#like in my head I know 84 is good for the time we had

[night-triumphantt]

I don’t get why tf I even try just to get these mediocre ass grades

[revelboo]

Okay well, I juat sat up all night to read your Star x reader x Soundwave x reader fic and now MY HEART HURTS from the last chapter so far. A large part of Mr is desperately hoping that Starscream and Soundwave sparkbond fully to their little human and find comfort together for all three of them, because this is painful, in a good way.

They have to get through the drama first. Normally I’ve got a word constraint of around 70-80k to work within so I wouldn’t have time to properly work out a reverse harem with characters so at odds with each other. They’d need to be at least established to get along to keep the story on track- brothers/friends. No such issue here. They don’t like each other at all and I can take my time getting them at least to a grudging understanding and tolerance of each other

Everything is Alright Pt 84

IDW Starscream x Reader, Soundwave x Reader, Megatron x Reader

• Hearing Starscream tiredly venting, you wonder if this is a mistake. You’re pretty sure he thinks it is, that trusting Soundwave is only going to hurt you. Again. But you want to believe that he really did think he was doing the right thing, that he believed there really was no other way forward. How much of that is just you wanting to believe everything is alright, though? That he’d done this because he had to, not out of cruelty or to manipulate Starscream. Wish you could get into his head again to see the truth there, but considering that had only happened the one time while he was inside you, there’s no way to ask him to have sex with you just to see if he’s lying. “So, Megatron. How do we deal with him?” You ask.

• “There’s no dealing with him. He’s unpredictable at best,” Starscream mutters, sliding a servo between your shoulder blades as he glowers at Soundwave. His presence tarnishing the pleasant hum left over from bonding. “As long as he finds it amusing to toy with you to get at me, you’re, well, not safe, but safer.” Because you mean nothing to the warlord beyond a temporary amusement. As long as he makes it abundantly, theatrically, clear how much he hates Megatron being around you, that should keep him interested in keeping you around. It’s too much to hope that he’ll just return you once he grows bored of his game. Too dangerous to assume he won’t discard you or break you out of spite.

• Tension still humming through him, but easing with every word, Soundwave wishes he could hold you. With how the Seeker is glowering at him, all cold hatred, that’s not going to be tolerated. “Talk to him,” he suggests, seeing the Seeker’s wings twitch upward in affront. Because he’s caught glimpses of Megatron’s mind despite himself. Knows how tired of the fighting and the betrayals he is. That he doesn’t really trust anyone anymore, not even Soundwave. Not completely. So used to putting down schemes, that he assumes there is one behind every smile, every word. But you befriended Starscream, maybe because you’re only human. Only an organic and no threat to him. If so, you can do it again with Megatron maybe. If you’re more than just a pawn to use and throw away, your survival odds are much higher.

• It’s pretty much what you’d already decided to do, but you nod slowly. Feeling better that Soundwave had the same thought. Because you’re not even a person to Megatron right now. He sees an organic, but not you. And you need him to see you, to understand that Star isn’t a threat. At least, you hope not. You’d seen his plots, his desire to usurp Megatron while you’d been bonded to him. His fear that the cause is doomed under Megatron’s tired leadership. Is he still playing that game? Tangled in him, it was impossible to tell past from present, all aspects of him blended together and inseparable. Looking up at him, you wonder if he’s still driven by that ambition, by the belief that his way is the only way forward. No matter what.

• Hates that trust of yours even as it’s what drew him in, because you want this to all be okay and Starscream knows that’s impossible. His spark still aches with you, knows you’d be happy with him as he is now. That you have no desire for machinations. But they’re necessary. Especially now. Megaton’s a threat to you and him. Soundwave is a threat. The only way to ever be safe is to sit on that throne, to seize control. With you at his side to temper him. To be his conscience and moral compass.

• Those eyes and that grief. Why do they linger in the back of his processor? It’s not guilt, Megatron’s done much worse things. Still can’t figure out Starscream and Soundwave’s obsession with you, why they’d risked so much pain to keep you secret. Like you’re not only a pet to them. Like the little human matters even though you’re one of millions. An insect. Gone in an instant. Rubbing a hand against his helm, he sits on the edge of his berth. It doesn’t matter. You don’t matter, but he keeps thinking about it. Thinking that he’s missing something important. Something dangerous. Why protect one human? Why suffer just to save you? Why do you matter to them?

Previous

Next

[loveinhawkins]

Steve watches as Eddie drops the shield clumsily, just lets it fall into the grass. His hand—it’s not shaking, exactly, but there’s a delay to everything, to the way his fingers curl, like even the smallest movement takes so much effort.

Steve knows the feeling: when the whole world feels like wading through molasses.

Eddie comes to sit next to him, thunks the back of his head against the RV and winces. “Ow.”

Steve smiles. “We’ve got time, y’know.”

Eddie gives him a blank look. The shadows under his eyes are practically sunken in. “Time?”

Steve gestures out to the distance, where the kids are still playing, where Nancy and Robin are re-counting the supplies he’d noted down earlier. “Reckon you’ve got an hour or so, if you wanna get your head down.”

Eddie snorts. “Ah, sleep,” he says, with a wry smile. “What’s that?”

“Come on, man,” Steve says. “Gotta take any opportunity you can. Don’t want you collapsing before we flambé Vecna.”

Eddie mouths Vecna to himself a couple of times, blows out a breath. “God, my life… my life is fucking crazy.”

Steve chuckles slightly. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

“You’re used to all of this shit, though. Lemme guess, you can sleep just like that?”

“Hmm, not always,” Steve says, which… well, Eddie doesn’t know enough, he reasons, to realise just what an understatement that is.

Eddie sighs again. He closes his eyes, tips his head back against the RV—doesn’t look comfortable at all.

Steve moves closer, gently nudges Eddie’s foot with his own. “Hey.”

Eddie’s eyes open with prolonged, heavy blinks. “Hmm?”

Steve pats his shoulder in invitation. Eddie lets out an exhausted laugh. “Oh, my life just got even crazier.”

“What? It’s a perfectly good shoulder, dude, I dunno what to tell you.” Steve grins when Eddie keeps laughing. “It’s not bony or anything.”

“That so?” Eddie says, rubs at his eyes with a lingering smile. “You got good reviews?”

“Glowing. Five stars.”

Steve thinks about all the times he’s been a pillow for Robin or Dustin—Max, too, on the seldom few times he’s wheedled until she just took a damn nap, even if it was only for ten minutes.

He taps his shoulder again, goes quiet, more serious. “You’re dog-tired, Eddie. Come on, just ten minutes. Then you can trash my stupid shoulder all you want.”

Eddie just looks at him, considering. Then he huffs, glances upwards as if to say Fine, you win. “You drive a hard bargain, Harrington.”

And with some hesitancy, he tips his head down to the side and settles on Steve’s shoulder.

He’s tense still; Steve can feel it.

“Y’know, one of the best naps I ever had was ‘cause of you,” Steve says conversationally.

Eddie makes a disbelieving noise.

“It’s true. Uh, Winter ‘84, the period just after lunch, I think? Damn, can’t even remember what class it… Anyway, you were giving the teacher shit ‘cause of some test result, you just kept going, it was incredible. No work got done; I just put my head on my desk and slept, and no-one even noticed.”

Eddie chuckles, slumps a little more. “That’s…” And he yawns. “That’s depressing, man. You saying me going on and on was relaxing?”

“Yeah, like one of those meditation tapes. Except, uh, more aggressive.”

Steve feels more than sees Eddie smile. “You’re so dumb.” He hums tiredly, his head resting heavier and heavier on Steve’s shoulder. Voice small, he says, “Keep talking?”

So Steve does.

He keeps up a constant, one-sided conversation, speaking softly. Talks about what they’ll all do after this—mostly nothing, because everyone deserves a goddamn extended Spring Break, he’s decided.

And Eddie sleeps. He doesn’t twitch like Robin, and his head doesn’t nod forward like Dustin—like he’s reached such a level of fatigue that he can only be still. His breathing is deep and heavy in a way that Steve knows only comes from a rare, utterly dreamless sleep.

Steve just sits there for way more than an hour, doesn’t care when his back begins to protest at how unmoving he is. It’s only as the sun begins to set, as the group just begins to head back to the RV, when he reluctantly nudges Eddie.

“Hey. Hey, Eddie. Sorry. Time to get up.”

Eddie mumbles something, barely lifts his head before returning it to Steve’s shoulder. “Hmm… five more minutes?”

Steve sighs through a little laugh. Feels suddenly emotional for reasons he can’t fully explain. God, I wanna give you forever.

“Sure, yeah. Five minutes.”

But Eddie rouses after just a minute or two. Sits up and stretches. His eyes look a little brighter, his face no longer quite as grey.

“You were right, man,” he says lightly, gives Steve’s shoulder an endearing little pat. “It’s a nice shoulder. Gotta take good care of that.”

And his hand lingers there, holds on like he did when they were huddled round the Lite Brite. Like he’s saying Take care of yourself, instead.

Steve feels the warmth of Eddie’s hand as he shrugs. “You get first dibs on it, when this is over,” he says.

And he means Come back.

[ladykailitha]

Staking My Claim Part 5

We are almost done just one more after this one! I thought about posting this on Tuesday to give the first chapter of the second book of Boy With a Bat some love.

But with this one literally two chapters away from being finished it didn't seem fair to postpone this one.

Here we have Nurse Jeff and sweet Eddie.

Pt 1| Pt 2|Pt 3| Pt 4|

@mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @emly03

***

Once they other three were gone Jeff turned to Steve and Eddie.

“Right the real reason I’m here is because I’m going to make you two don’t jump each other before Steve is well enough.”

Steve and Eddie looked at each other and blushed.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Jeff said, crossing his arms and leaning back on one foot.

“Eddie go get us some lunch and I’ll make sure Stevie here isn’t going to throw up again.”

Eddie nodded and grabbed his keys. He gave Steve a kiss on the cheek and dashed off, leaving Steve alone with Jeff.

Jeff turned on the light in the kitchen to better see Steve’s face. He held Steve’s chin and turned his head gently to the light and away from it.

“Your dilation is a little slow,” he said. “That’s not good.”

Steve nodded. “I’ve had concussions before. It feels a bit like that. The dizziness, the nausea, the pounding in my head.”

Jeff nodded. “I think I still have some anti-nausea medication and if I don’t, we can try some Pepto, okay?”

Steve nodded. “I wouldn’t have done anything,” he said softly.

Jeff raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“With Eddie,” he whispered. “Not before we got back to Hawkins, anyway.”

“Oh?”

Steve nodded again. “I’m bit too romantic for my own good. And having the chance I might ruin our first time with puking is the last thing I’d want.”

“First time?” Jeff asked over his shoulder as he went to the bathroom.

“I meant it when I licked him, he’s mine now.”

Jeff chuckled.

He came back out holding two bottles. “Looks like I have two kinds of anti-nausea meds. One is very heavy duty, so we’ll try the other one first. We don’t want to mix something heavier if the knock out drug is still in your system.”

Steve nodded.

“In fact,” Jeff muttered. “I should call my mom.”

He set the two bottles on the counter next to Steve and went to the phone.

After a brief conversation Jeff picked up the heavier medication. “She actually recommended the tougher meds to counter whatever was given to you. She even wants you to stop by on your way home so she can look you over.”

Steve blushed. “She doesn’t have to do that. I’ll be fine.”

Jeff raised an eyebrow and Steve ducked his head. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. My sister is a lot like you, you know.”

“Hmm?”

“She’s the oldest,” Jeff murmured, “so she was brought up that she had to take care of everyone else and couldn’t ask for help.”

“Oh.”

Jeff rubbed the top of his head. “Look, man. I get it, I really, really do. If your parents are as half the shit the rumor mill makes them out to be, you’ve been abandoned and neglected all your life. Somehow, someway you became the defacto older brother to the weirdest group of latchkey kids I’ve ever seen and you think you have to do everything for them because you didn’t get to have that. But thinking like that will only wear you down and out.”

“It’s hard,” Steve admitted. “They’ve been through so much.”

Jeff let out a sigh. “I get that too. You and those kids have been through some heavy ass shit. I also get that you think that because you’re the oldest you can’t tell them what you’re feeling because you don’t want to burden them.”

“You’re Robin and Nancy’s age,” Steve said quietly.

Jeff frowned, not quiet understanding the comment. Then it dawned on him. “Eddie isn’t.”

Steve’s head shot up. “What?”

“I know it’s hard to remember because he graduated with me and the other guys,” Jeff said. “But Eddie is older then you. He was supposed to graduate in ‘84.”

Steve blinked. “Oh. Yeah.”

“So lean on him,” Jeff said. “Yeah, you’re attracted to him. And you definitely want to fuck. But let him in emotionally, too. I think you’ll find he’s as a great a listener as he is a talker.”

Steve blushed.

Just then the door swung open to reveal Eddie with a large bag of McDonald’s.

“I didn’t know what you would like,” Eddie said with a grin, “so I got a little of everything I could think of.”

Steve smiled. “I’m sure I’ll find something I like then.”

They all dug in and polished off most the bag of fast food.

“Seriously,” Steve said, “why does greasy food always the best hangover cure?”

Eddie cocked his head to the side. “I don’t know. It defies all logic. You would think it would be stuff that was easy on your stomach like toast and rice would be better, but nope!”

Steve took Eddie’s hand. “Thanks for taking care of me. I appreciate it.”

Eddie blushed to his roots. “You don’t need to thank me. I just did what the next person would have done.”

Jeff snorted. “Bullshit. You went above and beyond and you know it. There is no shame in accepting his thanks. You did good, man.”

Eddie shoved his hair in front of his face to hide his embarrassment. “You’re welcome, Stevie.”

“I think you should go lay back down,” Jeff suggested to Steve. “We’ll be here if you need us.”

