#on the other hand i'd probably roll my eyes so much throughout the whole thing that i'd stop watching after like 20 mins lmao

[cathymee]

sorry i'm consumed again by the rage of every single fuckery that's been going on it will happen again and again

[backtothefanfiction]

All The Good Girls Go To Hell | TF!Boys Mafia AU~ Part ONE

Summary: When Phoenix comes home to find her fiancé banging some other girl, her whole life changes seemingly overnight. Forced to go back and live with her Dad, she's about to be dragged into a life with the men her Dad is indebted to.

Warnings: 18+ ONLY (Mature Content), Dark Mafia Romance Au, setting things on fire, swearing, dead parent, debt, mental health issues, brain tumour, broken family, anger issues (female rage), AFAB OFC, objectification of the female body, pyromania, little bit of theft (smut to come)

Word Count: 3.8K

A/N: I didn't need to have yet another idea for a story. I also didn't need to write it straight away, but I recently read Den of Vipers and figured I could do something better featuring the Triple Frontier boys. I don't know how many parts of this there will be, or how regularly this will ultimately be updated, but I thought I'd share anyway. Smut will come, featuring all four guys this time. This will use an ofc but apart from the hair, there aren't too many descriptors. This will also be written from multiple characters points of view throughout to keep things interesting. Enjoy!

ONE

PHEONIX

My fingers itch as I grip the steering wheel tighter. I should have worn gloves, I say to myself as I drop one hand from the wheel and rub it vigorously against my torn jeans, hoping the friction from the denim will- at the very least- satiate the itch left behind from the lighter fluid long enough for me to get to the next gas station, so I can stop in and wash my hands properly.

It was reckless of me really- the whole damn thing. My brothers taught me better than this, but then again, everyone said I had a temper that was only second to Archie’s in my family- so I’m really not that surprised. People say my Dad used to be equally hot headed before he got remarried to Marina and took over the club, but I’ve still yet to see it- even after all the shit me and my brothers have pulled over the years. It’s like after our Mother died he just gave up. But I don’t blame him. I would too if I lost the love of my life to a fucking disease like that. I had barely known her anyway, so I didn’t really notice all that much when the brain tumor turned her into a “literal monster”, as my older brothers used to so fondly call her when she was on one of her rampages.

I’d always said that my only real memory of her was when she tried to burn down the house by settling alight to the curtains in their bedroom. I remember we all stood out on the front grass as the smoke billowed out of the windows and mixed with the night air. Archie stood on my right holding one of my hands, E.Z stood on my left holding the other. Maybe that’s why I’ve always had a thing for fire myself. Messing about with lighters, setting things on fire- all so I can try and understand that night… At least, that’s what a therapist would probably say.

My Dad tried to make me go to one once, after I ended up burning down the whole science block at my school at 16, but alas, that never happened. Which is why I’m probably still using fire as a coping method after all these years.

My phone is blowing up by the time I reach the nearest gas station. I scan the messages from my brothers over quickly as I pull into the lot.

Deano: Heard what you did, I’d say he fucking deserved it.

Archie: Dad is pissed. Gonna try to calm him down before he does something stupid.

E.Z: Seriously, Phe, again! Dad is gonna be so pissed.

Leo: Just heard about your latest work, props little sis, I think your balls might be even bigger than Dean’s.

Rolling my eyes, I shove my phone in the glove box as it begins to buzz again. Uhh, I really don’t want or need a lecture right now about how I should or should not have acted upon finding my fiance in bed with another woman. Did I over react… by some people’s standards- maybe. But did I also live out every woman’s fantasy of dousing the bed in lighter fluid and striking a match whilst they were still in the bed… yes- yes I did- and do I give two fucks about any repercussions? Absolutely- fucking- not. Because there won’t be. Never have been. My Dad works for some of the most powerful men in the city- and I’m not talking about the Governor or the Mayor. No- someone will send some money over to keep them sweet and in a couple days time, everything will go back to normal.

I scrub at my hands with the shitty cheap soap in the tiny cubicle inside the gas station to the point the giant rock, still on my finger, almost slips off and down the drain. It’s the first time I’ve thought about it. I’ve been wearing it so long, it’s just an extension of my hand at this point. What am I gonna do with it? I mean- it’s worth a fucking fortune. Freddie was fucking loaded after all. None of it fucking his mind you. His Dad was a close business partner for the same guys my Dad worked for. Let’s just say, crime pays and his Dad has made so much money over the years working for Santiago Garcia and his crew, Freddie has never had to lift a single finger, let alone do a days work, to get what he wants.

I grab a handful of shitty paper towels, drying off my hands and the ring, holding it up to the fluorescent bathroom light. Uhhh it wasn’t even my style. I hate diamonds, they’re so basic and boring. Give me a massive fuck off ruby or saphire anyday. 

Still unsure what to do with it, I tuck it into the back pocket of my jeans before assessing how I look in the mirror. It’s like waking up from the weirdest dream and not recognising yourself. I look at my blonde hair in the mirror, the plain white t-shirt covering my breasts. I look like one of those young Barbie, trophy wife wannabe types. Where did the color and fun go? He drained it all out of me.

In college, when I met Freddie, I had pink in my hair and always had on something bright. At least my ripped jeans still have some character. 

Exiting out back onto the shop floor, I grab myself a large bag of cheetos and a cherry icee- that's as big as my head- from the machine in the back. As I place the large bag of cheesy puffs on the counter, I take a large sip of my drink, before placing that too on the counter, reaching for a pair of bright yellow heart sunglasses on a display next to the cashier.

“What d’ya think?” I ask the portly man behind the counter, who’s polo shirt doesn’t look or smell like it’s been washed for at least two weeks with its armpit stains and ranch dressing smear on the front.

It’s obvious he’s trying to come across as if he’s not checking out my whole body as he looks at me, but his eyes scan lower than my face, falling on the V neck of my t-shirt and my breasts for a hint too long. I flash him a sickly sweet smile as I take the sunglasses off my face and hook them into my shirt where his eyes seem to linger instead. “How about now?” I ask.

He quickly clears his throat as he looks back to the register. “Uhhh, yes- Yes- I think they suit you, yes.” he rambles and I can’t help but laugh. Men like that were always so predictable.

I reach for the icee taking another sip and try to school my features when I get brain freeze. “With the sunglasses,” he says, “16 bucks.” I sigh, but fish a couple notes out my back pocket and hand them over, just as my eyes land on a lighter covered in black and white harlequin print. My fingers instantly reach for it.

I turn the lighter over and over again in my fingers before flipping the top of it open and striking up a flame, my eyes getting lost in its amber glow as it sways hypnotically back and forth. It instantly takes me back to not 20 minutes ago and Fred and the girl’s screams, as the bed covers went up in flames and they both shot out from underneath them as he screamed about how much of a psycho I was. 

The ding of the till draw brings me back to the present and I flick the lighter closed. “Oh, and I’m taking this as payment for you oggling me.” I smile at the balding cashier, as I pocket the lighter and grab my bits off the counter.

I can hear him calling after me, “HEY, COME BACK HERE! YOU NEED TO PAY FOR THAT!” but I just laugh and take another sip of the slush and place the sunglasses back on my head.

As I walk back to my car, I notice a bum, sitting in the shade of the wall at the back corner of the station. As I look at him, I can feel the weight of the ring in my back pocket, dragging me towards him. Hey, the ring might not have changed my life, but it doesn’t mean it can’t change someone else’s life.

“Hey.” I say, lifting the yellow sunglasses on top of my head so I can meet his eyes. “Catch.” I toss him the ring. It sparkles as it hits the afternoon sun and I know from the look on his eyes as it makes contact with his fingers, he feels like he just won the lottery. “Pawn it. Get whatever you want with it, I don’t care.” I say as I begin to turn away from him and back to my car.

“Uh-thank you.” he says at first in shock, “Thank you.” he says again, a little more confidently now.

“Don’t mention it.” I shout back to him as I unlock my car with a chirp and climb back inside. 

I open the bag of cheetos, taking one and popping it in my mouth, before dumping them on the passenger seat and reaching to open the glove box, taking my phone back out.

7 more texts from my brothers and 5 missed calls from my Dad; with a final text saying:

DAD: Get your ass home. NOW!

Well, that does it then. I guess I’m going back to the old family home.

I start the engine, shuffling through the radio stations until I find something I like. When I hear the opening riff for Britney Spears’ Toxic, I stop and whack the volume all the way up. My tires screech as I speed out of the forecourt. I sing at the top of my lungs all the way home.

☆

I’m not through the door five seconds when E.Z is trying to usher me back out again. He’s always been the softer one. Third born. The middle child. Always overlooked, but still always trying to appease everyone.

“Dad is pissed.” He says, when he meets me in the foyer. After Mom tried to burn the house down, the place got remodeled. My Dad had to sell his soul to the devil to do it, but it meant we got to stay in our family home. Well, sort of. 

The whole left side of the house needed rebuilding, which meant they got to extend it out a bit more. We lost the basketball court the boys liked to play on, but it meant they finally got their own rooms so they didn’t mind. 

“I know.” I say to E.Z, waving my phone in his face with one hand, while I take a sip of my icee with the other. 

“Give me that.” He says, snatching the drink from my hand, the contents within the straw almost going everywhere as he rips it straight from my mouth. “This is serious Phe, Andy,” Freddie’s dad, “has already been on the phone making threats. You know how important he is for the business. He’s threatening to cut off the club’s supplies.”

“And….” I shrug, before reaching to take back the large cup in his hands. He merely moves it further out of my reach. “Look, I’m sure the guys who own the place have other connections he can use.”

“You sure about that?” My brother presses, raising his eyebrows and looming over me.

“Oh come on, you telling me those four wannabe goodfellas bozos, haven’t got some other dipshit on their payroll to import and export shit for them off record to help keep club costs down.” 

E.Z’s face is a picture. Eyes wide, face serious. It’s clear from his expression and his mouth that keeps gaping like a fish as he tries to get a word in, that he thinks I should shut up. “What!?” I hiss at him, but as I’ve been ranting and raving, I haven’t heard the second set of feet that have made their way through the front door into the foyer. E.Z’s face turns pale as he looks behind me to the figure and back.

“Oh no, don’t stop on my account.” A forced casual voice comes from behind me.

I turn my head and follow the voice to one of the most gorgeous men I have ever laid eyes on. All tanned skin and dark curly hair, a smattering of grays mixed in- the only hint to his age. I frown as a familiarity falls over me, but I can’t quite place from where. “I’m sorry- do I know you?”

He slides his fingers into his trouser pockets, his foot tapping slightly as he looks me up and down. “Oh you know, I’m just one of those bozos who’s now having to help clear up your mess.”

Before I have a chance to respond, my Dad and Archie step out of his office at the end of the hall. “PHEONIX!” My Dad’s voice bellows and I blanche, maybe that anger isn’t as far away as I thought. 

I turn away from the stranger in his Armani suit by the front door, to my Dad, flashing him my sweetest smile. “Hi, Dadd-”

“Uh- No!” He says, holding up a hand to stop me, “Don’t you dare-” He stops as he spots the other gentleman in the foyer. “Pope.” He says, his demeanor growing lighter as he greets the man who actually owns his ass.

“What kind of name is Pope?” I hiss to E.Z under my breathe, but he just nudges me to shut up.

“David… Archie…” Pope nods his head to the two men. “Shall we talk in your office.” He says, nodding back down the hall behind him.

“Uh- yes. Yes.” My Dad says nervously, turning his body to indicate for him to follow him back, before shooting me a stern look, telling me to behave and that this was far from over.

“Pheonix.” Pope nods to me as he passes, a faint smirk in the corner of his mouth and a look in his eye that I could only describe as fascination. But it quickly disappears again as he turns back to my Dad.

As the door to my Father’s office closes, my brother begins to ferry me towards the stairs. “I’d get up there and stay out of trouble if I were you.” He warns. 

I roll my eyes at him before I slip the yellow, heart shaped sunglasses, down over them with annoyance, snatching back my icee, before I stomp upstairs- as usual, out of sight, out of mind.

~

POPE

“Mr Garcia, I am so sorry for my daughters behavior. I really had thought she’d grown out of this,” David Leacher says, as I sit myself down in one of the leather armchairs in his office. “And I never thought she would do something like this that would put your well balanced business in jeopardy.”

I fain disinterest about the subject, because really, it doesn’t actually bother me all that much at all. Sure Andy is a bit pissed now on behalf of his son, but from what I hear, if you’re gonna go sneaking around behind your soon to be Mrs' back and she finds out, you kinda get what your asking for. To be fair, I gotta give the little lady props; it takes real guts to dump lighter fluid on a guy and strike the match, regardless of the consequences. 

“… I just don’t know what to do with her.” David says, slumping back in his chair behind his desk with a large glass of bourbon in his hand. 

“And this is why I never got married and had kids.” I say, giving him a tight lipped smirk. There’s an awkward pause between us, the only sound in the room, the ice clinking in David’s glass as he takes another nervous sip, his hand shaking slightly in anticipation, waiting for the slap on the wrist he thinks is about to come. “Look David, I’ll get to the point, Andy wants compensation for the money he’s already forked out for the wedding.” David puts his drink down and begins rubbing his temples as if this whole ordeal is giving him a headache. 

He sighs, turning to me, an earnest look in his eye, “Pope,” he says softly- imploringly- “you know I don’t have the money for that-“

“I know.” I say, cutting him off. “That’s why, we’ve decided to franchise Medusa’s. We are going to acquire two more clubs, you’ll get a pay rise and oversee all three venues, to help cover the costs. We get more money coming in through the clubs, you get more money to pay off Andy- everyone’s a winner.” 

The look of relief on David’s face is a picture. “Oh thank you, Pope- uh Mr Garcia.” He says, as his whole body seems to let out a very long breath that he had been keeping tight in his body, probably since the first call he got this afternoon about his daughter’s antics. “Thank you, thank you.” He seemingly pants.

“Look Dave, you’re a good guy- a loyal guy-“ I say honestly, “you work hard, you run Medusa’s well. Profits have been up 30% since you took over. I’m not gonna jeopardize that over some silly tiff between a couple kids.”

“No, no… thank you.” He says quietly, acknowledging my words as I continue to speak.

“Whether this had happened or not, we were going to come to you with this proposal this week anyway. Help you pay off your debt to us quicker too- you know.”

“Yes… thank you, Pope. Thank you.”

“Very well then.” I nod to him. “I’ll call Andy, let him know everything is settled.”

“Thank you, Pope, thank you.” He says again. 

David is a good man- a loyal man. He runs our most popular club well, but it was a real shame how soft he had gone in his old age. Ever since he lost his wife, he’s never been the same. Then he married that wannabe wag Marina- who does nothing but spend the rest of what little money he has coming in after he repays some of his debt to us- and walks all over him. Back in the day he had really made a name for himself bare knuckle boxing. They used to call him The Reaper because he could knock a man out with a single blow that brought a man close to death; but nowadays he’d barely hit a fly. This was yet another reason I never settled down and did the whole wife and kids thing- it made you soft.

Still didn’t stop his little girl from being as tough as nails and crazy to boot- but when the only female role models you had growing up were a Mother with a brain tumor that made her- to be polite- unhinged; and then Marina, it's no wonder she’s ended up as she has. She bounced around three different boarding schools in her teens. By the third school- after she had burnt down the science block at the second school- we had to write a fairly hefty donation cheque, in order to get her in. Just another number added to David’s bill to be repaid.

Although he had initially approached us looking for work in order to pay off his wife’s medical bills and then to redo the house after she had burnt half of it down, most of the money he’s borrowed from us over the years has been for Phoenix. Frankie, Will and myself have spent many a night around the table with a drink in our hands speculating on why he continues to bail her out and put himself in more debt to protect her. We’ve long come to assume it’s probably because of guilt. That she was robbed of a proper Mother. Cursed to have a weak Father. If she had been my kid, I would have tossed her ass out on the curb a long time ago and told her to deal with her own shit if she wanted to keep behaving the way she has over the years.

To be fair though, after she met Freddie, we thought she’d finally straightened out- or at least she had become Fred’s problem and he was dealing with it. She stopped going to the clubs. Started wearing more grown up clothing that matched her age. Began running with Freddie and his older friends. But I guess it was only a matter of time and you know what they say- a leopard never changes their spots.

I’m halfway to the door, ready to leave, when David stops me. “Umm, Pope.” He says tentatively. I slowly turn myself back to him, ready to hear his request, even though he’s in no place to be making requests right now after I’ve just bailed his ass out for the fifteenth time. “I was just wondering…” he continues hesitantly, “seeing as Phoenix and Freddie are no longer together, she’ll probably need an actual job of her own now…” I can almost feel myself rubbing at my temples, knowing the question that was about to come out of his mouth. It’s the same question that had come when all of his son’s came of age and needed a job… but this time is different- and we both know it.

Phoenix isn’t like her brothers. Where they are able to be mature and step up and follow orders, she most definitely can not. I’ve seen enough of her school reports over the years to know what kind of employee she’d be. When David had asked about getting the boys jobs, it had been a no brainer. Each one of them had a build similar to their father in his hay day, perfect for a bit of muscle and extra protection in the club. But a job in Medusa’s for Phoenix would be behind the bar- and I know for a fact she’d sooner pour herself shots of liquor and dance on that bar than stand back and serve everyone else whilst they had a good time.

I already know I’m going to regret this when I finally climb into my bed at the end of the night, “She gets one chance.” I say. “One chance.” I hold up my index finger to him for emphasis.

“Thank you, Pope. I promise she won’t let you down.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I mutter to myself, my thumb and forefinger rubbing at my eyes in both irritation and exhaustion, as I finally leave the room. I give Archie a brief nod of acknowledgement as he sees me back out to my car.

I'm about to climb back in when he says, "I know you didn't have to do that, but he needed that, you know. He needs that hope that she'll be okay."

I only give him a nod as I look up to the row of upstairs windows and back to him, "We'll see." I say. "We'll see."

-----------------------------------

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[ishgard]

Rambly first impressions but I'll probably be turning DT around in my head for a while still. Spoilers obviously touched on but I try to be vague about it as much as possible X'D

Overall I enjoyed it! imo it was far from their strongest expac and is admittedly pretty low on my mental expac tierlist (fittingly, about equal with ARR, which isn't a bad thing per se), but it did a decent enough job at what it did, especially so in the first half. I'm in love with Tural and the people, the cast of characters, the lore - it was all delightful!

I absolutely understand peoples complaints about their presence feeling kind of pointless at times, but I also didn't mind taking a side/mentor role either (I've had potential plot/headcanons for Ahru doing as much for a long time now, so it works for me). I don't think they always balanced it well at all, though.

I also would have loved to see more interactions between, say, the Scions and Lamaty'i, but it was nice taking things at a slow steady pace and just enjoying the world building. They had a lot on their plate to show us, and they did it well.

The second half... played with some themes I enjoyed well enough, but suffered from some questionable writing that often gave me whiplash.

I love!! the aesthetics of Solution 9, it was another one of the few things that piqued my interest for DT initially. The overall lore and story was enjoyable, just kind of an echo of things we've dealt with before which isn't a criticism exactly.

I'm typically pretty good at immersing myself and smoothing over rough edges in my mind as I go, filling in blanks and grounding myself in my characters' reactions, but there were a number of times I felt kicked in the teeth and taken out by some of the choices. There were definitely more than a few scenes I immediately had to be like "well Ahru is just not here for this because that just would not have happened" lmao I'd be groaning and rolling my eyes one minute, only to be balling my eyes out the next, so just a lot of whiplash 😂

I kept feeling like the second half would have benefited from more time building some of that stuff up, but instead we got a lot of things repeated to us multiple times and obvious things drawn out for us.

Also though they got their moments in some of the very final quests, I had really hoped to see more of Erenville and Krile's stories throughout the overall MSQ. (THAT scene with Erenville got me ugly crying though omfg.)

I feel like I'm mostly complaining but this is probably one of my most 'mixed feelings' expansions in the ten+ years I've been playing. Like, that's fine though, SHB and EW were ALL up my alley and delicious, this can be a little less 'for me', and it was enjoyable enough I don't feel entirely disconnected from the game I love. The high notes it hit really well, I'm in love with Tural and the lore, and I'm super excited and interested to see where they take us next - and what we do with Azem's key. 👀

I was utterly blind-sided by a certain two-headed mamool ja so now I guess I'm a Bakool Ja Ja fucker. 🤷‍♀️ Also I have a new son and if anything happens to him I'll kill everyone and myself. (p.s. trial 2's boss was the worst villain I've ever suffered and this is coming from a lifelong villain fucker, they were a big detractor from my enjoyment at times tbh)

I am begging for another adventure with Erenville because that snippet was hands-down one of the highlights for me for purely biased reasons. Admittedly, there were a number of times I was the 'do it for him' meme with Erenville's face plastered all over it. I'll probably need to do a whole other rant about him tbh

My slightly joking prediction is chemist for 8.0 just on account of his whole two times mentioning he had potions on him to help the wounded.

[moon-spirit-yue]

Fought for Me

Chapter 8: The Best of Romances Deserve Second Chances

(Hey hey! Okay so I gotta be honest, this fic will not focus a whole lot on the reunification of Kumandra. I'm probably gonna make another fic on it, but this is not the one. This fic is purely for drama purposes. Omegaverse definitely isn't everyone's cup of tea so I'm just not focusing on the logistics. This fic (and all others) can be found on ao3! I'll also just post the ao3 link right after this for those who prefer it. The link to previous chapters will be on the ao3 link as well. Anywho, please enjoy!)

Raya began pacing the boat for what was probably the fiftieth time since everyone officially hopped on board. Boun had already dropped himself, Noi, and Tong off to their families. Namaari and Sisu decided to stay with Raya and go the full journey with her back to Heart. Her dragon friend is currently fast asleep without a care in the world.

"You're going to put a hole in that wood if you keep this up," Namaari reminded her.

"I'll put a hole through you, binturi," Raya quickly responded without any of the venom she usually possessed.

