It w-was r-really nice, thank y-you.” There’s still things left on the plate but you made a decent dent in it, more so than you would’ve a week ago.

“Good! Here,” he slides your glass of water closer to you. “You’ll probably want to wash those pills down with something.”

He stands up and takes your plate, pausing as he scrutinizes Rei. “Hair’s getting long again, man. Want me to do a trim?”

“Sure,” Rei nods. He’s gotten used to Kazuki’s haircuts. It keeps it easier to manage.

“Y-you can c-cut hair?”

“Eh, I kinda have the one style,” he gestures at Rei’s cut. “Your hair bothering you?”

It has been bothering you. It’s so long, seems to tangle constantly and the ends are particularly dry, splitting when you braid it. It feels heavy on your head, really, like it’s weighing you down. It wasn’t something you ever thought much about in the house – there was no way they’d let you have access to scissors and they were hardly going to sit you down and cut your hair. Your showers had been sporadic at best– you managed to get one usually once a week when you were cleaning bathrooms, but never a relaxing experience. Here, though, it was nice to wash every day and not have to worry about when the next one was coming.

“Mm, it’s s-s-o l-long.”

“Well, I can book you in at a proper salon?” you shake your head furiously at the idea. “Yeah, maybe still out of the comfort zone. Hm. I reckon I can cut in a relatively straight line by now, if you like.”

“If t-t-that’s okay, I t-think I would l-l-like that.”

“Of course! I can book you both in for today,” he winks.

--

Kazuki makes another snip. “What are you thinking for your next move, then?” You’re in the bathroom, washing your hair in preparation for your haircut. Rei’s staring into space – Kazuki won’t let him use his phone whilst he cuts in case it goes wonky.

“Move?”

“With Kitty.”

“Oh. I…” he hesitates. “I don’t know. Am I meant to be doing something?”

“That depends. Like, would you like to kiss her?”

Rei feels the blood fill his cheeks as Kazuki continues snipping away at his hair, though he’s not sure why. It’s not like he hadn’t kissed a girl before. His father had hired escorts for his 18th birthday – not that it was something he’d ever shown an interest in, but the other men in the compound had seemed pleased. An escort had dragged him back to his bedroom and there had been some kissing but that’s as far as it went. He wasn’t one for a honeytrap – what need was there for it?  He was skilled and stealthy enough to complete jobs without the need for seduction. As if he could seduce anybody…

“Mm.”

“Well, I think your next move should be working up to that. You gotta handle this delicately, though. She’s been through a lot.”

“I… I don’t want to hurt her. Sometimes…” A pause, this is exactly the type of feeling his father would tell him to ignore – to feel at all is to show weakness, but he trusts Kazuki. “Sometimes it feels like all I’m good for is hurting people.” He stares at his hands.

“Hey, that’s not true, buddy.” Kazuki pauses the trim to place a hand on his shoulder. “You make Miri really happy, for one. And, for what it’s worth, having you around makes me happy too.  You’re not going to hurt Kitty. Come on, Rei, remember how I had a freak out about how she wouldn’t say my name and then there was you with your research and listening and all that?”

“I guess.”

“Uh-uh, no guessing about it.”

“What did you do the other night, when she panicked?” It’s been bugging him what happened in the bathroom. He’s wanted to ask – of course he’d searched up on panic attacks as soon as he’d heard the term, but he wants to know what Kazuki did specifically because it seemed to have really worked.

“Oh, yeah - it was a breathing exercise. Breathing’s an unconscious action mostly, so it helps you really focus on it. You inhale through your nose for four seconds, hold the breath in another four, exhale out your mouth for four, hold for another four. Repeat. It can take a fair few goes but it usually works.”

He goes to nod but knows that Kazuki will tell him off for jeopardizing the haircut. “Thanks.”

There’s another spell of silence. “Rei, you do believe me right? You’re more than just your family’s name. Plus, it’s not like Kitty doesn’t know what you and I do for work.” He continues snipping away as he talks. “The most important thing, I think, is to make sure you’re going at her pace.”

“Her pace?”

“I mean, you’re not, like, throwing yourself at her.”

“She held my hand.” He confesses.

“She did?” Rei swears he can hear the smile in his voice, somehow.

“The other day, when we were walking home. She reached out for my hand…” He flexes his fingers. “It felt different from when Miri’s held it before. I didn’t want to let go.”

“Ugh,” Kazuki sniffs loudly and Rei doesn’t even need to look to know he’s crying. “I’m a sucker for a good romance. This is so sweet! Think of the story you’ll tell your kids…” Rei stiffens. “Okay, okay, I’m jumping the gun. It’s still sickeningly sweet though.”

He wipes his sleeve across his eyes before he continues the haircut. “Hey, I know - you could take her to the zoo.”

“The zoo?”

“Yeah, you said you hadn’t been before when we went, and we were kinda too preoccupied on the mission for you to see the place properly. I bet she’d like that, it’d make a great first date.”

“Yeah, that could be nice.” He’s ignoring the date part, but he can’t help a dig. “When you say mission, though, you do mean when you made us stalk Miri to get her lunch?”

“It was a mission.”

The bathroom lock clicks and you exit, your hair partially dried and hanging loose to your lower back - you’ve thoroughly brushed it out too, ridding it of all knots and tangles. Rei’s haircut looks to be coming to an end.

Kazuki whistles, “That is long – I guess I hadn’t realized since you have it up all the time.”

“I w-wasn’t s-sure what would b-b-be easier to cut. S-should I br-braid it?”

“Yeah, I think braided would be easier to get a symmetrical length off it.”

You nod and head over to the sofa, tucking your legs underneath you before you part your hair. You make quick work of the two braids, securing them with elastic bands. Your hair is pretty thin – another possible side effect of vitamin deficiency, you’d learned.

“Right,” Kazuki whips the cloak off Rei with a flourish. “Next customer, please.”

