#once we’d done that growing already

[reflectionsofgalaxies]

god fucking damnit

[mattybsgroupie]

sleepover | matt sturniolo

contents: established relationship; handjob (m receiving); thigh riding (f); p in v; creampie; mommy kink; sub!matt

- ♡ -

notes: i wrote two dom!matt fics in a row i do not recognize myself. back to the sub!matt agenda, somebody has got to do it, i am the chosen one!!! (please it’s a trump meme) this is a silly little one i wrote cuz i’ve been dreaming some weird things these last few days and i’d very much like to fuck matt afterwards. not proofread but hope you enjoy it. always so thankful for every like, comment, reblog and follow, love y’all sm ♡ btw next week i might post a chris request i got idkkk

- ♡ -

i woke up out of breath, sweat dripping from my forehead as i tried to calm down. it was a nightmare - a terrible one, where i no longer had matt and no matter how much i’d scream, my voice wouldn’t come out. my phone buzzed, the screen lighting up the ceiling and part of my room. it was 3am.

i reached for the nightstand, first taking a sip of water and then grabbing my cellphone, checking my notifications. i had one missed call from matt and two other messages, which only read “babe, you up?”

i felt as the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders, my chest gradually lowering as i got more relaxed. i smiled and speed dialed the first number on my list.

“why are you awake!” matt picked up in a surprised tone, not really waiting for my answer. “i just texted you, did you feel it coming or something?” he giggled.

“hi, babe” i said, my voice still shaky. “i just woke up, actually”

“what happened?” matt asked me once again, clearly concerned as he heard how i sounded. i gulped and gave a few taps on my chest as i rested my back on the headboard. “what is it, hm? bad dream?”

“uhum” i nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. he knew i’d soon be curled up between the sheets, trying to fall asleep again. “what about you babe? can't sleep?” i asked, already knowing the response.

matt sighed and i could picture him running his fingers through his hair, trying to not upset me “anxious”.

“i’m sorry to hear that, matty” i pouted from the other side of the screen. “do you wanna facetime?” i suggested what we had done plenty of times. we’d be facing each other, talking nonsense until one of us fall asleep - of course, when things didn’t take a turn to either matt’s or my own horniness.

“actually… was thinking about coming over” i smiled, but he couldn’t see it. he always made me feel like a teenage girl, changing the reason of my nervousness to something silly, like him coming over.

“no way, you’re not getting the road right now” i said, playing hard to get.

“what?” matt sounded confused. “why not?!”

“it’s late and i worry about you” i responded. “don’t you have something schedule for tomorrow?”

“i don’t give a fuck” matt said, “i wanna be with you right now, do you wanna be with me?” i nodded and as if he could see me from there, he continued. “please, mommy?”

“i’m waiting!” i jokingly hang up on him after gasping by the nickname, as if it was too bold of him to call me that.

- ♡ -

i heard three knocks on my bedroom door and didn’t bother getting up. i rolled myself on the bed, waiting for him to join me.

“did i take too long?” matt asked, biggest smile on his face. he locked the door and quickly came next to me, lying down by my side.

“yeah, you know mommy doesn’t like to wait” matt widened his eyes, gulping at my words, realizing what he had done over the phone.

“i just said that so you could let me come over” he said, acting tough as he rolled his eyes before resting his head above my chest, snuggling into me.

“oh, that’s too bad” i pouted, my fingers running through his hair. “you got me all worked up…”

matt quickly raised his head, blue eyes staring at me in surprise, grin growing on his face. “did i? really?”

“of course, my good boy always gets me going” i teased, matt’s cheeks turning red. “why? you came here to sleep?”

“i mean” he started, grabbing my waist, turning my body over and changing our positions. he was now under me, his hands resting on my hips while i adjusted myself in order to get comfortable on his lap. “not anymore”.

matt leaned in for a kiss, holding the back of my head and bringing us closer. i could feel his beard slightly tickling my face as he deepened the pressure of his lips against mine, silently asking to go further by sticking his tongue and teasing me. i opened my mouth and matt’s tongue quickly slid in, the wet sounds taking over my darkened room.

one of matt's hand moved to my breasts, massaging it over the shirt. i gasped for the sudden contact, pulling away from the kiss, which led him to go to my neck instead. he trailed his lips down, altering between biting and licking my skin. my hands went to his hair once again, tangling my fingers on his curls.

matt lowered his head and stopped right above my nipple before looking at me with needy puppy eyes. i nodded vigorously, but instead of removing my shirt, matt hid his face underneath it, streching the cloth in order to fit inside. i felt his wet tongue teasing my nub and since i could no longer pull his hair, i rested my hands on his bare thighs. as matt started to swril his tongue, i threw my head back and couldn't help but start to move my hips forward, trying to get some friction to my already wet pussy.

i let out a moan when his free went to my other boob, his thumb circling the hardened nub that poked through the shirt. i wanted to look at him - wanted to see how his beard looked like rubbing against my skin, which color the hickeys he left would be, how much would the saliva run down my torso.

with my eyes closed and feeling matt sucking my tits, i tried to touch the hem of my shirt in order to remove it, i couldn't stand one more second without looking at his eyes again - however, my palm met something harder, covered by a soft fabric. i groped his shaft and received a muffled moan from matt, still busy in my tits. now with my eyes open i could finally take my clothes off, revealing matt with his messy hair, beard wet from rubbing his face against his own kisses, lips swollen.

“look at me baby” i called and carressed his cheek, “you said you wanted to sleepover and now look at you, already a mess for mommy...”

“i'm s-sorry, mommy” he started, “can't help it, you taste so good”.

“yeah? did you miss me?” i teased, starting to drag myself over his thigh once again. “we saw each other two days ago”

“it's too much” matt complained, hands going to my hips, helping me set a proper pace. “needy again”, he glanced at tent on his shorts, where my palm rested.

“is mommy's baby needy?” i almost mocked him and he nodded pathetically, but still not letting me take full control as he started to pump his legs' muscles, making my pussy clench. i opened my mouth, but nothing came out of it. matt's grip tighetned and he forced my body down, completely leading my movements.

“mommy seems needy as well” matt spoke, smashing his lips against mine. i let out a frustrated whine, wanting to feel more - i needed him inside of me. “aren't you?”

“yes- fuck” i said, trying to come back to my senses regain control of the situation “babe, be a good boy for me hm?"”

when i finally stroked matt's boner, his hands rapdly went to my ass, both palms groping it harshly as i entered inside his pants. i wrapped my fingers around his aching cock, and being the good boy he was, matt lifted up his hips, allowing me to pull down his shorts and reveal his hardened dick. he touched my waistband in response, silently asking if he could do the same to me. i mimicked his moves, letting the fabric slide down my legs.

“thought i had told you to not wear panties to bed” he said, pulling the strings of my underwear. “isn't mommy supposed to be good as well?” matt was driving me crazy with all the teasing.

i suddenly started to move my fist up and down, quickly jerking him off. matt was used with me starting slow and building up his excitement until he climaxed. but tonight, it didn't seem like he wanted to be treated kindly. matt threw his head back and closed his eyes, groaning loudly “f-fuck!”

i brushed my thumb over his tip, matt’s body immediately reacting, jointing his hips forward into my fist. i dragged my finger on his slit as matt’s nails dig into my skin, spreading the pre-cum down his shaft. his breathing got heavier, chest rising and falling quickly while he bit every inch of skin he could reach.

“not talking back anymore?” i asked, gradually stopping my motions, receiving a groan in response.

“mommy, don’t be mean” he pleaded as his sneaky fingers made their way to my entrance, pulling my panties to the side. he kissed my neck, making my eyes roll as i melted into his touch.

“matthew” i caught his attention since i didn’t really use his full name often. “stopping teasing so fucking much and just fucking say it”. he widened his eyes before letting the grin grow wide on his face.

“please, please, please” he said, “ride me, momma”i immediately got out of his thigh, adjusting myself to be in between his legs. i could feel matt’s cock being lazily dragged against my now bare pussy, panties removed as soon as i got up.

i lowered myself on his shaft, nearing my throbbing cunt to his leaking tip. both of my hands went to matt’s shoulders, looking for balance as his grabbed my hips, helping me fully sit on his length. matt’s dick was huge, stretching my walls as he hid his face on the crook of my neck, tickling beard making me giggle as i tried to adjust myself to his size.

“wasn’t so hard, was it?” i asked, getting comfortable to move my hips up. as i started riding, matt wouldn’t say a word, only muffling moans in my ear. he denied with his head, whining as i fastened my pace.

“c-close” he said, gripping tighter. “mommy- fuck”

“hold for me baby” i spoke, already out of breath, bouncing harder on his dick. matt decided to stick his face on my boobs and dragged his tongue along my skin, biting my nipple and holding me by my waist, jointing his hips forward in order to reach his high quicker.

“yes baby, just like that” i praised, matt now pounding mindlessly into me. “good boy, good boy” and that’s what took for him to snap, groaning loudly as his cock twitched and he released the knot on his lower belly, spurts of his warm cum filling my insides.

his spasms brought me closer to the edge, but i wouldn’t stop riding him. i kept on bouncing on his cock, now in search of my own climax. “mommy- mommy, fuck!” matt cried from the overstimulation. his whimpers got louder and so did my moans as my orgasm washed over me, mouth hanging open with my trembling body as i came over matt’s shaft.

i was too tired to remove myself, letting my weight fall over him. matt rolled us over, both of us laying in my bed. he turned to the side and pulled out, the mix of our realeases running down my legs and staining my sheets. matt let out a chuckle as he wrapped his arms around me, bringing me closer to his chest.

“should we sleep now?” i asked, running my fingers through his tummy.

“kid” he called, pointing to my bedroom widow. “the sun is already up” he spoke - as if this was gonna stop us from sleeping till noon. “but that’s why i came here, right? sleepover”

“of course, you’re always so clever” i rolled my eyes and giggled, allowing my body to relax next to his. i closed my eyes and knew that, while matt was around, the bad dreams would no longer come.

- ♡ -

taglist (drop a 🌸!): @thepubeburgler @submattenthusiast @pearlzier @mattsfavbitchhh @her-favorite @bugeyedgrl @mattswhore-44 @sturncakez @riowritesitall @joemamaaa42069 @mattttypooh @sturnsmia @sturnthepot

[stararch4ngelqueen]

just need soft sex with jason

May have gotten a little carried away but ✨🔨🫠

—

Time written - 12:23 p.m

“I think I can walk just fine, Jason.”

Jason’s tone in response is lighthearted, playful even.

“It’s romantic, don’t you think? Carrying your girl to bed—” he pauses and chuckles at your expression, catching view of that eye roll while sipping your drink.

“We’d be like that painting of the angel holding a bride,” he suggests with a wide smile. “C’mon, not the first time I’ve done it.”

“Oh my god,” you giggle, tilting your head back in exaggeration. “Wow, look at you trying to be all cute and chivalrous.”

“Hey, let’s not downplay it. I thought I was being the most romantic guy ever,” he pouts, his expression turning faux-offended.

“I guess not,” he shrugs. “If you can’t appreciate that.”

He leans against the kitchen counter, acting as if he really is hurt. Then, without warning, he turns around to face you, broad hands clutching hold of you by the waist.

He hoists you up over his shoulder without hesitation, smirking from your sudden surprised yelps. He leaves your abandoned tea mugs behind, neglecting the lightswitch as he carries you down the hallway.

“I can walk Jase—!” Your amused beginning cuts off with an abrupt gasp when a firm palm smacks down on your ass, your shirt riding up over your curves.

“Can’t walk if your feet aren’t on the ground.”

“Jason!” Your annoyed tone didn’t last more than half a second before a smile breaks over your face. Chivalry was never dead with a man like him.

Your joyous fit of giggles merely died down after he gently sets you into bed, your head settling along your minor pile of unnecessarily comfortable pillows. Jason joins you without a second thought, his broad body comfortably caging you in. Any light from the hallway shadowed out once he floods your vision, enveloping you in a blanket of safety.

Then, without word, he presses his lips against yours, gently nudging your legs apart to snugly settle in between them. His breathing grows slightly rough, his braced hands grip tightly to the sheets as he feels your delicate little fingers find purchase along his back.

One of your hands trails up and down along his spine, causing the hair on his neck to flare up. He can already feel himself getting worked up, the hunger within him getting a little harder to control.

Jason spares a hand to roam along your minimally clothed body, running his palm along the soft skin of your hips and thighs.

A soft, little hum leaves your plump lips, his hand grasping along your soft, moisturized hip. The ache that bloomed in his gut desired more of those sweet noises, biting down on your tongue before rocking his hips forward.

You might’ve been just as eager as he was, your damp panties leaving a little impact against his navy sweatpants. The paired friction makes his waistband tug down, exposing the taunt v-line visible by lack of boxers.

“Jason,” you whimper out his name in the midst of him proceeding to litter your neck with kisses. He knows what you’re going to ask, he’s well aware of it. All he wanted was the green light to do it, one word to allow him this privilege.

“Yeah baby?” He murmurs against your skin, anxiously awaiting permission.

“Please.”

Such a gorgeously spoken sound, accompanied with a pretty bloom on those supple cheeks.

Jason groans as his body shivers. As much as he wants to control himself from going too fast, he wraps his arms around your legs, hoisting them up around his waist as he gives in.

With resuming where he left off, body hands running further up your body. You wore no bra to sleep, per his advantage. Pulling off the very shirt you borrowed from him to sleep in, he’s pleased with the sight of your breasts gently bouncing after momentarily sitting up.

“Oh my God,” Jason utters out in the midst of a groan, his calloused palms cradling both your sweet, glistening tits. “Mmm. Fuck, babe.”

You smelled incredibly good, like sweet honey cake dipped in melted frosting, sprinkled with toasted sugar. He’d fall asleep with his nose buried into your neck nearly every night, blessed with such a comforting fragrance off your warm body every morning.

You stuck to his memory as well as his clothes, every part of you tasting as sweet as your scent. The falsified rumors of the late Queen of France’s words held the most truth when Jason thought of eating you.

“Smell good?” You teasingly hum, biting your lip from his thumbs circling both your nipples, imagining your tiny hands in comparison to his rub luscious body butter along your chest every night after your shower.

“Smells fucking amazing.” He grunts, gently pinching both your nipples in between his fingers. Whatever smart remark you’re about to make dies in the back of your throat as Jason leans down, teasing your nipple in between his teeth. You suck in a deep breath, tangling your fingers into his messy black hair.

He’d help you take another quick shower after this, for now, all he needed was you.

Four fingers hook along your thin panties while assaulting your other nipple, your hips raising to comply with him pulling them off and down your legs.

“Oh, fuck,” Jason lowly groans from such a pretty sight greeting him from in between your legs, teal eyes heavy lidded with overpowering lust.

Jason shifts himself closer, raising your hips off the bed to rest further up along his lap. Both thumbs caress the smooth skin of your inner thighs before tracing around your puffy lips, one thumb nudging your clit before inserting two fingers into your pussy, pumping them at a slow pace.

Jason utters plenty of dirty, feverish promises as he pumps his fingers in and out at a quickening pace, his thumb moving in fast circles around your throbbing clit. He can’t wait to feel your rosy walls squeeze around him, muttering in between a handsome chuckle that your pussy is crying for it, gushing around his fingers so quickly.

Purplish plum colored hickies coat your inner shoulder as he draws a slow, modest orgasm from you, hooking his fingers with every buck of your hips, making you quiver and squeal.

Prayers composed of his name alone continuously leave your tongue, your pussy drooling as he removes his fingers, strings of arousal connecting between both digits. Chest heaving while Jason sets you back down, glazed over eyes watch his free hand tug down his constricting pants, pulling himself free from his confines.

He strokes himself with his wet fingers, further coating the tip of his fat, leaking cock with additional lubricant. He always knew you needed prep; not only wanted to, but needed to. He wasn’t being cocky (too cocky anyway) about his size, he was incredibly blunt about it when it came to the first time you had sex.

Even more so when he had been your first.

He never wanted you to hurt, even when the itch of impatience nagged at his brain to fuck you here and now.

His hand cradled the back of your head, fingers interlacing with your shower damp hair. To further stoke those flames, he parts your flushed lips with still damp fingers before shoving them in, tasting of salty precum and yourself as you run your tongue along them.

“Ohh, fucking dirty girl.” Jason mutters while watching, catching the crook in your lips form while sucking on his fingers. He takes your lips after retreating them, sucking on your tongue while lightly fucking himself with his hand, slicking up a majority of his length.

He guides himself closer, fighting back a grunt as the thick, heavy length of his cock rests across your slippery opening, sticky and sweet with arousal.

The both of you moan as he pushes inside, your walls stretching tightly around his girthy head. A low groan of satisfaction erupts from his chest while he sheaths himself in your warmth, his breath coming out hot and embarrassingly shallow through his nose.

“Fuck,” Jason mumbles before stifling a sharp whimper, fingers tightening on your hips in a death grip. “Shit, Princess. so goddamn tight.”

The heels of your feet digging into the back of his thighs, your nails drawing crescents into his skin. You want him as deep as he can possibly get, until you can’t remember where you end and he begins. The stretch is deliciously potent, a reminder that no matter how many times you do this, you’ll never fully get used to him. Neither of you would have it any other way.

He moves quite slow, rocking his hips in a speed that carries no pick up or roughness as he absolutely loses himself inside you. His lips roam all over your face, kissing away winces and mumbling soft apologies to your whimpers while you adjust.

Regardless of the pace, being stuffed full of his cock garnered pleasurable tears spewing from your eyes.

Your nails drag against his biceps, leaving raised lines along his muscles. He quietly pleads for you to dig deeper, desiring for his blood underneath your nails, wanting your marks to affect him for as long as possible.

The stinging pain has the desired effect on Jason, who spews out a sharp kiss as he thrusts into you hard once. The bed squeaks, the mattress buckling in the frame as it thuds against the wall.

A little cry leaves your mouth, your hips hitching up until your walls swallow him whole. Skin directly flush against skin, him buried so deep, kissing your cervix directly, his blunt head throbbing all against your sweet spots.

“Shhh,” Jason exhales against your cheek, both hands cradling your cheeks with eyes full of guilt from his impatient mistake.

“Shh, babe. M’sorry.” He reassuringly whispers along your lips, massaging soothing circles along your sides. “You’re alright, you’re okay. There’s my girl, my pretty girl .. takin’ me in so damn good.”

The gentle rock of his hips after a moment of rest isn’t subtle, much softer than either of you have had yet, but hot. So genuinely hot that the pure compassion between two star struck lovers almost makes up for the lack of speed. Two, aroused bodies taking in on such erotic pleasure as they made love for the first time all over again.

Jason catches your lips in a messy kiss as he plunges into you again and again, skin softly patting against damp skin.

Your lips travel along his sharp jaw, looking for the one spot by his ear that almost always makes him unravel each time. He tenses as you find it, cursing richly in your ear before grasping you closer.

“G-God fucking damn, Princess, you’re killing me,” he grunts out, growing a little louder before his voice cracks, gifting you a symphony of eagerly impatient whimpers whilst fisting handfuls of bedsheets, finally rutting into you just a little faster.

You can tell from the sloppiness that he’s close, and you’re not far behind.

You know every one of his weaknesses. Hell, you were at the top of that list, and it scared the shit out of him. Now, it makes him feel secure. And it’s in that security that he gives you everything.

His hips stutter as he fills you with thick, heavy ropes of cum, forcefully buried deeply with each staggered, drawn out thrusts. A cracked whisper of your name is all the warning he gives before flying over the edge, dragging you down with him shortly after.

You didn’t care if he finished first, all that mattered was the stark beauty of him that displayed across his face while he did it. Furrowed brows, eyes screwed shut in euphoria.

“I love you,” he chokes out, grunting heavily in your ear while hugging you against him for dear life, muscular arms slipping under your arched back, his pelvis rocking deliciously against your sensitive clit. “I love you I love you, I fucking love you—“

“I love you too,” you whimper out during a shudder, overstimulation creaking up and down your spine. You have him in a death grip, legs tangled tight around his waist, arms still tightly secure around his shoulders.

Your most favorite expression on him was the relief that followed after the euphoric tension diminished. Facial muscles melting as every inch of stress vanishes from his body, coupled with the satisfaction of doing so with the woman he so dearly loved.

His most favorite expression on you was the beautiful glimmer in your eyes after opening his. Gorgeous irises full of crystalline tears, tinted pink with satisfaction and awe of doing so with the man you so dearly loved.

[marlynnofmany]

Other Uses for Packaging

I waved goodbye to the customers — other humans this time — then sat back and waited for the trash pickup. I didn’t blame them for not wanting to take all the packing material out into the spaceport. They hadn’t brought a hovercart or forklift, and had been unprepared for the huge crate full of bubble wrap and foam.

Other times, our little courier ship had done deliveries where time was short or regulations were tight, and all we would have been able to do was advise them on where to rent a hovercart or buy a crowbar. Luckily for these customers’ convenience and my conscience, today we could stick around and help them unpack the custom end table or whatever that was.

They’d left happy, with something much easier to carry, and Captain Sunlight had headed for the cockpit to call in the station’s trash crew. (Apparently this was a regular feature at this space dock, which was a nice change from the last few where we’d had to move the ship’s garbage over to the trash area under our own power.)

Zhee looked over the crate that he’d just taken great joy in disassembling. “Wood may be valuable here,” he said with a thoughtful click of a pincher arm. “If not to the station at large, then surely to another ship. I wonder if the captain thought of that.”

I glanced back at the open cargo bay. “Probably?”

“Probably,” Zhee agreed.

We were both silent for a moment while the spaceport bustled around us.

“I’m going to check,” he said, tapping his way up the ramp on his many bug feet. “Make sure none of that blows away.”

“Sure thing.” I looked at the piles. The only breeze in here was the faint wafting of ventilation systems and the occasional gentle landing of other ships at a safe distance, but I understood the impulse to be careful. That one package awhile ago, full of styrofoam beads, had been memorable. And terrible. The darn stuff was almost as bad as glitter, what with the way it stuck to things with static electricity. Nobody wanted a repeat of that.

This set of packaging was much better. The boards made a tidy stack, the foam was in rubbery sheets that didn’t leak bits everywhere, and even the bubble wrap was in long rows instead of individual panels. This was no top-of-the-line cryo suspension or force field generator, but it was respectable.

I organized the mess a bit while I waited. The rest of the crew either had stuff to do on the ship or out in the station, so despite all the ambient noise, things were quiet.

I started rolling up the bubble wrap, thinking someone might want to use it again, but found that many of the bubbles had gotten popped in the disassembly, leaving it only good for one thing.

The first bubble popped with a satisfying snap. By the third I’d pinpointed which direction the sounds were echoing from most, and I enjoyed the different noises I could get by tilting my head. None of the pedestrians were close enough to pay much attention, so I happily worked my way down the roll. I’d seen multiple other types of bubble wrap, some made by different cultures and different materials, and most of them didn’t actually pop. What a simple joy to find the regular old Earth kind again.

Mur’s voice from the cargo bay asked, “What’s making that sound?”

I sighed and turned. “Don’t tell me, this is another swear word in your language.”

Mur waved a tentacle. “No, of course not. I just wanted to know what’s breaking out here. It sounded like a problem.”

Before I could answer, Paint appeared behind him in a rush. “Is there a problem??”

“No,” I hurried to say. “Everything’s fine. It’s just bubble wrap. See?” I held up the section I’d been working on and popped another bubble.

Paint winced. “Is there something wrong with it?”

“No, it’s just garbage.” I rolled up the part I’d already flattened, then twisted it to pop the next row all at once.

“Okay, that almost sounded like a swear word,” Mur admitted.

I had to laugh at that. “Of course it did.”

Blip and Blop hurried out to join the growing crowd in the cargo bay. “What keeps breaking?” Blip asked, frills waving anxiously.

“It’s just bubble wrap!” I exclaimed. “See?” I held it up and popped another one.

Instead of nodding and going back to whatever they’d been doing, my alien coworkers remained perplexed. “Why does it keep popping?” Blop asked. “Are you doing that?”

“Yes!” I exclaimed.

“Why?” asked both Frillians at once. Paint and Mur also looked curious.

“Because it’s fun?” I replied, scrambling for an answer. I hadn’t thought this needed explaining. But apparently it did.

Paint asked, “How is that noise fun?”

“Well, it echoes—”

“You don’t need to worry about condensing materials for the trash pickup, if that’s the concern,” Mur said.

“Yes, I know—”

“Are there food items on your planet that you have to open like this?” Blip asked. “Large fish eggs, maybe?”

“No, ew! It’s just—”

A shadow loomed taller than the Frillian twins. “It is violensssss,” Trrili hissed, making them twitch. (I don’t know how she found a shadow in the cargo bay. Sometimes I think she brings them with her.) “Small-scale, sanctioned violence. These can be destroyed without repurcussionssssss.” She was choosing which words to hiss on, for effect.

“Sure,” I said, spreading my arms and lifting the bubble wrap. “Let’s go with that.”

Trrili wasn’t done. “Each tiny section can be crusssshed individually, with precision, or multiples at once for maximum volume.” She glided forward on quieter feet than Zhee’s, and the others made room for her.

I held out the bubble wrap. “You want a turn?” Her pincher arms didn’t seem suited to it, but I was curious to see where she’d go with this.

