#not that i've been thinking about it for at least a week
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sweetmodel · 16 hours ago
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Hey, if you're seeing this, I most likely died. I've been battling a really really intense illness for a few years now. I don't want to got in too much detail about It but it worsened these last months and I've basically been spending my final weeks living in my hospital room.
Many people have asked me what I think happens after we die since, you know, we can shift realities and all that... I was kind of afraid of answering and hesitated because I didn't want to influence anyone to do anything stupid and reckless. But now, talking about it makes me feel better, so I guess if you're more suggestible stop reading now... Or keep going. But I warned you.
Honestly, I stuck around in this reality just to find out. I know it sounds really morbid but I'm curious to know how dying is going to feel like. I'm not scared or anything because I've shifted many times and honestly I think dead is just the end of the body, not of the consciousness. I don't think consciousness can ever truly die, at least the way they define death. I think death, just like anything in this reality, is a creation of consciousness/awareness, and when we die we go to... Where we most likely think we end up to.
I always thought heavily religious people are now in their own heaven/hell, and for us shifters, since we know we can go wherever we want, then the choice is actually ours. I know by the time I die I'm going to end up in one of my many realities.
I guess I'm just rambling but... I'm happy I created this blog and helped people. I remember when I first found out about shifting many years ago, it feels like centuries passed! I never could have imagined I would end up doing things like magic, being famous, a pop star, an actor, a fairy, seeing the universe, and so on... I wish I could have said more honestly but it has been really hard making posts.
My last advice for all of you is to never stop dreaming, because the things you want are already yours. You don't know about shifting because that's what you're supposed to do, you know about shifting because that's the bridge for the things you already have. You were powerful enough to manifest in your reality the key to be limitless. Or, I'd rather say, you REMEMBERED your true nature. Break free from limits, because ultimetely you created those too.
So I guess... Bye, unless I end up interacting with any of you somewhere else ;).
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s1m0nth3swag · 2 days ago
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Could you write “How would Viktor does when reader has depression”.
Of course! Thanks for the ask pookie :)
These r a little short because I am still ill (and my head is literally killing me as I type this) but Viktor is more important than getting well!! (Also bawling my eyes out after act 3, even though I'd still love Viktor nonetheless, machine or not, he's getting it)
WARNINGS/ CONTENT INFO: Mentions of Depression (obviously), GN!Reader, sweet Fluff, Viktor has no clue what he's doing in all honesty, he tries (and succeeds) to be sweet
2 Stories - One more casual/not yet dating and the other is established relationship
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You've been off lately, Viktor had noticed. Isolating yourself bit by bit, looking more tired and overall acting just weird. You've had your phases before, but this one was too long. It wasn't like you at all. You've barely even spoken to him or Jayce, when usually you'd yap both their ears off about whatever topic you had learned about the previous night. Now, the lab was silent. Jayce was away on some Council party, and god knows Viktor would never start a conversation on his own while working. Though, he couldn't focus tonight. He mindlessly tinkered with small parts that laid around his desk, his thoughts clouded with the question of what was bothering you. Whatever it was, it bothered him as well. He'd never say, but he missed the cheery and chipper way you'd usually be.
"Are you... alright?" He questions after a while, clearing his throat slightly. This was already too awkward for him, but he did care. Totally just because the atmosphere of the lab would suffer if you weren't your usual self. He noticed the way you shifted uncomfortably as he glanced over to where you were sitting, like you were pondering how to answer. He wondered why you'd need so long to think of an answer, as if you couldn't tell him the truth. "I'm fine. Just a little tired, I just haven't been sleeping well." You answer, a soft, akward chuckle slipping from your lips. Viktor doesn't like that answer. You're different from how you are when you're just tired - not that he actually paid attention to that, but you weren't on your fifth cup of coffee yet. Actually, you hadn't had coffee at all today, another unusual happening. He sighs softly, and you immediatly know that he's gotten into questioning mode - he was a scientist after all. He really couldn't help it. "You can talk to me, you know? We don't have to be lab partners and nothing else, we can be friends." He speaks, his voice softer than before. "What's bothering you, hm?" Viktor adds, turning his chair around to look at you properly. It's your turn to sigh, letting your head hang slightly. "I've just been... feeling off. Like, actually tired but in a mental way? I don't know how to explain." You mutter, awkwardly averting your gaze from him. "We should take a day off, then. Do whatever you want instead of working." Viktor answers casually. "I don't want to miss important stuff in the lab Viktor, I can't take a day off." You throw back at him. He huffs, a slight chuckle filling the room. "Not you. Us. Maybe all three, if Jayce is willing." He clarifies, already noting it down in his notebook to make sure that day off actually happens.
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Viktor noticed the moment he woke up next to you. You'd fallen into another slump. He could tell just by the way you didn't just not want to get up - it was a physical challenge for you. He's seen you like this before, though usually it didn't last too long, at least not that he's noticed, maybe only a day or two at most. But by now, it's been almost a week, and you haven't spoken to him about it. You've been more abrasive, have started caring less about your personal hygiene, and while Viktor doesn't mind, he always hated when you didn't take proper care of yourself. He wanted you to feel good, not fall into a depressive hole. He offered to take a shower or bath with you, to make a game out of brushing your teeth, but you had shut everything down. It wasn't because you didn't think the ideas were sweet, but more because you didn't think you even deserved that much effort. Viktor had to helplessly watch you get worse, and he couldn't even do anything to properly help. It was absolute hell to him.
He'd had enough, wanted to be mad at you, even, but he couldn't blame you for it. He could, however, force you to stay cuddled up in bed with him. You liked staying in bed anyway, and cuddling with him was always one of your favourites. So, here you two were, snuggled into the covers of Viktors way too confortable bed. "You know that I love you, right?" Viktor mumbled, his accent more heavy with sleep. He didn't say it enough, at least that's what he thought. "I do know..." you answered, just as sleepily. "I know you can't control this.. but let me help you, please? I know it's hard, trust me I do, but I hate having to watch from the sidelines as you get worse..." He sighs, pressing a kiss against your forehead. "Let me just be there for you, yeah, my dear?" Viktor adds, pulling away slightly to look at you. "Alright.. I'll... I'll try, I promise." You answer, scooting back towards him so you could press your face into the crook of his neck, basking in his warmth for a little longer.
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silly-of-the-str1ng · 2 days ago
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Dream come True?
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A/N: this is the first fic i've written in little over a year so feel free to lmk what you think with a comment or two! also some word/spelling errors, i made this while sick at 11pm 😭🙏
warning: none :3
word count: 1.1k
summary: your dream of going to Billie's show suddenly becomes a reality
------------------------<3----------------------------
You had been listening to Billie’s new album ‘HIT ME HARD AND SOFT’ ever since it had been released, over and over and over, and well you get the point.
And when you heard Billie was going on tour?- you nearly cried, well no- you did cry, a lot at that.. but as usual the universe wasn't on your side.
“No- No, No, No, NO!-” you practically screamed as you scrolled down to the New York shows, desperately refreshing the page as if the big bold letters “SOLD OUT” would disappear. You had never even had a chance to try and even go to any of her shows even once, you were pretty tight on money due to New york’s crazy prices for just about everything and the moment you had saved up enough money to buy a show ticket? of course you wouldn't be quick enough to get one or even try.
You slammed your head down on your mattress, whining pretty pathetically as your best friend, Amber awkwardly sat next to you, looking up from her phone where she was texting her boyfriend. She sighed softly and shook her head as she tilted down to meet your sad eyes, “all sold out already?”
“yes…” you grumbled, shoving your face into your comforter. “You should at least expect it somewhat, I mean she's Billie Eilish for goodness sake….” Amber hummed as she went back to messaging Lucas.
You sat up slightly, resting your chin on your palm, “I know!” you groaned as you rubbed at your eyes clean of your stupid tears, it felt so stupid to cry over someone who didn't know you at all and you'd never have the chance of meeting, but here you were-
“I just!- She coming to New York three times, Amber! THREE!! and every single show is sold out in under the first day it seems like!” you wailed as you shoved your face back into your blanket.
Amber sighed softly, setting down her phone and gently placing her hand on your back, rubbing soft circles over it- “You know, maybe it's for the best… I mean you'd probably explode if you even had a chance to see Billie in person-” Amber offered, making you scoff harshly.
You wanted nothing more, you'd sell your soul if you had to- or your car…
—-
That was a few weeks ago now, you were still mourning the loss of course but you still had to go to work- so here you were clocking in to your mom's bakery for the oh so convenient shift of 4AM… like anyone was actually up at this time but you had to start making the pastries for the day.
You kneaded at the dough, softly grunting as you rolled it out and cut the dough, shaping it into croissants and setting it on the tray. Though the soft ringing of the front entry door opening and closing caught your attention.
“Seriously…?” you sourly muttered to yourself, who the hell is up at 4:28 in the morning getting breakfast?!- you walked out from the back, sighing excessively as you spoke in a pretty harsh tone-
“Sorry if your here for any pastries you'll have to wait another two hours or so-” though when you met the eyes of the woman who walked in you were shocked-
Billie
fucking
Eilish.
“Oh, no worries- I can wait, I don't have to be anywhere today thankfully,” she shrugged confidently as she met your eyes, those bright blue eyes staring back into yours. You felt your face naturally go red from embarrassment.
You stood there awkwardly before letting out a forced chuckle, “I-I don't want to having to wait in here all by yourself while I make stuff- that'd be kind of rude considering your, well-”
“Billie Eilish?” she finished with a soft smile.
“...yeah…” you mumbled in an almost embarrassed way, well no- it WAS in an embarrassed way, 100 percent.
Though she just simply sat down in one of the booths, crossing her legs, “I may be a singer but that doesn't mean i'm not human enough to not really care-” she chuckled softly, making your heart jump.
“Right- sorry-” You quickly replied.
“I, take it you're a fan?” she asked, not prying but just genuinely looking to see what she was to you in a way. “Uh yeah!-” you awkwardly smiled, “I tried to get a ticket to any of the shows your having here but you know-” you died off at the end, rubbing the back of your neck with the hand that was still completely covered in flour.
“Oh- for real? Do you want one or something? I can just get you set up.” she offered, making you do a double take.
“A-Are you serious?-”
“Yeah, it's easy, I can get you up front too, if you want, I know that some people are sensitive to the bass.” she hummed, pulling out her phone to do god knows what. Then she met your eyes again, tilting her head to the side slightly as if you were just as regular as a friend to her. “So?”
You were star struck, you didn't even know what to say. On the more obvious hand, this was Billie Eilish offering you a completely free ticket to one of her shows, you had to yes. But on the more annoying hand that wanted to have some sort of confidence for some version- you wanted to say no.
“uhhh… i don't think so- I mean it's asking a lot from you really-”
“Nah it's fine, i'll just get you a VIP pass, just tell someone in security to go get me, I know they probably won't listen but if I hear about someone being annoying i'll assume it's probably you-” Billie chuckled.
“...u-uh- okay…”
There was an awkward silence, your shoes squeaking against the floor before Billie spoke up again, “on second thought- i'll just have someone come pick it up… You've got a nice place here but I'd rather not sit down in silence by myself today…” and this time you let out a small genuine laugh, “I hear you.”
Billie stood up and walked over to the counter where you stood behind, “Nice meeting you by the way, most fans I meet are kinda crazy about seeing me,” She chuckled. “Oh believe me i'm going crazy inside.” You scoffed, making her smile. “Well, I'm gonna dip, maybe see you round…?” she shrugged. “Yeah, maybe…” you repeated as she walked over to the front door and opened it. though she looked back- “oh I didn't catch your name.”
“oh- it's Y/N.”
“Y/N… Nice name,” Billie hummed before she walked out, the bell ringing softly of her exit. you stood there in silence before quickly picking up your phone and speed dialing Amber's number.
“Amber-HOLY SHIT YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED-”
(uh I make this a 2 parter if it does well :3)
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junedenim · 24 hours ago
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wrap my head around it all
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a whole new thing
warnings: it's just fluff
word count: 3k
You're eating a bagel. He's drinking a cup of coffee. There's an ache that's been relieved. It feels this way whenever he comes home and he's been home for a month now but he still feels just how good this is, looking across at you as you scarf down a bagel so quickly he fears you'll choke.
"It isn't going anywhere." He chuckles at his own joke. He's ashamed of himself, you don't have to tell him.
And you know that. You wipe your hands on a napkin and throw your head back with a groan. "I'm so hungry."
He grins. "Do you want me to get you another one?"
You hum in thought, taking your time like you're concentrating on solving world hunger. Then, you sigh, your shoulders slumping as your hands return to what remains of your bagel. "No. I'll spoil lunch."
He chuckles and rests his head in the palm of his left hand. His gaze is soft and relaxed, focused on you. "I hate to break it to you but we're way past noon. That is your lunch."
You whine and rub the cream cheese off the corners of your mouth. "Fine. Then, I'm spoiling dinner. How would your parents like it if I didn't eat anything?"
He laughs at your worry and picks up his cup of coffee, dragging a sip from it. "I think they'll understand. Plus, I highly doubt you won't be hungry by dinner time."
Your shoulders slump as you chew the remains of your bagel. "I know, it's dreadful. This constant state of hunger I've been forced into."
"We all appreciate it," Alex assures, hiding his amusement from your frustration. "At least you're not retching every 20 minutes."
You lean back in your chair and drop the dirty napkin with the rest of your bagel's trash. "Small favours, huh?"
"Do you want me to get you another one?" Alex offers again. His attentiveness to you has only grown through the years. Perhaps, now, it's at an all-time high. But he likes being able to take care of you. It's the least he can do.
You shake your head. "No, I'd like to walk around a little now." It's cold, windy, and slightly raining. People are rushing into the cafe from the cold, but you want to walk around in it. He supposes there is where you lose him but he'll tighten his coat, put on a hat, and slip on some gloves if it's what you want. Besides, if it'll stop you complaining about how hot the cafe is then he can't complain.
He fixes the askew hat on your head and opens the door for you. As you two walk down the street, he places his hands in his pockets, forming a loop of his arms. You slip your arm through it, tugging him close, brushing your side up against his. "It's going to rain all week," Alex comments on the weather patterns.
"I like it when it rains." You are smiling through the gloom. In that smile, there's a lifetime of love and it is so strange that it feels so normal for him to feel this way. It was never a gradual thing. It was sudden the first time you talked to one another and he felt that he could reach out to you and you would never push him away. Silver lining is cheesy but all that tension he builds throughout his life is somehow relieved in the glimmer of your teeth.
The mundanity is the craziest. Everything felt like it had to be a big show of things. He had to slick back his hair and play make-believe in every moment but now, it's a sigh of relief. To come home to someone—to come home to you and not have to play pretend anymore. To roll out of bed and not have to decide who to play today, instead, decide where to go for breakfast.
Maybe it's getting older, but he thinks it lies in learning the importance of caring for someone else. He always has with his friends and family and past girlfriends but there's something different here. It's him relinquishing himself to that, allowing you to look after him. To wake up and find you've made coffee or come home and find you've bought him a new shirt. It's simple. Doing the laundry, cooking dinner, grocery shopping. It's so dull but in fact the greatest thing ever. That feeling has only grown as of late.
"Where are we walking to?" He asks.
You shrug and look over at him. "I don't know. We could...window shop or...," you think, tapping your finger on your chin, "go to the park or—"
"In the rain?" He questions, an eyebrow raised.
