#i fixed ish the gold finally it's good enough for now

[some-creep]

Dancing with Myself

[imaginesforeons]

Hello first timer here, May I please request for Yandere Nanami with a Frail reader wherein reader is trying to hide and escape,but their sickly coughing gave them away

Yes! Thank your for your patience <333

Yandere!Nanami x Sickly!Reader

~You try to hide from him, lost in clouds of gold~

CW: Past kidnapping. Reader has a coughing fit and it gets a little intense.

WC: 940(ish)

Buy me a coffee?

.-.-.

You pushed against the iron door with all your strength, yet it stayed still, frozen on its rusted hinges and fixed as any mountain.

Wheezing, you slid down the door’s front, collapsing on your knees, trying - and failing - to catch your breath. Each gasp was a struggle, and there was a familiar burn rising from the bottom of your chest that meant nothing good. Your sickness had chosen now to act up. It felt like everything was against you.

Fruitlessy, you pushed at the door again, fingers scrabbling against it. Suddenly, you jerked back with a hiss, cradling your hand. Wincing, you saw one of your nails, broken and twisted and leaving a small trail of blood coursing its way down your palm.

Cursing and biting back tears, you forced yourself to stand, feeling a wave of dizziness wash over you. Leaning against the door, you allowed yourself a few seconds to catch your breath, casting your eyes around the room.

For the first time in months Nanami had taken you outside. After what had felt like an eternity, he had taken you from the house in the countryside, freeing you from beige walls and padlocked doors. The only reason he did it was because you had finally earned a bit of his trust through weeks of fawning and keeping your head down. It had lasted long enough for you to bolt at the first opportunity you got, disappearing into an almost endless warehouse, forgotten and left at the edge of the sea for nature to take over.

Now you were here, breath rattling in your lungs like skeleton trees, sequestered away in some far-off corner that knew only dust and dirt.

You still hadn’t seen Nanami since you ran. You haven’t even heard him, and when every noise you made echoed across the walls like gunfire, not even catching the sound of your captor’s footsteps had to be a very, very bad sign.

Shifting, you brought a shaking hand to your nose, covering it with your sleeve and breathing through the fabric. Motes of dust were floating everywhere. Above you, part of the ceiling had fallen in, allowing sunlight to cleave its way through, hitting the dust motes and lighting them up into glittering clouds of gold.

At first glance it was very pretty, but you were stuck in the miasma, surrounded by microscopic particles of dirt, grime, and ash. You took another pained breath through your sleeve, but it did little to filter the air. You choked on a cough, and you quickly slapped your hands over your mouth, body shaking with the effort of trying to keep it in. There was a moment where you thought you’d be able to keep silent through sheer force of will, but then your lungs spasmed, leaving you hacking until blackness spotted the edge of your vision.

Drawing in a rasp of a breath, you stared up at the slivers of sky coming in through the caving roof, blinking tears from your eyes. You rolled to your knees, readying yourself to stand, when you heard something.

Barely there, it was the slightest echo of a footstep. You stiffened, peering around a corner, and saw a flash of gold. To your horror, it wasn’t sunlight or dust floating in the air, but Nanami, stalking through the warehouse with the surety of a leopard on the hunt. Behind his glasses, his eyes roved over every nook and cranny, studying his surroundings with a sharp intelligence.

You gasped. It was your first mistake. Because you were still in the cloud of dust, you pulled in a lungful of it, and because anything other than perfectly crisp air was hell on your lungs, your body was immediately thrown into a fit of terrible spasms. You gagged, trying to keep your coughs in, clasping your hands desperately over your mouth again, but it was no use.

It was all too much; the air, your anxiety, and the threat of Nanami all convalesced, and you broke out into earth-shattering hacking. It echoed through the warehouse, and the last thing you saw was Nanami’s face whipping towards your direction before your eyes fell shut with the effort of your coughs.

You sputtered and choked, and each time you desperately tried to breathe, all you did was inhale more of that foul air. Wheezing, you fell back, scratching at your throat. It felt like you were drowning, and a ringing started to fill your ears. You could feel your heartbeat in your skull, at your fingertips, and when you tried to open your eyes, black swarmed your vision.

A hand found your neck, coursing under it to cup the back of your head, cradling it as something was brought to your face. You pawed at it weakly, but it was fitted over your mouth easily. Suddenly, a rush of crisp, sharp air rushed into your lungs, cool and cleansing and with the slightest taste of mint on your tongue. You took in great, greedy gulps of it, and slowly your vision came back.

Staring down at you, your head in his lap, was Nanami.

When he saw your eyes open, he hummed, shifting your head back to the ground. Before you could speak, a muscled arm found its way behind your back, while the other went under the crooks of your knees. Lifting you effortlessly, he carried you from the warehouse, out into the freshness of the ocean air. When you took your first breath outside, you nearly cried.

“I assume,” he began, looking down at you through his glasses. “That you won’t try that again.”

You could only grunt. Exhaustion pulled at you, and your head lolled against his shoulder. A few seconds later, and you fell into an exhausted, restless sleep.

[mejomonster]

Color theory is interesting. I mean for many a reason but like. Okay so I learned it one way for drawing/making art.

But then there's hair dye color theory. Knowing the base colors of hair underneath (black bleaches red, brown bleaches orange, blonde bleaches yellow, and finally lightening yellow or very light blonde gets you to the light inside of a banana yellow). When you dye blonde hair black you need to add red tones, or the dye formulation will have too many cool tones and not enough warm (red tones) because the dyes are usually formulated for going 1-2 levels up or down (levels of lightness). So the dye formula is made for putting on black hair or very dark brown hair that already had a red base, so you must put some red tones into the black dye if dying blonde hair. Or else you get the cool bluish-black hair color (which is fine if it's what you're going for). This is the same reason you can use brown dye and get green - brown hair is a mix of warm and cool tones (cool being green) so if you dye blonde hair brown it may not have the warm tone required (that is naturally in neutral brown hair) so you may get an ashy (cool toned) result. So generally if you dye to a color much darker than yours it's better to use golden/warm toned dyes (if you really dont want ashy hair), or add red protein filler, or use neutral tone dyes (if you're okay with a slightly ashy result possibly). If you use an ashy tone dye (like ash brown dye) you are MOST likely to get green hair. And if you do fuck up, and get green hair, it's fixable, just put a warm tone dye over it (or even a neutral dye at that point may add enough warm tones to save it) or put in some red protein filler. Neutral hair dyes typically contain some warm and some cool tones, ash/cool hair dyes contain More cool tone colors (blue, Green, violet), and warm hair dyes contain more Warm tone colors (red, orange, yellow).

And in the reverse, up to platinum blonde. You have to strip out all the original color, up until it's lightened to inside of a banana shade. Then there are platinum blonde toners (toner is like hair dye but weaker as it does not lighten/darken hair as much and fades quicker), OFTEN with a violet base, which will turn the hair "white" and turn rhe hair full on silver then full on lavender depending on how little yellow is in your hair and how much violet is in the toner. If your hair is still very gold and not light enough, sometimes adding a toner may turn hair swamp green (yellow and purple cancel each other out in hair dye, but if there's too much yellow then it gets muddy, or if there's too much orange left it turns purple+orange which is a bit muddy). Adding grey toner, which often has a green and violet undertone, increases the chances of turning green because ANY gold tone originally in your hair will mix with the green to turn greener (instead of the desired grey). That's why when using pastel/light green or blue hair dye you try to get the original hair very pale yellow first to try and prevent that. When trying to go lavender, you also want hair as pale as possible, because if it's too gold the yellow-purple will just cancel each other out and it will be silver ish, just paler blonde, or muddy grayish colored.

When buying toner, I like to find ones with a bit of warm undertone added (so platinum blonde toners with both violet AND some gold - beige blonde toners often have both) because I like a neutral blonde result instead of a silver platinum (though I recently fucked up and picked an all violet base toner so my hair is silver as 2B right now lol). A warning: toner for bleach blondes usually has gold or violet in rhe base, which will only make a platinum blonde warmer toned or cooler toned (which is a good thing, the toners only slide the warmth of your color but can't mess it up so it's no longer blonde... usually, and if they do fuck it up making it too silver like me you can simply pick a warmer toner next time to fix the color). But do NOT buy a toner that's meant to be put on darker base hair. Usually level 7-8 blondes (a level of lightness with 10 being bleached platinum, 6 being medium brown, and 4 closer to black) use RED AND GREEN as the undertones. So if you put level 6 blonde toner dye onto bleached platinum (pale yellow) hair, the green may mix with yellow and turn the hair greener, or the red may mix with yellow turning it oranger, either way you're mixing the yellow with something it's not going to mix pretty with and potentially getting a muddy color. Sometimes you'll get lucky, but if the base color undertones of a dye don't mix well with your original hair color it can become a mess. In those situations, usually adding red protein filler may help (gives the green something to cancel out instead of your original yellow), picking a neutral color may help (so the red and green mostly cancel each other out), darkening hair gradually (so only darken a couple levels at a time - like from 10 platinum blonde to 9 blonde, then 9 to 8, etc). Also simply leaving toner in LESS long and washing out the color a bit if it does go too green - sometimes a few good initial scrubs with dandruff shampoo will wash out the excess green tones and you'll still end up wirh your goal color. I tend to try neutrals when darkening my hair, in combo with scrubbing some of the color out immediately after dying if it turned too green. If it turned too red it's not as big of a deal (darkening hair requires adding more red tone anyway), so I might just go over the toner/dye again wirh a more neutral shade to lessen the reddish-shade if it turned too red. I'm a level 8ish blonde naturally I think, last time I saw it, so I usually don't darken to a shade that is more likely to add red, just the ones that fuck up with too much green (usually darker blonde dyes add some green rather than violet, but other than that keep the gold/violet main colors so there's rarely red introduced to fuck up the color in the warmth direction except to just make it golder - which is easy to fix wirh purple shampoo/toners etc).

And then, what happens if you fucked your hair and it's got NO gold undertones left either? Or it's turned green on you and you can't scrub it out enough?! Well, neutral dye is an option as is warm toned dye (if you think it will have enough warmth to bring ur hair color closer to balanced). But with bleached platinum blonde hair, even beige blonde (the color with the most gold undertone I've found) can go greenish easily. I don't know how other people fix it, but to this day pink and peach dyes have been my best fix for turquoise, green, or pale greenish or grayish green hair. Slap on some pink (salmon colors work best for me to add gold/warmth back starting peachy-blonde then fading to a light golden blonde then warm-neutral blonde, other neutral pinks like bubblegum and cotton candy pink tend to neutralize greens/greys into lavender-pink which then will later fade to a neutral nice cool toned blonde). I've done just a full pink (since it will thankfully cover the greenish/greyish fine), or I use it like a purple shampoo but pink instead (add some pink dye to conditioner and leave it on for 20 min to 1 hour). I'm guessing pinks base color has some red, orange, and violet (but I am not sure at all). But pink generally fades to peachy blondes then gold blondes then sometimes also neutral blonde eventually, so it's got orange and gold in the base. I would assume theres a little violet, and rhats why it fades to a usually pretty blonde rather than a strawberry blonde or light red shade at the end. So yeah, pink is my go to color correct when your hair is too cool toned - which happens a lot, even though as far as I can tell most products are made to add cool tones (purple shampoo, most platinum blonde toners) not add warm ones. Also anecdotal lol, but whenever I use vitamin c to strip out hair dye, the result tends to be warm toned. So I would imagine if trying to get out green or blue or purple or silver or grey dyes, using the old vitamin c/dandruff shampoo color remover trick might help strip out the cool tones a bit if bleach doesn't (or before trying bleach). But that's only my own experience, stripping out cool tones tends to be hard af for me so I imagine it's also stubborn for a lot of ppl and that might not work at all for them.

Anyway I wrote this post lol. To say I bought a cool toned eyeshadow pallete and already look way better complexion wise than yesterday when I was using my warm toned brown eyeshadow. Since my hair is silver rn lol, the brown warmth clashed pretty bad. I didn't even think about that until I saw yikes. Anyway hair color tones affect a shit ton when it comes to what dye to use, how much to lighten, what extra stuff you need to lighten or darken to get the result u actually want. And it also affects if ur new hair is gonna compliment or clash with ur usual makeup colors ToT

[high-functioning-lokipath]

Marriage with a Spin - Loki x Reader - Words: 2,613

A/N: Enemies-ish to Relationship & Fake Relationship trope-ish LOL…Pic below is not mine but simply is for reference about rings...this was the best basis I could find 🤣 I'm using the Spin and Zero rings in this oneshot

Also! A big thanks for @ladylulu143 for helping my come up with a title and for proofreading this for me! 💖💖🤗🤗

"Alright, this is the latest alien artifact we have found," Steve said. He held up a gold ring with a small blue stone. "When on, the wearer can decelerate time around them, appearing to be at superspeed to those watching."

"So what's the deal now?" You asked. Tony brought a picture of another ring on the screen behind Cap.

"This recently popped up on our radar. By the readings we're getting from it, it seems to be related to this guy here. However, it's being held in this mansion," Tony said, clicking to the next picture. "Owned by billionaire Samuel Thatcher."

"So what am I doing here again?" Loki asked flippantly.

"Mr. Thatcher is holding a gala tomorrow night. You and Miss Y/L/N will be attending and will conveniently slip away at some point during the evening to retrieve the ring from his vault."

"Loki and me?" You exclaimed. "Why? Would you fit in much better at one of those swanky parties?"

"Everyone knows me, Y/N," Tony said, rolling his eyes.

"What about Steve then? He knows how to dance and be all proper! He's from the 40's for goodness sake!"

"Have you ever seen me try to fit in at one of those, how did you say it, swanky parties?" Steve asked with a smirk. "You two have enough class to fit in. Besides, the vault is secured by a fingerprint and retinal scan. The only person here who could pull that off is Loki."

"That is true," Loki replied with a smirk.

"Fine. What time is it?" You groan.

"6pm tomorrow," Steve answered. You nodded and got up to leave. "Oh! And one more thing!" You turned around suspiciously and saw an unnerving smile plastered across the face of America's Golden Boy. "You're going as Mr. & Mrs. Hank and Audrey Williams."

"Mister and Misses?" You both exclaimed. Steve nodded and Tony was smirking.

"Don't forget this!" Tony said, tossing the ring to you.

"Is this supposed to be my wedding ring?" You asked sarcastically.

"Actually no," Steve said. "It would seem that the ring only works on the right middle finger."

"Great. So what am I supposed to do about this?" You asked, wriggling your left fingers.

"No need to worry, darling," Loki replied. He waved his hand and a beautiful gold and emerald wedding band appeared on your finger. "Now, shall we go to my room and prepare for the rest of this delightful mission?" He asked, a touch of sarcasm in his voice.

"Of course, my dear," You replied, rolling your eyes.

The next day, Loki came to your room at about 3 in the afternoon. "What do you want, Loki?" You growled, quite annoyed that he was bothering your 'me-time'.

"Change into your uniform and meet me in my room in 5 minutes. We need to prepare." He turned to walk away but you grabbed his arm.

"Why? We should be resting before our mission tonight! I thought we already did all our planning yesterday!"

"Tactical, yes. But not practical." He once again turned away and started down the hallway. You groaned and ran after him.

"What do you mean practically? We get fancied up, we go, we get the ring, we leave. If we get in any sort of confrontation, we fight and then we leave! Simple!"

"What are you going to wear?"

"Well I can't show up in tactical so I have this old party dress. It's not perfect but it'll do I guess."

"No it will not. Where will you put your weapons? What if you need to run? Or fight?" Loki listed off his objections quickly and tutted at you. "No, no. That simply will not do."

"Well what do you suggest, oh great fashion god," You replied sarcastically. Loki rolled his eyes and waved his hand. "Oh my!" You gasped. He'd transformed your current outfit into a lovely floor length, emerald green dress. He even outfitted you with jewelry!

"And I can do the same with your-what did you call it? Tactical gear?"

"Ok, ok," you chuckled. "Thank you. I really appreciate it." You smiled genuinely and, for a moment, you thought he would return the sentiment. But he kept his disinterested demeanor and whooshed away the dress.

"I'll return it later when you're ready. You will need to do your own hair and makeup." You nodded and headed back to your room till the evening.

That night, you stood at your mirror adding the finishing touches to your mascara when suddenly there was noise beside you. Jumping in surprise, you accidentally smeared the mascara on your face. "Loki!" You exclaimed, seeing the mischievous prince standing in your room. "You scared me!"

"Well, I am naturally terrifying." You rolled your eyes and turned back to the mirror to fix your face.

"There! All done," You announced. "Well, with the exception of my dress and-" Before you could even finish he had cast his illusion upon your clothing.

"Enough with your blathering. Let's go."

"Hmph. And here I had hope you'd finally removed your head from your-"

Later at the Gala, Loki was being the perfect gentleman. Very suave and debonair. You were impressed. Of course you had to play your part too. You were smiling at his side, holding his arm. You both mingled for a while, trying to get a feel of the room, before he asked if you wished to dance. A bit surprised, you simply nodded. He whisked you out to the dance floor gracefully and pulled you close.

"The vault is downstairs. We need to find an excuse to slip out soon," He whispered to you.

"What if I pretend to be ill?" You offered.

"Someone would undoubtedly take you upstairs to one of the bedrooms to rest. That is the opposite of what we're trying to accomplish."

"But what if I'm afraid of heights?" You countered. He quirked an eyebrow at you and chuckled lowly.

"That is a terrible idea. Only you would think of it."

"I don't know whether to be insulted or flattered. And I think the problem is I have really fantastic bad ideas." He smirked and shook his head in disbelief.

"At least you own up to it," He teased. You grinned, unable to help yourself from staring at him. Though you were on a mission, he seemed so relaxed. This was definitely his element. "You're staring, my dear."

“You are very attractive. Therefore I will stare at you," You admitted. He blushed brightly and looked away but then his eyes lit up.

"I've got it!" He stepped back and led you off the dance floor towards the open bar. "Follow my lead," He hissed. "Would you get me a drink, sweet? You know what I like," He said, somewhat loudly.

"Of course, darling," You replied. When you returned with your drinks you noticed Loki was staring at a group of young women. They had noticed him too and were smiling back at him. "What are you looking at?" You asked innocently, handing him his glass.

"Oh nothing," He replied quickly, turning away. You made a point of following his previous line of sight and made eye-contact with the still giggling females.

"Nothing?" You yelled. "You call that nothing? You were flirting again! Staring at some other woman!"

"I find them very attractive. Therefore I will stare at them," He replied. You held back a laugh, realizing what gave him the idea. "You know how I am," He purred, trying to move closer to you again.

"Get away from me!" You yelled, stepping back and throwing your glass on the floor. This drew everyone's attention. "You disgust me, Hank. This was your last chance and you botched it up! I'm going home!" You turned on your heel and stormed out.

"Audrey! Audrey! Please wait!" He called out. He ran after you into the grand hallway where you were pretending to be searching for your keys. You both noticed the small collection of men, including Mr. Thatcher, who were watching you from the ballroom doors. "Please, darling, can't we discuss this?"

"At home," You finally said. He nodded and held the front door for you. You both stepped outside, out of view, and then you activated the ring. It felt weird, time slowing around you, but you moved past your surprise and got to work. You ran back into the ballroom and very carefully chipped a very important supporting piece of one of the ice sculptures on the table. Giving it a small tap, you then ran back out to the main entrance and positioned yourself just outside the doors where you could still have a view of the main hallway. You deactivated the ring and heard the crash of the ice. Immediately, the men looking into the hallway ran back in, leaving the hallway unwatched. You and Loki were now free to sneak back into the mansion.

"The vault is downstairs but only accessed here," Loki murmured, leading you to a hidden staircase.

"Typical," You chucked, only mildly surprised by the motif. When you got down there, you noticed there were three levels of security. A key, a fingerprint scanner, and a retinal scanner. "Oh great! How are we supposed to get through that?"

"Never fear, my darling," Loki replied with a smirk. "Remember why they chose me?" He then changed, taking on the appearance of the party's host, Mr. Thatcher. He quickly got past the fingerprint and retinal scan but the key was still needed. Changing back to himself, he said, "The guards have keys."

"There are guards down here?" You whisper-yelled. Loki rolled his eyes frustratedly but before he could reply you heard footsteps coming down the hall.

"Follow my lead!" Loki demanded.

"Wha-" Loki interrupted you with a kiss and pushed you against the wall. You gasped in surprise but you had to admit to yourself he was talented.

"What are you doing down here?" The guard exclaimed. Loki slowly pulled away from you with the guiltiest expression on his face. You knew it was fake of course, but the guard was tricked.

"Were we not to be here?" He asked, voice slightly higher than usual. "We were only trying to find a-" He paused, smirking slightly. "A more private location." The guard shook his head and chuckled.

"Whatever floats your boat, man," He replied. "But I would suggest exploring the upstairs bedrooms." He gave them both a little wave and headed back around the corner.

"I’m going to strangle you," You said as soon as the guard was out of earshot.

"Oh please! You can’t even reach my neck," Loki replied. You grabbed his tie and pulled him down, pretending to be moving for another kiss. However, you tapped his neck lightly and smirked.

"Gotcha!" You giggled quietly and then held out your hand. "Oh! And look what I got!" She held up the key ring for the door. "While you were busy embarrassing yourself, I used my telekinesis and got the key!"

"Of course you did! That was my plan all along," Loki replied.

"Pretending to love you is like a walk in the park. Jurassic Park," You grumbled. Loki grabbed your sides and growled in your ear as you opened the vault door. "You're so weird!" You hissed, walking in and trying to find the ring.

"And you’re so weird it’s attractive," He retorted, finding the box immediately and tossing it to you.

"Well, if I’m weird with you, I’m comfortable," You admitted. Loki looked at you in surprise but you just shrugged. "Look, you really piss me off sometimes, but," you paused. "Somehow I still like you."

"And I you, my dear," He replied. "Now as much as I would love to continue this discussion I do suggest you figure out how to use that thing and we get out of here!" You put on the ring, trying it on a few different fingers before you found the correct one.

"Ok, let's see what it does." When you activated it, it shot a cold blast at the shelf in front of you, encasing it in ice. "Cool!" You joked. Loki shook his head and grabbed your arm, trying to hurry out. Just as you got to the top of the stairs, you heard footsteps.

"Well well well," Mr. Thatcher growled, blocking your exit. A few of his goons stood behind him as well. "Mr. & Mrs. Williams was it? I don't think so," he sneered.

"Well, I don't think so either but we're not doing this today!" You shot them all with the ice and Loki shoved them out of the way. You both heard more footsteps down the hallway and looked at each other nervously. "Do you trust me?" You asked. Loki nodded.

"With my life." You gave him a tight smile and activated the Spin ring. You ran down the hallway and found where the other goons were at. You tried to use the Zero ring, with the ice powers, but found yourself unable to control it's aim.

"Well that's fantastic," you grianed. Rethinking your plan, you went back to get Loki. There was no way you'd both be able to get out of there at normal speed so you had one option. Lug Loki out yourself at super-speed.

"What the heck? Do you weigh 500 pounds or something?" You groaned when you couldn't pull or carry him. "Ok, last option. I hope this works," You muttered. You focused almost all your energy on moving Loki using your telekinesis. It was slow going, but at super-speed, you still would beat the bad guys. By the time you got him out the door to safety, you were exhausted. You immediately disengaged the ring and he looked around confused.

"How did I get here?"

"Talk later, run now," You gasped, trying to stop the dizziness that had overtaken you.

"Are you alright?" He asked worriedly. You were about to reply when you collapsed, simply too drained to continue.

When you woke up, you felt a cool cloth on your forehead and soft blankets around you. "Where am I?" You groaned.

