#it's been fun working with ava's voice more

[cdyssey]

Texts

CW: Innuendo/Suggestive Language; Alcohol

A/N: The way that not one of my damn micro-prompts have ended up being actually micro. @dkc2017​

AO3 Link [The AO3 version is a little diff. from this one! I added some more to end!!]

—

It’s become somewhat of a Sunday tradition with them—Ava and Melissa skipping church to watch football together. They’re both sure that the good Lord will forgive them. Ecclesiastes does say that there’s a time and season for everything after all…

(“Damn straight that football season counts,” Ava had justified with a positively mischievous smirk.)

(“Hell yeah,” Melissa had agreed, her own resounding laugh clearly up to no good.)

It all started after they had unsuccessfully tried to foil Mr. J’s fantasy football team and realized that they stood a better chance of beating his ass if they teamed up and worked on their spreadsheets during game days. Sitting side-by-side on Melissa’s plastic-wrapped couch, they’re currently watching the Dolphins because Melissa has Tua Tagovailoa as her team’s quarterback, while Ava has Jaylen Waddle as one of her wide receivers.

“Ugh,” Ava groans as Waddle misses what should have been a fairly easy catch, slipping on the sleet-slicked turf. “We ain’t ever gonna whoop him if our boys keep playin’ like this.”

“You’re preachin’ to the choir,” Melissa snorts, and just as she reaches forward to grab her beer from the coffee table, her phone—which had been snugly nestled between her thighs—suddenly chimes once and then twice.

Two texts.

She leans back again and scoops it up—squinting at oversized font—and sees that they’re both from Barbara, asking if she wants to go on a double date with her and Gerald to see the new Avatar movie later this evening…

You and I can even share a popcorn this time, she tempts with the second text. We’ll add all the blessed butter that we want to.

Even as she’s digesting these tantalizing words, three dots bounce on her screen for only a few seconds before another white speech bubble appears with an elegant swoop.

Please?

Melissa frowns slightly at the implicit desperation, doesn’t know what to make of it, scared to read too much into it, even more afraid to ignore it if this is all she ever gets.

With Barbara.

Her best friend.

Scraps and dregs on the margins of her happy, heterosexual marriage. She’s learned to be resigned—if not content—to the crucial fact, a lifelong expert in the intertwined practices of abnegation and self-sacrifice. The eldest of six children in a Catholic household, the third parent in the room in so many ways, nothing has ever wholly belonged to her that she didn’t have to eventually share.

Clothes.

Toys.

Food.

Their parents’ six ways unevenly divided love.

All of it has prepared her for what her life has come to now, subsisting on stolen moments with Barbara Howard as though scavenging is a meaningful way to exist.

Hence, another double date.

Her, Barbara, Gerald, and Gary.

The two men get along well when they all go out, continually joshing about the cars they want to own some day... while she and Barbara are usually off in their own little world, carving out a sanctified space for themselves wherever they’re at, be it a restaurant, a movie theater, or a football game.

As always.

As is their norm.

Even though Barbara will hold her husband’s hand, and Melissa will dispassionately fuck Gary later, maybe in the forgiving darkness of the movie theater, the two women will accidentally brush shoulders.

On paper, it seems like a good enough way to spend her night.

In reality—

“Girl, don’t tell me you’re still seein’ that crusty ass vending machine guy,” Ava says, having apparently been peeking over her shoulder for the last few seconds. Melissa, caught off guard by the unexpected intrusion into her personal space, startles violently, accidentally elbowing Ava in the side.

“Damn!” She hisses in pain, pouting, poking her lower lip out, dramatically rubbing the afflicted area. “Cool it, Rambo. I was just teasin’…” 

“Not funny,” Melissa grunts unapologetically, crossing her arms over her chest. She suddenly feels exposed, out in the open, laid bare, like her texts with Barbara are as intimate as a diary and Ava is rifling through the pages. “And his name is Gary.”

“He looks like a Gary.”

“That sounds like an insult.” Melissa glares at her suspiciously. She supposes she should probably refute the idea of him being crusty ass, but an immediate defense eludes her.

Gary.

He’s a sweet guy, a good man…

… but he ain’t exactly gonna win awards for bein’ Romeo.

There are vibrators more romantic than him.

And far less crude.

“That’s ‘cuz it is,” Ava chuckles, clearly finding all of this amusing, but there’s something in the twinkling depths of her eyes that disconcerts the second-grade teacher—something keen and entirely knowing. She shifts uncomfortably where she sits, making the plastic beneath her squeak.

“Speaking of Barb…” The principal begins, tilting her head towards the still-lit up phone in Melissa’s hand.

She hastily clicks it off, even though she knows the gesture is futile.

The other woman has already seen.

“It sure is somethin’ that she can’t go out with her hubby unless you’re taggin’ along,” she muses shrewdly as color painfully floods Melissa’s cheeks.

“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about,” she huffs, stubbornly returning her gaze to the TV. A stupid commercial for Valentine’s Day jewelry is playing.

Every kiss begins with Kay.

“She’s beggin’ you,” Ava goes on, undeterred, so stubborn when she digs in, when she cares. It would be endearing if it wasn’t so presently annoying. “And you know, our Mrs. Barbara Howard, proud, married woman of God, never begs.”

“She’s just lonely,” Melissa says automatically, and she could slap herself.

She flinches.

That’s precisely the part that she’s not supposed to fucking say out loud, and Ava jumps on the mistake readily, not missing a beat.

“She’s got a whole goddamn husband,” she shakes her head, and the thoughtfulness in the younger woman’s voice takes Melissa by surprise. She glances over and is horrified to see that her expression is a strange mixture of pity and understanding.

Ava gets it.

Melissa clenches the darkened phone in her hand and her heavy, aching teeth, successfully suffocating the next words on her tongue.

Even still.

Barbara is lonely.

She’s got a whole goddamn husband.

Even still.

[janeyseymour]

Just Sex

Summary: Melissa is hooking up with the chief at the firehouse, so you decide that you can have your own fun.

WC: ~2.1k

After the failed relationship and proposal with Gary, Melissa has been going out to bars and staying out late at night. She finds herself in bed with quite a few men and women, and while she’s not thrilled that she’s back to this lifestyle, she’s impressed that she still has what it takes. Getting older did not make it any easier to attract people.

But then one night she sees the fire chief out at the bar, one thing leads to the other, and they’re in a friends with benefits sort of situationship.

Of course, all of this comes out when you’re renewing your CPR training certificate with the Abbott clan, and Barbara has made it quite clear that she’s upset Melissa didn’t tell her of this relationship before.

You had been busy trying to pass your test, but now it’s your partner’s turn to go, and you tune back into the world around you.

“But if I were gonna label it, I would say it’s just sex,” you hear Melissa tell her work wife in a low voice.

You don’t really know what she’s talking about, but you shrug it off. That is, until Janine comes back into the room and asks for the gossip. Barbara of course goes off, claiming that her friend of over fifteen years trusts her no more than a common street stranger. It becomes apparent to you that whatever hookup situation they’re talking about has been going on for a bit of time now. You feel a nasty pit settle in your stomach at that.

That pit only grows when you go out with the crew after the CPR course to celebrate the fact that you all passed. Of course, conversation leads back to Melissa and Jacob both having sexual relations with people from the firehouse.

“Well, I think I blew that one,” Jacob groans as he finishes off his aperol spritz. “But let’s talk about you, Mel Mel.”

“There ain’t nothin’ to talk about,” the redhead waves him off. “It’s just casual sex.”

“Casual sex that’s been going on for how long?” Barbara asks with a raised brow.

Melissa purses her lips as she thinks. “Couple weeks now?”

“A month,” Jacob cuts in. “C’mon, Melissa. When are you just going to admit that you like him?”

“I do not,” she states very clearly. “I just need something to take the edge off for me, and… he does that.”

“How kinky is it?” Ava asks, a smirk on her face.

Jacob opens his mouth, and Melissa very quickly shoves her hand over his mouth. “You say a word, and you’re out on the curb faster than you were out with Zach.”

The man’s eyes widen, and he nods quickly. She pulls her hand away from his mouth, and he breathes a deep sigh in relief. 

“I’m not looking for a relationship or nothing… not unless the right person comes along,” the second grade teacher says as she finishes off her beer.

Barb turns to look at her work wife with a curious face. She knows of the little crush that her best friend has on you. Melissa just nods at the kindergarten teacher’s silent question.

But you don’t take it that way, because you have no idea that Melissa has had her eye on you since before she broke it off with Gary. You see it that you have no chance with your favorite coworker at all.

Feeling as though you could burst into tears at any given moment, you quietly excuse yourself from the rest of the outing and head for your apartment.

“What was that?” Melissa furrows a brow and purses her lips as she gazes in the direction that you left.

“I’m sure it was just a long day for her is all,” Janine tries to come up with some sort of logistical reason as to why you would leave early. “I did have a meeting with her before school even started today, so she’s been up for quite some time.”

Everybody seems to accept that reasoning, and they continue on with their night.

The next day, you march yourself into Ava’s office bright and early.

“Girl, what are you doin? I’m tryna get this knot out of my back,” your principal groans as she shuts off her personal back massager.

“I need your help,” you tell her, not even bothering to acknowledge that she isn’t doing her job at all.

“With?” She leans forward just slightly in her chair.

You smile at her. “I know you know a bunch of people… set me up with someone?”

“Oh, girl,” she laughs. “What’s gotten into you? Every other time I’ve asked if you want someone, you decline!”

“Just… thinking I should get myself out there,” you shrug. “You know? If Melissa can do it, so can I.”

Ava’s jaw drops. “So this is about Melissa.”

“What?”

“I knew you had the hots for her!” the principal grins. 

“What? Not! I- I just figured, if everyone else can have at it, so can I?”

“Oh, girl,” she laughs in your face. “This ain’t you at all, but I am in full support of it. Give me til the end of the day, and I’ll have someone for you.”

You end up going out with a woman that night that Ava set you with, and you do end up actually liking her… and she’s pretty damn good in bed.

The next morning, you’re practically glowing while you drink your morning coffee in the break room. Julie, the woman that you ended up in bed with last night, is texting you about maybe meeting up again later this week.

And if you weren’t still in love with the redhead that comes in a few seconds later, you would say yes. Instead, you send her a text that says, Maybe. Kinda busy the next couple weeks.

She texts you back a picture… a rather scandalous picture. And you blush when you see it.

“What’s got you all giddy today?” the redhead asks as she leans over. She sees the picture before you can close out of it, and her eyebrows creep up her head.

“Who’s that?”

You shrug. “Just someone Ava set me up with.”

“Ava?” Melissa asks in disbelief. “How long have you been seeing her?”

“Not long,” you tell her. “It’s just sex, really.”

The redhead folds her arms over her chest. “I didn’t think you were like that.”

“I’m not, but I figured I might as well give it a shot,” you say. “Now, I have to head to my room to finish up some of my grading, but I’ll see you later.”

You don’t have any intention to see her later. And you don’t. You pull back from her and her group- although most of them still find their ways to you. It’s mostly just the redheaded second grade teacher that you avoid. And it happens that way for a few more days.

You’re in the break room heating up your lunch when Ava comes in. “Girl! Are you gonna text Julie back or not?”

Melissa makes her way in, and you sigh. “It’s just sex. I’m not looking for a relationship or nothing… not unless the right person comes along,” you unintentionally repeat what the second grade teacher had said out at the bar. The microwave indicates that your food is finished, and you pull it out before heading back down to your classroom for lunch.

You miss the scowl on Melissa’s face, but Ava sure as hell doesn’t.

“Girl, you jealous or something?” the principal leans in with a smirk.

“What would I be jealous of?”

“That someone else is hitting that hot piece of ass,” Ava says like it’s obvious. The second grade teacher rolls her eyes, but Ava continues. “I see the way you look at her. Practically undressing her with your eyes every time she walks into the room.”

Melissa crosses her arms again. “I can’t believe you set her up with someone if you knew I like her.”

“I was hoping it would give you a swift kick in the ass that she was gonna start hoeing it up,” Ava shrugs. “Now admit that you’re jealous before everyone else comes in here.”

“Okay, I’m jealous,” the redhead relents. “But it don’t matter anyway. She isn’t lookin’ for anyone- she just said that.”

“She said, and I quote, ‘I’m not looking for a relationship or nothing… not unless the right person comes along. And girl, you’re that person for her!”

Everyone else starts filing in, and Ava makes it so that she looks impossibly bored, although she is actually quite the opposite. “Okay, I’m leaving this snooze fest.” She heads out, but not before giving Melissa a subtle wink and tap on the wrist. “Get it, girl.”

That day, Melissa sits thoughtfully during her lunch period about what Ava said… maybe she’s right? But she can’t be sure, so after dismissal duty, the fiery second grade teacher heads down to the front office and bursts into the principal’s office.

“Schemmenti,” Ava grins. “You do it yet?”

“I ain’t doin’ nothin’ until I’m positive Y/N has a thing for me too,” Melissa sits down across from the woman. “So tell me what you know.”

Ava spends a long time telling the redhead about the various times she’s caught you checking Melissa and only Melissa out, how you always seem to linger around her during events, how the two of you are almost always partners for things now and how you being around always makes her soft and you absolutely bask in her warmth. She even confesses that you went down to her office to ask her to set you up because of Melissa.

“You convinced yet?” the principal asks after ten minutes.

Melissa bites her lip. “Yeah. Okay.”

“I’d make a move quick though. She said something about potentially seeing Julie today.”

“Isn’t that going to piss off your friend that Y/N might leave her for me?”

“She ain’t my friend,” Ava says as she files her nails. “I made a dating profile for Y/N and picked the first mildly attractive woman I saw.”

“You’re unbelievable sometimes,” the redhead pinches the bridge of her nose.

“Maybe, but ain’t you gonna go get your girl?”

Melissa stands from her chair and thanks the principal before rushing out and down your hallway. She hopes to catch you before you head out for the night. And of course, because you’re a dedicated teacher, you’re still there prepping for tomorrow. She knocks on your doorframe and leans against it.

“Just a sec!” you reply cheerily, not turning around yet. You’re hands deep in soil for the gardening project that your students will be participating in tomorrow.

“I don’t got a second,” Melissa says. You whip around at her voice.

“Hey,” you sigh, all joy in your voice gone.

“Don’t go out with Julie tonight,” the redhead tells you.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because I want you to go out with me instead,” she tells you seriously.

“You’re dating the fire chief,” you deadpan.

“I ain’t dating nobody because the only person I want to date is you,” the redhead admits.

That gets you to drop the dirt that is currently in your hands. “What?”

“I told everyone I was just having casual sex and wasn’t looking for a relationship unless the right person came around because… because the only person I would want to be in a relationship is you, and I didn’t think I had a chance.”

“Melissa, are you an idiot?” You ask her. “I’ve shamelessly flirted with you since you broke it off with Gary and practically thrown myself at you in hopes that you would pick me instead of some random hookup.”

She crosses the room, and she’s kissing you before you even know what’s happening. You instinctively kiss her back, and… wow. When you pull away, you quickly wipe the dirt off of your hands before pulling her in close again.

“Don’t go out with Julie tonight,” she pleads again.

“Don’t go out with the fire chief anymore,” you mumble against her lips.

She nods and mutters, “I already called it off. You cancel on Julie, and meet me at my place?”

You end up at Melissa’s house within the hour, and she wines and dines you. And then you end up in her bed seeing stars. Your legs tremble for what feels like forever before she makes her way back up to you.

“And just so you know,” she husks into your ear. “There ain’t nothin’ casual about this. This ain’t just sex.”

Tags: (and let me know if you want to be included!): @schemmentis @thesapphictimelady @marvel210 @itisdoctortoyousir @morgana-larkin @thesamesweetie @doesthatsuggestanythingtoyou @marvels--slut @gwennybriggs @megamultifandomtrashposts @lemz378 @http-sam @melissaschemmentisbranzino @imaginesmultifandoms @sexysapphicshopowner @lilfartbox1 @maybe-a-humanbean @imlike-so-gaydude @sapphicxrat @a-queen-and-her-throne @sunsol-22

[writella]

hi! s10 is so fun so enjoy it when you start it! can i request a daryl smut of any kind?

Before We Leave

Synopsis: Here’s one about you sitting all sweet on Daryl’s lap because I have not stopped thinking about him holding you in his arms and giving you all the kisses after reading this headcanon! ♡

Details: Daryl Dixon x fem!reader, set during the period between seasons 8-9, kissing, smut—grinding, thigh riding, fingering, making a mess when you have places to go (such sillies). Mostly proofread. Feel free to give feedback!

A/N: It’s been a minute, guys, I know :( and to ava, so sorry for the wait ♡ I hope you like this and I can’t wait to get to season 10 too!! And know that I definitely still have your initial request in mind for later on!!

First, you noticed his hair: ever so endearingly disheveled, the waves falling so effortlessly as they did in their shaggy way; and then you noticed his skin— it shined. Normally, this would have been because of work and sweat from the late spring heat, but he was clean, he had showered today. He even changed his clothes, and surprisingly, his light beard was trimmed, his face was washed too– it illuminated with his small lazy smile that appeared as you came through the door. He looked so nice and ready to go. Your handsome man. He was waiting for you.

He wore a dark blue long-sleeve, the buttons at the start undone, exposing the top of his chest as he always preferred. And his sleeves, only just big enough to be slightly loose around his arms; they were rolled up at the forearms. It looked good. Though the better fit was his equally loose vest that was layered on top. Seeing it reminded you of how much you missed it. It took him so long to get it back from Dwight. It’s only now that you’re realizing how it fits again, how well it suits him. It’s not that he needed it of course, but you did love how it completed every outfit he wore, making it just so him.

In fact, everything about him was so, so—

“Hey,” he calls to you, his voice itself a finger snap to your attention, “you alright there?”

“Yeah,” you respond, meeting his eyes as you pathetically try to joke, “Just can’t think of the last time I actually saw you sit. We’re always… fighting or doing something aren’t we?”

“Mmhm.” He smiles inwardly. Your staring was nothing short of obvious, and you both know it: You were leaning against the door frame, eyes wide and lingering, trailing over him as he sat on your desk chair. But to him it was sweet, honestly. Almost humorous to see. It was nice to see you smile over nothing other than looking at dumb old him, or at least that's what he assumes of himself. He should know better by now than to think like that, but it's still just his way sometimes. You were in love with him though, and he loved you; and you liked looking at his dumb old face, and he knew that. That's why he doesn’t mind your gazing. That’s why he says, “C’mon,” patting his lap, knowing you wanted to come closer; his eyes catching how much yours went lower and lower, changing from innocent peerings to just a little something else, something more.

You’re hesitant at his invitation, but smiling like a kid. It's true you couldn’t help how good his thighs looked and how good the fingers that splayed over them were— rough and thick— their feeling on your skin taking you back to the past— but his noticing… Well, it just makes you blush. It makes you take slow footsteps, one in front of the other as you come closer to him, bashful and snickering. Once you’re near enough he holds you by the hips and you skip to meet his movements towards him. He turns your backside to him on the right side of the chair and sits you down, horizontal from his forward figure.

“Silly,” he calls you, flicking your nose as he taunts. It’s gentle and harmless even in his typical, slightly grumbled tone.

You wrap your arms around his shoulders, your wrists and hands curling at his neck, your side pressed into him. He feels bigger when you’re in his arms like this. As if he can comfort you or sheild you from anyone or anything— and you know he could. So safe is what you feel with him; the sigh you let out proves it. The fighting may have finished almost a year ago now, but moments like this are truly what feels like peace. And with that, your mind drifts backwards again. Realizing how you don’t remember the last time you’ve sat like this. With him. Just holding you.

One of his hands holds your thigh while the other grounds you by the lower waist, nearing your hip. You turn your face to his, raising a hand, parting some of the hair in front of his forehead, holding his jaw and you kiss him. You put your tongue between his lips. It’s quick but tender. There is a tiny trail of spit between you two as you let go. Tilting your head, you look at him with an already happy and dazed little smile. You don’t remember the last time you got a good look at him either. And you’re not talking about any of the times you’ve looked at him while simply talking or standing by him, that was almost all the time; but for so long standing next to each other was to cover one another in a fight, kill a walker, but this— this was simply because you wanted to, because he was yours, and you loved him, and you could.

He goes in to meet your lips first this time, holding you by the neck and jaw with one hand, and the other is at your back making you lean in closer. You give in to him, let him take the lead. Your feet curl under the chair and you smile into his indefinite kisses. It makes you accidentally nip at his lower lip which turns into him intentionally biting your lip thereafter. It’s just a bit harder, but he might have done it a tad more sharply than he intended.

“Ow,” you hiss, hushed and soft between breaths, but he’s already soothing the area at the corner there, giving you a lick and little pecks before returning to what he was doing before: kissing you and kissing you.

“You’re fine,” he tells you dryly in between.

Your hands lowers to his chest, feeling his collarbones, then down to his heart. Your fingers rest on the exposed skin there, then trailing lower, ghosting over the closed buttons. You want to, but maybe you shouldn’t. It wasn’t exactly the time.

Originally, you had come home to shower and change: Everyone was having dinner together at Rick and Michonne’s tonight, the first time in a long time. In fact, it was Judith who requested it; she said specifically how much she wanted all of her friends to be there. And you couldn’t disappoint the sweet girl who gave you a construction paper and crayon written invitation, asking you to promise Uncle Daryl would come. The ticket was for both of you, a little picture of you two holding hands at the bottom. ‘Pretty smile you,’ and ‘grumpy pants him,’ she explained.

It was hilariously perfect and it made your heart leap. You and Micchone laughed for a whole minute about it and you hugged Judith immediately after.

Though you couldn’t believe that she could possibly think Daryl wouldn’t come. Of course he’d do anything for her, and you would too, so just as much, ‘Of course,’ you told her, ‘We’ll even be there 10 minutes early so we can pick seats next to you,’ you had said.

But now you’re here, in such a cliche you’d roll your eyes at if you weren’t so in the moment, with Daryl touching up your leg and you allowing it. For once, you’re the one all dirty in your work clothes. And the longer you kiss him, and the longer he holds you on his lap, the more you feel it; the want, the need. You’re getting restless and you’re struggling to weigh the options in your mind.

You lived in Alexandria, helping Rick, Micchone, Rosita… And Daryl, he was sent off to head reconstruction at the Sanctuary: you two don't get to see each other as often as you’d like.

And the Sanctuary wasn’t a place you particularly liked visiting anyways, especially not at first, and he didn’t blame you. But you had still talked to him about trying it, staying there. Maybe a week, maybe longer, maybe seeing if someone else can take over your Alexandria responsibilities, but honestly, he didn’t want you there either. He didn’t even want to be there. Every week that went by was another step closer to talking to Rick about leaving.

Still, moments like this are when you wonder about asking again, if you should be the one to finally move instead… The thought fades as Daryl now groans slightly into your mouth, you had pushed yourself down on his groin which elicited the dark sound, and you moan into him in response. Your hand gripping tightly to his bicep and his digs into your side, holding you tight— you’re losing the ability to think.

His tongue is twisting with yours, and his hand goes lower on your hip, the other deeper into your hair. You’re starting to have a heat pool at your center and you're squeezing your thighs together.

Daryl can sense it and feel all of it: the indecision, the squirming– your feet shuffling and curling against each other, your legs slowly swinging up and under the chair as you do so, as your continue to melt into his lips.

And he does feel it too, though he’s better at not showing it, but you do start to feel him shifting underneath you. An erection starts to harden as your hand goes lower on his chest and the little sounds of you humming into his mouth become more sexy, more desiring, than simply sweet as you continue.

He lets go, slipping his fingers between your knees, “We don’t gotta do too much.”

This makes you laugh. You’re still looking at him all dopey eyed, and more than slightly needy despite your words terribly trying to fight it, “What’s just enough then?”

His hand moves up along your inner thighs as an answer. His fingers trail up until they reach the center, and press into you at the inseam of your jeans. You start to buck up to his movements just as they begin. You even put your own hand over his, pressing into yourself more, your head tilting back. You bite your lip, whining lightly.

“Like that?” He asks, your neediness surprising the both of you.

“Last time I saw you was last week— for a day,” you’re speaking between light, out of breath pants, “outside- scavenging- no time.” Leaning forward into his touch, pretty sounds trail out, “-uh, mmm.”

You continue to grind against his hand harder, adding your other hand on top of his for more pressure until he says, “Get up.”

You stand, starting to undo your jeans and Daryl pushes the back of your chair further against your desk and starts to unbuckle his belt, but right before he finishes, you stop him. You grab his hands, “Wait,” you tell him, slipping off your shoes, and discarding your pants until you sit down again, straddling his lap.

