#just tired of her sharing all these fucking vacations and parties she's going to lately

[leslieseveride]

why is my mom not understanding why i'm sad about spending my birthday alone for the forth year in a row??????

[jarofstyles]

there are many blurbs where harry cheats on his girlfriend or wife but I NEED it to be the other way around and she cheats on him. Please do something like this

OOOOOO YOU WANT TO BE MAD… ok :)

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—-

He had never felt so… cold. Dirty. Numb.

Harry had never in a million years would have imagined it would come to this. Packing his things up into the duffel bag she had bought him for their trip to Disney world for their 2nd anniversary. Ignoring her silent crying behind him as she watched as her selfish actions took root and ripped away all at once.

He racked his brain over what he could have done differently to keep her from straying. He knew he worked a lot. Harry worked more than most people and he was so hyper aware of it, he spent every waking moment he wasn’t working trying to please her. Trying to work on them. At least it seemed that way. Realistically he knew that there had been some days he had been a bit too tired to go out. He wasn’t someone who loved clubs or parties while she did, but he tried.

Wasn’t that a part of relationships? Compromise? Trying to see and mould your lives around one another? Harry had done his part. He had tried and tried and even so, it seemed all of those attempts had failed miserably.

He had found out by walking in on it. The most cruel way to do so, seeing his lover embraced in a passion fueled kiss and naked in their shared bed. Crying out for a person that wasn’t him. Their photos on the nightstand making a mockery of him and their entire relationship. She had frozen like a deer in headlights, shaking and pushing off her lover but it was far too late.

Vomit crawled up his throat thinking of how many times he had kissed her and potentially tasted someone else. How many times his head laid on the same pillow with the sweat of someone else that had been conjured doing the most intimate activities possible. It stung like a million bee stings, making his body feel heavy and slow while he ignored her hovering.

It was only when he felt a hand on his arm that he reacted, jerking back as if he had been burned and covering the area with his own hand as he looked at her in a way she had never seen. Heartbreak, anger, but no hatred. Confusion, maybe. It killed her to see such a sunshine like man, the golden one as she likes to call him, be so nervous and look at her as if she was a stranger.

Perhaps she was, though. She hadn’t meant to let her loneliness and alcohol induced hormones get the best of her… again… but she had. And she had never hated herself more. He didn’t look at her with the hatred she felt and it also confused her.

“H, I-“

“Don’t call me that.” It was the first thing he’s said in an hour, voice hoarse. Cradling his arm where she had touched as if nursing a wound, he stepped back. “Don’t call me nicknames, don’t give me the eyes, don’t…. I can’t even look at you without feeling sick.” He said broken, swallowing the lump in his throat. “You’ve lost every privilege you’ve ever had to me. I am not H, not baby, I am nothing to you. And you’ve made that clear.”

It broke her into pieces. Tears falling down as she tried again, choking on her words. “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t- I just missed you so much, Harry. You’re always gone and I didn’t expect for you to be back today-“

“And I didn’t expect to find the woman I love in our shared bed with someone else. Not when I was coming home early to bring you in a vacation and fucking propose.” He took the ring box out of his pocket and threw it hard against the wall, the box ricocheting, popping open as it landed next to her bare foot. Mocking him, her, every bit of this situation. That just made it ten times worse. Knowing he had come in with a smile and excitement in his stomach. Waiting to wake her up from sleep and kiss her awake, tell her to pack a bag and come with him. He had planned it all out. And now he was going by himself.

“I didn’t- I didn’t know, Harry!” She sobbed. “I didn’t mean to. I’ll never- we can work on it. Okay? I’ll never do it again. Never.” She tried to approach BHT his hand went out in front of him to stop her from even attempting it.

“No. I don’t want that. My life… you knew coming into dating me that I had longer periods of being away. I offered to take you and you said no. I respected it. Your career matters to me. You mattered to me. I spent every time I came home with you… I did everything I could have, and you let some fucking loneliness eat you up and not even talk to me about it?” He looked so sad. Like a kicked puppy, and all she wanted to do was gather him in her arms and apologize. Get the comfort and give it, but she had lost that.

“Didn’t matter I’d you didn’t expect me today. You shouldn’t have been doing it at all. You should have been asleep or playing that stupid game on your phone, let me crawl Into the bed and kiss me all over when I walked inside- like you used to. We should be on a plane in 2 hours. About to be promised to each other- but none of that is ever going to happen again. If it happens once, it will happen again.”

It stung even more because it was why she was so insecure lately. Making sure he kept certain people out of his life because it made her jealous and worrying about him being gone. Even asking him once if something was going on between him and a very married coworker. It was projection.

“I was loyal. Every time. Every trip. I have offers, Y/N. I have offers all day long. You know how badly I want to get off sometimes, hm? How easy it would have been to take a person to my hotel room and fuck them stupid? Get myself sucked off? But I never did. And I never even felt temptation because I had you.” His eyes watered as he let some more tears fall. “I never would have done this to you. And I won’t let it happen to myself again.” He zipped up the bag and brought it over his shoulder.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t enough for you. That my effort wasn’t good enough to make you happy. But it will be for someone else.” He choked out as he looked at his feet, kicking the fallen ring. “Can pawn that if you want. I’ll be back for the rest of my shit later. Do not call me.”

[luci-in-trenchcoats]

Strangers (Part 4)

Summary: Sam has returned into Dean’s life for some reason and the reader is there to try and help Dean through having Sam around again...

Masterlist

Pairing: Doctor!Dean x patient!reader

Word Count: 2,000ish

Warnings: language, mention of surgery/injury

A/N: I hope you enjoy!

____

“Hi,” said Sam, giving you a quick wave. He stared at Dean who was already on his feet. “I need a place to crash for the night. If that’s okay.”

“What happened to the apartment, you were sharing with that girl, Jessica.”

“She died a few years ago,” he said.

“You kill her?” asked Dean. You got up, still holding your box of swiss rolls and Sam frowned. “You’ve been out of touch for three years. It’s not an unreasonable question.”

“I didn’t kill her,” said Sam. “I saw...it was a serial arsonist. I saw who did it and he ran with a bad group. I’ve been in witness-”

“Witness protection? Are you serious? I’m the fucking easter bunny while we’re at it,” said Dean.

“De, I think he’s telling the truth,” you said, nodding towards him. “He’s obviously upset.”

“You’ve been in witness protection? This whole time?”

“Yes,” said Sam. “Things have been happening lately. A lot of things. These guys are no longer a problem so I can come home. Except for the fact I don’t have a home anymore and had to drop out of college.”

“I filed a missing persons report on you.”

“I know.”

“I hung up flyers, search parties, fundraisers.”

“I know.”

“I drove to the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night because I thought I got a tip about you.”

“That was me. I had to relocate after that.”

“I looked for you for so long. Even when mom and dad gave up, I didn’t. There was no foul play but the cops told us it was unlikely we’d ever find you. You probably walked out and didn’t want to be found. I was so angry at you. They told us you were dead cause someone hurt you or you walked away. Those are two very different things,” said Dean. You dropped the box on the couch and grabbed his hand, Dean pinching his nose with his other. 

“I can leave if you want,” said Sam.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” said Dean. You rubbed his back and he walked over, giving his brother a hug.

“Finally got a girlfriend?” teased Sam as he returned it.

“You two are gonna get along great. You can swap stories,” laughed Dean. “Oh, I need a drink. Also how’d you get in my house?”

“My handler had a key made. They took it from your locker at the hospital,” he said.

“Lovely.”

“I know it sounds…” said Sam as he glanced at you. 

“Crazy is kind of our thing,” you said. “I’m Y/N.”

“You look familiar,” he said.

“My ex boyfriend tried to kill me. With bleach. In my drink.”

“Oh yeah. He was fucking nuts,” said Sam.

“Yup. That’s been our fun for the evening,” you said. “He got out. He’s dead now. It’s fine. Better than fine cause I’m gonna eat a whole box of swiss rolls and not feel bad about that.”

“Yeah, I will get along with you just fine,” said Sam, giving Dean a look. “Not sure about you though. I wanted to-”

“S’okay,” he said. “I’m just...happy you don’t hate me after all.”

“I wanted to call you so many times. It was too dangerous though. I couldn’t put you in that position,” said Sam.

“I’m getting kind of used to that,” said Dean. Sam smiled and you walked over to them both. 

“I crashed date night, didn’t I,” he said.

“Just a bit,” said Dean.

“Well I am really happy to meet Dean’s little brother,” you said, giving him a hug. “You don’t mind if Sam hangs out with us, right?”

“No, never. As long as you’re cool with it,” said Dean. 

“Of course,” you said.

“I appreciate it but honestly I’m wrecked. I could use with a shower and a bed,” said Sam.

“The guest room is right down the hall,” said Dean, pointing the way. “You hungry?”

“Nah. I’ll keep out of your guys hair,” said Sam. “Thanks.”

“It’s no problem,” said Dean. Sam started to head for the hallway when Dean grabbed his arm. “I’m really happy you’re home, Sammy.”

“Me too.”

He smiled before he left, Dean taking a deep breath as he locked up the front door again.

“So you got a brother,” you said.

“Yeah. I probably should have brought him up at some point,” said Dean. You shrugged and rested your hands on his hips, Dean smiling softly. “I thought he was dead.”

“I’m glad he’s not,” you said. “I’m gonna have to back out on the being roommates thing though.”

“What?” he asked.

“Sam needs it way more than I do. I can stick around my parents until my apartment is ready. Seriously, it’s okay. He’s gonna need a lot of help. Trust me. He’s gonna want you,” you said.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. My parents aren’t that bad. Someday we can be roommates though?” you said.

“Okay. I’ll take a raincheck for now,” he smiled. 

“Tonight’s not so bad,” you said. He nodded and you pulled him close to your body, Dean’s arms wrapping lazily around you. “You doing okay?”

“I’ve been the happiest I’ve ever been in my life, the most terrified I’ve ever been in my life and the most relieved I’ve ever been in my life tonight. I honestly don’t know where to begin,” said Dean.

“I got a box of chocolate with your name on it that might be a good place to start.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” he said. “You okay too?”

“My night’s ending on a good note. I’m good Dean. Let’s get back to our date. I was in the middle of cuddling you if I remember.”

One Week Later

“Howdy handsome,” you said, the elevator doors at the hospital opening to Dean standing there in his navy scrubs.

“Gorgeous,” he said, giving you a quick kiss as he stepped on. “You already have your follow up with Mace?”

“Yeah. I am progressing well I guess. We’re switching my immunosuppressant to try something that doesn’t make me as tired and won’t make me as susceptible to illness,” you said.

“That’s good. I know you’re on the strong stuff right now. Mace is pretty good about finding the right med combo by the second or third try,” he said. “Transplant meds are tricky.”

“I’ve learned. How’s your day going?” you asked. “Saving lives?”

“Easy going day. Took out some tonsils on a teenager, did an appendectomy on a toddler, did a bone reset on a kid that broke her leg. Nothing they won’t all recover from 100% percent.”

“That sounds good,” you said. “When do you get off?”

He snickered and you whacked his arm.

“Such a boy,” you said.

“I have one more surgery for the day but I’m heading home after that. Our parents are coming into town. They’ve been in Florida cause their vacation plans got screwed up with the pandemic last year so they rescheduled and of course it’s this week and there’s tropical storms so they can’t get a flight out and they finally are getting home today. It’s been a nightmare. I’m supposed to cook dinner so that’ll go wonderfully.”

“You’re a good cook!” you said as the doors opened and you walked with him down the hall. “You don’t give yourself enough credit. They excited to see Sam?”

“Yeah. They feel bad about...they thought he was dead. Like it hasn’t been long enough to legally declare him that way but they were going to. I’ve always had a somewhat tense relationship with my dad. We fought a lot about Sam after he disappeared.”

“I think no matter what happened before, dinner’s gonna go good for you guys tonight,” you said.

“You’re coming right?” he asked. 

“You want me to?”

“Yeah. I...you make me feel...safe,” he said as he stopped walking. You smiled and grabbed his hand, lacing your fingers together. “You don’t have-”

“I’d love to. I really like Sam and I want to be there for you. I like that I make you feel safe, makes me feel good,” you said. He rubbed the back of his neck but you caught the smile on his face. You gave him another kiss, a whistle coming from further down the hall.

“Get a room, Winchester,” said a guy as he walked by with a laugh.

“Better be a soundproof room,” you said, the guy stopping in his tracks.

“Okay, I approve of this one,” the guy chuckled. Dean rolled his eyes but he was biting down a laugh.

“Y/N, this is RN. Lafetite or Benny as well call him. He’s Donna’s boyfriend,” said Dean.

“Oh yeah, she was great,” you said. “She removed my appendix.”

“That woman knows her way around a blade,” said Benny. “You had the digestive transplant done a while ago, right?”

“Yeah,” you said, Dean making a face beside you.

“Badass,” said Benny. “I worked with Mace some on you.”

“You’re a surgeon too?” you asked.

“No, no. I’m a surgical nurse,” he said.

“They’re pretty important,” said Dean. “The really good ones could perform minor surgeries themselves like Ben. I keep trying to convince Benny here to go to med school and join the rest of us.”

“Oh you know you’d miss me too much, Deano. You me and Novak are the dream team of pediatrics,” he said.

“Sure we are,” said Dean with a laugh. “Y/N and I were having a little get together on Sunday, watch a little football, food. Round up the usual suspects?”

“I can get the crew together. I’ll bring my beer dip and some of those pretzels. Very easy on the digestive system,” said Benny to you.

“That’s considerate,” you said. “It’s okay. I’m alright with most stuff. I just got to watch the grease a bit.”

“These are really not greasy at all. I’ll give you the recipe sometime,” said Benny as his phone went off. “I think we’re late for pre-op.”

“When are we not?” said Dean. “I’ll see you tonight, sweetheart.”

“See you later, Dean.”

“I’m so sorry I’m late,” said Dean that night as he rushed in the house. You and Sam were working the kitchen, Dean checking the clock. “They’re gonna be here in five minutes.”

“Go wash up. Sam and I can cook a few pieces of chicken and make mashed potatoes,” you said. You were nearly finished anyways, the chicken baking away in the oven. Dean made a thud down the hall but shouted back that he was fine before you heard the bathroom door shut. “He always been a worrier?”

“Pretty much,” said Sam as he got out the plates. “He seems different. Good different. More easy going.”

“It’s all I’ve ever known from him so I don’t have much to go off of,” you said. 

“You might have something to do with it,” he said. He smiled and finished up with setting the table. “You’ve never met our parents Dean said.”

“No. We’ve only been together a few months,” you said.

“This’ll be an interesting evening then,” said Sam as the doorbell rang. He suddenly looked nervous and you rubbed a hand up and down his back.

“It’ll be okay,” you said. “Trust me.”

“I see why he likes you,” said Sam. “Here goes nothing.”

______

A/N: Read Part 5 here!

[sevenofsorts]

Monday:

She’s started baking again. The other members of the Syndicate drop by sometimes to taste-test her recipes, and she shows them the progress she’s made in the construction of her underground city. They compliment the flower paths outside the city, the bridges and floating lanterns and the gorgeous high ceilings and furnishings within, the little subterranean forest and the waterfall, the decorations and details that make the cavernous space cozy. They see what she’s built and they praise her for it and it is exhilarating. She’s grown stronger day by day with the Syndicate in her corner; they pull her up to stand on equal footing with them, and when she expresses her concerns, they listen.

There are days, however, when she can’t bring herself to bake; on those days the heat of the furnace crawls uncomfortably against her skin and the knife block rattles in the corner with each item she sets down on the countertop. On those days she’ll climb. Buildings, mountains, trees—anything that’ll get her to a height where her lungs strain from lack of oxygen and the ringing in her head eases. She jumps, sometimes. They don’t know she does this. They don’t need to know; she’s strong enough to deal with that herself.

Yesterday was their leader’s birthday, and she’d left the party with leftover cake and cookies and brioche. Today is a good day; maybe she’ll share the cookies with Jack.

—

Tuesday:

He’s called the harbinger, the omen, the angel of death. Crows perform at his bidding and the great, lumbering bears of the north shake the ground as he directs them. He emerges from impossible battles with nary a scratch on his body. People across the earth have speculated that he’s a demon, or contracted with a demon, or one of the acolytes of the Blood God like the Blade. He likes to collect these epithets and rumors; when his crows perch on his shoulder to recount the news of the land or messages from his allies they update him on the tales they tell of the angel. They’re all wrong, in the end. Death herself graced him with her favor long ago to act as her representative on the mortal plane.

She’s been dormant recently; her absences had never affected him so strongly before, but ever since he’s entered this land, he’s felt weaker, more fragile. He watched his son destroy the country he founded with a haze across his vision, and then he killed his own son, and the act of it didn’t register until days later. Months fly by in a blur and the only person who can enforce any sort of focus is the Blade and so that simmering anger became his own and it fed into his own pain. There was something rotting in the land and it killed his son and he felt it his duty to purge it with the same TNT that destroyed his wings. He doesn’t regret it.

Today, he finds some measure of peace in building his training room. His son is back and everything is not-quite-broken and his body still aches.

—

Wednesday:

There are too many variables, too many uncertainties. He’s placed his fingerprints on too many projects and lives, and the guilt of his cooperation and his associations claws at his lungs. Dream, neutrality in the midst of war, Dream and his prison and the damned prison rules, Quackity, Las Nevadas. He doesn’t know what he considers his worst fuck-up: Tommy’s death, the torture he’d permitted in his collaboration with Las Nevadas, his betrayal of Ponk’s love and trust, or his inability to save anyone during the banquet.

The hotel stands as a testament to his failure to protect the youngest resident of the land. He plans detours around that plot whenever he travels between the bank and the prison; the little robot stationed by the hotel tells him the boy doesn’t come by anymore, and he knows automatons don’t feel emotions, but he grieves for it anyway. He sees his valentine walking along the wooden pathways and his heart aches to see the damage he had caused. He checks the prison’s security footage and he tells himself guilt has no place in his heart for what happened. He’s surprised the captain and the god and all the rest of the banquet victims still talk to him. But they do, and it gives him hope. His friends are back and free and even though one of them is trying to start a little scuffle with a god, today he’s having fun throwing weednip around and sliding down the pyramid with his closest friends.

The present’s a gift, and he intends on cherishing this moment.

—

Thursday:

He’s building a pub because Wilbur owes him a pint. He knows that man can’t be completely trusted, not now. Not since he died by his crossbow. But it feels good to be acknowledged as someone worth an apology, someone important. He has been abandoned and pushed aside and pushed into lava pits and into hell all within the span of a few months. No one cared. He hates it, he hates the way he’s been made irrelevant and a shadow of his friends’ stories. Even his plans for revenge had been inconsequential, unfruitful: the boy had lived and his accomplice had left him to brood in his own anger.

He’s held his grudges close to his heart and he’s let them fester and he won’t admit he’s tired of it all. If he lets go, then it all disappears and he’s really, truly dead, and if this is his afterlife, if all he can do is lag after the people he cares for, then it’s a fucking shit deal. So today, he’s continuing his work on the pub because he burned down his own home and because the hotel feels too sterile and empty, because he wants to have a space built with his own two hands where he can speak and someone will finally, finally listen. It’s not quite moving on. He’ll take it anyway.

—

Friday:

She tries to live by the code of kindness and reciprocity; that’s how she lived on the high seas of her youth, or so she suspects, based on the journal she found at the site of the shipwreck. Since the day she joined this land, she has made friends and found love and taken the young residents under her wing and vowed to fight against evil. She gives stacks of items to those who need them and she fixes up the holes in the road and offers therapy on difficult days.

The world isn’t as kind as she is. A country was erased from the map for grudges she still doesn’t understand, and no one will tell her the why discs, of all things, are so important. Two boys would have lost their lives to a monster she housed, had it not been for the money Tommy paid a mercenary for his aid. She mourned the loss of Tommy’s life as she fought to keep the hotel in his name, and when he requested therapy upon his resurrection, she was horrified at the effects of trauma he’d exhibited. The friends she’d tried to pull out of the Egg’s influence celebrated a young boy’s death and killed her son. And now this man has taken her friend’s turtle hostage for no reason she can comprehend.

She’s tired. She’s breaking; they’d presumed her kindness was a weakness and maybe it is. Today, she plans on destroying the red menace on the edge of her son’s land. It’s her turn.

—

Saturday:

He’s not sure how many sandstone blocks he’s carved out of the desert at this point, nor how many quartz chips and gold nuggets he’s pulled out of the Netherworld. The villagers know him by name and chat with him when he stops by to trade for emeralds and other goods. His hands bleed gold ichor from the opened blisters dotting his hands, and burns line the edges of his fingertips. Lately, his whole world is rushing by in colors of beige and yellow, green and white and blue. The color red started it, the scramble to build more and more—and it stopped it too, if only for a little while. Ponk asked him for permission to build on his land, told him it was a gift: a peace offering and an apology and a new beginning. It’s a silly build and it doesn’t match the aesthetic of the rest of his summer home, but it warmed his heart, to see the giant red refrigerator rising up from the top of the sand dunes for the first time. Ponk built it just for him. Quackity told him he was alone, and that he didn’t matter if he didn’t assert his powers like he did in the past, and he was wrong. Ponk stays, loves him for who he is now and not for the destruction he wrought.

He doesn’t know what to do now; his father destroyed the build for some grudge she holds against his friend, and he’s exhausted. He’s tired of being pulled into conflict. A vacation from all the tension occurring on his land would not be unwarranted, at this point—a few days, a week. It sounds relaxing—and he’ll do it, he’ll take a vacation, and he’ll tell Ponk that he’s in charge of the summer home later today. He has some packing to do.

—

Sunday:

He likes to splash around the pools and fountains in Las Nevadas when he has to visit. Sometimes he’ll climb up the needle and lean on the bannisters to feel the fresh air ruffling his hair and he thinks about jumping—the air turns hot and stale and the ground burbles up in orange and red—but his brother pulls him out of it, usually. Otherwise the place is boring. He’s not allowed in the gambling den or the club, so he hovers around the forests away from Las Nevadas when Wilbur and Quackity want to speak alone.

Today is one of those days. It’s fine by him; dealing with the two of them together makes him uncomfortable, with the way they push and pull him to their sides. The cigarette smoke lingering on their breaths remind him of the ravine, the explosions from the first war-second -Logstedshire-doomsday-nukes-prison. He’s escaped, for now. The air of the forest is crisp; he can spot flowers in the meadow ahead and he plucks them to form a careless bouquet. Alliums, lilies-of-the-valley, daisies; poppies and cornflowers and dandelions. He threads them together to form crowns and rings, places one on his head and cradles the rest to his chest to stash at home. It’s been a while since he’s made them; before he moved to this land he’d make them for his brother and his brother’s father, the dogs and cows and sheep around the farm. He feels like a child again and his lips twist at the bittersweetness. He’s found himself a bubble and soon Wilbur will barge his way in to speak of his loyalties and Dream and whatever the fuck he’s stormed up with Quackity, but for now, he’ll pick flowers and make chains and chains and chains that, for once, won’t drag him down.

—

  Monday’s child is fair of face.

Tuesday’s child is full of grace.

Wednesday’s child is full of woe.

Thursday’s child has far to go.

Fridays’ child is loving and giving.

Saturday’s child works hard for a living.

And the child born on the Sabbath day is bonny and blithe, good and gay.

[watchmegetobsessed]

🔥 = smut   🌈 = readers’ favorite   🌷 = author’s favorite

Find my other masterlists HERE !

No gifts — First Christmas living together you and Shawn agree on not gifting each other, but he has a huge surprise for you.

Lonely Christmas — It’s your first Christmas dating Shawn, but he couldn’t make it for the first day. To cheer you up he calls you in the evening.

Late — Shawn couldn’t make it in time for New Year’s Eve, but you are surprised to see him pull up on your driveway just seconds after midnight.

