#it's just that i so wish i wasn't this awkward and didn't resort to this specific awkward persona when i meet new ppl

[seaofreverie]

Anyway, I went, yay

I want to visit a place i've been thinking about visiting for several months now but that's scary

[fairytsuk1]

four seasons | (s)

apart of the meet cute: gone wrong series, click here for more!

prompt: meeting at a holiday resort, both with friends or family tagging along

pairing: bakugou katsuki x reader

words: 5.4k

warnings: enemies to lovers, strangers to lovers, spin the bottle, marijuana mentioned, alcohol, drunk sex, begging

It's everything you thought it'd be and more. The sun shines on you in a bright gleam that warms your skin. Your plans had finally made it out of the group chat! This was going to be the best vacation ever. Your sandals slap against the concrete as you trod to your friends with your luggage.

"Hey! Can you guys believe this? It's so beautiful!"

Ayami beams, her short hair bouncing as she nods eagerly, "I can already feel myself re-energizing! All this nature and ocean—oh, it's going to be wonderful!"

Ryoka's hand slips around her girlfriend's waist with a relaxed smile. "Hell yeah. We should go ahead and check-in."

"Already done! No need to thank me," Natsumi brags as she flings the dark oak door open, "had to do it since you guys were taking your sweet time getting out of the car!"

Your cheeks hurt from how much you're smiling. You must've done something heroic in your past life, maybe saving a war-torn city, to have this warm feeling fluttering in your chest. The resort is made better with your friend's banter and complimentary slippers that sink into plush carpet. 

An attendant explains things in a blur, yet your eyes are locked onto the glittering ripples of water that peek through a window. The pool is on the first floor, she says. And don't forget to ____, you ignore. Soon enough, all four of you are dashing to claim a spot on white resin lounge chairs. It feels like a dream when your manicured toes glisten under the hot summer air. It becomes more like a fairy tale when your wandering eyes land on something interesting.

He's hot. Scratch that; he's more than hot! Lecherous eyes start at sopping blonde hair pushed back by muscled biceps and veiny forearms. The way the water rolls down his back is absolutely sinful. Even his abs flex as he cockily smirks, pushing back against his red-headed friend during their game of roughhousing.

Not only is he easy on the eyes, but he looks like he fucks, which is the perfect maraschino cherry on top. You could bite into him, and it'd be sugary sweet as the sticky juice runs red down your jugular. Yeah, you could eat him alive and he'd love it. Confidence thrums through you, and you know your time is now. At the same time, he stands casually in the water, merely observing and completely unaware.

You slip in effortlessly and unnoticed, lurking like a shark behind him as you plan your words before making yourself known.

"Hey," you chirp, hands wading in the water.

You expect him to turn to you with a sly smile; maybe he'd grow close and lean on the pool edge as he asked for your name and whether you were single. Only he didn't do any of that. His eyes scan you like you're a drab beige wall, and then he has the nerve to shrug you off.

"Hey."

It's awkward. It's tense. It's very unexpected.

"What's your–"

"I don't need a drink right now," he dismisses with a casual wave.

It actually stuns you into silence. Your mouth drops open and then closes, and then opens again, "I-I'm not a worker! Do workers wear bikinis where you're from?"

The man sneers at your reaction and finally turns to face you. He's taller, broader, and you wish he wasn't so fine because he was turning out to be such a dick. You stand up straighter, squaring your shoulders to stare frustratedly into his eyes.

"No, but I don't bother paying attention to extras when I'm trying to relax," and lewd eyes dip down to your cleavage, "but maybe I can spare you some time."

"An extra!? Oh, fuck you!"

It comes out harshly, and your bottom lip droops as you stare at him: "I just came by to introduce myself, but never mind. I'm leaving."

"Then introduce yourself, or did I scare ya' off?"

You've never met a man so bold. A man with the audacity to call you an extra and still so obviously commit your curves to memory. Introductions come out in a stutter from you with warm cheeks, "and what's your name, so I can report your behavior with the front desk."

"It's Bakugou," he grunts. "Be my guest."

"I will," you challenge.

"How about I report you for harassment, hah?"

"You insulted me first!"

Bakugou shrugs with a smirk. It irritates you beyond belief to see his smug little face. The sun burns too bright and hot on you two, firing you up and encouraging you to storm out of the pool. Bakugou takes the opportunity to leer at your ass as you crawl out the side, wet swim skirt sticking to your curves and making him tug his bottom lip between his teeth.

"Damn," he grunts as you prissily walk off.

Perhaps he judged you too harshly. But then he thought about it, and you just seemed like a spoiled brat. A pretty one but a brat nonetheless. He didn't take things like that. He reassures himself under his breath, but his thoughts know what he's really thinking about: sliding those wet bikini bottoms off you and spreading your legs. It would be all for him, too. You did approach him first.

You, however, collect your things in a huff. Your move to the other end of the pool may have been petty, but you don't care. Things had to be thought through. Was it worth actually pursuing this sexy asshole guy? As you type a pro-con list into your phone, Ryoka pats your shoulder, "Are you planning on missing the game for your phone?"

The exercise will do you some good. After squeezing your friend's hand and promising to return after you change, you opt to release your frustrations on a good game of volleyball.

After a bit, it's even hotter and you've only gotten sexier. It's important to note as Bakugou stares at you from the sidelines. Sure, you were prissy, but your body was killer, and the snarl escaping you every time you spiked the ball sent wrecking balls of fantasy into his mind. You were a spitfire, and Bakugou tries to swallow the flush when you look at him in an intense adrenaline haze.

A block. A quick run to the side for a spike. Light cheering. This was the sweet escape you needed, giving you just enough space to let out your blood thirst. If you had fangs, then you'd be chomping at everyone's face! You were in the groove. Your eyes pass over him easily. And then you meet again.

Parted, pink lips with beads of sweat on your upper lip. Your hair falls messily, framing your face with sticky strands as your dark eyes pierce Bakugou's. For a minute, neither of you seems to exist in this reality. You both stay in this limbo for a second longer than you should before your head snaps forward to bump an incoming ball. Bakugou’s frozen to the core with genuine butterflies in his stomach. He doesn't even think this has ever happened to him before, or even that it ever would.

A whistle is blown, and you’re cheering with your team. It always felt good to win. It was even better when you knew you had eyes on you.

"Good game, good game! Yeah, you did amazing, Ayami…" You towel off as you relish in the glow of your success. It wasn't all due to you, but you were being a bit of a try-hard.

You don't even notice how Bakugou makes his way through the crowd. How his lips curl into a frown as someone bumps into him, and how he taps your shoulder with a gruff, "Hey."

Your head turns with hair that cracks like a whip. Obviously, you recognize him immediately. You're not happy.

"Hey," you mutter, toweling off and ready to escape. "Nice seeing you."

"Wait a minute," Bakugou's hand curls around your wrist, and you're so irritated to feel heat rush through you at seeing the sinewy muscle move. "Lemme talk to you."

"I gotta get in the shower. So, no."

"You're being stubborn. I'm sorry for earlier," he huffs with eyes that lack the confidence to look straight at you. "Let me buy you a soda or somethin'."

"What makes you think I want a soda from you, an extra?"

He almost wants to shout in your face, but he knows there's no way around that. Bakugou mumbles about not meaning it while kicking at the ground, and your posture stays stiff. It happens so quickly you almost miss it, but you catch a glimpse of a smile on his lips.

"What's so funny?! You're a real jerk, laughing and everything when you insulted me and–"

"You're all defensive at being called an extra. It's cute." 

"I have a name," you nearly stomp your foot in exasperation despite the flush crawling up your skin.

"I forgot. You stuttered it out last time," he provokes calmly with a tilt of his head. Really, he just wants to hear that pretty name on your lips again.

You try to tell yourself that there's no time to think about the compliment that flies and waves in the air like a kite. You introduce yourself calmly, emphasizing the syllables and ensuring he gets it.

Bakugou repeats your name so slowly. So pointedly, velvety tongue and eyes narrowing. You could imagine him whispering it into your neck as strong hips hump to meet yours. Maybe in the morning, with a kiss on the cheek and the taste of coffee on your tongue. He puts so much care into repeating your name that you almost cave when he asks if you want to get smoothies together.

You're a strong, independent woman. That and, well, his pissed-off face was sexy. Your glossy lips smirk at him as you cock your hip, "Sorry, I'm getting drinks with friends. I'll catch you later, though, yeah?"

"...Alright, yeah."

The way you ditch him in the dust leaves him half-chubbed in his shorts. God, you were such a cock tease. If only he could kiss you and show you what you're missing out on by playing cat and mouse. Thick fingers adjust his shorts, and Bakugou pushes his hair back, opting to turn back to his friends indulging in flower necklaces and drunk karaoke.

If you wanted to be the mouse, he had no problem being the cat.

Everything's clear-headed and far too boring and bright. Within time and the coaxing with your friends; you're grinning ear to ear after too many puffs of a joint and sips of cocktails. Things tilt around you, and the music sounds irresistible as you feel the rhythm lend you dance moves. Everything feels like ecstasy as you twirl in circles with your crew. The alcohol was flowing, and you were starting to have that craving for closeness as things ramped up and up.

Natsumi practically topples you over as she blushes into your face. "Come with me. I made some friends."

“Friends? What kinda friends?”

 "Don’t ask, just go. Come on, you have to! They’re cool, you really gotta meet 'em," your friend pleads as you give her a reluctant look.

"Well, okay…"

Natsumi hiccups as she escorts you a few tables over. She giggles about someone being your type, and there's a real worry that the alcohol is clouding her mind, and you’re about to have to reject a loser.

"Hey, Natsumi! I was wondering where you went!"

A yellow-toned boy speaks up, face flushed as he waves a sloppy hand from where he rests on a beachy pull-out. Next to him, Bakugou nurses a rum and coke, eyes red and cast downward towards the ground. They lazily crawl a path up to your eyes, a bit woozy but flickering with recognition.

No fucking way. Of course, he's here, and of course, he looks fantastic! You know your dress looks immaculate. There was no denying that, but Bakugou left your mouth embarrassingly dry. His white button-up was nice, but it was more about what it revealed; tanned skin and the promise of more the further you looked. As you looked down at his body, Bakugou looked up at yours.

As you sit down, you can't help but open your mouth, "What are you doing here?"

"My friends dragged me out, I could be sleeping by now."

You find yourself letting out a small laugh and turning toward him with interest. He really wasn't so bad.

“You sleep early?”

“You don’t?”

Amid it all, Bakugou and you end up squished together as the budding love story of your two friends blossoms. Every time their heated make out spills into limbs crossing over into your bubble, you grunt in frustration, inevitably scooting closer to your frenemy with a slight sway.

"She is so ridiculous," you comment on Natsumi with a slight huff. "So is your friend, by the way."

"Maybe they're made for each other," he snorts.

A beat of silence passes by as you both observe each-other. It was really more like admiring, though.

 "Why're you so standoffish? I said I was sorry, called you pretty, ‘nd you don't wanna give me another chance?"

He grumbles when he says it but looks curious as his teeth sink into his lip for a split second. You almost get lost in the motion as you unconsciously lean closer like a moth to a flame.

"I didn't peg you as someone who begged."

"Sometimes you make mistakes, hm? And I'm not begging, babe, trust me."

The conversation dies, but the tension grows larger. The way his voice dropped made your thighs squeeze together. Blood flowed south as Bakugou traced over your red lips and briefly down to your cleavage–nice, he smirked.

"Well, whatever," you pray the sip of your lychee martini gives you a long enough reprieve to think of how to coyly flirt back. "What are you doing here anyway? Vacationing? Dying of an illness and this is your last hoorah?"

"Just relaxing. What're you doing besides bein' a brat. Spending daddy's money?"

"I paid for this trip myself, actually!"

"I like a smart woman," he says, moving to brush his thumb lightly against your cheek. He pulls away just as fast, and you can smell the breeze of his icy cologne. "I paid for myself, too. Can't rely on anyone or anything!"

You see the mask slip just a second. The calm persona dropped to reveal his boyish grin and messy hair.

"Yeah, you really can't."

It was so terrible that you knew deep down he was cute. You couldn't pretend at all. Now that you're starting to know him, you're falling head first into really liking him. You weren't sure if your girls' trip vacation could withstand a passionate, whirlwind romance.

"Oh my god, you know what would be totally fucking fun right now? What if we played a game? You guys know spin the bottle! C'mon," Natsumi beams excitedly.

"I haven't done that since I was still smoking cigarettes!" Ryoka shakes her head with a laugh.

"But, come on," she gives you all a pleading look. "If we haven't done it in forever, wouldn't it be fun to do it one last time?"

Natsumi's heartfelt yet drunken rambles strike a chord within all of you. You glance at Bakugou, who doesn't reply, only shrugging in acquiescence to the group. To hell with it, you call, raising your drink in the air.

"You know what, let's go for it! You're right, Natsumi."

Bakugou eyes you curiously as you stand to hug your friend with a slight wobble in your step. You had a point. To hell with it!

Moments later, you all were knee-rubbing, stumbling idiots sitting in a circle. The more you admire Bakugou as you sit across from him, the more you're hoping the stars align with the spin of the bottle. The kiss would be innocent. Fun and games. It meant nothing. That's what you told yourself to repent for your future sins.

A bead of sweat glides down the back of your neck as the glass goes round and round. You watch as Natsumi eagerly kisses a flushed Kaminari, who is all too eager to receive it. Ryoka and Ayami are familiar but sweet. Kirishima lands a peck on you, but it's nothing crazy.

You miss the way Bakugou's eyes glitter with disappointment every time the green bottle spun past him mockingly, taunting him deviously with the promise of vodka-tinged kisses. Only then do you both find a line drawn between point A, you, and point B, him.

"Finally," Ryoka slurs out.

Suddenly, you're nervous. You're nervous as you sit up a bit more and scoot closer over the bottle containing the will of fate. He looks calm and relaxed, his eyelids lowered just enough to make him look… wanting. Knees graze the carpet as you inch closer until you both can feel each other's breath.

The music is still bumping. The alcohol is still flowing, yet you're stuck in this standstill with nothing to break you out of your reverie. Other than the kiss that's planted on your lips, Bakugou tastes like rum and mint gum. You wonder if you taste like lychee, or maybe you'll mix into an entirely new flavor that leaves you both with incessant cravings.

You're unsure when or who pulls away first, but it happens. Your butt plops down right as the round of giggles surrounds you. Bakugou smirked as he sat back, crossing his legs and taking a smug swig of his drink. It was unfair that you were left dazed; he was the reason for it all.

You okay? He mouths over the talking that's come instead of the next bottle spin.

Are you? You ask with a smirk, flipping your hair in jest.

Bakugou rolls his eyes, shaking his head with a full-on grin. You feel something fond bloom in your chest. Something that makes the sound of ringing bells when you see that flash of teeth and a glimpse of a slick tongue. Someone suggests dancing, and pairs of legs come into view as they stumble out as a crew, a unit. There are two missing cogs. You both stay sitting and facing each other.

"I thought you said you were okay," he jokes as he scoots closer.

You realize you have a tendency to mimic him, "I am. You're the one who didn't even try to pretend to follow."

"I don't pretend anything, pretty. I do and say what I mean."

There's a beat of silence, and your clit throbs at the tone of his voice.

"You know what I mean?"

His voice is deep, almost mocking, as he croons at you. You're going to fuck. It might be now, on the last day of your resort, but it would happen. Set in stone, if you will.

"I think I do."

"Mhm. Let's go dance, gotta show you what a real dancer looks like."

Bakugou offers a firm hand and pulls you up like you weigh nothing. It makes you feel tiny, and you wonder if the same effect will happen as you sway your hips against his dick.

You find yourself dancing to Nelly, and hearing lulls about being a promiscuous girl. It makes satisfaction thrum in your chest at having success in your findings. Grinding did, indeed, produce the same effect. Bakugou was trying to dominate your form, and you let it happen.

Bit by bit, you find yourself caring less about the group and becoming more preoccupied with Bakugou. You let him buy you drinks, giggling as your hands jokingly interlace before you pull away coyly. He only smirks at you, chasing you wherever you go, as if he didn't want you to forget him in your intoxicated parade.

He tells you to call him Katsuki when you slur his last name out, gripping the white button as you pout tiredly, "I want to go back to my room."

"Since when am I your keeper, huh?"

Katsuki lays a steady hand on the curve of your waist and lets you fall into him.

"Don't be mean, we bonded sooo much. I thought you were this asshole guy, but you're actually kinda funny and sexy."

"I think I knew that last part. Remember when you tried this on me before?"

"Are you dumb enough to still reject me?"

"Nah, not this time," he says, making sure to drink in your gaze as he does.

Thankfully, you'd already had your first kiss. That made it easier for him to lean forward and press his lips against yours. The promise of something more, and you practically purred as you wrapped your arms around his broad shoulders. Katsuki's hands skirt down your back, down to your hips, and pull you so close, "You're sexy, too."

A bartender squawks at your behavior, and his voice floats over the music and sticky kisses to yell for you to get a room! The man at your side noses your neck and then juts forward.

"Come to my room," and he's so gruff. Like he knows you want this, "Wanna get you alone and see how feisty you are then."

You tug your bottom lip between your teeth. Surely, your friends would be fine; your eyes flit between him and the crowd dancing behind him. Yeah, they'd be alright. Your hand slips into his, and he's quick to tug you next to him by your waist. He makes you unsteady and chuckles, "Let's get goin', then."

Neither of you is composed as you tumble through Katsuki's–clearly luxurious–room onto his plush bed. He's not afraid to lift you with his raw strength and place you right where he wants you. It makes you laugh, tinged with shyness, as his red predatory eyes sweep over you before settling on your face.

It's silent as both eyes hold this deep, wanting gaze. He crawls closer, and you lay back further; he's on top of you with a forearm dipping into the mattress and a veiny hand supporting his weight. Katsuki doesn't touch you as if he's waiting for something. You can't wait anymore, and you're ungracefully yanking him closer till his body weight rests on you, and you can feel his hardness poking at your thigh.

He must have been waiting on you–the bastard! But you can't deny that feeling the rippling strength resting on your body and pressing you into the mattress feels good. You and Katsuki exchange saccharine kisses as your bodies grind together like you're one. He grits his teeth and takes a sharp inhale when your wandering hand brushes against his bulge, "don't, fuck, don't do that."

"Why? Sensitive?"

Katsuki's vermilion eyes meet yours and narrow, "you're such a tease, you know?"

His voice is low and honeyed as he slowly peels your skirt from your thick thighs.

"All I did was ignore you the first time–"

"And then I did the second!"

