#i live for new Rex content

[immagods]

Rex my darling your as beautiful as ever.

[darkstaria]

Yandere Batfam - Soulmate Soul Animal AU.

Chapter 4:

Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Chapter 5.

This chapter is brought to you by myyyyyyy🎉birthday🎉 woohoo 🥳 I hath aged

It's a little bit shorter, but I mean come on it's a unique chapter soooo it's cool guys I swear

Lots more Batfam content this time, albeit Tim centric. I'll balance it out in the future I swear! Also it's still platonic, but you could probably get a romantic reading from this a lil bit if you try

Taglist: @moonchild-artemisdaughter @jjsmeowthie @madine11-blog @xxrougefangxx @hadesnewpersephone @neerathebrightstar @mel-star636 @jaythes1mp @rosecentury @lov3vivian @gaozorous-rex-blog @victoria1676 @vrsin @silverklaus @ryukyuin @kurai-hono-blog @thisisafish123 @isawyourbrowserhistory @ain-t-no-way-bsfr @realifezompire @lunaluz432 @nickey-diano @sukiiluvs @sara0055 @alleakimlala @kdidgg @paperhermits @lavender-moony @alishii @emmbny @sirenetheblogger @fantasy-angelo @andrasia @vinnvinnvintage @nyra-42 @armystaysatnct @beyond-your-stars @starsdotalk @adeptusxia0

----

A few days have passed since your encounter with Red Robin. He hasn't shown up since, but another thing has.

Your work had sent you an email. An invitation to Wayne Enterprises, to represent them. According to them, your location was the closest to Wayne Enterprises, and so you were selected. You lived 50 minutes away from Wayne Enterprises. Their home office was 30 minutes away. You weren't sure who was doing the math here, but they needed some more practice.

That being said, you could notice a pattern when there was one. This was Tim Drake's attempt to get you out of your home. And unfortunately, it was going to work. You needed your job. It was perfect, remote, didn't bother you as long as you got the work done. Jobs like that were rare, especially in Gotham.

Not for the first time, you kinda felt like crying.

If Red Robin, your soulmate, was indeed Tim Drake, then what was this? Did he have you figured out? Or was he continuing the investigation?

You didn't know...

Refusing to show up would get you fired. There was no way around that. But, what if you couldn't go?

What if you were too injured to go? There's no way you could fake something, the bats are quite literally master detectives. That and your soul animal form would likely reveal the uninjured truth.

Maybe if you injured yourself?

No, no no no. That was a bad route to go down. If this meeting is to check whether you are soulmates with him, a matching injury on your soul animal form would be like a criminal and a suspect having the same tattoo.

There wasn't really any option here. Which, really, is just typical for the vigilantes of Gotham.

"Ughhh." You groaned to yourself, cradling your hands with your head. You glared over at Red, who had been showing up much more frequently these past few days (which was saying something, since all your soul animals were already by you 23/7). Red gave a small chirp in reply, some sort of smugness in its tone.

Maybe it was time to invest in wind chimes or something. You heard they can scare off robins.

You felt like you were going to need it.

~ ~ ~ ~

Tim's developed something of a guilty habit.

It wasn't a bad thing, per se. Nothing B would particularly frown at. Dick might even agree.

He imagined you wouldn't quite feel the same, though.

You looked especially fragile, as you slept. During the day your face was haunted by false bravado, a paranoid edge to every smile. Sleep smoothed out the lines of your face, giving a softer touch to your slumbering form.

You frown when he reaches out to poke your cheek. It's cute. His hand twitches for his camera. You're always cute, whether it's a small little frown on your face or beaming joy.

He's developed a new favorite activity. Alongside solving cases, he's now watching you. He wants to observe it all. From little habits to obvious passions, he wants to know everything. Hobbies, skills, loves, DNA. He'd only just found you, the answer to the mystery that he's been in since birth. He's had a lot of time to build up this obsession.

He wants and wants and needs. He can wait to take.

You are a light sleeper, but he's a quiet stalker. You don't always drink milk before bed, but when you do, you'll get a little more tired than usual. Your groggy face is cute, too.

He reached out, stroking your hair with the slightest of a smile beginning on his face. It was soft. It reminded him of you, your soul animal form. It had flinched away from him earlier, as it always does whenever they were in uniform. Finding that you do the same as a human wasn't so surprising.

They had adapted to your soul form’s skittishness. They could do the same again. His mind briefly flashed through some ideas, an ankle bracelet, a watch, a collar? If it was on the ankle, you'd match.

He broke out of his musings at the shift of movement. A flutter of wings. B’s soul animal flew down perching on a piece of furniture nearby as a vantage point. He smirked. Looked like he wasn't the only one feeling a little possessive tonight.

He must've been thinking of you. Not surprising, given that your soul form was scheduled time with him today. They had to work out a schedule, else there would have been a lot more stabbings. Not that it didn't prevent sudden abductions occasionally, thanks Jason.

That was fine though. B could have you tonight, Damian could have you tomorrow, Dick the next. Because Tim had the real you, right here.

And he wasn't planning on letting go.

There's a room he's preparing inside Drake manor. He’d put your name on it, but that would be too obvious if anyone came around. Instead, it would be his little secret with you. He's only just met you, but he has plenty of ideas for it already.

He didn't feel guilty for this. Not at all.

You were his as much as he was yours after all. If there was a problem with these feelings, then why would fate itself tie you to him?

If anything, the only guilt he’d feel is not telling anyone else. He couldn't help it, he just wanted you to himself for a while. He caught you, so he was allowed to have you.

But was that really guilt? Or just annoyance at the idea of getting caught?

An alert on his communicator made him frown, taking him out of the trance he had felt into. There was more he had to do.

A shame, but it was fine. He got to spend some quality time with you, taken a few things for the future. He’d make more time. And you'll have all the time in the world for him. But first…

Tim withdrew a specialty camera from his utility belt, raising it to his face. He adjusted a few settings, then…

Snap!

~ ~ ~ ~

You fought the urge to yawn. You have been so sleepy lately. You had to wake up especially early for today. Lovely.

At least today was the moment of truth. You'd show Red Robin for once and for all that you were perfectly normal, and not at all his soulmate. He’d lose interest, and your life would return to its domesticity.

The one good thing going for today was that you're somehow accompanied by none of your soul animals. A truly rare occasion that is ruined by the fact that you're instead visiting a soulmate in the flesh. If any of your soul animals do show up, you have your old reliable bag to shove them into. So, you should be alright.

Wayne Enterprises was a terrifying image, but you steadied yourself with the fact that your whole life’s freedom was at stake here, which was much more terrifying. After that you could get through the door. Security just letting you through after giving your name almost had you running out the door though, you'd admit.

The elevator ride was long and solemn, giving you time to think about everything. Maybe you should think about moving, staying in Gotham was perhaps a ridiculous sentiment to begin with. It was a shame though, you were a Gothamite through and through, you didn't want to leave the country your parents lived and raised you in.

Still, perhaps it was time to leave. Things were getting too risky. Thinking about it, Wayne Enterprises? Honesty what even was your life.

The ding of the elevator door interrupts your musings, an assistant directing you to Tim Drake’s office.

As you walk over, you can't help but listen in to some shouting coming from the room.

A younger voice is yelling. “Give me them! You do not deser-” The voice gets cut off, as an older voice yells back. “It is my turn, you do not get to just steal them!”

The younger voice starts up again, but so does the older voice, alongside what you can only presume to be fighting noises.

You just kinda stare at the door. You are a working professional, representing your company to the prestigious Wayne Enterprises. You came here with lofty expectations and responsibilities to fulfill. And the CEO… is fighting someone in his office.

You have no idea what to do.

A minute passes.

You started to think about signaling an assistant to come help, but before you could do so the fighting seemed to end with a shouted “Fine! But B will hear about-” you can't hear the rest, as the shouting returns to a normal volume.

A door is opened and slammed, footsteps retreating away from the office. You take a moment to appreciate the fact that Tim Drake’s office has two doors that lead in different places, because it means you didn't have to meet whoever he was fighting.

A second or two later, the door in front of you swings open. Tim Drake is facing you, his hair a little askew, and his cheeks a little red. He smiles, an easy thing. It's as if the sight of you brought it to his face.

“Welcome!” He waves you in, somehow not acknowledging what you just heard in any form. The objects in his office are perfectly aligned. Nothing looks disturbed at all. How?

He waves you over to a chair, settling into one himself.

“Well.” He begins. “It's nice to see you again, Y/n."

You hope this goes by quickly.

[nahoney22]

Hello happy today.

I just read all of your Rex x reader smut oneshots and damn it was sooooooo good,

so I would like to ask if you want to write a Rex x fem!reader with some smutty smut😉 where reader wears a long silky dress and Rex is head over heels for her when she wears it. reader can be a jedi or Senator you decide .

Hope you want to do it and if you don't want to thats totally fine.

Thank you if you do and if you don't thanks for the other storys with rex, ima go read the other ones now.

Bye.

Nightcap*** 🌊

🫧 Pairings: Captain Rex X SenatorFemale!Reader

word count: 1.9k

prompts: none

When Anakin assigns Rex to a new task, he didn’t expect he would be looking after a Senator. He also didn’t expect to fall in love with you either.

Warnings: NSFW, 18+ only. Explicit sexual content and language, senate female reader who is wearing a long silky dress (you decide the colour), flirting, Rex gets jealous, minor alcohol consumption, mutual pining, forbidden relationship, friends to lovers, cunnilingus, heavily implied sex.

Sorry for the wait @msblacklupin , enjoy 🩵🌊

Captain Rex stood at attention as his General, Anakin, briefed him on his new assignment: To personally protect the newly appointed Galactic Senator. Rex’s jaw tightened at the task at first. Babysitting a politician wasn’t exactly what he signed up for. However, orders were orders, and he would see it through—no matter how tedious.

But when Rex first met you, the senator in question, his thoughts shifted unexpectedly. You weren’t the stuffy, self-absorbed type he had expected. No, you were something entirely different—warm, kind, and genuinely interested in the people around you. And beautiful. Rex found it hard to ignore just how beautiful you were, though he kept such thoughts to himself.

It was actually starting to annoy him.

Even when his brothers, Jesse and Fives to be precise, nudged and teased him about what he thought of you, he remained tight-lipped, refusing to indulge their curiosity.

As the days turned into weeks, Rex began to appreciate more than just your looks. You were smart, compassionate, and refreshingly authentic. You listened to the clones’ stories, asked about their lives, and treated them with respect.

The moment he knew you were special was when he came with you during a Senate meeting. He stood quietly by your side, witnessing as you passionately defended the clones’ right to continue serving. Another senator had suggested phasing them out, referring to them as mere tools of war. But you weren’t having it.

“Tools?” you’d snapped, voice firm and unwavering. “These men are individuals with thoughts, feelings, and rights. If you can’t see that, then you don’t deserve to represent them—or anyone.”

His chest tightened with a swell of emotion he rarely allowed himself to feel. You weren’t just defending clones; you were defending him. It was a level of care he wasn’t used to receiving, especially from someone in such power.

As the days passed, your bond with Rex deepened and it was safe to say the two of you were friends. But, he was also falling for you. Foolishly.

He didn’t realise it at first but when he found himself lingering a little longer during conversations, savouring the moments when you laughed or smiled, he knew he was in trouble.

At night, alone, he would tell himself it’s just a minor crush, something a lot of clones had on Jedi’s or Senator’s who respected them. But you were hard to ignore. Especially after the night of a Galactic Ball.

Assigned to escort you, and though he tried to remain focused on his duty, his breath caught in his throat when you stepped out in your gown. The floor-length, slinky dress shimmered like liquid silk, clinging to every curve. You were stunning in a way that nearly made him forget himself.

“You okay Cap?” You asked through the mirror as you slide your earrings in, noticing him watching you.

“Yes.” He clears his throat and also his gaze, “Never better Senator.”

As you made your rounds at the ball, engaging in tedious conversations with politicians and whoever else, Rex stood close by, vigilant. But beneath his stern exterior, he couldn’t help but feel the twinge of something more—a subtle possessiveness and jealousy when others gave you rather appreciative glances. He told himself it was just his job, but deep down, he knew it was something else entirely.

After hours of enduring the ball, you turned to Rex, your eyes pleading for an escape. “I’ve had enough of this,” you whispered. “Would you mind accompanying me back to my quarters? We could have a nightcap?”

Rex hesitated, torn between protocol and the unspoken pull you had on him. “I shouldn’t. I’m on duty.”

But your smile, soft and inviting, melted his resolve. “Just for a little while? I could use the company.”

You sink into the plush, teal couch in your quarters, a sigh of relief escaping your lips as the opulent surroundings offer a sharp contrast to the exhaustion etched in your posture. "Those grand balls can be a bit much for me," you murmur, kicking off your heels and letting them clatter to the floor.

Rex, ever observant, watches you with quiet appreciation. "They do seem... exhausting," he agrees. He strides over to the small bar, picking up a crystal decanter of Corellian whiskey. "Would you like a drink, Senator?"

You glance at him and nod gratefully. "Please. And pour one for yourself too, Captain. You've been on duty all evening; you deserve it."

He arches an eyebrow, but a small smile tugs at the corners of his lips. Rex pours two drinks, the amber liquid swirling in the glasses, before handing one to you. He takes a seat beside you, maintaining a respectful yet comfortable distance.

"You know," Rex begins, taking a sip and fixing you with his sharp gaze, "this life suits you. The grandeur, the politics, the elegance; it all fits you perfectly."

You chuckle softly, shaking your head as you take a sip. "It's ironic you say that. I come from very humble beginnings. My upbringing was far from grand or luxurious; my family scraped by, making ends meet wherever they could." Your gaze grows distant, lost in past memories. "Sometimes, I feel like I don't belong.”

Rex's brow furrows in concern, his focus entirely on you. "I never would have guessed," he says sincerely. "You carry yourself with such grace and strength. No one would ever suspect you came from anything less than this." He gestures to the elegant surroundings.

A small smile tugs at your lips, warmed by his compliment. "It's all just a facade, though. Half the time, I’m questioning if I’m doing the right thing. These politics, the decisions… There's always doubt, this fear that I'm not enough."

Your voice wavers slightly, and Rex instinctively shifts closer, closing some of the distance between you. His gaze is intense, his expression softening as he tries to reassure you. "You're more than enough," he says, his tone firm with conviction. "I've seen how you fight for what's right, how much you care about people—not just those in power, but everyone. That's rare, and it's exactly what this galaxy needs."

Your eyes meet his, and for a moment, the world outside seems to fall away. The air between you thickens, charged with something more than just friendly concern. Reaching for your drinks at the same time, your hands brush as you both reach for the same glass. You laugh softly, trying to play it off. "Oops, my mistake."

But the brief touch sends a spark through you, one that's hard to ignore. Rex’s gaze lingers on you, his usual composure cracking slightly as he takes in the sight of you. Your dress has ridden up slightly as you crossed your legs, revealing more of your thigh. His eyes flick downward, betraying his deeper interest.

Flirting bubbles up naturally, your voice taking on a teasing lilt. "Captain, are you sure you're not getting distracted? I noticed the way you were watching me earlier, in the mirror while I was getting ready."

Rex flushes slightly but doesn't shy away. "You looked... incredible. It was hard not to watch." His voice grows more serious, almost reverent. "I admire you more than I can say. You're strong, intelligent, and beautiful. Desirable, even."

The word slips out before he can stop it, and you raise an eyebrow, amused. "Desirable, huh?" you echo, leaning in closer, your voice dropping to a whisper. "Just how desirable do you think I am?"

Rex swallows, clearly conflicted, but the attraction between you both is undeniable. His resolve falters as you reach out, taking his hand and guiding it to the silky fabric of your dress. "Go on," you murmur, your tone a mix of challenge and invitation. "You can touch."

His hand rests on your waist, fingers splayed over the smooth fabric as he pulls you closer. The tension finally snaps, and suddenly, his lips are on yours, the kiss fierce and hungry. There’s a moment of hesitation as he pulls back, guilt flashing in his eyes. "I'm breaking so many protocols right now," he mutters, breathless.

You smile, cupping his cheek, feeling the roughness of his stubble under your fingertips. "So am I, Captain. But it’s worth it, don’t you think?"

That’s all the encouragement Rex needs. He leans back in, his mouth crashing onto yours with a desperation that’s been building for weeks. The kiss is intense, a mixture of longing and release, his hands roaming your body as yours eagerly strip away his uniform. Piece by piece, his armor falls away until he's left in just his blacks.

You giggle as you’re pulled onto his lap, your dress pooling around you. His lips move from your mouth down to your neck, trailing heated and precise kisses along your skin, each one sending shivers down your spine.

“Rex…” you breathe out, your voice filled with need as your fingers graze over his blond buzzed hair.

He groans your name in response, the sound vibrating against your collarbone as he moves lower. Before you can process what’s happening, he gently eases himself down onto the floor. His large hands part your legs, and with a smoldering look, he hooks his fingers under your dress, pushing it higher until it’s bunched around your waist.

“You’re so beautiful,” he murmurs, his voice rough with desire as he kneels between your legs, the sight of you as he tucked your dampened panties to the side, exposed infront of him.

He lowers his head, his mouth descending onto your most sensitive spot. The sensation is electric—his tongue and lips working against your folds with a mix of precision and passion that makes your back arch. You moan his name, your fingers landing on the back of his head as you guide him all the while he devours you with an intensity that leaves you gasping for breath. “Mmm, you taste wonderful.��

Rex holds nothing back, lost in the taste of you, the sound of your pleasure driving him to give more. He alternates between soft licks and firm pressure, his hands gripping your thighs to keep you exactly where he wants you. The world around you blurs, the worries of your job fading as the only thing grounding you was the steady rhythm of his mouth and the overwhelming pleasure building inside you.

Your hips start to buck involuntarily, desperate for more as the tension coils tighter. “Rex, I’m so close,” you gasp out, your voice shaking as your body begins to tremble.

He doesn’t stop, he doesn’t think he would be able to.

Doubling down on his efforts as his brown eyes bore into yours, his tongue flicks in just the right way that sends you spiralling over the edge. Your climax crashes through you, your legs clamping around his head as you cry out in ecstasy. “F-Fuck!” You cry, body shaking.

Rex keeps going until he’s wrung every last tremor from you, only pulling back when you’re completely spent. He looks up at you, his lips slick, eyes dark with a mix of satisfaction and lingering desire. His hands gently stroke your thighs as you catch your breath, still trembling from the intensity.

When you finally regain your composure, you pull him up, capturing his mouth in a deep, languid kiss, tasting yourself on his lips. “I want more,” you whisper against his mouth, your tone both needy and commanding.

Rex grins, his voice low and full of promise. “Then I’ll give you everything I’ve got, Senator.”

🌊 Masterlist is Pinned 🌊

Tags: @lulalovez @whore4rex x @imperialclaw801 1 @temple-elder @mysticalgalaxysalad @yunggoblin @tech-aficionado @grizabellasolo @therealnekomari @tech-depression-inventory @brynhildrmimi @greaser-wolf @kaminocasey @marvel-starwars-nerd @ladytano420 @ladyzirkonia @thesith @raevulsix @cw80831 @knightprincess @crosshairlovebot @littlefeatherr @kaitou2417 @eyecandyeoz @jesseeka @theroguesully @ladykatakuri @arctrooper69 @padawancat97 @staycalmandhugaclone e @ko-neko-san @echos-girlfriend @fiveshelmet @dangraccoon @plushymiku-blog @pb-jellybeans @nunanuggets @sleepycreativewriter r @erellenora @zippingstars87 @ezras-left-thumb @the-rain-on-kamino @lamiliani

[zoradementio]

Block Tales Predictions & Headcanons Because This is my New Hyperfixation

Predictions

So the next sword is 100% the Firebrand. And what better fire level is there than an active volcano? I believe the next demo will open up the docks & we're gonna be sailing to a tropical, volcanic island for the Firebrand.

Added with that, I believe we'll meet the ship captain mentioned by Mayor Monty (can't for the life of me remember the name rn), as he'll be the one to sail us across.

I also believe that this Chapter or maybe the Windforce one will be weilded by Kyoko's sister, since Kyoko's dialogue in Chapter 3 hints that at the very least something is going wrong with her.

On the UnkownSpaceGuy Youtube channel - the channel that uploads both demo trailers & the OST - there's a track listed called Space Battle. While some might think the background & track are misdirects, considering the Weird Battle OST teased enemies from Chapter 3 well before it was implemented, I think it's possible this could also be hinting at future content. Specifically, I believe the Chapter taking place on the moon will either be the Darkheart or Illumina one.

Once the game is finished, there'll be a New Game+ mode where you can actually have the chance to beat Terry at the beginning of the game.

Headcanons

~Cruel King~

Dude needs a different moniker than "Cruel King" because that is a misnomer and a half. So, unless he's given an official name, his given name will be Rex to me.

His favorite foods include warm drinks like hot chocolate & coffee and frozen desserts, especially ice cream.

His favorite ice cream flavor is strawberry.

He likes Mexican cuisine but it also destroys him.

Had a German Shepherd when he was growing up.

~Griefer~

While Mayor Thaniyel is mostly right about Brad not being 100% like that before the influence of the sword, he still was a bit of a little shit. It's just that Thaniyel didn't see most of it and it was mostly relegated to online games/forums.

Despite what his soda addiction may lead you to believe, he really likes fresh fruits, apples being a particular favorite.

Likes sherbet & sorbet more than ice cream.

Really likes spicy food. Man would fuck up a bag of Flammin' Hot Cheetos & puts jalapenos on everything he can.

It is often said that the highest honor one can give a fictional character is to headcanon them your personal lived experiences and traumas. Thusly, Griefer has mommy issues. Undecided whether I prefer her being kind of a bad mom or if she simply wasn't around when Brad was growing up.

Big fan of Pokemon. Favorite Gen is 3, both in terms of the Gens in 2010 and all Generations to modern day. Favorite starter is Treeko, though Grooky would be a close second.

~Greed, Solitude, & Fear~

I like to group these three together as The Vices.

Greed is a bit of a fashionista, keeping up to date on the latest trends.

Greed likes carbonated drinks. Particularly, they like champagne.

If Greed were to order a steak, they'd order it Blue.

Solitude gets uncomfortable in large crowds. A large crowd to Solitude is more than 2 people.

It's difficult to tell at any given moment if Solitude is concentrating really hard on something that caught their attention or if they're just disassociating.

A picnic in the park might not fix Fear, but it would do a whole lot to improve their mental state.

Fear's favorite foods include fruity drinks/juices, comfort food, and baked goods.

Fear's favorite colors are dark blue and dark green.

Despite them literally being the embodiment of fear (or perhaps because of that), Fear is fiercely protective over those they care about. Can't have courage without fear after all.

[deadandphilgames]

A note from Daniel (new epilogue from You Will Get Through This Night)

Thank you for reading This Night. Writing this book in 2021, while sitting locked down in a lightless basement apartment for months, had a certain self-fulfilling irony that was not lost on me.

In many ways, I wrote this book for not only my past self that I wish could have known these things when I needed them most - but for the guy sitting in an incredibly uncomfortable, hunched, t-rex-esque position typing, that needed it right then. Like many of you, I thought those particularly fun couple of years were a temporary inconvenience, that I wouldn't have to age the book by diving into. And here we are. I hope you enjoyed that new chapter about resilience and whatever the hell a 'polycrisis' is. Turns out certain global events do have an additional effect on our mental health - it's understandable that you may try to power through it and pretend it never happened, but we all deserve to take whatever time we need to honestly process how life makes us feel. I hope you're doing alright. My journey of reflecting honestly on my own life experiences and lifestyle while writing was …like spontaneously punching yourself in the stomach. "Wow. I really live like this? That is apparently not conducive to a healthy mind. Oops. Guess I'll go touch some grass." I'm happy if that made this a more entertaining read occasionally.

Even now, I find myself continually re-reading the book in those small moments of first emotional reaction to situations where I now at least think "Wait - what was I supposed to do here? Right. Not catastrophise." If this is you - that is fine. You are not expected to perfectly memorise this book or retain all knowledge you hear in life. I know I don't. If you're ever sat next to me in the emergency exit aisle of a plane, know that you may be required to physically throw me out of the door in order to inflate the slide because I was busy during the briefing, imagining how my life would have been different if I actually had the nerve to dye my hair black that time in school. I am at peace with that.

It was honestly terrifying for me to try and mine the content of my life to try and actually illustrate advice for people that may really need it …for me to honestly look at the balance between joking about my mental health, and really getting real. Hey - if your attempt at opening up via some humour comes out a bit offensive, you still get points for at least putting it on the table. That's progress.

This is not a book about me. I am here just as an example of terrible behaviour that you have permission to have an inappropriate public transport snort at, and as a writer who has repeatedly not finished traditional 'self-help' or scientific study books for being dry, unrelatable and preachy. I just hope you found this moist, identifiable and accepting of all of your beautiful flaws. So many flaws. I often worried if any of the material was maybe obvious, or something you could stumble across on the second page of Google - then I had a small moment of honesty with myself contemplating my own ignorance, commitment to procrastination, attention span …and the fact that factually just 0.63% of all people searching online, ever bother clicking to the second page of results. If you already knew some of this, good for you. Honestly. You must literally be happy with yourself. I'm just looking in the mirror and trying to do something for the 99.37% of humanity that spend their lives never successfully researching how to not lay awake at night fantasising about their doom. Look forward to the upcoming pocket size book of 'offensively self-destructive jokes' by Dan - or 700-page memoir of my yet un-girthy, mostly unremarkable life so far if that's what you're really looking for.

Perhaps the most terrifying result of releasing this book into the world, has been coming face to face with those of you that have read it. For in these moments, all of my protective self-deprecating persona comes crashing down in an instant when someone says this book made them feel better. Hearing that this book was the first time they finished anything tangentially related to self-improvement, or that just one thing they read was a new perspective on a part of their life they needed, makes me feel my mission in life is already complete. Seeing it be recommended by bookstores amongst all the other choices, hearing that people have shared it with their therapists or had it suggested to them by a professional, is an unbelievable seal of approval that I appreciate. I am so inarticulably grateful to have been given the opportunity to do anything that could make your life easier, more peaceful, more enjoyable. I've met people who annotated this book with post-its, told me they listen to audiobook exercises on their commute - and even a few people that have had illustrations tattooed onto them as a symbolic reminder of a message.

All of this puts that year of typing like some kind of infinite monkey at a typewriter into perspective. I'd do it all again. Mostly. It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the guy whose name is printed on this book, and I just hope that reading it helped you, as much as writing it helped me.

Love and good luck.

- Dan

[alphaofdarkness]

Merry Christmas / Feliz Navidad / Happy Holidays / Life Day to everyone! 🎄🎅❄️☃️

Especially to @bart1607! 🥳🎄 I am your secret santa for the @sabezrasecretsanta event 🎄✨ I truly hope you’ve had an amazing Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! I hope you enjoy this gift 🫂💜🥰✨

I did my best 👉🏼👈🏼 this is officially canon y’all, no one dies-everyone lives is canon 😌🙌🏼 just silly fun Life Day/Christmas au with all the favorites coming over for celebration ☃️ I truly wonder what the beans plan to surprise the others with 😳✨

I had a lot of fun and anxiety over this piece lol trying to get it done before heading home (°ヮ°), pero bueno, esta bien, salió perfecto a mi (after like a day away from it lol) so I hope you like ✨👉🏼👈🏼

Have an amazing one everyone! So in love with all the sabezra works and secret santa gifts! 🥰✨

Bubbleless image and many zoom in's under read more ~

Some close up of the beans with their precious fur babies 🐱🐺 and some zoom ins of the speech bubbles with Kanera, Jacen, and Chopper, Kalluzeb, Ahsoka, Rex, and Huyang, and Ursa, Alrich, and Tristan Wren ✨

I have this four couples idea I plan to do in the future for the Rebels cast, so this is kind of a step in that direction. I’m technically missing one silly ship of the four in mind lol. But some chibi versions are fine for now 😌

I am truly in love with the Kanera + Jacen and Chopper one, as well as Kalluzeb 🥹💜and a first time drawing a chibi!Rex and Clan Wren family~ I need to draw Ursa properly at some point too~

Again, I hope you love and enjoy @bart1607! Have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and everyone 🥰 ! Bless everyone of y'all for being an amazing community and here’s to more Sabezra draws and content in the new year 🙌🏼🥹🙏🏼

[vodika-vibes]

Hey !🌸🌸 can you please write something about

,, what made them fall in love with you“

It doesn’t really matter who it is about but since I’m a Wolffe fangirly it would be really nice to read something about him 🩷 and crosshair , Rex as well thank u 🌸

What Made Them Fall In Love

Pairings: Commander Wolffe x Reader, Captain Rex x F!Reader, TBB Crosshair x F!Reader, ARC Trooper Echo x Reader

Warnings: Tooth rotting fluff

Tagging: @trixie2023 @n0vqni @imabeautifulbutterfly

A/N: I added Echo to make the number even, lol. I hope you don't mind. Sorry this took so long! I hope you like it!

Commander Wolffe

Your fingers tangle in his hair as Wolffe dances with you around the living room. The music is quiet and slow, and his heart beats steadily against the palm of your hand, which is resting on his chest. 

He gazes down at you with his mismatched eyes, and you offer him the warmest smile as you lean in and brush your lips against his with a content sigh.

“That was a heavy noise, cyare.” Wolffe murmurs as he leans in and bumps his forehead against yours.

“A happy noise,” You reassure, “I’ve never been so happy in my life.”

He chuckles, “I’m glad to hear it.”

The pair of you fall into a comfortable silence for a moment. “Wolffe?”

“Hm?”

“Why did you choose me?” You ask, it has been weighing on your mind for a while.

He looks confused for a  moment, and then he smiles and cups your face with his hands, the dance slowing to a stop, “The first time we met, you punched someone for calling me a meat droid.” There’s something painfully fond on his face, “It was that fire, that passion, that drew me to you. But it was your heart that made me love you.”

You beam at him, “I love you too.”

He chuckles, his hands falling back to your waist, “Good. Now, I’m not done dancing with you. Come here.”

A giggle falls from you as he tugs you against his body, and you eagerly go with him.

Captain Rex

“You’re back!” A delighted laugh falls from her lips as she throws herself into his already open arms.

Rex catches her with ease, lifting her up and spinning her around, before pulling her into a tight hug, “I am back.” He replies, his voice muffled by her hair, “Stars, I’ve missed you.”

Her arms tighten around his neck and she shifts to rub her cheek against his, “If you had told me that you were coming back, I would have prepared better!”

“I didn’t want to get your hopes up,” Rex replies, his arms sliding under her thighs to support her weight as he walks into the apartment and blindly hits the door control panel to shut and lock the door behind him.

She isn't paying any attention to that, though, as her hands are framing his face, and she’s scanning his face looking for any new scars or bruises. 

