#i wrote this about to pass out from melatonin

[condensedmatters]

The one area ChatGPT has revolutionized is low-effort slop—fake ads, fake legal proceedings, and fake code.

This is the world run on big data, one where your every move is traced to learn how to advertise to you. People your age in a neo-colonial nation are tapping away at keyboards, effectively teaching a computer to emulate speech, making $0.02 while rich fucks make billions from it.

This is the future. This is What's Next. This is Disruption. This is Innovation. An innocent man sentenced to death because his lawyer used ChatGPT. To cut prison costs, a for-profit prison company decided to make an AI handle lethal injections. A small vain was injected with pentobarbital and sodium thiopental until it popped—he was the guinea pig for a new paralytic designed by IBM's Accelerated Drug Discovery Program. An AI was reading his brain and conveying his thoughts back to a television screen, saying things like "help me" and peppered with SEO, like a true CEO.

The inmates brain is throbbing, first at 60 bpm, then 70, then 80, then 120—160, 165, 180, 200, 2000. Before he died the innocent man felt his chest vibrate like a cell-phone, and his nerves screamed. The sweat pooling on his chest formed a pattern like salt on a plate atop a playing loudspeaker. It suddenly went flat.

Brain death was unconfirmed—the brain-reading AI couln'g tell what was going on—but the heart was dead. The man's chest began swelling like a hot balloon made of nitrile—it grows and grows until pop. The death-row skeleton crew are covered in cardiovascular tissue.

The prison's central computer consumes gigawatts of power each day, so thoughtfully provided by a coal power plant. Prisoners shower with PCBs, which seep back into the river—residents in a nearby town can't use their air conditioners or showers in the hot California summer because they might ruin the environment.

A billionaire is attempting to live until 138. He gnaws in a piece of sinew—he ate a clone of himself made of ground beef and sardines. He has a shareholder meeting in an hour—but not to worry, he'll find a way to make it work. He got a new Accelerated drug.

The board room was later covered in thick red paste. Apparently the drug was new abd designed by an AI, a bad synthesis of amphetamines and thalidomide. No one will forget what old John sounded like before he died—his iron popcorn lung ceasing and weezing as his heart beat at extremely high frequency. He made gurgling sounds, convulsing on the floor, foaming at the mouth. His neck was the worst part of the shakes—it kept snapping, back and forth, over and over again, like a twig being broken for smaller pieces. Before the rich fuck died. The company is like family to him.

[coryosmin]

University!Coryo having an obsession with reader who is Tigris’ best friend and a little older. He wants to prove that he’s more than just the ‘little Coryo’ she sees him as and fucks her until she forgets all about that 🥰

nsfw | mdni | coryo x reader | wrote this while almost falling asleep after taking melatonin so it literally makes 0 sense

coriolanus snow had always been slightly obsessed with you. he had always thought you were the prettiest girl he had ever laid eyes on. when he was a child, after his father passed away, he had been first introduced to you. before it was obvious that the snow’s no longer had money, you had come over for a play date with tigris at the ripe age of 8 while coryo was 5 and he was mesmerized by your politeness and beautiful hair. you were the one to include him in all the games you and tigris would play, exclaiming that “little coryo needs friends too.”

over the years, you had become his cousin’s best friend, the only person who knew anything of the snow’s situation. and the only person who would never do anything to jeopardize the family. coriolanus’s admiration of you never quite went away, even when his obsession with lucy gray was at its highest. however, he had begun to find it annoying that you still saw him as the little five year old coryo who just wanted to play with his cousin and friend.

he was twenty years old already, studying underneath dr. gaul at the university and making something of himself. he’s no longer the pathetic and naive little child that he once was. so the fact that you still saw him as such irked him beyond relief. he glanced at you from across the dinner table. you were sat next to ma plinth while coriolanus was sat next to tigris. on one end of the table was grandma’am while the other had strabo.

grandma’am had been asking for you to come over for dinner lately because you hadn’t been around as much. you had graduated from the university a year ago, when coriolanus had begun university. ever since then, you had been busy with your job, working as an event coordinator for the government and the games. so when you finally had a night where nothing was going on, you made sure to come over. and this coriolanus’s annoyance began.

strabo had been talking about how much of a remarkable young man coriolanus had become, having been sejanus’s best friend and all. and you had added to the conversation saying “little coryo has done quite a bit, hasn’t he?”. coriolanus was anything but little now. he was tall and his body was finally no longer malnourished. in fact, he can truly say that he is in really good shape physically. he had even grown taller. he looked like a man.

when the dinner had ended and everyone had gotten ready for bed, tigris made up the guest room for you and you gladly thanked her for allowing you to stay over. it was after almost everyone had fallen asleep when suddenly there was a knock on your door. you had just been sitting on the bed, reading a book when you heard the knock. “it’s open,” you called out softly.

the door handle turned before the door opened, revealing coriolanus in his beautiful silk pajamas. you smiled at the boy in front of you as he walked into the room and closed the door behind himself. “coryo,” you exclaimed, looking up at him. “what brings you to me at this late hour?” you teased.

coriolanus bit the inside of his cheek, refraining from just rolling his eyes. he genuinely liked you, don’t get him wrong. he found you to be not only an intellectual but also a very attractive woman. however, your behavior towards him never failed to annoy him. “you,” coryo began. “you need to stop seeing me as the child i once was,” he exclaimed.

���what?” you asked, tilting your head as you looked up at coryo.

he was stood at the edge of your bed, looking at you with his arms crossed. “you keep calling me little coryo and mentioning things that are from the past,” coryo said, rolling his eyes. “stop it.”

you laughed, unable to help yourself. “you came in here, late at night, just to tell me to stop calling you little coryo?” you asked in disbelief. “sweetheart, i apologize if it offends you but you’ll always be little coryo to me,” you added.

that sentence right there led to your head being pushed into the mattress as coryo fucked your cunt hard and fast. “‘little coryo’ huh?” he grunted as he pulled out, just to push his cock in harder, causing you to moan loudly into the pillow. “still think of me as little coryo when i’ve got you moaning into the mattress like a fucking slut?”

“oh my good,” came your muffled moan as coryo’s hips moved faster and harder. tears of pleasure pooled in your eyes as he fucked you, hitting your g/spot repeatedly. “so good!”

“yeah?” coryo leaned onto you, putting his body weight on you as he began to kiss your shoulders, his cock going deeper inside of you. “love having my cock inside of you, huh?” he asked in your ear.

“love it so much,” you moaned, “feels so good.” his cock kept thrusting into you, making your eyes roll back. coriolanus wrapped an arm around your waist while the other one held himself up on the mattress. he continued plowing into you, making you unable to think.

“you’re so wet,” he exclaimed breathlessly. “and so tight, taking me so well,” he moaned into your ear as you clenched around his cock. “should’ve fucked you sooner had i known you’d be this eager,” he teased.

you nodded your head. “yes,” you moaned out, “love your cock!”

it didn’t take long for the both of you to cum. you gushed around coryo’s cock while he came inside of you, pounding you through your guys’ orgasms. and when he finished, he collapsed beside you, breathing heavily. you both laid there in silence, taking in what had just happened until coryo finally broke the silence.

“will you finally stop calling me little coryo?” he asked, turning his head to look at you.

you looked at coryo with a lazy smirk, shaking your head no. “probably not,” you murmured.

coryo couldn’t help smirking back. “then i guess i’ll have to fuck you to remind you that i’m no longer little coryo,” he exclaimed.

“yes, yes you do.”

[kingmaxstatic]

Where The Heart Is

A simple 764 word fic! Soft slice of life fic between two of the imposter siblings. Wrote this for discord but I liked this enough to spruce it up and post it on my socials

Toyhouse Version Link!

Restoration HQ's most recent members have an issue with sleeping. Though for one it's less of an "issue".

The restoration deciding to house Breaker in a single room by themself was a mistake. Breaker now knew this as they stared at the ceiling of their room. Webbed hands gently reached up to their chest as they looked at their bedroom door. Their eyes scanned the doorknob, as if someone would open it. They knew who they wanted that someone to be. The very person who let them leave the empire in the first place. They sat up in their bed as they shivered a little. Was this what "cold" felt like? Maybe this was what feeling defenseless felt like. Both were thoughts they had the last time they'd left Starline alone. Thoughts they had when they saw Starline die. Breaker knew after that day, without a doubt, they were a social creature. They also knew that their room was empty. Too empty.

Surge was an all nighter kind of person when she wasn't passed out on the couch or bed. She either slept like a rock or kept herself awake. There was never a gray area with Surge. The tenrec's hand grabbed some more chips before she chomped on them. Her ocean blue eyes scanned the screen as she watched the guilty pleasure show she had her sights on. Poor girl almost leapt out of her skin as she heard the knock on the door. She stretched as she mentally prepared herself to be scolded by that stupid sheep again. What was her name again? It was Lamby or something like that. All she remembered was how those sheep's horns looked more devilish when she heard her rant. "Heard" is putting it lightly. Surge picked at her teeth as she opened the door... and was shocked.

"Breaker?" "Surge." The two greeted each other, one confused the other almost formal in their tone. The tenrec's ears swiveled as her eyes followed. "Uh.. come on in, Breaks." Surge motioned with her hand as she watched the hybrid walk into the living room. "What's the happs?" Surge squinted as she looked at them. From her time with Starline she knew Breaker as a very scheduled sleeper.

"I have been having.. issues with my rest." Breaker admitted as they looked at the ground. Surge then looked at the clock, 1 am. "Jeez you don't say, Smokey.." Surge rolled her eyes. The tenrec's sarcasm was cut off as they saw the look on Breaker's face. She sighed as she motioned with her hand "C'mon I got something for you that might help..". Leading Breaker to a cabinet, Surge then opened the doors to reveal various items that.. certainly didn't belong together.

Her clawed hand then grabbed a small container, it's label having bright images and shapes on it. The curious item caused Breaker's brow to furrow as they thought about what this could possibly be. They looked like candy? How in Gaia's name was that supposed to help? Catching onto the confused looks Surge felt the urge to explain "Melatonin, sleep gummies.". "Sleep gummies?" Breaker leaned forward as they observed the container "It... appears to be for children."."How old are you again?" "15." "Yeah so you're BASICALLY fresh out of the tube." Surge said as they motioned with their hand, treating it as if Breaker was born yesterday. "Besides, I'm four years old than you and these things conk me out.. so I dunno maybe they'll help with you." Surge played with the childproof lock a little. Her mind replayed the lesson she was taught on how to open these. As the lid popped she smiled a little, being reminded of her superiority against the hunk of plastic. After Breaker had taken one of the gummies, Surge had sat back down on the couch, getting ready for more TV. They waited for the sound of Breaker exiting.. they waited... and waited... and... "Are.. you going?" Surge asked as they watched the sleepy hybrid.".. Can I.." Breaker began, their throat full of hesitation "Can I stay with you two tonight..?". Surge's eyes widened. Oh. She adjusted her seat as she looked back at them, seeing their night blue eyes staring at them.

Surge felt a pang in her chest, the same pang she felt when around Kit. Her ears pinned to the back of her head. Most nights, Surge would say something snarky. Stirring the pot was Surge's middle name. Though it was rather hard to push any of Breaker's buttons. Even then, she just wasn't in the mood tonight. She had shows to watch! So as she gently ruffled Breaker's hair she smiled...

"Sure why the hell not?"

[beetleisblue]

For titans sake, go to sleep!

————————————————————-

Summary: a very sleep deprived willow convinces Luz and Amity to go to bed already!

Ler: Willow and Luz (everyone but poor amity)

Lee: Luz and Amity

Warning: This is a tickle fic! If you dislike that, that’s completely understandable and you’re free to not read!

(Also disclaimer I wrote and posted this at 11pm after I took melatonin so im sure there’s a few grammar mistakes, I’m really sorry!)

On with the show~

———————————————

Fine, Willow was annoyed. She’ll admit it. It was two in the morning at the Noceda household, and she was yet to get any sleep. Above her bunk, she heard girlish, hushed giggles and had for some time now.

Though it wasn’t usually a bad thing to hear Luz and Amity’s admittedly pleasant laughter, and she was definitely relieved that Luz was finally giggling for the first time in weeks since the group of them had gotten stranded in the human realm, it didn’t take long for her relieved smile to turn into one of slight annoyance.

She glanced over at Vee, and wondered how the basilisk could sleep so easily in the ruckus.

She knew the girls weren’t trying to do any harm, but it didn’t stop Willow from wondering what could possibly be so funny that you had to laugh at it for THIS long?

What were they DOING up there?

She sat up and to the side, and when that didn’t work enough to let her get a good view as to what was going on, she crept up behind the two in the bunk, watching intently.

Luz was smirking playfully, sitting atop of Amity, who was letting our little ticklish squeaks and titters. She squirmed around as she laughed, causing the sound of wood squeaking on wood to come from the bunk.

“How’re you THIS sensitive here, batata? I’m barley even touching you!” Luz giggled in amusement as she wiggled her fingers over her girlfriends tummy.

Amity just let out a quiet squeal in response.

But Willow sure heard it, and Willow wanted sleep.

“Hey.”

One word, one word from willow’s mouth was all it took for the two to scream, and willow shushed them, pointing down at a snoozing Vee.

“Don’t wake her up!”

“She started it!” Both Amity and Luz whisper-shouted, pointing at eachother.

“Did not!” Luz said, poking Amity’s tummy, who squeaked and retorted;

“Did too!”

“I don’t care who started it! You two need to go to bed!” Willow whisper-yelled back.

Luz whined “But we can’t sleeeeep!”

Willow smirked “how about I tire you two out then?~”

Both Luz and Amity exchanged nervous looks. They knew that smirk. And they knew they were in for it now.

Both girls squeaked as Willow cast a circle of plant magic, tying their arms up and above their heads.

“Nonono we’re sorry!-“ Luz giggled nervously, pleading with her friend.

“Think of it as punishment for keeping me up so late!” Willow said as the vines began to feather playfully at their spots.

The tickles were gentle, almost comfortable, but to two people who were already in the tickling mood, it was torture.

Both Amity and Luz were a giggling mess. The vines primarily attacked Amity’s tummy, (causing her to melt much more than she’d like to admit) and Luz’s armpits, which made her hold back screams of laughter for the sake of Vee, instead choosing to squeal all the while, wishing she never kept Willow from her sleep.

Minutes passed, and Willow stopped immediately after she heard the slightest bit of tiredness in the girl’s laughs.

Sure she was a mean ler, but she wasn’t that mean.

Amity yawned sleepily, cuddling up with her girlfriend.

“Sorry we were loud, willow..” she muttered sleepily.

Willow shrugged

“that’s alright, it was kind of fun once I got my revenge.”

By the time she finished her sentence, both girls were already asleep.

She tossed a blanket over them, and yawned, going back to her own bunk and snuggling up in the covers.

Replaying the laughing faces of her friends, it was her turn to giggle.

[jerzwriter]

18: Favorite beverage? 19: What do they think about before falling asleep at night? 22: Given a blank piece of paper, a pencil, and nothing to do, what would happen? 39: Would you say that they have a superiority-complex? Inferiority-complex? Neither?

For all your pairs. Thank you!

Hey @kyra75! For all! You're not going easy on me, are you? lol JK JK Here goes:

Favorite Beverage:

Carolina (COP): Coffe, black. If she's making it herself, or Uncle Tommy is making it? Cafe con leche. No one else does it right. Trystan (COP): Agave Mojito Smoothie from Agavi Organic Juice Bar in NYC. ( Pineapple, lemon, banana, mint, raw agave, and coconut water. He gets it with a B12 infusion and goji berries).

Casey (OH): She hates to admit it, but Diet Coke. She also loves a good chai latte. Tobias (OH): I kind of wrote a fic about his weird ass tea order. lol it wasn't supposed to be canon, but let's go with that. I also think he's one of those annoying people that actually likes water (and it will piss Casey off lol)

Kaycee (OH): Hot chocolate, or sweet wines. Ethan (OH): I mean.. Scotch followed by coffee. That's canon. lol

Eli, Zoe, Troy (WTD): In this world, it's whatever the hell they can get. If they get clean water, they're happy. When the Sunflowr Creek crowd introduces them (well at least Z and T) to fruit juice, they're elated.

More Below...

What do they think about before falling asleep at night?

Carolina (COP): Did she lock the door? Turn the stove off? What about the iron? Did she leave the water running? Or the fridge door open? And poor dear often gets up to check... until Trystan starts staying over. He's like "OK we've got to introduce you to melatonin." Trystan (COP): On a good night? Carolina. On a bad night? Juliana, Seb, and things he'd love to forget.

Casey (OH): Tobias or their girls. Tobias (OH): Casey or their girls. NOTE: That's when they're thinking of anything; often, they just pass out - happily.... 😏

Kaycee (OH): Usually what she has on her agenda first thing in the morning. She makes mental lists to make sure she's ready for what she has planned. Ethan (OH): See Kaycee's... but he's throwing in a 5:00 AM jog. She's throwing in a wondering why when ever agreed to be with a man who gets up for 5:00 AM jogs in there....

Zoe (OH): She likes it best when she is exhausted and just passes out. Like all others in her world, there has been too much trauma so thoughts before sleep are often not good. Eli (OH): Ironically, he used to be the same. But when he's going to sleep with Zoe, the bad thoughts never come.

Given a blank piece of paper, a pencil, and nothing to do, what would happen?

Carolina (COP): Answered for her here. Trystan (COP): He's either doodling or writing notes to Carolina.

Casey (OH): Hearts, stars, bunnies, and yes, goofy little hearts with "Tobias & Casey." He tells her she's still an adolescent but finds it adorable. Tobias (OH): Probably nothing; he always has something to read, and that's his preference. But he might make lists or write notes to Casey.

Kaycee (OH): Song lyrics that are stuck in her head. Things she needs from the store, goofy notes to Ethan. Ethan (OH): For the longest time, it's practical... lists, plans, things to do. But after he takes up painting, there is a 50/50 chance you'll find him sketching something he wants to do.

Zoe (WTD): She is drawing 100%. Canon says she's a good drawer, and I wrote that into my HC, so that's what she's doing. Eli (WTD): It's canon that he is NOT a good drawer. lol So I think he ignores the pen and paper and looks for his bow to get back to maintenance. lol

Would you say that they have a superiority complex? Inferiority-complex? Neither?

Carolina (COP): Neither. She is extremely confident when it comes to most things, but not in an unhealthy way. She's aware of her foibles and her humanity. Trystan (COP): He does have a bit of a superiority complex when it comes to many, but not all, things. But it's not in a toxic, narcissistic way. It's was more of a defense mechanism most of his life that he's left in place, but in a humorous way.

Casey (OH): Casey can be confident, but that was a hard-fought battle. She can be terribly insecure at times, but she keeps it hidden so only those closest to her know that. Tobias (OH): Well... lol. Yeah, our boy has a bit of a superior complex. It's gotten a little better since he's gotten older and Casey whipped his ass into shape. But he still thinks pretty highly of himself.

Kaycee (OH): Neither, she's a good balance. Ethan (OH): Uhm. Yeah, he has a superiority complex, but only in some areas. Work? 100%. Personal life, he has a bit of an inferiority complex.

Zoe (WTD): She can be very confident, but not in an unhealthy way. But when she closes the door to her room, she has to learn to stop the self-doubt. Eli (WTD): He can be very over-confident and sarcastic, but he really doesn't have a complex other than a "people need to stop annoying me" complex. lol

Thanks for the asks - Kyra! <3

[peachielovies]

midnight snack

feat; tomura shigaraki, afab reader

warnings; dubcon, somnophilia, oral (f. recieving), stalking, facials, cum play (?), shiggy thinkin dirty thots, I'm not good at writing smut

word count; 1.2k

author's note; helloooo tumblr! this is my very first fic (hurray! ＼(＾▽��)／) it kinda sucks and I didnt rlly proofread this lolz. I wrote it in a hurry today but I really wanted to get some writing on here while I had the idea. I'm not even finished setting up my masterlist stuff (°ロ°). also I did some animating for the little blink teehee, I might do that for all the pictures on my fics. ig this is kinda dedicated to @tomurasprincess because she inspired me to start this blog!! aaaanyways, sorry for rambling but I hope you like it!

shigaraki didn't intend for things to come this far.

he didn't plan to be sneaking through your window each night, rummaging around your apartment.

really, it was your fault for driving him to this. if you weren't so enticing, he wouldn't have to resort to stealing from your laundry, only to pretend he was holding you in his arms. if you weren't so enticing, he wouldn't have to stalk you on campus, following you through the halls and hiding in stairwells. if you weren't so enticing, he wouldn't have to sneak into the TA's office to find out your name and schedule.

he figured you were the kind of girl who would look at him and sneer— make comments behind his back about his skin and the knots in his tangled hair, about his quiet nature and creepy tendencies. all women were the same in that way.

you should have known that when you said hello in your sweet tone to someone like him everytime you passed by him in the halls that he would be infatuated.

he wasn't in love, never had been. you were more of an obsession; a trophy that he needed to claim.

of course, because of said obsession, he knew that you lived on the 2nd floor of the apartment complex near your campus. because of said obsession, he knew that the window in your bedroom was facing the emergency stairs on the side of the building. because of said obsession, he knew you left that window unlocked. because of said obsession, he also knew that you had been taking melatonin to help yourself get a better sleep. how could he not take advantage of that fact?

it was wednesday today. he knew you always went to bed after getting back from walking your dog.

when he arrived at your home, you were, just as he'd hoped, passed out underneath your covers.

he slowly stepped down onto the carpeted floor of your bedroom, as to not make a sound; the window bringing in a draft from the breeze outside.

he tiptoed over to the end of your bed and cautiously lifted the covers and wiggled underneath them.

you were sleeping with shorts on, as expected. it's almost as if you were waiting just for him. like this was the little bow on top of his perfect gift.

he slowly parted your legs as to not startle you, watching you intently for any movement.

he rubbed a hand over your clothed pussy. he could practically feel its warmth through the fabric. oh, how he wanted to just be inside you already and fuck you stupid, claiming you as his and marking you with his scent, his seed, to let everyone know who you belonged to–

no. he shouldn't rush. he told himself that he would savour his prize. why go through all this effort and not toy with you first?

he cautiously kissed your inner thighs, admiring how soft they were, before moving his hands along your hips and hooking his fingers under your waistband as he inches closer to your pussy.

he pulled down your shorts to see that, what a surprise, you were already a bit wet, leaking through your panties. it really is as if you prepared yourself for him; you're even wearing his favourite pair of panties! (of course, how were you to know which pair was his favourite?)

shigaraki practically starts to salivate. he kisses your clothed pussy and admires the way you shudder, carefully checking that you haven't woken up. he laps at the little spot of wetness and his mind can think of nothing but how good that little bit of your juices taste. he can't wait to dig into the real thing.

he pulls down your panties and blows cold air onto your clit, rubbing it lightly until it turns hard and swollen.

he licks his lips and stares at your pussy, practically hypnotized. the perfect cunt he's been wanting for weeks is right in front of him.

he dives in like a man starved, drinking up your flowing juices and thrusting his tongue into your pussy. god, it was tight.

he pants as he devours you, watching your expression from under the blanket with dazed eyes as your eyebrows quirk and you shiver and shudder.

at this point, he doesn't care if you wake up anymore. he needs to be inside your pussy so bad. he wants to bust his load into you, your fertile little pussy, and get you pregnant. a little trophy wife for him to fuck as he pleases.

but he won't. not tonight. he wants it to be perfect. he wants you to start thinking of him unconsciously, until you come to him on your own and beg him to fuck you.

he rubs his cock through the fabric of his sweats as he eats you out, sliding his knees up and pulling his pants down to his knees.

he begins to rub his middle finger over your little hole and pushes it inside. as he stretches your pussy out, he leans up over your chest. panting heavily, his precum drips onto your covered breasts (he vaguely wonders what your nipples would feel like against his slit), and he moves your hair out of your face.

he gazes with heavy lidded eyes and takes his fingers out of your pussy to put his soaked hand beside your head.

your lips looks so soft, slightly open as you let out small and sleepy huffs.

he gently (not really, he's desperate at this point) places his tip on your pouty lips, suppressing a loud groan as your hot breath tickles his cock.

he furiously pumps his hand over his cock, rubbing it raw as he feels your tongue graze him.

shigaraki's eyebrows furrow and his jaw hangs open, his tongue slipping out as drool begins to drop down his chin.