Seemingly having had enough of your quips, a hush falls over you when his hand swats at your thigh, "Yeah, and you're still under me, begging for my cock. Ironic, right?"

He then snickers when sticky strings stretch from your slick pussy to the cotton underwear.

"She's beggin' too."

In a flash, he's lapping at your folds and groaning at how sweet you taste.

"Oh! Oh my god, w-wait!"

“Nuh-uh, no waiting.”

He's so messy with it. His chiseled nose bumps against your clit with every lap as he mixes spit with your leaking arousal; it's so debauched, and yet you're wailing for more as you try to push his face further between your thighs. Katsuki groans and your eyes meet right when he suckles your clit with his plush, rosy lips.

"Y-Your mouth's so good, ohfuck!"

Katsuki lets out a pleased hum before wrangling your squirming hips under a flexing forearm, "don' move too much. Wanna enjoy this, babe."

His right hand comes up to toy with your soaked hole. His teeth are sharp, and he's downright predatory in how he sinks two fingers into you. They're thicker than yours; a keening whimper escapes you.

"C'mon, tell me how it feels. Since you've been dyin' for it, I want a review, baby."

There's a wet clicking sound as fingers crook against that deliciously torturous spot, leaving stars bursting behind your eyelids.

“Gonna cum! Wanna cum, ‘mygod, ‘tsukiii!”

"Already? Such a needy girl," and he latches his tongue to your puffy clit, massaging it as your pleasure uncoils into a white-hot explosion.

Somewhere in the haze, you can hear Katsuki murmuring, "Good girl, good girl," and leaving sharp kisses on your inner thighs. He chuckles at how you jump, how cute, and sighs into your neck before biting your pulse point.

"Holy fuck," you mumble, hands wringing into his shirt as he peels off his shirt and makes his way up yours.

"You alright? Looked like things were good," and he has the nerve to snicker at you. "It's okay to admit it."

"You're such a cocky bastard. When are you gonna fuck me?"

Katsuki's hands are practically already in his pants as he unbuckles his belt. He shoves his jeans down, and your eyes widen at how big he looks, the fat head leaving a dark patch of pre-cum against his gray boxers. You're coming closer as he tugs off his underwear, leaving him exposed. His cock bobs, smearing on his navel, while a throaty groan escapes his lips once you wrap a soft hand around him. He's so hot and weighty in your hand that you can feel how he practically pulses in your hand; you can't help but want to go in for a little taste…

He's gentle as thick fingers press back on the crown of your head, a tut escaping his lips as he shakes his head, "No way. I'll cum way too fast, wanna give it to you good."

The scratchiness of his voice leaves your thighs pressing together. Katsuki kisses you before motioning for you to settle on your hands and knees.

"Like this?"

You're practically mewling at him! Your back arches so tauntingly, cute butt perked up in the air and swaying back and forth. Katsuki draws close, and your eyelids are fluttering when his fat head bumps against your soaked folds, "ohfuck, stop admiring me already."

"And here I thought you wanted it all nice and sweet," and you're whimpering as the head barely breaches past your pussy. "But, I'll give it to ya' how you like it."

With that, his hands are smoothing over the curve of your back as his heavy balls press against your pussy clit. You're already caving for him, with eyes threatening to roll towards the ceiling as his hips stick to yours. He's so full inside you that you can barely move, barely breathe, only able to leak around him as he grunts, "so fuckin' tight. 'S like you're a virgin."

"Katsukiii. Fuck, pleasepleaseplease move!"

He hums thoughtfully, hips rocking just the slightest inside your gummy walls.

"Ask me again," and he punctures it with a thrust that leaves you breathless.

"Please, wanna feel you fuck me. I-I've been waiting for your annoying ass, I wanna cum so bad…"

The man behind you doesn't seem convinced, though his hips move just a tad faster. " C'mon. I know you can do it. What is it you want again?"

He's pushing you to your breaking point. Katsuki's strong enough that he can press forward and bend you further into that delicious arch, nearly fucking you into the mattress if he would just move!

"Oh god, fuck me. Need to feel you take control, Katsuki, I-I can't! I need you, need you so bad, 'm gonna cry. I jus' wanna feel you breed me, please!?"

"Was that so hard?"

Within seconds, he's hunkering down and fucking you within an inch of your life. Your hands desperately cling to the duvet as if that'll ground you, but he's moving too hard and fast!

"S-So deep, ohshit!"

"Ngh, yeah? You're fucking grippin' me, I love how you sound, how you taste, how you feel–fuuuuck. Let me have it, baby."

You're wailing as you gush around him. The smell of sex is overpowering, and your panting breaths mingle with Katsuki's. You can't help but push back just a bit, the two of you joined together so intimately. His muscles ripple with every rock into your cunt. You wish you could see how debauched he looks–though your ears are privy to the hot groans and curses flying out of him as he slides home over and over and over again.

Katsuki loses himself in your pussy, head tipping back to expose the expanse of his throat as his balls tighten with his orgasm. God, fuck, did you say to breed you? He tries to recover as he watches your sneaky hand desperately rub you till you're trying to run from his thrusts (to which he only tuts and brings you back full force towards him). The slick, papping sounds echo, and you're not even sure what you're saying as you wail for him.

"Oh, 'm gonna cum all over you. Ohfuckfuckfuck, wait! I-I'm gonna, Katsuki!"

"Yeah? Cum all over this dick, let me feel it. Fuck, 'm gonna cum too, gonna fill you up."

Your wrist twists another tight circle, and you're falling apart. Your thighs shake and tight walls squeeze Katsuki, trying to draw him as deep as possible as he hits your g-spot dead on. A cry escapes you, and you know his base is creamy from your orgasm. In the haze, you can tell he's close by how his fingers twitch around your hips; you start mewling weakly for him, "cum inside me. Ohmygod!!”

He's sure he's leaving bruises, and yet he doesn't even care as he shoots rope after rope inside you. God, your pussy sucks him in like it wants every drop; despite the sensitivity, Katsuki can't help but keep moving till you're whining from overstimulation. Pulling out slowly and giving your thigh a playful swat, the two of you practically collapse into the soft sheets.

Katsuki's hand quickly grabs your chin and pulls you to face him. " Are you good?"

With your hair mussed and bruises littering your body, you were more than good. A soft nod, and then you're scooting closer for warmth. Katsuki lets it happen to your joy, a strong arm wrapping around your waist as he hoists you close.

"Good, you gonna run off of me, now?"

"No. Are you?"

"It's my room, you stalker," he teases with a toothy grin. His features are relaxed, and his red eyes are a bit glazed.

He looks wonderful. Beautiful, even.

—

You review your mental checklist one last time as you pace about your room, door open. How could it have all ended so soon? You'd spent the rest of your days happily fucking, drinking, and soaking in the luxuries of the resort.

Katsuki lingers by the doorway. A flicker of fondness grows into a fire when you turn to see him and smile. When did he get so soft?

"Hey! What's up?"

"What's up? It's your last day, and you're what's upping me."

"Katsukiii," you drag out the syllables and catch the faintest smirk on his lips. "Don't get too sad while I'm gone."

"Please," he scoffs and rolls his eyes, the two of you making eye contact that holds longer than it should.

The two of you shouldn't be so dramatic; you should try to steel yourself. It's not like you've known each other for that long, Katsuki thinks before reaching out and pulling you into a loose hug.

"See ya," he grumbles.

"Hehe, text me! Call me whenever," you mumble into the muscle of his chest.

He smells like the start of a campfire, mixed with a cool cologne that wafts like the breeze of a nearby ocean. You pull away and look into the tides of his eyes, the Red Sea staring back at you, before he gently kisses your lips.

"I'll think about it. For now, I'll walk you out," and he wraps a possessive arm around your waist.

There was no other option; he was walking you out. You squawk at his comment, "That is not an 'I'll think about it' statement!"

"Oh, yeah? Well, lemme think on it."

"Stop it!"

[smalltownrobin]

Guys I've figured out a totally simple way they could have fixed rovickie in s4 and it's to do with a deleted scene.

SO we are all aware of the teeny tiny insignificant plot Robin and Vickie (Vickie in particular) had in s4; Robin likes Vickie but she's nervous, sees Vickie has a bf, Vickie sees Robin and has an internal bi panic, Vickie dumps bf and has a little gay stare with Robin while making sandwiches, boom done. But what did Vickie having a boyfriend actually do for rovickie's plot?

Short answer: nothing. Literally nothing. Robin was sad, yeah, but she got over it SO quickly and just decided there was bigger shit to deal with, job done. Her crush having a bf didn't affect her state of mind or her reason to fight, it just made her sort her priorities a little (which, considering Vickie wasn't even mentioned after the start of episode 2, she already had her priorities sorted). It gave them a little awkward meeting at the relief centre, but ultimately it did nothing to actually get them together.

Now if you have not seen this yet, lemme show you an official unused dialogue between Robin and Vickie that would have taken place during 4x08 at war zone:

I made this transcript from somebody's leaked audition tape for Vickie (which was posted in 2021 and included the pb&j scene word for word, so it's legit). It's not long, but oh it gives us a lot, SO much more than a longing jealous stare. Robin being an awkward disaster, beautiful. Vickie actually giving an explanation as to why she was even there and what her situation has been since the Vecna murders started, brilliant. And to top it all off? Vickie telling Robin to STAY SAFE. JUST BEFORE SHE GOES TO BATTLE VECNA IN THE UPSIDE DOWN.

Do you see DO YOU SEE how much better this is? They actually speak to each other, we get an insight into what's going on with Vickie herself, and it ends so tragically poetic with Vickie not even knowing what danger Robin was about to head into. This exchange could have given Robin a new reason to go into this battle, knowing how it's directly affecting the safety of someone she really cares about. Vickie also would have been able to fully take in Robin's post-upside down appearance, seeing her buying gasoline and weapons and being worried that this girl she probably perceives as so sweet and harmless (see the line "especially not you") is resorting to violence and maybe even suspecting she's more involved than she's letting her believe.

In the audition tape the pb&j scene stays exactly the same, so Vickie does still have a boyfriend here. But I don't think we need him at all (she doesn't need to go from dating a boy to a girl to count as bisexual, you know?). Their meeting at the relief centre could have been them silently and awkwardly feeling glad that each other is okay, Vickie could have rambled about the state of the town and her family's supposed overreaction to everything, they still could have had their cute peanut butter on peanut butter gay stare moment!!

This also could have lead well into s5, with Vickie coming to terms with her bisexuality and the fact SHE LIKES ROBIN, as well as her wanting to become more involved and help out and understand wtf is going on. All of this lack of build up could have been fixed with one little exchange THAT THEY WROTE THEMSELVES and just decided not to use.

And yeah I wish Vickie was still in the rest of the season more (I still firmly believe Vickie should have been at the library when Robin and Nancy showed up) or at least brought up every so often, but this 'what if' is already miles better than what we actually got.

Well here's to hoping s5 isn't just a painful repeat of this or else I might do something drastic.

[irenethewoman]

Mrs. Shelby - Chapter One- Escape (part 11)

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While walking with the boy, Finn, I couldn't help but wonder if his home might be a brothel. Was it possible that I'd have to resort to unsavory means to make a living? So, I engaged Finn in conversation, learning that he hailed from the Shelby family, with three brothers off at war and only a sister, sister-in-law, aunt, and the brothers' children at home. It didn't sound like the setting for a family-run brothel—probably not. Finn wasn't much of a talker; he carried himself like a miniature adult, quite endearing. I knew I was manipulating him, but I urged Finn not to divulge our true purpose. If he helped me keep this secret, I promised to bake delectable cakes for him, just like those displayed in London's bakery windows. I didn't mean to deceive his family; I was merely keeping certain details hidden. My survival depended on it. Finn's home was located at 6 Waterley Lane, a detail I committed to memory. Finn reached the door but hesitated to knock, so I placed my luggage down and rapped on the door myself. It swung open, and a pale girl with brown hair peered out. When she spotted Finn beside me, she embraced him, exclaiming, "Oh my god! You're finally back!" "Let me go, Ada, you're squeezing me too hard." Finn struggled in his sister's embrace, then cast a cautious glance in my direction. I pretended not to notice and found the situation rather amusing. Like my brother, even as he grew older, he remained wary of appearing awkward in front of ladies. "Who are you?" Ada inquired, turning her attention to me after releasing her brother. Suppressing my hunger-induced irritability , I mustered a sweet smile and replied, "Greetings, ma'am. I am Diana Turner."

As our eyes met, I sensed that this woman was the head of the household. Polly Shelby bore the countenance of a lioness guarding her territory, and her hair mirrored her fierce demeanor. Confronted with her seasoned gaze, I understood that I had to cast aside any pretense and disguises. It was only through sincerity that I could earn her trust, and I needed to appear as if I could be of use—useful vagrants were more likely to survive, as my father had once wisely remarked.

"Hello, madam, I am Diana Turner. My parents have passed away, and my relatives were planning to marry me off to an unsavory individual, intending to pilfer my inheritance. I arrived here with no other recourse, madam," I confessed, standing up as Polly entered the room. In that moment, I clutched the corners of my clothing, nervously rubbing the fabric. It wasn't an act; faced with such an awkward predicament, anyone would feel anxious and disoriented. Difficult times called for desperate measures, and in front of a woman exuding such a commanding aura as Polly Shelby, I needed to make myself appear as indispensable as possible—only then could I hope to survive. "I just wish to find employment and establish myself, madam. I harbor no ill intentions."

"Aunt Polly, you should keep her. The cakes she bakes are exquisite," Ada interjected.

Polly Shelby gave her a searching look. "You say you can calculate?" She looked at me, and I nodded. She then placed a worn notebook and a pen on the table, sliding them in my direction. I understood her unspoken request and bent my head to perform a quick calculation. Ten minutes later, I pushed the notebook back toward her. She glanced at the figures and nodded in approval.

"You may stay, Miss Turner, and contribute your skills to our household. But it would be best if I never discover any ulterior motives from you," Polly warned.

"No, ma'am," I assured her, relief washing over me as I realized I had found a temporary haven amidst the turbulence of my life.

[lucky-rabbits]

The Answer Doesn't Matter - (1/2)

Summary: After the events at Venus Splash Park, Rook stands alone on the beach with too many unwanted thoughts. But they won't be alone for much longer.

A/N: I'm not very good at writing and I'm kinda scared posting this since I have troubles spelling and other writing relating struggles. But i wanted to write the aftermath of the beach ep from Rook's point of view, mostly inspired by @snowpuffclovers who was sweet enough to borrow Rook for his own beach ep fic. So I'll be borrowing Tahnri for a second here too :)

This was originally written as one big fic but i decided to break it up into two parts, I'll be uploading pt. 2 in a few days! :]

Word Count: 1130

Rook never thought it was possible to see the past while moving forward. There was never anything they could look back on fondly and reminisce; the past was nothing more than shattered remains torn apart by injustice, betrayal and of course- the Punishing Virus. Rook outlived all these things and would continue to outlive many more calamities. Rook would never admit themself to be a victim, but they were always the one to be left behind, to rot.

But for once they were the one calling the shots, the one doing the shattering. And it didn't feel as good as they thought it would.

Rook was already displeased with having to be apart of the plan on Venus Splash Park: an island resort only accessible by boat, a boat that had both Roland and Gabriel onboard. They had never learned how to swim nor been to a beach before, but Rook had considered taking their chances in the deep sea. Maybe Lamia would have led them safely ashore.

But now Rook really wished they did jump overboard, drowning seemed much more pleasant compared to having to see their former Babylonian teammates again.

It was uncomfortable for them to deal with, Rook had never been much of a talker and gladly let Roland take the stage as the lead antagonist. Rook tried their best to avoid awkward eye contact with both Tahnri and Kamui, to look as bored and unattached as possible.

But in the end, Rook played their part as Luna expected them to and more. Even though they had to pick up Gabriel's slack, who had been so easily beat by the Cerberus captain and her dogs. But Rook had admit that the brief battle between Vera allowed them shake some of their nerves that had been building all day.

The day was over and the mission was complete, so now Rook stood in the sand looking out at the vast ocean that bleed into the night sky, lost in thought.

It wasn't long before Rook felt a hesitant tap on their shoulder which caused them to lurch suddenly, snapping them out of their thoughts. Rook heard a high pitched squeak come from behind them before turning to look up at a very started Lamia.

"A-ah! You scared me!" the hybrid construct yelped, as if she wasn't the one who was just poking at Rook to get their attention.

"Did something happen?" Rook quickly forced themself back into reality, turning their attention to the girl towering over them.

"N-no…! I-i was just wondering if you were ok! You fought against that s-scary construct lady and you've been standing here not moving all night..!" Lamia stammered, expressing genuine concern.

"Oh. No I'm fine, don't worry."

"T-thank goodness! I didn't want to be alone with Roland and Gabriel again if you died!"

"I'm not dying anytime soon. I can hold my own in a fight, until like Gabriel apparently" Rook scoffed, that oaf really was useless.

Rook then took a second to look around the nearly deserted beach. Squinting, they could see Luna and Alpha in the distance wearing…….. swimsuits? Odd. But understandable. The two sisters probably wanted to spend at least one night pretending to be normal girls in a normal world.

"I..I wanted to leave m-miss Luna and her sister alone together s-so i came to find you instead!' Lamia spoke, following Rook's line of sight.

"Where did the others go?" Rook stared wistfully at the sisters for a few moments longer before turning her attention back to Lamia.

"W-well I think Gabriel was injured and went to take care of himself, as for Roland I…I don't know where he went…" Lamia stuttered and looked around nervously, as if Roland were the one who could make himself invisible at will and not her.

"I guess it's just you and m--" Rook was then interrupted by the loud explosion of fireworks from the other side of the Island.

"A-AH!" Lamia attempted to cower behind Rook even thought she was much taller with her non-human mechanical legs.

"Hey chill out, they're just fireworks. Babylonia seems to be having a party over there." Rook spoke bitterly, trying to fight back a visible sneer. Still, Rook could feel their stomach drop knowing that their old teammates-- and friends, were enjoying themselves so close by. Rook tried to shake the thoughts away, it was useless thinking about this at all.

The fireworks lasted for a few more minutes before the sounds of explosions and flashes of color in the sky eventually subsided. Rook turned back towards Lamia and the once timid girl was now looking up at the sky with sense of awe.

"Do all parties have fireworks like that…?"

The innocent question made Rook smile for a brief moment, sometimes Lamia really reminded them of the kids they used to know before the Punishing Virus outbreak.

