#it has them kissing you should check it out

[deadtired-highkeyenergetic]

Secret No More

Summary: The rest of the Thunderbolts* find out that you and Bucky are married.

"So…are they?"

"It definitely seems that way."

"But they could just be really good friends."

"They're far too close to be just really good friends."

You quietly laugh to yourself from the corner where you're hiding, slipping into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee. All your morning blues have been lifted by the conversation you've accidentally stumbled on, and you couldn't be more grateful to the duo for it.

"They're definitely together. There's no way they aren't." A new voice sounds from the dining room where the conversation is happening. "Have you seen the way Bucky looks at them?"

"I'm sorry I don't stare at the Winter Soldier all day 24/7." You're pretty sure Ava rolled her eyes after that because John lets out a snort of annoyance.

"Careful." A low voice murmurs softly next to you, followed by the warmth of a familiar hand. "Wouldn't want them to find out you're eavesdropping just because you spilled hot coffee all over yourself, would we?"

"Hey Buck." You lean in to press a quick kiss to his cheek after checking that the coast is clear. "Want some?"

"Can't say no to good coffee this early in the morning." He takes a carton of milk from the fridge, pouring in just the right amount in your cup. You pour some coffee in his cup, pushing the packet containing today's beans at him so that he can read what flavours are in the dark liquid before adding sugar to his cup. Two teaspoons, like always. It used to be more but you've been trying to curb his sweet tooth so he's been sulking lately. You would pity the villains he's been fighting but he has been far more effective in bringing them down ever since you cut down his sugar intake so you're not complaining. However, because of that, Bucky has been more picky about what flavour of coffee he drinks, which has made your coffee bean shopping harder.

His arm gently brushes against yours as he takes his cup from you, giving you a soft smile before heading to the dining room , presumably to scare the living daylights out of the group gathered there. You decide to hang around the kitchen first and take stock of what supplies need to be bought, a good move judging from the commotion that's happening in the dining room right now.

"I wasn't informed about any team meeting today." You detect a hint of amusement in Bucky's voice.

"Bucky?!" John exclaims followed by incoherent shouts from the others. "We were uh —"

"Are you and Y/N together?" Bob casually asks, eliciting more exclamations from everyone else. You're pretty sure Yelena just covered Bob's mouth in an attempt to stop him from asking any more questions since his voice becomes muffled but Alexei just continues asking on his behalf, clearly curious.

"Comrade, it is a beautiful relationship, you and Y/N. Why so shy? They are strong, kind, and very hard to replace."

"Alexei! You can't just say someone is hard to replace!"

"But they are! There is no one like comrade Y/N, even if you go to the ends of the world!"

Bucky can't help but chuckle, then he calls for you. "Babe, do we tell them?"

"I don't know, do we?" You step out of the kitchen, trying not to laugh as everyone dissolves into more hysterical screaming. "They don't seem ready for it."

"How long has it been?" Yelena asks. John groans in the background, muttering something about how he should have noticed it earlier with how defensive you were over Bucky back when you first met.

"I think it's been a good few months since we got married?" You frown, pretending to be deep in thought. Bucky bursts out laughing as the rest of the team erupts into even more chaos somehow, with Ava screeching at the top of her lungs, Bob exclaiming about rings, Alexei shouting about how marriage is a beautiful thing, and John face plants the nearest wall. Yelena looks stoned for a while, and then gives up.

"Wait, then why have we never seen your wedding rings?" Bob asks, gesturing wildly at the both of you.

"I can turn things invisible, remember?" You touch Bucky's neck and a gold chain shimmers into view. Bucky lifts the hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to your knuckles before untucking the chain from underneath his shirt, revealing the ring that hangs from it.

"That is such a boring ring," Yelena deadpans. "Couldn't get anything fancier with your Avengers paycheck? How much does Tony Stark pay the Avengers anyways?"

"We decided to keep things simple, or it might get in the way during a fight." You take yours out, letting out a yelp as Bucky yanks you down onto his lap.

"We're going to be here for a long time, might as well get comfortable," he sighs, nuzzling into your hair. You lean against his chest and feel his arms automatically wrap around your waist, securing you to your new spot. "I hope you have more of those coffee beans because I'm going to need more coffee after this interrogation session."

"You don't want to try the other beans?"

"I like the lavender taste," he hums, the sound vibrating in his chest.

"They're so cute together, how did we not notice?" Ava hisses. Yelena shrugs in response. Alexei forces John into a chair and Bob happily takes a seat, clearly excited about the gossip that's to come and your interrogation begins.

"So, when did the two of you first meet?" Bob asks the first question.

"It was when Steve brought me to the safe house you were hiding in during the UN bombing, right?" You turn to face your husband.

"Mmhm." He fiddles with your ring, clearly not paying attention to the interrogation going on.

"Hey, you're not allowed to leave me alone to face all their questions!" You give his cheek a poke and he gives a dramatic groan.

"I signed up for this when I married you, didn't I?" He sighs.

"Yes you did." Your cheeky grin causes the corners of his lips to curve upwards and he pokes you back.

"I suppose there's no escaping this."

The team eagerly lean closer as you detail your first encounter with Bucky, followed by your first date with him and the wedding itself. It was tiring, answering every single question, but fortunately Bucky stepped in every now and then, helping to answer some of them. His ice blue eyes would crinkle in amusement whenever he recounted a funny incident, followed by a teasing poke to your ribs which would cause you to squirm but you can tell he's enjoying himself, remembering all the little moments of light in his life.

You would give anything to make him smile like this more often.

Once the interrogation is over, the team split up, mulling over the new cascade of information they've just received. You, meanwhile, remain in your spot on Bucky's lap, feeling his hand run through your hair.

"I can't believe we managed to hide our marriage from a Widow, a Walmart Captain America, the Russian Captain America and a spy who can phase through walls." You laugh, snuggling against his chest. His steady heartbeat reassures you, reminding you that he's right here, by your side.

"I can. After all, we're the world's greatest assassin and a spy who can turn anything they touch invisible." He smiles softly, turning you around to face him. His hands cup your cheeks, cradling your face and he leans in to kiss you on the lips. "I can finally do this without having to worry about anyone catching us."

"I like that." You pull him into another kiss, savouring the taste of his lips. "Makes mornings less stressful."

"It also means I can constantly hold your hand now." He presses his forehead against yours, closing his eyes. "And tell you how insanely perfect you are."

"Does this mean I can tell you how extremely handsome you are?" You whisper teasingly, unable to contain the smile on your face.

"Always, love. I'll never grow tired of hearing that."

"Get a room!" Bob yells from his hiding spot around the corner. Ava anxiously shushes him but it's too late. You and Bucky turn to see three heads disappear behind the wall, and you scramble to smack said heads but Bucky tugs you back down onto his lap.

"We're claiming the dining room!" He hollers, then gives you a peck on the cheek. "Go find another room!"

"Buck!"

Your husband only laughs in response, hugging you close. "I'm not letting this opportunity go. I already have you here, I'm not moving anywhere."

"Just admit you're too lazy to move back to one of our rooms."

"And risk spilling coffee on the sheets? Never!"

"Oh, but it's fine to spill coffee on your metal arm?"

"That only happened once! And there's always the dishwasher —"

"No! If I ever see your arm in the dishwasher again, I will personally slap you with it!"

"Fineeeeeee." Bucky sighs. "No more metal arm in the dishwasher."

You let yourself flop back onto his chest, basking in his secure embrace as he finishes his cup of coffee and picks up his book to continue reading.

"I like this coffee." He presses his cheek against yours, purposely rubbing the stubble on your skin because he knows he can irritate you like that and get away with it.

"More than me?" You're not sure why you're feeling so playful today, maybe it's because of the weight that has been lifted after telling the rest of the team about your marriage to Bucky.

"Nothing will ever come close to stealing your spot as my number one favourite." He boops you on the nose, dodging your return attempt with his super soldier reflexes and a wide grin. "Try harder, love."

"You're asking for it, James Buchanan Barnes! Now take it like a man!"

[wonnieluv]

pull the plug - s.jy

Summary: after working your connections and needing a job after graduating college, you’ve found yourself find yourself working a US Tour for one of your favorite groups, Enhypen

fem!reader x idol!Jake

warnings: suggestive, swearing, kissing, skinship, cuddling, Jake is down bad

masterlist | enha masterlist

Networking is everything. That’s what they drilled into your head the second you stepped foot into college when you decided you wanted to study Music Business.

Now just a few short years later you’re freshly graduated with a job opportunity on your plate for what feels like a dream straight out of one of your favorite tumblr fics. Working as a staff on Enhypen’s US Tour.

That’s how you’ve found yourself standing at the side of the pit while the group runs through their tech rehearsals.

You’re now on the third concert of their tour, and you're definitely settling into the role. It’s tiring at times, but you’re having the time of your life getting to travel and work with one of your favorite artists. The shows have gone smoothly for the most part, except for one minor quirk.

You’ve had to help fix a certain Australian boys microphone at least twice during each soundcheck not to mention an extra third time during the second New York show.

Your boss has overseen you fixing Jake’s mic so many times and not once has she said you’re doing anything wrong. She even made sure to reassure you that you aren’t doing anything wrong but it’s gotten to the point that you’ve officially been put on Jake duty.

Yes. Jake duty.

Your official job of essentially following him around whenever he is offstage to make sure he doesn’t damage the microphone and if he does you can fix it in time for him to go back onstage. During tech rehearsals, sound check, outfit changes, and VCR breaks.

It’s gotten to point where you swear he looked you dead in the eye as he slightly bent the receiver out of place before calling you over to fix it.

Now it wasn’t bent so bad that it was broken but he’s essentially been instructed to not touch it anymore and he’s having way too much fun making you all flustered when you come close to him.

🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎

The members have now all gotten dressed and are prepping to head backstage from their green room. You’re sat in the corner with a staff you’ve befriended chatting about what you want to do on your day off in Chicago the next day before you hear the all too familiar teasing of Jay’s voice

“Y/nnnnn, Jake broke his mic. Again.” You let out a soft sigh and look over to where the pair are now standing seeing Jake’s mic wire hanging out of his jacket where it should be connected to his mic pack.

“Jake just admit it. You’ve got a crush on her and you like it when she touches you” Jay teases as he watches you walk over to Jake to fix his mic.

You’re standing behind him as you feel your face flush slightly at his comment and thank god for that because you don’t even want to imagine the stupid smirk that would adorn is beautifully sculpted face if he was facing you.

“And what if I do. At least I could pull a baddie and you’re sitting over there alone with your guitar” Jake jokes back

Luckily, his mic is back in place because, honestly, you would’ve dropped it. I mean, what else would a person do if Jake called them a baddie

“You’re all good Jake” you say stepping out from behind him but before you fully walk away you pause and face him “and by the way. If you really wanted to flirt. You could do it like a normal person instead of messing with the thousand dollar equipment” you say with a smile. As Jay begins to relentlessly tease him, you make your way back to your previous spot and continue your conversation as if your heart wasn't palpitating at a concerning rate.

Long story short, Jake’s microphone had absolutely no problems the entire show. What replaced it though, was the unnecessary prolonged eye contact, the winks, the smirks, and even the unnecessary slight brushes of his hand against yours as he passes by just a bit too close to you as he moves through the crowded backstage.

🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎

With Jake no longer deliberately sabotaging his microphone, the show went on without a hitch.

Does this mean you were right? Was he really just breaking things on purpose so you'd get close to him? If so, what are you supposed to do with that? Jump his bones? Tempting offer, but you opt to be the nonchalant queen you are and ignore his existence after the show.

You don't say anything as you retrieve his undamaged microphone pack and wires from him after the encore before briskly walking away to place it where it belongs and collect your belongings before the staff car leaves for the hotel. Simple plan really.

Not so simple because a certain Australian boy decided he was going to follow you when he noticed you going off on your own. The next thing you know, your back is against the cement wall of the backstage and your eyes are locking with Jake's.

"Jake, what the hell," you say. The shock of this turn of events evident in your voice

"If you keep avoiding me, I'll start breaking my mic again," He says it so casually you almost miss exactly what he meant. By the time you comprehend any of it he's already walking back down the hallway you both came from.

"See you later pretty girl"

🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎

You let out a light exhale as you relax into your seat in the car as you wait for the rest of your staff friends to join you. You guys normally leave the venue a while after the boys do as teardown takes a little bit of extra time. By the time you pull up to the fancy hotel they have you in, it's long past midnight.

You bid farewell to your friend as her room is right off the elevator on the floor BeLift rented out for safety purposes. Your room is further down at the end of the hallway, around the corner. You lucked out with a corner room with beautiful views of the city.

As you round the corner to the final stretch of hallway that feels a little more greuling after the long day, you notice a man standing outside your door looking down at his phone in his hands. He has a flop of brown hair on his head, slightly messy from the number of times he ran his hand through it, and a stupidly handsome side profile. You know exactly who he is, but you're not too sure you want to face him right now, so you continue past him without sparing him an obvious glance.

You almost exhale thinking you got past freely before you hear "y/n"

You freeze just as you're about to scan your room key. "Jake," you respond, trying to keep as calm as possible. What on earth could he want from you at nearly 1 in the morning?

You don't turn to face him but you don't enter your room quite yet. You feel him step closer to you.

"What are you doing here Jake...?" You say almost breathily as you continue to face the door

He doesn't say anything before you feel a soft hand gently turning you to face him.

As you make eye contact with him your breath nearly stops at how close his face is to yours. You can practically feel his breath on your lips as you struggle to keep your focus on his eyes.

"I'm here to do something that I've been wanting to do since the moment I laid eyes on you..." His voice comes out almost in a whisper as he slowly backs you up until you're trapped between him and your hotel door.

"And what might that be..." Your gaze flickers to his plump lips just has he bites his lower lip pulling at it slightly before letting it go.

"I think you have a pretty good idea already... I just need you to tell me yes"

A week ago, you would've slapped yourself at the desperation dripping from your voice, but right now in this moment, you don't even care when you reply, "Please..."

The word barely rolls off your tongue before his lips are on yours. Everything about it is soft. His plump lips that are connected to yours. The way he takes his time as he kisses you like he's got all the time in the world. The soft locks that you run your hands through as he pulls you closer, if that's even possible.

You're too engrossed in what's happening to notice him guiding your hand with your room key to the scanner on the door, but the second that door opens, he momentarily pulls away to push you into your room. The door barely shuts before he's back on you.

By the time you pull away to catch your breath, your bag has long been thrown to the ground, his jacket the same, you both look a mess from the clear passion of, as you would put it, whatever the fuck just happened.

"Impatient are we". He chuckles softly as he presses his forehead against yours, with his hands resting on your waist.

You don't respond as you close your eyes in an attempt to steady your breathing and your heartbeat.

The two of you remain there for a moment, just silently in each other's presence, before he moves his head from yours, just momentarily before giving you a light peck on your forehead.

"You should go to bed," He says softly as he steps back. His face morphs into a soft smile noticing the light confusion in your eyes as they search his.

"It's not that I don't want to," He says, bringing your hand up to his lips, giving a soft kiss to the back of it, "Trust me if I could you'd be on the bed right now and nobody would be seeing you until we have to go to the airport" he chuckles out as he wraps his arms around your waist again. "but you look like you could fall asleep standing up, and I'm not going to rush this."

You nod as your shoulders relax slightly at his response, an unknown wave of relief washing over you.

"You can still stay... if you want," You say softly as your arms instinctively wrap around his neck.

"Oh? Can't get enough of me already?" He says with a tilt of his head, "I don't know... You might jump my bones." His tone is playful as he quirks his eyebrow with that stupid smile on his face.

"Hmm... I guess I'll save that for another time." You say, returning his banter as you push off the wall and head further into the room.

Jake quickly makes himself at home, kicking off his shoes and lying starfish on your bed. You chuckled at him before throwing the TV remote at him, causing him to lift his head at you quizically.

"I'm showering," you answer the unspoken question on his face before turning around to grab your clothes.

He flops his head back on your bed "you sure you don't need help?"

"Don't get any ideas" you say slapping his leg as you walk past. You barely catch his yelp in reaction as you close the bathroom door.

🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎

You step out of the bathroom, freshly showered in an oversized shirt and some sweatpants. Jake decided to make himself comfortable. His hoodie is shed and now lying on one of the chairs by your window as he sits against the headboard watching something on his phone while some random 2000's sitcom is playing softly on the TV at the foot of the bed.

When hears you exit the bathroom he turns off his phone and sets in on the nightstand and gets comfortable in the pillows patting the spot next to him.

"reserved VIP seating just for you, pretty girl" The smile on his face almost makes your knees buckle as you shuffle over to the empty side of the bed and lie down next to him.

He lazily wraps an arm around your waist and pulls you just slightly closer. You feel the warmth of his chest against your back as he nuzzles into the back of your neck, his breath tickling you as he inhales the scent of your freshly showered hair.

"tomorrow..." he starts softly "you're mine"

"Oh? And what if I made plans to go enjoy myself in this lovely city," you say playfully. Your hand reaches down to play with the rings on his fingers that were once holding your waist.

"Hmmm too bad"

You giggle softly and lean back into him as you close your eyes and relax into his hold. As you do so, you feel him relax against you, breath evening out as he mindlessly holds you just a bit tighter.

As you let much-needed sleep take over your brain, the conversation of what will happen when you inevitably blow off your friends tomorrow and what all of this means for the two of you leaves your brain. That's a problem for tomorrow's you. Tonight's you is contently snuggled up in Jake's embrace wondering what kinda voodoo shit she cast to end up in this position and what other kind of voodoo shit she can cast to make it last a little bit longer.

And when you wake up in the morning to Jake's pouty face trying as hard as he can (and succeeding) to keep you in bed for just 5 more minutes, you realize maybe you won't have to try too hard to keep him around.

authors note: sooooo what do we thiiiink? I reworked this like 20 times and i think I’m finally semi-satisfied with it so I hope you all enjoyed it!!

[ofstarsandvibranium]

Four’s A Party

Fandom: Top Gun: Maverick

Pairing: Bob Floyd x F! Reader, Billy “Fritz” Avalone x F!Reader, Mickey “Fanboy” Garcia x F!Reader

A/N: it’s a poly relationship, yall! This is honestly super indulgent bc now 3 men I’ve been obsessed with have been in the same movie so…yeah. Enjoy!

“I’m sorry, what do you mean ‘our girlfriend’?” Hangman stares at his fellow Top Gun pilots in confusion.

Fritz, Bob, and Fanboy all look at each other and then shrug, “We share a girlfriend.” Fanboy says nonchalantly.

“How does that even work? Does that mean you’re dating each other?” Rooster pipes in.

Bob fixes his glasses and speaks up, “Well, no. We’re all dating Y/N at the same time. We all have one girlfriend, but Y/N has three boyfriends. We take turns taking her out or sometimes go on a group.”

It’s Fritz’s turn to speak up, “It was a little weird and awkward at first, but we managed to make it work. Takes a lot of patience and communication-“

“And an open mind,” Bob says and Fanboy nods.

“To be fair, she was mine first and then she started hanging around all of us, got close to Bob and Fritz, and here we are.”

Hangman looks at the three men like they’ve individually grown an additional two heads, “What the fuck…so like…in the bedroom-“

“Don’t.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Nope not talking about that.”

Hangman holds out his arms, “What?! I think it’s a valid thing to question!”

“We’re not talking about our sex lives with you, man. Fuck off.” Fritz passes Hangman and shoulder checks him, Bob and Fanboy following behind him.

________________

“So Jake found out about us.” Bob says as he, Fritz, and Fanboy sit at the dining table in your home.

You freeze from cooking, “What? How?”

Billy sighs, “He saw you and me together on Tuesday.”

“Then he saw us together on Thursday.” Mickey states.

“And then us the next day,” Bob adds, “He thought you were cheating on us and that we didn’t know so we had to tell him.”

“Shit,” you set the stove to low heat to turn to your boyfriends, “Should-Should we end it?”

“No!” The three of them stood with a shout in unison.

You look at them slightly startled, “I’m sorry! It’s just-I know Jake can be an ass and I’m sure he already gave you shit when he found out.”

“Asked about our bedroom activities,” Bob grumbles and you scoff, “Of course he did.”

Mickey walks over to you, “We’re not gonna end it just because Hangman’s gonna be a dick. We love you too much. We can deal with him.”

“Are you sure?” Billy shrugs, “We’ve dealt with him for this long. We can manage.”

You let out a sigh of relief, “That’s-That’s good. The idea of breaking up with one of you sucks, but all three? That’s fucking heartbreaking.”

Bob joins you at your side, “We’re here until you don’t want us anymore.” He kisses your cheek.

“But we’ll fight tooth and nail to ensure we stay together for as long as you want,” Billy nuzzles his face in your neck on the other side of you.

“So we’re good?” Mickey asks, leaning in and resting his forehead against yours.

“Yeah…we’re good,” you peck his lips and sigh, “Alright, boys. Let your girl breathe, I gotta finish cooking this before I burn everything!” You push your boyfriends away and they happily take their places back at your table.

They consider themselves lucky for finding an amazing woman like you. But you think you’re the lucky one, finding three men who love you so unconditionally.

[oh-no-its-dragons]

Step Two

Bodhi knows exactly how it happened. When it settled. 

For @empyreanevents' Bodhi Week, day 5: Window

Personal challenge checklist: ☑ don't mention Xaden ☑ Bodhi has a nice day

(cw for lots of talking about sex and specifically one explanation of how sex can look from an aegosexual perspective. 🖤🤍💜 please keep in mind that I'm drawing heavily on my experience, but there are many different ways to exist on the ace spectrum. this is a direct sequel to yesterday's Step One, which was inspired by look around, look inside by @theoppositequeens.)

Somehow Ridoc had slotted himself into my life and made it look easy. I was used to thinking of myself as the odd one out, tagging along to social events that my friends had been invited to. 

Ridoc sought me out. Invited me, specifically. And at first I worried that meant I would have to stick around watching him be the life of the party long after I might have ducked out if I were alone, but instead he noticed. He checked in with me. Sometimes he kissed me good night before I left, and sometimes he left with me. 

It was good, but it took some getting used to. 

Ridoc was forthright about most things. "I have a hard time keeping my inside thoughts on the inside," he described it. It meant he didn't shy away from saying what he was feeling, even when what he was feeling was —

"I'm so horny I can't think," he announced, and not for the first time, but for the first time I answered him before he could say he was going to go see if Tyvon or whoever was around.

"I can help with that," I offered. I'd been thinking about it a lot, about what it might feel like to offer, what I would do if he took me up on it. Ridoc had been good at listening so far. 

It was fucking terrifying to risk it, but whatever we had was working so far. Gods, sometimes the thought that someone could understand me made me want to hide, because I was sure that if I were understood then he'd see that there was something wrong with me, some disconnect between my brain and my body that couldn't be fixed. 

"You don't have to do that just for me," Ridoc answered, almost automatically. "I thought you weren't into sex."

"I'm not, not exactly. Not the way people think of it. But I'm not into planning revenge on Henrick, and yet I like helping you with it. Because it's you, I guess." Ridoc opened his mouth and closed it again, and his throat bobbed like he was swallowing whatever he'd started to say. 

Watching him not talk was surprisingly adorable. Whether he was listening or thinking, his forehead scrunched up and he sometimes chewed on his lip like he was pouting. Ridoc could be a lot more than people seemed to realize; he was all over the place a lot of the time, sure, but when he did focus he was intense, like suddenly instead of being all warm, comfortable shades of brown I could see the frost in his eyes where his signet came from. 

But I needed to not get distracted, because he was talking again. "Are you okay talking about sex more than we have?"

"Yes," I said, because I was learning it was always yes with him, "but I haven't put a lot of things into words before, so it might be slow. Or I might say something and then realize I'm wrong."

"Most people are bad at talking about sex." Ridoc slid over until he was next to me on the bed. "Even people who fuck all the time! There's so many assumptions, guys who think everybody's automatically into the same things they're into, or people who will just get in bed with somebody but never say what they like best or ask their partner what they should start with."

"I thought everyone else just knew," I admitted, but it didn't feel like a bad thing when I was saying it to Ridoc.

Ridoc laughed. "When people ask me for sex advice, I have two things I always tell them. One of them is that if you want to be good at something, you have to practice."

"I bet most of them like that advice."

"You'd be surprised! A lot of people want to be good at things right off the parapet. It's more fun to think of yourself as a natural sex savant who's just instinctively good in bed, rather than as someone who's taken specific instructions about what to do with their tongue."

"What's the other thing?"

"It goes along with the first one, actually. It's talk to your partner. And I give that advice because people don't do it. I know this because a lot of people are surprised when I do."

I nodded at that. "So, what, as soon as I brought up something sex-related, you want to talk about it?"

"If that's okay with you, yes, I want to talk about it. Because I meant it when I said I don't want you to feel like you're obligated to get me off. Sex isn't — well, at least it doesn't have to be transactional like that. So, let's go back a little bit. What's sex like for you? What have you done that you enjoyed?" Ridoc slid so close he could throw his legs over me and he was practically sitting in my lap. He laid his head on my shoulder.

I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him tighter against my chest. Like I was eight and he was my old sheep stuffie. "For me, it feels like sex is two different things that everybody else can do at the same time, and I can only do one or the other. I can focus on my partner or I can do the thinking that gets me off."

I felt Ridoc nod, his hair tickling my neck. "Can you tell me more about that?" When I glance down, I notice a bulge in his leathers. 

"Are you turned on by this?" I asked him, trying to twist my neck so I could see his face without making him move.

"Yeah, sexy talk is totally a turn-on for me." He huffed a laugh, his breath warm against my shirt. 

"Is this sexy? Or just about sex?" I was curious.

"Both. It's the same thing to me. And you are changing the subject."

"I didn't mean to," I told him, sighing. "Okay, so focusing on my partner is easy to understand, right? I'd just be touching you, using my fingers, maybe even my cock, but it's not about me getting turned on or staying turned on or whatever."

Ridoc nodded. "That part makes sense, yes."

"Actually getting off is much easier for me to do alone." It was hard to talk about it without the shame welling up about being selfish, or thoughtless, or rude. "I can't focus on a partner. It's like trying to control magic without grounding. I need to be… in my head, I guess. Like I'm watching through a window, like I need to focus on what I'm thinking and what I can feel."

I trailed off when I realized that Ridoc was watching me intently. A smile played on his mouth and there was hunger in his eyes that I didn't understand. "Do you know what that sounds like to me, Bodhi?"

"...Selfish?" Maybe if I said it first, it wouldn't sting as much when he agreed.

"No!" He shifted in my lap, pushing at my chest until I lay back on the bed and he was on top of me. Ridoc pushed his chest up so he could meet my eyes. "You don't sound selfish. You sound like a challenge."

I wanted to pull away, to leave the room, except it was my room and I didn't really want Ridoc to stop being on top of me. "A challenge to see if you can fix me?" I asked, still unsure what he meant.

"A challenge to learn what you like. What works for you. What if I said I wanted to learn to be what you need in all the ways, not just cuddling?" Ridoc was fully smirking now. "Would you like it if I kissed you?"

"Yes," I answered before I'd even finished processing the first part of the question, and Ridoc was on me like he was late to breakfast and I was the last sausage on the tray. There was that focus again, the absolute certainty that my mouth was the only thing in the world worth his attention right now.

And in that moment I believed him. I believed him when he said he wanted to learn me. I believed that I could be learned, not fixed.

If I let him, he would take me apart, not to put me back together, but purely to enjoy the picture I made as he did it.

I still wasn't sure it was possible, but I could tell Ridoc was sure. That, more than anything, made me willing to try.

[burning-burning-burning]

Valentine's Heart-to-Heart and Overwhelming Insecurities

Word count: 26.7k In which it's Valentine's Day, Sonic's ADHD has him procrastinating having the "What are we" talk with Shadow, Shadow's terminally low self-esteem has him tilting at every windmill (read: nonexistent hint Sonic's playing him) in sight, Rouge advocates for the Slut Era, Knuckles thinks Sonic should consider being less of a horny bastard to look more serious, and the cruelty of a world that never forgets a wrong rears its ugly head to thwart the best laid plans. But maybe, none of that ever really mattered, anyway.

((Lovers-to-boyfriends, Sonadow, hurt/comfort, no smut, fluff/angst)) Part 2 of Holiday Hogs First | < Prev | Next >

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It had been one month, one week, and five days since the cabin. Since the snowstorm, and the cold, and the liquor- and the… time, Shadow and Sonic spent together. Which Shadow still couldn’t think about without a dark flush coloring his muzzle and his heart doing this horrible, awful, annoying beat-skip. If he wasn’t already aware of the ridiculous things the blue hedgehog did to him, he might think he was dying.

Maybe he was, anyway.

“You have that face on, you know,” Rouge said, hanging over the back of the couch in their shared living room. Shadow had made the mistake of sitting down after coming home from training that day, and the bat took that as permission to begin their nightly routine of harassment.

Rouge called it ‘conversation’ and ‘bonding time’, but, semantics. She was lucky he loved her.

“What face would that be,” Shadow sighed, no tone of question at all in his voice. He leaned forward to release his air shoes, feeling the usual jolt as they were cut off from his Chaos energy. He slipped his gloves off, as well, frowning at the catch of his claws against the seams as he did. He enjoyed having such efficient weapons at his literal fingertips, but, he was becoming annoyed at how many pairs of gloves he was going through, now.  Even just wearing them, if he wasn’t careful, he could extend his claws straight through the fabric and had on multiple occasions. He had stopped by his room before returning to the couch for a soft pair of blue hospital socks (that came from his last stay at GUN’s medical facility, courtesy of GUN’s insistence he be ‘checked over’ following the hypothermia incident- an excuse for more testing and procedures, he was sure-) that he wore around their apartment when finally able to relax.

Rouge laughed. “You know the face,” she said, unhelpfully, ignoring his uncovered hands; it was hardly a shock between friends as close they were; and besides, Shadow had never liked wearing them when relaxing at home, especially not since his already impressive claws had become more like talons following Doom and the Time-Eater. When Shadow only turned back to give her a tired stare, she blew and supplied, “The ‘I’m not thinking about Sonic, except that I’m definitely thinking about Sonic’, face.”

Shadow’s ears folded briefly and he clicked his tongue. “No seas ridícula. I have no reason to think of him.”

Rouge rolled her eyes and hopped over the back of the couch to sit beside him, leaning forward to meet his eyes. “Shadow, hun, you can’t fool me.”

Shadow growled, but the threat was without bite. He had been forced to tell Rouge what happened New Year’s night after she clocked him being ‘slightly less grumpy than usual’, which apparently was enough to trigger a bright red alarm in the bat’s mind that she seemed to take as indication to begin interrogating. He left out… most detail, but she had managed to get out of him the gist of the night. The liquor, the kiss, the sex… the promise of more, if he wanted it. The assurance it was real, his anxiety still hanging over his head that, what if it wasn’t? Even now, he felt it grip his heart and twist- a month in, and he and Sonic had met several times since, and still Shadow just… wasn’t sure. Was this a relationship? Was it just sex? Could it ever really be more, and did he even want that?

He was waiting for the punchline, for the blue speedster to pull back with a sneer and laugh in his stupid, naïve face, and the constant watch was starting wear his nerves thin.

“… Shadow. Hey, Mobius to Shadow Robotnik?”

Shadow snorted and shook his head, shaking out his quills. “What?”

Rouge considered him fondly, one ear crooked down, before sighing. “Alright, fine, no more teasing for now, I swear it. You want pizza tonight?”

Damn bat, always knew how to diffuse him instantly. Pizza usually did the trick. Shadow hummed. “Sure. But, unless I’m mistaken, I think it’s your turn, joya?”

Rouge snorted and rolled her eyes, flushing a bit at the nickname Shadow had decided on it for her after hearing her call him ‘handsome’ a few too many times: the Spanish for jewel, which he had chosen both because of Rouge’s love for all things gem related and for his own fondness of her. He only pulled it out when he was feeling playful or sentimental, which was rare enough it still felt like a precious gift every time she heard it. “Well, you know, with your memory-“

Shadow gave her a warning glare, and Rouge laughed. “Alright, alright, handsome. My turn to pay. Just got the check for that last job, anyway.” She pulled out her phone and tapped in an order; Shadow didn’t have to bother letting her know what he wanted, she knew him nearly better than he knew himself by now.

“So…,” Rouge began slowly, tilting her head and considering Shadow a long moment. “… Still not teasing, but, what are you and Blue doing for your first Big Day?” She looked back to her phone as she sent off the pizza order before setting it down to give Shadow her full attention.

Shadow blinked. The way she watched him made him squirm uncomfortably, which, knowing Rouge, was rather the point. “… What are you talking about?” Birthday? No, no, it was warm last time, it can’t be that, hasn’t been a year since the Time-Eater…

Rouge gave a disbelieving grin. “You don’t know? Hun, Valentine’s. Whole holiday all about romance and partnership and love, all that? In about… two days?”’

Shadow continued staring, his ears slowly folding back. “…What.”

Rouge’s eyes widened and she covered her mouth. “Oh honey… How do you not know?”

“Well, pardon me for being raised in a space colony where I wasn’t a part of the holiday festivities.” He was growling by the end, fangs displayed as his anxiety mounted.

Rouge sighed. “Alright, alright, look, no need to panic- there’s still time! Do you two have any plans already?”

