#look i love my Shadow went to evil boarding school headcanon

[thexgrayxlady]

WIP Wednesday

"Thousands of years of evil, reduced to this," Wuya muttered, shifting in the uncomfortable plastic chair.

"At least it will be quick," Chase said, glaring at the secretary, who had not paid them any attention since they arrived. "We fight the principal in the Pit of Despair and Agony, then we leave."

"I don't think they have a Pit of Despair and Agony." Wuya tapped her black sandal on the cheap greige carpet and pointed to the map next to the front desk. A peeling "you are here" star threatened to fall at any moment.

Chase's brow furrowed in confusion. "Where are we supposed to have parent-teacher confer...Never mind. Spicer would go to an inferior academic institution."

After what felt like an eternity of listening to Melanie coordinating with substitute teachers and repairs to the gymnasium, the clicking keys paused. Chase, impatient enough about being here in the first place, shot to his feet and went up to the front desk.

"We're the Spicers. We have a meeting with the Principal."

"You're Jack's parents?" The secretary gave Chase, who would never look old enough to have a teenager, a skeptical look before glancing back to her schedule. If Wuya was bothered that she hadn't been extended the same skepticism, she didn't let it get in the way of an opportunity to mess with Chase.

"He's my second husband. Jack's father died in a very tragic and mysterious accident."

[acesydneysage]

My thoughts on how an Alchemist revolution could go

I turned some of the initial points into a one-shot, but I'm very unlikely to actually write anything that sees all of it through to the end, so I'm laying out what I imagine would happen. I could follow the initial fic's format and just write cutesy domestic fluff with hints of what is going on in the Alchemist revolution in the background, but who knows

In The Golden Lily, Sonya thought Sydney's blood might be key to a vaccine, since it was undrinkable to Strigoi. Later, in The Fiery Heart, in their visit to Inez, we find out that it's because her blood is coated in human magic. That makes it taste foul to undead vampires, and also broke her Alchemist tattoo, by countering the compulsion of Moroi magic with human magic.

She eventually uses a similar principle to make the tattoo breaking ink she gives to Marcus, and that she uses to help the other re-education inmates in Silver Shadows.

So, with that in mind:

My initial idea was that one of Marcus' operatives, who got tattooed with Sydney's ink, would suffer a Strigoi attack. Their blood would turn out to be undrinkable. Since Sydney's ink breaks the Alchemist tattoo, the receivers blood would get coated with human magic, like a witch's.

I would like it if that person was one of the people Sydney helped in re-education, because I'd like to think those people stayed loyal to her, and maybe see her as a leader. Just because it's really touching to me how she was still worried about others, and risking herself to help, while she was going through her worst nightmare.

In my fic I went with Sydney's roommate Emma, "the Sydney Sage of re-education", because I really love her. She really did turn out to be the Sydney of re-education, at least in part, because while she was repeating the party line and trying to seem cooperative, she was actually a badass rebel who fights back. There are other reasons, I'll get to that in the end.

Sydney's ink potentially working as a Strigoi vaccine is something important enough that she would risk her truce with the Alchemists to investigate. And since the ink also makes people immune to their mind control, the Alchemists wouldn't work with them like they did for the spirit vaccine. I truly believe that they value their control more than human souls.

I'm sure Declan’s blood will be important to the spirit vaccine. They couldn't mass produce it since it required a recent Strigoi restoration, trapping the spirit before it left the blood, while his blood is described as brimming with spirit. But Sydney and Adrian don't want their son to be experimented on, so that's just more incentive to seek an alternative.

I think Sydney’s ink wouldn't work on Moroi, going by the logic of the magic described in the books (human magic wins out in humans), but helping humans is already a big deal, and it could maybe work on dhampirs.

Meanwhile, the Alchemists have been getting polarized. When it's revealed that some of them were helping the Warriors of Light in the end of the series, while Warriors were keeping Moroi captive, that causes controversy. They eventually start to get divided into factions.

After the US re-education center burns down, those who oppose re-education try to defend that it not be rebuilt, and that other centers be shut down. There are symbolic concessions, but they eventually get basically re-education by another name. Similar things happen when it comes to demands for more transparency, and less authoritarianism in general.

And of course there's a reaction to progressive demands. A hardcore anti-Moroi faction is amenable to teaming up with the Warriors. They're tired of "fighting evil by cataloguing it."

