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janeyseymour · 1 day ago

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Share Your Address

based on Ben Platt's "Share Your Address", and my rendition of the song is attached! Please enjoy!

Summary: Melissa is intoxicating. It might be too soon, but you want everything that has to do with her.

WC: 5k

You had never planned on meeting Melissa Schemmenti, much less falling for her. But just like that, she waltzed her way into your life just a month ago at the bar. As you’ve learned, she’s also someone who almost never lets her guard down. The same would go for you- always guarded and hesitant to let anybody into your life. It’s done you wrong before. For someone who always had your walls up around you, you fell hard for that redhead. You’re not quite sure you could pin any one thing that made you fall for her as hard as you did, and you’re only continuing to fall. There’s just something about her that’s so intoxicating. Maybe it’s her sweet and somehow simultaneously musty perfume, or the way that her shiny red hair always perfectly frames her face. It might be the way that she has that sparkling Hollywood smile without even trying, or the fact that she is quite literally everything that you’ve always dreamed of- hardheaded, not afraid to speak her mind- she’s always got that hint of sarcasm and fire to her. Or maybe it’s just that she’s Melissa, and she has an absolutely addictive personality. Whatever it is about the second grade teacher at Abbott Elementary, you can’t get her out of your head.

Darling you might think it’s too soon, but I can’t get you out of my head now. Picturing myself in your room, and I wanna be with you ’til I’m dead now.

It’s been a month, and in that month, you and Melissa have been practically inseparable. After work, you’re with her and cooking dinner or treating her to a nice night out on the town. You end up in her bed quite a few times. On Saturdays, the two of you will go out to the club and relieve what you truly believe might’ve been the highlight of your life- meeting her. On Sundays, you soak in the peace and quiet, taking every breath and mentally preparing yourselves for the next week.

And if you aren’t together, you’re texting. You tease Melissa about the fact that she should probably be teaching her students, but she dismisses your concern and promises you that they’re working on an independent project- they’ll get her attention if they need her.

The truth is, you just can’t get the redheaded second grade teacher out of your head- you’re falling for her, and you’re falling for her fast and hard. It might be too quick to judge, but there’s something special about her. Just like when you were younger and more naive, you picture yourself in her room. You daydream about the things you would do to her if you were with her at the moment. And when your imagination becomes a bit over the top, you have to leave your cubicle and take a few laps around the building to cool down those rather steamy thoughts you’re having. But then, of course, she texts you again- and once again, you feel like you’re on fire.

You want Melissa Schemmenti until you are no longer on this earth. If you spent your last few breathing moments with her, you’re fairly certain it would be worth it- a life well lived.

I want your friends to be my friends. I’ll make you breakfast in your bed. I want it all with you. And if I’m coming on too strong, it’s ‘cause I’ve waited far too long for someone just like you.

It’s only been a month, but here you are with Melissa, and you’re making breakfast that the two of you are planning to enjoy in bed. Now, usually she would never condone that- it took her long enough to begin eating on her plastic covered couch (and you’ve somehow managed to convince her to take it off… sex on a couch covered in plastic is not something you ever wish to experience again). But she’s willing to make an exception for you; you seem to be the exception to everything she ever thought she knew in life.

“You’re so sexy when you cook in my clothes,” Melissa wraps her arms around your waist and kisses the slope of your neck. Her right hand swiftly trails down your body to grab your ass. “God.”

“You’re ridiculous,” you chuckle quietly. “I’m sure you look way hotter in it.”

You feel her rather than hear her refute that claim as she shakes her head into your back.

The two of you settle on her bed with a wonderful spread of breakfast and coffee. Somehow, she’s managed to fix your cup of coffee to perfection. Of course she knows how you prefer your coffee- it’s one of the first things she learned about you.

It’s a warm, still somewhat sleepy haze that you’re in when her phone begins to ring. She glances at the caller ID and sighs before flipping her phone over on the nightstand. You had just so happened to catch a look at it, and you know her work wife won’t be too thrilled if she doesn’t answer.

“You can answer it,” you say through a mouthful of eggs. “It’s okay, hun.”

The redhead quirks her lips to the side but relents, although she makes it quite clear to you that she’s not appreciating the fact that your little bubble has been burst. She does pick up the phone though.

“What, Barb? It’s nine in the morning.”

“Well, good morning to you too, Melissa,” the kindergarten teacher quips. “I was just calling to see if we were still good for lunch today?”

Green eyes look over to you. You nod with a smile before mouthing, ‘Hang out with Barb. It’s okay.’

“We are,” the redhead grumbles. “Can I go back to bed now?”

“Oh, you were still asleep! I’m sorry; I just figured you would already be up,” Barbara apologizes.

“I’ll see you at noon,” the redhead next to you sighs out. “Bye.”

Melissa hangs up the phone before placing her phone back down. She turns to you. “I forgot about lunch with Barb,” she admits quietly, knowing that the two of you had made plans to walk around the city today.

“It’s fine, hun,” you promise her. “You deserve to go have fun with her. Although…” you trail off as you debate whether you want to voice your thoughts or not.

“What?”

“I would love to meet her, and the others in your group,” you tell her softly. “I- I know it’s soon, but I have a feeling this could be something, and I would love to be able to meet them.”

The redhead gives you a warm smile- not what you had expected from her. “I think that would be nice. How would you feel about joining me an’ Barb for lunch today?”

“Really?” you ask softly. “You’re up for that? I was- I was nervous that I was coming on too strong.”

Melissa pulls you in for a soft, sweet kiss. “What you feel for me, I feel for you. An’ I don’t know why, but I’m absolutely crazy about you.”

“Good,” you sigh with relief. “I’m sorry if I come off as too strong, but I- I’ve waited far too long for someone like you to come into my life.”

“A hot mess?” the redhead teases.

You roll your eyes. “Someone who is as beautiful and as sexy as you while having a quick and brilliant mind.”

“Shut up.”

“Make me.”

You do. Breakfast is forgotten until after you shut her up.

And so you join your… well, she does introduce you to her work wife as her girlfriend- you join your girlfriend for lunch. And Barbara is nothing but elegant and kind to you, just as Melissa said she would be- she ensures that you’re always a part of the conversation while Melissa fills in the missing pieces of their stories and conversation for you.

And come a week later, on a Friday, you’re able to leave your own place of employment an hour early to meet your girlfriend at her coworkers’ favorite bar for happy hour.

The Abbott crew welcomes you with open arms, just as Melissa had told you they would.

I want a key to your house. I wanna pick up your clothes. I wanna clean up your mess. I wanna know where you hide things, wanna be in your photos, wanna share your address. I know, I know it’s too soon, too fast, but this could last. I wanna share your address. I know, I know it- it feels like love, so let’s shack up. I wanna share your address.

It’s been two months now that you’ve been seeing Melissa. And you can only find yourself falling for her more and more. It’s not what you had expected in the slightest when you first met her at the bar. In all honesty, you were expecting a one night stand at best, not to still be here with this beautiful woman two months later and officially dating.

You spend more time in Melissa’s house than your own apartment at this point- the redhead’s house feels more like home to you than your apartment ever has. You have a drawer reserved for you, a toothbrush for the nights that you spend with her, and you’ve made a little space for yourself on the nightstand on what you think of as your side of the bed.

The second grade teacher is out and grocery shopping by the time you wake up on this lazy Saturday. You know she’s already out, because there’s an index card propped up on her pillow that tells you exactly where she is, when she expects to be back, and it’s signed with a heart.

You’re exhausted from this week. but you know that you should probably get out of bed for the day. By the time you make your way down the steps, the aroma of the coffee that your girlfriend had made has you practically running for the pot.

Once you’ve finished your coffee, you glance around the living room, and there are various articles of both of your clothes from last night’s escapades. Your cheeks flush at the mere thought of what had taken place last night, and a dopey smile washes over your face.

With a sigh, you begin to pick up both yours and Melissa’s clothes, following the trail of pants, shirts, and undergarments back into the bedroom. You can’t help but chuckle at how desperate the two of you were after you got back from the bar. You toss them into her laundry basket and bring it down the steps with you on your hip. As you’re emptying the things into the washing machine, you see a glimmer of something hiding behind the big piece of metal. Curiosity gets the best of you, and you look. It’s a club- of course it is. Leave it to your girlfriend to think about needing a weapon if she was ever doing her laundry. You roll your eyes in good nature before depositing detergent into the machine and turning it on.

As you make your way back up into the living room, you can’t help but notice the abundance of pictures that the redhead has in her house, all in beautiful frames. There’s something about it that makes you want to be in her photographs. You’re sure you’ll get there someday, maybe when you share an address with her.

You’ve just settled onto the couch when you hear Melissa fiddling with the front door. In an instant, you’re back on your feet and letting her in before heading out and managing to juggle the last few bags from her shopping trip.

“Thank you,” your girlfriend smiles at you when you return. She’s already unpacking the various bags when something catches your eye. It’s a picture frame that she just bought.

“That’s pretty,” you comment quietly. “Whose picture is going in there?”

Melissa smiles and then pulls out an envelope. “Ours.”

Your heart swells in your chest. “I- I know it’s a bit soon to be saying this, and I don’t expect you to say it back, but: I love you.”

You’re immediately pulled into a warm kiss. “I love you too,” she murmurs as she rests her forehead against yours.

I just wanna stare at your face, and spend quality time with your mother. We can over drink at your favorite place, and we can waste the whole next day to recover.

You meet the Schemmenti family about six weeks into dating. And Melissa’s mother is an absolute delight. It’s clear as day who your girlfriend takes after in both looks and personality. Mathilde, but she insists you call her Tillie, is a lively woman with a bright personality and a tendency to be sarcastic and fiery. And while she has that bite to her, much like your girlfriend, she has a softer and warmer side that she shows you once she sees how in love you are with her daughter- you rarely take your eyes off of that bright and happy face now that she’s in the comfort of her mother’s home. She’s- she’ stunning; there’s no other way to put it.

Melissa is in the bathroom when Tillie finally asks you, “Why my Melly?”

“I should’ve known you would ask that,” you chuckle as you sip your wine. “She’s home. It’s as simple as that.”

“It’s funny,” the older woman breathes out. “Melly said the same about you.”

From that day on, you and Tillie spend a lot of time together. From Sunday dinners with the Schemmenti family, to a nice lunch if you have a day off, you find that you and your girlfriend’s mother get along quite well. It doesn’t take long for her to quietly confide in you that Melissa is head over heels in love with you- something that she’s never seen before, even with her ex-husband.

The act of over drinking at her favorite place takes often more than you’d really care to admit. But there’s one night where the two of you end up absolutely obliterated, and you truly have to take all of Saturday to recover from your wicked hangovers.

It all started when Jacob suggested that the Abbott crew go out for a happy hour on a Friday. And for some reason, Barbara agrees and convinces your girlfriend to tag along. Because the two of you were supposed to go out tonight together, she begs you to join the school crew for a few drinks.

A few drinks turns into a crazy night. It starts out tame enough, a beer or two. But then Ava shows up, claims that the place that you’re at is far too boring, and she escorts all of you to a skanky dive bar- the one that the two of you met in actually.

“This is our bar,” your girlfriend nudges you. “Who woulda thought that Ava would like a place like this.”

“The stickier the bar, the better,” the principal tells her, having heard the redhead’s comment.

You don’t even remember how you got back to Melissa’s house. The last thing you can somewhat string together is dancing with your girlfriend and giggling as Barbara brought over another round of shots for your group. That one did you in.

You wake with a groan. God, your head is pounding. And if you’re feeling this way, you don’t even want to guess how Melissa is feeling.

Your stomach turns, and you bolt for the bathroom. Before you know it, your girlfriend is right there with you, emptying the contents of her stomach into the trashcan beside you.

“Oh my god,” you groan out as you flush the toilet.

“You’re tellin’ me,” Melissa whines as she closes up the bag and reaches for the mouthwash. “I’m never drinking again.”

“Neither am I,” you grumble as you reach for the bottle once she’s finished with it.

With a few grunts, you manage to pick yourself up off the floor before assisting your girlfriend up too. The two of you just barely make it back to bed before your hand dives into the nightstand on your side and you pull out the Advil. You shake a few pills into your hand before offering Melissa the bottle. She follows suit, and then you’re swallowing them with the little bit of water that still remains in your water bottle.

You spend most of the day asleep, and it takes you until approximately four in the afternoon to even slightly feel like a human. Your girlfriend drags you to the couch before she sluggishly makes her way into the kitchen. She comes back with a plate full of food.

“Lis, if I eat now, I will hurl again.”

“Just eat, she grumbles as she takes a bite of a cracker. “Soak up the booze with carbs.”

“I’m never drinking again,” you grumble as you force yourself to eat a few pieces of toast.

“Neither am I,” Melissa promises herself.

Of course, the next weekend, you’re out at the bars again.

I wanna watch you while you sleep. I know I might sound like a creep, but I can’t help myself. And it’s so easy to forget that we’ve barely even met, but I want no one else.

It’s one of those rare days where you wake up before Melissa on a Saturday morning. Her soft snores fill the room, her hair is splayed out underneath of her, and there’s a hint of a smile dancing on her lips as she dreams. You only hope that she’s dreaming of you.

You know it might come off as a little creepy, maybe odd, but you find yourself just studying her face as you lay there with her. She’s like an angel- your redheaded, fiery, angel. Her eyes open slowly, and she blearily blinks away the sleep. Warm, green eyes find yours.

“Good morning,” you whisper as you kiss her nose.

She giggles just slightly before pulling herself closer to you. “It is a good morning when I wake up with you.”

You just continue to hold her close to you and drink in the wonderfully delicious haze of this sleepy morning.

In that moment, you realize that you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. In bed with your beautiful girlfriend- the one, you think quietly to yourself. You know that the two of you haven’t been together nearly long enough to fully know if she’s the one you want to be with for the rest of your life. They say that if a couple stays together for more than two years, they’ve hashed it all out, and that seems to be the threshold that a lot of couples seem to struggle to make it to, but there’s a gut feeling that you have about her. You have a feeling that you’ll make it to that two year mark, and then a long while after that if you’re lucky.

It’s a Thursday that you’re supposed to go to your girlfriend’s house for dinner when she calls you while you’re clocking out of work.

“Hey, babe,” you answer with a smile.

“Hey.” You can tell immediately that Melissa is not in a good mood. “So, I know we’re supposed to have dinner tonight at my house.”

“But?” you prompt quietly, and you can’t quite hide the sadness in your voice.

“One of my kiddos, Sharmia, her mom is gonna be late picking her up. By like… three hours- won’t get back into the city until six at the earliest, and that’s if she doesn’t hit any traffic.”

“Oh,” you sigh softly. “Hey, that’s okay. I know you want to be there for her, and she’s more important.”

“Thank you for understanding,” your girlfriend says quietly into the phone. “I knew you would.”

“Of course I do,” you tell her. “What if I stopped by the school and brought dinner for all of us? And then I can just come over with you once she’s picked up.”

“You don’t have to do that,” the redhead says, although she’s hoping you insist. Today has been rough enough as it is, and now she’s stuck in the school for longer than she’d like to be.

“I don’t have to, but I want to,” you promise. “I can’t say that Wawa's will be nearly as good as what we were going to cook up tonight, but… it’s something.”

“Thank you.”

You pull up to the school just a little while later with hoagies and drinks in hand and call to let her know you’re at Abbott.

Only about thirty seconds later is your girlfriend and her student pushing open the door for you to enter.

Sharmia’s mother ends up coming to the school at 6:30, apologizing profusely for keeping the two of you at the school and waiting for so long. Melissa just waves her off, telling her she would do it if it meant Sharmia was safe.

They leave, and then you and your girlfriend are walking out of the school hand in hand. You pull up to her house in record timing.

“I’m sorry you couldn’t just let yourself in,” Melissa tells you as she unlocks the front door and pushes it open.

“Hey,” you get her attention quietly with a squeeze to her hand. “It’s no big deal. I still got to spend time with you.”

“Yeah,” Melissa sighs. “But I’m sure you would’ve rather been able to come here and relax with a glass of wine instead of sitting in Abbott with me eating Wawa.”

“You know I’m a slut for a good Wawa hoagie,” you joke. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Still,” your girlfriend sighs as she drops to the couch. She kicks off her shoes. “Jesus, I’m exhausted.”

You hum your agreement.

It’s an early night for the two of you, in bed and asleep by nine. Her chin is tucked into the crook of your neck, your arms keeping her against you to keep warm.

And come Saturday, the two of you are doing your rounds of shopping. She stops in front of the key making machine and inserts her key.

“What are you doing?” you furrow a brow.

Melissa smiles at you. “I’m making you a key… that way if I have another late night or you need something and I’m not there, you can just let yourself in.”

Slowly, your things make their way to Melissa’s house, and it’s fair to say that you practically live with her. You do still have your apartment though, in case something goes awry between the two of you and you need a place.

But your clothes intermingle with hers, you picking up her clothes and tossing them into the laundry with your own.

It warms your heart to know that there isn’t much your girlfriend hides form you at this point. You know where most of her weapons scattered around the house are- you always discover them with a chuckle.

More pictures of the two of you begin to litter the flat surfaces in the house, and you’re included in a few family photos with the entire Schemmenti clan. There’s even a picture of the Abbott clan with you in it.

The longer that you stay with Melissa, the more you become fairly certain that you truly will end up with her in your life forever, and this house will become yours too.

I wanna be your emergency contact. You can put me down ‘cause you know I know you best (I know you best). It doesn’t matter where I go without you I’ll never be home. I wanna share your address.

“Do you really have to go?” you ask your girlfriend after she tells you about the upcoming PECSA conference.

“I do,” Melissa sighs softly. “But it’s only for a weekend, and I’ll be fine. Other than that one PECSA weekend, I’ve been fine.”

“What happened at this one weekend?” you ask with an amused smirk.

The redhead’s cheeks tint pink. “I may have broken my wrist after I took a tumble.”

“Melissa!”

“It was a couple years ago, and I’m fine.”

“Mel, if something like that happens again,” you take her hand gently in yours.

“You’ll be my first call,” she promises. “Well, after Barb if she ain’t with me.”

“Okay,” you sigh. “Just please… try not to break another bone, especially if I’m not already with you.”

“Trust me,” your girlfriend rolls her eyes. “I’m really going to try to not break another bone. That shit hurt like a bitch.”

She pulls out her phone, and after a few taps, you’re listed as her emergency contact on her phone. “See? You’ll be the first person to be called if I can’t call myself.”

“You’re ridiculous,” you fold your arms with a loving smile.

Melissa shrugs. “Yeah, and you love me.”

“You’re lucky I do.”

When PECSA weekend rolls around, you hate how alone you feel. You attempt to keep yourself busy, but it’s weird not being with your girlfriend. She’s constantly texting you about all of the fun things that she’s doing though, and it makes you happy to know she’s having a good time. Even though she told you that you were more than welcome to stay at her house over the weekend, and you do, it doesn’t feel like home the way it does when she’s with you. Home isn’t her house, you realize with a soft sigh. Home is wherever she. When she doesn’t end up calling you because she broke her wrist again, you sigh a breath of relief. And as soon as she walks through that front door and pulls you into a tight hug, you feel the energy in the room shift. You’re home again.

You’re sitting at work when you get a phone call from your girlfriend. That’s odd- she should be standing outside at recess duty, not calling you.

“Hello?” you answer, voice laced with concern.

“Hun,” Melissa’s voice sounds a bit panicked. “I- I took a fall out on the recess yard.”

“Shit, are you okay?” you ask, although it’s clear from her tone alone that she isn’t.

“N-no,” she stutters out. “Barb’s gettin’ ready to take me to the ER now, but I- I wanted to let you know.”

“Shit,” you mutter as you close your laptop and begin to gather your things. “What hospital?”

“Jefferson,” she gasps out. “I- I definitely broke my ankle, hun.”

“Okay,” you sigh into the phone. “Okay, hold tight, babe. I’ll be there soon.”

“Thank you,” she whispers out.

“I love you,” you tell her before hanging up. You march yourself down to your boss’s office and let him know you’re heading out- family emergency. He just nods, and that’s all you need to sprint out of the office and out to your car.

When you get to the hospital, Barbara heads in your direction. “She broke it. They have her pretty drugged up right now, just a warning.”

You just give her a tight lipped nod before making your way into the room they have Melissa in.

“I told ya I’d call if I ever got hurt,” the redhead smirks, although her words are quite slurred.

You roll your eyes and make your way over to her, kissing her softly. “What the hell were you doing that you broke your ankle?”

“Janine challenged me to a monkey bar race,” your girlfriend tells you. “Hey, have I ever told you how beautiful you are, mi amore?”

“Idiot,” you grumble, but there’s a smile on your face. “You can be so stupid.”

“Yeah,” Melissa grins dopily. “Stupid in love with you.”

It’s only a year into dating that Melissa asks you to move in with her officially.

“Really?” you ask her.

Your girlfriend gives you a look that tells you she’s being serious, and you’re ridiculous for even questioning it. “Hun, you practically live here as it is. You have a key, you’re rarely ever at your apartment anymore, all of your stuff is here. I hav nothing to hide from you, your picture is all over this house. Why don’t we just…spare you the rent and share an address?”

“You don’t think it’s too soon? Too fast?” you ask her. You know that the two of you have thrown caution to the wind throughout most of this relationship, but still- moving in together officially is a big step.

She shakes her head. “If I thought we were moving too fast, do you think I would’ve asked you to move in?”

“If you’re serious, then yes. I’d love to actually move in with you.”

“Can I ask you one more question?” your girlfriend asks.

“Shoot.”

“So if we’re sharing an address, do you want to share a last name too?” Melissa drops to her knee.

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planetpedri · 2 days ago

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English love affair — Pedri González.

Pairing: Pedri González x Bellingham!Reader

Summary: You and Pedri had spent one, long, night together. That changed when it became a regular event. For months the two of you had continued to meet up, but out of nowhere it ended. After the El Clásico, Pedri finally gets the nerve to tell you why.

Word count: 1.6k+

Disclaimer/s: mention of a hook up, reader is judes sister. Mentions of drinking & thats basically it! no actual smut or anything bc i do nawtt write that!

A/N: listened to this song and immediately had an idea.. and then i gave up at the end if you couldn’t already tell LFMAOO

It started during a hot weekend in May. You’d visited Barcelona to see some of your old college roommates. They suggested club hopping, and who were you to decline some fun?

You were sitting on a bar stool, waiting for your drink when you first noticed him. He was easily recognizable, despite the dark clothes he wore to blend in with the crowd. He looked undeniably handsome under the dark strobe lights.

When his eyes found yours, a mixture of curiosity and confusion washed over his face. Pedri was only slightly tipsy, a few drinks in, but he felt sober. So, seeing the slight grin on your face he made his way over, abandoning his friends to get to you.

“You’re Bellinghams sister, right?”

You had nodded, sticking out your hand to introduce yourself. “Fancy meeting you here.” You quip, “drink with me?”

It was no secret that you loved attention. You were a model and your brother was famous, you were practically born for the spotlight. Having Pedri’s attention though, it was a different kind of euphoria.

The rest of the night was a blur. Sneaking out of Pedri’s house with a hangover, was a blur. What wasn’t a blur was when it happened the second time. It seemed that you had given him your number, and he wasn’t shy to use it.

Every trip you made to Barcelona, you stopped by. A little affair nobody knew about, your own secret that seemed to add more fuel to the fire.

When you moved to Madrid, Pedri’s desire to be near you had only increased. All he’d been thinking about since may was you. Every night before he went to bed—it was you on his mind.

During an international break, one that for once; Pedri hadn’t been called up for, you invited him to Madrid. It had been a while since you saw him and you would have been lying if you said you didn’t miss him.

He showed up at your place with a cautious smile. “Your brother isn’t going to make any stops by is he?”

You shook your head with a laugh, “he’s in England.” That’s all Pedri needed to know before he was cupping your face in a long awaited kiss.

Pedri was the first to break it off. He hated the sneaking around, the distance, and the fact that you were unintentionally distracting. He couldn’t get you off his mind during practice, sometimes even during games. He couldn’t have you on his mind during the El Clásico—but he didn’t tell you that.

Instead he opted for the slow ghosting. Less texts, calls, meetups, then, eventually, nothing.

You tried not to show it, but it hurt. You weren’t supposed to be upset about it, but you were anyways. Jude had noticed the change in your usually bright mood, but you couldn’t tell him.

How would you even begin to explain? ‘Hey bro, i’ve been sneaking around with your rival. Oh! And I might have accidentally fallen for him!’ Absolutely not.

The day of the El Clásico, you’d joined your family to support Jude. Up in the stands, you couldn’t help but look for him. You hadn’t seen Pedri in well over two months. He looked handsome, his face stern and focused as he walked onto the pitch.

He wouldn’t be able to see you from the pitch, but a part of you wished he could. Maybe then you’d get some answers as to why exactly he’d broken things off. A look in his face to give you the answers you do desperately wanted.

Barcelona won. The rival team. Madrid lost, and badly. You should’ve felt more disappointed, that was your families team, your brother’s team. But when you saw Pedri, his face wide and smiley, you couldn’t help but feel elated for the man.

Shit. You were so screwed.

“Why are you smiling?” Jobe grimaces.

Your smile falls, “just thought about something funny. My bad.”

That night, at the hotel while you wallowed in your own pity, a notification on your phone has you going through a dozen mood swings.

Pedro: Come over ?

First came anger. You had typed out a message calling him many, many rude names.

The second was guilt. You deleted the text, your fingers hovering over the send button as you typed out a quick apology.

The third was relief when he replied by saying;

Pedro: It’s okay, I deserved that.

Then you finally allowed yourself to smile, sending a quick, ‘omw’ before climbing out of your bed.

Pedri’s house was only fifteen minutes from the hotel, so you hadn’t bothered to come up with an excuse as to why you were gone. You texted Jobe to ask if he wanted anything from the store though, just in case.

You knew the front door was unlocked when you arrived, but you couldn’t simply walk in. Too much time had passed and you figured it was too awkward now.

Knocking lightly, you were surprised when the door swung open almost instantly. Slightly taken aback, you take two steps away from the door. “Hey!” You cover up with a quick greeting.

Pedri was flustered, his cheeks holding a twinge of red to them, which after months of seeing it, you never had enough of. “Hey.” He smiles, “come in.”

Walking past Pedri into the foyer, you slip off your shoes before trailing further into the house. It hadn’t changed in the last few months, except—oh! There was a puppy jumping at your legs.

“Nilo!” Pedri groans, “down!”

Laughing, you bend down to pick the pup up, holding him in your arms as he panted. “He’s so cute, when did you get him?”

“Uh, a while ago.” He shrugs. “Do you want anything? A drink?”

Shaking your head, you scratch Nilo’s head, your adoration growing when his eyes closed and his tail wagged. “No, but I would love to take this little guy home.”

Pedri rolls his eyes, laughing through a breath. “Funny. Go wait in the living room, I need to put his food up for the night.”

Doing just that, you find yourself getting comfortable on the couch, letting Nilo curl up in your lap. By the time Pedri returns, the dog is fast asleep. He grins at that before sitting down a few feet away.

“I’m sorry.” He finally admits, not beating around the bush or explaining, just apologizing. When you don’t say anything, Pedri leans his head onto the cushion and watches you.

You were clearly deep in thought, staring at Nilo with furrowed brows and pursed lips. “You ghosted me, Pedri. Out of fucking no where. Why?”

“Because you are a distraction!” He snaps, rubbing his jaw. “For months, all I could think about was you! It was messing me up and I needed to focus on the games not you.”

Oh! Okay, well. Right.

Now you just felt stupid. A blush spreads across your cheeks, although a sense of pride washes over you. He couldn’t stop thinking about you?

“You’re smiling.” Pedri interrupts your thoughts, “why are you smiling?”

Your gaze flickers to him, “you think about me often?” There is a twinge on teasing mixed with genuine curiosity in your voice that has Pedri’s eyes rolling and his lip twitching.

“Unfortunately.” He admits, which only had you elated.

You nod, looking back to Nilo. “I suppose I could forgive you for that.” You scratch the black dog’s ear, smiling when he yawns and stretches across your lap. “That is, if you don’t ghost me again.”

Pedri sighs, “I won’t.”

“Then you’re forgiven.”

“Hear me out,” Pedri starts, sitting up straight in his spot on the couch. “I take you out. On a real date.”

Your head snaps in his direction, “but—I though you—“

“I take it back. I don’t care who sees. I want to take you out.” He scoots closer to you on the couch, arm wrapping around your shoulders. “So?”

Tilting your head up, you force your wide smile to be suppressed into a closed lipped grin. “I would love that.”

“Good. When are you in Barcelona next?”

“Whenever you want me to be here, i’ll come.” You say simply, attention turning back to Nilo, who was waking up.

Pedri watches his dog as well, “i’ll let you know when i’m free again.” He tips his head, pressing a kiss to your jaw. Your head dodges him, “Ay—“

“You ghosted me, you still have to make up for that.” You giggle, “and I have snacks to acquire for my brothers who are going to kill me when they see us in the tabloids in the near future!”

Groaning, Pedri leans away. “Fine, fine. Text me before you leave to go back home, yeah?”

“As I used to do.” You press a kiss to his lips and gently set Nilo aside on the couch. “I’ll see you tomorrow!”

And with that, you were gone, making a pit stop at the store for snacks before getting back to the hotel. Jobe opens his door after you knock twice, to which you find Jude sprawled across the couch watching TV. “About time.” He quirks an eyebrow when you drop a bag on his lap.

“Is that dog fur on you?” Jobe questions, taking a peak at your shirt.

Your happy smile drops, “oh! A stray.”

“You could’ve gotten rabies.” Jude comments, to which you ignore.

“What are you watching anyways?” You ask, plopping down beside your brother, examining the TV. You were so not prepared for hell to break loose when they find out what really happened tonight.

likes , comments , and reblog’s are all appreciated. lmk if you’d like to be tagged in future pedri posts.

DTS , @halfwayhearted @sakashq @hrts4havertz @joaoflms @spidybaby @gadriezmannsgirl @unx100to !

#pedri gonzalez #pedri gonzalez x you #pedri gonzalez one shot #pedri gonzalez fluff #pedri gonzalez x reader #pedri gonzalez imagine #pedri gonzalez x fem!reader #pedri gonzalez angst #pedri gonzalez x y/n #blurb #football #fluff #fanfic #fc barcelona #fc barcelona fic #fc barça #fc barca #jude bellingham #jobe bellingham

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eff4freddie · 2 days ago

Text

After She Left | Fifteen

Words: 6.4k 18+ Minors DNI

Shauna may finally be gone, but now the real work begins: healing.

Chapter warnings: Angst, smut (yes *finally*, not me saving it to the last chapter lol), I dunno if it's even really smut because there are also feels tbh but nevertheless minors DNI, vaginal fingering, vaginal sex, oh my god we got there

A/N: Ok wow, I feel emotional. We've arrived at the final chapter. I just want to say an enormous thank you to all of you for your support of this story, your mutual and hilarious hatred of Shauna, and your patience with our girl Teach. I hope you find this ending satisfying, and I would absolutely LOVE to hear your thoughts - good or bad. I wrote this story over the course of many months, over the course of many life changes and a life-altering loss, and injury. You kept me going, and I thank you so much for that. Thank you, thank you, thank you x

Fourteen | Series Masterlist |

A/N 2: actually….after some sleep and some very fair and generous feedback I’m going to pop an epilogue on this guy. I can’t say goodbye to these three.

The front windows were dark, but as he pushed open the door he could hear the soft murmurs of Ellie and Tommy, felt along the corridor to the back room where they sat, huddled over a lantern, a loose blanket over Ellie’s shoulders. They stilled when he came in, Ellie giving him the once over.

‘Where is she?’ Joel murmured, his voice rough from the cold.

‘Put her upstairs, she was dead on ‘er feet,’ Tommy said. He watched the furrow of Joel’s brow lessen only slightly. ‘I wrapped her up tight and warm, brother,’ he said, grinning a little.

‘She spent all day with her,’ Ellie explained, her face impassive but the venom behind the word. ‘She deserved a rest.’

