#i love this author

[gioiaalbanoart]

This deserves a reblog RN while I'm still crawling on the floor.

MASTER post from one of my favorite authors and mutuals 🙏🧡🙏🧡🙏

I'm so waiting for you sharing YWIMC @the-golden-comet 😭😭 and always so grateful I met you

✨💋Friday Kiss Tag✨💋

✨🎉🎊 Iiiiiiiiiit’s FRIDAY 🎊🎉✨

You know what that means. Smoochin’ (or share) Time! 💋💖

Some extra kudos and love to the following individuals who tagged me this week:

@kaylinalexanderbooks for a heads up seven up tag, @illarian-rambling for an OC deep dive, both @justabigoldnerd and @pippinoftheshire for both WIP Wednesday and Playlist Shuffle tags, @gioiaalbanoart for an open Mixed Fried tag, @ominous-feychild for a silent Saturday tag, @the-inkwell-variable for a Proud Of and Last Line tag, @willtheweaver for a Proud Of Tag, @sableglass , @words-after-midnight , and @tragedycoded for a Pride of Line tag, @noblebs and @illarian-rambling for Find The Word tags, @drchenquill , @tragedycoded , @ceph-the-ghost-writer , @cowboybrunch , and @theink-stainedfolk for a Writing Share Tag! ANNNND the Friday Kiss Tags from @leahnardo-da-veggie and @illarian-rambling !!Wow!! That deserves another smoochin’ gif! Thank you all!!

For everyone else who has tagged me who I may have missed, thank you so much and I always appreciate your tags!! As I wrap up Draft 2 of YWIMC, I will be very busy getting technical editing done and preparing the story for launch, so in the meanwhile I may miss some tags. Please always feel free to tag me, even if I miss them! I love seeing what the community is doing, even if I’ve been a little quieter than usual 💫✨

Now, onto the tag! 💛

Here are the kiss rules 💋✨:

Rules: From your Story/WIP, share a kiss. It can be any kiss, from familial pecks on the cheek, forehead kisses, platonic smooches, to full-blown makeouts.

And if you don’t have a kiss, no worries! You can still participate by treating this post as a writing share! 💚

Rules: Share a snippet of your writing!

I will attempt to fit as many tags this week as possible in this post as I give you this heartbreaking excerpt from YWIMC:

For the music tag, take some Christina Perri’s “Jar of Hearts” to set the stage:

And now, without ANY dialogue, get ready for a gutwrenching scene where Ali and Noah are fighting. I’m putting it underneath the cut because there is a ⚠️ trigger warning for domestic violence. ⚠️ Use discretion.

✨👇Tag list for writing snippets below. DM me if you’d like to be added 👇✨

In one last act of desperation, Noah started to scream. He screamed in pain, anger, sorrow, stress. He screamed a guttural scream that instinctively made Ali flinch and his gut turn. The djinn slapped a hand to Noah’s mouth to muffle the agony as Cauldwell tried pulling his head away, only briefly stopping his distressed cries to jolt out of Ali’s attempt to silence him. And in another attempt to stop the visceral screams, the genie wrapped his arms tightly around his master, and held Noah’s head to the frantic pulse in Ali’s neck.

In his fight or flight, Noah beat closed fists on Ali’s shoulder blades. Frustration, desperation, culminating sorrow bubbled out of his chest as he wailed into Ali’s neck, and onto Ali’s back. Cauldwell’s attempts at kicking were stopped by the genie’s knees pinning his legs down, and in the heat of the struggle Noah’s lenses slid off his face and clattered on the floor….the left lens cracking and the right one remaining whole.

Ali grit his teeth and bore the strikes, yet refused to let go. He held the back of Noah’s head, the face to his nape, and weathered the flagellation. Weaker and weaker the strikes rained, but the tempest would not stop the flood from Noah’s olive eyes. Anger and frustration gave way to despair, until finally Cauldwell crumbled.

Furious, hot screams turned into icy cries and frigid tears. The furious fists flexed their fingers to tightly clench the back of Ali’s collar. Noah’s arms, once trying to push away, pulled around Ali’s neck to bring him closer. The anger stinging Ali’s corneas simmered away as his face softened, washing cold sadness over his somber face.

