#mmmm parks at midnight

[legendary-pink-dot]

Bush Pilot

Pairing: Francisco "Catfish" Morales x female reader

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Oral sex (f receiving, and lots of it), fingering, semi-public sex, truck backseat shenanigans, seatbelts as restraints, established relationship, fetish/obsession for Frankie's hair, and a bit of masturbation (m)

Word Count: 2.2K

Summary: A drive to an isolated beach to watch the sunrise, some time to kill before dawn, soft aftermarket seatbelts, and Frankie's superior night vision.

Notes: No use of "Y/N". The inspiration for this one came from a line in my fic Airport Pickup. This fic took FOREVER to finish as I've had very limited writing time lately. Hope you enjoy it. All my love to my magic sluts/cheerleaders who don't have to hear my whining about this fic anymore yay: @imalrightllama @basicoccult @exquisiteserotonin @youandmeand5bucks @arcanefox207 @sparklefarts38 @blueheat1-blog1 @redhotkitchen

You wake up to a bump in the road and an indigo sky. Not midnight dark anymore, but not quite twilight yet either. The dashboard clock reads 4:27 AM and you know it's correct because this is Frankie's truck, and everything about it has been meticulously maintained. Its owner is particular that way.

Frankie notices you stir and twines his hand into yours, resting it against your thigh, his fingers squeezing gently. "Hey, perfect timing. Almost there."

"Sorry, fell asleep. I hate mornings." You crack open the passenger window, breathing in the crisp pre-dawn air. A bracing whiff of ocean salt fills your senses as you start to rouse.

"I know. It'll be worth it, cariño, promise. The sunrises are amazing here."

Another 20 minutes on this quiet road -- nobody else out driving at this hour -- until Frankie slowly rolls the truck to a stop and parks. You get out and stretch your tired limbs.

No streetlights here, no moon, and the stars are mostly washed out at this hour, but you can hear the surf just steps away, lightly lapping at a shore that you can't see. You curse your crappy night vision, knowing that Frankie has the edge in seeing through dim lighting, with all the night flying and navigation he's done over his years in the service.

"We still have some time before the sunrise," Frankie says, giving you a hug and feeling you shiver. You sigh into his hug, and he rests his chin on the top of your head for a minute or two. "Come on, let's wait inside. I've got blankets in the back seat."

You both climb into the back seat of the truck, and he unfolds a crazy-looking 1970s-style afghan.

"Where did you get this thing? Standard military issue?"

"Don't be mean," Frankie laughs, wrapping the blanket around you both and snuggling in. "My abuela made it for me a long time ago."

"Does she know it's your truck sex blanket?"

Frankie shuffles closer, sliding a hand up your chest and around your neck to pull your face close. "I've never used it for that." He kisses a whisper against your mouth. "Yet."

As you make out, slow and sweet, Frankie presses you further into the corner of the seat until you feel something dig into your side. It's the shoulder seatbelt and as you push it out of the way, you're surprised at how soft and silky it feels, like some luxury fabric instead of an industrial strip of webbing, and you stroke it with your hand.

"Aftermarket belts," Frankie says, watching you with a pleased expression. "The stock ones were too scratchy and uncomfortable."

"Too scratchy? That sounds like a made-up problem."

Frankie smirks. "I like my passengers to be comfortable." He slides a hand slowly down your body, his knuckles gently tracing your curves, his palm coming to rest over your center, already heated from the make-out session. "Would you like me to make you more comfortable?"

"Mmmm, yes please," you purr, kissing him more forcefully this time, nipping his lips and searching for his tongue with yours. You find it, tangle with it, suck it into your mouth, so focused on the kiss that you don't even notice he's holding your forearm and has gently wrapped the webbing of the shoulder belt around it twice.

He pauses, breaking the kiss and allowing you a second to check what he's doing. "Is this okay?"

"Very okay," you breathe against his mouth, unsure exactly what he'll do to you once you're restrained but eager to find out. He'd discovered early on in your relationship that restraints were something you liked, and he loved to indulge you. "Keep going."

--click--

Frankie smiles as he slots the latch into the seatbelt buckle and locks it into place.

The webbing is soft against your skin, and a little loose when you give it an experimental tug. "Tighter," you rasp, excitement growing fast. He adjusts the tension with the built-in clip until it's perfect for you.

You snake your free hand into his hair, already desperate to touch what you can and desperate to get your mouth on his again. He allows you to tug on his curls as you kiss, but only for a moment. His hand grabs your free forearm, forcefully this time, and pins it to the back of the seat.

"None of that," he tuts gently, wrapping the other side's shoulder belt around it. "We came here to see the sunrise, remember? Don't have much time."

--click--

"But Frankie..." you whine, testing the pull of the seatbelts and finding no slack. "I wanna feel you."

What was the line between obsession and fetish? It was something you often wondered about. His hair, his medium-brown hair that loosely curled and held shimmering flecks of silver, drove you absolutely mad. Every time you met up the very first thing you did was bury your fingers in it, the tips of the curls spiky on your palms, feeding some sort of physiochemical need you couldn't name and didn't really care to. Not being able to sate that need in this moment made you physically ache.

The seatbelt was wrapped around your forearm with the intention to let you slip out of it easily enough if you had to. But did you want to? Cravings are strong, but the deliciousness of prolonging the ache even stronger, and at this moment you don't know which you want more. The anticipation never felt so good.

Frankie senses your turmoil. He sits back and makes eye contact in the growing light, and runs a hand slowly through his hair. He even plumps the curls at his nape and fluffs one long curl that's fallen over his forehead, smiling innocently. You know he can see your fingers twitching. Bastard.

"Something wrong, cariño?" he smirks, and you can't hold back a whimper as you feel yourself clench around absolutely nothing.

"Francisco, you're a fucking menace."

"I know, I know," he soothes. "And you love it, don't you?" He leans forward and shakes his hair right into your face, but before you can swear at him some more, his curls are gently stroking your collarbone that's naked and exposed by your low-cut sundress. You whimper again, this time a pathetically needy sound, and he takes pity on you and caresses his hair over your bound forearms and hands, the ache in your fingers abating from finally, finally reaching some kind of goal.

"There you go, that's it," croons Frankie, kissing your skin swelling out between the webbing, moving down your arm and up to your shoulder. "Just a taste for you. More later. I want mine now."

In a single movement he hikes up the hem of your sundress with one hand and lifts your hip, and slides the other hand down the back of your underwear to pull them down your legs and off. Gripping a bare ankle in each hand, he spreads your legs as wide as he knows is comfortable for you. You feel split open, exposed and excited, and he's barely touched you yet.

The light is so dim that his eyes are in shadow for you, but you know they're wide and dark as his gaze takes you in, his face so close to your center you can feel his breath on your inner thighs.

"Can you see enough to work down there?"

"Of course," says Frankie, sounding almost insulted as he gently shifts your hips to pull you closer to his mouth. "I'm used to flying before sunrise. You know, I can land almost anywhere, in any terrain, because..."

You groan, knowing what's coming. "No, please... no aviation jokes..."

"...I'm a certified bush pilot." He snickers into your thigh, kissing it hard to try to mask his laughter.

"Bush pilot, really? That better not be a complaint about my wild foliage or something."

One of the things he had made clear early in your relationship, in his quiet and unassuming way, was that your grooming habits and preferences were none of his damn business. A refreshing attitude after years of dating men who had lots of unsolicited and unwanted opinions about your pubic hair and how they wanted you to maintain it. As if it existed just for them. Fuck that. Frankie never tried to change you -- he simply adapted to whatever was. One of the reasons why you adored him.

"Oh no, cariño," Frankie's voice drops deep in that way you know he's genuinely serious. "I fucking love your bush." He lowers his face to your mound and gently tugs a few hairs between his teeth. You hiss at the prickly feeling, sharp but not painful, slipping into a loud cry as he dives his tongue deep into your entrance to eagerly prove his point.

You'd never been with someone who loved pussy eating as much as him. Maybe it mirrored your obsession-sorta-fetish for his hair. Impeccable sexual compatibility, you and Frankie.

It's different each time, and this extra-early morning he explores every fold with his tongue, his lips, his teeth, scratching the surfaces and then delving deeper. He doesn't even need to look up at you to know that your eyes are shut despite the dark and that you're lost in feeling.

Every change in your breathing, the tenor and pitch of your sighs and moans, the little wiggle of your hips when his tongue flicks here instead of there. Those are the cues he looks for and the only ones he needs, and he quickly takes you as high as you can go and stays with you all the way back down.

Frankie is relentless, barely giving you time to recover before latching back onto your clit, nudging you past your overstimulation, somehow knowing just how much extra you can take. He always knows.

You barely catch your breath before he's absolutely devouring you again, lightly capturing your folds between his teeth and exploring each one as if he's kissing your mouth for the first time, moving his head to approach your center from every possible angle from his confined position and adjusting his hold on your thighs to match.

He gently slides a thick finger inside you. The stretch is a lot, it always is with him, and he lets you adjust to it before adding a second finger, and presses them as far up as they'll go, his callused fingertips teasing the edge of your most sensitive spot.

Your hips start to move of their own accord but his free hand holds you down as he keeps his fingers inside you right where they are, demanding you concentrate on feeling the pressure and stretch instead of seeking motion.

From above he almost chews on your clit, which you never considered to be a thing you'd like but you are suddenly now forever feral for, and you wiggle your hips as much as you can, desperate to get him exactly where you need him most, giving only one fleeting thought to anyone else parked at the end of this road who might be hearing your loud moans right now.

With his tongue and his fingers he holds you in that sweet limbo state, your conscious mind wanting it to go on forever but your body craving release. You can't choose which one you want more, until you see the first rays of the sun peek out over the horizon and it distracts your mind just enough for your body to fall over the crest again, louder and more intense this time, gushing and squeezing and fluttering around his fingers until he slowly pulls them out.

You were so blissed out that you never noticed Frankie had been pressing and rubbing his crotch against the floor, the seat, whatever he could find while he was eating you out. The back seat of the truck is quickly filling with light and you watch him unzip his jeans just enough to pull out his cock, hard and leaking.

If you weren't so zoned out, if he just gave you a few minutes to recover, you'd be happy to help him, but he's too impatient and fucks his fist with sloppy motions. It's a hypnotic sight, the pinkish tip peeking out between his thick fingers and then disappearing for a second in a desperate rhythm, and you slide your hands free from the seatbelts just in time to grab his hair and give the curls a hard pull, seconds before he comes in hot spurts across your thighs and swollen cunt, choking out a cry that again made you glad he had brought you to this beach so early in the day.

Thankfully, he didn't get any on the blanket. You shake it out and wrap it around both of you as he snuggles up beside you on the seat.

"Good?"

"Good. Very good."

"Yeah."

Your breaths gradually slow as you watch the fireball in the sky inch higher, your hand mindlessly finding his hair and repeatedly twisting a curl around your finger.

The truck cab finally fills with full daylight, showing you an inviting and isolated strip of beach, and no other vehicles. Frankie was right -- it was worth getting up early for this sunrise. And it was amazing.

"Frankie?"

"Mmmmm?"

"Tell me more about what it takes to be a bush pilot."

[the-golden-comet]

✨OC Questionnaire🪽✨

Thank you very much for tagging me here @theink-stainedfolk ! 💛✨

My questions:

What's something you've always wanted to learn or try but haven't yet?

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be and why?

What's a memory that always makes you smile?

Your questions:

What never fails to make you laugh?

How can you tell if you’ll get along with someone?

Do you prefer sweet, savory, sour, or salty snacks?

Tenshi would like to answer these ones ✨

1. What's something you've always wanted to learn or try but haven't yet?

I always wanted to learn to drive! Ita looks soooooo cool in his sports car! But….he looked a little nervous when I brought up the idea….haha. “Let’s start in a parking lot.” He told me. I hope I don’t scare him…..

2. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be and why?

I’d choose to be a human so my brothers would stop hunting me. I love my life on Earth! Ita is so nice; I help him cook, he takes me shopping, we watch movies together (except the scary ones—they make me hide my face in his shirt). It feels so….relaxing….compared to what my role is now. Mmmm….to live a simpler life would be….nice.

What's a memory that always makes you smile?

Anything with Ita~! I’ve made such great memories here on earth that I’m soaking it all up like the sun! —OH! One time, Shito took me to the library and I got to pick out a book, and there was this REALLY fascinating book on Greek Mythology! It was really fun to compare the gods because, well….ANYWAY!! I also like the story of—

Itazura:—settle down, Ten. You’re speaking to the end of your breath again.

I’m going to gently tag (no pressure): @clevah-girlboss , @wyked-ao3 , @tragedycoded , @lychhiker-writes , @rotting-moon-writes , @words-after-midnight , @sableglass , @saturnine-saturneight , @lavender-gloom , @smellyrottentrees , @alinacapellabooks , @drchenquill , @kaylinalexanderbooks , @katenewmanwrites , @finickyfelix , @autism-purgatory , @authorcoledipalo , @differentnighttale , @48lexr , @thecomfywriter , @oliolioxenfreewrites , @the-letterbox-archives , @theaistired , @willtheweaver , @aintgonnatakethis , @jev-urisk , @gioiaalbanoart , @littlepup93 , @jadeglas , @ceph-the-ghost-writer , @mauannacreates , @moltenwrites , @tildeathiwillwrite , @fantasy-things-and-such , @illarian-rambling , @agirlandherquill , @paeliae-occasionally , +open tag! ✨

[madxzxz]

Mmmm mmmm mmmm I got a craving for taco bell breakfast so bad and I satiated it I've been up for like 5billion hours and pretty sure I'm on second wind rn and at midnight I was hungry and was thinkin bout what to eat when nothing open and then I remembered McDonald and was like mmm I could really use three mcchickens and a large fry in my mouth rn and then I never went and then remembered Taco Bell idk why it popped up but I was like mmm mm and then it was 7am and I went and got it and am eating it and during the drive im listening to ahn ye eun sing like a boss like a boss shes so good music so good and when i was going through the drive through I brain farted and forgot what i was gonna order and I was panicking and trying to find it on their menu but couldnt so I was trying to look it up on my phone and was fumbling hard and then I remembered you can just ask them for a second and I was instantly relieved kinda still trying to rush to find a menu but there was like three different ones that were all different and k couldnt find the breakfast so scary so scary but I did it probably gonna crash soon or stay up forever also

What the freaky deaky is this shit that's some crazy ass parking ain't no way please save them

[lizord-lord]

The Words Ring True

(Um so I’ve had the idea for this moment for AGES, it was for an rp I never ended up getting to this point is..but I wrote it and thought I’d post it! So have this little ficlet as proof I can totally write sickly sweet fluff!)

Pairing: Logicality Word count: 1,058 Warnings: Unless you’re allergic to sickening amounts of love and sweetness, none! Song: Love Like You

The Words Ring True

It was a quiet night. Those were the best nights, spent together-just the two of them alone. On this night, Logan had planned a midnight picnic-one Patton had been all too happy to agree to, so here they were. One of the local park’s highest hills, sitting on a checkered blanket with another one wrapped around their shoulders for warmth in the cool air, huddled together as they watched cheesy movies on Logan’s laptop and sipped sparkling cider.

It was a perfect night.

Patton sighed to himself, a soft, sleepy smile on his face as Logan’s thin fingers carded through his curls. He didn’t mind viewing the movie sideways if it meant he could nestle in the lap of his boyfriend of five years. It was warm. The stars twinkled above, like a little spattering of glitter on a velvet blanket just for them.

In the quiet, it felt like the whole world was just for them. The credits rolled, and Patton sat up to stretch and yawn. He rolled his shoulders, gazing out at the dark blobs that made up distant trees.

Then he heard something else play. “If I could, begin to be, half of what you think of me..”