Joel nodded, considering this. He wanted to head up the stairs and stick his head in, check that you were warm enough, that you were still there. Tommy watched as Joel clenched and unclenched his fist.

‘Where is she?’ Tommy asked, and Joel quickly shook his head.

‘Didn’t find her, she took the horse and the gun. But I got the third one, brought it back here, put it in the garage with the others.’

‘We’ll have enough to get back, easy,’ Tommy calculated, and Joel agreed. He gazed back at Ellie, saw the way she was staring down at the tabletop as if it had secrets printed in the wood.

‘I might hit the hay,’ Tommy said, standing quietly and, catching Joel’s eye, nodding towards Ellie. ‘I’ll check in on Teach, make sure she’s restin’ easy.’

Joel’s shoulders finally fell, some of the tension leaking out of him. Suddenly he was so tired, his bones aching in the cold. He wavered a little as Tommy practically shouldered him into the chair beside Ellie, who watched him sit. In the lamplight her pale skin glowed, ethereal.

For a moment the two sat in silence, listening as Tommy’s footfalls quieted up the stairs.

‘M’sorry-‘

‘-sorry,’ Ellie said at the same time, the two of them stopping to smile nervously at the other.

‘What you sorry for, kiddo?’ Joel asked, reaching up to rub at his shoulder, the band of muscles tight all the way up to his jaw.

‘Comin’ out here, believing Shauna. Then Teach coming out, nearly getting…’

‘Stop,’ Joel said, moving forward to rest his hand on Ellie’s, turning it palm-up and gripping it. ‘This is on me, all of it. I wasn’t thinking straight.’

‘I heard what you said,’ Ellie said, her eyes still cast down. ‘This morning, that you thought I shouldn’t see Teach anymore. That I should spend more time with Shauna.’

Joel felt heat on his cheeks, a bubbling of something ugly and accusing in his belly.

‘I was trying to…keep the peace.’ He watched as Ellie scoffed, withdrawing her hand from him. ‘I was wrong,’ he said, quickly, hoping to catch her before she retreated from him entirely. ‘I was…weak. I was scared, I dunno. I shouldn’t have let her…’

At this, Joel trailed off. He wasn’t sure where to start, where exactly it had all truly begun. Was it when she pushed Ellie out into the studio? Was it when she essentially forced the Town Council to execute Steve and Wren? Was it when she arrived at the gates, injured and scared, having apparently scorched the earth here and running out of bridges to burn?

Was it when she left, the first time. When it was just him and Sarah, and he did his best not to show the anger, the hurt, for what he thought at the time was the sake of his little girl. Let her go on believin’ her mama might come back, let her go on leavin’ presents under the Christmas tree even years later. Didn’t really tell her what was goin’ on, just let her guess. Let her believe her mama might one day come for her, because he was too chicken shit to tell her the truth: Shauna never loved either of them, never had any capacity for love other than when it served her.

And he’d let her do it, let her leave and come back just to repeat the same shit twenty-five years later. Knew all that she was, knew what she was capable of, and kept her secrets just the same.

‘I should have protected you from her, and what she was doing…but I didn’t let myself see it, because I wasn’t strong enough to believe it for m’self,’ he said, eventually. He watched Ellie’s eyes go wide.

‘Woah,’ she muttered, and for a moment he just stared at her, the entirety of his circulatory system on display, his skin fleyed away. ‘That’s some serious honesty, man,’ she said, and then grinned at him. ‘Proud of you.’

Joel felt relief swirl light and cool in his belly, a huffed out little laugh escaping him.

‘Thank you, only took me a coupla decades,’ he said.

Ellie let her grin wane a little. ‘I thought I was gonna have to explain it to ya stupid ass,’ she said, and giggled with him.

Ellie rubbed at her eyes, the exhaustion suddenly plain on her face. Joel stilled, concern overtaking him.

‘Y’should sleep, Babygirl,’ he said, but Ellie was shaking her head.

‘Need to talk t’you,’ she said, shimmying her shoulders a little as if she could force the sleepiness off them.

Joel swallowed. ‘Wait…’ he said, because suddenly he was seeing visions of her telling him she wasn’t going back to Jackson, visions of her saying she was heading over the horizon to Salt Lake, to Washington, to some other QZ to try and find another nest of fireflies, a nightmare of her telling him she didn’t love him anymore after all that he did. ‘Wait, babygirl…I gotta tell you something,’ he said, watching her to make sure she’d let him.

She settled, uneasy, on her chair. Joel took a big breath. ‘When Shauna came back, and I first looked into her eyes, y’know what I saw?’

‘Sarah,’ Ellie said, easily, and Joel smiled a little. Of course she knew.

‘Yeah, Sarah.’

‘Y’told Tommy,’ Ellie said, casually throwing his younger brother under the bus, ‘and Tommy told me. I think he was worried I was mad at you.’

‘Are you?’

‘Yeah…but not for that part,’ she replied, with that honesty that could devastate him.

‘I kept her around, ignored all her shit, because…I felt like, I had to. I felt like Sarah was in there somewhere, like I could do her right somehow if I took in her mama.’

Ellie nodded, listening intently.

‘I was wrong, Babygirl,’ Joel said, his voice thickening under the strain of trying to get the words out before she abandoned him. ‘I see more of Sarah in you then I ever saw in those two eyes.’

Ellie blinked at him, reaching out to take Joel’s hand again, and he saw for the first time that it was trembling. He braced, took a breath. ‘See her in you when you’re givin’ me shit, when you make me eat m’breakfast…when you remind me to dress right for the cold. For so long I couldn’t even stand it, the way you reminded me of her.’

He swallowed. ‘The both of you…so smart, so funny. The way you do what’s right, always wanna do what’s right. Fix shit. Try to save people. Try to protect ‘em. She was like that. I loved that about her. I love that about you, too.’

He watched as Ellie’s eyes grew wet, mirroring his own. He wanted to reach up and wipe away the tear tracking down his cheek, but it would mean letting her go. ‘I saw you up there on that roof protectin’ Teach, trying to call them off ‘er.’ He tasted sour over the back of his throat, his heart beating wild in his chest, the image of you with your eyes shut tight wailing for them to come for you instead still seared onto the back of his eyelids. ‘Sarah was a smart girl, but that was brave, Babygirl. That was strong.’

He sucked in a breath, exhaling it long and slow out of his nose. ‘All this time I made you feel like you were matchin’ up to her, didn’t I?’ he asked, and his heart broke a little as she nodded. ‘You went out to that damn studio in the garage because you thought I didn’t need ya anymore, didn’t wantya now I had my old family back. Some of it, anyway.’ Again, Ellie nodded. Joel bit down on his bottom lip to stop it wobbling, wondering if he would draw blood. ‘I’ll never forgive m’self for making ya feel that way,’ he said. ‘Because she would have loved you, Babygirl. She woulda looked up t’ya, woulda done anythin’ she could to be a badass like her sister.’

At this, Ellie gasped, and Joel realised, for the first time, he’d said it out loud. Her sister.

‘Know I hurt ya, you and Teach.’ He had to remind himself not to grip her hand so hard he might break it, purposefully loosening his knuckles. ‘Just please…’ he said, a little gasped sob stopping him for a second. ‘Please…don’t give up on me.’

Ellie let his hand go, sliding back into the chair. Joel righted himself, wiping his face and mirroring her, trying to tamp down the panic washing up over the shore of his belly.

‘I don’t wanna stay in the studio,’ Ellie said, picking at the skin on her fingers.

‘You can come right back home…’ Joel agreed, but Ellie held her hand up to stop him and he trailed away. This was it. She was going to march off to meet her death on the side of some mountain, at the bottom of some ravine, at the end of a raider’s gun, and it would be as if he was the one that did it, slid the rocks out from under her feet, pushed her head under the water, pulled the trigger and painted her blood on the wall.

‘I want to stay with Teach,’ she rushed out, seeing that he was panicking, the way he was lifting his hand to his chest.

At this, Joel blinked, struggling to hear with one bad ear and the other full of blood and terror.

‘I…what?’ he asked.

‘I checked with her, she said it was OK if you said it was OK. She said…she could give me her spare room.’

Joel tried to digest this, tried not let the panic overtake him, the beast just behind his breastbone chanting under my roof, under my roof.

‘Did she?’ he asked, stupidly.

‘It’s not about…it’s not out of anger,’ Ellie said, her voice wavering a little. Later he would reflect on how hard this must have been for her, when he was able to assemble his thoughts into a line again. ‘I just…I need space. For a while. To get passed it all.’

‘You got space in the studio…’

‘Not there,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘Doesn’t feel right, now. Maybe one day but…now it just feels like that place is all about…her.’

He knew he couldn’t protest, knew he had no right to howl in anguish or fury at the idea. Even in the studio she’d been too far away, but now this…

But she was staying in Jackson. And you would care for her, like she was your own.

‘M’so sorry, Babygirl…’ he said, the weight of the day suddenly pressing on him. ‘You go wherever y’feel comfortable, I don’t want you to feel like ya can’t be…yourself, where you are.’ The guilt was heavy on his back, and he shifted in his seat to try and ease the pressure of it, failing almost immediately.

‘It won’t be forever…’ Ellie said, and he realised she was consoling him, something he never wanted her to be in the position to have to do.

‘No, you take as long as you need,’ he said. ‘I’ll be alright, will give me time to practice my guitar without…judgement,’ he said, mustering enough courage to wink a little on the last word just in the hope it would make her smile. To his relief, it did.

‘Can burn all the mac and cheese you want,’ she grinned.

‘Whole place will smell like burnt noodles 24 hours a day,’ he said, feigning pride and puffing out his chest. She giggled at this, and he felt some of it brush up against the sharp edges, debride some of the scorched flesh.

‘Listen, you and Teach…’ Ellie said, and he grimaced.

‘We don’t have to…’

‘You and Teach,’ Ellie repeated, talking over him, and he quieted immediately, ‘I don’t need to know details, but you nearly fucked that up too, man,’ she reported.

‘She hate me?’ he asked her, and Ellie pretended to think for a second before she shook her head.

‘Hate’s a strong word,’ she smiled, ‘but she and I talked and…I mean, I’m fine, but you gotta…’

‘I know I gotta,’ he said, raising his eyes to the ceiling, imagining you tucked up on a mattress made of sagging springs and rotting cotton.

‘She’s good for you,’ Ellie said, and Joel let his eyes snap back to her. ‘Before Shauna, and all of that…you were doin’ better. I could see it in you.’

Joel smiled at this, the fatigue pulling hard now at his shoulders. ‘She was a badass today,’ Ellie said, and Joel nodded.

‘She gave you her gun, huh?’ he asked, and Ellie nodded.

‘Tch…stupid,’ Joel muttered, pretending to disapprove, braced for the whack Ellie immediately sent his way.

For a moment they both stilled. ‘I dunno, she just…she feels so warm, y’know?’ Ellie said.

Joel nodded. All this time he’d been worried he would steal that very same warmth for himself, when you’d been trying to give it to him, willingly.

‘Yeah, I know,’ he agreed.

You woke with a gasp, the tattered curtains doing nothing to shield against the dawn. You squinted, your body wound tight like a spring, your mind racing to catch up. Ellie on the roof, Wren meandering towards you, then up in Joel’s arms, your face pressed into his neck as you whimpered. Your sense-memories kicked in before the images played in your mind, your heart thrumming against the walls of your chest while you fought to get your bearings.

Joel’s arms around you, holding you to him, up and into safety. Tight and strong. You could still feel them banded around your waist.

A soft little snore behind you made you freeze. You ran your hands under the blankets to feel the arms bracketing you, holding you again to him.

His warm breath pushed at the back of your neck, your legs tangled with his under the blankets. For a long moment you lay still, your eyes travelling passed the curtain to the vista beyond it, the snow-capped mountain where you had sent your gaze the night before, as you had prepared yourself to see Rose again, to be again with your parents. Knowing Ellie would be safe, to rest.

As the sun set last night over the trees, now the dawn broke across them. You let you a long breath you hadn’t known you’d been holding, felt the pull of the muscles under your jaw, a hot little tear threading its way down your cheek to the bare pillow beneath you.

‘Hey…’ you heard behind you, your little sniffles enough to wake such a light sleeper.

‘Sorry…’ you immediately started apologising, even as he turned you in his arms, pulled the blanket up over his shoulders and cocooned you in it, slipped his hand underneath your neck to cradle your head against the warmth of his skin. You gasped into him, feeling his pulse just beneath the skin as he pressed you to his throat.

‘Easy…easy…’ he whispered, and you sucked in a breath just to let it sob out of you.

‘M’sorry…’ you tried again, but he was having none of it, cooing to you with his lips to your brow, shushing you gently as you whimpered.

‘I thought I was going to…’ you stuttered, and he stilled, letting you get it out. ‘I was ready to, Joel. I was going to see Rose.’

He felt the weight of the words settle over his shoulders, felt the little tickle of heat behind his eyes.

‘Oh, my sweet girl,’ he whispered as you brought your hand to your face to shield yourself from him, from the sweetness of it, from the fault line emerging jagged and burning down your middle.

‘I got ready,’ you said, as he rolled to his back, pulling you with him and securing you fast to his chest. You cried into his neck, your face tucked away under his jaw.

‘No, not yet, baby,’ he cooed. ‘Not ready for that, yet.’

You felt the strength of his arms around you, the tightness of his hold, the tension in your muscles melting away under the press of him. Gradually you stilled, your gasping sobs simmering back into hiccupped little sniffles. Eventually you realised Joel had been speaking to you.

‘So brave…my smart, brave girl,’ he said, his mouth pressed again to your forehead. You closed your eyes, remembered the thundering of the horse as he rode to you, the world tilting as he pulled you to him, his whispered words as Tommy got Ellie off the roof.

Remembered the moment you saw her, had needed to pull her into your arms, to let your body feel her safe and sound, pressed her into your chest in the hope that your nervous system might finally start to believe.

You reached up and pushed your fingers through the buttonholes of Joel’s shirt, entwining yourself in him, weaving yourself into the fabric. You stilled as his hand came to rest on yours.

‘You found her, you got her back to me,’ he said, his voice thick. You raised your head and watched a tear track down his cheek. ‘Thank you, baby,’ he choked out.

The tear tracked a silver line down his skin, glowing in the light of the dawn. You pressed your lips to it, felt the moisture absorb into your skin, down into your bloodstream, where it mingled with yours.

‘She wants to live with me,’ you said, exhaustion pulling your head back down to rest on his cheek. ‘I won’t take her unless you say so.’

‘I know you’ll take good care of her,’ he said, earnest, to the peeling paint above your heads.

‘Do we go back to Jackson, now?’ you asked, your voice quiet.

‘I guess we do,’ Joel agreed, shifting his gaze to the window, eyeing up the cold. ‘Maybe when we’ve got the warmth of the day.’

You nodded, sniffling, still. You were hungry, and you were so tired, and you felt more exposed than you had in years, out beyond the walls. But Joel had you tucked up under his chin, wrapped in threadbare blankets on a lumpy mattress, and for the moment this was all you wanted, this moment to stretch out long and languid into the afternoon, this man beneath you and around you, before the world got so much harder all over again.

‘M’not ready to go back,’ you mumbled and he stilled, his hand suddenly gripping yours.

Panic seized him, commenced burrowing sharp claws into his chest. He knew he had hurt you, knew there was so much still to say, but he had thought Jackson was your home, had been yours before it had been his, and if either of you should choose to exile themselves due to the devastation he’d brought down upon you, it should surely be him.

‘…what?’ he gasped, letting his eyes track the blooming water stain in the ceiling to distract from the maw opening in his chest.

You raised your head to look at him properly, your tears dry on your cheeks. He gazed down at you, his heart beating so wildly in his chest he was sure you could hear it.

‘Please, Joel…’ you whispered, your eyes dropping to his lips as he felt them quiver. ‘I don’t want to go back to real life yet. I need to…I need…’

You trailed off, your cheeks pinking up in the gentle purple light breaking over the mountain.

He understood, then, pulling you up and over him so that he could properly crash his lips to yours. You reached up, pushing your fingers into his hair, feeling him shiver when you raked your nails over his scalp.

‘Oh, fuck…’ he whimpered into the cavern of your mouth, shifting his hips to seat you, straddled, above him.

‘Please…’ you whispered again, ‘I need to feel good.’

‘I know, baby, I know,’ he muttered, cradling you to him as he stripped your shirt from your body, peppering kisses over every inch of skin as he exposed it.

‘Need to feel you…’ you huffed, reaching down to pull his own shirt over his head, seeking out the heat of his skin, feeling the muscles taut and shivering as he hissed at your touch on him. His chest, so impossibly broad, marred with scars from years of conflict. His arms, so strong and firm when he circled you in them. His knuckles, split and pink from the cold, rough against your skin as you pressed them to your lips.

You felt the ache in your core, the sudden feeling of emptiness enough to have you keen into the air above your head.

‘Ssh…’ Joel whispered, reaching up to pull you back down to him, kissing you deep and slow to swallow your groans. ‘Need to be quiet, baby, can’t wake up the whole house.’

You nodded, concentrating hard to try and make sense of what he was saying to you, distracted as you were by his hard length now nestled between your thighs. You rolled your hips, pushing down on him just enough to elicit a gasp from him and you smiled, then, victorious. You watched the dimple on his right cheek emerge as gave you a lopsided grin. ‘Cheeky girl,’ he said, as you rolled again.

You kissed him again, tasting him in your mouth, grasping his bottom lip between your teeth. How many nights had you spent imagining his beneath you like this, writhing and groaning?

‘God, baby, so beautiful,’ he muttered, grasping at your hip and pushing his clothed cock up to your mound. ‘I was so selfish when I had you on that damn couch,’ he gritted out, taking a second to gasp and regain his ability to speak. ‘Just took from ya…’

He pushed one foot into the mattress as he flipped you, catching your yelp in his palm over your mouth as he positioned you underneath him, reaching down to pull your pants and your underwear off and down your legs.

‘Wanna give now, baby, just like you deserve,’ he promised as you let your eyes fall closed, his words a soothing balm over your frayed nerves.

You fumbled for his waistband, fumbling fingers in the way of his as you pulled at him. He grinned, removing his hand from over your mouth to slip the fabric free of his hips. You allowed yourself a single glance.

He was beautiful, like he’d been carved out of marble just for your eyes. His cock, hard and thrumming as it was, thick and almost purple he was so hard. You swallowed a moan, turning your head to sink your teeth into his forearm to keep yourself from making a sound. He let our a surprised laugh.

‘Been thinking about this pretty little cunt ever since I tasted her,’ he informed you, his eyes roaming over your body as you lay beneath him, panting and your chest red. He leant down, unable to resist, to slip a nipple between his lips and tugged gently at the bud between his teeth. Your hands automatically went to his hair, turning his curls over in your fingers as you whimpered above him. ‘This beautiful little cunt all spread open for me on that fuckin’ couch,’ he said, using his free hand to trace his way down your body to tease, gently, between your thighs. You felt his fingers trace your slit, gently ghosting up and down over the skin and you keened for him, rolled your hips as if you could grasp him and bring him into yourself through sheer force of will.

‘Thought about you…’ you confessed, suddenly emboldened by your overwhelming need for him, by the pulsing of your cunt so close to his touch. ‘About your mouth on me, about your fingers.’

‘Bout my cock?’ he asked, and you nodded, your eyes finding his as he slipped his fingertip to your clit, finding the little bundle of nerves straining for him. You gasped as he made tight little circles, played you like an instrument made just for his hands.

‘Oh…!’ you gasped as he descended, lay his body on you and captured your lips in a searing kiss. He kept his mouth clamped as he slid his fingers between your folds, his weight pressing you into the mattress and enrobing you in him. He bit back a groan as he explored you, felt your slick gathering at the peak of your thighs.

‘Please…’ you whimpered into his mouth, bring your face to the side to again bring your mouth to his bicep, whispering pleas into his skin. ‘Please, need you, please don’t tease me…’ you begged.

He shifted, settling between your thighs, watching your face as you opened your eyes to follow him as he moved above you.

‘God, baby…’ he said, and you nodded at him, agreeing wholeheartedly with all the things in this moment he couldn’t find the words to say.

Joel took a second to breathe, to record this moment in his mind, so unsure if he would ever get another one like it. He shook himself, sliding a shaking hand over his length and pushing to notch at your entrance.

He watched your face as he found his home in you. Saw the way your face relaxed, from saddled brows and gasping pleas to closed eyes, slack jaw, your mouth hanging open as he stretched you. He leant forward to take your chin in his hand, nibbling little kisses to your chin as he hitched your leg over his hips to sink himself in, deeper.

Heaven. Maybe he had died down on that street after all. He shivered as you raised your hands to his back, cradling him to you, your sweet little whimpers hot in his ear.

‘So big…’ you gasped, as he stole your lips in another kiss.

‘M’sorry, baby,’ he started, the pleasure running rampant over his brain stem, words suddenly bubbling up from deep inside. ‘M’so sorry, I just took…I just took…’ he said, sorrow melding with white hot joy. ‘Wanna give it all back, everythin’ anyone ever took from ya,’ he choked out, half out of his mind now, feeling a crack appearing in a long-held dam. ‘Wanna love you, baby, like you should be.’

You were gasping, taking fast, shallow breaths as he pushed impossibly deeper inside you, whimpering as tears gathered again on your cheeks.

‘Joel…’ you mewled, and he sobbed out your name to pair it.

‘Will never hurt you again,’ he promised, cradling your head in his hands as he went up on his elbows above you, kissed the tears where they ran. ‘Will only love you, baby, I promise. I promise.’

You fluttered around him, and he thought as long as he lived he’d never feel peace as this, never feel so at home as he was buried inside your beautiful, warm body.

He ground against you, his pubic bone pushed hard and unforgiving into your clit. You lifted your head to Joel’s shoulder, sinking your mouth into the muscle to stop yourself from crying out at the burning pleasure of it, the building ache.

‘I can’t…’ you whined, ‘I can’t hold it back, Joel…’

‘Don’t you dare hold it back, wanna see you come’ he gritted out, purposefully grinding harder on your clit just to watch your brows arch.

You shook your head. No, no, not that. Couldn’t hold the world back, couldn’t hold back the encroaching dark. Couldn’t hold the love back, rushing up to meet you as you crashed, as you fell all the way down.

You took his face in your hands, desperate to get him to understand. He dipped his hips, his pace slowing as he ground deeper into you, his eyes searching yours. You shook your head again, scared to speak lest you let it all go.

You knew after this it wasn’t going to be easy. That after this there would be hard conversations, long-healing wounds. That after this the sharp edges would reappear, the hardness of the world encroaching again. But in this moment, Joel nestled deep inside you, his skin between your teeth and his arms wrapped so tight against you. In this moment you were safe, in this moment the cold and the darkness could never get to you. In this moment your salvation and your forgiveness, in this moment your acceptance of his flaws and of yours. In this moment, well beyond the walls to protect you, freer than you had ever been.

You couldn’t contain it. The tremorous fear, the scorch of it, the aching. Couldn’t let it go, terrified to let it consume you.

You watched realisation dawn across his face.

‘Oh baby, I know,’ he said, resting his forehead on yours as he felt the wildfire begin at the base of his spine. ‘S’OK, baby,’ he assured you as you writhed beneath him. ‘We’ll go together, we’ll go together, my sweet girl.’

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

No one in Jackson had a lot of stuff, so Ellie fit quite nicely into your spare bedroom, and into your life. As soon as she’d settled into her new space you settled into your new routine of waking her in the morning, ignoring her grumbling, making her eat some oats or some toast and packing her off to walk with you to school. Of an afternoon she’d go off with Dina or her group of steadily solidifying friends, returning to your doorstep for dinner just as the sun dipped low over the horizon.

Some nights she’d help you cook, cutting the potatoes with a steady hand, her concentration poking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth. Other days you would send her down to the mess hall to bring back something, holding the leftovers in the fridge for the morning.

Before bed you’d get her to read to you for a little bit, and her pompous English accent was coming along. It had worked especially well for Persuasion, but less so for The Great Gatsby.

‘I don’t see what was so great about this Gatsby guy,’ she proclaimed, screwing up her face in distaste.

‘Mmm,’ you agreed, non-committal. ‘Let’s see how that plays out.’

You kept telling yourself she was your roommate, so you resisted the urge to tutor her, to parent her, in the times when you weren’t at school. You had stumbled upon a somewhat motivating phrase one afternoon when she was feeling restless, talking about sneaking Dina out of her house past curfew to go and hang out with some of the younger patrolmen behind the Bison, asking her with a patient tone ‘What would Joel say?’. She’d stayed tucked up in bed that night, and every night the rest of that week.

And some afternoons you knew that she left school and went to stand on the wall with him, chatting to him and keeping him entertained until his shift was over and she came back home. You resisted the urge to ask about him, wanting to give her the time with him, to give yourself the time just the same.

When you’d returned to Jackson you hadn’t had to ask him, knew that he sensed it anyway, in that way that he had. You cooled things off with Jonah, kept your head down thinking about the next year’s curriculum, considering whether you could safely incorporate some kind of field trips beyond the wall so the kids could be safe if they ever got stuck out there. The Town Council were considering the idea, even though Billy wasn’t keen.

And you kept clear of Joel, letting the wound settle a little before you poked it, parts of your life still feeling purple and bruised where he had been. Sometimes you and Rose discussed it of a nighttime, and you were surprised to find she was on your side. She counselled not guarding your heart too closely, when the time was right that you felt you could let him in. When you were ready. Until then, you knew he was there.

Joel worked the wall, his eyes on the horizon and on the streets beneath him. If he got up early enough, started his shift a little early, he could be up in time to see you and Ellie make your morning pilgrimage to your little schoolhouse on the hill. He wouldn’t feel settled until he saw it, your two figures disappearing around the corner, wrapped up against the cold.

He filled his time. He was getting better at guitar, remembering some old tunes he hadn’t thought of for a long time, some of Sarah’s favourites if he remembered properly. Of a nighttime he would come down off the wall and make his way to Tommy’s, have a quick bite for dinner and head back home before Robin got too grizzly. He probably wouldn’t ever be able to tell him, but he was proud of the father Tommy was becoming, of the leaders he and Maria were for Jackson. He’d never be able to say how grateful he was to his brother for helping him secure this second chance.

And then there were his favourite afternoons, the ones where Ellie would amble down the hill just as the light started fading, vault up the ladder and keep him company ‘til shift change. The first time she’d done it he’d stood, his hands in his pockets and almost too scared to turn to her, keeping his back stiff and upright looking out over the treeline. She’d settled beside him, resting against a pillar and gazing out and up over the mountain. She hadn’t said anything of any consequence, nothing of any meaning, her presence there just enough for him.

The second time he’d asked her if she liked her new place and she agreed that she did, even though you were always trying to teach her things. He grinned at that, his mind conjuring up an image of you, exasperated, trying to make Ellie concentrate on a twenty-year old textbook.

‘She makes me do the accents,’ Ellie complained to him, and he huffed out a laugh into the grimy light of the late afternoon.

‘I know you well enough to know no-one can make you do anythin’, kiddo,’ he deadpanned and watched as the blush spread over her cheeks.

‘Next week we’re starting our new unit,’ she informed him, and his ears perked up at this.

‘Yeah, what she gotcha doing?’ he asked.

‘The Middle Evils,’ Ellie replied, and Joel grinned, not correcting her. That was a battle you could fight just fine on yer own.

After Ellie disappeared down your street for dinner he contemplated following her, seeing if you’d let him in. He held himself back, knowing that was selfish, that he needed to be patient for you. That he’d earned this penance, this atonement. Knew that he would wait for you, until the world’s very last dawn, even if he secretly hoped it would be sooner than that. Until then, he knew you were there.

Ellie called out from the front door, pushing her boots off so as not to track in the snow.

‘There’s another one!’ she called, and you felt a little bubble of something in your chest.

‘What is it this time?’ you called back, your hands busy as you sat at the kitchen table.

‘It’s a guy…umm…he’s got a helmet on, and a little sword?’

You thought for a second.

‘A knight?’ you asked.

She entered the room, dropping the carefully carved figure on the table in front of you. He even had a little shield.

‘Were they like…the Middle Evil soldiers or something?’ Ellie asked and you sighed, having corrected her enough times to know she was now doing it on purpose.

‘Like…ancient FEDRA,’ you said, and she screwed up her nose.

‘Ugh, gross,’ she said. She settled beside you, picking up a coloured sheet of paper and a pair of scissors you’d borrowed from the seamstress in town.

Thoughtfully, she started cutting.

‘I saw him this time,’ she said, and you felt your hands shake a little as you made the final snip to your paper star.

‘He’s normally so sneaky,’ you said, and she huffed in agreement.

‘I think maybe he wanted to be seen,’ Ellie said, matter-of-factly.

‘What makes you say that?’ you asked, but Ellie didn’t answer, now fully engrossed in cutting the stars. You were giving Prom another go, hoping for no further interruptions this time. The theme was Winter Wonderland, which just so happened to necessitate the triumphant return of Ellie’s decorational genius.

‘I wondered about inviting him in,’ she said, after a while.

‘Is he good with scissors?’ you asked, trying to massage some feeling back into your hand.

‘One way to find out,’ Ellie said. You saw her watching you, carefully, out of the corner of your eye.

‘You think you’re ready for that?’ you asked her, and she levelled you with an honest gaze.

‘I am if you are,’ she said. You felt a little flip in your stomach, a traitorous little spark of something that could have been excitement, could have been fear.

‘Umm…’ you said. Out of the corner of your eye Rose smiled warmly at you, nodding slowly, always so kind, so calm. You'd try to be more like her.

‘I mean, there’s still so many of these to cut,’ you said, after a while. Ellie grinned, jumping up from the table and down the hall, flinging the door open hard enough to whack it into the wall.

Not for the first time, Ellie’s enormous voice rang out, clear as a bell and knocking the wind from you.

‘COME IN, JOEL! SHE SAID YES!’ she called.

Taglist (and extra special thank you list)

@harriedandharassed

@vickie5446

@kaseyconnour

@orcasoul

@missladym1981

@spacesoutdaydreamer

@tangled-tumbler-blog-blog

@fancyyoouu

@anoverwhelmingdin

@millersamour

@delicatetrashtree

@wand-erer5

@somedayheaven

@maryrhodalouandted

@casssiopeia

@atorturedpoetatmidnight

#joel miller #joel miller x reader #pedro pascal fanfiction #joel miller x you #pedro pascal #joel miller smut #joel miller fanfic #pedro pascal characters fanfiction #the last of us fanfiction #pedro pascal fic

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lillaydee · 2 days ago

Text

A New Life

Jackson! Joel Miller / OFC

Starting a new life with each other in Jackson seemed to be going well, until it didn't.

Word Count: 15,272

Just one more story that I am uploading for practice purposes - I have many, many completed stories to upload, but am not that used to Tumblr yet, so it will take time to upload all of them - I'm not sure I will actually upload all of them, even. Right now, I'm just uploading the shorter ones for practice - just until I get used to the site. I will continue uploading the two series I have started uploading every other day - using those to practice scheduling stuff on Tumblr.

This fic also contains the very first smut I've ever written. I'm notoriously bad at it - I blush when I type smut out, so I apologize in advance if the smut is not smutting.

Thank you for those who have chosen to read my little mind worms. I appreciate you so much - there are no words.

WARNINGS: Mentions of Sexual Assault, Joel is Bad at Feelings (The Last of Us), Mutual Pining, Idiots in Love, Jealousy, Communication Failure, Joel Needs a Hug (The Last of Us), Angst, Fluff, Non-Smutting Smut, Happy Ending.

They decided to tell Ellie the truth. To say she was infuriated was an understatement, remaining silent throughout the journey back to Jackson. When they walked into the now familiar house. Ellie ran straight upstairs, the aggressive slamming of the door rattling the house, maybe for real, or maybe Joel and Madeleine were too in their heads when it came to the teenager’s wrath at them. Maybe they even deserved it. The two looked at each other, resigned to the teenager’s inevitable mood for the foreseeable future.

“You want to take the master?” Joel asked.