Shadow stopped growling and thought about the last request the hedgehog had given him. Hey, the square Saturday night, okay? Come about five- Sonic had seemed so… nervous, then. Shadow blinked. Nervous was an odd sight on the annoyingly confident, charming speedster. Did that mean he already had something planned? And they usually met either at Dark’s apartment, or on the rare occasion, Sonic’s house when Tails was out. Why the change of venue?

Maybe that’s the punchline, the gotcha… He pinned his ears harder and scowled. End this… arrangement in a convenient location, cut it off, we both go home. Done. Humiliate me in public for good measure…

“Yes. We’re meeting at the square, at five. But I suspect I know what he has planned, already…”

Rouge hummed. “I mean, it is Valentine’s, sex makes sense- didn’t think Blue was into the public scene, though…”

“No!” Shadow snapped, muzzle darkening and wincing in embarrassment. “N-not sex- and not! There!”

“You don’t have to have so much Catholic guilt about it, you know, my hearing’s strong enough I can hear you moaning Sonic’s praises through the walls. I do appreciate you trying to keep it down when I had that headache last week, that was sweet of you both-“

Shadow curled into himself and buried his face. “No- I mean, obviously, this is his… big finale, of sorts. The reveal, the punchline…” He looked back up and threw his hands out, palms up, to display the breadth and gravity of the anxiety rooting in his heart. “This is where he gets one over on me for all the times I’ve bested him, and I’ve let my guard down enough it’s all but handed him fucking victory-“ His voice was strained by the end, some unspeakable emotion coloring his tone, something too dangerously close to panic for him to ever want to name aloud. He deflated, and covered his face again. How had he left his heart so open? He knew better than this…

Rouge’s face became more and more troubled as Shadow went on, ears folding and eyes widening. As Shadow’s low growl became a snarl that transitioned from angry to pained, she reached out to lay a hand on the hybrid’s arm.

“Shadow Robotnik, you listen to me,” she began carefully. Shadow moved his hands from his face and looked to her from the corner of his eye, a pressure at the back of his throat like his heart was trying to climb out of his own chest. “Sonic is smitten with you, handsome, it’s damn near puppy love. I know because Knuckles tells me everything, which means I know that right now Sonic is going around happy as a lark knowing you’re his partner. Apparently, he’s been very annoying about it all; just truly, disgustingly, falling head-over-heels for you.” She rubbed his arm lightly as she spoke, eyes soft in a way that would have earned anyone else a punch to the jaw. 

Instead, Shadow merely swallowed and looked away, the way she held his gaze while so many feelings ran through him making him uncomfortable. His scowled deepened; he was going for ‘stormy’, but landed somewhere around ‘repressed and terrified’.

Rouge sighed. “He’s not breaking up with you, hun, trust me. First, despite what you might think, assuming everyone’s always trying to get the upper hand over you, Blue would never pull a stunt like that, on anyone. Cruelty isn’t his style, not even for his actual enemies. Second, see all the points I just made before; I think he’d actually drop dead at the thought of hurting you, specifically, like that.”

Shadow clicked his tongue and his scowl slid a touch more towards the ‘stormy’ end of the scale. “He wouldn’t be able to hurt-“

“Hush, you were all but hyperventilating over the thought of this all being some nasty prank, and don’t think I don’t know you’ve been wrestling with that ever since New Year’s,” Rouge said, voice firm. “Stop fighting it so hard- he’s already wormed his way into your heart, denying it’s just a waste of energy.”

Shadow sighed and finally let his scowl drop. He had always been able to let the mask fall around Rouge, though he had yet to figure out quite how the bat had managed to convince him so easily. He turned back to her, let her see the uncertainty in his eyes, unfiltered. She offered only a patient smile, and he felt comforted. “… Fine. But if I go over there and all his idiot friends jump out to laugh at me for being a fool chasing after the blue dumbass, I’m killing every last one of them. Your boyfriend included, so, apologies in advance.”

“Apology accepted. I’ll help bury the bodies myself.”

“Tch, you and I both know I don’t leave enough to bury, joya.” He offered a sharp grin, and Rouge laughed, which coaxed a chuckle out of the dark hybrid, too.

They both relaxed on the couch, conversation drifting through different subjects (finally getting time off to work on the Dark Rider, new upholstery getting installed in the booths downstairs at Club Rouge, making bets on how long it would be before Omega was back from his latest solo mission-) until the doorbell signaled the arrival of dinner. 

Shadow stood to answer it, pulling his gloves back on begrudgingly and muttering something about the ridiculousness of Mobian sensibilities. Rouge’s insistence she get it herself fell on deaf ears as he waved her concern away; but as he opened the door to take the pizzas, the hybrid was reminded why Rouge was normally the one to answer.

Their delivery person was a young girl, a ewe not older than late teens. Her eyes widened at the sight of the grim anti-hero before her, his reputation and infamy preceding him, and she looked… terrified. Shadow frowned, bringing back his scowl, which did nothing to soften his aura.

“U-uh, um, er- here-,” the teen stammered, hands shaking. She flinched when Shadow reached out, even as he did so purposefully slowly, trying to telegraph every move.

Shadow took the boxes from her with a nod. “Ah… I think my roommate left you a tip on the app, didn’t she? I’m not sure how it works. I can get my wallet if you wait a moment-“ Somehow, even this came out with a irritated edge to his voice, perhaps directed at himself, but the poor girl before him shrank back anyway.

“Sure, yeah! A-absolutely, d-don’t worry about it none, sir, I- I gotta go!” She all but ran from the door, stumbling back before speed walking away and to the metal steps leading back down the street level, casting wary glances over her shoulder all the while, as though Shadow was going to go full-Hivemind and chase after her.

Shadow frowned and rolled his eyes. Easily frightened Mobians… He was without his air shoes and wearing old hospital socks with damn grips on the bottoms for Chaos’ sake, not exactly at his most intimidating. His scowl remained even as he carried the boxes to the living room and sat them down on the coffee table, pulling his gloves off in a huff and not bothering to retract his claws, even as they tore through the seams of several fingers.

Rouge watched him carefully, biting her lip. “… Should’ve let me get that, hun, sorry…”

Shadow clicked his tongue, annoyed, and turned for the kitchen to gather drinks and paper towels. “Still better than that time the grocery clerk called me ‘Prince Doom’,” he muttered darkly, scowl deepening.

Rouge winced. She remembered that day, specifically she recalled the way Shadow froze at the name, pupils constricting to vertical slits in crimson irises, unblinking stare locked onto the the clerk who, minutes before, had their chest puffed and all the confidence in the world to ‘confront’ the ‘evil’ behind the old Black Arms invasion. Of course, after the cold rage that could be felt pouring off Shadow in waves, he had shrunk back, clearly seeing the fault in railing against a being who’s power peaked somewhere beyond cosmic level. Rouge had abandoned their things on the conveyor belt and gave the clerk a nasty glare as she pushed Shadow out of the line and back through the doors, quietly averting the nuclear-meltdown-level-catastrophe that threatened to engulf the small produce market.

“We just have more PR to do, don’t worry,” Rouge assured as Shadow returned from the kitchen. She accepted the plate and paper towel he pressed her way, as well as the glass of dark red wine that she hadn’t needed to ask for. She noted with some amusement, first, that Shadow had brought the entire bottle back with him, which meant they were definitely going wine shopping soon; and second, that he brought back a fork for himself, as he couldn’t stand the way the grease and crumbs stuck to his paw pads or got under his claws.

Shadow snorted. “No need. Fools who listen to too many desperate news reports trying to rake in enough revenue to cover studio rent for the next month will think whatever they wish. Hardly worth wasting time trying to change their minds.” His furrowed brow betrayed the irritation he tried to force out of his voice.

Rouge shook her head and slipped off her gloves. She dished out a couple slices of pizza to his plate (olives and banana peppers and green onions, absolutely no meat, not after the horrors of the first invasion and the cattle pens full of screaming, terrified people-) while he poured himself a glass of wine. She didn’t even comment when he overfilled the glass near to the rim, her eyes quickly glancing over his bristled quills, telling her all she needed to know. She knew Shadow had tried his best, in the last year or so, to integrate back into society. To be better, to repair his reputation. The Black Arms invasion had been nearly three years ago now, with the dark hybrid accomplishing an overwhelming amount of good to counteract all the horrors committed under the manipulation of Doom and the Hivemind. 

It hardly seemed to matter, though; the Time-Eater event and word getting out that Black Doom had nearly returned using Shadow’s own body as his vessel had reawakened old, buried fears. The world was back to cringing at the mere sight of the hedgehog, with his oversized fangs and wicked claws and pointed, tufted ears, the quills that fused to make a feathered edge on the end of his too-long-tail— every inch of him seemed to remind the world, all the worlds, that he was an anomaly. That he didn’t belong. 

Rouge thought that was bullshit, herself. Of course he belonged. He belonged right where he was, sitting beside her, scowling into his wine that she was pretty sure was his second glass, poured while he thought she wasn’t paying attention, and already half empty. She smiled. “Slow down, there, handsome, let me catch up before you go getting drunk on me.”

Shadow blew and set his glass down, carving of a bite off the pizza from his plate with his fork. “You know it takes more than wine to actually get me even close to drunk.” He took the bite to his mouth, leveling Rouge with an unimpressed look as he did. 

Rouge smirked, and Shadow’s ears pinned at the realization he had just left himself too open. “Ooh, don’t I know it,” she teased. “Whatever Sonic gave you on New Year’s must’ve been pretty strong, then, huh?”

Shadow swallowed and his muzzle colored again, a hot flush over his face. “… Strong enough…,” he muttered, averting his eyes.

“You don’t have to be bashful about it, hun,” Rouge assured gently, remembering her promise and dropping the teasing tone in her voice. “I get it, heart wants what it wants, right? We can’t decide who we fall for.”

Shadow set his fork down and stared pensively at the table, brow furrowed in deep thought. “It’s just… is that what this is? This feeling?” He reached up and pressed his hand to his chest, claws curling into the thick fur there. He seemed lost, and Rouge sighed.

“… Do you enjoy seeing him? No bullshit, tell me straight.”

“… Yes.”

“Do hate to leave him, when the visit’s over?”

“Yes.”

“Do you think about him when he’s not around, and does it make your heart feel light?”

Shadow swallowed thickly and nodded. “Not light… but.. lighter.” He looked up to Rouge, and there was poorly disguised pain across his face. “But… does it matter?”

Rouge tilted her head, brow raised in question.

The hybrid growled and turned away again. “Sonic has… a reputation. A good reputation. And I… clearly don’t. Pursuing him is… selfish. And can only lead to misery for us both.” His voice was low, conflict evident behind his eyes that he tried to cover with anger and frustration.

“And you get to make this decision… for him?”

Shadow looked up, a warning rumbling in his chest. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Exactly what it sounds like,” Rouge said tersely. “You’d never stand someone making a call like that for you, why do you get to make it for him?” She tilted her head and met his gaze, unflinchingly. Shadow had to admit he admired her tenacity, sometimes. Sometimes. “You know, if I didn’t know better, it almost would seem like you’re scared and looking for an excuse this relationship won’t work out. Let it happen, Shadow… you might find out you actually like having someone like Sonic around.”

He sighed and carved another bite of his pizza. Damn bat. Damn perceptive bat, figuring out his thoughts and feelings just ahead of him, every damn time. “… Fine. But when the world turns on him because of me, I don’t want to hear it from anyone about me tarnishing Mobian’s favorite golden boy.”

Rouge snorted and picked a slice for herself. “Don’t worry- honestly, I’m more concerned about his effect on you- maybe he’s not being the best influence, you know? Keeping you out late to all hours, the nerve of that boy! Should have a talk with him-,” the bat began, tone light and teasing as she took a bite of pizza.

“Do not,” Shadow growled, and though it was half-hearted at best in acknowledgement of Rouge’s jest, there was a light behind his eyes that assured her the threat would be made very real should she actually be harboring any plans on having her little talk with the blue speedster.

The bat shook her head and laughed, then tapped Shadow’s plate to get him to eat more of his food. The hybrid acquiesced, begrudgingly, and they fell into a companionable silence. Rouge caught up to Shadow’s second glass of wine, though stopped short of overtaking him.

When they were finished and relaxing against the couch, both dreading getting up to clean the mess left behind, Rouge picked back up their discussion. “So, really, what are you gonna do for Valentine’s?”

Shadow grunted. “What am I supposed to do? You said sex? You’ll be with the echidna, I assume? So I suppose I could bring Sonic back here, after we do… whatever he wants to do around the square.”

Rouge’s face flushed and she snorted. “I mean, a lot of folks do that, sure. But there’s steps to these things, hun…”

“Usually enough to make it back to the bedroom, yes. More than usual, in this case.” He had turned to her with genuine confusion, brow furrowed. Confusion for Shadow was always one step away from irritation.

Coming from anyone else, that would have seemed more like a joke, or at least an attempt at sarcasm. But Shadow only very rarely did sarcasm, and even then typically only in the context of sneering at his enemies. This felt… sincere. Rouge hummed. “I mean more like… social steps. Little things people are expected to do for one another on Valentine’s, when they’re dating.”

“We aren’t dating-“

“Sleeping together, then, fine, whatever you call your… situationship.”

Shadow’s eyes narrowed. “Situ… ationship? Sure, fine.” He blew and waved a hand as he stood to clean the table. It was meant as a signal he was done with the conversation.

It hadn’t worked in the past, and it wouldn’t work now. Rouge stood with him and started gathering the wine and glasses. “What are you wearing to see him?”

Shadow shot a look over his shoulder. “What do you mean? Just, my usual, probably. This. Minus the hospital socks because I have more dignity than that. Plus my air shoes, I guess. And my gloves, because Sonic gets… weird, when I’m not wearing those, and I’d like to save that until later in the night. I think I’ve got another pair somewhere…” He sighed at the thought of his ruined gloves, sitting on the coffee table. He’d have to buy more, soon.

Rouge bit her lip. “I mean… you could just go like you normally do, and I’m sure Big Blue would have no complaints, but…”

Shadow narrowed his gaze as he slid their plates and his fork into the kitchen sink and ran some water over them. “But…? What, bat, spit it out.” There was a little snarl to his voice that Rouge found adorable.

She smirked. “But, I have full faith you can do better.”

Shadow paused and eyed her suspiciously. “… Go on.”

Good, she had his attention, then. Rouge held up a finger, an indication to hold for a moment. She disappeared down the hall and into her room, and Shadow’s ears pricked at the sound of her rustling through things. She reappeared a moment later with a box in her hands, excited grin on her face.

“I bought you these.”

“… Why.”

“You don’t even know what they are, open it!”

Shadow’s eyes narrowed, but he turned off the sink and dried his hands anyway. He took the box from her cautiously, as though expecting a trap. It was black and well-made, tied with black twine. He scowled at Rouge, but the bat only gave him two thumbs up as she shooed him from the sink so she could finished washing up.

He turned the box over to find a familiar logo engraved on a corner.  His face flamed and he turned it back over quickly, shooting an alarmed look to Rouge. The logo was from a store Shadow had seen on the trips to the mall Rouge mandated many times, but had thus far always refused to go in- usually with a dark green flush over his face and his quills bristling- much like he was now. The bat only grinned again and snorted. “Don’t worry, don’t worry, I know the brand has… connotations, but, these are very tasteful- casual wear, even! Little… controversial, but, you always do love being the biggest controversy in the room, so…”

Shadow looked back to the box. He moved to a free counter and carefully opened the lid, folding it back. Its contents were covered by black tissue paper- he was beginning to sense a theme. He peeled the paper back, ears pinning uncertainly, then blinked. “Oh?”

He very nearly grinned, which was as good of a seal of approval as anyone could wish from the surly hedgehog. Inside the box was a pair of black leather, fingerless gloves, with a small window in the backs open and an adjustable strap just over the knuckles that snapped with small golden rivets. The leather was darker than the black of Shadow’s fur, around the same color as his nail beds. He picked them up and turned them over his hands, impressed by their quality- they felt flexible, but sturdy, nearly as much as his usual gloves. He slipped them over his hands, tightening the strap over the knuckles, and fiddled with their cuffs until they sat comfortably against his inhibitors.

He turned his hands over, marveling at the newfound freedom of his claws being out of the stifling confinement of his normal gloves. How had he never thought of this obvious compromise? To Hell with whatever strange hang-up Mobius had with the sight of uncovered hands, he could finally extend his talons without sacrificing yet another pair of gloves in the process- he really did grin, now, fangs turning the expression toothy and a bit unsettling.

Rouge was warmed by it, nonetheless, as she looked back over her shoulder to watch the hybrid. She knew better than to mention it, but she was especially pleased to see his tail twitching behind him, the beginnings of a stilted sort of wag. Hedgehogs… She smiled. “You approve, I’m guessing?”

Shadow looked back to her and nodded, flexing his claws to their full extent. They curved, sickle-like and scythe-sharp, somewhere between 'mountain lion' and ‘raptor’ “Yes, very much so.” 

There was that light in his eyes, again, the same she had seen to hear him describe his new powerset to her, months ago. GUN, even now, didn’t know the full lengths of Shadow’s new abilities, not beyond what he had to tell them. He had carried so much shame, after the first invasion, knowing he came from a stock of nightmares and monsters; but after his second confrontation with Doom, after besting him once and for all and claiming his power as his own, as the one true heir to the Black Arms dynasty, he had seemed excited by the new changes the transformation had wrought in his body: his fangs, his claws, his longer tail with its bladed end, the quills that made sharp fans from the backs of his elbows. He claimed Rouge read too much into things, and that he was only intrigued by the new fighting styles open to him now with his new powers, but Rouge knew better. Shadow had begun his life post-ARK and post-waking-up as Sonic’s rival, as his double, little better than a edgier, angrier clone of the upbeat speedster, despite technically coming first. These new powers changed all that, gave him a certain signature he could claim for himself, no matter how laden it might be with elements of his dark, extraterrestrial heritage. At long last, Shadow had an identity all his own, and he relished it, no matter how much he may also rail against the world’s decision to outcast him for it.

It was why Rouge had known he would love the gloves; after all, they were another opportunity to show off something that made him unique amongst hedgehogs. A reminder to everyone he could be dangerous, but only if he chose to be. He was other, but by his own will, to Hell with the world, and he would embrace it. Shadow was full of contradictions, and Rouge welcomed them all- his desire to be accepted, his desire to be more; his need for close bonds, his deep-set fear of letting others too close. Her friend was interesting, and hard to read, but so very rewarding once she learned how.

Rouge flicked an ear. Of course, there were likely other reasons for liking the gloves, too. “Looks great on you, king. Think Sonic’s gonna love ‘em, too.”

Shadow’s eyes widened, just a bit, and she could hardly miss the way his pupils dilated for a brief moment at the thought. He ran one hand over the other as he lowered them, feeling the cool glide of the leather against itself, ears back again and grin wavering. “Yes. I’m sure he will, he has… odd tastes.”

“And you like that.”

A sigh. “And I… maybe like that.”

Rouge turned back to the sink with a soft laugh. “More than maybe, Shadow.”

Shadow watched her a long moment before coming to lean against the counter by the sink, arms crossed. She had known about his infatuation with the blue hedgehog longer than he had been willing to admit he had one. She had watched their little confrontations during missions and chance encounters go from general disdain on Shadow’s part, to begrudging respect, to vaguely panicked interest. Though she had tried coaching him through his ‘crush’ (her words, not his, and he still wanted to snarl at the term-), Shadow turned out to be a stubborn pupil. Rather than allow himself to slowly grow closer to the speedster and nurture a healthy new relationship from the ground up, he had stumbled head first into the thick of things in a drunken night of questionable decisions.

He felt more ready to accept Rouge’s mentorship, now that he was, well and truly, in over his head. “You mentioned… steps, before. That are expected on this… particular holiday,” he began, waving one hand in vague circular motion as he searched for the words. “Explain them to me.”

Rouge hummed. “The gloves are a start,” she said. “Part of it is less stepwise and more… ambience. What you wear, how you talk. The process starts before you leave the apartment to go see him.”

Shadow inclined his head. “… I see. Dressing up for him, then.” He had seen that in the telenovelas Rouge watched; he, of course, only watched with her to aid in translating the more obscure phrases or context she couldn’t grasp. Not that he enjoyed them at all, no.

The thought a new episode would air later that night crossed his mind, and he made a mental note to remind Rouge after their conversation.

Rouge nodded earnestly. “Yes, exactly! Dressing nice. The key is, it has to be something you like and feel good in while also, ideally, being something he finds irresistible. Thus, the new gloves. Maybe your jacket, too, it could be a sweet touch- might remind him of your first night together, you know?”

Shadow hummed and tapped his fingers against his arm, half-extended claws catching in his fur. “I could… go on the Dark Rider, instead of teleporting? I notice him… watching me, a bit more closely, when I ride.” Among other things.

“Ooh, yes, yes, that’s a good idea! Blue does love anything that even suggests speed, and you on that bike? You’ll have him on his knees before you even dismount. You’re good at this, handsome- look at you, a real Casanova!” Rouge’s grin was playful, but not malicious, and Shadow couldn’t help but preen a bit under the praise of his best friend. “You’ll sweep him right off his feet.”

“… Sparring is a step in this process? I thought I was beginning to understand this holiday, but, you’ve lost me-“

Rouge sighed, but her grin turned to a fond smile. “And… there you are. I don’t mean literally, hun. I mean, he’ll be all over you, unable to keep his hands off you. He will find you incredibly attractive, even more than he usually does, and that’s the whole point.”

“So, the point is to be seductive?” Shadow considered her, some light behind his ruby eyes like an idea was forming. Rouge couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a scary thing, in his case.

She nodded. “Precisely. But, for you, I’d say, you should go for romantic and seductive, classy, but suggestive. It’s very on-brand for you. Now, final touch, and you aren’t gonna like this one- let me do your nails.”

Shadow’s ears pinned and he side stepped away from her, eyes wide and nose scrunching in horror. “What.”

Rouge laughed and put the dishes to dry on the rack. She flicked water off her hands before drying them on the towel hanging over the oven door. “Nothing crazy, it’s just, if Sonic’s going to be so infatuated by your hands- which, fair enough, you do have very nice hands, don’t get me wrong- then you should lean into that. Shape your claws a little, have some fun?”

Shadow’s arms tightened where they were crossed, and his fingers disappeared under his upper arms, as though Rouge was threatening to tackle him and clip his nails right then and there. “…What kind of fun? No paint, that was hell to get off-“

“Because you weren’t supposed to take it off, but whatever,” Rouge sighed, crossing her own arms. “What about black? And I know they’re already black, but, just something to shine them up a bit, draw his attention? It’ll be subtle, I promise- and I’ll help you get it off if you hate it. Which you won’t.”

Shadow grunted and tilted his head. “… Fine. Subtle, you swear it?”

Rouge snorted. “‘Swear it’ always sounds so threatening, coming from you. Yes, handsome, I swear it. Now go sit in the living room, I’ll get supplies!”

Shadow hummed as the bat bundled past him to her room. Well, it would make her happy at least, even if he was sure he would be soaking his hands in acetone, later. He shook his head and went for the couch again- he may as well turn the channel over to their Rouge’s show while they worked.

He leaned back as the show came one, pulling a leg up to hug his knee to his chest. Classy and seductive… he could make that work.

—- —- —- —- —-

It had been one month, one week, and six days since the cabin. Since the Shadow almost dying incident and the alcohol and the everything else that followed. The several, several other meetings that had followed. The hard conversation Sonic had resolved to have still left un-discussed, swept away the moment the two former rivals-turned-lovers were alone, lost in the heat of a shared desperation to be on one another, in one another…

But it had to be done. He had to make it clear his intentions: this needed to be more than a fling; more than passionate rendezvous, a few soft words shared in the warmth of their afterglow if they had time enough and a quick, clipped parting come the next morning. He had to make it clear, he wanted more. This was more. 

He wasn’t sure how to bring that up, at this point. The expectation for their meetings now felt like it was solidifying, setting itself in stone- it was easy, and understood, and should he really rock the boat?

Sonic was not panicking. He did not panic. Pacing the ground along the top of the cliff where he liked to do the majority of his overthinking with a vaguely shell-shocked look on his face was perfectly normal, thank you very much-

Knuckles was watching him with poorly disguised boredom. “… This about Shadow?”

Sonic stopped and turned on a heel, hands in shaking fists by his side. “No! Not everything’s about him, you know?”

Knuckles blinked, bored and no longer interested in the pretense of hiding it. “Uh-huh. ‘Cept this, right?”

Sonic groaned and crossed his arms, turning about-face and glaring out over the cliff. He was wearing the new gloves from New Year’s, with their navy-and-white color block design, as well as the wristguard with Tails’ minimap and tracker. It had been updated since with a better sonar (one that didn’t set off a migraine for every high-frequency hearing Mobian in radius), and though he hadn’t needed it since that night in the snowstorm, he liked having the upgrade on hand. And it felt good being in his little brother’s tech, even if the fox had been a little closed off, recently. Something Sonic hadn’t had time to get to the bottom of, unfortunately.

Rustling let him know Knuckles had moved to stand by him, his own arms crossed in mirror to the blue hedgehog. “We gonna talk about this or we gonna spar? ‘Cause you look like you really need to do at least one of those, right now.”

Sonic groaned again. “I don’t want to do either,” he grumbled, quills bristling. “… Or. Maybe the sparring one.”

Knuckles grunted. “Whatever you need,” he said, shrugging. “But… you spar like shit when stuff's on your mind. Maybe unload it first?”

“Oooh, cheap trick, promising a spar but making me spill my heart first,” Sonic muttered, quills nearly on end now, static sparking against his back. He felt caged and unsettled, more so than usual. He turned to glare at his friend, and the red warrior met it with a deadpan expression.

Finally, Sonic settled, quills relaxing and shoulders deflating. He dropped to a cross-legged sit on the ground, and Knuckles rolled his eyes before joining him. “Talk,” the echidna sighed.

Sonic nodded. “Okay. You’re right, it… it is about Shadow.”

“Yeah, that much I knew. Go on.”

“It’s just… I don’t know. I… I think I might be sending the wrong message, you know? Like, TMI, but, we see each other and we just… can’t stop, you know? It’s like… electric. I keep trying to have a real conversation with him, tell him I what I want, tell him I want to have like… I don’t know, a relationship, or whatever, but… the next thing I know, we’re in bed, or in the shower, or- heh, this time a few weeks ago on the back of the Dark Rider, that was interesting, Chaos, he’s flexible…” Sonic cleared his throat and looked back up, muzzle flushing. “Sorry. Um. Anyway, yeah, so, basically, we haven’t really had the what are we talk because we can’t keep our hands off each other, and he’s like, really, really good at just… turning my brain to stir fry.”

Knuckles shifted uncomfortably but didn’t stop his friend’s rant, even as it brought up the memory having to listen to the two hedgehogs being “electric” over New Year’s. Not for long, of course, he had other things that night to focus on, thankfully, but the sounds he’d heard coming from the living room weren’t something he ever wanted to hear from his friend, ever, ever again.

“… Alright, so, ignoring the… egregious oversharing, thanks for that- it sounds like you want more than a bed partner out of this relationship, but you’re too scared to lose what you’ve got to risk reaching for more. ‘Specially with someone as flighty as Shadow. How am I doing so far?”

Sonic blinked. “How’d you do that? That’s it exactly-“

Knuckles snorted. “Spend enough time by yourself, you start to learn how to look in. And you start thinking more about the people around you and how to read ‘em- you’re probably the easiest, honestly, kinda an open book.”

“Huh. You’re good, Knux, damn. Rouge’s is lucky to have you, bet you’re a good listener for her.”

Knuckles accepted the compliment with a firm nod, it was something he took pride in. He’d also learned his friend tended to make heartfelt compliments randomly and without prompting, and learning to accept them without fanfare made them settle easier. “Now, about how to actually solve your problem…”

Sonic sighed and threw himself back in the grass, hoping the feeling of it against his back would soothe him the way it normally did. It did, a little, as did the sun against his chest, but not like he wanted it to. Some annoying, besotted little part of his brain wondered if he’d feel better with Shadow beside him…

“Valentine’s is coming up, you made plans, right?” Knuckles asked, leaning back on a mitted hand and looking to the hedgehog over his shoulder.

Sonic nodded. “Yeah, yeah, we’re meeting at the square at 5. I kinda… panic-asked him to meet me. Really wanted to be cool about it, but…”

Knuckles laughed. “You’re smitten, and it’s rotting your brain. There’s no such thing as being cool about anything for you, right now. Easier to accept it.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to get that sense.”

“What are you gonna do at the square?”

Sonic sighed and covered his face. “I don’t know… maybe dinner? There’s some restaurants around there… Shads doesn’t like going out much, but, maybe…”

Knuckles tilted his head, considering the possibilities. “That could work. It’s classic date stuff, and being in a restaurant in public would force you two to keep your hands to yourself for a change.”

Sonic sat up, emerald eyes bright. Knuckles found his ‘I have an idea’ face both startling and immensely unsettling. “That’s it, Knux! Yes, okay, so, dinner date, perfect- I can call the restaurant tonight, maybe reserve us a table, someplace maybe outside and off to the corner where we can be more private-“

“The point is less privacy, Sonic,” Knuckles grumbled. “You can’t be trusted with privacy. Hell, I wouldn’t have considered the- what did you say? The back of the Dark Rider?- private, and yet you two crazy bastards apparently made that work-”

Sonic nodded, distracted and hardly listening, quills whipping as he did. “Right, right, but that’s where you come in!”

“…Me?”

“Yes!” Sonic launched himself at the echidna, on his knees now and grabbing Knuckles’ shoulders roughly. The warrior froze and his eyes widened. “You and Rouge! You two come with us to the restaurant, not like, together, maybe stagger the times or something, and you can keep an eye on us and make sure we keep things PG-13.”

Knuckles growled and looked annoyed, and Sonic took that as a gentle warning that his touch was not wanted. He removed his hands and put them instead on his folded legs, ears perked and tail wagging, pleased with his fool-proof plan he was sure his friend would agree with.

“So, let me get this straight,” Knuckles began slowly, eyes narrowed. “You want me to give up date night with my partner, on Valentine’s Day, to chaperone you and yours?”

Sonic’s tail slowed and he blinked. “I mean… when you put it like that… No, man, like, we don’t need a chaperone- just, you being there will remind me I’m supposed to behave, you know? Like if I know you’re there and keeping tabs on things. Maybe intervening if things are moving in the wrong direction, you know? And I can text you a signal to let you know when the conversation’s over, that way you can give your lady the undivided attention she deserves. It won’t take long, I promise, I’ll get the conversation going soon as I can.”

The echidna sat back with a grunt. “I guess… But, those two live together. If we make the same plans with both of them, they’re gonna talk, and then they’ll have us figured out.” He considered briefly bringing Rouge into the fold, but the risk she’d talk to Shadow was too high.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right…Well, what if we make it a surprise? I’m thinking I’ll bring Shads to that fusion place, you know the one, Tsunami? But he doesn’t know that, just that we’re meeting on the square. Maybe you surprise Rouge like that?”

Knuckles tilted his head side to side a few times. “I… guess that could work. We could sit inside, make it less likely we’re spotted. By a window so we can see out, though, and I can keep an eye on you.”

Sonic nodded eagerly, grinning. “It’s perfect! Aw, thanks man, this means a lot to me, you know? Plus… I don’t know, it’ll just feel easier knowing you’re close by, you got that like, calming presence-aura-thing. Makes my brain quiet down a little.” He was smiling warmly, his tail wagging a bit longer, before he leapt up to his feet.

Knuckles blew, face warmed, and stood, too. Amy had once said, upon reflecting why she had chased the blue hedgehog so long despite knowing neither of them were straight enough to make a good match, that she had come to realize Sonic had a knack for, on purpose or not, making everyone fall just a little bit in love with him. Knuckles wouldn’t go that far, but, well, he certainly couldn’t deny the protective fondness he had for the speedster. “Whatever. You ask Tails about this, by the way? Seems like the kind of mushy stuff you two would talk about.”

Sonic’s tail stilled, and he seemed to deflate a bit. “That’s… something else, actually.” He turned to face his friend, hands on his hips, and blew tiredly. “I’ve been kinda distracted recently, you know? But, something’s up with Tails, ever since New Year’s, we haven’t really… connected, the way we normally do.”

Knuckles grunted, he could imagine a few reasons why. “Probably trying to get the sound of you defiling the Ultimate Lifeform out of his head, poor kid. His room was closest out of all ours.”

Sonic’s eyes widened and he stilled, eyes flicking to Knuckles. “Heh.. heh, uh, what?”

Knuckles blinked and he looked pained. “Sonic. Sonic don’t tell me you didn’t know that we all heard-“

Sonic’s hands slowly moved to his head, gripping his quills harshly, his ears pinning back. “What?”

“How do you think I knew about you two so early?” Knuckles asked patiently.

Sonic shuddered. He assumed it was because he hadn’t been exactly trying to hide his new, budding… whatever this was with Shadow. The thought all his friends had heard him-

Oh Gaia, no wonder Tails can’t fucking look me in the eye-

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! You guys- you guys heard-“

“Yes. At length.”

Sonic pulled at his quills and turned away, unable to look the echidna in the eye for the moment. “This is humiliating…”

Knuckles hated seeing his friend upset, but he couldn’t help but agree. So he didn’t say anything. He also decided against mentioning that Rouge had also definitely heard their subsequent visits at Team Dark’s shared apartment.