"I already got that covered," Namaari said while pointing to the, well, hole in her leg.

"You're right, I'm sorry, I'm very mean when I'm nervous," Raya sighed.

"Look, I get why you're nervous. You haven't seen your father in years, that'd be terrifying for anyone. But he loves you. The whole reason why he wanted to reunite us all was for you," Namaari reminded her.

"Well yeah, but the last time he saw me I was twelve. Now, I have a kid at age eighteen with a very nonexistent partner," Raya groaned.

Okay, technically the partner does exist. However, the partner is still unaware they're the partner so it doesn't really count.

"I'm sure that none of that is going to matter to him once he knows you're okay," Namaari assured her with a light squeeze on her should.

Raya was ashamed to admit to herslef that she missed the warmth of Namaari's hand once she let go. Maybe she'll just chalk it up to the fact that Raya is till soaking wet from her dive with Sisu and any warmth is greatly appreciated.

"You're probably right. I need to calm down," the heart woman sighed while anxiously fiddling with her wet hair.

"Of course I'm right. It happens much more often thank you think," Namaari told her with a grin.

"Don't get cocky, Undercut. You've only just started getting back in my good graces," Raya playfully warned.

"So I already landed a spot huh? And all I had to do was get shot. A small price to pay," Namaari laughed.

Raya resisted the blush crawling onto her face as much as possible and laughed along with the other woman.

"Just at a curiosity, who's with your alleged daughter since you're obviously not?" Namaari asked.

"The hell are you talking about 'alleged'? My daughter is completely real," Raya huffed.

"I'll believe it when I see it," Namaari smugly told her.

"Seriously? Of all the things I'd lie about, that's the one you're going for?" Raya scoffed.

"Hey, until I see the baby, she doesn't exist," Namaari said as if that makes perfect sense. "So who on Earth is with nonexistent baby?"

"Charanya is with very real baby," Raya said with the roll of her eyes.

"Wait, Charanya? Heart girl with long black hair always in a braid, permanent frown, hangs around Tien and is obviously into her?" Namaari asked.

"Huh. So you two have met. Yeah, that's her. We grew up together and we've been sticking by each other all throughout the Druun," Raya explained.

"Huh. Well, the two of us haven't really met. At least not formally. I just see her with Tien quite a bit but she's pretty antisocial. Given the fact that she's from Heart I never really questioned why. Wow. Who knew that the one person that may have actually helped me find you, a thief, was cozying up to my best friend," Namaari said.

"Well if it's any consolation, Charanya hardly knew exactly where I was. The best she'd be able to give you is which land I was in," Raya shrugged.

"That still would have been more information than anyone else could gather. You were very good at covering your tracks," Namaari told her.

At this, Raya smiled.

"So what I'm hearing is, I'm better than you in every way?" Raya asked, absolutely beaming.

"Okay, how is what I said even alluding to the message you got?" Namaari asked with a raised eyebrow.

God, it's so easy to mess with her. Charanya's going to have a field day once she figures that out.

"Well clearly you saying that I'm good at hiding means that you suck at searching. And if you suck at something as simple as searching then you probably suck at everything else," Raya said to elaborate on her personal thought process.

"You certainly jumped to a lot of conclusions there, Raya," Namaari drawled.

"I did jump off a cliff, it's part of who I am," the Heart woman responded easily.

"In heat, too. Seriously, how did you think that was a good idea?" Namaari asked with a frown.

"How did you think it was a good idea to fight me one on one when I was completely surrounded?" Raya shot back.

"I see you won't be letting that go any time soon."

"No, I don't think I will. And be warned, I tell Charanya everything. Prepare yourself because she's not going to let anything go either," Raya laughed.

"Just out of, you know, morbid curiosity, is Charanya your daughter's, um, other parent?" Namaari asked rather awkwardly.

The question made Raya laugh. As if! Even if it weren't genetically impossible, the concept of Raya having a romantic relationship with Charanya is utterly insane.

"Absolutely not. Besides, she-" Raya was cut off by the boat lurching. And boy, did it lurch hard.

Raya's body fell on the steering wheel, Namaari was thrown completely on her side, and Sisu woke up incredibly frazzled due to the movement.

"I SWEAR IT WASN'T MY FAULT-" Sisu yelled in a frenzy before realizing she was just dreaming.

"Huh. She wakes up guilty. That explains so much," Raya grumbled.

"Whuz happnin?" Sisu hastily rushed out.

"A nasty wave hit us. The boat's fine, but I personally would love to be sitting on a chair again," Namaari sighed.

Raya took that as her cue to help a pal out. She picked her own body off from the floor and went to Namaari's aid. The omega tried very hard to ignore the intoxicating scent of the alpha woman but in this proximity it was rather difficult.

Don't breathe her scent in like a creep don't breathe her scent in like a creep don-

"Thanks, Raya," Namaari said once she was upright on her chair once more.

"No problem," Raya smiled.

Oh there's a problem alright. The problem is that now that Namaari isn't an awful binturi it's so much easier to see all her good qualities. This included both mental and physical qualities. Why did the stupid alpha have to be stupidly attractive in her stupid white outfit? Life is so unfair.

Just steer the boat Raya. Steer until you get home with your father- oh damn the panic is back.

"Everything is going to be fine, Raya," Namaari calmly told her.

Great, now she can sense Raya's mood shifts. She's not too sure how she feels about this newfound Namaari ability.

"Aww, are you nervous about seeing your old man again?" Sisu asked.

"With good reason, yes," the Heart woman frowned.

"Oh c'mon, you know he loves you! He sacrificed his life for you!" Sisu reminded her.

"At least someone's sensible on this boat," Namaari drawled.

Sisu is many things, but sensible is simply not on the list. When Raya decides to speak again, she pointedly ignores Namaari's remark.

"I haven't exactly been an angel these past few years," was all Raya said.

Even if she was going to exclude the whole being a teen mother with no alpha in sight, she was still sorta kinda a bad person through the whole six years with the Druun. She's lied, stolen, and gotten in some pretty nasty fights. She's really not sure what her father was capable of forgiving.

"I think you're worrying too much. He'll just be happy to see you," Sisu said with a dismissive flick of her claws.

"That's what I said!" Namaari exclaimed.

"Oooo, same brain! Finally, someone to agree with me when Raya's being crazy!" Sisu squealed excitedly.

"I don't appreciate this sudden uprising against me. Charanya would never treat me this way," Raya huffed.

"Who's Charanya? Oh, is she Aulia's elusive mystery parent?" Sisu asked curiously.

"I asked that too! It's like you're in my head," Namaari gasped excitedly.

Oh god, Namaari is geeking out over Sisu. This is annoyingly endearing. All Raya knows is that she must prevent those two from teaming up at all costs.

"No, Sisu. It's as I told Namaari, Charanya is not Aulia's parent. Aulia's other parent is not in the picture," Raya explained somberly.

Hopefully sounding that sad and pathetic would make them both drop the subject.

"If that's the case then I'm certain you're better off," Namaari assured her.

Poor, oblivious Namaari. She was likely under the impression that the mystery person just abandoned them.

Wow, she now feels incredibly guilty hiding the fact that Namaari's a mother. Granted, she should feel guilty about it, but it was a lot easier when Namaari was nothing more than a thorn in her side.

"Maybe. Oh, Namaari, while we're on the topic of Charanya, I just feel like I should warn you. When I say I tell her everything, I mean everything. Including you," Raya stated.

"Oh my god, she hates me," Namaari accurately concluded with a loud groan.

"Only a lot," Raya nodded.

"Since we're in the spirit of warning each other, Tien is not your biggest fan," Namaari told her.

"Yeah, I could guess that," Raya sighed.

Raya took a certain petty joy in pissing off the great land of Fang. Given the fact that Tien's part of Fang's army and is on track to being on of the land's generals, she doesn't really love how Raya has behaved these past few years.

Understandable, of course. Raya loved making the Fang warrior's lives just a little bit harder. Plus, she knows that the army has wasted time and resources trying to track her down. It makes complete sense that Tien probably wants to punch Raya in the face.

Plus, from what Raya's gathered, Tien is Namaari's closest friend. Naturally, Tien would be against anything that caused Namaari so much agitation.

"Okay, what exactly have you guys been saying about each other?" Sisu asked.

"The truth," Raya and Namaari said in unison.

The two women looked at each other before laughing. It would appear they had more in common than they originally thought.

"People humor is so weird," Sisu frowned.

Light conversation circled around the three of them until they got to Heart's dock. Raya has the sudden urge to vomit. She really hopes Ba still loves her after all this.

"Breathe, it's going to be fine," Namaari firmly told her.

"Right. Fine. Totally okay," Raya plainly stated.

"Yeah, so I can hear you saying it, but I'm not entirely convinced you mean it," Namaari told her.

"Sass me again and I'm stealing your crutch. Try walking after that," Raya scowled.

"Okay, don't do that," Sisu began. "Namaari, you can't reason with crazy. She's just going to have to head down and see for herself that her father actually loves her."

"Seriously Sisu? I bring you back to life and this is the thanks I get? You know what? I'm getting off the boat now. I'm sure you guys can strategize how to gang up against me more effectively once I'm out of earshot," Raya huffed as she determinedly marched off the boat.

"Yikes. Someone's paranoid," Sisu said once Raya was a good distance away.

"And mean. Wait, she didn't actually take my crutch right?" Namaari asked when she came to the realization that she could no longer see it.

"Oh nah, you're good," Sisu said. The crutch was, thankfully, hidden behind a barrel. Crisis averted.

Raya was in absolute awe of all the people roaming the land of Heart. On one hand, it kind of freaks her out being surrounded by so many people. On the other hand, it amazes her that so many of these people wear blue. Heart's color. Her people have returned.

The very proud Princess of Heart kept on walking until she reached the very bridge she was thrown off all those years ago. On this bridge she saw him exactly as he was back then. Outside the crutch and bandage around his leg, of course.

It was her father. Chief Benja of Heart is finally in the flesh. It felt like she couldn't move. She was in awe over seeing him walking, breathing like a human being. All he was doing was picking up a discarded flag the best he could with an injured leg. Yet this simple action left Raya in awe.

Benja caught onto her stares and looked up from the ground and made eye contact with her. He let out an audible gasp and dropped the flag he was holding.

"Dewdrop?" he whispered, tears already in his eyes.

Raya let the tears she didn't even realize she was forming fall across her cheeks and ran over to him. To his credit, Benja did immediately rush to his daughter, but Raya covered ground much quicker with two unharmed legs.

When they finally met in the most memorable hug of Raya's entire life, she actually started to sob because of how warm her father is.

She would touch her father's statue several times these past six years. It was never for long due to how cold it was. The chill gave her no comfort so she had resorted to speaking to it only.

The fact that she can hug him and be enveloped in warmth means everything to Raya.

"Oh, my baby, I love you so much. I just can't believe it's been six years," Her father sobbed as he held her tighter.

"I love you too Ba. I can't believe it either. I missed you while you were gone," Raya choked out.

"I'm sorry I left," he responded.

"The very good news is that Kumandra isn't as crazy as we all thought it was," Raya smiled.

She shifted so that she was hanging off his left arm and pointed to the mass waves of people entering the land.

"How the hell are we supposed to feed them? My cooks have been stone for six years!" Benja hissed in her ear causing Raya to laugh.

Always the most perfect host, even in dire situations.

"Don't worry about it," Raya smiled.

Through the waves of people she saw Boun, Noi, and Tong were all with their own families. They waved as they walked by. Namaari walked by with her mother and gave Raya an encouraging thumbs up. However, Raya feels very thumbs down right now.

Ah well, now's as good of a time as ever.

"Ba, I have something really important to tell. I haven't been the best person around these past six years. I've stolen, like, a lot of things. I've been in my fair share of fights-" Raya rambled.

"Raya, I can confidently say that I could not care less. I'm just happy you're alive. Whatever bad things you did, you did to survive. I would want you to do it all over again if it meant you would be okay. There’s nothing you can say or do that will make me love you any less. It doesn't matter at all to me," her father assured her.

Okay, well she started off easy. Raya is pretty relieved to know that those not so minor offenses don't bother him.

"I promise that what I'm about to say next will matter quite a bit to you," Raya sighed, feeling incredibly nervous. Might as well just say it to get it over with. "Ba, I ended up pregnant and having a child. At eighteen. Out of wedlock. And super single. Like, no alpha in sight. Okay I know it sounds bad but I swear I didn't plan it I was very vulnerable and-"

Her father's jaw dropped as she rambled. Raya was scared to give him a chance to speak, worried he would take everything back.

"I'm a grandfather?" Benjas asked, tears welling in his eyes once more.

"Yeah," was all Raya could say.

Her father wrapped her up in a tight hug once more and now Raya finally felt air in her lungs. He was actually okay with the fact that she has a child. It was like a weight was lifted off her shoulder.

"Well where is she? Or he? I have to meet my grandchild!" Benja exclaimed.

"She is with Charanya. Her name's Aulia. So you're really not upset at me for having her under these less than ideal circumstances?" Raya asked hopefully.

“Of course not! When I said it’s impossible to make me love you less, I meant it. I just wish I could have been there to support you,” her father sighed while squeezing her shoulders.

“That would have been nice,” Raya agreed while sniffling.

"Oh, Charanya! I've been trying to find her too, but I haven't had much luck. She must have grown so much," Benja sighed.

"Not really, that's the reason why you're having so much trouble finding her," Raya smirked.

Her father laughed at that and allowed Raya to guide him into the swarm of people entering Heart. It was one hell of sight seeing people from every nation mingling with each other after so many years.

Raya didn't really focus too much on those around her as she was trying to find Charanya and her kid. That did remind her that Charanya's mother and grandmother should have returned from stone so it's very likely they already reunited with her.

"Just look for Kim. She's the tall one. Hopefully they're all in one group," Raya told him.

Everywhere she turned, somebody was sobbing tears of joy after seeing their loved one alive once more. It was very heartwarming, but it was also very hard to find her own loved ones.

Then, she saw them all. Kim and Ai, Charanya's beloved grandmother and mother, were alive and well. And the girl that was practically leaning all her weight onto Ai was Charanya. And in Charanya's arms was Aulia. Her baby.

Raya tugged on her father's arm and pointed to the four standing right in front of them.

Kim was the first to notice them. A face of utter relief quickly came over Kim, likely very thankful that Raya and Benja were okay. Kim said something Raya was too far away to hear and pointed in their direction. Ai and Charanya both turned to make eye contact and before anyone knew it, the five adults of the group clamored together a giant hug.

"Oh, Raya, look at you! You look so much like your mother!" Ai smiled with tears in her eyes.

"I can't even believe how you've grown," Kim whispered, tears streaming down her face.

"Charanya, words can not describe how happy I am to see you," Benja grinned as he was crying along with everyone else in the group.

The five of them probably would have stayed in their little circle forever until Aulia squealed upon making eye contact with Raya. To her immense relief, Aulia reached out her cute little baby hands for Raya.

The Heart woman smiled as she held her baby in her arms, wiping away the tears so that her daughter wouldn't see. Raya had been so scared that her child would forget all about her in the months she was gone. Aulia smiled and rested her head on Raya's shoulder, letting her know her fears were completely unwarranted.

"So this is her? This is my granddaughter?" Benja asked in awe.

Charanya gave Raya a look, not entirely sure how much Raya's told him yet. Raya merely smiled and nodded.

"Yeah. Here she is. Hey Aulia, say hi to grandpa. Can you wave? Are we at that stage?" Raya asked giggling.

"No, she hasn't-" Charanya began.

She was cut off by Raya's genius baby waving at Benja. Charanya then gasped exicitedly.

"THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME SHE'S EVER WAVED!" Charanayed yelled hgappily.

"Don't even mess with me right now. Did I just witness a baby milestone?" Raya grinned.

"We all did," Ai laughed.

"Can I hold her?" Benja asked hopefully.

"I suppose I can let you two hang out," Raya agreed as she handed over her daughter to her father.

Admittedly, Raya didn't love the idea of letting go of her baby when she literally just got to see her again after what feels like eons, but she relented. Mainly because she desperately wanted Aulia and Benja to bond as soon as possible.

"Oh, hello young lady. It's me, your grandpa. Oh, you're so perfect. Yes you are. Just like your Ma," Benja cooed.

Aulia looked at Benja's facial hair in utter fascination and began rubbing her hands all over his face. Benja simply laughed and allowed the baby onslaught to continue.

Raya was thrilled the two were getting along so well. Then she felt Charanya tugging on her shirt.

"What's up?" Raya mumbled, realizing she would likely want discretion.

"We need to get changed. Now," Charanya bluntly stated.

Raya merely nodded. The shorter omega had that serious tone in her voice that meant something more was going on.

"Ba, Ma, Grandma, we need to change. Right now. I can't stand these clothes any longer," Raya said loudly to attract her family's attention.

"Me neither. I'm going to head up too," Charanya agreed.

Raya hadn't even noticed with all the happy feelings, but Charanya is also soaking wet. What, did she take a dip in the lake?

"Really? Do you need us to come with?" Ai asked worrieldy.

Raya and Charanya were adults. A fact Ai obviously knew. However, Raya did undertsand that she didn't want to be separated from them so soon.

"We'll be fine Ma. We're just going to the palace to take a quick bath. We'll be back so soon you won't even know we were gone," Charanya assured her.

"Alright. You girls be careful now. Don't lose each other," Ai reminded them.

"We're always careful, Ma," Charanya smiled as she kissed Ai's cheek.

The rather exhausted duo walked quietly through the sea of reuniting people. Once they were far enough away from their family, Charanya began to speak.

"There is a reason why I dragged you out outside of our wet clothes, obviously, but we need to wait for that until we're in private," Charanya explained.

"Well even I could have guessed that much," Raya huffed as she dragged Charanya along.

Raya and Charanya were both stopped on several occasions, greeting those who had been some of the first people to turn to stone. The palace was incredibly lively and they were already working on repairs to the castle.

Despite how nice it was connecting with her people again, Raya is itching to get out of these clothes and figure out what the hell Charanya wants to tell her.

"Wait, pause, where do you think we're getting spare clothes? All my things are still on Boun's boat," Raya inquired.

"Seriously? You came home and forgot to grab your shit?" Charnaya asked in a very judgmental manner.

"I'm sorry that the thought of my father disowning me when he found out I had a child out of wedlock distracted me from grabbing my belongings," Raya drawled.

"I suppose I can forgive you this time. And, well, one of the things I wanted to tell you is the fact that the boat we've been living is sorta kinda demolished," Charanya sighed.

There wasn't anyone around in the specific part of the castle, so they can express themselves more freely. Expressing herself to Raya meant a jaw dropped open,

"What, seriously?" Raya gasped, stopping her tracks.

This prompted Charanya to stop as well and confirm it. The place Raya experienced her teenage years in, where her daughter had been living, is gone. Rendered to pieces of wood on the bottom of the lake.

It was just a boat. It's not like either of them even had any claim to it. Even so, it was kind of heartbreaking that the place that held so many memories was now destroyed.

"Yeah. I'm honestly not sure what happened today, but Aulia was crying her damn eyes out for hours. She finally wore herself out when the sun rose so I took a nap as soon as she was down. I woke up because it felt like the boat was going through rocky waters, you know like waves you'd deal with at sea. Obviously, I knew something was wrong since, hello, we were in the middle of the lake. When I woke up, it was like bunch of water was being refilled in the lake so the movement made the boat start to capsize. I had to grab Aulia and abandon ship before we went down with it," Charanya explained.

"Okay, first things first, you're both okay right? Like, no water in the lungs or physical injuries? Was Aulia okay? She wasn't freaked out or upset, was she?" Raya frowned worriedly.

"We're both fine. I made sure her face never went under water or anything. Besides, you've met your daughter right? The little psycho loves water. The only time she started feeling upset was when we left the lake," Charanya said while rolling her eyes.

The eye roll didn't fool Raya, Charanya loves that kid more than she loves herself.

"That sounds like her. She's so fearless. She'll make an excellent chief one day," Raya smugly told her.

Oh shit. Aulia's going to be a chief one day. There's an actual land for her to run now. Raya has to raise a freaking chief. Suddenly, she's feeling a tad nauseous. Boy, is it getting hot in here?

"Sunshine? You okay?" Charanya asked with furrowed brows.

"Just the reality of everything starting to hit me. It never even crossed my mind that she'd have people to lead one day. Not realistically, at least," Raya sighed.

Charanya put both hands on Raya's shoulders and squeezed tightly. The shorter woman opened her mouth, probably to try and comfort Raya, but instead she just let out a big yawn. The duo stared at each other for a moment before breaking out into quiet giggles.

"Alright, let's go bathe before you fall asleep standing up. I think some of Ba's clothes are untouched, we can just take his," Raya informed her.

"Oh, I totally forgot about that! There's just something extra cozy about taking other people's clothing," Charanya nodded.

"I know right? Now let me tell you exactly why our boat capsized," Raya began.

She divulged into the full story of her adventures from getting the scroll to finding Sisu and managing to acquire all the gem pieces. Charanya interrupted her with questions dozens of times before they made it to Ba's room.

It looked exactly how Raya remembered it. Neither girl wanted to come back here when the Druun were roaming the Earth. The obvious reason was the fact that they had very little desire to get turned to stone. The other reason was that they couldn't stand to see the statues that were once people. Heart's palace with being utterly deserted was too much for them to bare.

Both girls rummaged through the closet to pick out their favorite Ba sized clothes. Once they grabbed what they liked, they rushed to the nearest bathroom and prayed everything would still work despite the fact that it's been years since it was used.

This specific bathroom had two tubs that were parallel of each other. To Raya and Charanya's relief, both bath tubs immediately started to run the second they turned the faucets on. With their backs turned, both women began to take off the very wet clothes they wore.

"You good over there?" Raya asked since she was fully submerged in the tub. The only thing Charanya would be able to see would be her head.

"Yeah, all set," the other omega confirmed.

Raya turned around to face Charanya. Her head was poking out above the water and she had already began to wash her hair.

"Okay, you and I need to get our stories straight," Charanya told her once she finished scrubbing her head.