You smile and lean closer to him. Something you know gets him all twisted up around your finger, and you are willing to do anything you decide. "Why not?"
"Because I don't want to," he reasons, but the grin is already playing on his lips and light chuckles ripple through him as your lips grow closer and closer until you're hovering over his.
"Fine," you decide, shocking him.
"Really?"
"Yeah. I'm cold," you declare. You cuddle closer to him all pouty. It's the way you've been as of late whether the cold of winter or your hormones. "Let's go baby shopping."
"Baby shopping?"
"Yeah, we haven't really done it yet and we could look for cute itty bitty baby clothes," you reason.
The baby is new. Or rather the pregnancy. It's the reason for dinner with his parents. It wasn't planned but it wasn't unplanned. You'd been together for years, married for two, and, well, you, him, and baby makes three. 
You found out a couple of weeks ago. It's changed things for him with the whole caring thing. He's always cared, obviously, but now he finds himself interested in every little aspect of the pregnancy. He'd never thought he'd be that guy who reads the books and talks to your stomach (which you don't know about, he's too embarrassed to do it while you're awake), but things change and he'd never thought he'd be a father but here he is walking into a baby clothing store to buy clothes for his—well, your—baby. 
He still hasn't processed the whole "baby" part of things. He knows there will be a baby but he can't yet imagine having the baby. You being pregnant doesn't even quite feel real yet. You're barely showing and he only feels it might be real when he talks to it. That feels weird to call it it. But he's tried calling it he or she but that's a mouthful. You don't like him calling it it so he started calling it names. 
First, it was normal. "Mary," "John," "Elizabeth," "James," but you didn't like that either because the baby didn't have a name. The baby hasn't even developed that part of them yet. So, he calls it "tot," "bug," "pumpkin," and his personal favorite, "the fetus." You're not sure why but he makes him laugh. Maybe it's the boyish part of him that still thinks boobies are the coolest thing ever.
"Should we really buy clothes if we don't know the gender yet?" He asks as you search through the girlish items.
"A baby isn't modeling for the cover of Vogue. We just need to find an outfit to take the baby home in. A hat and a onesie." You pick up a cute pink one with little pink bows printed across it. "Look how cute and small this one is."
"What if it's a boy?"
You roll your eyes. "Real men wear pink, you know that better than anyone."
He chuckles. "Touché."
You point the onesie back and state, "Besides, we're probably going to have a girl anyway. My family is filled with girls."
"Well, my family has guys," Alex points out.
"What? You?" You laugh at him. "Yes, statistically your parents did have 100% guys."
"Shut up," he mutters as he comes closer and lands a kiss on you. There are the moments that count, that are embedded and embossed deep into his mind. They are small but mighty. It's right up there with shopping for a new shower curtain. It's stupid but it's real. Arguing over whether it should be flowers or ducks (he really wanted the ducks for some reason). You compromised with polka dots, not that that part matters much. It was more doing it with you. He doesn't know why other than it's fun and he loves you. 
You move further down the aisle, looking through bees, princesses, and truck designs. "The baby will be born in August. What screams August to you?"
"Sweat," he replies.
"Be serious," you urge him, your eyes staring strongly at him. He can feel the pupil blaze through him like a laser.
"I am," he says, "I think of sweating, the heat, sun."
"Aw," you coo as a smile grows on your lips. "Cute little suns and if we have a son then it'll be like son and sun. Get it?"
He smiles down at you, struggling to process all of this. "Yeah, I get it." A son, a daughter, a child. It knocks him off his feet. He gets hit with these waves. It's nerves but it's also excitement. The idea that a baby will be in that small onesie. A part of him will be in the world, running off, getting into nonsense. He has a few years until that. Hopefully, he'll catch up by then.
You buy the onesie with suns on it and leave after that. There will be plenty of time to spend plenty more money at the store but for now, you head to the bookstore next door. It's small with aching floors and dusty shelves. You're just trying to kill time until dinner and this seems like a good place to start.
You drag him by hand to the children's book section because despite it being another few years until the baby can read, but you like the idea of reading to the baby every night, even if they can't understand a word of what you're saying. Between Madeline and The Giving Tree, you say, "You know, these are the last couple of months of our lives, it'll be just the two of us."
He picks up Curious George, distracting himself by looking through the pictures. "You say that like you want me to panic."
"No," you assure him, placing your hands on his shoulder, giving them a squeeze. "This is such a special time in our lives. We'll never experience something like this again. Shopping for our baby, nervous, scared, anxious, happy, excited. And I get to do it all with you."
He shakes his head and puts Curious George back on the shelf, turning to you. "You really have a gift."
"What?" You ask eagerly.
Alex takes your hands off his shoulders and squeezes them. "Nothing. You just always know how to make me feel better."
"I know it's hard for you to believe but it goes both ways. I'm panicking too, you know? I have to push a whole human being out of me."
"I know. How selfish am I to be the one who's scared."
"No. It's perfectly reasonable. It's a life-changing thing that'll cry, poop, pee, and spit all over you. I guess, I just take comfort in knowing I have you to hold my hand."
He takes a deep breath and tries to let the stress go. "You're going make me cry next to Harold and the Purple Crayon."
"Well, this is my way of guilting you into changing all the diapers so it works out pretty good."
Alex then gets carried away by a Batman Lego set and despite the knowledge that it can't be anywhere near a child until it's no longer a choking hazard. Perhaps, it's more for Alex than the baby. He doesn't get it because he doesn't want to carry it around for the rest of the day but he's not saying he won't come back for it.
You leave with Harold and the Purple Crayon for memory's sake. The rain has stopped but the wind is still cold and the pavement is soaked wet with puddles. You huddle close together once again.
Alex asks, "Are you cool with the whole giving birth thing?"
You laugh at him. "I don't have much of a choice. Why? Do you want to try?"
"If I could, I would."
"No, you wouldn't, but I appreciate the sentiment. Besides, it's kind of cool. A special thing that only I get to experience. I mean, the thing is growing in me, that's crazy but cool."
"Yeah, the tot is a part of you."
You hum. "I want french fries."
He smiles. "Okay. I could go for a burger."
Fast food being on every corner does have its conveniences. McDonald's is warm, separating you from the world's chill. "My mother had short labours. How long was your mother in labour for?"
"I don't know. You can ask her at dinner."
"I'm definitely getting an epidural. I don't care if it slows the process down. You know I'm in pain from just a headache. I wouldn't survive natural labour."
"Good thing for modern medicine."
"If it was the 1800s you could just give me a bunch of morphine and knock me out."
"I'll tell them to have some ready for you."
You sit in a booth that is mildly sticky but he'll ignore it if it'll ease your feet. He bought the large fries with the intention of it being shared between the two of you but instead, you take it for yourself. He enjoys his burger.
"We should have gotten a Happy Meal," you joke, dipping the fry into the ketchup pile. 
He smiles because despite being freaked out 99% of the time, the 1%—the idea of doing things like this, buying a Happy Meal for his kid—outweighs it all. "Yeah, would've gotten a cool toy too."
"Well, as long as you eat your apple slices." You smile up at him and he blushes. He's been with you for so long and yet he still gets flushed under your gaze, lost in your eyes, falling in love over and over again. It's cheesy and cliche, but that doesn't make it untrue.
He steals a fry away and asks, "What should we name the tot?"
You shake your head. "No clue. Is it weird that that is what terrifies me the most?"
"No, they're going to carry it around with them for their whole life. It's the first major life decision we’ll make for them. Well, after, you know, making them."
You giggle at him with a mouthful of fries. "Yeah. If it's a boy should we name it after you?"
"God no." There doesn't need to be another Alex Turner in the world. That would make things far too confusing.
"What about for a middle name?"
"Nah, the kid is already getting my last name."
"Should we go away? Like a babymoon or whatever it's called?" You ask.
"Sure, if it's anything like our honeymoon." You went to Bora Bora. You didn't see much of Bora Bora. It was your hotel and the water pretty much of which Alex insisted on giving an equal show of things, which you'd be mildly embarrassed by if you weren't so turned on by it. Besides, you came back with no tan lines.
"Shut up," you wish upon him.
He laughs because he really is just a teenage boy who still finds sex to be funny. But it's a lovely sight to see with the crinkle by his eyes and the smile lines forming. You always like him like this. He can be moody and pensive a lot of the time. When he laughs, it feels like he fully lets go, if only for a moment. 
"Where would we go?" He asks.
"A cottage in the woods or something. I don't know. I might be too pregnant to fly by the time we do it."
"You're going to be so cute with a belly."
"Please don't turn into some pregnancy fetishist, Alex," you warn him.
And, no, he won't be going up to pregnant women on the street and asking to touch their bellies but there is something inherently attractive about you being pregnant. It's probably some biological design.
"I can't help it if I want to fuck you."
"Alex!" You scold looking around the McDonald's in shame. Much wilder things have been said in places like this but you still turn red whenever he gets suggestive, especially in this vulgar way like some need has overtaken him and he needs to have you right now. Like he'll take you on the red paint-chipped table. 
He chuckles and bites into his burger. So nonchalant in every way like nothing affects him. It's easy for him to be casual about these things. He's pretty sure a corner of his brain is thinking about things like that all the time. He's pretty sure he thinks of your boobs every night before bed and wakes up thinking about your ass. Again, he's pretty sure it's that inherent biological man thing.
"In a couple of months, you'll be so pumped full of hormones you'll want me to fuck you in the bathroom of this place."
You reach across the table and start smacking him but he just laughs more and more, getting a real kick of this. "Will you shut up?" Truthfully, you kind of want to go jump his bones now.
*
a/n: sigh, just a little something for now. trying to write more but my finals have been a bitch. but winter break is soon...
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veilkeeper · 3 days ago
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Act 3 Emmrichmance: Lich Edition
alt title: if you're really determined, "'til death do us part" is only a suggestion
okay so, after the point of no return some pretty major stuff happens in the romances. @/crossdressingdeath and i talked in DMs about how, as far as we can tell, all the romances have some sort of unfinished business going into the endgame. in the lucanismance, it's him cutting rook off from saying they love him, in the davrinmance it's a discussion about davrin's fear that one of them is going to die just as he's starting to imagine a future with them, and with emmrich it's The Argument™—which as i've discussed before, is emmrich and rook having an argument about his insecurities. in the lich path, which is what i'm specifically talking about here, the argument is about his concern that rook is going to die at some point, and his fear that he's going to mourn them forever. the argument is left unresolved after some pretty intense back and forth, where rook calls him out on pushing his insecurities and fears onto them, and they have to shelve it to head to tearstone island.
to their credit, they do try to apologize to each other. in banter on tearstone island, emmrich very clearly regrets starting an argument, but he and rook both agree that now isn't really a good time and that they'll talk when they get home.
and then rook almost dies in front of him and gets thrown into fade jail by solas.
uh oh!!!!
if this isn't the manifestation of all his fears, i don't know what is. for all intents and purposes, he has lost rook. he's sure they're alive—trapped in a prison meant to hold gods, but alive—and since he's a lich i have every confidence that there was not a moment of rest in the weeks it took to rescue rook. he's their fade expert, he's the best equipped to find them, and he has to, because otherwise the last real conversation they had was an argument he never got to apologize for, and he will have to live with that guilt for an eternity.
i really have to wonder if he ever would have been able to bring himself to stop looking for them.
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and while i suspect their LI is always the first person to grab a hold of rook to pull them out of the fade, there's a special flavour to it when you're romancing emmrich. knowing that he's probably been obsessively trying to find them. the sheer relief he must have felt when he reached through the veil and was able to get his hands on them, to pull them through and back into the safety of his arms.
he fusses after them, too. urgently takes them to the necropolis so he can be extra certain that solas' hold on them is gone. he was afraid he'd lost them forever, he wasn't going to waste any time making sure they'd be as safe as they can be. and then he says,
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"I will let nothing part us again, my love. Not in this nor any other world."
he says it in that level, sort of indulgent tone that he says all his romance lines in, so it's easy to mistake this as him being poetically hyperbolic. but let us never forget that this is the man with such a profound fear of death that he became a lich just to avoid it. he's not half as well-adjusted as he likes to appear.
when he says he would not let anything separate him and rook again, he is dead fucking serious.
he wakes them up at dawn despite knowing they need rest—i think, perhaps, because it isn't enough to have them breathing in front of him. that he needs to hear their voice and have the reassurance that they're here and real and alive and safe, at least right now. "I would move the world before I lost you again," he says later. before the final fight against elgar'nan, he says he has plans he wants to make with rook, that he wants to be safe and at home with them. if i had to guess, i'd say rook i going to have a hard time shaking him for anything after this. i don't think he's ever going to feel like they're safe if he can't see them. hope you like a clingy boyfriend.
it's kind of the inevitable conclusion to what i was talking about in my sacrifice of souls meta—none of his actual fears around death and dying and grieving have been addressed, and he's hitched his wagon to immortality. and now that he's almost lost rook, he's realized that there is no universe where he's ever going to survive losing them for real.
and we all know the lengths he's willing to go to stay alive.
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luxheroica · 1 day ago
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under your tree (1/3)
Anyways Ekko/Jinx has made me insane and I'm not stopping. So here have fanfic about Ekko, Jinx, and the tree that I wrote in a fugue state last night. Planned part 1 of 3, the first is alternate-Powder and alternate-Ekko.
Also on AO3
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She drags him up out of her lab, not entirely sure where to go but too jumbled up to stay. Powder’s heart is racing as she twines her fingers in Ekko’s, and she has never been happier to feel his grip strong and vital in her own. That breathless moment when he wasn't moving when she thought– she had held VI's body in the same way. 
“Where are we going?” he asks, bewildered, stumbling along behind her. 
“Just come on.”
Her feet know the path and she trusts them. While she does her mind races, all of the strangeness of the past few weeks slotting into place like a puzzle in her mind. 
His fear on seeing her, his confusion at Milo and Claggor, the way his whole face changed when he saw Benzo… the way he hadn’t known Vi was dead. She thought he was just messing with her, in a particularly cruel way, or maybe he’d lost his mind after a particularly weird dream. 
The way he’d kissed her tonight, like he was so desperate to hold on to her. 
Now it all makes sense. Something that she was beginning to suspect but didn’t think was quite possible. 
Her feet take her to the tree. Where Ekko painted his portraits of Vi. 
Vi who lives. Vi who is from some other place and time entirely. 
“What… is this?” Ekko– her Ekko– crosses to the portraits alongside her, wonderment in his eyes. “Is that Vi?”
Powder smiles. “A present,” she says. “From another you.” 
Ekko scoffs disbelieving. “Seriously, you can stop messing with me.” 
“Did you know that the competition is tomorrow?” 
Ekko whirls around. “What? No– it's weeks away!” He waits for the punchline that he knows is coming, and then scratches at his head. “Seriously? What do you mean it’s tomorrow, I thought–” 
“You had plenty of time?” 
Ekko nods. He swallows and she watches his Adams apple bob, as he takes this in. “Powder, why did I wake up on the floor of your lab?” 
“Because an alternate universe version of you took over your body for a few weeks, built a time machine that created a space anomaly, and then went back to his universe.” 
She expects him to laugh. She expects him to accuse her of making it up. Even as she says it, it sounds a little crazy. 
Ekko flops to the ground. “Huh.” 
“Yeah,” she says. She doesn't approach, doesn't touch him. Gives him time to process. 