Rei gives you a smile before immediately heading to the bathroom, grabbing some clothes out of the laundry pile to be folded on the way, muttering about how itchy he was – you’d guessed some hair had made its way down his back despite the cloak.

You sit down on the chair and Kazuki drapes the cloak over your shoulders. “Now, Kitty, you’re sure about this?”

“De-def-initely.”

“Where do you want me to cut to?” He crouches a little, his hands on his knees to get level with you.

Your fingers wrap round one of the braids and you tug it forward, trying to picture a length. “H-here, I t-think.” You press your finger against your collar bone.

“And, again, you’re absolutely 100% positive?” Kazuki seems nervous as he picks up the scissors.

“Pos-positive.” You give him what you hope is an encouraging smile.

“Okay, here we go…” He takes hold of the braid, gently, and snips through in one smooth motion. “Here, hold on to it for me.”

It feels weird to hold it in your hand, almost a physical representation of your last few years. Cutting off dead weight, things holding you back. It isn’t long until the other one is gone too, and you feel lighter. Kazuki runs his fingers through your hair to free it from the braids and sets about evening things up until he seems happy with his work.

“I think that does it.” The bathroom lock clicks and Rei emerges, freshly showered and dressed. “Ah, perfect timing. Go have a look in the mirror though to make sure you’re happy.” He pulls the cloak from your shoulders and lays it on the table, before laying the cut braids on top.

“I think it looks pretty cute, though. Don’t you agree, Rei?” Kazuki winks behind your back as you head towards the vacated bathroom.

“Y-yeah,” Rei stutters as he stares, “Really cute.”

There it is again – the heat in your cheeks. You duck your head in thanks and walk a little faster to the bathroom. It’s steamy in there after Rei’s shower, so you have to rub some condensation off the mirror to see at first. There’s a weird sense of déjà vu as you see your reflection. It’s almost as if you’ve had this haircut before, and maybe you have - is that why you asked for that length, a subconscious reflex? You smile as you admire it in the mirror. It sounds silly in your head so you’ll keep the thought to yourself, but you feel like you - more so than you have in whoever knows how long, even if you still didn’t remember your name.

Kazuki is hovering at the bathroom door now, looking tense. “Is it okay?”

“I l-l-love it, Z-Zuki.” You smile, brightly, and the blonde bursts into tears.

“Not again,” Rei sighs.

Again?

--

Rei and you headed to pick Miri up later that afternoon. Kazuki had pretty much hounded the two of you out the door earlier than usual. You could’ve sworn he’d whispered “Ask her,” in Rei’s direction as you stepped out the door. Ask her what? Are you the her?

You’d be a liar if you said you weren’t nervous about facing an inquisition into Kazuki’s whereabouts from the daycare mothers, but having Rei with you again is reassuring at least. You step into the elevator and as the doors slide close, his hand brushes up against yours, hesitantly.

“Is it okay if I…?” He murmurs, softly, but before he finishes his question you lace your fingers with his and squeeze in affirmation.

You walk the route to Miri’s daycare at a slow pace, in a companiable silence – it doesn’t feel awkward or clumsy, just as if the two of you savoring in each other’s company. As the daycare comes into sight – mothers already in the playground with a few kids already out - you feel his grip slip out, before he stops in his tracks completely and your heart sinks a little. Does he not want them to see? Is he embarrassed?

“I need to ask you something.”

You are the her. Immediately, your mind skips to what you could’ve done wrong to be questioned about - a trained reflex.

“Oh?” You try to keep your voice steady, trying to reason with the doubt in your mind. This is Rei, kind, sweet Rei who was just holding your hand.

“Would you like to go to the zoo? With me, I mean. On a date.”

“I would.” The words are out of your mouth before you can even think about it – no hesitancy, no stutter.

“Great.” He nods, smiling, before he grabs hold of your hand again and walks at speed towards the daycare. As you reach the gaggle of mothers, he does drop your hand again, but only to wrap his arm around your shoulders as last time to keep you close as he navigates his way through the crowd, ignoring all remarks thrown his way.

Miri waves as she spots the two of you, hugging Ms Anna’s legs before she sprints over, eyes wide in wonder.

“Kitty, your hair!”

You crouch down so she can see it better and her small hands grab at the ends in fascination.

“D-do you l-like it, M-Miri?”

“Yes! It’s pretty. Isn’t Kitty pretty, Papa Rei?” She giggles at her rhyme.

“She is,” Rei murmurs in agreement, placing his hand affectionately on Miri’s head. “Very pretty. You both are.”

“Thank you! You’re…” She stops, frowns and leans into the side of you, cupping her mouth in a theatrical whisper directed into your ear. “Can boys be pretty too?”

“Mm-hm, or h-han-handsome.” Miri giggles at your response, a glint of something in her eye.

“What’s the big secret?” Rei looks down at the two of you.

“Kitty says you’re handsome, Papa Rei!” The little girl squeals. You don’t even need to look around to know the mothers are frantically texting each other and you get to your feet, wanting to make a quick exit. Rei grabs both yours and Miri’s hands and walks speedily to the gate, pulling you both along but Miri’s already seen Rei’s face.

“Papa Rei, you’re so red again! Red like an eucky tomato.” Miri giggles as she points up at the black-haired man.

“Am not.”

“Are so!” --

Author's note: I hope the slow burn isn't getting too boring, but I feel it's necessary for the both of them. When I started writing this, I didn't think it would end up being so long, but I'm sitting at over 26,000 words cos they're just adorable. I have started working on how to wrap this series up but, who knows, maybe we'll return for some one-shots... Thank you for all the support so far - please, like, reblog and follow if you can. Love reading all your comments too <3

EDIT: Part 8.