There was something about the way you could see the outline of his bulge by how his pants laid on him, and the nice friction you knew the jeans would cause underneath you that felt so enticing. And more importantly, his bulge looked huge, fat even, you wanted to sit yourself perfectly right on top of it, making sure you could feel it all squish deliciously into your pussy lips with only your thin underwear covering you.

You begin to rock, pushing down against him. Your tiptoes reach the ground, helping you dig in and your hands go to grab onto his shoulders. Daryl holds your hips, thumbs pressing into your back, helping to roll your body into his.

His legs shift beneath you and it makes you think about his thighs again. How yummy they would feel just like his bulge…You have a little bit of time, right? Never mind- you’ll do it fast.

You get up once more, now placing yourself on his left thigh and you start rocking against him again.

Daryl quietly lets you, his hands go under your shirt and you let him take it off, leaving you in only your underwear while he’s fully clothed. He doesn’t mind letting you do what you want right now, he’s enjoying it. Grunting lowly, loving how he can watch you in your blissed out state: your open mouth, your sloppy humping and riding, how you're whining and panting as he touches up your stomach, how you’re so needy that you take one of his hands higher to caress your breast. He licks his teeth, “Need it bad, huh?” He tenses his quad, applying pressure so perfectly, just as you’d been thinking about for days. “Huh, sweetheart?”

“Think about you everyday, Daryl.” You sound just a bit too pathetic, but he eats it up, a small wicked grin coming to his face just looking at how much you wanted him. Not only thinking about his cock stuffed in you, but even how you wanted his thighs too? Just him in general? His poor girl, so deprived of him. He hated being apart, but fuck did he love how desperate it made you when he visited, desperate for him, desperate for him to give it to you or let you have it in any way. It gave him ideas of what he would do to you after you got back from dinner.

Your knee is centered in the middle of his thighs, pushing against his groin with each roll of your pelvis and the rock of Daryl’s hands as he pushes your hips forward, both helping you reach that point of pure bliss, going hard and deep, while giving him just a bit a release from the tension he feels because of you.

You close your eyes, head tilting up to the side lightly, mouth agape. “Ah, mm-” Your frustrated sounds then turn into you sighing so light, so sweetly, “I missed you.”

His hand reaches the side of your face briefly, rolling over your hair and cheek, “Missed you too.”

You knew your underwear was more than damp at this point, but you hoped the dark denim of his pants would mean it wouldn’t be that bad. You were lying to yourself honestly, but you did have wipes anyway, and… Was it bad to say you wanted to soak his jeans? For him to see the mess you made? Remember how big of a spot you created for later? There was no mistake, he had to spend the night. Having dinner in Alexandria made it so that it was too late for him to go back to the Sancutary afterwards. You wondered what he’d do to you later, what you’d let him do. He did miss you, he said it himself after all. And you feel his stare on your lower stomach as you continue to roll yourself on him, as he watches your clothed pussy make a mess of his jeans. And he sees the way his unintentional grunts and slight growls to the sight of you make your head tilt back, mouth opened so wide like you were already preparing to suck him off.

Your eyes are closed, your open mouth allowing a string of “ahs,” to come out as you continue to rub yourself against his muscle, wiggling a little, back and forth, going in a circle for a second to get more attention onto your clit, feeling yourself get wetter and wetter from your boyfriend’s big, and thick thigh. Your knee digs into him harder and he uses one hand to push it against him more.

After he lets go, one of his hands slips into your underwear, placing his middle finger over your clit, rubbing fast circles into it as much as he can as you continue to rock down on both thigh and fingers now. The extra friction feels so good. You’re whining, your panting, holding onto his shoulder with one hand, the other hand grabbing onto your desk, trying to stabilize yourself as you attempt to go faster, your movements becoming more erratic. “Daryl, please,” you whine, “help me.”

He places his free hand on your ass, kneading it forward and his other hand tries its best to circle into your pussy as much as it can.

As his middle finger continues to circle your clit, his two other fingers push into either side of your labia. “Go on,” he encourages, “Already made a mess. Make it bigger.” He moves his hand to your hip again, pushing you down. “You got it.”

Then he starts bouncing his leg, you bounce along with him, trying to rock as hard as you can. You start moaning louder, it’s continuous, you’re getting closer, you see yellow white light behind your eyes as a release takes over you, it’s hot and you can barely breathe, you almost wail as you coat his hands, ruining your panties, soaking his jeans. It felt amazing.

You huff out heavily now, finally opening your eyes to see Daryl take his hand from beneath you, licking his fingers clean. Wet popping sounds come out after he sucks each one, looking you directly in the eye. “Mmm.”

You blush gingerly at him. Getting up you see the large wer spot on his pant leg. It wasn’t a circle, it was ovular, taking up half the area of his thigh. Your teeth clench, you thought it would be big, but… you didn’t know it would be that big. This wasn’t something you could quickly clean off. “I guess it’s a good thing you keep your extra clothes here?”

He keeps his face straight, he figured as much would happen, but it was fun to see you squirm. “These were my extra clothes.”

“Oh.”

You should have let him take his pants off.

[its-avalon-08]

hi okay so since we have very little mark webber content im doing everyone a favour so like similar to the fernando one but this time y/n watched mark's flying 2010 crash and even though he's completely fine y/n is MAD (like it happened for the second time). Mark tries joking it off after they get home but she gives him the silent treatment+ doesnt let him kiss/touch her. then when she finally gives in she's angry and cries while mark consoles her?

please don't leave (mw6)

🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️

i had so much fun writing this one thank you so much for this request ! i hope you enjoyed! happy reading <3 do send in more requests! as for pre existing requests- im working on it! lots of love ava

🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️

y/n practically clawed at the armrest as the grainy helicopter footage on the tv flickered. it couldn't be. not again. the unmistakable red of mark's car was wedged against a barrier, smoke billowing skyward. her heart hammered a frantic rhythm against her ribs. "mark..." the word escaped her lips in a strangled whisper.

the newscaster droned on, thankfully confirming mark was unharmed. relief flooded y/n, momentarily pushing the anger aside. but as the adrenaline subsided, the fury simmered back. this was the second time she'd endured this terror in the three years they'd been together.

the apartment door creaked open, and mark limped in, a grimace on his face. even with the obvious pain, his smile was sheepish. "hey there, drama queen. looks like i caused a bit of a stir, eh?"

y/n remained glued to the couch, arms crossed. the silence in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife. mark's smile faltered, replaced by a worried frown. he shuffled closer, a hand reaching out tentatively.

"y/n, come on," he coaxed, "it's alright. just a bit shaken, that's all."

his hand hovered in the air, inches from her shoulder. y/n flinched away, the movement sharp and cold. the hurt flickered in mark's eyes, but he persisted.

the air in the apartment hung heavy with unspoken emotions. mark hovered near y/n, his own leg throbbing from the crash, but the physical pain paled in comparison to the emotional turmoil brewing across the room. he yearned to hold her, to feel her warmth and offer some form of comfort.

"so," mark started, his voice breaking the suffocating silence, "at least this time i didn't manage to take out any cameramen. silver linings, right?"

he forced a smile, hoping to lighten the mood. but as he reached out, y/n visibly stiffened. her back straightened, and her arms, which had been limp at her side, clenched into fists.

mark's smile faltered, replaced by a dawning realization. this wasn't the time for jokes. he saw it in the way her shoulders started to tremble, a silent tremor that spoke volumes.

"y/n," he began, concern lacing his voice.

but before he could continue, a dam broke within her. tears welled up in her eyes, spilling over as she whirled around to face him.

"silver linings?" she choked out, her voice thick with anger and barely contained fear. "mark, how can you even say that? don't you get it? every time you get behind the wheel of that car, my heart stops! i watch those races, glued to the screen, praying that the red and white doesn't end up tangled in a mess of metal, praying that i don't hear your name followed by the words 'critical condition.' this isn't some game, mark! these aren't just crashes, these are near-death experiences!"

her voice hitched, raw emotion pouring out. "and you have the audacity to joke about it? to try and find some humor in the fact that you almost died again? do you even consider what it does to me? the sleepless nights, the constant worry gnawing at my insides? i can't take it anymore, mark! i can't live like this, constantly on the edge, waiting for the other shoe to drop!"

y/n's rant hung in the air, heavy and accusatory. mark stood speechless, his heart sinking with every word. all the flippant remarks he'd planned evaporated. here, laid bare, was the true cost of his passion, the unseen burden he placed on the woman he loved.

shame washed over him. he hadn't truly understood her fear, the depth of her worry. now, seeing it raw and unfiltered, he felt like a monster.

"y/n," he finally managed, his voice hoarse with regret, "i... i'm so sorry. i had no idea. i was trying to be lighthearted, but you're right. it's not a joke. i was a fool. please, forgive me. i promise it won't happen next time."

"it's not enough, mark!" she shot back, tears welling up in her eyes. "what if next time... what if there isn't a next time?"

the room went silent again, the weight of her words hanging heavy in the air. after a long moment, mark sat on the coffee table beside her, a dejected sigh escaping his lips. he didn't try to touch her again, respecting the space she needed.

minutes bled into hours. finally, y/n's tense shoulders slumped slightly. with a shaky breath, she turned towards mark. he met her gaze, his eyes filled with concern.

"i just..." she began, her voice thick with emotion, "i can't lose you, mark. not like this."

large tears streamed down her face as she spoke, her voice cracking. mark was by her side in an instant, pulling her into a tight embrace. he held her as she sobbed, whispering comforting words into her hair.

the fear, the anger, all of it spilled out in that moment. when her cries subsided into hiccups, mark gently wiped away her tears.

y/n's words hung heavy in the air, each one a hammer blow to mark's heart. shame burned in his gut, hotter than any engine fire he'd ever faced. he hadn't just been selfish, he'd been blind. blinded by the adrenaline rush, the roar of the crowd, the thrill of the race. he hadn't seen the terror in her eyes, the worry etched into her every expression.

"y/n," he started, his voice thick with remorse, "i... i don't even know where to begin. you're right. it's not a joke. it's never a joke. every time i climb into that car, a part of me knows the risk. but the truth is, i never stopped to think about what it did to you. i was so focused on myself, on the competition, on the win, that i completely ignored the cost it had on you."

he took a shaky breath, pulling her closer, "those sleepless nights, that constant worry… you shouldn't have to carry that burden alone. you shouldn't have to live in fear because of my passion. it's not fair. it's not fair to you, and frankly, it makes me question my own damn priorities."

mark ran a hand through his hair, frustration lacing his voice. "this racing… it's been my life for so long. it's given me purpose, pushed me to my limits, made me feel alive. but if it comes at the cost of losing you, then what's the point? what good is a trophy if the person i love the most is shattered every time i race?"

he looked at her, his eyes pleading for understanding. "i can't promise you i'll quit. it's in my blood, this need for speed. but i can promise you this: i'll never take it for granted again. i'll never forget the fear in your eyes. every race, every decision, every corner i take, you'll be there, a constant reminder of what truly matters. and if, at any point, you can't handle it anymore, if the fear becomes too much… i'll walk away. no questions asked. because you, y/n, you're my everything."

silence stretched between them, heavy with the weight of his words. but this time, it wasn't a suffocating quiet. it was a space filled with the dawning of a new understanding, a fragile hope for a future where his passion wouldn't overshadow the love of his life.

the silence stretched on, a hesitant dance between hope and uncertainty. then, slowly, tentatively, y/n reached out. her hand brushed against mark's, sending a jolt of electricity through him. he laced his fingers with hers, the warmth a stark contrast to the storm that had just passed.

"i..." she began, her voice barely a whisper. "i don't want you to quit." her eyes, though still glistening with unshed tears, held a new resolve. "but i need you to be safe. to understand how much you mean to me."

mark's heart swelled in his chest. "i do, y/n. more than you know." he pulled her gently towards him, offering a quiet, "can i kiss you now?"

y/n melted into his embrace, lips meeting. he held her tightly, the unspoken promise hanging heavy in the air. they would face this together, fear and passion intertwined. but for now, all that mattered was the quiet comfort of each other's arms.

after a long while, y/n pulled back slightly, a small smile gracing her lips. "just promise me," she said, her voice muffled against his chest.

"anything," he whispered back, nuzzling his nose against hers.

"no more 'silver linings' jokes after a crash," she declared, a playful glint in her eyes.

mark chuckled, a genuine laugh that warmed the room. "deal. but maybe a celebratory ice cream after a win?"

y/n snorted. "we can negotiate."

and with that, they settled back into their embrace, a newfound understanding blossoming between them. the future was uncertain, the track still held dangers, but as long as they had each other, they could face anything. as mark drifted off to sleep, y/n snuggled closer, her soft breaths a lullaby against his ear.

[hocuspocusbabyy]

A little Ficlet from my archive of wlw… first time posting my Melissa content!

A breath of fresh air:

“You’re Jacobs aunt and the new French teacher at Abbott Elementary, Melissa and you bond over shared cigarettes and vices.”

Melissa stood next to her car facing the fence, away from Ava who was contently giggling at whatever stupid video she and Jacob were watching. She didn't see why Barbra had to banished her to the far side of the school for wanting one bloody cigarette.

Mel huffed trying to get her lighter to work from her spot behind the shed as she looked around, the empty streets dimly lit by the lamp lights bounding off the metal fence. It dawned on her that she was alone out in the Abbott Parking lot. Everyone else having escaped inside from the cold.

'What you doing over here all by yourself?' A familiar voice called, startlingly elegant the remittance of France still present within the dentals of her accent.

Melissa felt all the hairs stand on the back of her neck. The teacher whirled around to face them, the woman that had been giving her heart palpitations and a mega lady boner since the moment she’d arrived at Abbott four months ago.

Jacob’s Aunt, Jacob’s young, very attractive aunt - who was nearly fifteen years younger than her.

'Needed one,' Mel smirked awkwardly, holding up her unlit cigarette. 'Just can't seem to...' she gave her lighter a few flicks for effect, but it was futile.

'Here." Y/N produced a lighter and lit the flame, as Mel gratefully leaned forward and sucked on her cigarette until it caught.

'Thanks,' the redhead replied, finally feeling the blessed burn as the smoke hit her throat.

'So,' Y/n remarked, ashing her own cigarette, 'Jacob tells me you're a real Lotario.'

Mel looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. 'Who’s that?'

Y/n smirked. 'A slut, basically.'

The redhead grinned at Y/n 'Damn, you've just going call me out like that Hill?"

Y/N took another drag and smirked. 'So it's true then? You just go with a lot of men?'

'Go? As in a date? Nah, It's like, I've don’t take anyone out to the movies or shit like that, none since I was married… even when I was married.’ She shrugs inhaling again, ‘just kinda go with the flow,’ There’s an emphasis on that last part.

‘Everyone got a vice.' Y/n concurs. 'I for one have always enjoyed the pleasures of my fellow feminine species.” - how very French Melissa thought.

Y/n leaned against the wall alongside the teacher. 'I don't mind the company of women either. Never have.'

Y/n raised an eyebrow. 'Really?'

'Is that so surprising? An old gal like me chasing skirt?”

Y/n laughed aloud taking another drag of their cigarette, smiling appreciatively. 'So crude Schemmenti.”

Melissa made an acknowledging sound stubbing out her cigarette as you continued, ‘so what is your vice then?" Y/n asked, watching the Italian woman with interest.

"Work." Mel deadpanned.

"There are worse things to be addicted to I suppose" Y/n shrugged throwing down her cigarette and stepping it out.

"Yeah, but being addicted to sex sounds much more fun" Mel commented, smirking as she swore the woman beside her blushed.

"You know Janine and Gregory are definitely going to hook up”

Mel gave a disbelieving tisk, not wanting to give away her friend and colleagues years in the making relationship. "What makes you think that Frenchie?”

'Come on,' Y/n replied, placing a hand on her hip, 'Have you looked at them? It's bound to happen. I can't quite put my finger on it but I know there's something there.' Y/n continued, her eyes narrowing. 'There was this sort of connection between them the moment they laid eyes on one another. It's been a tumultuous back and forth ever since, someone you can’t falsify.’ Her gaze lingered upon the Italian, the soft curve of her hips as the lay push against the brick. Full and decadent. An essence to their words that did not reflect or belong to Gregory and Janine at all.

'I suppose you may have a point.'

'If they're not shagging now then they will be, I just know it.’

“Not who’s crude.” Mel joked, a dazing full smile lay upon her features.

Y/n simply shrugged. 'I only hope Jacob catches on and finds someone too, at least so he won't turn out a spinster like her aunt.'

‘Oh come on’ the redhead sniggered, ‘you a spinster? How ridiculous. You’re far too young and gorgeous to be referred to in such a way.’

‘You don't believe me? all my relationships have ended in utter failure because I am reserved to becoming an old spinster,' Y/n sighed dejectedly, dramatically. 'Perhaps I should just accept my fate and adopt a bunch of cats.'

Mel smirked, a little laugh escaping her lips as he turned to Y/n if you wanted to play coy, she’d take the bait. ‘Look I don't know much but I do know, no matter when or how it happens, you just gotta be open to it,' she whispered, ‘and when you've done that, well maybe then you can get some cats.’

Y/n looked at Melissa for a good long moment, letting what she had just said sink in. After a bit, she nodded in agreement before revealing a sly look.

‘You think I’m gorgeous?’

‘Caught that did you?’ Melissa shook her head, flashed a charming grin, ‘besides I'm sure even old spinsters get a good fuckin' every once in a while."

‘Oh sure. I'm sure I'll be able to fit in a good rendezvous or two between all the cat feedings.’ Y/n delighted, their bottom lip curling upon their teeth.

‘Yeah, see, there you go,’ Mel laughed. ‘I'd definitely wanna show a fine cat lady like you a good time.’

Y/n found herself grinning, and looked down shyly. Maybe she was lying a little, plenty of people flirted with her, but never any as spectacular as this particularly teacher. What was a white lie in favour of a future?

Y/n turned towards Mel reaching out and grasping her wrist, taking her other hand and idly drawing circles in the Italian’s palm. 'Is that an offer?'

Melissa gave another, surprisingly nervous laugh, smile brilliant and charming. 'Well that depends on your answer Frenchie.’

Y/n hummed as if she were contemplating what they were going to do. When really she was just trying to contain her excitement because holy shit Melissa Ann Caterina Schemmenti was going to kiss her.

No time for nerves Hill.

Y/n’s breath caught in her throat as the redhead stepped in front of her, moving in close. Y/n bit her lip, holding in a gasp as she felt tender fingertips and a set of perfectly manicured nails just barely graze the soft and sensitive skin beneath her left eye. A hot palm pushing against her skin, brushing away her hair and pulling in. Y/n needed bit down harder to prevent a gleeful shout from escaping as strong hands grasped into her hair.

There was a moment, a bare seconds, void of anything other than the woman before her. Vision becoming little but hues of red remittent of Italian soils that Y/n would gladly be lay to rest in. The soft apex of the teachers lips falling down upon her own, moving in a perfectly smooth motion.

Melissa Schemmenti’s lips could only be found among worldly things, the simplest of pleasures. Between old library pages, morning rain and bath water as it fizzled down a drain. A kiss worthy of its benefactor, a kiss she couldn’t help but reach up and steal again. A rememberable of smoke thick upon their teeth, as they devoured one another.

[ahgasegotarmy116]

Hi! Can you do a Bang-able drabble where he has a glitch in his programing (he's a computer after all), and he shuts off. She has to call the company to help fix him, but it takes a few days. She's miserable without him and when he's working again, she's all over him and he's loving all the attention from her. He could even say something like "wow I should shut off more often" because he just loves how much she missed him. Thank you!

Okay so this is a little different and a lot less excitable but I thought it was cute 🥰

I hope you like it!

(And sorry it took me so long 😅)

~~~~~~

"How long has it been?" Ava ask, sitting down on the couch and handing me a glass of wine, helping me drown my sorrows of being away from him. 

"A couple of days" I say and she hums, trying to hold back her clear need to make fun of me and when I glance up at her after my attention had been on my wine she breaks. "A couple day's without robo-dick got you down this bad?" she snorks, not being able to sympathize with me any longer. 

"It's not just that alright. Although I won't lie in saying that's been on my mind, but I'm worried. What if they reprogram him on accident and we have to start all over? What if they break him and try to replace him with a new model? What if-" 

"Y/n, it's fine. I read up on what's going on and it looks like it's a normal defect that's happened with most of the models that were made around that time and from the looks of it, it seems like it's an easy fix" she interrupts, having looked it up beforehand to quell my worries.

"Yeah, you're probably right...but I've never been away from him this long. I mean he's barely been out of my sight since he got here" I say, making a valid point as to why I'm feeling like this. 

"You really miss him, don't you?" she sighs, realizing that the sex bot part of him, although very prevalent from how often I decide to stay home most weekends, has become a secondary thought for me. "I do" I say, not needing to point out the elephant in the room but still wanting to voice my feelings. 

"He's my best friend...besides you" I admit and she scoffs "Thanks". 

She rolls her eyes and gets up to grab the other half of the second bottle she had forgotten on the counter but before we can change or even continue the subject there's a knock on my door. 

She looks over at me but I shrug, deciding to let her answer it since it's almost ten pm and let's admit it, she's a lot more fearless than I am. 

Getting up on her tip toes she looks out of the peephole and when she's realized who it is she turns around, a smirk splayed across her face. "You're gonna wanna to answer it" she says and steps aside, waiting for me to do as she says and when I stand up and cautiously make my way to the door I look out the peephole as well and it's like I can't unlock the door fast enough. 

"Took you long enough" he smirks and braces for impact since I'm literally clinging onto him as soon as I open the door. "I missed you" I say, burring my face into his neck and breathing in that familiar scent I bought him. "Missed you too baby" he chuckles, wrapping his arms around my waist, pulling me in so there's no space between us. 

"And that's my cue to leave" Ava interrupts, her bag already on her shoulder and her shoes on her feet. "Wait you don't have to lea-" "I'm going before the tension gets too high between the two of you and I feel like even more of a third wheel than I already am" she interrupts, parting her way through the both of us and throwing a half ass wave our way. 

"Thanks Ava" Jungkook smirks, looking down at me and appreciating the unspoken agreement they have.

"Yeah yeah whatever lover boy, just don't leave her for that long again. Mopey y/n is a pain to deal with" she sighs. "Hey!" I call out in protest but she's already at the elevator when that simple word leaves my lips. "Bye" she waves again, a devious look in her eyes since she knows I'll be thanking her later. 

"Don't you ever leave me for that long again!" I scold him, as if he had a say in any of this. "I've literally been out cold since they took me back y/n, I had zero concept of time until I 'woke up'" he says with air quotes, slipping inside the apartment and closing the door. 

"Ew don't call me that" I say and walk further into the living room with him trailing behind me. "That's your name isn't it?" he says so matter o' factly that I whip around way too fast, scared that my fears might've become a reality.

"No no no no! Don't tell me they reprogramed you! Your memories are all gone aren't they? I knew I shouldn't have let them take you! The glitch wasn't that big of a deal! I thought you spacing out all the time was really cute. I jus-" 

"Baby" he says in a way that convinces me I was wrong, making me let out a breath. "I haven't forgotten about you and I sure as hell made sure I came back to you as soon as possible" he reassures me and that alone is enough. 

"Really?" I pout, having stopped the nervous pacing I had been doing since I started my short lived spiral. "Really really" he assures me, pulling me in by my waist, making me place my hands on his shoulders in turn, looking up at him and seeing that same expression he gives me when he's trying to convince me that everything'll be okay. 

"Come here" he says, taking one of his hands off my hip and placing it on my cheek, angling my face just right so he can kiss me. That same familiar feeling hitting my senses when he kisses me perfectly, matching with the pace he knows always makes me dizzy. 

"Believe me now?" he chuckles once I pulled back, looking up at him suspiciously. "Maybe" I say, narrowing my eyes, still not fully convinced but enough to know that my Jungkook is back. 

Not a new and improved one, my Jungkook.

"There were a few things they changed though, well more like added" he admits and I step back, leaving his embrace, skeptical and scared about what it might be. "What is it?" I whisper, and he chuckles before stalking towards me, telling me everything I need to know but with every step forward he takes, I take one back. 

"No no no I'm not in the mood for that right now" I say and he sighs, reeling in that predatory gaze. "Didn't you say you missed me though?" he huffs and I scoff, realizing how nosy he remains, another sign that he's still the same. 

"How long were you spying on us?" I cock a brow at him, crossing my arms over my chest and demanding an answer. "First thing I heard was Ava making fun of you for missing my robo-dick" he grins making me roll my eyes, sitting down on the couch, crossing my arms and feeling embarrassed that he heard all of that.

"It's cute to know that you missed me so much…and my robo-dick" he smiles and sits down next to me, pulling me under his arm even through my stiffened protest. "Whatever" I pout, not wanting him to know how hopeless I am without him, although I'm sure he could've guessed since I'm not good at hiding my emotions around him. 

"I missed you too" he chuckles and lays my head down on his lap instead, caressing my face and tracing all my features, almost as if he hadn't committed them to memory already...literally. "You sure you don't wanna..." he asks, the new features he had hinted at before clearly being something the company is wanting to get feedback on. 

"I just...I just wanna be with you" I confess, laying on my back with my head still in his lap, looking up at him and just enjoying the fact that he's back. "You're so adorable, you know that?" he coos, pinching my cheek just the slightest bit but I don't mind it. Not this time. 

I continue to study him, completely silent for a while watching him look down at me, looking just as fascinated in me as I am with him. Maybe it's just a feature for data collection but those are things I've come to ignore now. 

"Come here" I whisper and use one hand to slowly encourage him to lean down and kiss me, the angle awkward but it doesn't matter, with him all that matters is the here and now...

and that's enough for me.

