#mae's thought bubble

[slutsmut-racha]

"Channie would be the best boyfriend!"

"Bang Chan's the best husband!"

WRONG!

He'd be an absolute menace! This man flirts and teases Stays like his life depends on it! How you think he's gonna be with a real partner?!

He would tease you at every! possible! chance!

You two are making out, at least you're trying to, and he's keeping himself just out of reach like "Can I help you? You need something?" Giggling the WHOLE DAMN TIME. 😤

"Oh, you want a kiss? All you had to do was ask silly."

🤬🤡 Rant over.

Now, when he actually gives you what you want, he is all about making sure you're taken care of. It's hot and steamy, no more teasing. At least, not the same kind of teasing. 😉

[moonstruckme]

hi Mae I have a lil fic request if u like the idea! I would love to see something with reader and Remus where may be she is James neighbor and friendly with James and she sees Remus all the time coming and going and she finally works up the courage to ask James and be like what's ur friend's name? And he's like who? And she's all blushing like ya know the super pretty one that's really tall and last week he was reading x book! I actually love that book! And James realizes she's into him and plays wingman

Thank you for your request lovely!

cw: kind of shy!reader coded

Remus Lupin x fem!reader ♡ 809 words

You answer the door, and it’s the boy from next door. 

Well, not the boy from next door. There are a few always passing in and out, and only one that you know of who actually lives there. But this is James’ friend, the one with the scars and the soft eyes. The one with the name from a fairy tale.

“Hi,” he says, “I’m Remus.” 

“Hi.” You’re spellbound for a moment before you remember to tell him your name in turn, but he doesn’t appear to notice. “What can I do for you?” 

“My friend, he lives next door…” 

“James?” 

His lips tilt. “That’s the one. He’s sent me to see if you have an egg we could borrow. Or, erm, take. I’m sure James will give you an egg in exchange once he gets some more, though.” 

Laughter bubbles easily to the surface, your stomach fizzy with nerves. This is surely a scheme. James could have come and collected his egg himself, but instead he’s sent the friend you asked him about only two days prior. You aren’t sure whether to be grateful or angry with him; it may depend on how this goes. 

“That’s okay, I can stand to give up an egg.” You go into your kitchen to fetch it. Remus follows partway, stopping at your bar counter. “Do you need something to keep it in?” 

“No, that’s alright. Have you read this?” 

You turn to find him looking at a worn out paperback, fingers skimming gently over the fold of pages. You blink. You hadn’t left that there. 

“Yeah,” you say. “It’s one of my favorites.” 

Remus looks up with interest. “Is it really? I’ve just finished it.” 

You clamp your lips together so I know can’t escape. You’d seen Remus carrying the book into James’ place when you’d been getting your mail. You’d gotten your mail twice that day just to have an excuse to talk to James about him. 

In fact, when James had come over last night—oddly, to borrow an egg then, too—you could have sworn the book was on your coffee table. And now it’s relocated to the kitchen counter. 

Maybe James Potter is more conniving than you’ve given him credit for. 

You pass Remus the egg. “What did you think of it?” 

Remus’ eyes flit up to yours, and it’s a concentrated effort to keep your knees solid underneath you. He cradles the egg carefully in his hand. “I thought it was really good,” he says. “I liked how each subplot was given its due importance.” 

“I really love that about it, too.” 

“Do you have a favorite part?” 

You duck your head, face warming. “It’s embarrassing.” 

“Oh, come on.” You can hear the smile in Remus’ voice. “We read the same book. How embarrassing can it be?” 

“I’m a romantic.” You shrug. “I liked the kiss scene best.” 

When you peek up, Remus is indeed smiling, brown eyes warm. “That’s not embarrassing,” he says. “That’s sweet. It was a good scene.” 

His gaze moves between you and the book, and you see a thoughtfulness come over his expression. Remus doesn’t strike you as the oblivious sort. He’s likely pieced together why exactly his friend sent him over here. 

But he doesn’t look upset. No, whatever’s going on with his face is a lot more pinkish and complicated. 

“Well,” he says after a moment, “thank you for the egg.” He offers you a small smile, moving towards the door. “I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of each other. James’ kitchen is never adequately stocked.” 

You grin. “I’ve gathered that.” 

Remus’ smile widens slightly, and then he’s slipping out your door, starting back for James’ place. You very carefully do not look out the window to watch him, but unfortunately (or fortunately, as the case may be) the doors in your building are thin enough that you hear everything that goes on in the hallways whether you’d like to or not. 

“Remus!” James exclaims, by the sound of it keeping his friend from re-entering his apartment. “What are you doing back so soon?” 

“You sent me to get an egg,” Remus replies drily. “It doesn’t take long.” 

“Right, but—I actually forgot. I need flour, too.” 

“What the hell do you need flour for? I thought you were making an omelet.” 

“Plans change, Moony. Go on, then.” 

“You’re going to eat this poor girl out of house and home.”

A laugh. “I think she’s alright with it.” 

Your face burns. 

“We don’t know if she has flour for you to borrow. How much do you even need?” 

“I dunno—um, two cups. Or something like that. And if she doesn’t have it, the two of you can go to the grocery!” 

“James.” 

“Just get back over there.” James’ voice rises, as though calling down the hall. “And talk to her about books!”

[tac-the-unseen]

Gifts the slashers would enjoy

Fluff

Minor updates for formatting

Micheal Myers:

•Arts and crafts supplies

-He's enjoyed making Paper Mache masks most of his life. It's very likely that he enjoys other forms of art as well, but couldn't express that in the ward for fear it would be taken away.

-Dr. Loomis sucks

-Giving him art supplies now, would end up in him making his art in secret. He feels embarrassed to like such a simple thing. That shame is intensified if you ask to see it. He'll end up leaving it out so you can see it without directly showing it to you

•Candy Corn, circus peanuts, and Crunch bar.

-Are they his favorite? No. But they bring back good memories, and for Michael, that's enough.

-would spend a good chunk of time snaking on the sweets while you spend time with him

-Can be bribed into a lot of shenanigans with candy

•Homemade meal

-He rarely had anyone make him dinner. His mom being a ‘working’ woman ment that he had to fend for himself come dinnertime.

-Knowing that you wanted to, and found time to make him dinner make him feel that icky (Nice), bubbly feeling in the center of his chest

-minor Headcannon: first time this happened Micheal thought he was having a heart attack.

Billy loomis & Stu macher:

•Horror movie merchandise

-Their collectors. If you manage to get your hands on something they don't have, they'll give you anything you want in return.

-will trip over themselves trying to replay you

-Stu would actually kiss the ground you walk on if you ask

•Jewelry

-They both appreciate necklaces, bracelets, and RINGS

-Stu is a gold guy, Billy is a sliver guy.

-They’re like crows. Anything shiny will end up in their pockets. Imagine Stu showing off his rings like a newly proposed to woman. Fawning over the design and/or jewels.

•knives/knife sharpener

-They collect knives of different quality and look

-they better ones they use to hunt. The best ones and the weaker ones are put on display like trophies.

-No matter the quality you get, it's the fact it came from you but they care about

Thomas Hewitt:

•Flowers

-Thomas is a sucker for old ‘traditional’ romantic actions

-Seeing you hold up hand-picked flowers makes his heart gush. He thinks you look so precious, wanting to make him happy.

-sometimes he'll catch you, out of a window, picking flowers just so you can give it to him. He'll never tell you, and will always act surprised when you present the bouquet.

•Bones

-its simple and an abundant resource at the house. There's always bones somewhere, and Thomas knows how to use the bones

-They’re good for making repairs, as tools, and as decorations

-You 10000% have a bone bracelet that Thomas made for you when you guys started to get more serious

•Desserts

-Thomas won't admit it, but he has a sweet tooth. Why do you think Luda mae spends so much time baking?

-While a good pie is enough to send this man to his knees, any other baked good will do.

-He likes cherries and strawberries, but because of how expensive they are he doesn't tell anybody that it's his favorite. He doesn't want anybody ‘wasting’ money or resources on him.

Bubba Sawyer:

•Flowers

-Bubba loves flowers. Any kind of flowers is enough for him to let out squeals of happiness. He loves seeing them around the farm, and plants them around the house when he has spare time.

-So when you go to town and come back with a bouquet of flowers just for him, nearly crushed you with hugs.

-Keeps them alive for as long as possible then perseveres them in notebooks and in salt

•Quilting supplies

-Bubba is really good at handling leather. Those human skin masks are hard to make, and human leather is so incredibly delicate.

-On top of that, he is a family man. He want to make things that help his family. So he makes blankets!

-its a fine craft and perfect in enhancing his skills.

•Good old quality time

-He loves spending his time with you! If he could spend all day with you, he would.

-So sitting down and cuddling means that absolute world to him. He cherishes his time with you and it what he looks forward to everyday. It's why he wakes up in the morning. It's why he tries hard everyday. He wants to spend every day starting and ending with you!

Bo Sinclair:

•Tools

-If your in the workshop often enough, you'll know what ends replacing.

-Bo is as stubborn as stubborn comes, so he won't get new tools until they physically can't do their job anymore.

-If you get him new tools he will begrudgingly take them, but after an hour or two he'll find you just so he can thank you ‘properly’.

•Cigarettes

-The boy smokes

-Don’t know what else to tell you

-Will kiss you when you give it to him though

•Kids Toys

-Sounds weird, but having his childhood taken away from him leaves him wanting to fill up the gaps.

-when looking through a victim's car you found a two handed water ring-toss toy. when you showed Bo He just rolled his eyes and kept working on his Truck. You started playing with it when at the shop, even leaving it there on a few occasions. Every time you left it there, He would take it and sneak into the back room of the shop to play with it.

-it brought him immense joy. One day he forgot to put it back, and when you asked about it he berated you for losing your things and expecting him to keep track of your belongings. He never told you, and would rather die than admit it.

Vincent Sinclair:

•Art/craft supplies

-Its a given, really

-He very rarely get new art supplies (if you don't count corpses) so it’s nice to get replacements.

-Will take anything you give him, honestly

•Books

-Vincent isn't always making art. Sometimes art can get boring for him, or he hits a rough patch and doesn't know where to go from there.

-A book can easily help, Whether it's just something else to do or it helps him overcome his art block. He will oftentimes get up from his work space and find another spot to sit down and read.

-He loves it when you read to him. It's nice to just listen to something while you work.

•Hoodies

-with his combination of body issues and wanting to be cozy, A hoodie seems to be the best option.

-Even though it is hot in Louisiana, The cool basement and even cooler nights need a little warmth.

-loves the feeling of the softer cloth and with it being a present, makes it all the better.

Lester Sinclair:

•Lip balm

-Lester has a hard time with hygiene. No one ever really taught him how to take care of himself.

-So when you notice Lester had chapped lips and gave him some lip balm something in his brain short circuited. The fact that YOU want to help him, makes his heart swell.

-keeps it in his pocket and constantly reapplies it

•Car freshener

-Even with him blind to the smell of death, the hot Louisiana sun will intensify the foul smell 10 fold. You knew it was bad when you could smell the truck before you could see or hear it.

-You ran out of town and bought several packs of air fresheners for his truck. You told him that you do love him, just not the smell that lingers when he gets home from work. Lester doesn't want to make you gag every time he gets into bed with you.

-He likes the Strawberry, sugar cookie, and fresh linens scent best

•Dinner

-He’s not the ‘I better come home to a hot plate of dinner' kind of guy, but he really appreciates it when he does. Even though Bo is a semi-good cook, anything after years of having it will get boring.

-Having you cook for him (and most likely his brothers) is a nice change of pace.

-Will eat anything you cook. Whether it's ‘good’ or ‘bad’ he will happily eat it all.

Billy Lenz:

•Being read too

-Isn’t a physical present but he loves your voice. He wants to read but has A) a hard time focusing and B) has a hard time reading in general

-Having you read to him calms him down and gets him settled enough to sit still and/or do an activity smoothly

-Reading to him 100% makes him fall asleep in the end. And boy does this insomniac need it

•Crochet equipment

-After learning how to Crochet he can't stop. He runs through String like a mad man. He has made you 6 sweaters and increasing in quality over time

-Will give you a list of all the colors he wants and will wait patiently on your bed for you to come back.

-Gets ridiculous excited when he's given new supplies. Will be your lap dog for weeks after

•String lights

-Doesn't have to be Christmas themed, he just really likes the lights. Like a moth drawn to flames.

-likes to fall asleep with them on, it's like Billy’s own big night light.

-Has gotten too close to them and accidentally ripped them down. He tried to hide them so he didn't get in trouble, and actually cried when you found out.

Brahms Heelshire:

•Clothes

-You wondered why his clothes were so ill-fitting for a long time before you realized, that's his dad's old clothes.

-coming to that realization you manage to figure out his proper size and (after some minor fighting) when out to get him a much needed upgrade. When you came home he was waiting by the door, waiting for you. Giving him his new clothes was like telling him you would never leave again, he was ecstatic. He ripped the bags out of your arms and ran into his room so he could try them on

-He fell in love with the sweaters you got him, with a nice couple pairs of khakis. It wasn't much of a transition from his old clothes but that's just what he likes.

•Movies/Movie night

-The only movies he's seen are from his childhood, and he can barely remember them. His parents didn't think movies were healthy for a growing boy, so they only allowed him books to pass the time

-When you proposed a movie night he had a couple questions and even a bit of hesitation. “What if they melt my brain?” He asked with genuine concern. After you posed another question back “Why wouldn't they have melted my brain yet?” Did he trust you.

-You started with childhood classics before getting into the more ‘adult’ stuff. He loved every minute of it

•Picnics

-While Brahms isn't a fan of going outside, the garden is the only exception. You wanted him to go outside because orange juice can only do so much for a vitamin D deficiency.

-He said the only way he would go outside was if you had a Picnic and put his sunscreen on. Making sandwiches with chips and then lathering him in 80 SPF he went outside in a tank top layered with a crocheted vest and shorts, had him outside fairly quickly

-Now he wants a picnic every summer

Hannibal Lecter:

•Wine

-After dating for a while you started to notice where Hannibal got his expensive foods and wines

-you also noticed what he actually liked and what he was just experimenting with. While fruity and floral flavors were always favored, herbs and Nutty wines were much lower on his list.

-With that in mind you got a Cherry lavender wine from Greece. When you gave it to him he was actually shocked you were paying attention to his preferences. He told you most people just buy cheap wine and expect him not to notice.

-The wine you picked out now has a permit spot saved on his wine shelf.

•Paper bouquet

-Paper made into the shape of different flowers all wrapped up in another paper tying it all together. It's cute, classy (though he would never display it openly), and will never wilt!

-He had told you about the complexity of life using flowers as an example and how they wilt. So you decided to make flowers that can't wilt to not only sass him but to give him something

-He put them in a paper vase he made (in only what you can assume was) in his free time.

•Friendship bracelets

-What was originally a gag gift turned out to be one of his favorite gifts.

-You thought there was no way in hell THE Hannibal Lecter would wear cheap bright string woven together, but you were wrong.

-You had made some friendship bracelets out of old string you found in some old stuffed away box and laughed at the idea of Hannibal finding it in his desk drawer. So you did just that, just to come to the shocking realization that during a meeting with the F.B.I he was wearing it, hidden under his sleeve. You had a very hard time containing your laughter that night.

Will Graham:

•Quality time with you!

-Life has always been stressful for Will. So some alone time with you is always a great gift.

-No need for fancy dinners, events, or holidays. Just sitting down to watch whatever pops up on the T.V screen is enough for him.

-Bonus points if the pack joins in for a cuddle session!

•Handwritten letter(s)

-Having a man with a different then most emotional attachment style is hard. Will might not always what to be physically touched or poked at. Sometimes he doesn't even want to talk (Common coping mechanism for Autistic people)!

-But even when he gets like this, it's still nice to get some reassurance. You started writing him little notes around the house a while ago and slowly you noticed Will’s mood improving significantly.

-He found it very sweet that you were taking the time to meet him on a level he was comfortable with. The two of you don't speak about it often but the notes persist.

•New fishing gear

-anything fishing related is always an appreciated

-New lears, poles, vests, hooks, bait even. Anything even if he already has it, he will take it happily

-He’ll take you fishing with his new gear you got him and will happily teach you if you don't know how to fish

The Lost Boys:

•Jewelry

-All four vamps love jewelry of any kind

-All of them have earrings, bracelets, and necklaces so why not give them Something they can say they got from their S/O!

-David and Marko prefer bracelets, David’s gloves wouldn't mesh well with rings, and he thinks a necklace might make him seem less intimidating. Marko would chew on a necklace and worse could get caught during a fight. Rings would be damaged either due to said fighting and/or his painting. Bracelets are that perfect in-between!

-Dwayne and Paul like Rings for different reasons. For Dwayne Rings have that ‘marriage’ aspect to them. Not to say rings mean marriage, but historically speaking…it's like putting your claim on him and he's thriving for that.

-Paul likes rings to fidget with. He already has rings he uses as ways to occupy his hands when something or someone isn't. Will 100% show off his ring you gave him to the others.

•Gift boxes

-The boxes full of pictures, candy, and other meaningful things

-They all go feral over those boxes, especially the first ever box. It was filled with your own little doodles, candy you know they like, mini bottles of whiskey, and a note telling them about how much you care about them and where to meet you for the night.