[paingoes]

Rubies

Web 2.0

(Content: living weapon whumpee, guilt, conditioning, past abuse, caretaker new master)

Apollo had stayed true to his promise of making the room less sparse. He’d brought down books from upstairs so Delta would have something to do besides staring off into space whenever he locked himself in his room. He’d given him a journal too, which Delta found tremendously suspicious. Delta had a habit of destroying everything he’d ever written just as soon as he had finished. He would continue on in this tradition. Anyone having that kind of direct access to his thoughts terrified him. He was grateful for the books, though. 

It was Kitty who offered her old laptop.

“Don’t…look too hard through that,” She said with a nervous smile. She’d done all she could to reset it, but she couldn’t be sure there weren’t still some gems lying around in its SSD. 

Delta reflexively recoiled at the offer. There was such a strong impulse in his head to avoid getting caught with the laptop. It carried over now, even when freely offered. She left it on the desk for him. He would only use it in the dead of night, out of pure habit. It didn’t feel the same as it used to. It couldn’t hold his attention for very long.

There was a practical reason to reintroduce it, though. Kitty acted a bit furtive about it; Apollo said they weren’t supposed to be working. That’s what unpaid leave meant. But there wasn’t really anyone else they could kick it off to. They had to go through the archives. 

Kitty had already backed up everything he had posted publicly, plus all the exchanges they’d had in private. He’d focused in more once she’d mentioned it, agreeing it needed to be deleted as soon as possible so that there was nothing left to piece together about his alleged death. But there was other information on there that only he had access to, that they now needed to preserve before scrubbing.

katkittykat: ok we also were gonna try and offer u whistleblower immunity

katkittykat: but forget it i know u wont accept it

ndhakdvsnnd: im not a whistleblower

katkittykat: see what did i say 

ndhakdvsnnd: can you fuck off

They scrolled through the archived chat logs in dim silence. Kitty was sitting next to him on the floor with the new old laptop up on the coffee table. Neither of them needed to say it. It was weird to go through their old texts while in person. 

It wasn’t Kitty’s first time meeting an internet friend. She had done it more times than she could count. Almost all of them had been shyer and more reserved in person, so she had already expected Delta to follow in that trend. But it was clear that what was going on with him is a different beast entirely.

When she turned to look at him, his eyes were cast down again and his head was bowed. Loose strands fell in his face. He removed his hand from the touchpad, letting it rest in his lap.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, “I…shouldn’t have talked to you like that.”

“Just bants, man.” Kitty elbowed him — not a good idea. He winced, the pain reigniting in the handprint-shaped bruise around his upper arm.

“It was disrespectful.” He closed his eyes. It was guilt — not fear — that was audible in his voice.

“I’ve never done anything respectable,” she joked.

He opened his eyes to meet her own. His expression was wholly disbelieving. It wasn’t a joke to him. She remembered how sincerely he’d spoken the other day. Thank you for saving me. She’d tried to brush it off, but her heart had hurt badly afterwards. It hurt again now.

“Don’t worry about it. Seriously.” She had to resist the urge to squeeze his shoulder the way she would with her other friends; she saw how he had flinched whenever she touched him. Thankfully, he didn’t mention it again.

The loading icon went around and around as the account was deleted. Just as soon as it stopped, the home page of the forum appeared. In bold letters, it read Sign Up.

“You gonna make a new account?” She asked.

“Do you think I should?” His hand hovered over the button. 

“I dunno. You were active way before you started posting all the leaks. I thought you were having a good time with it,” she paused, “Guess it might be kind of touchy now though?”

It did make him really anxious to be on the computer. It made him feel too much like he was about to be caught out, as little sense as it made. He started to shrug, then stopped himself. Disrespectful.

“Yes, miss,” he agreed, “It’s…touchy.”

That was putting it mildly, but he had no desire to say more. He pocketed the thought, though. He probably would get back online later. It just felt like too much to do it now, without her explicit guidance. The thought alone was starting to overwhelm him. He shifted uncomfortably.

“Can I go back in my room, miss?” He asked in a soft voice. 

“Yeah, whatever. You don’t have to ask.” She tried to reassure him. He’d gotten scared at some point; she could see it in the way he held himself. She didn’t really want for him to go off to deal with it alone, but she wasn’t going to force him to stay. She watched as he disappeared behind the door. He’d left the laptop behind. She shut it for him, then stretched upwards, climbing up onto the couch.

=======

“Does he talk to you?” Apollo would later ask her. He added, a bit dejectedly, “He doesn’t talk to me.”

“Nah.” She shook her head.

“Well, it’s still early,” Apollo started arguing with himself when she wouldn’t, “I guess he’s still scared. I’m not sure what I can say to him that isn’t going to sound trite. He always hated it when I tried say stuff like that to him over text. So defensive. I don’t know if it’ll go over better or worse now.”

She could tell he’d been thinking about it often. Fussing came so naturally to him. She’d liked it a lot when they were a little younger, when she was even crazier and badly needed someone to try and reel her back in. It isn’t lost on her that Delta has the exact opposite problem, that Apollo’s delimiting nature could have the opposite effect. He badly wanted for things to be clean.

“You shouldn’t take it purrsonally.” The pun slipped into her voice even when she was trying to be serious.

“I know,” he agreed, “I…don’t think he was allowed to talk before. It’s rude to speculate. I don’t want to be presumptuous. But.”

He threw his hands up at the wrists, not finishing the sentence. There was nothing to do but speculate. It was clear enough Delta had not been treated well; the bruises spoke for themselves. But the particulars of his behavior were a kind of puzzle box. He offered no key for it.

Galatea had dealt with Empire’s lot before, both refugees and defectors. Apollo had met many of them personally. There was always a stilted manner in which they spoke. The customs of Empire still remained enigmatic to all those living outside of it. Apollo had no way of telling how much of Delta’s behavior was just a cultural difference — or even a linguistic one — and how much of it was something deeper. He could not tell how much of it was motivated by fear or confusion or simple exhaustion. How much of it was what he wanted vs what he thought he was supposed to do. Apollo wished desperately for some kind of candor between them. Still, he understood that it would be asking a lot of him at that point. He sighed. 