He blinked in surprise-turning to the laptop, sure enough, now playing the ending track of Steven Universe. They hadn’t been watching that. He turned to Logan, tilting his head inquisitively-but before he could speak, the next line played..and Logan’s voice joined it.

“I could do about anything..I could even learn how to love..”

The stars reflected in Patton’s eyes as they locked onto Logan. His head slightly bowed, dark brown bangs slightly falling in his face, pale and tinged slightly blue from the light of the screen, his soft, inexperienced voice singing along shyly to the tune..Patton found himself captivated. No matter how long he’d known Logan, he could never cease to be awed by him.

“When I see, the way you act, wondering when I’m coming back, I could do about anything...I could even learn how to love, like you..”

Was-was Logan singing this for him? Oh-oh. Patton felt a warmth blossom in his chest, along with a question. Why? “I always thought I might be bad, now I’m sure that it's true, ‘cause I think you’re so good, and I’m nothing like you..”

“Look at you go, I just adore you, I wish that I knew, what makes you think I'm so special..”

“If I could begin to do, something that does right by you, I would do about anything...I would even learn how to love..”

“When I see the way you look, shaken by how long it took, I could do about anything”

“I could even learn how to love…. like you”

“Love me like you..”

Patton felt a cool hand close around his own-and he nearly jolted, blinking away the few tears gathered on his lashes. He knew it was just the lyrics, but they sounded so personal..so much like Logan meant them.

He didn’t have time to process all the emotions. Not the happiness, not the amazement, not the twinge of sorrow-

He didn’t even process the feeling of Logan’s hand leaving, until he realized there was still another weight.

He didn’t process what the small box could mean until he snapped it open.

He didn’t process anything after that.

“Patton-” he heard his boyfriend begin, “I-I’m not the best with gestures..”

Logan rubbed the back of his neck, briefly glancing away, then took a breath. And continued. “I thought..I thought you’d like something-something emotional. I wouldn’t think of the words so I used someone else’s..but to put in some of my own..I-I love you. And I want to stay with you. You...well you taught me how to love.”

A soft laugh echoed through the quiet air.

“You’ve taught me so much..things I didn’t even know I should learn. Things I thought I never would. You’ve shown me worlds, you haven’t just changed my life you changed me..quite for the better, I believe. I never thought being curled up with someone else dripping ice cream with about five times more sprinkles than is practical on the couch and watching Teen Titans would be the best part of my day..but you come along and now it is. You..You make me happy, Patton. Happy, exasperated, sad, and I can’t live without it. I-I would like to not live without it. So...if you’ll have me..”

Patton didn’t answer. He couldn’t. He couldn’t do anything but stare at the contents of the box-the silver ring, bands of delicate metal twisting around each other like thin vines, a single blue topaz set in the center and surrounded by tiny glittering diamonds.

He couldn’t do anything but be struck silent by Logan’s words-by everything. By the feelings, swarming around and inside him, warmth and electricity and a light fog. Like he was floating. Like this wasn’t real. Could this really be happening?

But it was. And it was only after his three minutes of silence had passed-and he felt Logan tense against his side, beginning to mutter out an apology, did Patton break from his spell.

He gripped the box in his hand and turned-not even saying a single word before launching himself into Logan’s arms, pressing a long, deep kiss to his lips. He didn’t break it for another minute. And after that he felt laughter bubbling up in his throat, as a shocked Logan tried to keep himself from toppling over backward as his smaller boyfriend pressed little kisses onto his nose, his cheeks, his forehead. Only when he was totally out of breath did Patton stop, holding Logan tight in his arms before giving him a smile that glowed like the sun. “Oh my god, Logan, yes yes a million bazillion times yes!!!”

And it was Logan’s turn to freeze- then laugh. To grip his fiancé tight in his arms, to never let go because now he didn’t have to. To fall over from the weight of Patton’s joyful kiss. To smile so wide he felt like his face might split in two, to lie there on the cool grass.

Just the two of them, under the stars.

And it would be so forever.

This was an unforgettable night.

By the way, here is the ring Logan got Patton

Tags: @pastel-patton123 @chinesewaffles2 @whatwashernameagain @em-be-lievable and screw it I’m also tagging @patton-croc-agenda @why-things-go-boom @the-incedible-sulk

[shieldworn]

steve’s a big romantic sap and if you’re in a relationship with him come new years, you’d better believe he’s stealing you away to a pretty, secluded spot when the new year comes in and giving a long, romantic, sappy kiss that brings in the new year. he’s big on tradition, okay. 

[helianskies]

Spain/Ireland

Spain/Scotland 👀

Spain/Ned

cake cake you're feeding me,, FEEDING ME

look,,,, look who doesn't appreciate a ship with historical connotations? the catholic babes, bless their hearts! i think they're sweet, it's easy to picture them out in nature, hiking together or even just going on a simple park walk. it's peaceful, serene. a trip to visit the vatican together would not go amiss huh? tho, i guess in nationverse the historical nature of the ship gives way to the h/c, and the fwb vibes (friends to lovers, anyone??.. but in other au's all i want is fluff for them. soft. they meet while walking dogs in the park. "fancy a drink?" "what, coffee?" "or something stronger. i know that feeling" oh god help im already making up au's sTOP

oh me oh my i just,, it's a lil' rough around the edges, i'm sure it takes them a while to find a rhythm, but i can see it. the trouble is, i do prefer them both other people. and now that i say that.. scotfraspa?? um hello??? but still, i think theyd get on well as friends more than anything else. lazy beer in a bar, stumbling back from the pub, midnight strolls, sharing cigarettes... i just think their minds and souls are a little too different to be serious lovers.

I LOVE IT IT'S GRITTY IT'S DANGEROUS IT'S CONFUSING DO THEY LOVE EACH OTHER OR HATE EACH OTHER WHO KNOWS?????? well i know and the fact of the matter is... nationverse will forever complicate a ship BUT in au's i am very much open to it, and it was in fact one of my early ships (though ive never shared anything i wrote for them). they don't refer to each other as "partners" even if it seems they're dating. they're "just peers". "acquaintances" even. so.. early mornings, bitter coffee, and an intimate breakfast in bed. kissing one second, maiming each other the next. carnal. mmmm. i want more.

[bunny-hoodlum]

Asynchronous With You: Ch 5

ship: naruhina

rating: teen (maybe mature later)

tags: Modern Day AU, Foster Siblings, Family, Angst, Unrequited Love, Poor Communication/Noncommunication, Found Family

summary: An awkward journey full of self-denial and missed moments between two foster siblings. Perhaps their love will find the right timing someday.

Neji met them outside the dorm gates. As generous as his dorm-mate Lee was, he couldn't ask him to step out for their sake.

They followed Neji to a nearby linear park that segregated the school grounds from the business park on the other side. It felt like a glass-less greenhouse, with polished granite beneath their feet and a vine-carpeted roof overhead. The benches were slabs of granite, as were the other fixtures, like an orb fountain in the center, with flawless skin of water running over its surface. The full trees muffled the night, with its crickets and distant chugging cars. The gentle, steady trickle contrasted against their footsteps, like two off-tempo drums and hers a mournful castanet.

Now that they were finally here, she was beginning to lose her nerve, she was forgetting what she had to complain about.

All that mattered was that she was healthy, right? All that mattered was that they were actually taking good care of her.

But the last thing she said to her, telling her to go home, saying that at least one of them should be loved by their parents, it began to eat at Hinata.

Could it be that she doesn't have any love to come home to?

Like resonance, her soul trembled and her ribs ached. The heel of her palm pressed against the skin between her wet eyes.

"I've become like them. I messed up."

The bench caught her before she could sink down to the ground.

"What're you talking about?" came Naruto's voice, barely reaching her ears.

"You mean Aunt and Uncle?"

Hinata nodded.

"What??" Naruto smacked his forehead rather hard. "How were you supposed to act?! They knew where you were! Nothing was stopping them from taking you guys back--"

"We don't know that." Hinata argued.

"Bullshit!"

"We don't," Her shoulders lifted, turning rigid. "They could barely take care of the two of us. It would've been the same if they had to take care of two daughters--"

"What about visits? What's so hard about keeping in touch?!"

She stayed silent. It wasn't that she hadn't considered that, it was that it was too upsetting to ruminate on any deeper.

"Ten years, Hinata. They had to have lied to her, right? Raised her believing she was an only child? C'mon, why aren't you angrier about this?!"

She wasn't sure if it was defiance that lifted her chin, but the eyes she chose to meet were Neji's as she implored him join in.

His eyes closed as he released a pensive sigh. "What's she like?"

"Don't change the subject," Naruto snapped. "Hinata needs to vent."

She prodded Neji with her stare. He shook his head.

"Who are you talking about?" Neji punctuated his rhetoric with a sidelong glance, causing Naruto to bristle. "This Hinata?"

"Yeah, this Hinata. Our Hinata. What the fuck, we've shared the same home for ten years! Hinata! You vent! You vented the other month about your-your shirt!" His face reddened as he brought up, perhaps, the worst example he possibly could.

"I was in a weird mood," Hinata said quickly, giving Naruto whiplash.

"A--A 'weird' mood?! What, like you just felt like messing with me kind of 'weird'??"

Hinata lamely shrugged her shoulders before curling in on herself like an armadillo. She could only imagine how exponential his irritation was to increase. She should've answered Neji's question right away instead of trying to convey her complaints to Neji, because now they were getting way off topic. Which was ironic for Naruto, who thought Neji was the one diverting attention away from her pain.

Neji pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't know what the story is, and I don't think I want to know."

"Good. 'Cuz I don't want to talk about it." Naruto huffed as he crossed his arms.

Silence lapsed around them. Somehow Hinata was rather surprised their arguing managed to fizzle out on its own and so quickly. The past was almost laughable in how different it was from the present.

'That's right. It's always going to be rocky at first, but it takes time to get used to one another.' This was proof that she and Hanabi could grow into sisters no matter how much time had been lost.

"Her name's Hanabi. Her favorite foods are bananas and milk, and she hates the herb mitsuba. She's cheerful, cheeky, and surprisingly athletic. And... I really want to get to know her better." The tears fell swifter and harder on her lap as she re-conjured the heartbroken betrayal she had put on Hanabi's face.

She really hoped it wasn't too late.

Neji joined her side and rubbed her back, while Naruto kept his distance.

Even though he had been given Neji's explicit blessing years before, somehow it didn't feel appropriate for him to console her too.

Looking at them now, it was like those two had never grown apart, not even a centimeter. And they had been communicating with their eyes, he was sure of it. Speaking around him, because he wasn't actually a part of this.

They're what real siblings look like.

________________________

Taking the midnight train back home, Naruto spent the next thirty minutes absorbed in the things that amused him, from sexy two-minute shorts, to prank compilations and this one guy from Kaminari that totally bites at rapping. Absolutely no one, neither he nor his 745k followers know if he's a comedy channel where he's bad on purpose, or if he's just gotten popular for all the wrong reasons, but watching him never fails to inspire a deep gut-laugh from Naruto.

Because he wouldn't be laughing this hard if something was bothering him, especially not a whole host of somethings.

He ignored how arriving at their station didn't feel quite right, how following Hinata didn't feel normal.

He was surprised when she finally started talking to him, yet the weariness her voice instilled was not lost on him.

"Who was the first girl you liked?"

"Hm? Oh, guess that'd be Sakura-chan."

"I see. And how old were you when you knew?"

"Eight, I guess?"

"Eight," The number floated from her mouth in an amazed whisper, "Do you think somebody already likes Hanabi-chan?"

A blond brow perked up. "Is this that protective Onee-san instinct kicking in already?" When she giggled, his heart sank.

"I suppose it is."

And when the silence closed in on him again, he spoke up to keep it going. "Uh, what about you?"

Her steps faltered for a second, then picked up with an exaggerated bounce. "There's someone."

"Still? Like, ongoing?"

"Mmhm."

Naruto blinked rapidly, whiplash striking again. How? How did he not know his sister liked someone? "Since when?"

"Mmmm," She hummed that note a little too long that bordered on mocking him, and he was about to storm on ahead of her, until she said, "Third grade."

"What?!" Ineloquent as that was, he somehow expected her to answer him. He stood there as she traipsed away, waiting until he was finally fed up. "Well, who the fuck is it?!"

"Guess."

He jogged after her. "Kiba?" His mouth soured at the thought.

She crossed her forearms into an 'X', making the buzzer sound in game shows when the contestant got the answer wrong. "Bubuu."

"Shino?" He didn't know what to think about that if it were true. Guess they were both quiet and smart and a little weird. Is that what compatibility looks like?

"Bubuu," she went again.

What other guys was she in contact with?

Shikamaru was a good friend who came over to game sometimes, but he definitely didn't sense anything there. No, no way it could be him. And everyone was pretty sure Sai was asexual.

"Sasuke?" Why not? He was the school heartthrob nine years running. Didn't matter whether Naruto understood the taste of girls or not, they all wanted him. He kinda wishes he noticed sooner now, because he imagining a plain girl like her pining for someone unreachable and he really hates that for her. When she slows to a stop under the streetlamp, he thinks he's finally figured it out, though the truth ended up being really anticlimactic in the end.

She half-turns towards him, her face blank save for the edge of distaste clinging to the corners of her lips and eyes.

"Gross."

He reeled back. "Gross? Whaddya mean gross?" She continued on her way, forcing him to jog after her. "Hey, I can't believe you think he's gross! Are you just being a contrarian?" Her pace picked up faster. "Y'know, like what unpopular girls do when they can't fit in?"And faster. "You really think he's gross?" She was hurrying on ahead and he was trying to catch a glimpse of her face, just a little bit of veracity. "Hinata?!"

They arrived at the steps of their apartment.

"You have until graduation to guess!" She called over her shoulder as she ran ahead, her voice pitching high at the end.

She was upset.

Her footsteps resounded through the corridors like frantic clapping, but he wasn't being congratulated at all.

It was finally apparent to him that he hasn't paid attention to Hinata in a long, long time. That's why Neji was making fun of him.

He took the elevator to their apartment, and when he reached the hole between their bedrooms, he got down on both knees and crouched his spine. They haven't used this in years, he couldn't believe how small they used to be, this hole had to be over three feet from the floor. It was making his back hurt. "Hinata," He bit his tongue with a pause. "What happens if I can't guess by graduation?" Nothing. Just silence. "Hinata? Are you not going to talk to me anymore?"

"Yeah," If a ghost could croak, that's what it sounded like. "If you can't guess by graduation, I'm not going to talk to you anymore."

He palmed the wall as he drew to full height, then stepped away, neither urgency nor insult registering in his chest. He didn't know what was in there. Maybe nothing. He raised his voice a little, just enough so that she could hear.

"I'm going to take this another weird mood of yours, okay? There's no way you really mean that."

Hovering for half a second more, he didn't give her time to respond as he headed for his bed on the opposite side of the room.

Maybe Sakura had the right idea about family. Maybe it's better to just find your own.

________________________

AN: Lel, I totally forgot to add the summary and ratings thing in the last chapter. 😜😅 Hope you liked this one!

[finalgilmoregirl]

new years : 40s!stucky x fem!reader (all platonic) 🤍

a/n: this wasn’t requested but i’ve been thinking about this for a few days and thought i should write it! i hope you enjoy, AND HAPPY LATE NEW YEARS!!!

sorry for any typos, i’m really tired.

—————————————

“you would think since she’s the one always rushing us she’d be ready by now.” bucky grumbled, leaning on your apartments door.

new year’s eve. an exciting time that brings hope of improvement and change in the world. every year for as long as you could remember you’d spent the night with your favorite boys. being friends since childhood, you never went a day without seeing eachother. even when one of your family’s decided to hold a trip, the other two just had to tag along. and tonight was no exception.