“That is about the wildest shit I've ever heard.” 
Powder snorts. “Don't I know it. Imagine three weeks of my boyfriend acting like a lunatic, and I only now figure out why.” 
“Imagine losing three weeks of your life to an another version of you!” He scratches at his head in that way he does when he's frustrated. “I can't believe the content is tomorrow and I haven’t prepared anything!” 
Powder laughs. The Innovators Competition seems like the least of her concerns right now, but of course for him he was just thinking about it. It consumed his every thought “To be fair, while making his time travel device he maaaaybe finished your battery. It works great, by the way!” 
Ekko sits up, offense playing across his face. “He finished my designs??” Then he shakes his head. “Is it weird to be jealous of another version of myself?” 
Powder considers. And yeah she's gonna push it because she likes pushing his buttons. “Would now be a bad time to tell you he kissed me?” 
Ekko nearly chokes. 
“In my defense I thought he was you!” 
The fight goes out of Ekko, and he sighs. Lays down in the grass and looks up at the wall where Vi’s eyes from another universe look down on the both of them. “You think she’s alive, in his world?” 
Powder nods. She curls herself next to him, intertwining her fingers with his. “Yeah,” she says. “He told me about her, a bit– said it was a dream he had. Said she was the strongest fighter in all Zaun.” 
There under that tree she tells him all about the dream the other Ekko told her about, that strange world where Vi lived and was in love with a Piltover heiress of all people and she went by a different name and she and Ekko hadn't really talked in years and Zaun was still just like it used to be and maybe even worse. 
“It’s weird,” Ekko says while she talks. He rubs his forehead, his brow creasing in concentration. “It's like I can remember it, a little– while you're talking. Flashes of memory… I don't know if they're real.” 
Powder curls their fingers together. “I think alternate universes are uncharted territory for anyone.” 
Ekko snorts. “You're telling me.” He squeezes her hand reassuringly. “It’s strange. Everything I'm feeling, it all feels so sad and awful and scary… even if VI's alive so many people were dead, and we hadn't talked in forever…” he trails off, and Powder imagines it– really imagines it– that universe that other-Ekko came from and it makes her sad. “And don't get me wrong, I'm glad he left and I get to be me and not have my life hijacked by some alternate me, but…” 
Powder levers herself up. “But?” she prompts. 
“But why'd he do it?” He turns to look at her, and there's something anxious in his brown eyes. “I don't know if I could leave to a world where we never talked.” 
Powder smiles. Rolls over and kisses the bridge of his nose. They haven't said it yet but she loves him–whichever version. “Because he's you. And because they needed him, the people on the other side.” 
Ekko turns this over in his mind. “What was he like, the other me?” 
Powder scrunches her nose as she tries to think. “Like you but weird. Like, he was really jumpy at first and then he got all sentimental over weird stuff. But, he was you– just as smart, just as idealistic. Always had his head in the clouds and his nose in an equation.” 
Ekko laughs. Flicks her nose. “That doesn't sound like me at all.” 
“Oh doesn't it, Mr. Free-Energy-For-All?” 
“I still can't believe he finished my designs.” 
Powder rolls back laughing, because he sounds so indignant. He continues to glare, annoyed. And then after a minute joins her in laughter. 
“I think I saw him for a minute, at the end there.” Powder says once she's caught her breath. 
“Oh? What was he, uh…?” 
“Really hot,” she says, because she knows it's going to make him jealous but she’s also calling him hot and he can't say anything about it, and it’s such a delicious conundrum. “Kind of rugged, too– big baggy clothes and wearing war paint. Not at all a buttoned up nerd.”
Ekko rolls over, pins her to the ground like she's been goading him to do. “I'll show you buttoned up nerd,” he says, and he kisses her breathless. 
And it’s different from the way he kissed her earlier tonight. For one he knows how she likes to be kissed, knows how to tease her. But there's nothing of that delicate way he held her like she was this precious thing that could break, and she wants that intensity again. 
They stay like that awhile. Just kissing, just enjoying each other. And they don't think of other worlds where they haven't talked in years and maybe never will again. 
At last they stop, because Ekko looks at his watch and says, “Oh shit, I should get you back home!” 
Powder tickles his knee with hers, hoping to tempt him into giving in again. “We’ve got time. I said I was going to the dance.” 
“It’s almost 2am, I'm pretty sure your dads are gonna kill me.”
Powder snorts disbelieving. “Nah, they wouldn't.” 
“No, I know Silco quit being a crime boss but I'm pretty sure he still knows how to hide a body like, super good.” 
Powder kisses him again– with a little bit of tongue, for good measure– and then when she's sure he's about to give in she jumps to her feet. Ekko looks at her exasperated but fond. “Alright, genius. Let's get you home– you've got a presentation to give tomorrow.” 
Ekko groans. 
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nicholaswantslove · 2 days ago
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It's been 10 days since I came out...and well, everything is the same and I can't tell if that's a good thing or not.
I wanted to buy a binder with this check but with the mail on hold because of the strike here in Canada. It's going to have to wait.
I have no gender affirming clothing, like none at all and it's driving me insane. Also, my dad is with me like all the time, and I know he doesn't accept the fact I'm trans... so I feel like he's judging me for shopping in the men's section and it makes me feel awkward.
The other day, he called me a woman for the second time this week. The first time I told him that I'm not a woman and he looked at me like "really?" and I said "I have female body parts, yes..." and he goes "see?"
Ugh, it makes me so frustrated. He's never going to respect my decision... if you can even call it a decision...
It makes me want to move out but I can't afford to get my own place... at least not for a couple of years... maybe when I get a student loan when I go to University, I might be able to but right now, it's out of the question.
I love my dad but I'm starting to really not like him. I'm glad he's going back to work soon... maybe I'll feel more comfortable being away from him.
I've been thinking about what I want to do moving forward with my transition. I'm not sure if I want to start the process of changing my name and gender marker first or start the process of getting HRT.
I think a good place above all that is actually buying masculine clothing and a chest binder...
I can't worry about what my dad thinks and I need to start sticking up for myself with him.
Anyway,
I made cookies today... they were pretty good.
- Nick
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tevantarlos · 3 hours ago
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Feel free to ignore but I just have to get this out. I know this sounds mean but I´m happy that
a) Tim and Oliver lurk in fandom like no other and are seeing what people say about them and
b) Oliver had months of reprieve from the deranged people that make his following because they were turning all their guns on Lou. In fact he gained popularity because they convinced themselves (with his help, I add) that he is their champion and actually wants Buddie to happen. What does he think will happen now, when in a couple of weeks Buddie still has not happend? There is no Tommy standing in the way anymore and we will go right back to accusations of baiting and of people calling him fat and bald and almost too ugly for Eddie (yes, that happend). And when this happens and he has another whiny outburst on SM I will laugh until I fall over.
They droped the ball with every other LI before because they were to chicken shit to even try putting a stop to the endless harrassment. I think Megan West was the most egregious example of just leaving someone hanging and even encouraging the shit that went on online. They had a chance here, for the first time, to try to get out of this toxic Buddie brew they are in. If nothing else the way the relationship with Tommy was received, the way it garnered press by outlets other than glorified fan blogs like "Fangirlish" and gained them a new audience and the move to ABC all presented an opportunity to combat the toxicity by simply taking the fandom monopoly away from the crazies. But they just did not have the balls and now look at their pathetic attempts to make Brad happen on their IG. Engagement is low and what it there is the usual idiots screaming for Buddie and nothing else.
I hope it was worth it. I don´t see the show getting a 10th season, maybe not even a 9th. The spin off will be cheaper to produce, Peter talked about quitting before and the ratings trend downwards since S6. Not to mention the writing is absolute shit since Tim is back.
Maybe Oliver hopes that Callum Blue is the kind of guy that can get him a job after 911 gets canceled and is worth sucking up to. Last time I checked he couldn´t even get cast on a Hallmark movie so why not try, right? Buddie fans will not follow him either way, I hope he knows that.
Hey, hon. Thanks for the ask. Sorry I haven't posted this or replied before now. I haven't logged into my computer in a few days, have just been doing everything on my phone, and I didn't want to try to reply to this on my phone, that would takes ages.
I've been in the 911 fandom since two months after the last episode of season 1 aired. Oliver and 911 shot themselves in the foot by not shooting this Bvddie bullshit down from the very beginning. They've spent years leading Bvddie fans on, purposely having scenes with Buck and Eddie that cause the lunatics to see things that aren't there, because it gives the show more engagement.
Oliver and 911 know that Bvddie fans will never stop watching the show because they're so sure that at some point, 911 and Oliver will give in and make Bvddie canon because 'it's what they deserve'. At least, that's the bullshit I've read a lot of on Twitter and other places. What Bvddie fans don't understand, is they aren't owed shit.
I learned this the hard way when I was in the 100 fandom. I, and many other Bellarke fans thought that since we were loyal fans of the show, we'd be rewarded by getting Bellarke eventually. But just like Bvddie is never going to happen, Bellarke never happened. The writers and show runners had no interest in going there. They just liked to bait fans. Just like 911 does, with Buck and Eddie.
I personally feel like Oliver was relieved that all the hate was getting thrown at Lou and not himself, and he got a break from those assholes for a few months. But now that Lou and Tommy are gone, they're just going to go back to harassing him because Bvddie isn't canon and never will be, and those dumbasses can't cope.
Oliver knows that if he ever truly tells the Bvddie fans that it's never going to happen, he'll lose a large majority of his fan base. So, he just doesn't say anything. He encourages their twisted thinking and doesn't put them in their place when they're being assholes. Neither does Tim, so it's a monster of their own making. (The Bvddie fandom)
I can't speak on anything to do with the actresses of the other LI's. For many years since I started watching the show, I didn't interact with other fans much. The only time I did, was when I wrote fanfiction when I was a Bvddie shipper for 2 years, but after I found out what a bunch of toxic assholes they were, I ditched that fandom and am so glad I did.
Yeah, I check out the 911 IG page every few days because that's all I can stand. I can't look at it daily. All the Bvddie bullshit on every post claiming 'Bvddie canon, season 8!' It makes me roll my eyes so hard it hurts. Also, the way those idiots talk, like Buck and Tommy weren't in a relationship, like Buck is Eddie's one true love, and the other father of Chris.. God, I can't help but tell them how stupid they are for believing that. Especially since Ryan said in an interview that Chis has only one dad, and Buck sure as fuck ain't it.
The show will be lucky if it gets a season 9. This season is just not good, and I mean that honestly. Putting aside the BuckTommy of it all, it's crap. They focused too much on that Brad character which was a fucking waste of screen time. They traumatized Henren and their kids, had a plot that ended like within 5 minutes with Ortiz, had a decent start for Gerrard being a bad guy and dropped him for BRAD! Who the fuck cares about fucking Brad? No one.
When it comes to the IG posts, the first few days and maybe weeks after the BT breakup, both fans and GA made their feelings about the out of the blue breakup known, but after fighting the stupid Bvddie fans in the comments for a few days, most people backed off. I've gotten messages from people on IG who are BT and GA fans, who said that just like a lot of my comments on the IG page, their comments were removed for supporting BT, and for dishing out some of the bs that the Bvddie's have been doing for years. Which once again shows that the people who man the 911 IG page, are catering to the most toxic assholes in the fandom. Every fucking post on the 911 IG has bullshit about Bvddie going canon, but people who talk about BT, or who even dare to criticize, in a nice way even, who criticize the plots being cut off, making no sense, the characters doing things that are out of character, they get deleted. But yet the lunatic's comments remain on the posts. IF the show gets renewed for season 9, I'm betting it will be the last. This season so far has just been a shitshow. In terms of the writing for the show, and in terms of the Bvddie fans taking being complete assholes, to the highest degree imaginable. I don't give a shit about Brad the character or his actor. I hate the character, he fucking annoys me. I didn't find any of this plot funny, just irritating and I want him gone. The mains were pushed to the background this season for Brad, some dumbass that's not some great character, but some idiot.
Also, Oliver is like a child. He only cares about praise and ass kissers. He says what will cause him to look good. I remember there was one time a few years ago, where he had some contact with a Bvddie fan and when the fan said that he was a dick for leading people on about Bvddie if it's not going to happen, he snapped back and said that he was just an actor doing this job and to stop being so mean to him.
In my opinion, he's a fucking moron who did it to himself. Him and Tim. As I said above, they could've gotten the assholes under control or even gotten rid of them from the start by being honest and just saying their stupid Bvddie is never going to happen. But no, they're too worried about ratings dropping, so they throw in Bvddie scenes every now and then to keep baiting those fans and they eat it all up.
Every time Buck and Eddie share a scene, those idiot's are all, "It's happening! Bvddie canon, y'all!" And then nothing ever happens, and those assholes get mad at being baited once again. It's been 7 1/2 seasons. If Bvddie were ever going to go canon, it would've happened by now.
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seeingteacupsindragons · 1 day ago
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The Use of the Heart
Good evening, followers! I've got a new story for y'all. ~9.8k words. Yeah, this one's long. If you'd like to toss me a tip for it, you can drop one on my ko-fi page here. It...did take me three weeks to write this one.
Avery hadn’t gotten more than a foot out of the carriage after his sister before she was whisked away to meet her new husband. He stumbled the rest of the way out onto the stone courtyard and nearly fell on his face. “Wai—”
He bit his tongue before he could finish the protest. They were here so Lisette could meet her new husband. If the crown prince wanted to meet her fresh off the ship that had brought them here, smelling like dead fish and stale sweat from not being able to properly bathe for two weeks, then…
Then, well, at least all the treaties were already signed in case he changed his mind.
Avery righted himself. The handful of attendants Lisette had brought with her were already busy unloading her trunks and consulting with people he didn’t recognize—probably their counterparts in Alham. They would know where he was meant to go.
He made a beeline for Robin, the woman in charge of his sister’s affairs, who was blushing and smiling at a man with dark hair and neat, plain clothes in the dark blue that was Alham’s royal colors. Someone who worked for Lisette’s new husband, maybe. He pointed Robin off, and Avery immediately took her place. “Hello. I was hoping you could help me.”
The man gave him a once over that no one had ever given Avery before, then said, “With what exactly?”
“I’ve just arrived with the rest of the contingent from Ensheren. I was hoping you knew where to steer me.”
“You don’t already know what you should be doing?”
Avery’s face turned an unflattering shade of pink at the incredulity in his voice. “I’m only here to keep my sister company and help her settle into her new home. Unfortunately, as she’s already been escorted off without me to see her new husband, I’m at loose ends in the meantime. You could tell me where her rooms are and I can start there.”
The man’s eyes widened. “Siste—Ensheren sent one of its princes? Your Highness, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t told you were coming.”
Avery’s heel dug into the stone under the sole of his boot, twisting anxiously. He was too tired to deal with this. “Not one of the important ones, I’m afraid. After you’ve had your heir, your spare, your backup spare, one to handle the people, and one to handle the military, you run out of things to do with princes.”
One dark eyebrow went up. “Your parents had quite a few children.”
“They were hoping for Lisette after the second set of twins,” Avery said. “My name is Avery. And I really am here to help my sister adjust. If you could tell me where her rooms are, that would be a good start. I can help set it up for her before she returns.”
The man stared at him quietly for another long moment before saying, “Your Highness…I apologize for the bluntness, but you look like you’re about to keel over. I don’t think you’ll be much help with anything your sister needs. Give me a moment to settle things here.” He reached out and steadied Avery’s arm, and Avery was startled to find he’d been listing to one side. “You’ll be okay to wait?”