"Kindly elaborate," Raya said.

Raya began to follow in Charanya's footsteps and began to wash her hair. It's been too long since she's been able to properly clean like this. Because no, spontaneous dives in random bodies of water do not count.

"What are we lying to our parents about? What are telling them? What half truths are we putting out? Especially when it comes to our girl that's slowly gaining adoring fans," Charanya explained.

She made a good point. Some things really shouldn't be said.

"We'll start with you since you have way less to hide," Raya nodded.

"Kay. Uh, I did already tell ma and grandma about the whole 'hiding out in the brothel' thing. They didn't care. The fact that I wasn't actually a sex worker probably helped. I don't care if you tell Ba about that, either. I haven't mentioned either of my heat partners, but honestly I think it's fine if that's brought up too. No one's exactly in a place to judge there," Charanya snorted.

Raya supposed it’d have to come out at some point. Charanya's heats were too painful and Raya's were long enough to the point where she legitimately exhausted. In the event they can't get their hands on the drugs that suppress the symptoms, they have no choice but to spend it with someone else.

Neither girls particularly enjoy talking about the heat partners they had for obvious reasons. Granted, it’s not necessarily something to be ashamed of as plenty of omegas and alphas have a difficult time going through a heat or rut solo at this age. Still, who the hell wants to announce this kind of stuff.

"Right. It was that one girl from Talon and the Fang girl when Aulia was born, right?" Raya asked. God, the days blurred together.

"Oh fun fact, I didn't actually sleep with the Fang girl, I just dreamt I did. It was super realistic. She just used her scent to soothe me to sleep, which does explain why I don't remember any pain. It's just the Talon girl. Your only other heat partner besides you know who was the girl from Spine, right?" Charanya questioned. Apparently her days blurred together too.

"Correct. Anything else you want to cover up?" Raya asked.

"Please, do not tell them about my whole thing with Tien. They're going to be nosy and I'm going to have a psychotic break. Also," Charanya hesitated a bit before continuing. "Don't mention my uh, heat before the last."

Raya sighed and pursed her lips. That particular heat was the exact reason why partners or drugs were necessary.

"Fine, but I really think you should tell them eventually," Raya conceded.

"I will. But just, later on once we're all more adjusted. That's about all I could need to cover up. Your turn," Charanya agreed.

"Okay. No need to mention the heat I spent with, uh, that girl. I'll probably mention the Spine girl later though. Obviously, Aulia's parentage is off the table. Ba knows I've done bad stuff, but he doesn't have specifics. As long as you're not recounting specific stories, it should be fine. I'm pretty sure that's it," Raya concluded.

"Good," Charanya yawned.

Raya was about to relax but immediately jolted forwards. There was one minor detail that Charanya really needs to know.

"Wait, I lied. Okay, so I told everyone that Aulia's a year old so that it doesn't align when that specific woman and I were together. There’s no way a one year old could be hers,” Raya explained like the genius she is.

“Strategic. I like it,” Charanya stated with a nod of approval.

Then a thought popped up in Raya's head. It was an insane thought, but who better to hear an insane thought than Charanya, who could easily be the chief of insane?

"Do you think I should tell Aulia's other mother about her?" Raya asked.

Charanya, who previously looked like she was on the verge of falling asleep, was now wide awake. She then gave Raya a look as if she grew at least seven new heads.

"That's a terrible idea!" Charanya hissed.

Wow. Okay. The Heart princess was not expecting such a severely negative reaction.

Charanya groaned and put pressure on her temples. A very tell tale sign that she's trying not to freak out.

"I'm sorry, that was extreme, but I stand by the general message. I mean, Kumandra is just starting. I hate thinking about Aulia as some political tool, but we can't ignore the fact that she's your daughter. Heir to the Heart throne,” Charanya huffed. “My point is, she’s also that girl’s daughter. Another heir to another throne. This needs to be handled delicately."

"Fuck me, I didn't think about the politics involved. This completely sucks," Raya groaned.

Maybe she should just drown herself in the tub and get it over with.

“And I’m sorry, I get that she’s supposedly reformed and all, but you really don't know her that well. What if she gets all pissed and tries taking Aulia away from us? She is an alpha, Raya. Many would say the she'd have every right to. Plus, even if you trust mother number two enough, what about Aulia's grandmother? What do you think she will do to retaliate?" Charanya reminded her.

Yeah, so Raya didn't think about that either. She is so screwed. She is so very screwed. Maybe Namaari doesn't have to know she has a kid! Maybe Raya can pretend like she magically came to be with child! Like one day it just happened! No sex necessary! That can be possible, right?

"Is it too late to change our names and run away? There's a cozy little village in Talon that'd suit us and our parents very well," Raya winced.

"I am not opposed," Charanya sighed. After a couple minutes of silence, she spoke up again. "You really think Namaari can be trusted?"

Raya paused for a moment so that she could think about she was going to say.

"Yeah, I do. She changed, from when we were kids. I told you, she saved my life more than once. The reason why she's hobbling around on crutches was from saving me. We established a peaceful meeting and she held up her end of the bargain, some Fang warriors followed. It wasn't her fault and she did do the right thing," Raya decided. "So I think she can be trusted."

Charanya gave her a very long stare before nodding and going back to scrubbing her hair.

"Alright. I'll accept that answer for now. I still don't like her," Charanya stated childishly.

Raya scoffed and rolled her eyes. Heaven forbid Charanya actually cooperate.

"Fine. That means I don't have to like Tien," Raya shot back.

Honestly, Raya really doesn't like her. The more she thinks about the whole situation between the two, the more irritated Raya gets. The woman's been stringing her childhood friend around for a solid two years. Maybe she's just overprotective, but Tien needs to grow a damn spine and be more direct or just back off so that Charanya can move on. The weird back and forth thing is only going to hurt her friend the longer it goes on.

"Deal," Charanya sighed. "And I hope you know I'm not saying you should hide the truth forever about Aulia's parentage. They both have a right to know. Hell, they might figure it out anyway if Aulia ends up looking too much like her. But I really don't think now's the time."

"You're totally right. Besides, I really don't know how much more I can take today," Raya sighed as she finished getting all of the grime out of her hair.

"You're telling me," Charanya snorted.

At that point there wasn't much washing left to do, so they emerged from the tubs and began to dress in clothes much too big for either of them.

"Braid my hair for me would ya?" Charanya asked now that they were both fully clothed.

Raya nodded and obliged. She was an excellent braider. If braiding was a profession and Raya wasn't set to be Chief of Heart, she could easily have gotten that job.

"Now that the serious stuff is sorted out, let's go!" Charanya grinned as she eagerly tugged Raya's arm.

"Slow down tiger, where's this energy coming from?" Raya laughed.

"Isn't it obvious? I have a ma again," Charanya beamed.

That was all the explanation Raya needed. The two took off and weaved through the crowd of people in order to find their family.

Boy did they find their family alright.

Conversing with Namaari and Tien's family. Sweet hell neither of them got a break. The two gave each other a look before putting on their brave faces and entering the chaos.

For the love of everything, please let this be a normal interaction.

"Oh good, you girls are-" Benja paused and gave them a full once over. "Are you two wearing my clothes?"

"Whaaaaaaaaaaat?" Raya and Charanya asked at the same time, really dragging out the the 'a' sound.

"We would never do such a thing," Charanya lied.

"How dare you accuse us, Father. I gave you a grandchild. Be more grateful please," Raya huffed.

Benja rolled his eyes but didn't press the issue because he genuinely didn't care. Both girls stole his clothes all the time growing up. Plus, Raya could see the small smile on his face when he noticed. He looked at Aulia cozying up to him in his arms and smiled brightly.

"Are you going to steal my clothes when you get older too? Are you going to be a thief like your Ma?" her ba cooed at Aulia.

"I resent that statement," Raya frowned.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Charanya and Tien begin their own conversation on the side with their families. Raya hadn't even realized Virana and Namaari had been speaking until her father nudged her.

"Huh?" Raya asked dumbly.

"I asked if you were okay. You zoned out for a moment," Namaari informed her.

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's been a long day," Raya admitted sheepishly.

"Indeed it has been," Viranan agreed.

Now Raya ahd to be honest with herself, she wasn't ecstatic about being so close to Virana after the previous events. So, Raya merely nodded and moved on.

"Hey Ba, I can hold her now so," Raya started, only for her father to pout.

So that's where Raya gets it from. Of course.

"Do I have to? Can't I have five more minutes?" her father asked.

"You realize she's not a toy, right?" Raya snorted.

"I know, but she's been around for a whole year and I haven't been able to hang out with her until now! Bonding is important," Benja firmly stated.

"Sure Ba, you can keep on holding her," Raya laughed.

The conversation had quickly become all about the baby. Benja and Virana ended up getting wrapped up in sharing their own experiences with raising their children.

"I say we spare both of ourselves the embarrassment and walk away now," Raya told Namaari.

"I literally could not agree more," Namaari nodded.

The two sped walk to a distance where they couldn't hear their parents, but they were still in their line of sight.

"I can not believe you actually thought your father would be upset. It's been what, twenty minutes since they met? She's got him wrapped around her finger," Namaari laughed.

"Admittedly, my fears were unwarranted," Raya shrugged.

This means Namaari was right. Ugh. Now that was a hard pill to swallow.

"You can admit you were totally wrong whenever you're ready, Raya. I'll be here for awhile," Namaari smirked.

What a fucking binturi.

"Bite me," Raya drawled.

Namaari opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted with Charanya dragging Tien over.

"Oh Tien, you know that friend I'm always telling you about? Well this is she! Meet Raya," Charanya said with a bright smile.

Raya waved. She opened her mouth to make some form of an introduction, but Tien beat her to it.

"Okay, pause. The friend you've been talking about all this time is Raya? Princess Raya of Heart? As in, the girl I have been trying to hunt down for months? That same Raya?" Tien asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You're a quick study," Charanya confirmed.

"And you didn't think this is something I should know about?" Tien asked with irritation in her voice.

"Well I'm not a snitch, Tien," Charanya said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Raya had to physically bite her own lip to keep herself from smiling. At least Charanya would always have her back.

"We will be circling back to this later. It's nice to meet you under better circumstances, Princess Raya," Tien said as she bowed and made the gem symbol.

"There's no need for the formalities. Raya is perfectly fine," the omega smile politely.

Ugh, she can't believe she has to act polite now. Civilization sucks.

"Sure, Raya," Tien nodded politely.

At least it was obvious Tien didn't like being polite either. Raya wasn't expecting her to, if she was going to be honest. Alas, both Charanya and Namaari were important people in Raya and Tien's life, so coexisting would just have to do. And given the looks Charanya and Namaari were giving each other, they felt the same way.

"Well, in the spirit of introductions, Charanya, meet Namaari. Namaari, this is Charanya," Raya smiled.

Hopefully this would distract her from the annoyance Tien's presence gives her.

"It's a pleasure to officially meet you. You don't have to use my official title, it's odd hearing from peers," Namaari said while forming the gem symbol.

"Got it. Nice to meet you as well," Charanya said as she too formed the gem symbol.

However, Charanya was eyeing Namaari up and down in the most judgmental way possible. While it was hilarious, Raya didn't want to mediate. Time to say something that can make even the most vicious warriors calm down.

"So. I say we all grab a bite to eat. Who's with me?" Raya asked.

The other three were very quick to agree. The chefs had been hopping onto the cooking since the early morning so there was plenty of delicious food for them to eat.

In no time at all, the four of them were eating on a little blanket while their parents sat at table a few feet away from them. Raya finally got the chance to get her baby back from her father so now Aulia is sitting on Raya's lap as she eats.

However, Aulia got bored and crawled out of her mother's lap and gravitated to Namaari. Immediately, the alpha's face beamed when she noticed Aulia was moving to greet her.

"Oh hello, sweetheart. Look at you, moving so fast. You must get that from your Ma," Namaari cooed.

Deciding that she quite enjoyed the compliments she was receiving, Aulia crawled right onto Namaari's lap. Namaari didn't mind at all but seemed a tad unsure of what to do.

"You can hold her, you know. She doesn't- wait, no. She does bite. She is a biter," Raya told her.

Namaari clearly didn't mind the biting warning and scooped Aulia up to hold her in her arms. Raya was very amused to see Namaari respond to Aulia's mindless babbles as if it was an intelligent conversation.

Kind makes Raya wonder what life would have been like if-

Nope. Not going there.

"Hey, she's a year old right?" Namaari asked out of the blue.

"Yeah, her first birthday passed a few days ago," Charanya falsely confirmed.

"Huh," Namaari hummed.

"Well what's that supposed to mean?" Charanya asked with agitation in her voice.

And now Ranya's starting shit. That is so typical of her. Raya wondered if Tien was going to step in, but she was like Raya. Very amused and wants to see how this plays out.

"I didn't mean anything by it. It's just she's a tad small for a one year old," Namaari easily replied.

"Well I've been the only one feeding her. Are you trying to suggest I've been malnourishing my god daughter?" Charanya frowned with narrowed eyes.

Raya mentally willed Namaari to look at her so that she could shake her head. Charanya is completely, without a doubt, baiting Namaari. If Charanya finds out just how easy it is to mess with Namaari, the Fang alpha will never know peace.

Unfortunately, true to her character, Namaari took the rather obvious bait.

"No, of course not! What I mean to say is-" Namaari rambled out before getting cut off by Charanya's laughter.

"Relax, I was messing with you! Who would have guessed the Princess of Fang would be so easy?" Charanya giggled.

"I tried warning you," Raya shrugged when Namaari gave her a hopeless look.

"In what way? Inquiring minds want to know," Namaari scoffed.

"In my mind, duh," Raya stated.

"I see why you two have remained friends for so long," Tien said while looking between Raya and Charanya.

"Don't be crabby just because you don't understand how cool we are," Charanya smirked.

"Don't even start-"

******************************

The four girls had a surprisingly pleasant evening despite the obvious animosities certain people held for other certain people. Even if the evening was pleasant, Raya was still beyond relieved to get to bed.

Charanya and her family were staying in one of the guest rooms of the Heart palace due to the fact that their original home was destroyed by the Druun years ago. Charanya attempted to protest but all Raya had to say was that Aulia would miss her and suddenly she had no arguments.

Raya's got a long life of using her daughter to get her way. It sounds awful, but it's for the good of the world.

Besides, Raya knew for a fact Charanya was comfortable. She walked by the room they were all staying in and Charanya was curled up against her mother. She was dead asleep and purring her little heart out. Raya can not remember the last time she heard Charanya purr before this. It was too long given how a purring omega is a happy one. Raya made sure to close the door before she wondered to her own room.

Well, her father's room. As of right now, same difference.

Raya had Aulia's crib set up in her father's room where she would also be sleeping. Though neither Raya nor her father really discussed it out loud, being too far away from each other right now was simply not an option.

Aulia passed out almost immediately when she got into her crib, which is a blessing in it's own right. She must have been exhausted from the very exciting day she had.

Raya hopped into bed and saw her father walk in only a few moments later.

"Damn, I thought beat you here," Benja huffed.

"I'm too fast for you old man, admit it," Raya giggled.

"Whatever. Scoot over," he huffed.

Once Benja was settled, Raya rested her head on his should and closed her eyes. She made sure to be cautious of his bad leg when adjusting herself to be more comfortable.

"Hey Dewdrop?" her father whispered.

"Wassup?" Raya mumbled, already feeling sleep tug at her.

"I realize that the situation with Aulia's other parent is delicate and you don't want to talk about so I'm only going to ask one question and I will drop it forever until you're ready to tell me. Is the parent still alive?" Benja asked.

"Yeah. Still alive," Raya tiredly confirmed.

She can't see the harm in answering that question.

"Why do you ask Ba?" Raya yawned.

"Because I wanted to know if there was hope for the chance to beat their ass for hurting my little girl," Benja stated.

Ah. She should have known.

"Seriously? For the record, I could totally beat them up myself."

She'd know. She's done it many tines before.

"Well obviously, but it's my right as an alpha father to beat everyone up that makes you upset."

"Would you like a list?"

"Yes."

"I was kidding, Ba."

"I wasn't."

"Goodnight, Ba."

"Goodnight, Raya."

[alltoomaples]

yellow - lando norris

you know I love you so

summary: you come back to your new home to be surprised by your boyfriend lando, who in return has a surprise waiting by you.

pairing: reader x lando norris | word count: 1052 words

warning: fluff, sweet, rom-com ft. lando norris

prompt: song Yellow by Coldplay from playlist prompts

a/n: here's second one based on playlist prompts. i do have an idea for part 2 of this, so if you're interested in reading it, lemme know. and i think i may or may not do an instagram version for lando, but that's for later on. hope you'll have a good time reading!

let me know if you’ve got any suggestions or your thoughts about this one! and requests are open as well. happy reading :))

you walk home, carrying groceries for dinner tonight after having a good day at work. and you couldn't wait to call Lando as soon as you get home.

Your boyfriend, who's a formula 1 driver, living his dream life is something you're soo proud of him and you are his no.1 supporter and is he of yours for your interior design projects. You always try your very best to attend as many races as possible and yet this time you couldn't go due to new projects.

You and Lando had moved in together during the winter break so you were occupied with setting things up which made up most of days while he went for the race weekends.

Just as you reached down your hallway, your phone begins to ring. it was none other than him. ah he definitely read your mind <3

"hey there bubba! i was just thinking about you and how i was gonna call once i get home" you say, excitement in your sound as you hear his chuckles through your airpods.

"well ain't i the perfect boyfriend!" lando says, probably wearing his smug face. you roll your eyes as you place the bag on your hip while unlocking the door to your home.

"ding ding ding!! now why don't you get yourself some milk and cookies" you say, placing your keys on the table and locking the door.

"ha ha ha, you aren't funny!" he says, sarcastically which makes you chuckle.

"but bet you love me" you say in a childish tone as you place your bag on kitchen counter, taking your groceries out.

"yeah i do and which is whyyyyy i've got a surprise for youuuuuu" lando says, more like sings. and just like that, he ends the call which confuses the heck out of you.

"what possibly could he-" you pondered but got abrupted by a sudden squeal.

"EEEEHHHH SURPRISEE!!!!!!" Lando squealed as he stood in front of you, one hand holding a bouquet of your favourite flowers while other held his phone. obviously videoing the whole reaction.

You just stood still with your eyes widen as you couldn't believe it's happening.

"is this really happening or am i dreaming?" you whisper, not moving a muscle in case if its a dream. Lando walked over to you, placing the flowers on the counter and kissed your forehead as he engulfed in hug.

"its happening for real sweetheart" he whispers to your head, kissing your head once more. you hugged him back tight as you had strength in you to let him know how much you missed him. you both swayed in each other's arms for a minute or so before you broke from the hug. You slapped him on his bicep, making a big echo sound throughout the apartment.

"Ouu what was that for!?" Lando shrieked, rubbing his arm.

"For not telling me you'll be back home and freaked me out like that" you say, putting the flowers into the vase.

"I wouldn't miss that reaction for the whole world" Lando said, grabbing my face in his hand and squishing it.

"Well today's your lucky day too mister! Cause i've got our favourite meal for dinner and a surprise for you!" you say, now squishing his face with both hands of yours.

"Really?? what's the surprise though?" Lando asks, curiosity building up in him.

"You gotta wait after dinner, champ. Now would you be a doll and help me with dinner? i'd treat you with some cookies and milk" You say, hugging him by his torso so he's completely trapped. He rolls his eyes which makes you laugh. Lando smiles at the sound of your laugh, his favourite sound amongst a few.

"With my pleasure, your highness" Lando says, pinning your hair behind your ear before he leans down and kisses you softly yet sweet and lovingly.

. . . . .

"Okay dinner and deserts are done. Dishes in the dishwasher. Now its surprise time!!!" Lando says, coming towards you with his biggest smile like a kid on christmas mornings.

"Alright! Come with me" You say, grabbing his hand as you take him upstairs.

you two stand in front of a closed door but lando gets bit confused. He did remember that you two hadn't decided what to do with this spare room and now, he sees there's an orange bow on the knob. He looks back at you which makes you laugh yet excited for him.

"Alright bub, the floor's yours. Open whenever you're ready" You say, getting giddy and nervous at the same time. Lando nods his head slowly and opens the door. His jaw hits the floor once he sees the room makeover. Lando enters the room, stunned, shocked and dumbfound at what his eyes are seeing.

"I know it's not much cause if i knew you were gonna come by, i would have finished it sooner. Yet so far, i've put all your equipments here and need to do a bit more work till it's fully done" You explain to him.

"You designed this room?! As in for me??" Lando says, his voice shaking.

"Your very own gaming-twitch stream room. Sooo do you like it?" You ask, all suddenly feeling nervous since he hasn't said anything so far. "You don't like it right? Ahh is it the neon signs, i was bit doubtful about or is it the color of the room? cause you know we can chan-" Your rambling got cut off by Lando grabbing your face and kisses you deeply with passion.

"You've got no idea how much this means to me! A whole interior design by my very own favourite designer!?? It's a dream come true bubba" Lando whispers, resting his forehead on yours.

"You still got the way with your words" You whisper, running your hands through his head.

"Good to know that cause you're stuck with me" He whispers, kissing your forehead. You look at him in his eyes, bringing your hand to his cheek.

"Well, guess i'm stuck with you then" You say, swaying side to side.

"Yes, you absolutely are. You know I love you so so much bub" Lando says with a smile.

"And i do, love you so so much, bubba" You say, laying your head on his chest.

keep a look out for part 2 people ;))

hope you liked this one! requests are open as well

[rayslittlekitten]

Matchies

“Dad Will” Masterlist

A/N: It's been a looooong time since I've written something for @writer-wednesday and this week's photo prompt sparked something. Thanks to @carni-val for looking at this for me.

Word Count: 750

Pairing: Dad!Will "Ironhead" Miller & Teenage Daughter OC (Lucy)

Plot: Will and Lucy go to get matching tattoos.