Steve nodded and wandered back to Eddie’s room. He closed the door and laid down, sure that he wouldn’t sleep as he had already slept a lot. But it appeared he needed it more than he thought as he drifted back to dreamland.

***

Part 6

Tag List: @spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @artiststarme @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @chaoticlovingdreamer @maya-custodios-dionach @goodolefashionedloverboi @messrs-weasley @val-from-lawrence @i-must-potato @danili666 @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog @justforthedead89 @bookworm0690 @vecnuthy @bookbinderbitch @littlewildflowerkitten @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @scheodingers-muppet @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @genderless-spoon @anne-bennett-cosplayer @irregular-child @lololol-1234 @monsterloverforhire @mugloversonly @live-the-fangirl-life @hellfireone @lublix @breealtair @croatoan-like-its-hot @f0xxyb0xxes @jamieweasley13 @r0binscript @confuseddisastertm @sleepdeprivedflower @thedragonsaunt @dissociatingdemon @dragonmama76

[eyneyke]

Felix's realisation pt.2

Pairing: Max Verstappen x PewDiePie!sibling Summary: What if Felix had a genius brother who works as a RedBull's engineer and is also secretly dating Max part 9 of A Calm to my Storm Masterlist

Felix was still reeling from the Reddit threads as he tried to regain some composure on the live stream. Jack, on the other hand, was having the time of his life, grinning as he scrolled through more comments about Sam. The chat, of course, was absolutely relentless.

Fan 77: “Felix, you really didn’t know the Max Sam was talking about was world champion Max?! 😂”

Fan 78: “Jack’s a secret F1 nerd, and Felix didn’t even know it!”

Fan 79: “Felix, you need to bring Sam on stream to address the people thirsting for him. We demand it.”

---

Felix leaned in, squinting at the chat. "Okay, okay, slow down! You guys really want Sam to come on stream? Why? He's just my little brother... who apparently has ridiculously popular arms?" He glanced at Jack, bewildered.

Jack threw his hands up, barely able to contain his laughter. “Felix, the internet thirsts for anyone remotely attractive, and Sam happens to be a good-looking dude who's also a genius with cars. And apparently, Max Verstappen's personal favourite. You should see the stuff people are saying!”

Felix groaned, rubbing his face. “Why do I feel like I'm going to regret this?”

Jack laughed harder. “Because you definitely will!”

---

Fan 80: "We demand Sam live reaction! Felix, do it! Bring Sam back on the stream!"

Fan 81: "Jack being an F1 nerd is actually the best reveal of the year!"

Fan 82: "Felix: Sam is just my little brother, Internet: obsesses"

---

Jack kept reading the comments aloud, trying to get Felix more hyped about the situation. “Look at this one: Sam Kjellberg is the most humble, under-the-radar engineer with the best arms in motorsport. Discuss.”

Felix laughed and threw his hands up. “Why are you guys like this?! He’s just doing his job! Now people are making it sound like Sam’s a model or something.”

---

Fan 83: “Low-key Sam is giving model vibes though, let’s be real.”

Fan 84: “This is the thirst trap of the century and Felix has no idea.”

Fan 85: “Pewds, you better tell Sam to check out Reddit—there’s a shrine to his arms now.”

---

Felix was caught off guard, practically choking on his laughter. “A shrine to his arms? Are you guys for real?!”

Jack was grinning from ear to ear. “Felix, Reddit is a wild place. They’ll create fan pages for anything. Sam just happens to be their latest obsession. Oh, and Max egging them on? That’s like adding fuel to the fire!”

Felix leaned back in his chair, shaking his head. “You guys, this is insane. Sam is probably going to kill me if he finds out how deep this obsession runs.”

---

Fan 86: “Max Verstappen, F1 champion and Sam Kjellberg’s #1 fan.”

Fan 87: “Felix, do you even realise how many photos of Sam are floating around now? He’s the F1 fandom’s new crush.”

Fan 88: “Jack should host an F1 watch party with Felix, that’s the content we need now!”

---

Felix laughed again, reading the chat. "Jack, I’m not even into F1, but apparently, you're a huge fan?"

Jack shrugged, grinning sheepishly. "Guilty as charged. I've been watching F1 for years, man. Red Bull’s my team. I even bought merch—don’t judge me!”

The chat erupted with excitement.

---

Fan 89: “Jack as a Red Bull Racing stan is the best plot twist.”

Fan 90: “Jack doing F1 watch parties confirmed!”

Fan 91: “Jack, are you a Max fan? Admit it!”

---

Felix pointed at Jack, laughing even harder. “See? Now they’re dragging you into it! You’ve exposed yourself!”

Jack shook his head, laughing. “Yeah, yeah. I love Max and the Red Bull team, but this obsession with Sam is something else. Honestly, I didn’t even know it was unknown that he was PewDiePie's brother until now! That’s just insane to me.”

Felix shrugged, grinning at the camera. “I guess we didn't really give people anything to go with about Sam.”

The chat was on fire, throwing more questions at the duo, but Felix was now fully into it, rolling with the punches.

---

Fan 92: “Sam needs to tell Max about this live stream!”

Fan 93: “Jack is geeking out over Max. This is amazing.”

Fan 94: “Can you IMAGINE Felix, Jack, and Max all in the same room talking about Sam?!”

---

Felix leaned forward, scrolling through the chat. "Alright, alright. So, let me get this straight—you want me to bring Sam on stream just to watch him react to people thirsting over him?"

The chat flooded with "YES!" comments, and Jack burst into laughter again. “I mean, yeah, Felix. This is what the people want.”

Felix shook his head, half-amused, half-incredulous. “I’ll try, but no promises, he is a busy guy! And you guys better behave if he agrees to come on next time!”

---

Fan 95: “We make no promises, Felix.”

Fan 96: “Felix bringing Sam to a thirst trap live is all we want in 2024.”

Fan 97: “This is what peak internet content looks like. Jack, Felix, and Sam in the same stream.”

---

Felix sighed dramatically, throwing his arms up. “Fine, fine. I’ll let him know. But seriously, you guys are wild. Poor Sam has no idea what’s waiting for him on the internet.”

Jack grinned mischievously. “You know, Felix, we could invite Max too. Make it a whole thing. F1 world meets PewDiePie world.”

Felix gave Jack a look. “Don’t you dare put me in the middle of that.”

But the chat was already losing it at the thought of Max and Sam both appearing in the same live stream, and Jack was clearly enjoying the chaos.

---

Fan 98: “Max and Sam in the same live? Let’s manifest this.”

Fan 99: “Jack, please! Make this happen!”

Fan 100: “Felix, Jack, Sam, and Max. The internet wouldn’t survive.”

---

Felix groaned but couldn’t hide his grin. “Okay, this has gone too far. You guys are insane. I’m ending this stream before you rope me into some F1 live stream with Max and Sam.”

Jack laughed, but before Felix could click off, the chat lit up again, and Felix couldn’t help but laugh as he read the comments pouring in.

---

Fan 101: “Felix, you can’t escape now! You’re in too deep.”

Fan 102: “Felix, bring back Sam and give us what we want!”

---

Felix shook his head, finally closing the stream with a grin. “Alright, alright. See you next time, you crazy people. Maybe Sam will join… maybe.”

And with that, the live ended, leaving the internet buzzing with anticipation for the possibility of Sam Kjellberg’s next appearance.

[steddieasitgoes]

@steddiemas Day 25: Christmas Day Traditions & Activities

Tags: Pre-Relationship Steddie, Christmas Morning, Christmas Fluff, Supportive Wayne Munson, Eddie Munson Is A Sweetheart,

wc: 1488 | Rating: G

Read on ao3 | ao3 collection

It’s not that Steve likes to be alone on Christmas.

He doesn’t think anyone likes to be alone on Christmas — let alone someone who aspires to be a father to six little nuggets one day.

But he has a hard time taking his friends up on their offers to host him for Christmas. Doesn’t want to feel like a burden or impose on anyone’s traditions.

He’s tried in the past — joining the Hendersons in ’84 and Robin basically held him hostage in ’85, refusing to let him wallow alone in his house like some Grinch (her words not his).

No matter how accommodating the Hendersons and Buckleys were or how many times Dustin and Robin assured him that he wasn’t imposing, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he didn’t belong. The cold weight in his gut and the nagging voice in his head telling him if his parents didn’t want him why would anyone else?

(He should probably go to therapy to get that checked out.)

It’s fine though, because Steve’s curated his own Christmas traditions now.

He wakes up whenever he wants to — usually still early because his body has never adjusted to the fact that it no longer needs to wake up at the ass crack of dawn to train — and makes himself an omelet or two. Then he moves into the living room and opens the gift Robin always leaves behind for him because she refuses to let him open something on Christmas.

After making his “Merry Christmas” calls and assuring Robin and Dustin that he’s fine and no, he doesn’t want to come over, he heats up the homemade casserole Ms. Henderson makes Dustin deliver by bike on the 23rd and settles down on the couch to watch this year’s Christmas Day basketball games.

It’s not much, but it works for Steve.

At least, it did until this year when Eddie threw a literal wrench in his plans by coaxing him into coming over because his car wouldn’t start and he had to pick Wayne up from a last-minute shift at the factory.

Honestly, Steve should have known it was a trap the minute he mentioned Wayne working a Christmas morning shift. Wayne and him aren’t close by any means, but he knows there’s no way Eddie’s Uncle would work on Christmas day and leave him home alone. He actually has good parenting habits, unlike some people in his life.

Still, the phone call came at six in the morning and Steve was too dizzy with sleep to question his motives until he pulled up at the Munsons to find both cars parked in their usual spots.

He doesn’t even have time to make a quick escape because Eddie’s perched on the worn sofa outside watching him.

“Took you long enough,” Eddie teases, sauntering over to Steve.

“From the looks of it you didn’t even need my help,” Steve sasses back as he gets out of the car. “Isn’t that Wayne’s car?”

Eddie glances in the direction Steve points as if he isn’t aware of the pickup truck. “Huh, guess it is. Must have been a dream I was having or something.”

“Or, something. Right,” Steve snorts, shaking his head.

“Well,” Eddie claps his hands together startling Steve. “Since we don’t actually need your help and you’re already here, you should stay for breakfast.”

“That’s okay, Eddie. I don’t—“

“Ah, ah, ah,” Eddie tuts. “You’re not bailing on me now, Stevie. Wayne’s in there whipping up his famous Christmas morning breakfast. You haven’t lived until you’ve tried his French toast casserole.”

Arguing with Eddie is worse than arguing with Dustin, so Steve saves his energy and agrees to stay for breakfast. He apologizes profusely to Wayne for the intrusion, earning a gruff “nonsense boy, you’re always welcome here,” several times before Wayne finally swats him with the spatula and insists he shut up or else.

The casserole is as delicious as Eddie made it out to be. Not that Steve was skeptical of Wayne’s ability to cook. He’s been over for chili nights and eaten Wayne’s perfectly cooked and fresh fish after the fishing trip Eddie also tricked Steve into attending.

With a full belly and Eddie’s demand met, he’s planning on heading out when he spots the mountain of dishes in the small sink. His parents may not have raised him to be kind and thoughtful, but it's the man he’s become so he hikes up the sleeves on his maroon sweater and gets to work cleaning the dishes even though both Wayne and Eddie shout at him that there’s “no chores on Christmas.” When they both offer to help, Steve throws “no chores on Christmas” back in their faces and shoos them out of the kitchen with a smile and lots of gruff laughter. 

He’s almost finished with the washing when the snow starts to fall. Not cute little snowflakes like in the movies. Oh no. Big ass sheets of snow dropping faster and faster as the seconds tick by.

Christ.

“Snowin’ mighty bad out there,” Wayne whistles, coming inside from the smoke break he insisted on taking outside. Kicking off his boots, he walks over to Steve and claps a hand on his shoulder. “‘Fraid you ain’t going anywhere.”

“I mean, it’s not that bad,” Steve says, throwing the dish towel over his other shoulder as he peers out the window. Who is he kidding? There’s no way the beemer is going to make it three feet in this weather let alone the two and a half miles to his house.

“You’ve got to be kidding, Steve!” Eddie shouts, from his spot on the couch. “If I let you leave in this weather and something happens, Henderson and Buckley will literally have my head on a stake. You’re staying and that’s final.”

He turns, expecting to find Wayne ready to object to Eddie’s theatrics but what he finds instead is the gruff man nodding his head in agreement.

“Guess m’staying then.”

Steve’s no stranger to surprises, but he’s downright perplexed when Wayne announces that it’s time to watch the Knicks game and Eddie doesn’t balk or go on some long-winded rant about how sports and Christmas don’t go together. Instead, he watches as Eddie nods and curls up on the sofa while Wayne settles in on the recliner.

“Hold on,” Steve says, waving his hands in the air to get their attention. “You, Eddie Munson, are going to watch basketball without complaining?”

“S’our Christmas tradition,” Wayne says.

“Unfortunately,” Eddie mumbles which earns him a pillow to the face curtesy of Wayne. “Hey!”

Wayne chuckles, shaking his head before shifting his attention back to Steve. “First Christmas I had Eddie, the boy was so upset after openin’ his gifts ‘cause he didn’t have nothin’ for me. Told him not to worry, just wanted him to watch the game with me. S’been a tradition ever since.”

Steve opens his mouth to say something when Eddie chimes in cutting him off.

“If you’re going to call me a hypocrite, save it.” “I wasn’t going to,” Steve says, holding his hands up in surrender. Crossing the room, he takes a seat on the sofa with Eddie, leaving the middle cushion open. “Actually, I was going to say watching the game is my Christmas tradition too.”

“Oh,” Eddie says. “Maybe it could be our tradition now. Wayne, me, you. I mean, I might not know what the hell is going on, but Wayne knows lots of fun stats he loves to share.” “Watch yourself, boy,” Wayne scolds with no bite. “S’you who never shuts up during the game. Always narrating made-up things while they play.”