“I’m alright, sweet girl,” He promises, and she smiles down at him.

“Maybe I just want to look at my handsome man,” She teases, “I missed you so much.” She lightly rubs his cheeks with her thumbs, “Oh, but I don’t have any food-”

Rex’s smile softens, and he pulls her into a deep kiss. This, right here, is why he fell in love with her in the first place. Her compassion, her love, the way she wants him around.

He’d burn Coruscant to the ground if she asked him.

But for now, for now he’ll just kiss her.

Crosshair

Crosshair’s gaze is soft as he peers up at her, his hand warm as it presses against her cheek. The sun of Pabu is hot, bearing down on both of them, but he doesn’t mind.

“You’re staring,” She says as she positions herself so that her head is hovering over his.

“I can’t help it.” He murmurs, “You’re gorgeous.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, you’re not too bad yourself,” She teases, leaning in and kissing him softly, gently. As though afraid that her lips would break him.

He loves that about her, it’s why he fell in love with her in the first place. Because she looked at him and didn’t just see the soldier, the sniper, the asshole. She saw the man who needed a little softness, and was more than happy to give it.

Crosshair smiles at her.

“What?”

“I love you.”

She ducks her head, seemingly embarrassed about his words. “I love you too.”

“Enough to marry me?”

Her head snaps up, surprise clear on her face, and then warmth crosses her face, “Nothing would make me happier.”

ARC Trooper Echo

Echo’s arm is tucked under his head as he lays on the couch. You’re straddling his hips, your hands resting on his bare chest for balance, and he’s grinning at you.

“Well, what do you think?” Echo asks.

You glance at his face, and then drag your gaze down to his chest. There’s his skeletal hand tattooed on the right side of his chest, his symbol, how people recognize him when he’s in armor. 

It’s not a new tattoo.

The new part is the delicate flowers twined around the skeletal hand. Flowers that you're named after. Lightly, you trace one of the vines of ivy, “You did this for me?”

“Partly, but mostly for myself.” Echo places his hand over yours and moves both of them so they’re resting over his head, “I like being able to look at my tattoo and remember you. Your voice, your smile, your eyes, your lips-”

Slowly, he pulls you down so that he’s able to catch your lips in a kiss. And that single kiss turns into two, three, four-

“I have loved you since the moment we first met.” Echo whispers against your lips, “Since the day you looked at me and saw me, and not just another clone.”

You smile against his lips and kiss him again. You could kiss him forever and never grow tired of it.

“I’ll spend the rest of my life making you happy, cyare.” Echo promises. “I swear it.”

[thegreymarveljedi]

Surprise for You

(Wrecker x Reader)

Here is a story that came to me out of the blue, super happy and fluffy with some spice thrown in. Why not right? I love Wrecker’s character, he’s a giant teddy bear with a heart of gold and a winning smile.

All of the bad batch deserve to be happy and that’s how this one shot goes. Tech is alive in this one too, if you’ve read my other stories you know why, cause I also love him and he didn’t deserve to die. This is a post! Tantiss story so they’re on Pabu living their best lives.

(Divider done by @snotbuggle )

Warnings: FLUFF, SMUTT, lingerie, teasing, p in v sex, size! Kink, breeding! kink, nipple play, rough sex, slow/fast pace, oral f! Receiving, pet names, cum play, over stimulation, multiple orgasms, cumflation

Words: 6.6+K (I’m not sorry)

“Mesh’la! I’m home and I’ve got dinner for us!”

“Sounds good honey! I’ll be right out okay?”

“Take your time ner sarad,” Wrecker spoke as he placed the fresh vegetables and fish on the counter in their kitchen. He smiled contently at the little home they had built together. It was a cozy place where he could relax and not have to look over his shoulder for fear of danger. Big enough for him to fit comfortably and have plenty of manoeuvring room but small enough not to feel overwhelming and uncomfortable.

Wrecker and his brothers had been living on Pabu for close to a full year now, making their own way and helping the citizens of the island as best they could. He himself had become a fisherman, going out on the boat daily and catching what he could. He found that he enjoyed the serenity that fishing brought, the cool breeze off the ocean making him feel like he was receiving a very nice hug. The other fishermen who went with him enjoyed listening to his stories as well as his joy when he’d catch a big fish, his happiness and excitement contagious.

Hunter had become a woodworker, making things for the island and helping to build things when needed. He was skilled with his hands, helping to build new homes and improve currents ones. He had found such peace in the work, using his enhancements for crafting and various carpentry jobs.

Crosshair had made his living as a farmer, growing fruits and vegetables and selling them at the local market. It had taken him a few weeks to truly feel comfortable being around the people especially after loosing his hand. But slowly and surely he came out of his shell. He became a new person; less snarky, more relaxed and a lot happier.

Tech had become a doctor and a therapist, working in the island clinic along side (Y/N). He had wanted to do something more with his vast knowledge after Tantiss. He was determined to stay away from the fighting but still wanted to aid his traumatized brothers. He found peace in helping, always being there for any clone that Rex and Echo brought to the island.

(Y/N) had been the Bad batch’s Jedi medic since just after the start of the war. She had been so soft spoken and kind to the batch. Always there to lend a hand and patch them up after difficult missions.

She and Wrecker had gotten together during the middle of the war, both shy in showing their love for one another but it was meant to be. After everything they had been through, together and as a squad, they deserved to be happy.

Wrecker had proposed right after Tantiss, not wanting to waste another minute of time without calling (Y/N) his wife. She had said yes without a second thought and everyone was ecstatic, Omega most of all. She saw (Y/N) as a mother figure and couldn’t wait to have some part in the wedding.

She had insisted on helping with every step she could, even learning to make dresses if she needed to. Everyone had laughed at her enthusiasm, happy that she was so excited.

Wrecker sat on the couch, reclined with his head resting on the back of it and a smile on his face, reflecting on the past year. Life was good now, Tantiss far behind them. He was content and his brothers were happy which is all he could ask for. He had a beautiful wife, a great home and loving people surrounding him. It was all too good to be true, but it was his reality now.

“Jariler?”

Wrecker was snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of the voice, turning his head to the side a little at the call of his nickname, though he was not prepared for what greeted him. His eyes went wide as saucers, sitting up a little at the sight of his wife in the doorway to their bedroom.

(Y/N) was wearing the most gorgeous silk lingerie, red in colour, paired with a sexy and seductive long black robe. Both pieces of clothing extenuated her body, hips and breasts both looking evening bigger than normal. Her legs were shimmering in the dying light of the day that cascaded through the window, her face lighting up in a golden hue.

“Woah,” was all Wrecker could think to respond with, all other words and thoughts leaving his head as he stared at his wife. She smiled shy at him, adjusting the robe a little bit and doing a little spin, causing the robe to fan out around her.

“Do you like it?” She asked and Wrecker just kept staring at her, his mouth open and eyes wide. He had no words available to him to describe how amazing she looked, her beauty unmatched by anything he had ever seen. She began to fidget a little more before Wrecker finally snapped out of his shock and stood up quickly, making a beeline for (Y/N) and wrapping his arms around her. He picked her up and spun her around making her laugh, his own joyous chuckle leaking out into the air.

“Mesh’la. You look absolutely stunning in this,” Wrecker said as he placed his wife back on her feet slowly, his eyes never leaving hers. She smiled shyly up at him, her hands resting on his shoulders as she looked at him. Wrecker too another moment to admire her before he tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear, bulling her cheek once he did. She leaned into his large palm, feeling the warmth radiating off his hand.

At that moment it was just them and nothing else, the world seemingly drowned out around them. The soft sounds of the ocean could be heard and the moon-yo’s too but nothing else existed in their home. Wrecker took (Y/N)’s hand and gave her a spin, resting his hand on her hip as she completed the 360 turn. (Y/N) smiled and placed one of her hands on Wrecker’s shoulder again, the other finding his other hand and holding it.

Wrecker clued into what she wanted and lifted there joined hands together, beginning to sway with his beloved in his arms just like they had done on their wedding day. They had no music in the moment but neither of them seemed to care much, and in the dying light of dusk, they danced together in their living room, content just to be in each others arms.

“Ni kar'tayli gar darasuum ner cyare,” Wrecker whispered softly as he leaned down and placed his forehead against (Y/N)’s. She smiled and returned the words, closing her eyes and allowing the last of the days warmth to envelop her along with Wreckers. She closed her eyes contently, beginning to hum a small tune as their only song to dance too.

Wrecker smiled and moved them around the living room a little more, twirling (Y/N) around and watching as the robe fanned out around her once more. It was mesmerizing to watch, the fabric soft and luscious, making her look like a vision from the maker. Wrecker pulled her back into his arms, slowing their movements down until they were swaying in place again, smiling like idiots at one another. They stayed there for another moment before Wrecker let go of her hand, moving to place it against her other hip.

She smiled as a small shiver ran through her body, Wrecker’s hands moving to be inside the robe she wore, running them up and down her sides teasingly. He squeezed her hips before moving his hands down to ass, giving it a firm squeeze making (Y/N) gasp.

“Wrecker,” she whispered to him, her eyes fluttering open to meet his. He had a mischievous smirk on his face as he continued to fondle her behind, pulling his wife impossibly closer to him.

“Yes my love?” Wrecker replied his eyes roaming over her chest. He was fixated on her breasts, the material of her lingerie framing them perfectly. It made them look so round and perfect, her nipples poking through the fabric as another shiver wracked her body.

(Y/N)’s body arched into Wrecker’s touch as he moved his hands upward, running his thumbs over her perked nipples. She whined at the feeling, her legs beginning to shake as Wrecker teased her. She had worn the lingerie to entice him, though the amount of love he had shown her had been a nice addition to the sexy night she was hoping to have. She keened again as Wrecker continued to play with her breasts through the fabric of her bra, the words she had on her mind evaporating before they could leave her lips.

“What is it net sarad?” Wrecker asked again, his smirk only growing wider as he watched (Y/N)’s nipples harden even more. He knew what he was doing to her, playing her body like a well practiced instrument with dexterity and ease. (Y/N) keened again, her hands finding some purchase on Wreckers biceps, squeezing the firm muscles as a way of grounding.

“Need you Wrecker… please,” she moaned out as Wrecker gave her breasts a squeeze grinning as she threw her head back. He knew what he was doing to her but he also knew what she was doing, he outfit of choice not just something casual she would usually wear around the house.

“Is that what this outfit was for? Get me all worked up so I would fuck ya mesh’la?” Wrecker said huskily and (Y/N) nodded, not even trying to deny her intentions. She could never lie to her gentle giant husband, Wrecker being able to read her like time bomb instruction manual. Wrecker chuckled darkly at his wife, pulling away almost fully to gaze over her gorgeous body again.

“I could devour you cyar’ika. Make you cum on my tongue again and again and again,” he said and pulled her back into his, burying his face in her neck. (Y/N) let out a sinful moan as Wrecker bit down, sucking a mark into her flesh as a way to claim her as his.

“But,” he said and pulled back, admiring his handy work on her neck. She stood there with glazed eyes, legs shaking and an adorably dopey grin on her face, though it disappeared when Wrecker pulled away fully.

“B-but what?” She asked shakily and reached for him, afraid that something was wrong.

“We need to eat dinner first! I don’t want these ingredients to go to waste,” he said with a smile, one that told (Y/N) that he was genuine. She titled her head to the right and tried to hold back a small sigh of frustration, the mood of their previous activities almost completely vanishing. She nodded and went to turn away, ready to walk back to their bedroom and get changed into other clothes.

Before (Y/N) got three full step away from him, Wrecker let out a playful roar and came at her from behind, picking her up and spinning her around again. He laughed at the yelp she let out, her body tensing before she relaxed her feeling meeting the ground again. Wrecker pulled (Y/N) against him, grinding his still semi hard erection against her plump behind, reaching his hands around her body to grab at her breasts again. She moaned at both sensations her head falling back against his chest as he ravaged her body and neck, peppering nips and kisses wherever he could reach.

“You didn’t think I was serious did you?” Wrecker whispered in her ear, his voice deep and teasing. (Y/N) nodded and curled her arms up to hold Wreckers forearms, his hands still playing with her breasts.

“O-of course I thought y-ohh, you were serious,” she replied quietly, hearing Wrecker chuckle deeply.

“I would never do that to you cyar’ika. You’ve got me harder than durasteel right now with how sexy you look,” he said huskily, voice dripping with the promise to take her to bed and fuck her good.

“Mmm, Wrecker. Honey please.”

“You go get comfy in our bed ner Sarad. I’m going to put the fish and vegetables away quickly,” he said and (Y/N) nodded, practically sprinting back to their bedroom when Wrecker released her, looking forward to their night of fun to come.

Wrecker chuckled as he watched his beloved wife retreat to their room, ready to fuck her brains out all night long. He quickly followed through with his previously stated task, putting away his catch of the day along with the vegetables in their big fridge before he too made it to the bedroom.

As he got closer to the room he could see a faint light coming from it, a sweet smell that he somehow didn’t catch before wafting out. When he entered, he was greeted by the soft smell of berries and vanilla, incense burning on the dresser and tea candles lighting the room in a soft glow. Everything else had been set up as well, their usual canteens of water and a pile of snacks for after their love making as well as clean sheets and towels waiting to be used.

(Y/N) was sprawled out in the middle of the bed, robe now discarded and hung up as to not get ruined and her lingerie set still remaining on her body. They made eye contact as Wrecker entered the room, both looking over each other with hungry eyes. Wrecker let out a teasing growl, his Adam’s apple rippling and his muscles tensing. (Y/N)’s eyes roamed over her husbands frame, his body large and intimidating to most but soft and welcoming to her. She was practically stripping him with her eyes, yearning to feel his hands on her once again. Wrecker was doing the same, hungry eyes roaming over his wife’s perfect body, imagining all the things that he could do to her.

His eyes focused on her stomach, the soft supple flesh something he always enjoyed playing with. It wasn’t a very common thing but Wrecker loved it, running his hands over (Y/N)’s torso, feeling her soft skin and squishy stomach. Then his mind began wondering even more, to the possibility of other things. He imagined what she would look like big and round, her belly protruding and swollen with their children. Wrecker let the thoughts overwhelm him, imagining having a full house of little ones running around, seeing (Y/N), himself and even his brothers doting on their kids.

Wrecker was pulled out of his thoughts by a gentle hand on his cheek, flinching at the unexpected contact. He hadn’t even noticed (Y/N) get up from the bed, her hand warm as it rested on his face. He looked down into her eyes, her (E/C) pools conveying an aura of slight confusion.

“What is it Wrecker? What’s wrong,” she asked quietly, running her thumb over his cheek and underneath his eye. It was then he realized that there were tears streaming down his face slowly, the thoughts of what could be making him emotional. He lifted his hand to hold (Y/N)’s that rested in his cheek, his eyes never leaving hers this time.

“Was just thinkin’ bout our future. Our life together and how happy you make me,” he said, leaning down and connecting their foreheads together in a keldabe kiss. (Y/N) smiled and closed her eyes at the gesture, content to give Wrecker a few moments to explain or to just stay put.

“You make me happy too Wrecker. I’m so lucky to have you in my arms,” (Y/N) replied, moving her body impossibly closer to his large frame, soaking up the natural heat he exuded.

“I can just picture you all big and round, swollen with our ad’ikas inside you,” Wrecker let slip his thoughts, his mind wondering to the future his subconscious mind had conjured up, feeling nothing but love in his heart as he watched his children run around and laugh with his wife following lot to far behind. He was once again snapped out of his thoughts by a soft groan, (Y/N) tapping into his thoughts to see what he was seeing. It was beautiful, so many of them running around and the thought of how they got there made her knees weak and her pussy wet.

They both blinked out of the fantasy together, meeting each other’s eyes once more before Wrecker picked her up with ease, her legs wrapping securely around his waist. He backed them both up to the wall, one that they purposely left completely bare for nights like this. Their lips met in a fiery kiss, the imaginary world they had seen fuelling their already stoked desires. Wreckers hands were on (Y/N)’s behind in a heart beat, fondling her rounded globes and kneeling the soft flesh. She whined into their kiss, his hands feeling immaculate as they groped her ass.

“Honey,” (Y/N) moaned, breaking the kiss as Wrecker pulled away and buried his face in her neck, nipping and sucking marks into it. She giggled slightly before sighing as he reached her ticklish spot, sucking a mark onto it before blowing a raspberry to the spot.

“Wrecker!” She laughed as he chuckled, planting more little kisses all over her neck and face. Her smile was wide, meeting her eyes and creating crows feet at the sides. Her hands wrapped around his neck, her legs squeezing his waist and grinding herself against his front.

“Kriff, mesh’la that feels so good,” Wrecker said, his eyes closing as he savoured the feeling of his wife grinding on him. One of his hands moved from her ass and instead took hold of her wrists, pinning them up above her head. The new angle elongated her torso, her breasts bouncing as her core was somehow placed more firmly against his crotch.

Wreckers eyes found (Y/N)’s chest again, her breast practically in his face with the position they were in. Her nipples were hard, the little pebbles poking through the fabric of her bra. Wrecker growled and dove forward again, this time hiding his face between her boobs before turning his head and taking one of her purt nipple into his mouth. (Y/N) moaned at the sensation, Wrecker’s talented tongue and the fabric of the bra working together to bring her so much pleasure. Wrecker’s other hand gravitated up towards her other breast, taking the pert little bud between in large fingers and rolling it.

“Fuck baby that feels so good,” (Y/N) moaned her head thrown back as Wrecker lavished her chest with attention and affection. Wrecker growled against her, moving back up her body to her neck once more. He laid a few more bite marks around her neck as his hand continued to tweak one of her breast. The feeling made her grind down even harder on Wrecker’s crotch, chasing her release already.

Wrecker must have understood her body language like he always does, lifting his thigh and pushing it against the wall, effectively having (Y/N) ride his thigh. She groaned is Wreckers good ear, feeling his thigh tense as she begin to grind on it.

“That’s it mesh’la, grind your pussy on my thigh. You like it don’t you?” He teased, not allowing her a response as he sealed his lips against hers. All (Y/N) could do was moan into the kiss and she sped up her pace, her high right there. Wrecker indulged her, tensing and relaxing his thigh over and over until (Y/N) broke the kiss and cried out.

“Wreckerrr!” She moaned as she was thrust over the edge, her orgasm hitting her like a tone of bricks. Wrecker smirked as he assisted her in riding it out, slowly dragging his thigh out from between her legs and helping her to set her feet on the ground. (Y/N)’s knees buckled, almost collapsing forward had it not been for Wrecker holding her up. She giggled dazedly up at her husband, her post orgasmic state making her feel light and airy.

“Don’t tell me that’s all you have in you tonight cyar’ika,” Wrecker whispered, letting go of her arms and instead wrapping his around her waist. (Y/N) frantically shook her head, eyes meeting Wrecker’s as she came back to reality again.

“No way am I done. You haven’t filled me up yet,” she said with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. Wrecker groaned at the filthy words that left her lips, his mind going back to the fantasy he had envisioned when he first walked into their bedroom. His reserve and resolve crumbled as he picked her up by her hips, effortlessly tossing her on their bed. She bounced on the bed and giggled, sitting up on her elbows and letting her head fall back between her shoulders as Wrecker covered her body with his own.

“Gonna make you feel so good cyare. Gonna fill that tight pussy up till you’re you can’t take anymore,” Wrecker said making (Y/N) whimper. The promise behind his words was something she would hold him too, wanting to feel every inch of him inside of her. He was big, and she loved that about him, his size making her feel safe all while giving her an insane amount of pleasure. His body dwarfed her own, making her feel small but loved. He dove back in and kissed down her body, leaving love bites wherever there was exposed skin as he made his way down to her lower lips. They were hidden from his gaze by her beautiful red panties, the lace fabric teasing him as he looked on.

“These look so beautiful on you ner sarad. Shame I’m gonna have to take ‘em off ya,” Wrecker said, slowly trailing his hands down to body to the waist band of her underwear. There was no protest from (Y/N) as she lifted her hips, giving Wrecker more room to remove her undergarments. He did so with delicate hands kissing down her smooth legs as he went. Once he had her panties completely off he brought them to his noes, taking a large inhale.

She always smelled so sweet to him, her natural lubricant something he was enamoured with no matter how odd it sounded. His eyes closed as he took it all before throwing the panties aside and spreading his wife’s gorgeous legs. She didn’t resist the attention, watching as Wrecker exposed her pussy to his eyes. He groaned, not waiting another second before going head first between her legs, licking a long strip from her hole to her clit, pulling a long loud moan from (Y/N)’s lips.

“FUckkk.” Her voice was like a proton torpedo to his ears, the sound making a shutter run through him and straight to his cock. He was already rock hard but the sounds he was pulling from her made him twitch. He continued to devour her pussy, alternating between sucking on her clit and fucking her with his tongue. He was in heaven at this moment, moving her legs so they rested over his broad shoulders. This position gave him more access to her pussy, moving his left hand down to rub her clit as he sucked at her pussy.

“Make me feel so good Wreck. Fuck I love it when you fuck my pussy with your tongue,” (Y/N) moaned, looking down at Wrecker as his eyes looked back at her, his head not moving from its place between her thighs. His fingers and mouth switched places, his lips capturing her clit as he eased a finger into her. He groaned as her pussy swallowed his finger effortlessly, feeling her clench even if he hadn’t done much of anything to her yet.

“Haven’t even stretched you open and you’re already tightening round my finger,” he groaned against her clit, the vibration sending shockwave through her spine.

“Can’t help it big guy, you make me feel so go-“ her finally word was cut off as Wrecker entered two more fingers in at once, pumping them in slowly until he was up to his knuckle.

“Nghh Wrecker baby please, please I need you,” she moaned, falling back into the pillows and wreathing around. Her hips bucked up to meet Wreckers tongue and fingers, drawing her pleasure out.

“Gotta open you up first baby, can’t have you hurting yourself on my cock,” Wrecker teased, beginning to move his fingers in and out of her tight opening faster. (Y/N) screamed, tossing her head from side to side and Wrecker drew moan after moan out of her. Her legs began to twitch on his shoulders, hands coming up to cover her mouth but was stopped by Wrecker taking hold of her wrists.

“No you don’t sweet girl. I want to hear every sound that comes outta that filthy little mouth of yours,” he growled, curling his fingers against her g-spot making keen and moan loudly. His words set her body aflame, his fingers, his mouth, him, making her come undone for the second time that evening.

“Ahhhhh~” Her hips bucked as her orgasm overwhelmed her, key shaking and spasming with the force of it. Wrecker held her hips still as she twitched, eyes closed as she continued to convulse. Wrecker smirked as he watched his wife come undone, proud of himself for what he could accomplish. Wrecker didn’t hold back as he thrusted his fingers into (Y/N)’s still clenching walls, making her yell in surprise before another scream left her lips.

“W-w-wreckerrrrr.” Her voice was broken as Wrecker continued to finger fuck her again, scissoring his fingers against her velvety insides. His goal was to make her come at least one more time before he impaled her on his large cock, not wanting to hurt her. It didn’t take long for him to accomplish this goal and (Y/N)’s back arched, a pornographic sound leaving her lips as she exploded.

Wrecker braced himself against the bed as the force of her orgasm forced his fingers out of her dripping pussy, her juices exploding all over the sheets and himself. Wrecker watched awe as (Y/N) squirt, her pussy opening and closing as she panted heavily. (Y/N) opened her eyes to look at Wrecker, watching at he took his fingered into his mouth and sucked them clean of her cum. (Y/N)’s eyes rolled back, her body still twitching with the feeling of her orgasm and the over stimulation.

“That was beautiful cyar’ika. Such a good girl for me,” Wrecker said, listening as (Y/N) huffed out a laugh at his words.

“Fuck,” was all she could get out as wrecker chuckled and made his way up her body. He kissed along her torso, feeling the thin layer of sweat that kissed her skin. When he reached her lips again, Wrecker captured them in a loving kiss, one too delicate for the service he had just provided her with. (Y/N) brought her hands up to Wrecker face, holding his cheeks as she deepened the kiss, tasting herself in his lips.

When they pulled away from one another, (Y/N) found nothing but love and adoration in Wrecker’s gaze, his eyes glazed over as he looked at her.

“That was something else my love. So fucking sexy,” Wrecker said making (Y/N) smile.

“I’m glad you thought so Wreck,” she said, smoothing her hand down to the top of his shirt before giving it a tug, “but I really really need you to fuck me.” She emphasizes her words with another tug to his shirts, needing to feel his skin against hers.

Wrecker couldn’t argue with her, wanting to feel her tight heat wrapped around his engorged cock. Wrecker pulled away from her completely and made quick work of stripping off his shirt, tossing it somewhere in the room as his belt and pants hit the ground next. (Y/N)’s mouth was watering at the sight of her husband, naked and dripping just for her. Wrecker was a gorgeous man, body sculpted as if he by the maker himself, his cock hanging heavy between his muscular thighs, the tip angry and red, dripping with precum.

(Y/N) groaned at the sight, taking in everything about Wrecker even if she had seen it many times before. His size always amazed her, the length and girth of his cock something that always made her pant. She sat and quickly took good of Wrecker’s large appendage, stroking it as best she could with both hands. The gentle giant groaned the sensation, his head falling back as he enjoyed the attention from his wife. Her hands were the perfect size for his cock, both hands encompassing him. (Y/N) lifted his cock to her mouth, licking a strip up the veiny side before placing a kiss to the swollen tip.

“Fuck mesh’la. Do that again,” Wrecker said, his hands making their way into (Y/N)’s hair. His wife obliged his wishes, repeating her previous ministration before taking the tip of Wrecker’s cock into her mouth fully. The he groaned at the sensation, tightening his grip on her hair but not pushing her any further. From her position, (Y/N) flickered her eyes up to look at Wrecker, watching his face contort into one of sheer bliss. She smiled around him before closing her eyes, hollowing her cheeks, and taking a deep breath before taking more of him into her mouth.

Wrecker moaned a loud uncontrolled moan, his cock twitching in (Y/N)’s mouth. It felt so good, it away felt like heaven when his wife had her warm mouth wrapped around him. One of her hands left his cock and instead, made its way to his heavy sack, his balls full and ready to combust. She held them gentle in her hands, knowing how sensitive they could be especially when love making. She could feel Wrecker’s hold on her hair tighten ever so slightly more, his breath coming out in short pants.

“Love it when you suck me off cyar’ika. Love the feelin of my dick in your mouth, feels so good,” he praised, his words going straight to (Y/N)’s cunt. She moaned around him with in turn made wrecker groan again, forcing her mouth a little further down his cock. (Y/N) choked in surprise before steeling herself and her confidence, taking as much of Wreckers as she could. It was a little easier with no gag reflex to hold her back, but Wrecker was so big it was still a struggle at times.

(Y/N) gave Wreckers sack a gentle squeeze , rolling them in the palm of her hand as she sucked her husband’s cock. She moved up and down his cock, his hands slightly guiding her movement to help her as she tightened her lips. Wreckers resolve was crumbling, his legs beginning to tremble at the tremendous feeling of his wife giving him head.

“Mmm ad’ika, such a pretty mouth on ya. So good at sucking my cock. You love it don’t you sweet girl, deepthroating my dick so far it bulges in your neck.” Wrecker’s words were filthy, emphasizing his last point by wrapping one of his hands around her neck very gently. She could feel the way his cock protruded out while deep in her throat, the realization only adding to her pleasure and his.

“Fuck Mesh’la,” Wrecker shouted, feeling himself teetering on the edge of his orgasm. But he couldn’t do it yet, not in her mouth, he needed to be inside her pussy. Wrecker held (Y/N)’s hair and pulled her off his cock, a few strings of saliva connecting them together. (Y/N) whined in protest, already missing the feeling of him inside her mouth.

“Why’d you stopppp,” she whimpered, Wreckers deep throaty chuckle making her pout. He spoke no words as he lifted her up and flipped her over, depositing her on the bed on her hands and knees. She let out a short “ahhh” of surprise, not having been fully ready for the move.

Wrecker slotted himself behind her, grinding himself against her plump round ass cheeks. He bent over (Y/N)’s body, kissing up her back to between her shoulder blades, moving his hands up and down her side. He took a second to unclasp her bra finally, tossing it aside before bringing his hands around to grab at her breasts again. (Y/N) sighed, the feeling of Wrecker’s big warm hands on her chest something she would never tire of.

“Ready for me mesh’la? Ready to take my big cock in your tight pussy,” Wrecker whispered in his wife’s ear, feeling a full body shudder run through her as she nodded.

“Please Wrecker. Please honey, fill me up. Need you inside me please,” she pleaded, wiggling her ass again his crotch. Wrecker groaned in her ear, pulling back to line himself up with her cunt. He teasingly ran his tip over her slit and down to her clit, collecting her essence to use as lube. She moaned at the feeling, falling forward and burying her face in the pillows. With this position, her ass was in the air, ready and waiting for Wrecker to take her. He got the message quickly, taking a deep breath, moving his hands to her hips and lining himself up with her.

Slowly he sunk his girthy cock into we wet waiting cavern, moaning lowly as she basically swallowed him. (Y/N) gripped the sheets of their bed, burying her face in the pillows while trying to keep from screaming at how good it felt to have Wrecker inside her.

“Fuck ad’ika, you take me so well. So stretched out around me,” Wrecker said, sinking a few more inches in before coming to a halt. (Y/N) whined again, fisting the sheets as Wrecker stilled inside of her. She turned her head to look over her shoulder, watching as Wrecker took deep labouring breaths, eyes closed.

“You okay big guy?” (Y/N)’s voice was teasing even if she was out of breath, wiggling her hips to entice her husband. Wreckers hands tighten on her hips like vice, his gaze hard but his lips pulled up in a sinful smirk. He said nothing in retaliation to (Y/N)’s words but instead, thrusted the rest of his cock into her making her scream.

“FUCKK!”

“That feel good an’edee?”

“So gooddd. Please move please please please,” (Y/N)’s words were jumbled together as Wrecker caved and gave her what she wanted, what they both wanted. He thrusted into her tight heat slowly, drawing out the sensation of her smooth walls against his veiny cock. They moaned together as Wrecker fucked into her, slowly, wantingly, hands holding her love handles and using them to his advantage.

He picked up the pace, thrusting into her wet walls faster making her jolt and groan into the sheets again. His balls slapped against he clit, the feeling eccentric and even more pleasurable than before. She couldn’t contain her sounds of pleasure as Wrecker ravaged her pussy, impaling her with his impressive length.

“Fuck Wrecker, please fill me up. Fill me with your cum. Pleaseeee,” (Y/N) pleaded, jerking her hips back to meet Wreckers thrusts. He groaned at the display, tightening his grip on her hips before speeding up his pace relentlessly. The new speed made (Y/N) scream, his cock reaching new points inside her pussy, even pushing on her cervix.

“Oh fuckkkkkk.”