-if you plan to do this more often make sure each boy gets to keep something or they WILL fight over it.

•ScrapBooks

-Memories bunch up and fade when you're a vampire. They can't always remember the little things, so having a book of all those memories they can look back at is great idea!

-You even found a creative way to include them in pictures! They can't be seen in photos, but they're shadows can! You take pictures under street lamps and make silly poses. You have a picture of Paul dramatically falling into Marko's arms while Dwayne and David kiss either side of your face.

-All those silly pictures combined with your and Marko’s creativity ends up in some fun, colorful, memories

Thanks for reading <3

(You know I write a fuck ton when It started glitching out. Like it would freeze while I was formatting it correctly 😭)

[nitw]

i love that all of mae's dialogue including her personal thoughts is delivered in the same style of text bubble because it's heavily implied that every single thing she says in the game is said out loud no matter where she is. which is so fitting

[trulyhblue]

someone asked who all my baby oc’s are and I thought I would share a little list!

bug jamie foord — bug and bingo

character traits — bubbly, compassionate, ambitious

- loves her bingo toy

- extremely outgoing + loves her aunties very much

- born on the 09/09/2019

- favourite food is oranges

emmeline y/l/n — brown-eyed girl

character traits — enduring, intuitive, sincere

- quietly spoken, incredibly empathetic

- fluent in english and norweigan

- born on the 21/02/2018

- favourite food is butter chicken

lilo ella mae russo — lilo’s sparkle

character traits — sympathetic, endearing, considerate

- fluent in Italian and english

- has a collection of every kit Alessia has worn since she was born

- is known for her constant choice of pink for everything

- born on the 02/09/21 (same as ella’s)

- favourite food is orange juice (drink ik but still)

I'm very willing to add more baby fics as they are literally my favourite thing to write ever. So pls send them in!!

[hollow-keys]

This tweet's already got dunked on a lot but I have things to say about the differences between Osha and Anakin that I haven't already seen said sooo I'm gonna say my piece.

The reason why they're reacting differently is Osha and Anakin are very different characters at very different points in their arc in these respective scenes.

When Osha force choked Sol, she had just started to turn to the dark side then and there. Before, that moment, she hadn't turned at all. She left the Order because she couldn't cut it as a Jedi, because of her anger and pain bubbling below the surface, but when she left she didn't feel particularly negative towards the Jedi, she didn't disagree with their philosophy or how they approached the force, she simply didn't feel like it could work for her personally and decided to go life a normal life. Meanwhile, Anakin immediately turned over to the Sith. She viewed herself as a failure for not being able to live up to the Jedi's code, Anakin viewed the code as a failure for not accommodating him.

When Anakin force choked Padmé, he had already turned to the dark side. He'd already beheaded Dooku, he'd already slaughtered the Tuskin Raiders, he'd already executed Order 66, he'd already killed or helped kill his friends. Even before he turned, he was flagrantly and shamelessly disobeying the Jedi code with the arrogance he carried himself with and his relationship with Padmé. Officially turning into a Sith was the end point of all that. He entirely gave himself over to anger, which blocked out his rational thought processes.

Osha was just a normal person who happened to be an ex-Jedi. When she got dragged back into it, she respected the Jedi she worked with but the tensions between her and the Order came back, particularly with how closed off they were to her, unable to reciprocate her non-Jedi like affection. Still, she didn't hate them or even really blame them, it was just a frustration. She was entirely on their side until she found out Sol, one of her closest friends, her father figure, had killed her mum.

She was in shock and disassociating, Sol, in his guilt, didn't explain himself properly and his poor attempt to justify himself only made her withdraw more. She's blank faced because she's not present in the moment. She's still carrying herself like a Jedi with a rational and detached veneer when she uses the force, probably on instinct, but under the surface she's angry, grieving and thus drawing power from the dark side. Sure, her face is blank, but her hands are shaking if you pay attention. It's repressed rage bubbling to the surface. meanwhile Anakin's rage isn't repressed at all and he doesn't feel any attachment to the Jedi's way of doing things. He's chosen the dark side at that point, Osha hasn't chosen any side, she's not thinking about sides, she's just hurt. Her disassociation is blocking out her rational thought processes and she breaks down once she's killed Sol because only then does she stop dissociating and realise what she's done.

Honestly, the correct person to compare Osha to is Mae. When Mae is given the exact same chance to kill Sol, she refuses even though she was recently corrupted to the dark side because she's had years to process that he killed her mum, and she has no prior attachment to him to feel betrayed by, which leads to a less emotional and more rational response. She doesn't just want revenge, she wants him to confess his crimes, she wants the Jedi Order to be rocked by controversy and have a reckoning, to be investigated and reformed. They're the same person under different circumstances.

And look, you can think that the Acolyte scene would be better if Osha was enraged or breaking down, but the fact Amandla Stenberg made a different acting choice than you would have preferred doesn't make her a bad actor. It's like how you can dislike someone's music because it's not your thing while still recognising that they're not a bad musician, but that's probably a bad comparison given a lot of people don't understand that either.

[whatyadrawin]

The Fruit After The Flesh 18+ -Chapter 15

Minors DNI!

Masterlist

Approximately 6,667 words

Pairing: Thomas Hewitt (Headcanon) x AFAB reader

This chapters Warnings:  Sexual language and visual depiction of sexual acts, foul language. This is Slasher smut, be mindful of that and use your discretion.

A/n: I finished this semester of schooling and will be starting my contracted work in July so chapters will continue to be pretty sporadic but they will keep coming until the final one. I struggled a bit with pushing along the story in this one because of the shift in locations but we have some good things coming, and we now have TOMMYS AGE! The censored images can be viewed raw on my google doc (By clicking that link you are consenting to seeing graphic adult imagery and you are over 18). Let me know if you want to be in the tag list. I update chapter progress on the masterlist whenever something changes.

Please enjoy this chapter! I worked very hard on it so reblogs, comments, and likes are appreciated very much.

Tag List: @fan-goddess , @artxasa , @baybaybear1 , @amour-tae , @dij-ology , @jillian-mill , @littlelovebug98

Chapter 15

The faint sound of dishes clinking and scraping wandered into your dream, the swirling visuals dissipated as the sounds became louder until all you saw was black. Your eyelids remained closed as you squeezed them together hoping the pressure would lift the wight of sleep. As your consciousness lazily took hold, the sounds began to make sense, someone was cooking up a storm in the kitchen and the sweet smell of cinnamon was now registering in your nose.

You rubbed your eyes to help moisten them so they didn’t hurt when you opened your lids, you saw the morning light softly reflecting onto your bed from the window. You get up and breathe out deeply as the memories of the night before flood back to you -was that even real?- you still had a dull pain in your soft bits from being stretched so far -I guess it was-

You head to the bathroom to wash up, the house was like an oven already which worried you for how hot the peak of the day would be. You entered back in the room to look for your phone which seems like it hadn’t been used in ages; You pulled up a search engine and perused the local listings for any companies that would be able to irrigate farmland and install underground automatic sprinklers for the fruit trees. While you scrolled the various companies capable of the work, you hear a knock on the bedroom patio door,

“You awake hun?” It was Luda Mae,  “I got some fresh cinnamon buns here for you dear.”

You put your phone down to get to the door, you move the curtains aside to reveal Luda Mae holding a large plate of fresh cinnamon buns heavily glazed with icing. You slide open the door for her,

“You weren’t gettin’ shut eye just now I hope?” You smile and shake your head, she continues, “Thought you might like some fresh rolls on this sunny mornin’”

You take the plate with a huge smile on your face, you hadn’t had cinnamon buns in years,

“Thank you so much! Did you make these yourself?” your voice was bubbling with excitement.

Luda Mae laughs, “Lord no, I got that lil’ dough man’s tube of ‘em from the store. Felt like givin’ them a try.” Luda Mae’s smile faded a little, she had clasped her hands together in front of her nervously, “Mind if I talk to you hun?” she asks.

You move aside and guide her in with an outstretched hand, “Not at all” you reply.

She turns to face you  as she entered in, her glasses resting on her hair, “I know you’re gonna be headin’ back up to the house real soon, them trees need carin’ for after such a long time.” She pauses and stares at your unmade bed, she was clearly uncomfortable so she began to busy herself.

She looks up and notices you watching her, you must have looked a bit perplexed because she felt the need to explain her actions, “Sorry hun, I just need to have my hands busy right now.”

“That’s ok, it’s your house” you immediately felt your words may have come off as standoffish and you regretted saying them.

She thinned her lips and tilted her head when she heard that, as if it was an insult, “Well, that’s what I’m here to talk to you about” she continued to fuss with the bed, “Go ‘head and eat those rolls while they’re still warm dear. Go on now”

You take a seat at the writing desk where you placed the plate of goodies and turn your chair to face her; You take a small bite of the cinnamon bun and a burst of sweet warm dough wakes you up, the icing clung to your upper lip which you hastily licked away.

“Thank you for the Cinnamon buns, they are exceptionally good.” You swallow the bready sweet and continue, “What about this house did you want to talk to me about?” you were beyond curious.

She sighs as she runs her hands over the sheets to flatten them and remove wrinkles,

“I know you felt like you were puttin’ us out while you been stayin’ here, and I know you got your own home and responsibilities...” you could feel a hovering air of anxiety in the awkward pause, you smile and reassure her,

“Hey, you can tell me anything. I’m family remember?”

She gave a relieved smile after you said that and lowered her shoulders down from their hunched up position.

“’Course I remember hun. Ok, well here goes then… Now, me n’ Charlie been discussin’ you a lot the past few days, we don’t have a lot of time left on this earth and Loretta and Monty will be gone sooner than us, so really there won’t be anyone left.” She folded the ends of the sheets perfectly as she tucked them under the pillows, “What I’m trying to say is, we wanna ask you to watch over Tommy when god calls us home. I know you n’ him been getting’ along real well and I guess I was hopin’ you two might get married someday, then this house and the land will be left for the both of you.”

You were taken aback by the overtly honest summary of her plea, you didn’t know what to say so you just sat there stunned and silent. Luda Mae saw you looking like a deer caught in headlights, she walks over to you cautiously, hoping you weren’t about to freak out,

“Now, I know this is a big ask, and a lot to take in all at once what with how you ain’t even been here a year yet but, we been through so much and Thomas loves you and he ain’t never loved no one like that before and we wanted to repay Tilly for all her generosity but she passed away ‘fore we could so we figured you were deserving of the gift and-”

You shook your head and she paused; Luda Mae was word vomiting all her anxiety out on you and you weren’t able to listen properly because of the big news you just received, you scratch your head and collect some thoughts to respond,

“I’m truly flattered and surprised at this offer, no one has ever considered me in this way, other than Tilly I guess but, I barely even knew her.” You stood up from the chair, “I love Tommy, and I intend to be there for him until I die, so I don’t need incentive to stick around. I really want you to know that I am not going anywhere. I’ll be visiting here as often as I can, it’s not like I’m far away.” You get up and take her hand in yours, “I’d love to marry your son, not so I can get this house or the land, but for us to both have the legal paper that makes us family. I deserve to experience having a husband who loves me and I think he deserves a wife who loves him.”

Luda Mae pulls you in for a hug, she has excellent hugs that feel like the warmth and love of a million mothers. You hug her back and rest your head on her shoulder, she gives you a kiss on the back of your head,

“Hun you must be an angel sent from Tilly herself, I swear it.”

These people would be seen as evil monsters by any normal objective person, you knew that Luda Mae carried large amounts of guilt on her shoulders from participating in the horrors this family created, which made her feel like she had to do extra good to make amends with her god before she reaches the end of her life. You felt a weight of sorrow knowing they had to resort to cannibalism in order to survive famine and governmental abandonment, it must have been a difficult decision to make, but Tilly saved them from that hell, and you were there to continue her work.

Luda Mae released you from the hug and held your shoulders so she could look at you,

“I know you’re humble about getting things and feelin’ appreciated, but you’re special to us. You’re in the will whether you want it or not.”

She rubbed the sides of your arms and whisked out the sliding door back to the kitchen, you sat back down at the desk and mulled over what she said while taking another cinnamon bun to eat. -I never thought I would get found family when I came here, this is such a gift-

-----

The noon sun was now blazing in the sky, you finally found a company that would be able to help you with your orchard and set up a meeting with them in the upcoming weeks. You had a few bags full of your belongings that you had packed up to move back to your house, you grab two and put on a sun hat to make your way home.

The walk was sweltering, you could see the air swirling with heat creating a mirror effect on the ground in the distance,  your skin was shimmering with a layer of sweat in an attempt to cool you down. The dry grass was humming with the chirps of crickets and birds, you see the entrance to the driveway of your home and hurry yourself to get out of the heat.

As soon as you get in the door you let out a long sigh and drop the bags on the living room couch, the house was warm from having all the windows and doors shut, you needed to get the air circulating. You walk into the kitchen and fill a cup with cold water at the sink, you gulp it down hastily, feeling like you never had a thirst so extreme in your life. -I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this heat-

As you begin to drink a second glass you stare out the window of the living room and see that moving crate still sitting there, you get your phone out of your pocket and call the number for the company. Someone picks up after a minute of ringing and you promptly get a pick-up time arranged to get it removed. -I’m so productive today, I finally feel like my life is moving at a normal speed again- Having that crate gone will really solidify the permanence of your residency.

You make your way to the backyard and see someone coming up the road in the distance, you grab the pair of binoculars you used when you arrived and see that its Tommy -Oh man, I’m going to tease the shit out of him and get him to break his game- When he left you all hot and bothered last night you didn’t want to wait and mess around anymore, you felt compelled to get him inside you after months of dreaming of it and being so close.

You get yourself changed into a skimpy outfit, a very low cut, white, tank top with no bra and a pair of lavender booty shorts. You put your hair into a high pony tail and get your face touched up with some minimal makeup since the heat would melt any heavy glam looks right off your face. You give yourself one last look in the mirror and spritz a pump of perfume on -If he can resist this then there’s no hope for me-

You pop on a large pair of shades and go back out to the yard and wait patiently on the swing bench, you giggle to yourself unable to keep your composure from the butterflies you were experiencing. Tommy rounded the corner and stopped when he saw you, his eyes widen as he stared but then he realizes what you’re doing and shakes his head as he continued to walk closer. You look up from your shades and get up from where you sat.

You speak in your most aloof and sultry voice “Hey Tommy, want some water? You look so thirsty” you flash him a cocky smile, he probably didn’t know the subtext of your words but your tone likely gave him a hint.

“I ain’t gon’ slip up ‘round you.” He said in a haughty tone.

He crossed his arms, his pecs puffed out as they squished together. He was dressed similar to a 50s greaser you would see in a cheesy movie, his white t-shirt was working hard clinging to his oversized muscles and his light denim jeans didn’t have much room where it counted. He was wearing some nice black biker boots underneath too; It seems he came prepared to fight back against your deadly tactics.

You stood there with a devilish grin on your face,

“Uh-huh, we’ll see. Now did you want that water?”

He nodded and you turned around slowly to get in the door to the kitchen, making sure he saw your ass in those tiny little shorts that barely hid cheek. You knew you were successful when you saw his reflection in a framed picture on the wall that faced him from the inside, he had both his hands raised to his head in disbelief at the sight before him. You blushed as you let the water fill the glass in the sink -I have this in the bag-

When you came back out you saw Tommy overlooking the orchard, you walked up beside him and handed him the cup. He took the glass from your hands and thanked you, he guzzled the water so quick it was like it was a shot of liquor at a bar to him. He handed the glass back to you, as you grabbed it he grazed your hand purposefully with his fingers, you went and set it down on the table next to the swing bench -God he’s smooth-.

“I know what mama went and asked to ya” he didn’t look at you when he spoke,

“Hm” was all you could find to reply with

He continued, “Ya ain’t got to do nothin’ you ain’t wantin’ to do, y’know?”

You touch his forearm, he turned his head to look at you slowly, you weren’t sure if he was talking about the marriage or the commitment to his care, so you vaguely asked,

“Do you want me to?”

“I wanna know what you want” he was not exactly making things clear, so you decided to ask directly,

“You mean about taking care of you when they are gone?”

He looks away and lowers his head and nods,

You squint your eyes, “I want to be with you for the rest of my life” you hope your words were reassuring to him.

He whipped his head to look at you, “Y’sure? ‘cus if that’s true then…”

You nod and follow up, “Now the question is, do you want me there for the rest of your life?”

He turns his whole body to you creating a large shadow, he took your hand in his and said “I wanna be your husband real bad, more’n’ anything I could ever think of”

You smile, “Good, because I want to be your wife real bad, more than anything I could ever think of.”

Tommy let out a relieved chuckle, he kissed your hand and picked you up. You laugh and remove his mask, pressing your lips onto his, the prickling of his stubble tickled your skin, he slowly twirled around with you in his arms letting out muffled laughs behind his kiss. You had never seen him so happy before, his gnarled smile melted your heart into a puddle and you never wanted to see it fade. He released his lips from yours and put you down on the ground, you gave him his mask and he placed it back on his face.

“You can keep the mask off, no one is around but me.” You didn’t understand his long-held habit of hiding his face even when it wouldn’t matter.