Wearing nothing 🌈 — You feel like nothing looks good on you after you’ve put on some weight, but Shawn assures you that he is crazy for your curves.

I only need you 🔥🌈 — A heated smut that starts off with an angst filled fight.

Best friends — You’ve been best friends for ages and you realize you feel something more. You cook together like in the old days and some confessions are made at the end of the evening.

Clubbing — You feel uncomfortable in the club with your friends. When a drunk asshole makes a move on you Shawn comes to your rescue.

I miss you — Video chatting with Shawn while he is away, just being cuties online.

Morning — Waking up next to Shawn, getting a little too touchy which makes it harder to leave the bed and start the day.

Dimples — You’re insecure about your dimples so you make up your mind not to smile that much, but Shawn tries hard to see you smile again.

Aging 🌷 — It’s your birthday and it’s making you feel anxious that you are one more year older. In addition, you are older than Shawn and it also bothers you, but he is quick to make you feel better.

Just you — You visit him on tour, but you get jealous of all the time he spends with Alessia. You start fighting about it, but after you go through a not too serious car accident it makes you realize how imprtant you are to each other.

Home 🌷🌈 — During a chill day off at his parent’s place Shawn realizes that home is not a place for him anymore, you are his home. Proposal involved.

Family — You’ve kept it from Shawn that you can’t have kids. Talking about having a family you break down and confess to him thinking he will leave you. His reaction is not what you expected.

Dance moves — After a long day Shawn gets home just to see you busting your best dance moves around the kitchen, putting up your best performance and he can’t help but admire you.

MET 🌈 — Your debut as a couple happens to be at the MET Gala and it’s stressing you out, but Shawn knows just what to say to make you feel better.

I promise — Shawn’s lifestyle is taking a toll on your relationship. After a fight he shows up at your place because it bothered him how your conversation ended on the phone.

Prom 🔥 — Shawn surprises you at prom after making you think he can’t make it. You are so happy to be together again that you can’t hold yourselves back and end up having a quickie in the bathroom.

Tired — Shawn has had a lot on his plate lately so you go to check in on him. You take a shower together and you experience the intimacy of washing each other’s hair.

Chemistry — You do a shoot for CK together, but you get nervous right before it’s time to shine. As always, Shawn knows just exactly how to make you feel better and comfortable.

Fantasy 🔥 — You’ve been fantasizing about giving a blow job to Shawn and your fantasy finally becomes reality, blowing not just his mind.

I got you — You’ve been keeping it a secret that you’re pregnant, worried what Shawn might say, but a sudden incident forces you to confess.

Leaving — You don’t want him to leave again. Emotional conversation in the middle of the night.

Slipped 🌈 — Shawn accidentally reveals at a Q&A that he has a girlfriend.

Happy father’s day 🌷 — A creative way to tell Shawn that you are expecting your first child.

Summer fling — You feel like you’ve been just a summer fling for Shawn, but soon he confesses that it’s much more than that.

Icebath 🌈 — Shawn has been terrified to take an icebath but his body needs it so he agrees to do it but only if you do it with him.

Don’t say my name 🔥 — You absolutely hate the t-shirt he is wearing tonight, so he finds a way to make you like it.

Love Of My Life (part 1) (part 2) 🌷 — Touring with a baby in the first part, touring with a toddler in the second part. Pure fluff with Dad!Shawn.

Better — A blurb where Shawn is the cutest boyfriend ever, holding his girlfriend tight after she had a bad day.

Everything about you 🌷🌈 — You’re Shawn’s personal assistant, have been having feelings for him, but a misunderstood situation pushes you and him farther away from each other until you confront him.

Red thong 🔥 🌈 — Shawn, standing tall, and very much naked, looking down at you, practically fucking you with his eyes, your lacy thong hanging from his mouth that he just pulled off of you with his teeth.

Lesson learned — It’s Shawn’s 21st birthday but not he is the drunkest one. Aaliyah’s first time drinking has him worried, but he finds entertainment in her teasing in the morning.

Sober — bartender!Shawn oneshot where you meet a cute guy during a night out, but he turns out to be the new guy working at your fav bar.

Teeth 🔥🌈— A juicy sugardaddy!ceo!shawn au insipired by Teeth by 5SOS

Unfortunate mistake — You and Shawn used to be an item. Meeting at the VMAs turns out to be more eventful than you imagined when you accidentally kiss him. Or was it meant to happen?

First times 🔥— Shawn and you have shared some firsts, but drifted apart during the years. It’s only until he shows up one thanksgiving and the two of you finally talk everything out.

One more — You and Shawn have twins, Charlotte and Miles and it’s the first day of school for them. It makes both of you emotional seeing them grow up so fast.

Lurking — Shawn lurks on your ex’s Insta and definitely doesn’t like what he sees there.

October 🌈 — Personal assistant themed fic inspired by October by Alessia Cara

Cinnamon — A peaceful day in the park with Shawn.

Careful what you wish for — You and Shawn are married, but it’s getting harder with each day. After a bad fight you make a wish upon a shooting star that turns your whole world upside down.

Opia --- Being Shawn’s friend has become emotionally tiring for you, especially since he is more than just a friend to you, so you ask for a break, but things don’t turn out as you expect them to.

Hands 🔥 --- The choker you want to wear: Shawn’s hands.

Sock 🌈 --- college!shawn au - Shawn and you live in the same dorm and one evening you both get locked out by your roommates who are having guests over.

After party --- Shawn chooses to spend the night with his very pregnant fiancé over going to an after party.

Yoga --- Shawn is being extra clingy while you’re just trying to do yoga.

Valentine’s Day --- The day that brings a change into your relationship with Shawn.

Sibling --- Your family of three is expanding and it’s time to reveal to your son that he is about to become a big brother. Shawn handles his awkward questions pretty fine.

Sister --- Part 2 to Sibling. The arrival of baby number 2 is a little messy, but eventually everything is going to be fine.

Choices --- CEO!Shawn AU. Working to The Shawn Mendes doesn’t turn out like you imagined it.

Crazy about you --- Sequel to Everything about you. Coordinating a new, secret relationship when you feel like the universe is playing against you.

Goodbye --- You have one rule. You never say goodbye. So what happens when in the heat of an arguement Shawn says the forbidden word and then things take a turn for the worse?

Hardest To Love --- Fic based on the song Hardest To Love by The Weeknd

Tease 🔥 --- Teasing has consequences. Dom!Shawn fic.

Number 20 🌷 --- AU based on the movie ‘What’s Your Number?’

Curls and boobs --- Cuddling in a blanket fort.

Privacy --- Shawn is doubting himself because of a stupid dream, and your privacy gets invaded that just worsens the situation.

Sleepless --- Pregnancy brings a lot of struggles to you, like not being able to sleep comfortably.

Two weeks --- PA themed fic! Quarantined with your boss who youa re in love with? That’s quite the situation!

Who you are --- soon-to-be-mob-boss!Shawn au, that’s it, that’s the fic

Hints --- Non-famous AU where Shawn is your brother’s best friend and you have the fattest crush on him.

Love hating you --- College!hockeyplayer!Shawn au where you start as enemies.

Better --- Morning with Shawn, a fluffy blurb.

I need you 🔥 --- Shawn needs you in the most intimate way.

Birthday tradition --- You and Shawn have had a birthday tradition for years, but this year you feel like things might change.

What you are to me --- (PA themed) Shawn celebrates is birthday with an epic vacation. Your feelings for him and your own demons are making it a mess and things take a surprising turn.

Empty promise 🔥 ---  You try that TikTok trend out on Shawn where you send him a dirty text out in the public.

It’s alright --- Shawn helps you through one of your darker days.

Scoring You 🌷 --- college!soccerplayer!Shawn AU

I never stopped loving you --- Sequel to Hardest To Love

Room service --- CEO!Shawn AU, where you’re a maid at a hotel who gets fired and ends up in Shawn’s room.

Wonder --- Shawn wrote a song about you back when you first met, now it’s time to show it to you.

Hot Chocolate --- Some teasing on a cozy fall evening.

My wonder --- A short story built around the songs Dream, Song for no one and Teach me how to love from Wonder the album.

Day one — A late night talk with Grayson that ends with a kiss and confessions.

Hot 🌈 — After someone tries to break into your home Grayson comes to your rescue and you spend the night at his place, the two of you share his bed for the night.

Angel — You’re a nurse assisting to the twins’ nose surgery and Grayson is flirting hard with you while the goofy juice has him muddle-headed. When they come back for a check up he builds up the courage to ask you out.

Memories 🌷 --- You are childhood friends with the Dolan siblings and you recreate childhood photos, but one recreation results in surprising consequences.

Even — You thought it’s going to be easier to deal with the fact that Tom and Zendaya has to kiss in the new movie. But it turns out different and Tom has an unusual idea to solve this problem. To make it even, you also have to kiss Z.

My girls — While Tom is away you shower him with content about you and Tessa, being the best buddies, waiting for him to finally come home.

Helping hand 🔥 🌈 — Tom is having a hard day on set and needs something to get the steam off. You are more than happy to help him out.

The kiss — Tom makes your dream come true by kissing you in that famous, upside-down way like in the original movies.

Truth or Dare — The story of two kisses that are exactly one decade apart.

Okay --- Just some cute fluff with boyfriend Tom.

Buzz cut --- In the middle of your social distancing you decide to shave your head.Tom is a partner in the process.

Sleepy babies 🌈 --- Waking in the middle of the night you find your husband sleeping with your daughter in his arms.

Dust --- You have a nightmare after seeing Tom die in Infinity War, but Tom is there to console you.

Sunset --- Tom reminds you why you are so in love with me.

Sing to me --- Watching the sunset with Tom as he sings to you.

Celebrity crush --- In a round of Who’d you rather with Ellen, your crush on Tom gets revealed to the world.

Forgiving 🔥 (kinda) ---  You and Tom like to experiment sexually. After having your first ever threesome with him and an unknown guy you realize it was not what you wanted but you’re afraid to come clear to Tom.

Homecoming — Homecoming is near and you wish Peter would ask you out. You’ve been crushing on him since you met him, but does he feel the same way?

Lazy Morning --- The title says it all basically.

Update 🌈 --- Harry falls for a mysterious girl from YouTube.

The best present --- Sequel to Update.

Flatmates 🔥 --- You move in with Harry and after a failed Tinder date, Harry proposes an offer you can’t turn down.

Two hearts in one home --- Just a short, domestic blurb!

Lending a pair of hands --- An appreciation fic for saggy boobs!

Never have I ever 🌈 --- Actress!reader playing the game on The Ellen Show with Harry, her celeb crush. Questions get a little nasty.

The art and the artist --- Harry, that amazing hat from the Golden mv and a nice Italian day by the pool.

Our song --- Harry helps vocalist!reader to come over her stage fright and the process brings them closer than ever.

Running — Nick is done hiding his feelings for you. After his marriage failed he is ready to be with the girl he has always been in love with.

In His Arms — The ending we all deserved in TROS.

Safe --- Kylo wants to know that you are safe even when he is not around, so he decides to teach you how to fight.

Everything --- Sequel to Safe. You gave up on a lot of things to be with Kylo. You crave small, normal things like dancing sometimes and one day you take your chance before training and ask him to dance with you.

Benefits --- You and Adam meet at an AA meeting and soon enough, a weird, but benefitial relationship forms between the two of you.

Train ride talks --- The aftermath of a fight with a cute ending.

❄️ FANFICmas 2019 ❄️

A set of holiday themed fics!

Mistletoe - Promise - Make It To Christmas - Cookies - Under The Mistletoe - A couple of reindeers - Santa Tell Me (Part 1)(Part 2)

❄️ FANFICmas 2020 ❄️

My business - With you - And I always will - First Christmas (VALERIE blurb) - Locked up Christmas - Waiting for you - Keys of truth

[beclynn-herondale]

Inside TMI Gang's diaries part 4 1/2

Clary: Dear diary, so Jace has been training me, everyone thinks we are just making out but Jace takes Shadowhunter training very serious, and he tells me I drink too much coffee, whatever Jace whatever. I love him so much though, but lately I feel like he is avoiding me a little, idk if my mom scares him that much or if he is losing interest, anyway Simon is playing with fire, he is dating Isabelle and Maia at the same time and I warned him, but he ain't listening, this boy is for an explosion, I love him though. My training is going great, I do happen to have one of the best trainer's tho, mom and Luke are planning their wedding and I am happy for them, tho mom doesn't like Jace, hopefully she'll see the good in him. Alec and Magnus are on their vacation and seem to be enjoying themselves, Izzy is busy with Simon, Maryse is running the Institute, I think the Lightwoods are trying to keep themselves busy so they don't have to think about their grief.

*Later*

Well, shit has happened again! I thought Jace wanted to break up with me but he doesn't, he is going through stuff and I feel stupid for not noticing, but I am still mad he didn't tell me, and we may have made out in an alley, Jace is apparently being messed with by demonic shit, and he needs to have a ritual done so it doesn't get worse, I am tired.

*Later later*

Well it gets worse, Jace apparently never got the ritual done and lilith took control of him and he kinda sorta kidnapped me but it's not his fault he was possessed, Simon got kidnapped as well but honestly it's not a surprise, I love him tho. so we fought Lilith, and apparently she wanted to bring back my brother, well Simon kinda killed Lilith with the Mark of Cain, me and Jace made up again, but apparently it had already been too late and somehow my brother is back and kidnapped my love, I swear if that bitch touches a hair on Jace's head I will destroy him *clenches fist*, just you Sebastian if the Clave doesn't do to much to me, I'll hunt your ass down and rescue my boyfriend. Also COFFEE PLEASE!!

Jace: Dear diary, I am being tortured with nightmares, I am tired and I feel sick all the time, my head feels like someone is repeatedly hitting it, I think I may be dying, my father is still hurting me from the grave, me and Clary still have this secret, I keep killing Clary in my nightmares so I can't be near her, I can't hurt her it would kill me, I would deserve it but I don't want it to come to that. Alec is on vacation with Magnus and he keeps sending me postcards signed with "Wish you were here, except not" idk what that is supposed to mean. Izzy and Simon are together and idk what that is either. Jocelyn hates me, can't blame her though, I also know myself Clary could do better. Wow I am just being pathetic now.

*Later*

Well me and Clary made out in an alley, but I ran away like a dumbass cause I can't hurt her, but I think I did hurt her, and we made up again and now I apparently have to do a ritual that is for babies, what has my life become, but it gets worse, before they could do the ritual Lilith got me and now I am possessed.

*Later later*

Well Clary and Simon both got kidnapped, only I kidnapped Clary and hurt like I swore I wouldn't do. Simon defeated Lilith, it was kinda badass but I'll never tell him that. Anyway Clary confessed her undying love for me and I am shooketh but like can't let that show or everyone will find out I am nothing but a softie and no one will take me serious and just be like he'll do it he is too gentle and soft to say no, and I'll be stuck in a spiral. Also I may have been kidnapped not sure but I feel weird so. . .

Alec: Dear diary, it's me, me and Magnus were on vacation and shit happened and now we aren't, also apparently Magnus started a cult at some point, anyway I'll get into that later. So we thought if we came home and pretended to still be on vacation we would actually get some alone time and yeh me and Magnus took our relationship to the next level, except I still don't know much about him, anyway my mom called me and said they needed Magnus to speak to a prisoner they had cause he's the only one they'll speak to, well guess what that prisoner ended up being his ex girlfriend, the damn universe loves fucking with me. Sorry I am just frustrated.

*Later*

So. . . I may have been an asshole to Magnus, you know what no, I was definitely an asshole to Magnus but I just want to know more about him and he never talks to me about these things, and I found out he's been with so many people and I have only ever been with him, how am I supposed to keep up? How am I supposed to be what he needs when I have no experience? So much has happened and idk what to do anymore and I am probably ruining our relationship but he also knows so much about me and I know nothing about him, it just makes me feel like he doesn't plan on having me for a long time like I thought.

*Later later*

Well shit, so much has happened, what has my life become? I am breaking rules, Camille offered to tell me a way I can make Magnus not be immortal anymore and I took her bait like the idiot I am, and Jace is kidnapped, Clary is a wreck and blames herself, Isabelle is upset cause she thinks she lost another brother and I don't want to think about it. That bitch Sebastian is back and took Jace, Lilith was defeated by Simon and honestly everything has gone to chaos, also Apparently Jace died and Clary brought him back with the Angel's wish, I have no idea what the Clave may do to her.

Magnus: Dear diary, things have been interesting lately, interesting in not a good way, so much has happened, me and Alec fought a cult I may have kinda started, and I almost died, I also saw my dad, didn't like that last one at all. But me and Alec decided to cut our vacation short, I'll get into everything that happened later, but yeah we pretended we were still on it and we're just at my loft, we also took the next step in our relationship, though I think Alec still feels insecure in the relationship, but I am not one for sharing my past. Anyway I got called by Alec's mother Maryse to talk to a prisoner they have and it turns out it's Camille and I had to tell that bish Alec is my future, she didn't like that but she doesn't have a boyfriend with a stamina rune.

*Later*

Alec and me had a fight, and he knows about how many people I have been with now, and I think he feels more insecure, and he's mad at me, but like I don't know. Sometimes I wish he would understand it isn't easy for me either. But Jocelyn and Luke's party is something, I sense awkwardness and isn't just from me and Alec, I hate awkwardness.

*Later later*

Well fuck. These Shadowhunters and all their chaotic shit really will be the death of me, Biscuit's brother is fucking back, Jace got kidnapped but before that was apparently possessed by Lilith???? Simon also apparently defeated Lilith???? What the fuck is happening, also apparently Izzy and Simon broke up at some point idk, and now we have to find blondie, Alec and Izzy and Clary are all sad so yeah, fine! I miss him a little too, and Sebastian can't be running around causing evil and destruction.

[imaginethathaikyuu]

dono request for @mer92!!!! thank u so much for donating and i was so happy to write this for you in return! 

if you would like a personal scenario or headcanon or a match up, please visit this post for information on charity donation requests :) 

sugawara koushi x fem reader word count: 2958 NSFW warning featuring: light spanking, jealousy, jealous sex, dirty talk 

-

Vacation was meant to be relaxing. For Sugawara Koushi, it was proving to be the opposite. 

It all started when you, his girlfriend, came up with the idea to take a trip to the beach. Spring break was coming up and both of you would be off work, so it would be the perfect romantic getaway. Sugawara’s first mistake was mentioning this to his two friends, Daichi and Asahi. 

He can’t remember which of them had the idea to turn this romantic trip idea into a reunion trip for their old volleyball team. It was something they had wanted to do for a while now, and this just seemed to be the perfect opportunity. And Koushi wasn’t opposed to this - it just wasn’t ideal. 

So it had become a reunion trip, and Koushi was fine with it. He knew he’d probably sweep you away for a majority of the weekend, anyway, so it didn’t matter all that much. And he was happy to see all of his old friends again, so it was a win-win. 

He just didn’t think he’d be seeing old opponents as well. 

You were the first to point out the familiar faces, which was something that caught Koushi off guard. He couldn’t believe you were the one who recognized one of them - he didn’t even think you knew any of his old volleyball rivals. 

“Is that who I think it is?” you said out of nowhere. You guys had only been sitting by the pool for half an hour when you pointed the person out. The group of boys looked in the direction you pointed in. “Oh, it is! It’s Iwaizumi!”

Suga didn’t have time to ask how you knew the man, or even tell you that he also knew him,  before you got up and darted towards him. 

Tanaka, who was sitting next to him, said, “Looks like their whole team is here. How weird is that?”

“Coincidence of the century,” Nishinoya commented. 

Sugawara didn’t reply. He only watched. When you came into Iwaizumi’s eye line, he gave you a look that made it obvious he was happily surprised to see you. He wrapped his arms around your waist - which was bare thanks to your swimsuit - and you hugged him right back. 

It made Koushi raise his brow, but he looked away easily. A hug was no big deal. 

But a shared hug between you and Iwaizumi wouldn’t be all your boyfriend would witness of you two that day. 

Eventually, the alumni of Aoba Johsai made their way over to the old Karasuno team, and it was surprisingly an exciting reunion. They were all older now, and without the pressure of a volleyball game looming over them, they could actually enjoy each other’s company. 

Oikawa was shockingly easygoing; it seemed like he had more interest in soaking up the sun than doing his usual giving everyone a hard time. Hanamaki and Matsukawa were by far the life of the party - they always had something hilarious to say, and Koushi had lost his breath laughing at their jokes more than once within the hour. It was fun catching up with everyone, and you had no clue that your boyfriend once played volleyball against Iwaizumi. This whole situation was, in fact, the coincidence of the century. 

It turned out Aoba Johsai had the same idea as the Karasuno boys - they were also having a reunion trip, something they apparently did annually. 

Koushi was relieved when Hinata offered they all go to the pool and you decided to not to go - the two of you definitely needed some alone time. Most of the boys took off to the nearby pool, while the two of you stayed sitting on the end of a lounging beach chair. 

“So,” Koushi hummed, tucking his arm around your waist and placing his chin on your shoulder. “Mind telling me how you know one of the guys on my used to be rival team?” 

“We were neighbors growing up,” you replied with a happy smile. “We went to the same middle school - we basically grew up together.” 

“Oh? That’s nice. How nostalgic.” 

“Very,” you giggled. “It’s been awhile since I’ve seen him. I didn’t realize how much I missed him -” 

You were interrupted when a splash of water came falling down onto you and Koushi, causing both of you to jump. Afterwards, all either of you heard was laughter. 

“What are you doing?” Yelled Iwaizumi from the pool, speaking directly to you. “Come on, get out here!” And then he splashed you both again. 

“Iwa!” You shouted, though you were laughing, “I’ll get you back for that!”

“Try me!” 

You stood up and ran towards the pool, seeming to forget Koushi was even next to you. When you jumped in, Iwaizumi caught you, and he was laughing like crazy when he threw you toward the center of the pool. 

Sugawara watched the two of you play fighting for only a few minutes before he had to look away. He grabbed a nearby towel and dried himself off from the splash, and then he decided he needed a drink. 

He wasn’t sure what it was, but seeing you with Iwaizumi was just grating. This trip was meant to be a romantic getaway, after all, and yet the only thing you were getting away from was your own boyfriend. 

But ultimately, it was fine. He wasn’t really jealous. He couldn’t be. All you were doing was spending time with an old friend. It couldn’t get any worse. 

Could it? 

He’d get his answer when his group of friends approached him at the resort’s bar - that’s where he’d been drowning his sorrows with a Pepsi. He looked over the group and realized two were missing, but there was only one he cared about. 

“Where’s Y/N?”

“Swimming was fun, thanks for asking, Suga,” Tanaka replied, sarcasm in his tone. Ennoshita patted Suga on the shoulder. 

“Everyone went up to our rooms to change out of our wet clothes. She was really excited to go to the party next door, though - I’m sure her and Iwaizumi are finished and over there by now.” 

“Great.” But it was not great. Sugawara was not happy about this. He wanted you to be with him - he had even saved you a seat at the bar next to him! 

“Someone’s jealous,” Daichi taunted. Sugawara didn’t reply. 

It didn’t take long for him to get tired of sitting in the bar alone. In reality, he wasn’t really alone - he was surrounded by all of his greatest friends, after all - but he couldn’t help feeling alone. He wasn’t sure why. 

All he wanted was to have you next to him. He had planned to have you attached to his hip the entire trip, but now that he was there, he didn’t even know where you were. 

This couldn’t have possibly gone further off plan. 

So he decided to turn in for the night. That’d be better than trying to force himself to be in a good mood with his friends - besides, there’s always tomorrow. He wished his friends goodnight and then headed up to his hotel suite, the one he was sharing with you. 

When he walked inside, he was not expecting the sight he was greeted with. 

“What the fuck?!” 