“No, I’ll take the room down here”, Maddie replied.

With that, Joel and Maddie went their separate ways to their respective rooms, closing the doors behind them.

Maddie was bone tired. Funny how the fatigue just set in when your body realized you had finally arrived, safe and sound. She didn’t even bother showering before throwing herself onto the dusty bed. Fuck it, she thought. She slept in the dirt for months. A night or two on a dusty bed wouldn’t hurt her. It seemed Joel and Ellie had the same idea, no sounds of plumbing or running water to be heard. It was sundown, but they could all use the rest. Who cared if they slept for 12 hours? After what they had just been through, they deserved it.

But try as she might, Maddie couldn’t sleep. The room felt suffocating. After almost a year of sleeping out in the open, this felt claustrophobic. Like she was sleeping in a room-sized coffin, but a coffin, nonetheless. She also had gotten used to having Joel and Ellie next to her when sleeping. Now that she was alone, it just felt unsafe, despite the obvious opposite. She tossed and turned, trying to calm her mind enough for sleep to take hold, but her mind kept replaying what happened over the last few days.

How the whole thing didn’t make sense to her, even on the surface. The dilapidated hospital, the lack of staff and resources, the ambitious nature of it all despite the lack of proper procedure and expertise. How could one doctor and two nurses create a cure in these conditions? So, when the doctor confirmed her biggest fear, she reacted. And it seemed Joel found out too, considering he mowed through the entire hospital to get to them. By the time they got out of there, the only people left alive were the three medical professionals, locked in the threadbare operating theatre.

But Ellie couldn’t see it from their point of view, going on and on about how her life was now without purpose, how she could’ve died for something meaningful, how they took that choice away from her. Maddie and Joel kept quiet. They let her say her peace and hoped that one day she would understand how important she had become to them both.

A glance at the clock showed it was nearing midnight. This was getting ridiculous now. Her body was protesting its own indecisiveness. So tired, but too restless and her head too full to sleep. Deciding that rest was vital before she lost her mind, she picked up her pillow and blanket, and went into the living room. Maybe a bigger space will help her breathe easier, and hopefully sleep would claim her. Laying the blanket on the floor, she laid down, looking around the room in the dark. This would be home from now on. She just needed a few days to get used to it, she was sure of it.

Not that time ever made her feel like any place was home anyway. She had spent close to 15 years at the QZ working as a nurse at the FEDRA hospital. But she had never felt at home there, and the fact that she had never agreed with their policies didn’t help. She helped Tess and Joel whenever she could, getting them what they needed from the hospital, helping them make connections so that they could get out when they needed to, keeping a lookout for them, and in return, they helped protect her. But when she was found out, the officer wanted a bribe. Instead of turning her in, maybe he could turn a blind eye, if she would open her legs for him whenever he wanted. When she resisted, he assaulted her, the physical assaults leaving her face black and blue and bloody, eyes so swollen she couldn’t open them properly, the sexual assaults leaving her bleeding, unable to walk for days. She couldn’t leave her apartment for a whole week, and when Tess and Joel found her, they smuggled her out to live with Bill and Frank. For five years, she helped nurse Frank, before finding them in each other’s arms, a goodbye note and a set of instructions on the dining table.

When Joel and Ellie arrived, she decided to go with them, and the rest was history.

A small thud from a pillow thrown next to her own jolted her from her thoughts, Joel standing over her. It seemed he couldn’t sleep either. He laid down next to her, threw his blanket over them both, and now there were two of them unable to sleep instead of one. Their bodies so weary they couldn’t even find the energy to talk, but the unease in their hearts wouldn’t allow them to sleep. After about an hour of them just lying there staring at the ceiling, the stairs creaked. Ellie joined them, lying on Maddie’s other side. Maddie pulled her closer, and covered her with the blanket too, Joel shuffling closer to her on her right.

Within minutes, all three of them were sound asleep.

***

Madeleine spent the next week scrubbing the house top to bottom, Joel fixing whatever needed fixing. Ellie still hadn’t spoken to either of them, spending her time in the backyard cleaning it up. Maria had come by, setting the three of them up with basic needs to start their new life, and jobs for them to contribute. Maddie, obviously, would be helping Dr Marcus Adams at the big house in the center of town used as the clinic. Joel was set up with some constructing duties, as well as patrol, and Ellie was asked to help at the stable after school.

A couple weeks in, the three of them had somewhat settled into a routine. Although Ellie was still obviously extremely angry with the both of them, she stayed close, not knowing anyone in town apart from them. A month in, she had started to make friends, and her silence was replaced by some mumblings letting Joel or Maddie know where she was headed to before storming off, followed by the obligatory slamming of the door. At this point Joel or Maddie had gotten used to her tantrums, both silently agreeing that this was better than her lying dead on that operating table. Joel even made a joke that he should scavenge for new doors just in case she managed to shatter one with all the slamming.

And then there’s the two of them. Their day-to-day life, preparing meals together, doing household chores, dealing with Ellie’s tantrums, felt so right, so normal, that it wasn’t hard to convince herself the three of them were a family. They had breakfast together every day, Ellie storming off as soon as she finished. Joel and Maddie would then follow suit, walking a distance behind her, making sure she arrived at the school safely. Joel would then walk her to the clinic and go to work. After lunch at the mess hall, Maddie would watch from afar to make sure Ellie got to the stable alright, not wanting to suffocate the angry teenager. Joel would then pick her up from work in the evenings, and both of them would wait for Ellie to finish at the stable a distance away before following her home, again, from a distance.

As unconventional as their days as a family were, this was their new normal. They liked it, even Ellie, not that she would ever admit that. It was as if they were her parents. To Maddie, this new routine was as domestic as she had ever felt, and before she knew it, she was seeing Joel in a different light, wondering what it would be like if they were a couple, and if he felt the same for her. But Joel had never shown her any interest beyond the normal protective man that they knew him to be.

Just as he had given a sense of safety and familiarity to Maddie and Ellie, they were also those things to him. And he would be lying if he were to say that Maddie was just someone he had travelled with. But she was a victim of sexual assault, and he wasn’t willing to scare her off by telling her how he felt. So, he took what he could get, and lived his life with her, hoping that she felt the same way, and that they would be together one day. He was comfortable with her, she was familiar, he felt like he could be himself with her.

Things went this way for a while. Over time, Ellie’s anger seemed to dissipate slightly, and she was beginning to talk to Maddie and Joel when the need arose. But being a teenager, she began spending more time with her friends, and wanted her own space. Eventually, she stopped sleeping downstairs, leaving Joel and Maddie alone, both of them still needing the familiarity of each other’s company to rest.

About three months in, Maddie woke up to Joel spooning her, his arms wrapped around her. She sighed contentedly, feeling happier and more rested than she had ever felt. When Joel awoke, he seemed flustered, mumbling his apologies, covering his crotch with the blankets before going upstairs to get ready for the day. For the rest of that week, Joel and Maddie woke up in each other’s arms, but never took it further. Both of them were convinced that the cuddling was accidental, just an unconscious move one of them made in the night. But the domesticity between them increased, standing nearer to each other, letting their shoulders touch when cooking or walking next to each other, fingers brushing against one another, shy smiles exchanged all the time. Ellie noticed, her eyes rolling, but she smirked softly with approval every time the two made eye contact before looking away pink-cheeked and embarrassed.

That day, after dropping Ellie off, Joel asked Maddie if she would go to the Tipsy Bison for a drink with him that night, just the two of them. Joel’s smile was so wide his eyes disappeared, his hand rubbing the back of his neck, his heart close to bursting when she shyly said yes. They continued walking slowly towards the clinic, hands brushing against each other in the process. Joel was having a discussion with himself in his head on whether or not to kiss her on the cheek upon dropping her off at the clinic, when a group of men went running past them towards the clinic, carrying a very bloody man. Maddie looked at Joel, who nodded. She said a quick goodbye before running to the clinic to help.

The rest of that day went by with a blur. The patient had tried to fix his malfunctioning fridge when it shocked him, and his violently seizing body caused it to topple over and crush him. His injuries were severe, and Maddie and Marcus never left his side, staying at the clinic for the next three nights before he stabilized, taking turns sleeping for an hour each at the studio apartment above the clinic.

When Maddie went home days later, Joel was not in the living room sleeping. He had gone upstairs to his own room. Maddie slept in her own room for the first time that night, exhaustion taking her to dreamland within minutes. When she woke up the next day, having slept in later than she normally would, Joel had gone on patrol.

Dinner that night was quieter than usual, Joel exhausted from his long day, Maddie too. Ellie was just rushing through dinner to go to movie night. After they cleaned up, Joel put his jacket on and told Maddie he was going out for a drink before closing the door behind him. Maddie was dumbfounded. What happened to going to the Tipsy Bison together? Did he want her to go with him? Did he ask her, but she didn’t hear? She decided she was going anyway. It was weird to go this long without him.

When she got to the Bison, she searched the room for him or Tommy. She found him almost immediately, sitting at the bar, a drink in his hand, chatting with someone she couldn’t see, his back to her. She walked over, eager to join him, when the crowd parted. He was sitting next to a beautiful redhead, who was animatedly telling him a story. She looked young, probably in her mid-twenties. She was textbook beautiful, with her perfect face and her perfect body in a beautiful wrap dress. Maddie looked at her own reflection in the mirror behind the bar, feeling like she looked at least fifty, and not the mid-forties that she really was, her clothes plain and baggy, hiding her less than perfect body, full of scars from their long journey together. He laughed at her jokes, looking like he’s having a hell of a time. Maddie shook the shock away, walking forward again, when the redhead wrapped her arm around his free hand, and placed her head on his shoulder. Maddie got closer and called his name.

Joel and the redhead turned, Joel quickly pulling his hand away from her hold. The redhead looked her up and down and smiled.

“You must be Madeleine, you’re Joel’s roommate, right?” she asked, her charming smile making Maddie feel like a frumpy old lady.

Joel cleared his throat. “Maddie, this is Vanessa, my patrol partner.”

***

Maddie forced a smile on her face and said hi to Vanessa. Joel pulled the chair on his other side and asked her to join them. But Maddie felt like she was interrupting. She now felt sure that he did not in fact ask her to join him before he left the house. He wanted to be alone with her. And now he was inviting her to join them because he felt bad, or felt he had to. Maddie felt hot all of a sudden, her face flushed with embarrassment. She mumbled some incoherent half-assed excuse about needing to get up early and turned to go home. She heard Joel call after her, but she was too mortified with the realization that she had made up his affection for her in her head that she just bolted. She ran face first into Tommy who asked her to slow down, but she didn’t. She needed to get out of there as soon as she could.

Fuck. What was she thinking? Why the hell would he want to be with some middle-aged old maid such as herself when he could get a Vanessa? Young, beautiful, sexy, sex-on-a-leg Vanessa? Those perky boobs of hers that were close to spilling out of her dress probably didn’t even need bras. Maddie couldn’t get her own boobs to look that perky with the best push up available. He may be in his fifties, but Joel was a good-looking guy, and Maddie had not missed the way the ladies in Jackson giving him fuck-me eyes on the daily. He had always been oblivious to this phenomenon, and Maddie stupidly thought it was because he only cared for her attention, but clearly, she was wrong. Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT! How was she supposed to look him in the eyes again?

When she got home, she went straight to her room, not bothering to turn the lights on. Sleep evaded her, her heart hammering away, but the embarrassment she felt earlier was now replaced with something she could not identify. She had never felt like this before. Her heart felt… heavy. The weight of it pressing down on her as she laid on her bed. She turned sideways to ease it, it worked for a while, but returned a few minutes later. After what felt like hours, she heard the front door open, and Joel’s familiar heavy footsteps walked in, the sounds coming closer and closer before stopping at her door. She saw the shadows of his feet in the sliver of light under the door from her dark room. She could hear his hand touching the door handle, but after what felt like hours, she heard him huff a long breath before retreating and going up to his own room. Maddie let go of the breath she didn’t realize she was holding. She turned one final time, letting the heaviness play with her mind until sleep took her.

The next morning, Maddie practically shoved food down Ellie’s throat in order to whisk her away to school as soon as possible, terrified of running into Joel. Ellie pushed her hand away, grumbling what her problem was. As they were leaving, she heard Joel’s door open. Maddie grabbed Ellie by the collar and pulled her out the door, literally jogging away from the door. She heard the door open, and Joel’s voice call for them, Ellie stopping to wait for Joel, but Maddie kept pulling.

“What is going on with you? Why are we running from Joel?” she asked.

Before Maddie could answer, Vanessa appeared out of nowhere, colliding with her, the force of it pushing both of them on the ground, Maddie literally eating dirt. Joel ran up, helping Vanessa up, checking she was alright before turning to Maddie, whose lips were now bleeding from her face plant. Joel looked concerned, hand coming up to her face, but before he could do anything, Vanessa piped up,

“I was just on my way to get you. We need to leave now. The patrol from last night didn’t return. I was going to go get Tommy next,” she said, her voice urgent.

Maddie wiped the blood on her lips while Ellie helped her up. Joel looked at her, her lips sans blood now. Maddie said something about being late for work and turned around, pulling Ellie with her. Ellie kept quiet after that, somehow reading that any comments on what just happened wouldn’t be welcomed, especially the fact that Joel helped Vanessa up before her. Maddie felt childish, as if she was reading too much into this. He had reached Vanessa first, so it made sense that he helped her first, right? Of course he would’ve helped her too. Of course he would’ve. He would’ve. He definitely would’ve.

When she got to the clinic, Marcus, who was fast becoming her best friend from all the time they spent alone at the clinic, was already there. He turned to greet her, only for his face to morph into concern at her swollen lips, now bleeding again. He forced her to take a seat, despite her protests, fussing with swabs and ointments to make sure she didn’t need stitches. He gently pried her lips open, looking at them with a small torch, dabbing lightly to see if the bleeding could stop on its own, his left hand holding her cheek.

Someone cleared their throat. The two looked up to see Joel standing in the doorway, his face like thunder. He said something about not knowing what time he would be home that day, and to make sure Ellie got home on time, before abruptly turning around and leaving, the door slammed harder than it should behind him. Marcus looked bewildered for a second, before declaring she didn’t need stitches, but dabbing some ointment on her lips anyway, just to be safe.

When both batches of patrol came back that evening, Maddie was relieved to see Joel unscathed, just tired looking, Vanessa riding next to him, looking like some badass chick coming home from a victorious battle, her red hair looking perfect as ever, an easy smile on her face, which was gazing adoringly at Joel. A few riders from last night’s patrol were injured, so Marcus called Maddie to give him a hand. She felt Joel’s eyes on her but did not dare look. She focused on cleaning the injuries and then preparing the trays and equipment to stitch up the wounds, her and Marcus working well together, fast and efficient.

After what felt like a thousand hours, Maddie was looking forward to going home, taking a shower, having a quick dinner and just sleeping the rest of the night away. She was walking towards the stables to get Ellie, stomach rumbling, when someone called her name. It was Vanessa, running slightly to catch up with her.

“Hey Maddie? I just wanted to say sorry for running into you like that this morning. I was in a hurry and didn’t see you. Are you alright?”

Maddie nodded, so not in the mood to feel inferior right now, and Vanessa just brought that out of her. Vanessa continued almost immediately after the nod,

“Hey, just wondering. You and Joel, you guys are not together, right? He said you were just roommates?”

Maddie felt like her heart was in her throat. She was convinced that if she opened her mouth to answer her heart would fall out. So instead, she shook her head. After all, that’s what she was. She was the woman living in the same house as he, in different rooms in fact. They were roommates. He was her roommate, one she was heavily crushing on, a one-sided imaginary feel-fest starring only her.

“Oh, good. So, you don’t mind that we’re seeing each other, right? It’s just, we spend so much time together and I think we both feel this connection you know? It was just a matter of time. We work well together. But I just thought I should talk to you about it, you know, woman to woman?” she said, her eyes dreamy.

“Isn’t he too old for you?” Maddie said before she could stop herself. Vanessa just scoffed.

“If that’s what old looks like, I guess I have a thing for older men. Plus, he’s not old where it counts, you know what I mean? That man can make me purr, let me tell you that!” she said, giving a cheeky wink before walking away.

Maddie stopped in front of the stable, her legs heavier than lead, her head full of what just happened. So, Joel had a girlfriend now? She couldn’t comprehend it, just a week ago he was flirting with her and asking her out for drinks, and cuddling with her, and now he had a girlfriend?

Maddie heard her name again, this time in Joel’s low tone. It seemed he had the same idea to walk Ellie home from the stable now that he was home earlier than expected.

“What did Vanessa want?” he asked her, his head low, eyes fixed on his feet.

“Nothing,” Maddie said, a little too quickly. “You can walk Ellie home, right? I think I’m gonna go home first.”

“Wait,” he said, his hand wrapped gently around her clenched hand. “I made dinner. Let’s have dinner together? Like we always did? I have something to talk to you about,” he said, his face hopeful.

Maddie so badly wanted to say yes, she had missed him. Missed having a good meal with him and Ellie. But Vanessa’s words were fresh in her mind, and if he was just going to tell her the same thing, she didn’t want to hear it. She got it. He had a girlfriend. All his affections were in her head.

“Actually Joel, I’m not hungry. I’m really tired. I’ll see you around,” she said instead, walking away, prying her hand from his gentle grasp, dying to get away from him before the grumbling in her tummy got loud enough to betray her.

Maddie went to bed with a piece of bread, lying in bed in the dark, willing herself not to cry. The heaviness in her chest was back. What was going on? What was this feeling? Shit. She just wanted it to go away.

After he and Ellie had dinner, Joel went to Maddie’s door, raising his hand to knock, desperate to talk to her. But he couldn’t pretend he didn’t hear her word choice – that she will see him ‘around’ instead of ‘at home'. Deciding not to bother her, he went upstairs and willed himself to sleep.

The next day, while she was mopping the floors in the clinic, Vanessa showed up. Maddie almost sighed out loud in exasperation. She kept popping up on her, like a Jack-in-a-Box, but a really annoyingly beautiful one. Instead, she composed herself and forced a fake smile on her face. Vanessa came up to her, a cheeky look on her face,

“Hey Maddie… so… Joel and I are going on a date tonight, and… well… I live with five other girls you know, and Ellie will be spending the night at Dina’s. I was wondering if you could do me a solid and make yourself scarce for the evening? So, we can have some alone time? Help a girl out?” she begged, a desperate look on her face.

Maddie just stared for a while. There were so many things she wanted to say, but she didn’t want to seem like a scorned woman, so she just smiled and nodded, before picking up the mop bucket and walking to the back room. She heard Vanessa’s delighted “thank you!” behind her, shut the door to the back room, sat down, and buried her face in her hands, the tears flowing freely.

As she laid in the twin bed in the studio apartment above the clinic that night, she couldn’t get the images of Joel and Vanessa together out of her imagination. She didn’t even go home for a change of clothes, worried that if she ran into him, she would turn to stone. She kept picturing them naked, their bodies entwined, their lips locked, their moans loud and echoey throughout the empty house. She hated the fact that she didn’t tell him how she felt earlier, and now it was too late. She cried herself to sleep that night, fully dressed.

The next morning, she was shaken awake by a worried Marcus, who had noticed that the apartment lights were on and went up there, thinking he forgot to switch them off. He asked her what happened, but she was too ashamed to tell him, choosing instead to tell him she was too tired to walk home. He obviously didn’t believe her but chose not to press further. Instead, he waited for her to wash her face, and asked her to go to the mess hall for some breakfast instead. He needed to open the clinic, but a hungry nurse won’t do him any good, he said, pinching her on the chin, making her laugh.

When they walked down together, Marcus’s comforting hand on her shoulder, they came face to face with Joel, who stopped walking, his face the picture of devastation at the sight he was seeing. Maddie wanted to be offended, clocking what he must have thought of the sight. How dare he, when he was the one going on dates and bringing the perfect specimen of a woman home. She was about to express her annoyance, but a very chirpy Vanessa came running, pulling him away, whispering in his ear, before turning around and smiling cheekily at Maddie, winking conspiratorially at her, giving her a thumbs up, as if doing her the biggest favor. Joel kept looking back at the two of them, his face disbelieving, looking crestfallen. Maddie felt her heart clench. She realized that instead of anger, his face just looked so sad. She wanted to go after him and ask him what was wrong, but a flustered looking mother came running to the clinic, her child in her arms who was obviously having difficulty breathing.

So, Maddie put her nurse game face on, and took the child from his mother, and brought him inside for treatment.

***

Joel didn’t sleep at home for almost a week after that day. He would walk Ellie home from the stable in the evenings, made sure she had dinner, and left as soon as Maddie got home. He got home before dawn broke, got ready for his day, and let Maddie handle Ellie in the mornings, preferring to leave for the stables without having to bump into her. Maddie made sure Ellie was never alone at night but chose to sleep at the apartment if Joel was home for the night, deciding that she would rather sew her own ears shut than hear Joel and Vanessa going at it, making sure she was out of the house before she came for the night. She got home a little earlier than expected one day and could hear his moans and groans upstairs and ran out of the house like her life depended on it before she could hear her too. Never again, she thought. Her heart couldn’t take it. Ellie was spending more and more weekends sleeping over at her friends’ places, so Maddie was the only obstacle for the happy couple’s privacy. Maddie did wonder where the two spent their nights when they were not at this house. Vanessa made it clear she had roommates, so they must have found some sort of a sex port somewhere.

Maria came to talk to her one day, asking her if she and Joel were having problems, considering they had not been seen together for a couple of weeks. They were virtually inseparable during the first three months in Jackson, and suddenly it was as if they were strangers. Maria told her she was shocked to hear that Joel was with Vanessa – she had always thought that he and Maddie would end up together. Even Tommy was shocked, but of course, no one dared say anything to the grumpy man, for he was even more stubborn than he was grumpy.

As much as Maddie wanted to own up to her feelings and frustrations, she didn’t want Maria and Tommy blabbing to Joel. If he was happy with Vanessa, then she would like to be happy for him, as much as it was killing her inside. So, Maddie tried to keep the peace. She and Joel simply coexisted, avoiding each other like a dance, while making sure Ellie was taken care of.

But Ellie, oh Ellie. That girl had completely become a typical teenager, always angry, always moody, not that she wasn’t already. Despite letting Joel and Maddie walk her to school and back home daily, she made it quite clear that she was still angry at them for what happened at the hospital, using that as an excuse as to why they didn’t have the right to tell her what she could and couldn’t do, since they had taken her choice away from her. She could sense the unease between the two parental figures, and she was acting out. Maddie caught her smoking once, and when she tried to tell her it was not good for her, she stomped off, yelling that she was not her mother so please fuck off! Joel wasn’t faring any better with her either. He caught her sneaking out late one night, and when confronted, she screamed that he was not her father, and it was not like he was such a good role model, he couldn’t even keep his family together.

So, Maddie and Joel had a sit down, and decided they needed to get their shit together, and work together for Ellie’s sake. They came to an agreement that they needed to stay together, just until Ellie fully settled, so that she didn’t feel alone or left out. Family meals were no longer negotiable, even if no one was talking. Also, no one would be having sleepovers, at home or otherwise for a while, just to get their bearings back. Ellie needed stability, and having every other parental figure out of the house every other night was not helping, neither was her sleeping in different places every weekend. And for Joel and Maddie – whatever they had going on outside of the three of them, stayed out of the house. So, Maddie made it a point to never mention Vanessa to him, and he did the same. They were civil to one another, keeping up appearances for her sake, but when Ellie went to bed, both of them quietly retreated to their own rooms, neither talking to each other, each missing longing looks they each gave the other.

Slowly but surely, their efforts started showing results. Ellie started calming down, making the effort to spend more time with Joel and Maddie, going to movie nights with them, even helping them prepare meals and tending the garden in the backyard, doing her chores, and although she still had her temper tantrums every now and again, she was generally more relaxed, and a lot more cooperative. Everything seemed to be going well. The three of them getting along, their school and work life going great.

Every time Maddie saw Vanessa around town, she was always surrounded by ladies her age – her roommates, Maddie assumed. Vanessa always gave her a sad smile, and her friends would stare at her, annoyance and disgust clear on their faces, before rubbing their hands on Vanessa’s back and walking away as a group. Joel had taken to glaring at Marcus whenever the doc was around, although for the life of her Maddie couldn’t figure out why. But they had agreed not to talk about anything non-related to the three of them, so she kept quiet.

About two months after the new arrangement began, Maddie was taking inventory at the clinic when Vanessa walked in, arms full of medical supplies they had found from that day’s scavenging trip. Maddie thanked her, and immediately began checking the items for leaks and expiry dates.

“So, how’s Ellie doing these days?” Vanessa asked.

“Joel didn’t tell you? She’s doing much better. It’s sweet of you to ask.”

“That’s so great! I am so happy for you guys,” she said. “So, now that Ellie’s doing much better, are you looking for other places to live?”

“Why would I be doing that?” Maddie asked back, genuinely confused at the question.

“Well, now that Ellie’s doing better, do you need to still be living with Joel? I mean, you guys are not together, and he’s with me, so why are you still living with him?” Vanessa questioned; a sweet smile still plastered on her gorgeous, perfect face.

Maddie was taken aback. She had been living there since they moved to Jackson. The three of them came in together, where else would she be living? Unless…

“Did Joel say something?”

“Oh, it’s not my place to say…”

“Vanessa,” Maddie’s voice was stern, looking at Vanessa with a serious face.

Vanessa gave an uncomfortable smile. “It’s just that Joel and I were planning to take our relationship to the next level you know? We completely understood the need for the two of us to slow down when Ellie was acting up, but now that she’s doing better, he mentioned that maybe it would be better if you found a place for yourself so that I can move in with him, maybe start a family of our own,” she said, her hands twisting together, head down, trying to avoid Maddie’s disbelieving eyes.

“I mean, technically I could just move in with you still living there, but we are very loud, and I think he just didn’t want to make you uncomfortable you know? Even when we haven’t been spending nights together, he found ways for us to have alone time - the man is insatiable - so imagine what it would be like if we were to actually live together…” she continued, a sly smile on her face.

“Plus, I think you living there would make him uncomfortable too. He wouldn’t even show me affection in public out of respect for you. People know the three of you came in together, and lots of people believe you guys are together, so he didn’t want to make you feel left out or anything, you know? So, it would be better for all of us if you have your own place.”

Marcus walked in at that moment, having heard what was said, a stern look on his face, and Vanessa excused herself, before turning around and begging Maddie not to say anything to Joel, for he had made her promise not to say anything. As soon as she was gone, Maddie told Marcus she would be right back, and ran home. She had to talk to Joel. Was this what he really wanted? She needed to hear him say it to believe it. When she got home, the door was open, and she can hear Tommy, Maria and Ellie’s voices clearly, along with Joel’s low one.

“Are you sure about this brother?” Tommy asked.

“Isn’t it too soon?” Maria added, “It’s only been a few months…”

“It’s not too soon,” Ellie’s voice interrupted.

Joel’s voice was clear now.

“We have to move on, things cannot stay like this forever. We will talk to Maddie, make her understand. This is good for her. To be independent. We will help her with anything she needs, of course, but she cannot depend on us forever, so, it would be better if she lives on her own. It’s not like she’ll be far, we’re right here,” he said, his voice steady.

There was a long silence.

“Alright, if you think that’s best,” Maria said.

Maddie had heard everything she needed to hear. She turned around and walked back to the clinic. She couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Sure, he had found someone, but it had only been a couple of months, ten weeks at the most. And just like that she was no longer needed? After everything?

When she got back to the clinic, she broke down. She told Marcus everything. She felt like he was the only person she could talk to about this, everyone else in her life seemed to be conspiring to rid Joel of her, and he seemed more than eager to make that happen too. Marcus held her tight, keeping silent and just being there for her. He offered his spare room, but Marcus didn’t live alone, and Maddie didn’t want to intrude. He then suggested she move into the apartment above the clinic – the apartment was part of the clinic, and staff were allowed to use it at the doctor’s discretion, especially when severely injured patients required 24/7 care, and he wanted her to have it. Plus, he said, it would be better for the town to have the nurse living directly above the clinic, especially for emergency cases at night.

Maddie promised to think about it, but when she got home that evening, she found that she couldn’t even look at Joel in the eyes anymore, knowing he didn’t want her there. She could feel his eyes on her at all times, and she kept bracing herself for him to tell her what she already knew – that he needed her to move out so he can live his happily ever after with Vanessa, Ellie, and however many devastatingly gorgeous children those two annoyingly good-looking people would inevitably have from their super active sex life. So, the next day while the house was empty, with Marcus’s help, she packed what little belonging she had, and moved out.

But she still had Ellie to think about. Ellie still needed stability. And as hurt as she was, she didn’t want to put her own needs before Ellie’s, but at the same time didn’t want Joel to have the satisfaction of knowing that she gave in to their demands – even if he hadn’t had the balls to talk to her about him wanting to move Vanessa in. So, she decided that while Ellie was still adjusting, she would sneak back home early in the mornings to make breakfast and have their morning routine together, go back there as usual for dinner, and sneak back out once Joel had gone up to bed. Anything for Ellie. All Maddie wanted was for the little girl to have as normal a life as she and Joel could give her.

More time passed. Vanessa had asked her again if she had found an alternate living arrangement, confirming to her that Joel had no clue she had moved out. She was a bit hurt by that. Really? He didn’t even notice she didn’t live here anymore? To be fair, she had been keeping up the façade of being there as if nothing had changed shockingly well, and Joel was much too gentlemanly to barge into her now very empty room without permission to discover her little act. But still, Maddie found herself to be annoyed most days now. Even after a whole month since she overheard that conversation, Joel still hadn’t confronted her with it. Still hadn’t told her he would prefer for her to move out. Ugh. Just man up and do it already!

Joel, on the other hand, was still walking around as the resident town grump, even all these months later. He went about his day as if someone was always hiding in the bushes about to attack him, shoulders stiff, a permanent scowl on his face. The only times he seemed a bit relaxed was when talking to Ellie, Maddie or Maria, even Tommy when the younger man wasn’t looking to annoy him. Nothing weird there, though. That’s how he had always been, and it took Maddie and Ellie nursing him back to health, their hands never leaving his during his recovery from that incident in Salt Lake City for him to soften for the two of them.

He walked into the clinic one Saturday, holding his left arm, the sleeve of his flannel soaked in blood. Maddie felt her head freeze at the sight, running to him and pulling him into the treatment room to take a closer look. He let her pull him with her, his face soft and at ease seeing her worried one.

“What the hell happened?” Maddie asked, carefully folding the sleeves up to take a closer look at his arm, internally chastising herself at how desperately worried she sounded. She hated how much she still cared and worried for him, but she couldn’t help herself.

There was a long, deep, jagged gash along his forearm, about four inches in length, and it was bleeding profusely.

“Caught it on some sharp zinc in the garage while clearing it today,” he explained, wincing slightly when Maddie applied saline solution to clean the wound.

“The hell were you doing clearing the garage?” she asked. “You need to learn to rest, old man, you work too much,” she said.

Joel chuckled, a smile on his face, despite the pain that he was in. Maddie continued cleaning the gash thoroughly, being careful not to hurt him too much. Her eyes slightly wet at the thought of him being hurt. Those couple of weeks in Salt Lake City were among the worst days of her life, she and Ellie so worried that he wouldn’t make it. Even if she was a nurse, it wasn’t like they had the supplies to treat him properly. She was glad they were in Jackson now, and she could help tend to his wound as needed.

Joel couldn’t help but stare at her as she worked, stitching his wound up, her face slightly scrunched up in concentration. His heart softened every time he looked at her. She was so close to him right now; he could smell her shampoo. He longed to bury his face in her hair, in her neck, so he could drown in her smell. It took everything in him not to, he shouldn’t. He didn’t have the right to do that. But he missed her smell, the way her body melted into his when they used to sleep in the living room, the way their bodies just magnetize towards each other no matter how they tried not to do that. He missed the talks they would have before they both fall asleep, and most of all, he missed waking up with his face buried in her hair, the back of her neck, or her face in the crook of his, her arm around his waist, and his around her body. But he couldn’t have that now, not anymore. So, he settled for just looking at her, taking in as much of her beautiful face as he could, hoping to God that was enough to help him sleep that night.