“Plasssssse it on the floor.”

“Sure.” I flapped the row out in front of her like a red carpet, and she moved like the predator she was to crush one after the other. With precision. And shiny black bug feet.

It gave me an idea. “Hey, wanna see who’s faster?” I grabbed another section and laid it out to one side. “You’ve got more feet, but my shoes are bigger.”

Trrili spread her mandibles in her favorite creepy smile. “Challenge acssssssepted.” She crouched like a spider and waited for me to be ready.

I glanced back at the others. “Anybody else wanna race?”

Mur spun on his tentacles and scooted back into the ship. “No thanks! I’m going back where it’s quieter.”

“Me too,” Paint said. “But thank you!” She scampered off.

Blip and Blop looked at each other in silence for a moment, fins waving. Then they turned to me. “We’ll judge,” Blip announced.

“All right!” I said. I wrangled my own section of bubble wrap, roughly the same length as Trrili’s, and struck my own ready pose. “Say when!”

The twins chorused, “Start!” and we were off. Pops filled the air along with Trrili’s delighted hisses and my laughter. There were probably people staring, but that didn’t matter.

Maybe I could talk Trrili into a dance-off afterward. On whatever was left when one of us was declared the champion of small-scale, sanctioned violence.

~~~

These are the ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book.

Shared early on Patreon! There’s even a free tier to get them on the same day as the rest of the world.

The sequel novel is in progress (and will include characters from these stories. I hadn’t thought all of them up when I wrote the first book, but they’re too much fun to leave out of the second).

[flokali]

♢ Worship | Zhongli

Warnings: AFAB! Reader, Non/con -> Dub/con, Mind break (MC), Yandere, Cult AU, isekai, past violence towards MC, patronizing behavior towards MC, penetration, fingering, delusional behavior/thoughts from Zhongli, cum is everywhere, unprotected sex, dumbification (MC) (kind of), dirty talk, use of the c^nt, manipulation of MC, repetition, cock-drunk MC, desperate Zhongli, degradation towards MC (slut, liar, whore), implied exhibitionism, implied s.ex between MC and other Archons, unrealistic sex. Ask to tag!

Roles: Top! Dom! Zhongli | Bottom ! Reader

A/N: Here it is... it's definitely something new for me;; It's absolutely not for everyone and I am begging you to read the warnings, if this is too much for you do not read it! It's 100% fictional and falls under Dead Dove / Dark Content: it is not meant for anyone under the age of 18. Anon, ILY and you're the best... my beloved ! Took me forever to get this out, but here it is... yipe >_<

Word Count: 5.2k !

— Minors do NOT interact —

You were shunned away and hurt by those who you had once loved.

Already weak and alone, it was as if they took joy in seeing you despair, as if the way you crumbled around them was entertaining.

It hurts, oh Heavens above, you were miserable.

It wasn’t just physical, it was emotional and mental as well – every single weakness you possessed was exploited until you became a shell of yourself, your mind and body governed by fear and hatred and a need to survive, because you needed to survive. Even if it meant being reborn anew, you couldn’t let them win.

You couldn’t bring yourself to forget, it was all too painful, too cruel, too unjustified; they drove you to your limits and pushed you further until you broke. Until the person looking at you in the mirror looked like you, spoke like you, thought like you, but didn’t feel like you.

It’s why you couldn’t forgive the man standing in front of you, because deep down you knew he would have killed you if given the chance back then. You knew he held no regrets, that he’d do it all again to the next person who committed the crime of being deemed unworthy.

“I cannot,” your voice was assertive, or at least as assertive as you could muster in front of a God, “I… refuse to forgive you.”

“Please be reasonable,” Zhongli begs of you as he approaches you slowly, like a hunter would its prey, even if he claimed to think himself bellow you - you knew he held more power than you “we had no idea – I had no idea… if we’d known earlier, I swear upon Liyue Harbor itself, things would’ve been different.”

“And yet, time runs forwards,” you reply, slowly walking further away from the approaching man, or at least attempting to, but it was no use as he quickly makes his way closer to you, long legs and fit frame having no qualms in cornering you, “I have no use for ‘what if's’ or ‘could be’s’ - what is done is done, we have nothing to talk about, now let me leave because this is getting ridiculous.”

“My god is so stubborn,” he chuckles, acting as if your words meant little to him, something that greatly confused you - he spoke highly of you and yet seemed to think lowly of your person -, “I am afraid I don’t yet know if that’s something I like or not,” he mumbles that last part to himself before addressing you once more, “alas, I cannot let you leave until we reach a suitable agreement, your grace, you’re clearly not thinking clearly if you don’t see the multiple benefits that having me as your servant shall bring; with me by your side, you may as well be unstoppable.”

You scoff, a sense of disdain flows through your veins as you glare at him; you were slowly growing agitated by him and his presence, “First, you claim I’m your God and now you speak of me as an equal, as if I needed you - as if you had a right to speak to me at all -, what is it, Zhongli?”

He says nothing, his eyes take you in, you both know you’re cornered with nowhere to run, with you now completely at his mercy. It reminded you of the times he’d hunt you down with the intent to kill, if you were honest you much preferred the way he looked down at you back then than the current look in his eyes as he judged you with his eyes, as if assessing how worthy you were of his time albeit claiming servitude and humbleness before you.

“How utterly foolish, how… cute.” He chuckles, now only a mere inches away from your face. You hadn’t even noticed the stones he’d raised from the ground caging and forcing you into his proximity.

His hands, cold as they were, find their way to your cheeks. You attempt to swat his hand away but he’s simply too fast, quickly gathering both of your limbs and forcing them against his chest; the position was uncomfortable as you were forced to look up at his larger frame and feel his toned chest, a strange feeling was brewing in your lower region you desperately tried to ignore.

“Of course, you’re my God,” he says, his words serious, he spoke with such conviction it made your skin crawl, “and I’m your humble servant, which is why I am begging you to reconsider your opinion on not only myself but my people as well.”

“Absolutely not.” You accentuate your words, even if they come out a bit muffled from the way he gripped your face, to make your point loud and clear.

“Very well then, you leave me no choice,” he smiles and it sends a shiver down your spine because nothing good has ever come from someone smiling at you like that, “if you won’t let me worship you, then I’ll have to do it by force.”

His lips crash into yours but he makes no move to withdraw his hand from your cheeks, instead he uses it to press deeper into you - as if attempting to consume you whole.

You have no idea how long he’d been kissing you for, all you know is that his lips were devouring your own and that his tongue was battling with yours for control over your own mouth. The hand that grasped your wrist guided your hand to caress the archon’s chest, over his hardening nipples and around his pecs. There’s short intervals between kisses, but he doesn’t properly pull away until you’re begging for him to let you take in oxygen.

“Ah…” Zhongli finally pulls away to breathe, you’re in shock as you look at him, pure anger running through your veins, a complete contrast to the blissful look in his face as a blush overtakes his godly features, “You taste… divine.”

Ridiculous, Zhongli was being completely and utterly ridiculous! Making a joke, and a poor one at that, at a moment like this where he was doing this to you was incredulous. You wanted to scream at him, forcefully make him understand that you didn’t want him nor his sick worship and yet your body easily made way for him to slot his lips against yours once more as he parted them with a squeeze of your cheeks.

“Mhm~” You can’t help the moan that escapes your lips as you feel his tongue enter your mouth once more, “Ah, hmgh… humgh!”

Your back is flat against the wall, the Lord of Geo’s body effectively caging you in, and you have no choice but to part your legs as he places his knee between your own. You can barely breathe properly as he attacks your mouth, as if he’s making sure to explore it until he could map it out, his groping hand that had now left your cheeks and teasing touches don’t help at all as you feel yourself grow dizzy with unwanted arousal, a feeling shimmering in your pussy that has you unconsciously bucking your hips into his strong and firm limbs.

“You look so much better like this, Your grace,” he says as he takes a breather, his eyes – eyes you once adored back when you were home – glowed with arousal as he looked you up and down, “so quiet and docile, so obedient, it makes me want to eat you whole.”

“Rex Lapis! How dare you – ah, ha~ah!” You’re about to scold him and speak up when you break into yet another moan, you almost go cross-eyed as you feel his knee tease your neglected crotch; the cloth of his robes create a texture that feels heavenly against your hardening clit.

“Hmm? What is it, your highness?” He asks, feigning innocence as if he wasn’t the man responsible for your aroused state, “If you wish me to stop, speak up now before I get too, ah, excited.”

Zhongli once again doesn’t give you time to respond before he’s attacking your neck with fluttering kisses, “Come on, if you want me to stop,” he mumbled hungrily, it’s almost brutish the way he handles your body forcing jolts of arousal and pleasure to spark through your body, “say so.”

He’s challenging you to speak up, it’s as if he’s daring you to tell him to stop. He knows, the sick bastard knows that somewhere deep inside you - you still adore and want him, that a sick part of you wants to forgive him and be loved by him.

“Mora-ah~ !” You moan as he sucks at a particularly sensitive spot in your neck, his hands teasingly run across your thighs, caressing the skin in a seductive manner that has you trying to close your legs. Your core is slotted near his knee, where he can teasingly bump it up against it to give you momentary sparks of pleasure.

You want to scream at him to quit toying with you but you can’t formulate the words, not with the soft whimpers and groans you were letting out. He gives you a particularly strong bump, one where your clit — which was growing more sensitive by the second — and his clothed knee come into direct contact. You let out a particularly high pitched moan at that, the feel of his muscle against your lower lips simply intoxicating, that has Zhongli responding with a grunt of his own, something that sounded like your name rumbling from deep inside his throat.

“Such a slut for me,” he manages to get out, he’d been too busy teasing your skin with his teeth to comment on anything for a while, “such a good whore…”

It felt demeaning to be talked down to like that, especially by someone who claimed to wish to become your humble servant, but his words had a primal part of you beaming with satisfaction at being called good. You’re so taken aback by your own reaction you don’t notice him tugging at your robes and undergarments, not until he’s freed your cunt - allowing it to come in contact with the air.

“There we go,” he praises you, finally detaching himself from your neck, which was now littered with bruises and hickies, “your grace, I am truly honored… to be the first of your followers to make love to you…”

There’s a sick, almost delusional, look on his face as he breaks into a soft grin as he palmed your cunt, thick fingers gathering the slick that slowly poured out of your cute hole as it desperately tried grasping at anything.

His hand parts your legs further so he gains better access to your cunt, before he takes his free hand to properly caress your nerves. Slow and sensual movements against your clit and slit have you desperately bucking your hips to meet his fingers, he never inserts a full digit up your gummy walls instead opting to slowly work the opening by stretching your entrance and fingering you only up until his dip joint. Your arousal soon is leaking down your thighs and hitting the floor, making a mess of cum and love juice that would’ve made even the Devil blush, even the amount that escaped your soaking hole surprised, was it normal to be aroused enough to leak into the floor, you wondered.

“You’re ready,” you break out of the hazy mist of lust that clouded your mind as soon as you hear the man speak, “hah… I’ll… I’ll stick it in now, your grace… I’ll make sure to fill you up.”

“What…?” You manage to pant out, but he doesn’t answer you - instead he opts to free his hardened cock from beneath his clothes, a thick and long monster that sends a shiver down your spine as you questioned how he even thought someone could take it without hours of prep beforehand, and directs it towards your soaking entrance, “Z-Zhongli… don’t, please… you’re too big and… I’m not, I’m not ready… please, don’t… I’ll forgive you if you stop, stop! Just please, no… stop, I… I’m sorry, I…”

He pays your begging no mind as he slots his tip inside of your hole, which is enough to have you desperately clawing at his arms; “Hah, your highness… we - we’re becoming one…”

The Lord of Geo decides to ignore you, opting instead to slowly sink himself further into your gummy walls, even with the previous preparation and the slick you’d released your cunt was gasping in pain as you felt his thick dick enter your poor, tight pussy; before you knew it you were practically spasming around his length, awkwardly jolting and jumping as his cock slowly made its way past your tight muscles. The pleasant burn and torturous slow pace has you gasping and rolling your eyes towards the back of your head; he’s not even completely inside of you and you feel so… full. You don’t even want to imagine what it’d be like to have all of him inside you.

“Hah~ Hah,” you hear him pant beside your ear, his hot breath making you shiver, “you’re… tight…”

Your face is heating up at his words, it doesn’t help he’s slowly pressing himself deeper into your hole nor that he is slowly grinding himself against your walls in an attempt to ease your tense body.

“You’re t-too big…” You miraculously manage to get his hands off of you, “Fuck, get off… please… g-hgkh! ”

You trail off, too focused on the pleasure at hand to finish your thoughts. You didn’t want this, you didn’t want to have his dick inside you and yet your body sucked him in so greedily. You’re shaking and panting by the time he finally bottoms out, his balls hitting the fat of your ass with a soft thud that made your walls momentarily tighten at the lewd and erotic sound, it was too much and yet you were beginning to grow fond of the feeling of his cock bulging against your stomach.

Zhongli lets you sit on his dick for a while, allowing you to get accustomed to the feeling of fullness, probably trying to get used to the feeling of your warm walls encasing his dick, you try to pull him off you one last time but he doesn’t even budge, he’s too big, in retaliation, he gives a smooth roll of his hips that has his cock rubbing against every nook and cranny inside of you, including your special, spongy spot that had you seeing stars.

“U-ugh…” You let out a gurgle, you don’t want to admit it but the way his dick felt inside you had you seeing Celestia.

It’s the realization that he had no intention of letting you go un-fucked, and the shame of feeling aroused, that has you finally releasing the death grip you’d had on his arms, a sense of defeat and humiliation settled in your stomach; to preserve any reminder of your dignity it’s best you just let him use your hole like a toy. You’d denounce him, obviously, once the act was done and you’d have him sentenced, hopefully, to death for defiling you - that’s truly the only comfort you have.

It seems he takes your now compliant state as a go ahead to start moving. It’s painful at first, you’re overly aware of how his cock is moving inside of you and the feeling of pleasure is almost completely overshadowed by hatred and humiliation, your companion, however, seemed to be enjoying himself. You’re certain this whole event would be uncomfortable and unpleasant, you doubt you’ll even finish, or at least, you did until a particular thrust hit a particularly sensitive nerve that sent an aggressive wave of pleasure coursing through your veins, it’s blinding, it quite literally took your breath away as your brain struggled to process the unexpected yet erogenous sensation.

“S-shit!” You gasp, your whole body twitching. For a second, all thoughts left your mind, only a primal need to feel good again taking over as the wave rocked through your body, infiltrating every nerve and muscle, coursing through your brain as you desperately tried to prolong the almost intoxicating sensation. You don’t even realize how tightly your cunt is clutching his dick until he lets out a condescending, deep laugh.

“D-did you feel good, your highness?” His breath hits your ear and you suddenly feel overstimulated from your recent release and the feeling of his burning skin encasing you.

His words bring you back to reality and you have to restrain yourself from biting a chunk of his skin, you’re still trying to come back from your high, a high you desperately wanted to deny; “A-as if, hah, a monster-r such as yourself could pleasure me… f-fuck!”

“Is that a challenge, your grace,” he asks, golden eyes narrowing in amusement, , “if so,” he adjust your position, suddenly your legs are no long touching the floor as he’s taken them into his arms, his hands hold your knees so you can’t fall nor escape his brutal thrusts, you’re at his mercy, “I won't back down.”

That’s the start to an agonizing pace, one where he’d give deep, sensual thrust into your pussy - he’d start of slow, making sure you felt every vein and bump that made up his cock -, and then pick up the pace momentarily with short yet precise, rapid thrusts that had you bouncing in his arms like a rag doll.

“Do you like it, my beloved?” He lets out as he desperately tries to coax a confession of pleasure out of your lips, keenly aware of the way your insides became harder to exit the more aroused you were, “If, ha-ah, if I pleasure you like this everyday, you surely will forgive me, r-right?”

You’re too preoccupied with the way Zhongli’s hardened length rubbed a particular spot inside your walls that had your legs tensing helplessly in his grasp to answer; you could feel a ball of uncomfortable pleasure build up in your lower region that had you panting the more it grew.

Your thoughts were slipping away as the man lowered his hand to toy with your hardened clit, you felt like you were about to cum from that ministration alone but you helplessly try to stop yourself; you’re certain that if you cum even once you’d completely lose yourself, it was already hard enough not to beg for him to stop teasing you and fuck you properly as it was, and you’re certain that the minute your slick coats his dick, you won’t be able to stop yourself from begging to be fucked like an animal in heat. But it was so hard, so terribly hard, especially when he began kissing and teasing the hickies he’d previously painted over your body, the added feeling of your clit being rubbed as your cunt was being pounded into in different rhythms had you bucking your hips to meet his own - even a second without his cock inside of you was becoming unbearable, you… you needed his dick, you needed to feel good.

You wanted to sob from the frustration of the never ceasing pleasure that was building inside you, you wanted to cum so bad you were growing desperate, not even realizing your hips had begun moving on their own in an attempt to hurry up your release. You don’t think you’ve ever been so sexually frustrated, continuously growing restless as your head began clouding from pleasure.

It’s as if he was reading your mind because as soon as the thought hits you, he moves near your ear to moan in a low voice; “Go ahead, my love, cum for me… just know that if you do, I’ll take it as an invitation to become yours… Come on, make this dick yours, I… ha-ah… I know you want to.”

Wasn’t that so lovely? Wasn’t that such a wonderful agreement; in exchange for your slick, you would have one of the greatest cocks in the continent as your own personal servant!

Because it was what you deserved right? After all those months of pain and hurt, you deserved to feel good and be loved like you always were meant to be loved.

Zhongli notices your apprehension and he doesn’t blame you, but he was going to make things right; he had to, no matter what, no matter how, no matter what it takes, he will make it up to you. Even if it meant lowering himself from the status of Archon, even if he had to apologize and beg.

“I’m so sorry,” he begins mumbling into your skin as his cock keeps abusing your hole, he knows it’s an underhanded method but he doesn’t care, he meant every word he said - even if his way of showing his feelings was wrong, “you didn’t deserve any of it, no… y-you should be worshiped, you’re – fuck! You’re my savior, you’re everything to me, everything… I love you, I love you, I-I’m y-yours,” your cunt unwillingly clenches at that, “I-I’m yours to do as you please… you’re so good to me, so good… Come on, cum on me, use my cock… Allow me to repent for my actions, you will - won’t you?”

As one of his hands continues to rub your clit, the other supports your body weight, he doesn’t even seem to break a sweat as he holds you and fucks himself silly inside your tightening cunt.

There’s something about his desperate tone, the way he whines into your skin in between kisses and sucking, that has you believing his words; maybe he was regretful, maybe he did see what he did wrong, he was clearly trying to make it up for you by having sex with you, right? This was okay, right? He was sincere, you both knew he held a deep hatred for his actions, he’d been begging to see you ever since he’d learn of your true identity, he’d sent you gifts and offerings in an attempt to swing your favor; Rex Lapis didn’t do that for anyone, Zhongli didn’t do that for anyone.

He kept going on and on about how sorry he was, how desperate he was to feel you cum on his cock, how badly he wanted to serve you, how much you meant to him, how everything he ever did was for you; he loved you, he needed you, he wanted to be with you, he needed to be with you. His voice was growing raspy and whiny, a completely new side to the normally composed and cool Zhongli you were used to.

His words begin to seep into your brain, his admissions of guilt, his declarations of love, the way he begged you to take him as your own.

“I-I feel your pussy tighten,” he mumbles, “you’re so… you feel so good, mhm… I’ll be yours, I’ll make it up to you, everything – Please, s-shit, let me be yours, I want to be yours, allow me to serve you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.”

“Zh-zhongli…”

“Your grace,” he moans and you can feel the way his body shudders as you whimper his name, “I’ll do anything for you, please - please, ha~ah?! Make me yours, let’s cum together, please, I want to cum inside you, I want you to come… If I make you cum, you’ll let me serve you, right? M-my lord, mine, mine… I’ll claim you as mine, my own god, only m-mine, mhm-mmph… I’ll make it up to you, you’ll be mine, you’ll love me, you’ll love me-ah, we’ll do this e-everyday a-and you’ll be mine, hah~”

You felt the last of yourself break as the words he whispered made your cunt squirt all over the Archon, the one who’d hunted you for sport, made your life a living hell, who’d offered his body and power as an apology; he now stood with his hips and pelvis covered in your cum.

“C-cumming! Ah, ah-hah… I’m cumming, ‘m cumming, shit! I’m cumming on your c-cock! Hah, hah… ah~ah, ghk-k!”!

Yet you couldn’t stop, your poor pussy kept leaking as you convulsed from the intensity. It didn’t help that Zhongli made a point of pressing himself as deeply as he could inside of your pussy, as if trying to penetrate your womb with the tip of cock.

It’s as if your body had been lit on fire, your body twitches and turns as you gush all over the floor, it’s an electrifying feeling as you give up control and succumb to pleasure.

Cock, you were cumming on Zhongli’s cock, on the man who wanted you dead only a few weeks ago, you were on his cock, his cock was inside you, your cum was coating his cock - the cock that was humping your pussy, the man who was groping you, the one who’s threatened to kill you. You could only think about his cock, the big, long, thick, fat cock that had you drooling over yourself. You didn’t know what was leaking out of your pussy, it kept coming and coming out, coating the Archon’s lower half with your love juices - your legs hurt as you tensed and twitched and your nipples and clit all felt painfully hard.

It takes you a few seconds to stop cumming and yet, even as you were held in his arms panting from the feeling, you weren’t tired – in fact, you don’t think you’d ever felt better.

It seemed the man balls deep inside of you was feeling the same way for it doesn’t even take him more than a minute to start bouncing your limp body on his cock once more.

“More… I want more, more, wanna… wanna cum again.” You’re too out of it to realize you were speaking your thoughts, too desperate and drunk on the feeling of sex and the pleasure it was bringing you to feel shame.

Even though your body felt heavy as lead, you weakly try to match the rhythm set by Zhongli with your hips, desperately searching for the pleasure he’d given you minutes before.

If you’d been looking at his face, you would have been able to see the look of surprise that washed over his handsome features; was this really you? Had it truly only taken you a good fuck to temper you out? His golden eyes seem to glow brighter as his excitement grows, his dick somehow hardening even more albeit still being inside of your warmth. He takes it as a sign to adjust your body one more time, taking you in his arms once more and allowing him to bounce you on his cock like a toy.

You’re too sex-brained to fully comprehend what was going on, only truly thinking with your cunt - desperate to feel the white ball of pleasure explode inside of you once more and to feel Zhongli coat your insides with his cum.

“Ha-ah, Zhongli,” you whine, your voice comes out airy and unsteady as your whole body bounces on his dick, “p-please… c-cum inside me! ‘Wanna feel your cum inside my pussy, pl- fuck! Ah, ah - feels good, your cock feels so good! ‘m gonna cum again, wanna cum with you… hah, hah, l-let’s cum together…!”

You can feel his breath hit your neck as he nuzzles into into your shoulder, an airy chuckle soon followed by teasing words;

“I-I, hmm… I thought you’d never f-feel pleasure from a monster such as myself,” his voice is raspy as if he were barely containing himself, “my grace is such a g-greedy liar…”

As if to prove his point he gives you a particularly rough thrust, one that has you seeing black as your eyes roll back from the pleasure.

“P-please… I want your cum inside of me, ghk! Want your cum, wanna feel your cum on my pussy, wanna be your… your, wanna…! Fuck, you feel s-sho’ good, so go~oh~od, aha, ahhhh…!?”

“Don’t worry, my beloved,” he breathes out, hurrying the pace of his hips, he never fully removes his cock from you, instead opting for shallow thrusts that are aided by the length and girth he possesses, “my only wish… is to serve you.”

You can’t even respond as one hand comes to massage your breast and the other lowers itself to play with your clit, the added ministrations have you panting and desperately grinding yourself against the Archon; your body felt like it was on fire from the heat that bloomed from where your two bodies became one.

“‘M close, ‘m gonna cum inside you.”

Those are the only words you have to brace yourself before hot, sticky cum is shot inside your aching body, painting your pink insides white with his depraved love. He doesn’t say anything, his own brain seemingly turned into mush, only capable of low groans and moans that border on animalistic while he made sure to press himself as deep as he humanly could, making sure that not a drop of the cum you’d asked for escaped your greedy hole.

As he rides off his high, emptying his balls inside of you as he softly rocked your body, you can feel your sex clench and slick begin to ooze out of your cute hole. He notices it, and begins rubbing your clit in an attempt to coax you into cumming for him. His finger feels heavenly as he rubs it in quick, fluid motions across your clit and vulva, the cum from your previous release and the overflowing left overs from his own aid you as your feet begin to curl and a ball of pleasure that had been growing inside your lower half finally explodes and you cum one more time on Zhongli’s cock.