Ali and Noah naturally slid to sit on the cool vinyl floor as the genie kept his master locked to his chest. Resting at the foot of the couch, Ali let a silent prayer parse his lips, pressing the plump skin to the top of Noah’s head as his eyebrows furrowed in deep contemplation.

Tag List for writing tidbits (lmk if you want + or -)

@autism-purgatory , @talesofsorrowandofruin , @ragin-cajun-fangirl , @wyked-ao3 ,

@glasshouses-and-stones , @alinacapellabooks , @gioiaalbanoart , @tragedycoded , @deanwax ,

@dyrewrites , @honeybewrites , @drchenquill , @paeliae-occasionally , @lychhiker-writes ,

@thatuselesshuman , @kaylinalexanderbooks , @phynewrites , @zackprincebooks , @fantasy-things-and-such ,

@finickyfelix , @billybatsonmylove , @madi-konrad , @houseplantblank , @far-cry-from-finality ,

@froggy-pposto , @fractured-shield , @avaseofpeonies , @topazadine , @thecoolerlucky ,

@theaistired , @somethingclevermahogony , @noxxytocin , @the-inkwell-variable , @seastarblue ,

@leahnardo-da-veggie , @addicted2coke-theothercoke , @illarian-rambling , @mysticstarlightduck , @the-letterbox-archives ,

@ominous-feychild , @saturnine-saturneight , @words-after-midnight , @hemlocks-grove , @cowboybrunch ,

@yourpenpaldee , @moltenwrites , @pixies-love-envy , @davycoquette , @writeahurricane ,

@nczaversnick , @greenfinchwriter , @oliolioxenfreewrites , @lavender-gloom , @smellyrottentrees ,

@aintgonnatakethis , @thecomfywriter , @pluppsauthor , @michellekarnold , @flurrysahin ,

@authorcoledipalo , @jadeglas , @spookyceph , @astramachina , @48lexr ,

@inseasofgreen , @agirlandherquill , @saebasanart , @leatafandom , @justabigoldnerd ,

@pippinoftheshire , @just-emis-blog, @aalinaaaaa , @badscientist , @dearunreliablenarrator ,

@worlds-tallest-fairy , @rhikasa , @eccaiia , @theink-stainedfolk , @theverumproject ,

@theprissythumbelina , @riveriafalll , @revenancy , @inadequatecowboy , @amielbjacobs ,

@patternwelded-quill , @sugarchains , @garthcelyn , @prettytothink-so , @leahnardo-pa-potato ,

@winvyre , @speaknowbuckley , @lamuradex , @wintherlywords , @sharkblizzardblogs ,

@dragoninatrenchcoat , @darekasama , @recklessgirl56 , @kokoass , @ziote ,

@paletteofseaglass , @basketcase1880 , @sableglass , @halfbakedspuds , @notwritinganyflufftoday ,

@twopercentboy , @mxtansy , @menaceofmemory , @unfilteredmoonchild , @blerdsong ,

@iamwhimsy , @beansmakesthings , @birdycage , @tiagems , @narkaholic ,

@irolynn , @petitprincess1 , @macinchiz , @owlsandwich , @stephtuckerauthor,

@sarandipitywrites , @mauvecatfic , @finchwrites , @aurumni-writes , @uiraya ,

@justanotherchangeling , @ahopelessnecromantic , @ryns-ramblings , @oleanderbailey , @365runesofthesystem

[just-sp-in-inginthevoid]

WAKUI KEN I SWEAR TO GOD

[seaslugsnails]

Name: Sonna ni Iu Nara Daiteyaru (Ask and You Will Recieve) Author: Niyama Status: Ongoing - Volume 3 is being translated (some anonymous asshole)

Rating: 5/5 Healing factor: 4.7/5

Thoughts: Waiting for Shinobu's jealousy arc because I love me a little angst. This manga is so fucking good and both of them are so hot (great shrek scenes). Hikaru-chan definitely got Shinobu wrapped around his little finger gyahahahaha. Waiting for the next updates! I was so frigging happy to actually found vol.2 today because I really thought that this ended in vol.1. Apparently this is getting a live action as well so I might need to revisit this one later.