When Maddie looked up at him, she found him looking at her, his face so soft, his puppy dog eyes full of yearning. Their faces were so close together, she could see the flecks of amber in his beautiful brown eyes.

“Maddie,” he began, his voice so soft, so careful, his uninjured hand finding her arm, softly stroking it up and down. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you…”

Her heart stopped. This was it. He was going to tell her he wanted her to move out.

“Joel!!! What happened???” Vanessa’s shrill voice piped in dramatically, her face full of concern.

Maddie wanted to roll her eyes. Where the heck had she come from? Honestly. They spend five days a week on patrol together, she couldn’t let her be alone with Joel for a few minutes? Sheesh. Instead, Maddie rubbed some antibacterial salve on the stitched wound, and began bandaging it, Vanessa fussing over him as if he was a child. Joel just looked a bit flustered, uncomfortable, even. The grump was back. Gone was the soft Joel. He kept saying he was alright, just a cut, nothing to worry about. He was about to ask Vanessa to give the two of them some privacy, when Marcus came in, wondering what the shrill ruckus was all about.

Joel’s face snapped shut even harder. So did Marcus’s when he saw Joel and Vanessa there. As soon as Maddie stood up, he wrapped his hand around Maddie’s shoulder protectively, concerned at what Maddie must be feeling with those two being there together in her presence. He had spent so much time listening to Maddie pour her heart out regarding those two, and he wasn’t about to allow them to hurt her in his presence.

Vanessa wrapped her arms around Joel’s uninjured arm to leave. Joel’s body resisting, but eventually gave in. But before they could leave, Vanessa turned.

“Are you two going to the Bison tonight? Some of the men are doing a live performance. It should be fun! Will we see the two of you there?” she asked, her arms still wrapped around Joel’s, whose face was unreadable, apart from the murdering of a doctor he was probably plotting in his head.

Maddie couldn’t speak, the lump in her throat getting bigger by the second.

“We’ll be there, wouldn’t miss it,” Marcus said, his arm tightening around Maddie’s shoulder. He didn’t miss the way Joel’s eyes flickered to his arm.

“Great! See you there!” Vanessa chirped, before pulling a reluctant Joel with her.

Maddie let out a shaky breath. Marcus let go of her shoulder, but took her face in his hands, checking to see if she was alright.

“Why did you say we would go tonight? I really don’t feel like going. The last thing I need was to see the two of them slow dancing,” she said with a slight tremble of her lips, her tears threatening to slip out.

“Nope. You are going little nurse lady. You are gonna get all dressed up, you are gonna have a few drinks, loosen up and have fun. I’m gonna make sure you leave the Bison smiling tonight if it’s the last thing I do. Fuck ‘em. We are going to have fun. Full stop. Understood?” he said, his face full of care and determination.

Maddie thought about it for a bit and nodded.

He was right. Fuck the two of them. She was going to have fun tonight.

***

Scissors. Where the fuck were the scissors? Ellie was running around the house, looking in every drawer in the common areas looking for scissors. The ‘new’ shirt she had put on for the live performance at the Bison tonight had an annoyingly long lose thread from the wash, and it was a twenty-year-old shirt to begin with despite it being new to her, so she didn’t want to risk pulling it in case it made the situation worse. Joel had left early, needing to help set up the Bison after promising profusely to be careful with his injured arm. Maddie said she would be going from the clinic. So, the mission to find the scissors was a solo one. She went into Joel’s room, hastily looking around for one, but couldn’t find any. Surely, they must have some scissors somewhere in the house, right? Maddie might have them. She ran downstairs, checking in the drawers in the living room and kitchen once more for good measure, before going into Maddie’s room, completely oblivious to what she was about to be greeted with.

***

Maddie spent the evening at Maria’s, looking for a dress to borrow for the night. She forced herself to only speak of everyday matters, and not about Joel or the fact that she was heartbroken that she was about to see Joel and Vanessa together in a public setting. Maria insisted that she put some make up on her, after all, as a beautiful single woman, she might meet someone at the concert, winking at her with a teasing smile.

“Oh, come on Maria. Who would want an old lady such as myself?” Maddie asked.

“Hey, we are about the same age, and 46 is NOT OLD!” Maria said defensively.

“Maybe it wasn’t old in the before, but nowadays? Fuck that is old,” Maddie’s hands covered her face at the thought.

“Hey, Joel is older, and he found someone. You will too,” Maria said.

“Yeah, a 25-year-old. Guys want younger models. They want a Vanessa. They don’t want a Maddie. I mean, Joel went for someone young enough to be his daughter, and he gets called a stud. If I go for someone young enough to be my son? Imagine the backlash!”

Maria sighed. She could not understand why Joel would go for Vanessa. She and Tommy were shocked when they found out. Tommy spent the rest of that day going on and on about how out of character that was for Joel, to go for someone he hardly knew. Joel was a man of routine, of familiarity. And even though Joel had assured him that he and Maddie were just roommates, Tommy didn’t miss the way his brother looked at Maddie. Even Maria noticed, despite not knowing either of them before their second arrival to Jackson. The husband and wife were sure that Joel would finally step up and ask Maddie out. But when Vanessa told her she and Joel were together, Maria decided against talking to Joel about it, and made Tommy promise to do the same, citing it was none of their business. It wasn’t that hard to believe anyway. They spent all day on patrol together, and Vanessa was a beautiful young woman. Joel was just a man, with eyes and needs, so who were they to question it? She could see how Maddie was broken hearted by this revelation, though. But what could she do? The heart will always want what it wants.

They got ready together, Maddie finally relented to wearing a black and white body fitting Lycra dress that flared into a knee-length flowy skirt below the waist, and begrudgingly allowed Maria to lightly put 20-year-old make up on her face, her hair left to fall free around her shoulders. The two walked arm in arm to the Bison together, the town starting to walk over too. The doors to the Bison were left open, the band set up in the square. Maria found Tommy, who gushed at his wife’s beauty, before giving Maddie a low whistle and a once over. She never got all dressed up, and although feeling uncomfortable with all the attention, she enjoyed feeling like maybe, just MAYBE, she was a little bit beautiful tonight, even if only to herself.

When Joel saw Maddie for the first time that evening, he just about had a heart attack. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. He had always thought she was beautiful, even in her simplicity and no muss no fuss attitude. He had always preferred natural beauty on his ladies, and Maddie just looked stunning tonight.

Joel wasn’t looking too bad himself, despite the wrapped forearm. Maddie’s heart literally skipped a beat when she saw him. Dark jeans, a dark green dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to just below his elbows, the top few buttons undone. Even his usually mussed curls were tamed tonight, he had styled it a little bit. Damn he looked good enough to eat.

Their eyes met across the room. They both smiled, hoping to convey what they were feeling to each other in those smiles. Someone tapped her on her shoulder. Maddie turned around, and came face to face with a stunning looking, perfectly styled Vanessa, her perfect body wrapped in a skintight red dress, her ample cleavage threatening to jump out and eat Maddie alive.

“Oh my God Maddie you came!!!” she said, giving her an exaggerated air kiss on each cheek. “You look beautiful!!” she exclaimed, giving Maddie a once over.

“Thanks Vanessa. You look good too,” Maddie said, slightly crestfallen. Even on her best dressed day, Vanessa managed to make her feel like an underdressed clown.

Joel came over, two drinks in his hands. He extended one of the drinks towards them, his eyes fixed on hers, but before Maddie could even think of taking the drink, it had disappeared from his hand.

“Why thank you handsome,” Vanessa cooed, the drink now in her hand, her free arm linking itself to Joel’s (was that a bit of annoyance on his face?). “You look good tonight,” she added, her easy smile turned very flirty. “Doesn’t Maddie look good too? You should dress up more often you know, you look really nice tonight,” she added, giving her another once over.

“Yeah, she looks beautiful,” Joel said, his eyes still on Maddie, who felt her face go red. “You really do look stunning tonight,” he said to her directly, his eyes soft and dark at the same time. “Would you…”

“There you are Marcus! Will you look at how beautiful Maddie looks tonight?” Vanessa interrupted, arms tightening around Joel’s bicep.

Maddie turned around to see Marcus looking her up and down, his mouth wide open in a big grinny disbelief, his hands wide open at the sight of her.

“Oh my God, you look amazing!” he said, his arms dropped, taking her hands in his. He twirled her around and bent a little to give her a lingering kiss on the cheek.

“Oh, stop it,” Maddie said, faking a shy smile, smacking him on his chest, but kissed him back. “Look at you! You clean up well Dr Adams!” she continued, fake batting her eyelashes at him.

The two laughed cheekily at each other. When they turned around, Maddie was met with Vanessa’s face grinning at the sight in front of her, while Joel… Joel looked like he was about to kill Marcus, the hand around his drink looking suspiciously white from his grip. Marcus ignored Joel’s murderous eyes and pulled Maddie’s hand into his.

“Come on little nurse lady, let’s get you a drink. And then, we are going to dance the night away,” he remarked.

“Bye you two!!!” Vanessa chirped happily, her arm still wrapped around Joel’s, before he pulled it away.

Maddie let herself be pulled away. She was going to have fun tonight, she thought. Nothing will ruin tonight for her, she had been through a hell of a year, a hell of twenty years, in fact, and she deserved to let loose and have fun. So, she had a few drinks, and danced with Marcus. Every now and again, she saw Joel standing somewhere in the room, leaning against a pole or a wall, his eyes always fixed on her, Vanessa right next to him, chatting merrily at whoever was closest to them. She and Maria changed partners for a song or two, Tommy being the goofy dance partner Maddie always thought he would be. But despite having so much fun, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like to dance in Joel’s arms, him holding her close again, her face in the crook of his neck, surrounded by his heat and that very Joel smell that she missed so much.

She couldn’t get him alone though, Vanessa always beside him, even though she didn’t see them dance at all. Plus, what were the etiquettes here? Should she ask him to dance? Or wait for him to ask her? Was that an okay thing to do? To dance with the man she was desperately in love with when he had his stunning girlfriend clinging to him like a leech? Sheesh Vanessa, honestly. Was she capable of leaving his side for a second? We all got it, Vanessa, message received loud and clear. You were with Joel. No need to stay clamped to him like that all night. She resigned herself to the fact that she would not be dancing with him and pulled Maria to the bar for more drinks.

Joel couldn’t take his eyes off Maddie even for a second. His heart filled with longing to go over and ask Maddie for a dance, but she was always with Marcus, and even Tommy took a turn or two dancing with her (damn him, damn them both!). And Vanessa wouldn’t leave his side even for a second, and no matter how much she batted her eyelashes at him and begged him for a dance, he just didn’t feel like it. The woman he wanted to dance with was dancing with the annoyingly good-looking and charming town doctor, not him, the resident town grump. The annoyingly good-looking and charming town doctor whom she spent all her working days with. The annoyingly good-looking, charming town doctor whose hands saved lives, unlike his. The annoyingly good-looking and charming town doctor who spent the evening expertly and effortlessly twirling her around the dance floor like he was some ballroom dancing expert, while Joel couldn’t even convince himself that he would be able to dance with her without looking at or stepping on his own feet, let alone hers.

When Vanessa finally left his side to go to the bathroom, Joel decided he needed to act and ask Maddie for a dance. But he would be a gentleman about it and ask Marcus for permission first. After all, Maddie was his friend first. They came to town together. They had been living together since they arrived here. They had all this history together. It shouldn’t be weird if they danced together, right? So, Joel made his way towards Marcus, determined to be polite and ask the annoyingly good-looking and charming town doctor if he would mind letting him, the resident town grump Joel Miller, to ask his lady for a dance. He got to Marcus, who was chatting with Tommy, drink in hand, and gathered up the courage to ask him the dreaded question. But Marcus’s attention was suddenly distracted by a man who had just entered the pub, looking exhausted, obviously just in from patrol.

“Hey, you made it,” Marcus said, smiling happily before greeting the man with a hug and a sweet peck on the lips. “I don’t know if you two had met. Francis, this is Joel. Joel, this is my husband Francis,” he said.

Joel had seen Francis around before. He was the leader of one of the patrol teams, but since Joel led another team, they had never worked together. He took Francis’s outstretched hand and shook it, commenting that he had seen him around town…

…wait… HUSBAND?

“You’re gay?” Joel couldn’t stop himself from asking incredulously, while Tommy choked on his drink.

“Er… yeah… is that a problem?” Marcus hesitantly asked back.

Tommy and Francis stood there looking at the confused resident town grump and the perplexed, annoyingly good-looking and charming town doctor.

“No, of course not, I just didn’t know. Wait… does Maddie know you’re gay?” Joel asked again, unable to hide the confusion on his face.

“Of course she does. She’s my best friend, I tell her everything,” Marcus said, almost laughingly.

“But I thought…” and Joel’s thoughts remained a mystery when a teenager’s carefully aimed shoe made contact with his head, jolting all four grown men out of the discussion that was not meant to be had at that exact time.

All four men spun around to look at the source of the well-aimed shoe, Joel rubbing his head, only to be met by an extremely angry and hostile looking Ellie.

“What the fuck did you do old man? What did you fucking say to her?” she screamed, launching herself at him, smacking him everywhere she could reach.

Despite the merry music playing, the bar went quiet, everyone staring at the newly unfolding drama.

“What are you talking about? What did I do? What did I say to whom?” Joel asked, fending off her smacks, before bending down to pick up her weapon of choice.

“Maddie! She’s moved out! Her room’s all empty! What did you say to her? Did you chase her out? How could you do that?” she raised her arm to smack him again, but Joel held her hand to stop her.

“Maddie moved out? When?” he asked. He turned around, saw Maddie and Maria, back from the bar with drinks in their hands.

“You moved out?” he asked her, his face disbelieving, hurt, betrayed.

“Okay let’s all calm down and take this outside, shall we?” Maria said calmly, her town mayor persona taking over, taking Maddie’s drink from her hand, passing both their glasses to someone before ushering a stunned Joel and a stone-faced Maddie outside. Tommy took Ellie by the shoulder, doing the same, and Marcus and Francis followed.

Once they were further away from the music, they all stood around awkwardly, before Joel piped up again.

“You moved out?” he asked Maddie again, genuinely unable to believe what he had just heard.

Maddie kept looking at the ground, unable to look him in the eyes. Marcus went to her side, holding her close to him. She nodded slowly, eyes still on the ground.

“Why?”

Maddie finally looked up, annoyed that he had the gall to ask that question.

“Isn’t that what you wanted? I overheard you, Joel. And Vanessa told me. I know all of it Joel. Just because you didn’t have the balls to tell me doesn’t mean I don’t know what is going on,” she said, her voice shaking slightly with anger.

“What are you talking about? What did you overhear? What did Vanessa tell you?”

Maddie scoffed. Unbelievable.

“I know you wanted me out of the house, Joel. I heard you two talking with Tommy and Maria,” she said, looking at Joel and Ellie, her face now contorted, tears threatening to spill out.

“Wait, what?” Maria spoke up. “He never told us he wanted you out,” she continued. Tommy, confusion on his face, also shook his head no. Even Ellie looked confused.

“I heard you guys. You wanted me out. It was good for me. I shouldn’t depend on you forever. I should be independent,” her tears falling now.

A flash of understanding came across the four faces in front of her.

“That was about me,” Ellie said. “I asked Joel if he and Tommy could fix the garage up for me, so I can live there by myself, have a space of my own. That way I don’t have to depend on you two forever,” she explained.

“I was clearing it out today, finally have some time to get started,” Joel added, showing her his bandaged arm, “I was gonna talk to you about it when we had some time alone.”

“Wait a minute,” Marcus interjected. “I was there. I heard Vanessa said you wanted Maddie to move out so that she can move in with you.”

“Why the fuck would I want my patrol partner to move in with me?” Joel looked at Marcus like he was speaking in some foreign language.

Now everyone in that group just looked extremely confused, looking at Joel like he had three heads. Why would Joel call his girlfriend his patrol partner? Sure, that’s who she was too, but that’s just weird. Joel now felt like he was the new kid in school, on his first day, where everyone knew something that he didn’t. Someone said Joel’s name amidst the confusing, uncomfortable silence. The group turned around, Vanessa approaching, a nervous smile on her face.

“What’s going on here? Are we moving the party to the back alley now?” she asked, her face filled with uncertainty, but still smiling, her arm snaking around Joel’s.

Joel snatched his arm away. He turned to face her fully, his face serious, her smile faltering.

“Vanessa, what the fuck have you been telling everyone?”

***

“What do you mean, Joel?” Vanessa asked sweetly, her face looking like she would rather be anywhere else but there at the moment, “I didn’t say anything to anyone…”

“Is anyone going to tell me what is going on? Why would I ask her to move in with me?” Joel turned around, asking the silent people around him instead.

Vanessa’s face turned chalk white. Shit, cat’s out of the bag. She couldn’t believe these people went behind her back. She kept telling them not to tell Joel. Sheesh. How hard was it to follow a simple request?

“Well, I don’t know what she told others, but she told me…” Ellie began.

“Ellie…” Vanessa interrupted, panic beginning to invade her voice.

“Shut up Vanessa,” Joel snapped. “Ellie?”

“She told me you and her are dating,” Ellie finished.

The rest of the group murmured a silent ‘yep’. Everyone apart from Maddie, who stayed quiet, eyes glued to her feet.

“You told them what?” Joel’s face was red now, his eyes snapping to Vanessa.

“No Joel, they must have misunderstood…” she began, but Maria cut her off.

“No Vanessa. You told me you and Joel were dating, exclusively.”

“No, I didn’t,” Vanessa starting to sound like a denial puppet now.

Maddie was still silent. Marcus couldn’t stay silent anymore, his memory of all the tears Maddie had shed resulting from this redhead’s poison just pushed the words out,

“I heard you told Maddie Joel wanted her out of the house so that you can move in with him, Vanessa. That you guys have a lot of very loud sex. In fact, I heard you said that you two were going ‘to start a family of your own’,” he added, complete with air quotes.

Joel’s eyes were shooting daggers at Vanessa now. His body so stiff the vein on his neck were practically popping open.

“Vanessa, why would you say that?” he asked, his voice strained from controlled anger.

Vanessa looked at everyone desperately, silently begging for someone to step up to her defense. No one did, in fact she was met with stone-faced people, all staring at her, waiting for her explanation, except for Maddie, who was still looking at her feet.

“Because I am in love with you, Joel! But all you could think about was her! I just thought, if I could just get her to pull away from you, or make you believe she wasn’t interested…”

“So, you told her we were together? That I wanted her to move out? That I wanted to start a family with you? To scare her away from me? That’s why you kept pushing the idea of her and Marcus at me? You wanted me to think she wasn’t interested in me?” her delusions were so vapid and over the top he couldn’t believe she thought she was going to get away with it all.

“Oh, come on Joel. Look at them. He can barely keep his hands off her. They spend all day together, how sure are you they are not just fucking their brains out when they’re alone at the clinic?” Vanessa spat out, pointing at the way Marcus had Maddie close in his arms.

“Erm… He’s been married to me for 8 years,” Francis piped up.

Vanessa spluttered. In all her scheming, she never thought Marcus might be gay, too self-important and vain to learn more about the people around her unless she was interested in them. She could not see a way out. All her carefully laid plan just burst out into the open. The romantic images of her and Joel riding off into the sunset together now a darkened fantasy.

“I just don’t see why we can’t be together Joel!” she pleaded, “We are perfect together. We work well together. We look good together! Why would you want some dried-up old maid when you can have me, Joel?” her face now wet with self-pitying tears, her hands reaching out to take his face in her hands. He slapped them away.

“Vanessa,” he said, his voice shaky and dangerously low. “I told you, many times, that I am not interested in you like that. We are patrol partners, in fact, after tonight, I wouldn’t even call us that, much less friends,” he continued, taking careful, deep breaths.

“Joel! Please Joel, give us a chance. I am so much better for you than she ever will be Joel, we could be so happy,” she pleaded, trying to take his hands. He took a step back, choosing his words carefully, fists clenched by his sides, trembling slightly.

“You will never speak to me again, you understand? Stay away from my family. You are going to tell everyone what you have done. If anyone still believed us to be couple by Monday, or if I hear you say anything bad about Maddie, or see you so much as look her way, so help me God, I will feed you to the clickers myself. Leave now Vanessa, before I forget myself and hurt you.”

Vanessa stood there like a stump. Her usually beautiful face looked exceptionally ugly under the dim lights behind the Tipsy Bison, tears streaking down her face. Unable to defend herself any longer, she turned and walked away defeatedly, her shoulders slumped.

Another uncomfortable silence surrounded the group.

“Does anyone feel stupid that we didn’t see this coming? I mean, if we had just asked Joel in the first place…” Tommy said, glaring at Maria, who was now regretting not doing just that.

A slew of uncomfortable looks and silent, awkward nods followed.

More silence.

“Well,” Francis said with a deep breath, “This was fun, but I would like to go back to the party and drink my achy bones away, perhaps have a dance or two with my husband,” he said.

Marcus looked at Maddie, a small smile on his face. He kissed her on the temple before letting her go, patting Joel on the shoulder, and walking hand in hand with Francis back to the party. Tommy cleared his throat.

“Yeah, well, I think I might join them. Baby?” he looked at Maria, holding his hand out for hers.

Maria reached out and gave Maddie a quick hug, before taking her husband’s hand and walking away with him. Ellie gave an exasperated sigh at her parental figures.

“Seriously people. You call yourselves my parents? Even I know to communicate, even if it’s just slamming doors. Sheesh,” she said, before starting to walk away. She stopped dead in her tracks, turned to the two of them and said, “By the way, I will be spending tonight at Dina’s. You two should be alone, and… erm… ‘talk’,” she said cheekily, before running off.

Alone at last, Joel and Maddie stayed silent for a while, both awkwardly shuffling their feet while looking at anything their eyes would land on but each other. Joel finally broke the tension, taking her hand, leading her to a bench in front of the clinic. Ellie was right, it’s time they finally talked. Sitting side by side, they shared what Vanessa had been doing as far as they knew.

***

Vanessa’s poison ran deep. She had always been friendly with everyone on the patrol team but set her eyes on Joel from the moment he arrived. She saw how closed up and private he was, so she spent the first couple of months being friendly to him, just a partner, patrolling together, idle chit chats while on duty. Eventually, she managed to get him to talk about Maddie and Ellie, and she saw how Maddie was her main competitor for his affection.

She got him to trust her, be his confidant, as much of a confidant as one can be for the very private Joel Miller. Encouraged him to tell Maddie about his feelings. She listened to him and acted all excited when he told her she had agreed to go out for drinks with him.

She took advantage of Maddie’s absence during her care for Mr. Crushed-by-his-Fridge. Be all buddy-buddy with him, all dressed up, while subtly becoming more and more physical with him. A touch here, a hug there, a head on the shoulder here, an arm around his there… friendly, but friendlier than usual.

She planted the idea of Maddie and Marcus in his head. Joel didn’t bite, so she changed tactics.

She planted the idea of her and Joel in Maddie’s head. She asked her to “do a girl a solid” and let the two of them have some “alone time”. She knew clinic staff stayed at the apartment above the clinic sometimes.

Vanessa ‘accidentally’ ran into him early in the morning the next day, Joel out of his mind with worry because he had just realized that Maddie did not come home that night. She told him she saw her going up to the apartment. She hit the jackpot when Marcus was there too. Now Joel was devastated, heartbroken that Maddie had found someone else.

Vanessa offered her couch, or even her bed for him to stay at, so Maddie and Marcus can have some alone time, they were a new couple after all. He was broken-hearted but decided to stay out of the house for a bit, but not at Vanessa’s. He chose the keeper’s room at the stable instead, sleeping there for almost a week, worried that he might react badly if Marcus came to the house.

Joel still refused her advances on him, insisting that they are only patrol partners. So, she upped her game plan. She subtly pushed the idea of her and Joel being together to Maria and Ellie. Maybe they will start saying her name more to him, be supportive of the idea, this would somehow push Joel into entertaining the idea of them being together.

The plan backfired. Instead of pushing Joel towards Vanessa, Ellie acted out, unhappy that her ‘parents’ were avoiding each other. Joel and Maddie stayed together for Ellie’s sake, rather than separating.

As a last-ditch effort, Vanessa concocted the delusional plan that she and Joel were planning to move in together, effectively planting the idea that Joel wanted her in, and Maddie out. The Ellie and the garage conversation was just an unplanned bonus, but the plan worked. Maddie was hurt enough to distance herself further from Joel, making him feel defeated. To Vanessa’s detriment, Joel still wouldn’t see her as more than a friend.

So, when she saw him injured at the clinic, she took the opportunity to give Joel some PDA to push in Maddie’s face, and Marcus coming in to protect Maddie helped convince Joel further that they really were together. But instead of being sad and finally giving in to Vanessa's advances, Joel chose to just be 'happy' for Maddie, just the way Maddie was for him. Even after all that, Joel stood firm - he was not interested in Vanessa like that. She had asked him to go to the Bison as her date, but he refused. She was determined to stick to Joel that night, never letting him go out of her sight, knowing he was too much of a gentleman to push her away in public. He had refused to dance with her at all, his eyes fixed on Maddie, who spent the entire night dancing merrily in Marcus’s arms. Vanessa kept mentioning what a lovely couple they were, Joel now obviously believing that Maddie and Marcus were indeed a couple. She was convinced that he will give in - just a little more time. All seemed to be going her way.

That was, until Francis walked in.

***

The two took deep breaths together, angry at themselves for letting themselves be fooled by this poisonous woman.

“We need to communicate better,” Joel said, shaking his head in disbelief, chuckling a little at the stupidity of it all.

Maddie could only nod in agreement, feeling drained and stupid for letting these lies cloud her judgments. But… something was missing. She looked at him questioningly,

“Wait, so if you were never with Vanessa, who were you with? I heard you having sex, Joel. I ran out so fast my feet almost caught fire.”

Joel frowned, searching his mind, trying to figure out what she was talking about. He hadn’t had se… oh no… God no… his face turned red at the realisation of what she heard. Words formed in his mind, trying to explain the situation she was referring to, one where he thought he was alone in the house for, but broken, disconnected words were all he managed to get out,

“Erm… sex? I haven’t had… not since… erm… I was not having sex… I was… erm… well… wait, you didn’t happen to hear your name too, did you?” his ears were now so red she could see the colour change even in the dim lighting of the sidewalk.

Realisation dawned on Maddie’s face, turning red on its own accord. Both of their faces now red hot from embarrassment, laughing softly. They continued sitting there, shoulders almost touching, their bodies swaying together to the faraway music from the square.

“So… you are not with Marcus?” Joel finally asked, a small smile on his blushing face.

Maddie smiled shyly, shaking her head slightly. “And you, you are not with Vanessa?” she asked him back.

“Never,” he said, shuffling closer to her. “I actually have a huge crush on my roommate,” he said, turning his body towards her, offering her his hands, “In fact, I am certain that I am in love with her.”

Maddie took his hands in hers, tears falling down on her cheeks. Joel kissed them away silently, putting his forehead on hers, whispering her name.

“Don’t cry, baby. Please don’t cry,” he said quietly, before taking her face in his hands, bringing her lips to his own, kissing her for the first time.

He held her tight, arms surrounding her, never wanting to let go. She wrapped her arms around his neck, fingers caressing his curls, sighing contentedly into the kiss. He deepened the kiss, swallowing her moans as she melted into his body. He stopped himself before the kiss turned desperate, very much aware they were on a sidewalk in front of the clinic, in perfect view of the townsfolk who were still going to the Bison. He took her by the hand, interlacing his fingers with hers, and asked her if he could take her home.

“My apartment is just through that door,” she whispered in his ears, pointing to the door behind him.

Joel’s body tensed. Without saying another word, he lifted her up bridal style, earning a shriek from her, and carried her up the stairs to the small apartment. He kicked the door closed before placing her gently on the twin bed in the middle of the room. He joined her on the bed, hovering over her, not caring that the bed was far too small for the both of them.

“Joel, your arm, we shouldn’t,” Maddie began, but he silenced her with a long, deep kiss.

“So, I hear you are in love with your roommate,” Maddie said. Joel chuckled shyly, his nose rubbing against hers. “Well guess what?” she asked, as he raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m in love with my roommate too,” she told him. His face lit up, and he claimed her lips again.

Joel didn’t want to leave any room for Maddie to doubt his desire for her that night. He took her slowly, thoroughly, his lips and tongue covering every bit of skin he unraveled when undressing her, leaving her moaning, squirming and breathless before she was even naked. When he finally took her soaked underwear off, the growl he let out had her wondering if he was secretly some sort of an animal, and boy oh boy was he one. He devoured her like he was some famished man who had spent his days peeking longingly into the window of a high-class restaurant he couldn’t possibly afford, ravenous from the deprivation of the ultimate feast that seemed unreachable for him until that very moment - her. Joel’s name became a prayer, ranging from desperate whiny whispers all the way to full blown screams that became hoarser and hoarser as the night went on. Maddie swore she saw God at least three times before his shirt was even off, shocked that he still had a full head of those beautiful curls from how hard she was pulling at them, legs shaking, chest heaving, her entire body flushed from the pleasure he had given her.

When she had calmed down, she climbed atop him, slowly torturing him with soft kisses, kitten licks and caresses, taking her time exploring his body, beginning from his eyebrows, going further and further down until he was so hard his entire body was shaking uncontrollably, his brain deprived from all the blood it needed, his words slurred and mumbled. She was amazed by the power she had over him at that moment – Joel Miller, the resident town grump, the man who ran amok through an entire hospital to save his daughter, the heroic alpha who could slash his way through bands of clickers and raiders alike – reduced to babbling nonsensical mumbo jumbo that almost had her giggling from satisfaction. When she slowly lowered his boxers, she blew softly on his unraveled manhood, leaving him gasping for air, his trembling body suddenly stock still from the pleasure a simple puff of air provided. She wet her lips, her mouth watering at the sight, and lowered her head to finally, finally taste him. But before she could even touch him, his hands stopped her, his body flipping her onto her back. He placed his head on her chest, telling her in a strained voice with much certainty that if she were to touch him at that moment, he would spontaneously combust.

Slowly, with their lips locked together in a passionate kiss, he entered her, inch by impressive inch, pulling back slightly, going deeper with each tortuously slow thrust, until he stilled, whispering to her between kisses that he needed a moment, fully encased in her warmth, his thick tip nudging at a spot Maddie never knew existed until now. She forgot how to breathe, her entire body responding to this much welcomed and long overdue union, the coil in her belly bubbling hot just from this one initial nudge, her insides involuntarily clenching to find release. He almost screamed, before composing himself, taking deep breaths, shutting his eyes from her reaction. He begged her, pleaded with her not to move, not to clench, his entire body straining from trying not to burst, his arms holding her tight, his face, neck and chest red from the effort, his teeth gritted, his eyes shut tight, beads of sweat glistening all over his beautiful face. She in turn was begging him over and over to forgive her, her body wasn’t listening to his pleas. She’s sorry, she’s sorry, she’s so very sorry, she couldn’t help it. Despite him not moving at all, she was too close, too hungry, too desperate for release, her core continuously squeezing him so tightly, milking him for all he had to give her, pulsating around him again and again until her entire body shook with unmitigated pleasure, stars bursting behind her eyes, sending her to heaven and back, a silent scream releasing from her open mouth, her hands clutching at his back, her vision whitened, her ears ringing, taking him with her to nirvana.

When she could finally breathe again, the room was quiet, save for their quivering breaths. His body was slumped over hers, his head in the crook of her neck. She held him tight, her fingers absentmindedly drawing circles on his back, a satisfied smile on her face. The silence was finally broken by his muffled voice, mumbled into her neck, before he managed to muster the energy to lift his head, his face red from embarrassment, having finished so early, inciting giggles from her. He buried his face in her neck again, mortified by his body’s betrayal, while she kept assuring him between sweet kisses that he had nothing to be embarrassed about. After all, she said, there’s always the next time. Wiggling his eyebrows, he kissed her with a smile, and promised vehemently that he would make up for it.