Sonic groaned, loudly. “Okay. Okay. Fine, cool, good, whatever…” He took a deep breath, then another, and a final one, then braced his fists against his hips. “So, add ‘unpacking trauma with Tails’ to the to-do list, check, good. Should be fun.”

Knuckles grunted and crossed his arms. “How you gonna approach that?”

Sonic shrugged and pinned his ears. “I don’t know. Try to catch him in his workshop, I guess. It’s not like him not to just talk to me, though, even if it’s… weird.”

“Maybe he’s got other things going on, who knows. Kid’s getting older now, getting more complicated every day.”

Sonic snorted and nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. Can’t worry about it until I talk to him- but, first, you did promise a spar-“ The hedgehog dropped into crouch, one hand up as a counter-balance and the other palm-down on the grass, bright eyes and locked onto Knuckles.

By this point, the echidna warrior wasn’t shocked at the sudden change of subject; Sonic’s train of thought was nearly faster than his feet. He laughed and shook his head, taking a step back and punching a fist into an open hand. “Did, didn’t I? Alright, lover boy, show me what you got-“

—- —- —- —- —-

The sun was starting to tease the edge of the horizon, reflecting in bright points off Shadow’s helmet as he rode. He would be late, but, he had chosen to take a drive outside the city to clear his head before going to meet Sonic.

He still wasn’t sure what he was walking into, and it made him uncharacteristically nervous. He was also regretting letting Rogue talk him into so many outfit changes- without his usual attire, he felt… strange. Not like himself. The feeling jolted through him in particular every time he adjusted his feet against the rearsets; instead of the hard grind of metal bumpered air shoes against the platforms, he was met with the firm, rubbery catch of his boots’ treads. Black leather combat boots with contrasting red threading, platformed and, at Rouge’s instance, with a tall block heel that was going to kill his feet by the end of the night. Well. At least he’d be able to look Sonic in the eye without straining, for once.

But without air shoes, he would be unable to match the hedgehog’s speed in a flat out race. Rouge assured him racing was not the typical Valentine’s date activity, but, with Sonic, Shadow could never really be sure. And what if they were attacked? What if he was ambushed, what if GUN decided to end their cooperation and came for him, what if some new cosmic threat appeared that very night and Shadow was stuck in ridiculous shoes he couldn’t infuse his chaos energy into-

He pulled up to the square and rounded the block perhaps a touch faster than necessary, the Dark Rider roaring as he pushed her maneuverability to its brink to come to stop in a smooth glide. He pushed out the kickstand as he stood from the bike then pulled off his helmet, adjusting his quills before locking his helmet to the handlebars. He raked his quills one last time, shaking his head so they fluffed in their usual way.

“Whenever you’re done fixing your hair.”

Shadow stepped away from his bike and spotted Sonic standing a few feet from him, arms crossed over his chest. The hedgehog was clearly going for something approaching cross, but the way his eyes raked hungrily over Shadow let the hybrid know the annoyance was mild at best. Maybe the outfit changes aren’t all so bad, then.

Shadow snorted and tilted his head, considering his partner. Sonic wasn’t in his usual, either- his bandana he so often wore had been exchanged for a large patterned navy and white scarf, draped about his neck and covering a shoulder. He also wore a dark navy coat. It looked nice on the hedgehog, as did his new gloves he had taken to wearing instead of his old solid white ones. His sneakers were exchanged for a pair of darker, muted high tops that looked at like they’d had the soles run out of them at least one fewer times than his typical pair.

Overall, he was what Shadow might consider ‘cleaned up’, and he looked good. Sonic’s pupils were dilated- so, the speedster was reaching a similar conclusion about Shadow, then. Mutual attraction such as theirs did tend to lead to certain activities, ones Shadow had come to crave from his partner like a man starved; but, Rouge had implored him to slow down and enjoy their date, first. Draw things out. Tease a little.

He knew how to tease the hedgehog, and the consequences of such games. Sonic could be explosive, when properly motivated. Shadow subdued a shiver that threatened to run down his spine and took a breath to settle his nerves, trying to put out the fire igniting in his belly.

“You’re late,” Sonic said, walking to the hybrid and circling him appraisingly. He had given up trying to look upset and was instead smirking as he looked over his date.

Shadow’s quills bristled at the predatory gaze; it was exciting him. Well, he could be exciting, too. “You don’t seem too cut up over it, erizo,” he growled. He reached to adjust his jacket, the red and white sakura letterman he’d worn on New Year’s over his shoulders as he tracked Sonic, letting it fall open more to expose the thick white fur of his chest that drove Sonic crazy. In doing so, he brought the hedgehog’s attention to his new gloves.

There was a brief moment where Shadow was genuinely concerned he would have to catch the man from falling out on the sidewalk. He came to an abrupt stop in front of the hybrid, ears shoved forward and muzzle flamed. His eyes were wide, and Shadow didn’t have to see Sonic’s tail to know it was a wagging blue bur behind him.

He reached for Shadow’s hands, almost shyly, and Shadow snorted before letting him have them. Sonic held them gently before turning them over, their backs resting in Sonic’s palms. He brushed a thumb reverently over Shadow’s hands, his own short claw tips teasing the leather edge on each finger through the material of his own gloves. His breath was getting quicker, and the beginnings of a rapid purr was building in his chest.

Shadow blew softly. “Slow down, erizo,” he teased, dropping his voice low, which wasn’t helping. He tilted his head; the height from his boots let him be almost eye to eye with his partner, though still just under enough he had to tip his chin. He turned his hands, fingers closing around Sonic’s, exposed claws extending and scratching lightly over his partner’s gloves. “Have all night, remember? Ten paciencia, amante~”

Sonic shivered and stared at Shadow a long moment, pupils blown and ears back. He blinked and swallowed thickly. “Teasing’s not nice, you know,” he growled, leaning in close. Shadow fought himself from reacting to the proximity, but he couldn’t stop the flush that darkened his muzzle or the flash of arousal in his eyes at the low, raspy tone Sonic adopted.

Sonic smirked and pressed a quick, chaste kiss to Shadow’s cheek. “C’mon, we got reservations to make, you know?”

Shadow wrestled his mutinous brain into submission, then blinked as Sonic’s words processed. “… Reservations? For… what?”

“For… dinner?” the speedster replied, adopting Shadow’s same questioning tone as he turned, still holding one of the hybrid’s hands to lead him across the park at the center of the square.  There were many people out that evening, mostly couples, walking and talking and holding hands. Some sat on benches or blankets over the grass.

Almost all of them did double takes as the pair of hedgehogs walked through- at first to grin and wave excitedly at Sonic, only to freeze, hands dropping and eyes widening, at the sight of Shadow beside him. The hybrid tensed, the dark green flush over his muzzle growing ever more prominent, and he lightly pulled his hand from Sonic’s as they walked. Instead, he pushed both of his hands into his jacket pockets, ears pinned and quills bristling under the scrutiny of the public’s attention. The tip of his tail flicked anxiously.

Sonic’s steps faltered but did not pause at the loss of Shadow’s hand in his. He did fold his ears back a bit, though, and looked sheepishly at his date as he slowed so they could walk shoulder to shoulder. “Too much?” he asked quietly.

Shadow cast a wary look around them, eyes darting from one face to the next. “…They’re staring.”

“Yeah, ‘cause like, have you looked at yourself? You know what a snack is, Shads? ‘Cause that’s what you are. A whole snack.”

Shadow’s wariness turned to irritation. He watched Sonic through narrowed eyes for a second before saying, “…I don’t think you’re using that word correctly.” The scowl startled a few of the people who had been openly staring at the hybrid, and they quickly turned away, wide-eyed and pale faced.

Sonic laughed and nudged Shadow’s shoulder with his. “It means you’re attractive, Shads, ease up. No one’s actually about to try to like, eat you, or anything.”

Shadow grunted and shook out his quills. “Why not just say that, then?” he grumbled. Sharp eyes tracked the faces around them- he caught their looks of fear, of panic at the sight of him. Of disgust. His shoulders hunched and he shifted his arms to push his jacket tighter around himself. He wasn’t sure how he had fooled himself into thinking this would be a good idea, but, already he wanted to be anywhere else. Whatever Sonic might think, he didn’t imagine any of the faces he caught following their progress across the square were made out of attraction.

Sonic frowned at the obvious discomfort, but he didn’t seem to know what to do to help alleviate his partner’s stress. He let their arms brush, tentatively, and relaxed when Shadow pressed a bit more into his side.

“…I like the new kicks, by the way,” Sonic said, looking forward as they walked. The restaurant was in sight, and he angled them both towards the square corner so they could cross to it.

Shadow grunted again. “I, er… thanks.”

Sonic grinned and looked back to his partner again, quills shifting and bobbing. “I mean it, you know? They look nice on you. It all looks nice on you, if you couldn’t tell from how I reacted, back there.” He ran a hand through his quills and scratched at the back of his head nervously.

The hybrid’s flushed muzzle wasn’t going away any time soon, but as his scowl softened, it at least wasn’t from embarrassment or irritation anymore. “…Thanks… You… you look nice, too. I- I should have said before-“

Sonic laughed and leaned over to kiss Shadow’s temple in a quick peck before the hybrid could push him off. “It’s okay, we were both a little distracted, huh? You just had to come screeching up on the Dark Rider, knowing I can’t handle myself around you and that bike…”

Shadow relaxed, eyes becoming hooded and a smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth. “Mm… predictable, predictable,” he sighed, grin showing off fangs that made Sonic shiver.

The hedgehog snorted and shook out his quills, trying to force them to lie flat again. He bumped into Shadow’s side as they crossed the road to Tsunami, jostling the hybrid and making him shoulder check Sonic in return. They both laughed, ramming one another with increasing strength until Sonic very nearly came off his feet, stopped only by Shadow snatching him back to balance. They had all the room in the world on the sidewalk for such games; passersby only needed one look Shadow’s way to give both hedgehogs a wide berth. 

Shadow was trying really, really hard not to read too much into that.

Sonic gave his name to the hostess when arrived inside, and to her credit, she did not seem phased by the presence of Shadow by his side. It made one, at least; others in the restaurant were less thrilled about sharing space with the hybrid.

Shadow sighed in relief as they were led outside to a table near tall, well trimmed shrubs. It was still near others, but far fewer than it would have been inside. It was a square, twisted wrought-iron table with a flickering lantern set into a small centerpiece and two matching chairs at ninety-degrees to one another; the atmosphere was soft and romantic, under the quickly darkening evening sky. He took a seat, the chair tall enough he could pick his feet up and set them flat against its legs, the toes of his boots against the ground.

Sonic took his seat, too, and nodded his thanks as the hostess set menus down for them. “Your server will be around in just a second,” she assured, and left back to the front.

Before Shadow could open his mouth to ask Sonic what made him want to come here, a server appeared to take their drink orders. They seemed more nervous than the hostess, but Shadow tried to imagine that perhaps they were just newer to their job. He ignored the wide side-eye they kept sending his way.

“Maybe just some water, for now,” Sonic said, and looked to Shadow with a grin. “I went ahead and ordered some wine when I made the reservation- don’t worry, Rouge told me once what kinds you liked and I did some reading up on like, different ones and stuff. I’m like, basically a wine-expert, at this point.” He leaned back, hands locked behind his head under his quills with a self-pleased smirk.

Shadow snorted. “Wine expert, huh? What’s that called, then?”

“Uh, a wine-ologist, obviously. Duh.”

“… Sommelier.”

“Gesundheit.”

The server held up their notepad to hide a snicker, and Shadow noted with some pleasure they didn’t seem so nervous after the exchange. “I’ll bring out the bottle with the waters. Can I get anything started from the kitchen for you?”

Sonic was ready with appetizer dish he wanted to try with Shadow, and seeing the cobalt hedgehog seemed to have a plan for the night, Shadow decided to merely follow his lead and try whatever he ordered for them.

When the server left, Shadow felt a modicum of tension relieve from his shoulders. He hadn’t known he was tensing, and he felt embarrassed now at the anxiety coursing through him. But then he looked up to Sonic and found the speedster shifting restlessly in his seat, ears threatening to turn back and fingers twitching over the table as he idly traced the intricate ironwork.

He was nervous, then, too. Shadow snorted.

“We fight world-ending threats almost daily, erizo, and we’re brought to our knees by a date?”

Sonic’s attention snapped up, visibly forcing himself to focus on Shadow in a way the hybrid knew meant he had been dissociating a moment before, and a brilliant grin broke over his muzzle. “Ha, yeah, guess so… I just, I don’t wanna mess anything up, you know?”

Shadow tilted his head. “Mess what up? The date?” It seemed a basic enough concept, from what he had been reading and what Rouge had told him. Was it more complicated, in practice, and he was just too naive to know?

Sonic tugged absently at his scarf and coat. “Yeah… among other stuff. Um. I was kinda hoping we could, I don’t know, talk a little, tonight, you know?”

Shadow felt his anxiety spiking again, cold dread curling in his stomach and tightening his chest. “I, yes, I imagined that might be involved, tonight.”

Sonic wasn’t looking at him. Why wasn’t he looking at him? It wasn’t like him to avoid eye contact, Sonic usually made too much eye contact, if anything, and seemed to relish in this obvious advantage he had over his rival. But now he was looking down again, still fiddling with his scarf or with the ironwork in the table, and it did nothing to slow the spiral Shadow’s mind was falling down.

This was it, wasn’t it? He was about to end everything, that was the talk. He was doing it kindly, at least, face-to-face, in public perhaps for his own safety, but still private enough no one would have to witness the humiliation coming Shadow’s way. The hybrid’s ears slowly pinned, and he tried in vain to erect his old walls around himself before Sonic could strike, bury short-clipped claws deep in his ribcage and tear out the heart he never should have had access too in the first place. Gaia, how badly was this going to hurt? Would it hit all the sudden, or slowly over the course of the night? Shadow swallowed thickly; did he have to stay afterwards, was that what was expected?

Sonic finally looked up, opened his mouth, and closed it again. “…Shads. Shadow? Hey, uh, you’re, staring. A lot. It’s a little unnerving.”

Shadow blinked. “Sorry. Go ahead, I- I’m ready, it’s alright.” He took a few deep breaths and averted his eyes, forcing his ears forward and his chest out.

Sonic’s ears lifted and he tilted his head, quills shifting as he did. He looked confused, but determined. “I.. alright. Weird response. But, okay, sure, here it goes, then, I guess-”

Shadow drew in a breath, let it out. Closed his eyes. Drew in a breath, let it out- and repeat. Repeat. Repeat-

“I want us to be, like, I- I don’t know, like, official, I guess…? More than, more than just hookups, I mean, and- and don’t get me wrong I don’t mean we gotta slow down, unless you wanna of course, but, just, add to, you- you know? ‘M I making sense?” Sonic had looked down again, muzzle flushed dark red and ears flat against his head.

Shadow opened his eyes and turned his head slowly. “I… what?”

Sonic looked up, sheepish and uncertain. “Uh… I wanna be like. A thing. You know? Like. A, a couple, I guess.” He winced back as though expecting a blow from the hybrid beside him.

Honestly, Shadow felt so twisted around and confused inside he might have, at one point in their relationship, done just that. Struck out at him, picked a fight, merely taken out his Chaos Emerald and teleported away. Sonic wanted… something more? He wanted to define them, was that it? Define what they were, so there was no more room for misinterpretation?

Shadow’s fondness for the hedgehog, long since taken root in hybrid’s heart, was growing by the moment. He blinked, dumbstruck- until he saw the anxiety he had been wrestling into submission a moment before blooming in Sonic’s eyes. That simply wouldn’t do.

“I feel the same,” Shadow said quickly, setting a hand on the table. 

Sonic’s smile could have rivaled the sun itself, and Shadow found himself basking in its glow. “Yeah? Really?” A swishing and light buffeting sound behind him signaled his tail was wagging.

Shadow’s own longer tail shifted behind him, threatening to wag though less erratically as Sonic’s. “…Yeah, yeah, really. I- heh… can I be honest with you?” He tilted his head and his muzzle flushed, green tinged over his cheeks. He felt shy, uncharacteristically so, but the adrenaline draining from his system had left him feeling odd and floaty.

Sonic nodded hard enough his quills rustled.

Shadow took a deep breath. “I… I was mostly convinced you were going to… end, whatever this was, tonight…” He motioned vaguely between himself and the speedster.

Sonic’s eyes nearly bugged from his head, and he leaned forward, taking hold of the hand Shadow had rested on the center of the table. “What? No, no way!” the hedgehog replied, eyes wide and earnest. “What gave you that idea, did I do somethin’ to make you feel that way? Cause if I did, tell me and I’ll never do it again, I promise-“

Shadow’s muzzle might never return to its normal tan. His own eyes widened and he subtly leaned back at the sudden movement from Sonic, though he did not remove his hand from his grasp. “No, no, I.. I think it was just… I don’t know what it is. It was just a feeling I had, and, clearly, I was wrong. And I’m.. I’m very happy to have been wrong.” And he smiled, a genuine one, rare though it was. The uncertainty in his eyes was fading, as was the anxiety constricting his chest. Slowly, he halted the slap-dash construction of the old walls around his heart.

“Wow…,” Sonic breathed, and he settled in his seat. “I, uh… I’ve been meaning to have this conversation with you since New Year’s, you know? I woulda tried harder to have it sooner if I’d known I was freaking you out, so much.”

The smile vanished, replaced by Shadow’s usual scowl. “I was not freaking out.”

Sonic blinked and gave his partner a long-suffering look. “Shads. Babe. You were like, two deep breaths away from a panic attack. You think I didn’t notice?”

Shadow pulled his hand away and leaned back, arms crossed and looking pointedly at Sonic. The hedgehog had the gall to grin. Shadow clicked his tongue. “Tch… I think I’ve change my mind.”

“Alright, that’s not funny-“

“I think it’s hilarious, actually-“

“Uh, sirs…?” The server was back, holding a tray with their waters, some wine glasses, and the bottle of wine Sonic had asked for. She sat down the glasses and bottle quickly, face red as she felt she was interrupting them. “Are you, ready to order, now?”

Sonic put on an easy grin, and it seemed to disarm the nervousness of their server immediately. Shadow wasn’t sure it wasn’t a supernatural skill of the hedgehog’s; no one should have such power at their immediate disposal as that damn smile…

He rattled off an order and then looked to Shadow for a moment. “You know what you want, or, there’s something I saw on the menu I think you’d like?”

Shadow hadn’t bothered to open his menu, yet. He nodded for Sonic to go ahead, and Sonic smiled before giving the orders to the server. The name didn’t help much with the dish, so Shadow supposed he would just have to trust the hedgehog, for now. Or make himself something at the apartment after he got home.

The server nodded and headed back inside.

Shadow watched them go and was momentarily distracted from his psuedo-argument with Sonic by the sideways looks he caught from some of the other patrons. Tension crept back into his shoulders and sank lower in his seat.

“Shads,” Sonic called gently, and Shadow’s attention was brought back to his partner, who’s hands still rested on the table, as though waiting for Shadow’s to rejoin them. The hybrid blew softly and felt compelled to oblige.

Sonic’s hands were warm and soft in their gloves, grounding a way that gave Shadow an anchor point in the swirling anxiety around him. Sonic was normally chaos incarnate; this gentler side of him was something Shadow imagined not many got to see.

He counted himself lucky to be among that number.

Sonic smiled to have Shadow’s hand back, then nodded towards their wine. “Uh, thirsty? Or, little too sober? Got the fix, you know.” He was grinning brightly again, sharp upper incisors showing and comparatively small canines.

Shadow nodded, eager to take the edge off his nerves, when a shout sounded nearby. He turned in time to see a lynx cub, perhaps around three or four, who had pulled away from their mother, trip and fall over near his and Sonic’s table.

Before even Sonic could react, Shadow was on his feet and crouching by the child, shushing the small boy’s whimpers and carefully helping him to sit up. “You’re alright,” he assured softly, scanning over the child to look for any obvious injury. “Just a fall.”

The child’s whimpers ceased and his eyes widened as he realized who was crouched by him. Shadow braced for him to start screaming or crying or both, in fear for his life at the sight of the monster every parent likely used as a ‘better behave or else-‘ warning so close by, in striking distance. 

But instead, the child gasped and went up on their knees, eyes bright and face so painfully innocent and open. “M-Mr. Shadow-!” He very nearly had stars in his eyes. “I saw you while we were leaving and I wanted to come say hi! I think you’re really cool and brave and probably my most favorite hero ever and I really like your quills and that you run on fire and-”

“Ridley!”

The child’s ears pinned at the screech of his name, and he turned to look over his shoulder as his mother, another lynx, rushed towards them both. She snatched the cub into her arms and turned to block him from Shadow.

By now, Sonic was on his feet and standing by his partner as Shadow rose from his crouch slowly, having trouble recovering from the whiplash of the child’s praise against the mother’s ire.

“Don’t touch him!” the lynx spat, eyes wide and body trembling. She set her eyes on Sonic and hissed, “You! You should know better, bringing things like that here, around children!”

Shadow was still reeling from the sudden change in atmosphere, but Sonic didn’t need any time at all to process the woman’s vitriol. He narrowed his eyes and stepped between his partner and the lynx. “Hey, he was helping your kid up, that’s all, lady-”

Ridley squirmed in his mother’s too-tight hold and looked back towards the heroes. “Mama, I just wanted to talk to them, don’t be so mean-”

The lynx mother pinned her ears and released a primal hiss Shadow’s way. “Alien freak- go back to your own world, leave ours alone!” Her cub, still scared and alarmed by his mother’s outburst, only looked back with wide teary eyes at Shadow and Sonic. His mother turned and walked away quickly, her whole body shaking with fright.

Shadow blinked and looked after them. Sonic’s quills were up, anger radiating off him. “That was ridiculous- Shads, Shads, don’t let her get in your head, okay? She’s just one person, she doesn’t-”

Their server approached them both, with a man who looked rather official and business-like. A manager, perhaps. “Ah, fellas, hello…,” the man began nervously.

Shadow looked their way, but from their faces, he already imagined he knew what they wanted. The server wasn’t meeting anyone’s eyes.

The manager fiddled with a watch about his wrist. “I’ve gotten some concerns, and, well, it’s just- I think it might be in everyone’s best interest if you two ate elsewhere, tonight…”

Sonic looked indignant, but Shadow was already nodding, ears back. “Very well,” he said simply. It was easier to just accept he wasn’t wanted. The greater society had made up their minds, and though he could change it for a time, it always swung back around to… this. Rejection and ostracization. Fear, hatred. The wolf in sheep’s wool detected living amongst the flock.

“Hold on a second, we didn’t do anything,” Sonic reasoned. “Shadow helped a kid up, and his mom lost it on us, that’s all-“

Sounds became distant, a roar building in Shadow’s ears like a crashing wave over his head. He wanted to leave, now, but Sonic seemed more intent on standing their ground.

“I understand, but, it’s just- people are uncomfortable, I’m sorry, truly I am; we have your food here, too, please, take it on the house and consider it a apology gift from me personally, but-”

Sonic opened his mouth, ready for a fight, but Shadow nudged him as he turned towards the exit. “Sonic, enough. Let’s just leave.”

Their server approached Sonic nervously and passed him their food in takeaway plates. “I… sorry, sirs..”

Sonic took the food, a bit dumbstruck and looking between Shadow and the staff, clearly thrown at the unwillingness of the hybrid to give even the illusion of resistance, before sighing and turning to follow Shadow out. The manager followed them, too, to a gate in the patio’s fence, and let them out.

Shadow was staring dead ahead as they walked back out on to the street, hands in his pockets and quills raising dangerously on his head and back. Sonic rushed to catch up with him.

“Shads… hey, I’m sorry, that was-”

“Entirely predictable, and I should have known better,” Shadow growled. His hands curled into fists in his pockets, talons against the leather over his palms. He pinned his ears and looked back sharply towards Sonic.

The hedgehog’s ears pinned and his eyes widened. “Shads…”

Footsteps rapidly approached from behind, like people running. Shadow’s attention was drawn behind Sonic’s back and he stopped walking. Sonic looked back, too.

Knuckles and Rouge were running towards them. “Shadow!” Rouge called, coming to stop before them both, the echidna by her side. “What happened out there? We were inside; I didn’t even know you two were here until Knuckles was getting up to see what was going-”

Shadow was shaking now, eyes narrowed and ruby gaze burning a bright, dangerous crimson. “You were both- you could see?” he hissed, hot humiliation pouring down his back and a flush coloring his muzzle a horrible dark green. They had been watching? How long? Pupils constricted to dangerous slits, Shadow’s eyes darting between Rouge and Knuckles, anger and frustration boiling over into something much harder to control. Was it coincidence, why they were there? Was it Rouge’s idea, or Knuckles? Was it- was it Sonic’s? Was this all just still part of the game, after all? Relief offered like a canteen in the desert, only to find nothing but parched sand within- Shadow’s mind raced with all the decisions that had led him here, all the people he trusted and the love he’d thought he could finally feel for them all, from them all- a lie? All a lie-

Knuckles could see a brawl brewing in front of him and stepped up with his hands opened placatingly. “We were all just in the same place at the same time, alright? No need to get sharp-”

“Why?” Shadow barked, and the crimson was turning a bright fiery orange now, his Chaos energy building under his skin. His fangs were bared. “Are you afraid, too? Worried I’ll, what, Chaos spear a child? Claw the server’s neck open? Because I’m not one of you, right? I’m an alien freak-” Energy was sparking off his inhibitors. 

“Now that’s not what I meant-”

Sonic looked around. They were near the square again, and people sitting or walking in the grass were taking notice. “Shads-”

“I suppose I might just, I don’t know, call down the whole Black Arms nest for another round, huh? The big, scary, lab-grown, alien hybrid, everyone’s worst nightmare- ¿No es un jodido monstruo aterrador?”

Rouge caught Sonic’s panicked look and tried to step in front of her friend to soothe him. “Shadow, look around-”

Shadow whirled, ears back and eyes alight, fangs on display, only to halt at the horrified Mobians around them. Most were scrambling from the group, some were shouting, others were frozen in fear. Shadow blinked, and looked down at himself.

His fur was raised, quills erect. At some point his hands had come out of his pockets, claws extended and curving outward cruelly. The red around his vision gave away the glow of his eyes, and he could feel the tension across his muzzle- and the sting of the cuts the intense snarl had produced as the inside of his cheeks slid against the sharp edges of his fangs and terrible ridges of his carnassials. Orange-yellow energy sparked from his inhibitors, reacting to his heightened emotions.

Chaos, he really must look like a monster.

He forced his hands to uncurl and tried to retract his claws. His eyes darted from terrified face to terrified face, and the faces changed, morphed before his eyes. They became human, older, mostly male, white coats over their shoulders- they were staring at him in that same horror- he had just leveled the lab with a Chaos blast, he hadn’t meant to, they must understand, but they were already reaching for the tranq-pole, and he knew what was coming. The sudden sting, that cold rush through his muscle, the dissociation, falling forever through the floor and waking up in his pod again, choking on fluid that burned his lungs-

“Shads-,” Sonic called softly, and there was a hand on his arm. Why was Sonic there, in the ARK? He hadn’t been there, that day… Shadow turned and looked to him, ruby locking onto emerald. The sky returned, stars above them now, and the ground beneath his feet and air against his skin.

The ARK faded, the scientists, too. Only Sonic remained. Shadow’s energy settled, at least somewhat, enough to stop the sparking of his inhibitors.

Shadow folded his ears and dropped his gaze. He brushed Sonic’s hand away gently and turned from them all to walk back towards the Dark Rider, hands back in his pockets and jacket pulled tight around him. He heard murmuring behind him, and the sharp click of heeled boots following him.

“Shadow,” Rouge called gently, catching up to the hunched hybrid as he walked. They were going around the edge of the square, avoiding the grassy area in the center on the other side of the road. Away from all the people he might scare. “Hon, slow down, alright?”

Shadow forced himself to walk slower so Rouge could walk beside him. He swallowed thickly and kept his head low, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone else on the sidewalk.

Not that there were many, most had already crossed to give him a wide berth.

“Knuckles is back there talking Sonic down, Blue’s pissed. Never seen him so indignant on someone else’s behalf, before,” Rouge said, trying lighten the mood around them.

Shadow shook his head. “He’s going to get himself in trouble, he needs to leave it alone,” the hybrid muttered, eyes locked ahead. Sonic wanted to fight for him… didn’t the hedgehog know it was useless?

Rouge sighed. “You know he won’t do that. I told you back at the apartment, Shadow; Blue’s got it bad for you.”

Shadow didn’t reply. What was he supposed to say? Surely now, it would be over, game or not. Sonic had seen, firsthand, the public’s perception of him. Now the hedgehog knew why Shadow stayed in, well, the shadows- it was better, that way. Unseen, unheard, unknown. The force holding the world together from backstage, a savior without a face.

Someone a life-of-the-party socialite like Sonic wouldn’t want to be caught dead with.

They made it back to the Dark Rider, but as Shadow was unlocking his helmet, still shaking with barely contained… rage? Regret? Humiliation? … Grief? What was it he felt? What burned so much, so much in his veins? Before he could leave to bury the sensation of being so overwhelmed, Sonic was there, a soft hand at his elbow.

“Shads, hey- can we just talk, real quick?”

Shadow looked over his shoulder, his muzzle still a muddy sort of green from the flush of embarrassment. He’d not only been humiliated at the restaurant, but then he’d gone and had a full-fledged flashback in the middle of the square. Now he was a monster and pathetic.

Rouge looked between them. “I think you should,” she said gently to Shadow. She stepped to head off Knuckles, the two turning to take a walk around the square their own way.

Shadow searched Sonic’s face for signs he was right, that this really was it. “…Talk, then, erizo.”

Sonic swallowed thickly. “First of all, to get this out of the way: this does not change my feelings towards you. If anything, seeing you in there, before that woman blew up at us? That just… Shads, that kinda solidified for me just how much I want to give a real relationship you a try. I’m telling you this because I know where your mind’s going, and I’m trying to beat you there to tell you that’s fucking stupid and to stop thinking it. I’m not tricking you, I’m not playing games, this is real and these are my real feelings and I will tell you over, and over, and over again until you get it.”

Shadow blinked. Sonic… maybe knew him too well. He let out a stilted breath and nodded. “… Very well. Fine, I- sorry…”

“Hey…,” Sonic began, brow furrowed and head tilted. “You didn’t do anything wrong, back there. That was… that was really sweet, actually, you helping that kid- and you were so quick to do it, too, like it was instinct. Don’t apologize.”

Shadow only nodded mutely.

Sonic sighed and looked down at the plastic takeout containers he carried in his other hand. “So… hey, it’s Valentine’s Day, right? And I asked you out to dinner- well, we’re out, and we got dinner, so, how’s about we go eat, huh? Find some little romantic spot someplace? ‘Cause, even though I’m definitely never going back to that place, their grub’s pretty good, you know?”

Shadow snorted, nearly smiled, even. “I suppose… sure. What’s the harm? But, someplace more… private, maybe?”

The nod Sonic gave him sent a rush of relief through him he wasn’t expecting, and he had to turn away to hide the fond look that came over his gaze. He cleared his throat and said, “We’ll, um, let’s take the Dark Rider?”

Sonic’s eyes went wide. “Wait, really? 

Shadow snorted. “You’ve been on it before…” His muzzle flushed again at the memory, unbidden sensations of his fingers curling around the join of the handlebars as Sonic lifted him, bent him backwards, it should have hurt, and it had, but it hurt good-

He cleared his throat and flicked an ear, willing the thoughts away before they got too out of control.

Sonic blinked. “Uh, yeah, sure, but, not like, riding, you know?” His wobbly smiled turned all too quickly to a smirk, and he tilted his head. “You gonna let me drive?”

Shadow’s eyes narrowed. “Absolutely not. Have you ever driven a motorcycle before, anyway? Don’t even answer that, pregunta ridícula, doesn’t matter,” he rambled, turning and shoving aside the deepening blush over his cheeks as he threw a leg over the bike’s seat. He looked back to Sonic and raised a brow.

The hedgehog was distracted looking over his partner appraisingly. He caught Shadow’s eye and nodded. “Right!” he said and climbed onto the seat behind Shadow. They had to sit close, Sonic pressed up against Shadow’s back and his arms wrapping around Shadow’s waist, their food between Shadow and the handlebars and still in Sonic’s grasp.

Shadow smiled softly at the proximity and turned in his seat to push his helmet on Sonic’s head. “Wear this.”

Sonic grunted and reached back to adjust the helmet. He snorted and said, “What about you?”

Shadow turned back around and rolled his eyes. “I’ll be fine. You’re clumsy, not me.”

“What does being clumsy have to do riding on the back of th-woAH WOAH WO-”

—- —- —- —- —-

Shadow rode until they were far from the city, perhaps faster than he should have but safe in the knowledge he could chaos control them if they got into real trouble. Sonic seemed to love it, anyway, and Shadow had to shout and grab him with one hand on several occasions to stop him from standing up on the back of the bike.

He rode until they reached a lake, far inland from the city. Shadow stopped the bike on a gravel turn-around off the road, and Sonic led them both to a large oak tree near the water. Its boughs were ancient and heavy with leaves, bending towards the ground and making a fantastical canopy over their heads. The moon overhead gave enough light to see by, at least for Shadow, and he assumed for Sonic as well as the hedgehog didn’t have trouble getting off the bike and heading towards the tree.

Shadow kept a tarp folded in what little storage space there was under his seat. He had pulled it out to give them something to sit on while they ate, and now spread it over what flat ground they could find between the oak’s gnarled roots.