In the hotel suite, the first room consists of a small kitchen counter with a few barstools in front of it. That counter is typically the first thing you see when you walk in the door. But when Sugawara walked in, the first thing he saw was you sitting on top of that counter, and Iwaizumi standing between your legs.

For some reason, Sugawara’s exclamation didn’t cause Iwaizumi to back away from you. And that only made him even more angry as he let the heavy door slam behind him. 

“Koushi.” 

Your voice, a sad whine, cut through the thick tension of the room. For some reason the sound helped him see a bit clearer. 

A first aid kit was sitting next to you. Iwaizumi had his hands on your face, obviously using the tools in the kit. 

“What -” 

“She fell,” Iwaizumi said, interrupting Suga’s question. “Scraped her eyebrow. Clumsy idiot.” 

That’s when he backed away, seemingly finished cleaning up a cut on your brow. 

Sugawara hadn’t taken a breath since the moment he walked in the door. It wasn’t until Iwaizumi made his exit, after wishing you a goodbye, that Sugawara could even think straight. 

You were looking at him with a pout, making grabby hands at him and obviously trying to be cute. It was working, but he ignored it. 

“You sure you don’t want to go with him?” he asked you, the edge in his voice as sharp as a razorblade. “Since you’ve been at his side all day, I mean.” 

He could tell by your facial expression that you weren’t expecting that. 

“Koushi?” The worry in your voice made him fall apart. “You aren’t… jealous, are you?” 

“No,” he retorted. Just let it go. “Are you okay?” He forced himself to feel okay with approaching you. He still needed to check on you, he was still worried about you being hurt. He couldn’t let his immature jealousy overpower that. “What happened, sweetheart?” 

Koushi pressed kisses along the bandage on your eyebrow as you explained that you had fallen at the party, cutting your eyebrow on the corner of a table. 

“I’m okay, don’t worry. Iwa tried catching me, but he was too late. I’m just glad I didn’t hit my head or anything worse.” 

Koushi’s breath hitched at the sound of the other man’s name, but he ignored it. “Clumsy girl,” he tutted, and he couldn’t help smiling, but his next comment was nothing but snarky. “Maybe you wouldn’t have fallen if you were at the bar with me…” 

“You are jealous,” you stated, pulling back to look up at your boyfriend. 

“No - I’m not jealous.” Lying was not his strong suit. “It’s just - why didn’t you come and let me know you were hurt?” 

“Iwa was going to come get you,” you replied. “After he bandaged me up.” 

“I could’ve done that.” Sugawara furrowed his brows as he inspected the bandage. “I could’ve done a better job, too…” 

“Koushi,” you said with a groan. “You have no reason to be -”

“I know,” he said, already knowing what you were going to say. “You don’t have to tell me that. It’s just… hard. The way you look at him and the way he looks at you - the way he touches you, it…” He took a deep breath and swallowed hard, letting his forehead fall against your temple so his quiet words could be heard by you. “It doesn’t make me feel good, sweetheart. I can’t help being jealous, I can’t help wanting to show you who you belong to.” 

Your response was a sigh, and that wasn’t good enough for him. 

“You do know who you belong to, right?” 

His whispered words sent chills down your spine - you were already feeling the effects of the implications of his words, that was for sure. “Yes,” you stuttered out, and Koushi grabbed your chin and tilted your head in his direction. 

“Do you?” He thumbed your bottom lip, keeping his eye on your pretty mouth. “Mine. Say it.” 

“I’m yours, Koushi,” you said as confidently as you could. You took his wrist and pulled his hand up so you could kiss his fingers, hoping to put him at ease. “I don’t want to argue… let’s just go to bed, babe.” 

“Bed? I was planning on staying right here, sweetheart.” That caught you off guard - in a good way. “I’m taking you right on this counter, I’m not letting you go anywhere…” he gave you a smile, then, “...unless you want to, of course.” 

“I’m all yours, Koushi. If you want me here… take me here.”

He was breathless, but he smashed his lips against yours anyway, pulling your legs around his waist and holding onto your hips tight in his hands. He wanted to show you how frustrated you had made him all day; he wanted to remind you that you were his; he wanted you. And that’s what he was trying to tell you with his kiss. 

He ended it too quickly so he could pull your shirt off, and he unbuttoned your shorts quickly after that. “No time for playing around, my love. I need you now.”

That’s how you knew Koushi meant business tonight, but you weren’t going to complain. If he needed you, he could have you. With your legs around his waist you pulled his hips into yours, knocking his clothed arousal into your own, and that movement sent him into overdrive. 

He let you pull his shirt off of him while he worked to get your shorts down. It was a struggle with you sitting on the counter, but he managed, getting your shorts and underwear in one go. 

He was ready, so ready. All of his movements were out of nothing but pure desperation for you. His pants were on the floor no sooner than yours were, and then he pulled your legs high on his hips. 

“You ready?” he asked, more as a tease than as a legitimate question. “Are you ready for me to show you who you belong to?”  

You nodded but he wasn’t waiting for an answer. He pressed his cock into you all the way, and you were just about to fall back on the counter but Koushi caught you. He kept you upright just so he could capture your lips with his, so his tongue could play in your mouth as his hips started to move. 

“You like this?” He asked, lips grazing yours with his words. You were hardly listening, and your moans were becoming uncontrollable. They got louder when Koushi pushed your leg back, opening your legs up to accept his thrusts which became even harsher. “You like being fucked on the counter like this, baby? Hm? Is this what you wanted when you let him sit you up here, Y/N?” 

Again, his thrusts got rougher, but he hardly seemed to notice. And his voice was still soft and warm despite the intention of his words. 

“You wanted me to walk in and see him standing between your legs, didn’t you?” Your back gave out and he let you fall onto the cold counter. “Just so I would get jealous and fuck your brains out, right here in the kitchen. For everyone on our floor to hear your pretty moans. For me to show you who the hell really owns you. Go on, you can admit it, my love.” 

His fucking didn’t stop for even a second, and it made it nearly impossible to reply. But you knew he was expecting a response. “N-No, Koushi, I - I didn’t -” 

And your words were interrupted by a loud smack and a vibrant sting caused by his hand falling onto your ass, and it did nothing but pull you closer to an end. “That’s it, tighten up, fuck,” and he spanked you again, groaning loud. “Don’t say anything, sweetheart, I just want you to remember how good this cock is when you want to get close to another man. Fucking memorize it, darling, ‘cause you know it’s all yours.” 

You know he told you not to say anything, but you couldn’t help saying his name, moaning it again and again and it truly was magic to Koushi’s ears - you were his, and he was yours, and both of you were about to cum, and he couldn’t help but wish that bastard Iwaizumi was here to hear to you moaning Koushi’s name. He’s the one who needs to learn who you belong to. 

Maybe that was a bit immature, but Koushi wasn’t caring - he was desperate and frustrated and yours, and all he wanted was to know you were his. 

He hardly even noticed he was close to cumming until you were, loud and tight and hot, and then he was cumming with you, hard and fast and deep with his head on your chest and his hands on your waist and his hips pressed into yours. 

When he could finally see clearly, his breathing was ragged and so was yours. But he couldn’t catch his breath before you were grabbing his face and pulling him so he was hovering over you. 

“You have no reason to be jealous,” you said, apparently just now deciding to finish what you were trying to say earlier. “I would never try to make you jealous on purpose. I love you, and I’m sorry for not spending more time with you today, but I love you, okay?” 

He didn’t even know what to say. He just looked at you, trying to choose between catching his breath or finding words to say, but he did neither. He kissed you, soft and slow and sweet, holding your face in his hands as gently as he could. 

“I know,” he said to you before kissing you again but shorter this time. “I love you and I know you would never upset me on purpose. I know, sweetheart. I’m sorry if I was too rough - was I too rough?” 

You shook your head, giggling at his rambling. “You were perfect, Koushi,” and then you kissed him. “As always. Maybe I should try to rile you up some more…” 

He giggled with you, “You mean you don’t prefer my sweet and loving side?” 

“Well, we have all night to find out.” 

Koushi liked the sound of that, and he made sure round two took place on the bed - and after that, he’d let you choose where round three took place.

-

please donate if you’re able to! 

[svnflowervol666]

Hey!! Could you write an imagine where the reader is an artist and wakes up early, Harry is sleeping next to her and for a few minutes she's there watching him and then decides to draw him while he sleeps and when she's finishing Harry wakes up? Thank you so much ♥️

Word Count: 1.6k

Warnings: mentions of smut

Author’s Note: Thank you for the request! Like always, if you’re interested, let me know what you’d like for me to write next. Take care and tpwk.

Y/N wasn’t very sure how she’d managed to wake up before Harry considering how hard they partied last night. Her head pounded in her ears and she felt an overwhelming sense of dehydration in her throat. The events of the evening were somewhat blurry after Harry handed her a shot of something wretched and led her immediately to the dancefloor to work up a sweat. She knew judging from the fact that she was stark naked in the bed she shared with Harry and the fact that she could see her dress from the night before shimmering in the sunlight off in the corner of the room haphazardly that they’d at least made love to each other when they got home. Aside from that, her mind was drawing a blank.

Seeing as the blinding light from the harsh, early morning sun made it impossible to go back to sleep, she carefully removed the limp, ringed hand that was draped around her waist and wriggled her way over to her nightstand to grab her phone. Fuck, she thought to herself. Her battery was dead and she couldn’t be arsed to lean all of the way down to the ground to reach for her charger. After lying there for a moment and contemplating how to proceed with the morning, in which she decided she certainly would not be getting out of bed to start the day just yet, she reached a bit further past her phone for the sketchbook and pencil that Harry had gotten her for her birthday last year.

It was almost completely full of her drawings and doodles, something she prided herself in. Often times, she’d lose her sketchbook or spill her coffee on it before she could finish drawing in all of the pages. Maybe it was the fact that Harry had gotten this one for her which meant it was special, or maybe it was just luck, but she’d managed to hold on to this one almost down to the very last page. 

In an attempt to soothe her hangover without getting out of bed, she began drawing away. She started by finishing up the flower she had started the other day after saw the most beautiful bunch of daisies while on her daily walk with Harry. Sure, they were technically an invasive weed that took over greenery like wildfire, but Y/N always thought they were beautiful. 

When she’d perfected that one enough to her liking, she flipped the page and started another drawing. This one was also unfinished, and it was a landscape portrait of the bungalow she shared with Harry while on their vacation to Bora Bora last year. She’d been on many vacations and stayed in many nice houses since that trip, but this bungalow she’d never forget. It was where Harry took her to tell her that he loved her, though she hadn’t known that at the time. They had been having the time of their lives, drinking sugary, alcoholic beverages all throughout the day and lounging lazily by the ocean. Harry finally told her while they watched the sunset on their third night there. It slipped out faster and not as smoothly as Harry had imagined the moment in his head, but the overwhelming, swooning sensation he felt in his chest whenever he looked at Y/N made it impossible for the words to not spew from his lips. She’d never forgotten that trip because it was where she fell significantly more in love with Harry than she already had been.

There wasn’t much that needed to be done on the portrait of the bungalow, just some shading on the roof and a bit more detail on the waves that surrounded the structure. She finished that one fairly quickly then moved on to her next blank page. This one, she fucked up. What she had tried to draw one of her old pets from memory, but for some reason, it wasn’t looking right. She quickly scrapped the piece of paper and moved on to the next page, which was coincidentally the final page in her sketchbook.

She pondered for a moment on what idea in her head would earn the final spot in her book of drawings. She could try to draw her pet again? No, she shook her head softly to herself. Hers and Harry’s favorite table at the coffee shop that was down the block from their London apartment? No, she’d need to get a better look at the place before she attempted something like that. She looked around the now bright and sunny space of their bedroom, trying to find something that would shoot a spark in her brain and cause her to think of the perfect thing to draw. As she turned her head towards the sleeping, seemingly unconscious body that burrowed itself into the gigantic, down comforter beside her, it struck her.

Y/N propped herself up on her side so she could get a better look at the scene in front of her. Harry was sleeping the morning away, though she couldn’t say she blamed him since she didn’t even remember coming home last night (or was it technically this morning?). His face was completely covered by the huge down comforter that he’d hogged from her, but she didn’t mind. All that was visible of Harry was the top of his head, adorned with messy, chocolate-colored waves, and the outstretched palm of his left hand. That was it. His hand.

Her hangover had more or less subsided by now without the need of a greasy diner breakfast or a handful of headache medicine, so she was able to work diligently on her newest and final sketch. She traced over every crease and dip of his long, slender fingers, making sure no detail went unnoticed. Every ring, including the large, gold ‘H’ and ‘S’ rings on his ring and pinky fingers got their own moment in the spotlight. His bright yellow nail polish, the color that she’d picked out for him last week, was slightly chipped at the corners, but it only added to the uniqueness of the piece. Each knuckle she shaded with the closest attention. Unlike her old pet or the table at the cafe, she was almost certain she could draw this from memory, but a little reinforcement never hurt. Plus, she felt like she could stare at Harry’s hands for days on end without growing tired of them.

Harry’s hands were miracle workers for her. They’d held her through both her darkest and brightest days. They’d made her feel safe in times when she’d never felt so alone, and during big moments when she couldn’t be sad even if she tried. Harry’s hands cooked her breakfast on Sunday mornings, carried her to bed when she’d fallen asleep watching Netflix in the living room, massaged her tired feet after a long day of work, brushed her hair out of her eyes before kissing her goodnight each night, made her see stars as he pleasured her over and over again with his skillful fingers. So many times people overlook what hands do in a relationship, but not Y/N. 

It was right when she was shading the corner of Harry’s cross tattoo that was barely visible from beyond the comforter she felt the bed sheets rustle and the sweet creature beside her come to. The peaceful silence of Y/N doodling away was broken when Harry moved his hand, the one she had been drawing, towards his face to rub harshly at his emerald green eyes.

“Wha’ ‘re you doin awake? ‘ts so early,” she heard his groggy, morning voice pierce the walls of the room.

“It’s almost noon, Harry,” she responded softly, letting the sketchbook fall gently into her lap.

“Oh, shit,” the lanky brunette chuckled, “Wha’ did we do last night?”

“I was actually hoping you could tell me.”

“‘ve got no idea, princess,” Harry groaned before reaching over to pat her thigh, feeling the hard material of her sketchbook instead.

“You drawin’? Lemme see.”

He plucked the open notepad from her lap to examine what she’d been drawing while he was asleep. She didn’t feel embarrassed or like she needed to snatch the book away from him before he could see that she’d been drawing his hands whilst he slept. That was another thing Y/N loved about Harry, how she never felt shy or that she needed to hide her art from him. He always praised her work whenever he crossed paths with it, so she was always willing to share her latest masterpiece.

“M’ hand? You drew my hand while I was asleep?” Harry was still delirious from a combination of his hazy, half-asleep half-awake state.

“I love your hands,” she stated firmly but softly, “plus, it was the last page in my sketchbook so I wanted it to be of something important.”

“Hmm,” Harry pondered as he cased over the drawing once more, “I like this one, but I think I much rather prefer the one you drew of my co-”

“Yeah, I’m sure you do,” Y/N interrupted his sentence and yanked the sketchbook from his grasp before placing it back on its home on the nightstand.

She took her rightful half of the comforter back from Harry and nestled herself back into bed, making sure to cozy right up into Harry’s warm, bare chest so they could have a proper, conscious cuddle before dreadfully starting their day. The two of them were adults now and while they were still granted the privilege of being able to party, they couldn’t stay in bed and waste the day away after a long night of drinking like they used to.

Harry traced soft circles on Y/N’s back with the same hand that she was drawing just minutes ago, almost lulling her back to sleep. He watched as her breathing evened out and her eyes began to droop despite her awareness that they had a late lunch planned with Anne and Gemma in a few hours. 

“Baby,” Harry beckoned her back to consciousness.

Her eyes blinked open quickly, unaware of how she’d almost went right back to sleep in Harry’s arms.

“Yeah?”

“We’ve got to meet up wi’ mum and Gem soon. ‘Need to get up.”

“Ten more minutes.”

This made Harry chuckle, seeing how she was acting like a grumpy teenager who refused to wake up for school in the morning. God, how he loved her.

“How about I show you just how important my hands are to you and then we hop in the shower, yeah? Sound like a plan?”

She opened one eye just slightly enough to see that Harry was giving her his iconic smirk that caused one of his dimples to shine through. Leave it to Harry to squeeze in a shag before lunch with his own mum.

She supposed she really couldn’t say no to that.

[downwiththeficness]

In the Bond-Chapter 13

Summary: Lilah often wished she’d never said yes to working with the Gecko brothers—usually while dodging gunfire. At no time was she regretting that decision more than when she’s hanging upside down from the ceiling, staring down a group of hungry culebras and one (1) extremely powerful sun god.

Word Count: ~2,600

Warnings: None

A/N: This is an AU of my Story In the Blood, which can be read here. Basically, this fic explores what would have happened if Lilah had met up with Geckos before she met Brasa.

Taglist: @symbiont13

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Lilah swung the shopping bag in one hand, the other shoving the keys into her pocket. She’d ended out keeping the SUV Brasa had lent her the week previous, claiming that she liked the ‘rental’ so much that she’d made an offer to buy it outright. It was a believable lie, Lilah had a habit of picking up and dropping off cars on a whim. Easier to keep under the radar when no one knew what make and model she drove.

The air conditioning in the bar hit her hard, goosebumps rising along her arms. It was nearly empty, as it usually was mid-afternoon. Too late for the morning crowd to stay, too early for the night crowd to meander in. The room smelled vaguely of liquor and the sun streaming in through the windows cast unfamiliar shadows over the floor.

She noticed that Kate was sitting at the bar, nursing a soda. For once, Richie was nowhere to be seen. Lilah sidled on up to her, dropped the bag on the floor as she took a seat, and signaled to bartender.

“Bourbon and coke.”

Kate smiled at her, “Isn’t it a little early to be drinking?”

This was said with a smile that could potentially be described as sly. Lilah, like Seth, didn’t exactly adhere to a strict schedule when it came to alcohol. Too many nights that turned into days that turned into diving into a bottle to forget.

“It’ll be five o’ clock in...three hours,” Lilah quipped as she took the glass from the bartender, “Close enough.”

Lilah sat with her drink for a while, enjoying the fact that there was little to no activity going on in the bar. Aside from Kate and the bartender, the room was pretty much empty. She realized that she had spent almost all of her awake hours the last few days either catching up on what had happened while she was gone or in some kind of meeting.

Seth had taken a more active role in managing the staff, and he consulted with Lilah daily about one thing or another—usually some sort of internal conflict. She’d taken to writing down some basic policies and procedures for him to reference so that he wasn’t knocking on her door in the middle of the night with questions. Despite having just come back from a three month vacation, Lilah still needed to sleep.

A question floated across that train of thought, “What’s Richie been up to?”

Kate gave a little shrug, “The usual, trying to maintain some sort of order with our nocturnal friends.”

“Oh?”

Nodding, Kate added, “Its not just Brasa’s people that are struggling to adjust. We’ve had some kickback here, too.”

To give herself a moment to think, Lilah took a slow pull from her glass, “And how is that going?”

“Well,” her voice had a soft tone of uncertainty, “They aren’t super happy that we’ve done some population control. Kind of kills the mood when we’re trying to get them to buy in to the new way of doing things.”

“I can imagine.”

Given what Lilah had seen in the cave not a few days before, she had a good idea of what Seth and Richie were facing on the other side of the fence. They offered work and beds to those who could staff the bar, but didn’t have the organization or power that Brasa seemed to have. It was lucky that Richie had such a mind that he could predict attacks with an uncanny accuracy. Otherwise, or both brothers would be dead by now.

Rolling her neck, Kate offered, “But, there are a surprising number that want to assimilate—they miss their old lives, you know?”

Lilah did know. There was still a part of her, slowly dwindling, that wanted to go back to the night she met Seth and tell him to fuck off. Everything would have been a whole lot simpler now, if she had. On the other hand, she wouldn’t have met Brasa. He’d become so critically ingrained in her everyday life that the thought of him not being there felt too strange to contemplate.

“Are you gonna talk about it now?” Kate asked without provocation. She had pushed her soda away and was fixing Lilah with a narrowed look.

Lilah blinked, “What?”

With a sigh borne out of frustration, Kate turned on her stool and faced Lilah head on, “The bond. Are you going to talk about it?”

Stunned, Lilah felt her jaw unhinge as she stared at Kate in shock. She went over her recent memories to double check that she hadn’t given it away. Lilah had kept it hidden, she was sure of it.

Kate laughed, a high, clear sound that made Lilah flinch, “Richie told me about it months ago. You can’t hide that kind of thing from other culebras. Its supposed to be obvious, for safety’s sake. Keeps them from crossing boundaries accidentally.”

Lilah continued to stare, her chest tightening as she slowly began to panic. She’d ask Brasa about how it was ‘obvious’ later, when her mind had stopped spinning. For now, she had no lie to put things to right again.

Kate noted her stricken expression and laid a gentle hand on her arm, “Its okay. I won’t tell. I just thought you might need someone to talk to. I know I did.”

Dear holy fuck, but Lilah really needed someone to talk to. All of these months and months of keeping her mouth shut had built up in a way that took an immense effort to subsume.

After another moment’s pause, Lilah blurted, “I don’t know how to handle it. Its everywhere, all the time. And… the worst part is that I don’t care. I’m still struggling to accept it, but I want to keep it.”

The dichotomy of being both ashamed and deeply satisfied by her relationship with Brasa was the thing that kept her chest tight, her shoulders hunched. It sat next to her as she tried to sleep at night. It needled her in the quiet moments between tasks. Lilah rubbed at her forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

Kate’s smile was serene, “That’s good, because if Richie’s anything to go by, Brasa wouldn’t allow you to break the bond, even if you wanted to. He’d die to keep it intact.”

Lilah’s brows came together, “What does that mean?”

“Exactly what I said. He’d do anything to keep you with him. He kind of has to, anyways.”

“What does that mean?”

Kate lifted her hand to signal the bartender, “Two of what she’s having.” Then, she turned back to Lilah, “Listen, I don’t know if its matches up exactly with how my bond with Richie is, but Brasa is the one bonded to you, not the other way around.”

Lilah looked at her blank faced. The book had definitely not put it that way. Brasa had said he was the elder, he had said that he would be expected to lead.

The bartender brought their drinks and Kate fiddled with the little straw, stirring the ice around, “You’re weaker than he is.”

Lilah sneered, “Is it that obvious?”

Kate rolled her eyes, pushing Lilah’s glass at her, “Its always the strong party’s responsibility to protect and serve the weaker. Evens the playing field when—is it fate? Whenever whatever that decides these things steps in.”

“I don’t get it,” Lilah said blandly.

Honestly, she was getting tired of feeling confused. All these shifting realities were difficult enough to track and follow. She didn’t need to feel stupid on top of it.

Giving another little shrug, Kate took their drinks from the bartender, setting one in front of Lilah, “He’s like a billion years old and a literal demigod. The bond would weaken him long term, if he didn’t build you up, if he didn’t lend you some of his power.”

This rang of familiarity, and it made Lilah’s skin tighten with awareness of how she had never put two and two together. Still, the pieces weren’t locking into place cleanly enough for her to feel like she was on steady ground.

“What the fuck does that mean?”

Swirling the amber liquid in her glass, Kate fixed her with a coy smile, “It means that a large part of his life will be spent listening to and anticipating your needs. In return, your blood will make him stronger than he ever was, or ever could be without it.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Welcome to supernatural mating practices,” Kate deadpanned. “None of it really makes any sense.”

Lilah turned the whole thing around in her mind, “So, he has to do what I say?”

“He is inclined to do as you ask, but your safety and protection is his priority, above all.”

There was something in the statement that didn’t sit well with Lilah. She was used to commanding some sense of obedience during jobs, but this was far more intimate. It felt wrong to know that she could just...ask for something, and he would do it without question.

“But,” Lilah continued, “I don’t want to order him around.”