Albeit not nearly as sudden nor shocking as the first one, you’re still left a twitchy and aching mess as your legs fall limp in your captor’s arms.

But after tonight, your brain could hardly process him as a threat, everything before the second he’d inserted his dick inside you felt like a distant nightmare, the man who now cradled your body was no longer your enemy - not now, not to you. Your eyelids feel heavy and you’re beginning to doze off as you feel a sloppy kiss be left on your cheek, you look up at Zhongli for the first time since he’d started to fuck you.

His pale skin is burning pink, sweat rolls off his handsome features, his lips look rosy pink and you can see faint bites on them from when he desperately contained his moans, he looked nothing like the God who’d terrorized you previously; his eyes were the easiest give away, however, where they once were full with hatred and disgust, they now shined with passion and servitude.

In his mind, he’d earned your forgiveness, the debauched act of taking you against your will was his last ditch attempt at making things right, and so from today onwards, in his perturbed mind, he was officially your first follower in the continent of Teyvat and most devout worshiper.

“Mhm…” A smile blooms on his lips as he squeezes your ass, the geo wall vanished and you’re left clinging to Zhongli as he adjusts his cock inside of you, the soft movement has you jumping from overstimulation, your sex drunk look endears the Archon as he duly noted his guests’ footsteps approaching, “let’s show them how to properly serve you, shall we?”’

[amournoir]

Hi gorgeous, could you do a second part of Shadows of Doubt where reader is pregnant with Hope and spending time with Hayley who's a good friend of hers. Elijah and Rebekah realize they were being assholes because she's exactly what their brother needed, Klaus misses her and wants her back, though once he finds out about her pregnancy everything gets more angsty, as he blames his siblings for it, believing yn had moved on not knowing the child was his and etc. They get back together at the end, with a lot of fluff and etc.

𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐭 ┄ 𝐢𝐢

pairing: niklaus mikaelson x f!reader

count: 1.5k

warning: slight angst + fluff

author’s note: after several requests and messages, here’s part 2 of shadows of doubt (here’s part 1). i hope you enjoy it like you guys did the first one! 🫶🏽

It had been weeks since I last cried and almost four months since I last saw him. It was the most painful thing I had ever done but I knew it had to happen, there was no need to make the situation more difficult. I walked away. No goodbye or anything. I wasn’t going to let his siblings have the satisfaction of seeing me ‘weak’ as they often told me.

The gentle breeze rustled the leaves as I sat in the courtyard of my home, my fingers unconsciously tracing the subtle curve of my belly. The soft flutter of life within me was a constant reminder of the precious gift growing inside. It had been a whirlwind of emotions since that day— the day I had found out I was pregnant with her. She wasn’t planned but she’d be wanted, if not by him then me, she was my miracle…my hope.

In the months I had spent away from him and his family, I had met people. Amongst them was a woman called Hayley, she had become my closest confidante and friend. She sat beside me, her gaze understanding and supportive. “How are you feeling, Y/N?” she asked softly.

I smiled, the love and excitement for the life within me radiating through my words. “It's strange, but in a beautiful way. I feel this little one moving, and it's like she's already a part of me.”

Hayley's eyes softened, and she placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. “You're going to be an amazing mother, Y/N.”

As I looked around the courtyard, memories of him flooded my mind. His charming smile, his passionate love, and the painful distance that had grown between us. I couldn't help but wonder if he was thinking about me, if he ever missed the moments we had shared. Little did I know, he was wrestling with his own demons, haunted by the realization that he had let go of something precious. Elijah and Rebekah, his once-disapproving siblings, had opened his eyes to the truth— that my absence had left a void in his life.

One evening, as the sun dipped below the horizon, Klaus stood outside the balcony, his heart heavy with regret. The memories of time spent together played like a filmstrip in his mind, each moment a painful reminder of what he had lost. He swirled the glass in his hand around, mindlessly watching it.

Elijah approached the open balcony doors and stood still, his voice gentle but firm. “Niklaus, we’d like for you to hear us out. You can’t go on like this anymore brother.”

Klaus was silent for a while then with a huff he said, “Very well, say your piece.”

“We were wrong. I apologize for the part I played in hurting Y/N. You need to go to her.”

His back was still turned, facing the city in front of him. His jaw clenched and unclenched, his voice sounding venomous. “You do not tell me what I need Elijah.”

“Then tell me what I can do.” Elijah removed his hand from his pocket, waving it in front of him.

“What I needed you to. I needed you to stand by me and support us…you made me choose.” His voice cracked at that last sentence as he spun around to face his older brother.

Elijah's expression softened, his concern for his brother evident. “It's not too late, Niklaus. Reach out to her, before it truly is.”

“This was your doing! You and Rebekah!”

“We’re sorry for doubting her Nik, alright? Is that what you want to hear?” Rebekah yelled back at her brother. She had been silently watching and listening from the door.

“What I wanted was her and you drove her away!” He throws his glass of liquor across the room, the bottle following quickly behind.

Rebekah flinched and shut her eyes as she whispered, “Nik we’re sorry.”

“Go to her brother. We will not fail you again.” Elijah extended his hand out to him and Klaus gave it a firm shake. With a nod, they reached a silent agreement.

Without a word, Klaus left to his room to think it over. He knew he could never gain her trust again after letting her go so easily. He often used his art room to conjure up his master plans but not this time. In a few hours he had decided and that was how he found himself standing outside my door, his heart pounding as he raised his hand to knock. He hesitated, the weight of his emotions holding him back. The door swung open, and there I stood, the sight of him taking my breath away. For a moment, time seemed to stand still, and the unspoken words hung heavy in the air.

“Y/N,” he finally said, his voice a mix of longing and regret.

“Klaus,” I replied softly, my heart racing.

“I missed you love,” he admitted, his voice vulnerable. His hand reached out to me, gently placing it on my cheek.

I looked into his eyes, the depth of his emotions mirrored mine. “I missed you too, Klaus. But things are different now.”

The silence between us spoke volumes, a symphony of emotions that echoed the pain of our separation and the hope for a second chance. As our gazes held, a sense of understanding passed between us. I wanted nothing more than to stand there and take it all in, take in the sight of him. Call it weakness or strength but in that moment I needed to be honest so I revealed the truth.

“I'm pregnant,” I whispered, tears welling in my eyes.

Klaus's expression shifted from surprise to confusion, and then to anger. “You moved on so quickly?” he snapped, his voice laced with bitterness. He pulled back as though my touch burned him.

I shook my head, the tears spilling over. Desperately, I took a step forward to be closer once more, “No, it’s yours. Our child, Nik.”

He couldn’t believe it and I wouldn’t blame him, he didn’t know. Ten years ago I triggered my curse and quickly learned a few things, one of them being scent. A witch that was a family friend offered to hide it as a way to thank me for saving her children. From that day onwards, I could smell other wolves but none knew my scent which hid me from supernaturals alike. Klaus never knew, I would have told him one day but after realizing I’d never gain his siblings' trust and the constant doubts from him, I kept my secret.

Still even with my revelation, he was partially in the dark. If I had any chance of convincing him, I needed to tell him the entire truth. I placed one hand over my abdomen and looked at him, tears falling freely. I knew in the silence he’d hear it. Time seemed to have slowed in that moment as I saw his face morph into different stages of understanding.

The realization hit him like a tidal wave, his anger giving way to shock and disbelief. “What?”

I took a step closer, my hand gently caressing my belly. “Hope. She's ours, Nik.”

“How?” His voice was small, almost child-like, though his gaze remained on my abdomen.

With my free hand, I reached down for his and placed it on the side of my head. I wanted him to know everything, I wanted him to trust me fully which is why I let him inside my mind. “See for yourself.”

Moments later tears glistened in his eyes as he looked at me, his heart torn between regret and joy. “I can't believe I doubted you,” he whispered.

As he reached out to touch my belly, his fingers gentle against my skin, I felt a rush of emotions—love, forgiveness, and the chance for a future together. This was all I had wanted. Right here, I had all that I could ever ask for and I’d be damned if I let it go without a fight. He was my home.

“Love I'm truly sorry. I don’t deserve you,” he murmured, his voice thick with emotion.

I smiled through my tears, feeling the weight of the past lifting from my shoulders. “Klaus, we have a chance to start again—for Hope and for us.”

“Hope?”

“You don’t like it? We can pick something else.” I quickly said, worried I had already done something wrong.

He leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on my forehead then looked down at my belly. “No, I love it.” His fingers moved around in slow circles and I could feel her inside me as she pressed closer to him. “Hope Althea Mikaelson.”

I let out a soft gasp, immediately looking up at him. “Althea?”

“She’ll take after her mother, it’s only right she has your name as well.” He lifted my hand with his free one and kissed the knuckles, adding “I vow to never leave either of you. We will be a family sweetheart.”

And in that moment, as one hand rested against his growing daughter and the other on me, I knew that the shadows of doubt that had once clouded our hearts were finally dissipating. As we embraced, a sense of utter completeness settled over us, a promise of love and a future that would forever be intertwined. I was back home and soon our greatest Hope would join us.

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[belovedwhore]

pretty boy pt 3

ethan landry x reader

warnings: smut, little bit of plot, oral (m!receiving), lowkey sub ethan

notes: hey y’all here’s pt3, i hope this is better than pt2 and ik it seem like the reader not getting much but trust she gon get hers soon, i already have an idea for it so just stay tuned! also i will be writing other smut for ethan that is separate from this series so stay tuned for that too. thanks for all the love and welcome new followers!!! anyways enough chit chat hope you enjoy!

pt 1 , pt 2 , pt 3 , pt 4 , pt 5 , pt 6

————————————————————————

the morning after. you woke up before ethan just admiring the sleeping boy laid next to you, thinking about last night. something about him got you and he’s all you want. couple minutes after you woke up he began to stir, looking over at you as if you were a dream.

“good morning pretty boy,” you greeted.

“good morning,” he rasped in his morning voice. god if he was gonna sound like that in the mornings we’d be doing something different right now.

“what’d you think of last night,” you asked.

“it was great,” he blushed clearly reliving the events of last night.

“good, would you wanna do it more?”

“oh right now,-” he perked starting to sit up on the bed.

“easy there pretty boy,” you laughed, “i meant generally but i’ll just be taking that as a yes.”

“ohhh ok yea, definitely a yes,” he added, “imma go grab a shower, i’ll be right back.

he got up from the bed and walked around to your side, kissing you briefly before leaving the bedroom. you laid looking at the ceiling for a bit, thinking about last night once again. your thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door,

“back already?” you called out.

“it’s me sex demon,” you heard tara say as she opened the door, “making sure you’re decent, god knows if you have clothes on after last night.”

“oh no were we loud?” you asked.

“no just the occasional ‘oh my god ethan’ ,” she faked moaned, “and can’t forget about the ‘oh oh oh my god,” in her best ethan voice.

“oh god, i can’t,” you covered your face with your hands, peeking through you started, “wait what about you and chad, anything happen?”

“nada, kinda a turn off when you and ethan are over here fucking like it’s your last day on earth.”

“ok we didn’t fuck yet just some… other stuff.”

“mmhmm, well you might wanna get out of sam’s room before she gets up here because she definitely thought you were in my room.”

“oh shit you’re right,” you said getting up off the bed and heading over to tara’s room.

as you walked to tara’s room you heard the shower running and knew ethan was in there.

“i have to get something from the bathroom.”

“ethan’s in there,” she stated.

you didn’t answer, just smiled as you walked backwards to the bathroom. tara flicked you off jokingly as you entered quickly and shut the door.

“hello,” you heard ethan call out from behind the curtain, “chad i swear to god if you’re trying to scare me right now-“

“not chad.”

poking his head out of the shower he saw you sitting there on the bathroom counter, “oh hey, i’m almost done in here so you should be good.”

“it’s hot as fuck in here,” you told him as you drew shapes on the mirror.

you heard him turn the faucet off and saw him reach out to grab his towel, “yea i usually take hot showers.”

he stepped out of the shower with the towel wrapped low on his waist, revealing his v-line. his hair was still curly, resting on his head like a mop. you beckoned him closer with your hand. as he came more within your reach you grab his hand and pulled him closer to you, kissing him passionately. he melted into the kiss, allowing you to take control. as he moaned you slipped your tongue into his mouth, tasting him completely unable to get enough. your hands drifted to his wet hair while his went to your waist drawing you forward, closer to him. you tangled your hands in his curls, pulling at them making him groan into the kiss. as he pulled you closer you felt his growing length against your core, he grinded against you, giving you both some kind of release. suddenly you had a thought. pushing him back slightly you hopped off the counter onto the ground without disconnecting your lips. ethan’s back was now against the counter while you stood in front of him. you kissed him harder, now palming his cock hidden under the towel.

you separated your lips, moving to kiss down his body instead. you kissed down the middle of his chest, swiping across his nipples with your tongue. ethan groaned continuously as you worked your way down, head rolling back in pleasure. next you got to his abs, tracing the ridges with your tongue all the way to his v-line. as you were kneeling in front of him now, you dropped his towel, freeing his now fully hard cock. ethan hissed as the air hit his exposed tip already leaking precum. you looked up at him as you began stroking his shaft,

“guessing you’ve never had a blowjob.”

he nodded his head as he couldn’t get any words out. you saw his jaw clench as you worked his cock, sliding your finger over his slit he bucked his hips into your hand, chasing a relief. finally you wrapped your mouth around the tip of his cock, swirling your tongue around it. his steps faltered as he gripped the counter, groaning at the unfamiliar feeling. you took him deeper into your throat, looking up at him struggling to contain himself. pulling your mouth off it, you pumped it more as your saliva covered the length. he squirmed beneath your touch, moaning as you stroked his shaft tightly. again you went in with your mouth, this time taking him deeper. as his tip hit the back of your throat he bucked his hips forward, causing you to gag around his cock,

“shit, i-i’m sorry i didn’t mean t-,” he rambled.

“it’s fine,” you assured him as you licked up the side of his cock, “i like it.”

as you palmed him in your hand you moved your mouth to his balls. as you sucked on one of them, ethan hit the counter with his palm, overcome with pleasure.

“is everything okay in there,” you heard someone call out from the hallway.

“yea, just uh dropped my shampoo,” he croaked.

“y-you’re gonna kill me,” he whispered, unable to raise his voice any higher due to his current state.

after you moved to the other, you resumed sucking his dick, lowering your mouth down until your nose tickled his pelvis then back up again. each time you lowered back down he came closer and closer to cumming, at this point basically whimpering under your touch, jaw clenched and eyes screwed shut.

“fuck,” he said breathlessly as his tip hit the back of your throat again.

and the next time you came down on his cock, he came hard. you felt his legs shaking as he emptied his load in your throat, jaw clenched, eyes screwed shut, and gripping the counter for dear life. you swallowed his load, milking him through his orgasm until you felt him trembling, overstimulated with his release.

you then stood up in front of him with the towel, hanging it to him you said, “you might wanna put this back on.”

quickly he grabbed your face, kissing you roughly, grabbing the curves of your ass as you moaned. it left you breathless.

“you uh- had something right there,” he joked as he wrapped his towel around his waist again.

“mm hmm, yea,” you played into it as you slipped out of the bathroom carefully, having to remain unseen.

[blessedwithabadomen]

in love with the mess - day zero

summary : Aubrey is going on tour and, for once, she's decided to focus on having as much fun as possible. Oli can be a little shit but he does nothing short of adore Audrey and... well, maybe Noah a little, too. Noah likes the flirting, as long as no one gets too close, emotionally. But what will happen when the three of them take it too far?

content : fluff

length : 3.2k

tags : @veronicaphoenix @cookiesupplier @lma1986 @jilliemiw86 @bngurngheart @lacktoesandtoddlerants @narcissisticbehavior81

a/n : hi everyone!! I hope you'll enjoy this, comments and reblogs and asks are always more than appreciated!!

•••

day zero

Time moved differently on tour. It always had, as long as I’d worked on them. Go away for a week and it’ll simultaneously feel like you only left home yesterday and as if you’ve been on the road for a month straight. 15 days didn’t seem too bad this time around. I’d done double that, triple that, easily. I basked in the feeling of how it fucked with time perception. Days flying by so fast I couldn’t quite grasp it, memories so fleeting and yet so fully anchored to my being. At the same time, in between, I already knew that I’d have days where this tour felt like a lifetime. Too many places in too little time, so many faces, different venues, different people, fans, the same setlists every night. And afterward, life wouldn’t be quite the same. Not this time around.

•••

“There she is!”

Oli’s voice was much too loud in the hotel lobby. Several people turned around, even if I wasn’t sure if it was because they recognised him or simply because they were questioning who was being so damn loud in this rather nice place. He crossed the room in long strides as I quickly gave the receptionist a nod while she handed over my room key.

He looked different than the last time I’d seen him in person, which, admittedly, had been… a while. There had been constant texting, a familiar voice in my ear whenever I needed it, video calls at any opportunity, all based on a friendship we’d both worked hard to grow over the last decade or so, but lately both of us had been busy on such opposing schedules that any in-person meetings got delayed and delayed again.

Whenever he was on the road, I was stuck at a job far away and when I was working on a different local tour, he was busy recording in a different country. It was why he made sure that now, when he was embarking on a massive arena tour with his band and I was miraculously free for all of January, he got me a job allowing me to tag along. It was so much more than I could ask for.

Still. It had been longer than I’d like to admit since the two of us had met in person and none of the pictures I’d been looking at or the video calls we’d been chatting through had done Oli Sykes any justice. He’d been hitting the gym, I knew that much, but the way he now filled out his frame had me giving him a once over as he approached. His hair was longer now, too. He looked healthier, I thought. Healthier and happier.

At least I wasn’t crushing on him anymore. I had spent a good few years with a special place in your heart reserved just for him, well aware that it had never been reciprocated. Nothing had ever happened, save a few harmless flirtations here and there. One of us had always been in a relationship, had someone else on their mind or simply enjoying their single life. It wasn’t like he’d be interested in me either way, I told yourself. And I was over all of that, even if both of us actually were available at the same time for once. It didn’t matter.

I greeted Oli with a smile as both of us immediately went for a hug. He’d always been a very touchy person, something that had been feeding my crush in the most unhealthy ways, but as someone who was also constantly in a state of touch starvation, I appreciated it either way. His arms held me tightly. I was convinced I could feel every individual muscle under my fingers as they traced his back and I just knew he was smiling into my hair as he rested his head on mine, his perfume engulfing me, and-

Yeah, fuck. I wasn’t over him. Like, at all.

I let go of him a little too abruptly, terrified he could feel the way my heart rate was speeding up, but he didn’t mention it. The weight of my realisation was hitting me hard.

I was going to have to spend the next two and a half weeks with him, as close as ever. And I was going to be crushing on him as much as ever. Great.

“Thank you for getting me on this tour,” I said anyway because truly, having someone basically fight to create a job for me just to make sure I could tag along and get paid for it out of pure friendship wasn’t something I was taking for granted. It wasn’t Oli’s fault my feelings weren’t under control.

“I’ll have you know that I missed three meetings to convince them that I needed a personal assistant to keep me on track.”

“Damn, so I’ll actually have to interact with you and make sure you are where you need to be at all times?” I joked.

“You also get to go on burger runs after the show. You’re basically my slave now.”

I decided to ignore the way his statement makes a shiver run down my spine. He didn’t need to know how far my services would extend, if he ever asked for it.

“Everyone in the tour group chat is making fun of me by the way. They’ve all very lovingly changed my contact name to ‘Oli’s slut’, so you’re not that far off.”

“Wait, there’s a groupchat I’m not part of?” Oli was halfway to pulling out his phone, apparently shocked at the idea that other people working this tour would connect without him being the centre of attention or even included at all, but he was interrupted.

The interruption came in the form of Noah Sebastian, tall, all smiles, and, somehow, even more beautiful in person than I’d gathered he would be from pictures and videos. One of his hands came to rest on Oli’s shoulder, making him look up with a bright smile, as the other reached out to me.

“Noah Sebastian,” he introduced himself, as if there was any chance I could possibly not be aware. “I sing in Bad Omens.”

“Hi! I’m Oli’s slut.” A brief pause. Panic as I gripped his hand tighter upon realising just which words had left my mouth. “No! Wait! Personal assistant! Oh my god. Aubrey. That’s my name.”

I couldn’t tell whose laughter was louder out of the two of them, but I was mortified. This was possibly the worst first impression I had ever made. And I’d made a lot of them.

“Where did you find her?” Noah laughed. “I like her already.”

Oli slung his arm around me, pressing my blushing face to his chest. I both wanted to burrow myself into the fabric of his hoodie and withdraw immediately before the heat in my cheeks got any worse.

“Oh, years ago, mate. She’s a keeper. A little socially inept though, obviously.”

“I fucking hate you,” I mumbled as I untangled myself from Oli. “I’m gonna go to my room and hide away until I’ve learned how to behave in public again.”

Grabbing my bag from off the floor and double checking that the key card I’d been handed hadn’t, somehow, vanished into the abyss, I turned to take the handle of my suitcase only to find it was already in Noah’s hand.

“I’m going to join you,” he said. I didn’t miss the way Oli raised his eyebrows. “In going upstairs, I mean, not going to your room. I’m… very jetlagged.”

“You two are a right pair,” Oli commented with a chuckle and a shake of his head. “This is going to be a great fucking tour.”

•••

“Is this the first tour you’re working on?”

I stopped at the door leading to my hotel room, Noah coming to a halt next to me and pushing my suitcase in my general direction. I was unreasonably nervous. Somehow, even though we were in a pretty public hallway in a pretty public hotel, no one else was around. I hadn’t counted on being alone with him so quickly, even if it was possibly the least conspicuous situation imaginable. Leaning back against the door, I fumbled with the keycard to keep my hands preoccupied.

“Oh no, I’ve done my fair share, actually. It’s how I met Oli, years ago, on one of the first jobs I ever had. I’ve mainly been doing merch or helping out as someone’s assistant, usually a tour manager’s. When he found out I was going to be free for this tour, he really wanted to get me on it, but they’d filled all positions already, so he convinced management that he needed a personal assistant. And here I am!”

“What’s that entail then? Your job? I might be in the business of hiring a personal assistant for myself, some time in the future.”

The way he was towering over me as he leaned against the wall, a smirk on his lips, eyes travelling over my face… was he flirting with me? I’d always been terrible at telling. Especially when it came to attractive people. There was a constant fear my interpretations could just be down to wishful thinking.

“Knowing Oli, it’s probably going to be a lot of running around to fetch him food and the most random assortments of items that he suddenly needs for no reason whatsoever. Other than that, I’m responsible for kicking his ass and keeping him on time for everything. I’m allowed to use physical force if necessary, he gave me that in writing. I’m definitely going to enjoy that part.”

“Sounds like Oli’s your slut, to be honest.”

If there had been any liquid anywhere near my mouth, I would have done a spit take. The implications of it, as well as the tone of his low voice muttering the word slut was enough to do me in. There wasn’t, though, so I simply gaped at Noah for a moment before erupting into laughter.

“You know, it really does. I’m going to remember that. Don’t tell him though. He likes to think he’s the dominant one in this situation.”

Noah pushed himself away from the wall, giving me another smile that sent shivers down my spine, before turning to walk away. “I can’t wait to see you put him in his place. I’m going to be watching.”

•••

The room was nicer than any I had ever been put in while working on a tour and, even more importantly, I wasn’t sharing it with anyone. I didn’t know what kind of strings Oli had pulled to make this happen, but I would thank him thoroughly for it. In any way he deemed acceptable.

I shook the thought from my head.

It didn’t work.

So, I did the only thing that made sense. I called my best friend.

“Lia, I’m in fucking trouble,” was the first thing I said to her. We’d never been too fond of greetings.

“Did you get arrested before tour even started again?” Her voice came through the phone, somewhere between accusatory and amused.

“That never happened! It was a case of mistaken identity and they let me go immediately. Anyway. No. My problem is that I want to fuck my boss.”

“And that’s news to you how?” she scoffed.

“Lia!”

“What! How is it any secret, or ever has been, that you want to bone Oli Sykes?”

I fell down onto my bed in defeat. It was extremely comfortable, which did ease my pain momentarily. I would get an amazing night’s sleep here.

“I thought I was over it,” I whined. “I thought I was going to be fine but he’s fit as fuck and I’m gonna have to spend every fucking day with him. Never mind Noah.”

“Noah? Okay, now you have my attention.”

“I didn’t have it before? Rude.”

“Less complaining, more talking about Noah please.”

“He’s fucking dreamy, I’ll tell you that. And a flirt. I think? I’ve yet to determine it for sure. And I’ve only seen him and Oli interact once but Oli looks at him like the sun shines from his arse so he’ll probably be around all the time, too.”