They sat across from one another, the smaller plate of the appetizer Sonic ordered for them turning out to be a few pieces of steamed gyoza with a dipping sauce that smelled of soy and black vinegar. Shadow eyed the dish apprehensively; but Sonic grinned and picked up one of the small packets in a pair of chopsticks with practiced ease, dipped it lightly in the brown sauce, and held it out towards Shadow expectantly, a napkin-covered hand beneath it to catch errant drips of the sauce.

Shadow blinked and narrowed his eyes. “…What are you doing.”

Sonic bit his lip and ears pinned, the confident grin he’d worn a moment before fading. “Uh… you, you looked like you wanted to maybe try it, and, I don’t know, I thought this would be… romantic?” His grin returned, though it was wobbly and sheepish, and his shoulders hunched. 

Shadow watched him a moment longer, his own ears back, until Sonic began to withdraw the chopsticks in quiet defeat. Throwing his tendency towards overthinking out the window for the time being and the sake of his partner (boyfriend’s?) dignity, Shadow leaned forward and bit into the steamed wrapper.

He had been concerned at first he’d find the packet filled with meat, something he knew typically filled gyoza and why he had always avoided ordering it on the rare occasions Rouge managed to drag him out to eat. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if he had, as he hadn’t willingly eaten meat in three years. However, the flavors that burst over his tongue now were a pleasant mix of cabbage, carrot, onion, and thin shreds of mushroom. Despite himself, his eyes closed and he hummed, as though in delight. And maybe it was.

Sonic was watching with bated breath, eyes bright and ears lifting once more. Shadow was rewarded for opening his eyes by Sonic’s beaming smile, and it made that treacherous heart of his flutter pitifully in his chest.

Erizo, the things you do to me…

“Yeah?” Sonic purred. His tail wagging made soft swishing sounds against the tarp.

Suddenly Shadow realized he’d voiced the thought aloud in a contented sigh. His face flamed, muddy yellow-green overtaking his cheeks beneath his fur and the insides of his ears near their tips. He sat back upright abruptly, gulping, which had the unfortunate consequence of making him nearly choke on the half chewed bit of gyoza still in his mouth.

He cleared his throat behind his hand and averted his gaze, waiting for Sonic to make some rude quip so he could banter back and dissolve the tension he felt building in his shoulders. His fears from before were thoroughly dashed; however, it didn’t make vulnerability any easier.

But Sonic only laughed and held out the chopsticks again. “Here, take the last bite and I’ll leave you to your actual meal in peace, I promise,” he said with a bright grin.

Shadow blew softly, but leaned in again and allowed Sonic to feed him the last half of gyoza. He kept his eyes open this time, though, gaze following Sonic’s, and was treated to his partner’s soft, smitten grin as Shadow’s teeth scraped lightly over the chopsticks.

Even the usually surly hybrid had to smile at that as he leaned back. Sonic popped a piece of gyoza in his own mouth and hummed. After he’d finished, he said, “Yeah, good stuff, you think?”

“Not bad. I’ve never had it before, but, I think I’d order it again.” From somewhere else, mind…

Sonic blinked and tilted his head. “Never had it? Really? Well, honored I got to be here for your first try, then,” he teased lightly. When Shadow’s look became withering, he laughed and added, “To be fair, that’s the first time I’ve had veggie gyoza, so, same. Usually I like pork.”

“Why order the vegetable then, if you had a preference for the other?” Shadow asked as he pulled his plate toward himself.

Sonic blinked and leveled Shadow with an incredulous stare. “Uh, ‘cause it’d be like, the biggest asshole move to order pork gyoza for my vegetarian partner?”

Shadow paused again. There the hedgehog went, knowing him so well. He couldn’t remember telling Sonic about that, and while he imagined it might have come up when Sonic supposedly had his culinary discussion with Rouge, that Sonic had held onto the fact and taken it to heart made Shadow’s chest feel loose and floaty.

What an odd day of ups and downs it had been.

“I… thank you, you, you didn’t have to change your order for my account, but, I appreciate it, nonetheless.”

Sonic shook his head, though he was smiling. “You’re actual order’s veggie, too, by the way.”

Shadow opened the box to find three small tacos inside, all with different fillings. One in particular caught his attention; it looked like shredded chicken or beef.

“Jackfruit,” Sonic supplied brightly. “It’s pretty inoffensive so it’s easy enough to flavor it to mimic other stuff, like meat-”

“I know,” Shadow interjected, “I cook with it often.”

“Really?” Sonic asked, ears perked. “You know, I don’t think I knew you cooked, like, at all…”

Shadow sat back and clicked his tongue. “Tch, I cook all the time, erizo,” he snorted, ears folding and looking vaguely annoyed. After a moment, he settled and rolled his eyes, picking up the shredded jackfruit taco. The two others were a garden taco with grilled onions and mushrooms beneath greens and a savory sesame sauce and a fried cauliflower one with what smelled like a spicy Korean-style pepper sauce and, oddly, guacamole. “Remind me next time you’re coming over, and I’ll cook you something. Maybe those disgusting chili dogs you love so much.”

Sonic couldn’t seem to stop the bark of laughter that escaped, but even still, his muzzle flushed at the notion of Shadow doing something as domestic as cooking him dinner. He grinned and shook his head, pulling open his own meal: another set of three tacos that consistent of a mushroom and bulgogi steak one, one stuffed with teriyaki chicken and cabbage drizzled in a sauce that smelled of peanut, and one that Shadow thought looked like it had something puffy and fried in it under coleslaw and sriracha.

“Never had vegetarian chili before, but I’ve seen some recipes that look kinda interesting,” Sonic mused, picking up the last of the three and biting into it. The puffy looking bits crunched between his teeth, and inside looked like the delicate meat of whitefish. 

Shadow grunted. “Send them to me and I’ll get what we need. Also, I could just make you regular chili. Even if I don’t eat meat anymore, you very clearly do, and I’m usually fine cooking with it,” he replied, nodding to Sonic’s choice of tacos.

Sonic paused mid bite and his face flushed again, ears back. He chewed this bite quickly and grinned uncertainly. “Heh, yeah, definitely a little carnivorous, personally… But! I do like vegetarian food, thus knowing the jackfruit would be a good option, cause I’ve ordered that one before to try it out! I’d be down to try vegetarian chili. I, actually, I should have asked, but, my food’s not bothering you, is it?”

The speedster seemed genuinely worried he’d made Shadow uncomfortable with his selection, and with a jolt of embarrassment, the hybrid realized he had been staring a moment longer than he meant. He shook his head quickly. “No, no,” he assured, and Sonic visibly relaxed. “I, sorry, I was just- I was curious what was in yours. I know you like chili dogs, but, that’s… honestly I think that’s it, about what I know of your food preferences. Chili dogs, and now apparently shredded jackfruit.”

He wasn’t expecting the sudden laugh from his partner, and neither it seemed did Sonic, who turned his head to control his giggling fit. Shadow found himself almost smiling; the display was cute.

“Sorry,” Sonic chuckled, managing to quiet himself though still grinning. “Just, I don’t know… honestly? This whole time, ever since New Year's and maybe even a little before, I’ve been sorta… compiling a mental list, of stuff I learn about you. Just little stuff, you know? Like foods and things you like, when I notice. I didn’t realize you’d want to know the same stuff about me, though.”

Shadow blinked. Sonic had been trying to… get to know him? All this time? So, it had been more than just sex, from the beginning. He narrowed his eyes, though not unkindly. “And with this information, you’ve been…?”

Sonic snorted. “Trying to make you comfortable when we hang out and do nice things for you when I can?” He said it like it was obvious, and perhaps it was, though not to Shadow.

The hybrid tilted his head and considered their past meetings, realization dawning on him. “So.. the sudden appearance of that box of honeybuns at your house when we were there last, even though you hate them?”

“Heh, yeah, well, you seemed to like them in the cabin, so… took a shot. Didn’t know if it was the exhaustion from the snowstorm or if you really just liked those things, and hey, I was right, wasn’t I?” He almost sounded smug, and time was when Shadow would have scowled at that. Maybe punched him, a little. Instead, the hybrid even gave a small smile.

“I admit, you were… They remind me of the sweets Maria would sneak in her room on the ARK,” he said softly, a melancholy in his eyes that made Sonic look at him in wonder. He didn’t speak much of the softer times he had on the ARK; to be among those who got to hear these stories was an honor bestowed to few. “Cheap and empty, sure, and you could always make homemade ones that are leagues better, I have in fact, but… I don’t know. They taste like…”

“Home?” Sonic supplied gently, eyes soft, not with pity, but with understanding.

Shadow nodded. “Home.”

Sonic smiled and nodded, too. “I.. get what you mean. Kinda why I like chili dogs so much, I think. Especially when I make ‘em the usual way, which, most folks would agree is an offense to good chili dogs, everywhere.”

Shadow tilted his head. For as rare as it was to hear him speak of his early days on the ARK, he realized with a start that he knew next to nothing about Sonic’s childhood, before all his heroics began. If ever there was such a time, anyway.

He felt like a piss poor partner, caught up in his own head this last month and a half while Sonic had been steadily building out a profile of Shadow’s likes and dislikes. Well. The hybrid resigned he’d just have to change that, and be better, starting this very evening. “Are they something you ate much growing up?”

Sonic grinned and passed a hand under his nose, something Shadow had learned over the years was a habit whenever he was feeling any particularly strong emotion, good or bad. “Guess you could say that,” he began lightly, his own eyes bright and his smile contemplative. “I’m not much of a cook, honestly, never have been, but… After I took in Tails, I had to learn to make stuff that was, as Amy put it, ‘at least mildly more nutritious than cardboard’. Chili dogs were easy to make while still feeling like real food, you know? Simple to make if you’re just popping everything in the microwave, but it feels like you got an actual meal out of it instead how something like a ramen packet might feel.”

Shadow listened with rapt attention, his own food all but forgotten. He had known, of course, that Sonic more or less raised Tails; at some point, Amy or Rouge had mentioned it to him or around him, and the information had simply gone into the pre-existing image of Sonic in his head, as though it had always been there. But he’d never taken the time to think about what that meant.

“You’ve known the fox a long time, haven’t you? Gaia, how old were you when you met him?”

Sonic tilted his head, quills rustling, and pinned one ear as he tapped his chin. “Oh, uh, geez, let’s see… I think I was maybe, ten or so?”

Shadow opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, then opened it again. Closed it. Blinked. Then, finally, “Ten?!”

“Yeah, about-ish, I dunno. I didn’t really keep track ‘till Tails came along, you know? Didn’t see a point, but then I wanted to make sure we didn’t miss a birthday with him so it made it easier to remember my own age, too.”

“… And how old was Tails, back then?”

“Right around four,” Sonic said with a confident nod. 

A child, adopting another, much younger child. Shadow swallowed thickly and sat back, head cocked to one side and considering Sonic with an intense gaze. The hedgehog squirmed under it a bit, ears pinning.

“… What? I got ponzu on my face or something?”

Shadow sighed and broke his gaze, at last. “No, sorry, I just… sometimes it slips my mind, just how… selfless, you are. Have always been. It makes sense, but, I suppose…”

“We started out hating each other’s guts and then moved onto being purposefully as antagonistic as possible from then on, so it started getting hard to see all the better qualities? Yeah, I get what you mean,” Sonic said with a sideways grin.

A grin Shadow wanted to kiss, and so, he did. He leaned in and gave the corner of Sonic’s mouth a quick, chaste press of his lips. Even still, as he drew back a hair, he left the hedgehog’s face flushed a pretty pink beneath his peach furred muzzle.

“No longer, though,” Shadow murmured, withdrawing completely to sit back up. “I mean, I can’t promise we won’t still antagonize sometimes, but… I want to know you. Completely.”

Sonic brought a hand to his face, fingertips setting lightly on the corner of his mouth and cheek and dopey smile across his features. His whole face had relaxed, in fact, as though melting into his partners words. He looked lovestruck, and Shadow decided he quite like the look of it on the hedgehog. He thought it suited him just fine, and he would have to endeavor to keep the look there as much as possible.

Knowing Sonic would be a challenge, almost as difficult as anyone trying to get to know himself. Shadow knew the hedgehog already had the head start, so he may as well get started, too. “Speaking of, to circle back to earlier- the taco you just had. What was that… puffy stuff?”

Sonic blinked, broken from his reverie, though luckily his short attention span was quick to pick up this new thread of conversation. “Oh, the fish? That was tempura!” He pointed to Shadow’s plate and the cauliflower taco. “That one’s tempura fried, too, just with a lighter batter so it gives the cauliflower just a little bit more crunch. It’s mostly for texture, not a whole lot of seasoning in it, but, honestly? I think that’s why I like it. Good crunch, and let’s whatever else is in the dish and the sauces stand out more.”

Shadow contemplated the taco before picking it up and taking a bite. Sonic was correct, it did offer a satisfying crunch, and the burst of cauliflower that came after was pleasant, too. The pepper sauce was spicy but also sweet and savory, and Sonic was right, too, that it was able to stand up nicely against the tempura breading.

“I like this. Tempura, huh? I’ll have to remember it, it doesn’t seem hard to do,” the hybrid murmured, contemplating. He made fried foods very rarely, the grease settling hard in his chronically iffy stomach, but tempura felt like a lighter alternative.

Sonic beamed, and there went his tail again. “Let me know if you want a taste tester, I’m game!”

Shadow couldn’t help the small grin at that, and nodded. “I’ll let you know, thank you. Rouge is usually my guinea pig; she’ll probably be happy to be off the hook.”

“Well, her loss, my gain,” Sonic said, still beaming, eyes bright. He looked genuinely excited.

So he likes food, that’s something. That feels too shallow a thing to note, but, talking about food is the most genuinely excited I think I’ve ever seen him, no front or anything…

If Sonic was going to keep sneaky mental lists about Shadow’s preferences, then the hybrid would be damned if he wasn’t going to do the same.

They both settled into finishing their remaining tacos, after that. Shadow found himself wishing they’d been able to have the wine with their food, too; the one Sonic selected had looked like a good one for what their meal ended up being. Even without it, though, he felt himself relaxing and enjoying the companionship Sonic provided.

He recognized this feeling, swirling in his chest. It was dangerous, one he tended to avoid and crush under his heel whenever it reared its traitorous head, but… It was lovely, and warm, and it made him feel young and soft in ways he hadn’t in a very, very long time.

It could grow into something ever softer and warmer, if he let it. And glancing up to watch Sonic’s take his last bite, catching his eyes and feeling that familiar flutter in his chest at the way the hedgehog’s muzzle crinkled as he smiled through the mouthful, Shadow thought he just might not have much choice in the matter.

After they’d both finished, Sonic sat back and stretched with a dramatic yawn. It would normally grate on Shadow’s ears; but that night, instead, it had him yawning, though much quieter, in return. 

Sonic grinned at him. “Sleepy?”

Shadow snorted. “Ni un poco,” he said, though it was muffled by another yawn. He felt full and content after their meal, and warm in his jacket despite the chill in the air. He had never been one for naps, but after the day he’d had, he wouldn’t say no.

Sonic stood with a soft sigh and held his hand down to Shadow. “C’mon.”

The hybrid chirped inquisitively, a sound he would not be caught dead making more awake, and squinted up at the hedgehog. “Want to leave?”

Sonic shook his head and nodded towards the canopy above them. “Tree’s nice and all for sitting under, but, I wanna see the stars. Let’s go lay in the grass.”

Shadow grunted but gave Sonic his hand, regardless. He was pulled to his feet, and, a bit more awake now, walked hand-in-hand with the hedgehog out into the open between the oak and the lakeshore.

It was a beautiful, clear night, to be fair. The stars were out in mass, and a belt of clusters and swirls of deeper blues and purples against the abyssal black stood out across the sky. Sonic found a patch of soft grass and small flowers and sat, pulling Shadow down with him, arms around him loosely. The hybrid fell against his partner and lifted his head to find himself barely an inch from Sonic’s face.

The hedgehog was smiling at him. So, this was planned, then. Shadow smirked. “¿Qué? ¿Quieres besarme, es eso?”

Sonic’s smile was undeterred. “Hm… can I get that translated?”

Shadow grinned and nodded, then pressed forward to catch Sonic’s lips against his own. He shifted in Sonic’s arms and cupped a hand gently around his jaw, his other on the ground beside him to keep himself propped up.

Their kiss deepened, though it remained slow and languid. Shadow’s tongue teased softly against Sonic’s lips, and the hedgehog sighed as he let his partner in. The hybrid didn’t even mind the odd taste of the different tacos they’d eaten that night mingling together, too engrossed was he in his slow, methodical exploration.

Sonic pulled him in closer, until he was in the hedgehog’s lap, Shadow’s own legs parting around Sonic and feet planted behind his partner’s back. Sonic’s arms kept a tight hold around Shadow, and his legs shifted where the hybrid was perched on Sonic’s thighs to adjust their angle.

Shadow wasn’t entirely sure how long their slow make-out session lasted. Long enough he felt breathless as he pulled away, face flushed and pupils blown, to see Sonic was in much the same state. That dopey, lovesick smile was back across the hedgehog’s face.

Shadow set his arms loosely over Sonic’s shoulders, leaned against him, close enough to initiate their kiss again, but holding back to bask in the warmth of his partner’s eyes.

His boyfriend’s eyes. Was that what they were, now? The feathered blade of his tail lifted and tapped soundlessly on the ground beside them, a slow, silent staccato to the soft swishing of Sonic’s own tail in the grass behind the hedgehog. Shadow smiled, a small and soft thing just barely tugging at the corners of his lips.ca

Gaia. A boyfriend. He had a boyfriend, and it was Sonic. His smile grew and his eyes softened at the thought. Maria… if you could see the sap I’ve become over this man… He knew she’d be proud. And likely insufferable, but, considering the company Shadow seemed to enjoy keeping in his friends and partner these days, well. She’d fit right into the bunch.

And wasn’t that a thought, all on its own? A bunch. A group. Of his friends and his partner. His smile grew wider still, and his tail tip tapped fast against the ground, swishing through the air in a quiet flutter as it did. If only he had realize it all a bit sooner that this was all here waiting for him, if only his memories had been all his own after waking from stasis; he felt so much time was wasted, and what a mess he had made along the way…

“Go back to your own world, leave ours alone-“

Shadow’s ears pinned and his smile faltered as the voice of the mother from earlier returned in his mind. Sonic tilted his head in silent question at the shift in Shadow’s mood.

“Leave him alone-“

“I think it might be in everyone’s best interest if you two ate elsewhere-“

“People are uncomfortable-“

“I’m an alien freak-“

Sonic’s face grew concerned, and he sat up straighter, arms tightening around Shadow. “Shads…? Hey, you with me?”

Shadow was, in fact, not particularly anywhere, finding it hard to focus on much of anything in the moment.

Old memories of the ARK played behind his eyes, of the lab; of the Chaos Blast that earned him his first set of inhibitors, too strong for his then too small body and too tight on his wrists, no thick cuffed gloves to protect them from the scraping and peeling and pinching of the hard metal.

“02! Stand down, or be sedated!”

“Oh just get the damn tranq pole, already. You can’t reason with lab rats.”

Shadow shook, the memories taking over him. A panicked snarl lifted his lip, though the desperate fear in his eyes betrayed his true state. Sonic hand cupped his jaw, but Shadow made no move to respond, only continued shaking. His eyes flicked between phantoms only he could see, muscles coiling along every plane of his body.

He was looking up at bright white lights, heavy restraints on his arms and legs and new inhibitors that drained him of all his energy.

“Is it alive?”

“Fortunately, yes. The Robotnik girl only nearly cost us the only damn thing worth saving out of this disaster of a project.”

“We can’t keep it conscious, not after what it did-”

“Luckily Dr. Robotnik was apprehended before the raid; he’s agreed to initiate longterm stasis on the experiment. It’s too valuable to decommission, not yet-“

Shadow shook and pulled against the restraints. Vaguely, he felt something around his waist, too, but it only served to increase his panic. What was this place? He didn’t remember it, he’d never remembered this scene before-

“Computer… initiate Phase 2-“

Shadow stilled, the world was muffled and muted, dark and cold, so damn cold-

“02… Shadow… you will punish them…”

The darkness shifted over the frozen, frosted glass of his pod. His eyes couldn’t move, frozen in their sockets, but in his mind, he focused on the figure moving outside. The professor’s voice, weary and broken, muted by the glass and metal and ice, floated through his memory.

“I… what… what have I done..? Forgive me, my boy, my son-“

Shadow swallowed hard and wrestled for control of his mind and body. Like it had been all those 50 years, though, he remained frozen to the spot, memories he had never witnessed before flitting cruelly through his vision, blinding him.

“Shadow, whatever your remembering, it’s not real anymore, it’s not happening, you’re safe with me, safe on Mobius, please, Shads-“

Shadow groaned and closed his eyes, pain spiking through his skull. He snarled, muzzle pulled tight against oversized teeth, their razor-edged ridges cutting into his cheek and filling his mouth with a metallic tang.

The chaos emerald was in his hand, green and glowing with untapped power. He had never held one before; even still, he knew what to do.

Blue. The spines of the creature standing before him were blue, and long, and downturned- a hedgehog, but, how? Another experiment? Someone else… like him?

Shadow snarled again. There was a sensation against his back, a gently caressing. The wind, it must have been-

The scene shifted, thick canopy overhead, animals calling in the trees and vines around him-

The blue hedgehog again, of all places. In this jungle, this island set to explode, and with the troublemaking bat mucking with his master’s Final Plan-

“I found you, faker!”

“Chaos control!”

Shadow’s eyes shot open, a terrible ringing in his ears. He stood in a field, grass beneath his feet. His chest heaved with labored breath and he turned to see the dark expanse of a lake stretching behind him. The water was still, though frozen waves crawled at its surface, almost too slow to perceive. Feeling the power crackling through his body, Shadow let out a stilted breath, and released the chaos control.

The sky above was dark and lit with stars, millions of them, billions, the moon not yet full enough to block them, but bright enough yet to light the clearing. He close his eyes and turned back, running a trembling hand through spiked quills.

He opened them again only when he felt a shift in the air around him and a presence join his by the shore. Sonic stood a few paces in front of him, moonlight reflecting off his eyes and illuminating his quills in a dim, soft blue glow. One gloved hand extended towards the hybrid, uncertain if his touch would help or harm, but his face was determined. “Shads? With me, buddy?”

Shadow swallowed thickly and nodded, jaw set and hot shame pouring down his back at his loss of control. Flashbacks like that were getting fewer and farther between, thank Gaia, with most old memories trickling in slowly or simply reappearing in his psyche, no fanfare to mark their return. But these moments felt different, pulled him out of his body and made him a slave to their whims until he could fight his way back to the present.

He closed his eyes, brow furrowed darkly. His legs felt weak as the adrenaline left his body, and his knees shook. Warm, firm hands suddenly gripped his shoulders for a moment, steadying him, before moving to wrap around his sides and settle on his waist. He opened his eyes and looked up.

Sonic was there, eyes full of concern. “I’ve got you,” he said quietly. He didn’t press the hybrid for information, for answers. Only held him gently and gave him the space to speak, if he chose.

Shadow nodded and let his partner take more of his weight off his trembling legs. At length, eyes down cast, he said, “…I’ve never remembered stasis, before. Or anything after Maria’s death… not until Rouge found me in Eggman’s lab. And yet, now… now I wish, I still couldn’t…”

He close his eyes, brow furrowing. After a moment, he felt himself being pulled to the ground, carefully. He opened his eyes as he sat and was pulled against Sonic’s chest, legs off to the side and almost cradled. Two months ago, he would have clawed the hedgehog for the indignity of it all.

Now, he only set his head against Sonic’s chest and focused on matching their breaths.

“I’m sorry, Shads… I, what brought it on, do you think?”

Shadow shook his head slowly. “I don’t know. I… I was thinking…” His brow furrowed and he shook. Sonic soothed him, rubbing a hand gently through the quills on his upper back. Shadow was reminded of the wind he had felt in his memories, and it grounded him to know Sonic had been doing the same thing to soothe him then, even as he had been locked in his own mind.

He took a few deep breath before trying again. “I was thinking… about how much has changed. All the people I have, now… how long it took to get there, how much time I wasted, the mess I made on the way- what it would have been like, if- if I’d never lost my memories, if they hadn’t been tampered with, if I’d woken up me the first time, before- before the ARK-“

His snarl returned, anger building at himself for the humiliating display. Not for the first time that day, he was losing control of himself. What was happening to him? Was this the consequence of letting his heart remain so open, letting so many in? To make room, was the grief and pain and terror being pushed out, escaping him in explosions of memory and old ghosts?

Sonic shifted and reached for Shadow’s face to turn it towards his own. “Shadow, hey? It’s okay, you gotta let this work itself out, alright? Fighting it’s just gonna kick this can farther down the road.”

Shadow swallowed and nodded. He knew that. It didn’t make letting go of control, the one thing he had always clung to, any easier.

“…Does holding you like this help or make it worse?”

Shadow thought for a moment. Once again, he knew in the past he would have hated the closeness, the caging, the restraint of any nature; but now, with the way Sonic’s presence settled him, it made him feel grounded in a way he could anchor himself to. Perhaps even, enough not to be lost to the storm in his mind.

“It helps,” he said quietly. “Don’t stop?”

Sonic nodded and readjusted his hold to make it more comfortable for them both, letting Shadow settle himself against his chest once more. “Okay. I won’t stop. You wanna lie down?”

Shadow nodded again, and moved to let Sonic find a comfortable position in the grass. Once he had, the hedgehog opened his arms in clear invitation, which Shadow accepted without hesitation, to curl against his chest. Though the ground was cold in the February night, both Mobians seemed comfortable enough to lie for awhile beneath the stars.

“I’m sorry, by the way,” Shadow muttered.

“For what?”

“Today. Earlier. The square. Ruining your plans.”

“Shads…,” Sonic sighed, and the arm he’d wrapped around Shadow’s shoulders tightened a bit. “I told you, there’s nothing to apologize about. That woman way overreacted, way way overreacted. Plus, didn’t you hear what the kid was saying before she ran up?”

Shadow thought back, but in the moment, he had been out of focus. The scene that played afterwards had also distracted him from ruminating much on what the child might have said. He shook his head.

Sonic snorted. “Of course, you wouldn’t remember the most important bit out of the whole night,” he sighed, tone in jest.

Shadow growled even still, as soft a warning as he was capable, and Sonic laughed softly.

“Sorry, sorry, okay, I’ll tell you. He said you were his favorite hero, like, ever. He said your powers were way cool, and your quills were awesome, and that he thought was amazing and badass that you skate on air-blades made of chaos fire-“

“The child did not call me badass, Sonic…”

“Hey, who remembers what, here?” Sonic laughed. He snorted and added, “Fine, fine, but he meant it. Everything else was basically verbatim, though. He looked starstruck when he realized it was you helping him up.”

Shadow felt an odd twist of something in his stomach. “I.. I remember thinking it was odd, when he wasn’t afraid.”

Sonic hummed. “That’s because you’ve got it in your had everyone’s gonna be. I’m not saying you don’t face bigots and assholes, Shads, ‘cause trust me, tonight I got a front row seat to the kind of bullshit you gotta put up just for existing- and honestly? I’m kinda impressed you don’t knock more people’s lights out, just like, day to day, you know?”

“Something something, ‘don’t become the monster they see’, or some other. Therapist’s idea, early on,” Shadow grunted. He didn’t mention that he agreed wholeheartedly, but, well. 

It got a snorted laugh out of Sonic, anyway. “Yeah, they’re probably right. Side-note, therapist?” He shifted to look down at the hedgehog cuddled against his chest.

Shadow didn’t look up and just rolled his eyes. “GUN mandated. If I stop going I lose weapons clearance and get taken off active field service.”

“Cause that’s stopped you from doing what you want, before.”

“Rouge and Omega need me in Dark, erizo. I do it for them…”

Sonic hummed and nodded, choosing not to acknowledge the silent and for myself tacked onto the end. He understood Team Dark the way he understand his own team- inseparable, and reliant on one another. All vital parts to the greater whole. “Yeah, faker, I get it.”

Shadow pinned his ears and pushed himself up, propped on a hand planted beside Sonic’s chest. Sonic followed him with his gaze, still lying on the ground with his quills haloed around him, dark sapphire against even darker, muted forest green. “Hm?” the hedgehog hummed, tilting his head in the grass.

The image of that face but as a teenager, those quills but shorter and a shade or so lighter… That face, sneering hatefully, green eyes bright and brow furrowed. ‘I’ll make you eat those words!’ Shadow almost smiled as the voice rang in his head, higher than his Sonic’s now, raspier, too, on the downward slide of lowering to its adult pitch. “I remember the first time you called me that.”

At that, Sonic sat up, eyes wide. Shadow startled, but stayed put, waiting for an explanation at the sudden reaction.

Sonic did not leave him to wait long. “You do? But, you’ve never- you’ve never remembered that before-“

“Or stasis, which I also remembered tonight. Big night for uncovering repressed memories, it seems. Why the shock?” Shadow asked drily, lifting a brow at him. He felt settled enough now to slip back into his usual surly attitude.

Sonic groaned. “Dude! C’mon, my boyfriend doesn’t remember how we first met, or all our first battles, or how we kicked ass in space together, and then suddenly he does?! That’s exciting!” And indeed, Sonic’s eyes had brightened and he was smiling widely.

Shadow tilted his head. “I… don’t remember the space battle. You mean against 01, don’t you? Before I fell?”

Sonic winced, and Shadow covered his hand with his own without even looking, a silent comfort and a reminder he was there and very much alive. The hedgehog recovered, quickly, this his voice broke as he cleared his throat to ask, “Who’s 01? Biolizard?”

“I… did I… call him 01?” Shadow’s brow furrowed and he sat up straighter, wracking his brain. He knew, for a fact, he had never been informed of the Biolizard’s existence while growing up on the ARK; had he ever referred to them as 01 before? By Sonic’s reaction, clearly not. Heard them called that? He supposed it was an easy enough inference to make- he was 02, after all, in a project that contained only two experiments.

Still, the slip gave him pause.

Sonic was looking at him oddly. “Those are designations, right? That GUN gave you? I’ve heard them call you 02 before, something like, PS-02… something. Right?”

Shadow’s ears pinned harshly, nearly folding flat to his head. He fixed his eyes on Sonic, though he wasn’t glaring; his gaze was intense and earnest. “PS 02-Alpha,” he droned, monotoned and almost robotic. “And never call me that again, my name is Shadow.”

Sonic’s eye widened and he wrapped his arms around Shadow’s waist to draw him in again. Shadow only resisted a second, on principle more than anything, before letting himself be pulled closer. “I wasn’t… I didn’t mean to call you anything, Shads, I’m sorry. I’d never call you that, I know the baggage hitched to that designation. You’re right, you are Shadow, way more than some military BS.”

Shadow nodded, and let out the breath tightening his chest, content now that was settled. Sonic leaned back with a grin and nodded back towards their place on the ground, an invitation to continue their cuddling.

But honestly? Shadow was exhausted. He had had more complete breakdowns that day alone than the first week after the first Black Arms invasion, and that had brought on enough mental and emotional misery itself. This was somehow more, and he felt drained and in desperate need of his bed.

And maybe alcohol. But definitely his own bed.

“If it’s alright, Sonic, I think… I’m tired. I know there are, certain.. expectations, around this holiday, but, I…” He shook his head and looked to Sonic.

Sonic smiled patiently. “Hey, I get it, right? No worries,” he assured, and stood, offering a hand to Shadow as he did. Shadow took it graciously, his legs stiff from the cold ground despite how he had been able to ignore it before. “And I never expect sex from you, just so you know. I’m always excited as hell for it when it happens, but, it’s never an obligation, okay?”

He had said this so openly, so earnestly, that Shadow couldn’t help the small smile that pulled at his lips. He leaned leaned, laying a hand on Sonic’s jaw as he did, and kissed him again. It lasted longer than anticipated, and when Shadow broke away, Sonic followed for a breath, still engrossed as he was in his partner’s lips. True to his word, however, he merely smiled, pecked Shadow’s cheek lightly, and took his hand as they walked back to their tree to clean their mess.

They worked in companionable silence, Sonic gathering their trash while Shadow shook out the tarp and folded it neatly. They returned to the Dark Rider, stowed the tarp, and climbed back on for the last ride of the night.

This time, Shadow was more gentle about placing his helmet on Sonic’s head, stealing another kiss before he did.

It was late, past midnight, and few other cars were on the road as they rode back to the coast and Sonic and Tails’ home. Shadow expected all the lights to be off as they neared; after all, Tails was only, what, 15? Surely he should be asleep by now.

Instead, the workshop behind the home was still clearly lit. As they came to a stop and Sonic dismounted, removing the helmet to pass to Shadow, the hedgehog’s eyes kept darting to its light. There was concern written across his face.

“Didn’t realize how much of a night owl the fox was,” Shadow mused.

Sonic hummed and folded his ears. “He’s always up late, but, usually he’s at least winding down by now. I’ll go.. check on him. We need to talk, anyway.” He looked back to Shadow and smiled; it was forced at first, concern for his brother clearly taking the forefront of his mind for a moment, before it settled into something more genuine and soft.

Shadow smiled back and stepped forward, setting a hand gently against Sonic’s chest, thumb idly tracing the edge of the dark navy jack he wore beneath his scarf. Shadow felt a bloom of something uncharacteristically shy, and pinned his ears as he looked down.