Kate set her glass down, “I don’t doubt it. I’ve had to learn to watch my words around Richie. If I even look at something in store for more than five seconds, It’ll be waiting for me when we get home.”

Lilah thought about it. Brasa hadn’t bought her anything, that she could tell, but he had given in to her will on numerous occasions. She couldn’t believe that she hadn’t figured it out yet.

“Have you had the dreams yet?”

Lilah snapped back to attention, “Dreams?”

“Yeah,” Kate prompted, her expression taking on a little excitement, “Where you’re sharing them?”

“Uh,” Lilah drawled, embarrassed, “A little.”

Kate nodded sagely, “If the bond is stressed, you’ll have more of them.”

“Why?”

“No idea,” Kate said as she fiddled with her glass.

There was a long silence, both of them lost in their thoughts. Lilah considered how far she’d come in her bond with Brasa, and how far she still needed to go. There were so many unknowns, and she feared that her reticence would eventually lead to him leaving her. And yet...Kate had said that he couldn’t—that would lead to worse things. Lilah could handle rejection, but eternal resentment was not something she was prepared to deal with.

“What’s he like?”

Lilah looked up at the question, her brows rising, “Who?”

Kate shot her a knowing look, “Brasa.”

Lilah considered the question, her breath flowing out of her lungs in a soft sigh, “He’s accommodating.”

“And?”

Lilah felt another little wave of embarrassment well up. She wasn’t used to disclosing this kind of information, and the thought of gushing to a girlfriend about a lover made her cringe. Still, this was likely the only person in the world who could really understand what she was going through, who could put things into perspective and help her make good decisions.

“He’s...smart. So smart. Every time we talk about the business, I feel like I’m taking a master class. And, he really listens to me, wants to know my opinion on things.”

“And?”

She thought further, “He’s attractive. Sometimes I look at him and I just…”

As she trailed off, Kate nudged her, “Have you had sex yet?”

“No,” Lilah admitted, “Although we’ve made out a few times—fuck, that makes me sound like a teenager.”

Kate chuckled, lifting her glass to her mouth, “That’s what I felt like, too. Although, I was actually, like, seventeen when Richie and I met.”

This was a story that Lilah had been waiting to hear. The two of them were so diametrically opposed in personality that the match seemed unlikely. She had asked Richie just the one time about how they got together, before Kate had been rescued from Amaru. His only answer was that he ‘kidnapped her.’

“Yeah?” Lilah prodded lightly.

“Yep,” she sat the glass down, “I don’t think either of us knew what was going on. Not until much later.”

“When did you finally figure it out?”

Kate pushed her dark hair from her face, her gaze contemplative, “After Amaru—in Xibalba, actually. We had a little time to talk when we were traveling between worlds. Richie had learned a lot while we were separated.” She paused, a smile forming on her lips, “He had to do a lot of convincing, but what Amaru knew, I knew. And, she knew about bonding. Even though I put it off for a bit, I knew eventually I would have to come to terms with it.”

Lilah felt the question she wanted to ask rise, and she almost tamped it down, but her lesser instincts kicked in, “Do you regret it?”

Kate shook her head, “Richie can be a real asshole, but he loves me. And all the other things that he is, all the things that make up our relationship, they satisfy me in ways I can’t describe.”

And that was exactly how Lilah felt, when she took the time to examine the bond more closely. All the restlessness of her life settled into a soothing, temperate pace when she was with him. Her eager ideas gained focus and precision, her impulsivity checked.

“You’ve given me a lot to think about,” Lilah said as she slumped in her chair.

Kate gave her sympathetic look, “I was trying to help you unload a bit of what you’ve been carrying around.”

To be fair, Lilah did feel lighter. There was still the issue of dealing with Seth and his temper when he found out, but she found that she liked having a secret ally in all of this. It lent her a small bit of safety that she appreciated.

Lilah glanced at her, “Does anyone else know?”

Shaking her head, Kate put her finger to her lips, “Its our secret, for now. But, it’ll come out eventually. Like I said, you can’t hide this kind of thing for long.”

“I know,” Lilah admitted, “Brasa is willing to keep this under wraps for the moment, but I can tell he’s frustrated by it.”

Kate watched her absorb that for a moment, then added, “Pro tip: Sleep with him.”

Lilah said her name in almost a yelp, shocked by the directive.

“I’m not kidding,” Kate said on a laugh, “Sex and blood are cornerstones of their relationships. They’re what bind them together, like it or not. Give him those things, and he’ll settle down enough so that you can figure this out.”

Lilah thought about it, then said the thing that had kept her hiding this secret for longer than she would like, “Seth is going to hate me.”

Kate acknowledged the statement with a salute of her drink, “He might not like it. He might mope around for a few months—hell, he might take off entirely. But, he’ll be back. He just has to have his tantrum first.”

“You think so?”

“I know so.”

“How?”

Kate lifted a shoulder, “He did the same thing with Richie when he was turned. Ran off for a bit. He’ll come around. Once he realizes that being a big baby about it means that you won’t be in his life anymore.” She paused a second, then, “We’re a family, you know? All of us. And, the most important thing to Seth is family.”

“You think so?” Lilah echoed.

Kate smiled warmly, “I know so.”

[saedii-gilwraeth-simp]

This post but I wanted to do it all with BillyxArsinoe - Part 2: electric boogaloo (REPOST BC I FINISHED IT THIS TIME)

How do they fall asleep? Wake up? Any daily rituals?

Billy always says hello to Arsinoe first when he gets home. It doesn’t matter if it’s a party and there are 50 people between Arsinoe and the front door, Billy always says hello to her before anyone else. And Arsinoe always kisses Billy’s cheek before she gets out of bed because she’s too groggy to say hello properly.

How’s their team work? Do they share well?

Wins three-legged races every time. They are masters of communication so they work together really well and tend not to step on each other’s toes. They share pretty well unless it’s blankets.

Are they open about their relationship? How do they feel about public displays of affection?

Billy and Arsinoe fucking love talking about each other to other people because they love being together. In terms of PDA, they are… very enthusiastic and it has definitely gotten them in trouble before.

First impression of each other? Was it love at first sight?

They really didn’t click when they first met and it was definitely not love at first sight. I call it the “Billy is the epitome of a privileged white man” effect

Nicknames? Pet names? Any in-jokes?

They only call each other pet names when they’re tired. And they probably have a million in-jokes that I’m not funny enough to come up with

Any tasks that are always left to one person?

Arsinoe always makes the bed bc she knows Billy likes to get into a made bed at the end of the day. Billy always washes and puts away the dishes bc the repetitive motion messes with Arsinoe’s bad shoulder

What annoys them the most about their partner? Would they change it if they could?

Billy gets upset over how far Arsinoe takes things when it come to helping/protecting her friends and family because it can get her hurt, but he wouldn’t change it bc he knows he would do the same thing. Arsinoe doesn’t like that Billy wants to protect her constantly but she wouldn’t change it bc very few people (basically Jules and Mirabella and that’s it) have ever cared about her enough to protect her

What do the like best about their partner?

Arsinoe adores how gentle but fierce Billy is and Billy loves how much joy Arsinoe brings to the lives of everyone she meets

Do they discuss big issues? Religion? Marriage? Children? Death?

They discuss it when they first start permanently living together. Neither are religious bc Arsinoe has trauma from the temple and Billy just doesn’t really care about religion. Both agreed very early on that they wanted to get married and have children. Neither wants to talk about death, they’ve had enough of that that they just want to push the conversation away.

Who drives? Cooks? Does the handiwork? Cleans? Pays the bills? Handles the public?

Billy drives, neither cook, Arsinoe does the handiwork, both clean, Billy pays the bills (bc patriarchy). Neither handle the public.

Do they celebrate holidays? Anniversaries?

They like to celebrate holidays bc it gives them a chance to get everyone together to celebrate. And they both go ham for anniversaries.

Is there a wedding? What was the proposal like? Any kind of honeymoon?

So Billy just proposes on a nondescript Sunday in summer when they’re chilling on the porch and he looks over and the sun is lighting Arsinoe up and he just knows that this is the perfect moment, so he grabs the ring he’s carried around for months out of his pocket, puts it on the table open and says “Hey babe, let’s get married” and that’s it, they’re engaged. So, the wedding is nice and the reception is rowdy but also very intimate - Billy and Arsinoe definitely cried during the vows they wrote themselves and their flower crowns were gorgeous. And for their honeymoon, they go to this really nice manor in the country and do typical honeymoon things ;) ;)

What do they do for fun? Do they have a favorite activity or do they like to switch things up?

They go on fun dates around the city - lots of horse-racing, boxing and rugby. Their favourite though is to try to find different, better places for picnics each week. It’s began to get very competitive.

Anything they both dread?

Both really don’t enjoy being separated. Which is not to say that they always have to be together or that they can’t exist without each other, but they enjoy each other’s company so long periods of separation make them sad.

How adventurous are they?

I mean, this is a couple who recreated “We’re going on a bear hunt” so they get pretty wild.

Do they keep secrets? Lie? Cheat?

They might keep secrets to surprise each other time to time, but they both value and love each other too much to even consider lying, cheating or keeping big secrets.

What would make them break up? Would it be permanent?

Nothing and if something did, it sure as fuck wouldn’t be a permanent break up.

What are their dates like? How long do/did they date? Do they ever feel the need to take a break from each other?

Their dates are pretty fun and involve food and laughing, regardless of what they do/where they go. They “dated” for like 3 years simply cause they’re both young and have all the time to get married. and they don’t really feel the need to take breaks but they do sometimes, just to feel independent.

What do they fight about? What are their arguments like? How do they make up?

They don’t really have big explosive arguments and fights because they’re good at expressing themselves. But when they do fight, they both yell and then they get really silent and then they talk it out. And then makeup sex.

What does their home look like? Their room?

The townhouse in the city - where they are normally - is mostly shades of baby blue and has the vibes of a rich 18th century family home. Their bedroom has sapphire blue walls and curtains with a four poster bed and a dresser and a wardrobe against the opposite wall. They have an ensuite with a massive bath and double vanity and a walk in robe. They also have a farmhouse and that is a lot more quaint.

Do they share any interests or hobbies?

Both enjoy looking after their chickens and the horses they own at the races but other than that they have their own hobbies.

Does their work ever interfere with the relationship?

Billy’s work requires a lot of travel that Arsinoe can’t go on sometimes, so they have to shift how their relationship works sometimes, but for the most part, it doesn’t matter how far apart they are.

How do they hug? Kiss? Tease? Flirt? Comfort?

Billy sometimes hugs Arsinoe around the shoulders and will kiss her temple, usually when he feels talking will ruin a quiet moment. Otherwise, Billy tucks Arsinoe into his chest and wraps his arms over her shoulders when hugging her. Arsinoe always puts at least one hand on Billy’s neck and Billy always puts on hand on Arsinoe’s waist/hip when they kiss. If Billy wants to tease, he holds Arsinoe’s hips and kisses her neck. Arsinoe could reveal an ankle and Billy would blush tbh. Both are terrible flirts so they don’t flirt very often. And in terms of comfort, a hand hold or a good hug is really good for them.

Any doubts about the relationship?

Nah, their solid

How much time do they spend together? Do they share their feelings, or hold things in?

They spend a lot of time together (to be clear, they definitely are comfortable to ask when they need independent time) but it’s not like they’re constantly speaking, touching, they could just be sitting in the same room and it’s comfy. And they’re the best at sharing feelings, mostly bc they’re both shit at holding things in.

How do their friends feel about their relationship? Their families?

Their friends think they’re an excellent couple. Billy’s family tries to focus more on Billy’s happiness than how unconventional Arsinoe is as a Mainlander partner

Do they have kids? Grow old together? Split up?

Billy and Arsinoe have four children, triplet boys and a girl who are agents of chaos but grow up surrounded by so much love and acceptance (unlike how their parents grew up). B*A do grow old together and are still a fucking power couple in their 90′s

What are their vacations like?

Both work quite hard day to day so when they’re on holiday they usually relax, stay in bed late or meander throughout local towns. 

How do they handle disasters or emergencies? Minor injuries? Sickness? 

Both are very calm, cool and collected during disasters or emergencies. Billy stresses about injuries and sickness while Arsinoe’s pretty nonchalant bc she usually knows how to fix it. However, neither like it when their kids are sick.

Could they manage a long distance relationship?

They could but they wouldn’t want to

Do they finish each other’s sentences? Pick up any phrases or habits from each other? Know when the other is hiding something?

They definitely have the ability to finish each other’s sentences. Arsinoe has picked up Billy’s habit of tapping fingers on any surface that is nearby and Billy has taken on Arsinoe’s habit of rubbing a cheek when nervous. And yes, they know when each other is hiding something but they trust that whatever is being hidden will be revealed when right.

Do they ever get into trouble? Is it serious, or are they just mischievous? 

Oh boy they get in trouble so much but in the fun, saucy, “we’re a young couple in love” kinda way

What kind of presents do they get each other? Do they only do it on special occasions?

They usually will get each other something heartfelt or practical, sometimes a mix of both. They aim to stick to holiday/birthday sharing but every now and then, it’ll be a matter of “I saw this and thought of you.”

Do they have any pets?

More chickens than they know what to do with. A couple of cats that come and go and a golden retriever that their kids got but won’t reveal how, they just bought it home one day.

Do they bring out the best in each other, or the worst? Do they have a fatal flaw?

They bring out the best in each other and they’re the definition of married people who are best friends. They don’t really have fatal flaws.

What’s their greatest strength as a couple? Their weakness?

Greatest strength is how much they love each other so they create an environment that is so comforting. They’re weakness is that they’re so cute it makes people angry.

How much would they be willing to sacrifice for the other? Any lines they refuse to cross?

They wouldn’t do anything a morally sound person would consider deplorable but they would definitely sacrifice a lot for each other. 

What are they like in the bedroom? Any kinks/fetishes/turn-ons? Anything they won’t do?

Look, they’re def 50/50 vanilla/kinky but in terms of specific turn ons, Arsinoe has a thing for Billy’s hands and Billy likes Arsinoe’s legs and butt (very valid takes). I also think that they would try different bedroom things at least once, for experimentation purposes.

Who initiated the relationship? Who kissed who first?  When did they realize they were in love?

They both kind of initiated the r/ship and technically Arsinoe kissed Billy first. Billy realised he loved Arsinoe when she jumped in front of the bear and Arsinoe realised she loved Billy when he tried to save her from the priestesses.

Any special memories? Do they have a special place they like to go to?

Their special memories come mostly from when Arsinoe came back from Fennbirn to the Mainland, their wedding day and their kids birthdays. Their special place is on the townhouse roof bc it’s quiet and they can see the stars really well from there. 

Are they party-goers? What are they like when they’re drunk? Does it happen often?

They go to the occaisional party if they like the people who will be there. Arsinoe can’t get drunk and Billy doesn’t drink bc he doesn’t like how angry and aggressive it makes him.

Do they let each other get away with things that would normally bother them?

Yes, but only to a certain extent. If it really bothers one of them, then that person will make a comment and that will prompt a change in behaviour from the offensive party.

Do they talk often? What about?

They talk all the time. Sometimes it’s dumb jokes or to check in with each other but mostly it’s just fun and boring married couple conversations.

Are the comfortable with each other? Anything they have to have their privacy for?

Billy and Arsinoe are very comfortable with each other. There’s nothing specific they require privacy for unless it’s for a surprise.

Any special dreams or goals they have as a couple? Any heartbreaks? Regrets?

I mean, they just really desperately want to have a normal “white picket fence” life with each other, marriage and kids included. They don’t have a lot of heartbreaks (simply bc at some point, the amount of trauma they’ve suffered has to stop) and they don’t have regrets because that’s not how they choose to live their lives.

[rpausandwhatifs]

Is This What You Call...Safety?|| Hush Hush

A/N: This is for my friend Jayde for her belated birthday! Enjoy bb!

@ledabunnie-rp @nevergoodenoughforthetruth

Vincent had came to work, but he had gone through his load entirely too fast. He was mostly at the hands of one guy- and he was the host. However, it was too late to really think about it before the drugs had set in, causing the man to stumble and fumble as the pills he took before the party mixed with the lean in the cup he finished while making sales. He was a blurry mess and somehow guided his way to the closest bathroom he found in a part of this rented house where most of the goers in this area were having sex or chatting it up so they could hear. He pushed past them, going into the first open door and falling into it. “Oh..fuck..” he muttered as he almost collided with the wall, feeling the tile and touching the wall as the spinning continued and he found his way into the toilet, vomiting immediately before finding the flush lever.

Leda forgot that she didn’t lock the door, so the really cute boy in the skin tight chinos and boots with the long hair barged in it scared her half to death. She put her 3DS down and slid her headphones off, about to bang on the glass chamber that was the stand alone shower until something stopped her and it just made her watch the man try to recover as he lit a cigarette. 

The man propped himself up and crawled to the top of the toilet and threw the lid down as he took another drag, trying to see where the light switch was even though there was a hue of red and purple from the string lights. Quickly giving up on his adventure he threw up one more time into the bowl and sat up on the closed toilet, dragging his cigarette while he let the cool porcelain calm him down. He heard the distant movements in the shower and pryed one eye open to barely see a girl with turquoise hair in a rave outfit with a backpack or something staring at him in a clear box. "Who's in the shower?" He calls out, rocking his head back and forth fighting the nausea.

"I'm here in spirit..I don't exist," Leda said back, weary at how he was able to spot her.

"That's the most human thing I've ever heard from a spiritual entity," he laughs and scoffs, "That's a cute voice you got, you have a name oh spirit?"

"I'm... not telling you that.." she said, "And you die from a heart attack in here im not saving you."

"Are...you... you're in here.. you're human- fuck i can't see- are you in the shower? Is that why you sound like that?" He asked with a small joke, "Wanna cigarette?"

"Maybe.. if you can't see then how are you smoking and offering me one?" She challenged him.

"Muscle memory. You'd be surprised how many things you can do automatically.. Just with your arms and hands..." he trailed off, "Also you didnt drink out of the cup when you got here? You sound like... crazy sober."

"No..I didn't, Felix told me about it before the party and I just-"

"Wanted to keep your clout you came to this party even though you didn't want to, but you didn't wanna let your friends down, but you didnt wanna just sit at home on a Friday night again..I heard something close, did you bring a video game?" He said.

"Shut the fuck up, Vincen-"

"Ohhh you do know me... interesting. It must be because of Felix... speaking of, wonder who he's got down his throat...Ah, I'll worry about it later...I thought I knew his friends.." he muses, I would remember an ethereal voice like yours.."

"I...I..." she was stuck, she shouldn't have said his name, "Thanks for the compliment, can you go back to quietly being too fucked up on drugs to acknowledge me now?"

"Actually...I've overstayed my welcome at this place anyway.. there's a guy in here and he's... less than thrilled his house got rented out for the debauchery that is horny college students," he mentioned, slowly lowering himself on the floor and crawling to Leda, placing himself against the wall, facing straight ahead with the girl in what would be his peripheral.

Leda's ears perked up, he knows there's a spirit in here? Was he just pulling her leg or what? His eyes were still closed but his voice sounded way better up closer than across the large bathroom. The crackles and creaks of it made her nervous. "There isn't anyone in here," she claims supposedly.

"No... he's dead. The house was sold to a PM that rents houses out for events and vacations..he likes the renovation though...He showed me he carried you in here," Vincent said, "You woke up and immediately tried to protect yourself in the shower."

"Now you're making shit up," she called out wrapping on the glass box.

"If I'm making shit up then how'd you get in here?" He asked and was met with silence, "You don't remember... do you?..He told me you just kinda walked out your house with the lights on.. guess he didn't want you to get hurt- but seriously, how did you not drink the syrup at the door?"

"I poured it out when no one was looking and washed out the cup with vodka and hoped an appletini would calm me down.. cus I got really anxious being around everybody pushing everyone and the music is too loud..." she started, drawing her knees to her chest, "He scared the shit out of me."

Vincent laughed, "Yeah that's how i was when i saw him standing in the middle of the room... Did you want the cigarette? Also i have a valium if you want one.."

Leda smiled when he laughed, feeling way better that someone other than her could see spirits and understood possession. She knew what valium was, and just one couldn't hurt with a cigarette cutting it up, "He tell you how he died?"

"Wife poisoned him.. then shot him.. didn't take the divorce very well... sounds like a gold-digging bitch anyway," Vincent said as he used his to light another for her.

"Wow... you don't wanna share?" She gasped quietly as she slid her hand out of a crack in the door to take the cig.

"That.. would mean I get closer... didn't think you'd want that.. you know who I am..I'm the drug dealer on this campus... You don't know what I'm capable of.." he warns her, finally looking into the glass at the door, "I sold all the things I have so anything at this point is personal stock.. but..I couldn't keep a freebie from a cutie like you holy shit...If I could see you like he showed me, I dunno if I could contain myself.. What color is your hair?" He leans into the glass as his head starts spinning again almost muttering his words. He gets up and takes out a Tic-Tac, fumbling his way to the sink and crunching on it as he washed his mouth out on the faucet, wetting his face and wiping it on a towel before bringing the damp cloth to the floor. He stumbled back to the huge glass chamber on his hands and knees, opening the door and crawling over her and excusing himself before settling next to her.

Leda was shaken to her core at his words, and forgot that he was probably on a few different drugs and high on something else. She couldn't get her mouth to open to create the words. She quickly forgot the question and watched with wide eyes as she no longer was terrified of opening the door when Vincent pushed it back and crawled to her. She was almost shaking as he excused himself. "Purple a-and pink," she stammered, "I have to dye it again..I'm doing black with tips.."

"Hm..i see," Vincent said with a weak nod, pushing his wet hair back again as he exhaled, "I'm sorry I'm trying to come down and this shit is coming in like... waves and.. fuck~"

"What is it specifically?" She asked, taking him in, he looks so interesting yet her eyes darted back to the toilet across the room, "And don't worry I don't need the valium right away..”

"Ah shit right.. the valium.. doing what weed has done for years since the 70s," he chided as he fished a pill bottle out of his pocket, then handing her two pills of different shape and color.

"What's that?" She quickly asked.

"Muscle relaxant..that's for you too..helps the valuim, no psychoactive side effects to speak of...reduces lactic acid," he mentioned, relighting her cig, "I have friends in pharmaceutical chemistry.. they really hook me up and in return they get paid in weed.. down the hatch."

Leda's heart was racing at how he sounded so close to her, lighting her up like a gentleman even as a slumped mess. She smoked quietly as he had fallen into another unconscious stupor while the drugs were doing their job. They were working faster than she expected. "Vincent..." she called to the ceiling, "I'm tired.."

"I thought you would be..i forgot to tell you it acts fast.. but you're fine I promise," he mentioned.

"No I feel amazing, I just...I need something soft to lay on," she sighed.

"How about we go to one of the suites?" He offered, "I can see now if my legs will work."

They get up, getting out of the bathroom in search for unoccupied rooms. Settling on the empty pool house, where they found an open skylight in the bathroom since the doors were locked. They bust in and find the bedroom, resuming their conversation in this California simple and dainty king bed.

"Why'd you lock the bathroom door?" She asked as she lit her own cig even though she just begged him for it.

"You always do that at college parties if you create another entrance to the bathroom.." he said simply laying back on the end of the bed with his legs planted to the floor, bending his head up to see the girl snuggled in his jacket, twisting his body to lay on his stomach, "uhhmm yeah, you lock the door behind you at any party because frat boys with give you a swirly or worse..or someone who's eager to use the bathroom and they're too fucked up to be aware so they do it on you-"

"Ugh that's gross!" She exclaimed, laughing lightly, really allowing herself to enjoy this guy that she barely knew and at most should have hated. He just was so sweet and up her alley for her to ever admit but he undoubtedly made an effort to come to this party for her. She hadn't realized until she looked down and saw him looking up at her again from her feet. She could kill for his eyes and the way he collapsed on her legs to just touch them, it was sending electricity as dull needy aches through her body. "Vincent~... what are you doing?"