"I brought you back to the tower. I told the Captain his debriefing could wait," Loki replied. You sat up slowly and looked around. Raising an eyebrow, you stared at Loki questioningly. "Yes, this is my room. I wanted to keep an eye on you while you recovered. I informed the Captain that those rings are very dangerous and should not be used. They obviously were too much for you to handle and-"

"It wasn't the rings," You interrupted. You looked away, somewhat embarrassed. "Well, I was still in super-speed, but I used my telekinesis to get you out. We probably would have been shot otherwise. It used a lot of my energy but it was worth it."

"Oh darling," Loki sighed, gently pushing a stand of hair off your face. "You-" He leaned forward, giving you a quick kiss on your forehead. "You're amazing. I never expected you or anyone to care so much for me!"

"Of course I care!" You replied. "Look, you still drive me insane with some of your tricks. But you're a good guy," You smiled.

"And you're a wonderful woman," He said. You grinned at him happily, still tired but already feeling much better. "So what do you think, should we give us a try?"

"Why not? It may be the first really fantastic bad idea of mine that works out!" Loki smiled and gave you a kiss. You sighed contentedly and leaned on his shoulder when you pulled away.

"Oh darling? One more thing. It was my idea."

Loki Taglist

@lucywrites02

@delightfulheartdream

@serpentargo

@khena

@nyx2021

@kaz11283

@weasley-main-lover

@up-to-mischief

@lokislittlesigyn

@darkacademicfrom2021

Marvel (all characters) Taglist

@bartv21

@another-crazy-fangirl

@whatafuckingdumbass

@ladylulu143

[theoriginalladya]

Ooh, "you can stay ... I'd like you to stay" for Caleb and Kaidan??

from this list

Okay, first of all - THANK YOU! For dropping the prompt, yes, but also for picking Caleb and Kaidan. When I saw this, I was reminded of a part of their ME3 story I started over a year ago - just a drabble to get ideas down, but it's an important moment for them so I've been fiddling with it on and off since then but unable to get it to 'work' right, and it all revolves around trying to get Kaidan to 'stay'. This prompt helped me to finally fix that!

These two meet after Akuze. Okay, technically it was at the end of the Akuze meeting (Kaidan is part of the rescue team sent in to extract Caleb), but Caleb has very little memory of it, so they don't meet until Kaidan shows up at the hospital with his gear from the ship. From there forward, they become good friends. Their journey to a full blown relationship is a very long road (beginning roughly around 2181-ish) and going forward. So, this moment for them is a long time coming.

Let me set it up a bit: This is post-Clone mission at the apartment on the Citadel. Caleb is having trouble sleeping after the incident with the clone and Kaidan comes by to pick up some things he left behind from the Casino incident. They talk, share a couple of beers, something is said and a misunderstanding occurs and Caleb finally forces himself to take the step over the line he's had in place for YEARS. This is what happens next... (still a rough draft, but this is in a much better place than it was before!)