Sonic laughed softly. He tipped Shadow’s chin up with a crooked finger and leaned in to kiss him, drawing him close with an arm around his waist. Shadow hummed and settled immediately into the embrace, wrapping his own arms loosely around Sonic’s neck to hold him closer. Even with Shadow in his heeled boots, Sonic had to bend a bit to make the kiss more comfortable for his shorter partner.

Heat curled in Shadow’s belly and zipped up his spine, making the fur on his arms lift subtly. He remembered his admission in the field to not being up for their usual activities that night, but if Sonic had made the suggestion now, he wasn’t sure he’d able to resist. Trails of heat followed in the wake of Sonic’s hands gripping his waist, slipping down just over his hips and migrating slowly back and down, one hand cupping his ass, the otherteasing the base of Shadow’s tail-

Thankfully, Sonic seemed to have the clearer head, that night. He hummed and broke their kiss with a soft gasp, pulling back his hands, peppering a few more chaste kisses on Shadow’s cheeks until the hybrid was a giggling mess in his arms, then one more to his lips before releasing him and stepping back. He wore a sideways grin and his eyes were almost glassy, clearly he had been close to giving in, as well.

Apart, Shadow felt his exhaustion return, and he was glad Sonic had the strength for both of them to resist, that night. There was always other nights, after all, and memories to keep warm with, should he get the urge as he dozed off later. “Well,” Shadow began, ears pinning. “Uh… goodnight?”

They hadn’t done this part before, this parting. Normally it was hasty, either in the wee hours or after waking up in the morning to the realization that they had fallen asleep while blissed out of their minds the previous night. But this felt… different, somehow.

More official. It was the end of a date, and it was brand sparkling new territory.

Sonic shifted foot to foot and grinned, lopsidedly again. “I, yeah, I guess.. Goodnight, Shadow. I had a good time? Which, I don’t mean to sound shocked by, but, you know, even with all the chaos…”

Shadow smiled and nodded. “I understand… and, I feel the same.”

Sonic’s grin grew brighter. It made Shadow’s stomach do funny flips, again. “Great! That’s… so… um, what we talked about, at Tsunami…?”

Shadow’s ears perked, but he successfully beat back the anxiety budding in his chest. He nodded for Sonic to continue.

Sonic swallowed and continued, nodding to himself as if to encourage his own voice along. “I just, I mean… is it okay, to, you know… tell people? That, that we’re official?”

Official… Shadow fought the excited smile that threatened to split his face the way no smile had in actual decades. Sonic caught glimpses of it in the way Shadow bit his lip, and it made his own all the more bright. Shadow nodded. “Yes,” he breathed. “Yes, I, I think I’d be okay with that.”

Sonic shook, and unable to contain himself, laughed and jumped and did a small twirl in the air. It got a laugh out of Shadow, too, which made Sonic shake harder. 

“Okay!” the hedgehog said at length, and jumped back. “Okay! For real this time, right? ‘Cause I gotta talk to my little bro, and you gotta go get some sleep. ‘Night, Shads.”

“Goodnight, Sonic.”

With that Shadow slipped back on his helmet and mounted the Dark Rider once more. Sonic was still watching him, so he flipped up his visor to give him a questioning look.

Caught staring, Sonic’s face flushed. “Just, uh…,” he stammered, ears folding. “..Tell me when you get home, okay? G’night, bye~!”

And he was gone, racing into the house, dust trail behind him he had kicked up under his high tops. Shadow snorted; maybe it was his own rosy-hued mood that night, but he swore some of the puffs of dust were in the shape of Valentine hearts.

He flipped his visor back down. Enough of that, he chided himself, grinning and shaking his head. It wasn’t a long ride home, but he could make it even shorter- he revved the Dark Rider and sped off, making sure to put on a burst of speed as he peeled away.

Just in case certain besotted blue hedgehogs might be watching from their front doors.

—- —- —- —- —-

Sonic let out a shaky breath, falling back against the front door as he shut it behind him. He hadn’t been able to resist watching Shadow take off on his motorcycle; really, it had no business being as damn fucking sexy as it was, seeing him handle that thing, and yet it had Sonic’s legs weak as jello beneath him.

He hummed and hugged himself, biting his lip and wriggling in delight. Boyfriends. They were boyfriends, him and Shadow. He slid down the door, dopey grin still on his face and his stomach full of butterflies. 

By all accounts, that date should have gone down as a disaster. They were kicked out of the restaurant for actually no reason, Shadow nearly had a Chaos meltdown outside in the middle of the square after discovering Knuckles and Rouge had seen the whole ordeal, and the mess had even resulted in painful flashbacks for the hybrid to memories he hadn’t recalled since they’d first been laid down. A disaster, by all definitions, and yet…

Sonic couldn’t shake that warm fluttering in his chest. He set his head back against the door. Oh… oh he might just even say he was in lo-

“Woah, pump the breaks-,” Sonic breathed aloud, freezing suddenly. They’d only just made it official that night, was he really already thinking the ‘L’ word? He swallowed thickly.

Then again… it didn’t scare him, the way he thought it was supposed to. It did nothing to tame the butterflies, or mute the floaty feeling in his limbs, or slow his racing heart. It didn’t put out the fire in his belly every time he thought of Shadow, of his mind, his heart, his body, every inch of him-

“Alright, alright, no, nope, no, we are not getting worked up right now, shit to do…”

He took a steadying breath and forced himself to his feet. Right, no more thinking about Shadow, or his handsome face, or his sexy voice, or the small smiles he only gives people who manage to make it close to his crazy-guarded heart; or how that heart was guarded up so tight because of all that he’d been though, but damnit, he was still standing…

Sonic shook his head. It did very little to dispel the mutinous thoughts of Shadow and his strength and courage and heroic spirit- Chaos, he was lost, wasn’t he? Sonic groaned as he slipped out of his scarf and jacket, hanging them by the door. He let out a deep breath.

No more, date night was over, great success, he had a boyfriend now. Officially. That he could tell people all about in the morning. For now, though…

He turned and looked towards the back door through the kitchen. For now, his little brother needed his undivided attention.

“Gotta let it work itself out,” he said, repeating much the same advice he’d given Shadow that night. He took the first of many reluctant steps towards the door, and finally out of it. “Can’t just keep kicking this can down the road…”

The revelation Knuckles had dropped on him the day before rang out in his had. Tails had heard his… electric night, with Shadow. After all the care Sonic had taken to ensure Tails wasn’t anywhere near, the one time he had brought Shadow over to the house for their… meet-ups. And it hadn’t even occurred to Sonic that the gig had already been up before it had even begun.

It wasn’t that he was upset Tails knew he and Shadow were together, tenuous though it was until tonight. No, he sure most of Mobius had some inkling, even if they hadn’t technically made anything official; after all, Rouge had known almost immediately, as did Knuckles. For the same reasons that apparently Tails knew…

Yeah, Sonic had probably fucked up more than he wanted to think about, with this one.

The workshop door was left open, Tails infected with the same bug as Sonic about needing the open, natural breeze nearby at all times. Sonic couldn’t hear any equipment going off; even still, he knew he’d find his brother inside.

And find him he did. Tails was at a table away from the door, goggles on but pushed up on top of his head, making his fringe stand up more than usual. He was fiddling with something, twin tails twisting behind him as he worked on what looking like some sort of motherboard component.

Sonic stood in the doorway for a while. A long while. Long enough that Tails eventually stopped and looked back at him with a raised brow.

It wasn’t that they weren’t talking, they were. It was just that… it was different. Tails so often looked like he had questions on his mind that the wouldn’t say, things he wanted to add but didn’t. It wasn’t like him to keep secrets, but, here he was. Holding back.

And here was Sonic, so painfully uncertain of himself, doing the same.

“… Hey, buddy.”

Tails blinked and turned, the high stool he sat on spinning as he pushed himself around to face his brother. He wore no gloves, though with the brother that had all but raised him (and in truth, Sonic had actually done that, too-) it didn’t really matter. No more tech to fiddle with, Tails instead clasped his hands in his laps, brown and white with their pink pads wringing one another anxiously.

Yeah. Yeah, Sonic felt like the world’s worst big-brother-slash-adoptive-parent ever, right about now. He really should have noticed this sooner, or at least been willing to accept what his better judgement had been trying to tell him for the last month and a half. He only hoped it wouldn’t take him as long to repair the chronic damage.

He walked into the workshop and looked around. There was a chill near the entrance, though he noted his brother at least had a heater going under the table top, so he was hopefully warmer near the side. Plus his winter coat. Sonic was regretting shedding his jacket so soon.

He was stalling, and he knew it. Tails was watching him with lowered, wary eyes. Something deep in Sonic’s demented soul thought it was funny for a fox to be looking at a hedgehog like prey before a hunter, but, he stowed that dark joke away for another time. Or never.

Still stalling. Enough. “Tails, bud, can we talk?”

Tails slipped off his stool and hugged his arms around himself. He nodded. “Yeah, uh, sure,” he began, but his voice was stilted and awkward.

Sonic sighed and moved across the workshop. He had been right, it was warmer on this side, and he fluffed his own coat in relief as the chill dissipated. He knelt before his brother (something he realized with a jolt was fast becoming unnecessary, wow, the kid was really knocking the shit out of these growth spurts-) and looked up at him with wide eyes.

“Tails, bud, I… look, Knuckles told me about some stuff, that happened on New Year’s, and I just wanna say I’m, I’m real sorry you had to-“

“Stop,” Tails said, and waved a hand, his nose scrunching for a moment before he walked off, tufted ears pinning in discomfort. Sonic blinked and, suddenly kneeling before no one, stood to follow his brother.

“Alright, look, I get it, you heard some stuff. I can answer any questions you have, alright? We don’t have to make this weird-“

“You already made it weird,” Tails groaned, grabbed his working gloves from a different bench and pulling them on. A sign he was truly uncomfortable, covering his hands.

Sonic blew. “How? C’mon, talk to me, please, you want me to beg? You know I’ll do it, I’ll drop down and beg right now-“

“Just stop it!” the fox snarled, as Sonic was about to do just as he threatened and fall to his knees.

Sonic froze. To be fair, so did Tails- the fox had never snapped at his brother, ever, not since their first evening together when he had, quite literally, been in full animal survival mode as an abused little kit. Since that one instance, not so much as a raised voice… until now.

Sonic looked like he’d been burned, hands withdrawing back slowly like he was trying to defend himself. Tails tried to follow the look with something stormy, but he couldn’t manage it, and only looked unsure. 

The fox dropped his gaze, ears folding. In a defeated voice, he said, “Just… stop trying to act like this is normal, please?”

Sonic’s ears pinned. “… Talk to me, then. Why are things not feeling normal, tell me how to fix it…”

Tails crossed his arms and leaned back against his workbench, still not meeting Sonic’s gaze. “I can, but you can’t fix it. And I wouldn’t ask you too, because that would be selfish, and I know it.”

Sonic stayed silent, uncharacteristic for himself; or, at least, who he was now. He gave Tails space to speak.

Realizing Sonic wasn’t going to fill the air for him, Tails sighed. “I’m guessing the thing Knuckles told you about was me… hearing you and… him. I don’t care about that. I-I mean,” he started, look of startled disgust over his features that would have almost been comical, if Sonic’s heart wasn’t clenching in his chest, “Don’t get me wrong, I never want to hear anything like that again, from anyone, but least of all my brother-… But, that’s not what’s bothering me.”

Sonic swallowed and, shoving down the awkwardness he felt at the admission, nodded slowly. “Okay… so, what is it, then?”

“You’re… with him. Like, it wasn’t just… one time. And you were with him tonight, too, weren’t you?”

Sonic blinked and tilted his head. “I.. Shadow? Y-yeah, Tails, I… we’re… kinda a… thing. Like… officially.”

Tails looked like he’d been kicked. He stared at Sonic with horror in his eyes. “What?!” His twin tails bushed and his ears stood straight.

Sonic reeled back. “Yeah, like, as of tonight, I.. I wanted you to be the first one I told, you know?”

“Why’s that?” Tails growled, ears pinning again and pupils narrowing to slits. There was caged animal look again. Was this what fox puberty looked like?

Sonic shook his head and stood taller, quills raising defensively. “Uh, I don’t know, because you’re my brother? And my best friend? And this is a really, really big deal for me? Maybe that’s why?”

Tails huffed and rolled his eyes, and yeah, Sonic was definitely going with fox puberty. It didn’t make the rejection sting any less. His brother looked away, composing himself, before looking back to the hedgehog. “You really don’t know why that bothers me?”

Sonic shook his head, eyes narrowed in some attempt to look stern, though he only came across as desperate and a little angry. The best he could muster against his brother.

Tails met his eyes. For the first time, Sonic realized… he didn’t know what his brother was trying to communicate. Not that he didn’t understand his techno-babble, or the complicated mechanics he was trying to explain, but that his brother was so clearly trying to convey some deeper meaning to him, and he just…

He wasn’t getting it.

And maybe that came through for Tails, maybe he could understand Sonic, and maybe he had decided to take mercy. Or maybe he was just tired of waiting for his brother to catch up.

“It bothers me that it’s him.”

Sonic blinked. “…What.” He tilted his head. The word was a question, but the tone he asked it in was not. “You… don’t like Shadow?”

“No, I don’t have a problem with Shadow, in general. My problem is I don’t… I don’t trust him with… with you…” His face flushed at that and he crossed his arms defensively over his chest.

Sonic did a series of complicated mental gymnastics, trying like hell to follow his brother’s logic. Tails knew he wasn’t straight, he’d lived through the Dark Years of Sonic bringing home a string of poorly chosen trysts, sometimes back to back, without so much more than an exasperated roll of his eyes and a fond snort at his brother’s sheepish grin as John/Jane-Doe-of-the-Moment made their awkward exit stage left in the morning. 

So it wasn’t the gay thing. Which felt like a silly thought, anyhow, but Sonic was really wracking his brain here.

Sonic shook his head. “Help me, Tails, please, I’m trying hard, man, but… why? We do missions with Dark all the time these days, and me and Shadow run solos even. Granted, those in the past usually end up in a fight, but, hey, we always come through in the end and pull off the big hero shit! What’s not to like about him?”

Tails lifted himself onto the bench, hands fidgeting in his lap and tails still flicking anxiously. His ears had not lifted, and his eyes were unsure. “I don’t know, maybe it’s all the times the guy’s tried to cave my skull in with his giant metal rocket boots? Could be a pretty good reason.”

Sonic winced and nodded slowly. “Okay… granted. Definitely some bad blood, I guess, yeah, fair. But! If it makes you feel any better, he’s done way worse to me, and we’ve moved past it!” His eyes were wide and earnest, hands throw out and trying to convey the gravity of wha the felt in the moment. Something in him hoped it was as simple as Tails needing a reminder of perspective, but Tails’ next admission dashed his hopes.

“And that is my even bigger issue, right there,” the fox said, pointing at his brother as he did. “Shadow’s a great ally now, but this isn’t the first time he’s behaved, right? Only to turn on us when it as convenient for him, or his loyalties changed. I mean, how long will this last, really? Before he finds some reason to be at our throats again? At your throat, that you’re leaving wide open?”

Sonic pulled himself up to sit beside Tails, legs dangling from the bench top. His hands gripped the surface on either side of himself, head down and contemplating the floor. Tails made a good point in that Shadow had a history of getting… mixed up. But that was just it, it was always when his head had been scrambled, and all of it had happened not long after he’d either been pulled from stasis, or had been recovering from a literal fall to the surface from above the stratosphere. But Sonic didn’t know how to word it to make it sound like he was anything but a delusional, lovesick fool.

Because he knew that right now, he was exactly that.

Finally, he took a steadying breath, and replied, “I trust Shadow. He’s been through hell more times than once, and every big bad in the galaxy at some point has tried to mess with his head, ‘cept maybe the Time Eater, who was a little busy messin’ with my head back then. But he’s always come home, Tails, always come back when we needed him.” Sonic had more he wanted to say about Shadow. So much more. He wanted to smile and squeal and tell Tails every mushy, gushy thought that’s ever popped in his head over the hybrid. He wanted to tell him how giddy he felt when Shadow agreed to be official, that night, and how touched he was when the hybrid trusted him enough to let Sonic see him even his most vulnerable moments. 

But now wasn’t the time for that, and he knew all those things were the last things Tails wanted to hear.

Tails shook his head and leaned forward, forcing Sonic to look his way. “You don’t see it, do you? Fine, then let me tell you what I see happening. One of three scenarios is playing out: one, he’s tricking you for some purpose I haven’t figured out yet; two, he’s delusional and your delusional, and both of you are headed for disaster with your eyes closed; three, he knows what he’s doing, doesn’t care about the consequences, and you are still delusional.” He counted off his fingers as he listed.

Sonic considered these options for a long moment, turning from his brother and back to the floor, hands in his lap. Tails was deflating the longer he sat, the stern confidence he had exuded before shriveling.

Finally, Sonic nodded slowly. He looked up, straight ahead, and sat up, back like a rod. “So, basically, in all above scenarios… I’m a stupid fucking moron, right?” His hands turned to fists in his lap.

Tails shrank. “I.. I didn’t mean- I just, I just mean you trust easy, and, and someone like Shadow-“

“Someone like Shadow, what? Is waiting in the wings to take advantage of the the simple-minded village idiot? Because I’m too stupid to know when I’m being used?”

Tails shrank further, and yet further still when Sonic turned to him. Sonic tried to inject some kind of anger in his gaze, something to convey what he felt, but all he could do was… hurt. It bubbled up from within him, and he couldn’t keep it from his eyes. 

Couldn’t hide it from letting Tails’ see. To his frustration, it boiled over, until he felt his eyes mist- it was humiliating, and Sonic had never let Tails see him cry before, over anything, but this… this felt big. 

“You wanna be mad at someone for all that, everything Shadow’s done to earn your mistrust? Be mad me, the guy who wasn’t quick enough and let him fall, a fall that led to him to resetting and having to learn everything about who he was and what it meant to be a good person all over again. But don’t… don’t be mad at him. The world’s already doing the for you. If you’d seen the shit I saw today, what he has to put up with, and the grace he still carries through it all…” Sonic shook his head as his voice faded.

He tried, he really did, to steel himself. But he felt the emotion growing, everything bubbling up, and the misting of his eyes grew heavy. He couldn’t tamp it back down, hide it away where it belonged. He couldn’t stop, so instead, he stood, and headed for the door.

Tails was on his feet in an instant and charging after his brother. “Sonic, wait, please-“

Sonic stopped at the door, hoping the cold air hitting his face would dry his mutinous eyes. He blamed the whirlwind of a day for his slipping control. “I need a minute, buddy, can you give me that?” he said, voice creaking as he pled. His fists tightened until he felt his short-clipped claws nearly digging into his palms through his gloves. “I… I didn’t mean that I thought you.. I know you’re smart, even if you leave the techno stuff to me, I, I never meant to imply you weren’t I just… I just don’t want to see you get hurt, again…”

Sonic turned at that and furrowed his brow. “What do you mean, again? Bud, what…?”

Tails’ eyes were wet now, too, and Sonic’s widened. The fox snarled, just as upset at his own display of emotion as Sonic had been at his, and swiped at his own face as he sniffed. “You think your the only one that has nightmares about the ARK? About failing, not being good enough? Screwing up, and getting someone killed?”

Sonic deflated. The image of a his brother, younger than he was now, in the X-Tornado’s mech variant flashed before his eyes. The image was distorted through old, warped glass, but he could see the terror all the same, as clearer as he could back then. He felt the fear he’d known in the moment creep down his spine and steal his breath; he had survived, but it wasn’t assured at the time, and certainly to Amy and his brother watching the horror play out in front of them it had appeared very much like he hadn’t. “Tails, buddy… I didn’t die, I’m right here- I, your- your emerald save my butt, remember? It was such a good dupe, I could even Chaos control with it! Hey, c’mere-“

Tails hiccoughed and tried to push Sonic away, but even if he was gaining height on the hedgehog quickly, he still wasn’t quite big enough yet to overpower him. Sonic wrapped him up in a tight embrace, holding him close until the kit’s weak attempts at distance quieted, as though afraid Tails would disappear in his arms if he let go.

Tails broke and buried his face in his brother’s chest. “And- and he was there, with Chaos with Metal with Zavok-“ The fox cried harder. Fifteen.. definitely old enough for puberty, but also still so very much a child… 

Sonic cried with him. They had never talked about… any of that. Either of them. With anyone, as far as Sonic knew, but especially not with each other. The ARK, the 6 months Sonic was just… gone. And maybe that been all Sonic’s fault, too, too hopeful it was all stuff that could be easily swept under the rug. No need to remind his brother of things in the past that shouldn’t matter now, right?

If the sobbing teenager crumbling to pieces in his arms was anything to go by, he had made a huge miscalculation.

“Hey, hey, look at me, kiddo,” Sonic said, trying to smile, though it was a wet and wobbly thing. Tails pulled back to look at his brother, still trying to quiet his own hushed sobs. “That was Infinite, remember? That was- that was an illusion. I know, because when that same illusion tried to start Round 2 after I was already weak from that run in me and Silver had with the jackal, you know what happened?”

Tails sniffed and shook his head.

“The real Shadow showed up and kicked his clone’s ass for me,” Sonic said, smiling through tears. “Probably woulda been right back in Egghead’s grasp or worse, if not for him, you know?”

Tails wiped at his face again and took a few halted breaths. “…He… He did all that?”

Sonic laughed wetly and nodded. “Yeah! And there’s other times, too, more than I can even remember. Shadow’s more than made up for what he’s done, bud- I.. I just hope you can see that, some day, like I do…”

Tails swallowed thickly and dropped his gaze. He pinned his ears harshly and Sonic recognized the look of shame across his features. “I… I just, I don’t… I don’t ever want to lose you, Sonic…” His voice was thick with unshed tears, and Sonic pulled him in again to a tight hug.

“You won’t, bud… cross my heart, okay? Just… give it some time, and you’ll see what I mean. Shadow’s… Shadow’s more than meets the eyes, you know? He’s not the hog you think he is- he sure wasn’t the hedgehog I thought I knew, at first.”

Tails hiccoughed again, and Sonic felt him nod miserably where he was tucked again his neck. Muffled by Sonic’s fur, he said, “I’m… I’m glad you’re happy, please don’t… don’t think I’m not, I’m just.. just…” A fresh wave of tears came soon after.

Sonic nodded. “I know, bud, I know… everything’ll be okay, I promise…” He rubbed Tails’ back as he used to do for the kit during thunderstorms. He understood.

The ARK incident had changed all of them, in different ways. It brought Shadow into their lives, for better and for worse, at times, which Sonic wasn’t so love-blind he couldn’t admit. It had been one of his earliest tastes of mortality, both of his own and his friends’. It had been the catalyst to the massive memory reset Shadow endured, the aftershocks of which still echoed in him to this day.

It would make sense Tails still carried baggage from that trip, locked away, sealed up in his mind. It had been the first of an unfortunately recurring theme of Tails watching Sonic die (or, almost die, rather-), and Sonic cursed himself in his head for not seeing how that would mess with the kit’s head eventually.

He drew back again and put on one of his famous smiles, one that made Tails almost smile back at him, and nodded towards the house. “Hey, I’m not super sleepy right now, so, whaddya say we go make some of that chocolate popcorn you like so much and maybe put on something while we cook? One of your shows?”

Tails laughed breathlessly. “Chocolate popcorn and anime? At nearly 2 AM?”

“Sure! Why not? What, your mom gonna come yell at us for staying up past curfew?” the hedgehog teased.

Tails’s grin returned, as did his laugh. “Yeah, she’s catching a ride with your’s,” he replied weakly.

Sonic ruffled his brother’s fringe and pulled him alway towards their home. “C’mon, then we better get moving if we wanna get a batch done before they get here,” he laughed. He slung an arm around his shoulder as they walked, hugging Tails close. There was still so much to be said, and he knew it, but he also knew they both needed time to figure out what really needed saying.

And time was something Sonic had plenty of to give his little brother. All the time he needed. All the time in the world. And at the end of it all, he had to have faith than his brother would come to see Shadow in a similar light to himself.

“Hey, Sonic…?”

“Yeah, little buddy?”

“…You know you’re supposed to spend Valentine’s with your partner, right? Not making popcorn with your little brother?”

“Pfft, when’s tradition even dictated squat to me? ‘Sides, Shads needed to turn it, it’s been a long day for us both. And my little brother needed me, and like I’ve always told you- I’ll always be there when you need me.”

Part 2 of Holiday Hogs First < Prev | Next >

[king-of-the-butterfly-gore]

minecraft movie is great yall. spoilers below (kinda? it's outfits. from the final scene. and makes a bit more sense with the final scene.)

they're married

[weezerlvr228]

rivers if he was absorbed by poisonous gas but didn’t care too much

[kthologue]

the bet — jason todd

synopsis. it’s harder to keep your relationship with jason a secret from the world's greatest detectives than you thought. (3 times each wayne family member tries to prove that you and jason are together and 1 time they actually do.)

notes. ooc. tooth. rotting. fluff. like 3k words of it and im sick. my first time writing for jason ever yay!

“You know, if you stare any harder, you might actually burn a hole through her head.”

Dick’s teasing voice slices through the comfortable silence between the two brothers, save for the distant sirens and the low hum of Gotham’s never-ending nightlife below them. They’re perched on a rooftop across from an upscale bar, the neon sign casting a soft glow on their suits. Through the massive glass windows, you sit at the bar, leaning in with an easy, disarming laugh as the suspect, some sleazy drug trafficker falls right into your trap.

Jason, crouched beside Dick with his elbows on his knees, grumbles beneath his mask. “I’m not staring.”

Dick lets out a quiet chuckle, shaking his head. “Right. Then I must be hallucinating.”

“I thought we got you checked out for that already,” Jason shoots back, his voice sharp.

Dick winces, placing a dramatic hand over his heart. “Low blow.”

“It was pretty funny.”

Dick doesn’t argue, just settles into a knowing silence, watching as Jason’s hand unconsciously flexes against the holster at his hip.

Jason exhales through his nose, his jaw ticking. “I don’t understand why she has to flirt to get intel. We could just beat the answers out of these guys. Hell, we’d probably get it faster.”

The older vigilante shakes his head. “Yeah, because nothing says ‘covert op’ like bashing heads through walls.” His voice is light, but his eyes flicker to the way Jason’s fingers tighten around the grip of his gun. “Relax. Your sweetheart can handle herself.”

Jason freezes, but only for a fraction of a second. His heart, though, does that annoying thing where it skips a beat, both traitorous and stupid.

Your sweetheart.

Not that anyone knew. Not that anyone could know. As much as he wanted to grab you by the waist and kiss you breathless after missions, he wasn’t about to hand his family more ammunition for their relentless teasing.

Dick, for one, was proving exactly why this relationship stayed a secret.

The silence should have been Jason’s first warning. The way Dick just sits there, absently swinging a batarang between his fingers, watching the bar with an all-too-pleased expression.

“You know,” Dick hums, as if lost in thought, “it’s important to let that special someone know how you feel. Your twin flame. That one person you’ve been pining over since– oh, I don’t know, your youth.”

Jason doesn’t move.

Dick pauses for dramatic effect, then casually props his chin in his hand, his gaze flicking to Jason. A slow grin tugs at his lips.

“Hm. You’re blushing.”

Jason’s breath stills. His eyes snap to Dick, but his head remains stubbornly forward.

“I am not blushing.” His voice is gritted steel. “And I haven’t been pining over her for that long.”

Dick tilts his head, amusement flickering in his eyes. “Huh. Funny.” He leans back with an exaggerated stretch. “I never said who.”

Jason’s fists clench.

Damn it.

His mask covered his whole damn face. There was no way Dick could have seen a blush, no way he could have known.

Jason grits his teeth as realization dawns.

He walked right into that.

Like a lovesick fool.

The next time Jason’s nearly caught is at one of Bruce’s galas.

Jason had grumbled and rolled his eyes when you insisted on attending—something about not wanting to spend the night in a “stuffy ass ballroom pretending to care about Gotham’s elite.” You had countered that it was for a good cause, something you actually cared about, and that Bruce would appreciate the support. Begrudgingly, he agreed.

But, of course, he couldn’t just let you go without making things complicated.

“Matching colors,” Tim observes, arms crossed, his sharp blue gaze flickering between you and Jason.

You school your expression into something neutral. Jason, standing entirely too close to you, does no such thing.

“What a coincidence,” Tim drawls, a smirk tugging at his lips.

“It really was,” you force out a laugh, silently screaming at Jason for his careless mistake.

He had seen your dress before the gala, made a gruff noise of disapproval, and then—without a single word—had left only to return an hour later with a tie in the exact same deep shade of red.

You had almost thrown a shoe at him.

As endearing as the gesture should have been, it was infuriating. He was the one insisting that your relationship remain under wraps, but he was awful at hiding it.

Right now, you can practically feel his warmth radiating onto you, his fingers twitching at his side, itching to settle on your waist. His entire presence screams possessive, yet he’s standing there trying to play it cool.

“Right, Jay?” you prompt, hoping begging he plays along.

“Total accident,” he deadpans.

You mentally facepalm. He is not selling it.

Tim’s smirk deepens, thriving off Jason’s obvious discomfort.

“Well then,” Tim shrugs, barely suppressing his amusement. “If she’s not your date, do you mind if I steal a dance?”

Jason’s shoulders tense. His jaw clenches so tight you’re surprised his teeth don’t crack.

“Go ahead.”

His tone is flat, but you know better. His hands may be in his pockets, but you can see them clenched into fists. His entire body is rigid, like he’s forcing himself to not grab your wrist and pull you back to his side.

You want to laugh. It’s so obvious.

Tim takes your hand and whisks you away onto the dance floor before Jason can change his mind.

He’s is a smooth dancer, you’ll give him that. He moves with confidence, leading you effortlessly through the slow, sweeping steps of the waltz. The ballroom around you is a blur of glittering gowns and dark suits, the music swelling in a soft, romantic rhythm.

You try to focus on the dance, but you can feel Jason’s stare.

It’s burning into you from across the room, a weight against your spine that makes your pulse spike.

Tim notices. Of course, he does.

“I know I have a grand total of one song before your guard dog comes back,” he murmurs, tilting his head slightly as he spins you. His fingers press lightly against your back, his mouth close to your ear. “So, between you and me… you can just tell me if you’re dating.”

You groan. “Why is everyone so obsessed with this?”

Tim pulls back just enough to give you a pointed look. “Because the two of you have been dancing around each other for years. I’m in pain just watching.”

“You’re so dramatic.” You roll your eyes, trying not to laugh. “Buzz off and focus on your own romantic life, Drake.”

Tim just grins. “Yours is so much more interesting.” He spins you gracefully, his smirk growing as he catches sight of Jason still watching. Still fuming.

He tugs you back in, dropping his voice to a whisper. “So tell me… are the two of you together? Because I’ve been sensing–”

“You’ve been sensing jack shit, Drake.”

The voice is low, sharp, and pissed.

You barely have time to process Jason’s arrival before you feel a hand—his hand—on your waist, warm and grounding and claiming.

Tim barely gets a breath out before Jason smoothly steps in, seamlessly taking his place as if he had planned this from the start. His movements are precise, natural, possessive. The transition is so smooth it’s like the dance was meant to end like this—with you in his arms.

Tim watches, looking utterly delighted.

“Wow,” he muses. “Not even a full song? Possessive much?”

Jason doesn’t acknowledge him. His grip on you tightens, and you feel his breath against your temple as he leans in just enough to send a shiver down your spine.

You should step back. You should do something to break the illusion.

But you don’t.

Because his hand is on your waist, his other hand holding yours just right. His body is solid and warm against you, moving with you effortlessly like he was made for this. The scent of leather lingers on him, comforting and intoxicating.

He is looking at you like you are the only person in the room.

And you don’t even realize you’ve stopped breathing until he speaks.

“I don’t like how low his hands were.”

The words are gritted out, low and quiet, meant just for you.

Your heart stumbles. You should not find that as attractive as you do.

“Jason–”

He exhales sharply through his nose. “He knows. He’s just trying to het under my skin.”

You blink up at him, heat rising to your cheeks. “Jay, it was just a dance.”

His fingers flex against your waist.

Your breath catches in your throat. The words send something electric through you, something dangerous. You don’t have time to respond.

Because Tim, damn Tim, is still standing there, watching the whole exchange with way too much satisfaction.

“Well,” he muses, rocking back on his heels. “That was interesting.”

Jason finally acknowledges him by glowering in his direction.

“Get lost, Drake.”

Tim grins. Because while he may not have gotten a confession, he definitely got confirmation.

After your encounter with Tim, you and Jason had agreed to lay extra low. No unnecessary risks, no slip-ups. No feeding into their suspicions. That plan, of course, went up in flames, quite literally when you almost lost a damn arm.

Jason had nearly lost his mind.

Now, standing in the training room with Cassandra, you tug absentmindedly at the hem of your sleeve, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in your arm.

Cass, however, does not.

“That’s one nasty burn,” she winces, crouching slightly to get a better look at the angry, blistering wound.

You shift uncomfortably under her scrutiny. “It’s nothing, really,” you say, waving a dismissive hand. “I was just reaching into the oven to grab some muffins, and my arm accidentally hit the hot rack.”

Jason, standing beside you with his arms crossed, snorts.

“Yeah,” he mutters. “Told you to be careful this morning.”