Lia didn’t say anything for a long, long moment. Long enough that I pulled the phone from my ear briefly just to check that the connection hadn’t dropped. When she finally spoke again, she sounded much more serious than I’d heard her in a while.

“Aubrey. I know I make fun of you a lot.” True. “And I know that I don’t always give the best advice.” Also true, sometimes painfully so. “But I love you and you need to listen to me for once, yeah? Have some fucking fun.”

I had to admit, that wasn’t the advice I thought I was going to hear.

“You have this weird thing about not allowing yourself to let loose and enjoy yourself but I’m giving you explicit permission. Do whatever feels right. Flirt with anyone who’s attractive to you and wants to flirt back. Make a move on Oli. Make a move on Noah. I don’t fucking care. But stop depriving yourself of happiness because you, for some unexplainable reason, think you don’t deserve it. Please, Aubrey. Have some fun on this tour. Okay?”

I was dumbstruck. For a while, I didn’t know what to say, but Lia stayed silent, waiting it out. Waiting until her words seeped into my brain. Started to make sense. And I knew. I knew she was right. I’d been focused on chasing after job opportunities, constantly trying to prove myself, travelling from one place to another, and never had I stopped and taken a moment to allow myself to really be happy. I hadn’t had a relationship since… I didn’t want to think about it. Hell, I hadn’t even touched anyone in forever. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gotten drunk, stayed out until sunlight, sang my heart out, let go.

And this tour… Oli had given me the job because he wanted to hang out with me. I didn’t have anything to prove. So I took a breath. And I told Lia a single word.

“Okay.”

•••

I was almost asleep, clad in a pair of shorts and an old shirt and covered under the blanket, when my phone chimed with the tell-tale jingle I’d assigned to Oli. He was my boss, after all. I felt like I should at least make an effort to make sure I’d notice his attempts to contact me, even if it only came in the form of a personalised ringtone.

Oli u up? Aubrey Is this a booty call Oli come over

I knew I didn't have a good enough reason to refuse. Double checking that I had noted down his room number, I grabbed my key card and phone and quickly padded down the hallway, thanking the lords that no one bumped into me. Oli opened the door the second I put my knuckles against it to knock. He didn't waste any time pulling me into the room and onto his bed by my hand.

“Wow, forward much? Normally I at least get dinner before jumping into bed with someone,” I joked.

“Love, I’ve taken you out for food so many times, you should get on your knees without me having to ask.”

I landed a good slap to the back of his head for his comment. It seemed better than to acknowledge the fact that I would, definitely, without question, get on my knees for him, and now my head was once again flooded with inappropriate images. Settling on the mattress next to him, I tried not to get too close to Oli, which shouldn’t have been a difficult feat on a double bed, but as soon as he had grabbed his laptop again, he shuffled so close that his thigh was touching mine.

“Can I show you some stuff?” he asked, blissfully unaware of the turmoil in my heart, as he was rapidly opening and closing tabs on his laptop. I simply nodded, waiting for him to continue. “I know you’re going to see most of it tomorrow, I made sure the sound tech people are cool with you staying at the sound desk if you want so you can get a good look at the whole show, but look, we did a whole video montage that’s going to play before the encore, and…”

Oli talked and talked and talked, about the show, about the planning of it all, about their rehearsals, showing me pictures and videos and blueprints and all I could do was sit and listen and fall in love with the sound of his voice a little bit more. He was catching me up on everything I could have possibly missed, letting me listen to everything he was expecting to happen in the next two weeks, and how he couldn’t believe I was actually there and part of it all.

“Having you and Noah here is the fucking best,” he grinned, somehow snuggling even closer into me. I let him, against my better judgement, as always.

“Someone’s a bit in love with him,” I teased.

“Everyone is a bit in love with him. You’ve met him. Prettiest dude on tour.”

“Apart from you.” It slipped out before I realised the thought was even in my brain, but Oli seemed delighted.

“You think I’m pretty?” He fluttered his eyelashes in a way that would have been purely obnoxious, usually, but all I could focus on was how fucking pretty he did indeed look. “You think I’m cute? You wanna kiss me? You wanna hold my hand?”

“Oh my god, I take it back,” I groaned, pushing him away and attempting to crawl out of his bed, but his arms grabbed onto my middle and pulled me back before I got anywhere at all. He seemed to anticipate me trying to fight his grip, because as soon as I made any further move, his fingers found the skin under my shirt and began tickling my stomach in relentless cruelty. Within seconds, I was reduced to a shouting, giggling mess, tears threatening to spill from my eyes as I wriggled underneath him, to no avail.

“Please, please, Oli!” I gasped, breathlessly. “You’re- fuck, you’re the prettiest!”

His torment stopped immediately, but our position didn’t change. I was still trapped under his broad frame, his hands still on me, his hair almost tickling my face, he was that close. My breathing was going fast, trying to calm down after his attack, but his proximity didn’t help at all. For a moment, a long moment, we simply stared at each other, all fight leaving our bodies. Then, just as I wondered if anything was actually going to happen, he sat back up, busying himself with his laptop and fixing the blanket.

I almost missed it when he muttered, “For the record, I think you’re the prettiest, too.”

[bellewintersroe]

Max Verstappen X HornerDaughter!

Part 9 here’s the LINK to part 8. eeeeee I love drama, who’s ready for more?! Warnings: mentions of cursing, jealousy, cursing, arguments, Leni has a hard time admitting her feelings.

Max finds Carlos and Leni closer than ever, getting along like a house on fire. After a gruelling race in the Qatar heat and his win of the 2023 Grand Prix, he’s obviously hurt and confused when Leni barely congratulates him. When a few drinks are involved and there’s no escaping Max directly, he confronts her much to her dismay.

Taglist: @ironmaiden1313 @callsignwidow @fangirl125reader @norassimpingzone @roseseraj @eugene-emt-roe @copper-boom @its-elias-world @cassiopeiia24@larastark3107 @maxxiemoo @crashingwavesofeuphoria @18754389

“God it’s hot.” I fanned myself, complaining yet again to Carlos who sat besides me on the small couch, directly under the fans cold breeze.

“You are telling me.” The Spaniard shuffled in the chair. My gaze roamed up to the TV again, watching the race which was currently occurring just outside of this room. Carlos’s car faced technical difficulties which meant he couldn’t race today, not in this weather. I could see the effect it was having already on some of the drivers and I immediately began worrying about Max. The worry that consumed me was mixed with the sensation of my stomach that twisted and knotted every. Single. Time. I thought about Max. The past few weeks I’d avoided him completely, I didn’t attend Japan and now I was in Qatar I’d stayed out of his way completely.

We watched the whole race, occasionally jumping up and running outside. The sweat would cover my skin every time I went outside, so I figured it would be best just to stay inside. Already, Logan had retired from the race, there were incidents occurring left, right and centre. When the race did draw to a finish, I was on the edge of my seat, returning back to the Red Bull paddock perfectly in time for when Max crossed the finish line and became the Champion of the 2023 Grand Prix. My heart was in my throat, I cheered and celebrated for the driver like nothing had happened, I truly was happy for him, it was his third championship. I ensured I’d linger away from where Max was hugging everybody, I could be happy for him from a distance. It might’ve been the wrong move, but I just couldn’t bring myself to speak to him, not after we’d not talked since that night on the yacht. It wasn’t until I was heading out of the paddock did I come face to face with him. Nobody else, just Max. My heart tightened and I audibly gasped. He stared back to me, eyebrows slightly raised. He looked just as shocked as I did.

“Max!” I blinked, his lips pulled into a half smile, “ah- well done today, you deserved that win more than anybody.” I nodded surely. Max scanned over my face as though he was waiting for something else. “Thank you, Leni.” He sighed after a moment, sipping his water again. I forced a smile, before heading back past him, on my way. I heard him sigh once more as my face heated to a deep shade of red. I was mentally cursing to and at myself because of the longing I felt myself growing for him once again. That was seriously the most awkward thing I’d ever experienced. I was a horrible, stupid girl.

That even I tried not to go out. I’d decided it wouldn’t have been right if I was there, celebrating for Max when we hadn’t even spoke. Of course nobody knew of this but me and him, but somehow that made it all too worse. I’d talked to a few of my friends who thought I was literally crazy for just blanking him. Looking back in hindsight, they were right. Soon enough, I had both my dad and then Carlos begging me to come out. Carlos stated he was in a partying mood, which ‘wasn’t often these days’ so I’d have to come out. It turns out he had already been drinking in the hotel with Lando, which made perfect sense when they physically refused to move off my bed, feeding me alcohol until I got ready.

It’s fair to say I was absolutely steaming before I even got to the club. My inhibitions were lowered at a worrying rate, and I didn’t give two shits stumbling past paparazzi alongside two drivers, not from my fathers team. Besides, they didn’t give two shits about me anyway.

“Leni Horner, where is Max?!” One of them questioned. I snickered to myself, where was Max? Inside I presumed. Of course I wouldn’t know because I hadn’t spoken to him properly in weeks…

I’d like to have said the night was amazing, but I couldn’t remember the majority of it. That’s not me being dramatic or forgetful either, I was black out drunk, throwing up all the contents of alcohol before heading back to drink more. It wasn’t a good look on me. With some chewing gum and perfume, and a lovely girl who helped me in the girls bathrooms, I managed to freshen up, stumbling back out to where Carlos pulled me to get some air. He was flailing around, stumbling over his own two feet. I was laughing so hard that I collapsed onto my knees. The security didn’t like that so much and ushered us into a quieter part behind the outside area. In hindsight, considering the country we were in, we should’ve been a lot more careful. Thank god the security had kept an eye out on us because we were being dumb. Being so blindsided in amusement from Carlos, I completely failed to notice who else was sat in the outdoor area, watching our behaviour unfold.

“We have to act sober. Okay, one, two, three. Be sober.” I prepped up the Spaniard, hooking my arm around his. As if it was magic (or because it was Carlos Sainz) we were allowed back into the outdoor area. I pushed him onto a bench and sat besides him, giggling like a school girl whom had just been told off.

“Carlos- Carlos you’re too fucking funny!” I slurred out.

“Estoy tan jodidamente borracha, Leni. Oh no, esto no es bueno.” Whatever he was spewing in his native tongue, I felt my smile drop noticing who’d made their way over. Carlos fell backwards, into the wooden wall behind, sinking down. I didn’t have it in me to laugh, not when Max was the one who’d hurried over.

“Jesus Christ, man. What happened to you?” He began tugging on his friends arm. The nerves got the better of me, I began giggling uncontrollably. “Leni, help me sit him up.” Max spoke as I became borderline hysterical, trying to yank the man up off the floor. I don’t think I was much help, not when I slipped on the wooden floor myself and fumbled down with a harsh cry of laughter.

“Jesus.” Max muttered, not seeming too amused, especially when Carlos’s hand curled around my own, I shot him a glance to which he was staring directly at the contact. As soon as Carlos sat up, Max retrieved him a glass of water.

“You ok?” I asked the Spanish man. “Yeah.” He responded in the most monotone voice ever. “Leni, why did you stop racing?”

“Me? I just turned into a teenager.” Surprised by his question, I was honest in my response. “I should’ve kept doing it.”

“Yeah.” Carlos nodded as Max slid down across from us both, handing over two glasses of water, one for me, one for Carlos. Carlos gulped his down, whereas I sipped at mine awkwardly, thanking him without a glance in his direction.

“Max- did you know Leni used to race?” Carlos slurred out, water splashing from his glass, onto my bare leg. “Sorry.” He then proceeded to use his sleeve, wiping at my bare leg. “Carlos it’s fine.” I laughed, overly aware of how all this was looking, especially in front of Max.

“No, mate. I didn’t know that.” Max bluntly responded to which my gaze landed quickly on him. “I-I thought you knew.” I stammered, making direct eye contact with him. God, he looked angry, pissed off, I hated it- the worst thing was I made him feel this way.

“I must have forgot.” He then shrugged, reaching out and drinking from his glass of alcohol. My heart sunk and I completely turned away, tears pricking at my eyes pathetically. I had no reason to cry, absolutely none, but seeing him there hurt how badly I wanted him. I just couldn’t have him. How could he truly want me? Like it made no sense to me.

“I’m gonna go.” I stated, standing up on a whim. “I’ll come.” Carlos grumbled. “Oh, you’re going with him now are you?” Max scoffed in my direction, luckily, Carlos didn’t hear or catch on, but I could only stare back to Max with a horrified expression.

My mouth opened to respond something, but an overly excited Oscar came bounding over, giving us all big squeezes. “Hey guys!!” He greeted. Carlos seemed like the only person willing to match his temperament, I felt terrible, but when he took the Spaniard by the arm inside to dance some more, I decided that was the cue for my exit.

“Leni.” I heard Max sigh as I scurried away towards where drivers were already waiting for us. “You can’t go back alone.” Max huffed, pacing after me. I gripped my bag harshly, striding around the pathway around the back of the club to reach the exit.

“I wanna go, I don’t care.” I firmly spoke. “Look, I think we really need to have a talk.” He winced. My brows knotted as I stuck my tongue to the inner corner of my tongue. “I’m not- I can’t-” I began stumbling over my response. Max let out a sad scoff of laughter.

“Typical, running away from me again.”

My cheeks heated at his words, feeling an awkward sense of sickness bubble inside of me. I hated confrontation, especially with men, specifically those I liked. “Max I-”

“No, I get it. You regret what happened.” He outright spoke, I could barely look up at him, bothered by how truly wrong those words were. I never once regretted it in the sense of what happened, it was just weird for me.

“What?” I dumbly spoke, looking down to his shoes. “You know, you could’ve just told me. Rather than acting like I do not exist.” The Dutchman spoke, my teeth burrowed harsher into my bottom lip. “Why didn’t you just tell me, Leni?” He borderline pleaded, stepping a little closer. This time, I turned up to him again. He looked so hurt, so confused, I couldn’t believe I’d made him feel this way. I was selfish, so so selfish.

“Because…” I inhaled harshly. “Because?”

“You- you don’t get it Max.”

“No, I do. You don’t like me the same why I do to you!” He exclaimed, my heart tightened in a painful manner and I felt myself beginning to tear up.

“How can you? It’s so soon.” I gulped harshly, my gaze becoming blurry as I stared behind him, to whatever was happening in the distance.

“So soon for what?”

“You broke up with Kelly, what, a month ago?”

“Why does that matter?” His voice cracked, he seemed on the verge of more anger and when he pushed it once more, tears began falling from my eyes. “Leni that doesn’t dictate who-who I can like and when?!”

“Yes it does! I don’t want somebody who’s fresh out of a break up, thinking that they like me when they’re still hung up on their ex!”

“You knew how I felt about everything to do with that last relationship!” He harshly spoke. I shook my head, wiping my eyes.

“Like Jesus Christ, how much more clear could I have been?”

“You were clear enough when you told me all this whilst you were still together.” I blurted out, my emotions getting the better of me. Max stood back, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose.

“What the fuck can I do, Leni?”

“For what?” “To make you feel normal about me again, to-to stop all these stupid games.”

“I do feel normal about you.” My bottom lip blubbered.

“You don’t have to lie. You were willing to go back with Carlos.” Oh, wow.

“Why the fuck would I leave with Carlos?!” Judging by his expression he knew he’d fucked up. “I’m sorry for ignoring you, I really am I know it was childish, Max, but it doesn’t mean that I want anybody else!” I admitted, feeling like a weight had been lifted off my chest, literally.

“Wha- so then why not speak to me?” He stammered.

“Can we just go now?” I attempted to turn around but he hooked a hand around my arm gently. “Please tell me.” He gently spoke. My tearful gaze met his, stomach knotting at the eye contact. I had two choices, be honest with him, or lie yet again.

“I just- I’m scared Max, of how soon it all is after your break up. Everything just happened so quickly.”

“You don’t have to be scared. I like you, Leni. Like, a lot more than you know.” My acrylic nail was now between my teeth, his confession was so beautiful, I just had this bothersome fear inside of me. “It’s too soon, Max.” I whispered, my guard slowly building itself back up.

“It’s not.”

“It is for me.” I felt his hand slip off my arm gently. The two of us didn’t speak for a few seconds, Max sighed, leaning forwards and beginning to use his thumb to wipe my tears away. “That’s ok.” Max lightly spoke. “I’m sorry, Max.” I whispered.

“It’s ok.” He hushed again, the proximity between us was so close, it was comfortable, but I was still slightly shell shocked from the whole confrontation between us.

“I don’t regret what happened on the yacht.” I then added on, calming down from my tearful state. Max’s larger hand remained on my cheek, just gazing down to me, creating the most intimate thing I’d ever experienced.

“Like… I want you so badly, Max.” I admitted, watching him gulp at my words. He looked so beautiful, he was so gentle with me, and his expression of his feelings towards me made me feel insane. “I want you.” He whispered back, my hand smoothing onto his chest.

“I just- we can’t- it’s so soon.” My head then dropped once more. Max shuffled forwards, arms wrapping around me as he embraced me in a gentle hug. “I will wait for you, Leni.” He spoke the most romantic words I’d ever heard. “If you want time then we can just go on as normal.” He hushed. I nodded, sinking deeper into his hold, hands flattening over his back. I was positive this would create the most gruelling tension between us both, but truth be told I was too wasted to even consider that.

“Just please, no more ignoring me…”

[honestlyvan]

CONTROL ANNOTATED: DIDN’T WE JUST DO THIS?

(Also available on Dreamwidth!)

Hi! It’s me and @drdarling again! We wrote the Alan Wake 2 annotation for Ahti’s dialogue! I’m aware there’s been guides like this out for like three years but also I wanted to do it myself in the style of the previous guide, mostly out of curiosity to see how the style of his dialogue has changed because it’s… definitely different :’D

Once again thanks to Saikku and RH for the help with the translations, and once again Finnish is very regional and my translations are just one Finnish reading on what the fuck he is saying. The point here is to demonstrate that Ahti isn’t cryptic, he’s quite comprehensible but he’s also definitely just saying shit to mess with people.

Spoilers for all of Control past this point.

Ahti intro, points Jesse to the elevator:

There you are! You are here about the job. Janitor’s assistant. You need to go to the interview. Go that way to the elevator. Very good. I’m Ahti, the janitor, by the way. You’ll work for me. You can say I sent you. If they don’t hire you, niin johan on helvetti. There be work for the axe, take them behind the sauna, jumalauta.

“niin johan on helvetti” – cursing. “it (sure is/will be) hell” translates broadly to “there will be hell to pay”

“There be work for the axe” – “olla kirveelle töitä”, open-ended threat; something needs rectifying, with force if necessary

“take them behind the sauna” – “viedä saunan taakse”, “put someone out of their misery”, to execute someone. Saunas are usually built away from the house, so anything happening behind them would not be visible to the main house and yard.

Jesse: Ahti the janitor is a friendly face in my book.

Better than somebody with no face at all. Think about it, no face.

Jesse makes her way down to Ahti’s office in Maintenance:

Well done. You got the job. It’s place for congratulations. Jippii, saatana. (note from Autumn: Very deadpan delivery on this one that makes me lose it every time.) It happened in the last drop. I truly need an assistant.

“Jippii, saatana.” – “Yippee, (saatana)”, loanword from English.

“in the last drop” – “viime tipassa”, common idiom, “in the nick of time”

Jesse asks for help getting to the override to get the lockdown lifted:

Yes, yes. Easy peasy. It’s just around the corner. But first we need to get you working! Very small couple of hours job.

“just around the corner” – interesting case of Ahti using the correct English idiom rather than saying “behind the corner” as we’d say in Finnish.

“Very small couple of hours job.” – not an idiom, but a very common part of ESL English from a Finnish speaker, dropping verbs and particles.

Jesse inner monologues, “Something tells me it’s gonna be more than that.”:

Jahaa, jaa-a, you think there’s a dog buried in this? I can tell you are not a yesterday’s grouse’s son. That’s why you’ll make a great assistant. Very well, I’ll hit the facts on the table. Mä kyllä sanon perkele suoraan että this house has a vermin problem, a bad one. They’ve already messed up the cooling pumps and the power generators of power plant, perkele. And the pensioner inside is starting to feel the band around his head tighten. The situation needs to be fixed before the plant blows up and we all disappear like a fart in Sahara, perkele. But don’t you worry, I’ve left you clear instructions. You’ll catch the end of the thread before I go to my vacation. The works on the task board here you can do later when you have time.

“there’s a dog buried in this” – “koira haudattuna”, common idiom meaning that the situation is not what it seems, or there is a hidden (negative) side to the story being told.

“a yesterday’s grouse’s son” – “eilisen teeren poika”, common idiom, “born yesterday”

“Mä kyllä sanon perkele suoraan että” – “Perkele, I’ll say it (straight, directly), that”

“feel the band around his head tighten” – “vanne pään ympärillä kiristyy”, growing more agitated as the situation gets more serious. Sometimes you also hear “feel the band around the barrel tighten”, about situations that get more stressful before they resolve.

“like a fart in Sahara” – “kuin pieru Saharaan”, common turn of phrase, “into thin air”

“catch the end of the thread” – “langan päästä kiinni”, common saying, understanding the situation, “getting up to speed”

Jesse inner monologues, “Vacation? Right.”:

Yes. No-one's gonna cancel my holiday, or sheaths gonna rattle. But don’t worry at all. You’ll take care of it, and soon this crisis gonna be last winter’s snow. You better go now so you don’t have to run with your head as your third leg. The door in the back leads to the plant.

“sheaths gonna rattle” – “tulee tupenrapinat”, common idiom meaning that there’s going to be an argument or a fight. “The knives will be drawn”.

“last winter’s snow” – “menneen talven lumia”, water under the bridge.

“run with your head as your third leg” – “juosta pää kolmantena jalkana”, common idiom, to be in a rush.

Incidental dialogue hanging around in Ahti’s office throughout:

It’s time for a coffee break soon. Aah, kaffea.

“kaffe” – “coffee”, a Swedicism

Pensioner, yes. Northmoor, mister director. Starting to climb on the walls in his bachelor pad.

“to climb on the walls” – “kiipeillä seinille”, idiom, to act nervous and jumpy, “going spare”

Tango is a window into a Finn’s soul. It came from Suomi Finland. Anyone who says anything else is a lying goat. Perkele.

“a lying goat.” – “valepukki”, idiomatic. What it says on the tin.

(Translator’s note: Ahti is 100% lying when he says this. Autumn confirmed that this is a reference to the Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki talking about Finns inventing tango and sailors taking it to Argentina with them, but unlike Ahti we know he was joking.)

The Bureau is trying to dig a hole in their own cellar, looking for gold. Greedy will have a shitty end.

“dig a hole in their own cellar, looking for gold” – “kaivaa kultaa omasta kellarista”. As far as we can tell, this is not a saying anywhere in Finland, but as always this means it might just be an obscure one.

“Greedy will have a shitty end.” – “Ahneella on paskainen loppu”, a common saying. Exactly what it says on the tin.

Where did I leave my mop again? Pirulauta. Burnout, cosmonaut. I really need a holiday.

“Pirulauta” – “Devil, help me”, more commonly in the form “jumalauta” (god help me). The “devil” referenced in this is not a capital-letter Devil, but rather a folk devil/evil spirit.

“Burnout, cosmonaut” – Not directly a saying in Finnish. “Kosmonautti” gets used the same way “space case” does in English, he is berating himself for his attention slipping.                                             

The Containment Sector has blown to pussy’s splinters. The work won’t end even if you keep doing it.

“pussy’s splinters” – “vitun päreiksi.” “Vittu” is more properly translated as “cunt”, it’s the most common swear in modern Finnish. (Note from Saikku: In Ostrobothnia folks also say "pillun päreiksi", with "pillu" translating literally to "pussy".)

When the time comes, I’m gonna go on my vacation, like dad went into mom.

“like dad went into mom” – “kuin isä äitiin.” Exactly what it says on the tin. (Also not a saying, Ahti is just making a dirty joke.)

You know what’s the worst thing about this vermin? Saatana! The noise! They don’t appreciate good music. And that’s the reason they can go as far as pepper grows.

“go as far as pepper grows.” – “mennä niin kauas kuin pippuri kasvaa”, a common idiom. In essence, “fuck all the way off.”

The first thing I’m gonna do when I get to my vacation is to get drunk. Anyone who doesn’t respect that can go to hell’s spruce tree. Sausages on eyes. A drop won’t kill you and you can’t drown in a bucket.

“hell’s spruce tree” – “helvetin kuuseen”. This is a mistranslation from Ahti, since the more appropriate translation would be “to the backforests of hell”. Also, in essence, “fuck all the way off”.

“Sausages on eyes.” – “nakit silmillä”, common idiom, “extremely drunk”

“A drop won’t kill you and you can’t drown in a bucket.” – “Ei tippa tapa ja ämpäriin ei huku”, a reference to a pop song by Irwin Goodman of the same name about drinking lots of booze.

The Research Sector is the worst. The doctors don’t know how to clean after themselves. That Arish fellow is not a useless guy. Respects his elders. Makes good coffee. Yep yep. The janitor is the one who makes everything running and under control.

What A Mess: Burn The Trash dialogue:

Yep. Burn the trash. Throw it in the fire. Burn it all. Burn it into a reindeer, not into a moose.

“Burn it into a reindeer, not into a moose.” – (Translator’s note: *drags hands over face*) The word for ashes/cinders, “poro”, is a homonym with the word for reindeer, also “poro”. It’s a play on words.

Ahti dialogue on The Clog:

My old enemy, the Clog, is blocking the pipes. You need to deal with that shit. He’s my very old enemy, the clog, Paska.

“Paska” = shit

He’s very clever, he’s trying to sneak in. We got him caught with his hand in the fish trap. Get rid of him.

“caught with his hand in the fish trap” – “jäädä rysän päältä kiinni”, a common idiom. “Get caught with your pants down”.

It’s back. What would kill a bad thing? Paska mikä paska.

“What would kill a bad thing?” – “Mikä pahan tappaisi”, a common turn of phrase. What it says on the tin.

“Paska mikä paska” – “The shit is what it is.”

Ahti dialogue while fixing the power plant:

Broke. Gone to shit. Fix it fast. If the plant goes boom, we can throw the spoon in the corner.

“Gone to shit.” – “mennyt paskaksi”, translates directly.