========

The knock was soft and rhythmic. Delta jumped, immediately moving to hide the laptop beneath his blanket. It wasn’t as good as beneath the mattress, but decent enough on short notice. He mechanically slid off the bed, dropping onto his knees at the foot of it. The door did not open.

“Can I come in?” It was Apollo’s voice on the other side. Yes, obviously. It wasn’t locked.

“Yes, sir,” Delta answered anyway. 

Apollo pushed the door open. His eyes widened a little to see Delta kneeling, but he did not show the same visible alarm that he had before. He slid the door shut behind him, leaning back against it.

“I thought it might be good for us to talk,” Apollo said. He tried to read Delta’s body language, but it did not shift by much. Deliberately controlled. He didn’t answer, staring up at Apollo with huge eyes, patient and expectant. Apollo pushed himself on. It was trite, but if there really was any confusion about Delta’s position, it wouldn’t be right to leave him hanging.

“You can sit. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about, actually. Levon told you he wasn’t going to hurt you, didn’t he? And you know that me and Kitty won’t either? You don’t have to be scared of us. You’re safe here.”

Delta didn’t move off of the ground. His head had lowered a little bit, as if he was being scolded. He didn’t take his eyes off of Apollo. 

Apollo squatted down onto his heels, trying to get to Delta’s level.

“Are you scared?” He asked.

“…Yes, sir.” Delta nodded slowly.

“Okay,” Apollo nodded too, rubbing his chin, “That’s okay. Can I ask why?”

Delta’s wrung his hands anxiously; it was a childhood habit, one he’d mostly gotten out of by the time he’d graduated. It’d returned with a vengeance.

“I don’t know.” He said shamefully. “Sir. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to be sorry. It’s okay. I just wanted to check in on how you’re feeling. I can’t tell a lot of the time. You know you can talk to me or Kitty if you’re upset, right? We want you to be comfortable here. You can tell us if something is wrong.”

Apollo doubted it even as he said it. It seemed unlikely that Delta would come to them for anything, that he might not be physically capable of it at this point. But if he introduced the idea early — and reminded him often — it might start to sink in. For the time being, Delta did not respond.

“I’m assuming the kneeling is a habit, right?” Apollo ventured. Delta seemed a bit alarmed at the suggestion. 

“It’s just to be respectful. Sir.” Delta explained in a quiet voice.

He considered this. It might’ve been easier if it was just muscle memory, not a deliberate effort on Delta’s part. The mindset would be harder to get him out of. But Apollo was very glad that Delta had been willing to explain his reasoning to him. It was a good sign.

“Okay. You don’t have to,” He stated very clearly, “You can stand up. We won’t think it’s disrespectful. No one else will, either. You don’t have to do it.”

Again, not much changed in Delta’s expression. He offered the same quiet noise of affirmation, not voicing anything else. 

“Do you have any questions?” Apollo cursed himself for not asking sooner. But Delta didn’t take advantage of the opportunity the way he had hoped. 

“No, sir.” Delta folded his hands in his lap. He’d answered too soon. Apollo wondered if the question had come across as bullying. He got the sense he was starting to push too far out of Delta’s comfort zone. 

“Alright. Let me know if you need anything. Like I said, you can talk to us whenever. We’re right out here.” He stood up, feeling a little bad that Delta was still kneeling. He started to close the door.

He heard a soft “Thank you” just before it clicked shut.

…………

tags:

@catnykit @snakebites-and-ink @vivulapom @scoundrelwithboba @whatwhump

@pumpkin-spice-whump @deluxewhump @fuckass1000 @fuckcapitalismasshole @defire

@micechomper @writereleaserepeat

[truefandemonium]

Hi sweetheart!! Your number 1 fan here 🤗

Can I request for a fic where King and reader have a very special relationship where both of them love each other, but they never admitted their feelings. One day she gets shot and King freaks out, almost crying and finally admits his feelings for her. The rest is up to you, love! Hope you like it, hun. Sending lots of love 🤗💖

Thanks so much again for the request! Sorry this one took so long to come out 😭 I hope this one is as good as the other you requested! I struggled a little bit with some of the emotional scenes but hopefully it fits what you were wanting to see!! Much love!!

“For Every Moment”

[Dr King Schultz x Fem!Reader] (Mature)

TW: Blood, violence, strong language, innuendo

Tags: fluff, angst, love confessions, soulmates, possessiveness, tending to wounds, kissing, bed sharing

5,285 words

…

You always wondered if King felt the same way about you as you did him.

The flirting, mostly from you, so it happened, was nice. As were the gentle touches— which lingered longer in the dark of campsites and after private interactions in tavern hallways. On long rides across desert landscapes, you would find King’s eyes wandering to land on you— his gaze rarely left your face, and you wouldn’t expect anything else from such a self-proclaimed gentleman. However, there was once when you’d been down at the river washing yourself and had forgotten to warn neither King nor Django, and the men happened upon you half nude.

Django couldn’t have cared less, stripping down and taking his own corner of the undertow to bathe in, not giving you a second glance, while King turned a shade of red you’d thought was reserved only for tomatoes, and after taking a prolonged look of shock at your breasts, turned tail and fled back to the wagon. He couldn’t even look in your direction the rest of that day, keeping his chin tucked into his chest and hat pulled low over his brow to avoid your eyes.

You’d found the whole thing quite funny, if not slightly embarrassing on your behalf, but King refused to speak of it again, shying away from the mere mention of the occurrence.

Which was why it made this whole thing so damn confusing. Did he love you or didn’t he? Perhaps in Germany, the men were simply more prone to shows of romanticism. You shake your head to yourself as you lean forward and stir the beans in the pot over the fire with a wooden spoon. Maybe you’d never know what was going on in King’s head. Either way, you’d enjoy his company until your last breath, and happily.