(this got long so it's under cut)

~~~

Caleb braces his arms against the counter, chin dropped nearly to his chest. How did we get here? How do we get back to where we were? “Kaidan –”

Kaidan’s voice, low and gravelly with regret, barely reaches his ears as the other man turns away. “I should go.”

And that just adds insult to injury. Caleb’s teeth gnash together, anger and frustration eating away at him from the inside because in the long run, he only has himself to blame. I should have said something years ago, back before…

Yet, panic swells deep in his belly leaving him breathless and unable to find the words he needs. “I …” He tilts his head at an angle, just catching Kaidan’s retreat out of the corner of his eye. He is desperate for something to say, something that will keep him here just a bit longer and maybe give them a chance to talk things through. But, what?

“I thought you stopped by to pick up something you left behind?”

Kaidan comes to a complete stop just fifteen feet from the door. “It can wait. I’ve caused you enough trouble for tonight.”

No, you haven’t!

A battle rages inside of him; a war between the ‘right’ thing to do and what he ‘wants’ to do. For so long he’s held that line, not crossed it, unwilling to put himself or anyone else at risk, especially Kaidan, and yet…

Dammit! He believes Kaidan when he says he has no more doubts – about him and Cerberus – but Kaidan still a hesitates, a… wall of sorts still between them. It’s been there since Mars, never quite falling down all the way.

I think we bury it.

The idea of burying the past and moving forward is great, but at what cost? They’ve been friends for a decade practically. Friendship – like they had in the beginning – Caleb wants that, but he wants more than that, too. Right now, whatever is between them is more of an awkward in-between-friendship-and-something-else stage, and that leaves Caleb’s belly tied into knots on a good day. Is this my fault? Did I misread the signs? The looks? The smiles? That mischievous sparkle in whiskey-gold eyes that is just as intoxicating as any bottle of the good stuff?

Caleb’s fingers tighten around the edge of the counter until his knuckles ache, and he cannot breathe.

Or… maybe Kaidan isn’t interested at all. Maybe what I think is there is my imagination. Did I just ruin everything? Can I get us back to where we were before? The friendship is good – great, even – and if that’s all he wants, I find a way and gladly accept that. But…

Kaidan shifts his weight and starts forward again.

The bubble of panic inside him bursts, and Caleb has no more time. “Stay.” He practically chokes on the word that comes out as the softest rasp; he wonders if Kaidan even hears it.

The other man stops, now ten feet from the door.

Throwing all caution to the wind, Caleb turns to face him. “You can stay... I'd like you to stay.” His hand rises to rub at his chest where his heart thumps wildly beneath. “I… What…” He chews on his lower lip. “What if I told you I don’t want you to leave?”

Waiting is agony. One – two – three heartbeats pass before Kaidan moves, slowly turning to face him. For the second time this evening, Caleb meets Kaidan’s shocked and surprised gaze. God only knows what he finds in return.

Time hangs in suspension – the silence slowly killing him as he can’t breathe for fear he’ll miss something important. A look, a sound, a touch, a movement… Finally, he blinks – he has to – and when his eyes open, Kaidan stands right in front of him, the closest he’s been all evening.

“What exactly are you asking, Shepard?”

Shepard, not commander. A flutter of hope swells in Caleb’s chest, a sensation not unlike a butterfly’s wings brushing against the skin.

But that flutter of hope is met by an ache so great, it’s nearly impossible to speak. “I –” His voice catches, sticks in the back of his throat for a moment. The panic churns wildly in his gut. “The… the other night, before we left for the casino. Were you… flirting with me?”

Kaidan’s lips twist into a thin, wry smile. “If you have to ask, then clearly I’m out of practice.”

The butterfly’s wings flutter again, this time more rapidly, and he has to clear his throat before he can speak. “Or, maybe I am? It’s… been a long time for me.”

Kaidan’s brow arches and Caleb can’t decide if that’s a good thing or not. When Kaidan closes the distance between them, a warm and easy smile plays across his full lips that sends Caleb’s belly flipping somersaults. “Or, maybe,” Kaidan tells him as his voice dips an octave, “we both need practice?”

The somersaults flip right over the edge of the highest cliff, free falling into an abyss… “Kaidan, I –”

“Your call, Shepard. We do this however you want or not at all.” Kaidan’s gaze drops to his lips before rising again, this time more than just a hint of a spark of interest present.

His hand lifts of its own accord between them, coming to settle on Kaidan’s chest. “Stay.”

A tickling warmth trails across his cheek and down to his jaw. It takes him a moment to realize it’s Kaidan’s fingers. Caleb leans into the touch, something he hasn’t done in years…

“You’re sure?”

What was it Kaidan said years ago? I always try to leave a way out. Swallowing tightly, Caleb inhales deeply. But I want a way in... He lifts his gaze to meet Kaidan’s. “Stay.”

In less than a heartbeat, Kaidan’s lips cover his. Slow but sure, gentle but firm; scary yet freeing at the same time. Looping an arm around Kaidan’s shoulders, he pulls him close, unable or unwilling to let go.

Time loses meaning. It’s only when the warmth fades and numbness wears off and he can draw a deep breath once more – at least theoretically – that he realizes Kaidan has pulled back. Opening his eyes – when did they close? – he meets the inquisitive curiosity of Kaidan’s.

Fighting for breath, Caleb’s hand remains tight around Kaidan’s shirt as he pulls him back with a ferocity and hunger he has never known before. It’s selfish to be this greedy, like a man crossing a desert who is dying of thirst, but he cannot hold back. Years of missed opportunities and misunderstandings fall away.

Caleb pulls free, gasping for air again as he rests his forehead against Kaidan’s, never breaking eye contact. “You’ll stay?”

A slow, steady smile curves at Kaidan’s lips, reaching into his eyes as he gently strokes his thumb across Caleb’s cheek and nods. “It’s going to take a lot more than reapers to chase me away from you tonight...”

[omg-im-such-a-masochist]

🎁🔥GUESS WHO?🔥🎁

Prompt: Y/N’s first day back to work from her vacation is also coincidentally her birthday, as the day goes by, one mysterious box is placed on her work table. The content of it is a devious surprise and Y/N needs to find out who is the mysterious person who dared to give her such a kinky birthday present.

Word count: Long-ish

Pairing: Roman Reigns x Reader

Warnings: +18, smut, bondage(handcuffs), use of a vibrator, fingering, rough sex, mentions of voyeurism, oral sex (female receiving), dirty talk, cursing.

My Roman lovers: @ziasaph, @reigns-5sos, @mindofasagittaruis

Notes: What a better way to start 2021, then with a Roman kinky fic?! I wish you all a Happy New Year loves, may 2021 be kinder to us all. Y’all know the drill loves,sorry for misspellings,english isn’t my first language (bla bla bla),check out my other stories if you’d like to(it would make your girl here very happy 😊) and if you’re comfortable with it,please let me know what you think? Some feedback is always welcomed and appreciated ❤️You can check out my other stories typing ‘masochist writes’ on the search bar on my page and my newest story as a fixed post.Okay,now let’s get to the fun part,shall we? Hope you’ll enjoy 😉

“Happy birthday, to you..” I turn around to the sound of a person singing, just to see Sasha Banks holding a chocolate cupcake and a present bag on her hands.

“Hi Sasha.” I smiled

“Happy birthday babe!” Sasha ran up to me, placing the cupcake on my working table and hugging me tightly.

“Thanks Sasha”

This was my first day back from my vacation, and coincidentally it was also my birthday, so I was excited to see some of the good friends I’ve made while working for the WWE as a chiropractor.

“Here this is for you!” Sasha handed me a present bag.

“Oh Sasha, you really didn’t have to-“

“Shush! I love you, so of course I would pamper you on your birthday” Sasha said as I opened the bag to find a pair of Louboutin’s I had my eyes on for quite sometime, but couldn’t afford it.

“Sasha, are you insane? I can’t accept these! It’s way too expensive!” I gasped

“I am perfectly sane, you will accept these and I don’t care if you think they’re too expensive! I love you, you’re one of my best friends in this company and a human being with a heart made of gold. So if there is someone who deserves these is you” She happily said

“Sasha, I don’t even know how to thank you enough” I whispered with tears on my eyes

“Just say you will be my friend forever babe” She winked

“I don’t need presents to be your friend love”

“That’s why I gave it to you. I don’t care how much they cost, I just want to make my best friend happy on her birthday”

I hugged her and whispered ‘thank you’ on her ear

“So, who else has came here today?” She asked

“Oh! Bayley, Charlotte, Xavier, Kofi, Cesaro, Big E, Alexa, Naomi, Jey, Becky, Seth, Finn, Renee and Dean” I said, listing my close friends

“I was the last one then? Damn it!”

“It’s ok, I know you were busy today love”

“So...no Roman?” She whispered

“No, no Roman” I answered slightly disappointed.

Sasha along with Bayley and Renee were the only 3 people who knew about my stupid crush on Roman Reigns. It’s so stupid of me to think that a man like him would ever look at someone like me.

If he would ever look at someone on this company, it wouldn’t be the thick girl who worked as a chiropractor and yes one of the beautiful toned Divas of this company.

But still I couldn’t help but daydream about having him on top of me.

“Maybe he doesn’t know it’s your birthday?” Sasha tried to make it less uncomfortable

“Really Sasha? He’s friends with Dean! Everybody knows Dean is an open mouth, loud as fuck and can’t keep it to himself not even if his life depended on it...Roman just chose to ignore it, and it’s fine. We’re not close or anything so, I wasn’t expecting him to show up at my office door and fuck me on top of this table” I lied while chuckling weirdly

“Let’s be honest babe, everybody secretly wants Roman Reigns to fuck them on top of a table!” We both laughed at her statement before she continued “It’s his loss anyways babe”

“Yeah I guess so...”

I was making my way back to my office, from the women’s locker room, when a big black box with a golden ribbon called my attention on top of my desk.

“What the hell?” I said as I approached the box carefully. All of my closest friends had already wished me a happy birthday and gave me their presents so this was, to say the least, weird and unexpected.

I saw a blood red card on top of it, so I opened to find the handwritten saying

‘I hope these will make your birthday night unforgettable. Can you guess who’ve bought these for you? ;)’

Ok, that’s pretty fucking weird! I thought

From the corner of my eye I saw Sasha passing by and loudly whispered

“Sasha! Come here”

She entered my office “What’s up girl? Are you ok? You look scared”

I closed my office door and locked, and made my way back to the table by her side.

“Ok, I’m feeling a little paranoid. I just came back to my office to find this box and this card. Here” I handed the card to her and she red silently.

“Did you look what’s inside of it?” Sasha said

“Nope. And to be honest I don’t know if I can..what if it’s like a prank or something?”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out Y/N”

She opened the box, inside of it there was a fancy red paper, I took it out of the way to reveal what was underneath it and I tell you I almost passed out.

Inside the box there was a lavender and purple (my favorite colors) vibrator, it was actually pretty cute...two pairs of handcuffs, lube, nipples clamps and a whip.

“Oh my gosh” Sasha gasped as she took the clamps on one hand and the whip on the other. “Someone wants to get kinky with you girl!” She examined the items carefully

“What in the actual fuck?” I whispered shocked “Give me that!” I took the items out of her hand, shoved back into the box and quickly closed with the black lid.

“Jesus, I can get fired if someone sees that in my office! Who the hell would do that?”

“Someone who wants to get some! And wants it rough” She chuckled

“Sasha it’s not funny! I could not have a job tomorrow morning if someone from the company found these”

“Who do you think did this?” She asked seriously

“How am I supposed to know? I have no fucking clue!”

“Maybe someone who’s name starts with an R...” She smirked

“R?... What ar-... Oh hell no! Nu uh, that’s impossible!” She couldn’t be implying that Roman was behind this, was he? No! Of course not, that’s a dumb thing to think of...but a part of me wished it was him, even though I know it wasn’t.

“Why impossible? You’re a gorgeous woman Y/N! You two would make a beautiful couple, plus, I‘ve seen his handwriting before and I’m pretty sure it’s quite similar to this one” She said as she inspected the card closely.

“Obviously someone wants to make fun out of me, so I’ll just pretend this never happened” I took the card out of her hand and shoved inside the box.

“Or someone has an eye on you for a while and decided to finally make a move”

“Sasha, please don’t tell this to anyone”

“Your secret is safe with me babe. Just promise that when your secret admirer finally show up, you’ll tell me if you guys made a good use of his presents” She laughed

“You’re the worst!” I laughed along

I made my way back to my hotel room later that evening with my hands so full of packages I could barely walk. I opened the door and carefully placed the bags, along with the black box, on the floor.

I went to the bed and sat down on the edge, while I stared at the box.

*Could Sasha be right? Could it be Roman who did this?* Was the only thought that crossed my mind

I decided to forget all about it and take a shower to wash off the day.

As I was rinsing my hair I heard some noise coming from the bedroom

*What the hell was that?*

I blamed on my super active mind and turned the shower off.

I got changed into some clean oversized t- shirt, and went full on commando. I was brushing my damp hair, when I decided to lay out the contents of the black box on the bed.

I roamed my eyes on each item slowly, until they stopped on the lavender and purple happiness. I turned the vibrator on and felt slightly tempted to use it.

*Oh fuck it! Happy birthday to me I guess”

I got rid of the t-shirt and lay down on the bed naked.

I closed my eyes, letting my mind imagine my wet dream, in form of a man... his face, his body, his cock and how I wish I could feel it inside of me, stretching me as I teased my clit with the vibrator.

I moaned Roman’s name and heard someone clear their throat on the foot of the bed. My eyes shot open and my heart nearly stopped beating when I saw who was in front of me. The vision was so unexpected that I even forgot I was naked.

“I see you liked my gift then” He smirked

“Wh- What are you doing here? How did you get inside of my room?” I whispered

“Does it matter?” His eyes had an evil glimpse to it

“Roman... I- I can explain” I begin to stutter

He placed his index finger on his lips in a shh motion and I stopped talking. He hungrily stared at every inch of my naked body, making me feel quite self conscious of the imperfections of it. I grabbed the blanket to cover my nakedness, he notice what I was about to do and yanked the blankets off the bed

“I’ve been waiting for years to see you like this, so don’t you dare cover yourself from me now”

He took off his shirt and pants leaving only his boxers on, from where I was laying I could see the outline of his hard cock and the wet spot of pre cum near of it’s head. He crawled on top of me slowly, like a predator, with dangerous eyes that were glued to my own.

“At first I was only gonna watch you... I wanted to see you pleasure yourself with my gifts, but when I saw your body fully naked on this bed moaning my name” He grunted “I couldn’t control myself, I couldn’t see this” He took the vibrator off my hand and placed on the bed by our side “Having all the fun with you, enjoying every part of your beautiful body, stretching your sweet pussy while my own cock only got to watch, he wants to have his own fun with you baby girl. He wants to make you feel real good” He leaned closer to my face, his lips brushing mine as he asked “Do you want that Y/N? Do you want my cock to make you feel good? Do you want it to stretch you out baby? Do you want it to fuck you hard and rough? Or do you prefer it slow and sweet? Do you want me to fuck you from behind?...Or maybe I should eat you out first huh? Eat that sweet pussy until you’re begging me to stop, I can’t wait to feel you come on my mouth...around my cock,milking it really nice” He growled “Tell me Y/N, what do you want?”

“I want it all, I want everything” I panted as he dry humped me

“Will you let me do whatever I want with you baby girl? What I’ve always wanted to do?”

“Yes”

He smiled satisfied, leaning to kissed me roughly and sloppily as he grabbed both of my wrists into one of his big hands pining it over my head.

“If anything I do bothers you or you feel like your not feeling it or don’t like it, you let me know ok?”

I nodded

“I need words baby girl”

“Yes, I understand”

“Good” He smiled and I felt something cold close around my wrists. I looked up to see the handcuffs around my wrists being closed on the headboard of the bed. Roman sat up and looked down do my naked body at his disposal.

“Fuck, you’re such a gorgeous sight” He said as he palmed his hard cock through his boxers. “I can’t wait to bury my cock deep inside you” He panted

“Roman, please do something” I whispered

His hands roamed the sides of my body until he stopped at my breasts as his hands squeezed them hard while pinching my nipples.

“These were made just for me. Do you see how they perfectly fit my hands? I can only imagine how even more beautiful your breasts will look with my cock sliding in between them” His eyes were glued on my breasts.

I tugged at my handcuffed hands, begging “Roman, please, I need- something”

“Let’s take a look on this pussy...are you wet for me Y/N?”

“Soaked”

He raised his eyebrows “Really? Let‘s see” Two of his fingers slides through my folds “Fuck baby girl, you are soaked. Jesus, we won’t even need lube” His fingers traced lazy circles around my clit, making me moan in pleasure. One callused finger slipped inside of me.

“Oh baby girl, you’re so tight, fuck I will barely be able to move. I can’t wait to feel your sweet little pussy stretch around my cock”

He took his finger out and cleaned with his tongue, humming in pleasure to the taste of my juices.

“You taste amazing, Y/N. Fuck I need more” He slide down my body placing his head between my thighs. His tongue gave a long lick from my entrance to my clit sucking it. Making his way back to my entrance again dipping his tongue inside of me, beginning to fuck me with his tongue.

“Oh my god, Roman, please fuck me! I need you inside of me please” I whined

“As you wish baby” He smirked

He slides his cock through my folds to lube it up, then places the head of his cock at my entrance

“Are you sure about this baby girl? ‘Cause once I start I won’t be able to stop myself”

“Roman, just fuck me already would you?” I said impatiently

He chuckled lightly saying “Easy tiger, we’ll take this slow, I don’t want to hurt you” Roman leaned down to peck my lips and returned to his previous position.

He started to slowly slide inside of me, inch by inch, painfully slow. He’s the biggest man I’ve ever been with, so I knew that we needed to take it slow, but fuck he feels so good I just wish he would roughly thrust into me, so I wiggle my hips to take more of him.

“Fuck Y/N, slow down! You’re too tight and I’m not exactly small, if you keep rushing things you’re gonna end up hurting yourself and I don’t want that”

“I know is just that your cock feels so fucking good, I just want you to fuck me Ro”

“Trust me baby, there’s nothing that I want more then fuck you senseless, but I want you to enjoy it as well ok?” He kissed my nose then my lips

When all of him was finally inside of me we both moaned loudly, I’ve never felt so full before and it was both a dream and a nightmare

“Motherfucker! Jesus fuck Y/N, you’re so fuckin- Oh my god.. I gotta focus ‘cuz I feel like at the slightest move I’ll cum” He pressed his forehead to mine as his thumb slowly traced circles on my clit.

“Roman” I gasped “Please don’t tease me like that, fuck it feels so fucking good” I cried as I felt my walls tighten around him

“Oh fuck!” Roman growled loudly “Don’t do that baby girl, don’t squeeze my cock like that, you’re gonna make m-“

“Move,please” I circled my hips

“Fuck it” He said as he forcefully grabbed my hips and begin to quickly thrust me.

“Oh Roman...harder, I need harder”

“Harder?” He chuckled “Like this?” He pounded into me mercilessly

“Yes! Just like that, oh please, don’t stop” “Fuck Y/N you’re going to get me addicted to you baby girl” He kissed my lips vigorously

“I say we should push you a little further..” Roman took the vibrator from the bed and placed on my clit.

“Ooohhh”

“Fuck, you look so beautiful baby girl, a whimpering mess underneath me”

“Ro- Roman I’m gonna cum”

“Cum baby, I wanna feel you cum around my cock”

And I did. My orgasm was so hard that my juices made a mess on Roman’s thighs and the bedsheets.

“Y/N, fuck baby...so fucking gorgeous, my messy girl” He chuckled “Where do you want me to cum baby?”

“Inside” I panted while I felt another mini orgasm come through me

“Fuck, I’m officially addicted to you baby girl. You’re my wet dream come true...gorgeous face, delicious body, perfect pussy..so tight for me. And on top of it all, you want my cum inside of you?! You are beyond perfect Y/N”

He thrusts into me 3 more times before finally cum, filling me up with his seed.

As we tried to recover our breaths, Roman uncuffed my wrists and placed a sweet kiss into each one.

“You ok baby girl?”

“Mhmm” I hummed

“Did I hurt you? Was I too rough?”

“No, of course not. You were perfect!”

“Good baby” He smiled

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure thing baby”

“Why? Why me?”

“Why not you?” He asked sincerely while he brushed my hair with his fingers

“I don’t know, I can’t picture someone like you with someone like me.. I mean, there are so many beautiful women in the company that fit you better...I’ve never thought you could find me attractive”

“Are you serious? Have you looked yourself in the mirror? You’re gorgeous, so perfect Y/N. Yes, there are beautiful women in the company but they’re nothing compared to you baby. You stand out, exactly because you’re different from all of them. You’re unique”

“Still...I don’t know..”

“Oh so you don’t believe me? Maybe I’ll have to show you then”

I could feel his cock beginning to harden on my thigh

“Show me? How?”

“Well baby girl, good thing there are more items of the box for us to try it huh?”

“Us?”

“Yeah, you don’t really think that I’m gonna let you go right? Now that I’ve tasted you, you’ve got me hooked baby. We’ve got the whole night for me to change your mind about us together. And I bet you that I will” He smirked as he leaned down to kiss my neck...

What a great way to celebrate my birthday 🎁

[feanope]

My contribution for @tolkienvillainsweek, Day 1 - Melkor

Nevermore

At the end of the world, two brothers meet again.

Ship: Manwë x Melkor

Rating: Teen and Up

Wordcount: 1.5k

Additional Tags: Canon Divergence (Melkor won the War), C/orruption, D/ark-ish, I/ncest

The sky is dark, with black clouds racing across the horizon.

So is the wind—dark and dreadful. The clouds, once a blinding white have become pitch black—poisonous fumes that waft around Taniquetil, where Manwë stands to gaze out into the ruins of the world. The wind, once gentle and light is no more. It’s black, and it’s grey now and it’s frightening. And yet—at the same time, it isn’t. It’s beautiful, in its very own way.

The stir of the wind intensifies and just moments later, a cloud of black feathers descends from the sky. Its surreal, blackness surrounded by an eerie light, silver and gold; like starlight—but different to it: purer, and more precious, long lost to the world Manwë has been living in.

Manwë gasps for he hadn’t thought he would ever see that light again. The light of the Two Trees, caught in Fëanáro’s wretched creations that now sit high upon Melkor’s brow.

The black fabric Melkor wears is worn and thin, little more than rags. It does nothing to lessen his dreadful appearance.

[read on AO3]

“It has been a while,” Melkor says from the distance. The words are twisted; grandiose and arrogant like Manwë remembers him to be. He wants to turn around; wants to look away, but there’s something about his brother, which makes that impossible. Something that holds Manwë spellbound—dark magic he’s skilled to weave—or maybe it’s just his own spinning thoughts that hold him captive.

Amidst Melkor’s weight the white marble on Taniquetil’s pathway cracks and shatters as he strides towards Manwë with the confidence of a thousand kings. Haughtiness and pride are sins, but Melkor has always been above such petty failings. He is burnt, and bleeding Manwë notices; his face distorted from all the wars he has fought. However, his grin is very wide.

Manwë confirms the obvious at last. “It has been a while, yes,” he says, an answer that takes much effort when at last he’s presented with the greatest nemesis he has ever had.

His eyes are fixed on his brother’s face that is bathed in the eerie light of the Silmarils until something else catches his attention once Melkor is close enough.

A feather. Gold, amidst a sea of blackness, dangling from his brother’s throat.

It isn’t ruffled, isn’t burnt, but well preserved as if his brother had tucked it securely away during all the atrocities he has committed. The observation doesn’t come without sentiment, and deep down in Manwë’s stomach something begins to simmer.

“After all these years…,” Manwë breathes when Melkor comes to halt before him, the shock so tremendously obvious in his voice that even someone deaf would notice it.

Melkor’s smile doesn’t come as a surprise, just the kind of smile it is, does: it’s neither smug nor arrogant. Instead, it’s open. Inviting. Just like the one, which has been hunting Manwë all his life.

The smile his brother had given him back then…

So long ago, at a time when he had actually believed Melkor’s malicious intends could be changed and altered to serve a greater good.

“Of course,” Melkor whispers, with the invitation in form of the smile is still being there.“How could I not cherish such a precious gift?”

In Manwë’s thoughts, the sentence completes itself to, ‘How could I not…, my brother. My kin.’

He loathes himself for it, always has.

For the thoughts, for what he feels, and for the fact that he could never rid himself of it.

Were those thoughts buried? Yes.

Dead? Not a single second of his life, no matter how much he had lied to himself about it.

And now, under the dark sky, with the word lying in ruins and ashes and ultimate victory of those forces Manwë had failed to restrain in the past, all of it is coming back alive: the weakness, the loathing, and the longing for what he should never have longed for in the beginning.

Such feelings sear and grow. They fester and spread, and ensnare Manwë’s mind.

For a fleeting moment, when a sulfurous cloud wraps itself around him like a choking embrace, Manwë wonders why he’s still alive. Left alive when all his kin has been slaughtered and slain – burnt and cast outside the world they once had shaped together in their glorious music. They all are extinguished, never to return.

Manwë keeps wondering still, even if he knows the answer; has known it all his life—even when his brother had succeeded in triumph and Illúvatar’s great halls had shaken in tremor, he had known.

Just…

Melkor’s voice falls into the empty space of Manwë’s thoughts. “Will you ever stop thinking?” he murmurs. And just as the words fill the voids in Manwë’s mind, Melkor’s body closes the distance between them; bridges it until nothing of it remains and his dark wings wrap around Manwë’s shaking form.

It has been long.

           Too long.

A lifetime. If such a thing exists for those who never cease to exist.

Not long enough.

Of all of Manwë’s faults, this one perhaps is the greatest.

The weakness for the one whom he couldn’t save. Not from the darkness that had kept whispering to him, nor from the corrupted thoughts that sprang from it.

“How could I kill you, brother mine?” Melkor whispers against the crown of Manwë’s head, kisses the silver hair with his lips, ashen and burnt. There’s tenderness in his voice; a longing so long-suppressed—mutual longing—or maybe just an imagination of how it all could have been?

Fleeting images of the long-forgotten past begin to glow in Manwë’s mind as Melkor keeps holding him: of Melkor sitting in the armchair in the corner, legs crossed until he unwraps them to welcome his brother in his lap; images of idle gestures and whispered words, right there and then, before he had sent uncountable numbers of Elves and Men into their deaths. But even then, the corruption had been there; the rattling thoughts of supremacy and only a fool would have thought otherwise; only a fool had thought that love could prevent such atrocities.

Well, in reflection and in regards to Melkor, Manwë always has been a fool.

His answer, spoken—at last—dissolves in the wind as if it was never said at all. He has no answers, not for Melkor nor for himself—only excuses: laughable ones, of the sort he has been telling all his life.

Those he won’t tell anymore. Not to himself, nor to anyone else.

“Yes,” Manwë’s states.

It’s final.

And it’s ultimate.

It’s what he should have said a lifetime ago.

Melkor tilts his head, confused. Just a little, but enough to provoke one of Manwë’s rare smiles. “Yes to what?” Melkor asks once confusion only remains in his eyes and his face has become a mask again.

With his brother’s curious gaze resting upon his face, Manwë takes his time before he answers. “To what you were about to offer,” he states.

The laugh that falls from Melkor’s lips is wretched. “As you may recall, I take and do not offer,” he sneers.

Manwë’s smile grows, and though he cannot see himself, he is certain it matches his brother’s previously displayed arrogance.

“And yet you have come…,” he says, holding Melkor’s gaze as he lifts his hand to gesture towards the plain below Taniquetil where Melkor’s fires still burn in the darkness of the night. “You didn’t conquer this realm of mine, didn’t lay it to ruin and ash like all the rest.”

Silence descends as Manwë’s words sink into his brother’s mind, and only when he sees disbelief on Melkor’s face, he speaks on. “You could have, we know it, you and I. But you have not conquered nor have you taken anything—you came to offer; to ask,” Manwë says, surprised by the delight saying such words brings him. “So tell me, am I wrong, brother mine?”