"Typically fireworks were saved for much bigger celebrations" Rook paused. "But I've never been to a beach before, let alone a beach party"

"Is that why you can't swim? Y-you've never had a place to practice?" Lamia asked, it was a genuine question but it caused Rook to tense up and quickly swing their head around.

"Who told you that!?" Rook nearly barked, which caused Lamia to yelp and jump back.

"A-AH! I-it was Roland! H-he mentioned you looked n-nervous on the boat ride h-here!"

"Uhg that bastard…! He's gotta be around here somewhere. I'll kill him." Rook groaned and started to look around the deserted beach again, looking up a few times into the amusement park.

"W-wait! I can t-teach you how to swim, I'm v-very good at it!" Lamia reached her hands out to pull Rook towards the water and it was their turn to jump backwards with a yell.

"N-no! I'm sure you're a very good teacher Lamia but my frame is not waterproof. I'm not going in willingly!" Rook held their hands up and took a few more steps back.

"Oh… a-alright. I can teach you if the future, if you want." Lamia looked more dejected than startled for once, but left things at that. "I-I think I'll go for a swim and maybe see what the Babylonian beach party is about."

"Alright, Be careful though." Rook stopped themself in time from going full lecture mode on the poor girl, this wasn't the Golden Age anymore and Rook had no reason to treat Lamia like a helpless child.

And with that, Lamia gave them a shy wave before disappearing back into the sea. Leaving Rook alone on the beach once again.

With a sigh, Rook gave one last look at Luna and Alpha in the distance before turning to walk towards the amusement park entrance. Time to go find Roland.

[bella-rose29]

Not Your Lover - Chapter 6 (18+ version)

This is the 18+ version of Chapter 6.

For the safer version (whether that be because you're under 18 or just don't want to read it), please go here <3 (I tried my best to make it less explicit, so please please please let me know if I need to edit anymore because I wanna make sure that everybody can enjoy reading)

Word count: 4.2k

Warnings: swearing, sex, like really explicit oral I won't lie to you, look away if you're not comfy with that (I'm sorry), davor is still stalking bc he has no life or personality

Tag list: idk who to tag tbh so I've tagged everyone in the safer part and linked this version to it :)

Y/n and Nikolai had settled into a routine within the first two days of staying in the same room, and he was starting to blur the lines in his head of what was real and what was fake.

It was dangerous, walking this line, especially since one wrong move could ruin everything that the two of them had built, but Nikolai knew that he was extremely close to throwing himself fully past reality. They had kept the pillow wall the first night, but when they had woken in roughly the same position as they had the first time that they shared a bed it made sense to forgo the divider completely. Neither of them appeared to be acknowledging it while asleep, and it saved some effort in the evening when they were getting ready for bed.

Work on the building had continued in much the same way as before, although Nikolai noticed that there was a little more tension in the air than usual. None of this was helped by the fact that he couldn't let his demon out at night anymore, and had resorted to staying late at the mansion after Y/n had headed back to the hotel room so that it stopped giving him a headache. Davor was still watching the two of them, following Nikolai around when he tried to go on a late night walk to take his demon fishing, and it was starting to get annoying. He had half a mind to confront the man, but somehow whenever Nikolai actually wanted to see Davor, he wasn't anywhere to be found. Y/n had mentioned that he was doing the same to her, but she didn't seem nearly as bothered about it.

Currently they were working on the floorboards of the first room, having pulled up the old ones and throwing them out, and Nikolai couldn't help but stare at Y/n every now and then as she worked. His demon snickered at him in his head, and Nikolai muttered a quiet "shut up" under his breath.

"Sorry? Did you say something?"

"Huh? No, nothing."

"Oh. Never mind."

They worked in silence again after that, the only sounds being the new floorboards being put down.

By the time sunset came around a few hours later, they'd managed to lay the whole floor, and Nikolai had replaced the windows, letting in the evening sun. He wiped his brow, wishing more than anything that he could take off some layers (but that would mean showing his scars for longer than a few seconds, and he didn't feel like having that conversation with Y/n yet. She'd probably also stab him or something).

"You alright? You look pretty sweaty."

"Yeah, I'm alright. Hopefully this heatwave brings in tourists," he replied, turning to look at her. That was a mistake, apparently, since he couldn't do anything but think about how gorgeous she looked in the golden light streaming in and lighting up her skin, making her look ethereal.

He was so screwed, and he knew that there wasn't any coming back now. He'd very nearly kissed her the other night, when she'd come in crying about her mother and he'd wiped away her tears, but the demon just had to pick that moment to make a noise. Nikolai had scolded it the whole way back to the hotel, and it had the good grace to at least seem sorry for getting in the way.

It had been a little awkward since, neither of them saying anything about the fact that they had very nearly kissed purely because they felt like it, and the tension was starting to kill Nikolai. They kept waking up tangled in each other too, and although he knew he shouldn't, he held on to her a little longer in the mornings, and his touch lingered a moment more when he passed her things. Whether she'd noticed, he had no idea, but at least she hadn't told him to stop being weird yet.

~~~

Nik was being weird.

He kept staring at Y/n, for one, and every now and then he would hold on to her for longer than fake boyfriends probably should. He was staring now, in fact, although why she had no idea. She was covered in dirt and sweat from working all day, both in the bakery and in the mansion, and she definitely needed a bath. Maybe he was staring at her because of that? Yeah, that made more sense. Although when she looked at him (not that she was sneaking glances or anything), she couldn't deny how gorgeous he looked in the light, the sunset making his golden hair glow.

He kept talking to himself too, and Y/n was starting to worry that he was going mad. She'd talked to Gregor about it that morning, and apparently Nik was doing it while he worked in the workshop. Gregor also looked like he knew something else, but despite Y/n's best efforts she couldn't get it out of him. The man was notoriously good at keeping secrets, but if it was about Nik then she wanted to know.

"I'm sure he'll tell you in his own time, Y/n/n," was all he had said, and Y/n had huffed and left not long after.

She snapped herself out of her thoughts, blush rising when she realised that she'd zoned out looking at him, and turned back to the wall that she was painting. They'd done good work today; Nik had managed to get the new windows in with the help of her father, and the three of them had finished off the floor. Y/n had picked out the paint a while ago, and had made a start on covering the walls.

"You know," she started, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Nik turn to face her. "I think we can do this. How long have we got left now, eight days?"

"Yeah, I think so. There's still the two other rooms to do though. I know they're both clear but it's going to be a stretch to get them done on top of this one. It's taken us this long to get this room nearly ready."

"What happened to mister 'we can do it!', huh? I've got a plan, don't worry."

"Is your plan hiring the entirety of Taya? Because I might be an optimist but this is bordering on impossible."

"I thought that nothing was impossible, only improbable," she quipped, mocking his voice.

"Was that... was that meant to be me?"

"I thought it was an excellent impression. Did you have a problem with it? I mean, personally I thought there were two of you for a moment."

Nik laughed, shaking his head. "You're ridiculous," he said, looking at her fondly. Y/n smiled lightly back at him, and they got lost in each others' gazes. Nik suddenly snapped out of it, whipping his head back to the curtain pole he was adjusting. Y/n moved her own attention back to the wall, feeling her face heat up.

Shit.

~~~

An hour or so later, the sun had fully set, and Nikolai had had to turn the chandelier on in the room so that he and Y/n could continue to work. The demon had, for once, helped Nikolai out, since its laughing at Nikolai and Y/n gazing at each other made him realise what he was doing. He'd quickly gone back to what he was doing, and a moment later he heard the brush of the paint on the wall.

Now they were in separate rooms, and Nikolai had looked to check that the demon wouldn't be seen before letting it out.

"No noise, alright? The second you make a noise you're back in, understood?" The demon had nodded and padded off into a corner of the room, starting to use its tail as a brush, collecting the remaining rubbish on the floor. Nikolai felt proud of it once more, seeing it trying to help, and hoped that it had learned something valuable from working hard. Saints, he sounded like the demon's teacher. Nikolai frowned, shuffling furniture around the room. He supposed he was in a way, teaching it how to be nicer. Maybe he'd be able to let it out more if he knew it would behave. He was glad for the distraction of the demon, since it stopped him from thinking too hard about Y/n, and having to keep half an eye on the little bastard was rather entertaining at times. It was a little like having a child, except the child was quite literally a demonic entity of darkness and destruction that enjoyed ripping people's faces off and generally making their lives complete and utter misery. Nikolai suddenly wondered if that was how Baghra had felt about the Darkling, and shuddered at the thought of baby Aleksander. The demon noticed, growling lowly at its creator, and Nikolai called it over softly, careful not to alert Y/n.

"Come here, that's it, there we go," he whispered, settling on the floor as his demon came and rested its head on his lap. It was strange, doing this, but he could sense that his demon was disturbed by Nikolai's thoughts of the Darkling. While the man had been responsible for the separation between Nikolai and his demon, the latter now shared the resentment that Nikolai harboured. No doubt it was remembering the battle with Fjerda too, and the multiple brushes with death. Since then they had only become closer, reaching an agreement that they would die for each other if needed.

"Nik? You alright in there?" Both Nikolai and his demon turned to look at the doorway where Y/n's voice had come from, and they glanced at each other before the demon crept off into the shadows.

"Yep, I'm alright." He pushed himself off of the floor just as Y/n walked in, paint on her trousers.

"I think I'm gonna head out now, I've done what I can on the walls. You coming?"

"Yeah, sure. Let me just grab my things," he smiled, and she returned it, heading back into the front room. He took the demon back in, telling it to stop fussing and hurry up, and followed her out, collecting his jacket from where he'd slung it over one of the armchairs.

~~~

They made it back to the hotel no problem, although Y/n could have sworn that she saw Davor following them when they went round a corner, and when they were up in Nik's room he pulled out a bottle of kvas and two glasses.

"Drink?"

"Sure."

Davor following them wasn't too disturbing for Y/n, given he was a deeply untrusting person and was probably trying to expose Nik and Y/n's relationship for what it was, but Nik seem more concerned. He brought it up as he poured, passing one glass to Y/n and taking his own over to the sofa in front of the fireplace. Despite the heatwave, the hotel room was somehow freezing (Y/n had no idea how the owners managed it), so they'd lit a fire.

"You really aren't worried about him stalking us?"

"No, not really. Why are you so worked up about it?"

"Um... because it's stalking? It's quite literally illegal. Also, what happens if he finds out none of this is real?"

Her heart hurt at his words, but she quickly dismissed it as nothing. "Nobody will believe him if he says anything, because they like us a whole lot more. Everybody knows he likes stirring up trouble for no good reason, and I've got a reputation, hell, you have a reputation now. We'll be fine." She sipped her kvas, grateful for the burn as it went down. It stopped her thinking too hard about Nik.

"If you're sure," he frowned, and Y/n wanted to smooth the lines on his face with her fingertips. He settled into the sofa next to her having finished fiddling with the fire, and it was cramped enough that his thigh brushed against hers. She pulled her legs up, turning so that her back was resting against the arm and she was facing him. Nik angled his body slightly so that he was looking towards her, shifting in his seat in a way that had Y/n hiding behind her glass and trying desperately to not think too hard about his lap. "You alright?" he asked, amusement in his eyes and a smirk on his face, and Saints damn it she was blushing and he fucking knew it.

"Yeah, I'm alright." He hummed, and Y/n felt her cheeks grow even warmer. "What? I am!"

"Okay! You just look a little... flushed," he responded, and she could hear the laughter in his voice, making her glare at him. "There it is! I've missed that glare," he joked, only succeeding in deepening her frown.

"Fuck off," she muttered as she sipped her kvas, and he laughed, loud and bellowing. Saints, she wanted to make him laugh more often.

Sleeping next to Nik tonight would be difficult, she decided as she watched him.

~~~

A few hours and half a bottle of kvas later, Nik and Y/n had loosened up significantly, and were spilling secrets that she would never dare to tell him were she sober.

He'd confessed that he was absolutely terrified of spiders, having been nicknamed 'Nikolai the spider squealer' by his childhood best friend, and was considered a general menace to society as a small boy.

"Oh yeah, I find that so difficult to believe," Y/n giggled sarcastically, and Nik's responding pout only made her laugh harder.

"What is that supposed to mean? I am an absolute delight to have around!" He put on a look of offence, and Y/n nearly spilled her drink when she held her sides from laughing. "Seriously!" He was laughing now, spluttering as he spoke and unable to get words out properly. A few minutes later when they'd calmed down enough (it took a while since whenever they looked at each other they burst out laughing again), he spoke up again. "Go on, your turn. I think it's been my turn the last three times," he frowned, trying to count in his head. Y/n thought for a moment, before coming up with something.

"Saints, I don't know why I'm even gonna tell you this," she laughed, pressing her hand to her forehead. "Okay. So, basically, I've never... I have never... you know." She waved her hand in the general direction of her lower half. Nik's eyes went wide.

"Wait. You've never had an orgasm?"

"No, I haven't!"

"No wonder you're so fucking grumpy all the time, Saints!"

"Oi! It's not exactly my fault! Davor never could and neither can I, I gave up trying to get myself off like six months ago."

"Bet I could," Nik said, sipping his drink.

"...What?"

"I said I bet I could."

They looked at each other, Nik studying her over his glass and Y/n feeling increasingly flustered at the direction their conversation had taken.

"Prove it."

He said nothing, still just looking her, and she was starting to regret her words. "Sorry. Stupid idea. Forget it." She turned her face away, staring into the fire. He was yet to say anything, and the atmosphere turned awkward.

"Are you?" he said, and Saints, why was his voice so low? "Are you sorry?"

"No," she whispered, and she was hyper-aware of the sound of his glass clinking against the side table as he set it down. She turned to look at him, breath leaving her body at the sight of him closer than before, eyes filled with something dangerous. She put her own glass down, nearly spilling it since she hadn't taken her eyes off of Nik. "Why?"

"Because I want to prove it."

Something snapped then, and Y/n surged forward to grab at his shirt with her hands and pull him in for a kiss. He didn't seem to know what to do with himself for a moment, but after barely a second he was responding, wrapping his arms around her waist as he pulled her into his lap, moaning softly, and Saints she wanted him to do it all over again. Her hands moved up to play with his hair the way that she'd wanted to since their first kiss in the square all those days ago, tangling in the locks and tugging every now and then as his hands grasped her hips. She wasn't sure how long they were there for, exploring each other his their hands and tongues, but every second of it was just as good as she'd imagined. He'd moved her hair out of the way to kiss down her neck, alternating between soft kisses and gently biting the skin, drawing sounds out of her that Davor never could. "Nik," she whispered into his hair, not missing the way his grip tightened on her hips. He slowly dragged his head back up, kissing as he went, before he pressed another to her mouth.

"Yeah?" His pupils were blown, the blue of his eyes nearly non-existent, and his lips were slightly swollen from kissing her.

"You gonna prove it or not?" she breathed, and he could only stare at her for a moment before nodding, and then she felt his hands at the top of her trousers, pulling up the fabric of her shirt. He hadn't taken his eyes off of her, silently asking if this was still alright, and they only broke eye contact when her shirt slipped over her head, landing on the floor a second later. He pulled her back in, kisses a little more gentle than before, and Y/n went to take Nik's shirt off. He hesitated slightly, and she paused, not wanting to make him uncomfortable. "This okay? You don't have to, if it's... I just... wanted to feel you, I guess." She blushed at the admission, and he smiled softly at her.

"It's okay, darling," and Saints she'd forgotten how her stomach dipped at the pet name. "I've just... got a lot of scars," he whispered, and Y/n immediately went to reassure him.

"That's okay. You're helping me out, not talking about your scars. but equally if you wanna do that then I'll listen," she said, pressing a kiss to his forehead, and she practically felt him melt under her. He moved back a little, giving himself room to take his clothes off. Nik paused for a moment, looking at his gloves, then made a decision and yanked them off, chucking them on to the side table next to his discarded drink. He glanced back up at her, waiting for her reaction as he settled his hands lightly on top of her thighs. Y/n could only stare at them, reaching out to hold one with her own hand but not quite touching. Most of the veins were black, and his fingers were the same, and as Y/n finally took hold of his hand, lacing their fingers together and turning his arm in her grip she noticed that the black veins continued partway up his forearms. "What..." She didn't finish, not sure where to go from there. Nik was transfixed by their interlocked hands, and his thumb was stroking hers.

"The Darkling," was his only response, and Y/n didn't know what to do other than press a gentle kiss to his mouth, cupping his face with her free hand. She pulled away, resting her forehead against his, and her hand moved down to rest over his heart.

"Does it hurt?"

"No. Not anymore."

She kissed him again, slow and careful, still holding his hand in hers.

"Do you wanna carry on?"

"Yes," he said into her mouth, hands sliding up higher on her thighs, pulling her closer to him, and Saints, he wasn't lying. She moved her hands to his shirt, tugging at the hem and lifting the fabric all the way off. Her fingers traced the lines of his chest, spending extra time on the scars and marks she found, and Nik's hands came up to rest on her back, pulling her flush against him. They kissed again, this time with more hunger, and in a sudden movement Nik had flipped them so that Y/n was lying on the sofa, legs half dangling off the edge as he situated himself between them, never taking his lips off of hers. He bit her lip, and she moaned as he slipped his tongue inside, hands moving over her sides as he shifted his hips into hers. Her grip tightened on his hair, and this time it was his turn to groan as he moved to kiss down her neck again. Nik tugged at the laces of her undershirt, pulling the clothing off a moment later and flinging it to the side. He stopped, sat up and staring down at her chest, and Y/n went to cover herself. Before she could, he'd grabbed her hands, shaking his head at her. "None of that, darling. You're stunning."

He lowered himself back down, nose brushing her chest as he asked for permission. She didn't hesitate, using her hands in his hair to all but shove him further into her, and a brief moment later he was lavishing her with his mouth again. He moved further down her body when he was satisfied he'd done enough, leaving a trail of kisses as he went, and then he was taking off her belt and looking up at her from where he now kneeled on the floor between her thighs.

"This okay, Y/n?"

"Yes," she breathed, helping him to take the rest of her clothes off. Nik kissed his way across her inner thighs, touching her everywhere but where she needed him most, and his hand on her hips was preventing her from pushing up. Annoyingly he was going to prove his point eventually, and Y/n could only begin to imagine how cocky he would be. All thoughts of anything but Nik went out of her head when he suddenly kissed her there, tentative and experimental, and Saints, the smug smirk he had on his face at her responding moan was enough to make her want to go right back to hating him.