“how much longer we got till midnight?” steve asked.

“mmmm....maybe an hour and a half. we should be able to make it.” bucky said, checking his watch.

“i don’t get why we can’t just stay inside and listen to the countdown on the radio. or even go to a bar?” steve complained.

“she said she wanted to feel the new year. which if by feel she means the cold she’s gonna have us freeze to death in? then yeah. i’m definitely feelin’ it.” the older boy shivered.

their attention was turned to the door when they heard the sound of locks being undone, both letting out a sigh of relief. you opened the door, revealing you in your favorite turtleneck and long plaid skirt. your hair and makeup all done up, the smile you had on your face looking straight out of a catalogue.

“you boys ready to go?” you asked them, happy to see them dressed in their best coats with their hair slicked back. you locked your door and adjusted the purse on your shoulder before you began to walk toward the street, until bucky stopped you.

“you forgetting something y/n/n?” he asked, holding your arm. you suddenly felt the harsh cold and realized you forgot your coat.

“oh! right. thanks buck.” you blushed, opening your door again to retrieve your forgotten winter coat.

the boys smiled at your obvious excitement and started to walk away whilst you shut your door again. you quickly caught up and intertwined your arms with theirs as the three of you made your way to the nearest park to watch the fireworks.

the three of you walked in comfortable silence for a few minutes, listening to the sounds coming from different houses and restaurants. steve was the first to talk, turning his head to you and bucky.

“what do you guys want out of the new year?” he asked, curious to hear what his best friends were hoping for.

“that michelle santana lets me take her out. maybe save up to buy a telescope too.” bucky was quick to say. the ridiculous first answer making you and steve burst out laughing.

“oh please james.” you taunted. “it’s supposed to be a resolution not a miracle.” michelle was one of the most well known girls around, and while most would fall at buckys feet given the chance, she just wasn’t interested.

“oh yeah? what’s your answer then?” bucky huffed, offended by your statement.

“i’m going to get my driver’s license so i don’t have to be seen walking around with you clowns.” you sighed, earning a glare from both boys.

“the hell did i do?” steve asked, whipping his head to look straight at you.

“nothing stevie.” you reassured, patting the blonde boy’s face. “it’s this one that kills it for both of you.” you pointed your thumb at bucky.

“oh yeah? with the way you nearly crashed my pa’s old car? you might as well be asking for a miracle too.” bucky snickered, referring to your failed and only other attempt at driving.

you gasped and pushed him away, pulling steve’s arm to walk ahead of him. bucky cackled behind you two and jogged ahead, throwing an arm around your shoulder. “oh c’mon doll you know i’m just teasing.” he kissed your cheek, to which you fake gagged and wiped it away. “i believe in you. i really do.” he said, giving you a soft smile. you turned your head towards steve, who had yet to give his answer.

“what about you steve? what are you hoping for this year?” you asked. he squinted his eyes and looked ahead as he thought.

“well” he began. “as much as this sounds like wishing for a miracle too, i want to get better, maybe even stronger.”

you and bucky smiled at your friends answer. you knew that with his conditions, getting any stronger than he was now was asking for a lot, but that never stopped steve and you both doubted he would stop anytime soon.

the three of you conversed and joked about nonsense for the rest of the walk, and by the time you approached the park there was 45 minutes until 12:00. the park held the other families of the neighborhood. all drinking and dancing while the clock that stood at the church across the street shone bright. you sat down on a nearby bench, hoping to rest your feet before you inevitably had to walk back home. you hummed along to the soft love songs that echoed through the park, shoving your freezing hands in your coat pocket. meanwhile the two boys paced in circles, having their own conversation about god knows what.

a while later, bucky stood in front of you with a hand reaching out. you raised an eyebrow as your gaze flickered from his hand to his face.

“c’mon doll. dance with me.” he smirked. dream a little dream of me was playing, a song he knew you wouldn’t be able to resist, the slow song being probably your favorite in the world. you gave him a smile and took hold of his hand, him pulling you up and steve taking your place on the bench. bucky held your waist close with one hand, while his other held yours. you placed your empty arm around his neck and rested your head on his chest, swaying along to the music, letting bucky lead. you loved bucky for a lot of things, but one of your favorites was how much of a great dance partner he was, you swore he could be a professional.

the hand bucky held on your waist slowly began to creep down south, which steve was quick to catch. “hey! watch those hands big guy.” he called bucky out, causing you to slap the back of his head. bucky chuckled and retreated his hand back onto your waist, mumbling a “sorry” in between giggles. as the song came to a close and a new one began, you kissed buckys cheek and made your way over to the bench. now it was your turn to offer a hand, but this time to steve. steve simply shook your hand with his and placed it back into his pocket, ignoring your offer.

you rolled your eyes and kept your arm outstretched. “c’mon stevie one dance. please.” you pleaded. steve rarely wanted to dance, you being the only exception a number of times. he was always worried of messing up though you told him that the only way to get better is to slip up a few times and learn. but steve rogers was always known to be a stubborn boy.

he looked at your pleading eyes and knew he wouldn’t stand a chance against them. groaning, he hesitantly took your hand and bit back a smile as you gratefully squealed. steve relaxed once he took note of the slow tempo of the song, glad he wouldn’t have too much trouble with it. he placed his hands where bucky did before and the two of you began your dance. bucky grinned at the sight of his two favorite people.

you leaned your head on steve’s shoulder and quietly sang along to the song that was playing.

never thought that you would be, standing here to close to me

there’s so much i feel that i should say

a beautiful song in your opinion, one you feel you could only understand when you’re around the people you love.

steve, feeling brave, decided to try and spin you. this caught you by suprise but you quickly went with it and the two of you succeeded nonetheless. steve beamed proudly as bucky cheered. “beautiful!”

you laughed, burying your face into steve neck. the song ended way too soon and the two of you sat on the opposite sides on bucky on the bench. you rested your head on his shoulder and reached for his arm to check the time. “how much longer jamie?” you asked. bucky took a look at his watch.

“10 minutes y/n/n.”

you groaned, already wanting the countdown to begin. it was so exciting, not to mention the joy that went through you at the sight of fireworks. the boys quietly laughed at your impatience and began playing some hand game to pass the time.

next thing you knew, five minutes had passed and you shot out of your seat, pulling steve and bucky up and dragging them towards the main street, to get a better view of the commotion bound to happen soon.

“jesus y/n you’re gonna rip my arm off.” you heard steve complain, but you paid no mind and continued marching on. you eventually abruptly stopped at the sidewalk, causing the boys behind you to nearly fall over.

two minutes left on the clock!

“okay.” you turned to the two boys. “who’s going to be my new years kiss?” both their eyes widened at the question. most years, while you three spent the night with eachother, usually found someone before the countdown to kiss. however since it was just the trio of you tonight, you had to compromise.

steve cleared his throught uncomfortably. “kiss? you?”

“yes! i need a new years kiss.” you explained, annoyed at the nervous expression on his face. “oh don’t be like that stevie, i was your first kiss for crying out loud!”

“yeah i suppose.” he shrugged, licking his chapped lips.

“so you’ll do it?” you asked.

“yeah, yeah.” steve nodded.

“hey hey hey what about me?” bucky whined. “i don’t got someone to kiss me.”

“relax. i’ll give you one after.” you told him, turning your attention to the church clock and the crowd that started to form around it as the countdown began.

ten, nine, eight

you reached for their hands, to which they happily accepted.

seven, six, five

you began to bounce in excitement, making your best friends laugh.

four, three, two

you began to join in on the chanting.

one, happy new year!!

you turned to steve and grabbed his face, pulling him into a hard kiss. everyone cheered as the church bells rang and fireworks began to erupt. steve held onto your waist and blushed as you pulled away, looking up to see the colorful sparks in the sky. you then turned to bucky, who was clapping at the view above and you pulled at his collar to give him a kiss as well, to which he quickly reciprocated and tried holding you tight. you pulled away and threw your arms around your favorite boys, bringing them into a group hug.

“i love you idiots.” you told them. they mumbled a couple “love you too”s but the moment was interrupted with the sounds of more fireworks. you stepped back to watch them and at that moment you felt ultimate happiness.

——————————

i really hope you guys enjoyed this :)

[queennsailor]

Philibet Moments from The Windsor Knot

“Morning, Cabbage. Everything under control?’ Sitting at the breakfast table on Thursday morning, Philip looked as if he had never been away. ‘I thought you were arriving this morning.’ ‘Got in last night. Quick dinner with some friends in Bray. God, you look ghastly. Have you been sleeping?’ ‘Yes, thank you.’ She tried to say it crossly, but he had such a grin on his face. There was always the hint of a joke in his eyes, unless he was furious with someone. He was perfectly dressed for the day, as always, in a checked shirt and knotted tie. The radio was on, there was toast on the table again and already it felt as if the place had come back to life. She couldn’t help smiling.

‘Did you bring me the fudge?’

‘Damn. Forgot. Have you seen the pictures of William and Catherine in the papers? Cover to cover, practically. I told William he’d enjoy India. Did you see them at that safari park with the elephants and rhinos? Lucky buggers. Beats sticking medals on breast pockets.’

The Queen refused to rise to the bait. ‘How was the salmon?’

‘Bloody impressive. Caught four. I brought them down with me in an icebox. Thought the chef could do something with them for your birthday.’

‘Thank you.’

‘Mind you, they probably decided the menu six months ago.’

They had.

‘But they can always change it,’ he mused.

‘Mmmm.’

That wasn’t going to happen, but she would think of something. She was really very touched that he had been thinking of her birthday. And that he had thought four large fish an appropriate present – which they absolutely were. Salmon was always being recommended for one’s diet. Good for the brain, apparently. And it was a nice reminder of days out by a fast-flowing river.

Companionable silence reigned for a while, apart from the radio in the background, until he looked up from his toast and said, ‘That bloody Russian. Tom said it was foul play.’

Philip’s equerry, Lieutenant Commander Tom Trender-Watson, was good friends with Sir Simon and usually up to speed on all the details of the castle. He was also reliably discreet, thank goodness.

‘Have they found the bugger that did it yet?’ Philip asked. ‘I haven’t heard anything.’

‘No, they haven’t,’ she said. ‘The Security Service think it was Putin.’

‘What? In person?’

‘No. In the guise of a royal servant.’

‘Bloody idiots.’

‘That’s rather what I thought.’

‘Have you got someone in mind?’

She stared into her tea and sighed. ‘Not exactly. The place was full that night, but I can’t see why anybody here would want to kill him.’

‘Half the ladies would have wanted quite the opposite, from what I heard.’

‘Mmmm. Yes.’ She was tempted to tell him about Brodsky’s after-midnight shenanigans with the architect, but she knew he would love the story and share it widely[…]”

Excerpt From: SJ Bennett. “The Windsor Knot”. Page 165-168.

[jungjaehyunnies]

broken promises; j.jh

☆ summary: nobody ever told you that falling out of love was just as easy as falling in love. ☆ genre: fluff, angst, slight smut ☆ warnings: mentions of alcohol, swearing, sex ☆ word count: 3.3k+ ☆ note: happy birthday to my favourite person in the world c: this is also my first nct fic :o <333

The first time you recalled feeling your heart jumping out of your ribcage was the fourth time you met him.

You and Jaehyun only ever interacted through Mark, your high school acquaintance turned closest college friend and Jaehyun’s basketball teammate. With conversations limited to polite nods and smiles and small talk before one of you would walk away to class, he rarely crossed your mind.

That was, until you’d stayed out late studying in the library one night and came across Mark and Jaehyun practicing at the basketball court halfway to your dorm. And Jaehyun was sweaty… but hot and sleeveless. And when Mark convinced you to stay back an extra twenty minutes for them to finish up so that you wouldn’t need to walk across the dark campus alone, you’d perhaps spent too much ogling at how his biceps flexed with each movement he made, whether he was attempting to shoot or defending himself.    

You couldn’t quite remember how Mark had been able to convince you to join him in a small match against Jaehyun (two vs. one because he had the height advantage amongst you three); it was something to do with Jaehyun apparently being a competitive asshole who absolutely needed to prove that he was better than both you and Mark playing together.

Oh yeah, he was definitely competitive, you realised within thirty seconds when you were bulldozed onto the ground by a heavy weight and you fell straight onto your ass, pain shooting up your spine.

You fell just a little bit in love when he held your hand to pull you back up to your feet, with soft, apologetic eyes that seemed to pierce through your soul and a promise to make it (‘it’ being your bruised tailbone) up to you some time within the next week or so. 

The next time it happened was when he held true to his promise and took you to a twenty-four hour coffee shop just outside of campus, purchasing you the biggest cup of coffee they offered as well as a slice of strawberry cheesecake and keeping you company for seven hours.

Exam season was around the corner, and you were both stressed. You were ready to pull your hair out. Studying had become a chore, but you just needed to manage for another two weeks.

Jaehyun didn’t seem to mind though. He picked up on your small signs and studied quietly with you, only taking the occasional break to ask if you wanted some more cake or coffee, or to make small talk and discuss briefly about your classes. Neither of you took the same classes, but you took comfort in the fact that you both tried to help each other where possible. 

By the time it was past midnight, you could tell he was tired of studying. You didn’t miss the way his eyes flickered constantly around the café, how he started dozing off every few minutes before blinking his eyes open, and how his handwriting had become sloppier with each line.

Despite that, he kept you company and walked you back to your dorm.

“You really didn’t need to walk me back,” you said. Although you were very grateful he had done so, you felt guilty for taking up his time when he was clearly ready to knock out. “I feel bad now though, do you live close by, at least?”

“It’s fine,” Jaehyun responded, lips pressed into a cute, closed-mouth smile that made you want to squish his peachy cheeks. His ears were tinted red, he glanced at you shyly and admitted, “I actually live in the dorm near the café. Same building as Mark.”

That was a twenty-minute walk back.

“But, really, I don’t mind,” he insisted. “This was nice. We should meet up again after exams are over.”

With the promise to meet up again without the need to study, he engulfed you in a hug that filled you with so much warmth, you were sure you’d stopped breathing.

The third time you experienced that feeling, you were both half-drunk at an end-of-exams party.

You may have been half-drunk but you were sober enough to be dragging Mark back to his dorm together. You and Jaehyun had wrapped your arms around the dead weight between the two of you that was struggling to walk in a straight line and ready to pass out.

You groaned as Mark’s knees wobbled and threatened to give out under him.

“I told him to eat dinner properly before the party but he never listens to me,” Jaehyun grumbled, heaving more of Mark’s weight onto his shoulder to relieve you of the pressure. “Fucking dumbass.”

With a huff, you complained right back at Jaehyun, “If you took it easier on us during beer pong, he wouldn’t be dying like this.”

Jaehyun was unbelievably talented at beer pong and had looked way too unbelievably attractive across the table when you three had been playing. It was unfair.

“It’s not my fault you guys suck,” he pouted in response. “Besides, Johnny was the one who made him chug two bottles of soju in a row after beer pong.”

You sighed in defeat. He was right. You’d all lost count of how much Mark had to drink, who was way too desperate and excited to let loose after the stress of exams.

Getting Mark’s keys out of his pockets and into bed took a lot of grumbling, dry heaving and whining before your friend finally knocked out. You watched through tired eyelids that threatened to close shut as Jaehyun placed a few pills and a bottle of water by Mark’s bedside.

He was a sweet friend, and your drunken mind couldn’t help but wonder what he’d be like taking care of someone more than a friend.

“He’s going to feel like shit tomorrow,” Jaehyun spoke softly, as the two of you walked out of Mark’s dorm and closed the door behind him. “And uh…” he trailed off.

“Hm?”

“I don’t want to sound too forward, but you can stay at mine tonight if you want,” he said, all in one breath, words slurring together from the rush. It took you a few seconds to process what he had just said, and when you looked up at him, his ears were tinted pink again.