The mask Melkor wears to keep others from seeing his distraction and confusion shatters. Well, it long has to Manwë’s gaze, yet never more than in this moment, when all of Melkor’s emotions are laid bare: his confusion, his shame, and his utmost weakness.

After a tremendous pause, Melkor answers. “No, you are not,” he says, eyes cast downwards in a futile attempt to conceal his emotions. “Never were. I haven’t come to conquer; haven’t come to burn you alive as I did with many others. Haven’t come to take.”

Manwë nods, then leans in so that his lips almost touch the scarred shell of Melkor’s ear. “And what if I bade you to?” he whispers, and although his brother cannot see the smile, he makes certain he knows it is there. “To take and conquer? Until nothing else is left?”

*          

[yolkyeomie]

[request] — member: changbin, word count: 2007, genre: enemies to lovers(ish)/genshin au/angst, warning: none.

[2:45 pm]: “you broke it!” You yelled, a heart clenching scream echoing against the sky as you dropped to your knees in disbelief. Of all the things they could have happened, this just had to be one of them?

“What are you getting so worked up over?” The culprit questioned, snapping your head to attention with a face colored with fury.

Changbin stood over you, spinning his giant claymore around by the handle as he glanced down at your feet. His face contorted with annoyance as he unintentionally made you much smaller and weaker as he loomed over your defeated posture and spoke, “It’s just a polearm, we can just get you another one from the blacksmith.”

“Just a polearm?” You blinked once, then twice, as the boy’s harsh words resonated in your head and you rose off of the ground to defend yourself. “This isn’t just some polearm, Changbin!”

You shoved the severed polearm in his face, the once beautifully handcrafted spear now blackened out with ash and covered with scaring a from the boy’s fire. He stepped back instinctively as you continued to force him to look at the damage he had caused and with the trembling of your hands, you shouted, “this was a family heirloom! My father had this polearm, and his father, and his father before him! And you broke it! You snapped in half like it was a twig!”

“I didn’t do anything! You asked to spar and I gave you what you wanted and now you’re bad at the results?” He shouted back, growing defense as you continued to accuse him of such a heinous deed. “Just admit that that thing wasn’t as strong as your family made it out to be instead of blaming me.”

Furious with his attitude and denial, you took the sharp end of the polearm and swiped it at him. Thanks to your inattentiveness, the vision strapped along your glowed it’s ocean blue hue as water gathered around the head to increase the damage to attack. Though your aim was messy and fueled by sheer hatred so Changbin was easily able to dodge out of the way despite being rather slow out of the two.

In retaliation Changbin picked up his claymore with one hand and instinctively aimed the weapon at you, flames began to lick the sides of the blade as the vision embedded into his arm cuff began to glow its red hue.

The two of your never got along very well, no matter how hard you made an effort in hopes of mending your friendship. It was a constant off and on again fighting whenever it came to you two, especially when the vision bestowed upon you had been for the element of hydro, and Changbin’s for the element of Pyro. Though you were usually able to find some sort of middle ground at the end of the day to keep the tension within the group low, it didn’t seem like there would be that kind of resolve this time around.

“Woah, stop! What’s going on? The entirety of Liyue Harbor can hear you two yelling at each other! Do you really want the Millelith to get called on you?” Both of you snapped your head’s toward the voice, catching the shocked sight of Bang Chan and Jisung approaching.

Within seconds Jisung was at your side, forcing you to lower what was left as he tried to gauge what the situation was. Though he didn’t need to when you were already crying wolf to them. “He broke it! Changbin broke my polearm and he doesn’t even care!”

“He what?” Chan and Jisung questioned, turning toward the boy with disbelief printed on their foreheads.

“We were in a sparring match and I saw a weak point so I took my chances!” He defended himself. “The polearm snapping in half wasn’t meant to happen but Y/N keeps acting like I’ve committed a crime when I’ve done nothing wrong! Besides, we can just get you a polearm for the blacksmith, there’s no reason to be acting like this.”

“It’s like you don’t understand what you’ve done at all, you can’t just make another one of these,” you hissed are him, “This is unique, one of a kind, from my family and my family alone. This polearm isn’t something you can just buy from a blacksmith! You snapped it in half like it was nothing but a twig in the mud!”

“Well then maybe it is just a twig in the mud,” he cursed, taking a low blow to your feelings as he continued. “Clearly it must have been, if a weapon that was powered by a vision of all things so easily snapped under my claymore. Shouldn’t a family heirloom have at least some level of power to it? Maybe it really wasn’t one at all then.”

“That’s enough from you,” Chan scolded, moving into a more protective mode after hearing the words tumble out of your mouths with no filter. “Can’t you see you’ve done enough damage as it is?”

Changbin stared back at the boy, struggling to make up an excuse to get back on Chan’s good side. “But—“

“Yeah, don’t you think before you speak?” Jisung added, frowning at his friend’s dismissal of your belongings and feelings. “You’re taking it way too far, you’re being mean to Y/N for no reason now. Can’t you see that they’re upset, right Y/N— Y/N?” The three boys turned their head to face you but by the time they finally addressed you, you were gone.

The three of them glanced around for any speck of your existence, but it seemed as though you had completely vanished from the scene. All that was left was the other end of the broken polearm lying in grass that had been left behind. “Now look what you’ve done,” Chan sighed, crouching down to pick up the polearm. “How are you gonna fix this situation you’ve made, Changbin?”

You huffed ask you trudged through marketplace of Liyue Harbor, the broken polearm clenched in your grasp as you stared down on it. You had forgotten the other side of the polearm back where you had left Changbin and the others, but your pride wouldn’t let you go back to retrieve it. So instead, you had been walking in the market for hours in search of a blacksmith, but there was no one who could give you what you wanted.

The words that Changbin threw at you stung a lot more than you originally thought and facing him so soon when he probably didn’t think he was in the wrong might cause a lot more problems than solving any. You usually had a decent sense of self control, but if he spoke one word to you right now? You’d blow a fuse in a matter of seconds.

You couldn’t focus on that though, you needed to find a polearm to use as quickly as possible. As much as it pained you to look for a replacement, there was no way to repair the family heirloom and you needed to be able to defend yourself in the wild world of Liyue

You couldn’t simply rely on Bang Chan and Jisung for everything, you had a vision and it was to be put to use. The archons don’t just give them to anyone after all.

“Y/N,” a hesitant voice called out to you, your somber attitude turning fiery as soon as you recognize it. You turned your head around to find Changbin cautiously approaching you, covered in dirt and soot despite being clean only a few hours ago. He stopped in his tracks when the two of you met each other’s eyes, struggling to get another word out of his mouth. “Uh... yeah, so Y/N—“

“Are you here to make fun of me again?” You bite back, the conversation from earlier in the day coming back in vivid memories. “Tell me how my polearm wasn’t a good heirloom? That it’s just a twig in the mud.”

Changbin winced at your words, a nervous laugh escaping his lips. “Okay so you haven’t forgotten that... good to know.”

“Forgotten that?” You repeated, scoffing— no, laughing— at the boy’s sheer audacity. “How could I have forgotten how much poison you had sown in your words when you were quite literally yelling at me?”

“I don’t know! It’s been a couple of hours? I thought you had probably forgotten what I said by now?” He hissed, the tensions rising between you two once more. You and Changbin really couldn’t get along with each other, the boy seemed to believe that all would be forgiven if you simply forgot about everything and you held onto grudges a lot stronger then he predicted.

With that the two of your turned away from each other, huffing and puffing with disdain for the other. Was Changbin’s sole purpose in life to make you angry now? Why did he even show up if he wasn’t going to apologize for what he had said to you?

“Talking to you makes me so frustrated, geez.” Changbin muttered to himself, though his words were still able to find its way into your ears.

You turned around fast enough to give you whiplash as you opened your mouth to retaliate, ready to bare your fangs and give the boy a piece of your mind. Though you stopped when the boy shoved something at your face at the same time, nearly crashing straight into the object and struggling to help your balance.

In his hands was a polearm— new, shining black and gold polearm— and he held it out for you to take. “What is this?” You questioned him, cautiously taking the weapon out of his hands to look at it yourself. You had never seen this polearm before, you had walked into nearly every single blacksmith within Liyue Harbor and you never set your eyes upon this one. In fact it looked like it had been... just created.

“I felt bad, okay?” Changbin snapped, trying his best to hide his embarrassment as he turned his back to you. “Chan pulled me aside and made me talk about what happened and I felt bad. What I said was bad, okay? I understand that just take it or leave it, I don’t care anymore.”

You hold the polearm tightly in your hands, mixed feelings begin to swirl around your chest as you glanced at it. “I’ve been... searching for new polearms all over the place. Where did you... where did you even get this thing?”

He hesitated, thinking to himself for a few seconds before he glanced over his shoulder to look at you. “I made it. I got the materials for it, then came together with Hyunjin who uses a polearm too, and... I made it for you.” Changbin turned on his heels to face you, putting on his rough and tough demeanor as he made sure to remind you,” Only because I felt bad and made you upset, okay? Those are the only reasons I made that for you, don’t get it twisted or anything.”

“Changbin, that’s...,” you trailed off, unsure of what to say.

You were still mad at him and hadn’t received a direct apology yet, but the mere fact that he went and made you your very own unique polearm? You couldn’t lie and say you didn’t feel your heart warming at his actions. Maybe he wasn’t as bad as your anger made him out to be. “Oddly kind of you, are you sure Chan wasn’t the one who made it and you’re just giving it to me to look nice?”

“Alright, give that back then.” The boy demanded, reaching out to take the spear away from you.

You immediately slid out of the way, using your heightened agility to stay out of the boy’s grasp, “no! I mean... thank you, Changbin. This... this was nice of you to do for me. I’m still mad at you though, don’t forget that.”

[mrsgiovanna]

A series of Firsts - Don Giorno x Fem! Reader

A cute Valentines day scenario with husband Giogio, nsfw-ish toward the end, just something that's been on my mind for a little while. Cut for length🥺💭❤️

Word count: 2318

Everything that could have gone wrong had inevitably gone wrong. It was the first Valentines day that you and your beloved would be spending together as a married couple, so needless to say, you wanted to make it a tiny bit more noteworthy than the usual extravagant outings you’ve grown accustomed to. You knew that things like this weren’t really important, but blamed your sentimental self for wanting to commemorate each “first” event in your first year of wedded life. As luck would have it though, every single one of your plans would be foiled, however, in retrospect, your end goal would actually be achieved.

There was still a chill in the February air, but it was a beautiful sunny day nonetheless. Giorno had already left by the time your sleep had broken, but you had woken up to a beautiful red rose and a small heart shaped chocolate on his pillow with a simple note in his handwriting. You smiled when you read the note, three simple words, but it meant more to you than anything. You lazed about in bed for a while, thinking about all the things you wanted to do today. The villa was quiet, save for the few guards that Giorno would not compromise on, you had given most of his other staff the weekend off, wanting it to just be the two of you. Or so you’d thought…

The spanner foiling this plan, came in the form of some important conference call with an associate from the Speedwagon foundation. Well, calling him an “associate” might be a bit cold, seeing that it was Giorno’s relative, Jotaro Kujo, who wanted to speak to him himself. Giorno knew it must have been something very important for Jotaro to reach out to him of all people given the circumstances and how suspicious he was in the beginning. So off he went, you presumed to his study, to discuss whatever issue was plaguing Jotaro. Deciding it was time to get out of bed, you quickly showered and threw on something comfortable, knowing you were going to put on a knock out outfit later on. No sooner had you stepped out of the master bedroom did you hear a loud bang, and felt something whizzing past you, missing your face by a hair’s breath. Being immediately on guard, you summoned your stand ready to attack the enemy that had infiltrated your home when you heard the familiar whining of Mista’s sex pistols…

“Mistaaaaa, he’s not here, can we go eat now?”

“Well good morning to you too number 5,” you said to the miniscule stand, who started to hide himself in your hair to escape the harassment from number 3.

“Awww has Mista has been starving you guys again? How awful, lets go find you guys something to eat,” you teased, earning an annoyed look from the gunslinger, to which he retorted, “Excuse me, they’re well fed and have nothing to complain about!”

As you both made your way to the kitchen, you asked Mista what brought him to the villa this early in the morning. You were hoping against your better judgment that it wasn’t anything too serious, but by the time Mista was done relaying his report about the unrest in some of the outlying areas, you knew it had to be nipped in the bud before it gained momentum. Wanting to feed the tiny gremlins, but being unsure of what they would eat in the morning, you set up some cured meats, fruits, nuts and some warmed cornetto on a platter.

The delicious smell of warm, buttery pastry had whet your appetite as well, so you decided to warm up more pastries for you and Mista and started making cappuccinos for the both of you. By this point you and Mista had been around each other for long enough and had been through so much together, that the bond felt more familial than anything else.

Setting down the food in front of you and Mista, the facts of his report were still playing on your mind.

“So where is Giorno anyway? I thought he’d taken some time off, which is why I came straight here,” asked Mista as he bit off a piece of his strawberry preserve filled croissant.

“He’s in the middle of an important conference call, he might be a while… what do you think about what’s happening in in the new territories? Do you think we can handle the situation among ourselves?”

Perplexed by your question, Mista thought for a while before answering. “I suppose they aren’t the strongest stand users, between you, Fugo and myself, we should be able to take them out if the need arises… listen, I don’t like where you’re going with this,”

It was all the confirmation you needed as you spoke with determination, “Let’s go then, if we can end this before it has a chance to blow up then we should do it. Call Fugo, I’m sure he’ll be willing to go with us, I’ll text Gio to let him know.” It was the first time you’d taken a bold decision like that without so much as consulting with Giorno… and just like that, you had thrown the second spanner in the works without even knowing it, because what should have taken a couple of hours had ended up taking the better part of the day.

“I wonder…. where could she be… ” mused Giorno as he walked around the villa looking for you. The conference call had taken longer than expected so he sought you out to make it up to you, but you were nowhere to be found. Deciding to call you, he’d come across the text message you’d sent him just before you left. His eyes darkened as he tried to call you.

“Oh hi Gio, are you okay? We’re kinda in the middle of something here,” you answered, trying to sound unfazed despite the ruckus taking place behind you.

“Cara, how can you just rush off into a dangerous situation like this? I’m very upset with you, come back here immediately,”

You felt very guilty when he still addressed you with his usual kindness despite how angry he sounded.

“Gio, I’m so sorry, I’ll explain everything when we get back, it will be over soon I promise,” you say, trying to placate both his temper and your own feelings.

“You guys have an hour to come back, failing which, I’ll have to come there myself. Honestly, you’re lucky I love you as much as I do, amore…” with that Giorno ended the call and went back to his study, hoping that you guys would be okay.

Upon arriving at Giorno’s study, you found him to be the picture of serenity, quietly working at his desk with some soft music playing in the background. He was relieved to see that you three delinquents were okay, most of all, you- his wife, who unfortunately was the biggest troublemaker of the lot, however he didn’t let that relief show on his face…

Just as Mista was about to speak, Giorno raised his hand to silence him,

“Did everything work out as expected in your marvelous misadventure?”

“you could say so… the job is done”

“is anyone hurt?”

“no, everyone’s alright,”

“then go home, it’s been a long day,” sensing everyone’s surprise, Giorno explained himself further.

“I trust you all, I want to make that clear… but for God’s sake, at least 1 person needs to be the voice of reason, nonetheless, I’m glad everything worked out for the best, just think before wildly rushing out next time,”

Mista and Fugo left the office leaving you alone with Giorno. You waited to hear the little electronic beep that the door made when it locked before you gently lowered yourself into Giorno’s strong arms, settling down comfortably in his lap.

“I’m sorry for upsetting you tesoro… you have so much to do, I just wanted to share some of the burden with you,”

“I know bella, I’m sorry too, I didn’t mean to snap at you earlier, I was just worried, I’d like to keep you away from these things as much as possible,”

“I can hold my own, you know,”

“I know bella, but you shouldn’t have to,” replied Giorno, lazily weaving his fingers through your hair. He drew your head closer for a kiss, starting off gentle, growing ever more passionate until you both stopped yourselves.

“Come amore mio, there isn’t a lot of time left, you have to get ready for our date, remember?”

Reluctantly, you got off his lap and left him with a feather light kiss to his temple.

After a long while of titivating with your look, you made your way back to Giorno’s study, finding him dreamily admiring the final seconds of the winter sunset. The fading golden light made his hair shine like spun gold and drew out the various jeweled specks of his eyes. He turns towards you, and his expression changes entirely, as if time itself had stood still.

“What do you think?” you ask, doing a little twirl and ending off in a pose, you giggle at your gesture.

“Sei cosi bella, you’re absolutely breathtaking amore mio,” Giorno says as he extends his arm to you, “are you ready to go?”

You smile sweetly and link your arm through his, just as you’re about to leave, the electricity cuts out.

No matter, you both wait patiently, expecting the generator to kick in at any moment, but nothing happens. Giorno’s study is more akin to a bunker, an impenetrable fortress built with the intention of keeping you both safe if the need ever arose. Grabbing his cellphone, Giorno calls one of the guards and asks him to check out the problem, as you are effectively stuck until you can get electricity back into the mechanism of the door.

You tinkered around the draws and cupboards, and managed to find all the aromatherapy candles and burners you got your husband to help him relax, you would have been annoyed that they were buried away if you weren’t as relieved as you were. It was quickly getting dark, and without the twinkling lights of the skyline, the room was becoming evermore difficult to navigate. After lighting up a considerable amount of the candles, you had to admit that the atmosphere was quite romantic.

“Well, they’ve found the problem, but can’t say how long it will take to fix, I could always try to use GE to break us out,”

“Break us out and do what my love? It looks like whole city is out, we’re probably in the safest place there is, come on, relax, we’ll just wait it out,” you reply as you pull him over to the couch. “see, this is nice right?” you say as you take your usual spot in his arms.

“Of course cara, I’m sorry, you’ve been patient with me recently, I know I’ve been very busy, so I just wanted to spoil you a bit,” Giorno’s voice was so gentle as he spoke, his fingers tracing circles onto your arm.

You were relieved as you felt him relax under your embrace, “for what it’s worth, happy Valentines day tesoro, I know things didn’t go according to anyone’s plan, but I’m still happy right here,” you utter, burying your face into the crook of Giorno’s neck.

“Happy Valentine’s day Amore mio, at least we’ll never forget this, and besides we have the rest of our lives to make up for it.”

The temperature started to drop the later it got, so Giorno decided to make use of his fireplace to make sure you didn’t get too cold, your slinky little evening dress offered little protection from the cold, not that he was complaining, it just meant that you would snuggle up closer to him. A yearning stirred in him when he looked back at you, bundled up in his large coat on the couch, you just looked so beautiful, the candlelight danced about in your eyes and your smile was the purest he’d ever seen.

“Are you okay bella? The room should warm up in a few moments. Ah, I know what would speed up the process… I recently acquired a very impressive bottle of wine…” mused Giorno as he found the bottle of Screaming Eagle Cabernet.

“Gio, isn’t that an insanely expensive bottle?”

“I’d hope so, it’s the 1992 vintage, imagine, we were just kids when this was made” he quipped, genuinely excited to crack open the extravagant alcohol.

“I thought you’d save something like that for a huge milestone like the birth of our first child or something of that magnitude. I just know how pricey it is,”

“Ah the birth of our child… conception of our child, it’s all the same”

Perplexed you asked, “caro, what are you saying?”

“What I’m saying bella, is that we’re freezing, the night is young and all we have for entertainment is each other’s wonderful company, whatever happens from here on out is up to the gods of fate, salute,”

And with a clink of your glasses and a gaze into each other’s eyes, you both took a sip of the wine. There was something irresistible about the way Giorno’s eyes glinted in the soft lighting. With a confident smirk, he drew you in for a passionate kiss, giving his hands permission to explore your beautiful body, drawing out those pretty sounds and lustful expressions that only he had the privilege of observing. Giorno was an intuitive lover, and you completely surrendered yourself to him. You both spent the rest of the night reveling in each other’s beauty and affection.

With arms and legs intertwined lovingly, breathing even and peaceful, you both slept blissfully unaware of the plans the mischievous gods of fate had in store for you.

[charincharge]

Cruel Summer, Part 2

cruel summer masterlist

AN: Thank you all so much for your thoughts and comments. I enjoy them immensely. I thought this was all going to be from Rowan’s POV, but... I was wrong. CW: Drinking, swearing.

The first Monday after Ashryver Playland opens is always Aelin’s favorite day of the summer. It’s a silly tradition her grandparents started, but it’s been a part of her life as long as she can remember. That very first Monday after the park’s first successful week, the Ashryver Galathinius clan opens up their summer home to the Playland’s staff and families for an all day pool party and barbeque.

Summer has always been Aelin’s favorite season. It means spending three months of pure bliss in her summer home, overlooking the waters of Terrasen from her bedroom balcony. And there’s something about Ashryver’s opening week barbeque that always manages to sets the tone for her summer. Summer doesn’t really begin until the barbeque begins. It’s always marks her first something.

When she was eleven, Aelin met her first real best friend, Dorian – one of the board member’s sons. She’d left the party to hide in the music room, trying to teach herself how to play her favorite Death Cab for Cutie song on the large grand piano, when he wandered in, singing on top of her stumbling melody line with a flawless unbroken tenor. He’d flashed her a giant smile and pushed his floppy dark curls out of his face and sat down on the bench next to her. They’d been best friends ever since. And the firsts only continued from there.

As Aelin finishes drawing a perfect cat eye with her liquid eyeliner she wonders what first awaits her this summer.  

“Aelin, ten minutes til guests.” Her mother, Evalin, walks past her open bedroom door and does a double-take. “Wowww, someone looks especially nice today,” her mom says with a playful gleam in her eye. “Might I ask who you’re dressing up for?” she asks, taking in Aelin’s white eyelet sundress and full face of makeup. “Because I know this certainly isn’t for Dorian. Wisely.”

“I heard that,” Dorian says, bounding up the last few steps and onto the second floor landing. He sees Aelin and grins that very same grin he gave her that first day he spotted her a decade ago and takes off running. Aelin squeals as Dorian hugs her from behind and swings her around, lifting her off her feet.

“Dor, put me down, I just finished doing my hair!” Aelin says, shrugging him off, but she returns his smile fondly, even as he flops down onto her perfectly made bed, making himself comfortable and kicking off his flip flops.

“You do look suspiciously nice, Ace. What’s with the dress and the hair? Aren’t you going to swim?” Dorian asks stretching his arms up and placing them under his head.

Aelin ignores him and goes back to finishing her makeup. She uncaps a crimson red lipstick and leans into the mirror to apply it when –

“You know if you’re actually looking to make out with someone tonight then red lips probably isn’t the right choice.”

Aelin slides her eye to the boy on her bed and then straightens up again, putting the red lipstick away. He does have a point. Dorian bolts upright, eyebrows raised.

“We’re making out with someone tonight? Who?” Dorian asks, poking Aelin’s thigh with one of his toes.

Aelin’s cheeks flush as she remembers the name of the staff member she so thoroughly stalked the other night. So thoroughly, in fact, that she’s actually embarrassed about it. But also, who has a public Facebook profile these days? Rowan Whitethorn, that’s who.

When Aelin realized all she had to do was ask her five year old nephew for the name of the man who rescued him, she was easily able to find the man on the RSVP list for the barbeque. And from there, she sat in front of her computer for hours, soaking in every last detail she could find. Grew up in Wendlyn, went to school at Mistward and majored in computer sciences and graduated four years ago. His interests include photography and fitness and baking (what man enjoys baking and posts pictures of it?).

Aelin is extremely curious as to how he ended up working at Playland. A man with that kind of degree doesn’t usually find himself ripping ticket stubs, but she’s not complaining about it. Aelin really enjoys looking at his face. And his arms. And his back. She’s anxious to talk to him today, which is annoying. Aelin is never anxious around men. She’s fun and flirty and confident, but one look at Rowan had her excess nerves dancing in circles and turning her into kind of a bitch. She’s hoping her second impression is a lot better. Hence, the dress. And the makeup.

“We’re making out with no one.” Aelin shoots a warning glance in Dorian’s direction as she puts on a light pink lip stain.

“You and Chaol didn’t get back together, did you?” Dorian asks, and Aelin cringes.

“Of course not.” She turns to Dorian as she puts on the final touch – her favorite gold hoop earrings. “You don’t think your best friend would have told you if we’d gotten back together?”

“I don’t know, that last break up nearly took us all out, so if we could not repeat that, that’d be great.” Dorian stares at her, willing her to fess up, but Aelin refuses to give him anything in return. It’s way too early to tell Dorian anything.

“All right, then,” he drawls in a silly British accent. “Keep your secrets.”

Aelin sticks out her tongue as her mom calls out from downstairs, “Kids! Party guests are here!”

“Twenty-four-years old, and we’re still fucking kids,” Dorian grumbles as the pair make their way down the grand front staircase. Aelin hops up onto the wooden banister and rides it all the way down to the bottom, shouting “Catch me!” to Dorian as he runs and chases her to the foyer.

Evalin scolds them, but there’s no real bite to it.  Aelin fixes her banister-swept hair and makes her way out to the front stairs where she and her parents will greet all the staff members and their families. Her parents are all about making the Playland employees feel welcomed, and they make a point to learn each and every one of their names. Plus, they’re a stickler for etiquette. Aelin can’t remember a time when she wasn’t on the front steps to welcome party guests as they arrived.

“I’ll meet you out back in… an hour-ish?” Aelin tells Dorian. “Steal me a bottle of pink champagne?”

Dorian bows at the waist. “Yes, your majesty.” He chuckles softly when she flips him off.

Aelin is the last to join her family. Her parents and her brother, for all intents and purposes, Aedion, already perched and ready to welcome the first wave of guests.

An hour later and Aelin’s jaw already hurts from smiling. She’s shaken so many hands and met so many people and made polite conversation with staff members from years past, but there’s still one face that hasn’t shown yet, and Aelin is having a hard time not showing her disappointment. He RSVPed yes, which means he should be here. Not showing up would be very rude. Right?

Aedion shakes out his hands and cracks his neck loudly. “Who’s ready for a drink?”