~~~~

Read the full One Shot here 💜

[neverfindmegone]

Hi people, so I'm not a writer and I never wrote anything but my darling @pinkthrone445 is always writing the most amazing things, so I wanted to write this in her honor. Sorry if it's extremely silly and not well written but is my first try 🖤

What I can see

You and Melissa had been friends for a couple of months now. You met the red head during your first day in Abbot. You were nervous as hell to work as a teacher's aid, but you have always loved children and working with them was a dream.

At first, Melissa wasn't very friendly, she was extremely sarcastic, making fun of you every chance she got.

You still remember your first meeting, Ava had come to introduce you to the red head and you couldn't form one proper sentence, being stunned by her beauty.

- What's the matter Hon, did the cat get your tongue?

After that you started to spend more and more time with the older woman, and the intimidation you felt started to turn into a deep admiration. Being her helper was such an interesting job, the learning range was big, from teaching kids with special needs to having the number of a guy who could help you with racoon problems.

Yes. Melissa was an interesting woman and you started to fall for her more and more each day.

At first you believed to be a innocent crush, but the more you had one on one conversations, you saw that you couldn't stop thinking about what hurricane of a woman she was. Her presence, her personality, her looks, you were completely obsessed. What resulted in you finding every excuse possible to be around her all the time. You would bring her coffee, invite for lunches, drinks, movies almost every week after work.

Melissa seemed to appreciate the extra attention you gave her, sometimes you could swear you caught her staring when she thought you weren't looking.

Her bright green eyes shined when you overshared and her hands always found away to touch you, shoulders, hands, thighs.

That's how you found yourself in the current situation. Ava was giving one of her Ava speeches, and you had Melissa sitting right next to you, her arm touching yours. You were caught giving her looks from the corner of your eye, every time your skins would brush.

- Does she sound drunk to you? She whispered in your ear.

The hairs on the back of your back stood up immediately and you were frozen for a second. Her breath ghosting your skin made you feel dizzy whenever she was this close to you. Damn this woman had put you wonder a spell or something. When did you start to be so easily affected?

Melissa noticing your lack of response, shoved your arm slowly. - You okay?

- Yes, I mean no, not drunk, maybe hung over? I saw on her Insta last night, she was at the club until late.

- Club on a Wednesday? That's brave even for her. She eye rolled, looking back at the stage.

- Come on Schemmenti. You looked at her. - Can't you handle going out on a school night?

Her head snapped immediately, green eyes finding yours, nostrils inflating. You liked teasing her, it was a part of the flirting banter you had going on.

You raised both of your eyebrows challenging her. - Too old?

- Are you kidding me kid? You, me, club tonight. She said snapping, challenging you back.

- Deal, I'll pick you up at 7.

---

Later that night, you knocked on Melissa's door at 7:15. A bit late, but nothing that would bother the older lady. When the door was opened, your jaw dropped. She was wearing a tight red dress, her creamy cleavage completely in display.

You couldn't stop staring at her breasts, your breathing getting elaborated. This was definitely the rack from God.

Melissa's voice broke up you from your paralysis. - What's the matter hon? Am I over dressed?

You frowned, seeing her insecurity.

- Are you kidding me? Mel, you look... You paused, your eyes raking over her body up and down slowly. - Exquisite.

- Really? I'm not sure about this. She said entering the house, with you following. - I had other options. She gestured for you to follow her into the bedroom.

- Maybe these black jeans? She pointed to the bed, where a bunch of clothes were scattered. - I haven't been to a club in a while, I don't know what I was thinking.

You looked around seeing the mess in the room, realizing that she was probably over thinking this. You wanted nothing more than reassure her, this woman was divine, how couldn't she know that?

- No, you look perfect, I promise.

Melissa made a face, showing that she didn't believe you, she walked to the large mirror in the corner of her room, before standing there, observing herself. Her hands moved over her dress, tiding it up. - Am I too old for this?

- Melissa, please. You giggled, how did this goddess believe she was too old for anything. That's when you remember your teasing earlier, you started to feel guilty. She wouldn't have been upset over that, would she?

- Is this about earlier? You asked approaching her. - Let me show you something. You continued, moving yourself behind her in the mirror slowly, afraid to scare her away. Your desire was to prove to the woman how gorgeous she really was.

- What do you really think? She said looking at you, finding your eyes in the mirror.

You moved your hands to her hips gently, holding her in place, while making eye contact with her.

- I think you will be the hottest woman there. You squeezed her hips gently, before giving them a tap. - Come on.

Melissa huffs, before looking at you with vulnerable eyes. - Oh please.

You move closer, keeping your eyes on hers, before resting your chin on her shoulder. - I don't think you are aware of the effect you have on people. Your arms hugged her from behind while you spoke.

The older woman eyerolled. - Huf, you have to say that, you're my friend.

- Melissa stop. You moved your hands to hers, before squeezing them. - Please see what everyone can see... What I can see.

She blushed deeply. - Listen kid, I...

You moved closer in a fast manner, making her stop talking. You pressed your front against her back completely, before starting - First, look at these arms. You moved your hands up and down her shoulders gently. - They are muscular and strong.

You felt her tense up, looking at you with uncertainty. You gave her a wide smile before you felt her relaxing again, she gave you a small nod, letting you know it was okay to continue.

You shifted your hands to her stomach, stroking it with your fingertips. - Look at this waste, so gorgeous and just the right shape. Her eyes shifted to your hands movements, and her breath started to increase it's path, as she felt you caressing her skin.

- And these hips? Your hand moved down her curves, touching her more intimately now, increasing the pressure of your hands.

- They are so attractive, when you walk, people at school can't stop staring at them. You know when I first met you I couldn't stop thinking about your hips and thighs.

She shaked her head no. - It's true. You breathed in her ear. - You carry such power and swag when you walk, it's impossible not to look.

Her eyes starting to shine, lips quivering as she felt your hands moving to her behind. - I don't think I need to tell you about this mouth watering ass of yours, do I?

Your eyes found hers, completely black now, your hand moving up and down her butt cheeks. Your touch was maddening, Melissa was starting to tremble and you heard a small whimper scape when your nails traced her shape, teasingly.

Your face moved closer to hers, your nose brushing against her cheek, your eyes never leaving hers. - But do you wanna know my favorite? You said slowly, letting the tip of your tongue brush against her earlobe.

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

Your hands roamed up her front and the red head felt like her skin was on fire, it was as if hot oil was being poured in every spot your fingers touched. Your hand stopped on her chest and you stretched your fingers to her neck, squeezing it gently.

- Y/N. She whimpered, her voice full of emotion.

Your fingers grasped her chin before turning her face to yours. - It's your face Melissa, I'm obsessed with your face. Your eyes kept drinking in hers while you spoke - Your eyes they are so green and deep. - Your smile lights up the whole room, it's contagious.

You leaned closer, letting your fingertips touch the tip of her nose - Your nose is sharp and perfect. You traced a path to her lips, observing her face deeply, like you were a painter and she was your master piece. Your fingers moved to her lips softly, the pressure light but steady.

- And your mouth, God your mouth.

Melissa held her breath, her eyes started to close, she was hypnotized by your caresses. Her eyes snapped open when she felt you pulling away. But before she could protest in disappointment you moved your hands to her breasts squeezing them roughly. You couldn't keep yourself away from them for one more second. - And these are the star of the show. You felt her nipples get hard while you played with them.

Her head fell to your shoulder before she groaned. - Fucking chirst Y/N.

You lost any self control you had left and turned her around, pressing her back against the mirror, trapping her with your hands beside her head . - Do you see it now? You asked, your eyes full of lust.

Her lack of response gave you the impression that she was uncomfortable, so you started to move away shyly. - Fuck, sorry Mel, I know we work together. Before you could finish your sentence Melissa grabbed your face and crashed her lips against yours. She was furious and putting all of her desire and longing into that kiss.

You had no idea how long she had craved this, how long she had craved you. And having your hands and whispers seducing her like that was enough to take the red head to a breaking point.

All she could see was black, her hands moved over your body frantically, squeezing every piece of flesh she could find.

You moaned feeling how dominant she had became, letting her take charge of the kiss. Your hands moved to her shoulders, clutching with force, returning all the fire the woman was giving you. You opened your mouth, accepting her tongue in. Your mind was dizzy with desire, and you couldn't stop yourself from moaning again.

- Holy fuck. You panted. You kissed for minutes, or what seemed to be hours. You couldn't get enough of her taste and she seemed to be obsessed with yours. Every time you would stop to breathe the other would pull in again with force, continuing the intense kiss. Your hands tangled in her gorgeous hair and hers groping you forcefully.

When you felt yourself close to fainting from the lack of air, you moved away from her, catching your breath so you could take a sight of what had just happened.

You moved your hand over your chest, trying to recover.

- Wow Schemmenti, I always assumed you were a good kisser but this, this is something else.

When you caught her eyes, she was still silent, chest and face red, she looked dangerous, almost a predator looking at her pray. - Mel?

She moved closer to you before shoving you in the bed savagely. You fell on your elbows harshly. - Ouch! Melissa! You said looking her with surprise.

- You had your fun seducing and playing me like pudding in your hands. Now it's my turn. She said while moving on top of you.

Her hands moved to your neck before squeezing it. - And you know something Y/N? She said while leaning in, letting her mouth hover over yours. - I don't think I want to go to the club anymore.

[goldfades]

✮ 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 | zegras' have more fun [evangeline's 1k celly]

♡ ─ word count | 3k words

♡ ─ summary | the summer before umich, trevor and stass spend it with their closest friends, the hughes.

♡ ─ warnings | UNEDITED!!!!! drinking, kissing (but nothing more) luke x stassie and LOTS of jack/luke pining over her, fluff, angst

♡ ─ taglist | @43hughes, here is the taglist form if anyone is interested!

♡ ─ ev's notes | OOOO, this is so much drama. i also hate pitting jack/luke lowkey against each other but its kinda entertaining LMAO. lmk your thoughts!!!!! and don't be shy, if you have any ideas for this AU please send them in!!!

zegras' have more fun au masterlist !!

June 28, 2022

It was the summer before college and Stass laid on the Hughes' yacht, tanning out in the sun. As soon as school was out, Luke had invited her and her family out to the lake house, something they had done every year since Trevor had befriended Quinn and Jack Hughes. Ava decided not to go this year because her friends had planned a trip up to Rhode Island for a summer trip and Griffin had work, so it was just Trevor and Stass.

"Want a beer?" Trevor's voice echoed across the deck as he stood near the cooler, shielding his eyes from the sun to look at Stass.

Stass, still adjusting her sunglasses, flashed a sun-kissed smile and replied, "Sure, pass me one."

"That was a test and you failed." Trevor shook his head as Stass glared at him. "If anyone offers you a beer you say no because you're staying sober, right?"

"Trevor, just shut up and hand me a beer." Stass rolled her eyes at her older brother. "It's not like I haven't one before, you force fed me one when I was like, 9-"

"That's a lie, Griffin did that. I tried stopping him but he was stronger." Trevor replied in a matter-of-factly tone.

Stass laughed, remembering the exaggerated stories her brother used to tell. "Whatever, it doesn't matter now. I'm legal, and I can handle a beer or two."

Trevor grinned, finally passing her a cold bottle. "Legal, responsible, and ready for college. Look at you, all grown up."

She nodded, pulling her sunglasses back down. The lake sparkled around them, and the distant laughter of friends echoed from the shore.

"You know," Trevor began, taking a sip of his beer, "I'm glad we could still make it out here, just the two of us."

Stass nodded, taking a sip of her own drink. "Yeah, it's nice. Quiet."

Trevor glanced at her, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips. "You're quiet. That's unusual."

Stass rolled her eyes playfully. "Oh, ha-ha. I can be quiet sometimes."

They fell into an easy silence, the only sounds the lapping of the waves against the hull of the yacht and the occasional call of a seagull overhead. Stass closed her eyes, letting the warmth of the sun seep into her skin.

"You excited about college?" Trevor asked after a while, breaking the silence.

Stass opened one eye to look at him. "Yeah, nervous too, though. It's a big change."

Trevor nodded in understanding. "Yeah, but you'll do great. You always do."

Stass smiled, feeling a warmth spread through her chest at his words. "Thanks, Trev. That means a lot."

"You know, I'm proud of ya, right?" Trevor added, quietly as he laid back in the chair.

"Aww, Trev, you gettin' all sappy on me now?" Stass teased, nudging him playfully with her elbow.

Trevor chuckled, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "Maybe just a little."

Trevor chuckled, shaking his head. "Maybe just a little. But seriously, Stassie, you've always been there for me, through thick and thin. I couldn't ask for a better sister."

Stass felt a lump form in her throat at his words. She reached out and squeezed his hand, the bond between them stronger than ever in that moment. "I'm proud of you too, you know," Stass said, her tone sincere. "You're out there in California playing hockey, like you always wanted."

"Thank you, Stassie." Trevor smiled back at her and a calm silence fell in between them again.

They shared a smile, in that quiet moment, as the sun dipped lower in the sky and the world seemed to slow down around them, Stass realized just how lucky she was to have Trevor by her side.

"Alright, enough of the sentimental stuff," Stass declared, breaking the moment with a grin. "Race you to the diving board?"

"Oh fuck yeah. I'm winning."

──

"Who left all those beer cans on the deck?" Quinn asked as he glared directly at Trevor, annoyance in his expression.

"It was Y/N." Trevor said plainly as Stass rolled her eyes, laying back further on the couch as she watched the TV.

"Fucking liar! Y/N doesn't drink beer and you know it." Quinn crossed his arms, clearly not buying Trevor's attempt to shift the blame.

Trevor chuckled, feigning innocence. "Well, maybe she wanted to try something new today. You know, living on the wild side before college."

Quinn shot a skeptical look at Stass, who raised an eyebrow in response. "Don't look at me, I was just trying to get a tan before I go home. Trevor's just trying to weasel his way out of this one."

"Fine, whatever. I did it."

"We let you borrow our fucking yacht and you trash it, Trevor. Go clean it up." Quinn ordered, his tone firm as he gestured outside.

"Now? It's almost 10, dude, I'll do it in the morning-"

"Trevor, just go do it." Stass rolled her eyes as she kept her attention on the TV, not paying attention to Quinn and Trevor fighting.

Quinn crossed his arms, his patience wearing thin. "Now, Trevor. I don't care if it's dark or if you'd rather be doing something else. You make a mess, you clean it up."

Trevor sighed dramatically, shooting a glare at Stass before heading out to tidy up the deck.

Stass couldn't help but chuckle at the scene unfolding before her. "You know, you really should have thought twice before trashing the yacht, Trevor."

Trevor shot her a mock glare. "Thanks for the sympathy, Stass."

Stass shrugged as she watched Trevor walk out the door and she looked at Quinn with amusement. "What a drama queen."

"Right." Quinn sighed in annoyance and threw himself on the couch next to Stass. "You excited for Michigan? You'll be with Lukey now, like you guys always wanted."

"Yeah but I'm kinda nervous." Stass shrugged as she turned her attention Quinn. "Everyone over there looks intimidating, you know? Like what if my roommate hates me or I can't make any friends or something."

Quinn gave her a reassuring smile. "Stass, you're going to do great. You're smart, funny, and easy to get along with. Not a lot of people can say that and plus, you've got that charm that wins people over. You'll be the life of the party in no time."

Stass chuckled, nudging Quinn playfully. "Flattery will get you everywhere, Hughes."

Quinn rolled his eyes, but his smile remained. "But seriously, don't worry too much. College is just a new chapter, and you'll adapt like you always do. Besides, you'll have Luke there, and I'm sure you'll make friends in no time."

"Yeah, you're right," Stass admitted, feeling a bit more at ease. "I guess I just need to embrace the change, right? No parents or anything telling me what to do."

"Right, but don't do anything stupid." Quinn added with a raised eyebrow, a hint of a protective older brother tone in his voice. Even though you'd known him a short span of time, he's grown up with you and Trevor so he was like family.

Stass laughed, recognizing the concern. "Don't worry, Quinn, I won't go too crazy. I'll save the wild shit for Trevor."

Quinn smirked. "Good call. Trevor's got that covered."

Before Stass could respond, she heard footsteps and talking behind her. Jack and Luke joined them in the living room as they settled onto the couch.

Jack flashed a grin at Stass as he flopped on the other side of Stass. "What's all this talk about going wild, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna get fucked up every single night and it's gonna be so fun." Stass exaggerated as she spoke, earning a scoff from Quinn and a few laughs from Luke and Jack.

Quinn shook his head in mock disapproval. "Oh great, just what I need, another Zegras causing trouble."

Stass grinned mischievously, enjoying the banter with her friends. "Hey, blame Trevor for starting all this craziness. You know me, I have one up Trev."

Luke chuckled, leaning back comfortably. "Take it easy, Stass. College isn't just about partying, you know."

"Oh shut the fuck up, I see your snapchat story. You're always at a part-"

Stass's words were interrupted by a burst of laughter from Luke, who raised his hands in mock surrender. "Okay, okay, guilty as charged. But you know me, I work hard and play hard."

Jack joined in with a chuckle, nodding in agreement as Stass rolled her eyes. "Yeah, let's not pretend like we're all saints here."

Quinn shook his head, a fond exasperation evident in his expression. "Alright, alright, let's not get carried away. We all know Trevor is the most insane one."

They all hummed in agreement. As the laughter subsided, Luke glanced at Stass with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "Hey, speaking of playing hard, how about you and I go get some food? There's a 24-hour diner just a few blocks away."

Stass' eyes lit up with excitement at the prospect. "Oh, hell yeah. I could totally go for some pancakes right now."

Jack and Luke exchanged glances before Luke got up from the couch. "Okay, I'll drive."

"Don't stay out too late, guys." Quinn warned with a playful yet genuine tone, a hint of concern in his voice. The late hour didn't seem to scare Stass and Luke, who were already on their way to the door.

"Don't worry, I know if anything happened to Stass, Trev'll kill me." Luke assured him as they headed towards the door.

Jack leaned back on the couch, watching them go with a conflicted expression. "Bring me back some fries if they have any, okay?"

Stass chuckled over her shoulder. "Of course, Jack."

They walked out of the house and went to Luke's car, getting in quickly. Luke turned on the car and backed out of the garage, soon driving to the diner.

"So, pancakes, huh?" Luke grinned as he drove on the empty road.

Stass laughed, nodding enthusiastically. "Pancakes, waffles, maybe even some milkshakes if they have them, I'm just hungry."

As they cruised down the quiet streets, the neon sign of the 24-hour diner came into view, casting a warm glow against the night. Luke parked the car, and they stepped into the warmth of the diner.

The scent of comfort food filled the air as they settled into a booth, menus in hand. Stass scanned the options, her eyes lighting up at the array of breakfast foods.

"So, you excited for Michigan?" Luke put down the menu to look at Stass, a smile playing on his lips.

"Very. Excited to meet your friends 'cus you can't stop talking about them, they seem fun." Stass replied, returning Luke's smile with enthusiasm. She set her menu aside, her excitement evident in her eyes.

"They're definitely interesting." He laughed as he laid back into the booth. "Hey, I missed you." Luke spoke quietly as Stass stared back, trying to decipher his expression.

"I missed you too, Luke." She smiled back nervously. There was a new type of tension in the air as she gazed back at him. "So..."

Luke's expression softened, his gaze gentle as he reached across the table to touch her hand. "I just wanted to say it, you know? Before everything changes."

"Nothing's gonna change, Luke. We're still gonna be friends and it'll be fun, if anything." Stass returned the smile but she couldn't help but notice Luke's expression change.

"Yeah, friends."

She's been friends with Luke, Jack and Quinn for three years now and they've all grown to have a special place in her heart. But as she glanced at Luke, she couldn't shake the sense of unease that lingered in the air, the unspoken tension between them tugging at her heartstrings. Despite her reassurances, she couldn't shake the feeling that something had shifted.

──

Luke let out a laugh as his head fell back on the lawn chair, a beer bottle in his hand. They were on the lake and they were drinking, all while Trevor, Jack and Quinn were inside making some food. As they relaxed on the lakeshore, the worries of the world faded into the background, replaced by the simple joy of being together.

She could feel the alcohol stir in her stomach as she spoke. "Hey, Luke. Wanna go for a swim?"

"Now?" Luke replied as he stared back, her expression serious. It was late at night but it was still warm. "Fuck it, why not?"

Stass laughed and stood up from the chair, taking off her shirt, leaving her just in her bikini. Luke swallowed as he stood up, watching her. Luke's gaze lingered on Stass, a flicker of something unreadable dancing in his eyes as she stood before him in her bikini. He felt a rush of warmth spread through him, the alcohol adding to the haze of the summer night.

Stass turned around with a smirk, and Luke's heart skipped a beat. "Ready?"

"Born ready," he replied, matching her smirk.

With a shared laugh and a moment of anticipation, they plunged into the lake, the cool water enveloping them in a refreshing embrace. As they swam beneath the starlit sky, the worries of the world melted away, replaced by the exhilaration of the moment. With each stroke, they felt the weight of the world lift from their shoulders, leaving nothing but the freedom of the open water.

"It's nice in the water." Luke spoke as he swam near her, keeping afloat.

Stass nodded in agreement, the water glistening in the moonlight as she swam beside him. "Yeah, it's so peaceful out here." She let out a giggle as her head fell back.

"How many beers have you had?" Luke asked, a laugh escaping his mouth as he watched her.

Stass grinned, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "Hmm, I lost count after the third one. But who's counting anyway?"

Luke chuckled, the sound blending with the gentle lapping of the water against their bodies. "Well, as long as you can still swim straight," he teased, his tone light and teasing.

Stass rolled her eyes in mock exasperation, a grin playing at the corners of her lips. "Please, I'm practically a mermaid at this point," she retorted, her laughter echoing.

They swam lazily, the water embracing them in its cool quiet. The night air carried their laughter as they floated, creating ripples on the lake's surface.

Luke laughed, his gaze lingering on Stass as she floated effortlessly in the water. "A tipsy mermaid, maybe."

Stass splashed water playfully in Luke's direction, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Hey, watch it, or I might just drag you down with me."

"I'd like to see you try-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, Stass jumped on Luke sent them both splashing into the water with a loud splash. Luke sputtered as water engulfed him, his laughter mingling with Stass's drunken giggles.

They resurfaced, shaking the water from their hair and faces, their laughter echoing across the tranquil surface of the lake. They both rose up, laughing loudly. Stass' arms were wrapped around Luke's shoulders as they laughed. As they caught their breaths, silence took over as they stared back at each other. A silence took over within them as they gazed at one another, noticing how close they were with one another.

In that moment, the air crackled with a tension that neither Stass nor Luke could ignore. The laughter faded into the background, replaced by the sound of their breathing and the gentle lapping of the water against their bodies.

Stass felt her heart pound in her chest, the weight of Luke's gaze stirring something deep within her. Luke's expression softened, his gaze tracing the curve of Stass's face with an intensity that sent shivers down her spine. In that suspended moment, time seemed to stand still, leaving only the two of them in a world of their own.

Without a word, Luke reached out, his hand brushing against Stass's cheek with a feather-light touch. His touch sent a jolt of warmth coursing through her, igniting a fire that burned bright within her soul. Stass' breath caught in her throat as she leaned closer, her heart racing with anticipation.

Luke slowly leaned in, Stass' eyes closing as their lips met in a soft kiss. They both stayed like that for a few moments before the kiss slowly became more passionate, Luke's hands gripped her hips as they kissed.

And on the shore, Jack watched, a conflicted expression on his face as he watched his best friend's sister and his brother make out in the lake. He couldn't help but feel jealous as he witnessed the scene unfolding before him. His gaze lingered on Stass and Luke, their silhouettes illuminated by the moonlight as they kissed in the water. Jack couldn't tear his eyes away, his heart heavy with the weight of realization.