“Something on your mind, frauline?” King’s buttery voice breaks into your thoughts as you sit back down on the log in front of the fire, and you panic for a moment, watching him out the corner of your eye as he approaches and takes a seat across from you.

“No, nothing,” you say, wondering how to breach the subject plaguing you. Debating whether or not you should at all…

“You have the look of a kicked pup, my dear,” the man purrs, his tone so convincing and gentle. “You’re certain there is nothing I can do to ease your burden?” You just want to melt when you hear him speak— like a glass of whiskey; making you feel warm and fuzzy inside.

But you shake your head again, suddenly choked at the thought of telling him your true feelings for him. “I’m fine, King— really.” The lie is obvious, and you regret it as soon as it leaves your lips, noticing the way the scorn hits King like an arrow to the chest.

He practically winces as he nods. “My apologies— I do not mean to pry.”

“No, I’m sorry,” you say quickly, wrestling with yourself. You pull the pot off the fire and nod your thanks as King stands and holds out two small tin cups for you to scoop the food into cautiously. “It’s just…” You stop as Django returns from where the horses are tied several yards away, the thickness returning to your throat.

Django instantly senses your odd behavior, his eyes narrowing as he takes one of the tin cups from King’s outstretched hand. You blink at him, silently pleading for him to give you and King space, and thankfully, he picks up on your desperate expression.

Poking a spoon into his cup of beans, Django glances between you and King with a sniff, grumbling, “Need some air. I’ll be… over there.” He jerks his head sideways and starts off into the desert, and you instantly feel a twinge of guilt, alongside relief.

King, confused, opens his arms wide, gesturing to the wide open space around you. “You have all the air of Texas, dear Django!”

The ex-slave just waves one hand above his head, calling as playfully as you ever hear him, “Not with what you two got hangin’ in it.”

You flush at his words, and King’s gaze flicks back to you, his green eyes wide. “Oh?” he says, clueless, which only makes you burn further, setting the pot down after dishing your own helping. “I didn’t realize we had things to discuss,” he says slowly, sitting back down, his eyes still glued to you. As he sees your expression, suddenly teary eyes and red face, his own gaze changes; softens with realization. “Oh,” he adds in a near whisper, swallowing.

“Frauline,” he says gently, the firelight casting shadows across his worn face. “I do hope you know that you can always speak to me.” He tries to joke, adding with a stressed chuckle, “I cannot promise that my advice will be all that helpful, but—”

“No, see— King, that’s the problem,” you sigh, dropping your head into your hands. “I… I can tell you anything— everything. And I do. But you—” You look up and see the way his brow is furrowed, confusion clouding his gaze. You say gently, “You don’t tell anyone anything at all, King. Not even me.”

At that, he smiles ruefully, even the small gesture making your belly tighten. “Ach, mein lieb,” he sighs softly, “I am an old man. I do not expect a girl like yourself to be a confidant, and that is not something you should ever feel is required of you—”

“But I want to be,” you argue. King seems taken aback, even leaning up from where his forearms had been resting on his knees to look at you.

“Y/N,” he says slowly, as if explaining to a child. “I need you to know this: I love you.”

Your heart stops in this moment, and you’re sure if physics weren’t against you— you’d be floating right up into the stars above your head.

King continues, gesturing to the dark desert where his partner has just disappeared to, “Just as I love our dear Django. You two are my closest compatriots— dare I say friends.” At that, he smiles, and you feel your chest begin to constrict, sadness creeping up your throat and threatening to steal your breath away. Friends, right. Nothing more. But as quick as it had appeared, King’s smile leaves again, in lieu of his expression growing deadly serious. “And that means that you are both at a greater risk for being the targets of unhappy acquaintances of bad men I have a duty to dispatch. I enjoy your company— and always have. But I will not allow myself to be the reason either of you get hurt.”

“That’s not what I’m saying,” you try to reason, simply wanting to hear him admit that he likes you more than he’s letting on.

“Then what—” King’s words are cut off by Django’s sudden and panicked return from the desert; the fellow bounty hunter practically sprinting to your side, eyes huge and breathing heavy.

“Damn rattlesnake ‘bout bit my ass up,” he pants, jerking one thumb over his shoulder.

“You what?” King asks, clearly having been so focused on snapping back at you that he hardly heard his friend.

Django frowns, saying in a choppy, disdainful tone, “A rattler, King. Almost bit. My ass. The hell up.” His brown eyes flick between you and King, trying to gauge the tension there. “You two done bickerin’, then?”

King looks at you, his gaze managing to still remain confused even after your outburst. “I did not think any bickering occurred, Y/N—?”

You stand up without looking at him, pushing your half-eaten tin cup of beans into Django’s hands. “I’m not hungry. Goodnight, Django.” You turn slightly and mutter, “Night, King.”

As you make your way toward the horses to acquire your bedroll, you don’t see the way Django shrugs and sits down to begin digging into your leftovers— nor how King watches you go with a broken expression. There was so much he wanted to say… he just didn’t know how.

Little did you know, this was the first time in King’s life he’d found himself speechless.

…

“Dammit fuck, King, he’s getting away!” Django curses, his burning eyes glued to the form of the desperado booking it across the sandy desert.

King smiles, his silver beard catching the sunlight beating down from above, his green eyes shimmering as he watches the horse gallop with his bandit rider atop him.

“Django, my boy— patience is one part of bounty hunting you need to learn sooner than later,” King tells him, his tone stern but affectionate.

“Yeah? Well I’d rather pop this sumbitch a bullet right up his ass before he has time to tell all his buddies that somebodys are skulkin’ around up in the desert,” Django barks back, seething.

“That ‘somebodys’ ‘d be us, right?” you ask, sitting placidly on the wagon, playing with Fritz’s reins.