“You know you love it!” Eddie defends, flipping Wayne off. After he turns his attention back to Steve, “M’sure watching with us will be better than watching alone, right?”

It’s presumptuous is what it is.

The thought of Steve coming over to the Munsons year after year to watch the basketball game. Cheer on teams and criticize plays with Wayne, listen to Eddie’s improv commentary. As if they want him crashing their traditions forever.

But something about the offer warms the usual Christmas day ache in his gut.

The truth is Steve doesn’t feel like a burden when he’s here with Wayne and Steve. He doesn’t feel like an awkward third wheel or like he’s a fly on the wall, listening to inside jokes and not understanding them.

He feels like an equal.

Like he belongs.

And what a wonderful feeling that is.

Maybe he won’t always spend Christmas with Wayne and Eddie and whatever NBA teams are playing, but today he will.

And he’s not going to deny himself this tradition next year or the year after that or any year Eddie and Wayne are eager to host him.

“Yeah, Eds,” Steve says pulling himself from his reprieve. “This is much better than watching the game alone.”

[specialinterestshows]

Try to enjoy some downtime in this latest chapter of my Rhea Ripley x lady!reader fic, Absolute Smokeshow.

Warnings for this section: Cannabis (weed), dirty talk, jealousy, blood, crying

-

Absolute Smokeshow (Part 84 of ?): Ring My Bell

One morning, you awoke ravenous to the most delicious smells; you wondered for a second if you had somehow fallen asleep in the kitchen, before sitting up and opening your eyes.

“Breakfast in bed?” you asked, more out of surprise than anything. “You spoil me.”

“I thought you could use it,” Marisol grinned as you eagerly grabbed a bit of food from one of the overflowing dishes on the tray she held on her lap. “Besides, I don’t have work tonight.”

The moment you took a bite, your eyes rolled back in your head at the taste before grabbing more.

“Want to come with me to a friend’s show?” Mari asked.

“Sure,” you replied after a bit more chewing. “What kind of show?”

“Remember that indie wrestling scene I mentioned?” She gauged your reaction as she continued. “A friend says they need more engagement, so I promised I would go support them.”

Now it wasn’t just your breakfast you needed to chew over before answering. It was already enough feeling guilty for not spending every spare moment looking for another source of income, but going out in public to a wrestling event?

Seeing your hesitation, she gently set her hand on your thigh. “No pressure.”

After a moment more of consideration - pitting logic against your anxiety - you took a deep breath.

“I’ll go with you,” you agreed, “On two conditions.”

-

“Eres tan linda,” Mari reassured you, watching the way you kept fidgeting with the curls of the wig you were borrowing from her - condition one of your attendance being help with a disguise. Mari had also been kind enough to do your makeup in a way that made you look a bit less like yourself.

“Thank you. Do you have the-“ you began nervously, before she pulled condition two out of her bra to show you: a cigarette carton whose original contents had been replaced with beautifully-rolled joints.

Letting out a sigh of relief, you started scouting for a good smoking spot. After looking across the sparse array of parked cars, a nice, out-of-the-way alley materialized in your periphery; you pointed it out to your companion before venturing together toward the space.

Checking your phone as Mari started off the joint, you felt your face heating up when you read Rhea’s reply to the selfie of you in your disguise:

“Looks like Mami’s going to have to start dressing you up before she ruins you, doll. Suits you”

With the little black heart at the end, you read it in the sultry voice she used in bed and a thrill went up your spine. You typed your thanks, hitting send as the lit joint was handed to you.

“So how do you feel about PDA?” Mari asked as you slowly exhaled your first hit.

“I’m not opposed,” you replied, handing the joint back. “Why? Is this when I find out the local indie wrestling scene has some weird tradition where the audience make out instead of cheering or something?”

“I just wanted to make sure I asked ahead of time,” she laughed, giving you a confused look as she licked her thumb and passed it along the side of the paper that was burning too quickly.

“Hey, once I went to this slam poetry thing and they snapped instead of applauding,” you explained defensively. “Anything is possible.”

“Pues, now that I think about it, maybe we should make out instead of cheering,” Mari said, barely containing her amusement, “Just in case.”

-

Looking at the photo of her disguised girlfriend and seeing a bit of Marisol’s crimson red hair in the background, Rhea felt restless. She was alone in her hotel room, Dominik having gone on a date with JD (he refused to call it a date, but it was going to be just the two of them getting to know each other over dinner.) Rhea did her best to send an appropriately complimentary message in response to her girlfriend, sighing as she hit “send.” She didn’t expect to hear much from either of her partners until tomorrow; neither one of them needed her tonight.

The ache in her chest drove Rhea to scroll through her contacts, trying to make plans to keep herself from fixating on any number of things her loves might be doing with other people. A few names stood out to her more than the others as she skimmed her phone’s address book:

Finn Balor. Probably having the night of his life now that Damian doesn’t have to worry about JD.

Shayna Baszler. They hadn’t really gotten along in their NXT days, but maybe now that Rhea had come out… but that was a long shot.

Cathy Kelley. Rhea smirked as she recalled her night with Cathy, but her smile faltered as soon as reporter’s confession came back to her: “That was the first time I came with someone else.” If she was going to spend the night with Cathy again, there was a fair chance the brunette might get too attached.

Liv Morgan. Not much of an option, given that the last time Rhea saw her, Liv was being taken to medical, courtesy of Rhea’s own brutality.

Groaning, Rhea threw her phone onto the bed nearby and ran her fingers through her hair, elbow resting on her legs. Why was this so difficult? Why couldn’t she just be happy for her partners and enjoy a night to herself?

As she stared at the hotel TV’s remote, contemplating whether she should order room service and cozy up with a movie or just walk over to the bar down the street, she heard a knock at her door. It was soft, and Rhea initially thought it may have just been someone walking past, luggage knocking against her door as they ambled down the hall.

A louder knock followed after a few moments, undeniable this time. Rhea stood up immediately, mind racing wondering who might be on the other side. By the time she was standing at the door, her fists were clenched, muscles reflexively preparing for a confrontation. Peering through the peephole, Rhea was surprised to see a familiar, nervous-looking blonde.

“Um, R-Rhea?” The muffled voice sounded tearful, as if each syllable was trying to hold back a sob. “Are you there?”

“One sec,” Rhea said, standing down from her defensive position as she quickly unlocked and opened the door.

Dried blood in her hair, knees scuffed, and one heel broken, the trembling woman standing in the doorway had mascara running down her cheeks, eyes glistening with the threat of more tears as she looked up at the Eradicator.

Without a word, Thea Hail threw her arms around a confused Rhea, breaking down into loud sobs.

[end part eighty-two]

-

Tag list (thank you!)

@babybatlover , @girlofpink , @kagome2909 , @jackiesnats , @wiccanpriestess , @falloutboy-lover , @aut0luminescence , @riverina69 , @itsrheasgirl , @1-800-sinister , @ripleylove , @teganc , @wwefan2002

[lovelynim]

Losing Count

Genshin Impact - Alhaitham x Kaveh

A/N: So... if anyone is wondering where this came from, I found a fanart in Twitter that greatly inspired me. After two polls, here we are

Summary: After having his work out routine disturbed, Alhaitham decides to give Kaveh a challenge

Word count: 1279 words

“83… 84… 85… wow, you are really good at this!”

“You know….” Alhaitham grunted, pushing his body up despite the weight on his back, “you are not… really helping.”

Kaveh grinned at his boyfriend’s complaining, crossing one ankle after the other as he allowed himself to enjoy the ride. “Come on, how do you expect to gain something from your training if you don’t step up the difficulty?”

Alhaitham regretted all his past actions that led him to his current state. “Whatever… just keep… counting…”

He didn’t know why he agreed with all this. Maybe he just wanted to show off or tease Kaveh in some way… still, it was too late to go back on his words now and he didn’t even want to think about how annoying Kaveh would become if he gave up.

“Right right, where was I? Ah, yes, 66… 67-”

“You were… at 86…”

Kaveh chuckled again, feign ignorance as Alhaitham finished another push-up, “sorry, I keep losing count ~”

With the blonde sitting on his back, the scribe felt like his 100 push-ups session was being dragged for hours and hours in an unending cycle. And with Kaveh counting out loud - constantly going to and fro between the numbers - he was starting to believe that he had already beat that mark a long while ago.

“87… 88… 89- Huh? Come on, Haitham, you are so close!” Kaveh cheered, giving the other a couple of taps on his shoulder and thanking the archons the scribe couldn’t look at the grin in his face right now. 

Lying beneath him, Alhaitham was giving it his best efforts to tense the muscles in his arms again, but he was really starting to give it in. 

“Y-you are… too h-heavy…” he groaned, managing to get back up, adding one more to the count. 

“Hah?! Heavy?!” Kaveh gasped, acting as offended as possible, “just admit you are too weak to finish a session, Haitham.”

‘As if you could do half of it’, the other man thought as his boyfriend continued to talk. He just needed to ignore him a little longer and he could finally finish this endless session. “Just… keep counting, K-Kaveh…”

Tsking at his his boyfriend’s comment, the architect rested his hands on Alhaitham’s back to give himself some extra support. “Fine… where was I at? Right, 71… 72…” The smugness on his voice was clear, not even hiding the fact that he was messing up the count on purpose anymore.

The muscles of Alhaitham’s arms were already sore, his legs tired from the constant tension and drops of sweat falling off his forehead. Yet, Kaveh didn’t seem to mind his struggle, even amusing himself with it.

“What? Are you giving up?” Kaveh hummed in mockery, tapping his boyfriend’s shoulder as Alhaitham laid flat on the ground, with his arms sprawled next to his head. The scribe muttered something, but his words didn’t quite make it to Kaveh’s ears. “Hm? ‘You’ what?”

“I said… I’m. Done.” Alhaitham repeated, a little louder this time. Before he could alarm Kaveh any further, the scribe used the last bits of his strength to push his body up and make his partner fall off him.

Letting out an audible grunt as his butt hit the ground, Kaveh barely had time to react as Alhaitham rolled him over and sat on his back. “My turn now,” the scribe huffed with annoyance clear in his voice.

“W-wait, agh… I-I can’t!” Kaveh struggled beneath him, not able to move a single inch despite all his efforts.

“You don’t need to do 100, just 10. Or ‘are you too weak to finish a session’, Kaveh?” Alhaitham chuckled, enjoying the taste of revenge as he wouldn’t even bulge no matter how hard Kaveh tried to get up.

“Y-you are… too heavy, Haitham! Aghh, g-get off me!” 

“Only when you finish your session,” Alhaitham mused, placing his hands on Kaveh’s shoulder, “come on, start it already.”

Kaveh groaned in frustration, able to make far from enough strength to actually do a push-up. Truth to be told, he wasn’t even sure he could do it on his own, and with Alhaitham sitting on his back? He knew he didn’t stand a chance against that task.

“I already told you, I can’t!”

“Hmm,” Alhaitham muttered, looking down at Kaveh as an idea popped up in his head, “I believe you just need the right… incentive.”

Sliding his hands down Kaveh’s back, Alhaitham rested his thumbs over his boyfriend’s wing bones and dug at the blonde’s ribs with the rest of his fingers, making a high-pitched and surprised squeal leave Kaveh’s lips.

“AHALHAHAITAM!! AhahAHA, nohOHOH!!” Shrieking as if it was some kind of murder attempt, Kaveh pressed his elbows down to his sides, trying to protect himself from the merciless assault.

“Come on, do it. I’ll stop if you can finish the session,” Alhaitham muttered in a calm, uninterested tone. His words could barely be heard through the loud laughter as he prodded and poked, tickling Kaveh with ease.

The architect kicked his feet behind his boyfriend, squirming left and right like some kind of worm, but he couldn’t move a single inch with the scribe resting like an imobile boulder on his back. “Y-YOHOHOU! AhahAHAh, h-hohorrible mahAHAn! LEHEHET GO!”

“Keep talking and you’ll have to do 100,” Alhaitham scolded, clearly enjoying the turn of tables. Much to his surprise, Kaveh actually tried to do one push-up despite having his ribs mercilessly tickled by his boyfriend. Of course, he wouldn’t let that go without teasing, “you know, you need to keep your arms away from your torso if you want to do it properly.”

“S-stoHOHOp tahahalking!!” Kaveh whined, letting out another squeal when the Alhaitham used his index finger to poke his underarms. 

“I’m merely giving you some advice,” the scribe continued, letting out a lazy sigh as he continued the tickling, continuing to wiggle his fingers despite Kaveh’s attempts to block him, “you also need to keep your legs straight, otherwise you won’t do it right.”

Kaveh cried out softly through his laughter, resting his face against the floor as he could do nothing but laugh. All the (little) strength he had was leaving his body with each tickle. It almost made him regret messing with his boyfriend earlier, “I cahAHAn’t!! HAHahaitam, pleheHEHEHAhase!”

Despite his begging, Alhaitham didn’t seem like he was going to stop anytime soon. Stopping to move his fingers, but keeping them pressing against Kaveh’s oh-so-sensitive spots, the scribe leaned his face down, muttering a little close to the blonde’s ear. “Not so easy, right?”

“Y-yeheah! I g-gehehet it!!” Kaveh admitted, feeling as his whole body tensed with anticipation by having Alhaitham’s hands ready to strike at any moment, “I-i’m sohohorry, o-ok? Don’t b-be mehean!”

“Mean?” Alhaitham chuckled in a way that made Kaveh shiver. The architect had a bad feeling about this. “I only asked you for a 10 push-ups session, it’s not even the same thing…”

“A-AlhaithAHAHam!” Kaveh squealed as the scribe gave his ribs another squeeze, making his heart beat even faster than before. “N-nohOHo, please!”

“Let’s go for 5 then, is it better, Ka-veh?” Alhaitham mused, digging his finger in again and making another high-pitched and embarrassing noise come out of his partner. Waiting for Kaveh’s answer for his offer, Alhaitham raised his eyebrow as he felt his body moving up, noticing that Kaveh was actually doing it. 