“That feel good ad’ika? Does my big cock feel good inside you?”

(Y/N) could respond as Wrecker fucked the air right out of her lungs, his thrusts taking her breath away with ease. He was close and he could feel that (Y/N) was too, her cunt clenching around him and halting his thrusts momentarily. He leaned over her body dwarfing her with his size and reaching around to grab at her breast again. Using his brute strength, Wrecker lifted (Y/N)’s torso up so that her back rested against his chest. He tweaked her nipples and rolled them between his toe finger and thumb making her moan even more. He began to thrust into her at a rough and brutal pace, skin slapping against skin the only sound to be heard besides pornographic moans.

“Fuck Wrecker! Pleasepleasepleasee!” From here, he looked down to see that her belly was bulging with every thrust of his cock, the sight something that almost sent him over the edge. Wrecker leaned down ever so slightly and nipped at (Y/N)’s ear, growling into it and letting one of his hands travel down her body to where her stomach bulged with his cock.

“Gonna fill you up so much an’edee. Gonna breed this little pussy, toy want that don’t you cyar’ika.”

“YESSS! I want it so bad.”

“Gonna cum so hard inside you that it sticks. Gonna make you all round and swollen with our ad.”

“Wrecker!!” (Y/N) came with a shout of her husbands name, lower lips clenching and pussy convulsing around him. Her whole body twitched with the force of her orgasm, everything around them disappearing. Wrecker moved his other hand down to her clit, furiously rubbing the over sensitive bud to draw out her third orgasm of the night. She screamed again, legs trembling as she squirted for a second time that night, her body going rigid.

Wrecker thrusted a few more time before bending (Y/N) back over and stilling, coming with a shout of her name. He came deep inside her, his cum painting her walls and leaving nothing untouched. She could feel it in her tummy, his cum filling her up just as he promised. She was on cloud nine, so much excitement coursing through her body. Wrecker was panting above her, his dick still twitching with the simulation and the feeling of (Y/N)’s velvet walls enveloping him.

He slowly and carefully shifted their positions, laying on his side and pulling her with him to lay down. He spooned her body, keeping his softening cock inside her for as long as he could. He made good on his promise to breed her, filling her to the brim with his spend.

There were no sounds but that of their joined laboured breathing, both still coming down from ecstasy. (Y/N) lay there still as a door, limbs feeling like jello and not a thought in her head besides,

“Wow.”

“Wow indeed cyare. I don’t think I’ve ever cum that much,” Wrecker whispered, doing his best not to disrupt the blissful atmosphere they had created. (Y/N) let out a chorus of giggles, her brain foggy with pleasure.

“I feel full,” she said in a daze, her hand travelling down to join Wrecker’s on her stomach. She found that her stomach was bloated, a slight bulge present which made her gasp. She turned to look at Wrecker over her shoulder and saw that he was smirking right back at her, pleased with his work.

“I told you an’edee,” he said, nipping at her ear as he felt himself begin to harden again, “gonna breed this little pussy till it takes.”

—————

In my opinion, Wrecker is a big kinky boy who loves to fuck. And no one can change my mind!

Next story is scheduled for January 24th so keep an eye out for it! If you would like to be tagged in it, comment down below or on my ask page!

(Tags: @rinksu-no-joo @maniacalbooper @teesy738 )

[romanreignseater]

This Is Cinema.

Jey Uso x Black Female Reader

Rating: 18+

Warning: Smut; consensual pornography & rough times 🤫.

“You know what they say about the Bloodline, them boys make CINEMA!!”

A/N: That Jimmy fic is on hold until further notice 😤 (that boy made me so mad). I do have another Jey fic, but this was TOOO good for me to not upload first!! Hope you enjoy 💋!!”

GIF: @jeygif

Another day of work, another asshole to deal with.

Or so you thought.

Working as “pornstar”, but your preferred term of “adult film star”, was something you didn’t see yourself doing when you were a teen. The idea of getting nude in front of a camera with loads of crew surrounding as you do something that seems so sacred was weird to you back then. But, once college didn’t work out, you had other plans.

One of your homegirls who started off doing porn and soon ventured into the world of OnlyFans gave you the idea to start. And honestly… it was one of the best decisions you’ve made!!

You were soon living lavishly in Tampa, Florida, with $6 million to your name, the most gorgeous mansion, a brand new bright pink Range Rover, the cutest teacup poodle named Rex, food in your fridge, and bills paid. All in under a year.

Regardless of what people may say about you on the internet… sweetheart they were paying your bills.

You were working with some of the best in the industry and millions of views on those videos. Your career seemed to be at its pinnacle, but your manager informed you that there was a group of men starting off in the industry and absolutely taking over. In a little over five months, they were rated the top pornstars in the world.

Hundreds of millions of views on each of their videos and numerous women wanting to start a career just to be able to be near them. Working with them would not only boost your career even further, but to get a chance to fuck a handsome ass Samoan, yes please. In the words of your manager, “We gotta get that dick.”

An interesting choice of words, but you trusted every piece of advice she gave you. Soon, you were on a flight to the ATL to meet up with one of the members of the infamous group.

Doing your research the night prior to your flight, there were three brothers and a cousin. Roman, the cousin, was the oldest and definitely the biggest. A set of twins, Jimmy and Jey, and their younger brother, Solo, who didn’t look so little.

Roman was the one who wasn’t the most booked, as he only worked with the best of the best. Viewers only seeing his work every once in a while. But, when he dropped a video you knew it was gonna be heat. The absolute passion in his strokes and darkness in his eyes made you bite your lip at his raw manly magnitude.

Jimmy was fairly booked, with his whole month practically full. Most of his content involved acting with a lot of backstory. Really diving deep into massive rounds of role play and foreplay. That boy didn’t play games once that time came around though.

Next was Solo. He was working with a lot of underground stars and still reaching the levels of the ones older than him. Yet, he picked up those levels quick. Reaching the heights of his family and making women reach their climax at the same time.

But, the one who really caught your eyes was Jey. He was the definition of your ideal man. His warm-looking tan skin, his beautiful curly mullet, sexy ass style, big meaty thighs and muscles, and those grills. The way he fucked made you shrivel in your panties. He was a beast with a lot of mouth, just the way you liked it. His style consisted more of an interview at the beginning with a little foreplay and then straight to business. Asking girls about what turns them on the most and what he’s gonna do to them. Making each and every woman who set foot near him blush heavily.

And let’s not get started about that dick.

Definitely a 9-incher, big and heavy looking balls that laid nicely underneath his cock. A luscious pink mushroom tip, with meaty veins that trailed down to his trimmed hair. Now, it’s getting really hot and the thoughts of what he could do to you couldn’t stop dancing around your head.

After some more internet stalking, the time flew by and your flight approached.

Knowing that he stayed in ATL made you absolutely happy. Your manager wouldn’t let you know who exactly you’d be working with, but as soon as you saw your ticket, you knew you were in for a treat and rude awakening.

Dressing your absolute best in a grey Skims shirt and matching miniskirt, that barely covered your ass… perfect.

Wig secured down by some industrial glue and an opt out for the lashes, knowing they’d come off. But, mascara is a must.

On your way there, you couldn’t contain the excitement you felt. Watching some of his work that night before and earlier that day, you knew what he liked, how he acted, and how he wanted it. All the little things that made him tick and shiver.

You were seriously on demon time.

Even though, you felt as though you were throughly experienced and quite the pro. The flashing lights and big cameras still made you very nervous. In the beginning, your parents weren’t very supportive, but once they saw you had a roof over your head and food to eat, that’s all that mattered to them. But, sometimes the days didn’t get any easier. Luckily, your manager was a real one and knew how to calm you down.

After meeting all members of the crew, and the camera and director you and Jey would be working closely with today, you got touched up as you awaited Jey’s arrival.

“Nervous?!” The makeup artist asked you. Laughing slightly, you nonchalantly ignored your jitters and told her you were fine. All that anxious behavior would only arise and the man of the hour arrived.

He looked absolutely scrumptious in a pair of white joggers and a white Nike Tech with no shirt on underneath. His Cuban link chains shining in the sunlight and his cross earring dangling from his one ear.

Your cunt just throbbed at the sight of him. “Hello Ms. Y/N?! Is anyone in there?!” Completely zoned out and you didn’t even realize it, Jey waved his big hand in your face to catch your attention. His dimple prominent as he was quite amused by your expression.

“Hey Jey nice to meet you. Sorry… I just zoned out for a second.” Reaching out to shake his hand, he kindly refused. “It’s no problem, but I don’t shake hands I’m more of a hugger.” Flustered by his comment you arose from your chair and were soon enveloped into his burly arms.

His arms were thick and wrapped around your waist securely, his warm chest pressed against yours, as you felt your nipples harden. The feeling of his semi-hard dick rest against your thigh made you bit your lip and hold your arms around his neck tighter. “You out here showing out, I see you and your little miniskirt.” Spinning you around at 180 degrees, he stopped when your back faced his front.

Obviously entertained by his comments, you decided to show out a little more. Bending over slightly and giving him a little shake, Jey took the opportunity to give your ass an ample smack. “Uh oh, we got a lotta chemistry over here, don’t we?!” The producer of our film walked over to us as we were sharing a moment.

Both of us blushed at the producers comments. Damn right we have chemistry, but we really are gonna see once those cameras turn on. “But, we need more of that on the screen, so let’s get filming.” Turning back around to you, Jey gave you a wet kiss on the cheek and winked at you as he headed to the living room.

He is something else.

————————————————————————

“In 5, 4, 3, 2… 1.”

“Alright, well look at who we have here. We got the Queen of Screams, Y/N in the building. And the Leader Beater, Jey.” Both of us have a wave and proper introduction to the camera as we laughed at the names the producer gave us.

“I just gotta say you guys just sitting next to each other is already a movie.”

“Maybe I need to move a little more closer to him then.” Snuggling up by his side as gave you a gentle kiss on the forehead.

Jey’s arm was placed on the back of the couch with his legs fully spread, giving a beautiful of his already hard dick. You crossed you legs to staf off that feeling of what he would do to you tonight.

“You already know what it is Uce. I got one of the baddest in the game next to me and I’ve been waiting to get my hands on that ass.”

“Ooooo, Jey got all the smoke about you Y/N. You know that ass is viral!!”

Rolling you eyes slightly, you casually smirked as you began to open your mouth. “I got all the smoke behind him too. I’ve been waiting to dig into him for a while.” Your hand left your right thigh as you palmed him through his white sweats, feeling all of his girth.

“Okayyy, Jey how we feeling about that?!!”

“I’m feeling real good about that Uce. Like the feeling is only rising from here.” Removing your hand from his length, you put your head down as you laughed at his comment.

“She bout to be a REALLLL problem Uce!!” Jey’s hand traveled from the back of the couch to your ass as he palmed and massaged it. Returning the favor, you returned your hand back onto his dick.

“Tim, you need to speed this up a little don’t you think?!” Biting your lip and looking Jey dead in his chocolate brown eyes.

“She’s on demon time Jey.”

Jey simply nodded his head at the camera with a smile on his face as you threw your head back in laughter. “But, you gotta show me a little something bae.”

“What you wanna see?!”

Jey intently stared at your chest, barely taking his eyes off of them. “I think he wants to see my tits.” You giggled as you sensually removed your top, letting your breasts out on full display. Jey took a sharp intake of his breath as he admired your ample assets. You played with them first as you stuck your tongue out of your mouth, letting your saliva drip down onto them.

“Why yo ass so scared Jey?!” He quickly snapped out of your trance and gave you a questioning look. “I ain’t ever scared.”

“Prove it.”

Jey dove straight into the middle of your breasts, motorboating himself. You giggled as you took the back of his head into your hands. Things took a sharp turn when he massaged both of your sensitive breasts in his hands and began sucking on each nipples. Covering them in the upmost amount of saliva.

Bringing himself back into an upright position, he sat back and played with your tits. In awe of the dangly Hello Kitty nipple piercing you had on your right tit. “That fuckin’ piercing go crazy Uce, get a closeup on that.” As the cameraman went in to get a closeup, Jey shook your tits from side to side giving himself and the viewers a show.

“He’s having a lot of fun.” Jey gave the camera another sly look as he continued to play with your breasts. “But, I know he’s gonna have more fun with this.” Removing his hands from you, your chest now faces the back of the couch and your knees now pressed up against the seat cushion. You could hear a whistle coming from Jey’s mouth as you gently shook your ass, letting your miniskirt rise showcasing your lovely pink thong.

“This what I’m taking about baby.” Jey bit his lip as his head neared your ass, giving it a wonderful spank, kiss, and caress. “I’m done with this. I’m ready to get in the field.”

“Wow Y/N, I don’t think we’ve ever seen Jey skip over the interview so fast. We got only about four minutes of footage.”

“Four minutes is enough, come baby.” You yelped as Jey took you into his arms and walked to the bed placed off camera.

“I guess I just got the magic touch.”

“Damn right she do. Take that shit off for me mama.”

Tossing you onto the plush bed, you followed his orders and removed your skirt and panties. Your cunt on full display: wet, warm, pink, and soft. You began to play with your pearl as you stared into Jey’s now dark eyes. He slowly started to undo the ties in his sweats. “Keep playing with it baby, I need that pussy real wet when I fuck it.”

Him telling you to continue masturbating in front of him already drove you over the edge, but wanting you real wet when he fucked you, sent you to the moon.

“Unhhh… my pussy’s so wet for you daddy.” Jey was now in his PSD boxers, playing with his clothed cock at the same pace as you. You both stared sensually into each others eyes as Jey finally became nude. Your eyes couldn’t help but to trail down to his massive length, taking in all its magnificent glory.

“Yo ass looking at it real bad, come give it a taste.” Swiftly, you positioned yourself ass up face down as you took his dick into your small hands. Licking at his swollen head, you captured his bead of pre-cum. Closing your eyes and savoring the taste.

Jey’s head leaned back as you enveloped his entire cock into your mouth, all the way to the base. “Fuckkk, that throat ain’t no joke for real.” Not only were you known for your ass, the way you seemed to swallow a dick up so easily was also a topic of discussion.

You sloppily cover his entire length in your saliva, balls and all. You barely even gagged as he reached the back of your throat. Jey’s head lolled back as he revel in the feeling of your throat swallowing him whole like it was nothing. Bobbing your head up and down, twirling circles around his dick, and playing with his balls. “I-I-I-I c-an’t.”

Jey immediately pushed you away as he shivered at the immense amount of pleasure he was receiving, that he had to stop you. “We can’t be going too crazy so fast now. Stay bent over like that baby.” Arching your back even further, Jey assumed the position behind you.

Massaging your ass oh so heavenly. “That ass is something dangerous mama.” Blushing, you began to shake your ass back reaching to feel his dick. He just stood still as he admired your lewd attempts to fuck yourself against him.

Your pussy finally found his cock and you moaned as you gently pushed it into yourself. “Oooo Daddy, that feels so good already.” Jey grabbed your hips in order to get himself inside of you faster. “That pussy so tighttt.”

You bit your lip and looked into the camera as Jey bottomed out into you and began fucking you slowly. “Hey Jey, I swear you got more than that. Give the girl what she wants.”

Jey paused as you looked back at him. “Many girls can’t handle this and then they tap out.”

“I don’t tap out sweetheart. Do your worst.”

Jey pushed your head down into the mattress, as well as pushing your back down slightly more. He spread your legs further and held your juicy hips. He whispered to the camera, “She ain’t ready.”

Jey soon began to absolutely berating your cunt into oblivion. Your nails almost broke as you clawed at the sheets so roughly. Your ass bounced off of his taut abs as if a basketball was being dribbled on a court.

Your screams muffled into the mat as he didn’t cease his ministrations. His hand stayed trained on the back of your head as your nails scratched up his forearm.

“I told you yo’ ass ain’t ready. Tell the world your ass wasn’t ready!!” He pulled your head up as your face was covered in mascara stained tears and forced you to stare into the camera. The cameraman moved to get a closeup. “Tell the world yo’ ass can’t take it.”

Eyes rolled all the way to the back of your head and a big smile on your face, you proudly spoke. “I ca—n take i-i-it wo-rld.” A moan in each break of your sentence as you took Jey’s dick like a champ.

“She lasted longer than the rest, I ain’t gonna lie.” Your head fell back into the sheets as pulled both of your arms to your lower back. You soon began squirting and screaming like a mad woman, nearly as if someone was murdering you.

Well… you were definitely getting murdered in a different way.

“Fuckkkk, baby I’m about to cum. Keep squeezing me just like that.”

Your cunt never stopped clenching as Jey’s cum soon entered your quaking pussy. Jey beat seven hard strokes into your cunt, ensuring that he got every single drop into you.

You shivered as he left the warmth of pussy. You lied back against the bed and but your lip as Jey gave you a sloppy wet kiss.

“How was that guys?!”

“That was cinema.” We said in unison.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE END.

I actually think this is my longest fic to date. Why are all my Jey fics so long?!?! I wanna do a Roman fic give some ideas for Big Uce 💝💝🤪!!!

MY TAG SQUAD: @cyberdejos2 @thesamoanqueen @nayys-world @mzv11 @babybatlover @vogueyonce @harlem11680 @seeingstarks @thewarlordsworld @alyyaanna @southerngirl41 @christinabae @pitlissa22 @thealliasylum @fame-ass-ers @iluvthebloodline @jeyusos-girl @ah-fin3sse @solosikoasgf @msbigredmachine @rollinsland @angelicflower2020 @theogsamoanqueen @saintsvenust @angelreigns444

[sa1808fi]

Guhhh thoughts on Emmet himself saying in tlm2 that the reason he struggled with "getting tougher" was because he heavily struggles to cope with change.... and subsequently subcontiously misses the simplicity of living in Bricksburg despite having learned what it really was (totalitarian dystopia with the careful disguise of a utopia)....

You ever think about how much more tragic Rex becomes with that revelation...

I think that despite how aggressively Rex sticks to his new personality and lifestyle, there's always going to be something in him that misses what life was like before. That ignorance to the world around him and how people treated him was what kept him going, following the instructions.

Once Emmet learns about the existence of master builders, he has to deal with the fact that the ignorance he's lived in his whole life kept him blind to a lot of things. The system he obeyed and believed was actually repressing a lot of people, whole other worlds existed, and there was some kind of other realm that only he could see.

That's a lot of shit to throw at a guy in one day.

And yet Emmet manages to roll with all of the insane stuff happening to him pretty quickly. He comes up with a replacement for a broken wheel, saves them all from drowning with his double decker couch, comes up with a good plan to infiltrate Octan (That ended up being closer to winning than any other plan), and he even manages to talk down Business to stopping his evil plan!

Emmet is finally happy because he managed to find his sense of self between all that chaos. He's a master builder, The Special, and he has friends now!

Then Apocalypseburg comes along. Those instructions that his whole life revolved around don’t exist anymore (at least not as intensely), Lucy and everyone else got sucked into the tough-gritty mentality that everyone else took on.

Emmet never cared to change like that himself. Surfer Dave wanted to be Chainsaw Dave instead? Ok cool, Emmet's still gonna treat him the same as always.

Emmet is perfectly content with doing whatever he wants now, and he no longer feels the need to go along with everyone else because he has friends that care about him now. And something about the aggressiveness of the apocalypseburgian lifestyle isn't that appealing to him.

Now, everyone treats him as an outcast for not fitting in compared to the previous complaints of him being 'too normal'. Emmet ignores these comments because he's fine with his life. He still listen's to 'Everything Is Awesome', greets people on the street, and lives in his own little world, ignorant to the world around him.

Then his friends get kidnapped, he meets Rex, and he has to face his worldview being shattered again.

He finally starts acting tough because Emmet now believes if he doesn't, then he can't save anyone.

And then it turns out the guy he spent the whole time trusting is this future version of himself that got abandoned by everyone he was currently trying to save.

That HURTS man.

And that's not even going on how Rex is feeling. The man has to come face to face with a younger more naive version of himself that hasn't faced the horrors he had.

Rex has to deal with this version of himself that still talks about Apocalypseburg fondly, and thinks back to his friends without any hatred.

How Rex feels about his past homes will change depending on the timeline.

During the 5 years in Undar, Rex slowly came to the 'realization' that none of his friends actually wanted to come and find him. He's left there to just look back at all of his good memories as a way to pass the time.

However, once the knowledge of his 'uselessness' sinks in, those rose-tinted glasses are ripped away from him. All of the mistreatment he suffered in Bricksburg and Apocalypseburg is going to slap him in the face.

Right out of Undar and until the events of the second movie, he doesn't look back at Bricksburg, or even Apocalypseburg with bittersweetness. It's just rage. He does his best to just keep it out of his mind because he's trying to focus on his plans, but when it does engulf his thoughts?

All he can remember is the betrayal, the constant side comments, the attempts to make him change himself. All of that just fans the firey rage that's settled into his heart.

The second movie is the first time in years that he's had to actually face his past as Emmet. Until then it was just occasional outbursts at the thought of either place or people.

So here's Emmet, the him that hasn't been scarred by the unfairness of the world. The him that still lives in that blissful ignorance. The him that believes people care.

Rex changed himself until he was practically unrecognizable (Even to himself), because he was running under the logic that if he didn't, then he really was useless.

He took up an adventurous lifestyle, pulling off dangerous stunts to further distance himself from the safe way he used to live. The fucker decided to go to the past to get velociraptors because he thought it would be cool.

Still, some tiny part of him longs for the days when he lived in naivety, when the knowledge of how the world actually works didn't weigh down on him, when he didn't have to grapple with the fact that people didn't like him.

But alas, He's seen too much at this point.

‘ignorance is bliss’ and all that jazz.

[cryoculus]

— dream a little (dream of me) ⟢

you're a modern-day succubus just trying to get by, and your superior, mister zhongli is next on your hit-list. but every time you invade his dreams, he becomes someone else entirely…

★ FEATURING; zhongli x succubus!reader

★ WORD COUNT; 23.3k words

★ TAGS; modern au, office au, superior-subordinate relationship, angst, like SO MUCH angst, zhongli dreams abt his past life as rex lapis, smut

★ WARNINGS; graphic sexual content (minors dni), some depictions of violence (it was the archon war so), reader gets drunk at some point in the story and a co-worker exhibits unwanted interest, near-death experiences, mentions of pregnancy

★ NOTES; this was the longest thing i've ever written in one sitting TT wrote it for 3 days straight, and i'm honestly still proud of it even a year later! take note that this was loosely based off a manhwa i read in passing called sweet dream, so if the plot is a liiittle familiar to you, that's probably why!

★ HEADER ART CR; donaldakron on twt

★ SMUT TAGS; sex dreams, vaginal fingering, unprotected sex, clothed sex, i-thought-i-was-gonna-lose-you-forever sex, riding, the perfect balance of sweet and dirty talk, creampie

“Miss? Are you alright?”

You blink out the spots in your eyes when you hear Ganyu call out to you in a worried tone. She’s standing awkwardly by the side of your cubicle when you finally snap out of it, and you receive the documents in her hands with a rushed apology.

“Sorry, I’ve been feeling under the weather lately,” you reason, signing whatever she needs to have signed before handing it back. “This is nothing, though. Anything else you need?”

She hesitates for a moment, as if gauging whether or not she should pry, before speaking her mind. “Um, if you’re having trouble falling asleep, I could recommend a shop that sells qingxin petal tea. It’s based in Feiyun Slope, and I always order my stress relieving herbs from there.”

Despite the weight settling across your eyelids, you manage to flash Ganyu a gentle smile, tearing a blank Post-It off the pad on your desk before giving it to her. “Could you write down the name of the store? I’ll make sure to check it out before I head home for the night.”

Ganyu visibly perks up. “O-Of course!”

When she slides the piece of paper back onto your desk, the secretary exchanges farewells with a curt nod – saying she has to pass over the files for Mister Zhongli’s perusal before anything else. If Ganyu notices the way your staged grin falters, she doesn’t say anything. But once you’re alone, you can only slink back into your chair with a contemplative look on your face. 

You aren’t going to check out the store that Ganyu recommended like you initially promised. After all, your kind has never responded much to any sort of human medicine. Whatever’s bothering you is only going to be resolved if you stop being stubborn and fed on time – something you only care to do once a month at most. 

Even after living your life as a succubus for almost twenty-four years, the idea of having to draw out your life force from… that still made you sick to your stomach. It’s bad enough that your strange constitution wouldn’t let you settle down and have normal relationships, but having to constantly find a source of nutrition is a pain in and of itself. 

Your body has quite the standard for the men you’re supposed to suck some sexual energy out of, too. When you indiscriminately pick some rando you saw on the street, you might not effectively absorb the energy you harvested if you aren’t invested enough.

Case in point: unless you try to sleep with someone you remotely care about in their dreams, you’re going to keep craving for a proper fix.

Last month, you had to terrorize the poor barista who’s been serving you coffee at that new café across the street. You thought he wouldn’t think much of it, since you had the inkling the guy was hitting on you every time you ordered. But lo and behold, mister charming, suave barista is actually quite timid when it goes down to it. Your sessions usually took an hour at most to complete and you wouldn’t have to harvest energy again for at least another month. But that guy? You could barely ask him to strip without having to deal with him stumbling out of his dream-bed out of sheer embarrassment. Took you three hours in that dreamscape just to get the bare minimum out of him. And that just goes to show that the people you meet aren’t always what they seem to be – yourself included.

As entertaining as that session turned out though, you couldn’t really make substantial progress with mister barista, which eventually led to your premature hunger pangs. You started feeling a bit off-kilter last week, but you made the mistake of listing it off as nothing but a seasonal flu or something. Once your co-workers caught wind of how exhausted you are at work, you knew it was that time of the month again.

You can always just make up for the minimal energy gain of harvesting from a complete stranger by invading multiple strangers’ dreams, but you still have some shred of dignity. Well, you could just settle with the men in your department, but those slobs are the last ones you’d ever consider sleeping with. But then again, your team is working on a big, end-of-year project that you can’t afford to slack off on, so you need to find this month’s match before your body shuts down completely – even if that means seducing your awful desk neighbor in his sleep.

“Hard at work again, I see.”

You startle at the sound of a deep-seated voice coming from behind you, whisking your chair around to see your boss showing you a kind smile. It isn’t unusual for Zhongli to do some rounds in the office, but –

“Ganyu was looking for you, sir,” you blurt out, trying not to focus on how his neatly pressed tie compliments his eyes. “She had me sign some documents for the project you asked me to oversee, and it seems like she was on her way to your office.”

He hums. “I see. I just made a quick trip to the pantry, but I’ve yet to figure out how one operates the machine they installed in the break room. That’s why I just asked my assistant to purchase a drink from the coffee shop down the street… Are you alright? You’re looking quite pale.”

“Yeah, I’ve never been better,” you lie, trying to force out those memories of too-timid-for-his-own-good barista out of your head. “I’ll make sure to follow up on my assigned report at the end of the week, sir.” 

Once again, your senses jolt to life when you feel a large, comforting palm settle on your aching shoulders, giving you a few pats. The sincerity in Zhongli’s eyes doesn’t fade, and you’re seriously wondering how he has it to be so encouraging all the time.

“Everyone deserves to rest when their bodies require it,” he says. “Don’t hesitate to file for sick leave if you’re unable to perform at your fullest because of health reasons. I didn’t overhaul the employee benefits clause in your contracts for nothing.”

Your face heats up at the thought of your boss being this considerate of your well-being. You’ve been working at Wangsheng Corporation for almost two years now, but employees have never been treated the way Zhongli treats them. It’s a miracle that he got transferred here last month – with his gentle voice and mindfulness of others. When he walked through the doors of your department that day, the last thing you expected was a compassionate superior, given that all those assholes in the corporate ladder only cared about money and none else. He was easily a breath of fresh air in the smog of Liyue Harbor, and you’re not about to complain.

“I best be on my way,” he tells you with a hint of remorse. “I’ll be attending a board meeting in thirty minutes. Once it’s been adjourned, you can come to me if you need anything.”

Come to him if you need anything…  

For some reason, his words ring inside your head longer than they have to. But before you can even get your bearings straight, your mind is suddenly plagued with images of your boss in a more sensual setting. 

You picture a Zhongli who’s free from the stifling confines of his suit – regardless of how dashing he looks in it, you always wondered what he would look like dressed down. You imagine him lying on his bed, golden eyes half-lidded as he beckons you closer; how his hot breath would make your skin tingle as he whispers all the lewd things he wishes to do with you – 

“Of course, sir,” you tell him in real life, mustering up a smile that’s enough to hide your own embarrassment. “Thank you for taking the time to stop by.”

Zhongli raises a hand to wave at you before sauntering off to his office, leaving you alone with lecherous thoughts and a growling stomach. But the moment the door clicks shut behind him, you come to a guilty conclusion.

Guess I already found this month’s target. 

The hardest part, you think, is falling asleep before feeding.

You’re still at odds with everything you had to do just to survive, so of course you’ll feel a bit queasy when you lay on your bed in preparation. Whether it’s that one cute barista or your attractive boss, it doesn’t change the fact that you’re nervous beyond belief. Navigating a person’s dreamscape is just as tricky as it sounds, and if you aren’t careful, the slightest mishap can lead to unwanted casualties. Worst case scenario: you might get trapped in the dream until the person you’re feeding off of wakes up. 

But you can trust your worrisome nature to keep that from happening. The only instance you’d ever get trapped in someone else’s dream is if you lose touch with your own existence within it. That’s why you tend to limit the degree of pleasure you feel in the dreamscape during your feedings. Orgasms are one of the many things that make people, succubi included, lose their grip on reality, so you make sure not to experience such a thing, no matter how tempting it could be at times. And while there are no explicit rules stating that your kind isn’t allowed to indulge in the desires of the flesh – let’s face it, you’re basically a sex demon – you’ve always been too afraid to lose yourself in something that isn’t even real.

You heave a deep sigh as you pull the covers up to your chest. It feels a bit humid lately, so you opted to wear a loose nightgown – one flimsy enough to hopefully tempt Zhongli in his dreams. In spite of the impeccable decorum he exhibits at work, surely he’s still just a man under all those layers of courteousness, right? Humans tend to be more unhinged during your feeding sessions (sans mister timid barista). If the Zhongli that regularly checks up on you at work would exercise more self-restraint, maybe he won’t be as gentlemanly once you hijack his dreams.

The plan is set in stone. Fall asleep, make your way into Zhongli’s head, have sex with him, and make a run for it. You’ve outlined the same plan of action during your previous feedings, so this shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Still, a small part of you still feels the bite of guilt for intruding on your boss’ peaceful night like this. In what little time he’s spent at Wangsheng Corporation, you can already call him the best superior you’ve ever had, and choosing him as your sacrificial lamb makes it seem as if you have no sense of indebtedness to him. But at the end of the day, you’re just a baser creature with needs to tend to or else you can’t move forward as a fully functioning member of society. 