Cute.

“Only because it’s past two now,” Jaehyun reasoned, “And you look so tired and it’s not safe for you to walk back alone in the dark right now.”

You were hesitant, but ready to take the offer. You were indeed very exhausted, your feet hurt from walking and dancing around in heels all night, and the alcohol (and also dragging Mark here) was draining all the energy out of you.

But… spending the night in Jaehyun’s dorm? Even half-drunk, you knew that was possibly not the best idea.

Gnawing at your bottom lip nervously, you said, “I don’t want to impose though.”

Jaehyun shook his head. “You won’t be,” he responded before offering you a cheeky grin. “Besides, we can wake up Mark tomorrow and make him buy us breakfast for dragging his ass home tonight.”

A giggle escaped from you as you agreed, looking forward to the nagging and teasing you would put Mark through tomorrow morning.

It took a lot of arguing between Jaehyun (who insisted on sleeping on the couch) and yourself (who felt too guilty to allow him to do that after he offered you his shower and clean clothes), before you both settled on his mattress. You promised him that you would pay for his next meal and coffee for letting you stay over for the night.

Just before you dosed off, you felt Jaehyun’s fingers thread through your hair delicately and heard him murmur, “You’re so gorgeous.”

Each time you ended up meeting up with Jaehyun, you found that the two of you continually made promises before each farewell to pay the other back. Walks back to your dorm slowly progressed into lingering touches and attending every one of his basketball games, which then became pet names and stolen kisses between classes and during study dates over the months.

One night, he dragged you to the amusement park a half hour away from campus, promising to win you all the plushies you wanted. His fingers stayed intertwined with yours for the whole night, thumb rubbing circles over the back of your hand whenever you got the slightest bit nervous over a thrilling ride.

You tried not to express your disappointment when he eventually let go of your hand so that he could hold an ice cream cone in one hand and a giant sloth plushie in his other arm. Your disappointment didn’t last long, though, when you eventually found yourself in a small gondola of a ferris wheel that hovered over the pretty night lights, cuddled up in his arms.

“Can I try some of yours?” Jaehyun asked, referring to your half-eaten cookie dough ice cream.

When you nodded absentmindedly and lifted your waffle cone up, you didn’t expect for Jaehyun to press his lips against yours. It took all your self-control to not let go of your cone and to thread your fingers through his fluffy hair as you melted against him.

Just as you were ready to press up closer to him, the cheeky bastard pulled away. Before you could blink, he’d taken a massive bite out of your cone with a grin and said, “Mmmm, yummy.”

“Jae!” you gasped in disbelief. About half the remaining of your cone was gone.

Jaehyun giggled, showing off his dimples, and pecked your lips softly.

“I’ll buy you a whole tub tomorrow, I promise,” he murmured, making it up to you, his nose nudging your cheek. “Happy birthday, baby.”

For someone who had a cute, peachy, dimply face, your boyfriend sure had a body that screamed quite the opposite, and it was still mildly surprising to you after all this time together.

“Mmm, I love you,” Jaehyun murmured, soft lips pressed up against your neck and his hips pressed right up against yours.

A gentle pull at his hair elicited a delightful groan from him as you muttered, “You’re only saying that because your dick is in me right now.”

“Say it back,” he whined in response, the movements of his hips coming to a halt as he tickled your waist. God, he was so needy, but you weren’t going to complain because you secretly loved it. Just not when you were just about to experience a mindblowing orgasm.

You squirmed under his grip, laughing but refusing to give in. “Baaabeeee,” he drawled, “Say you love me back.”

“Maybe I will after you fuck me and make me cum,” you said and wiggled your hips, “Or I’m never saying it back.”

Jaehyun gripped your thigh, lifting your leg around his strong back and you bit back a moan from how wonderful he felt inside of you even with that slight movement. “I can do that,” he murmured, before slanting his lips against yours, tongue delving into your mouth as he slammed back into you and eventually brought you to a delightful state that had you seeing stars.

Another round later, you were too exhausted to do anything but curl up in Jaehyun’s strong arms and seek out his warmth. “I love you a lot,” you mumbled, eyes closing shut, as you kissed his chest. “You’ll wake me up before you go for practice in the morning, right?”

“Of course I will, baby, I promise.”

Those promises were nice, until they became meaningless.

You broke your promises to attend each of his games as your workload picked up over the next semester, and Jaehyun broke his promises of waking you up each morning before he left for practice.

And, both of you eventually broke promises to keep each other around and to love one another forever.

You weren’t sure when the cracks started appearing and when you’d started falling apart, but you guessed it was inevitable to slowly fall out of love at one point, but you hadn’t expected it to happen so fast and so easily.

It started off with less dates and less sleepovers. You could blame that on both of your insane schedules at college, but in the end, despite how busy you were, you knew you both should’ve made time for each other.

Somehow, updating Jaehyun about your days (which weren’t very eventful) suddenly became a chore. You got the feeling that he felt similarly, as he started responding to your texts much later and later, sometimes even a day’s delay between your messages. But, you were too stubborn to let go of what the two of you had.

At one point, you’d realised that the two of you hadn’t even had sex for two months. If Jaehyun wasn’t too tired from basketball or practice, you were too stressed over your studies. Sex used to help you both relieve from your exhaustion and stress on top of showing each other how much you loved each other, but now, it wasn’t even an afterthought.

Stolen kisses between classes eventually stopped too, and your goodbye smiles started feeling more forced and effortful.

Almost out of obligation, the two of you went to a nice restaurant to celebrate your one-year anniversary, and things almost seemed back to normal. Like a spark reignited.

You’d dressed up nicely and he looked as handsome as ever. You were, for once, able to catch up on each other’s busy schedules and enjoyed a meal together finally.

But, eventually, when you found yourself back in his dorm, hands and knees on his mattress, as he pounded into you from behind, you couldn’t help but wonder if the two of you were just using each other at this stage.

No soft ‘I love you’’s or teasing, no alternations between rough and soft sex, and no whispered sweet nothings this time. Just the sounds of panted breaths, skin slapping against skin, and the final moans of release at the end.

Aftercare seemed like a routine, like muscle memory, as the two of you engaged in the same motions you had done so familiarly months ago. 

You and Jaehyun tried cuddling, but eventually you both fell asleep facing away from each other. When you woke up, he had already left for practice.

Weeks of overthinking had you gnawing nervously at your nails, shaking in stress (perhaps that was from your insane caffeine intake too, but you weren’t sure at this point), and pulling at the ends of your hair. 

You hated to admit it, but you knew that it was over. You weren’t stupid. You just didn’t want to let go of it.

You finally broke down to Mark over a tub of cookie dough ice cream. Mark was so panicked and taken aback from seeing you cry out of nowhere as you two walked to the library from your shared class, that he bought you ice cream, bubble tea and three slices of strawberry cheesecake before dragging you to his place.

He offered you his blankets, his hugs and all his snacks, while he shooed his roommate outside the dorm.  

“Do you know what Jaehyun thinks of me?” you mumbled pathetically, shoving another spoonful of ice cream into your mouth.

“Uh, I-“ Mark seemed hesitant to respond. From his curious gaze, you figured that Jaehyun hadn’t spoken to him about whatever relationship problems you guys had. “He’s your boyfriend. He loves you. He’s so in love with you, Y/N.”

No, he’s not.

You stayed silent, too embarrassed to say anything, and curled up under the blanket he’d offered you, staring blankly at his TV screen until you dosed off.

Jaehyun, 11:07pm: We need to talk. Can I come over tonight?

You weren’t sure how long you spent staring at that small notification on your screen, but eventually, you agreed, despite every fibre of your body begging you to respond with ‘no’. Couldn’t you keep him for at least a little bit longer?

You waited anxiously after class, waiting for a knock on your dorm door. That feeling of your heart slamming against your ribcage returned, but it didn’t feel good this time.

It felt heartbreaking, because you knew how this was going to end.

When your boyfriend arrived at past nine, he looked at you with a grim expression that showed he was just as exhausted as you were.

“Mark told me what happened yesterday. I’m really sorry,” Jaehyun said, fiddling with the ends of his sleeves. “He told me to fix this and I am. We should end this.”

Jaehyun looked into your eyes earnestly. “I really love you, Y/N. I really did, you have to believe me, and I do still want to, but I don’t- I don’t know what happened,” he added, voice quivering with the last few words as he reached up to brush a tear away from your cheek. 

He was a soft person, and he tended to cry when others cried as well.

Within seconds, you found yourself back in his warm embrace again, your tears soaking his hoodie while his own ran down his cheeks. You hesitantly brought your arms around his waist. If this was going to be how it ended, you didn’t want to finish this off on bad terms. 

“I know, Jae,” you said, pulling away slightly to look up at him in understanding. “I think we both knew this was coming.”

We were just too cowardly to admit it.

“I’m so sorry. You deserve so much better than me.”

When you tried denying that and shaking your head, Jaehyun placed his hands firmly on your shoulders, eyes red and cheeks puffy as he looked into your eyes. “You are! You’re an amazing person with a beautiful personality, and you’ll find someone better who won’t break their promise of keeping you around forever. They won’t be an idiot like me… and if they are, I’ll beat their ass.”

You couldn’t help but laugh even in this situation. “You’re not an idiot,” you argued weakly, wiping his tears from his cheeks as well. “You were the best boyfriend I could’ve asked for. I just- I don’t know… I don’t know how we got here either. I’m sorry, too.”

Jaehyun managed to crack a smile. “I don’t know either. We’re both idiots,” he said and pulled you in for another warm hug.

It felt comforting this time.

The breath you let out almost felt like one of relief. You’d loved him so much and ended up being so terrified of losing him that you held onto him as your boyfriend, and yet this felt like a weight had been lifted off your shoulders.

“I don’t want to lose you, though,” you admitted. “I’m okay with this but… I don’t think I can lose you.”

Even if you’d fallen in love with him, you weren’t sure you could go around with life without him. He’d wormed his way into your heart and your daily life, and you knew he would be an amazing friend, despite the history. You couldn’t bear to imagine what it would be have a Jaehyun-sized hole in your life from here onwards. 

Jaehyun stayed silent and held onto you for a few more minutes before the two of you let go of each other. He took a step back outside your dorm, as if clearly setting the new boundaries now.

“Let’s take some time apart. I think some space will be good for us,” he suggested, reasonable as ever. With a soft smile that displayed his dimples to you for the last time in a while, Jaehyun added, “We’ll be friends after that, I promise.”

But, promises were made to be broken.  

[lilliannelson]

Midnight Pleasure

Summary: Reader is late night grocery shopping and the certain love interest has an idea.

A/N-This is my first time posting. I haven’t been able to write for years due to life, but I’ve chosen to try to get back into it. I hope this is received well. I will be posting my other story sometime very soon!

Pairing: Henry Cavill x Reader (but I don’t specifically say his name so it can be anyone!)

——————————————————————————

You push the shopping cart down the aisle of the local grocery store, feeling the cool conditioned air graze your skin and listening to the light pop music from the speakers. It's just about midnight and the store is practically empty. You glance down at the handwritten list and find that you've gotten all the necessary items for the next few days. As you turn the corner, you're met with the man of your dreams, intently looking at the milk selection; there must be some sort of way to determine which is the best. You chuckle and push the cart near him, “Excuse me, sir.” He turns to look at you; you've definitely knocked him from his thoughts, “Could you help me? I'm looking for someone.”

“I might be able to assist you. Pray, could you tell me what this someone looks like,” he folds his arms over his chest.

“He's tall, has brown curly hair, blue eyes and a smile that resembles yours.” You grin crookedly.

He acts as if he's gone back into deep thought and then he comes back to Earth, “I think I know where he may be. Shall I escort you?” He walks closer to you. His hand meets yours on the shopping cart rail as he leans forward and presses a delicate kiss to your temple.

“Please, lead the way.” You whisper, your eyes roaming to meet his once more.

He takes over pushing the cart through the store to the check-out line. He grabs a couple bottles of water and places them with the items you both have already placed on the conveyor belt. The cashier rings out your order and on your way to the car, he speaks. “I have an idea.”

“What kind of idea?”

“I don't want to give away too much, but you trust me, right?”

“More than anything. Should I be scared?”

He roars with laughter, “You trust me but still want to know that? I wouldn't lead you astray.”

You laugh timidly, putting the bagged groceries in the trunk. Once the shopping cart is returned to the store, you slide into the passenger side. The vehicle purrs as he puts it in drive and you leave the parking lot.

About 20 minutes into this adventure, you've passed the turn to your apartment and are heading West on the highway. You casually lean onto the center console and press a kiss to his cheek. He sighs contently, reaching his right hand over to take yours. You link your fingers before resting them on your thigh.

“Are we in a 70's or 80's mood?” you scroll your phone's music catalog.

“Surprise me. Whatever mood you are in is fine with me,” he replies. As you turn on the overplayed 70's playlist you discovered a month ago, he starts to laugh, “Perfect choice.”

You glance out the side window as you pass a sign for the big city, wondering where you were being taken to. Suddenly, he turns the vehicle down a vacant dirt road. “Uh, is this someone's driveway?”

“Just wait, love. We're almost there.” He tightens his grip on your hand, rubbing the back of it with his thumb.

After what seems to be another eternity, he parks the car, “We are here.” You look around before getting out, a smile permanently set on your lips. The beach is before you, with the moonlight streaming over the water so fluidly. You look over the roof to look at him and he looks chuffed with himself. “Shall we?”

You nod and run around to meet him. You take off your shoes and place your bare feet in the sand. It's such a refreshing feeling. You look up to him, grabbing his hand and lacing your fingers once again. “I wanted to bring you here for a little unwind. It's been a while since we've done anything spur of the moment like this. I love having adventures with you.”

You don't say anything but stand on your tip toes and kiss him sweetly. His hand snakes to your waist and pulls you closer. How lovely it was to be in this moment, together.

You both reluctantly pull away from each other and continue walking closer to the water. The tide is coming in slowly.

Time seems to stop. That, or it begins to slow down. You’re paying attention to every little detail because you can. You see the wind blow his curls every which way. The look on his face when he notices you staring at him. The warmth of his hand in yours. The content you feel is enough to make your heart flutter. Suddenly, you feel his arms wrap around you from behind and his lips press kisses along the nape of your neck.

“Mmmm,” a small moan leaves your lips. “That feels nice.”

“Yeah?”

You nod as you feel his arms tighten and he moves his lips to the other side of your neck.

Out of your peripheral, you notice a group of people walking towards you. You sigh, “Can we walk on? I want to stay in this moment for as long as I can.”

He leans back, “Absolutely.” He links your hands and pulls you with him.

He stops after a few minutes, seemingly finding an even better spot. You gaze to the moon shining, closing your eyes. You feel like now is the perfect moment. One you’re going to remember for the rest of your life.

“Look!” He knocks you out of your thoughts, and you find where he’s pointing to. A shooting star. “Make a wish,” he whispers in your ear. Once again, you close your eyes and make a wish.

“You too, it’s only fair.”

You feel him sway a bit behind you and know he’s following orders.

A beat later. “Will you dance with me?” He whispers, standing in front of you now and extending a hand.

“What about music?”

“We don’t need it.” There’s amusement in his voice. “Come, dance.” You accept his hand.

He leads you further down the sandy plane closer to the incoming tide than before. His left hand sits against your hip and his right hand holds yours tightly. You begin to sway to the non-existent music. He pulls you closer.

“This is perfect,” you whisper.

“It’s what I wished for.”

[nightrosebud]

So my @toa-secret-santa was for @arcadia-trash who just asked for “Barbara and Strickler,” so I went with a whole bunch of fluff. I hope you enjoy and Happy Holiday!