He fitted the mask back on and nodded saying, “I wanna keep it off, but, my skin ain’t seen much sun and burns real easy.”

You felt a bit embarrassed from not realizing, but Tommy didn’t let you dwell on it,

“C’mon, let’s go look at them trees n’ I’ll let y’know what I can do for this here orchard.”

He takes your hand and leads you down to the rows of trees.

The shade under the foliage was a nice break from the blistering sun, Tommy immediately began inspecting the branches and checking the buds where new fruit would bloom. You watched as he gently moved around the dirt near the roots, he turned to you and said,

“I’ll be comin’ ‘round often to get things right for ya, but, so far so good.”

You felt less anxious about the daunting task ahead of you, the trees seemed to hold up really well without a caretaker and now that you had Tommy helping you, it felt like smooth sailing. He wasn’t even your husband yet and he was already taking responsibility to care for you. It made you feel so peaceful to know such a powerful man wanted to participate in your life and happiness.

You both wandered around the trees for a bit until you reached the shack where Dover lived, Tommy saw you tense up,

“Want me t’get rid of it?”

You shook your head, “No, no, or… at least, not yet. I might as well look inside and clear it out before we get rid of it. I want to make sure there isn’t much uhm…evidence of him.”

Tommy tilted his head, he knew you were right but he was concerned about the bad memories stressing you out. You walked up to the door and tried to open it but it was locked, you shake your head and huff,

“Guess I’ll need to look for a spare key somewh-“

Tommy moved you aside and promptly kicked the door in, it flung back to the wall behind it cracking in multiple areas,

“I… well ok then, guess I don’t need to find a key after all! You know, maybe I could have been able to refurbish it into a new home for a replacement caretaker.” You smile at him, he laughs,

“Y’weren’t gon’ make no one live in this.” He knew you well already.

When you stepped inside, you were hit with the disgusting stench of lingering body odor. You immediately covered your nose with your hand and wretched, Tommy took an orange handkerchief out of his back pocket and handed it to you. With the handkerchief on your nose, the stench was a bit more bearable, you thank him and continue to look around. The place was so tiny, it was barely the size of a bedroom in a single apartment. The walls were a dirty brown color and there were no ceiling lights just old lamps.

You saw Dover’s bed in the far end, an old tube T.V. was sitting on a tiny little side-table next to it. At the entrance you saw a small sink with no undercabinet; A toilet and shower area were tucked in a small room next to the fridge. He had a table pushed against a free wall with a dingey cabinet beside it next to the bed, you walked over to the table and saw the wall the table was pushed up against, it had a bunch of pictures stuck to it.

You looked back and saw Tommy peering in from the entrance, his arms resting on the top of the doorframe, he saw you look at the wall and asked,

“What y’seein’?”

You shrug and move in closer and see its all pictures of naked women from dirty magazines, all of their eyes were scratched out with pen.

You gasp, “Ew! It’s a porn wall Ugh!”

Tommy laughs at your reaction and calls out to you,

“Get outta there, nothin’ good fer ladies t’look at”

You hurry out of the shack and take in the fresh air,

“Ok this thing need to get demolished or burned or blown up I don’t know it just needs to be erased… the smell alone is a threat to the environment.”

Tommy props up the broken door to cover the entrance and follows behind you,

“I wanna show ya somethin’”

“Where?” you ask

“Somethin’ you’d find interestin’ s’long as it’s still there”

You follow Tommy out to the far end of the orchard, there’s a bunch of thick bushes that look like they were overgrown and began to encroach on the fruit trees. He walks up to the bushes and starts ripping up the branches with ease, he didn’t seem to care about possible spiders or other creepy crawlies that might get on him. You wait under the shade as he went further into the bushes, clearing a path of broken branches and flattened earth behind him.

“AHA HERE IT IS!” he yells

He turns to wave you over, you walk up to where he was crouched and carefully step into the bush. The soft leaves brushed your arms as you went through the newly formed path, Tommy takes your hand and pulls you over to an indent in the growth, it reveals an old stone that’s been overgrown with moss, weeds, and grass.

“What is this?” you ask

Tommy knelt down and pointed to some words etched into the stone and what looks like an imprint under the words, you move away some grass and weeds and see that it’s a handprint. You read the writing and it says ‘Tommy 1979’.

“Is that your hand print? What is this stone?”

Tommy smiles and touches it, his finger is longer than the entire handprint in the stone,

“Mama said she’d take me here as a baby ‘cus it was the only place I’d stop m’cryin’. Uncle Charlie made a concrete stone with my handprint n’ put it here.” He looked over at you and continued, “Tilly put down chairs n’ flowers when she moved out here, she kept it nice until she died.”

You rub his arm, “This is a cool spot, we should clear all these bushes out and make it nice again.”

Tommy stood up with you as you looked around to see if you could make out any formations under the bush.

“What y’lookin’ for?” Tommy asked

“I’m trying to see if these bushes are grown over chairs, why did this area get left unattended?”

Tommy pointed at the direction of the shack.

You nod, “Yeah, that makes sense.”

The sun was starting to really heat up the air, you could feel the rays begin to sizzle your skin,

“Let’s head back to my house, its too hot out here.” You say.

While walking back up the hill to your house, you made sure to walk ahead of Tommy, you emphasized the sway of your hips as you walked, just to push his buttons. Tommy watched as you teased him, he was white knuckling restraint to just grab you and open you up, you were good at making him weak.

You both arrived at the house and entered the kitchen to get more water, you gave Tommy a much larger glass this time and he definitely needed it. You watched as this large beast of a man removed his mask and proceed to guzzle down gallons of water, small droplets rolled down his neck and twisted a knot of desired in your core. -He drinks as much as a bull-

He downed the last drink and let out a pleased gasp of refreshment, he lifted his shirt up to dry his face from sweat and escaped water from the glass and your eyes travelled down to his soft, hairy stomach which puffed out from years of eating well. This man was massive and when you allowed yourself to gawk at him, it seemed to dawn on you just how unbelievably solid he was. You looked away and clenched the fabric of your shorts tightly, hoping you could release some of your attraction into the material.

Tommy noticed you looking tense and walked over to find out what was causing you to shrink your stature,

“Y’ok?” he asked.

His deep voice was like silk in the wind, smooth and entrancing,

“I uh, yeah I’m fine sorry.” You attempted to correct your cracking voice, unsuccessfully.

The house was quiet and cool inside, you wanted to get your mind right so you wouldn’t fail your salacious objective,

“Come check out the finished work in the bedroom, it looks brand new.” You wave for him to follow you.

Tommy followed closely behind you, having to duck down through the doorway just to get in the room. You began pointing at varied areas that were recently fixed saying how nice everything looked, Tommy walked over to the bed and inspected where the window was,

“This where that fire started?” he asked

You went over to where he stood and looked, it seemed there was a spot on the wall where the paint didn’t quite dry right, the color was a bit darker than the rest of the wall.

“What the hell? I never noticed this, how far does it go down?” you hopped on your bed and leaned over to inspect the wall behind the mattress.

Tommys eyes grew wide as he watched you bend on your knees, your ass was high in the air and your legs spread. He immediately felt his jeans tighten and his head began to swirl with lust. You were too busy inspecting the wall to realize what you were doing to him, you call out to him,

“Tommy, can you come check the wall here, I want to be sure its not just me seeing the paint looking off.”

Tommy let out a deep breath and slowly kneeled onto the bed next to you, but there wasn’t much room for him to look. He was trying to avoid pushing you with his body but he wasn’t able to see much with you in the way, he was making a mental effort to calm down the raging erection that now pained him. You noticed he was struggling so you pointed to where he needed to look and you positioned your body under his so he could look over you instead of past you.

He touched where the paint was dark,

“Yep, it’s different here. Nothing t’worry ‘bout though.”

You sighed “Well ok, that makes me feel better.” You removed yourself from under his chest and lay on the bed, your head to the pillow,

“Here, lay down, I’ll make some room for you.” You pat your hand on the area next to you

Tommy looked over your body, he focused in on your hardened nipples poking through your shirt, tantalizing him further. He didn’t want to reveal his stiffened groin to you, he knew you would work him up and he wanted to win, at least, he thought he wanted to win.

You watched as Tommy remained frozen looking at you, this made you curious until you saw where his dick was and a blatant hard on was pointedly visible in his pants. The arousal you had been feeling this whole time got dialed to a hundred, and you took no time to wreck this man’s self-restraint.

“Tommy, did I get you all hot and bothered?” your voice had a playful mocking tone to it.

Tommy sat on the bed covering his shame and blushing hard,

“No!” he proclaimed.

You giggle, “Why don’t you let me help you out with that.”

Tommy wanted you so badly but he also wanted to resist, he didn’t feel ready to release himself, he was scared he would unknowingly hurt you. He looked away, his cheeks were a bright pink from being flustered. You crawl towards him and put your hands on his thighs,

“Come on, after you were so cruel to leave me a wet mess last night…”

Your hands moved up his thigh and towards his penis, you rubbed the thick pipe-like mound that pressed against his jeans and you heard him whimper, this made you grin wildly,

“Look how trapped you are, at least let it out so you aren’t in pain.”

Tommy didn’t move, he just watched as you unzipped his pants and pulled out his cock. The lessened pressure felt good but it allowed for more blood to fill his shaft and harden an already firm erection, which made the sense of relief fleeting.

You felt a ball of heat form in your vaginal walls, slick wetness was now moistening your shorts and you were being driven into a craze,

“You wouldn’t leave me like that again, would you? I don’t know if I could forgive you if you did.” Your words rang in his ears. “Touch me Tommy, I need to feel you.”

He was awestruck by the sight before him, a gorgeous woman with barely any clothes on was basically begging to be with him. He wanted to do terrible things to you but the fear of causing harm overpowered his desires, you were so small compared to him,

“I-I don’ wanna hurt ya” he said in a whispered tone.

You stopped touching him and look up, “What do you mean?”

He sighs, “I ain’t able to… control myself when I get goin’ n’ well, I’m bigger than ya”

You couldn’t suppress your smirk, just the thought of him getting rough and wild was unbearably electrifying. You crawl closer to his chest and sit between his legs, you raise your hips and press your body on his causing his cock to be squeezed by your pelvis. Tommy inhaled sharply and restrained a moan, your hips lined up to reveal exactly how deep his dick would go if he were to bottom you out, this visual was driving him over the edge.

You could feel him twitching on your abdomen, and you knew you could get him to relinquish his control, you took a chance and lifted your shirt up off your body and tossed it to the side. You took his hand in yours and placed it on your breast, letting out a hushed gasp as his hand cupped your bosom. Tommy was losing his state of mind, he felt like he was in a dream and all he could focus on was you, he was straddling your bed with each leg dangling over either side of the small mattress.

Tommy massaged the skin around your breast, his fingers finding their way to your nipple where he softly pinched and pulled outward sending a tingling feeling up your spine. He placed his free hand on your other breast and squeezed with the perfect amount of pressure, he was mesmerized by the plush feeling in his hands. You bit your lip as he played with your perked nipples, he lowered you down to lay you flat on the bed. You raised your arms above your head giving him free access to the entirety of your torso, Tommy leaned over top of you trailing his hands over your skin which tickled your nerves.

His hands found their way to your shorts, he slowly pulled them off your body and growled when he saw you lay there before him unhidden by fabric. Tommy lay next to you on the bed he continued to touch your body as he put his arm under your head and wrapped his forearm around your shoulders so he could touch the breast closest to that hand.  His touch was so soft it was like a whisper of movement that barely brushed your skin and it made your eyes roll back.

He nuzzled into your neck and placed kisses up from your collarbone until he reached your lips where he paused and hazily looked into your eyes,

“Think y’can handle what’s comin’?” he said in a breathy barotone.

You lean your lips close to his, stopping a hairs breadth away,

“I want to touch the fire. Show me the flame”

He lowers his hand to your clit and massages the tip of the hood, you gasp while looking into his eyes, he grins and says,

“Y’ain’t scared of gettin’ burned huh”

You shake your head and squeal as he presses down with more pressure sending your nerves into a crackling fracture. He lets out a guttural laugh at your confidence, he quiets your moans by pressing his lips on yours, his tongue dancing into your mouth so it can find its partner. You reciprocate his movements and mingle your passion between each other. His finger slips between your parting and enters into you, it was intense and drove heat up into your medial region and made you cry out with bliss.

You broke the kiss so you could breathe in deeply, his finger movements were tactical and precise as if he knew exactly where each pleasure spot inside you was hiding. You couldn’t take it anymore, you grabbed onto his neck and moved your body to face his while hooking your leg around his thigh. Your slit was right up against the length of his pulsating member, you rubbed up and down the extent of it to get it soaked and ready.

Tommy whined as you moved, he remained patient as he waited for you to decide when you wanted penetration. You watched as his face contorted into a delirious expression, then when his eyes began to roll back you pressed his head into your welcoming warmth. Tommys eyes jolted open, he was breathing heavily, you slid down on him and let more in, this time it felt effortless. You moaned loudly as you began to slowly traverse the exorbitant distance of his cock, you felt your insides stretch with each new inch achieved.

Tommy officially lost himself, with his brain leading into a more primitive state he quickly grabbed onto your hips and rolled himself on top of you. He pressed his body down on yours pinning your movements, leaving just enough room to allow you to breathe. His head was faced deep into the mattress above your shoulder, his mouth sucking in air and growling into your neck. Tommy moved your forward and back with no restraint, his tip was being thrust so deep it kissed your cervix and jolts of painful pleasure shot up into your chest.

You tried to push his torso back to allow you some room to move, he grunted as he moved himself up and off your body while removing his shirt, you used your legs to push off of him so you could change your position, his dick slipped out of you with a lewd sound. You could barely see his eyes through his now tousled hair, he looked untamed, his pupils were dilated and his chest heaved with each pant.

You turned to face the bed, you could feel your legs tremble under you from the sudden change in Tommys demeanor. Just as you tried to reach for the pillow you felt a large hand grab your ankle and pull you away from it, you fell onto your stomach and had your legs pulled open just before he squeezed himself inside again. You let out a nervous giggle and loudly groaned as he pumped erratically, your body was screaming with joy as each thrust felt like a touch of delicious sin.

Just when you thought he had enough, he lifted you off the bed, cock still sheathed in your body, he raised your legs up with one arm and constricted his other arm around your ribs like a snake. You were suspended up on his chest, he bucked his hips and made your body rise and fall methodically. He was piercing into you, the lip of his glans bumped into your G-spot forcefully, you couldn’t help but scream out,

“Oh shit, I’m gonna cum!”

Your words were like an activation, Tommy began to press you deeper onto his cock and pull you farther up to maximize the sensation, he loudly huffed with grunts and deep breaths, you could tell he was ready to explode,

“Cum inside me Tommy, fill me up!” you plead.

He began to moan with each push, you couldn’t stop the feeling from washing over you with rippling static, your voice sang out with raucous harmony as an orgasm broke your sense of reality and made you see stars. Tommy reacted to your verbalization by painting your insides with his semen, as soon as you felt the first release he aggressively lowered you down and bent over you, with each procession of cum he pressed himself further in and husked a rumbling moan. You could feel your insides swell with his fluids, it felt like a void was overtaken and removed, you felt strangely complete.

Tommy flopped over to his side, dragging you with him, he kept his still erect manhood resting in your trembling canal. He seemed to be coming back to his senses as his breathing levelled out,

“How y’feelin’?” he murmurs

You let out a long breath and smile “I’ve never been fucked like that before.”

He slowly slides out of your hole, a sputtering flow of cum followed. You clench your abdominal muscles and squeeze to release more of his semen out onto the bed, you turn over to face him and he lifts his head with his arm as he gazed into your eyes, you laugh and say,

“So, was that you losing control?”

He closes his eyes and sighs, “Yeah, I mean, I know what all happened but, it was like m’dang body was doin’ its own thing.”

You nod, -That must be as rough as it gets-

“How come you get like that?” you ask

He shrugged, “I do somethin’ like that when I’ve taken a life too. That’s why I worried. Not sure why I do it.”

You place your hand on his cheek and brush away his hair,

“Did you at least feel everything?” you were curious

He blushed, “I felt it all, like I was in a wakin’ dream or somethin’”

He kissed your forehead, “Did I do alright?”

You laugh, “Oh yes, I’d like to do it again please”

He chuckles at your words, but then sits up suddenly, “Shoot, what’s the time?”

You sit up with him and look at the wall clock near the door, “It’s 4:30, why?”

Tommy gets off the bed and shoves his dick in his pants, he searches for his shirt and mask then puts them both on. He turns to you and says,

“I told mama I’d be back t’help with supper! I gotta skitter on outta here ‘fore she gives me heck”

He sped out of the room but then ran back in, knelt down, removed his mask and kissed your lips followed by,

“I love ya baby, come on back home tomorrow ‘round evenin’ time. I’m fixin’ to show y’somethin’ that’ll make y’smile”

And with those words, he sprinted out of your house like a bat out of hell. You snicker to yourself -he calls his place home for me? How cute, he must consider it ours already-

You got off the bed and removed the sheets to wash, you got into the bathroom and started the shower to get cleaned up. You were surprised at the amount of cum Tommy had, it seemed like he had endless loads ready to go -He’d be a baby making machine if he wasn’t sterile… thank god for that-

You let the warm water blanket your skin as you loaded up the soap in a net sponge, you smiled to yourself thinking about his little kiss that he almost forgot to give you, -I wonder what he has to show me?