King speaks before Django can annoyedly answer you. “I was going to let you figure it out yourself but since your common sense has seemed to have deserted you at this time, I will explain.” King leans over Fritz to stare at Django and say slowly, “We are missing two of three outlaws. That one—” King points toward the disappearing shape of the man on the run without looking away from his partner. “—will lead us directly to the other two, that we are looking for.”

Django’s eyes flash with understanding and he curls his lip in a growl.

“Do you understand now, why we are going to simply follow him instead of impulsively putting a bullet in his brain?” King asks him.

The other man glowers for a moment before responding. “Yeah, you don’t gotta be so con-sendin’ ‘bout it,” Django snarls, hopping atop his horse and clicking his tongue to steady the beast.

King just smiles. “I prefer the term patronizing, but yes, condescending works, too. I will continue to use that tone until you learn to trust me,” he says, and Django nods ruefully. “You know I only have either of your best interests at heart,” King reminds you both, getting onto the wagon beside you. With a grin, he adds, “And money, of course. You really think I’d sabotage a bounty for my ego?”

Django rolls his eyes, lips twitching up into a smirk as he replies, “With you, doc— can’t never be too sure.”

King chuckles, the sound making butterflies take off in your belly, and you distract yourself from his utter perfection by handing the reins off and awaiting departure.

“Ready, my dear?” King asks you, and you swallow, nodding. You want desperately to bring up the talk last night— but you can’t. You just wish you could poke around in his mind until finding the honest truth behind his affection for you.

But before you can even try to see past his gaze to find out the intention behind his words, he’s telling Fritz to giddyup and flicking the reins commandingly. You try not to watch the side of his face as he calmly drives the stage, his brow unfurrowed and a soft smile playing on his lips.

You wonder how he can be so unbothered by everything— when you feel like your very world is crumbling without knowing how he feels about you. You force yourself not to dwell on it. Getting into a deadly situation while stuck in your own head could spell disaster, and you need to be the lookout for your two partners.

After a considerable time following the tracks of your runaway bandit, you arrive in a near-ghost town, streets empty and buildings falling apart. No wonder the trio chose this place to hideout, they’d never be suspected to be found here.

King pulls the wagon up to a tree down the street from a saloon, where he glares and points out a familiar horse to Django, accompanied by two others. The two men dismount and begin muttering to each other, guns on their hips ready to go while you look on in awe. No matter how many times you see it, you’re still in wonder of their ability to work together like a machine, producing bodies of bad men like it’s nothing, and then profiting from it.

You wait atop the wagon behind Fritz until King turns to you and orders, “Stay on the wagon, alright? If you hear two or more shots, and neither me or Django comes out— take his horse to the nearest town, about ten miles that way, and get the sheriff.”

“You’re scaring me with that kinda talk,” you tell him, hating the moments that he gets so serious about collecting bounties. Most often, Django and King make jokes and promises for grand sleeping arrangements in hotels before going to do a job. But every once in a while, King gets a twinge of anxiety, and makes you promise not to try and avenge his death in the scenario he’s killed by his own target.

King chuckles softly, now, dipping his head. “I’m sorry, frauline. I do tend to catastrophize things. I will be out in six minutes, how is that?”

You smile. “Make it five.”

“I’ll make it two if you both shut up in the next ten seconds,” Django interrupts, narrowing his eyes at the saloon down the dusty street.

You and King fall silent, and changing one last (what you hope is meaningful) glance before the two hunters depart from you, and you wring the hem of your dress in your sweaty fist as you wait for them to return.

You watch with a knot in your stomach as they disappear one after the other into the saloon, your eyes finally wandering away from the door and coming to rest on the wagon seat you’re sitting on.

Your heart stutters at the sight of King’s crumpled paper sitting there, right next to your clenched fist. You scramble to pick it up and read it, recognizing it as the arrest order from the judge for the three men inside the saloon with Django and Dr King Schultz.

Shit. King needs this paper, he always takes the judge’s order with him on a job! Panic floods you, and you stand up, hurrying off the wagon and down the street, heart racing.

You’ll be quick. You’ll simply appear with the order, make sure it’s in King’s hand before racing back out— nothing more.

You reach the saloon and get close enough to hear voices. Fear grips you at the sound of arguing.

“You’ll never get all of us, you son of a bitch!” someone yells, and you hear the bang of a bullet being fired as the saloon doors burst open. A stranger races out and collides with you as scream, your head hitting the hard ground with a smack.

The world spins as more sounds ring out, and suddenly you’re being dragged to your feet by a man’s strong hand. An arm winds itself around your throat, too tightly for comfort, and when your eyes focus again, you see Django and King standing in shocked horror just outside the saloon.

The man holding you against his front calls, “Let me and Jake go and you can have the girl! Or else—” You suck in a gasp as you feel the cold barrel of a revolver dig painfully into your side, and you struggle against his hold.

You see King’s eyes fill with fury and pain at the sight of it, his fists flexing at his sides. Django, contrastingly, is calm and still as he stands before you, analyzing the situation with a careful eye. It seems like the first time that Django has ever been the collected one, compared to King.

“William—” King says slowly, but you can hear the way he’s nearing his breaking point. “Let the girl go, she is not part of this—”

“She sure as hell is, now!” the man holding you screams, and you wince as the gun prods you again. You finally notice now, another man standing only a few feet away, unarmed. He looks between all of you fearfully, malice radiating off of him.

“King, shut the fuck up,” Django hisses, not taking his eyes off the man keeping you in a tight chokehold. Panic begins to set in and you start to thrash in his grasp.

“Hold still, you bitch—!” the man grunts, his hand moving to cover your mouth. You shriek as his nails dig into the flesh of your cheek, and you strain, rearing back to elbow him hard in the stomach.

“Leave her alone!” King screams, his eyes huge and filled with terror as Django’s jaw clenches.