Aelin is reluctant to leave the front stairs. Leaving the front stairs means they’re finished greeting people at the party, which means that party guests have stopped arriving, and she’s not ready to admit that defeat. She gives one last wistful glance down the long empty driveway before giving in.

“Yeah, I could use a large drink,” Aelin yawns, leaning into her big brother’s shoulder.

“You’re not allowed to be tired,” he says with a laugh, squeezing her arm. “You are a sprightly youth and don’t have a ten-year-old and a five-year-old waking you up every morning at the crack of dawn to fight about watching Cars or Disney Fam Jam.”

Aelin looks up at him. “That’s not a real thing.”

“I assure you, it is.”

“This guy needs a drink,” Aelin says loudly as she and Aedion make their way out to the back patio where the party is really happening, and Aelin relaxes a tiny bit. So what if Rowan isn’t coming and she got all dressed up for nothing? She’ll look extra cute in pictures this year. She’s here with her family on the first real day of summer, and she’s determined to have a good day, regardless.

She takes in the scene around her – everyone seems to be having the best time. Caterers mill around the stone patio, holding out trays of grilled meats and veggies. At the far side of the patio is a long bar with an ample crowd around it. Champagne is being popped and spirits are being poured, and there’s endless bounds of chatter and laughter from all directions. In the middle of it all, the pool is filled with children and adults alike, playing games and doing handstands and lounging on floats.

The edge of the pool fades into the perfect view of the ocean. Aelin takes a deep breath as she watches the waves break against the shore. She listens to the gulls cawing overhead and inhales the salty sea breeze. Despite her small bout of disappointment, Aelin is happy.

Aedion’s two kids squeal for his attention from the pool.

“Dad! Auntie Ae!” Evie calls from the far end of the pool, her usual strawberry blonde ringlets sopping wet around her shoulders. “Watch me dive!”

Evie dives into the side of the pool, her dolphin arms in perfect form as she splashes into the water. She emerges with a giant smile on her freckled face.

“Good job!” Aedion beams. “Okay, drinks, now,” he whispers to Aelin, guiding her toward the bar.

“Where’s your wife?” Aelin asks, looking around for the green eyed brunette, who’s usually hovering around her children.

Aedion points ahead, and sure enough the woman in question stands at the front of the bar, looking insanely glamorous in a black one piece with a sheer leopard kaftan, taking shots of tequila with Aelin’s favorite returning staff member, Elide.

“Lysandra brought our babysitter with us today,” he says with a devious smile and snakes his way through the crowds to wrap his arm around his wife’s waist.

“Aelin, come do shots!” Elide pulls Aelin up to the bar, her outstretched hand helping her weave her way through the throngs of buzzed staff members. “We’re celebrating my promotion!”

“Ellie is officially manager level this summer.” Lysandra and Elide raise their newly filled shot glasses and hand one each to Aelin and Aedion respectively. Aelin hates tequila but loves Elide, so she clinks glasses and downs the alcohol quickly, grabbing a lime and sucking as much of the juice out of it as she can.

She shudders and Aedion punches her in the shoulder playfully. “Lightweight.”

Aelin rolls her eyes and reverts the topic back to Elide. “So, big shot manager. Does this mean you’re spending all your time with Lorcan now?” Aelin raises her eyebrows, knowing about Elide’s not so small crush on the stoic manager. “Long nights, just the two of you, arranging schedules in the soft romantic light of the Playland breakroom?”

Elide covers her face with her hand and screws her eyes shut. “Oh my god! No! No that is not what is happening at all.”

“Your mouth says no, but your blush says – ‘Yes, Lorcan, yes!’” Aelin teases, poking at Elide’s rosy cheeks. Elide slaps Aelin’s hands away.

“I just had three tequila shots, of course my cheeks are red.” Elide’s hands go to her cheeks, covering them as much as she can, trying to will away the warm flush creeping over her face. “You’re a monster, Aelin. That’s not what’s going on with Lorcan,” she hisses.

“What’s going on with me?” Lorcan asks, approaching from out of nowhere with a beer in his hand, and if possible Elide’s blush grows even deeper.

“Nothing!” Elide shouts, exasperated. “I’ll be right back. Be good, Aelin.” She throws Aelin a warning glare as she stalks off, and Lysandra and Aedion bite back their laughter as a bewildered Lorcan muses out loud—

“Did I say something?”

“No,” Aelin says, turning all her attention to Lorcan. “Elide was just saying how excited she is to work as a manager with you.”

Lorcan’s face lights up as he takes a sip of his beer. “Yeah, she’s been a huge help so far. Especially with such a new staff this year.”

“Yeah… a lot of newbies this year.” Aelin pauses, wondering if she should probe Lorcan about Rowan. It wouldn’t do any harm, right? “Anyone giving you any trouble?”

“Nah,” Lorcan shakes his head and pushes a long piece of hair behind his hair. “But you know me. I like them to think they’re all giving me trouble, so they act accordingly.” He snorts, amused with his own management technique. “There’s one new guy who is so jumpy around me. I love it.”

“You’re evil,” Aelin laughs.

“I prefer diabolical,” Lorcan replies. “Ah, and it looks like he just arrived,” Lorcan continues with a grin. “Want me to introduce you, so you can see it up close?”

Lorcan points in the direction of the sliding doors that lead out to the patio, and there, in all his tall blonde and board-shorted glory stands Rowan. Finally. But Aelin’s heart drops. Because Rowan isn’t alone. He’s arrived with a girl.

~*~*~*~*~

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[illfoandillfie]

5 Simple Rules For A Successful Fake Relationship: Picture Perfect

5 SIMPLE RULES MASTERLIST

Pairing: Ben Hardy x Reader

Summery:  A whole day with Ben's family and no way to escape. How will you survive? And will any rules be left intact by the end of the night?

Warnings: SMUT (finally lmao), nothing like super kinky but it is explicit, plus the usual stuff,  drinking, mention of smoking.

Words: 6284

A/N: ARE YA'LL READY FOR THIS? smut scene is marked with a *** so you can skip it if you like.

Taglist:  @laedymoon  @dtfrogertaylor  @vee-ndetta @atomic-watermelon @kellypenac @labessieisallama @deakyclicks @jennyggggrrr @drowseoftaylor  @hannafuckingsucks  @i-cant-hangout-im-drumming @queenmylovely @supersonicfreddie @tenement-funstah @taron-egrotten @johndeaconshands @borhapbois @thefairyfellersmasterstroke @queenlover05

@coni-martina @hardforbenhardy @cubedtriangle @vicouscirce @arianabrashierstuff @pattieboydwannabe @maggieroseevans @theprettyandthereckless @im-an-adult-ish​

A week later you were in the passenger seat of Ben’s car, your bags in the back, watching the scenery pass by. You found your eyes drawn to him more often than usual but he didn’t seem to notice. Maybe it was that he was so focused on the road and the traffic around you or maybe it was because you were playing I spy and a few glances from the person who’d spied the object were expected. I spy was a good game. Distracting enough to focus your mind on something other than wanting Ben. For the most part at least. “And we can definitely still see it?” “Yuuuuuuup,” you popped the ‘p’ and glanced over at Ben again. “And it starts with ‘M’ but isn’t ‘Mazda’ like what’s driving behind us, or Mars Bar like what I was just eating?”” “Nope,” you popped the p again and laughed, “d’you want a clue?” “Go on then, otherwise we’ll be stuck like this all day,” “We’ve been following them since we got on the motorway,” Ben’s forehead creased as he thought about your clue, “Truck doesn’t start with ‘M’,” “Clever boy. You deserve a gold star for that one,” “Bite me,” You laughed and gave in to the temptation to look at him again, noting the crease of his forehead as he thought about your clue, “Should I just tell you?” “Fine, I’m never going to get it at this rate,” “I spy with my little eye a mudflap girl. Two of them actually,” “What the fuck is a mudflap girl?” You pointed at the silhouette on the tuck’s mudflaps, “Her. The chick with the stupidly pinched in waist and big knockers.” “Is that what they’re called?” “What knockers?” “No, I’m perfectly familiar with those,” Ben laughed and you whistled teasingly, willing your mind to stop picturing what it was picturing “Shush, I meant the mudflap girls, is that what they’re called?” “Yeah. You didn’t know?” He shook his head slightly, “Never really came up.” “Sorry, would have picked something else if I’d realised,” “‘s fine. Just means I won’t hold back with the next one.” You’d been a little nervous at the prospect of driving hours with just Ben for company, still coming to grips with the fact you wanted to knock boots with him. You couldn’t even think about it in direct language, just roundabout phrases your mum used to use. But, thankfully, all your concerns had disappeared the moment you got into the car, infected by Ben’s bright smile and insistence that he’d make it fun. His definition of fun was a lot of classic driving games, hence the I Spy, plenty of road trip snacks, and a healthy dose of a specially curated driving playlist. You’d made fun of him for including I’m In Love With My Car on it but he just turned it up louder and sang it at you which only made you laugh more. It stopped any awkwardness or uncomfortable silences in their tracks. But all the laughter and playful teasing was just another reminder of how close you were and that made you think about how badly you wanted to do the dirty with him, hear him whining your name, feel his hands all over you, cuddle up with him and doze as he read to you. You shook your head as the third image sprang to the forefront of your mind. That wasn’t right. Bumping uglies was one thing but dozing was out of the question. Unless it was in a post-coital come down of course. Not that any of it mattered since you weren’t going to act on it. Joe had made it very clear that something actually happening was a bad idea. Although, looking at Ben now he didn’t seem to be that bad off. Certainly not white knuckling it as Joe had said. He was happy and bubbly and you couldn’t see a single sign of him falling apart. What did Joe know anyway? He lived so far away, how could he possibly know what was good for Ben or, for that matter, you.

Halfway there you found a place to pull up so you could stretch your legs and refresh your snacks but then it was back into the car for the second leg of the trip, winding through the traffic until it thinned out and you pulled up outside a nice white house with a tidy yard. “This is it?” you asked, the nerves back in full force. “Yeah, you good?” You just nodded your head but Ben gave your hand a reassuring squeeze, “Remember the plan, yeah? Hold hands as much as we can, look as loved up as possible, just like what we do for the cameras. What’s our story?” “Met at the audition for Edith since you’d already been cast. Hung out a lot as prep for the movie. You asked me out a couple of days before filming began and we dated secretly for a while but then, partway through filming, we were caught by paparazzi and decided to be open about it.” “Very good. What el- shit, no time for the rest of the pop quiz, the front door just opened.” “It’s okay, I’m good. We’ve been doing this for months now, it’s just more of the same.” Ben nodded and then let your hand go so he could get out of the car. You opened your door and stepped out, smoothing out your skirt, your hand cold outside of Ben’s grasp. But he fixed the problem, taking your hand again as he led you towards the front door and the person who’d come out onto the driveway. He squeezed your hand again. “Hi mum. This is Y/N,” “Well it’s about time,” his mum said, already stepping forward to hug you, forcing you to drop Ben’s hand “lovely to meet you, darling.” “Pleasure to meet you too Mrs Jones,” you smiled politely as she stepped back. “Oh, Angela, please,” her hands were still on your shoulders as she examined your appearance, “Gosh aren’t you pretty.” You managed to stutter out a thank you, suddenly feeling much more shy than you normally would have. “Oh c’mon mum, let her go.” “I’m just saying she’s beautiful, what’s wrong with that?” but her hands fell from you as she turned her attention to Ben, “I still think you’re very handsome too Ben. Need a bit of a haircut though.” He rolled his eyes but hugged her all the same. “Mikey’s already there setting up with your father and I expect you’ll be giving him a hand soon?” “Can I not have five minutes out of the car before I get piled up with chores?” Ben whined as you both followed her inside.

She led you on a brief tour of the house, pointing out where the bathrooms were and coming to an end at Ben’s old room where you’d be staying. She promised you enough time to grab your bags and freshen up before you’d be asked to help and then she headed back towards the front of the house. You peeked inside the bedroom door hoping to see what teenage Ben’s sense of style was but it had since been redecorated. “Don’t look so disappointed,” Ben laughed, “Mum had the whole house redone a few years ago and it didn’t make sense to keep my room how it was.” “Please tell me there’s photos here somewhere,” “Probably but you’re not seeing them,” “You have to tell me something, I’m your girlfriend and I need to know.” “Fuck off, you do not,” “Please?” you extended the word in a childish whine, pouting at him until he broke. “What d’you want to know then?” “What’d you have on your walls? Band posters?” Ben laughed, “Uhhh, a few sports things – my favourite teams and that. Some girls with big tits leaning all over cars…Couple of theatre posters too,” “Nerd,” “Shut up,” he laughed again, pushing against your shoulder, “Sorry about Mum by the way,” “It’s totally fine,” “I promise it’ll all be over soon,” You were taken aback as he wrapped you up in a tight hug but very happily relaxed against him. Carefully, so as not to break the moment you looked up at him only to find him looking back at you. It was the closest you’d been since the almost-kiss in the hotel. Sure, you’d been close, even hugged before, but not in this long, lingering way and even then, it was mostly just in public. A sharp knock at the door made you break apart. “Sorry to rush you but Mikey’s just called asking after you. Better get a move on,” “Who’s Mikey?” you asked, refusing to acknowledge the tension in the air. “My brother, Michael. S’pose we should crack on. You’ve got about twelve bags to pull from the car.” “Fuck off, it’s only two and one of them’s a hand bag. Plus, it’s you’re fault for not being more specific about dress code.” You hadn’t known exactly what to pack and got no clear answer when you’d asked, so you’d packed a few different outfit options, from casual jeans and a nice blouse to a slightly more fancy little black dress, the clutch you’d taken to the French restaurant packed with it in case you needed a stylish purse. “You’re such a drama queen. Just help me with them yeah?”

You would have known he was Ben’s brother even before you’d heard about him. His face was thinner and his shoulders less broad but they had the same smile, same eyes. He was lovely too, jumped down off a chair and dropped the coil of fairy lights he’d been holding so he could shake your hand and introduce himself. Then came their dad, maybe not quite as warm as their mum but just as welcoming. Both you and Ben were handed lengths of lights and sent off to find places to hang them. Inside it wasn’t necessary since the restaurant was already lit up, staff busting about making sure everything was ready for that afternoon. So Ben led you away from the big open door, into the beer garden. It was mostly paved, small shoots of grass sprouting up through the bricks, though there was also a large strip of grass at the very end of the yard. Ben’s brother and dad were on one side of the yard, securing their lights to the fence so you and Ben headed straight for the grassy end where the light of the restaurant wouldn’t quite reach. “Wait here a sec,” Ben said, handing you his coil of lights and turning back towards the paved area. You watched as he dragged on of the sturdy wooden tables over to you. At the first scrape of the wood on the brick he looked inside to see if anyone was going to go mad at him but, aside from his family members, no one noticed. When he finally got it in position, he climbed up onto the table and held out his hand for the lights. You kept lookout as he wound the wire around a tree branch and then jumped down again, handing the end of the lights to you so you could wrap it around the tree trunk and secure the battery pack out of harm’s way, as he pushed the table back into place. It wasn’t long before the yard was covered with lights extending from the doorway all the way to the fence that blocked the yard from the road. Of course, all that work meant you deserved a drink so, by the time Ben’s mum and other family members began arriving in the late afternoon, you were already halfway through your first glass. Ben gave you a running commentary of everyone who walked into the restaurant. “That’s my cousin and her daughter. And the couple behind her are my,” he thought for a moment, “Well let’s call them cousin’s too because I don’t know how seconds and removals work. The bald guy over there talking to Mum is my great uncle. And the woman who just waved is an Aunt. Whatever you do, don’t mention her son. He’s had a run in with the law and it’s a touchy subject.” “Noted. But shit, when you said family get together you really meant it,” “Yeah,” Ben laughed, “The Jones’ don’t do things by halves. ‘Specially not when there’s drinking involved.”

As the place began to fill Ben took you around to meet people. You felt a little like the ball in a pinball machine, bouncing from one person to another, introducing yourself and then moving on to someone else, almost immediately forgetting any names you’d just been told. It was almost like doing interviews again except with more movement and more alcohol. Ben kept a hold of you, either interlocking his fingers with yours or else wrapping his arm around your waist, keeping you close to his side, only letting you go to grab you another drink or light up a cigarette. At one point you had a small crowd gathered beside you, all pointing out things they’d seen in magazines or on the internet about you, all wanting to hear about how you met. Thankfully you’d become quite practiced at telling the story. “We met at the audition actually,” Ben said, “I had the part but they wanted to try me with different actresses to find someone that would work well on screen. I’d met, I don’t know, eight or nine women and then Y/N came into the room. She looked kinda nervous,” You shook your head in disagreement but Ben ignored you. “but we got a chance to say hi before we had to read the lines and we just clicked.” “Our director really liked us together so I got a call back and we did another scene,” “So they could, y’know, see us kiss, make sure the chemistry was there.” “They must have liked it because I got the part. We did a couple of weeks of all this, um, like, bonding stuff. The rest of the main cast was there too but me and Ben had a few one on one things because we were playing a couple that was already engaged so they wanted us to look really connected.” “Anyway, I wanted to ask her out after day one but I wasn’t sure if I should because we’d be working together,” “I took a little longer to see him in that light but he was so sweet and charming and fun to be around, and by the end of the week I was thinking the same thing. Only neither of us wanted to make the first move because if it wasn’t mutual then it could make the next few months of work really awkward.” “Eventually one of the other actors pointed out how into me she was so I asked her out for a coffee and it went from there.” He returned your smile and then pulled you closer into his side, dropping a kiss to the top of your head as you leaned against his chest. “Well your casting director knew what they were doing because you two are adorable together.” A few more questions followed but eventually Ben was able to extract you from the crowd with the excuse you needed more drinks. “Actually, I gotta run to the loo, I’ll bring some food back with me though, okay?” “Okay, I’m gonna grab another cocktail, you want anything?” “Beer’d be great,” “Sure thing, babe,” He smiled again as he left you but you were smiling too. There was something fun about the act. Even with everything that had happened and how mixed up and hard it had been at times, an evening like this was fun. He made you laugh and made sure you felt comfortable in what could have easily been an extremely uncomfortable situation. Plus, it meant you got to indulge the part of you that was still fantasising about being with him. You were allowed to kiss him and touch him because you were acting. There was no confusion about why, no worries about if you were crossing the line you’d put down, nothing to stop you from enjoying it. So what if occasionally your fantasies extended beyond just doing the horizontal tango? It wasn’t so bad to think about cuddling up in front of the TV with him.

Drinks in hand you headed back to where Ben had disappeared, trying to spot him in the crowd. “Y/N!,” You spun round to see who was talking, finding yourself face to face with Ben’s mum again. Angela, you reminded yourself. “Come join us over here,” she said leading you to a table where a few others sat, “You’ve met my husband Keith already, yes? And this is Doug and Katherine. This is Y/N, Ben’s girlfriend.” You took a seat and chatted with them, glancing around for Ben every so often. Eventually Doug and Katherine got up to talk to someone else and Keith went off in search of more food, leaving you and Angela alone. “Now, darling, Ben tells me you’ve got a work thing to get back home for tomorrow so you’ll be leaving a bit earlier than originally planned.” Angela said, patting your hand. “Yeah, um, it’s an audition,” you lied. It was a cover Ben had come up with so you didn’t get guilted into staying an extra day. “Well that does sound important. I’m sad we won’t have longer to get to know you though. I must admit, I saw a photo of you and Ben a while ago and I was hoping he’d bring you up because you just looked so lovely. And you obviously make him very happy, which is of course what every mother hopes for. So you have to come back soon so we can have a proper chat. Make a weekend of it or something.” You were a little taken aback, stunned to hear how much of an impact you’d had without meaning to. It made you feel a bit guilty. This was Ben’s family and you weren’t part of it, you shouldn’t be there. But you swallowed the doubts, tried to ignore how much you wanted it all to be real, and smiled back at her, “I’d love that. Just say when.” “Oh now don’t tempt me or I’ll have the date picked out before the end of the night. I don’t want to jump the gun or seem too forward but just seeing how you two are together…I hope you know you’re welcome in our family. Ben loves you a lot, I can tell.” “I know. And it’s very kind of you,” “I mean it darling. And if the next family get together was your wedding, well….but of course that’s neither here nor there.” You laughed it off but your insides were churning. “So this is where you got to,” Ben’s voice interrupted as he dropped into the seat beside you and lay his hand on your knee. You hadn’t realised your leg had been bouncing but you stopped it the moment he touched you. “I was just telling Y/N that you should come back again soon, when there’s no auditions to interrupt your stay.” “Sure, Mum,” Ben said, still touching your leg. You chatted for a bit longer until she got distracted enough for Ben to lean into your ear and softly ask, “You okay? Or do you want to get out of here?” “Please,” you whispered back. “Okay, follow me,” He took your hand and told his mum he wanted to introduce you to someone but you barely heard it, your head buzzing as you made a polite exit and let Ben lead you outside, making excuses to anyone who tried to stop you. As soon as you were clear of the venue he pulled out his phone to find a car, one hand on your lower back, rubbing soft circles over your shirt until you felt you could breathe easy again. “Better?” “Thank you. How’d you know?” He shrugged, “I just know you. I saw your leg bouncing and figured Mum had said something,” “She mentioned us getting married,” “What? Why the fuck would that have come up?” “It was just a passing comment but I….” You half shrugged, trying to find the right words. “It’s okay, c’mon, let’s go home you can tell me everything.” You nodded and let him hug you as you waited for the car.  

Once you were inside Ben grabbed a couple of glasses from the kitchen and then headed into the dining room. “Thank you dad,” he mumbled as he pulled a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label out of a cupboard and turned to show you, “He’s kept a stash of this stuff in here since I was a kid. Got in trouble for stealing some a couple of times.” “Better not let him find out about this then,” you laughed, feeling more relaxed now that it was just you and Ben, a sizeable distance from the rest of the party. Ben chuckled along as he poured a little into each glass and carefully replaced the bottle, “So what happened back there?” “I don’t know,” you accepted your glass and took a sip, leaning against the corner of the table. Ben didn’t cut in, he just took his own drink and waited until you could say more. “I guess it was just harder to be around your family than I was expecting. It wasn’t the same as sitting in a restaurant on a date,” you drew the quotation marks in the air with your fingers, “That was a room full of people who care about you and they were all so lovely and welcoming and your mum said she’d been hoping you’d bring me here since she saw a photo of us and invited me back so she could get to know me and I said I’d love to because what else could I say and she seemed so happy about it and so pleased that you’re so happy and I feel so guilty about lying to them all. What if they find out? Your mum’ll be so disappointed.” “Don’t worry about lying to them, I’ve done it plenty before,” when you didn’t laugh he put his glass down beside you and took you free hand in his, “Seriously, Y/N, there’s nothing to feel guilty about. The premiere is coming up in a couple of weeks and then pretty soon after that we’ll break up and I’ll tell them it just wasn’t working, and they’ll accept it and never have to know the truth. And then we can forget this whole thing and move on.” You weren’t so sure that was what you wanted anymore, but you weren’t sure enough to say it. Instead you put your glass down as well and said, “but it must be hard for you too. Having me here and everything.” It was only when you looked at him that you realised how close you were standing. He was still holding your hand, his thumb rubbing back and forth over your fingers. “I’m a big boy, I can handle it.” You weren’t sure what compelled you to do it, the drink maybe, or just pent up sexual tension, but he was so close and he was looking at you with those eyes and before you could stop yourself you leaned in to kiss him. He seemed a bit shocked, taking half a step back, and you were sure he was going to tell you it wasn’t a good idea and then leave you standing there alone. But then his hand was on your jaw as he kissed you back, all hesitancy gone. You felt him sigh against you as if he’d been holding his breath, waiting for this to happen again, and pulled him in closer.

***

Maybe it was the months without sex, or maybe it was how often your mind had conjured similar scenes, or maybe it was just how good it felt to have him press you against the table to kiss you again, but whatever the reason it wasn’t long until you were pushing the hem of his shirt up over his stomach. He took the hint and stopped kissing you just long enough to pull it over his head, quickly finding your lips again as his fingers worked on the buttons of your shirt. He got about halfway through and then stopped, instead dropping his hands to your arse so he could lift you up and carry you up the hall towards his room. He kicked the door shut once he was through it and pressed you against it, kissing you as if to make up for lost time. It was a heady experience, being pinned to the door, your legs wrapped around him as you kissed messily. Too much and not enough all at once. You needed him closer still and clutched at his shoulders to try and make him understand. Either he really could read you well or he wanted the same thing because a moment later there was no longer a door behind you, Ben taking the few steps towards the bed and letting himself drop to the mattress. He pushed your shirt from your shoulders, no longer needing to hold you up, and ran his hands over your sides as if trying to map out he lines of your body. A whine escaped you as your need to remove layers grew and you dropped your hands to his belt, fumbling blindly with the buckle. A voice in your head told you it was a bad idea. You still weren’t certain of your feelings, weren’t sure doing this would cure you of them or if it’d just make everything messier than it already was. But the voice got quieter with every shift of your hips and every stroke of his fingers. “You’ve no idea how much I’ve thought about this,” he mumbled against your neck. All you could manage was a small whimper of agreement as he kissed you again, and traced his fingers up to the clasp of your bra. It was on the floor in seconds, his hands replacing the material, only making you want more. You arched your back into his touch, panted against his lips. He smiled, circled a nipple with his thumb, delighted in your response.

Suddenly he flipped you over so you were sitting on the bed, kissed you again and then stood up. “Ben?” you were worried he was going to put an end to things before they got too far. Thankfully he didn’t, just shucked off his pants. You almost laughed in relief as he leaned over you again, making quick work of the fastening of your skirt so it too could join the clothing on the floor. The voice in your head was gone, silenced by the pure desperate need to have him touch you more, and he was making no moves to stop it either as you shuffled further up the bed, pulling him along with you. You let out a choked off moan as he kissed a trail down your neck, tilted your head to the side so he could reach all the spots that made you gasp. But it still wasn’t enough. You were going to go crazy with need if you didn’t get something more soon, so you let your hand fall between you, rubbed your palm over the front of his boxers, felt him rock his hips against your hand, already hard. He sat back on his knees so he could slip your underwear down your legs. “Fuck,” he groaned as soon as he realised how wet you were. You grabbed his wrist and put his hand between your legs, hoping he’d take the hint. He did, trailing his fingers between your lips, over your clit. Your breath caught as he slipped a lone digit into you, slowly, easing you into it before he added a second. He watched you closely, eyes half lidded and soft, the tip of his tongue poking out from between his teeth like he was concentrating on memorizing every inch of you, inside and out. Even in that moment, when your breaths were coming shaky and uneven, and your skin was burning under his gaze, even then all you could think was how hot he looked, hair ruffled, lips kiss swollen, completely enraptured by you. He shifted his finger slightly and your eyes fluttered shut. “There, babe, fuck, right there,” you sighed. “Like that?” he asked softly, twitching his fingers against you again. You nodded though he drew a more vocal response from you a few seconds later when he added a third finger and leaned down to suck your nipple between his lips. He hummed when he heard you say his name and repeated the same motion in the same place, so you said his name again, louder, and then again and again as he kept going, hitting you exactly where you needed him. You were almost surprised by how quickly he managed to pull you over the edge. Almost. But it had been a while and he’d always promised he was good. He worked you through it before he carefully withdrew his fingers and kissed you again, stealing what little breath you had left.