"mmmm! f-fuck!" he cries out as he cums, painting your lips and cheeks white with his seed.

he breathes heavily, jacking his cock a few more times until he's too sensitive, and tucks his now softening cock into his pants.

pulling your covers back up, he crawls out from under your covers and walks back to your window.

the cold air once again invades your room as he creeps out into the night.

as he's halfway down the street, he realizes that maybe it wasnt a good idea to leave your lips covered in his cum, as much as he thought you looked delicious like that. he wouldn't be able to make his little visits a habit if you reported him.

shigaraki climbed back up the stairs on the side of the building and hooked his fingers on the bottom of your window, ready to pull it up before he noticed movement from your window and ducked down.

he squinted to be able to properly see what was happening, hoping you hadn't spotted him, but the sight left him shocked.

there you were, playing with that gorgeous cunt, wiping his cum off of your cheeks with your little fingers and licking it up. you were clearly savoring the taste, with how you were sucking on your digits.

but what surprised him most was what he heard coming from your lips.

"t-tomura!"

I just like the idea of waking up to see shiggy's little head peaking out from under the covers as he eats me out in secret, that is all ( ◡‿◡ *)

[stjarnaloki]

tom comfort fluff

hi loves, this is a snippet of a longer Tom H. x OFC work that I wrote a few months ago and decided I didn't like it (typical) but I've always liked this period comfort section of it! i get really gnarly periods so this is entirely self-indulgent but I love fluff like this. also his hands are so big they'd make the best heating pads.

tw: periods, blood

words: 1600

On this particular Thursday afternoon, Mo had been on her feet for nearly ten hours already. It was 4 pm, but an early morning shoot had called her and the crew to a shooting location at sunrise. She felt on the verge of passing out. The California heat had left her drenched in sweat before noon, and she’d only had time to eat a protein bar since the morning break.. And the icing on the cake? Blood.

Mo was used to having to deal with the monthly backaches and stabbing pain in her lower belly. She’d been doing it for years, so was every other person with a uterus. But her lack of food today had left her with nausea and a splitting headache to top it all off. Mo wanted to cry and sink down onto the dusty mountainside. But she simply breathed in through her teeth and clenched the camera as another cramp tightened its grip on her midsection.

Finally, the director called five. Mo rushed over to her backpack sitting on the ground near the trailers and grabbed a bottle of ibuprofen out of the pocket, swallowing three dry. She plopped down on the nearest rock and wrapped her legs to her chest. Closing her eyes, she rested her forehead on her knees and begged her body to keep going until the wrap. Then she could get food, something greasy and cheap, take a hot bath, and knock out in the hotel room with two melatonin by 9 pm.

“Are you alright?” A voice pulled Mo out of her daydreams of a huge cheeseburger.

She unfolded herself out of the ball and looked up into the kind face of Tom standing over her.

“Honestly, I feel like fucking ass today,” she laughed with a grim smile. “Did I miss the call?” she rose and stretched. She felt Tom’s eyes graze over her exposed stomach for a split second and flushed.

“Oh, Mo, I’m sorry,” he said, brows knitting together in concern. “You should go back to the hotel early, I really think we’re almost done here.”

“Oh no no no, I’m fine,” Mo said, regretting her brutal honesty. She hadn’t expected Tom to care. She clapped her hands together. “Really, I’ll survive! Don’t look at me like that.”

“You’re pale.” He looked at her severely. She felt naked under his gaze, like he knew what was wrong and exactly what she needed. He turned on his heel and opened the nearest trailer. He emerged with a cold plastic water bottle and handed it to her.

“Please drink this and go back to the hotel, I’m serious,” he said with a gentle force that made Mo want to melt into his body. Then he did something Mo couldn’t chalk up to English decency. His fingers were brushing a piece of Mo’s curly hair back behind her ear. They lingered slightly, just slightly, on her jaw, then they flitted away, his piercing blue eyes still locked on hers.

Then he was walking away and Mo was climbing into a black SUV, whisked away back towards the city.

As she looked out the window, she thought about the way his fingers said more than words ever could. This couldn’t be ignored anymore.

Later that evening, Mo lay with damp hair fast asleep on the hotel bed, wrapped in the fluffy white robe. A knock on the door woke her with a start.

“Mo, it’s Tom.” called out the voice on the other side.

“Motherfucker.” Mo said under her breath. She had hit her foot on the bedside table.

“One sec!” she called back.

She retied the robe so it was higher up around her neck and answered the door, painfully aware of her boldness.

“Hi, Tom,” she said.

He didn’t come in at once. His eyes flitted down her body as Tom realized her choice of dress. The blue eyes quickly raised themselves to her face again.

“I come bearing gifts. Can I come in?” His voice was lower, slightly huskier from the fatigue of the day. “I know you weren’t feeling well today and today was a bitch.” He smiled sheepishly and help up two white bags from a burger restaurant, circles of grease on the bag.

“Oh, wow. You didn’t have to do that!” Mo exclaimed, stepping aside so the tall man could dip his head into the room. “Fuck, those smell delicious.” she added. How did he read her mind?

“These will change your life.” Tom towered over the tiny hotel kitchenette and was dipping his hand into the bags, pulling out two huge piles of fries. He wore a brown long sleeve shirt, rolled up to three quarter sleeves and tucked into smart corduroy pants that clung to his…shit. He caught Mo staring, but she quickly recovered.

“Is this considered sweats in Oxford?” Mo was laughing.

Tom didn’t say anything, he just smirked. She suddenly became more aware of the robe tie, the only thing between her naked body and Tom right now.

“Let me go change, I’m sorry I just got out of the shower when you knocked.” Mo grabbed a t-shirt and drawstring shorts from the dresser and went into the bathroom, leaving the door cracked just slightly. She knew a sliver of the mirror was visible to those outside as she let the robe fall to the ground. She felt like shit but Christ, this time of the month made her insatiably horny.

She emerged from the bathroom to find Tom leaned against the edge of the bed, arms crossed over his chest, like he was posing for Vogue.

“Let’s dig in?” he asked expectantly.

Mo paused, suddenly shy.

“Look, Tom, it’s so sweet of you to bring me food. But I’m sure you have places to be, I don’t want to make you feel like you have to stay.”

“You think I brought four burgers for you to eat all by yourself, did you?” Tom deadpanned. “I like you, darling, but not four burgers’ worth.” he replied. “Yet,” he continued with a wink.

Mo felt her heart rise in her chest, thumping against her ribcage. Was he fucking serious?

“Well, fuck, alright then” She perched on the other edge of the bed, hands held out expectantly.

An hour later, the pair lay back on the fluffy pillows, fat, sleepy, and happy. Burger wrappers littered the floor. Mo was surprised how interested Tom seemed in photography, or at least impressed at how good he was at faking it.

“I can see it in their eyes, you know?” she was saying, thoughtfully. “They just forget the rest of the world exists, and I get to capture that moment for them.”

A peaceful silence fell over the pair for a second.

Tom broke the silence.

“Do you want to watch a movie tonight?” He looked at her and Mo could tell he didn’t want to leave. He looked...lonely.

“That sounds really nice,” she replied after a pause. “I can’t promise I’ll stay awake though.”

“Oh, me neither.” He looked significantly happier as he kicked off his loafers and extended his long legs on the bed. He patted the bed next to him and tossed Mo the remote. “You pick, darling. Pressure’s on. I have incredibly high standards.”

Shanghai Noon was halfway through when Mo started to shift uncomfortably. The ibuprofen had worn off and her abdomen was cramping again with a vengeance. The dehydration of the day hadn’t helped, either.

All she really wanted to do was go to bed, but Tom was so interested in the movie she had picked she wasn’t about to kick him out with an hour left.

Unknown to Mo, Tom had noticed her clutching her knees closer to her chest.

“It hurts, doesn’t it?” he whispered knowingly. Too much of a gentleman to say the word, but not so naive to not know.

Mo exhaled loudly in a laugh. “You’ve had a lot of girlfriends haven’t you?” rubbing her tired eyes with outstretched palms.

“Maybe I’m just perceptive.” He replied. His blue eyes sparkled in the dark, steady and piercing.

“You’re a badass for getting through today, you know that. We were out there for, fuck, what, 16 hours?”

Mo leaned her head back against the pillow, eyes half-shut in pain and fatigue, but a smile on her face.

“I’m used to it,” she said, her voice gravelly.

He hadn’t touched her yet. No moving his hand closer to hers on the bed, no arm around her shoulders. But at that moment, he inched slightly closer to where Mo was curled up.

“Is it alright if I touch you?” He said it in a feather-light voice.

Mo nodded and melted into his broad shoulder. The man knew exactly what to do. His arm snaked around her side, coming to rest on her low belly. She sighed in relief, realizing his long fingers could nearly span the width of her stomach. Pure, comforting warmth radiated from his palm. She could feel her muscles unwinding themselves as Tom slowly applied gentle pressure to her pain. A small noise of relief escaped her lips.

“Shh, darling, it’s alright,” Tom said in a husky voice. He slid down lower on to the bed. “Is this helping?”

She rolled into him so she was lying on his chest, one arm splayed across his breast.

“More than you know,” she moaned, muffled by his shirt. His cologne smelled spicy, delicious, expensive.

He gently squeezed and rubbed his palm into her uterus a few more times. After a while he shifted so his body encompassed Mo in a spoon. His other arm came up and fingered the curls in her hair.

She took a deep breath at last, not realizing she had been holding it in. The warmth of Tom’s palm easing her pain, his deep, woody scent, and his hand in her hair melted together in a blur of bliss and soon Mo was fast asleep.

[savemefromanepicoftimewasted]

I'm finally on my laptop so I can give some proper feedback lol but I'll put those under a keep reading to help avoid spoilers for anyone looking to read! also if you're looking to do a part 2 at all(no rush at all I know how that can feel)I would not protest at all!

alright where to start! now as someone whose watched TUWOMT this author(I apologize as I don't know your name!)wrote Javi absolutely perfectly, in the movie he's definitely got the range of being a literal cinnamon roll at times and being kind of intimidating in others and this fic right here? captured it perfectly

Lucas was absolutely gross to the point that I could feel the way he was leering towards the characters, whether it was Y/N or Javi, or even her brother who sold her over to an arms dealer to pay off his debt, I mean we've all had some shitty sibling rivalries but damn, this one takes the cake.

and then there's Gabriela and Camilia, I absolutely ADORED Camilia and the way she could handle everyone like they were nothing but unruly children, which in Javi's case can absolutely be said but he gets a pass because we love and support Javi in this house.

and when they watched a movie together for the first time? holy fucking shit i was kicking my feet and twirling my hair(figuratively as I was fighting the melatonin I had taken just to read this)and could not get over how utterly amazing Javi was, he knew that she wasn't going to be happy being there, who would be? but he went out of his way to make her feel better about being locked up.

the shopping trip was beyond sweet and adorable and honestly I would've been the same way, letting a man like Javi buy me whatevery I want? nope, gonna put everything back cause I feel bad lol, but he was so attentive and just amazing! and once they end up finding out that she's essentially freed from Lucas' hold and would be allowed to go home but she wants to stay because she feels like Javi is home???? I was crying, the ending was so sweet and genuine and honestly I think I also would fall in love with Javi because he's just, amazing.

Bonds and Seizure

Pairing: Javi Gutierrez x Female Reader

Length: 18.3k

Warnings: angst/hurt comfort, happy ending, kidnapping, held against will, threats of violence, mentions of guns and drugs, slowburn, smut, masturbation, p in v, dry humping

Notes: Set before movie events and timeline but you don't need to see the movie to follow this story.

So far, your chances at every visiting Spain for a second time were looking quite slim. You had maybe about two hours of time to enjoy the warm sun and the beautiful waterside view of your hotel until your brother finally knocked at the door. You were only able to see him for a fraction of a second before a second man pushed through the door. 

The same man who was now kneeling in front of your face with a slimy grin speaking to you condescendingly like you were a petulant child. You weren't actually sure how you got there, but judging by the slight pain at the side of your head and how strangely groggy you had felt just minutes after waking up? You guessed you had either been hit on the head and drugged before you could wake up, or drugged and hit your head on the floor as you passed out. 

Either way, you had woken up to a terribly bright light as your hands were tied behind your back of the chair you were sat at. This man with dyed white hair and a look in his eye you could only describe as unhinged wasn’t even your biggest concern, nor was it the darker haired man with a furrowed stern expression standing a bit behind him that entered just minutes before this nightmare hopefully ended.

But it didn’t. This white haired man finally left you alone with this newcomer but not before leaning into his companions personal space and looking with gleeful eyes back at you, “Don’t worry, you’ll be perfectly safe in Javi's hands. Our head honcho’s are always well stocked with security afterall.” 

The darker haired man shot him a sideways glare, but didn’t say a word. He stood with little move to follow, just sliding his hands up to his hips as he turns his head to watch him walk away. A small aggressive bout of Spanish flying from the white haired mans mouth, far too quick for your somewhat limited language skills to catch. 

What had surprised you was after you were left alone. Looking back on it you think a degree of shock must have kicked in, you had been silent and shaking, you hadn’t really even looked at him. You’re not sure if he said something or what, but he just cut the ties to free your arms and at some point, led you into a washroom where you stood now. 

The water had been on a hot setting with high pressure as you cranked it all the way right, and finally your senses floated back into the forefront of your mind as you slowly turned it down to a gentler level. You truly had taken nothing in, was this even the first stop he brought you too? Why even bother with giving you this, if you were just a prisoner? 

On one hand, you could feel the sluggish grog slip down the drain and relax the muscle tension of how you woke up, but it also felt like a trick. 

These were arms dealers. That was made quite clear to you, the white haired one spitting out in venom that they were much more lucrative then ‘careless coke peddlers’. You weren’t sure if that scared you more, the reach of those cartels involved in guns and weapons far exceeded that of drugs. How your brother got involved in this was beyond you. 

Two of you had barley spoken, he had left for Europe around two years ago and kept quiet ever since. Occasionally he had called for money, and you were weak enough to send it to him. Never specifying what he needed it so desperately for, but you handed it over. Now it seems, he had handed you over as a payment he knew you couldn’t cover.

“You still don’t get it do you, princesa?” You could feel the vile musk of his breathe slamming against your ear as he kneeled in front of you. “You are our payment. He does what we tell him, his work pays off that debt, and you get put up as collateral.” 

You could still feel the trembling in every limb, as you just told him you didn’t understand.

The man grinned in response and that's when you truly knew how bad this was. “Easy. He pays off his debt doing whatever we order him to do, and you get to go back to your cushy little home in America. He fails to pay off what he owes though? And we keep you as compensation.” 

You ran your hands over your face and up over the top of your head as you stuck your entire face in the water stream. As long as you couldn’t see, you could act as if the world right outside of that door wasn’t a hell waiting for you. 

He had called this a compound, and you were a prisoner. The only images able to be conjured up was cells and dungeons from too many films to count. Chained up on a harsh dirty floor or locked behind a freezing barrier of cell doors. Running wasn’t an option. Everyone here probably kept guns on their person at all times. Why not? They had them in droves. 

As the hot water begun to cool though, you knew there was a large man waiting for you on the other side, if not just his own people ready to drag you down and lock you away. The other had said something about this man being in charge. How egregious was your brothers crimes that the only suitable place to store you was the prison walls of the cartel leader? 

Each step you took slowly, taking your time to slowly grasp everything to dry you off, small baby steps towards where you had haphazardly peeled your clothes off. By the time you had redressed, there was nothing else to stall you. Your fate was set and you had to deal with it no matter what. 

The handle was turned painfully slow, your jaw clenched and teeth subconsciously biting into the inside of your cheek. There was no breath in your lungs as you inched the door open to see who was waiting for you on the other side. 

But there was none. Just a modest hallway lined with rich woodwork and high open windows brightening it with the sunlight. You leaned your head out into the hallway more, peeking as if you were being tricked. But as you slowly made your way into the hall, it was clear there was no one there to drag you away. 

The hall wasn’t long but you stepped through it timid and slowly, feeling as if it went on forever and perhaps that what you wished it would do. Go on so long you never had to think about what was at the end. There weren’t that much in the way of doors. 

Tall arches that reached the high ceiling that let even more sunlight filter through the building and casting a warm glow on the bright walls. There was a door in sight though once you reached the end of a hallway, a few ones in fact sparsely spaced out giving a sense of good privacy between them. 

One of them, was halfway open, and the corner of what appeared to be a bed in the sight. These all must be bedrooms. You’re not sure why you went to look inside. Maybe it was the tease of a luxury you’d never know or feel, catch a glimpse of wealth before you were used as a tool to take it away from your own brother. 

The room was brighter then even the others you passed, a large window with the glass planes turned outward and letting a cool breeze fly around the curtains. Moving further inside, you saw a familiar figure with his back to you looking through drawers as he mutters to himself. He seemed to sense someone entering the room as he turned around. 

That same furrowed brow lightening up to a strangely softer wide eyed look. He gestured behind him to the drawers as he finally spoke to you. “There is not much here, but I can send someone out to buys some things for you, or we-” He cleared his throat almost hesitantly. “Or my assistant can help you look on the internet so you can pick whatever you want yourself.” 

Your hands hung loosely at your side, fingers clenching and unclenching against the fabric of your pants. Your eyes narrowed in confusion but were too nervous to speak up in front of him. 

Sensing your lack of understanding, he moved away from that side of the room to stand in the open middle, nothing on his face that screamed anything close to the threat of his other companion. He pointed to your clothes, “You were only brought here with what was on you, clearly not realizing you may want actual clothes of your own to wear. Small details are not Lucas’s strong point.” 

It was hard to tell if he was just judging how cheap and uninteresting your choice in outfit was compared to the soft and rich fabric of the brown button up draping over his broad frame. Your feet switching weight from side to side, “Lucas?” 

His own face fell, an unhappy sort of frown following. “My cousin. The man who brought you here I could only assume against your will.” Having his name didn’t make you feel any better. “He told me to keep you here but I see no point in making you uncomfortable. More comfortable I mean.” 

A nod was all he got in return, it was odd though, for who he was that he just kept rambling after every lack of response as if anxiously filling the void of silence. “This is your room, I-hopefully it’s good enough but feel free to speak up about anything you need, more pillows, less, if the comforter is too heavy or not warm enough. I know the guest rooms tend to not have very soft blankets but they aren’t...used very often.” 

The room teased you with luxury your small 4 room apartment above a small restaurant mocked you. This was nicer then your whole life. You crossed your arms meekly across your chest near your stomach, shoulders shrinking into themselves as if trying to become smaller. 

The man nodded to himself, in opposite to you he straightened up more. “This is not a prison, and I don’t want to treat you like one. It’s my home, and I want it to feel welcoming to anyone staying here, no matter the circumstances.” 

It was clear you didn’t want to discuss why you were here, but you couldn’t wrap your head around being given any sort of comfort or freedom. 

“It’s an island which is likely why Lucas chose to bring you here, but it is large. Plenty of space inside and outside to have your privacy. Me and the people who work here don’t want to keep you on a leash, there is a security system but they don’t exist to watch your every step.” 

You approached the bed, fingers reaching out to lightly trace the white blanket so untouched it almost looked new. The inside of your cheek stung from how much your teeth bit against it, but you weren’t brave enough to stop doing it, or to find your voice. You had been ready to start crying out of fear, but now they sat just glazing over enough to redden them from an unexpected overwhelmed feeling. 

He spoke up one last time. “I’m sorry you probably want some time along right now, I should leave you be. My home is not off limits, you can go anywhere you like you aren’t restricted to your room. You didn’t choose to be here, but I don’t want you scared to just exist. You are free to do anything you like.” 

You turned your body away from him as he passed, despite the wide path he took to not invade your personal space. Whatever distressed emotion that flickered across his features at your anxiousness went unnoticed by you your head down at the floor. You gave him just one bit of feedback before he left. 

Your name. “I don’t uh, know how much he told you, but that’s my name.” 

You peeked up at him, a much more relieved smile passed his face and sat in his brown eyes. “I’m Javi. If you need anything, just ask. Please. I would rather you feel comfortable then scared while you are here.”

For a while you were left alone in the room. The breeze and sun dancing over the still damp skin as you paced around the room. This guest room reminded you much more of what you imagined a vacation home would be like instead of the more sterile empty hotel like bedroom you would assume a leader such as him would bother to provide. 

Despite the promise of freedom, you were still trapped on an island under the watch of people more dangerous then you could imagine meeting. For a good portion of the afternoon, you sat in a corner hidden from the view of the door. Back against the wall and arms hugging your knees pressed up tight. 

It wasn’t quite a cry. There were no sobs or panic turned into gasping for air in fear. But a steady stream of tears that fell with no effort as you hid your face for a while. Body curled in protection as the soft waves of the nearby shore provided an upsetting contrast to their act as a weapon. 

Once the sky said goodbye to the bright blue and simmered into a gold unobstructed by a tall hideous city seen, you found the courage to get up, to explore somewhere other then the 3 rooms known to you.

Luckily, you ran into next to nobody. There wasn’t brawny gunmen pacing and guarding the surroundings or displays of force to intimidate any island onlookers. Just normal people fluttering around doing such normal jobs. 

At one point you were near what you assumed was the kitchen, sounds of a sizzling and two female voices chatting and laughing, the Spanish all too advanced for you to catch. Javi seemed to be true to his word, you found your way outside and walked the comfortable cliffs edge by the water. Well tended greenery flourished around the property with an illusion of peace. 

Turns out much of your first evening here was spent out there. The splashing water the only sound you could stomach right now. You had stood arms crossed for quite a while until your legs needed a rest. So in the same spot, you just sat with your legs crossed, arms hugging your torso. 

Mostly, you only had one thought swarming your brain. Why would your brother do any of this to you? 

For the next two days, you kept to yourself and very little of the staff bothered you. They all smiled and greeted you as they passed you as normally as one might greet their coworker. You didn’t know if Javi wasn’t on the property or if he was making himself scarce on purpose, but you didn’t see or hear from him since that first day. 