“throw the spoon in the corner” – “heittää lusikka nurkkaan”, idiomatic, “buy the farm.” (This is a slightly odd translation to me, as it is being used more in the same sense as “throw in the towel”, creating the implication that dying in huge explosions is voluntary.)

It’s fried up. You need to fix it before the old twig-pants inside the plant has a shit-fit.

“the old twig-pants” – “vanha vihtahousu”, idiomatic. Broadly “that old devil”, in Finnish it’s common to have many names for evil or just strong spirits, because calling them by their proper name invites them to come bother you. (“Vihtahousu” gets translated in AW2 as “Ol’ Scratch”)

“shit-fit” – “paskahalvaus”, interesting case of a missed opportunity for a funny Finnicism in the form of “shit-stroke/shit-arrest”

Ahti dialogue while clearing darkness:

Darkness everywhere. New day, same old bloody shit, said the old lady. Like tar, but good for nothing. Get rid of it!

“New day, same old bloody shit, said the old lady.” – “Uusi päivä, samaa vanhaa paskaa, sanoi vanha täti.” This is not an idiom, but the “x, said y” format is a common one for proverbs, and a common way for people to quote wisdom from their family.

Ah, tar. Sauna, tar and booze, they’ll get you through anything! Like the winters in Finland. Long dark winters. As dark as in a sack, perkele.

“Sauna, tar and booze, they’ll get you through anything!” – this is a paraphrase of a saying that goes “if sauna, tar and booze doesn’t cure it, the disease is lethal”.

“As dark as in a sack” – “pimeää kuin säkissä”, common turn of phrase, what it says on the tin.

Ahti dialogue while cleaning up Mold:

The air in here is getting bad. The vents, they are full of mold-shit. It’s no good for you! Headache, nausea, mold-lung... Depression, but how can you tell when you’re a Finn? Helvetin home, eikö siitä nyt saatana pääse eroon.

“Helvetin home, eikö siitä nyt saatana pääse eroon.” – “(Helvetin) mold, is there really no way to get rid of it, (saatana)!” The sentence is in passive voice (“Can it not be gotten rid of”) which gets used in Finnish a lot to refer to ongoing problems.

You need to scrub that clean or there goes my reputation and honor. And then the good won’t swing.

“reputation and honor” – “maine ja kunnia”, common turn of phrase. The “honour” here does not mean personal honour, but rather community reputation.

“the good won’t swing” – “ei hyvät heilu”, common turn of phrase, usually used to threaten someone akin to “you’ll be sorry.”

More of it! This thing is completely leaving from the mitten. Perkele, saatana, helvetin helvetti. Loma tulossa ja tällästä paskaa.

“leaving from the mitten” – “lähteä lapasesta”, common idiom, “get out of hand”.

“Loma tulossa ja tällästä paskaa.” – “The holidays are coming and (we have to deal with) this kind of shit.”

Ahti dialogue while taking care of the plants:

They are very good listeners, you can tell them anything. Or you can sing to them. They like that.

For the plants in Investigations:

The plants in here have died standing up. Piruparat. Lighten them up!

“died standing up” – “kuolleet pystyyn”, common turn of phrase that gets used about neglected plants a lot.

“piruparat” – “poor devils”, again with the small first letter, referencing folk devils and evil spirits.

Ahti tells Jesse to take a break:

Hurry is not good for you. And the contract says you can take a break. Ten points and a parrot patch. Now you know what this job is all about. Could be worse. There are good benefits.

“Ten points and a parrot patch” – “kymmenen pistettä ja papukaijamerkki”, common turn of phrase, “ten points and a gold star”. Comes from an old children’s show called “Sirkus Papukaija” (“Circus Parrot”)

When you’re done with all the tasks:

Tattis! A crazy person works hard, and a wise person gets away with less. Happy vacation to me!

“Tattis” – “thank you”, a Swedicism

“A crazy person works hard, and a wise person gets away with less.” – “hullu huhkii, viisas pääsee vähemmällä”, a proverb about working smarter, not harder.

Here, have a little knick-knack as a thanks from me. Not too owly at all!

“Not too owly at all!” – “ei pöllömpi”, idiomatic, here meaning “impressive” or “well done”.

Ahti goes on vacation:

Now this boy left, said the son of Annikki Tähti. My assistant will keep work in the glove and the house standing. Lomille lomps, holiday homps.

“Now this boy left, said the son of Annikki Tähti.” – (Translator’s notes: *long pained groan*) This is a strange half-pun, half reference. The phrase usually shows up in Finnish as “nyt meikä lähti, sanoi Annikki Tähti” (“I’m leaving now, said Annikki Tähti”, a famous Finnish iskelmä singer who is not relevant to the phrase other than to create alliteration). Ahti is doubling up on the alliteration and saying complete nonsense as a result.

“keep work in the glove and the house standing” – “homma hanskassa ja tupa pystyssä”, common idiom, what it says on the tin.

“Lomille lomps, holiday homps.” – “Lomille lomps/lompsis” is a persistent popculture reference that lives on among Finnish conscripts and the rest of the culture. Ahti’s translation is quite accurate, although “lomps/lompsis” can be used as an onomatopoeia for stepping into a puddle/swamp, while “homps” means nothing. Alliterative jokes like this are common in Finnish.

Dialogue during Finnish Tango when you first enter the Ashtray Maze:

Broke. There is no way through. Badly made. Wolf shit. Somebody cut costs in the wrong place. Contact the janitor if you need to get through.

“Wolf shit” – “susipaska”. The word for wolf, “susi” is idiomatically used to mean broken, flawed or unusable, and is here a modifier for “paska” rather meaning the droppings of the animal.

Jesse contacts Ahti in The Foundation:

Aah. Aijai. Vikingit saatana. Ei kestänyt ruottalaisen veljekset kunnon löylyjä.

“Aijai” – Filler phrase. Literally means “ouch/ouchie”, but can be used to signal appreciation.

“Vikingit saatana. Ei kestänyt ruottalaisen veljekset kunnon löylyjä.” – “(Saatana), them vikings. The Swedish brothers couldn’t stand a proper löyly.” “Löyly” is both the steam from throwing water on the stove in a sauna, and the humid warmth that follows from “throwing löyly”. Ahti is making fun of the Andersons for not tolerating a hot sauna. It’s a very common shot across the border for Finns to say Swedes don’t tolerate “real” löyly. (Translator’s note: Ahti is using “ruottalaisen” rather than “ruotsalaiset”, as is typical of the Ostrobothnian dialect)

Hey, girl. For a Finn, holiday is holy, perkele.

“holiday is holy” – The word for any nationally mandated day off (+ Sundays) is “pyhäpäivä”, literally “holy day”. Extended national holidays, such as the three days around Christmas, and even long weekends can be called “pyhät”, the holies.

Did you miss me? Did you have piss in your sock? Yes. Now now now now. Bark don’t make a wound. You did good. Take my cassette player. You can borrow it. The song is a present from my friends to you. It will get you through the maze so you can do your job.

“piss in your sock” – “kusi sukassa”, common idiom, meaning “frozen with fear”

“Bark don’t make a wound.” – “ei haukku haavaa tee”, common proverb, “sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me”

Ahti in Jesse’s Hiss nightmare:

Are you sure you are not lost? Maybe you can find yourself in the Director’s Office. You should keep trying. You are getting closer. Welcome back. I knew I chose a good assistant.

Closing notes: Despite Ahti having significantly less dialogue in Control than he does in AW2, this document ended up nearly as long as the other one. All the way through working on this I’ve been commenting on how his English is both weirdly better and worse in AW2, like, his use of English overall is a lot less stumbling and his vocabulary seems larger, but at the same time he uses less English, relies on just directly saying in Finnish what he’s thinking, using a lot more filler Finnish… It’s an interesting choice overall.

I’m not sure it’s relevant to the character, but having seen it I’m now gonna be very interested to hear what he sounds like if he shows up in Control 2 or other relevant RCU projects :3c Hope you had fun, and maybe learned something new.

[heliads]

I recently re-read the hunger games trilogy, so can you write a katniss fic with a fem!reader being secretly haymitch's daughter?? nothing much, just the two of them spending time together, hunting or spending some quality time together, ignoring the capitol, the world and individual problems to enjoy the hours they have together

please let me write for thg i love this request

masterlist

It is a terrible thing to be a Victor. Most people only look surface level, choosing to focus on the gilded trappings and gaudy praise the Capitol heaps upon you. Beneath the facade, living with the memories of what you’ve done is far harder than finding a way to burn through all the money they give you for killing twenty-three other children while all the world watches on. The price of blood was always worse than the price of gold, anyway.

You’ve seen this once before already. The Capitol does its best to stay up to date on every little detail of their lovely Victors’ lives, but when Haymitch Abernathy had his first child, he did everything in his power to ensure that no one would ever find out. That infant would live in someone else’s home, kept out of sight of the cameras and the Arena alike, and she would grow up to be you.

It wasn’t the worst of lives. It kind of was. No one can pick their place in life when they first come into the world, obviously. Otherwise, we’d all be living up in the Capitol and no one would be down here, choking on coal dust, waiting for their bones to turn ash so their body can be burned to heat the homes of the rich and prosperous a million miles away from them.

Haymitch watched out for you as best he could. He sent your foster parents money when he remembered it, always a little out of schedule, a touch too much to cover up for the fact that he forgot the last time around. He started remembering as you got older, though. He stopped feeling ashamed of you and started feeling ashamed of himself.

You see him a lot, although the frequency of your meetings always picks up around the time of the Games. He needs it as a reminder that not everything about him always leads to death and ruin. Once in a blue moon, Haymitch Abernathy is responsible for something good. Something, someone, like you.

There’s a schedule to the Games, one that isn’t known or enforced by the Peacekeepers, and it goes like this:  first there is the before, and then there is the after. Prior to the start of the Hunger Games ceremonies, Haymitch will be over at your place. You’ll talk a lot. Both of you will do your best to keep the conversations light. Remember when you were a kid, crawling around all the time? How you used to laugh like crazy whenever it snowed?

Then he’ll get dragged off by the Capitol to go mentor two kids until they die, and then you reach the second phase of the schedule, the after. Haymitch will hole up in his estate in the Victor’s Village, the only occupied house there, the only living being around because he couldn’t save a single person other than himself, and you will find him because no one else will. It’s quiet most of the time. He doesn’t want to think about anything at all, and certainly not the additional two kids who placed their faith in him just for him to let them down again.

After a while, he’ll manage to claw his way out of it, and then you’ll have the better part of a year before the cycle repeats. You’ve had plenty of time to grow used to this pattern, and you’ve perfected it like a pastime. The right words to say get easier to remember when you say them every year. And now, as a reward for getting it right, you get to repeat the process with Katniss Everdeen.

You say that like it’s a bad thing. It’s not. Truth be told, it’s easier spending time with Katniss than anyone else, even right after her first Games when everything is bloody and terrible. You could see yourself doing this again next year, and the next one, and the next. You don’t think you would mind it. Not at all.

Perhaps that’s why Haymitch set this up in the first place. Maybe he knew it would be okay. Or maybe he was just so ridiculously pleased that he managed to save not one tribute but two that he was only thinking about prolonging Katniss’ survival. The reasons don’t always matter. What happened, happened, and secretly you’re glad of it now.

Katniss had been locked in a death spiral of nightmares and bad memories. It soon became clear that she would lose herself to it if someone didn’t intervene, so someone did. Haymitch took Katniss by the shoulders, shook her a little and told her to get it together, and pointed her to you. You knew what it was like to befriend someone who wanted to shut out the world, who couldn’t sleep without nightmares and couldn’t talk without thinking that someone was watching. You could understand Katniss better than anyone, and Haymitch knew it. Daughters are such wonderful pawns to play, aren’t they?

Again, a cruel way to put it, but this is the truth nonetheless. It’s what Katniss suspected the first time you visited her house, and the second, but after a couple of weeks passed and it grew obvious that you weren’t giving up on her without a fight, she begrudgingly let you in. The two of you had been observing each other for years now, the consequence of there only being so many girls your age in a small town in District Twelve, but things accelerated rapidly after the Games.

You’ll never be entirely certain why. Katniss doesn’t let people in, and she threw up her walls tenfold after she partook in the Hunger Games, unable to discern if someone was talking to her because they wanted to or if they wanted to kill her. She even started growing distant from Gale, because Gale didn’t understand her completely, not anymore. Not like you did.

Over the course of the summer, Katniss’ icy demeanor started to melt. She is hesitant and cautious, but she still smiles at your offhand jokes, always a little surprised, like she can’t believe she’s having this good of a time either. The two of you start meeting up in the forest surrounding District Twelve where no one can see you, where it’s just the two of you and the blissful sunlight waving through endless flurries of leaves above your heads.

And, not according to plan, you realize that you’re starting to fall for her. Katniss is like no one you’ve ever met before, even your dad. You knew how to operate around Haymitch, but Katniss doesn’t require an assembly guide or how-to explanation. You just know her. It is as easy as that.

After realizing such a thing as that, how could you not begin to love her? You can steal your dad’s drinks and get properly sloshed on them, but it’ll never match the tipsiness you feel when you look at her; when she laughs at one of your jokes, always reluctant at first but more easily as she gets more used to you. It makes you want to try again and again, and so you do. Katniss listens every time. She says she likes to hear you.

Instead of running away, you decide to embrace the feeling. You head to the woods more and more often, although never at the risk of the Peacekeepers’ attention. Katniss never tells you when she’s going out, nor do you mention when you’re out here, but the two of you have a habit of finding each other nonetheless. You turn around and there she is, emerging from a stand of trees; she crosses a bank at the same time as you; you climb a tree to get a better vantage point of the forest and you’re instantly drawn to the sight of her doing the same across a clearing. Katniss makes sense.

If you squint your eyes just right, you can make your entire world double. The hazy afterimages of present day will swim before you, a hair out of line but still there, still two instead of one. For example, right now, walking through the woods beyond District Twelve, it’s as if you can see two exact images of the current moment instead of only one.

On one version of this day a few years ago, when you hide away from the world in the forbidden greenery past your district’s limits, you come across Katniss Everdeen and you hide from her, too. You do not know her. Not well, at least. You see her and pretend otherwise. She does the same. She heard your footsteps first and thought herself visited by a deer instead of a girl. Her finger tensed on her bowstring, but she released it the second your face finally came into view. Katniss could not kill a person.

Would not. Katniss can kill a person, as it turns out, she can outlive twenty-two tributes through various purposes and keep one other alive, then do it again, but she does not know that yet. All Katniss knows in this past moment, this one half of a fractured memory, is that she will not kill you, and that is true today, too.

On the other version, the one that happens today, you do not run from Katniss, you go to her. That is the whole purpose of risking the Peacekeepers’ wrath by ducking under the fence to escape to the forest. The wilderness means Katniss, and Katniss means you’ll be able to spend another day relatively free from the concerns of a girl from District Twelve who has increasingly little between herself and the violence of not having enough.

Katniss doesn’t turn when you approach, but you can hear the quiet smile in her voice when she admonishes you, “You’re going to scare away all my game.”

You chuckle. “No, no. I’m drawing them out of the bush so you can shoot them. It’s teamwork.”

“If it were teamwork,” she argues, “you would also have a bow.”

You lift a shoulder. “I would never dare steal your favorite weapon. I want you to feel important.”

This does make her laugh. Almost indignantly, yes, but still a laugh. Still a win for you. She manages to nab a few birds before setting her bow down for the morning. The two of you sit side by side in the tall grass, a cool breeze blowing upon your faces, bringing with it the tender tangy scent of the forest.

Usually, neither of you have ever suffered from awkwardness when you’re out here. You could spend hours out here, not saying a word, and it would be just as fulfilling as if you’d spoken the entire time. Today, though, there’s something stuck on the tip of your tongue, a truth that refuses to go unsaid no matter how you fight it.

At last, you give in and, keeping your eyes resolutely ahead, you tell her what’s on your mind. “I’m glad you’re with me, Katniss.”

You can see Katniss frowning out of the corner of your eyes. “Where else would I be?”

You roll your eyes. “You know what I mean. You could have heard me coming and avoided me the second I stepped into the forest. Probably would have caught more, too.”

Katniss shakes her head doubtfully. “No, we’re good. This is good.”

She sets her jaw determinedly, like this settles everything. It does, in a way. It gives you the courage to continue. “I’m glad to hear it. I like spending time with you.” A pause. “I like you.”

Katniss’ brow knits. “Why would you like me?” Genuinely confused, she adds on, “I’ve done terrible things, Y/N.”

“We’re all terrible,” you whisper back softly.

She rolls her eyes. “I’ve been in the Games. You haven’t.”

This is true. No matter how much time you spend with Haymitch or Katniss, nor how many stories you hear about the Hunger Games, it will never be the same as actually taking part in them yourself. With all luck, you never will. Both Haymitch and Katniss would fight to keep you out of them, and then to keep you alive, should that happen, but the possibility shrinks with every year as you get older.

“I still want you,” you tell her. More the empty forest air; you can’t quite say this to her face, not yet. The fear of rejection after everything is too great a burden to bear.

When you do risk a glance over at her, though, Katniss doesn’t look affronted. Instead, she looks more at peace than you’ve ever seen her. Slowly, carefully, her face upturned to catch the morning sun, Katniss smiles again. You’re not even sure that she’s aware of doing it. It is simply the only way she can process that this, you wanting her, would make her happier than anything else.

And, sitting here in the forest, surrounded by a million memories of all that you have done together, a thousand hopes of all that you have yet to do, you look over at Katniss and you know. You know that she loves you. You know that she can’t say it, not yet, not until she’s certain that you love her as much as she loves you.

She will tell you, though. In time. Perhaps it’ll happen another day out here past the confines of District Twelve, in a space that has always been safe to the two of you and will thus protect her from the fallout of confessing to a friend. Perhaps she’ll tell you while you’re asleep next to her, to avoid a response, or perhaps she’ll tell you while you’re pretending to be asleep, so she knows you’re heard and you don’t have to tell her anything.

Or, maybe she’ll just say it now, unspoken but still startlingly loud, audible in every glance your way, every faint smile she never bothers to hide. That, you think, would be enough.

hunger games tag list: @w1shes43, @ilovexavierthrope

all tags list: @wordsarelife

[a-heart-attack-ow]

The Arrangement. Part Eight

Part Six

Part Seven

Part Eight: Smut/unedited

The cameras flashed like lightning snaking across a dark sky. Blinding and magical all at the same time. I held the soup ladle with my left hand as I’d been instructed to, my massive black diamond ring on display to my audience. I smile widely, making sure to remember that the smile needs to reach my eyes to be believable. Before me was a line of homeless individuals waiting for me to serve them. I’d done work with the soup kitchens before, but this was the first time that I had photographers watching my every move. I try to focus on the people I’m serving, the camera flashing as daunting for them as it is for me. I recognize some of the faces of the people in line and I greet them accordingly, an action that makes the cameras flash in another quick frenzy. I serve the food and try to remain focused on the people I want to bring awareness to. I mentally remind myself that this is why I’m doing this. 

Well, one of the reasons why I’m doing this. Aside from keeping my in-laws happy and aiding their goal of making Colby Brock’s image better to the public. Aside from the fact that if I don’t do this my father could pay the price for my insubordination. 

Worse than he already had. 

I try to shake the thought from my head, my focus returning to my work. I try to remember all of the points that Sam had walked me through this morning. The angles I needed to stand at and the facial expressions I needed to maintain appearances. 

Appearances that couldn’t indicate the agony bubbling beneath the surface of my skin.

The true nature of the family I married into. The true nature of what my husband got up to on behalf of his family. My smile grows as I serve the last person in line, my eyes locking with the cameras. 

As if on command, I feel Colby’s hand on the small of my back as he joins me at my side, the sensation uncomfortable and alien after the past seven months since that night. Months that had made us strangers once more. Except when there was a camera pointed in our direction, then we had a show to put on. He kisses the side of my head, my eyes fluttering closed. My heart skips a beat when he does this, the spark still evident between the two of us. 

God I loved him. Despite everything I loved him. Despite the distance that had grown between us.

He feels it too. The spark. I can tell by the way that his fingertips lightly rub where his hand is resting on the small of my back. A small reassuring gesture. I open my eyes and look over at him, our gazes meeting. 

Suddenly, it feels like it’s just the two of us. The way that it should be.

I want to tell him I love him, but I don’t. Instead, I simply smile up at him and he smiles back. The rest of the event passes by in a blur and before I know it, he’s holding my hand and guiding me to the car. Making sure the cameras see that we’re holding hands. It’s not until we are in the car and he pulls away that we drop the act. His hands grip the wheel tightly as he drives, his eyes on the road ahead. 

I can feel he wants to say something, but he doesn’t. He’s quiet. 

The way that he had been for the past seven months. Since that night.

Sure, we still fucked, but he seemed more reserved around me. More determined to only truly interact when he had to. He slept next to me every night and brought me along with him to his meetings with his associates, but I couldn’t place why he was so distant. I kept repeating that night in my head and I couldn’t figure out what I’d done wrong. He was just hot and cold and hard to read. 

Without realizing it, I’d been watching him for too long and he noticed. His jaw clenches and his eyes remain focused on the road ahead.

“There isn’t anyone watching us, you don’t have to pretend you care.” 

His words hurt and I can’t stop my eyes from watering. I couldn’t understand why he was so mad at me. I hadn’t done anything to warrant this response. I’d done what I was told the entire time we’d been together. This entire arranged marriage, I’d been good and now he was punishing me for something I wasn’t aware of.

I just couldn’t figure out what that something was. 

I hadn’t been unfaithful or strayed. All that had happened was my father got hurt by his parents and ever since then he was distant. The tears sting my eyes as I look down at my dress covered stomach. Down at the secret I’d been keeping from everyone for the last three weeks. 

I’m pregnant.

The removal of the I.U.D. had been a success and now I was carrying the heir to the Brock Family Estate. 

Just like I’d been told to.

The tears slip out silently as the weight of my situation hits me. I know that I needed to tell Colby, but I didn’t want to. Not when he’d been acting like this. I wasn’t even sure he’d be happy about the baby. 

Would he be upset that things were going to change? Would things get worse when they did? 

I tuck my hair behind my ear and remain silent as I break down in the passenger seat. I don’t know if he’s noticed, but I decide that I don’t care if he has. All I do is try to control my breathing as he pulls up to the gate outside of our house, buzzing security to let us inside. He parks the car in our driveway loop and I don’t wait for him to turn off the car before unbuckling and getting out of the vehicle. 

My feet move along the gravel of the driveway and up the thirteen marble stairs that lead up to our front door. I hear him turn off the car and get out. The sound of the car door slamming behind him the moment I reach the front door. I leave the door wide open for him, but I don’t make it too far into the house before I’m met by Sam’s sympathetic blue eyes. He sat on the steps of the grand staircase, waiting for an update on today’s events.  A look of confusion flashes over his face as he studies the tears escaping me. He glances behind me at Colby when the front door closes. 

“What the fuck did you do to her?”

He growls at Colby, standing up from the steps. The blonde brushes past me, his hands going for Colby’s black button up as he pulls his friend in close. I turn to face the two of them, my tear soaked face now evident to Colby. From the look on his face, he didn’t know I was crying, but now that he does an undetectable look flickers over his face. 

“Sam, please. He didn’t do anything to me. He just said something rude in the car. I’m sorry for getting upset.”

The words fall from my lips in a sad desperate tone. A tone that causes Sam to look over at me. His grip is still firm on Colby, who doesn’t move out of Sam’s grasp. 

“Don’t say sorry Emilia. This entire time that you’ve been here it’s always you apologizing for his behavior towards you. It’s fucked up and I’m tired of it…”

He pauses looking from me to his friend and adopted brother.

“... You’ve been treating her like shit since our parents hurt her father. As if it’s her fault or something, but if it's anyone’s fault it's yours. You’re supposed to protect her and you should’ve been the one to talk to mom and dad before anything happened to her dad in the first place. Instead, you ran away and did a delivery that any one of the guys could’ve done. You just didn’t want to step up.” 

Sam’s words hit hard to my husband and I can tell. It's in the way that he looks at Sam, the bitter look of disgust that overtakes his handsome face. My tears worsen at the words, my hand moving to my nonexistent baby bump. I can’t help but the feeling of heartbreak that I’m experiencing will kill me. Surely, I would shatter underneath all of this weight. 

“I’m pregnant.”

The words fall from my mouth in a gasp. Like a breath that had been held for too long. The desire to keep it a secret seemed to vanish under the tension I hadn’t been expected to feel today. The moment I speak, it’s like the air has been sucked out of the room. 

Two sets of eyes stare back at me in shock. Two mouths agape at the newest development. A sob escapes me as I look at Sam, my heart breaking at the look of kindness that he directs to me. Over the past seven months, Kris, Celina, and Sam had been my only friends at the house while my husband had chosen to ignore me. 

Until he wanted a fuck.