"It was the night before Christmas, and all through the ward, not a patient was stirring; seriously, I'm so bored."

Barbara felt her lips twitch, but she tried not to smile as she finished the chart in front of her. When done, she closed the folder and glared at the nurse leaning on the counter next to her. "Stop that," she growled. "Talk like that will summon a ten-car pile-up, and I would like to get home before midnight, thank you very much."

Nurse Choen sighed and readjusted his headband. He had lamented that he couldn't wear his ugly sweater with a lit dreidel on it, so he had snuck in a cheap headband with a light-up menorah instead. The little blubs on it twinkled on and off, like each one was being lit separately. When Barbara pointed out that the headband was not allowed because of the dress code, he had just grinned bigger and started singing Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel at the top of his lungs. "Sorry, Doc," he said with a bashful grin. "I guess when I signed up for this shift, I figured we would be busy with the holidays." He gestured at the empty hallway. "I didn't think we would only have two patients and no emergencies. I like staying busy."

"Well, have you stocked the rooms?"

"Yep."

"Put away patient files?"

"Done."

"Made sure the medicine is in order?"

"Oh yeah, and stole some good stuff for me," he joked. Barbara glared at him, and he put up his hands in the universal sign of surrender. "I kid, I kid. So why did you sign up for tonight, doc? Trying to get away from all the kiddos at home?"

"Actually, no," she confessed. She leaned on the counter and looked down the hallway. They only had one patient who had drunk too much at the office Christmas party and came in complaining that he couldn't stop throwing up and one man who had a heart attack two days ago while shoveling some surprise snow from his driveway. Both were asleep and quiet at this late hour. 

"We had a lot of back-to-back adoptions in the last few weeks, so Walt and I decided to wait until after the holidays to bring out more babies from the cradle stone." Most of the people working at the hospital knew about the babies she and Walt were taking care of, so Cohen just nodded in understanding. "Since Jim is older and was spending the night at a friend's house anyway, I figured I would come in and give someone else a chance to spend the night with their families."

"Well, we only have an hour, then we both will be free at midnight," he said. Barbara smacked his arm, and he jumped. "Ow! What was that for? I hope you know that I can go to HR for assault."

"Stop saying stuff like that!" Barbara hissed but then laughed. "You're going to cause an accident. Or the end of the world."

"Oh yeah, don't want evil trolls coming out of the ground and wrecking downtown. Or giant aliens walking around and wrecking downtown. Or evil magic users flying around and wrecking downtown. Or Titans rising up and wrecking downtown." Cohen paused and cocked his head to the side. "What do the bad guys have against the buildings downtown?"

Barbara smirked. "I think Jim has asked that question himself a few times over the last year."

"You know," Choen said with a grin, "When I left New York, I thought I had left the magical creatures behind."

"What do you mean?" Barbara asked.

"Haven't you heard? There are gargoyles in New York."

"Ah," Barbara said, wondering if she should force the nurse in front of her to take a drug test. "How about you recheck the supplies?"

One hour later, the next shift of one doctor and two nurses showed up to relieve them, finding Doctor Lake and Nurse Choen having the quietest race of rolling office chairs they could manage.

"Good to see that the hospital was left in good hands," Doctor Roberts joked as the two of them crossed the finish line made of gauze, Barbara in the lead.

They handed off the patient charts, all two of them, and they said their goodnights and goodbyes. Choen escorted Barbara outside, and they paused at the doors, watching some snow drift down. "Ah, now this," Choen said with a smile, adjusting his coat and blinking headband, "this I missed."

Barbara hummed in agreement, and they spent some time just enjoying the quiet. Suddenly Barbara heard a sound, the sound of bells, and she swore they were coming closer. Before she could ask Choen if he heard it too, something rounded the corner and rapidly came towards them down the deserted street.

It was a sleigh, the kind of sleigh you found on vintage Christmas cards, red with gold details and golden bells. Only, instead of a horse or reindeer pulling it, Aaarrrgghh!! was in front, running as fast as he could on all fours, mad grin on his face. Behind him, Barbara could make out two figures in the sleigh, but in the dark and snow, she couldn't tell who it was. They were laughing, though, as Aaarrrgghh!! turned into the parking lot and skidded to a halt in front of Barbara.

One of the figures stood up and placed a foot on the front of the sleigh. "Ho! Ho! Ho!" it cried, and Barbara could finally make out Toby, smile stretching from ear to ear. "Happy Chanukah! Wait! No! Kleb! That's not what I should say. Meeerrryyy Christmas!" Darci was next to him, and she put a hand over to her mouth and giggled.

"Toby?!" Barbara asked. "What are you doing here?" The smile on her face died when she had a terrible thought. "Where's Jim? Is he alright?"

"Oh, he's fine, Doctor L," Tody said as he hopped down from the sleigh. He walked over to the other side, giving Aaarrrgghh!! a pat on the arm as he passed the troll. Toby had had some growth spurts in the last year and a half since Jim found the amulet, and he was finally taller than Darci, who was still his girlfriend. He bowed and reached out a hand. "My lady," he said in a slightly deeper voice, and Darci took his hand and jumped down from the sleigh, smile on her face. "We're here to take your car home while Aaarrrgghh!! is taking you to your Christmas gift."

"My car?" Barbara asked perplexed. "What about a Christmas gift? Is it from Jim?"

"Not Jim," Darci explained but didn't elaborate on who else would send a troll-drawn sleigh to pick up Barbara.

"Come on, Doc," said a voice from the sleigh, "we need to get a move on before it gets too late." And NotEnrique stood up in the sleigh's seat so Barbara could see him. He was wearing a suit, and a fat cigar hung from his leering mouth.

Barbara felt her stomach drop, but she was being pushed into the sleigh by Toby and Darci. "Um, I don't know about this," she said as she sat down. Everyone else was smiling at her, though, as Darci made sure a blanket covered her legs.

"No sweat, Doctor L, you are in good hands with Aaarrrgghh!!," Toby said, and Aaarrrgghh!! looked over his shoulder to give her a grin, but Barbara didn't know how to explain that it wasn't the hulking troll that gave her pause.

"Well, you have to make sure you tell me what this is all about next time I see you, Doc," Choen said. He lifted a hand and waved. "Happy Chanukah, everybody!"

"Chag Urim Sameach, dude!" Toby said with a grin. "Love the headband!"

As Choen walked to his car, and NotEnrique grabbed the reins attached to Aaarrrgghh!!, Barbara reluctantly gave her keys to the teens. "You two be safe in the snow," she said. Toby tossed the keys into the air, and Darci grabbed them before he could catch them. He gave her a hurt look.

"Don't worry, Doctor Lake, we will be careful," she said, stepping back. 

"Have a nice night!" she said as the couple waved.

"Okay, hang on Doc, Aaarrrgghh!! here is a little fast on the corners," NotEnrique told her, chewing on the cigar.

"And why do you have that?" she asked.

"My payment for my work this evening," he explained, taking the cigar out and wiggling it. "The big guy here is working for socks, I believe."

"Mmmm, socks," Aaarrrgghh!! rumbled.

"Well, just don't light it while I'm behind you, please," Barbara asked.

"Light it? Doc, I plan on eating it," he said with a grin, and with that, he snapped the reins and Aaarrrgghh!! was pulling them away from the hospital.

-----

They flew down the dark, deserted streets, Barbara's face starting to hurt from the cold. The lights wrapped around streetlights and trees twinkled, and the giant Christmas tree in the town's square lit up the whole block. Aaarrrgghh!! kept his pace, but suddenly NotEnrique yelled. "Oi! You missed our turn!"

"Oops," Aaarrrgghh!! rumbled, and he made a u-turn in the middle of the street, making Barbara and NotEnrique cry out as they were almost tossed out of the sleigh. Aaarrrgghh!! straightened himself out and started running towards the museum.

Two figures waited outside for them, and as they got closer, Barbara recognized Claire and Zoe. The two young women gave her large grins as Aaarrrgghh!! slid to a stop in front of them. "Merry Christmas, Barbara!" Claire cried.

"Merry Christmas!" Barbara answered back. NotEnrique helped her out of the sleigh, and she rubbed her hands to warm them. "Are you the one who set this up?"

"Nope," Claire said with a grin. "We are your glam squad!"

"Glam squad?" Barbara asked, but the two girls just smiled.

"Have fun, Doc!" NotEnrique cried out, and he grabbed the reins. "Come on, big guy, let's go get some eggnog spiked with glug." And the others waved to them as Aaarrrgghh!! galloped off.

Claire and Zoe guided Barbara into the museum and then into the bathroom. Claire handed Barbara a garment bag. "Tonight's affair has a dress code that doesn't include scrubs, I'm afraid."

Barbara gave the bag a look, but she went into a stall without comment. A few moments later, she laughed. "What's up?" Claire asked her.

"Oh, nothing," Barbara said with a giggle. "I just realized who planned this whole thing."

"How so?" asked Zoe.

Barbara stepped out a minute later. She was wearing a flowing, floor-length sapphire-blue dress, the empire-style waist accenting her bare shoulders. It was covered in crystals that twinkled as she took a turn. "Only Walt would pick something like this for me." Claire clapped as both girls laughed.

Zoe made a motion with her hand, and a pillow started to float in the air. Barbara hesitated but then sat down and put her full weight on the pillow, happy when she didn't fall to the floor. The girls began to tug her hair out of its bun and helped her to style it. "What do you say, Doctor L?" Zoe said with a grin, gesturing to her own pink hair. "Want to try a new color?" 

"No thanks," Barbara said with a grin. "I think I'm too old for the bright colors."

"Aw, no, you're not," Claire said as she pinned crystal hairpins onto Barbara's hair.

When finished, the girls escorted Barbara deeper into the museum and to the large room in the middle of the building. Jim messed with three table settings on a small table set up with a white tablecloth. Douixe was nearby, his hands glowing blue as candles floated and lit up around the room. Walt himself was in the middle of the room, supervising. He was wearing a green suit, tailored to fit his slim frame. Barbara slowly walked up to him and hugged him from behind. He turned his head to give her a tusk-filled smile. "Hello, darling," he said.

"Hello," she said back. "What in the world do you have planned?"

"Your Christmas gift," he replied with a grin.

"Dinner in the museum? Benoit's would have been easier."

"But Benoit's wouldn't have the rest of your gift for you."

Jim looked up from the table and grinned. "Hey, mom. How was the sleigh ride?"

"Terrifying," she confessed as Walt pulled out a chair and she sat down. "Did I throw everything off schedule by going in for a shift?"

"It pushed the evening's plans back, but all parties were able to adjust," Walt said as he also took a seat.

Jim grabbed the silver dome in front of Barbara, and with a flourish, he uncovered her plate. "Steak au Poivre with mashed garlic potatoes." He grabbed the silver dome in front of Walter and revealed a dish for him. "Raw steak with motor oil," Jim said, in a flatter tone. "Let it be known once again: I'm happy to have human taste buds."

Barbara pointed to the final setting. "Who else is joining us?"

"Me," said a voice behind her, and Barbara turned to see Nomura walking into the room. She also wore a suit, but unlike Walt's, it was jet black.

"You're late," Walt growled.

"Fashionably late," Nomura said with a grin, uncovering her plate. "Believe me, I wouldn't miss one of Little Gynt's meals."

Jim smiled and then leaned down to kiss Barbara on the forehead. "Have fun, mom. I hope you like your gift."

"You're not staying?" she asked.

"We are going back to Toby's and watching Christmas movies until we pass out," Douxie explained. "And don't worry, Doctor, Zoe and I are acting as chaperones."

"Strickler. Good luck," Jim said cryptically.

"Thank you, Young Atlas," Walt said while sipping on water.

Jim and Claire linked arms while Douxie threw his arm around Zoe's shoulder. The young adults waved as they left. "Merry Christmas!" Claire and Jim cried while Zoe and Doxie bellowed, "Happy Yule!"

"So," Barbara asked while she cut into her steak, "what exactly do you two have planned for tonight?"

"Well, Strickler and I have been talking, and we think you need a partner who would appreciate you more," Nomura said. She took a bite of her own raw steak and hummed at the taste. She used the fork to point at herself. "Mainly, me."

Walt rumbled at the other changeling. "Nomura, as curator of the Arcadia museum, was essential in setting up tonight's event." He glared at Nomura as she grinned at him. "Otherwise, she wouldn't be here."

Barbara laughed. "Let me guess, Jim's cooking was your payment for this evening?"

"Yep," Nomura confirmed as she took another bite. "Being turned into a half-troll really helped that boy to be a better cook, for both humans and trolls."

"Well, dig in then," Barbara said with a smile. "I wanna see what you two have planned for me."

-----

When done with their meal, Walt helped Barbara out of her seat, and they wandered to another part of the museum, Walt and Barbara linking arms while Nomura followed behind them. Before they turned a corner, Walt stopped her and looked at her. "Do you trust me?" he asked.

"I do," she said with a little trepidation, but she laughed when Walt gently covered her eyes and started to guide her around the corner. "Don't want to ruin your surprise, just yet," he explained.

They walked for a few moments, Barbara holding onto Walt's cold hands as they slowly moved forward, and then Walt had her stop. 

"I hope you like it," he whispered in her ear, and then he lifted his hands, and Barbara gasped.

Barbara had heard about the exhibition coming to Arcadia, centered on the works of Impressionism artists. She had pointed it out to Walt, proclaiming her excitement at such an extensive collection coming to their small town. Usually, she would have to travel to San Francisco to see a show like this in person. But now, Barbara looked around, and she recognized the works of Monet, Manet, Cézanne, and Degas. All the artists she idolized but had never had the chance to see in person. She held her hands to her mouth and wandered around, both changelings watching her with small smiles on their faces.

"Oh, this is..." she started but stop as she felt overwhelmed by emotion. "This is beautiful." She looked at Walt. "But we could have come here later. Why the secrecy?"

"Well, then you would have to suffer as small children and uneducated heathens roaming around and obstructing the view," Walt said with a smile. "This way, you can enjoy everything without interruption."

Barbara looked around, identifying as many as the works as she could. "La Japonaise. Monet's first wife Camille Doncieux modeling a red kimono." She rushed over to another piece. "Manet's Gare Saint-Lazare. Oh, I didn't know how small this was; I thought it was huge." She slowly made her way to another painting, eyes lingering on the young woman with the sleeping dog in her lap. She gasped when she recognized the third piece. "Degas' La Classe de Danse, featuring Degas' friend Jules Perrot, a ballet master of the Paris Opera." She rushed up to the next piece. "Cézanne's Pyramid of Skulls, one of his last pieces. Oh, look at the detail."

Barbara spent the next 30 minutes wandering around, looking at the paintings and studying each one. Sometimes she would give the changelings a detail or fact about the works, even if she thought they already knew it. They followed her around, smiles on their faces as they watched her enthusiasm at seeing the art in the flesh.

"Oh, thank you, Walt, Nomura," she said after she finished looking around. "This is a really wonderful Christmas gift."

"We aren't done yet," Walt said. He took her arm and started to lead her to another wing. "You see, the museum wanted to feature a local artist with the exhibit. And Nomura and I felt we knew the right person who would fit the bill."

"Who?" Babara asked but gasped as they rounded a corner.

There, on display, was the majority of her work. Goodbye, Walt, Eye of the Storm, her piece figuring goblins, Vendel staring out at the viewer, Jim in his Daylight armor, Blinky in his cubic glory, Walt holding one of the babies. Even the painting that featured the kids after their fight with the Titans: aliens, wizards, and humans all together passed out in a large pile in her living room. Something that she had made to celebrate their victory while also showing them at their most vulnerable. She looked around in wonder at all her work hanging on the museum walls, like she was a proper artist.

"I can't think of anyone who would be more deserving to be featured in the show," Nomura said as Barbara gaped at the walls.