Avery nodded, and shook himself to wake up a bit more. It had taken him the entire two weeks to stop vomiting over the edge of the ship, just in time to land and find his legs wobbly again.
The man frowned at him, but let go and turned away to speak to some of the others bustling back and forth over the courtyard while Avery tried to gain his footing. He hadn’t felt so bad sitting in the carriage, but now that he was standing in full sun without Lisette, his vision was starting to blur with exhaustion.
Fortunately, his guide was back before Avery could do something stupid, like pass out on the stone in front of everyone. And he frowned the second he saw Avery. “Would you like an arm?”
Avery paused for a second. Then he said, “Yes. Please. Thank you. Whatever accepts the offer fastest.”
The man laughed, warm and full and genuine, then took Avery’s bag from him and wrapped an arm around Avery’s ribs. Avery tilted his head against the man’s shoulder and let him lead him into the—castle? Palace? Avery wasn’t sure. But it was less of a fortress than Ensheren’s royal residences. A good place for his sister to call home.
Inside was cooler, and Avery felt better immediately. His guide shifted his arm so at least a quarter of Avery’s weight was resting on his shoulder, and Avery let his settle against it, too. It was the first time since he’d gotten on that damn boat that he felt stable and his stomach stopped churning. But maybe that was because his guide smelled soothing and warm, like ginger cookies, or…or cinnamon. Whatever it was, Avery’s stomach stopped rolling over.
He managed to lift his head enough to look around as his guide practically dragged him through the polished hallways. He didn’t absorb most of it—just the impression of dark wood panels, wide windows letting in bright sunlight, and sculptures and paintings at every intersection. They passed through a set of heavy double doors in carved wood, and then into a smaller door down the hallway from that, and his guide let him go to stand on his own again.
They were in private chambers. Empty ones. Two doors were set against the far wall, and another one to Avery’s left. Between them were three couches and two armchairs, and one large table.
“These are my rooms,” his guide said. “You can bathe here and then take a nap while we wait for your sister and Kavi to come up for air and remember anyone else exists.”
“Kavi?” Avery asked.
“My brother,” his guide said. “Your sister’s new husband.”
“Your—your brother?”
His guide smiled at him. “My brother.”
The floor felt closer than it should have. “King Solon,” Avery said. “I—I’m sorry, Your Majesty. No one ever told me what you looked like.”
“I’d gathered,” the king said. “And no one told me you were coming. We’ll just have to both forgive each other. The bath is over here. I’ll find something for you to wear and I’ll put it in the dressing room.”
He left Avery alone in an alcove off of a bathing room with a bench. Avery sat down abruptly and pressed his face into his hands. He’d spent at least fifteen minutes using the king of a foreign country—the one Lisette’s fate was in the hands of—as a crutch.
While smelling like a cheap fishmonger who didn’t know what hygiene was.
What a wonderful first impression Ensheren was making on their new allies.
~~~~~~~~
The bath was large enough for Avery to stretch out in and had taps that ran fresh hot water. He slid in with a sigh and opened the jars next to him, looking for shampoo and soap. The first one had the same strong ginger scent the king had when—
When Avery had practically shoved his nose into his neck.
His face went red, and it wasn’t from the steam of the bath water.
The bottle was thin oil, though, not proper soap or shampoo. Avery left it open to scent the air while he cleaned up, and it was thick and heady in the bathroom by the time he felt properly clean and presentable The king—or someone who worked for him—had left clean clothes in the sitting room on the bench. They weren’t from his luggage, but if he didn’t have a room, no one would have unpacked his things, either. He ran his fingers over the soft fabric, then pulled them on.
Soft pants, longer socks than Avery was used to, a shirt in a pale goldenrod color, and a dark blue tunic to go over it. He fiddled with the laces, unsure how tight Alham expected people to wear their clothing. Ensheren usually wore things closely fitted.
He tightened the waist in and tucked the extra lacing inside to hide it. Might as well remind the king he was from a foreign country. Maybe it would give him some grace for treating him like a walking stick.
His face flushed again at the memory, and he fiddled with his boots, waiting for the blush to fade before he stepped back into the sitting room.
The king was curled at a desk near one of the wide windows, feet tucked next to his legs. He glanced up from whatever he was writing when Avery joined him. “Feeling any better, Your Highness?”
Avery nodded. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“Solon. My name is Solon.”
Avery almost laughed in surprise. His breath came out in a sudden huff anyway. “You just called me Your Highness!”
Solon grinned. “You didn’t give me permission not to. I did.”
“I’ll call you by your name if you call me Avery,” he said.
“I think that’s a fair deal, Avery.” Solon made a soft humming sound. “You should get some sleep. I’m afraid they’re still cleaning up your rooms and hauling your things in there. It’ll be a few hours, I think.”
“I—”
“Are you not tired yet? If you want to stay up for a bit, I could use your help.”
The bath had woken Avery up, although he knew he’d fall asleep in minutes if he lay down. But he didn’t have a room yet, so did Solon want him to take his bed?
Avery tore his thoughts away from that. “What did you need?”
Solon waved to the chairs nearby. “Pull one of those up.”
Avery grabbed the nearest chair and slid it to where Solon pointed, then tucked himself into it while Solon rummaged for a clean sheet of paper. He handed Avery the pen. “Your family. I’m realizing I know very little about what my brother married into.”
Avery fiddled with the pen. “Then why did you agree to it?”
“Honestly, once I saw how Kavi reacted to your sister’s letters, I was sold on the arrangement. He…well. He liked what he learned of her immediately. And the details of treaties like this aren’t my job.”
Avery frowned. “You’re the king.”
Solon tilted his head. “I am. But I—well. Alham’s parliament decides what powers the monarch has. They vote on it every five years. And while the current officials are happy enough to have me help lead and oversee laws and even introduce some of my own, details of things like this are not my forte. Far more talented people than I do that.”
“They—vote? On what you’re allowed to do?”
Solon nodded. “The laws here don’t allow them to get rid of a monarch, exactly. But they can refuse to give an unpopular monarch or one no one trusts power until they abdicate. My grandfather was blocked from doing anything for three decades until he let my father take over. And my father only won their trust back by working his way up through the legislature and learning how it worked before they let him do anything.”
Avery cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. I only had the time on the ship to read up on your country, and nothing like that was mentioned. I didn’t realize.”
Solon nudged the paper closer to Avery. “A family tree, please. And what each of you does. I’d ask your sister, but I’m not willing to interrupt newlyweds on their first day and night together.”
Aver turned pink at the implication. “I can do that.”
He drew marks for both his parents first, then took up the entire width of the paper to list out his brothers. “My father is the reigning king. He spends his days meeting with his advisors and the elected governors from each of the counties at home to make decisions and decide how they’re going to go be done.”
Avery drew two branches off the same root from his parents. “These are the oldest twins. Jamie is the heir. He spends his days shadowing our father and trying to learn everything and how to run things. He has two kids with his wife, but they’re both too young to take on any responsibilities yet. Zeke is second in line. He handles all the petitioners from around the country who arrive and need to speak to someone, and figures out how to resolve things. And if he can’t, he goes to Jamie and Dad.”
Avery drew another line. “And then the next twins, Jack and Max. Jack filters things for the older ones and makes sure that they’re not overwhelmed with too many things. He decides what’s most important to get their attention first, and redirects everyone else to other ways of handling issues.”
Solon hummed. “I think Jack was the one who first sent the letters of interest to me proposing I marry your sister.”
“You?”
Solon waved his hand. “Kavi was always more interested in marriage and children than I ever was. I suggested him to your brother instead, and he accepted. Your sister will still be the mother to any heirs. Alham doesn’t need a queen or a prince consort.”
“The…the prince consort?”
“The husband to the monarch. If I had one.”
Avery’s mouth fell open. The king could have a husband, if he wanted? Something burned in his stomach. His family had never said anything about his interest in other men, but Avery was—he was useless. And Ensheren didn’t need yet another heir. It was for the best he wouldn’t have any other children.
“The…the way your country works is very different than I’d imagined,” Avery said, choking back something clogging his throat to stare at the paper.
“I’m realizing that. Is marriage between two people of the same sex not allowed in Ensheren?”
Avery lifted one hand and found it shaking, and he waggled it back and forth. “No, we….we can, mostly. But the king…my father, or my brother, could never—they—they need to have children. Have direct heirs. It’s allowed for most people, but there are people with power who just. Can’t.”
Solon stared at his shaking hand for a long moment, then said, “Tell me about Max.”
Avery forced himself to look back at the paper. “Max does whatever he wants. He’s the most charming of us. He likes to mingle with the people in town and the rest of the country without going through proper channels. It’s hard to figure out when he’s in the castle and when he’s out. And he never tells anyone what he’s up to before goes and does it. Honestly, we usually hear of his escapades from the papers first. But it means he has more information on how things are going in the country than any of the rest of us. It’s why everyone likes him so much.”
“You like him,” Solon said.
“He’s everyone’s favorite brother,” Avery said. “Even Lisette’s.”
“And yet you’re here with her and not Max.”
“I don’t think Max has ever left the country. I don’t think he wants to. Besides, he’s busy. Formally, he’s in charge of most of the internal affairs of the country before anything has to be escalated.” Avery drew the next line before Solon could ask any more questions. “This is Lennox. He grew up watching after the knights training grounds and begging him to teach them, and joined up as soon as our father finally gave him permission. He’s worked his way up the ranks to be the Ensheren’s top general now.”
Avery drew two more lines. “This one is me. And then Lisette is the youngest. She was raised expecting to be married as part of a treaty, although we didn’t know it would be with Alham until the last couple of years. She’s ready to play her ambassador role. Don’t worry. She’ll be good at it.”
Solon pushed Avery’s hand back to the line for himself. “And what do you do? You didn’t say.”
“…Not…not much of anything,” Avery said. “By the time I was old enough to realize I needed to find something, my brothers already had things handled.” He shrugged. “Right now, I’m here to help Lisette get her bearings. That’s all.”
Solon watched him silently for a moment. Avery’s face went pink again, and he set the pen down. “Ensheren doesn’t need more royalty getting involved in things, and being given a job I’m not qualified to do would only cause more problems.”
Solon frowned, and Avery hated it. He knew he was useless. He knew he wasn’t contributing anything to his country the way royalty was supposed to. He wasn’t stupid. He knew that six princes was at least two too many, and while everyone had forgiven him for not having anything to prepare for in the future as a child, and he’d managed to put it off a few more years at university, every day since he’d turned twenty-five, more and more whispers had churned, wondering what his purpose was.
“I see,” Solon said finally. “Thank you. This will be helpful. Now, you should get some sleep. I’ll wake you up when our siblings come up for air, or when your rooms are ready. Whichever comes first.”
Avery took a slow breath to calm the frustration that had been building in his chest. Sleep. In Solon’s bed. But at least it would be in another room. “Thank you.”
Solon tilted his head. “There’re pillows on the couch over there. Do you want a blanket?”
Avery jolted in place. “No! No, that’s fine. Thank you.”
He turned away before Solon could read anything on his face and realize Avery had been thinking about Solon’s bed. Avery crossed the room to the couch and lay down, facing resolutely away from Solon.
He closed his eyes, took several slow breaths, and tried not wonder what Solon’s bed looked like.
~~~~~~~~
Solon woke Avery after true dark had fallen with a hand to his shoulder. Avery usually started awake when someone shook him, but this felt more like shifting awake on the boat, gentle and dizzying.
He blinked up at Solon in the dim lamplight, shaking himself to remind himself where he was. “Wha’ izzit?” he asked, and immediately clamped his mouth shut. If he couldn’t speak properly, he shouldn’t be talking at all.
Solon laughed. “Your room is ready for you, and your sister and my brother will be joining me for dinner soon. I thought you might want to change before they get here. You’re coming?”
Right. Avery was in borrowed clothing. “I should…definitely wear something…more presentable.” Even if Solon had seen him smelling and looking like a beached fish, the crown prince didn’t have to. And he was the one Avery should be focusing on, not Solon.
And what would Lisette have to say if Avery showed up to dinner looking rumpled and dressed in clothes that weren’t his?
…He definitely needed to change.
“I’d like to get ready,” he managed.
“Of course.” Solon helped him to his feet with a warm hand, soft except for the small finger callouses Avery was used to on artists. “I’ll show you your rooms. You can make it back here on your own, do you think, or would you like me to wait for you?”
Avery shrugged, and trailed quietly after Solon through the halls. Solon hummed something quietly to himself, but didn’t interrupt Avery’s contemplation of the palace walls now that he was awake enough to take it in properly.
The windows were wide and bright, the courtyards huge and full of gardens and not soldiers, and the walls hung with sculptures and paintings.
It felt safe. It would be a good place for Lisette to live. An unworried home without any need to be on guard constantly. Ensheren hadn’t seen a war in the last four decades, but the castle they’d been born into and all the ones they’d traveled between were still built with the lingering need to barricade in mind.
Solon’s home seemed more like a public showcase. Like it was designed to welcome people, like it belonged to the people, the way Solon’s job did.
Solon waved Avery into a series of small rooms—a bedroom, a small sitting room with a desk as if Avery had any guests to greet in Alham, and an attached washroom. Not lavish, but—it would do.
“It’s only two hallways,” Avery said. “I think I can make it back.”
Solon smiled. “Then I’ll see you shortly.”
Solon left him alone with a wave, and Avery dug through his wardrobe, pleased to find everything already unpacked and hung up for him. Avery didn’t normally fuss about his clothes, but normally he wasn’t meeting his sister’s husband.
Or trying to change someone’s horrible first impression of him. Avery was the useless prince of Ensheren, but he was still a prince. He could impress if he tried.
Hopefully.
He threw the borrowed—gifted—clothes onto his bed and swapped it out for his best pants, woven in a tight herringbone than shifted between gray and crimson, buttoned a gold shirt over it with dark brown buttons that matched his eyes, and wrapped it in place with a burgundy vest. Not the royal colors of Ensheren anymore than they were Alham’s—but they were Avery’s best colors, and he wanted to look nice. He rummaged through the wardrobe until he found his dark red coat and slid it on before brushing his hair out of the sleep mussed disaster and washed his face.
And then it was time to face Solon again.
Avery knocked at Solon’s door before opening it, and all three people in the room turned to him with a bright, “Avery!”
Avery froze at the sound of his name in unison from so many voices, then held up his hand to wave slightly, and drop it.
“Um. Hello.”
Solon smiled warmly, and Avery tore his eyes away from studying his face, hoping for surprise or at least approval, to meet his sister’s gaze. She’d gotten a bath and her hair curled down her back in loose waves over her nicest, newest dress.
She wanted to look nice for her husband. Good. That meant she liked him.
“Lisette,” he said. “You’re—” He stopped himself, then restarted, “You look nice.”
“So do you,” she said, eying him skeptically. “You put in effort.”
She still had one arm looped through her husband’s. It was easy to see that Solon was his brother, now that Avery had seen them both. They had the same dark hair fighting a wave, the same bright blue eyes, the same tall, slender build. Neither Solon nor Kavi was built to be a fighter like Lennox was, but neither was Avery. “Should I not want to make a good impression on your husband? I thought it would be good to at least try.”