The only two people you even spoke to in fact was his assistant, Gabriela, and the woman who works the kitchen, Camilia.

Gabriela you met first, turns out you had seen her many times as she could usually be found walking a quick pace around the property usually with a stern somewhat intimidating expression either speaking rapid fire at another employee or going just as fast on the phone. 

It wasn’t until you both turned a corner and startled the other when you first spoke. She quickly ended her phone call, and the stern look faded away to something much more gentle without coming across as fake or condescending. Introducing yourselves, it felt odd to act as if these people didn’t know exactly why you were here. 

“I’d ask you how you were settling in, but I’m sure you’re long past that formality. Have you eaten since you got here yesterday? Camilia says she hasn’t even met you yet.” Her voice wasn’t coddling or judgmental. It almost held a parental tone to it, reminding you of a your aunt back home who would accost you every visit for not eating more and just piling food on your plate regardless. 

You shook your head, fidgeting in place as you looked out a window to the sunny sky and back. “No, I uhm, it felt..weird to just barge in like that. She doesn’t know me or anything and...” 

Gabriela smiled softly with an amused tint in her eye. “Trust me she wants you too. She’s been here for years and still will cook a mountain of food for Senor Gutierrez to eat anytime he’s busy enough to skip a meal. Come, she’s abrasive but not cruel.” 

Clearly she was used to giving orders as she turned and started walking in the direction of the kitchen, expecting you to follow her without question. Which you did. Coming up on the room you had avoided the first night, you both walked in and it surprised you how small and homey it felt. 

There were no stark silver white walls and stainless steel plastered everywhere with lifeless energy. Instead the walls were just as warm and brightly tinged in yellows and orange as the rest of the house, dark wooden counters with pots, pans, and plates everywhere without being messy and an open wooden threshold that led into a neatly organized pantry beside a spacious fridge that matched the darker counters. 

In the middle of the pantry stood a woman huffing as she counted something on one of the shelves. Her hair was a light orange wrapped up on the top of her head with loose strands starting to fall out of the loose grip. “Camilia,” 

Gabriela shouted to her, and the woman whipped over to the door and stood beside her with her hands balled into fists pressed against her waist. She didn’t waste anytime with formal pleasantries.

“If I had known you were going to hide from me like the plague I would have just woken you up first thing and forced the food down your throat.” Your eyes widened, body wanting to step back as a lurch formed in your chest. Not out of fear though, no this was the blunt attitude that was far more of giving a child a lecture. “I understand how Lucas brought you here like a brute, but that’s no excuse to skip meals or avoid bothering to ask me for anything whatsoever.” 

You opened your mouth hoping to soften the blow and maybe just give a white lie, but she was quicker on the draw. Her finger pointing out again, too much of a stern mothering lecture to let you even consider being intimidated. “Don’t you even try. I keep tabs on every little thing going in and out of this kitchen I’d have noticed if something went missing. The rest of these people know to just mark down what they’ve taken when I’m not here.” 

She nodded her head to a list tacked to a cork board on the wall by a small table and a variety of chairs, with empty drink glasses still sitting fresh. A small tally of items listed, mostly small things to munch on likely. You’d come to learn that Camilia tended to cook for the staff already knowing their schedules and just sitting it out when they would normally come in. And that Javi himself preferred to work around her and make something for himself. 

At that moment you weren’t sure if you could even stomach a full meal, but she fed you anyways. Had you sit down at the circular wooden table with Gabriela next to you, her elbows perched casually on the surface an amused smile never leaving. She was far less intimidating like this, and it gave you a bit of reprieve. 

Camilia asking you about your tastes, asking if you enjoyed olives only to interrogate you on what kind you’ve eaten. Apparently telling her ones in a jar from the store was the wrong answer. She huffed and turned back to the cutting board with a shaking head. 

“The years I’ve worked here, having all those olive groves at my fingertips and here you are sitting in my kitchen telling me what you like came out of a cheap chain store jar.” Gabriela was laughing at that point, your face totally taken back as you froze in your seat. 

This was not the kind of abrasive treatment you had expecting from forced captivity. 

The next day or two it got easier. Camilia used to seeing you slink in quietly, typically after the sun already went down as she was making dinner for herself. No one was around the kitchen area at that point, and you think she understood that. Never judging you for trying to avoid people, but she also know that when you said people, you meant Javi. 

Tonight was the night she broached the subject. The night sky was cloudless with the window wide open letting the colder air simmer the usual stuffy kitchen heat. For the first few minutes she watched as you pushed quietly at your food, only taking small bites before mostly filling up on water. 

“Listen, I’m not going to beat around the bush with you. We all know why you’re here, but believe me when I tell you none of us are comfortable with Lucas essentially holding you hostage here. The man’s not even brave enough to do his own dirty work so he dumped you onto Javi and made it his problem.” 

Your head looked up at her in doubt. Sure the staff have shown you kindness, but you didn’t understand how a man in Javi’s position would have something like this thrown at him by his own people. You shrugged and leaned back onto your chair, willing your heart to calm down from the steady racing it’s done for days. 

“I guess I don’t really understand what the point of keeping me here even is. Lucas told me something along the lines of wanting me to be kept an eye on by his own blood but,” You sighed. So many emotions yelling over top one another. “I mean I haven’t even seen him. Why keep me here if I basically don’t exist as far as hes concerned.” 

Abruptly you leaned forward to distract from looking at her with a larger bite this time. Your breathe tightening a twinge at the realization that maybe speaking about her cartel boss was a mistake. Camilia seemed to disagree. 

“You’ve barley seen him because he’s spent the past two days trying to argue with Lucas about letting you go home. Despite what it may feel like, Javi is not the kidnapping type.” Standing up she gathered your dishes and headed to the sink, her muttering just close enough for you to catch. “Whatever the opposite of that is more like it.” 

Unsure as to why, but you compelled yourself to walk through the house a bit more. It was large and spacious and you couldn’t deny that it was somewhat confusing to you still. It was in that wandering that you heard the faded sounds of speaking. 

Speaking though, much closer to dialogue then a regular conversation. Stashed in the end of one of the halls you hadn’t been in before was a tall sliding wooden door that sat half open. A red velvety fabric draped a few feet in front of it muffling the sounds from inside and obscuring any subtle peek you could take. 

Pulling the fabric across gently, you found yourself tip toeing into a windowless room covered in soft fabrics and a couch sitting just down the slight slope to the main area and an evenly as rich looking chairs diagonal to it facing a large screen. A film playing on it’s screen in a language you didn’t even recognize, no subtitles to hint at either. 

Your heart lurched in your chest though at the figure in the middle of the couch. Slouched over somewhat with a pen, scribbling at a few papers as he glanced up on occasion. He didn’t seem to realize he wasn’t alone, so you stepped closer. 

His dark hair was luscious with long curls that sat messier and unkempt then that first day. A multicoloured cardigan stretched across his broad shoulders you tried to push past the nerves of how large he was and how not strong you were. Would that ever be needed? 

You were about to quietly try to whisper his name, but his deep voice beat you to it. “There is plenty of room, there is no need to stand quietly in the corner.” He turned to look at you, soft brown eyes with no malicious in them nor in the tone he spoke. 

You fiddled with your fingertips rooted in place, “I didn’t know this was-I didn’t mean to bother you I mean.” 

Face falling into one of trouble again, his voice lowered not to a whisper but a soothing reassurance. “You’re no bother at all, I’d enjoy the company actually.” Nodding, you walked over. 

Debating on taking the furthest seat from him on the chair, you opted for the further end of the couch. Hands tucked into your lap as your back sat straighter then it was used too. You glanced at his papers before looking away realizing how bad of an idea that may be. Javi chuckled though. 

“You can look if you like. They’re not very interesting though, just scribbles of ideas going nowhere it seems.” Curiosity got the better of you and you tried to crane your head to glance at them without moving closer. 

You could just barley make out what you recognized as characters or plot. “Are you..writing a story?” 

Javi looked rather sheepish, glancing at his work and back to you a few times. “It isn’t much. I’ve always dreamt of writing screenplays. The drama of larger than life stories, trying to create characters that your audience can feel in their hearts, but my ideas in my head struggle when I actually try to write them down.”  

That touched somewhere inside of you. A passion you shared but never before with someone like him. Not being able to help yourself, you were ready to drone on for far too long. Everyone did always tell you that it was boring hearing you go on about something they didn’t care about. 

Javi, whether you knew it or not, felt the same way. “I shouldn’t bore you with this.” He scrambled to organize them all into a pile, off to the side. “The last thing you probably want to hear is me going on about my own work when you’re in my house against your will.” 

Striking you as odd he looked almost downtrodden. As soon as that day once Lucas left the room, there was not a lot about Javi that said you should be scared of him and it was a juxtaposition you didn’t understand. “Can I ask you something?” 

He whipped his head over to look at you, wide eyed and eagerly nodding. 

“Camilia said that you didn’t know about any of this until Lucas showed up with me...” You fiddled with you fingertips once again, squeezing your eyes shut as you took a deep breathe before meeting his warm ones. “Why would someone who works for you..just dump all of this on you out of nowhere? I mean it just, kind of feels weird that he’s making me your problem.” 

Javi’s eyes narrowed in a darker flash that you didn’t quite catch perfectly. A shift of demeanour that radiated something much more angry and serious like how he first looked to you, but simmered down as he leaned forward to rest his forearms on his thighs. “I assume you know what it is my family does.” 

You nodded, unsure if he really cared for an answer, but he patiently watched you before continuing. “I’m the one who winds up handling Lucas’s problems because I’m in the public eye, and he wants to keep himself out of it. Far easier to run this business when no one outside of it knows who your leader really is.” 

That sat heavy in your stomach, if he was trying to come up with a lie then this was a weird way to go about it. “So-wait. You don’t...run all of this?” 

Javi smiled without much emotion behind it, leaning back to rest against the plush couch again he smoothed his palms over his thighs. “Lucas prefers someone else takes the spotlight, and, well..” He turned his head to look at you as it rested against the back, “It’s much harder to live your own life after you’ve been raised in this one.” 

You hated it, the churning in your gut and passing all the way up to your throat. You weren’t supposed to sympathize with this man, let alone sit next to him in a quiet tucked away room. But there was a distance in his eyes that rung a lot like sorrow. And it pulled at the part of you that still fought past this angry resentment you were holding. 

“Why keep me here though, if you have nothing to do with it? I mean this was all about my brother and he, clearly, doesn’t work for you. I’m not exactly a flight risk why throw this onto you if you don’t run things?” 

You had shifted somewhat to the side, one leg remaining over the couch edge, but the other sat much more tucked underneath you as if debating if you wanted to get comfortable. The couch very much so tried to entice you to it. 

That flash of hardness returned. Javi’s eyes now trained focused on the screen as his jaw clenched. Finally when he spoke it felt as if it was being forced out of this throat in a deep grit. “I take the heat, I run his front, and in return, he forces me to bear the weight of his own problems. Why? Just because he knows I’ll do it if he asks.” 

It wasn’t the caged rage behind his words, but how much you were thinking of your own brother. Your heart pulled back and forth between a sickening anxiety of how and why you ended up here, but there was a much more tender reach, desperate to find any slight modicum of meaning in what these people wanted from you. “My brother and I barely talk.” 

You leaned back against the arm of the chair, your hands no longer wringing together but limp on your lap as you looked forward into nothing. “He left two years ago and ever since it’s one thing. He calls, I send him money, he calls I send him more money. No matter how much I needed it for myself, I found myself sending it over anyways only to have him just call for more months later. I guess now he figured he ran his bank account dry, so I was the next best thing to my wallet.” 

You didn’t hold the resentful anger that Javi felt, yours was just pain. The sting of watering eyes threatening to fall frustrating you. Looking up, Javi now faced you more. His head tilted as he looked you over in question. “Maybe it just wasn’t Lucas who put us together.” 

That wasn’t something you wanted to think about. How much in common this conversation had. Your chest filled with lead as your muscles screamed at you to lash out just to find any use for this building up conflict inside you. Javi though, refused to let it escalate. 

“Would you like to watch something with me?” You looked up in surprise, his face once again a soft hopefulness as he continued. “I rarely have anyone who likes to sit down and watch movies with me, and I thought maybe it would be a nice distraction to focus on for both of us.” 

He looked at you like a tall, large version of a needy child who doesn’t quite get the attention he should. Your brain told you no, he’s too dangerous to spend any real time around, but the other reached out to him in need. Like it was crawling through a desert looking for any connection to keep you alive. So you nodded. “What uhm, what would you want to watch?” 

Javi shot up suddenly, his tall stature hovered over you as he moved the coffee table forward enough to give you room to move as well. “I have many options. It’s not really sorted alphabetically like I should, but more like by what kind of moods you might be in, take your pick.” He turned to look at you only to find you had barley stood up from the couch. 

Your heart beat fast still, but perhaps you were just getting used to it. “Y-you want me to pick the movie?” 

Javi looked taken back, as if that was a question so obvious he didn’t know why you asked. “Of course.” 

You took a deep breathe, and nodded as you walked over. Hoping that Javi turned away in time to miss the sight of you wiping at your eyes to get rid of whatever tears had wanted to fall. He pointed out many suggestions. Going through what section was for what kind of movie feel, telling you what was maybe too serious or heavy and what was more fun and lighthearted. 

Everything about him in that moment as someone entirely separate from where you were. Excited and passionate about you both choosing a movie together like his entire life was dedicated to it. It tricked you into feeling as if this was normal. 

Just two people who enjoyed watching and writing fiction, finding something to enjoy the evening with. And you really did. None of the evening broached anywhere near the conversation of what you both were outside these walls. No you both laughed, and pointed out things you caught in the story or goofs in the production, and it was light. It was fun, and it wasn’t until hours later as you climbed into your large bed in this foreign bedroom that you went over it. 

It would be a slippery slope to find any friendship in this man, and you told yourself it was a real possibility this was all a ruse to get you comfortable only to be struck like a snake bite if your brother didn’t work what he put you up for. Would it be Lucas that deals the venomous blow? Or would the curtain pull back and reveal Javi as the snake he seemed reluctant to be? 

Either way, you didn’t listen to yourself. During the day little of your routine changed. Camilia still lectured you about the strange meal times you insisted on sneaking into the kitchen for, Gabriela had on many occasions explained what it is the public Gutierrez business was and how much work she always had because Javi always took on so much work himself. 

You learned things about them, little tidbits that felt safer then getting to know Javi. Camilia had a large family, five boys and a loving but aloof husband who she is sure lets her younger boys do whatever they want when she’s gone. Gabriela would talk a bit about her husband. That he worked just as much as she did, but they both lectured the other about trying to convince their bosses to grant them time off. 

“I know how hypocritical I am for it, but I have more resolve then he does I’ll break him one of these days.” The two of them were kind and helped ease you into living your mornings and afternoons without as much fear strangling you. 

It was your evenings though that were the most usual. The next few nights, you always ended up in Javi’s theatre room, the pair of you always alone and finding more and more in common as you shared a joy for movies and story writing. Some of those nights you found yourself even forgetting that this wasn’t just a night in with a close friend. 

You knew that could be a dangerous thing, but it was the thing you found yourself looking forward too the most. If not the only thing you looked forward to. He was passionate when he spoke in those times, full of life and you were so endeared towards the silly, goofy side of him that was unashamed to show their colours in those quiet, tucked away evenings. 

Javi had a strange knack for helping you forget the world you both were in those evenings. He spoke to you as a friend it felt. He kept his own past vague, but he eagerly asked you endless questions. Prodding you to elaborate or having that sharper seriousness cover his face when you’d try to meekly claim your life wasn’t anything near as interesting as whatever he’s experienced. 

At that moment, he stood on the other side of the room pouring a glass of what looked like rather expensive wine. Glancing up to you, he lifted the bottle up slightly better to your view as he read the label out. “Quite an uncommon one, if you ask me the honey makes it a bit closer to a mead but wine sells better. Would you like to try some?” 

You shook your head, curling your legs into your chest more as you sat once again against the arm of the couch. “No thank you. I don’t really drink wine..or anything for that matter. Water’s fine, please.” 

Javi didn’t waste another thought, he simply put the bottle away. Pouring you water, Javi walked back over and handed you the glass as you muttered a small thank you. A smirk forming on his face as he sat down. His body turned halfway to face you with one of his arms stretched across the expanse of the couch top. “You’re lucky I own groves and not vineyards. Otherwise I might have been offended.” 

Your own fingertips tapped at the glass as he looked away from you to take a sip. Pausing right before he did so, speaking into the rim of his wine glass causing his voice to echo in a slight husk. “Though you buttering me up with your politeness doesn’t hurt as well.” 

You breathed out a kind of small laugh and brought the glass up to your mouth, both hands holding it almost in comfort watching Javi chuckle to himself. The glass made a clank as he put it down on the table and turned to you once again. You both had a movie already picked out, but it sat unplayed with the screen not yet even turned on. 

Instead the crackling from the fireplace acted as the soundtrack for your in between silences. Javi’s own eyes bore into yours, the corners of them scrunched in a somewhat endearing way as he seemed to look for something in your expression alone. 

The orange glow dancing across his skin had your heart lurch in odd ways as it struck you that it truly painted him in a handsome light. He was making this feel more like a vacation then being held captive and you knew it could get taken away at any moment, but you let yourself fall further down the rabbit hole. 

A question slipped out before you could stop it. Maybe it was out of nerves the way he looked at you trying to understand something you didn’t know, or maybe it was the need to learn something about him that kept his real intentions shrouded in mystery still. Either way he looked surprised to hear it. “Javi, why let Lucas run things if he claims you’re in charge?” 

His eyes narrowed, looking deeper for that answer he seeked and you sat up straight suddenly. The sudden movement swishing some of the water over your lap a bit as you sputtered and backtracked. “I don’t mean it like- I wasn’t trying to imply anything I just- I was only..curious.” 

Javi had softly called your name a few times before you finally stopped talking. He looked calm compared to your now tense, rigid posture. Afraid that pushing any limit too far would rumble this house of cards. “I’m going to tell you something, and I need you to listen carefully do you understand?” 

When you nodded, Javi prompted more. “I need to hear you.” 

“Yes, I understand.” 

Nodding satisfied, he slid across the couch, his torso twisted so he could place his palm gently near one of yours but far enough not to invade the space. His head leaned down to etch close to your timid gaze. “I’m not going to ask you to forgive me, or demand you forget about all this and relax. But, I am asking you to settle your heart a bit. You’ve spent the past week terrified that one wrong thing will somehow push me over an edge I’m not even standing by.” 

Your shoulders slumped down a tad, teeth somewhat biting at your lip as you looked at his face, much harder like your first encounter but his eyes once again holding a distant sorrow that others on the property didn’t have. 

“You have every right to be terrified for what’s being forced on you, but I wish you at least will start to understand that as long as you are under my roof, there is no harm that will come to you.” One of his hands reached out, grazing your cheek to better have you looking at him. “Lucas’s men may consider you a prisoner, but I only wish to treat you like a guest, a friend. You don’t deserve to live in fear just spending time in here with me when there is more then enough of that across the water.” 

A hand of yours shakily raised up, lightly grasping at his wrist. Your hand so small in comparison to his that your fingers barley grazed the ends of his knuckles. You tried to squeeze as if a hand hold and he seemed to get the idea. A caressing hold on the side of your face before letting go. “To answer your question though, Lucas is in charge instead of me, because I didn’t want to be. That wasn’t a life I ever wanted, but now?” 

You whispered, partially to yourself but enough to make sure he understood you right back. “But escaping what your family puts on you isn’t that easy isn’t it?” Your eyes met and you for once felt a calmer relief at how unbothered this all seemed to make him. “I think we both know exactly how that feels. Kind of like-”

“Being a prisoner?” 

His face as serious, but you chuckled instead. “Yeah, something like that.” You smiled to yourself once again sipping at your drink, now trying not to look at him. You missed his watchful eyes shine in a particular way at you before shaking it off as you spoke up. 

“Alright, I think we had movie plans right?” You shifted up in place, legs now crossed almost underneath you as Javi agreed. For almost two hours, this quiet bubble you two created for yourselves kept itself around you both. 

You didn’t try and press yourself as far into the other end of the couch as possible, and Javi finally felt like it was alright to sit closer to you without making you uncomfortable. One hand of his rested on his thigh only moving to grab his wine glass while the other remained laid stretched out across the way, his large hands resting on the cushions just above your head. 

At some point you sat with your legs resting on the wooden table as you slinked back into the couch more. Had Javi put his arm down, you would have been in such a perfect reach to pull you into his side, but he never did. 

You weren’t sure at what point in the movie you begun slipping away, but the mixture of the quiet, peaceful film on screen, the warm glow of the fireplace and the heat even just coming off of the man next to you had your eyes drooping in sleepiness. 

The movie was still playing as you dozed off, but you weren’t aware of how naturally you had leaned your head onto Javi's shoulder, and it wouldn’t dawn on either of you until later, how perfectly you seemed to fit there. Instead, at some point in your dreamland, part of you could sense a pressure resting against the top of your head. 

If you could pay attention, you’d have also felt the tickle of loose curls brushing across the side of your cheek, and the gentle cradle of Javi’s stretched out arm, now having pulled you more into his side. Neither of you had been awake for either of your actions, but perhaps your unconscious selves understood both of you better then your waking brains did. 

By the time you woke up, your body was stretched out across the couch, a pillow tucked neatly under your head and a warm blanket draped carefully over your body. The side closest to the couch back tucked somewhat down between you to make sure it didn’t pull away. Both these things weren’t in the theatre room beforehand, and you also could tell by their immense soft material that they weren’t from your room either. 

As far as you knew, no one but Javi spent any significant amount of time in here and you fell asleep next too him. Swinging your legs down to the floor, your hands gripped the blanket in curiosity. Ideas passed through your head that your still wakening brain tried to shut down whatever fantasies it so desperately craved. Logic wanted to reign over your heart and refused to give up the idea that Javi was intentionally trying to manipulate you to make you comfortable, so you’d put up less of a fuss being forced to stay here indefinitely. 

Still a bit puzzled from sleep brain, you gently folded the blanket up and sat the pillow on top of it. In true movie theatre fashion, the morning sun was waiting to burn your retinas. When you stepped out into the sunlight from the darkness of the movie room, you had only two things on your mind; Javi Gutierrez, and where the hell this blanket goes. 

The hallway was empty, so you walked through to the direction of the bedrooms in a calm silence. The only thing hitting your ears was the distant voices muffled through the walls, and the calming sounds of natures morning. 

Part of you considered if this should go in Javi’s room, but you didn’t dare go inside uninvited. He told you that nowhere was off limits, but certain places just felt wrong. You eventually stepped quietly to a small side table against a wall in between two rooms and stacked them on top. 

You hadn’t taken up much of Javi’s offer to buy you proper amenities, so your wardrobe was limited to mostly the same few pieces that you either wore on you coming here, or what of her sons spares that Camilia had brought you along with an aggressive toss of a wrapped bag that contained brand new ‘unmentionables’ as she put it. Her sons clothes didn’t quite fit, so you felt ashamed that you’re pants had just been the exact same for a week. 