"Oh," Barbara breathed. "Oh, I don't know, guys. There has to be someone else more worthy than me. I'm not an artist."

"A better artist than most," Walt said with a growl. He gestured to Goodbye, Walt. "I wouldn't want anyone else capturing my likeness."

She laughed but then wandered from one painting to the next, trying to see them with new eyes. Were they as good as the others in the next room? She couldn't say. But seeing them on the walls on full display made her heart soar in a way she couldn't recall feeling before.

She paused in front of Goodbye, Walt, studying the piece with a smile on her face. She felt Walt next to her, and she turned to smile at him. "Do you like it?" he asked in a low voice.

"Yes," she said, grinning so hard her face hurt. "It is an excellent surprise, Walt."

"Well, there is one last thing," he said, and he cleared his throat and sent a pointed glare at Nomura. She grinned but then left the room with no comment. Walt turned back to Barbara and gave her a shy smile. "Barbara, I have a question for you."

"What is it?" she asked.

"This last year and a half, well... I mean to say, I have lived a long time..." he started to say.

"I will figure out how old you are, Walt," she said with a grin.

"What I'm trying to say is," he growled but paused again and pulled at his collar. "Bloody hell, I didn't imagine it would be this difficult."

"Walt," she said, taking his hands. "It's okay. What are you trying to say?"

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, gently taking his hands back. "This last year and a half has been the best period of my life. And I can say that with no irony. You are teaching me to be a better person, and I know it is not easy for you or myself, but you make it worthwhile."

He fidgeted with his lapels and then reached into his jacket. "I would like to continue, growing, learning, with you, as long as you would have me. What I'm trying to say is Barbara, is that I want to be with you, officially." He paused and cleared his throat. "And now I made it sound like a business transaction."

She laughed but stopped when he brought a small item out of his jacket. It was a black jewelry box, and he opened it, revealing a gold ring with a green stone. She gasped and covered her mouth as he dropped to one knee. "Doctor Barbara Lake," he asked, barely above a whisper, "marry me?"

She suddenly hugged him so quickly that he almost toppled over. But he caught himself and returned the hug. "Yes," she whispered, trying to answer around the lump in her throat. She leaned back so he could see her face. "Yes, Waltolomew Stricklander, I will marry you."

He stood up and kissed her, crushing her until she couldn't breathe. When they broke the kiss, he reached into the box and put the ring on her finger. She moved it around, trying to identify the stone. "What is this made of?" she asked.

"A piece of my living stone," he explained. He placed a hand over his heart. "Nomura craved it out, so you will always have a part of me."

"Oh Walt, that is.... so weird," she said with a laugh. "But it's so beautiful, thank you." She started to tug on Walt's suit. "Can you show me where?"

"Hey now, no funny business in the museum," Nomura joked as she walked around the corner.

Barbara laughed and felt her cheeks warm in a blush. "Thank you Nomura, for helping with tonight."

Nomura shrugged. "You do deserve to be part of the exhibit, Barbara. We are pleased to feature your work." She crossed her arms and gestured at Goodbye, Walt. "Too bad your best work will inflate this one's ego."

Walt grumbled, but it didn't seem threatening because he was grinning ear to ear. "Well, darling," he said, turning to look at Barbara, "it's late. Are you ready to go home?"

"Yes, I think I am," she said, linking her arm with his.

They headed to the front of the museum, where Walt's car was waiting for them. Nomura handed the keys back to Walt but didn't let go of them. "Just remember Barbara," she purred with a grin. "You are always welcomed to kick this one out, and we could elope."

"To Las Vegas?"

"Of course," Nomura said as Walt finally tugged the keys out of her hand.

"I think I will be happy being Mrs. Strickler but thank you."

Walt looked shocked. "You would take my last name?"

"Nope, still going to be Doctor Lake."

"Figures," he sighed as Barbara laughed at him. She reached up and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

The couple waved and said goodnight, and Walt rushed Barbara to the waiting car. Walt got in and started their ride home. Barbara carefully threaded her fingers with his free hand as she watched the snow coming down outside her window.

"Merry Christmas, Walter Strickler."

"Merry Christmas, Doctor Lake."

[raleighcarrera]

30 for Raleigh x mc

best vs. worst prompts / 30. best part of the relationship vs. worst part of the relationship

the worst part 

it’s sunny, in munich, when he steps outside, the plastic bag of his possessions dangling from his hand. he’s painfully hungover, but thankfully there’s no paparazzi around -- just one lone car in the lot, with one lone girl standing beside it.

“boy, am i glad to see you,” raleigh sighs, then grins so widely his cheeks hurt with the strain. 

it’s only when he gets close enough to see her without the glare of the sun in the way that he realizes cadence isn’t smiling, her face makeup-free and deeply disappointed. she ducks inside the driver’s seat of the car without a word, slamming the door as she goes.

he winces, ambling around to the passenger side. but before he can start groveling for forgiveness of whatever he did wrong, he needs to piece together what actually happened last night. 

the ride back to his hotel is silent except for the gps chirping in the rental, and he fishes out his phone and his sunglasses so he can mitigate the throbbing behind his eyes while he googles himself and checks his texts. his phone is about to die, which is good -- there’s at least a thousand messages from his publicist and a few from cadence, too; when he taps over to his call log he’s not surprised to see a dozen back-and-forth calls between the both of them.

cadence doesn’t park when they get back to the hotel, only pulls over into the fire lane. he blinks at her in complete confusion. “you’re not coming up?”

her lips purse. it seems pretty obvious, even to him, that she’s on the very precipice of exploding at any moment. “no.”

“where are you going?”

“to the airport, raleigh. i need to get back home. i left a recording session for this.” her voice is terse, each word clipped and angry. not that he can blame her.

“if you were that busy, you didn’t need to fly all the way out here.” someone else could have handled bailing him out, probably -- his manager was practically an expert, at this point, in undoing his messes and cleaning up after him, and he paid his publicist to cover them up, so --

“don’t even start,” she snaps, “jesus christ, you asshole. i didn’t have to come out here? when i have you calling me every ten minutes completely trashed and then frank is calling me at midnight saying you got arrested and your entire fucking team is up my ass about the narrative, and the tabloids, and how we’re going to sell this -- fuck you. do not start with me.”

“okay -- jesus, i didn’t tell anyone to call you. you’re mad at me for something i have no control over.”

“you have no control over whether or not you get arrested? that’s news to me. because i distinctly remember having this exact argument at home, and you promising you wouldn’t get so out of control this happens anymore. do you remember having that argument with me?”

“well obviously i didn’t plan to get arrested, cadence,” he sighs, “and i’m sorry they pulled you away from recording for this. but if you could just wait, like, two hours before you start yelling at me, maybe we could talk about this like adults.”

“oh my god,” she mutters to herself, hands white-knuckled on the steering wheel. her eyes swivel heavenwards, and she squeezes them shut tightly, shaking her head. “there is no talking to you like an adult, raleigh. about anything. because you are never going to grow the fuck up. and i’ve been up all night and i’m jet lagged and stressed out so please just get out so i can go home.” 

“fine.” the sudden spike of annoyance he feels is startling, as he unbuckles his seatbelt and pushes a hand through his hair. if she wants to be so difficult, and have such a problem about everything -- fine. let her cool off on her own.

she knew what she was getting herself into.

“have a safe flight, babe.” 

cadence doesn’t say anything in response to the sarcastic little wave he gives through the window -- just drives off, without looking back, leaving him alone in germany holding a plastic bag with his wallet inside it.

when he gets home from tour, the box is with the rest of his mail, held at the front desk of his building.

he brings it upstairs and rips the tape immediately because even though it’s not labeled, he has a sinking suspicion of what’s inside it, and as he paws through the t-shirts, shoes and toiletries he’d left behind at her place, he realizes just how bad it feels to be proven right.

the best part 

it’s pretty much as picture-perfect as any one thing could ever expect to be.

there’s sunlight filtering in through the gauzy curtains covering the window and birds chirping outside. a gentle breeze washes over them from the still-open door of the balcony, where they’d come in from the beach last night. cadence’s things are as intertwined with his on the floor as their bodies are in bed, her smaller frame wrapped around his with her head nestled comfortably on his chest.

her hair is a mess and he’s pretty sure she’s drooling but she’s never, ever looked so beautiful. it feels like he could stare at her for weeks and never be bored.

when she stirs, her jaw opens wide with a yawn, and she lifts her left hand to rub sleepily at her face. the giant diamond on her ring finger catches the light perfectly, sparkling when she finally blinks her eyes open to look at him.

“morning,” she murmurs, gaze half-lidded on his face. 

“good morning, mrs. carrera.” the corners of her mouth push upwards just like they have every other time he’s called her that over the course of the last two weeks. she looks even prettier than she had knocked out on top of him just a few moments ago.

“what time is it?”

his hand rubs her back over the thin fabric of the t-shirt she’s wearing. “eleven fifteen,” raleigh answers, his own lips quirking into a grin, “you slept all morning, babe.”

cadence groans, ducking her head to bury her face back into his bare chest. her sigh ghosts across his skin and leaves goosebumps in its wake. “s’cause i don’t wanna go home.”

he nods, free hand tucked under his head on the pillow. the feeling is absolutely mutual, except that they always knew... “honeymoon had to end sometime, unfortunately.”

she groans again, the sound heavy with displeasure. it really is going to be miserable, packing everything up and taking the long drive back to the airport and the even longer flight home, going back to being amongst the other one-million people on the island of manhattan instead of the private island sequestered for just two, where cadence has found herself without a single tan line because bathing suits were never a necessity.

but they don’t have to get up just yet.

“let’s honeymoon for another month,” she suggests, and without her even lifting her head, he knows she’s pouting. he rubs at his jaw, feeling impossibly fond. 

“here?”

cadence’s nose drags across his sternum when she nods. “uh huh.”

“mmmm. you have an album to write, though.”

“i’ll write it here,” she insists petulantly, “shut up.”

“shutting up.” raleigh’s lips find the top of her head and his hands tighten on her as she sighs contentedly as soon as his kiss drops into her hair, the sound such a cute expression of pure joy it makes his chest seize uncomfortably.

he’s never been so happy before -- not ever. and while part of him absolutely wants to agree with her and stay stuck on this island until they run out of food, the majority of him is so excited to get back to reality with her and start the rest of their lives together that he can hardly stand it.

it’s weird, to finally have something that he feels like he’s been waiting his whole life for.

weird but awesome, in so many ways -- in words he can’t even string together, with feelings he could never describe.

evidently cadence knows him just a little too well. she pauses, then lifts her head curiously. “you okay?”

“i’ve never been better,” he murmurs back honestly, settling down again as soon as she slips her hand back into his. 

[gemstonechronologist]

@fetchbender tagged me so I'm gonna do the thing!

Favorite Color: Purple, though I also like jewel-tones (which I'm sure we're all shocked to find out)

Three Favorite Foods: Any Chinese food, Burgers, and chicken tender sandwiches (usually parm but doesn't have to be)

Song stuck in my head: Hazy Shade of Winter by The Bangles

Last song I listened to: Astronaut in the Ocean by Our Last Night

Last thing I googled: Pendleton Ward

Dream Trip: Mmmm, probably a road trip that ends in camping in a national park somewhere. But if I were talking in terms of traveling somewhere...probably Ireland.

Time: 21:22 and 72 degrees.

Last Movie: Lord, it's been a while since I've watched a movie...I think the last movie I watched was Midsommar?

Tea or Coffee: Both, I don't care if they're hot or cold. Sugar, no sugar, cold brew, regular, or latte it doesn't matter I'll drink all of them. Preference would go to cold brew, but I recently started using my french press and that makes some strong ass coffee so it's nice.

Last Show: Midnight Gospel. @coalescent-space told me about it and it was really good! Also, I'm a huge fan of bite-sized podcasts so that was a bonus.

Currently Reading: The Haunting of Hill House, honestly I get distracted so much that it's probably going to take me forever to get through but yeah.

Currently Watching: Nothing right now, but I think the new season of Castlevania is coming out somewhat soon so I'll be all over that.

Sweet, Spicy, or Savory: Savory....a thousand times over savory. I tend to add a little spice to most things though.

10 people to tag: Mmmm lesse here (also, no pressure)...@justabitnotgood, @whimsicalrealist, @coalescent-space, @redwaltz, @onyxtrebuchet, @elderberriesandarsenic, @burnt-kloverfield, @dezmik, @lithomants, @rainbowchibbit

[lovewriting-5]

Rules:

*gif is not mine*

7. Bending Laws

9. Confessions

8. Christmas Spirit:

Charles drives through the small town of Beaver Creek. Chris and Daniel were going on and on about Power Bear and superheroes. There were a lot of little mom-and-pop shops. He pulls up to the parking lot of the Christmas Market and parks close to the front entrance. The three of us climb out of the front. Charles helps Chris out of the back, “Okay buddy, you’re ready?” Excitedly, he says “Yeaaahhh!”

Sean helps Daniel out of the back of the truck. Daniel begins speed walking to the market but Sean grabs his right arm. He says, surprised “Hey!” I tell Charles and Chris, “You guys go ahead and we’ll come back to meet you, okay?” Charles says “Sure.” Daniel tries to get away, “But - -“ Charles tells us “Don’t get lost!” They head into the market.

We face Daniel. Trying to make sure he gets it, Sean says “Dude, what the fuck are you doing? I can’t believe it...How many times do we have to keep going over the rules?” Annoyed, he says “Don’t show the power” - - I know...But Chris thinks he can do all this cool stuff. I wish he could...He reminds me of Noah. I just miss having friends...” Sean says “We know man...But you can’t lie to friends about something like this...He could get in trouble thinking he can make shit fly...Or he could get hurt.” Trying to understand, he asks “So you want me to tell him the truth?” I tell him “Well, we don’t want you to lie anymore...You don’t have to tell him everything, but...Don’t let him think he has magic powers, okay? You swear?” Daniel says “Okay, I swear.” Sean says “Deal. We’re counting on you, enano.” He asks “Can I go see Chris now?” I say “Yeah, let’s go.” Sean says “But don’t forget what we said.”

The three of us enter the market. The first thing Daniel says is “Woaw...So many trees! Ugh...They look like giant cocoons...Creepy...” He goes over to the table where the seller of the trees is. There was a can of fake snow, he says “Mmmm...I bet dad didn’t know about this...” Then notices a giant netting machine for the trees. He comes up with another question, “Is this what they wrap the trees with?” Sean says while chuckling “Yeah...We should put you in it!” Daniel says “Shut up! You guys coming?” I tell him “Don’t worry, we’ll be around!”

He heads over by Charles and Chris. As we get closer, we hear Chris ask “Can Daniel help, dad?” Charles says “Of course he can!” I smile at how fast they became friends. I was looking at some Christmas trees in a corner. Daniel and Chris come by and sit on the cinder blocks near by.

Chris says “Hey...You think you can come to our house for Christmas?” Unsure, Daniel says “Mmmm...I’ll have to ask grandma and grandpa...” Sounding hopeful, Chris says “Maybe we can do it all together? I’m sure dad would agree!” He says “It’d be awesome!” Changing the subject, Chris asks “So what’s your best score on Mustard Party 2?” He says “About 800, I think!” Shocked, Chris says “Whoah, cool! Mine’s a bit lower...” He mentions “I was about to beat it a few weeks ago, but...Sean’s phone ran out of battery...”

I walked away and checked out the rest of the market. I saw a blue snowman display. I checked out some of the other types of Christmas trees they had. Sean and Charles talked for a few minutes. Charles then went and talked to one of the customers.

