#may the fourth be with you (one day late sorry sorry!!)
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"Good day, grasshopper!"
for the first time ever, i - nephilapothecary 'trout' homestead-akatsuka - have finished a ref, and i want to crumble into dust
would you believe this is a 'cover page' ref? as in the actual ref i posted as a wip isn't even done? and neither are joro's expression sheets nor design notes done? sigh... long long way to go!
more info of joro and other credits under the cut because i'm scared of long posts. by long, i MEAN long i am very sorry in advance.
'name' ⧠Mai/Mugi JorĆ (éșŠ ăžă§ăâ) age ⧠late 20s to 30s (generally a good two years older than the sextuplets for reference) height ⧠4'11 / 151cm birthday ⧠March 14 nationality ⧠Singaporean, Chinese (Cantonese/Hokkien) gender ⧠Non-binary pronouns ⧠They/He/She â doesn't mind any pronouns, but generally prefers them in the order shown. orientation ⧠Sapphic/Lesbian, Polyamorous, Demisexual voice-claims ⧠Saiga Mitsuki (JPN), Stephanie Beatriz (ENG)
playlist ⧠"And the sunshine greets you again, my scarab!" (to specify, the voice-claims for both JPN and ENG are Rika from Pokemon Horizons and Rosa Diaz from Brooklyn 99 respectively!)
JorĆ is the current and only farmer that owns the now-revitalised land on the outskirts of Akatsuka Ward, the quaint Furusato Homestead (æ
é·èŸČć Ž). Without so much as a tie to the country, it seems as if they've appeared out of nowhere.
They are known by quite a few of the seniors in Akatsuka Ward, though mostly by the stay-at-home parents and local cooks. They make a decent living off of their crops and own a reliable little flock of hens and wild geese, with barn cats that seemed to settle in of their own accord.
One of the few friendlier citizens quickly become a familiar face to them; JorĆ becomes fast friends with Matsuyo, someone who frequents their produce at the farmers' market - the fact that JorĆ never charges all that much and looks way too young to be a farmer must have drawn Matsuyo in out of curiosity. They see her almost like a second mother, with her kind words and reassuring smile, whose meetings at the markets sometimes come with little gifts of food. Their meetings with Matsuyo soon extend beyond exchanging produce and small talk, and JorĆ's presence in the Matsuno household become known to the sextuplets living there. Well, the few instances of their name are accompanied only with a healthy dose of motherly nagging.
A collective decision to put a stop to this endless harassment from their mother, the sextuplets attempt to confront them - and hopefully, scare them off so they wouldn't have to hear about getting jobs again.
An... unfortunate incident leads to a very rocky first impression of JorĆ, but the lot of them sort it out in due time.
In the present, the idiosyncratic farmer finds themselves to be good friends with all six of the Matsuno brothers, each with their own little oddities. They are especially fond of the second, fourth, and fifth brothers: Karamatsu, their go-to buddy for so-bad-its-good western movies and playful, sometimes heartfelt talks. Ichimatsu, their quiet companion whose candid - and also morbid - conversations make for great company. And Jyushimatsu, an almost-rabid ball of energy who never gives them a day of mundanity.
đŁ
JorĆ's personality and looks are a strange mismatch. Covered neck-down in intricate tattoos of insects and botanical illustrations, one would assume them to assert themselves like a delinquent would, or at least assertively enough to give off a threatening aura, even at a glance. This could not be further from the truth.
They carry themselves with an air of whimsy and have a level-headed mindset. JorĆ's language, though warm and homely, can sometimes seem eccentric - choosing to refer to their friends with insect-related terms of endearment and speaking almost in roundabout manners. They rarely hold grudges, but have learnt to be quite wary of people who they find to be shady or untrustworthy. Despite the mellow persona they hold, if they ever aren't being taken seriously, they can and will make their stance clear as day, through words or force. A very 'do no harm, take no shit' attitude. Don't worry though, they're very placid most times.
JorĆ comes off as polite and charming to acquaintances, but by god, do they have a potently concentrated ball of anxiety hidden in deep layers within their heart. They easily tire when they're around unfamiliar people, having to keep up the cool, composed act and having to figure out what to say to certain people so they don't come off as impolite or strange. Around friends, they loosen up quite easily and can get a little vulgar. They mean well, it's just natural habit to swear.
A hoarder of hobbies, the king of trinkets. They have a dedicated room for their old, current, and transient hobbies, as well as display shelves for all the little items they collect. You can find quite a lot of stuff in there; guzhengs, violins, embroidery, pottery wheels and more. Their current interests lie heavily in the arts and sciences, mostly illustrations, insect identification, and insect pinning. They love beetle fighting but only ever conduct it under very strict, specific circumstances â they despise hurting beetles for entertainment, and would rather have them fight naturally than force it.
An individual with a vested interest in entomology, environmental sciences, native biodiversity, and ecology. They've earned a Bachelor's Degree in Science and minored in entomology in Australia, they WILL talk your ear off about insects do NOT mention insects around them you will REGRET IT.
JorĆ Trivia đŁ
⧠They speak English, Japanese, German, Mandarin, and some Cantonese! It's mostly swears for Cantonese but they can also converse in it too.
⧠Aside from the Matsuno family, they're cloae buddies with Chibita! They sell daikon and fresh eggs to them and accepts coupons for free oden sometimes.
⧠They hand-embroider a lot of their shoes and pants! A habit they developed from their university days, in which they'd cover all the accidental acid spills and bleach stains with floral and insect motifs.
⧠Their parents enrolled them into a lot of extracurriculars as a kid, so they end up being decent at a lot of things; first aid, singing, violin, guzheng, etc. They're no master though.
⧠A lot of animals seem docile around them. They've managed to befriend a family of geese on their property, formed an alliance with the feral barn cats that take residence in their shed, and somehow managed to figure out a compromise between the crows that always want a bite of their crops. How they do it, nobody knows.
đŁ
god okay I took a LOT of inspiration from @/puffpawstries and @/flowerakatsuka's refs for honno and kuroba respectively, my apologies if i might have mirrored a few things too much GWAHAH
my style's usually quite clashing with the ososan style but i think i managed to balance it! here's the blue linework version even though it's. ngl it's a lil ugly HAHAGSJ
falls over and turns to dust
#osomatsu san oc#ocmatsu#osomatsu san#oso san#osmt#ososan#ososan oc#trout oc#trout oc : joro#trout art#wauu i wanna make more ososan friends and have our ocs interact!!#i dont bite please play dolls with me and have your ocs interact with my farmboy
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A little late but happy Star-Wars day (May the 4th be with you / revenge of the 5th)
I started the drawing on May the 4th but it took me while to get past the line art stage. Then life happened and I was hesitant to re-attempt it.
Anyway I over came my art block and here it is hope your like!!!
#may the fourth be with you#starwars day#star wars#opm#one punch man#saitama#i love onepunch man#opm saitama#fanart#crossover art#opm fanart#starwars fanart#my art#revenge of the fifth#sorry im late#doodle#fan art#opm art#opm crossover#one punch man art#saitama and genos#opm au#opm au art#genosai
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I think it's about time I talk about that Star Wars AU I might write one day if I have time & energy. Yes it involves Lokius.
Loki and Sylvie are (force sensitive) twins that were separated at birth in order to protect them from a powerful force user that turned to the dark side (their father Laufey? Thanos? Kang?).
Sylvie was sent on Tatooine (to be raised by some distant family?) while Loki was left in the care of Senators/Royalties Odin and Frigga of Alderaan (or maybe I should call it Asgard?) who raised him alongside their biologic son Thor.
As they grow older, a rivalry sets up between Thor and Loki, each of them resenting the other's lifechoices.
As the Empire becomes stronger, threatening the Republic, Thor decides to leave his homeworld and officially join the resistance, which Loki think is careless and stupid (as a prince, Thor makes a target of choice, let alone his actions draw too much attention on his family, discrediting their political engagement).
Following his parents' (well mostly Frigga's) steps, Loki enters the political sphere, fighting the Empire using diplomacy... and a good deal of espionnage.
That's how, during a "strictly diplomatic mission", Loki's ship is attacked by the Empire and is taken prisoner - but not before he managed to send a droid away with the plans of the Empire's new superweapon and the instruction to bring those to an ally of the resistance Loki knows lives on a nearby planet (aka Heimdall, ermit, former jedi and friend of Loki's parents).
The droid (part of me wants it to be Miss Minutes but I'm not sure...) lands on Tatooine and meets Sylvie who agrees to help it find Heimdall but insists on leaving the planet with them (she sees it as her chance to let her current life behind and find more about her origins).
To leave a planet, one needs a ship. Sylvie, Heimdall and the droid go looking for someone who accepts to take them to Alderaan (to deliver the weapons' plans to Odin and Frigga). Enters Mobius Mobius Mobius.
Mobius is a pilot/smuggler who used to work for the TVA (Transporters of Valuable Artefacts? lol Idk?? anyway, an organisation that specialises in (illegal) trading (and yes, Ravonna is the boss;)). Only, one day, he realised the TVA was dealing with the Empire (selling weapons maybe?) and he could not stand with that. He left, thus breaking his contract, ending with a lot of debts and a price on his head, which explains why is quite eager to leave Tatooine himself...
Meanwhile, Loki is interrogated on board the Empire's Death Star. He his given a choice: either he talks or his home planet Alderaan is destroyed. So, he does talk, but the Empire destroys Alderaan nonetheless, making him witness it.
When Mobius and his passengers reach Alderaan, the planet is gone...and they finally agree to attempt a rescue mission to deliver prince Loki.
As it happens, Thor just heard about what happened and decided to go free his brother as well (both rescue missions collide of course, and it takes them some misunderstanding to understand they're all on the same side!)
What comes next is (among other things) a lot a Loki angst, Lokius middle-burn and probably rocket & Groot as Forest Moon of Andor's inhabitants.
...and this is it for now, but feel free to add your thoughts and inputs đ
#lokius#au#star wars au#loki series#thingsidid#may the fourth be with you (one day late sorry sorry!!)
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sweet child o' mine | pt. iii
now taking name suggestions for my joel's duck doodle. must rhyme with a curse word. most creative wins.
pairing:Â neighbor!joel x fem!reader
summary: as your pregnancy progresses, you and joel are getting closer. dangerously closer.
warnings: reader is literally pregnant so typical pregnancy symptoms & descriptions of stuff like extreme nausea and gagging (reader throws up off-page, no graphic description past sore throat/esophagus afterward), body changing, nerves around birth/becoming mom, another sonogram (gender reveal...?), baby kicks felt, labor pains shhh, age gap (late 20s reader, late 40s joel), joel is dating someone who isn't reader, our girl hates nye (she's valid), tommy uses colors to represent gender (he is Wrong), joel is for sure emotionally cheating at this point and reader knows it, joel kisses someone who is not his partner again, f masturbation, memories of the hot dirty sex they had whew, a SPRINKLING of breeding kink, praise kink, size kink, another parent dies (i love parents i promise ????), jealous!reader, protective!joel, alcohol consumption, cursing, a LOT of angst, lots of fluff, lil bit of smut, and duckie has the best comedic timing of any character in this entire series. :) DISCLAIMER:Â this series covers some issues which i know may be sensitive and possibly triggering to some. warnings will always be as thorough as possible, but if thereâs ever anything you feel iâve missed, please let me know. feel free to drop by my inbox anytime.
word count: 11.4k (sorry. lots to cover lots to do.)
pt. i / series masterlist | main masterlist | playlist | follow @macfroglets w notifs on to be the first to hear when i post đ©”
December.
The days are funneled by a quick pinch of dark, the breeze heavy in its sail. Houses lined with twinkling lights and windows pierced by pointed trees. Crooning from every radio station, teary-eyed movies on TV, and spiced apple everything.
You hate every fucking minute of it.
âWait a second,â Tommy sits forward, leaning in, âyou never do nothinâ for New Years?â
You shrug, lifting your eyebrows. âNope. Just donât like it much. That a crime?â
He considers it as he hands his empty tumbler up to Joel, his head lolling some. Heâs on hisâŠfourth drink of the night, right? Though, if you take into account his earlier argument â Iâm eatinâ as I go. It donât count. â itâs probably more like two. But itâs whiskey, so â
Never mind.
âYeah,â Tommy finally decides, âkinda. The hellâs wrong with you, girl?â
âTommy.â
Joelâs voice is a warning, edged by the sharp clink of three glasses pinched in his fingers.
His brother laughs amiably in response, though, nodding to your mock-offended expression. âAt least youâre spendinâ it right this year. Last one before lilâ Dickie comes along, huh?â
Maria slaps his shoulder, rolling her eyes. âItâs Duckie,â she hisses, glancing over to you.
âShoot,â he says, chuckling. âI knew that. My mistake.â And then, hand out towards you in an apology which makes your shoulders jerk with laughter, âI did know that, I swear.â
Tommy and Maria flew in a few days ago; the younger Miller adamant that heâd spend one last New Years with his big brother before he became a father. The night they arrived, they showed up on your doorstep â a hamper filled with diapers and muslins and baby socks hanging from Mariaâs arm. Theyâve asked to hang out with you every day since.
Theyâre good fun. Tommy likes you, at least, enough to tease you as much as you figure a brother might. Heâs definitely the louder of the two â sometimes you swear you notice Joel cringing at him, something caught between a laugh and a frown on his face. And Mariaâs sweet; sheâs asked probably six times every hour since she first saw you if youâre feeling okay, if youâre tired, if youâre hungry.
Joel text you yesterday morning. Tommy and Maria wondering if you feel like coming over for NYE. No pressure, he added, I lie pretty good.
A smile snuck its way across your lips before you had the chance to tame it. Sure, you typed, Iâll bring the newspaper.
What Joelâs told them, about the wedding and the baby and everything since, youâve no idea. You guys almost talked about it when he told you they were flying down after Christmas, but before you got the chance to ask him, Vanessa pulled up out front.
Not exactly a conversation you felt like having with the dudeâs girlfriend hooked around his right arm.
She smiles at you, now, as you shuffle to the edge of the armchair youâre curled up in. Joelâs armchair â the plaid blanket cradling you, the leather soft and crinkled beneath. Your eyes quickly drop from hers when his hand reaches for your mug, your fingers crossing as you pass it up. âLet me come help,â you say, pushing from the chair.
He holds up a palm, shaking his head once. âStay. I got it.â
âThanks,â you murmur, settling back. Vanessa resumes smiling. You wish sheâd fucking quit it. You wish youâd fucking quit focusing on her.
Joel knocks the mug gently against your shoulder with a small, almost sympathetic smile, and heads for the kitchen â leaving you sat between Tommy and Maria on one couch, and Vanessa on the other. You tuck your heels under your thighs, picking at a hangnail as you wait for the conversation to thaw.
Maria makes some comment about Austin in the winter: how different it is to Jackson, and the three of you nod and hum in agreement before the chatter fizzles to nothing again. You glance over to the clock, watching the hands chase one another to twelve.
This isnât what you imagined a get-together with Joelâs family would feel like. Tight, tense. So tense that you can feel the weight on your chest, closing your lungs. Talking about the weather and the holiday traffic, talking about nothing to avoid talking about everything.
Tommyâs chin lifts, after a second too long of silence. âHey, Joel!â he barks. âYou ainât shown me this nursery yet!â
Joel leans around the doorframe, half-distracted. âBarely even started it, little brother. Crib only got delivered yesterday.â
âSheesh,â Mariaâs eyes widen, âyou sure are prepared.â
Vanessa laughs when Joel rolls his eyes and vanishes again. âYou got no idea,â she says, âI have never seen him soâŠpedantic, right?â She looks to you, still smiling. So sweet, you worry your lips are pursing at the sight of it. Your neck tensing. Your eyes watering.
âYeah,â you reply, nodding shyly and swallowing back the saccharine. âI think heâs more nervous than heâs letting on.â
Joelâs voice calls from the kitchen again: your name. When you answer, he says, âWhy donât you take Tommy up, show âim what we got so far?â and then, leaning back around the door, âShe picked the color ân whatnot.â
âAh,â Tommy says, palms pushing down on his knees, âso youâre the brains, then?â
You mirror him, accepting Joelâs request. As though you had any choice in the first place. Standing beside the younger Miller, you mutter, âSure. Letâs go with that.â
He holds a hand out to usher you ahead, following you upstairs. Past the tousle-haired boy in grayscale, past the German shepherd, past the Christmas Day portrait. Wandering like you know the house inside out, like you mightâve picked the exact coordinates of each nail the picture frames hang on yourself.
Like the photographs pinned to the walls arenât still as alien to you as theyâd been that day you first set foot in here, the dress Joel would come to tear from your body slung over your arm.
You twist the gold handle and unveil a homely little room, painted by you and Joel just last week. The soft blue drying into his knuckles, random splatters on your palms and your jeans. The giggles drawn from your chest; the thief either the chemicals from the paint, or the man rolling it over the walls â and youâve a pretty good idea of which.
Tommy sniffs roughly, nodding. Taps the toe of his boot against one of the two bulky boxes leant against the wall, a crib printed on one and a rocking chair on the other. His tipsy head bob bob bobbing. âAlright. âs nice, ainât it?â
You settle against the window, the glass cold at your back. âReal nice, yeah. Be even better once itâs done.â
âWhatâs yours look like?â
âMine?â
âNursery at your place. Your one pink, âcase itâs a girl?â
You snort. âMine is a little greener. MoreâŠI guess itâs duck egg. Had some leftover paint.â
He clicks his fingers and points to you. âSee what you did there. Duck egg. Duckie.â
âHm. Wish I were that poetic. I just like the color.â
Tommy stuffs his hands in his pockets, wanders around the bare room. The faint lingering of whiskey putting up its best fight against the clean bite of fresh paint, the sweet scent shaking from him when he nods some more at the blank walls and naked windows. He clicks his teeth and asks, âHow you holdinâ up, anyways?â
âHow am I holding up?â
âYep. With, uhâŠâ he nods to the door, eyes wide, ââŠVanessa,â he whispers. Louder than he must think â probably echoed, if anything, by the palm he curves around his mouth.
You cross your arms protectively, shoulders bunching. âSheâs fine,â you say, voice deliberately low. You both ignore the crack in it when you add, âI like her. Sheâs â sheâs taken this all like a champ.â
Tommy leans on the window ledge, a rugged hand you reckon youâd know was a Millerâs just by looking at it. Same rough-cut quality as Joelâs, like theyâre torn from the same sheet of sandpaper. He props the other on his hip. âBut, boy â itâs gotta be complicated, right?â
âI guess. But sheâs real sweet about it. And Joelâs been great, too.â You sniff, the memory of your kiss flashing behind your eyes. The steady drum of Duckâs heartbeat, the gleam in Joelâs eye when he looked down at you. The guilt seeping from your skin like beads of sweat, prickling along your spine and fizzling against the cold windowpane.
Tommy blinks at you, liquor-glazed eyes scanning. His shoulders jerk, a loud huh propelling from his throat. When your head cocks in confusion, startled from your daydream, he spills. âHe ân I had a mighty long talk when he told me.â
You feel yourself leaning in, magnetized to him â body hunched as though youâre gossiping in the corner of a house party. Inhaling secrets with the tinge of alcohol on Tommyâs breath. âOh, yeah?â
Tommy hums. âJust wanted to make sure heâd thought it all through. Not you â I always knew heâd take care aâ you and Duck. ButâŠinvolving Vanessa,â he lowers his voice again, glancing over to the warm light spilling in from the hallway, âI just wanted him to be sure.â
Your blood begins to warm, heat flooding through your body as you step closer, murmuring, âWhatâd he say?â
He flicks his head, seeming to toss his initial response to the wind. âYou know Joel. He is his own man.â
Your face screws, head jerking back. âWhatâs that mean? He is his own man?â
A voice from the doorway interrupts. A shadow swimming in the golden light. âWho is?â
Tommy steps away from you, loosening his arms as his big brother drifts into the shadowy room. Dusting the conversation under the rug. The smell of whiskey backs off. âSpeak of the devil. Nice paint job, Joel. Missed a couple spots, but â Iâll let you off.â
âUhuh.â Joelâs eyes thin, his body slanted against the wall. Arms crossed, bottle of beer hanging from his fingers.
Tommy swaggers forward when Joel holds the bottle out, taking it with a wary glance at the tall figure. A dog meandering back to his owner, tail between his legs and ears flat. It takes his gritty voice to jolt you back to the room, splintering your gaze from Joelâs toned arms and huge chest. âLooks real good, you two. âs one lucky kid.â
Joelâs jaw lifts, his eyes landing on you. Dogs are terrible liars. âHe talkinâ your ear off?â
You smile; recognizing the softer Joel youâve grown used to over the last three months replacing the stern, cold version you once knew so well. âOnly a little.â
âTommy,â he says then, âMaria needs you for somethinâ.â
The denim-donned Miller nods knowingly and heads out of the room, thud of his boots receding downstairs.
âMaria okay?â you ask, making space for Joel as he settles beside you.
He shrugs. âOnly said that to get him outta your hair.â
You frown. âYou sent me up here with him in the first place.â
âSo I could come up ân check on you. Know this must be a lot â the two of them, tonight.â
âIâm fine. Promise. Iâm a big girl.â
You both sigh, turning to look out at the dark street. Your arms cross, sitting somewhere above the tiny slope of your bump â a new development youâre still getting used to. Your stomach feels tighter, a little more solid than usual when you touch it. A little moreâŠreal. Thereâs someone in there, right? Like, actually there. Theyâre changing the way you look, the way you feel.
âThis is it, right?â you say, staring at the white lanterns illuminating Alice Brownâs rose bushes. âThis is the year.â
âThe year,â Joel agrees.
âMhm. Become a mom. Become a dad.â
He purses his lips. âYeah, I donât know. Iâve had bigger years, kid.â
âLetâs hear it, old man. Letâs hear about your biggest year. God knows youâve had plenty to choose from.â
He sucks a deep breath in, eyes tracing the silhouette of the houses across the street as he thinks. âSenior year, nineteen ninety-three. Asked Stacy Moore as my date to the prom ân she said yes. I was so nervous that I forgot my bow tie. Was a pretty good year.â
You hum, agreeing, and then, âI see your ninety-three, and I raise you: two thousand and one. There was this bike I wanted for-fucking-ever; it had, like, little beads on the spokes â would make this ratatatat sound whenever it moved. Tassels hanging from the handlebars, all iridescent. I begged my mom the entire year for it, and on Christmas morning I woke up, andâŠâ You lift your hands, air puffing from between your lips. âSanta Claus delivered that year, dude.â
âWell,â Joel clicks his teeth, shell hardening only a little, âthanks for making me feel old as hell.â
âYouâre welcome.â You beam back at him, breaking into a laugh when he does.
The two of you stand a little distance apart, denying yourselves the innocent brushing of shoulder against shoulder, the nudging of elbows and swaying of hips. Admiring the empty sky and emptier street, bathing between the cold moonlight of outside and the warm lamplight in.
And from somewhere deep in your belly, somewhere tucked behind your ribs, beneath your slow-growing womb: an urge to ask about her. To bring her up. To tend to the curiosity that Tommy poked a clumsy, drunken finger straight into, tearing it apart at the seams.
Like pressing on a new bruise, satiating the hungry need to know where you were hurt, how you were hurt, when you were hurt. A bent fingertip, pushing heavily into a sensitive splatter of dark purple; the burst blood vessels hissing in response, whispering, You donât know, and you donât want to know.
But you defy them. You do want to know. Want to satisfy the disturbed thrill you felt, leaning into Joelâs brother. Hands turning over one another, wet bottom lip trembling as he rounded the corner on some sort ofâŠwhat was it, a secret? Some sort of truth, a long-buried revelation about the other woman. Sheâs a witch, have you spotted her crooked nose? Sheâs plotting something, I swear. Sheâs up to no good.
Your eyes lift again, focusing back on the dull color of the outside world. The bland canvas of reality. Sheâs not a witch, nor some genius mastermind. Sheâs a boring, relatively normal woman. Kind, thoughtful. NaĂŻve and a little too eager to please; too willing to forgive a situation which warrants no such kindness or empathy.
Sheâs justâŠfine. Lukewarm. And youâve no idea why that pisses you off so much.
Which, incidentally, makes the bruise sting all the more.
âMaria, Maria,â Tommyâs voice claws its way upstairs, âturn it on, turn it â Joel? Joel! Itâs midnight, Joel, you two better come on down, now! Have we missed it â? Have we â?â
The sound of cheering slowly bubbles to life behind his drawl as the TV volume picks up, the tittering of Maria and Vanessa chiming in.
ââŠfive, four, three, two, oneâŠHappy New Year!â
Joelâs looking over his shoulder, waiting for footsteps or voices or a girlfriend who never shows. And he ignores his brother, for he is his own man, and turns to you instead. Bracing himself on the ledge, he blinks down with a plain grin on his lips. âHappy New Year, Mom,â he whispers.
You return his smile, taking his hand when he reaches out to you. âHappy New Year, Dad,â you reply, squeezing his palm.
He pulls you in for a hug, kissing your cheek briskly as you hook your arms over his shoulders. His beard scratches your cheek, grazes the curve of your shoulder, and you donât mind. Your small, swollen belly presses against his; the tiny curve safe in the midst of your embrace.
Outside, the sky crackles to life with the distant spatter of fireworks, color shattering across the black canvas â red, blue, green and gold, dissolving as quickly as they explode into the now-January night. A burst of purple light washes between the two of you, and you turn your head on Joelâs shoulder to watch as the sparks rain over your neighborsâ roofs.
âI should get goinâ,â you whisper, feeling his heartbeat a little too strongly against your own. Becoming suddenly aware of the weight of your frames locked together.
âGlad you came,â he says as he leans away. âI know this ainâtâŠI know weâre all tryinâ, but youâre tryinâ the most, and I appreciate it. I hope you know that.â
âI know it,â you tell him, rolling your eyes. âNow, go. Go kiss your girlfriend.â
He chuckles, making for the door. âYou want me to walk you home?â
Your eyes close serenely, the image of him doused in flickers of gold burning behind your eyelids. âIâll survive the walk across the hedgerow, Miller.â
Joel nods once and leaves, plodding downstairs to be greeted by his open-armed girlfriend, a peck between them, arms crossed behind his neck. The lyrics of Auld Lang Syne slurred against his lips.
And you think â You know what? If itâll rip you apart from her, if itâll keep her bright red lips and her shining curtain of hair away from you, if itâll stop her sucking in your air and your smell and your attention for thirty fucking seconds â
Then, yeah. Walk me home. Stay for a drink. Sleep in the goddamn guestroom.
Walk me home.
You slip out of the front door when the two couples are in the kitchen, missing Joelâs calling your name â or perhaps just ignoring it altogether.
âSpread the love at St. Davidâs this Valentineâs DayâŠâ
Joel slows alongside a wall of cerise hearts, each one fluttering like wings whenever the hospital doors slide open and the breeze sneaks inside. Slips scrawled with names and messages: Love you M! and J + A, crude drawings of stick figures holding hands. Your lips curl into a smirk, watching him flick through each one as you palm your round stomach.
You just saw Duck for the second time. The last time, Freya was kind enough to mention, before theyâre tearing you in two. Sorry, she mouthed when your expression dropped, and went back to twisting the probe over your stomach. Silently.