And after a short rest, he did make up for it, again and again that night. He made up for it again on Sunday morning despite complaining that the small bed had fucked his back, again after breakfast, while packing, showering, once more before leaving that evening, and one more time for good measure when he finally took her home, to their now shared bedroom.

***

The very tired but glowing couple walked to the clinic Monday morning, fingers entwined with one another’s. Maddie was due to start her shift, and Joel’s back and arm needed looking at, his back extremely sore and some of his stitches ripped from… unplanned strenuous activities. They were greeted by a very annoyed looking Marcus, a bucket of cleaning supplies at his feet. He complained that the apartment smelt like sex, unable to hide the smile behind his faux annoyance. So, Maddie’s sole duty for the day was to sanitize that apartment top to bottom, so that Marcus could actually get his rest there when needed without having to worry about… contamination.

As delusional as Vanessa had been in her concoction of her torrid sexcapades with Joel, she was right about one thing. The man may be middle aged, but he was young where it counted. The man was insatiable. Ever since that Saturday night, he couldn’t leave Maddie alone, hands constantly on her. Whenever they were in the same room, a part of him must be touching her at all times. A hand on her thigh, his little finger hooked on hers, his chest on her back, his arm around her shoulder, his fingers interlaced with hers, his chin on her shoulder, his arms around her waist, and those were when there were others around. When alone, those ‘innocent’ (his words, not hers) touches were always accompanied by his lips on her person, his talented tongue joining in on the action not long after. And well, the rest… followed.

Ellie made sure to knock as loudly as she could before going into any room in the house now, even open areas like the corridor, the living room or the kitchen, using anything she could use to make as much noise as she could, eyes closed tight until Joel or Maddie responded, her mind still haunted by what she saw when she walked in on her parents going at it like rabbits on the couch, which she steadfastly refused to sit on now, even after they made a show of thoroughly cleaning it in front of her.

“It’s the mental image of it, guys, you’re gonna have to scrub my actual brain to get rid of that,” she exclaimed, “Can’t believe you mowed down an entire hospital to save me, and then let me go through THAT…” she mumbled under her breath, shaking her head. “Let’s erm… get the ‘me moving into the garage bit’ going yeah? So, I don’t fear for my mental health much longer?” The girl had been through literal and figurative hell and back, and walking in on her parents having sex was still the worst thing she had ever seen.

Their life and routines together flourished. As far as Jackson were concerned, they were a family. Sure, the ladies still ogled Joel like he was a popsicle on a hot day, but Maddie now knew for sure that he only had eyes for her.

Vanessa had been taken out of Joel’s patrol team and placed on wall duty, partnered with only women, most of whom acted like she wasn’t there unless needed. Life hadn’t been easy for her since that night. Word of her scheming had spread like wildfire, and the ladies of Jackson, even the single ones, avoided her like the plague, worried she would go after their men. Even the men avoided her - save for some shameless lecherous ones who only wanted one thing from her – worried that they would be trapped by her. Safe to say that any hopes for her to settle down and have a family was long gone.

She in turn, avoided the Millers as much as she could, turning around and going another direction whenever she saw them. She couldn’t avoid going to the clinic when she needed treatment, but she had no choice. Thankfully, Maddie and Marcus were much too classy to treat her like a leper, her shame was enough of a punishment without them having to add to it.

***

A year later, Ellie ran into the house in such a rush she didn’t have time to knock, running upstairs, barging into her parents’ room with her eyes closed tight, a hectic scrambling on the bed letting her know she had been right to do so.

“Guys, Tommy sent me, Maria’s in labour!” she yelled.

Maddie and Joel dressed quickly, Maddie telling Ellie to go get Marcus.

“Tommy already went to get him. And eww Maddie, wash your hands! God knows what part of Joel you just touched,” she squirmed, eyes still closed shut. She turned around to leave, muttering under her breath, “With all your canoodling I am shocked Maria’s having a baby and not you…”

Joel and Maddie looked at each other, a knowing smile on their faces.

#joel miller #the last of us fanfiction #tlou fanfiction #joel miller x reader #joel miller fanfiction

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mrsjellymunson · 2 days ago

Text

🥁Drummer!Eddie headcanons thanks entirely to THIS by @littlexdeaths and THIS by @somnambulic-thing 🥁

Because of course I have to give him a backstory…

- He was always hyper as a kid and hitting things with pencils and rulers and branches - himself, furniture, bushes, other children…

- He’d frustrate his mother (affectionately) by stealing her wooden mixing spoons and smashing them against cupboard doors, his toys, empty food boxes, and any pans he could steal from the kitchen

- She eventually started collecting things for him, like plastic tubs, paint cans, wooden boxes, and encouraged him to play them outside

- Al, unsurprisingly, wasn’t a fan, so she tried to get Eddie interested in other instruments too. It kind of worked. He’d spend hours wandering the woods near his home with a secondhand harmonica one of his mom’s friend’s husbands gave him, and a thrifted tin whistle, but he always drifted back to the feral, manic energy of bashing objects with sticks

- His middle school teachers never let him have free reign in music class, sometimes excluding him from it entirely. They wanted him to be ‘good at school stuff’ first, and saw music time as a reward. But, if they’d just let him engage in the way he needed to, they would’ve seen that he was ‘good at’ that to a level far beyond his peers. Plus, it would’ve had the added benefits of helping him manage his energy levels, and concentrate better in his other classes

- Eventually he moves in with Wayne, who finds an old acoustic guitar at a yard sale that Eddie absolutely loves. But his passion for rhythm remains, and he collects old containers, cans and pots and arranges them outside the trailer, tinkering away with them of an evening as a way of unwinding before bed

- The neighbours initially hate it, but when they notice that this kid actually has a decent sense of rhythm they start bringing him stuff to add to his set, like plastic barrels and metal oil drums

- He inadvertently becomes the locus of entertainment for the ‘park parties’ that start to happen. People join in with guitars, banjos, at least two residents have violins and someone’s friend even brings a clarinet one time. When some of the old geezers discover he plays harmonica, just like they do, they have ‘hoedown showdowns’ where they duel, and there’s much cheering from the other residents. Eddie even learns to play the spoons (he’s an annoying natural) from the old codger four trailers down, who’d barely been seen outside of his home for months at this point

- One night he and some other disaffected friends break into the High School music room, intending to do some damage, maybe even steal a few things. But when Eddie steps in, after strumming his fingers over the strings of a few instruments and plonking away on the piano as he walks past it, he spots an old, tattered drum kit at the far end. It’s red, with peeling decals, the supports are corroding and at least two of the skins have been mended with duct tape, but to Eddie’s eyes it’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. It seems to emit its own light, and levitates above the ground, calling to him. He sits behind it, picking up the first decent pair of sticks he’s ever held, and starts to experimentally tap out a rhythm. He finds the foot pedal, and adds it in. Tentatively, he makes contact with the cymbals, revelling in the variety of sounds he can make. After only a matter of moments he’s practically playing a tune, and his cohorts stop their fiddling and pause to listen. One walks over, aghast, and nods his head to the beat for while before remarking, “You’re a fucking drummer, dude!”

Final quote shamelessly stolen from the documentary ‘Count Me In’ where Taylor Hawkins describes how he discovered his future vocation (if you're a drumming fan I highly recommend it).

Visual references: HERE from @eddiemunsons-missingnipple and THIS by @jqmunson

Adding my usuals, my series are coming along, I promise 😁🤭 @joejoequinnquinn @jamdoughnutmagician @guiltyasquinn @madaboutmunson @airen256 @sunshinepeachx @the-unforgivenn @skrzydlak @comeonatmebruh @jamiecb66 @80s-addict @abellmunsonmovie @definitionwanderlust @sheneedsrocknroll92 @munson-blurbs @wonderlanddreamer @daisy-munson @maedesculpaeusoubi @kurdtbean @mediocredreams @in2tswft @micheledawn1975 @littlebebebunny @12thatsanumber @alastorssimp @the-baby-angel @eddie-is-a-god @wolfqueenxxx @losingmygrasponreality @richter-raccoon @1deverland

#drummer!eddie #drummer!eddie munson #eddie munson headcanons #eddie munson #eddie munson hcs #stranger things #my hcs #st hcs #al munson #joseph quinn #st ramblings

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dontaskmemybias · 1 day ago

Text

It's Not A Hoodie

Pairing: Idol!Lee Know x afab Ninth Member!reader Request: Yes Theme: Friends to Lovers Contains: Anxiety, angst, miscommunication, small mention of body issues, dry humping, Oral sex (f receiving), penetrative sex, choking, squirting, overstimulation. Word Count: 12k+ Note: This is a work of fiction and does not portray any of the members irl. This is part two to Pretty, I wrote it all at once but it was so long I decided to split it up.

You were falling for Lee Know. Minho. Your best friend. You had decided to accept it after months of pushing away the feelings. Ever since the tour the two of you basically lived together. You figured out very quickly that the reason you hadn't been able to sleep when you got back was because his body wasn't next to yours and seeing as he had come over or insisted you slept at his place every night since you figured he felt the same.

About sleeping next to you, not the love stuff.

Other than falling asleep in each other's arms every night nothing else had changed between you and Minho. You still hung out with Ji almost daily. You all still had shared cuddle/movie nights, you still went to dance practice and the studio, and you still bicker/flirted the whole time like you always had.

Only for you everything has changed.

You now noticed how his eyes sparkled when he talked about something he was passionate about.

You noticed how he giggled anytime he was about to eat something really tasty.

You even noticed how when the two of you hung out with Jisung, he would always get up when you asked him to go get a drink right away. He would make Jisung ask five times before even considering getting up.

You were falling for your best friend and you had no idea what to do about it.

~✨~

It was finally time to film the next SKZCode. You had all been stressed and overworked so the staff took you all to Lotte World to go on some fun rides and enjoy yourselves. You and the boys had been looking forward to it since the staff mentioned the idea.

You all gathered around to introduce the episode and choose animal headbands to get paired in groups of two with Felix being the host since he couldn't do the rides. You locked eyes with Min and Ji wondering who would end up paired together. You grabbed your headband first and the two fought over the matching headband until Minho raised it above his head in triumph while Jisung moped and grabbed a headband at random, ending up paired with Hyunjin. The rest of the boys laughed and joked about MinBear being revived. You just laughed with them and the nine of you joked around for a bit until it was time to start.

First you had to measure your "stress" and throughout the episode you would try to lower your team's "stress" while completing secret missions. You all laughed at each other's "stress" measurements and goofed around for a bit before getting ready to enjoy the amusement park.

When you all walked into the park you were full of energy. Everyone was being so loud and getting hyped for the first ride. Poor Felix couldn't go on the rides (he faints when he goes on rollercoasters) but you were a little bit of an adrenaline junkie so you were overjoyed at the prospect of going on the crazy rides.

You sat next to Minho, with Jisung and Hyunjin behind you as the ride started. You all let out a crazy scream, and Minho reached over to hold your hand tight while screaming at the top of his lungs. It was truly so much fun.

Next, you all headed over to the bumper cars. You hadn't ridden bumper cars since you were a kid. You all clambered inside and Felix informed you that you would have to apply lipstick while bumping around.

Checkmate. You were so going to win this one. You had been wearing makeup long before you became an idol and knew how to do it yourself, whereas the boys were at a significant disadvantage.

You all started and it seemed like the guys had caught on to your advantage because they all targeted you. You were screeching with laughter as you bounced around, trying to get the lipstick on as well as you could.

When the time was up and the staff checked everyone's lipstick the winner was...

Lee Know.

Wow. You cannot believe you lost that one. Oh well, at least your partner won.

You all joked around and took some pictures with your crazy lipstick, laughing all the while.

You were so happy to be surrounded by the eight boys you loved most in this world seeing them all let loose and have fun. It filled you with a warmth knowing that no matter what you would all be there for one another.

Next up was another fun ride! You had to be as loud as you could on the swinging boat ride. Between you and Minho you were sure you could win this challenge.

The ride started, and you were squeezed between Min and Ji. Minho wrapped an arm around you as the boat started swinging. You smiled at him, and he squeezed your waist in return, grinning widely.

You tried to keep it fair by not straight up horror movie screaming and potentially blowing out your voice. At the end Minho let out the loudest yell of the night clocking 127.7! You knew you had this one in the bag.

Finally it was time to eat! You all got your picks and had a blast eating good food and joking around as usual. Minho kept grabbing all the best pieces and feeding them to you while the others either cooed at the cute display or faked disgust.

You played more games and took some pictures in the photobooth with all the members. You had never felt so happy as you did in that moment surrounded by the boys you loved.

When it was time to go you were sad that the fun was over but you smiled when Minho took your hand in his own hand and squeezed it lightly.

"Let's go home, jagiya." You nodded and held onto his arm, walking side by side to the company car. The ride home was full of joy and laughter, and you all felt lighter than you had in months.

And when you arrived at your apartment with Minho in tow and laid down with him to go to sleep, you knew that no matter what your heart decided, this, laying here with Minho's body pressed against your own, was enough.

~✨~

The following weeks were filled with movie nights with your boys, self-care nights with Lix, Innie, and Hyune, late-night food with Binnie and Minnie, and of course later nights in the studio with Chan making sure he ate and slept. Before you knew it it was time for another SKZCode.

The food wheel was an amazing idea for your group. Half of you were amazing cooks, and the other half—well, they burned rice. It was bound to be hilarious.

Scratch that. The boys were in a mood and this was not as lighthearted and innocent as you had anticipated. The guys were urging Hyune to unbutton his top and 'show some skin', everyone was play flirting, so of course you and Minho locked eyes and knew it was MinBear's time to shine.

You both went up to cook and smirked at each other. It was times like these when you felt like you could really read each other's minds.

"Little moon bear, you are doing it all wrong, here," Minho came up behind you and guided your hands while you chopped the vegetables. "Do it like this." He spoke inches from your ear. You felt a shudder go through your body and Minho must have noticed it as well because he got even closer to you while chuckling.

"Focus jagi or you'll cut yourself." Minho whispered to you quietly enough that the mics would have a hard time picking up what he had said.

"Lee Knowww I know how to cut veggies calm down." You jokingly said for the camera while wiggling in his hold. He let out a small gasp at the movement and you realized that because he was so close to you you had accidentally brushed your butt against his crotch. You flushed violently and lowered your head to keep cutting the vegetables. Minho removed his hands from yours, bringing them to your waist and gave you a light squeeze before removing himself from you.

The boys had been shouting things in your ear but you couldn't focus on what they were saying.

What the actual fuck was that?

~✨~

Every night spent with Minho after the food wheel SKZCode was filled with a crazy tension that you couldn't quite explain. Minho was clinging to you like a second skin. Whenever the boys were around you two he would have an arm around you. When you were alone you would often find him lying in your lap or vice versa. When you both would lay down to sleep at night Minho would hold you so tight it seemed like he was afraid you would run away in the night. He had just flirted with you during filming for STAY's benefit... right?

Right?

If that was the case then why didn’t he stop when you both got to your apartment later that night? Like you said before, being with him like this was enough, but now you wondered if there could be more between the two of you. Whatever the case, it was time for the next SKZCode. A trip to Jeju island. If the previous overnight trips were anything to go by then you would likely be paired to room with Minho again and with the tension rising between you two, maybe this time it would actually lead somewhere? It had been a while since you had gotten any action and since Minho hadn’t said anything about his sex life in a while you assumed it was the same for him. Hopefully, this trip would change that.

~✨~

You desperately needed a relaxing trip. Some quality time with all your boys, games, a pool—it's the dream.

Of course you get paired with Minho.

Of course there is only one bed.

You had guessed that the staff was aware of you and Minho's sleeping arrangements by now and seeing as they had paired you like this you figured they must be okay with it.

The day was fairly uneventful, you all played to the camera, it was fun.

Then the night came and you and Minho fell into your usual routine. You both showered, got into your pj's, did your skin care, and crawled into bed. Everything was business as usual...

Then it wasn't.

It started with Minho snuggling closer to you. He did that sometimes, especially when it was cold out. Then he started tracing patterns on your stomach where his hand rested. Again, he would do this sometimes but since this tension had developed between you two? The touch was heightened tenfold.

Then his hand traveled lower until he was playing with the hem of your shirt. Your breath hitched and you felt him stiffen behind you and move to pull his hand away. You grabbed his hand before he could and slowly you pulled it under your shirt and rested it on your bare skin. Minho let out a shuddering breath and relaxed into you, caressing your bare skin. He buried his face in your hair and breathed out a soft "Shit" before wrapping his leg over yours. You leaned back into him as your breathing picked up.

"Min..." You breathily whispered his name and he let out a groan, flipping you so you were now facing him. You were both breathing hard, faces burning from the new contact. His hands were now on your bare back and he gripped onto you, pulling you closer to him. His lips were inches from yours when he spoke.

"Yes kitten?"

You let out a breathy groan at the new nickname and pushed harder into Minho's body.

"Touch me." you whispered against his lips.

Minho let out a noise from the back of his throat as he slid his hands down from your back and under your sleep shorts to grab handfuls of your ass. A whimper escaped you at the contact and Minho pressed your hips flush against one another to grind into you.

You both moaned as the action and you were borderline panting at this point.

"More" you breathed out and Minho snapped, slamming your lips together.

Your first kiss was not sweet, it was not romantic, it was full of years of pining and the primal need to be closer. Minho harshly ground his now fully hard cock into you as he slipped his tongue into your mouth. You moaned into him and he lapped up each sound that escaped you. You started grinding back into him, matching his harsh pace. He groaned and pushed on your shoulder until you were flat on your back with him on top of you.

This is what you had been craving, Minho's hands crawling up your sides under your shirt, his touch leaving a burning fire in its wake. His tongue greedily claiming your mouth. Your hands in his hair urging him on.

Then a thought came to your mind, what the fuck is going on? Is this just a release of pent up frustrations or will this lead to more? At supersonic speeds you have to decide if you are okay with this just being a one time thing if Minho isn't on the same page as you.

You are not. It would break you to have this one night then go back to the way things were.

As Minho goes to kiss down your neck you fight the urge to moan and instead ask the question that is burning a hole in your mind.

"Min, what are we doing?" Minho suddenly stops his attack on your neck and cautiously looks up at you. He scans your face and swallows harshly.

"Well right now I'd say we are fooling around..." Minho blinks a few times and looks from your eyes to your lips, pupils blown wide.

"And later?" You quietly ask, dreading the answer.

Minho pauses and swallows again, seemingly caught between thoughts, before answering "Well I was hoping it would lead to me blowing your back out but if you don't want that or think it might make things weird between us we can stop."

It's your turn to swallow harshly, blinking back tears. You won't cry in front of him. He can't know that this means more to you or you will never go back to being just friends.

"Min, can you move, I need to leave." Your voice breaks a little but you keep the tears from falling. Panic spreads across Minho's features but you are too distraught to address it.

"J-jagi..." Minho stutters out before you sit up and force him to move.

"I need to leave, I'm sorry Min." It's as if your voice comes from far away, disconnected with your body as you get up to leave the room.

"Jagiya wait please, don't go." You can hear the watery tone of Minho's voice but you don't turn around to face him. You can't, the tears already falling from your eyes. You leave the room without saying anything else and run to the one person you know will help you.

~✨~

You burst into Chan and Jisung's shared room and both of the boys jump at the sound. They see your tear stricken face and jump up to wrap their arms around you. You start sobbing and through your tears you manage to tell Jisung to go to Minho. You know Min won't ask for anyone's help but you know he needs it. Jisung looks surprised but nods his head and gives you a forehead kiss before rushing out of the room.

Chan pulls you to his bed and sits you down with his arms wrapped around you, just letting you cry until you're ready to talk.

After what could have been hours or minutes your sobs subside and you decide it is time to come clean.

You tell Chan everything.

You tell him about the crush you had developed, you tell him about the lewd and romantic comments that were made between you two, and finally you tell him about what just occurred in your room.

Chan listens, he doesn't interject or show any sign of disappointment or disgust, he simply nods his head and when you are finished he lets out a long sigh.

"That fucking idiot." He whispers it gently and cradles you in his arms.

"Do you want advice or did you just need to get it off your chest?" He softly asks you, like he is afraid if he raises his voice you'll spook and run away.

You let out a humorless laugh before responding. "What advice could you possibly give me? I've obviously ruined everything with my stupid feelings and Min is never going to talk to me again."

Chan sighs again before responding. "Min isn't going to stop talking to you Y/nnie, do you want my advice?" You look up at him from your position in his arms and nod your head.

"Yes, please."

"I think you should tell him how you feel. Don't ask me why but I really think he feels the same and is just the dumbest guy alive." You let out a real laugh at that and drag Chan to lay down with you.

"Maybe. For now, will you just hold me until I fall asleep?"

"Of course."

~✨~

You wake up the next morning cold and alone. Chan had moved to the couch after you had fallen asleep. You were dreading having to film with everyone today and you knew you looked a mess. There was a knock at the door before Seungmin burst into the room yelling about his challenge being to wake everyone up. He froze when he saw you, expecting Jisung and Chan. He signaled for the cameraman to go away and closed the door behind him before coming over to you.

"Noona, are you okay? You look like you've been crying." He sounded softer than you had ever heard him sound before and you fought the urge to cry all over again.

"Yeah Minnie I'm okay, promise." Your voice was hoarse from sobbing with Chan all night and you winced a little when you heard it. Seungmin's scowl deepened and he searched your face before opening his arms. You smiled and threw yourself into his arms. He hugged you tight for a moment then started to softly caress your back.

"It's okay noona, I won't tell anyone, just go wash your face with cold water and we will film again in like 15 minutes, how does that sound?" You pulled back and smiled at the scowling puppy in your arms.

"That sounds great. Thank you Minnie."

Seungmin smiled sadly back at you before giving your arms a light squeeze and leaving. You sighed and laid back down for a moment before stretching, getting up, and doing what Minnie told you to do.

The rest of the day was filled with filming content for STAY and avoiding the sad gaze Minho gave you every time you passed him.

It was a long shoot.

~✨~

You ignored Minho's texts the following day. Chan told you to take the day off and you stayed at home, curled up on the couch watching (you guessed it) yet another shitty rom-com.

It was dark outside when you heard the door open. You stiffened, there are only two people who would shamelessly let themselves into your apartment and you don't think you could face one of them right now.

"Oh Y/nnie..." You felt the tension leave you as you heard Jisung's voice. You turned to look at him, your face swollen and puffy from crying, tears threatening to fall again.

Jisung rushed over to you and gathered you in his arms as you fell apart yet again. He stroked your hair and let you cry as long as you needed.

Once you finally got it out of your system you looked up at Jisung and saw that he was crying too.

"Oh Ji, why are you crying?" You reached up and wiped his tears.

"I hate seeing you like this Y/nnie, I love you so much and I just don't like seeing you hurt. What happened?" He sniffled and settled more into your side. You let out a harsh sigh before responding.

"Didn't Minho tell you?" You wiped a stray tear from your cheek and looked at Ji.

"He told me his side, I want to hear it from you." You could tell by the look on Jisung's face that he wasn't taking sides in this, he simply wanted to know what happened to his two best friends. You nodded and began to tell Jisung everything.

Jisung is more expressive than Chan was. He nods, furrows his eyebrows, and then, once you are done telling him the full story, a look of solid realization washes over his face.

He lets out a sound of disbelief and shakes his head, you think he might be angry with you for a second before he starts laughing and covers his face with his hands.

"What the hell Ji? I pour my heart out and you fucking laugh at me?" You try to be angry at his response but the little shits laughter is infectious and you hear the giggles in your words and before you know it you are laughing too.

"Okay yeah I guess it's pretty ridiculous but damn, you're not even going to try and comfort me?" You pinch his leg and he flails dramatically in true Jisung fashion.

"It's not that Y/nnie, It's just..." He trails off a little then sighs. "It's not my place, all I can say is you two need to just talk." He looks into your eyes so intensely you think he is trying to telepathically reach you with his thoughts. You just sigh and shake your head, looking down at your lap.

"Yeah, that's what Chan said too. I will, I just need time. Can you tell him that for me?" You look up into his eyes and he smiles sadly at you before leaning in and kissing your forehead.

"Yeah, of course I can."

~✨~

Okay so it takes you more time than you thought to get your thoughts in place to talk to Minho. In fact, it is already time to film another SKZCode before you are even remotely ready.

You've seen Minho at dance practice and in passing at the studio, but he hasn't approached you. You guess Jisung passed along your message and Minho was waiting for you to come to him.

But now you both had to film this skit and act like nothing was wrong.

It's Christmas time again and this year you all are bringing petty issues to fake court. You have a case against Changbin for making you lift too much at the gym and you are suing him for the cost of the massage you had to get. Other members bring cases and you mostly tune them out until you hear your name called.

It's Minho. He's suing you. You look at him and see the sad, almost lost look on his face. Upon closer inspection you see the bags under his eyes showing he has also not been sleeping well. You give him a sad look back and take the seat across from him. The room falls strangely quiet for the nine of you and Minho takes a deep breath before looking you in the eyes.

"You stole my hoodie Y/N." He says it like it is the hardest statement in the world and confusion washes over you at the statement.

"What?" You breathe back.

"You stole my hoodie. I first noticed it back when we were filming Winter is Coming. You were cuddling with me for warmth and I noticed that you were wearing it." You thought back to that episode and became even more confused, you definitely weren't wearing Minho's hoodie while filming that, so what was he talking about?

"Then we had a movie night and I saw it at your apartment. I might have been able to take it back but I really didn't want to, so I left it with you." You tried to understand the meaning of his words, you didn't have his hoodie in your living room.

"We kept filming and doing photoshoots and I tried to forget about the hoodie because I convinced myself that I didn't need it, but it was like the more I tried to forget about it, the more I saw it." He was pleading with you to understand him, to understand what he meant. The hoodie is not a hoodie, what was it?

"Then we went on tour and it was like it was being rubbed in my face, I saw it everywhere, on stage, at the hotels, when we were practicing." This is starting to sound like one of the shitty rom-coms you always watch... Wait...

"When we got back I realized that I couldn't sleep without this hoodie, I needed it for the littlest things, like doing my skincare and eating takeout late at night." The boys are all laughing at this point, you don't blame them, Minho sounds crazy right now but you think you're starting to understand.

"Then we went to Jeju and I was so scared that you had lost my hoodie, I panicked thinking that it had been destroyed. We got back and I found myself looking everywhere for it but it wasn't anywhere I couldn't find it" Oh my god.

"But I'm tired of searching for my hoodie, I already know where it is Y/N you have it. You stole my hoodie. And that's okay, I don't need it back, I don't want it back. Instead, I want to know if I can have your hoodie instead." Minho's eyes were brimming with tears. You could hear Changbin and I.N. howling with laughter at the display but they didn't get it. they didn't understand.

This is not about some hoodie you stole. Minho is telling you that you stole his heart and he isn't asking for it back, he is asking for yours in return. You give him a hopeful smile and let out a watery laugh.

"You already have it, Min." His face lights up and you see him laugh in disbelief. Everything around you melts away and you are filled with a single thought.

Minho loves you back.

You are snapped back into reality by Chan tapping you on the shoulder. You look at him and see realization in his eyes. Chan gets it, but he also understands that you are on camera right now and this needs to make sense to STAY.

"What do you mean he already has it Y/n?" You laugh at Chan's attempt to hold everything together.

"I left it at his place a while back."

~✨~

The rest of the shoot flies by. You and Minho are attached at the hip sharing flirty stares and bickering like usual, putting on a show for STAY, only this time it is no longer just a show. This is real. You all finish up and Chan tells you and Minho to head out and that he will catch you up on everything later. Minho gives Chan a look, not understanding how the elder knows and Chan just winks at him and walks away.

You and Minho leave the building and walk to the company car, the ride to your apartment is filled with comfortable silence. Minho holds your hand the whole way. When you arrive at your apartment the two of you fall into your usual routine. You open the door, you both take off your shoes, you take off your coats, and you both head to the bathroom to do your skincare and brush your teeth together. The familiarity of it all is nice and you know the two of you need to have an actual conversation about where things go from here, but you both are hesitant to bring it up. You because you are excited for the new dynamic but also nervous for what may come next.

The silence continues until you are both finished and head to your couch to watch something, only this time instead of silently turning on the first rom-com he sees Minho faces you and smiles. You return the smile and he lets out a small giggle. Before you know it you are both laughing and smiling at each other. You feel like a giddy teenager. You can't believe your best friend loves you the way you love him.

Once the laughter dies down you both gaze into each other's eyes. Wordlessly, Minho raises a hand and caresses your cheek. You sigh and lean into it, your eyes falling shut.

"You are so beautiful jagiya." Minho's words are quiet but you hear him loud and clear. You smile and open your eyes. Minho moves his hand to the side of your neck and leans in, slowly enough so you could pull away, but you don't want to. He leans in the rest of the way and his lips softly meet your own. You both smile into the kiss. It is gentle and unhurried. Both of you relishing in the feel of one another. This is what you had dreamed your first kiss would be like.

Minho pulls back just enough to look into your eyes, seemingly wanting to stay as close to you as possible.

"I'm yours, little moon bear. Like I said, you stole my heart and I don't want it back." You smile warmly back at him and reach up to stroke his cheek.

"And I'm yours Min, I gave you my heart a long time ago." He smiles brightly at that and leans in to kiss you again. The kiss is sweet and soft. You both smile into it, so happy to finally be together like this.

There are things you need to talk about but that can all wait. For now you can rest easily in Minho's arms knowing that he loves you back.

And that is truly enough.

~✨~

The rest of the night you and Minho cuddle and watch movies like always, the only difference is that every once in a while you share a kiss. They are all sweet, passionate, but not the precursor to anything, they are simply reminders that you are here and this is real.

Once you both get tired you move to the bed where you whisper sweet nothings into each other's ears until you fall asleep.

It's the best night's rest you've both gotten in a long time.

The next morning you wake up in Minho's arms and this time you get to stare without the fear that he will wake up and catch you. When Minho does wake he smiles brightly at you and pulls you in for a kiss.

Because he can now.

The rest of the day is much like any other day. Filled with dance practice, studio time, and photoshoots. When you are finished you and Minho head back to your apartment and fall into your routine. Take off your shoes, skincare, brush your teeth, sit on the couch, and watch a movie. Only for the second night in a row Minho doesn't automatically turn on the TV. Instead, he sighs and turns to you.

"I think I owe you an explanation for what happened back in Jeju."

You give him a sad smile and nod, you had been wondering what had happened that night.

Minho lets out a huge sigh and hangs his head low. "I know I made it seem like I was just trying to sleep with you. The reason I said what I said was because I was scared that that was all it was for you, and I figured if that was the only way I could be with you, then that would be enough for me." Minho shakes his head again and looks up at you.

"But that's not all I want, I want to take you on cute dates and I want to hold your hand, I want to wake up to you staring at me every morning and fall asleep with you in my arms every night," you let out a small giggle at his jab at your staring habit as he continues, "Y/N I want to bicker with you on camera and laugh about it later, but most of all I want to tell the world that you are mine and I am yours. You are not some one night stand to me jagi, you are everything." You are smiling bigger than you think you ever have and you feel a tear fall down your cheek. Minho reaches out and wipes the tear away, smiling back at you. You nod and let out a choked laugh.

"I want that too Min." Minho's face lights up and he leans in and kisses you deeply. You both settle in against one another and turn on a new shitty rom-com.

You could really get used to this.

~✨~

The next day you both decide that you should probably tell Jisung. He is your best friend after all so it is only natural that he should be the first to know. Well other than Chan, you are pretty sure he figured it out with the whole "You stole my hoodie" metaphor. You plan a nice movie night with the three of you to break the news to him.

"Hey Ji! Do you want popcorn?" You are in the kitchen gathering snacks trying not to freak out about the fact that you now need to tell your best friend that his best friends are dating.

"Yeah! With extra butter pleassee!" Jisung yells back from his spot on the couch. You giggle and shake your head at his antics but do as he requested and head over to the living room to join the boys.

"You are an angel sent down from heaven Y/nnie and I love you!" Jisung is dramatic as always when you hand him the popcorn and you just laugh and shake your head at him before ruffling his hair.