“One…,” Alhaitham said once Kaveh’s arms were totally tense. After lowering his body, Kaveh’s body suddenly dropped back to the ground before he could finish the second push-up.

“ALHAHAITHAM! AHahah, n-nooho!” 

“Ah… sorry, I lost count, Kaveh,” Alhaitham muttered, smiling wickedly, “let’s start again, yes?”

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲

84 for ⚖️:

---

But he supposes fair doesn’t matter anymore, does it?

ii. 

Eddie coming over after his shift wakes Buck up the next morning. Buck slept incredibly well. No symptoms, no dreams, no being psychically entrapped by a goddess, nothing. It’s a huge relief. He needed that. He climbs out of bed feeling rested and less horrified about everything happening to him. 

“How are you doing?” Eddie asks when Buck makes his way down the loft stairs.

“A lot better,” Buck admits. “I, uh… I know what’s going on now. I just didn’t want to explain it over text.”

“You do?” Eddie asks, eyes wide. “Uh, what is it? How bad is it?”

Buck frowns. He’s still not sure of the answer to that final question. 

“Well, it’s kind of unbelievable…”

Buck launches into his story. Everything that happened, from the call where things got bad to his encounter with Lawrence. By the end of the explanation, Eddie’s face is twisted with… With something that surprises Buck. It looks like fear. Like something more intense than fear, even.

“Eddie…” Buck pleads. He had expected dubiousness. Disbelief. Not… This. 

“I’m sorry,” Eddie blurts, stepping backwards towards the door. Like he’s going to bolt. “I… I can’t… I’m sorry, Buck.”

“What are you doing?” Buck asks, voice suddenly thick with panic. Eddie can’t leave him. There is no one else in the world he can talk to about this. He needs Eddie. He desperately needs him. 

“You… You’re gonna see, I… I’m not a good person,” Eddie says. “I’m… I don’t… You always thought I was, despite everything.”

Buck is certain his eyes almost bug out of his head. 

“Eddie, what? You’re… No! No, you are a good person.”

“I can’t be,” Eddie shakes his head. “I know what I’ve done.”

“O-okay, but I-I can actually objectively tell now!” Buck exclaims. “That’s literally the only point of me now!”

Eddie takes a shaky breath. 

“You’re not crimson the way they were,” Buck keeps saying. “My stupid tattoo doesn’t do its stupid thing around you. Okay? You’re not bad, Eddie. I know you aren’t!”

“You’re just biased,” Eddie says.

“I’m not!” Buck protests.

“How do you know?” Eddie demands. “You’re biased all the time about the people you care about! We all are!”

“If that was true in this case, I don’t think my actual boyfriend would have an evil red glow!” Buck rebuts, exasperated. 

Eddie stills. Thinking it through. This piece of logic seems to snag the momentum of his own self-loathing. 

“You are biased about Tommy,” Eddie says. 

Buck scoffs. “Come on, I-”

“You think he’s better than he is, too.” 

“I, what? I mean, okay, clearly. But how did you know that?” Eddie shrugs. His eyes are on the floor. “Doesn’t treat you as well as he should.”

---

75 for 🌲:

---

“You can?” Eddie asks. “Seriously?”

“Yeah,” Buck rasps. He can. He won’t do anything. 

The thing is, he’s not feeling anything he hasn’t felt before. It’s something he’s been feeling for years. Buried deep underneath misunderstanding himself and insecurity and an overall sense of hopelessness. Futility. Why was there ever any point in letting him feel this entirely? This hunger. It could never happen. Now? Now all he’s feeling is that hunger, amplified. Amplified so much, he doesn’t even notice the futility. All he knows is that he will never put that hunger on Eddie. He will never do anything to Eddie that doesn’t doesn’t want. Doesn’t ask for. 

Eddie takes a step toward him. “But you… You uh…”

“Yeah,” Buck nods. “A lot.”

Because once again, Buck finds himself unable to lie. Or even pretend he doesn’t understand what Eddie is trying to ask. 

Eddie steps towards him. Buck remains frozen. Afraid of making any further movements. 

“What if…” Eddie exhales. “What if I don’t really want you to?”

“You don’t… You don’t want me to want you?” Buck asks. He already knew that. He already knew. 

“I don’t want you to control yourself,” Eddie says, quietly. Quietly, but Buck can still hear. 

“You don’t really mean that,” Buck mumbles. 

Eddie exhales shakily. 

“I do, though. I really do.”

Buck takes a step forward and stops himself. He wants to, but he shouldn’t. He really shouldn’t. 

“Please, Buck,” Eddie sort of whimpers. 

And that undoes it. All of Buck’s resolve. 

🌲

Eddie doesn’t know what he’s doing. He doesn’t know why he wants this. All he knows is that he does. Desperately. 

It’s not the magic. It’s not whatever he is. He didn’t want Tommy at all. No part of him did. He was repulsed by Tommy, at that moment. In a way he hadn’t been, when he first met Tommy, and Tommy was always after his attention. Tommy’s advances had sickened him, frightened him. Nothing about Buck does that. And so he finds himself asking, begging. For something he had no idea he even wanted. 

But god does he want it now. 

Buck has a sort of hazy look in his eyes. He strides towards Eddie, making an anticipatory heat pool in Eddie’s stomach. He goes sort of lightheaded. Buck grabs Eddie, one hand cupping his cheek, one hand on the small of his back. He kisses him. No hesitation, no tentativeness. 

Eddie’s never felt anything like it. 

It’s either the magic or some sort of sexual revelation. Who’s to say? His whole body is on fire. Hot like embers after over a week of feeling cold. It feels so good. It feels intoxicating. Eddie wants to drown in this. 

Buck pulls away from Eddie and looks into his eyes for a second. His pupils are blown. Expression awed. How long has Buck wanted this? Does he actually want it? Or is it all just-

Eddie’s thoughts are cut off by Buck’s mouth finding his throat. 

[drpeppertummy]

finally fed max after saying i was gonna like 84 years ago. very mild forgive me the next one will be more thrilling

[very mild hunger, very mild stuffing]

"Look at you, with your little summer tummy," Marsha giggled, slipping her arms around Max's waist from behind. The summer tummy was a rare sight. It only began to show up around July, and it was typically gone not long after the beginning of September. It was small, just barely enough to it for it to poke out against his shirt, but it was there: a tiny little pooch of proof that Max was, for a few months, relaxed enough to eat regularly. Right now it was particularly visible, peeking out ever so slightly beneath the hem of the little tank top that he usually only wore to bed.

"I bet we could get you lookin' nice and solid if you got yourself a new job," said Alfie. "Get a nice sit-down job, you'd get a good belly on you."

"Oh, please," grinned Max, rolling his eyes. "I have a sit-down job, they just don't let me sit down for it." He went on chopping vegetables, trying not to squirm at the tickly sensation of Marsha kneading that tiny bit of softness. Finally, he stopped and turned around in her arms.

"You are gonna make me chop my fingers off," he said, hugging her tight. He rested his chin atop her head. Alfie bumped him aside with his hip and took over the chopping.

"Hey, lovebirds, you're slackin' off."

"Hey, lovebird yourself. C'mere and gimme a kiss," said Max, leaning down to give Alfie a peck on the cheek. Alfie set down the knife and threw his arms around Max, pulling him down for a kiss and nearly toppling both him and Marsha over in the process.

"Alfie, you ape," exclaimed Marsha, laughing. Alfie leaned in and gave her a kiss too before releasing them. As he did, Max's belly rumbled softly. Alfie smiled and patted it.

"Come on, let's get this shit in the oven," he said, dumping the vegetables in the pan.

Together, the trio made an attractive dinner of roasted chicken and vegetables, primarily carrots and potatoes, laid out comfortably on each plate over a bed of rice. Marsha dished out the portions evenly while Max set the table and Alfie wiped down the counter. Three Marsha-sized portions meant, of course, that Max's was a hair too big for his appetite and Alfie's was a hair too small, but that was alright. There was plenty left in the pan, and Alfie could dip into it for seconds if finishing off Max's leftovers still failed to fill his bottomless stomach.

Max was hungrier than he'd thought. He'd eaten lunch earlier than usual that day, then spent a long afternoon straightening up the house, not that he ever let it get particularly un-straightened. Still, after hours of dusting, sweeping, and vacuuming, his stomach was growling eagerly for a bite of hot food, and he happily dug in. The tender chicken and flavorful vegetables were a welcome guest in his watering mouth, and even more welcome in his hungry belly.

"I may have put a little too much on your plate," said Marsha. "Although, who knows, maybe you've got room in there." She gave Max a friendly poke in the tummy.

"I don't know, that thing's pretty small," said Alfie with an impish smile. Max gave him a look of playful annoyance. "Hey, we'll work on it! Go on, get eating, we'll have you fattened up in no time." Max rolled his eyes and scooped up another forkful of rice.

It didn't take long for Max's hunger to be sated--he was never a big eater, after all--but he still had food on his plate and some space in his stomach, his capacity improved by eating more regularly than he did during the school year. Still enjoying the tasty homemade dinner, he went on eating where he might ordinarily have had to call it quits. He felt pleasantly full, and while there was a vague snugness blooming in his tummy, discomfort was not yet on the horizon.

"Hey, you're really going at it," remarked Marsha, impressed. "I didn't think you'd be able to finish that much!"

"Well, I know a couple of good cooks, and they make it hard to quit," said Max. He was admittedly beginning to feel pretty full now, but there was only a little bit left on his plate. He paused for a moment, considering his belly. It felt tight, but not uncomfortable. He let a tiny bit of swallowed air rise up and silently escape, and then he scooped up another bite.

The last few bites were more difficult to put away than the rest had been. Space was limited now in Max's full tummy, and each bite made it feel just a little bit tighter. For a moment, he thought he wouldn't be able to finish after all, but, against all odds, he cleaned his plate.

"Hey, alright, Max!" Alfie gave him an approving thump on the back. It dislodged a sudden burp, and Max blushed, but Alfie just laughed.

Max didn't realize how much his belly was poking out until he stood up to clean. It was still smaller than both his partners' bellies even when they weren't full, but it was noticeable on his skinny frame, especially in his little tank top. There was more skin peeking out than there had been before, revealing a snug little bulge framed nicely between his hipbones. Marsha smiled and hugged him from behind, cupping his tummy in her hands. She was amused to find that some of the softness had been lost to the tautness of his full stomach.

"I can't believe you finished all that," she said, bumping her head against his shoulder. "You must be stuffed!"

"A little," he confessed. "It was good, though."

"Well, it makes me happy to see you eating more. You get so damn skinny during the school year!"

"I know, I know. I'll be better about it this year."

"Mm, I'll believe it when I see it," chuckled Marsha.

[joshsindigostreak]

I See Hell in Your Eyes

Chapter Nine

“Your pretty face and electric soul.”

Vampire!Josh x Vampire!Reader

Authors Note: Good morning, readers! Sorry for putting yall through the wringer in Chapter Eight. It will happen again, but not in this chapter! This one is a lot sweeter. If you haven’t read Chapter Eight yet I highly suggest you do so because this chapter won’t make a lot of sense without it. Also as always my inbox and DMs are always open so if you want to come scream at me after a chapter feel free to do so! Every single one of y'alls comments and thoughts means the world to me and I love hearing what you think. 😘😘😘

Word Count: 7310

Warnings: Graphic descriptions of blood, allusions to violence, SMUT, 18+, minors DNI, blood play, teasing, brat taming if you squint, fang play(?), I think that’s it. :)

Sixteen hours. That's how long Josh had been asleep. The first two hours, you didn’t even move. You just held him as he slept, gently cleaning up any blood with a towel and running your fingers through his hair. Eventually, you shifted from behind him and got him properly tucked in. But you kept your promise, your eyes never left him for a second. After redressing you laid down next to him on the bed over the duvet. 

You were so focused on him that you didn’t even hear the door open, or notice Dimitri standing next to the bed. 

“How is our dear Joshua?”

Without looking up, you say,, “he’s fine.”

“How long has it been?”

“Sixteen hours.”

Dimitri hummed in response, “how long did it take for you to wake up?”

“Two nights.”

“Typically it's around the same amount of time for a Maker and their new Vampire,” he paused and said, “have you slept at all, darling?”

Ignoring his question you replied, “some people don’t wake up at all…”

“Oh that's very rare, and you know that-”

“Rare, but not impossible.” 

“I knew someone who took six nights to come back, and do you remember that Mary girl who lived with us during the twenties? She took over a week. It all just depends, darling.” 

“How long did you take?”

He looked off in the distance for a moment, “roughly three nights. Woke up in the basement of a church of all places.”

“I was in a carriage,” you said softly, the memories floating back to you, “in the middle of the day, no less. He was inside, sleeping.” For a moment, you were back in that carriage, terrified and unsure of where you were. You had made the mistake of pulling one of the curtains to the side to look out the window, only to be immediately met with searing pain on your hand from the sun. It was hours before your Maker came back to check on you. 

Dimitri shook his head, “Isaac wasn’t the most…thoughtful of Maker’s.”

You sat up on the bed, laughing a little, “that's putting it mildly.” 

“Have you heard from him at all?”

“Not since ‘84, and even that was too much.” 

Dimitri chuckled slightly before turning towards the door, “you should come downstairs, Portia and Magnus are finally back from their holiday. They’d love to see you.”

You shook your head and looked back at Josh, “no, I’m good…I’m staying up here.”

He smiled warmly, “I meant what I said last night, that you must mean a lot to him. Some people beg to be turned for other reasons, power, immortality, staying young forever, but he simply didn’t want to see you hurt. He didn’t even hesitate once he heard the terms. Love like that is rare.” 

The l-word caught you off guard and you sputtered, “I don’t know…I mean…we’ve barely even…it's kind of soon for that.”