Youâre getting better at it, you think. Playing Mom. Like some little game of make-believe, which is only real for as long as youâre looking it square in the eye â attending doctorâs appointments, updating the neighbors on your newest list of symptoms en route to your mailbox.
A little surer on your feet, now that youâve found a balance to it: taking it as seriously as it warrants, a dry little pill stuck on the cliff of your throat, and making it easier to swallow with humor like water, a huge gulp anytime the fear claws its way up your spine.
And no more panic, since at least before Christmas. Only a little flustered this afternoon when Freya asked if you wanted to know the sex.
It felt too big a thing to hear, too real. Youâre only just getting used to the backache and the bleeding gums. (And why didnât you know that your gums would bleed? Isnât that something they should fucking warn you about? Congrats, youâre pregnant: prepare for blood seeping from your jaw.)
No. No, thanks. Your head shot around to Joel. No, right?
He shrugged. Makes no difference to me.
Are you sure?
Iâm sure, kid. Promise.
âcause we can find out. I mean â if you want to.
He rocked forward on the balls of his feet, tapping you amiably on the shoulder. I donât. Youâre good.
You donât?
No, I â He sighed, a hand dragging through his hair. If you want to, I want to. If you donât, I donât. Alright?
Freya bit back a laugh, the closed fist over her lips doing little to hide it. You guys should write a book on co-parenting.
But then she left the room again, closed the door on that same old little bubble â the three of you perched on the bed, you and Joel blinking up at the grains of your child onscreen â and you cried. Again. More.
Everything clearer, everything even more human than before: the globe of their skull, the tiny slope of their nose. All glowing in the dark waves of your womb, twinkling like the most beautiful constellation you could ever come across. Their ankles were crossed, feet forming a tiny heart shape in the top corner of the sonogram. Your hand lifted to point it out to Joel, and before the words found voice, you choked and broke down again.
He held you, lips to your hair, body solid as a rock as you melted into him in waves of salty tears. Smiled that honey-glazed smile and said he was so proud of you, said, look what your bodyâs doinâ, darlinâ, look what youâre growinâ â which only made you weep more.
And you pretended not to wait for it â for the moment when you might tilt your head up and your lips might line with his, and he might close the achy space between you again, might shush your cries by stealing the air from your lungs and the beat from your heart.
But he didnât.
Which is fine.
Right?
âSomethinâ on your mind, kid?â he asks now, eyes still glued to the sea of hearts.
Your stare snaps from him instantly, unaware it was even held there. You tug on the hem of your sweater and pull the sleeves over your hands, mumbling, âFine, Iâm â Iâm justâŠCome on, man. Iâm hungry. I didnât eat lunch today.â
âân whose fault is that?â
You glower at him. âHow considerate,â you seethe, âVanessaâs a fucking lucky woman, you know that?â
He ignores you, a dumb smile on his face. The usual. âLetâs leave one for âem.â
A hot temper begins to boil below the surface of your skin, squeezing between your teeth in a fist-swinging breath. Also the usual these days, apparently. âFor who?â
âDuckie. Somethinâ to mark the second scan. Last time we see them, before ââ
Your hand flies up, eyes closing with a wince. Shut the fuck up. âEnough. I know.â
Joel hms, still smiling to himself. His beard has grown out a little: thicker, darker, gray sewn through like little whip stitches lining his jaw. He fishes a heart shape from the tub along with a pen, which he twirls annoyingly around his fingers as he thinks.
You sink back against the clinical white wall, an offensively bright color, holding your cheeks up in something of a smile when a nurse wanders past, nodding to both of you. Your face drops back to a scowl as soon as sheâs over Joelâs shoulder, and your eyes meet his again â his brows raised, expectant.
âWhat?â you ask, chewing on the inside of your cheek.
He holds the slip up. âWhat we gonna write?â
And whatever charm the moment may have held, withers instantly. You throw your arms up petulantly. âYou wanted to do it! Pick something. See you soon, or something, I donât fucking know.â
âI donât fucking know,â Joel muses, creases by his eyes when he smirks. âPoignant.â
âThatâs what you should write,â you step closer, shoving your shoulder into his as you study the trembling hearts on the board, âif you can spell poignant, write that.â
âHilarious,â he mutters, bending to scribble onto the shape, shielding his work from your view when you hang around his shoulder to pry. Cupping over the message until heâs straightening up, tossing the pen back to the desk, stealing a pin from the tub.
âLet me read,â you protest, tugging on his flannel sleeve.
âI will,â he says, shaking you off. âPatience, darlinâ.â
Joel turns to the wall and pins the heart higher than the rest, in a spot clear of its own on the corkboard â thick arms stretching higher higher higher and pulling your gaze with them. As he steps back, he takes you gently by the waist and positions you in front of his body, your shoulders brushing against his chest. Your ribs hold your heart back from hammering into his.
You push up onto your tiptoes and squint at the note, which quivers when the hospital doors pull open again. âMom andâŠMom and Dad fâŠYou fuckingâŠâ
Joel dodges your batting arm, snickering with you as he turns to make for the exit. âYou donât like it?â he tosses over his shoulder.
The heart stares down at you, black ink carved into the paper, watching as you turn and hurry after him, giggling. âMom and Dad fuckin love you? So much for my potty mouth. And the ââ another wheezing laugh youâd otherwise be ashamed to let him hear, ââ the drawing? It looks â it looks more like a giraffe than a duck. Or, like, you know those long-necked dinosaurs?â
Joelâs head tips back, his own laughter caught up by the breeze when you wander outside, slipping your wrist around the crook of his elbow. Something infectious about it, something which stirs your own laughter until youâre walking arm in arm to the truck with a man who, six months ago, youâd barely look at twice over the fence.
The blind rage bubbling from your empty stomach seems to dissipate, dwindled to nothing in the face of that same man â his swollen cheeks and crows-feet eyes. And you say, âYouâre disgustingly sentimental, you know that? Like, sickening.â
And Joel smirks, the way he always fucking does, and says, âYou love it. Canât lie to me.â
âI love it,â you concede, nudging into him as he opens the door for you.
The drive home is quiet, but not uncomfortable. Thereâs another thing youâre getting good at: being around Joel without need for snide remarks, without feeling your tongue curl under the weight of some snappy quip, loaded and aimed. Being around him and talking about Duck, asking how Tommy and Maria are. Forcing your teeth and tongue to carve out words which ask how Vanessa is, what sheâs up to, when heâs seeing her next.
None of this is ideal, thatâs for sure. Joelâs girlfriend aside, youâve spent the last five months cohabiting your body with a stranger who lives most peacefully in the eye of a raging tornado of hormones â flitting between fits of giggles and pulsating joy in your veins, to waves of tears and an anger so hot beneath your skin that you wonder if your emotions might dry up completely by the time this is all through.
It's tough. Itâs scary. And some nights you lie in bed, alone, wet eyes fixed on nothing, waiting for someone to burst into the room and announce that itâs all a prank. Just a silly joke. You and Joel can go back to tossing newspapers and casting glowers.
But for now, sat in the passenger seat of his truck â the seatbelt warped around the curve of your belly, the Eagles lilting softly from the radio â it feels like youâre making a home out of that tornado, too. Feeling the swirling walls of wind toss your hair like the breeze through the truck window; the chilled caress of the evening around your outstretched arm, soaring down the highway.
Yeah, you think. I can make something outta this.
âYou know what Iâm craving?â
Joelâs watching the light, waiting for green. âWhatâs that?â
âA fucking bagel. Cream cheese, pastrami,â you groan.
He snorts, cringing when he adds, âPickles?â
A moan tears from the base of your throat, head lolling against your seat. âI could orgasm just thinking about it.â
The light turns, and Joel swings right. âIâd rather you didnât,â he mutters, turning the wheel with one palm. âI got bagels back at the house, if you want one.â
You stare at him, jaw loose, saliva pooling behind your bottom lip. âAre you fucking kidding me?â
He smiles, shaking his head. âLet me make you one, âfore you go home. Big day, ân all.â
And you hate it â hate the way your cheeks fill with a genuine happiness, something swollen and achy, impossible to ignore when it lifts your eyes and hurts your teeth. Appreciation, or admiration, perhaps, that you figure youâll only ever have for him. You donât know what the fuck to call it.
So you sum it up into three words. âThatâd be nice,â you whisper, and Joel places his hand over your knee, shaking it lightly as he drives on.
It stays there, until heâs pulling into his driveway.
He pushes the front door open and steps back, an arm extended to let you by first. An after you, maâam, between his lips. And you turn to make some mocking joke, the beginnings of some comment about how gentlemanly he is, when youâre socked square on the nose by a heavy-fisted, bitter scent.
âOh, fuck,â you gasp, stumbling backwards across the threshold and onto the porch again. Your throat constricting around nothing, your tongue twisting, your stomach lurching.
Joel catches you just in time to stop you from falling on your ass. âThe hellâs the mâ? Oh.â
âHi!â Vanessa calls from the kitchen, leaning around the doorframe to wave you both in. âAlmost ready! Take a seat.â
âVâ? Hey, sweetheart?â Joel calls back, one hand around your wrist and the other between your shoulders. âWhat â whatâs cookinâ?â
She pauses, glancing back at the stove. Pulls the dish towel between her hands taut. âIâŠI made pasta.â
âYeah, what kind, sweet?â
ââŠBolognese.â
He canât cover his own sigh quick enough. Thick with something which feels like anger. âShit,â he turns back to you, âI am so sorry.â
You pull in a deep, unsteady breath, your lungs struggling to separate night air from tomato juice. A weight rolling at the bottom of your stomach, your entire body beginning to tremble with it. âI feel like Iâm gonna â Joel, Iâm gonna ââ
âBreathe,â he whispers, voice urgent, palm slipping to cup your jaw. âJust breathe for me.â
But your throatâs tightening, swallowing hard around gags which come stronger and quicker the more you try to fight them down. âI can still fucking smell it ââ
Her shadow blocks the stretch of light from the house. A nervous little thing, a timid creatureâs shadow stretched wide across the porch floor. âIsâŠeverything okay?â
âItâs â itâs fine,â Joel sighs again, torn between comforting you and letting Vanessa down gently, âitâs just â tomato is one of herâŠher aversions.â Heâs unable to pull his eyes from you, privately asking, âAre you okay?â when Vanessa turns back to the kitchen.
âI didnât â I didnât know,â she mumbles, thumbnail between her teeth. âI am so sorry.â
Suddenly, your will not to throw up is overpowered by your will to tell her, âItâs fine,â sucking in a deep, sickly breath before adding, âIâm just gonna â I should go.â
âI donât want you to go,â Joel says, his teeth guarding the words from his girlfriend.
âIâm gonna clean up in here,â Vanessa points over her shoulder, and you think she mustâve heard him, âget outta your hair. Iâm so sorry, again. I wouldâve neverâŠâ
Joel lets go of you as you stagger backwards, the cold air tearing down your throat to meet the burning acid tickling up your esophagus. âPlease donât apologize,â you lift a weak hand, âhow could you have known? Iâll ââ another sharp gasp, ââ Iâll see you guys around.â
He must say your name, must try once more to pull you back to his side, but the bloodâs rushing through your ears, and your heartâs pounding at the back of your tongue, and your stomachâs notching its way up your spine. You make it to your kitchen sink just in time.
He keeps you waiting all of one hour before heâs calling you. Your arm reaches over to your nightstand, fumbling in the dark for your heavy phone, the screen cold against your cheek.
âMhm?â
âAre you okay?â
Your lungs pull a deep, slow breath. The acid painted across your throat tickles as the air passes by it, an uncomfortable, scratchy feeling.âMhm.â
âThat a lie?â
âOnly a little. Is Vanessa okay?â
He takes a second to answer. Lets go of whatever he was going to say with a sigh, replacing it with, âShe just left.â
âIs she mad at us?â
Another second. âJust me. Not you.â
You massage the slope below your breasts, the ache in your esophagus throbbing when you move. âWhy just you?â
Ruffling, like heâs settling back into his couch. Sinking into the cushion, his body as heavy as yours feels on your mattress. âI shouldâve told her you didnât like tomatoes. âcause now Iâm a goddamn mind reader. I mean, why the hell wouldnât my girlfriend be in my house cookinâ a damn pasta dish while Iâm out, yâknow? Jesus Christ.â
âJoel,â you turn slowly onto your back, bravely waiting for the waves of nausea still lapping around your stomach to turn with you, âit was a nice thing, what she did. She didnât mean toâŠShe probably thought she was helping.â
âNaw, I know,â he replies, the sharp bite of his words softening again, shrinking under yours. âI donât care about her and her helping, though, darlinâ, I care about y ââ He barely catches it in time. âI care about you carrying my child, and I care about making sure you donât spend your nights fuckinââŠthrowing up tomato sauce.â
You gulp, neck convulsing. The backwash of bile swallowed back. Your chest floods with a heat of quick panic. âCan weâŠmaybeâŠnot use the word? I just ââ
âSorry, baby. Sorry. This is just â itâs a lot easier if she would justâŠâ
Your eyes close over, a salty sting sweeping behind them. If she would just lay off. Back off. Fuck off. ââŠbut she wonât, Joel. She loves you. ân youâŠâ
The words drift off, taken by the tide, swept off into silence. And neither of you bother with trying to retrieve them â you just watch, stood safe on the shoreline, as they fold under the waves of something too big for either of you to acknowledge. Too dark, too dangerous.
So, you say, âI get it,â instead; say, âI get why youâre mad. Just â letâs forget about it, okay? Sorry forâŠruining dinner.â
Joel scoffs, that old, pissed-off Joel scoff. You can see his deadened expression on the back of your eyelids. You may as well have just thrown his newspaper to the end of the earth. âYou know damn well that you didnât ruin anything. How you feelinâ?â
âTired. Throat kinda hurts.â
âStill feel like that pastrami bagel?â
âNot really. Sorry. Appetiteâs gone.â
âHow about a water?â
âI got some here. Thanks.â
âOkay,â Joel sniffs, âhow about: you take the hint and let me come over there to see you?â
You giggle, hand over your eyes to mask your expression from the dark. âI hate you. Yeah, come over. Doorâs unlocked.â
Date night â six month anniversary or whatever. Call me if you need anything.
And I mean anything. OK?
Your thumbs hover over the two gray messages, an awkward jig as your brain scrambles to offer words back. Where are you guys going? Too interested. Too weird. OK, what if Iâm bored? Delete delete delete. Trying too hard. Sure, have a good nâ
The ellipsis pops up and you freeze. A stupidly polite swish delivers Joelâs third text.
Boredom counts as anything, by the way.
And the fucker steals another smile from you. You notice it when you look up, clocking yourself in the mirror. Accompanied by a warmth which drips down your spine, swirls around your tummy; a fluttering youâre not sure is Duckie or something else.
Have a good night, Dad, you type back, tossing the phone to the end of your bed when you hit send. Swiping for a pillow, holding it firm to your face. Pressing so deep into the plush that even the linen wonât be able to see your grin.
Joel told you about this six-month anniversary last week. He wasnât too thrilled about it then, either. Dinner to celebrate six months? A year, fair enough. But six months?
You swallowed your pride, swallowed the same throttling ecstasy which seeped through your pores on New Yearâs Eve, on that February evening she cookedâ never mind; a desperate desire to tear apart the very notion of Vanessa and her cutesy little date nights and candlelit dinners. I think itâs a fun idea, you said. Yâall should do it.
And Joel listened. Because he always fucking listens to you, these days. Listens when you tell him that you like the watermelon Sour Patch Kids best, and picks them up anytime heâs at the store. Listens to you when you tell him he should move the crib away from the window, in case the streetlights shine on Duck while they sleep.
Listens when you ramble about how sore your feet are, how heavy your belly feels, how thereâs a clammy heat lingering under your skin at all times, bubbling and bubbling and never rising to anything more than steam collecting on the underside of your flesh.
Listens when you tell him to go spend time with his girlfriend. And neither of you pay attention to the jealous shadow behind your words, the hesitant quiver behind his.
He replies almost instantly, the ping like a gunshot at the beginning of a race. Pillow slammed into the mattress, body lunging forward.
You too, Mom. Donât have too much fun without me.
You lock the phone and slide it back under your covers, smiling dumbly.
Thereâs still a small part of you waiting for the big reveal: none of this is really happening. A dream, maybe, something youâll wake from with a tiny throbbing headache, a dry mouth and a new reason to avoid your neighbor at all costs.
But it seems that, each time that thought crosses your mind, youâre quicker and quicker to quash it. Realizing each time that what lies ahead â Joel, your baby, this future version of yourself that youâre yet to meet, still just a little out of reach â fills you with more excitement and wonder, than it does fear.
Mom.
Itâs not something you ever imagined for yourself. Not someone you ever thought youâd be. And yet, each time you say it out loud, each time you look in the mirror and picture a baby in the crook of your arm, a toddler perched on your hip, a kid stood by your side, tugging on the hem of your shirt â she feels a little closer. A little clearer. She just has to look over her shoulder, notice you waiting. Iâm right here, she says. Come find me.
Mom. Mom and Dad.
You imagine Joel right now, sat in some ritzy restaurant with jazz music and stained-glass lamps on every table, ordering Vanessa some glorified lentil soup and slapping his card over the bill before the waiter has a chance to reveal the damage to him. Your lips twist at the thought â her jewels and her long hair and her sweet little smile laced with a smug possession.
And then you slap your own wrists, hissing to yourself to shut the fuck up.
âSheâs nice,â you argue out loud, thin air holding no debate. âSheâs kind, and I like her. Sheâs good for him.â
And then the air replies. Good for him, it swirls, but you could do it better.
Your arm lifts, lingering for a beat before batting the thought away.
Three weeks. Three fucking weeks, between pushing yourself out of his embrace in bed, and pulling yourself back into it â armed with a pregnancy test and a chest full of fear. Three weeks of dodging him, of your cheeks bubbling with embarrassment and regret anytime you thought of it; of hoping to God that Alice or Diane or Steve and Kris across the street wouldnât clairvoyantly know what had transpired that night and corner you on your own front lawn.
A one-night stand. Thatâs all it was. Two lonely bodies, excitement enough to convince you both that it was a good idea; a fitted suit and a backless dress crumpled together on the floor. Liquid courage lacing it all together.
Three weeks, then, of reminding yourself how it felt: how amazing you were together. Your hand between your legs and Joelâs name between your teeth.
Fuck. If only he knew. Goodforhimgoodforhim sheâs so good for him but Iâm better.
You did it better. You know you did. The sun was cresting the horizon by the time the two of you stopped. You hauled yourselves down to breakfast and sat at least three people apart, made forced conversation with Maria about the DJ stumbling off with one of her cousins, while the ghostly ache of Joelâs body churned somewhere deep inside you.
It travels through your veins the way that everything does right now: urgent and unforgiving. A need to be dealt with, immediately. Coursing through your body, an arrowhead pointing somewhere you know it shouldnât. But your hands lift anyway â following it, loosening the waist of your sweatpants and skimming beneath your underwear.
Your body lights at the first touch. The first dip of your middle finger against the plush over your clit. Knees bend, thighs part. You push your underwear down your hips, settling your bottoms loose on your legs. Youâre already wet. Youâre already there.
Good fucking girl. Sheâs good but Iâm better, right? Take it, baby. Does she take it like I take it? Take it. Can she take you like I did?
Quicker and quicker and quicker, your fingers heavy on your clit. The other hand sifting between your folds, dipping to collect a glimmer of wet. Yeah. Just like that. Do you fuck her like you fucked me? You feel what you do to me? Fuck no, you donât. Youâve never fucked anyone like you fucked me.
Head back, eyes fluttering closed, lips parting to breathe answers to a man who isnât here. To a man who, as he dips sourdough into an overpriced soup, sure as hell isnât thinking about that time he fucked you so good he got you fucking pregnant.
Well. Maybe he is. You are, right?
Voice without body, drawl etched in your memory. Think she can take it all? You hum in amusement, waiting for him to answer his own question. Yeah, she can.
Attagirl. Your legs spread further, knee lifting as you insert two slick-coated fingers. His hands are on your thighs, following the dip of your hips, holding your waist as you guide him back inside. Attagirl. Thatâs my â Fuck, Joel, youâre so bâ Thatâs my fuckinâ girl. Take it. Touch it. His thumb on your clit â his, not yours. You like that? Yeah, thatâs nice, ainât it?
The flesh of your breasts filling his palms, squeezing and nipping and rolling between. The warmth leaking between your legs: his and yours and fuck, heâs so deep and heâs filling you again and heâs groaning as more dribbles from where he splits your body around his own, holding you still until heâs done. Until heâs empty.
âJoel,â you whine, a third finger pushing in.
Between your hips. Headboard hammering against the wall. The sun hanging loose at the bottom of the sky. Gonna make me come again, baby. Do it. Do something irreversible. Change me forever. Fuck me fuck me fill me and then pull out, push back in with the wet squelch of your come mixing with mine and changing me forever. Making me brand new. Making me yours.
Another moan. Louder. Sharper.
Yours yours yours. All mine? All yours. Weâre good at this. I know we are. Who fucks you like this? No one â No one â just you â just me. Itâs so big, fuck, but I can take it. Been thinkinâ about this all fuckinâ day, baby. All I do is think about you. All I fucking do â You gonna come for me? â is think about you.
Know you need it. Let âem hear you, downstairs.
Fuck, Iâm thinking about you. Come home. I need you to come home, need you to â
Fuck me, Joel, Iâm â
Good girl.
â fuck me.
Atta fuckinâ girl.
Sheâs good but I do it so much better.
Weâre good at this. âs do it again.
Sheâs not as good as me.
Again? Again.
Sheâs not as good. Sheâs no fucking good.
Your walls clamp around your fist, entire body shuddering to a stop. Breath held by something shaped like the hook of his accent, two fingers either side of your throat. The same smirk on his lips that convinced you in the first place. Fuck, baby, fuck me.
âJoel,â you cry out, the sound ripping between your vocal cords, punching against the ceiling and reverberating in your ears. Your body convulses on the mattress, back arching and slackening again. âFuck, Iâm â oh, my ââ
Just feel it, baby. Feel me. You got it.
Let go.
Your lungs lurch open again, breath flooding in like waves spilling over the gunwale and rushing down to pool at your feet. A lulling rock to your movements, chest rising and falling like the steady tide. Soothing, coming down. Foam and salt carrying the flotsam away, the jagged glass of his name disappearing to sea again.
And then heâs gone.
And youâre just alone in your bedroom.
Last you checked your phone, now face-down on the carpet at your hip, it was eight p.m. Streetlights on, the sky painted by the pale dregs of daytime.
Now, you lie in near-darkness, blinking up at the ceiling. Hand sifting through a bag of glow-in-the-dark stars, comparing the different sizes, considering where to stick them, and then tossing them back in frustration.
Your front door clicks open, a pause between the sound and his voice.
âAnyone home?â Joel calls, and you lift your wrist as though he can see it from the bottom of the fucking stairs.
âUp here,â you eventually announce, knuckles rubbing your tired eyes until Catherine wheels spatter across your eyelids.
His shadow splits the light from the hallway, the long rectangle crossing over your swollen belly. âThe hell are you doinâ?â he asks, wandering in.
You lift the bag. âDecorating. The hell are you doinâ?â
He pulls your nursing pillow from its temporary home in the crib and tosses it down on the carpet, bending to lift your shoulders and slot it underneath. âScooch,â he says, groaning as he lays back beside you. He smells like whiskey and cologne. All woody, pine and spice.
âYou got a bad back,â you warn him. âYou shouldnât be all the way down here.â
âYouâre seven months pregnant,â Joel clicks his teeth, âneither should you.â
âWhat if you get stuck ân canât get back up?â
Offense pulls his brows together. âWhat if you do?â
You smile in response, feeling the heat of his shoulder against yours. Sucking the scent of him through your nose. The pair of you exchanging smirks and batting eyelashes, wrapped in the cool darkness of the room. Itâs juvenile and intimate.
Youâre trying not to think too much about it.
âI canât fucking figure this out. I put two of the big stars over there,â you point to the far corner of the room, streetlight splintered by the shades on the ceiling, âbut it looks stupid having two so close. So, then I thought,â moving your arm to the right, âa cluster of smaller ones, right over the crib. But I couldnât move the damn thing to climb up, soâŠIâve been down here ever since.â
Joel lifts his hand, stopping your train of thought. âPlease do not climb on anything, beinâ that you areâŠwith child.â And then, when your eyes roll to meet his, he grins, adding, âNesting got you good, huh?â
âYou should see my kitchen cupboards. Never been tidier.â Your expression dissolves, voice quietens â your most desperate plea since that morning you shook hands on his doorstep. Your broken wardrobes and his lonely wedding invite. âWill you help me?â you ask.
He thinks it over less than once, dragging his gaze from the twirling star in your fingers. A quick shake of his head, like itâs obvious. ââcourse I will. âs what Iâm here for.â And then he yawns, lowering a hand absentmindedly to settle on the curve of your stomach; a gentle pat in greeting to Duck.
âHow was dinner?â
âGood,â Joel lies.
âVanessa okay?â
âGood,â again.
âSorry.â
Joelâs eyes roll, fingers pausing. âWhy do you always gotta be sorry for somâ?â
You shrug when you realize itâs not a rhetorical question. Heâs genuinely asking. âI donât know. Just tryna be polite. I know youâd probably rather be at home right now, notâŠdeciding where some plastic fuckinâ stars should go.â
âFor my kidâs bedroom? For you?â He huffs something shaped like disapproval. âDo me a favor â stop with the sorrys, alright?â
âIâm not even done with the last fucking favor I said Iâd do you.â Your eyes flit down to your bump.
He stares blankly. You know thereâs a laugh gathering like hot air on a windowpane behind his eyes, threatening to shatter the glass.
âFine,â you concede, âdickhead.â
âBetter.â
You sigh, looking back down at the phosphorescent shape in your hands. Turning it over and over and over, matching the rhythm of his fingers tensing and then untensing on your belly. His fingers, matching the rhythm of your chest rising and falling with breath. The room quiet. The nightâs eyes averted, even just for this moment.
âIf itâs anything,â Joel says, âI think the stars look alright.â
Another stolen smile. Another defiant show of teeth. You place your hand on top of his: a thankful gesture, an invitation. Something in between.
Joel blinks back at you, his eyes flitting from yours to your lips. The dim light in the room swallowing the two of you whole, secluded in the upstairs of your home. And you think, Kiss me, kiss me kiss me kiss me, and you will the words over your tongue in a ragged breath â hoping that Joel might breathe them in and feel their sharp edges as they absorb into his bloodstream, each cell flipping like the star in your hand and whispering the same two words to him: Kiss her kiss her kiss her.
But right then â
Thereâs a burst of movement. Under your fingertips. A fluttering, like bubbles popping right below the surface of your skin.
Your eyes snap down at the same time Joelâs do; your fingers separating and hovering over your tummy.
âDid you â did you feel â?â
âYeah. Did you?â
âUhuh. Was that â?â
âI donât know. Was it?â
He takes your hand, pressing it back against your stomach with his on top. Your knuckles safe in the canopy of his palm. Both staring into space as you hold your breath.