She lost all sense of time as Nik touched her, drawing out new sounds with every movement. The hand that wasn't holding her down was helping to bring her closer, and somewhere in the haze of her pleasure Y/n thought about his blackened fingers on her skin and inside her and she gripped his hair tighter (she also had a vague thought that his scalp would hurt after this, but he didn't seem to mind at the moment), urging him to keep going.

He did, never once stopping his actions until he'd pushed her over the edge, hold on her hips getting stronger (she'd have bruises, she was sure) as she shook, and then again when he did it for a second time.

He moved back up her body a while after, having left soft kisses behind as she came down from the high, and when she brought his face down to kiss her it was soft and more loving than it should have been given they weren't actually together.

"You alright?" he asked, nose nudging against her cheek. She could only nod, wiped out. She could feel him smiling, the cheeky fucker, and she half-heartedly slapped his arm, trying to not think too hard about how toned it was. "What?" he smiled, pulling back to look at her.

"Nothing, just, you're a lot more... I don't know," she trailed off, blushing at his stare. "You have very nice arms," she decided on, and Nik's immediate laughter made her flush even more. "Shut up," she mumbled, turning her face to hide in the back of the sofa. She felt Nik's hand cup her chin, bringing her face back towards his as he planted a kiss on her lips, lingering for a while.

"Thank you," he whispered, amused smile still present. "You have very nice tits, if that helps."