Everyone else here dressed in a degree of luxury. A level of wealth that made you look cheap and made you feel even cheaper. Gabriela had been kind to you as well, but currently you didn’t really want to pass her. Dressed beautifully, always looked immaculate. The face and body of a model compared to the slightly oversized hand me downs on your far less attractive body. 

Stepping into the kitchen, the time of day you knew she’d be long gone and Camilia would be far too busy yelling at her own assistant, or dish boy as she would say when annoyed, to notice you. There was a bowl of fruit on the small table, and that's all you ended up picking at. Peeling a small orange looking into nothing. 

So when Javi’s voice came floundering into the kitchen, you jumped in your seat from the sudden startle. The pair of them spoke rapidly in Spanish and you tried to pick up on certain words but their speed and how muddled your brain was, it was as if you never took a Spanish class a day in your life. 

You felt embarrassed to look at him. The feeling of inferiority and the embarrassment of being so uncomposed around him that you fell asleep on him causing your heart to beat what felt like an irregular pattern. It wasn’t until he sat across from you, eyes wide and bright that you realized he had been calling your name. 

It wasn’t even close. His perfectly tousled hair, bright face, and a soft yellow shirt no doubt a price you couldn’t even name. You wanted to disappear from how he looked in front of you. “Sorry, what?” 

Nice articulation you thought to yourself. Javi clamped his hands together on the table leaning in somewhat in a nervous look with a harsh body posture. “I don’t want this to alarm you in anyway, but my cousin is stopping by very shortly.” 

Your nails dug so deep into the orange that it smushed an otherwise perfect piece. Now your heart raced along with a churning of fear in your stomach. “He...is it,” 

Javi shook his head as his hands spread out as if to placate you. “No, no. It is totally unrelated, but he might expect to see you stick close around.” His head tilted to the side along with a shift of his eyes. “I’m not quite sure he would agree with how much you are free to do as you wish. He prefers keeping those he...” 

“Abducts? Tight on a leash?” Your voice was tight, and your jaw was clenched but your eyes felt a fear that he may demand something much harsher then Javi had given. “What uhm, what should I do when he gets here?” 

Narrowing his eyes, a ferocity claimed them that froze your body in place. “You stick to my side. He wants you under my watch, but I refuse to lock you under a camera to prove anything to him. There is one more thing.” 

Now that look in his eye was also shaded with anger. A painting of so much contrast to the softness he showed you in the evenings. “You’re brother will very likely be brought along.” Your wide eyes restricted your breathe together. “No doubt Lucas has ordered him not to speak at all, but he also is not above bringing him just to taunt you. I just want you to be prepared for that. My cousin loves to play mind games.” 

Your nails continued to dig into the orange and Javi moved to take it from you. His arms stretched so close to you, he effortlessly peeled the rest of it off, opening it up easy for you to grab the slices. He didn’t even say a word about it. He just pulled back, leaning against the back of his chair and watched you in deep thought. 

Your voice whispered somewhat, “Is he the only one?” 

It didn’t quite intend to hurt but your swirling insecurity spat the words out. He didn’t react with anything other then a confused head tilt. Gabriela as her usual, came flying in the room and they both quickly went to leave. Before exiting view, Javi turned back to you with a hand braced on the threshold frame. “You know where the patio tables are, yes?” 

Nodding, you didn’t quite look at either of them. Missing Javi’s harsh worry and Gabriela’s tense frustration. Nothing about Lucas’s presence made them happy and they both at this point at spoken at length how they felt about this situation with you. Your eyes glanced up just to hear what he had to say. 

“Meet me there in thirty minutes. He said an hour but my cousin loves to arrive early to catch me off guard.” Gabriela shook her head with an eye roll behind him. 

You nodded, but said nothing more. Seeing that man’s face would be one thing, but you knew he was dragging your brother along to rub it in both of your faces, the choke hold he had on both of you. As stupid as it was, you tried to clean up anything about your appearance. Wanting to not look so lost and out of place but there was only so much you could do. So long you could look at yourself in the mirror without wanting to cry or smash it. 

To your surprise, Javi wasn’t sitting yet when you arrived. He leaned against a banister and handed you a pair of sunglasses without question. You held them out confused as he shrugged. “I’ve never seen anyone squint so painfully in the sunlight more than you.” 

It wasn’t lost on you that they were one of his pairs. Almost matching the ones he had on his face right now. You noted to yourself to try and find a way to get a cheap pair, he’d get annoyed always having to lend out ones from his personal collection to add to your increasing lack of belongings. 

Javi waved his hand for you to follow, nudging you ahead of him towards the patio with a hand on your lower back. Thankfully, the sunglasses were dark enough that no one could see the slow blink accompanied by a wide eyed warm feeling pooling inside you. “Just so I know, should I not say anything while he’s here?” 

Javi shrugged, a much calmer demeanour then you. “He may ask you questions directly, though I am not sure if it will be to get a rise out of you or me.” 

He pulled a chair out for you before finding his own. “I guess it makes sense. If I’m not thrown away in the dungeon, he probably wants me as scared and submissive as possible.” You played with your nails trying not to look at Javi which also gave you a view of the area entrance. You missed the dark look behind the sunglasses as he did with your earlier one. 

Javi softly said your name. “I am not asking either of those things from you, I want you to understand that. There’s...there’s very little I can do to change his mind. All I can do right now is help protect you from him making this worse.” 

The man’s slimy demeanour was painfully clear in the bright sun, a cocky uncaring walk alongside a facade of goofiness. The comparison to this show and to Javi’s time alone with you was comical. His voice climbed into your ears like a bug. “Always took such good care of your pets, cousin.” 

Biting the inside of your cheek you reminded yourself to not say a word. Javi sat a little more rigid then moments before. This was the first time you had seen them together since that first day, and the previous appearance of harsh uncaring now read more like an uncomfortable civility. 

Javi opted to reply in Spanish, stirring a bit of a back and forth between the two men. Lucas appeared to take joy in riling his cousin up, and Javi continued to fail at any kind of relaxing in front of him. You could tune the out for a while, they assumed you weren’t keeping up with what they were saying and you couldn’t find the energy to try.

That was until Lucas jumped forward to stretch his torso across the table. “Did you hear me, princesa? I asked to see how you’re looking under those things.” 

Slowly you peeled them off, squinting still in the harsh sunlight as he looked over you. Lucas’s wandering gaze felt far more invasive then Javi’s introspective one. Nodding with a very fake smirk, he flopped back into his seat, limbs balancing themselves in an over dramatic way. “I’m impressed, Javi. You can’t even tell she’s been crying. One might think she’s been given no reason to cry at all.” 

His head tilting to rest on his palm as Javi swallowed. Saying his cousins name almost in warning, again Javi opted to respond in Spanish. You couldn’t be sure if it was because he didn’t really want you apart of this conversation, or if he maybe was annoyed enough that getting all of that out in his native tongue was easier then translating it in his head. 

Lucas laughed at a few things Javi clearly didn’t say in jest. He ignored you for a while, the pair of them going back and forth with Lucas trying to talk over his cousin multiple times. You couldn’t be sure how long you had been out there, but it was long enough that the sun had now trailed itself closer to the peak in the sky. 

Without knowing where this conversation went, Lucas suddenly slapped Javi’s arm with playful force before leaning his arm back onto the chairs top, one ankle resting on top of the opposite knee. His head leaning back he called him out. Your brother. 

He watched you tense up without daring to move, not bothering to look back as he ordered something harsh to the man. You knew your brother was looking at you, but you couldn’t stomach it. Part of you previously wondered if what you felt was sorrow for the situation he also was in, but now that pit in your stomach just made you want to cry. 

He tricked you here, and now just stood there watching you chained to this place as an offering for his own shortcomings. He didn’t care about you, but crying here was exactly what Lucas wanted. His voice creeped over to you, as he now stood in between you and Javi’s chairs. One hand braced on the tops of both. 

“Take a good look, princesa. ‘Cus I may not feel as generous if you end up coming over to me. Certainly not as generous as big boy over here.” He slapped Javi’s back twice, causing Javi to genuinely flinch. Jaw clenched but he didn’t respond as Lucas moved more to lean over him and speak closer to the side of his head. 

“Our new friend here,” Nodding over to your brother, “Isn’t settling in as well as his female counterpart is. Maybe you should break her in for me. Just in case.” He whispered into Javi’s ear before slinking back to where he previously sat, but just flipped his sunglasses up into his hands as he looked around him. 

It was low and not in English. You didn’t catch it, but Javi did. When you tried to lean forward, hoping to quietly see if Javi was okay, his hand shot out and grasped your knee. A tight grip that stopped you in your tracks as he gave a slow shake just once. 

He looked as tense as you felt.  

“I’ll be back in a few weeks, cousin. Keep everything in top top shape for me, would you?” Lucas winked at you before sipping his sunglasses on and turning to your brother. Spitting harsh words at him as they finally left. 

Javi’s hand didn’t leave your knee, but he did use his free one to toss his sunglasses onto the table and run a hand over his face. “Javi?” 

Your voice was so small and meek, it stirred something within him clearly. Javi suddenly turned more to face you, his hand now grasping yours and his hold on your knee now sliding up to your lower thigh, a much more soothing spot in his large hands. “I don’t even know where to begin, an I’m sorry doesn’t seem good enough, but I am so sorry.” 

You felt confused by how earnest he was when he was the one who felt the brunt of whatever Lucas spoke about. “Javi, I’m fine it’s like you said he’s just trying to rile me up.” 

He squeezed your hand, his eyes closing for a moment as he breathed heavily through his nose. In a shocking move, Javi let go of your hand to rest gently against your cheek. “I didn’t want this for you. I wanted to find a safe way to return you home, but that is not an option anymore.” 

Your hands hovered in mid air, your anxiety rising like bile in your throat. “I- what does he want?” 

His eyes flared in a raging no. “All he cares about is finding ways to control people for his own entertainment. He’s done a great job at this with me, but he will be far more unkind to you. I’m family but you are like money. Nothing more then property to him.” 

The blood in your veins felt as if it had frozen solid, a paralyzing fear of what that meant. “Do I at least...am I not staying here anymore?” 

Javi’s grip on your cheek tightened as well as his hand slipped further up your leg as he leaned in to make you hear him loud and clear. “You aren’t going anywhere. I don’t want to scare you, but I’d rather not leave any chances for you to find yourself alone with him and find you suddenly nowhere I can look.” 

Your hands had dropped to your lap but nails were digging into the skin of whatever fingers they reached. “So, what? I’m just put under a closer view of the cameras, be watched at all times.” 

Javi’s head dropped. His gaze clearly realizing how naturally he had grabbed onto you he cleared his throat and pulled his hand away from your upper thigh while his other let go of your cheek gently. He was still quite close to you though. 

“I want to keep your life here as normal as possible. I don’t think I’m wrong in guessing that you’ve started to find some comfort here, at least with me- us. I want to keep giving you that, but I think it will also be safer to have you close by me more often.” 

It felt out of place to have that warmth swim over you, Javi truly much more fierce when put on the offence, then perhaps he normally lets himself be. “Alright. Is everything still okay? Between us I mean?” Your eyebrows raised in a hopeful look that you knew extended from the gaze he couldn’t see. 

Javi finally gave a real smile. Huffing a relieved sigh, “Of course. I would be quite sad without the one person who actually shares so much of my own interests.” Standing up, Javi offered you a hand to help your as well. 

His hand was just so large, and so warm. The twinges of roughness from the life he leads hidden in between the gentle smooth skin felt nice in your own hands. Javi beckoned you to come with him away from the patio, only letting go of your hand after he lead you up the small staircase until your grips simply lost by distance. 

Neither of you mentioned how good it felt to know how matching your hands fit together. You were trying to find a settled ease from this looming dread clouding your future, while Javi was distracted with finding a way to give you a life where you were happy here. 

For a while though, that did actually work. As long as Lucas was out of the country, there was peace in Javi’s Mallorca home. You both spent increasing amounts of time together, and with no direct eyes on you Javi was able to sneak you into town for what he hoped was a fun day trip. He knew Lucas had his own guys watching, but without himself present, none of them would dare try anything. 

Unbeknownst to you, beneath the tender heart in Javi, there was a merciless protector. His shining smile and easy laughter made you forget that he was a man raised in arms trading, and he was one with an aim and shot far better then any of the unruly men Lucas preferred to keep around. So for once, he wasn’t worried. 

That particular day he finally convinced you to let him just buy you what you needed. He was sick of hearing you bashfully decline and just shoved you to his below ground garage with a hand on your lower back. “I’m not taking no for an answer anymore, I want you to have your own belongings here. Not rely on whatever scraps you ask from my employees trying not to be an inconvenience.” 

The drive to town was beautiful. The short tunnel to the mainland opened up to a cliff side covered in plant life with winding roads that showed off the unobstructed view of the sun beaming against the water. You had barley said a word the entire drive there, your eyes refusing to focus anywhere else on a look of nature you never encountered in your entire city life. 

Javi had continuously smiled over at you, his heart fluttering at the true awe on your face, nothing to hold it back and bury it deep. His hand barley left you on the streets as he guided you through to stores he thought you may like. Many times you had denied his offer of more expensive places with a luxurious selection. You simply didn’t feel yourself in it. 

Every time you peeked out of each dressing room, you’d ask “Is this too many” Nodding to the small stack in your yes pile. Each one had maybe 4 things, and each ask Javi would frown at you. 

“We’re here to buy what you like, not what I tell you to, hermosa.” It was a new term he called you. He started one night as he shared a small edible with you and it slipped out. He had thought of you that way for weeks but he only felt brave enough to let it stick after it already slipped out. 

On the second to last store, you nodded and went to put your regular clothes on when he shouted slightly over the door. “We are not finished until the backseats are full, remember that when you keep putting things back.” 

It made you flush behind the door. Things between you both felt like you were two normal people who had known each other for a long time. His goofiness helped tame the ever present anxiety of your future, and your polite bashfulness stirred a much deeper emotion tucked away in his heart. 

For now though, maybe you wouldn’t tell him half of the reasons you put the clothes options back, were because as soon as you looked at them on you in the dressing room mirror, the harsh lighting pressing right down on you? Every flaw screamed in your face that you were trying too hard. Luckily Javi hasn’t yet questioned why you’ve requested a size up from what he knows you fit perfectly more then once. 

He was a rich, caring, and incredibly handsome man. He didn’t need you by his side painting yourself up as if this was anything but two trapped people playing house. Each touch and brush of your hands, every time he leaned down to say something quietly in your ear mocked you. You just wanted to play house a little longer before this little play time was thrown away forever. 

He made it so easy though. You both currently sat at a little table in a small plaza clearing, opting to eat something before making the trip home. Careful eyes watched as you self consciously took small bites with little substance and typically when you thought he wasn’t looking. If you were looking at each other, you’d cover your mouth to spare him of your completely neat and inoffensive eating. 

You weren’t like this before and you both knew it. He was asking why, but you were trying to come up with a lie for it. It was as if you didn’t like him watching you eat, and you were well aware of why. Each bite sinking down into your stomach and reminding you that you’re not sure if you have never seen such powerful wealthy people, with any woman on their arms that wasn’t essentially a gorgeous, tiny waist having supermodel. 

Wanting to get you talking, Javi leaned back comfortably against his chair with a soft smile. “Tell me, what’s one food you truly miss back in America?” 

Instantly you smiled to yourself. It was such an easy answer there was no hesitancy in your voice. “It’s actually kind of stupid. Everyone always has such varied answers, but here I was always defaulting to soup, or just a nice bread. Like my stomach is stuck in peasantry heritage mode.”

Javi grinned, a mock curious look on his face. “Is it? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you make soup in your time here.” He knows why, the same reason he tries to make his meals when Camilia is the busiest. 

You laughed a bit, “I mean they taste great but look like garbage. I’d never hear the end of it making it next to Camilia. Not to mention the reaming I’d get for how spicy I make it.” You both chuckled, having seen her smack Javi for doing the same thing to his own food. 

His tone amusingly mimicking her patronizing way of lecturing, “What good is giving me all this for when you’re just going to blast your taste buds off without me?” Once again, he watched you cover your mouth as you laughed as well. Flipping his sunglasses down from his hair, he sat up. “Would you like to sit and finish, or do you want to make our way home before the sun sets too low to catch it?” 

He called it home, and you didn’t even consider that he meant his and not yours. But you felt as if it had become home. When left to your own devices things at his home were so peaceful and calm. It encouraged you to relax more then the city. Shoulders loose from their tension and only rarely creeping back in the middle of the night in your too big bed. 

You nodded at him though, gathering your bags before Javi non nonchalantly grabbed nearly all of them. You yelled out mostly in play, “I can carry those, you know?”

Javi twisted his face as you caught up beside him. “You eat, I’m more then capable of handling a few bags. Besides, only one of us has any upper body strength.” 

Your face fell flat at the insinuation, but honestly you were more amused then annoyed. “Thank you for pointing out how week and feeble I am. I am so humbled by your complimentary flattery Senor Gutierrez.” Javi rolled his eyes as he bumped you with a heavy clump of bags in his hand as you raised your hand in mercy as you got into the passenger seat. 

Just as you got out of town earshot, Javi’s spoke up over the gentle breeze. “Do you miss it? Your food from home?” He made a noticeable clarification when you turned your head very quickly to look at him. “I can’t imagine anything quite can compare to where you came from.” 

Does it though, you wondered. If you were here of your own accord, if you didn’t know Javi because you were thrown onto his life drugged and tied up, would any of this be possible? Or would you still be back in your tiny apartment too afraid of taking chances to even move to a better building? Maybe you didn’t want to think about it. 

“Sometimes it feels like I do.” Javi glanced at you curiously before looking back to the road, waiting for your words to catch up. “There was never anything special for me back home other then that's where I lived and called it. But I also can’t give up why I’m here. That this is all just set dressing and when the curtains finally close I’ll just be trapped in the dark.”

You both knew it wasn’t anything close to food you were talking about anymore, and Javi’s knuckles tightened much more against the steering wheel as his heart did the same to his chest. “Home is where you feel you belong. And Lucas, even your brother would rather you not go back to that. I can’t blame you for wanting to leave here.” 

His own voice felt deep, a husk to it as it forced through a scratched pain that he tried to hide. The deepness flowed into your airway until it sat into your stomach, and you felt that sickening feeling once again. The longer you were here, the less you’ve thought about back home. But you didn’t know if that’s what Javi wanted to hear. So you switched gears. 

“So are you sure you want to watch all three of those tonight? I know you have an early start in the morning, I don’t want to keep you from that.” You saw him smile, maybe more of a smirk as he took his sunglasses off of him for good in the golden sunset. He was so handsome it was cruel.

His chuckle was just as cruel, and for more then one reason. “You say that as if I’m not also keeping you up. You promised you would come with me tomorrow and I’m holding you to it.” 

You sunk in your seat somewhat, arms crossing your stomach to put pressure against that heavy feeling inside. “Oh yes, I can not wait to look at trees all day.” 

Javi pinched your thigh, making you yelp that dissolved into a giggle of his name. “I can always send you over to one of my partners. Have you crush grapes in a vineyard all day making your favourite drink.” He taunted as if he didn’t specifically gift you your own little drink fridge in his theatre room, full of your preferred soda as it was pushed comically up against a shelf of ecliptic wines. 

You threw your hands up in surrender. Shaking your head with a barley concealed smirk at his chuckle of victory. Indeed, Javi made it dangerously easy to forget you were stolen from your home to find each other. 

It was one particular day that things seemed to rear their ugly heads for the both of you. Neither of you had even realized Lucas was on the property until he walked into Javi’s office with Gabriela giving Javi a very pointed look behind him. 

The door was shut behind her as she left, wondering if he had come alone or if one or more of his cronies followed. 

The only one that mattered though, was the one who snuck up on you as you sat by a natural overhang. Legs dangling in the open air as you mindlessly drew the view in front of you. Suddenly though, your sketchpad was send careening down onto the rocky shoreline as a hand covered your mouth and yanked you backwards onto your feet. 

Instantly you dug your nails into their hand with a muffled yell, only to discover the person grabbing you wasn’t all that much of a fighter. “Ow, fuck knock it off.” That uniquely obnoxious tone only belonged to one person. Right as he let you go, you spun around with a burning fire ready to explode in your eyes. 

Him being not that much taller then you, he raised his hands in defence backing up. “Hey, hey, whoa calm the fuck down it’s just me. I wanted to talk, Jesus.” He looked down at your barley red nail imprints with a wince. Not bothering to care about your rage towards him. 

Your own hands clenched at your sides, you wanted to be aggressive, you wanted to fight or even hit him, but you weren’t like that. You weren’t raised that way, and you know damn well he only learned to be that way after getting into whatever illegal gig he had going on back then.

“What do you want? After everything, what could you possibly have to say that I care about?” 

At least your brother had the decency to look sheepish, rubbing a hand behind his neck. “I was in a bind, okay? Got a gig with this Spanish dude, moving a couple things over the borders and you know things just escalated.” 

Your head fell into your hands, eyes squeezed shut as your overwhelming anxiety threatened to make you cry. “How does that translate to you selling me off to a fucking-” You looked around to see no one, but lowered your voice anyways. “An arms cartel? How does that just happen?” 

It was hard to ignore how bad he looked. The bags under his eyes were dark, and his posture screamed overworked to the bone, but it was hard to feel sympathy for any of it. He shuffled back and forth debating if to sugar coat it or just be stupidly honest. “Okay I mean, look, fucking...I took out a loan to make smuggling this shit easier and I kept owing this fucking shark more money and you kept giving it to me,” 

It was hard to keep the tears at bay. Just glossing over how much of a burden he put on you in the first place. You shouted his name, “Get to the present, please.” 

Fidgeting non stop, he had the gall to roll his eyes before continuing, barley even looking back to you. “Look, he bailed me out of the fucking debt I was in,” he clearly meaning Lucas you assumed. “I didn’t have enough to pay him back which he fucking knew, and he was like you owe me big time and you eventually came up and I don’t know man it just got out of hand and now like, now we’re here. Shit.” 

Your inhale was shaky, the stuttering of trying to force a choked up cry from showing it’s weary head to him. “What am I supposed to do then? What did you expect me to do here? I have no idea what Lucas would even do to me, and I’m really don’t want to find out.” 

You knew you weren’t at crying yet, but the sting behind them told you they must look red from the strain. He didn’t even seem to care. He just looked around worried for his own sake. “Look, I’ll figure some shit out. Get you a fake passport or something, just trust me okay?” 

It was so strange to you, the realization that after everything that’s happened and whose done what to only find out that the person you trusted most was the very man you were told was keeping you here. Javi was the only one who showed you any kind of care for your well being, or just you as a person. You didn’t know if that made you feel devastated, or somewhat relieved that there was a strong likelihood that just maybe, Javi’s been nothing but entirely truthful to you. 

Honestly? You didn’t care if your brother helped you. “Why are you even here?” He looked at you confused and you just felt more upset. “Seriously why are you here? Bothering to find me? To try and absolve yourself of guilt? To get my blessing for trying to sell me to a man who would have done god knows what with me?” 

You had more to say, you had eons of yelling to give, but it also just wasn’t you. You didn’t feel it in your heart to lash out so much, and there was no energy left in you. So you started to walk away. 