[gioiaalbanoart]

Happy STS, Gioia!! 💛✨

If Ashley Knox and Peter Hart met in real life, what would Ashley’s reaction be? 🤔✨

Happy.....Sunday Goldie! 💛✨💛✨💛✨💛✨💛✨💛✨

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww 😍😍😍

This is actually a super sweet question to which I can easily answer because I DID think about it before 😁😁😁

Ashley would be delighted (well, as much as she'll actuallyshow......) to meet Peter.

The Golden Captain has, among others qualities , a combination of heart and moral code (ok, very personal moral code) that she definitely shares.

Even though it's rather possible that she'll keep an eye on him. 👀 👀 👀

You know .....pirates 🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

I can definitely see Peter trying something funny just for the principle of it.

Thank you for your ask!

[caenith]

When life is painful and no book brings joy, read a novella about evil fungi 👍

[morenotles]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski Characters: Peter Hale, Stiles Stilinski, Scott McCall (Teen Wolf), Derek Hale, The Pack (Teen Wolf) Additional Tags: Pre-Slash, Morally Ambiguous Stiles Stilinski, Morally Ambiguous Peter Hale, Dark Stiles, Stiles is a killer, Scott McCall is a Bad Alpha Series: Part 6 of Bunny's Tumblr Prompts Summary:

Everyone assumes Stiles can't look after himself. Stiles makes sure he can.

[add1ctedt0you]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Major Character Death Relationships: Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín & Jiāng Yànlí & Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, background xuanli Characters: Jiāng Yànlí, Background & Cameo Characters Additional Tags: Time Loop, Canon Divergence - Ambush at Qióngqí Path (Módào Zǔshī), Jiāng Family Dynamics (Módào Zǔshī), brief descriptions of injuries, Canon-Typical Violence, Unreliable Narrator, Angst With A Downer Ending Series: Part 3 of Jiang Siblings Time-Travel "Fix-It"s That Just Make Everything Sadder Actually Summary:

It takes her two loops to realize what’s happening��that it is happening, rather than being some kind of horrible repetitive dream. Jin Zixun’s odious, self-satisfied face, seen at a distance across the courtyard, the attendants rushing to her as she rocks A-Ling: Jin-shao-furen, the Yiling Patriarch has been killed—Jin-shao-furen, the Yiling Patriarch has been killed—

[spn-fanfic-reblog-writes]

Title: Wild Hearts

The Endville City flag

The colors symbolize the green land, blue river, and clear skies. A large white Omega symbol dominates the flag, and written within the curve of the symbol: Omega Led, Omega Owned, Omega Proud.

[aroace-poly-show]

Idk enough about Sekai to be specific but. Do the bingo for your favorite Sekai ship and maybe infodump about it if you wanna :)

ALRIGHTY i have a lot of ships i really enjoy but i'll just do one here <3

polyshow!! because. they're so dear to me i'm so normal about them i do not go insane over them at all absolutely not

look look i personally hc them all on the aroace spectrum i've said it before but in my heart they all love each other SO SO dearly regardless of whether or not they're romantic or platonic or qpr or whatever the fuck. doesn't matter to me. it's their relationship and no matter how they define it in the fanart/fic/etc they all love each other so dearly. i sob all the time over them you don't understand. they make me so happy but they also DEVASTATE ME constantly. rui finally has his group of people that don't think he's a weirdo and THEY TRUST HIM!!! AND THEY DON"T LEAVE HIM BC OF HIS IDEAS!!! THEY LOVE HIM FOR IT!!!!! emu has this group that worked SO hard to protect the wonder stage, when they never had to, BUT THEY DID IT FOR HER!!!! and it means SO much to her and she grieves over her dead grandpa BUT SHES HAPPY!!! SHE HAS HER GROUP!!! HER GROUP THAT SUPPORTS HER!!!! nene overcame her stage fright and her group supports her so much and she knows they will continue to support her even if she has to leave to pursue her dreams and nenes the one thats come to terms with that the best out of all of them. tsukasa. tsukasa. this group believes in him so much and theyre there for him and they all want him to succeed in being a star. i sob. rui devastates me with that stupid fucking event with the hourglass cards symbolic of how the clock is ticking for them and someday they will have to disband in order for them to pursue their dreams and none of them want that but they know they have to and i read this fic of like a timeskip poly wxs where nene and tsukasa were off together like across the world AND IT MADE ME SO SAD they were together but emu and rui missed them and they all just missed each other and augh i sob and cry and and can you tell they're my favorite group can you tell how much they mean to me they have what i want SO badly they care for each other so much and they mean so much to each other and and i cry and sob and lose my shit over thhem all the time but yeah. i'm. i think i'm pretty normal about them. :)