Sean then came and joined me in the second part of the market. I was looking at one of the display tables when I feel his arm against mine. He says “Hey.” I look at him, “Hey.” To the vendor, we say “Hi.” The vendor says “Good morning! It’s nice to see new faces in this old town!” Politely, I tell him “Thanks! It’s a...super cool market you’ve got here...” He tells us “Small towns are the best for Christmas! Who are you guys staying with?”

Sean says “We’re just passing through, so, uh...At a...motel.” The vendor mentions “Well, I saw you speaking with Charles, so I thought...” I add “Oh! We’re not related...” Sean chimes in “My brother Daniel is friends with Chris...” The vendor tells us “Gotcha. I like his son...Funny little guy. Despite everything...Anyway, welcome to Beaver Creek. If you need anything, just holler.”

We look at the three different options for gifts on the table. Our choices are a sitting patriotic bear, a snowman and a wooden beaver. We talked for a few minutes about what Daniel would like. We decided on the snowman. Sean says “Can we get one of those...snowmen things?” The vendor says “Of course! They’re handmade by local kids!” “That is so cool!” I tell him him.

I give him the money, “Here you go...” He says “Thanks! Anything else?” Sean says “No, we’re good!” He tells us “Have a nice day then!” I say “You too. Thanks!”

We check out the table of wreaths next to the male vendor. Sean says to the woman, “Hi! This is a...nice collection!” The woman tells us “Why, thank you! I make them all myself!” I say “Whoah, that’s so cool! Must be a lot of work!” She says “Definitely too much for the money they get me, yes...” He asks “How come?” She explains “Well, people certainly don’t buy as much handmade Christmas decorations as they used to. The mall has ruined every single ship in town. Can’t do anything about it. And people seem surprised when unemployment is going through the roof.” I tell her “I know, it sucks...But we can’t do anything about it, right?” She says “I like to think there’s always a solution, however frustrating that thought can be. Anyway. You’ve got better things to do than listening to an old lady ranting about capitalism, right?” Sean says “It’s cool. Don’t worry.” The woman says “Well, thanks for hearing me out anyway. You guys have a nice day!”

I faintly hear strumming of a guitar. I look around and see a woman with purple hair. She has a small red paper plate sitting on the ground in front of her. I place a hand on Sean’s shoulder, say “Sean, I’m going to listen to the woman with the guitar. Do you want to come with me?” He says “Maybe in a few minutes.” I kiss him on the cheek and head over.

The purple haired woman starts strumming then begins It’s me, it’s me, you’ve come to take/My duality awakes/By midnight time I could not see,/If I were you or you were me/We play the game with skillful hands/And so I asked for your demands

At this point, Sean comes and stands next to me. I cross my right arm across my stomach. Let my left arm hang free and my right arm hanged on to my left elbow. I all of a sudden feel his fingers intertwine with mine. I look up at him and smile. He smiles back at me. The purple haired woman is still singing, Give me your love, give me your thumb/And he traced us back to where we begun/So the morning came/And swept the night away/As I was looking for/A way to disappear/Amongst the quiet things/And all these empty streets/I found a way, I found a way/To reappear... (Song lyrics credit goes to ‘I Found A Way’ by First Aid Kit)

The woman finishes. In a southern accent, she says “Wow, you made it all the way through...Weird...” I tell her “That was wonderful. You’re really good.” Nervously, Sean says “It was pretty cool.” She says “It’s cool that you both listened. People are usually too busy to care.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sean rub the back of this neck. His cheeks are a little red. He says “This is a small town. They’re not used to having street artists...And stuff...” The woman says “Yeah, they’re not used to many things...Especially seeing new faces on the street...” I tell her “Well...Thanks for the music, and...Good luck.” She says “See ya.”

With our fingers still intertwined, we walk around the market a little more to check out everything. As we were looking at one of the displays about donating, Sean says “I’m going to go talk to that woman with the guitar again.” Not thinking too much about it, I say “Okay.” He quickly kissed me on the cheek.

After five minutes, I decide to go join him. I get there just as the woman says “Me and my friends have been...Crashing here for the week...Nobody...gives a shit about us...I can tell you’re both not from around here.” I got the sense Sean was struggling with words. I chime in “No, no way...Just...Here for the holidays.” She says “Ah! You got family.” Sean finally says “My grandparents...” “Gotta love the grandparents!” She says.

To give Sean’s brain a break, I ask “What about you and...your friends? Road Trip?” Laughing, she says “Not really...We kinda hop from place to place, hunting for...little jobs...” Sean says “Must be a long ride.” The woman explains “That’s okay! We hop on trains.” As she draws out the word trains. She adds “Gives us time to rest.” All he could say was “Man...” I tell her “That sounds wicked.” Laughing, she says “You guys have no idea...It’s free and feels so fucking fun! Well unless you get caught or...fall, but...We’ve been lucky so far. That’s the best. Nobody tells us what to do. No coloration owns us...”

Probably thinking of all the different things he can draw, “And you get to see so many cool places...” The woman tells us “Exactly! Next stop is Humboldt County, California!” Jokingly, I say “Stoner break!” “Not even close! We actually got work over there!” She tells us.

Daniel comes by us, stands on the left side of Sean, begins “What are you guys doing? We picked a tree with Chris! It’s all crooked, like an old witch!” Noticing the purple haired woman, “Oh, hi...who are you? Your hair looks so cool! Is it a wig?” I look away and make an ‘eeee’ expression. The woman tells him while shaking her head, “Ah, well...What do you think?” He says “Mmmm...I don’t know...But it’s really cool! I’m Daniel! What’s your name?”

While giving him a high five and fist bump, she says “Hi, Daniel...I’m Cassidy. I dig your superhero outfit...” He tells her “I’m on a secret mission with my friend! It’s very dangerous!” Cassidy says going along with it, “I can tell! I hope you get your mission accomplished!”

They both turned toward us. Cassidy asks “And what’s your names?” I tell her “I’m (Y/N).” Sean says, nervously again “Oh, uh...Sean...I...I thought we told you.” She says “Now you did.”

A guy with brown dreads and a black dog comes walking up to Cassidy. It seems like they might either know each other or they don’t. The guy says “Sorry, went through some shit with the guys...How much you make? You ready?” Well, that answers my question. He turns to us, “Hello, pups...” Daniel noticing the dog, says “Oooo, is that your doggie? So cool!” While looking at the dog as it begins wagging its tail, the man says “Yeah, he’s been through a lot...Like most of us...So we adopted him. And he stinks! Yeah, you stink and you like, huh?”

The man bends down and pets the dog. Cassidy tells him, “He’s not the only one.” The man says “Have you checked your hair? I think it just twitched! You should keep your distances.” Sean says, confidently “Hey, never too careful! Who knows what may crawl out of there?” She says “Whoa-hoa, the boys join forces! You already perverting him, Finn!” I say “I think it looks cool.” Cassidy gives me a fist bump, says “See? She knows I’m clean...You’re the nasty one...”

Cassidy picks up her backpack and begins packing up her things. Finn says “Yeah, you always for those suburban folks...” Sarcastically, she says “Are you kidding? You wanna talk about your scoreboard, hotshot?” I say putting my hands up in defeat, “Hey, no worries...” “Come on, let’s bail!” He tells her. Cassidy tells us “It was nice meeting you, (Y/N), Sean and...” she bows at Daniel, “...Daniel.”

They walk away. Finn turns back around, says “Stay outta trouble, kids!” Daniel says, waving “Goodbye!” Cassidy says “Hope we see you on the rails someday!” Sean says “Yeah. See you around.” He says “That doggie was so cute...I miss Mushroom.” I tell him “I miss her, too.”

Cassidy and Finn are about to leave when they are stopped by a man who seems like a security guard. The man says, authoritative “Hey, excuse me! Dogs have to be on a leash around here. Too many strays...” Sarcastically, Cassidy says “Sorry, dude. We don’t do leashes.” The man says “Well, the city does. An unleashed dog is liable to a fine, so...” She asks, shocked “You’re gonna fine our dog? Well, that’s not very nice!” The man tells them “Loitering is illegal, too. And you don’t live here, right? Right?” “Calm down, sweetie. We’re allowed to visit the Christmas Market. Our dog’s not gonna eat you, look at him!” Finn tells him. The dog starts to wag his tail.

The man warns them “You better watch your mouth. You punks are always causing trouble...This is a nice town, okay?” Cassidy says loud enough for him to hear, “Jeez...Someone needs to get laid...” Finn says “He’s out of pills...” I cover my mouth with my hand to hide my snicker. The man says “That’s it, I’m calling the cops!” Cassidy says, sarcastically “Oh god, he’s gonna call the cops on us, Finn!” He says “Chill out, we’re leaving this shithole, anyway. You don’t even have a Santa, for Christ’s sake!” Cassidy says one last thing to the man, “Merry Christmas!”

The two exit the market as the man crosses his arms, “Fucking parasites...” Daniel asks “Why did they fight? I don’t get why he yelled like that...Should we do something about it?” Sean gives me a mischievous look. It took a couple seconds but then I got what he is getting at.

He says “See the snow on that booth?” Daniel asks “Yeah? What about it?” I say “Maybe this guy needs a shower...” We walk in front of him to give him some cover. We leave just enough space in between for him. I add “You know. To cool him down...” Laughing, Daniel says “You’re right! Hold on...” We cross our arms and pretend to look at the view. Sean says “Careful...Careful...” Daniel lifts his hand, laughs “This will teach him!” We hear the snow start to crunch a little and then it falling off the roof. Sean and I turn our heads a little to get a better look. We see the snow fall off of the top of the booth and right on the guy. The guy begins shaking the snow off himself in anger and discomfort. I tell him “Nice...” The three of us start to laugh. The man says “Come on!” We immediately stop laughing to hide what happened.

Sean sits down at one of the picnic tables. He pulls out his sketchbook and begins to sketch. I sit down next to him and try to see what he’s drawing. He noticed me and gives me a small smile. I scoot a little closer to get a better look.

Just as he finished up, Chris comes over. Chris asks him “What are you drawing? Whoah, it’s so cool! Are you like, a professional?” Laughing, Sean says “Nah. More like the opposite.” He says “You could draw comic books! The awesome adventures of...Captain Spirit and Super Wolf!” I say “That sounds really cool! I would totally read that.” Sean says “Pretty rad for a Hollywood name. Yeah...I’ll think about it!” He ask “Hey, can you add something funny to your drawing?” Sean asks “Funny? Like what?” Chris says “I don’t know! Something cool!”

Sean takes a few seconds to decide then he adds cartoon aliens and a spaceship. Chris says “I hope I can draw like you one day...” He says “I’m sure you will, man.” Chris walks away. I tell him “That’s really cool! It was sweet what you did for him.” He puts his sketchbook away as we get up from the picnic table.

We head to the front of the market and see Charles and Chris waiting. He asks “Hey, you guys ready to go?” I say “Yeah, all done!” Charles says “Cool, hop in!” Daniel and Chris climb into the back hatch. Charles climbs into the driver seat. Sean and I get back into the passenger seat. The two of them are giggling back there. Charles asks “Are you having too much fun back there?” Chris says muffle by the window, “Yes!” He says “That’s what I thought...” I look out the window and smile. He pulls out of the market. Heads back in the direction of their house and the Reynolds’.

[fukindork]

Blood On The Table

Read on AO3  <-- Check Tags for TW

Next

Chapter 1 Word Count: 4501

 Strapped Down

It was nearly midnight at the library that Logan and Patton worked at. Logan was dusting the counter and bookshelves near the front. They had closed over an hour ago and were just finishing up with the cleaning and such. Or Logan was anyway. Patton was falling asleep over a book, sitting in the back. Logan eventually found him and gently woke him up by shaking his shoulder, “Patton, Patton my dear friend you need to wake up so we can leave.” he whispered to him.

Patton groaned as he slowly woke up, “Mmmm… five more minutes…” he mumbled, slowly sliding off of his chair before his brain finally processed that it was falling. He yelped as he finally hit the ground, “Owie…. Oh, Logan, what time is it?” he asked, looking up to his very tall friend.

Logan held up his arm to look at his watch, “It is exactly 11:57pm and 35 seconds, 36 seconds… 37..”

“Logan, thank you.” Patton stopped him because Logan would do that for a really long time if no one distracted him, “Are you finished with your part?” he smiled as he walked over to him. Patton was a little more than a head shorter than Logan, and different in the fact that he was a bit tanner. He also had prominent freckles on his face and his body was just a little rounder in comparison to his friend that was basically a tall rectangle. Logan had much paler skin, as he did not get out much with his…. Hobbies.

Logan nodded to Patton, looking at the books on the table, “Yes. I have. And I can see that you have gotten an… adequate amount of work done. No matter, you have done your job and I have done mine.” he picked up a large textbook that he had already checked out for himself. A book on human anatomy, “Well if you seem to be finished, then I suppose we shall take our leave then? I have some… things to attend to.” he adjusted his tie a little bit as he began to make his way out the door.

“You mean your hobbies that you always say are so.. Time sensitive, I think, is the term you used.” Patton grinned as he practically skipped behind Logan.

The taller male pulled out a small ring of keys from the front pocket of his black pants, beginning to lock the doors once Patton was out of the building, “Yes. That would be what I am referring to.” He ended the conversation with that and continued locking the doors, but then Patton noticed something about the keys, they had some strange, dark stains on them. And it wasn’t coffee, he knew what coffee stains on metal looked like and that certainly was not it, “Logan, did you drop your keys in something? I think they have something on them.” he pointed out.

Logan’s neck turned so fast to the keys in the lock that Patton heard a *crack*, “Ah.” Logan’s voice didn’t change at all, no realization, no confusion, nothing, “It seems that I forgot to properly clean them last night. I didn’t realize I had left such noticeable stains. Maybe it’s chocolate.”

Logan was not a good liar, and Patton knew that. Those stains were weird and didn’t look like chocolate, and if anyone would know it would be him. He huffed and put his hands on his hips, “Alright. If you say so.” he then crossed his arms and waited for Logan to finish.

Once Logan was done locking the doors he stood back, allowing Patton to pass to his car before going to his own, “Have a good night Patton.” he nodded as the other passed by.