Minho laughs as well from his spot on the couch by Jisung before pulling you down to sit next to him.

"Hey! I wanted to sit next to Y/N this time!" Jisung whines when Minho positions himself in the middle.

"Well I want my girlfriend all to myself." Minho's comment is far too casual for dropping a bomb like that on Jisung. You gawk at him for the audacity to just tell Ji like that when you and him had a plan for how you were going to break the news.

Jisung almost doesn’t notice the change but he does a double take and looks between you and Minho about twenty times before sputtering out “Wait, you two… you are like? You are together?!” He yells the last bit. Minho just smiles and nods and maybe it’s how casually Minho is taking this but you are freaking out way less than you had anticipated. Jisung looks at you and Minho one last time before letting out a loud laugh.

“Fucking finally! I thought I was going to have to confess for you guys.” You are taken aback by Jisung’s reaction. You really thought he was going to be, like, mad at you or something but you can now see that Jisung has apparently been waiting for this for a very long time. Minho looks a little surprised too but the three of you all just laugh it off until Jisung pouts.

“Why can’t Y/N just sit in the middle Min, then we can both sit next to her!” Minho groans and you just chuckle and give him a quick peck on the cheek.

“It’s fine Min, you get to see me everyday, one night of me sitting next to Ji isn’t going to kill you.” You move to sit between both of them while Jisung does a little happy dance and you all settle in to watch yet another awful rom-com.

The rest of the night passes like any other with your two boys and you can’t help but smile at the fact that even though everything has changed between you and Min, you three can still have your hangouts like always.

~✨~

A few days have passed and you and Minho continue to live in your bubble of domestic bliss. Everything is great, it really is. The only thing is you have settled into this routine and nothing new has happened.

Like what almost happened in Jeju.

You figured Minho just wanted to take things slow, which you were sure you were fine with.

But a girls got needs.

You now had the world's hottest man alive in your bed every night and he hadn't even tried to make a move on you beyond sweet kisses. Which is nice! But again. You've got needs.

Then it was time for another SKZCode.

SKZ Academy. You were all dressed up in traditional outfits and put into a school setting. Everything was going great. Then you got the fans.

Minho looked at his fan, then looked at you and his face broke out into an evil grin.

Oh he was planning something.

Minho started playfully bickering with you for the camera, making sure MinBear was strong you're sure. Then, he raised his fan into front of his face to shield him from the camera and leaned in to whisper something in your ear. You played along and leaned in to hear what he had to say.

"You look so cute in that outfit, it makes me want to ruin you." you felt your face flush and Minho let out a low chuckle before pulling the fan away.

It was a long shoot after that.

Any time the camera was focused on you two Minho and you would bicker and flirt innocently, but every time the camera turned away Minho would whisper something filthy in your ear. You were so hot and bothered, some of the other boys noticed and commented on it and you lied and said that you were just really warm in your outfit which led to a really cute moment where all eight of them used their fans to cool you off.

You wondered if tonight was the night that something would finally happen between you and Minho because of the way he had acted at the shoot, but when you finally got home after the agonizing day Minho acted like nothing had happened and you fell into your usual routine.

~✨~

The next week Minho was busy, like crazy busy. He was helping develop the choreography for your upcoming comeback and he would arrive at your apartment dead tired late in the night and pass out right away. You felt bad for him, he was obviously working very hard for STAY so you couldn't be mad that he wasn't spending more time with you.

But you were frustrated. Sexually. Minho had unlocked your horny brain with his words in the last SKZCode and now it wouldn't turn off. You needed to find an outlet and aside from fucking yourself with your own fingers (which you did, quite a few times) you knew one thing that could potentially help. Working out. And you knew just the person to do it with.

You texted Changbin.

Now you and Bin had been workout buddies for as long as you could remember. You didn't go as often as him and Chan nowadays but there was a time a few years back when antis had teased you for gaining weight (you literally hadn't you were just on your period and bloated but it still got to you anyway) and you had gone to the gym with Bin every single day after that on top of working out on your own. It had gotten so bad that one day you almost passed out in the gym and Bin had sat with you while you sobbed out an explanation. Ever since that day you and Bin had gone to the gym a bit, but you also would have cheat days together because he knew you both needed them.

"Alright Y/nnie, one more set but then it's time to start our cooldown, we've been at this for hours." Changbin sounded tired and you couldn't blame him. You'd been promising him this was the last set for about ten sets now.

"Okay Binnie, last one, promise!" You flashed him a toothy grin before diving into your final set. Once you were done you and Bin moved on to your cooldown and stretches. You definitely felt a little better after all that, a little less frustrated than you were before. Once you finished your final stretch you and Bin laid down on the mats and he let out a long groan.

"You owe me for that torture Y/nnie." He whined out cutely. You laughed and turned to look at him.

"How about a girls night? You, me, some wine, maybe even some of Felix's leftover brownies?" Your voice lifted at the end of your sentence, clearly trying to appease him. It seemed to work when a smile broke out on his face and he nodded.

"Yes, I think that would work." And in true Changbin fashion he giggled cutely and jumped up to shower off before heading to your place.

You both sprawled out on your couch, a romantic drama playing in the background (you didn't only watch rom-coms, they were just your favorite) drinking wine and chatting about nothing. It had been a while since you and Bin had hung out like this and you didn't realize how much you missed it. After a bit Changbin excused himself to the bathroom and you relaxed further into the couch.

You were pulled out of your relaxation when your front door opened and in stumbled a half-asleep Minho. He barely lifted his head as he kicked his shoes off and shuffled over to the couch where he plopped down directly on top of you letting out a long groan. You smiled down at him sweetly and let him get comfortable in your lap. You brought your hand up and began softly stroking his hair. He made a happy noise and nuzzled further into you.

"Long day?" You spoke to him quietly, not wanting to startle him.

He just let out a long disgruntled noise and pulled his head up to look at you. A small smile broke out on his face and he leaned in and gave you a small peck on the lips.

"What the fuck?" You had forgotten Changbin was there until you heard his bewildered voice come from your hallway where he had apparently seen Minho kiss you. Minho froze in your arms and looked up at his member at the same time you did to see a wide eyed Changbin staring back at the two of you.

Well shit.

"Hey Bin." Minho's voice is tired as he addresses his band mate. Changbin looks shocked at Minho's nonchalance in this situation.

"Hey Min." Changbin looks like he doesn't know what to say and you can't help it, you start laughing. Minho looks over at you and starts laughing too. Changbin is still frozen in your hallway and you try to pull yourself together to give Changbin an explanation.

"We're dating, by the way." Minho sounds so calm when he beats you to the punch. Like this isn't life-changing news he is sharing with his bandmate.

"Oh... cool. Congrats?" Changbin seems to finally relax as he heads over to sit on the other end of the couch. "Does Chan know?" He cautiously asks when he takes his seat.

"I'm pretty sure he helped get us together to be honest." Minho laughs and settles back into your lap. You smile down at him and give him a kiss on his forehead.

"Oh, cool. Well, do you wanna finish this movie with us? We just got to a good part." You love how Changbin just takes news in stride. He doesn't make a big deal but throughout the rest of the movie you see him look over at the two of you cuddled up fondly. He approves. You didn't realize how much you hoped he would.

~✨~

The next SKZCode Bin offered to host and show STAY how you all worked out. Everyone loved the idea and quickly jumped on the opportunity. You loved the idea because Minho was finally less busy this week and you figured this may be your golden opportunity to seduce you boyfriend and finally get dicked down like you so desperately needed.

You pulled out all the stops. Leggings that hugged your ass just right, a crop top that showed off just the right amount of skin, and your hair pulled back in that ribbon you wore from the acrobatics shoot that Minho had confessed was his favorite accessory you owned.

Time to get to work.

Bin started off the shoot explaining to STAY what would be happening this week on SKZCode but you weren’t paying attention because since you had walked on set Minho’s eyes had locked onto you and he looked like he wanted to eat you alive.

God you hoped he would.

You and the guys started the workout and everything was going according to plan. So far you had heard Minho groan twice while you were doing squats, you heard his breathing hitch three times when you bent over to grab weights, and he had touched your waist six separate times when you passed by him. When the guys would look at him funny after he made a noise he said he was just stretching, but you knew why he was groaning.

This was going better than you could have hoped.

When it was Felix's turn to go up and show the rest of you how to properly deadlift Minho came up behind you and wrapped his arms around your middle.

"You're killing me moon bear, you look so hot in those pants." He snuck one hand down to lightly grope your ass and you had to keep from leaning into his touch since you both were technically still on camera. But the camera was currently focused on Felix, so a little flirting couldn't hurt. You turned your head to whisper "I'm sure they would look better on your floor." to a now very frustrated Minho. He squeezed you a bit tighter and in a much huskier tone rasped out "My place tonight, got the dorm to myself. You're coming over after the shoot and we will see if you're right."

~✨~

You teased Minho a bit more during the rest of the shoot. You made sure to exaggerate every time you bent down to grab something in front of him, you faced him while jumping rope (he may be an ass man, but everyone loved bouncing tits), you even offered to 'spot' him when he did his deadlifts and made sure to thoroughly compliment him on his form.

When the shoot was over Minho grabbed your hand and all but ran to the company car to get home.

You were used to quiet car rides with Minho, neither of you liked to talk much in the company cars since you never knew the drivers too well. But this ride was a bit different. There was tension in the air. Minho's hand rested on your thigh the whole time and your head was buzzing with thoughts about what Minho had planned for you.

Once you got to the dorm Minho pulled you inside and pushed you up against the wall, gripping your waist.

"I have been waiting to have you all to myself All. Fucking. Day." He punctuated each word with a kiss to your nose, lips, then to your neck where he took his time making sure to kiss every inch of skin that was available.

"Min..." You sighed out and reached up to tangle your fingers in his hair, urging him to continue.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to have you like this Y/N, you drive me crazy." He continued his assault on your throat and you let out a small moan. When he heard the noise Minho groaned loudly and moved his hands down from your waist and around to harshly grope your ass.

"Minho please." You don't even know what you were begging for, you just knew you needed more. Minho seemed to understand because his hands moved from your ass down to the back of your thighs and he hoisted you up until you were pinned between him and the wall, legs wrapped around his middle, and he rubbed his hard-on into your core. You both let out a moan at the contact.

"Baby girl, jagiya, fuck, I want you so bad. Let's go to my room, yeah?" You were nodding along, horny out of your mind.

"Yes, yes please Min, want you to ruin me." You locked eyes with Minho and his face broke out into a wicked grin.

"Be careful what you ask for jagi, because I'll give it to you." He pushed away from the wall, still holding you in his arms, headed to his room.

"I'd burn the world for you moon bear, all you'd have to do is ask." He leaned in and gave you a heated kiss.

You moaned into his mouth when his tongue came out to swipe at your lip, asking for entrance. When you gave it to him Minho's tongue tangled with your own. He ravaged your mouth as he turned around and sat on his bed with you in his lap. Your hands tangled in his hair again as the two of you devoured one another.

It was messy and passionate and you had never been so wet in your life. You started grinding down on Minho while his hands roamed your body. Both of you borderline panting into each other's mouths.

You broke away from the kiss, gasping for air and Minho took the opportunity to remove your shirt. His gaze wandered down to take in the lacy black bra you were wearing and threw his head back groaning as you ground your hips into his.

"Fuck jagiya, you're so beautiful, even better than I'd imagined." He leaned down and began littering kisses across your chest.

"You imagine this a lot Min?" Your voice was breathless and broke into a moan when he took your nipple in his mouth through the fabric of your bra.

"This, me going down on you, eating you out until you cry and beg for my cock, I imagine a lot of things with you kitten." You cried out when Minho bit your nipple through your bra and moved over to give the other one the same treatment. Once he was seemingly satisfied with his work he reached around and unclasped your bra, only to do the same thing with no barriers. You were a panting, whining mess, grinding on Minho's now fully erect cock.

"Min, please, more." You were already whining and begging for him. He looked up and smirked at your half-fucked-out face, before flipping the two of you over so you were laid on the bed under him. He pulled his shirt off and leaned down to kiss you on the lips. He then trailed kisses down your neck, chest, stomach, until he reached the hem of your pants. He looked up at you through his lashes and you swear you had never seen a sight more beautiful. His face was painted red and he kept eye contact as he reached up to begin pulling your pants down.

Once they were off he tossed them on the floor and looked over at them, then back to you.

"You were right kitten, they do look better on my floor."

"Fuck." He breathed out. Then, without warning, he leaned in and licked over the wet spot over and over until you were squirming.

"Min, fuck, please, ngh, please more." You were heavily panting at this point and Minho must have gotten tired of teasing you because he ripped your underwear off and leaned back in to eat you out like a man starved. The gasp you let out was loud and throaty as Minho licked from your hole up to your clit before sucking the little bud into his mouth and lightly nibbling at it with his teeth. You were moaning loudly and gasping at the sensation. Minho then trailed back down to stick his tongue as deep as it would go into your hole and curled it to rub your sensitive spot. You tangled your hands in his hair and pulled tightly as your hips started to move. Minho growled at that and reached up to pin your hips down with one arm. He licked back up to suck your clit back into his mouth before taking his free hand to stick two fingers at your entrance. You were so wet, they slid in easily and he began roughly thrusting his fingers into you, curling them in a brutal come hither motion.

You were borderline screaming his name now. Minho did not let up, he continued his assault on your clit until your legs were shaking. You could feel the pressure building in you and you tried to warn him but all that came out was a long moan of his name.

Stars filled your vision and you came harder than you ever had before. Minho lifted his face away to watch you as you came. You could barely breathe and your body shook as he continued to finger fuck you as you rode out your orgasm.

You thought he was going to slow down or stop but when pleasure turned into overstimulation and you started to whine Minho grinned at you evilly before sticking out his tongue and leaning back down to lick around his fingers, still moving inside you. You were now borderline hyperventilating, little gasps of "Min" being punched out of you with each thrust of his fingers.

Pain began to bleed into pleasure again and Minho moved to suck your clit into his mouth once again.

"FUCK!" You cried out at the stimulation and it was like Minho was possessed with a singular need to get you to cum. You were panting and moaning, screaming out Minho's name as he continued to devour you. You felt the familiar pressure return, only this time it felt more intense.

"Min, Min fuck, I'm gonna," You broke off your sentence with a gasp as Minho doubled down on his efforts and you felt the band inside you snap.

"FUCKSHITFUCKYESMINRIGHTTHEREOHFUCK!" You came again with a loud cry and it felt wetter than normal. You were gasping, your vision almost blacking out. When you came to you looked down and at Minho and your breath hitched at the sight.

His mouth was wide open and he was staring at you as if you had hung the moon. His face was covered in your slick. It was literally dripping onto the sheets and you realized you had squirted on his face.

"Min, holy fuck I didn't know I could do that." You were still catching your breath and you looked away, embarrassed you had made such a mess on his bed.

Minho snapped out of his trance and hastily climbed up your body, grabbing your face with both hands and placing kisses anywhere he could.

"So fucking hot. What the fuck? Squirted on my face? Holy shit jagi you're so fucking perfect." He was rambling as he placed kisses on your nose, cheeks, and finally landed on your lips, giving you a long, passionate kiss.

"I was going to make you beg for my cock but after that? Fuck, I need to be inside of you yesterday kitten." He leaned down and gave you a small kiss before pulling away and ripping off his own shirt and pants.

Minho looked you in the eyes as he began to lower his boxers. When his cock sprung free your eyes snapped to it and your breath hitched again. It was so pretty and big and looked like it would fill you just right. You wanted to suck him off so bad. You licked your lips.

Minho must have seen the look in your eyes as you started to rise from the bed because he chuckled and pushed you back down.

"Another time kitten, while I'm sure your mouth feels amazing, I want to fuck you so good all you remember is my name, yeah kitten? Would you like that?" You whimpered and pulled Minho down to you. He chuckled and kissed your collarbone before whispering in your ear.

"I'm guessing that's a yes?"

"Yes, please Min, kitten wants your cock." You batted your eyelashes at him and he froze for a second, his cool composure cracking.

"Shit." He whispered before crashing your lips together.

You messily kissed as he reached into his nightstand to grab a condom. Once he got it he leaned back to quickly put it on, swatting your hand away when you tried to help him.

Then he lined up with your entrance and looked into your eyes. You smiled back at him and leaned up to kiss the little mole on his nose. He let out a little chuckle and leaned down to give you a peck on the lips before slowly pushing into you.

You both moaned at the feeling. He paused for a moment to let you adjust and looked down into your eyes.

"You are so beautiful little moon bear." He leaned in and kissed you as he started to push into you fully. You moaned when he bottomed out and he let out a puff of air, both of you panting into each other's mouths.

He gave you little time to adjust as he began rocking his hips into you. Your hands moved across his back, feeling his muscles as he started to set a steady pace. You both looked into each other's eyes as Minho took his time feeling you around him. He leaned down to kiss you as he picked up the pace. Both of you let out noises sporadically. Minho thrusted harder and you cried out and threw your head back when he hit your sensitive spot dead on. Minho pulled back and grabbed your hips, angling you so he would hit that spot with each thrust. You screamed out his name as he relentlessly began pounding into you. You could feel your third orgasm of the night rapidly approaching with each thrust Minho gave you.

After a particularly harsh thrust your body locked up and you came around him. Minho was grunting at the feel of you clenching around him. Your pussy spasmed and Minho slowed his thrusts to allow you to ride out the intense orgasm. When you came down panting heavily Minho pulled you into a kiss.

"We're not done yet kitten, turn around for me." You obeyed, turning and getting on all fours for Minho. He lined up and entered you again, moaning at the wet glide your release provided. He started thrusting in you again, slowly at first. Once your whimpers gave way to moans Minho sped up his thrusts causing your arms to give out and you landed with your chest on the bed, ass in the air. Minho groaned at the sight and started thrusting harder. You were panting and crying at this point, the pleasure too much, yet you couldn't get enough. Minho reached down and wrapped his hand lightly around your throat. You moaned at the contact and you heard him chuckle before tightening his grip.

Minho used his grip on your throat to pull you up flush to his chest as he continued to harshly thrust into you.

"My little kitten likes it when I choke her a little bit huh?" You moaned out pathetically as Minho spoke into your ear. He chuckled a little bit and you knew you looked cross-eyed-screwed at this point. Drool coming out of your mouth as it hangs open in a constant stream of moans. Minho started kissing up the side of your neck as his pace increased a bit. He must be getting close, you figured as his thrusts became erratic. His free hand traveled between your legs and he started circling your abused clit with his fingers.

"Fuck, cum with me jagi, wanna feel you cum around me again." Minho panted out into your ear.

Minho thrust hard into your sensitive spot once again and you seized up as you came for the fourth time that night. Minho pumped into you twice more before finding his own release, shooting hot ropes of cum into the condom. The moan he let out was so hot you wanted to record it so you could listen to it all day. Minho released his grip on your neck and held your body to him as you both came down from your highs. He hugged you tight and gave you small kisses on your neck while he whispered how well you did for him.

Once you could both breathe again, Minho laid you down on the bed and went to grab a towel to clean you up a little bit. You smiled as he softly cleaned all the parts of your body that were beginning to feel sticky. Once he finished up he climbed into bed with you and gathered you into his arms so you could nuzzle your head into his chest.

"I think I'm falling for you jagi, you make it impossible not to." He whispered into your hair, followed by a soft kiss on the top of your head.

"You too Min, I think I've been falling for you this whole time."

You both curled into one another, whispering sweet nothings until sleep finally took you.

~✨~

The next morning you woke up feeling sore all over, but it was worth it. You cracked your eyes open to see Minho's sleeping form. How you always woke up before him you would never know, but you hoped it wouldn't stop because these moments in the morning where you could sit and watch Minho peacefully sleeping were some of your favorites. Minho's nose twitched a little and he took a deep breath before squeezing you tighter to him.

"Ow Min! Not too hard, I'm still sore from last night." He smiled and softly chuckled before he cracked his eyes open.

"Sorry jagi, you're just so squeezable." He gave you a lighter squeeze before sighing contently.

You nuzzled into him before a sound from the kitchen made you both freeze.

"Min?"

"Y/N?"

"I thought you said you had the dorm to yourself?"

"I did, the guys said they were staying at the 3Racha dorm last night."

"Then that better be a burglar Min because if the guys heard us last night I'll never live it down."

Another sound came from the kitchen and you both exchanged a look before getting out of bed. You put one of Minho's tee shirts and a pair of sweats on while he got dressed as well. You both exchanged one more look before heading into the kitchen.

Felix was making pancakes at the stove and didn't look up as the two of you entered. I.N. and Seungmin were setting up the dining table with bacon and maple syrup. I.N. 's eyes were wide when you came in but said nothing, just nodding to both of you before continuing. Seungmin looked surprised to see you but quickly shook it off to continue setting the table.

Felix brought the pancakes over to the table and almost dropped the plate when he saw you in the dining room. He quickly recovered and gestured for both of you to sit. You had no idea if they had heard you last night but the looks on their faces seemed like they did. You weren't too keen on sharing a meal with the awkward tension in the air but the rumbling in your stomach chose for you as you and Min took a seat.

The five of you ate in silence until Minho finally spoke up.

"Sooo, when did you all get back?" He tried to sound nonchalant but the slight waver in his voice gave him away.

"Not long." I.N. spoke quickly and you heard a thud under the table and he made a face.

"Okay cool, what's up with the pancakes?" Minho seemed to accept I.N.'s answer but you weren't so sure. The guys were usually never this quiet.

"Oh we just figured you guys might be hungry." Seungmin said with a smirk directed at the two of you.

Oh fuck, they totally heard you. Play it cool Y/n.

"Why would you think that?" Your voice was quiet when you finally spoke the prying question.

"Oh for fucks sake I can't tiptoe around this, it's torture. We came home last night and heard Min had 'company' over so we were planning on teasing him and the mystery girl over breakfast but we didn't realize it was you Y/nnie!" Felix yelled out, his face turning bright red. You're sure your face wasn't faring much better as you looked at the other two boys who were looking down, red in the face, avoiding your gaze.

You had no idea what to do in this situation. Thankfully Minho spoke up.

"Ah, sorry, thought you were out for the night." Really? That is what he chose to say?

The three boys looked up at Minho confused.

"That's all you're going to say? How long has this been going on? What are your intentions with Y/n?" Seungmin almost sounded angry when he asked Minho the questions. It was pretty adorable how Seungmin came to your defense after the screaming he must have overheard last night. Minho just smiled and started laughing.

Now you were confused too, what was funny about this situation? Minho saw your expression and stopped laughing, his smile softened.

"Sorry, I just wasn't really expecting that question." He turned to Seungmin. "My intentions, Minnie, are to treat our Y/nnie like the queen she is. We are dating. We have been for a bit but we hadn't decided on how to tell everyone yet so we were keeping it under wraps until we figured that bit out. This wasn't really what we were planning on but now that you heard that I figured you should know." The three boys looked shocked at first but then they all smiled at you two.

"Well it's about damn time." Seungmin was the first to speak and you let out a laugh at his words.

"So how did it happen?" Felix had stars in his eyes when he asked for more details and you were so happy the boys were so calm about the news. The five of you talked about you and Minho's relationship and ate pancakes after that for a while.

Everything is okay.

~✨~

A few days had passed since the incident and you and Minho agreed that any and all sexy time activities should happen at your apartment from now on, away from prying eyes and ears.

Needless to say, you rarely ever stayed at Minho's after that.

You and Minho were settling into your new relationship well and you decided it was finally time to tell all the guys. Well Jisung already knew. And Changbin found out that one girl's night. And Felix, Seungmin, and I.N. had literally caught you two fucking. You were pretty sure Chan knew too from the looks he always gave the two of you and the Christmas SKZCode incident.

Oh my god did everyone but Hyunjin already know?

They totally did. Wow. Oh Hyune will never let you live this down.

You told Minho about your revelation and he started cracking up imitating how he thought Hyune was going to react. You couldn't help it, it was such a good impression you started laughing too.

It was fine. You'd tell him tomorrow. Tonight, Minho said he had a surprise for you and you had seen cat ears and tails in his online shopping cart along with some fancy lingerie so you had a guess as to what the surprise was.

~✨~

The next day was another SKZCode. You had totally forgotten about it in the chaos of the last few weeks. This time you all would be doing escape rooms! You love escape rooms so this was at least going to be a lot of fun.

You got paired with Minho and... Hyunjin. Oh god why Hyune? Literally everyone else already knew, you didn't want him figuring it out before you had the chance to tell him!

As the day progressed and you and Minho worked to escape your room with Hyune you were reminded that while Hyunjin was an incredible person... He was a member of paboracha for a reason.

Minho was not subtle. He was trying to hold your hand, grab your ass, he even called you jagi a few times. Hyunjin noticed none of it. It's a miracle that boy has made it this long being this fucking oblivious.

The three of you finally managed to escape. Well really, you and Min had solved everything while Hyunjin whined about being bored and ate cup noodles. Everyone wrapped up their rooms and once the recording was finished Minho took Chan aside to talk. When they both came back Chan had a smile on his face.

"Hey everyone, good work today! I've decided that we are taking the rest of the day off to hang out at the dorm and play games. How does that sound?" Everyone cheered and piled into the company cars to head over to Minho's dorm.

The nine of you hadn't had much time to hang out all together in a while. It was great having all of the guys under one roof without the pressures of work getting in the way. Minho cooked everyone a delicious meal and you all ate and laughed and played some games.

After a while Minho stood up in front of everyone and dramatically clinked his glass until everyone was paying attention to him.

"Yah! Quiet down! I've got something to say!" Minho yelled over the chaos of the other seven members. Everyone looked up at him and fell silent.

"Y/n and I are dating." Minho deadpanned. You looked around and everyone had a look on their face that read 'well, duh, we know.' except Hyunjin, who looked like he just shat a brick.

"What? You two are dating?" Hyunjin cried out, looking around at the other members. "Why is everyone so chill about this?" He asked, scanning the other's faces.

"They told me over a month ago." Jisung shrugged.

"I caught them kissing weeks ago." Changbin added.

"The three of us heard them fucking." Seungmin slyly added, pointing to Felix and I.N.

"I figured it out when Minho confessed on SKZCode a couple weeks back." Chan giggled out.

Hyunjin looked at all his members then at you and Minho.

"Wait, so I'm the only one who didn't know?" He asked incredulously. You gave him a sad smile and Minho offered a half shrug.

"We actually didn't realize everyone but you knew until yesterday to be honest Hyune. We hadn't really planned on telling anyone until now but it all just kinda happened." You explained it to him softly, hoping he would understand.

But of course in true Hyunjin fashion he blew up dramatically. Accusing you two of hating him and even fake crying. But through all the fake dramatics you saw Hyunjin smile at you, and you knew, it was all for show. Hyunjin was happy for you two, he was just showing it in his own way.

All your boys finally knew. You and Minho were a couple and your band mates approved. You smiled.

Today was a good day after all.

~✨~

The boys all knew, you and Minho didn't have to hide anymore. Not that you ever really had to per say, but now you wouldn't have to explain. A week full of fun hangouts with everyone passed. You painted with Hyunjin and he told you how happy he was for you and Minho. You, Changbin, Jisung, and Felix all had a wine and movie night where you gossiped about whatever came to mind and ate the brownies you and Lix had made earlier that day. You and Chan hung out in the studio, he asked for your opinion on his new tracks and you made sure he ate. You wanted to go to a new restaurant so of course Seungmin came along, he had wanted to go before you had brought it up of course. I.N. had helped you pick out some cute new clothes for a picnic date Minho had promised you he would take you on on your next day off.

All of the time you spent with the boys was amazing and reminded you of why you called these boys your family. But your favorite moments over the week happened early in the morning, you would wake up in Minho's arms and watch him sleep. His peaceful face is one of your favorite looks on him.

The next SKZCode was a karaoke room and you and Minho dueted cute love songs giving each other heart eyes the whole time. The boys joked about it for the camera but you didn't care, because the most important people in your life knew and supported you.

MinBear trended for weeks after the episode aired and you and the boys just laughed at the discourse surrounding the topic. STAY didn't know how right they were.

#skz smut #stray kids smut #stray kids hard hours #stray kids hard thoughts #lee know smut #lee know hard thoughts #lee know hard hours

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anoant-haikyuu-dump · 1 day ago

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Quick fic about Kenma and Fukunaga rooming together in college!

Roughly 2300 words, Kenma POV, platonic, basically Fukunaga being odd and Kenma dealing with that.

*Sidenote: i know roommate/dorm culture isn't the same in Japan as it is in the US but just suspend your disbelief lol

------

Kenma had no idea what to expect when he agreed to room with Fukunaga in their freshman year of university. Sure, the two had spent the better part of three years together— suffer through enough early-morning practices, grueling training camps, and endless bus rides with a guy and you come out the other side soul-bonded whether you like it or not. What truly solidified their bond was their third year. With Kuroo off to college and Hinata a whole prefecture away Kenma was practically forced to hang out with his fellow second-now-third years lest he fall back into the arms of his old hermit lifestyle, and as tempting as that was he promised Kuroo he’d leave the house more than once a month. Stupid childhood friends being concerned about your mental well-being.

Although first-year Kenma would shudder at the thought of wasting all his free time on a weirdo like Fukunaga, much less Tora, it wasn’t nearly as miserable as he’d dreaded. The two were freaks— loud, obnoxious, guts-obsessed freaks in a certain ace’s case— but overtime he’d grown accustomed to their quirks. Those were his captains; they’d joined the club together, grown together, gone to nationals together. Laughed at Tora when he tangled himself in the net together (minus Tora, he was pissed). It’d be a lie to claim they didn't worm their way into his heart like the persistent little parasites they were. Those freaks were his friends, Kenma begrudgingly came to accept. Yes, even Tora. Besides, what other option did he have? Lev? He didn’t hate himself that much.

All that’s to say Kenma and Fukunaga were close. Tight, even. Enough for Fukunaga to know where the Kozume’s hid their spare key under a rock in the garden (though that was Kuroo’s fault for snitching). But three years of friendship and easy-access to one’s house doesn't instantly unlock all the mysteries of a person. Especially when that person is a complete and utter enigma like Shouhei Fukunga.

This was proven not even a week into their first semester. Kenma had just finished a business class, which he’d spent pretending to take notes on his laptop while actually grinding away at some RPG from his steam library. He was expecting Fukunaga to be home since he didn't have class till the afternoon.

He wasn’t expecting the unicycle.

Where he got the thing was beyond Kenma, as was the way he effortlessly navigated their shoebox dorm without ramming into a single piece of furniture. It was honestly more impressive than surprising— Kenma wondered when he learned, how, why, before remembering who he was talking about. Fukunaga doing weird shit without explanation. Fork found in kitchen. Kenma had more important things to worry about, ignoring lectures on marketing management or whatever was a full-time job and he wanted to lie down.

“I’m back.” He said with a yawn, kicking off his shoes as he shuffled over to his bed.

“Hey.” Fukunaga replied. No acknowledgement of the situation, not that he expected any.

Kenma got nice and cozy under the covers, then pulled out his computer to continue his game. He’d finished most of it while his professor was rambling on about how “this is going to be on the exam, blah blah blah” but he wanted to 100% it. Nothing better than an afternoon of achievement hunting. He spent a good 10 minutes combing through a dungeon in search of a secret boss, but for some reason he just couldn’t get into the zone. Probably had something to do with, oh you know, the whole-ass circus routine playing out not even five-feet away. He sighed and shut his laptop. Fine, he’ll bite. “What are you doing?”

“Practicing.” A man of many words.

He was tempted to ask “What for?” but knew that would only create more questions. Instead he called, “Know any tricks?” Without missing a beat Fukunaga reached into his hoodie pocket, whipped out three plastic balls, and started juggling. Figures.