Surprisingly, you doze off much quicker than usual. This must be from the fatigue you accumulated over the past week. Well, that’s what you get for not feeding the moment you started to feel something was off. Either way, you’re en-route to your boss’ subconscious and you’re going to feel much better right after the trip.

The in-between that connects your dream to Zhongli’s looks just like everyone else’s – a dark, narrow corridor that opens up to a light at the end. You traverse the familiar path with bare feet, not so much in a rush despite how hungry you are. Whether it’s your hesitation to use your boss like this holding you back or something else entirely, you’re not very sure. But once you finally step into the light, you close your eyes and hold your breath.

When you come to, you find yourself inside a wide cavern – making your face scrunch up in confusion once your mind processes your surroundings. You expected to appear in a bedroom in his apartment, maybe. But as you glance around the barely illuminated cave, you realize that your timing is incredibly off since Zhongli must have been having a weird dream. It’s happened once before when the person you were supposed to feed on dreamt of living inside the latest superhero movie he saw. Maybe Zhongli watched a strange documentary before heading to bed. That totally sounds like something he’d do.

You decide to have a closer look, noticing that the only sources of light inside are the stone torches perched on the sides of the cavern. Your curiosity gets the better of you when you attempt to approach the flames. But that plan is immediately thwarted once you accidentally step on something solid underfoot. It breaks underneath your weight – the sound echoing deeper into the cave. 

You can’t feel any sort of breeze inside, which cements your assumption that the corridor leads to a dead end. Something tells you that you’ll cross paths with another soul if you press forward, but your instincts, however flimsy they might be inside a dream, insist that you go back. To just forget about trying to feed today and just try again tomorrow. Maybe Zhongli wouldn’t be dreaming about weird tunnels by then. None of this is real, but the dread that’s slowly festering in the pit of your stomach is too apparent to ignore.

But it’s as if your body isn’t your own at the moment. Instead of heeding your own sense of danger, your feet carry you further into the darkness – making your imaginary heart pound with both anticipation and fear in equal measure. 

Your hunch is proven right when you spot a lone figure at the end of the cavern – observing you from afar where he’s seated rather comfortably. He has one elbow perched on the armrest of his seat, the side of his face resting atop a closed fist. You’re unable to recognize who he is at first, but once you’ve crossed the threshold of the man’s vicinity, you feel a pang of surprise surge through your veins.

“Mister Zhongli...?” 

No matter how closely you looked, he's the spitting image of your boss. However, it dawns on you half a second later that he is not the kind-hearted man you've been working with for the past month. This one sits atop a throne of jagged rock, golden antlers sprouting beneath his hood as eyes of a deeper shade glower on with disdain. 

“I do not remember giving you permission to speak,” he says, voice reminding you of untamed tremors deep within the earth – resonating with every word. “You best know your place before I'm forced to remind you of it.”

Back in your bedroom, you awake with a start.

Your heart threatens to bust out of your own rib cage with how hard it pounds against it – as if it’s barely catching up to what you just witnessed and heard. You’ve never once pulled yourself out of a dream so quickly, but there’s just something about that version of Zhongli that sets off every code-red alarm inside your head. That isn’t someone you’re going to easily seduce with a see-through nightgown and a bat of your eyelashes. In fact, that man (was he even human?!) looked like he could kill you if he wanted. 

“What the fuck?” you mutter, throwing the covers off yourself as you watch your hands tremble in your lap. “Who the hell was that…?”

You don’t have the slightest clue why you’re so shaken up. You’ve seen weirder dreamscapes in the past, but for some reason, when you stepped inside Zhongli’s, everything looked so life-like. As if you were actually transported to a real location in this world. If you actively tried to recall the details, you could’ve sworn you felt the gravel on your feet and caught the archaic scent of stone in the air. But what could a strange-looking Zhongli be doing inside such a place? You knew better than to assume there was a rhyme and reason behind a person’s dreams, but –

The sound of your ringtone going off nearly scares the living daylights out of you before you cast a frantic stare at the nightstand. There, your phone vibrates in time with the obnoxious noise, and you force yourself to get a grip. It’s over. You managed to escape whatever harrowing fate you could have ended up with had you stayed in Zhongli’s dream for even a second longer. There’s no use mulling over it now, is there?

Without checking who was insane enough to call you at this hour, you speak. “H-Hello?” 

“Hello. I do have the right number, yes?”

It takes you a moment for your mind to register the voice at the end of the line – that smooth baritone that you’ll never get tired of hearing. Of course Zhongli’s going to ring you up out of nowhere after that. 

If it were any other day, you would have swooned at the notion of your superior calling you so late, but this seems a bit too coincidental for comfort. The recurring joke that Zhongli can be a little bit of an airhead has been going around your department for a few weeks now, but sometimes you forget that he can still be as sharp as a whip. Could he have sensed something amiss from the dream you gave him? How did he even get your number?

“Sir,” you greet him as evenly as you can. “Is there something wrong?”

Zhongli is silent for a moment, as if deliberating the words. “Hmm… Nothing in particular. My apologies for disturbing you beyond work hours, but I feel like I had something to tell you but regrettably forgot.”

You swallow the lump in your throat, shifting on top of your bed as you swing your legs over the edge. “Well, if it’s about the report you assigned, I won’t be able to give you the numbers until the end of the week, sir.”

“You’re mistaken. My inquiry isn’t about work,” he tells you, chuckling in a way that makes you blush for some reason. “It’s something a bit personal…yet I can’t seem to put my finger on it.”

“...Is it important enough that you couldn’t wait until tomorrow to discuss it?”

Alright, maybe you spoke a little out of line there. He’s your superior, yes, but your mind is still a bit frazzled from your earlier encounter in the dream. Zhongli certainly sounds like someone that just woke up, and while you like to entertain the idea that you’re the first person he thought about the moment his eyes opened, it’s not enough to dispel your unease. 

“Forgive me. Calling you at this hour does seem out of turn –” It is out of turn. “– but I had quite the odd dream. I can’t remember what exactly took place anymore, but I do remember you being in it.”

Calm down. He doesn’t remember the details – not that he had a lot to remember anyways. You could have sworn you only lasted two minutes in his head before scampering back to your own body because that’s how terrified you were. What’s even there to recall about it?

“I see,” you play along. “Maybe you were dreaming about work like usual. You do seem a bit more dedicated to your job than most.”

Zhongli breathes out another laugh that makes your insides tingle. Why does he sound infinitely sexier fresh out of slumber? “You really think that?” 

“Wouldn’t dream of anyone who does your job better than you do, sir.”

You wonder, at the last minute, if you said the right thing. But Zhongli lets out a satisfied hum from the other line, coupled with the sound of fabric rustling in the background. You try not to picture what he must look like right now – disheveled hair, unkempt sheets, drowsy eyes – but the image makes its way to your head regardless. The Zhongli you’re speaking to is already so different from the man you met in his dreams, and you can’t even see him right now. 

“I suppose I’ve taken up enough of your precious time,” he murmurs, sounding more and more apologetic by the minute. “Thank you for answering my call, regardless of what little value our conversation tonight harbored. I’ll see you tomorrow at the office, hopefully when I’m in a better state of mind.”

Better state of mind, he says. So Zhongli was affected by that dream, too…

But that’s something you can definitely think about later.

“Anytime, sir,” you reply. “Good night.”

“You’re looking worse and worse each day, you know that?”

This time, the person who bothers you at your cubicle is none other than your superior, Director Hu Tao. Though, even if she holds the highest position in the Wangsheng chain-of-command, she’s a bit too free-spirited to call a proper boss. 

She watches you slave away behind your laptop with folded arms, not looking the least bit amused. Though she wasn’t really meant to know, the director is one of the few people – more like, the only person – who’s aware of what you are and what you do to survive. It’s probably because Hu Tao comes from a family with deeper connections to all things supernatural, and thankfully, she’s more understanding of your predicament than you’d otherwise expect. 

In fact, she was kind enough to let you keep your job so long as you don’t let your…special needs affect your work. But for all of Hu Tao’s usual antics in the office, you know there’s no escaping her when she gets serious about something.

Especially when she’s nagging you about feeding intervals.

“When’s the last time, hm?” she asks, poking your cheek. “Aiya, you’ve lost the flab on your face. Come on, how am I supposed to pinch them now?” 

“About a month ago,” you grumble as you revise an important email for the fifth time today. “Director, shouldn’t you be in your office? I heard from Ganyu that you’ve been passing your work onto Mister Zhongli.”

“Pah, the consultant can deal with all the trifling matters in my stead.” Hu Tao shrugs. “Besides, he’s the one who started advocating for better employee conditions in this dump, right? I’m just making sure my subordinates are healthy and happy in the workplace~”

Speaking of Zhongli, it’s been a while since you saw him around. The last time you heard his voice was the night he called you out of nowhere – the same night you hijacked his dreams. Now, it’s already the end of the week and you’re yet to meet with Zhongli despite the deadline he gave you days prior. 

“I can hook you up with a bunch of guys I know,” Hu Tao suggests, unceremoniously swinging herself on top of your desk. “All you have to do is get inside their heads and do the magic, right? Hmm… If that’s the case, why don’t you just pick a random celebrity or something?”

“It doesn’t work that way, director,” you sigh. “If it were that easy, I wouldn’t be having this problem every month.” 

“Ehh, you’re so choosy.” She pouts. “If sharing a dream with strangers doesn’t work, why don’t you just come after them in real life? Nothing beats the real thing, right?”

You’re mildly aware of how loudly Hu Tao started to mouth off about your…predicament, but fortunately it was the middle of lunch break, and none of your desk neighbors were present to overhear. Pushing your chair from beneath the desk, you breathe in deep as you consider the director’s words. 

In hindsight, she was right. You know a bunch of succubi and incubi who copulate with humans nearly everyday – more because they’re weird sex addicts than them trying to last themselves to the next day. But you were drawing blanks as to how you’re going to explain to Hu Tao that the creatures she might have heard about have sex to enjoy it; you have sex to survive. The act itself still makes you squirm, so even if you have attempted to harvest energy in real life, you’d rather steer clear of resorting to that if you could still do the same thing in an unsuspecting man’s dreams.

But now, you aren’t even able to squeeze the tiniest ounce of sexual energy from your usual method. Hence, the problem.

“I’ll think about it,” you half-promise, stretching your limbs with a quiet sigh. “Oh, and if you see Mister Zhongli anywhere, could you tell him I’m done with my report? I was going to ask when he’d like to see it, but I haven’t seen him around lately.”

“Hm? Oh, right. I asked that guy to secure a deal with a Snezhnayan diplomat who’s visiting Liyue over the season,” Hu Tao tells you before hopping back to the floor. “Well, hope you get some sustenance soon, little devil. Wouldn’t want to find you all shrivelled up from sex deprivation one day.”

“Director, please…”

“Hahaha! Just teasing~”

Hu Tao hums a lively tune once she scampers away, and you’re left staring at the blinking cursor on your screen. The email you were drafting is supposed to be sent to the PR officer of the company you’re trying to scout with your report-slash-proposal attached as an extra file. But you can’t send it in without Zhongli’s green light. What’s worse is that it’s starting to get busy in the office at this time. The end of the year is the most hectic, and you’re not sure if you’re ever going to get used to the hustle and bustle that comes with it. It would make sense why Zhongli is suddenly hard to catch.

And your feeding shortage just had to coincide with all of this.

You pull out a hand mirror from your bag, inspecting the way your face looks. Eyebags and chapped lips can easily be concealed with makeup but it’s more difficult to mask the way you’re abnormally losing weight. Even Hu Tao was able to notice it right away. If only eating human food actually contributed to your body mass…

“Tonight for sure,” you mutter – knowing damn well that your words are only worth half a promise.

In all honesty, you don’t put much thought into the exact time of your feedings. You just lay in bed, get into the minds of your targets, and hope both of you fell asleep at the same time. It’s no different on your second attempt at harvesting energy from Zhongli.

You don’t call him, don’t text him. You don’t even bother trying to get some inside information about his sleeping habits from Ganyu. So when you attempt to just wing it one more time, you’re a little surprised to find yourself transported into the dreamscape – a wave of relief washing over you when you realize you’re not inside a cave anymore. 

You’re seated at the side of a river surrounded by ruins as far as the eye can see. The sound of flowing water fills your ears, a sound you almost find calming. Someone calls a name that doesn't belong to you, but your body responds to it either way when you turn your head around curiously. 

Zhongli stands in front of you, carrying a basket of sunsettias. He doesn’t look as intimidating as the first time you saw him in his dreams, but he’s donned with the same hooded robe, and the same gold-tipped antlers. The cruelty imbued in his gaze in that cavern has long gone – replaced with quiet sincerity that’s reminiscent of the one he exudes in the office. You feel your shoulders relax at the sight of him, but… 

Something doesn’t feel right.

He folds his legs at your side, and when he speaks, you hear nothing but a garbled, faraway noise. But despite not understanding a single word he says, you let out the occasional laugh, sometimes nodding along to Zhongli’s words before biting into one of the fruits he foraged. The wind whistles through the reeds in the overrun marsh, and all you can do is admire your companion’s autumn vesper eyes as you partake in a conversation only he understands. 

But when you suddenly inch closer to him – caressing his face with a hand that isn’t your own – that’s when you finally realize what was amiss.

“Rex,” the woman whose body you hijacked murmurs fondly, the sleeves of her dress billowing in the breeze. “You should give yourself more credit. The faith of the people has always been well-founded.”

Zhongli gazes at you (at her) with wide eyes before the look melts into a fit of chuckles. His lips move in response to what the woman said and, still, you don’t catch any of it. But when your eyes drift to where his strong arms peeked from the holes of his robe, you’re surprised to see his hands shining like molten amber in the waning light. Golden veins can be seen jutting across his forearms, eventually connecting to the odd patterns depicted on his bicep. The longer you stare, the more you question why your boss made himself look so godly in his dreams. As humble as he is, he does look highly of himself after all.

Turns out, you’re not the only one who was ogling Zhongli in the most inopportune moment. It seems like the woman you’re possessing(?) also treated herself to some eye candy the same time you did, and now you can feel your face heat up with embarrassment when he catches you staring. 

You expect him to laugh it off like usual. Your boss gets thrown compliments everyday since he started working at Wangsheng – compliments that never seem to do him enough justice. But he takes them all in stride before resuming the conversation like nothing happened. This Zhongli does none of that.

One of his strange, golden hands seizes your wrist tightly – your bashfulness suddenly morphing into confusion. Zhongli’s mouth twitches into something akin to a smile as he presses forward, forcing you to lean back to introduce as much space between you as possible. You can feel his breath fan against your face – cor lapis eyes glowing with desire – and you’re too stunned to retaliate. His other hand forces itself against the ground next to your hip, caging you in the heat of his embrace. Zhongli speaks again, and you’re starting to feel annoyed with the fact that you can’t make sense of what he’s even saying. But you can’t exactly relish in the feeling much because your body is reaching a fever pitch that’s making your head spin.

This is what you came here to do, isn’t it? Sure, you’re not really the person he’s seeing right now, but anything to get the deed done, right? All you had to do was suck out the sexual energy emanating from the god of a man that’s about to ravish you out in the open. Easy as pie.

His mouth latches onto yours in a way that’s almost familiar – which tells you that this isn’t the first time that Zhongli and this woman met each other so intimately. You respond in kind, letting your borrowed body take the reins as you feel him nudging apart the lapels of your dress, exposing supple breasts to the humid air. A full shudder runs across your skin when he growls against your lips, one arm curling around your waist before Zhongli possessively pulls you to his chest. 

Mine. 

You don’t hear his voice, but you feel the intent resonate all the way to your core as he practically tears off your clothes. Zhongli rests you atop the grass with little care for possible on-lookers, rolling his hips against yours as he decorates your neck with lovebites. Your fingers rake through his long, dark tresses – imprinting the image in your head for years to come. Your boss Zhongli always ties his hair with a jewel-encrusted band, so this version is definitely one for the books. 

I should’ve done this sooner, you think to yourself – whimpering when you feel the ridge of his cock straining against your middle. Much sooner… 

The rest of the details are lost in the muddled haze of your thoughts. You don’t remember if Zhongli even prepared you for what’s to come – all you know is the feel of his length prodding your slickened entrance. His grip on your body never falters even as the tip of his cock glides teasingly across your slit. You desperately move your hips closer, begging for the friction he’s holding over your head like a prize. But then, you meet his deep, amber gaze and for a moment, his eyes seem to soften in the midst of his lustful display.

When he kisses you again, your heart – this woman’s heart – comes alive. You can feel how much love she harbors, how she aches for him despite the fact that Zhongli’s hands roam around her body with the intent to leave no inch of skin untouched. 

I love you. That’s the only thought that echoes in your mind when he finally takes you – here, by the riverbank where you were the only two people in the world. These emotions aren’t your own, but you feel a surge so intense that you gasp aloud when Zhongli presses himself into you deep enough to make your vision blur. It all feels so real that you don’t even notice it when you naturally absorb the energy you’re meant to take in the first place. 

You’re not sure how it’s supposed to work in this situation, given that the body you’re using isn’t even yours. But you practically feel how Zhongli’s libido indirectly rejuvenates your spirits. Despite the fact that you’re being pounded in the middle of nowhere, you feel more refreshed – mind clearer as opposed to the jumbled mess it’s been over the past week. You never actually realize how your hunger can drive you into so much lethargy until you’re finally given the clarity of your sated instincts. 

“I don’t care for the humans like you do.”

You startle when you finally hear Zhongli’s familiar voice – hoarse with need, but still the same one you’ve come to admire. His forehead rests against yours as he thrusts his hips relentlessly, with a desperation you can almost see on his face. The woman lets out a sigh before she caresses his face with a gentle hand, thumb gently sweeping across the cut of his cheekbone. 

“You will,” she murmurs. “You’re their god, Rex. Their archon. You might not have any love for them now, but in time, you’ll understand.”

Her reply seems to irritate him. You watch as those golden eyes flash yellow with rage, but Zhongli is quick to manage the split-second shift in his emotions. Instead of lashing out, he buries his face into your neck, murmuring so softly, you almost didn’t catch the words.

“You’re the only one I’ll truly care for,” he says, fingers raking through your hair as he stills – filling you with the white hot rush of his release.

“I hope you know that will never change, Guizhong.”

There are two things that you end up mulling over when you finally get back to your own body. The first is the fact that Zhongli has way too hyperactive an imagination. About ninety-five percent of your feedings take place in your targets’ bedrooms, so having sex in the middle of a field is quite the new experience for you. The second is how your boss might actually have a girlfriend and you just…gleaned your monthly sustenance from him. Just like that. 

Your latter realization took you the fuck out. The moment you woke up, you marched into your kitchen, popped open whatever cans of beer you had inside the refrigerator, and decided to contemplate your actions for a long time. You typically don’t think about whether or not the person you’re feeding on has a significant other because…you’re not exactly committing adultery if it only takes place in their dreams, right? It isn’t supposed to be a big deal unless they try to make a move on you in real life. But thinking about how you unknowingly trespassed on an ultra hidden fantasy that Zhongli must’ve been having about his girlfriend introduces a spectrum of emotions that you’re too tired to sort out. Embarrassment, regret, shame. Those are just some of the things you’re feeling right now, and hopefully a six-pack is going to be enough to drown your not-so sorrows.

…On the bright side, at least you don’t feel like shit anymore. As you finish your third can of beer tonight, you make the effort to take a look at yourself in the mirror. The color in your cheeks has returned, as well as the so-called flab that Hu Tao misses so much. Those dark circles beneath your eyes have gone too, and admittedly, you haven’t seen your skin glow so much since your last successful feeding two months prior. 

But even if this is a cause for celebration – because finally, you won’t have to deal with those nasty hunger pangs again for at least another month – you can’t find it in you to be pleased with your results. 

You’re still a bit…conflicted with what you saw in Zhongli’s dream. You assumed it was just some weird fictional fantasy of his, but you’ve been inside the dreams of other men often enough to know that your boss’ dreamscape is a lot different from the rest. You’re yet to put a finger on the rhyme and reason behind your logic, but the experience filled you with the kind of curiosity that’ll get you in trouble one of these days.

“No more prying into your boss’ private life,” you say, pointing at your reflection in the mirror with a frown. “You are not a homewrecker. Got that?”

Now that you’ve recovered from being “under the weather”, all that’s left is to get your work quota over with before the year ends. You’re practically brimming with ideas now that you’re finally in the right headspace to brainstorm about the project that Zhongli entrusted you with. As you pop open your fourth beer alongside your laptop, you’re quite horrified to see the mess of a proposal that you worked on during the onslaught of your physiological suffering. Dear gods, you’re never going to deprive yourself like that again. It’s a good thing you waited for Zhongli’s approval first or else, you might’ve made a fool out of yourself to your clients.

When you finally finish proofreading and making all the appropriate edits, you hop into the shower for a nice, hot bath. And when you crawl underneath the covers, the smooth glide of your sheets feels like heaven against your skin. But regardless of how comfortable you are in your own bed; how relaxed you feel for the first time in weeks, you can’t bring yourself to fall asleep as easily as you’d like. 

Every time you close your eyes, all you can see is a man with molten gold irises and branches sprouting from his rich brown hair. You can even remember the smidge of red decorating the fine line of his lashes if you recalled the dream vividly enough. But the moment you start thinking about how he spread you apart and had his way with you –

I’m fucked, you realize as you wrench your eyes open – staring at the ceiling as if it’ll show you even an ounce of sympathy. I am so fucked.

Little did you know that ‘fucked’ is the understatement of the century.

“Ganyu, can I ask you something?”

The next day, you coincidentally find yourself sharing a table with Zhongli’s secretary during your lunch break. Ganyu looks up from the salad she’s been happily feasting on and flashes you a questioning look. “Of course. How can I help, miss?”

You pause for a while – deliberating whether it’s even worth looking into at the last minute – but you’ve already bothered Ganyu so… 

“Do you know a woman named Guizhong?”

You’re purposely avoiding her gaze when you bring up the question, casually sticking your fork into the food you ordered at the office cafeteria. But when you notice how Ganyu fell silent for too long, you flick your gaze back to her in the most casual way you can manage. To your surprise, she’s staring at you like you just insulted your family.

“H-How did you hear of that name?”

Brows raised, you offer a nonchalant shrug. “Hmm… I was looking through some old company records and found that name listed in the contacts. I just thought you might know who she is.”

You’re not even sure Ganyu is even going to take the bait for that white lie. There is absolutely no one who knows Wangsheng’s documents better than she does. This woman used to work under the Liyue Qixing, so it’s only natural for her to be meticulous in every aspect of her duties. But instead of laying suspicion on you like you expected her to do, Ganyu seemingly heaves a relieved sigh. 

“Well, yes. Miss Guizhong was one of the company’s contacts, but…” She bites her lip, fingers drumming nervously on her thigh. “Please refrain from mentioning that name to Mister Zhongli. As for the reason, it’s…quite complicated. I hope you understand why I can’t disclose any further, miss.”

…So Guizhong is a real person. A real person that Zhongli cares about deeply. But from the way Ganyu responded to your question, things might’ve gone awry between them at some point. 

Why do you feel…relieved all of a sudden? 

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” you promise – this time, you mean it. “I was just a bit curious.”

The secretary nods. “Mister Zhongli should be coming back today as scheduled. I’ve already gone over your proposal like you asked, and I don’t see any flaws in your plans, miss. I’m certain he’ll approve of it.”

Way to shift the topic of conversation. You might’ve applauded her for how smoothly she made that transition, but Ganyu just indirectly reminded you to keep your head in place. There’s still work to do, and you shouldn’t spend what little time you have fretting about your boss’ not-girlfriend. 

“Copy that,” you tell her, finishing the rest of your food with a newfound resolve.

When Zhongli finally arrives back at the office, you make sure to act like you usually do – timid yet just a touch daring when needed. You presented your proposal to Zhongli and the board of directors, since your boss insisted that they’re entitled to study its contents last minute. The idea of having an on-the-spot address makes you queasier than the moments leading up to your monthly feeding. But the entire time, the expectant stares of your other superiors didn’t faze you as much. All you can really focus on, aside from the important points you’ve outlined, are the vibrant gold of Zhongli’s eyes – peering from the nearest seat in the front in silent observation.

He looks so composed, like a slab of unmovable stone. You find it quite difficult to believe that your boss and the man who shows up in his dreams – the one with unruly hair and golden ichor horns – are the same person.

Once you’re finished speaking, the board begins to ask questions one by one – clarifying some things they wanted you to expound on. Thankfully, you’ve gone over your report multiple times before coming into the office this morning. Whatever inquiry they could throw at you, you justified with answers based on the sufficient data you’ve gathered over the past two weeks. You have to admit that being on the receiving end of their impressed stares is doing things to your ego, but what’s important is that your proposal has been pretty much approved. Nothing beats a sense of accomplishment, after all.

Zhongli is kind enough to escort you back to your cubicle, but you insist on dropping by the pantry first for a much-needed coffee break. You tell him that it’s alright if he doesn’t stick around if he has other matters to attend to, but it seems that your boss is going to take his time giving you his brunt of the praise.

“You did well. Far exceeded my expectations, even.” He smiles so radiantly that you can almost feel your chest twist with an unfamiliar feeling. “My apologies for suddenly disappearing all of a sudden. I was planning to help you work out the necessary details for this, but something else came up at the last minute. Though I know this all sounds like me making up petty reasons for my absence.”

You shake your head, taking a sip on your cup of instant coffee. “Not at all! Director Hu told me about your dealings with a Snezhnayan diplomat, so I figured that I needed to step up one way or another.”

Zhongli’s expression morphs into something unreadable before he reaches for one of the paper cups stashed away – filling it with cold water from the dispenser. “Is that what she’s told you all?” he sighs, taking a long gulp of his drink before setting the cup down on the table. “That child… I’m aware she has her way of running things in this company, but she needn’t lie about my whereabouts.”

…Lie? Wait, what exactly did Hu Tao –

“Since I forced you to spearhead such an important project alone, I might as well let you in on the truth,” he laughs softly, lips pressed into a small smile. “Would that make for sufficient compensation?”

You swallow the lump in your throat, avoiding the intensity of his gaze. “Um, you don’t have to if it’s a touchy subject, sir. I respect that we all have lives outside of work.”

“I insist,” Zhongli says, leaning against the wall without breaking eye contact. “It’s also a…means for me to ‘let out some steam’, as the director might’ve put it. But I won’t divulge anything you don’t wish to hear, of course.”

You take a moment to mull over his words. Is he saying that he wants to open up to you or something? Well…

“I don’t mind,” you reply, feeling the skin of your fingertips buzz underneath the heat of your cup. Anticipation –  that’s what you’re feeling. “You can tell me anything, sir. And I swear upon my end-of-year bonus that I won’t share it to a single soul.”

Your boss flashes you another smile, shaking his head in amusement. “I’m grateful for your promise of confidentiality. You truly are a worthwhile companion.”

“...As for the real reason behind my absence, no I did not meet with a non-existent envoy from Snezhnaya. I made a three-day trip to Guili Plains.” Zhongli speaks each word carefully, as if not wanting you to miss a beat. “You and the rest of the department aren’t familiar with such a tradition that I make sure to uphold every year, since I was just newly transferred. Ganyu, however, has known me long enough to know that I pay the cemetery there a visit during this season if time permits it.”

The break room is quiet, save for the ever-present hum of the water dispenser. You don’t know why, but there’s a sinking feeling in your gut that tells you you’re not going to like what he’s going to say next.

“When I was still pursuing my Bachelor’s, I had this…friend,” he continues, eyes trailing up to the ceiling as if reminiscing about a better time in his life. “A friend that I held closer to my heart than anyone else. We were supposed to build a company that could change the world together – a pipe dream that youths often pour their souls into when they think they can do anything and everything they desire.

“But one day, that friend fell ill all of a sudden. We both thought it was just a mild sickness, nothing so severe that we should fret about it.” He sighs, and you can see how his mild-mannered demeanor makes way for the sorrow that roots itself on his face. You’ve never seen Zhongli look so…downcast before. It makes you want to reach out and pull him into an embrace, but you know better than to overstep your boundaries. “I’m sure you know where this leads. Turns out, the disease wasn’t just an ordinary coughing fit. She was diagnosed with lung cancer and died of it faster than I could even complete my final semester in college.” 

“I-I’m sorry,” you blurt out all of a sudden – the shock on your face surfacing too suddenly for you to hide. “Oh, gods. You didn’t have to tell me this if it pains you to remember sir –”

“None of that,” Zhongli interjects, waving a hand in dismissal. “I chose to tell you this tale, didn’t I? Insisted, even. So you don’t need to worry about my grief, as this is something that I’ve long come to terms with.” 

Holy shit. Now you feel twice as terrible for feeling relieved that things between him and Guizhong have gone south. It’s all because she was dead. Great, now the fates are probably going to turn you into a lizard in your next life just to call it quits or something. But you don’t really have much room for those self-deprecating thoughts after everything Zhongli just told you.

“Guili Plains is quite far from here,” you comment, choosing your words carefully. “Did she live there? 

Zhongli hums. “Yes and no. The two of us lived together here in Liyue Harbor while we completed our studies, but she grew up in Guili. They’re no longer growing there today, but she used to tell me about how much she loved the glaze lilies that bloomed outside of her childhood home.”

…A ‘friend’ he used to live with. A ‘friend’ he held closer to his heart than anyone else. If there are awards for being the worst at masking hidden details, Zhongli is definitely raking everything in. Though you suppose now’s not the time to be nitpicking about your boss’ lack of subtlety. 

“How long has it been?” you ask. “If…you don’t mind me asking.”

“I think we’re both past the point of minding,” he chuckles, despite everything, and you can hardly believe it. “But…it’s been six years since she passed.”

Six years, and he still dreams of her.

You nod slowly before finishing the rest of your coffee – now cold with how long you took to drink it. 

“Thank you for sharing all this to me, sir. I–I…don’t know what to say,” you admit. 

“Nor do I expect you to say anything at all,” he tells you. “Just having an ear to listen to my…troubles is worth more than all the mora in this company combined. It’s quite rare for me to find anyone willing to hear me out.”

You wonder if it’s because of Zhongli’s picture perfect image that no one would stop to think that he experiences the same things everyone does. He grieves. He loves. He even lays himself vulnerable like this. Hell, you wouldn’t even dare to imagine Zhongli being anything but the unflawed superior everyone knows and adores if he never spoke about this at all. 

But he did. He trusted you enough to share a part of himself that he doesn’t just let anyone else know about. Whether it was just to repay your so-called stellar performance or something else, you’re grateful for his faith in you either way.

All of a sudden, you stride closer to Zhongli – the sound of you bumping against the side of the table at your urgency surprising him a bit. Before you can slip-up any further, you hold out your hand as you cast him a determined stare. 

“I’ll be looking forward to working on this project with you.”