Next Chapter-

[cursedvida]

How did Noa use to perceive humans/echoes before meeting Mae? He calls them pests, but do you think he thinks of them as just another type of animal or a potential threat to their existence? There is a small scene where Noa's dad gets concerned that echoes are near the village, and it makes me wonder if humans were to be considered as simple "pests" why the need to scare them away? Why Noa was forbidden to go across that tunnel? Do you think Noa was kind of sheltered in the subject? What did the dad and the elders know? Too bad this is not touched again in the story.

I sincerely believe that Noa knows nothing about humans before meeting Mae. And I think that he, along with the rest of the population of his village, has never received any more information about them than that they are savages. Perhaps their information is that despite seeming weak and "dumb," they can become aggressive and even dangerous (much like how we humans view many animals), and it's best to stay away from them or be cautious if you encounter one. I also don't think he thought much about them, just as we don't have a well-formed idea about bears, for example. You know that if you see a bear, you need to run and that it's an animal that can be aggressive, but it's not something that occupies your mind too much. For me, that must have been Noa's opinion to some extent.

On the other hand, I also believe that the elders know much more than they let on. And this is not strange; after all, even governments have intelligence services with information that is not available to the general public and that deals with conflicts that could potentially affect that uninformed majority. Perhaps in Noa's village, the elders who reach a significant position and make decisions about the clan's future have been passing down certain "secrets" about humans and their dangers over generations, something only accessible to a few. Probably Noa's father, having an important position, knew about it too. What exactly do they know? I couldn't say; I don't think they know everything, or maybe they have a distorted version, but I do believe they are aware that humans can pose a more serious threat than what is perceived at first glance. Maybe that's why they have strict rules about going beyond certain limits; somehow, the idea that they are safe from all external dangers in that isolated place must have been passed down through generations, and going beyond the limits could ruin everything. In fact, it's evident that Noa knows nothing about the world at the beginning of the movie; he has literally lived in a bubble all his life.

[unhinged-summer-fun]

common grounds (oshamir) - chapter 14

Pairing: Osha Aniseya x Qimir "The Stranger" Warnings: It's fite nite y'all.

A/N: Dividers by meeee. Also, to celebrate the end of Act 1, this is a two-part drop. I will work as fast as I can to ensure the post is up to snuff, but if you cannot click the link to Chapter 15 at the bottom, try refreshing the page or looking at the series masterlist!

series masterlist

chapter 14: pre-game

Osha tied off the apron around her waist and did a few ankle stretches to prepare for her short shift at the bar. She was about to call it good and clock in a few minutes early when Medora entered the break room.

“Hiii Osha!” she sang, bubbly as ever. She’d been on every shift Osha had so far and had shown her the ropes a little better than Kana had. Anything you need, I’ve got you. It’s quite the boy’s club down here and up there, so we gotta stick together and look out for one another.

“Hi, Medora,” Osha said, enraptured by her coworker’s chaotic entrance. Medora spilled the contents of her purse across the table and pored over it while she spoke.

“I didn’t think I’d see you here; thought you’d be part of the crowd.” She briefly abandoned her search to hang up her jacket. “Alright, where the crap is it…”

“No, Kana tempted me with that double time.”

“Always does—HA!” She held a tube of lipgloss aloft in victory. “Thank god, I spent all day worried.”

“What’s that?”

“My secret weapon. Pretty servers get pretty tips.”

“That seems…” Terrible. Misogynistic. Probably true. “Logical.”

“Yeah, I know, it’s awful, but I like money.” Medora juggled a few cosmetics in one hand as she held up a small mirror in the other. Osha caught her eye in the tiny reflection, and Medora gave a once-over. “You look nice. I’m assuming you aren’t dolled up for cash tips?”

Osha flustered. “Oh, uh. I’ve been trying to wear more makeup. In general. You know. Tips.” But that wasn’t the real reason. After dance night, and then after she’d left some on his coffee cup (This for me? Yeah, that’s for me.), Osha fully believed in the power of wearing lipstick around Qimir. Perhaps wishful thinking got her into this mess, but the compliment from Medora made her feel less… silly.

“Well, regardless of who you’re dressing up for, that color looks amazing on you.”

“I’m not—”

“You can dress up for yourself, you know.” She raised one perfectly manicured eyebrow. “I do it all the time.” She winked at Osha. “In fact, I’m doing it right now.”

Osha smiled, rolling her eyes good-naturedly. She took another seat and watched Medora work while she chattered about her day.

It reminded Osha of her mama, many many years ago. Every few mornings, she would take the time to sit at her vanity and painstakingly twist each loc and braid into a new intricate hairstyle that suited her fancy.

She knew, in retrospect, that this time was a precious commodity to her mother—just a few minutes of quiet that Osha tried her best to preserve, though her sister did not seem to notice. Mae had asked a million questions—about the process, about the history of the styles, about any and everything. But her mama was always happy to be around her daughters, answering each question with patience and respect. She also made sure to smile at Osha, reminding her that she remembered she was there.

It was rare, after losing her, to be remembered at all when she was quiet.

“Would you—um.” Osha hated this. She hated vulnerability, especially around people she hardly knew.

“What’s up?” Medora drew her riot of curly hair back into a high ponytail, then let it back down when it didn’t please her.

“My sister and I didn’t really grow up around—well, we lost our—she was actually kind of popular at school so she—I have no idea what I’m doing, really.” She was grateful Medora was the only one bearing witness to her idiocy. I could always leave town if this conversation blows up in my face. Start over. Live in the woods. Take a fake name. But first, one more shot at courage: “I never learned how to do any of that. We weren’t around many women who were dressed up.”

Medora just smiled. It filled Osha’s heart with something warm, like the memory of a Sunday morning in a place that no longer existed. “I got you,” Medora said.

Within a few giggling seconds, she had put Osha’s hair in a new style she was no longer hiding behind. This will show off your neck and cheeks—you have a beautiful smile, don’t keep it from the world. She went back and freed a few locs from her bangs—now this will make you alluring. And it’ll hide any eyeliner sins in a pinch. You have such beautiful hair. Just shake your hair a little and it’s like a baby with keys to anybody looking.

It was so simple in retrospect. So much impact, just out of reach because of all she’d lost. Medora clapped happily when Osha looked utterly stunned by the change. “You’re going to get tipped, baby!”

It was an incredible feeling. She’d had the same style since she was a child—easy to maintain, comfortable, familiar. Mae had grown her hair out a few times, but in recent years had gone back to matching Osha. It made the misidentifying in the gym a much more frequent occurrence.

Changing things up made her feel like an entirely different person.

Kana poked his head into the break room, holding a disgusting-looking bucket hat at his side. “What are you two giggling about?”

“You, of course.”

He rolled his eyes. “C’mon, we’re doing the draw. Would you grab them for me, please?”

Medora began plucking the time cards out of their slots and handing them to Osha. She found the common thread: these were the time cards of those on shift tonight. When she left several behind, including Kana, Osha, and herself, Osha went to reach for them and was stopped.

“I grabbed all I need.”

“But yours and—”

“Oh, I don’t go in the draw. Neither do you.”

“Huh?”

“You’ll see.”

She led the way to the kitchens, where everyone circled around Kana and his stupid hat. He collected the time cards in the hat and shook them around. “Okay, hey! Shut up! Drumroll, please. Tonight’s tuh-ripple pay bouncer is…” He plucked a card from the rest. The impromptu clatter ceased. “Dante!”

The gathered mass responded with a mix of cheers and groans, reminding Osha of watching her first fight at Unknown Planet. As ever, this place baffled her as much as it made her smile.

Kana returned the timecards to Medora with a soft thanks before leaving for front-of-house. She explained what just happened as Osha helped put the cards back in their places.

“Here’s Eltara’s, you’re closer—have you guessed what all that was about?”

“Bouncer duty?”

“Yup.”

“Triple pay?”

“Yup.”

Osha slid the card into a slot neatly labeled ELTARA LOHARNE. “Why’d you leave some behind? I thought Kana would be in it, at least.”

“Kana got the honors last month. Your name stays in the hat until you get picked, and after that, it stays out of the hat until everyone’s gone once. Then they’re all put back in again. Triple time has the capacity to wreak havoc on workplace relations.” She scribbled a little red star in the corner of Dante’s time card, then pointed out the same mark on Kana’s. “So we don’t mix ‘em up.”

“But my name didn’t go in.” Did they think Osha couldn’t do it?

“You haven’t won a fight in the cage… yet. Once you do, you’re in.”

Osha hoped that once she won a fight, she would be in every fight night after, like Qimir. But she hadn’t gone up against anybody for years now, and there was no telling if she’d even win that first match.

“That might be a while,” Osha sighed. “He seems to be overly cautious with my training.” She tapped Qimir’s slot, sitting just above hers. He’d gotten a normal label, Q LOHARNE. Kana had thought putting an OSHA COMPLIANT sticker on hers instead was hilarious.

“I mean, you don’t gotta be nominated by Q. Kana would nominate you if you asked him. Anybody who saw that spar a few days ago would nominate you—that was badass.”

“You saw that?” Osha cringed a little.

“Hell yeah, I did!” Medora laughed and finished her stack of cards. “I’d be so jazzed if I saw you on bouncer duty. I’d just sit and wait for you to toss some huge idiot down the stairs.”

“Thank you?”

“But it’s not just about capability. It’s about respect. If you have a win, especially an uncontested win, gen-pop will listen. The more wins under your belt, the more clout you collect, the less of a hard time they’ll give you. It’s math.”

Osha noticed there was no red star on Medora’s timecard.

“Why aren’t you in the pool?”

Medora’s smile was sad, a faraway quality to her eyes. “I train, but I don’t want to fight. Not every Loharne is made for the cage.”

Qimir had said there were Loharnes all over the city—orphaned children that carried the name into maturity. Nearly half of all the names on the rack were Loharnes—Q and Kana, who were already known to her, but seeing MEDORA LOHARNE near the bottom was a bit of a surprise, given that she wasn’t as reserved in her emotions as Qimir and Kana sometimes were. Osha remembered being numb to most of her feelings for the first year following her mothers’ deaths. Some days, she didn’t think she’d grow out of it.

“I understand that,” Osha said softly. “But I don’t even know why I’m disappointed. I’m sure it’ll be ages before I’m ready.”

“Only you can decide when you’re ready to face something. Having someone you trust to back you up when you do decide is encouraging, though.”

That was news. “Huh?”

“The nomination system.” Medora tucked a few things in the pockets of her apron. “Depends how you look at it, I guess. Take the heart out of it, and it’s just like… co-signing on a loan. At first, it was almost an indemnity clause, considering what it took to implement the system in the first place. That was a bit of a nightmare—the whole Lance thing.” Her face went a little stony at the mention.

“Lance?”

Medora quirked her head to the side. “The guy who attacked Idise ten years ago? I’m surprised Q hasn’t told you. It was and—well, still is big news here.”

“Oh!” Osha flustered. “I—he told me about it, I just didn’t know the guy’s name.” Even so, she didn’t know there was so much gossip she was missing out on.

“Yeah. Like I said. Nightmare. But anyway, if you’re a romantic, the nomination thing is so swoon-worthy. Back when it started, I heard people talk about how it represented this culmination of a relationship with someone at the gym—you spend so much time training with somebody that you form a special connection. Then they say you’re ready. Not only that, but they’re ready—to tie their reputation to yours when you get in the ring. Maybe I’ve just read too many bodice-rippers, but where else do you sign your name next to someone like that but a marriage certificate?”

Osha tried her best not to walk straight into a wall, and failed. Medora didn’t comment, too wrapped up in her diatribe.

“Then again, the whole thing could be a comedy—in the way that comedy is just tragedy plus time. You do all that, you subscribe to the ideology, someone vouches for you—and then you get your shit rocked in a nomination match? Now that’s embarrassing. The person who vouched for you gets remembered for your fuckup. Until a new embarrassment takes your place, that is. See? Tragedy plus time equals comedy.”

Osha still couldn’t bring herself to laugh about it. But Medora certainly wasn’t joking.

Kana released her from her shift about ten minutes after the crowd went upstairs. She bypassed the public staircase (where Dante dutifully stood his post) and headed directly to the dressing rooms to change, knowing at least one fighter would let her in.

Her path brought her face to face with another person headed in the other direction. He was handsome, in an I-got-my-nose-job-from-a-fist kind of way. Osha didn’t recognize him, but Unknown Planet was an all-hours joint. They could have differing schedules.

He didn’t recognize her either, asking, “Are you and I fighting tonight?” He gave her a slow once-over. He was about three times her size, but Medora’s enthusiastic vision of Osha tossing some huge idiot down a flight of stairs kept her from feeling intimidated or creeped out. She took no offense, knowing the brash culture of Unknown Planet was a fact of life. In some ways, she liked it.

She noticed the green balaclava in his hands. Brawler.

“Not tonight, buddy.”

“Aw, we’re buddies? I’d love to be friends, thank you.”

Osha laughed. Years of intensely repressed connection at the Temple had set her up for failure when it came to flirting (and, honestly, friendship), but Unknown Planet didn’t care for formality. In fact, they were at times brazen enough to hit on her in the brief seconds Qimir stepped away during their sessions. It was almost a game, how long can I flirt with Osha before her scary dog gets back and glares me to death. As superficial and vapid as it was, it made her feel wanted. Accepted. Welcomed.

And it drove Qimir insane when she engaged with it.

“Sure. Let’s be friends, Sour Patch.”

He looked delighted, but a new voice cut in with a razor’s edge—right on cue.

“Osha.”

Hello, my strange, scary dog.

Qimir stood on the upper landing of the stairs, looking more than ready to charge the man in front of her if she gave the signal.

“I was just headed up,” she assured him. She turned to the fighter before her. “I’ll just slip by you, thanks!”

Sour Patch let his hand brush her lower back, and she threw an exaggerated scowl over her shoulder. “See you around, buddy,” he said playfully, pocketing his mask and entering the gym level.

Qimir’s expression was overwhelmingly displeased when she arrived on the landing. “Are you alright? Did he try anything?”

He looked her over without trying to hide it, assessing her in hopes of finding the tiniest justification to pound Sour Patch into a fine paste.

“Of course I’m alright. He’s harmless.”

“He’s a brawler.”

“You’re a brawler.”

He pouted at the comparison.

“C’mon, I wanna change before the fights start.”

This time, when a hand came to rest on her lower back, she didn’t scowl. At the zing of sensation that rippled up her spine, Osha stood up straighter, preening at the attention. Qimir walked side by side with her, holding his ground even as other masquerade fighters were made to squeeze against the wall as they passed by. Like schools of fish yielding to a great white shark.

Beyond the black door, everything quieted. The usual pulse of we’re alone bled through her awareness as it always did when the world was shut away from them. Instead of getting caught in the moment, she did what she came here to do—change her clothes.

“How was your first shift?” Qimir asked.

She unbuttoned her black blouse, fighting the demons telling her to go out in the dressing room and do this. “It was fine.”

“I’m glad.” She could hear him fiddling with KT tape in the other room, the plasticky slide of release film dropping in a familiar pattern as he smoothed tape over his thumb, his—

She remembered, once, coming back from the showers at the pool to find him lined up in front of the mirror in the studio, shorts tugged way high one hip as he smoothed two lengths of gray tape from his inner thigh up to the crease of his hip. Hip flexor acting up, he’d said. Osha hadn’t been able to think straight through her whole cooldown.

She wondered if it was acting up tonight.

“N-nearly ran out of pockets for tips.”

“I’m not surprised,” he chuckled. Pretty servers get pretty tips, Medora had said. Osha tried not to read so deeply into three words as to pull a compliment out of thin air. It felt so incredibly silly of her to think, but there was still a small voice in her head asking does he think I’m pretty?

They chatted a little more, but there was an undertone in his voice that harkened back to when he picked her up earlier that evening.

Is everything alright?

When she saw him in the parking lot, she was hit by a wave of tension. Everything Indara told her that afternoon weighed her down and almost froze her feet in place. Crimes. Private investigator. Gangs. She wanted to tell him what was going on, wanted to do anything to let him know her sympathies had deepened, strengthened from a current to a riptide.

I can tell something’s the matter.

It wasn’t like Osha was in the practice of hiding her emotions from him. Sometimes, he knew her moods better than she did. But this time, she’d been very aware of her anxiety.

We don’t have time to get into it, but trust that I’ll be okay, Qimir.

He’d left it at that, but had been a little quiet during the drive to the bar.

And now he seemed to want to ask again.

“I got to witness the bouncer draw,” she said lamely.

She knew Qimir would never ambush her in here, but even in the relative privacy the bathroom provided, she felt like someone—something—was watching her.

Her voice trailed off from what she was saying when she noticed the Smiley mask draped on the little sink. Without him wearing it, the mask felt a little more sinister. A memory whispered why.

We wear masks and take fake names to prevent the guilt from killing us. Beneath the mask… There is no honor or glory in winning that mask. And the only people who know that are the ones who win it, the ones who have to wear the mask.