The second the words leave his mouth, his body goes rigid. His eyes widen slightly, realizing his mistake.

Shit.

Cass doesn’t even blink before zeroing in.

“What was that?”

Jason schools his expression into mock confusion. “What was what?”

“Don’t play coy, Todd.” Cass’s voice is sharp, her dark eyes locked onto him with an intensity that could crack glass.

Jason ever so stubborn and entirely unwilling to admit defeat, doesn’t back down.

“I don’t know what you mean.” He doesn’t flinch.

Cass tilts her head, unconvinced. “I heard the two of you were on patrol pretty late last night.” Her gaze flickers between you and Jason, noting every shift in body language, every subtle tell. “So tell me, Todd… what were you doing with [Name] this morning too? Did you, perhaps, sleep together?”

Silence.

The tension in the room thickens, settling over you like an impending storm. Your pulse spikes. Jason’s jaw locks. Cass’s eyes remain unmoving, sharp as a blade.

The stalemate stretches too long.

Before Cass can press further, you jump in.

“What Jason meant,” you say quickly, forcing an easy laugh, “is that our patrol ended at around six in the morning. I invited him over for a snack, is all.”

You will her to believe it.

Jason exhales subtly beside you, relaxing ever so slightly at your quick save.

Cass, however, is not satisfied.

“You never invite me over for snacks,” she states, arms crossing over her chest.

You frown. “I’m sorry, Cass. How about next time?”

She considers for a moment, expression unreadable, before nodding.

“I’ll be there at sunrise.”

You smile, nudging her shoulder. “It’s a deal.”

Cass eyes the two of you for another long second before finally, finally, grabbing her bag and exiting the room.

The moment the door clicks shut, Jason lets out a heavy breath.

Without warning, his large frame topples over yours, his solid weight pressing against your back as he buries his face into the crook of your neck.

“You’re gonna kill me one day,” he mutters, lips brushing the sensitive skin near your ear. His voice is low, gravelly, full of something raw and unguarded.

His arms encircle you, pulling you flush against him.

You bite back a smile, leaning into his warmth.

“Have I told you how much I love you?” His lips graze the nape of your neck, lingering.

“Not nearly enough,” you murmur.

It’s a lie.

Because Jason tells you every single day.

If not with his words, then with the way he looks at you. With the way he touches you like you’re the most precious thing in the world. With the way he freaks out over every little injury, over every near miss, like the thought of losing you would be enough to unmake him.

And God, if he wasn’t so damn obvious about it.

Your charade finally comes to an end on a rare night. The entire family gathered around the Wayne Manor dining table. It had taken weeks of convincing, countless rescheduled plans, and Alfred’s unshakable will to make it happen. You silently applaud him, watching as he moves seamlessly around the table, topping off glasses and making sure everyone eats.

The conversation is lively but controlled, an unspoken agreement hanging in the air: no fights. Bruce was actually eating rather than brooding, Damian had only thrown out two insults so far, and Tim was at least half-awake. For a Wayne family dinner, this was practically peaceful.

No one notices that you and Jason are sitting a little too close, they’re all too engrossed with the hearty meal and a rare opportunity of having a civil conversation with each other.

Jason, ever the attentive boyfriend, wordlessly reaches for the serving platter and places another thick slice of roast onto your plate. Then, he carefully spoons asparagus onto your dish, making sure it’s coated just enough with hollandaise sauce just the way you like it.

“Eat up, sweetheart.” His voice is low and smooth, meant just for you.

Your heart does a little flutter at the name, and your lips tug into a smile as you pick up your fork.

But then a familiar voice turns the entire night around.

“Forgive me if I’m wrong,” Damian’s voice cuts through the table, as sharp as one of his throwing knives, “but doesn’t ‘sweetheart’ have romantic implications?”

Silence.

A few forks hover mid-air. Bruce pauses as he cuts into his steak. Dick, who had been talking to Cass, freezes mid-sentence. Tim, who had been half-heartedly scrolling through his phone under the table, suddenly looks very awake.

“No, you’re absolutely right,” Dick leans back in his chair, grinning like he just hit the jackpot. His eyes flicker with amusement as he clasps his hands together. 

Jason’s chewing slows. Your eyes flicker to his face, trying to gauge his reaction. This was it. The moment he always dreaded.

“Todd just called [Last Name] ‘sweetheart,’” Damian supplies, ever helpful, pointing at the two of you with his fork.

Cass and Tim share a knowing glance, both nodding in quiet confirmation.

Dick gapes. “In front of my salad?”

Jason, rather than looking panicked, looks entirely unbothered. Too unbothered. His jaw moves as he stuffs another carrot into his mouth, chews deliberately, and then–

“It’s our one-year anniversary next month.”

Chaos erupts.

“WHAT?”

“I KNEW IT!”

“Called it.”

“Took you guys long enough!”

Tim smacks the table, rattling the silverware. Dick throws his hands in the air. Cass laughs silently, shaking her head as if she’s just been vindicated after months of waiting.

Stephanie, meanwhile, grabs Tim’s arm and shakes him. “You owe me fifty-bucks, Drake.”

Bruce, to his credit, looks unfazed, save for the slight twitch of his eyebrow. He sets his knife down and looks at Jason with a measured expression.

“Well done, son.”

Jason stares at him for a moment before giving him a single nod, as if they’re discussing business strategy rather than his romantic relationship.

You’re still flustered under the sheer weight of all the attention, but then Jason’s fingers interlace with yours under the table. Warm. Steady. Protective. He gives your hand a light squeeze, and just like that, your nerves settle.

The chatter continues, voices overlapping.

“I suppose that means I won the bet?”

The room stills.

Jason’s head snaps up. “Wait. What?”

Tim, not even looking ashamed, shrugs. “Technically, nobody won. We all knew already.”

Damian scowls. “The condition was that someone had to prove it. I did that tonight. Therefore, I win.”

Jason straightens in his chair, voice dangerously low. “Hold on. You had a bet?!”

You grimace, bracing yourself as the night takes a turn.

Tim leans back in his chair, smirking. “Oh, yeah. This has been going for months.”

“How much?” Jason demands, his eyes narrowing.

Dick, grinning, raises his glass. “A hundred bucks.”

Jason turns to you, betrayed. “Did you know about this?”

You shake your head furiously. “I would’ve rigged it to win if I had.”

“Unbelievable,” Jason mutters, rubbing his temples.

But then he feels your thumb brush gently over his knuckles, and suddenly, the noise fades into the background. He turns to you, the frustration melting from his features as he takes in the warmth of your smile, the way your eyes are only on him.

You squeeze his hand. “Well,” you say softly, just for him. “At least we don’t have to sneak around anymore.”

Jason exhales a low chuckle, shaking his head before turning to you fully. There’s adoration in his eyes, open and raw and entirely unguarded. His lips form the silent words, ‘I love you,’ and though no sound escapes, you hear it in the way his eyes soften, in the way his fingers tighten just slightly around yours. Your breath catches, warmth blooming in your chest, and without thinking, you smile radiantly, mirroring the love on his face.

thank you for reading! comments n reblogs are appreciated 💋

[sexybread-png]

im back c:

details under the cut

OK. i have much to say so get ready...

first of all... the tails... i just think its fun. i mean its oz theres magic one of them is green so. why not tails too.

the first one is beach day 🤭 its been a long day galindas been fooling around w fiyero and the other boys and nessa allll day she needs a nap (and elphaba is all so accommodating and happy to serve as pillow. shes warm, theres a comforting weight on her tummy, galinda smells good, theres a slight breeze, she can hear her friends playing a few feet away, she has a book to read, its calm...) also dw abt galinda getting sunburnt... shes reapplied sunscreen like 10 times now (w the help of both elphaba and fiyero) and she doesnt burn so easily more like she tans... u should probably be worried abt boq. also abt elphabas leg hair.. i just dont think she shaves or anything. i could go more into details but weve already had a lengthy talk abt hairiness over here on the blur so. ill leave it at that.

the second drawing was my first elphaba with a tail drawing! i was thinking abt how having a tail would affect her like the green skin. at first i was thinking she was the only one with a tail or maybe only munchkins have tails and then i was like oh fuck it everybody have tails so i also drew galindas c: i think elphaba would usually wear a cover on her tail like she covers every part of her body and galinda would wear bows and stuff just dazzle it out

also in the galinda drawing shes writing a letter :

"Dearest, darlingest Momsie and Popsicle,

Elphie and I are doing splendidously. She amazifies me further every new tomorrow. I miss you both so ever very much."

lol

OK MOVING ON. i drew gelphie in cynthia and ariana suits cuz they were just soooooo good i hope u love it

the next drawing i drew inspired by the 2001 revamp of the lyrics and they say "who would love the wicked, who would ever kiss their eyes, who would lay a lily on their grave"

i also made it my playlist's cover! you can check it out here, tell me ur thoughts if u listen to it c:

I DREW WICKED X SEVERANCE i have SO MANY THOUGHTS abt it but i dont wanna write them down rn just know its not exactly 1:1... in order its my version of fiyero, boq, galinda, and elphaba

urm and then poison ivy 🤤 with braids that turn into plants..... i just thought the idea was inspired

next doodle is dulcibear and baby elphaba bc i do believe dulci wouldve given her affection as much as she coulld, when she wasnt busy

and a doodle i did for moot who gave me nitro. theyre looking at each other with autism in the eyes

okay im done i hope u have a nice day!

[burymagdalene]

Covetous Cravings - S. Reid x Reader

Spencer finds himself sulking around in jealously for the first time after you regrettably tell him you have plans for the night. When surprising him with your presence later, Spencer realizes just how badly he missed you while he was away.

pairing: Spencer Reid x fem!reader genre: Smuttttt...... (18+ pls pls) tags: Whiny & desperate Spencer, he's just very eager to please. virgin Spencer, munch!spencer, head (fem!receiving), coital takes place on Spencer's pretty Persian rug, jealous Spencer, fingering, heavy make out session, nipple play, handjob, panty sniffing, Spencer's POV! Dirty dirty dirty wc: 5.3k a/n: I've written "Spencer" so many times it doesn't sound like a name anymore. I saw this tweet and was inspired to write something related to the carpet picture. That's all. I don't even think of you that often.

Cold water washes over Spencer's tired eyes and rolls slowly down his wrists to the bottoms of his sleeves (that he rolled up to avoid getting them wet, annoyingly) as he frantically tries to wash away a strange sour feeling in his gut.

Upon looking into his mirror he gazes over the 5 o’clock shadow he’s garnered over the few days spent away in a small town in Delaware. He pulls in his lips and rubs over it with his finger tips. He doesn’t have the energy to shave it right now.

Spencer is currently harbouring a bit of a sourpuss persona, he knows this well. The team had wrapped up the case quicker than expected, leading him to message you as soon as he could about heading back to D.C. and seeing you again.

To his dismay, when he got off the plane and checked his crummy silver Nokia, that you’ve giggled at a fair share of times, the response he receives from you is… that you’re… busy?

Something about a group of friends at a late night cafe/bar getting together, he didn’t read all of it, pouting so much that he just closed his phone. Spencer is aware you had these plans before he asked to see you. Spencer is aware that he’s back from Delaware earlier than expected. Yet he’s still over his sink, face wet and cold, grumbling about your social life.

The two of you have been together for a couple months now, it’s extremely new, he knows you wouldn’t drop everything upon his arrival, but the whole plane ride home he imagined your ideas around hanging out once he got back. He got his hopes up too high.

He begins to reflect a bit, maybe a better word would be spiral, as he wanders back into his bedroom and unpacks his go bag. I shouldn’t be feeling lousy right now, he thinks. We’ve been dating for 2 months and 3 days, he had missed your two month anniversary while he was away. He couldn’t even text you that day because he was too busy. Should he even text about anniversaries like that? He’s so new to this he has no clue. 

Considering your dating timeline now he starts to worry. He’s inexperienced, almost completely… no, yeah, actually completely. He sighs.

You have been over twice, by all the beautiful luck he might have fostered in a past life, he has had the spine-tingling honor to have made out with you those two times as well. After a handful of museum and bookstore dates, even visiting your apartment once, the first time you shared a kiss was when he was showing you Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Cercle Rouge, attesting it was substantial to the gangster film genre. 

When he felt your eyes against the side of his face during the best part of the film, he took a double take at you, seeing an unreadable expression in your eyes. He cringes at the memory of his confusion.

“Th-this part is really good… Pierre’s use of cinematic synecdoche here is perfectly timed compared to–” 

You had leaned in closely and started kissing along his jaw as he fumbled through the rest of his explanation till he tapered off into a whimper that was sealed with a kiss planted on his lips. He even reached to the coffee table in front of him while you were kissing to pause the movie, not wanting you to miss anything.

Spencer groans a bit at the memory, a little embarrassed, he now would recognize the signs you were displaying easier. He’s jealous of his past self, having you to himself so unabashedly. He’s jealous of his past time spent with you and he’s jealous of your friends right now who are hearing your laugh and smelling your perfume all night.

He sighs and flops down on his back to his bed. Spencer does not feel jealous often. He feels completely rotten and out of sorts. He thinks, maybe if he would’ve kissed you more suavely that first time you would’ve dropped your plans now. Maybe if he translated the French into English for you in a more sultry voice you’d skip out on a coffee with your friends. Maybe–

Spencer hears a faint knocking on his front door. He looks over at his alarm clock, 12:12 a.m., hm. He’s hallucinating for sure. Like a lonely old man who hears his late wife’s voice in the dark of his haunted halls–

Another tentative knock. 

He leaps up from his bed and races over to the front door with his legs moving so fast he feels like he’s in Looney Tunes. His heart starts pounding as he looks through his peephole to see a small blurry version of you shifting on your feet. He scrambles to unlock his door and swing it open. 

“Hi!” You smile at him, smelling like strong coffee mixed with whatever lactonic and spicy fragrance you usually wear that curls his toes. You step forward and give him a hug, your arms wrapping around his neck. This springs him into action, wrapping his arms around your waist he mutters out a “wow” against your shoulder. Like he just won a sweepstakes. 

You pull away a bit, but Spencer's arms stay around you. “Is it okay I’m here? You never responded to my texts.” You give him a shy smile and he realizes as he was grovelling he didn’t open his phone again after you said you had plans for the night. 

“Yes! Yes,” he clears his throat… be suave. “Of course. Um. Was just thinking about you, ha. Come over whenever. Yea. Even if I say I’m busy, come over still, haha.” Shit. 

“Ah. Okay, noted. I missed you too, Spencer.” You giggle a little at him and walk into the apartment, leaving him to shut the door behind you. “What were you thinking about?” You muse. 

“Ummmm. Le Cercle Rouge.” Spencer clears his throat again. IQ slashed to 60. 

“The Le Cercle Rouge incident, right.” You laugh again and look over at where he’s standing with a blank face. “Oh. Are you sure it’s okay that I'm here? I know I said I was busy, so I’m sure you’re ready for bed now, especially after the case. Did that go well?” His blank expression has made you nervous, he notices, though he was just considering again the feeling of his neck being kissed for the first time in 24 years. 

“Please stay. A while, too. I’m not tired.” A pause with long eye contact. “The case went surprisingly well, hence the early arrival.” 

The curve of your lip pulls up in a smirk and he sees he’s convinced you fully now. You bend down and unzip the sides of your brown high rise boots, leaving you in your black tank top, skirt, and now kneehigh socks that create a monochromatic wet dream for Spencer. Though this isn’t a dream, he shakes his head from side to side to get rid of the distracting thoughts.

“Good.” You sit down fully on his red carpet now, trying to pull your last boot off. “You know, you were a really short walk from the coffee shop, I’m surprised you’ve never been. As soon as you texted you were back I kept trying to slip away as politely as possible.” You talk while struggling with the shoe.

Spencer takes a deep breath in and meets you on his carpet, sitting on his knees to pull the boot off of you, which was incredibly easy. You were pretending to struggle with it on purpose. Once removed, he sits back against his heels and pushes your knees together by your ankles.

“You walked?” He mumbled back. He would’ve picked you up. He should’ve just checked his phone, told you to have a good night like a proper boyfriend. 

“Mm, like five minutes. No worries.”

“Its midnight- I. I can always pick you up.”

You whined your response, “But you weren’t answering your phoneeee.”

Spencer rubs his face with his hands, covering his smile a bit and feeling his skin heating up. “I’m very glad you showed up anyway. Even if it scares me you walked alone this late,” he glances at you leaning back against your hands, knees still pulled together. “You look very pretty.”

“Really? Thanks. I thought so too. About you, I mean. You’ve got a little 5 o’clock shadow right now, you look really handsome.” You smile and let out an airy laugh. Spencer subconsciously rubs his face again. He’s not sure when these jittery feelings will go away, if they ever will. One compliment from you and he’s feeling a blush coming from inside of him stretch over to his skin. 

He remembers his petulance earlier, his flair for the dramatics. Whining over people other than him seeing you, cursing his past self for awkward conversations, so he leans over onto his hands and knees and kisses your lips. 

You hum against his lips, knees together against one of his sides, happy at Spencer's first time initiating a kiss between you. You sit up off of your hands now  so they can cup his face and pull him firmer against you. Taking one of his wrists from where he’s planted on the floor to the other side of you, you guide him to slowly hover over you. 

Spencer can’t help but let out a tiny noise, a moan, against you as his palms dig uncomfortably into his carpet. He feels you lean back against your elbows and swing one of your legs to the other side of him. Now, you are pressed flat against the carpet, legs on either side of his waist. Spencer slowly moves so he’s on top of your frame, elbows crowning your head.

Both times Spencer has had the pleasure of tasting you like this you have been straddling him on his couch. This is the first time that he’s been able to lay on top of you and feel his hip bones dig into you and your legs around him.

Woah. Your legs are wrapped around him, just like how he’s dreamed of having you in his bed. Legs squeezing helplessly around him as he buries himself in you. Feeling your chest against his as you arch up into him. He lowers one hand to trail it up from your shins covered in your knee highs that make him faint to your hip.

He pushes his crotch down a bit from where it was against yours, making it so the hard-on he’s now sporting is against the floor now. He remembers the visceral feeling of you kissing his neck. Immediately he’s moving down to return the favor. What starts in soft kisses escalates quickly to sucking and laving against your skin, face buried into the source of his wildest dreams, your perfume. 

Your hands are carding through his hair right now, nails scratching at him softly and he has to position himself a bit closer to the ground now to rub off some built up tension his cock is begging for. This is usually where you part.

Face buried in your neck he’s smelling your intoxicating scent and moaning against the skin. He feels like a wild animal smelling a pheromone filled scent gland. Spencer realizes briefly where he is and pulls up from your neck to stare down at your face.

Hair haloing around you, you’re feverish and pressed against the Persian rug he spent his first big paycheck on. You have a bit of mascara smudged under your eyes and the lamps scattered around his living room are highlighting you in a way so beautiful he moans out again softly. No friction, no kissing, just by looking at you.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” he traces the line of your neck up and down softly with the tips of his fingers. “I almost drowned in my sorrows before you knocked on my door.” He leans back down and chuckles against the skin of your neck.

You don’t have exactly the same romantic thoughts in mind as you gasp out for the first time since he’s laid on you, “You feel so good against me, Spence. Wanted this so bad,” he stops kissing, breathing lightly against your neck as you continue. “Can’t believe I haven’t pulled you on me sooner.” He’s blinking silently hidden in the corner of your neck. He acts on a whim and bites down lightly against where your neck and shoulder meet and you squeal. 

Spencer was not prepared for the blazing eye contact he’d be met with once pulling away to look at you. Your tank top has ridden down, the top of your pink bra showing a bit and your hair is drastically more disheveled than when you arrived. He can feel his heart in his throat. He has to keep making you let out that sound.

You seem to notice his brazen eyeline and you take one hand to pull the neckline of your top down a bit, exposing most of the bra covering your breasts that are only slightly spilling out from all your wiggling. Spencer shuts his eyes like he’s in pain, but he’s actually moving his hips up and away from the floor so he doesn’t come in his pants right then and there.

A completely new and formidable heat spreads over him and into his loins. Never in his life has Spencer trembled with anticipation in this way. His skin is on fire and he’s struck with the overwhelming need to make you the happiest person in this world. He wants to have you shiver and shudder completely against his apartment floor, he wants to hear every moan and grunt until your voice gives out. He wants to fuck you with his mouth.

“Gah-God, baby,” Spencer moves himself away from you so that he’s kneeling between your open thighs, rubbing the outsides of your legs as he looks into your eyes. “My mouth. Um, can I use my mouth?” He lets out a shaky breath at the image.

You bite your lip softly at him, he feels like he just licked the screen on one of those old staticy TVs he used to have. “Use your mouth for what?” You half play coy and half ask in earnest, not wanting to jump to conclusions since you and Spencer have never taken off many layers together.

“I want to use my mouth to make you cum.” His face flushes immediately, your eyes widen in shock. He drags his sight down to where you lay in front of him. Legs spread open and skirt ridden up giving him an obscene upskirt of your underwear for him. Also black. He keeps his eyes there as you reply.

“Yeah. Please, please-” he whips his head up to look at your face again to engrain the image of you unkempt and nodding a desperate yes into his memory. He lightly reaches out between your thighs to briefly feel the bottom of your panties. He’s barely thinking, his first instinct was to gauge how wet you are, to compare it to how you’re going to feel later. You gasp sweetly and he moans in response, untouched, again.  

With this searing hot permission Spencer gets hit with a strong pietistic devotion towards you. There is literally nothing in his life that has mattered more to him right now than how the gusset of your panties stick onto you and that his tongue can finally be given the task he has thought about constantly since knowing you. 

The anxiety Spencer was expecting as a result of his inexperience is completely overthrown by a perfectly instinctual autopilot setting he falls into. The excitement of making you feel good, you letting him touch you in such a profound way completely overshadows the doubt of his expertise. 

Not that he’s completely clueless. Erotica classics hide in his bookshelves, copies of Anaïs Nin’s short stories, the detailed counts of female pleasure derived from biology books, decent sex education stemming from the countless hours he’s poured into literature. He’s fairly in tuned to what generally makes people crumble, he just has to try it out himself. 

Spencer starts at the top again. The push and pull between him and eating you out the way he’s craving will have to drone on a little longer as he starts kissing along the exposed skin of your breasts, not wanting to leave anything unkissed. How rude. 

You outstretch your neck to him and slide the tank top off yourself, leaving just your pink lace bra that's covering little of your nipples. Spencer fingers the straps briefly while taking in the sight of you. He cannot believe the cosmic circumstances that have led him to this moment.

“D’you like?” you mumble while watching him eye-fuck you. He almost feels sorry for how he’s watching your chest rise and fall but the way his dick is pulsing under the confines of his underwear allows for little words.

In fact, his hips kick a twitch forward at the sound of your voice. A siren song as old as time. 

“MmmIwanna,” Okay. Form words. “I wanna-” he pities himself enough to give up on that one and kisses along your chest again.

“Do what you want to. I want to feel you everywhere… I want you to touch me.” You seem to understand his dilemma. A once articulate tongue falls flat in such a frenzied situation. 

Spencer palms your tits through your bra properly now while kissing you sloppily. He feels the friction of the lace against his palm and your hardened nipple receiving the rough friction from it as well. He picks up on your whine against his lips and pulls your bra down by the middle of it, exposing your chest fully. 

You gasp against his lips and move your tongue against his as a thanks. Spencer lets out a tiny “ah” from the back of his throat when your tongues meet. To regain composure he takes the nipple he was palming through lace earlier and rolls it between his middle finger and thumb, it’s your turn to kick your hips up for friction now. 

He decides to lower his hips against yours fully for the first time, desperately searching for that debauching pleasure that he was avoiding earlier. His dick rests nicely under your belly button and you bite his bottom lip when he’s fully settled against you, he feels sort of proud. 

Feeling your body completely pressed against him in this way makes him mourn every second he’s been with you and not made you moan in happiness like he is now. Wishing that the pesky virginity he’s carried with him this long will be taken by this angel underneath him right now. His cock twitches against you at the thought of it.

He stops fiddling with the nipple and instead moves to hold one of your hands with his as his other hand moves to rub your neglected nipple. He subtly grinds a long and slow rhythm against where you two are pressed together and you make a curious noise, a full moan caught before getting let out. Nudged in your throat as you hold it in.

Spencer thinks for a moment and smiles at the realization that it sounds almost exactly like how you hold back a laugh in your throat. A small and choked out “hngh” high pitched before its snuffed out. He thinks of any future endeavors where he gets to hear you hold back a laugh in a quiet museum or library from one of his stupid jokes. With this comparison he’s going to be pathetically hard in so many more inappropriate situations now.

“Please, can you please take my panties off.” You mewl gently, almost as if you’re worried he will refuse, and break him out of his thoughts. Spencer nearly forgot how lost in his head he was while methodically rubbing your sensitive breasts and grinding against you. 

“Pretty girl, I’m sorry.” He really is, he never wants you to feel so desperate you have to beg for him to touch you, but without interference he could probably sit for eight hours straight playing with your tits to see if you could come from it. He whines out loud at the thought. “I will, of course, I will.”

The feeling of him peeling himself off you feels tortuous. However, it is very much a high risk, high reward scenario when he looks down between your thighs again to see a wetter fabric clad to your hips. Spencer leans towards you, pushes your socks down slightly to kiss the tops of each of your knees. You giggle and he nips the inside of your leg slightly. 

It’s dizzying, the experience of pulling your panties down for the first time. Every night where he has sloppily fucked his fist thinking of your smile lines and pretty hands, every evening after you’ve left his apartment well kissed has finally led to this life altering moment.

Your panties have been slid off and he’s got an iron grip on them as he’s staring at you fully exposed, the translucent liquid smudged around your cunt. He’s trying incredibly hard to not push them up to his nose and inhale, he thinks he’s done enough animalistic sniffing and grunting at you tonight. He places them neatly on the couch instead. 

“Baby, Spence, you’re a voyeur.” You laugh at his staring gently, he assumes 25% of this experience for you has been watching him stare bug eyed at every inch of skin you’ve surrendered. He lays down flat on his tummy, sucking in air through his teeth as his dick presses against his carpet through his slacks again. “Feel sensitive, that feels like a lot?” You ask softly down at him. He flushes, embarrassed a little that you notice him the exact same way he notices you. Spencer pinches his eyebrows together and nods.

“Feels.. real good though.” He laughs gently at himself as you groan and rest your head back down on the carpet at how sweet he is.

He wraps his arms tightly underneath your thighs to pull your pussy closer to him, your skirt riding up to your belly in the process. He feels you squirm a little under his arms and kisses the skin above your hip flexors softly.

His heart skips a beat when he’s up close to you, a sliver of doubt creeping up along with the immeasurable need to make you feel good. Spencer takes his tongue out and licks a broad stripe up from right below your opening to above your clit. This is more for himself, actually. He wants to taste every single drop you expelled from him kissing and touching you, it’s what he deserves.

Spencer's arms immediately have to resist against your thighs moving shut, using a bit of his strength to keep you open as he does it again. This time he moves his head slightly side to side. The whine he hears coming from your lips makes him take one arm away without thinking to hold your lips open and wraps his lips around your clit.

The open window you get without one arm suspending your leg allows you to close one thigh to the side of his face while the other is still pried open by him. He continues to suck gently, pulls away and lifts up the skin covering your clit, kisses it softly, you let out a pitiful sobbing noise and Spencer sucks your clit again, rolls it between his lips.

You help him out by taking your other thigh away from his face and holding it up yourself. “Wh-who taught you to do this?” You squeak out giving him a sense of confidence he’s been desperately striving for. Spencer cannot bear to part from your cunt to reply so he just hums lowly against you, hoping that you get his message of I daydream about doing this to you every waking moment through the vibrations he’s emitting.

He feels you rock your hips against his face greedily and he smiles a toothy grin against you. His perfect pliant girl, he couldn’t be happier to have your wetness rubbed against his nose as he dives into you. 

Wanting to escalate the scenario a bit, he’s internally pleading to feel you cum against his face, Spencer begins to suck harshly and suction onto your clit intermittently. The loud “fuck” you whimper out and how your torso isolates to twist to the side as you keep your hips in place is a good indicator that he’s making you feel good. This is a dream.

“Hh- mmmm” you cry out and Spencer flickers his gaze up to your face. You’re scrunching your face like a sweet bunny and have one hand up and posed above his head, waiting to push him away, the pleasure so strong you have to implicitly prepare yourself to shove him away when it gets to be too much. He moans highly against you.

The hand you had defensively propped up begins to lightly push at his face, he smiles at this, suctions your clit through his lips and runs circles over it with his tongue, your hand falls limply to your side.

“Fingers- ah, fingers!” You manage to gasp out one more plea before sucking your lips in and moaning deeply against them.

You seriously do not have to ask him twice. Being able to feel you twitch and grip around his fingers while he sucks on your clit has him pushing himself against the floor. The bordering on painful stimulation he’s getting from using all his body weight to hump his carpet sends tingles up and down his spine. As you said, sensitive. 

Spencer starts by tracing your entrance with his middle finger, he slips in easily just by doing that, your slick and his spit making the intrusion incredibly easy. He wastes no time pulling his finger up against your g-spot and slips in his ring finger alongside it, rubbing slick circles inside of you.

The noises your cunt is making from his incessant sucking and rubbing could probably be heard from any of his neighbors walking by his front door. He gasps hotly at this thought, what are you doing to him? Has he no shame?

You’re riding his face and fingers again, mumbling intelligible sentences. God, his cock hurts. 

“Baby, close, don’t stop-” The angelic words fall from your mouth and his ears perk up like an owner saying her dog's favorite words to it. Spencer continues exactly what he’s doing against you and looks up at you again through your back arching.

He can feel you twitching and senses you’re done for. If only he could talk and eat you out at the same time, he wants to call you pretty until tears come from your eyes. You gasp wetly and come all over his fingers.

Your thighs clamp against his head and he lets you do whatever you need to do to his face to get off. He’s rubbing soft and soothing circles against your hips as you hiccup through your orgasm.

You open your mouth as if you have something to say, and close it again, shuddering out a breath of air. Spencer pulls away, he can talk again.

“My good girl, thank you. I mean, you tasted so good… you’re so pretty, my pretty, oh my god-” He’s got a lot on his mind right now.

Spencer watches and follows your movements as you sluggishly sit up to kiss him, moving your tongue against his in an eager display to taste yourself against his lips, he whines again, feeling your warmth against him. When you palm him through his pants Spencer stutters out a pornographic “hnnn”, the friction from his rubbing against the floor has left him painfully needy.

“Can I take your cock out baby?” You ask against his neck. Spencer is aware of the embarrassing uhhuh uhhuh he releases as he scoots back against his couch. You don’t bother teasing him, taking out his red dripping dick from his pants and underwear and you don’t even giggle when it makes a whip sound as it taps against his skin.

He actually has to close his eyes after watching you whine in overstimulation as you collect your come from yourself to use it as lubrication to jerk him off with it. He’s genuinely going to pass out.

With a mouth open to the shape of an “o”, Spencer has an onslaught of tiny gentle noises that fill up the room alongside the skin slapping sound of you jerking him off. You touch the crown of his dick and one of his arms shoots out to brace himself against the couch. 

He accidentally grabs your panties he placed on the couch earlier.

Not thinking, he grips onto them and you kiss his cheek. “Want em’?” You tease. “My panties are in my top drawer next time you come over and want to snoop around.” You joke further, a red flush of humiliation covers Spencer's neck and chest. He slowly moves his grip on them over to his nose. Too far gone to have the same self-control he had earlier to set them aside, he finally indulges in taking in your scent.

He’s somewhat expecting more prodding and teasing, but you just continue to kiss over his face softly. He’s so thankful.

There’s no surprise to the fact you have him coming especially fast. Spencer feels his legs twitch and he sets down your panties to kiss you properly as he finishes all over your fist. 

As he comes down from this unexplainable high he is struck with such a tender feeling of affection towards you his eyes water. You notice and scoot onto his legs and lap and wrap your arms around him in a hug.

Not letting go until you feel him chuckling against you, you ask him how he feels and he sighs out dramatically. He’s so exhausted now.

You shyly offer to wet-vac his carpet once you guys move to clean yourselves up and he breaks out into a laughter that makes his stomach hurt. You eventually join his contagious laughter at the situation.

Spencer’s suggestion for you to stay a while is accepted with open arms. You spend your first night together wrapped up in each other's embrace. Being back in his own bed with you here settles his mind so gently that within three minutes of his head hitting the pillow he’s out like a light. 

In the morning when he wakes up for work he rubs his nose softly all over your face to wake you up. Spencer offers that you stay in his bed and sleep more or he can drive you back to yours before he heads over to work. He ends up driving you home so you can get ready for work yourself. Once you’re back home he finally opens up his phone again from last night to see a picture of yourself you sent on the walk to his apartment last night with the text under it “Had to come see you anyway, hope the doors unlocked mwahaha”.

He finds himself smiling at his missed message all day at work and once he’s seated back in his car to go home later that day he finally finds the “forgotten” panties you left on his passenger car seat when you left this morning.  

Spencer flushes then pockets them before texting you that he is in fact not a voyeur or a perv and he did not put your panties in his pocket and he is not asking you to come over again tonight so he can cook you a pasta dinner before he lays you out for him again, hopefully on his bed this time.