"Nik!"

~~~

Nikolai had no idea where the two of them went from here, but he wouldn't take back a single second of it.

He'd helped clean Y/n up, and then had helped her move to the bed, passing her one of his clean shirts to sleep in. He went without the gloves as he got into bed next to her, leaving them sat on the table in front of the fire. He was just pulling his boots off when he felt Y/n's fingers on his back, tracing over the scars from the demon's wings. Her hands flattened on his back, then moved around his torso and under his arms as she pushed herself against him, pulling his head to hers to kiss him. The angle was awkward, so Nikolai shook his boots off and turned around, cupping her cheek to deepen the kiss. He clambered in next to her, breaking away, and pulled the sheets up over them. At Y/n's pout he simply chuckled, and brought her down to lie next to him, and she slung her arm over his chest and her leg over his, falling asleep not long after.

Nikolai stayed awake a while longer, thinking over everything that had happened. He really didn't know where they went from here, but no matter what, he needed to tell her the truth before they got too far in.

Chapter 7

[devnmon]

Long Winded Safe Haven.

Chapter Three: Written in My Stars

Summary: [i promise this is the last chapter of Daryl and Merle content.] It's the third day of the new world, and Daryl has had it with Merle's plans. They find themselves stood before two people who claim to have a camp/ Their introduction to the group at the quarry is very brief here, as they agree to wait and see if they'll have a place in the camp. Daryl tries to overcome the awkwardness, but only time will tell if he succeeds.

Daryl Dixon x Reader

Series Masterlist | Playlist

Chapter Warnings: Merle Dixon, typical twd violence/walkers, scary situations

wc: 2.8k

Daryl woke the next morning to the sound of merle banging on the trunk he occupied. The banging boomed throughout the car, his body jolting out of surprise. The muscles of his back were already aching as he shifted ever so slightly. Daryl had quite literally been curled up into the fetal position on his side the whole night, no wonder his body ached like it did.

"C'mon brother! Up and at 'em! we're burnin' daylight and you're still gettin' that damn beauty rest!"

Daryl groaned loud enough for Merle to hear, beginning to undo the ties he'd put around the interior part of the trunk.

"Ain't you bangin' on walker guts righ' now?" Daryl remembered the guts him and his brother had placed on the cars the night before.

"Nah, a storm musta passed through durin' the night, washed all of 'em off. Good thing we hid when we did... else we'd be food for those geeks. Plus, the ground's all wet. An' it's already hot out."

Great. The humidity's gonna be even worse t'day.

And that was the first thing Daryl felt coat his skin the minute he cracked the trunk open.

The sunlight was bright as ever, shining directly in his eyes and blinding him for a moment or two, before they adjusted accordingly. Merle watched as he climbed out of the trunk, back aching as he stood up fully for the first time since the night before.

"Shit, it's hot as hell out here."

Here we go again..

"Yeah. it's Georgia. We've been here our whole lives." Daryl muttered to himself, half wishing his brother would hear him and shut up for once.

But it was always, genuinely always something with him.

Why couldn't Merle just keep his mouth to himself? Why did he have to poison the air Daryl breathed with his unprompted opinions and comments?

"Oh, I'm sorry we ain't in a mansion, little brother!" Merle tapped daryl's shoulder with the back of his hand, "Last time I checked, ya didn't have a problem with bein' outside! We've been huntin' here our whole lives, wasn't that what ya said?"

Of course, using his own words against him.

"I don't! I'm jus' fuckin' tired of bein' on the road all the damn time! I was fine with it while we were huntin', but I don't wanna spend the rest of my life out here! We gotta find a camp, a real one. An' stay. No more of this half assed 'robbing the camp blind' shit! We ain't need to get on anyone's bad side, 'specially now!"

Daryl was starting to get agitated at the fact that Merle always made the wrong decision, resorting to violence or harsh words when he didn't get his way.

Daryl knew both of those quite well.

"Brother, if you got somethin' to say, you say it, right here, right now." Merle's face was condescending, his arms crossed over his chest. Daryl wasn't going to give merle more ammunition to shoot at him when he got pissed. He was always going to hear it ten times worse from his brother.

Waryl thought it best not to light that match, since it was only the beginning of what was going to be a long and hot day of travel.

"Nah. Ain't worth it." Daryl huffed, picking up his pack and bow from the trunk and slinging them onto his back. "Let's jus' get movin', before another herd gets on our tail."

Once again, the two packed their belongings to head out through the humidity of another Georgia forest. somehow, the brothers ended up getting way further into the forest than they'd intended. Large hills came out of nowhere, the terrain only confusing Daryl on their location when he didn't recognize the area.

"Mot to jerk a knot in your tail, brother, but do you have the slightest idea where in hell do you think we're at? Or.. are we lost?" Merle chirped up, perky and wanting so badly to get on Daryl's last nerve.

He only shook his head, lips pursing together as his shoulders stiffened.

"Nah, we ain't lost." His response was gruff and low, a quick snap at his brother to make him stop his conversation there. Obviously, that wasn't the case, since Merle opened his big mouth the second his brother responded.

More fuel for your fire, man.

"Well, man, we've gotta be. I ain't recognize any of this area. And I know my wooded areas."

"Wou know, you're really barkin' up the wrong tree right now, Merle. 'Sides, I said we ain't lost."

"How would you know, brother? I'm the one who taught you everythin' ya know about huntin' and trackin' and survivin' out here! So don't get your feathers all ruffled! You know i'm always right, anyways."

Merle's cockiness pissed daryl off enough to know his brother's never going to save his pride over anyone but his damn self.

"Man, you really don't know shit about shit." Daryl's voice lowered, still intimidated by his brother and how harsh he backfires.

"Oh yeah? And what don't i know shit about?" Merle only paused himself from going on further to cross his arms once more and think about how his own brother just questioned him.. again.

"C'mon man, that plan of yours? It's not gonna get us nothin' other than thrown out on our asses. You're gonna make it real hard for us to stay with a group if you keep comin' up with shit like that!" Daryl kept his voice lower than Merle's was already getting when he responded back again.

Just like Daryl thought he would, Merle shot off on a rant about how he's trying to make life in this world better for us. Then he proceeded to go on longer about how people have had it better and we should be grateful to show anyone mercy..

"Merle, would you listen for one damn second?"

"No! You listen to me, boy! I'm the one that made you the man you are! Huh? Me! So don't act like you haven't been followin' me your whole life!"

This was true, but Merle always ends up twisting Daryl's words.

"I ain't never said that, Merle! You just think that takin' what people already have is gonna help us more than it was already helpin' them?! We can't do that to other people!"

"I'll make ya understand.. just you wait." Merle seethed, getting annoyingly close to Daryl's face before walking off in the opposite direction they had been going.

"Where the hell are ya goin' now?" Daryl called after him, getting a middle finger flipped at him.

"Takin' a piss, don't lose your marbles without me!" Merle called out from a distance, knowing he would return after he went and did his business for a little while. This was always the result of Merle not wanting to argue over something he saw right in his point of view.

Daryl shook his head, sitting on a nearby log. His hands fumbled for his pack once again, finding the spark to write about what had just occurred.

The pen clicked as Daryl started scribbling on the page.

Day three

Tryin my best to convince Merle to change his mind bout robbin' a camp. Ain't right. I put up with a lotta his shit. But not this. Ever. Bein' Selfish during this time ain't gonna help at all. could go for a few hours of not bein' near his stupid ass. or at least a few hours of silence. Used to bein' out here with no noise, not his yappy ass. Gotta find a way to deal or swear I'm gonna end up killin' the bastard. Maybe i’d be better off.

-

He finished writing the entry, shoving his journal away once again, noticing the sound of his brother's voice booming from a distance for the third time now.

"Darylina, where you at, brother?" He stood from the log in a hurry, belongings being swung onto his back. Peering around a tree, Daryl spotted his brother moseying back over to where he was previously sat.

"Merle! You clear your mind and realize I was right 'bout your plan?" Daryl only half believed that his brother would come to terms with something he'd suggested, but he didn't really have faith in Merle like that.

"Nah. Came to tell you I was right." The next thing Daryl saw was Merle swinging a fist at his face, knocking him to the ground. His body landed on the dirt with a thump, Merle still standing over him as he looked up.

"What the f- Ah! You son of a bitch! What the hell you do that for?!" A sharp pain ran across Daryl's cheekbone from his brother's punch. He wiped his face with the back of his hand, crimson staining his skin as he looked down.

"Well, I tried to tell you, brother. But you didn't wanna listen to me! I said we'd be better off with my plan and that we didn't need no group in the first place." Merle leaned down to Daryl, getting real close to his face again, "Just their stuff."

"And I tried to tell you that we need at least a few more fuckin' people in this world to have our backs than jus' you and me!" Daryl pulled himself from the ground to talk with his brother face to face.

"Come on, man! We've been doin' just fine on our own! We don't need-"

"Just fine? I slept in the trunk of a car last night, Merle! Are you shittin' me right now? I'm tryin' to guarantee our survival in this shit world, if you couldn't tell."

"You? Guarantee my survival? I'm the one that guaranteed your survival many years ago! you'd be dead without me. Me! Me, and no one else. So tell me, why you don't like my plan again. hm?"

"Yeah, I'll tell ya why-" was Daryl all could get out before he heard the rustling of leaves from a distance. His expression dropped, and the both of them started glancing around for where the steps were coming from.

Daryl recognized the step pattern as human before drawing his bow. His muscular forearms pushed an arrow into the barrel, and by the time it'd clicked into place, he turned to where the footsteps in the surrounding forest were coming from. Freezing in place, he began staring into the brush where the sound had retreated.

"Come out, now!" Daryl's rough voice called out, hearing a rustling once more until two people emerged from behind the leaves.

You appeared next to a young asian man, approaching out of the wood. Daryl noticed your backs bare of any baggage except for a rifle on the man's back and a pair of binoculars around your neck.

"Well, lookie here! Bambi and her boytoy.." Merle chuckled with a snide look on his face.

"Who are y'all?" Daryl’s aggressive voice called out, bow still drawn. The two of them looked like deer in headlights, startled from the same man yelling at them before.

“Hey man, it’s alright, Y’all ain’t gonna hurt us.” Merle had a smirk plastered on his face, one that could say the nastiest things.

"I think we're the ones who should be asking that, seeing as you guys are in our foraging spot.." The man with the baseball cap spoke first.

"Yeah, where the hell did you guys come from? And here I thought we were far out enough from the city..." You said, slightly trying to lighten the serious mood, since Daryl still had his bow aimed on them.

"Alright, first thing's first you don't have to point your weapon at us, we aren't a threat to you, clearly.. Second of all, are you gonna answer me? Where did you guys come from?" The man’s face dour, waiting for a response.

Merle spoke up, sharing a glance with Daryl before looking back at you, tension growing with uncertainty.

“Oh, we've been traveling for a couple of days now, lookin' to find some place to hole up for a while.” Merle spoke, trying to deceive the two people in front of him.

"Yeah? No luck so far, clearly." Tightness grew in your chest as you crossed your forearms over it.

The snark from the perverted man disgusted you, picking up the fact that he saw himself better than anyone, especially women.

“Now you listen to me, Bambi-“ Daryl pushed his brother back at his stance starting to walk towards you.

"Merle, back off." Daryl really didn't want to scrap the chance they were getting if these people actually had a camp they could go back to.

"What he 's tryin' to say is that we've been on the road since the world went to shit, and we're runnin' low on food. Could use someplace safe to camp out for a while till we get back on our feet. That is, if ya got one."

"Um.. you guys have any... specialized skills or something?" You spoke again, questioning the brothers.

"What kinda skills you mean, girl?" Merle spoke again, laughing cynically as if to suggest you were talking about anything other than survival skills. He muttered a 'shut up, Merle' before answering you.

"Apologies for my brother, he ain't the brightest tool in the shed," Daryl remarked, giving his brother a look before continuing to talk, "We're both real good at huntin' and scavenging, trackin' people and animals and shit like that. Plus my brother's got army experience, too. So, you got a camp, or somethin'? W'all wouldn't ask us this if ya didn't have one, or at least a group.."

Daryl peered at you and the dark haired man, watching you both share a look before replying.

"Even if we did, I'm not sure if I trust you both enough to bring you guys back with us."

"And what if we don't wanna join your camp, huh, Bambi? What if we're doin' just fine out here on our own?" Merle's voice sounded out once more, trying to test the two in front of him.

Considering the look of both the men from a few feet away, they were bulky, probably strong and smart. The itch at the back of your throat told you something was off with the two, sweat-adorned foreheads and dark circles under their eyes told more about them than what met your eye.

No, these guys need us. They're exhausted and should rest.

"Listen, you just told us that you're low on food. Let us help you. I know more about people than you'd think. You guys are clearly exhausted, and need some place to rest for a while. Even if you don't want to come, I'm sure there'd be a place for you."

It's then that you turn your head to your foraging partner, his dark eyes still studying the hunters before him.

"Glenn?"

"What?" The man, now identified as Glenn, looked back over at you before speaking once more.

"They have useful skills and be good for the camp. We can't survive on Amy's berries and mushrooms for the rest of our lives. C'mon!"

"If we come back from our outing with these two random guys behind us, Shane will flip! Out!" Glenn's hands were in the air now, attempting to get his point across.

"Not when he realizes they can help us! I say we at least give them a chance.. Alright?"

Damn, he's makin' several good points and she's tryin' to show him the good in us. Haven't met anyone like that before.

"Y/n.. you're really pushing it right now, and I-"

That's your name? It suits you. Daryl' thought, his brain half caught off guard that these people seemed decent and wanted to willingly bring them back to their group.

"Glenn! Oh my god! Just listen to me for once! Please!"

They sure argue like an old married couple...

Daryl remained calm while they talked it out, while Merle on the other hand grew impatient. He never liked waiting long for anything, was always one to jump the gun before thinking rationally about every little thing. Daryl had watched his brother be overtaken by this urge ever since they were teenagers.

"Hey! I don't trust the bald guy!" Glenn whisper yelled to you.

Daryl would be lying if he didn't admit the guy's opinion of Merle made him chuckle.

"Okay, well I trust the other one. The guy with the bow. So come on already and agree with me."

Oh, she was talking about him.

She trusts me?

"Fine. But it's your ass if Shane gets mad."

Your counter was better than glenn's, in Daryl's opinion, but was still caught off guard when you admitted it.

Who's this Shane guy? Sounds like an asshole.

With a sigh, the duo's bickering finally ceased, Glenn turning to them with their fate in his hands.

"Look, we have a camp, okay? It's out by a quarry, we're all up there with a bunch of other people. Now, if you guys could provide our group with those skills you mentioned before, and help out our camp, we could see about taking you back with us. Maybe."

"What he means to say is it's alright for you to follow us to camp, I'll talk to the guy in charge and a couple other people to see how they feel about letting you two stay. Alright?" You looked to Daryl, watching as the tension in his shoulders diminished at your words.

"Yeah, we'll help out your group." Daryl's gravel voice spoke out, softer than before.

"And what about the rest of camp? Huh?" Glenn turned to you again, knowing how some people would react to this information better than others.

"Well, they're just going to have to live with the fact that I brought them two hunters who agreed to hunt for our group." You shrugged at him, wanting to let it go and head back..

"Hey hold on there, Bambi." Merle perked up at your words.

Oh God, this was either going to go really bad or even worse.

"I don't remember agreeing to work my ass off huntin' in these woods for no damn people that ain't at least feliciated my piece, if ya know what i mean." merle chuckled, a distasteful smirk on his face.

"merle.. shut up."

"nah, man. i meant what i said."

"excuse me?" you turned around, clearly offended at what his brother had said in his ever-so-snarky tone.

"Ohh boy.." Glenn just stood back and watched, not wanting to piss you off more.

"You heard me, Bambi."

You scoffed at the name he kept using, quite offended at the man before you, and his attitude. After all, you had just invited them back to camp, and he had the audacity to tell you how things were going to be?

"Listen here, baldy. I trust my friend Glenn a lot, so you should be lucky I even told you we would bring you back with us! Oh, don't worry, we'll still take you.. but if Shane doesn't want you in our camp, I'll let him deal with you instead. Have fun with that.. Now are you coming, or what? We haven't got all day." Daryl watched as you walked away, turning your head back to make sure he followed.

"C'mon, let's go." Daryl told his brother, before walking ahead to follow the two back to their camp.

Merle only scoffed, but followed anyways.

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Marinette was actively trying to calm herself. She couldn’t let this sit so she had resorted to trickery. She didn’t particularly like using trickery but it was the only way she could think of to keep herself from backing out at the last minute. Roy didn’t react at all when she suggested it. She hoped that wasn’t a bad thing. She knew that Lian would be thrilled and that he would be in an awkward position. He didn't have the ability to say no without a struggle.

She hadn’t told Lian about the lights she had added to the underskirt. The dress had been as close as she could get to Lian’s original plans. But a few days ago she had seen a light up skirt and had a sudden inspiration to put it lights on an underskirt that could be used with a variety of dresses and should fit her for a few years. She was hoping the girl’s excitement would take away the sting from any anger Roy might feel about her underhanded methods.

She waited to pull out the lighted skirt until she had checked the fit of the dress. Lian was ecstatic over it. She squealed loudly when Marinette pulled out the underskirt. While she showed her dad the secret addition, Marinette set up her mirrors in the hallway and turned off the lights so she could play with the skirt. Then she turned to Roy. He was very quiet. He had smiled at his daughter but his mouth went back to a thin line. It did not improve when Marinette approached him. If anything, he looked more serious.

“Ah, do you want a coffee or something,” Marinette asked.

“I think we should talk first,” he said softly.

She wanted to make tea. She wanted something to do with her hands. The tea making process was calming for her. Also, she had tea that was specifically calming and she really wanted to be more calm right now. Instead, she sat on her couch stiffly. She loved how cozy this couch was. She could relax right into it and it felt like a hug. But she sat on the edge of the cushion without relaxing. Roy dropped down on the furthest cushion from her and he sank into it. She didn’t know if he was trying to make her more nervous by appearing so relaxed and disinterested but it was working.

“I know you have reason to be upset with my methods, I’m not very proud of it but it is important that you are aware of something that happened.”

“I’m not upset with you, Marinette,” he pushed himself up and leaned forward. She thought he may have stopped himself from reaching out and taking her hand. “I thought you might be upset with me. We are overdue for a talk and clearing the air but I have been putting it off.”

She bit her lip and nodded. When it came to it, she still had to force herself to say the words but she couldn’t look at him when she spoke.

“I think this might be related but it is likely more urgent. I didn’t want to correct Lian in front of all her friends and I didn’t know if you were out so I kept quiet, but Lian told everyone that you and I were getting married.”

Relief covered Roy’s face and he laughed as he relaxed back into the couch.

“Sorry, I’m just so relieved that you aren’t upset by that,” he said, getting the laughing under control. “She has said that a few times and I have done my best to set the record straight but she has a habit of bringing it up at the most inopportune times when it isn’t easy to correct her immediately.”

“That seems to fit the circumstances,” Marinette said. “What a superpower to have.”

Lian chose that moment to climb over the back of the couch and tumble between them.

“Who has super powers?”

Marinette laughed but didn’t mind the interruption. She didn’t want to bring up the fiancé he had never mentioned to her again. That would just be one of those things they would continue ignoring to keep the peace like this kiss they had shared. She just let the relief from his reaction wash over her.

—

Roy wished Lian hadn’t interrupted; he should have worked harder to make their conversation happen when Lian wasn't around. She had broken the tension between them, but he had such a bad feeling about her situation that he wanted to let her know he was there for her. It was possible she would only see him as trying to interfere because he was interested in her and maybe that was partially accurate. He would never intentionally let someone be in a bad romantic situation if they wanted to be out of it but he didn’t think he would have noticed if they hadn’t gotten close.

He tried to be friendly when he saw them out today. It seemed like she may have told her boyfriend about Roy but he didn’t know how much she had said. The other man definitely seemed to not like him. He didn’t see him frequently but every time he felt like the man was watching him or trying to get a reaction. Marinette didn’t seem impressed with that behavior but he didn’t seem to care. Roy just chose to act as if he didn't notice most of the time. But today, the man had been behind her and while he was glaring, Roy smiled and waved at Marinette. She waved back but dropped her hand quickly and touched the ring on her other hand.

He tried not to cringe as they turned away, the man's hand at her hip guiding her in the new direction. He had been out as Arsenal quite a bit more since the guy had shown up but he hadn’t seen anything suspicious so he might have to give that up. He didn't want to admit it, but Jason was probably right; he was just jealous of him. He had been interested but he hadn’t made a move. But he still couldn't get their initial meeting in the diner out of his head. She didn’t seem like she wanted to be around him then. But now he was there with her. He needed a chance to catch her alone so he could ask about it, but even then he didn’t know what he should say.

He told himself when he didn’t ask her out before it was because he was focused on Lian, so that is what he continued to do. It would be perhaps easier if she weren’t so focused on Marinette. She would often tell him how people at school wanted to know more about her. He had never known how to correct the mass belief that they were engaged. The teachers always seemed a bit busy at pick up and drop off time so it was just whoever happened to be there at the same time as him. The other parents at drop off and pick up were friendly but not chatty with the exception of Ada. He had learned her name but he preferred not to have much contact with her. He had seen her talking to Lian a couple of times and trying to get information about his relationship but the source was not providing the information she wished.

“Daddy!” Lian cried out when she saw him. She reached up for a hug and he lifted her to his hip. “She said it was perfect picnic weather this weekend and that we are going on a picnic with Marinette.”

“That sounds like fun. But I’m not too sure about a picnic,” he continued quickly before her face fully lost its smile. “A picnic requires kites so we would have to make sure we found the best kites to do that.”

“Oh, can mine have a dragon? It will fly like a dragon and Marinette can have a butterfly because they are pretty like her, don’t you think.”

He signed the paper to sign her out for the day and turned away. He had decided it wasn’t rude to just not address the other parent as none of the other parents were greeting the rest. He could be in and out in a few minutes without the chat and that seemed to be the norm.

“That she is,” he said with a smile. Lian hugged him tightly when he agreed with her. “I don’t know what kind of kite I should get. Will you help me find one?”

“Oh yes. I will show you the best ones but it won’t be better than mine.”

—

She was getting desperate. She hadn’t found anything in her books that would help her remove the ring. She could feel it working sometimes at a low level. Like she could feel a pull from Adrien on the other end. Some days it was far less pronounced but if that continued for a few days it would be overwhelming and she had to force herself to not follow it. It was exhausting, like a constant fight to keep it at bay. She kept trying to recreate what had happened that loosened it but she wasn’t sure of what had done it. She needed to do so many things today but it nearly felt like she had a cold because of the constant pull. She laid down after lunch and tried to rest as much as possible.

Her dreams felt carefree. She was in Paris and smiling in the sun. The streets were empty and she felt larger than life as she skipped and danced along. She was as tall as the small trees that lined the walking path. In the back of her mind, she was confused by what brought her back here but she wasn’t concerned at all.