She didn’t know what came over her when she reached out to touch it for the first time. She ran a fingertip over the embroidered silver teeth that slashed through the black. Some were jagged and broken, some were whole. Some were over large, others miniscule and precise. It was an uncanny grin, more teeth than should be there—stretching almost ear-to-ear.

She discovered that there was more hiding in the dark fabric than she thought: parts of the material which had been frayed or ripped in the past were stitched back together in a patchwork manner she hadn’t been able to see before. She looked closer at one of the gnarled lines of black thread on the back of the hood, stretching almost ornamentally from one side to the other, in a thick snarl that resembled a familiar scar—

“Try it on.”

Osha yelped, jumping out of her skin.

“Fucking shit, Qimir!” she yelled. “What?”

He looked deeply amused by her antics, leaning on one side of the doorframe. “You should try it on,” he repeated calmly.

She frowned down at the mask clutched in her fist. “Are you trying to give me conjunctivitis or something?”

“Do I look like I have pink eye?” he said, raising an eyebrow.

The little eye-holes stared back at her from her hands, and she had to admit, she was tempted.

“Can you even see in this?” she asked.

“Not really. None of us can. It’s like a sensory deprivation experience.”

“What’s the point of that?” she scoffed. “Seems counterintuitive—the most exciting fight of the night, the eight wildest fighters, and they’re all blinded.”

“If we could see each other perfectly, the fight would be over too quickly. Like this, it’s just you…” he shuffled closer, trapping her against the sink while looking down at the mask in her hands. “And what you bring with you.”

She attempted to dodge out of the verbal corner he’d backed her into. The physical corner, however, she made no attempt to leave. “Someone told me you never let a fight get over eight minutes in the cage.”

He shrugged. “I don’t think about that when I’m in there, wearing that.”

“What do you think about, then?”

“Try it on and find out.” That was the third time he’d told her to.

“Fine.” She turned to the mirror, making sure to be careful with Medora’s efforts as she pulled the mask over her head. To her surprise, the mask wasn’t scratchy or unpleasant. It hugged every part of her face, none of the fabric sagging or bunching up uncomfortably. It took her some finagling to get the eyes in the right spot, but when she looked up at her reflection…

She’d seen her face more than most. Mirrors were one thing, but when another person wore the same face as you, it made you more aware of how you looked.

Her eyes looked different in the mask. Accepting that the person staring back at her was herself felt like swallowing a hot stone. It was intense and it was strange, but the longer she held her own gaze, the more she understood why the other fighters felt capable of violence. Behind such flimsy anonymity, consequences seemed far away.

Turning her head this way and that, she tested the peripheral vision afforded to her. There was very, very little.

“Yeah, you’re right, I can’t see sh—oh.” She made to turn around, but came in contact with an immovable wall at her back.

Qimir looked utterly enchanted by the sight of her in his mask, eyes going between her reflection and what was before him. One of his hands caged her against the small sink, and the other went up to hold her chin, moving her this way and that. The silver embroidery caught and fled from the light like fish scales in a river. One tooth would disappear as she turned her head left, only to reappear when she turned back. His thumb brushed over the edge of the smile, just below her cheekbone.

She wondered if he could feel the heat in her face as easily as she felt the heat in his hands.

“When I fight,” he said softly, hypnotized, “I use all senses available to me. My eyes aren’t the best on their own, but your eyes can deceive you. We must not trust them.” Osha felt a curl of unease twist around the curl of desire strengthening in her core. She knew that line, she’d heard it before—“To become so reliant on what you can see will betray you when what you didn’t see becomes the real danger.”

His hand came around to cover her mouth, pausing a moment as he hid the smile from view before he dragged his fingers back across every inch of that smile. “I can tell where they are just by breathing. Fear has a taste, a scent, and they all fear me.”

It tickled as he brushed a thumb over her ear, the fabric making a soft, crushing noise against it that made her shiver. “I listen for them, through the screams of the crowd. Some breathe so loud I could hit them in the dark.”

His hand moved back to cover her mouth, then drifted downward, over her chin and under her jaw to wrap lightly around her neck—then he rested his hand over her pounding heart. “Another reason to control your breathing—to hide from me.”

She almost moaned as his hand brushed the side of her breast on its way to take her hand, moving it to press against her belly. He brought his lips down beside her ear. “The sense of feeling is tied closely to intuition. You have to know your body and its impulses in order to feel where things are in relation to you. When you understand the signals your body gives you, it will tell you everything you need to know.” He paused to ensure her eyes were on his.

They looked almost obscene like this in the mirror, his body curled around hers, trapping her like prey. “Especially the pain,” he whispered, lips drifting to where the mask ended in the crook of her neck. “The pain tells you how to survive, if you listen to it. If you feel it, if you taste it.”

The white-hot slide of his tongue over Osha’s bare shoulder pulled a weak whimper from her, and just as quickly as it had come, he left, lifting his head again and drawing backwards. His parting words were, “I don’t think about anything when I wear this. I feel everything.”

He let go of her, leaving her slightly sagging against the sink. Looking over her shoulder at him, his expression told her he would not apologize for invading her space like that, for touching her so—so… possessively. Tonight, he was at his rawest self, primal in a way few men could truly become.

He wanted her, no doubt about it. And she wanted him, but… first, a touch of shyness. 

She broke his gaze to peel off the mask, fixing her hair as she chattered through her nerves. She noticed him sliding the mask off the sink, pocketing it without a word. “I bet my first time in the ring, I’ll just black out and forget everything you ever taught me.”

He smiled slowly when he met her eyes again, content as a cat in a sunbeam. “I’ll make sure your first time is—”

The rabble in the gym crept to an unignorable volume beyond the dressing room. Osha looked in the direction of the noise, heart in her throat. Qimir looked like he really wanted to finish speaking, but she asked, “Do you wanna go watch? You could… talk strategy with me? Or talk shit?”

She saw him stuff down whatever the feral animal in him wanted to do, punctuated by a smile. “You have a point. After all, you’ll be in the one-on-ones before you get invited to the masquerade.”

“Oh my god I think I just got the joke.”

“What joke?” he said.

“The masquerade brawl that ends at midnight? And you need to have an invitation to dance?”

“We’re not dancing in there—”

“It’s a turn of phrase, oh my god. Let’s go.”

The balcony was surprisingly sturdy—nothing rattled or shook beneath their feet as they strutted past the other masquerade fighters watching the current match.

It was difficult to understand what was going on until Qimir explained to her: the two men fighting were tasked with repeatedly throwing one another onto the mat using the exact same form every time. Qimir had her answers ready before she even asked a question.

“Decision-determined matches are rare here. They aren’t run or scored like what you’re used to.”

“Who are the judges?” she asked, peering into the crowd for any sign of an officiant’s table. “Where are the judges?”

Qimir pointed to a dark, mirrored window set in the brick wall on the opposite side. She’d never noticed it before, but now the gaze of the black, gaping maw on high seemed inescapable. “I’m sure you have questions about the organizers, but not even I have those answers.”

“The match organizers are also the fight judges?”

He shrugged as if saying, why shouldn’t they be? “This fight is an endurance test. Keep your form perfect for every throw, and hopefully, you outlast your opponent.”

“Sounds like it would go on forever.”

“You think you could perfectly throw a 200-pound guy over your shoulder the same way with the same force, forever? After also being slammed to the mat ten seconds prior?”

Thwack! One of the fighters shook their head in a daze. The one who just threw them down helped them up.

Qimir had a point. Damn it. She hated it when he had a point. “Fine. Just seems boring.”

“It’s one of the more impressive feats of strength. This is similar to my nomination match.”

“How long ago was that?”

“It’ll be… 10 years next month, on the new moon.” That’s more than a hundred fight nights. How many has he—

Thwack! Groan. Stand up. Cheer.

As the other fighter prepared to throw again, Osha nudged his shoulder with hers. “Who nominated you?”

A muscle feathered in his jaw, and though he went still and didn’t look away from the fight, she could tell he wasn’t really looking at it. “Idise.”

Back when it started, I heard people talk about how it represented this culmination of a relationship at the gym—you spend so much time training with somebody that you form a special connection.

Acidic jealousy burned in Osha’s mouth. It was ten years ago. Chill.

“I didn’t know you two knew each other that long.”

“She’s known me since before I joined.”

Where else do you sign your name next to someone like that but a—

“Dang. Long time.”

The conversation lulled a little, and Osha tried not to feel like the fighter getting slammed into the mat. She had to get a fucking grip. “Well, the point is to win the match, so how do I win? If I was in the ring, right now, how do I win?” she babbled.

He watched another few throws before shaking off his fugue to speak. He pointed out flaws in their stances—they were actually losing energy just from standing still. From that point, he talked about kinetic momentum and adrenaline-fueled motion. “If you let yourself walk around even a few steps between throws, your heart rate will be in the perfect place to remain focused and physically ready—mustering your energy from baseline each time kills your stamina.”

It wasn’t what she expected to hear. She’d expected him to say something about finding an opponent’s weakness and drilling down into it every time. To treat every round like it was the last round. But, she realized with a jolt, that was just how the Temple trained them.

Qimir’s advice, by comparison, urged her to stay in the moment and ground herself in reality, not imagine herself at the finish line. There is no finish line. There’s just the road in front of you.

Another few fights passed before Osha recognized an event from last month: two opponents and one knife dropped between them like a hockey puck. 

“Crowds love this one,” Qimir chuckled. “Shit, I love this one.” He looked at her from the corner of his eyes. “What would you do?”

“I don’t even know how to hold a knife. I couldn’t give a right answer if I wanted to.”

“I wasn’t asking you so you’d tell me the right answer. I know you don’t have any weapons training—but you’re still a fighter, Osha. You’re allowed to weigh in on things you don’t know about—more than that, I want you to. It’s one of the most effective ways we learn. By guessing.”

“You mean you want me to fuck around and find out.”

He rolled his eyes. “Sure.”

Osha hummed and leaned her arms on the railing to peer closer at the intense exchange. The fighter without the knife had both hands free to pull the other fighter into a complicated kneeling grapple.

“Well… from one perspective, getting to the knife’s a speed contest, so you’d have to know something about your opponent’s footwork relative to your own. Are you faster, or are you not?”

He hummed, encouraging her to go on. She paused as the armed fighter lost his grip, sending the knife skittering toward the fence. 

“You could just ignore the weapon entirely,” she mused. “Draw blood another way.”

“The rules state that if there’s a weapon in the cage and victory is decided by first blood, the blood must be drawn by that weapon.”

Hm. She watched the pair scramble for the knife, as if hearing Qimir’s input from on high.

“Well. Uh. Another perspective is…” the same fighter from before took control of the knife. “Knowing someone’s strengths as well as their weaknesses.”

“You intend to spy on your opponents before their matches?” he said dryly.

“No, I mean—shut up.” She grumbled and pouted. “If it was me in there against you, you would know I would be more harm to myself if I had the knife in my hands. I could defeat myself for you.”

“Believe it or not, the organizers won’t put a weapon in your hands that you’re not familiar with. Nor would they put you up against someone that surpasses your ability enough to make you seem like a novice. The fights are balanced, so it’s a challenge to win, but not impossible.”

That complicated things. “But I’m right. You can still turn someone’s perceived strength into a weakness to get them to bleed.”

“Everybody has a weakness,” he ceded. “But seeing opponents as a stack of strengths and weaknesses holding a knife doesn’t change the fact that they can still hurt you. What did I say about fear and danger?”

“Denying your fear doesn’t erase the danger. It only makes it harder to survive.”

“Good girl. Now watch—”

How could she, when he spoke to her like that so casually?

He gave her a play-by-play from his point of view. “And that’s a victory right there.”

“What? The fight’s not over.”

“Believe in the power of the armbar.”

The unarmed fighter had pulled the other into a hold, the knife just inches from his face. The grappled fighter tried to twirl the knife in his trapped hand, blade flashing in the light. But the other moved quickly, squeezing his wrist and jerking his whole body to get him to jab himself in the forearm.

The bell rang, and though it was too far for Osha to see it, the roar of the crowd signaled that first blood had been shed. She applauded, feeling like a guest at the side of an emperor, watching gladiators bleed for his imperial amusement.

“The most important thing to remember in these match-ups is that battles are lost in the same spirit in which they are won. You have to choose to win before you ever step in the ring.”

“What’s that, a little bit of hard-earned violence-based wisdom?” she said teasingly.

“Walt Whitman.”

A startled, overly loud laugh escaped her, turning a few heads in their direction. Osha hid her face against his shoulder, trying to stifle her giggles but failing. She wasn’t entirely sure, but the gentle touch on her head felt like a kiss.

She certainly hoped it was.

“You don’t need to worry about what will happen before the match starts. Things can go a hundred thousand ways once the bell rings, and only some of them will go right—even fewer will go as planned.” He raised a hand to trace over her bare back, distracted by the cut of her shirt. It was similar to the one she’d worn to dance night, so his fascination felt warranted. He let his hand fall flat on the small of her back, a warm weight she could have purred at.

“You make it sound like someone with no training can enter the ring and win by a mile just by improvising.”

“Yes and no,” he shrugged. “If you recognize when the winds shift in each moment, you can make almost anything work to your advantage.” He turned to face her, his face gone a little serious. “I’m not training you to make you into a trophy machine, Osha. I’m training you to make the best decisions for any moment, but only when you choose to fight.”

It was surprisingly tender. The conviction in his posture spoke volumes to the degree he believed that. It was strange to see vulnerability in his eyes, especially after the heat in them from earlier. When she asked herself why he felt so strongly about her choice to fight, Indara’s voice rang in her head.

She only fostered him so she could take him to tournaments and competitions across the state.

Qimir was clearly about to ask what she was thinking, but a new (well, new-ish) voice interrupted him.

“There you are, buddy!”

Fuck.

Osha sighed, grimacing in a way she hoped could be misinterpreted as a smile. She turned away from the suddenly stone-faced Qimir. “Hey there, Sour Patch.”

“Watching the matches? Save some interest for the last one of the night, would ya?”

“Oh, I’ll try.”

Qimir was a block of ice behind her. His warmth, so reliable and steady, had chilled unexpectedly. The hand on her lower back curled into a fist around a handful of her shirt—there was no way he’d done that consciously. She’d seen Qimir get cold like this before when speaking to some of the other fighters in the gym, but never to this degree. It was plain to see it for what it was:

Possessiveness.

“So you’ve been to one of these before…”

Sour Patch did not, at all, take the rebuffs Osha threw back at him. The wall of silence behind her felt solid enough to—

Hm.

Just to make things interesting, she let herself lean against Qimir. The hand at her waist felt like a goddamn claw.

“No, I actually haven’t seen The Godfather. Haven’t had the inclination. Ever.”

The claw squeezed. She could imagine him whispering, attagirl.

“Oh my god, you’re absolutely missing out. Why don’t you come over and we can—”

The creature behind her scoffed. She rested a hand on the claw, tracing her fingertips over his knuckles.

“I’m pretty on the hook for literally the rest of forever, sorry,” Osha told Sour Patch with an overly kind smile.

Perhaps the smile was too much, because he said, “So Wednesday night, are you free?”

Qimir inhaled like a bull about to charge, nearly disengaging his hold on her to engage his fist into the other guy’s face. Osha moved fast. Her hand shot out, patting the oblivious man’s bicep in an objectively condescending way. “Maybe if you win tonight,” she said, hiding her fangs behind a pretty smile.

Sour Patch lit up, and the beast behind her relaxed. His hand snaked around her middle, tracing a thumb over her piercing. He was oozing satisfaction. Sour Patch has no idea what he’s getting into.

“Well, get ready for a three-part marathon, then!” To her delight, Sour Patch turned around and walked away—probably for the best.

Qimir whirled Osha around like a goddamn top. He wore the same heated look from earlier when she tried on his mask. Heat flared in her core. Her eyes went to his mouth, where he bit his lower lip in consideration—or perhaps the last vestige of self-control. What thoughts hid behind those eyes?

“Maybe if he wins tonight?” he repeated slowly, an eyebrow rising with incredulity.

“I think it’s fair,” she said, heart racing. She couldn’t remember how to slow her pulse down—couldn’t remember even with a knife to her throat. His hands on her made it hard to think, let alone breathe.

“Fair,” he chuckled. “Did I give you the impression that I was a fair person?”

“Yes.”

His eyes flashed a little. It reminded her how a predator’s eyes would glow at night. “You should rethink that.”

“I won’t.”

His jaw flexed. “Last chance.”

“No.”

“And what if I win tonight?”

“I didn’t know you wanted to watch The Godfather with me so badly.”

“You’ve no idea the things I want to do with you, Osha. Nor how badly I want them.”

They were standing so close. The shouting and cheering of the crowd below went quiet under the thundering of her heart, and even the lights went a little sparkly and out of focu—

She needed to breathe.

Her ragged inhale sounded like she’d surfaced after nearly drowning. Felt like it, too. Qimir’s face flickered in surprise but melted into a much more pleased expression. “You should go down to the cage, Osha,” he purred.

“Why?”

Because he can’t control what he’ll do next if you stay.

He didn’t have to say it for her to know it.

It wasn’t a dismissal, but his command certainly dictated she should go. Before she did, Osha surged forward to wrap her arms around him. “Good luck.”

He stiffened, and Osha held him tighter. After a few seconds, he returned the embrace and thanked her quietly.