âTheyâre notâŠtheyâre not doinâ it, nowâŠâ
âMaybe it was just ââ
âWait! Did you feel that?â
A second burst on your womb, a tiny beat on the other side of your bump. A wide grin breaks across your cheeks, a disbelieving laugh escaping.
Joel laughs, too. âIs that â is that the first time theyâve ever â?â
âYeah,â you sniff, tears prickling at the corners of your eyes, âthatâs the first Iâve ever felt âem, anyways.â
âWait,â Joel says, lifting his hand and holding a finger up. Just yours on your belly. âThey doinâ it?â
Your head shakes.
When he lowers his hand, Duckie kicks again. The two of you lean in to one another, exchanging laughter. You lift your own hand, watching his expression as he waits patiently.
But then his head shakes, too. âNothing. Theyâre only doinâ it when itâs both of us.â
âWhat the fuck?â you laugh, replacing your hand and waiting for the baby drum. âHow can they even tell? What the fâ?â
You shift your hands around the globe of your bump, pausing every so often to feel for Duckâs movements. A tiny fist punching, or a heel kicking, or an elbow shoving right above your navel in a way thatâs bordering on painful, but numbed by the sheer thrill of it.
And for a while, itâs all you do: play tag with your unborn baby, giggling when they respond to your tapping fingers and cooing voices.
Joel sits up, leaning on his elbow to talk to his kid; runs two fingers across your shirt like a pair of legs scaling a cotton covered hill. And he laughs, and you laugh at his laugh, as if heâs a kid himself again â tearing apart gifts on his birthday, gasping and throwing his head back with glee at whatever he uncovers.
âIt feel weird?â he asks, glancing up at you.
âSo fucking weird,â you tell him.
âDoes it hurt?â
âMoreâŠticklish, if anything. Might get kinda annoying, if they start doing it when Iâm tryna sleep, or somethinââŠâ
Joel lowers his jaw to your stomach, whispering, âYou know what to do, Duckie. Make your daddy proud.â
You slap his shoulder, muttering, âAsshole.â
âAlright,â he says, splintered by a laugh. He pushes himself to his feet, swiping the bag of stars from your side. âLetâs get these up so you two can get some sleep.â
You groan as he pulls you upright, one last pat on your stomach, looking at you a second too long and a touch too meaningful. Too warm, too inviting.
Itâs the calm before the storm, though youâre still stood motionless. Still trying to work out whether the tornado is moving away, or headed directly for you.
At five in the morning, Vanessaâs sister calls her.
âHeart attack,â Joel tells you a few hours later, the rustle of paper crinkling in your ear. The truck hums in the background. He speaks through a mouthful of sandwich. âHer dad always had a condition, but they thought they were managinâ it with medication,â another crinkle, and then, voice even more obscured, âbut he got rushed to hospital durinâ the night, andâŠâ
âPoor Vanessa,â you reply, nail drawing shapes on the curve of your bump in attempt to lull Duck into a more relaxed state than the sharp kicks theyâre throwing at your ribs. Now big and strong enough to do considerable damage, your voice falters each time they swing. âIs she â son of a bitch â is she okay?â
âShaken up,â he says, turn signal ticking over his voice. âSheâll be alright. Sheâs pragmatic like that. Problem is â theyâre in Houston. Her whole family. So I guess thatâs where the funeralâs gonna be.â
You swing your legs off the couch, heaving your awkward, nine-months-pregnant body to your feet â the irritating scratch of hunger suddenly gnawing at your stomach. âYeah?â you say, waddling through to the kitchen. âSo?â
âSo,â Joel takes another bite of sandwich, âshe has to â I mean, we have toâŠgo. To Houston.â
âWe?â You slot the phone between your cheek and shoulder as you fish out a couple slices of bread.
âMe ân Vanessa.â
âUhuh,â you carve a knife around a jar of peanut butter, âyou gotta be there for her.â
Joel sounds a little defensive. âI know. And I am. Iâm goinâ to be. âs just â I gotta be there for you, too. For â for Duck.â
Your stomach swirls, a fire catching which lights your chest in a trickle of flame.
âYou are. You will be. Houstonâs only, like, three hours away.â
He sighs.
The turn signal fills the silence between you, between Joel and an appropriate answer. Clicking like the sound of a tennis match, his head spinning between his grief-stricken girlfriend, and the third-trimester mother of his child.
âIâm here,â he says, and you hear the squeal of brakes out front. âGive me a sec.â
The door pushes open as you sink back into the couch, balancing the plate on the planet beneath your breasts. Joel crumples his sandwich paper in his fist and lowers his hand over the back of the couch, scrunching his fingers over your belly as he passes.
âThought you hated that stuff,â he calls over his shoulder, disappearing into your kitchen.
âI had a craving,â you say, ripping the first bite from your sandwich. âYou made me hungry.â
He returns a minute later with a glass of water which he sets down on the coffee table in front of you. He lifts your legs, letting them fall gently in his lap when he collapses into the opposite end of the couch, heels of his palms pressing against his eyes.
You tap his thigh with the ball of your foot and he turns to you, placing a hand over your ankles. A sticky paste of peanut butter and bread between your molars, you ask, âWhatâshup?â
Joel holds back a smirk at your chipmunk cheeks. âJust â just worried that youâŠyou know, while Iâm gone, is all.â
You scoff, gulping. âCome on. I am not gonna go into labor in the, what â two days? How long would you even be gone?â
He seems to wince at the thought, fingers sifting through his hair â a gray sweep sat casually over his left eyebrow; flicks following the curve of his ear towards the hinge of his jaw. âLess than that, if I can help it.â
âJoel.â
He turns to you, saying your name just as deflated in response.
âYou have to go.â
He rolls his eyes, thumb and middle finger massaging his temples. Crosses his arms and huffs like a teenager. âWell, I ainât happy about it.â
You snort, unable to hold it in as you take another bite. âI âonât think Vaneshaâsh too happy about it, either, to be honesh wih ya.â
Joelâs jaw slackens, a choked laugh bursting from the back of his throat. He lifts a cushion and swings it in your direction. âHeartless. Thatâs heartless, you know that? Jesus, baby.â
He leaves on Saturday morning.
You stand on your porch, watching him shove a suitcase into the backseat of his truck, squinting in the sunlight as he stalks across your front yard. Joining you in the shade, he leans into you, shoving you lightly.
âQuit it.â Your hand locking with his, steadying yourself. Something in the back of your mind begging him not to let go.
And as if he can hear the thought: âI can stay. You know I can stay, right?â
âI donât want you to stay,â you tell him, sweeping the hair from his forehead. âWe will be fine. Weâll stay up late, eat junk food and watch TV; Iâll do audio description for DuckâŠâ
He scoffs, glancing across the street.
ââŠand then youâll be back home, back to bugginâ the hell out of us. Itâll be Monday before you know it.â
Joelâs jaw tightens. âAnd what ifâŠ?â
âYou really think thatâs gonna happen? You think your kidâs that much of an asshole?â
He doesnât miss a beat. âYeah,â he shrugs, tongue in his cheek, âtheyâre half you.â
âAlright,â you click your teeth, turning away from the simper on his lips, âwhy donât you just fuck off to Houston now, asshole?â
âIâll fuck off, thatâs what Iâll do.â
âUhuh. Hereâs hoping you donât break down, or get a flat, or get struck by lightning, or anything.â
âYouâre so funny,â he whispers, leaning closer.
âHm. Now go.â
His jaw turns, beard grazing your skin. And then his lips; soft and warm, damp when he kisses your cheek. A moment too long. And he doesnât pull away, doesnât lean back the way you both know he should. No, he lingers â his lips by your ear, eyes flitting up to the street to make sure nobody sees.
âJoel ââ
âI know.â
âWe shouldnât ââ
âI know.â
But your arm is hooking around his neck, asking him to do it anyway, and his lips are lowering to yours, submitting to your request, and whatâs supposed to be a goodbye kiss lasts at least a few seconds too long for it to mean anything less than a donât go kiss.
You pull away when you feel the wet dab of his tongue against yours, realizing with an ice-cold shock where you are, and who he is, and whatâs happening. Realizing how fucking stupid itâd be for both of you, how catastrophic and terrible the outcome.
A one-night stand.
A one-night stand.
A one-night â
He leans his forehead against yours, nose nuzzling your cheek. âIâll call you when we get there.â
Your arm loosens, letting him go.
Just â letting him go.
Saturday Night Live ends just after midnight.
You arch your back into the couch, your swollen belly pushing forward. Itâs an effort to get to your feet, what with the steady ache in your back all day, the weight on your front, and the fucking human being smushed into every vital organ inside you.
A deep breath feels like it inflates your lungs only halfway, Duck using the bottom half as a fucking ass cushion, and scaling the stairs takes another ten minutes â by the end of which, youâre slumped against the handrail, pausing before making off for your room.
You sink into the mattress, creasing the cool, smooth sheets. Duck stirs inside you, stretches out and throws a right hook against your bladder. You curse under your breath, hoisting yourself back to your feet.
âWe gotta sleep, baby,â you hum, swaying back and forth with a hand under your belly. âShh, âs okay. Take your fuckinâ fist outta my bladder, you little asshole.â
Whichever traits of yours and Joelâs have blended into the human cocktail growing in your uterus, you know one thing for certain: this kid has your stubbornness. The weight remains on your bladder, regardless of how much swaying, or pacing, or rubbing, or threatening you do.
You growl, wandering through the upper floor of your house in attempt to shift Duckie, or distract yourself, or, at the very least, tire the two of you out enough to fall asleep.
From the nursery door handle hangs a little wooden star, a tauntingly sleepy smile painted on it. You push the door open with two hesitant fingers, stepping into the still bedroom, the weak wash of streetlight meeting moonlight on the greenish walls.
You suck in a deep breath, floorboards squealing as you take your first step. Over the crib hangs a plastic mobile, soft plush shapes twirling slowly. The matching changing table slotted alongside it, a rocking chair over by the window.
You pad across a fluffy rug and lower yourself into the chair, tilting back and forth on your toes as you glance around one of the two rooms you and Joel have spent the most time in since that October morning bonded you forever. A baby duck ornament perched on a shelf above the dresser, its orange legs dangling. A multi-photo frame Joelâs mom bought you, both scans in the first two slots and the third empty, lying in wait.
Your breathing fragments, struggles, eyes slipping over to the baby clothes hanging in the closet. âYou know, little Duckie,â you whisper, rubbing your bump and thinking back to Tommyâs words six months ago, âyou are a pretty lucky kid.â
The hooded towel robe on the back of the door, the perfect size for a newborn. The framed prints sat atop the chest of drawers, waiting to be nailed to the wall: a rainbow, a frog, a starry sky.
âYou got two houses. Two bedrooms, all to yourself. You got two parents who already love you more ân the whole world. And,â you gulp, âyou got Vanessa. And she loves you, too.â
You glance down, watching the tiny pulse of movement when the baby stretches in your womb. Your hands scoop them up, as if holding them closer than they already are. As if already cradling them, forcing yourself to feel less alone.
Duck seems to quieten, to still; seems to consider what youâre avoiding. Reads between the lines, hears the words youâre not speaking.
Two of everything, you think, and I barely even had one.
The most evidence you have of being loved by anyone in your life is the house you live in. Four brick walls and three decadesâ worth of belongings, more inheritance than memories. But they roll around like marbles â they echo against the walls when they hit them. Thereâs nothing binding them, no thread of love, or family, or anything real enough to hold it all together.
Youâre the only living organ inside a skeletonâs cage. A lonely little heartbeat, making noise for no one to hear.
And thatâs the way it has been, at least since you were eight. The absence of warmth and safety isnât anything new to you â it left the second your parents did. The last scrunch of your momâs nails on your head, the last kiss of her lips to your plump little cheeks. The passing over to your grandma, like you were cargo, like you were a box to be checked.
Maybe you found some distant flicker of heat in the way Joel looked at you, the day you told him you were pregnant. Maybe you saw the same glimmer of a flame that you used to see in your momâs eye. The rosy smell of her perfume, the feel of her finger inside five of yours. Maybe, for the first time since you were a kid, you felt safe.
Weâre gonna work it out, he said. Iâm here. Weâre in this together, alright? I am not running out on you.
Together. And yet, now, sat in your childâs nursery â a room built from scratch by Joelâs two hands and strung together by every beat of your heart â youâve never felt more alone. The same two hands that are wrapped around Vanessa right now, consoling her, wiping her tears away, massaging her shoulders and sweeping her hair from her eyes.
And the same heartbeat which quickens now, fueled by an angry desire, an impulse scratching deep into your flesh to march all the damn way to Houston and tear the pair of them apart. Like heâs yours; like the way he touches you and looks at you and talks to you means anything more than his child growing inside you.
Like itâs you heâs touching and looking at and talking to, and not Duck. Like his attention wonât cease to shine on you, the second this little baby leaves your body.
And then, washing over the scorching hot sand of anger: a foam-lined wave of guilt. Of shame, for wishing for the breakdown of something that clearly makes the two of them happy. That makes JoelâŠhappy.
He doesnât owe you anything â he was never yours to begin with. Just one drunken night, a mistake until you noticed the two pale lines on the pregnancy test. And by that point, he was already hers again. You had missed him without even knowing it.
You sigh, pushing up from the rocking chair and reaching for a tissue from the changing table. Turning back, giving the room one last teary glance before closing the door, you sniff.
âYouâre justâŠthe luckiest little kid whoâs ever gonna live.â
At one twenty a.m., cicadas chirping and trees rustling, the low breeze carrying the sounds through your half-open window â your back begins to ache. A blunt, gnawing pain. Feels like your period, and in your doze, you stuff a pillow between your legs and pray you donât stain the sheets with a show of blood.
The realization comes over you as if that stifling breeze flips to freezing. You slowly come around, eyes peeling open as you think it over twice, then three times, then four. Duck shifts somewhere deep inside you, somewhere youâve never felt them shift before.
ââŠNo. Not right now, Duck. You gotta give me, like, twenty-four hours. Just â wait until your dad gets hoââ
A blinding pain interrupts you, the moonlit-blue room fading out of focus for half a second before youâre wide awake, clutching the bottom of your spine where youâre sure the kid just tore a fucking hole straight through your uterus.
âYouâre a fucking dick,â you whimper, fingers clenching in tight fists around the bedsheets. âYouâre a fucking â dick.â
One twenty-three. You go into labor.
#i think duckie is my favorite character i've ever written. that fetus has more personality than vanessa icl#joel miller#joel miller fic#joel miller smut#joel miller x reader#the last of us#tlou#macfrog#neighbor!joel#neighbor!joel miller#babydaddy!joel#tw pregnancy
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Autumn Leaves
(Late Submission for @erisweekofficial Prompt: Bonds/Bargains đ)
Pairing(s): Eris x Archeron Sister! Reader Â
Summary: Eris never anticipated to find his Mate in a former human.Â
Word Count: 3.1K
Warning(s): Mention of traumatic childbirth, mentions of Beron (heâs a trigger all on his own these days).Â
Authorâs Note: BASED ON THIS REQUEST. I felt that this scenario fit perfectly with the prompt of Bonds/Bargains for Eris Week. I hope that this fits well with what you had wanted anon! I know the request specifically asked for Reader to be the youngest, but I felt that it would be a bit more inclusive to leave the birth order more ambiguous for those that maybe donât relate to being the youngest sibling. My brain wasnât functioning enough to allow me to write an understandable dance scene, soâŠsorry that it's not as descriptive as I would have preferred. I also didnât go back to review any of the events that occurred in ACOWAR or ACOSF, so if itâs not exactly canon compliant just ignore that. Also, Lucien was at the Hewn City solstice ball for this because I said so.Â
Special thanks to @hardcoremarvelfan for beta reading and coming up with the title for this. Also, there will very likely be a part 2.
dividers by @/tsunami-of-tears ACOTAR Masterlist
The first time Eris saw the Made female he was immediately intrigued. She was quiet and stoic, much like the two sisters she accompanied for the High Lordâs meeting. Her eyes, the same shade as her sisters, appeared cold as she took in the room. It was clear she was observing more than she let on, gaze trained forward yet keenly aware of every single one of the High Lords and their various entourages. It was apparent to Eris that she saw more than her sisters, perhaps even more than his brotherâs mate who was rumored to have been gifted the powers of a Seer by the Cauldron. He could feel the power that radiated off this fourth sister and couldnât help but wonder what gifts she may have been granted.Â
The second time he saw her was at the end of the battle with Hybern on the edge of the Spring and Summer Court border. Her eyes appeared distant as if she was separated from her body and the gore that surrounded her. But his answer regarding her gift had been answered as a circle of ice forged spears surrounded her. At least a dozen bodies were skewered while she stood stock still in the center of the circle. He had been compelled to approach her, but his brother got to her first, asking if she was okay and if she had seen his mate. After a single nod and a pointed finger towards a series of tents Lucien gently guided her away from the carnage she wrought.Â
The third time he saw her was at the solstice ball in the Hewn City over a year later. Dressed in a drab black gown clearly intended to prevent her from sticking out. However, it wouldnât have mattered if she was dressed down or in the most lavish of gowns. Erisâ eyes were instantly drawn to her as soon as she processed along with the High Lord and Lady of the Night Court. His youngest brother was by her side as an escort. As she approached the dias with her family, her eyes found his own, and Eris felt the world tilt on its axis. It took all of his mental will power to remain upright at the realization of what she was to him. Mate.Â
Eris couldnât remove his eyes from the female as Rhysand made his speech. Nor could he remove them when the music started and various Fae in attendance began to dance. He followed every one of her steps as she was escorted towards the dance floor, a beautiful smile spread wide across plush pink lips. He was vaguely aware of Rhysand's approach, his introduction to the High Ladyâs sister. The only one that was dressed to be admired by the eyes of others. Nesta, he believed it was. But Eris wasnât interested in the female that stood before him. He held up a hand, instantly silencing the High Lord, and simply pointed to the sister on the dance floor.Â
âWhat is her name?â He asked, the light russet gaze never faltering. Eris could feel the tension in Nestaâs shoulders as she followed his gesture. Rhysand, always one to never give away his thoughts, supplied her name. Eris repeated it, the name tasting like honeyed wine in his mouth. Nesta attempted to redirect the conversation and offered Eris a dance, but the Autumn Heir ignored her.Â
âAny bargains that you wish to make will be offered by her,â Erisâ voice was smooth as his eyes finally met purple. âShall I introduce myself or will you make the introduction for me?â Rhysand turned his head towards the direction where Lucien spun her around as the two waltzed. His youngest brotherâs head whipped in their direction, before he halted his dance and brought her over for a formal introduction. As expected, the female politely accepted Erisâ invitation for a dance.Â
That first dance was all it took for Eris to know he didnât want to be separated from her moving forward. Her demeanor was so different from what he had observed when he was only able to watch her from afar. He danced with only her for the remainder of the celebration and found himself completely enraptured by her. While he could tell that she wasnât as strong a dancer as her sister, whom he caught out of the corner of his eye, it didnât deter his conviction of only wanting to be by her side. Conversation flowed freely and easily as they danced. She was sharp witted, with a penchant for dry sarcasm. Her wry smile and her laugh ignited something deep within.Â
Eris always had a drive to protect those he cared for, such as his Mother and Lucien, but the desire to keep her safe was stronger than anything he had experienced before. He couldnât leave her in the Night Court, even if most of her time was spent in a city far safer than the one in which they danced. However, she couldnât exactly join him in the Autumn lest he run the risk of her becoming one of Beronâs targets to keep Eris in line. For the first time in decades, Eris didnât know what to do.Â
âIs everything alright my Lord?â Her voice was filled with nothing but genuine gentle concern. His eyes refocused from their far away haze, taking in her sharp features. Features that were so indicative of the High Fae. Looking at her one would never guess that she used to be human.Â
âEris,â He corrected. âPlease.âÂ
âIs everything alright, Eris?â Her cheeks flushed with the slightest tinge of pink. His own heart stirred at her reaction to the use of his name. Their dance had come to a halt, and he hadnât even realized the musicians were taking a break.Â
âYes,â He cleared his throat. âJust a bit lost in thought.â She nodded her head, taking a slight step back from his hold on her waist. Eris had to refrain from the desire to pull her back towards his chest.Â
âIâve enjoyed our time together,â She took a look towards her sisters. All three were huddled against the edge of the dance floor. Nesta and Feyreâs sharp steel gazes attempted to pierce through the mask that Eris held in place. While the other, whose name he had sadly forgotten, had a glazed over look. Upon focusing, he noticed that the brown was nearly obscured by milky white. He heard the female in front of him gasp, her eyes trained on the Seer. Her head whipped back towards him, giving a slight nod. Â
âI hope that we are able to count on your discretion about the Trove,â Her speech was rushed and she gathered the bottom of her skirts. âIâm certain that the High Lord will provide support to any claim you have to being the Heir.â With a quick second bow in parting she turned to rush over to her sisters.Â
Before she got too far, Eris grasped her elbow and asked, âWould you come visit me? In Autumn?â She blinked at him. Almost as if she was surprised by his desire to see her again.Â
âI must get to my sister,â She glanced back across the hall, at the High Lady trying to gain the attention of the Seer who was clearly lost in a vision.Â
âI understand,â He released his grip and nodded solemnly. âI will write to you.â She blinked again. What he wouldnât give to know what that beautiful mind was processing. She gave him a curt nod, before she quickly made her way across the hall.Â
Eris couldnât even last a week before sending his first letter. Again he asked if she would be interested in visiting his home court. She provided no answer or any acknowledgement of his question. Of course this didnât deter Eris as they continued to exchange letters. With each one he would make his offer, enticing her with descriptions of celebrations and various traditions. He would tell her about his Hounds and his Mother. Yet she continued to not provide an answer to his offer. This same pattern went on for three months before Eris had enough of the tip-toeing around the subject. He was determined to get an answer, even if it was âNoâ.Â
Eris arrived at what he assumed was Rhysandâs townhouse as the High Lord had instructed in his brief correspondence with the Autumn Heir. He tapped the back of his knuckles on the large oak door. A few brief moments drifted by with no response. No movement could be heard from inside either. He peered his head towards the large bay window at the front, but the curtains were drawn shut.Â
His heartbeat began to quicken with each passing moment as there continued to be no response. Eris was wholly unfamiliar with the city. He had no clue where to even begin looking for his mate. He was under the impression that he was at least expected by Rhysand. So why was no one here?Â
Eris turned, prepared to winnow to the Hewn City in the hopes that Keir may have knowledge of where the High Lord could be, despite how unlikely that prospect was. Instead, he came face to face with an ethereal looking female. Skin and hair dark as shadows. A billowy white dress hugged her frame, yet appeared as if it was floating in a barrier of invisible water. It took him a minute to recognize her as one of Rhysandâs half wraith servants from Under the Mountain.Â
âThey are all at the High Lord and Ladyâs home,â The female began to explain without preamble. âIf you would follow me.â She turned, not bothering to ensure that the Autumn Lord followed. When the pair approached the near ostentatiously large home near the riverfront, screams could be heard from inside. If his heart hadnât already been on the verge of an attack it surely was now. The half-wraith opened the front entrance, beckoning Eris to follow.Â
No sooner as he stepped inside did his mate come surrying down the main staircase of the foyer. A pile of blood stained sheets spilling over her arms. Her eyes were rimmed in scarlet. Stepping onto the bottom landing she finally looked up, taking notice of the male.Â
âEris,â Her voice was no more than a whisper. Her lower lip wobbled, teeth sinking into it to prevent the tremble. Eris didnât bother with formality, taking quick strides to meet her. As he reached her side, she dropped the pile of fabric and allowed her arms to encircle his waist. Her body shook with her sobs as her finger dug into his shoulders.Â
âFeyre went into labor unexpectedly,â She cried into the elaborate brocade of his tunic. âThe babeâŠhis wingsâŠâ She couldnât get her thoughts out in a coherent manner without the sobs overtaking her completely. â Theyâre dying, Eris.â She wailed upon hearing her own words spoken aloud. He pulled her in tighter to his chest, his other hand gently rubbing in soothing circles along her shoulders. Eris had no words that could provide her with any sort of comfort, making him feel as if he was already failing her as her Mate. All the male could do was hold her and hope that she didnât feel as alone in her grief if the High Lady of the Night Court somehow didnât survive. Â
Suddenly, Elain called out to her sister from the top of the staircase, âCome quick! Nesta sheâŠâ The warm brown eyes of the middle sister swam with unshed tears, a smile graced her features as well. Erisâ shoulders relaxed as the female's expression could only be an indication of good news. His mate quickly detached herself from his hold, racing back towards where the family convened.Â
As soon as the two were out of sight, Eris looked around the foyer. He quickly found a small bench and sat down. He had never felt more awkward in his life. While he had developed a correspondence with this particular sister, he wasnât exactly part of the family just yet.Â
Eris sat in the hall, waiting for what felt like hours for his mate to return. Once she did, she escorted him into a large sitting room.Â
âTheyâre going to live,â She smiled, sitting down in a chair across from him. She smoothed out her skirt, tucking in a corner that had somehow ended up with blood spatter staining the material. Eris merely hummed in acknowledgment. He didnât know what to do with himself now that they had a moment alone like this. He had planned this elaborate greeting and proposal for her to come and visit, not giving her the room to ignore the request. However, that all went right out the proverbial window. His hands straightened the fabric of his shirt, then went to remove a non-existent strand of hair from his trousers, before finally resting on his lap.Â
âYouâre fidgeting,â She pointed out. Her smile grew as she suppressed a giggle. He was happy to see that her mood had lifted so quickly. It made the reason for his visit appear less strange, inappropriate even given the intensity of the events that occurred. She gently placed one of her hands over his. Her delicate fingers soothing and calming the rolling fire that he didnât even notice had built up within himself. He allowed himself to grasp her hand in return, interlacing their digits. The sensation of fire against ice erupted throughout his being. Opposite yet still a perfect complement of powers. Eris couldnât help but wonder what they would be able to achieve together.Â
âEris,â Her voice pulled him from his thoughts, his deep hues meeting her own cool gaze. âIâm happy to see you, but what are you doing here?â He swallowed, suddenly realizing that his actions were a bit sudden and perhaps not as well thought out as he intended. His arrival without notice to her would be unexpected. He only informed Rhysand that he needed to speak to Archeron female, but never explained why.Â
âI,â He began, voice cracking. His pale features flushed and he was reminded of his younger days when his voice hovered between childhood and deeper timber of maturity. The female before him suppressed another giggle behind her unclasped hand.Â
âIâm here because you consistently ignore a very specific question,â His gaze was steady, exuding what he hoped would be seen as confidence and not the uncertainty he felt. âIâve come to ask one final time. If you say no, I will not burden you with asking ever again.âÂ
âEris,â She pulled her hand away, eyes now unable to meet his own.Â
âI acknowledge that Autumn is not always considered the most beautiful, what with the decay that can accompany the season in the mortal lands, so if you donât like it-â
âWhy would I not like the place where my mate lives?â Her perfect brows furrowed as she looked at him. Eris was at a loss for words.Â
âWhenâŠâ He couldnât finish the sentence. However, it appeared that he didnât need to as her response was a perfect correlation to what was on his mind. Â
âSince the Winter Solstice,â She said. âWhen you first asked me to come visit.â It was Erisâ turn to blink in stunned silence. She had given no indication of being aware of who he was to her. Then again, he also hadnât explicitly made their bond known. Perhaps he was wrong in thinking that his actions were obvious.Â
âItâs not that Iâm afraid that I wonât like it there,â She went on. âIâm actually afraid that I would not want to leave. But I simply canât abandon my sisters.â She lowered her head, averting her gaze from the embarrassment. However, Eris understood the desire to be with her siblings. The same desire to ensure the well-being and safety of his younger brothers was one of his reasons for not abandoning the Autumn court. For enduring the cruelty of his Father for nearly 5 centuries.Â
âI would never ask that you do,â He assured. âIn fact, I wouldnât want you to call the Autumn Court home just yet anyway. Not while my father still breathes.â
âIâm not afraid-â
âI am,â Eris admitted quietly. âI canât risk anything happening to you.â He meant it, and was surprised at how easily the truth slipped from him. But it was just the two of them at this moment. He didnât have to hide behind that mask when with her. He tucked a strand of (h/c) hair behind the perfectly pointed arch of her ear. He watched a shiver run through her as his flesh met hers.Â
âThere are some places where I can keep you safe,â He explained, all of his thoughts spewing forth as his mind raced to prove that he could keep her safe enough for short visits. âPlaces where my Father doesnât have the loyalty of the subjects, but they are loyal to me. I have a cabin, just along the borders of Summer and Winter. Close enough for you to run across either should the need arise. Iâd prefer Summer, there is a temple not far from the border where you could claim sanctuary until Rhysand or one of the brutes could get you.â
âErisâŠâÂ
âPlease,â He implored. âI do not wish to scare you away or force you to come. But I cannot stay separated from you much longer. My brother is the one with the endless amounts of patients when it truly matters.â She laughed, the melodic and soft sound made him feel light.Â
âHow often can we meet?â She inquired. Her bright blue eyes lit with anticipation of when they could have their time.Â
âI can secure a few days away every month,â He explained, almost more to himself than her as he considered the variety of excuses he would need to utilize. âMaybe up to a week at most. The time of month would need to vary as well. Any semblance of a pattern would tip my Father off. Heâs just paranoid enough to assume that Iâd be planning some type of conspiracy against him.â Of course, his Fatherâs fears were not without reason. Eris was indeed planning to usurp the High Lord. Someday.Â
âAlright then,â She beamed. âI will come and visit. Every month so long as it is safe and as long as I am able to return to my sisters.â Eris felt the corners of his mouth lift up, and soon she mirrored the expression. His heart flipped, and he had to clear his throat to regain control of his senses.Â
âThen I shall send word when everything is ready.â He stood, preparing to leave when she clasped his hand again.Â
âStay for a while Eris,â Her voice was soothing, making it feel like she wasnât giving him a command. Even if she had, he would have gladly done anything she bid of him. He knew in that instant he would do anything for her.Â
General Tag list: @loving-and-dreaming @samslulumelon
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hidden sparks
headcanon summary: deadpool and wolverine individually + poly reacting to mutant gn crush who can hide their presence
content warnings: a couple of sex jokes, slight swearing, mdni
fandom: deadpool and wolverine
character: wade x reader, logan x reader, poolverine x reader
anon request
a.n. - i'm sorry this took a while, grad school immediately kicked my ass :(
Logan:
he's much more gruff about your powers, he aims to act as if he wasn't that interested at first. he's seen a lot of mutants before, hell he's one himself. but he can't lie that's he's interested in you beyond the powers you display.