Kenma sat there watching for god knows how long, long enough that Fukunaga had to hop down to get ready for class. He stuffed the unicycle under his bed, answering Kenma’s question of where he stored the thing, but creating the new question of what other garbage he had hidden down there. A secret for another day. With a classic “See ya later Alligator.” Fukunaga headed out, leaving Kenma alone with his thoughts. It was only then that it fully sunk-in— he’d just wasted the past few hours watching his roommate unicycle around their room like a clown-in-training and he didn’t even realize. Should he be pissed? Impressed that Fukunaga managed to hold his attention for so long? (some of those tricks were seriously complex). It wasn’t exactly the most productive use of an afternoon, but then again was he ever productive? Games, unicycling roommates, who’s to say what constitutes a good use of time? He figured a little change of pace wouldn’t kill him.

---

The rest of the semester went on much like that, always something going on. One day Kenma came home to at least five kittens scampering around their dorm. All pets minus service animals were strictly off-limits so he wasn’t sure how Fuku,naga got them past security, nor how they vanished the next day without a trace. Another time he got super into chinese yoyo and nearly broke the overhead light with a misplaced throw. After that he got into regular yoyo and nearly broke a lamp.

A common Fukunaga-ism was for him to stop by random flea markets and buy whatever knick-knacks he could find. Because of that his side of the room was constantly cycling decor. Take, for instance, the inflatable tube man taped to the ceiling that always freaked Kenma out at night, or the kiddie pool in the corner full of ball pit balls from a kids’ center that’d shut down. Most of his purchases were bought purely based on their potential for puns, of which Fukunaga had plenty. Kenma always knew when he’d thought of a new one cause he’d silently giggle to himself in that way that makes him look like a chipmunk. Sometimes Kenma would ask to hear them, he’s always found Fukunaga funny. If he ever makes it as a big comedian Kenma’s taking credit for being the first person to tell him that.

To put a long story short, rooming with Fukunaga was like living in a sitcom, except the writers ran out of normal scenarios six seasons ago and had resorted to throwing the most outlandish shit at the wall to see what stuck. The most surprising part? Kenma didn’t even mind. It was a lot, yeah, but Fukunaga never dragged him into his shenanigans or invaded his space. Honestly the most annoying thing he did was invite Tora over, who was 10x more annoying than whatever new hobby Fukunaga had adopted for the week. Plus, it’s not like Kenma was the greatest roommate either. He was getting into streaming around this time so it wasn’t rare to find him shouting at his monitor past 4am or hogging 90% of the room’s outlets. Together they were the most dysfunctionally-functional duo in the building, and an infamous one at that.

---

Kenma and Fukunaga were not popular among their floormates. They weren’t hated per say but if everyone else had to vote on a pair to banish from the building Kenma had a sneaking suspicion they’d be first in line. One reason for this was Kenma’s aforementioned streaming— Fukunaga didn’t mind the late-night noise but their neighbors weren’t too keen. The second reason was the unmistakeable stench that wafted from their room any time Fukunaga pulled out his little instant pot to make dinner. Kenma couldn't blame him, personally he’d rather knaw on uncooked blocks of ramen for every meal than step foot in their university’s dining hall. If it wasn’t for his streaming career taking off Kenma would be drowning in debt from all his food delivery fees. And to be fair the smell wasn’t always bad, Fukunaga was phenomenal at cooking after all. As a part-time chef he knew his stuff. The problem was his favorite foods. Octopus. Squid. Dousing everything in fish sauce. Their dorm might as well have been a seafood market. It didn’t help that Fukunaga always went way overboard— no hot pockets or box mac and cheese here, he had every prohibited appliance under the sun from a hot pot to a griddle to a waffle maker. Air fryer salmon doesn’t smell like roses.

Kenma had never been the biggest eater. In highschool Kuroo always bothered him about that— skipping lunch isn’t healthy Kenma, you have to eat vegetables Kenma, three mints and a granola bar doesn’t count as dinner Kemna. It was annoying sometimes, especially at training camp when Bokuto got involved, but it was nice to know they cared. When Kuroo left for university the role of “Kenma’s feeder” was taken up by Tora (“OI KENMA, IF YOU DON’T EAT YOU’LL COLLAPSE ON COURT AND WE WON'T MAKE IT TO NATIONALS! THAT PLATE BETTER BE EMPTY WHEN I GET BACK”). Then graduation rolled around and for better or worse Kenma was free. He tried his best to eat decently as a promise to Kuroo but he often found himself forgetting to order food before restaurants closed.

One night at some unholy hour Kenma was on his usual stream grind— he’d started in the afternoon and ended up getting so invested that he skipped class…and lunch…and dinner. It was a new game, ok? The cup noodles he planned on eating sat unopened at the edge of his desk. Noodles meant microwave, which meant getting up, which meant pausing his game, and that wasn’t an option at the moment. He was in for the long haul. Chat had been pestering him about eating for hours now but who cares about their opinion? They’d also been yapping about a ghost or some bullshit looming behind him all night so why should he trust them with anything? He didn’t even realize Fukunaga was still awake until he felt a light tap on his shoulder. With a yelp he spun around, spooked by the sudden touch. There he was holding out a bowl of curry, chat’s ghost. “Eat.�� When Kenma didn’t take the bowl Fukunaga bopped him on the head with it. “Pretty sure starving on stream is against TOS.” Then he set the bowl down on his desk and disappeared. Every stream after that chat bothered Kenma about his “guardian angel” and asked for him to come say hi.

---

By their second year both Kenma and Fukunaga realized that university wasn’t for them. Kenma’s online career had skyrocketed and he was teaching himself more about business through the start of his own company than lectures and exams ever could. Fukunaga was gradually finding an audience at a nearby comedy club and had his own taste of internet fame when one of his sets got reposted online and went viral. It just wasn't worth staying enrolled for their future plans, thus the two were officially drop outs. With that said and done the time had come for them to part ways—there was no need to share an apartment, Kenma had enough cash to afford his own and Fukunaga made plans to move in with Tora.

On the final day they stood outside next to the road, boxes stacked high as they waited for Kuroo and Tora to come pick them up. “Welp,” Fukunaga said, giving him a salute “It’s been an honor captain.”

“You were Nekoma's captain, not me.”

“First mate doesn’t have the same ring.” They laughed. Fukunaga went in for a hug, and for once Kenma let it happen. “Until we meet again boss.”

Kenma snorted into his shoulder. “Please, our new places are only a few train stops away.”

“How about until I ask Kuroo where your house key is hidden again.”

“Don’t you dare.”

In the passenger's seat of Kuroo’s sedan Kenma pressed against the window, watching as the world around him blurred into one big blob of city. Kuroo was saying something, idle chatter about classes or work or their friends, but Kenma was only half listening. On the one hand he was excited to have his own space for the first time in his life, the freedom to do anything he wanted any time he wanted without prying eyes. He could finally have a dedicated stream room, that was cool. On the other hand he had to admit, he was gonna miss the oddities that accompanied living with Fukunaga. The unpredictability, the jokes, the ever-changing decor, even the inflatable tube man hanging from the ceiling. And the home-cooked meals of course, going back to DoorDash was gonna be an adjustment. He figured if he missed his food that much he could drop by their apartment anytime. He’d have to deal with Tora now but maybe that wasn’t so bad. They were all adults now, more mature. Mellowed out (at least for Tora standards). He decided that he'd make a point to call his friends more often.

“You ok?” a voice called, snapping Kenma out of his trance. Kuroo nudged his foot with his own. “You’ve been pretty quiet today, more than usual.”

Kenma shot him a small smile. “Yeah, I'm good.”

“Great, cause i'm gonna need you to listen to this next part-” Years later when Fukunaga started appearing on tv interviews and variety shows Kenma was proud to say that they used to be roommates way back when, and that he was the first one to tell him his jokes were funny.

#Its been a hot minute since I've written anything but i was in the mood #never posted writing on tumblr so if this is formatted weirdly lmk #also if anything is too ooc cause this is my first time writing for the hq fandom #this is more of an “ant rambles about their AU and the second years in general ” thing than an actual narrative #my friend snuck an air fryer into the dorms and used it to cook salmon. Apparently it stunk up the place BAD #maybe ill post it to my ao3 idk #haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu #haikyuu!!#fukunaga shouhei #kozume kenma #nekoma #Tora and Kuroo are there for like two seconds #Tora's barely in this but since this is an anoant-haikyuu-dump post assume this is implied Fukutora cause it always is #my fics

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luvhughes43 · 9 hours ago

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Can we hear more about Luke finding out? I feel like he’s the most “in the dark” and is just so confused

"why's it so cold in here?" luke huffs, rolling over onto his side and practically dangling off of blakes couch. "do you not have heaters in new york?"

"go get a throw blanket from my room," blake replies, whipping one of her pillows and hitting luke across the chest. "i like it chilly,"

"yeah well youre weird," he huffs, sliding off the couch and wandering into his sisters room. he looked around her bedroom, not finding anything aside from her duvet. "theres no blankets!" he yells.

"check my laundry basket in my closet!" blake yells back, and luke dutifully pulls open her closet to reveal a mess of clothes and shoes.

he throws things around, before grabbing hold of a familiar devils hoodie. he pulls it out of her basket, and eyes it wearily. "ew!" he shrieks, dropping it back into the basket - 13 in bold glaring at him on the sweaters sleeve.

"what are you screaming about," blake sighs, pushing open her door and walking over to luke. "oh," she says, noticing nico's sweater immediately.

"why do you have this?" luke questions, grabbing hold of the sweater in question and holding it out towards blake. he takes another look around her room and quickly notices other things too. a large kith hoodie strewn across her bed, a cream beanie hanging off her vanity, two toothbrushes through her open bathroom door. "are you seeing someone?" he sounds disgusted, walking through her room and picking up an assortment of things.

"no... i just... took an interest in menswear?" blake lies horribly. her relationship with nico was bound to come out sometime but both her brothers finding out before jack... he was going to throw a fit.

it was then luke saw it. a gold framed photo from a devils event months ago. blake stood grinning near a similar faced nico, the beanie on her vanity identical to the one he was wearing in the photo.

luke gasps, "no..."

"okay well the thing is..."

"nico... like... nico hischier," luke stresses, eyeing the discarded beanie with a look of realization. he points towards the hoodie in her closet and gasps.

"i mean there is only one..."

"dont play with me!" luke defends, backing away from the offensive vanity to sit on blakes bed. "nico hischier," he repeats in disbelief, covering his mouth with one of his hands in shock. "does jack know?"

"not really..." blake hedges, watching anxiously as luke stares off in disbelief.

"like... the nico hischier," he repeats for the third time. "that's crazy,"

"well dont say it like that!"

"like what, youre secretly seeing nico,"

"like its a crazy concept that we'd be together," blake defends, still trying to gauge her brothers reaction to the shocking news.

luke stays silent for a minute, "this is so weird,"

"but youre not mad?" blake asks, still standing by her vanity.

"no i'm not mad but ... ew! how did you guys even get together? and how are you hiding it from jack? and-"

"one question at a time lukey," blake laughs as her nerves dissipates. "we started seeing each other after the swept the deck event, and we havent told jack because he said he doesnt want me dating his teammates,"

"well thats stupid. jack wouldnt care," luke nods, flipping the situation around and giving blake advice. "but wow... and im the only person that knows?"

"quinn knows too,"

luke leans back on blakes bed and holds his hands up to his eyes. "wow i cant even imagine-"

suddenly, blakes phone starts ringing and she whips it out. "is that him?" luke perks up, standing up quickly to see the caller id. "it is!" he gasps, grabbing the phone from blake and answering it.

"luke stop!" blake shouts, and luke holds the phone out of her reach.

"are you seriously dating blake? like, voluntarily?" he asks nico, and while blake cant hear her her boyfriends response she can see lukes smile get wider. "this is crazy," he laughs, handing the phone back to its rightful owner.

"so he knows," nico speaks through her phone. "is that okay?"

"it's okay," she hums, watching as luke retreats back to her closet to search for her blanket.

#blake hughes au

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thefusioncelestial · 2 days ago

Text

Mix 10: We Only need One Prince & One Kingdom

For the last one thousand years, two neighboring kingdoms have been in some form of conflict or another.

Recently they achieved peace. A weak peace.

With the wisdom borne from two kings, they formed a peace treaty via a marriage contract. A daughter to a son. The son would inherit the daughter's kingdom and unite the warring nations.

There is a problem. Both kings had sons.

Here is one half of that problem:

Prince Admir.

Everyone wants him. In normal circumstances, he would be considered a great boon to a kingdom. In this male dominated world, a male prince is always a good thing. But not in this case.

He was supposed to be female. A princess. The snake in his pants meant that war could be coming. His father is trying to get the nations to wait one more generation, but it is clear to everyone that he & the other king will fail. Even to this famously shy prince.

In the meantime he does whatever he needs to do to play the part: be athletic, sociable, dutiful, and now play the marriage game. He gets a marriage proposal from every noble & aristocratic family every month. He turns them down.

He has to pick the right marriage.

The wrong one could cause a province to revolt. It could lead to assassination attempts. There were other royal lines within his family who would love to take his place.

He needed to clear his mind. He needed speak with the other prince; his best friend.

And he got that opportunity. An secret invite reached him via the royal guard, and he wanted to meet Admir at a beach on neutral ground. It also said that he had a long term solution.

He could use any of the modern transportation methods to get there, but they were electronic & detectable. Too many people would follow. If either prince got hurt, it was war then & there.

He went by horse.

A one hour trip by train took three days by horse.

It was a serene beach. Blue sky, clear water, and light caramel brown sand. He spotted a cottage & a horse tied to it.

A white Saludorian Stallion. My friend, no practically my brother's horse he thought. He had very fine tastes. That breed was imported. One costs one village's tax revenue for a year.

Worth every penny.

Within minutes, he tied his own horse to a post next the other prince's.

The other prince came out and with a sword. He thought he was followed, or that some neighboring country wanted him dead. Many nations would benefit if he got hurt and from the ensuing war.

Or someone wanted to move up the line.

Once he saw that it was Admir, he dropped his blade. His tense look went a away. His muscles relaxed. A very slight smile ran across his face.

Admir noticed it. Prince Kazahad was naked.

He left his eyes open, but blushed. Had fate been kinder, he would be seeing and feeling that wonderful body as his wife.

"Brazen as usual," Admir said.

"I am in the company of my best friend, and why should I deny what I am," Kazahad responded.

"A little decorum goes a long way," Admir said.

But before he could continue, Kazahad was already in the throes of taking Admir's clothes off.

"Let's enjoy each other as we naturally are, one last time," he said.

Admir & Kazahad were secretly dating. Had either of them been a lady, they would be able to do it more openly.

Since puberty had hit them and left 5 years ago, they came to know and like each other. But two rods can't further the line. They can't be married. In the old days of such parings, the married couple each would have their own harem.

But harem politics is nasty. Every mother wants the throne for their son or daughter. Much bloodshed.

And trust it all that the two princes have read & tried nearly everything to get each other pregnant. If one of them could get a baby bump, they could marry each other and unite their kingdoms. But fate says no.

"What do you mean last time, found a marriage partner, who is the lucky princess," Admir asked.

Kazahad went back in the sea cottage. There was rumbling. Admir was piqued, but he stayed outside. He watched the area to make sure he wasn't followed.

Kazahad came back out with a scroll. A really old one. The decayed and flayed edges giving hints to some of what the scroll went through to survive to today and be beheld by his eyes.

"Mir, you know that both our kingdoms have been around for over five thousands years. That's a long time-,"

"Long enough to live through the mysticism of the old eras, see the transition into a more logical one, and benefit from age of scientific reasoning, " Admir finished for him.

Admir was known to be a shy prince, but Kazahad an affect on him. He found his courage whenever Kazahad was near. Kazahad lowkey wished he knew the shy Admir. He didn't even look away when he came out in the buff. But he loved confident Admir more. Especially with what he was about to do to both of them.

"The modern era has no answers for us. Straight up gender swapping is still in its infancy when it comes to making families. In our positions, adoption is a no starter, and royal surrogacy would see our systems abolished after the reforms five hundred years ago ended the Harem system," Kazahad continued.

"So I went into the royal library, very deep too. Five thousand years of storing knowledge means very extensive tunnels. Anyway, the answer is a form of time manipulation," he finished.

"So what, you want to grandfather paradox our kingdoms," Admir asked.

"No, I want to merge us into one. One prince. We are both heirs to our kingdoms. If we become one, our timelines become one. Perhaps our kingdoms as well. If I read right," Kazahad finished.

Admir closed his eyes a little. He has seen magic performed. He still preferred science though, Kazahad was all about the magic. This reflected in their kingdoms too. One drenched in technology, the other magic. Kazahad was the most powerful mage in his kingdom. He practiced the sword too. He was a noted battle mage. But Admir was better on the front. Better with the physical arts, worse on the magical. A Magic Warrior.

Kazahad put the scroll down and quickly scooped Admir in his arms.

He whispered in Admir's ear: "Come one let's do this."

Admir loved that about Kazahad, he went for what he wanted. It also meant he sometimes acted before thinking. He mastered teleportation for a reason.

Admir got out of Kazahad embrace. He looked miffed. He turned around and looked out into the area. The sea breeze and the smell of saltwater was calming.

"What happens to our minds, who is operating this new us," Admir asked.

"Both of us and neither of us. We will become a new being, a new persona. Everything we do, we do as one," Kazahad answered. He was scared that Admir was going to say no. He was asking Admir to give up his individuality for their kingdoms. To be joined and mixed up with a another person.

"Is it permanent," Admir asked.

"Yes."

"..."

For his people. He was raised to be self sacrificing for his people. If this is what he had to do to obtain longer lasting peace, to not push the problems of the past to the next generation, his prospective kids & grand kids, he must do this.

Sigh.

"Ok," Admir responded.

Kazahad was elated. He wanted to jump up and down like an 8 year old girl, but he too understood what they were giving up. But oh, what they would be gaining. Kazahad was excited with the idea of join his existence to Admir's. His body showed it as well. Admir looked over and saw the rod reacted in agreement. He blushed again. He was joining with this oversized knuckle head.

Kazahad got the scroll and some belongings and took Admir to the beach. Before long, Admir realized what he was doing. A picnic. One final picnic before they tie the knot. Romantic.

They finished their last lunch together as individuals, and cleaned up the area. After digestion, the bathroom, and wash up, they were both back on the beach.

Kazahad unfurled the scroll and began drawing a large design in the sand.

"While I finish making this, take it all off. I am not going to become part cotton," he said.

Admir agreed. He then sat next to the symbol and waited. He looked out at the beach one final time as himself. He took a deep breath.

It was done. Admir couldn't make out heads or tails save a large featureless circle in the middle.

"We sit or stand in the middle there. I pour my mana into the circle, and boom: super hot mega prince," Kazahad was beaming.

"How do you know that this new prince is going to be hot, we could just turn into a blobby monster," Admir joked.

"Haha, get over here," Kazahad said.

"Such a rush to join with me," Admir responded.

"Who wouldn't want to," Kazahad said.

Admir blushed for the final time.

They were soon in the middle of the circle. Admir was careful to not smudge the lines. Kazahad poured his mana into them. They glowed green & blue. The color of their princely auras.

Then both princes went limp. They fell to the ground, the circle expanded to not have them fall out of it. They were both in an sleeping position.

Both princes began to melt. They were now two puddles with the color of their skin next to each other. They then swirled around each other and mixed. The merged puddle stopped moving.

Inside this puddle was the sum of their merged mass. The dna of the two princes merged, but in a rare occurrence, became a quad helix dna structure. Nothing of each other on that level would be abandoned. Once the new structure was done making itself, it fired off.

The puddle began to move again in response to the new genetic instructions. Starting from the head first, a body began to form. It was as if someone was floating out of a deep pool. And as more of the body came out, the puddle shrank as well.

There was a featureless humanoid where the princes once stood.

The dna fired off again.

The initial body was lanky, the features small. There was a series of pops. He let out a low "uhhh". His chest, shoulders, neck, arms and legs suddenly exploded with muscle. It was clear that this was Kazahad's doing. He was the bigger of the two.

"ah"

His hands & feet followed, they grew to meet all of that muscle. More ligaments came as well. You could hear a snaps as they connected his limbs.

"mmm"

His stomach expanded to be like Kazahad's but Admir took the reigns, the skin tightened around his stomach area. He had Admir's abdominal insertions, but Kazahad's abdominal size.

"ngh"

Admir & Kazahad were sitting on a beach. The same beach cottage nearby. They knew this was it. The final step. They were next to each other. All they had to do was join hands. Admir hesitated at first. No more him, but what he would become, this new journey he would share it with Kazahad, his love.

He took the initiative and grabbed Kazahad's hand first. Kazahad blushed this time. He finally did it, he made Kazahad blush instead. Kazahad let out a sigh of content. They both looked at as sea. This was this new prince's inner mental world, his subconsciousness. His two halves would live in blissful harmony, within him.

The face began to change. He had a mixture of the two prince's hair & skull shapes. Kazahad's style with Admir's volume. The ears were Kazahad's. The nose Admir's. The eyes & mouth were a mixture of the two. The eyebrows as well.

Admir's skin tone won out.

The new prince opened his eyes to the waking world. He was Prince Ehsan.

There was a bag of clothes next to him, he a got a shirt and a towel before he noticed the surrounding area:

The beach had a city on its shores. And there were people gawking at him. Some giggling too. He was naked. He facepalmed himself, Admir's side, and ran to the still existing cottage. It was too late.

News of the prince going naked at the beach hit the news. Again. Lots of comments from admirers. The negative ones wanted his work out & diet secrets.

The two kingdoms merged as well. A kingdom of science & a kingdom of magic became a kingdom of alchemy.

Ehsan was one of the best alchemists as well. Some attributed this to his intelligence, some to his habit of going full in on experiment without crossing all of the t's & dotting all of the I's, and lucking out 90% of the time. Kazahad was smiling from deep inside Ehsad.

In this new timeline, the kingdoms merged five hundred years ago. Finding a balance between magic & science has led it to becoming one of the most advanced civilizations in history.

While Ehsan ensured peace for the two kingdoms he would call home when he was two people, these two kingdoms, now one, were not the only nations out there. However, he was happy as he was, and didn't want to go about absorbing other princes. His better understanding of this merger method and time meant that he could risk unraveling time & reality.

He put some clothes back on, and went to the internationally famed academy. It was the final stop to becoming a mage, warrior, alchemist, scientist & everything between and out within his kindgom. His people's university. He was a professor there. It was time time scout out talent and create his own royal squad.

The dragons are going to quake in their scaly boots.

#male merge #body merging #merging tf #male fusion #fusion #thefusioncelestial #male body transformation #male transformation #merge #musclegrowth #muscle #muscular #male body merge

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latteunwoo · 13 hours ago

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meet-cute!seungkwan

you have LOVED badminton ever since you were a kid, so much that your parents had enrolled you in lessons the second you started running laps around the playground in front of your apartment complex

and now after years of lessons and even being part of the badminton team in both middle & high school, you finally get to coach your own team of aspiring badminton players (or at least assist in coaching)

the job was pretty easy to get due to your experience and no one else except for maybe two or three other people signed up

a bonus to all of this was that it'll look good on your resume and the main coach had promised to write a letter of recommendation for you after the season is over so hopefully you can upgrade from coaching middle schoolers to high schoolers

not that you hated the middle schoolers you're going to be coaching or anything

but you loved the overall atmosphere and vibe there are at the high school games so coaching them would be an overall better experience for you

unbeknownst to you however is the fact that you're actually not the only assistant coach that was hired

"y/n, i want you to meet your co-assistant coach, seungkwan" the main coach said as you dropped the stack of shuttlecocks you had collected from the current routine you were practicing

just as your luck would have it, you dropped half of the birdies in your arm as you almost tripped over your own foot the second you turned around to face your new co-assistant coach

"oh he's cute," you thought as you got a better look at him

you were so caught up in your thoughts that you didn't notice seungkwan had extended his hand out towards you

"oh my goodness, i'm so sorry," you said as you extended out your arm while the rest of the birdies you were holding fell onto the gym floor earning a glare from the head coach and a laugh from seungkwan

"i didn't know my co-assistant coach was going to be this clumsy." your cheeks and ears heated up at this comment while the head coach saved you from embarrassing yourself even more by telling you to clean up the birdies you dropped while seungkwan helped out some of the kids with their forms & swings

while seungkwan was helping out some of the kids, he couldn't help but look over at you every once in a while but not just because he lowkey thought you were kinda cute too but because you wouldn't stop staring at him the entire time

as you tripped over your own foot for the millionth time, he laughed and thought "she's really clumsy, it's cute"

during the first few months after you & seungkwan first met he honestly disliked you a lot more than he liked you because of how clumsy you were that he thought that maybe you weren't really fit to be an assistant coach

however of course over time he did start to grow more fond of you and you even started to not completely embarrass yourself in front of him

seventeen m.list || main m.list

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shesjustanothergeek · 21 hours ago

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His Love

|Aegon II Targaryen x Fem!Reader|

Part Thirty-Five

Masterlist of Series

Summary: Being a bastard born in the slums of Flea Bottom was all you were known for. Not the streak of white you had in your dark hair, the violet ring around your pupils, or how your sharp tongue and skills with the blade resembled your father, Daemon Targaryen. You were just a bastard, nothing more, but to him, to Aegon Targaryen, you were everything. You were his love.

Author's Note: Hello everyone! There's nothing like an update six months later... I appreciate everyone's kind words and patience regarding the writer's block I was dealing with. I tried many things to help me get out of that funk, but nothing worked. Until one day, I was like, "You know what? I'm just going to write," and here we are! I hope you enjoy this chapter. We're slowly inching closer to the grand finale!

A sense of weightiness hung within the Tower of the Hand. Queen Alicent, her loyal protector, and the Lord Hand were seated in the softly illuminated chamber as the afternoon sun filtered through the leaded glass windows. The Queen absentmindedly picked at her fingers, her restless body betraying her unease, while her eyes flitted anxiously around the room. An unexpected sound finally shattered the oppressive silence, prompting all present to turn their gaze towards the speaker.

"This is but a temporary visit. We must encourage Prince Daemon to take the Princess back to Dragonstone as soon as possible," Otto Hightower said, two sets of brown eyes focused on him as he stroked his course beard. "You have done well, Alicent, but you must know this solution is not long-term. Fear and respect go far until there is someone who inspires more."

His daughter responded with a silent nod, her full lips forming a slight frown as her attention shifted back to her fingers.

"He must not discover her relations with Aegon nor the fruit of it. Not only would it be an insult to our House but to the realm, duty, and the Gods," Otto declared, the metal lapel of the Hand shining in the daylight.

"I understand," the Queen answered as Ser Criston followed suit, offering his services to guard your chambers and lend another helpful eye.

Daemon would find himself in a predicament where he had no choice but to yield to their demands, as refusing would paint him as a traitor. The group was committed to ensuring Daemon was nowhere near them should the Stranger decide to claim a soul. If it meant casting the Rogue Prince in the light of an overly protective, perhaps irrational, father, they believed it to be justified by the divine will of the Seven.

After your father's tears had long dried and you were in the deepest depths of sleep, he stood on numb limbs. He no longer desired to be alone with his thoughts, feeling weak for having broken down in the presence of another man. He did not know when you would awake as your snores carried off into mid-day, so sound asleep that not even the mournful songs of your dragon woke you.

Daemon's eyes never left the cut on your temple nor the bruise beside it that bloomed. It stirred an uneasy feeling in his gut, mind reeling into conclusions and connections to things as Ser Criston Cole posted at the exit, his presence an ever-watchful eye for his Queen. The knight irked Daemon from when he was forced to yield against the Dornish man all those decades ago at a tourney for the deceased Prince Baelon. He had let things go seeing as Criston was Rhaenyra's protector and that he knew his niece's genuine desire was her uncle, but as the years went by, the man grew more insufferable, practically sucking on the Queen's teats wherever he went.

It was no coincidence that the White Cloak was here now instead of Ser Arryk, the man you chose to be your sworn shield. As Daemon studied the contents of your room, the dust on your bookshelves, the mended garments thrown on your chairs, and the overflowing ash lying in the fireplace, he could guarantee that none of your servants, whether it be knight or maid, had been allowed to do their duty for quite some time. The only people Daemon had seen in your chambers since he arrived were Maester Orwyle and Cole.

"May I ask, Ser Criston?" Daemon announced, breaking the silence as his violet eyes left your listless form and strolled away from the bed, "where is my daughter's knight?"

Criston straightened his posture, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword as his dark eyes bore into light ones. "He's been punished for failure of duty. Ser Arryk allowed the Princess to be maimed under his watch and must suffer the consequences of such an offense."

"I see," your father hummed, leaning his hip to the side as he examined the unforgiving nature of this man. "And that of her maids? Jeyne and Fiora, if I remember correctly."

Ser Criston's face was impassive, leaving nothing but a stone slate as he swallowed. "The Hand deemed those of highest suspicion to be kept away from her Highness," he answered.

"Is that so?" Daemon sneered, brows raised in disbelief. "Bedmaids and knights are the only suspects?" Criston gave no reply, silver armor glinting in the daylight peeking from your curtains. "Otto Hightower is as useless as he's always been. Where are her maids now, then? In the cells being interrogated, I presume."

"No, my Prince," Criston answered without emotion. It seemed as if the knight did not care whether a member of the royal family died so long as it was not one of Alicent's. This infuriated Daemon beyond measure. The impulse to commit violence that haunted him itched to be free, and his fingers curled into fists to keep it at bay.

If he so wished, he could bash Criston's face as he did to the squire friend of Laenor Velaryon the night of his wedding feast. No consequences were divided out then, so what was stopping your father from doing the same now? He heard your quiet moan then, a soft sound of one in a dreamy sleep they could not wake from, and reminded himself of the cost.

Daemon was more pragmatic than people allowed themselves to believe. He did not always desire bloodshed, though the lust for it existed. He recalled your letter then, remembering how he clung to every scrawl of ink as if it were to be the last you would write. The previous correspondence you had echoed in his head. The prose was much more upbeat, as if you were speaking to Daemon in person instead of through parchment. It mentioned the bright outlook for the future and how you could feel that Rhaenyra's succession would not be as troublesome as your father worried it would be. If Daemon had put your trust in him and your faith, all would be well.

Several lines echoed in his mind, seeing the High Valyrian as if it were in front of him again atop his writing desk illuminated by the glow of melting candles.

"Aegon has no desire to rule, nor does he think he is fit. He loves his mother and is sympathetic to the path ahead of her, but one can never be sure. However, I believe that Aegon is, at the very least, more sympathetic to me."

Daemon felt a smirk stretching his thin pink lips. Perhaps he should visit the drunken Prince.

"Let us round the maids up then, question them, and if they do not cooperate, leave them to the Lord Confessor," the Prince demanded, leaving no room for counterarguments.

Criston visibly balked at the idea, his stony visage turning white as snow, but he swiftly recovered. He bowed his head and whispered, "As you wish." Then he stalked off to inform the Queen and the Hand of the new progression.

Daemon would not be played a fool in his own home. He knew your maids would never try such a thing. They were chosen by the Rogue Prince himself before you arrived at the Red Keep. He could not allow just any person into a place where valuable information would be provided, so he tasked his previous mistress, Lady Misery, as she was now called, to find the most trustworthy servants for your service, to care and protect where he could not.

But even then, that was not enough. Daemon pulled strings, whispered honeyed words into people's ears, and made handsome payments, but still, it did nothing. He had never felt so powerless, inadequate, or inept as a new wave of shame washed over him.

He decided he would speak to Aegon, though he felt conversing with such a wastrel was below his worth. Daemon would stop at nothing. He would walk through the trenches in the Stepstones, bribe and steal, even marry his Bronze Bitch again, so long as it meant that you were safe and well back in his arms.

The castle's corridors were dimly lit in the early dawn, shadows stretching long and thin as Prince Daemon Targaryen paced outside his daughter's chamber. The scent of bitter herbs and smoke wafted from within, where the maester worked to keep the girl from slipping further into a restless sleep. A near-silent rage simmered within Daemon. His daughter's pallid face and the shallow rise and fall of her chest were enough to make him thirst for blood. But vengeance required clarity, and he needed answers first.