A mixture of surprise, confusion, and a twinge of envy danced across Jack's features. He had known Stass for years, and Luke was not only his brother but also one of his best friend. For so long, he had watched Stass and Luke's friendship blossom, their bond growing stronger with each passing day. He had always admired the easy bond between them, the way they laughed and confided in each other without any worry. But as he watched them now, locked in an embrace that spoke of something deeper, Jack couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy gnawing at his heart.

He had never imagined that their relationship would evolve into something more, something that threatened to change the dynamics of their friendship forever. A part of him wanted to look away, to pretend that he hadn't seen what he had seen. But another part of him couldn't tear his eyes away, couldn't ignore the undeniable truth that lay before him. Luke had gotten to Stassie before he could.

"Shit." Jack ripped his eyes away as he mumbled, turning back to the house.

-> make sure to check out my navigation or masterlist if you enjoyed! any interaction is greatly appreciated! <-

thank you for reading all the way through, as always ♡

[pinkthrone445]

hii!! i saw you’re taking requests for smutty stuff.

i was hoping to request a melissa x reader smut. where the reader gets something sexy to surprise mel with

🎄Merry Christmas everyone, smutsanta it's here.🎄

Sorry for not writing so much but the work at the end of the year is crazy. I hope you have beautiful holidays, don't forget to tell those you love how important they are to you. Thank you for the requests your naughty little monsters. Enjoy

-The perfect gift-

Pairing:Melissa Schemmenti x Reader

Gender: smut smut smut

Warnlings : (+18) strong words, use of double ended strap, oral.

Summary: You give Mel something seemingly innocent that led them to the perfect night.

One more year that is about to end, Christmas dinner would be the last time you would be at school before a beautiful and well-deserved holiday.

You and your wife Melissa had agreed to participate on the game 'invisible Santa' exchanging gifts with your coworkers, what your wife didn't know was that even though the gift assignment was random, you were her secret Santa and you had thought of a good gift for her.

All week Melissa tried to guess who you got, but you never let her know, saying that the rules of the game were not to tell anyone to make it more fun. Mel knew you were terrible at keeping secrets from her, so she was surprised by your decisiveness in not telling her anything, but that also made her suspect that you were her secret Santa and that's why you didn't want to tell her anything. Either way, you resisted the urge to tell her what your gift was, even when she was driving and your present was in your hands resting on your legs. Melissa noticed that the bag was quite small and light because of the way you held it when you got out of the car, so she didn't imagine what it could be, she just felt the perfume, your perfume that she loved so much, emanating from the small package so she imagined that maybe it was a blouse for her. Although it didn't make much sense because you weren't one to give simple gifts, but well thought out. You even remembered things that others liked that no one else remembered.

When you entered the teachers' room you left the small package with the other gifts and went to greet your colleagues, now your wife's gaze was no longer on the gifts, but on what the dress you were wearing showed, your beautiful legs that were adorned with high black boots to keep you warm on the cold winter night. It wasn't until Barbara distracted her that the redhead stopped staring at you, but her mind didn't stop for a second. It's not that it was a novelty to see you like this, short dress and high boots, after all you had been married for two years now, but it was strange to see you like that at school. When the kids were there, you always wore long pants or dresses that didn't show much, but seeing yourself dressed like that at school was something new that fed your wife's fantasies, which involved slamming you against her desk and rasing your skirt to touch you until you scream her name.

Ava's voice made everyone take their respective seats to exchange gifts, Mel was next to Barbara and you were across the table from her. You smiled a lot when you saw how Eddie gave you a set of legos, specifically one of the Scarlet Witch, your favorite heroine. This year everyone received gifts because you made sure Ava didn't cheat so that more than one person would give her gifts.

When it was Melissa's turn to receive her gift, you handed it to her smiling from ear to ear. The redhead opened the small package smiling at the smell of it, but her face turned to confusion when she saw that it was a large, green, very soft hand-knitted scarf

-"I made it, you always knit things for me, so I learned and I also made you something that could remind you of me when you wear it"-You commented and the redhead smiled stretching out on the table to give you a small kiss on your lips and a great view of her cleavage

-"Thank you, I loved it, you're so cute"-she answered

-"There's a little note as well"-You whispered blushing a little, trying not to stare at your wife's cleavage in front of your co-workers for too long. When Mel saw the note at the bottom of the bag, her eyes became darker than usual and she looked at you like a hungry wolf looks at its prey, the others didn't notice the way her gaze changed, but for you it didn't go unnoticed. No doubt the note had had its effect and she had liked the gift, she no longer saw it as something cute, but as something tempting, because for the rest of the night, the redhead didn't take her eyes off you, wishing she had x-rays to see under your clothes.

A few moments later, everyone had laid down the meals they had brought on the table, along with a good deal of drinks and eggnog. This time, you took your seat next to your wife, who, as soon as you settled down, put her hand on your thigh, where your high boots did not reach and your short dress did not covered. Her hand felt hot on your skin, like the comfortable warmth radiated from a campfire on a cold night, it was something she normally did, to have her hands on your waist or legs whenever you were close, so you didn't think much of it, you almost forgot that her hand was there if it wasn't for her gentle squeezes every time something made her laugh.

You were happy to see everyone gathered for Christmas dinner, at first it was just Barbara and Mel, but it made you happy that they passed on their tradition to everyone else.

The nice moment shared with your co-workers and your wife, plus a few drinks, made you very relaxed listening to others make jokes and tell anecdotes, you even felt a little sleepy, as Mel was going to drive, you didn't worry much about controlling how much you drank.

Your head rested delicately on your wife's soft shoulder, feeling her perfume made you smile and you closed your eyes as you felt the gentle caresses that Mel gave on your thigh. Taking advantage of the fact that your legs were under the table, the redhead took her caresses a little higher, putting her hand under your dress, which made you quickly open your eyes and sit up straight taking her wrist trying to stop her without attracting attention. Your wife just smiled and kept running her hand up your leg, until she nimbly hooked your underwear with her pinky and quickly removed it from your body without the others noticing what was going on. When you realized what had happened, you blushed a lot and stared at her surprised, Melissa just smiled arrogantly looking at you and with your underwear in her hand, she took a quick look at it underneath the table and then she hide it in her bra between her breasts

-"You were right on the note, your underwear matched my scarf, I can't wait to get home and take the rest off you"-The redhead said in a hoarse voice in your ear making you feel chills, leaving your brain not working enough to respond to her.

Since it was winter, and you didn't have any underwear thanks to your wife, a shiver ran through your whole body even though you felt very hot. While the underwear you had was lace and didn't cover much, not having it made you feel very exposed and a little desperate, especially when Mel kept stroking and scratching your thighs. Every damn second that passed, any breeze you felt, or every time your wife talked or laughed, made you more desperate and more restless. Every minute that ran was eternal.

You needed your wife, you had even thought of telling her to come to your empty classroom to help you with your desperation and need. Without you noticing, a small whimper came from your lips from squeezing your thighs so hard while you thought about all the things your wife could do with you

-"Baby, are you okay, do you want to go outside to get some air?"-Mel smiled at you and spoke loudly so everyone could look at you and your needy state, but you needed her too much to think of anything else or feel embarrassed

-"Yes please"-It was the only thing that came out of your lips before you grab your coat and head outside. On the way out you didn't even have time to check if your wife had followed you, that you were already pressed against the wall with her lips on you kissing every inch they could reach. A happy and relieved moan left your lips as you finally felt her kisses and caresses. Her hands were pressed on your hips, your body was attached to her, and her lips and tongue were dancing with yours.

Your legs lost strength when you felt the redhead's hands go down to your ass and squeeze hard drawing a moan out of you. Mel bit your lip and tried to pull away from you to get a breath, but you, taking advantage of the fact that she had put on the scarf you gave her, took the garment and pulled her to kiss again, which made her laugh on your lips. You firmly grabbed her hand and tried to guide her under your dress, but she shook her head and smiled over your lips

-"Let's get back inside before you catch a cold"-She spoke in her voice hoarser than usual and you pouted looking at her

-"But I'm not cold and I need you so much... Please Mel, touch me a little, get me to climax at least once..."-You begged and she smiled looking at you, it's been a long time since she've seen you this desperate

-"Love, it's starting to snow, we can't do it out here... Let's go back to the others and I promise we'll be home in a few minutes" - she replied and kissed your pout to then guide you inside the school again.

Your wife had noticed all your sighs and how restless you were and even though she was desperate to be with you, she liked to see you despair, to hear you beg. That was the reason why she didn't touch you at that moment and the reason why she started talking to Barbara for a long time while you were trying to play cards without being able to concentrate and losing every time.

An hour later, your wife took pity on you and decided to say goodbye to the others and go home, but not before warning you that you had to behave like a good girl on the car or she will not touch you at home.

When you got home you barely let her open the door before you started kissing her again, the only thing you could do was take off her coat before she stopped you from letting you remove her clothes anymore

-"In the note you said that in addition to the scarf, you had worn green underwear like the scarf to match and that you would also be my gift... I want you to go to bed and get naked, take all off but your bra and wait for me there"-Your wife said in an authoritative tone and you nodded before rushing upstairs to the room while you took off your shoes and dress. After a few moments, while you were sitting on the bed waiting for her, Mel entered the room wearing a black corset that highlighted her beautiful breasts and made your mouth water. Her hair was tied in a ponytail, her leather pants still on her legs, and her tall boots too. What particularly caught your attention, it was that the scarf you gave her was still on her neck. The redhead approached you with desirous steps, her heel echoing on the wooden floor of the room, filling the silence with noise as well as the labored breaths of the two of you that could be clearly heard. She smiled as she stood inches away from you, watching as you looked at her body with desire. Carefully she sat down on your lap and took your face in her hands

-"Do you want to kiss and lick my breasts hon? - she whispered inches from your lips and you nodded eagerly-"go ahead, make mommy happy with your soft mouth... But put your hands behind your back, use your mouth only"-Excited and dumbfounded you did what she told you, with your hands behind your back, you started giving wet kisses on her neck and cleavage, at first you tried to stay calm and go slow, but the more you kissed and bit her breasts, the more desperate you were, especially when you heard her soft moans. With more determination, you began to mark and bite her breasts causing her to growl. Forcefully she grabbed your hair making you lift your head so she could kiss you, her tongue connected with yours starting a slow and wet dance, moans escaped your lips as you felt how the redhead rubbed against your leg. Without much effort and still kissing you, she pushed you back so that you were lying on the bed and she was on top of you. Even though you felt that while she was kissing you she was moving a lot, you didn't think much of it as you were gawking and focused on feeling the way she exploded your mouth with her tongue. It wasn't until you tried to grab her hips so that she rubbed more forcefully against you, that you realized that your hands were tied to the bed with no more or less than the scarf you had given her

-"Mel..."-You barely whimper and her smile grow

-"You're my christmas present and I'm going to make the most of every second" - she replied in a very deep voice. With soft, moist kisses, she began to mark your skin, from your jaw, to your neck, your breasts (In which she took a pause to massage and suck them through the lace bra until they were sensitive and then continue through your body), your abdomen and your legs.

With your hands tied to the head of the bed, you were at the complete mercy of the redhead who had her face between your legs, carefully caressing and kissing your thighs leaving pink marks that would later become deep, dark purple marks, deep memories of the night that was just beginning. Each mark was followed by her tongue, relieving the tingling and pain immediately, only adding to your desperation and desire. Your wife laughed as she saw how your legs trembled with desperation, because of the desire you had, because of her caresses, because of her. She had barely started touching you and you had already lost control of your body. Not to mention, you were already so wet that you were dripping the bed

-"Melissa, please..."-You whispered, you didn't even realize that you were begging her or why you were doing it, maybe you were begging her to be faster, maybe to not torture you, to touch you where you needed her the most, to put you out of your misery, maybe you were begging her to make you come and at the same time to prolong the moment, you were begging her for something, for anything

-"Shhh shh shh, It's my Christmas present, I want to enjoy it as best as possible"-the redhead whispered kissing your hip and marking you, you subconsciously lifted your hips to rub against her to feel something. But with strong hands she glued you to the bed again, following her kisses, almost reaching where you needed her most but stopping to look at your desperate eyes making you whimper under her strong gaze. You tried to put your legs together to feel some relief but she wouldn't let you, with a single stroke of her tongue, she swept from your entrance to your clit, causing a gasp to escape your mouth. You thought she would finally take pity on you, but no, she didn't touch you again, she just looked at you smiling with her face stained with your juices-"You're being such a good girl for me and you are so delicious" - She whispered against your pussy. Your eyes began to water, everything was too much and at the same time it was not enough, if only you could squeeze your thighs and get some relief, you were sure that if you put your thighs together because of how sensitive you were you could climax easily, but no, the redhead was using her strength to stop you. Sobbings escaped your mouth. Your wife was lost looking at your crotch, your body, all your responses to her touch-"you're clenching around nothing my love... I've never seen you so wet, you're soaked, so soaked that maybe I'll take pity on you... Maybe... Maybe if you had behaved well I would have taken pity on you long ago eating you out on the car, maybe if you hadn't decided to tell me the kind of underwear you were wearing in a place where I couldn't touch you... Maybe if you had behaved better I would have pulled you out of your misery a lot sooner... Tell me love, are you enjoying this as much as you enjoy teasing me?"-She asked in a hoarse voice kissing your abdomen but you didn't answer, which caused the redhead to slap your pussy, sending a current of electricity throughout your body

-"Melissa!"-You screamed and she bit your neck

-"I asked you a question... Are you enjoying it? Because if you're not enjoying this, I might stop right now" - she whispered in your ear and bit you there, making you sob

-"I'm enjoying it, don't stop, I'm begging you"-you answered her and a tear dropped from your eyes-"I need you Mel..."-You whispered with not much strength left

-"What do you need me to do?"-She asked innocently

-"Fuck me, please... Eat me, do something please"-You responded pathetically whimpering but she walked away from the bed looking you up and down smiling-"Melissa, please, I can't take it anymore, don't leave me like this"

-"You look so beautiful begging...I also have a gift for you my good girl"-The redhead began to peel off her boots and then her pants as you watched her intensely, unable to move from the bed because you were still tied with the scarf. Your eyes almost went to the back of your head and your mouth started salivating as the redhead took off her pants letting you see the strap she was wearing. This one was different from the one you normally used, this was a double-ended one, which meant that the two of you would enjoy it fully. The toy was as red as your wife's hair and made you wonder how she had bought it without you noticing. You also wondered if she had been wearing it all night and if was as desperate as you were to feel it inside you.

Your wife took off the corset she was wearing dropping your underwear that had been tucked between her breasts to the floor and climbed back into bed while watching you look at her. Carefully she climbed on top of you and sat on your abdomen, you moaned as you saw how her breasts bounced and how the strap came out between her legs standing hard and almost brushing your breasts with the tip; your wife groaned as she felt pressure inside her as the toy rested on your abdomen. Slowly she began to rub herself on your abdomen, riding you as she kissed you slow and deep, wetting your skin with her juices. When you started moaning desperately to have her so close and not being able to do anything or touch her, the redhead got up from your abdomen and lined up with your entrance looking into your eyes and biting her lip, when you nodded, she began to enter you very slowly stretching you like never before, as soon she bottomed out and her hip was connected to yours, you began to desperately move your hips without expecting to get used to the discomfort of being so stretched out. Melissa moaned loudly every time you moved your hips, the other end that was inside her was pressing on the perfect spot inside her when you desperately moved your hips. With her strong hands she grabbed one of your legs and placed it on her shoulder before exiting you and re-entering with force, making you scream when she hit your g-spot. That new position where you were halfway on your side and with your legs wide apart made you feel much more pleasure than any previous time you had been together using a strap.

Even though you wanted to hide your face in the pillows, Mel grabbed your jaw so you could look her in the eye

-"Are you ready?" She asked and you nodded without trusting your words, but it wasn't enough for her-"Speak or I won't move, use your big girl words" - She was making fun of you and you knew it but you were so desperate you didn't care about a thing

-"yes, please Melissa, fuck me, destroy me, I'm begging you"-You spoke on the verge of tears because of the need for her that you had.

The redhead finally took pity on you and began to move her hips in and out of you, first slowly and then harder and harder. The two of you were very close to heaven, the room was full of screams and moans that no doubt that it could be heard from the sidewalk. Every time her hips collided with yours it made a beautiful sound, her breasts bounced with every movement and her hands gripped your hips tightly to fuck you harder. Out of her mouth came many obscenities and words which you did not understand because of how far gone you were. Your body began to spasm and hers began to spasm as well, making more desperate and clumsy movements. Her hand went down to your pussy caressing your clit

-"Cum with me my love"-It was the last thing you heard before you had one of the most intense orgasms of your life. Your wife kissed you hard and kept moving her hips against you to lengthen the blessed feeling. For a few seconds you kissed her sloppy, lost in the aftershock.

When you returned to the present, you felt how your wife untied your hands without leaving from inside you, delicately kissed your wrists relieving the burning of the pressure the scarf had left. When she went to come drag out of inside you, you whimper sadly and she understood that you wanted her to stay inside a little longer, so she settled on the bed and made you snuggle on her chest, which you did smiling a lot when you felt her warmth and how she hugged you. You hid in her chest listening to her fluttering heart and enjoying feeling the caresses she gave on your back and legs whispering sweet words.

The redhead saw the time on the clock on the nightstand and smiled seeing that it was already past 12 o'clock.

-"Merry Christmas my love..."-she whispered and kissed your forehead making you smile

-"Merry Christmas my life"-You answered and kissed her affectionately slowly staring to move your hips again a little sleepy.

[springwitch26]

green like her eyes (part 1) (melissa schemmenti x fem!reader)

part 2

summary: you and melissa enjoy smoking weed together to blow off steam from work. this time, things get really steamy.

warnings: sexual content (18+), recreational marijuana use, some emotional/romantic story elements (fluff? more like intense mutual pining), trippy scenes and a general dark aura at times but it's cute

notes: i'm back! consume drugs responsibly, folks. this story is different from my usual content and loosely based on an ex-situationship lol. part 1 sets up the relationship between mel and reader, and part 2 (hopefully coming in the next few days) will feature some more sexual tension and smut. comments and feedback appreciated as always 💚

melissa never would have guessed that you were as young as you were when she met you. unlike other teachers your age, you had a natural air of maturity about you. you were confident but not cocky, passionate (but not annoyingly so, like janine), and smart but not smug about it. in a word, you were cool. and melissa was hooked. with the natural chemistry between the two of you, you became fast friends.

you never meant for melissa to find out about your extracurricular interest in marijuana, but it just slipped out one day. you were too comfortable around her to hold anything back.

"god, what a week it's been," you mused, sitting on her desk as you watched her pack up for the weekend. "i just need to curl up on my couch, put on some netflix, and maybe smoke..."

"smoke what?" she asked reflexively, and you knew she was a keeper.

in the conversation that followed, you and melissa made plans to smoke together that night. what started as a fun experiment soon became routine stress relief. you'd go over to melissa's house every friday night and make full use of the weed from one of her many 'guys'. because melissa cared about your safety, she never let you drive home. you'd just have to sleep over. and since she wouldn't let you sleep on the couch—'the last thing ya need at your age is back pain!'—you would just have to sleep in her bed. with her.

with the introduction of this shared interest, your relationship with melissa became much more intimate. for starters, melissa's touches were always bolder on friday nights. while she wasn't shy about touching you sober—drifting her hand along your lower back as she brushed past you, rubbing your shoulders when you looked stressed in the breakroom—the touches were different after a joint or two. hungrier.

where you were a giggly and whimsical stoner, melissa was definitely a touchy one. you two would sit on her couch, practically on top of each other while you watched movies or played video games. you'd talk animatedly about whatever was happening on the tv; she'd watch your face and trace featherlight patterns on your thighs. and your belly. and maybe also the swell of your ass, when she thought she could get away with it.

she always could.

...

after the success of ava fest, the two of you were on top of the world. tonight's would be the best sleepover yet.

"we got lots to celebrate, sweet pea," melissa had covertly whispered in your ear as people filed out of the gym. you knew what she meant and your face warmed, causing you to look away bashfully. melissa thought you were the cutest thing.

when you let yourself in the front door that night, you were met with the mesmerizing sight of melissa rolling a joint on her kitchen counter. she smirked as you faltered in the doorway, eyes lingering on her working fingers. she rubbed the flower between her fingertips, and your mind betrayed you with a filthy image.

"y/n? you comin' in?" melissa's amused voice brought you out of your trance and you kicked your boots off, closing the door behind you. melissa didn't miss the way your skirt lifted and swirled with your movements.

"looking good, chef schemmenti," you gestured between melissa and the joint-in-progress. at this she smiled, trying not to stare at your breasts and legs as you moved closer in that damn outfit.

you leaned against the counter across from her, making sure to push your tits forward while doing so. you winked at melissa, whose cheeks had turned a shade pinker, and motioned for her to continue rolling up.

"thanks, hon. this stuff's supposed to be top-shelf. gelato, i think they said," melissa's south philly accent was clear as she spoke.

you smiled in appreciation. melissa knew you liked to research what you smoked before you got high on it. you picked up your phone to look up the strain, but then you saw melissa bring the paper up to her lips.

her tongue darted out and drew a line across the paper, allowing melissa to seal the joint. she held eye contact with you the entire time, and you swore she could read your mind. it was like she knew you were thinking about her tongue sweeping through your folds and circling your bundle.

you knew it was wrong; it had to be. she was your coworker, and so much older with more experience in every aspect of life. but that was exactly what attracted you to her.

"whaddaya say? wanna light this one up?" melissa held the joint up to your line of sight, an amused glint in her eyes.

...

minutes later you were standing on her balcony, huddled together to keep the wind from putting out the flame. melissa took the first hit, blowing an impressive cloud of smoke from her full lips and into the sky. you felt dizzy watching the way her lips curled into an 'o' around the smoke.

when she passed the joint to you, you were determined to prove yourself. you took a long inhale, and in seconds you were coughing furiously. melissa chuckled under her breath, but reached out to rub your back. her touch felt electric.

"you okay, hon? i would call an ambulance, but this community doesn't need to know what ms. schemmenti and ms. y/l/n do behind closed doors," she joked, drawing circles on your back.

"yeah, i'm alright," you rasped out, brushing tears from your eyes. "my lungs just need a break." melissa paused a moment at that, looking deep in thought.

"do you trust me?" she finally asked after a prolonged silence. you nodded firmly, staring deep into her probing eyes. they were as green as the trees in her backyard.

melissa took another hit of the joint and leaned in, and before you knew it her mouth was on yours. her tongue swiped along your bottom lip, and your lips parted to welcome her in. she blew a steady stream of smoke into your mouth, and you accepted it greedily.

"there. feel better?" melissa whispered as she pulled away from you. her pupils were blown, and you felt high on the look she gave you alone. you both grinned.

the rest of the session went that way. melissa would take sizable hits of the joint, then shotgun the smoke into your mouth for you. you didn't touch the joint for the rest of the night; if you wanted a direct hit, melissa would hold it up to your lips while her other arm rested on your waist.

melissa was right about the weed being high-quality. you felt like you were floating in her arms as she held you by the waist—keeping you upright in your disoriented state. as she finished off the last of the joint, you looked out at the woods behind melissa's house. the trees seemed closer to you now, and you felt like reaching out and touching the branches as they danced in the wind.

"honey?" melissa's soft voice echoed in your head and you turned to face her. her eyes seemed to swirl and sparkle like emerald pools. but there was also a dark edge to them, reminding you of the beckoning woods.

"let's go for a walk."

...

though it wasn't your typical pastime, you quite liked walking while high. your legs moved on autopilot, and you could hardly feel them carrying you across the dark earth. there was a walking path through the woods behind melissa's house. you strolled side-by-side with the older woman, leaning on her for support when your balance failed you.

"mel, look!" you grabbed her hand and stopped on the path, your other hand pointing up to the sky. "it's a full moon! pretty, right?"

"beautiful..." melissa responded, not at all looking at the moon. her gaze was fixed on your face, which seemed to glow under the moonlight. when her finger stroked the back of your hand absently, you shivered and looked back at her. the expression on her face was soft, even peaceful. with her mouth forming a half-smile and her eyes slightly unfocused, it seemed like she had finally dropped her guard. realizing she had been caught staring, melissa quickly pivoted.

"i always liked the sun better, though," she said as you both resumed walking. the moon's shine weakened then, as if obscured by a cloud. melissa stole a glance at you, noticing how your hair looked a shade darker in the dimmer light. she wanted to stroke it, hold it up to all different colors of light and watch its hues and highlights change.