he likes to play a sort of game without your knowledge, wondering if you'd make fun of him, where he tries to figure out where you might reappear after you disappear. he swears there's a light shimmer, barely noticeable, when you're about to reappear back into focus. but he has to be very focused on you, which causes him to realize how much he's been seeking you out lately.
the moment logan realizes his feelings for you, he turns into more of a grump around you. he does revere your powers, and he reveres you as a person more than that. but he internalizes his feelings, and his amped moodiness around you caused you to believe he hated you for your powers.
you didn't like the feelings of logan hating you, making you feel small because you've harbored a crush on him for a while, so anytime you were both in the same room together, you'd use your powers to hide yourself. (you were using your powers as a defense mechanism, much like logan with his enhanced grumpiness.)
but it causes logan to be concerned, wondering if you hated him as with how in and out of vision you were anytime he was in the room. the strong miscommunication between you two causes friends in the mansion to sit you two together, aggravated by your unseen feelings for one another.
you're both thankful for them at the end of the day, it causes you two to talk it out, finally confessing. (the second you two kiss, you nervously disappear, causing logan to roll his eyes.)
he does love how you two work as a team, you'd sneak up behind enemies to shove them near logan, where he'd pierce them with his claws. you'd then take the moment when he discards the body to launch yourself forward and reappear between his arms.
even though you may seem transparent at times, logan knows you're dependable.
Wade:
he's making constant jokes at your expense, wanting to constantly make some sort of perverse joke about what the sex would be like when he can't see you, but could still feel you.
you have to roll your eyes, using your powers to sneak up behind him to jab him with your weapon, especially because it wouldn't do long term damage. (even though he kinda actually knows where you are, hello fourth wall break. but he knows it's one of your ways of jabbing at him affectionately since he can't actually die.)
he absolutely asks you to pull pranks on fellow x-men, reveling in the idea of colossus being yanked around by you. or at the very least taken off guard by what you're doing since you're invisible. (wade revels in colossus always looking over his shoulder whenever wade visits, thinking you'd be with him if he's visiting solo.)
he appreciates having your help down in the void, thinking you'd be of good use against cassandra. he also would appreciate if you try to help him take down other people there (pretty much just nicepool).
whenever you're pissed with him, you'll turn invisible, causing him to roll his eyes, thinking you're childish, even if he has a general idea of where you're at. (blind al gets a kick out of it, thinking wade could use a taste of his own medicine.)
if wade every gets social media, he's requesting your help constantly with special effects, using your invisibility to help with prop efficiency.
he may never say it, but he is nervous that you becoming invisible one day means you've left him forever or died, so he pulls you a little closer. he'll be vulnerable about that one day, maybe on a day he's a little more sure you won't actually leave him.
Logan + Wade:
you love messing with them both with your power. you'd use your powers to sneak up on them, tickling them when they least expect it. they have to be on their guard anytime it's been too quiet and you aren't in their vision.
they both love seeing you thrive with your power. you were initially a bit hesitant to engage with your powers, knowing it can be odd to see your partner just disappear, but they loved seeing how you evolve.
you all absolutely think it would be cool to take advantage of your powers for all of your own benefits, like when you go to the movies, you could walk in for free and reappear at the snack area for what you wanted. or go invisible to snag some ice cream from the corner shop, no one could figure out where you were.
you had the great idea one year to go with them to a haunted maze and turn invisible while you were behind them and they weren't looking behind them. they got to the end of the maze, but wondered where the hell you were. when they turned around, you reappeared and scared the shit out of them. they still get grumpy if you bring it up (it's not like wade doesn't know where you are when you turn invisible, he's just not always paying attention to when you disappear so he can't focus on where you are.)
sometimes they love scaring you invisible, like when you're cooking. they'll come up behind you and scare you into hiding yourself, which means a bit of a food fight.
when you tell them that sometimes you're scared that your powers means that you'd be forgotten by them in the relationship, or they'll move on because they might perceive you as dull when you hide a bit of yourself for too long. but they're quick to reassure you otherwise, how could they possibly forget the coolest person they know?
#deadpool#deadpool imagine#deadpool x reader#deadpool headcanon#wolverine#wolverine imagine#wolverine x reader#wolverine headcanon#wade wilson#wade wilson imagine#wade wilson x reader#wade wilson headcanon#logan howlett#logan howlett x reader#logan howlett headcanon#logan howlett imagine#x-men#x-men imagine#x-men x reader#x-men headcanon#x men#x men imagine#x men x reader#x men headcanon#marvel#marvel imagine
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Hello! If requests are open, I would love yo request something
Would you be willing to write about Ratio comforting his s/o who's mental health is not the greatest (by which I mean awful)
Head canons, a little drabble, whatever you're most comfortable with
- đŠ
Contents: Dr. Ratio x GN reader, angst, turns to fluff, overworked and stressed reader, depression. Hope you enjoy this shrimp anon!<3
Words: 2275
Rises of the moon
âI will not come in today, Iâm sorry. I am still not well enough for work, but hopefully tomorrow I will be.âÂ
You stared at the message yet to be sent, the phone feeling like a brick instead with the weight of it pulling you down into the ground and into the abyss. Talking was exhausting, yet sending the message seemed like an even more arduous task to complete. Your reputation waited, and youâd throw it away simply because you couldnât type out a sentence good enough to send, a sentence that could save you some questioning and some dignity?Â
Like a trap door your mind opened beneath you, your worst critic and the source of the distress. You felt like you were falling endlessly and hitting rock bottom all at once, making days and hours converge together until nothing but dust blinded you alongside your tears.Â
âI will not come in today. I am still not well enough for work, hopefully tomorrow I will be.â
The letters stared back at you.
âGood morning, I will not be coming in this morning either, my health is not yet improved for the work environment. With kind regards- (Y/n)(L/n)â
Send, just send it, send.Â
Before you can look at the message once more your hand grips the phone hard enough to press into the button at the side, making the screen go dark and after that you don't try to turn it on. Instead, you curled up on your side, your bed feeling like spare traces of comfort you could still grasp on with your phone getting lost amidst the blankets and pillows you hoarded up around you. Sleep had evaded you this night as well, overtaken by more important tasks of weeping over imperfect papers and reports. Itâs been three days, today is the fourth. How much longer will they take that sorry excuse before they bring your integrity into question? You didnât want to know.
Tomorrow, you told yourself. Tomorrow will be better (Iâll pretend).
After what felt like hours of laying in your bed, hoping to outlive the rumbling of your stomach, you finally dragged yourself out and roamed your home for some more, glancing at the trash can full of crumpled papers and the broken glass cup you accidentally pushed off the table the night before. Opening your fridge you could only relish in the cold breeze that licked up your neck and face, but the food held within looked no more appetizing than the night before. You stood there for a while longer, waiting if suddenly, by some chance, you may get a craving for a slice of cheese or perhaps a pepper instead.
Around half an hour later your ears were grated by the sudden ring of the bell, which snapped you out of whatever damp thought you had at the time. You werenât expecting anyone - matter of fact, you told your close ones you needed space and time to heal from the âfeverâ you told them about.Â
Yet when your heavy feet delivered you to the door, you couldnât say you were surprised by who was behind them. Greeted by the sight of damp purple hair and coral eyes, heavy with intent to get dry, you could only clear your throat before Veritas spoke up for you.
âI got your messages this morning. Quite late to send such notices for work, wouldnât you say?â
â..What?â you blinked owlishly at him, completely lost for words.Â
âHm, what? You sent me messages you were feeling unwell, multiple of the same as well.. I thought it would do us both well to check in on youâ Veritas stood looking down at you, letting all the cool air in as you remained glued to the door like a statue, heavy lidded eyes and ears struggling to process what he had said. You were sending the messages to your boss - but in your anguished stupor you have sent them all to him instead. The malicious feeling came back underneath your ribs and stabbed right up, and you could see Veritasâ eyes widen upon seeing your face morph into a frown-pout.Â
âHere, let me in, will you? You donât want to get even more sick, or get me sick as well?â he tried to urge as gently as he could, walking in when you stepped aside and putting down a grocery bag for just enough that it took him to take off his shoes. His umbrella was put in the corner, sopping wet and letting you know it was still raining. You stood stiff in the hall, shoulders wanting to push up to your cheeks while your hands crossed at the wrists down in front of you. You sighed quietly, watching him as he straightened up, looking over at you.
With a step he closed the distance between you, his hand reaching up already as he said âCome here..â and his palm pushed gently against your forehead. His touch was warm, and from how close he stood you could smell the damp smell of rain and autumn leaves. It was refreshing.
It was a quiet moment as he assessed you in the entry hallway. âDoesnât appear you have a heightened temperature at all, but weâll confirm that in a bit with a thermometer, just to be sure. Hmm.. you do look pale though. Have you had breakfast yet?â
âNot yet, I was just about to make somethingâ You smoothly lied, not wishing to bring more shame by allowing him to look sad or worried or angry at you if you told the truth.
âGood. Iâll make you something. Now, donât just stand in the hallway, come inside. You act more of a guest in your home than I do..â he motioned with his hand while taking a step to the side to let you through, urging you to come by, and when you did his hand found its spot at your lower back as if to guide you in. He hummed something softly in his throat, no certain melody but it was a small sign of his focus, and perhaps the liberty he found in your home. âWould you like to sit down here, or be with me in the kitchen?â he asked and you canât help but gawk a little with the way he addressed you so gently, warmly, all while you felt slimy and ready to crawl out of your skin.
âWith you, Iâd like to be with you in the kitchenâ
He nodded, his eyes mellowing further as he motioned for you to come with him, his grocery bag rustling as he lifted it up to set it on the counter. You slipped into a high chair at the kitchen island, watching as he pulled out a whole chicken, celery, onions and carrots. In his orderly fashion he sorted them out in a line before him, and by now he was quite familiar with the placements of things within your home and had no trouble finding the plates, the cutting boards and the rest of the ingredients. He washed his hands before handling the ingredients directly.Â
âCan I do something to help?â you muttered after the lump in your throat felt so huge, nearly about to pop out of your mouth. Sitting idle did more harm than good, it showed in your shoulders and eyes. Veritas looked your way and shook his head, coming a bit closer until he could lean down and plant his lips to your forehead warmly, letting his lips linger a moment longer.Â
âYou can sit there and relax, I got thisâ he told you in a softened tone, going back to his cutting board.Â
Veritas was no fool, he never was, and especially not with you. He knew this was no fever, even if he did end up making you stay still as he handed you the thermometer to check again after he let the chicken cook in a pot along with the vegetables and herbs, standing next to you until that fateful beep sounded over the simmering and bubbling water. No fever.
While the chicken was cooking, making the smell waft in the air in delicious waves, Veritas opened you up to conservation, small talk mostly until you relaxed further, distracted by the endless flow of words. He told you about what happened in the time of your absence, and what he has been up to with the Guild and what shenanigans his student did too. The last topic got a giggle out of you, and Veritas seemed to glow at the sound. He smiled too, along with you.
Hunger seemed more natural and welcome now as a bit more life returned to your joints and you rose from your seat to pace around the kitchen, still tired but more.. alive, just that - alive. Alive and comfortable. You would occasionally glance into the pot, narrowly missing the gust of steam that jumped up from the pot.Â
âShould be done about now.. let me see... hmmâ Veritas nudged against you over the stove, wearing kitchen mittens and removing the pot off the heat, and you promptly turned it off and watched what he did.Â
Veritas had made this recipe once before, when you really did have a fever. âHealing chicken vegetable soupâ - he said it was called, a recipe he seemed to recall from younger years of his childhood. You wanted to learn to make it and try to make it, but it would seem he never got sick or that he let you do it. This dish was his in truth.Â
What came of his meticulous work was a delicious plate of soup with cut chicken meat, not a bone in sight. It was soft on the throat, although you ended up adding a bit more seasoning for your own tongue while Veritas dined on the soup as it was. He was slow with it, bent on observing you eat.Â
âI assume that it is to your liking?â
You nodded, mouth full to respond.Â
âGood. I am glad of it. Sometimes you have to take the back seat to get the joy of life, no matter how long you remain in that station it will be well worth it once you get back into the driverâs seatâ He told you, hoping to get to you without addressing the matter directly, knowing it may result in more harm than good and your mood was just beginning to look up.
âYeah⊠I know, Veritas. Yet having spent so much time at the head of it all, taking the back seat feels like a punishmentâ you managed to say after nearly scalding your throat with how eagerly you swallowed your bite, wanting to converse with him. Â
âIt is not a punishment, especially not when you know you need such a change in perspective. Youâre doing yourself a misdeed by rooting yourself to the place that drained you in the first placeâÂ
âSpeaking from experience?â
âPft- now, donât be so brazen with me after letting me see you so wiltedâ he bit back quickly, but he held no actual malice, only wasnât prepared for your rebuttal. He cleared his throat and took a sip of the tea he prepared for you both. Veritas was human too, and you knew of his own trials and errors more than anyone else - of course he felt the same, but you didnât need to force him to admit it.
You smiled at his jab, scooping up more soup.Â
âWilted? I have to thank you for the nourishment then, I am already feeling more.. revitalizedâ you told him and your look softened his own when you looked up at him. Color seeps back into your cheeks, and you don't wobble in your step or stumble. Your bones felt like bones again, not air.Â
âI will take your thanks properly once you really feel better.. until then, Iâd prefer if you ate well and actually took some of the advice I gave you.. I may have not said it but your message did worry me greatly..â
The words made you slow down in your motions and you looked at him in silent apology now, but he once again beat you to speaking. âImagine - I had to cancel my classes. What will my students think now?â
âThey must be thinking itâs the end of the worldâ
âHahâ His pearly whites show as he grins at your words and you nearly imitate him, but you smile regardless with what energy you got back. He is leaning back in his seat, arms crossed in an almost boyishly fashion, relaxed. âPerhaps, but I can easily make up for a missed class. Let them think what they will.. May this even get their mind spinning a little bit more if my absence is so heatedly understoodâ.Â
By the time you were done sharing jabs and words, you had eaten more than you expected. The warmth of the tea and soup brings sleep to pull at your eyelids, beckoning you to close them. Veritas noticed you nearly nodding off at the table and was quick enough to come up to your side, hand on the opposite shoulder from where he stood.Â
âIt is time you go get to bedâ
Had you had any more strength, you would have said you needed to get to working on those papers, but the memory of the same was lost in the night before, and all you could think of how comfortable the pillow will be when your heads falls onto it, and how warm Veritasâ arms will be when he lays down next to you.
âž n0tamused. Do not repost, translate, edit, and/or copy any of my works. Likes, comments, and reblogs are appreciated.
A/n: the recipe is actually a greek recipe ehehhehee, I wanted a little easter egg
#-better an arrow than you#-dragon.treasure#dr ratio#veritas ratio#veritas ratio x reader#veritas ratio x you#dr ratio x reader#dr ratio x you#veritas ratio imagine#veritas ratio fluff#dr ratio fluff#honkai star rail#honkai star rail x reader#honkai star rail x you#dr ratio x gn reader#dr veritas ratio hsr#fluff#angst#angst to fluff#hsr x reader#hsr comfort#comfort fluff
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Heyyy, I kinda forgot it yesterday but I hope you had a nice birthday!! đ
One month late BUT aaaaa thank you so much!!! ;___; đđđ you remembered! My birthday was ok, I felt a little bit lonely for some reasons, but I had a nice day! Once again, thank you very much!! ;v; May the Fourth be with you (even if it's almost...June...ahah...ah. Sorry)
#thank you so much!! I'm tired but alive#jaskier#geralt of rivia#witcher eskel#the witcher#the witcher fanart#jaskier dandelion#chibi witchers saga#chibi jaskier#joey's great witcher bake off#cibiart#mine:witcher#I don't even remember how I tag my own posts
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loml
wc: 1.8k warnings: kate being a bad gf, straight angst, no happy ending (sorry! no im not) pairings: kate martin x fem!reader
January, 2023
You sat courtside of an Iowa game, your eyes trained on your girlfriend the whole time. On the court, off the court, she was yours. Every basket she'd make, she'd immediately point to you.
The fans loved it. She loved it. You loved it. You wore her jersey with pride, letting everyone know you were hers. Two years into your relationship, it never got old.
The second the buzzer rang out, she searched the stands for you, noticing how you hustled down the stairs to rush to the court. To rush to her.
Your arms found her neck and hers your waist. She spun you around before placing a kiss against your lips. "Good job out there, K-Money." You giggled.
She laughed softly and hugged you against her. "Always have to do good for you, baby." Her pet names for you never failed to make your knees weak.
After her post-game responsibilities, you both headed to her suite. You laid on her bed, her head resting against your chest as you ran you fingers through her long blonde hair.
"I'm gonna marry you one day, Kate." You mumbled. Her eyes shot open and she sat up straight to look at you.
Your heart almost dropped when she didn't say anything. When she didn't kiss you, or hug you, or even smile. That feeling only lasted a quick moment though, before she pressed her lips firmly against yours.
"You're the love of my life." She whispered against your lips. Tingles shot down your spine.
Early May, 2023
"Where the hell are you taking me?" You laughed as Kate forced you into the passenger seat of her car, shutting the door before walking around and getting in herself.
With a bright smile she leaned in and pecked your lips. "To your surprise."
You rolled your eyes but grinned. She started the car and drove away from campus. Her car was beginning to fill with everything she needed to take home from campus, as it was almost the end of her final year at Iowa.
She drove for a bit before pulling into the parking garage underneath an apartment complex. "Are we visiting someone?" You asked, confusion evident in your voice.
"Uh, no." She said quickly before putting the car in park, hopping out, and rushing around to the other side to open your door.
"Then what-"
"Just trust me." She said softly. You nodded and she took your hand in hers, taking you over to the elevator. She pressed the button to the fourth floor, and one silent ride later, you arrived.
She walked you down the hallway to apartment 403, and pulled out a key. The door was quickly unlocked and swung open. Both of you stepped in and you looked around at the empty apartment.
"Surprise!" She said from behind you. You spun around and looked at her as she held up a small sign, her name and yours carved into it, above the word "home".
Your eyes widened and your lips twitched into a smile. "You're kidding. You're kidding!" You squealed, launching yourself into Kate's arms.
She laughed and held you tight against her. "I'm not kidding." She leaned back, forcing you to look at her. Her hand gently cupped your face, her eyes peering into yours. "I want this with you. Forever."
"Forever." You whispered back.
Early June, 2023
Moving in with Kate should have been the best thing that you two could have done. With you still being in school, living with her took away the stress of having to worry about paying for housing on campus.
She was still focused on basketball, planning to stay with Iowa for a fifth year since she was eligible. It was supposed to be perfect.
But it had only been a month and it was already hell.
You argued constantly. Not even over anything worth arguing about, but she seemed to always want to pick a fight with you. She was rarely ever home, always practicing during the day and going out with the team during the night.
One night she came home particularly drunk. You were up late, working on something for a summer course that you had opted to take, freeing up a slot in your fall semester.
"Babe?" She shouted the second she walked in the door. You winced a bit at the loudness of her voice. You were sitting right there, on the sofa that was directly in her line of sight.
"Hm?" You said, annoyance evident in your voice, but Kate chose to ignore it. She came over to you and pulled your laptop away from you, closing it and tossing it to the other side of the couch. "Kate, what the hell-"
She sat next to you on the couch before putting all her weight onto you, her body slumping against yours. You tried to push her off, but couldn't. Damn her athleticism.
"Get off, Kate, I have to finish something." You reached for your laptop but she grabbed your hand and pulled it down.
"You don't wanna lay with me?" She slurred, the smell of alcohol strong on her breath.
You sighed, once against trying to push her away. "No, frankly, I don't."
She sat up and the smug smile on her face faltered. "Why're you being a bitch?" She spat.
"Excuse me?" You scoffed.
"You're being a bitch." She made sure to emphasize it this time. You knew she was drunk, but it still didn't make it hurt any less.
You stood up and took a few steps away. "I'm not dealing with this right now. You're drunk, you're sleeping on the couch tonight." You quickly walked towards your bedroom and shut the door behind you.
Late June, 2023
The last month had been incredibly tense. You and Kate both decided to pretend that there was nothing wrong, even though there clearly was.
You were walking on eggshells around her, scared that one wrong move would send her running.
You were surprised when she invited you to go out with her and her friends from the basketball team, but you happily went along, hoping to make some relationship amends during the night.
Everyone sat in a huge booth at a random bar one of the girls found. Kate excused herself to go grab a drink for herself, so you sat awkwardly, as you didn't know any of her friends very well.
Jada called out your name and your head snapped in her direction. You held a small smile, while her face was a little confused. "I'm surprised Kate invited you, to be honest."
Your smile faded. "What do you mean?"
"She said you two weren't doing too well. That you were really pissy with her all the time, starting stupid fights and shit." She shrugged. "Thought she would have broken up with you by now based off the things she's said."
The room went silent. Your heart dropped. Was this true? The look on Jada's face silently assured you that it was.
Tears started to well in your eyes and you excused yourself from the table, quickly going outside to get some air.
When Kate returned to the table, she noticed you were gone. Jada nodded towards the exit and Kate started walking towards it. She opened the door and saw you outside, sitting on the curb with tears in your eyes.
She moved over and put her hand on your shoulder. "Baby? What's wrong?" You turned at the sound of her voice and pulled away from her.
"You don't get to call me that anymore." Your voice was shaky, but was laced with malice.
"What?" She laughed, a little confused. "What're you talking about?" She stepped towards you, reaching out but you backed away.
You shook your head and scoffed. "You talked shit about me to your friends behind my back, and expect me to be okay with it?" Kate froze and her eyes widened. She opened her mouth to speak but you cut her off.
"After everything I've done for you. After everything we've been through together, you go and do this?" Tears ran down your face. "Fuck you, Kate. I'm done. This is done."
"You're really ending this over something so fucking stupid?â She scoffed, crossing her arms.
Your eyes widened. âYou think this is stupid? Jada was surprised I was here. Jada was surprised you havenât ended things yet.â
Kate stayed silent, the look on her face was unreadable, something that came as a shock to you. You thought you knew her. You had been together for nearly three years, but now she seems like a stranger.
âYou said I was the love of your life, Kate.â Your voice broke.
A beat of silence passed between the two of you, the only sound being heard was your chest heaving and the music blasting from inside.
âI was wrong.â She said flatly before turning around to walk back inside. âHave your stuff gone by this weekend.â
You watched her walk back inside. The second she stepped foot past those doors, you knew it was over. She was never coming back, and youâd have to accept that.
April 15, 2024
You sat comfortably on your couch, flipping through the channels of your television, until you came across the one you were looking for.
You transferred to UConn early in the year. It hurt too much to see Kate being so successful on the basketball team. Every little thing in Iowa was a reminder of her, and you needed to escape.
Figures you ended up at the school that got knocked out by Iowa in the final four, but how were you supposed to predict that?
Things were different at first. You felt out of place, a stranger to everything in Storrs, but you quickly adjusted, meeting some of your best friends.
Those best friends happened to play basketball. Paige, Nika, Azzi, practically the whole team came to love you. So you had to support them. You attended their home games, even the ones against Iowa. It hurt seeing Kate, it hurt more than anything had ever hurt you in your life.
But you pushed it aside. You were there for your friends, not your ex-lover who treated you like a piece of garbage.
You watched the draft, not being surprised by most of the players getting drafted. Aaliyah, one of your closest friends, being picked at 6th. Nika at 12th.
The smile never left your face. Your pride for your friends shining in your eyes, evident in the texts you immediately sent after their names were called.
That smile faded, though, at the 18th overall pick. âThe Las Vegas Aces select⊠Kate Martin.â
Kate stood up, hugging all those around her, feeling incomplete. She shouldnât, though. She just got drafted to the WNBA. What could be missing?
She walked to the stage, took a picture, did her small interview and the draft commenced on. The smile she had on her face was real, sure, but it wasnât nearly as real as it was whenever she used to be with you.