Zhongli is at a loss for words for a while, those deep amber eyes alternating between your face and your outstretched hand. You wonder if he thinks you’re doing some sort of alien gesture. But in the end, your worries are dispelled the moment he shakes it gingerly.

“I feel the exact same way,” Zhongli says – in a much brighter tone now that the storm has passed. 

You just hope it will be a while before the clouds roll overhead once more.

The days pass by before you know it.

Along with the end of the year comes the beginning of your newest project. Zhongli was kind enough to lay all the groundwork in your stead, and all you had to do was secure some due partnerships with other companies residing in Yujing Terrace. With just a bit more convincing, you might even get the Liyue Qixing to become one of the official sponsors for the event, especially with someone like Ganyu by your side. Rumor has it that she’s one of Lady Ningguang’s favorite secretaries, until Zhongli whisked her away. You just prayed that she won’t take your boss’ past history of secretary-nabbing personally. 

Your reputation has slowly picked up in your department as well. For the past two years, you were always careful about the connections you made because even if Hu Tao is privy to your unique constitution, you’ll be forced to switch locations if someone catches wind that you’re a succubus. You’re certain that the director could pull a few strings if something like that ever happened, but you never really liked relying on others too much – more so making them share your burdens.

At least, that’s how things were before Zhongli entrusted you with such an important task.

“There’s a drinking party somewhere at Chihu Rock – one of the newbies is treating,” Zhang, the desk neighbor you used to hate so much, informs you as he stuffs his laptop into his backpack. “The girls from accounting asked me to invite you, if you’re wondering.”

You cast him a surprised stare while you tidy up your own workspace, sparing a quiet laugh once you get ahold of yourself. “You guys aren’t bullying the new employees into footing the bill, are you?”

“Hey, if this is how they want to get in their seniors’ good graces, who am I to say no?” He shrugs, slinging his bag over his shoulder. “So, you coming or not?”

Now that you think about it, you don’t particularly have anything else to get done for this week. All the necessary preparations for the first leg of the event are in place, and your team members assured that they’ll give you a ring once something comes up. 

“Sure thing,” you tell Zhang with a smile. “There better be finger food.”

Company drinking parties aren’t as bad as you thought. They’re not mixers in disguise, like all the manga you’ve illegally downloaded off Inazuman websites suggested. You got to know your close colleagues, and some other people in departments that rarely come into contact with yours. The alcohol isn’t half bad either, especially when the lively newcomer Zhang told you about is going to make good on his promise. You’re not so stuck-up that you’ll deny free food and drinks once they’re offered.

To your dismay, you still aren’t used to drinking with a lot of people as company. Normally, you just grab a few packs of beer from the supermarket before consuming them in your lonesome at home. You realize a little too late that if you’re drinking out, you really shouldn’t be chugging glass after glass as if you’re the only person enjoying the liquor out here. 

After a few more pints, some of your co-workers have started to tap out – making you pout at them, red-faced and more pissy than usual. “What? You guys are going? And here I thought these drinking parties lasted until morning.”

Zhang shakes his head at your side, clinking his glass with yours before downing his drink. “Right? These guys have been hanging out with us for months, but they act like they can’t handle drinking on a work night.”

“Hmph, we all know why you’re insistent on staying behind tonight, Zhang,” one of the girls from accounting – Chen? Was that her name? – says, rolling her eyes as she hoists her handbag over her shoulder. “Just…take care of her, alright? Zhongli’s going to kick your ass if something happens.”

You’re still feeling a bit woozy from the beer, so you can only crane your head in confusion. What did she mean by take care of you? You can take care of yourself, thank you very –

“I will, I will,” Zhang chuckles, and suddenly, you feel a heavy arm drape itself across your shoulders – making you wrinkle your nose. “I never expected her to drink so much, but it’s a good thing that I’m here.” 

“I doubt that,” Chen scoffs. “Oh, well. See you guys tomorrow!”

Once the others make their leave, that’s when you start mumbling under your breath “Ugh. The first time I actually come along to these kinds of things and the people who invited me don’t even last until the end,” you complain, pressing your face against the wooden table in front of you. “Where’s the kid that said he was going to pay for everything? It’s just the two of us left…”

Zhang rubs your back in a way that isn’t really soothing the way your skin burns from the alcohol, but you’re a bit too intoxicated to tell him off. “Aww, don’t worry. Some of my pals helped the poor guy home, but he asked the bar to put everything on his tab before he passed out. So if you still want to have a go, I’m down.” 

You can feel something buzzing in your bag, but it’s probably just a text notification from your phone carrier. You’ve been receiving a lot of those lately. Maybe you should pay your bill soon. But your thoughts about phone bills are rudely interrupted by the feel of Zhang snaking an arm around your waist – pulling you upright as he steadies your shoulder with his free hand.

“Hey, don’t fall asleep here,” he says. “You’re going to feel like shit once you wake up from a drunk nap, you know.”

“Don’t care…” you mumble, eyelids drooping as you lose your grip on the handle of your glass. “‘M so sleepy. Can you get me a cab back home, Zhang…? Don’t think I can commute anymore.”

Zhang doesn’t respond right away, and you nearly doze off in that short bout of silence. But eventually, your desk neighbor helps you back to your feet and walks you out of the bar – exchanging farewells with the bartender on your way out.

The late evening breeze feels chilly against your legs, even through your stockings – yet that isn’t quite enough to make you snap out of your drowsiness. You end up leaning against Zhang for support as you wait for him to call a cab, all the while you screw your eyes shut – trying to stop your head from spinning. 

“You know… There’s a hotel nearby that we can just crash in for the night.”

You’re too far between consciousness and slumber to fully process what he just said. All you can do is press the side of your face against his shoulder as you attempt not to fall asleep on the spot. But, apparently, Zhang takes your lack of a response for confirmation – wrapping his arm around your shoulder as he leads you to the direction of the hotel. You don’t really think of it much, since the desire to sleep is the only thing weighing on your mind right now. You’re just glad someone’s patient enough to guide you as you stumble around the sidewalk. 

Suddenly, though, Zhang’s strides come to a halt. 

Your mind vaguely registers the sound of him speaking to someone else. Huh. You could’ve sworn the others have already left. But their conversation lasts a bit longer than you anticipated, and you force yourself to listen in. 

“...Thank you for watching out for her all this time. I’ll take it from here.”

This voice…? Is that –

“U-Uh, sure, sir,” you can hear Zhang sputter beside you before you feel him shift your weight onto something – no, someone else. “I don’t really know where she lives so –”

You don’t really hear the rest of what Zhang has to say because you’re distracted by the person who just joined the fray. His clothes feel thick underneath your touch, like tailored fabric made from the most exquisite material, and they carry a familiar scent that reminds you of incense – one with a unique spice, just a touch archaic. You might’ve been too drunk to tell at the time, but if you had more strength than you did, you would’ve pushed Zhang away because his touch alone already didn’t feel right. With this person, though? You’d gladly lay in his arms for days. 

The last memory you have that night is the sensation of being gently ushered into the passenger seat of an unfamiliar car. A soothing voice speaks to you constantly, as if trying to keep you awake. But the gentle lull of his words do little to aid that particular cause, and when he slides into the driver’s seat next to you, you’re already out like a light.

“Is anything the matter?”

You blink in non-plus, feeling like you’ve just woken up from a dream despite the fact that you’re sitting in a vast field of flowers. Wait a moment. 

Glancing at your side, you see the Zhongli’s humanoid counterpart – those draconian eyes of his scanning your face to see if something was wrong. In his hands is a bundle of pale blue flowers, clutched tightly between his clawed fingers, and you feel your shoulders sag. The idea that you unknowingly stepped into his dreams again as Guizhong incites a rush of guilt that you have all the reason to feel right now.

You don’t even remember planning on feeding tonight. Sure, it’s been a while since the first time you collected energy from your boss, but you’re not particularly in need of a refill right now. How did you even end up here in the first place?

Thankfully, Guizhong does all the talking while you accustom yourself to your unplanned invasion. “I just never thought you’d humor my request. You were never that fond of the glaze lilies.”

“This is where I met you all those years ago,” he reminds you. “Why would I ever loathe the thing that brought us together, my love?”

Silence envelops the two of you for a sliver of a moment, and you catch the scent of the ephemeral flowers even in the filtered reality of Zhongli’s dream. Guizhong lets out a peal of gentle laughter as she picks one of the lilies that grew in abundance – examining the unassuming bloom rather fondly.

“These flowers take the memories of the land and transform them into an unforgettable fragrance,” she murmurs. “When the war is over, do you think they’ll still carry the scent of our union, Rex?”

…War? There’s a war?

But in the end, you never get to hear Zhongli’s answer nor the proper explanation behind what Guizhong just said. When you open your eyes, it’s to an unfamiliar room that makes you bolt upright – eyes frantically darting around the vicinity while you try to recall what happened before you fell asleep.

Drinking party. Zhang being all touchy feely. Being taken care of by someone else.

You try not to think about the awful taste that lingers in your mouth as you try to figure out whose house you’re currently crashing. This obviously isn’t yours because you can’t afford the imported rug that’s tucked underneath the queen-sized bed. However, when your gaze lands on the dark-wood nightstand, you see a couple of glaze lilies sitting in an expensive-looking vase.

The next thing your barely sober mind takes note of is the presence of another person on the bed right next to you. Anticipation coils in your gut as you turn around slowly, and when you see Zhongli sleeping soundly a respectable distance away, you can’t help the way your heart throbs at the sight. He looks a bit more like the man in his dreams like this – dark hair pooled messily across his pillows. And you also notice that he’s still in the dress shirt he often wears to work, further suggesting that he might’ve fallen asleep while watching over you. The idea is enough to make your face flush with shame.

You spot your bag placed on top of a table at the other side of the room, so you quietly slip out of his bed before retrieving your phone inside. How did Zhongli even know where you were? Was he aware that you were out drinking with your colleagues? A single glance at your lock screen is all the answer you need because there, you bear witness to several unanswered calls and text messages from your boss himself. 

From where you stood, you cast the man in question a longing stare. He was kind enough to take care of you when you obviously couldn’t do that for yourself – even going as far as to let you sleep on the same bed as him. Zhongli is quite the busy man. Busy enough that he always turns down any and all invitations for drinks, yet he showed up outside the bar earlier tonight and just…took you back home with him? You don’t see any signs that he might’ve tried to take advantage of your inebriated state either – not that you believed that Zhongli is capable of such a thing. He was a proper gentleman through and through.

But…good intentions aside, you’re still at a loss for answers when you recall the dream you shared with him just now. This is the first time you found yourself inside a dreamscape without meaning to, and you’re unsure of whether or not this is a cause for alarm. What’s more is that his dreams always seem to take place in a world that’s wholly unfamiliar to you – a place where you take the form of his past lover without any real reason behind it.

Not wanting to overstay your welcome, you quickly type in a text message to Zhongli – thanking him for everything he’s done, along with an apology that you’ll probably repeat once you see him again in the office. Although you’re more conscious of his aberrant dreams than you imposing on his kindness. 

You tell yourself to just leave whatever you saw, whatever you heard there in his mind. There’s no reason for you to keep nosing in. You already got your fill, right? And you never feed on the same person twice – never.  

You just hope you can live by that personal rule of yours for as long as you can.

News flash: you cave to your pesky, curious tendencies not two days since the incident.

Zhongli makes it terribly easy for you, too. Every night, by eleven P.M., your boss is already sound asleep – providing you with ample time to travel in-between dreams before reaching the one that perpetually occurs inside his head. 

The more you make these timely visits, the more you learn about the life that Zhongli – no, Rex Lapis – lives in this world. He’s someone that mortals call the God of Contracts. Someone who shows no mercy to anyone who dares break any sort of agreement that they willingly set in stone. He and Guizhong live in an era where the gods fight for the title of archon – a concept that you’re still having some trouble wrapping your head around. But in the most fundamental sense, Rex is someone equally respected and feared, and you can’t blame others for feeling that way.

When he speaks to people that aren’t Guizhong, he dons a stone-cold visage that still makes your blood run cold despite how many times you’ve seen it. It wasn’t a bluff when he said he didn’t care for the humans he and his lover watched over. All he wanted was to give Guizhong a place to live comfortably – and if that meant felling other gods just to attain that goal, he’ll gladly bloody his hands for it. 

But Guizhong, the God of Dust, was never that fond of Rex’s violent ways of doing things. 

She reminds him that humans are just as small and fragile as dust. They do not know when they’re bound to lose their lives to disaster or strife, and so they live in fear. Because they live in fear, they try so hard to be much more than the small, fragile creatures that the gods have reduced them to. Guizhong is a god who’s more human than divine, and you suppose that’s something that Rex is yet to fully understand.

These are only some of the things you learned during your visits, and you can’t help but tune into every scenario that unfolds. Like a television series you can’t quite get enough of. However, you’re careful not to let the curious tale of Zhongli’s dreams hinder you in your waking life. 

Fortunately, he doesn’t seem to remember any of the things that take place in his dreams. Whenever you run into him at work, Zhongli simply greets you with that trademark smile of his before discussing business as usual. No telltale signs of any sort of disturbance rooted from his slumber. 

At the office, you notice that you’ve become closer beyond measure as well – both as colleagues and, you daresay, friends. Along with the team you’re heading for the project, your boss is one of your constant support systems during such a hectic time in your career. 

Not only does he serve as something similar to your advisor, but he also keeps you company whenever you need to unwind.

During one of your late dinners, you share a glass of wine in his company as he shares some embarrassing work stories over the years. Zhongli is about three years your senior, so it makes sense for him to have more tales to tell. Nonetheless, you enjoy every minute of it, and in the back of your mind, you wonder when he’ll take you out like this again.

But when Zhongli drives you back to your apartment that night, he abruptly grabs hold of your wrist as you open the door to the passenger seat. You shoot him a startled look, but your boss’ alluring gaze doesn’t waver. You want to ask him what’s the matter, but before you can even get a single word out, he’s already pulling you close enough for a kiss.

You can’t process what was happening fast enough – simply sitting there in shock as you feel your superior’s mouth move against yours. When Zhongli doesn’t get so much as a reaction from you though, he pulls away with a troubled look on his face. 

“I apologize. Really, I do,” Zhongli says. “Perhaps I’ve had too much –”

This time, your senses finally kickstart into motion as you throw your arms around his neck before pulling him in again. You return his kiss in earnest, even going as far as licking the swell of his bottom lip to show you that you’re more eager for his affections than he initially assumed. And when you feel his strong arms circle around your waist in the same, possessive way he held you in the first dream, you all but moan into his mouth.

You’re not sure how things led up to this point, exactly. It’s true that you and him have grown more familiar with each other since the project’s launch, but you never would’ve imagined doing this with Zhongli in real life. You thought you were content with having sampled the more sensual side of him in your dreams, but as it turns out, Hu Tao was right.

Nothing beats the real thing.

“What does this mean?” you whisper in-between gasps, laughing a bit as Zhongli chases after your lips. He lets out a disgruntled noise when you pull away, and you feel the urgency in his touch when his hand rests against your cheek.

“It means I fancy you very much,” he tells you bluntly. “Though I admit, this might be too sudden. I understand if you don’t feel the same way, or if you don’t wish to do these kinds of things with me. I just hope my admission doesn’t change our dynamic at work.”

…Is he being for real? Did Zhongli just assume that you didn’t feel the same way? 

“Everything happens all in due time,” you tell him with a smile, brushing away some of his bangs as you take the time to admire the man before you. “And who said I wasn’t at all interested, sir?”

Zhongli sighs, dipping his head closer to press a fleeting kiss on your forehead. The sensation sets your heart alight with glee, and you can’t help but lean closer to his touch.

“When it’s just the two of us, I’d prefer it if you called me by my first name,” he tells you as he presses another kiss to your cheek. “Would that be alright?”

“Of course,” you breathe – placing your hand over the one he’s using to cup your face. “I’d love that.”

At that moment, you don’t think about how it’s been tough for you to find yourself a boyfriend over the last few years. How starting a relationship like this with Zhongli is going to give you more problems than you bargained for. All that matters is the comforting warmth of his touch as the two of you bask in each other’s company in the privacy of his car. 

Nothing more, nothing less.

Times where you attempt to contact people like yourself are few and far in between. You want little to do in the lifestyles of other succubi and incubi, but it’s a different case with Xingqiu.

You met him by chance in the most awkward way possible. One time, you decided that a college boy who once interned at Wangsheng was going to be your target of the month. But on the night you tried to harvest energy from him, someone else was already occupying the dream – doing the things you were supposed to do before you could even arrive.

Long story short, you ended up doing a little snooping around with your targets first before going in for the kill. You wouldn’t want to run into Xingqiu in the middle of a feeding again, after all.

“It’s been a while,” he comments as you slide into the seat across from him. Xingqiu closes the book he was reading and props an elbow on the table, resting his head against the curve of his palm. “I’m guessing this is really important if you came to me for help.”

“It is,” you sigh.

Your companion nods along and smiles. “Okay, I’ll hear you out. Make sure to order something first because I can tell this one’s going to take us a while.”

Wanmin Restaurant, the place he chose for your quick meeting, serves the best Black-Back Perch Stew you’ve ever tasted in your life. This makes it a whole lot easier to settle down and explain your situation to Xingqiu to the most minute details. He quietly eats his own food as you tell him about the dreams you experience inside Zhongli’s head. How it always takes place in the same setting. How the sequence of events seem to have a linear pattern to them – which is quite rare to encounter in a human’s dreams. You’ve never once felt any sense of order whenever you hopped into the minds of your targets, but it’s as if you’re witnessing something straight out of a film reel when it comes to your boss-turned-lover.

You suspect that Xingqiu has been an incubus long before you’ve even been born. In spite of his appearance, you can tell he holds more wisdom about your kind than one would expect. So it doesn’t come as a surprise when he quietly hums at the end of your story – an answer already prepared in advance.

“Memories,” he says simply. “You’re not just witnessing that man’s dreams – you’re watching his memories.” 

You frown. “But…that place is something that’s straight out of a fantasy novel. Gods and monsters? A world plunged into a war? How could Zhongli have memories of that?”

Xingqiu spares you a soft laugh. “How do creatures like us still exist in a world catered for humans and humans alone? There are many things that can’t be explained by pure logic. But I have a hunch that the owner of the memories you see is both your boyfriend and isn’t at the same time.”

“...I’m sorry?”

“Do you believe in past lives?” he asks. “Reincarnation, exactly. Do you believe that all of us have already lived once before?”

“Are you saying that the stuff I’m seeing in his dreams are memories of a past life?” you clarify, face twisting with confusion. “Xingqiu, isn’t that a bit…”

“Crazy? It is,” he chuckles. “But like I said, this world leaves a lot of things unexplained. Some details are meant to sound crazy so you wouldn’t think they’re actually possible.”

You toy with what’s left of your dish, the appetite you’ve built up suddenly dissipating at the idea that Xingqiu just proposed to you. So even in a past life, Zhongli adored Guizhong to the point that he’d tear both heaven and earth asunder all in her name. You wonder if the Zhongli in this world, the one you’re currently dating, loved Guizhong to the same degree as well. He probably did, and you probably wouldn’t compare to someone like her.

“Is it possible for past lives to have some…parallels to the ones we live now?” Your voice is quiet, almost as if you fear for the answer.

The incubus considers the question for a moment. “Well, yes. The saying ‘history repeats itself’ isn’t exactly true because history doesn’t repeat itself – sometimes, it just rhymes. Things that occurred in the past can occur again in the present, but they won’t always entail the same meaning.” 

You receive his words with a solemn nod, feeling your chest twist uncomfortably. Somehow, you don’t really like the sound of that.

“Thank you,” you tell Xingqiu when the two of you are done splitting the bill. “You seriously shed some light on a lot of things that were confusing me.”

“Don’t mention it,” he insists, tucking his book underneath his shoulder. For a moment, you think that this is where you part ways, but Xingqiu suddenly pauses – eyes narrowing as he leans closer to you. “When was the last time you fed?”

You’re taken aback by his sudden inquiry, but you manage an answer all the same. “Um, a while.”

“Well, what are you waiting for? You have a boyfriend that’s more than willing to help you, right?” He posits the question like he expected the answer to be yes, but when you shyly avert your gaze, Xingqiu’s smile falls almost immediately. “Oh, no. He doesn’t know what you are, does he?”

“It’s kind of hard to just go off on a tangent and say, ‘hey I’m actually a demon that receives my life force from dream sex’,” you point out, but know he’s right either way. “I…I do plan on telling him. Just not anytime soon. We’re kind of busy with a huge project at work, and I can’t really drop something like that out of nowhere.”

Xingqiu sighs, pinching his nose between his fingers. “But you’ve been spending a lot of time in his dreams anyways. Am I right? You seem to know an awful lot about his past life now that I think about it.”

…Of course Xingqiu’s going to be the one who catches you red-handed.

It’s really no secret that you still frequent Zhongli’s dreams, not to feed but to learn more about the life Rex lived alongside Guizhong. Since you started going out with your boss, the details became more descriptive with each visit. It’s as if you’re starting to assimilate yourself better in Guizhong’s body, and you could glean more insight about that strange, strange world with more certainty. Last night, she and Rex talked about how they plan on transferring the Guili Assembly to the harbor city, where they’ll be far from the evil gods that wish to kill them all.

“Well, whatever your circumstances are, you know what happens when you don’t feed,” Xingqiu reminds you almost grimly, not leaving any trace of his once cheerful façade. “Don’t downplay the effects of hunger. We’re already an endangered species as is.”

As you head home that day, you end up thinking about his warning more than you should. Everything Xingqiu said is in the right – you knew as much. You’ve had to suffer through the aftereffects only recently yourself, but...

You can take it. Just a bit more.

The next day, Zhongli comes over to your apartment to prepare dinner for you. He’s been excited all week to serve you his signature bamboo shoot soup, but Xingqiu’s words haunt you for the entirety of the day. You try your best not to make your distress obvious to your boyfriend, but you’re gravely mistaken if you thought Zhongli wasn’t going to catch on.

“Is anything on your mind?” he asks softly, pressing his lips to your neck. You’re seated comfortably in his lap as the two of you lounge on the sofa. But even if this has become one of your favorite places to relax with him, you just can’t bring yourself to do so now.

“Just…work,” you sigh as you rest your head across his chest. 

The beat of his heart is steady like usual, reminding you that Zhongli is real and breathing right beside you. That he’s not just a product of your dreams, like your mind always leads you to believe.

“Somehow I don’t believe that.” You can almost hear him pout. “Was dinner not to your liking, perhaps?”

“No, it’s not that,” you insist. “I’m just…really tired is all.”

That’s not exactly a lie. You’re starting to feel the effects of your own self-deprivation with each passing day. And even if you already learned your lesson last time, your conscience can’t take the idea of feeding on another person when you have a boyfriend. To further add to your list of problems, even if you wanted to harness energy from Zhongli, the setting of his dreams is too convoluted for you to pick up the right momentum. 

Rex Lapis was working hard to defend the land that he and Guizhong dedicated their lives to protect. Even if you appeared as the woman he loved more than anything else in his dreams, you doubt you’ll be able to seduce him during such a crucial period in the war. 

So now, you’re stuck in a stalemate between your own stubbornness and physiological needs. You’re not even going to be surprised anymore if your body just suddenly gives out on you one of these days.

“Can I propose something that could take your mind off such trifling affairs?”

The room falls silent once he utters the words, and you feel the blood rush to your cheeks. Was he suggesting what you think he’s suggesting? 

As far as intimacy goes, you haven’t really gone all the way with Zhongli. Apart from the occasional makeout sessions in the break room, in his office, and sometimes even his car, you never really sought for anything more than that. You’re well aware that Guizhong’s death is still fresh in his heart, and if he ever considered the possibility of sex, you’d want him to come to you in his own time. 

This is quite the opportune moment for it, too. You’re barely keeping up appearances now that your stockpile of sexual energy started to dwindle. But now that Zhongli was coming onto you, you suppose it won’t hurt to kill two birds with one stone. 

There’s something different in the air as he carries you to your bedroom – lips never straying too far from yours. Zhongli’s eyes are heavily lidded with want, a look you have a tough time imagining on him given the man’s saintlike patience. But as he carefully peels off your clothes, you can’t help but think how different he is from Rex. Where the God of Contracts is ferocious and impatient, Zhongli seems like he’s going to take all the time in the world to drown you in his love. 

“That tickles,” you mewl as his fingers trail across your inner thigh and you feel him smirk against the skin of your throat. 

“I know,” he says. “I quite enjoy seeing you squirm underneath my touch.”

“You’re mean…”

You can barely contain the gasp that resounds from your lips when you feel him tracing your slick entrance with the prod of his fingers. Zhongli murmurs the sweetest things against your lips, yet the things he’s doing between your thighs are anything but innocent. He keeps your knees apart, spreading you open for only him to see, and as he gazes at you from above, you clumsily tug off the tie that’s holding his beautiful hair in place.

Dark brown tresses cascade across the sides of his head. You stare up at the gorgeous man above you with a longing sigh.

When his long, thick digits sink into you, you silence your moans in the curve of his shoulder – teeth biting down at his flesh as Zhongli loosens you up. You feel his thumb occasionally catching on your clit, as if meaning to tease a momentary sensation of pleasure before denying you a few moments later. He’s cruel like that. Nonetheless, he watches you with quiet fascination as you practically grind yourself against his hand – feeling just how wet his fingers have gotten in the short time you were inside the room. The squelch of your cunt is a sound you would’ve been too embarrassed to hear, had you been with someone else. But with Zhongli, everything just seems so right.

“That’s it,” he goads you huskily, teeth grazing the side of your jaw. “Lose yourself for me, darling. Think of no one else but me.”

Darling? That’s new. But the new pet name only serves to push you over the edge – making your walls clench around his fingers as you ride out your orgasm. Zhongli claims your lips in another heated kiss, relentlessly plunging his digits into you despite the overstimulation. You beg him to stop, but the only sound that comes from your mouth is a broken moan of his name.

You’re nothing but a boneless pile on the bed when you finally come down from your high, breathing heavily as you attempt to reorient yourself to your surroundings. The sensation of Zhongli shifting above you registers a bit late in your mind, but your frayed nerves jolt back to life when you feel him rubbing the head of his cock across your glistening seam. 

“Too much,” you whimper. “Zhongli, i-it’s too much…”

He leans down to press a loving kiss on your mouth, one of his hands rubbing your hip soothingly. “Shhh, I know you can take me. Just like you always have.” 

…Wait, what?

You can’t even offer what he said another thought because Zhongli makes good on his words and slowly slips his length into you without much warning. A sob nearly tears its way out of your throat with how his thick cock stretches you to the brim, but your lover kisses away the tears before they even come. 

“You mean so much to me,” he murmurs, twining his hands with yours. “More than you could ever know.” 

That was a given. Having Zhongli as a boyfriend made you feel like you were important; you were loved. Though you haven’t been dating for all that long, he never once gave you a reason to doubt the sincerity of his feelings. So despite all the odd things you unknowingly witnessed in his dreams, you like to believe that he meant every word. 

His hips slap against yours unabated, pumping his length hard and fast enough to make you croon his name over and over. And even if he managed to exhibit some degree of patience a while ago, it takes little time for Zhongli to move past his courtesy and bite down on the skin of your throat hard enough to bruise. 

“Mine,” he growls. “I’ll never let you go, my love.”

You would’ve teased him for such a cheesy choice of words if you were under different circumstances. But the moment the new endearment falls from Zhongli’s lips, you go completely still underneath him. 

“Stop. Zhongli, please stop.”

To his credit, he listens just as told – gazing at you with a puzzled look as he takes his length out. Zhongli is concerned for a moment, because you’re staring at him as if he’s killed a man right in front of you. When he reaches out a hand to touch your face, intent on asking what was wrong, you instinctively slap it away.

“I…” Your voice fails you. After all, how on earth can you just tell him that you wanted to stop because that was the very same thing that Rex calls Guizhong in his dreams. You can’t help but think that Zhongli used to call the Guizhong of this world the same thing, too.

Sometimes, real life could coincide with what happens in the dreamscape. Inside his mind, Rex Lapis sees Guizhong, not you. And you’re more than inclined to believe that it’s the same case here with Zhongli.

You’re not the one he sees – it’s the dead woman that he’s never stopped loving these past six years.

You know you’re being obtuse. Your boss isn’t the kind of person who lets his past grievances interfere with his present relationships. But the anxiety you’ve accumulated since your meeting with Xingqiu had boiled over with the worst timing possible. 

Instead of talking it out, you roll over to your side of the bed – pulling the covers tight enough around your body so that he sees no inch of it. You know that what you’re doing is probably hurting Zhongli more than you think, but you shut out any hint of remorse that threatens to make you waver.

It doesn’t take long for him to settle on the spot right next to you. Zhongli doesn’t ask why you suddenly pushed him away, nor do you make an effort to explain. 

“I’m sorry.” 

His words ring sincerely enough, but it sounds like he doesn’t even know what he’s apologizing for. You don’t fault him for it. You’re still unsure why you even let yourself be consumed by your own doubts. Didn’t you just say you believed in Zhongli when he told you how much you mean to him?

You suppose this is where you fall short compared to Guizhong. The God of Dust put her faith in Rex Lapis despite his violent tendencies. She believes in him both as his follower and lover in equal measure. You, though? You’re already lucky enough to be dealing with a mellowed down version of the man in your dreams, but you still decide to take it for granted. Because…what? You’re insecure? You’re jealous of a woman who’s been dead for six years?

In the end, you decide that you’re too tired to think about it at the moment. Since you interrupted your own feeding session, your body wasn’t able to gain even an ounce of energy. You’re better off preserving what little you had left if you knew what was good for you.

(If Zhongli hears you choke on your own sobs later in the night, he says nothing of it in the morning.) 

“Can you make a contract with me?”

Rex Lapis is cleaning the blood off his polearm when Guizhong’s voice cuts through the silence of the night. He stares at her hard, yet his gaze still carries a hint of fondness he’s reserved for her and her alone.

She purses her lips before continuing, “If I were to be infected by the miasma that’s tainting the guardian yakshas in the front lines, I want you to take my life.”

“No.” His answer is quick and precise, as if he’s already mulled it over several times before she even brought the matter to light. “If that happens, I’ll turn this world upside down just to find a cure that can save you.”

“Yet you can’t even do that for the children who devoted their lives to you?” 

He stills, feeling the jab of his lover’s accusation hit harder than he expected. It’s not that he doesn’t care for the adepti – he simply knows that it’s in their nature to be more tenacious than the rest of their soldiers. Rex Lapis is certain that they can resist the effects of the miasma on their own merit. Guizhong, however, is just as delicate as the dust she holds dominion over. He’d rather watch the world burn first than let her die either by his hand or the corruption induced by that pesky miasma.

But still, he respects all his lover’s thoughts and wishes. She isn’t the brains of their operation for nothing. Without her, he wouldn’t have made it half as far in this war as he did now.