She was even happier when she made it to the Agreste mansion. There were no people there either but the size reflected her current size. It was far larger than normal compared to outside. She rushed up the steps to Adrien’s bedroom and opened the door. Everything was bright around and she could seem him waiting for her and smiling in front of the faceless crowd of people.

“Our choices in life may have caused us to be separated, but in the end, the threads of fate will lead us to our destiny.”

Adrien’s voice repeated what he had written in the letter he left when he visited. The last time he had been near her while she was sleeping, when he had adorned her hand with the ring. Her panic at seeing herself in a wedding dress was in opposition to how happy she felt as she walked towards him. He reached out his hand and when she reached forward, she could see the ring on her hand matching the glowing one on his own finger.

She took a step back and her ears filled with static. Something was pushing against her back, keeping her from running away. He reached further and took her hand. She could feel the heat running up her arm as they connected. She tried to pull away but he wouldn’t let her. The glow followed the heat and it was covering her. It was trapping the panic inside.

The words repeated but they weren't coming from him. They were echoing through the entire room but distorted like a record that was warped. “Our choices in life may have caused us to be separated, but in the end, the threads of fate will lead us to our destiny.”

She was thrashing around but it was all in her head. She couldn’t move or do anything to get away from him. As they were both fully covered up to their shoulders in the glow, he leaned forward to seal the bond. She tried to force away the happy feeling that didn't fit with the panic. She couldn’t let this happen. There had to be a way to fight it, but she was too drained after pushing against the magic for days. It had taken over as she relaxed into sleep and there was nothing she could do while asleep.

She gasped awake at a knock on the door. The covers were twisted around her and she was covered in sweat. She had only been able to pull away after remembering to wake up with the help of the knocking. She tried to push her hair back to a manageable appearance before she went to the door.

—

Roy was not prepared to see her looking like this. She was adorable and perfect but clearly had been sleeping during the afternoon. Her hair was all over and her clothes were not laying quite right. He probably should have called first but Lian wanted it to be a surprise. He should have pushed harder but it wasn’t easy to explain how different it was to get a surprise as an adult. Children were full of wonder and didn’t always see how it could be different for others.

“Marinette, we are going on a picnic and flying kites,” she exclaimed.

“That sounds fun. I bet the weather is perfect for it.”

“We can go now. Daddy said the wind was best for kites right now.” she reached out for Marinette’s hand “We got you a ladybug kite because they didn’t have a butterfly.”

Marinette looked down at herself and then reached up to touch her hair. Roy broke in before Lian could push too much. He pulled his daughter back a little bit and crouched to her level.

“Remember Lian, we are only asking if she is available to come right now.” He looked up at Marinette with understanding. “We talked about how if we wanted it to be a surprise then we would risk her not being available.”

Her lip stuck out a bit and she took a breath. “Would you like to go on a picnic now?” She paused and thought through the script they had worked on. Her eyes were pleading for agreement. “If you can’t come now we will have your schedule later.”

It wasn’t quite how they had worked on it, but he knew she would understand. He still hoped she would want to come now. He enjoyed seeing her and he knew that Lian would be pretty disappointed if she couldn’t come even if he had warned her that it was a possibility. He probably should have warned Marinette anyway. Lian was so set on the surprise but he didn’t think about how Marinette might feel trapped if she didn’t want to join her.

“Hmm. I do love picnics but I would need a few minutes to get ready for an outing. Do you think the weather will wait?”

“Oh, it will! Daddy please say we can wait for her. I really want her to be on the picnic too.”

Within a few minutes, they were all ready to head out the door. He was only slightly disappointed that his neighbor had fixed her hair. It probably wasn’t good for him to want to see her hair like she just woke up. She looked beautiful just as she was now too. Lian was delighted that she had changed into an outfit that was similar to hers. When they reached the park, she started tugging on Marinette’s hand so they could find the best place to set up. It was early in the season and closer to late afternoon so there were not many people eating outside and those who had were closer to finishing rather than just getting started, probably trying to avoid the dropping temperatures as night would fall.

Marinette looked back at him for his nod of approval before she started shaking out the blanket on the ground. Lian laid across it as soon as it was spread out and took away any opportunity to adjust it. Marinette just laughed and sat near her while Roy set down the bag of food. Lian had insisted that they needed a basket for a picnic but he didn’t have one and wasn’t sure where they were even sold. She had given in and allowed for a sturdy bag. She seemed fine with it now. She climbed onto Marinette’s lap and was trying to reach to help him get to the food. She wanted to make sure Marinette knew everything that she had picked, much of it specifically for her.

He sat himself on the other side of the blanket but he wished he could have put himself closer. They were cuddling up and he loved watching them together. He knew from experience it wasn’t easy to eat with a wiggling child on your lap but she managed it without complaint. Which was good because as soon as Lian had decided she was done eating, she declared that it was time to fly kites. Honestly, she was more of a hindrance when it came to putting the kites together but she was trying really hard. He wondered if he should even bother putting one together for himself. He expected he would be spending most of his time helping her get her dragon to fly.

It ended up being much how he imagined. His kite sat to the side while he and Marinette passed the other two kites back and forth, trying to keep them in the air. Lian ran off for a bit while they struggled and returned with flowers once they finally had both kites flying steadily. She was excited to take over with her dragon. He handed it over carefully, leaving his hands on for a time so he could demonstrate how to keep it catching the wind. Unfortunately, Lian didn’t want help and she pulled it away to do it herself.

The dragon veered off and she pulled at the string to fix it. Roy reached out to take the spool back from her but she ran away from him. By the time she turned back to fix it, it was making wide loops and threatening to come crashing down.

“Pull on the string Lian. It needs to catch the wind.”

“I’m doing it. It's mine.”

He watched her pull at it but there was far too much slack for it to work without a lot of adjusting. Marinette tried to offer to trade so both could stay in the air, but she pulled away from her too. The wind picked up a bit and caught the dragon. Marinette turned back to the ladybug to adjust for the change and then to veer away from the dragon as it wildly whipped across the sky. Lian got frustrated and let go of the cord. Roy tried to help her as she dropped to the ground and also catch the kite string but he missed it. He focused on trying to comfort Lian. The dragon didn’t fly away as he feared. It crashed right into the ladybug and they both careened to the ground.

He started putting things back in the bag while still holding her. Marinette showed back up about the time he finished with both kites wrapped up and their cords separated. She helped carry the bags since he had his arms full with Lian. She was looking very tired and laid her head against his shoulder while he and Marinette started the walk home. Suddenly she popped her head up and looked over his shoulder. He turned to see what caught her attention. Marinette was a few steps behind and she looked behind her to see what had their attention.

“The sunset is really pretty today,” she said. “I love when you can see the moon when it is still light out," Marinette said.

That was not what was getting Lian’s attention. She was watching a couple taking photos against the sunset. It would probably turn out perfect the way they were silhouetted against the sunset with the moon overhead. They leaned in for a kiss.

“How come you guys never kiss?”

Taglist

@theymakeupfairies | @emjrabbitwolf | @vixen-uchiha | @trythisagainlove | @trippingovermyfeet | @tbehartoo | @izanae | @kittenmywaythrulife | @folk-ever-lore | @jayjayspixiepop | @achaoticmess1 | @adrestar | @zynna | @jeminiikrystal | @miyatalksshit | @hammalammadamdam

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s3 ep10: Warlord

Another alien possession episode, this time mixed with a rare foray into castle intrigue, this is also a big Kes episode. Kes was one of my favorites when I was a kid, and I loved getting to see her fighting spirit come out here. Despite not having the strongest plot, this is def one of her strongest eps.

It opens with a shot of Neelix experiencing some kind Talaxian foot oomax that's presumably supposed to be funny, but is actually just truly awkward, and something I didn't ever need to see. They're on the holodeck, and this is the first ep where we see the tropical resort program that the crew will take to playing around in for the rest of the season. (It's kind of cute how the crew goes through fads of which holodeck program is the cool one for them all to hang out in.) Tom and Harry are there, and Harry's wearing his slutty little see-through mesh shirt, which I love, because it's the same one we saw Libby wearing in the alternate timeline in 'Non Sequitur', which means Harry brought it from home when he left Earth. I love little continuity details like that! Plus, he's slaying in that thing, that look is fire! (And then later B'Elanna shows up in a sparkly swimsuit, and it's just like wow. ok. just gonna hit us over the head with half dressed hot people in this ep huh? Rude. And her saucy little 'yeah i'm a bad bitch' wiggle as she walks away is just like, illegal levels of hotness. how it took me until my late 20s to figure out I was bisexual when I grew up watching this show, I'll never know.)

Then we go to the bridge, where Voyager is rescuing a small ship that's going to explode. They beam the three survivors to sickbay, and one of them dies while Kes tends to him. Not long after, Kes's behavior starts to become odd. When she meets Neelix in the holodeck for lunch, she snaps at him, and tells him how annoying he is (valid, tbh, but so not Kes) and ends up breaking up with him rather abruptly. While I admit I wasn't sad at the idea of Kes and Neelix breaking up, it did feel very out of character. We soon learn the reason- Kes has been possessed by the spirit of the dead patient, a bloodthirsty warlord.

The possessed Kes and her alien friends shoot the transporter chief, then hightail it back to their planet. (Though why they shot him when they were already gonna get beamed down, idk!) I gotta say, I love the matte painting of the castle on this planet! They really went with a full on fairy tale type castle, and it looks really cool. I wish they'd have gone with something equally castle-y for the interior set though, because it was just another nondescript grey design without any distingiushing visual identity.

After they retake the castle, all trace of Kes's personality is gone, replaced by the 200 year old warlord Tieran, who changes into a black leather catsuit, and swans around killing people and yelling orders. Jennifer Lien does a great job portraying the evil warlord, making her voice gruff and growly, and sneering and slinking around the castle like she owns the place. Tieran uses her telepathic powers to hurt people, and attempts to seduce people over to his side, including Tuvok, when he came to rescue Kes- they really are determined to make her kiss every man who's old enough to be her dad on this show, aren't they?? Ugh. (But yet, they didn't go for her kissing Tieran's wife- Rick Berman probably said nuh-uh, no gays allowed! But then a few scenes later, no one had any problem with Kes/Tieran suggesting a threesome with the wife and the prince that Kes/Tieran is now betrothed to- I guess gay shit is okay, as long as it's only used to show how depraved the villain is - ugh!! Only allowing evil characters to be queer is worse than zero representation at all. Tbh, that shit is probably why it took me so long to figure out I was bi- growing up, only evil, immoral characters were ever depicted as bi on tv, especially on DS9, where the evil mirror universe characters were almost all depicted as queer. It's pretty hard to think of yourself as bisexual when even Star Trek depicts it as a perversion, rather than an actual normal thing for normal people to be. I know now most of the writers and actors didn't feel that way, and it was Berman's homophobia overruling everyone else, which makes me feel a little better, but still. It's a huge thorn in my side when I watch old Trek, and it makes me want to vandalize Berman's house with rainbow paint. Happy Pride Month, you asshole!)

But we learn that Kes's mind is still there too- that she haunts Tieran's dreams, and fights him so hard she gives him headches. I love the scene where she stands up to him, and assures him that she'll fight him relentlessly, and that he should be afraid of her; and best of all, we see that he actually is afraid of her! Tiny little Kes, spooking the hell out of a gruff, growly guy twice her size! We love to see it!! Kes is the clear winner of their battle of wills- Jennifer Lien brings so much intensity to it, she's truly ferocious, and it's awesome! I remember how happy I was to see Kes finally get her assertive badass moment back when this first aired. Kes was the relatable stand in character for the young girls in the audience- my grade school friend and I both loved her- so it was a real thrill for us to finally get to see her presented in this strong, forceful way, like all the other characters routinely were. One of the reasons she became less of a favorite for me as I grew up was recognizing how often she was infantilized, relegated to being a sex object, or an emotional caretaker, for male characters, or not fighting back when she was treated disrespectfully. So often she was written off as being the naive, softhearted innocent, when she was clearly capable of being more complex and interesting if they let her break out of that mold. I really appreciate that they let her do that here- it's a tantalizing hint at what her character could have become if she'd had more time on the show, and writers who believed in her more.

After Kes successfully fights back against Tieran, the final scene is her and Tuvok back on Voyager, discussing what happened. Kes admits that what she went through was a big deal that changed how she felt about herself and her relationships with her friends, and she wonders how she can go back to normal. Tuvok, ever the good space dad, tells her that she can't, but she can move forward in new directions, building on the strength she found in herself. It's rare to have characters on Star Trek actually talk about how much the crazy things they deal with every day actually effect them, and I appreciate that they did it here. It's a lovely scene, and even though Kes is still troubled at the end, we know she'll have the support of Tuvok, and all her friends on Voyager, as she finds her way forward.

Overall, this episode was a run of the mill 'bad aliens posssesed somebody, we must get them out!' story, with a twist of royal intrigue silliness that doesn't fit well with Star Trek's tone. It felt more like a Xena or Hercules plot than Star Trek. They literally have a Tony award winning actor in the cast- Anthony Crivello was playing Tieran's aide, Adin- but he practically blended into the scenery of this over-the-top, psuedo-medieval fantasy plot that gave him nothing to work with. Nontheless, I appreciated Kes being given an opportunity to take the spotlight, and to show a steely resolve underneath her sweetness and cuteness.

Tl;dr: One of Kes's strongest episodes, despite a weak plot, which marks a turning point for Kes's character on her path to becoming more mature. Essential for Kes fans, and anyone who wants to see her branch out beyond her usual storylines.

[tinyjordan]

so I actually finally finished my first playthrough of bg3 last night (except it was actually this morning because I beat the final boss at like 3 am) and I just wanted to share my experience. obviously there will be spoilers

so yes. it did take me like 2 months to finish the game, a lot longer than the average player. this was mostly because I was just really busy with school and shit and I've been playing on my parents tv, so I obviously didn't get too much time to myself to binge the game. but honestly, when I did get time to play through the game, I was honestly so overjoyed to just explore the world and do quests with my silly little guys.

imo my favorite act in the game is the first act, which from what I read, many people agree with me on this sentiment. that doesn't mean that I think that the other two acts weren't great, but I just think that act 1 had something special going on there. i loved how huge the first act was and just how much I could do in this act. i thought I finished this act having completed every quest (except those in the mountain pass because I didn't know that I could just go through both paths, which I don't know how I came to that conclusion in hindsight) but when reading and watching videos about bg3, I learned that there was a ton of stuff that I missed. I can't wait for my second playthrough (which will probably be my durge run) to experience more that I missed.

i don't know where to put this point in this essay thing, but the party after defeating the goblin camp. love it! this is where fanfictions are born. although you don't really get much when romancing gale in this party except the fact that he proclaims that he likes your stank in the most socially awkward but well meaning way. i thought this was funny.

oh yeah! also Lae'zel tried to have sex with me. we didn't, but I thought I might as well share that.

speaking of Lae'zel: the most underrated character in the game. i don't care. she is extremely wholesome despite our first introduction to her. in my playthrough, she was the one that got kidnapped by orin in act three. when I rescued her from orin, she was extremely sweet and thankful about it. she said something about the githyanki language not having a word for "thank you", and she tells the player the closest thing to it in her language. but even then she thought that wasn't a good enough way to express gratitude, so she said "thank you, sincerely." she's not my favorite companion, but my heart did swell in this moment

speaking of favorite companions-

astarion

ASTARION

yes I know that everyone reading this probably heard this a million times, but Astarion is such an amazing and well written character. this man is blorbo himself. i want to be his best friend. during my playthrough, my tav and Astarion had a sort of sibling like relationship: being on near opposite sides of the character archetype spectrum and disagreeing on a lot of things, but also being super protective over each other (we dislike Araj in this house). his whole story arc made me want to cry several times. i wish this game had a hug option for every companion so that I could hug everyone, ESPECIALLY Astarion. omg. OMG. when we defeated Cazador and Astarion stabbed him repeatedly, i cheered. i got him to not ascend and I cheered. like Karlach (who i also love and got me the closest to actually crying), i was so fucking proud of Astarion. i could talk about him all day but I think I would just stop there and resort to reblogging post about him for my own sanity.

when thinking of my opinion on Shadowheart, I remember that I didn't like her at all at first. it didn't help that she was racist against the githyanki. but after act 2 and pretty much always having her in my party as the main healer, she REALLY grew on me as a character. imo, I think she has one of the best character arcs and she really meshes well with the other companions. she's not a comic relief character at all, but every joke and sarcastic comment she makes is always a banger. she's my Tav's official best friend. also her act three glow up. that is all

oh also during Shadowheart's quest in act three, I met Viconia DeVir (who i killed) and I laughed my ass off because I ended up naming my Tav Viconia who when playing as her, she was like the EXACT opposite of the evil cult leader. there was definitely a "there can only be one" moment when killing her

I also feel that Wyll is pretty underrated character, which is disappointing since he is actually super interesting as a character. I mean he made a deal with a devil. like. c'mon. now I did sometimes get annoyed with his whole being a hero schtick, but also he's like the most sane character companion imo. i felt bad about him sulking alone at the after goblin killing party and I was tempted to ask him to dance to maybe cheer him up, but I also knew that this would probably lead to a romance with him, which I didn't really want. so I just let him be. i remember the impossible choice we had to make in act three (save Wyll's dad and sacrifice his freedom, or break the contract Wyll made with Mizora and let his dad die). This was actually a really difficult decision to make because like. it's either your dad or your freedom. it's literally an impossible choice to make. i decided to have Wyll be free of his contract with Mizora because I had hope that we could maybe find a loophole to this whole deal. WHICH THERE WAS. I had to undo a 5 whole hours of progress because of a bug with Duke Ravengard not spawning in the iron throne if you progress too much in the lower city before watching Gortash's coronation (which is entirely my fault for being awful at directions and not understanding very obvious instructions), BUT I DID IT. I saved Wyll's dad and had him free from Mizora's servitude! his friendship with Karlach is also extremely sweet. I love just how nice Wyll is. I think he's neat.

KARLACH! My favorite female companion! I was so excited when I was finally able to give her a hug. she's just so sweet and fun and as i said before she got me the closest to crying while playing the game. she almost made me cry not once, not twice, but THREE whole times. first time was of course when she was finally able to touch people. second was when we killed Gortash and she had a crisis about dying soon. third was when I thought she was actually going to die before Wyll offered that she come with him back avernus to kill all the devils (bless Wyll). she's also the number one funniest character in the game which juxtaposes the fact that she almost made ms cry the most amount of times.

speaking of crying, this game made me want to cry three separate times in one day. i made the mistake of playing through Shadowheart's and Astarion's quest on the same day then proceeding to kill Gortash, which you already know what happens after that.

After playing through the game, I agree that camp dad(dy) is the official term to describe Halsin. I'm not attracted to him in any since, so to me he is just dad, but I do agree with this sentiment. also goddamn he tall

Jaheira is the fun aunt of the group and I love her for that. she's a queen.

Minsc is himbo. I also realized that he always has something to say about everything we do, and I didn't realize that until when I talked to him one time and he was speaking of something we did like three quests ago and I had to keep talking to him until he was finally caught up with the current events. it was super hilarious

Also I love Boo! when Minsc introduced me to this space hamster I immediately feel in love with his tiny wittle paw awnd hwis wittle whiskews- also Boo had so much personality and I love him for that.

now. it is time to be down bad. Gale. my beloved. if you have seen the amount of posts and art that I reblog about him, you could probably tell that I am absolutely down bad for this man. I don't know when it started, but holy shit. this man got me kicking my legs and squealing like a little school girl. every romance scene with him got me down bad. he says just the sweetest things and I am on the floor dead from a heart attack. he proposed to me at the end of the game. i was happy :)

other points about Gale: he is super funny. every joke with him is hilarious. Mystra is a bitch. he gives dedicated history professor vibes. his camp outfit looks so comfy. he hates sneaking because his knees hate sneaking. he is best friends with his tressym named Tara, who he summoned NOT because of tressyms being known for being a great familiar, but because he wanted a friend. pleasure domes lol

i guess this is all to say that I love every companion in bg3

i believe I got the best ending (in terms of good or bad endings) in the game, and my hot take is that I actually love the ending of the game! i don't know what other people were talking about when they said it wasn't satisfying. the only critique I can give about the ending is that if you don't romance either Shadowheart or Astarion, you don't really know what happens to them after the events of the game other than they probably have a happy ending. other than that, great ending!

i will say that I do agree with most other people when they say that act 3 is maybe the weakest act in the game. not that it isn't a bad act. i just think it's unnecessary difficult even in explorer difficulty, which I did had to set it to because balanced wasn't cutting it for my smooth brain. i also had difficulty with trying to figure out what to do or where to go for a huge chunk of the act. and if it wasn't for a few helpful guides, I might have accidentally skipped a huge chunk of the quests and gotten a worse ending for a lot of my companions. also yeah. act 3 is extremely buggy. not unplayable buggy, but it did cause a lot of problems with my playthrough including me having to redo 5 hours of progress because of a bug

also fighting the githyanki at any point in the game starting from the end of act 2 is an absolute nightmare. how are a group of githyanki monks a more difficult fight than the literal god of death?

speaking of death, i love the dead three. i think they are amazing antagonists. my favorite with being Thorm. he is just so intimidating and he gave an amazing first impression. it helps that he is voiced by J.K. Simmons.

OH AND RAPHAEL! he is so theatre kid evil and that is amazing! best fight theme in the game. i saved the song on my Spotify before I even got to his fight because I heard it for the first time when I was kind of watching my brother play and I fell in love with the song.

i wish there was more to do in act 2, but in terms of story, it is extremely strong and the act is extremely spooky, which I love. i got scarred for life in the house of healing. though I think the biggest strength with act 2 is Shadowheart. she stole the show in act 2.

also Gale's act 2 romance scene hehe <3

Scratch best boy

Owl bear cub so adorable

oh! also when exploring the szarr palace, I found an owl bear plush and I immediately wanted it to be real. i immediately stole it because it is the best thing ever