Contains: banter, fluff, comfort (you know the usual deal)

Photo Prompt:

"You sure you wanna do this?" Lucy asks her father, staring at him intently.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Will shoots back at her as he fills out some forms at the front desk of the shop where rock music and mechanical buzzing spreads throughout the small space. "Sounds like you're having second thoughts. We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, but you’ve been talking about this for weeks."

"No. Yeah, of course I wanna do this, but, like, compared to your other tattoos, this is like a silly little cartoon-y moose. This is my first one so..." she shrugs.

"It's not silly at all," he shakes his head. "You drew this and it's a part of you. I knew one day I'd probably have one of your artworks permanently etched on me."

"I'm honestly surprised mom is okay with this," Lucy says while flipping through a binder full of tattoo designs.

"Why? Your mom has a tattoo too. In fact, we have a matching one as well. Besides, you're eighteen. You technically don't need permission from me or her to get one,” he points out.

"Really? Mom has a tattoo?" Lucy shifts her undivided attention back to Will. "How have I not known my whole life? I've never seen it before."

"Well, it's small and it's in an area that..." Will vaguely gestures his hand in the air, still holding the pen. "...you probably don't see as often as I do so--"

"Ew! Dad! Stop! You're making me regret this now," Lucy grimaces, turning back to the portfolio.

"Hey, you asked," Will chuckles. He gives the filled forms back to the bright-haired receptionist along with his and Lucy's driver's licenses.

"Thanks, I'll be right back."

Will nods at her.

"Your mom and I got them on a whim. Once, way before you were born, I surprised her with a trip to New York City for our anniversary because she's always wanted to go. The night before we were flying back, we were strolling downtown, I think St. Mark's Place. There was just something in the air and we were looking to do one last thing, something fun before heading home and we passed by so many tattoo shops so we said 'fuck it, let's do it'," Will shrugs. "And then a few months later, we found out she was pregnant with you."

Will smiles at her and Lucy returns it.

"I'm actually more surprised you went with it. You don't seem like an impulsive person, especially with something so permanent like a tattoo."

"There's a lot you don't know about me. I was definitely more fun and spontaneous before I had you."

"Wow, dad, sorry I killed your fun and spontaneous factor. What a way to remind yourself with a tattoo designed by me." Lucy's eyebrows shoot to her hairline as she continues to flip through the plastic-covered pages.

"No, no, that's not what I meant," he shakes his head with knit brows. "You didn't kill my fun and spontaneity. Actually, you became my new fun and spontaneity. One can never be one hundred percent ready to become a first time parent no matter how much you try to prepare and raising you has been quite the adventure. If anything, it's a reminder of how much I never want this to ever end."

"Dad, you're so cheesy." Lucy rolls her eyes, but a smirk plays on her face. "So what was the tattoo you and mom got?" she asks curiously.

"I'd show you, but it's also in a place I'd rather not--"

"Okay, dad! I get it!" Lucy quickly cuts him off and Will laughs again.

"If you must know, she has a tattoo that says 'I heart WM', my initials, like in the style of the 'I love New York' with the red heart and I have a matching one with her initials," he says after a moment.

"Okay, that's actually kinda cute," Lucy compliments.

"It's probably not very original but..." Will shrugs. "It's special to us. That’s all that matters."

"Okay, Sam is ready for the two of you. You can come on back," the receptionist gestures her hand to signal them and they follow her.

"How much is it going to hurt?" Lucy asks Will.

"It’ll feel like a little burn. You can hold my hand if you need to, okay Moosey?"

"Okay." Lucy smiles and nods.

She slips her hand into her father's and Will gently squeezes back.

[joaquinwhorres]

gazes (joaquín torres x reader)

SUMMARY ››››› It's become increasingly apparent to Sam and Bucky that you and Joaquin cannot take your eyes off each other. Unfortunately for them, you two have decided to be Professionals and that means keeping your eyes, hands, and lips to yourselves. No matter how difficult it is.

WORD COUNT ››››› 3,716

WARNINGS ››››› sexy times implied

A/N ››››› Ok so these headcanons y'all have been sending me are incredible. I read these two back to back and I just had to write something connecting them.

The kid had no tact.

Sam wasn't exactly sure why he expected more from the guy who'd led into his theory that Steve was on the moon by referencing vague internet rumors, but even despite that, he'd assumed Joaquin possessed some sense of subtlety.

Instead he was over at the leg press trying and failing not to stare at Y/N as she bent over at the middle to help Bucky push deeper into the stretch.

"You know she could hit you with a harassment claim for staring at her like that."

Joaquin jumped, the weights dropping suddenly with a loud clang. Across the gym, Bucky laughed as Y/N whipped around to face the two men. "Everything ok?" Her voice sounded genuinely concerned, and Sam couldn't help but smirk as Joaquin turned towards her, giving a little wave.

"Foot slipped," he answered, and she nodded, turning back to Bucky quickly.

"Foot slipped," Sam mocked.

"Dude, you scared the shit out of me."

"If you paid half the amount of attention you give to Y/N to your surroundings, you'd have known I'd been standing here for three minutes."

Joaquin gave a defensive scoff. "I wasn't staring at her--I was just--" he stopped, searching for an excuse, and Sam raised his eyebrows.

When it was clear Joaquin couldn't find a convincing enough lie to end the sentence, Sam shook his head. "You know, if you talk to her, she might actually let you take her out."

"I talk to her," Joaquin protested.

Sam shook his head, uncrossing his arms. "No, I mean talk to her. Chat her up. You've gotta have some game, right?"

"I've got game..." His sentence trailed off as he turned to look in her direction, finding her standing over Bucky's feet with her hands on her hips. "But like, we're co-workers, you know? I don't want to make things awkward around the gym or the compound or anything."

"Joaquin," Sam said, laying a hand on his shoulder. "You're already making things awkward."

"He's staring at your ass again."

"And you're trying to get out of stretching again," you quipped, moving Bucky's leg closer to his chest. The super soldier tilted his head as if to acknowledge the legitimacy of your accusation.

"Doesn't change the fact that I think you're about to give him a heart attack."

"I highly doubt he's worried in the slightest about my ass. He's probably zoned out."

"He's definitely focused in...on--"

"On my ass," you finished, shaking your head. You might have given Bucky's claim a little more credence if it weren't for the fact that Joaquin Torres had been anything but the consummate professional towards you. He was friendly and upbeat and welcoming, and one of the few genuinely good guys you'd ever had the pleasure of working with.

You'd never caught him staring once, and it's not like the boy was exactly known for subtlety. Last time Bucky had asked him to cover for him so you couldn't come down and teach him the right way to train his body, he'd told you that Bucky had left the compound to get you a thank you gift for all of your hard work. All while staring at the gym door.

The heavy sound of weights falling against each other echoed throughout the gym, and you spun around to face the sound. Sam hovered over Joaquin's shoulder, the latter no longer working the leg press but instead looking as if he'd just received the scare of his life.

Bucky broke into laughter, and you smacked at his leg.

"Everything ok?" you called out, and Joaquin smiled, giving a sheepish little wave at you. "Foot slipped."

"It's a good thing he wasn't at the bench press. You might have killed him."

Your head snapped back to Bucky who was giving you a shit eating grin.

"You're an asshole."

"I'm right."

"Do you think if I ask nicely Wakanda will take you back?"

"So you know I'm right."

You chanced a glance back at Joaquin who was still talking to Sam before turning back around and placing your hands on your hips. "I'm calling Ayo."

You were running early.

Not to any event in particular, but just for the general course of your day. It was rare for you to wake up to your first alarm so completely refreshed, and with a fully awake brain, you found it much easier to navigate the morning. You were able to get dressed without crawling back in bed for a few more minutes, and didn't have to battle with sleepy indecision when choosing what you wanted to eat for breakfast.

One thing after another just continued to roll your way, leading you to the gym much earlier than usual.

And that's where the luck stopped.

Or maybe it didn't stop. But it definitely took a turn. Because while you fully expected someone else to be in the gym already, you hadn't expected just one person to be in the gym. And even if you had, you wouldn't have guessed that that one person would be Joaquin. And if, for some reason, you'd had the foresight to sense that, you definitely never would have pictured him to be running on the treadmill shirtless.

You stopped in your tracks, eyes falling to the bouncing dog tags on his chest and then lower to the well defined abs you'd somehow never seen before.

It felt like you'd seen just about every man in this compound shirtless. At some point, they all seemed to strip in the gym or during one of your group training classes you ran for those who weren't field agents. Bucky was shirtless half the time you worked together. It was so normal, you hardly even blinked an eye anymore. Seeing Sam without a shirt was more rare and quite the sight, but it'd never caught your breath quite like seeing Joaquin. Joaquin, who had never so much as worn a tank top in the gym, Joaquin.

And now here he was, chest bare and heaving, feet pounding rhythmically against the treadmill, hair still messy from his pillow and sweat. Your brain couldn't seem to function correctly, offering you images of the sight before you, only closer. Much closer. Hovering inches over your stretched out body as the headboard behind you rammed into the wall with the force of each thrust--

"Hey," Joaquin greeted, noticing you standing off to the side. You blinked, heat rushing to your face as he turned the treadmill down to a more leisurely pace. "Something wrong with my form?"

It was tempting to lie and offer to "help him fix it." Or to be completely honest and tell him you'd never seen a human form as perfect as his.

But neither of those responses were professional or even appropriate, and you needed this job.

You swallowed, shaking your head. "No, I was just wondering why you were wearing those," you said, gesturing to his dog tags, and allowing your eyes to fall to his chest once more. You followed a bead of sweat as it rolled down his body, heading to the waistband of his shorts. Joaquin reached to touch his tags, causing them to jingle together once more and pull your attention up to him.

"It's hard to let them go," he smiled, ruefully, hitting the button so the belt slowed even more. "I'd say it's a habit, putting them on, but at this point they're just like a part of me."

You nodded, wishing you'd taken this conversation anywhere but to the idea of dog tags and what they stood for. It wasn't so much a mood killer but a guilt inducer because instead of you feeling embarrassed and somber, all you wanted to do was grab them and pull him closer to you.

He must have read the conflict on your face because he gave a crooked smile. "Yeah, sorry, it's kinda morbid."

"No," you shook your head, clearing it of the daydream induced fog. "I probably shouldn't have asked."

"No, nah, it's cool," his smile grew into grin, as the belt came to a stop. He leaned his forearms against the console, staring at you as if waiting for you to continue the conversation. Which you were not equipped to do with a smiling and shirtless and sweaty Joaquin Torres right before you.

"Well, thanks for being cool about it," you said with a nod.

My God, something was wrong with you. They were just abs. And sure, maybe the abs belonged to the man who not only found the time to moonlight as a superhero but star in your increasingly dirty dreams of late, but it was just a body party that you'd seen a million times.

But never on Joaquin.

You blamed everything your brain was doing to you on Bucky and all of his stupid comments about Joaquin's supposed fixation on your ass. You wondered what he would say if he could see you now. "And I thought I was half machine. I could practically see your brain short circuiting." or "If that's what you're like when you see him half-naked, how are you ever going to--"

"Yeah, of course," Joaquin said, still smiling, his eyes lifting up over your shoulder as the other door to the gym opened and Sam came in. "Hey," he greeted with a jerk of his chin.

"Hey," Sam said, drawing closer, his eyes on you. You forced a smile on to your own face, and lifted a hand, not trusting anything that was coming out of your mouth.

"You're here early," the other man said, stepping onto the treadmill next to Joaquin's, and putting his water bottle down next to the machine.

Both of them were looking at you now, and it's not like you could handle staying in this gym any longer. "I came down looking for my water bottle. I think I left it here yesterday."

Sam raised his eyebrows glancing around the gym, and Joaquin stepped down off of the machine. "Do you want help looking for it?" he asked, and your whole body seemed to tense up at the idea, your brain transporting you to a future scenario where the two of you wandered around the room, Joaquin next to you or behind you, so close you could feel the heat radiating off of him, all the while searching for a water bottle that was sitting on your dresser.

"No." Your voice came out too high, but you tried to play it off, shaking your head. "I've already interrupted your workout enough. It's either by the weights or not in here."

"Alright," he nodded. "If you need any help looking around the compound though, let me know."

"Thanks," you said. And then you gave another stupid wave and beelined it for the weight racks because you had to get out of here.

You made a show of looking next to each section of weights, even bending over to check underneath of them as if it could have been knocked under somewhere. After you felt an appropriate amount of time had passed to be convincing, you straightened up, empty handed. You turned back to Joaquin and Sam, both watching you rather than continuing their workouts as you might have hoped.

"Not here," you called back with a shrug and then left the gym and headed straight up to your shower.

He was nothing if not predictable.

The minute Y/N bent over to check behind the weight rack, his eyes were glued to her. Or perhaps more accurately, the bright teal spandex shorts she wore. As she pulled herself back up from searching for her water bottle and turned to them, Joaquin quickly looked to Sam as if the two had been talking the whole time and then "casually" returned to her.

"Not here!" she said, shrugging and then walking out of the gym, her footsteps quick and purposeful as she left through the door Sam had just entered by.

"So, what'd I interrupt?"

Joaquin looked up at Sam as if remembering he was there. "What?"

"You know, when the two of you were sitting by this machine making eyes at each other? Did you actually say anything to her or….?"

Joaquin shook his head. "No, she just came in and, uh, we chatted for a second, and then…" he trailed off, as if not fully remembering any of the past ten, twenty, however many minutes.

"You just chatted," Sam repeated, the disbelief on his face edging into his voice.

"Yeah," Joaquin nodded.

"Anywhere in this chat you finally ask her out?"

"Nah, it didn't feel right."

"It didn't--she was practically taking off the other half of your clothes with her eyes," Sam sputtered, gesturing to Joaquin's shorts.

The kid laughed and shook his head as if Sam didn't know what he was talking about. Joaquin moved to exit the gym as well. "I'll see you later, man," he said, leaving a very exasperated Sam behind.

Bucky Barnes was a motherfucking liar.

"Let's grab a drink on Friday," he said.

"Consider it me making it up to you for being such a pain in your ass," he said.

"I'll buy," he said.

Mothefucker.

This wasn't just you and your favorite co-worker getting a drink. This was a goddamn set up. Because one hour and three mojitos into the night, Sam and Joaquin walked in the front door.

"I fucking hate you," you said, glaring up at his stupid smug face.

"Well, what a surprise, he grinned, as you shook a finger up at him.

"I told you in confidence I'm a flirty drunk."

He snorted, giving you a look out the side of his eyes. "You told me you were a flirty drunk after you sent me several highly inappropriate drunk text messages about what you wanted to do to a certain Lieutenant, who," the self-satisfied smile was back on Bucky's face. "Is making his way over to us right now."

"When I get home, I swear to God, I'm buying you a ticket to Wakanda."

Bucky quirked an eyebrow. "You're not going to do it now?"

"I didn't bring my credit card because you said you were paying," you huffed.

Before Bucky could respond, Sam and Joaquin were next to the two of you, greeting Bucky with hand slaps and one armed hugs. Sam came around and wrapped an arm around you first before sliding into the seat next to Bucky, and Joaquin came forward, giving you a quick hug.

Which was a first.

More than the feeling of his back underneath your palm, or the way he seemed to emanate warmth, you were done in by how absolutely incredible he smelled. But before you could fully identify whether it was his shampoo, a cologne, or just him, he pulled away and took the only other available seat near the group--the one next to you.

"I see you started without us," Sam said, raising his eyebrows at the assortment of glasses that sat before you. Most of them were Bucky's as he downed beers faster than should have been humanly possible.

"Hard drinker, huh Y/N," Joaquin teased, shooting you a smile.

"Pfft," you dismissed. "Only three are mine."

"Three?" Sam asked, leaning forward to better look at you. "How long have you been here?"

"An hour," you said, completely unnecessarily leaning forward too.

Bucky shrugged. "I got the time wrong."

"Guess we better catch up then," Joaquin said, and you sank back into your chair, narrowing your eyes at him in challenge.

"If you can."

They did.

You were outpaced fairly quickly against the two soldiers and one super soldier. The rum-induced fuzziness around the edges of your brain was compounded by having Joaquin so close to you. At some point he'd pulled his chair a bit closer to yours so that he could better hear the conversation, and you don't remember when it happened, but his arm had also slid around the back of your chair. To your relief neither Bucky nor Sam seemed to acknowledge this. In fact, Bucky was positively quiet and normal all things considered. Everything was going better than you could have expected.

Until the music kicked up.

Sam was the first to be dragged onto the dance floor. He was Captain America. Of course he'd been targeted by the stunning girl in the red dress who'd only had to come up and ask "Does Captain America dance?" to succeed in pulling him off to the dance floor.

Bucky was next. Although he wasn't tugged onto the dance floor by his hand the way Sam was. It was the sight of the person in the tight black number that did him in, luring him away to the dance as if drawn by a magnet.

And then it was you and Joaquin, sitting at the bar. Alone. Together.

You looked up from your drink, pushing the straw down into the ice to stir up the clinking sounds, and he took a swig of his beer before putting the bottle back down on the bar.

"Alright, let's dance," he said, nodding with his head towards the crowd, and you let out a disbelieving snort.

"I don't know how to dance. I mean, I can dance," you attempted to clarify, although you had a feeling words were failing you at the moment. "But that's real dancing, and I can't do that."

"I guess you're lucky you have a really good teacher asking you to dance then," Joaquin grinned, holding out a hand. You looked down at his open palm, hesitating only for a second before you slid your hand into his and jumped down from your chair.

He led you out through the moving bodies expertly, dodging couples who were clearly more into the dancing than each other and couples where the complete opposite was true. The small bit of space he found you was closer to the center of the dance floor than you'd usually feel comfortable with, but when he turned towards you with that look on his face, any of your residual anxiety had vanished.

"Ok, come close," he said, and you took a small step closer to him, causing him to laugh. "Closer." He gestured, and you moved forward some more, Joaquin's hands finding their way to your hips and pulling you even closer. His hands rose, one finding its way to your mid-back, pushing your elbow up to rest on his, as the other took your hand and placed it over shoulder.

"This ok?" he asked, eyebrows raised, and you nodded, trying to keep your attention on him, his instructions and his words, and not the way that you could feel just about every part of him from the way he was angled against you. His right side was flush against your left, and his knee pushed between yours.

"Just follow me," he said, his head bent close to yours. Before you could even respond, he started to move, pulling you along with him through the dance. It was smooth and rolling and you'd never seen a guy able to roll his hips like Joaquin. He seemed to know exactly how to guide you, moving his body to push and pull yours along whenever you hesitated or felt lost, coaxing waves and movements out of you that you didn't know you could do. Each success was met with a small word of praise and a brilliant smile, as his hands shifted to hold you closer, and you wrapped your own hand around his neck to better feel and predict his movements.

It felt as if a fog had rolled in over the dancefloor, obstructing all else from view so it was just you and Joaquin, eyes locked to each other as you moved together, occupying the same space.

The song faded into the next one, and Joaquin stopped. You went to move backwards, to give him space and have him move on as many other of the more skilled dancing couples seemed to do, switching partners amongst each other. But he kept you close to him, hand sliding down to your waist.

"Now you can really dance," he teased, his eyes shining as they stared into yours.

"Only with you." It was supposed to be a self-deprecating joke, but it came out too quiet and earnest. Joaquin licked his lips, and your eyes followed the gesture, flickering between his mouth and his eyes.

You don't remember making the decision. You only remember, moving even further into his arms, and pushing yourself up to reach his lips with your own. He bent down to meet you, pulling you even closer and pressing his hard body into yours. His lips moved as slowly and sensually as his hips had, drawing you in and guiding you through a careful rhythm that promised much, much more.

Sam sat with Bucky at the bar. Joaquin and Y/N had disappeared somewhere amongst the dance floor, hidden amongst the crowd.

"You think it worked?" Bucky asked, raising an eyebrow at Sam.

"If it didn't we're screwed," Sam shook his head, taking a swig from his drink.

As if on cue, the two emerged from the swaying bodies, hand in hand, sweaty and much happier than they had been when Sam had left them at the bar.

"We're gonna head back to the compound," Joaquin said with practiced casualness.

"Yeah?" Bucky asked, and Sam swore there was mischief literally glinting in his eyes.

"Yeah," Joaquin nodded too fast and too many times. "Yeah, Y/N forgot about something there…"

"What'd you forget?" Bucky asked, turning to Y/N with a wolfish smile.

"Nothing. We're going to have sex," Y/N said, flatly, causing Sam to nearly spit out his drink. "And if you say one more word, I know a pilot who will fly you to Wakanda himself. No ticket needed."

Bucky mimicked zippering his lips into a smug look, and she rolled her eyes before tugging Joaquin out of the bar by his hand. And he followed. Eyes glued to her ass.

[dreamifics]

Steve Harrington x Reader

Casuality

Just some fluff, angst and smut

Warning: mentions of alcohol, mentions of sexual activity, a little cursing

How did me and Y/N ended making out in my pool? Bad decisions and booze, that's the answer. I wanted it to stop, but it was good.. Too damn good. I can taste in her mouth the bitterness of the alcohol we drank a while ago. The mix of beer and vodka was still lingering in her mouth.

My hands run in her legs, as her hands tug my hair. There were fire igniting inside us, it was burning with lust and adrenaline. A low moan escapes her mouth, this added fuel to the fire inside us. We both knew that we'd regret this in the morning, but we didn't stop.

Y/N Henderson..

I'm close to her brother, but not to her. We fought monster beside each other, she was close to Robin, Nancy and Jonathan. But not to me, that's why I'm surprised when she arrived in my doorsteps, alcohol in her hands.

"Hey, Steviee!Wanna run around town and get smashed?"

She caught me off guard but I agreed, I was always intrigued by her. I never noticed her in high school but she seems to know everything about me.

"Oh, come on!Steve!I'm not stupid!I know you use that shitty shampoo and conditioner!"

"It's not shitty!It's the real deal!"

"Whatever, let's go back to your house and take a dip in your fancy pool!"