[spiritandthephantoms]

Part 3 of amazing fanfic quotes

The man sighed. "It's like Ian Rider, Gordon Ross, and Smithers fucked and had a brain baby."

[gioiaalbanoart]

Awwwwwww 😭😭💖💖

Thank you 🙏 This year has been sooooo precious thanks to all the authors I know and I'm always happy to read you.

(And your list 😍)

This statement is soo true ❤️‍🔥

You might never be a best-seller. But your story will matter to someone. It will make a difference to someone. Someone will enjoy it. Keep going.

[majoringinsarcasm]

DONT BE AFRAID TO COMMENT ON OLD FICS DONT BE AFRAID TO COMMENT ON FICS IN A FANDOM THE AUTHOR MAY NO LONGER BE ACTIVE IN. IF THE STORY IS STILL UP LET THEM KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS IT MIGHT JUST BE THE REMINDER THAT MAKES THEIR DAY.

SINCERELY SOMEONE WHO JUST GOT A REPLY THAT MADE ME WANNA MAKE THIS POST

[reallybadblackoutpoems]

meditations on first philosophy (1641) - rene descartes

"who give a shit"

[throesofincreasingwonder]

"A story doesn't need a theme in order to be good" I'm only saying this once but a theme isn't some secret coded message an author weaves into a piece so that your English teacher can talk about Death or Family. A theme is a summary of an idea in the work. If the story is "Susan went grocery shopping and saw a weird bird" then it might have themes like 'birds don't belong in grocery stores' or 'nature is interesting and worth paying attention to' or 'small things can be worth hearing about.' Those could be the themes of the work. It doesn't matter if the author intended them or not, because reading is collaborative and the text gets its meaning from the reader (this is what "death of the author" means).

Every work has themes in it, and not just the ones your teachers made you read in high school. Stories that are bad or clearly not intended to have deep messages still have themes. It is inherent in being a story. All stories have themes, even if those themes are shallow, because stories are sentences connected together for the purpose of expressing ideas, and ideas are all that themes are.

[crownofdecitreadingrespectfully]

I’m a sucker for touch and emotionally starved men what’s new

dlz ; jake lockley.

track ten of DEAR SCIENCE.

pairing ; jake lockley x gn!reader

synopsis ; jake lockley wasn't your husband. steven and marc were. jake was just... he was just there. a ghost living in your house.

words ; 3.5k

themes ; angst, mild fluff, married au

warnings / includes ; suggestive, implications of sex, jake is a rough kisser e_e, mentions of injury/blood, mild cursing, marc and steven both have appearances, jake is emotionally constipated, jake calls reader peach !! reader is a sweetheart <3

main masterlist.

Jake Lockley didn’t like your perfume—it was almost nauseatingly fresh and its smell permeated through his own clothes so that he’d often walk out smelling like he had doused himself in Febreze. 

He didn’t like the way you’d hum to his favorite songs while doing the dishes. Nirvana, Muse, Nothing But Thieves, Radiohead—were you singing them on purpose just to annoy him? Nearly every night, he could hear your faint voice drift into the living room, where he was reading the same three sentences of the daily paper over and over and over again because he couldn’t concentrate on anything but your endearingly inconsistent mutters to the music.