“Very well,” Rex Lapis agrees, albeit reluctantly. “I will honor this contract until the day I die.”

Guizhong’s eyes soften at his decision, and when she smiles, he feels his stone cold heart thawing at the radiance that only she can ever exude.

“I know you will.” 

“You’re doing it again, huh?”

Hu Tao ambles by your cubicle with that knowing tone of hers, arms crossed in a way that suggests you’re about to receive another thorough scolding. But you’re really not in the mood to be told off by someone who hasn’t lived in your shoes before, so you opt to ignore her. 

“Hey, I’m talking to you,” she huffs, fingers pinching your face like she often does but you keep your eyes straight on the screen of your laptop. “Aren’t you and the consultant seeing each other lately? Is he not good in bed or something?”

Thankfully, the director has the decency to lower her voice when she speaks, making you heave another sigh before glancing at her warily. “It’s nothing like that.”

“Hmm… Let me guess. You’re doing something you’re not supposed to, aren’t you?”

Hu Tao’s perceptiveness is absolutely beyond you. You’ve always known that she’s quicker on the uptake than most people you’ve met in life, but it’s almost scary how she’s seemingly aware of your actions. You’re the succubus and she’s the human, but sometimes you feel like Hu Tao has more power over you than you initially assumed.

You try not to think about the more recent additions to your vignettes of Zhongli’s past memories. You can tell that the stakes of the war were growing higher and higher each time you visited his dreams. Could that be the influence of the current events in his life?

Ever since the night you pushed him away, you and Zhongli haven’t been on speaking terms. Sure, the two of you still conversed about details that need fine-tuning for your project, but beyond that, it’s complete radio silence. His good morning and good night texts have stopped, and he’s never once dropped by your apartment in that time frame; nor has he invited you over to his own. His distant behavior tears you up more than you realize, but you tell yourself that he has all the right to avoid you if he’s upset about what you did.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you tell Hu Tao. “Director, forgive me for being blunt, but I’d like to focus on this report now.”

Your superior sighs. You assume she’s going to concede early for a change, but the moment you think Hu Tao is already on her way, you feel her lean closer to your ear, whispering something that sends a chill down your spine.

“Don’t dive too deep into matters that don’t concern you. Don’t try to change things that have already been set in stone,” she says calmly, her fingers digging slightly into your shoulders. “If you lose sight of what’s really important, you might lose yourself in the process, too.”

When she lets go of you, Hu Tao continues humming that same, lively song she always sings – leaving you to deal with the guilt that grips your heart like a vice.

About two weeks since Zhongli started giving you the silent treatment, you come to a sound conclusion.

He’s still thinking about Guizhong. Well, she was his first love – meaning, your boss isn’t exactly going to stop thinking of her anytime soon. But you thought about your conversation with Xingqiu several times over the last few days. You hypothesized that the reason why Zhongli was continuously dreaming about his memories of a past long gone is because his grief cuts even deeper than he let on. 

Though you have no means of making sure, you’re almost too certain that the reason Zhongli still thinks of her even if you’re right in front of him is because her memory is too painful to let go. He clings to it subconsciously, and that desperation manifests itself in his dreams – back to a lifetime where Guizhong still lives.

The things that happened in the past are bound to happen in the present; that’s what Xingqiu told you the last time. So if the Guizhong in this world has already passed on, it’s safe to assume that the one in his dreams is bound to face the same fate as well. 

But…you have the power to change that.

Even if it’s nothing but a memory now, what if you could alter the outcome? If Zhongli is left with memories of Guizhong that aren’t tained with sorrow, maybe he can finally move past it.

Maybe he can finally see you instead of her.

It’s a fool’s line of reasoning – you know that. This was going to be one of the most dangerous things you tried in anyone’s dreamscape. But you’re so catastrophically in love with Zhongli, that you’d give up anything just to ease his pain. 

You’re well aware that your body is deteriorating at an exponential pace. Not only are you expending a lot of energy to tinker with Zhongli’s memories, but you don’t even bother with feeding anymore. You tell yourself that you can do that later, once you manage to save Guizhong from her timely demise. 

Everything you can think of to keep her from dying, you made sure happened in the dream. You don’t let her walk out to the front lines to give orders like she usually does. You make sure to avoid all the guardian yakshas, who are already tainted with the corruption that craftier gods weaponized against Rex Lapis’ forces. And most of all, you don’t let her leave his sight longer than she needs to – because if there’s anyone you can rely on to keep Guizhong alive, it’s Zhongli himself.

Of course, you’re still doing splendidly in keeping your work life separate from everything else. Your project has officially come to a close, raking in more revenue for Wangsheng than anyone expected. 

Today, you’re scheduled to give a speech addressing everyone’s efforts in the company’s conference room – something that you’re a bit reluctant to do because you know Zhongli is going to be there, too. The idea of him looking at you from the crowd with none of the adoration he used to give so freely is enough to make your stomach turn.

But still, you compose yourself. You’re no stranger to adversity, so seeing your boyfriend (can you even still call him that?) in a crowded room is the least of your problems. 

At least, that’s what you thought.

When Director Hu Tao calls you up to the platform, you're raring to go – practicing with deep breaths as you repeat the gist of your speech inside your head. You made sure to cake your face with a heavier layer of makeup this time around because the last thing you need is for her to pull you to the side and scold you for still refusing to feed. 

But the moment you get up from your seat, the world suddenly tilts to the side – your vision going black within seconds.

The last thing you remember is being whisked into a pair of strong arms. You want to curl your fingers in the fabric of his coat, to apologize a million times over, but the familiar scent of his clothes is enough to put you straight to sleep. 

“Goodness, miss. You had us terrified back there.”

Ganyu is sitting by your bed in the infirmary when you regain consciousness, wiping the tears off her face with a dainty handkerchief. You mumble a half-hearted apology, but immediately seize up when you see Zhongli leaning against the wall in front of you. 

“The nurse told us she suspected that you might have an eating disorder,” the secretary continues, rubbing your hand comfortingly. “It did seem like you were pushing yourself harder than usual during the last few weeks. You should really take care of yourself more.”

An eating disorder…? Well, if depriving yourself of your required sustenance can be translated into a human affliction, you suppose that was the most obvious counterpart. Still, you’re still feeling a bit too groggy for conversation, so instead of addressing Ganyu’s plight, you sink further into the mattress.

You can feel his gaze on your pitiful form – those eyes of endless gold. But you’re too much of a coward to face him when you’ve been reduced into such a state.

A little while later, you hear the door to the infirmary swing open. Is it odd that you can tell that the newcomer is Hu Tao based on the sound of her footsteps alone?

“Leave us,” she says sternly – addressing both Ganyu and Zhongli at the same time. “There’s something I need to discuss with her.”

You half-expect Zhongli to complain, or at least contest the director’s orders. But your heart sinks when he resigns himself to what he’s told, quietly ushering himself and his secretary out of the room.

Hu Tao waits for about two more minutes before speaking again.

“You better feed now or you’re going to die for real.”

“...But –”

“I can’t have you dying on my watch just because you’re being stubborn about it,” Hu Tao nearly snaps – eyes alight with rage. “Feed now. I don’t care who it is, just do it. I won’t let you out of this place until you’ve gotten better.”

To say that you’re terrified is putting it lightly. You’ve never seen Hu Tao get angry before, but the absolute urgency in her gaze – practically begging you to please just save yourself – makes you consider her request. 

“Okay,” you say quietly, only surrendering because you can’t save Guizhong if you’re dead. “See you in a bit.”

‘A bit’ is a lie that you didn’t really mean to tell. When you entered the crossroads of the dreamscape, you didn’t bother picking targets anymore. You slipped into the dream of a man who’s probably in his thirties, intent on just getting him off, sucking out some energy for yourself before making your leave. 

But no matter how many times you attempt to drive him to an orgasm, you don’t feel yourself getting any better. The energy that always emanates out of a man post-coitus is nowhere to be found. 

You switch targets faster than you can even blink. This time, it’s a boy that’s probably fresh out of high school, and you feel a bit horrible for having to trespass like this. But instead of fretting about common decency in a goddamn dream , you make him come about two consecutive times before realizing that –

This isn’t working, you mutter to yourself. Why the hell isn’t it working?

You’ve always had a hard time harnessing energy from strangers, yes. However, those instances granted you at least a tiny ounce of energy that could stem the hunger for a while. Now, you’re getting absolutely nothing.

It seems that Hu Tao is already privy to your dilemma when you wake up in your own body. 

“I’m going to put him to sleep,” she decides with a vexed sigh. “Make sure you get enough energy to last you for an entire year, got that? No meddling with anything else.”

“W-Wait,” you croak out, and damn, you feel even weaker than before. “What do you mean you’re going to put him to sleep? Are you talking about Zhongli?”

“Who else could I be talking about, little devil?” The director rolls her eyes. “Now, I’m going to ask you to pretend I’m not about to do something illegal and just rest. The moment you fall asleep, get into Zhongli’s head and feed. Okay?”

You don’t even get a chance to respond to Hu Tao’s words because you’re already nodding. Your bones feel like lead, limbs feel like they’ll fall off any minute. If you stay conscious any longer, your eyes might just dry out. 

It doesn’t take five minutes for you to fall asleep again. And as you drift aimlessly in the depths of your subconscious, a part of you that’s still coherent anticipates that it might take a while before you find Zhongli’s dreamscape. You’re not sure how long ‘putting him to sleep’ is going to be, but surprisingly, your existence is abruptly transported to the familiar marshlands of Dihua. 

You chalk it up to how often you’ve been hopping into Zhongli’s dreams, but you immediately notice that something isn’t right. The skies have turned into an ashen gray color – columns of smoke rising in several locations at once. When you gaze around, all you see are the fallen bodies of both soldiers and monsters alike. 

Rex. You need to find Rex Lapis.

That’s your very first instinct once your consciousness fully pulls through, careful to step over the decaying corpses as you mutter a silent prayer for each one. But just when you thought you’re going to end up tripping on one of them, you watch in equal parts horror and confusion when you witness your leg pass through the carcass of a dead monster.

All it takes is a single glance down for you to know that you’re no longer inside Guizhong’s body. Instead, you drift around as an apparition of sorts – arms, legs, and torso appearing less saturated than usual. It’s like you’ve become a transparent cut-out, and you give yourself a minute to think about what the hell was going on. This has never happened in your previous feedings. You’ve always been able to maintain your form, despite the numerous instances you’ve hopped in between dreamscapes. 

In the distance, however, you find the answer to all of your questions.

You spot them amidst the debris left behind by the battle. Rex Lapis kneels at the side of the most beautiful woman you’ve seen in your life – cradling her frail body in his arms as golden tears flowed forth from his eyes. It’s the first time he’s surrendered the unmovable visage you’ve gotten so used to seeing in this dream. Gone is the unfeeling, uncaring God of Contracts who felled his own enemies like it was as easy as breathing. In his place is a man who only wanted to live with the person he adored the most.

Guizhong’s pale skin is overrun by dark lacerations that look like black veins rooted into the surface. Her own eyes glisten with tears as she reaches up to cradle Zhongli’s face. She says something that you don’t hear over the wind howling in your ears, but you don’t let yourself remain stagnant for a second longer. 

You run straight to them with what little strength you can muster – intent on shaking Guizhong by the shoulders to scream, “No! This isn’t how things were supposed to be! You were supposed to live. I was supposed to save you!”

But none of these messages get across to either of the two. To them, you’re nothing but the breeze on their skin – violently whipping all around as the war only worsened. There aren’t any clear winners here, this is becoming clear to you. But as the God of Dust heaves her final breath, you hear Guizhong speak for the last time.

“Thank you… For honoring our contract,” she sighs, blood dribbling down the sides of her mouth as she forces herself to smile. In her hand, she lifts up a stone dumbbell with a complicated structure – something you’ve never seen before despite all the time you spent in her body.

“This is the mark of our pledge, and it is also my challenge to you.” Guizhong hands it to him shakily, still careful despite being on death’s doorstep. “All my wisdom is contained inside. If you can unlock it –”

She never gets to finish the words. A loud clap of thunder booms across the marsh – deafening even when you don’t have the body in this dream to perceive the sensation. Zhongli makes a mistake of letting the noise distract him, because when he glances at Guizhong once more, the woman he loves has already crumbled in his arms. 

Once the dust settles over the war-torn battlefield, Rex Lapis rises back to his feet. You can see the weight of his grief in the way his golden hands tremble at his sides. But just as quickly as his lover’s passing, he summons his polearm back in his hands – thrusting the hilt into the ground hard enough to break through the barren soil. The God of Contracts lets out a monstrous shout – terror rooting itself into your being. The sound is fearsome. Inescapable. 

And with a single twist of his hand, the earth starts to shake beneath your feet.

Xingqiu arrives at Hu Tao’s quarters faster than she anticipated, blue eyes startled to see the two bodies resting on top of her bed. The director pays his reaction no mind, though. Instead, she fills him in on the situation.

“I had my guards carry these two up here,” she explains, pointing a finger interchangeably at you and Zhongli. “That guy, I drugged to put him to sleep so she can get inside his dreams for sustenance. But it’s been about three hours, and neither of them are waking up.”

“What? She still hasn’t fed?” The incubus asks incredulously. “It’s been almost a month since I last saw her. Back then, she was already starving. Don’t tell me she’s been holding out all this time.”

“You’d be surprised at the lengths that stubbornness can take a person,” Hu Tao chuckles, leaning back into her seat as she twists some of the rings on her fingers. 

Xingqiu lets out a long, exasperated exhale as he sits by the bed – watching you and your so-called boyfriend doze soundly next to the other. But your deathly pale complexion doesn’t escape his notice. If he didn’t know better, he would’ve assumed you were dead.

“While I am very concerned about my friend’s destructive behavior,” he begins, casting a sidelong glance at the Wangsheng director. “I’m more curious about why you’re helping them in the first place. It’s not like you to meddle in things that are none of your business to begin with. And yet…”

Hu Tao sighs. She’s been hanging around this demon boy from the Guhua clan for too long. He can already discern what’s normal and unusual for her behavior, and she isn’t really a fan of being perceived like that.

But unwittingly, his words got her thinking.

“Remember how you pulled me out of the in-between when I tried to reach out to Grandfather in the afterlife? I nearly died because of it,” she sighs, remembering her past experiences with meddling none-too-fondly. “I can’t just stand here and watch my subordinate slowly kill herself the same way when I know someone who can help.”

Xingqiu sighs again. “Director, I’m an incubus, not a miracle worker. Us crossing paths at the in-between was nothing but a coincidence… But then again, that’s the same way I met her back then, too.” He casts your ghastly form a wistful glance. If he’d known that divulging information about your lover’s past memories would lead to this, he never would’ve said a word. 

“I need you to fetch both of them before they get trapped in their own dreams. I’ll fork over whatever amount you like,” Hu Tao proposes, her usually playful demeanor now replaced by something more grim. “Just – please. Save them.”

“...That’s a really tall order, you know?” The incubus shakes his head in disbelief. “The in-between is the last place I’d want to hang around, but this woman is my friend, too. You don’t have to cough up any –”

To both their surprise (and relief), Zhongli seizes up on the bed, sitting upright as he gasps for breath. Hu Tao uncharacteristically scrambles to hand him a glass of water, which he empties in the span of five seconds. But even if the sight of your boyfriend rousing himself from the dream is a good thing, Xingqiu notices how you’re yet to follow suit.

It seems that Zhongli followed his line of sight as well, and both him and Hu Tao can practically hear the sound of his heart plummeting straight to his stomach at the sight of you. 

“No,” he murmurs, a shaky hand reaching up to caress your face. “Not again…”

Again?

“Xingqiu, change of plans,” Hu Tao calls out softly as she meets his eyes. She doesn’t even need to elaborate further for him to understand. 

“What plan are you talking about?” Zhongli interrupts with a hard frown. “What did you do to her?”

“Oi, consultant. Don’t go accusing the people that are trying to help,” Hu Tao snarks, shooting him a dirty look. “We’re running out of time, so I’m going to give you the abridged version. Your girlfriend? She’s trapped in some place called the in-between. It’s the space that separates dreams from reality; the afterlife from the human realm.”

“But if she’s really trapped in your dream, she should’ve woken up at the same time you did,” Xingqiu adds. “That’s why I’m assuming she wandered too far and got herself stranded in your memories instead.”

“...My memories?” 

The director nods. “Yup. And unless she finds the key in her own subconscious and escapes on her own or someone else enters the same dreamscape and helps her…”

“She’ll be trapped in there forever.”

Both director and incubus stare at the poor man expectantly, wondering how he’ll take the information they just dumped on him. Xingqiu wouldn’t be surprised to see him call them a bunch of lunatics before contacting the authorities for the unsightly method Hu Tao employed just to get him to sleep. But Zhongli is strangely composed, nodding once, twice before turning to his half-dead lover.

“Tell me what I need to do,” he says quietly. In turn, Xingqiu breathes out another sigh in relief as Hu Tao claps her hands together gleefully.

“That’s the spirit, consultant!” The director beams. “Now let’s save your girlfriend, yeah?”

You didn’t want any of this.

The sounds of a never-ending battle rages on outside – the impact of gods fighting to the death causing your temporary shelter to quake where you hide yourself away. The cave you took refuge in resembles the one you woke up in the first time you attempted to feed on Zhongli, but you don’t bother making comparisons. Not that it matters. You’re nothing but a ghost anyways – unable to go back from whence you came, and unable to go to the next place you’re supposed to be.

Still, you didn’t want to bear witness to Zhongli slaughtering hundreds in mere seconds. You’ve seen him fight before – he’s always fought valiantly in this war especially when Guizhong was by his side. But now that she’s gone, the God of Contracts is nothing but a husk of a man.

All that’s left is a bloodthirsty killing machine that intends to paint the land in the angry red of his grief.

Despite how hopeless your situation is, you can’t help but pray to whoever’s listening. You want them to remind Rex Lapis of the dream he once shared with Guizhong – to build a nation by the harbor, where no gods nor monsters can hope to harm the Guili Assembly. But as long as he continues his onslaught of carnage, that dream will never be realized.

Then, you think about the Zhongli that’s waiting for you back home.

Regret is the first emotion that occurs in your ephemeral form. You wish you could have apologized for that night – for assuming that he still isn’t over his dead ex-lover. For attempting to alter memories that aren’t truly his own for the sake of your own ego. 

For never saying how much you loved him before disappearing for good. 

If only you communicated with him normally like a proper girlfriend should. If only you didn’t assume the worst about him just because he once loved someone more than he loved you sometime ago. 

You’ve heard of incidents where succubi and incubi aren’t able to wake up from their feedings. It’s either they’re trapped in an unstable human’s dream or trapped in their own because of internal instability. You don’t know exactly how to classify your situation, but you suppose that the reason why you can’t wake yourself up is because of Guizhong.

She became your vessel in these memories during your first successful feeding. And since then, you’ve used her body to traverse the strange land that she and Rex Lapis supposedly hold dominion over. But regardless of how careful you were with Guizhong, she still died. There was nothing you could do to change something that was already set in stone, and instead you lost your way back to where you truly belonged.

For someone who claims to hate her own heritage as a succubus, this just goes to show how much you actually relied on your powers.

Gods. This fucking sucks.

You can only imagine how devastated Zhongli would feel to find your lifeless body in the real world – clutching you to his chest the same way Rex did with Guizhong. Two girlfriends dying on him in the span of six years. You wonder if he’ll ever love again.

…If Zhongli was in your place, he would have spoken to you the moment he felt uneasy about your past. He would’ve asked for some reassurance so he wouldn’t have to worry like this. 

He never would’ve tried to change you.

He would’ve told you that he trusted you.  

You miss him so much that it tears you from the inside out. If only you can see him again – see that beautiful smile again – you’d hold him tight and tell him a million times. 

You’d tell him you were a coward. That you were too afraid of splitting his affections with a woman who doesn’t even exist anymore. 

But…it’s too late for all that now, isn’t it? 

Helplessly, you pull up your barely-there knees to your chest, burying your face in between as you make yourself smaller. You want to cry yourself hoarse, but the tears never come. All you can do is sit alone in the darkness, where you can only dream of someone finding you in the middle of the chaos.

You’re too caught up in your own sorrow to discern the beam of light that splinters through the darkness. You don’t notice the man that steps into the in-between with you; don’t notice as he approaches. It’s only when you feel the familiar sensation of a large, comforting hand on your shoulder that you snap out of your misery.

“There you are,” Zhongli – your Zhongli – breathes out. 

When you finally wake up, you feel like someone brought you back from the dead.

You can barely breathe without it feeling like the oxygen is ripping your lungs to shreds. But before you can asphyxiate yourself, a familiar figure hands you a glass of water, along with a handful of dried leaves. You glance up at Hu Tao in confusion as she stares at you nonchalantly. 

“You were in the in-between for gods-know how long,” the director reminds you. “Go chew on those to recover.”

“...I was what?”

“You were as good as dead.” The sound of Xingqiu’s familiar voice makes you jump, but the incubus simply turns the page on his novel from where he’s seated by the foot of the unfamiliar bed. “I’ve heard of succubi going a few weeks without food, but two months? Do you have a death wish?”

Your head is spinning from all the whiplash, and you actually take Hu Tao’s advice and drink some water before chewing on her magic leaves. But when you notice that there’s someone else occupying the mattress with you, your heart soars with relief.

“Hello,” Zhongli greets you.

“Hi,” you greet him back.

In your peripheral, you can see Hu Tao mouthing something you can’t decipher to Xingqiu – a message that your incubus friend is quick to pick up on before the two of them step out of the room to give you more privacy. Now that you noticed it, you were probably taken up to the director’s quarters at some point during your coma. Either way, once the door clicks shut, it’s just you and Zhongli – the first time you’ve been alone with him since that night in your apartment.

“I guess the cat’s out of the bag now, isn’t it?” you say nervously, unsure where you should even begin. But you suppose an apology is a good starting point. “I’m…sorry. For everything.”

Zhongli sighs, sitting up right to pull you in a tight hug. The abruptness of the gesture makes you drop the leaves on the bed, stunning you into complete silence.

“I thought I lost you,” he nearly chokes – a sound that you never would’ve imagined Zhongli making. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

The pure anguish in his voice makes your heart clench, and now that you have a body that actually lets you feel things, you’re finally given the familiar sensation of eyes stinging with tears. You return Zhongli’s embrace with equal fervor – letting yourself sob into the hollow of his neck.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” you babble, chest seizing with tremors as you curl your fingers into his hair. “I never should’ve hidden the truth about me. I never should’ve meddled with the past. And… I never should’ve questioned the way you feel about me.”

You can feel Zhongli’s erratic pulse against your chest, and you find the fact that it’s possible for his heart to race a relief to know. When he pulls away, his cheeks are wet with tears – not the golden liquid that poured from Rex Lapis’ eyes, but the very same tears that you’re crying right this second.

This is your Zhongli. This is the man you fell in love with. 

You wonder why you even tried to change a past he experienced in a different life – knowing full well just how different he is from the God of Contracts.

“I love you,” you murmur, pressing your forehead against his. “Zhongli, I love you.” 

“And as I do you,” he breathes. “The director and the Guhua boy have already informed me of your…special circumstances, but I’d like to hear the tale of your escapades in my dreams some other time.”

You pause. “So you don’t want me to explain why I did everything I did?”

“Of course I do.” Zhongli shakes his head. “But…I was also told that you’ve been depriving yourself of sustenance for nearly two months now. As your lover, I’m inclined to help you out of your predicaments, yes?”

Oh. Oh.

“B-But we’re in the director’s room…” you tell him bashfully, feeling a surge of heat creep up your neck. “And I owe you a proper explanation for –”

He promptly shuts you up with a kiss. The nerve of this guy!

“Darling, will you allow me to make love to you?” he murmurs the words against your lips, already pulling you to his lap. “Properly this time.”

You know you should snap him out of it and insist that you’re fine. That you’ll last another day without sex if that means you can sufficiently explain yourself because Zhongli deserves as much. But you remember, at that moment, that you’re particularly weak when he starts to trail featherlight kisses along your neck. Zhongli knows this as well as you do, and you can feel him smile triumphantly when you let out a sigh in defeat. 

He doesn’t bother removing your clothes; practically tearing a hole into your pantyhose at his impatience. You balk at him for doing such a thing, but Zhongli promises to buy you another set once everything is settled. 

“Do you find it strange that I’m terribly aroused despite everything that happened?” he asks you, hauling his cock out of his unzipped trousers as he gives it a few pumps. 

“Not at all,” you respond in kind. “I’ve always thought you were hornier than you seemed. It’s always the prim and proper ones, you know?”

You bite your lip as you grind your clothed cunt against his hardening length, feeling your desire pool in between your thighs at the mere thought of him inside you. Zhongli bites down his laughter, nuzzling the crook of your neck as he spreads you open on his lap.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Nudging your underwear aside, you sink yourself onto his thick length with a blissful sigh – feeling his cockhead hitting all the right spots. Zhongli plants his palms firmly on your hips, barely able to contain the hunger in his eyes as he watches you bounce on top of his dick. Your skirt hikes further up your thighs with each downward plunge, and your lover cares to swallow your moans with an open-mouthed kiss.

You all but muffle a scream into his lips when you feel Zhongli thrusting his hips up to meet the cadence of your movements. Tears catch in the lines of your lashes from how good it feels, and you nearly come right then and there when he pulls away to whisper in your ear.

“I’m going to fill you to the brim,” he promises. “My seed will drip down your thighs from here on out so you’ll never forget where you belong.”

“By your side?” you whisper, purposely clenching your walls around his length to elicit a reaction.

Zhongli grunts in approval, much to your amusement. “By my side.” 

He switches things up at the last minute, flipping you over so that you’re lying down on the bed. You open your mouth to protest, but Zhongli is already pressing your knees against your thighs – plunging his cock into the velvet heat of your cunt as he hits it deeper than before. 

“I’d gladly fuck you everyday if that means you’ll never starve again,” your lover tells you with a growl, golden irises boring deep into your own. “Would you like that? Would you like me to sate your needs?”

“Yes,” you mewl as your fingers rake across his back. “Yes, yes yes! I only want you, Zhongli. Please –”

Your climax blindsides you out of nowhere, cunt squeezing around his cock impossibly tight. You screw your eyes shut, burying your face in his shoulder as your body shudders and trembles from the force of it. Zhongli, however, is intent on taking advantage of your vulnerable state. He doesn’t relent – just continues pounding you into the bed as he chases his own high.

“You’re the only one I love,” he tells you all of a sudden, momentarily pulling you out of your lustful haze. “You might not be the first, but you’ll certainly be the last.”

“Stop saying cheesy things while you’re fucking my brains out,” you moan. “You’re going to make me cry…”

“Heh, that’s the point.”

As promised, Zhongli finishes inside you with a shuddering sigh – and you feel the surge of his hot seed painting your insides. You’ve never felt so satisfied after having real sex with a real human, but when you’re actually in love with the person you’re sleeping with, you suppose there’s lots of room for exceptions.

“So why were you chasing ghosts that don’t even haunt me anymore?” 

You finish the rest of the water that Hu Tao offered earlier when Zhongli asks you the million-dollar question. Your heart twists with both guilt and apprehension, but you know that this is the best time to lay the truth on the table. 

“I was…bothered when you called me by the thing that Rex Lapis called Guizhong the goddess in your dreams,” you admit. “I thought you were thinking about Guizhong your ex while you were with me.”

Zhongli nods as he fixes his own clothes, an unreadable look settling on his face. “Rex Lapis…is the identity I had in a past life, isn’t it? And Guizhong was his lover.” 

“Yes.”

“That doesn’t explain why you tried to alter my memories, though,” he points out.

“Well, I thought if I could lessen the pain of your memories of Guizhong, you’d stop thinking about her and start thinking about me.” Gods, you sound like such a fucking brat. “That – That was really childish of me. I’m sorry. I even got the director and Xingqiu involved because of my own impulsiveness…”

“If you look at it that way then, yes. It is very childish of you. But I think that just goes to show how deeply you feel about me,” Zhongli suggests with a handsome smile, reaching out to hold your hand in his. “You want me to look at you, and only you?” 

“Of course I do,” you mumble. “You want me to do the same for you, right? I’m just trying to make things even…”

Your lover lets out another laugh, raising your hand to his lips as he places a soft kiss on your skin. You don’t think you’ll ever get used to Zhongli’s show of affection.

“Guizhong…is a person who’s near and dear to me even now,” he says, going off a tangent as he rubs comforting circles into your wrist. “But do you know the last thing she told me before she passed?” 

You shake your head. “What?”

“That I shouldn’t chain myself to the past, no matter how painful it is to carry on,” Zhongli continues. “My life here is much simpler than the life Rex Lapis lived. I have no idea what you saw in my – rather, his memories to make you assume that the same applies for me. But I assure you that I’m not a man who’ll punish himself by constantly mulling over what-ifs and could-have-beens.

“All that matters is the present, and what I choose to do now, while you’re still by my side.”

…Damn it. You’re feeling the waterworks again.

“What did I do to deserve you?” you whisper, squeezing his hand just to make sure he was real.

“That, I’m afraid I can’t answer,” he chuckles. “But, on the topic of your immeasurable love, the Guhua boy imparted another interesting piece of information before lending me his powers to save you.”

“...Wait, I’ve been wondering how you got inside the in-between,” you tell him. “So it was Xingqiu? How the hell did he do that?”

“Darling, please refrain from asking questions I don’t have answers to.”

“Fine, fine. What did he say that was so interesting then?”

Zhongli laughs, and something about the shift in his tone makes you narrow your eyes in suspicion. “Director Hu said you tried to harvest energy from other men while you were on the brink of death but it didn’t work. Xingqiu informed us that when your kind starts to feel strongly about a certain human, you won’t be able to harness energy anywhere else apart from that person.”

“...Why do I feel like you’re just gloating now?”

“That’s because I am.”

The sound of the door sliding abruptly catches your attention. Hu Tao emerges from the entrance as she claps her hands loudly. “Alright, that’s enough lovey-dovey chit-chat. I’m going to have the maids launder my sheets first before I sleep in them tonight!”

Your face flushes with embarrassment. “Director Hu Tao, I –”

“Aiya! No apologies. It’s all good,” she insists. “But hey, consultaaant~ Now that I let you and your girlfriend have reunion sex in my quarters, you’re not going to press any charges for assault, will you?”

“Wait, what charges?” Your gaze darts between the two of them curiously.

Zhongli drags a palm over his face, as if having just realized something terrible. “In order to help you get into my dreams, the director laced my tea with a potent drug. I was unconscious for quite some time. But I won’t press any charges, since I have little patience for the tedium of the Liyue Police Station.”

“Aww, you’re the best!” Hu Tao gushes before turning to you. “By the way, Xingqiu already went ahead, but he asked me to give you this.” 