As she stood there, processing everything that happened, she realized the thing she was missing was you. She was incomplete without you.
But it was too late now, you were the loss of her life.
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happy may the fourth LMFAOAOAOOAOAOAOAOAO sorry this is more than a month late and sorry for the horrendously rushed sex scene. i am bad at smut now <3 2.1k
***
Harry looks down at the notecards, his dinner abandoned besides his hands. He flips through a few of the cards while Yasmine slurps obnoxiously on her pasta to get him to scowl at her, but heâs too captivated by his extreme nerd behavior. Honestly, itâs embarrassing for him.
He finally settles on a card and clears his throat. âWhat is the name of Leia and Hanâs child?â
âOh,â Yasmine mumbles as she swallows. âUm, the hot guy.â
Harry gives her a weird look. âHeâs not hot, but sure.â
âI mean, from a certain angle,â she says. âI donât need to explain the appeal of Adam Driver to you, nerd.â
âEr, okay. Whatâs his name?â
âKyle.â
Harry stares at her for a second before he puts the note cards down and scrubs his face with his hands. âNo, his name is not Kyle!â
âI know itâs not! Itâs Kylo. But I always think itâs Kyle so my brain goes to Kylo next because I know everyone has weird ass names in Star Wars.â
âDonât say Kyle next time! Thatâll be a deduction!â
âStop yelling at me!â
âI can tell you didnât study my notes!â
âYour nerd notes? Yeah I didn't! I had better things to do!â
Harry pulls his hands away from his now red face. âLike what?â
âLike making the dinner youâve not even thanked me for!â Yasmine snaps.
Harry blinks. He glances at his dinner and then murmurs an apology, abandoning his cards behind to eat his food. âThank you.â
âShut up.â
He sighs and continues eating.Â
Yasmine only stays mad for two minutes. Then, sheâs talking. âMy costume came in yesterday by the way. Are we still doing the secret thing?â
âYeah,â Harry says. âAnd donât feel stupid about dressing up, alright? Think of it as Halloween.â
âNerd Halloween,â Yasmine mutters.
Harry looks like heâs about to pop a blood vessel. âYouâve called me a nerd three times already.â He takes a deep breath. âWhich outfit of Padmeâs did you pick?â
âPadme? Iâm going as Chewbacca.â
âHilarious.âÂ
Harry stands up with his plate and walks over to the other side of the table, sitting beside her.Â
Yasmine looks at him. âWhy did you move?â
âTo be closer to you?â
âOh.â
Harry throws an arm over her shoulder. âAm I not romantic enough? Yasmine, I swear you act like Iâve never touched you by the way you act sometimes.â
She scoots her chair closer to him. âUntrue.â
He raises his hand to gently caress her cheek. Yasmine turns her head to bite his finger.
âSee?â Harry sighs, prying his finger away. âBe normal.â
âI canât be. I have a nerd boyfriend who likes to touch me too much.â Yasmine brightens. âAnd youâll touch me a lot more when you see my dress for tomorrow.â
Harryâs wiping his finger. âWhich one did you pick? The one from Attack of the Clones?â
âUm.â
âThe second movie.â
âEr.â
âThe white one.â Harry drops his head to the table, groaning. âOh weâre never going to win tomorrow.â
âYou should just take one of your other nerd friends, Harry. I know you want that Lego Star Commandââ
Harry groans louder. âStar Destroyer.â
â--whatever. I know you want it so maybe you should take someone else.â
He turns his head to glance at her. He takes a deep breath and then sits up, letting the color drain from his face. âNo. Itâll be fun.â
âYouâre going to yell at me.â
âLovingly.â
âIâll bite your head off.â
âLovingly?â Harry asks weakly.
âNo.â
âAnyways. Is it the white dress?â
âThe one thatâs ripped around the stomach? No.â
Harry looks very interested then. He slides closer. âThe black one?â
âNo.â
âThe blue one?â
âYes. Which one are you thinking of?â
âThe one that looks like a nightgown.â
âNo,â Yasmine says thoughtfully. âMaybe I should have done that. Mine is the other one.â
âYasmine, Padme wear blue a lot.â
âDo you want to see it?â
Harry pauses. Yasmine can tell that heâs going through all the outfits Padme has ever worn that are blue. He comes to the same conclusion as she did days ago when looking for an outfit: the blue ones are the sexy ones.Â
His eyes narrow. âShow me yours if I show you mine?â
âDeal.â
Harry stands first. He takes their empty dinner plates to the kitchen and then goes to their room to bring out the two packages of outfits. He tosses Yasmine hers and then proceeds to bring her to the livingroom to open them together.
They decided early on theyâd wear a couple costume: Anakin and Padme.
(Yasmine secretly hoped Harry would wear the whole Darth Vader suit with the helmet, but thatâs something to unpack at a later time.)
Harry pulls out the Anakin costume, holding it to his body. âHope it fits.â
Yasmine imagines him in it, the pants sticking wonderfully to his thighs, his hand grasping a large lightsaber.Â
âGo put it on.â
Harry raises an eyebrow. âYou put yours on too.â
âFine.â
âFine.â
They stare at each other before Yasmine grabs her outfit and goes to the bathroom.
When she returns, Harryâs changed into his as well, swinging around a red lightsaber expertly.
âOh,â Yasmine says, stopping in her tracks.
âFuck,â Harry says at the same time.
The outfit fits him so well. As expected, the pants are tight around his upper thighs, but Harryâs just gifted in that department, so itâs normal. Still. He looks mouthwateringlyâŠwell, hot.
Heâs got sort of a wild look in his eye at the sight of her. With narrowed eyes, he walks backwards until he sits on the couch, holding his hand out.
Yasmine shuffles close, unused to the dress. Itâs a bit too long on her.
âWow.â
Yasmine takes his hand. His fingers trail up to her wrist.
Itâs too quiet in here.Â
His other hand raises.
He runs his fingers over her bare stomach. The top is just short enough to land by her sternum, leaving a few pairs of ribs exposed. She shivers at his touch and when she goes to move away instinctively, he grabs her wrist.
Yasmine fidgets under his gaze. âI hate when you do that.â
âDo what?â Harry murmurs.
âLook at me.â
âYou hate it when I look at you?â
âYes.â
Harry tightens his hand on Yasmineâs wrist. âGet used to it.â Then he yanks her closer. Pulls her into his lap. âYou are beautiful. I could stare at you all day long.â
âItâs just the dress.â
He laughs, just inches away from her skin. Fire erupts in her stomach. âNo. Definitely not just the dress.â
Yasmine shudders as Harry leans in to kiss her neck. Her fingers tremble when she clutches his hair, staring up at the ceiling. Pleasure runs through her, landing between her legs.
She loves when Harry gets like this: so desperate to have her close, hands grabbing without a care of how rough heâs being. All he knows is that he wants her body attached to his. And itâs incredibly enticing how he shows it. He tilts his head back so that she can reach his lips. Her fingers plunge into the soft wilds of his messy, shoulder length hair. He hums and kisses her back, hard.
The dark color looks so good on him. Heâs long known that black and brown look especially good on him (and Yasmine reminds him of this often to ensure heâs continuing to fill his closet with those colors). Seeing him in this outfitâŠYasmine supposes sheâs the nerd as well now.
She hardly cares.
With a soft maneuver, she presses herself against his growing bulge. Harry groans softly, detaching his mouth from hers. She grasps his hair tighter. His lips trail down to her neck again where he buries his face and grabs her waist. No matter how many times he makes that noise, it always sends her on a downward spiral.
âHarry,â she whispers, rocking herself against him now. His fingers grip her waist.
âYes, baby?â
And his voice! His breathy, desperate voice.
âI wanna do something.â
âYeah, letâs go upstairs.â
But the mere thought of going upstairs â the mere thought of parting from Harry long enough to make it there â threatens to disrupt whatever they have going on. So Yasmine slides away from Harry, but before he can stand, she sits before him on her knees.
Harry freezes.
Yasmine reaches for the sole button on his trousers.
âOh,â Harry says. âFuck.â
Yasmine touches her wrists in hopes of finding a hair tie there, but when she finds none, she frowns deeply up at him. Harry shakes his head and carefully pulls her hair up into a makeshift ponytail, making sure all her curtain bangs are out of her face. âIâve got it, Yas.â
âThanks,â she whispers, though she feels silly afterwards.
âYeah.â
Harry lifts his hips long enough for Yasmine to get him out of the trousers. She scoots closer so that she can get his boxer briefs off as well. Harryâs hold on her hair tightens. She reaches out to wrap her fingers around him, giving him a long stroke.
âFuck,â Harry murmurs. Itâs music to Yasmineâs ears. She strokes him again, bringing him to full hardness. Thereâs a soft flush on Harryâs neck and face, and his thighs are tense. Oh how she loves his thighs.
She loves them enough that before she wraps her mouth around him, she bends down to kiss his thighs.Â
She glances up at him as she does, enjoying the small twist of his lips when he looks back down at her. Now, she doesnât mind his gaze. Because despite the implications, Harry is most certainly not in charge right now. She is.
After biting down on his thigh â just to hear his sharp hiss â Yasmine opens her mouth and takes him in.
His thighs tighten even more.Â
Yasmine presses her tongue against him. Harryâs fingers grip her hair when she sucks gently at his tip.Â
âFuck,â Harry whispers, tilting his head back. âFuck me.â
Yasmineâs stomach flutters. She watches him, enjoying the rise of his chest, the strain of his neck with the beautiful vein protruding every so often. Harryâs head turns to look down at her suddenly, hips rising just barely to meet her mouth.
He gives her a look.
She nods.
He blows air from his mouth and gently thrusts into her mouth, careful and soft despite the firm grip on her hair.
âIf Iâd known,â he murmurs, âthat youâd get like this, Iâd have tried the outfit on even sooner.â
Yasmine gasps softly as she pulls off of him. âItâs not only the outfit.â
He laughs, wiping the corner of her lips, which should be damn well embarrassing or weird, but neither of them seem to care. She wraps her mouth around him again, cutting off his laughter with a groan.
After a few moments, her dress begins to slip from her shoulders. Harryâs eyes catch the movement right away and his hips stutter. Sheâd make a joke but there are more concerning matters presently. Having been with him for a long time, Yasmine knows exactly what he likes: how she should use her tongue, her hands, her eyes that blink up at him all pretty.
âSo pretty,â Harry mumbles, on cue. She feels him run his thumb over her cheek as if thereâs something to be endeared about right now.
Just before heâs about to come, Harry pulls on her hair and gets her to pull off so he could bend down and kiss her mouth, and then let her tug on him.
âNot on the dress please,â Yasmine says, voice shot.
âIâll try, baby.â
He manages quite well actually, especially with Yasmineâs effort to move out of the way, letting him spill over her hand instead. His desperate whimpers keep Yasmineâs eyes glued to him.
âAlright, thatâs enough,â Harry protests softly when her hand keeps moving over him. âThatâs enough.â
Grinning, Yasmine fixes her dress and grabs a few tissues from the coffee table to wipe her hand.
âMaybe instead of going to the trivia night, we can do more of this tomorrow.â
âMm,â Harry hums, still catching his breath. âNot a chance.â
âOh come on. This is so much more fun!â
He tucks himself back in and holds his hand out, making her climb into his lap. âNo.â
âYouâre such a ââ
âNerd?â He laughs, grabbing the back of her neck. âI am.â And then he kisses her slowly, clearly having no issue with what theyâve just done. âThank you.â
Yasmine hopes her face accurately portrays the glare she thinks sheâs putting on. Harryâs eyes are soft and filled with love â but thatâs entirely unhelpful because they always are.Â
âJust donât break up with me when I say that Han Solo is Lukeâs father.â
Harry holds her tighter. âIâll try not to.â Then he grabs her waist, pulling her to him. He stands easily, keeping her balanced on him, her legs tight about his torso. âCome on. Iâve got a favor to repay. And the dress stays on, understood?â
Yasmine shivers, despite herself. "Understood."
#harry and yasmine#harry styles fic#harry styles x oc#harry styles x woc#harry styles fanfiction#harry styles smut
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Hiya! I was wondering if you could do a cc!charlie/gn!reader where they have a friendly sleepover BUT as the night goes on it get more and more romantic :3c and may there be cuddling and kisses please and ty.
P.s have a nice day/night ^-^
i'm so sorry i took basically a whole month to get this done! i hope my writing has done your request justice :) hope you're having a nice day/night!
(also i wrote this with charlie's Another Crab's Treasure vod playing in the background. it was a huge distraction, i don't know why i did that)
-
can i kiss you sleepover?
cc!Charlie Slimecicle x gn!reader
Warning(s): light cursing, one piss joke, they kiss.
Word Count: 1.25k
masterlist | request guidelines
Sleepovers at either Charlieâs or your apartment were pretty common. With the two of you living on opposite sides of the city, all it took was a movie night ending too late or a drink too many in someoneâs system to get one of you to announce that a sleepover was in order.
(It was to prevent either of you from having to travel home in the middle of the night, and absolutely not because you both wanted an excuse to spend more time together.)
The night started as most nights did, with you popping over to Charlieâs place for dinner. What surprised you, though, was that instead of your usual takeout, he had decided to chef it up in the kitchen.
âWhoa,â you said when you arrived, inviting yourself in and dropping off the snacks you had bought on the kitchen counter. âSo, this is why you didnât want to grab snacks with me today.â
âI had a lot of ingredients I had to use up,â he replies nonchalantly, giving you a one shoulder shrug. âThought a change in our routine couldnât hurt.â
You raise an eyebrow at him, leaning against the dining table while he sets the food down. You try to ignore how pinpricks shoot up your arm when he brushes against your arm.
âIs this how our friendship has devolved? Youâre throwing your leftovers at me?â
Charlie nearly trips on the way back to the table with two wine glasses in hand. You double over laughing, and thus fail to catch the way the tips of his ears turn red.
âIâm joking, Iâm joking.â
You spend dinner catching up with each otherâs weeks, with a few jokes thrown in courtesy of Charlie attempting to serve wine as professionally as he can. It contributes to the slightly romantic atmosphere of the dinner, but you choose not to acknowledge it.
After dinner, you force Charlie out of the kitchen so that you could clean up (it was the least you could do to repay his romantic well-prepared dinner). Itâs a few minutes later that you join him in the living room for the official start to your movie night.
Usually, you sit side by side on the couch, not too close and not too far from each other. But the couch feels a little small today as youâre forced to share one blanket (âSorry, the other oneâs in the washer.â âWhat, did you piss on it? Little piss boy?â âFuck off.â).
Charlie fidgets throughout the first movie, but you donât mind it. When the second film starts playing, he moves one arm to rest on the couch behind your head. The hand that rests next to your next starts fidgeting with your hair, making the flesh of your neck goosebump when his fingers get close.
You distract yourself from his antics by stuffing your face with crisps. You were close friends who were comfortable being physically close to each other. You hugged all the time. You spent a lot of time together.
You try to convince yourself that it wasnât that deep.
Several hours later, it was to no oneâs surprise that, when you finished watching the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film, Charlie announced that it was too late for you to Uber back home.
âDude, I canât believe itâs already 3 am,â he comments as he gets up to throw the empty crisp packets.
âIs it?â you ask between yawns, stretching out over the cushions he had previously occupied. Your eyes are halfway closing when he comes back to unceremoniously yank the blanket off you.
âWhat the hell!â you yell at him, throwing a pillow at him in hopes to wipe off the cheeky grin from his face.
The pillow didnât deter him from coming closer, prompting you to pick up another pillow to smack him with. However, he catches you off-guard by snatching the pillow from you. You reflexively tighten your grip on the pillow, causing you to stumble right into Charlie.
Stunned, you look up at him, his wide-eyed gaze meeting yours.
âHi,â you mumble awkwardly.
âHi,â he replies, a mischievous grin lighting his face up.
Charlie lightly shoves you away from himself, bending to grab the first pillow you had thrown at him. With a declaration of war, he chases you around the coffee table, the movie credits still rolling on the TV screen providing some dramatic background music.
You feel your inner child light up inside you as you evade Charlieâs grasp, letting out cheerful yelps despite it being the middle of the night and you might get noise complaints. However, caught up in the gleefulness of your mini tag game, you trip on the edge of the coffee table and send yourself hurtling into the couch.
âHoly shi- â
Behind you, Charlieâs unable to stop his momentum. In a split second, heâs sent tumbling on top of you, the pillow that he was holding somewhat cushioning his fall so he didnât full body slam into you.
There you lie on Charlieâs couch, caged by his arms which had mercifully landed next to your face and not on it. His messy hair looked even messier after running several rounds around his living room, and you resist the urge to run your fingers through them.
Youâre captured next by his blue eyes, still shining with something familiar, but with an added emotion that youâre sure is mirrored in yours. Youâre so close to each other youâre practically breathing in each otherâs breath, and you canât help your eyes from straying to glance down at his lips.
When you glance back up to his eyes, you catch him shifting his gaze as well, causing your breath to hitch. You catch the moment he clocks that youâd done the same thing he did as he moves just an inch closer to you.
âIs this okay?â he asks, voice barely above a whisper.
âYeah,â your response is just as breathy.
Charlie studies your expression carefully, almost as though drinking in your features he had never seen so up close before. Then:
âCan I kiss you?â
You blink once. Then twice. Then:
âYes, please.â
Charlie crosses the space between you two within the blink of an eye. His lips capture yours, and you finally understand how people could describe a kiss as sweet. Because now that youâve tasted Charlieâs lips on yours, youâre not sure even honey could compare.
Youâre not sure how long you stay locked in each otherâs embrace. One of your hands come up to gently thread through Charlieâs hair, eliciting a sigh from the man. When you come up for breath, the movie credits are no longer rolling.
âWow,â you say, breathless.
âDefinitely wow,â he repeats, breathing just as heavily as you are.
âWhy havenât we done that before?â you ask in between a yawn.
âI donât know.â He takes a second to smile fondly at your yawn. âSleepy?â
You nod, further relaxing into his hold. âBetween the movies and the running around, Iâm pretty tired out.â
Charlie hums his acknowledgement before getting off you to stand. Suddenly, he scoops you up in his arms, causing you yelp and loop your arms around his neck.
âCharlie!â
âItâs snuggle time!â he crows, carrying you to his bedroom.
The night ends with you and Charlie snug under his blankets. The weight of his arm around your waist and the feeling of his heartbeat against your back slowly lulled you into what couldâve been the most comfortable sleep youâve ever had.
#medlar's requests#charlie slimecicle#charlie slimecicle x reader#slimecicle#slimecicle x reader#q!charlie slimecicle#q!charlie slimecicle x reader#q!slimecicle#q!slimecicle x reader#charlie slimecicle imagines#charlie slimecicle fluff#slmccl#charlie slimecicle fic#cc!charlie slimecicle x reader#cc!charlie slimecicle fic#cc!charlie slimecicle fluff#cc!slimecicle x reader#cc!slimecicle fluff
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More VAT7K brain blerps â Hugoâs prosthetic limb Continued
I didnât realize how much others like prosthetic limbed Hugo, so now Iâm more excited to share my other ideas on it. Thanks for the validation yâall.Â
After the fiasco with the thugs and Varian finds out about Hugoâs artificial limb, the alchemist is on the same curiosity level as Yong, wanting to know more about Hugoâs alterations to it. Hugo spends an entire evening talking to the two as they sit by the campfire, answering their questions on the materials heâs used, his own schematics, and each component in his prosthesis. He enjoys displaying the fruits of his labor and uses his invention to get the twoâs interest and trust in him. The talk goes on late into the night and while Yong eventually ends up falling asleep, Varian stays up longer, fixated and impressed by Hugoâs work. At some point, Hugo removes the limb from his body when Varian asks to get a better look. Normally, he would just let a person get close to him to see, but when Varian leans in toward him, the closeness sends a wave of nervousness and awkwardness through his body.Â
Thinking quickly, he moves away to get a better angle to unlatch the device, not certain why he felt self-conscious earlier.
Just make sure you give it back, alright, Goggles? He jokes as he removes it. Varian gently takes it into his hands and gets a closer look at the internal interlockings. As he does, Hugo goes back to boasting about his work. Impressive, right? Much better than the usual peg or hook youâll see on others. Itâs fully functional while still serving as a work of art.
Instead of rolling his eyes at Hugo or scoffing at his prideful demeanor, Varian nods, agreeing with the blonde. Itâs beautiful.
Hugo is taken aback by the compliment and feels his ears burn as he realizes that Varian just called a part of his body beautiful. At that moment, Hugo is grateful that Varian is too immersed in the prosthesis to see him blushing.
During their travels, Yong asks Hugo why he keeps his limb hidden under his clothing. If I had something that cool, Iâd show it off.
I donât think people other than nerds like you two think itâs cool Hugo explains. Plus, itâs easier to get around without attracting attention.
Truthfully, Hugo hates the look of pity strangers give him when they find out he has a fake limb. Even before he got his prosthesis, he learned how to get around and function well without his arm/leg so it nerves him to be seen as something less because of it. Therefore, he keeps it hidden to avoid those looks and be treated no differently than any other person. Seeing Yong and Varian react so positively compared to the usual spiel was both refreshing and appreciated. The two never treat him like heâs incapable of handling himself, even when he can be reckless.
Sometimes Yong forgets about Hugoâs prosthesis or forgets which limb is artificial. The kid will mistakenly high five Hugos metal arm way too hard and hurt his own hand. Or, Yong accidentally drops something heavy on Hugoâs fake foot and apologizes.
Iâm so sorry Hugo! Are you hurt?
Iâm in terrible pain, Sparks he answers in a monotone voice. I think I lost feeling in my toes. We may need to amputate.
Once Hugoâs more comfortable making jokes with Varian and Yong, the two end up dealing with his morbid sense of humor.
Yong will wish him good luck and tell him to break a leg.
To which Hugo will respond with I'm already ahead of you!
He also definitely pulls this move on Varian when the alchemist asks him to lend a hand.
Itâs amusing the first few times, but by the fourth, Varian has to control himself from not throwing the prosthesis back at him.Â
He gets back at Hugo with this joke eventually. One day, Varian asks Hugo for help and the engineer tosses his arm to him as predicted. Without missing a beat, Varian takes Hugoâs mechanical arm and uses it like one of these bad boys:
To retrieve a book from a high shelf. Hugo is left both insulted and bested.
Give me that! You know what, Goggles? You just lost your Hugo arm privilege. He chastises Varian, who looks rather pleased with himself. He snatches back his prosthesis with the book still in its grasp. So insensitive! Why Iâd never!
Brain Blerp part 1
#tosses prosthetic limb Hugo ideas out to Tumblr like I'm an old lady feeding breadcrumbs to birds#there's a lot of interesting scenarios i can see with either or#if y'all like this I'll post more little bits and scenes#vat7k#varian#hugo vat7k#varigo#varian and the seven kingdoms#tts varian#varian and the 7 kingdoms#tangled the series#hugo rottewange#varian vat7k#yong vat7k#vat7k fanfic#brain blerp#prosthetic Hugo#also heres a little varigo for the shippers#I'm still unsure whether Hugo's prosthesis would be his arm or leg
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Beats Per Minute
Fandom: Tokyo Debunker
Pairing: Haku Kusanagi/You
Comments: I got an anonymous Haku request, so let's call this a response to that! If you guys like this one, I can make a part two. Waiting for the next Tokyo Debunker Chapter tomorrow, then I will start back on Fever Dreams :').
"Alright... now see if you can remember how to conduct a general exam on your own," Jiro instructs.
This had been the fourth week or so that you had been spending the majority of your free time under the tutelage of Jiro and occasionally Yuri of Mortkranken. You were taking a few electives that were related to anomalous medicinal research, but truthfully-- your grades in that area were abysmal. Jiro had very reluctantly agreed to help you with your studies, but only if you could assist him with check-ups and various demands made by the Mortkranken Captain.Â
Today, you called in Haku to one of Jiro's unoccupied exam rooms to be your guinea pig. The Hotarubi vice-captain seemed eager to help when you had phoned him earlier that day, which you had been banking on. You considered Haku to be one of the most, if not the most reliable Ghoul you had met at the academy. After all, he is the one who helped you when you had picked up that nasty curse and even continues to be there for you now, with pretty much anything he can reasonably assist with.
The two of you had become quite close, by your standards. At least enough to frequently eat lunch together, study, or even walk back to your dorms together. Haku's mild-mannered sensibility and facetious attitude were a breath of fresh air in comparison to some of the other Ghouls that you had been assigned to as an inspector for in the past.Â
"Alright, Haku. Looks like we will be taking your vitals! Let's see... we logged your weight at seventy-two kilograms," You say as you scribble down the digits on a sheet of paper at the office desk you sit at. "Height at one-hundred seventy-eight centimeters..."
Haku clicks his tongue and tents his eyebrows, feigning a troubled expression. "Could you add about six more centimeters to that? I can't let it get out that I'm below one eighty-four. What would that do to my reputation?"
The Hotarubi vice-captain sits casually on an operating table next to you, while Jiro observes you from a rolling chair somewhere off to the side.Â
Setting your pen down, you wheel your chair around to face him. "Lucky for you, my eyes are the only ones that will view this," You pause. "And Jiro's... maybe Yuri, too."
Haku hums, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear. The deceptively coy look he's sporting evokes a fluttering sensation in your chest. "I guess if you already know, but find me dashing anyways... I think I can live with that," Haku drawls.
Always with the flirtatious jokes.
Said jokes were once few and far between, but you swear that you feel like they've been making more frequent appearances in the vice-captain's banter as of late. "It sounds like someone's fishing for compliments," You tease.Â
Haku leans back on his palms and tilts his head, eyeing you mischievously. "Maybe I'm just waiting for you to bite."
You want to come back with something cheeky, but any and all words get caught in the back of your throat from the remark. It was actually downright criminal how Haku could be such a proper and polite gentleman one minute, and then the next be spewing out suggestive one-liners with double entendres. Even right now the Shinto priest's expression is shifting into one of self-satisfaction from your silence.Â
Jiro clears his throat, catching your attention. "The exam..."
"S-sorry...!" You sputter out, getting to your feet. Taking a few steps closer, you move your hands out, hovering them over Haku's neck tentatively. "May I?"
"Please do." Haku's aurelian eyes remain locked on you, brimming with amusement.Â
Holding your breath, your fingertips make contact with his neck, gently searching for any abnormalities with his lymph nodes. "No pain, or anything out of the ordinary, correct?"
"No, ma'am," Haku replies.
"Okay, good." You lift the stethoscope around your neck to your ears and walk behind him. "Okay deep breaths," You instruct, placing the chest-piece of the instrument against Haku's upper back.Â
Haku obeys your instructions as you listen for anything unusual, sliding the piece throughout the expanse of his back after each breath.Â
"Do you have any history of illness or conditions?" You ask, once you've placed the stethoscope back around your neck.
"No, not really anything serious." Haku pauses as he ruminates. "Well, I think the only thing I had was a slight arrhythmia as a kid, but it has long since passed."
You pull a blood pressure reader from a hook on the wall behind you. "Could you please remove your jacket?"