"Admiring your body... listening to you talk.. thinking about how i can get my jacket back," he croaks stretching a little, lightly throwing his head back on the bed, "What you thinking?"

"Have you come down yet?" She asked cutely, and instantly panicked at her casual feelings of interaction with him.

"Not all the way, I'd have to sleep it off mostly or something...sex also resets the clock, but...we're not doing that," he mentions while he rubs his eyes, checking his phone.

Her chest caved when he mentioned sex, and even though he wasn't offering it up, she just wondered what it would feel like to be that close with a guy like him. If this is all he usually did, outside of being a homewrecker as she's heard, then maybe he's not a creep. Girls do lie in college for any reason, but always putting themselves at an advantage. "Uhh.." seeped out of her mouth before she bit her lip and tried to disguise that.

"You know I'm looking right at you, right?" He says to her, giggling at her embarrassment, "Don't feel like you have to...I know you've got a problem with peer pressure-"

"I don't!...I don't have a problem with peer pressure..shut up!" She bit at him.

"Rawr...calm down kitty cat, put the claws away..Im just saying. Me mentioning sex kinda made you think," Vincent said, "When's the last time you got some..if you have gotten any- cus I have came across a few virgins..."

"Were they virgins when you were done with them?" She asked tongue in cheek.

"Mostly. I respeected that they didn't want sex...and they're firm in their beliefs that they're still a virgin if thou therein whereto receive or produce cunnilingus... they just want neverending head. It's heroine to them," he explains gesticulating to make it interesting and twisting his voice.

"Isn't that a good thing?" She asked, loosening her grip on the pillow she was holding.

"I don't mind it... but sometimes they're horrible at head and that's all they can do. Girls at this school count the ass too, so even face-fucking is a far cry."

"Oh..okay...Uhhh..I haven't thought about it, honestly.. been kinda dealing with my issues over having sex. The stories I hear about hooking up really have weirded me out.." she's admitted.

"Are you a virgin?" He asked, exaggerating his inflection.

"Unfortunately no.. well, I consider myself a born-again...I don't really remember a lot of the sex I used to have, and since it was... traumatic, to say the least, I'd rather act like it didn’t happen and get more memorable experiences, cus...I heard it's fun if done right," she explained.

"It is...I'll keep it in mind.." he nodded with a smirk, sighing as a weak wave passed thru him.

"Yeah.. but.. you've peaked my curiosity, honestly," she jumped up to say, causing Vincent to turn his head and raise an eyebrow.

"I hardly think that's fair," he said with a giggle, "You took a valium and a muscle relaxant..you'll never cum or cum too much. Im fucked up, and not exactly of consenting or open to communicating during sex like you might need me to..."

"That's... true.. then why touch my legs if you weren't going to?" She asked, a little frustrated, kicking her legs a little.

"See? That's what I'm talking about!... Acting like a brat when you haven't asked for anything," he said, giggling.

"But...I..." she started, realizing herself that he was right.

"You didn't straight up ask for sex.. you implied that it interests you..I can't start anything off implications," he explained, sitting up.

"I know how consent works, don't fucking patronize me!" She snapped shoving his chest with her foot. He falls back and rolls his eyes, which makes her more riled up, throwing his jacket on the floor.

"Leda.. what the fuck?" He asked sitting up on his knees to look at his jacket, "What the hell is your problem?"

"Don't act all fucking innocent! I know you.. you're a damn dog and you would've had me 5 ways to Sunday by now! Rosanna told me how creepy and controlling you are-"

"Thaaaaat's who it is... see i knew it sounded familiar.. You're her rogue drone! I just didn't realize... are you spying on me? Did she send you?" He jumped up once he realized why she knew him, her name would come up with he spoke to Rosanna, possibly whenever they were speaking again.

"Wh-No! She's not even at this party! She's with Mark!" She fussed, "It doesn't mean she's wrong..."

"Uh that's exactly what the fuck it means-"

"Why should I listen to you?" She prodded, folding her arms.

"You've got this fucking far! Wouldn't you want to at least understand my side? Ms. Confectionery Prodigy got some skeletons of her own," he was quick to explain how they had a fleeting relationship that was mostly roleplay meetings and oral and heavy petting. Leda wasn't entirely convinced and he made her promise not to tell anyone before he showed their messages leading up until the first 3 months she was dating Mark. It was Ro no doubt. Her fantastical language and promptness in response, pastry emojis as her signature. Cookie's toys in her explicit pictures.

"That's ridiculous..so she just left you for dead?" Leda asked, knowing she just swore never to speak of this, but she had some questions because he'd seen a side of her not even Mark has seen. And probably never will. "Why?" She asked simply.

"Said I reminded her of her ex. She was in deep with the guy.. he was older so she felt like her freedom in her youth had kinda been held back, so she went after me and Mark because she just... found herself in the middle of being young at heart but feeling grown and confident...I guess.. but she's always worried about her lies being found out and she loves a secret if she can help it," he said with a shrug, "They way she spoke about him, I'd love to drink with him, but, she's just happy where she is and who was I to stop her? If she hadn't made me a villain then she would have lost everything- from her confidence to her credibility."

"So you just... leave her alone? That's..that's," Leda was almost at a loss, but it was both the most mature and childish and high school thing she had ever heard. This felt like the heaviest thing she's encountered in a while.

"Not for you to think about," Vincent said, quickly and low as he had inched closer to brush her hair behind her ear, "Humans are complex creatures.. weaving these dangerous webs of lies and history.. you should always worry about your own but don't ever give anyone the benefit of the doubt.."

Leda couldn't handle his gentle touch or his words, she wanted to still be mad and hate him for it but she didn't know how. She wanted to be mad at Ro for being such a hypocrite but most of that was pushed back when she felt his lips on her jawline. It made her shudder and lean into him, submitting herself into the kiss that could replace her first kiss. She wanted more, she wanted him. Her mouth pushed out little sounds against him, whining quietly when he pulled back and breathed with a smile. "Vincent~" she breathed, her head in a tizzy.

"You want it don't you?" He asked, his lower voice sending shivers through her body.

"Can I have more, though, ..of what you gave me?" She asked, "I-"

"Later, okay?.. You'll be fine without it," he interrupted her with a soft smile and backing up to give her space to breathe and rubbing her back.

“Uhm...I feel like-”

“You’re overwhelmed...it’s okay. You seem confused, and it scares you a little...”

“I wouldn’t say it scares me..I just have never related to someone I now wish I hadn’t met..so much so..Because..Rosanna...Rosanna would-” the girl gasped and controlled her hollow breathing, definitely happy she had his hand on her back to focus on.

“You don’t know what Rosanna would do..and you really thought you’d known her..is that it?” he asked.

“Y-Yes!..N-No~! I-I mean...I don’t know how I feel~ I’m really into you, but...but why me?!” she asked looking at him with slight exasperation.

“You look like you deserve not to be living in someone’s shadow just because you don’t see yourself that way,” he answered.

“Is that what you said to Rosanna?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

“No..what I said to Rosanna to start our whole fling is..vastly different from just us talking about a mutual friend-”

“What about my current state makes you think I’m gonna be friends with her-”

“You wouldn’t throw her away for me..”

Leda leered at the Vincent and clenched her jaw, knowing that this whole night was something she’d throw her whole life away just so she’d know where in the world he’d whisk her away to and for how long. “And what if I did?” she asked at a low whisper.

“What do you think you’d deserve for doing that? Because I definitely didn’t ask you to renounce your gods and join my great legion of the undead...”

“This would totally work if I was a Virgo or a Taurus, but I’m a Leo, so you must not understand-”

“I’m a Sagittarius, and I’m attempting to be very patient but since I know I don’t have to I’ll call you stupid to your face. That would be one of the dumbest decisions you could make but the fact that I make you feel like you’d rather make that decision than live with the ‘what-ifs’ or knowing that you could never look at Rosanna the same way again because I arouse you intellectually and emotionally-”

“Don’t forget sexually-”

“And sexual- Really?” Vincent looked over at her.

“You talk a lot, I see why she liked you...” 

“You hate talking about yourself-”

“I can talk about myself-”

“You can’t even tell me you want to have sex with me let alone that you like me..also, I feel like that should be thought about after tonight...given the circumstances,” Vincent sitting up, backing away from her more. It causes the girl to stare at him at the loss of touch completely, pushing out a frustrated sigh. The air was tight to her, but Vincent rolled his eyes and pulled the glass rod from his jacket pocket in front of her and smoked out of it.

“So...could you maybe stop being an aloof prick and explain to me how to get laid?” she said while pulling the ponytail out of her hair and taking the rod from his fingers and smoking out of it.

“You want to fuck me specifically or you want some faceless hookup?” he asked giggling.

“What exactly is a faceless hookup, Vincent?” she asked, her eyes meeting his again for the first time in a while and still couldn’t keep herself together. His hand was gently over hers and she deciding on playing with his fingers, biting her lip.

“Well, first off, you’d have to take off your clothes...then I’d suggest a brief makeout session before first or second base- given that my way of doing these things is slow mostly-”

“I dunno if I have the patience for slow,” Leda said quickly as she slid off the side of the bed and stood up, pulling her pants down and deciding to undo the knot that kept her shirt up, hiding her midriff. Then got back to Vincent as he tried to watch, but his mind flowed with ideas. He pushed himself forward, planting his feet on the floor and taking off his boots. He looked up at Leda, who was waiting for him patiently, which made him smirk as he stood up and gave way to his jeans.

“You don’t have the patience for slow?” he echoed.

“Nah, never did. Guys usually don’t take their time with me or they had made up their minds already and I hadn’t gotten a choice,” she explained, hoping her shirt hid her thighs rubbing together at the crooner in front of her. She could feel her anxiety rise in an interesting way as Vincent saw right through her. “Vincent-” she didn’t mean to breathe.

He raised his eyebrows as he heard the wind whisper his name, and he quickly moved around her to make the back of her more aligned to the back of the bed. She gasped a little as she heard his phone and wallet hit the nightstand and did a magician’s gesture to make a condom appear between his fingers, “Not yet, though.”

“Why?” she asked.

“You tell me,” he said, gently taking her waist into his hands and Leda could barely hold in her exhale and moan as it felt so slight as her body moved into it. All of the thoughts started flooding and so did the memories. She felt like he could be there at any second, but there was Vincent blocking him. Her body ached a bit at how he just froze. “Your lips look so soft and plush..and I like your hair down like this.”

The girl tried to hide, but it was met with another squeeze, “V-Vincent~” she sputtered as he kept yanking her out of her head, feeling the muscle relaxants and the weed mix. 

“You alright, babe?” he asked softly in her ear, being sure to not touch her elsewhere. Leda didn’t understand why she felt this way. 

“No..” her voice shook as she gulped, “My head’s going crazy but my body’s not..and I want to be terrified, but that’s..just..not what I’m feeling...What was in that tube thing?..” She finally asked.

“Weed obviously...not even the stuff I sold tonight. It’s a preview from the guy I buy off of-”

“I don’t really smoke grass-”

“Is it because THC can be a psychostimulant?”

“Ye-yes!..I feel like-” she cut herself off and took in his cologne instead. She couldn’t let him know what all she was thinking. It wouldn’t make sense. She would look more certifiably crazy then. Her mouth pushed out half of moan as she exhaled his scent where she tasted the cigarette and the fact they had been at a college house party. 

“I was gonna tell you to take a deep breath but you did it already-”

“Are you...Are you gonna fuck me or not?” she balled up her fists.

“If you would let me fucking finish and stop interrupting me solely to say something that would piss me off then yes!” Vincent said as he let her sides go and folded his arms.

“Not my fault you drugged me and are taking your time..” she folded hers and looked away from him, not wanted to meet his eyes.

“So what, I was supposed to brazenly assau- Ooooohhhhhh....You’re not mad at me..And...I just became mad at myself for realizing it-”

“What?” she asked, whipping her head towards his.

“You don’t know how to enjoy it, because you’ve never been given the option..nor the opportunity,” he mentioned, returning his hands to her sides quickly. 

“What?!” Leda asked, more surprised and now sent back through those thoughts of him touching her again, “You do-don’t know if I-”

“You told me you did..I dunno if it changed..did it?” putting slightly more pressure to allow her to embrace him.

“Ugh~..no..” she once again cursed herself on the inside from only getting a hug from being revved up by his hands lingering on her waist and lower back. Part of her just wanted to let go, or at least tell him to- since part of her completely trusted him. He passed the tests. He was so close to figuring her out and it angered her how clandestine he could carry himself through it all. Her body relaxed into the long hug and waited for this to not be real. For Vincent to pop a hard-on or something so that she knew he was doing all of this because he was still plastered and wanted to bed her. It was hard to expect him to do that when he would talk and his hands wouldn’t really move. And when he moved he tried to stay quiet. Leda’s arms started to move once again, snaking her arms up and crossed them behind his neck, “B-be...be gentle, alright?” she pulled back slightly to meet his eyes- gods those eyes- and his hair in his face before kissing him.

x

Leda was at Vincent’s again, no longer afraid of him or his touch, if anything, he’s the only one whom she trusted. Before she would be ready to fight if anyone tried to touch her, and obviously Vincent was given exclusive access. However, Vincent had to always do something to salvage their experiences, and there were times where he didn’t have it in him. 

The fresh couple lived through such a visceral honeymoon stage that Leda couldn’t think that a guy could have loved her more than the one who was after Cameron. She tried so hard not to think about it. One evening Leda was excitedly waiting for Vincent in the car while he made a sale. This is how they started dating and it just became something she found herself doing before she stopped staying in her dorm and sleeping at Vincent’s apartment. He came back and put everything in the trunk before getting in the car and only resting his head in his arms over the steering wheel with a huge sigh.

“Baby..you ok?” she asked as she sat up and rubbed his back. 

“No..” he said quietly, desperately trying to keep himself together. 

“Well..we..we gotta go..or..are we going somewhere?” Leda said, looking up and looking around.

“I have to go back in there...It’s not like..I mean you don’t care right?” he finally says when he sits up and pushes his hair back.

“How can you even ask me that question?” Leda looked at him, coming off louder than she expected, “What do you mean?”

“We’re not...This isn’t..Look it’s a party in there and...I wanna be single tonight. Like my boss, he’s- fucking treating me to the party in there and I can’t tell him you’re in here and you don’t do parties so-”

“I never said I don’t do parties. I don’t do party drugs and uncomfortable situations-”

“Your whole life is an uncomfortable situation, Leeds,” Vincent chuckles lightly, reaching in a pocket for his cig he started before he went in the first time, “It’s not gonna take me that long, babe..”

“Wait! You’re actually going back to the party?” she pushed her hand on his chest, then shook her head slowly, “What the fuck?”

“I’m going back in, yes. To enjoy the party? No...To probably get my dick sucked by a drunk Sean McLoughlin cus he’s been walled up and he said he would?..Yea-” he gave her some theatrics before turning away.

“NOO!” she snatched his shoulder, “Are you fucking kidding me?!”

“What? You’re not going to do anything about it. And it’s not gonna change anything with..us..per say...it’s just I’m having sex with Sean tonight,” he tried to explain.

“I’m not fucking stupid! That’s if I allowed you to! Who put you at the head of this relationship?” she looked at him, perplexed and angry.

“Who put you at the head of this relationship? Listen, half of this problem is the fact that I fuck other people. The other half would be the disrespect of dishonesty and I’m not giving you that!” he said trying to deescalate the situation.

Leda was so upset and couldn’t believe that he was just trying to brush off cheating in her face. He had brought up a few good points, so maybe he doesn’t understand how this hurts her, “Ok but you’re not respecting my additional choices, the fact that I may feel some type of way about it- You just came in here and told me you’re gonna fuck Sean!”

“Is it because it’s Sean specifically?” he asked, pulling back a little.

“Urgh! No! Well-..no, because...I should call Mark because he should be home right now,” Leda tried to say, feeling caught up by his question and now enraged that she felt anything because he was still in the wrong. 

“We can drop him off,” he shrugged and chuckled before looking over to her, “Oh come on! I wouldn’t not stop the car or anything like that. I’d make sure he’s sober or at least hydrated...but he looks like he could blow off some steam and he gets a safe ride home. You can bring him in his dorm, tuck him in, let Mark know he got back in one piece- fuck! Knowing Musclebound Buffpants he’s probably on his way because Sean probably called him accidentally on purpose.”

“He’s with Ro tonight..she told me he’s being held hostage for the night,” she interjected with not as much energy, “Why won’t you take him in? You’re the guy!”

“I’m in the running to apply for Alpha president..I don’t have good luck with being seen in a good light..You know that, you came from the factory,” Vincent  scoffed, before finishing the cig and flicking the butt out of the window and blowing the smoke with it, “And so because Ro is with her future husband, you have to play pretend with me?”

“No! Can’t we just...like hang out?! What the fuck is your problem?” Leda snapped at him, throwing her hands up.

“This! This moment right now and everything about it is my problem, Leda!” Vincent snapped back, “Answer me this, am I your boyfriend?”

“No, I-”

“Right. Not your boyfriend. And you’re not my girlfriend. You won’t let us call us an us...and why is that again?”

“Because you’re a fucking prick.”

“Ah no..sorry, we were looking for you care too much about Ro’s opinion and your social status with her friendship.”

“No I fucking don’t! I don’t need to be with her like that!” she defended weakly.

“Listen, if you don’t like what I’m doing then take my car and do whatever the fuck you want and I’ll call you in an hour. Go back to my place, go fuck someone else, go have a some weird lesbian fantasy about your best friends and deny it in an attempt to keep them because you know you don’t have a chance. Go hang with someone else, actually fucking take your meds and do your homework for once-”

“Shut up, Vincent!” she yelled as she shoved him, causing him to abruptly get up, slamming the door shut and wrangling his car key off his ring and tossing it in the car. Leda had screamed when he shut the door, holding her arms up defensively as she heard the keys fly into the car through the driver’s window and hit the dashboard.. the girl cried for several minutes and contemplated going into the party, but it was too dangerous. She realized she shouldn’t have come with him. She takes his car and has a night out of her own, knowing Charlie was probably aching for some human contact. 

X

Vincent couldn’t believe he actually was able to move in. He was already so excited to be the Alpha house president, even if not everyone agreed with him. Rosanna dutifully worked under him and kept herself busy, vowing to herself and to Mark that they almost never see one another unless it concerns the house. Vincent could still see every moment they had together. He doesn’t ignore her lingering looks and touches while they tried to quickly check and proof records and evaluations and documents for the house. She didn’t regret no looking back when she could still steal glances from the very corners of her eyelids and faintly think of Mark for a second. Allowing their imagery, their voices, their strength to overtake her for a fleeting moment before she was brought back and remembered the business at hand. 

Since Leda disappeared with his car a few weeks back, Vincent hadn’t a clue what came over her after one fight on one night. She hadn’t known where she’d gone, but didn’t know what Cyr had done with the things of hers that she left. She went up to the registry and seen that Cyr lived in Alpha now. She had remembered him very vaguely discussing running for Alpha president, but hadn’t really cared about it at the time- she thought he wouldn’t get it. Vincent was going over the printout of the proposal for an event that Rosanna had suggested to boost revenue and new pledge turnout when he got a shiver, and it made him play it off by rolling his neck. “You ok?” Ro cooed, rubbing his shoulders, Vincent sinking in.

The girl had found out that he had done away with his off-campus apartment for Greek Row, so she took the long walk going up from the office. Ro hadn’t been this sweet on him, and she didn’t know what came over her in this moment to try her luck- to see if it still pulled the same, to see if it was still like lighting a fuse, to see if he remembered her. She couldn’t help herself taking in his relaxation into her hands and watching him push his glasses off, “Ah..yeah uh...You’re just gonna have to come back for the second..revision...tomorrow- I..I don’t think I’m gonna get this done,” he said, rubbing his face and taking a few more breaths before taking both her hands in his swiftly and gently, bringing them on top of one another, and closing them in his as he directed her to come from behind him. He locked eyes with her as he slowly stood up, towering over her as he let her hands fall, hearing the light gasp as her hands fell. The lanky man turned back around, having already excusing himself past her to start gathering the papers on the table, at her noise, “You alright, doll?” he asked plainly and still killed her.

Leda knew somewhere that maybe if she could admit her side of the story, things would be smoother. She could definitely talk to Ro about Cyr than to Cyr about Ro, and since no one can know, it felt even more important. She admired all the people around and the new faces for a mundane weekday on campus as she strolled onto Greek Row, seeing the lights on and the Congratulations banner still up from his apparent celebration. Vincent felt the shiver again as he put his shirt back on and played it off by adjusting it. Ro was long gone, but it was another isolated moment of quick stimulation. All she ever wants is to be touched, and he knew all the right spots and loved the noises she made when he did get them just the right way. It didn’t worry Leda much that Ro wasn’t answering her phone at this time of day, she probably fell asleep after a brisk walk with Cookie. Joey sang her praises for her return and spoke of the boy who’s car she’d stolen and no longer had. “Leda~..wow...I wasn’t sure what happened, but you can come get all your stuff- uh...I dunno if you wanna talk or anything-”

“Who is she?” Leda asked, pushing past him and wiped her finger across his lips then showing him, “Whoever it is, it’s a cute color..”

“Leda, I think you owe me an explanation-” he said flatly, pulling off his shirt entirely and wiping his face.

“Is my room in here still good?” she asked as she immediately started picking out and finding clothes. She was safe here again, she didn’t need to hide. 

“I let them give it up for more room, we had an influx of- Stop that...Leda, talk to me-” he said, strolling over before getting a hand to the chest.

“Congrats on becoming President, baby~! How about..we celebrate?..Just you and me! Just like before! Hm? I wanna take a shower first, though, cus I’ve been...traveling all day,” she led him into the bathroom as she turned the shower on.

“Can we talk while you shower?” he asked, standing and filling the doorway, “You know this whole suite is mine. So it really is just us.”

“Nah..you, me, the spirits I brought with me and that are on these grounds, the gods and goddesses, and Rosanna’s lace dainties?” she said as she picked the light lace cheeky underwear on the bathroom floor, “Let me take my shower alone, please.”

~

Vincent sat out and cleaned up his room a little bit, chain-smoking as he wasn’t sure what was going to happen when the girl got out of the bathroom. Leda didn’t really understand how she felt the way she did, and why she wasn’t angry at Ro. Why was it a little more interesting to know she was still going to Cyr to get her rocks off? She opened the door to Vincent’s surprise, not wearing anything else but her t-shirt bra and a dainty lace thong. Her hair falling over her curves just right, and he couldn’t help but follow her with his eyes. She had grown up into her shape more, maybe not as much colour on her still plush soft skin, but there’s now tattoos and her hair is as vibrant a colour can be when he met her. She smiled at him, even though she wasn’t smiling on the inside, and she straddled his waist on his bed. She lured him into a kiss and an energy boost he’d missed from her- the world felt more at balance and it made sense with their lips pushed together. “I missed you..so much..” he breathed, unable to hold back his overwhelming comfort.

“Your car broke down and I left it on the side of the road in Oregon..I sold the drugs out the trunk and ran into some ex...problems,” Leda started, “Did some cat and mouse and travelling and yeah..I..I missed you, too Vincent~” 

“That’s fine...but..why’d you leave in the first place?” Vincent asked laying back as she worked on kissing his neck and grinding. The girl stopped and avoided his eyes, “Leda...Leda baby you can tell me..I’ve been waiting about a year to know...” he reassured her as he leaned up to embrace her and kiss her shoulder.

“I-....I..He said he was gonna find me, and the stick had a plus on it and I was gonna show you when we got home, but even I didn’t wanna go home so...” she stiffened as she explained, moving her fringe out of her face, shrugging.

“You were pregnant?” he asked, eyes immediately darting down, “Did you lose it?”