i love this game so much! there is so much more I want to speak about, but then this would turn into a novel if I mentioned everything. I might make a post about my Tav later on, but that's for later. i already made a google doc about her profile, but there is so much more that I want to discuss about her outside that doc, so...maybe I can share the doc whenever and maybe let people send asks about the character and I can discuss more in detail stuff that wasn't mentioned

I'm probably gonna take a short break from playing bg3 since I still just want to think about the finale and I spent maybe 80 hours of gameplay on this one run (i say this one run because I have been playing a bit with my brother and friend)

afterwards I want to do a redeemed dark urge run. i might romance Astarion not because I see him in a romantic light, but because I really ship him with the durge thanks to all of the art I have seen

tldr; bg3 is amazing

[purplemys]

Go Back Couple/Couple on the Backtrack, Why Every Couple Here is Great and Why The Secondary Love Interests Add Well to The Story

Part 1 because of image limit.

Go Back Couple is a korean drama uniquely about a divorced couple getting sent back in time to fix their mistakes and redo their regrets.

The main characters are Ma Jin-joo and Choi Ban-do.

The introduction to the story was honestly great. I got more invested when this lovely wedding happened. Look at them!!!

The first thing I knew about Jin-joo and Ban-do was that they're very happy and easy-going with each other. Ban-do is silly, energetic and a little awkward. His father-in-law didn't seem to like him, unlike his mother-in-law who was so fond of him from the look on her face alone. Jin-joo was obviously smitten.

The hard cut from them walking out from their wedding to them walking out of a divorce courthouse just made me raise my eyebrows. Like that was such a stark contrast.

The episode goes into further detail about what their life was like after around 18 years of marriage. They were tired and miserable and of course, they were taking it out on each other. I wish I could show more pictures but google and netflix hate me so just take my word for it when I say these two are some of the pettiest, rudest people I've had the second-hand embarassment of watching. Jin-joo dumped Ban-do's work journal into the sink after he forgot to get her an anniversary present. Ban-do was being rude to her in general. Absolutely horrid.

I think some of you might be wondering "Why should we root for such awful people?" Well, unlike certain media out there with such unlikeable leads - After and its sequels. This pattern of behavior eventually gets addressed and fixed. It's important for characters to have flaws and yes, flaws because episode 1 intro conveyed Jin-joo and Ban-do to be very sweet, nice people. What happened then? (god I wish I have pictures)

Ban-do's job essentially turned him into a subservient dog for the higher-ups, he'll bend over backwards to please them if it meant a possible raise. This showed me Ban-do's other flaw is being a people-pleaser and he was desperate to keep providing for his wife and son.

Jin-joo was a very tired housewife. She did everything and barely did anything for herself. She felt tired and looked the part. All she wanted was a break and for her husband to give her proper time and attention. The only flaw I could think of with Jin-joo was that she wasn't good at communicating her problem but immediately resorting to petty insults and destruction of his property.

This lack of proper communication between them culminated in Jin-joo breaking down and asking for a divorce when he couldn't be contacted (becuse his job is shit) and someone sent her a pic of Ban-do with another woman (that he didn't know) and she immeditely assumed the worst, which wasn't exactly her fault- her husband was often home late, barely paid attention to her, and when he did, didn't respect her as much as before. Yeah, sounds hella suspcious.

The scene here was so gutwrenching because I knew Ban-do didn't mean to hurt her in that way. He was a bit of a douche but he wasn't a cheater and he was about to go home and apologize with flowers for their anniversary when she called and asked for a divorce, not even giving him time to explain. Yeah, he also had the right to feel that way.

Aight. They got divorced after this. Seo-jin (their son) was likely with Jin-joo's sister for the time-being. Where do we go from there?

Well, the scene of them throwing away their rings was awesome and google wouldn't give it to me. The way they threw their rings away was very reflective of their characters. Jin-joo was sad, lamenting about how this wasn't how her life was supposed to go, letting go of her ring by dropping it outside of the bus on her way home.

Ban-do was in his room at his old parent's house, angrily wishing they never met and throwing his ring out the window, reflective of his brash nature.

Bippity boppity fuck the space time continuum, they were sent to the past of 18 years earlier, with their memories in tact.

Them remembering their current lives at 20 years old is the key to their character development later on.

Cue past shenanigans, Jin-joo and Ban-do being petty as fuck especially after they found out that they remember their current lives. After some time of them being really petty to each other, some might think "Why are we still supposed to root for these people to get together?"

I think I wasn't supposed to. They made up their minds to try and pursue other people and I figured, nah, this isn't about them as a couple anymore but them as people. Jin-joo and Ban-do got married when they were 21 or 22. They were still their 20s selves, that being their worst versions. Jin-joo was stuck up and bratty and Ban-do was impulsive and brash.

Enter the secondary love interests. Jung Nam-gil and Min Seo Young.

Nam-gil was closed off and elusive, prefering to keep to himself. Seo Young on the other hand was sweet and friendly.

I'll be honest, I got worried that they'd make Nam-gil a better option than Ban-do and Seo Young to be a real bitch deep down but no, neither of those things happened which was a pleasant surprise.

Nam-gil was great. He was awkward and despite his appearance, carried around this aura of inexperience to him. The reason why I don't think he would have been better for Jin-joo is because of when his attraction to Jin-joo started. While Jin-joo initially pursued him, thinking she was his first love that he never got over, she eventually stopped when he gave her a cold warning to "stop her weird obession with him."

Nam-gil started getting the real feels when he got into physical contact with Jin-joo twice. He saved her both times and she worried about him in return. Especially with the incident with his hurt ankle, she started mothering him, if you will and he got so smitten with this version of Jin-joo. While it's nice that he finds Jin-joo sweet and caring and he wants to return that (by asking her for her time, trying to defend her honor, gifting her things), their dynamic was more like her nurturing him to be a nicer person (by asking him to reciprocate people's affections and efforts) and him trying to pursue her to no avail.

His character added something to Jin-joo's. She understood that she was well, a brat who treated him like shit that one time, then assumed he was obsessed with her, then only wanted to get with him because of his status in the current life as a billionare historian.

Throughout the story, first loves's types and strengths were discussed. Jin-joo wanted to be someone's first love because it was supposed to be special. She truly became his first love in this timeline and she decided no, she didn't want him to be alone forever pining for her like she initially belived.

She wanted him to experience a life outside of her because he was a good, warm person deep down and that he deserved happiness.

And he does at the ending. 😭 Look at him! He was with his kid in that shot!

Min Seo Yeong was Ban-do's first love.

Go Bo Gyeol and by extension, her character excuded innocence, softness, and grace fitting for the ballerina dancer that she was.

Seo Young wasn't as troubled and complicated as Nam-gil but she wasn't shallow. She was a popular school dancer, weighed down by the pressures of academics and theatre by her parents.

She greatly benefitted from having Ban-do in her life, pushing her to have fun and stepping out of her comfort zone. She started eating more, expressing herself more, getting outside of the house, walking around.

Her character change was all thanks to Ban-do finally working up the courage to talk to her and pursue her. Unfortunately, this backfired. His efforts at taking care of her, lecturing her (like Jin-joo did with Nam-gil), and barely physically pursuing her afterwards, led to her seeing him less like a boyfriend and more of a father figure. And he took it well, all considering. All this bonding with Seo Young, give us a little more about Ban-do's character.

He thought of himself as an average guy with nothing interesting going on, no hobbies, no special skills, nothing. He forgot his love of films since he pursued Civil Engineering, contrast to him telling Seo Young to do whatever she loved in the career she was actually passionate about.

[meowzfordayz]

Milestone 15.0 KNY drabbles

Sfw

Giyuu or Tengen

And, I miss you

Please?

MILESTONE 15.0

Ty for participating in my event! 😁 Also, I totally blanked regarding my "i love you"/"i miss you" playlists for a hot sec, and was like, "Ooh ?? Who are you? 👀" when I read, "And, I miss you," lmao (aka I thought you missed me lol). 🤦🏻‍♀️

Song Inspo: Good For You - Acoustic by Castro

CW: none

Giyuu waits outside your apartment, umbrella in hand, as rain falls soft and certain.

"Giyuu!" you exclaim, front door slamming behind you as you greet him with a dizzying grin, "I can't believe it's raining," oblivious to the warmth tickling across his cheeks, "I'm gonna be soaked, I was in such a rush, didn't grab my umbrella," sticking out a foot, "And definitely didn't wear the right shoes."

Silently, he opens his umbrella, pulse fluttering as you promptly latch onto his arm, faint whisper of a smile lighting up his face.

"My hero!" you sigh dramatically, "You're so pretty when you smile, did y'know that?" poking carelessly at his face.

Grunting at your antics, and resisting the urge to catch your wrist and brush his lips to your knuckles, he allows himself a fleeting moment of contentment, memorizing the heat of your body pressed into the tension of his, almost wishing he hadn't brought his umbrella so he could've offered you his jacket instead.

"I brought extra socks," he murmurs.

"Extra socks?"

He nods solemnly, "I figured you wouldn't wear rainboots."

"I didn't want to be late!" you gasp, eyes wide in mock offense, "Besides, it's just a little rain! I can handle it!"

"I know," he shrugs simply, "Just like you can handle looking out the window or checking the weather on your phone while getting ready."

"When you sleep waaay past your alarm, you relinquish various luxuries," you retort, flicking his ear.

Snorting, he moves the umbrella slightly, chuckling lowly when you let out an indignant shriek, raindrops cascading onto your shoulder, clinging tighter to him with a damp glare.

"GIYUU!"

"Hm?" he blinks, overly polite, "Did you get wet?"

"Yes," you growl, not-so-stealthily attempting to stomp on his toes, pouting as he smoothly avoids your wrath, "Because someone moved the umbrella!"

"Ah, well, that wasn't very nice of that someone."

"If you want a hug, then you could ask for one," you scowl, "No need to resort to violent methods."

"My methods are never violent," he deadpans.

"Do you want a hug though?"

"Never."

Hating himself as the brightness of your stare dims, cold distance shoving itself between you, releasing his arm with an awkward squeak, followed by a gentle smack, his chest hardly feeling a thing.

"You have got to work on your emotional constipation!" you groan, stare bright once more, "If you want a hug, then I'll hug you!" smirking fondly, "We're friends Giyuu! I mean, you brought extra socks for me!" rolling your eyes, "If you can do that, then surely you can ask me for a hug?"

"Of course," he practically whispers, falling, falling, falling into your glow, "I'll ask, next time."

With a satisfied huff, you reattach yourself to his arm, entirely unaware of the downpour flooding his heart, drowning in the reassurance of your touch.

[robinismywifee]

Back to the Old House - Chapter 5:

August 30th, 2034

[7 days after previous chapter]

Raines age: 16 years, 6 months

Ellies age: 15 years, 3 months

CW: none

Words: 1381

Masterlist

Raines POV:

I've been going on patrol with Jesse for a week now. He still started awkward conversations and tried to get to know me, but since I would either just not reply or give an answer without actually answering, he would resort to just telling me his answer in detail. Although I didn't care, I did listen because it felt rude not to. He hasn't done anything wrong and is a nice guy, however, I wish he didn't try so much.

Me and Jesse were on our way back to Jackson, on our horses, we finally ran into infected today so it wasn't entirely boring, even if it was only 2 runners.

"So, school starts up again next monday, you're gonna go, right?" Jesse randomly asked.

I looked at him confused, "School?"

He looked back at me, confused of why I was confused. "Yeah?"

"Oh. Didn't know there was a school system for older kids here."

"Well, I went last year and it was fun. We learn a

bunch of different things! Like, grammer, poetry, history, all different kinds of science, some math.." Jesse listed on his fingers, "Oh! And you can take an extra class for art, or at least last year they had it. And then they have all the other boring stuff, like health.. survival.. combat.."

I liked the idea of learning more poetry and history. My ears perked up when he mentioned an art class, awhile back when I was super young, before i lived at the QZ, I would paint all the time. Anything I saw in nature I painted. I sketch from time to time, but I miss painting alot. Maybe they have the supplies for that?

"Art class?" I simply asked.

"Yeah! My friend E- uhh.. my friend took the class, she really enjoyed it actually. Do you draw?"

I shrug, "Well, i'm sure you're great! And you can improve by going to school! You should sign up for it, or I guess since you live with Maria you could just ask her."

"What do the teach in the art class?"

"Well, I didn't take it, thats not really my thing, but, from what i've heard, they teach the history of art, different techniques for drawing and painting, i'm pretty sure theres even a lesson on clay sculptures and you get to make stuff out of it. Pretty cool, I wish I was artsy."

I sat on my horse in silence as Jesse continued talking about his favorite classes, thinking about the idea of school. Real school. Not stupid QZ school.

The idea of learning more about most of those stuff sounded fascinating to me but the idea of having to be social and just around people was the mood killer.

Shortly after, we arrived at the gates of Jackson. We got to the stables as always, and as I began to walk away to go back to Marias, Jesse stopped me.

"Hey, I know social settings or gatherings arent really your thing, but I really think you should give it a shot. If you don't like it, then you can quit. But I think if you don't try then you'll regret it. So, if you do decide to show, find my face and there will be an open seat next to it!"

I nodded, "Thanks, Jesse. I'll think about it"

୨♡୧

The next day

"So, didya sign up yet?"

I glanced at him from behind me, hes still going on about the school thing?

"For school classes"

"Yeah, I got that" I mumbled, turning back and continuing walking.

We had just gotten off of morning patrol and I was walking back to the house when he followed behind me.

"I'm guessing you haven't"

I shook my head no, he walked infront of me as we both stopped walking, "how bout' I take you to the sign up sheets and we do it right now?"

"Uhh, Jesse, I don't really think I wanna do-"

"How about I stop annoying you on patrol and shut up whenever you want, if you sign up for them and go? Just the first day"

I stood and thought about it. I would much rather hear the chirping birds then Jesse chirping about how his girlfriend broke up with him.

"okay."

"okay? i- is that all?"

"What else is there to say? now, take me there"

Jesse cheered silently and started leading me the opposite way. He took me to a familiar building. This was the building I woke up in from my coma.

"Jesse?"

"Hm?"

"I thought this was the towns hospital?"

"Oh, yeah, top floor is. This is a pretty big building and its like the main one, so theres alot of different stuff in it." he explained

as we entered, I saw a sign in the lobby that labeled what each floor was.

Jesse took me to the front desk, the guy in the chair seemed to be focused on something else as Jesse grabbed a paper that was layed out, and a pen from a cup.

We sat down on nearby chairs, Jesse placed the paper and pen down on the table infront of us, "Pretty simple, just fill it out and mark it off, kinda self explanatory"

I nodded, and filled out my name, age, guardians, marked off all the boxes of what classes I wanted to be in, and stated the job I had and what time I worked.

"now what?" I asked, looking at him, Jesse answered by getting up, a dick eating grin plastered on his face, and handed the focused guy at the front desk the paper.

"Lets go! Oh, you're gonna love it, I can't wait for you to show me your artwork-"

"Okay, you're annoying me, shut it," I couldn't help but smile at him as we walked out the building, "and who said that i'm gonna show you my artwork?" I snarked

"Uh, me? I did? And the shutting-up-whenever-you-want-deal isn't on until you go to school on Monday, plus I said only when we're on patrol"

"So I just did that for basically nothing since Monday isn't for 4 days and it only applies to patrol?"

Jesse laughed, "You would have missed out on a big opportunity i'm doing you a huge favor-"

"Hey Jesse" a snarkling voice interrupted, my soft smile immediately dropped once I saw the short black haired girl. The same girl who was holding hands with Ellie that night, the same girl who rode the bicycle with Ellie, I suddenly felt like throwing up.

"Oh, hey Cat" Jesse said with a soft smile, I looked to the ground, shifting on my feet, my cheeks were growing red from embarrassment She heard me call Ellie a dyke..

"Ah- this is Raine! Shes my patrol partner" Jesse said after an awkward moment of silence, a hint of excitement behind his voice. Probably excited to finally introduce me with his friend. God why is he friends with this girl? and what kind of name is cat.

"We've met." Cat says coldly, my eyes stay to the ground, I bite my tongue so hard I start to taste blood.

"Oh? I didn't know Raine met anyone other then me and Dina.."

"Well, I guess we hadn't officially met, but it was enough. Anyways, we were all gonna watch a movie tonight at my place, wanna come?"

I could feel Jesse glance to look at me, and back at Cat. "Uh, yeah Cat, thats.. good, what time?"

"Be there at 7, it's gonna be so fun, I bet you could get Dina back by tomorrow"

I couldn't take it anymore, her voice was stinging.

I sped walked away with my head down, I could hear muffled behind my ringing ears Jesse calling my name, but I ignored it.

[andsheloved]

music begins

pairing ~ jaskier x f!reader

word count ~ 3.5k

summary ~ jaskier reminds you just how much you mean to him in the only way he knows how.

warnings ~ fluff, some angst, hurt/comfort, crying, discussion of general insecurity and body image issues, mention of reader wearing a skirt, slight witcher season 1 + 2 spoilers, mild language, mention of a height difference, reader gets jealous, self doubt, mention of 'drinks' though not explicitly stated as alcohol (and not drank by reader), mentions of men being drunk.

a/n ~ based off of this ask!! so thank you my lovely soft thought anon!! this went from a less than 100 word soft thought, into a drabble, into a one shot, i simply could not stop myself with soft jaskier. without further ado, i hope you all enjoy!! mwauh!!

You huffed, crossing your arms across your chest. He knew what he did, you knew that it was just part of his job, but that fact still didn't make things any less frustrating seeing girls all around the tavern throw themselves at him.

You tried to focus on him, it usually wasn't this difficult to keep your attention on the man singing loud enough to shake the hinges off the tavern doors, but with every turn of his coat and wink thrown into the audience, you felt your eyes wandering to the swooning women offering up coy smiles and whispering bashfully to their friends before returning their lewd gazes to Jaskier.

You hated it.

You could remember the day he had first stormed into your life like it had happened only yesterday.

Before Witchers and tossing coins and child surprises.

Before all that, he was yours.

"Thank you ladies and-" He was cut off by another drunken heckle and you watched how his mouth opened, preparing to respond to the man. He raised his fist, but something about him somehow told you that he wasn't the type to resort to violence in these situations. He stammered, swallowing thickly as he tried to think of something to say, and you waited patiently on the edge of your seat for his response. His hand fell to his side as he sighed, mumbling a hushed 'forget it' as he stomped past you.

The words left your lips faster than you could even process them yourself, "Don't listen to them."

You could hear how the floorboards underneath his feet wailed as he paused in his tracks, and you instantly wished you could pluck the words from the air.

You cringed at the sound of his footsteps returning to you, and reluctantly you finally mustered the courage to turn in your seat to face him.

His mouth was slightly agape as he took you in, eyes flickering up and down your form as he inched closer to you. "Come again?" He finally spoke, almost breathlessly, as if he were trying to catch his breath from your statement.

You swallowed, your hands fidgeting in your lap before you finally responded. "Don't listen to them," You gave a shy smile, trying to ignore the strange heat that crawled up your cheeks from his burning, blue gaze. "Closest thing they've heard to music is their Roosters in the morning." You sputtered, almost wincing at your awkward attempt at humor.

His hearty laugh warmed your heart unexpectedly, and you found yourself suddenly laughing with him. His laugh sounded like sunshine, and the fresh, sunny part of Spring, you felt your shoulders sagging in relief at the sound of it.

"At least someone with taste frequents this inn..." He spat jokingly, quickly sliding into the bench seat across from you in the corner booth you had settled yourself in before his performance. He unceremoniously slammed his Lute on the table, making you jump at the sound.

"Oh I- No, I work here." You mumbled, quickly raising the beige colored rag that had been tucked into the waistband of your skirt.

"What is a place like you doing with a girl like this?" He smirked, now resting his chin on the palm of his hand as he leaned forward on the table, as if to get a better look at you.

You let out a soft, amused hum, trying to thwart the unanticipated fluttering that had begun to bloom in the pit of your stomach. "I bet you say that to all the girls."

"Only to ones that speak to me-"

"Hey!" The sudden booming voice of the innkeeper had you both turning towards the bar. "Don't pay ya to socialize!" He called out, his frustrated grumbling audible from across the room.

"I'm sorry I-"

"Yeah, no, I'd better get going-"

You clumsily stumbled over each others farewells, exchanging uncomfortable chuckles before you finally gathered yourselves.

"I thought you sang wonderfully," You smiled, untucking the rag from your skirt as you leaned over a nearby table, mindlessly wiping it down. "And it was very nice to meet you"

"Likewise..." You could sense an unfamiliar sort of tension radiating between the two of you. It was a magnetic sort of warmth that kept pulling you towards each other, making it so neither one of you wanted to initiate a goodbye.

"It's been a pleasure" He added, but before you could respond, a loud, metallic clash broke you from your thoughts.

You closed your eyes, an exasperated sigh falling from your lips, "I'm sorry" You winced apologetically, gathering the few pewter mugs that had been left on the table into your arms.

"Get the bard out!" The man behind the bar finally shouted, loud enough to even wake the sleeping man who had been resting his head on the edge of the bar. "He's stayed his welcome!"

"I do believe that is my cue" He grinned cheerfully, grabbing his Lute from the table behind him and reluctantly turning from you.

You smiled as he walked off, you couldn't remember the last time you had experienced a conversation with someone that consisted more of drunken grunts or orders to clear the tables faster.

"Your name!" You heard a shout from the door, and you lifted your head to see what the ruckus was about, you weren't shocked to see who it was. "I never got your name!"

"Fuck off!" Another jeer came from your employer behind you, though the man was still insisted.

You called out your name over the suddenly groaning crowd, expressing their discontent with all the shouting and the bard's still-lingering presence.

You could hear his contented hum as he looked at you, "Music" he muttered, before finally exiting the tavern.

You knew of the exceptions of his occupation, you were no stranger to the ever-revolving group of musicians and singers that found themselves stumbling through the battered entryway of the inn.

Though something deep inside you told you that it would be different this time.

Unlike all the other boozing men that stumbled into the tavern in the small hours of the night with a lute in their hand, shouting nonsense at anyone who would listen, only to walk off unphased the next morning, never to return. Those men never even cared to tip you, even when they spilled their entire mug of ale across the floor, let alone ask for your name.

This one was different.

He'd be back.

Within only a matter of weeks, the two of you had settled into a comfortable routine. The village you had found yourself stuck in for the majority of your life had made a quite name for itself in the realm of monsters, so Witchers were not an uncommon sight in your tavern, though you couldn't say you had ever seen one bring along such a companion as Jaskier.

The taller man was almost completely silent, though it could be said that even the loudest gossip in town was fairly quiet in comparison to Jaskier. He didn't say much, only muttering a few 'thank you's' to you occasionally when you served the men their drinks after longer journeys.

You were only friends back then, even in the moments when it felt like so much more, you didn't want to sacrifice what you had for something that seemed so destined to fail.

Between his own unpredictability and unusual travelling schedule, you weren't sure your heart would be able to manage, and even though you shared nothing but friendship at the time, it seemed to be no use even as your stomach dropped into a pit of dread when he told you how long he would be leaving you this time.

"You look as radiant as ever" His familiar, lilting tone almost had you closing your eyes to appreciate the full sound of his voice without any distraction.

"I bet you say that to all the girls" You smiled, eagerly settling your hands on either side of his collar.

"Only to ones that compliment my singing..."