"How scandalous," Haku teases, giving you an impish side-eye. "If you insist, Doc."Â
You snort at his antics as you watch him remove his jacket, leaving his torso clad in just a white button-up. Wrapping the cuff around Haku's right bicep, you secure the velcro and begin pumping the inflation bulb. After a few seconds, you mouth the reading to lock the number in your brain before removing the device.Â
"Okay the only other reading we need to do is pulse." You reach into your pocket and pull out an oximeter and clamp it to his right index finger. While you wait for the device to get an accurate reading, you take out a penlight from your coat pocket and shine it on Haku's eyes.Â
"... Looks like your pupillary reflexes are just fine," You remark, as you click the light off, tucking it back into your pocket.Â
Haku's lips curl into a sheepish smile. "So, I'm in peak health, hm?"
"So far it seems that way, at least from what a general exam can deduce." You glance down to study the screen of the pulse reader and your expression quickly falters into one of concern. "Oh wow, your beats per minute is really high right now."
Haku follows your gaze. "One twenty," He reads aloud, unperturbed.Â
That was unusually high considering Haku had been sedentary since he got there twenty minutes ago.
"Do you feel anxious, or typically suffer from anxiety related symptoms...?" You ask, gently removing the clamp from his fingertip.Â
"Nope, never have," Haku states matter-of-factly with a lopsided grin.Â
"I see... No current medications?" You ask, lifting your right index and middle finger to check the pulse against his neck.Â
Haku shakes his head. "None."
"Do you have feelings of your heart racing often, or spontaneously?"Â
The Hotarubi vice-captain hums, averting his gaze to somewhere off to the side. "I wouldn't say it's spontaneous... more often lately, yeah."
"I see..." Your gaze finds Jiro's. "Should we perform an electrocardiogram?"
Jiro nods, leaning forward in his chair. "It would be a good idea to eliminate any potential concerns. I can set up the machine right now."Â
Haku laughs a bit. "Uh, I really think that's unnecessar--"
"Okay, sounds good," You say to Jiro.Â
Jiro gets up to leave the room for a moment and you redirect your attention to Haku in front of you, beaming at him encouragingly. "Don't worry, it's a quick test! Plus, I want to make sure everything is squeaky clean! Especially since you said you used to have an arrhythmia. It's better to not leave any boxes unchecked since you're here, you know?"
Haku lifts an eyebrow, displaying an awkward smile. "Well... have you thought about the other reasons someone may get a racing heart?"
"Hmm... other reasons?" You repeat, unsure of where he was going with this.Â
When Haku nods, you glance up at the ceiling, tapping your chin. "Cardio, vitamin B12 deficiency, panic attacks, anemia, dehydration, stress, low blood sugar..." You gasp and slap your closed fist to your palm as you draw a fresh conclusion. "That's it...! We should do your blood work too."
Haku gives you a tired look. "I don't need my blood work done, (Y/N). And I really don't need an ECG, but for you I'll oblige."
"You shouldn't be so sure, you never know!" You wag a chastising finger at him, before returning to sit in your chair to fill out the rest of the general check-up prompts. "You're my good friend and a valuable asset to Darwick. I want you to be in peak health! Subaru and Zenji would agree with me, too." With that, you start scribbling in the blank spaces on your sheet that you had yet to fill out.
Haku forces a chuckle from behind you. "Okay, but... have you considered the possibility that you're just so cute that it makes me nervous? Not to mention, your face was so close to mine."
The pen in your hand involuntarily slips from your grip and skitters off the edge of the table.Â
Hah... again with the jokes, huh?Â
You swing your chair around to face him and fold your arms over your chest with an unimpressed look. "Save the stand-up routine for when we wrap up the check-up, vice-captain."
"I'm not joking," Haku deadpans.
The Hotarubi vice-captain's expression does, in fact, read as sincere. To say that the idea of your presence eliciting such a reaction from Haku makes you excited would feel like a severe understatement. You study him, continuing to search for any signs of humor or deception.Â
When you don't find any, you pivot around, reach into a desk drawer and pull out a clean hospital gown. "You'll need to remove your shirt for the ECG, so you can wear this," You say, tossing it in his lap. Hastily, you pick your pen up from the floor and redirect your attention back to your form, effectively hiding the blush threatening to creep up your neck.
"...Ouch," Haku mutters, laughing despite himself. "So this is what it feels like to get rejected? Now I really don't get how Kaito can shoot his shot so much."
"...Rejected?" You echo, in disbelief. The mere suggestion heightens your courage enough to look over your shoulder to address him. "I would never even consider committing such a heinous crime."
From the angle you're at, you can't really read Haku's expression. Just when you're about to face him again, Jiro finally comes back into the room, wheeling in the ECG machine towards the side of Haku's bed.Â
"While I set this up, please remove your shirt and replace it with the gown," Jiro requests, unfolding a bundle of cords.
"Sure," Haku replies.
"(Y/N), come over here so I can show you how the settings work," Jiro adds.
"Okie dokie." Without hesitation, you flip around and get to your feet. You nearly trip over yourself when Haku comes into view.Â
The Hotarubi vice-captain is seated with his unbuttoned shirt now pooled at his hips, exposing the entirety of his bare, toned, torso. Sliding off the bed, Haku stands and unfolds the gown, shifting his eyes towards your leering gaze. When you fail to look away after gawking long past the point of it being considered appropriate, Haku's lips curl into a suggestive smile.Â
Jiro sighs, rolling his eyes. "(Y/N), if you don't come over here, I may have to report you for misconduct."
"Right, misconduct," You nod, tearing your gaze away from Haku's tantalizing state of undress. "Can it really be misconduct if you opt to change in public? There's a restroom down the hall," You ramble as you make your way to Jiro's side.Â
"Takes too much time," Jiro interjects before Haku can defend himself. "We have other patients."
You swear you can see Haku giving you a smug look out of your peripheral vision and you choose to ignore it, lest your face burn brighter.Â
After the electrocardiogram machine is set up and attached to Haku, it takes about ten minutes to run the test and get results.Â
Once that happens, Jiro announces the conclusion. "Haku is in picture perfect health. Nothing to worry about." The Mortkranken vice-captain begins to remove the wires secured to Haku's chest. "This was good practice, regardless. Good work, (Y/N). Maybe in the near future you can do some general check-ups while I'm preoccupied with other tasks."
"Yeah... right." You sit at the desk again, recording the results of the test on the paper in front of you.Â
If Haku's fine, then what he said was true. He's been nervous around you lately...? And then he went and made a comment about you rejecting him. What the hell is going on?
"Are you about finished with that, (Y/N)?" Jiro asks, peering over your shoulder.Â
"Oh, yeah. It's done." You briskly thrust your hand in the air, the paper in it.
"Okay, good," Jiro takes it from you, glancing over it. "I will be right back to prepare for the nex--," Jiro randomly turns green and clamps a hand over his mouth.Â
It was a common occurrence, but you express concern anyways. "You okay? I think it's about time you take your medicine. It's been a few hours, no?"
Jiro nods. Slowly, he turns his back to you and trudges out of the room.
Poor guy, really.
"Are you going to be done soon?" Haku inquires as he gets up from the bed and stretches. Thankfully, he's properly clothed again by the time your eyes drift in his direction.Â
"I'm sure it won't be too much longer, though Jiro's schedule isn't always predictable," You explain as you subconsciously try to calm your jittery nerves. Turning your chair slightly, you muster a friendly smile. "Thanks for coming, you've been an excellent test dummy."
"Anytime, (Y/N)," Haku replies easily, returning a smile of his own.Â
A momentary silence falls on the two of you. It looks almost as if the vice-captain intends on saying something else, but you make a point to beat him to it.Â
Abruptly, you lift yourself from your chair. "I can walk you out, if you want."Â
"Yeah, let's do it," He readily complies. Haku from a few months ago would be quick to insist such a gesture was unnecessary out of courtesy, but not today evidently.Â
You lead Haku out into the hallway and towards the entrance of the building. Typically, you'd be talking his head off right now about various things, but your brain continues to swim with thoughts of your conversation earlier. Did you brushing off what Haku admitted to earlier genuinely bother him? You're pretty sure he would never tell you if it had. Haku is the type of guy who's always too preoccupied with worrying about others to let anything get to him too much. Should you apologize? Is he expecting something from you?
"Hey, Haku," You start, quelling your internal conflict as you walk ahead of him.Â
"Hey, (Y/N)."Â
"If I said something to upset you earlier, I'm super sorry," You say, tossing a wistful glance over your shoulder.Â
Haku smirks, tilting his head. "Upset me? Not at all. Quite the contrary, actually."
"...How's that?"
"I'm delighted to find out that I am immune to the friend zone," Haku explains with a breezy chuckle.Â
Your cheeks burn at his comment. He must have been referring to you saying that you'd never reject him. The comment was flippantâ made without any thought at all. And maybe Haku wasn't joking about being nervous around you, but was he really being sincere with such a conspicuous statement?
Averting your eyes, you turn your head forward again. "I didn't know that kind of thing occupied your mind," You admit. "Are you dead ass?"
Haku hesitates. "...Would it make you uncomfortable if I said yes?"
Holy cow, this was actually happening? You always thought Haku was cute and had harbored a little crush on him for quite a while. Considering the severity of your curse and all the unknowns that come with it, you really hadn't seriously considered romance. Didn't Professor Hyde strongly advise against it, too?Â
"Sorry, you can forget I said that. It's totally irresponsible for me to be putting something like that on you," Haku pushes out an apology, likely having taken your prolonged silence as an answer.
You stop in your tracks and turn to face him, wearing a reassuring smile. "I was just thinking, that's all. You didn't make me uncomfortable."
Haku smiles abjectly as he rubs his neck. "That's a relief."
Swallowing away your anxieties, you take a deep breath before speaking again. "Jiro will be expecting me soon, so we may have to talk more about this later. But to be clear, you're saying you like me? Like... not platonically?"Â
Haku holds your gaze and he nods with conviction. The faintest hint of pink dusts over the vice-captain's cheeks as he slips his thumbs in his pockets. "Yeah. I probably could have timed this better, but since you're askingâ I may as well be transparent. I think very highly of you, truthfully."
Your heart beats rapidly in your chest and you feel as if you could melt into a puddle of mush from that doting look on Haku's face. It was probably dumb and totally unnecessary, but you have the urge to get further clarification. The uncertainty you feel has to be a result of being so accustomed to his glib way with words.Â
"So, like... you know when I say not platonically I mean like, um..." You stutter, finding it to be increasingly more difficult to hold his gaze. "You w-want to do stuff like go on d-dates, hold hands... kiss?" The pitch in your voice increases at the last bit of criteria.Â
Haku laughs a bit and he nods reassuringly. "Yeah, definitely. That about checks all the boxes for non-platonic relationships." Haku brings a finger to his lips in deliberation. The corners of his hazel eyes crinkle with mirth and you just know he's about to embarrass the shit out of you. "Well, not all..." Haku drawls, correcting himself.Â
A nervous laugh stumbles awkwardly out of your mouth. "Anywho...! Gotta go help patients or whatever, haha! I think this is far enough, you know your way out!" You spin on your heel and head back from where you came. Not bothering to turn around, you call back to him, waving your hand in the air. "Talk to ya later, Haku! Text me, or something!"
Haku snorts, returning the gesture with a wave of his own even though you can't see it. "I'll do that, (Y/N).â
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the one where YN gets a job as Harry's maid and his occupation comes as a shock to her - he writes erotica.
author's note: i'm back! (please don't kill me, i'm sorry that it's been so long <3) this is something that's been in the works for basically over a year now, but it's finally coming to life! it's also got a lovely lil' flash-forward at the end (which you all know i love) thank you all for sticking with me and i hope it won't be as long the next time.
word count: 13.2k of scandalous smut, fluff, 1800s society and harry being a sexy man of the house erotica writer.
let me know what you think of desire here. love u all <3
London, 1817
YN didnât have a single shilling to her name.Â
As well as not having a single shilling to her name, she was currently homeless and squatting in dark alleyways. Her start to life hadnât been the best, and her skill set wasnât full of attributes that may help her in her quest of finding employment. As for a family, YN didnât necessarily have one. Being the sixth child in a household, one that wasnât surviving with five children it already had, meant her life wasnât as black and white as it looked. She has spent the last few days, after finally deciding to pack up and leave home, looking for any sort of job and she truly meant any. So far, she hadnât found anything, and she was running out of the food that she had stolen from the kitchen back home and that meant she was running out of time.Â
It was the fourth day in her quest when she found something. She hadnât necessarily thought she would find anything when she had picked up the newspaper that morning (or rather stolen it from the bag of a newsboy) but there it was in black and white. The advert was four lines at most and gave relatively nothing away. It asked for a female maid, who had experience in household chores. So far, all the boxes, YN could tick. The next asked that sheâd be able to live on site, in the house she would be working in. If anything, that was better for YN than having to find somewhere to live. The last line gave the address of the house, and the preferred times for visiting.Â
YN thankfully saw a man walking past with a pocket watch and politely asked him the time, to which he replied that it was a quarter to two, meaning that YN still had two hours to hopefully find the house and herself a job. The side of town that the house was on YN had never been to, in fact sheâd never even been a mile in the vicinity of it, so she did have to ask a few people. YN wasnât easily intimated, but when the people she had to ask obviously had money and were quietly judging her dishevelled state she struggled.Â
She didnât know the time, and YN struggled to figure out how much time had passed usually, and all she could do was pray that she hadnât gone over the time stated on the newspaper advertisement. When she arrived at the house that she believed to be the right one, she felt thankful when she could see a man gardening just by the gate â a person she could ask to affirm that she was in the right place.Â
âExcuse me, sir,â he seemed to sigh as he dropped his trowel and turned to look at YN, âIs this the Styles residence?âÂ
âIt is,â his accent wasnât what YN expected, she hadnât met anybody before that wasnât from London, âHow can we help you, miss?âÂ
YN cleared her throat, âIâm enquiring about the advert you placed in the newspaper. The one for the maid role.âÂ
âIâm sorry, miss,â he sighed, finally standing up and wiping his hands on his trousers, âYouâre too late, Mr Styles has already interviewed all of the candidates.â
âOh,â the smile faltered on YNâs face. All of the excitement she felt about the advert had left a pit of disappointment in her, âIâm really sorry, sir, itâs just that I had to walk from the other side of town, and I donât have a watch to tell the time.â
âI am sorry, miss, but thereâs nothing that I can do. Mr. Styles will already be making his decision.âÂ
âWell,â she sighed, placing the newspaper in the pocket of her jacket, âIâm sorry to have disturbed you sir, Iâll let you get back to your gardening. Is it possible to just ask you directions on the quickest way to get back into town?â
The man seems to hesitate for a second. He looks down at his gardening, and the back up at YN before sighing and wiping the sweat off his head. She felt slightly out of place and stood waiting for his response for a few seconds.Â
âHe might be in a good mood,â he mutters, âPlease come in, miss, and Iâll go check with Mr. Styles. Even if he says no, we can get you a nice cup of tea.âÂ
YN couldnât be ever more grateful.Â
The closer that YN made it towards the house, or should she say mansion, she could almost feel her breath catching within her throat. Even though it was now highly unlikely that it would be the case, there was still the thought in the back of her mind that she could end up living here. She followed the man inside the towering door, her body feeling incredibly out of place in the grandeur of the house she was now in.Â
If YN was honest, this house may possibly be the biggest house that she had ever seen, never mind stood in. The exterior of the house certainly didnât do the interieur justice at all. The house was immaculate, and YN wondered if there was already a maid on site. The man she was following stopped in front of one of the doors by the main entrance and opened it.Â
âYou can take a seat in here,â he motions to the seating in the middle of the room, âIâll go and check if Mr. Styles would like to see you. Can I take your name, miss?âÂ
âYN. YN YLN.âÂ
âA pleasure to meet you, Miss. YLN,â he beams, âIâm Mr. Towers.â
âA pleasure to meet you too.âÂ
The door slammed shut behind Mr. Towers, allowing YN to finally take in a deep breath to release the tension within her body. Looking around at the room, YN was shocked at the size of the parlour she was in, as well as the large bookcase filled to the brim with books. One of the things that YN prided herself on, which allowed her to find this opportunity in the first place, was her ability to read. It wasnât usual for a woman of her status to know how to read, but she had met a kind gentleman at the market once and he spent his Sundays with her, teaching her how to read.Â
YN stopped in front of one shelf that seemed to have books from the same author along the entirety of it. H.E. Scott. It wasnât a name that was familiar to YN, but she couldnât help but want to reach out and pick them up. Just as her finger was about to touch the cover, the door swung open, and YN flinched away from the bookcase.
âMiss. YLN,â She immediately dropped her hands down by her side, âMr. Styles will see you now.â
âThank you, Mr. Towers.â
Following Mr. Towers out of the room, YN was led up a grand staircase that she could only dream of owning one day. YN had no idea about the architecture of houses, nor as to what wood complimented each other or anything like that â but she knew what appeased her eyes and everything about this house appeased them. YN held the banister with one hand and lifted her skirt up with the other and followed Mr. Towers.
At the top of the staircase, a corridor spilt up to the left and to the right. YN couldnât help herself, and all she wanted to do was to explore and see every single corner of this mansion that Mr. Styles calls home. She followed Mr. Towers all the way to the last door on the left.
He knocked on the door and after the âCome in,â from the other side, Mr. Towers opened the door.
âGood luck,â Mr. Towers smiles.
The door shut behind YN once she stepped in, and she slightly jumped at the sound. There were few things in life that could make YN nervous, but the way that her heart was about to beat out of her chest she honestly thought that she was close to a heart attack.
She hadnât known what she had expected of Mr. Styles. Her main instinct was an old man, close to his death that needed extra help around the house because his wife had passed. What she hadnât been expecting was a man whose age was like hers, with dark brown hair that framed his entire face, and hard features that she was having trouble drawing her eyes away from. There were few people that intimidate her (her father being one of them) but she had a feeling that she was going to be adding Mr. Styles to that list.
âMr. Styles,â YN shrugged all of her worries and walked towards him with her hand outstretched, âIâm YN YLN.â
He didnât stand up, and he didnât shake her hand. He didnât even take his eyes away from whatever piece of paper he was reading. She nervously gripped the sides of her dress as she walked towards him, the heels of her shoes hitting the floor with a tap every step she took.
âIâmâŠâ She hesitated slightly, not exactly knowing what to do. Did she sit down? Did she remain standing? Did she wait until he spoke to her? She hadnât a clue what to do, and she was truly starting to panic, âIâm here for the job as the maid. I know Iâm a little late, but I came from across town and-â
YN watched as he lifted his hand up, as though to shut her up. It did. He didnât even look up at her, just continued looking down at the heaps and heaps of paper that were sat in front of him.
âDo you know how to clean?â YNâs eyes almost widened in shock at the sound of his deep, coarse voice. It was as though he hadnât spoken in years, or that he had been speaking too much and that it needed a rest.
âUh⊠yes I do.â
âAre you sure about that?â His reply came quick, but he still didnât look at her.
âYes,â YN nodded her head, âI do know how to clean.â
âDo you know how to cook?â
âYes.â
âYouâre hired,â Finally, he lifted his head up from his papers and looked directly at her, his green eyes boring into YNâs. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, âSpeak to Mr. Towers about the details, you shall start immediately. Youâre dismissed.â
âThank you,â YN nodded her head and turned to walk out of the room, unable to hide the smile that danced across her lips.
âClean up and get changed before you start,â She stops in her tracks at the sound of his voice again, âYouâre filthy.â
âOf course, sir.â
âYour room is down here, by the pantry,â Mr Towers explains as he walks her towards her room, âThereâs a uniform already in there for you, along with a pot of water ready to boil for a bath.â
âThank you, Mr. Towers,â YN nodded her head at the older man.
âDonât thank me yet,â The older man threw the door to her room open, âItâs only tiny, but you have a bed and a fire, so you wonât be cold.â
âItâsâŠâ After stepping into the room, YN couldnât help the smile that beamed over her face. The room itself was the size of the room that she shared with her entire family growing up â and it was all to herself, âItâs perfect.â
Mr. Towers looked at her with a puzzled look on his face but shrugged his shoulders, âIf you say so⊠Mr. Styles expects his dinner by seven weeknights, and eight on weekends when he has his guests over.â
âIs there anything that Mr. Styles prefers to eat that I could make for him? To say thank you?â She asked, placing her bag down on the bed.
Mr. Towers laughed and shook his head, âMr. Styles has groceries delivered to the house every day. It has what he wants to eat in plenty, and we eat whatever is left in a broth.â
YN nodded her head. She had never known anything like it, and she couldnât believe how much money and power Mr. Styles seemed to have.
âThank you, Mr. Towers,â YN nodded with a polite smile, âI shall see you later.â
âGood day, Miss. YLN.â
Mr. Towers shut the door behind him, and once she had heard his footsteps growing lighter, she dropped backwards onto her bed with a laugh. It was almost as though she was sat within her own fever dream, where she had finally found herself a room, a bed and a job all at the same time.
Looking up at the small clock that sat above the fireplace, YN saw that it was just past three and she decided that it was probably time that she washed herself and made sure that she had plenty of time to prepare Mr. Stylesâ dinner. Seeing that the pot of water was sat by the floor next to the fire, she made quick haste hanging it over the fire to heat up. It was at this point she saw the tin bath in the corner of the room, as well as her lavatory pot. A small mirror sat on a small cabinet, that once she opened, she saw contained a button up shirt, skirt and apron that she guessed was her uniform. She placed it neatly upon the bed, along with the fresh towel in the drawer and stripped of her current clothes.
One thing that YN always struggled with was the sight of her body. It was dirty and grimy, and malnourished to the point where it was sometimes painful. She was hoping that having control over the meals she ate meant that she could gain more strength and finally be happy with herself. The first step in that was getting into the bath, a thing that she hadnât had in months. The feeling of the warm water on her skin, and the grime leaving her skin and the feeling of freshly washed hair was something that she could get used to. She left her hair drying in its natural state as she dressed, enjoying the feeling of new clothes on her skin also.
There wasnât much that YN could say that she enjoyed in her life, but these small little luxuries that sheâd never had before were certainly things that she enjoyed. She couldnât believe her luck if she was completely honest, and that was made even more clear when she stepped into the kitchen. It was bigger than the entire house that YN grew up in, and it was filled with all the luxuries that she could have only dreamed of.
She saw some fillets of beef, along with vegetables and potatoes that she knew could be made into a divine meal. She got started right away, peeling and boiling the potatoes, cutting and preparing the vegetables and even cooking the beef until it was perfect all the way through. It seemed that her skills in the kitchen, albeit very basic ones, were coming in handy in more ways than one. With everything that was left after sheâd plating Mr. Stylesâ up, she made into a broth and left to simmer on the stove.
YN had the food prepared five minutes before it was ready because she knew that in this mansion that Mr Styles called his home, she would have to find the dining room. She hoped that whatever he liked to drink was there, because she couldnât find anything in the kitchen that he might want.
She passed the room that she had waited in earlier in the day but knew that wasnât the room that she was looking for. It was the room across from that, which had its door opened slightly, showing a large dining table which made YN realise that was the room she was looking for. Nerves bubbled in the pit of her stomach when she realised that Mr Styles was already there and waiting for her.
YN wiped her slightly sweaty palms on her apron and knocked twice on the door, waiting for Mr Styles to say that she could enter before she did. It didnât take long before he was taking a few steps into the room and closing the door behind her. Whilst he wasnât sat in his study anymore, he still had a stack of papers that he was reading in his hands. YN wondered what he was reading.
She took rushed steps towards him, being sure to make haste so that he couldnât say anything to her. She was on time, and all she could hope is that he was happy with what she had produced for him. YN placed his plate down in front of him, and he finally looked up from his papers at it. He didnât say anything to her but seemed content enough to place the papers down. Â
âI expect a glass of whiskey poured with my meals.â He says to her, picking up his cutlery to start his meal.
âOf course, Mr. Styles.â
It didnât take YN long to spot the bar cart in the corner of the room and make her way over to it. She picked up a glass and turned it over so that she could pour the drink into it. She hadnât ever tried alcohol before, let alone know what whiskey was but she guessed that it was probably the one that looked the most loved. She poured the drink so that the bottom of the glass was about a third full before walking back over to Mr. Styles and placing it in front of him.
âIs there anything else I can get you?â She asks, and he shook his head.
She began to walk towards the door when Mr. Styles spoke to her again, âIâll be having guests over tomorrow, so Iâll expect a full dinner service. There will be three of us.â
âCertainly, Mr. Styles.â
YN still had no idea what Mr Styles did for work, or what type of guests he would be having over to his house. Saying that, it was only her first day, but it would be nice to have some sort of incline as to who she was working for. As she walked out of the dining room, she remembered the books she had seen in the room across the hall earlier.
There was no sign of Mr. Towers, and she knew that Mr. Styles would be eating his dinner for the foreseeable and decided that she had plenty of time to make her way over to the sitting room. She took small steps, trying not to make the sound of her shoes on the floor too obvious to the rest of the house. With one last glance behind her, she slipped through the door and closed it as quietly as she could.
If there was one thing, she could say about Mr. Styles, it was that he certainly knew how to decorate a room. His entire house was so beautifully decorated, but so minimal at the same time. Every wood matched, the accents of the rugs and curtains matched in each room, but this room was the one that YN was the most impressed with so far. It wasnât the rugs, or the chandelier in this room that impressed her, but more so the grand bookcase that covered two walls of the room.
Her feet almost moved automatically as she made her way towards the middle shelf again, ones covered to the brim with books from that same author, H.E. Scott, the author that YN had never heard of. She hadnât seen such a collection of books before, and she was curious about every single one. Why were there so many? Why did Mr. Styles enjoy this author so much to have what seemed to be every single one of his books?
YN couldnât help but reach out and take one. It was the third one she decided upon, revelling at the hard backed emerald book with gold lettering on them.
From the Dining Table, H.E. Scott
Nothing about the cover, or even the name gave anything away and that became even more obvious when she opened the book. She skimmed over a few pages, only taking in a few words from each page but it was blatantly obvious that it was a romance novel. It was only until YN was about two-thirds through flicking through the book that she figured out what it was.
Darkness covered his eyes as he looked at her. She had never seen anybody with eyes clouded by such a fierce lust before, and she had never suspected that those eyes would be piercing directly at hers.
His barn, only lit by the flickering oil lamp in the corner was silent, so silent that the void was filled by the pattering of the rain on the roof. The same rain that had caused her clothes to be sodden and clinging to her, showing him every rise and fall of her chest.
âDo I make you nervous?â One little shake of her head and he was taking small and slow steps towards her. She thought that it must have been possible for him to hear the whirring of her brain, and the quicker beating of her chest, âAre you positive about that, kitten?â
âI am,â As he took small steps towards her, she was taking small steps back. That was until she ended up right upon his dining table. Her hands dropped upon the table behind her as his hands spread her legs so that he could stand between them.
âTell me what you want,â He whispered, moving closer and closer until she could feel his breath upon her skin, âI want you to tell me what you want, kitten.â
âI wantâŠâ She whispered back, trying to not make it obvious that the feeling of his lips hovering above her neck, âI want⊠you.â
âAnd how do you want me?â
âI want you here.â
âWhat are you doing?â YN had never slapped a book closed faster in her life.