The crown prince laughed and reached a hand out to shake Avery’s. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Avery ducked his head into a bow before shaking his hand. “Your Highness.”
“Kavi. My name is Kavi. And yours is Avery.”
“Kavi,” Avery agreed. “I’m glad to see my sister seems so eager to impress you.”
“Avery!” Lisette said, turning pink the same way he did.
“What? It means that you still like him as much as you did from the letters.”
Kavi laughed, a deep, warm sound that dragged another smile out of Avery. He was kind. He was friendly. And he kept turning toward Lisette like a magnet.
All good signs.
“Let’s eat,” Solon said, pulling the warming covers off the serving trays.
Kavi pulled a chair out for Lisette, then took the seat next to her. Avery took the seat next to Solon more gingerly than necessary and folded his hands in his lap, uncertain what pre-dinner rituals Alham observed.
Apparently, none, because Kavi started scooping noodles onto his plate as soon as Avery slid his chair closer to the table, and Solon stirred a pot of potatoes in some red-yellow glaze that was tangy enough to make Avery’s mouth water from across the table.
He took several thick pieces of bread, still warm, and buttered them, and slowly filled the rest of the plate with food. But he waited for Solon to take his first bite before he started eating.
Solon nudged Avery’s arm before he could get more than two bites into the lovely, warm duck and offered him a ladle filled with the sauced potatoes. “You should try these. They’re my favorite.”
“If you don’t like them, tell me and I’ll smack Solon for you,” Kavi said. “I asked for our chef to come up with something close to Ensheren’s food for you. I thought it would be good to acclimate you slowly. She even got a recipe book. But Solon cannot go a day without those damn potatoes.” Solon jerked under the table like he’d been kicked, and Kavi grinned at his brother.
“They taste good,” Solon said, sounding petulant and everything he hadn’t been the entire day while Avery collapsed on him. Lisette giggled into her bread and Avery couldn’t help a grin crawling onto his face.
“That does explain why you have peppered duck,” Lisette told her husband. “You remembered?”
Kavi turned to her with a smile that softened like butter over the bread Avery was busy shoveling into his mouth. “I would have double checked before asking our chef if I hadn’t.”
Avery’s chest warmed. Kavi and Lisette had been exchanging letters constantly for nearly two years already. They knew each other, even if they’d only met in person for the first time that day. He didn’t need to worry. Lisette knew what she was getting into far better than Avery did. She would be fine.
“You’re getting along well.”
Lisette pinked. “We’ve had a good day.”
“And I look forward to the next ones,” Kavi said, reaching over a tray of dumplings to touch her hand.
She smiled at him. “So do I.”
Avery fell quiet as he finished eating, eyes on his plate instead of his sister. She would be fine. Alham would be a good home. Kavi would be a good husband. Every single one of their brothers had insisted he accompany her, and even their mother had pulled Avery aside to give him her best guilt trip over his hesitance.
Maybe that would be for the best for Lisette. She didn’t need anyone to intervene.
He let Lisette and Kavi’s gentle flirting and Kavi teasing his brother wash over him without feeling the need to add anything. They were all content with each other, and he was content to know that.
Except that Kavi and Lisette and Solon all kept glancing at him, waiting for him to say something, and continuing with awkward pauses when he didn’t add anything. And by the time Avery had cleared his plate, Lisette had, clearly, gotten fed up with it. “Avery,” she said, “Kavi wants to know who my family is, too. And you’re the only one he’s getting the chance to before the wedding, and that isn’t for months. Will you please act like yourself?”
Avery startled in his chair. “What?”
“I miss the brother who used to sneak out of the castle with me and help me climb apple trees and bought me all the books our parents thought I shouldn’t be reading and taught me how to waltz after curfew.”
Avery blinked. “But Max did all of that.”
“Max did all of that with you. You’re the one that did all of that with me.”
Avery laughed. He couldn’t help it. “Max did not teach me how to waltz, Lisette.”
“He didn’t teach me either! Avery, I spent so much time telling Kavi about you. I want him to actually meet you. Stop being so quiet.”
“I was quiet at home, too,” Avery said, trying to bite back another laugh. “I’m tired. Give me a day or two.”
She leaned across the table to stare him down. “If you’re not acting like yourself in the week, I’m going to chase you around the courtyard with a stick.”
Avery’s helpless laughter was drowned out that time by Kavi’s, and Avery’s eyes darted to him again. He grinned at Avery—not worried about what Lisette had said, then—and stood up. “I think that’s a good reminder to all of us to get some sleep. Perhaps when you’ve gotten a chance to settle in here, Lisette won’t have to threaten you anymore.” He turned to his wife. “Let me escort you back to your rooms. They’re attached to mine if you need anything.” He winked. “Although with any luck, I’ll have wooed you into sharing my bed by our wedding.”
Solon made a disgusted sound from the back of his throat. “Kavi! Don’t be so crass. Her brother doesn’t want to hear that.”
Kavi stuck his tongue out at his brother. “That wasn’t crass, Solon. I was expressing interest. I kow explaining that to you is like trying to tell a fish about the desert, but it’s not inappropriate.”
Solon flushed red. “I’m not that bad.”
“And neither am I. Now I’m going to take my wife and settle in for the night. Good night, Solon.” He inclined his head to Avery. “It was good to meet you, Avery. I hope we’ll get some more time together once you’ve settled in here better.”
He escorted Lisette out the door, and Avery turned to Solon. “Thank you for your hospitality today. It…it’s been more than I could have expected.”
Solon raised an eyebrow as Avery straightened. “And why’s that?”
“Well I—I’m an uninvited guest. And yet—”
Solon gave him a smile, warm and bright, and it made Avery’s stomach flip over itself in a dangerous way. “I’ve been happy to help, don’t worry.”
“Right,” Avery said, which he was distantly aware wasn’t the right thing to say. He backed up towards the open door. “I’ll let you attend to your bed, then.”
He darted out the door before his face could turn red again and before he had to think about Solon and beds again.
~~~~~~~~
“Avery! I was wondering where you’d gone. You didn’t answer when I tried your door earlier.”
Avery straightened from where he was bent inspecting the palace garden’s flowers. “Solon! I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you’d be looking for me.”
Solon grinned. “If nothing else, I am expected to play host to royal visitors. And you’re the only one here that isn’t married to my brother.” He waved an arm back the way he came. “So let me do my job and show you around Alham’s capital.”
It wasn’t as if Avery had any reason to say no. And with the way Solon was smiling, he didn’t want to, either. So he smiled back, nodded, and let Solon lead him out of the palace and into the streets.
With no guards, at least none visible. Solon was dressed in the same unassuming clothing that had Avery mistake him for an attendant instead of a king, and no crown was in sight, but Avery still felt strange as they left the palace grounds, like someone had forgotten to give him a jacket in the winter. Like a weight was missing.
“Today we can go on foot,” Solon said. “We can’t reach everywhere in the city that way, but there’s plenty to see in walking distance.”
Avery nodded and stepped closer to him when a carriage passed by on the street, driving straight past the palace gates. Solon took the opportunity to  lean in and whisper conspiratorially, “To be honest, most of my favorite places aren’t close, but maybe Kavi had a point in acclimating you slowly.”
Avery laughed and Solon grinned back like he was surprised to hear it.
“Well, what fun are you taking us to today?”
“I was going to start with the high street shops. Not that I’m trying to drum up the local economy, although parliament would probably like me to. But it’s also where the most…polite…street performers gather and it’s a good place to see everyone from all parts of the city head to shop. Unless you’d rather do something else? I could do my best to keep you off kilter so your sister chases you around with a stick.”
Avery shoved at Solon’s shoulder without thinking about it, the same way he would have any of his brothers. Solon didn’t budge, and Avery drew his hand back like he’d burned it. “I—I’m sorry.”
Solon caught his wrist before Avery could withdraw completely. “Avery, the treaties between our countries are already signed and I’m not going to take Kavi’s wife away from him.” He’d pitched his voice low and soft like he was talking to a skittish cat, and Avery felt tension melt from his face and shoulders embarrassingly quickly. “You don’t have to worry about offending me. It won’t cause any harm if you do, and I won’t hold it against you, either. We’re both getting to know each other. Are you going to do anything against Alham because I didn’t know who you were when we met?”
Avery blinked. “But you didn’t do anything.”
“I thought you were one of Lisette’s attendants trying to get out of work.”
“So? I thought you were your brother’s.”
Solon laughed. “See? We’re even. We’ve both done things that could have offended each other, and neither of us are mad. Right?”
Avery glanced sideways at him for a moment. “All right. You have a point.”
“So you’ll stop trying to be so careful?”
Avery lifted one shoulder. “I think you’ll be disappointed in how I act when I’m relaxed. Lisette made me sound much more adventurous than I am.”
“That’s okay. We’re starting small today. We can work our way out into the city as far as you’re willing to push yourself. Or until you start kicking me.”
Avery ducked his head and then smiled. “Is that always how Kavi gets you to leave him alone?”
 Solon pressed a finger to Avery’s mouth. “Don’t go telling everyone his secrets.”
Avery’s breath caught until Solon dropped his hand away from Avery’s mouth again, and he pressed his lips together to imprint the feeling on them.
And so he didn’t say anything stupid.
~~~~~~~~
It was apparent by the time the week was out—and Lisette’s deadline had come—that Solon had every intention of taking Avery somewhere in the capital city every single day. At least until Lisette’s wedding, which was only five weeks away.
It was more attention than Avery was used to. More attention than he knew what to do with. But two weeks into his stay, he managed to hide away with Lisette for one of her dress fittings.
“Well, you’re having fun with Solon, aren’t you?” Lisette asked. “Right?”
Avery narrowed his eyes at her, trying to figure out if she was trying to imply anything. He and Solon had done nothing remotely scandalous. The fact that Solon’s smile and presence was enough to flip Avery’s heart over in his chest wasn’t the point. But his sister could tell. She always knew when he she saw him with someone he’d gotten a crush on.
“I’m enjoying myself here,” Avery agreed before immediately changing the subject away from Solon. “More importantly, are you? Because one of us is staying here after the wedding, and one of us is going home with our parents and brothers. Has Kavi been showing you around?”
Lisette huffed. “We’ve been busy.”
“Busy with each other, or busy with the wedding? Because—”
“Oh, just because I’m not in charge of all of the details doesn’t mean I’m not involved in my own wedding, Avery! It’s in a month and I only just got here and I don’t know anyone yet and—”
Avery clamped his mouth shut as his sister ran out of steam. She was stressed—of course she was; she was trying to build an entirely new life somewhere she’d never been, and Avery had decided she was fine and spent his days entirely occupied with Solon and his ginger cologne that—no, Avery did not need to find someone to bring back to Ensheren. “What can I do to help?”
“Avery—”
“That’s what I’m here for, isn’t it? Our brothers were pretty clear about that. I want to help you if I can, Lisette. Please.”
She rolled her eyes at him, but she smiled while she did it. “So you’re only helping me because they asked you to? Not because you think I need help?”
“Your Highness,” the dressmaker said, kneeling at her waist, “I appreciate your spirit, but if you could have this conversation more sedately at least while I’m trying to pin things in place.”
Lisette went red up to her hairline. “I’m sorry. I haven’t had this done in a while.”
“You had this done two months ago to get that dress you wanted when you saw Kavi for the first time,” Avery said.
His sister scowled at him. “Will you hush?”
“You wanted me to be like this. Threatened me with a stick,” Avery said. “Now tell me what I can do to help you adjust here.”
Lisette’s shoulders slumped, but she caught herself before she did anything more to disturb the dressmaker’s work. “I don’t know, Avery. I just want some time alone with my husband again to get to know him and this country better.
A clap came from the door. “Done.”
Both Lisette and Avery jumped and turned to look at Solon leaning against the door frame. The dressmaker sighed and stood up to take a break and fetch something from his work kit.
“Solon!” Lisette said. “What are you doing here?”
“I was looking for your brother. But if what you need is a day alone with my brother and this city, I can make that happen easily. The wedding details can manage a day without you. In fact, maybe even getting out of the city would be good. Our mother lives out of the city on a large estate near the woods. Would you like to visit her? It’s quiet and private there, but maybe meeting your husband’s mother wouldn’t help.”
Lisette blinked. “Your mother is still alive?”
Solon frowned. “I’m only thirty-one. My father’s death five years ago was very shocking, but it didn’t put my mother in any poorer health. She’s still quite young. She just wasn’t chosen as the next monarch.”
Thirty-one. When Solon had been Avery’s age, he’d taken up a crown. And Avery wasn’t even able to help his sister relax.
Lisette’s mouth opened into a soft circle. “Kavi gave me a brief explanation of how the lineage works here, but I didn’t realize your mother was still alive. Will she be coming to the wedding?”
“Of course. In the meantime, however, what would you like to do to squirrel away some alone time with my brother? I’m happy to do whatever I need to make it happen.”
Lisette hesitated, and the dressmaker attacked her waist with pins while she stood thoughtful and still.
“I think,” she said, “I would like to meet your mother before the wedding. Would she…what’s she’s like?”
“Cheerful, no nonsense, and very pleased Kavi found someone he likes so much,” Solon said. “I can’t promise she won’t have any questions for you, but I think she’ll be quite welcoming—and even if she gives you a proper interrogation, it’ll certainly be a distraction. I can pack you and Kavi off before nightfall and you’ll be there before morning.”
Avery nodded enthusiastically. “Just give me a list of things to handle while you’re gone, Lisette. I can at least do that much for you.”
“I…are you sure?” Lisette asked, pausing with a frown.
“Do you think I won’t do it properly?” Avery asked. “It’s for you, Lisette. I’ll do my best.”
Lisette laughed. “It has nothing to do with that at all, Avery. It just seems strange to let you handle things here while I go somewhere without you.”
Avery stood up, and sidestepped the dressmaker to take his sister’s hands. “That’s what this entire trip is meant to be. Go spend time with your husband. I’ve got this.”
~~~~~~~~
Avery did not have things. His sister left for a week see Kavi and Solon’s mother, leaving Avery with a list as long as his forearm to see to. And he only knew how to do one of them—checking the translation of the wedding program for the foreign guests. But he’d asked after that first. It wasn’t ready to be looked at yet.
And so he gave up his borrowed desk in his borrowed rooms and took the list to Solon’s room, hoping to plead help from him yet again.
Solon answered the door with a surprised smile and welcomed him inside immediately.
“Do you need something?”
“I’m sorry. I know we agreed that you wouldn’t need to host me this week while I took care of Lisette’s things, but I was hoping you could at least direct me to who I need to talk to. Lisette has been handling all of this alone.”
While Solon took him sight-seeing and showed off his favorite statues and museums and strange buildings, and they laughed at things for hours. But Solon knew that.
Solon waved that off. “It was starting to get boring without you around anyway.” He gestured to his desk. “I’ve actually had to get work done.”
Avery couldn’t help a smile at that. “As far as I can tell, Lisette is working on blending marriage traditions, but I don’t know if you have anyone besides the two of us who’s familiar with the traditions in Ensheren, or who I should speak to about implementing them.”
Solon snagged the list Lisette made out of Avery’s hands and spent a few quiet moments reading it. Avery let him and glanced around the room. It looked about the same as every other time he’d been in Solon’s rooms, except that his desk looked like it was being rapidly devoured by papers. And Solon looked the same, except that his hair had definitely had hands running through it, because the waves had gotten untamed and curled up at every angle.