[milkmily]

Together

ᝰ.ᐟ❣️⋆˙──────────────────────────

Mr.Scarletella x fem Reader

Smut I Saw like a theory in tik tok where it said (something like this not quite sure) that MC would leave bodies right and Mr Scarletella would think that she'd do all of that for him so he would be super interested in them. So imma use that :D also reader Is in college because I don't like using the term “school” cuz its uncomfortable and i'm writing smut.

Ahead: Unprotected Sex(stay safe:p) and biting also sorry it's super short 😔

“Me want your name.”

This had always happened. Well, like maybe 2 times. But now, he won't leave you alone after you have found out what you have done. What you really are. You just aren't some cute woman who goes to college. You were a murder. Why? Just to get that adrenaline that would come with it.

As you took their lives, you had always had this feeling as if someone was looking at you. Eyes. Always, always, Always on you. At everything you did. But you'd turn and check every corner and nothing. No one would be there. Maybe you were just paranoid. You haven't even been caught yet. So it wouldn't matter. And now here you are, face to face with what has been looking at everything you have ever done. Mr. Scarletella.

“You give your name?”

He asks. You had two options. Try to beat him, even though you knew that wouldn't work, or finally give your damn name to him. You remembered the telephone had told you to not give your name. Mr. Crawling had protected you the first time you had met Mr Scarletella. You threw your crowbar at him and he started to glitch. He asks again and you didn't answer, attacking him but again, it went right through him. And everything changes. You open your eyes and see him face to face with you. You hold your crowbar high and your eyes go wide at what he said.

“You like me? Me like you.” He says and you give him a puzzled look. “What?” You asked as you lowered your crowbar. “Let us go together. You teach name?” You groan and throw the crowbar at him again. And you start to speak back to him. And finally.

“like you.” You say and everything is back to normal. You open your eyes to see an umbrella. You picked it up and looked up at it. It's a normal umbrella. It isn't red. You looked down and saw a hand on top of yours, you screamed and threw the umbrella. You looked around and saw Mr Scarletella looking back at you. “Together.” He says as he is now in front of you. You gulped and took some steps back. You blinked and he's gone, but you feel warm breathing behind you. You felt his hands on your arm as he said again, “Together.”

“W-What?!” You ask and feel his warm breathing on your neck, goosebumps all over your body. “Together.” He says again and you feel small kisses on your neck. You gasp and feel your body heat up. “W-Wait-” you felt his hands start to go all over your body. they'd move from your arms down to your hands and move to your stomach. He'd gently and softly move them up and his hands bumped onto your breast. You softly gasp as his lips meet your neck. “You give.” He says. “You give. Grateful.” He says as he keeps kissing your neck, making you moan. “Grateful.” He whispers on to your neck as his hands move under your shirt.

Oh. You remembered now. The bodies. The things you'd say while killing them. “If someone is here watching, these are all for you.” Oh. “You're returning the favor?” You ask but his hands continue to move higher and his kisses move to your shoulder. You shiver and hold your arms up as the shirt is lifted up to reveal your breast, your nipples hard from being turned on. You should Be scared but…you aren't. You've always been interested in Mr Scarletella. You just never could get close to him or else he will keep asking about your damn name.

And now here he is. His hands cupping your breast as he kissed your neck. Your moan and gasp. You pulled his hands away and he stopped kissing your neck. “Why?” He asks and you turn to look at him. You smiled at him and he gave you his wide smile. “Me like you. You like me?” He asks again. “Me like you.” You say to him as you try to reach up to him. He lowers himself to your height and you cup his face. “You like me.” He says and you nod. He tilts his head to the side as he grins and holds your hand.

“Together.” He says. he moved his hands to cup your breast again, moaning. He knew you were feeling good with the sound you made. The expression on your face. He hummed and looked at you. You were perfect. You may not give him your name, but that can be for later. You were his now. You are his now. No one else's. You are his either way.

He pins you on the floor, straddling you. The floor is so cold against your bare back. You yelp and look up at him who was on top of you, his hands on the floor as he was on top of you, Grinning. His red hair still somehow covered one of his eyes as He looked down at you. You looked at him and tilted your head. “Together.” He says again as he moves his hand to cup your face. His hands are so big compared to yours. He only really only needs one hand to perfectly fit your face. His face got closer To yours, his breathing on your face.

You couldn't help but whimper at how close he Is. You could already feel how wet you were. Your pussy is aching for him already. He grins down and looks down at the clothes you were wearing. He slowly lifted up the coat you had on and pulled your pants with your panties down. You lift your hips up to help him. You continue to look at him as he keeps looking at you. The way he looked at you had your body reacting. And then you asked yourself: He knows what to do already? Maybe he had seen a lot of incidents where people would Go where he is to ya know, just have sex. Or who knows. All you know is he already knows what he is doing.

He looks at you and grins as his fingers rub between your wet pussy lips. You softly gasp and look at his hand. He closed your lips together, making You jump. “Like?” He asks and you nod. He greatly presses his finger to your clit and starts to rub. You open your legs more as he keeps rubbing. He lowers his head as he brings your nipple in his mouth. You whimper and look down at him. He picked and gently bit down on your nipple. “Ouch.” You whine and look up at you. He grins and continues to suck on it.

He brings his hand back up and Teases your other nipple. He starts to rub himself on you. You felt how big he was though his pants already. You gulp and moan.

You suddenly felt something warm and wet rub up and down your clit. You looked down and saw his cock out, rubbing between your folds to get his tip wet with your arousal. You couldn't help but moan at the sight. He was still sucking your nipple and It was starting to get sore. You pull his head away and he looks at you. He grins and presses his tip at your cunt. You open your legs a bit more and your hips closer to him. He lifts your hips Up, making you yelp. You looked up at him and he gently pushed Himself in your cunt. “Together.” He says and groans. You rolled your eyes back quickly as you felt how he stretched you out. You moaned and looked at him.

He starts to move his hips as he looks down at how your pussy would suck him in. He brings His thumb to your flit and starts to rub it. You moan and hold on to your hair as he keeps thrusting.

─ ⊹ ⊱ ☆ ⊰ ⊹ ─

You were on the cold concert floor, your face on the floor, ass up as Mr Scarletella moved his hips, he was panting fast and groaning as he kept pushing his cock in so deep and fast. “Ah! I can't!” You moan but you knew you wanted more. How many times have you come already? Jesus. He kept making you switch positions every time you came. He First had you laying down as he held your hips up. The next one was you riding him but you soon gave up so he simply grabs your hips and pushes you up and down. He's really strong. He had you laying down again but he held both of your legs just to go deeper inside of you.

Now he has your ass up as he keeps pushing in and out of you. His thrusting became harsher. “Mr Scarletellaaaa- ah! There!” You moan. You could feel how his cock came in and out of you, how warm and wet he felt. You whine and moan as his cock brushes your g-spot. “Together.” He kept saying and moaning. He really loved that word a lot.

You hold onto his hand that was on your hips. You turn to look at him, teary eyes As you moan. You were close again. You needed to cum on his cock again. You whimper and whine as he keeps thrusting into you, this time even faster. You scream and your toes curl as you bury your face on the floor, eyes rolling back as you cum on his cock. You hear him groan and feel something warm dripping out of your pussy.

You pant and whine trying to catch your breath but he quickly makes you turn around and lifts up your right leg. You whine and shake your head. “No-” You say and moan as he pushes his cock in again, slipping in so easily. He buried his face in your neck and groaned. “Together.” He says again and he thrusted. His thrust is a bit slow and more softer now. you wrapped your arms around him as he keeps moving his hips. You could hear a short whine coming from him as you tug at his hair. You whimper and whine. Every thrust Made you so sensitive and feel everything.

Mr Scarletella kisses your neck and whimpers. He's sensitive too. He could feel everything about you. But he just loved that he was finally with you, be with you, be in you. Be together.

A couple of more thrusts and he cums inside of you. He pulls out and pants as he looks down at your pussy that dripped out his cum. He groans and rubs his cum between your folds. He pressed his cock inside your entrance and said, “Together, again…” as he pushed his cock in, making you whine.

Hey @kita-01 and @misaamanekinnie21 , patiently waiting 🫡

[plutotheplum]

XO

akaashi keiji x fem!reader

summary: being the manager of the msby black jackals is stressful, but when a handsome stranger shows up, you think you might’ve stumbled upon a hidden perk.

cw: nsfw (18+) - mdni!!, post-time skip, kissing, oral sex, blowjobs, p in v, smut, fluff

wc: 5.3k

a/n: watched the movie last night and i cried (if you saw this post before, no you didn't) <3

also on ao3!

Six months in, and you think you might be ready to quit your job.

Sure, securing a job as the MSBY Black Jackal’s manager was one of your proudest achievements, but no one had told you that you’d be dealing with men like this. You understood that you were in the presence of some of the finest sporting talent in Japan, but these men were wildly immature.

It’s why you’re here now, glaring at the man who had made fun of his teammate.

“What were you thinking?” you hiss, pointing your pen at the offending man.

Atsumu groans, his head tipping back against the wall of the locker room. “I was only having a little fun.”

“A little fun,” you reply, nodding along, “right, and that’s why Bokuto is off sulking in who knows where!”

“C’mon!” Atsumu protests, leaning forward, staring at you desperately, “I made a comment on the color of his shoes! How was I supposed to know that was gonna set him off?”

You can feel a headache begin to set in and you sigh, pointing towards the door of the locker room.

“Just go warm up, okay? I’ll try and find Bokuto.”

Atsumu nods, and has the grace to look at least a little apologetic as he pats your shoulder and leaves.

You follow him soon after, out of the locker room. Bokuto’s sulking most likely meant he wasn’t going to perform as well. You knew about his bouts of being discouraged, had seen it during the occasional game when something would set him off. People are milling about, and you quicken your pace, turning a corner to finally find Bokuto sitting on a bench.

“Bokuto!” you call out, the relief in your voice clear.

The outside hitter looks up at you, a pout on his face. 

“You ready for the game?” you ask, putting on a wide smile to try and make him feel better.

“Do you think they’re ugly?” 

“W- what?”

“My shoes,” he says, pointing at them, “do you think they’re ugly?”

You have half the mind to tell him that they’re just shoes and that he should grow up, but the look of utter despair on his face has you holding back. A quick glance down at his shoes and from what you can gather, they look relatively… normal. You were definitely going to kill Atsumu later.

“They look fine,” you say, pausing when you see his frown deepen. Your fingers tighten around the clipboard clutched against your chest and you put on a cheery smile, voice pitching up. “I meant they look totally great! And they really suit you!”

Bokuto makes no attempt to move, simply stares down at his shoes and traces one of the stripes absentmindedly. You’re at your wits end, growing antsy as you check your watch and realize there’s only 10 minutes before the game starts.

“I could get you some new-“

“You doing okay?”

A voice breaks in through from behind you and your head turns, brows furrowing when you see an unfamiliar man. The lanyard around his neck has a card attached to it, bold letters spelling out VIP . 

“Akaashi!” Bokuto sits up, his eyes lighting up for a moment, “do you like my shoes?”

You stare at the pair of men, bewildered. The man, Akaashi, pats Bokuto’s shoulder and lowers his voice to whisper some words to the pro-volleyball player. In what you think might be the quickest change of mood from Bokuto yet, the volleyball player stands up and gives a hearty laugh, his chest puffing out. 

You’re even more stunned when he pats your back happily and jogs off in the direction of the court.

“How did you do that?” you blurt out, eyes flitting towards the man who was now standing beside you.

“I used to play with Bokuto in highschool,” Akaashi replies, shoving his hands into the pockets of his trousers. “Fukurodani. I was the team’s setter so I had to get used to Bokuto's little slumps.”

Huh. That did make more sense. You narrow your eyes, examining the man a little more. He’s handsome, sure, his glasses sitting on the slope of his nose as he shifts on the spot. Akaashi stares back down at you expectantly.

“Uh- well, thank you,” you say, holding your hand out and giving him a sheepish smile. “I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get him onto the court at all today.”

“Don’t mention it,” he says, his hand shaking yours. 

You introduce yourselves and he follows you onto the stands, both of you overlooking the two teams as they line up on the court. Nervousness makes you restless, your teeth biting into your lower lip as you watch the players get into position. You really wanted the Jackals to win.

“Relax,” Akaashi murmurs, his head lowering to speak directly into your ear to help you hear better over the roar of the crowd.

Your eyes meet his and he stares back at you intently, his hand squeezing at your shoulder gently. You think some sort of magic might be laced into his words with the way your body loosens slightly, your tense shoulders dropping.

“Thank you,” you mumble, giving him a faint smile.

Akaashi smiles back and squeezes your shoulder one more time before his hand drops away. You nearly protest against it, wanting to feel the heat of his body near yours again, but you can’t because you’ve only just met the man and you aren’t that desperate.

The game goes perfectly well, thankfully, and you’re up on the tips of your toes cheering for the Jackals as they shake hands with the other team. Your previous nervousness has all  melted away, leaving only a feeling of pure giddiness. Akaashi claps with you, his reaction much more toned down compared to yours.

“You can come down with me,” you say breathlessly, flicking through a few pages on your clipboard to find the schedule for the post game press conference.

Akaashi nods, his eyes drifting over you for a moment. “Yeah, I’ll come. I need to congratulate Bokuto anyways.”

You beam up at him and against better judgment, hand him a copy of the schedule before giving him a wave and disappearing off to meet the team. Akaashi watches as you flutter away, skirt swaying, the piece of paper clutched tightly in his hand. 

- 

“No talk of shoes, okay?” you warn Atsumu as you had him a bottle of cold water. “We can’t have Bokuto breaking down on national television.”

“You worry too much,” Atsumu complains, pressing the bottle of water against his flushed cheek.

“My job is on the line!” you argue, giving the man a glare.

Atsumu only gives you a pout and you thank Meian when he comes to get his teammate, grateful for the captain’s unwavering leadership.

You slip into the conference room before long, making sure to give the Jackals an encouraging smile and a thumbs up before you sidle up to the wall, watching as the various reporters ready their questions.

A few bottles of water sit on a table beside you and you reach for one, twisting at the cap. The stupid plastic burns across your skin harshly, making a glare settle on your face as you narrow your eyes at the bottle of water. You try again but to no avail, the cap latching on stubbornly tight. A soft curse gets muttered under your breath before someone’s hand reaches out, grabbing the bottle of water from you.

You blink in surprise when you realize it’s Akaashi, his hand twisting at the cap effortlessly and breaking the seal. 

“Thank you,” you whisper.

“That’s the third time today,” he whispers back, his eyes glimmering with mirth, “should I keep sticking around for more of your thanks?”

A smile pulls at your lips and you glance up at him to find him smiling back. 

“Don’t be an asshole,” you mutter, elbowing him in the side lightly.

Akaashi hums in response, his warm hand grasping at your elbow to hold you in place. You freeze for a moment, surprise flitting across your face but then you lean into him slightly, avoiding his eyes as you press into his side. If he notices, he doesn’t say anything, just stands there with you, his eyes trained on the little notes you scribble on paper as the players speak.

To your relief, Atsumu manages to steer clear from the topic of shoes, answering the reporters’ questions thoroughly with a bit of humor thrown in, to lighten the atmosphere of the press conference. You find that you can’t really be all that mad at the man, he knew how to get the job done when it came to it.

The press conference comes to a close half an hour later and Akaashi trails after you as you usher the men back into the main foyer.

“Good job everyone,” you announce before flicking through a few pages of your clipboard. “The Chairman has been impressed with your performance this season, so he’s personally sent a congratulatory cake.” You stare pointedly at Atsumu and Bokuto. “Please make sure to not make a mess.”

The men are gone in a rush before you can say anything else and you smile fondly, shaking your head.

“You gonna let me get in on this cake thing?” Akaashi asks, raising his brows.

“You’re welcome to join,” you reply, shooting him a smile as you try to not sound too eager. “You do have VIP status, after all.”

Akaashi smiles back and you think it might be a miracle that your legs haven’t given out under the soft gaze he sends you. 

Thankfully, Atsumu and Bokuto don’t make a mess although you do spot them bribing Hinata to bring them a few more slices, the orange-haired man utterly oblivious to the fact.

“Hey,” Akaashi murmurs, stepping in beside you as you finish off your piece of cake. “You’ve got a little something.” He motions to the corner of your mouth.

“Oh!” you flush with embarrassment, wiping at the corner of your mouth with a napkin. “Gone?”

“Just a little more,” he says, watching as you try and fail to get rid of the chocolate icing that’s smudged over your lips and the corner of your mouth. “Just- here, let me.”

You freeze when he reaches out for you, his thumb swiping over your lip and skin gently, cleaning you up.

“Napkin?” you ask weakly, offering it to him so he can clean his thumb.

“No need.”

Akaashi keeps his eyes on you as he licks the pad of his thumb, your hazy eyes following the motion of his tongue, a rush of heat pooling in your lower stomach.

“Do you-” you begin, clearing your throat when you hear how airy your voice has become, “do you do this often?”

A smile pulls at his lips and he leans in a little closer, his breath fanning across your skin as his mouth opens to murmur something into your ear.

“Hey, hey, hey!”

You jolt, half-lidded eyes snapping open when you find Bokuto slinging his arm around Akaashi’s shoulders. Irritation flashes through Akaashi’s eyes but it seems to fade when Bokuto begins to speak animatedly, detailing the past events Akaashi had missed.

Part of you would’ve liked to speak to Akaashi more, but you can’t find it in yourself to fault Bokuto, deciding to busy yourself with getting another slice of cake. A heavy arm slings itself around your shoulders and you roll your eyes when you realize it’s Atsumu, the wide grin on his face making you feel uneasy.

“Saw you getting real chummy with Bokuto’s friend,” he whispers conspiratorially, trying to swipe at your cake slice. 

“I was being friendly,” you retort, glaring up at Atsumu.

“You look like you wanna fuck him.”

“Your observations are not appreciated,” you grit out, trying to squirm away from under him when he steers you into a corner.

“Good news is, I think he wants to fuck you too,” Atsumu says smugly, crossing his arms over his chest.

“ Why are you doing this?” you groan, cheeks flushing with embarrassment.

“Because you, my lovely manager, deserve happiness!” he says cheerily.

Your eyes narrow, taking in the smile on Atsumu’s face, suspicion flaring. “What did you do?”

“What?” Atsumu’s smile falters. “Nothing. Why do you always assume I did something?”

“Because you usually do something, Atsumu,” you reply exasperatedly, trying to peek out from behind him to catch another glimpse of Akaashi.

Atsumu rolls his eyes, moving to the side so as to block your view of Akaashi.

“Let’s hear it then,” you say, peering up at him. 

He beams at you, his head lowering so he can whisper into your ear. “Just make sure you take charge. Guys like that sort of thing. Yank him by the shirt or something and kiss him. My advice is foolproof .”

Was the advice really foolproof if the fool himself was giving it to you?

You shoot Atsumu a skeptical look, waving him off before he puts any more ridiculous ideas into your mind. 

As the night passes, the amount of players reduces, deciding to make their way back home. Atsumu shoots you a wink in passing and you glare back at him, fighting the urge to swat him.

“Heading home?” 

You blink up to find Akaashi standing beside you, his brows raised.

“Yeah,” you say, a wistful smile coming across your face, “it’s been a long day.”

“I could drive you home?” Akaashi offers, falling into step beside you as you both exit the volleyball stadium.

You had been planning to just catch an uber or something, but when Akaashi stares down at you like that , his gaze soft and lips looking sickeningly inviting, you nod immediately.

A few stolen glances later coupled with you biting back an inappropriate remark at the way his lithe fingers wrap around the steering wheel, you find yourself standing opposite Akaashi in the open doorway of your apartment.

“I guess I’ll see you around?” you say, peering up at Akaashi.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Akaashi murmurs, his hands shoving into his pockets.

Akaashi shows no signs of leaving however. Silence passes over you as you both just stand there, staring at each other. Your gaze dips down to his shirt, trying to stop Atsumu’s obnoxious voice from blaring through your normally rational decision making.

Yank him by the shirt or something and kiss him.

Eyes flitting up again, you decide to take your chances. Your hand curls into Akaashi’s shirt, yanking him towards you, lips crashing onto his. Several seconds pass and Akaashi stands there limply, his lips unmoving and non-reciprocating. 

“I’m so sorry,” you blurt out, feeling utterly mortified as you let go of him. “Atsumu said you wanted to fu- I mean- he said guys liked that sort of thing!”

At the same time, Akaashi begins to speak. “Bokuto said you weren’t interested.”

“ What? ” you sputter, eyes widening. Frustration sets your nerves alight and you fish out your phone, dialing Bokuto’s number, ready to give him an earful. 

“Hey,” Akaashi says, plucking your phone from your hand and setting it down onto a nearby dresser, “think you could do that after I kiss you?”

Your flurry of movements pauses, breath hitching when he steps inside your apartment, the door shutting behind him softly. He smiles down at you, arm wrapping around your waist to pull you closer.

“Oh,” you breathe out, eyes fluttering as he spins you around, pushing you up against the door gently, “y-yeah, I can do that.”

“Yeah?” he whispers, the tip of his nose brushing yours. One of his hands slips up higher, smoothing over the length of your neck to cup your cheek.

You let out an incoherent noise, managing out a jerky nod. Akaashi laughs, tilting your head to the side as he places a soft kiss on your cheek. Your eyes flutter shut, heart racing uncontrollably in your chest as he drags his lips across your skin, planting another kiss to the corner of your mouth.

His glasses dig into your skin but you can hardly find it in yourself to care, pulling him closer desperately when he slots his lips over yours. Akaashi kisses you heatedly and you whine, arms wrapping around his neck to return his kisses eagerly. His tongue gently parts your lips, hands slipping back down to squeeze at your waist and move you flush against him.

A few stumbles later and you’re pushing his chest, watching as he falls back onto the couch. Akaashi grins, his thighs spreading invitingly as he gets comfortable.

“Come sit on my lap, baby.”

You don’t have to be told twice. You scramble up onto his lap, straddling his hips, lips finding his again. Akaashi groans when you run your fingers through his hair, hips rolling across his lap as he spreads his fingers over your skirt, groping at your ass.

“So- so you do wanna fuck me?” you ask breathily, unable to resist yourself from leaning forward and stealing another kiss.

“I thought I made myself obvious,” Akaashi replies, his hands slipping under your skirt to feel the warm, bare skin of your thighs.

A soft hum leaves you, fingers tracing across his cheek before reaching out to take his glasses off, setting them down. You smile down at him hazily and Akaashi smiles back, maneuvering your body so that you’re laying down, head nestled in the cushions.

You bite your lip when he kisses down your neck, sighing softly when he undoes the buttons of your shirt, pulling it apart. Akaashi’s eyes darken when he sees the swell of your breasts in your bra, his hands reaching out to grope at them greedily. You fumble around, unclasping your bra, tossing it behind you.

“So pretty, baby,” he whispers, pressing a kiss to your lips before kissing down your body.

You gasp when his tongue swirls around your nipple, squirming underneath him as his hot mouth envelops it, sucking and licking, even nipping gently making your body twitch. Back arching, you moan, fingers tugging at his soft hair. Akaashi lets out a hum, mouth opening wide to suck your breast into his mouth, groaning when he feels your hips buck underneath him.

“ Fuck ,” Akaashi hisses, his fingers rubbing at your clothed cunt, panties utterly drenched, “you’re dripping. How long have you been like this?”

You flush, looking away. Akaashi clicks his tongue, grabbing your chin to turn your gaze back onto him.

“Tell me,” he coaxes, rucking your skirt up before he tugs your panties up, watching the hard press of the fabric outline your puffy folds.

“Maybe- maybe since you opened that water bottle for me,” you mumble, blinking up at him innocently. 

Akaashi’s grip falters, his brows shooting up in surprise. Your cheeks are hot, eyes dropping to find his cock straining against his trousers, the bulge making you lick your lips.

“That long?” he whispers, leaning in.

“Mhm,” you nod, arms looping around his neck to pull him into a sloppy kiss, tongue and all.

“If I knew it was that easy, I would’ve done it the moment I saw you,” Akaashi smiles, his nose nudging against yours as he continues to rub your pussy through your panties.

“Shut up!” you laugh, pushing at his chest.

He laughs with you, smacking a quick kiss to your cheek before slinking down, pulling your thighs apart. A contented sigh leaves you when he licks up over your ruined panties, mewling softly when he pulls them to the side to get a glimpse of your slick pussy.

“Such a pretty pussy. All of you is so pretty,” he murmurs, pulling your panties off. 

You don’t miss the way he tucks them into his pocket.

Akaashi’s mouth encloses around your clit, sucking with fervor. You let out a strangled moan, fingers fisting his hair roughly, thighs twitching. 

“A- Akaashi,” you whine, hips rolling up to meet his mouth needily, “ hah- oh fuck!- ”

His nose nudges into your clit when he stops suckling on your clit, licking up a wide strip along the length of cunt, a low moan slipping out of him as he watches your cunt clench and flutter around nothing.

“Taste so fucking good,” he rasps, arms curling around your thighs, thumbing apart your folds to press his tongue in deeper, licking over the velvety flesh of your cunt.

You moan again, breath catching in your throat when his thumb finds your clit, rubbing tight circles into the sensitive bud before his tongue presses into your aching pussy, thrusting in and out of you. He makes an obscene sound and you tug at his hair roughly, pushing his face deeper into your cunt, squealing when he shakes his head, tongue swiping all over you.

“Don’t stop,” you whisper, beginning to chant drunkenly, “don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”

Akaashi grunts into your pussy, spreading apart your folds against to spit on your cunt, his tongue swirling around your swollen clit before sucking it into his mouth. He suckles on it hard ; the sensation making your toes curl and eyes squeeze shut tightly. 

“Gonna cum?” he asks, a hoarse laugh leaving him when you push his head back down.

You nod rapidly, hands squeezing at your breasts, pinching and tugging at your own nipples. Akaashi slips his fingers up past your chin and your mouth opens obediently, hips rolling up as you suck on his fingers. 

A whimper escapes you when his teeth graze your clit, his tongue laving over it again as he sucks desperately, driving you further and further to the edge.

“Cum on my tongue, baby,” Akaashi whispers, “wanna watch you cum all pretty and needy.”

You don’t need any more encouragement, back arching as your body draws taut. You cum with a cry of his name, squeaking when he licks over your oversensitive pussy, thighs clamping around his head while your fingers tangle in his soft, black hair. 

Akaashi pulls away with one final suckle to your clit, peppering kisses up your body before slotting his lips over yours again. You whine softly, cupping his cheek to return his kisses feverishly, feeling the press of his clothed cock against your inner thigh.

“Take your clothes off,” you say softly, pecking his lips sweetly.

You squirm out of your skirt and top when he gets off of you, watching with hazy eyes as he pulls his shirt up over your head. The flex of his biceps has you letting out a low whine, fingers slipping between your thighs, unable to help yourself, rubbing your clit unabashedly.

Akaashi doesn’t miss the movement, shooting you a lazy grin, his hand smoothing over his trousers, squeezing at his bulge.

“Enjoying the view?” he murmurs, unbuttoning his trousers, “hm, baby?”

“‘m enjoying it a lot,” you reply airily, entranced by the motion of his hand as he grasps himself through his boxers.

Your breath catches in your throat when he pushes his boxers down, tongue feeling heavy as you watch the bob of his cock, heavy and thick. The hardened length twitches when he wraps his hand around himself, pumping his cock, pre-cum beading at the tip.

“T-taste?” you mewl, slipping off the couch and crawling towards him, “wanna taste, ‘kaashi.”

“Needy baby,” he whispers, running his fingers through your hair, brushing it out of your face.

Your eyes flutter shut when he bends, meeting his lips in a short kiss. Akaashi presses the head of his cock against your lips soon after, a moan slipping out of him when he sees the way his pre-cum spreads across your lips.

You lick your lips, mewling at the taste of his pre-cum, mouth opening wider, tongue lolling out.

“Want it,” you whisper, fingers digging into thighs, “please?”

“‘m gonna give it to you,” Akaashi rasps, grasping the base of his cock to smack the head of it against your tongue a few times. “Go ahead, pretty.”

You hum happily, mouth wrapping around his cock, hand curling around the base of it. Akaashi groans, his head tipping back as you squirm on your knees, fingers finding your slippery clit again.

“Just like that,” he whispers when you begin to bob your head, tongue swirling around the head of his cock, suckling gently.

Akaashi’s thighs twitch, the hand tangled in your hair tightening when you shuffle closer, mouth stretching open to take more of him into your mouth. 

You suck and lick, practically dripping onto the carpet beneath you as you hear the grunts and groans that leave Akaashi. He sounds pretty, the little airy gasps and stutters of his breath giving you the encouragement to try and take him deeper, your nose pressing into the black tufts of coarse hair at the base of his cock, before you pull off with watery eyes.

“I might have a hard time letting go of you after this,” Akaashi says, watching as you blink up at him with starry eyes, stroking his hand over your hair as you mouth lazily across the length of his cock. 

“So don’t,” you whisper, laving your tongue across the head of his cock, tasting his pre-cum.

You land a soft kiss to the tip, tilting your head to kiss at his heavy balls. Akaashi stops you before you can suck them into your mouth, dipping his head down to kiss you instead.

“‘m gonna cum if you do that,” he whispers against your lips.

“That’s sort of the point,” you smile, hand stroking along his length.

He snorts, wrapping his arms around your waist to pull you up onto your feet. His throbbing cock presses against your stomach as you wind your arms around his neck, pulling him down for another kiss. Akaashi gropes at the fat of your ass appreciatively, both of you standing together as you makeout languidly. 

You pull away for air soon after, hands roaming across his firm chest, eyes growing hazier with the way the muscles of his abdomen flex under your touch. A glob of pre-cum beads at the tip of Akaashi’s cock and you grasp his hand, rocking up to kiss his cheek before pulling him after you.

“Wanna ride my cock?” he whispers, teeth nipping at your earlobe gently when you lead him into your bedroom.

“Y- yeah,” you reply airily, crawling up onto his lap when he sits down, his back against the headboard of your bed.

You rock your hips, grinding your cunt against his hot length, mewling softly when the tip of it nudges against your clit a few times. Akaashi catches your chin, pulling you forward for another filthy kiss, his hands smoothing up and down the length of your back.

“Sink down on it, baby.”

A soft whimper escapes you at his low voice, hands gripping his shoulders as you rise up onto your knees. Akaashi wraps his hand around the base of his cock, holding it for you. His head tips back, a guttural groan leaving him when you sink down on his cock, your nails digging into his skin.

“ Oh- ” you whine, “‘kaashi- hah- ”

“Keiji,” he replies, fingers dimpling the fat of your hips, trying to gain some semblance of control with the way your cunt’s clenching around his cock, “call me Keiji, baby.”

You let out a dazed sigh, rolling your hips and whining again, your own head tipping back.

“K- Keiji, you feel so good.”

Akaashi moans appreciatively in response to your words, landing a spank to your ass to urge you to move. You hiccup, cupping his cheeks, mouth dropping open in a silent moan as you roll your hips one more time and begin to rise and fall on his cock.

He keeps his eyes on you, letting out soft pants as you mewl and whimper out his name, hips swaying back to meet his thrusts when he begins to move his hips too.

“Good girl,” Akaashi whispers, head dipping to suck your breast into his mouth, “gripping me so tight, baby.”

“Keiji,” you mewl, dragging out his name in a needy call.

“‘m right here, pretty,” Akaashi murmurs, arms wrapping around your waist more firmly. 

You squeal when he lifts you up and begins to drop you down onto his cock himself, his face pressing into your chest, leaving desperate, heated open-mouthed kisses against your sweaty skin as he makes you take his cock.

“Oh fuck-,” you begin to gasp out, eyes squeezing shut, “ oh fuck! ”

“Take it,” Akaashi hisses, hands drifting down to grip the fat of your ass tighter, “fucking take my cock, baby.”

A surprised squeak leaves you when he lays you down, his cock pushing into you almost immediately after. Your legs wrap around his hips, hand reaching for his as he fucks his cock into you, the sound of his skin slapping against yours echoing lewdly throughout the room.

You scrabble at the bedsheets, trying to find some purchase as Akaashi drives his cock into you harder and faster.

“Gonna make me cum,” he grunts, face pressing into the crook of your neck, his body dropping to be flush against yours, hips rolling to a slow grind.

“‘m gonna cum too,” you say weakly, eyes fluttering as he mouths at your breast lazily. 

Akaashi peers down at you when he pushes himself up, bullying his cock into your cunt, balls pressed snugly against your ass.

“Can I cum inside?” he asks softly, brushing your hair out of your face.

“You’re a terrible influence,” you sigh, giving him a dazed smile as you pull him down for a kiss, “but yes, you can.”

Akaashi grins, mouth slotting over yours again, thumb rubbing at your clit. He groans when he feels you clench around him, his hips stuttering jerkily when you dig your heels into the backs of thighs, forcing him to push his cock in deeper. 

“Brat,” he hisses, head dropping forward as he lets out a low whine, cock jerking inside of you as he cums.

You squirm, back arching as his thumb rubs harder, thighs twitching as you fall apart on his cock. Akaashi pants against your chest, his eyes squeezed shut as he lets out a few more whines, thick cum filling you up.

He rolls off of you so as to not crush you with his weight, running his hand through his hair. You curl up into his side, leaning forward to kiss his jaw.

“‘m gonna go clean up,” you whisper.

Akaashi nods, patting your hip affectionately, his eyes trained on the sway of your hips as you disappear into the bathroom.

You tug on a fresh shirt and a pair of panties, crawling back into bed to find Akaashi’s pulled his boxers back up over his hips, the manga volume you had been reading last night in his hand.