“We’re Vampires, darling, since when do we care about time?” You were silent, trying to will the blush away from your skin. Before he left the room, he said, “if you need anything, just call for Phillip. He’ll bring you anything you need.” 

You resisted the urge to make a smartass comment about Phillip, “thank you, Dimitri.”

“Any time, darling,” he said before disappearing down the hall. 

Josh remained still in the bed, having not moved very much at all in the last few hours. You reached over and brushed his curls back again, and you weren’t sure if you were soothing Josh or soothing yourself. 

As the hours passed, you could not fight off sleep any longer, eventually letting it wash over you as you laid beside your lover. It wasn’t a restful sleep, in fact you found yourself waking up every other hour or so. Each time you’d sit up and check the time, noting how long it had been. You were still so full from the draining that you couldn’t even fathom feeding for at least a couple more days. Dimitri had checked in a few more times, sitting beside the bed to keep you company, but you turned down any invitation to come downstairs. You couldn’t risk it. You couldn’t miss him waking up, you were not going to chance Josh waking up frightened and alone. You wouldn’t let history repeat itself. 

~!~

Miles away, a now solitary hunter paced around his brother’s apartment. He had not felt ‘right’ in hours. Specifically, sixteen hours and five minutes. His Witch had tried to calm him down several times, but this was something she couldn’t fix. Not with her words, not with her love, and not with her magic.

~!~

It was the second night now, and you were dozing next to him. Movement next to you had you snapping your eyes open, and you saw Josh had rolled over on his side, facing you. His eyes were still closed, but his brows were knitted tightly together, and a frown was fixed on his face. 

You reached out, wanting to smooth your hand over his face, but his hand shot out from under the covers and snatched your wrist midair. The reflex was too fast, and his grip was too hard to be…human. Your entire body froze. 

Suddenly his eyes snapped open, his brown eyes staring at you, but not seeing you. You were flipped onto your back as he hovered over you, hand still gripping your wrist next to your head. He was still looking at you as if he didn’t recognize you. That was common after a Vampire wakes up, as the adjustment period was far longer than the movies and books would lead you to believe. 

“Boy Scout…,” you whispered slightly, hoping to jog his memory.

A low rumble came from his chest in response. That was another thing, it often took Vampires a little while to regain the ability to speak. 

Breathing heavily over you, his eyes raked down your form and his other hand reached towards your face. Those soft fingertips of his grazed your cheek, tracing your bone structure, your nose, and down your neck. His hand curled around your neck, his thumb slid across your jaw and landed on your lips, a familiar move he had done many times. 

You remained stock still, letting him explore. His eyes hadn’t met yours again, instead he was staring down at your lips while his thumb rubbed your bottom lip a few times. Taking a chance, you slightly puckered your lips to kiss the pad of his thumb. He blinked several times before finally looking up and into your eyes. There he was. His eyes softened immediately and he opened his mouth to speak but no sound came out. He tried again, but it wasn’t happening for now. 

“It’s ok…you don’t have to talk right now, Josh,” you whispered. 

Instead, he crashed his lips onto yours, and sank his body down to rest fully on top of you. The hand wrapped around your wrist let go and slid up to thread his fingers in yours, which you gladly squeezed back. Now it was your turn to reach up and cup his face, feeling his muscles move as he tilted his head to get a better angle. 

But the sweet moment was cut short by him wrenching away from your face in pain. He sat up and straddled your waist, hands covering his mouth as he groaned into his palms. His fangs. They were trying to come down but he didn’t know how to relax and let it happen. Contrary to how they’re depicted in various forms of media, fangs don’t just instantly ‘click’ down. It's a skill. A skill one has to learn and hone in order to be able to feed properly and efficiently. 

You carefully sat up and gently took his hands away from his face. His eyes looked scared again, and you quickly shushed him and softly spread your thumbs across his upper lip where his gums were. He winced a little at the sensitivity as his hands rested on your forearms. 

“It's your fangs trying to come out for the first time. You have to relax, Josh,” he looked at you skeptically, “they can’t come down until you relax. Breathe through your nose for me? Yeah?” 

He fully sat down on your thighs, and did what he was told and took deep breaths through his nose. His eyes were trained on you the entire time. He could feel his teeth begin to move, his canine teeth especially. It felt like an invisible force was prying them out of his mouth. 

“I know it hurts, it always does the first few times, but soon you won’t even feel it happening, I promise,” your thumbs moved to his cheeks, your right one resting where his dimple normally was. 

He nodded slightly and leaned into your hand, trying to stay relaxed. 

“Watch me, ok?” You opened your mouth, baring your teeth and took a few deep breaths and slowly let down your own fangs. After over 350 years, it was hard to slow down the process, as you could complete the action as fast as blinking at this point, but you tried your best so your hunter-turned-Vampire could see it for himself. He studied the movement as it happened, finally having a proper visual to mentally focus on. 

After a few more deep breaths, his teeth shifted again, this time down, but not all the way. A smile lit up your face as he parted his lips to show you, and you whispered praises to him as he continued breathing. With a slight groan, his teeth descended all the way, and you saw his fangs for the first time. 

You stared in awe. While you met him as a human, seeing fangs in his mouth looked so…natural on him, as if they had always been there. Unexpected tears formed in your eyes, as it really hit you that he was a Vampire now, he was like you, and the two of you were the same. 

“Beautiful…,” you mused while touching one with your thumb, “do you want to see them?”

He nodded, and you looked around to see if there was a mirror. The closest thing you had was your phone, and you quickly snatched it off the nightstand and turned the camera on, flipping it to selfie-mode and handing it to Josh. He turned the phone over in his hands and held it in front of his face. It was definitely strange to see protruding fangs in his mouth, but they didn’t feel out of place. He ran his tongue over them a few times, feeling how sharp they were, how much longer they were from his other teeth, and he turned his head back and forth to see them at different angles. Satisfied, he tossed your phone to the side on the bed before turning back to you and cupping your face once more to collide his lips to yours, this time smiling into the kiss. 

It had been so long since you’ve kissed a fellow Vampire, especially one you lov- had feelings for. Your tongue slid across his teeth, feeling the contours and length of his fangs, and it was your turn to smile against his lips. He laid you back down onto the bed, shifting his legs so that he was between yours. His lips were everywhere, kissing all over your face and playfully scraping the tips against your skin. 

But the urge to drive them into your neck, to fully taste you in a way he couldn’t when he was human, was reaching a boiling point in his system. He was putting more and more pressure against your neck, but not breaking the skin…yet.

You quickly recognized what he was doing, what he wanted, and you pushed him away so that he was back over your face instead. 

“As much…as much as I’d love for you to do that…your first feed has to be with human blood…,” you were almost sad in telling him no, but this was a process that wasn’t fully complete until he tasted human blood for himself. It was what fully sealed a Vampire in their new form of existence, the full stop at the end of a sentence. Sheepishly, he closed his lips over his teeth, feeling like he had done something wrong. You caught the look in his eyes and quickly reassured him, “no no, it's ok, we’ll have plenty of time to do that afterwards, I promise.” You figured Dimitri himself would have a human or two on hand for feeding, as he was never a fan of blood bags. 

As if on cue, the older Vampire in question rapped his knuckles on the door as he opened it.

“Is our dear-,” before he could finish his sentence Josh immediately shifted on the bed and practically shielded you from Dimitri, his instincts taking over briefly. Dimitri held up his hands in truce, “now now, Joshua I’m not going to do anything. It's wonderful to see you awake and back with us.” 

You sat up behind Josh, looking at Dimitri over his shoulder, “you wouldn’t happen to have a human on hand? Please?”

“About that…after we talked earlier I let the Council know about your decision and that you were handling it yourself. They insisted on sending a representative here to make sure it actually happened.” He sighed before continuing, “Judith…is downstairs in the conservatory waiting for you.”

“Right now? He still can’t talk! He needs to have his first feed.” 

“I know, darling, I didn't expect them to send her this quickly,” he rolled his eyes as he said ‘her’, letting you know that Judith was not one of his friends on the Council. “I’ll give you a few minutes, but it’ll be better for everyone if you don’t keep her waiting.” With a sympathetic look, he closed the door behind him, leaving the two of you alone. 

“I’m so sorry, Josh, I didn’t kn-,” he turned and pressed a finger to your lips and shook his head, shushing you and letting you know that he understood. He got off the bed and collected his clothes from earlier that you had folded and placed on the couch. He threw his shirt on as he walked towards the ensuite at the far end of the room. You had already dressed while you had waited for him to wake up, so you sat at the edge of the bed and let him get ready. As he walked to the ensuite, you couldn’t help but notice that his walk was slightly different. His shoulders were straighter, his strides were quieter but more deliberate. You wondered if he himself even noticed the changes yet. From the angle of where you were sitting, you could just barely see himself checking his teeth out in the mirror again. His fangs had retreated back into his gums, and now his top row of teeth looked completely normal. 

His eyes looked at you through the mirror, catching your gaze. He smirked at you, before turning to finish getting dressed. As he exited the ensuite he locked eyes with you again and in an attempt at his new speed, he tried to race over to you. However, stopping was a completely different story, and he ended up tackling you onto the bed. 

Giggling, you reached up and traced his nose with your finger, “don’t worry, you’ll get there, Boy Scout.” You lifted your head to kiss him, and whispered against his lips, “come on, let's get this over with.” 

It wasn’t hard to find the conservatory, all you had to do was follow the classical music being played. Just like the rest of the manor, Dimitri spared no expense in this room either. It was a massive space, with a complete wall of windows that went from the floor all the way into the ceiling, creating a dome-like appearance. It was a perfect view of the stars at night, and a perfectly lethal place for a Vampire to be in after sunrise. He also had so many plants in the room it almost looked like a small forest in the room. Most of the flowering plants had closed their blooms for the night, and the evergreens sat peacefully in their pots. The main source of light in the room were the various lanterns that were strategically placed among the greenery. It created such an intimate atmosphere, especially with the light of the Waning Moon filtering in from the windows above. 

The beauty of the room stopped when you spotted the Council member sitting rather stiffly on the couch towards the middle of the room. Judith, as Dimitri called her, was a Vampire who appeared to be in her late fifties, with blonde hair that was so faded it almost looked gray at certain angles. She had it in a tight ponytail, making her sharp cheekbones the main feature of her face. Her eyes were equally gray, and they narrowed at the sight of Josh. 

“Ah, finally, there they are,” she said in mock enthusiasm. 

“Judith please,” Dimitri said with a sigh while nursing a drink in his hand.

Josh’s hand slid into yours as you made your way to the center of the room. His expression was neutral, but you knew his mind was full of thoughts and words for the snotty Vampire in front of him. 

Judith uncrossed her ankles and stood up, clipboard firmly in the crook of her arm. She gave you a look that let you know to let her look at Josh alone, and you reluctantly let go of his hand and went over to stand next to Dimitri. Her back was to you now, but you were still able to maintain eye contact with Josh.  

“Open your mouth,” she commanded flatly. She wanted to see his fangs. 

Josh looked at you briefly over her shoulder, starting to panic because he had only made his fangs come down once at this point, and was still getting the hang of it. He put his hands behind his back and wrung his wrists, trying to remember what you had told him. 

You kept eye contact with him, and motioned for him to take some deep breaths and to relax. Dimitri nodded along next to you; he wanted Josh to succeed almost as much as you did. 

Josh’s Adams apple bobbed a little before he opened his mouth. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to replicate how he had done it upstairs less than an hour ago. Judith stood there, staring at his teeth with an unimpressed look on her face. But after a few tense minutes, his fangs descended and locked in place. 

Judith made a small “hmph” sound and reached into the pocket of her skirt to fish out a measuring tape. She held the tape next to one of his fangs, and wrote down the measurement on the clipboard. She switched to the other side to get the other’s measurement, before mumbling loud enough for everyone to hear, “it's ok they’ll get longer in time.” 

Josh clamped his mouth shut and gave her a look that was so pointed, you were glad he wasn’t able to actually speak. But the way his eyes glared at her spoke volumes on their own. 

Judith ignored him while she made notes on the clipboard, scribbling away her thoughts and observations. 

“Has he fed yet,” she said without looking up.

“Umm…no, not yet-”

“Excellent. Bring in one of your humans, Dimitris,” she commanded as she finished her notes and looked back up at Josh. 

Dimitri sighed and took a long sip of his drink before motioning to one of his staff to fetch one of his human companions. He always had a steady supply of willing humans who were into being fed on. He had a knack for finding them in the haystack that was humanity. 

Josh looked at you again over Judith’s shoulder, the same panicky look from before had returned on his face. 

You mouthed, it's going to be ok, at him as the door opened and a woman in her mid twenties entered the room. 

Her eyes lit up when she saw Dimitri, “hi Dimitri…,” she gave him a flirty wave with her fingers. 

“Pleasure as always, Rebeckah,” he said with a small smile. She already knew where to go and dutifully went over to the couch and sat down, keeping her eyes on Dimitri the whole time. 

Judith motioned for Josh to join Rebeckah, and made his way over to the couch and sat down. You started to follow him before she barked, “I’d like to witness this alone, actually.” 

Something in you snapped, “the fuck you wi-”

Dimitri quickly stepped in, “what she’s trying to say is, as his Maker, I think it’s more than fair for her to be in the room for his first feed? Since he doesn’t know what he’s doing, she has a right to be here. In fact it would be the responsible thing to do, don’t you agree?”

Judith rolled her eyes, “fine, but she can’t interfere. The Council wants to see how he does on his own.” 

The Council didn’t want to see shit, you thought, they wanted him to fail. They wanted the ‘I told you so.’ 

Dimitri’s large hand landed on your shoulder, giving you a comforting squeeze. 

“Very well,” he said in a clipped tone. 

You looked up at Dimitri, the worry written all over your face. He gave your shoulder another squeeze. 