You blink as Hu Tao hands you a sleek black business card with the words “Dr. Paimon” printed with embossed lettering. Zhongli peers over your shoulder, examining the card with the same degree of curiosity.

“He didn’t really elaborate, but rumor has it, that person can turn you into a normal human,” the director explains, smiling with intent. “I figured that since you’re probably gonna want to spend the rest of your life with the old man, you’d want to give up your immortality.”

Immortality… A staple that comes with being a succubus. It’s one of the most fundamental reasons why your kind fed on sexual energy in the first place, yet you never stopped to think of your future if you stayed immortal, while Zhongli continues to age with the passage of time. 

You won’t be able to start a family with him; have his children; grow old with him. Because that’s the fate that your kind has long been cursed with since they first walked the earth. But now, you’re given a way out – even if it sounds too good to be true.

You’re afraid to look at Zhongli. You feel like you should accept the offer, but everything that transpired today is just so overwhelming that you’re not sure if you can make the right choice…

But as always, he’s here to support you.

“You don’t have to make a decision now,” he reminds. “We still have work tomorrow, so I suggest we head home and rest first. I’m sure that can wait.”

…Being thrust back into the nightmare that is the Liyuen corporate ladder after nearly dying in the in-between. Way to maintain a sense of normalcy, Zhongli. 

Well, ‘normal’ is the best thing that the universe can give to you right now. Too bad you’re not selfless enough to deny the one thing you’ve been craving after all this time.

“Miss? Here’s the tea you asked for.”

Ganyu’s voice flits through your ears like a calming breeze. She places your drink on your desk – just behind a plaque that reads Wangsheng Corporation - Consultant. The scent of freshly brewed qingxin petals wafts to your nose and you feel every nerve ending in your body relax at the more aroma.

“Thank you,” you tell her kindly. “You’re right. This tea really does work miracles.”

Your secretary hides a giggle behind her hand. “Both Lady Ningguang and Mister Zhongli became fond of it when I started working for them. I figured it would be the same with you.”

The golden band on your finger seems to glint in the sunlight streaming into your office as you take a few sips. You used to think that tea was nothing but leaf water, but if you have someone like Zhongli for a husband, you’re bound to start appreciating the finer things in life – Ganyu’s herbal remedy included.

“Oh, that reminds me,” she perks up. “Is the director coming back soon? I heard that four months is already a good time to check for the gender.”

You’re a bit surprised by her words, but Ganyu has always exhibited her excitement for the budding life in your womb the moment you made the announcement a few months back. 

“Zhongli’s secretary told me he should be home by the end of the week,” you tell her kindly, free hand instinctively going to the slight swell of your belly. “Once we figure out whether it’s a boy or a girl, I promise you’re the first person we’ll inform.”

She gasps. “You really mean that, miss?”

“Why not? You’re the godmother after all~”

Once Ganyu recovers from the initial shock from being assigned as your child’s godmother, you’re left to your lonesome once more. 

It’s been six months since Hu Tao stepped down as the director for Wangsheng Corporation – passing the title onto Zhongli – and six months since you’ve held office as the company’s new consultant. At times, you still find it strange, how you’re the one giving advice with regards to your husband’s dealings with other businesses. But you remind yourself that everything happens all in due time. 

Your old life as a succubus is way behind you now, but there are moments where you still think of what happened to Rex Lapis after Guizhong’s death. Did he get killed by the other gods? Did he lead the Guili Assembly to the harbor? What happened to the stone dumbbell Guizhong gave to him? You’ll never know now that you’ve lost the ability to travel through dreams. 

But in the back of your head, you hoped he was able to find some sort of deliverance from the pain induced by his lover’s passing.

In the midst of your contemplation, your phone buzzes with a text – one that you’re quick to open.

Zhongli [10:54]: I’m boarding the plane at Fontaine National Airport right now. Should be back by tonight :)

Huh. That was earlier than expected.

Me [10:54] We’ll be waiting with a nice bottle of osmanthus ^__^

Zhongli [10:55]: Darling, please. Drinking is bad for the baby

Me [10:55]: One glass won’t cause genetic disorders, Zhongli.

Zhongli [10:56]: Very well… I’ll still make sure to watch your consumption though.

Me [10:56]: Fine by me <3 Take care on the way back. I love you.

Zhongli [11:15]: Sorry, just got past a checkpoint. I love you, too.

You put away your phone with a sigh, tracing the rim of your teacup absentmindedly. For good measure, you pinch your cheek the same way Hu Tao used to do when she was still in charge – just to make sure you’re not dreaming. 

But the baby is intent on helping you out with that when you feel it kick a bit too hard against your navel.

“Okay, point taken,” you mumble. 

A year ago, you wouldn’t have pictured yourself carrying a human child – much more picturing yourself as a human. But you learned that time is kind to those who wait. It’s just as Zhongli said: regardless of everything that happened in the past, what’s important is what you do now in the present. 

And to you, that’s all that matters. 

★ MASTERLIST . AO3 ★

© cryoculus | kaientai ✧ all rights reserved. do not repost or translate my work on other platforms without permission.

[astheforcewillsit]

The Most Tired (ao3 link) Summary:

The war has ended, with Order 66 somewhat averted. As the Republic picks up the pieces, Commander Fox deals with moving on. Or After the Chancellor is killed & Order 66 fails, Fox is unable to live alone due to his mental health. Here are moments where he navigates life with the one brother who volunteered first to care for him–Rex.   “Thire–he invited me to The 79s. I’m thinking about going,” Fox takes the empty seat across from Rex and sits down with his mug of caf. He downs it after his declaration. The worst of it is out, and Rex hasn’t chewed his head off yet. Not like he had at the beginning of their arrangement, when he’d felt Fox was still recklessly endangering himself.   Not when guilt had practically orbited off of the Captain like he was his own solar system. Fox tries not to think of that. Of the immediate end of the war, of Order 66 and Quinlan slicing his hand off as Fox failed (again) to resist an order.

It shouldn’t take as much effort for him to stand in front of Rex and tell him that he wants to go to the 79. But for some reason, it does. He finds himself as nervous as a cadet being dragged in front of his commanding officer after failing one drill too many. They used to joke that Rex’s ‘experience outranks everything’ inflated their youngest brother’s ego, made him feel invincible just because he got to be paired with the two most reckless Jedi in GAR. 

But it’s no joke now. At least not to Fox. Rex looks intimidating. He feels bigger than life. His experience has changed him, hallowed him almost. Being the former Captain to a one-time Sith Lord will do that, he supposes. To his relief though, Rex isn’t looking up at him. 

Instead he sits silently at the breakfast table, brown eyes climbing a mountain of datapads.  Finger scrolling through pages of information. Fox is familiar with some of their content. A page or two has passed over his desk, especially in his new role working beside Bail Organa in the Senate. 

Mentally, he names off what Rex must be looking at. 

Names of brothers who need funds. 

Relief for systems that need relief from the war. 

A fifth  summon to testify against former Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker–most likely to turn into the sixth after Rex refuses to answer it. 

In the soft hum of the morning light, he cannot help but notice Rex looks much older than he should. It bothers him–that the youngest of the batch looks like the oldest. The most tired. 

Acts like it too. With that reminder, Fox prepares himself. His fingers dig into sweaty palms. He breathes deeply into the Force, just like Quinlan had taught him months ago. Months before Order 66. Months before…

Fox steadies his beating heart. Inwardly he repeats his new mantra, You’re not in front of a senator. You’re not standing before the Chancellor. This is–

“Rex.” He clears his throat, attempting to calm the storm. 

The Captain–Commander–Rex stops what he’s doing. Honey eyes capture Fox’s own, though the sternness softens as Rex takes in his elder brother. For a moment, he looks young again. Excited to see his oldest sibling come downstairs to greet him in the morning. It’s almost domestic. 

It’s gone not a moment later. 

“Morning Fox. I thought you were still asleep, you usually don’t wake up this early. Not anymore at least.” He tries not to think of that as a reminder of how badly he’s fallen off. Tries to tell himself his brother meant no harm by it. “Good morning, Rex. I just…ah…” He starts off weak. Anxious. Apparently Rex catches on. “ Need something?” The younger one rescues him. “Um…yes. Thire commed me last night. Said he hadn’t seen more for a while and asked if I wanted to go out with him,” Fox clears his throat in a second attempt to steady his voice. Breathe. He reminds himself, just breathe. Fox notes that he has earned Rex’s full attention. The datapads are abandoned, and he can feel the full weight of the Captain’s gaze on him. 

It was unsettling after Fives, and it’s still unsettling now. Though to Rex’s credit, he tries not to look intimidating. But it’s evident he’s concerned and considering the request. 

“Thire–he invited me to The 79s. I’m thinking about going,” Fox takes the empty seat across from Rex and sits down with his mug of caf. He downs it after his declaration. 

The worst of it is out, and Rex hasn’t chewed his head off yet. Not like he had at the beginning of their arrangement, when he’d felt Fox was still recklessly endangering himself.  Not when guilt had practically orbited off of the Captain like he was his own solar system.

Fox tries not to think of that. 

Of the immediate end of the war, of Order 66 and Quinlan slicing his hand off as Fox failed ( again) to resist an order. It had shocked him at first, how three years of love and devotion had found its end at a blaster bullet and the sting of a lifesaver. But the war had taken it’s toll on them all—Quinlan was no exception. And the Jedi was just as confused as them–disoriented and terrified. 

Then he’d heard what Kenobi had done to Skywalker. And figured he got off easy with his robotic hand. 

Still, he hoped wherever Quinlan had run to, wherever the Jedi who had fled the Republic had run to after the darkest hour that was known as Order 66, were safe.

Post that incident, Fox had tried to function as a normal human being.

With his robotic hand, with his lost sense of purpose. With his brother’s who had abandoned him during the war—after Fives—not knowing how to approach him. Surprisingly, It had been Rex who had bridged the gap between them first. They—Cody, Wollffe, Bly—they were all waiting on Rex anyway. Just as they always had. Always considered Rex’s feelings over his own. Never once asked about how he felt after Fives died. Never asked why he’d kill a younger brother. Never asked about the maniac he was serving under. 

For some reason three Commanders couldn’t put their heads together to decide how to approach their own sibling, and had to wait for a Captain to make the move first. 

And so Rex had found him, alone, cleaning out his office after his position had been officially cut from the government. Another purpose taken from him. Another rug pulled from beneath his feet. The death of Palpatine had shed light on years of abuse faced specifically by the Coursecent Guard, and keeping clones in the position regardless of their personal feelings was not received well by the people or the Senate. Fox understood the sentiment, but he wished he had a choice. If left up to him, he would have died doing that job. And he planned to do just that. 

And so he had packed up what had been his life for the past three years, stuffing what little belongings he had into his box. He hadn’t even noticed Rex’s arrival. The man was  an ARC Trooper even when plain clothed. He hadn’t noticed the way the younger man had gravitated towards the near vacant desk, save for a lit data pad with a very long, very detailed note. A suicide note. 

When Fox had found Rex there, in the empty HQ, he was nearly knocked to his knees by the raw guilt and horror on Rex’s face. Quinlan had once explained to him what having the Force felt like. At the time, Fox did not think he could comprehend what it meant.

But in that small moment between he and Rex, in which the younger loosely held onto the data pad, a single tear rolling down his cheek, Fox finally understood. The sadness was suffocating. 

He supposes that’s why he’s here, in Rex’s home. Under the watchful eyes of the sometimes Captain—sometimes Commander of the 501 st .  He tries not to be humiliated that his youngest brother was chosen to watch him. But Wolffe and Cody are needed throughout the galaxy, as few other clones actively sign for military duty now given the choice.

And Bly…Bly’s still dealing with his own issues after Ayla. Sometimes, Fox thinks he should be the one under surveillance. 

“Thinking about going?” Rex calls him back to the present. 

“I’m going.” He affirms to himself as much as he does Rex. The Captain raises a brow. 

“You sure you’re ready for that? The last time you were at the 79s…” You were jumped by the 501st. It goes unsaid, but Force is it loud. “That was last time. You said I should go out more. Bail—Senator Organa says I should do more.” He tries caf again, to calm his nerves. There’s none left. Rex slides him his own mug.

“There’s going to be a new bill we’ll be debating later on this week. I’ve looked over it with Bail.” He mentions again,  his voice clipped, “I imagine we’ll be in session for the entire day if not more. Some members of the New Jedi Council will be there, so it’s going to be even longer.”

Rex chuckles, and Fox is happy that despite his anxiety, his brother can laugh, “The New Jedi Council? I wonder how long those younglings will even last. I think interim Jedi Council is more accurate, until the others return.” Fox doesn’t protest, though he doesn’t agree. They’re at least knights, to his understanding. And after the fiasco that was Order 66, he doubts the older Jedi will return. He doubts they even know about the chips, about what’s going on. But political disagreements are for the Senate floor. Not for conversations with his brother. 

He simply nods, and waits for his brother’s answer. 

He has worked this through his head, roleplayed it with his therapist. This shouldn't be hard. But waiting for Rex to pass his verdict is agony. 

“Alright. You don’t owe me an explanation. I just want to make sure you’re safe.” Rex runs a hand through his hair. It’s grown past standard regulations, and now a nest of blond curls sit atop of his head. He sighs. He acts much older than he should. It bothers Fox. 

 He’s tried to address it before, but Rex has more walls than Coursecent has layers. He doubts even Cody has managed to knock them down since the war began.

Though Fox tries when he can. 

“If it’s too much, just let me know. I’ll be in the area anyway.” Fox nods. He wants to ask what Rex will be doing next to the 79s at night, but decides against it.

“I’m glad you’re wanting something for yourself. I think that’s good.” Rex says with a smile, “And try not to drink, you don’t know what that does to your meds.”

Fox three years ago would have reminded Rex who was the eldest. But this Fox is just glad someone cares about him. Though to be honest, he has a lot of someones who care about him. 

He can’t wait to go to the 79s.

[gvfgal]

*New* 17. Edge of the Throne

Barbarian. Biker!Jake

*18+ series, minors DNI

A/n: Sorry for the delay, I’ve been quite busy, new job, new house, etc. But I’ll save the Drabble and we’ll get straight to it! Hope you guys enjoy this one, questions and comments are appreciated 🖤

Content Warnings: criminal activities, language, a little fluff, a lot of angst.

Word Count: 4.1k

Thursday

Jake thought he’d never see the day the end of this operation would be so close. Yet here he was, standing in Bobby Thompson’s office with Ace and a few high-ranking Barbarians by his side, the weight of the club’s hard-fought survival also occupying the room. The stacks of cash in front of him were almost intoxicating—their final cut, the money that would close the book on this whole mess. He had dragged the Barbarians out of a grave, every hard-fought victory bleeding Bobby dry of everything he had left. Jake could feel the power shift, the satisfaction of control burning steady in his chest.

The feeling was almost enough to distract him from the chaos his life had become. Here, with Ace beside him and Bobby under his boot, Jake felt fully in command. Call it a power trip if you wanted—but after everything he’d been through, maybe he deserved one.

Once the money was counted, a few men set to work bagging it up, each movement precise and practiced. Bobby sat back, watching with a thin smile that didn’t reach his eyes, his every gesture laced with bitterness. He reclined in his leather chair, crossing one leg over the other, eyeing Jake with the sharp, insincere look of a man who’d lost but refused to accept it.

“You know, Jake,” Bobby drawled, voice low, mocking, “I can’t help but look at you and see your old man. Same scowl, same swagger… but you,” he shook his finger with a smug chuckle, “you think you’re different. Better. You think you’re doing a better job leading this club than he was, that you’re on top. But the truth is, you’re barely hanging on,” he leaned forward, his gaze narrowing. “You don’t belong at the top, boy. You’re not the iron-clad ruler Rex was. You don’t have it in you.”

The words hit like a spark to gunpowder, igniting a slow burn inside Jake. Ace shifted beside him, as if sensing the storm building. Jake stepped forward, the heavy thud of his boots against the polished wood floor a silent warning. He took a slow breath, steadying himself, and when he spoke, his voice was a deep rumble.

“That’s the thing about men like you and my old man, Bobby.” Jake’s gaze bore into Bobby, his voice gravelly, each word carrying a lethal edge. “All you think about is control, fear. You think power is the prize. But that’s where you’re dead wrong.” He stepped closer, his every movement deliberate, forcing Bobby to shift in his seat. “I didn’t come back here to sit on some throne, to cling to a damn title. I never wanted any of it. I know what that kind of power does to a man.”

He paused, letting the words hang heavy between them, before continuing, his tone darkening. “I watched it turn brother against brother. I watched it twist loyalty into something sick, something that chews men up and spits them out empty. I know what this life costs, Bobby. I know what it did to my best friend, to the men who put their lives on the line. And despite everything, here I am. Because the Barbarians? They’re in my blood.” He nodded to Ace, then looked back to Bobby. “These men are my brothers. I came back to stand beside them, not to rule over them in fear. That’s what makes me better than Rex ever was. That’s what you could never understand.”

A dangerous quiet settled over the room, the weight of Jake’s words sinking in, each syllable like a punch. “And maybe I know I could be a better leader than Rex. Maybe I know I could rebuild the club he tore down, do right by the brothers he left behind. But that throne? It’s no gift. It’s a curse. It’ll turn a man into something he doesn’t even recognize if he’s not careful. And I know what that kind of power demands. It devours men like my father, men like you, men who think they’re untouchable.”

Jake leaned in closer, his gaze like steel. “So here’s the truth: I know what I’m capable of, and I know I could take that throne if I wanted to. But what’s it gonna get me? Power for power’s sake? That doesn’t mean a damn thing to me. I’ve got a family to think about now—a life outside of all this. And if that throne, if this club, if you,” his voice dropped to a whisper, ice-cold, “if any of it comes between me and my family, I’ll burn the whole thing to the ground and make sure anyone in my way burns with it.”

Bobby’s face paled, the thin smirk wiped clean, his composure crumbling under the intensity of Jake’s stare. Ace stood by, expression unreadable, but the glint of approval in his eyes was unmistakable. The message had been delivered, clear as day: Jake wasn’t some son trying to live up to his father’s legacy. He was a man willing to fight for what mattered, even if it meant tearing down everything in his path. And Ace admired that.

The last bag of money was zipped up, handed over to the Barbarians, and the air crackled with tension, an electric reminder that they had crossed a line that couldn’t be uncrossed. But Jake didn’t care. He’d laid his cards on the table, faced down his past and the weight of Rex’s throne, and made his intentions clear.

With a final, piercing look at Bobby, Jake turned toward the door, the weight of the duffel bag and the world heavy over his shoulder. As he stepped into the neon glow of the casino parking lot, the harsh pink and blue lights cast jagged shadows across the rows of motorcycles and high-end cars, illuminating the line that had been drawn that night.

Outside, Nicky and a few of his guys were already at work, loading the bags into the back of a black SUV. Jake noticed them huddled close, whispering with heads bent, their conversation urgent. A flicker of suspicion sparked in his mind, but he dismissed it, brushing it off as the remnants of the confrontation with Bobby. Still, something about their exchange didn’t sit right, but he pushed the thought away—for now.

“Alright, fellas,” Ace’s voice rang out, gathering the crew’s attention. “We’re set. Get the money squared away, and we’ll meet back at the tavern. Got some more business to discuss.”

Ace shot Jake a look, one that was loaded with unspoken meaning.

Jake mounted his bike, casting one last look at Nicky and his men as they loaded up the SUV. Whatever they were whispering about, Jake couldn’t shake the sense that there was more to it than he could see.

Once every member had filed into the meeting room, Ace brought the gathering to order, his voice booming through the room, commanding everyone’s attention. Jake sat among his brothers, but his mind was miles away—back to you, to the life you were building together, to the fragile peace he was clinging to. He’d been texting you throughout the day, an unspoken need to hear you were okay. Your reassurances helped, but he still felt like he had to be near you, to see you with his own eyes to believe it.

“Alright, men,” Ace’s voice cut through Jake’s spiraling thoughts, snapping him back to the present. The room fell silent, all eyes fixed on Ace, waiting to hear his next words.

“As you all know, we’ve been in the process of choosing the next Barbarian King,” Ace began. “I’m not in the running, but I’ve been watching, along with a few of our most trusted members. After months of observation, we’ve narrowed it down to three candidates.”

A few men let out whoops and cheers, the excitement building as the thought of new leadership became real. But Jake felt the anticipation twist into dread in his gut. This wasn’t a crown he wanted. But he had a feeling that it was something he couldn’t run from much longer.

“We’ve given this a lot of thought,” Ace continued, raising a hand to silence the crowd. “The Barbarians need someone strong, someone fresh. We need a leader who’s got the guts to take us into the future with dignity and strength.”

Ace scanned the room, his gaze sweeping over each man, though he didn’t linger too long on anyone in particular. But he felt Jake’s eyes on him like a weight, a silent expectation that pressed against his chest.

“Voting will take place Monday,” Ace continued. “After we handle the last of our business with the EDS.”

“Yeah, yeah, just tell us who’s in the running already!” one of the members called out, earning chuckles and a few more shouts of agreement from the others.

“Alright, alright,” Ace replied with a grin, pulling a small slip of paper from his vest. He adjusted his reading glasses—a motion that usually sparked a laugh but now only added to the gravity of the moment. His tone turned serious as he looked down at the list.

“First up, we’ve got Madcap,” Ace announced, nodding in Madcap’s direction. A handful of men cheered, and someone gave Madcap a hearty slap on the shoulder.

Jake sat unmoving, knowing full well that while Madcap was capable, he wasn’t the leader the Barbarians needed. He was loyal, reliable, but he lacked the edge that could steer the club through whatever storm awaited, and there was always one waiting.

“Next…” Ace’s voice deepened, and he lifted his gaze, his eyes landing squarely on Jake. “Jacob Kiszka, the Barbarian Prince.”

The room erupted, a chorus of cheers and shouts echoing around Jake. The title “Prince” sent a chill down his spine, a constant reminder of the weight, the legacy, and the expectations he’d spent his life running from. He expected his name to come up, but it didn’t make hearing it any easier. It was a rush of pride and dread, a dangerous mix that made his pulse thrum with anticipation and anxiety. He knew what it meant if he accepted this path—what it meant for his life with you, for his future.

And then, as Ace read the final name, a hush fell over the room, heavier than the roar from before.

“Our last candidate…” Ace paused, the hint of a frown betraying his feelings. “Nicky.”

The reaction was divided—half the room erupted into cheers, led by Nicky’s friends, who slapped him on the back as if he’d already won, while the other half sat in uneasy silence. Jake’s jaw tightened. The very thought of Nicky leading the Barbarians made his skin crawl, and he shot a pointed look at Ace, who did his best to avoid Jake’s glare.

As the room quieted, Ace removed his glasses and cleared his throat, his tone more somber now. “Voting’s on Monday,” he reminded them, his gaze sweeping over the room. “Take the weekend to decide who you believe is best fit to lead this club into its next chapter.”

Jake’s heart hammered in his chest. This was it. A decision that would change everything—for him, for you, for the Barbarians. But as much as he’d loved this club, he was already halfway out the door. He’d returned for his brothers, not for a throne. Not for a legacy he’d never wanted.

“Any questions?” Ace asked, his voice betraying a hint of unease as he glanced in Jake’s direction.

No one spoke, the silence heavy with tension.

“Good.” Ace nodded. “Meeting adjourned.”

The room emptied slowly, the weight of the announcement still settling over them all. As Jake moved through the crowd, congratulatory slaps on his back barely registered. His eyes found Nicky’s across the room, and the smug, almost taunting smile on his face made Jake’s blood boil. Nicky wasn’t looking at Madcap. To him, this was a showdown between him and Jake, and he looked eager for a fight.

When the room was nearly empty, Jake pushed through the lingering members to reach Ace, barely holding back his frustration.

“What the hell are you thinking, Ace?” Jake’s voice was low, laced with barely restrained anger. “Nicky? Really?”

Ace glanced around, ensuring no one could hear them, his face impassive as he met Jake’s glare. “It wasn’t just up to me, Jake,” he replied, his tone flat, unyielding. “And Nicky’s been doing good work. You can’t let personal grievances cloud your judgment.”

Jake let out a harsh breath, following as Ace turned toward the door, unwilling to let this go. “This isn’t about personal fucking grievances, Ace. Nicky as president? He’ll drive this club straight into the fucking ground.”

Ace stopped abruptly, turning to face Jake, his composure slipping for just a moment. The controlled facade cracked, and for the first time, Jake saw a flicker of real concern in Ace’s eyes.

“You think I don’t know that?” Ace’s voice was quiet but sharp. “That’s why you need to win, Jake. Nobody’s going to vote for Madcap, and we can’t let Nicky have that power.”

The gravity of Ace’s words hit Jake like a punch to the gut. He understood now—if he wanted to keep the Barbarians alive, if he wanted to prevent the club from collapsing under Nicky’s reckless leadership, he had no choice. He had to win. He had to take the throne.

But every instinct in Jake’s body screamed against it. You and the baby needed to leave Genoa, to get far away from this mess, from your mess. The last thing he wanted was to be trapped, shackled to the very legacy he’d spent years trying to escape. Yet here he was, between a rock and a hard place, knowing that if he didn’t step up, the Barbarians he’d fought so hard to protect would be lost.

As the silence settled between them, Ace placed a heavy hand on Jake’s shoulder, a quiet understanding hanging in the air like smoke. His voice softened, almost a murmur. “I know you’ve got a lot on your plate right now—with Cherry, with the baby on the way,” he said, his words threaded with an empathy Jake hadn’t expected. “And I can’t force you to make any decision. But whatever choice you do make, Jake… make it wisely.”

Jake nodded, the weight of his reality settling like stones in his chest. This choice was no longer just about him; it was a delicate balance, a life on the razor’s edge. Whatever decision he made would be a turning point, and he felt the gravity of it pulling at him, hard.

Ace sighed, breaking the heavy quiet with a question that came out as half a chuckle. “You staying for a drink?”

“Nah, man,” Jake shook his head, the words coming out more like a sigh than an answer. ��I need to get home to Cherry.” He could feel his pulse in his temples, the weight of everything piling on top of him, each decision another stone added to the load.

“Alright.” Ace’s voice was understanding, though Jake could hear the unspoken sentiment lingering underneath. He watched Jake for a moment, a look of resigned respect crossing his face, as if they both knew this would be the last quiet moment between them for a long while.

With a final nod, Jake turned and made his way to the door, each step feeling heavier than the last. As he slipped out of the meeting room, he paused for a breath, taking in the cold night air. The stars overhead were distant, indifferent, a sharp contrast to the storm of choices raging in his mind. He fished his keys from his pocket, a familiar weight in his palm that suddenly felt foreign.

He climbed onto his bike, the engine rumbling to life beneath him. The ride home stretched before him, dark and winding, but somehow, heading back to you felt like the only solid ground he had left. He tightened his grip on the handlebars, the cold steel grounding him as he revved the engine and took off, the roar of his bike cutting through the silence.

The road blurred past, but his thoughts were razor-sharp, tracing the edges of what his life would look like if he went through with this. The choice between keeping the club afloat or walking away. Between the loyalty he felt to his brothers and the future he wanted to build with you. The words he’d spoken to Bobby echoed in his mind, the weight of their truth only sinking deeper.

By the time he reached the house, the heaviness in his chest hadn’t lifted, but he knew one thing for sure: he needed to see you, to feel your presence next to him. As he parked the bike and stepped toward the front door, he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. He could make the hard choices, he could carry the weight. But as he crossed the threshold and saw you waiting for him, a small, weary smile touched his lips—because for now, he could let it go, even if just for a moment.

You heard Jake before you saw him, the slow, labored thud of his boots on the floorboards sending a small wave of relief through you. By the time you’d have been able to sit yourself up on the couch, he was already there, standing in front of you.

The sight of him—even with the weariness in his eyes, the weight he carried so clearly visible on his shoulders—eased the anxious buzz that had crept over you in his absence. You felt a smile pull at your lips as he let out a tired sigh and plopped down beside you, leaning back into the cushions.

“Hey, baby,” you greeted him softly, your hand reaching instinctively for his. His answering smile was faint, tinged with a heaviness that made your heart ache a little, knowing whatever was on his mind was eating at him. He settled his gaze on you, quiet for a beat, his eyes flickering with something unspoken.

Without a word, his hand drifted to your belly, fingers tracing gentle circles over your bump as he leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to your cheekbone. “Hey, Cherry.”

You placed your hand over his, a silent reassurance, feeling the tension in him through his touch. His eyes were on your belly now, distant, like he was a thousand miles away and struggling to bring himself back.

“Long day?” you asked, keeping your voice light, though you knew there was a weight to his answer.

He exhaled, his breath stirring your hair as he nodded. “Yeah,” he muttered, “long day.” His jaw tightened as he fell silent again, letting the quiet settle between you like a fragile truce.

Before he could disappear too far into his thoughts, he pulled back and gave you a soft, almost boyish smile, the kind he saved for moments when he needed to mask what was haunting him. “Really, I just missed my girls.”

Your smile grew, welcoming the change in his tone. “You know,” you teased, brushing your hand over his, “we still haven’t picked out a name for her yet.”

A thoughtful look crossed his face, his brow furrowing slightly as he went quiet. He seemed to be weighing something, sifting through thoughts and memories before he finally looked up, a quiet certainty softening his gaze.

“What about Lorelei?”

You repeated it in your head, letting the name linger in your mind before you nodded, your smile widening. “Lorelei Kiszka,” you murmured, testing it aloud, savoring the way it felt. “I like it. Where’d you come up with that?”

Jake shrugged, a flicker of a grin lighting his face. “Just sounded right, honestly.”

“Most people don’t hit a home run on the first try.”

He smirked, nudging you lightly. “You’re talking to me here,” he joked, and you playfully shoved him, the ease of the moment lightening the air around you.

“Lorelei,” you repeated, savoring the name, and he leaned forward, glancing down at your stomach with a softened gaze.

“Lorelei,” he murmured again, almost like a promise. “What do you think, little one?”

A stillness followed, just long enough for anticipation to build before a sudden kick answered him, strong and certain beneath his hand. You winced slightly at the force, but the joy in his face, the wonder in his eyes, made any discomfort worth it.

“I think she likes it,” you giggled, and his hand remained over the spot, feeling the connection, the reality of his family, sink in.

Alright, I’m claiming victory on picking the name first try,” he joked, giving your hand a gentle squeeze.

“Don’t let it go to your head, tough guy,” you teased back, but your own smile was radiant, bright with hope. Despite everything that lay outside these walls, you could still see a future with him—a future that felt as solid as the warmth of his hand in yours.

“You mind if I clean up a bit?” he asked, his voice softened with the same quiet warmth. You nodded, watching him as he headed down the hall, feeling a fresh wave of gratitude wash over you. Even as you watched him disappear into the bathroom, the sound of the running water was a reminder of his presence, grounding you.