Even the other guys that worked with Colby had come by to visit. I’d become friends with Corey, Johnnie, Jake, and Nate. What would they all think when they found out? Would they look at me like Sam is right now? I hate to imagine how disabling that would be to experience. How their looks of sympathy might be the straw that breaks me completely. 

“When were you going to tell me?” Colby’s voice rasps in a mixture of frustration and disbelief. The tone of his voice is enough to make me want to snap and instantly I’m defensive. 

“I don’t know Colbs, considering you only truly talk to me now when there’s a camera stuck in our faces I wasn’t sure.”

His eyes narrow at my words. 

“What about last night when I was balls deep in you? Or this morning? You didn’t think to tell me then?”

There’s a smirk that finds the corner of his lips. The same smirk he wore whenever he talked about fucking me. A smirk that normally got me hot and bothered, but now made me want to slap him. This time I look at him with a clenched jaw, anger radiating through me. 

“Fuck you…”

The words come out in a broken sob. It had been years since I’d let myself get so angry that I cried.

“... All I’ve done is love you. Despite everything and every gut feeling that told me not to. All I’ve ever wanted was for you to be the bright spot in this fucked up situation and for months you were. I thought maybe everything would be okay, but you took that from me the same night your parents chose to threaten me…”

Sam lets go of Colby and moves to my side, holding me against him as I break down, my knees wobbling. 

“... And the worst part is I’m still in love with you. Even though it’s clear you aren’t anymore. I don’t know what happened that night, but I’ve missed you so much. I’ve been mourning you and you didn’t even notice. I’ve been so alone even when you’re next to me and it's been agony.”

I stop speaking because I can’t say another word. I just crumble against Sam and his arms wrap around me as I sob against his chest.

 I hear him mutter something to Colby about ‘getting the fuck out of here’. 

But I can’t bring myself to care. 

I’m so tired of caring.

—

I fell asleep on the couch after spending hours crying into Sam’s lap, his fingers playing with my hair to soothe me. I don’t know how long I’d been out before I felt someone lift me from the couch, their arms strong as they held me tightly against them. The smell of his cologne is all that gives me the hint that it's Colby’s arms I’m in. Despite our arguing earlier, he gives my head a soft tender kiss. His grip on me tighter when he starts to take me up the stairs. It’s this softness that had made me fall in love with him in the first place, a softness that I’d been missing recently. 

“I got you darling.”

He whispers once he reaches the top of the stairs. I’m still out of it enough to be sleeping, but awake enough to know that he’s bringing me to our bedroom. Once we are inside, he lays me down on the bed and makes sure to pull the comforter up over me. I feel him brush the hair out of my face as he sighs. 

“I don’t know if you can hear me, but I have to say this now or I won’t say it at all. The dinner with my parents was harder than I let on. Yeah I cried like a little bitch and you saw that, but it's the way my parents view me that really got under my skin. I have a history of messing up or not being enough of what my parents wanted me to be. I never worked hard enough, I never kept secrets well enough, and then I messed up with you. The thing that happened with your father should’ve been avoided, I should’ve done the talking that night we had dinner with my parents. They saw that you’d become someone I cared for, that I didn’t have you under control and in line with what they wanted you to be with me. So they hurt you to punish me. I am so sorry about that...” 

He pauses to take another deep breath.

“... That’s why I’ve been so distant. If they knew that I was keeping you in line and not letting my feelings for you cloud my judgment they wouldn’t hurt you again. But in doing that, I’ve hurt you and I honestly didn’t mean to do that. I am still in love with you Emilia. I’m so proud of you and your ability to keep your head up in all of this. I promise to be better about communicating and I promise to be a better husband. I promise to be the best dad I can be. I want a future with you, not just an image in front of a camera. I hope that you’ll let me do that. I hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me.”

He finishes speaking without realizing I’ve opened my eyes. He’d been looking forward the entire time that he didn’t notice until he felt my gaze. A small smile finds his lips when our eyes meet.

A smile I don’t return. Instead I look at him blankly, my body still tired from the hysterics brought on by today. I’ve never cried as hard as I cried today. My heart hadn’t ever shattered as badly as it had today. A simple sorry wasn’t going to do it and I needed to stick to that. Even though the sight of him in only his black sweats causes my mind to wander for a second, desire laced deep within me despite it all. 

“This cycle needs to stop. The hot and cold bullshit has to stop. We are having a baby and I’m not going to allow this type of atmosphere for them. You’re either all in now or I’m not doing this anymore. I’ll have our child, but I’ll stay in my own room and keep up appearances for the sake of my father’s life. But if you don’t want us then I’m done.”

He listens to what I have to say, truly listens to every word and contemplates. Not even when I sit up in our bed and look at him does he speak. He really mulls it over and I do appreciate that. We’d both spoken more words to each other in the last few minutes than we had in months. 

I missed hearing him speak.

I shake the thought out of my head as he reaches for me, his hands pulling me onto his lap. I try not to meet his gaze as he does this, but it’s no use. He places a hand under my chin and focuses his attention on me. 

“I want us.” 

He speaks so softly that I almost can’t hear him. Like he’s afraid that he’s going to upset me again if he speaks any louder. I place my hands on his bare chest and breathe out a deep sigh as I trace the tattoo above his heart. He’d explained what it was to me once, a symbol that meant ‘protect your heart’ , something I thought was cute, but now I look at it and I wish that I’d done the same. My heart had been through the ringer for the last year.

Year.

The thought enters my head as I recall the date. One year ago today we’d been married. An anniversary that snuck up on us both with cruel irony.

“We’ve been married an entire year Mr. Brock.”

I state lifelessly as I swallow hard. He nods as if he already knew it, something that makes today worse. He had to choose today of all days to be an ass. 

“Has it all been bad, my darling wife?”

He asks. Eyes trained on me. 

“No, some of it has been good. But my husbands a real dick sometimes.”

I respond quickly, unable to stop myself from smiling when he feigns offense. He places his hands on either side of my waist and I can feel what direction we’re heading in. He bites down on his bottom lip and focuses on how my breathing hitches. Slight annoyance with my own body’s inability to chill the fuck out overtakes me briefly, before he places his lips to mine in caution. 

I don’t bother trying to fight how good he feels as he kisses me. Nor do I bother with the fact that he’s lifting up my dress, his hands finding my thighs. Instead, I lean into it, my hands on top of his as I help him unwrap me. He groans at the action, satisfied that I want him as badly as he wants me. But wanting Colby has never been an issue for me, which is how I’d ended up in this mess in the first place. I can feel him getting hard beneath me, harder as I grind myself against him. An action that practically causes him to growl in sexual frustration. He moves me off of his lap and into our bed, his body straddling mine. He keeps his attention on me as he slides my underwear down my legs and lifts my dress up. 

“I’m sorry I made you cry.”

He rasps, placing light kisses on the inside of my thighs. I lay there with my eyes fluttering closed as the sensation of him kissing further and further up my thigh fills me with anticipation. Anticipation that feels worth it the moment I feel his mouth against my aching core, his tongue dipping inside of my slick sex. The feeling of his mouth was always incredible, but today it felt even better. Today I could feel the extra care he was spending on me as if his tongue was trying to atone for his actions earlier. My back arches into the bed beneath me as his tongue works on me, soft whimpers escaping me with each flick of his mouth. He works on me for several minutes of indescribable pleasure, my head spinning the entire time. I hear him chuckle darkly to himself as he can feel me getting closer to the edge. 

“Come on baby, cum all over daddy’s tongue.”

He speaks in a lower register as he whispers the words against my needy sex. The invitation is all that I need to release, his tongue lapping up my orgasm with feverish need. A moan escapes my lips as I come down from my high. My hands grip the comforter I’m laying on top of as my chest heaves up and down. 

“Fuck, Colbs.”

I whimper as his mouth moves from me, his body suddenly straddling mine. In the darkness his pale blue eyes find me, his face serious as he studies me closely. I can tell he wants to say something, but that he’s unsure of what exactly to say. He knew words wouldn’t change my frustration. He needed his actions to reflect a change, but he wasn’t sure where to start. 

I didn’t know either.

But at this moment I make the executive decision to deal with all of that later. Instead I move my left hand to the back of his head, guiding his lips to mine. His breathing gets heavy, when I deepen the kiss and my fingers lace in his hair. Moments like this made me thankful for the electricity burning between the both of us. It was undeniable and magnetic. 

It had always been. Regardless of whatever else was happening at the time. 

A groan escapes him as my hips lift slightly, enough to cause friction between the two of us. I may have just came, but I was more than ready to feel him inside of me. 

It didn’t matter how many times we’d done this. Everytime felt like the first. 

The air around us is heated, our bodies needy for each other. I slowly move my hands from his hair, my fingertips ghosting along his toned body and down his chest. I reach his sweatpants, the pads of my fingers lightly toying with the fabric. I drag them down an action that causes him to chuckle. 

“You seem to know exactly what you want Mrs. Brock.”

He lets me drag the sweats down and to expose himself to me. A sight that I knew I wouldn’t ever get tired of seeing. For a moment he stares down at me in wonder, at the mess he’s made of me. The heap of uneven breaths and a look of desire in my eyes. I smile up at him, a smile he returns. 

“I’ll always want you, Colbs.”

My voice sounds more sentimental than I intended it to, but I meant every word. He knows I mean it as he looks down at me, his face sweet as he presses his lips back to mine. This kiss is slower, more cautious as if he’s trying to savor the moment. As we kiss, he aligns himself with me, the tip of his cock sliding in slowly. Another groan from him sounds against my lips as he allows himself to savor how tight I am around him. He breaks the kiss as he slowly starts to thrust inside of me, our eyes meeting once more. He’s so gentle as he fucks me, a slow satisfaction that I didn’t want to stop. 

We remain entwined in each other, his head leaning down to rest in the crook of my neck. Light kisses a trail along my collarbone as he continues moving in and out of me, my body moving with his in perfect rhythm. He marks me carefully, aware of where he’s leaving the marks. The gentle sucking of his lips sent shivers up my spine. He thrusts deeper and deeper inside of me and with each movement I feel the nerves of my stomach building up. I can feel him getting closer to the edge as he thrusts. 

“I’m going to cum Emilia, but I want you to cum with me too.”

He rasps against my skin, breath heated. I moan in response, unable to form a coherent word. As he thrusts once more, I feel myself spill over the edge at the same time he does. Filling me with his cum. 

We lay in heated silence as we try to catch our breaths, our bodies slowly coming down from their high. We remain entangled together as I feel his cock twitch inside of me one more time before he pulls out of me to lay at my side in our bed. His blue eyes remain on me as he studies me closely. 

“I really am sorry.”

Softly he speaks, his hand reaching out to tuck some of my hair behind my ear. I can hear how sorry he is, but again I need to see a change before I’ll fully believe him. 

“How do you feel about me being pregnant?”

I ask instead of responding to his ‘sorry’. I knew that we had to get pregnant because that’s what his parents wanted, but now that it was happening I didn’t know how he actually felt about it. We’d only briefly spoken about it prior to this moment. He sees the insecurity in my eyes and the uncertainty of this new chapter of our lives. 

“I’m excited. There’s no one else I would want to have children with, but…”

He hesitates, his brows furrowing as he chooses his words carefully. 

“...I’ve got to figure something out about my parents. I don’t want my parents to get their grubby hands on our child. They’re not going to do what they did to me to them. I have to figure out a way of standing up for us and what we need without them retaliating in some way.”

His fingertips run through my hair, his face full of thought. I’d be lying if I said that I hadn’t worried about the same thing. If I hadn’t worried that somehow they’d retaliate if we did one thing they didn’t approve of with our child. 

How else would they hurt my father?

The thought dances in my head, spinning out of control for a second before Colby’s hand moves to my face, his thumb lightly tracing over my cheekbone. The worry must’ve been evident on my face. 

“I’ll take care of my parents. In the meantime, you are literally growing a human inside of you so I want you to just focus on that. I’ll do the heavy stuff with my family.”

He draws me in against him, my head resting against his chest as he kisses my forehead. After what had happened with my father I wasn’t sure if I could fully relax. 

I trusted that Colby wanted to do the right thing, but could we out smart his family when they always seemed to be two steps ahead?

I wasn’t sure if we would be able to.

But God, did I hope I was wrong. 

[intoxicated-chan]

Each Other’s Other

♡o。.✿ฺ Paring // Alejandro Vargas x F!Medic!Reader x Rodolfo “Rudy” Parra

♡o。.✿ฺ Summary // Valeria gets under your skin, her comments about her past relationship with Alejandro makes a tear in your relationship with him. Rodolfo is there to sooth you and maybe sooth his own emotions that have been growing for years.

♡o。.✿ฺ (A/n) // I might make a part 2, maybe…

♡o。.✿ฺ Word Count // 1.5k

♡o。.✿ฺ Content Warnings // Female reader, jealousy, angst, petnames (cariño), mentions of cheating, mentions of wounds, unrequited love, sexual theme, swearing…

Part 1 | Part 2 (Coming Soon!)

It was like a game. Valeria seeing how comfortable Alejandro was with you, it made her sick to her stomach, she wasn’t going to lie to herself and say, “I already moved on.” She clearly hasn’t. Rodolfo could see it, everyone else could see it, hell even Ghost could! But she has moved on, there should be no reason why she’s angered when Alejandro engulfs you the way he has to he in the past, the way his kisses linger on your skin.

Valeria felt her eyes water, her fists clench in jealousy and rage… There was no way the two of you were gonna be happy for the rest of your lives. But what made Valeria break was the engagement ring Soap mentioned, that stupid boy…

The playful and cocky smirk was no longer on her face, they all could see it in her eyes when Alejandro, Rodolfo, and you returned.

“What’s the matter Valeria?” Alejandro laughs, “Cat got your tongue?”

Valeria scoffs, “I could catch many things, you for example.”

Alejandro shakes his head, not moved, touched, or even affected by her statement. Yet he doesn’t reject her accusation, only narrowing which meant… ‘Keep your mouth shut.’ But Valeria knew more than to obey his orders, she doesn’t take orders from anyone.

“I remember when you used to take me up to the lake, we’d watch the stars, and… make love for hours on end.” She looks in your direction, your eyes looking down at the ground, “I remember the way you would let your hands linger all over my body that I was a goddess.” She then turns to you, “Is that what he makes you feel? Like a goddess? Like there’s no one that could ever match your beauty?” Valeria laughs when she hears you let out a shutter.

“Valeria! Enough with your lies.” Alejandro barks which makes her laugh at him this time.

“My lies?! You’re the one who made me feel like I was something! I spent all those nights cold in my bed, believing that you’d toss that whore and come back crawling to me!”

“Valeria!”

“No!” Valeria suddenly stands, ignoring Rodolfo readying his gun, “You don’t get to tell me to be silent when you’ve not only been lying to me, but to her.”

“Excuse me?” You finally speak, picking your head up to face her.

“When he proposes, he’s going to swear that nothing or no one will make him stop loving you. He said that to me once and guess where he is now! He broke it off with me so he could have fun with you!”

“Enough Valeria!”

The silence was painful, you and Valeria stared at each other, yet you were the one to first break eye contact, swallowing the nervousness in your throat and trying to remain cool, “I must check in with the other squads. Let’s hope they’re still in one piece.” You spoke calmly, and shut the door behind you.

“What’s the matter with you Valeria?!” Alejandro pushes her back, “You have the nerve to try and tear my relationship apart?! Yes, there was a time I did love you but it’s all gone now, you’ve shown me your true colors!” Alejandro races out of the room and chases after you, leaving Valeria with Rodolfo.

“(Y/n)! Wait please!” Alejandro places his hand on your shoulder which you push off.

“Are you and Valeria done staring into each other’s eyes?”

Alejandro sighs, “Oh cariño, that was in the past. There’s nothing between me and that woman.”

“Really? Because it seemed like something more, especially when she talked about the lake.” You scoff, knowing the look in his eyes, “You took me to a lake, did those exact same things. Was it the same one you took her too?”

“Cariño-”

“Don’t!” You shouted, interrupting him, “Don’t you dare call me that.”

“...Yes it was.”

How could you even be surprised at this point, “I knew it. You were trying to make me a Valeria. All those places you took me, you took her as well, didn’t you?”

“No I wasn’t trying to do any of that, I love you and only you.”

“…I think I need some time alone. If you need me for important things then I’ll be helping the soldiers with their wounds.” You walk away, wanting to let out a huff.

Rodolfo lowers his rifle as Valeria sits back down, throwing one leg over the other. She acts like nothing happened, as if she didn’t just cause irreversible damage to your relationship.

“Why?” Rodolfo mumbles, “Why would you say that?”

Valeria grumbles and stands from her seat for the hundredth time, “Because you don’t know what it’s like! Watching them hug and kiss each other sickened me!” Valeria pants before she continues her rant, she sees the look in Rodolfo’s eyes.

“You know it too?” Valeria sighs, “It’s her, isn’t it?”

Rodolfo carefully nods, “It is.”

“It’s painful, isn’t it? Watching the woman you love so dearly being sweeped up by the man you look up to? You refuse to say anything because you tell yourself If she’s happy then I’m happy but it’s all wrong, you’re dying on the inside.”

“You, Valeria, bare your feelings to me?”

“No seas tonta.” (Don’t be silly.) Valeria rolls her eyes, “I’m just explaining how you feel.”

“And you feel the same when Alejandro loves (Y/n).”

“Don’t speak of his name!” Valeria shouts at him, “What I’m saying is this… Now is the best time to comfort your little crush, it’s time for you to face your feelings.”

Rodolfo shakes his head, “The same way as you did?”

“¡Vete a la mierda!” (Fuck off!)

Rodolfo found you caring over the injured soldiers. Scolding them whenever they reopen their wounds, refuse to rest or eat. You acted like their mother, which you and Alejandro were called the parents of the Mexican Special Forces. What is Rodolfo’s role in that? Playing the homewrecker? The true cause of their relationship failing? Did Alejandro catch his eyes lingering on you for longer than they should be?

“¿Qué dije? Debes descansar si quieres entrenar.” (What did I say? You must rest if you want to train.) You shake your head as you push the soldier back on their bed.

As you write the current status of your patient, you look up and see Rodolfo standing in front of you, “Sergeant Major Parra… Do you need anything?” It pains him that you used his title but even as close friends, you always try to remain respectful.

“I… I need to talk to you, in private.”

“Okay.”

You led Rodolfo to your office, closing the door behind him, “What is that you wanted to talk about?” Taking a seat while Rodolfo remained standing, “I’m alright if you’re wondering.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I don’t know what to say about Vargas.” Oh you’re definitely pissed. Saying Alejandro is one thing but calling him by his last name is something different.

“What do you mean?” Rodolfo pulls up a chair next to you and sits.

You sigh, rubbing your eyes tiredly, “We had a fight and I needed some time.”

“Do you know what to do next?”

“Do I even know anything at this point?” You lift your head to look at Rodolfo, eyes watering, a pit forms in your throat as you hesitate to speak, “...I was so excited to be with Alejandro but when we got together, I thought it was all me, I thought I was the problem.”

“What happened?”

“It felt like Alejandro was seeing someone other than me. Not like going out and cheating on me but still-”

“Loving Valeria?”

You nod, “I wouldn’t be surprised if I found out that all the places he took me to, he also took Valeria.” You lay your head on Rodolfo’s shoulder, “I guess I was the other woman all along.”

Rodolfo carefully places an arm around your shoulder, pulling you closer, “Don’t say that.”

“I must’ve done something wrong…”

“(Y/n)-”

“Alejandro did act that way until months into the relationship.”

“(Y/n) listen to me-”

“I should-”

“(Y/n) listen to me please.” Rodolfo cuts you off, careful to not raise his voice at you, “You did nothing wrong from the start. Alejandro was still in love with Valeria and made the mistake that getting with you will solve everything. But that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love you, he loves you in his own way that would seem… I don’t know how to explain it but listen to me when I say this, there is someone out there who loves you more than Alejandro does.”

You scoff, “Like hell there is,”

“I want you to know that I…” You stare up at him, guilt forming in his eyes. Was he really going to confess to his best friend’s girlfriend and probably soon to be fiancee, “I will always be your friend, no matter what happens between you and Alejandro.”

You smile for once, nuzzling into his shoulder, “Thank you Rodolfo, I’m glad to know that I have you as a friend.”

A knock on the door made you pull yourself out of Rodolfo’s comfort, “Come in!” You shout. Another soldier comes in, “Please tell me you didn’t reopen your wounds.”

“No.” They shake their head making you sigh in relief, “The others did.” Which makes you hold in a groan.

“Great. I’ll see you later Rodolfo.” You wave, he returns it.

Rodolfo royally just screwed himself over.

© Intoxicated-Chan, I do not allow my work to be copied, translated, modified, adapted, or put on any other platform without permission.

[nahoney22]

Hey!! I really love your writing and I hope you're taking care of yourself! 💕

I'm kinda in the mood for some angsty fluff, how about some headcanons for when the reader and their batcher get into a fight in front of the others. Maybe Omega gets upset because she thinks they're going to breakup? I totally understand if you don't want to write this, though, so no pressure! 💕

Arguments and Reconciliation

All Bad Batch Boys X GN!Reader

After Omega hears you and her brother arguing, she worries that this could be the end for you both. You’re both there to reassure her that in relationships, conflict occurs but to reconcile is a process that can be hard.

warnings: angsty as you and the Batcher are having a small argument, upset Omega, talks of fights and forgiveness. Comfort at the end.

Authors note: thank you for the care and support. Sorry for the wait ❤️

Masterlist

Hunter

“He’s right you know, we should be doing more Hunter.”

Tensions had been rising a lot between you and Hunter unfortunately and a lot of it was just what to do next. More missions that seem to lead nowhere? Make a move on the Empire for once and for all? It was a lot for you both to handle and unfortunately, a little someone had been overhearing these arguments.

There was a lot of to and fro, some words heated than others but when the pair of you heard sniffling from the door way, panic strikes your faces to see Omega standing there with Lula hugged to her chest. “Why do you both keep arguing?”

You fall silent, head looking down in somewhat shame as Hunter tries to take through his mind for something to say. “You shouldn’t be awake.” He finally says, making you roll your eyes and push past him gently to crouch in front of Omega.

“How much have you heard?”

She finds it hard to look either of you in the eye and instead focuses on the floor. “A lot.”

As more tears stream down her cheeks, obvious worry that the two of you were going to go your separate ways, you look back on Hunter and beckon him over. To which, he places a hand to her shoulder and gives her a comforting smile - even after she asked if you two were going to break up.

“Omega, every relationship has arguments. Just because we have done quite a bit recently does not mean we’re going to split.” Hunter tells her. He looks at you, smiling a little. “I still love them.”

You chime in, wrapping your arms around her before saying, “Hunter’s right. It’s important to remember that everyone makes mistakes and that it's okay to apologise and forgive each other.” Her sniffles subsides, a little more relaxed. She wipes away her tears, grateful for both of your reassurance.

Echo

When the others hear you both arguing, they tend to stay out of the way but for Omega, she couldn’t even comprehend what it was the two of you were arguing about. But as she moves towards the cockpit, he sees him bandaging up your leg and tutting relentlessly at you.

“What’s going on?”

The two of you looked to the doorway, eyes wide.

“You goin’ to tell her or am I?” Echo mumbles, sitting back from finishing up his work on your leg. You merely roll your eyes at him which does not go unnoticed by Omega, her anxiety rising with every passing second.

“Echo is telling me off because I got injured in our last mission and I didn’t tell him.” You tell the young girl who looks more panic stricken, bounding over to assess your leg.

“Did you get shot?”

“No.” You shake your head. “Just a bit of a graze and Grumps over here is overreacting.”

Echo snaps to look at you, already seeing you give him a pointed look and he feels a bit bad that okay, yeah, he may have overreacted.

“Are you two going to break up?” Omega asks softly, confusing growing on both of your faces.

“Omega,” You shake your head at her with a soft laugh, “why would you think we’d break up?”

“Doesn’t arguing often leave to break ups and whatnot.” She mutters, looking up at the both of you as you stand in front of her.

“Not always, no.” Echo concludes, wrapping his arm protectively around your waist. “I just worry about them.”

Again, you roll your eyes but this time playfully as you plant a kiss to his cheek. “Too much.”

Wrecker

Arguments with Wrecker were incredibly rare which is probably why Omega sat up, chewing her nails when she heard the hushed argument between the two of you.

The others had been informed briefly about why the two of you had been more tense lately than not and even with their given support, they know it’s nothing they can help with. As for Omega, she wasn’t sure what it was. But it was enough to strike panic in her at the thought of you two breaking up. So, she gets up and rushes to the source of the commotion.

When she gets there, Wrecker has his head in his hands meanwhile you sit on the floor in front of him, soft signs of comfort being shown.

“W-what’s going on?” The two of you look up when Omega speaks, both of you beginning to wipe tears away.

“Nothing kid,” Wrecker sniffs, putting on a smile for his sister, “what’re you doing up?”

“I heard you both arguing.” She mutters causing you to both look at another, your hand coming up to rest over his cheek.

“Not arguing Omega,” you begin with a seemingly sad smile, “just having a small discussion.”

Omega blinks, tilting her head. “What about?”

You sigh softly. “It’s personal, Omega.”

You didn’t want to go into great detail as to what you and Wrecker were talking about, one of you getting a little bit more emotional than the other but it certainly wasn’t what Omega was thinking.