He especially hated when you’d walk out of the bedroom in nothing but Steven’s shirt loosely draped over your form, rubbing the last remnants of sleep from your heavy-lidded eyes. There was just something about seeing you at your most vulnerable. You were comfortable around him, and that made Jake uneasy.

When Jake fronted, he slept in the guest room. Marc had convinced him not to blow more money staying at a hotel—and Steven was trying to persuade him to at least sleep in the same bed as you. After all, they were married to you. 

But Jake wasn’t your husband. Steven and Marc were. Jake was just… he was just there. A ghost living in your house.

The very thought of sharing a bed with you made a chill dance down Jake’s spine. He could never. As appealing as the thought of having you slotted between his arms, sleepily recounting how your day went to him, sounded, he couldn’t ever have that. Jake Lockley wasn’t a domestic man.

His hands would always be dripping with blood that wasn’t his, no matter how hard he tried scrubbing it away.

There were times Jake felt a morsel of regret. He was nowhere near nice to you, and yet you still spared him that infuriatingly patient, sweet smile, always telling him to stay safe before he left to drive his cab around (or do Khonshu’s dirty work), and never failing to whisper good night before slipping into your bedroom. 

Sometimes he had a queer, niggling feeling scratching at the pits of his stomach one would commonly refer to as jealousy. He knew that Marc and Steven got to hold you, kiss you, tell you they loved you as they pleased. 

Jake couldn’t do that. Jake wasn’t even entirely sure he was capable of loving someone. 

What made it even worse was that Jake learned about you through them—not because he ever actually tried to get closer to you.

He knew you loved apricots, but not as much as peaches. He knew you loved lighting scented candles whenever it rained. He knew you named each one of your house plants. He knew you were only slightly ticklish. He knew you had a tell; your nose would twitch and your eyebrows would quirk upwards whenever you lied. He knew from Steven to kiss just above your pulse point against the column of your throat to make you melt into him. He knew you had a birthmark between your thighs from when Marc—

Yeah, he’d rather not think about that one.

Jake knew you cried a lot—that one he learned on his own. He could hear you through the walls, but you probably weren’t aware of that fact. 

One night, Jake sat in the living room, staring into nothing, heart twisting angrily at himself until he couldn’t take it anymore, storming out of the apartment after shoving his hat onto his head and grabbing his cab’s keys. Steven and Marc had yelled angrily at him the whole time, but he learned to block their voices out. 

He wasn’t very good in the emotional department, that was abundantly clear.

When he came back home hours later, having driven around the city several times to clear his head, he tried to be as quiet as possible. At an hour as late as this, you were bound to be asleep, right?

But alas, there you were, curled into the corner of the couch, head uncomfortably lolled onto your shoulder. The house was entirely dark save for the dim glow of the television, casting a blue luminescence over your dozing form. Long shadows kissed the slopes of your features, softened with sleep. He noticed that there were tear tracks faintly outlined over the skin of your cheekbones.

Jake froze at the doorway for a moment. Were you waiting for him to come home?

He pushed down any and all intrusive thoughts, begrudgingly shrugging off his coat and hanging up his hat. A calloused palm carded through messy, coffee-hued curls. 

Heart dipping heavy within his chest, Jake stalked forward to turn the TV off, setting the remote down on the coffee table. He stood over you for a moment. A frown twisted at the corner of his lips, drawing his brows together.

Jaw clenching, Jake stepped away from you, slipping into the hall. He leaned against the door to the guest room for a moment, huffing out a low groan. Gods, what in the hell was he doing?

After another minute of frustrated hesitation, Jake willed himself to make his way back into the living room. You were twitching in your sleep, eyelids fluttering with what he could guess were the beginnings of a harsh nightmare. 

Gently—or, as gentle as a highly-skilled mercenary could be—Jake hooked an arm beneath the crook of your knee, the other looping over your shoulders and neck. When you stirred, Jake could only quietly make hushing noises, wincing at himself. Thankfully, you didn’t fully awaken, a soft noise falling from your lips as your nose turned to press against the fabric of his shirt obscuring his chest, just above where his heart scratched at the walls of his ribcage.