“You know, you need to work on that,” she said once they pulled away.

He chuckled. “What?”

“Receiving hugs.”

His eyes sparkled with good humor. “Well, I might need to find a trainer if that’s the case.”

“I dunno, my schedule could be booked.”

“To the rest of forever?” he teased.

She shrugged and turned to walk away.

“If I win tonight,” he said, catching her wrist. “Maybe I can get a free trial pass?” He tilted his head to the side, ignoring the world around them.

Osha wrapped her hand around his bicep, one finger at a time, before she squeezed, digging her nails in just as he’d held her in his claws. She didn’t stop there. She leaned in so her lips brushed his ear as she whispered, “Win first. Then we can discuss the spoils.”

She didn’t stick around to see the look in his eyes, but she could feel it long after she joined the crowd.

Kana found her in the crush of bodies.

“You are gonna get squished, girl,” he laughed. He escorted her closer to the cage and assumed the duties of an immovable human wall behind her.

“Thank you!” she said cheerfully.

They chatted a little between matches. “How’s training going? Q train you on any weapons yet?”

“Nah, not yet. We’ve only sparred a few times, but not at full strength or speed. I gotta say, though… those look fun.”

The fighters in the ring clashed their broadswords together in a shower of sparks that fired up the crowd. They wore full-cage helmets, half-plate armor, and steel gauntlets. This was the last fight before the finale, and the energy was palpable, the scent of blood and sweat permeating the air.

Kana laughed, big and booming. “I’m sure you’d kick ass regardless of familiarity with the weapon, and that’s a hill I’d kill anybody on.”

He had such a way with words.

“…thank you, Kana.”

“I also guarantee you’ll be invited to the brawl just because everyone wants to see what he’ll do.”

She frowned up at him. “What do you mean?”

“Well, what he’ll do when you and Idise get in front of him at the same time.”

“Idise?” she said hollowly.

—you spend so much time training with somebody that you form a special—

“Did he not tell you? Q and Idise are pretty close outside’a here.” Kana looked concerned at whatever Osha was doing with her face, but he continued. “I’ve known him longer than anyone else here, but she’s been with him through some hard shit. A few people think Q and Idise were seeing each other on and off for a few years.”

“Do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Think that they were together.”

She was trying to keep the jealousy snarling in her chest from leaping out her mouth. Osha had the urge to run back upstairs and leave a hundred purple kiss marks marking him as her—

“No. Q’s a lonely guy, and I think he prefers it like that. Him and Idise… I can’t tell for certain because they don’t really hang out, but I’m pretty sure whatever they got going on, it’s strictly on the platonic side. Things have been different recently.” He dared to wink at her, either willfully or unintentionally oblivious to her thunderous mood. “Since you came ‘round, and even before then.”

“Like what?” 

“Well. Few months back, this perfect storm starts brewing. Q dropped the fuck off the map the same time the fuckin’ Lance guy was let back in the gym.”

“Let back in?” she squawked. One of the swordfighters staggered back into the cage, rattling the whole circumference with the impact.

Kana nodded. “He said he was robbed of his nomination match and wanted a second chance to prove himself. Everyone here saw straight through that shit. Fucker just wanted to get back at Idise for embarrassing him. We all did our best to ignore him, and nobody said shit to his face, but shit was dicey; a lotta people questioned the PTB for allowing him back on the premises, let alone in the fights.

“But they did allow it. He signs up. His match night comes. He’s not fighting Idise, of course, but he wins. Q shows up in the last round after a month of silence and wins his eighth brawl in a row. Some people say they saw him talking with Idise later on, but he disappeared right after that. Bunch’a people started rumors about it.”

“What’d they say?”

“Well, someone asked Idise where he’d been, and she got all defensive about it, wouldn’t say. My guess is she didn’t know, and had gone to ask because she was worried about him. We all were.”

He’d been pretty wound-tight for a while, and it seemed like he needed that break two-ish months ago. We were all pretty worried when he took it so abruptly.

“Now, shit gets even dicier with the PTB. Not only do they invite Lance to the brawl, they invite Idise. Nobody’s heard from Q. Isn’t answering calls or texts. I don’t even think he replied to the invite email, don’t think he even looked at it. Lance and Idise avoid each other like the plague in the gym. And no, winning did not warm any of us to him.”

Osha jumped a little at the clang from a sword hitting a solid chest plate.

“Night comes. They call everyone in for the brawl, rah rah, Lance gets called—he was Dizzykid when it happened—it goes fucking silent in here. They call Idise in, coulda blown the fuckin roof off. Everybody expected Idise to go round two with this motherfucker, just put him back in his place same as before. I’d say ninety percent of the bets were on that. And do you know what happened when Smiley walked in?”

“What?” Osha said, mouth a bit dry. She wasn’t even pretending to look at the fight anymore.

“He looked at Idise in the cage and turned to Wise, asking, the fuck is she doing in here? Wise just smiled at him, then he pointed at Lance. Smiley asks again, what’s he doing here? And Wise just smiiiiles. Like he knew what was about to go down.”

Historically, those fighters are more likely to snap when provoked.

“—and let me tell you, it was brutal. The match starts, and within two minutes, Smiley is beating Lance’s face down to the first circle of hell. At the first drag-out, his work was done.

“Heard later that Q sent him to the hospital in the same condition Idise did ten years back—practically the same injuries. Did it in less than half the time it took her.”

Story ends with this guy getting sent to the hospital—all fucked up. Busted skull, broken wrists, nearly lost his eye…

“He disappeared again after that fight. I woulda too, if I left a guy looking like that.”

Not just entering the cage. The terrible things I’ve done to leave it.

“Is that why the yellow mask looks all…”

“Disgusting? Yeah. That thing was more red than yellow that night. They wash ‘em, but I doubt that stain will come out anytime soon. I thought they should just get a new one, but my influence ends at the top of the stairs, here.”

“What happened after?”

One of the swordsmen sent the other tumbling to the mat. The crowd roared as the downed fighter rolled left and right to avoid two-handed overhead strikes.

“Well, now that Lance was handled, everyone re-focused on where the hell Q went. Short of sending out Idise to go find him, we all tried to find out. But then… he just shows up one night, pretty girl in tow. Orders her hot soup and a hot toddy.” Kana winked at her just as the bell rang for the end of the match.

They applauded politely and spoke a little more freely now that they were in between matches. “That was the first anyone had seen of him outside the fights. Believe me, you were quite the gossip item. Especially when he started coming back to the gym, training again. Still wasn’t really talking to anybody, though.

“And then you showed up at the fights, and his whole deal changed when he started bringing you around. Follows you around like a puppy. Never seen him like that before.”

Osha could have sworn it was the other way around.

Before she could ask a single thing, a hush fell. The reverent silence that crashed over the crowd was the same as the one she felt a month ago. The masquerade is about to begin.

CHAPTER 15

[jjsmaybank20]

Oh, Bartender!

Rebecca Welton x GN!Reader

Summary: You are an attractive bartender at Mae's pub. One night, Rebecca comes in and you hit it off. You drive her home, and the night ends in some... spicy ways.

Warnings: Smut (Minors DNI), Oral (Rebecca Receiving), Fingering (Rebecca Receiving)

Word Count: 1.4k

A/N: for @wosoobsessed. Hope you like it! Sorry if you didn't want smut, I honestly did the first thing I thought of.

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Working in a pub wasn’t what you thought you would end up doing, but when a spot at Mae’s opened up, you jumped at the opportunity. Now, after having worked there for a couple of years, you couldn’t be happier.

As expected, you did have some trouble every once in a while, but you were quick to deal with it and damn good at kicking people to the curb when deserved. You also got a lot of action, with you being an attractive person in your twenties.

One day, a beautiful woman comes into the pub and orders a couple of drinks. You can’t help but flirt with her and she doesn’t stop herself from flirting back. You find out that her name is Rebecca, and that she owns AFC Richmond, the pub's favorite team.

After some time, you can see that Rebecca is pretty tipsy. She insists that she isn’t drunk, but you are concerned enough about her that you offer to drive her home. She accepts begrudgingly, and Mae gives you permission to leave early.

On the way to her house, Rebecca continues to flirt heavily with you, making you unnaturally flustered. When you arrive at her house, she gets out of the car and slowly walks up to her door before turning around and saying, “Well, aren’t you coming?”

You jump out of the car and run towards her as she leads you into her house. Almost as soon as the door is unlocked, she pushes you up against the wall and kisses you passionately. You quickly flip it around and tap her thighs, making her jump up into your arms.

Between kisses, she mumbles directions to her room, which you follow as best you can with the gorgeous woman in your arms. When you get into her room, you sit down on the bed and kick off your shoes. The two of you continue to make out.

She begins to rub herself against your thigh, hearing and feeling your breathing become heavier. Hers does the same thing, and she sighs repeatedly at the pleasure. You run your hands down to her ass, squeezing it and taking in what she is doing right now. “Do you want me to touch you?” You ask, questioning whether you should keep letting her pleasure herself or if you should take control. She shakes her head.

“Not yet, not yet. Oh god-,”She moans as she hits her spot just right on your thigh muscle, releasing a moan of pleasure. “I wanna come first,” She says. Little whimpers escape her mouth, taking her time yet longing for the release.

She can hear you hold back soft moans of your own. Slowly but surely, her legs started shaking more and more as she felt the knot in her stomach bubbling. She kept a steady pace, breathing getting heavier and her hips moving in circles, until finally- she came. It was intense and as she came down she clung onto your chest, closing her eyes.

“Shit,” you cursed, and she giggled.

You're looking at the ceiling, but then you look down at her and shake your head. You pull her up towards you so she’s hovering over your face. “How are you so fucking gorgeous?” you pulled her in and kissed her deeply, wanting more.

“Did it make you feel good rubbing against me?” You blurted out in between steamy kisses, and she moaned into your mouth. She was now straddling you, your hands cupping the sides of her face and your hips pushing against her pelvis.

“Y/N,” she breathed out as you started sitting up and moving the two of you back toward the wall.

“Shh, it’s okay. Let me take care of you,” you said as you pushed her hair behind her ear, then reached down to rub her clit softly with your middle finger. Her light moans were very heard as her head fell onto your shoulder.

“As much as I would love to fuck you in this, what do you say we take this off?” You hold the hem of her shirt, and she nods eagerly. “Yes, please take it off,” She breathes out with heavy eyes and reaches her hands up in the air while you slide it off and throw it on the floor. You pull back to kiss her tits around the skin and then sucks gently on her nipples.

You kiss her hard one last time before turning her over so that she’s lying on her back and you're on top of her. You lean down and place soft, wet kisses down her stomach before sitting up and taking your own shirt off, and she drools at the sight.

You take her pants off slowly, seeing a wet spot on her underwear. You made your way back down to her thighs, leaving traces of kisses down her stomach. You poked your finger underneath her panties for a moment to feel her bare skin, and she sucked in a breath at the feeling. You continued to circle her clit over the fabric as you leaned up to kiss her again.

Eventually, you gave in and pulled her panties off. The feeling of your bare hands on her clit and lips was enough to make her shake already, as you dragged your finger from the bottom of her core to the top of her clit, spreading whatever wetness was there previously. As much as she wanted to stare at you the entire time, her eyes couldn’t stay open. Her head tilted back as she let you do the work, settling into the bed and into your touch.

“Open your eyes. I want you to watch me make you feel good,” You said.

She groans as she forces her eyes open and looks down at you. You begin to place kisses on the inside of her thighs, moving in forward. You kiss her clit a few times before sucking it gently. “Y/N, I want your fingers in me, please,” She managed to say between heavy breaths.

You answer her request by taking your face away from her core and coming back up to meet her again.

“Okay…” You start and then bring your hand up to her mouth, “Open,” You demand with a sweet yet sinister face, and she closes her lips around your fingers. “Good,” You pull your hand away and head back down to her pussy.

You run your tongue over Rebecca a couple more times before playing with her entrance, eventually sticking one finger in. She can’t help but keep moaning your name. Then, you stick a second finger in, increasing her pleasure. The warmth of your other hand grazes over her stomach and up to her tits as you play with them lightly. Rebecca’s eyes are having trouble staying open again as her head falls back.. Eventually, you take notice and remove your mouth from her clit, coming up to look at her. As you lean over her with your fingers pausing their motion. She whines, but you relent.

“I thought I told you to open your eyes,” You pressed your palm against her clit, and she forced her eyes to open once again. Her mouth hangs open, and she can’t find any words to say. You smirk cockily before beginning the same motion again.

“You know you taste so good? Your lips and tits and pussy. Every part of you is better than anything I’ve ever fucking tasted in my life,” Your words strike Rebecca a certain way, and she feels another orgasm coming on. Her legs start shaking again, and as you keep your steady pace, she clutches onto your shoulder and her nails dig into your skin.

“That’s it, baby, it’s okay,” You reassured her. She feels the explosion inside her stomach and she calms down from her second orgasm of the night.

“Fuck, Y/N,” She breathes and you chuckle into her ear.

You roll off of her and head towards what you think is the bathroom. You wet a cloth and come back so that you can clean Rebecca up. As you carefully wipe up her thighs, she winces slightly at the overstimulation. When you discard the cloth into a bin, you begin to get dressed before Rebecca grabs your arm.

“Stay.”

You smile at her and take your shoes off again before climbing up next to her and letting her snuggle into you. You almost instantly fall asleep, dreaming of getting to know this wonderful woman better. Maybe next time you could take her out on a real date.

---

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[nephalem-da]

Celestial Bonds

Chapter 2: The Eternal Glow Gala

(Bill Cipher x OC)

Synopsis: Maeloraelis is flooded with prom invitations, but Bill insists on being her date. Together, they attend the event, where Bill is determined to make them prom royalty.

Masterlist || Previous Chapter || Next Chapter.

Maeloraelis was no stranger to admiration. Throughout her time at Euclydia Academy, she had grown used to the attention her radiant form attracted. But while others might have sought such attention, Mae wasn’t one for the limelight. She preferred the quiet of her own space, the comfort of home, and the company of someone who understood her without the need for words—Bill.

The weeks leading up to the school’s annual Eternal Glow Gala, the academy’s version of a prom, were filled with excitement. Students were bustling around in anticipation, making arrangements for dates, gowns, and grand entrances. Mae, however, wasn’t caught up in the fervor. As much as she enjoyed being around others, the idea of attending the Gala with someone from her school didn’t excite her. She didn’t have any close friends at Euclydia—only acquaintances who admired her from a distance.

But that didn’t stop the suitors.

Every day, without fail, a new student would approach her, offering to be her date to the Gala. Some brought flowers, others fumbled over their words, and a few attempted grand gestures. It became a running joke between Mae and Bill. After all, to Bill, the whole idea of a Gala was absurd—a waste of time where students pretended that a single night of dancing and dresses could somehow matter in the grand scheme of the universe.

It was one of those quiet afternoons when the two of them were hanging out in Mae’s home. She shared the place with her parents, Noctopher and Solene. The house was cozy and filled with warmth, the kind of place Bill secretly enjoyed being in, even if he’d never admit it.

“Another one?” Bill grumbled, looking out the window with an annoyed twitch of his eye.

Mae blinked, confused, then heard it—the sound of a violin playing softly outside her home, accompanied by a voice singing. She sighed, setting down the book she was reading.

“What is it this time?” Bill asked, standing up and heading to the window with Mae following behind.

When they looked out, there stood another student from Euclydia Academy, standing under the setting sun, violin in hand, serenading Mae with a song. His eyes were closed, his expression dreamy, as if he was convinced that this grand romantic gesture would win her over.

Bill scowled. “Is this a thing? Does this happen a lot?” He turned to Mae, eyebrow raised, but the twitch in his eye betrayed the annoyance—and jealousy—bubbling beneath the surface.

Mae stifled a laugh. “It’s... their way of asking me to the Gala.”

“The what?” Bill narrowed his eye. He knew of the event but hadn’t paid it any real attention.

“The Eternal Glow Gala. You know, the school’s prom,” Mae explained, her tone casual, but the more she spoke, the more Bill’s irritation grew. “It’s kind of a big deal for students. A way to end the school year before we all move on to our next stages. It’s supposed to be fun, and I guess people think having a date makes it even better.”

“Fun?” Bill snorted. “You think this is fun? This is just—pathetic. He’s out there, embarrassing himself, Mae. And why? For some... dance?”

Mae’s gaze softened. She wasn’t amused by the situation anymore—she could see Bill’s frustration clearly now. “I don’t plan on going with anyone, Bill,” she said gently. “I’m not really close to anyone at school. They’re just acquaintances. It’s not like I have someone special to go with.”

There was a silence between them for a moment. Bill’s mind raced, the gears turning as he considered her words. Someone special? Why shouldn’t I be that someone? the thought crossed his mind before he could stop it. He never cared for these kinds of things. Dances, social gatherings—they were all meaningless in the grander scope of things. But Mae? She made him reconsider a lot of things he normally found beneath him.

He cleared his throat. “So... you’re saying anyone can be a plus-one, huh?”

Mae hesitated. “Technically, yes. But—”

Bill’s expression shifted, his usual mischievous grin spreading across his face. “Great. Then I’m your date.”

Mae blinked, stunned. “Wait... what?”

“You heard me,” Bill said, his grin widening. “If someone’s going to take you to this ridiculous event, it might as well be me.”