“Are you guys breaking up?”

“No.” He says almost immediately, standing up and bringing you close to his chest. “We’re just havin’ a rough patch, nothing to worry about. I love Cyare too much.”

You nod in agreement, resting your head agaisnt his chest. The two of you were going to be okay and Omega was glad to hear.

Tech

“I do not understand why it is her that is upset when this discussion was mutually about us.”

The pair of you just watched Omega run off crying after being sat in the cockpit and listening to you two bicker about pretty much nothing - both just nitpicking at each other.

You huff, arms folding over your chest as you watch her run to the gunners seat. “She doesn’t like us arguing, that’s why.”

“I do not count this as arguing - merely a disagreement.” Sighing, you had to agree with him on that but still, it didn’t sit right with you.

“She doesn’t see it that way, Tech.”

He looks over at you, seeing you hang your head with conflicted features. For a second his heart races and he’s panicking internally. “Do you count this as an argument?”

“A little. I’m going to see if she’s alright.” You mumble, standing up to walk off but Tech was quick to catch you by the arm. You turn to face him.

“I’m sorry if I have in-fact upset you, it was never my intention.” You hear the guilt in his tone and you feel equally guilty for getting worked up over what you were both arguing about.

“It’s fine my love,” you sigh, leaning forward and resting your head against his, “these things happen. I’m sorry too.”

Crosshair

When you and Crosshair argued, everyone knew. Often the others would give Crosshair the dirty look as he seemed to be the main cause nowadays after returning from the Empire but that doesn’t stop Omega from getting upset.

He had brushed past her, storming off into the distance when she turns to you with a look of defeat. “It’s okay, Omega, it’s best to let him cool off.” You whisper, placing a hand to her shoulder before the first tear fell.

“Why are you two arguing? Are you going to break up?”

You laugh softly and shake your head. “No, and it’s because things are still tough with him and his brothers still and of course then that leans on my shoulders. It’s just a spiral of complications. He just needs time.”

“Do you have time?”

You blink at her words, watching Crosshair lean against a tree and aggressive gnaw on a toothpick - still within hearing distance.

“I’ve got all the time for him.” You say softly, not knowing that your words did manage a small smile on his face. “Relationships are foundations you build upon, and sometimes, arguments are one of the bases. But as long as you reconcile and adore each other, those foundations become a home.”

Crosshair looks over his shoulder, catching your eye as he gives you a small nod of understanding. Love is hard, but it’s worthwhile if it’s with the right person.

Masterlist

Prompt List 3000 Follower Celebration- available only to the 10th of February

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[harley-sunday]

Feels Like Home [08]

Summary: When an unexpected three-week break between Monza and Singapore finds Daniel back on his farm in Perth he’s desperate to use this time to clear his mind, figure out his future in Formula One, and find his way back. He didn’t expect a new neighbour, a sassy two-year old, and three alpacas would make him realise that sometimes, what you’re looking for is right in front of you.

Pairing: Daniel Ricciardo x reader (unnamed OFC)

Warnings: Language. Smut. Probably NSFW (Finally, right?)

Word count: 5.7k

AN: It’s probably weird to say this about your own writing, but I love this part. Mostly because I’m a sucker for a nice full circle moment but also because I’ve grown these three characters so much. I hope you like it as much as I do ♥

Masterlist

A quick glance at your watch tells you you’ve got about thirty minutes left until Ellie wakes up from her nap and even though there are still some chores you need to do, you decide to grab yourself a cup of coffee and sit outside on the porch for a bit, so you can try to figure out how to talk to Granddad about maybe hiring a farmhand. Not just to help you out now but also after, when you’re- When he’s fully recovered. It’s definitely too much work for one person and even Granddad fully recovers, he’s seventy-eight, you’re not sure if he’ll be able to manage the growing herd of alpacas.

You’re a little lost in thoughts when you hear a car come down the driveway, a blue Toyota you think you recognise from somewhere, and so you stand up, ready to greet your visitors, wondering who it can be.

Are you a little surprised to see Grace and Joe step out of the car? Yes. 

Maybe. 

Ok, not really.

“Hello sweetheart,” Grace says as she walks over to you. She kisses your cheek before she hugs you, holding you tight.

“Hi,”

When you let go of her Joe is already waiting, wrapping his arms around you carefully, “Hiya.” 

“What-” You look from Joe to Grace and back, “What are you doing here?”

Joe lets go of you and nods to Grace, “It was her idea.”

Grace smacks his chest, “Hey. No.” She lets out a laugh then and shrugs, “Well, it was but-” 

“Daniel called you, didn’t he?”

“Yes,” Grace nods, taking your hand in hers. “I mean, I had plans to come visit you soon anyway, you know, have a cuppa together, but when Danny called us yesterday and said you had two new alpacas to take care of, well-” She squeezes your hand, “We figured we’d come over and see if there’s anything we can help with.”

“Plus, it’s been too long since I’ve seen old Oscar,” Joe says from where he’s standing behind Grace. “I was long overdue for a visit anyway.” 

You’ve been a little on edge ever since Daniel left but so far you’ve been pretty good at hiding it, at not letting your emotions get the best of you, but now- You lower your eyes and bite your lip but it’s no use because once you blink the tears are streaming down your face.

“Hey, no,” Grace says, her voice soft and soothing. She pulls you in for another hug, her hands rubbing your back, “It’s ok, sweetheart.”

“I’m sorry,” you manage in between sobs. “It’s just- I- The girls- And Ellie- And-”

“Ssh,” Grace shakes her head. “It’s ok.” She holds you a little longer, waits until you’ve calmed down before she lets go of you and puts her hands on your arms, making you look at her, “We’re here for you, ok? Joe can take Oscar to go check on the girls for a bit and I will stay here with you so we can do whatever needs to be done around the house, ok?” 

“Thank you.” You use the sleeve of your sweater to dry your eyes and try to smile.

Grace tuts, “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart.” She nods towards the house, “Why don’t we go inside?”

Granddad greets Grace and Joe like they’re old friends and you find out they’ve seen each other a few times before, when Daniel first moved in. Joe and Granddad settle into some easy banter between them and it isn’t long before they head outside, so Joe can take him to Eagle’s Nest and check up on the rest of the paddocks. 

You hear Ellie call for you from upstairs then and so you excuse yourself and tell Grace you’ll be right back. Ellie’s waiting for you in her cot, looking at you expectantly, as if she knows someone else is here.

“Hi bub,” you pick her up and head to the changing table so you can change her into her clothes. “Guess who’s here?”

Ellie’s eyes grow wide, “Danny?” 

Your heart. Oh, your heart when you see her smile drop, “Danny’s in Mexico remember?.” You press a kiss to her forehead, “But Grace and Joe are here. You remember them?” 

Ellie seems to think about that for a second and then nods, “Danny home.”

“Yeah, bub,” you tell her, picking her up and settling her on your hip, “they’re Daniel’s mum and dad.” 

When you get downstairs you find Grace in the kitchen, loading the dishwasher. Her smile grows wide when she sees Ellie, “Hello pretty girl.”

You put Ellie down in her high chair so you can warm up her bottle of milk and when Grace asks you what else she can do you want to tell her it’s fine, that you’ll manage, but one stern look from her makes you swallow your words and give her your to-do list instead.

Grace busies herself with the laundry and Ellie insists on helping her and so you find yourself in the living room, tidying up and cleaning the floors and windows. It takes a little under two hours but then the living room is clean again, all the laundry is folded and put away, a new load in the machine, and the kitchen is looking like a kitchen again instead of a storage room. 

By the time you are finished, Granddad and Joe make it back as well and all of a sudden you find yourself on the front porch, enjoying a cup of coffee with Daniel’s parents, Granddad, and your daughter, who’s happy with her fruit pouch, sitting in Joe’s lap. 

After half an hour Granddad announces he’s going inside to take a quick nap, which Grace and Joe take as their cue to leave.

“Thank you so much,” you tell them before you give each of them a hug. “I really appreciate it.”

“It was our pleasure, sweetheart,” Grace tells you with a kind smile. She hands you a piece of paper then, “These are mine and Joe’s numbers. Promise me you’ll call if you need anything? We’re happy to help, whether it’s watching Ellie for a few hours, or-”

“Thank you,” you tell her, carefully folding the paper and putting it in your back pocket, knowing there’s no use in protesting. 

“We’re flying out to Abu Dhabi on the sixteenth for Danny’s last race,” she says, “but until then we’re here.”

***

Brazil is- It’s a race he’d rather forget. A collision with Magnussen on the first lap means Daniel is out of the race before it’s even started and he spends the remainder of the seventy laps watching the race from the garage. They leave for Abu Dhabi the next day and the knowledge that it’s his last ever race for McLaren makes him actually look forward to the last race of the season.

His parents come in on Wednesday and if he gets a little emotional when he hugs his mum, so what? It’s been a long time since he last saw her and it’s an emotional weekend as is. 

Daniel finishes ninth in the race and brings home a few points that in the end don’t make that much of a difference in the constructor’s championship but he feels good about. The team throws him a small farewell party after the race and he spends most of Monday a little hungover and vowing to himself he’s never going to drink again. 

By the time Tuesday comes around and it’s time for their weekly call, Daniel feels giddy with excitement, knowing that the next time he’ll talk to her won’t be over the phone.

She picks up on the first ring and smiles into the camera, Ellie sitting in her lap with an equally bright smile, “Hi.”

“Hi,” he feels his grin grow ever wider. 

“You’ve made it,” she says, hugging Ellie closer to her. “How are you feeling?”

“Good,” Daniel admits easily enough. “I’m glad it’s over. I uh-” He runs his hand over his face and shrugs, “Yeah.”

“And then tomorrow-”

“Yep,” he answers, knowing what it is she wanted to say. 

“I’m really happy for you, Daniel,” she says. He can see Ellie nod in agreement even though he doubts the little girl knows what’s going on. “When-” She looks at him with a shy smile, “When are you flying back?”

“Next Monday, but it’s a late flight so-”

“That’s ok,” she answers. “There’s no rush.”

Daniel disagrees. He can’t wait.

***

You angle your phone towards Granddad, “Look, it’s official. Daniel’s back at Red Bull.” 

Granddad nods, “Good.”

“He’s not driving though-” You frown as you read the caption of the Instagram post, “They’ve made him their third driver-”

“That’s good,” Granddad says with a mischievous smile. “He’s getting the best of both worlds, sweetheart. There’s no pressure anymore.” He chuckles then, “I can’t wait to hear what shit excuse McLaren comes up with next year, when their cars still aren’t performing and they figure out maybe it had nothing to do with Danny.”

“Granddad-”

“What?” Granddad feigns innocence with a cheeky smile, “Don’t tell me you’re not thinking the same thing.”

***

It’s close to ten when they finally make it back to his place, their flight delayed because of bad weather over Sri Lanka and a long wait at baggage claim despite their priority tags. Daniel’s happy to be back on his farm but he wishes they could have made it earlier so he could at least have gone over to see her.

“I’ll see you in two weeks, yeah?” Blake’s voice pulls him out of his thoughts. 

Daniel nods and leans over the centre console to give his best friend a hug. “Thanks, mate,” Daniel says, patting Blake’s back, “for everything.” There’s a weight behind Daniel’s words that he hopes Blake understands.

“Absolutely no worries.” Blake lets go of him and pats Daniel’s cheek, “I’m glad we’re back.” 

Daniel nods, understanding exactly what Blake means, “Yeah.” 

“You need me to help you with your bags?”

“Nah, I’m good, thanks” Daniel says as he gets out. He grabs his backpack from the backseat, already using the one Red Bull gave him, before he takes his two duffel bags out of the trunk. He taps the side of the car and waits until Blake has driven off before he makes his way over to the house, putting his bags down on the porch so he can take his keys out of his pocket. 

He drops his bags in the mudroom, deciding he’ll unpack them tomorrow because he desperately wants to take a shower first. The lights in the kitchen are on and he isn’t surprised to see there’s a note from his mum on the counter, letting him know she came by earlier today to sort through his mail and do a bit of cleaning. He’s already talked to her while he was waiting for his luggage but still he sends her a message to thank her and to tell her he’s made it back.

After a quick shower he finds himself back downstairs, wearing a comfy t-shirt and a pair of shorts hanging low on his hips. It’s still nice enough to sit outside and so Daniel grabs a beer from his fridge, sending a silent ‘thank you’ to his parents for making sure it’s fully stocked with food and drinks, and heads to his front porch. Or tries to anyway, because all of a sudden his intercom rings and with a confused frown he answers it, “Hello?” 

***

Even though you try not to speed down his driveway, you still make it to the house in under a minute, Daniel waiting for you on the back porch. It’s been sixty-three days since you last saw him and it both feels like it was only yesterday and a lifetime ago and your heart seems to be bursting at the seams while doing somersault after somersault.

And if you park your car rather haphazardly, well, so what?

Taking a deep breath for no other reason than to not feel like you’re about to lose it, you unbuckle your seatbelt and step outside and all of a sudden Daniel’s right there and cupping your face. He pushes you against the car gently but there’s a sense of urgency when he captures your mouth in a desperate kiss. You close your eyes and moan into the kiss as your hands grab onto the fabric of his t-shirt, needing something to hold onto.

His teeth graze over your lower lip and when you open your mouth he licks inside without hesitating and fuck, that feels good. 

Your hands have found their way into his hair, pulling him closer to you so you can deepen the kiss, and you hook one of your legs behind his, needing more of him. 

Daniel pulls back then, panting, and lets his forehead rests against yours, “Fuck, I’ve missed you.” 

You wrap your hands around his neck and pull him close, breathing him in, “I’ve missed you too.” 

“How did you-”

“Your mum called me after you texted her earlier.” You let go of him and cup his face, your thumbs caressing his cheeks and feeling yourself getting a little lost in those big brown eyes, that seem to be just a little watery, “I really wanted to see you.” 

He lets out a shaky breath, “How long can you stay?”

“We’ve got all night,” you whisper back and give him another kiss. “Ellie’s with Granddad.” 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” you nod, going in for another kiss because now that he's back you're not sure you ever want to let him go.  

“How’s Oscar doing? Back to his-”

“Daniel,” you groan, dropping your head against his shoulder. “We are so not talking about Granddad right now.”

Daniel laughs, “Noted.” 

“Good.” You look up at him and roll the corner of your bottom lip between your teeth, “‘Cause I’m gonna need you to kiss me again.” 

“Oh, don’t you worry,” Daniel says in between kisses. “I’m planning on doing a whole lot more than that.” 

***

They make it to his bedroom eventually, both of them a little out of breath and a lot turned on. Daniel's never not touching her, as if he wants physical proof that she is really here, as if she might disappear when he lets go of her.

"Daniel-" she breathes, tilting her head back to give him better access to where he is sucking in the pulse point in her neck. 

He lets his teeth graze over her skin before he swirls his tongue over the now sensitive spot, drawing another moan from her. There's entirely too many layers of clothes between them, he decides, and so he lets his fingers dance from her hips to her shoulders, hooking them under the straps of her dress. Daniel kisses his way back to her mouth, nipping at her bottom lip, and pushes the straps down her arms. 

She shivers and he's worried he's overstepped but then she pulls back a little and looks up at him with a cheeky smile as she tugs on her dress to let it fall to her feet until she stands there in nothing but her bra and panties.

Daniel feels his mouth go dry because she looks absolutely gorgeous, all soft curves and glowing skin and he has to tell her, has to let her know and so he licks his lips and swallows hard, "Fuck, you're beautiful."

She lowers her eyes and he sees the minute shake of her head, like she doesn't believe him.

Fine, he thinks. I'll prove it to you then. Daniel takes a step closer and puts two fingers underneath her chin to make her look up at him. He sees her biting her lip and dips his head, kissing the corner of her mouth and smiling into the kiss when he feels the tension drain from her body. He cups her face and gently walks her backwards towards his bed, making her sit down on the edge before he pulls back and locks eyes with her, "Absolutely gorgeous."

He grabs the back of his shirt and pulls it up and over his head, not caring to see where it lands. She catches on quickly and brings her knees to her chest so she can scoot backwards, watching him as he climbs onto the bed with her. 

She leans back on her elbows and he puts his knees on either side of her hips so he can lean forward and capture her mouth for another kiss. When she lies down he follows her willingly, deepening the kiss by licking into her mouth before he sucks on her tongue so he can taste her. 

When he pulls back she whimpers but then he kisses his way down to the swell of her breasts and the whimper turns into a moan when he pushes the fabric of her bra aside and swirls his tongue around the sensitive bud. It makes her arch her back and he can feel himself grow hard when she rakes her nails over his back. Daniel cups her other breast with his hand, his thumb rubbing her hard nipple over the fabric, and marvels at the way her breathing picks up. 

“Dan-” She tugs on his hair gently, leading him back to her mouth for another kiss and he can feel her smile against his lips when she says, “I need-”

“Tell me what you need, babe,” he whispers, mouth close to her ear now. “Tell me exactly what you need and I’ll give it to you. Everything.” 

“I need more,” she tells him without hesitating. “I need you inside of me. I want to feel you.”

And fuck if that isn’t the hottest thing anyone has every said to him. Daniel lets go of her and slides down the bed, hooking his fingers behind the elastic of her panties so he can take them down with him, while she reaches behind her and unclasps her bra, letting it fall to the floor without looking. When he stands at the edge of the bed so he can take his shorts off, he can’t stop looking at her, finds himself mesmerised by her body - the softness of her stomach, her plump breasts and-

Daniel makes quick work of undressing and then he’s back on the bed, kneeling in between her now spread legs, letting his fingers roam over her legs before he leans down and presses a kiss to the inside of her thigh, muttering a quiet, “Fuckin’ gorgeous,” against her skin. He slowly, slowly makes his way to her sex, leaving a trail of kisses in his wake before he lets his thumb run through her folds, amazed by how wet she already is. 

“Dan-" 

She doesn't say anything else but he knows exactly what it is she wants from him and so he dips his head and lets his tongue follow the earlier path of his thumb before he swirls it around her clit. Her hands are in his hair again, keeping him there where she needs him most, and he is more than happy to oblige because he can feel himself already starting to become addicted to her taste.

***

"That's it," you whisper when Daniel bends the two fingers he has inside of you just right. "Don't stop. Don't-"

Daniel doubles his efforts, nose against your clit as his mouth joins his fingers, his beard burning the skin of your thighs in the most exhilarating way. 

"Dan," you warn him, your breathing becoming more and more erratic and your body tensing up, preparing for what is to come. "I'm gonna- Shit. Right there, baby. Don't stop. Please. Please, please, please."

He does as he's told and continues his attack on your clit while his fingers pump in and out of you and it's too much, it's-

Your orgasm washes over you, offering the sweet release you've been craving for so long. Daniel slows his movements but doesn't stop, helping you down from you high at a leisurely pace, as if you've got all the time in the world. You guess maybe you do.

When you finally stop shaking and your breathing is back to normal, Daniel pushes himself off and up so he is face to face with you. There's a soft smile playing on his lips but then he dips his head and kisses you, letting you taste yourself and it's almost enough to make you come again. Bucking your hips you feel his erection press against your core and it makes you pull back from the kiss so you can repeat your earlier request, “I need you inside of me, baby.”

Daniel’s pupils blow even wider, a darkness to his eyes that you haven’t seen before but that turns you on even more. He rolls off of you, pulling you with him, and watches through hooded lids as you kneel on top of him, your fingers skimming the hem of his boxers. He closes his eyes when you brush your thumb over the outline of his cock, letting out a quiet, “Fuck.” 

You slide back a little and lean down, sliding one hand inside his boxers and taking him out. There’s a bead of precum on the tip and as you wrap your fingers around him you use your thumb to spread it out, before you lean down and take him into your mouth. He’s big, too big to take all of him at once, and so you use both your mouth and hands to get him ready. 

“Fuck, you’re amazing,” he breathes from somewhere above you, one hand now cupping your face as you double your efforts and try to take him even deeper. He taps your cheek just as you can feel him start to swell inside your mouth and so you stop what you're doing and look up at him. Daniel swallows hard, “I’m gonna need you to stop if you want me to-”

“I want you to,” you tell him as you pump him one last time and then look at him expectantly. 

Daniel reaches over and opens his nightstand drawer, finding what he’s looking for not much later. Getting the condom on somehow turns into a two-person job and makes you both laugh, which seems to relieve some of the built-up pressure. Once the condom is on, Daniel flips you over again and leans down for a kiss.

You can feel the tip of his cock nudge your entrance and so you reach down and gently guide him inside of you, gasping for breath when he starts to fill you.

“You feel so good,” Daniel whispers against the corner of your mouth just as he bottoms out. “So tight.”

“It’s ok,” you tell him, clenching your walls around him. “You can move.”

He does. At first he only pulls back a little before he pushes down again but the slicker you become the more he pulls out, until he’s pumping in and out of you in a rhythm that you know will get you there sooner rather than later. From the way Daniel’s breathing picks up you’re sure he’s not far behind either. You can feel your second orgasm starting to build and so you reach down for your clit just as Daniel puts his mouth close to your ear, “You’re taking me so well.” 

His words go straight to your sex and you can feel your body starting to tense up once again, “Fuck, I’m gonna-”

“I’m right there with you, babe.” 

“Fuck.” You arch your back and hook one leg over his waist, wanting to feel all of him, and somehow it makes the angle just right and he starts hitting the spot with each thrust and- “Don’t stop. Please. Don’t-”

Daniel picks up his pace even more and before you know it you’re panting, your hands cupping his face so you can look at him. “That’s it,” he says. “Take me in, babe.” 

“Dan, I-” you try but then he slams into you harder and harder and you can feel yourself being tipped over the edge, your orgasm washing over you in full force and so all you can do is just enjoy the ride.

“Fuckin’ gorgeous,” Daniel says, watching you as he keeps chasing his own high that follows not much later when he comes with a loud groan. 

***

The sunlight seeping through his curtains wakes him up somewhere around ten and he’s a little confused when he hears quiet snores coming from the other side of the bed but then the memories from last night come rushing back and Daniel feels something tugging on his heart. He rolls over and can’t help but smile when he finds her tangled up in his sheets and so he presses a soft kiss between her shoulder blades.

She stirs, stretching her legs before she lets out a quiet moan, “Too early.”

Daniel chuckles, wrapping one arm around her waist and dragging her over to his side of the bed, “Good morning.”

“Mornin’” she whispers as she turns around in his arms so she can face him. 

She looks absolutely beautiful and Daniel feels like the luckiest man alive when he presses a kiss to her forehead, “How you goin’, sleepyhead?”

She nuzzles into him, her warm breath hitting his chest as her fingers dance over his stomach, “I’m really glad you’re back, Dan.” 

He smiles against her hair, “Me too.”

“Last night was-”

“Yeah,” he agrees quickly. “It was.” He hugs her closer, “We should do that again some time.” 

He feels her laugh and she pinches his side then, “We should.”

***

“Do you think- Will she-” Daniel clears his throat and rubs his hands on jeans, “Do you think she’ll still recognize me?”

You put a hand on his knee to stop his nervous habit and smile up at him, “Just wait and see.” 

When you pull up to the house not much later, Homer lets out an excited bark and rushes towards the car to greet you and whoever it is you’ve brought along. When he realises it’s Daniel, Homer wags his tail enthusiastically. 

“See?” You try, scratching Homer’s ears, “Even the dog remembers you, Ricciardo.” 

“Uhu,” Daniel nods, patting Homer’s head absentmindedly. “That’s great.”

The way he’s so nervous is absolutely endearing and so you don’t hesitate and take his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze to let him know it’s ok. You nod towards the house, “Come on.” 

Ellie’s inside, having a tea party with Granddad and Mr Koala, but the minute she spots Daniel her face lights up and she claps her hands, “Danny!”

You have to bite your lip to keep the tears at bay and next to you Daniel clears his throat and when you risk a quick glance at him you can see his eyes are a little glossed over as well. 

He lets go of your hand and squats down, holding out his arms. Ellie all but launches herself at him and Daniel hugs her close, “Hello Miss Ellie.”

“Danny,” Ellie says again, patting his cheeks with her hands.

“I’ve missed you, kiddo.” 

You rub Daniel’s back and when he looks at you from over his shoulder you give him a warm smile.

Daniel stands up then, Ellie still in his arms, and walks over to greet Oscar with half a hug before he sits down on the couch, Ellie snuggling up to him in his lap. She’s babbling, trying to tell him about all the things he’s missed and Daniel listens intently, asking all the right questions with a wide grin.

“I has day tomorrow,” Ellie says then. “Danny come with?”

“I-” Daniel shakes his head and looks up at you for help.

“It’s her birthday on Saturday,” you explain as you run your hand through your daughter’s hair, “but the concept of the days of the week is still a little confusing so she’s been saying it’s tomorrow for the past week or so.” You throw him a wink then, “I think she just invited you to her party.” 

Daniel chuckles and pinches Ellie’s cheek, “Of course I’m coming with, sweetheart.”

“I be three,” Ellie explains, holding up five fingers proudly. Her little eyebrows knit together then, as if she’s trying to figure something out. You guess she did when she grins at Daniel, “Like you.” 

“Like my race number, yeah,” Daniel nods, beaming with pride. 

 ***

Daniel’s all over the place the rest of the week, catching up with his parents, his sister and her kids, some old friends he hasn’t seen since the summer break, and he hates that he’s not on the farm as much as he’d like even though she’s assured him things are much more manageable now that Oscar’s finally caved and hired a farmhand who comes to help out four days a week. 