A short while later, he returned, his hair damp, the scent of soap mingling with the familiar leather and smoke that seemed to cling to him. He settled back beside you on the couch, sliding one arm around your shoulders as he tugged you close, and you felt yourself melt into his embrace.

“Movie?” he asked, reaching for the remote.

“Yeah, let’s see what’s on,” you agreed, curling up against him as he scrolled through the channels. You finally settled on an old favorite, Forrest Gump, something lighthearted and familiar, a film you’d seen a dozen times before.

Jake leaned back, his gaze on the screen, but it was clear his thoughts were drifting. As the scenes flickered by, he kept getting pulled back into the maelstrom in his mind. The weight of the upcoming vote settled over him, heavy and unrelenting. He hadn’t told you much about it, not wanting to add to your worries, but the reality of it was gnawing at him. He knew it was likely he’d win, especially with Ace pushing him forward. If he took on the role, he’d have an army behind him, resources, the protection he might need to secure a safe future here for you and Lorelei.

But as he felt the warmth of your body nestled against his, saw your growing belly rise and fall with each breath, he knew that wasn’t enough. You and Lorelei deserved better than the chaos Genoa brought. Yet, a part of him couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that maybe this was why he’d been drawn back, maybe there was a way to finally do right by the club, make it something less corrosive, less of a trap for the men he’d grown up alongside.

Just as his mind began to wander deeper, he glanced over at you. You had fallen asleep, head resting on his shoulder, your breathing soft and even. The innocence of that moment pulled him back to the present, grounding him in the reason he’d been questioning everything. His thumb gently traced your knuckles as he watched you sleep, realizing how fragile and precious this calm was in a life that had known so little of it.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, snapping him from his reverie. Careful not to disturb you, he pulled it out and read the message from Ace:

“Everything’s in place for the last drop with the EDS. Saturday, 9 p.m.”

Jake let out a long breath, the weight of the message settling over him. It was almost over. If all went smoothly, he could start carving out a real future for the three of you. But if he knew anything, it was that nothing in this life ever went as planned.

He tucked his phone away, his arm still wrapped around you as he glanced back at the screen, not really seeing it. His hand found its way back to your stomach, resting there protectively, as if he could shield you from the uncertainty that lay ahead.

Taglist: @edgingthedarkness @earthgrlsreasy @wetkleenex-gvf @hollyco @dannys-dream @slut4lando @josh-iamyour-mama @gretasfallingsky @takenbythemadness @scoreofinfantryvines

[daimyosprincess]

SOME REX AND RELAXATION

—PAIRING: Rebels!Captain Rex x F!Reader

—SUMMARY: After a hard week, Rex makes it his mission to see that you forget all about it.

—WORD COUNT: 3.3k

—RATING: Explicit, 18+ only — MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

—TAGS & WARNINGS: second person narration, no use of y/n, explicit sexual content, Rebels!Rex, age gap relationship between an older man and younger woman (reader is an adult), Dom/sub vibes, Daddy kink (bc I can’t help myself), nipple play, oral sex (fem receiving), fingering

Please let me know if I missed anything! Mando'a translations are at the end.

—AUTHOR'S NOTES: I miss Rex so this is getting posted today!!! After a rough week a bit ago, I started writing this as a comfort fic to make myself feel better and boy howdy, by the the end of it I was feeling way better 😈 Also: Rex, Wolffe, and Gregor deserve to live in comfy cottages in pastoral peace for the rest of their beautiful days. And I've decided that the clones age normally after the age of 25 so they have nice long lives ahead of them :)

This is my first ever Rex fic and I want to give a big shout out to my resident Rexpert @rexxdjarin for betaing this fic, I hope I did our captain justice 💙 Also thank you to @cloned-eyes for letting me use their amazing Rex art in my header!! That fresh out the shower Rex was some delicious inspo for this fic 🫠

Read on AO3 — Masterlist — Taglist

The only thing worse than the day you’ve had was this week as a whole. Nothing had gone right with the New Republic school going up in town, and somehow the solution to several of those problems was what you’d said a week ago… but only when that bureaucratic sop from Coruscant said it. Not to mention the pipes burst in your apartment, you slipped down some stairs in front of a street full of people (with the worst bruise of your entire life to prove it), and to top it all off, you dropped your overpriced caf all over your shoes this morning.

Not a great week.

At this point, you’re only one minor inconvenience away from snapping—the fact that it’s the end of the work week is the only thing keeping you together. And, of course, your perfect, wonderful captain of a boyfriend, Rex. You’ve been staying at his farmhouse while repairs are made to the water lines that caused the damage at your place. 

He and his brothers, Gregor and Wolffe, had come to your quiet little agricultural planet a couple years ago and fixed up a few of the old houses at the edge town to live in. They mostly keep to themselves, but are always willing to lend a helping hand when it’s needed, whether it’s making repairs after the annual monsoon, donating fresh produce for school meals, or digging out flooded irrigation ditches. They are good men and the town accepts them as part of their own, even if Wolffe is a little grumpy and Gregor turns all the local women into giggling messes when he’s around.

The three of them are mending a fence on the far side of the property when you arrive at the farmstead. Usually you would have taken your speeder over for a chat, but you don’t think you have it in you after today. All you want to do is take off your bra and flop face-down on Rex’s couch to wait for the world to stop sucking—which is exactly how Rex finds you when he comes inside a few minutes later. 

“Another great day then, mesh’la?” he teases with the mirth of a man who already knows his question’s answer. His work boots make a thud on the stone tiles as he pulls them off.

Without looking up, you grunt a “no” into the cushions and shake your head.

“Do you want to come shower with me or do you need some alone time?”

“Alone time,” your muffled voice answers, “then Rex time. Lots and lots of Rex time.”

His warm chuckle and beard graze delightfully over the back of your neck as he bends to press a kiss to your hair. “Alright then, pretty girl. Just relax and I’ll be back to give you all the time in the world, okay?” You give him another muffled affirmative and he squeezes your calf affectionately before heading to the ‘fresher. 

Maker, he’s good to you. 

A year ago you would have never thought you’d find yourself in a long-term relationship with an ex-clone trooper who’s old enough to be your father, or that you would be calling said ex-clone trooper Daddy while he makes you see stars. The Force works in mysterious ways, you suppose… not that you’re complaining. Far from it. 

Your relationship with Rex might have come as a surprise but you’ve never been happier: things with him are as close to perfect as they can get. He cares for you, makes you feel so safe and loved and warm that you could melt into a puddle at his feet, and you adore him. He’s kind, strong, and compassionate, a good leader through and through. The galaxy has never made a finer man, and not to mention, a finer lover.

Eventually, you muster the strength to roll yourself off the couch and ditch your work clothes for your much more comfortable loungewear, deciding to forgo panties as a nice little surprise for your boyfriend. Snuggling under his covers that smell of him, you flip onto your stomach to scroll through your datapad. Efficient as always, Rex doesn’t make you wait long, the ‘fresher door sliding open a few minutes later. The comforting, woody smell of his soap fills your nose as you take in his broad frame glistening from his shower. 

Kark, he looks good. All broad shoulders and bronze skin, thick and perfect. How has no one made a statue of this man?

Noticing your interested stare, he winks as he hangs his towel on its hook. “Feeling better, mesh’la?”

You hum your delight and click off your tablet to give him your full attention. “Yeah, could be better, though,” you add with a sneaky smile.

“Oh yeah? How?” Flicking off the ‘fresher light, he starts towards you. The mischievous glint in your boyfriend’s eye is more than enough to get your blood pumping, especially combined with his shirtless upper half. 

You flip up the covers next to you, grinning up at him. “Well for starters, you could get in the bed with me, handsome.” His brown eyes sparkle when he returns the expression, the corners of his eyes crinkling fondly. “And then you can hold me and make me forget all about this entire kriffing week.” 

Your captain is quite good at making you forget things, whether it be a bad day or your own name.

Obliging as always, Rex slides in behind you and loops an arm around your waist to pull you flush against his bare chest. Your body reacts immediately to his touch, the tension in your muscles slacking. He nuzzles into your neck, making you giggle from the way his beard tickles the sensitive skin there, and starts kissing every bit of you his lips can reach. When you try to squirm away from him and his beard, squealing and panting from your laughter, he just locks his big arms around you and keeps going.

“Eeee! Rex! S-stop, you’re tickling me-you’re tickling me!”

In between smacking kisses, he chuckles into your ear. “I thought you said you want me to make you forget about this week, mesh’la.” His hold loosens enough for you to wriggle around to face him, wrapping your arms around his neck and admiring how handsome he is up close.

You brush your lips over his, gently running your nails down the back of his neck and savoring the way he shivers at your soft touches; knowing you have such an effect on him makes your skin hot. “Well Captain,” you drawl with syrupy sweetness, “I was thinking something more along the lines of… this.” You roll your hips against his, sighing at the pleasant sensation. 

Rex groans his rumbling approval and drops his large hands to your ass to grind you harder against his center. “Anything you want, baby, just tell me and it’s yours.”

You know what you want: to be taken care of after this shit-show of a week, to be kissed and loved and cherished like only he can, doted on and held safe in his arms. You want to completely let go and surrender—no more thoughts, no more worries, just him. Just Rex. Your perfect, perfect Rex. 

Capturing his lips in an indulgent kiss, you whine your desire into his mouth when you break for air, not caring how needy you sound. 

He shushes you with gentle sounds, stroking over your hair. “Of course, sweetheart,” he coos in a sinfully sweet voice, cradling your face between his palms, “you’ve had a hard week… yeah, I know, I know. You need Daddy to make it all better, don’t you?” He pulls you crushingly tight against the strong line of his body, just how he knows you like, holding all your pieces together so you don’t have to.

“Please,” you gasp, burrowing deeper into him, “Don’t wanna… don’t wanna be anymore. Just wanna be yours.” The ache of existence in your chest is already beginning to melt underneath his weight, replaced by the tender warmth of his devoted attention. The edges of your mind go liquid as you let him pour you into his mold.

“Daddy’s going to take care of you, all you have to do is listen and let him make you feel good, okay, babygirl?” You bob your head in a nod, your eyes starry and wide as you await his next instruction. Rubbing the back of your neck, Rex places an affectionate kiss on your forehead for your obedience. “Good girl. Now turn over, face out and back to me… lift your arms… yeah, just like that,” he murmurs as he slides your top off, planting wet kisses on the new skin exposed to him.

His battle-worn hands skim up the swell of your tummy to take in breasts. You’re already buzzing in eager anticipation. You push into his touch, pressing your chest out in an offer of more, and you’re to be quickly rewarded with a low groan and his fingers rolling your sensitive nipples deliciously slow. Wanting heat rises through you like a flame catching to dry tender while little mewls of pleasure fall from your lips. 

“So beautiful, so warm, my sweet cyar’ika,” he purrs between more lush kisses, “I know this makes you feel good… I’m going to give those perfect tits the attention they deserve.” He gives your peaked tips a gentle pinch and you moan, the electric sensation shooting straight to swollen clit. Smiling at your vocal pleasure, Rex begins an erotic rhythm that has you bucking your hips as his fingers alternate between pinching and rolling.

“Ooohhh, y-you feel so… you feel s-so good,” you whine, writhing against his ministrations. With the way his breathing has gone hot and ragged in your ear, you swear it could be enough to make you come untouched. 

“That’s it, pretty girl, just feel the pleasure… just concentrate on how good you feel, nothing else,” he instructs, his deep voice like golden honey to your ears. “Daddy’s got you now, he’s gonna take care of everything. He doesn’t like seeing his baby so stressed and unhappy.” Rex latches onto your pulse point, sucking your heated flesh into his mouth and sending waves of pleasure throbbing through your nerves.

“Nev-never unhappy with you,” you pant, reaching your hand back to push him deeper into your neck. Rex is your shining sun who banishes all of life’s many darknesses, and the match which lights the fire of your loins. He’s everything to you, and right now, he’s all you can feel and see and smell. It’s utterly divine. 

“Mmm, that makes me so happy to hear, you know why? Making you happy, taking care of my beautiful babygirl… it makes me happy. Daddy loves being there for his cyar’ika and he’d do anything to put a smile on her face, you know that?” Cupping your jaw, he tilts your head back to steal the little gasps of delight dripping sugary-thick from your lips. As hot and heavy as things have become, Rex doesn’t rush. He takes his time licking into your mouth and nibbling on your slicked bottom lip, all the while kneading and rolling your breasts, ever the man to keep his word.

Molten heat rushes through your veins as his words pour over your skin, spurring you onto new heights under his generous hands—the deep swell of his voice loosens the taunt aggravation of the week still stowed in your muscles. You’re like lavish wax under his care, worked pliable by him then molded into a work of weightless art, your very existence something to be admired.

His calloused fingertips sweep over the plushness of your lower belly, the shimmering heat of your arousal converging at his touch. When he dips below the fabric of your waistband, he sucks in a breath. “No panties, pretty girl? Now you’re the one spoiling me,” he groans, his cock twitching against the cage of your back. 

You let out a delighted, breathy giggle at his body’s reaction to the discovery. “I thought you might like that,” you breathe out fond and pleased, “I did it just for you.” 

He brushes lower, his middle finger tracing over the damp seam of your folds and a whimper sneaks through your smile at the feathery sensation. It’s these light, almost subatomic touches that make you come loose at the seams—and he knows it. Inside the year that you’ve been together, Rex has learned your body intimately, its history and inner workings revealed in the hours you spent in his arms.

“I love to hear your sweet little laugh, and I love to know that you’re smiling,” he murmurs affectionately, cupping your slick mound, “I’m so proud of you for letting me take some of the weight off you after this difficult week.” He takes a moment to plant kisses in the soft crook of your neck and up to your ear before continuing. “Now, just lie back, let me make you feel all warm and sweet. I want to watch you melt for me… melt and leave me with all your sweet honey to lick up.”

Each word shaped by his rich rasp further unmoors you from your senses. That sensual tingling feeling of submission bubbles pleasantly across your mind, your bones softening to downey cotton as you lose yourself to the sound of Rex’s voice. You can’t tell where the vibration of your own sounds of pleasure end and his begin, but it doesn’t matter. You’re safe, so, so safe and happy here in the glowing space between his arms. If only you could have him inside, too…

“C-can I have more, please? Want more of you, baby,” you pant, grinding into his palm between your thighs.

“Of course, mesh’la, you can have whatever you like. Anything and everything, all you have to do is ask.” Pressing into your lower lips, he spreads you apart. Your teeth immediately catch your lip when his trigger finger begins languidly sliding over your buzzing clit; the delicious friction fans the flames of your desire, heating you from the inside out. A rumble of satisfaction rolls up his chest when your head falls back against his shoulder with a contented sigh. 

Rex takes advantage of the new access you allowed him, dragging his hot lips over your collarbone to nip and suck little marks onto your heated skin. “Mmm, I love touching you, I love feeling you,” he hums, thick and heady, “I want you to feel how much I care about you…” He scrapes his teeth up your tender throat to capture your mouth with his own.

Stars-Maker-kriff does he kiss like a god. A king amongst men, really, who- “Oh!”

Your eyes fly open as your captain easily flips you under him like a ragdoll, pulling your pants down and flinging them over his shoulder in one fluid motion that has you gushing.

“That’s better,” he mutters between hot mouthed-kisses down your sternum and over your tummy. The way his beard scrapes over your skin has chillbumps flowering all over. “It fills me up with so much happiness when I get to love on my sweet cyar’ika and take care of her. Makes everything else go away for me, too, sweetheart. I get to just focus on you.” 

His large hands skate down your ribs then down the curve of your hips to massage the fullness of your thighs. “I’ve been waiting to worship this perfect pussy, pull all those pretty sounds out of you while you come over and over… just like you deserve.”

You’re nothing more than a warm soup of sparkling sensation, swirling around the ache building in your core. Rex isn’t usually one to tease you, but it feels like he’s taking an eternity to make it between your-

“Ohhhh, Reeeex!”

Wrapping his thick arms around your thighs, he literally lifts you up to his mouth, moaning like a man tasting some paradisic fruit after months in the desert. “Fuck, babygirl, your little pussy… I could feel hot and needy it was when you were rubbing up against me, how wet and messy you were… but this? Kark. I’m so lucky to be able to kiss all over this beautiful cunt. So lucky to have this pussy, this ass,” he gives an appreciative squeeze to your behind, “and this sweet little girl all to myself.”

The air is suctioned from your lungs by the gravity of his pleasure; it’s unrelenting and all-consuming, it’s all you can comprehend. Squeezing your eyes shut in focus, you manage a reply. “S-so l-lucky to have you, Rex. You’re s-so good to me… love you… love you so much.” You cut off with a shuddering cry when he sucks your bud between his lips, not caring that you’re swiftly losing a battle you don’t want to win.

“I love you so much, my mesh’la,” he pants into your heat. “My sweet, precious girl, I’m going to give you my fingers, okay? Gonna give you just what you need so you can come all over my face.” He slips two of his fingers in his mouth, sucking and releasing them with pop before easing into your soaked entrance. The twin sounds of your satisfaction fill the room, the stout stretch of his fingers making you moan while the clutch of your cunt has your captain grunting praises against your clit. 

“Kark, you’re so tight and wet, so perfect… clenching around me,” he crooks his fingers as much as he can in the restrictive walls, “Don’t hold back, beautiful, let me hear you. Let me hear how good you feel.”

His words scorch your nerves to ash with a molten magma of pleasure that erupts from your core. Your spine bows up, making Rex find the soul-shattering spot that makes you scream in ecstasy. The world around you snaps into sharp focus, bright and loud before exploding in a shower of stars and lambent energy. You’re unmade, unwound down to your most basal form of hot-blooded, carnal need where time and worldly matters no longer reign in your existence. Primal satisfaction and the thrill of euphoria rule you instead for several effervescent moments.

When the flood of electricity flowing from every cell and synapse begins to ebb to jolting aftershocks, the sweet praise of your lover floats over you in warm waves. “So beautiful like this… keep going mesh’la, take what you need… I love you so much… love making you feel good, love feeling your perfect pussy on my fingers…”

Reverent kisses are bestowed like offerings to the divinity of your pleasure as you materialize back into reality one pounding heartbeat at a time. Joy radiates from every molecule in your body, the stress of the mortal coil dissolved and washed far away, leaving you light, free, and happy. You want nothing more than to revel in this glorious sensation with the love of your life, and you call out to your captain with a breezy sigh, “Rex…”

“Cyare…”

“Want you close, my love, want you to hold me.”

You barely register his movement in your hazy after-glow, but soon your chest is pressed against a familiar wall of muscle and there’s a blanket wrapped around your shoulders. Snuggling into his open warmth, you nuzzle into his neck and inhale Rex’s timber-fresh scent. 

Safe… happy… love. Him. Forever. 

Your hazy thoughts drift across the clear sky of your mind, eventually coalescing into a nebulous sentiment your lips can form around. “Rex… love you so much… thank you, baby.”

Curling around you tighter, Rex’s beard brushes over your shoulder as he leans in to kiss your temple. “Anything for you, my sweet, perfect girl,” he smiles into your hair, “You are everything to me, the light of an old soldier’s life. I will always take care of you, my mesh’la, no matter what.”

And with the certainty only love can bring, you know him to be true.   

MANDO'A TRANSLATIONS

cyare - beloved, love

cyar’ika - sweetheart, darling, (a diminutive of cyare)

mesh'la - beautiful

[marvel-starwarsfangirl]

TBB Season 2 Retrospective

Season 2 of TBB is my favorite season for sure. I love all the character moments we get such as the conversation between Tech and Omega. It's why I love this show because at its best, TBB really tackles some mature topics. Although the Batch mainly do missions for Cid, I think it foreshadows season 3's ending really well in retrospect.

"Tribe" might be a fun adventure with Gungi, but on a deeper level, it's about Hunter realizing that what Omega needs is a true home and stability. It's the first instance in S2 where Hunter gets a look into domestic life. Phee as a character serves many purposes. She's an ally to the Batch and takes them on adventures. However, she also challenges Hunter's soldier lifestyle for Omega. Phee comments that Omega needs people her own age and stability, something that none of the Batch understand due to their upbringing. "Tribe" and Phee, along with some moments from S1, do a great job setting up Pabu.

Pabu is an ideal place for the Batch to live and raise Omega: it's hidden, beautiful, and welcoming to all. With all the signs encouraging Hunter to settle, Pabu is perfect. On a side note though, I do feel that the conflict in the episode "Pabu" was a bit contrived. Personally, I don't think we needed a tsunami for drama. I was perfectly content just watching the Batch relax.

S2, like S1, also does a great job of balancing the Empire's machinations with the Batch's shenanigans. "Metamorphosis" not only serves as a Batch mission for Cid, but also the introduction of Hemlock and the return of the Zillo. It develops both stories in a natural way which made for a phenomenal episode. The two-parter "The Clone Conspiracy" and "Truth and Consequences" equally shows the Empire's decommissioning of the clones, introduces the CX troopers, and what motivates Echo to leave. This is why I love TBB. We get a glimpse into how the imperials caused such chaos and created the Stormtroopers. Btw, I think the show handled the transition from Rampart to Hemlock really well. Both storylines were set up and interwoven with each other, which allowed the one villain to rise and the other to fall.

The notion that the Batch should settle is a major arc for Hunter and Omega this season. Hunter really begins to consider Pabu as a new home, especially because he wants to keep Omega safe. The more he sees the growing unrest, the more he reaffirms the decision in his mind. Clones have never settled down before and it's a new life for Hunter. He always wants to do right for his family and protect them. That's what leaders do. Even Wrecker slowly comes around to that idea and leans a lot on Hunter for decision making.

Omega gains a lot of new perspectives in S2 and I really loved that. She learns that things aren't what they always appear and that change is a part of life. This takes form in many ways, like when Romar showed her the kaleidoscope. Tech is another great example. He might not outwardly show his emotions the way she does, but his heart burns brightly for his family. And like Hunter, Omega begins to realize that having a home like Pabu isn't such a bad idea. She could grow up safely and make friends her age.

As for Echo, I realized that S1 does hint at his choice to leave in S2. His decision makes a lot of sense given his strong sense of justice and camaraderie with Rex. He's always been about helping others. This man has such a beautiful soul.

I think Crosshair is self-explanatory. Only three episodes and I perfectly understood what he did and why he did things. His humanity could no longer take being abused the way it was. He knew where his heart truly lied and he made his choice. S1 established his attachment to the Batch wasn't gone. But he wasn't ready to fully see the truth just yet.

Tech. Beautiful, smart, brave Tech. How much I miss you. S2 did so much giving him depth and maturity. They easily could've kept him as the stereotypical nerd who has great dry humor. But they chose to take a more thoughtful route. Like Omega, Tech learns to see things from a different perspective and it helps him grow as a person. It's those little moments that mean so much. I wish we could spend more time with him because Tech has so much to share with us and S2 highlights that perfectly.

AND TECH GOT THE GIRL (kinda but yall know what I mean). They could've chosen Hunter, the objectively attractive one, but I'm so glad they chose Tech. Look guys, I'm not a girl who goes out and buys all those trendy clothes or wears lots of makeup. So, it meant a lot that Tech was able to win over someone's affections. And kudos to Phee for always being understanding and loving Tech and his awkwardness.

I do have some other thoughts on Tech I will make a separate post on because it's something I really thought about on this rewatch.

S2 has beautiful music and animation on top of some stellar storytelling. "Mayday" will always be my personal favorite and "The Outpost" is always going to be my favorite episode. It means to much to me.

Overall, the best season imo. I love S3, but it has pacing issues, and S1 just makes me sad.

[todays-just-a-daydream]

Charting the rise of Oasis in summer 1994 via archives of Music & Media (pan-European music industry magazine in the 90s). Issue dates from each clip left to right: 13 August; 27 August; 3 September; 17 September; 17 September.

Radio reports in industry magazines tell the story of Oasis climbing the UK charts and breaking into Europe in late summer 1994. Music & Media in the 90s was the European version of America’s Billboard magazine. While the record charts were the focus, each issue also included a section in new releases (both singles and albums) as well as station reports. Each week radio stations would report their lists to the magazine and include what songs they've added to their rotation. The way I understand it, A lists are played more than B lists, which are played more than N lists.

I went through the August-September 1994 issues of Music & Media searching “Oasis” for any relevant clips.

Note: Keep in mind all dates reflect the issue that the content was in and that there was a slight lag (generally 1-2 weeks) in industry news outside of the UK.

Following Live Forever’s release

The third Oasis single, Live Forever, gets added to the BBC1's N list on 6th of August upon its release, due to consistent interest in each single since Columbia (White Label Demo) in Dec 1993.

The single also makes the B list for Virgin 1215 AM London. The next week, Forth RFM in Edinburgh adds the song to its A list. One week later, the song gets a small mention in the New Releases review section of the magazine:

Is it a fata morgana, or is Oasis for real? We've had so many over-hyped British bands now, that we prefer to take a back seat. But then again we haven't heard such good pop since the La's.

Two weeks later, 27th of August, Live Forever reaches no. 10 on the UK singles chart.

The magazine reports this in a small blurb describing them as "Scottish band Oasis", possibly due to the concentration of the band’s support being in Scotland. Radio Clyde in Glasgow adds the song to its rotation. MTV Europe also adds the video to its new videos list.

At the start of September, Definitely Maybe gets a review in the new album releases, where Live Forever is called “a masterpiece.” I should add industry mags are typically dry and not prone to hyperbole.

Radio Clyde's head Bobby Hain writes that Oasis has become "local favourites" since performing at T in the Park festival a few weeks before.

At the same time, Live Forever gets added to more radio playlists. Red Dragon FM in Cardiff adds the song to its B list. In Europe, Radio 21 in Brussels, Het Station in Hilversum (Holland), and Polskie Radio 2 in Warsaw (Poland) add it to their A list.

By the 10th of September MTV Europe adds the Live Forever video to its Buzz Bin. This week Sveriges Radio in Stockholm (Sweden) adds the song to its A list, with Radio Stella FM 106 in Helsingberg following the next week.

But it takes until the 17th of September for Oasis to get a full length article in the magazine, entitled "Oasis Is No Mirage Of the British Hope and Glory" (above). It mentions the skepticism in Europe of British bands that don’t live up to the hype. But argues Oasis is the real deal. It singles out Sweden as the first European market where the band has broken out from the UK. It calls the band’s songs “retro pop,” lists some influences from Neil Young to T-Rex, and leaves with the idea Oasis seems like a “universal band” that can translate to other countries.

The case study of Sweden

The band plays the Hultsfred festival in Sweden 13 August 1994. This is also the site of the classic Gallagher interview where Noel claims their music will stand the test of time. There’s also bootlegs of a radio broadcast of the show, but it’s not clear if it aired live at the time or was simply recorded and broadcasted later in 95.

Noel and Liam both bragged about making headlines in the country for starting a bar brawl after they played this festival. Did this play a factor in the band’s early chart success there?

Notably mentioned by Music & Media, by the 3rd of September, Swedish radio stations are already picking up Live Forever, while most of Europe is still working through older singles.

Sweden becomes the first country outside of the UK for Definitely Maybe to chart (even a week before Ireland), entering the chart at no. 14. The album reaches 4 by 17th of September (to compare the album is at 9 in Ireland the same week).

Along with sales elsewhere, it’s enough to pull the album to 10 in the European charts.

Did the bar brawl help album sales in Sweden?

When looking at Oasis gigs in August/September it’s not surprising Sweden is the first to chart. They play Paris in June and New York in July. But Sweden is the first place outside the UK they have two gigs in less than one month. The festival gig in August and another one a few days after the first album is released.

Now I know controversy sells is a 90s maxim and Oasis used outrage to their advantage. But I remain skeptical of the claim they made front page headlines from the bar brawl. It seems to me that’d be a clipping you could find online if it happened. I don’t have access to Swedish papers to directly verify the pages (if anyone has access, lmk!). But I could do a quick search of archives of two popular newspapers, a morning newspaper and an evening one, to see "oasis" mentions in 1994:

While “oasis” gets mentioned a few times before August (some nonband mentions including a guy named Kenny Oasis drive earlier mentions), it’s steady afterward in reference to the band.

The results of a search for “oasis” in Dagens Nyheter in 1994 includes a thumbnail of the page and the relevant excerpt to check context. Below are the excerpts visible for August/September and a rough translation (any Swedish fans out there correct me if I’m wrong).

The 11th of August has a short article on page 20 about the Hultsfred festival they were set to play on the 13th.

On the 15th on page 24, the band gets mentioned in a review of the festival:

När Oasis spelade vid sextiden var det väldigt mycket folk i Saharatältet

(When Oasis played at six o'clock there were a lot of people in the Sahara tent)

On the 18th in the entertainment section of ads, Definitely Maybe as a pending Oasis album is mentioned. There’s also an ad for another show with Oasis on the bill with Pavement at the top and Jeff Buckley. This is most likely the 2 September show at the Gino.

On the 24th, Liam’s face makes an appearance on page 21 along with other band/artist photos. The photo caption reads “Liam Gallagher i Oasis renodlar det som andra påbörjat.” (Liam Gallagher's Oasis refines what others have started.) with a photo credit to “matthias bardå Filmiskt” so good bet it’s from the Hultsfred festival.

The 31st of August shows the closest Oasis gets to the front page at the time. On page 2, Live Forever is mentioned in a list of things to complain about (an opinion piece? satire? it’s not clear): Yvs över exportaktiernas uppgång, yvs över Oasis ”Live Forever”, men herregud, att yvas över ett land, ett stycke mark, det är väl. (Howl about the rise of export shares, howl about Oasis' "Live Forever", but oh my god, howl about a country, a piece of land, that's fine.) The mention does suggest the song is already recognizable to Swedish readers by the time Definitely Maybe is released.

Oasis at the Hultsfred festival is still being talked about 2nd of September (page 77):

Beatles anses vara en inte oviktig förebild för Oasis. Och det bekräftades i Hultsfred.

(The Beatles are considered a not unimportant role model for Oasis. And it was confirmed in Hultsfred.)

On page 75 the same day, an ad for the Gino show that night. But Oasis is now top billing (no Pavement).

Same issue, the show gets mentioned on earlier pages (page 20) in context of the band’s climb:

Oasis klättrar raskt och spelar dessutom i Stockholm i dag, fredag.

(Oasis is climbing fast and is also playing in Stockholm today, Friday.)

The rest of September, Oasis gets 8 mentions in the paper on pages 20-29.

Now without access to each article in full, I can’t be certain there is no mention of the bar brawl in all of this. But these excerpts do suggest that it’s a nonissue at least in this paper. Their festival show is well attended, people remember it, another show is set for a few weeks later and is advertised as the postfestival chatter ramps up the album release excitement. They return a second time for more buzz and the album hits the top 5 a few weeks later. But obviously that’s boring so bar brawl narrative it is.