“It’s good,” you inform him, pressing into his side, head resting on his shoulder as you look over the little panels of drawings.

“I’d hope so,” Akaashi says, his hand rubbing at your side absentmindedly.

“Why?” you ask, brows furrowing.

“I happen to be the editor.”

You stare at him blankly, eyes flitting from his towards the manga. “No way.” You snatch the manga from him, flipping through towards the large page. His name is there in the little lettering, plain as day.

Editing: Akaashi Keiji

He smiles at you, nuzzling into your cheek, pressing several kisses here and there.

“Well,” you say, setting the manga down and wrapping your arms around his neck, “now you have to tell me what’s to come.”

“My lips are sealed,” Akaashi replies, kissing the corner of your mouth.

“Keiji!” you whine, pouting up at him.

“Not happening, baby,” he says, shaking his head before leaning forward to kiss the pout off of your mouth.

You let out an irritated huff, pushing his head away when he tries to kiss you again.

“Look at that,” he muses, “you get all sulky like Bokuto.”

“Please don’t insult me.”

[joejhang]

andrew is so real for thinking neil is a hallucination cos now that we have outsider pov on him it's actually insane that he's a real person. like this is neil josten: he's the prettiest boy you've ever met. he's the runaway son of a serial killer. he has a million dollars but is afraid of spending money. he folds his clothes a specific way so he can tell when someone's gone through his stuff. he keeps a stalker's journal on the two greatest exy players of all time. he wears coloured contacts and they're brown. he paid a busboy $100 to knock him out cold. he insulted a celebrity athlete on live tv after trying to keep a low profile. he says he's trying to stay alive while running towards death like it's a race. he mouths off to the mafia. he respects your boundaries and is the first person ever to take you at face value and not consider you an out of control psychopath. he orders hits on your abusers. he has the most electric blue eyes you've ever seen. he looks great in clubbing clothes but dresses like he's homeless. he insults someone for their "intricate and endless daddy issues" while his father is a convicted mobster and serial killer. he didn't give a fuck when his teammate was killed. everyone seems to like him even though it's clear he's hiding a million secrets. he doesn't catch on to the many many hints you're giving him. he calls you out not for being a danger to others but for being a danger to yourself. he thinks you should be protected as well as trusting you to protect him (and you think, how can someone be a victim and a protector?). he doesn't give a flying fuck what literally anyone thinks about him. he comes back from being waterboarded and tortured and abused for weeks (to protect you) and is still as feisty and bitchy as before. except now he's a redhead and has many more scars. he is possibly the first person to ever make the active decision to protect you. he's willing to put himself in harm's way again and again and again so he won't lose you. he always has a cigarette but he never smokes. he says "you're not actually a sociopath are you?" and "the next time someone calls you soulless i might have to fight them". even though he's messy and a little oblivious he's sees you. he might be the only person to ever want you off your drugs. he wants to see you lose control, is aware that you're not out of control, you're actually so controlled and restrained all of the time and he wants to see you feel something, he wants you to be angry, be angry at him. he riles you up on purpose to see you show emotion, feel something. he's a runner and yet he's still possibly the bravest person you've ever met. he gets kidnapped and comes back even more bruised and battered than before and he's still a mouthy little shit who bitches at the press and cuts deals with the yakuza. he's most of the reason why the worst team in the nation ends up winning championships. he shoves a guy clean off his feet because they body checked you. he punched celebrity athlete riko moriyama in public, for you. he threatens him, for you. he's almost killed on live tv. he mouths off to the fbi. he watches the (second) best exy player in the world get shot. he also watches his father, notorious serial killer and gangster, get shot in front of him. and he laughs. he smiles. he kisses you and is never gonna run again and he's free and he wants to be with you, he wants you.

[beloveds-embrace]

Vampire poly 141 x reader where they don’t tell you they are vampires and you have no reason to suspect they are. Why would you? They are supernatural creatures, you’ve seen all four of them eat garlic bread, their reflections show in mirrors and refelctive surfaces.

But.

Sometimes they say and do such strange things- John talks about historical events almost as if they happened just a few days ago, and he was there. Simon’s storage room has antiques so old you have no idea how they have even survived, and he grumbles whenever you tell him he should sell them to see how much they’ll make. Kyle could navigate through the dark like it was second nature- like it wasn’t affecting him at all, and you’d always just wonder how. Johnny’s hands were always so cold to the touch, no matter tje weather or what he was wearing or where he was.

Still, all of those simply didn’t stick out that much to you. So you never suspected.

But still…

Lately, you’ve been waking up so very sore in the neck, weak and lethargic. Sore in the spot they all seemed to love kissing and nuzzling so much. You are so grateful for their help and care- they ply you with sweets fruits and oily fishes, leafy greens and nuts to help your body, and they hold you in their arms and let you rest as much as you need.

Though it still persists, and it gets especially worse when your period drops by. They are even more attentive, offering massages and forehead kisses and cuddles.

But now you wake up sore in the neck and thighs… as if they’ve been kept in one position for too long. At least you are miraculously very clean when you check, and you have four men spoiling you rotten.

[madamechrissy]

Escort! Satoru- final part

Pairings- Escort Satoru Gojo x shy CEO F! reader

Warnings- obsessed ass/whipped ass Gojo, possessive Gojo, oral sex (m and f receiving) road head, explicit sex, creampie, lil bit of choking, multiple positions, car blow jobs, FLUFFY and PURE SMUT actually, happy end to this lil thing, pretty woman vibes 🤭

<<<Part Five

Escort! Satoru was terrified of your answer, but when it's a soft - yes - everything fades but you. He's kissing you deeply, hungry, as he waits for the check, counting down the moments until he can bury his face against you. 'My place, this time, yeah sweetheart?' he whispers, and you nod eagerly, hand on his thigh now. 'One thing, Satoru, if you wanna date me? No more-' Satoru cuts you off, dragging you against him now. 'Never wanna touch anyone but you again, don't you know?'

Escort! Satoru didn't expect shy, sweet little you to torture his cock with teasing licks and flicks while he drives, he's swallowing nervously as you do, your teeth just nibbling on his tip, making him hiss. 'F-fuck... that mouth...' you exhale against him, making his hips jerk, and he's gripping that wheel far too tight. 'Gotta torture me for being a fucking idiot, huh?' he whispers, free hand entangling in your hair, you whine out softly, licking the little hole and lapping up his pre cum. 'Just a little bit, need something, Satoru?' he moans, head falling back when he's at a stop light. 'Stop teasing, lemme feel that throat -ah!'

Escort! Satoru has never moaned like that, whimpering in fact, while you suck him down in your hot mouth, he's so enthralled he gets honked at, earning your laugh when he drives again. Satoru shoves your head now, groaning as you take him deep. Your cunt is soaked, as he takes control, every speed bump just forcing his thick, pretty cock deeper down your throat, so many inches, such a stretch. You're sucking him deeper, hungrier, more desperate now, when finally he reaches his home, yanking you up and kissing you, tasting himself on your tongue. He pulls back and sees the tears from choking on him, and god you look fucking too pretty. 'Come on' his voice is hushed, hurried, and instead of holding your hand and dragging you, he has you picked up in his arms. You're giggling breathless when you ride up the elevator to his penthouse, kissing over and over.

Escort! Satoru doesn't make it much further than the two of you did in your home, you also don't even look around the dark living room as you stumble with him, clothes strewn while the two of you bare each other bit by bit, lips hardly leaving for breaths, until Satoru's down to his boxers, and you're in some fancy black lingerie that's killing him. He throws you eagerly on the bed, god he can't hardly drag his lips off yours now that they've landed there, you're too sweet, too yummy, as he devours them, his hands slipping across the lace of your bra, thumbs against your nipples that harden to the touch. 'mmm, can't stop kissing me, can you?' your whisper is met with him leaning up, sighing, fingers brushing against your cheek.

Escort! Satoru whispers then - 'I haven't kissed someone in years, but fuck I never regretted anything more than not kissing you that night' you pause, blinking emotions back then, you have to bite that lip as it trembles, leaving him to tug it gently from your teeth. 'Satoru, it's okay-' he cuts you off with a shake of his head, a kiss on your breast, his hand gliding to tug at the cup of your bra. 'No, I should have kissed you, held you, can you forgive me?' his eyes glimmer with his own regret, his own lonliness without you, his own hurt. You nod quickly, tears slipping down your cheeks and glimmering while he descends lower, your hands in his silken hair, feeling the thick strands between your fingers. 'Of course I do, mnh!'

Escort! Satoru nibbles on your ribcage now, the skin glistening with his saliva, illuminating teeth marks left. You gasp at it, while he reaches behind you, unhooking your bra with an expert move, releasing your pretty breasts that bounce gently, little marks of your lace decorating them. Satoru presses kisses to each mark, sighing, cock throbbing from you sucking him, from his desire. 'I fucking fell for you, and it scared me, shit I was so dumb....' his words run out before he can stop them, and you gasp in shock, he curses softly. 'You don't have to say it back, I know I-' you yank him up now, lips a breath from yours, cerulean gaze dancing across your face as his lids lower, and your heart pounds in your chest. 'Satoru, I fell for you too, I was so lonely before I met you, and I didn't even know' as your words reflect in his heart, he melts, hand entwined with yours. 'How-'

Escort! Satoru is cut off with a 'shh' and then your tongues dance once more, as he hungrily picks up your hips, grinding against your slick panties, you gasp as his cock presses against your cunt, already throbbing with need for him. 'please, please, in me' Satoru wouldn't deny you anything, ever again, he eases your panties down, pressing kisses across your pretty cunt, already drooling so much strings of your arousal stick to them as he pulls. 'fuck, I missed this' he's lapping at you now, even as you're yanking him up. 'lemme taste you, stop rushing me, sweetheart, dreamt of this' you ease a bit, taking a breath, brain still trying to compute that he is here, that he's saying things you dreamed off, eyeing you under his snowy lashes. 'Please, jus'let me enjoy your sweet little cunt' you nod then as he dives back down and licks to the point of obsession

Escort! Satoru drinks your cunt up like he's not had water in days and you're the source, lapping all the juices that pour, the sound of him drinking you is fucking filthy, the way his head shakes side to side, tongue obscene as it smacks against every bit of your cunt, inside, the clit, the lips, all of it. Nothing is missed by his lips, teeth, tongue, which now dances on your clit, all while he shoves your thighs up high, still in your stockings and garters. 'Satoru, c-can't again, t-too much!' you're sobbing out by the third orgasm, when he finally relents, fingertips having left bruises on the backs of your thighs. He inhales, licking his lower lip, looking fucking insane off you, drunk off you, watching how you tremble and shake, finally slipping off his boxers, cock springing out and slapping against you, hot and heavy, white precum sticking against your inner thigh.

Escort! Satoru leans over, opening the drawer, but you pause him as he grabs the gold foil packets, gripping his wrist, thumb pressed against his racing pulse. 'Satoru, is it against your rules to... cum inside me?' Satoru pauses, lips parted then, he surely is fucking dreaming, you under him asking for it raw, asking for him to bust and fill your pretty pussy? 'Shit, sorry um-' he throws them back in the drawer, closing it, leaning back over you and shaking his head slowly, sighing, cupping your face with one big hand. 'Sweetheart, you've gotten rid of every rule I've ever had, and I'd love to break this one for the first time' his tip is against your clit, teasing and making your hips jerk then. He has your thigh pressed up high against your body, watching your face as he slowly presses his tip in your hot, eager little cunt. 'Mnh!' your sweet cry ruins him, feeling you without a condom is even better than with, so good he'd do anything to feel it over and over again, letting out his own moan right with you. 'I'll give you anything you ask for, pretty, anything'

Escort! Satoru slides his cock in to the hilt, slamming your cervix and feeling every bit of your slick, gummy walls, the texture that grips his cock so fucking good. You're trembling, close already from how much he'd teased you with his mouth, nails pressing into his bare back as the fan above works to cool you both and fails. Satoru eases back, sliding back in with a sharp thrust, your tits bounce when he does, calling for a palm, a kiss, a lick, all while he fucks you so good you're fading in and out, on the brink of falling off the edge. 'Satoru!' as you cry his name out, he moans your name softly, pulling back now and watching the bulge move in your stomach, eliciting something feral, as he watches the slick gushing around his veiny length when he pulls out, almost to the tip, then shoves in again, watching your every expression. He watches your eyes roll back, your mouth open, drool spilling out that he swipes away, your brows drawing together as you scream for him, murmuring - 'so fucking beautiful'

Escort! Satoru has you cumming all over his cock, flipping you on your stomach then, a hand around your throat, squeezing just so. Long fingers are brushing aside your hair, his cock entering you from behind even deeper, whispering your name as he feels you, squeezing just a bit, thumb right over your pulse point. 'Want me to, sweetheart?' your little mewl and nod is his answer, urging him on to choke you while he pounds his cock in and out, your hips pressing your ass up for more, more, more, while you're fuzzy, lightheaded. Your hand grips his wrist, feeling the tendons as they squeeze, and when you're close again you grip him too fucking good, making him as dizzy as you, drunk off your every gasp, sigh, movement. 'Cum f'me, that's it, good girl' his words and his movements urge you, a silent scream while your cunt spasms around him, almost pushing him then and there, letting go of your throat so you can gulp a greedy breath

Escort! Satoru is about to break all of his perceived rules, no kissing, no cuddling, no fucking without a condom, now he's going to cum inside you, and fuck does he want to. 'ready for me to fill you so full of cum, huh?' you nod eagerly, neck sore, ears still ringing. You cling to him, a thigh hitched up, shoving his cock deep inside, then you feel it, hot spurts of his cock just pulsing, and shooting up into you, filling you with his hot, drippy white ropes, his whimper in your ear so sexy you never want to not hear it again, how he cries out your name, how he whispers he loves you as he keeps pumping, shaking over you, desperate and messy kisses across your shoulders while he feels your aftershocks. And you whisper your love declarations, while he grips you under your chin, kissing you to seal the intimacy of the moment, to let go of anything that ever held him back for you.

Escort! Satoru holds you close that night after cleaning you up so carefully, giving you one of his big dress shirts that swallows you to wear, holding you against his chest. He's stroking your hair as you snuggle against him, body exhausted from all of your exertions, smiling against his bare chest. Nothing has ever felt as perfect as being in his arms, and nothing has ever been as perfect as holding you in them. He contemplates out loud then - 'I need a change of employment, now you know. Any positions open?' you giggle at that, fingers drifting up and down his chest, still slick from sweat, hot skin underneath you. 'I don't really need you to work, you know' his brows rise, as a smirk runs across his face, 'oh no?' you nod, pressing a kiss on lips that once seemed unattainable. 'I can still be of service, you know' he says, dragging you on top of him then, your hands brace on his chest, as your hair falls to the side. 'Hmm, how so?'

'As your private escort, sweetheart, only yours'

this was such a fun mini project between all my stories, I'm glad you all enjoyed this reformed hoe who's bad at feelings, and our rich baddie CEO hehe! See you in the nexttt <3

taglist 1- @shydroid3000 @aducksmokingquack @miya4life @ravenbc @yenayaps @nezukuwu @etsuniiru @ieathairs @kenqki @princess-bblgm @belovedxiao @ninikrumbs @ieathairs @myahfig4 @theelegantpotato @vvaoo @aldebrana @celestep004 @whoisteona @ladyneisa @lililovely78 @gamerhere @wstaley2 @allthesqueaks @slut4donghyuck @maisiefrancesca @yittten @femaholicc @jjknanamin @that-b-word-lol @devastyle @mat-mat-mat @jkslaugh97 @ovela @mxgnolia @rikiswifeyyy @kaayyhunnyy @gojos1wife1 @arabellasolstice @01ve3rz @jud3thedude @firemoonlightfly @vyluvs @artist1936 @kyelikesanime @alygator77 @seternic @qlucoise @mysticranger575 @undermegumisbed

[b0kevi]

saying “let’s make out” every time they(house warden + jamil) do something hot

summary: whenever they do something attractive you blurt out ‘let’s make out’ to see what they’ll do

trope: established relationship, suggestive themes

info: making out obv, they/them pronouns, gender neutral reader, not proofread

character: riddle, leona, azul, kalim, jamil, vil, idia, malleus (epel, jade, floyd, lilia, ortho mentioned)

w/c: riddle: 465 leona: 456 azul: 499 kalim: 532 jamil: 424 vil: 435 idia: 527 malleus: 493

riddle

no.

red as his hair

will scream no until he caves

only in private

gentle make out sessions

riddle was currently scolding at his dorm mates for failing to listen and interrupting your guys time together in the garden.

you didn’t mind but the way riddle was so assertive and how he looked in his house warden uniform, you couldn’t help but stare.

once they left, he turned towards you to apologize but before he could say anything you said,

“we should make out.”

he’s so red you don’t know where his hairline starts.

“w-where did that come from?! w-we are in public! that’s against rule 565! absolutely not!”

“hm does that mean we can in private? is that against the queens rules?”

he thought for a moment before grabbing your hand, he pulled you towards the dorm as he walked in front of you to hide his flushed face.

“I.. suppose it isn’t. come on now.”

°˖➴

“this is inappropriate my rose…”

you currently pulled riddle into the nearest empty room you could find.

he was helping out his fellow dorm mates study, you were there to study as well but you were way too distracted by riddles voice.

the way he was assertive yet soft spoken with them. he wanted to make sure the information was getting to them but didn’t want to sound too strict or rude.

that made you snap as you pulled him away from the group.

“is it against the queens rules to want to make out with your very attractive partner?”

riddle placed his hands on your shoulders to keep some distance between you two but he wasn’t doing a good job, he made no effort to push you away

“we have to get back now.” you frowned as you placed a small peck on the edge of his lips.

“no, we can do this later.”

“…no…”

riddle made a frustrated sound before crashing his lips towards yours.

“you’re a bad influence my rose.”

°˖➴

riddle has been cooped up in his room all day. you came over to check on him, reminding him to take breaks but when he’s studying— old habits die hard.

words were not getting through him so you had to resort to actions.

you landed a kiss on his jawline which made him freeze and flare up.

“h-huh?!”

you place more kisses on his jaw and cheek

“w-what are you doing??”

the more kisses you place the redder he gets. he knew what you were doing, he so badly wanted to push you away but he could never do that to you.

he cups your face before boldly pulling your face to his.

roughly kissing you at first but later eases up, gently kissing you, letting all his tension flow away as he kisses you silly.

leona

100% ego boost

cocky

will make out with you right then and there no matter where you are

lazy make out sessions

makes you take the lead until he gets in the mood and takes over

Leona wasn’t doing anything fancy, all he was doing was tidying his hair up in a high ponytail, getting ready for spell drive training.

you were watching him get ready. you love when he puts his hair up, makes him look even more handsome, and leona is already extremely handsome. you’re practically memorized

“we should totally make out.”

he froze a second- caught off guard by your words then smirked at you, you could practically see his ego inflating

“getting bold now herbivore?”

he doesn’t hesitate to give it to you. he crawls towards you, grabbing your waist and attaching his lips to yours roughly.

he might be a little late to practice, but it’s worth it since he’s spending his time with you and getting a reward of seeing the aftermath of your messy face.

°˖➴

it was your first time seeing leona in his official spell drive uniform and

oh my sevens.

he was with his team going over the plan for the game and you couldn’t help but admire how well the uniform looks on him. once he finished, you couldn’t help but say

“let’s make out.”

he chuckles, “what? is that supposed to motivate me?”

his teammates heard— scoffing and snickering.

“i really don’t need to see that before a game..” you could hear epel muttering afar.

leona smirked wide, loving when you get bold enough to say that in public, he’s not afraid to show everyone who you belong to. he pulled you in, devouring your lips right in front of everyone which made everyone gagged— leaving to do something else.

°˖➴

Leona was taking a nap per usual but something about the way the sunlight casted down on his face, enhancing his features made you giddy.

"we should make out."

leona opened one eye to look at you, questioning what you just said. after seeing your determine face, he knew he heard right and you were serious

"then you better get over here herbivore, before I change my mind."

you smiled wide as you jumped on top of him, his hands immediately found your hips to balance you. you kissed him slowly first as he lazily replied.

slow and lazy yet you could feel his love pouring out while running his hands up and down your sides until he started to feel more awake. He’ll never say it out loud but through his actions that’s when it started getting more heated, you had your turn now it’s time for him to show you who’s the king.

azul

flustered everytime

never say that in public, if the twins heard that.. he will hide in his octopod

will only do it if you’re alone

sweet make sessions, not too rough not too gentle

secretly loves when you want to make out

you were waiting for azul to finish up some business at mostro lounge when someone approached you, clearly flirting with you.

you kept reminding them you have a boyfriend and are not interested but they were persistent.

“come on, just one date? then you’ll see if you still want to be with this ‘boyfriend’” you looked disgusted but before you could say anything a voice came behind them.

“that will not be happening. as you can see we are going out on our own date right now, they made it clear they are not interested so please get out or do I need to show you where the door is?” azul was by your side as you saw the twins looming over the person. they got the message and headed out.

“are you alright my pearl?”

“we should make out.” you blurted out as you found that attractive, the twins were snickering as azul turned pink.

“w-what?! what are you- let’s just go.”

°˖➴

azul was scheming up contracts while you were keeping him company. this gave you the opportunity to get a good look at him, the way his glasses sat at the bridge of his nose, beauty mark looking so kissable right now..

you walked behind his chair looking over his shoulder pretending to be interested before casually saying,

“we should make out right now.”

his pen stopped abruptly, messing up what he was writing. you could see his ears turning pink

“w-well, ahem. I guess I do need a break…” he looked around the room even though it was just the two of you, he pulled you onto his lap still looking flustered and guiding himself to your lips.

°˖➴

“my pearl… i’ve told you about this.” you once again announce that you wanted to make out instead of the twins again. he can only take so much of their teasing.

he will gladly do it with no cost but please stop saying it in front of them.

“sorry zul… but… can we?” you had the hopeful glint in your eyes that he couldn’t resist, your lucky he pulled you in his vip room because he really did wanted to kiss you silly.

he sighs, “I should make you pay… but i’ll let it slide just this once.” he cradled your face as he kisses you shyly.

kissing azul was always so sweet, you could tell he was nervous but he put on a front of being confident. azul always sets a steady pace, making it enjoyable for you two.

*knock knock*

“quit sucking each others faces! bleh”

“there are quite a lot of people out here.”

the tips of azuls ears were pink as he groaned. getting one last kiss before he had to leave.

kalim

giggly

loves kissing you, will do it, you don’t even need to ask

will laugh and smile throughout the session

he’s so happy, he can’t keep his hands off you

doesn’t matter where you are but he doesn’t want jamil yelling at him so will prefer private

you and kalim were outside enjoying the sun as he was talking about his day and anything that came to him. he was so bright that your face always hurts when you’re around him from smiling so much.

he was currently making a flower crown as he continued to talk, you were supposed to be making one as well for him but you got distracted as you stared at kalim.

his eyes were like ruby’s as you got lost in them, suddenly remembering how sweet he is. he always saw the good in everything which you loved and admired, it was a nice change considering everyone else at nrc.

“we should make out.” you muttered as you were thinking about all the sweet moments with kalim.

“okay!” kalim didn’t hesitate to lean over to peck your lips then diving back in to leave longer and loving kisses, giggling every once in a while through your lips. he never questions you, always willing or finding excuses(or just straight up) to kiss you.

one hand was running through your hair while the other was playing with your fingers.

°˖➴

kalim invited you to watch him practice at his club and you gladly accepted.

kalim was so talented at the drums it blew you away. they sounded so good and you were having a great time enjoying the music.

kalims outfit was so casual, he was so cute with his beanie you wanted to smooch his face so bad. you were trying so hard to not interrupt him.

practice was finally over and kalim rushed over to you giggling.

“what did you think?”

“you were amazing baby! you were so cool, we should make out.” kalim eyes widened before laughing loudly

“my, young love…” lilia commented as he exited.

“you’re so silly habibi!” he gives you the biggest kiss with the loudest ‘MWAH’ sound. he’s smiling through your kisses while cupping your face between his hands.

will not stop until someone kicks you two out.

°˖➴

“UGH I’ve missed you so much habibi…” jamil didn’t leave kalims side at all today, making sure he gets stuff done and doesn’t do anything crazy which left no time for you two.

kalim has been dying for your affection all day. he plopped down on his bed, pulling you into his grasp

“can we make out… pleaseee?” kalim asked as he’s already placing sweet kisses on your neck and cheek.

you giggle, “i was just about to ask you that.”

kalim lights up as he makes his way to your lips.

laughing through your kisses, always pulling away a bit to kiss the other parts of your face as his hands roam over your body.

he always enjoys moments like this where he can fully love you without anyone interfering or jamil pulling them away. he can let his love overflow through his kisses and touches so you get the message.

jamil

hides behind his hood

you’re crazy

savory make out sessions, loves taking his time with you

he’s very busy so will have to wait until he gets a break

if he could he would do it anywhere anytime

Jamil was making food for yet another party kalim was throwing. you were accompanying him, helping out here and then.

you love watching him cook, how he moves so effortlessly through the kitchen, you couldn't help but blurt out what was on your mind.

"we should totally make out right now.."

jamil paused his cutting. his face heated up but he could just blame the boiling water. he swiftly put his hood up so you couldn’t see his face, trying to play it off

"what are you talking about? help me get these in the water." he changed the subject but he would definitely love to make out with you, maybe he will later.

°˖➴

jamil invited you to watch him play basketball since you’ve been asking him. he moves so agile, making baskets mostly every time. he looks so fine with his hair up, sweat dripping down his face.

they were taking a break and you handed jamil his water bottle,

“you looked so cool out there jamil! we should make out.”

he almost spat out his water. so caught off guard because of your compliment then your statement.

he couldn’t hide his face with his hood so he just used his hand to hide his blush.

“you’re crazy.”

he tried to play it off but then he looked around to make sure no one was listening to them before mumbling

“as much as I would love to right now… we can later, promise.”

°˖➴

jamil finally got time to himself but it was nighttime. that didn’t matter to you, you were just happy to spend time with him. he was currently taking out his braids as you laid in his bed.

before you could get the words out, jamil was already on top of you, devouring your lips.

“i’ve been waiting all day to do that.” he muttered against your lips, leaving kisses all over your face as he continues to speak, “you don’t know how badly I wanted to kiss you every time you asked to make out.” he kisses your jaw, “you drive me insane.”

he basically is sucking the air out of you, savoring the taste of your lips since it’s so rare for him to spend time with you, he loves to take advantage of the time he has to himself.

vil

you’ll ruin his makeup, no

admires your forwardness

either elegant and soft make out sessions or messy sessions depending on what he’s doing later

doesn’t mind messing up his makeup if you’re alone and he doesn’t have to go anywhere later

if he has a shoot, no he will not kiss you, don’t think about it

Vil was trying new makeup products and invited you over to his room to try them out. you love when he does your makeup you get to shamelessly admire him up close. he was putting blush on you, one hand holding your chin up as he applied it to your cheek.

“we should make out…”

his eyes widen then soften as he laughed, you can be so forward when you wanted to.

“that will ruin our makeup dear.” he saw you pout and he couldn’t help himself. he sighs and pulled you closer to him

“you’re lucky my schedule is free today. i’m all yours~” he attacked your lips, he can’t wait to see the finish result of your guys ruined faces.

°˖➴

Vil was at a photo shoot and you were accompanying him, he looked so radiant you couldn’t take your eyes off him.

the photographer told him to take five as he reviewed the photos, vil made his way to you who smiled brightly,

“we should totally make out.. right now..”

vil pinched your cheeks, he could feel your stares and knew you were up to something, “absolutely not. we’re not done here and you’ll ruin my makeup. I know how you get.”

“pleaseee..”

“no.”

“one kiss?”

“no. you can wait after.”

there’s no convincing him when his mind is made up.

°˖➴

“my love, I have a meeting with the director in ten minutes no.” Vil stated as he was touching up, making sure he looked presentable.

you whined at vil saying you guys should make out but of course vil wouldn’t allow it.

“that’s enough time for a couple of kisses…”

vil glared at you through his mirror as to give you a warning to behave but you never listen. you needed to kiss him now.

“fine. just a few. don’t go crazy, I don’t want to test to see if this lipstick is smudge proof.” he finally broke after your constant begging.

he gently took your chin and pulled you in, he kissed you softly, not going too deep or rough to ruin anything.

when vil kisses you like this he’s always so poise, trying to restrain himself from breaking and giving in since he has somewhere to be soon.

“you’re something else my love.”

idia

you break him every time you say it

hairs fully pink

wants to but will NOT make the first move you have to take initiative

awkward make out sessions, he has to warm up before he gets comfortable

only ever in private, he doesn’t leave his room

“we should make out.”

idia.exe has stopped working. crashing out. reboot reboot.

“H-HUHHHH?!”

idia was in a boss fight, so focused on it that it made you smile while you were sitting on his bed watching him play, you didn’t want to bother him since you know how he gets during game but you just had to say what was on your mind.

“y-you’re joking right? is this a prank? where’s the camera?” the tips of his hair is pink as he hides his face, trying to shrink.

“i’m serious idia! we should!”

he still doesn’t believe you, still trying to hide from you but can’t really go anywhere since you’re in his safe haven.

“n-no way! i haven’t even unlocked that yet! we’re only on affinity level 50… making out is totally a level 100 thing…”

he will keep rambling saying this isn’t real, making excuses until you make the first move.

°˖➴

you watched idia work on new equipment for ortho, he was telling you about all the technical stuff and how it will improve ortho which you love when he gets passionate and is willing to talk to you before he gets shy and thinks you don’t care.

“I really think this will improve his speed which could make him go at least-“

“we should make out.”

you watched his hair go from blue to pink in an instant.

he dropped to the floor, hiding himself. “w-what is wrong with you? you can’t just drop that crazy one liner! when did I get into an otome game…”

“maybe when you started dating me.”

“I-I wasn’t ready for that!”

°˖➴

“I can do it… I can do it…” idia is currently hyping himself to kiss you.

you had asked him to make out five minutes ago but he got flustered and is hiding over his sheet. don’t get him wrong, he absolutely wants to make out with you! it’s just hard for him since he’s not use to this, he needs a minute… or two… or five.

“idia, baby, we don’t have to.”

“NO! uh, I-I do I just uhm…” you smiled at him fondly as you removed the sheet over his head, you placed you hand on his cheek before slowly moving in still giving him time to pull away.

“I’m going to kiss you now okay?”

idia appreciates you so much, he nodded, sweating from the proximity as you finally kissed him.

it was slow and gentle. never rushing him, letting him have room to pull away if he wants, but he takes this time to get more comfortable

a few more kisses in, idia is more relaxed as he decided to go deeper and rougher, he needs to take a chance before he regrets it.

when he’s with you he gets a spring of confidence. hes always comfortable with you. you’re his player two, his healer.

malleus

how bold of you to say that to him

will gladly accept no matter where he is

you can text him and he will be at your door as soon as you send it

assertive make out sessions, kisses you like there’s no tomorrow

LOVES it

“we should make ou-“

“I agree.”

you didn’t even get the full sentence out before malleus is already on you gripping your waist.

you couldn’t help but laugh, he’s so lovesick it’s adorable.

you wrapped your arms around his neck, “i’m glad we’re on the same page.”

he’s already savoring your mouth, everytime you share a kiss it leaves you breathless. malleus will always show you how much he loves you, you can feel it through his kisses.

malleus is never an inch away from your face, he sometimes forgets you need to breathe so when you pull away he’s right there following you, waiting to dive back in again.

when you block him to catch your breathe he moves down to your neck and collarbone.

very clingy dragon, once you two start making out he will not let you go anywhere for the rest of the day.

°˖➴

malleus was out at his gargoyle club, you couldn’t join him since you were busy studying. He still called you through to talk about gargoyles, his voice is quite nice to listen to so you didn’t mind.

you’ve been at it nonstop so you took a little break to pay attention to malleus.

he has been going at it, spitting out facts about gargoyles and the history about them.

he’s so passionate you wish you could have joined him so you could see his outfit. the way the wind blows though his hair, you can slightly see his scales on his forehead, oh you miss him.

“we should make out.”

he stopped talking.

*knock knock*

“huh? hold on mal someone’s here.”

it was malleus who still had his phone to his ear at your doorstep.

…

“you are quite the bold one, child of man.”

malleus was visiting late at night like he usually does when you so happen to blurt out about wanting to make out with him

“not many would dare to say that to me.”

“well I would hope not.”

you stated as you pulled him closer by his shirt

“you’re mine and you better only make out with him.”

malleus widened his eyes then let out a real genuine laugh. he absolutely loves how bold you are with him, it shows that you’re not afraid of him and feel comfortable around him.

“I would never be with another. for you will be the only one I spend the rest of my life with, until the end.”

he says into your neck before leaving pecks, trailing his way up to your lips, sucking the air out of your lungs. kissing you like there’s no tomorrow, really showing you that you’re the only one for him.

______๑♡⁠๑______

habibi = my love/beloved (I used google translate I don’t speak arabic)

a/n: THIS IS ASS UGH most of these are the same omg.. idk why riddle was so hard to think of.. writers block or smth.

a/n: whenever I play games n the li does something hot or anything i’m like ‘omggg let’s make out rn’ idk i’ve been playing lads and that one scene where zanye was jealous.. i was like okayy let’s make out RN anyways have a good night/day <3