He grabbed your arm, but you pulled it away. Ignoring the second attempt as a grab and him yelling your name. You brushed past him, the only force you could summon being shoving his shoulder slightly with yours, but he always being the obnoxious loud mouth he is needed the last word. 

“You know I came all the way here to see you and this is the thanks I get? I could get in shit if he realizes I’m not by the docks you know? You’re so fucking ungrateful, as usual.” The more you responded the louder he got and the quicker your insides wanted to cry. 

You turned around, ready to yell at him, but nothing really came out. You just stared at him with a deeply brewing thought that maybe you didn’t want to go home. Maybe you didn’t want to just go back to the life he carelessly tore you away from. What did he really care if you got out of this okay? What did anyone here care. 

The tears finally started to fall, and you just tried to wipe your cheeks, but it was useless. You just stared at your brother for a while before walking away entirely. He didn’t care what would happen to you, so why should you care about what happens to him. Maybe no one really cared, and the universe was trying to tell you that. 

That anyone who seems like they care about you, might actually not. You weren’t sure anymore that anyone even should care. 

Without really thinking about it, you made the path up to the guest room you were in hoping that you could just get away with crawling under the covers for the day and will everything to just stop. Javi on the other hand, had the opposite feeling. 

He couldn’t be sure what exactly his cousin was planning, but Javi got the feeling it was nothing he wished to be apart of. There was a malicious glint in his eye as he vaguely hinted at some bigger plan he had just started the works for. But what he wanted from Javi, was to make sure he tends to a public image a bit more in the coming weeks. 

“Have Gabriela start calling out favours for a nice big party for you, lots of people, lots of eyes on you and all you need to do is be your wonderful self, Javi.” Both of them it wasn’t out of his cheer familial affection, but the less Lucas involved him the better. 

Javi asked about you though, right before Lucas walked out the front door. “You can’t just dangle threats over her head indefinitely, she’s done nothing to deserve this and you know that.” He rarely ever confronted his cousin about anything with conflict, but it ate away at him. 

How dismissive he was about your well being. Lucas though, shrugged like you were an afterthought. “Her boy’s turning out to be quite a good little solider, pressure does wonders for motivation. Do whatever with her, cousin. I’ve got bigger prospects on my plate now, she’s your servant to keep or whatever you have her doing.” 

As if the world craved irony, you walked up the steps just as he stepped out into the sun. You froze in place, whatever bravery leaving you in a chilling crawl up your spine as he smiled at you. Your shoulders rose up when he paced around you like prey until you looked at him. 

“I’ll see you around, princesa. Hopefully my dear cousin will treat you kinder then I would, such a short temper he can have. Runs in the family.” He flicked at your hair, causing you to tilt away eyes shut in disgust as he laughs to himself. Fading away into distant yells of orders. 

Javi stood tall and huge in the doorway, one hand still keeping it open, the other resting on his hip as he looks down, tracing from the floor to yourself and back again. Lost in thought, just as you were lost in general. Eventually, he noticed your reserved silence, and beckoned you over with a wave of his hand.

Grabbing yours gently as he led you up the few steps his hold lasted a beat longer then what would be normal before pushing you forward on your lower back as he stuck so close to your side, his hand teetered on resting on your hip. “I think there are some things we should talk about.” 

There was no way Javi didn’t notice how much you tensed up, how frozen you became as the gut wrench of just what would become of you stirred. You wanted to just go back to the other day, how much you loved just being out and about with Javi. Like you two belonged like that. You wanted that stupid little world you had together to not turn out to be harmfully fake. 

You had never been in his office before, but it looked painfully normal. As if you had been expecting something grand or secretive, but like so much else about Javi, it looked as if there was nothing dangerously extraordinary about him. On the opposite end of the door was a balcony, glass doors wedged to sit wide open with bright curtains pulled to the side as they blew lightly in the oncoming breeze. 

Everything felt so upside down. You were supposed to want to go home, escape this strange sort of kidnapping and yet you looked out to that balcony. Seeing the blue sky with such crisp fresh air waving over the island landscape, and you dreaded having to leave it behind. 

Javi though, didn’t look much better. He leaned against his desk, perched just on the edge with his fingers tapping at the wood on each side of him. Nothing about right now made any sense to either of you. You had so much to say, and turns out as soon as you spoke up Javi also felt the same need. 

“What’s going to happen to me?” 

“There’s been some change in plans.” 

Javi’s eyes looked at you, wide but bordering on heart broken at how defeated you sounded, but all you could do was seize up. Something that had become too common of a response. The only change in plans you knew of was the worst case scenario, and you knew you weren’t anywhere near ready to be forced to give this us. 

“I’m sorry. You...you go.” Even you could hear the exhaustion in your voice at this point. 

Javi nodded, mostly to himself as he considered his words. “Lucas came to discuss a change in some of his plans. Turns out your brother has proven quite useful to him,” You winced at the mention of him. Of course he would be useful to these people, because selling you out clearly wasn’t weighing heavily on his conscience.  “I’m not sure exactly what they have started planning, but Lucas assured me it is bigger then what he’s done before. So he’s deferred some decisions onto me.” 

Your eyes trailed on the ground. “Meaning what happens to me.” Not able to look at him, you missed the awkward distress he wore on his expression. A stuttering of not being able to decide exactly what he should say and how to cheer up such a defeated mood on you. You expected the worst and he felt ill at thinking it was directed towards him. 

His chest rose and deflated in a large sigh, crossing and uncrossing his arms wishing you’d just look at him. “I tried my best to make you feel welcome, to treat you like you deserve and hope it helped distract you from how you were brought here. I never liked the idea of holding anyone hostage, let alone having to keep you trapped in my own home against your will.” 

Javi pushed up from the desk, pacing over to the balcony and braced his arms against the railing. You followed him enough that you kept a hand lightly on the edge of a glass door, his wide shoulders taut with stress much deeper then just you. You debated saying it, but spit it out anyways. “My brother came to see me.” 

Javi’s head lifted up, but didn’t turn to look at you. “Today?” 

You nodded even though he wasn’t facing you. “All he wanted was to get me to forgive him, but it was clear it didn’t really matter. He just didn’t want to feel guilty if something happens to me, but not enough to do anything about it.” 

Nails tapped rhythmically along the glass, and your subconscious finally caught up to your mouth. “I guess me being here never really mattered in the long run. If Lucas just decided I’m your problem now.” 

Javi’s response was harsh in his tone. Deep and almost rough with a boiling up anger. “You are not just a problem.” Your heart lurched painfully but he kept going. “Ever since you arrived, I’ve been torn apart. Because very quickly I knew why he put you with me. Every chance my cousin has to drag me back into this life he takes, and letting me get so attached to you only to rip that way just before I could truly explore how I feel? It’s an easy way to control me if you ask him.” 

Your brows furrowed, “But I thought he said that...it’s up to you now?” 

His head tilted somewhat, and you found yourself stepping out more onto the balcony. Giving a wide space between you still not knowing where this was going. 

“He did. He’s moving onto bigger prospects, and using you to force my hand no longer applies anymore.” Finally he flipped his body around, and instead of a harsh glaring intensity you found only a crestfallen expression, one that broke your own heart at it’s sorrow. 

“Which means he doesn’t care if you just send me back to the States.” 

He was quick to answer. “Is that what you want?” Your eyebrows raised in confusion at him. So he repeated the question. “Is that what you want? To go home to America? That’s what you’ve been wishing for this whole time is it not.” 

His words were clipped, and there was something beneath the surface that might have been just too deep for you to dive in to find on your own. “I thought that's what I wanted.” 

Looking back out, the sky was still as clear and blue as it always had been since the day of your arrival. At first you thought it was a taunt. Mocking you for how bright the world shined onto such a dark experience. “Everyone knew why I was here, but they went out of their way to know me, make me feel welcome, try to make me belong even though I should be just a footnote to them.” 

Your arms braced on the railing, not quite like Javi though. You crossed your forearms across the length of it and rested your upper chest onto them, knees bent back to brace yourself up as you looked at the water. “You were supposed to hate me. That’s what I thought when I first met you. Lucas was so frustratingly chatty, but you came in just so, large and silent and angry that I couldn’t help but assume it was towards me. But we talked. We talked and I got attached.” 

The warmth of his closeness overwhelmed one side of you, his shadow casting across part of your view as he came to your side. One hand resting close to where your elbows bent with the other on his hip. Those large brown eyes looking deeply at you with that internal question you didn’t know. 

“Do you really think you’re the only one who feels that way?” 

You looked up to the side, struck with how softly he looked at you. Sliding to the side, you leaned against the railing mimicking his posture, but your own hand hovered around your torso not quite sure how to stay. “I hoped you did. Sometimes it really felt like there was something, but other days I couldn’t help but worry that it was all just an act...trick me into being complacent. But then you look at me like that,” You dropped your gaze along with your voice. “And then everything just gets muddled.” 

Trickling forward, Javi’s hand inched closer to yours. The buzzing need to touch you moving through this entire body. “What I feel, hermosa, isn’t fair to you. I should be sending you home on the first plane out, giving you your life back no question. I just didn’t know how much the right thing to do would hurt.” 

You looked back out to the water, eyes squinting at the bright sun reflecting off of it. “Going home was all I wanted. I had nothing to do with this until my brother was too stupid to pay back his own loans. But now going home feels like the last thing I want to do, and maybe I should be the one who feels stupid for that.” 

Javi’s person stood now closer to you. Not pressing against you, but giving you much less room to back away before you hit the edge. There were no words between you for a moment until Javi mumbled in a somewhat aloof, amused tone. “Maybe we’re both stupid.” 

Now that got an honest to god laugh from you. “I think you might be right about that one.” For that moment the burning tension took a notch down, and it felt so much more like any other day you’ve grown to adore with him. 

Your name fell gently off of Javi’s tongue. His fingers pressing gently against your cheek to look up at him. His feelings weren’t unfair, it was how beautiful he was. His hair always curled so perfectly, always enticing your hands to itch over through them, face framed perfectly by his nose and facial hair that would burn against your skin in an addicting way. 

His eyes were the worst though. Big and so transparent with how he felt, and now you had to look into them with nothing but a screaming desire in them that made you melt. “I need you to tell me. You have to be the one to say it, make me send you home. I might be too selfish to do it on my own.” 

Javi’s eyes fluttered shut as your hand gently held onto the wrist close to your face. Your thumb tracing over the skin as his pulse grew faster alongside your own. You smiled though, and chose a side you never expected. 

“I’m stupid, remember?” 

It wasn’t long that Javi’s expression made you doubt yourself. Eyes shut tighter as his face pinched in conflict. Barley opening them, Javi muttered roughly in Spanish before his fingers slid to let his hand encompass your whole cheek. Very quickly his other one joined the opposite side, and sealed the distance with his lips. 

Unlike his soft and sometimes silly disposition, Javi kissed you anything but that. His hands pulled in your face up towards him as he wasted no time in hardening his kiss. Lips demanding from you, forcing you to surrender to him in ways he never asked before. 

Your hands found their way to his chest. The orange shirt leaving so many buttons undone that there was no shame in how much chest you could touch. Palms sliding over his skin and mindlessly rubbing up and down the length of his torso. Feeling his muscles twitch as he hesitated in his kiss, before moving one of his hands to pull you in closer behind your back. 

Holding you closer to the back of your neck, Javi deepened the kiss, teasing you with his tongue and bites, almost nibbles against your lip. The sharpness of his teeth bringing high pitched gasp from you, only to have Javi consume the sound and grant himself access to you more. His tongue teasing inside of your mouth, you started to tremble against him. 

His tongue grazing against yours and pulling back to kiss you rougher just when you wanted to return it. You could feel the burn of his facial hair against your skin and no doubt it will haunt your memories of how much you wanted to feel it elsewhere. 

One of his hands wandering to your side, pushing your shirt up just enough to grasp at the skin on your waist he could blindly find. Javi once again tasted you with his tongue only to deepen it greatly as he roughly pushed you the remaining distance against the railing. 

Your fingers tightened against his chest, finally sliding up to the back of his neck and into his hair. The softness amazed you, as well as how easily you could rake your fingers though it. Shivers running down Javi’s spine he stuttered against you, groaning into your mouth. His hips pushed against yours in an instant reaction to the feeling. 

Finally summoning the strength to pull back, Javi parted from you but barley left your touch. A tiny string of saliva still between your lips, Javi pulled your chin into him as he took just once more needy kiss from you before pulling back, resting his forehead against yours as you took longer to catch your breathe. 

“I won’t make you stay here, hermosa. But if you did, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to prove myself to you for it. I am too selfish, I’ll do anything to keep you here if you let me.” A needy hum leaving his throat as you now ran your hand through his hair much more gentle, almost soothing. 

“If you’re selfish, and I’m stupid maybe we were meant to fit together like this.” 

Javi still shook his head, as if unable to grasp why you would give him this. He moved to brush his nose against your hair before you both moved closer into the others arms. He gripped you as if this was the only thing he was ever allowed to have, and it was possible that he got to experience very little like this. 

You both held one another for quite a while. Enough to feel both of your bodies relax into one another settling a calm over the turmoil of this morning. His voice vibrated against your chest as he spoke. “Gabriela and Camilia will certainly be happy.” 

Pulling back you looked at him with am amused but questioning smirk, neither of your hands willing to leave the other yet. His own running over the top of your head, before nudging against your chin and back as if unable to chose where to touch. “Gabriela called me an idiot anytime I said you couldn’t possibly share how I feel. And Camilia? She just yells at me to move you into my own room already.” 

His face was flat and eyes rolling at just how much he heard an earful from the woman if he so much as hinted at sending you home. Clearly not a sacrifice love for their own good kind of person. You chuckled, your cheek resting more in the palm of his hand. 

“The guest room bed doesn’t exactly have the most comfortable blankets to be honest.” 

If at all possible, his face fell flat even more. His eyes narrowing at you as he pulled away keeping his hands on your forearms. “I thought I told you to bring up anything you’d like me to change for you?” 

Your shoulders shrugged, smile much more sheepish as you looked off to the side. “I didn’t want to bother anyone, I wasn’t really a guest at that time to be fair.” Javi just rolled his eyes once more, pulling you into his warm body wrapping his arms around you again. 

“Well that’s about to change, now I know better. Clearly I will have to pull what you want out of you by force.” You leaned into each other, Javi turning you both to head inside. It wasn’t going to be an easy day still, no doubt a lot had to happen if you were to stay. 

He let you speak to Gabriela for a little while, Javi somewhat in the distance trying desperately not to interject every time you were far to humble about what you said or suggested. Eventually stopping by the kitchen where he ended getting smacked by a wooden spoon as Camilia yelled at him for how ridiculous you both were. 

The sight of a short Camilia mercilessly smacking the tall and large Javi, as he tried to bend away in very little defence like a child as a comical one, but not unusual for this strange little family. 

Nothing was set in stone quite yet. Your future was uncertain, but then again, so was Javi’s. Both of your lives placed in between two possibilities and a not quite yet clear path along either one of them. Javi did however, waste no time in his greedy desire to have you sleep next to him in his own bed. Which was admittedly, far more cozy then the guest room. 

Not quite asleep yet, you found yourself being yanked up onto Javi’s lap as his own back collapsed against the pillows. Grasping your hips when you went to follow, “Let me just look at you for a while, preciosa.” 

You trailed your own hands, dancing along his chest now covered in just a simple white tee shirt. Occasionally reaching up to scratch at his facial hair. “You say that as if I don’t have an absolutely beautiful view below me now.” 

Javi’s cheeks tinted a bit, holding back a flustered smile as he readjustment his grip on your hips to squeeze the skin below your shirt once more. He seemed to toy with pushing the fabric up more, but not subtle enough for you to miss it. You reached for it in a pull, but he held them in place as he looked at you much more serious. “I wasn’t trying to pressure you, I am perfectly happy with you just like this.” 

Heart melting at how quick he was to deny himself what you knew he was thinking about, but you wanted to give him something anyways. Pulling your shirt up and letting it fall beside your bodies. The dark greed in his eyes as he looked over your skin, he clearly was not aware you didn’t have anything on underneath. 

Shooting up from the bed, he held you steady from the force as he shot one hand up to rest just underneath one of your breasts. His face sharp and his eyes with desire. “I will not take this from you tonight, hermosa. But you are playing with fire here.” 

Your hands trailed under his own, not lifting it, but following the line of his pants. “I thought you were the selfish one. Doesn’t quite feel that way, now-” 

Javi’s jaw clenched, teeth muttering out curses you didn’t understand as he effortlessly flipped you onto your back. His body knelt in between your legs one holding your leg bent gripped by your hip, the other palming your breast in his large hand. “Unbelievable. Trying to take advantage of how weak I am for you.” 

You threw your head back in a moan as he caressed you rougher, his other fingers tracing the nipple of your neglected breast and pinching them as he kissed your neck, a whiny gasp coming from you. “Sinful. So beautifully tempting.” 

His hands worked your breasts over with every kiss and bite as his facial hair rubbed red your skin as he moved. Your hands fully moving under his shirt to trail your nails over his skin and grasp at him at a particularly harsh pair of his teeth and tugging at your nipple roughly. 

You could feel a smug grin against you, and your hips writhed against his slowly. One of his hands gripped the side of your jaw to pull your lips to his, while the other pulled your grinding hip up into his more. 

His kiss was messy but Javi was to preoccupied with granted you the feeling back. Nothing frantic, just a delicious grind of your hips together as you kissed. Your core begun to coil, quick. Too quick, you felt so pent up that the weight of his bulge against you send you careening closer to that burning orgasm so fast. 

Each grind pressed harder, the pressure for both of you that much better feeling, but still neither of you moved faster. Javi mumbled into your mouth nothing you could make out but he eventually pulled away, rubbing his nose against yours. 

Your hold on each other softened so much more the closer you got, and you were pulling Javi’s orgasm right along with it. His thumb traced over your bottom lip, only to almost slip into your mouth as you gasped out as it hit you. Your orgasm flooding through you without warning, as Javi pushed still against you to find his. 

You hadn’t even been able to come down, you were plagued with aftershocks as he rubbed against you. His head moving to tuck itself into your neck as he crossed that line, but you didn’t want it. Your hands cupped his face to have him look at you, one of his gripping tight to you as his own orgasm fell over him. 

His mouth agape, with a needy moan as his eyes braced shut. As he came back down, you finally felt yourself back onto the sheets, no longer floating in mid air. You ran a hand once again through his hair, eyes not leaving one another. 

Javi turned one of your hands so he could kiss your palm, and you met halfway to the others lips. This time it was far more gentle. A soft caress, no demand and no need beyond just wanting to feel the others touch. 

He kept you quite close to him that entire night. Gentle whispers passed back and forth like secrets, neither of you wanting to break the serene quiet of the room. He had kept one window open, your chests inhaling and exhaling against the other with the splash of waves against the shores. 

Feeling how right you were fit together didn’t make the outside any less messy. Nothing about your time in Spain has taught you that this was something for the better in your life, but being curled up into Javi’s chest tucked warmly under his sheets did. 

Lucas wasn’t gone, in fact he was likely to cause more of a problem in the future if Javi’s suspicions were correct, and you wouldn’t imagine what sinister ploy could possibly have included genuine help from your brother. Whatever they wanted, whatever was in planning was going to ultimately end badly.

Most stories such as theirs did. Of course there was no way either you or Javi could ever predict how that would possibly end, or just how much would end at Javi’s own hand or how quickly his actions will end it. 

The Gutierrez family was one not to be trifled with, and now you lay here in the chest of the one masquerading as it’s leader. You were dragged into this life and force to endure the cruel games at the real masterminds behest. Javi couldn’t convince you at this point to leave for your own well being, to avoid their lives. It was what led you to this moment, your hands braced against his chest and his own curling around you. 

Sleep begun to overtake you both, deep and slurring words between you, Javi’s mumbling into the hair as he pressed a kiss to the top of your head. His arms tightened around you, refusing to let you slip away from his heart as he slept. You wouldn’t. 

He found you after being thrown at his feet, and now he was too scared to let you back out, and you had no true intention to follow that though regardless. 

A small smile graced your features as you snuggled in closer to him, “Javi?” He hummed into your hair as a reply. “What on earth am I going to get you for your birthday?” 

Javi laughed deeply, pulling you in closer in almost a dismissal of your worry. “The only thing I wanted was to find a way to keep you in my life any way that I could.” 

Melting into him, your heart a kind of warmth you only had ever felt with him. You did however, give him one suggestion. “I don’t know, if anyone could beat my presence in your life it might be Nic Cage.” 

Javi rolled his eyes even if you couldn’t see. Tugging you into his chest he mumbled playfully into your head along with another loving kiss. “Fair, but you’re the one I stroked myself imagining you bouncing on my cock every time I could sneak away for a shower.” He laughed once more as you shrunk into his chest with a tiny whine. 

You weren’t sure you were confident enough to tell you how badly you wanted that as well, but you unequivocally dreamed about it as you slept. Unaware of just how much you and Javi pressed into the other as you desired the same things. 

You had each other’s heart, and for now that was all you and Javi truly wanted.  

[wthtorke]

Cultural Differences

One shot commission for @scallopedsuitcase ! Thank you! 

You didn’t know what to do anymore.

When you heard that the Yautja-Human peace treaty was finally up and running and that not only that meant everyone was safe and sound but also that the galaxy’s greatest and sexiest species was to roam free within your planet. You were proudly part of a small community that wasn’t opposed to...engaging-, with such creatures.

It didn’t take long for you to find your Yautja of interest. He was tall. Taller than any other partner you ever had before. That alone did things to you. Their ships had taken residency in whatever forests seemed best to them. You’d never thanked the skies more for living right outside a reserve in your life. 

The first thing you checked was his wrist from afar. To make things easier for everyone while they sorted out yautja translators for humans, yautjas interested in human contact wore different colored lights on their wrist gauntlets. Some of the colors were; red for ‘No Contact’, yellow for ‘formal contact only’, blue for ‘Friendly contact’, and purple for ‘Accepting of human advances’.

Now, while the term was awkward at best, but you were the happiest human on earth when your crush showed up on your street with that purplish wrist gauntlet. it’s lights dancing, glowing brighter and then darker again in an endless cycle.

He was everything you’ve ever dreamed of physically and after some time observing and building up your courage-, you found that his personality was just as much endearing as his physique. 

You’d taken to hiking, something you didn’t exactly have the habit of doing, all in hopes of spotting him by his ship, and so you did. So, there began your mission. While you didn’t have a translator on your person, there was one language that was known to all the galaxy.

Flirting.

Flirting was supposed to be exciting, charming, and well, what better way to let someone know you were totally into them, right? Surely, some winks and gestures here and there would pass him the message loud and clear.

2 weeks in of hiking and you could feel your muscles hardening up. The way your body responded to this new routine spoke volumes of your previous sedentary ways, never really having a reason to leave the house if it wasn’t for work or well, buying what you needed. So far, however, your flirting had brought you no results. The times you could make out his expressions when he saw you were...not pleasing. He looked...confused, at best. 

So, you sat at home on a particularly cold night, holding a warm mug of hot chocolate to keep the shivers at bay, wondering what could you possibly be doing wrong. You bit your lip, winked, wore your best clothes, and still, nothing. It was frustrating.