My mind snapped back as we moved to my bed, Y/N's heavy breaths and low moans was all I could hear from her. We drop in my bed, we knew were going to spend all night here. The sheets wrapped around our naked bodies, legs entangled with each others. Moans filling the room, sweats dripping from our hot naked body. We were drunk and stupid. Sobriety and rational thinking was out the window. This night was filled with bad decisions and bad decisions only.

Days have passed since that night, we decided to continue the relationship but we're keeping it casual. We're now sitting in my car, music blasting on the stereo on a low volume. She was looking blankly on the window as I drive her to campus.

"What are you thinking about?" I questioned, snapping her out of her trance. She smiled at me as she relaxed into the passenger seat.

"Whatever your thinking about.."

"Dustin moaning really weird last night?" I joked causing her to glare at me.

"No, but now that's what I'm thinking.." I chuckled at her response as I paid attention to the road.

"Hey, do you want to have a sleep over tonight?"

"Sleepover?What are you ten?Do you also want to braid each other's hair and have a pillow fight?" Her witty remarks always get me laughing, that's one thing I like about you Y/N..

"Come on, we're not gonna be sleeping anyway.." I pleaded.

"Ooh, Stevie gonnna give me the lovey dovey!" She said in a baby voice. Gotta admit, that was weird as hell.

"Oh dear god.." I mumbled under my breath.

"What's that Harrington?" Her glares could literally kill someone, I just gave her an innocent smile, she just rolled her eyes.

"Nothing.."

"I'll see you tonight, then.."

A comfortable silence filled the ambiance of the car, if I know Y/N and I think I do, she'll try to rummage her brain for something to talk to--.

"What was Dustin moaning about?" There it is..

"Oh dear god.." I just shake my head in amusement.

The first time I had ever seen you cry was the day we got home from campus, snots and tears were everywhere. I never saw you cry, even when we almost died twice while trying to save the world. Not a one single tear, but now your here infront of me. Tears in your eyes, as you sobbed into my chest. I don't know what to do, should I comfort you?

"What happend?" I finally asked the lingering thought in my head.

"I saw Dad with his brand new family.."

Y/N's father..

I never really met him but to what I gather from Y/N and Dustin is that he's a coward. He left his family to be with another woman.. Putting the three of you to emotional trauma and abuse.

"I'm sorry.." That's all I could say..

"After all what he did to Mom and Dustin, he have the audacity to be happy while Mom cover up the pain with cats.."

"I hate my dad, I swear if he ever comes back, I'll feed him to the demogorgons.. Why does this always happen to me? Can everything be just fine again?"

I hate seeing her like this.. What should I say? I can't really relate to her, my parents still stood by me.

"I'd do whatever I could do, if you want to get wasted, I'll do it with you, If you want to burn your dad's house, I'll be down with that. Just don't cry, I can't stand seeing you like this."

A small laugh erupted from her, moving beside me, she lay her head into my shoulders.

"Thanks for the reassurance Harrington.."

"That's what I'm here for.."

"Come on Steve, let's make out in your pool.." Y/N stands up, and gave me her hand, I gladly accepted it.

"Why do you have to ruin the mood?"

"How's that ruining the mood?If anything, I'm building the mood." She said in a sultry and teasing voice. I rolled my eyes, does she think I'll get turned on by that. She was crying just a moment ago, she was releasing snots.

"I think you have daddy issues, love.." It was her turn to roll her eyes.

"We all have daddy issues.." I grab her cheeks and peck her lips.

"We both have daddy issues, then." She just gave me the most precious smile that ever existed.. Oh, God. How I love you.

The first fight we had was also our last, it was your birthday. We were hanging out in your room, laying in her bed as the television played Star Wars. The pale moon was dancing all throughout the room, I knew there was something bothering me, we've been doing this for months, keeping everything casual. I'm growing tired of the constant thought that someone will take her away from me.. Don't get me wrong, I love Y/N, I'm not sure how she feel about me though. Y/N's like a close book, hard to read. So many things that I wish I knew, but there's so many walls that I can't break through. ( Where the swifties at? )

"Are you okay?" Y/N soft voice pulled me out of my head.

Am I really okay?No, why? I want us to be in a committed relationship, where someone can't take you away from me. That's how much I love you..

"Nothing, just thinking about us.." A small smile tugged in her lips as she scoot closer.

"What about us?" She asked, her brows wiggling.

"Being casual and all.." The smile she had falter, she moved away from me, running her hands through her hair.

"You know I'm not ready yet.."

"You always say that."

"Steve!I can't have this exact same conversation with you over and over again!" And here we are, fighting.. The anger inside me flicked open, I know it won't do good but I still went ahead and got mad.

"Why can't you say it once?!" Our shouts echoed through the whole house, her Mom is probably worried about her.

"What can't I say?!" She asked confused and angry at the samw time.

"That you love me!" The whole room suddenly got quiet, the look in Y/N's face was hard to read. Are you shocked? Scared? Angry? What? Do you love me like I love you? Please, say the words that I want--no, what I need to hear.

"Steve, we both know that we agreed to keep things casual.." She finally spoke, but not the words that came out was not what I needed.

"Casual?We've been together for almost a year now, how much more casual do you want it to get?"

"I--Steve, I can't do this now.." She backs away from me, opening her door wide open for me to leave.

"Why?" That's all that exited my mouth..

"Because I need space!" She snaps, a involuntary scoff left my lips.

"Space from what?!We barely have a relationship!"

"Just get away!I can't believe your pressuring me!" She shouts, but I stayed to say the words I'll regret..

"Let's just end whatever the fuck this is!"

"Fine!" She screamed as she walks up to me and pushed me out of her room.. Reaching the end of her door, she pushed me. I stumbled but managed to bounce back, before I can even say another word she slammed the door. And there's that..

"Steve?" Dustin came out of his room, a worried expression painted in his face.

"Are you and Y/N okay?"

"Yeah, it's just a--" I stopped at the middle of the sentence, my mouth refused to let the words escape.

"A what?" He questioned.

A break up..

"Nothing, it's nothing.." I lied..

I didn't know why I couldn't say the words. I clearly never wanted this to happen, I didn't know what happend. And I can't take it back, what's done is done..

Life with Y/N was hard, but life without her is much harder. Was I in the wrong? I shouldn't have pressure her, all I wanted is to go up at her house. But Dustin told me, she was really busy with a lot of schoolworks. Where did it get so complicated?

I was walking home when I saw Y/N, just standing in my porch front step. She seems fidgety and nervous, those sweet eyes seem to notice me. Y/N was wearing one of my Van Halen shirts, with a short and just some sneakers. You always looked beautiful in my shirts..

"Steve.." I love how she says my name, but I love it more if she screams my name. Flashes of her naked body grinding on me suddenly appeared on my head. This was not the time but I couldn't help it. I miss her..

"Hey.." I greet..

"I just wanted to--"

"I should be the one apologizing, I shouldn't pressure you like that.." I cut her off, I'm right. There's no need to apologize, I was in the wrong. I pressured her when I agreed to keep it casual.

"Still, I'm sorry too.." Y/N was always nice, never letting her pride get in the way of her life.. An eerie silence once filled our conversation, I never wanted this but maybe..

"Maybe it's best if I give you the space you nee--"

"I love you.." She cuts me off..

"Huh?" My mind went blank, my eyes blink rapidly as I try to sink in the three words you just dropped.

"I don't need space, I love you Steve Harrington.." She confessed cheekily, a small smile appeared on our face.

"I love you too.." She just smiles at me, but she was waiting for something. What is it? A ring, maybe? But this is not a proposal..

"What are you waiting for?Kiss me."

Ohh, right.. The way I moved was slow, I think she grew impatient because you pulled me and our lips collided into one. The way your lips was covered in the strawberry chapstick I gave you, this was my favorite thing in the world. I slid my tongue, it danced with yours. I pushed you in my door, opening it in the process.

When it burst open, we celebrated by going into my bed. Pushing Y/N into the bed was pretty arousing. We didn't need words or foreplay, we're pretty straightforward. Our lips once connected again, heavy breaths and low moans was all I could hear.

We slowly undressed each other, our lips was still intact, rushing into things was never really your motto. I felt your skin made contact with mine, I felt the heat from your body. My hands were making their way to her tender breasts, I slowly massaged it until the nipples turned like tiny stones. A loud moan came out from her mouth, I couldn't resist and licked them, biting them playfully. Another moan came out from her sweet lips, I stopped as I took out my hard and mounting manhood, I rest it unto her thighs. Y/N sits up, looking at me with questions in those eyes.

"What happend?You got tired?" Y/N whisper in her sultry voice.

"Taunting me?Really?"

Before she can even respond I got on top of bed and smirked, your naked body was softly laying in my bed. This made me harder, you're so perfect in every way. My hands are already in your legs, spreading it wide and open. I can see you closing your eyes at my touch, I drove my two fingers inside her. She moans with the contact it made, eyes rolled in the back of her head. I ravish her breast with my mouth as my fingers interact inside her.

"Fuck, Steve!"

I was hitting the right places, she was twisting left and right, her hands were gripping my sheets, I pulled my fingers out and replaced it with my organ. A loud piercing moan escapes her lips as I pump into her, every thrust was in sync with her breathing. I slowly grunt as I pump harder and deeper into her, I yank her legs back, as my other hand gripped her ass. I dug myself further into her, setting off another shattering moan.

"Steve, faster."

I increasing the speed, she wrapped her arms around my back, her nails digging into my skin. Pain and Pleasure was a great mixture for me. I hit every possible spot inside her, the nails dug deeper as I thrust harder and much more deeper. The speed increased once again, as I feel both of our climax building up inside, it can explode any second now. Every thrust I make, every moan she screams, and every sweat that drips was a cherry on top.

"Fuck, I'm coming!"

With that we both exploded into each other, I felt a warm liquid flows between her legs and mine. A small smile appeared on her lips as we were both out of breath, her hair was all disheveled.

"Well, that was fun.." She whisper, her voice hoarsed from all the moaning she did.

"I can see.." I joked causing her cheeks to blush..

"Shut up!"

I pulled out, she shivered at that action. I laid next to her, she looks at me with love and compassion. She pecked a kiss in my lips, cuddling besides me as the moon peaked through my windows. Y/N deserves every love and adoration in the world, I'm going to marry you someday..

This is my first smut ever, I hope it was..nice? If there's anything wrong I did in the smut, you can tell me, I'll do anything to improve it! I also accept request, any characters! Marvels, DC, B99, FRIENDS, Criminal Minds, TBBT, Community, basically anything! I accept anything! You can leave a comment or give me an ask!

Taglist

@sydneekomspacekru

[that-sarcastic-writer]

Coach (1)

Fandom: Dylan O'Brien

Pairing: AU Dylan x Fem!Reader

Mini series summary: Being a newly single mom of two kids wasn't exactly easy. And love wasn't exactly part of your agenda. So, should you avoid lusting over your son's baseball coach? Absolutely. But with a man like Dylan, could you really resist? Probably not.

Warnings: nothing major yet, small sexual innuendo, mentions of cheating and divorce

WC: 1.9k

A/N: a yes, to those who have been following me for a while may recognize this title, it's my old Dylan AU fic. Yes I decided to continue it. Updates will come periodically, because I write spontaneously and I cant guarantee quick updates. But I do promise I wont wait a whole year to update. And since I did some slight updates in the first 2 parts I decided to archive the old ones and repost them again. So yeah, if you've read them before great, give it another read, my writing is much better now I promise and if you're new welcome, I hope you like this mini series.

(You are here, part 2, part 3)

Dylan stood by the side of the large field, near the home plate, occasionally yelling out suggestions and pointing out mistakes to the young boys. 

"Ezra! You have to watch the ball! C'mon! I know you can do better!" He called out to the blonde boy standing on the home plate with a bat in hand. Dylan then turned his attention to the dark haired boy with the baseball mitt and ball in hand.

"Roman! What's going on, buddy? You gotta focus, alright? You gotta work on that throw!" Dylan called out to the young boy, who half nodded and sighed heavily in response.

Not long after, Dylan signaled the young boys scattered throughout the large field to gather around. He spoke some encouraging words to the boys before allowing them to disperse and gather their equipment which meant practice was over.

Your son, however, stayed behind for a minute. There was an inaudible conversation happening between Dylan and your ten year-old, Roman. You watched from the bleachers as your son made some tired gestures at his coach followed by a small pat on the back from Dylan. You couldn't help but follow them with your eyes as they made their way to the bleachers, your eyes lingering a bit too long on the brown haired coach. An action that wasn't taken lightly by the female sitting beside you.

"You're staring at him again." Your best friend, Ezra's mother, Eliza -or just Liz, commented.

"I'm not." You muttered out quickly, tearing your eyes away from the handsome coach, your mouth hanging open for a couple of seconds. "I wasn't staring." You stated matter of factly and shrugged as you looked down at the small six year-old sitting on your lap, making sure she wasn't paying attention to the conversation.

"Really? The drool coming from your mouth says otherwise." Liz playfully ran her finger across your chin, pretending to wipe away at it. You slightly glared at her, an eye roll going her way.

"I'm not drooling. I wasn't even staring." You tried to defend yourself, making a small sassy gesture to her.

"Hey, I don't blame you. If I wasn't married," she took a pause as she eyed Dylan as he removed his baseball hat to run a hand through his messy chocolate locks, you couldn't help but stare as well. "I'd jump on his bones any day."

"Hey, there's young ears present." You said quietly to Liz as not to disturb the young girl in your arms.

Despite your attempt not to, you couldn't help but allow your eyes to fall once again on the field, following the handsome male that was the topic of your conversation. You had to hide the infatuated sigh that left your lips at the sight of your son's coach running around the field, talking to the kids and picking up equipment.

"Well he is handsome, I'll give him that.." You admitted quietly, "and he's really good with the kids."

Your friend smirked slightly at your words and wiggled her eyebrows at you.

"I bet that's not the only thing he's really good at." She eyed you suggestively and slightly nudged at you with her shoulder, "You should find out what other things he's good at."

Your mouth instantly fell open and your eyes widened at the insinuation.

"Eliza! Oh, my god. Don't say that." You slightly shook your head to brush off the embarrassment and hid your face on your hands to cover the crimson on your skin.

"Mommy you're warm!" Athena, your six year-old giggled as she grabbed your warm, sweaty hands. Even your daughter noticed the nervousness that crept up on you when it came to Dylan, even if it was just the topic of him. Truth was, you had been shamelessly crushing on your son's baseball coach ever since he joined the team a couple of months ago. 

Get it together, you should not be crushing on your son's baseball coach.

"I know baby, it's just hot out here." You tried to brush it off, but the knowing smirk on Liz's face wasn't exactly helping. "Thena, why don't you go get Roman and Ezra? They're over there." You pointed to the field where Roman and Ezra were talking —or more like just Ezra was, to the other kids on the team. She quickly nodded and bolted off the bleachers, somehow not tripping over the steps as she went down. You sighed heavily the moment the young girl was far enough and slightly turned your head in Liz's direction.

"You should totally ask him out." She said out of nowhere with a shrug and a smirk on her face. Your eyes widened for the hundredth time, and you instantly shook your head frantically, the idea alone giving you a headache.

"Ask Dylan out? No way. I.. No.. That's just.. No." Your cheeks slightly heat up at the preposition. But you quickly turned it down with a vigorous shake of your head, not even giving the idea a minute to sink into your brain. "No, he's Roman's coach. It's just wrong."

"Why? I mean, you're single, and as far as I know, he's very single. Soo," she dragged the 'o' as she wiggled her eyebrows and she nudged your shoulder, pushing you over a little in a high school girl manner, "Why not get ready to mingle with the hot coach?"

"First of all, I'm technically not single, not yet." You groaned with an eyeroll. As much as you and your husband —or ex-husband or whatever were no longer living together, the divorce process had been unnecessarily long and dreadful. So as much as you wanted to be legally single, you were still married to that piece of shit. 

"And second of all, if I were to date someone, which is a big if, I can't date Roman's coach out of all people. He already has enough as it is. It'll just confuse him and probably upset him more." You sighed heavily as you looked over to the side of the field, where all the boys were having a conversation about elementary boys' things. And there you saw your son, trying, and ultimately failing at joining said conversations. And with little Athena tugging at his side, all he got from the other kids was laughing and rejection.

Seeing your son's sad and hurt expression when the other boys laughed at him or even told him to go away broke your heart. You wanted him to be happy again. You wanted him to be the energetic and loving kid he was before your waste of a husband left. Ever since Ryan —your waste of a husband left, Roman hasn't been the same. 

For the past six or so months, he has been distant and seemingly unhappy. All he ever did was lock himself up in his room and play video games. He barely ever interacted with you and Athena anymore. He barely interacted with anyone, period. Once Ryan left, it was up to you to support your kids financially. Of course, their father still paid child support, but he sure as hell didn't pay your bills or everything you needed to spend on your children. Which meant you had to take him out of the fancy school he went to in order to still pay the monthly expenses of your home. And he just didn't quite fit in at school, especially now. 

So, you hoped that him joining the baseball team would change that, that it would help him open up again and that it would help him make new friends. But so far, it's worked just the opposite.

"So, I'm making dinner tonight. Do you want to come over with the kids and get drunk? Luke will watch over the kids." Liz spoke, interrupting your train of thought.

"That sounds a-mazing," you spoke in a song-like tune, a sigh of contentment leaving your lips. "But I can't. I told Roman I'd take him to that Italian place he likes."

"Tomorrow then. I'll have that Chardonnay you love so much waiting for you." She winked at you as you both stood up, ready to greet your children.

"Thank God for your alcohol stash." You joked, flinging your arms up in praise. 

You both laughed and smiled in your children's direction, but your smile dropped as your kids and Ezra approached you. Ezra was holding Athena's hand, while Roman walked behind them, with a certain heaviness on his step and an annoyed look on his face. And Athena had a small pout on her face.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Rome doesn't want to hold my hand!" Athena whined with a pout of her lower lip. She released Ezra's hand and exchanged it for your own. Ezra going to his own mom. While Roman simply stood there, with a hand stuffed into his pockets and the other messing with the strap of his bag, his gaze stuck on the ground.

"Roman, baby," you sighed softly, not wanting to give the poor kid a hard time. You understood he didn't exactly fit in, no matter how much he wanted to, and that upset him. You didn't want to add up to that. "Your sister just wanted you to hold her hand."

"She was embarrassing me.. I'm already the kid without a dad, I don't need to be the kid with an annoying  baby sister." He muttered, his gaze not once leaving the ground.

 His words were harsh, but lacked emotion. And it broke your heart. But as much as you wanted to tell him that it wasn't true, that he did have a dad, you'd be lying if you did. Ryan was already absent in your children's lives before the split, but at the same time he was there, and Roman felt as if he was. But now, his father really wasn't there, at all. And there was nothing you could do about it.

You sighed softly, gesturing your free hand out for him, "Roman, come here," a heavy sigh left the young boy's lips as he took a few steps closer, standing in front of you with his head hanging low and his eyes stuck to the ground. You used your hand to hold the side of his face, his eyes meeting with your own. "Baby, Thena just wanted to show you that she loves you. She didn't mean to embarrass you, right Thena?" You turned your attention to the small girl that hid behind your arm, her eyes glistening with tears.

The small girl sniffled and shook her head, "No.. I'm sorry Rome.. I won't do it ever again, I-I promise."

You exchanged looks between your children, your eyes finally landing on Roman as you waited for a response. You raised an eyebrow at him, your eyes speaking a silent 'and' to the boy. He eventually signed, almost too heavily, and nodded. 

"It's okay, I guess.. I don't really mind all that much." He half smiled, shrugging slightly.

Athena's expression quickly lightened, the small girl detached herself from your hand and hugged her older brother. And as much as he hated to admit it, he didn't mind the affection. He returned the hug and smiled, for a moment at least.

After a second or two, Roman slightly pushed Athena off him, signaling that that had been enough affection for a day. You breathed out softly, turning to look at Liz, who gave you a sympathetic smile in response. 

"Well my loves, off we go. Say goodbye to Auntie Liz and Ezra." Both your children did as you said. Athena hugging both of them, and Roman simply waving at them. Good enough.

And at last, you gave Liz a quick but tight hug, "I'll call you tomorrow." You said shortly before you grabbed a hold of your daughter's hand and your son's bag, and eventually parted ways.

Today was gonna be a long day.

《Here's an edited version of part 1. As always I hope y'all enjoyed it. I'm trying to get back into writing after a long year, hopefully this will help me get back on track. Let me know your thoughts. And let me know if you'd like to be added to my dylan/coach taglist which I do have》

[majorbaby]

If you want, I'd love to hear more about why you don't vibe with Mulcahy in canon, I'm very intrigued!

feel a little nervous posting this but here it is:

It’s largely a personal thing. I was born into a very religious, Catholic family that is only 5th-6th-ish generation catholic after being converted by european colonizers, so a character like Mulcahy (volunteer catholic priest in Asia) sets off kill bill sirens in my head. 

Mulcahy himself might be an okay guy, but it’s not about the person, it’s about the vocation and the institution he represents. You know how there’s no such thing as a “good cop”?? Yeah. 

So his affable, soft-spoken image does nothing for me. When I am moved to feel some kind of way about him, I’m usually not moved in a good way. 

I think Mulcahy is awarded quite a few passes that other characters who subscribe to oppressive ideologies (Charles’ Republicanism, Margaret’s pro-military and right-leaning politics and Potter’s regular army shtick) do not get. Margaret can be grating but she also has to contend with how her own beliefs stifle and oppress her as a woman, and a lot of her more rigid views soften throughout the war. 

Charles get a decent amount of flak from Hawkeye and BJ, being in opposition to them is essential to his character. Potter is inconsistent, sometimes he openly laments the war and points out the senseless suffering, but also the guy’s a career military man. So what is the truth lol. 