Tentatively, Josh reached over and took Rebeckah’s wrist in his hand, figuring that would be the best place. He could feel her pulse through her arm, and it made his gums above his fangs throb. He felt is instincts trying to guide him, which was a good sign until-

“Oh not the wrist, it's your first feed after all, I know you really want the neck deep down,” she was practically taunting him at this point, and turned back to the older Vampire and used his own words against him, “don’t you agree, Dimitris?” 

Dimitri’s mouth twisted into a frown, “it is the ideal spot I suppose…”

You were practically vibrating with rage right now, and you wanted to physically rip Judith’s head off her body yourself. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. You were supposed to be right there with him, guiding him through it and making sure he didn’t take too much. 

“Don’t be shy, get closer to her,” Judith said while flicking her wrist at Josh. 

Rebeckah obliged first and scooted close to him, angling her head to expose her neck. The smell of her blood filled his nostrils, and at first he thought he was hallucinating. He knew his senses would be stronger, but actually experiencing it was completely different. 

Judith had her back to you and Dimitri once again, and you used this to your advantage as you looked at Josh over her shoulder. You feigned scratching your neck to show him where to put his hand, which he immediately copied. 

He lowered his face to her neck, the scent of her blood was almost overwhelming to him now and it was still safely in her body. Part of him was running on pure instinct, and getting impatient that he hadn’t sunk his teeth into her yet, whereas the other part of him was having an out of body experience as the reality of the situation hit him. He was really about to drink blood, as a Vampire, for the first time. However, the instinctual side of him won out and he pressed his new fangs against her neck. He could feel her pulse against his teeth, and with the same ‘fuck it’ mentality one has before a shot of tequila, he pierced her flesh and her blood began flowing into his mouth. 

Rebeckah made a small squeak, but she relaxed in his hold and a serene smile spread across her face. 

Josh breathed through his nose and took his first real pull from her, and the sudden burst of flavor nearly had his eyes rolling back. He never expected blood to taste this good, let alone have a flavor profile. He recalled the taste of blood as he remembered it from his youth, that gross metallic flavor that would fill his mouth whenever he’d lose a tooth, or that one time Jake hit him in the mouth while they were fighting and cut his lip open. But now? Now he was getting notes of…lilies? Lavender maybe? It was all so overwhelming he wasn’t sure, he just knew that it was good. He kept pulling and pulling, feeling it run out of his mouth a little and down his chin. 

You on the other hand were watching him like a hawk, and listening to Rebeckah’s heartbeat even closer. It was still steady and normal, but you knew it wouldn’t be that way for much longer. The way Josh was pulling was very deep, but he didn’t understand that yet. If you hadn’t been so stressed about your lack of involvement, you would’ve noted how absolutely gorgeous he looked while feeding. He needed to slow down, if not stop completely. You thought back to your first feed, and it didn’t end well for the human involved because you had zero guidance. Isaac had just let you do what you wanted and cleaned up the mess later. But you didn’t want that for Josh, he didn’t deserve to be traumatized right out of the gate like that. 

He didn’t want this to end, part of him wanted to keep going until he couldn’t anymore. But this low thumping noise in his head got slower, and it was then he realized he had been hearing her heartbeat the entire time. It was slowing down, and he had just enough wherewithal to know he needed to let go. But knowing and doing were two different things. 

You were starting to panic, and you looked at Josh, hoping he’d look up just long enough to make eye contact with you. Judith started scribbling notes again, and you wanted to crack that entire clipboard over her head. You thought about faking a cough, making some sort of noise, but you didn’t want her to send you out of the room for ‘interfering.’ 

Josh wrenched his eyes open, and looked up to find you. He saw your eyes were watery and filled with panic, and he understood why. From your vantage point, you mouthed the words, “you need to let go,” to him, and he wanted to listen, he really did, but it was as if his mouth and his brain weren’t working together. But, he tried anyway, and loosened his grip on Rebeckah’s neck and slowly worked at dislodging his fangs from her neck. He fought the urge that was screaming at him to keep going, to drain her dry like a juice box, but he refused to let that voice win. With more force than he would’ve liked, he pulled his teeth from her neck, and let go of her completely. 

Before he could fully relax, he saw you point at your teeth, and then patted the side of your neck with those same fingers, silently telling him to use his blood to heal the bite. Josh sprung into action, quickly and hastily biting his index finger, breaking the skin and rubbing his own blood amongst her own on her neck along the puncture wounds. Within seconds they began to close and he was able to lean back on the couch, out of breath. 

Judith paused for a second in her scribbling, and looked at her watch on her wrist and wrote down the time. She observed Rebeckah for another minute, who seemed completely fine with the situation and was only slightly miffed she had blood on her dress. 

Dimitri gestured at the staff member standing by the door, “please take Miss Rebeckah to the kitchens to get her something to eat. Have the chef make her whatever she wants.” 

Rebeckah smiled and stood up from the couch, “and what about my dress?”

“I’ll get you a new one, as always,” this made her smile as she made her way out of the room. 

Without a second glance at Josh, Judith turned back to Dimitri and sighed, “I’ll give my observations to the Council but everything seems to be fine.” She looked at Josh over her shoulder, “welcome to your new life, don’t fuck up. We know who your family is, after all.” 

Josh glared at her as she exited the room. Dimitri gave you a nod and left as well, leaving the two of you alone. 

As soon as the door shut you rushed over to Josh, your hands immediately took his, as apologies fell from your mouth, “I’m so fucking sorry I didn’t know that was going to happen, you weren’t supposed to be alone like that-”

“...sw-sweetheart…,” his voice was so faint, but it was there. He was gaining his voice back. Relief flooded through you, you didn’t realize just how much you missed his voice until he spoke again. You couldn’t take it anymore and practically lept into his lap and wrapped your arms around him, burying your face in his neck. His arms instantly wrapped around your waist, pulling you closer. He was so thankful to finally get his hands on you. 

After spending several minutes just lying in his arms and breathing him in, you pulled back and said, “are you ok? How do you feel?”

A dreamy smile spread across his face, “honestly? I feel fucking incredible right now.” His voice was still scratchy, but it was gradually getting stronger.

You smiled back, “yeah? You did so good earlier, I want you to know that. They were setting you up to screw up but you didn’t. It's so difficult to stop like you did the first few times, let alone the first time. I’m so proud of you, Boy Scout.”

His cheeks reddened at the praise, “Ah, I just…I just remembered what you told me about listening for the heartbeat…had to force myself off though.” 

You were beaming at him now, “I’m not saying it's going to be easy, but I just know you’re going to be so good at it in no time. Next time I’ll be right there with you, I promise. I won’t let anyone get in the way of that again.”

His hands slipped under your shirt and rubbed the skin of your back, “I know you wanted to be there, it wasn’t your fault…” 

“But I-”

“I don’t want you to beat yourself up over this, it happened, but all we can do is move forward.”

You knew he was right, but you still felt bad, “I know I just-”

“Next time we can share, yeah?”

That surprised you, and you smirked at him, “Boy Scout…” 

He glanced out the wall of windows, and noticed the dark blue sky was starting to get lighter, “I think…I think we need to go back upstairs…and shut the windows…,” the suggestion dripped from his voice.

“Race you there?”

“You better get started, sweetheart…,” his eyes bore into yours before you took off from the conservatory. The two of you were a pair of giggling blurs rushing up the stairs to the third floor. He caught up to you at the door, and lurched to a halt while pressing you up against the solid wood. You reached behind you to start twisting the doorknob as he snaked an arm around your waist. His eyes looked even darker in the dim lighting of the corridor, but his smile was sweet, a combination that only he could pull off. 

Stumbling into the room, Josh locked the door behind him before reaching down and firmly gripping your thighs and wrapping them around his waist. He carried you backwards to the bed, while you stripped your shirt off and threw it blindly to the side. Your hands instantly returned to his cheeks as he laid you on the bed. He stood up momentarily to throw off his own shirt, before crawling up the bed and getting on top of you. The rest of your clothes were quickly shed, leaving the both of you naked. 

Josh’s mouth devoured yours, sucking on your bottom lip before he slipped his tongue inside and tangled it with your own. You moaned into his mouth, the relief of him being okay and back in your arms spurring you on. He groaned and lifted off your lips slightly, running his tongue along his top teeth. He looked at you, a little annoyed at his own body as his fangs tried to descend again. 

You recognized the look, and you smiled, “don’t fight it, Josh. Let them down, I wanna see them again…” 

He closed his eyes for a few seconds and concentrated. They came down ever so slightly faster this time, but he still winced at the pain. 

Staring at him, you reached up and gently touched one with your finger, “I just can’t get over how beautiful they look on you…” 

His cheeks reddened before he started working his way down your body, kissing every bit of skin he could reach. Every so often he’d drag his fangs across your skin, causing you to arch your back. As he made his way down to your core, he deliberately skipped where you needed him most to pay attention to your thighs. 

You sat up on your elbows and made a noise in protest, which made him chuckle against your skin. One of the few downsides (at least to him) to you being a supernatural creature was that any hickey’s he made would heal within minutes, but he loved littering your skin with them anyway. The way you arched towards him, trying to get him where you needed him only made him tease you further. Every time you thought he was going to put that perfect mouth of his against your core, he’d switch to the other thigh to nip and suck at your skin. 

“If you don’t-”

Before you could finish your sentence your lover latched onto your core, flattening out his tongue and licking a stripe from your entrance to just below your clit. A frustrated noise escaped you, and his eyes met yours with the most mischievous energy behind them. Those pools of molten molasses seemed to darken even more. Tilting his head slightly and curling his lip up to show you his teeth, he drug one of his new fangs over the edges of your lips, up and up, and slowly circled your clit. He put just enough pressure for you to feel the sharp edge against your sensitive flesh, before diving in and sharply sucking your clit into his mouth. You cried out, loud enough to echo around the room, and you couldn’t give a shit if anyone in this fortress of a house could hear you. 

Two of his fingers teased your entrance before plunging in, curling upwards and giving that spot inside you all the attention they could. His pace was quick and brutal, spurred on but the grip you had in in his hair and how you were practically fucking his mouth. He grinded his own need onto the mattress, desperate for some friction of his own. 

It wasn’t long before your first orgasm of the night washed over you, making you shake beneath him while grinding on his face. His fingers worked even harder to ride it out, drawing it out as long as possible for you. But he didn’t give you a chance to fully still. Placing one final kiss to your clit, he crawled up your body to claim your mouth, letting you taste yourself all over him. 

You were far from done when you flipped him over, straddling his hips and grinding against his cock. He threw his head back and made the sexiest whining sound you had heard in a long time. He sat up and gripped your ass, lifting you up to wrap your legs around his waist. 

“Tell me what you want…,” he whispered against your mouth while keeping you hovered just above his cock.

“Josh please-”

“Josh please, what, sweetheart?” 

“I need you, don’t be mean,” your voice was nearly an octave higher than normal, and now it was your turn to sound whiny. 

“...and what do you need?”

Your nails dug into the skin at the base of his neck, not caring if they broke skin a little now, he could handle it. 

“Your cock, Josh, I need your cock.”

His eyebrows raised in the cockiest manner, “oh? This? This cock?” Before you could answer he pulled you down onto him, plunging him deep inside as he bottomed out. His eyes rolled back at finally being inside you, and you used this distraction to tighten your pussy around him as revenge. A strangled noise left his throat, “you are…such…a little brat…” 

You smirked as you started to work yourself on his cock, relishing in every ridge and vein he had to offer you. He kept one arm around your ass, guiding you and gripping you as he leaned back on his other hand. As your pace quickened, you felt your own gums start to itch and move. You let your fangs descend, not wanting or needing to hold back anymore while with your lover. He was kissing your shoulder, and you leaned your head down to graze your teeth against the shell of his ear. 

He lifted his head, and gave you an equally toothy grin, both of you baring your fangs at each other. 

“Boy Scout…,” you started, nearly breathless, “remember earlier when I told you to wait?” He instantly caught on to what you were referring to, when he had almost bit you earlier. His Adam's apple bobbed as he nodded. “If I let you do that…can I bite you too?” 

His cock twitched inside you at the question, “please, please do…”

“Taste me, Josh, show me you know how,” you whispered. 

Another strangled sound escaped him before he lowered his head and pierced your neck with his fangs. It had been…a long time, decades even, since you had had a Vampire taste you. It was such an intimate act, most considered it almost sacred. 

Josh took a long pull off of you, and the first note that hit his tongue was a distinct cherry flavor, tart but sweet, along with a distinct undercurrent of sea salt. He could practically smell the ocean. Flashes and sounds started to flood his mind, swirling around in his mind's eye. They focused, and he saw you, as a teen in Jamestown, scrubbing the floors of the house you used to live in. A second flash, it's the Victorian era, and you’re giggling in bed with another man. You called him Colin before it dissipated. Another flash, it’s twenties and you look sad as you sipped your drink. You were surrounded by people partying, but you weren’t matching the energy. A final flash, this time it's the seventies and you look darling in your bell bottoms and feathered hair. You seemed happier then, laughing with a few girlfriends in a bar. 

The feeling of his fangs in your skin hurtled you toward your second orgasm. Before you could reach your high, you bit down on your lover's flesh. His taste…his taste was the same, but it was so much more vibrant? As if it had been turned up several notches. That orangey citrus flooded your senses, and as the vanilla showed itself to you, flashes started behind your eyes too. A small, scared, seven year old Josh scrambled to stab a rogue Vampire in the leg with a knife from under his bed. Another flash, this time Josh was older, late teens at best, getting lectured by his father about a hunting job gone wrong. The importance of his responsibility as the “oldest” was being drilled into his head. Flash number three, Josh is sitting next to his twin in front of a fire, laughing at some inside joke as he brings his beer to his lips. Who knew Jake Kiszka was capable of smiling? The final flash was him gathering some files on a table, the one on top had your name clearly on the tab. He wasn’t in his apartment, but in a room that looked like an office. 