If this faction wins out, they won't actually care that Sydney is blackmailing them into letting her live with proof that they worked with the Warriors, since they openly want that, and they consider her continued existence a humiliation. So Sydney and Adrian wouldn't be able to sit out this fight.

There are more and more defectors who simply leave and join Marcus (or go into hiding and try to stay away from that whole mess). But out of those who stay Alchemists, as things start to devolve into an actual civil war, the moderate faction has a lot of infighting about joining up with the rebels.

That's at least in part because Sydney is one of their most notorious members, and while they might not want to see all the Moroi exterminated, marrying one of them is still going way too far to a lot of them.

So, let's talk allies. Sydney definitely put Marcus in touch with more witches and taught them how to make the ink. And I think besides kidnapping Moroi and dhampirs, the Warriors could be capturing witches too, which would turn them against each other.

In re-education, when it's revealed that Sydney has magic they say that has happened before, and I imagine they handled it with the same amount of compassion. I think maybe Chantal is a witch too and that's why she was fown in the punishment level with Sydney.

Alicia definitely showed that some witches might be willing to work with them for their personal gain, but I think as a community they would protect their own. They wouldn't look kindly on Alchemists torturing witches. And even if they were born into the Alchemists, they chose to be witches, so their allegiance to them would take precedence in their minds. Sydney's coven and Ms. Terwilliger are definitely on board.

I think the rebels might be able to get the Keepers on their side, since they have a complicated relationship with the Alchemists, where they seemto deliberately keepthem dependent. Marcus' stated goal for a long time was helping Moroi on their own terms, that's what he did for a long while. He definitely didn't have any plans to topple the Alchemists in the Bloodlines era, he didn't thinkthat was possible. So they occasionally helped them get better technology and resources that the Alchemists don't want them to have, and they promise to help them further in the future. That gets them the Keepers sympathy.

The Moroi government obviously isn't gonna side with the anti-Moroi faction, but I think they'd try to stay out of the conflict and not be dragged into the fighting for as long as possible. But they've come to depend on the Alchemists too much to keep them hidden, and they're now in chaos.

With the Alchemists weakened by a civil war they aren't really doing a great job of keeping up the masquerade, Moroi secrecy gets very precarious.

Now. While Alchemists claim to be very worried about human souls, absolutely no one in the VA universe seems that worried about regular humans' lives. They don't even know about the existence of Strigoi so they could protect themselves. And yes, there are humans who'd work with Strigoi. Strigoi seem to have zero issue finding those humans as is, they simply tell them about vampires themselves when they wanna get servants.

Now there's a vaccine that could help protect humans, and really reduce Strigoi's capacity to feed, but you have to actually apply them to humans. And more and more supernatural events are being sloppily covered up since the Alchemists are otherwise preoccupied.

I'm sure there are some valid reasons for the masquerade, and humans might not behave amazingly towards supernatural creatures, but leaving them completely helpless to this threat isn't very ethical, and certainly not when you have a vaccine that could help them.

And honestly, as cliche as that argument is in discussions of monster hunting, humans could potentially take the Strigoi out, we have some pretty amazing weapons. Or we could be massively incompetent about a problem that we are fully capable of solving. You know...

So the supernatural world gets revealed, and that makes the Alchemists pretty obsolete. Of course, although they have been weakened by the decade(s) of infighting, that doesn't mean they lose all of their resources and connections all at once, but it would be a huge blow their relevance.

They get splintered into a lot of different groups that can still cause trouble, but they're no longer the omnipresent shadow organization they used to be.

And if this whole process took about 15 years, Declan and his buddies would be neatly protagonist aged in time to deal with the huge upheaval and the new mess of problems brought on by the integration of the Moroi and human world. And he'd more capable of thinking about his own relationship to the spirit vaccine and making his own decisions.

So most of this post was written to be understood whether or not you read Silver Stars, but this final bit is more about what could directly follow. When it comes to the fic I was more worried about the characters and their feelings, and excuses for domestic fluff and hurt/confort. So here's the fic on AO3 and on Tumblr.

In the end of The Ruby Circle, there's indication that Zoe Sage and Stanton, with the incentive of Sydney's blackmail, will be trying to reform the Alchemists. I don't really think they're reformable, attempts to extinguish re-education would basically result in rebranding. @sydneysageivashkov has some lesbian!Zoe head that I think are pretty compatible with my headcanons for an Alchemist revolution, and what Zoe would be doing during that initial period.