“I...I just didn’t want you to get upset and I didn’t want him to find me if I-”

“Ok Ok...I don’t care about that..What happened to the baby, Leda?” he asked her pulling her in and rubbing her back.

“I lost her...” her voice broke, “I can’t have kids...he’ll find me. He did this to me...”

“Hey, hey, hey...Hey, look at me, Leeds. Alright?..I’m not mad about the car..I’m not mad that you had to handle things with your ex..and I’m not mad about the baby...” Vincent said, “I just wanted to know if you were ok..And that I wasn’t holding your stuff and you didn’t need it anymore..”

Leda couldn’t help her tears and was so glad she had a fresh naked face to let herself cry in. “I-I-It’s not that I didn’t want her, I just..she didn- I dunno what happened...” she tried to say while she cried.

“It’s alright, babe..Don’t worry. She’ll come when she’s ready, okay? And when she does I have no doubt she’ll be as beautiful, smart, and creative as her wonderful mother,” Vincent said, rubbing her back some more, “Listen, next time you get knocked up, I’ll take care of you...I’ll make sure nothing happens to you...I’ll keep you safe.”

“Vincent~ you can’t..no one can..he’s always gonna find me,” Leda whined, shaking her head quickly, “He’ll kill you.”

“Not if I kill him first and even then, I’m giving all of this to you. You deserve not to worry. You deserve safety, babe,” he said, “Is that why you were at my apartment?’

“Yes, but you don’t live there anymore-”

“I’m subleasing until I graduate from here...or I get tired of these people finally,” he chided.

“And how long do you think that’s going to last?..Especially if it’s you and Ro..” she started chuckling lightly.

“I don’t think it’s gonna be me and Ro for much longer, anyway,” he sighs, letting the girl off his lap and onto his bed as he got up to start turning the lights down and closing off his room from his office, “Don’t get me wrong- it’s exciting! It really is, but she shouldn’t be doing that. She’s...gonna need that wakeup call.”

Leda sat and waited for him and lit one of his cigs from the box on the nightstand even though he opted for the little glass tube, “What do you mean?”

“She’s still careless, she’s playing with fire...She didn’t want everybody to know but she’s had-like- two scares...She’s gonna tell you when she finds out that you’re back,” he said, hushing his voice like she was in his office. Leda was shocked to say the least, but she liked Vincent for that: he held onto the only side of her she was never proud of.

“Like...pregnancy scares-”

“No STI- yes pregnancy scares! Told me that she didn’t want to get rid of the kid but didn’t want to think of losing the life she was building with Mark and wanted all of the kids she had to be in their happily ever after or whatever shit...you know Rosie..” Vincent snapped, clearly still emotional and indignant, smoking more frequently as he stress-cleaned his room. Leda was stunned. It wasn’t exactly something she expected from someone who craved so much stability and control- safety. 

“How...”

“She disappeared. Like three times, She told everyone she went to visit family. I saw her and she stayed with me for like..a few days..and we just hung out how she wanted us to. She never left because nobody could know that she was back yet. So when she did return it was like she picked up Cookie from the sitter on her way home from the airport...I liked it, but..when she told me all of that over those days and she told me about being President and how she would eventually hate me enough to overthrow me and then she’ll have her life with Mark and I’ll leave the Youni...”

“So then...when’s the last time you saw Ro?” Leda asked, frightened slightly by what she heard. And part of her wanted to fight her. It wasn’t much of her business but as a friend and as a human that’s not something she should get away with. 

“You didn’t see her going to the Vice President’s suite?..Or the girls’ side? Kitchen?...Cus she literally just left when you had knocked on my door,” Vincent paused and stared at her with a squint.

“Nope,” Leda admitted shaking her head and threw her hands up, “Honestly I didn’t really get here until I told you I lost the baby and by then I kinda knew that I could let it go I guess..because now I feel fine..”

“Weird...I had a weird feeling the whole time she was here that someone was coming..I didn’t think they were alive so I didn’t think anything of it...This is all..you know, Indigenous grounds, not necessarily burial, but sacred space tends to pop up when they’re talking...”

“That’s weird...but highly likely..Western U.S. does have some crazy energy pockets,” Leda said, blushing a little that he knew she was coming, “Are they leftover or residual? The panties, I mean..” She giggled.

“I couldn’t tell ya, but I’d have to guess that she left those in my bathroom because it was very apparent she wasn’t wearing any, but I thought she had come over commando..Didn’t think she committed to the idea while she was in the bathroom. I guess that’s what she’s gonna wait for me to say something about. Can’t lie, I’m gonna miss how smart she is,” he said with a smile and waves of realization of what he liked about the girl after not knowing for so long.

“Clearly not smart enough,” Leda scoffed, “If she’s pulling the ‘I had to go to my mother’s for a summer so I can have an abortion and therapy’ this early in the relationship and they’re still going strong, maybe it’s that you’re not gonna judge her and she can kinda reward herself with you and vice versa- definitely a karmic soulmate...” She smiled again as she realized that they might be a particular soulmate or at least spiritual partner. “Vincent, sit down, please,” she asked sweetly. He sat back down and she rubbed his shoulders, sighing, “I’m sorry, Vince...Like that’s really shitty and I’m..so..sorry, babe..but like that’s what happens when you gamble.”

“It would help if you’d taken responsibility for running out on me fucking months ago,” Vincent bit at her, “Maybe I wouldn’t have leaned on her so much...chasing fucking waterfalls,” he scoffed.

“Wow you’re really gonna sit here and blame me?” she backed up, raising her voice.

“No! I said take some fucking responsibility! Like do you understand how you’re no better sometimes?” he said.

“Oh my- FUCK YOU! Who the fuck are you?!” Leda snapped, shoving his shoulder and getting up.

“Will you keep your voice down?!” he whispered quickly standing up and taking her arm in his hand gently.

“Don’t fucking touch me!-”

“Or what?! You’ll scream? Ro’s gonna come rushing back in here to check on me to find what? Us fucking fighting about her and as far as she knows you dropped out of school,” Vincent breathed, “No one..and I mean no one..knows about any of that.-”

“WHy are you still trying to defend her?!” she growled as she fights him.

“Same reason I defend you, but not the same because you’re not about to marry some meathead to forget your slutty phase,” he mentioned and the girl released her grip, “Also again with the dick jealousy and arousal over your friend and you screwing me.”

“Stop saying that! It’s not fucking true!” she snapped at him.

“I’ve been talking to college girls for a long time. This is the most bisexual thing two straight girls can do is fuck the same guy and give the guy shit for getting off on the fact that at least one of you wants to fuck their lunchbox friend...and right now, you’re the mad at the Snowflake Queen, Needy.”

Leda stopped and looked at him, “Did you really just use that reference?” 

“It’s true. No matter the reference. I’ve told you that before-”

“You didn’t-”

“Yes I did, you just forgot because we were having fun...you know..dating,” Vincent lit his cig, handing it to her, “My whole thing is I wanted you to have fun without living in Rosie’s shadow.”

“Don’t do that,” she said, smoking quickly going back to the bed before he takes her hand and twirls her and dips her.

“What?” he said.

“Don’t call her Rosie,” she said, blushing hard.

“Why? Cus you’d call her Rosie?” he asked, shotgunning a hit with her.

“Stop saying I wanna fuck Ro, cus I don’t,” she giggled.

“You’d watch me fuck her though,” he inserted, putting the butt in the ashtray as he pulled her in, “Or vice versa.”

“She said she would?” she asked, furrowing her brows.

“Needy, when I say she’s never been worried about you when she’s with me, she’s not. I don’t push her, either. Like I think about you if she says or does something that reminds me of you but other than that she’s in her own little world with me,” Vincent said, caressing the girl, looking away to think. 

“Stop calling me Needy, I clearly look like Megan Fox,” she said, meaning to put herself down.

“No, you’re Needy at the end of the movie after she’s been affected by Jennifer,” he explained, “You were simping and running and screaming while getting teased the whole movie then at the end, even though you kinda lost your guy, you’ll get more..and it’s kinda because she took what was meant for you..even if it killed her..”

“Wow..Vincent..did you just say you loved me even if it kills Ro?” Leda asked, smirking wildly.

“Yeah I guess so.”

[mordoriscalling]

The Shrike and the Lark (pt. 6)

Jaskier and Renfri are disaster twins ruling Creyden. When the Warlord of the North knocks at their door, Queen Renfri and King Julian are at an advantage - they know him. As in, they know him. (Inspired by the Warlord AU and “the heart is a winged beast”).

(Pt. 1) (Pt. 2) (Pt. 3) (Pt. 4) (Pt. 5)

Creyden, 1237

The hour is late and most of the people inside the walls of the royal castle are asleep. Silence reigns over its numerous corridors and rooms. Yet, the Queen’s chambers bear witness to some noise – the sounds of a heated conversation, coming from the bedroom.

“It’s not our fault,” Queen Renfri cries, frustration colouring her voice, “It’s the fucking Council!”

“I know,” Lady Yennefer growls back. “But it’s been three weeks and we’re about to turn rabid. We want this matter to be settled finally.”

The two ladies are seated by a small table in the middle of the room, holding goblets of wine. The fireplace is burning low, but not much heat is needed to ward off the chill of the summer night. The Queen and the sorceress sit opposite each other, their faces cast in the flickering light of the candles lit around the room.

“We all do,” Renfri agrees.

The treaty between Creyden and the Warlord’s empire is ready. Over the course of the past weeks, the twin monarchs and their Council, together with the White Wolf and his advisors, have been poring over the terms and conditions of the alliance. It has been agreed that Credyen will share three ports with the Warlord – Tridam, Pont Vanis and Yspaden – for whatever use he might have of them, most generally the transportation of people and goods. In exchange, the White Wolf has pledged to offer military support to Credyen whenever necessary.

At this point, every article and section of the deal have been refined to the point that it cannot be improved any more. Yet, the royal Council of Creyden does not allow for the contract to be signed, each day finding new details that they believe should be discussed with greater care. This continuous postponing tires both sides, but the Council distrusts the Wolf. They still have not devised to hold him to his promise in a way that would prevent him from threatening Creyden.

“Why not tell simply them to fuck off?” Lady Yennefer suggests.

“They are too competent to be disregarded, unfortunately,” Queen Renfri replies, “I’d rather not have them turned against me.”

The sorceress sighs heavily, messaging her temples with her long, beautiful fingers. “There must be a way to shut them up,” she mutters.

The two ladies then endeavour to coin some kind of solution to the problem. Their conversation overflows with ideas – but they do not deem any of them appropriate enough – as well as some witty remarks and instances of biting humour. Time passes, the darkness outside steadily giving way to the greyness of early dawn, but Queen Renfri and Lady Yennefer scarcely seem to notice anything but each other. That is until a noise disturbs their discussion.

“Hiacynt?” King Julian calls from the neighbouring chamber.

The Queen and the sorceress still in surprise.

“Hiacynt?” the King calls again, the sound of his voice drawing closer, “Aren’t you –”

When King Julian enters his sister’s bedroom and beholds the Queen’s guest, he stops dead in his tracks. For a moment, no one says a word. The King stares between his sister and the mage, his mouth hanging open in shock. Finally, Queen Renfri speaks as she rises from her seat, worry twisting her features.

“Jaskier!” she exclaims. “Has something happened?”

Jaskier regains his composure, clearing his throat. “Nothing serious, don’t worry,” he reassures. “My apologies for the interruption.”

“It’s all right,” Queen Renfri dismisses.

Lady Yennefer stands up as well, straightening her skirts. “I should take my leave anyway,” she says in a brisk manner, “I need my beauty sleep.” As she directs her gaze at the Queen, her countenance is suddenly serious. “Thank you, Renfri,” she adds.

“Thank you too, Yennefer,” Renfri answers quietly.

With a court nod towards the monarchs, the sorceress then conjures up a portal, walks into it, and disappears.

“Renfri?” the King echoes incredulously after the magical circle closes. “Hiacynt, what the fuck?”

Nonchalantly, his sister goes to refill her goblet and drinks from it. “Yennefer and I decided to get better acquainted,” she replies at last.  

“Why?” he scoffs, “She’s a mage.”

“Exactly,” Renfri retorts. “We should stop fearing them. Just look at Geralt – the moment he had mages in his service, his empire fucking grew tenfold. Portals are too damn useful.”

“I know,” Jaskier concedes in a long, petulant whine. In an overdramatic fashion, he plops down on the chair that the Wolf’s sorceress has just vacated. Renfri rolls her eyes fondly.

“But Lady Yennefer? Really?”

Renfri shrugs. “She’s a decent company.”

At this, Jaskier seems bemused, but then a playful glint appears in his eye. Before he can reply, however, his sister beats him to the teasing.

“What are you doing here,” she asks, “Away from Eskel’s embrace?”

Jaskier smirks, not showing an ounce of shame. For the past fortnight, the Wolf’s second-in-command spent each night in the King’s chambers. King Julian has done precisely nothing to hide that fact.

“Tell you what,” he replies and then pokes his tongue at her.

Renfri responds in kind. Jaskier laughs; seeing the formidable Queen indulge in his childishness is amusing indeed. His sister chuckles at their foolishness too. When they calm down, she looks at her brother expectantly and demands, “Well?”

“One of those dreams again.”

She stills, frowning in concern. “Something bad?” she murmurs.

“Not bad at all, actually.” Jaskier smiles, his gaze distant and dreamy. “I heard... giggles, and boyish voices. I also saw... many little feet running around the courtyard.”

Renfri gasps and promptly sits down.

“Impossible,” she breathes out. “How could it be possible?”

“I have no idea,” he replies, shaking his head. “Maybe the dreams have turned to another form of cruelty. To give hope only for it to be shattered.” He huffs a laugh. “But gods, I so want to hope.”

“Let us hope, then,” his sister replies and moves to her brother’s side to take his hand.

Jaskier grins, squeezing her palm in his, and Renfri smiles back. They share a quiet, warm moment of allowing themselves to envision a future that could last. Then, the spell is broken – Jaskier yawns suddenly, making his sister laugh.

“You should go back to sleep,” she tells him, “I need a bit of rest too.”

“Ah yes, the hunt.” Jaskier rises from his seat and pats his sister on the shoulder in an affectionate gesture. “Enjoy a little killing, my sweet Hiacynt.”

Renfri’s smile is sharp as she replies, “That I will.”

When the hunting party sets out from the castle two hours later, it is not the loud and showy affair that courtly sports tend to be. No horses, hounds or even horns are involved. This time, Queen Renfri has decided to hunt in the manner of witchers – silently, as true predators do.

The royal gamekeeper and his three grown sons, each armed with a crossbow, lead the group to the nearest location where deer is most likely to be found. Apart from the Queen and four of her guards, the party also consists of the three witchers who remain in Creyden at this point: the Warlord himself, his right hand Eskel, and their School-brother Lambert. King Julian is absent, but that is to be expected. Unlike his sister, who indulges in hunting often, the King does not care for this sort of entertainment.

On this particular early morning, however, Queen Renfri does not seem to be enjoying herself. Her posture is stiff, showing signs of weariness, and she does not talk to anyone. Her attention is turned solely to her surroundings and thus, she quickly takes note of the lingering gazes which Eskel directs at her. Whenever she catches him staring, he looks away, but then the situation repeats itself again and again. Finally, with an irritated sigh, Queen Renfri approaches the witcher, falling into step next to him.

“What have I done to deserve your scrutiny?” she asks outright.

“Forgive me, Your Majesty,” Eskel replies, bowing his head, “I forgot myself.”

“This doesn’t answer my question,” the Queen says sternly.

“You remind me of someone,” the witcher admits, quietly enough for the other humans in the party not to hear.

Queen Renfri smirks. “I have a good idea of whom you speak,” she teases.

Eskel chuckles but shakes his head. “I don’t mean Jaskier,” he answers. At the Queen’s inquisitive look, he explains, “I used to know another Black Sun Princess. Deidre Ademeyn.”

The Queen seems taken aback. She watches him closely for a moment, then asks, “How did you know her?”

The witcher does not answer at once, only walks alongside the Queen. The hunting party now treads a forest path running uphill. They split into pairs, one following after another, with the gamekeeper and his sons at the head, the guards in the middle, and the Queen and the witchers at the tail of the group. Around them, the forest is quiet.

When Eskel finally speaks, the words are murmured, not breaking the hush of the surroundings.

“She was my Child Surprise,” he confesses.

The revelation stuns Queen Renfri and she does not say anything, her expression betraying a contemplative mood. After a while, she remarks, “Deidre wasn’t a welcome surprise for you, I’d reckon.”

“Not because she was born under the Black Sun,” Eskel replies, “but because being bound to a witcher is not a good fate.”

“Her fate was not good anyhow,” the Queen counters. “She was killed by mages like the rest of my kind, wasn’t she?”

Eskel mouth sets into a grim line. “Yes,” he confirms, great pain echoing in his voice.

If Queen Renfri wants to ask about the hurt the witcher carries in his heart, she does not get the chance to do so. A moment after Eskel answers her, Lambert calls out from behind them.

“Halt!” he barks.

Everyone stops and turns to look at the fiery witcher, who points to something down the hill.

There, at most fifty yards away, stands a massive bear. It is a mother – two small cubs accompany her.

The people and the animals go completely still as they stare at each other, calculating the threat.  

Then, very slowly, the witchers, the Queen and her guards draw their weapons. The mother bear growls.

She is not far below them. The hill is steep but the forest is not dense, with scarce undergrowth. Lambert and the White Wolf are the ones closest to her, while the hunters with the crossbows are the farthest away. They could shoot to kill her. Yet, in order to do that, they would have to go to the side – the rest of the party stands in the way – and even the slightest move could prompt the animal to attack.

The mother bear gives another warning, stomping in place.

“Protect Her Majesty,” Eskel says to no one in particular, “I’ll use Axii.”

Then, he moves, pushing Queen Renfri back. The bear charges with a roar.

The Warlord yells, “Stay back!” to the people behind him. He and Lambert stand their ground, while Eskel rushes towards the bear. At the same time, the guards run down to defend the Queen and the gamekeeper jogs to the side. He aims his crossbow at the animal.

When only three yards or so separate Eskel and the furious mother bear, the gamekeeper releases the bolt. It would have been a good, clean shot, but then, the Warlord moves.

He now stands directly in the way. With his back to the rest, he is unaware of it. The bolt cuts through the air, going straight towards the White Wolf’s neck. Queen Renfri, a short distance above, notices it. Her guards have not yet managed to surround her. She is free to act.

“Geralt!” she cries, throwing herself to shield the witcher from harm.

The bolt pierces through her light armour and buries itself deep into her flesh, under the right collar bone. With a scream of pain, Queen Renfri falls to the ground, blood flowing heavily from her wound.

Then, she bleeds, and bleeds, and bleeds.

Read the test on AO3

[jeannedarkterraguard]

Hey your girlfriend sounds adorable. Might i ask how you two met?

Ok, I've gotten this ask a few times now so i guess i should make an actual post about it.

Strap in this is gonna be a long post. (TL;DR at the end)

So Lisa and I actually met on our fist day of elementary school. We were in the same class, were sat next to each other and we immediately... hated each other. She was an annoying goody two shoes while I already had my “who cares attitude” and general disrespect for any kind of authority. We didn't really spend any time with each other outside of class, but in class we were bitter rivals. She spend most of her time studying so she was always on top of the class and I was (without trying to sound arrogant) intelligent enough that I didn't have to study at all to do pretty much as good as she did (it also helped that we were both the only ones who already knew how to read before getting into school).

That was how it was for about a year until one day we were writing a test and somehow I didn't know the answer to one question. which was when she leaned over and... just told me the answer. Needless to say I was pretty perplexed. Up until that point I thought she was just a stupid teachers pet and then she just helps me cheat... I was confused... (I have since asked her multiple times why she did that and her answer was: “It looked like you needed help”).

That same day I was for some reason not going home immediately after class and instead stayed a few minutes late. That lead to me seeing something I wouldn't have seen otherwise... Lisa sitting on the ground surrounded by three boys who were clearly picking on her. She was crying and I... I just didn't like seeing that (not in a “only I get to be mean to her”-way but instead I just wasn't used to seeing her cry because whenever I said something mean to her she'd just shoot something back with a shiteating grin. Like when I made fun of how she eats her bread and she just grinned at me and said “at least my mom doesn't have to cut the crust of mine”) so I decided to step in.

I punched one of the boys in the face and threw my backpack at another one at which point they just ran away. I helped Lisa up and she thanked me but was afraid that they would just return as soon as I was gone. I offered to walk her home which was when I learned that she lived just a few houses down the street from me. On the way she told me that these boys did that everyday since pretty much the first day of school and we agreed to walk to and from school together.

Not a lot changed after that... or at least we didn't notice how things changed... we didn't exactly become friends, or even stopped bickering with each other but we started spending time with each other during recess and our conversations became a lot less mean. (honestly looking back I would say we were friends from that point onward but at the time we didn't think so)

The first time I actually thought of us as friends was when someone else invited me to their birthday party and said I should “bring my friend” and I was like: “What? Lisa? No, were not friends! Are we? Hmm... I guess we kinda are friends”

It carried on like this for a few years (we were 15 at this point I believe) until our soccer-team (oh yeah, we were on the same soccer-team since before we became friends I didn't mention that before because it really wasn't important but... well it becomes important now) was having a game against a team on norderney (a little island on the coast of germany about three hours from where we live) and since it was during summer-vacation our trainer decided we should make it a weekend-camping-trip instead of just going there for one day and coming back in the evening. So we naturally shared a tent (now before I continue I just want to say that if we somehow ever meet in real-life and you bring the next part of this story up I will deny it ever happened). But because this was my first time traveling without my parents I was really home-sick and couldn't sleep and Lisa calmed me down by... we were cuddling okay... don't make a big deal about it!

After we came back from the camp, I was really fucking tired but apparently my body had decided that, after one weekend cuddling with my best friend, I would never be able to sleep again without her. The problem with that was, like I mentioned, it was summer-vacation and Lisa was visiting her grandmother for a week so that wasn't an option.

So after a week of maybe 2 hours of sleep per day Lisa returned (Fun-Fact: to this day that is still the longest time we spent apart from each other since becoming friends) and when she came over she looked like crap. Turns out she also couldn't sleep without me.

All of that wasn't a big problem since we already had sleepovers all the time (we actually each had an extra mattress in our rooms for that purpose) so about another year went by where we not only spent pretty much every waking moment together, but also every sleeping moment.

Then after about a year she found herself a boyfriend and we spend less time together, like we still saw each other nearly everyday but she understandably wanted to spend time with her boyfriend too.

(not to go into too much detail but I wasn't having a great time back then. Because at that point I was already madly in love with her but also too afraid to say anything because she had a boyfriend and as far as I knew she was straight)

One night I was sitting in the living room watching TV when the doorbell rang. I opened to find Lisa standing there, crying. Turns out her boyfriend was cheating on her, or rather he was cheating on his actual girlfriend with her. I invited her inside, we talked and... well everything basically got back to how it was before.

Then a few weeks after my 16th birthday my parents weren't home and we were having a Harry Potter marathon, playing some drinking game. (only with beer but we're both pretty lightweight when it comes to alcohol so we were still getting a bit tipsy by the time we started Goblet of Fire). Somehow she was reaching for the chips-bowl in my lap and our faces ended up just inches from each other and... we ended up kissing (I'm still not sure who initiated it... probably me). We immediately stopped, shocked by what just happened and we started rationalizing it (you know we were a little drunk and all that) and decided that it was just an accident and should never happen again... five minutes later we were making out. By the time we stopped again we were halfway through the Half-Blood Prince. We decided to call it a night and talk about it in the morning when we were both sober.