Your vision went dark as your high overtook you, making you shake and pulse around him. His cock twitched inside you again, and a muffled groan shuddered against your skin letting you know he had reached his own high. Carefully, you each withdrew your teeth and lapped at the fresh blood on your skin as your wounds healed. 

Josh kissed you softly, mixing your blood with his, enjoying the taste. He opened his eyes and smiled at you, feeling more content and happy than he had in days. The stress from the past week had completely evaporated, and in this moment, all he saw, all he cared about, was you. 

His Vampire. 

The adoration for him was written all over your face, and you silently noted the blood smeared all over him. You looked over your shoulder at the ensuite, and could see the edge of a clawfoot tub from the doorway. 

“Lets get cleaned up, Boy Scout…”

His grin widened and he looked over your shoulder, seeing what you were looking at. He also saw the first light of the day start to filter in through the windows. Thankfully the bed was positioned in a way that didn’t put it anywhere near them, but in order to get the ensuite they’d have to cross them. Carefully he kept you in place as he reached for the remote on the nightstand. 

He punched the buttons, and the shades came down. His hand squeezed the flesh of your ass, “only the moon gets a free show, sweetheart…” 

You gave him a quick kiss before crawling off of him and leading him into the bathroom. Soon, the both of you were situated in the hot water, enjoying the extra wide clawfoot tub. 

Josh tried to take the lead in cleaning  up, but you stopped him and took it upon yourself to clean the blood off of his skin. He relaxed into the water as you swept the rag over his skin. Meticulously you cleaned any dry blood out of his beard and mustache, kissing him as you went. It had been a long time since someone had properly taken care of him afterwards. 

It was clear to you that the new-Vampire exhaustion was creeping up on your lover, and you worked a little faster to get him cleaned up so the two of you could return to bed. He would probably have another long sleep again, but not nearly as long as that first one. The process of becoming a Vampire was complete, but it still took time for the body to adjust.

Soon you were back in bed with him, the covers pulled over your exhausted bodies as you wrapped yourselves around each other. His ear was on your chest, and you were softly grazing your nails against his scalp. His eyes were closed, and sleep was well on its way. 

He pressed a soft kiss against your skin before mumbling, “...love you…” 

You stared at him as he completely stilled in your arms, eyes welling up, 

“Love you too, Boy Scout,” but you weren’t sure he heard it. 

To be continued…

Tag List:  @dannyandthekiszkas , @readyforthegarden  , @sinners-go-to-drink-the-wine , @wideminded-dreamer , @runwayblues , @wildbluesorbit , @llightmyllovee , @rhythm-of-space , @sacredthefran , @writingcold , @alwaysonthemend , @wetkleenex-gvf , @josh-iamyour-mama , @lightsofthe-living-gvf , @gvfcinema , @sacredthethreadgvf , @losfacedevil , @jakekiszkasbuttsweat , @shutupdevvie , @hearts-hunger , @gretavanfleetposts , @ascendingtostardust , @mackalah , @andromeda-raine-gvf , @jake-kiszkas-smirk , @gracev0609 , @sacredjake , @earthlysorrows , @gvfpal , @myownparadise96 , @itsafullmoon , @gvfmelbourne , @twistedmelodies , @that-witchy-pan , @gold-mines-melting , @texas-bbq-pringles , @jakekiszkapunchmeintheface , @sadiechar , @char289 , @stardustvanfleet ,

[im-out-of-it]

part 5 of season 2, episode 17 continued “a dark reflection” I’ll try to go easy on Alec this time

incoming rant about jace again I CANT HELP IT HES THE WORST the fact that I tolerate jonathon and Sebastian more than jace says everything about his character lmao

77. HOW CUTE

78. my favorite thing for when I read and watch shows/movies with a couple is to see them be domestic. I think it’s the sweetest small stuff that matters the most at times

79. I’m sorry I had to. Alec:

80. Magnus is me. my favorite seafood is crab legs and if I was Magnus rich, I would go all out (can’t believe we missed out on Magnus feeding Alec, just found about this thank you 🥺🥹)

81. Alec has come so far

82. I love them here and I honestly think this might be Magnus’s best look tying with episode 4 of season 1

83. Maia and Luke scenes 🥰

84. Luke: good luck, you’ll need it

85. Simons like no I’m good 😊

86. Simon: let’s go on a date

86. can we just please and at least appreciate simons effort? he doesn’t know about Jordan and neither do first time watchers or readers but 1. Maia doesn’t want to be hurt badly like she was in the past and 2. which I don’t see mentioned is that she tried dating Simon and saw that he was interested in clary. so yes she is holding off because of her piece of shit ex boyfriend but Simon and clary JUST broke up so she could be hesitant of that. maybe the writers didn’t think that far but if I tried dating someone and they were having feelings for someone else, then they didn’t work out, and then a few days later were asking me out, I would feel pretty hesitant

OKAY BUT LOOK HOW HAPPY THEY ARE (anyone love Simon and Maia together??????)

87. Maia: let’s be friends instead I don’t want to get hurt

88. she is always so beautiful!!!!! 😌

89. I spoke too soon. Maia said it’s not clary. should have hired me to be the head writer I HAVE GRAND IDEAS

90. how did a regular shadowhunter have the almost mortal mirror PLUS the mortal cup???? they all said Jocelyn was the best but I’m sorry, how could she get away with that when Izzy practically gets threatened with being deruned for a cup she didn’t have. how did the clave not find Jocelyn or know she had the cup???? it’s like they wanted Jocelyn to be this super powerful figure but I don’t see it

91. Jonathon did his best and that’s all you can ask for

92. Clary: I guess my mom is super powerful and untouchable?????

93. so now clary remembers that jonathon is a flower killer but conveniently forgot when jace was thought to be her brother? MAKE IT MAKE SENSE

94. “you’ll kill him?” “if that’s what it takes” jace slow your roll already

95. “I know what it’s like to be manipulated by valentine and jonathon is a demon blooded monster”-jace. this dude gives me a migraine. because it was okay when he was thought to be jonathon but now it’s an issue when the real jonathon stands up? I’m sorry but does anyone else see his hypocrisy here???? not excusing jonathon and who he is but why is it that everyone was fine with jace being “demonic” but it’s the opposite for the actual jonathon????? literally jace can commit mass murder and be fine and everyone would excuse his actions

96. “remember what Valentine made you do” “I don’t have demon blood” BUT YOU FUCKING THOUGHT YOU DID. YOU STILL HELPED MASSACRE DOWNWORLDERS BUT THATS ALRIGHT ISNT IT?????? it aggravates me how he never faces any punishment

97. clary: keep your hands off my brother until he kills you then he will be dead to me because you’re the only thing I care about that’s just how I work

why couldn’t she remember this detail when they all thought jace could destroy the soul sword????

98. forgot to add this

99. it is kind of funny how clary is all save jonathon for a second and then once he lays hands on jace, she’s like ewwww omg demon demon demon

okay but let’s just compare jonathon and jace. they both aid valentine and easily fall for his games

jonathon doesn’t help murder hundreds of downworlders but jonathon is still a murderer and he accepts everything he is. he still takes on revenge later when he fully comes back

they both come back from the dead while jonathon feels betrayed by clary and wants revenge and jace takes advantage of Magnus’s kindness and tries to die as if Magnus didn’t just sacrifice everything

while jace acts like he’s better than everyone and hardly has remorse for helping valentine kill hundreds of downworlders and uses excuses like I was manipulated

Jonathan has feelings for clary knowing that’s his sister

Jace doesn’t try to get rid of his feelings for clary while thinking that’s his sister

Jace doesn’t appreciate Alec Izzy Magnus etc while jonathon uses everyone

they both have anger issues and retaliate with violence. Jace cutting off hodge’s hand and jonathon killing people he no longer has use for

I’m only saying they have a lot of similarities and in the books (and a little on the show) jace is extremely abusive to clary. it’s always what jace needs in the books. their whole relationship is toxic. so as much as I see jonathon being evil in the show, jace is not a good person either. he just acts like he is

I can’t believe how much this is making me defend Jonathan lmao but it doesn’t make sense to why jace gets away with everything while everyone else has to pay the price. I need Advil now thanks to this 😭 I’ll attempt a part 6 but it may have to wait a few more hours

[winters8child]

It´s been a long, long time

Chapter 84

Wakanda was a sight to behold, like stepping 100 years into the future. The towering buildings looked as though they had leaped from the pages of a sci-fi novel. When we exited the jet, Wakandan doctors rushed out, swiftly carrying Bucky away on a gurney. I wanted to follow, but T’Challa advised us to wait in the hospital hall, promising we’d be notified the moment he woke up.

I sank into one of the chairs, a frustrated sigh escaping my lips as I buried my face in my hands. Steve sat beside me, crossing his arms, the silence between us broken only by the soft voices of nurses and doctors rushing by.

"You were right, you know?" Steve suddenly spoke, his voice low, pulling me from my thoughts. I glanced at him, confused.

"About what?" I asked. He uncrossed his arms, frowning, and I could see the weight of everything on his face.

"There’s always something... this life, this job... it’s cost me everything," he said, his eyes clouded with sadness.

I swallowed hard, my mind flashing back to the last time we had been in a hospital together—the bitter words we had exchanged, the pain we’d caused each other. I looked down at my hands, not knowing how to respond. I didn’t want to be right.

"And now we’re practically criminals," he continued, his voice thick with regret. "They’ll be looking for us. I sacrificed our relationship for this job, and now I’m hunted by the very people I used to work for."

His words stung, but I met his gaze, refusing to let him shoulder all the blame. "It’s not your fault, Steve. They would’ve hunted me down no matter what. I wasn’t going to let them take Bucky," I said, though his confession still hurt. He nodded slowly, sighing as he processed my words.

"I’ll go look for a vending machine or something. Want some coffee?" he asked, resting his hands on his hips, trying to offer a small moment of normalcy.

"Coffee sounds good," I replied with a weak smile. He nodded and disappeared around the corner, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

Steve returned not long after, two coffees in hand, but the worried expression on his face told me something was wrong. "I have to go," he said, handing me one of the cups.

"What? Where?" I asked, quickly standing, ignoring the heat from the coffee burning my palm. I put it on the table next to my chair before I got up, expecting the worst.

"They’ve arrested everyone who helped us. I have to get them out," he said, his voice firm and resolute. He had already made up his mind.

I hesitated, my gaze drifting to the hall where Bucky was being treated. I didn’t want to leave him behind, not like this. But before I could speak, Steve cut in. "You stay here. He’ll need to see at least one familiar face when he wakes up."

His words left me torn, a wave of guilt and relief washing over me. I wanted to help Steve, but I knew he was right—Bucky needed me here. I nodded, swallowing the emotions that threatened to surface.

Steve placed his cup on the table beside mine, hesitating for just a moment before stepping forward and wrapping his arms around me. I melted into his embrace, my head resting on his shoulder, my arms wrapping around his neck. We hadn’t been this close in months, and in that instant, the flood of familiar emotions—the long-buried butterflies—came crashing back all at once.

"Be careful," I whispered, my voice barely audible against him.

"Always am," he whispered back, his hands splayed across my back, holding on for just a moment longer. Then, reluctantly, he pulled away, letting go of me, leaving behind a bittersweet sense of warmth.

Steve gave me one last smile before he turned and left. I sank back into my chair, feeling the weight of everything settle over me.

I must have dozed off because the next thing I knew, I was startled awake by a soft voice. A young woman stood before me, looking apologetic as I jumped up with a yelp. "I'm sorry, but he's awake now. I thought you’d want to see him," she said with a gentle smile.

"Oh, thanks," I stammered, still shaking off the grogginess as I stood, my back protesting from the awkward sleeping position. She gestured for me to follow her, leading me down the hall toward the patient rooms.

As we walked, she spoke up, "I’m Shuri, by the way."

"Lottie," I replied, eyeing her curiously. She looked too young to be either a nurse or a doctor, but there was a confidence about her that made me wonder. She stopped in front of a door and motioned for me to go inside.

"If you need anything, just press the button by the bed," she added with another smile before walking away, leaving me standing at the threshold, my heart pounding in anticipation.

I stepped into the spacious room, sunlight streaming through the large windows, casting soft shadows from the half-drawn blinds. If not for the hospital bed on the left side, the room could have easily passed for a comfortable hotel suite.

The moment I saw Bucky sitting up, his eyes already on me, I hurried over, resisting the urge to throw my arms around him when I noticed the bandages across his chest. Instead, I sat gently on the edge of his bed, close enough to feel his warmth.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, doing my best to hide the worry that had consumed me for hours.

"Better than expected," he replied with a small smile, though his eyes quickly darted to the door. "Where’s Steve?" he asked, concern clear in his voice."

"There’s something he has to take care of, but he’ll join us as soon as he’s done," I said, keeping it vague to avoid making Bucky worry more than he already did.

He narrowed his eyes, clearly not convinced. "Do what?"

"Help the people who helped us," I explained, hoping he would drop it.

Bucky sighed, his shoulders sagging under the weight of everything. "It’s going to get worse… all because of..."

I gently placed my hand over his, stopping him mid-sentence. "Not because of you, Buck. There would’ve been problems anyway. We didn’t want to sign the Accords—that’s what started all this."

"But it got a hell of a lot worse because of me," he muttered, sinking deeper into the bed, the guilt evident in his voice.

Bucky glanced out the window, taking in the breathtaking view. The distant mountains framed the horizon, and the ocean waves crashed rhythmically against the rocks below.

"At least the view is nice," he said, offering a small, sad smile before turning his gaze back to me.

He shifted slightly, making space for me beside him. Without hesitation, I huddled up next to him, lying on my side with his arm wrapped around me, my head resting gently on his chest. His skin was warm beneath the bandages, a reminder of how close we came to losing him.

I could hear his heartbeat beneath my ear as his fingers absentmindedly played with my hair. Our breathing had synced, a quiet rhythm in the stillness of the room. It was one of those rare moments when everything felt calm.