"huh. why?" you wondered aloud. melissa considered your question a while before answering.

"because you can't run from it," melissa said plainly. "i never liked hidin' in the shadows. you can do that at night. but then the sun comes up, and it's bright and warm, and you can't stay down. you gotta wake up and be somebody."

you heard her words in every corner of your head, her deep voice flowing through you. maybe you were high, but there seemed to be a strong force—almost like gravity—pulling you towards melissa. not just physically, but mentally. you wanted to tell her how smart she was, how charming and powerful and fucking sexy. you wanted to tell her that she was the sun burning brightly at the center of your world.

unfortunately, in your hazy headspace, you couldn't find the words to express all this to her. but you sure tried.

"and the sun is hot and fiery, like you," you almost whispered the last two words, but melissa caught them. she brushed off the compliment with a low laugh and a squeeze of your hand, still clasped in hers.

"sure, hon," she murmured. then you started to feel the stirrings of a rainstorm. cold droplets of water kissed your head and ran down your torso, and you looked to melissa for guidance. by now, you two were pretty far from melissa's house; you'd need to head back soon to avoid getting soaked.

melissa gave you a nod and you both began to run back towards the house, the wind howling in your ears and water beating steadily on your joined hands.

to be continued...

[latin5mamii]

stay ready (what a life) -CA ,JS

|Warnings: suspense

|Summary:Be strong and forget about him!Is this so hard for you?

Maybe it's impossible to get over your past relationship, or maybe you just need to find someone that'll make you fall in love again.This should work, right?

The next morning, you wake up with a renewed sense of determination. Today is about preparing for the party tonight, and that means finding the perfect dress. Mia, Ava, and Evelyn have already planned a shopping spree, and you can’t help but feel excited. There’s something invigorating about the idea of exploring Parisian boutiques with your best friends.

The anticipation for tonight’s party is building. Mia's plan for you to wear the sexiest, tightest dress you’ve ever owned is more than just a ploy to distract you from your ex; it’s a way for you to reclaim your confidence. As you step into the sleek black dress, you can’t help but feel a spark of excitement. Maybe tonight is about more than just avoidance, perhaps it’s about rediscovery.

Ava, Mia, and Evelyn are there for moral support, doling out compliments and helping you with the final touches. You arrive at the party venue, a chic rooftop bar with panoramic views of Paris, and your nerves start to ease. The city's twinkling lights and the hum of lively conversation serve as a welcome distraction.

As you mingle, you start to relax and even enjoy yourself. You notice several tennis players in the crowd, but you focus on your friends and the fun you’re having. A waiter passes by with a tray of champagne flutes, and you grab one, taking a sip to steady your nerves.

Suddenly, you hear a familiar voice. You turn and see Carlos Alcaraz, one of the rising stars of tennis, talking to a group of people near the bar.

 He’s laughing, exuding a magnetic energy that draws people in. You remember your brief encounters with him at various tennis events—always friendly, always respectful.

Evelyn notices your gaze. “Why don’t you go say hi? He’s always been nice to you.”

You hesitate, but Mia gives you a gentle push. “Go on. It’ll be good for you.”

It feels a little wrong, he's probably the toughest player your ex ever encountered in his matches, and now you’re about to talk with him. Taking a deep breath, you walk over to Carlos. As you approach, he looks up and smiles warmly.

“Hey! Long time no see,” he says, genuinely pleased to see you.

“Hey, Carlos. How have you been?” you reply, grateful for his friendly demeanor.

You fall into easy conversation, catching up on his recent matches and the latest tennis gossip. He doesn’t bring up your ex, for which you’re thankful. Instead, he focuses on making you laugh and feel comfortable.

As the night progresses, you find yourself enjoying Carlos’s company more and more. He’s attentive and charming, a perfect distraction from the anxiety you’ve been feeling.   

“Wanna dance?” he asks amused.

“I’ve never been so good at dancing, to be honest”

“Neither me, but who cares?”

On the dance floor, you feel a sense of liberation. The music pulses through you, and for the first time in weeks, you feel lighthearted and carefree. Carlos spins you around, and you can’t help but laugh. It feels good to have fun again, to feel alive.

Just as you’re starting to think the night couldn’t get any better, you catch sight of your ex across the room. He’s standing with Anna, talking and laughing, but he definitely notices you having fun. For a moment, your heart sinks, but then Carlos pulls you back into the dance, and you remind yourself of your resolve to move on.

Carlos must sense your momentary distraction because he leans in and whispers, “Don’t let him ruin your night. You deserve to have fun.”

You nod, grateful for his support. As the song ends, Carlos keeps you close, and you realize he’s been a wonderful friend tonight. Maybe there’s more to explore here, but for now, you’re just happy to have someone who cares.

The party continues, and you find yourself surrounded by laughter and good company. You might not be completely over your ex, but tonight you’ve taken a significant step forward. With friends like Mia, Ava, Evelyn, and now Carlos, you know you’re not alone in this journey.

As the night winds down, Carlos walks you back to your friends. “Thanks for tonight,” you say, genuinely appreciative.

“Anytime,” he replies with a wink. “See you around?”

“Definitely,” you respond, feeling a newfound sense of hope.

With that, you head back to your hotel room, a smile playing on your lips. Is Carlos maybe the one that can save you? 

Tomorrow may bring new challenges, but tonight, you’ve proven to yourself that you can move forward. And that’s what matters most. But then you hear knocking at your door…

[call-me-maggie13]

It’s a Tuesday when Lucia calls the first time. Beatrice is leaving her apartment for a run when her phone rings, interrupting her favorite part of the song she’s listening to on her headphones. There’s no caller ID, but Beatrice recognizes the number, so she answers.

"Hello, this is Beatrice." She’s formal. Lucia likes to try to blur the line between a professional relationship and a friendly one.

"Hey, Bea - "

"Beatrice." She corrects, dropping to her knee to retie her laces.

"Yeah, Beatrice." Lucia’s mocking her, Beatrice isn’t stupid, but she lets it go.

"Is there a reason you’re calling?" Beatrice asks after Lucia goes silent.

"Right! Yes! Carlos misses you, I was wondering if we could do lunch sometime this week so he could see you?" Carlos. Beatrice loves Carlos. He’s fun, witty and charismatic and kind. He’s always been one of her favorite kids she’s worked with. Lucia, however, is one of Beatrice’s least preferred parents.

"I don’t know if you remember, but I’m in - "

"In the city. Yes, I remember. Carlos and I just moved here too! Isn’t that exciting?" No. Beatrice thinks. Exciting is not a word I would use. Lucia drops her voice, nearly to a whisper. "He’s having a hard time making friends at his new school, I think seeing a friendly face would make him feel better about the move."

Beatrice sighs, checks the time on her watch and realizes she’s spent half of her allotted running time on the phone with Lucia.

"I can’t do lunch, but I can do an early dinner. Maybe Thursday? I’ll have to - "

"Yes, perfect! That works!" She hangs up before Beatrice can tell her she will be bringing Diana. She could send her a message, but that would mean Lucia would message her back and Beatrice doesn’t want to speak to her anymore than necessary.

Beatrice tells Ava about it that evening, between Diana’s snack and her bath while Ava’s scrambling about looking for the keys Diana hid.

"Who is this again?" Ava looks up from digging through the couch cushions, cheeks flushed and hair tousled.

"It’s a kid I used to work with before I started uni. Him and his mum." Diana giggles around her fingers when Ava looks under the couch, Beatrice bouncing her and asking where the keys are quietly. Ava’s asked her three times, Diana isn’t answering either of them. "It’s okay if you don’t want - "

"No, it’s fine! It sounds fun, just - make her eat something other than chicken strips, please? You always say you will then you cave when she pouts. She needs to try new foods." Ava looks under the coffee table and through Diana’s toy bin. She’s going to be late if she doesn’t find the keys soon.

"Okay. I won’t have her out late, we’ll be back before the sun goes down. Won’t we?" Beatrice tickles Diana who squeals and pushes away, nearly toppling out of her arms. Beatrice grabs her leg to keep from falling and her shoe falls off, jingling when it hits the ground. Diana glances between the fallen shoe and Ava for a moment before she starts giggling maniacally.

"They were in your shoes? Are you serious? Diana, you little…" Ava picks the keys out of the baby shoe, holds Diana’s face between her hands and sighs fondly, shaking her head. "You little punk." Ava laughs and kisses both of her cheeks. "I love you. Be good, yeah?"

Diana smiles and wipes her wet hand down Ava’s cheek. Ava grimaces and rubs her cheek against Diana’s sleeve, earning a full body laugh and a gleeful wiggle. Ava presses a soft kiss against Beatrice’s cheek before she’s gone. 

Beatrice almost considers going after her, almost considers asking her to say no, almost considers telling her she doesn’t want to go. But she doesn’t. 

She doesn’t.

 Read more below the break or here!

Beatrice stops for the third time. Considers turning back. It’s not too late, she can still say she can’t make it. Diana bounces beside her, swings their intwined hands back and forth. She spins, twists Beatrice’s fingers over her head before dropping it and racing around her.

"Let’s go! Let’s goooooo!" Diana whines, taking her hands and tugging her forward. "I wan’ nuggies!"

"It’s want, baby. Try again." Diana pauses to pout, tucks her hands under her elbows and sticks her bottom lip out. Beatrice quirks her eyebrow and fights back a smile. "Try again."

"I. Want. Nuggies." She pauses between each word to huff, spins on her heel to take two steps forward then turn back to Beatrice with her head cocked.

"Okay. But I will have you know, your mama wants you to try something else." They resume towards the restaurant hand in hand, Beatrice’s blunder already forgiven and forgotten. "Like maybe something not chicken?"

"No. I like nuggies." Diana pouts again, gives her tiny chin a tremble to prove her point.

"If you try something else, we can get ice cream on the way home?" Ava would never barter with Diana like this and she would be upset if she knew Beatrice was doing it.

"Sprinkles?" She comes to a complete stop, nearly causing the people behind them to crash into her. Beatrice nods and scoops her up, apologizes quickly to the strangers and hurries down the sidewalk.

It really is unfair, how late they are because she couldn’t decide if she actually wanted to come. Carlos probably thinks they’re not going to show up, the thought stabs her in the chest and speeds her steps. 

"Beatrice!" The boy bolts down the sidewalk and crashes into her legs, nearly tackling her to the ground. Beatrice chuckles and ruffles the boy’s unruly curls.

"Hi, Carlos! How have you been?" The boy steps back and flips her hair out of his face, grinning at her with a gap in his teeth. "Oh! When did you lose that tooth?"

"Last night! The tooth fairy gave me fifteen bucks! Look!" He presses up onto his toes and pokes the empty space with his tongue. Beatrice peers into his mouth intently, inspecting it with the same fervency with which he presents it. "Who’s this?"

"This is Diana! Diana, can I introduce you to my friend Carlos?" Diana shakes her head and buries her face in Beatrice’s shoulder. "That’s okay, you don’t have to talk to him until you’re ready."

"Beatrice, hello!" Lucia steps up behind Carlos, strokes Beatrice’s shoulder, her hand lingers. Beatrice shrugs it off awkwardly.

"Hello, Lucia." Beatrice takes a half step back and a deep breath, forcing a smile and turning back to Carlos. "So, I’m hungry, are you?"

"Yeah, we already have a table, right, mom?" Lucia confirms and leads them to the booth while Carlos launches into a story about his friend’s birthday party. "So then, I told Marley, dude, you can’t just say stuff like that. People are going to think you’re weird. But like. People already think Marley’s weird because she tells everyone she was named after a dog. But it’s okay that she’s weird because it like. It’s not weird when she does it. You know?"

"I do! I know someone like that." Beatrice smiles fondly as she thinks of the last time she’d been to the farmers market and Ava spent twenty minutes deciding which lemon looked the sourest. "Have you ever read Stargirl?"

"Yeah! Marley is just like Stargirl! It’s her favorite book!" Carlos bounces in his seat. Lucia places a hand on his knee to still him.

"Sorry, he’s got a little crush." Lucia winks and Beatrice has to bite her lip not to snap at her. He’s eight. He’s allowed to have friends of the opposite gender. Carlos deflates at her words, sinks into his seat and drops his hands into his lap.

"It sounds like you found a really cool friend. Is Marley a friend from school?" Carlos nods weakly but doesn’t look up from his hands, Beatrice frowns. Diana stops scribbling on her menu to look at him quizzically, dropping her crayon to turn to Beatrice with her head tilted. "Have you decided what you want?"

"Nuggies," Diana whispers and Beatrice grins bemused, Diana rolls her eyes and sighs, pushes the menu to Beatrice and climbs into her lap. "Read, please?"

Beatrice reads the children’s menu to her quietly, answers her questions when asked and offers suggestions when Diana struggles to decide. She settles on macaroni and cheese, with much exasperation and disgust. Beatrice gives their orders to the waiter when he checks on them.

Lucia keeps rubbing her foot up the inside of Beatrice’s leg, somehow finding it even when she moves. Beatrice scoots to the far edge of the booth and silently begs her to stop. Diana seems unamused at every attempt Lucia makes to initiate a conversation and Carlos doesn’t recover from his mother’s comment, it’s truly awkward and uncomfortable and Beatrice can barely contain herself when they get their checks.

"Why don’t we go to the park?" Lucia suggests as they step out of the restaurant, Carlos’s face lights up as he waits excitedly for Beatrice’s reaction. 

"Umm�� I don’t know, Diana seems pretty tired, maybe some other time?" Beatrice bounces Diana in her arms, presses a soft kiss against her temple.

"Dada?" Diana whispers and curls into her neck. Beatrice hums and presses their foreheads together. "He sad?" Beatrice nods softly and Diana turns back to him. "We play a little. Okay?"

Carlos bounces and nods, taking the hand Diana offers him.

"Dada?" Lucia asks, bumping their shoulders together. Beatrice takes a step to the side.

"Uh, yeah. I actually don’t like when people touch me, Lucia. So, could you stop, please?" Beatrice’s cheeks burn as she says it and Diana presses a cold hand over the heat.

"Ah, but I’m not just people, yeah?" Beatrice barely dodges the arm Lucia tries to swing over her shoulder by leaning to set Diana on the ground. Diana takes her hand and tugs her forward, Beatrice welcomes the distraction and follows her happily to the swing set, offering to push her when she climbs into the seat.

"I can do it!" Carlos volunteers and Diana beams at him, squeezing her fists around the chain and laughing when he pushes her forward. He bounces in place at the response, and Beatrice has to bite her tongue every time he asks Diana. "Higher? Higher?"

She knows her limits. Beatrice tells herself. She knows when she wants to stop.

She stays nearby, just in case. Ready to pounce in and save her if she asks to stop and Carlos doesn’t. She’s chewing on her nail when Lucia sidles up beside her, expensive perfume making the inside of Beatrice’s nose itch. Lucia tries to pull her hand out of her mouth but Beatrice steps away, curls her hands under her elbows and tucks them into her side.

"So how long have you been working with her?" There’s a hint of something else just beneath her words, something burbling and churning and dark.

"Oh, I don’t." It’s true, in a sense. Beatrice has stopped accepting Ava’s money in exchange for her babysitting services. So Beatrice isn’t quite lying when she says it. It’s not the entire truth but she hopes it’s vague enough that Lucia doesn’t press.

Of course, she could be granted no respite because Lucia charges ahead full-steam.

"Oh, so is she like your niece? Friend’s kid? Who is she?" She’s fishing, trying to find the answer to a question Beatrice isn’t ready to face on her own, certainly not with someone the likes of Lucia.

"Mine. Yeah, she’s mine." Diana tumbles out of the swing and Beatrice’s heart stops in her chest. She waits two heartbeats before moving, slowly helping Diana brush he wood chips from her face. She forces her voice to remain calm and level so Diana doesn’t hear how much it scared her as well. "Are you okay?"

Diana bursts into tears, throws herself face first into Beatrice’s chest and squeezes her arms around her neck as her body is wracked with sobs.

"Oh, baby! I know." Beatrice rubs her back and picks her up, smiling sadly at Carlos when he tries to apologize. "It’s alright, buddy, she’s just scared. I’ll see you again soon, yeah?"

The boy nods enthusiastically and Beatrice feels Diana lift her head to wave goodbye to him sadly before she returns to her hiding spot in Beatrice’s neck. Beatrice squeezes her tightly, rubbing her back as they depart, stepping quickly across the street and pausing outside the nearest ice cream shop.

"Do you still want ice cream, my love?" Beatrice’s hand pauses on the door, waiting until Diana shakes her head and burrows herself deeper into Beatrice’s embrace. "Can I check to make sure you’re not hurt?"

Diana sniffles as she pulls away, allows Beatrice to seat them on a nearby bench and check her face and hands for injury. She finds none, despite the overall redness from her fall.

"Does anywhere hurt, baby?" Diana shakes her head and blinks tears out of her eyes. "Hey, it’s okay. You’re allowed to be scared. What happened was scary, it’s okay if you feel like you need to cry. Would it make you feel better if I told you it scared me too?"

"You scared?" Diana’s voice is painfully infantile, reverting to a similar pattern of speech from when she first started speaking. Beatrice kisses her forehead and nods.

"Yeah, kiddo. I thought you were really hurt and that really scared me." Diana tucks her thumb into her mouth and blinks at her slowly. "I get scared a lot, you know?"

"Whens?" Diana curls back into her chest and Beatrice hums in thought for a moment.

"Like when your mama got sick. When you run off and I can’t see you. When I have exams at school. Sometimes I get scared when it storms and the thunder makes the windows rattle. I get scared all the time, my darling." Beatrice hates being scared, she feels like it makes her stupid and irrational. She knows that fear is a valid emotion and it exists for a reason, but she has never quite managed to shake her parents’ voices from her head when she’s scared.

She hopes Diana never has to experience that.

She’ll do her best to ensure Diana never has to experience it. 

"Do you know what helps me when I get scared?" Diana nods against her chest, curling her fingers around the neck of Beatrice’s shirt. "Sometimes I count all the pretty things I can see. Sometimes I sing a song until I feel better. Or sometimes I take some deep breaths. Do you want to try one of those?"

"Count?" Beatrice hums, squints and looks around.

"The sky is very blue today. What about you?"

"Flowers." Diana points to the wildflowers clawing out of the cracks in the sidewalk, then to a pair of birds chasing each other through the air. "Birb."

"You," Beatrice nudges her softly, smiles gently when she lifts her head tearily, "You’re the best thing I’ve ever seen."

"I love you." She stumbles over the v sound, pronounces the word like lub with a tender smile

"I love you too, meu patinho." Beatrice kisses the top of her head. "Did you at least have fun today?"

"Carlos is funny."

"He is. Would you like to see him again?" Diana hums and mumbles into Beatrice’s neck. "I didn’t understand that, darling, could you say it again?"

"Yeah. We go home now?"

"Alright, we can go home now. Are we going to tell your mama about how much fun you had with your new friend?" Diana yawns and shakes her head, Beatrice watches the sun dye the clouds pink and purple. It’s still early for Diana to go to bed, but she’s had an eventful evening so Beatrice could make an exception to their schedule. "Can we at least tell her about your not chicken nugget dinner?"

Diana giggles but nods regardless, twists a lock of Beatrice’s hair through her fingers. Beatrice’s heart swells and her skin warms and she feels like her heart might explode when she looks at the little girl in her arms. Something inside her twinkles. She never expected a love like this. Something that plays her heartstrings like a symphony in her chest, fills her chest with a light no star could ever compete with. It’s endless, she realizes.

It makes her wonder if her parents ever looked at her the same way she looks at Diana.

~*~

Ava does not like Lucia.

She’s not jealous. That would be absurd.

But she can’t deny that her chest burns when she comes home and Diana regales her in their latest adventure with Carlos and Luisa — it doesn’t matter how many times Beatrice corrects Diana, she only refers to Lucia by the wrong name.

Today, they played tag with a group of kids at the park. Two days ago, they saw a movie. Last week, they went to an art class at the library.

Ava doesn’t have a reason not to like Lucia.

Except for every reason Beatrice gives her after every play date.

"So then she kept trying to take my hand, like we’re a couple or something and every time I would pull my hand away and tell her I wasn’t interested but she doesn’t care." Beatrice sighs and kicks her feet over the arm of the couch, stares up at Ava from her lap. "I don’t understand why she keeps trying to touch me. I don’t like when people touch me. I’ve told her I don’t like being touched at least two million times. It’s annoying."

The hand scraping through Beatrice’s hair pauses at her words, Ava barely pulling away before Beatrice whines and drags her hand back to her scalp.

"Why’d you stop?" She doesn’t give Ava a chance to answer, instead continuing her rant. "Regardless, she made a joke about me confusing Diana by allowing her to call me dad. Which is hilarious because last week, she tried to get Carlos to call me dad and I had to respond with my name’s Beatrice, pal, I’m not your dad. Then Lucia was all well, you’re not Diana’s dad either. And I swear, Ava. I swear I almost hit her. Who does she think she is? I mean, seriously."

Ava is certainly not going to ask the difference between her and Lucia, doesn’t ask why she’s allowed to play with her hair nor why Diana is allowed to call Beatrice dad while Carlos is not. She knows, on some level. Ava’s not stupid, she knows she gets a version of Beatrice Lucia will never see. She knows there’s a piece of Beatrice that is reserved exclusively for her. She knows Beatrice would choose her, if she forced an ultimatum between her and Lucia.

Ava knows.

She knows how she feels about Lucia is irrational and unfair.

She also knows Beatrice would never see Lucia again if she asked.

She knows. Right?

"Bea?" Beatrice stops her rant and tilts her head up. "Does it bother you when I do those things?"

"No. Of course not. Why would it?" Beatrice pushes herself upright, shifts until she’s practically sitting in Ava’s lap.

"Because it bothers you when Lucia does it." Ava looks away,

"You’re not Lucia."

Ava doesn’t know how to explain herself. She doesn’t have the words to express why that doesn’t make sense. Beatrice babysat both their children, has spent extensive time with both of them, read both their children to sleep, eaten at both of their tables. Why is she different? Why is she the exception?

Or is Lucia the exception? Is Beatrice like this with all parents except for Lucia?

"Ava." She quirks her head, furrows her eyebrows, ducks to meet Ava’s averted gaze. "I trust you."

It’s not enough. The words make Ava’s heart skip a beat, but it doesn’t smother the smoke in her lungs.

"I like spending time with you. I like when you hold my hand and kiss my cheek and make me laugh. I like when Diana calls me dad. You’re not just the mother of the child I babysit, you’re my friend too. My best friend. I would tell you if you did something that bothers me and I know you wouldn’t do it again.

"I like you." She grins before scrunching her face up in mock disgust and continuing. "I don’t like Lucia."

It makes Ava laugh, Beatrice's pout miserable and nose crinkled. In response to the sound, Beatrice smiles widely, leans back into Ava's chest, and tucks her nose into the crook of her neck.

~*~

She’s doing it on purpose. Beatrice might not be great at reading people but she is certain that Lucia only wants one thing from her. One thing that Beatrice has absolutely no interest in ever giving her.

Diana crawls inside the enclosed slide, tucks her knees to her chest and closes her eyes when Carlos finishes counting. He grins from the top of the playground, peering over the sides and searching for Diana.

"God, they’re so cute. We would be amazing parents." The comment is accompanied with an arm around her shoulders and a soft sigh. Beatrice ducks out from underneath Lucia’s touch and frowns at her, eyebrows sewn together with utter confusion.

"Would be?" Beatrice might not be Diana’s actual parent, but she sure as shit isn’t a bad understudy. 

"I meant like… like together. Both of us."

"I’m doing pretty great with her mother, actually. I don’t think Diana needs anyone else telling her what to do." It makes her stomach twist, the thought of Lucia and her, together.

Lucia laughs at her words, loud and jarring and it makes Diana lift her head from her hiding place on the slide. Carlos sees her move and races to tag her without even acknowledging his mother. Lucia tries to touch her again and Beatrice’s fingers burn when she clenches them into fists at her sides.

"Stop. Touching. Me." She clenches her jaw and takes another step back.

Beatrice doesn’t do anger. She doesn’t do rage. She doesn’t do losing her temper. Beatrice is patient and and forgiving.

Or, as Shannon would say, she’s a pushover.

Either way, Beatrice doesn’t get upset easily. It’s not in her nature.

Lucia seems to take it as a challenge. Like Beatrice’s burning ire is a taunt, like it’s all for show and they’re playing a game.

"Oh, relax, Bea."

"My name is Beatrice."

"Plenty of people call you Bea."

"Only the ones I like." She takes another step back when Lucia reaches for her hand before turning on her heel and storming away. She smiles warmly at Diana when she approaches her, strokes her hair when she tumbles into Beatrice’s legs. "We gotta go, patinho. Your mama’s gunna be home soon."