I think it could take a few more years, 3 or 4, for Sydney to actually have to leave her home and go into hiding. Declan foes actually get a little bit of a normal school experience. I imagine this whole process going very slowly, as the situation gradually deteriorates. And the witches would now claim Sydney as one of their own, making it a bigger problem for the Alchemists to attack her directly, lest they make enemies of the whole magical community.

By the time Sydney has to go into hiding I imagine Zoe is gonna have to leave the Alchemists as well. The other reason why I chose Emma for the first fic, is that she was in re-education in part for her sister's actions, so it shows that the Alchemists wouldn't be above hurting Zoe for Sydney's actions.

Sydney has very important reasons to join the revolution, and in fact she might eventually not have a choice, but she knows that once she officially breaks her truce with the Alchemists her whole family and even her fellow re-education inmates that she got amnesty for.

I imagine Sydney, Adrian, Eddie and Declan could spend a while hiding in a ranch very out of the way that Chantal and Duncan got themselves. Insert Adrian joke about that escape plan where cute blonde girls had to wear cow girl outfits.

Duncan has been shown to be pretty hesitant to risk going against authority, and Chantal is even more psychologically messed up than Sydney and the rest of them. Sydney feels pretty awful about placing them in danger, but they're both very grateful to her for helping them escape. Also Chantal is a really badass witch, although a bit unstable, I'll eventually find something to do with that, revolution wise.

But Sydney and Adrian would eventually leave and get more active roles in the revolution. I would very much like it to be an actual collective movement and not one special girl bringing down the Alchemists by herself, but I think Sydney would have a pretty prominent role after everything she went through.

This is way too long, but I had fun with it, and if you got this far, thank you for reading 😀

[icyharrington]

Fever Dream- Part 2 (Michael Langdon X Reader)

as per popular demand, here is part 2 of fever dream! i tried to include a few headcanons that u guys shared with me, so hopefully u like it!

plot: if michael wants to get under your skin, you decide two can play at that game.

warnings: fem!Reader, school uniform michael, slightly dom!Reader, teasing, jealousy, overstimulation, cunnilingus, fingering 

word count: 3.4k

CLICK HERE FOR PART ONE 

i.

Ever since you and Michael’s little interaction, you’d tried your very best to avoid him at all costs. Somehow, though, he managed to appear at all the wrong times, watching you from afar with his devilish stare. Every time you’d see him you’d tense up, and he had no qualms about approaching you for casual small talk, enjoying the fact that he was making you squirm. You couldn’t believe you’d fucked him! Whatever had come over you, you had no idea, but all you knew was that it couldn’t happen again, under any circumstances.

It didn’t help, either, that it was starting to affect your studies. You couldn’t get him off your mind, replaying the events of that day in your head over and over, pressing your thighs together hard as you remembered the way he felt inside you.

Even worse, you’d find your jaw clenching with jealousy whenever you’d see him talking to one of his many admirers, confident and cool as he’d lean up against a doorframe, arms crossed, as some witch talked to him with stars in her eyes. You’d feel compelled to go over to her, remind her he was yours, and then all at once you’d feel very silly for thinking such things at all. Michael could talk to whoever he wanted, you knew this, and yet...

It was after a particularly boring class when a warlock approached you at the door as you were preparing to leave. He was cute, nothing remarkable, but cute, and you realized that this was the perfect opportunity to get Michael back.

Michael himself was gathering his bag, talking to a couple girls, and you grit your teeth. Turning back to the warlock, you gave your cutest smile, and he smiled back.

“Hi, (y/n). I just wanted to say I’ve seen you, and what you can do, and it’s really amazing,” he said. His voice cracked slightly, and you could tell he was nervous. You felt bad that he seemed to know your name, but you didn’t have the foggiest clue of his, but that didn’t matter much to you as you saw Michael approach the door with his admirers in tow. Before you could think any further, you threw your head back and laughed an unnecessarily loud laugh, hand resting on the boy’s forearm.

“Oh my god, you are so funny,” you said, smiling up at the boy brightly.

From the corner of your eye, you saw Michael stop in his tracks, and it took all your self control not to smirk.

“Um, thanks, I guess,” said the warlock, looking a bit confused, hand rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “I’m being serious, though. You’re very talented. Maybe one day we could, like, hang out?”