You checked on your translator order situation, refreshing the page now and then as you knew they were updated at night. When the peace treaty was first announced and the ‘requesting’ system was up, you hurried to place your order. The translator wasn’t cheap, and it would only be one of the very prototypes, meaning it wouldn’t be able to translate everything at once so fluidly, but at least you’d be able to communicate faster before most of the people could, and that alone made you very happy, it was exhilarating. 

The translator had been ‘In Confection’ for months now, finally coming around the expected date of postage as your page told you. 

Another hour went by before you refreshed it again, the yellow dot becoming green with the text you had been waiting for underneath it. 

“In Transit.”

Finally.

With newfound excitement and determination, you pulled up the weather report for tomorrow’s morning and afternoon, sighing as you thought of your Yautja crush yet again.

The next morning came as fast as your head hit the pillow as you jumped up and out of the bed, ready to start your day with your morning jog, hoping to see him either on the way up or down the trail. Teeth brushed, hair tied up, and a water bottle filled, you made your way out the door, feeling the chilly morning air fill your lungs, wiping away the last remains of sleep from your body.

While jogging, you fell in thought. 

The translator wouldn’t take more than 3 days to arrive. In little time you’d be able to communicate with him...but what if he didn’t like you? 

Your jogging slowed down to a walk as this hit you hard in the head.

What if he had already rejected you and you didn’t catch it? You thought about it further and so came the odd looks he gave you, the puzzled stares, and more. You made your efforts well known and well shown as well, and he didn’t growl or try to move away, so it couldn’t have been that bad, right?

You looked at your feet as you walked, lost in those thoughts as you hit something hard, making you stumble back a couple of steps. You looked back up in surprise only to find out it wasn’t something but someone.

“Oh, hi! Sorry, I um, I didn’t see you,” You said, doing your best to gesture to him, and then your eyes, trying to tell him what you said.

As always, he stood there for a second, slowly nodding afterward. He tilted his head to the side a bit, getting a little closer to your person as if inspecting your face. His tusks were close to your face, so close you thought he was going to kiss you. Or well, try to, given he didn’t have lips.

“I-,” was all you managed to get out before he stepped back, shaking his head slightly before reaching behind his back, where his pouch usually was. Hands coming forward again, he extended his arm, opening his palm to present you with something.

You gasped at the notion of receiving a gift from him, this could only mean courtship, right?

Looking down at his hand, you were more than confused to see a very human-made looking pill bottle. “What?” You said, picking it up from his hand.

‘Melatonin. Sleep aid.’

“Sleep aid?” You questioned, looking back up at him, “Are you saying I look tired?!” You said, shaking the pill bottle towards him, the yautja raising his hands a bit, the universal sign for ‘hey calm down’.

But what could this possibly mean?

“I tried so hard! And you say I took tired? I’ve been coming here every day to see you! You-!” You sighed, shoulders slacking a bit after your outburst. “Okay, okay. You know what? Fuck-, I get it, I’ll let you be,” You said, turning right back around, deciding to end your exercise right there when the biggest hand you ever felt closed around your arm, making you look back again.

You had heard the Yautja language before, but hearing it live was just as foreign. He was speaking fast, the clicks and guttural growls making absolutely no sense to you.

He still, somehow, managed to look confused while speaking such a harsh tongue.

“I don’t understand!” You exasperated, yanking your arm free and sighing again. You put your hand up, “Wait.” you said. 

He looked at your hand, which accompanied with the word made something light up in his face as he nodded this time. “Good, I’ll um, see you later,” You said, waving and making the rest of your way back to your house.

You couldn’t stop thinking about it. Sitting on your couch while staring at the pill bottle on the table. It was what it was, you supposed. It was truly melatonin. 

But what did he mean with it? Did he want you to sleep well? Why did he think you weren’t getting enough sleep?

“Where did he even get this?!”

The pill bottle was sealed still, just like the ones you’d buy at the drug store. Could you imagine? A Yautja walking in a drug store and purchasing melatonin? If you told that to someone, they’d think you were crazy, even with the whole peace treaty going on.

Another day went by and you didn’t go jogging anymore, afraid your ‘relationship’ could turn sour if you saw him again without your translator. Still, the pill bottle haunted you, sitting in the exact place on your table.

On the second morning after your disastrous encounter, the doorbell rang. And you knew exactly what it was for. Sprinting for the door, the mailman was different, clearly a private company worker, holding your package with both his hands, looking around as he waited for you to come up.

Package picked up, opened, and fiddled with. After 15 minutes, you sat in your living room muttering words into your translator, watching as it came to life, making some odd sounds in what you knew was the yautja language.

Now you could go talk to him, for real.

Picking up the pill bottle from the table, you sprinted up the trail again, regretting not bringing your water bottle as you reached the place where you last saw him, panting and a little red in the face.

You looked back up when you heard soft purring, a sound you hadn’t heard before but wished dearly to.

‘It means affection’ you recalled reading once from the article the first human to mate a yautja wrote, ‘Fondness’.

You straightened yourself, clearing your throat before looking up at him, “Um, hi, I- ah fuck,” you fiddled some more, producing your translator from your pocket, getting a curious look from the yautja before you.

“I hope this works” you muttered before lifting the device closer to your mouth and taking a deep breath. “Hi, I hope this translates what I’m saying decently, now, I’d please like to know what did you mean with this?” You said into it, waiting a second before it started its clicking noises.

The Yautja’s expression changed instantly, his eyes widening as he leaned forward to the sound of his language. He squinted as he kept listening, making you blush in embarrassment. God, was the translator that bad?

Upon hearing the last of the clicking, you lifted the pill bottle to him for emphasis, waiting for him to react.

He stood up straight again, eyeing the bottle he gave you a few days prior, still unopened. He extended his hand, shaking his head when you offered him the bottle, pointing instead to the translator in your other hand. “Oh, of course!” You handed it to him, watching as he had a look at the digital screen, apparently switching its mode from ‘Human to Yautja’ to ‘Yautja to Human’ seeing as the translator worked with just about every human language around the world.

Satisfied with the settings, he started speaking into it himself, gesturing to the pill bottle while he did so and then, to your surprise, to your face. This made you gasp a bit, your mind jumping to the worst conclusions possible. Did he think you were ugly? Well, you’d have to wait and see.

As he finished speaking, you both gave the translator a couple of seconds when a male voice spoke up, making you jump a bit, hands shaking in anticipation. “Hello. I thought you were sick. Whenever we had an encounter, you would make these strange expressions. I searched for them, the results were that what could be possibly making you have these...tics, was lack of sleep. The excessive blinking, biting your lips, involuntary facial pulling, all are the result of sleepless nights, excessive exhaustion, and the medicine for that is...that, for humans anyway.”

“WHAT?!” You yelled, snatching the translator back from his hand as he stared at you with yet another confused expression. “I was flirting with you! Flirting! I’m not sick!” You said, holding out the translator as it did its thing.

Confusion melting away into realization, he spoke again, not bothering to hold the translator but simply stepping closer to you.

“You were trying to court me?”

“Yes! I was winking at you! It’s a human thing!” You said, then realizing your mistake, “Oh...human thing...Ah fuck” You covered your face in embarrassment, “God, that’s why you always looked at me like that, I-”

“Would you still like to...court me?”

“Yes!” You said, head jerking up again so fast the yautja before you flinched a bit. “I-, yes.” You cleared your throat, a hard blush creeping its way across your face again.

“Good, it was my plan to court you too...after you had healed of your...sickness.” He said, chuckling, “Which apparently was no sickness at all.” He cleared as you squinted at him, “Well, I’m Yeyinde.” He said, “I’m glad we can finally communicate, always wanted to ask you a few things.”

You smiled, feeling that blush coming back again, “How about we go on a walk? Then we can talk about anything you want” You said, holding out your free hand for him to take.

“Of course,” He rumbled, massive hand closing gently around yours as you started walking up the rest of the trail.

[attllhak]

Adoption AU - Wild and Warriors: The Epic Quest For Taco Bell at 3 am

@tortilla-of-courage so you mentioned you’d be interested in my Adoption AU one-shots, and now that things have calmed down in my house a bit I figured I’d post the first one-shot I wrote; the one about Wild and Warriors going for a Taco Bell run. Theoretically, I was going to do a one-shot for each grouping of boys, as an introduction, but I don’t think that’s happening anymore. Either way, here’s the first thing I wrote!

(And, anyone else who would like to be tagged if/when I post more for this AU, let me know here and I’ll make a list or something)

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

“anyone know any good substitutes for love and personal fulfilment?”

Warriors sent the tweet without much thought. He didn’t actually care about an answer, he just felt like venting about his most recent break up in a vague way, and thought he was being funny. He could already see Legend rolling his eyes.

His phone dinged a few times, one reply from Twilight, asking why he was up so late (which he’d responded to with the same inquiry, which had Twilight going silent), one from Legend mocking him, one from Hyrule trying to actually help. He was surprised how many of his brothers were up at this hour.

He dropped the phone on his bed, rubbing his eyes. He wasn’t actually all that tired, probably a consequence of having all afternoon classes and a habit of leaving his work to the last minute. Eh, the first year was supposed to be mostly parties anyways. (Not that Time would ever find out he said that.)

His phone dinged again and he groaned, eying the clock and the small bottle of melatonin next to it. 2:43 am. He should sleep. He didn’t have anything tomorrow, he finished his last final earlier that afternoon, though, so a few more minutes couldn’t hurt.

He picked up the phone and woke it up again. He blinked a few times at the new reply.

“crunchwrap supreme from taco bell”

He ignored Twilight yelling at Wild for being up, as apparently Wild did have a final tomorrow still. Not that Wild was paying any more attention.

He snorted, hitting the like button on Wild’s tweet and clicking off his phone. He reached up to stretch, yawning as he did. He eyed the melatonin bottle again. Technically, he didn’t need the supplements to sleep, but with how messed up his sleep schedule was, they did help him knock out when he planned on sleeping at a reasonable hour. This wasn’t a reasonable hour, but sleepiness hadn’t set in yet either.

Before he could decide, his phone lit up with a text notification. He tilted his head back and pointed his phone down to look at instead of dropping his arms.

Gordon Ramsey 2:44 am

lets go

Warriors blinked once. Then again. He unlocked his phone to type back.

what?????? go where?????

A second passed when he got a reply.

taco bell

for your substitute for love

since you got dumped and need something

oops was that too soon

sorry 

Warriors blinked at the screen again. Wild lived twenty minutes away from the university Warriors was attending, and the nearest Taco Bell was no closer. Plus, Time had revoked Wild’s driving privileges after he crashed his bike into the barn and broke both and his arm. There was no way Wild was getting to the university, much less a fast food joint. Especially at this hour.

and how do you plan to do that? You aren’t allowed to drive yet Mr. Broken Arm

you have a care

*car

That was a very good point.

you are suggesting that I drive 20mins outside of town to pick you up, drive another 20mins back into town, then drive around downtown until we find an open taco bell, at 3am on a school night before you have a final?

There was a few seconds pause, just long enough for Warriors to consider that he’d given up on it.

no

we wont be driving all over town

i googled it and found one

its like 10mins form your collage

*from

*college

Warriors considered that.

twilight won’t be happy

only if he finds out

Wild made a very good point.

how do you plan to get out of the house without him noticing?

i have a window war

The response was so immediate, and he was probably sleep deprived enough, that he burst out laughing when it sent.

20mins

He clicked his phone shut and shoved it in his pocket, grabbing a jacket and his scarf on the way out of his room. He was struggling to shrug them both on at once when he realized his roommate was still up too. There was a tense staredown as their eyes met and they both froze.

Volga broke the standoff by closing his book. “And where are you going at this hour?”

Warriors considered that. “My brother bribed me with food to break him out of the house,”

“At,” he glanced at his watch, “two forty-nine am?”

“Yes,”

The silence was tense.

Volga sighed and opened his book again. “Don’t crash and die, I’d hate to have to get a new roommate when I’ve finally gotten used to you,”

“Don’t burn the dorm down while I’m gone,” Warriors joked back, finally getting the fabric to work with him.

“It happened once, and it’s not like you’re any better at cooking!”

“I don’t set what I make on fire, and then freak out and throw it when blowing out that fire doesn’t work,” he grabbed his keys from the dish by the door and waved behind him.

“It happened once, Link!”

“And it’s why we order out now,” he grinned, ducking out the door. “See you later, Volg, be back in an hour or so,”

He could hear Volga’s angry shout through the door, so hurried down the stairs to the ground level as quickly as he could, before Volga woke their neighbor again.

He was still giggling when he got to the parking lot. Volga was just too easy to rile up.

The cool night air woke him up a little more so, and he took a deep breath as he located his car. A hand-me-down vehicle, he inherited it from Time when he was old enough to drive. Mostly this was so he could stop asking everyone else for their cars when he wanted to go somewhere. A little elbow grease however, and no one could tell it was at least 20 years old and not fresh off the lot. He made sure none of his brothers were allowed to drive it, especially after Wild got his bike stuck in a tree, or Legend crashed into a lake, or Twilight picked up drag racing, or Wild got his bike stuck on the roof, or Hyrule lost his car, or Four rolled his truck, or Wild and the barn literally last week. A lot of the crashes in the family came from Wild going ‘oh yeah? Watch this!’ now that he thought about it. It was a miracle he still had the same bike.

The twenty minute drive to the farm was pretty boring, nothing of note really happening.

He turned off his headlights as he pulled into the drive, not wanting to wake anyone, especially Time, up. He shot off a quick text to Wild when he parked.

A window opened and Legend’s head poked out to glare at him. His phone dinged.

Royal Pain 3:12 am

what are you doing here?

He glared back at Legend and typed out a response.

taco bell run

Legend glanced down, presumably at his phone, then back up a Warriors with an incredulous expression.

at 3am????

and if so why are you /here/????

Warriors pointedly looked around the house where Wild emerged from the bushes. Said brother grinned and popped open the passenger door to climb in.

“Hey,” he grinned. His hair was a mess, with at least two visible sticks stuck in it, and he was still in his sleep clothes. Despite this, he seemed fine.

“Legend has us made,” Warriors nodded to their brother, who was still glaring with his head out the window.

Royal Pain 3:15 am

twilight won’t be happy about this

Warriors frowned, trying to shield his phone from Wild as he typed back.

twilight won’t know

Warriors did not like the look in Legend’s eyes as he got the next text.

unless i tell him

Warriors glared up at his brother, working his jaw.

what do you want?

He hated the pleased grin Legend shot him.

the most expensive thing on the menu on your dime

fine

Warriors shoved his phone away with a growl, flipping off the overly smug Legend as he put the car in gear. “Asshole,” he muttered.

“What was that about?” Wild asked.

“We’re buying him food too now,” Warriors growled, flicking back on his headlights.

“Oh, cool,” Wild leaned back into the seat and pulled out his phone. “So the Taco Bell we’re going to only has the drive thru open, and it’s just off main street,”

Warriors nodded, focussing on the road and not that Wild had found the aux cord.

About thirty minutes later, as Wild finally turned down the music to provide directions, he snapped and turned to Warriors mid direction. “Do you want to sign my cast?”

Warriors blinked. “Maybe when we stop, I’m not crashing to sign your cast right now.”

Wild nodded, and pointed across Warriors at the street they had to go down.

They pulled into the drive thru and ordered, then had to wait for the very expensive thing Legend wanted. Warriors turned to Wild as the car idled.

“Do you have a marker?”

Wild blinked at him, then brightened up and offered out a sharpie and his right arm. The cast, under the signatures and well wishes of their family and all of Wild’s friends, was painted in very poorly drawn flames. Warriors raised an eyebrow as he searched for a clear spot to sign.

“Hyrule painted it for me,” Wild explained with a grin.

“Ah,” Warriors hummed as he finally tracked down an empty space by Wild’s elbow.

He scrawled out his name, not much room for anything else, and then handed the capped sharpie back to Wild while he twisted around to accept the food from the drive thru worker.

He shot off a text to Legend to let him know they had his food, alongside an upset emoji. Legend sent him a devil face emoji back. Wild dug through the bag for his food, sharpie stuck in his hair alongside the twigs, which seemed to be multiplying.

Warriors rolled his eyes and pulled back onto the road.

At some point, Wild pulled the wrap out and handed it to Warriors, who ate one handed as he drove. Wild was right about one thing, the wrap did taste very good.

He pulled into the drive of the farmhouse, headlights off, just as he finished off the wrap. He phone dinged the second he put the car in park.

Royal Pain 3:58 am

where’s my food bitch

Warriors looked up to the window where Legend was leaning out and glaring at him.

Wild laughed at the surly look on Legend’s face, climbing out and taking the bag with him. “I’ll feed him,” he promised, grinning. “Thanks for the trip, War!”

“No problem,” Warriors grinned back. “Just make sure you get to bed once you’re inside, so Twi doesn’t suspect in the morning,”

Wild gave him a thumbs up. He shut the door a little too hard, making Warriors wince, and bounced up to throw the bag up to Legend. Legend caught it the second time, when Wild opted to use his not broken arm to toss it, and disappeared inside again. Warriors’ phone dinged again a few seconds later.

Royal Pain 4:00 am

thanks pretty boy

your secret is safe with me

for now

Warriors rolled his eyes and sent him a thumbs up back, then pulled out of the drive again to head back to campus. He was actually starting to feel tired now, so he figured he’d get home and just crash. It’d be like, 4:30 in the morning by then, and he was pretty sure Volga would be asleep. And if he wasn’t, they had a rule that after 4 am until 7 they were allowed to ignore each other, so it’d be fine.

Volga was asleep when Warriors snuck in, passed out in a chair with the book on his chest. Warriors took the sight in, then sighed.

He dropped his keys in the dish, then pulled off his jacket and scarf to hang in his room. He grabbed a bookmark off his shelf and wandered back out to pull the book off of Volga’s chest and set it down so the spine wouldn’t crease. He left Volga like that, however. He didn’t want the books to get damaged, but if Volga was dumb enough to fall asleep in the common room without a blanket, then he deserved what he woke up with.

He was very lucky that Warriors was too tired to find a sharpie.

He fell asleep before remembering to take off his shoes.

(---)

The next morning, so about noon, he was woken by Volga pounding on the door to put his phone on silent.

His phone buzzed on the desk next to him and he pulled it off and up to his head, hitting answer before looking at the contact.

“Hullo?” He slurred, still half asleep.

“Twilight knows,” Legend greeted him.

“What?” Warriors sat up, groaning as his back complained from sleeping on his stomach all night. It took a second for his brain to catch up.

“Twilight knows,” Legend repeated. “Hyrule sold you out, unintentionally, and I can hear him selling you both out to Time,”

Warriors blanched as the words registered. “Oh shit,” he threw himself out of bed, hissing as he realized he slept fully dressed, and scrambled for the things he’d need in order to flee. “How long?”

“Twenty minutes if you get lucky and Wind pulls through, less if not,”

Warriors cursed under his breath as he changed his shirt and tried to make it look like he hadn’t been sleeping in what he was wearing. “Thanks for the heads up, I’d say I owe you but,”

“You’d rather not owe me,”

“Yeah,”

“Look, if you get caught and cave, I go down too. This is self-preservation. Don’t cave and we’re even.”

“Got it, I won’t,”

“You better not,” Legend hissed. “Good luck,”

“Thanks,” Warriors nodded, even though Legend couldn’t see him.

He tossed the phone on his dresser as the line went dead and he went about trying to comb through his hair so he looked presentable.

A hard knock on his door came a few seconds later.

“I put my phone on vibrate, Volga!” He shouted through the door. “You can drop it now!”

“Link?”

Warriors paused, then opened the door. Lana, Impa and Artemis waited on the other side, Volga glaring at them and hovering behind them.

Warriors blinked dumbly at them. “Uh, hi?”

“Hi Link! Good morning!” Lana grinned and waved at him.

“It’s noon,” Impa reminded the group, eying Warriors up and down.

“Oh, right,” Lana nodded, then went back to grinning at him. “Good noon, Link!”

He snorted and shook his head to clear it. “Good noon to you too, Lana. Can I ask what you’re all doing here?”

“We were hoping you’d join us for something,” Artemis smiled at him, also looking him over, trying to find whatever Impa had picked up on. “We’re going on a small road trip since all our finals are over, and we were planning on hitting a few different cities over the week,”

“Mhm,” Lana nodded quickly. “We’re leaving today, and are taking no calls until we get back, and we’re camping in the car, which is why we’re using my van, and we were hoping you’d come with us,”

“I’m in,”

The three girls blinked at him. Maybe he answered too fast, but taking no calls, meaning no contact with his family, for a week gave them time to move past this, and he really didn’t want to deal with a lecture from Time. His friends just offered him asylum, whether they knew it or not.

Impa narrowed her eyes. “What happened with your family?” She asked, already onto him.

“Nothing that’s my fault,” he responded, ducking back into his room. “What should I bring with?”

Lana listed off what they figured they’d take and he pulled out a suitcase, nodding along as he started packing. He fired off a text to the group chat as he grabbed his jacket, tossed over one arm, and wrapped his scarf around his neck.

World’s Best Captain 11:39 am

Leaving on a road trip with some friends. Be back in a week, but I can’t take calls until I’m back. Don’t kill each other!

He put his phone on silent and slipped it into his pocket.

He might have a hellish text backlog when he got back, but it’d be better than the lecture from Time. And besides, he got to spend a week with the best girls he knew.

As far as he was concerned, everything worked out win-win for him.

Wild was right, the crunchwrap supreme from Taco Bell did work wonders in supplying love and personal fulfilment, even if not in the way he meant it.

He made a note to get Wild something as thanks while they were out. Maybe some crash pads. Goddesses knew that his brother needed them.

[hyperion-moonbabe-art3mis]

Big Break

Request: Can I request a Luke x reader with like 1995 Luke and Y/N where reader has a concert and invites her friends and boyfriend (not Luke as BF yet 😪😂) and she’s really nervous and looks for her boyfriend before hand but doesn’t see him and learns he didn’t want to come so Luke (who is her BFF and completely in love with her and her him) supports her and calms her down and after the concert she breaks up with her boy and dates Luke ~ @im-a-writer-right​

Word Count: 3.5k

P.S. Sorry for the fic spam today. My TVD and 100 fics were scheduled for today. and I just really wanted to get this one out.

Tonight is the biggest night of your life. You booked a gig that could give you your big break. You were opening up for one of your friend’s band, Twisted Island, who has a contract with one of the biggest record labels, Sub Pop Records. You were so nervous you practically didn’t sleep the night before. Luckily, one of your friends gave you some melatonin to make you practically pass out. 

You look to your computer to find a message on AOL  from your boyfriend, Tyler. 

Tyler: Morning 

You: Morning

Tyler: Meet @ Moonshine Cafe in1 hr. I want to spend time with you before work

You: Ok, love. See you soon

Tyler: See you soon <3

Your boyfriend wasn’t only one of your oldest friends from LA but also an emerging music artist. He was the one who helped you land the gig, on top of your friends who you were opening for. He knew some other big record labels and invited them to your show. In case you didn’t land a deal with Sub Pop Records you had the other labels you could possibly sign with.