You could hear the annoyed groans from the white haired man behind him, though you couldn't bring yourself to care.

When he looked at you, it was like he was really seeing you. Not just as someone who brought him his drinks or as someone to flirt with every time he came to town, he saw you.

When he stared at you, it always looked as if he were studying you, his gaze always flickering from your eyes to the tip of your nose, to the small wrinkles that gathered at the corners of your eyes. On some nights, on those late evenings when neither of you could bring yourselves to sneak back off into your rooms at the back of inn, when all that illuminated the empty tavern was a single flame lantern in between the two of you, you would swear that his gaze would quickly shift to your lips.

"I'll miss you" He finally sighed.

"You'll be back before you know it" You feigned a weak smile as your hands crept their way onto either side of his collar. "And I'll be right here."

"You always are."

"And I always will." You replied softly.

"You're too good for me..."

There was a pregnant pause between the two of you as you took each other in. Examining each others faces as if attempting to commit every feature to memory before you were robbed of each others presence once again.

"When I get back..." He whispered, his lips almost ghosting over the shell of your ear, "Come with me."

You quickly snapped your head back, your eyes wide with shock and confusion. "Jaskier, all I've ever done is..." You glanced around the gloomy, dimly lit tavern, "This... I don't know how useful I would be-"

"No, just you and me... I just-" His voice was frantic before he cut himself off with a sigh, gathering himself before continuing, "I just can't do... This," He hastily gestured between the two of you, "...Anymore. I can't leave you again... I won't... My heart can't bear it."

Ever since you could recall a single memory, it seemed you were planted immovably within the four walls of the tavern. You had been content with that life for so long, never wishing for anything more but a decent tip and pleasant customers. Though ever since you had first met Jaskier, with his stories of adventure and daring and life, you found yourself dreaming of a life beyond the walls you had once comfortably regarded as your own personal cut of the world. At night, instead of empty, barren nights in a drafty chamber, you dreamt of another life entirely.

One with him.

"Say you'll come with me." He sighed, exasperated, "Please." His brow furrowed as he begged, and you took a final look around the tavern.

The innkeeper grunted angrily from behind the bar, men littered the scattered tables, some with their heads on their plates, some staring mindlessly at the wall, yelling unintelligibly about the wrongs of the world. There was a couple sat in a booth in the corner, bickering about whatever nonsense that would surely end up with ale spilled all over the table.

People were always coming and going in the village searching for work, and what did you have to loose?

You smiled as a new air of certainty washed over you, and you were certain you had never been more sure of anything in all of your years.

"Yes."

The rest of your story was history, and although friends came and left you both along your journeys, you knew that you always had each other. Even when the world seemed to be crashing down around the both of you, you would only hold each others hand until you could finally see the sunlight once more.

And once you could both could feel the sun on your skin again and the dust finally settled, he still stood beside you.

Even if you wanted to, his presence was not one you could easily escape. You wondered how Geralt did it, with "Toss a Coin" being the drinking song of choice across the continent most nights. You knew that even if you tried, you'd never be fully rid of Jaskier, not that you'd ever want to be.

As you watched him sing and swagger around the tables and chairs before you, a strange mix of pride and something different brought a furious heat to your cheeks.

You were happy for him, really, you were. You considered it an honor to see him grow into the whirlwind individual he was now, drawing in crowds large enough that some patrons even needed to be turned away at the door.

Though you'd be lying if you didn't admit that on some nights, it began to feel as if you were being left behind. On evenings when he was kept late from coming home with you due to encore after encore requested by the women who just couldn't seem to get enough of him, he would indulge them of course, winking to you from the small raised platform before you finally head out for the night, it was hard to think you were anything more than one of his many female devotees.

You whimpered at the thought, the idea that one day he could pack up and disappear from your side haunted you. The image of Jaskier venturing off with another woman he had met at some local tavern just like he did with you, leaving you with nothing but the remains of once cherished memories, continuously nagged at you from the darkest corners of your mind.

There was a soft knock on the door frame of your bedroom, "Darling..?"

You hummed, content that he was finally home, even as your betraying imagination still continued to torment you with what if's.

"You left early" He sighed, slowly stepping behind you until his chest was almost entirely flush against your back, wrapping his arms gently around your waist and pressing a soft kiss to the top of your head.

"Tired" You mumbled, still focusing on busying yourself on thoughtlessly turning and fluffing the pillows.

"What's wrong?" He whispered, his worry evident in his tone.

"Jaskier, I'm fine" You groaned, "I promise."

"Love, it's not that I don't believe you, it's only that I don't"

You let out an exasperated huff as you finally spun in his arms. "I promise" You hated how your voice wavered as you spoke. You were fine, truly, you were happy, all of his dreams were coming true and you had the honor of being a part of it all.

He sighed your name, his hand coming up to cup your cheek, "Then why are you crying?"

You cursed internally for not realizing you had begun crying earlier when you were lost in your own spiraling thoughts. There was no use in holding them back now, and even though you absolutely despised the heartbroken expression that instantly fell onto his features, you'd be lying if you said it didn't feel nice to finally let go of the tension that had been building up for months without end.

He gently nudged you onto the bed and settled himself beside you, sitting close enough where you could still feel the warmth of presence, but far enough way where you had room to breathe.

"Tell me what's wrong, please, let me fix it" He pleaded.

You wanted nothing more than to tell him, he was finally giving you an opportunity to finally say what had been weighing on your mind for months, yet, all you wanted to do now was go to sleep and pray he would forget about all this in the morning. A new fear crept into your mind, one more terrifying than the last.

That this was all in your head.

Maybe you had been just overreacting, you thought, it was part of his job after all, to entertain. If that included winking and flirting with everyone else in the crowd, than so be it.

"Please" You heard him whisper through the fog of your thoughts, and his delicate, melodic voice was the last hammer to your slowly crumbling resolve.

"I miss you, Jaskier" You finally sputtered, your voice broken and weak. "I see you up there, and I'm so happy for you, but then I see the how the other women look at you, and I know how they feel and I-" You were cut off by a choked sob, one that you almost didn't even recognize as coming from you at first. "I would understand if you-"

"Don't." His voice was shockingly stern, causing you to finally look up at him through your lashes. "Don't you dare."

"I'm sorry-"

"And don't apologize either, you've nothing to apologize for." His tone was sharp and almost frustrated, though as you examined his features, you could tell he was anything but. His eyes were gentle and apologetic, his brows furrowed in concern as he studied you.

"They're just all so..." You waved your hands aimlessly, hoping he would understand what you meant, "And I'm only... Me."

A hushed gasp left his lips before he responded, "Do you truly not see yourself as I do?"

You winced, your eyes dropping to the floor as a strange, ashamed sort of heat bloomed in your chest.

Suddenly, you felt his forefinger and thumb grasp your chin, urging you to face him once again. "You are the most beautiful soul I have ever come across in all of my days. If I hadn't ever returned to that tavern, I don't believe I would ever be able to manage to write another lyric ever again, the highest beauty I would ever know has already passed me by."

Jaskier liked to talk, it was one of the many reasons you had fallen for him in the first place. You could tell when he was only speaking to get what he wanted, swindling inn keepers into letting you two stay another night, or even trying to talk Geralt out of leaving town again. His words as he spoke to you now though, held a certain weight to them. He wasn't loud, he wasn't making jokes, his voice was tender and calm as he whispered to you, he wasn't saying these things for anyone else but you.

"You are an aria come to life, my love. I consider it my highest honor to be blessed with your presence each day."

"Jaskier-"

He suddenly grasped both of your hands, as if to quiet your protests even before you had begun to form a sentence. He knew you too well.

"You're right when you say you aren't like the others though," He added abruptly, "You are extraordinary."

Even when you probably looked pathetic, tears streaked down your cheeks and eyes puffy, he looked upon you as if you were the most precious, rarest of jewels.

For a moment, his eyes flickered to something behind you and he smirked, you could already see the mischief stirring in his eyes as he began to plot.

In an instant, he had shot up from the bed, extending his hand to you. "Come," He requested plainly, "I want to show you something."

You hesitantly took his hand, allowing him to guide you to the small space between your bed and the fireplace where a large mirror stood imposingly.

He stood stiff behind you, almost trapping you in place with his presence. Your eyes were glued to the floor, you had had enough tears tonight, and you certainly didn't feel like looking at yourself in the mirror in the state you were in.

As if he sensed your internal hesitation, his hand found your face again, gently brushing your cheek, pushing it to the side so you could take in the picture of your reflection. "Look at you..."

You swallowed, your eyes tracing and noting every dimple, curve and freckle that you had always avoided focusing on for too long.

"A goddess." Jaskier whispered, so quietly that you questioned if he had even meant for you to hear it. "Look at you, carved from the finest marble money could buy, draped in silk..." His hand drifted from your chin, tracing the line of your neck and down the plane of your arm. "How you are not the muse of a thousand men is beyond me."

More tears rolled down your cheeks as a faint, melancholy smile played on your lips.

"I know it may take you some time for you to see these things as I do, but please, just listen to me. You are exquisite." He quickly spun you in his arms, planting his hands firmly on your hips. "And if you still don't ever see yourself as I do, please know that there will always be one thing that you have that they never will."

You sniffled, hastily wiping the few stray tears that had fallen. "What?" You breathed quietly.

"When I look at you, well..." He sighed, "That's when the music begins."

You let out a soft sigh, pressing your slightly dampened cheek onto the thin fabric of his shirt.

"They're all for you... They always were, they always will be."

There was a moment of comfortable quiet between the two of you as you both soaked in each others presence, swaying gently as you held each other.

"I love you." You muttered into his chest.

You could hear the smile in his voice as he pressed a tender kiss to the top of your head. "I love you, darling."

There was a brief pause before you began to chuckle. "I bet you say that to all the girls..."

You could feel the smirk in his voice, an amused hum rumbling in his chest as he replied. "Only to you."

oh my goodness, this was an absolute joy to write and i got slightly emotional over this :') i've 100% been needing some insecurity comfort recently and gosh this soft thought made me scream!! i hope you enjoyed this my anonymous friend!! and to everyone else, i also hope you thoroughly enjoyed!! i want you all to know that you are all masterpieces and i love you all so very much!! mwauh!!

as always, likes, comments, and reblogs are always appreciated!!

want more witcher? check out my masterlist!!

[melissa-kenobi]

DAY ELEVEN: TECH + AFTERCARE

d. aftercare - The quiet period in which both partners gradually return to the current moment in time. It usually consists of attending to each others needs, talking or cuddling.

Word Count:

Kinktober 2021 Masterlist

Tech had never been good at what he should do after you had finished having sex. He was awkward and inexperienced, but that being said, he was eager to learn- just not from you. He didn't want to feel like he needed to ask you what he should do afterwards, so he resorted to the holonet. There he had found several articles where people and couples had discussed the need for affection after having sex.

Now, Tech being reprieved of affection as a child growing up it was highly difficult for him to reciprocate. He struggled deeply with it, the first time he tried he almost fainted.

"Mesh'la-

"Tech what are you doing?" You asked, eyes filled with curiosity as you watched his single finger move to your shoulder.

"I er-

"I don't u-

"Sorry!" Tech immediately aplogised and pulled his travelling finger away, slipping out of bed and rushing maker knows where, leaving you very confused.

The following day, Tech was watching you from afar and how you interacted with Wrecker. He watched how his brother would easily pull you into a hug and ruffle your hair while you squeezed him playfully. Tech could feel his heart race with jealousy as he watched the interaction. Oh how he wished he could do that, to walk behind you and pull you into his arms, or even just cuddle.

But he couldn't.

---

One late evening, after you and Tech had finished your stuff- you noted he was watching you very carefully. The way his eyes trailed over your body, and his hand were itching to move- to do something. It was very strange of Tech, normally he would lay there with you and recount past mission or just fall asleep but today there was something off with him. At first you thought he might have been uncomfortable with your relationship, because it was exactly official per se, but don't think it was because of that.

"Tech- what's wrong? And don't lie to me, I can read you very well." You leaned on your side, placing a hand on his cheek gently to which he leaned into automatically before pulling back. "Tech? I don't understand- do you not want me to touch you?"

You could have sworn Tech's eyeballs burst out it it's sockets with the way he had looked at you before protesting. "No, maker no! I adore it when you- when you touch me. I just-"

"Go on.." You gently urged him to continue.

He blinked shyly back at you. "On the holonet, there were several reports where couples take care of one another after intercourse." His cheeks blushed a little when he continued. "I noticed that we have never done that before."

"You mean to cuddle an-

"Yes. That's what the holonet said." Tech quickly cut in, feeling totally out of his norm.

Your heart exploded with love and adoration for this man, he was too shy to initiate anything because he didn't know how to. So he resorted to the holonet. Smiling happily at him you gently reached out to cup his cheeks, his head tilting to rest in your palms as you spoke. "Do you want to cuddle Tech?"

He simply nodded.

"I need words cyare." You whispered softly, your thumb rubbing the supple skin of his cheek.

"Yes please." He closed his eyes before you were quickly pulled into his arms, your head resting on his chest while his arms cuddled around you. "Mmhh.."

Tech hummed in contentment, his eyes drooping slowly, as he placed a kiss on your forehead. "This is nice. I like it when you're in my arms."

Lifting your head up to look at him as you felt his arms tighten around you as he spoke the words. "Your arms?"

He opened his eyes to look at you, a slight shame filling his eyes, or was it embarrassment? You weren't too sure but Tech spoke up.

C

"I er- I wasn't too fond of how Wrecker was holding you yesterday. It wasn't too my liking." Tech confessed, cheeks blushing red as he was embarrassed for feeling jealous.

You giggled in his arms, leaning up to place a kiss on his lips. "Don't you worry about that, you can cuddle me all you want."

Tech gave you a sly grin. "You might regret saying that cyar'ika."

***

🎃

Taglist: @tobitofunction @pinkiemme @hannya-exists @shadowfoxey @starwarsworld @theeicedamericano @darthmama1618 @justanothersadperson93 @liadamerondjarin @captain-rexs-girlfriend @99squad

[zee-stars]

Hello Hello!

this isn't apart of of plot. Just something I wanted to write for my poly!c!karlnapity x reader series.

First kiss

There are two things to write about here.

1. Your first kiss with each individual boy. (For Sap and Quackity I am going to do before and after you started the poly relationship. Y/n didn't kiss Karl until the poly relationship.)

2. That one time you all actually took turns kissing.

So I'm gonna write both. (Dont worry. Its not spicy. Fluffy really)

1st one: first kiss each individual boy.

The first one you kissed was Sapnap.

You were 17 years old. You and him were out by your hangout spot by a lake. It was a late Saturday night and it wasn't to cold. (Yes you remember every detail because you think of that night non stop)

You started to talk about crushes, dates and kisses. He was the one who brought up the fact that he had never kissed anyone.

"Really? You've never kissed anyone? I thought you were a lady's man?" You teased. He shoved you lightly.

"What about you huh? You've ever kissed anyone?" He resorted back.

"No. But at least I don't lie about it!"

"I DIDN'T LIE! I just was making jokes!"

"Of course sappy. Whatever you say."

It was quiet for a bit. Kinda awkward but not at the same time.

"So um..." Sapnap started, "since we've never kissed anyone, maybe... you'd wanna just... get it out of the way? Just to know what it's like?" He asked. When you didn't respond right away he got nervous.

"I mean! Only if you want! I mean we do trust each other enough to like... do that and not like wanna fuck or whatever."

"What are you even saying right now?" You asked.

"I have no clue... but do you..." you sighed at this dorky boy.

"I'm alright with it." You answered.

"Okay... so do I..." you laughed his stayment and noticed how he licked his lips a bit and looked at yours.

You gently put your hand on his neck and leaned in. You lips conected. There was nothing else to it. Your lips just touched and after about 15 seconds you pulled away.

By the look of his face when you pulled away, you would have thought you'd done more then kissing.

"God sap your such a dork."

Next you kissed Quackity when you had started dating.

It had happened on a night where you didn't plan on sleeping and you and him were just watching movies.

"Not gonna lie, this movie kinda sucks." He said.

"Then why'd you pick it?"

"I was hoping it be good. But really it's shit." He grabbed the remote and started to look for something else to watch.

You noticed you were low on snacks in the snack bowl and the bottle of soda was almost empty.

"I'm gonna go get more food and drinks." You said. But then Quackity threw himself on top of you.

"No don't get up! I won't be able to get comfortable again if you do!" He protest.

"But we're gonna run out of food."

"I can starve." You laughed at him and tried to get up but failed.

"Come on, quack, I gotta get up." He grumbled.

"Nooooo."

"Please?" You asked giving him puppy dog eyes, which he pouted at.

"I'll only let you up on one condition!" He said.

"And what could that be?" You asked.

"Give me a kiss." That shocked you. You didn't expect those word to come out of his mouth. He noticed your shocked state and smiled to himself. He thought he had won until you pulled him up towards you and connected your lips together.

It was filled with passion but nothing too extreme. Once you pulled away, you stood and grabbed the snack bowl. It took him a minute to realize what the hell happened.

"Wait no I changed my mind! Get back here and give me more kisses!" He shouted and followed you of the room.

Now you hadn't kissed Karl until the poly relationship started. You had only dreamed of kissing him up to the point it happened.

But when it did, you couldn't wish for anything better.

"Y/n, baby! Come here!" He shouted.

"No need to shout baby, it's just us today." You said. Today Sapnap and Quackity had gone out to do something on the SMP, leaving you can Karl alone for the day.

"I know. But I want to do something!" He said excitedly. It surprised you how often this man could get excited.

"What do you want to do baby?" You asked.

"I wanna make cookies!" He said and tapped the counter excitedly.

You smiled and nodded.

"Let's get the stuff for it."

Soon enough you were mixing stuff in the bowl with a whisk while Karl was getting the tray ready to put the cookies dough on.

While you were putting together the cookies and whatnot, Karl barley moved more then 5 feet from you. It was something you were not expecting when you started the relationship but were definitely prepared for. Considering you were very touch starved (lol same😭). He was always touching you or near you. He always held your hand or wrapped his arms around you whenever he had the change.

Now that the tray was ready you were just waiting for the batter to be done.

*skip to when the cookies were being put in the oven*

Karl safely put the cookies in the oven and set the timer. You were sitting at the table and Karl sat next to you. He put his head on your shoulder and you played with his hair until the timer when off. Once the cookies were out Karl wanted to decorate them.

"We have to wait sweetie, otherwise the frosting will melt on the cookies and it won't look good. He pouted but he perked back up when you help a spoon full of frosting up to his lips. He took some of it and you put the soon in your mouth and ate the rest.

He let out a gasps and you looked at him strangely.

"What?" You asked.

"Nothing it's just..."

"What?" You asked. You didn't know if you should be concerned or not.

"We had an indirect kiss." You wanted to face palm but didn't (dude I swear, even tho me and my gf kiss all the time anytime we indirect kiss they are like that.)

You laugh and shake your head. You turn back to the cookies and mutter something.

"What was that?" Karl asked.

"Nothing."

"What?" He asks with a giggle.

"I said "I could give you a real one." You felt your face grow hotter.

"Oh yeah? What's stopping ya?" Karl laughs and you turn to face him.

You shrug and he leans down. His lips are just as soft as you imagined. You can taste the leftover frosting on his lips and he breaks the kiss with a giggle which you respond to with one of your own.

Your first kiss with Sapnap after the poly relationship started was a bit awkward considering the last time you kissed you were 17.

That day was the anniversary of your first kiss (yes he marked it in his calendar) and he wanted to do something special.

"What could be so special that you had to blindfold me and drag me out somewheres?" You asked holding your hands out in front of you.

"You'll remember when we get there!" He repeated for like the 20th time since you left the house.

"I do not trust you leading me around with me being blindfolded." You said again for the 25th time since you left.

"To be honest, I wouldn't either."

"Sapnap!"

"It's okay! We are almost there... just one more step... okay... sit." You say down and felt grass? He took off the blindfold and you instantly realized where you were.

"Omg sap! This is where we had our first kiss!" You said excitedly. He nodded with a smile.

"Yep, right here in this spot. It's been (insert number of years) since we kissed today!"

"Wow. I can't believe you remembered."

"What can I say. I was like, head over heels for you." You laughed at him. There was silence. But it was a peaceful silence. Until he spoke up.

"So I was wondering. Since we've only kissed once, something something years ago... do you maybe wanna... get it over with? I mean! Only if you want to!" You chucked at his reenactment of what he said during your first kiss.

"I won't mind." He smiled before pulling you in for a kiss. This time you didn't pull away after 15 seconds.

Once you did pull away, he still had that face that made you think you did more then kiss (which you didn't)

You laughed at his face.

"I love you darlin'" he said.

"I love you too Sappy."

Your first kiss with Quackity after the poly relationship started was a lot more chiller then the others. It was a really simple one. Because you had been dating for awhile before the poly relationship started and had kissed frequently.

Quackity had just come downstairs into the kitchen where you were drinking some coffee (or whatever you drink). You sitting on the counter so he stood in between your legs and laid his underbody agaisnt yours.

He was never a morning person and his hair was all over the place. You started to run your hands through it.

"Good morning, Quack." You said.

"Good mornin'" you smiled at his sleepiness. He leaned up and gave you a simple kiss but sapnap walked in during it.

"Where's my mornin' kiss!" He shouted.

"Get over here and I'll give you one!" You said back.

Now you so you know in the lore when karlnapity started and like Quackity kissed karl and sapnap and then sapnap kissed Karl. Well living with Karlnapity, that happens a lot in the house.

Someone will walk in on two people kissing and ask for one and soon everyone's just giving kisses out and whatnot so here is my little writing about it.

Quite often someone walks in on you giving one of the other boys and then asks for a kiss as well (mostly sap) and sometimes it will be a playful fight over who gets to kiss you first or longer (mostly Sap and Quackity) then the other boy will just walk in a kiss you (mostly karl) and the others will be like 😱😡🤨😑. Its honestly funny. He's a little example:

One time you were cooking dinner and the food was in the oven so you were just waiting for it to finish.

Then Quackity walked in.

"Smells great, babe. I can't wait to eat." He gives you a little hug and a kiss. Of course Sapnap sees and then he wants a kiss.

"Give me one!" He complains.

"No, get outta here! I was kissing them first!" Quackity shouts. Soon Quackity and Sapnap and pushing each other and playing fighting. You smile in amusement. Karl walks in and moves to your side. He kisses your cheek.

"Smells great baby. Sorry these boys are interrupting your very amazing cooking."

"Its alright. I'm just waiting for the food to be done cooking in the oven." He shrugs and gives you a kiss on the lips. When Sapnap and Quackity notice they gasps which makes Karl giggle and pull away.

"How dare you just walk into this kitchen and just stell my love from me!?" Quackity jokingly yells at Karl which makes him laugh more.

"Aww, you just want your own loving!" Karl starts to plant kisses all over Quackitys face which makes his scream and laugh. Sapnap walks over to you and finaly get to kiss you.

"I love you Darlin'." He smiles in the kiss.

"I love you too."