“Oh my god, I would love to hang out with you,” you said loudly, hoping your voice was traveling over to Michael. You pretended to turn over your shoulder to look at the clock, instead stealing a glimpse of Michael’s face, and from his expression you could tell that he had, in fact, heard what you’d said. His mouth was pressed tightly into a thin line, eyebrows shadowing his almond shaped eyes as he looked stoically in your direction. He’d given up on engaging with the girls, ignoring them completely now, and you almost giggled. Your little act had worked.

If he wanted to get under your skin so bad, two could play at that game.

The warlock’s face lit up, and you momentarily felt a bit guilty for stringing him along. He reached into his back pocket, retrieving a cell phone, and handed it to you. “Here. Put your number in my phone and we can make plans.”

Before you could even accept the phone, Michael appeared before the two of you, an obvious snarl on his face as he looked the warlock up and down. “There’s a stain on your shirt.”

The warlock looked down, and Michael turned to you with a superficial smile pulled across his lips.

“What are you doing with him, (y/n)?” he said, unphased by the fact that the warlock could obviously hear him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you snapped, turning back to the boy. “Sorry about that. What were we talking about?”

The warlock’s eyes went from Michael, to you, and then back again, and all at once he looked very frightened. For a second, Michael’s eyes blackened, and the warlock’s face turned sheet-white. “I-I have to go,” he stuttered, ducking his head down and scurrying out of the room.

“What the fuck did you just do?” you demanded, but Michael just looked at you with a half-smile.

“(Y/n), do you really want to run around with little boys like that? I think a woman like you needs a real man.”

“You’re a fucking narcissist,” you said, and you could feel your blood pressure rising steadily. “You can just go around talking to whoever you want, but you throw a bitch fit the minute I decide to talk to a guy?”

“So you’ve noticed? Me talking to other girls?” A sly grin crossed his face, and you scoffed. He could probably smell the jealousy radiating from your pores, but you weren’t going to let him win that easy.

“There’s like thirty people who go to this school. I’m obviously going to notice who you’re talking to. Besides, you’re allowed to talk to anyone you want. I don’t give a shit.”

“(Y/n), let’s not play stupid here. You and I both know who you belong to,” he said, stepping closer to you, and you glanced around to see if anybody was witnessing this. “And you and I both know the way it makes you feel when you imagine me fucking anybody but you.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, Michael, we’re in public,” you said, embarrassment rising in your throat, but it appeared that nobody was paying attention to your angsty conversation. “And I don’t belong to anyone but myself, so you can wipe that smug look right off your face. Oh, and if anybody is jealous, it’s clearly you, Michael. Using your freaky powers to drive off some guy the minute you feel threatened.”

This was so fucking petty. You were growing tired of this conversation, and you wanted it to end. The look on Michael’s face was so still, so unmoving, that it almost scared you. “Just- don’t fucking talk to me. Okay? Just fuck off.”

With that, you left, refusing to look back.

ii.

It wasn’t long before you realized that Michael wasn’t quite as strong as he let on. He had weaknesses, and you were determined to find them. You wanted to break him down, see him desperate. After all the shit he’d put you through, he deserved to be forced to swallow his pride if not only for a moment.

It was one particularly hot day that you’d chosen a pair of black shorts to wear, high waisted and just long enough to cover your ass cheeks and nothing more. Zoe had asked for a volunteer to write a spell out on the chalkboard, and you had happily obliged.

You made your way up to the board, taking your time to write, making sure your cursive was as even as possible. When you were finished, you turned around, pleased with yourself.

At the very end of the table sat Michael, but he seemed distressed. There was an overlay of pink crossing his cheeks and nose, and he focused his eyes on his book, forbidding himself from looking up.

Your eyes wandered downwards, and you noticed he’d bunched up his expensive blazer and placed it across his lap.

Oh shit, you thought, and now it was your turn to be smug, the discovery dawning on you all at once. He was using that blazer to cover his boner, you were sure of it.

An evil idea crossed your mind, and you decided to go for it. Turning around, you feigned putting the chalk back in its holder, instead letting it slip from your fingers and drop onto the floor with a soft clack.

“Oops,” you said innocently, bending forward to pick it up. Your ass was just feet away from Michael’s face, nearly exposed in those skimpy shorts. You heard a few whispers throughout the class, but the only reaction you really cared about was Michael’s. When you turned around, Michael’s face had gone from slightly flushed to completely red, and his grip on the blazer had tightened to the point where his knuckles had turned white.

“Are you okay?” you asked him, voice syrupy sweet. You turned to Zoe, eyes wide. “Maybe we should open a few windows in here. Michael looks like he’s burning up.”