You get up to shower and get ready to meet your boyfriend. You hop in your car and head to the cafe. Not long after your boyfriend arrived. You gave him a big kiss and head to get seated. Of course, Tyler pulled some strings so you two could be seated at their private table. 

“These are for you, for good luck,” Tyler says and hands you some flowers.

“Awe, thank you,” You smile.

“I’m sorry I can’t help you prep more for tonight. I just can’t miss out on this collaboration with Madonna,” Tyler says.

“It’s ok. It’s an amazing opportunity, I’m excited for you. But you can make it for soundcheck right? It’s at five and I got you a backstage pass,” You say pulling out a lanyard.

“Yes. We should be done between 3:30-4,” Tyler says taking the pass from your hands. 

“So how many songs are you gonna record with Madonna?” You ask.

“Not sure. Today we’re just writing some. I’m hoping for at least two or three,” Tyler says.

“Well, no matter how many you write together. I bet they’re going to be amazing. I can’t wait to hear them,” You say as your food arrives. The two of you spend the rest of the time talking about his collab and your gig before you receive a call.

Luke: Y/N I just woke up. The guys and I are gonna meet at the garage soon.

You: I’ll meet you guys there in 30.

“Who was that?” Tyler asks

“My friend in Sunset Curve, Luke. The guys told me they’d help me prep for tonight so I gotta go soon,” You tell Tyler.

“Those guys are great. I have to go soon too anyways. I need to be at the studio in like an hour. But I wanted to get there a bit early,” Tyler says.

“You always like to please people,” You laugh. 

“You know me too well,” Tyler laughs as a waiter brings boxes over. You pack your leftovers in the box as Tyler pays.

“Thanks again for breakfast,” You say.

“You’re welcome. The best way to start off the day. I’ll see you later tonight,” Tyler says.

“See you tonight. 5 O’clock at The Los Angeles Theatre, don’t forget,” You say.

“I promise, I won’t,” Tyler says and kisses you goodbye. 

You get into your car and head to the Sunset Curve garage. Once you made your way into the garage you find that only Alex and Reggie were there.

“Hey guys,” You say.

“Hey,” The boys say in almost unison. 

“Where’s Luke and Bobby?” You question.

“Bobby is supposed to pick Luke up. He probably slept in,” Alex says.

“I thought Bobby was the punctual and responsible one?” You ask.

“Who says we’re not responsible?” Reggie asks, clearly feeling hurt.

“Me, but you guys did have that gig last night right? How’d that go?” You ask.

“It was great. Reggie even--” Alex starts before he gets slapped in the chest by Reggie.

You raise your eyebrow, “Reggie even what?” You question.

“Dude, just tell her. She’s not gonna give up, you know that,” Alex says.

“I may have had a special night with this girl,” Reggie says quietly.

“Oh yeah? Is this someone you’re gonna see again? Or more like a one-time thing?” You ask.

“I-I don’t know,” Regie says.

“Either way I’m happy for you,” You say. You then hear the doors open and turn to find Luke and Bobby walk in.

“There’s our big shot!” Luke yells before tackling you with a hug.

“Not quite yet. I still gotta play tonight,” You say pulling away.

“Either way. My best friend is getting her big break AKA our big shot,” Luke says.

“What about us?” Reggie asks furrowing his eyebrows.

“We’ll get our shot, but today is about Y/N,” Luke says.

“Aw shucks,” You chuckle. “So I’m playing like five songs and if I’m being completely honest...I haven’t picked them out yet,” You say.

“Well I know ‘Rose’ and ‘Shadows’ are two of my favs,” Luke says.

“‘Constellations’ is also a great one,” Alex adds.

“Those three are at the top of my list,” You say and pull out your music journal.

“What about the song you and Luke wrote together?” Bobby asks.

“‘Red Hearts’? That’s a duet song. I can’t really play that one,” You say.

“Y/N’s right. It’s meant to be sung by two people,” Luke smiles at you.

“I think ‘Bracing for impact’ and ‘Devil’, will fit in with the others then,” Bobby suggests.

“Yeh, but I haven’t played ‘Devil’ more than twice and one of those times was in front of you guys,” You say.

“You are an amazing artist, Y/N,” Luke grasps your arms. “You barely need any practice. Remember when I threw you on stage with us to sing one of our songs?” Luke says. 

“That doesn’t count, Luke. I watch you guys practice all the time,” You point out.

“But you memorized the lyrics,” Alex says.

“Ok...I guess that was impressive. Fine, I’ll do these five. Thanks, guys,” You say. 

“Great! I can’t wait to hear them,” Luke says as the other nod in agreement.

“Oh! Also, I pulled some strings and got you all backstage and sound check passes,” You say pulling four lanyards out.

“Backstage passes to the Los Angeles Theatre?!?” Reggie exclaims taking all four passes from your hand.

“You know the three other passes are for your bandmates right?” You ask.

“Oh. Yeah. I just can’t believe we get to go backstage at the Los Angeles Theatre,” Reggie says handing his bandmates the remaining passes.

“Soundcheck is at five,” You say.

“You know we’ll be there,” Luke says and smiles at you. You and the boys hang out as they practice. 

“Y/N, who are you opening up for again?” Bobby asks.

“Really? My friend whose in Twisted Island. They’re signed with Sub Pop,” You respond.

“Seriously? How did you get this gig exactly,” Alex asks.

“Well, my friend. But Tyler also invited a couple of other labels to see my show,” You say.

“Don’t forget us when you get big,” Luke says.

“How could I? You guys are the ones who told me I should play gigs in the first place,” You say.

“You and Luke have known each other for however long. Why didn’t we invite her to sing with us again?” Reggie asks as everyone in the room gives him blank looks. “What?” He asks.

“Reggie...do you really think that an amazing singer like Y/N would ever want to join Sunset Curve?” Luke says putting his hand on Reggie’s shoulder. 

“In my defense, none of you asked me,” You respond. 

“So is that a yes?” Reggie asks.

“I didn’t know that was an invite,” You say.

“Ok. Hypothetically if we offered...would you like to join?” Reggie asks.

“Uhh...we didn’t have a band meeting about this,” Bobby adds.

“It’s a hypothetical question, but I know I wouldn’t mind,” Luke says.

“I mean she’d be a great addition,” Alex says.

“And she can play a mean guitar. But she might steal your lead singer role, Luke,” Bobby says.

“Why do I feel like I’m being interrogated?” You ask.

“Just answer the question,” Reggie says.

“Ok, ok. Let’s say you offered me today. My answer is, let’s see how tonight goes,” You respond as the boys seem pleased with your answer. “Speaking of tonight, it’s like 3. I need to get ready and then head to the theatre,” You say and get up.

“Alright we’ll see you there,” Luke says as you hug each of the boys.

“5 O’clock. Don’t be late,” You say walking out of the garage.

“We won’t!” Reggie yells.

You head back to your apartment and get ready to head to the Los Angeles theatre. You grabbed your guitar and your accessories and head to the theatre. Once you got there you already heard Twisted Island doing their soundcheck.

“There she is,” Adam, your friend, says as you walk in.

“Hey,” You say setting your stuff down.

“Ready for tonight?” He asks.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be, but I don’t have any choice,” You respond hugging him.

“You’ll do great. You remember Jessie, Shawn, and my brother Mike,” Adam says pointing to the respective band members.

“Yeh, I’m Y/N Y/L/N,” You awkwardly say.

“We’re almost done with our soundcheck. Miles, there, will show you to your dressing room,” Adam says pointing to the man with a headset on.

“Thanks,” You smile as you’re lead to your room. You make your way in and set your stuff down. You first make a call to Tyler, but no answer. A few minutes later you hear a knock at your door.

“You’re up for soundcheck,” Miles says. You grab your guitar and other things and head to the stage. As you were setting up you see the Sunset Curve boys walk in. You stop and go to greet them.

“Hey, guys. I was just setting up,” You say as you hug them.

“This is amazing!” Reggie says excitedly as the others look around in awe.

“This is Adam the lead singer and guitarist in Twisted Island,” You say noticing him and his bandmates walk up. They introduce each other.

“Hey, where’s Tyler?” Luke asks.

“I don’t know. I told him to be here at 5 for soundcheck. I called him but he didn’t pick up. I’m sure his meeting with Madonna is going late,” You say before heading to finish setting up. You play the five songs out while the two band watch. Tyler still hadn’t shown up. 

As you finish your soundcheck, you set your stuff down and go to your dressing room to try and call Tyler again. He didn’t pick up so you decided to leave a voicemail, “ Hey, Ty. I just finished soundcheck. The show starts in 30, hope you’ll be here before I go on,” You say before hanging up.

You hear a knock at your door, “Yes?” You say. The door opens to the four Sunset Curve boys walking in.

“That was amazing,” Luke says.

“And Twisted Island is a cool band,” Reggie adds.

“Not as cool as you,” You say half excitedly.

“You good Y/N?” Luke asks as you look at your phone.

“Yeah. Just uh, waiting for Tyler to get here and a little pre-show jitters. You know, the usual,” You say. Luke notices the sadness in your voice and looks at you with sad eyes, but you don’t notice.

“If your soundcheck sounded that good. Then your show is gonna sound twice as good,” Alex says.

“Thanks,” You say when you get another knock on your door. You open it to find Adam there.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to let you know the theatre is filling and you’re going on in 15,” Adam says.

“Thanks,” You say. “Hey, guys, I’ll be right back,” You tell the boys. You follow Adam to the stage, hoping to see Tyler in the audience.

“Hey, I know you’re gonna do great, and our agent is gonna be impressed. You’ll get some offers tonight,” Adam says.

“Thanks again for this gig. It really means a lot to me,” You say while hugging Adam. 

“You’re welcome. Anything for one of my oldest friends. See you in 15,” Adam says and walks away. You make your way to the edge of the wings and look out to see if you can see Tyler. Yet the reserved seat you had Adam set out was empty. 

You made your way back to the dressing room and check your phone. You find a missed call from Tyler along with a voicemail. You head out of the dressing room to listen since the boys were being quite loud. “Hey, Y/N. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for soundcheck. Madonna and I just went a bit over with the writing. And then she invited me to a party. I can’t miss out on this opportunity, but I know you’ll do great tonight. Love,” The message said. 

This wasn’t the first time Tyler had missed one of your gigs due to an opportunity he had himself, but this was the first time that it was just for a party. He had always supported you when you needed it, but on a big night like this, where lots of labels were looking at you, was not the night to ditch you. Especially since he personally invited a few himself, they were here but he wasn’t. 

You took a few moments to take a hold of yourself before walking back into the dressing room, but as soon as you walked in you felt the mood change as all of the boy’s eyes landed on you. “You alright?” Luke asks again.

“Yeh, yeh,” You say looking at your phone.

“Hey, guys. Can I talk with Y/N alone?” Luke asks the boys and they quickly made their way out of the room.

Luke walked up to you and took your hands in his, “It’s just us now. Tell me, are you ok?” Luke asks once more.

You take a moment before responding, wishing you could lie but you knew he’d catch it, “N--no. Tyler promised he’d be here. And I was calling him to make sure he’d be here on time. But I just listened to a voicemail saying that he’s going to a party with Madonna instead,” You explain.

“You know I always thought he was a jerk right?” Luke says.

“Luke…” You sigh.

“Seriously. I don’t care what connections he has or if he really got labels to see you play tonight. He never supported you like I have, like the guys have,” Luke says.

“He has though. He’s come to my gigs before,” You say.

“Can you count the number of your gigs he’s attended on both hands? I know you’ve been to way more of his. Look, Y/N. Forget him, he never really cared for your dreams and career. If he really loves you he’d be here tonight instead of going off with Madonna,” Luke says.

“Yo--you’re right. He’s only been to three of my gigs and I’ve been the millions of his. It just makes me nervous with all these big people looking at me,” You say.

“Here,” Luke says letting go of your hands. “I’m gonna give you my bracelet. It’s my lucky bracelet. All your nerves will go away and you’ll kill it tonight. I know it,” Luke says slipping his bead bracelet on your wrist.

“You’re on in 2,” You hear someone outside of the door say. Luke kisses your forehead. You take a big sigh and head to the stage. 

You wait for your cue as you see all of the people in the audience chatting away and the people from the labels scattered through the crowd. Not a moment later you’re told to make your way on stage. You walk on stage and pick up your guitar, you take a big sigh and rub your fingers across the beads on Luke’s bracelet. Once you felt calm enough and your heart started to beat a bit slower you start to strum the chords to your song “Shadows”.

Claps filled the air as you finished,” Thank you. My name is Y/N Y/L/N. That song was called Shadows, it was about me fighting my demons and getting over my stage freight. This next one is called Rose,” You say and start to play your guitar again. You play the last four songs in your set while cheers and claps filled the air. 

“Thank you! My name is Y/N Y/L/N. Here is Twisted Island!” You say after you finish your set. The band members made their way onto the stage.

“Give it up for my good friend Y/N,” Adam says before you head off stage. You watched their show from backstage cheering and clapping with the audience. 

As soon as the show ended you see Twisted Island’s agent walk up to you, “My name is Ashley. That was some great music. I’m glad Adam had you open for them tonight. We’ll be in touch,” She says before walking off. A few more agents had talked to you and offered you some deals or told you they’d also be in contact. 

“You killed it!” Luke yells as he and the boys run up to you.

“Thanks guys,” You say with a big smile.

“Honestly I think you played better than Twisted Island,” Reggie whispers to you.

“You’re only saying that because you’re my friend,” You say.

“It’s true!” Reggie says as you head to the dressing room. 

You and the boys make your way into the dressing room and you find some flowers on the table. You pick up the card and read “Heard you did a great job. Congrats -Tyler” You quickly pick the flowers out and throw them in the trash, right as the boy walked in, they all looked at you confused. 

“They’re from Tyler,” You say nonchalantly. Everyone but Luke looked at you confused. The rest of the boys left, but Luke stayed behind to help you pack up. 

“Thanks for the bracelet. It really helped,” You say starting to take it off.

“Keep it,” Luke says stopping you from pulling it off completely. He then goes to puck your guitar case up and the two of you head to your car. You pack your car up, drop Luke off, and head to your apartment. 

~The next morning~

You wake up to hear a knock at your door. You get up and look in the peephole to find Tyler standing there.

“Hey sweetheart,” Tyler says. “What?” He asks noticing the pissed look you had plastered on your face.

“You missed the biggest night of my life. You’re lucky that a lot of labels are interested in me,” You say monotone.

“Sorry, I just couldn’t--” He starts.

“No. I sick and tired you not supporting me,” You say.

“I’ve been to your gigs,” He says.

“You’ve been to three of the 10 of my gigs. I’ve been to all of yours,” You protest.

“Ok. I’m sorry, how can I make it up to you,” Tyler says trying to step into your apartment, but you stop him.

“I think you’re letting your fame get to your head. And if you can’t support me and be there for me while dealing with your growing fame at the same time. I don’t want to be with you,” You say sternly. 

“Babe,” Tyler says.

“Look. I just landed some of the best offers I could get in life and I can’t have your lack of presence distracting me. So, I’m not really sorry. But we’re done,” You say before shutting the door in Tyler’s face. You didn’t know what to do with yourself after that but you did feel like a big weight lifted from your chest.

A few minutes later someone knocked on your door, “Tyler I told---Oh. Luke,” You say realizing it was someone completely different.

“Hey,” Luke says.

“Hey,” You say quietly while letting him inside.

“You look like you had an eventful morning,” Luke points out.

“You could say that. I...uh, just broke up with Tyler,” You say.

“Really?” Luke questions as you notice his eyes light up and you nod. 

The next thing you know you feel Luke’s hands cup your face and his lips against your own. He quickly pulls away, “ Sorry….I shouldn’t have done that,” Luke says quietly.

“It’s ok. Can I be honest for a second?” You ask.

“Always,” He says.

“I’ve always known you liked me. Don’t rat him out but Alex told me like a year ago,” You say.

“And I’m guessin…” Luke says rubbing the back of his head.

“That you are my best friend and I couldn’t ask for a better guy in my life,” You say before kissing him again.

“So I take it the break up really wasn’t that bad,” Luke says after pulling away.

“Better now that you’re here,” You chuckle. Luke gives you a big smile as you return the same.

A/N: I’m sorry if there are any 1995 inaccuracies. I did my research and tried my best, please don’t hurt me haha. Anyways, I loved writing this and had ideas coursing through my brain the last 2 days. Please let me know what you think and if you would maybe like a part 2, maybe? Thanks again to Ria for requesting and thanks for reading.

[obeymebabes]

hello! seeing a new post from you on my dash always makes me happy 🌸 if possible, may i request headcanons of the brothers (plus solomon if possible bc i love him) with an mc who has really bad sleep problems? like, they have trouble sleeping at night, most of the time going to school with only an hour of sleep. thank you 🌸

Haha thanks love, and man do I feel that. I say as I wrote this at 6:30 am instead of sleeping. :)

Disclaimer: Yes I stay up super late to write HCs. I promise it's okay though. It gives me something to do instead of staring at the ceiling. So any of you who may be concerned, I'll be fine, and thank you for caring. 💕

Lucifer

He knows the feeling.

He hardly sleeps most nights thanks to Diavolo.

What even is sleep?

Upon noticing your very unhealthy sleeping habits while doing his rounds one night, he offered to let you stay in his room for some company.

As much as he didn't want to admit, he didn't like the nights he spent alone.

It would at least help to have someone who has the same issue.

Though he tried to do everything he could to help you sleep, even if it meant sleeping in his bed.

Mammon

Staying in your room most nights, he realized you were a night owl pretty quick.

He tried to talk you into sleeping, not quite understanding why you couldn't just sleep.

Most nights he tried to stay up with you.

That never really worked, he was quick to pass out next to you.

But in those times he desperately tried to stay awake, you both had the most fun.

He would tell you crazy stories and laugh with you.

Eventually it became a habit of him staying up later than normal with his favorite human.

Levi

Another night owl in the group.

Since he doesn't attend RAD and simply does online schooling, he typically stays up late to game.

When he came to the realization that you had trouble sleeping, he invited you to his room to game with him.

He wasn't bothered by your unnatural sleep schedule at all, and never pressed for you to sleep.

Especially since you both had so much fun playing games.

His only requirement being that you did get at least an hour or two of sleep before school, not wanting to be blamed by Lucifer that you hadn't slept.

Despite being shy and introverted, when it came to you, he was happy he had found someone with a similarly. Especially a normie.

Satan

Satan is not one to typically stay up very late. On occasion he will to finish a good book or to go star gazing.

While on his way to go look at the stars, he had noticed sound coming from your room, indicating that you were still very much awake.

Knocking carefully and seeing you were still very well awake, he frowned, unhappy to see you were still up at such a late hour.

Seeing an opportunity to spend time with you, he offered to let you come with him to see the stars.

Once comfortable in the grassy area, he made an effort to try to help you sleep by reading to you.

If you fell asleep he would simply carry you back to your bed when he was finished with the stars.

It became a nightly routine, and he wasn't unhappy about it.

Asmo

This boy needs his beauty sleep, so when he woke up one night to use the restroom and found you awake, he was bewildered.

This was unacceptable.

A precious human like you should be asleep at such an hour.

Taking action, he offered you a few melatonin gummies he had stashed in times of need like this.

You didn't expect him to fall asleep so early on his own now did you?

Despite wanting to sleep to keep his skin clear and glowing, he stayed up with you until the gummies took effect.

The next night called for a skin care routine to nurse your skin back to health from such an unhealthy sleeping habit.

He managed to buy you a thing of melatonin gummies and tried to make sure you slept proper hours to keep you feeling healthy and refreshed.

Beel

Getting up for a midnight snack, he was surprised to see you awake as well.

Feeling guilty that you were unable to sleep, he took his snack and stayed with you until you finally got some rest.

The warmth from this giant heater of a man was comfortable.

Late night munchies also helped.

He tried to stay up to keep you company but was quick to fall asleep with you and food in his arms.

His warmth and coziness did help you sleep eventually.

Night after night he would ask if you needed the company, hoping that he could at least help you feel safer with him.

Belphie

Despite being a master of sleep, Belphie sometimes had trouble sleeping at night.

Since he usually sleeps most throughout the day, it was cha for him to get a full night's rest.

When noticing you were awake, he was pretty shocked, not realizing a human could stay up for such long hours.

Feeling guilty, he asked if you wanted to go look at the stars in the planetarium with him, since it was his favorite spot.

After talking for a while, gazing at the stars above, he offered to use his powers on you to help you sleep.

Taking the opportunity and saying yes, he was quick to work his sleepy magic and had you asleep with him by your side in no time.

Many nights you'd both wake up to Lucifer or Beel finding you curled up together in the planetarium.

~Extra~

Solomon

Despite being a human and knowing the risks of staying up late, he also knew exactly how you felt.

Many nights he stayed up to work on his spells and potions and so on.

Once inviting you over for some practice with studying Devildom's magic, he realized that you also stayed up quite late.

Discouraged since he knew how much he personally hated staying up until ridiculous hours, the next day he went on a search.

Flipping through book after book of spells and potions, he finally came across one that would help.

Just a few simple words and he would be able to help you sleep at a normal time again, if you so wished.

He didn't seem to mind helping you out, he even made plans to cast the spell on himself so he wouldn't keep you up if that were ever the case.

Being the only two humans in Devildom, you both had to keep an eye out for each other.

Even if it means using a little magic here and there.

[sincerely-raine]

Aizawa x Reader // SFW Headcanons

Heres the NSFW headcanons that I wrote before this lol:

Before dating:

I feel like he would notice his feelings for you early on, but would refuse to accept it for a bit.

Then after he accepts it, straight up confesses but doesn't wanna date because

1. He has a very tight and stressful schedule, and as a rational guy who likes an organized schedule, adding a girlfriend into his hectic life would be hard.

2. As a pro hero, being in a relationship would be difficult, trying to keep your partner away from villains and such. Though he'd want the relationship to be secret, both cuz he's very reserved and as I said, villains, he's still worried about word getting out and you being hurt.

But if you two end up dating anyways, whether it's because he's trying to be less of a worry wart and was convinced to fit time with you into his life...

After dating:

Actually not very cuddley, ik in my nsfw headcanons post I said we was, but hear me out lmao: That stuff would be more of an intimate thing to him, and of course cuddling is a cute, romantic thing so yeah. It just fits together. Anyways...

Sometimes he does like to cuddle or atleast hold hands, but only in private.

I also see him living in a rural area? Like,, near the city, but not in the city itself.

I like to imagine that little scene in the opening credits of...I think season 4? Where he's sitting on a rock in a field, that it's part of his yard.

In that case, visiting, or even living with him, is very peaceful.

Likes sitting next to you on his porch, listening to the crickets chirp, the rain falling, or star gazing with you.

Aizawa is a very compassionate guy (even if he tries to hide it), if you're having a bad day or smtg, he'll always do anything he can to help.

You want takeout? Tell him where you want it from and he'll pay. Going on a walk? He's asking where you wanna walk to. Hell, if you wanna go to (in his opinion) a loud, annoying, chaotic concert, he's fully down for it.

He doesn't really like dates, prefers to just chill with you at your guys' houses.