So after a night with little to no sleep for both of us (remember we were not used to sleeping alone anymore combined with what had just happened soo... yeah) we met up again and talked for hours. In the end we decided to actually try a relationship, but keep it secret in case it didn't work out (we weren't really the best at keeping it secret though so after only a few weeks one of our friends asked us, and I quote “when are you two finally gonna pull those sticks out of your asses and just fuck already”). And... well that's pretty much it. We moved in with each other after school, got two cats and have now been together for about ten years

And now that I see that all written down I realize how much my life sounds like a bad fanfic.

(TL:DR: We met in elementary school, spend a year hating each other, then became best friends for nine years and then became a couple)

[zutaradreams]

Day 2: Momtara and Dadko

AO3

After a bitter end to her relationship with Aang, Katara comes to stay in the Fire Nation with Zuko and his daughter Izumi. 

She’s watching the fireworks from his private balcony, hiding far away from everyone. She’s the only one with access to these rooms up here. He took her up once and she loved the view so much he invited her to it anytime she wished, so when she disappears from the party in the ballroom, he knows where to find her immediately.

Her back is to him. One hand grips the railing of his balcony. The other wraps tightly around the glass of her rice wine. He doesn’t have to see her face to know tears run down her cheeks.

“You’re not the one who should be hiding,” he tells her. His presence doesn’t even startle her.

She brings the glass up to her lips. “I used to love his way with people. He was so good at making everyone love him,” she laughs bitterly. “Now I hate it.”

“No one’s forgotten what he did to you.”

“It certainly seems like it.”

“If you think Toph doesn't advocate for you, or your brother doesn’t want to strangle him every time he shows up, or I don’t take every measure to avoid him, you’re mistaken.”

“How dare he!” She shouts, but who can hear her save him over the fireworks. Down below, it’s a celebration of peace, a tribute to the Avatar’s defeat of his father, a celebration of his reign. She should be celebrating down there. She should be praised for her part in all of it, but as great as Aang’s contributions to the people, he saved all his selfishness for Katara, so now she hides away up here with him.

“Did you see her?”

“Yeah, I saw her.”

She swallows the rest of her drink. He offers to take the glass from her, but she refuses. “Don’t look at me like that,” she tells him. “All pitifully, like I’m some sad, pathetic, pining-“

“I don’t think that at all, Katara. I’m angry with him too. My uncle told me the spirits will punish him. It is the greatest dishonor to them when a man shames his wife.”

“He seems to be doing just fine.” As an afterthought, she adds, “Besides I’m not his wife anymore. I’m a divorced woman. A divorced woman who needs another drink.”

He doesn’t stop her. In fact, he offers to share one with her. He has a bottle of fire whiskey hidden away in his personal bedroom, so he ushers them inside and takes the bottle out of its chest.

“Don’t you hate how the words follow you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Once you’re marked with one, that’s all they see you as - banished, divorced,” he throws in another one of his own, “widower.”

She pours her empty glass to the brim with whiskey and takes a long sip, grimacing as it goes down. “You were so handsome on your wedding day. So unbelievably handsome,” she says in response, giggling as she says it.

It is so different from the usual awkwardness that occurs when he mentions his late wife that he laughs in relief. “Thanks, I guess.”

“You’re so tall.”

“Am I?”

“Yes. And handsome.” Another firework shoots off in the distance, and she drinks some more. “And your daughter,” she pauses heavily, and Zuko suddenly remembers how hard it is for her to see Izumi and Lin and Sokka’s brood of children; yet, she loves them all more than anything. “Your daughter is so beautiful.”

“She gets that from Mai.”

“She gets that from both of you.” Another sip. Another tear on her cheek. She wipes it away hastily. He should tell her to take it easy with the whiskey, but the warning dies on his lips. Healing a nation is easier than healing a heart; he knows this personally.

“I propose a toast,” she says, “to Aang and his new whatever-she-is. Spirits help her if she has his child.”

"Katara-"

“I’m going to bed,” she decides. “I’m getting tired.”

“I’ll call a guard to escort you.”

“No, the people talk enough as it is. I don’t want anyone seeing the divorced woman leaving the widower's bedroom.”

He wants to hold her, or at least offer some of his uncle’s wise advice, but it’s all useless.

“Goodnight, Katara.”

“Goodnight, Zuko.” She turns to leave, but pauses just before she reaches his grand double doors. “Or…”

“Or?” He prompts.

“Or I could...stay.” Her hands reach for her robes. She loosens the sash but holds the beautiful pink silk tightly closed around her body.

He swallows hard. “You could.”

“Should I?”

“You should.”

“When do the servants come?”

“Sunrise.”

She lets the robes fall open, baring the sheerest layer of white silk that drives him absolutely wild. She doesn’t remove the robe from her shoulders. She saunters towards him. In one movement, he tugs it to the floor.

“I’ll be gone by then.”

And she is.

xxx

Usually, Zuko tucks Izumi into bed. With the party, and the whiskey, and Katara, one of her nursemaids tucked her in last night. Tonight, the honor is all his.

“Can we have a party like that all the time?”

He smiles and hands her the stuffed dolls she’s slept with since infancy. “I don’t think we can afford it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Izumi, I had two meetings today about the budget. I’m sure.”

She turns on her side and tucks her hands underneath her face, pouting at his answer. “Who was that lady with Uncle Aang last night, Daddy?” she asks innocently.

He sighs. “She’s Uncle Aang’s new girlfriend. Remember when Aunt Katara first came to stay with us here?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“She came to stay with us because she isn’t married to Uncle Aang anymore.”

“Why not?”

“Well, Uncle Aang is the last airbender in the world, and he wants very badly to have kids because he hopes they’ll be airbenders like him. But your uncle doesn’t think Aunt Katara can have kids, so he asked her if they could break up, and she said yes.”

That’s the kid-friendly version, he supposes. The reality of it has him calling Aang a self-serving asshole several times. In the real-life version, Aang doesn’t want a divorce. He wants a hiatus, where he spends a year knocking up random girls to have his airbending children, and stays married to Katara because Aang just 'loves her so much'. In the real-life version, Katara throws her arms around his waist and begs him to let her stay since she’s too humiliated to go anywhere else.

But Izumi’s too young for that mess.

“Okay.”

“Did that answer your question?”

“Yeah. Is it story time now?”

He tickles the underneath of her chin. “Yeah. It’s story time. Which one do you want? Do you want Love Amongst the Dragons?”

She shakes her head. “I want Aunt Katara.”

“You don’t want Daddy’s stories?” He holds his hand theatrically to his heart, feigning heartbreak. “You don’t want Daddy?”

Izumi giggles and nestles her head more comfortably against her pillow. She might not make it through a whole story; her eyes are already heavy. “Aunt Katara tells the best stories.”

“Well, Aunt Katara isn’t here right now. You’re stuck with me, so it’s Love Amongst the Dragons or nothing. The choice is yours.”

“Can you get Aunt Katara?”

On a normal night, sure. The night after the night he fucked her three times in his bed and didn’t speak to her since she snuck out of his room before sunrise, less sure. A lot less sure.

“Another night, sweetheart. It might take a while to find Aunt Katara, and it’s already late.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow. She’ll tuck you in tomorrow.”

“I still want you to tuck me in. I just want her to tell me the story,” she clarifies.

“Oh, I’m sorry. My mistake. Now it’s time for your favorite story. Once upon a time, there lived a dragon emperor who was cursed by the dark water spirit…”

Izumi falls asleep before the emperor falls in love.

xxx

The kids all love to play together when they’re reunited. Sokka’s eldest is eight, and his youngest two are fourteen-month-old twins, and everyone else’s kids fall somewhere in the range. Katara loves to play with them. She has Toph’s two-year-old daughter, Lin, in her lap while Izumi and Kya spin around the garden, pretending to be water fairies.

“Careful with her. She’s going through a killer hair-pulling phase right now,” Toph comments.

“She’s fine.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. She’s brutal, aren’t you, Lin? Just brutal. She bites too.”

Katara looks down at the seemingly innocent toddler in her lap. “No, not my Linny.” She kisses the top of the girl’s head.

“Soak it up, sweetness. Lin and I are leaving tomorrow.”

“So soon?”

“Yep. My metalbending students need me. They’re basically opposed to letting me have a vacation.”

“More like you’re opposed to taking one. You’ve been nonstop work since you were twelve.” She looks down at Lin. “Well, with a little bit of time for play.”

Toph laughs. “Believe me, that’s not play. She’s a piece of work, and her father was a piece of work.”

Katara smiles sadly. What she wouldn’t give to have her own piece of work.

“I can feel your self-pity radiating off you.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay. And it’s okay if you can’t have kids. What’s not okay is Aang calling a quits if you can’t. You should do what he’s doing. Find some tail of your own and see if you're  really the problem. It could be him. 100 years in an iceberg - maybe it had some effect.”

She sends Lin from her lap towards Izumi and Kya. She doesn’t want Lin to overhear any of this conversation, even if she doesn’t quite understand it. “Can I tell you a secret?”

Toph’s eyebrows quirk in amusement. “Please.”

“You can’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t.”

It’s on the tip of her tongue. She wants so badly to say it. I slept with Zuko. Part of her still wonders if it even happened. If she tells someone, it makes it more real. But what if he doesn’t want anyone to know? What if he’s ashamed? He hasn’t even spoken to her since it happened.

“Come on, spit it out.”

I slept with Zuko. I slept with Zuko. I slept with Zuko.

“I’ll tell you some other time.”

“Oh, my god, you did not just do that to me! You fucking tease!”

“I know. I’m sorry!”

“Ugh, just when I thought I was going to get something juicy. Wait, where are you going? You can’t leave me alone. Only one of these kids is mine. I don’t take care of other people’s kids. I’m not crazy like you.”

Katara’s already walking out of earshot while Toph grumbles. She laughs. Toph can handle it. It’s just Izumi, Kya, and Lin. Sokka’s twins are napping, and Ahanu, the eldest, is with Sokka anyways. She’s watched all six by herself before. Usually, she loves it.

Now, she only wants to find Zuko.

xxx

There’s a knock on the door of his study. It instantly irritates him. Servants and cabinet members know not to disturb him in his study. He must be hearing things. Then he hears the knock again. He darts up from the chair at his desk and practically rips the door open. He’s ready to yell at whoever finds it upon themselves to interrupt his work when he realizes whoever is Katara.

“Is this a bad time?” she asks.

“Um, no.”

“You looked like you wanted to kill me for a second,” she says lightheartedly.

“You’re probably misreading me.”

“Probably. You’re not one to lose control of your emotions.” Then she crosses the floor and perches herself on the edge of his desk. She crosses one leg over the other and smirks at him.

“You don’t usually pay me visits in the middle of the day,” he remarks. “Must be important.”

“It’s not. Just killing time.”

“Oh yeah? Nothing on your mind at all?” She’s been all he can think about nonstop.

She’s quiet for a second and looks down at the floor, all of her enchanting bravado gone and replaced with quiet vulnerability. “Did you, um, have fun the other night?” she asks him.

He clears his throat. “Yeah, I did. I thought I made that clear.”

“Well, you did...then. And then yesterday I didn’t see you at all and I thought, maybe, that’s how you wanted it to be now.”

“That’s not how I want it to be at all.”

“Okay, great, I was just confused about it.”

“I’m sorry about that. I was avoiding you yesterday in case you wanted space. I know you’ve been going through a lot lately, and I didn’t want to add to it.”

“You don’t add to it, Zuko. You take it away.”

He smiles. He understands what she means. Since the other night, he’s felt lighter in a way he hasn’t been since he lost Mai. “Maybe I’ll see you tonight.”

“You will,” she pauses, and his heart beats excitedly. “Izumi asked me to help you tuck her in tonight, so you’ll see me then.” His face must show his disappointment because she fucking laughs at him. “Did you think I meant it another way?” she teases.

“Nope. I’ll see you tonight. Izumi’s bedroom, right after bathtime. Make sure you have a good story ready to go. She’s very critical these days.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She jumps off his desk. “Well, I won’t keep you. Good talk.” And then before he knows what’s happening her lips are on his in a bruising kiss that sends his head reeling back to the other night when there were far less clothes between them, and before he can react and pull her closer, she’s gone, walking to the door. “See you tonight, Zuko.”

xxx

Along with being a self-serving asshole, Zuko realizes Aang is also a plain idiot.

Katara arches above him, bathed in candlelight. Her hands grip his shoulders as an anchor. Her knees rub against his silk sheets. Her moans are the most enchanting sound he’s ever heard. She’s so vocal in her pleasure, so open with how much she wants him. Every chance he gets, he presses open-mouthed kisses to her flushed skin. He sucks at the pointed peaks of her breasts and digs his own fingers into her alluring hips, guiding her, meeting her at a point of pure pleasure for the both of them.

She falls against him after she reaches her peak, and he holds her even tighter as he finds his own within her a few thrusts later. She hums contentedly against his neck and threads her fingers through his hair playfully.

Aang had this. He had this beautiful, hypnotizing, sensual woman as his wife, and he chose to walk away from her.

He catches her hand in his hair and holds it with his own. She’ll be gone before sunrise, like she always is, but he’ll make the most of his time with her. Only an idiot wouldn’t.

xxx

“That was a very good story. Best one all week.”

Katara laughs. “Well, it didn’t do its job. You should be asleep.”

Adds Zuko, “Yes, you should.”

“Can you tell me another one?”

“Izumi, it’s already late.”

“Daddy, please.”

Katara taps the little girl on the nose and smiles. “I know just the perfect one. Stop me if you’ve heard it before. It’s called Love Amongst the Dragons .”

“Good one,” Zuko whispers to her before they both kiss Izumi goodnight.

They hold hands as they sneak through the corridors to his private balcony. He kisses her senseless against the railing while she briefly realizes she hasn’t been sad in days.

xxx

As a personal friend of the Fire Lord, Katara has special privileges within the palace. One of them is the ability to take Izumi into the city, as long as they’re escorted by a couple of palace guards, of course.

Katara decides she and Izumi deserve a trip to Katara’s favorite shop near the harbor for some sweetened milk and tea cakes. Izumi reaches for Katara’s hand as they walk down the street. It’s something she’s started doing recently, even in the palace. She’s been a lot more affectionate with Katara recently. She’ll rest her head on Katara’s shoulder in the gardens, and she wants Katara at storytime every night now. Katara doesn’t mind. She hangs on to all of it. She’ll be seven years old soon, this light in her life. She squeezes her hand as they enter the shop.

Izumi picks the table, and the guards camp out at the table behind them. They wait for their tea cakes and sweetened milk. When the glasses arrive, they clink theirs together. She takes a sip, which turns into a gulp. Zuko doesn’t allow her to have many sweets.

“Is it good?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

Katara laughs. “Good.” When Izumi doesn’t stop drinking, she says, “Hey, save some to wash down the cake.”

“Can I have two?”

She clicks her tongue. “I don’t know. Your father wouldn’t like it.”

“Please, Aunt Katara.”

“I love you, sweetie, but I don’t want to be on the Fire Lord’s bad side.”

“Please, please, please.”

“Fine, you can have one more glass of the darn milk, as long as you promise not to tell on me. Deal?”

Izumi nods and finishes all of her first glass. “Aunt Katara?”

“Yeah, sweetie?”

“Can you be my mom?”

She forgets how to breathe. “What?”

“I don’t have a mom,” Izumi states.

“Yes, you do. She just isn’t with us anymore. She would have loved you so much. Your mom was such a wonderful woman.” But Izumi doesn’t know that, Katara realizes. As much as Katara holds onto the image of her mother, as much as Katara commits to memory the sound of her voice, Izumi never met Mai. Izumi never got the chance to know her.

“I want a real mom, and Daddy told me you wanted a baby.”

Katara remembers missing her mom, longing for the love and comfort specially given by the woman who brought her into the world. Zuko is an amazing father, but Izumi deserves the chance to have the unconditional love of more than one person.

They make a perfect pair, a motherless child and a childless woman. It doesn’t hurt that Katara loves her so much, ever since the first time she came to stay when Mai died and Zuko was a clueless wreck who fumbled when placing Izumi in her arms, repeating again and again that he didn’t know what to do. She and Zuko are always there for each other. The two of them make another perfect pair.

“I love you so much. I would be honored to be your mom. You don’t have to call me your mom, but I’ll be here for you always.”

"I want to call you mommy."

She’d left the first time she stayed, once Zuko got a handle on things. She and Aang had only recently been married, and he was so insistent on her return. He needed her help rebuilding the air temples. They needed to be ready for the return of the airbenders. Yeah, right.

"Then you can call me mommy."

The next glass of sweet milk arrives for Izumi, and the young girl takes Katara’s advice. She eats the tea cake first, and then she washes it down with the milk. Katara hands her a napkin to wipe the milk from her top lip.

They stop at a few shops on the way back. Katara learns they both like to window shop. At one of the outdoor booths, Izumi spies a dark water spirit mask sold alongside others.

“Daddy would love that!”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Love Amongst the Dragons is the only story he knows. It’s his favorite.”

Katara tugs her to the booth giddily. “Then we have to get it for him.” She pays a few coins to the vendor and gives it to Izumi to keep safe for Daddy. Keeping it safe to Izumi is wearing it herself.

There’s nothing pulling her away anymore, like there was when Izumi was born. Now this golden-eyed girl is an anchor.

And so is her father.

xxx

“I don’t want to go back to my room.”

“It’s almost sunrise.”

She pouts at him, as if he controls the sun. He wishes he did. He’d never let it rise. “I don’t want you to go either.”

Her hand is on the knob of the door, but she’s still facing him. She always waits for a minute before she leaves him, like she’s waiting for him to call her back. As much as he wants to, he can’t. A Fire Lord isn’t expected to be celibate, but if the servants ever see him with the Avatar’s ex-wife, the whole nation would know the gossip in a week.

Already, there are rumors. They aren’t exactly discrete. They take every meal together. They tuck Izumi in together. She’s the only one allowed in his private study. They just make sure no one catches them touching. As long as they aren’t touching, the rumors stay rumors.

“I’ll see you at breakfast,” she says.

“It’s not that far away.”

He tries to be optimistic. But she leaves, and it’s hard. Breakfast is very far away.

xxx

“You’re not wearing your mask.”

“Izumi, I can’t wear it to official meetings as Fire Lord. There’s a protocol.”

But his six-year-old crosses her arms in front of her. “I’m telling Mommy.”

Did he just hear her right? “You’re telling who?” he asks.

“Mommy. Aunt Katara’s my mommy now,” she answers plainly as if delivering old news.

“Does she know?”

“Yeah, I asked her if she could be my mom, and she said yes.”

This is definitely not old news to him. “When did this happen?”

Izumi shrugs. “Forever ago.”

xxx

Katara,

You have no idea how much I’ve missed you, or how deeply I regret my behavior. I was so, so stupid. No one compares to you. No one connects with me like you do. We were perfect together, and I will always be angry with myself for ruining that. Please find it in your heart to forgive me. I want our life together back, the way it was always supposed to be.

Love always,

Aang

She burns the letter.

xxx

“I’ve never felt like this before,” she mentions to him one night in the afterglow, caressing the scar on his face.

“I know what you mean.”

She’s never felt such a pull to someone. She’s never felt as understood or appreciated or cherished. Aang never stopped saying he loved her; Zuko never stops proving it.

“When Mai died, I couldn’t imagine sharing what I shared with her with someone else. But that’s not what this is. It’s not the same. I’m different now. You’re different. Our relationship is different.”

He’s taken a step forward by confessing this. She’s bold enough to take another. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

 She pulls away from him, but he holds her tighter. “Zuko, I’ve got to go. It’s almost sunrise.”

“Stay,” he mutters sleepily against her ear.

“Zuko, it’s hard enough to leave you as it is.”

“Stay. Stay forever. If I need to write up some official announcement, or bribe some servants, I’ll do it, but I don’t want to spend another morning without you.” He kisses the shell of her ear, and her resolve shatters completely.

They fall back asleep. The servants wake them. Funny enough, the sky doesn’t fall. The day goes on as normal, and surely the gossip is raging behind her back, but she doesn’t care like she thought she would. She doesn’t care about it the way she cared when they talked about her and Aang.

She sees the sunrise with Zuko that morning. She sees the colors break through the sky in the most glorious shades of pink and blue, while Zuko’s hair is pulled into his topknot and his ceremonial armor is secured. Zuko, Izumi, and her life with them - that’s all she cares about.

[keeponshouting]

After Infection

This is a rewrite and hopefully eventual completion of a massive multiverse mash-up of my OCs with a couple belonging to @whenromancesmoked and a few others from back in the day. I have absolutely no idea if anyone else is going to be interested in reading this (ok, I know a few people who will probably read it) but psh. I’m having fun and want to share.

Note: This is also a George Romero tribute of sorts. Like I started it for giggles because my PB for one of the characters was in the Dawn of the Dead remake and it just snowballed, which I guess means I should throw a WARNING: ZOMBIES sign up here or something. Anyway!

After Infection: Dawn of the Dead

It had seemed like a good idea at the time – or, well, more accurately, it had seemed like the right thing to do. There was a request from fellow hunters in a small town a few hours’ drive south and things had been quiet lately back home so Nate had figured that they could spare the time and energy. Besides, Dennis had been going pretty stir crazy for a while. Even if it was a hunt, it would be a good excuse to get out on the road for a while, a sort of vacation.

It had not turned out even remotely like a vacation.

They had been a little too late to the original party but apparently just in time for things to get much, much worse. Nate had brought a variety of tools just in case but he had primarily been prepared for an infestation of what locals called “hell rats,” a creature that was pretty common in the south and usually pretty easy to handle if you found their nests quickly enough. Sure they were venomous but as long as you were careful… He had not been expecting an infestation of zombies.

“The lot looks pretty clear right now.” Dennis is hunched over at the door, using the peephole to take a quick survey of the goings on outside their hotel room while Nate brews a second pot of coffee to get him through whatever the morning brings. After all, as long as decent coffee is available, he might as well take advantage of it. Lord knows he might have to go without for a while and God help his poor boyfriend’s patience if that happens.

When Dennis stands up straight again, his head is just about even with the top of the doorframe and he yawns as he leans back against the door, arms crossed over his chest. “So, come up with any plans yet or are we still waiting for the caffeine to kick in?”

Nate snorts into his cup and foregoes actually taking a drink for the moment in order to respond. “You ask that like I have any idea what sort of plan to use here. I’ve met exactly zero hunters who’ve actually had to handle zombies in the past decade at least. I honestly don’t think they’ve ever been a problem this far north before.”

“Well, there sure are a lot around here for something that’s never been a problem.”

“Some forms of infection can spread at an exponential rate in populated areas.” He drains a good half of the coffee in hand. “Our best bet is probably just to find out if there are any other non-infected people anywhere around here.”

Dennis flops across the bed, face down, with a muffled grunt.

Nate just silently continues drinking as the percolator finally finishes beside him and he very seriously considers making a third pot, just in case.

---

Zombies – shambling, groaning, flesh-eating, nearly Hollywood perfect zombies. For fuck’s sake. This should have been such an easy fucking job and now there are zombies.

Viktor strings together another line of curses, voice little more than a low growl, as he chambers another cartridge. Beside him, a terrified little girl whimpers. He simply scowls, sets Glock number one aside, lights a cigarette, and pulls out number two. “Zatraceně zasraný vědci.” Leaning over toward the window, he catches sight of a proper target and empties the last bullet into the back of its skull. What a fucking cliché.

This was supposed to be simple. They had agreed on that fact the moment that the specifications of the job had crossed the table. It should have been routine, easy money. Three towns, three targets, each plan the same; get rid of the scientist, call their employer, and let the clean-up crew come in and deal with the rest. The first two hits had gone off without a hitch. So, of course, it just figures that last one would have to be so much more complicated than it should have been.

“I—I—I w-want m-m-my d-da—daddy.”