Avery did his best not to stare as Solon read and then handed the list back to him. “None of this should be complicated. Either your sister was making things easy for you, or she managed to tie herself up in knots about it from stress. I know the wedding is only in three weeks, but,” Solon stretched his arms wide, “we’re royalty. This wedding is a national holiday, and a sign of goodwill when your family arrives. Everyone is going to do everything possible to make it happen properly on short notice. Honestly, I could give that list to my secretary and it would be done before your sister comes back tomorrow.”
“Lisette asked me to do it,” Avery said. “I’d like to see to it myself. I don’t doubt your secretary, but…”
Solon nodded once. “Of course. Jan is probably extremely busy as is. He’s had enough to take care of with both of you here. So.” He reached back to the list and tapped the first item. “We can take care of several of these things by talking to the priest. I haven’t had a chance to show you the temple yet, but we have a nondenominational one in the palace. The priest who will be officiating the service works there, and she can refer us to someone who can help with how you do your vows to ensure we do both.”
“We?” Avery asked.
“Avery, I’m very tired of paperwork today. Let me with you, please. Anything to get moving.”
Avery laughed. “Well, I can’t say no to the king.”
“You’ve said no to me three times in the last week,” Solon said, slinging an arm around Avery’s shoulders to steer him back out the door.
~~~~~~~~
Working out wedding details with Solon was much more nerve wracking that it had any right to be. It wasn’t his wedding. But seeing Solon smile at him in the largest chapel Avery had ever seen near the altar while Avery repeated the same steps his sister would make to arrive before the priest and demonstrate taking Solon’s hands as she would Kavi’s, and then teaching the priest how to tie their hands together with his sister’s sash was—
Well. Avery’s heart certainly got more of a workout than he would have if he’d gone sprinting for the same amount of time.
Fortunately, he didn’t have to dance with Solon to set up room for the family dances Ensheren enjoyed to celebrate the unions. He didn’t have to touch Solon while going over the most important menu items with their cook. And he didn’t even have to make eye contact while sorting out who would be kneeling, who would be standing, and when.
They broke from the palace again to hurry over to see the priest from Ensheren. Alham’s capital had a small immigrant population and traveling community—it would get larger now that Lisette was married to Kavi—enough, at least to have a small district devoted to them and their own cultural buildings.
“I can’t believe this place existed in your city and didn’t take me here first,” Avery said as they settled into a carriage to head across the city. “What was that about trying to give me time to adjust slowly?”
“It’s not adjusting if you just insulate yourselves with your people, is it?” Solon asked. “Besides, it takes forever to get there. Do you think they’ll recognize you?”
“Maybe. If they’ve been home recently.”
“Mmm. So you’ve been at more of your official events than you like to pretend.”
“Well, I attend them,” Avery said. “I don’t do much more than that.”
“Mhm. I’m sure.”
Avery kicked at Solon’s shin lightly and then turned red at the familiarity. Kavi did that. But Kavi was Solon’s brother. Avery just wanted the excuse to touch him.
“Hey!” Solon said, breaking into laughter. “What was that for?”
“Don’t sound so skeptical. You’ll see when my family gets here. They’ll take over all the final details without me having to do anything.”
“And yet Lisette wants you next to her at the altar, not any of them.”
“Well, she only gets one,” Avery said, avoiding Solon’s eyes. “And I don’t have another role to perform.”
“I don’t think Max is her favorite brother,” Solon said. “That’s all.”
“She’s not even the one who asked me to come. The rest of our family sent me with her. They were very pushy about it.”
Solon sat up straighter in his seat. “Oh. I didn’t realize that.”
Avery shrugged. He didn’t like thinking about it. Lisette hadn’t picked him, and the rest of his family wanted him out of their way for weeks. It made sense, but it still stung. Avery had always done his best, if not to help, at least not cause problems for anyone.
He thought he was still succeeding. Solon liked him, at least. If he and Kavi hadn’t both made it so clear that Solon never thought about romance, he would have even called it flirting. But a friendship with a king was no small thing.
Except when his sister was married to the crown prince of the same country. Then, a friendship didn’t matter. And neither did Avery’s crush on him.
~~~~~~~~
The night before Avery and Lisette’s parents and brothers arrived for the wedding, Alham held a celebration. It would last into the next days, to greet their new allies. It would last at least a week, even with the wedding festivities shortly after.
But the night before they arrived, they heralded the start of the holidays with fireworks.
Solon took Avery out of the palace to watch. He settled them on a patch of grass in a park he’d taken Avery to the first week he’d been there, high on the far edge of the city, with a view of the entire sprawl of buildings beneath them. Plenty of people had joined them to watch the show in the sky over the harbor, setting out blankets and picnic baskets.
“What about Kavi and Lisette?” Avery asked as he settled into one of the same blankets he’d borrowed his first day in Alham to sleep on Solon’s couch. He was wearing the same gold shirt he been given then under his favorite red coat, too.
“Kavi is almost certainly going to take Lisette to the top towers in the palace to watch,” Solon said, unpacking the bag of snacks he’d brought with them. “It’s more private and closer to the fireworks. He likes it better. I think it’s more comfortable to watch fireworks up here.”
Avery hummed. He had to agree. Watching in the palace seemed fancy. Exclusive. But he was with everyone else in Alham who wanted to be there, with Solon at his side, and he could imagine Max wandering around making friends with everyone. Avery couldn’t manage that sociableness, but he liked the idea of it.
It felt like where Avery belonged.
Lisette would like the privacy, though. She’d never gotten much, as the only princess of Ensheren. Avery could blend in better among their brothers.
“Is Kavi nervous?” he asked. “Lisette is torn between nervous and excited. But like you said, everything’s already official. This is just the party to celebrate it.”
“You know, I actually don’t think he is,” Solon said, settling onto the blanket next to Avery and folding his legs so he could rest his arms on his knees. “But he’s never been the type for nerves.”
“Lucky him.”
Solon laughed much louder than Avery’s muttered aside deserved. “I know. I’ve always been jealous. He would have been better at being king than I was, but that wasn’t how the votes went.”
“They get to design your job to your strengths, don’t they?” Avery said. “Yours were what they wanted, not Kavi’s.”
Solon raised an eyebrow and gave Avery the same once over he had when they first met. Avery felt his cheeks go as pink as they did the first day, too, but the sky was almost dark enough that he could believe Solon didn’t see it this time. “And what are my strengths, Avery? Why would they pick me over Kavi?”
Avery went redder, and this time he knew Solon saw it because his grin widened. “You…you’re thoughtful. You know everything about this city, at least, and you can tell me anything about your country any time I have a question about anything. You know how to solve problems, more neatly than I ever would. You know exactly who to ask for help and how. Who wouldn’t want you to be in charge?”
Solon’s mouth fell open and for a brief moment, he was visibly speechless. Then he looked away, swallowed, and recovered enough to say, “Thank you. That’s quite the compliment.”
Before Avery had to think of something else to say to that, the first explosion overhead broke. He turned in unison with Solon and every other person in the park with them toward the sparks of light breaking up the dark sky over the harbor.
Avery had always liked fireworks. He’d though of them as pretty things as a kid, like the paintings on his wall, but when he’d asked how to make them, the chemistry of it had overwhelmed him until he’d given up understanding.
They were magic. Made by talented, clever people with a purpose. And the purpose was to make people happy.
Solon edged closer as the show went on and the air cooled. Avery tightened his jacket around him and leaned closer to Solon’s warm skin.
And he stayed there after the last firework went off and those around them started to pack up and leave, his eyes on the sky. Until Solon shifted close enough to jostle Avery’s shoulder and Avery turned with an apology in his throat for waiting too long after the fireworks were done to help pack things up and leave.
But Solon wasn’t trying to pack up their blankets. He was staring at Avery, his eyes unreadable in the dark, his mouth soft and open.
Avery’s eyes drifted to the shadows playing on Solon’s face from the few lamps in their park that had slowly started being relit now that the fireworks were over. Drifted down to his mouth and stared at it, listing forward the way he had the first day they met and he was unstable and ill and Solon was the only thing keeping him upright.
“Avery,” Solon said, his voice soft, and Avery jolted upright, shaking himself. He’d been about to kiss Solon. Solon, who wasn’t interested in any of that. Solon, who was absolutely not an option for any of a hundred other reasons—starting with the fact that their siblings were married and there was no point. If Solon was going to get married, it would have to be to someone useful.
Solon startled himself as Avery set into action and stood, and he slowly started packing their things up as if he’d just woken from a dream.
Or a nightmare.
Avery avoided Solon the next morning. And the next afternoon. And it was easy to do it at first, with the chaos of preparing for far more royal guests than Lisette or Avery themselves represented. Avery managed to keep well out of his way all the way up until it was time to have dinner with his parents and brothers, and Lisette, Kavi, and Solon, and Solon’s mother.
Solon caught him on the way to the proper dining hall—Solon’s room wouldn’t fit so many people for dinner—and stopped him with a hand to his arm. “Avery! I expected to see you around today. Where have you been?”
“I’ve been around,” Avery said, looking away immediately. “It’s easy not to notice when there’s so many of us.”
“Except that I was looking for you, specifically, not a prince from Ensheren,” Solon said. “And you’ve not been around at all. Are you avoiding your family?”
“What? No, nothing like that.”
“Then what happened?”
“I just think too much has been happening,” Avery said. “There’ve been so many people to help adjust.”
There was a pained sound to their side, and Avery and Solon both turned to see Kavi with Lisette on his arm further down the hallway. Kavi dropped Lisette’s arm and stepped forward, grabbing Avery’s hand with his arm.
“Avery,” he said, “my brother is bad at this. He has no practice, because he’s never wanted to do this before. But he is trying to find out if you want to stay here in Alham. He’s spent the last six weeks trying to convince you to stay, hoping you’d fall in love with the country, so he could keep you around.”
Solon’s face turned redder with every word from his brother. But he didn’t argue or protest any of it.
“Will you—please, Avery, just put my brother out of his misery and tell him if you’re going to stay or not. Before dinner, please. I can’t imagine having to sit through an entire meal with the two of you so awkward around each other.”
Lisette tugged on her husband’s arm. “We should leave them be,” she said. “Avery, don’t come to dinner until you’re done talking to Solon about this. Please.”
“Lise—”
But she didn’t stop, and she and Kavi had turned the corner before Avery could even finish her name, leaving him alone again with Solon.
Avery turned back to Solon, unsure what to say after that. “Um.”
“I—uh.”
They stared at each other in awkward silence for a long moment before Solon finally broke it again. “So? Are you willing to stay? Here? Even after your parents leave?”
“You…you really want me to?”
Solon grabbed for Avery’s hands and took them in both of his. “Avery. I’ve liked you from the moment I met you. I didn’t even know I could like someone the way I like you. But you’re not useless, and you’re not unwanted. You care. You want to know everything about everyone, and you want to do your best to help. Maybe—maybe starting over somewhere without the expectations and your siblings taking care of so much will make it easier for you to find something to do here. You’ve always wanted to date men, haven’t you? Spend your life with one? And your parents and siblings all pushed you to come here, where that’s….where you can do that. They like you, Avery—you’ve never once said you don’t get along with them. And they wanted you to come here, where they wouldn’t be hanging over your head and—and maybe you could marry someone if you wanted.”
Avery blinked, then looked down at their hands. “You really think that’s what they were trying to do?”
“So much so that I asked Lisette about it, and she turned pink the same way you do when you get caught. She asked if I was trying to keep you.”
Avery ducked his head against a growing smile. He could see Lisette asking that. Could see her hoping for that. “If you’ve wanted me to fall in love with Alham, you’ve succeeded. And if….if you wanted me to fall in love with you, then…well…it’s still early. But I think you’re succeeding there, too.”
Solon’s face brightened like the sun and his smile could have cracked his face in half. “So you’ll stay?”
“I’ll have to talk to my parents about it,” Avery said, worming his hands out of Solon’s to rest them on his shoulders. “But if you’re right, I think they’ll be happy for me to stay here. Especially if we have a treaty and they’ll have someone to take care of Lisette.”
“And Lisette can take care of you,” Solon said, tucking his hands around Avery’s waist.
“Mmm,” Avery agreed, a grin growing across his face. “Now if you want me to stay, Your Majesty, perhaps you should start proving it with a kiss?”
Solon’s hands tightened as he jolted in surprise, and he met Avery halfway.
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osakhee · 6 hours ago
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never enough, virgin!wonbin x reader
! endurance training, handjob, overstimulation, edging, slight dacryphilia
note : FINALLY something is done with the virgin wonbin thoughts ive been having for a week ..... 🙂‍↕️
"can i please at least be inside just once?"
"nope. not until you can hold it better."
"you always say that... i've done well the last time, when will it be enough?"
"it will never be enough. not until i say so."
wonbin lays back on his seat with a pout. he's glad the bus is mostly empty so no one can catch a glimpse of your conversation. you both sit at the far back of the bus, away from all the people going home at this hour. wonbin looks outside the window just to be met with the heavy droplets that pour outside, and he turns his head to look at you. he's still sulking, and the serious glare you throw at him makes his heart jump in his chest.
wonbin is your classmate. actually, he's more than that, but you like the "classmate" title, even though the boy doesn't think the same. he'd rather call your relationship "friends with benefits but he's the only one getting benefits". when at school, wonbin is all talk about how good he's in bed, he laughs at his male friends for being virgins at their age. he has the pretty face to make anyone believe his words, but little do they know he actually turns into a puddle when you get your hands on him. you wanted to see for yourself how good he is, he's handsome, and since he said he fucks well, why not? but when you dragged him behind the lockers, wonbin turned into a blushing mess, he didn't even know where to put his hands when you kissed him. he was moaning in your mouth in no time, so hard in his pants he felt like he could burst only from your lips that left his to pepper kisses on his jaw. he begged you not to tell anyone, so instead, you exposed you plan to him. he loses his virginity, and you get to fuck him and with him.
wonbin had no idea at first that fucking with him would mean hours of playing with his cock and nipples, jerking him off so slowly it would make his thighs tremble everytime your fingertips touched his skin. you asked him to keep the count, but he can't recall how many times you made him cum anymore. each time, he would be a shaky and whiny mess, he'd beg you to finally give him what he wants. you always promised it for next time, and thinking of the reward of being inside of you always made him harder than ever.
but now it's been weeks since you started to play with him. wonbin is over at your home almost everyday, and he's never getting his way. the way you would taunt him to reveal his little secret always made him comply and fall to his knees so you could stick your thumb in his mouth until he's drooling all over it.
the bus that's taking you and wonbin home finally reaches your stop, and you take the boy's hand to get down. to anyone, you would probably look like a cute couple walking back from school together. but the grip you have on wonbin's wrist and the tension he's feeling all over his body say otherwise. he can already feel the warmth painting his cheeks red and the anticipation building in his lower stomach. you both walk in silence until you reach your apartment. when the door opens, wonbin doesn't even wait for you, he gets inside and walk straight to you room. he wouldn't want to mess up his routine. you take your time, put down your jacket and bag before joining him.
wonbin sits on your bed with large puppy eyes, he's still upset at how harsh you were to him on the bus. he can't tell you how much it turns him on, or you'll have another reason to mess with his head, his secrets getting heavier each time you see each other. you walk to the bed and let your hand travels his face, from his jaw to his pretty lips, your fingers mess with his hair. you tug on his locks lightly to make his head fall back and give you a prettier view of his neck, his smooth skin almost perfect under your hungry lips. wonbin sighs heavily at the contact of your warm mouth, he grips the sheets in his hands, his legs rub together to get some frictions on his clothed dick.
you get away from his skin and push him down on the bed, his back gently hitting the blanket. wonbin knows what's next. his hands reach the hem of his shirt before taking it off, he then hurriedly opens his pants to get rid of any clothes that stops his cock from finally breathing. he doesn't care being naked in front of you anymore, he's used to your eyes burning his body when you look at him. wonbin takes a deep breath when he slides his underwear down, his already red and leaking dick hitting his stomach. you sit next to him and watch it twitch with anticipation, wonbin is almost moaning just from your warm presence next to him.