You sauntered back to your seat, hips swaying from side to side as you felt his eyes on you.

You’d gotten under his skin, and god did it feel good.

iii.

After that day, you made it a point to dress as revealingly as possible. Low-cut tops, bralettes, and short skirts made up your new wardrobe, and you had to admit your confidence had increased a great deal. You couldn’t believe the amount of sexual power your body held, turning the usually confident young warlock into nothing more than a flustered mess just by taking a mere glimpse at your bare thighs.

You could hear the whispers about you, rampant around every corner. It hadn’t been in your character in the past to dress so daringly, and now that you were, everybody noticed.

You passed the living room where a group of warlocks were sitting on the couches, Michael sitting off to the side quietly, tucking a strand of his styled blond hair behind his ear. Despite his popularity amongst the girls, he hadn’t gotten himself involved in the social aspect of the school, and it was very seldom that you ever saw him speak. You doubted he even really wanted to talk to the girls, either, instead doing it so he could bother you.

You stopped in your tracks when you heard your name, spoken in a hushed tone, and crept back behind the wall so nobody would see you as you eavesdropped.

“Have you seen that one witch? (Y/n)? Man, she’s got an ass on her,” said one voice, and you laughed quietly to yourself. The group of boys chattered in agreement, and you peeked around the corner to watch the scene unfold.

Michael looked displeased, and you were somewhat surprised when he spoke up. “Don’t talk about her like that.”

“Who? (Y/n)? Come on, dude, I’m just spitting facts here. Plus, she obviously wants us to see if she’s going around dressed like a slut.”

You had no time to get offended as Michael stood up abruptly, towering above the boy as he grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, yanking him up to face him. Michael still had several inches on the boy, who was visibly trembling, and you put your hand to your mouth to stifle your gasp.

“Say one more word about her and I’ll tear your fucking tongue out of your skull so you can never talk again.”

He released the warlock, tossing him into a heap on the ground, and the whole group of boys looked at Michael in disbelief.

“You have some serious problems, man,” muttered the boy, composing himself before rejoining his friends.

You turned on your heel, running back up the stairs to your bedroom before someone figured out that you’d seen everything that just happened.

Back in your room, your back pressed against the door, you found yourself with a stupid smile on your face and a racing heart. He’d defended you, which meant he cared about more than just your body. You didn’t know why this made you so happy, but it did, and it occurred to you that maybe you cared a little more about the blond-haired boy than you thought.

Maybe.

iv.

It was half past midnight when you decided to pay Michael a visit, but you had a feeling that he was as much of an insomniac as you were. In front of your floor-length mirror, you surveyed your reflection, a silk black slip draped over your curves. You’d never found the right occasion to wear something so sexy, leaving the lingerie to collect dust in your closet for months, but now you had one.

You passed through the silent hallways, scanning for Michael’s room, and licked your lips when you saw the light spilling from under his door. Perfect.

You entered without knocking, slightly surprised that he hadn’t locked the door, and found Michael hunched over his desk, his back to you, as he scribbled something down. He was still dressed in his uniform, and you assumed he’d been working for hours and hadn’t had the chance to get changed yet.

“You know, I don’t need you to defend my honor like you did,” you said playfully, startling him. “But thanks, I guess.”

He turned over his shoulder to look at you, and you could see him waver for a split second when he saw what you were wearing. “I’m busy,” he said simply, and you frowned.

“Too busy for this?” you said, letting a strap slide down your shoulder to expose more of your shoulders. You approached him slowly, seeing him tense up in his seat, still turned around to look at you. “I don’t think you have it in you to resist me.”

“Enough, (y/n),” he said, but he was breathless, and you knew he was close to his breaking point. “I have absolutely no interest in entertaining your little games.”

You reached his chair just as he turned back around, and you ran your hands along his broad, sturdy shoulders. Just feeling the way he reacted, flinching slightly at your touch, caused a tingling sensation to creep up between your legs. “Wanna know what I think?” You leaned forward, brushing away a strand of his soft hair to whisper into his ear. You swore you could see the goosebumps traveling across the back of his neck. “I think that I own you, just as much as you own me.”