As the evening of the Gala arrived, the house was a whirlwind of activity. Scalene and Solene were practically glowing with excitement, fluttering about, making sure everything was perfect for the big night. Noctopher, Mae’s father, a protective figure by nature, hovered near the doorway, arms crossed as he glanced at the clock, making sure Bill didn’t try anything funny.

Bill, meanwhile, was standing in front of a mirror, fiddling with the tie that had been carefully fitted around his triangle form. His usual appearance—a golden triangle with an ever-present mischievous glint in his eye—had been given a slight makeover for the occasion. A sleek black tie hung from his ‘neck,’ and a polished top hat rested upon his triangular head. It was odd, to say the least, seeing him dressed up, but he pulled it off with a strange kind of charm.

“Billy, don’t fidget so much,” Scalene fussed as she adjusted the tie around her son, her eyes misty with pride. “You look so handsome. Just don’t do anything... reckless tonight, alright? Be a gentleman.”

Bill rolled his eye, though there was a faint blush forming. “I know, Ma.”

Solene, Mae’s mother, smiled warmly from the other side of the room. “Oh, they’re going to be the most stunning pair at the Gala. I just know it.”

Noctopher gave Bill a wary look. “Don’t mess this up, kid.”

Bill nodded stiffly, trying his best to ignore the overwhelming attention he was receiving. He wasn’t used to this—feeling flustered, uncertain, even... nervous. He glanced over at the door, wondering when Mae would finally come downstairs.

And then the door opened.

All eyes turned to the top of the staircase, and there she was—Mae, in all her radiant beauty. She wore a flowing dress, soft pink like her form, adorned with delicate gemstones that shimmered with every step she took. It was simple, elegant, and yet it captured the essence of Mae perfectly.

Scalene and Solene gasped, their eyes filling with tears. “Oh, Mae, you look absolutely stunning,” Solene whispered, clasping her hands together.

Noctopher gave a small nod of approval, though there was a glint of moisture in his eyes as well. “My little girl... all grown up.”

And Bill? He stood there, frozen, utterly awestruck. For the first time in his life, he couldn’t think of a single thing to say. He had seen Mae a thousand times before, but tonight, she looked... ethereal. It was as if the very stars themselves had come down to walk alongside her.

Mae approached him, her expression gentle as she looked him up and down. “You clean up nicely,” she teased, a playful smile on her face.

Bill stammered for a moment, struggling to find his voice. His father nudged him from behind, breaking his trance. “Uh... thanks. You... you look... wow.”

Mae laughed softly at his flustered response. “Thanks.”

Scalene beamed, rushing over to place a brooch in Bill’s breast pocket and a matching one on Mae’s wrist. “A little something from me,” she said, her voice full of emotion. “To remind you both of tonight.”

Bill, still dazed, gave his mother a soft nod. “Thanks, Ma.”

With their parents snapping pictures and offering their goodbyes, Bill and Mae stepped outside, ready for the night ahead. The Gala awaited them, but Bill already knew one thing for certain: tonight, they were going to be the stars of the show.

And by the end of it, there was no question in anyone’s mind—Bill Cipher and Maeloraelis were crowned Prom King and Queen of the Celestial Radiance Gala.

Bill wouldn’t have had it any other way.

[slutsmut-racha]

Thank you, babes! 💕

After 24 hours posting my first ever fanfic, I wanna say thank you to all the love I've received thus far. I was so nervous posting it but the likes and the reblogs and the follows have definitely helped calm me down. 😂

I've started a lot of fics over the past few months before I even considered making a tumblr for this. Now I'm just deciding what one to finish and post next. lol

[moonstruckme]

Hi Mae since u said u would be willing to do an ED reader here's a lil idea for James or tasm Peter but them with a gf who had a really bad ED before they met (he doesn't know) and she starts to relapse and he thinks she's just too stressed to eat or something (idk u can pick how the topic comes up) and just her telling him and him comforting her (this is a bit self indulgent bc idk how to tell anyone I'm dating that I'm struggling)

Hi lovely, thank you for your request!

cw: discussion and depiction of eating disorder, anxiety

James Potter x fem!reader ♡ 916 words

You don’t seem much up for talking at dinnertime. Which is fine. James can talk for the both of you. 

He prattles on about Sirius’ one-way rivalry with the temp at his work while you cast him half-hearted, flickering smiles and push your food around your plate. He’s made sesame tofu, a first for James but he thought it turned out all right. His plate is clean, whereas yours is all mixed up but he’s fairly sure you’ve only eaten a couple of green beans. 

You don’t appear to notice when he finishes his story. Your fork seems almost limp in your hand. 

“If you don’t like it,” James says lightly, “I don’t mind making you something else, lovely.” 

You look surprised, then guilty. “No, sorry, it’s good.” 

It’s not like you would know, but James isn’t cruel enough to point that out. Aside from his own ego, he has other reasons to suspect his cooking has little to do with this. 

You’ve been strung up tight, lately. There’s a lot going on at work, some conflict with your boss you don’t really want to talk about, and drama in your family you want to talk about even less. James has tried to make home as comfortable and easy for you as he can, but understandably you’ve grown withdrawn, seemingly exhausted all day long. He wishes he knew how to do more for you. Wishes he could cast a bubble of pure goodness to put you inside so the only things that could get to you were the lovely things you deserve. 

“I know you’re stressed,” he says, gently as he can, “but you’ve got to eat, you know? It’s probably cold by now, you could have something else if it’s easier.” 

Something painful twinges in your expression. James reaches for your hand on instinct. 

“I get that you’ve got a lot going on, angel. We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but we could.” 

You sigh. “No, it’s…I don’t think it’s what you’re thinking, Jamie.” 

James frowns, but forces himself to stay quiet. He has the familiar sense that all he’s doing is putting his foot in his mouth. 

After a minute, you say quietly, eyes lingering to the side of your plate, “I haven’t always been able to eat properly. It’s been…I’m a lot better about it than I used to be, but it’s still difficult sometimes. Like now.” 

Your hand feels tensed inside of James’. His heart has begun to ache lowly. James thinks he knows the term for what you’re trying to tell him, but he’s not about to lob it at you now, not if it could only make you feel worse. He tries comforting you the surest way he can think of, smoothing his thumb along the side of your hand. 

It at least seems to relax you enough to say more. “You’re not too far off, I guess, because it is sometimes worse when I’m anxious.” You glance up at him tentatively, an attempt at a smile on your lips. “Food’s just a bit more difficult for me right now.” 

“I’m sorry I brought it up like that,” says James, earnestness aching in the back of his throat.

You lift a shoulder. “How could you have known? Sorry I haven’t been eating your cooking.” 

“That’s not your fault, sweetheart.” Your gaze flees his again. Guilt and shame quiet James’ voice. “I’m sorry, I thought you were only stressed.” 

You give a little laugh. “I guess I am stressed.” 

“Yeah, and for good reason, but…can I hug you?” 

You nod, and James gets out of his chair, bending awkwardly to get his arms around you. Your fingertips press into the muscles of his shoulders. 

“It’s not quite so simple as stress, though, is it?” he murmurs into your shirt. 

He feels your chest contract with a sigh. “No,” you admit. 

“What can I do to help?” 

“I don’t think there’s anything you can do, Jamie.”

“Not accuse you of not liking my cooking, though, surely.” 

Another little laugh, this one seemingly more genuine. “Yeah, that would help a bit, actually.” 

James worries about smothering you, backs up enough to see your face. His hands want to go there, too, one for each cheek. 

“Please tell me if you think of anything,” he says. You don’t agree but don’t look away from him either, which James figures is about as good as he’s going to get. “Would it be any easier if we ate in front of the telly?” 

You chew your lip. “It might, yeah. I’m not sure.” 

“You don’t have to make any promises,” he assures you, taking up your plate and bringing it into the kitchen. “Do you want me to reheat this for you? Or we could have something else?” 

You linger at the edge of the kitchen, fingers bundled up in your sleeves. “I’d like to try to finish that, if that’s okay.” 

“Of course it’s okay, m’love. More than okay.” James presses some buttons on the microwave, then turns to you, requisitioning you for another hug. He kisses your hair. “Thank you for telling me.” 

Your voice is soft. “Thank you for listening.”

He scoffs, squeezing you around the middle so that you squeal. “You make it sound like a chore. Don’t be so ridiculous.” James presses another kiss to your hair before releasing you. “Go find something good for us to watch, sweetheart, I’ll be there in a minute.”

[imagine-a-life-like-this]

Veil of Shadows : Chapter 3

Word Count : 1.4k

Warnings : swearing, murder, death, drinking, mention of drugs, edibles, mention of cops, mention of being arrested, mention of a syringe, mention of sex

A/N : Apologies that this chapter is so late. I had every intention to finish and post yesterday, but unfortunately fell ill for the first half of the day, and the second half I was celebrating my birthday. I should hopefully be back on track now! 💕

            Their breathing was still heavy as they came down from the adrenaline from the night previous. Scattered screams echoed through their head, and they couldn’t remember whose scream was whose. Couldn’t pinpoint where the screams were coming from anymore. Right. Left. Straight ahead. Bouncing off the walls. Circling them.

            Flashes of the night flicker through their mind. Blood, screaming, begging, crying, death. The sirens are getting closer, louder. They’re trying to make sense of what happened, trying to get their thoughts straight, but nothing makes sense. It sounds like a story, a movie. Anything but reality. Their reality. A reality they cannot escape.

~

            Everyone was gathered in the living room together after a storm had sent them all running inside. They had all separated into their rooms to dry off and get changed, which then led them all into Y/n’s room to get edibles, sans Yeosang and Jia, who decided to stick with just alcohol, as Yeosang said.  

            They were keeping their promise of making the most out of the weekend since they were all together. Trying to ignore the hatred they all felt for one specific person, who seemed to disappear and then reappear randomly.

            Music was blaring from the speakers, with Hongjoong essentially on DJ duty, as he usually was. He watched from his post as his girlfriend glided around the large living room, checking in on everyone as if she was the host. He felt his heart swell with joy as he watched her, watched as she made her way person to person, and kept note of how it seemed like she belonged in a place like this.

            Wooyoung was still making up drinks for everyone, now standing behind the bar in the living room, to the right of where Hongjoong was standing. Mae was sitting on one of the barstools, keeping Wooyoung company, scrolling through her phone, and showing him the funniest memes she could find. He couldn’t help but admire her as she sat there, getting distracted as he stared.

            San and Seonghwa were standing in the middle of the room, looking through different Lego sets on Seonghwa’s phone. They kept arguing about which ones were better, which ones they should buy next. Des and Kayla were close by, showing each other the supplies they bought for the girl’s craft night the following weekend. Their boyfriends kept stealing glances over at them, silencing their arguments about Lego, and they both agreed that their girlfriend’s were too cute. And they allowed Des and Kayla to pick out the next Lego sets they bought.

            Yunho and Mingi had disappeared some time ago, but that wasn’t new to anyone. The only married couple of the group loved to sneak off to have their alone time, which San learned the hard way after accidentally walking in on them, meant that they were having sex. The rest of the group chalked this up to them opting out of a honeymoon and allowed them this alone time every vacation weekend.

            Jongho and Yuri were on the couch, lost in their own little world. Lost in whatever discussion they were having. As if everything else around them disappeared, like they were the only ones here. Neither of them realized the pair of eyes watching them with an icy glare. Too focused on each other to realize the anger bubbling up inside of someone.

            Y/n had made her way over to the bar, asking for a top up of whatever she was drinking, taking a seat on a barstool next to Mae. Her and Mae converse for a minute while Wooyoung makes her drink, but he steals Mae’s attention back as soon as he’s done. But something caught Y/n’s eye as she was getting up to leave.

            On the bar, hidden between some bottles, was a syringe. She glanced over to the couple, who were now in their own little world, and back to the syringe. She couldn’t tell if it was filled with anything from where she was, but she was curious now. Did her friends have a drug problem she didn’t know about? Or was this something sinister?

            “What are you looking at with that … look on your face?” Y/n nearly fell out of her seat at the sound of Jia’s voice, but she tried to play it off.

            “I’m not wearing my glasses, so I’m just trying to read what there is to drink.” She giggled. Jia waved her off, not even really listening to Y/n’s reply to the question she asked. Y/n bit her tongue, holding in the words she really wanted to say, and went to stand up.

            “What’s the point of one of you making drinks if you’re going to get distracted by your lame ass girlfriend?” Wooyoung and Mae didn’t hear her, but Y/n did. Y/n stopped in her tracks, sitting back down on the stool, staring at Jia. “Yeosang described you guys as being much more fun.”

            Y/n glanced towards the syringe, still unsure of its contents, if there was even any, then back at Jia. Her mouth was still moving, no doubt complaining about something else, but Y/n tuned out all sounds, until she heard Wooyoung apologizing, asking Jia what she wanted to drink.

            The party was going exactly the way it usually does. The couples pairing off together, except for Hongjoong and Y/n. Y/n loved to wander, loved to dance, loved to talk. Hongjoong loved to watch her. Falling in love with her over and over again.

            Yeosang usually kept Y/n company while she wandered the parties. Checking in on her while she checked in on everyone else. This would be the first party he didn’t. Trying his best to keep Jia happy, which to everyone else, seemed like an impossible task.

            But besides that, everything was normal. It was exactly the same as the previous party. And the one before that. And all the others before. With minor changes as Jongho and Yeosang got into their respective relationships.

            Her thoughts were racing when the power went out. Wooyoung had just handed Jia her drink. Mae had reached over and placed her hand on Y/n’s back. Wait no, Mae was still sitting down, the person who had touch Y/n’s back was standing, reaching over her. No she was reaching over. Wait. Back up.

            Jia screamed. Barely a second. And then there was silence again. Suddenly a thud. Were those footsteps? Was someone scurrying away? She couldn’t think straight, couldn’t get a single thought in order. All she could remember was getting another drink, being annoyed at Jia, and then it was dark and silent.

            The music came back seconds before the lights turned back on. Everyone was still on their phones, finishing their conversations. Mae noticed her first. Then the rest of the girls, before the guys looked up and took notice of the girl laying next to the bar.

            “Is she dead?” Mae asked, her voice quivering. Wooyoung didn’t hesitate to jump over the bar and take her into his arms, whispering sweet words into her ear.

            “No pulse.” Hongjoong said, looking at all his friends scattered around the living room. His girlfriend sat on the barstool, staring at Jia’s dead body, and he wrapped his arm around her, resting her head on his stomach. “I think we need to call emergency services.” He added softly, looking directly at Seonghwa, who nodded, pulling out his phone.

            “Are you insane? Did you forget we’re all high as fuck right now?” Jongho exclaimed. “Not to mention the insane amount of edibles Y/n still has. She’d be the second most fucked person here. Right behind whoever the fuck killed Jia.” He continued, his voice getting louder and louder the more he spoke.

            “Killed? You think she was killed?” Kayla asked, worry lacing her voice as she looked around at all her friends, the people she called family. Remembering how they were all joking about Jia’s death earlier that day. But none of them were serious, were they?

            Y/n was still frozen, staring down at Jia’s dead body. As if she was trying to memorize the scene, trying to come to terms with what happened, trying to add everything up in her head. Hongjoong figured she was just shocked, maybe trying to figure out who could have done this. He’s partially right.

            Y/n noticed what no one else had yet. Probably because she had noticed it earlier. Moments before the crime. And thought it was odd to hide it in between bottles. But now there it was. Laying right besides Jia’s body. The syringe.

            And now she’s wondering, did I kill her?   

back to masterlist

@mxnsxngie @maeleelee @hgema @itswaffleberry

[two-white-butterflies]

dorothea part two of five | h. targaryen

Description: The private call begins, and Helaena notices something. Pairing: helaena targaryen/cam-girl!reader Warning: 18+ (masturbation, religious trauma.) part one

Helaena lets out a sigh of relief - now that you were gone. She had time to regain her thoughts.

Was she really about to give into her horny desires?

A small message bubble pops up her Macbook Pro. It was her email, and there was a meeting scheduled in a few minutes. Her eyes widened - she didn't read the terms and conditions. Turns out your vacant time only went from 10-2pm, and it was currently 1pm.

Hello, You purchased an hour long session with me. Are you free today?

The email read - and she resisted the urge to burst out laughing. For someone who liked posting pictures of herself in corporate attire, Dorothea Mae wasn't exactly versed with email etiquette.

Yes.

Helaena replied, not bothering to make the email longer. It wasn't like there was something on the line - she was just spending $100 to watch a hot girl dance while wearing lingerie.

She blinks for a few times - clarity flooded through her bones.

She was fucking crazy. This was something she'd expect her brothers to do - but not her. It was taboo and Alicent would kill her.

Helaena took a deep breath - the thought of public humiliation only turned her on.

yourinstagram: back in this small town

24 comments 239 likes

jacejacejacey: riding horses girl - yourinstagram: mean 🥺 - jacejacejacey: btw i'm horse

toelicker69: ✨💗

Helaena wanted to scream into a void - seeing his nephew comment those things on your instagram. She was usually the calm one in the family, but she couldn't seem to control her temper.

She takes a deep breath - she shouldn't be jealous of her nephew. There was nothing between the both of you - and you were free to choose a partner - even if it wasn't her.