He turned sharply toward the two maids whom his guard had summoned. They stood quietly, trying to mask their worry under the Prince's intense scrutiny. These two had attended her, he thought, his gaze narrowing. He suspected them both, or at least wanted to, for they were the last to have touched his daughter's food, and every fiber in him sought to lash out.

Jeyne, with her silver-streaked hair, moldered her chin high as she looked back at Daemon with an unwavering gaze. Years of service to House Targaryen hardened her demeanor, giving her the poise of a knight facing a charging army. Fiora was pale and trembling, her fingers fumbling with the edge of her yellowed apron as she sniffled. Daemon's stare pierced her, and she seemed ready to bolt had Jeyne not placed a steadying hand on her arm.

"Who did this?" Daemon demanded, his voice a blade of cold steel slicing through the silence. He did not flout around words or purposes in favor of courtly manners.

Jeyne's expression remained resolute. "Not us, my Prince. We have served the young Princess faithfully. We would have warned someone if we thought her drink was tainted."

Daemon took a step closer, his tone dark. "And yet she is lying there, fighting for her life. She did not miraculously become ill. She was poisoned." Fiora flinched at Daemon's cold stare, hands clasped at his waist. Jeyne tightened her hand on Fiora's crimson sleeve.

"My prince," Jeyne said carefully. "We would never harm her. Young Fiora brought her fresh water and some fruits before she dismissed us that evening, nothing more."

He studied them both, searching for a flicker of guilt, the shift of eyes, but there was only worry and steadfast resolve. He could tell the older woman was offended by his accusation, but she held her tongue, deferring to him without wavering from her conviction.

"Why should I believe you?" Daemon asked, softer this time but no less menacing. "These Green cunts have placed staff sympathetic to their ambitions."

Jeyne's voice flowed calmly through the air, a soothing melody amidst the charged silence surrounding them. She leaned slightly closer to her fellow maid, her expression softening with empathy. "Because we love her too, my prince," she said, her words imbued with a deep sincerity. "She holds a place in my heart as dear as family."

Her gaze shifted toward Fiora, whose face streaked with tears that glistened like crystal in the dim light, revealing a raw vulnerability beneath her frightened exterior. Each gentle quiver of Fiora's lips betrayed her fear, and Jeyne couldn't help but feel a pang of protective instinct rise within her.

"And I know this girl," Jeyne added, her voice still steady but now laced with urgency, "is far too terrified to lie to you." She took a breath, feeling the weight of the moment. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears as she witnessed Fiora's anguish. The air felt thick with emotion, and Jeyne hoped her conviction would reach him, bridging the divide between fear and trust.

"Her Highness has a kind soul that is rare to find. I would gladly have my life taken instead of hers," Fiora expressed with a tremble, yet an unwavering conviction laced her tone.

Daemon narrowed his purple eyes, his anger dimming as his tactical mind began to turn. They spoke plainly, unafraid to meet his gaze when the time came. The poison was efficient, the kind that took mere moments to weaken a body and soul. No maid would have easy access to something deadly, nor the knowledge. His suspicion was confirmed without a doubt that the assailant was those with means, resources, and motives.

Jeyne inclined her head, inhaling an offensive breath as she prepared for Daemon's wrath at her following words. "My prince, we would never harm her. I swear it on my honor. But... there is something you should know." She glanced at Fiora, silently urging her to speak.

Fiora flinched under Daemon's scrutiny but nodded, her voice trembling as she began. "It-it was the Queen, my prince. Queen Alicent herself. She ordered the Maester to keep the Princess on the Milk of the Poppy."

Daemon's grip tightened on his sword, the veins in his hand standing out starkly against his pale skin. "Why?" he demanded, his tone like the low growl of an approaching storm.

Jeyne's expression was resolute, but a flicker of regret crossed her face as she answered. "To keep her quiet, my prince. The Princess was... accusing her majesty. Speaking of things that might have implicated the Queen. That this is what her grace wanted because she had ordered her to leave King's Landing."

Fiora sniffled, tears spilling down her freckled cheeks. "I didn't understand at first, my prince, but now I do. The Queen didn't want her to speak. That's why they gave her the milk."

Daemon's gaze darkened, his fury palpable as he stepped closer, looming over the maids like a dragon preparing to strike. "And yet you said nothing. You let them silence her under my House's roof."

Jeyne held her ground though the faintest hint of guilt shadowed her features. "We did not know the full extent until now, my prince. We are but servants. To speak against the Queen without proof..." She shook her head. "It would have been our heads."

Fiora sobbed softly, her voice breaking. "I only wanted to help her, my prince. I swear. I... I didn't know."

Daemon exhaled slowly, a heavy cloud of tension escaping his lips. The fury within him ignited like embers in a dying fire yet restrained from erupting. He scrutinized the two before him, his piercing gaze probing for any hint of betrayal, only to find a stark absence of dishonesty in their expressions. The fear etched on their faces was palpable, mingling with a deep, sincere remorse that hung like a thick fog.

"Jeyne," he said, his voice low and menacing, "if you value your life, you will do as I command. From this moment forward, you will watch the Queen. Every word she speaks, every order she gives. I want to know what she plans before she does."

Jeyne nodded solemnly, her expression unwavering as she searched Fiora's eyes for reassurance. The weight of her decision pressed heavily on her shoulders, but determination ignited within her. "You have my unwavering loyalty, my prince," she declared, her voice steady and resolute. "We will carry out whatever must be done."

"And you," Daemon said, glaring at Fiora, "stop sniveling. You will do the same if you wish to atone for your cowardice. Serve her, but serve me first."

Fiora pressed the rough fabric of her apron against her eyes, desperately trying to stem the tears that blurred her vision. Her heart raced as she nodded vigorously, her voice trembling with emotion. "Y-yes, my prince. I would do anything for the Princess," she declared, determination shining through her sorrow.

Daemon's lips curled into a grim smile, stiff shoulders slightly relaxing. "Good. If either of you falters, I will ensure you pay the price."

The maids nodded in unison, their faces pale but determined. As Daemon turned back to his daughter, his expression softened, though his fury simmered beneath the surface. He brushed a strand of hair from your forehead, his heart aching at your vulnerability.

"Rest, little dragon," he murmured. "They will not harm you again."

Behind him, Jeyne and Fiora exchanged glances, understanding the weight of the task ahead. As Daemon exited the room, his steps purposeful and deadly, they knew the storm was far from over. The Queen's court would soon feel the wrath of a father scorned. In the coming days, Jeyne and Fiora would do their duties with quiet diligence, and their loyalty was divided between the Queen and Prince. Jeyne's sharp eyes would note every whispered conversation and carefully hidden glance. The more the maids observed that day, the more they noticed Queen Alicent's face, so often painted with politeness, seemed to crack at the edges whenever he looked at their Princess lying in her sickbed, nails bit down to the quick.

The servants' vigilance would become Daemon's advantage. They would watch the shadows where betrayers might lurk while he stood ready to bring the fight to those who dared threaten his blood.

Aegon stood within the hallowed confines of the Sept of Baelor, the weight of uncertainty pressing heavily upon him. His back leaned against the cold, wax-covered altar, the flickering candlelight casting dancing shadows across the stone walls. The air was thick with the aromatic blend of frankincense and myrrh, a bittersweet scent that wrapped around him like a shroud, stirring cherished and painful memories. In this sacred space, he often sought refuge in times of turmoil, a jug of rich Arbor Red clutched tightly in his hand, its crimson hue reflecting his troubled thoughts.

The familiar embrace of the Sept's walls surrounded him as he felt an emptiness beyond physical solitude. He wasn't searching for solace from the deities said to dwell in these ancient stones. Instead, he pondered the lingering influence of his mother, whose shadow seemed to loom more prominent with each passing moment.

The Prince's sworn protector had left him to his own devices as he often did, yet keeping a close eye on things should the need for Erryk's presence arise. There was no point in shepherding Aegon, that much the knight knew after years of service.

Aegon was alone with his thoughts as the hours ticked and the sun lowered over the horizon.

Was his life not built on foundations that would surely crumble? Living a life of poorly planned architecture built by arrogance next to a rising tide that would sweep it away should the sea decide to do so. Often, Aegon wished that the waves would swallow him whole, take him out into the vast ocean, and let him sink deeper and deeper into the depths until he felt the brine on his tongue and salt burning his lungs. And just when he felt the urge to swim, to not succumb to the cold and murky waters below, the same people who sculpted his being called the waves to rise.

Numbing the relentless ache that gnawed at him was his sole refuge, the only path to liberating himself from the suffocating weight of his despair. Whether it provided a fleeting respite or the promise of eternal silence, it was a desperate grasp at freedom from the torment that consumed him.

Aegon remained blissfully ignorant of the muted echoes of finely tailored boots trudging through the wet sand, his senses dulled by the relentless tide that filled his water-logged ears. Towering above him was Daemon, his posture exuding a quiet authority, an arched brow hinting at both curiosity and disdain as he surveyed the disheveled state of the drunken Prince sprawled carelessly on the shore.

"Get up," the Rogue Prince commanded, kicking his leather shoe into Aegon's thigh.

The Prince groaned in response but refused to move, slightly adjusting his reclined position.

Daemon heaved a sigh, the weight of nostalgia pressing down on him. He reminisced about countless nights lost in a haze of drunkenness, where the world around him faded away like the flickering candlelight in a dimly lit tavern. Memories of his days spent lurking in the shadowy presence of Otto Hightower and the haunting specters of deceased children lingered sharp in his mind, a constant reminder of his perceived failings. The sting of being overlooked by his niece gnawed at him, a wound that never truly healed. In his search for solace, he turned to the embrace of women and the warm allure of fine wine, crutches passed down through the generations, a familiar way of coping with the burdens that weighed so heavily on his soul.

The Rogue Prince had little patience for the feeble-minded and cowardly. In a moment of reckless inspiration, he seized one of the flickering candles from the altar, its flame dancing wildly in the dim light. With a deliberate tilt, he allowed the molten wax to spill forth, a glistening stream of warmth cascading down onto Aegon's forehead.

The Prince's body reacted instinctively and jolted, a sharp gasp escaping his lips as the searing liquid made contact. Swiftly, he raised a hand, frantically wiping away the viscous substance before it could burn him further, leaving behind a shimmering wax glistening in the muted glow of the altar.

"Wha-" he stammered, violet eyes bleary.

"Get up."

Aegon continued to stutter, his head filled with cotton as he swatted at his imaginary foe. Daemon thought it amusing yet pathetic to see his brother's eldest son, whom everyone whispered about becoming king, reduced to a blubbering mess.

"Get up, you wastrel," the Rogue Prince commanded, his voice a mix of irritation and authority.

He did not give his nephew a chance to respond or make an attempt to rise. Instead, with a swift motion, he seized the collar of the young man's tunic, yanking him upward with a firm grip that betrayed both frustration and resolve.

Groaning in discomfort and annoyance, Aegon stood on unsteady legs, using his uncle's weight to stay upright. "What? Have you got more wine for me?"

Daemon rolled his iridescent purple eyes, a gesture filled with disdain as he forcefully shoved Aegon against the cold, stone altar. The impact sent a few flickering candles toppling over, their flames sputtering and extinguishing in a puff of smoke.

"You're utterly pathetic," Daemon declared, his voice dripping with contempt as he released his grip, leaving Aegon gasping for breath. "I cannot fathom why my daughter would ever find fondness in someone like you."

Aegon's swirling mind focused on his uncle's words, tilting his head to clear his blurry vision at the notion of you. He blinked, the words slow to make sense in his clouded mind. He was still drunk, still floating in a haze of self-loathing and wine, but there was something about Daemon's tone that cut through the fog. The mention of you... It lingered in the air like a physical presence, a sharp, biting reminder of the past days.

Aegon's hand went instinctively to his forehead, wiping away the remnants of hot wax that had burned him just moments before. He could feel the sting, but it was nothing compared to the sensation in his chest—the twisting, gnawing ache that had settled there since he had last seen you, injured and silent.

"Your daughter?" Aegon repeated, his voice slurred but with a strange acerbity beneath it. He forced himself to stand straighter despite his swaying body. "Why do you care? You left her in the viper's den to get bit, and now she has."

Daemon's lips curled into a sneer, eyes narrowing with that sharp, calculating look that had made him both feared and revered. "You know who did this?" he shot back, his voice low and venomous. The Prince was silent, a brief war of loyalty and honor raging inside his mind. "Do not fool yourself into thinking you can hide behind your wine and self-pity, Aegon. If you truly cared about her, you wouldn't be here, drunk and useless. You'd be at her side, ensuring she's safe and her assailants are brought the sword."

Aegon's heart skipped a beat, the words slicing through him like a dagger, sharper than the pain of the wax on his skin. He tried to swallow the bitter lump in his throat, but it stuck there, choking him.

"I didn't know," Aegon muttered, almost pleading as if he needed to convince himself as much as Daemon. "I didn't know what happened... I didn't know she was in danger." He winced at the admission, though his voice was thick with guilt. "How could I have known? How could I-"

"You should have known." Daemon's voice was as cold as the stone beneath their feet, his words brutally cutting off Aegon's excuses. "You're the one who's supposed to protect her, aren't you? You love her, after all. Yet you failed her when she needed you most."

Aegon's chest tightened at the notion that you had told Daemon of your secret vows, his throat constricting with the weight of his uncle's words. The guilt that had always gnawed at the back of his mind, the feeling of being a deficient imitation of the strong eldest son, a poor excuse for a man, overwhelmed him, threatening to drown him in its suffocating grip.

Daemon observed him, his gaze unwavering. "You think I do not know what it's like to be trapped in a world of expectations and failure?" he continued, his voice softer now but still edged with a quiet fury. "I have walked that path. I've suffered for it but never let it weaken me. And neither should you."

Aegon's hands tightened into fists, the tips of his nails pressing painfully into his palms, each pulse of agony sending a jolt through his senses. He stood there, frozen, grappling with the weight of his thoughts, unable to articulate the turmoil inside him. Every misstep, every moment of indecision chained him to this place, facing Daemon, the man who was meant to be family, yet felt like an unsettling specter from a distant past. The air between them crackled with unspoken tension, a stark reminder of the chasm that grew between family.

"Tell me what I'm supposed to do," Aegon finally whispered, the words hanging between them like a fragile plea. "Tell me how to fix this... before it's too late."

For a long moment, Daemon said nothing. He studied Aegon with that piercing gaze of his, the kind that made even the bravest men falter. Then, with a soft snort of derision, he stepped back, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

"There's no simple answer, Aegon," Daemon said, his voice laced with a bitter edge. "You can't undo the past and erase your mistakes with a few words. But you can do something. You can be something more than a drunken waste of space hiding behind the throne your mother wants you on."

Aegon felt a lump rise in his throat, the enormity of Daemon's words bearing down on him as if he were trapped beneath a heavy weight.

"But I'm not like you," he replied, his voice barely above a whisper, tinged with a flicker of resentment that colored his tone. A shadow crossed his face as he struggled to articulate the profound loss, tears glistening on his porcelain cheeks. "I don't possess your force." He paused, his gaze drifting to the ground as the memory surged. "She was carrying our child," Aegon added, pain lacing his words, "but it... it didn't survive," Aegon's voice faltered, and he grasped for the courage that seemed to elude him.

Daemon's heart plummeted like a stone at the weight of the revelation, each word cutting through him with a searing clarity that left him breathless. Anger bubbled within him at the thought of you and Aegon, reckless in your union, seemingly unaware of the consequences that loomed over such a decision. Yet, alongside that rage, a deeper, more profound sorrow enveloped him, tugging at his very soul as he thought of his child. The anguish of your loss struck him hard; the pain of a mother who had endured the shadows of childbirth only to mourn a child stolen away too soon—a tragedy that claimed the lives of many women who faced such grief.

This took him back through the corridors of his mind to the haunting memories of his late wife and mother, lives extinguished too early. An unsettling question gnawed at his heart, one that had plagued his mind for decades. Was it his fate, cursed and unyielding, for the women he loved to endure suffering and despair in the birthing bed? The thought twisted like a dagger in his chest, leaving him to grapple with the weight of his legacy and the maternal heartache that seemed inextricably woven into it.

"No one is born with strength, Aegon," Daemon declared, his voice sharp. "Strength is something you earn by facing the things you're afraid of, by doing the things no one else will do. I did not get where I was by sitting around waiting to follow orders. And neither will you."

Aegon looked at his uncle, the silence stretching between them, filled with an uncomfortable tension. His uncle's eyes were colder now, harder, like the steel of his sword.

"I don't have the luxury of time, and neither does she," Daemon continued, his voice quieter but no less intense. "So listen well, Aegon. You may not be ready to defy your family, but you will if you love her like she claims."

Aegon swallowed, the weight of Daemon's words sinking in, pressing down on his chest until it felt like he could hardly breathe. But there was something else there, too, something more profound than anger or resentment. There was a strange, unspoken understanding, an acknowledgment that neither was truly free from their past and mistakes.

And in that silence, Daemon's voice softened, though still edged with a hard truth. "You want to fix this?" he asked. "Then start by bringing those to justice."

Aegon felt the weight of those words, of the expectation in his uncle's gaze. He didn't have the answers and didn't know what would come next, but one thing was clear: if he were to ensure your future together, he would have to start now.

For the first time in the Prince's life, Aegon felt the faint stirrings of a purpose. Something outside of himself. Something worth fighting for.

"I will," he said, his voice firm despite lingering uncertainty. "This was my mother's doing, but I cannot prove it with her hounds and my grandfather so diligently by her side."

Daemon nodded once, satisfied for the moment. While he could not prove the Hightowers were the cause, he understood that having their kin loyal to him and his daughter would serve greater justice when Viserys met the Stranger. "Good. Then, prove it when the time comes, and she will be by your side again."

With that, the Rogue Prince turned, his footsteps echoing in the quiet of the Sept as Aegon remained behind, staring at the flickering candles, his mind already moving forward. He wasn't sure how he would fix everything, undo the damage, and make things right, but Daemon had given him something more than just words.

He had given him a chance. Now, it was up to Aegon to take it.

The heavy, oppressive silence of the dungeons seemed to wrap around Ser Arryk Cargyll like a shroud. His once-pristine white cloak, the proud symbol of his service as a Kingsguard, was now dirtied and torn, a reflection of the disgrace he now carried. Shackled to the cold stone wall of his cell, he sat hunched in the corner, his mind a labyrinth of guilt, regret, and anger. His failure still burned through him like a wound that wouldn't heal—the inability to protect the Princess due to his hubris.

He could hear the whispers of the guards in the corridors, the occasional clink of keys or boots on stone, but none stopped. No one came to offer him solace. He had betrayed his vows, and now he was paying the price.

There was no doubt in Arryk's mind about what awaited him. The Rogue Prince would not be merciful. He would die here, alone in this dark cell. Or worse, he would be forced to suffer before his inevitable death—a public disgrace, a mark on his and Erryk's name that would never be erased.

The sound of footsteps approaching snapped Arryk out of his thoughts. His heart sank, but not out of fear. He knew who it was before the man appeared in the dim light of the dungeon corridor.

Daemon Targaryen. The Rogue Prince, the shadow that hung over the Targaryen family.

Arryk didn't rise from his sitting position. There was no need for any formalities. His failure had already stripped him of his dignity.

Daemon didn't say a word at first. He stopped before the cell, his violet eyes glinting in the dim torchlight as he studied the disgraced knight. He gave Arryk a long, pointed look of disgust and amusement.

"Ser Arryk," Daemon's voice was low, dripping with disdain. "You've fallen far, haven't you?" He stepped forward, his boots echoing in the cold, cavernous hallway.

Arryk didn't respond. What was there to say? The facts were clear. He failed in his sacred duty. No words could change that.

Daemon studied him for a moment longer before he smirked, the cruel twist of his lips never reaching his eyes. "You were meant to protect the blood of the King, Ser, and yet, the very Princess you were sworn to guard was nearly killed right under your nose. Tell me, how does that feel?"

Arryk's chest tightened, his hands clenching in the chains that bound him. He didn't have the strength to defend himself anymore. He didn't deserve to. "I failed," he whispered, voice rough from days of silent anguish. "I failed my oaths."

Daemon's smirk widened as if pleased by the admission. "Yes, you did. And now, the question is, what happens next?"

Arryk's head jerked up, his eyes locking with Daemon's. He saw no pity in those eyes. No mercy. Just the cold, calculating gaze of a man who had long since discarded any pretense of kindness. "What happens to me?" Arryk's voice was hoarse.

Daemon's lips parted in a faint, humorless chuckle. He pulled a dagger from his belt—simple, sharp, and deadly, the hilt made of dark iron. He dangled it in front of the bars, allowing the torchlight to catch the gleam of the blade. "You'll pay for your failure, of course. I will ensure that much." Daemon's tone was almost light, as though speaking about a matter of no importance. "But my punishment won't be death at the hands of another."

Arryk's heart skipped a beat. He couldn't speak. The weight of his fate seemed to settle in his chest.

Daemon raised an eyebrow, watching the knight's reaction. "You see, I am not as quick to kill as the people of your ilk might expect. No, I'll have you suffer. Perhaps I shall keep you locked away for the rest of your miserable life, a reminder to every knight in the Keep that failure is not tolerated." Daemon paused, allowing the words to sink in.

The pain of the thought was almost unbearable. Arryk had never thought of a fate worse than death, but now he could see it—an eternity of being nothing but a stain on the honor of his House.

A shadow.

Forgotten.

Daemon's voice lowered again, and there was now a weight to his words, a deliberate finality. "But that is not what I have come to offer you, Ser."

The dagger was placed on the cold stone floor beyond Arryk's reach. Daemon gave him one final look—measuring, unblinking. "The honorable thing, Ser Arryk, would be to take this dagger and end it yourself." He let the words linger in the air, heavy as iron. "That way, at least, you'll die with some dignity. You'll not be remembered as a coward too weak to take responsibility for his failure."

Arryk's eyes flicked to the blade, and his breath hitched in his throat. The thought of it, the sharpness of the steel, and the cold weight of the hilt in his hand comforted him in the depths of his despair. Death was swift, easy. And in some ways, it would be a release.

Daemon studied him for a long while before he spoke again. "If you choose to live, it will be a life spent in humiliation. I will never allow you to forget what you've done. You will be a shell of what you once were, and your name will be erased from the annals of honor. You will have nothing left."

Arryk's heart hammered in his chest as his eyes remained on the dagger. His failure had broken him. His soul felt heavy, burdened with the shame that would haunt him for the rest of his days. But could he end it? Could he choose death over a life of misery?

Daemon didn't move as he let the silence stretch on. "It's the honorable thing to do, Ser," he said quietly, almost as a command. "You know it as well as I do."

Arryk swallowed hard, his mind a whirlwind. He had failed so completely that nothing left for him was shame or death. He reached out a shaking hand, and his fingers brushed the cold steel of the dagger, the reality of the decision settling in his bones.

Daemon stood, watching, his arms crossed over his chest. There was no sympathy in his eyes, only the cold certainty that Arryk had already made his choice, whether or not he realized it yet.

"Make it quick, Ser Arryk. I won't grant you such a mercy again," Daemon added, his voice low and final.

And with that, the Rogue Prince turned and left the dungeons, leaving the dagger behind as the only reminder of the honor that had once been and the shame that would now define him.

The air in your bed chamber was thick with the pungent scent of incense. The faint orange glow from the setting sun filtered weakly through the heavy velvet curtains, casting a dim, feverish light over the room. The dim glow of the hearth cast wavering shadows across the opulent green decor, the only light rivaling the room's heavy tension. Daemon Targaryen stood at the foot of his daughter's bed, his jaw set like granite, his lilac eyes aflame as they bore into the two figures before him. Queen Alicent Hightower, clad in a gown of deep emerald, held her composure, her hands clasped before her as though she were at prayer. Beside her, Lord Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, straightened his posture, his sharp features betraying only a hint of disdain.

On the bed, the pale and fragile form of Daemon's youngest daughter lay motionless, her breath shallow and her lips tinged with an unnatural stillness. A half-empty vial of milk of the poppy rested on the bedside table, its glass catching the flicker of the firelight.

He could see your face now, pale and drawn, your lips dry and cracked, and your breathing shallow. Your hair clung to your forehead, damp with sweat. You had barely roused since he returned to the Red Keep. The wound on your temple, the poison that still coursed through your veins, all of it seemed to pull you deeper into the shadows.

Daemon broke the silence first, his voice low and venomous. "How long?" he demanded, his hand clenching the hilt of Dark Sister. "How long has my daughter been your prisoner in her skin?"

Alicent raised her chin, her voice measured but with an edge of exasperation. "Daemon, your accusations are baseless. She is not a prisoner. The maester prescribed milk from the poppy for her comfort."

"Do not dare!" Daemon snarled, taking a step forward. "Do not dare speak to me of comfort while my daughter lies here, drugged into silence. Fragile, you say? What lies beneath your 'comfort,' Alicent? What truth were you so afraid she would speak?"

Otto stepped in, his tone dripping with authority. "Prince Daemon, you insult Her Grace and the King's council with this madness. Your grief clouds your reason. Do you hear yourself? These are the ravings of a man desperate to find enemies where none exist."

Daemon's laughter was cold and mirthless. "Oh, there are enemies aplenty, Lord Hightower, and none closer to my family than you." He pointed a finger toward Alicent. "Do not think I am blind to your schemes. Drugging my child, is that not desperation enough? Or would you rather have me believe that poison is beyond your reach?"

Alicent flinched, but only slightly, her calm demeanor hardening. "You think us capable of such atrocity? We seek only peace in the realm. Your daughter's well-being has always been our priority."

"Peace?" Daemon hissed, circling them like a dragon sizing up its prey. "Peace through silencing the truth, you mean. And what truth terrifies you so, Alicent? That your precious Greens are losing their grip on the throne? That your Targaryen children will not be your puppets?"

Otto's voice cut through the air, sharper now. "Enough! You speak treason, Prince Daemon. Were you not her father and brother to the King, I would have you dragged from this room in chains for such slander."

Daemon's grip on Dark Sister tightened, his knuckles whitening. He leaned in closer, his voice a deadly whisper. "And were she, not my daughter, I would have your head for daring to lay a finger upon her fate. Tell me, Otto, if the Greens are desperate enough to keep her tongue tied, are they desperate enough to steal her life?"

Alicent stepped forward, her expression resolute. "Daemon, this is your grief speaking. You imagine plots where none exist. Please, for her sake, do not let your paranoia destroy what remains of your family."

"My family?" Daemon barked, his eyes narrowing. "You have no claim to speak of my family, Alicent. The blood of the dragon burns brighter than the shadows you and your father cast. But be warned, if I uncover a single thread of truth behind this betrayal, I will burn every last one of your schemes to ash."

The room fell into an uneasy silence, broken only by the soft crackle of the fire and the faint, shallow breathing of the girl on the bed. Alicent and Otto exchanged glances, their faces masks of composure but their eyes betraying unease.

Daemon stood firm, a tempest barely restrained, his gaze never leaving them. He spoke once more, quieter now but no less dangerous.

"Leave this room. Leave her side. And pray, for your sakes, that the truth never comes to light."

Alicent hesitated, but Otto placed a firm hand on her arm, guiding her toward the door. They exited without another word, the heavy oaken door closing behind them with an ominous thud.

Daemon walked silently toward your bedside. His strong hands, so accustomed to wielding swords and bending the wills of others, now trembled as they reached for your delicate, limp fingers. The quiet vulnerability of this moment struck him more than any battlefield ever had. His daughter, the one he had sworn to protect, was broken, and he was powerless to do anything but watch. He gently curled his fingers around yours as if holding on to whatever little remained of the angry girl he had raised.

The Rogue Prince turned back to his daughter, kneeling beside her bed, his hand brushing a strand of silver hair from her face. "They'll pay for this, little one," he murmured. "I swear it on my blood."

You shifted slightly, just enough to draw his gaze as your lips parted gently. Your eyes fluttered open briefly, sparkling with a soft, dreamy awareness that hinted at the depths of your thoughts.

"Father?" Your voice emerged as a fragile whisper, barely lifting above the air around you. The sound seemed to fracture something deep within Daemon, a tiny shard of his once-impenetrable heart splintering into pieces in his chest.

"Shh, don't try to speak," he murmured, brushing your damp hair back from your forehead with a tenderness he didn't often show. His eyes were wet with the tears he hadn't allowed himself to shed until now.

In return, you weakly squeezed his hand, your gaze struggling to focus through the Milk of the Poppy. "I... failed, didn't I?" you whispered, voice cracking. "I couldn't stop it... Couldn't stop the Greens."

Daemon's heart clenched. He could feel the depth of your regret, the weight of your self-doubt in those simple words. His mind flashed back to the fateful days that brought you to this point.

Sending you to King's Landing was the plan you had agreed upon, knowing it was dangerous. You would infiltrate the very heart of the enemy and make a place for yourself at court. You would seduce Aegon, the eldest son of Queen Alicent, a man with no taste for power and no ambition beyond the pleasures of the flesh. You would make him fall for you, win his favor, manipulate him, and stop the usurpation. You would ensure Rhaenyra's crown was secured and that Aegon would never take what was rightfully hers.

But everything had gone wrong. Daemon underestimated the treacherous nature of the court, the depths to which the Hightowers would go to secure the throne for their own and your young, bleeding heart. He had failed as a father, as a man. And now, his daughter, his precious girl, was paying the price.

Daemon swallowed the lump in his throat. He took a slow breath, trying to steady the fury that threatened to consume him. "You did what you could," he whispered, his voice breaking on the words. "You were brave. You were everything I asked of you and more."

You stirred again, your brows furrowing as if in pain, and lips parted to speak, but the words faltered.

"Father, if I fail... if Aegon becomes king..." you whispered hoarsely, struggling to stay conscious. "Leave me to die in the forests of the North. A pack of hungry wolves would be kinder than what he will do to me."

Daemon's hand clenched around yours, and his heart shattered at the words. He knew what you meant. Aegon, a man who would become consumed by the luxuries that power had brought, could never be a better man. He would use his newfound strength to break his enemies and your family, bend them to his will, and crush them beneath the weight of his crown.

Aegon would not cease until you were by his side, even if it meant the destruction of House Targaryen and the kingdom. If he were to ascend to the throne, it would be the end of you.

You closed your eyes again, your body sagging slightly as the feverish haze claimed you again.

Daemon sat beside you on the mattress as it dipped with his weight, holding your hand in both. The stench of a floral musk that reminded Daemon of Viserys wafted through his nose as a sudden realization came to mind. His breath came fast, his mind racing with a thousand thoughts, but it was all drowned in his overwhelming rage and helplessness at the world's cruelty.

His daughter, his favorite daughter, was so close to death, and there was nothing he could do to save her. His mind began to work, to churn with decisions that could shape their future.

He will not let you die here.

"No," Daemon whispered to your sleeping form, his voice thick with emotion. "I will not let them do this to you. Not while I live." His hand trembled as he stroked your hair, his heart shattering again as he looked at your pale, suffering face.

He stood slowly, but his movements were sharp and purposeful now. The anger and sorrow had merged into a singular driving force as he turned to the window, glancing out at the fading light of the day. There was only one place he could take you, one where you might have a chance to heal and one where you would be safe, but at the potential cost of the throne.

"Prepare a ship," Daemon ordered to the guards outside the door, his voice hardening as he straightened, the weight of his promise pressing down on him. "Get it ready. We leave for Dragonstone tonight."

Turning back to the bed, he gently lifted you into his arms, carefully cradling you as though you were the most precious thing in the world. You were frail, but still his daughter—the fire from his blood, the only legacy worth fighting for. He kissed your forehead, the promise in his heart now fully formed.

"Do not fear," he whispered, more to himself than you. "You will be free. You have not failed. I will ensure you are never hurt again once we return to Dragonstone."

The ship would be ready by the hour of the owl, and Daemon would take you and leave the city behind. The politics, selfish intrigue, and Hightowers were all irrelevant now. The only thing that mattered was his daughter's life. The rest of the realm could burn for all he cared so long as you lived.

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We all want heads to roll, but we must let them have their moments. Otto, Alicent, and Larys will eventually get what's coming. I have about ten or eleven more chapters to go!

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