"are you ready?"
"if i do well, can i finally fuck you next time?"
"depends on how long you last today."
wonbin rests his head on the bed, his chest heaves with his sharp breaths. you let your fingers travel his faintly toned stomach and wonbin already squirm under your touch, shivers covering his whole body. your nails graze his skin down his thighs, his cock drips some more precum when you get so close to it. you could watch him for hours and drive him crazy, your hands massaging his inner thighs enough to have him cum untouched. with one finger, you draw slow circles on his lower stomach, going all the way up his length and rubbing his slit, his arousal quickly coating your finger. you lay next to wonbin and wrap your hand around his dick, your mouth finds one of his nipple and you suck eagerly on it.
the boy on your bed is already a moaning mess, his back arches on the sheets and his hips buck into your hand to get any kind of friction, but you stay completely still, only giving attention to his chest. your tongue twirls around his hardened pink bud, it makes wonbin cry out your name. he claws at the bed desperately for more, and after one more kiss on his chest, you sit up next to him again. you finally give attention to his cock that's calling for you, and stroke him at a dangerously slow pace. wonbin tries to steady his breath as much as he can, his eyes closed and concentrated on the pleasure you give him.
it doesn't take long to break him apart though. once you start paying more attention to his leaking tip, his hips jerk up constantly in your hand and you have to pin him down. the cries that come out of his throat are broken by your name rolling on his tongue over and over again. the way his thighs are shaking when you pick up the pace tell you everything you need to know. you give wonbin one more stroke before letting go of his dick. his knuckles turn white from how hard he's holding the covers under him, his cock twitches desperately. you rub your thumb on his slit and wonbin's back arches again on the bed.
"stop moving so much, that's how you get tired so fast."
"p-please.... give me m-more..."
"you will cum so fast thought."
"i won't i-i swear i won't please keep g-going..."
you want to believe wonbin's weak promise and you wrap your hand again around his length. you watch him close his eyes again and put all his willpower in stilling his hips for you. you give him lazy strokes again, your hand covered in the sticky precum that keeps rolling down his cock. you rest your other hand on his thigh and he jumps in your touch, his lips parting in a silent moan. for a while, only the wet sound of your palm around his dick and his heavy breathing can be heard in your room.
since you started your little training with wonbin, he never really got better, he would always cum awkwardly fast especially if you started teasing him. he lasted longer the last few times though, and you couldn't wait to have him inside of you and feel him filling your insides after a few thrusts. you loved watching him cry out your name each time he ended up fucking your fist, his hips desperately bucking up to meet your hand after you edged him for hours so he can finally gets the sweet release he's begging for.
every once in a while, you leave wonbin's cock to watch him from your place, you sit crossed legged on your bed and smile at the boy's desperation. his black hair stick to his forehead and his chest shines with a thin coat of sweat, his hands weakly rest next to him as he got tired from holding the sheets so tightly. beads of precum form on his slit and roll down his cock or drop on his lower stomach. it stains your bed, it makes your hand sticky and wet, and it gives shivers to wonbin each time you blow on his dick with a chuckle.
it's always when wonbin is the less ready that you start to jerk him off again, you barely listens to him as he speaks about his day so his mind would focus on anything but his throbbing cock. you grip his dick out of nowhere and hear his breath catch in his throat. his thoughts get lost in the pleasure, unable to form a single word but the desperate "please" that escapes his lips over and over again. you pout at his sensitivity and you tighten your grip around him, your palm very slowly making its way up and down.
"are you close already?"
"mmhh... p-please..."
"can you hold it a little longer? just a little."
"i'm n-not... not sure... it's s-so..."
"just a little more, i know you can do it."
wonbin hides his face in the sheets when you quicken your pace, his hips buck up again in your hand and you instantly let go of his cock. wonbin's head jerks up to look at you with a pleading whine, only for his head to drop back when you flatten your hand on his tip. his back arches and his hands find their way in his hair to push away the strands that cover his eyes. your palm rubs the sensitive head of his cock, wonbin's breath gets more erratic and louder. you give him a few pumps and check your phone that sat next to you on the bed. he's actually handling it well, probably the best he has done yet, but it's still not enough for you. you just want to make sure he could last when fucking you, you're just helping out! you feel wonbin's dick pulse in your hand and you stop all your movements again to squeeze it. his voice breaks into a high pitched cry, the tears that had been filling his eyes finally flowing down his cheeks. it's always been your favorite sight, he's such a wreck when you get your hands on him and he's never been more beautiful to you. you massage his thighs and from the way his cock throbs constantly, you can tell he's so close just a touch could make him burst.
"p-please... i'm gonna- i w-wanna cum please... i n-need to cum s-so bad..."
"hmm... you've done well... but it's not enough you know that."
when you start stroking him again, you see his head dig into the mattress and deep in the blanket, his fingers clawing at the sheets, his parted lips let every moan escape his throat. you can't tell if his cheeks glisten because of the sweat or because of his tears that roll down his face and down his neck.
"you know wonbin... i might just let you fuck me next time..."
"a-ah please... i-i'm cumming p-please i'm c-cumming..!"
you jerk him off faster and watch the ropes of hot and thick fluid hit your fingers and his tensed stomach, you make sure to grip his tip through his orgasm that has his thighs shaking. his hips stutters in your fist until he weakly shoots one last drop of cum on your hand. wonbin tries to get away from you and your teasing hand that keeps playing with his sensitive cock, he turns to the side and burry his whines in the sheets, he can't control the desperate thrusts of his hips until you finally let go of him. you check your phone again while wonbin catches his breath, he sniffles audibly when he finally sits up next to you. you look at his messed up face and push away gently a few strands of hair that stick to his forehead, your hand then resting on his cheek so you can wipe away his tears. wonbin looks at you with shining hopeful eyes that could make you melt.
"did i- did i do well? d-did i hold it long enough?"
"you know it's never enough to me... but you did well, i might actually let you inside me next time. you'll do well this time too, right?"
wonbin's cock weakly twitches at your words and the smile he gives you have you burning inside. maybe he could actually hold it when he fucks you. you couldn't wait.
im crazy wonbin is all ive been thinking about for the past few days im CRAZYYYYYY thank you cee for supporting me through the wonbin breakdown
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0blobthefish0 · 8 hours ago
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hi! can i request Agatha Harkness x reader smut where reader has been teasing Agatha all day until Agatha finally snaps when they arrived at home?
thank you!
Boundary Pushing
agatha harkness masterlist | main masterlist
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Agatha Harkness x afab!reader SMUT 18+ 3,058 words
includes: cunnilingus (agatha receiving), fingering (r!receiving), vibrator, orgasm denial
a/n - hopefully i've done this fic justice, I'm not the best at smut writing 😔
You knew from the very moment Agatha had stood before the vanity mirror to put in her earrings, that trouble would be coming your way. 
You watched from the bed, lip caught between your teeth, as she fixed up that beautiful mess of hair into a loose bun; it was calling out for you to take it out so that you could run your fingers through the soft strands. Blue eyes flicked to yours from within the mirror - caught - and you felt your breath hitch before a shy smile made its way onto your lips. Agatha smirked at you, she loved that she still had that effect on you. 
Spinning around, Agatha leaned back against the vanity, “How do I look?” She questioned, smoothing down the material of her pantsuit. Lost for words, she looked so good and all you wanted was to get on your knees and beg for her to let you have a taste; you only let out a gratuitous hum as you nodded your head. 
“When is it starting?” You asked as she walked towards you before falling to one knee. She stared up at you from your sat position on the bed and you swallowed harshly, feeling a heat pool at your core - she knew what she was doing. One thing about Agatha, was that she loved to tease.
Your eyes followed her movements as she reached for your heel, “Soon,” she replied, slipping the shoe onto your foot and gently squeezing your ankle after tightening the buckle. You wanted more, just seeing her skilled hands make quick work of your shoes were doing wonders to add to your arousal. Her hands smoothed up the material of your tights as she stood up before resting them on your thighs. 
Agatha was enjoying this. Tensions rose as she looked down into your eyes, she didn’t need to have the skills of a witch to understand what was going on in that pretty little head of yours. And, no matter how badly she wanted you, she would not let herself give in. She physically could not miss this stupid coven meeting, this week being hers and the witches would soon be arriving.
“You be good now,” she warned with a knowing look on her face and you gaped at her with amusement and playfully rolled your eyes. But said nothing; you didn’t enjoy making promises you couldn't keep. 
Being ‘good’ did not last long. As soon as you all had taken your seats around the large round table, you had quietly shifted closer and closer to Agatha and placed a hand on her knee. Her little act this morning had turned you on. You needed her. Seeing her take on this authoritative role within the group was… distracting to say the least. 
Agatha could feel your impatient eyes boring into her as she spoke from her standing position, her legs pushed into the edge of the table as she seethed at whatever Rio had put forward. It did not matter if it was a good idea, she can’t even remember if it even was a good idea - not that she’d ever think it was - anything Rio said was never any good.
Mid roll of her eyes, she felt a tentative hand find its way onto the back of her calf and gently begin its dance up her leg. She shot you a discreet, pointed look to find you intently listening to Lilia - chin on your palm as your elbow rested on the table, hanging onto her every word and, most obvious of all, pretending to not notice her. A faux act, and she knew it, you were never that interested in coven meetings. Still, your fingers travelled their way up and up and up.
Quickly. Agatha sat down. A mere second before the table could see your hands on her. 
“Backing down are we, Agatha?” Jen smirked almost victoriously.
Agatha rolled her eyes again and shifted in her chair, “I don’t need to waste my breath on this,” she huffed out, crossing her arms over her chest. 
Your teasing efforts had not ceased. In time your hand had made its way back onto her, now it rested on her mid thigh, fingers stretching to trace figures of eights across the inside of her thigh. The bottom of the eight somehow gets closer and closer, and Agatha would be lying if she said that she wasn’t even the slightest bit turned on. Gods, she loved the thought of you not being able to keep your hands off of her. Yet her hand clamped over yours and moved them to hold in your own lap.
Slowly, invitingly, you spread apart your knees and guided her hands between your thighs. Your breath hitching, quietly, as two fingers pressed against your sensitive clit - an electrical pulse causing you to jump. Agatha could almost.. feel your warm breath fanning across her ear and neck as her deft fingers circled the bundle of nerves and your muscles were rigid as you fought against squirming in your chair.
Agatha could also hear her heart beating; ba-ba bump-bump
“Stop it,” you heard your lover hiss lowly, her fingers now clawed against your thigh, the pressure, a perfect blend of pain and pleasure, making you bite your lip
“Stop what?” You questioned back, just as quietly, your eyebrows furrowed. Agatha stared at you for a quiet moment and pressed her tongue against her teeth.
“Don’t start what you can’t finish, bun,” Agatha warned, “you know it doesn’t always end well for you.”
You shrugged your shoulders, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Agatha watched with a raised brow as you turned your head away from her and continued listening to the coven. Was this really the way you were going to play today?
The second time you decide to perform a little spell on your witch, it’s not even ten minutes later. She had been paying you no attention since, not even a glance your way, it was only when your stillness had become noticed that Agatha began to become suspicious. From your leant back position you saw her head turn towards you; perfect.
Blue eyes landed on the chair next to her, empty. Around her the meeting goes on, the coven acting and speaking in reflection to the real world - you’re getting good at this. Of course she knows you’re in her head, but she does not break your spell. Though she can do so easily, her curiosity beats that of the actual meeting. 
On edge, Agatha twirls a loose dark curl around her finger as she listens, well as much as she usually does, to her fellow witches. Something.. just something, an inkling, a nag in her ear, a whisper her way has Agatha’s eyes travelling down. And there you were. Knelt between her spread legs and eyes dark with lust as you stare up at her with a playful glint. Your warm hands run up the back of her calves and you shift closer to her, leaning in, to press soft, gentle, patient kisses to her thighs (when her trousers had disappeared, she does not know). You kiss her as if you have all the time in the world, working your way up and stealing small glances up at her - it makes her heart stop every time.
“Agatha?” She doesn’t hear it the first time, too focussed on the way you’re getting closer.
“Agatha!”
Her eyes scan the table, they’re all watching her; Jen with furrowed brows, Lilia with her eyes squinted, Rio’s eyes flicking from her to you as she pulls the pieces together with a knowing smirk, and.. Fuck- Billy’s eyes are wide and he looks away too quickly when her gaze lands on him. 
Dread and embarrassment fills you, shit.
——————
The door shuts out the last trails of goodbyes and silence is left in its place. Agatha still has her back turned on you as you stand at the bottom of the stairs.
“I’m sorry,” you apologise.
“Really?” You can hear the disbelief in her voice as she turns around and quirks an eyebrow at you with pursed lips, “‘Cause you’re smiling.” Your eyes go wide and you bite your lip to hide it.
“I didn’t mean for him to-”
“Go upstairs,” she interrupts and folds her arms over her chest. Slowly, you take a few steps backwards up the familiar steps as your eyes search her own. You swallow, nervously, and pause.
“Are you-”
“Mhm,” she responds with a small nod of her head before you’ve even gotten the words out and you spin on your heel and quietly climb the rest of the stairs. She’s planning plotting her next moves, you could see it in her eyes.
Agatha can’t help but chuckle to herself as she enters the basement once again to collect the empty mugs of various teas and coffees, the image of Billy’s poor shell-shocked face still fresh in her mind. Poor boy. 
You, on the other hand, should have been more careful. Your second little scenario, however, had caught her attention, what exactly were you wanting? Just her, or possibly, more control perhaps? Or were you only just trying to get a rise out of her? It was possible; you are a little mischievous. Whatever it may be, she was going to get it out of you one way or another.
As the seconds ticked by, your nervousness only grew, but so did your desire. The way Agatha was looking down at you as you kissed her skin was replaying over and over, she wasn’t opposed, no, you’d go as far to say that she was in fact enjoying it. A scenario you had only dreamt of, and it was only fuel to the fire, a hunger that needed to be sated.
“Whatcha thinkin’ about, bun?” 
“You,” you hummed, it wasn’t a lie, just a half truth. Agatha’s head cocked as she leant against the doorframe to your shared bedroom. “I’m sorry,” you apologised once again, “I didn’t mean for it to get so.. out of hand.” Agatha only hummed in acknowledgement before sauntering over to the edge of the bed where you sat. Your chest felt heavy as her hand slid up the nape of your neck, her fingers almost cradling your head.
“Just wanted a bit of fun did you?” And you felt the pressure of her hand on your waist as you nodded up at her. She smiled and pressed a soft kiss to your lips, which you tried to lean into but her fingers curled against your hair, keeping you back. “Hm, now it’s my turn,” the smile on her face was almost sadistic, before her lips were on you again. Rougher this time and you opened up your legs to welcome her between you as she pressed bruisingly against you.