Plus, she didn't have the right to be jealous - because she was literally paying for a cam girl in some sketchy website.

"I'm a hypocrite," she mumbled - tapping the top of her desk, counting the seconds until the call was about to begin.

Dun! Dun!

The laptop rang - signaling that there was a call coming from Skype. "I'm nervous," she groaned, answering the call and making sure that her camera was turned off.

She freezes at the sight.

The hot girl was laying on the bed. Her face couldn't be seen but she was wearing black and white lingerie, moving her hands to wave at her. "Hey," the girl greeted, and Helaena reached to message.

'I don't want to turn my camera on,' she typed and the girl nodded.

"That's alright," she comforted, moving to stand up. "- so, you booked the dancing one." she continues - already used to her ill-tempered customers. "I-I don't need you to do that," Helaena opens her mouth to speak - changing her voice by a few octaves.

"We can talk, if you want to." she stuttered - praying to the lords that Dorothea won't laugh at her. "I don't think people pay a hundred dollars just to talk," she chuckles nervously, cautiously scanning the screen for any signs of creepiness.

She was the kind of person to avoid a free lunch.

People always wanted something in return.

"I don't think I'm comfortable watching someone dance like that," Helaena regrets, thinking that she looked like a fool. "Oh, I understand." her gaze softened - having experience people like her.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" she asked, tapping her red nails on the coffee table. Leaning slightly towards the camera - so that the viewer would have a clear view of her chest.

Helaena couldn't sleep that night.

She couldn't stop thinking about your breasts. They were a humble size - not too big, and not super small. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary - but she couldn't stop fantasizing about them.

She was one of the people who were definitely going to hell.

It was a sin to masturbate. It was a sin to be gay. It was a sin to think about other people in that manner.

But it was human at the end of the day.

She dipped a finger inside of her cunt, allowing all of her darkest fantasies to come alive. She couldn't stop imagining that her fingers - were your fingers, and that you were dominating her.

"Ughr," she moaned softly, in a slow tone that wouldn't wake anyone inside of the house. "Fuck," she added, eyes closing as she reached for the vibrator in her drawer.

zzzzzzzzzzz

The small toy buzzed as she teased herself, rubbing the thing around her mound and enjoying the pleasure that it provided.

Satan 100% has a spot reserved for her.

yourinstagram: this craziness that you'll only see in the city

12 comments 129 likes

toelicker69: bring me with you 😵‍💫

jacejacejacey: we're besties now 💅🏻 - yourinstagram: sorry (not), i swing the other way 🥲 - aegon.hightower: @toelicker69 this is ur cue - jacejacejacey: @yourinstagram found out too late and now aegon and his goons are terrorizing me

Helaena walks inside your hotel room, scanning her surroundings and marveling at the small changes you made. "If I had known, I would've had my grandfather upgrade your room." she smiles, seeing that all of the paintings were replaced with the ones that she made.

"I don't mind," you smile, placing the dozens of records on the small table. "Won't be staying for long anyways - I have a job in the museum," you explain, holding out a little hope that she'd leave with you. "Nice," she replies, freezing at the sight of your red nails.

It couldn't be.

Nope, she was just going mad.

"How about you? Anything going on?" you inquire, hinting that you wanted her to leave with you. "Not much, selling paintings and commissions." she answers, laying on the soft mattress.

"I apologize for how messy it is, I don't really believe in cleaning." you chuckle, and she opens her eyes. Catching the sight of a red and black lingerie partly covered by your blanket.

Oh, she was defo going mad.

part three

@watercolorskyy @bellastwd @nyctophilicvitnir @sweethoneyblossom1 @gettheetoanunneryimmediatly @dahlias-and-marigolds

*bold means cannot tag

[jungkookslipring]

The Perfect Day (pt 2)

pt 2 of "The Perfect Day"

pairings: Mingi x reader

Today was the day. You sat in front of the mirror looking at yourself in awe as the stylist finished up the final touches on your makeup. Thank god waterproof makeup exists cause you were so close to crying just over how good you looked! Your bridesmaids were sitting in their chairs getting their hair done when one of them gasped dramatically. You whipped your head around looking at them with wide eyes. 

“What what what?!?!?!” You ask with urgency. One of your bridesmaids Mae showed you her screen.

“The new episode of Demon Slayer is out!” she exclaims as your other bridesmaid Nicole gasps out loud. 

“Bitch I thought you were gonna say Mingi ran out!” You breathe out as you try to calm your heart. Nicole snorted.

“Mingi is not stupid. He’s gonna sob like a lil baby when you walk down the aisle,” Nicole said dreamingly. 

“Or he’s gonna jump like San and remind us all why their company banned jumping,” Mae snorted looking back at her phone.

“Yeah, why the fuck is that a thing?” Nicole asked. You shrugged.

“Who knows but he and San are the reason,” you laugh. 

“You both are literally marrying Shoyo HiNicolea,” Nicole smirks as she hairsprays her hair. 

“And you’re marrying a man who loves One Piece,” Mae snorts. 

“I’m marrying Yeosang question mark?” Nicole said, cocking her eyebrow, looking up from her phone.

“Wooyoung is attached to his hip so you’re also marrying his best friend,” Mae laughed. Nicole smirked.

“Then I’m marrying San too,” she said, laughing. Mae’s eyes went huge. 

“It’s gonna be one big fuck fest,”  All three of you bust out laughing, trying not to ruin what the stylists spent a good few hours on. 

“Who’s gonna cry when Mingi starts crying?” You ask your friends. 

“Hongjoong,” Nicole and Mae say at the same time. You nearly spit out your champagne as the girls start wheezing from laughter. All three of you started debating on what order the guys will lose their shit when their bubbly 99-line brother becomes a blubbering mess once he sees you. 

“You have that to look forward to,” you say, holding your glass up towards Mae. She covered up her mouth.

“Stop, I don't even wanna think about that right now I’ll start crying too I’m a cancer!!!” she screeched dramatically. Her eyes went huge and she pointed a finger at Nicole.

“SO ARE YOU!” She exclaimed. Nicole’s eyes went huge.

“SO IS SAN!” Mae smacked herself on the forehead. 

“Fuck if it isn’t Hongjoong who’s gonna make me cry at our wedding it’s gonna be San,” she laughed. Everyone’s eyes went huge. 

“San is gonna make us all sob,” you realized before everyone started dramatically having a mental breakdown.

“What am I gonna do?” San asked, walking in. His tux was a gorgeous shade of Red, with minimal face makeup. A few of the guys had absolutely no problem being on the bride's side of the bridal party. Nicole turned around in her chair, hugging San.

“Cry your face off when Y/N walks down the aisle,” she states as San smiles. 

“So will you and Meeks,” he stated matter-of-factly. Nicole looked at Mae.

“We’re screwed,” she breathed out as Mae nodded. You could hear two footsteps coming up the stairs of your cabin, the others not batting an eye knowing it was the rest of the bridesmen.

“Okay okay he’s a 10, but he slaughtered Tanjiro’s entire family,” Wooyoung said so casually that Nicole almost choked on her drink, nearly spitting it out. Mae and San’s eyes turned to the size of saucers. 

“Bitch are you talking about Muzan?” Mae exclaims. Yeosang started laughing seeing everyone's reactions.

“Smash,” Nicole says as she sips her drink. 

“I don’t even know how to respond to that,” Yeosang says, equally as shocked as the rest of the bridal party. The second Wooyoung is about to explain himself, the photographer can be heard running up the stairs.

“She’s ready!!” she squeals as she opens the sliding door, positioning everyone for the big reveal. The five members of your bridal party walk out onto the patio, waiting for you to come out. The second you step out, the camera is clicking and your entire bridal party is in awe. Of course, the cancer gang is already in tears, Yeosang being the gemini he is is holding it together and Wooyoung is cheering you on like he does at your track races. You couldn’t help but laugh even though your eyes were getting misty. After everyone hugged you and swarmed you with compliments, San whispered,

“Let’s get you married”. 

(Groomsmen Cabin)

Mingi stood there fiddling around with his watch as Yunho, his best man, tied his necktie. The other 99 liner beamed as he finished tightening up the red tie, the color matching Mingi’s hair. Jongo stared at his favorite hyung in awe as Seonghwa helped with his tie. Hongjoong had a small vlogging camera, filming b-roll of him and his friends getting ready in the groomsmen's bedroom.

“You ready killer?” Yunho asked as he smoothed out MIngi’s jacket which was also a deep shade of red. Mingi had the brightest blush the boys had ever seen, the first time they found out about how he had been talking to this gorgeous girl for a few weeks and how he had already fallen so hard. 

“I am just so happy right now…” he smiled, just in complete shock and awe that he finally gets to marry you. Hongjoong walked up to Mingi and pinched his cheek, just short of shoving the camera in his face.

“Our Mangi is all grown up!” Hongjoong cooed as Mingi’s gummy smile went on full display. 

“And he’s getting married before any of us!” Yunho stated.

“Hongjoong isn’t too far behind,” Jongo mentioned. Hongjoong grabbed his chest and shook his head. 

“Nooo I’ve already cried twice thinking about Mae walking down the aisle!” He said trying to suck back the moisture that was already building up in his eyes. Mingi laughed as he thought about how that was going to be him in less than 20 minutes.

“We have three cancers in the bridal squad; they're gonna be a mess,” Seonghwa stated. Yunho laughed.

“So will you! We know how you are!” He said, taking a sip of his drink. Seonghwa hid his face in Jongho’s neck as the maknae giggled, patting Seonghwa’s head. 

“It’s gonna be great, hyung,” Jongho said, smiling at the nervous redhead. 

“Are you doing a first look privately or while everyone is there?” asked Hongjoong. Mingi pointed towards the arch.

“We’ll do one privately,” he said, wiping his hands on his pants. “Aish I’m so nervous!” Mingi laughed in anticipation. Right on cue, the photographer came into the room.

“Are you ready to see your bride?” she asked. Mingi bit his knuckles as the guys started squealing like little girls. Your bridesmaids and bridesmen weren’t too far behind her, waiting in the living room. She guided Mingi into the hallway and out the doors, the bridal party hanging back. The photographer wanted to make sure she got the bridal party’s reactions, knowing those pics were definitely going to make her page. Your group hung back as Mingi faced away, looking towards the trees. He waited with anticipation, fiddling with his fingers, already trying not to lose it before even seeing you. You walked out from behind the cabin, your bridal party inside already grabbing tissues. Of course, the cancers were already dabbing at their eyes. You walked up behind Mingi and lightly tapped on his shoulder. His breath hitched, and he let out a shaky breath before turning around. The minute his eyes connected with yours, he bit his lip, trying to prevent the sob that was ripping away at his throat. 

“Oh my god…” he chuckled wetly as he looked you up and down. You smiled doing a little twirl for him, Mingi not able to even hold eye contact with you. He brought his hands up to his face, covering his mouth and nose as he stared at you in awe. Like damn, he was really about to make you his forever. 

“Don’t cry!” you giggle as you try to keep your emotions at bay. He pulled you into a hug, doing his best not to ruin your hair as he held you close.

“You’re so beautiful, you are so…wow…so beautiful, Y/N…” Mingi nearly blubbered into your shoulder. You two held each other for a few more seconds before he pulled away. Wooyoung opened the door they were all staring at and yelled 

“Don’t cry Mangi!!! Your eyes will be puffy!!!” he yelled as his own eyes were misty. Everyone belted out laughing as the photographer caught everything. You bid your extremely temporary goodbyes and your bridal party got with their respected “couples”, and followed behind Mingi, while you hung back. You decided to keep the ceremony small and intimate, surrounded by your best friends, and close family. You absolutely adored how your family and friends got along with his family and friends, it made your day that much more special. Mingi walked up to the beautiful arch that stood out with bright red roses, a beautiful contrast in the green forest. A few friends and family sat down as Mingi walked down the aisle, trying to keep his cool in front of his loved ones. After he stood in his respected spot, your best friends walked down the aisle in pairs, all exchanging smiles with Mingi, the poor redhead getting even more anxious after the 5 pairs of your bridal party stood in their spots. The second everyone stood up and turned around, Mingi all of a sudden found the sky super interesting. Yunho patted his back the second they saw you come around the corner. Mingi blinked as much as he could, as his tears were blurring his vision. Once the tears fell, he could see you clear as day, strolling through the aisle in the most breathtaking dress he had ever seen on you. You smiled seeing the love of your life, giving you the biggest gummy smile you have ever seen. Once you stood before him he mouthed “I love you”, while the officiant let everyone know they could be seated. You handed your bouquet to Mae as the officiant started talking. Mingi wasn’t listening to half the stuff that was being said, he was so lost in your eyes. He came back to the real world when they asked him to read his vows. Mingi took a few shaky breaths before starting.

“Y/N…from the moment I met you, I knew that you were going to be the most important thing in my life. After only a few weeks of knowing you, and Yunho can back me up here, I would not shut up about this beautiful girl I met when we all hung out by the Han river when you and your two best friends were vacationing in Seoul. If it wasn’t for Mae suggesting the three of you two come say hi, I don’t know where we would be, and I don’t want to know, because I can’t imagine my life without you in it,” he said sniffling. You remembered that day. The three of you wanted to take a two-week-long vacation to Seoul because you all dreamed of moving there once you were done with college. On your third day, you were hanging out by the Han River, and you saw 8 crackheads messing around and having fun. They matched your energy and Mae thought it would be fun to at least mingle since you knew no one there. The three of you walked over to say hi, and before you knew it, all eleven of you visited until midnight. They invited you three back to their shared apartment and continued to chat into the early am. Since that day, Mingi hadn’t stopped thinking of you, and vice versa. You two were the first to become a thing, Mae and Hongjoong falling shortly after, and Nicole and Yeosang after half a year. The memory made you tear up.

“Y/N, I promise to love you, cherish you, hype you up when you’re letting loose when we go dancing, and praise you for the goddess that you are–” 

“PERIOD” Mae and Wooyoung shouted at the same time. Everyone busted out laughing. Mingi pulled himself together with the occasional giggle.

“I promise to hold you when you’re tired, to hug you when you cry, to celebrate all of your achievements, to support your dreams, and to be the best husband I can be so you can always be happy. I know love isn’t perfect; I’m sure we will have disagreements, maybe we won’t always see eye to eye, but I promise with all my heart that I will be the man you want me to be,” Mingi finished with a tear sliding down his face. You wiped his cheek with the pad of your thumb, in awe that you’re marrying him. It was then your turn to read your vows.

“Mingi, not a day goes by that I don’t think about where we are now vs. when we first met. The funny thing was that when we met in Seoul, we weren’t looking for love, we were looking for happiness. We found not only that but we found love in each other. We found friendships that we will cherish for the rest of our lives.” The cancers were crying again, poor things.

“I promise to you what I promised you at the beginning of our relationship when we were just friends. I promise to love you for who you are, I promise to be there for you through the good, the bad, and the ugly. I promise to offer a shoulder when you need it. I promise to bring home free coffee after my shift,” you giggle as he chuckles wetly. “Oh and Wooyoung, got you, dude,” you remember as Wooyoung covers his mouth laughing and crying at the same time.

“I promise to be your hype woman every day for the rest of our lives. You chose me for me, and I chose you for all of you. We made such deep promises to each other just as friends, and now these promises follow us into our newfound relationship as husband and wife. Now, let’s do the damn thing,” you said with the widest smile as Mingi mirrored your facial expression. The officiant gave his final “by the power invested in me yadayadayada” spiel, and he pronounced you two as husband and wife.

“Mingi, you may kiss the bride,” he announced proudly, and not a second later, Mingi was dipping you close to the ground, kissing you so deeply and passionately that you almost drowned out all the cheering. You had a super small crowd and a small bridal party, but the sound was booming. You were finally Mr. and Mrs. Song. 

The next few days you were in wanderlust. You two had decided to go on your honeymoon two weeks before the big reception, cause after partying with a bigger crowd, you knew you were going to sleep for 14 hours at least. Your honeymoon was everything you had ever dreamed of. You and Mingi flew to Tuscany, Italy, wanting to go somewhere sort of secluded but with things to do. It was perfect. You spent two weeks going to different vineyards, walking through flower fields, going to different art museums, hitting up nightclubs that were hidden from most tourists (unless you were in your 20s), and spent the most magical two weeks with your husband.

The reception was BEYOND what you expected. Everybody was getting down to your ass-shaking songs, even your older family members. Everyone was throwing it back and dropping it low to some of your favorite songs, your two best girlfriends were being extremely gay on the dance floor, and everyone got to let loose and have fun dancing until people were literally on the verge of fighting over chairs. They were so tired. Your reception was a whole dance party, and it was a celebration of love because there was 110% love all around you. During a slow dance, while your two best girlfriends were dancing with their partners, they all gave you a wink, and you could swear you saw their eyes twinkling. When you looked back at Mingi, he had the same stare with the galaxy dancing in his eyes. You didn’t even know what to say, but he beat you to it.

“Your ass looks bomb as fuck in that dress.”

Okay, thats not actually what he said.

But he was thinking it. *wink*

“You’re all mine?” he asked in amazement. You pulled him in a kissed his lips.

“All yours,” you say with so much sincerity in your voice. He breathed out and kissed you back.

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@felixmainacc @felixburneracc