He probably doesn't have any cats, due to having so little time to take care of him, but after you move in, you convince him to let you two adopt a cat and you promise to take care of it.

He feels bad knowing he's not helping you take care of the cat, but if you also convince him you're fine with it, he'll be like "ight then" and plans a visit to the nearest animal shelter.

This is unrelated to dating, but I see him being anti-pet shopping and only gets his pets from shelters instead of pet stores.

Might even volenteer at a shelter if you beg him to make the time.

If you're a sleepy person too, he likes to take naps with you.

As I said in the beginning, he's not super cuddley, so when you're napping, he'll just casually drape an arm over you and may even touch foreheads with you as you two fall asleep.

But if you deal with insomnia, he'll be 100% there to help you. I don't think he'll stay up too long with you unless it's the weekend and there's no school, but will for around half an hour.

He'll also pay for melatonin if he has to.

Will ask Nezu to let you have a pass to get into UA, just in case something happens. (Especially after the dorms are made and has to live there instead.)

I kinda wanna see him asking questions like "How do you say 'I love you' in (your native language)?" but I don't see him being the type to ask that stuff. *Sad emoji*

Speaking of, if he ever needs help translating, you're the first person he goes to.

And you need help translating, he'll be there to help you.

He likes humor but more of the calm type of humor, especially if it's sarcastic humor.

But his partner can't be shits n giggles all the time, at some points they have to take things seriously, without joking.

Would want a more kind an understanding partner, one he can trust and will always be there for him, and they have to be independent too.

After marriage:

Lol I just requested someone for proposal/marriage hcs. I'll link their post right here:

All I can really say on this part is having kids.

I kinda imagine after he adopts Shinsou and Eri, he'd have an accident pregnancy with his partner (if they have the female reproductive system, if you don't then just ignore this hc lol)

We all saw how he treats these two...he's a simp: father version lmao.

Literally let's them walk all over him.

And I just wanna address smtg before I end this:

"Best girl is Jirou...best girl is Mina" ...Bitch no, best girl is Eri. Eri is best girl. Fuck y'allllll

[justasparkwritings]

Exile: Five Whole Minutes

Previous: Breaking Branches

Pairing: Timotheé Chalamet x Reader

Genre: Angst, Slice of Life

Rating: PG15

Word Count: 1.8K

Warnings: Swearing

Summary: Timothée’s crossed the line... now what?

Exile Master List

         She left a kiss on his cheek as she ran down the stairs and out to the garage. She knew he’d remember her 10:30 workout, a Saturday staple, but she texted to remind him that today she had brunch with a few friends. She delicately wrote a note, which she set next to a freshly filled glass with water before setting it on the bathroom counter, ibuprofen next to it. She knew he would be dehydrated when he awoke, not only from their intimacy the previous night, but from the copious amounts of alcohol they drank.

         Timothée had begun shipping a few boxes home from vineyards and distilleries that he’d enjoyed while filming, often holes in the wall that had no Yelp review, often small family owned places. He’d send a case to his parents, one to his agent and manager, and one home. She loved that he brought home specialty liquor, particularly because it made their bar a little gauche and allowed her to feign any understanding of the complexities of alcohol. She preferred prosecco, preferably under $15 and easily accessible in her local grocery stores liquor aisle.

        Timothée was a connoisseur, a wannabe sommelier. He had an impeccable palate, which always terrified her when out at restaurants or catching a drink on a Thursday, unsure what to order. She often deferred to him, leaning on his expertise. At first, he thought it was charming, he liked that she wanted him to pick it out. In reality, she was avoiding looking like an idiot in front of a man she liked so much so quickly. Eventually she shared her insecurity, and the next time they were out, he asked if she wanted him to order for her, and since then, he had taught her a lot about alcohol, about making drinks, about which wines paired with what. In her heart, she didn’t care, but she felt more confident every time they went out.

           They loved sharing nights over a new acquisition. But it could also be their downfall. Last night they had tasted three different bottles of vodka, sipping slowly on their drinks while they caught up and made out.

           Timothée had returned on Tuesday from filming. Much like his other projects, he was completely burned out. Yes, set tended to have a lot of downtime, but Timothée was a pro, and he knew that the last two weeks were often the most grueling. Filming all hours, getting shots and different takes and angles on every scene. His body was physically worn down, and his mind had tried to separate himself from the incident two months prior. The minute he got to their house, she was waiting with a scalding bath, the perfect balance of Epsom salts and lavender. She knew him so well and slowly undressed him and herself, languidly moving into their tub. The music was low, the lights were dimmed, and they sat together, skin pruning, reacquainting themselves with the intimacy they had missed.

      ��    She’d made dinner and they ate in comfortable silence. Then, she gave him a melatonin gummy and he passed out at 8PM.

           There was nothing like falling asleep in your own bed, in your own house, with the person you love, after being away for three months. His accommodations abroad were always nice, often over the top for him. He took it upon himself to become friends with the staff, to say hello to every member he saw, and he took his politeness very seriously, particularly in a country where he didn’t speak the language. But his own sheets… waking up to her … his own bathroom with the perfect water pressure … and a closet where his clothes were put away correctly, where laundry was done when he wanted it to be when, where he could cook any time of day. Their house was home, whether it was this estate or the flat in New York.

           He fell asleep quickly and awoke early afternoon to find her gone to work, but his favorite pastries from their local bakery waiting for him. Upon her return she found him doing laundry and making space for his new purchases. He left a surprise for her on the top of the counter in their closet, knowing she’d find it when she came up to change.

           “Babe, what’s this?” She asked, carrying the bag into the laundry room.

           “It’s a gift,” He said, folding the stack of t-shirts.

           “You didn’t have to,”

           “I wanted to,”

           “Tim, this isn’t because you feel-

           “No, it’s because I saw it and I thought you would like it. I like to buy you things while I’m gone,” He said shrugging.

           “I really like it,” She said, holding the bag tight to her chest.

           “I’m glad,” He stopped folding to take her in. She was still in her professional attire, hair pulled back and dangling earrings still in. “You look beautiful.”

           “Thank you, I had an important meeting this afternoon,” She looked up from the bag and caught him staring.

           “That’s a good color on you,” He said, moving towards her to rest his hands on her hips. She’d missed his touch and shivered at the contact.

           “Thank you,” She whispered, eyes darting from his lips to his eyes. He mimicked the movement and leaned in to kiss her. She turned her head. “I need to change.”

           She turned on her heels and walked back to their closet, silently screaming.

           Timothée didn’t protest or pry, he knew why she’d pulled away. Perhaps after dinner they would talk, air things out. She was often hesitant to be intimate when he returned, unsure who he’d been with… the fact that she knew, the fact that she’d spent Friendsgiving at her house and had invited her to movie nights made it worse. Maybe she needed more time.

           Which is how they ended up drunk and having sex in various places in their home all Friday afternoon, evening and night. There was something in the liquor that loosened her up, and something in how he looked and spoke to her that reminded her how much he loves her. It was also because of the alcohol that they had officially ended their open relationship, deciding monogamy was what they both wanted. The incident with Florence had caused them to reevaluate their relationship. Wasn’t that the point of a relationship? To grow and challenge one another, and at the end of the day, make decisions together? It was on that note that they had made love most of Friday, and why he was sleeping until eleven on Saturday.

           Timothée was awoken by his phone ringing and loudly vibrating off the nightstand. Jolted from his dreamless slumber, he quickly reached for it and furrowed his eyebrows at the caller ID.      

“Hello?” He growled softly as he cleared his throat.

           “Hey Timmy, can we meet for coffee? I have something I need to talk to you about,” Florence said.

           “Oh, yeah. Sure. When?”

           “Can you do 30 minutes?”

           “Uh, yeah, yeah, where?”

           “Do you want to just come here?” She asked.

           “Sure, see you in 30 minutes,” He hung up the phone before jumping out of bed. He made the bed quickly, and thankfully tossed back the water and ibuprofen left for him. He scanned the note while he brushed his teeth. He slipped a baseball cap over his curls and slid into his favorite trainers. He hopped into his car, grateful that she was kind enough to put gas in it and drove off.

           It was three hours later when he heard the garage door open. He tried to wipe the snot from his face. He wondered if he washed his face quickly, would it make a difference?

           She came in through the garage, singing. As the door shut behind her, she was stopped by how quiet it was. Their home was never quiet, particularly in LA, where they often played music or podcasts throughout the house. As she paused, she listened, where was he?

           “Tim? Timothée?” She called moving through the kitchen. “Babe, where are you?” It was then that she heard a sniffle from the living room. She turned down the hallway and beelined for the space.

She stopped dead in her tracks as she took in the sight in front of her. His eyes were swollen and puffed. A pile of tissues sat on the coffee table, the box flipped on its side, no tissues left. His hat was long forgotten, the pile of tissues starting to form a dome on top of it. His curls were blown from his hands running through and tugging them. He glances at her through swollen eye lids.

           “Babe what’s wrong?” She asked, rushing to his side. He engulfed her into his arms, tears falling onto the exposed skin of her neck and shoulder.

           “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” He sobbed.

           “Tim, what’s going on?” She questioned, still holding him.

           “I’m so sorry,” He cried.

           “Tim, you’re starting to scare me. What’s wrong?”

           “Florence called, she wanted to have coffee,”

           Her mind began racing. She called today, she knew of their arrangement, had she decided she wanted more from Timothée? Had he slept with her, a day after they had decided to be monogamous? Had she called to say she gave him HIV or Chlamydia? Was she dying?

           “Okay, and?” She whispered, bracing for the hit.

           “She’s, she’s pregnant, and it’s mine, and she’s keeping it,” He tried to breathe, to inhale the air she’s exhaling, but she was rigid.

           “What?” She asked. She could feel her entire body going cold, her eyes filling with tears.

           “Florence… She wanted to get coffee and she told me,” He said. He sounded like a teenager who had had sex for the first time and gotten his girlfriend pregnant at Christian Summer Camp. Like his entire life was over, like his future was ruined. His voice was already pleading, though he didn’t know for what.

           “She’s pregnant?” She whispered.

           “Yes,” He said.

           “And it’s?” She asked.

           “Mine.” His voice cracked. “She wanted me to know and said we could talk about how involved I wanted to be. I have to think about it! I, I’m going to be a -

           “Okay,” She said, arms dropping to her sides. Her tone was hollow. “I’m um, congrats. I’m going to ...”

           She stalled, brain trying to work in overdrive to compensate for the sludge it was peddling through. She decided on her next action before running up the stairs. At first, he thought she was slamming the door to tell him to stay away. But then she came down the stairs, large suitcase packed. She didn’t stop to talk. She didn’t stop to listen to him. She didn’t stop to console him or offer him support. She didn’t stop as he called her name, as he followed her to the garage. She didn’t stop as she watched him fall to the floor in the space her car once was. She didn’t stop as she drove away from the house and the life they shared. He didn’t stop calling after her, even after his knees hit the concrete, the snot and tears mixing on his tongue as he tried to will her back.

Next: My Town

[aprillikesthings]

Articles about jet lag: the worst is going east seven to nine time zones

Time zones between Portland and Iceland: seven or eight depending on DST 

On top of that my own sleep schedule is way off from “normal” people. When my plane lands it’ll be 6:05am in Iceland. My body is going to think it’s 11:05 pm: several hours before I usually go to bed. Like, I get home from work around that time some nights.

If I wanted to get myself to a 11pm to 7am sleep schedule on Iceland time, I’d have to sleep 4pm to midnight Portland time. My work schedule is 2pm to 10/10:30...I fly out on a Wednesday, so I’ll just ask for that Monday and Tuesday off and give myself more days to force my sleep schedule earlier, I think. (I have a LOT of paid vacation saved up, it’s fine.) Gonna end up in bed during daylight with an eye mask on and drugged up.

Cannabis is still super illegal in Iceland so I’m not going to chance bringing edibles, which is my usual and favorite sleep aid. I’m torn on taking dramamine on the plane; it’ll knock my ass out, but I’ll miss the window views! (My flight home is entirely during late afternoon hours, though.) I’m still not sure whether melatonin does anything for me. 

No matter what I do, chances are my first day in Iceland is going to suck ass for my body. My plans might be Blue Lagoon, get to hostel, find something to eat, and then come back and pass out. 

----

GOD I’M LOL’ING AT MYSELF THO because I typed all that up and then wandered off and then remembered I read a couple of Halldór Laxness novels back in the late 00′s and looked them up (Iceland’s Bell, Independent People) and now I’m tempted to reread them along with the one he wrote that was an allegory about when the US/NATO base was made semi-permanent in Iceland after WW2 (he was Not Happy about it, but a lot of Icelanders were pissed and they rioted about it), but yeah I feel odd about it because the base is why I got to live in Iceland fell in love with it, and then I info-dumped to the polyblob about Laxness and how you can VISIT his OLD HOUSE, he won the Nobel prize for Literature in 1955 you know!, and huh maybe I could get a tattoo of an Icelandic flower, haha wow Icelandic legends are all full of people dying because life in Iceland was fucking brutal for so long--

and like

I’m sitting here, listening to Björk (which, to be fair, I do fairly often normally), and on the TV I had Daci put up a live cam of the volcano currently erupting not far from the Blue Lagoon, and deep-diving into wikipedia reading up on Icelandic novels

and as I joked to a friend the other day, is there an Iceland equivalent to weaboo because I’ve been that off and on for a long-ass time now

[vampire-named-gampire]

Carry On Countdown - Day 22

Wow, watch me use the @carryon-countdown to plug my skating fic lmao

I don’t know if this counts, since Angelina is an OC and actually, Baz would totally make friends with/practically adopt a 17yo Russian girl, so I don’t know how unlikely it is, but it’s here. And also, I just really want to share more of On thin ice content, but the fic itself isn’t ready to be published yet so have this instead. 

For context, Baz used to train in Russia aged 16-20, and now both him and Simon train in Montreal (no, idk why I chose Montreal out of all places but that’s how it is.) Also I think Gelya is the Russian diminutive/nickname used for the name Angelina, but I’m not sure. The fic is still in the works, so this scene is bound to change/expand (I did omit it a bit when writing because spoilers) but anyway, I’ll stop rambling now. 

Prompt: Unlikely friends Word count: 1950 Rating: This scene is G, although the whole fic will be T or M 

SIMON

The ride from the airport to the hotel is awful. Baz must’ve suspected this, because he made me sit in the front.

“Go on,” he said teasingly. “The only skater who has motion sickness.”

I have to say, sitting in the front almost didn’t make a difference. I may not know how to drive, but even I know you’re not supposed to drive like that. When the cab drops us off in front of the hotel, I don’t even bother hiding my relief. Baz laughs.

“I never want to experience this again,” I say, knowing full well that this is my life for the next week. The hotel might be close to the venue, but it’s still far enough for it to be a driving distance. I can only hope buses are less deadly than cabs.

“You know, Moscow traffic is actually tame compared to the rest of Russia,” Baz smirks, handing me my bags.

“Well then I never want to see the rest of Russia,” I mutter, slinging my duffel bag over my shoulder and stepping through the automated hotel doors. Baz scoffs and follows me.

This hotel is fancy – much fancier than the hotels we usually stay at. Baz doesn’t seem phased by it at all, the posh bastard. I bet the hotels he stays at when he’s on vacation are at least twice as posh.

He does, however, seem phased when someone yells “Basil!” across the lobby. Before either of us can register what’s going on, a small figure in a red jacket runs towards us at full speed and crashes into Baz, making him emit a surprised oof sound.

The moment I realize the figure is actually Angelina Nuriyeva is the moment she starts speaking in fast Russian. I don’t understand a thing, but Baz seems to, because he laughs and hugs her back.

I knew Baz and Angelina were friends, but I didn’t think they were this close. I mean, they’re the exact polar opposites; Angelina is an actual sunshine (she’s always hugging and smiling at everyone) and Baz is… Baz. (He’s a big softie, I know that, but he goes through great efforts to appear cold and closed off.)

But here he is, ruffling Angelina’s hair and telling her something in Russian. (I’m suddenly met with the realisation that being in Moscow means I’ll get to hear a lot more of Baz’s Russian. I am very much not complaining at this prospect, even if I don’t understand a thing of what they’re saying.)

Angelina is nodding along and she pulls out her phone to show him something, but that’s when Baz stops her, suddenly speaking in English.

“Wait, I think in the interest of Snow, we should switch to English. He already looks lost enough as it is,” he says.

“No, no, I’m fine, by all means…” I start, but I’m soon cut off by Angelina.

“Yes, of course! I’m sorry, Simon! Come here, it’s so good to see you,” she says and hugs me. (This is what I mean when I say Angelina is a sunshine.)

“Good to see you too,” I nod.

“I was just about to show Basil how his houseplants are doing. Do you want to see too?” she asks.

“Houseplants?” I don’t bother hiding the surprise in my voice. Since when does Baz like houseplants? His flat in Montreal doesn’t have any, spare the tiny cactus on the windowsill.

“I had a lot of houseplants when I still lived here, but I couldn’t take them with me on the plane when I moved, so Gelya took them in her care,” he explains, as if he’s reading my mind.

“Georgy is doing amazing but Ilya went a bit floppy. I changed his earth so now I’m hoping he gets better,” Angelina says, showing Baz a picture of two houseplants, side by side, one of them (Ilya?) looking slightly wilted.

“When it goes floppy, we say it wilts, and we don’t say earth, we say soil,” Baz corrects her. If I was Angelina, I’d probably be annoyed right now, but she just smiles at him.

“Thank you. It’s so much harder to learn English now that there’s no one here to practice with me,” she sighs.

“You know you can call me any time and we can practice,” Baz offers.

“Wait, wait, wait,” I stop them both. There is so much new information I have to process. “You had houseplants? And you named them Russian names? And you taught her English?” (That would actually explain why Angelina’s English is so good.)

“Yes, Snow, are you keeping up?”

“And when he gave them up, he wrote me a whole notebook on how to take care of them,” Angelina chimes in. “And another notebook with English grammar.”

Maybe I do have trouble keeping up. Who is this Baz? (And why is he so attractive?)

“I never thought of you as a houseplant kind of bloke,” I shrug. “You don’t have any houseplants in Montreal.”

“I’m still mourning the loss of my old children.” Baz deadpans before turning back to Angelina. “Show me Alyosha. He was always my favourite.”

-

BAZ

Unsurprisingly, the jet-lag catches up with me right when it’s time to go to bed. I don’t know why I was naïve enough to believe I won’t need melatonin when dealing with an eight-hour time difference. I better take it now, before it’s too late.

I sigh and throw the covers back before picking up my phone to check the time. However, a text message notification from Snow grabs my attention before I can do that.

Is he nervous again? It would make sense, since this is a big competition for him. Would I be able to sneak into his room and sneak out the next morning unnoticed? I doubt that. There are only athletes staying on our floor, the coaches, press and competition staff are all on different floors, and I doubt the athletes would pay us much attention, but it’s still risky.

I’d much rather risk a few weird looks than have Simon spiral into panic two days before a major competition, though. I decide I’ll go to his room if that’s what he needs.

Maybe I should check why he’s even texting me before I devise any plans.

SS: do u have melatonine? SS: jet lag

I sigh in relief. He’s not having a mental breakdown. He’s just jet-lagged. (Which is a bit strange for Snow, but I suppose even his circadian rhythm can take a blow from time to time.)

BP: It’s spelled melatonin and yes, I have it. You can come get it if you still need it BP: Room 254

SS: yes ik where u r SS: I’ll b right over

I sit on the edge of the bed and wait for Snow to knock on my door. He’s staying a few corridors down, in room 273, so it takes him a few minutes. I jump up when I hear his knock.

He’s standing in front of my door, wearing joggers, a hoodie and those damned glasses of his again. His hair is messed up, like he’s been tossing and turning too.

“I thought you didn’t get jet-lagged,” I say, stepping aside to let him in. He settles on the edge my bed while I rummage my luggage for melatonin supplements.

“I don’t get sleep jet-lagged, but I do get food jet-lagged,” he says.

“What does that even mean, Snow?”

“It means it’s lunchtime in Canada right now and I’m so hungry I can’t sleep.”

I bite back a laugh. He’s an idiot. (An adorable one but an idiot nonetheless.) “You don’t need melatonin, Snow, you need this,” I say, throwing a granola bar at him. He startles, but manages to catch it.

“You’re just giving this to me?” he asks, audibly surprised. (Which is ridiculous. He gives me food all the time and here he is, questioning my generosity over a fucking granola bar.)

“No, Snow, pay up. Fifty rubbles.”

“I don’t have any Russian money,” he laughs, tearing the wrapping open. He’s going to get crumbs all over my bed, but I don’t shoo him away. Instead, I finally find the melatonin supplements and take one with some water. “Do you still want one?” I ask.

“Do you have any more granola bars?”

I laugh and pass him another one before sitting down next to him on the bed.

“Are you nervous?” I ask, just to make sure he’s really okay.

“Right now? I’m just hungry,” he says, tearing open the second granola bar.

“Right,” I nod.

“Baz. Are you doing that thing where you’re worrying about me again?”

“A bit,” I admit.

“Stop,” he says like I can just turn it off like a tap. (I wish I could.) We sit in silence for a while, me thinking about how much easier my life would be if I just stopped worrying about Simon Snow and him chewing through his granola bar. “I didn’t know you and Angelina were such good friends,” he finally says.

“We trained together for four years,” I shrug, but it’s not just that. The training environment in Russia was intense. It’s a bloodbath to even get on the national team there, so of course it’s intense, but I think every other skater the rink was looking at me sideways because I was an outlier. I wasn’t Russian, I didn’t speak Russian and I think they felt like I didn’t belong there. (I know now that I really didn’t.) They eventually accepted me and by the time I left Russia, even the ones who refused to speak during my first year there were sad to see me go.

But Gelya was nice to me from the start. She was only thirteen at the time and didn’t speak any English, but she clapped for me when I did something well and cheered me on when I was having a bad day. (Thanks to her, davai was one of the first Russian words I learned.) She brought me homemade pyraniki on special occasions and when I got injured and had to go back to England to have surgery, she sent me get well soon cards all the way from Russia and she made the entire rink sign them.

That’s just who she is. She’s this nice to everyone and it didn’t matter to her if I was Russian or English, I was just another person at her rink who she could bring biscuits to. Over the four years that I’ve lived there, she became like a little sister to me.

“Baz?” Snow’s voice snaps me from my thoughts. “You seem tired. I’m going to go.”

I have half a mind not to ask him to stay here. (We both know we can’t do that.) “Okay,” I say instead. He stands up and throws the granola wrappers in the bin. I stand up too, to walk him to the door (I have manners), but he waves at me to sit back down.

“It’s fine,” he says.

“Will you be able to sleep?”

“If my hunger doesn’t get to me again, yes,” he laughs. He’s already by the door.

“Wait.” I stand up and grab the last granola bar from my bag, offering it to him. “Just in case,” I explain. I want him to stay here, to make sure he sleeps well and doesn’t spend the night worrying about the competition, but I can’t do that, so this is the least I can do.

“Thanks,” he smiles, tucking it in his pocket. Then he hugs me briefly and presses a kiss to my cheek. “Sleep well.”

“You too.”

And he’s out the door.