You kissed him below his earlobe, then moved to his neck, and then his jaw. He turned his head slightly, allowing your lips to meet his, and you gave him a slow, teasing kiss, your tongue barely brushing against his. You tugged his chair back just by a few inches, him helping you by scooting the chair backwards, and you stepped over his legs to straddle him. His hands dug into your sides without hesitation, and you rocked your hips forward, pushing down against his growing bulge. He winced, a delicate moan spilling from his lips as he felt you against his crotch, his mouth attaching to your throat. He sucked slightly, sliding his velvet tongue across your skin, and you allowed your eyes to flutter shut. 

“So beautiful,” he said, more to himself than to you, voice raspy with lust. 

You focused on applying more pressure onto his dick, which you could feel poking at you through the stiff material of his pants, moaning yourself at the friction between your legs. He wrapped his hands around you to grope your ass, his lips connected with the skin beneath your collarbone as he began to give you a hickey.

After a particularly intense thrust, he grunted, his fingers digging into your flesh as he pulled away. “S-stop.”

You raised an eyebrow at him, enjoying the power you felt coursing through you. “Wouldn’t want you making a mess of those expensive pants, now would we?”

He said nothing, instead reaching up between your thighs and pushing aside your lacy thong. Sliding a finger inside you, he used his other hand to maneuver the strap of your slip all the way down in order to expose your left breast. You whined softly as he ran his tongue over your erect nipple and pushed his finger further inside, allowing you to rut your hips against his hand.

“You’re such a tease,” he mumbled, the vibrations of his words stimulating your breast even further. He was skilled with his hands, using his thumb to circle your clit, a second finger sliding past your inner lips. You tucked your head into the crook of his neck, your arms wrapped around him as you pushed yourself down against him.

“Fuck, Michael,” you said as he pulled your other strap down, leaving your entire chest exposed. He began to suck on your right nipple, fingers still working expertly inside you, and soon you bit down on your lip, hard, as you felt your orgasm start to build up from the pit of your stomach.

You let go, crying out softly as your senses were overcome with pleasure, and he pulled out his hand from between your thighs to suck your juices off his fingers. Then he wrapped his hands underneath your thighs and hoisted you up onto his desk. You pushed his books to the side and he pulled off your underwear, tossing them to the side without a second thought.

You were already sensitive from your first orgasm, but he didn’t care; he pulled your legs apart and held them firmly, his tongue making its way to your swollen outer lips. He dipped his tongue inside you, quickly flicking it up to meet your swollen clit, and you tried hard to suppress a loud, desperate moan. Directing his full attention to your clit, he smiled against you as you bucked yourself towards him, panting noisily and grabbing frantically at his beautiful hair.

It didn’t take much more for you to come a second time; he kept going, though, and you realized quickly that he was doing this to get you back for so ruthlessly teasing him. He looked up from between your legs, a cocky glint in his pale eyes, and your legs trembled as your juices trickled down your ass. He held you tighter as you writhed under his grasp, moving his mouth downwards and pushing his tongue inside you roughly. Your whole body twitched uncontrollably and you came for a third time, jaw unhinged and eyes rolled back into your head.

He moved his head back, giving you a chance to catch your breath as he wiped his mouth discretely with the back of his hand. “Oh my god,” was all you could manage, back propped up against the wall and legs dangling limply off the side of his desk.

“You’re so pretty when you cum,” he said, standing up and taking your hand to help you off the desk. You could barely stand up on your own, your legs like jelly underneath you. “Come on. Lie down with me.”

He guided you to his bed and you laid down, resting your head on the cool pillow as you watched him undress. He was shameless in this, clearly self-assured with his body as he stripped off his pants and blazer, neatly folding them putting them off to the side. Your eyes wandered over his body, not too muscular but not too slender, as he bent down to his bottom drawer to retrieve a t-shirt. Then, pulling it over his head, he climbed into bed next to you and held you close to him.

“You know I couldn’t care less about any of the girls at this school besides you, right?” he said softly, stroking your hair affectionately. “A lot of them have tried, but I haven’t done anything with any of them. Just so you know.”

“I know,” you chuckled. “It’s pretty obvious that I have you whipped by the way you threw that kid on the ground to defend me.”

“You’re special,” he said. “I knew it from the first minute I met you.”

You curled up closer to him, feeling safe and content in his arms. Then, matter-of-factly, you said, “I want you to fuck me later. After I recover from the fucking marathon of orgasms you gave me.”

He laughed. “That was payback for all the teasing.”

“I could tell,” you said, laughing too, and he pulled the thin bedsheets over the both of you. It took only a matter of minutes for you to fall asleep, serene under his touch, and for the first night in what felt like an eternity, you didn’t dream.