But suddenly, Bucky’s hand stilled, and he pulled back slightly, just enough to look down at me. "You should try to fix things with Steve," he said, his voice soft but firm.

I blinked, pulling back a bit more in surprise, my confusion obvious. I hadn’t expected that, and for a moment, I didn’t know what to say.

Bucky didn’t wait for a response. "You love each other. You’re good for each other," he continued, his words gentle but unwavering, as if he’d been holding onto this thought for a while.

He was right—I did love Steve. But the way Bucky was pushing me toward him as if he thought Steve was the better option, stung. It felt like he was saying Steve was good for me because he wasn't.

"So, what are you saying?" I asked, my voice trembling with emotion.

"I can’t be with you," he replied, his tone sharp, almost angry. My heart sank, frustration bubbling inside me.

"Why?" I asked, my lips quivering as the words left me, feeling more like a desperate plea than I wanted to admit.

"Because I can’t trust my own mind," he nearly shouted, his voice cracking with frustration. "All it takes is one person to say those goddamn words."

"But I can help," I protested, my voice shaking. "I’ve done it before, I’ve snapped you out of it—twice!"

He shook his head, his expression hardening. "What if you’re not there? It’s too dangerous," he said, his voice lower now, filled with a quiet resignation. "I’ve already decided. I’m staying here. They might be able to help me," he added, the finality in his tone leaving me breathless.

We both sank back into the bed, lying side by side, with an unspoken heaviness hanging between us. The silence stretched on, thick with all the things left unsaid.

Minutes passed before Bucky finally broke it, his voice barely more than a whisper. "I just want you to be happy," he said, his eyes fixed on the ceiling, not meeting mine.

"I don’t think I’ll ever be," I whispered back, my voice choked with emotion. "Not without you."

Ached by the desire to close the gap between us, I wanted to reach out, to feel his lips on mine, to lose myself in him and forget everything else. Our gazes met as if drawn by an invisible force, our heads turning simultaneously.

There was a profound pain in his eyes, but also a flicker of hunger and yearning that mirrored my own, creating a silent, electric connection between us.

"I’m not the man I once was, Doll," Bucky said, his voice heavy with anguish. "You don’t want me; you want the man I was before they broke my mind… before they broke me."

The pain in his voice was so profound, that it shattered something inside me.

We both stared up at the ceiling, the weight of our shared pain hanging between us. I reached out and grasped his hand, intertwining our fingers in a gesture of silent solidarity.

Our arms touched, but there was no comfort in the touch—only the acknowledgment of our shared burden. We lay there in silence, the heaviness of guilt and pain pressing down on us. Eventually, the exhaustion from our emotional strain took over, and we both fell asleep, clinging to each other in our troubled rest.

Next Chapter

[justforbooks]

Laurie Holloway

Composer, pianist and musical director on popular TV shows such as Parkinson and Strictly Come Dancing

In 1971, when the BBC chat show Parkinson began, its host, Michael Parkinson, asked his friend Laurie Holloway to be the musical director. “I unfortunately had to refuse because I was engaged to be the musical director for Engelbert Humperdinck,” said Holloway, who has died aged 86. “We stayed good friends although I had to turn the offer down.”

Holloway, a renowned jazz pianist who had accompanied Cleo Laine on stage and was at one time a member of her husband John Dankworth’s band, worked with Humperdinck between 1970 and 1975 on tours of the US and TV shows on both sides of the Atlantic – as well as studio recordings – while Harry Stoneham became the Parkinson show’s musical director and composer of its theme tune, one of the most recognisable on TV.

The show originally ran until 1982. On its relaunch in 1998, Holloway, along with his big band, finally had the chance to play the “dat-diddly-da-da-da, dat-diddly-da-da-da” jazzy tune and continued with Parkinson when the programme switched to ITV (2004-07). As well as performing the opening and closing theme, Holloway – distinctive for his silver hair and goatee beard – came up with appropriate arrangements to herald guests. “The play-on that I wasn’t allowed to do was Two Little Boys for Ant and Dec,” he said. “The show producers thought the idea was too cheeky.”

Another star who valued Holloway’s talents, on stage and screen over three decades from the 1980s, was Barry Humphries, usually in the guise of Dame Edna Everage. Humphries described Holloway and his other accompanists as his “closest companions”, adding: “Very often the show is just me on stage with a pianist accompanying the songs and filling in during quick changes before the rousing gladioli chorus at the end … A good pianist will often know the show better than the artiste himself.”

To Holloway’s surprise, he was also approached to become musical director on the TV show Strictly Come Dancing. “I told the BBC I didn’t do dance numbers,” he explained. “But they liked the Parkinson band and asked if I could do the same thing for the show.”

Holloway, leading the live band and composing the arrangements, left after the first three series (2004-05). “It was an awful lot of work and an awful lot of writing, involving 14 musical arrangements a week,” he said. “My daughters said they never saw me. Politicians often say they are leaving to spend more time with their families and that’s what I actually did.”

Showing his talent for composing original music, Holloway wrote the theme tunes for popular ITV series such as Punchlines (1981-84), Game for a Laugh (1981-85) and Beadle’s About (1986-96).

When commissioned to do the same for Blind Date (1985-2019), he decided on a song, in the vein of the American series on which it was based, The Dating Game, and took it to Alan Boyd, the head of entertainment at the ITV company LWT. “He hated the thought of a full song,” Holloway said. “So I said, ‘What about, “Blind date, blind date – da da da da da da!’ And he said, ‘That’s it!’ It was just two [different] notes, but they were so strong.”

Holloway was born in Oldham, Lancashire, to Annie (nee Gillespie), and Marcus Holloway, a French polisher and self-taught pianist. Laurie started playing by ear aged four, began lessons three years later and became a church organist and choirmaster at 12. He then played Saturday-night gigs at a local ballroom and, aged 14, had a phone call from the bandleader Eddie Mendoza, who needed a pianist for a week-long booking at the Theatre Royal, Oldham.

On leaving Greenhill grammar school in the town, Holloway spent six months as an apprentice draughtsman before turning professional as a musician aged 16, spending two years with Syd Willmott and his Band. Stints followed with bands run by Arthur Plant in Dundee and others on transatlantic liners booked by the bandleader Geraldo’s agency.

Back in Britain, Holloway spent two years playing piano in Ronnie Rand’s dance orchestra at the Astoria, Charing Cross Road, in London, often rushing off at the end of the evening to play at the Gargoyle strip club, before performing with bands led by Johnny Gray and Cyril Stapleton.

He began to get session work on records such as the 1964 Petula Clark hit Downtown and was pianist and musical director for two sellout London Palladium shows the same year by Judy Garland and her daughter, Liza Minnelli. He said Garland “wasn’t the greatest singer, but she was so emotional – a bit like Shirley Bassey or Dorothy Squires”, adding: “They lived their songs.”

Holloway was soon able to pick and choose his assignments and once turned down the chance to work with Barbra Streisand. “I found the voice a bit thin,” he said.

Among many radio programmes with his quartet during the 60s, Holloway played on Rolf Harris’s shows (1964-67). On radio and television, they also backed Marion Montgomery (Marian Maud Runnells), the American jazz singer who moved to Britain and became Holloway’s second wife in 1965 after they met at a gig when he was accompanying Mel Tormé.

In the West End, he was in the pit band for Lionel Bart’s Blitz (Adelphi, 1962-63), composed the score for the farce Instant Marriage (Piccadilly, 1964-65), with the book and lyrics by Bob Grant, and was musical director of Piaf (Piccadilly, 1993-94).

His admirers included royalty. Princess Margaret, a regular visitor to Holloway and Montgomery’s home, asked him in 1990 to record a cassette of Scottish childhood songs that she and her sister, Queen Elizabeth II, would sing at Buckingham Palace – with Holloway accompanying them – as a 90th-birthday present for Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

He was appointed MBE in 2013.

Montgomery died in 2002. Holloway is survived by his third wife, Maryann Lallyette, whom he married in 2014, and by two daughters, Abigail, from his marriage to Montgomery, and Karon, from his first marriage, to Julia (nee Macdonald), which ended in divorce.

🔔 Laurie (Laurence) Holloway, pianist, musical director and composer, born 31 March 1938; died 9 January 2025

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[daryfromthefuture]

mcflyjuly 2024//🌲🌲//day 4: backyard cookout

06/12/84

16 is supposed to be a special age. Theoretically. I’ve known better than to be excited about my birthdays; it’s been like that for mayve 5 years. But still, every year on June 12, I wake up with hope that maybe, this time will be better.

It never is.

I dont mean to make it seem like my birthdays are depressing and nothing else. Because they aren’t, usually. Dave and Linda tend to say happy birthday and get me new guitar picks or skateboard helmets they know I'll never use, and I truly appreciate it each time. If I#m lucky, Mom makes me a cake, and Dad may press a 20-dollar-bill into my palm and tell me to treat myself before burying his head into his workpapers again.

Jennifer makes those days special, too. She, like me, isn’t a passionate cook or baker, but she has gotten quite good at making cupcakes. Today, she gave me a chocolate one with blue buttercream, and it tasted heavenly. In case you stalk my diary, Jen: I love you <3

And, naturally, Doc had something prepared too (even though I never expect that from him). He bought vegetables and meat and declared that we were gonna make burgers on the grill in his backyard instead of getting them from Burger King as per usual. I’m not sure if that made the food any healthier, but damn, it was very fun. Einie even wore a little party hat.

[suitepea]

Kinda long, sorry. But I love knowing things like these.

10 11 14 18 21 28 30 34 38 51 62 72 73 75 81 82 84 89 91

Omg that’s so many 😂 this was a fun afternoon activity. Thank you

10: Have you ever been caught masturbating?

Uuuh yeah. Just once. When I was 18 but still living at my mom’s house, I was on a video call with this super sexy fat guy and we were masturbating together. My mom busts into my room to ask me a question and I just JUMPED out of bed completely naked and shut my computer lol. I think she was kind of embarrassed so she left quickly and didn’t see what exactly I was doing, which I am forever grateful for 😅

11: What does your favourite sexy underwear look like?

Fun fact about me: I own, like, 30 pairs of the same cotton granny panties and that is 99% of what I wear. I have like 5 pairs of Super Special Sexy Panties that I only wear on special occasions, so I don’t have a ton of options. That being said, it’s probably the lacy black thong that goes with my favorite lingerie set.

This isn’t the best picture to show off the panties. I’ll have to take another one sometime for you

14: Do you prefer giving or receiving oral sex?

Honestly, giving. My clit is super sensitive and I often find cunnilingus is too intense for me. It’s hard to get that balance of gentle and satisfying. I’m kind of a submissive person anyways, so it works. Plus, giving head puts my face closer to belly (and therefore closer to god).

18: Are you into dressing up for sex?

Not opposed, but I’ve never done it (unless lingerie counts). Depends on what we’re dressing up as too. I think I would look pretty good with a pig snout and ears 🐽

21: Have you ever had a threesome? If not, would you?

Short answer, yes. I have had many threesomes, and a handful of foursomes too. They’re lots of fun. The more the merrier :)

28: Favourite body part on the opposite sex?

Belly 🤤 isn’t it obvious?

There’s so much to love about men’s bodies though. I would struggle to name a second favorite.

30: Something that you have hidden in your room that you don’t want anyone to find

This is a difficult one because I don’t really have a lot of “secret” objects. Like if my grandma found my vibrator or something I wouldn’t care. I would probably have to say my diary from when I was in middle school where I used to write about the anime characters I was dating. That would be kind of painful to know someone read it lol

34: A food that you would like to use during a sexual experience

Honestly fucking anything delicious! I feel like sweets are inherently sexual, so maybe those. At the same time I would be so turned on watching my partner crush a couple burgers. All of it please!

38: Best sexual complement you ever got

Hmmm this is a hard one. There’s no one compliment that really stands out in my mind. I’ve been told I give great head. I’ve been told I have a nice ass. Among other things.

51: Is there any food you would NOT recommend using during a sexual encounter?

Peas, but only because I hate them lol.

Other than that I’m not sure. There are probably lots of things I’m not thinking of.

62: has anyone ever watched you masturbate?

Hahaha see first question. Yes, I have been known to masturbate for people I really like. It’s a form of intimacy I really enjoy

72. Which not-genital part of your body do you like being touched?

Yo honestly my back and neck are extremely sensitive. My back more so than the average person I think. Back rubs alone are like a near-orgasmic experience for me. They feel so insanely good. Please rub my back.

And belly, of course 😁 The answer is always belly.

73. Which genital part of your body do you like being touched?

Can I say belly again? Lol

I guess pussy is the only real answer here? More specifically I like being fingered. If you can find the g-spot then we will get along super well lol.

75. Have you anonymously sent a sexual ask to someone on tumblr?

Yes of course :> I love to flirt

81. Do you like being called a slut or whore in bed?

Yes, I love degradation. But if you want bonus points, make it fat-shamey. Being called a “slut” is fun. Being called a “pig slut” is perfection 👌🏻

82. Are you into any BDSM?

Yes :) My fiancé and I have a big bag of fun toys. If you ask nicely, I’ll show you some pictures of me in bondage. I haven’t posted them because they’re a little raunchy and I’m not trying to lose my blog lol.

84. Do you like dirty talk?

So much. It’s one of my favorite things. I love a partner who’s good with words. It’s a super valuable skill to me that I often struggle with myself

89. Have you ever masturbated because your sexual partner wasn’t there when you needed them?

I guess so? Haven’t we all? Sometimes one of us is tired or not in the mood so the other has to fend for themselves. Sometimes we’re both horny but too tired to fuck, so we masturbate beside each other lol. It’s not really something I fret about. I see it as a normal part of a relationship.

91. Have you ever had a friends with benefits? Are they still beneficial?

I have. My best friend and I have actually hooked up and had threesomes quite a few times in the past. She’s in a monogamous relationship so we’re just regular friends right now