And then he stopped. Sat back again. You blinked your eyes open and reached for him as he leaned over the edge of the bed, opened the draw of the beside cabinet and swore. Pulling himself back towards you he took your outstretch hand and kissed the back of it, “I don’t have any condom’s here,” he sounded apologetic. “I have some, wait,” you kissed him quickly before you stood, a little unsteady, and opened the wardrobe door, thankful Felicity had given you the handful of them and that you’d brought the bag with you. He looked like he was about to ask why but the sight of you climbing onto the bed, straddling him, with one hand on his chest to lay him down, made the question die in his throat. He let his head fall back onto the pillow as you pulled his underwear off and rolled the condom on as quick as you could manage. And then you sank down onto him, trying to take your time. “Fuck,” you whined, pausing to give you both a moment to adjust. His hand grabbed onto your waist, fingertips pressing into you, encouraging you to move. It was soft but not quite, both of you panting and groaning as you raised and lowered yourself on him, building up to a steady rhythm. His hands roamed over you, grabbing your arse the way he had done on his couch, moving over your breasts, squeezing your hips, gentle but firm pulling you to speed up each time. You needed to be closer though, so you leaned down to kiss him again, grunting at the change of position. But it interrupted your flow, made you stutter out of time, so Ben propped himself up on his elbows, and then when that wasn’t enough, sat up fully, his knees rising behind you. One hand was braced on your back to keep you steady as you circled your hips, the other cupped your cheek as his forehead leaned against yours, every uneven breath audible, able to feel the rapid rise and fall of his chest under your palm. “I love you,” he sighed, his nose bumping against yours as he searched for your lips again. You were on the verge of repeating his words back to him when he dropped his hand from your cheek, let it fall between you and brush against your clit, the confession lost in your moan. “You gonna c-cum for me?” You nodded, leaning into his neck as you did your best to keep riding him, legs shaking with the effort and your approaching release. He didn’t let up until you were crying out into his shoulder, following close behind you with his own moan.

***

You lost track of how long you sat there, leaning against each other as you came down, lost track of where you were, lost track of the reality of your relationship. Your instinct was to keep clinging to Ben, keep kissing along his jaw and nose as you pulled yourselves back together. But it was too much for him. He let go of you suddenly, as if just touching you was painful. “I’ve gotta…” he said with a half hearted nod in the direction of the doorway. “Oh. Right, yeah,” you climbed off him, trying not to react to the sudden emptiness, the sudden cool of the air outside of his embrace. Ben moved to the edge of the bed, glanced at you, ran his hand through his hair. “I wasn’t expecting that to happen,” you offered somewhat lamely, not sure how to explain everything you were feeling. “Neither. Are you okay?” “Yeah. I, um, it was really good and I-I think I kind of needed it.” This was it. There was no more running from what you were feeling. No more pretending it was platonic or just physical. You had to come clean, to yourself as much as to Ben. Ben smiled but it was a pained kind of smile, “It was good for me too. Really good. But it can’t ever happen again.” He stood up before you could say anything else, tied off the condom and put his boxers back on, making a hasty retreat. Something stirred in your memory and you had the sudden urge to tell him he couldn’t leave you because he owed you a third orgasm, but it was too late. He was gone and you were left sitting there, naked and alone, waiting for him to come back so you could explain. When enough time had passed without his return you got up, put your pyjamas on and went to the bathroom, running on autopilot as you considered everything that had just happened. Maybe Ben was right to walk away. Maybe it had been a mistake. He probably wouldn’t believe you if you told him how you really felt. You’d taken too long to work it out, been too vocal about not feeling it. And it would be poor timing to say it right after you’d slept together. He’d think you were saying what he wanted to hear so he wouldn’t be embarrassed about saying it himself. And maybe it was down to all the tension between you. You’d spent all day pretending to be the loving girlfriend after all, maybe it had influenced you a bit, made you think you felt things you didn’t actually feel. But something that good, that tender, didn’t just happen with anyone, surely. It certainly hadn’t been like that with anyone else you’d been with casually. And you’d assumed that having sex with Ben would be the solution, that you’d finish and be fixed. No more thinking about him, no more wanting to be with him. But all you really wanted was to cuddle up beside him. Fall asleep in his arms. That wasn’t something you usually wanted from one night stands. Normally you’d want to get out as fast as possible not sit in their bedroom and wait for them. And the thought of everything else that could happen if he just knew it was what you wanted – waking up beside him, making him coffee, listening to him play stupid love songs on his stupid guitar, comforting him on bad days, being his actual fucking girlfriend and not just his pretend one – all of that sounded so fucking wonderful. It couldn’t just be endorphins making you feel like that. There had to be something of substance behind it all. Afterall they’d been there for a while now, those feelings. It wasn’t like the sex had conjured them. You’d been pretending not to notice them but they’d been there for months. So the only way forward was to tell him.

When you got back to the bedroom Ben was there, curled away from you on a makeshift bed on the floor. He could have been sleeping except his shoulder’s were too rigid, holding too much tension. “Ben?” He didn’t respond, just kept feigning sleep. So you switched out the light and tiptoed to the bed, crawling under the covers. The sheets still smelt like him and it made your heart ache. What if you just said it? You sat up, turned your head in his direction. “Ben?” it came out as more of a whisper than you’d have like so you tried again, “Ben, I-I-” If you said it now would he join you? Or would he pretend he hadn’t heard? You fell silent again at that thought, not sure you could cope with it. Maybe you’d just hold off for a bit. Wait until the premiere. Give yourself time to find the exact right words to explain your apparent change of heart. He couldn’t write you off as trying to spare him some embarrassment if you said it weeks after he’d let it slip in the throws of passion. He’d have to take you seriously then. “Goodnight,” you sighed, and lay down again, though try as you might, you couldn’t sleep. You lay there in the dark, sure Ben was just as awake as you were, with only one thought in your head. You loved Ben. And you didn’t know what to do about it.

[k-writesthings]

The Fool Who Fights (Mike x Reader: Pirate AU)

Word Count: 3975

Warnings: Slight mention of blood, mention of puking, implied sexual content (still SFW)

 As much as I didn’t want to be tying ropes at this late hour, I had to admit that the sea was truly breathtaking. It was a warm evening, the sun was just setting, and I had the perfect view from the largest mast as I fixed some faulty rigging. I wanted nothing more than to sit up there and watch the sun sink below the horizon, but unfortunately, I was a “pirate” and I had duties. 

   And just as I was about to finish those duties-

    “Weigh anchor! Prep the sails! We have to reach the channel by midnight!” 

    The booming voice startled me, throwing my focus off and causing me to nearly topple over.

   “Shit,” I swore softly, releasing the rough wood I hastily gripped in anticipation of falling. Great, now I have a splinter. The devilish wood chip was imbedded far into my palm, painfully protesting as I flexed my hand open and shut. My own jumpiness was really biting me in the tail.  I did my best to ignore the slight throb from my hand and tugged the knot I had made one last time for good measure. Shimmying across the beam, I reached the netting and began the climb down to meet up with the loud, splinter-inducing Fleet Commander. 

   He stood on the upper deck, towering over every sailor that ran past him while preparing the ship. His green eyes scanned the progress, but always seemed to find their way back to me just long enough to cast a wary glance and look away. 

   Fleet Commander Mike Zacharias didn’t trust me, but fortunately, the feeling was mutual. 

   It wasn’t like I had signed up to be a part of his swashbuckling pirate party. No, quite the opposite happened. I was forced here by none other than Erwin the Egregious, famed leader of the ironically-named pirate clan The Wings of Freedom. He had “hired” me after I attempted to steal his gold rings that constantly adorned his fingers and a satchel of gold he was carrying as well. Ambitious, yes, but I was feeling lucky. As a talented pickpocket, I had usually made off with my bounty fairly easily. I overestimated my skill and underestimated how astute a rugged-looking pirate was. 

   Erwin caught me almost immediately, seeing right through my sweet-talking and seduction as I approached him in a shitty dive bar. Of course, I didn’t know that until he invited me into an alleyway behind the building and threatened to cut my fingers off if I didn’t give him his stuff back. At that point, I thought about making a break for it, but as soon as a dagger was to my throat, I dug through my pockets to return his goods. When he didn’t drop the dagger, I panicked, thinking he was gonna slit my throat and leave me to bleed out. 

  But instead Erwin offered me a job. 

   A place on one of his ships, under one of his right-hand men. I’d talk to royal sailors we planned to rob, making myself look like a noblewoman captured by rogue-ish scallywags. When they eventually bargained for my release, his men would board their ship and take their riches by force. In exchange, he’d let me live, give me my own room aboard one of his ships, and offer a purpose for my “dull, cowardly existence” as he put it. I would’ve accepted regardless of if he had a blade pressed to my jugular, but the threat of death made me answer quickly. Erwin dropped the dagger and smiled, offering a large hand for me to shake. 

   I was in.

   Not a week later, I moved my little amount of belongings onto Fleet Commander Mike’s ship. Erwin had originally given me an option between him, Fleet Commander Hange, and Captain Levi (who led a small flotilla that did special jobs for Erwin). After meeting both Hange and Levi, I decided Mike was the least intimidating and opted to join his fleet.

    At first, I mostly did charting under close inspection by a fellow sailor named Nanaba, but slowly Mike “trusted” me with harder tasks like checking rigging, fixing sails, and sometimes even steering the large ship. Even though I had been hired to trick royal sailors, I was starting to like being a pirate. It was freeing; the sea air filling my lungs, and the salty wind stinging my eyes. I finally felt like I belonged somewhere, something I hadn’t experienced before. It was nice.

   What wasn’t nice was the splinter in my hand. 

   I was pretty annoyed about it as I climbed onto the upper deck and walked towards Mike, who still had his eyes trained on me. He stood up a bit straighter as I approached, as if he needed to be any taller. With a quick inhale through his nose, he gestured for me to follow him into his office. I did, keeping pace with his long strides as best I could without looking strange. The large door swung open and he stepped inside, waiting for me to do the same before he swung the door closed behind me. 

   “Are we any closer to the Odetta yet?” I asked, knowing exactly why he called me in here.

   “Yes, we should be there in a couple hours. Are you ready?” Mike confirmed, walking behind his desk and checking over some supply reports that Captain Levi had stolen to help us pull off this robbery.

   “I am. Can’t be too hard, right? Fooling a bunch of rich, horny bastards?” I joked, trying to get the stoic commander to crack a smile. Of course, he smiled, even laughed, in the company of his friends. I had seen it many times with Nanaba, Hange, and even Levi (who didn’t smile or laugh, ever) in the month I’d been a part of the clan. 

  But he didn’t smile at my words, or even look up from his reports. The only indication I got that he even heard me was a grunt and the words, “Need any help getting into that outfit Hange gave you?”

   “No… I’ll be alright. I can cinch a corset myself.”

  “Well, go do that. Make yourself look as much like a kidnapped noblewoman as possible.” The way he said it sounded like the end of the conversation, and I began to wonder why he even brought me in here in the first place. 

  “Aye, aye, commander.” I saluted sarcastically, which he didn’t see with his nose in the reports, and began to make my way back to my room.

-

   So… the job did not go according to plan. The royal sailors on the Odetta never saw through my act, but they were smart enough to realize that the pirates boarding their ship did not plan on bartering for me. They refused to hand over any of their gold, and when Mike decided to go over to talk some sense into them, they pulled out guns. 

   Oh shit, we did not plan on them having guns. I thought frantically, quickly freeing myself from the loose ropes that had “bound” me to a mast. Running to the side of the ship, I tried to see everything happening on the Odetta. Mike had his hands up and he was speaking calmly, but he was too far away for me to make out any words. But I did see that he was buying time. As he spoke, many of our sailors crept back across the planks of wood they used to board the noble ship in the first place.

   Among them was Nanaba, who had climbed back first. As soon as she reached our deck, she gestured to two other sailors, Lynne and Gelgar, and then to the row of cannons lining the ship’s perimeter. I understood the order, but not the intention. Were we going to sink the ship? The ship that had our reserve on it? I watched as Lynne and Gelgar made short work of setting up the cannons and aiming them for the Odetta. Nanaba stood behind them with her back turned to me. But as if she could feel me watching her, she turned around and met my eyes.

   “You know how to shoot a cannon?” She asked, crossing her arms. Fuck. 

   “Uh, no, not exactly. I could learn though.” I hoped my answer would suffice. I did want to help, and maybe this was the right way to do that.

   “Good, get over here.” I did, quickly joining her behind the rows of cannons. “These are all loaded.” She started to explain. “It’s a simple process, really. You just aim for the other ship, light this,” Nanaba grabbed a rope protruding from the back of the cannon. “And stand back. It’ll fire on it’s own, but you don’t want to be near it when it does. When you aim, go about halfway down the hull. We need to have enough time to collect the money and get everyone off the ship before she goes down, but if we hit too low, we won’t have time to do that.” As she finished, she turned back to me. “Got it?”

    I ran through the process once again in my head. “Yes, I got it.”

   She nodded. “Don’t shoot unless Mike gives the order. He’ll raise and lower his left hand twice if he wants us to fire.” And with that, I was in charge of a death machine. 

   Turning my attention back to the confrontation happening on the Odetta’s deck, I watched Mike’s hands carefully. They were still above his head, and he was slowly backing up towards his escape route. Now, he was the only one from our ship over there, and I didn’t understand how he was planning on getting the gold and leaving with his life. It really seemed like one would prevent the other from happening. But if I had learned anything about Mike in these past weeks, it was that he was persistent, brave, and confident almost to a fault. It would be attractive in any situation besides a life-or-death one. 

   And these noble scumbags weren’t letting up. 

   They continued to advance on Mike, even as he was retreating, seemingly issuing apologies, and weaponless. Their guns were held in defense, trained on his figure as he finally made it to the planks. Showing off a bit, he walked back across, hands still up. I caught a few words he said to them as he walked back. 

   “Sorry, fellas! Won’t happen again, our mistake entirely!” 

   Alright, he has to have a plan. What’s his plan? The situation seemed increasingly hopeless as the noble men began to dislodge our only way across to their deck. Mike was still walking across, and their guns were still trained on him. What are they-

   Oh. Oh, no.

    “Mike, run!” I screamed, grasping the end of the rope leading to the cannon, striking a match, and lighting it up. He looked back at me, confused, before realizing what I was doing. I jumped back while he ran as fast as possible without falling off the planks. 

   Two different booms rang out at once. A gunshot and cannon fire. 

   The massive lead ball shot out of the barrel of the cannon, flew towards the Odetta, and hit her dead center. It was so structurally damaging that the ship immediately cracked and began to take on water. The impact had also knocked the planks off, and for a moment I thought I killed Mike. But Nanaba had grabbed his hand and threw his entire weight behind her and onto the deck, saving him from an impromptu watery end. 

   So, down went the Odetta, down went the treasure, and-

    “(Y/N), what did you do?” 

    -down went my life. 

-

    Mike was cradling his left bicep as he walked towards me, which was slowly dripping crimson blood. I would’ve reached out and tried to help his injury if he wasn’t so visibly angry at me. His entire face looked like the beginning of a massive thunderstorm, telling me, in no uncertain terms, that he was absolutely furious. 

   “Mike, wait, let me explain!” I began, but he silenced me with one massive palm held out in front of him.

   “That was our funds for the next three months. Because of you, it’ll be at the bottom of the ocean in about an hour. What on God’s green earth were you thinking?” Mike asked, his voice still calm and level, his emotion only portrayed by his face.

   “They were going to shoot you! I couldn’t let them do that!” I fired back, feeling my face flush as I realized everyone was watching our exchange. 

   “That wasn’t a decision for you to make. You are not the captain of this vessel.” He sighed, wincing slightly as he shifted his arm in order to pinch the bridge of his nose. “25 lashings with the Rope’s End.”

   “What?” I asked, dumbfounded. I saved him. I saved him, and this is what he had to say to me? “You would be dead if it wasn’t for me! And you’re going to lash me?”

   “We will reconvene on the upper deck in half an hour, where (Y/N) (L/N) will receive her punishment.” Mike didn’t meet my eye as he delivered his “ruling”. The crowd of onlookers immediately dispersed, Mike included. 

   Before he could get very far, I called to him. “Wait!” He turned around. But I didn’t have anything to say to him. Gathering as much dignity as I could, I ran past him and into my quarters with tears stinging my eyes. 

-

    I was bad with pain. I always had been. Even splinters, like the one I got earlier, had bugged me immensely. Being flogged would likely be the death of me. Whether it be from pain or embarrassment, the Grim Reaper was knocking on my door.

   Okay, I was being dramatic.

   The Rope’s End wasn’t the worst flogging tool, not by a long shot. It was short and only had one tail, which wasn’t even knotted. While, yes, it would hurt and I’d likely be sore for days, I would not bleed or pass out from the pain. It wasn’t the Cat O’ Nine Tails, which absolutely would make you bleed. That was a small kindness, at least.

   I had just begun my climb to the upper deck when the nausea hit. Luckily, I had eaten very little today, but that didn’t stop the rising bile in the back of my throat. Oh, I really shouldn’t have shot that cannon. But then where would we be as a captain-less vessel? Erwin would be mad, he would probably take his anger and grief out on this crew. We would probably be split up among Hange and Levi’s crew, some of us even let go or killed to keep us from talking about our previous career as bloodthirsty pirates. No, I had made the right decision. I saved Mike, and I would be tough and take my punishment. If that meant he stayed alive, so be it.

   Steeling myself completely, I stepped onto the deck. The crew had gathered in a circle around Mike, who had a bandage around his wound and a whip in his hand. A path cleared for me as I approached him. As I reached the inside of the circle, Mike grabbed my hands and tied them above my head by a hanging rope attached to the sail. Nanaba was suddenly by my side as well, and she lifted and secured my loose blouse to expose my back (thankfully, she was careful to leave me my decency by covering my chest). She left me once again, and I was alone as the center of attention. 

   I was surprised when Mike started to speak as he disappeared behind me. “A real pirate is fierce, strong, loyal, and brave. They can take a couple lashings with a whip and survive. They are not scared in the face of death. I take pride in delivering this punishment, as there is no doubt in my mind that (Y/N) has every one of the traits needed to be a good pirate. In her time here, I have seen her grow from a common thief to a real lady of the sea. I’m proud to call her my crewmate and subordinate. She will take these 25 lashings like a woman, only to become stronger and fiercer. Now,” Pain suddenly sliced across my back, stinging badly even before the crack of the whip reached my ears. The surprised cry ripped from my throat seemed to echo ominously back at me. “One.”

   “Two.” This isn’t too bad. 

   “Three.” I can do this.

    “Ten.” Everything is blurry.

    “Fifteen.” There go my knees.

    “Twenty.” The nausea is back.

    “Twenty-five.” 

    I was released from the ropes, but instead of standing tall like I had originally planned, I collapsed to the ground. My vision was swimming, I couldn’t think through the stabbing pain in my back. I reached a hand around my own waist as I felt something warm dribble down my back. My fingertips were covered in my own blood when I looked at them. That was the final straw, and all of the acidic vomit from earlier pushed its way out of my insides on up onto the deck. 

   I sat panting for a couple moments until I had enough strength to stand. Everyone was still watching me, their faces probably paler than mine in that moment. I looked to Mike as I wiped my mouth, who approached me and took my hand, raising it above my head. 

   Cheers went up immediately, praises being thrown into the air. I wanted to smile, but I was in such pain that I probably only managed a grimace. This wasn’t the typical reaction, seeing as every one of these men and women around me has probably been flogged at least once. But I hadn’t, and I was not as accustomed to the ways of the sea as they were. So, the support felt nice, even if it was maybe a bit overzealous.

   Eventually, it died down and the crew went about their work. Mike was still holding my hand, though not above my head anymore. I looked at him, only to see his emerald eyes trained on me already. Meeting his stony gaze, I tried to decipher what he was thinking. His features didn’t betray him this time. Instead, he tugged me across the deck and into a room that I didn’t recognize. It was larger than any other room I had been in besides the mess hall, with a small desk, an attached wash room, a massive bed, and a closet. 

   It took me an embarrassing amount of time to realize it was Mike’s quarters.

   “Sit on the bed.” He mumbled after closing the door behind us. I did, wincing slightly as I lowered my body to the mattress. Mike retrieved a wet rag from his washroom and moved to sit behind me. The calloused hands on my sensitive and bleeding back made me jump, but the warmth from the rag calmed me again. “I’m sorry…” He whispered softly, his breath tickling the back of my neck slightly.

   “It’s alright, I understand why it happened. I shouldn’t have disobeyed you. You had a plan and I ruined it.” I replied, running my hands down the fabric on my thighs to keep my mind off of the gentle hands on my back.

   “No, it’s not alright. I-,” He sighed heavily, pausing the gentle touches to my back. “I didn’t actually have a plan. I didn’t know how we were going to get the money off the Odetta, and I didn’t know I was about to die. If you hadn’t shot that cannon, I would be dead right now.” My eyes widened at this, and despite the pain in my back, I turned around to face him. 

   “You mean…”

   “I lashed you for being a hero, just to save face. If people don’t respect me as their superior, we may have an uprising and they could attempt to overthrow Erwin. I know it doesn’t make up for what I did to you, but… I did it for the good of our Regiment.” Mike’s eyes were trained on his hands, which still held the bloody rag he had been cleaning my back with.

   All of this… to save The Wings of Freedom? He was so loyal, almost to a fault. Even this, which clearly went against his moral code, was not too far for him if it meant he saved his comrades from a theoretical uprising. And, though I should’ve been furious, I could not muster the emotion for it. Instead, I looked at this massive man sitting beside me looking like a kicked puppy and felt sorry for him.

   “Hey,” I cooed, reaching to cup his cheek and bring his eyes to mine. “I don’t hold it against you. You acted for the same reason I did, to save someone you respect. That’s loyalty, and didn’t you say that was one of the qualities of a good pirate? Fleet Commander Mike, you are a great pirate and the bravest man I’ve ever met. You’re so brave you didn’t even realize you were in danger. And I appreciate you. You put me in my place, and everyone with an ego as big as mine needs that sometimes. Thank you.” As I finished speaking, I was surprised to find Mike’s eyes began to shine with tears. I was at a slight loss for words, but before I could say anything else, Mike leaned forward.

   His lips touched mine softly at first, as if he was asking if it was okay. My whole face exploded in heat, but I pushed through my flushed daze and pressed my lips back firmly against his. My hand, which was still on his cheek, was slowly becoming wet with his tears and I brought my other one up to join it. My thumbs rubbed his tears away as we continued kissing, only breaking away for a moment to catch our breath and smile at each other before reattaching our lips.

   At some point, his tongue found its way to the entrance of my mouth, prodding slightly before I parted my lips and let him in. I shivered as he grazed his teeth with my own, and, in a surge of sudden dominance (and maybe fear of laying on my back), I pushed him down and straddled his waist. His muscled arms wrapped around my lower waist (below the wounds) and pulled me down so I lay on top of his chest. From there, his lips left mine and he began kissing down my jaw and eventually reached my neck, quickly finding a particularly nice spot just below my ear that made me gasp. Mike paid extra special attention to that spot, rolling the skin between his teeth and kissing it in a way that sent spikes of pleasure through me. Jesus, he is good at this... 

   Why didn’t we do this sooner?

-

   By the time we were finally done exploring each other with our tongues, the sun outside had completely set, leaving us tangled together on Mike’s bad, bathed in candlelight. He had bandaged my back up for me and was laying under me in just his briefs, leaving me in one of his nightshirt with my hair splayed out across his chest. He traced small shapes on my shoulder and hummed, which sent pleasant vibrations through me and kept time with his heartbeat. 

  As his breathing slowed, I knew he had fallen asleep. I snuggled further under the covers and closer against him, letting the rock of the sea lull me to sleep.

   The fool who fights always comes out on top, hmm?

-

(Hello, all! I am alive! It’s been almost a month, I am so sorry. This was a request from over on AO3 from a super dedicated reader of mine. They are amazing, I wonder if they have Tumblr? Anyway, I love Mike and it is my firm belief that he deserved better, no questions asked. This was super interesting to write. I won’t tell you how much I know about pirates now, because it isn’t even funny.

I hope you enjoyed! Thank you for the continued support!)

[rvmmm21]

. unpleasant reminders (3.0) .

small note : i don’t know how tipping works in other countries (i promise this is relevant), perhaps, but where i live it isn’t mandatory to tip your waiters? also i know it can be rather condescending to say ‘keep the change’ as opposed to ‘here’s a tip’, but uh i decided to stick with the theme, i suppose. anyway i don’t really know what this is, but the idea was fun to play around with.

tw : exhibitionism, public sex-ish? dubcon.

...

She knew. She just knew it wouldn’t go well, to let Seungwan talk them into going to that café. She deserved to be punished for even asking, in all honesty. But she’d just looked so… so happy that day, and she looked so cute bouncing up and down like she’d just gotten a gold star in class for best effort.

“Come on, please, baby?” the alpha had asked ever so sweetly. “It’ll be fine, and you already know Seulgi’s a beta. We’ve been friends for ages!”

And when Joohyun didn’t answer immediately, Seungwan all but relented, feeling extra brave and sidling up to her, making sure to peer up with those soulful, puppy-dog eyes she knows Joohyun just loves. “Hyunnie, I’ve been good, haven’t I? I’ve been extra good! No punishments this week!”

Is she serious? How is her girlfriend hellbent on visiting this café which apparently does ‘the best bangers and mash in the city’ when Joohyun herself is an adventure and a half? And seriously, ‘bangers and mash’? What a godawful name. Why is her innocent little alpha so intrigued by something that sounds like it has to be code for something lewd and lecherous?