Back to Mulcahy. I don’t think his role as a volunteer priest is ever meaningfully challenged by the show, which is of note because many other socially conservative views are taken to task. He’s not a missionary but he’s shown to be handing out bibles to locals, asking them if they might be Catholic… that kind of stuff makes me raise my eyebrows. That example takes place, hilariously, in an episode called The Chosen People, (!!!!) where Hawkeye and Trapper are opposed to forcing a Korean family to relocate. At the end of the episode they are shown to be (happily?) escorted off their land and the good father hands them some bibles for some ‘light reading on the road’ – uh, what the fuck. Hawkeye says ‘they have offices everywhere’ , which I wish didn't land as a quip. It's on-the-nose, and sobering for me to hear. The Catholic church got to be as prolific as it is by decimating entire cultures and traditions.

Christian missionary work is just another flavour of Western imperialism, which the show (at least in its early years) is supposed to be taking a stand against. Hawkeye and Trapper have a few lines that allude to a personal flippancy towards religion mostly in the early years, but that’s pretty much it.

There’s a few other things that make me roll my eyes. In War of Nerves where he compares Sidney, Hawkeye or BJ’s losing a patient’s life to his own ‘losing a soul’ – nope! Not the same!  His clear opposition to his sister leaving the order – blegh. His telling Hawkeye ‘you had to be there’ after Mulcahy’s War after Hawkeye’s been to the front in Aid Station and presumably other times, chill OUT guy.

His whole drama at the end with not being able to rise through the military ranks is boring and annoying to me as someone who really latched on to the anti-military aspect of MASH. I simply do not care. 

He's the main lens we have through which we’re meant to see the show deal with religion, and I’m a bit annoyed that he comes off as a literal saint. That is not my preferable depiction of a catholic priest and the fact that he’s never taken to task is a crime for a show that is anti-establishment. I vaguely remember his superior clergymen being portrayed as corrupt and greedy on the rare occasion we hear or see them, but I don’t remember exactly (probably because I’m barely paying attention if there’s a Mulcahy subplot). 

I’ll end by saying I have nothing against Mulcahy-enjoyers. These are just my feelings, which are informed by my life as an asian, ex-catholic. This isn’t an indictment of people who love the character. There’s certainly good things to be taken from him, I just don’t care to. I think it’s great that people corrupt him in fanfiction, but I tend not to seek it out because I’m not intrigued by how he is in the source. 

Thanks for the question! 

[liyuesbian]

✧ 101 dalmatians!au [ayaka]

notes: ........this is actually an updated (not rly) version of my 101 dalmatians!au with seulgi on my kpop gg writing blog..... sorryyyy i'm not being lazy i promise!! i've just got back from holiday and am working on a ningguang x reader but it might take a while (i rly wanna perfect it) so this is a placeholder for now :p

you would occasionally spot kamisato ayaka in the park walking her dalmatian. she's well-known around the local area because of her older brother: the mayor of the city. in fact, you also have a dog of the same breed, which is what drew you to her in the first place—minus her eye-catchingly extravagant outfits and cute facial features.

your own dalmatian is wonderful. when you were ten years old, your christmas wish was to get a puppy. much to your younger self’s disappointment, santa claus had gifted you with a rather large—and older—"puppy" than you had imagined in your head. nevertheless, you treated the newly named pongo with as much love as you could give him.

fast forward about ten years later and here is the same pongo eagerly trying to gain your attention as you sit in front of your piano. you’re thinking of how best to go about composing the last few bars of a song you’re working on.

unbeknownst to you, the dalmatian had sneakily altered the time of the clock and is now motioning to the door, howling. you double-check the time on your wristwatch but despite the inconsistency, you decide to go for the daily walk and attach a leash to his collar. it seems like you have no other choice: pongo has your hat between his teeth and is scratching at the door handle. you laugh as you give in to your dog’s contagious enthusiasm, taking your fedora from his mouth.

with the leash in one hand and a ball in the other, you are manhandled—or should i say doghandled—as pongo drags you all the way to the park. he appears to be looking for something, but you dismiss it. you attempt to undo the clasp of the leash, failing when pongo suddenly dashes off.

“slow down, pongo!” you yelp. this kind of high-energy behaviour isn’t new to you but it certainly catches you off-guard. in the end, you let your dog indulge himself in his antics and you’re led to the edge of the lake where you take a seat and gasp for breath. goodness, you don’t think you’ve ever done so much running in your life.

exhausted, you fan yourself with your fedora and loosen the top button on your dress shirt. the grass underneath you feels nice to rest on compared to the wooden chair you’d been sitting on for the whole morning.

it takes you a second to notice your companion gazing at a certain animal behind you. turning around, you recognise the dalmatian who’s seized pongo’s eyes from her pink collar and apprehensively look up to the owner. she’s perched on a bench next to the dog with her signature fan and a book in her hands. in shock, you jerk your head forward and blink a few times.

should we move somewhere else?

as if sensing your uneasiness, pongo barks and jumps to grab your hat. you sigh but grin at his mischievous face.

“come on, pongo. give it back.” taking her eyes off the pages of her book, ayaka glances at you and your dog, the ends of her mouth curving up ever so slightly to form a smile which stays hidden behind the upright fan. you throw the ball lightly in an attempt to get him to drop your hat.

it doesn't quite work and instead, rolls in the direction of the occupied bench. perdita, ayaka's dalmatian, glimpses at it, trying to withhold the urge to play with the bouncy toy. ayaka chuckles which causes you to cease your glaring at pongo to face her. the ringing of her laugh is pleasant and something you haven’t noticed before.

if only i could hear it every day. gently, you hit your cheeks to awaken yourself from your thoughts.

pongo is now frolicking in circles with the captured hat, vying for the attention of ayaka's dog. while you’re battling a two-way argument in your head and one with your dalmatian, you feel a soft nudge on your thigh. perdita has given you the ball back, and you could hear pongo whimpering sadly. impressed, you pet perdita who reacts with a delightful pant. the female dalmatian glances at pongo and apathetically walks back to her owner, who attaches a leash. they start to walk away.

pongo yaps in surprise. quickly, he abandons your hat and is about to take off when you tell him to stay, which he does obediently. you could tell your dog is planning to go after perdita, but you don’t want him running around aimlessly so you fasten his leash.

as soon as you do though, you’re being hauled once again towards kamisato ayaka. the hyperactive dalmatian follows the blue-haired woman and playfully circles her, earning a giggle from the subject of interest. unfortunately for the both of you, your legs have gotten tied to hers.

“oh my, i'm very sorry about this!” you blush. of course, you’ve never been in such close quarters with her before making it all the more embarrassing but you don’t entirely regret this moment either… until you realise that with the both of you frantically trying to get out of the awkward position and your dog pulling at the leash, the result would be all three of you tethering on the edge of the lake and perdita helplessly grabbing onto her owner to prevent the fall.

“oh no.” a splash is heard throughout the park.

clothes damp, you sit in the shallow water in cold shock, finding yourself no longer tangled around the dog leash. next to you, ayaka stands up to try searching for her hat and fan which pongo finds and gives to you with an almost apologetic expression.

“it seems i've lost my belongings,” she says worriedly.

“don’t worry, i have the things you're looking for right here.” you hand her her possessions and fix her hair but to no avail.

“ah, thank you.” you brush her wet bangs to the side so she could see.

“i'm truly very sorry! i don’t know how we ended up in the lake of all things.” you apologise profusely to the bewildered lady and attempt to make things better by removing the plants from her clothes. meanwhile, pongo has shaken himself dry and is relaxing next to perdita.

gosh, what kind of situation have i gotten myself into?

“no, it’s alright, i'll just dry myself off for now.” you see ayaka fetching a… soaked handkerchief from her purse.

“hold on, i usually carry one in my pocket.” however, yours too, is also drenched. “oh—"

ayaka begins to giggle. dumbfounded, you laugh with her. both of your dogs glance at each other and back at the pair of you, cocking their heads. you thought the pleasant sound and amicable smile were the only things about her laughter that could make your heart swell but now, with ayaka right in front of you, you notice things you would’ve never been able to before. you witness how her eyes crinkle and close shut and how her cheeks balloon revealing an even more charming side to her. you wonder what it would be like if you could make her this happy all the time.

after helping ayaka out of the pond, you feel it wouldn’t be right to leave her to go home all doused in water.

“would it be possible to invite you to our house? we live close by so it would be no trouble at all if you want to dry off there. it would probably be very uncomfortable to journey home in this state and i can't bear to watch you attempt to.” shyly, you meet her eyes after your impromptu offer to see ayaka grinning.

“i think i'd like to accept that offer. i suppose it is your fault too!” she quips and jokingly nudges your shoulder.

you smile back and turn to face your dalmatian who you will whisper many thank yous to later in life.

[sunpopp]

Warm to The Touch | {CCH}

→ Summary; it's not often that Chanhee gets sick, but when he does, he's a very big crybaby about it. That, or he really is in as much pain as he says he is—regardless that leaves you to take care of him, and funnily enough, it has its perks.

• WC/genre: 2K of smut + fluff

• Includes/cw: Chanhee being sick and reader taking care of him, no kissies on lips 😔, sub!Chanhee, gn!reader, fingering (m receiving), dick neglection (?), handjobs, brief praise, aftercare

Riding the bus wasn't your favorite thing to do, but it was soothing if you were in the right mood.

Sadly, you weren't. Mostly due to the fact that Chanhee was quite literally blowing up your phone with texts asking how much longer it'd take you to be off the train and on your way with his precious medicine, making you sigh and roll your eyes before shooting him a reply that you'd be there soon, but knowing nothing would calm him down until you were in front of him to prove it.

You can't help but smile.

Chanhee didn't complain much about anything, besides maybe you not helping him with washing the dishes or set the table while he made dinner, but everything else was, at most, a dirty look that softened relatively quickly. Sickness, though, was a whole other ballgame.

He would rant and rave about the tiniest of phantom pains, practically on the male equivalent of his period with the way his mood would get snappy and sour at the slightest inconveniences.

But maybe he really did just have a shit pain tolerance like he'd often hint at. Though it didn't stop you from still being baffled when he'd get a bad cramp in the middle of the night and whine about it until he'd fall asleep again.

Coming back to reality as you glance up to the bus's nearing destination, you stretch lazily and begin to stand, muscles aching from walking all day and back cracking loud enough for you to wonder if other people heard it. The bus slows to a stop before finally lurching against the sidewalk, and you take your leave through the opening doors with an appreciative thanks to the driver.

Almost immediately after you hop down from the steps, a layering of chilly wind washes harshly against your front and the familiar smell of petrichor into your nose, relentless rain droplets against your coat as you begin in a jog in the direction of your apartment. Chanhee must be freezing right now, you think, concern growing even heavier at the visible breaths of air you let out. If he's already got the sniffles, a sore throat, and headaches, he's probably getting worse considering you'd forgotten to turn the heater on before you left.

Stupid mistake.

It takes maybe a couple more minutes, less than it'd take if you were walking like normal, before you're finally at your door, punching in the code for the lock before shouldering it open and kicking off your shoes on the shoe rack. It's cold inside, you can tell by the way your cheeks still feel numb.

"Chanhee! I got your medicine!" Your words echo throughout the hall, spreading out when you keep calling his name as you move farther in; past the open kitchen and to the bedroom door opposite the bathroom.

When you come into the room, Chanhee is still in the bed where he was when you left, but this time, he's sat up, looking at you with hooded eyes and a thin sheen of sweat covering his face. He frowns, "It's about time. While I was here suffering, you were out with your friends. Unbelievable..," he pouts and shakes his head.

With a chuckle and now eased posture, you sit in front of him and set the bag of medicine beside you to check his temperature. He's extremely hot.

"Yeah, well, staying around you while you're sick is enough to drive me crazy so you can't really pin the blame on me for needing to leave. Plus, it's not like you tried to stop me, did you?" You smile at him, standing back up to go run him a lukewarm bath.

"I was asleep!"

"Your problem, not mine!"

___

"Alright, up you go."

"Ah, but my whole body hurts..."

"Too bad, you're sweating a bunch and you haven't done anything to clean yourself yet."

Another tug of Chanhee's hands, and he's stumbling into your arms with a raspy groan at the jerky movement. You pat his back, pecking his damp forehead, then drag him to the bathroom.

"Can you undress yourself or do you need my help with everything?" You half-joke.

"Don't be rude, it's actually hard for me to do a lot of things," Chanhee utters bitterly, but he does manage to pull his shirt over his head, albeit with your help, as well as his pants and boxers before stepping into the water.

"Or maybe you're just fragile as hell and the smallest things have you bedridden for a week."

"Oh my god I'm gonna-"

"Hush, princess, you won't do anything," you find yourself laughing as you lower yourself to your knees beside the tub, folding your arms on the side before resting your cheek atop them, "Just relax, okay? I know you're too tired to argue right now, so let yourself calm down for a couple."

He thankfully doesn't protest, and takes your advice for once; letting himself fall against the back of the bathtub and close his eyes, the sigh through his nose an indication that he's allowing himself to enjoy the water. He looks so peaceful like this. Doll-like eyelashes fluttering against smooth, heated cheeks, and head slowly lolling to face you.

You feel yourself reach out. You know it's happening, but you don't stop it when you run a hand through Chanhee's bangs, then swipe a thumb past his eyelid to trail to his nose, then lips.

He opens his eyes, but doesn't say anything, even if he probably finds it strange. He lets you touch him.

"You're very pretty," you mumble whilst pouring water onto his head using the wash bucket on the back surface of the bathtub. Drops trickle down into mini patterns on his face, and he drags a hand over it to clear them away.

"Even while sick?" He raises his eyebrows, pleasantly surprised at your answer.

You comb the water into his hair to wet it as you nod, "Even while sick."

Chanhee smiles, "So, how was your day out?"

"It was nice. Found a perfect place where I'd love to take you, actually."

"Oh? Where?"

"The bone zone-"

"Oh my god, you're so annoying!"

You erupt into a fit of laughter as Chanhee swats a hand at you, getting some of your shirt and arm wet where you shield yourself from his little attack. You pinch his cheek, flashing a toothy grin, "Oh, come on! That was a good one and you know it. Smooth as ever if I do say so myself."

"Yeah, and you're the only one saying so," He pouts, pulling away from your pinchy fingers and trying his best to hide the steadily growing smirk that threatens to break his face into a smile. Stubborn as always, you see.

"You can leave now," Chanhee gives you a pointed look.

"Alright, alright. I'll be in the bedroom awaiting any further commands, your highness," You shake your head, and make a grand display of leaving the room and him to his own privacy.

Chanhee doesn't take long in the bath anyway, so you knew you wouldn't have to wait long as you fall back against the bed, shifting around until you've made yourself comfortable against the strewn navy covers. You spare a glance out the window pressed against your side; still raining, and still bathed in a silver glow from the blanketing clouds. It'd make you kind of sad, if not melancholic, but you were in a good mood from coming home, so at the most, you were calm.

Calm, even when Chanhee emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of steam a half hour later, only wearing a pink striped button up pajama shirt and matching bottoms, hands raised above his head whilst he dries his hair with a small towel. He comes to a stop in front of you.

"There he is," you exclaim, looking up from your phone and patting the spot next to you with a mischievous glint in your eye, "C'mere."

"I wonder why I'm hesitating," he says, and you can practically feel the the sarcasm in his words.

"Because hot people make you nervous? Duh."

"Are you insinuating that you're hot?"

That's your queue.

Leaning forward, you grab Chanhee's wrist and tug him into your chest, causing him to stumble slightly, but you catch him and pull him flush against you. A flurry of kisses to his face, excluding his lips, ensue.

Chanhee squirms around in your arms and acts like he doesn't like the affection at first, but a few more seconds of the same treatment prove true to his soft side when he goes limp and begins to giggle at the ticklish feel of your butterfly pecks.

Oh, that giggle. How you loved to hear it; sweet and beautiful like the chime of the prettiest bell in your ears.

You pull him on top of you as you relax against the crevice where the mattress meets the wall, and rest your cheek on the top of his head, humming, "You saying that I'm not hot?"

"Yes."

"Damn."

"Kidding."

"No you weren't."

"Yes I was."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"You- Hush!" Chanhee covers your mouth finally and you chuckle against his palm at his feeble attempt to silence you.

You press a kiss to it instead of bickering further, causing him to soften. Just then, you realize something as you touch down his wrist.

"Woah, has your fever not died down at all? You're even starting to sweat a little bit again, too..."

Your suspicions prove true when a closer inspection at the ruddy skin flushed from his cheeks down to his chest and heavier-than-normal breathing indicates that he's still hot, or at least overheated.

"Here," you murmur, already shifting him on his back so you can easily unclasp the buttons of his shirt, "Are you in any pain or is it still just the sore throat?"

"The headache I had earlier is starting to come back. It's getting worse, but that's about it so don't worry, I'll be fine," Chanhee tries his hand at reassurance, you can tell, but it doesn't do anything to stop you from crawling over him to scurry into the kitchen.

"I'm getting you some water, hang on!" You call out from down the hall, making quick work of filling up a decently sized glass before you return to him with some painkillers as well. He barely manages to sit up when you reach him; his face scrunching at the obvious pain that's beginning to hit him tenfold as he gratefully takes the pills and throws his head back when he tosses them in his mouth, chasing them with the cold glass of water you provided.

"Ah, it's actually really starting to hurt...," Chanhee whimpers and at the sound, you slide back into the bed to pepper his face with pecks once again. He's grateful for the comfort, if the way he gently drapes his arm over your shoulder says anything.

"Oh, my poor baby," you coo lowly, feeling the goosebumps on his back that prickle at your tone, "Is there anything I can do to make it better? Did you already take your medicine?"

"Yeah.. still hurts.."

"I can tell," you snort and trail a finger down Chanhee's sternum, looping it back up to flick at one of his nipples. He jolts, and you can't help but give a cheeky smirk, "Even your nipples have taken on somewhat of a hue. I wonder what other places are doing the same thing...," your words would hold suggestion to even the most clueless of people, spoken through lips now slicked with saliva as you roll your tongue across the tinted flesh and lower your head for a taste of his exposed breast.

"Ah!" Chanhee gasps loudly and his fingers find purchase on the back of your head, his body trembling when he arches his chest up into your face, searching for more when his mouth fails to ask you such a favor.

Teasing his nipple with a gentle nip before pulling away to kiss it instead, you caress his narrow waist, "You said it hurts, no?"

"It does...," Chanhee pants and nods as fast as his throbbing head will allow him.

"Where does it hurt most, baby? Tell me," You wet your fingers with a quick swipe of your tongue then reach under his lower half to slide your hand into his shorts, Chanhee helping you by taking one leg out, and glide down the seam of his ass to tease his rim, "Here?"

"Y-yes..!" you chuckle when he huffs and flings both arms around your head, pulling you close into him and meeting your forehead as he grinds down against your digits.

"Awe, look at you..."

And look at him indeed; Chanhee is already a mess before you. Staring at you with those big watery doe eyes of his, and silently pleading for you to continue doing things to his body that has him feeling like bursting.

You give him exactly what he wants.

Pushing your finger into him, slowly due to how tight the fit is, you press sloppy kisses to the underside of his jaw. The reaction Chanhee gives is a familiar one, with sensual lips dropped open to let out a high-pitched moan and legs trembling as he holds them open for you, fighting to not shut his eyes upon feeling you enter him.

"Good," you drawl, tilting your wrist at an angle once your index and pinkie meet the backs of Chanhee's thighs and gently curling your fingers upwards, "Just like that, baby. Is this okay? Are you okay?" Your eyes search his face for discomfort, and though you don't find any, you still your movements.

He nods and nuzzles against the top of your head with his cheek, "Mm-hm. Keep going, please."

You start back up at his polite request, as much as you love hearing him ask for more of something, and begin to drag the pads of your fingers back and fourth alongside his walls until you feel the telltale firmness of his prostate, then start on massaging it.

"Ah!" He emits a short, melodical whine at the burst of sensation now seething within him. It drives him one step from crazy as he scrunches his face and unconsciously slaps at your shoulder in a sort of mid-euphoria result.

You huff out a half-laugh, sitting back on your knees so you can get a better view of what you're doing, "Good?"

Chanhee tries to use his words, but by the way you pin him down to the bed with a palm flat against his collarbone before speeding up your hand, he can only manage a broken sob. It's followed by another of the same needy type, but this time, it's louder and causes your stomach to all but flip at the sound. Chanhee throws his head back, thrashing this way and that to somewhat get away from the overwhelming feeling, but also pushing down against it at the same time; all the while your hand keeps him in place.

"I'll take that as a yes," you jest, mostly to yourself because Chanhee sure isn't listening, then bend down slightly to finally turn your focus to his weeping cock. It's full-blooded from being hard for so long, angry red at the tip and jumping every once in a while, especially when you open your mouth to lick a strip from the base to the head.

"P-please I can't! You're gonna make me cum!" Chanhee rushes to sit up, but you push him back down as soon as he tries. He looks absolutely horrified at being so close already.

"And what's the problem with that?"

"I-I just- I don't want to disappoint you."

"Oh, baby," You take your hand from his chest in favor of jerking him off, which he all but chokes at, "It doesn't disappoint me at all. I find it very hot, actually."

"Plea-ease..! Oh!" Chanhee wails one final time before he lets go all over your hand.

It covers your knuckles, dripping white down the side of your thumb as you keep stroking him to help him ride it out. The orgasm must've hit him hard, you think when you look up to see Chanhee shuddering in time with the aftershocks that zap his body every few seconds, eyes closed and skin dewy with a sheen of perspiration.

"Hey, come back to me. You alright? Does your head still hurt?"

He takes a moment to open his eyes, but when they roll open and find your face, he does something that catches you off-guard. He latches himself onto your front, straddling your lap, and rests his head over your shoulder with a sigh.

"Chanhee, hang on a bit, my hand's still dirty and I need to clean you up-"

"In a second. I'm tired."

"You still haven't answered my question."

"Mm, I don't feel like talking right now."

"... You are such a handful."