He kicked the door to your bedroom open none too silently, eager to set you down. Get as far away from you as possible. The sound of the doorknob thwacking against the wall behind it made your lids shoot open, and you groggily mumbled incoherent phrases under your breath before peering up at him with confused, watery eyes. He cursed internally.

“You’re back,” you said, voice hoarse with disuse. “You okay?”

There were lots of things Jake wanted to say to you at that moment.

No, I’m not okay. Were you waiting for me to get home? I’m sorry if I made you worry. I’m sorry I’m such an asshole. Am I an asshole? You shouldn’t ever wait for me again. What were you dreaming of? Was it a nightmare about me?

Instead of any of that, Jake merely set you down onto the mattress with a grunt, dusting his hands onto his pants. He glared down at you as if he was angry—and he was, but not necessarily at you. 

But wasn’t he, though? He was angry that you were just so… so kind to him. He was angry that you were patient. He was angry that you were so easy to love. 

“Go to sleep, peach,” he gruffed. A hot flush coursed over his face at the nickname that had unintentionally slipped out. To his relief, you didn’t seem to notice.

Your sleepy expression seemed to cave in on itself and you dazedly nodded, head falling back into the pillow. 

If only he could slip in beside you, entangle his legs with yours as you kissed softly over his tense face, call you his.

Jake nearly slapped himself to get his head screwed on straight. He spared your already-sleeping form one last glance before trudging out of your room. Hurriedly, he threw himself into the guestroom, ripping off his shirt and pressing a palm flat against his chest to quell the racing thunder of his heart.

You were not good news for him. 

You didn’t see Jake for weeks after that incident. 

A part of you was glad—you were beginning to miss the sound of Steven’s sweet voice, his tender touches, his passionate kisses. You missed Marc’s back hugs, his strange fixation with your bare legs, his lopsided smiles.

The other part of you, however, wondered about Jake.

“Does Jake ever… say anything to the two of you?” you asked Steven one day, stirring sugar into your steaming tea as you leaned against the kitchen counter. Your husband looked up from the novel he was reading, pushing his glasses up his nose while considering your question. 

“Sometimes. Mostly stays to himself—quite the quiet bloke, innhe? Why, love?”

Your bottom lip trembled as you glared into your tea, as if it was the source of all your troubles. Steven was immediately out of his seat, tugging you close until your forehead rested upon his clavicle bone. You sniffled into him, crushing your eyes shut with shame. 

“Does he hate me?” you asked, voice cracking. “I don’t… I don’t know what I did to make him—”

Steven immediately held you all the closer, crooning out, “No! No, of course not, silly. He’s just… he’s just having trouble with himself, that’s all. Doesn’t really talk to us much, either. It’s not you, love, I promise. In fact, I’m nearly certain he fancies you.”

“You’re not just saying that?” you said, scrutinizing him with wide, glassy eyes. “I don’t need him to love me like you and Marc do. I just… it’s hard when it feels like a man with the same face as your husband hates you.”

Steven’s expression crumbled, and he kissed over your left eyelid softly. “I know. I’m sorry, darling, I can’t imagine what that’s like.” Rubbing soothing circles over your back, he urged you to take a seat next to him, leaning over to move your mug of tea from the counter to the kitchen table. “Come on, I’ve got an amazing poem I want you to read.”

It was only two days later that you saw Jake again. You strode through the door, juggling grocery bags in one hand and a stack of books you borrowed from the library in the other. With a huff, you set the groceries down in the kitchen, turning around to see Jake quietly observing you, leaning against the fridge. You bit down a startled scream, flinching at his unexpected presence. 

“Oh,” you said after a second of flustered silence. “Hi, Jake. Didn’t see you there.”

He was observing you with such a sharp gaze that it felt like his irises were cutting straight through your flesh. Finally, he pushed away from the fridge, slowly moving towards you until he stood just in front of you, about an arm’s length away.

“Jake, what are you—?”

“I don’t hate you, peach,” the man said, all gravelly and brusque.

It took you a moment to fully register what he was saying. “Oh,” was all you said, parroting yourself from five seconds ago in a rather poignant manner. “Well… I don’t hate you, either, Jake. Far from that.”