Diana frowns but wishes Carlos and Luisa farewell, taking Beatrice’s hand and tugging her out of the park.

Beatrice decides not to tell Ava about Lucia anymore. Every time she complains, Ava gets quiet and distant and Beatrice doesn’t like how upset it makes her sometimes. So she decides she will suffer in silence.

~*~

Shannon is easy. She’s easy and relaxed and she goes with the flow. She doesn’t pick fights or start problems.

Except when it comes to Beatrice. Shannon would commit eleven different forms of high treason and treat the Geneva Conventions like a checklist for Beatrice.

"Where are you going?" Beatrice freezes with her hand on the doorknob.

"I’m going with you. You better hurry or we’re gunna be late." Shannon bumps Beatrice carefully out of the way and steps through the door, starting toward Beatrice’s car.

Beatrice doesn’t say anything the entire ride. Diana sings and dances and talks to herself in the backseat while Beatrice grips the steering wheel with all her strength to try to hide the way her hands are shaking.

The house is larger than Shannon had been expecting. An ugly modern, blockish thing with funky shaped windows and uneven roofing. It doesn’t look good or fancy or pretty. It looks like a stain on the skyline.

Like it brings her neighborhood property value down.

There’s a bounce house set up in the front yard, though it’s empty. There are children’s shrieks coming from the backyard, a cacophony of voices and laughter leading Beatrice around the side of the house to the garden gate.

"Hey! Bea! You made it!" Lucia tries to dive into a hug after letting them through the gate, but Shannon intercepts by throwing herself between them and offering her hand to shake.

"I’m Shannon, Beatrice is my sister." She’s silently begging Lucia to say something, to give her an excuse to punch her.

Other than all the reasons Beatrice has given for her.

"Oh. Do you not remember me? We’ve met, years ago." Shannon remembers, it was a scene much alike the one they’re in right now for Carlos’s third birthday. Lucia had annoyed her even then, but she hadn’t made any advances on her baby sister, so Shannon hadn’t really a reason to hate her.

"Sorry, I meet a lot of people in my job, only have the mental capacity to remember a few of the important ones and my personal favorites." If there’s one thing Shannon has learned from her mother, it’s how to make an off-handed comment that slices through someone’s soul. Lucia’s face falls but she doesn’t respond.

"Beatrice! Diana!" A minuscule little girl breaks free of the crowd waving, followed closely by Carlos. He’s older and much taller than the last time Shannon had seen him, and he’s wearing more than a diaper, but it’s certainly him.

Immediately, he’s offering his name and his hand for her to shake, introducing her to his mother and his best friend Marley.

He’s taken Diana to an inflatable slide before Shannon has a chance to ask where to put his present.

"Why don’t you put the gift with the rest and Bea and I can - "

"I’m good. Beatrice can put it with the rest. You and I can do whatever you need her help with, though." Beatrice squeezes Shannon’s fingers when they exchange the gift, a meek nod and tight smile before she’s disappearing into the crowd.

"Oh, I need Bea’s help."

"I taught Beatrice how to do everything she knows. If she can do it, I’ve probably been doing it better for longer." Lucia sighs and shakes her head, rolls her eyes when she turns away and enters the house.

"Hey." Beatrice ducks out from behind a group of young parents chattering loudly over their drinks.

"I don’t like her."

"You don’t have to treat her like that." Shannon laughs and slings her arm over Beatrice’s shoulders.

"When she calls you the right name, I’ll consider being nicer."

"No you won’t." Beatrice smiles and rolls her eyes, presses heavily into Shannon’s side.

"I said consider. I never said I had any actual intention of doing it." Beatrice laughs and searches for Diana in the line for the slide. She can’t deny that her heart stutters when she can’t immediately find her.

"Da!" Diana waves from atop the slide, smiling until she looks down. Beatrice extricates herself from Shannon and moves to the bottom to wait for Diana, who appears to have no intention of moving.

"Are you scared?" Diana nods softly, eyes wide and wet. Carlos crawls beside her and offers his hand, whispering quietly. Diana shakes her head and pushes away from the slope, dropping his hand. "I’m coming up, okay?"

Diana meets her at the top of the ladder, arms raised for Beatrice to pick her up.

"It’s okay. Do you want to go down together?" Diana shakes her head again and balls Beatrice’s shirt in her fists. "Alright, we will have to climb down though. We can’t live up here, can we?"

Diana shakes her head, lifts her head warily and glances to the ladder. "Carlos has cake."

"I can ask mom if we can cut it now." Carlos waves at someone near the base of the slide. "Do you want me to ask? I’m gunna go ask."

And with that, he’s gone.

Beatrice pushes as far away from the slope as possible so other children can go, holds Diana and pats her back until she lifts her head and turns to watch some of the kids jumping and falling down the slide. She blinks slowly, thumb tucked carefully between her teeth.

"Do you want to try again?" Marley bounces and waves while she waits her turn in line. Diana lifts her head slowly and waves back but doesn’t respond to Beatrice’s question. "You don’t have to but if you would like, you can sit on my lap and we can go down together."

Beatrice motions for the girl at the top of the stairs to go, squeezes Diana tighter when she flinches at the girl throwing herself haphazardly down the slide. She watches quietly as more and more kids go and Beatrice is beginning to think she’s going to change her mind when Marley finally emerges from the line. 

"Carlos said they’re gunna do the cake soon, do you wanna climb down with me?" Marley offers her hand but doesn’t try to push Diana, she waits. Diana glances between her and Beatrice warily, fist squeezing tightly around the neck of Beatrice’s sweater.

"We can all go together, but it’s up to you, patinho." Diana nods and makes no move to follow Marley down the steps.

Carlos calls for them from below but neither of them move, Marley offers a cursory glance but doesn’t respond when he calls her name.

"Dada?" Diana buries her head in the crook of Beatrice’s neck, Beatrice hums and squeezes her tighter. "Scared."

"I know. It’s okay to be scared, Diana. Everyone gets scared."

"I’m scared of the dark and vampires and multiplication," Marley chimes, crawling to them. "But the sun still goes down and vampires aren’t real and my mom makes me do my math homework. You can do things that scare you."

"Okay," Diana nods and takes Marley’s hand.

"You wanna go down?" Diana nods and tugs Beatrice’s hand.

"Do you want me to hold you?" Diana nods again and Beatrice agrees, moving to the edge of the slide and letting Diana settle in her lap. "Are you ready?"

"No." Beatrice squeezes her closer and Diana takes a deep breath. "We go now."

For the first time, Beatrice looks down the slide and her stomach drops. Why is a kid’s slide so tall?

"Dada. Now." Beatrice nods and pushes off, squeezing her eyes closed and trying not to scream at the plummet. When they hit the bottom, Diana squirms out of Beatrice’s arms and bounces to the exit when Shannon is standing bemused.

"Was it fun, kiddo?"

"No. Cake?" Shannon laughs and watches her race off to Carlos.

"You alright?" Shannon pulls Beatrice up, helps her out of the slide. "I thought you were going to wet yourself."

"I’m fine. It was great. Ava’s supposed to do the high stuff," Beatrice jokes.

"The high stuff? It was a kid’s slide, bumble Bea."

"I hate you, you can leave." Lucia looks up at her jeer, eyes l alight with something that drains the warmth from the moment. Shannon glances between them and steps in front of her to block Beatrice from Lucia’s view.

"I’m not leaving until I get cake." She says it loud enough for Lucia to hear before turning to Beatrice and dropping her voice. "Let me say something, Bea."

"No. Shannon, it’s his birthday."

"So? You know I wouldn’t say anything to him."

"Shannon." Shannon rolls her eyes and turns back around just in time for Carlos to blow out his candles.

"Why won’t you let me do this for you?"

"Because I remember the last time you did this for me. And we both know you don’t look good in stripes or in orange. If you think about it, I’m actually protecting you." Beatrice watches Diana waiting to get her piece of cake and glances at the back door to the house. "I’ll be back, can you - "

"Is she gunna do a flip?" It’s Beatrice’s turn to roll her eyes, sighing fondly before slipping through the door in search of a bathroom. Luckily, Lucia had the foresight to plaster directional signs on the walls so Beatrice doesn’t have to search hard. 

Lucia is leaned against the wall waiting for her when she comes out.

"Saved you a piece of cake," Lucia straightens and extends a slice of cake.

"Oh. Thank you, but I’m not very fond of sweets." Beatrice smiles politely and waves the cake away, glancing past Lucia in the direction she had come.

"Oh that’s fine. I have something else for you too." Beatrice doesn’t like the way Lucia smiles at her.

"I should really get back to Diana…" Beatrice glances down the hall again, hoping Shannon somehow knew she needed her and materialized to rescue her.

"It’ll only take a few minutes. Diana won’t even notice." Beatrice jerks away when Lucia tries to take her hand.

"No I really - "

"Hey, Bea…?" Shannon. "I think we should go…"

Diana’s holding a racecar napkin over her elbow. It’s stained a deep red.

"Oh my god, what happened?" Shannon slaps her hand over Beatrice’s when she tries to move the napkin. "Are you okay?"

Diana nods and shifts toward Beatrice so she takes her, Shannon fixes her with a look that Beatrice doesn’t understand but she follows her out of the house anyways. They wish Carlos a happy birthday in quick farewells before leaving.

They’re halfway to her car when Shannon speaks.

"I knew she would try something."

"I was gone for two minutes, what happened?"

"I saw her follow you." Beatrice stops and turns to her.

"To Diana. What happened to Diana?"

"Oh. Nothing, she’s fine." Shannon lifts the napkin to prove her point, revealing a red stained, uninjured elbow. Beatrice scoffs and rubs the red dye away with her thumb.

"What did you - "

"Fake blood. You can buy it by the gallon at a Hallow-"

"You just carry around fake blood? Shannon!" Beatrice pauses to reinspect Diana’s skin, double-checking she has no injuries before fastening in her car seat.

"I knew you would need an out and Mary never lets me use the fake blood. Come on, you gotta admit that it - "

"I don’t have to admit anything. Don’t use Diana like that, she’s not a prop." Beatrice closes Diana’s door carefully before turning to face Shannon.

"You wouldn’t have left if it was me bleeding." She right. Probably. Truthfully, it would’ve depended on how much fake blood Shannon was willing to use.

"I didn’t need an out, I was fine." Beatrice starts to storm around the car when Shannon grabs her wrist.

"Fine? Beatrice, you looked like you were going to throw up. Maybe I could’ve gone about things differently but I don’t like her. I don’t trust her."

"You don’t have to like her or trust her, I do."

"Do you?" Shannon drops Beatrice’s arm, watches her walk around the car and climb in the drivers seat.

"Do I what, Shannon?" She knows. It’s answer enough for both of them to know.

Shannon doesn’t respond.

~*~

The next time they see Carlos, Beatrice has taken Diana to the local children’s museum. Diana is shoving colored scarfs into a tube then chasing them when they are blown out the top. She loves it.

"Beatrice!" A small body collides into her back, tearing her attention from the little girl to greet Carlos.

"Hi, Carlos. Diana, do you want to say hi?" Diana waves before returning to her previous task, Beatrice smiles and ruffles her hair before turning back to Carlos. "How are you doing, buddy?"

"I’m good. Marley is here, do you wanna see her?" He bounces in place when he asks, positively vibrating about the edges.

"I would love to see her! Could you bring her here, I don’t think Diana’s quite ready to move on yet." He agrees and disappears into the sea of children.

"Good morning, Bea." Beatrice sidesteps a hug, shrugging off the hand Lucia strokes across her shoulder.

"I’ve told you, my name is Beatrice." She tries so very hard to keep the edge from her tone, but Diana looks up worriedly at the change in her voice. Beatrice forces a smile and she returns to her game. Beatrice searches briefly for Carlos’s unruly curls in the everflowing ocean of children, catching and returning a yellow scarf that falls into her face.

"Da!" Diana calls, tugging on Beatrice’s hand before continuing in a whine. "Hungry."

"We were just about to head out for lunch, if you want to join?" Lucia winks when Beatrice meets her gaze, twisting Beatrice’s stomach into a knot.

"Thanks but - "

"Bea!" Beatrice’s head snaps to Ava waving at her energetically, trying to weave through the children racing between them. She smiles reflexively, waves and lifts Diana to see her, setting her back down and watching her race to her mother. Ava captures her, picks her up and kisses her cheek before dropping into Beatrice’s chest. "Hans needed me to trade shifts, I have the day off. I was thinking we could get lunch?"

"I was actually just inviting them with us!" Lucia’s voice is overly saccharine, too bright. Ava lifts her head from Beatrice’s shoulder and stares at the woman curiously, smiling and waving at the children when they greet her.

"This is Carlos, the boy I was telling you about, his friend Marley, and his mother Lucia." Ava twists to meet her eyes when the woman’s name comes out sharper than Beatrice had intended. She asks about it silently, searches for the words Beatrice isn’t ready to say. Beatrice looks away.

"Well, what do you wanna do, Di?" Ava bounces her softly. Diana looks between Beatrice’s tensed jaw and Carlos’s buzzing excitement.

"Go Carlos?" Ava nods once and waits for Beatrice to agree as well before acknowledging Lucia.

Ava makes small talk with Lucia while they make their way to the restaurant next door, Beatrice’s fingers curled tightly around hers. When they are taken to a table, Lucia’s hand presses briefly into the small of her back and she winks when Beatrice bumps into Ava trying to shrug her off. The children elect to sit across from the adults with Beatrice sat between Ava and Lucia. Beatrice prays this meal won’t be as awful as she thinks it will.

Ava kisses the back of her hand before relinquishing it to take Diana to the bathroom. 

"So?" Lucia’s hand scrapes up Beatrice’s thigh until she shoves it off her lap. "Who’s that?"

"She is Diana’s mother, Ava. Please stop touching me." Beatrice tries to fight the rising pressure in her lungs. Lucia smiles coyly and winks when Ava slides back into the seat next to Beatrice.

"Are you alright?" Ava presses into Beatrice’s side, squeezes the hand she pulls into her lap.

"Fine." Beatrice forces a smile and she knows Ava doesn’t believe her, she knows by the wrinkle between her eyes and the little quiver of the corner of her mouth. Carlos shoots a straw wrapper at Beatrice and she laughs brightly, dropping Ava’s gaze to fling the wrapper in his direction. 

Lucia pats her knee and Beatrice suddenly finds she isn’t hungry anymore. Beatrice crosses and uncrosses her legs more times than she can count, trying desperately to listen as Carlos and Ava discuss the best Pokémon and why it’s Mimikyu. Marley disagrees and brings Mew into the conversation but Beatrice can’t focus enough to join, even when they all try so hard to get her involved. Ava keeps pausing to look at her, especially when Beatrice chokes on her drink because Lucia squeezes her thigh.

"I’m going to clean myself up." Beatrice blots the wet spot on her shirt with her napkin, ignoring the stares she receives when she scrapes her chair back and rushes to the restroom.

She stares at her wild eyes and hair in the mirror for only a moment before pulling her shirt off and holding it under the hand dryers, more thankful than ever that she decided to wear a top under her shirt today.

The door creaks open and Beatrice sighs, doesn’t turn from the hand dryer. She waits for Ava’s worried voice to ask if she’s alright, she waits for the light touch on her elbow to silently ask her to turn.

Instead, arms slither around her hips, curl around her stomach and turn her in place. 

"Lucia. Umm, could I… could I just get a minute… I’m not feeling too well." Beatrice takes a step back, hits her elbow on the hot metal of the dryer. She has nowhere to go, Lucia stands between her and the door.

"So Ava, huh?" Is this what a rabbit feels like when a wolf decides to make a meal of it?

"I would really prefer not to do this, please." She hates how her voice shakes, how her hip clips the edge of the sink, how her shoulders press into the cold tile wall.

"It’s okay, we don’t have to tell your girlfriend." Lucia winks and her breath singes across Beatrice’s face. She squeezes her eyes closed and tries to disappear.

Beatrice forgets how to breathe, she feels the world collapse into this single moment as her blood runs cold and Lucia kisses her.

Her stomach turns hard and she freezes, she disappears. Beatrice is certain she’s going to fall through the floor and wake up in hell, that this is some sort of demonic torture method for whatever sins she’s forgotten to ask repentance for. But when Lucia tries to force her tongue in Beatrice’s mouth, she remembers how to move.

Beatrice shoves her shoulders hard, sends Lucia stumbling backward and crashing into the far wall. She makes a beeline for the door, swings it open and wrenches her arm out of Lucia’s cold grip.

"Bea?" Ava’s already on her feet, eyes wide and fingers brushing over the inside of Beatrice’s wrist. She doesn’t try to regain the contact when Beatrice yanks her arm away. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I just remembered I have a thing, I’ve got to go." Carlos watches her dig through her jacket for a handful of cash, dropping it on the table before ducking through the group coming in the door and turning down the sidewalk.

Ava lifts Diana from her seat, hurries to follow Beatrice onto the street, spins in place to try to find her when they emerge. 

Beatrice has disappeared without a trace.

Ava tries calling her, tries sending her messages but she receives no replies. So she makes her way home with Diana, promises to order pizza in exchange for her lunch being cut short.

She’s there.

Pacing in hurried circles and chewing on her thumbnail in front of Ava’s door. Her eyes are red and her breaths are ragged and wet, her nail beds on the opposite hand are raw and bleeding in some places from where she’s torn the skin apart between her teeth.

Ava doesn’t try to stop her movements, doesn’t try to figure out what’s bothering her, she simply opens the door and steps out of the way for Beatrice to enter unimpeded. Beatrice offers no acknowledgment, no explanation as she pushes into the apartment and locks herself in the bathroom.

Ava settles Diana in her high chair with chicken nuggets and broccoli pieces before going to check on Beatrice.

"Hey, Bea." She knocks on the door. "It’s just me. Are you okay?"

"I’m going to take a shower." Her words are rushed and she stumbles over them like Bambi on ice.

"Okay. I can get you some fresh clothes, would you prefer that?"

"Thank you." Ava rests her forehead against the door and sighs, lets her eyes close as she tries to will Beatrice into being okay.

She gathers her softest pajamas, the set Beatrice always steals when she forgets to bring her own. She hears the water screech on, the shower curtain scream closed. Diana whines from her entrapment and Ava lets her down, bribes her with cookies into going down for her nap early before she returns to the door. She knocks firmly and receives no reply.

"Hey, Bea." Ava calls through the door. "I have those pajamas you love. Do you want me to leave them out here or - "

"You can come in." Ava inhales deeply and nods, twists the knob slowly, staring intentionally at her feet as she steps into the steam filled room.

"I’m just going to leave these on the counter, I’ll be in the living room if you need me." She spins back to the door after dropping the clothes where she’d promised to leave them, pausing when she hears a sharp sniffle from behind the curtain. "Bea? Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Just - can…" Beatrice takes a shaky breath. "Can you stay?"

"Oh. Umm yeah. I can stay. Do I - do I need to like… I’m not quite certain what I’m supposed to do." Beatrice makes a coughing sound that resembles a choked sob and Ava wants to wrap her in a blanket and tell her everything’s going to be alright. "Do you want me to sit here next to the tub?"

"It’s fine, you don’t - "

"That wasn’t my question, Bea. Do you want me to sit next to the tub, yes or no?"

"Yes." Her voice nearly gets lost in the water hitting the bottom of the basin, Ava barely catches when she adds infinitely quieter. "Please."

"Of course." Ava presses her back into the cold porcelain tub and hums quietly to herself, crossing her legs and hoping Beatrice will tell her what’s wrong without her having to ask. She’s not sure why she offers, but Beatrice doesn’t seem to be doing much more than standing under the scalding hot water. "I have a bath bomb or bubbles if you would prefer to take a bath."

"I - are you sure?" The curtain shifts and Beatrice’s hair drips water onto the tiles beside Ava.

"Absolutely. I mean, the bath bombs have little toys in them, but if you’re willing to overlook that." Ava stares at the animals on the bathmat.

"Are they good toys?" Beatrice is trying very hard to sound lighthearted, Ava knows she’s trying to wash away the stifling dark clouds that have settled in the room with them.

"Well, Diana loves them." Ava offers a half smile over her shoulder, not quite turning enough to meet Beatrice’s eyes. Beatrice laughs wetly and the water turns off briefly before she starts to fill the tub. Ava digs through Diana’s bath supplies, raising the bath bomb box above her head triumphantly when she finds it. "I have lavender and chamomile, orange and grapefruit, or… well this just says milk. I don’t know what that means."

"I would rather not smell like soggy cereal," Beatrice tries to joke, but the tears in her voice drown the humor. "The chamomile one sounds nice."

The curtain screams as it’s pushed open slowly, Ava stares intently at the door when she turns to hand the bath bomb to Beatrice.

"Thank you." Her voice is softer than it had been before, strained with emotion and Ava wants so desperately to wrap her in her arms and tell her it’s okay.

"It’s just a bath bomb. I think it was like four dollars for the set."

"Not. Not that. For - " Beatrice makes a clicking noise. Ava presses her back into the side of the tub. She doesn’t turn. "For being you. For being here."

"I never left. I’ve always been here, Bea. I always will."

"You can’t promise that." Ava almost turns, for barely a second she starts to. But she stops. She doesn’t want to make Beatrice uncomfortable.

"I can. And I have. And I will." Beatrice’s hand drips water down her neck when she brushes Ava’s hair over her shoulder. The droplet races down Ava’s spine and makes her shiver.

The water sloshes as Beatrice leans to turn it off, Ava can hear the bath bomb fizzing quietly as it dissolves, Diana’s music box slows to a stop. Ava worries Beatrice can hear her heart thumping against her chest. Lavender and chamomile wrap around her like a warm coat, carried by the steam from the broiling hot water.

Ava twists, keeps her head trained on the opposite wall while she extends her hand for Beatrice to take if she wishes. She does, threads her wet fingers through Ava’s and squeezes. Ava squeezes back.

"You can look." Ava’s heart stops and she shakes her head reflexively. "It’s okay, Ava."

"Are you sure?" Father forgive me but fuck you, this is not the time for these feelings. Beatrice’s free hand is gentle as it takes Ava’s chin and slowly turns her head for their eyes to meet. Her smile is soft and sincere, Ava reciprocates it easily.

She’s folded into herself, knees tucked under her chin, arm squeezing around her shins, shoulders curled into her thighs. She looks so small. Small and broken. Eyes red and puffy, nose raw, cheeks flushed. Ava’s never seen her like this, it twists and pulls and stabs her in the heart.

"Are you alright?" She rubs her thumb over Beatrice’s knuckles, watches her throat bob when she swallows.

"Fine." Ava raises an eyebrow but she doesn’t ask again, Beatrice drops her chin onto her knees and sighs, cuts her eyes away. "I’m sorry."

"You don’t have to apologize. You’ve done nothing wrong."  Beatrice shrugs and Ava offers a half smile. "Do you want me to wash your hair? It always makes me feel better when I’m upset."

Beatrice nods and Ava grabs the shampoo bottle as she moves behind Beatrice, massaging it into her scalp. Beatrice sighs deeply and leans into the touch, the soap foams and drips onto Beatrice’s shoulder. Ava watches the bubbles race down her back, trail over a freckle on her back.

"It was Lucia." Ava’s head snaps up as Beatrice turns, presses her chin into her shoulder.

"That upset you?" Beatrice nods. "Did you get into a fight?" Ava rinses the soap off her hands, cups water in her hand to rinse Beatrice’s hair.

"We aren’t - it’s not like that. I don’t - " Beatrice shakes her head, turns away. She sniffs and her voice wobbles, she continues barely in a whisper. "Please."

"Sorry. It’s not my business. You don’t have to tell me." Beatrice sighs again. "You can if you want, I just don’t want to pry."

"Ask."

"Uh, what?" Ava pulls back, braces herself on the edge of the tub.

"Ask. Please. I can’t…"

"Did she do something?" Beatrice nods. "Something you didn’t like?" She nods again. "Something you didn’t want?" Another nod. "Did she hurt you?"

Beatrice twists completely, tears in her eyes and chin wobbling. Soap tracks down the side of her face and Ava wipes it away without thinking. Beatrice flinches away.

"Sorry." She pulls away. Beatrice chases her hand with her own, leads it back to her face.

"Please."

"What’d she do, Bea?" Ava holds her face steady, listens to the water drip from the faucet.

"It’s not - it’s not even - I shouldn’t - "

"Hey, hey. Listen to me, you’re safe. You’re safe now. Whatever happened, I’m here." Ava doesn’t think before pulling her into her arms, soapy water drenching her shirt when Beatrice tucks her head into her neck. Ava cradles the back of her head, scratches the foamy skin there softly. "I’m here. You’re safe."