@vanillaknj @stealerhwa1

[applepi20]

what it's like to be loved

zeke yeager x fem! reader

warnings: age gap, nsfw content, unprotected sex, brief smoking, zeke is kind of an asshole, female-bodied reader

modern au: zeke is rich but it isn't discussed

word count: 1.8k

chapter notes: i think i'm just projecting what i wish would happen to me

this one is kinda short but enjoy! ☾

you stared out the window at the cityscape. the night scene was so pretty and peaceful. the warm bedroom light reflected off of the windows.

wrapped in only a sheet, you glanced over your shoulder at zeke sleeping peacefully in the bed. The post-sex glow had worn off a while ago and now you were left alone with your thoughts. you couldn't sleep and hoped the restless city would help calm you down.

your body ached from the previous activities, but your chest ached more with longing. longing to be more than just a call to satisfy. longing to be loved and longing to be loved by zeke yeager.

in retrospect, you probably shouldn't have agreed to a no strings attached, sex only relationship without considering the possibility that you would get attached and even fall in love. it didn't seem like anything to be worried about at the time. you and zeke had a very tense relationship that made the two of you clash on many occasions. falling in love with him was the last thing on your mind.

you weren't sure how much time had passed since you left zeke in the bed. you startled hearing some rustling and suddenly zeke appeared next to you.

"couldn't sleep?" he questioned.

"no, lost in my thoughts," you answered.

he nodded silently and lit up his cigar.

"do you have to do that now?" he seriously had to find an escape after what we had just done? why can't he just stay in the moment at least until I leave?

"is something wrong y/n?" he stared at you, genuinely concerned.

"it's nothing" lies you were feeding him lies, why can't he open his eyes and see how you feel about him?

zeke continued to stare at you, eyebrows raised expectantly.

"i was just wondering what it's like to be loved" you blurted out against your will, zeke's gaze was too strong to break, you had to submit.

the look on his face was unreadable.

"to be loved? i'm not sure i understand what you mean. are you talking about sex, or just loved in general?" he seemed unsure of how to word things.

"oh it's not important, forget i said anything," you tried to backtrack.

"no no what did you mean?" he pressed, he almost looked urgent for the answer.

"um I guess both, I just- well yeah both." you awkwardly said.

"i could show you," he said so quietly you almost didn't hear him. he was avoiding eye contact.

"w-what?" you mumbled.

"i could show you, what it's like to be loved" he clarified.

you stared at him with wide eyes as he slowly leaned closer. you leaned in as well. "okay?" he whispered on your lips.

you nodded as you connected your lips in a sweet kiss. zeke returned the kiss with a different enthusiasm from before. he grabbed your wrist and pulled you back towards the bed.

"if i was in love with you, first i would kiss you." he kissed you again. "and I'd keep kissing you for a while."

you were stunned all you could do was kiss back. his kisses grew more and more eager and he suddenly pulled away.

you leaned into the ghost of his lips and he smiled at you before kissing you again. you felt like you were drunk on his kisses and you never wanted to stop, these kisses felt different.

zeke moved from your mouth to start trailing kisses down your neck. he came up to your ear and whispered "i would tell you i love you." his hot breath warming your ear and making you squirm away from the ticklish sensation.

"sensitive?" i could hear the smile in his voice.

all you could do was nod, words were becoming hard to form. your whole body felt like it was on fire already, just from kissing.

"i would keep telling you i love you" he murmured and he was back to leaving kisses along your neck.

"i love you," a kiss on your cheek just barely grazing the corner of your mouth.

"i love you," another kiss on your neck.

"i love you," a kiss on your shoulder.

he kept repeating those words as he covered your neck and chest in kisses and small bites that would be gone by the morning, just a memory of the feeling.

you were finding it hard to keep your eyes open as he left feather-light kisses along your breasts and pulled the sheet you previously had wrapped around you off.

"god baby, you're so fucking pretty" he leaned in to suck on your chest leaving a red mark.

under his gaze you wanted to squirm away in embarrassment, but the look in his eyes was tender, loving almost.

he looked lost in your naked body.

"if i was in love with you, i would hold your hand" he intertwined his fingers with yours, hovering over you he leaned down to kiss you. you were still unable to do anything but respond to him and kiss back. you were overwhelmed with the attention you were getting, but it didn't seem that different from past times the two of you had sex.

zeke abruptly grabbed your hips, ripping his hand out of yours and flipped you onto your stomach before you could even process what was happening. he pulled your hips up so your back was arched and your face was buried in the mattress.

"of course i couldn't let you predict anything and i have to be a little rough to keep my baby satisfied," he said with a smirk.

he draped his body over yours and pinned your arms above your head, nipping your ear and making you shiver at the close proximity.

"if i was in love with you, i would hold you close so i could feel every little reaction i'm causing you" his hand moved down, splaying across your belly, pulling your body back into his. you held yourself up on your elbows to meet his movement.

you moaned out as he slowly pushed himself into you and you dropped down into the mattress, your arms no longer able to support you.

when he bottomed out he let out a groan and held your hips steady.

"fuuuck" he hissed through his teeth. he held your hips still despite your squirming and pleas for him to move. " you're so ready for me, you feel so good for me" he rambled almost unable to keep himself from speaking.

as he developed a rhythm, he leaned down and whispered in your ear, drawing you from your thoughts you seemed to be stuck in.

"y/n you feel so good, i love you fuck" you could hear his strained breathing as he picked up the pace. it was like he was unable to control the words that flew out of his mouth and all you could do was take it. all the tender words, the sensations, you could just lie there.

the feeling of his hips snapping against you, the overwhelming emotion and lust, had you shocked as you found your release so quickly and without warning.

"did you just come? my perfect angel" he seemed surprised at your unexpected release.

he grabbed your hand and kissed your knuckles one by one in time with his thrusts and you moaned in response, incoherent words on your tongue.

as his movements started to slow, you started to panic a little. "zeke keep going, i can take it" you promised, desperate for him to keep going, to fill you with his release. you craved the feeling.

you kept whining until he returned to the previous pace he had set before. you could feel his timing start to become less and less consistent as he chased his own end. there would be bruises where he was gripping your hips and you reveled in the feeling.

both of you were unable of saying anything but each other's names. he kept kissing down your back saying "angel" and "perfect" and your name in between kisses.

you could feel his hips stutter as he finally found his release and he bit down on your shoulder as he came, filling you up with his seed.

he collapsed on top of you and rolled over so you were by his side. brushing the hair out of your face he kissed you again, lightly as if he was afraid he would hurt you.

"angel, you are so perfect" he was looking at you like you were his whole world and it was making you shy away from his gaze.

you felt so loved in this moment until you realized that throughout the whole thing he was saying "if i was in love with you" not " i am in love with you". you decided to revel in the feeling just this once and then decide in the morning to go back to the normal routine of no strings attached.

"hey zeke?" you asked, a bit nervous.

"yeah, angel?" he responded, sounding tired, voice a bit raw.

you were scared to ask. almost wishing you would keep quiet and not ruin what perfect moment the two of you just had.

"you said all of that was what you would do if you were in love with me, but none of it was different than what we did before." you were hesitant, anticipating his answer.

zeke took a moment and took a deep breath.

you almost took it back and your mind felt like it was going a million miles per second. your thoughts and doubts were loud in your ears.

"y/n are you stupid?" he laughed, shaking your body as your head laid on his chest.

immediately, you felt defensive. "stupid? zeke what are you even talking about, forget i asked," you were just talking without thinking, trying to cover your tracks from before.

"y/n i love you," he interrupted. "I've been in love with you for a long time."

his words weren't registering. he WHAT.

"that stupid no strings attached rule was just so I could hide behind it and not face my feelings in case they weren't reciprocated. i've been in love with you since the first time we hooked up. I've always been yours" he continued.

you finally found your voice again. "Zeke Yeager. you've let me think that i was just a fuck toy to you for months?! do you know how many nights i've laid awake heartbroken i could never have you and you're telling me you've been mine all along? i can't believe that-ah!"

he annoyingly shuts you up with a kiss. and then follows the first kiss with two pecks.

"angel, i'm all yours, be mine? you've only made me wait forever" you wanted to kiss that stupid look right off of his face.

"of course I'm yours, zeke. you always show me what it's like to be loved."

[robert-de-niro-only-fans]

Pay Day

Robert De Niro x Cam Girl!Reader

Author's note: Just a smutty little good time for everyone to enjoy while I whittle away at this very long Sam Rothstein fic!

TW: smut, age gap, cam girl, sex toys

Word Count: 1.8k

You've been working this job as a cam girl for a little while now, and you'd been very lucky that your page took off. It gave you enough money to pay the bills and invest some into the job, buying outfits and decorations for your bedroom.

In the past week or so, you'd gotten a new subscriber, one who simply 𝘩𝘢𝘥 to see all of your content. He's paid for everything you have available on your page, and he even sent you a message telling you how beautiful you are and that he is excited for your next livestream. You reply back with a few nudes that you only send to big spenders and an "XOXO! 💋"

That night during your livestream, the tips start rolling in from all kinds of guys and maybe even some girls. You take notice each time "TheRagingBull" drops a nice stack of coin on you; he's giving up enough to pay your rent in one night.

Later that evening, you bounce up and down on a vibrating dildo suction cupped to the floor that that the audience can control with their donations, and a huge donation of $2500 comes across the screen with a message from this new viewer that reads: "i have to have you, angel! i have to have you!" The vibrator inside you goes crazy; you can hardly think as you try to process a tip this big while you reach your orgasm!

After the steam ends, you typically take time to message the big spenders or regulars that support you, so you send a message to the guy with the big wallet, "Thank you so much for your generous donation, baby! Please let me know if there's anything I can do for you 😘 maybe a certain outfit you'd like me to wear or a special video just for you. Lots of love! XOXO"

Within a few minutes, you receive a reply, "how about a private session? i'd like to see you one on one and be able to talk with you"

You pause to think about it. You'd never done anything like this before with one of your viewers, but he paid you so much. You know there are girls who make much more than that, but this is big for you-

Another message: "i'll pay for it, $5000 an hour, your time is valuable ❤️"

You immediately reply back, sorting out the details of this video call.

• • •

You're nervous about the video call. He had told you it was really important that he keep his anonymity from everyone; you can't tell anyone who he is. You had no idea what you're getting into.

You're all dressed up in a nice silk dress with some simple lingerie underneath like he asked, when you get the call. You take a deep breath and answer, your jaw nearly hitting the floor when you see Robert De Niro on the screen in front of you. You could tell he was nervous: he's a suit and tie, wanting to dress up for you, and he has a nice red blush on his cheeks as he wrings his hands together.

"You're joking, right? You've got to be an impersonator or something," you joke with a breathy laugh.

"No, no, it's really me," he chuckled.

"Well... it's nice to meet you, Robert."

"It's nice to meet you too, (Y/N). You look stunning."

It almost feels like a date at first, the way you're both so shy and nervous, but things loosen up the more you slip out of your clothes for him and he showers you in compliments. Eventually it leads to you touching yourself for him, using any you get asks for.

"Um, would it be inappropriate if I... played with myself as well?" he asks you. He's probably the only person who could still be a gentleman when asking a question like that, and because of it, you tell him he should go ahead.

Below the camera, he slides his pants off and immediately starts stroking himself, letting out a few little moans of relief; he must have already been hard at the sight of you.

Throughout your session, he removes his jacket and tie, leaving just his button up shirt on, unbuttoned a little bit.

"You don't wanna get naked for me, Bobby? Are you a little bit shy?" you tease at him.

He simply blushes at you and glances away, but not for long, because he can't keep his eyes off of you. The way he doesn't say anything tells you he's close.

"Bobby, honey, cum for me. Cum for me, baby," you coo for him.

Within seconds, he furrows his eyebrows and starts letting out short deep breaths. You see his seed spill up onto his shirt, covering his tummy and chest. He quickly grabs a napkin to clean up his mess once he comes down from his high.

• • •

Over the next few weeks, you have a few more of these sessions wherever Robert has time, and before long he's asking you to come to dinner with him.

"I'll buy you new clothes, dresses, lingerie. I'll cover your dinner. And then... I'd like to pay you to come back to my place."

You almost can't believe what you're hearing, but it makes sense. It seems you two had grown to like each other, maybe not romantically, but sexually. That's all Robert is looking for, and besides, the money is really nice.

And so you meet him for dinner. He's such a gentleman, but there's also a lot of sexual tension between the two of you. The way he keeps stroking your thighs and teasing at the ties on your dress tells you he can't wait to get you home.

After a tasty dinner and a few glasses of champagne, you can hardly keep your hands off of one another, so he quickly whisks you out to the car to get you home.

Stumbling out of the car and up to his apartment, making out the whole time, you barely make it to his room with all your clothes still on. Your body hits his bed with all the ties on your dress undone and the fabric barely hanging on to you.

Robert takes off his suit jacket, hooking it on the back of a chair. He kicks off his shoes and unties his tie, which you reach out for.

"You want this?" he holds up the tie.

"Yes," you giggle, crossing your thighs a little to tease him.

He hands you the tie, and works on getting the rest of his clothes off. You jump up and get on your knees, sitting on your feet on his bed. You put his tie around your neck and hold your dress to your chest so it doesn't fall off, while you enjoy the show. Robert looks very good taking his clothes off slowly, sensually.

He sits on the bed next to you in his underwear, beginnings of a hard on present underneath the fabric there. He kisses you gently and asks, "Is it okay if I take this off?" He gestures to your dress.

"Yes, you can take my dress off, honey."

He slowly slides your dress down and gets you to stand up so he can slide it past your hips to the floor. You straddle his lap, wearing your sexy black matching underwear and his tie. The man beneath you kisses your chest and lips, while he ties the tie properly around your neck.

"Wow, I'm like a real gentleman now!" You both share a laugh at your remark.

"You look sexy, baby. I like the tie on you," he says as you cup his head in your hands.

"Mm, thank you," you say, pushing him back on the bed, hovering over him, kissing him.

After some giggling and kissing, there's a quiet pause between the two of you.

"Let me make love to you, (Y/N)."

"Okay... But you told me this isn't about love, Robert."

"Well, what if I told you it's about making you feel good? Making you feel good on my dick, the way you felt good on that vibrator the first time I watched you live streaming."

Hearing him talk dirty like this turns you on... a lot. "I think I could work with that," you whisper to him.

With that, he's flipping you over and tearing off your bra and panties, quite literally.

"Oh, but I liked those!" you complain.

"I'll buy you more, princess," he says before attacking your lips with kisses. He kicks his underwear off and within minutes you're deep in the throes of passion as he thrusts into you. Despite being an older guy, his skills are still very much in tact.

"You're so beautiful. You feel so good, baby; I've wanted you so bad for so long," he breathes out in between hip movements.

You plant a few kisses on his lips and cheeks, "Robert, stop baby."

"You okay? Did I hurt you?"

"No, sweet man, you didn't hurt me," you flip him over and straddle him, "you told me you wanted me to feel good on you the way I felt good on that vibrator, so... I should ride you."

"Oh, well I'm not gonna argue with that," he says, taking your hands and intertwining his fingers with yours. You bounce up and down pleasing yourself on his hardness, and that seems to please him as well.

Your night is filled with lots of passion and pleasant feelings. You make Robert feel youthful; Robert showers you in money and gifts; and you both make each other feel desirable and even a little bit loved.

• • •

Months go by, and you and Robert become a regular thing. You both live your own lives, but you turn to each other for the things you need from one another, and Robert makes for an excellent Sugar Daddy.

"What about this one, sweetie? Do you think it's as pretty as the other one?" You're on a video call with him, trying on several sets of lingerie he had mailed to you.

"You make everything look pretty, angel," he smiles at you.

You stop and make a pouty face at him.

"What? Did I say something wrong?" he asks concerned.

"No..." you whine.

"What is it, then?"

"It's just- you should be home right now so you can be with me instead of filming some dumb movie," you complain to him, being needy.

“Well, princess, this ‘dumb movie’ is gonna put more money in Daddy's bank account, so he can keep buying you more of those little -ahem- 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘧𝘪𝘵𝘴 you’re wearing right now." He gives his classic little mischievous smirk.

You pause for a long time before saying, "So?!"

He chuckles at your cute response.

"I'm still gonna miss you while you gone," you say quietly.

"I know, honey bee, I know."

[helloalycia]

alex WILL kick my arse // supergirl

summary: you learn that being supergirl's doctor came with its challenges

warning/s: none.

author's note: i’m lowkey posting a bunch of stuff that i posted on my wattpad a while ago lol

masterlist | wattpad

I was sat in the medical unit of the DEO, reading through some medical reports from the past few months. I had just transferred from the DEO's desert facility, where I was one of the doctors there to help with any of the agents' injuries. After a long time there, I decided to transfer here when there was an opening for the lead doctor.

I thought it would be best to settle in by having a look at what severe cases had been dealt with recently. It was usually the same stuff – agents injured on field missions. Bullet wounds, broken bones, sprained muscles, thankfully nothing too severe. There hadn't been many major alien attacks which meant less risky field operations.

I was pulled from the reports when the red alarm light began to flash for a few seconds, accompanied by a siren, before turning off.

"Agent Y/L/N, Supergirl is incoming with J'onn," my radio went off – it was Director Danvers. "She's had a solar flare and got a gunshot wound."

I recalled what a solar flare was from research I'd done in Supergirl's medical records. That was something I prioritised when coming here, since we didn't have Supergirl at the other facility.

"I'm prepping a bed and equipment now," I replied through the radio, before hurrying to do that. J'onn could literally fly, he'd be here any minute.

With the help of some nurses who were around, I prepped a bed and had the solar energy panels on standby for when/if her powers came back sooner than we thought. I had the tools ready to bandage up her gunshot wound temporarily when both heroes appeared beside me.

J'onn was stood there, holding Supergirl bridal style and lowering her onto the bed.

"Still getting used to that," I mumbled, surprised at how he just sped in here.

"I said I'm– agh, I'm fine," Supergirl complained, clutching her bloody wound and trying to sit up. "My powers will come back."

I stepped by her bedside and pushed her back down gently, moving closer to inspect her wound. "Please stay still for a second."

"Listen to the doctor," J'onn teased to lighten the mood.

Supergirl rolled her eyes and stayed still. I removed her hand and noticed it was covered in blood.

"Can somebody come clean this up?" I called out to one of the nurses, motioning to her hand.

One of the nurses did as I asked as I took a look at her wound. The bullet was still in there by the looks of it.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to overwork yourself?!" Director Danvers' voice called out as she walked in.

She was glaring at Supergirl, though the worry in her eyes was evident as she took in the hero's appearance.

"It's barely a scratch, Alex, it'll heal," Supergirl said dismissively, but as I cleaned up the blood with a cloth, I saw her clench her jaw a little.

"You need to be careful, you're not indestructible," Alex reminded her, before looking to J'onn. "Can you believe her?"

J'onn chuckled. "I'll leave you both to it. I should get back." He glanced at me. "Good luck."

I nodded his way, offering a small smile as he walked away.

"As fun as it is watching you both glare at each other, I do need to remove the bullet," I spoke up, interrupting both girls' staring contest.

"Go for it," Supergirl said, her eyes meeting mine.

"With anaesthetic," Alex added, shooting another glare towards the blonde.

"I don't need anaesthetic," Supergirl countered with an eye-roll and scoff.

"You're human for the time being, remember?" Alex reminded her before looking to me. "Anaesthetic, please."

I bit my lower lip as they erupted into another argument about how I should proceed. I didn't know either of them well enough to cut in, so I stood there awkwardly, trying to stop the blood loss and planning out how I could temporarily bandage her up so it could heal itself when she gets her powers back.

"I have to go," Alex finally said, pulling me back into reality. "I have to check on the bank robbery." She didn't seem too happy leaving Supergirl here, but she gave her a knowing look before looking to me. "Please make sure she stays put?"

"You got it, Director," I said with a playful salute. How hard could it be to keep her here?

Alex gave Supergirl one last warning look before leaving us be. I looked to the blonde who was finally breathing out, letting her guard down a little now that it was just us.

"The anaesthetic will make it bearable, just so I can remove the bullet," I spoke, causing her to open her eyes and look at me. "I'm just gonna bandage you up temporarily and you'll heal yourself when you get your powers back. Shouldn't be more than a few days, according to your medical history."

She swallowed hard before shaking her head. "I've been through much worse. It's okay. Just remove it and bandage me up. The sooner I'm out of here, the better."

I was ready to argue, but she gave me a convincing look and I couldn't help but give in.

"Fine, but you stay here and rest," I reasoned, to which she gave me a small, cute smile.

I got to work and surprisingly, she managed. It went well and I managed to bandage her up quite quickly, though it did mean I had to cut into her suit a little. Better safe than sorry though.

"Okay, you're all done," I said, patting her arm supportively, before packing away the gauze. "I'm gonna go get you some water and then you should take it easy, stay here maybe until you get your powers back. That alright?"

She gave me a thumbs up and a promising smile. "You got it, doc."

I was fairly confident that she would listen to me, since she seemed polite and was a trooper throughout the whole thing. However, I soon realised how naive I had been when I returned and her bed was empty.

I facepalmed and shook my head, realising she'd definitely played along the whole time.

The first thing I did was look around the DEO, asking around if anyone had seen Supergirl. I eventually followed the commotion coming from the main hall and spotted both Supergirl and Director Danvers having an argument.

"...stay and rest! You can't keep ignoring simple instructions, Kara!" Alex shouted around her.

Supergirl rolled her eyes and continued to look at the tablet in her hand. I approached the two and cleared my throat loudly to get the blonde's attention.

When she noticed me, she gave me a sheepish smile. "Doctor Y/L/N. Heeeeeeey."

"One job, literally," Alex mumbled, giving me a knowing look, before storming off.

I breathed out and glared at Supergirl. "Are you serious? I asked you to stay put!"

She straightened up and spread her arms out for emphasis. "But I'm fine! See? Nothing hurts, I'm walking, it's all good! Job well done, I must say. You're new, right? Well, I know why you got the job!"

She avoided my glare as she walked around me to get to the other side of the desk.

"You've heard of the term 'first impressions count', haven't you?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow.

She gave me a knowing look. "C'mon. You can't hate me for this."

I sighed. "I've got work to do. Call me if you tear your stitches."

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I turned around and began to leave.