Seeing Mr. Styles stood there in the doorway, with one of his hands in his pocket looking upon her with a sneer of his face that she hasnât seen on anybodyâs face before in her life knocked her. She was that invested in the book that she obviously hadnât her the door across the hallway open, or Mr. Stylesâ footsteps on the wooden floor on the corridor, and she didnât hear the door open in front of her.
âMr. StylesâŠâ YN tried to find the right words, but none were springing to mind, âI was justâŠâ
âYou were just what?â He takes one step towards her, and she automatically took one step back, âYou were just snooping? Looking through things that donât belong to you.â
âMr. Styles⊠Iâm sorry,â YN stood there fumbling on her words, still with the culprit in her hands.
âDonât let me catch you again,â YN nods and places the book back on the shelf, âIâll need one of the guest bedrooms prepared for my guests tomorrow. Preferably make it the one opposite my office.â
âYes sir.â
By the time that the door had slammed behind him, YN didnât know whether to laugh, cry or scream and what had just happened. One thing that she did know was that she was hungry and had a broth waiting for her in the kitchen that would hopefully fix all of her problems.
After waking up the next morning, YN had spent the day cooking breakfasts and lunches and cleaning bedrooms and dining rooms and sitting rooms. It had been a lot of work, but it was the first day in a while where YN hadnât even glanced at the clock and prayed for the night to come. She was that busy that when seven rolled around, and the doorbell rang YN was just about ready for it.
As Mr. Towers opened the door, YN stood just behind him to the right waiting to greet the guests and prepare them some drinks. YN hadnât seen Mr. Styles all day, and after the situation yesterday she decided that was probably the best thing to happen. She knew that she would have to see him tonight during the dinner service, but that was work and she couldnât do anything to make him that upset, could she?
âWelcome, it is lovely to see you both again,â Mr. Towers greets the couple walking through the door.
YN wasnât used to the glitz and glamour of high-end London socialites and that became very apparent when Mr. and Mrs. Williamson walked through the door. Mrs. Williamson was petite, blonde and insanely gorgeous stood in the hallway in the most beautiful deep blue gown that YN could only dream about. Mr. Williamson stood next to her; his hand rested on the small of his wifeâs back.
âThis is Miss. YLN, sheâll take you through to the parlour and get you some drinks.â
YN painted her prettiest smile on her face and led them through to the parlour watching as Mr and Mrs. Williamson sat down upon the sofa.
âMr. Styles has brought a red wine that he would like to two of you to try,â YN picked up the bottle to show the two of them.
âThen try it we shall,â Mr. Williamson spoke, sharing a laugh between himself and his wife.
YN moved over to the bar cart where three of Mr. Stylesâ best wine glasses sat. She poured the first two but hesitated on the third just because she didnât know when Mr. Styles would be joining the party. She didnât have to wait very long.
âWell, it seems as though this party has started without me!â
As YN watched Mr. Styles greet Mr. Williamson with a âman hugâ and kissed Mrs. Williamson on the cheek, she made sure that sheâd poured his wine and walked over to pass it to him. He didnât look at her, and he didnât even acknowledge what she had done.
âThatâs all,â He still didnât look at her, âWeâll be in the dining room at eight for dinner service.â
YN nodded in his direction, even though he wasnât looking at her and left the room. YN didnât know what kind of meal this was going to be, whether it was business or pleasure, but she knew that snooping to ask questions probably wasnât the best point of call at this time.
For the first time the whole day, whilst she was finishing off the dinner that she had been making the entire day, she was clock-watching. Her eyes were always placed upon the clock making sure that everything was ready in time, and that she wasnât late. As the hands clicked towards eight, she made sure that all three plates were ready, and brought them all to the dining room. At that point, Mr. Styles and the Williamsons were making their way over. Laughter rattled around the walls of the house, and it was the loudest the house had been since YN had arrived.
She placed Mrs. Williamson plate down first, followed by her husbands and then finally Mr. Stylesâ. Mr. Styles and Mr. Williamson were still entrapped in whatever conversation they were having in the parlour, and Mrs. Williamson was listening with a polite smile. YN made sure that all their glasses were refilled, and that she gave Mrs. Williamson a little more than the men which she seemed to appreciate with a look that was sent her way.
âIs that all, Mr Styles?â She asked, addressing Mr. Styles for the first time since last night.
âYes, that is all,â With a fleeting glance and a slight shake of his hand he dismissed her, and she left the room. The second she was out in the hall she didnât know what to do with herself.
YN could have some food, but she wasnât hungry. She had cleaned everything in the house from top to bottom, and there wasnât anything else that she could sort. One thing that she could do was turn down the guest bedroom ready for Mr. and Mrs. Williamson. She started by walking in the room and lighting some of the candles that were necessary for people to see. Next came turning down the bedsheets and airing them out so that they were ready for the couple when they decided to come to bed.
Once she was happy with the room, she decided that it was probably time to go check on them and their dinner and see if they needed anything. As she opened the door, she was shocked to hear footsteps ascending the stairs. Instead of walking out of the room straight away, she poked her head around so that she could just see the end of Mr. Styles and the Williamsonâs walking up the stairs. She knew that she would have to step out of the room if they turned in this direction, but they didnât. Instead, the couple and the man of the house started to walk towards Mr. Stylesâ room at the end of the hall.
YN didnât know what to think, and she didnât know what to do. Her eyes almost fell out of her head when he saw Mr. Styles smiling at the couple, especially when they kissed each other. Maybe they were just walking Mr. Styles to his room? Maybe that was it?
YN knew that wasnât the case when the two of them walked into the room, and with one fleeting glance in YNâs direction, and with what YN could only describe as a dashing smile at her he followed the couple inside his room.
YN didnât sleep a wink that night. She had no idea what she had witnessed the night before, but she knew that it wasnât to the standard of high society, or at least not what she knew high society to be like. Whatever happened in that room was unknown to her, and whilst a part of her wanted to know, she also didnât want to know at all.
The Williamsons had left about an hour ago, and YN had spent the morning washing the linens from their room (which they did use later in the night) and washing Mr. Stylesâ linens (at his request). YN didnât find anything suspicious within the rooms, but she didnât look for anything.
It was mid-afternoon at this point, and she had finished all her work for the afternoon and was just waiting for the time that she needed to start preparing and making Mr. Stylesâ dinner. As she now had this spare time, she decided that it was the perfect opportunity to sit outside with some bread and butter and enjoy her favourite book â Jane Eyre.
She reread the book every so often, even though at this point she knew it word by word. She had been given the book by the man who taught her how to read when she was younger, so it was very well-loved and quite tattered, but YN didnât care. She found a secluded spot by a tree, near to the back entrance of the house into the kitchen just encase Mr. Styles needed her at any point.
YN was about a third into the book when the back door opened, and out walked Mr. Styles with a cigarette and match in hand. YN hadnât known that he smoked but seeing him stood there it was something that he had done before. When he turned to the right and saw her, she immediately looked down at her book, as though she hadnât been looking at him and that he hadnât caught her.
She heard his footsteps, but she didnât look up at him. If she looked up, she didnât know what she would find, and she didnât know how she would deal with it.
âWhat are you reading?â
âJane Eyre, sir,â Her eyes still never left her book, even though she wasnât reading.
âYou obviously like to read.â
She finally looked up at him, confused to see him leant against the edge of the house a few metres away from where she was reading her book. YN thought that she would be greeted by a look of malice, but there was nothing of the sort.
âI do, sir,â She offered him, âIt is one of my favourite things to do.â
âI suppose it is,â He nodded his head in her direction, âSeeing as though I caught you snooping in my own collection not long ago.â
âIâm very sorry about that, sir,â She wasnât, but she had to keep appearances up with the man that employed her.
âNo, youâre not,â YN opened her mouth to speak but Mr. Styles shook his head, âYou donât have to be.â
âBut they werenât mine, sir,â A small smile, âI shouldnât have assumed that I could do such a thing.â
âYou can, if you want,â Not a smile in her direction, but more so a less harsh glance than before, âIf you would care to borrow a book from my collection you can, but it must be placed back once youâre done.â
âThank you, sir,â She nodded.
YN was in shock, but she was not going to let him know that. After the way that he had spoken to her a few days prior about the event, she thought that he would never let her touch anything of his unless to clean it or serve it to him.
âDonât thank me,â He shrugged, âJust let me know what you think of it, once you finish. I assume youâll be finishing the book you started?â
âMost likely.â
He laughed. A proper laugh. She couldnât help the small smile that crossed her lips, watching his stern face break out into a smile, dimples in his tanned cheeks showing and everything.
âI look forward to it,â Still smiling, this was new. Then it dropped, âI also want to discuss what you may have seen yesterday, upstairs with my guests and I.â
âRest assured, sir, I didnât see anything.â
âYou did, we both know you did,â A small lift of his lips, âIt is okay, I know it must have been quite a shock to you. But I just want to let you know that it is my work. Or, well, part of it.â
âSir, you donât need to ââ
âI know I donât,â He shrugged his shoulders, âBut I fear I must, for the sake of my work and yours. What you saw is sometimes a frequent occurrence in this house, and I expect you to take a blind eye to it. If you cannot, then I donât believe that this is the job for you.â
âMr. Styles, rest assured I didnât see anything, nor will I see anything.â
âGood,â He dropped his cigarette on the floor and stumped it out with the sole of his shoe, âDinner at seven, let it be prompt.â
âYes sir.â
With that, he left her. YN continued through the evening on autopilot. All she could think about was that once her work was finished, and Mr. Styles was fed and either in his study on in bed, YN could go to the parlour and retrieve that book and continue what she had been reading. She wanted to know what the book contained, and why Mr. Styles had so many of them. She knew that by reading the book one of her questions would be answered.
âIâll be retreating to my study,â Mr. Styles spoke after YN removed his empty plates, âYou wonât be needed for the rest of the night.â
âThank you, Mr. Styles.â
He walked out of the room before her, and she followed a few steps behind him. As he ascended the stairs, he threw one fleeting glance back at her and continued walking up. YN doesnât think that she had ever washed plates and cutlery so quickly in her life. Once it was finished, she rushed into the parlour, retrieved the third book on the shelf and rushed back into her room where her oil lamp was waiting for her.
YN knew that she could start the book from the start and try and understand the story before rushing to the part that she had read the last time she had this book in her hands, but it was no use. YN flicked through the pages until she was right back where she was the days prior.
âYour wish is my command, kitten.â
It was the first time that they had kissed, with her sat upon his dining table, soaked from the rain and him stood in between her parted legs. As their lips touched and moved in a rhythm too profound to the blind eye, his hands started to dance the length of her legs. Moving upward from her stocking to the flesh of her thigh that was exposed underneath her skirt.
As his coarse fingertips moved up her smooth skin at a pace that was too slow for her liking, she found a heat pushing over her body that she needed to be put out. It was so fierce and burning so far in the pit of her stomach that she had no idea how he would put out the flames.
He removed his lips from hers, only to move further down her neck until his teeth began to nip and explicit sounds escaped her lips. Everything seemed to be going so slowly, but then it was though a switch turned within him and everything became sort of feverish.
His hands moved from her thighs towards her bottom, where he grabbed the flesh and pulled her even further towards the edge of the dining table. He lifted the material of her skirt up so that it was around her waist and reached for her bloomers, in an instance ripping them straight down the middle until she was exposed to him, all of her was exposed to him.
âMay I?â At this point, he was down on his knees, face to face with the heat that was threatening to explode out of her.
âPlease, please do it and never stop.â
That was all it took for him to reach out and touch. He used his hands to spread her thighs apart once more and wasted no time to start devouring her.
YN slammed the book shut. Closing her eyes, she tried everything to regulate her breathing, but nothing seemed to help. Her heart was beating out of her chest, and the heat that the lady had been describing within the book seemed to have enlightened within her. This was a feeling that YN had never felt before in her life, and she had no idea what to do with it. So, she decided to read on.
YN read the book, from start to finish in that entire night. YN knew about the relations that took place between a man and woman, but she had never read them in such detail, especially not in such a way between a lady of the house and her groundskeeper. This sort of relationship would be known as a scandal â something that would ruin the lady forever. In the book it was something sensual, and something to be desired. The only word that came to YNâs head after reading that book was desire â the desire to feel like that with somebody.
YN had no idea how to shake herself of that feeling.
âWhat did you think?â
It was early the next day, and YN had just placed Mr. Stylesâ breakfast in front of him along with a serving of tea. Normally, breakfast is silent and after the sleepless night that YN had prior, she was excited for a silent breakfast, a speed through of her chores and then possibly a nap. What she hadnât anticipated was Mr. Styles striking up a conversation with her.
âWhat did I think about what, sir?â YN didnât know that she was going to be playing it as though she hadnât a clue what he was going on about them.
âThe book, Miss. YLN,â He wiped the corner of his mouth with his napkin, âI noticed this morning that from the dining table wasnât in its usual spot. A good choice, if I must say.â
YN couldnât draw her eyes away from the small smile upon his face. It was as though Mr. Styles was plaguing her, and by the look on his face he knew that he was too. She had no idea how to respond to him, or even how to obtain the words to answer his question.
âIt wasâŠâ She hesitated, and he raised his eyebrows at her. Was he shocked that she seemed to have no words for him?
âGround-breaking?â He wiped his mouth with his napkin one last time before placing it on the table and standing up, âScandalous?â He took a step with each word that left his mouth, âRomantic?â Until he was stood directly in front of her, so close that she could almost feel his breath on her skin, âSensual?â
YN stood planted to her spot, trying not to crack under Mr. Stylesâ gaze but it was a little too difficult. She opened her mouth to speak, but she had no words. It was almost as though he could feel how nervous she was and knew exactly what strings to pull to make it worse. Her breathing was ragged, and she almost felt as though she was turning a little light-headed.
âYes, sir.â YN nodded her head, swallowing to reduce the coarseness in her throat, âAll of those things.â
âAnd how did it make you feel?â
YN looked down at her hands, and then back up to Mr. Styles. He had a devilish look in his eye, that same look that he had when she had seen him walking into his chambers with the Williamsons. It shook YN to her core, but she had to stand there and answer his questions, even if she didnât have a single thought in her head that could help her with that.
âIt made me feel,â She hesitated for a moment, but said the only word that was coming to her head, âDesire.â
It was the same word that she had mulled over last night when she had finished the book and closed it. After more thought last night, she not only had the desire to feel that with somebody, but the desire to read all the books like that she could. In her entire life she had never read anything which such a scandalous tone, but here she was with a desire for more.
âDesire,â He nodded his head with a smile, âThatâs a good one. What did you feel desire for?â
YN cleared her throat, âA desire to read more.â
âWell, thereâs a full bookcase of other books in the library for you to fulfil that desire,â He leant one of his hands upon the top of his chair next to him, âBut what did you really feel desire for?â
YN felt stuck. In all honesty, she felt as though he could read every single thought that was whirring through her head â she hadnât a single idea about how that could be possible.
âMr. Styles I ââ
âNo, Miss. YLN, I want you to tell me exactly what you felt after reading the book.â
YN nodded, âI felt a desire to feel like that, to be ââ
âKissed like that?â YN nodded, âTouched like that?â Another nod.
âYes, Mr. Styles.â
He nodded his head and looked her up and down, as though he was figuring out his next move. YN honestly felt as though she was trapped by him, and by the way that every hair on her body was standing up and her body felt as though it was on fire, she couldnât decide whether she was enjoying herself or hating every moment.
âMiss. YLN, once you have finished your chores for the day, Iâd like you to read the first book on the shelf, Sign of the times, and when youâre done, Iâd like you to come and find me.â
âYes, Mr. Styles.â
âGood,â He turns to walk towards the door, âIâll be in my office, and I do not want to be disturbed until youâve finished the book.â
With that, he slams the door shut behind him.
It had taken YN just above an hour to finish all her chores, and once she had finished, she rushed to the library with the book in her hand to replace and ready to pick up the one that Mr. Styles had chosen for her. Once she had picked up the book and made her way towards the tree that Mr. Styles had found her reading beneath she sat down and started reading straightaway.
It was a tale of lavish lifestyle, complete with balls and luxury and husband in a manor which had an eye for his wifeâs ladyâs maid. It was becoming more and more obvious why Mr. Styles had asked her to read this book, and it was making her quite hot under the collar.
It was about halfway through the novel that YN was starting to feel so uncomfortable within her clothing. Her dress felt scratchy against her skin, and her corset felt too tight in all the wrong places. YN was truly captivated by a chapter that takes place within the husbandâs office, with the ladyâs maid sat upon the desk having only the most scandalous things done to her.
The feeling that she was talking about with Mr. Styles was back. For this book, however, it was certainly more of a desire to feel the way the ladyâs maid felt in the book. Compared to the first one she read, there was something so real about this one. She didnât know if it was because she had so much in common with the ladyâs maid, or because the husband had so many characteristics that resembled her employer who was waiting for her to finish the book.
It took her a few hours to finish the book, but she had always been a fast reader and that really helped her do that. Once she had finished the book, and still felt hot under her collar and nervous bubbles in the pit of her stomach at the thought of the next conversation she was going to have.
It felt as though she was acting automatically, walking up the stairs and towards Mr. Styles office without actually telling herself to do so. It wasnât until she was stood outside of his door, with her hand hovering over the door to knock that reality was kicking in.
With one deep breath, she knocked on the door twice and waited for Mr. Styles to call her in before opening the door.
âFinished already?â YN was surprised that he was the first one to talk, and she was also surprised about how much paper Mr. Styles had piled up on his desk.
âYes, Mr. Styles.â
âPlease, come in and take a seat,â He motions to one of the empty seats in front of him, âAnd shut the door behind you.â
âYes, sir.â
Under his intense stare, she felt as though everything else that was happening within the world didnât matter. The way that he was looking at her, sat behind his grand desk in a suit that complemented his frame in a way that YN had never even thought of until reading those books. Whilst she hadnât seen much similarity between the husband in the book and Mr. Styles, but the situation was becoming more and more like reality â especially now that she was sat within the walls of his office.
âNow, I want to know what you thought,â He says, leaning forward with his elbows on his table, âI want to know the truth, no trying to hide it.â
YN knew what he was doing, but the problem was that she had no idea how to describe how she was feeling to him without speaking so scandalously to her employer.
âSir, it was⊠unlike anything Iâve ever read before,â YN couldnât help herself. If he was going to ask her for the truth, then she was going to give it to him, âBoth of the books were.â
âIn a good way, Iâm guessing?â
âIâm not too sure about that, Mr. Styles.â
He raised one of his eyebrows at her, âIs that so?â
âItâs just sir, Iâve never read anything like that before in my life and I hadnât ever thought that a book could be so enjoyable and scandalous at the same time.â
Mr. Styles laughed; a full belly laugh that showed those dimples that YN only managed to see in a blue moon. There was no doubt in her mind that Mr. Styles was a handsome man, and that the books hadnât sparked something in her that she hadnât ever thought of before reading them. Every single time she watched the man run his hand through his hair, she wanted to be doing that exact thing whilst his head was in between her legs â just like the scene on the dining table in the first book. It was a scandalous thought, and it made her cheeks flush.
âI take it that you enjoyed it, then?â As scandalous as the book were, this conversation with her employer was seemingly more scandalous.
âYes, I did sir.â
âWhat if I told you that I wrote them.â
YN felt as though she was shocked all the way to her core, âSir, you ââ
âI wrote them, yes,â He nodded his head, âI take it that this is a shock to you.â
âJust a little, sir.â
âDid you not wonder what I spent hours and hours doing with all of this paper every day?â He asked, as though he was sort plaguing her for her opinion on the matter.
âI did sir, but I never thought that â you were â doingâŠâ
âThat I was writing such scandalous things?â
âWell, yes.â
âWell, that is completely understandable,â YN nodded at his words, because it was very true, âI understand that it is such a shock for you, but without these books there is no house, and no job for you.â
âI completely understand that sir,â YN nodded, not wanting to push any buttons that could end with her losing her job.
âGood,â He nodded his head and tapped his finger on the table, âNow I have a proposition for you.â
YNâs eyes widened at his words, âFor me.â
âYes, thereâs nobody else in the room is there?â YN laughed at his joke, even if it was at her expense, âI have a proposition for you to be my editor.â
âYour editor?â
âAre you going to repeat everything I say?â It could have been malicious, if it wasnât for the smile on Mr. Stylesâ face.
âNo, sir.â
âGood,â He nods his head, âThe main reason I am asking is that my editor has been indisposed and I have a deadline for my next book, and I know that you wonât be shocked by the content anymore.â
âSir, I havenât edited book before.â
âI know that,â He stands up and moves as he talks, before resting himself in front of her on his desk, âBut it needs to be someone I can trust, and that I know wonât be scandalised by the content.â
âSir, if I may, just because I have read the content doesnât mean that I wasnât scandalised by it.â
âReally?â This seemed to shock him, âSo you were scandalised by the book.â
âI think it to be improper if I wasnât scandalised, sir,â YN was truly shocked that he didnât think that she would be. Did she come off as an improper girl? âThe content you write, that was something that my mother told me was only between a man and a woman in the marital bed.â
He nodded his head, âYou can always say no, and just continue to be my maid.â
âI never said that sir,â YN was maybe a little too enthusiastic with her response.
âSo, youâll do it?â
âYes, sir.â
âGreat,â He turned around and picked up a large pile of papers and passed it to her, âThis is what I have so far, and I can give you a quill and some ink to edit.â
âOkay,â YN was trying her best to balance the papers that she had been given, âThank you, Mr. Styles.â
YN and Mr. Styles had been working together for the past couple of weeks, with Mr. Styles writing chapters upon chapters and YN editing every single one until they were ready for publishing. They were about a quarter of the way through the book when Mr. Styles hit a block, and YN ended up sitting in his office whilst he paced around the room.
âI need it to be more⊠pleasurable, I need it to be about her,â YN was nodding her head, flicking through the paper that he had just written, âBut I donât want it to be too similar to the things that Iâve already done and written. I want it to be new.â
YN understood exactly what was being said, and as she was reading, she was trying to have some sort of ideas come to her as to what she could do. This was different to what she had read of Mr. Stylesâ books before, and that was a few now. When she had started edited his books, she decided that she would read more just to see how he liked his books to be edited before they were published.
âWhat if she was the one to take control?â
Mr. Styles stopped his pacing and turned to look at her, âWhat?â
âWell, you said that you wanted it to be new, and about her,â YN repeated his words, placing the paper down on the desk and turning to look at him, âWhy donât you let her take control? Let her be the one to make the decisions. That hasnât been shown in your work before.â
He nodded his head, as though he was coming to his senses with what she was saying. It wasnât too much of a stretch, but Harry so far has written the majority of his characters where the male is the one to take the lead, why couldnât the female? (YN knew exactly why in some of the cases the female didnât, but it would be fun to try.)
âItâs a good idea,â He nods his head, finally sitting back down and stopping the pacing that was driving YN a little up the wall, âBut I donât know the perspective, I donât know what a woman would say in that situation.â
If he was asking her opinion on this situation, then she had nothing to offer him. YN had never been in a situation even remotely close to the ones in his book â all she knew was the conversation she had with her mother when she was younger and everything that she had read within his books.
âDonât you have any friends that you could possibly ask?â
âIt isnât exactly a conversation that you bring up over dinner, Miss. YLN,â There was a little maliciousness behind his voice, but YN had spent enough time with Mr. Styles over the past few weeks that she knew to take everything he said during his âcreative processâ with a pinch of salt.
âWhat about the Williamsons?â A little timider now, but she had to ask, âCouldnât you ask them?â
âThey came to me with their problems, YN,â Mr. Styles explains, âTheyâve been my friends for years, and they know what I do. They were having issues in that aspect of their relationship.â
That made a lot more sense now, and whilst YN hadnât a clue what had gone on behind those closed doors weeks ago, she had a feeling that it maybe was and wasnât what she was thinking all at once.
âI understand, Mr. Styles.â
He stood up again and started pacing and YN felt as though she was a second away from rolling her eyes, âMaybe you can help.â
âMr. Styles,â Normally YNâs tone was shocked at his ideas, but this was a complete shock, âYou canât be serious.â
âIâve never been more serious,â He stops right in front of her, leaning on the desk behind him with his arms crossed, âWe donât have to, but if you want to, you could help me.â
âAnd how could I do that?â
âYN, if we could get you to experience that pleasure and tell me exactly how you would take control and want that control to be portrayed.â
âBut sir, how am I supposed to do that?â
âI would help,â Mr. Styles said, without any hesitancy, âI can help, if youâd like.â Â
âSir, thank you, but I just⊠I donât know ââ YN looked at him, looking at her as though she was his only option, âIâm sorry.â
Walking out of the room, YN didnât know what to do. All of that desire she had been feeling to feel like the women in the books was laid out to her on the table, and she ran. She couldnât say that she hadnât imagined Mr. Styles in that way, but he was her employer and that would be drawing a line in a way that she hadnât before.
Instead of Mr. Styles pacing around the room, it was YN. She was pacing around the entire house, cleaning everything that she could and doing everything that she could. By the time that Mr. Stylesâ dinner was ready, she had placed it down and left the room before he had even gotten there, and she waited until he was done before going back to clean up.
Once the house had gone quiet, YNâs thoughts were whirring around in her head. She canât help the heat that had coursed through her entire body at what Mr. Styles had offered all day. It was a little unbearable, to the point where she couldnât lay still and couldnât think about anything but his offer.
What would be the problem if she went through with it? He could fire her. She would be scandalised forever. But she didnât have much going for her anyway, and she had given up the idea of marriage long ago. What if this was her last chance?
YN didnât know the time, but it was late, and with a candle clutched in her hand she walked out of her room and upstairs. Her feet carried her towards Mr. Stylesâ room. She thought that he would be long asleep, and she would be going right back downstairs but at the sight of the light flickering from underneath his door she knew that wasnât the case.
âMr Styles?â She knocked on the door, waiting to hear something before she came in, âAre you awake?â
YN heard shuffling from the other side of the door, before it swung open to reveal Mr. Styles stood there with only his trousers on, his suspenders laying vacant by his sides revealing his entire chest to YN. She couldnât help her eyes wander down to his chest, and across his arms.
âMiss. YLN,â He seemed shocked, but there was also a bit of concern laced within his voice, âIs everything okay?â
âI was just thinking about what you said earlier⊠about what you offered,â She cleared her throat slightly, âAnd I would like to help you, if thereâs truly no other option.â
âYN,â It was the first time that he had used her name since she joined him. YN didnât even know what Mr. Stylesâ first name was â he wrote his books under a pseudonym, âAre you sure that this is what you want?â
âI am,â She nodded her head, âI promise.â
That was all it took for Mr. Styles to lean forward, grasp her head between his hands and place his lips directly on hers. YN was a little shocked by it, seeing as though she had never been kissed before, but the second that his hands slipped into her hair that had dissipated. It didnât take long for her to stumble into his room, where he moved his hands down her body until they were underneath her thighs.
âJump,â YN did as he said, the words that she seemed to understand when he mumbled them against her lips.
With a swift move, Mr. Styles had his hands underneath her thighs and her legs wrapped around his waist. He pushed his door closed behind and walked her towards his bed. This wasnât the first time that YN had been in Mr. Styles room but kissing him whilst having her legs wrapped around his waist in only her slip was certainly a different experience then cleaning the room.