"I shouldn’t feel like this. It was just - it was - it was - "

"It wasn’t just anything, Bea. If you’re upset, it’s not just anything. Don’t invalidate your own emotions." Ava drops her cheek against the top of her head, squeezes her shoulders and rubs a circle on her back. "I’m here. You’re safe."

She holds her while she cries, scratches the nape of her neck and rubs across her shoulders until the tears fade and the sobs stop. She lets Beatrice’s wet hair stick her shirt to her back and trickle water down her spine, resists the urge to press a kiss against her temple. She holds her until the steam stops rising and the water cools and the bath bomb fizz all pops. She holds her until she pulls away.

"Hey. Come on. Let’s get you dressed and into bed, yeah?" Ava rubs the tops of her shoulders and smiles. "Let me rinse the rest of the shampoo out of your hair, then I’ll brush it and braid it, yeah?"

"Thank you."

"Always." Ava guides her back around, tilts her head back and slowly rinses the remaining soap from her hair. Beatrice watches her silently through glassy eyes, Ava’s careful not to splash any soap into her eyes, cups her hands to block the water when she pours it over her scalp. She helps her up, hands her a clean towel from the rack. "I’ll be right outside, if you need me."

"You don’t - you can stay." Ava pauses with her fingers on the doorknob.

"I know. I’ll be on the other side of the door." She doesn’t close it all the way, she stays where Beatrice can see her through the crack in the door. The wet spot on her shirt is cold, makes the skin feel blasted with frigid Arctic air. The door creaks open quietly and Beatrice’s fingers are warm as she grazes down the back of Ava’s elbow to her wrist. Ava turns and watches a water droplet speed down the vein in Beatrice’s neck and spread into the neck of her pullover. She’s holding Ava’s hairbrush and a hair tie. "Bed?" Beatrice nods a single time, chews on her bottom lip until Ava taps her thumb against the flesh. She smiles when Beatrice releases the raw skin from between her teeth. "Come now, let’s take care of your hair."

She’s gentle as she leads Beatrice to her bedroom, as she settles her on the floor beside her bed, as she shifts so Beatrice’s back is pressed into her shins.

"Is this okay?" Her hand hovers over Beatrice’s damp hair. She nods. "I need you to tell me, Bea."

"This is okay." Ava’s fingers sift through her hair, bundle the hair together so she can pull the brush through it carefully. Ava doesn’t speak again while she twists Beatrice’s hair into a French braid, ties the hair elastic around the end and drops it over Beatrice’s shoulder.

"All done. Do you want to lay down? Or I can make tea. Or we can watch a movie. Diana’s down for her nap so we have - "

"Ava."

"Sorry. I don’t want to make you feel like you  - "

"I know." Beatrice presses deeper into Ava’s legs, drops her head over her knee. "I feel safe with you."

And there it is. That’s silly warm feeling that twists Ava’s heart in her chest and squeezes her lungs and makes her body pulse with each heartbeat.

Ava rubs her thumb over a freckle on Beatrice’s neck that’s shaped almost like a heart.

"Diana has one like this in this same spot." Beatrice twists to try to see what Ava’s talking about. "This heart-shaped freckle. She has it right here." She traces the muscle in her neck further up before pressing her thumb into the space Diana’s freckle is. She can feel Beatrice’s heartbeat thrashing beneath her fingertips.

Beatrice lifts her eyes from Ava’s hand to meet her gentle gaze, she turns into her, presses up on her knees to launch herself into Ava’s chest. She knocks the breath from Ava’s lungs as she tackles her back into the mattress, nose pressing into its home in the crook of her neck and arms squeezing tight.

Ava’s shirt is still wet and Beatrice’s breath across the cold flesh ripples goosebumps across her skin.

"You’re wet." She mumbled into the damp cloth, nuzzling closer.

"That’s what she said." Ava responds automatically before freezing. "Shit sorry, that was - "

Beatrice giggles, soft and unsteady. Ava feels her try to bury her smile in her shoulder, the curve of her grin pressed into her collarbone, the warmth of her laughter seeping through her skin and spreading through her chest.

"It’s okay." Beatrice smiles crookedly, face softer than it has been in as long as Ava can remember. She pulls away, rolls off her and pokes her side softly. "You should change out of your wet clothes."

Ava bites back another witty retort in favor of kissing Beatrice on the forehead and following her suggestion, ducking into her closet to shed the shirt and tug a dry one on. Beatrice is sprawled on her stomach across the bedspread waiting when she opens the door. She smiles, soft eyes watching her quietly.

Ava takes the hand Beatrice holds out to her, allows her to be pulled down beside her. She starts to curl against her when she hesitates.

"Is this okay?" Beatrice nods and Ava chews her lip but doesn’t move.

"It’s okay." Beatrice wiggles closer, guides Ava’s arm around her waist and tucks her nose into her neck. "I feel safe with you."

I feel safe with you.

Ava kisses her forehead again, holds her against her racing heart and prays she’ll never forget this moment.

[forever-rogue]

Reader is new to Hawkins high but she immediately grabs Eddie's attention..she is always fully rainbow and colorful, pink hair, but she hasn't made any friends yet. So instead of sitting at a table she just chills by herself along the walls of the cafeteria, writing to herself or sometimes dancing like nobody can see her. But one day Jason and his friends start laughing at her which already annoys Eddie but she isn't paying attention, but then Jason comes and takes her notebook which turns out to be a song book and after making fun of her in front of everyone she decides to perform one of her songs putting him on blast! (I recommend "Weapons" by Ava Max)

AN | I changed the prompt just a little bit but I hope you still enjoy 🥰

Warnings | Language, Injury [mentions of blood]

Pairing | Eddie x Fem!Reader

Word Count | 2.4k

Masterlist | Main, Eddie 

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Eddie had noticed you from the moment you'd arrived at Hawkins High.

Of course he did. He couldn’t have ignored you if he tried. Brightly colored hair and clothes, so outside of the norm in Hawkins but so much more like him. Different. He liked everything he could see about you, from your style to your face (those eyes and that smile? yeah - he was a goner) to how kind you appeared to be, despite how rude others were. 

But - but - just because he couldn’t keep his eyes off of you, didn’t mean that he actually worked up the courage to talk to you. No, that was a whole other level of confidence that he didn’t quite possess just yet. Instead, he opted to study and observe you from a comfortable distance. 

He wouldn’t quite call it a crush or an infatuation, Eddie Munson was just…curious. Curious about the new girl that had effortlessly captured his attention. 

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

If anyone knew how hard it was to fit in, it was Eddie. He’d been a social outcast and pariah since he was in middle school and decided that he didn’t want to be like everyone else. Sheep, he’d called them. He didn’t want to be a sheep. 

The good thing that came out of being different was that the friends he’d found were just as different and unique as him. What more could he have asked for? 

You appeared to be in a similar situation, unfortunately it didn’t seem that you had any friends - at least not any at Hawkins High School. He liked to imagine that you had plenty of friends out in the real world, away from this hell hole. 

But still it didn’t help to make him less sad about your current, daily situation. He thought so often about coming to you and approaching you, and he ultimately decided that one day he would. He just had to work up the courage. 

And…somehow he managed to do it, not that much later. 

It was a sunny and breezy temperate spring afternoon when he found you sitting outside during lunch. You leaned up against one of the buildings, your brown lunch bag next to you and your book in hand. From the angle you were holding it, he couldn’t read the cover, but he decided that it probably was something good. 

He walked over to you, trying to be as discrete and normal as possible. To anyone else, Dustin would insist later, he looked extremely suspicious and anxious. Yeah, you made him nervous, but in ways he didn’t quite mind.

“H-hey,” he smiled and held his hand up in a meek wave when he was standing in front of you. You looked up, blinking at the bright sunlight and the boy standing in front of you. Your nerves shot up as you watched him, unsure of his sudden presence, “I’m Eddie. Eddie Munson.”

“I know,” you hoped you didn’t sound like too much of a bitch as you narrowed your eyes at him, offering your own name in return, “did you need something?”

“N-no,” his voice cracked and he wanted to sink into a hole and perish. But at least the look in your eyes wasn’t hateful or mean, “I just wanted to say hi. So…hi.”

“Hi,” you repeated, your worry and nerves slowly dissipating into amusement, “it’s nice to meet you properly Eddie. I’ve seen you around.”

“Y-yeah?” he must have been dreaming. You had noticed him, just as he had noticed. He almost cringed when he hoped your impression hadn’t been too bad, “I, umm, well I just wanted to let you know that if you ever wanted to hang out with me and my friends or sit at our table, that’s totally okay. You know, throwing it out there just in case. Not that I think you need anyone or anything but I…I’m going to stop rambling.”

“I know what you mean, Eddie,” you promised softly, “it’s hard being the new kid, especially as a senior, so I appreciate the kindness. Maybe I’ll take you up on that offer sometime.”

“Great, yeah…cool,” he scratched at the back of his neck awkwardly as his fingers tangled in his curls, “well, umm, I’ll get going. But I’ll see you around?”

“See you around,” you promised sweetly and fuck, your smile made his knees absolutely weak.

He turned to walk away, a bit of a spring and pep to his step. But before he got too far, he quickly turned back to you, “I really like your hair!”

With pink cheeks and soft eyes, he turned around and almost ran off towards his friends. You watched him go with a bemused expression on your face; Eddie Munson wasn’t too bad at all.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

You didn’t end up taking Eddie up on his offer. Not fully anyway, convinced of your own belief that you weren’t worthy of his time and would eventually just bore him. Instead it was a string of stolen moments and run-ins that left your face warm and butterflies in your tummy.

Sometimes it was in the morning when you’d both arrive at your lockers and spent a few minutes catched up. Other times it would be a shy hello in between classes. A quick conversation after school on the way to your cars. From the bits and pieces you learned about him, you knew that you liked Eddie. He was kind, funny, a metalhead and a huge nerd, basically…totally your type. But you’d never push your luck that far. Instead you kept up just enough of a wall to consider him a friend but nothing more. 

The rest of the student body…wasn’t as easily convinced that you were okay. Most of them avoided you like the plague and left you to your own devices, but a few were not so kind or considerate. And, naturally, it was exactly the people you’d have expected to be jerks that were. It was almost too obvious - didn’t these types of people ever think of new material?

For the most part you were able to avoid and ignore the few rude jocks, but sometimes it was not as easy. Especially not when people were in your face and being absolute dicks for no reason. The worst being Jason Carver and his group of cronies; they really were the worst, you know?

You did nothing to annoy them or be rude to them or even be in their way. You pointedly made an effort not to be anywhere around them but that wasn’t good enough for them. 

If you were sitting outside and reading or doing some homework, one of them would walk by and make a rude comment about your choice of clothing or your hair. If you were in the cafeteria, eating lunch by yourself one of them would walk by and make rude sounds or comments about what you were eating. In class, they whisper and snicker about you whenever they could do so without being caught. 

They did everything to try and bring you or make you feel bad; but you handled it with grace. There was no point in getting down to their level - the way they treated you was a reflection of their own issues and insecurities. And on top of all that, you’d be out of that horrible school and hopefully town within a year. You could survive that.

Apparently that was not good enough for them - they wanted to get some sort of reaction from you and were willing to do almost anything to get that. Normally you could have played it but eventually you’d reached your breaking point as well. What was that old expression? Action-reaction - for every action there is an equal reaction in response.

It was another sunny day that found you sitting in the grass, under the shade of an old oak tree as you finished up some class work. You had your walkman with you, headphones on and music playing just loudly enough to block out most of the noise from the outside world. 

You didn’t hear anyone come up; if it hadn’t been for the shadows looming in front of you, you probably wouldn’t have noticed anything. Once you pulled off the headphones and looked up, you were startled when you met Jason Carver’s sneering expression. 

“Hey freak,” you sighed internally; didn’t he have anything knew to come up with? He crouched down so he was eye level with you and you hated the look in his cold blue eyes, “all alone again?”

“Can I help you with anything, Jason?” you tried to keep your voice level but you couldn’t hide the slight nervous edge to your voice. 

“Like I would ever want anything from you,” he grabbed your chin in his hand causing you to stiffen up as he appraised you, “so pathetic. You know, you could almost be pretty under all that ridiculous makeup and hair. There’s only one thing girls like you are helpful for so I guess you could help me out-”

“Stop,” you tried to push his hand away from you but that only seemed to make him more angry, “please just leave me alone. I don’t know what I did to you or what you think being a dick to me will get you, but just go away. I haven’t done anything to you.”

“Stupid bitch,” he shook his head before laughing cruelly and pushing your face away, “I don’t want anything from you and you haven’t done anything to me except exist. And honestly, I really don’t like you, so.’

“So…” before you could say anything else, he grabbed the worn and well loved journal. Your heart dropped into your stomach when he snatched it out of your reach, "give that back!"

"No, I don't think I will," there was a wicked smile on his face and it made your skin crawl, "you're always scribbling in this - what could be so interesting about this?"

“Nothing,” you were lying but he didn’t need to know about that. It happened to be your most personal confidant and friend at times, and contained all of your innermost thoughts, secrets, and things you’d written such as poetry and songs. It wasn’t that anything was terribly embarrassing - maybe the stuff you’d written about Eddie beingyour crush - but it was the fact that it was so personal. The nerve this boy had, “but it belongs to me. Now please give it back to me.”

“Why would I-”

“Why don’t you just fuck off?” your savior, not that you believed you needed one, came in the form of one Eddie Munson, stalking over with a fuming expression, “or pick on someone more your speed.”

“Cute,” he looked between the two of you, “the freaks have each other. Defending your little girlfriend, Munson? How precious.”

“You know what would be really precious?” Eddie’s voice was low and dangerous as Jason stood up to his full height. You thought about just slinking away, but you weren’t going to leave Eddie alone to fight your battles for you, “you with a broken nose and blood face.”

“You think you’re so fucking f-”

Eddie’s fist collided with Jason’s face before you knew it, a loud crunch sound reaching your ears. Your breath caught in your throat as you watched Jason stumble back and clutched at his face, whimpering in pain. You didn’t necessarily condone violence, but it was still funny to see him panic. Eddie’s first was throbbing but it was worth it to him, “I was right! A messed up face really does suit you!”

“I can’t believe you did this!” he sounded muffled from behind his hand, “you’re going to be in so much trouble - both of you! Take your stupid notebook back!”

He tossed the journal on the ground and you let out a sigh of relief at the fact that you got it back. You scrambled to grab it and stuffed it in your backpack, zipping it tightly shut. Jason had run away, cursing and muttering under his breath as the two of you stood there in shock. 

“Umm,” you stood up and turned to the curly haired boy, exchanging a surprised look, “t-thank you, Eddie. I didn’t expect….any of that.”

“Me neither,” he admitted sheepishly, “I’ve never actually punched anyone before. That shit…felt great. And hurt.”

“Oh,” you looked at his hand and saw that it was already bruising and bloody, “are you okay? Can I do anything to help?”

“No,” he insisted with a small smile, “the real question is, are you okay? I was coming to talk to you but saw him and figured that wasn’t a good sign.”

“He usually leaves me alone but today was just…different.” you shrugged lightly, “I don’t engage him normally and he leaves but something must have happened to make him even worse.”

“He’s a piece of shit,” he stated as you nodded in agreement, “he shouldn’t treat anyone like that. Maybe he’ll learn. At least for now.”

“I do so,” you smiled softly, “he, ugh, he stole my journal. It’s really special to me and I’m glad he didn’t get a chance to take it.”

“Seriously,” he too was curious as to what was in your journal but wouldn’t ever even dream of taking it or even asking if he could see it, “he’s just a jerk but hopefully he’ll leave you alone now.”

“I’m sure he will,” you agreed softly, “is, umm, that offer to hang out with you and friends still open?” 

“O-of course, always,” he grinned eagerly, “that’s actually what I was coming over to ask. No pressure, but if you’re wanting to.”

“Definitely,” you reached for your backpack and swung it over your shoulder, “hey, I hear that you’re in a band?”

“I am,” he was trying not to seemed too eager but inside he was practically jumping up and down, “just you know, a little side thing but yeah.”

“I’m actually a bit of a songwriter on the side,” you gently nudged him with your elbow, “that’s what a lot of my journal is - songs. I’d love to show you some of them sometime and pick your brain.”

“Totally,” his heart was practically beating out of his chest with excitement, “I’d like that a lot.”

“Cool,” the two of you exchanged shy smiles.

“Cool.”

 This was definitely going to be the beginning of something beautiful.

[quietblueriver]

Another prompt!

On the edge of consciousness

Quick thing #5.

In which Bea suffers a minor injury and Ava has some trouble dealing. All fluff. Very silly. Thanks for the prompt! :)

-

Ava’s exhausted by the time the van rolls back into Cat’s Cradle. She and Dora had taken six of the newly-official sisters to follow up on reports of some strange behavior in a town in rural France. Ava was hoping they’d find a whole lot of nothing and more than a little wine. What they actually found was eight wraiths and one fun new demon who had hurled himself through one of the cracks that had started appearing after Ava left, apparently a side effect of Adriel yanking Reya into this world, even though she only stayed for like 5 minutes.

It was quite an initiation for the newbies, who did really well all things considered. The whole deal is to make sure they can do this kind of shit without her, because Ava wants to be able to step away from demon-slaying every once in a while to travel the world with her curious, hot, polyglot girlfriend. She’s a teacher now, or whatever, so she didn’t just let loose with the halo when she got annoyed. Instead, she stood there and called out instructions and warnings and made sure none of the babies got maimed or worse and that they didn’t maim or worse any of the possessed. Quite a few halo interventions in the end, but they’re learning.

And the wraiths would have been enough, but of course there was the demon, a real asshole who at one point started sprouting and flinging weird spikes from his back. Ava did a lot of shield throwing and yelling and worked very hard not to intervene unless absolutely necessary. They got him down, in the end, and she finished the job. She’s physically fine but she’s mentally done—she needs sleep and Beatrice. Beatrice, mostly.

They haven’t spoken in three days, which isn’t unusual, unfortunately, but she always hates it. Occasional texts are sometimes the best they can do and she’d sent a few while Dora was driving but hadn’t heard back. Again, not unusual. Bea hates her phone even if she loves Ava (and she does, which she makes clear all the time to everyone and which Ava feels incredibly smug about, thanks) and she’s busy right now with training newbies.

Ava is looking forward to hunting her down in the yard, engaging in only a moderate amount of PDA because “I need them to be able to look me in the eye, Ava, please," and then sleeping for at least 12 hours.

Ava’s hauling her duffel from the back, the rest of the team shuffling inside, when she notices Cam, waiting nearby and fidgeting with her hands, her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Cam?”

Camila…flinches? at Ava’s voice and Ava doesn’t like that one bit. She swings the duffel over her shoulder and walks toward her, frowning.

“Hi, Ava. Welcome home.”

Her voice isn’t peak happy Cam but she’s not upset. Still. “What’s wrong?”

Camila sighs, meets Ava’s eyes. “Okay, most importantly, everyone is fine.” Ava’s heart rate spikes immediately, the halo humming to life. “There was a bit of an accident.”

Ava stares expectantly at her, heart pounding and halo charged, and Camila winces.

“Beatrice was involved.” Seeing Ava’s face, she says again, loudly, “She’s fine! She will be fine! She is in the infirmary and everything is…”

Ava’s off before Camila can finish, dropping her duffel and phasing through the first of the walls between her and the infirmary doors. She has the layout of Cat’s Cradle memorized at this point, after eight months of living here and training here and wandering the hallways when she has nightmares and manages to sneak out without waking Bea, so she has a pretty good idea of where she’s going—straight back and to the right.

She’s barely bothering to let her body fully constitute again, catches two sisters in one of the hallways by surprise and hears a “Holy Father!” before she bleeds through a storage room and turns right down another hall to find herself, finally, at the infirmary doors.

She sees Beatrice propped up in the second bed, privacy curtains mostly open, holding a well-worn copy of The Oresteia, because of course she is, a bandage where an IV line would be on the back of her hand. Her other arm is in a sling, a wrap peeking out from the neckline of the loose gray sweater she’s wearing. She’s awake. She’s sitting up. She has a book. Ava is so relieved she nearly cries.

Beatrice startles obviously when Ava phases through the last door between them, and Ava knows she must be incredibly tired or incredibly stoned or both, maybe, to react that obviously. When she turns her head to face Ava fully, Ava’s jaw clenches tight and she starts forward immediately. The left side of Bea’s face is battered, covered in scrapes and rubbed raw in spots.

Bea seems unbothered, smiling dopily and letting the book fall closed and into her lap so that she can wave excitedly, moving her whole upper body in concert with her hand. She stops the motion quickly, flinching and staring down at her torso like it had broken a promise, brow furrowed in disappointment.

Yeah, so. Stoned it is.

Bea brings her attention back to Ava and the frown disappears as she reaches out, her motion still uncoordinated but less violent. Her palm is up, fingers wiggling expectantly. It’s adorable, but Ava can’t really enjoy it right now.

“Ava! I missed you!”

Ava smiles at her, grabs the wiggling fingers gently between her own and sits on the edge of the bed, leaning over for a chaste kiss. Beatrice, uninhibited and unashamed, hums into it and sighs when they break apart, eyes fluttering and body swaying in a full Disney Princess-esque swoon. The instinct to coo at her like the precious baby duck she is fights with the ongoing panic in her chest and results in what she’s sure is a super fucking weird expression but Bea doesn’t notice or care; she’s all big brown eyes and open adoration.

“Hi, baby. I missed you, too.” She smooths a hand over Beatrice’s hair, newly shorn on the sides (a development that nearly broke Ava in the very best way), the length on top messier than Bea ever lets it be when she’s conscious and outside of their bed. Bea leans into her. “What happened here?”

She frowns, her forehead wrinkling, and Ava smooths the patch of unmarred skin with the tips of her fingers as Bea says guiltily, “Sorry I didn’t call. I didn’t want to make you worried. Just a little accident this morning.”

Ava will deal with that later. She’s not trying to get into it with sweet, stoned Beatrice about when to call. (Always, is the answer, Bea. Always fucking call. There is literally nothing more important.)

Before she can ask about what happened again, though, a flustered Camila hustles through the doors. She hovers uncertainly and then offers, weakly, “She’s okay?” The inflection lets Ava know Camila is aware of what a stupid fucking thing that is to say, but she glares at her anyway, and Camila blanches.

Ava turns back to her girlfriend and asks, resting her hand over Bea’s good one, the IV bandage tacky on her palm, “What kind of accident, gorgeous?”

Beatrice blushes, flips her hand so that she can play with Ava’s fingers, and says, incredibly nonchalantly, “We were practicing an extraction and I got hit by a car.”

Ava’s whole body tenses. The halo hums lowly.

“You got hit by a car.”

Beatrice hums, distracted by Ava’s hand, and then frowns, maybe realizing exactly how fucking awful that sounds. She looks up and adds, as though it will help, “Only a little!”

Camila sighs loudly but keeps her mouth shut.

“You got hit by a car a little.”

Ava works very hard not to lose her shit. She doesn’t want to upset Bea, and the real target for her anger, whoever hit her girlfriend with a car, isn’t in the room right now. She breathes deeply. The halo pulses the littlest bit under her skin in sympathy, still humming quietly enough that only Ava can hear it.

Beatrice offers, as if it might help, “A tap, really.”

“A tap? Beatrice.”

“No big deal. See?” She frees her good hand and uses it to wave up and down her body, flinches when the motion requires her to bend slightly and she’s definitely not making the point she wants to make. Ava catches her hand and holds it still.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re fine.”

The halo hums louder and Ava feels energy start to build under her skin, hot and itchy.

“She should recover quickly. She’s been hurt a lot worse.”

Ava snaps her head back to look at Camila, both eyebrows up and mouth open a little disbelievingly. Because yes, Bea is going to be fine, but this nonchalance? About getting hit by a car? Nope. Nope. Nope. How is Ava supposed to leave, like, ever if this is how her girlfriend and her best friend approach what looks like one step down from vehicular manslaughter? Fine. Jesus Christ.

“Gee, thanks, Cam. Have you been taking bedside manner lessons from Lilith?”

Camila blushes but Ava’s attention is quickly drawn back to Beatrice, who is nodding in agreement with Camila, or trying to. The drugs aren’t doing her any favors on that front, so the movement gets away from her, less decisive and more drowsy and drunken. The effect is something between a puppy trying to keep itself awake and Mother Superion on the rare occasions she stays for game night (or, once and memorably, karaoke) and indulges in one glass of wine too many. Like both a puppy and Superion, Bea begins to sway, eyes closing, and Ava puts a steadying hand on her uninjured shoulder. She gets a grateful smile when Beatrice settles back into the pillow.