You could see the struggle in the dark depths of his irises. Turmoil raged behind those narrowed lids, and you couldn’t bring it in yourself to look away, not even if you tried. 

Feeling bold, you shuffled forward to slowly raise your hands, cupping Jake’s face within your palms. His glare seemed to harden at first, always so angry at things for not going the way he expected it to go, muscles tensing beneath your touch—but when your fingers gently scraped over his stubble, he could feel himself letting go, practically liquefying into you.

“Why are you like this, Jake Lockley?” you murmured, thumbs stroking over his cheekbones. The action made his eyelids flutter shut. He’d never let himself be this vulnerable in front of you before. He wasn’t prepared for his walls to come crashing down around him so quickly—so easily. “Did I do something to upset you?”

All previous inhibitions thrown out the window, Jake grumbled out a small, “Yeah. All the fuckin’ time, peach.”

You quirked a brow. “Go on, then.”

One of his eyes opened before sliding closed again. “Where do I start? You smell too good—I can never concentrate around you. You’re always singing my favorite songs and it’s buggin’ the hell outta me. You’re always so nice to me—even though you know I’m not like your precious Steven and Marc.”

Something akin to a guffaw fell from your lips. “Well, first of all, thank you? Somehow you managed to compliment me in the rudest way possible, and I commend you for that. Second, I know you’re not like Steven and Marc. But I still love you all the same.”

The kitchen grew so quiet, Jake could’ve sworn he’d be able to hear a pin drop.

His heart began tripping over its own gallop of a pace. You’d said it so easily, so swiftly, as if loving him came as naturally as breathing. 

Jake found his eyes falling to your mouth, slightly puckered to the side in thought. 

Noticing his sudden change in demeanor, you started saying, “Jake—?”

“Can I kiss you?” he interrupted, glowering at you with a newfound fire crackling behind his eyes. 

You blinked once, then twice. Then you nodded.

A small sigh of content that made Jake far too excited for his own good escaped your lungs as he dove forward and melded his lips with yours, dipping you backward ever so slightly in the midst of his vigor. 

He kissed differently than Steven or Marc did. Steven was languid, careful, and tender whilst Marc was feverish, calculated, and explorative.

Jake Lockley, however, kissed like a mad man. He was all tongue and teeth, desperately furious with his motions, kissing you as if it was the very last time he’d have the chance to do so. His nose slotted against yours, brushing against your cheek as you caved into him, arms winding over his neck to pull him ever so close. 

His fingers immediately clutched at your waist, one moving upwards beneath your (Marc’s) shirt to lightly scratch over the skin of your ribcage and the other shifting lower to tug over the back of your thigh. 

Gods, you just felt so right. 

“Mmh, peach,” Jake growled into your skin as he traversed down your neck, biting at the spot just above your pulse point, which made a low, desperate noise scratch at the back of your throat. He’d do anything to hear that noise over and over again.

“Why do you call me that?” you panted out, fingers threading through his haphazard curls to haul him away from your neck and back onto your lips. 

“You like peaches,” he breathed into you, a groan of agony rumbling from his chest when you nipped at his bottom lip with a hum of approval. “Don’t you?”

A choked sound was all you could let out when he shoved you none-too-gently against the counter, bending over to accommodate for his eager lips over yours.

“I love them,” you whispered once he parted away to catch his breath. 

There it was again. The L word. 

Fuck, he couldn’t do this.

Suddenly, as if snapped back into reality, Jake halted any and all ministrations, nose only a hair's breadth away from your neck. You smelled so damn good, so tantalizingly tempting, lips raw-bitten and skin flushed with heat.

But Jake couldn’t. You didn’t belong with a person like him. With Steven? Yeah, of course. With Marc? The idiot loved you too much to ever let you go, even if he tried to. 

Jake would bring you nothing but pain and misery and the thinly-veiled threat of danger. 

“This is a mistake,” he said, voice rough with tremendous restraint.