“King!” the other man yells, lifting his gun and letting off two rounds in quick succession. But you hear three.

The first man— Jake— drops to the earth in a moment, his corpse sprawled out and bloody.

You feel William’s hand slowly release your face, the marks his nails left already beginning to sting as blood pricks at the surface.

And then you feel the heat in your belly. Warm— no, hot. And wet— you glance down and blink a few times at the growing stain of crimson just below your ribs, on your left side. You don’t even feel the pain until you tip over.

The world must stop for a moment, or maybe you do, because when you open your eyes again, King is there, clutching you desperately to his chest as he leans over your body.

“Ach Gott, mein Gott, nein, nein,” King whispers, his green eyes traveling across your face and body, tears pricking at the edges of his vision as he takes it all in. The blood leaking from your side, the pale skin of your face, growing paler by the second. “Please, no,” he begs in a breaking tone, his hands firmly holding you.

“King—?” you manage to croak, your hand slipping upwards and finding purchase around his coat collar. You grip it like a lifeline, your pounding heart beginning to stutter. “Don’t go—!”

“I’m here, frauline,” he tells you, his eyes never leaving your face. “I’m staying right here, I swear it.”

“It— ah— it hurts,” you whimper, the pain now ripping through you like a whirlwind.

“I know,” King says, his normally smooth voice breaking a bit. “I know, and I am so sorry, mein Liebling.”’

“Don’t be,” you cry, emotion starting to choke you. “I— I should have—”

“No, schiesse, Y/N, this is not your fault,” he says, stopping you. He shifts you in his arms so your chests are nearly flush— you can feel his heart hammering his ribs as he speaks. “I should not have let you get close enough for this to happen. Curse every moment I let pass without telling you… I should have just told you last night—”

“Told me…?” For a moment, the pain is gone. All you feel is a sudden rush of hope. Of affection.

King has never cried in front of you. This time is no different. But he gets damn close. His voice shakes and his verdant eyes grow wet with unshed tears as he confesses at long last, “That I love you.”

He shuts his eyes now, the tears dropping to land in his beard. The last thing you feel like doing is crying, however. Even with your gaping wound, you feel like you could dance. You’re lighter than air.

But King isn’t finished. He shakes his head to recenter himself and chokes out, “More than love, Y/N— I adore you. I crave you. Do you have any idea how long I have waited— longed to hold you?” His hand, calloused, yet surprisingly clean, and oh-so gentle, comes up to push a strand of hair from your sweat-slicked temple.

You shiver at his soft touch and decide to throw caution to the wind. If this is to be your last moment alive, you’re going out taking what you’ve always wanted.

Still holding tightly to his collar, you pull hard, half yanking him down to your level and half lifting yourself to reach him— and slam your lips against his.

The world erupts in butterflies and sun bursts of every color and magnitude. King’s lips against your own feel so right; interlocking with yours in an explosion of warmth and taste and comfort. His tongue finds yours, and you let out a soft whimper into his mouth, startling him to pull away in concern.

He pants, his cheeks already a quiet rosy red and his eyes wide and glittery with affection as he gazes at you in silent wonder.

You wish you had more time, more energy, but your strength is waning. In lieu of another kiss, you manage, “King— I’ve always loved you, too.”

King blinks in apparent shock, an almost disbelieving chuckle pulled from his chest as a smile tugs the corner of his lip.

But he has no time to say more, because then you hear the scuffle of boots on sand and suddenly Django is there, too. He crouches low and inspects your body with a scrutinous gaze— though you can tell how desperately he doesn’t want you to know he’s scared.

“I need to see how bad it is,” the man says, almost to himself before looking up at you. You thank the heavens he isn’t mentioning the atrociously dramatic confession you just received, nor the equally impulsive kiss. “I gotta lift up your skirts, girl,” Django says sternly, his brown eyes pinning you in place as you hang in King’s arms.

King’s grasp on you tightens defensively for just a moment before he returns to his senses and nods briskly. He looks deep in your eyes before laying you down on your back in the sand and ripping off his coat to cover your soon-to-be-bare legs.

You hardly notice as Django carefully but urgently pulls the cotton layers of your dress above your hips, then a bit further to reveal your belly (thank goodness you weren’t wearing a corset), because your eyes are intently glued to the way King’s white shirt sticks to his shoulders and chest, sweat making the cloth form to his muscular body as he watches Django study your wound. You wish you could see past his vest, too, but now is really not the time to ask for a strip tease.

You blink your thanks as King lays his coat down over your legs— not scandalous, as you’re wearing bloomers that reach your mid thigh, but still more than you’ve ever been exposed to either of these men (aside from the aforementioned fateful incident at the river).

Django mutters something for you to prepare yourself before laying his hands on your side and checking the size of the shot. You cry out, and King’s hand instantly finds yours, letting you squeeze him as the pain subsides.

You open your eyes after a moment and are surprised to see Django smiling, teeth flashing and everything. He looks at you and smiles wider. “You're one lucky bitch, you know that?” Without waiting for an answer, he pulls your dress back down over your legs and uses King’s coat to wrap tightly around your injured waist.

“She’ll be just fine, we jus’ need a doc to stitch her up…” you hear Django telling King over you as you begin to drift off. The loss of blood has made you sleepy, unsurprisingly, and although it seems a bad idea, you just can’t help closing your eyes, just for a moment…

…

You wish you could remember the ride here— wherever you’ve ended up. You’re certain King held you the whole way while Django drove the wagon. Maybe you’re completely wrong, but the presence of a snoring Dr. King Schultz at your bedside confirms your suspicion that he hasn’t left your side since you were shot.

Speaking of which…

You shift with a wince and look under the covers to prod at your side curiously. It hurts, of course, but whatever drug they gave you sure has helped with the pain. Your head swims pleasurably, though perhaps that’s the after effects of your kiss with King.