As if sensing that she’s about to start again with her questions—which, despite what the two idiots in the room with her apparently think, are absolutely reasonable and pretty fucking chill relative to the information she has—Beatrice says, voice a slightly slurred and incredibly exaggerated mimic of the one she uses when training recruits or doing serious OCS things, “It could’ve been much worse. She wasn’t even going that fast.”

Camila groans and the halo thrums and Ava adjusts on the bed, gentle but unable to stay still any longer.

“It could’ve…” Ava splutters. “She wasn’t…she wasn’t even going that fast?”

Ava hates the word shrill. It’s misogynist as fuck and used to invalidate women’s feelings and police their tone. Bullshit. But she won’t deny that the pitch of her voice is rising higher and higher with each piece of information. She reaches for a metaphor Bea would appreciate. She’s a tea kettle about to go full whistle. She’s a tea kettle about to explode.

She takes a deep breath, counts, exhales. Does it again. Okay. Okay. It’s not helpful for her to blow up. She’s been too hard on Camila. She needs to know what happened and what Bea needs. That’s what matters.

Bea’s clearly working to keep her eyes open. New strategy. She takes the deepest breath yet, presses a very soft kiss to Beatrice’s uninjured knuckles, Bea humming and closing her eyes fully.

“Sleep, baby. I’m just going to talk to Cam. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

“Promise?” Sleepy brown eyes blink open at her and she’s nearly pouting and Ava’s got a whole lot of feelings right now, but love pushes to the top easy, easy, easy when she looks at Bea.

“Promise.”

Her voice is calm even if it is still much higher than normal as she looks to Cam and asks, “What happened?”

Camila steps closer, hesitant, and Ava consciously works to relax her shoulders. She says, standing and reaching to pull Camila into a hug, “Sorry I was a bitch. I’m,” she glances at Beatrice, whose eyes are closed again, “I had to take care of all of the baby nuns and I’m a little exhausted and it’s Bea and I just…”

Cam hugs her tighter and wipes a tear from Ava’s cheek. She hadn’t even realized she’d been crying. She’s fucking tired.

“I understand. It’s okay.”

Beatrice makes a soft noise, and Cam smiles at her fondly. “They gave her more medicine just before you got back. I’m honestly surprised she’s still awake.”

“Mmm.” Ava steps back a little and shakes it out, folds her shoulders back.

“It really was an accident. Beatrice was helping a novice in a drill with a moving extraction, and the driver was a little overeager, and, well, Beatrice got knocked back with some force. She dislocated her shoulder and has some nasty road rash, but, as you can see, they’ve given her medication, and she should recover relatively quickly.” Camila bites her lip for a moment. “I promise she’s okay, Ava. I would’ve called you immediately if anything serious had happened. I’ll always call, even if Beatrice won’t.”

She uncoils a bit more. She knows it’s true. There’s no way that Cam wouldn’t call her or send Lilith to come get her, if things got really bad.

A tiny, sleepy noise escapes Beatrice, and Ava blows out a breath, smiles at Camila. Beatrice is fine. Beatrice will be fine.

She eyes the sling and wonders how long she’ll need to wear it. Bea’s going to hate being on the bench. The newbies are going to hate it, too.

Underneath the totally reasonable anger, she feels almost bad for whoever it was who hit Bea. She’s pretty beloved, even if she won’t admit it, and it’s no secret that Ava can be a little, uh, overprotective. The kid’s probably having a rough time.

“I know we’re avoiding another Yasmine situation, but clearly there’s some work left to do on teaching the novices left to drive.”

Camila frowns and begins to respond, but they’re interrupted by the familiar hiss of Lilith’s arrival, the black wings folding behind her a ridiculous contrast with the bulging M&S bag in her hand, the top of a green Colin the Caterpillar box peeking out of the top. Ava bites back a smile. What a fucking softie.

She lets go of the glamour that she wears in public, her skin mottling with scales as she removes her sunglasses. She reels back slightly when she catches sight of Ava but recovers quickly, thrusting the bag out in front of her without a word. Ava takes it, catches sight of candy and biscuits and a tin of fancy tea.

“Thanks, Lil. She’ll be excited about these.”

Her eyes turn to her shoes, black boots identical to Bea’s favorites, says gruffly, “How’s she doing?”

“She’ll be fine.”

Camila smiles at her and Ava lifts a shoulder, moves to unload the bag on the table next to Bea’s bed. Beatrice, apparently still awake enough to notice Ava’s presence, reaches a hand out and rests it on Ava’s thigh, whispers something that Ava is almost totally sure is nonsense. She doesn’t try to decipher, kisses her cheek before before going back to her mission, rifling though the considerable stash Lilith brought and beginning to pull things out.

“You’re being much calmer about this than I anticipated.”

Ava snorts and looks up at Lilith, whose eyes are focused on the injured side of Beatrice’s face.

“Yeah, no. I lost my shit for a bit there. Cam took the brunt of it.” She turns her eyes to Camila. “Sorry again.”

There’s not enough room on the table for everything—Lilith really wasn’t fucking around—so Ava prioritizes Bea’s favorites.

“Like, I’m obviously not delighted and I’m definitely going to have a talk with Bea about when to call me, say, for example, when she gets hit by a car, but she’ll be okay.” She tucks what won’t fit on the table into the little drawer below and brushes some of Bea’s hair back. “Also, stoned Beatrice is super cute.”

Lilith’s shadow falls across Bea’s body, and Ava turns to see the sharp line of her jaw clenched, her eyes scanning Bea’s body and lingering on her shoulder.

“It really was an accident.”

It’s said absently, her voice soft as she leans even further forward to tuck a corner of Bea’s blanket a little tighter around her. Ava’s stomach swoops with fondness, and she reaches her own hand out to squeeze at Lilith’s bicep, black scales and warm skin a strange contrast on her palm.

“Yeah, Cam told me. It’s fine. I mean, someone’s getting a talk from me, because what the fuck, but…”

Ava halts at a hum from the bed. Beatrice is clearly just on the edge of consciousness, eyes straining open before fluttering closed again, words barely coherent. Barely coherent, but coherent enough.

“Don’t be mad, love. Lilith is usually a very good driver.”

[writingwhimsey]

Married to The Enemy- Shingen Ch. 51

This one got a little long

Chapter 51

Shingen was waiting in line with Ava and her friends at the movie theater concessions. His arm wrapped around Ava’s waist, holding her close as they waited their turn. It was at this moment, the fun evening was interrupted by a voice Shingen had only heard one other time before.

 “Oh my gosh! Can’t believe I’m running into you guys here! It must be a movie date night for everyone!”

Shingen could feel Ava tense up next to him. He didn’t like how this woman made Ava react. Especially when they had been having a perfectly lovely time before she arrived. His hand was resting on her hip and he gave her hip a gentle squeeze, reassuring her that he was right beside her.

Ava seemed to relax a little and leaned into him. She took a deep breath before she was turning her head. Shoko was also looking back, both of them with tight smiles. “Akemi.” They greeted.

Akemi smiled at them and Shingen could tell it was a cruel smile. She was holding hands with a man Shingen had never met before. He was as tall as Shingen and more leanly muscled with reddish hair and blue eyes.

“Ava, Shoko, you guys remember Hikaru…oh who am I kidding, of course you do, Ava. You did date him for three years before he realized there were greener pastures elsewhere.” Akemi said.

So this man…a former lover. Shingen thought, doing his best to keep a frown from forming on his face.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Shoko muttered under her breath.

Hikaru was looking at Ava…clearly with regret in his eyes. “You’re looking well, Ava.”

“I suppose she does look well. As well as someone like her can.” Akemi said. “I mean, if she had the money for better skincare and makeup she could really be a beauty.”

Shingen really hated the way this woman was ripping into Ava. He also didn’t like the way this other man was looking at her.

“I actually think she looks really great.” Hikaru said.

“So, you guys are dating again?” Shoko asked Hikaru and Akemi.

“Uh, yeah I gue…” Hikaru began.

Akemi was wrapping both of her arms around one of his and clinging to him. “Oh, yes. I gave him a call after the beach party. We were always just so suited for each other you know? Both from prominent families and all that.”

Ava gave them a smile. “You two do look good together.” She said.

“Oh, I’m glad you see it, Ava.” Akemi said. “So, no hard feelings about me stealing him from you?”

“Really I should thank you.” Ava replied. “If you two hadn’t ended up together, I wouldn’t have met my wonderful Shingen.” She was leaning more into Shingen then.

Shingen smiled as he wrapped both arms around her and pulled her close, kissing her cheek. “Yes, thank you for letting this treasure get away so that I could find her.” Shingen added. He would support his wife no matter what. Also, he was grateful. From the way it sounded, this other guy had hurt Ava…he didn’t like that. But if he hadn’t, Ava wouldn’t be with Shingen now.

“I don’t see what more you could have wanted when you had Ava, but I’m grateful that she’s mine now.” Shingen added, wanting to make sure that this guy knew there was no chance Ava would ever be his again.

Ava smiled and hugged Shingen tighter. 

“Hey, it’s our turn.” Kenji said.

Ava was then waving at Akemi and Hikaru. “Well, it was good to see you guys. Glad things are working out for you. Hope you guys have a great time.” She said.

“I know we definitely will.” Shoko said. “All of our seats are in the back of the theater. Which means we’re not watching the movie and pretending we’re teenagers again.” She was then giving Ava a wink. 

Ava giggled. “Hmm, that is a good plan.” She agreed.

Shingen wasn’t sure, but it seemed there was a hidden meaning to this. He would have to ask Ava about it later.

“See ya guys.” Shoko said.

The two couples were then heading to place their orders. The savory scent that filled the air was stronger by the counter. Shingen kept his arm around Ava as they looked at all the food. It seemed it was a silent agreement between the four of them not to pay any attention to Akemi and Hikaru.

“A large bag of popcorn with extra butter. And we’ll take some of these, these, and these. And a large drink to wash it all down.” Ava ordered for them.

“And we’ll take the same.” Shoko said for her and Kenji.

“I can’t believe you guys are eating all of that.” Akemi said, clearly not done aggravating Ava and Shoko just yet. “I guess once you’re married, you really don’t care about your figure. I would have to be in the gym for twenty-four hours straight to work off that much food.”

“Akemi…” Hikaru said.

Ava waved dismissively. “It’s fine. I have plenty of ways to work off all of this food. I have a home gym.” She said. 

“Yeah, named Shingen.” Shoko said with a giggle. “And I only know that because I also have a home gym, but he’s named Kenji.”

“There is a reason we have two boys.” Kenji agreed.

Shingen was grinning at Ava. “Oh? I am your workout plan?” He asked, tracing her chin with his fingertips.

Ava giggled. “Can you think of a better one?”

“No and I am very happy to be so.” He replied, leaning in to give her a light peck on the lips. He adored his wife and being affectionate with her. And he was happy to reassure her that she was his one and only love.

Akemi was fuming. But she couldn’t find anything to say.

The two couples got their food and walked away, heading towards the room their movie would be in. This would be the first time Shingen would be seeing a movie in this theater. He was excited to experience this with Ava.

Shingen followed Ava into the large room. It was currently dimly lit and there were dark curtains on the walls and red chairs throughout. They were what Shingen had learned were called recliners. Ava had explained that this was a more luxury type of theater experience as the recliners were very comfortable. But they didn’t always have such comfy chairs.

All of the chairs were facing towards one wall at the front of the room, which had a large screen playing what Ava had told him were previews for other movies. “Our seats are this way.” Shoko said, leading them all up some stairs and to the back row of chairs, going back to the middle section of the row.

Shingen was pleased to see that the chairs were paired up. So he and Ava got to sit fairly close together, though there was still an armrest between them. There was a bit of space between their chairs and the chairs Shoko and Kenji were sitting in.

Once they sat down, Shingen leaned over to Ava and whispered to her. “What was it that Shoko meant about pretending to be teenagers in the back of the theater?” He asked.

Ava gave him a playful grin. “Well, when the movie starts, they turn off the lights so that you can better see the screen and not really much else.” She explained. “And sitting in the back no one notices. It’s a favorite date of teens who want to spend the movie paying more attention to their date rather than the movie and getting up to some…mischievous things in the dark.”

Shingen lifted a brow as he gave Ava a seductive grin. “Is that so? Then I’d be happy to play the part of a love sick teenage boy.”

Ava giggled. “Well, if we’re gonna do that then you have to wait for them to turn off the lights.” She replied. “And you have to do the classic fake yawn and stretch, putting your arm around my shoulders. It’s usually how teenage boys make the first move in these situations.”

“I see.” Shingen replied. “These dating customs of your time are quite fascinating.”

Ava giggled. She was then holding up the large bucket of popcorn. “You have to try some. No movie experience is complete without the delicious, salty, buttery popcorn.”

“Why, thank you my angel.” Shingen replied, reaching a hand in and plucking a piece from the bucket and popping it in his mouth. “It is good….though I definitely prefer something a bit sweeter.” He was then leaning in a placing a kiss on Ava’s cheek. “Much better.”

Ava’s cheeks reddened. “Am I still your favorite sweet?” She asked. It seemed that the incident with Akemi and her old lover was all forgotten. Shingen was happy she could just focus on their date and enjoy their time together.

“Always my favorite, my angel.” Shingen replied.

“But I do have some others here I think you will like.” She was then holding up a box of what he had come to recognize as candy. She opened the box and pulled out a few of the treats. They were colorful. “These are called M&M’s. They’re one of my favorites.” She was then holding one of the colorful candies up to his lips.

Shingen smiled as he parted his lips and allowed her to slip the treat inside. It was sweet, but he was pleasantly surprised when he bit into the candy. The colorful part was only a shell! Inside was chocolate, that VERY delicious sweet Ava had introduced him to earlier. It had quickly become a favorite.

“Good, right?” Ava asked.

Shingen nodded. “Very. We’re going to have to bring some of these back home with us.”

Ava giggled and nodded. “I think I agree.”

The lights were soon turning off and the movie was starting. Shingen watched the movie for a little while. He did want to see what this was. Seeing the visuals on such a large screen…it was really quite something. But of course, he couldn’t help but to let his mind wander to his beautiful wife next to him. Nor could he not think about what she had said about the dating customs.

Shingen wore a grin as he pretended to yawn and stretch until his arm was around Av’s shoulders. He could hear her quiet laughter as she snuggled closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. It was very much like when they watched movies together at the apartment. Just with a larger screen…and they were in a public place.

He turned his head to kiss the top of Ava’s head. Then her forehead. Her cheek. Until she finally turned her head so that he could kiss her lips. That one kiss turned into several playful kisses. Ava’s hands came to rest on Shingen’s chest as their kisses continued. Shingen happily indulged in Ava’s kisses, but made a conscious effort to hold himself back as they were still in public, even if it was in the dark. The more serious stuff could wait until they got back to the apartment.

Back in the Sengoku…

Yukimura was returning to his room late that night after a very long and stressful day. “How does Lord Shingen do this all the time?” He muttered.

“Rough day?”

Yukimura looked up at the sound of Saki’s voice. She was already in her night clothes, her long auburn hair down. She was lying on top of the futon on her stomach with her upper half propped up and her legs bent at the knee, holding her feet up in the air.

As soon as he saw her there, all of his troubles seemed to melt away. “It wasn’t so bad.” He answered. “What are you doing already in bed?” He asked.

“Just relaxing while I waited for you.” Saki answered, a smile on her face. “You should go take your evening bath and then come back here and relax with me.”

“A bath does sound nice.” Yukimura replied. “Though…it would be better if you were with me.”

Saki giggled. “I don’t think there would be anything relaxing about it then.” She teased.

“I don’t know…” Yukimura replied, walking over to the futon and kneeling down before gently pushing Saki over onto her back. He then hovered over her. “I do find myself much less stressed after making love to you.”

“Hmmm…that is a good point. You do always seem more relaxed.” She agreed. “But you had better go get your bath first. I don’t want your stink getting all over me.”

Yukimura frowned at her teasing. “I do not stink…and I would think you’d like smelling like me. Isn’t that why you started using the same soap as me? Or why you like to steal my haori sometimes?”

Saki’s cheeks reddened. “I’ve no idea what you’re talking about, Yukimura.”

Yukimura playfully pinched her cheeks. “You’re so cute.” He told her, leaning down to press his lips to hers.

It didn’t take long for the kiss to escalate. Clothes were soon coming off and passionate sighs and moans soon filled the silence of the room.

Afterwards the pair laid together, Yukimura holding Saki close. Saki was smiling up at him. “I’m glad to see that frown gone and your smile back.” She said, her fingers dancing over his cheek and rubbing that spot between his brows. “I thought you were going to end up with a permanent furrow right here.”

“Would you love me any less?” Yukimura asked.

Saki smiled. “Of course, not. I’d just have to start calling you my grumpy old man.”

“Hey…”

Saki silenced him with a kiss. “My CUTE grumpy old man.” She said with a teasing smile.

“I’ll show you cute.” Yukimura replied and then began to tickle her.

Saki laughed, but fought back, going to tickle Yukimura’s sides. The couple was soon falling into a giggling, laughing, breathless mess. 

Slowly they calmed down and were getting back to cuddling. “I didn’t even ask…how was your day?” Yukimura asked, feeling like a dope. As soon as he got in there all he could think about was getting in bed with Saki. He hadn’t even stopped to find out if she’d had a stressful day.

“Pretty normal really.” She answered with a shrug. “Oh, I got a letter from my parents today.”

“Oh? Are they doing well?”

Saki nodded. “Yup. Really well in fact. They’re actually planning a visit.”

“Really?” Yukimura asked, surprised. “I guess they miss you, huh?”

Saki shrugged. “I suppose. But they really want to come because they want to meet you.”

Yukimura blinked. “Why would they wanna meet me?”

“I don’t know…maybe because I told them about my handsome lover.” Saki answered.

“Wait…you told them I was your lover?”

“Are you not? I mean we did just get finished making love…which we have started doing just about every night. I’ve moved into your room with you…”

“That’s not what I meant.” Yukimura replied. “I meant…they aren’t gonna think…”

“Think what? Think you’re bad for stealing their daughter’s virtue or something?” Saki asked. “Which, just so you know you didn’t.”

“Saki, that’s not what I meant…but I mean…”

“All they’re gonna want to do is see that I’m happy and see that you’re a good guy.” Saki assured him. “And trust me, they’re gonna love you just like I do.”

Yukimura smiled. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because you may be a dummy, but you’re my dummy and you make me happy.” She answered. “And you’re a good man, Yukimura. That’s all that will matter to them.”

“You really think I’m a good man?”

“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be in your arms right now.” Saki answered.

Yukimura hugged Saki closer. “I love you, you know.”

“I know.” Saki replied. “I love you, too.”

Taglist: @limonzu @zulablaise @oda-princess @kisara-16 @tele86 @lovely-bubb1es @lucyw260 @selenacosmic

@bjorkshire-pudding @eventinelysplayground

[gcantread]

August 2024 reads

[loved liked ok nope dnf bookclub*]

My Lady Jane • The Wild Robot • Our Hideous Progeny • The Hero and the Crown • The Screwtape Letters • The Seventh Veil of Salome • Our Shouts Echo • Villette • The Lies of Alma Blackwell • The Mercy of Gods • Mistress of Lies • Lady Macbeth • Go to Hell • Lucy Undying

I read 14 books in August! (Well, ok, I'm on track to finish the last two today.) It was a busy reading month for me due to tons of ARCs and new releases (8/14 of this list!), which resulted in an "all my library holds are ready at once ougsfshfh" situation. I also once again checked out a few books in order to see if they're worth reading in future years of @bellasbookclub.

My Lady Jane ★★★☆☆ - A very silly time that often reads more like upper-middle-grade than YA. A skip for TV show fans, but the tween furry community should be overjoyed.

The Wild Robot ★★★★★ - An adorable (and yet surprisingly death-y) kids' book that (🤞) should make a fantastic movie. The illustrations alone bump this one up a few stars.

Our Hideous Progeny ★★★★☆ - The last (?) of my BBC Summer Reading Challenge 2024 picks! Has a slow start but man, if you give me an undead abomination plesiosaur who is also a cute little guy, I am seated. Could have been a five star read if it were just a lil gayer and more Creature-forward!

The Hero and the Crown ★★★☆☆ - Read this one to screen it for @bellasbookclub, so I shan't say any details (yet.)

The Screwtape Letters ★★★☆☆ - Another BBC screening but nope nah I'm not gonna make us read The Christianity Book. Did not make me repent of my godless Jezebel ways even a little bit, but gets three stars because it's nevertheless a fascinating glimpse of C.S. Lewis as a person. Next time I'll stick to The Good Place though.

The Seventh Veil of Salome ★★★★1/2 - Speaking of godless Jezebels: Silvia Moreno-Garcia and I have the same biblical blorbo!! I haven't loved any of Moreno-Garcia's work since Mexican Gothic, but finally, this one was another slam dunk for me! As a Salome (1893) enjoyer and understander I'm so glad SMG is one of us. The main (Hollywood Golden Age) parts were also deftly rendered—this was the first truly well-executed Karen Villain I've encountered.

Our Shouts Echo ★★★★☆ - A really sweet and enjoyable contemporary YA coming-of-age + romance that somehow pulled off its nuanced optimism without being preachy or precious. Dare I say...actual hopepunk? An ARC from ALA Annual.

Villette ★★★☆☆ - Another book club screening. [Helga voice] I hated this book but I loved this book but I hated this book but I loved this book. Dammit, it's just so memeable. See you in hell 2025 probably

The Lies of Alma Blackwell ★★★1/2☆ - A decent YA ghost story with immaculate creepy, witchy, & haunted house vibes and some fun tropey romance (sure, why not?) Another ARC.

The Mercy of Gods ★★★★☆ - Ensemble-driven alien invasion story in which a team of wet babygirl science geeks must prove their worth to their new Giant Fucked Up Bug overlords and also one of them is a parasitic hivemind but we don't know which. Unsinkable concept but the writing makes it even better. One for the grown up Animorphs kids (Yes I know I rated it less than Wild Robot, but Wild Robot is a 5-star quality kids' book, while Mercy of Gods is an imperfect but riveting adult novel that I connected with on a more personal level.)

Mistress of Lies ★★★☆☆ - 2nd-to-last in my self-imposed (Review-) Bombed Books Week Challenge. A generous rounding up to three stars because I like the concept and it had a strong start before...plateauing for 200 pages. (Where were the titular LIES?) Very little actually happened and yet my laconic review is somehow "do less."

Lady Macbeth ★★★★☆ - More of an original story with some names in common than a retelling (Macbeth fans be forewarned. Y'all remember the dragon? You know, the dragon that's in Macbeth?) I tired of how repetitive the assault-as-motif became, but there were some very cool plot choices and Ava Reid's prose is gorgeous as ever. Kind of Green Knight vibes!

Go to Hell ★★★1/2☆ - Another ARC, this one a nonfiction travel guide to IRL destinations that are either associated with Hell/underworld mythology or just hellish places in general. Taught me a lot more folklore and history than your average travel guide!

Lucy Undying ★☆☆☆☆ - Hilarious of me to read two retellings in a row. Unlike Macbeth, I feel deep personal affection for Dracula, which meant this book wold have made me silver_linings_playbook.gif it out the window if I hadn't been reading on my phone. If I had never read Dracula, I miiiight have liked this? (jk I finished it and can now definitively say I would not have.) The prose was decent and I liked Lucy's modern-day love interest, Iris, but this author clearly graduated from the "lesbians must hate and deride all men all the time and be proven right in this view when every single man tries to harm them" school of writing sapphic characters, and since the book was basically encouraging me to paranoid-read, it set off both my "clumsy writing" and "...is this a t3rf?" alarms. tl;dr Mina and Jonathan and Van Helsing and Seward and Arthur and Quincey and Berserker the wolf and even Mr. Swales (slandering Mr. Swales?? Is nothing sacred??) deserved SO much better. Now I'll have to reread Dracula to cleanse myself

DNFs: None! Although Lucy Undying certainly tried my patience.

August superlatives

Next up:

September is another new release-filled month! I'm on track to finish my Bombed Books Week Challenge with The Empire Wars by Akana Phenix and then the unreleased Crown of Starlight itself, so I can satisfy my intellectual curiosity of how it compares to the books its author tried to sabotage. (Which attempted sabotage was an abhorrent action I 100% condemn. Toss aside those large rocks, I've been supporting the targeted authors at my local bookstore and library.)

In less dramatic goals, I've got an ARC of Ruin Road by Lamar Giles I'm eager to check out, and I can't wait for Long Live Evil to be ready at the library. We've also got our first official Bella's Book Club read of Season 3, which should be fun (hint: it's an Austen!)

previous months:

july