He thought that if he kissed you, all these stupid feelings would wash down the drain, as if you’d be able to suck it all out of him like a goddamn love vacuum. But, no, it was as if just having a taste wasn’t enough. He needed the rest of you. He needed all of you.

But he couldn’t.

“Jake…” Your voice was quiet, breaking off slightly when he let go of you, stepping back while glaring a hole into the ground. 

With the maturity equivalent to that of a prepubescent teenager, Jake stormed out of the kitchen and into the hall, slamming the guest room door behind him so hard that the picture frames of you and Steven and Marc on the walls rattled. 

A week passed by until you saw Jake again.

You were in bed with Marc, shivering as he ran his palms down your waist, swatting his hands away while gritting out, “That tickles, Marc!”

He hummed noncommittally, pressing kisses down your shoulder, nosing your cheek affectionately. 

“Tell me about this one,” he whispered into you, taking your hand to trace a thin scar over the inside of your wrist.

“I was seven,” you whispered. “This boy pushed me off a swing in the playground. I threw my hands out and a rock got me bad—fractured my wrist, too. I don’t remember much, but I remember there was a lot of blood. I’m pretty sure the poor kid was the one that ran screaming for a teacher to come help.”

Marc regarded you with a look of pure adoration, thinly laced with amusement. “Did you really just call the bastard who pushed you a ‘poor kid’?”

You barked out a laugh and he pressed a lasting kiss over your faded scar.

“Alright, your turn. Tell me about this,” you playfully pressed your thumb between his brows. “You got a little divot here. Been furrowing your eyebrows too much, huh? And you wonder why I call you the grumpy eagle muppet.” When he rolled his eyes, you chuckled out, “What? Listen, it’s not my fault Khonshu got rid of all your scars! I gotta work with what I’m given, here!”

“That’s enough out of you,” Marc bit out, though you could tell he wasn’t really being serious with the smile that pulled at the corner of his mouth. “Okay, turn around. Sleep time, baby. Love you.”

You hummed in mild contentment, turning around so your back molded perfectly against his chest. “Love you, too, Marc.”

The rise and fall of his chest was deep, rhythmic, so calming that you were just on the brink of sleep—

Until it stopped.

You could feel the body wrapped behind you stiffen. Immediately, you knew this was Jake.

With a lump lodged in your throat, you hesitantly turned around, only to be met with Jake staring back at you, wide-eyed. It was dark, so you could just barely make out the upset tautness of his features.

Jerkily, he started moving to clamber off the bed, all but shaking you off of him like you were a pesky insect.

No. No, you wouldn’t stand for this.

“Jake,” you said firmly, reaching out to wrap your hand around his wrist. “Stay. Please.”

Mute, the man shook his head, legs slipping out from beneath the blanket. 

Desperate, you sat up, wrapping your arms around his midriff and pressing your cheek into his back as you said, “You deserve love, Jake. You deserve my love. Please, stay.”

For a moment, you wondered if he’d just push you off again. Disappear into that guestroom you were too scared to venture into when he left for work. Just when you were on the near precipice of relinquishing any and all hope, you could feel Jake’s shoulders sag. His head hung low as he sighed.

Wordless, he shifted around and you let go of him so he could slip back under the covers. 

Tentative, you laid down next to him, shifting so your head could rest over his chest. His arm jostled around to rest comfortably beneath your neck. 

Jake held you differently from Marc and Steven.

Jake held you as if he was afraid you’d break apart. Jake held you like he had to be ready to let you go at any moment. Jake held you like he was afraid to show you just how much he loved you.

You craned your neck upwards to press a light kiss to his stubbled jaw, then settled back down.

You heard Jake sigh, but this time, it was one of pure relief—utter bliss. It was quiet, but it was there.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered finally, nose tucked into your hair. “I’ll try to be better with you. I’ll try, peach.”

Nodding minutely, you intertwined your hand with his free one, playing absentmindedly with his fingers. “I know.”

Just before your breaths evened with sleep, Jake could only barely hear you drowsily mumble out, “I love you, Lockley.”

He knew you were already asleep, which made the feat of saying it back somewhat easier for him.

“Love you, too, peach.”

[waitineedaname]

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