Patton nodded, “Yes…. good night Logan.” he swallowed. A sneaking suspicion crawled up his back as he watched Logan briskly walk to his car and leave as soon as he could, “Good night…” he repeated once the car was out of the parking lot. He watched as Logan sped out of sight, just what were his hobbies that he always had to get to after work?

~~~~~~

“Shhh, screaming is pointless now.” A monotone voice rumbled above the young man, he placed a towel in his victim’s mouth as a gag to be sure that he wouldn’t speak. The man was in the dark, mostly unseen by his newly conscious victim. But he wanted that, he loved the temporary mystery and terror of the unknown that he knew his victims would feel while he was in the dark. It was so easy to do too, just put a bright light in their face and they could barely even see a shadow of him.

“Apologies for the mess,” he spoke again, his voice was completely emotionless, coming from a man that stood straight and clean, if not for the blood littering his clothing and skin. A stark contrast to the perfectly clean room, “Usually I would have cleaned myself up before bringing you in, I really can’t stand messes such as these. However, it was necessary to bring you in quickly. I can’t have anyone escaping, now can I?”  the man finally turned back to his victim. His glasses shone in the light above the smaller man strapped to the table, some parts of his glasses remained dark, due to the droplets of blood left over from the previous victim. The blood traveled further from his face, down the front of his body and to his right side, drenching his right arm in blood that was not his own.

Logan gently wiped off what seemed to be a scalpel. Wiping away the blood on it as well as the blood drenching his hand, he would get to the rest of his arm later. He finally stepped into the light over to his victim, “Oh the things I could do to you and your pretty face.” he mumbled, his face still not moving from the resting position as he talked.

His victim was very different from the calm, collected, and terrifying man above him. He hadn’t been touched yet other than the bat that had knocked him unconscious before, which left a small, bleeding wound on the side of his head. The blood dripped from it into the mess of purple hair, and terrified tears ran down his face, ruining his dark eye shadow and streaking it all down his face and neck. How sad, the dark shadow looked nice on him.

The blood covered man looked up at his victim’s face, raising an eyebrow, “Oh come now, I haven’t even done anything to you other than strap you down. Ah, and speaking of that.” he stepped to the side to tighten the straps on the other’s wrists and ankles, “Just to make sure you can’t run.” he whispered to him as he pulled back, “Now, why don’t we find your name, yes? I much prefer to call my victims by their names rather than nothing.” he went and rifled through the pockets of the immobile man, first going through the pants pockets and frowning when he didn’t find a wallet or anything. He huffed as he moved to the hoodie pockets, finally finding what he was looking for. He pulled the wallet from the other man’s left pocket and opened it up, looking at the driver’s license, “Virgil. What a unique name,” he noted as he set it down with a few other wallets on a smaller table.

The victim, that this psychopath now knew as Virgil, sobbed in fear. He had seen the bodies, the bags, even some of the kidnappings, and Logan knew that. Logan had known all along that this man knew what he was doing. He was so close to getting away, and he would have if he hadn’t screamed when he watched the man stab another witness. At this point Virgil wished that he had been killed with that other witness. That’s what Logan assumed anyway.

The killer took out the towel from his victim’s mouth, “Now then, I’m sure you’d like to know-” he was cut off by Virgil screaming out, “Oh shut up, no one can hear you. Unless you count the other bodies.” he scolded, “Besides. When I put you through a great amount of pain you will be screaming more then. So save your screams for later.” he told him as he picked up another tool, which was like the scalpel but, quite a bit bigger.

“Who are you?!” Virgil cried, “Why are you doing this you sick monster!” he shouted.

The taller man ran a bloody hand through his hair, which he tried to keep as perfectly straight and out of his face as possible, “I am not certain why you would want to know that, as you will be deceased soon enough, but that’s alright then. You’ve been well behaved, as much as a human about to die would be.” he adjusted his glasses, “I will reward you with my name, Logan.” he told him as he put down the large knife and picked up a large pair of thick scissors.

Virgil whimpered at the sight of the scissors, “What…. What are you doing with those?” he asked, desperately trying to stall the pain and death.

Logan turned around, glaring at the man on the table, “Oh stop that.” he walked over and loomed above the other, blocking the light from Virgil’s face, “I’m not hurting you yet. I do however find it necessary to make the adjustments I require in order to dissect you.” he very slowly brought the scissors to Virgil’s neck, “Hm, you have a long neck, it’s nice, I will keep that in mind for later.”

He then opened the scissors and snipped the collar of the already ripped purple shirt. He cut downwards in a perfectly straight line, occasionally nicking Virgil. Sometimes on accident, others not, he enjoyed the sight of another person’s blood. Clearly a little too much. Listening to the whimpers of pain and fear Virgil produced made Logan feel a titillating sensation that he very much enjoyed.

Logan slowly finished cutting the shirt and moved the fabric of both that and the hoodie out of the way, leaving Virgil’s torso mostly bare to him. Logan slowly let his eyes wander back up to Virgil’s eyes, he dabbed his finger onto a small wound and brought it to his mouth, licking the blood off of his finger. He hummed at the metallic taste that spread over his tongue, “You’ve been so well behaved for me….. Maybe I should let you choose how you die. Hm?” his mouth finally contorted into a sickly grin, “It would be fun, I of course would assume that you would choose quick-” he leaned forward closer to Virgil’s face, “And painless.” he whispered. He barely reacted when Virgil squirmed, clearly turning his head and trying to look away from him, but Logan merely grabbed his face and kept it in place so he could look at him.

He was barely inches from the other, he scanned the face of his victim, seeming to be fixated on his purple and green eyes, “What pretty eyes you have, they would be lovely to have in my collection, I haven’t seen a mutation such as purple for a long while now.” Logan pulled back, seemingly in wonder, “You’re so silent, Virgil, shall I decide your death for you?”

He watched Virgil squirm, “No no, please! Please stop this! I don’t want to die!” he cried out.

Logan’s sickly grin returned, “Oh, Virgil hush now. If you really feel that way then I will keep you alive.” he leaned forward again, ‘Just don’t blame me for the pain you’ll feel.” he then pulled away from Virgil completely, “But I’m sure you’re thirsty.” he grabbed the towel and forcefully shoved it into his victim’s mouth, “I’ll get you some water. I want your body in good condition.”

With that he left the room, leaving Virgil alone strapped to the table. Logan headed to his kitchen and went to reach for a glass. But he stopped, looking down at himself. He was messy, covered in blood, he couldn’t go around touching things like this. Patton had already noticed the keys that he hadn’t cleaned of blood earlier. He stepped back, stepping backwards out of the kitchen, Virgil could wait, he wasn’t exactly going anywhere after all.

Logan turned around and walked down the hallway to his bathroom. He passed by jars of organs that he had recently taken from other victims, none of the organs were more than 3 weeks old, he would have eaten them by then, he should probably get himself something to eat as well. He walked into his bathroom and turned on the water, undressing himself as he waited for the water to warm. Once it was to his liking he stepped in and watched the water and blood run down his body and flow into the drain.

He continued to silently think as he washed off the blood from his body, he had to scrub his arm just a little bit in order to get some of the drier bits off. He watched as the fresh blood dyed the water pink and flowed into the drain. Why was he like this? Why did he enjoy the sight of blood so much? Logan hardly understood himself, he knew that what he was doing was generally frowned upon and that he was killing good people. But he couldn’t bring himself to stop after 7 years and almost 100 deaths. Why hadn’t the police found him? Why hadn’t Patton found out? Patton was his only friend that asked too many questions and yet somehow, Logan had never slipped it to him. They had known each other for years, nearly 5 was it? Yes, it had been nearly five years since Patton had been hired at the library to help Logan.

Though Patton had noticed the blood on the keys, and Logan knew that he would either try to figure out what was going on or drop it. But he couldn’t take the chance that Patton would just drop it, he couldn’t.

Logan watched as the last of the blood went through the drain and turned off the warm water. He stepped out of the shower and looked at himself, he really was pale. Maybe he should get out more, “Patton is correct…. I am rather rectangular….” he mumbled, noticing that he may have had a little muscle to him but it wasn’t nearly as much as Patton had. Patton truly was an anomaly to Logan, he was so strong and had muscle to him, and yet he somehow kept this wonderfully round shape and ate so many sweets. Oh how Logan would just love to dissect him and study just how his body worked the way-

He stopped, no, Patton was his only friend and he rather liked him. He would like to keep it that way. Logan had control over his actions and he was not going to do that. He cleared his throat and stepped out of the bathroom while drying his hair. He took a few minutes to get his clothes from earlier and clean them of the blood in the sink. Then he went into his bedroom and got himself dressed in a similar outfit, even if he knew it would also be covered in blood by the end of this. But to Logan, impressions were everything. He made sure that everything was straight and perfect. He slicked his hair back out of his face, now he looked much like he did when he left the library that evening.

Logan made his way back to the kitchen and opened up his fridge, looking around inside it to try to find himself some food. If you can call other humans food. He pulled out a container of oblong objects that he had cooked only a few days ago. Fingers, human fingers from his previous victims. Patton at one point had taught him how to cook chicken wings on the stove and he had used that technique to make these. It was a damn good thing the fingernails came off while cooking, from Logan’s experience, they didn’t taste very good.

He placed a few of the fingers onto a plate and put the rest of the ones in the container back into the fridge. Logan decided not to heat them up and just eat them cold. He grabbed one and bit into it, it was crispy and crunchy, he hummed for a moment, deciding that he could add some barbecue sauce to them. He set down the plate and opened the fridge, looking through his selection of condiments before picking out the sauce he desired and pouring it into a puddle on the plate to dip his “food” into.

Logan put away the sauce and was about to go back to Virgil when he realized, “Ah yes of course, I promised I would bring him some water.” he walked over to the cupboard again and did grab a cup this time, he filled it with water and then walked back into his little operating room, “I apologize for the wait, I got a little bit distracted.” he set the plate down on a table next to Virgil and watched as his victim’s eye widened in fear upon the realization that wasn’t normal food. Logan reached over and pulled out the towel from his mouth, “I promised you some water, so open up.” he told him softly.

Virgil opened his mouth and Logan was careful to pour it into his mouth and not choke him. Only giving him a little bit at a time, but Virgil choked anyway since he was laying down flat. Logan didn’t help, he just watched as his victim desperately coughed up water. He had the towel in his hand ready to clean up the water once he was done. Logan waited until Virgil had his eyes closed and he was breathing like a person, then he gently wiped away the water from Virgil’s skin, “I may be a bad person, but seeing my victims in filth is not something I enjoy.” he said out loud to the other.

Virgil quivered, “What are you going to do to me?” he asked fearfully.

Logan looked down at him, “I told you didn’t I?” he stepped back and grabbed the large scalpel that he had been cleaning before, “I’m going to dissect you alive.” he grinned again, his eyes displaying no emotion but he was grinning, almost as though he was faking the smile just to fuck with Virgil.

“Now where was I?” he asked as he pulled on a single glove to his right hand, it wasn’t for anything in particular, he just liked the effect. Logan walked over and leaned over Virgil, his smile dropping and his face was back into the resting position. He scanned his victim for a moment before reaching over and grabbing the towel, “Alright, open up, this will hurt.” he held the towel to Virgil’s lips.

Virgil shook his head, pressing his lips together. Logan turned his head to look Virgil in the face, leaning forward closer to him, “Would you like something different to bite down on?” he reached to the plate with his left hand, bringing a finger to Virgil’s face, “I’m trying to be nice. It will be painful when I cut you and you’ll want to bite down on something, so I’m giving you options.”

“What the hell even is that?” Virgil asked, his voice shaky as he scanned the strange, fried thing in front of him.

Logan smiled again, bringing the finger to his mouth and biting into it, he ripped a piece off and chewed, letting Virgil examine it again, “I’m fairly certain that it’s a pinky finger.” he told him after swallowing, “I may eat something of yours once I decide to kill you.” he took another bite of the finger and tore a piece of meat off of it, chewing and swallowing before reaching back for the scalpel, “You know. Human is quite a strange meat. It’s like pork, but a little more savory.” he held the finger out to Virgil again, “Are you certain you don’t want to try it? I quite enjoy the taste. But that’s likely due to the fact that I have been eating it for so long.”

Virgil stared at him in both disgust and horror, he didn’t have anything to say now. So Logan nudged the towel against his cheek again, “It’s your choice, either take the towel, a finger, or you scream out and have nothing at all. I don’t mind any of those options, but I would much prefer to listen to your screams.” his voice lowered, clearly in wanting for that third option as he had said.

That was what made Virgil open his mouth to allow Logan to place the towel inside, “Good choice.” was all the killer said as he set the finger down back onto the plate. He ran his right hand down Virgil’s torso, he made a small hum of content. Logan reached up with the scalpel and placed it right in the middle of Virgil’s chest, directly between his collar bones. He watched as his victim’s eyes welled with tears again as he watched the knife.

Logan pushed and blood ran from the wound he created, and slowly, he moved downwards, dragging the blade into his skin, not very deep, but it was enough to hurt, a lot. And hurt it did for Virgil, oh so evident by the muffled screams. Logan just kept going, “Oh hush now, I’ve barely gone an inch through your dermis, I need to cut through all the muscle still. I would just cut all the way through right away, but that might kill you and tamper the organs.” While that was true, he enjoyed it much more to hear their screams persist as he felt that sweet sensation of cutting through the human body, it was so easy, “Humans are so fragile.” Logan whispered.

Unfortunately for Logan, once he was about halfway down Virgil’s body he heard sounds, so he had to stop and put the scalpel down, “I do hope that you aren’t attempting to escape!” he called, he grabbed a gun that was on a table next to the door, stepping out to see a figure in front of the open door to his basement, “Roman.” Logan tapped his foot impatiently, “Did you really think I wouldn’t notice?”

Before he could go on though, Roman spoke up, “Logan please! I’ve been here for weeks! You don’t have to do this to me!” he shouted, tears running down his face.

Logan’s expression didn’t change, “You’re just as vain as ever. I don’t have to do this to anyone. But science is science.” he held up the gun, cocking it.

Roman gasped but only stepped forward, “Logan please! You’re just keeping me in your basement! I want out! Let me go or kill me like the rest of them!” he sobbed.

Logan stepped forward, “Kill you like the rest of them huh?” he aimed the gun at him, “Oh Princey, sad that you just want to be brave and save people when it was all fruitless.” he shook his head and fired the gun, shooting Roman right in the gut. He turned and walked back into the operating room with Virgil, blood now splattered on his face and front half. Roman fell behind him, visible to Virgil in the doorway.

Virgil squirmed, crying out desperately as Logan put the gun down and walked back over, “Oh shush now Virgil.” he walked over and wiped the tears from his face, he was gentle and not forceful, “He will most likely survive, if he behaves once he wakes up. He’s not even dead yet.” he picked up the scalpel again and listened as Virgil screamed, it sounded like he was begging in some way. Logan merely smirked as he listened to the sweet sounds of screams, finally cutting down to just above Virgil’s belly button and standing back.

He decided to let Virgil reminisce in the pain for a while. He sat down in a chair with his plate of fingers and just watched the other cry and wail in pain as blood ran down his body into the fabric of his shirt and hoodie. Logan slowly ate his fingers, dipping them in the barbecue sauce and eating them like you would small chicken wings. Though it was still pretty gross considering they were still severed human fingers.

It took about half an hour of Logan just watching the other crying or staring at the ceiling for him to stand up and walk over again, “Alright, are we ready for more?” he asked with that sickly grin on his face again. He picked up the scalpel and reached over. He noticed Virgil sobbing and sighed, “Hush now, your pretty face is all puffy.” he whispered to him as he brought the scalpel back up to where the cut started on Virgil’s chest, “Now I’m going to cut through your muscles, which will take a few times. Even though you’re not exactly muscular.” he was really just talking to Virgil just to talk, as he often did to his victims

While Logan slowly dragged the scalpel over the incision to deepen it, Roman’s body was dragged out of the doorway. Logan didn’t notice this but Virgil did. He watched as a figure that was also wearing glasses, evident by them shining in the light, stepped through the door and quietly approached Logan from behind. How he didn’t notice was a mystery at this point.

Just as Logan cut a few more inches deeper into Virgil, one of his own ties was wrapped around his neck and he was pulled back. Logan gagged and was forced to drop the scalpel onto the floor. He attempted to swing the perpetrator off of him but was unsuccessful with that. But he did manage to get the tie that was gagging him off, “Why you-” he turned around to face whoever it was that broke in but was faced with someone familiar, “Patton?” Logan stepped back. He was in shock. How did Patton get here? How did he know where he lived? Patton had never been here before, Logan had made sure of that. Or so he thought, “How did you-”

He couldn’t finish his question when Patton punched him in the nose, clearly both terrified and sad about the whole situation, “I’m sorry Logan.” he sighed sadly, he forced Logan into a wall harshly.

Logan was knocked unconscious when Patton threw him against the wall, the last thing he saw was Patton talking to Virgil and undoing his clasps to the table. Then everything went black.

Taglist (this is just chapter 1):

@beegaydocrimes574 @gidget-claws @grabbing-goblin @thedarkeningdusk @ladylokilove @arteestofcats @cha0t1cev1l @literallyjustahumantrashcan @did-he-just-hiss-at-me @chaoticgayboi @queroze @moonlight-topaz @dawn-daffodil @unicornofdarknessstuff @janus-the-sassy-snek-boi @awaiting-new-management @lavenders-loveforthings @genderlessfish

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