“It’s just sausages and mashed potatoes, unnie… it’s nothing dirty like what you’re thinking!” Seungwan had reassured over and over, but Joohyun remained skeptical the entire drive up there.  

…

So now she finds herself forking begrudgingly delicious sausage bits into her mouth and chewing angrily, feeling her irritation rise as she watches Seungwan, her alpha.

Flirt.

With this beta.

Seulgi, or whatever her name is.

The other girl all but senses this, of course, too focused on catching up with her childhood friend to pick up on the waves of the woman who’s as good as a stranger sitting across her. Not that she hadn’t tried to, initially, however it seemed as though Bae Joohyun was content staying a brick wall.

Joohyun very nearly chokes on her drink when Seulgi insists Seungwan try a piece of something that looks exactly like what she’s already got on her plate. Seungwan doesn’t notice her poor girlfriend almost choke to death, but that’s because she’s got her lips around Seulgi’s fork. The omega doesn’t even feel her own incisors sinking into the inside of her cheek to keep them from sinking into this other girl’s fucking neck. How she mentally trembles, shakes in anger when she sees Seungwan blush at yet another thing Seulgi says. The blush that belongs to her and no one else.

That’s an indirect kiss. Sharing food off the same fork is an indirect fucking kiss, Son Seungwan.

Yeah how does she taste, Joohyun internally seethes, bet you’re enjoying that, aren’t you, beta. The way Seungwan tastes should only ever be reserved for her.

Everything about Seungwan should only ever be reserved for her. Sure, Seungwan and Seulgi have this funny childhood incident involving Pringles, but does Seulgi know things about her ‘best-friend’ like she does? Seulgi hasn’t the faintest clue about the real Seungwan. Not like Joohyun. Joohyun knows her – she can recite Seungwan’s order at any restaurant they’ve ever been to backwards and blindfolded, she knows Seungwan still needs to squeeze her little stuffed bunny to sleep, she knows where and when she’s had her first kiss; she knows if she’s having a bad dream based on how tightly she clings onto her during the night.

And…

… and she knows how to make her cum. Whether it’s pressed up against the counter with her tongue pressed flat against the underside of her cock or controlling the movement of her hips when she’s grinding into her, Joohyun knows every in-and-out of driving her alpha crazy to the point where it’s all she can do to just lay there and pant.

Seulgi will never know her like that.

Joohyun will just have to prove it.

She couldn’t care less about table manners, not now, anyway. Not when Seungwan hasn’t given her a choice but to remind her who she belongs to.

Seungwan’s too busy yapping with Seulgi to notice her girlfriend’s wandering hand – slipping down under the table and across to where she’s sitting – until she feels a light pressure on her crotch. Joohyun side-eyes her, watching as Seungwan shifts a little, probably wondering if Joohyun had meant to rest her hand on her thigh or her lap… you know, like many couples do. But a prompt squeeze tells her otherwise. Seungwan’s voice breaks in the middle of her reply to Seulgi and her lips fall open. She shoots Joohyun a quick glance but continues as though nothing had happened.

Playing tough, huh, puppy, Joohyun thinks. Easily sorted.

Her hand explores a little more. She feels her target through Seungwan’s favourite pair of sweatpants; it’s soft, but that’s something she intends to fix. She rubs her through the thick fabric, failing to conceal her growing smile at how uncomfortable her alpha looks right now. Good enough to devour; that’s how she looks. Focused eyes take a moment to scan the patrons of the café, who are all obliviously going about their day, all none the wiser. Joohyun can’t help it, she just knows every omega in this goddamned room must be brimming with jealousy that it’s her who gets to walk under Seungwan’s arm, that it’s her who gets to take Seungwan home every night.

She wouldn’t be surprised if Seulgi, beta as she is, hasn’t felt the same.

It doesn’t take two seconds before Seungwan is juggling between holding an increasingly awkward conversation and constantly trying to hide her raging boner from the public, lifting her knees, adjusting her chair, anything to get that hand away from her crotch. It’s tough luck, though, Joohyun’s found what she wants, and she isn’t letting go. One of them is going to have to give in at some point, and by the looks of Seungwan, it’s not going to be Joohyun.

Seems like things have taken an unprecedented turn, and Seungwan is looking like she’s closer and closer to asking for the bill.

“Are you alright, baby?” Joohyun asks casually as she tightens her grip on Seungwan’s erection through her trousers. “You look a little… flushed.”

Her hand is so soft, so supple, and it knows what it’s doing, much to Seungwan’s dismay. Then again, she really shouldn’t be surprised. Joohyun knows exactly how she likes it, where she likes it, and how the underside of her head gets so sensitive after it’s been teased for a while. Her omega’s favourite thing to do before letting her cum is to tell her she can’t. She loves hearing her whine all high-pitched when she rubs a thumb, or a finger, or a tongue over that spot on her tip; the spot which never fails to pull a reaction from the younger girl that Joohyun considers utterly delectable.

And this time is no different. Seungwan’s pleading little mewl is enough to get her panties slightly more damp, so she focuses all her pressure into palming the head of her cock through her sweats as a punishment.

Aw, sweetheart, Joohyun thinks, you can’t be so obvious, now. Seulgi’s going to notice.

It’s dreadfully noticeable; the way Seungwan’s knuckles are turning white from gripping the edge of her seat, and not to mention the fact that she has to find a way to surreptitiously bite her lip to keep from gasping every time Joohyun gives her a firm, downwards stroke.

Seulgi has no clue what Joohyun’s doing to her best friend under the table and continues to attempt to keep up the dying conversation (although the progressive confusion at Seungwan’s disjointed responses is showing more and more on her face).

Whether or not Seungwan had been ecstatic to get groped over her trousers in public, she can’t deny the swelling in her balls and the humiliating dark patch right at the seam of her crotch where she’s leaked enough precum to sink a battleship… and say if they were in a more private setting, that she’d be begging for Joohyun to take care of her.

The friction is driving her to the edge, Joohyun can tell by how it’s twitching in her fist that Seungwan is desperately trying to keep it in.

What do you think, she gauges Seungwan’s rapidly declining self-control, does my puppy need something better than a hand?

The alpha should be thankful her omega is feeling exceptionally merciful today. She decides not to make this lesson any more degrading that it already is, and with a final squeeze, she lets go completely.

But the sudden release of pressure doesn’t quite have the same effect on poor Seungwan. She doesn’t think she would’ve lasted another second. As soon as it’s relented, she feels something of a bolt of electricity shoot down her spine, and the muscles in her hand contract on impulse. The hand that she had decided to wrap around her drink so she could clench it, play with the condensation, just to overall lessen the intensity of what was going on in her lap.

And fuck! Now there’s sugary liquid all down the front of her t shirt, staining her trousers and dripping off the edges of the table.

“Oh goodness,” Joohyun exclaims, immediately retracting her hand from her lap to get her a tissue to soak some of it up.

Seulgi scoffs at her friend flushed crimson. “Well co-ordinated.”

“It’s okay, thank you, Hyun. I’ll just go clean up in the bathroom.” Seungwan hurriedly grabs the tissues from her girlfriend and awkwardly stumbles away from the scene, keeping them against her crotch in the hopes that no one can see how aroused she still is.

Joohyun is in the middle of paying (for their lunch and the inconvenience) when she catches Seungwan in the corner of her eye, waiting by the entrance of the bathroom. Her eyes are wide, watery and pleading, and there’s an unmistakable blush dusted over her cheeks. She recognises that look far too well, but she only ever sees it when Seungwan’s feeling particularly… needy, or in need of assistance in a special sort of way.

Does she mean… here? Now?

Joohyun feels a stir somewhere deep in her belly, and she turns to look up at the waiter.

Young-ish, just out of college, maybe. He looks like he could use what she’s about to give him to get himself a properly functioning razor.

She gives him her best, tight-lipped smile and hands him a single note, ignoring the way his brow quirks up. “Keep the change.”

After rat-boy slinks off with probably the hugest tip he’ll ever receive in his time working as a waiter, Joohyun stands up so fast she barely manages to catch her own glass from toppling over. Seungwan is already in the bathroom, and Joohyun makes to follow her, but she’ll be polite first.

Besides, it was Seulgi’s idea to meet up today, so she kind of has her to thank for what’s about to happen.

[thedeviousdo]

Member/Pairing: Kyungsoo / Jongin Genre/Type: Explicit, Smut, Fluff ish, One Shot Warnings: Explicit terms, unprotected sex Word count: 3,144

Summary: Jongin had been planning this for months, waiting for the day the group got to go back to Dubai. Now that the time has come, Jongin can finally show Kyungsoo the perfect night in the desert.

“Welcome to Dubai.”

Kyungsoo turned slightly to see Jongin coming into view, a smile spread across his face. Kyungsoo wrapped his arm around Jongin’s back, pulling him to his side. “Wish we had time to see it properly.”

Jongin leaned his chin onto Kyungsoo’s shoulder, gazing up at him “Perhaps you’ll see more than you expected.”

“We will see the arena and the fountains.” Kyungsoo said matter-of-factly. He turned his head to look at Jongin, smirking and biting his lip at Kyungsoo. “What? I don’t trust that look.”

Jongin shook his head, tickling Kyungsoo as his chin rubbed over his shoulder.. “Nothing…just trust me.”

Kyungsoo was about to respond when Junmyeon told everyone to follow the staff to the waiting vans that would take them to the arena. They didn’t even have time to go to the hotel first and unwind after the long flight, instead they had to go straight into rehearsal. He felt Jongin’s hand on his lower back as they started to follow the overs. 

Kyungsoo wanted the day to be over, to be in his hotel room, ordering room service with Jongin and turning on one of their favorite movies. They had different tastes when it came to most movies, but there were a few they both enjoyed. It didn’t really matter, Kyungsoo just wanted to see Jongin light up on his favorite parts. He couldn’t wait..

**

Kyungsoo placed his damp towel on the rack, ran his hand through his growing buzz-cut and left the bathroom. He had a sharp intake of breath when he saw Jongin sitting on his bed, leaning back on his hands, a large smile on his face.

“Trust me?” Jongin asked, sitting up and nearly bouncing in his spot with excitement.

Kyungsoo gave a small shrug. “Any reason I shouldn’t?”

Jongin got to his feet, hand taking hold of Kyungsoo’s hand ignoring his question. “Meet me in the lower garage in 10 minutes.” He leaned in and gave him a fast peck on the lips before running towards the door. “Oh, and put on what I laid out for you,” he said, closing the door with a wink.

**

Jongin waved towards Kyungsoo when he emerged from the stairs 10 minutes later, always punctual. His skin warmed seeing that Kyungsoo did wear what Jongin picked out for him. A pair of dark jeans that hugged his thighs sinfully, a basic black t-shirt and ball cap. Kyungsoo pulled his black hat down as he made his way over to him, hiding pink cheeks from Jongin’s gaze.

“What’s going on?” Kyungsoo asked once he got to Jongin’s side.

Jongin brought a hand up, showing the car keys that hung from his finger, “We’re sneaking out—don’t look at me like that,–I had some help. Plus, Jongdae and Chanyeol are keeping an eye out for us here, I got it covered.” He nodded towards the car. “Get in… trust me.”

Kyungsoo looked quickly around the hotel’s garage making sure no one was around before slowly looking back to Jongin. “I swear if we get in trouble I’m kicking your ass.”

Jongin laughed as he got into the black SUV. “I believe it, now hurry up and get in before we do get caught.”

Kyungsoo pulled his seat belt over his chest as he settled into his seat. The last time they did something like this, Jongdae and Minseok had snuck out with them as well. He still wasn’t sure how they had been able to do the all-day practice the next day, especially with only three hours of sleep and stomachs still full of soju. 

Jongin drove out of the garage and into the dimly lit street. After a few moments Jongin reached over and took Kyungsoo’s hand, giving a squeeze when Kyungsoo turned and smiled at him. Kyungsoo turned to the window, and watched the city start to fade away. 

It was their last night in the city, though he’d hardly seen any of it; the past day and a half had been spent entirely at the arena or sleeping at the hotel. At least they would get to see the fountains before they flew out tomorrow, being on the groups actual schedule. Wherever Jongin was taking him now, he would gladly take it, getting to see that much more of Dubai before they left.

“I got ahold of the guys that worked with us the last time we were here, they were able to set up a few things for us,” Jongin explained as Kyungsoo finally asked where they were going.

They had driven nearly an hour away from the city and now he felt like they were in the middle of the desert. In each direction, all Kyungsoo could see were dunes, the soft glow of the moon rippled over the sand. After another few minutes of driving, an open area came into view. A tall flood light was set up, filling the small area with light, a four wheeler parked off to the side.

Jongin parked the car, and quickly hopped out to take a large cooler from the back seat that Kyungsoo hadn’t noticed before. “I wanted to show you the sand dunes like we did,” Jongin said, looking over his shoulder at Kyungsoo when they made their way to the small clearing.

There was a small fire pit set up off to a corner of the clear, nestled into the bottom of a dune, a few blankets laid out beside it. Jongin walked over and placed the cooler down. He looked up at Kyungsoo, swinging his arms at his side, “Do you like it?”

Kyungsoo looked around once more before smiling up at Jongin, “This is perfect.“

Jongin could feel his smile take up his whole face, the sincerity in Kyungsoo’s deep voice causing goosebumps to rise on his neck. He walked over the 4 wheeler, picking up one of the helmets and holding it out for Kyungsoo. “Get on.”

They made their way up and over another large dune. They no longer had the flood light to help guide them, but luckily the moon was full and casting a silver light over the deep orange and gold sand of the dunes. 

Jongin brought them to a stop at the top of another dune, turning the engine off, he spun a little in his seat to face Kyungsoo. He took off his helmet, running his hands through his hair as he watched Kyungsoo take his off as well. He reached up and ran his fingers through Kyungsoo’s growing hair. It wasn’t long enough to be affected by the helmet too much, but it didn’t stop a few spots sticking up in odd directions.

"How long had you been planning this?” Kyungsoo asked, finally looking away from Jongin’s face and out towards the view of the desert.

“Since we came here without you.” He bit his lip as Kyungsoo snapped his eyes back to him. “I figured that the only way you and I would get a chance to come back was as a group. So I made sure to get the guys number, the ones that took us out here last time.” He shrugged, looking away from Kyungsoo’s stunned face, he could feel his cheeks warming from his gaze. “All I needed was a little help sneaking out, hence Jongdae and Chanyeol making sure everyone thinks we are in bed right now.”

Kyungsoo didn’t know what to say, let alone think. Jongin had had this plan in motion for three months, and had wanted Kyungsoo to experience Dubai like he had. Jongin had risked getting in trouble, just to bring Kyungsoo out here. Kyungsoo leaned in, hands cupping Jongin’s cheeks as he placed his lips on his.

“Thank you,” Kyungsoo whispered between soft kisses. He gave a light kiss on Jongin’s bottom lip before leaning back and looking out at the night sky. A smile spread over his face, “I love it.”

**

Kyungsoo brought his hands behind his head as he laid back on the blanket that had set out earlier, eyes looking up at the stars. Jongin got comfortable close beside Kyngsoo, propping his head up as he stretched out on his side. Kyungsoo could feel Jongin’s eyes on him, “You have a staring problem,” he said, not looking away from the sky.

Jongin let out a soft laugh, “Yeah, I’ve been told, but it’s a problem I don’t want to fix.” In truth he could stare at Kyungsoo all day. He looked good in any light, even the light from the fire beside them only made him look more handsome. The flickering flames caused just the right amount of shadows to dance across his face. Jongin watched as a smile crept onto Kyungsoo’s face, making his own to grow even bigger.

Kyungsoo turned onto his side, the space between them nearly nonexistent, rested his hand on Jongin’s cheek. “I’m happy you brought me here, that I got to see this, with you.”

Jongin smiled before closing the small distance between them. Kyungsoo moved his hand from his cheek to the back of his head, guiding him into place to kiss him. The moment their lips met, Jongin needed that much more of him, he wrapped his arm around Kyungsoo’s waist, pulling his body flush against him. 

Kyungsoo felt Jongin’s tongue run over his lips, a feather light touch that sent a shiver down his spine.  With a small smirk he opened his mouth, letting Jongin’s tongue in, almost moaning at the sensation. Jongin’s hand moved down Kyungsoo’s back, going under his shirt, delighting in the feeling of his warm skin on his fingers. He held Kyungsoo tight and shifted their bodies until he was caging Kyungsoo beneath him. 

Kyungsoo leaned up into Jongin’s space, slowly lifting his arms up, hoping Jongin would get the hint. He didn’t disappoint, moments later Jongin was biting his lip and lifting Kyungsoo’s shirt over his head. Jongin threw it behind him before falling back over Kyungsoo and kissing marks into his neck and chest. 

A soft moan left Kyungsoo’s lips as Jongin ground his hips down onto him, teeth biting at his collarbone. Kyungsoo brought his hands up Jongin’s side before taking hold of his neck and bringing him to his lips, kissing him hard. He turned his head to let Jongin deepen the kiss, his tongue flicking up at the roof of Jongin’s mouth. Kyungsoo felt Jongin shiver at the action and did it again.

Jongin climbed onto Kyungsoo’s lap, a knee going to each side of his hips. He could feel Kyungsoo’s hands move Jongin’s shirt up his back, he had almost forgot he was still wearing it. 

“Off,” Kyungsoo breathed as he broke their kiss, lips still brushing Jongin’s softly. He dropped his hands from the shirt once Jongin started to pull it off himself. Kyungsoo licked his lips as his eyes roamed over Jongin’s toned chest and stomach. “Beautiful” Kyungsoo’s voice was barely a whisper before he leaned in and kissed Jongin’s nape. 

Jongin let out a breath as his head rolled back, giving Kyungsoo more space to kiss, hips starting to roll. Kyungsoo’s fingers trailed down Jongin’s chest, playing in the ripples of his abs before going to the waistline of his pants. He fumbled with the button and zipper, almost telling Jongin to stop rubbing against him, but his cock stopped him. Each roll over Jongin’s hips applied the best pressure against both their hard cocks. 

"Soo,” Jongin gasped as he felt Kyungsoo’s hand slip inside his pants and take hold of him, hips jerking at the touch.

“I’ve missed you,” Kyungsoo said against skin, his tongue coming out to lick at one of Jongin’s nipples. “I’ve missed the way you smell… the way you taste.”

Jongin moaned, Kyungsoo’s voice had deepend, a tone he now associated with coming in the best way. If he wasn’t hard before he would be now, he felt himself jerk in Kyungsoo’s hand. Jongin got to his feet quickly, making Kyungsoo fall back onto his elbows at the sudden motion. 

He couldn’t take it anymore, he needed to feel all of Kyungsoo, see all of him. He quickly took off his pants and underwear before dropping to his knees and riding Kyungsoo’s as well. Jongin was about to get back on Kyungsoo’s lap when he felt strong arms wrapping around his waist and placing him there first. 

Kyungsoo brought his hands up to Jongin’s hair, grabbing fistfulls just on the side of painfull. His dark eyes looked over Jongin’s face, his red bitten lips, tan skin flushed pink. He was delectable to Kyungsoo, he wanted to taste every corner of Jongin. “I want to fuck you.”

Jongin felt a deep tremor run down his spine, ass moving against Kyungsoo’s cock. He brought his lips back to Kyungsoo in a bruising kiss, what little breath he had in his lungs was knocked out. He blindly reached beside him, squirming in Kyungsoo’s lap earning a deep moan. Jongin finally found the tiny bottle of lube from his pants pocket, pushing it into Kyungsoo’s hand. 

Kyungsoo warmed the liquid over his fingers, lips busy leaving red marks on Jongin’s once he broke their kiss. He didn’t want Jongin to pass out from lack of air. “Sit down.” He whispered as his fingers circled Jongin’s rim.

Jongin breathed a yes as he did what he was told, bringing himself down onto Kyungsoo’s waiting fingers. His fingers dug into Kyungsoo’s shoulders at the feeling, a few moments to get used to one, before another was added.

Kyungsoo bit his lip as he watched Jongin work himself on his fingers. He leaned up and kissed Jongin’s neck as he worked a third finger in. “Just a little more…just a little more and I’ll fuck you. That’s what you want right?”

Jongin nodded quickly before opening his eyes and looking down at Kyungsoo. With a smirk he said, “Just as much as you want to.” 

Kyungsoo took his fingers away, ignoring the tiny sound Jongin made at the quick action. With a fast pump of his cock, Kyungsoo gripped the base with one hand and Jongin’s hip with the other and brought Jongin down hard on him. 

Jongin gasped as he head fell back, feeling the deep sensation of being filled so quickly. He had only a moment to adjust before both of Kyungsoo’s hands were on his waist and physically lifted him off his cock. Jongin tightened his hold on Kyungsoo’s shoulders as he brought his hips down hard, earning a deep moan from Kyungsoo. Biting his lip he started finding a rhythm, fucking himself on Kyungsoo, every so often rolling his hips down to bring him in deeper.  

Kyungsoo moved his hands up Jongin’s back, nails digging in as they found a faster pace. Jongin wrapped his arms around his shoulders, bringing their bodies even closer. He bit into Kyungsoo’s neck when he decided to thrust up into Jongin. He stopped moving his hips, instead lifting a little higher on his knees so that Kyungsoo could fuck up harder from below. 

Soon the sounds of wet skin connecting filled the small area, heavy breaths and deep moans with it. Jongin missed that sound, he could get lost in the sounds he causes Kyungsoo to make. The sounds Kyungsoo can get out of him, he loved it all.

Kyungsoo shifted his hips a little and thrust hard up into Jongin, delighting when he felt Jongin clinch around him when he found his prostate. He repeated the action until Jongin was withering above him, eyes closed and body pliant. He rubbed his hands over Jongin’s waist as he stilled his movements, grinding into Jongin as he settled in his lap.

Kyungsoo leaned up, taking Jongin’s swollen bottom lip between his teeth, tugging slightly. He pulled himself out, ignoring Jongin’s whimper and rolled both of them over. Jongin was lying on his back and spreading his legs instantly, feeling Kyungsoo settle perfectly against him. Kyungsoo stared down at Jongin for a long moment, his eyes were nearly black, but Jongin could see every emotion Kyungsoo was feeling. Jongin brought his hand up, holding Kyungsoo’s cheek as he pulled him down to his lips.

Jongin opened his mouth for Kyungsoo, feeling his tongue move against his own. He felt warm hands move around his waist, one traveling down his leg till it cupped the back of his knee. He let Kyungsoo move him into position, breaking the kiss and calling his name as Kyungsoo pushed back inside of him.

“Jongin,” Kyungsoo moaned into Jongin’s mouth, hips thrusting deep into him.

Jongin brought his other leg up around Kyungsoo’s waist, ankles crossing, hands now holding onto his shoulders. He could feel the sand shift under the blanket, molding the sand around their bodies with each thrust. Jongin brought his lips to Kyungsoo’s collar bone, kissing and licking his way around before sucking a little purple bruise on his skin. He smiled, knowing Kyungsoo wouldn’t be happy about having to try and cover it up for the next few days but he didn’t care.

Kyungsoo moved up on one arm, the other holding Jongin’s waist, holding him in place. He watched as Jongin’s pupils blew out as he hit his prostate again. Jongin started to twist his hips, chasing the vibrations Kyungsoo’s cock was causing as he abused his prostate.

“Harder Soo… fuck me…fuck me harder,” Jongin said between each thrust.

Kyungsoo kissed his way down Jongin’s neck, nodding a few times as he began to push that much harder into him. He snapped his hips every time he was fully inside Jongin, making him call out his name, each time louder than the last. The knot in his stomach grew with each heavy thrust into Jongin.

He knew Jongin was getting close too, the way his breathing had changed and his knees were shaking against his waist. His knuckles turned white as he pushed down hard into his thrusts, if he tried hard enough he may see Jongin’s stomach rise. He felt one of Jongin’s hands move down his arms, between their bodies, and gripped his own cock. 

Jongin matched his pumps with Kyungsoo’s thrusts, hand gliding easily over his hard cock. He felt Kyungsoo bite down on his neck and a moment later Jongin came hard between them. Kyungsoo continued his movements, groaning at Jongin’s body held onto him, clinching from over stimulation. Several deep thrusts later Kyungsoo came, filling Jongin with his warm release.

Kyungsoo rolled onto his back a minute later, Jongin instantly curled up against his side. Jongin welcomed Kyungsoo’s arm as it wrapped around his waist. “I love it here,” Kyungsoo whispered into Jongin’s hair after a few minutes of silence..

“Welcome to Dubai.” Jongin smiled before tilting his head up and kissing Kyungsoo once more.

Dunes

[notapaladin]

oh you take all of the pain away (redux)

Because I am the only person writing Obsblood fics, I wind up rereading them a lot to get my fandom fix!...so I notice when I can definitely do much better with an older concept. This is The One Where Acatl Has Nightmares, But Better.

Also on AO3

Older version here.

-

The shadows on the wall were taunting him. Acatl closed his eyes again, but it didn’t help.

This is ridiculous.

“Mmm,” Teomitl murmured into his ear. “I can hear you thinking.”

That was also ridiculous, but oddly endearing. He huffed out a breath and shifted back to curl more fully against Teomitl’s lean, well-muscled chest, enjoying the warmth of his skin for a moment before it occurred to him that if he could still feel said warmth, something was definitely wrong. Namely, that he was still awake, and it was far past sundown. “Mrrrgghhh...”

Teomitl’s arms tightened around him, and a soft nose pressed into the curve of his shoulder. He was being cuddled like a child’s favorite toy, and if he hadn’t been so irked by his continued state of wakefulness he would have smiled. His lover could really be terribly sweet sometimes, even when his speaking breath tickled. “Go t’ sleep.”

He unstuck his tongue from the roof of his mouth to grumble, “I am trying.” There wasn’t any heat in it. He was far, far too tired for that. After the night they’d had, where Teomitl had slipped into his courtyard at sunset and proceeded to very thoroughly make up for the time they’d spent apart in pursuit of the loose threads to a particularly nasty haunting case, every muscle in his body felt like half-melted rubber. He ought to be sleeping like a corpse. He was almost too tired to think.

And his body refused to quiet down. He rolled onto his stomach, burying his face into his arms with a grunt; it was an action that took him out of Teomitl’s arms, generally something he regretted, but cutting out distractions—and Teomitl was certainly a distraction, half-asleep and so wonderfully warm—sometimes helped him sleep. Not always, but sometimes.

Besides, it wasn’t like his lover was going anywhere. A hand smoothed down his spine, gently shifting his hair off his back, and he let out a long sigh. Maybe if he just lay here, he could become one with the mat.

There was another soft mumble behind him. “Night.”

He hummed in acknowledgment. Good night, love.

In the cool, still darkness, Teomitl’s presence a bulwark at his back, with no sound save for their steady breathing and the measured thumping of their heartbeats, he slowly felt himself fall.

And fall.

And fall.

Down and down and down...

Only to land on his knees with a shock like a distant blow. The ground was cold and hard under him, and strangely lumpy; as he got to his feet, he saw why.

It was not dirt, nor carved tiles, but hard-packed bones made of gold and jade. He touched a fallen clavicle. It was slippery. Feeling disconnected from his own skin, he picked it up and turned it over in his fingers as he walked. Teomitl fidgeted with things like that, too—not bones, but rocks and sticks and whatever he happened to be holding. He said it helped him focus.

It didn’t help Acatl focus. He walked through the Sacred Precinct, but it was a Sacred Precinct unlike any he had ever seen before. Beautiful, shining, with gold plating every temple wall and turquoise set into the very steps of the pyramids—but empty. There was no sound, not even his own footsteps. A river of blood flowed down the steps of the Great Temple to collect in a pool at its base, but even that made no sound. There were no priests chanting hymns, no commoners offering penance. He was alone.

Alone...

No. Not alone. Teomitl was here somewhere, he knew it. He couldn’t hear that familiar, impatient tread, but he knew it was just ahead of him, that if he ran faster or called out his lover’s name he would be there and—

And—

He opened his mouth. He closed his mouth. What good would calling out do?

He turned the corner and entered the palace gates, and the first sounds he heard fell like hammers on his ears, for all that they were the thin, chattering-infant voices of ahuitzotls.

“All hail...”

“...our great Revered Speaker...”

“Drowning, drowned, all are drowned...”