Viktor’s jaw clenches as he exhales – slow and even, two thin streams of smoke – as he reloads the gun in hand and wills himself to remain calm. His patience is wearing thin at this point, though. He had not planned for going into this as usual and coming out as a babysitter. The target’s five-year-old daughter was not supposed to be in the house at the time of the hit. She only stayed with him on the weekends. What an absolutely brilliant turn of events that this was apparently the first Monday that she had ever spent with her father.

Dropping his half-smoked cigarette on the floor, he shoves himself up to his feet. He had lost contact with Miguel some time earlier, likely as a result of the scientist’s neighbor backing into an electric pole at full speed after one of the zombies had rushed her car. The impact had cut power to the entire neighborhood and he can only assume that it must be the cause of the interference. With long-range communication down, that leaves only one alternative: he needs to get within the functional range of their radios. Unfortunately, the hit had been planned for the late evening and he had only been able to make it as far as a vacant apartment building a couple blocks away before night had started to set. From here, short-wave does him about as much good as a water pistol.

“Come on.” Viktor has already reached the door and taken quick stock of the corridor beyond by the time he bothers to look back. Unsurprisingly, his unwanted charge remains unmoved, still curled up as small as she can possibly make herself, which is pretty damned small.

“A-are you g-g-gonna take me b-back to da-daddy?”

God give him strength but that stuttering is getting real old real quick. “Ne.” He swings the door open as quietly as possible and waits for a moment, listening for any movement outside, before carefully stepping out and making his way to the stairwell. With the knowledge that their escape route is currently free of hostiles, he takes a deep, centering breath and heads back to where he began.

“Look, holčička.” He crouches down in front of the child and tries to sound as reasonable as possible. Given his current level of frustration, he thinks that he is doing a fairly decent job. Miguel, however, would likely disagree. “Either you just come with me and go wherever I go, quietly and without complaint, or I leave you here. Your choice.” Yeah, Miguel would definitely disagree.

From the way that the little girl’s eyes go so much wider than he would have ever imagined possible, he feels safe in assuming that she disagrees as well and, five minutes later, they are creeping down an alleyway with more stealth than Viktor ever would have expected of a kindergartener.

---

What was taking so long?

That is the question that had led Alex out of the band’s bus and that was the question that he now wants to keep from crossing anyone else’s minds. This is all way too fucked up, like the should not be real kind of fucked up. None of this should be happening.

On the ground, backed up against the flat tire of the car that their driver had originally gone to help, Alex kicks hard into the jaw of what may have once been a perfectly lovely young woman and sends her sprawling backward where she lands on top of the monster still gnawing on the corpse of a man who should have still been living and breathing and driving their goddamn bus. Alex’s hand gropes around behind him for anything even remotely useful as a weapon and lands on the tire-iron just in time to smash it into the face of the dead woman once more lunging in his direction. Another strike as she tries to get up and he cringes and almost loses his lunch at the feeling of her skull cracking open and her brain splattering across the pavement. Hell, he really might have lost it if not for the howl coming at him far too fast. This time, he opts not to look as the hears the wet crunch and just leaps to his feet and starts running back toward relative safety.

“Alex?”

Oh fuck. “Stay on the bus, Val!”

“Don’t you fucking tell me what to do, Niccols! What the fuck is going—”

Alex fails to hear the rest as he spins around to slam the tire-iron as hard as he can into something else behind him. This time it gets yanked right out of his hand as the body drops and he scrambles back onto the bus, practically picking up a protesting Val in order to get her out of the way of the door that he immediately slams closed. He lets her go as he collapses into the driver’s seat, wide-eyed and hands shaking, and it takes him a moment to register the sound of his dog whimpering by his knee, let alone that of his own name. When the world comes back into focus, though, Val is staring at him in horror. It takes him another moment to realize why.

“Alex? What the fuck happened?” Whether she sounds more panicked or angry, Alex is far too dazed to tell. Her hands reach for his face, his shoulders, moving down to check every inch. “Are you okay?”

Taking a deep breath, he raises a hand to wipe at his face. No. No he is not okay. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

Val does not look like she believes him at all. “Is that—Fuck. That—That’s blood! Why the fuck are you covered in blood?”

Breathe, Alex. Always a good plan to breathe. “Shh. Don’t…” Never mind. Telling her to keep it quiet is pointless. Everybody else will have heard it already.

He shoves himself back to his feet, legs weak and wobbly, and stumbles as he makes his way through the curtain that separates the cabin from the rest of the bus. It is instantly evident that the rest of the band did, in fact, hear all of that. All three of them are already staring at him before he even properly steps into view. He is pretty sure that Sasha is the one choke out an “on shit” and it is definitely Macy whose response comes out as barely a squeak.

“Blood?” On his feet now, Macy rushes in to cling to Alex’s shirt, bodily fluids not withstanding. “None of it’s yours, right? You’re not hurt? You’re okay?”

Again, Alex reminds himself to breathe, turning just enough so that he can see where Val still stands in the doorway, Parker lying on the floor a foot or so behind her, his ears back and expression scared. For her part, Val is gripping the doorway so tightly that Alex can only assume that she is trying very hard not move and crowd him any further.

“None of it’s mine.” He looks at the faces around him, all of them staring, all confused and various degrees of frightened. It brings everything right back into focus. “We need to—” It takes a deep breath in and a slow breath out to get his thoughts back in line. “Everybody grab a bag, pack food, necessities, just—just whatever.” Stepping a little closer to Val, just near enough to pull one of her hands down from the wall and give it a quick squeeze. “We gotta get outta here.”

---

Nate leans out of the passenger side window just far enough to level his sights on one of the creatures that already looks less human and fires. One shot, between the eyes, and it hits the ground and disappears beneath the feet of its companions. He hears a quiet gagging sound come from the driver’s seat and finds himself feeling a bit queasy in turn. They are both going to need to make some real changes to their perspective re: what constitutes a monster and they need to make those changes really quickly because as of right now, it is going to be really difficult to get out of this mess without completely rewiring their conscience.

“Um, Nate?”

With barely a glance spared toward Dennis, Nate focuses himself on reloading. “Yeah?”

“How many, uh—how many of them are back there?”

The question gives him pause but Nate squints to get a count anyway. “About a dozen in view. Why?”

“Because we need to, uh—we have to stop for a minute.”

Nate drops back into his seat so quickly that he nearly smacks his head off the door. “We what?”

Not even bothering to look at him, Dennis simply peels one shaking hand off of the steering wheel to point at something ahead. “We have to stop.”

Nate has to squint but he starts moving the moment that he sees exactly what Dennis is looking at. “I’ve got the door.”

It was rather obvious even from a single glance at a decent distance that the man up ahead, standing stock still in his torn slacks and a blood, rolled shirt-sleeves, was staring straight past the car speeding toward him and cursing the sight of the ever-growing number of zombies trailing behind. Dennis hits the gas and is slamming the breaks in what feels like no time.

Nate shoves the back door open and feels like there is really no room for argument when he shouts to the man to get in but he has been wrong before and apparently he is right now. Instead of heading straight for them, the guy curses in a language that they are now close enough for Nate to tell is definitely not English and turns away.

“Hey!” Dennis spins in his seat to look behind them, which Nate is sure that he immediately regrets. “What the hell? What’s he doing?”

“I don’t know. He’s just—” And that is when the stranger pulls his gun, takes out three approaching zombies in relatively rapid succession, and finally turns to sprint back toward the car. “—getting a little girl.”

The child is practically flung into the back seat and their new passenger wastes no time slamming the door behind himself and snapping, “Go. Now.”

Dennis really does not need to be told and floors it the second he knows the door is closed.

“Take a left onto Carver,” the man continues, his tone speaking volumes regarding how unwilling he would be to hear any question or protest. “Follow signs for the mall plaza.” He leans out the window to pick off a few more of the monsters before Nate’s slightly incredulous look catches his attention and his scowl is honestly pretty terrifying. “You’ll be out of gas before the edge of town so, under the assumption that you wish to live—”

Nate’s eyes narrow in suspicion but Dennis has absolutely no qualms against following the orders of anyone with a plan right now and practically takes the aforementioned turn on two wheels when he nearly misses it.

---

“Are you sure you can hotwire this piece of shit?”

“It’s not a piece of shit, it’s a fucking classic.”

Val rolls her eyes at that as she continues trying to calm the utterly panicked Macy currently clinging to her so tightly that he might as well just climb into her goddamn skin. “Fine. Can you really hotwire this ‘fucking classic’?”

Two seconds later, the engine revs up as Alex sits back in the driver’s seat with a trin and a waggle of his stupid eyebrows. Sasha squeals in relief and flings her arms around him from her place in the back seat, as he laughs. “My mechanical genius is wasted on this red wire green wire bullshit.”

He pops the trunk just as something begins to stir inside of the nearby diner and Val shoves Sasha aside to squeeze Macy in so that she can help Nico load their bags at record speed. By the time she flings herself into the front passenger seat, there are already zombies starting to stumble out of the woodwork. Fuck seatbelts. “Gun it!”

Alex hits the gas and they peel out of the parking lot just as the diner’s doors give way.

He had tried to explain what had happened while they packed. It had felt impossible for Val to actually wrap her mind around it at first but once she had seen the mess outside? She had practically dragged Alex and Macy off in search of the nearest source of potential transportation. They needed to find something quickly and it needed to be something fast and she needed to not think about how painfully familiar the blood and gore looked, though she had only ever seen anything like it in her nightmares. When Alex had needed to stop and vomit into the nearest garbage can, she had a feeling that she understood why and a little pocket of rage flared to life in her chest – not because he had to stop but because he never should have been the one to wind up with someone else’s blood on his hands.

“Where are we going?” Macy is the one to finally ask, almost inaudible from where he has curled up against Sasha now, and Val catches his eye in the rearview mirror before she looks toward Alex.

Alex, however, is entirely too focused on driving to really think but so much and instead catches her eye before clearing his throat. “Nick?”

In the back, Nico turns away from the horrors outside of his window. “What?”

“How do you defend yourself against a zombie invasion?”

“Wha—Zombies aren’t exactly my specialty here.”

“No,” Alex agrees, “but zombies are supposed to be a helluva lot dumber than, say, Reavers, right? You know Reavers.”

“So?”

“So how would you defend yourself against an invasion of retarded Reavers?”

The drummer just stares at him for a moment with an expression that plainly says that he may consider that to be the dumbest question that he has ever heard. Eventually, thought, there is an answer. “I’d find the most well-stocked, easily-fortifiable location I could think of and hope I could wait out the attack or find some other way to get through them.”

There is silence in the car and then Alex shrugs. “All right. So, where’s the most well-stocked and easily-fortifiable location we can think of?

Five minutes later, they find themselves screeching into the parking lot of the local mall. The location almost seems somehow normal, given the situation at hand. In fact, were it not for the shrieking horde behind them or the knowledge that Alex is currently doing seventy into a public lot, it might almost feel a little reminiscent of home. Val almost finds it funny, really. What’s funnier to her than coming to a mall for safety, however, is the fact that they were obviously not the only ones with that idea, as they are definitely not the only ones pulling into the place with a bunch of undead goons straggling along behind them.

---

“Miguel.”

There is a burst of static in his ear as Viktor leans out to empty his 22 into the crowd of creatures still chasing behind the car that had picked him up on the highway. Once within range, he takes out a couple of the ones latching on to the other car that had pulled in to the lot at about the same time, too. When his magazine clicks empty, he makes a snap decision to save his 20 for later and drops back into the seat to reload. The driver glances at him in the rearview, looking a little bit frightened, while the original passenger only eyes him for a moment before leaning out of the other side with a freshly loaded shotgun. His fellow gunner might not be terribly trusting but at least Viktor can respect that. Besides, who needs trust? The guy’s a fairly good shot.

“Zatratím tě, Miguel!” The little girl still curled up beside him whimpers. He can hear it over the gunfire, the static, all of the goddamned zombies. It is grating on his very last nerve. “Odpovídáš mě!”

He could hope for no better response than to lean back out just in time to watch as a line of four hostiles drops one by one.

“En ingles, ’mano.” Another line of undead hit the ground as the line sputters out then clears up again, leaving room for easily the most welcome voice he has ever known. “Now where the Hell have you been?”

Viktor nearly laughs. “We can trade stories later, miláčku. Right now, I need cover fire while I try to get these people into the posraný mall.”

“Going shopping?”

“Sklapni. We try the mall or they come to your shop.”

“How many?”

Viktor glances toward the other vehicle still circling around the parking lot with them. “Eight plus me.”

“Well, if they dropped you—”

“Miguel.”

“Sí, sí, the mall sounds like a plan. There’s a garage off to your right. No good angle for me to shoot the lock off but I can keep the number of uglies down while you get in.”

“Děkuji.”

“That means thank you, sí?”

Viktor rolls his eyes. “Sí.”

The line bursts back into static with a laugh.

---

As it turns out, the garage door does not, in fact, require a shot to the lock. It rolls up just enough for the two cars to through before Dennis’s little hatchback even hits the ramp. On the other side, a young woman motions for them to hurry while two men in security uniforms stand to either side of the entrance to help keep the monsters at bay, though it appears that this Miguel guy really only needs the most basic of assistance. His precision is honestly kind of terrifying and Dennis is just as glad not to see any more examples of it as he swerves off to one side so that the other car has room. Nate and their scarier passenger are both out before he even has the damned thing in park, seeing to it that nothing gets in the way of girl at the door to slam the thing shut.

“We saw you on the security cameras,” of the security guards explains as he climbs up to try and jam the gears.

The other car’s driver takes a moment to collect himself, then grabs a wrench and makes his way over to the ladder. “Here. Let me have a look at that.”

“Figured we couldn’t just leave you out there.” The guard climbs down to let the driver up. “Then Shannon said she thought you were headed this way.”

“Thanks.” Dennis finally climbs out only to stretch over the top of his car.

The woman now known as Shannon simply smiles. “No problem. Mercy for your fellow man or something like that.” She laughs and shrugs, looking slightly flustered, though that is probably to be expected, all things considered. “Anyway, come on. Let’s get you all inside. We’ve got food, clothes, relatively comfortable furniture… We’ll get you poor things all cleaned up and sorted out in no time.”

There is a general rumble of agreement as the little group follows her to the door that leads into the connected store, allowing themselves to be ushered toward where another girl is waiting somewhat impatiently. That is, they all follow along aside from one man, anyway, who simply mutters something into his headset before switching it off and making his way back over to the hatchback. Shannon looks back, confused, as does Nate, though he looks more suspicious about it.

Dennis just sighs. “The little girl.” Then he ducks through the doorway and drags Nate away after the rest.

---

“Come on, holčička.” Viktor crouches down beside the open car door with a sigh as the child remains curled up in the center of the back seat. Children. How did anyone actually deal with children, let alone have them by choice?

The little girl simply whimpers and mumbles, “There are monsters out there.”

Well, at least the stuttering has stopped and he supposes he can concede that she has a fair point. “The monsters are outside, not with us.”

Before he can receive a response or think of anything more convincing to say, there is someone else coming up behind him, bending down to look the child in the eye with a painfully sympathetic and all too sugarcoated smile. He might be able to handle the sight of it at any other time but right now, with everything that he has just been through and the way that she has the gall to place one of her hands on his shoulder as if—God, he would really like to wipe that smile off of her face.

“Hi, there,” she says, voice floating in a way that speaks plainly of a familiarity with appeasing people under the age of seven. “I’m Shannon. What’s your name?”

Caught slightly off-guard, the child squeaks. “Um. I—I’m—” The little girl shoots a quick glance toward Viktor then, almost as if asking permission to speak with this new stranger before she finally answers. “I’m Amanda.”

Shannon’s smile becomes even brighter, even sweeter, if that is even possible, and Viktor has to dig his nails into his palms to keep himself from taking out her kneecaps when she leans even further over him, hand squeezing his shoulder. “Amanda? Well, that’s a pretty name! Are you hungry, Amanda?”

The little girl nods.

“Well, we’ve got all sorts of food inside. We’ve got toys, too, and games and books and all sorts of neat stuff.”

“And—and no monsters?”

Shannon laughs. “And no monsters.”

Still curled up in the seat, Amanda chews worriedly at her lip for a moment longer, eyes flashing back and forth between the two adults still there in the door. Shannon keeps smiling, encouraging. Viktor just stays crouched there with a clenched jaw and a headache starting to build behind his eyes. When the girl finally moves, though, it does not go entirely as expected. Rather than reaching for Shannon’s offered hand, she instead launches herself forward to wrap her little arms tight around Viktor’s neck and duck her head in under his chin, completely unaware of the rather undignified look of surprise that he is entirely unable to keep off of his face. Unhelpfully, all Shannon does in response is giggle.

[kinqjaehyxn]

Homebound

— jung jaehyun

genre: angst

warning(s): arguments, swearing, almost cheating(?)

word count: 1,591

a/n: i really had lots of fun writing this!! its late and i have work at 9am but whatever jaehyun angst is #1 priority heheh

==================== This was not the Jaehyun you knew. This was not the Jaehyun you fell in love with. This is not the Jaehyun you married and started a family with. The Jaehyun you knew and fell in love with was a completely different person than the Jaehyun who standing in front of you. You don't remember when everything went wrong; you were happy, both of you only a year ago. You gave birth to your now one year old son and your 3 year old daughter was gleaming with joy. For some reason, that felt like years ago.

You starting seeing Jaehyun less and less within the year, his children missing him dearly. Maybe it was because of his new job, you tried to convince yourself. Yet even during his vacation time, he'd always be out with the boys or going to a company dinner to grow closer with his new coworkers. It felt like Jaehyun would only come home to sleep and to be honest, that's how it was for a while. You confronted him about it, how you'd never see him anymore and how your daughter would look for him late at night. He promised you that he would try to be home more, for you and your kids. He kept his promise, only for it to be broken a couple weeks later. Promises are meant to be broken right?

The emptiness you felt without Jaehyun almost made you go crazy. You began to miss his familiar scent, the way he would hold you in the late night, everything about him you missed. You watched as your relationship turned sour; normal conversations with him would turn into full-blown arguments. The last fight you guys had ended up with you kicking Jaehyun out of the house. Sick and tired of him coming home late drunk, you forced him out for the night which lasted into a week. He only came back to grab a couple of his things.

The sight of seeing Jaehyun in your shared home made you livid. All the pent up anger and frustration in you suddenly exploded, yelling and shouting at the man who you call your husband. "You've got some nerve to come back here." Your voice low and stern, careful not to wake up your children. 

"I'm sorry, are you forgetting who's paying for this house?" He retaliates.

"Both of us you asshole." You scoff. "Why the hell are you even here anyways?" 

"I still live here."

You can't help but laugh at his statement, your mind going back to all those nights you spent alone. "Oh do you now?" Sarcasm dripping in your words. "Last time I remember, you were rarely home." 

He groans and rubs his face in his hands. "Oh my god Y/N not this bullshit again. You know damn well why I'm not home."

"Because of your friends? Because of your 'company' dinners? You always come home drunk Jae, if you even decide to come home!" Your tone slowly raises, anger slowly spilling out of you.

"For fucks sake, am I not allowed to relax and spend some time with some friends? God forbid me from having any fun." 

You feel your heart breaking, like it's a fragile piece of glass that's about to shatter at any moment. "That's not what I said!" You defend yourself. "I don't care what you do with your friends, all I'm asking you is to spend some time with your family once in a while."

His face was turning red, the veins in his neck began to pop out. "I do spend time with you guys!"

"Do you? Jesus Christ Jae, you missed Youngji's birthday 2 weeks ago, your own fucking daughter. How could you?"

Jaehyun knew he was in the wrong, he wanted to stop and apologize. But his ego said otherwise. "I was—"

"At work, of course, you were. Do you have any idea how disappointed she was to not see her dad at her birthday party?" 

"Do you want me to quit or something?"

"Jung Jaehyun, you know that's not what I want at all!" 

"Fuck this, I'm leaving." He stormed off, slamming the door on his way out. The tears that you didn't know you were holding back finally poured out. Your glass-like heart finally shattering into a million pieces.

Jaehyun slammed the car door as he pulled out his phone and texted the boys. 'Meet you guys at the club!' 

His big hands gripped onto the steering wheel as he drove to their usual meet up, anger still coursing through his veins. He tries to calm himself down before entering with his buddies. They immediately notice his mood, jokingly poking fun at him. "Aww did mama bear rip you to shreds today?" One of them teases.

Jaehyun ignored the remark and orders drinks for himself. A few shots later, his swaying back forth on the dance floor. He was drunk, but not to the point where he was messed up. Jaehyun stumbled over to the lounge couch, sitting down to regain himself. He rubbed his face in his hands when he felt the cushion beside him sink down. "Hey cutie," An unfamiliar voice called out. "What are you doing here alone?"

He rubbed his eyes to reveal a girl who looks much younger than he was. She was pretty and she smelled of flowers. She was wearing a sleeveless dress and her long, silky hair was tucked behind her ear. "Why don't I give you some company yeah?" She said seductively as she moved closer. 

Jaehyun chuckled, the alcohol spreading throughout his body. Her hand rubbed against his arm, batting her eyelashes at him. Her eyes trailed down to his hand where the silver band wrapped around his finger. "Oh, you're married. Well then," She brought her face closer to his as she whispered against his lips. "don't tell your wife."

It was like something inside of him snapped back to reality. He aggressively shoved the girl off of him and she looked annoyed. "Get off me!" He shouted, standing up. 

"C'mon, it'll be our little secret." She clings onto his arm.

"Just get lost will you?" He says sternly. She rolls her eyes and scoffs. 

"Whatever, jerk."

Jaehyun feels the urge to go back home to his family. He sobered up quickly and left the club, leaving his friends behind without a word. The drive home felt oddly long. Her voice echoed in his head. He felt so utterly guilty of what could've happened. You were the love of his life, the mother of his children. You were his wife that he loved unconditionally. Tears brimmed in his eyes as he realized how close he was to losing you and his kids, his family for good. He realized how selfish he had been for the past year. To say he felt absolutely awful was an understatement. 

The view of the familiar house came into view. He parked his car in the driveway and went straight up to the door. He moved his hand to knock, but quickly remembered that he still had the key. He twists the knob open and went inside, frantically looking for you. He found you sitting in the living room, hugging yourself into a ball. "Y/N" He called out. 

You lift your head and stood up to see a distressed Jaehyun. "Jae—"

Jaehyun interrupts you with a bone crushing hug. "I'm sorry," He mutters, "I'm so sorry for everything, love." 

You felt tears hit the top of your head and you inhaled his calming scent that was mixed with alcohol. "Did you drive drunk?" You ask, worry filling your voice. "How many times do I have to remind you to never do that Jae! You could've have died!"

He hugged you tighter, amazed at how you still cared for him no matter what. "That could never compare to losing my family. God, I'm so sorry for the way I treated you guys." He sobbed. "I'm so sorry for not being here, for not being the husband and father I promised you I would be." 

Your own eyes started to fill with tears at his apology. "You're here now, so it's okay." You whimper. 

"You know damn well it's not. Fuck, I can't believe I put you through all that. I'm so sorry honey." His soothing voice made you cried harder, letting out all the sadness that you kept inside. "I promise I'll be better. I promise I'll be here for you guys more. Just please, don't leave me, I can't bear to lose you."

"I could never leave you, love."

Jaehyun pulled away and cupped your face. He wiped the remaining tears away with his thumb and gave you a long, passionate kiss. "I love you so much, never forget that." He says, kissing you once again. 

"I love you too Jae, so much." He kissed you once more before pulling you into another hug. You two stayed like that for a while, feeling peace and comfort once again. 

"Daddy's home!!" The sound of your little girl rung through the living room. 

Jaehyun pulled away and bent down, opening his arms to the little girl running towards him. He peppered her face in kisses as she giggles. "What is my little angel doing up this late?" He smiles, carrying her in his arms. "Let’s get you back to bed sweetheart."

You watched from behind as he walked away with your daughter to her bedroom. You smiled at the sight. He's finally back home.