"I'm not gonna tear them!" I heard her call out from behind me, but I didn't care. I wasn't her parent, she could do what she wanted.

I wish I'd known I was dealing with a stubborn Super before accepting this job though.

–

"What a surprise," I said sarcastically.

A few hours later, I'd been called into one of the medical rooms because apparently, Supergirl had collapsed from blood loss and tore her stitches. Shocker.

"Is she going to be okay?" Alex asked as I got to work for the second time that day.

"Yeah, if she decides to listen to me this time," I said, sighing. "Is she always this stubborn?"

Alex clenched her jaw. "Unfortunately, yes... you think you can keep her here next time?"

"I'll give it my best shot," I promised her. "I'll call you when she's up?"

Alex nodded, patting me on the shoulder. "Thanks."

She left me to do my thing and this time I did things my way, the right way, with anaesthetic and IV fluid. I managed to sort out Supergirl's mess before going back to my office to fill out some more paperwork.

Some time passed when I found myself going back to check on Supergirl and see if she was awake. I was cleaning up a little around her side table when I heard her stir awake. She seemed confused at first, as she looked around and saw the tube coming from her arm. Eventually, realisation set in and she sank into her pillow.

I decided to stay quiet as I finished up, about to leave, but she stopped me.

"Wait," she called out. I paused as she continued, "I'm sorry."

I turned around and waited, watching as, unlike before, she wasn't joking or being unserious.

"I should have stayed put before. And listened to you. I didn't mean to offend you or come across as rude," she continued genuinely.

I crossed my arms and straightened up. "Well, Supergirl–"

"Kara," she interrupted. "It's Kara."

I nodded. "Okay, Kara. Yes, you probably should have listened. I redid your stitches and I'm asking you to stay put again. You're human for now and you need to act like one."

"You're right," she agreed, breathing out. "Sorry."

I realised that she seemed to mean it and at the end of the day, I was her doctor, so I couldn't hold a grudge. Instead, I went to her bedside and checked her monitors to see how she was doing.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, glancing at her.

"Tired. Achey. But better than before."

"That'll be the meds kicking in," I said, giving her a reassuring smile. "I did have to get in there twice."

Her cheeks went pink as she smiled with embarrassment. "I'm not used to being so..."

"Fragile?" I finished for her.

"Exactly," she said, nodding. "I'm not used to it and staying put isn't exactly my forte."

"I could tell," I joked, making her laugh a little. She had a nice laugh.

"About that first impressions thing..." she began, blue eyes holding mine nervously.

"It's nice to meet you for the first time, Kara," I said, holding out my hand. "I'm Y/N. Your doctor."

She cracked a smile, realising what I was doing. She shook my hand and said, "Nice to meet you, too, Y/N."

"Okay, I should go and get Alex," I said, backing up to leave. "Now please don't leave because Alex will kick my arse if you're not here when she comes back."

She laughed again. "I promise I'll be here when you return."

"Fingers crossed you're not playing me again," I mumbled loud enough for her to hear.

Her laughter seemed to follow me out the room, leaving me smiling to myself.

[theficplug]

|Next Lifetime|Erik Killmonger|

previous chapters : Part 1 Part 2  Part 3 

erik killmonger x black reader

|part 4|

warnings: um definitely smut this chapter at the end. so 18+ for this chapter! and a possible trigger warning for grief but i promise it gets better and its a romcom.

synopsis:  reader grieves Erik until she doesn’t (i’m trying not give too much away). This one is a long ass chapter. So, grab you a snack and something to drink! I hope y’all like it.

“You promised on our birthday that you would give me something far more special than the charms you would gift to me. In 2018, you wanted to avenge your birth parents and you went off and did something foolish and when you- when they returned you to me you were-.” you struggle for a bit to find the words to explain it all to him as he takes a step back to gather himself. 

He rubs his eyes before grabbing your arms gently and massaging them . He leans down to look you in your eyes before asking “Ma, did you take something before I came to pick you up? You alright? Cause what you saying don’t make no sense at all... Your pupils don't look dilated though.” 

“I know how this must sound. Batshit crazy. I know it sounds crazy to me too. I’m still trying to figure out if I’m losing my own damn mind. I don’t know how or why. I just know that you came back to me.” you say to him and he shakes his head. 

“Erik. You’re talking about your ex boyfriend...The one that passed... . Alright, I’m going to take you home now... I still don’t understand what’s going on here and I’ve had about all I can take of trying to understand what’s going on here.” N’Jadaka says quietly to you before going around and opening your car door. 

The drive was silent as you picked at your nails and let the soft r&b roll over the tension between the two of you. 

Your own thoughts were going in about a billion different directions again. It didn’t feel right to just sit on all of that and not say anything at all. As ripped from a science fiction film as it sounded at least he knows. 

He was never one to think quietly because you could practically read his thoughts with the changing of expressions across his face.

The relief of seeing your building washed over you as he offered to walk you to your door. 

It was bittersweet because there was still so much of him in this different version of him. Even when he was upset with you or livid with whatever ghost that was haunting him back then,  he still showed nothing but tenderness to you.

You nod and give him a small smile before following him up the stairs , to your elevator, and finally your door. 

“I know that this is a lot. I mean who in their right mind would be able to process all of that.I wish there was any other way to say it... But thank you, I had a really nice time.” your soft words snap him out of staring at your face as if he was trying to piece it all together.

He knew deep down that there was something about you and what happened that weekend while dreaming in colours and other worlds but he couldn’t wrap his head around all of this happening in real life.  

You lean up to kiss his cheek and he grabs your shoulders softly. “With all due respect. You seem like a lovely person and a good woman, but I just - this all a lil too weird for me and I don’t think it’s a good idea that we continue seeing each other.” 

He kisses your hand and leaves with one look over your shoulder as you call out “Meet me at our spot. If you are still anywhere in there. You’ll know what I mean.”

“What the hell happened ? I didn’t expect you back until tomorrow morning?” Iri says as she settles on the other side of the sofa and patted the spot next to her as you kick off the sandals and lay your head on her lap with tears already prickling your eyes. 

“Oh you didn’t? Please don’t tell me you told him about the soulmate reincarnation thing? Sweets, you probably scared the hell out of that man. We needed you to keep that waaay down in the vault.” Tiki adds as she pops the cork off the bottle of wine in her hand and pauses the movie playing on the screen in the background. 

“Here’s what we’re gonna do . You’re gonna text him and tell him that you had just gotten your wisdom teeth removed earlier today and the meds had you unexpectedly zooted as fuck. “ Iri suggests and you chuckle softly.

---

Meanwhile at N’Jadaka’s house he was already being pestered by Lina and Penn for some type of details about what happened during the date. Orleans was already in the kitchen cooking and ear hustling but went back to his conversation on the phone with Big Mike when he realized there wasn’t any tea. 

“I don’t feel good. I’m finna go lay down. I’ll talk to y’all in the morning”. He says simply to them before trudging his way to his part of the house.

They had been friends since college and just got used to the idea of living together as they did in the dorms so they made it work after graduation. 

It helped them save money for when they finally separated and all of their schedules kept them busy so they didn't have time to get sick of each other. They also knew him well enough to know when something was bothering him and to leave him alone when he gets this moody.

"What the fuck?" He whispered under his breath 

"What the fuck was all that?" He continues talking to himself as he strips and walks past the bathroom mirror to the shower. 

He stops when something catches his eye. He sees a birthmark on his chest that almost resembles the shape of claw marks. He lets his fingers linger over the mark for a second. Thoughts of a panther mask clouded his memories for a moment before he shook his head and entered the shower. 

---

A few hours later of talking through it with your girls about possibly seeing a therapist about all that's going on and you were ready for bed. 

It didn't take long to drift off, you were ready to put the whole thing behind you. 

The familiar setting of purples , pinks, and hues of blue came into focus and you looked around letting the butterflies land on you again.

 You walk through the flowers and find Erik sitting by a stream of water weaving some of the flowers together. 

"What the hell, E?" You ask as you run over to him and wrap your arms around his neck

He turns to you and smiles big , his dimples on full display before shrugging. 

"It ain't perfect but it's the best I could do. They said it's like a do-over or something like that. I get a second chance but as a result of the way I did things the first time it's a lil different. Like when you restore a computer and it lose all it's files and shit. I get a new life but I'm still kinda stuck. I kinda like it though. I don't remember all the other shit when I'm awake. It really is like starting over. Shits crazy to explain when you think about it. But for you , you already know. I'd find you in this life and the next and the one after that. I don’t think I’mma ever fully remember what happened with all of that when i’m awake. I’m cool with it. It ain’t something I’m tryna remember." He says tipping your chin up to look at you and kissing you softly 

"I know. At least I get to hold you in the real world. It's just different. But guess what I saw today? I seen that bench that you and me signed all them years back. It's still there." You say to him and he places the lil flower bracelet around your wrist as y'all sit and talk for the rest of the night.

By the time you wake up with the aroma of breakfast wavering throughout the loft you feel a little better about the whole situation with Erik, not Erik. 

You opened your phone and sent him an I'm sorry gif with a few extra words inspired by Tina's wisdom tooth lie. 

 After easing into the kitchen and standing in the doorway you see the two lovebirds dancing around the kitchen singing to each other and laying food on the plates. 

"Morning lil sleepy head. Don't forget that I'll still be coming down to the center with you today for the seminar. You hungry?" Iris asks as she places the plate in your hands with a kiss to the top of the head. 

"Of course. There's a young girl, Sophie there that I really think would love to talk to you. She's just starting her transition. And her parents are wonderful but they don't really have much money. She hasn't really had the chance to get more “feminine” presenting clothes and she likes makeup.  " You say and she nods catching your drift.

"Well it'd brighten anybody's day seeing a beautiful successful trans woman like myself honey. But let's lift her spirits even more. I'm gonna bring some of the makeup I got from pr packages and some of the clothes from this collection. I really hope it helps." She answers and Tika just saunters over to her proclaiming her love for her. 

"Alright alright alright. I get it. I'm single as hell." You say laughing softly

---

Two weeks ticked by with radio silence on N'Jadaka's end. After the 4th day when he gave you the cold shoulder at a coffee shop, you decided to stop trying.

Maybe it wasn't fate and maybe you were just believing what you wanted to believe. 

You reason with yourself as you walked around the loft making notes about the new housing project you were working on. 

Finally having the house to yourself with the lovebirds gone for the day on a little adventure. You got to work budgeting and calling different areas to rent out apartments to you for women and lgbtq+ with housing insecurities. 

Your ramblings and thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door , thinking that Iri or Tika left something behind. 

"I told you to take your sunscre- Daka?" You question as he stands in front of you

You cross your arms and furrow your brows while waiting for an answer from him.

He stands for a moment like he’s trying to gather all of his thoughts together in a way that makes sense to both of you. 

"What're you doing here?" You ask putting your hand on your hip. 

He drops his shoulders and lets out a soft sigh before looking at you.

"I didn't wanna believe it. What you said that night cause like how the fuck does something like that happen? I’mma be honest.  I wanted to just believe that you were a lil off and leave it at that but something keeps telling me that you right. I can't remember shit before college and all I wanted to do was be with you. From the moment I met you in the store. I was like, this is it. This is what's missing. A piece to a puzzle that's all jumbled up." He admits and you nod slowly before letting him in. 

You walk around the kitchen getting a cup of tea for yourself and sitting a cup of coffee down on the counter for him.

“Don’t worry it’s black, I know you dont like it sweet.”

"You know I didn't exactly expect my fiancee that I buried months before to show up at a damn supermarket of all places. This isn't some movie or fanfiction. These kind of things don't happen in real life. Daka you, you had claw marks all over you. The last time I laid eyes on you. And now you're here in front of me. I thought that I was losing my mind." You say and he starts to unbutton his shirt.

"These." He says peeling his shirt off and showing you the birthmarks on his chest and shoulder.

You trace your fingers over it before leaning your head on his shoulder. 

"I asked my parents about my childhood and when I passed by my old neighborhood a few days ago andI remembered some things. I remember what happened to my other parents, in pieces. Shit’s brutal." He says dropping his gaze

"It's okay." You whisper to him and wrap your arms around him. You rocked him for a moment letting him let all of those feelings wash over him. 

He embraced you for a moment before kissing you tenderly. You tug at his bottom lip before deepening the kiss when he press you against the counter. 

"We'll figure it out... Something telling me I'd be a fuckin fool to lose you again." He says quietly against yours lips. 

"Are you gonna make love to me or are you going to keep looking at me like that?" You ask as he studies your whole face like he's looking at art. 

"A memory. It's you. We stood right here and I kissed you the same way. You were saying something like "you bring yourself home to me"." He says and you nod frantically, holding him closer to you.

"I did. It was right before you left." You admit and he nods before lifting you up onto the counter and kissing you heatedly this time. He kisses down to your breasts before looking up at permission from you to unhook your bra. 

Always a man that knows what he's doing. He takes kisses around your breasts and nipples. He takes his time to lick and caress you until he works his way down.

You shake your head yes before moving to slide off your panties but his kisses and his mouth is already beating you to it as he kisses down to your thigh.

He slides your panties off with his teeth and tosses them over his shoulder. 

You tilt your head back as you feel him wasting no time massaging over your clit and working you over with his fingers, curling them and stroking you gently. 

Your soft moans fill the room when he hooks your leg over his shoulder and begins to suckle your clit softly , swirling his tongue over it. 

"Tika will kil- Ooh god. How does your tongue feel like it's vibrating?" You ask and he only chuckles and grips onto your cheeks to bring you closer to him.

He was feasting on and devouring you like he was going to lose again and you could grind your hips down against his tongue and moan his name sweetly.

He didn't stop his tongue or fingers working in you until your legs are shaking and you're gripping at his head. 

"You have- fuck. I'm a squir-" you moan his name brokenly while trying to get out your words and lean back for a moment licking his lips before realizing what you're trying to say.

"Hold that for me. I wanna come with you." He says to you and you pout and protest as he removes his fingers. He picks you up off the counter and carries you bridal style asking you which room is yours.

"Left , left." You giggle into his shoulder as he helps you slide your dress off and you unbutton his jeans for him. 

You capture him in a kiss for a moment feeling his soft plump lips against yours again for the first time in what feels like forever. 

"It's been a long time since I've done all of this. . . Gentle." You say and he runs a calloused finger over your cheek moving a curl away from your face as he looks at you. 

He gets a quick flash of a memory of you and him in bed. You wore a smile on your face before telling him "happy anniversary".

He trailed his fingers down your body remembering almost every scar , every moment. 

When Erik got to a scar at your side. He chuckled, unlocking a memory of you two running from the neighborhood rottweiler , Smokey. 

That old ass dog hated you and he hoisted you over the fence first after being out late one night in high school. The gate had caught your side when you jumped. 

Erik felt so bad he brought you food from anywhere you wanted everyday from to school for a month. 

He leans down to place open mouthed kisses to it. 

He traced over your thighs to the cellulite and stretch marks remembering when you first got them. 

He was moving homes at the time and he wasn't ready to be further away from you yet.  You two just sat for hours at the park in the grass, talking. 

" You know white men behind all of that anyways. They want y'all to feel like you gotta look the same way. That's how they make them billions. My mama had 'em . Yo mama , and generations back. And it ain't ever stop them from being the women they are. Besides if any dirtneck nigga ever try you , just tell me. Imma handle it." He would say as you sat with your head on his lap, staring at the sun setting, knowing good and well your grandparents were gonna ground you for being late when you get home. 

They never did though cause you were with Erik they knew you were gonna be alright. 

"Nothing to worry about. I… I've never done any of that stuff before…Have you?" you question hesitantly as you stare off. 

"Tisha. From Ms. Wilkes class. We was coming from the kick back-" 

"Uh uh . That's your business , you ain't gotta tell me all of that." You say slightly upset at the fact that Tisha of all people was his first. 

----

"I got you." He says kissing your forehead then your nose before hooking your leg over his hip and easing into you slowly while his lips are still on yours. His eyes never left yours as he cupped your face sweetly like he didn't want to lose you again. 

In this moment he gets a glimpse of prom night and how things changed between the both of you forever. 

He wraps his hands around your waist. One of his hands splayed across your belly. 

He remembers the pregnancy scare you both had afterwards with him holding your hand and telling you no matter what happens he wanna be there for both of you.

Luckily, nothing came of it but you were definitely closer because of it.

You let out an open mouthed gasp at the feeling of being so full of him after so long. 

You rest your hands on his neck and shoulder and he bottoms out fully settling into you as he moves his arms next to  balance himself. 

You close your eyes as he begins to stroke into you trying to set a rhythm for you as his praises for you fall from his lips. 

He kisses his way down your neck licking the marks that are already starting to form there. 

"My lil baby." He mutters out after licking a freshly formed hickey forming on top of your breasts. 

You open your eyes slowly , looking at him and the way he's looking at you . 

"It's been way too long since I've heard that from you. You're remembering?" You ask quietly as you let out a soft moan.

N'Jadaka's muscles flex and tighten as he picks up his pace. His abs clenched as he  pulls out almost completely and filled you at a different angle.

 The sounds of your moans filling the room with every stride and stroke of his hips,  it seems like you're closer to floating in space. The man was fucking you like his life depended on it and at this point all you could do is wrap your arms around him again to comfort you as he shutters and rolls his hips deeper into you. Your walls tighten around him as you relish in the feeling of him. 

"Fuck. I remember all of it." He says half chuckling at the way it's coming to him and half nearly in tears cause he really missed being with you. 

"I also remember that this is your favourite position cause you like to see my face." He teases before leaning down to kiss you again with them plump ass lips.

"E?" You ask , grabbing his face with trembling hands.

"Baby?" You ask again 

He moves his hands from your waist and places your hands in his. Then moving them above your head as he flashes in between making love to you for the last time and now.

You roll over with him and place your hands on your chest riding him slowly getting the rhythm as he strokes into you from below. 

He laughs softly when he realizes what you're doing. 

"Are you spelling my fucking name , baby?" He asks and you tell him that you can spell both.

You let out a whimper when he brushes your spot and let him take over as he runs his hands over your thighs to your butt and over your back as he strokes into you. 

He plants his feet on the bed and work your hips in rhythm with him. 

It didn't take long for you to orgasm with a loud shriek of his name . You had forgotten how he gets when he's close as his hands on gripping all over your thighs and your back. You were already feeling sensitive with your second orgasm coming through and this man felt like he was trying to put it in your belly. 

He rolls you onto your side giving it to you deeply. 

With a loud hiss and panting from him he cums , holding you in his arms.

"I don't think it has felt like that since our birthday last year." He says into your ear as he pulls you closer into his arms. 

He engulfs you fully in his embrace and presses a kiss to the side of your head. 

You laugh softly and roll over to face him , resting your forehead against his.

"I remember. You took me to Paris. I had never been and at the time I was obsessed with everything Parisian. We fucked on the balcony and somehow I ended up popping the straps to my favorite dress. You still owe me by the way." You tease and he shakes his head laughing. 

"I think we ended up saving they marriage from across the way though. They was arguing the whole time. Then they gon watch us like we ain't see them." Erik says laughing as he squeezes your thigh playfully.

"I know they was trying some things." You joke 

"I missed you so much. You don't even understand." You admit with a somehow saddened and relieved expression. 

"I know.  I want to start over this time. All of that Erik Killmonger shit is over with. I wanna keep the name N'Jadaka and just start over. All of that was too heavy on me to carry. I wanna let it all go. I wanna do it right with you." He explains 

"Good because if you put me through that again. Wakanda will be the least of your damn worries." You say to him and he nods giving you his word, sealed with a kiss.

"It'll be alright. Everything happens for a reason. And I think that right now a bath needs to happen and I'm gonna need you to do that thing again that you did in the kitchen cause I'm tryna figure out when you learned that-" 

At some point after the bubble bath/ shower combo you were both out like a light until Iri and Tika decide to come busting in like they usually do with little gifts and food for you. 

"Guess who's your fave- SHE GOT A WHOLEASS MAN IN HER BED" Iri announces to Tika before your pillow hits the door as she closes it. 

"Sorry about that. This is kinda our cuddle hour so they're used to just coming on in." You say sleepily and he just laughs it off while holding you closer. 

"It's all good. I remember that I ain't know them much before but when we did spend time with them, they were good people." He says, still trying to piece it together.  

----

You fell asleep more peacefully than you had in a long time. Now granted, good sex didn't fix the many layers of issues and mysticism surrounding everything.

But for now, you knew that you had him, you had your girls, family and your business. Everything felt alright again. 

Right up until the point of sleeping through the first alarm to meet the property owners.

"Bae. Bae your phone going off." N'Jadaka whispers in the dark room , voice still riddled with sleep and grogginess. 

"Shit. Shit. I'm gonna be so late." You call out , quickly jumping out of bed and stumbling around the room. 

It takes you about 25 minutes to speed through getting dressed in your best skirt suit. 

N'Jadaka sits on the end of the bed putting on his shoes and watching you shuffle around. 

He had offered to drive you there and stay with you and check out the property with you. 

He slows you down by grabbing you by your arms gently and placing a kiss to your lips. 

"Good morning, handsome. Let's go" 

You walk through the living room with Iri and Tika already posted up in the kitchen placing two breakfast burritos in a container to grab and go. 

You grab your things from the counter all while thanking them and jetting towards the door.

"Good luck pooh!" Tika calls after you. 

"Byyyyeeee Dakaaaa" they call out after him

---

"Here it is . These are the apartments. I know they don't look like much now from the outside. But from the pictures it looks great. And they'll be safe and comfortable here-" you babble on to N'Jadaka while you both stand outside of the building where Erik grew up , until you notice two women walking to  a car that clearly wasn't from this area. 

You notice Shuri and your breath hitches in your throat. 

Frozen in your anxiety, the seconds ticked by and it was too late to leave. She looked you dead in the eye and then at N'Jadaka like she had seen a ghost.

She gasped and Nakia followed the eyes before back into the car. 

"SHURI WAIT - PLEASE" you yell out to them but the car was already speeding  away. 

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