You let out a small groan when you felt her drag the fabric of your skirt to your waist before making quick, easy work of your tights with the help of some practical magic. “What got you just so hot and bothered, hm?” She questioned against your lips.
“I don’t know, you-” a quick gasp escaped you as Agatha pulled you forward roughly by the hips causing you to fall back against the duvet, “you just looked so good this morning.” Her signature smirk came into view and she pressed it into the skin of your neck forcing your head to tilt as you arch your back into her. 
Instantly, your hands found their way into her loose curls and carefully pulled out the tie holding her bun in place. You let out a long hum as you threaded your fingers through the soft, dark strands, pushing her head back so that you could look at her properly. Agatha’s blue eyes were creased with a smile and she almost, almost, forgot what had led the two of you into this situation in the first place.
You let in a deep breath as Agatha teased the tips of her fingers along your inner thighs and nipped and kissed at the skin of your breasts. Gently, her fingers found their way to press sharply against your clit, causing you to jolt at the electric wave generated by the pressure, and you moaned out in pleasure. At the rate at which Agatha was tormenting the swollen bud, you could already feel the coil in your lower stomach becoming tighter and tighter and tighter.
Gods, you don’t think you’ll last much longer, it’s embarrassing really, but you’re too focussed on the way her fingers know exactly how to move.
“Mm, Ag-atha, please, I’m so close,” you whined and your hand found its way to linger around her wrist. Agatha leaned back, her eyes staring at the way your eyes are shut chasing after that release; just a little longer and, she’s done it perfectly-
No.
No no no no no.
“Aggie,” you whined out in frustration as she pulled away from you, a dark glint in her eyes as she watched the built up pleasure dissipate. Your chest was heaving as you breathed in and out. Fuck. 
Agatha can’t help but become pleased with herself, “Aw poor, bunny, you were right there, weren’t you?” She questions cynically as she strokes up and down your thigh. “Hm?”
“Yeah,” you sigh out lightly before you sit up. Her eyes lock onto yours as she unbuttons her trousers and top before letting them drop to the floor. Your gaze is glued to her as she pads over to the chest of drawers and pulls one open, her hand hovers over the broad selection of toys. Her fingers dance before finally reaching down and grabbing one. It’s her favourite vibrator, control operated, one that she can stop and start at will. 
She spins on her heel, the vibrator held casually in her hand, and she climbs into your lap. Your hands reach out to her as she straddles you and they rest on her hips, you can feel the beat of your heart in your neck as she strokes your hair. 
“What do you want?” She whispers against your lips.
“To cum,” you whisper back with a smile, it isn’t the answer she’s looking for and she shakes her head. “To taste you,” you follow with. Agatha hums and lightly pushes you back and slowly makes her way to hover over you.
“Like this?” She questions and your hands stop their movements of lightly massaging her thighs - she’s never given you the option before and you stare up at her with furrowed brows. “How do you want me?” You feel your heart skip a beat at the sultriness of her voice. “Sat on your face?” She teases, and sits back to put weight on your chest. “Or something else, hm, what’re you thinking?”
“I want you on your back,” you finally admit.
Agatha cocks her head to the left, “Why?” Okay, maybe her ‘one way or another’ was very direct. “Is it the control that you want?” You shake your head and Agatha feels your hands begin to move once again.
“No, nothing like that, maybe a little; I just want you to relax. Let me take care of you, like you do me.”
The words are rehearsed, you’ve been thinking about this, for days or even for weeks now. 
Agatha nods her head and gracefully rolls off of you before making herself comfortable amongst the pillows. You’re kneeling on the bed in front of her and she’s looking at you expectantly. Your throat bobs as you swallow, taking in the sight that is Agatha Harkness, indecently dressed with her legs spread for you. Damn, what did you do to get so lucky?
Silently, before you can move, Agatha holds out the purple vibrator and waves it towards you. Your hand wraps around the toy and you tease it at your entrance, spreading your folds, and making sure you’re ready before pushing it inside. You dampen a groan and her blue eyes are downcast as she intently watches you follow her unspoken direction.
It’s quiet as you shuffle forward on your knees, you’re nervous and you can tell that she is too; you’ve never done this before. You lean into her and press sweet, gentle kisses to her hairline and down her face to her jaw. Then, you move down and pepper kisses to her stomach and then to each thigh before pressing a kiss to her clothed clit. An appreciative hum leaves her throat and you slip off her underwear. 
You almost drool at the sight, she’s perfect. You glance upwards and Agatha’s pupils are blown, so cute she reminds you of a bunny - the irony of it. As soon as your tongue meets her core, you feel her legs jolt to close before giving into the feeling and letting them fall away. 
Bzz
You almost falter when you feel the strong vibrations inside of you and moan into her as you continue to lap at her cunt. Agatha’s breathing becomes heavier and more ragged until small, quiet whines make their way into the melody. You’re still yet to master her, but then again it’s only your first time; it’ll take a few more plays before you begin to notice which strings to pull and which to flick in order to create a symphony.
Agatha’s legs finally enclose around your head as she rolls into you, pressing herself further into you, chasing after her release. She’s moaning now, suppressed, but plentiful, and you’re moaning with her, your tongue delving deeper and deeper inside of her. Her thighs squeeze and keep you, locked, where she wants you before she begins to shudder. 
“Ah, yes, right there, bunny,” she whispers out, her voice slightly raspy with the moans she had expelled. The movement of her hips cease and she lets out a sigh of relief, the vibrations cease with it. You’d be dim if you were expecting to cum tonight. You clean her up with your tongue and she pulls you up to kiss her with a hand under your chin.
“You did so good, bun,” she congratulates you against your lips and you feel your heart melt. If this was the result of being a little reckless then you may have to do it again.
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gnabnahc317cb97 · 2 days ago
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Like... I know this is a new blog and that I don't have as many followers as on my old one here yet BUT...
I've posted like 25,000+ words worth of fics in the last like 3 days and aside from my amazing ride or die friends (you all know who you are, this isn't directed at any of you obviously! You're THE BEST!) I've gotten barely any interaction with these fics.
When I write something funny I always think "I really REALLY hope someone will comment or reblog (or send an ask or DM) and say "OMGGGG 'this part' made me laugh so hard" or when I write something sad that makes me cry or any time I write honestly. As I do, I ALWAYS hope that maybe I'll see a new face (old faces LOVE you sososo much please don't go away!) saying what they enjoyed about my fic.
I have at least 3 fics that I have been SO super excited to write for yall but honestly with as little interaction as I've gotten on the last few this last week or 2 I'm discouraged to continue.
I'll still write them because I want to see these stories unfold myself but the idea of posting them doesn't bring me the joy I feel like it should so I don't know if I will.
Also lack of interaction is 100% why I don't do a tag list anymore. I've been getting asked this A LOT lately (nothing against those people) and I used to! I'd tag like 20+ people but I'd get maybe 3 that would comment and interact with my fics. It's tedious and time consuming to do just to get next to nothing out of it, so I won't do them anymore.
I don't know. I feel like I'm ranting now and probably sound like an asshole but what I'm trying to say is it hurts my feelings. I don't know... I'll probably end up deleting this I'm just in my feelings about it right now.
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coolunspokenforname · 2 days ago
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First Superhero AU I've had since... Never Mind All That
In a universe where some people develop powers at 18, but can be detected as early as infanthood, every set of twins in the Pines family have become the greatest superheroes or villains in their age. With this knowledge, the Superhero Training Department (STD; unintentional by them, 100% intentional by me) has taken in these children to train and raise into the perfect soldiers.
Mabel Pines
The eldest Pines twin in this generation, but still not even 13, so her powers haven't developed yet. She and her brother were brought in at three, and have been trained separately, though they were allowed time together, and formed a close bond. Neither knows why they are always separated, or why some of the older staff look at them with great suspicion. Mabel usually gets the brunt of this suspicion, especially when she does something the staff disapproves of. She also notices that her punishments are far harsher than those given to the other kids, though she never tells Dipper about it.
Mason 'Dipper' Pines
If Mabel is treated like a troublemaker, Dipper is treated like he can do no wrong. He is always given special treatment, extra lessons, though this means there is more expected of him than everyone else in the program. It's frustrating, of course, but what he absolutely hates is how he sees the staff treat Mabel, despite her attempts to hide it. He knows something is up, but he just can't figure out what. He knows that if he gets out he could find out the missing pieces, so he focuses on getting an early apprenticeship, and hoping to take Mabel with him.
Until things change
One day, Dipper and Mabel find a way to escape. It's hard, and they need to figure out how to work together on the fly, but they get out and make it to a nearby city. Then comes the next problem: how are two almost-teenagers going to survive on their own, with absolutely no normal social skills to go off of?
For a couple weeks they wander from place to place, trying to figure out how to survive, running from the staff, and even heroes occasionally. It goes relatively well, at least they aren't captured, until they're cornered by a group of government agents. They think it's over for them, that their escape would lead to them being killed or, worse, never seeing each other again. That is, until someone comes to their rescue.
Stanley Pines
Also raised in the Superhero Training Facility, he escaped at seventeen, and since has been on the run; first as an escapee, and for the last thirty years as one of the most wanted supervillains in the world. He had heard of the twin's escape and had come to help them, knowing how it was like to be on the run alone. Though, he didn't realize that meant they'd be staying with him. To be fair, he didn't have much of a choice, since after getting the agents to buzz off the twins wouldn't let him out of their sight (Was he like this after escaping? Definitely not. (he was worse)). He takes them to his base of operations, a little shack in the middle of nowhere, with a museum and giftshop portion. Definitely not what the kids would expect from the worlds greatest supervillain, but who can judge?
Turns out, the shack and the town nearby have become a haven to people hiding from the Superhero Training Department, not that Stan knows this. Almost everyone has something to hide, but despite this Dipper and Mabel make new friends and start to live a normal (at least as normal as possible) life in Gravity Falls.
And for the next while they live in peace. Though, that's going to change pretty soon, when someone from Stan's past comes looking for the kids.
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infiniteglitterfall · 3 days ago
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What I'm not clear on is what more Israel should have done to let aid in.
When Israel ended Hamas's control over the Rafah crossing on the Gaza side, Egypt retaliated by refusing to let aid in through that crossing. Hamas had been bombing the Kerem Shalom crossing, so that was closed too - and even when it was open, aid groups couldn't come pick up aid there, because it wasn't safe. Which meant that for a while, NO aid was coming into the south.
After two weeks, Kerem Shalom was open again and the US was telling Egypt to knock it off and just let the aid go through there.
At that point, 82,000 metric TONS of aid had been sitting lined up in trucks, in Egypt, starting to rot.
What I don't get is, at what point have there been tons of trucks lined up for weeks in Israel? The only thing I've heard of - and I've looked - is humanitarian orgs complaining, last year, that there were too many inspections and the process to get aid approved and sent into Gaza was too slow and unclear.
But that doesn't seem to have been the case since at least January or February.
I've seen massive problems DISTRIBUTING the aid. Not only with Hamas, but with the World Food Programme repeatedly ragequitting as well.
IIRC, it has repeatedly announced that distribution is "too chaotic," the trucks get mobbed, the drivers are scared, it's hard to get all the food all the way there, and that therefore it's taking its toys and going home. That happened at the end of January. Then it came back at the end of February, and almost immediately quit again. Then it refused to consider air drops, to the point that its director (Cindy McCain) actually blocked the Gazan activist (Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib) who was advocating for this. Then it FINALLY got on board, helped with the air drops, complained it wasn't enough, and I THINK started driving aid distribution in the north again. But it was making quitting noises about that again, last time I checked.
I think both Egypt and WFP deserve some blame here, obviously. But I also am not seeing what Israel should have done to get more aid to the crossings, or through them.
What for you specifically makes Bibi a war criminal? Genuine question because people never want to explain this and act like you're fundamentally stupid for asking. I hate Bibi but like what specifically makes him a war criminal?
So I'll first start with the ICC claim per their website
“The Chamber considered that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both individuals intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity, from at least 8 October 2023 to 20 May 2024”
So to sum it up, it isn't necessarily Israel's actions which constitute a war crime as war is always horrific and damages infrastructure, it's their inaction to put any measures in place to maintain water, electricity, food and aid.
About 90 percent of Gaza’s water supply comes from the Coastal Aquifer Basin, which runs along the eastern Mediterranean coast from Egypt through Gaza and into Israel. And most of that is not safe drinking water and has to be cleaned by water treatment plants in Gaza which a lot have been damaged in the war.
The treatment plants were not fixed as Israel was worried the materials would be hijacked by Hamas to use for weapons instead. Which is a valid concern, however no alternative water access through bottled water or any other way was put in place. Hence the war crime.
Gaza relies heavily on Israel for basic things like water and electricity because instead of spending money on building a good solid infrastructure, where they don't need to rely on Israel, they invested in tunnels.
In terms of food and other aid, Bibi could have done more to let aid in. Yes hamas steals food and aid, which is partly why Deif was also issued a warrant (although the main reason for his was Oct 7th). However Israel is still responsible for how many aid trucks they let in. Because the Israeli government knew of Hamas stealing aid, they could have let more in, but they didn't. Yes it's not their responsibility to rectify the terrible things Hamas does to Palestinians, but also they knew not enough aid was getting to Palestinian civilians and didn't do anything, and the situation causing the need for aid was Israel's actions in Gaza. Both bibi and hamas are at fault for the lack of food, none are 100% to blame.
Since I mentioned Deif, I want to touch on his warrant. Israel said he was dead, hamas hasn't confirmed it when they have confirmed deaths of other people Israel has killed. Hence the ICC issued a warrant for him as by ICC standards, it is not confirmed Deif is dead.
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fanmoose12 · 2 months ago
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hmmmmmmm but what if i really get back into levihan and start writing fics again? much to think about 🤔
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Hello may 31th anon! Look at that, another year behind us and a new one to come. Have a nice day! ₍՞◌′ᵕ‵ू◌₎♡
#may 31th anon#hello friends!! (。’▽’。)♡ how are you!! I missed you so much!#I'm sorry that once again i have not been posting but I did that thing again where I got scared of posting#I do not know why but it is the same with physical paper diarys#I have 3 diarys and they all have 1 entry#I think one just says 'I am ten'#what have you been up to!! did you do something fun? is it summer too where you live? c:#my tumblr messages seem to be broken! I'm sorry if you wrote something :C it just says 'no new messages' despite also saying new messages#not a lot has happened here! I got a tomato plant and then I got very invested into the tomato plant and I have eaten three tomatos so far (#my roses are also doing well!! I just got a new yellow rose and since she got here she only made orange flowers#I do not know the meaning of that#but I am very thankful! ( ˊᵕˋ )♡ I love it when things are orange!!#I've been trying to buy an orange shirt for the past 2 weeks but they always sell out before I get to them#I'm also thinking about buying a jean jacket#I have not worn a jean jacket for at least 15 years because one time in 7th grade  tthe girl behind me said#that I was wearing a cool jean jacket and I just assumed that this was bullying for no actual reason#but maybe she just thought that it was an acutal cool jean jacket#we'll soon have out 10 year school reunion#maybe I should ask her#is anyone else going to a secret Sherlock phase again#I just want to see that silly little hat again#would sherlock holmes wear a jean jacket#have a nice day everyone!!#see you soon hopefully!!#♡^▽^♡
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