Mr. Styles placed YN down on the bed with such ease and light touch that shocked YN if she was completely honest. She was nervous, and truly didnât know what to expect from this but so far nothing was making her feel too scared.
âAre you still sure about this, YN?â
When he mumbled that against her lips, she didnât know what to do so she just nodded her head and mumbled a, âYes,â against his lips.
Mr. Stylesâ soft lips removed from yours and started to move down the soft skin of her neck, and every once in a while, she could feel his teeth scratching against the skin and also his tongue grazing every once in a while.
He continued planting kisses down her body, across each part of her skin even over her slip. As he continued moving further down her body, he used his hands to push her slip up. It was almost as though he was asking permission to push it further up and reveal herself to him. With one quick nod of her head, he was doing just that, pushing it up until he was face to face with her. It was the first time that anybody had seen her pussy, and there was no time in her brain for her to be scandalised by the thought.
âAre you okay up there?â He asked, moving his hands lightly up and down her thighs.
âYes, sir,â She nodded her head, âJust⊠Iâve never felt like this before.â
âI know you havenât,â He smiles and places a few kisses along the soft skin of her thighs, âIâm going to start now.â
It only started at first with a soft kiss around where YN needed it the most. It felt as though your entire body was going to combust at any moment, and that Mr. Styles certainly knew what he was doing as she was completely dripping for him. She wouldnât be surprised if she had dripped right onto the bed beneath him.
Within one blink of her eyes, he was kissing directly on her clit. It was a sensation that sheâd never felt before, and she didnât know whether sheâd feel it again. He then moves from kissing to licking right up and down her slit, collecting her arousal before bringing it up to circle her sensitive clit.
âOh, Mr Styles!â
âHarry,â He mumbles against her, sending shivers all the way down her spine, âMânames Harry, say my name.â
âHarry!â It was the first time that he had told her his name, and now that she knew it, she didnât know if she would every stop saying it.
He smiles against her before continuing to pleasure her. The feeling of his tongue against her pussy had her almost panting. The fact that he knew how to add the exact pressure onto her clit that have her squirming and moaning his name was unbeknownst to her, but he did. Every small sound that she made had him grinning against her, and he must have been enjoying himself them.
He changes from rhymical laps to her clit to teasing it with the tip of his tongue. It was only when he started to gently suck on it that she started to feel a tightening in her stomach. YNâs legs started to shake, and her breath got caught in her throat.
Harry can tell that YN is getting closer and closer, and knowing that he brings fingers under his mouth until he can sink one of them inside of her. It was almost instantly that she started clenching around his finger. YN immediately reaches out and grabs the blanket that screwed up on the bed behind her. When Harry notices, he immediately reaches out his free hand for her to take â which she does with a lasting squeeze. The intimacy of holding Harryâs hand whilst he does this to her is something that sheâll never forget. The squeeze that YN has on his hand is something that keeps her feeling slightly grounded even though she feels as though sheâs truly only a second away from exploding.
Harry pushes another finger inside of her and starts to thrust them in and out of her pussy, coaxing something from the pit of her stomach that she had never felt before in her life. It was as though YN could see stars, and as though she could feel everything on her body more and more. YN can feel just how firm his tongue is, every ridge of it and how warm it is. The feeling to YN was indescribable to her, but yet she had read a scene within one of Harryâs own books that describes it. The only thing that YN could say is that the books definitely do not do the feelings justice.
âHarryâŠâ YN started to squeeze his hand tighter, as she was worked closer and closer to a point that she had never felt before, âHarry, its ââ
âI know, love,â He mumbles against her, âJust feel it.â
Seconds later, YN does just that. The feeling of her orgasm on Harryâs fingers and tongue was something that had her mouth opening, her eyes falling shut and her back arching. He doesnât stop as she reaches that point, he continues working his fingers and his tongue and bringing her past that point.
Once she was coming down from her high, he doesnât stop his fingers all together just slows them down until she pushes him away due to the sensitivity that she was feeling. He laughed and moved further up until he could kiss her again. Her entire body felt numb, but the second she felt his lips on hers she was brought back down to reality and to the feeling of what had just happened.
Once her breathing calmed down, Harry dropped beside on her on the bed on his back. His chest seemingly seemed back to normal as well. YN didnât know what to say, and she didnât even know what to think. For some reason, not knowing what to do she couldnât help but laugh.
âWhat?â Mr. Styles said, and she could hear the smile on his face.
âNothing, Mr. Styles.â
âWhat did I say?â She turns to look at him, and he looks at her too, âMy names Harry.â
âNothing, Harry.â
âYouâre cooking something up in that head of yours.â
âNo,â YN shakes her head, âNo, Iâm not.â
âYes. Yes, you are.â
The only sound that can be heard is YNâs laughter as Harry starts to kiss her neck again. Â
YN had spent the last week or so splitting her time up between cleaning and cooking, editing what Mr. Styles was writing and laying between the sheets of Mr. Stylesâ bed. It certainly wasnât a conventional way of living, but YN had never been happier. It was the same for Harry, YN thought. In the few months that she had been with Mr. Styles, she hadnât seen him as happy as he was now.
Before, he normally kept himself hidden within his office, only ever coming out when it was absolutely necessary that he did. But now, he was always coming out of his office to find her, kissing her and touching her in ways that she craved for more.
The first time that they had sex was a few days ago now, and YN hadnât wanted to stop. They had been doing it all over the house, in the kitchen, on Harryâs desk, on the dining table and even on the stairs (even though YN would never admit it.) There was even the one time that they did it under the tree that YN had become very fond of in the course of her employment, and Mr. Towers walked around the corner and received the shock of his life. YN didnât speak to Harry for a few hours, but when he started to attack her neck whilst she was making his dinner, she had no choice but to talk to him.
YN had been planning this for the past day now, and now that he was working in his office, she saw it as the perfect opportunity. It was taking a lot of courage for her to do this, but she knew that she had to do it â for the sake of the book that was.
YN walked up the stairs towards Mr. Stylesâ office with purpose, and when she reached his door, she didnât knock she just walked in. He was sat at his desk (like he always was) with a piece of paper in his hands, obviously reading through something that he had written. At the disturbance of YN walking in, he looked up and at the sight of her just in her slip he couldnât help the smile at her.
âIs it night-time already?â Unable to stop himself from poking at least a little fun at her.
âNo, itâs not,â YN shut the door behind her and started making her way towards him at his desk, âBut it is time for something.â
âWhat is it time for?â He leant back in his chair, allowing for space for her to drop down onto her knees in front of him.
âDo you remember when you first proposed this?â He nodded his head, pretending not to be distracted by her hands working the button on his trousers, âDo you remember what you didnât know? And what you wanted to know?â
He nodded his head, not being able to think of anything to say as she wrapped her hand around him.
âHow would a woman take control?â She teased, running her finger across his tip, âWhat she would do? And what she would say?â
He moved his hands down, attempting to thread them through her hair.
She tutted and shook her head, âNo. Hands by your side.â
He did what she asked, and she decided to finally stop teasing him. She started by just a few kitten lips to his tip, before placing her whole mouth around him. His eyes fluttered shut as she started to take more and more of him in her mouth. Her other hand was cupping his balls, massaging them gently.
âFuck, YN,â The explicit word just slips out of his mouth, his body completely overridden by the pleasure he was feeling, âYou feel so good.â
His hands were gripping the side of the chair he was sat in, so hard that his knuckles were turning white. His breathing was becoming more and more shallow, and she knew exactly what was coming next. This caused her to pull away and for him to moan at the loss of her lips around him.
âNot yet,â She shakes her head and stands up, pulling up her slip until she was bare for him. There were few things that could get her dripping like Harry does, âI didnât say you could, did I?â
âYN!â His hands come to grasp her hips as she stands up, straddling his waist and lining herself up with him. He watches down between them in anticipation as she sinks down onto him. One of her hands lifts up to grasp her neck, squeezing lightly as she leans down to kiss him. Once he was comfortably inside of her, she started to grind her lips on him.
âJesus, YN,â He whispered against her lips.
âFeel good?â
Harry opens his mouth to speak, but the only thing that comes out of his lips are another moan. YN continues to lift her hips and drops them back down on him, allowing her head to rest on his shoulders as she does so.
âDo you want to touch me, Harry?â She asks, leaning forward to catch his ear between her teeth.
âPlease,â Harry almost begs her to let him touch her, all he wanted to do was touch her and take over.
âWell, I have not decided that you can yet,â YN continues to bounce, leaning back slightly. Her breasts bounce as she moves, and Harry wants to do nothing more than to reach out and touch or take them between his lips.
âYN,â Harry whines, âPlease let me touch you, please let me kiss you. Let me take control.â
âNo, did you not hear me?â YN continued to bounce up and down, bringing the both of them closer and closer, âYou wanted it from my perspective, and that is what youâre getting.â
Harry felt as though he was going to combust. The waves of pleasure were coursing through his body, and he felt as though he was going to tipped over the edge at any second. YN knew that she wasnât going to have to make him wait much longer, as she was already feeling her own peak closing in on her.
âAre you close, Harry?â
âYes,â He leans forward to capture her lips on his again, âPlease, are you darling?â
âI am.â
âDonât stop, darling.â
âI am not going to stop, Harry, donât worry.â
The second YN reaches her peak, Harry does too, and he spills inside of her. YN takes one look at him, with his eyes closed and his head tipped back, hair all over. YN couldnât help but smile at him, pushing his hair back off his face. Once he opens his eyes he has the biggest grin on his face, and YN canât help but kiss it off him.
âWas that, okay?â YN mumbles against his lips, and he grins again.
âOkay?â He laughs and pulls her closer, âThat was more than okay.â
One Year Later
âYN!â The door slammed shut not that long after the call of her name. She had been sat in the parlour, curled up with a book but at the sound of Harry entering the house. He had left earlier that morning to go into the city centre and YN hadnât been expecting him back for a while, so she was shocked when he walked through the door.
âIn here!â She closed the book that she was reading (not one of Harryâs which may come as a shock).
Harry came bursting through the door of the parlour with the biggest grin on his face that YN had ever seen. He was obviously hiding something behind his back, and YN was positive that she knew what that was.
âItâs ready!â Harry exclaimed, showing her that it was a book that he had been concealing behind his back, âAfter one long year itâs finally done!â
He walked towards her and sat down next to her on the lounger, passing the book to her so that she could see. Once she had the emerald, green covered book with the gold lettering with the title and the name in gold embossed lettering, YN honestly felt as though she could cry. They had put blood, sweat and tears into for over the past year. But then again, lately anything was making her cry.
âOh, Harry,â Her eyes did start to water up as he wrapped his arm around her, pulling him closer to her chest, âItâs beautiful.â
âIt is,â He places a kiss against her cheek, and she leans into his touch, âI want you to open it. Look on the inside.â
YN opened to the first page, where she saw that there was a dedication page.
To the person that showed me what Desire is,
this is for you, my Mrs. Scott.
âOh, Harry,â That was it, the tears had truly started to fall down YNâs cheeks now and there was no stopping them, âI love it.â
âI know that itâs a shame that we couldnât write Mrs. Styles, but for the sake of the book you are my Mrs. Scott.â
âAnd youâre my Mr. Scott.â
YN closed the book and turned her head, pouting her lips for a kiss from her husband. He obviously obliged, not wanting to upset his wife.
âAnd soon weâll have our baby Scott,â Harry smiled against her lips, moving his hand so that it was laid across her protruding stomach.
The pregnancy hadnât been a shock to either of them, especially since they hadnât been careful before they got married, but even more so when they did get married, seeing as though the scandalous part of their relationship had gone.
The most shocking thing that happened was the night that they finished the book completely, it was all written and ready to be sent off and Harry got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. YN was more shocked than she could believe to the point where she pinched herself because she didnât believe it was true. YN never thought that she would even know anyone that she could even see spending the rest of her life with, but Harry was that.
It was a little stressful at first for YN to leave maid mode and move into wife mode but once she fell pregnant it became easier. They also hired a new maid, Dahlia, who came from a very similar situation to YN herself, but she was nice enough and did her job as well as they would like her too.
The thought of Harry even looking at Dahlia the way he had looked at YN hadnât even crossed her mind. The only way that YN could describe Harry since they were married, and even more so when they found out that she was pregnant was that he was completely and utterly armoured by her.
âThis baby is a Styles, Mr. Styles,â YN rolled her eyes at his comment, to which he laughed at her, âThis baby isnât going anywhere near the books.â
âThat is true,â He nods his head and placed another kiss on her cheek, âYouâre right Mrs. Styles.â
âHave you not noticed that I am rarely wrong?â He laughed and kissed her cheek again.
Even though their relationship came about in a very unconventional (and very scandalous way), YN had never, ever been happier and she had Harry to thank for that â and she would for the rest of her life.
#harry styles fanfiction#harry styles au#harry styles angst#harry styles smut#harry styles fic#harry styles fanfic#harry styles x you#harry styles x reader#harry styles x yn#harry styles one shot#harry styles writing#harry styles fluff#harry styles imagine#harry styles
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( đŹ ) â KNOW ME ; HEESEUNG SHORT FIC
â this liquors got me faded, talking crazy â
ᶻ đ đ° spending a night with your drunk best friend makes you realize you donât know them as well as you think you do. because, if you knew him, you wouldâve known about his feelings for you.
â PAIRING best-friend!hee x best-friend!fem!reader
â GENRE angst, one sided love (or is it), friends 2 ???
â WARNINGS INSPIRED BY âKNOW MEâ BY DPR LIVE, drinking n hee gets drunk (reader doesnt)
â WORD COUNT 0.8K+ ( 863 )
ᶻ đ đ° hi guys đđ€ back on that angst writing grind (i may or may not have lied) bc i love angst !!! anyways i love love love know me by dpr live đ
Heeseung had a particularly stressful day, prompting him to drown his worries in alcohol during your planned hangout. You've observed his increasing tension over the past few days, leading to the drinking session. Hesitant to pry, you intervened as he reached for another shot, expressing concern about his consumption. "Isn't this your fourth bottle? That seems like quite a lot, don't you think?"
"No, it isn't," he hiccupped, attempting to retrieve the bottle as you evaded his grasp.
"You don't have a high alcohol tolerance, Hee," you chuckled, observing him rest his head on the table. Concerned, you asked, "What's been bothering you lately? Is it work?"
âDo you really think itâs because of work?â Heeseung raised his head, glasses slipping down, purple hair almost covering his eyes. With a flushed face, he maintained intense eye contact. Confused, you responded, "Huh?"
"Do you trust what I say?" he slurred, the effects of alcohol evident in his words.
"Of course I doâwhy wouldn't I?" you reassured.
"Maybe you shouldn't," he mumbled. Perplexed, you asked, "Hee, what are you saying?"
"How much do you think you know about me?" he posed a sudden question, causing you to pause. âDo you even know me?â
"I think I know a lot. I know of your favorite drink, our favorite show, your ice cream orderâeverything I should know. What don't I know?" you responded.
"How much I think and stress about you. How I look at you, how I take care of you, how I pay so much attention to youâŠIf you knew meâyouâd know that too." he admitted, slumping back against the wall and closing his eyes. Stunned by the unexpected confession, you froze. "I don't... I don't understand what you mean by that."
"I worry about us, mainly I worry about myself. Why? Because you're all I think about," he continued, his honesty cutting through the room. You listened, sensing the urgency of what he needed to let out of his chest.
Heeseung took a deep breath, grappling with the unspoken. Feeling his eyelids droop, he still continues on. "There are things I've never shared, thoughts that consume me. I know we promised to be there for each other when we needed anything, and I'm sorry for breaking it. But, I really couldn't find a way to tell you this. I need you to understand that I've tried my best to ignore these feelings, but I can't."
Opening his eyes, he held your gaze. "I think I like you, YN." The revelation hung in the air, leaving the room charged with unspoken emotions.
âYou like me?â
âYeah. I fell deep. I fell for everything about youâyour smile, your jokes, your calmness, everything. Youâre practically perfect. JustâŠjust give me a chance you love you right.â
Heeseung's revelation weighed heavily on you, rendering you momentarily speechless. His intense gaze held yours, making it challenging to find the right words. After a gulp, you broke eye contact and finally uttered, "Wow, Hee... I'm at a loss for words. I donât even know what to say." The room resonated with the gravity of unspoken emotions, and uncertainty hung thick in the air.
"What do you mean?" Heeseung wore a confused expression, not expecting this response. This was not like those sweet drunken confessionsâhad he perhaps drunk too much? You intervened, cutting through his thoughts.
"I really appreciate that you are being honest with meâand I wish you wouldâve told me sooner," you expressed, your eyes slightly glimmering, your stomach tying itself into knots. Was he going to get the answer he yearned for?
"Because?" Heeseung slurred, staring at you, hopeful for those sweet words. A heavy silence descended upon the room, carrying the weight of unspoken feelings and the acknowledgment of a friendship forever altered.
"But Hee, you know I can't love you back," you whispered, the truth hanging heavily in the air.
Heeseung froze. "Oh." The disappointment in his voice echoed through the room, marking the poignant end of a hope that had lingered in the unspoken spaces between you. He was just confused. What did you both know?
Heeseung never wanted to be pushy, but the words eventually spilled out. "Did youâŠfind someone better? Or donât feel the same wayâŠ?" He just wanted closure.
"Heeseung, you're drunk," you frowned slightly, a sad glint in your eyes that couldn't go unnoticed.
"So?" he hiccuped.
"Iâll...Iâll tell you later, yeah? Letâs just get you home." As you were about to get up, Heeseung's shoulders slumped as he sighed, a sense of disappointment and vulnerability washing over him. "I just needed to be honest with you, YN...so why canât you be honest with me?â
"I'm glad you're honest with meâŠ" you said as you put his coat onto him, watching him look up at you as you did so. âAnd I canât tell you right now. You justâyou just deserve way better.â
"So youâre telling me that I'll just have to find someone who will love me like I do for you, right?" Heeseung managed a faint smile, though sadness lingered in his eyes. âIf thatâs what you want.â
"I'm sorry, Heeseung," you apologized, the weight of the moment palpable. Your vision was slightly getting blurrier by the second. "I really am."
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Bucket Time Trafalgar LawxReader
Reader eats too much brownie batter and suffers. Inspired by me at least once a week :). Keep in mind this is not proof read and its literally the first forethoughts that belched from my brain rot of this concept so take it easy if there are grammatical errors, please. Might upload an edited 3rd draft once I get there but for now enjoy this fluffy slice of doctor Law taking care of his sweet tooth crewmate. Fluff and some angst if you squint.
TW: Mentions of vomit, hypersensitivity.
âWhat did I say about consuming raw brownie batter?â Your captain growled, your locks in hand as you wretched into your bucket for the fifth time tonight.
 âNot to eat it in copious amounts..â you whine, giving him your best puppy eyes in hopes of some sort of appeasement.
 âNo I said donât eat it at all.â
 âBut-â youâre caught off guard by another wave of nausea, dipping your head back over your bucket and spilling your guts. As irritated as your captain is, he can't help but feel a swell of pity about your predicament. You always licked some of the brownie batter from the bowl on baking day despite his strict orders not to but Shachi and Penguin had dared you to down the entire thing. Youâd done it in 60 seconds.
 That had been the beginning of the end of your wellness.
 âS-sorry,â you sniff, tears slipping from the mere action of relieving your stomach, grabbing for the clean cloth on the sink to wipe your mouth. âWont do it again.â You mutter weakly, head nearly drooping from tired yet Law knows one thing and that is that your sweet tooth always makes you a liar.
 Once your fever goes down and he discharged you to your quarters when next month rolls around youâll forget all about this and indulge once again in the chocolate goodness.
 Itâs too late for another scolding so he chokes back a comment, replacing your bucket with a new one. As the sink rolls on he watches you in his peripheral, barely upright from dehydration and exhaustion. Heâs shocked you havenât dropped by now. Youâve had a fever since 5 o clock when Shachi and Penguin had finally decided to relay your secret sickness to the captain.Â
 Youâd made them promise not to because you looked âgrossâ and smelled bad but it was no worse then what he already was used to. Now it was 1am and you were barely upright, staring off in a daze of impending doom toward your bucket.
 âGo to sleep.â It sounds more like a threat than a suggestion. You huff and squirm.Â
 âIf I fall asleep I might miss the bucket. Iâve never missed the bucket before.â He freezes mid scrub, cranking his head to look at you. Sensing his stare you stare harder at the bucket, trying to ignore the intensity bubbling his steel gaze molten.
 âYour health is not something to make a gamble of,â more than anger is evident in his command, making you shrink. âIf you miss Iâll just clean it up,â he gestures to the cot pulled out in his office for you. âNow sleep.â He gruffs watching you stand and sway out of the bathroom, careful to avoid even a glance his way.
 He relaxes once he thinks heâs won.
 Thatâs until heâs droning through paperwork only to find you wide awake at the crack of dawn, refusing sleep even still. â(Y/N)-ya.â Your eyes snap shut. He stands from his desk.
 âI havenât missed the bucket before, I wonât miss it now!â You levy and thatâs the hump that breaks the camels back. All the worry, stress and disrespect peaks spilling out of Lawâs throat as projectile, emotion and tired clouding the real contents that spew fourth.
 âAre you that naive? Iâm a doctor. Without proper sleep your body wonât properly restore your ATP. Youâll just keep getting worse,â he snaps, hackles raised as you turn up your nose in refusal. âIf youâre really going to act like such a child I may as well drop you off with strawhat-ya! Tell me, is that what you want? You might fit in with the band of idiots..â The tension clenching his chest into what had felt like chronic hypertension eases with his outburst for only a moment.Â
 Thereâs only the brr of the submarine and the shuffle of a body, yours, flipping over to face the wall. Law opens his mouth to take it back but you speak first. âIf that would be easier for you, I accept your decision, captain.â Your body trembles and itâs not from the uptick of waves. Caging a hand over his mouth Law tries to concoct something to salvage his harshness with you. A snore graces your lips and whether artificial or not the doctor decides is best to simply say nothing for now.
â-Â
 Law returns from breakfast to find your cot freshly made and⊠empty. Oh no.Â
 He starts with your bedroom. You hadnât been down for breakfast and he hadnât taken your temperature just yet. Had you seriously left before he could make sure you were okay? No, you were sensitive, a bit silly but you were not an idiot. Not like he had said at all. After checking just about every room the doctor freezes something blatant clicking in his brain. He murmurs a quiet âshamblesâ switching himself with one of Ikkakuâs trinkets only to enter as a closet door slams shut.
 âIkkaku.â The ginger slowly turns her head, face pale as she giggles too much. He doesnât need to say anything because he scanned the room the minute heâd switched. Youâd been found a while ago.
 âH-hey captain, what are you doing in here?â He almost states his business fully but the only worry on his crewmates face is for fear of you being found. If you were sick Ikkaku would most definitely rat you out.
 âTell (Y/N)-ya I need to see her in my office when you see her.â He flicks a telling glance toward the closet before hesitantly excusing himself and like clockwork he hears the closet reopen.
 âHe wants to get rid of me. Doesnât he?â He goes frigid at your words. You were notably the most sensitive of your crew members. Emotion and human behavior were your strengths so how could you think such a thing? Nevermind, of course you thought that, youâd thought he implied it last night.
 Law stands outside the door, frog in his throat when you open it. You donât seem shocked that heâs out there but you donât seem happy either, eyes scanning him over for any sense that he had in fact heard your words. âSorry.â You apologize almost instantly, eyes set to the ground in silent shame. There was more color to your face and you smelled like waffles.
 Youâd kept something down, good.
 âRoom.â He murmurs, and you both reappear in his study. You blink off the still heavy nausea and plonk into a chair. He takes your temperature and administers a subcutaneous antibiotic. The silence is loud.
 âI left a note with my vitals for this morning.â He eyes his desk and sure enough thereâs a note written in big letters, âNeed some space. BPM 68âŠ.â He swallows as he reads through your detailed note. You didnât leave a single thing to the imagination because you knew heâd worry. Law nods, then he slides back into his chair.
 âIâm glad youâre feeling better. I know I might now show it but⊠you had me worried.â You nod but do not move, do not even offer a single joke. He feels his heart clench. âDo you remember much?â He offers as a transition, folding his hands together on the table.
 âEverything.â Itâs not an admission but it sure feels like it. His tongue fumbles into knots and you notice. âYou were tired.â You say so quietly, eyes set on the medicine cabinet for comfort instead of him.
 âThatâs no excuse,â he counters just as quickly wanting so badly for you to just look at him, see his side. âYou are not an idiot and you have no place on any other crew.â Your brows pop and you let out a low whistle.
 âThatâs rich.â It almost sounds bitter but thereâs the twitch of a laugh.
 âCare to let me in on the joke?â He inquired cooly, forcing himself not to take it personally, yet. You consider yourself.
 âWell,â you shoot a glance Lawâs way. âI mean it would be great petty revenge to join Luffyâs crew.â Your captain facepalms.
 â(Y/N)-ya-â
 âIf you wanted to visit me Iâd make sure to get real cozy with Luffy so I didnât have to talk to you.â You tease as he snorts. The thought of you and Luffy together gave him a headache, not to mention his stomach soured at the mere idea of you brushing hands and stolen glances at one another.
 âYou hate me that much, huh?â He sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Thereâs quiet.
 âI could say the same thing to you.â You say it so casually he nearly chokes. He looks up to find your teasing feign gone. What was it you had said earlier?
 âHe wants to get rid of me. Doesnât he?â
 âI do not want to get rid of you.â There is conviction and then there is objective fact, this was that. Nothing you could say nor do could change the fact that even though you were sometimes a moron who ate too much brownie batter or an idiot that took bathes with electronics in the tub you were his problem and to be quite frank, his favorite problem.
 Though you were an inconvenience at times you were a comfort to just about everyone on board. You brought a content that hadnât been here in your absence and a space for Law to be palpable despite his hesitancies. Not to mention you always followed through.
 A consistent chaos in a sea of abnormalities.
 âAre you sure?â You murmur, words unsteady as the sea of âwant to saysâ in his head. He nods and reaches onto the desk, open palmed and flicking his pointer. His cheeks heat as you stare at his hand. Then you put a pen where heâs requesting your hand.
 He about deflates.
 âY-yes, Iâm sure.â He puts the pen away when realization his you like a brick.
 âWait-â not wasting another second you take hold of his hand. He clears his throat as you stare at him for confirmation, gifting you a curt nod. Maybe he couldnât say the words but you could read the in betweens.
 âYouâre my problem. Do you understand?â Bravely, he lifts your hand bringing it to his mouth. He hesitates as you gulp, careful only to brush his mouth over a knuckle once he's certain you donât want to protest.
 âY-yes Captain!â You give him some sort of mock salute in the middle of your fluster, bashful as you realize what class of problem you were. He chuckles softly, releasing your hand.
 âThat means no more brownie batter,â he stands at full height, leaning over the desk to take in all your bashful glory. âThat way I can finally taste those beautiful lips of-â Thatâs when Shachi and Penguin burst down the door, parting the anticipatory union and turning you both red with embarrassment.Â
 âToo much cookie dough!â They grovel, sloshing to piles of green much on the floor.
 Itâs bucket time again.
#trafalgar law#law trafalgar x reader#trafalgar law headcanons#one piece imagine#law x reader#law trafalgar#one piece x reader
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