The courtyards were not empty. He thought he would have preferred it if they were. No, they were filled with ahuitzotls on their hind legs, dressed in the feathers and gems of nobility, and all chattering amongst themselves. As he walked past them, they stopped to watch him go. His skin crawled. He knew better than to run.

“...They cast the reeds...”

There was a particularly large one blocking his path through a doorway. As he edged around it, it met his eyes. “He is our Emperor,” it hissed. “Not yours.”

Ice flooded his veins. He opened his mouth to respond, but no sound came out.

He kept walking, and the palace changed around him. Now the frescoes were set with gems, now hammered gold had been set into them to accentuate the eyes of the gods that were, he felt, definitely not watching. Under his bare feet—when had he removed his sandals?—the floor grew warm and slick in a way he recognized far too well. Fresh blood. Another river. No. Another lake, mirroring the one on which Tenochtitlan lay.

The doorway in front of him stood wide, and he knew what he would see when he walked in. He didn’t want to. Duality preserve him, the last thing he wanted was to walk through that door.

His legs carried him forward anyway, and when his gaze adjusted to the brightness he choked back a noise that wanted to be a sob.

Teomitl had gotten there ahead of him, and was sprawled negligently on the throne with a bloody macuahuitl in his hand. The blood was deeper here, lapping at his calves and Teomitl’s sandaled feet, and his lover looked...bored. No, not bored. Vacant. There was gold on his arms and fingers, turquoise at his lip and ankles, and his face was as expressionless as a doll’s. Fear stopped Acatl’s throat.

Before he knew it, he was wading towards him. The blood parted like humid air. “Teomitl!”

Teomitl lifted his eyes. There was no hint of recognition in them. “We do not give you leave to call Us by that name, priest.”

“Teomitl—it’s me—”

His next step went through nothing at all, and the world was filled with blood-tinged saltwater. Teomitl’s throne cracked and broke apart as he watched, sending him tumbling through the depths an arms’ length away. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t move.

Terrified, he opened his mouth to call Teomitl’s name again, but water rushed in to fill his lungs instead of air, and he thrashed desperately. Knowing there was no use in calling for Lord Death, the words of a prayer nevertheless drummed through his head. Though it be jade, it is crushed, though it be gold, it is tarnished. Only for a little while do we have the feathers, the jade, before it must come to Your embrace...

The voice of his patron rang through the water. “No.”

He froze, floating suspended in the current. My Lord?

Mictlantecuhtli wasn’t there. Not physically, at any rate; even in a dream, Acatl knew he’d feel it if he was in Lord Death’s presence. But even so, He was suddenly sitting on His skeletal throne, gazing dispassionately down at them both through a curtain of blood, and Acatl felt his heart quail in his chest as He spoke again. “He must die. Such is the way of the world.”

No! Desperate, he lunged through the water. Yes, of course one day Teomitl would die, as all men did, but not like this. Not when he was young and strong and beautiful, not when he hadn’t completed what he’d set out to do. He should die at a great age surrounded by his loving grandchildren, not choked to bursting with the waters of his own lake. Acatl couldn’t let him.

“Why do you struggle? You know you cannot stop this.”

That was right. He couldn’t. He shouldn’t even try. He was the High Priest of the Dead, wasn’t he? It was not for him to interfere. Maybe Teomitl had even been meant to die of the plague. Maybe he should have left him there. Maybe, when Teomitl had spat out the words of his heart—red up to his ears, not looking at him, fingers white-knuckled in the folds of his cape—he should have turned them aside and continued on the solitary and cold and lonely path set out for him.

Now, for the first time, Teomitl was looking at him as though he knew him, and his eyes were wide with panic. A flailing hand reached for him—their fingers were close enough to touch—but when it encountered his skin, it slipped through as though he was already a ghost. “Acatl!”

He couldn’t respond. Blood and water filled his mouth. I’m sorry. I love you.

Eyes wide open, he watched Teomitl sink into the darkness.

“Acatl-tzin!?”

Everything was dark. His limbs refused to obey him.

Something shook him, hard. A voice he knew as well as his own snapped in a note of panic, “Wake up!”

All at once, it was like a spell had been broken. His eyes shot open, and the tension coiling through his paralyzed limbs finally resolved itself in a jolt that had him sitting up and staring into space. His heart was hammering fit to escape his ribcage, and each breath burned. When he felt wetness on his face, he realized he’d been crying. “Hah,” he managed, aware now that Teomitl was staring at him. He couldn’t turn to face him. He couldn’t bear to.

Teomitl’s grip on his shoulder was tight enough to bruise, but the look in his eyes was wide and soft and frightened. Frightened for him, he realized. “Acatl...?”

“Just a dream.” He sucked in a breath. His chest still hurt, and it was hard to breathe through the horrible congested feeling of too many tears. That’s right. It was just a dream. It wasn’t real. Wherever my soul wandered in my sleep, I’m here now. This...this mat under me, these four walls around me, this is real. “I’m sorry I woke you.”

“I was awake. Ish.” Teomitl made a quiet grumbling noise, and Acatl immediately felt much worse. Of course Teomitl had been easy to rouse; as swiftly as he dropped off to sleep, he’d always struggled to stay that way, and what sleep he did get was all too frequently disturbed by nightmares. He’d sworn that Acatl’s presence helped, but...well. It clearly hadn’t tonight. “How do you feel?”

Acatl grimaced, staring down at his hands. If he balled them into fists, they didn’t tremble so badly. “I’m fine,” he lied. It would be true eventually.

Teomitl saw through him in an instant, as always. And, as always, he had no patience for it. Gaze focusing into a sharp glare, he snapped, “You are not, you’re shaking. I’ve never seen you have a nightmare like that before.”

He focused on his breathing. In. Out. In again. Slowly, his heart started to calm, and the residue of that sick terror started to drain out. “...I’m...” But he couldn’t finish the lie.

Seeming to come to a decision, Teomitl let go of Acatl’s shoulder to cover his hand instead. It was shockingly gentle for a moment; at first Acatl almost couldn’t process it, but then it sank in. The warmth of his lover’s skin, the smooth calluses from his swordwork, the faint raised scar across his palm. “No. You were crying in your sleep.”

He closed his eyes briefly. No, that wasn’t a good idea. He could still see the ahuitzotls when he blinked, could still see the specter of his lord telling him to let Teomitl die. I couldn’t. I can’t. I won’t. He opened his eyes again, and this time he looked at Teomitl. His beloved looked drowsy, moonlight shrouding his features, but he could make out a hard, stubborn set to his mouth that he knew very well; it said that Teomitl knew what Acatl was doing, and he didn’t appreciate it. And Acatl had promised him honesty. Reluctantly, he nodded. “Mm.”

Teomitl gave his hand a gentle squeeze, but his voice was firm. “You should talk about it. It’ll help. Isn’t that what Mihmatini always tells us?”

He didn’t want to talk about it. Gods, that was the last thing he wanted. Maybe if he said nothing, thought about everything else under the sun, it would go away. But...

But Mihmatini had been right, when she’d told them that. And it had helped. Exposing the deepest feelings of his heart had gotten Teomitl to lay down his sword, had turned them from teacher and student to friends and then to lovers. He couldn’t deny him when he asked to be trusted with this, even as he dug a penitential nail into the soft skin of his own thigh. I cannot believe it is right for me to tear myself from him, O Lord. Not from the man who had upended Acatl’s lonely life and built a space for himself in it with nothing but dogged persistence and a radiant smile. “...You won’t take no for an answer, will you?”

Ah. Perhaps he’d been a bit curt, because Teomitl looked stung. “I would. You know that. But if it disturbs your sleep—if wherever your soul has wandered has hurt you—then I want to know about it.”

“So you can kill it?” Acatl quipped, half-serious. Granted, he wouldn’t put it past him...but still.

“Hrmph,” Teomitl muttered. “If I can, yes.”

Oh, my love. He exhaled. “...Alright, then.”

But saying he’d tell his lover about it and actually making his mouth form the words were two different things, and for a long moment he couldn’t figure out where to begin. Finally, with Teomitl’s thumb making little circles over his knuckles, he started to speak. “I was in the Sacred Precinct, alone, but I knew you were there somewhere.” Every surface gold, and all those rivers of blood, and me in the middle of it thinking only of you. “The palace was full of ahuitzotls dressed as noblemen and warriors, all praising you. All calling you their savior. One told me that you were their Emperor, and not mine.”

Teomitl growled quietly, sounding like an ahuitzotl himself. “That’s ridiculous.”

“I know that now,” he huffed. “But...”

He trailed off. He couldn’t continue. Teomitl’s fingers tightened on his. “But?”

“I saw you in the throne room, the Turquoise-and-Gold Crown on your head, and you didn’t know me.” Underneath Teomitl’s firm grip, his hand clenched into a fist. “You looked at me like a stranger.”

Teomitl wasn’t looking at him like a stranger now. He was, in fact, looking more than a bit disturbed. “I could never. Do you think I could forget who you are to me?”

He shook his head. “I know.” There had been a time, when the plague was threatening them and Chalchiuhnenetl was breathing poison into Teomitl’s heart, that he’d been afraid of that exact thing. Now that he was awake again, with Teomitl’s hand on top of his, he had to agree with him. The whole thing was ridiculous. Ahuitzotls didn’t talk, and Teomitl made no secret whatsoever of his feelings for him. They’d go back to sleep, and it would all look better in the morning.

“He must die. Such is the way of the world.”

He nearly choked on his own breath. My Lord wasn’t there, he reminded himself firmly. That was only a nightmare. I’m doing nothing against His will by loving Teomitl, and I won’t stand idly by while he dies.

“What is it?”

“Nothing,” he said automatically.

Teomitl’s eyes hardened. “Acatl. You’re shaking like a leaf.”

He was. When had that started? He took one deep breath and then another, reaching for Mictlan’s presence within him. Cold despair pulsed through his veins, forcing him to swallow past a lump in his throat, but at least he wasn’t trembling. The words came slowly, pulled through his lips by a copper fishhook that tore skin on the way out. “...I dreamed that I saw Lord Death. And he told me...we were both drowning in blood and lake water, and he told me to let you die. You knew me then. You reached for me. And I froze.”

“Acatl,” Teomitl breathed.

“And then I woke up,” he snapped. All of a sudden he was angry—with himself for being such a fool, with his soul for wandering free in places he should have thought it would know better than to go, with Teomitl for cracking the stone walls around his heart. “I woke up, and I realized it was a dream, and I am fine. Lord Death has said nothing against us. There’s no need to concern ourselves with my nightmares!”

“There is when the man I love wakes weeping next to me! Do you think I can ignore that? Do you think I would ignore that?” Teomitl made an angry stabbing gesture with his free hand, the one not clinging to Acatl’s like a lifeline. “I don’t care what your nightmares say. I know perfectly well you serve the gods with all your heart, but you’re still you. You carried me to safety when I had the plague, when I was being a complete bastard to you. You wouldn’t let me drown even if Mictlantecuhtli stood in front of you and ordered it.”

Tears pricked the corners of his eyes. I might. Duality help me, if I ever had to make that choice...I might. He didn’t think he would. He knew that it would tear him in two if he did, that his heart would never be the same, that Lord Death who was always fair wouldn’t demand that anyway, not without due cause. But the possibility glistened in his mind like a bloodsoaked knife, and he couldn’t banish it. “I’m sorry, I’m overwrought—”

Teomitl kissed him. It was quick and sudden and hard, licking into his half-open mouth and leaving him reeling from the sensation of a hot mouth and a clever tongue and the faint sting of teeth. He was kissing back before he knew it, grabbing for his lover’s shoulder just to keep himself upright; when a hand found his waist and gripped hard in response, fingers digging into the meat of his side, he let out a breathy whine that wasn’t even remotely one of pain.

Then Teomitl broke the kiss, gazing steadily into his eyes. “I’m not going anywhere,” he whispered. “I’m yours. I’ll always be yours.”

“You can’t—” Promise that, he was going to say, but then Teomitl’s mouth was on his again, stealing the words. This kiss was slower and more tender, but no less devastating for that. When that tongue slid into his mouth again and the hand at his waist slid up his ribs, he arched his back with a moan. He might still leave me, came the treacherous thought. He is a warrior, and once he is crowned he’ll have no shortage of enemies. But that’s not tonight, is it?

Teomitl shifted attention to his throat, lips moving against the sensitive skin. “I can, and I will. Let me prove it to you.”

Then he was uncurling himself, sliding a thigh between Acatl’s legs as he pressed him down to the mat, and Acatl let himself be molded. Yes, this was what he wanted—Teomitl on top of him, all solid muscle and strong, gentle hands, a mouth pressing kisses to his collarbone and a hand lightly tugging at his hair to keep him in place. His hands just seemed to fit at Teomitl’s back, mapping out muscles with his palms and making his lover shiver appreciatively; he had a moment to feel smug, but then teeth nibbled at his throat and he shuddered all over, feeling the tension in his own spine drain away. “Mmm...”

“That’s good,” Teomitl breathed. “Lay back, love. Let me take care of you.”

A hand skimmed down his stomach; as tired as he still was, his body twitched to life. Falling in love with Teomitl had done wonders for his stamina. The thigh between his legs rubbed against his rapidly stiffening cock, and he exhaled sharply. “Oh.”

“See?” Teomitl’s voice was soft. “We’re both here and alive. Together.” He wrapped a hand around Acatl’s cock, thumbing the sensitive spot below the head as he started to work him to full hardness. It didn’t take long, not with the friction of that perfectly placed thigh, and when he squeezed a little harder Acatl gasped.

“Ah...!” It trailed off into a sharp cry, because Teomitl knew just how to touch him. The twist of a wrist at just the right angle made him shudder anew, rolling his hips into that wonderful hand. He was full of sensation, had to do something with it; needing more, he slid a hand up into Teomitl’s hair and drew him up to for another long, hungry kiss. Yes. Yes. Every beat of his heart said it—that they were here, that they were alive, that nothing would part them if Teomitl could stop it.

Teomitl returned the kiss eagerly before drawing away with a wicked smile. “You’re beautiful like this.” He punctuated his words with a slow upwards stroke, and when Acatl sighed in pleasure he chuckled quietly. “You sound as good as you look.”

That was accompanied by another rippling squeeze. Acatl couldn’t even think. Heat rose slowly through his veins, coiling in the pit of his stomach, and he rocked steadily into it. There was Teomitl’s sure, strong hand and the steady pressure of his thigh rubbing against his balls; he ground against it breathlessly before finding words again. He knew he was blushing. “Nnh...voyeur...”

Teomitl smirked, unrepentant, and pressed up with his thigh, pulling a ragged groan out of him. “You deserve to be looked at.”

He huffed out a breath, turning his face away. You always say that. That I’m beautiful, that I’m desirable—I don’t know where you get that from. You’re the beautiful one. And the one that deserved attention too; when he shifted, grinding against him, he could feel Teomitl’s hard cock grazing his own. Loose-limbed with his own desire, he managed somehow to get a hand between them and reach for it; it all but twitched against his fingers, and he gasped a little at how eager his lover was. “Nnh...wait, wait, let me...”

But Teomitl was shaking his head and drawing back, robbing him of his prize. “No.” His grin flashed white teeth in the darkness. “This is for you. You can make it up to me in the morning.”

And there would be quite a lot to make up; Teomitl was still keeping that slow, steady pace, but it was relentless. The building pressure at the base of his spine was enough to make Acatl groan and arch, letting his head fall back. That exposed his throat, and when Teomitl’s mouth found it again he let out a ragged moan at the faint scrape of teeth at his pulse. The way he was going, there would certainly be marks the next morning. He thought he should probably care about that, but at the moment it didn’t seem to matter. No, this slick rolling pleasure was far more important.

“Mmm...” More, he wanted to say. More of this. He couldn’t find the words, but that didn’t matter either; Teomitl knew what he wanted. He only had to let him give it to him. So he bucked into that clever hand, grinding against on his thigh on the way down, and let the sparks coalesce into a blaze.

“That’s it, c’mon...nnnh...” Acatl had slid against Teomitl’s cock again, and this time his lover wasn’t able to ignore it; he gave a rough, wonderful little growl and wriggled against it, seeking more stimulation. When Acatl reached for him again, he didn’t pull away.

Oh, and Teomitl was so responsive. He had to have been hard since nearly the moment they’d started touching; when Acatl squeezed, circling the head of his cock, his groan was loud and sweet to Acatl’s ears. Emboldened, he did it again, establishing a steady rhythm. “What was that,” he breathed with a hot grin, “about me making it up to you in the morning?”

“Acatl-tzin.” It came out in a near-whine, one that went straight to his cock; he shuddered, fucking into Teomitl’s grip, and redoubled his efforts. Teomitl kissed him roughly, all teeth and tongue and a deliciously reverberating moan, and as the hand on his cock sped up he knew he was close. It would be easy to lay back and enjoy it, but he wanted to please his lover as well.

I love you, he thought, and when he got his mouth back—Teomitl had moved to his throat, muffled gasps and soft cries setting his blood to simmering with desire—he gasped out, “Need to touch you—oh.” He hadn’t thought Teomitl was holding back on him, but evidently he had been; he shifted to press their cocks together, grinding hard against him, and it turned the world behind Acatl’s eyes to white sparks. Words failed him. He was so close—gods, so close—

His orgasm rolled through him like the tide, and all he could do was groan as the inexorable tremors rippled through him. Teomitl’s followed a moment after, hitched breaths ending in almost a sob as he spilled himself over Acatl’s skin.

Even when they both came down from that high, they didn’t move. He knew he should clean up, but he was utterly content to lay on his back like a lizard and bask in pleasantly languorous postcoital bliss. His nightmares had never felt further away, nor had he ever been so wonderfully aware of the body he inhabited. I was such a fool. How could this possibly displease the gods? Teomitl was the one to wipe their combined spend off their stomachs with the nearest piece of fabric and immediately flop onto his side, propping himself up on one elbow and gazing at Acatl so tenderly that it made his heart melt. Acatl had to touch him again, settling a hand on the curve of his waist and feeling a smile tug at his lips. My beloved. I made the right choice.

Even in the darkness, Teomitl’s smile was like a sun rising. “...Feeling better?”

“Mm...” His nightmares were already vanishing into the mist, scraps torn to four hundred piece by the way Teomitl had touched him. If he went back to sleep now, he suspected his dreams would be much less trying. Quite possibly stranger—the memory of a particularly vivid one where Acamapichtli had turned into a very large owl still stuck with him—but they wouldn’t feature Teomitl dying in front of him. He was looking forward to it. But there was sweat drying on his skin, and the temperature had dropped quite a bit. Honesty. “It’s a little cold.”

Then he squeaked, because Teomitl was scooping up one of their discarded cloaks and wrapping it and his arms around him like a giant tamale. He found himself with his face buried in Teomitl’s chest, soft cotton cocooning him gently, and he drew in a long breath that was full of the scent of his lover’s skin. They were safe. They’d remain safe. Ahuitzotls were not known for their verbal capabilities. “Mmm...”It was a little difficult for him to get his arms free of the fabric, but he persevered until he could slide them around Teomitl’s waist, holding him close. There, that was better.

“Warmer now?” Teomitl nuzzled into his hair, sounding gently amused.

He yawned, working his jaw in an approximation of a word. “Mm-hmm.”

“Good.” Teomitl stroked his hair, and his eyes fluttered shut on a long exhale. His lover’s voice lowered. “Let’s go back to sleep. I’ll be here in the morning, Acatl.”

He smiled. “I know you will.”

[enigmawrappedinhypocrisy]

Reader doing something nice for Barley (anything he'd like) because he deserves it

Pairing: Barley Lightfoot x reader 

Fandom: Onward

Warnings: Fluff, talk of fantasy death… I guess… people die in a game… some mention of nsfw (like It mentions the smex word... ) cuddling, Quests of Yore. 

A/N: you sent this ask twice… and I couldn’t decide what to do… so decided on both a sfw and a nsfw thing… thanks for your patience. 

Also… the other version is not a prequel/sequel… and is not necessary to understand this one… But I'm a whore so link. 

Also also… yeah I repeat the same lines in both of them so it’s kinda like a two versions thing… 

❀✦ Master List✦❀

♥

Barley had been working hard lately. 

He still managed to make time for you, even setting aside some time to fix your car earlier in the week. 

After that you decided you wanted to do something nice for him. 

You spent some time trying to figure out what to do, wanting to do something different and personal to show Barley how much you adore him. 

Eventually after much thought it came to you! 

♥

You realized it had been a while since he’d gotten together with his friends to play QoY, he hadn’t even mentioned the game recently. You felt bad about that, and with a little snooping found it had to do with lack of time, not an argument or anything… 

So you made a decision… 

You secretly borrowed his books, called his friends, and set about writing your very first one shot campaign. 

It was tough, and you were pretty unsure about a lot of the mechanics, but between Barley’s notes, written helpfully in the book, and his friends’s aid, you managed to come up with an okay one-shot you were fairly proud of. 

By the end of the week you were ready… well you were nervous but it was Barley’s first night off in weeks… so it was now or never… 

You decided to play it up a little, cleaning and decorating his room while he was gone. By the time his friends showed up his room looked medieval-tavern-ish… 

You had all the pieces laid out and everything planned, all he’d have to do is sit down and enjoy the game. 

You only hoped he wouldn’t be too tired… and hopefully not disappointed having been expecting something else. 

♥

By the time you heard Barley pull up in his van you’d nearly finished getting everything ready. 

All reference papers, mini’s, and dice set out. Snacks and drinks are placed around. Everything should be good, and ready to go. 

His friends were seated at a table you set up with all the things chatting excitedly with each other, and you ignored your nerves as his footsteps neared his room. 

When Barley walked in he was clearly tired, his eyes searching for you. Earlier today you had promised him something special and he was looking forward to spending a night off with you. 

He pauses, hand still on the door as he focuses on what’s in front of him, his brain trying to make sense of it. To be honest, Barley expected to find you waiting for him on his bed in some state of undress.

Instead he finds you, but not only you… 

You, his friends, QoY, all waiting for him.

 Barley smiles, it’s soft, a little tired, but the joy is there.  

“Welcome home Bar-bear” you chime. 

His friends suppress their snickers, planning on teasing him later about the nickname. They knew this was meant to be Barley’s night, and were respectful enough not to mess that up with their jokes. 

“What did you do?” he chuckles, moving over to give you a hello kiss. 

“I wanted to do something nice for you…” 

“Yeah man, you’ve been working hard” 

“You haven’t joined us for a game in a while” his friends join in. 

Barley frowns, “aww, guys… I don’t have anything prepared.” 

You nod and give him a nervous half-smile, “I thought I’d try Qm’ing… so you can just sit back, relax, and play.” 

“You’re too much” his face lights up before joining you and his friends around the table. 

♥

You begin the opening narration and soon the game is well on its way. It’s a little bumpy being your first time as quest master, but with help from the others you manage. Before long everyone’s fully engulfed in your story, and enjoying the quest. 

The party is told of a neighboring kingdom, taken over by a tyrannical ruler, his men constantly attacking anyone who drew close to their borders. 

Barley the Brave and his comrades were moved by their appeal and accepted the quest… 

Soon they set out in the direction of the kingdom, facing some low level threats along the way… 

You, getting used to running combat, and allowing the players to spend some time role playing.

♥

“As Barley’s barbarian strikes the final blow on the cruel king, bringing him to his knees, your remaining enemies disperse… they know they can’t beat you…”you narrate and the others celebrate their hard fought victory. 

The fight was tough and they weren’t fully prepared for the enemies numbers. Several of their characters were close to death and if Barley hadn’t rolled so super well on the last attack they might not have made it another round. 

But they managed and you were so, so proud of Barley’s quick thinking and problem solving. 

“You’re left alone in the throne room…” you tell them. 

“I’m gonna loot the corpse!” one of the friends declares. 

“I wanna look around” Barley decides. 

You tell them they find, “plenty of gold, (600p) and a key” on the king’s body. 

Barley rolls well again and finds a hidden door- “the key works- the door swings open”

Cautiously, still damaged from the battle, the party makes their way through the door. 

“Following the dark winding tunnel you find yourselves in the dungeon… all cells are empty but one” 

“I go up to it!” 

“Inside the cell is a ragged older man, he’s dressed in what looks like, used to be nice clothes…” 

“It’s the king!” 

“Is it the king?” 

“He struggles, but manages to lift his head, upon hearing the party enter the dungeon…” you tell them, he looks at you with quiet desperation. 

The magic user uses an unlocking spell on the bars. 

“I’ll help him sit up” Barley speaks, “Hello sir, by what cruel fate do you come to be in this place?” He uses his hero voice, which is a lot like his regular voice just a bit more calm and stoic. 

“‘The king was my brother… he turned my guards against me… and imprisoned me in this cell” the man explains with effort.” 

“Well no worries, my good man, he is no more” 

“The king sighs, “I suppose that’s what needed to be done, thank you, young hero’s for saving my people” he thanks you, though his eyes show a deep sorrow.”  

“Aww, that’s sad… they were brothers after all, I wonder why they turned against each other” 

“Maybe they both liked the same girl?” 

“I don’t know… can you imagine a girl liking that guy?” 

The group laughed, you don’t notice Barley’s loving gaze fixed upon your face.

Smiling, you conclude the story, telling them how they helped the rightful king back to his throne. He rewards them with gifts and a banquet in their honor…. And fade to black… 

By this time it was late and, while still excited about the game, everyone was ready to go home. 

They tell you how much fun they had and promised to get together for another session soon. 

Once it was just you and Barley though you were surprised with the look he was giving you.

[ In fairness it’s the same look he had been giving you all night… you’d just been so wrapped up in the game to notice. ]

It could only be one of love and adoration, “Babe that was so good” he pulls you into his arms. 

“I’m glad you liked it,” you say, nuzzling into his shoulder.  

“This was a lot of fun” he squeezes you to him. 

“I thought you deserved it… a night off… being able to relax and have some fun” You smile softly at him. “And your friends missed you too.” 

“I would have been happy just cuddling with you” he tells you with a grin. 

“Well that’s still gonna happen” you giggle, pulling him in the direction of his bed. 

“What about all this” he indicates the set up you had prepared for the game. 

“I’ll clean it tomorrow” you promise. 

Barley shrugs and pulls you onto the bed with him, causing you to giggle as you bounce slightly. 

He pulls you to him, inhaling your scent, before nuzzling your hair. “You’re wonderful, you know that?” he holds you tighter. 

“No you” you turn your head, kissing his neck softly. “You’re wonderful, and and a cutie, and warm, and so so too good for me” you babble trying to suppress a sudden yawn. 

“Alright, I think it’s time for bed” Barley chuckles brushing a piece of hair out of your face. 

“No, we’re cuddling!” you whine, “and then we’re gonna have amazing sex” you insist, even if your eyes were closed and another yawn threatened to escape.  

Barley laughs before pulling away from you, to your dismay. He quickly undresses both you and him, leaving both of you in only underthings.  

Turning off the light he rejoins you in bed. 

You instantly mold yourself to his side. 

He kisses your head, “Good night my love.” 

Once again, you nuzzle into him, responding with your own, slightly slurred “g’night.” 

You do feel a little bad, having honestly intended to follow up the game with some cuddling and intimacy… but, your mind supplies, there’s always early morning sex… 

Barley pulls you close, and is already flirting with the idea of calling in sick tomorrow by the time your breathing slows… 

Soon you nestled in his arms, Barley joins you in the pleasant world of sleep and dreams. 

♥

A/N: so this was done a little sooner than the nsfw one… but I really wanted to post them at the same time… and hopefully this being a bit longer than my normal drabbles makes up for my laziness. :(