You lie back down on the considerably cushy pillow and turn to gaze at the sleeping form of your beloved King Schultz. His body cocked sideways so he’s facing your bed, coat off, hat in his lap. His head rests on the back of the chair, brown furrowed deeply above his scrunched-shut eyes.

You decide to risk waking him from his gorgeous sleep and slide your hand upward to cup his bearded jaw.

As your fingers brush the stubble along his throat, King snaps awake, snorting gently as his hand snatches your wrist in an instinctive defensive response. His wide eyes pin you before recognition seeps in, and he softens his grasp on your wrist, bringing his other hand up instantly to gently cradle your palm.

“Y/N,” he breathes, sitting up and never taking his eyes from you.

You smile shyly, feeling bare beneath his gaze. Not that you'd exactly protest. King’s own lips turn upward as he stares at you.

“How do you feel?” he asks you concernedly, his hold soft and warm and strong. His grip doesn’t waver, like now that he has you, he’s not ever going to let go. And you want to bask in the safety of it forever.

You nod. “I’m alright, King. I’m doing just fine…”

King chuckles, in that way that reminds you of the way he broke down when he held you in his arms only yesterday. “My dear— you nearly stopped my heart with that little stunt of yours.”

“Stunt?” you echo, giggling at how suddenly nonchalant he sounds about the ordeal. Though you know he’s only trying to keep the conversation light.

His brows raise, and he plasters a mock-serious expression on his worn face. “Well, yes— didn’t you do that to get my attention?”

“You wish,” you snort, pumping his hands up and down once weakly with your own.

King smiles, warm and sweet, like honey. It’s contagious, it seems, because soon so are you.

“Y/N, truly— what possessed you to leave the horses yesterday, mein frauline?” King’s eyes grow genuinely serious, now, and you feel a twinge of guilt at the memory.

“I don’t know… I thought I was helping— it’s all so silly, now…” You hang your head, and King tuts gently, moving one hand to slowly lift your chin with his knuckle.

“We don’t need to discuss it if you don’t wish,” he tells you.

You argue, “No, I do! There’s— well, I’m afraid to ask you, but I need to know…”

The man before you blinks worriedly. “Anything.”

You feel a familiar sting at the back of your throat, tears threatening to choke you, but you force the words out around the lump. “Was it true?” You blink until your vision is clear again and continue, “What you said to me yesterday.”

King blinks, too, his eyes huge as he swallows thickly. You watch the bob of his throat and focus on the way he exhales softly, weighing his reply.

“It was a very tense moment and in tense moments I tend to say and do things that—”

“Was it true or wasn’t it?” you demand, pulling your hand out of his grasp, and you see the hurt enter his gaze instantly. You pin him with your burning eyes, not as furious as you’re desperate to hear him say he meant every word.

You sigh in relief as he stands from his chair to loom over your prone body, bringing his once-bloodstained hands up to cup your face. His eyes bore into yours as he mutters with a tone so deadly it makes your bones chill and alight simultaneously, “My dear, it was all true and more.” King’s green eyes flick across your face, studying every inch of you as he whispers, “If you were not so recently injured— and of course as long as thou doth not protest—” He momentarily smirked at his own quip before returning straight-lipped. “—I would take you apart in this bed right here and now. You deserve to be adored, mein leibe, every moment of every day.” Your breath stutters at his words, soaking up the sudden tears teasing the edges of his vision as he croaks out, “I was a fool for waiting this long to speak my truth, and for that— I offer my deepest apologies.” Without waiting for you to reply, King presses in to lock his lips onto yours. You gasp just before his teeth click against yours, his kiss firm and passionate, and speaking volumes. This kiss says you’re his, now. This kiss says he wants you, too.

You melt into it, arms wrapping around his shoulders and inadvertently toppling him off balance, dragging him down toward your body. He slams one hand down on the side of your head to keep himself from landing his weight on your injury, and you smirk playfully up at him through your lashes.

You take in the sight of his cheeks pink, his breathing heavy, hair falling in soft waves into his eyes as he hovers above you. You whisper, “I could get used to this.”

King sucks in a breath, embarrassment obvious in the way his face turns even redder, and he scolds gently, “Not until you are better, frauline.”

“I’d feel better if I wasn’t all alone in here,” you admit, and King’s brows raise again. You demonstrate your point by scooting to accommodate him and he pushes himself up and off of you, noticing the new space at your side in the bed. You lift the covers and pat the mattress, even, driving it home.

“Ah,” King realizes, his mannerisms screaming barely contained want as he wrings his hands. “I don’t think the nurses would be so keen—”

You shrug. “You kill thieves and murderers for a living,” you remind him, “and you’re scared of a few nurses?”

“I suppose you’re right.” King grins at your cheekiness and opens his arms wide. “Well, who can resist those charms of yours, you gorgeous devil?”

You giggle in victory as King kicks off his boots and pulls his suspenders down to hang at his sides as he takes the space next to you.

You sigh happily as you feel his body come flush to yours, and you’re quick to pin him with one arm draped over his belly, which softly heaves with each breath. “You’re perfect,” you whisper as you study his profile, fondling his beard with your curious hand.

King laughs softly. “My love, I don’t think you know what perfect means.” He turns and does his own fondling of your face, once again trailing his palm along your jaw. “Unless you have been studying your reflection in the mirror.”

“Don’t ever leave me,” you beg, suddenly, and King's eyes flicker with compassion and longing.

“Y/N,” he promises, leaning his head gently against your own. “I will do no such thing as long as I live.”

“And you’ll love me forever?” you ask hopefully.

Your heart thrums as a wicked, beautiful smile spreads across King’s face, nothing in his eyes but desperate devotion to you. “I swear, I’ll make up for every single second I ever let you doubt my affection for you, Liebling.”

With that, he kisses you once more, unlike the other times. This time it’s soft and tender and full of hope. It’s a promise. A promise that nothing will ever keep him from you again.

…