On Saturday though, there’s only one thing marked on his calendar and so he finds himself driving over to his neighbours after lunch, opting to get there a little early so he can help out with any preparations that still need to be done before the party starts. 

He can’t help but smile when he pulls up to the house and sees the front porch is decorated with balloons and banners, and has to stifle a laugh when he sees Homer’s wearing a pink bow tie instead of his normal collar. Daniel pats the dog in his head when he steps onto the porch, “Looking sharp, Homer.” 

Knocking three times, like he always does, before he lets himself in and finds her and Ellie in the kitchen, both of them wearing colourful summer dresses and looking absolutely beautiful. Daniel greets her first, with a quick kiss that might seem pretty chaste but still gives him the butterflies and he knows he’ll never grow tired of, before he presses a kiss to the top of Ellie’s head, “Hi sweetheart.” Ellie looks up at him with a goofy grin and holds out her arms without hesitation. Daniel picks her up and peppers her face with kisses, “Happy birthday, Miss Ellie.”

When he sits her down in her high chair again he hands her the gift he so carefully wrapped this morning, this time using the pink and purple wrapping paper he picked up at Woolies yesterday, “Here you go.”

Ellie starts tearing into the paper, letting out an excited giggle when she sees what’s inside.

Daniel looks at her with an apologetic smile, “I didn’t know what to get her but Michelle told me Isabella loved this when she was Ellie’s age so-”

“It’s perfect,” she says, her hand on his arm. “She’s really into colouring right now so this will keep her busy for some time to come.”

“Momma! Look!” Ellie holds up the box of crayons and the colouring book Daniel got her.

“That’s a fun gift, huh?” She squats down next to Ellie and nods towards Daniel, “Did you say thank you, yet?”

Ellie looks up at him with a bright smile, “Thank!”

“You are very welcome, sweetheart,” Daniel grins back. He looks at her then, “If there’s anything I can do to help-”

“Thank you but everything’s set,” she says as she stands up. He catches her looking at the clock on the wall, “I want to show you something.”

“Ok,” he draws out, not sure where this is going. 

She picks Ellie up and nods towards the back door, “Come on.” 

Daniel follows her outside and watches as she puts Ellie down, taking the little girl’s hand in hers. Ellie looks up at him then and holds out her hand and so Daniel takes it, trying to make his brain actively remember this exact moment because it is definitely one of the happier ones of his life. 

“Your parents and sister should be here around three,” she says as she leads the way to where, he’s not sure. “Blake texted me right before you got here, to let me know he and Michael are running a little late but-” she shrugs and smiles, “I guess what I’m trying to say is we still have some time before everyone gets here.” 

It’s then the field they went to a few months ago, when he first visited the farm, comes into view and Daniel lets out a quiet, “Oh wow.” There is a sea of red flowers in front of him, thousands and thousands of poppies swaying gently in the soft summer breeze, the rolling hills in the distance offering a perfect backdrop.  

Ellie tugs on their hands, urging them forward until they reach the fence and she lets out a content sigh, “Pretty.” 

“Just like you, bub,” she says, letting go of her daughter’s hand so she can squat down next to her. She picks a poppy and hands it to Ellie, “Here you go. A pretty flower for a pretty girl.” When she stands up she looks at Daniel, “What do you think?”

“It’s beautiful,” Daniel admits easily enough, a tiny voice in the back of his head telling him what he already knows. That he’s not just talking about the flowers. 

She takes a step closer to him and puts her arm around his waist, letting her head rest against his shoulder, “Told you so.” 

Daniel slings his arm around her shoulders and pulls her close, pressing a kiss to her temple. There’s something- It’s weird, he realises. He’s only known her for a little over two months, and he was gone for most of that, but it feels like he doesn’t have to pretend to be someone he’s not. Not anymore. He doesn’t have to be Daniel Ricciardo, Danny Ric, DR, or the Honey Badger. He doesn’t have to be a Formula One driver, an eight-time race winner, the most beloved driver on the grid, and the fan favourite. He doesn’t have to be Red Bull’s wild card, Renault’s saviour, or, most recently, McLaren’s scapegoat. 

After thirty-three years, it feels like this is exactly where he was meant to be. It feels like everything that has happened, everything that he’s been through, has led up to this. To this exact moment. 

Because when he is here, when he’s with her, and with Ellie, he is Daniel. It feels- Words can’t describe it but in the end it feels like-

It feels like home. 

[magicalmysteries777]

The Bloody-Handed and The Anguish of Loving Them - Chapter 9.

Summary: Almost a year has passed since Eddie Munson died and it feels like the only person that isn’t moving on is Steve.

After spending the night studying a Dungeons and Dragons handbook, Steve is convinced he’s figured out how to bring Eddie back. Not only that, but defeat Vecna once and for all too. Now he just has to prove it.

Pairings: Steve Harrington x Eddie Munson

Masterlist: Here.

Chapter: 9 of 10.

Chapter WC: 5k.

CW: Swearing, graphic depictions of blood and injuries, and referenced alcoholism.

This story can also be found on AO3 here.

Taglist: @ohmeg 🖤

March 25th, 1987.

“Steve, you need to run!”

Steve wasn’t running anywhere. He couldn’t if he tried.

His senses were flooding back to him, his head pounding and chest heaving as he tried to snap back into reality. Vertigo took over as he stood, his legs wobbling as he attempted to take a few steps backward away from Vecna and whatever the hell had just happened while he was in the void.

It was a few seconds before his vision focused. The first thing he saw was Vecna’s severed hand lying on the ground in front of him, the second was Kas with his wings outstretched and a large sword in his hand aimed at Vecna.

“What the-”

“Get the fuck out of here, man,” Kas instructed, not daring to take his eyes off Vecna for a second. “Get the others and go.”

“But-”

“Go!”

Everything was happening in slow motion and fast forward at the same time. Vecna seething while he nursed his wrist. His friends yelling and crying, begging him to help them. Kas circling Vecna, his sword aimed and ready.

He begged and willed his limbs to do something but he was rooted to the spot, unsure if it was still Vecna’s doing or if he was just that petrified.

“How dare you defy me!” Vecna roared, eyes fixed on Kas. “After everything I did for you, this is how you repay me? After I brought you back and made you the magnificent creature you are?”

“You made me a monster!” Kas yelled.

“I made you better! You were weak and pathetic. A schoolboy without a backbone. Now look at you. You’re stronger, faster, more powerful. You have an army at your command.”

Kas was growing more and more furious by the second. “I don’t want your army. I don’t want your power. I never did. I never wanted any of this but I knew what had to be done to destroy you once and for all!”

Kas swung his sword at Vecna, blood splattering as it sliced his upper arm. The attack had been just enough of a distraction to break Vecna’s concentration on Steve. His legs now free to move as they pleased, he weaved through the bodies of the undead towards his friends, grabbing Dustin’s knife off the ground on the way.

“I thought you were a goner,” muttered Jonathan, still struggling against his restraints.

“You and me both, man. Hold still,” replied Steve through gritted teeth, trying desperately to cut through the thick vines around Jonathan’s wrists. With one final slice, the vine split into two, black goo spurting everywhere as it writhed painfully on the ground before stilling. Steve glanced over his shoulder and thrust the knife into Jonathan’s newly freed hands. “Get them out of here.”

“What about you?” Jonathan asked, panic in his voice as he began to free Nancy.

“I’m not leaving without him.”

“We’re not leaving without you,” Dustin argued.

Steve let out a sigh of frustration, his hands balled into fists. “You’re all going, end of discussion. Nobody else is going to die because of me.”

“Oh, that’s sweet,” Nancy interrupted, rubbing at the marks on her wrists.

“Sweet?” Steve echoed, confusion on his face.

“Yes, Steve. Sweet. It’s sweet that you think we’d just-”

A roaring boom from behind had every head turning just in time to see a large ball of fire hurling straight toward Kas, illuminating the battlefield around them as it knocked him down to the ground.

“Um, not to put any more pressure on an already delicate situation or anything,” Erica began. “But can we hurry the fuck up a little bit?”

“Erica!”

“She’s got a point, man!” yelled Dustin.

So they hurried. Between the three of them, they managed to wrestle the others free from their restraints within a couple of minutes.

The party was looking a little worse for wear given everything they’d just been through, not to mention still being two members down, but the determination within them hadn’t faltered. If anything, they were more pumped and raring to go than they’d ever been.

“What’s the plan?” Dustin asked, glancing over at the fight unfolding between Kas and Vecna.

“We could-” Jonathan began.

“No time,” Steve announced, he too watching the fight unfolding in front of them. He could feel his heart rate rising again.

Everyone looked at Steve as though he’d just sprouted a second head. “Elaborate.”

“We don’t have time to stand around and figure out what we’re going to do,” he explained. “When have any of our plans actually ever worked? We get here, we start fighting and everything goes to shit. Eddie is dying out there and he needs our help, meanwhile, we’re all standing here twiddling our fucking thumbs.”

“To be fair, he has a point,” Erica added, reaching down to pick up the spear she’d dropped earlier.

“We’re down two people. The two strongest people, might I add,” Lucas rationalised.

“Exactly,” agreed Robin. “I don’t think our spears and knives are going to be much of a match against Vecna. Remember how well it went last time?”

“They might not be,” Steve agreed. “This could be a suicide mission for all we know. We might go over there and Vecna could snap his fingers and wipe us from existence before we can even blink. But Eddie needs our help. Might I remind you that the only reason we’re even here is because he sacrificed himself to buy us more time. That’s all he needs from us now. More time.”

They all started at Steve, not uttering a single word in protest. He knew bringing up Eddie’s sacrifice was a low blow but he had to get his point across.

“I’ll cover these two,” Jonathan told the group, pointing to the unconscious bodies of Will and El. “Might need a little help.”

The party approached with caution, their weapons gripped firmly in their hands as they tiptoed across the dead grass whilst simultaneously hoping and praying that Vecna was too distracted by Kas to hear them.

Boy were they in for a shock.

“This doesn’t seem like a very fair fight anymore, does it?” Vecna asked rhetorically, still standing with his back to the party. “I didn’t realise we were letting our little pets fight our battles for us. I’d better even the playing field.”

“Don’t you fucking dare!” bellowed Kas.

Vecna raised his hand and snapped his fingers. “Much better.”

The familiar sound of screeching and a stampede of footsteps could be heard in the distance, growing louder and louder as the seconds passed.

“Demogorgons incoming!” yelled Dustin, earning a maniacal laugh from Vecna.

Kas lunged at Vecna. “I’ll kill you, you fucking monster!”

“I’d like to see you try.”

Within moments a flurry of claws and teeth were all Steve could see and feel. Sweat dripped from his brow as he landed hit after hit on the Demogorgons, each one dropping to the ground with a defeated growl as they succumbed to their injuries. He weaved his way through the monsters with precision, years of practice all leading up to this final fight to the death.

The same could not be said for the rest of the party.

Robin was pinned to the ground, barely managing to hold off the Demogorgon hovering over her, still weak from her earlier brush with death. Blood was pouring from a large gash on Dustin’s cheek that was bound to leave him with a nasty scar for the rest of his days. Mike and Nancy stood back to back, desperately trying to fend off the snarling monsters that were closing in on them. As for Erica, Lucas, and Jonathan, all three of them looked like deer caught in headlights as they fought off the incoming attempts to finish the job on El and Will. Then there was Kas. Kas with his fangs bared and his wings outstretched, his sword gripped firmly in his hand and a fiery look of determination in his eyes as he planned his next move.

A large ball of luminous green light hurtled through the battle and collided with Vecna causing him to let out a painful, agonising growl as his legs buckled beneath him. Steve turned his head toward the origin of the light and saw Will standing at the bottom of the porch steps, his arm outstretched toward Vecna. Then, as though all their prayers had been answered at once, El emerged from behind Will with a smirk on her face. “Hello, Henry.”

“You,” Vecna snarled.

With another wave of his hand, Vecna sent Kas soaring through the air behind him. Steve felt his last shred of hope fade away as Kas collided with a tree trunk, an almighty thud and the clattering of metal ringing through the Upside Down as both he and his sword landed on the floor in a heap, completely unresponsive to the chaos unfolding on the lawn of the Creel house.

“Do you really think you can kill me, Eleven? Time and time again you have tried and time and time again you have failed. What makes you think this newest attempt will be any different?” Vecna taunted. He snapped his fingers again, causing a fresh wave of screeching and fluttering wings to descend on them.

“This time,” El began. Her right arm shot out in front of her and her fingers curled into a claw. Vecna let out a splutter and clawed at his throat with his remaining hand. “I know how to beat. How to play you at your own game. You’re predictable.”

Steve and the rest of the party fought valiantly against the Demobats as El and Will moved in on Vecna.

“A bit of a one-trick pony,” agreed Will. “Demogorgons and Demobats. Is that all you’ve got? I can’t believe we were ever scared of you to begin with.”

It was a newfound sense of confidence that none of them had ever seen in Will, usually timid and hiding away at the back of the group. Yet here he was facing Vecna face to face with the self-assuredness of somebody who had not only won the battle but won the war as well.

Vecna mimicked El’s actions, his long, bony fingers curling into a claw outstretched towards her. El too spluttered, her free reaching towards her throat.

“Ignis!” Will roared. A ball of scorching fire hurtled toward Vecna, knocking him back a couple of paces. His concentration on El faltered.

“It’ll take a lot more than that to end me, Will. I’m stronger than I’ve ever been.”

“Not for long.”

El’s arms slowly rose from beside her, the discarded vines on the ground slithered towards Vecna before they wound around him, constricting tighter and tighter until he was bound still before them. "Acido!” yelled Will, sending another ball of luminous green hurtling in Vecna’s direction. “Acido! Ignis!”

Will threw everything he had at him over and over again without giving Vecna a chance to regain his composure. Each painful groan that Vecna let out feeling like they were one step closer to sweet, sweet victory.

Eventually, Vecna stilled. Still bound by El’s vines, he stood before them limp and lifeless baring the faintest hint of a smirk growing across his face.

With an almighty roar from Vecna, the vines wound around him burst free from his body, flying towards Will and El. Within seconds, they’d found themselves in the exact same position they’d been in not fifteen minutes earlier. Bound and helpless.

The rest of the party let out pants of exhaustion as they battled against the last of the monsters, unbeknownst to them that Vecna’s vines were slowly creeping across the ground ready to root them to the spot where they stood.

Steve felt a tug at his ankle that brought him to his knees. His bat fell from his hand in shock as he felt the vines constrict around his legs, slowly making their way up and around him until his arms were pinned to his side too.

The bats relented allowing him a moment to gauge the situation, his eyes darting from person to person as he took in the various states of despair they were all in. Bruised and bloody, about to lose the war.

Vecna turned to Steve, a smirk on his face and a glint in his eye that made Steve feel sick to his stomach.

“Steve, Steve, Steve. What to do with you?” he taunted, slowly making his way towards him. Each agonising footstep made Steve shrink further into himself. “Do I kill you first and put you out of your misery? Or should I have a little more fun with you first and let you watch while I finally finish off all of your little friends?”

The term ‘pigs for slaughter’ echoed through Steve’s head as he braced himself for the incoming attack.

How naive he’d been to think that any part of his plan would go smoothly. How he’d really believed, despite all their previous history of bad luck, that he’d be able to just stumble back into the Upside Down and revive Eddie without any repercussions. How he’d unknowingly slammed down the gavel on the death sentences he’d granted each of his friends the moment he’d opened the Dungeons and Dragons handbook a couple of weeks ago.

As Vecna’s clawed hand grew closer to his face, Steve chanced a final teary-eyed glance toward his friends. “I’m sorry,” he muttered, unsure if any of them could hear him but still feeling the need to apologise once again if it was the last thing he ever did. One final atonement for his sins.

“Hey, fuck-face!” yelled Kas, appearing suddenly behind Vecna. The fluttering of his wings keeping him suspended in the air just high enough to tower over his opponent.

“I had rather high hopes for you as my lieutenant,” Vecna began, spinning around to face Kas. “You could have been great, you know? It’s a shame I’m going to have to kill you too.”

“There’s only one person that’s going to die here tonight and it’s going to be you!”

Kas lunged towards Vecna and plunged his sword into his forearm before retracting it again, causing thick, dark blood to ooze from the wound.

“You really thought I wanted to be your lieutenant? Your fucking pet?” Kas confessed, dodging Vecna’s attacks of retaliation. “That I’d betray my friends and help you end the fucking world? You’re delusional. I knew from the moment you dug me up and offered me that deal what had to be done.”

Vecna let out a low snarl and stumbled.

“I knew I’d have to be stronger if I stood any chance of killing you. More on your level. Besides, you dug your own grave.”

He swung his sword again, slicing Vecna’s exposed torso.

“You explained your entire plan to me before I’d even accepted your offer to become this delightful creature that I currently am. Like you said, I could accept and live or you could put me back in the hole. But that’s where you fucked up, Henry. You told me you needed them to open the cave. You told me Steve would be coming.”

Vecna’s eyes went wide as he finally pieced the remaining puzzle pieces together.

“If they were coming back to the Upside Down then they needed all the help they could get. You didn’t tell me you were going to play with my memories but like Will said earlier, you’re predictable. I had a funny feeling you weren’t telling me the whole truth but there was one thing you didn’t anticipate. Couldn’t anticipate.”

“Spit it out,” growled Vecna, showing obvious signs of weakness as he wiped the blood from his chest.

“Just how far Steve was willing to go. I knew he wouldn’t leave without trying to save me, I knew he’d make me remember, and that would be all I needed to finally wake up to your bullshit and end you once and for all.”

With a final slice of Kas’ sword, Vecna fell to his knees in a heap, propping himself up weakly with his hand. For the first time since he’d woken up, Kas met Steve’s gaze and his eyes softened.

“I’m sorry it has to be this way, Stevie,” Kas told him. “I know this isn’t what you wanted, but if anyone can figure it out, it’s going to be you.”

“What are you talking about?” Steve asked, a mixture of confusion and dread rising within him.

“You’ll see,” he answered. “Promise me one thing, yeah?”

“Anything.”

“When you do, tell me all about it.”

Steve gulped nervously. “I promise.”

Kas turned his attention back to Vecna and raised his sword high above his head before plunging the tip straight through Vecna’s left eye.

It happened in slow motion.

The ground around them shaking violently, causing what was left of the Creel house to crumble and crash to the dry earth it lay on. The screech of the Demobats in the distance becoming more frantic before suddenly dying out. The burst of blinding light erupting from Vecna as he met his demise.

The vines bounding the party dropped lifeless to the ground finally freeing their extremities as Steve watched the light subside through his eyelids. He slowly opened them, eagerly hoping that he’d finally be able to lay his eyes on a once again human Eddie, ready to walk out of the Upside Down hand in hand with a smile on their faces knowing that they’d finally rid the world of the evil that was Henry Creel.

Except he didn’t.

Steve felt his heart shatter into a million pieces as Kas’ sword clattered to the ground, the sound of metal echoing in his ears as it stilled next to Vecna’s discarded hand. The only two pieces of physical proof that they’d won the most dangerous war that had ever existed. A war that nobody would ever know about.

Victory tasted a lot more bitter than any of them had ever anticipated.

April 25th, 1987.

Once again, Steve had found himself in the Wheeler’s basement on a Saturday night.

“Well done, man,” said Jonathan with a supportive pat on his back. "Mom and Hop will want to see this at family dinner tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” he answered. “Although, you ought to be thanking Robin and Vickie for not letting me out of their sight for the first two weeks. I couldn’t even pee alone.”

“Happy to help,” Robin said with a smile.

Vickie chuckled. “Yeah, the bathroom trips were a real bonding experience for us all.”

After fifteen minutes of passing around his newly awarded thirty-day sobriety chip between the various members of the party, all of whom had nothing but praise and words of support for Steve, Lucas walked in looking flustered. “Sorry I’m late, what did I miss?”

“Steve got his thirty-day chip,” replied Dustin. “And Will’s almost finished setting up.”

Lucas threw his jacket onto the back of the sofa and walked over to his usual spot at the table. “Well done, man. That’s amazing. Oh, and I almost forgot,” he began, turning to face Nancy. “Max said to thank your Mom for the casserole. She loves it.”

“Really?” Steve asked in a hushed voice, leaning in close enough to ensure Nancy couldn’t hear them.

“She gave it to the night shift nurses,” Lucas answered with a smirk.

One by one the seats around the table filled and Steve’s first game of Dungeons and Dragons was underway. It was utter chaos within an hour.

“It could be a trap!” argued Erica.

“It could be loot,” Mike argued back.

Lucas sighed. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this but I agree with Erica. If it is a trap, you don’t have the hit points to make it out alive.”

“Well?” asked Will, looking at Mike.

“Screw it,” he replied. “I’m going to go over to the chest and pick the lock.”

Groans erupted from around the table. “You are quite literally the dumbest mother fucker I know,” Erica told him, rolling her eyes.

Will pointed to the set of shiny blue dice laid out in front of Mike, pride of place. One of the many anniversary presents he’d received from El. “Roll your d20.”

Steve was on the edge of his seat as he waited for the die to settle. The rest of the party just looked pissed off, except El who was smiling reassuringly at Mike.

“Seven. So that’s a twelve,” Mike announced while double-checking his character sheet, a hint of hope in his eyes.

A small smirk settled on Will’s face. “You stray from the party, wandering over to the glimmering chest that caught your eye and wipe away the thick layer of cobwebs covering the padlock. You glance over your shoulder one last time to check that the coast is clear and insert your lock pick into the keyhole. Just when you think it’s about to open, the pick jams and snaps in two. The padlock begins to vibrate in your hand, getting stronger and stronger until thick, black smoke emerges from the keyhole.”

“Told you!” Erica scoffed.

“The smoke engulfs you, filling your lungs until you start gasping for air,” Will began before rolling his die. “You take ten points of damage.”

Mike adjusted the numbers on his character sheet. “I have one hit point left.”

Will rose from his chair and leaned over the table, knocking over Mike’s character token. “The black smoke knocks you unconscious and disperses. Steve, your turn.”

“I, uh, give me a second,” Steve stalled.

Dustin leaned over the table and looked Steve dead in the eyes before speaking. “You’re a druid. Heal him, goddammit.”

“I think I might have used all my spells, I’m not sure.”

Lucas slammed his hand down on the table. “The jar!”

“What?”

Lucas pointed to Steve’s character sheet. “The jar you found earlier. Surely that’ll help.”

Steve opened his loaned handbook to the magical items section and flicked through the pages hoping to find out what properties Keoghtom's Ointment had and how it could help them but instead found something far more interesting a few pages in. Something he’d glanced at the first time he’d looked in the book, only it didn’t have any relevance back then.

“The sword of Kas: A relic blade forged by Vecna for his lieutenant. The sword contains a fraction of Kas’s consciousness and is therefore sentient.”

He read the section over and over again, his eyes glancing between the text before him and the sword they’d mounted on the wall when they’d gotten back from the Upside Down.

“Earth to Steve?” asked Dustin, waving his hand in front of Steve’s face.

“It might work.”

“The ointment?”

Steve threw the book down on the table and jumped to his feet to take the sword off of its mount. “You guys said that True Resurrection wouldn’t work because there was nothing to use it on, right? You have to touch who you’re casting it on?”

Everyone fell silent, even the members of the party who weren’t playing D&D. All eyes were on Steve. “Right,” answered Will, curiosity in his tone.

“And as long as the Upside Down still exists we all still have this weird connection to it, right?

“Spit it out, dude,” urged Erica.

“What if there was something to use it on?” he asked, thrusting the sword into Nancy’s hand. Nobody answered. “The sword is sentient, it was forged using a piece of Kas’ consciousness. We still have a part of him. Will it be enough?”

Dustin leaned over the table to grab the book that Steve had been reading. “You’re a goddamn genius.”

The party snapped into immediate action.

El cleared the table with a wave of her hand, all the tokens and papers they’d just been using flying into the air and landing neatly in their box. The novelty of having her powers back still hadn’t worn off. Mike dragged Nancy off the sofa and guided her to the head of the table, pushing her down into the seat whilst Dustin shoved the handbook under her nose. Nancy took the book with her free hand and looked around at the eager faces staring back at her.

“Are we sure about this?” she asked. Dustin, Lucas, Will, and Steve all stifled a groan at Nancy’s expected skepticism. Mike, however, chose not to hide his disapproval and scoffed audibly. Sibling perks.

“No,” Steve answered honestly. “But I want you to try anyway. It’s okay if it doesn’t work. I’ll be okay. Please, Nance.”

Nancy took one look at Steve’s face and folded instantly. “It’ll take an hour.”

So they waited, rather impatiently, for Nancy to finish casting the spell. Some of them paced around the basement, some of them sat by the table bouncing their knees, and some of them sat staring at the clock while they picked at the skin around their fingernails. Steve took it in turns doing all three. They didn’t dare speak and break Nancy’s concentration, her eyes fixed on the passage of Latin text in the book in front of her.

Robin had silently ordered Steve to sit down when there were fifteen minutes left on the countdown. The longer he sat and stared at the hand winding around the clock, the more restless he became. He’d waited over a year to see Eddie again and now that moment was finally within his grasp he couldn’t contain the rapidly growing excitement within him. His right leg shook faster and faster as the final minutes inched closer.

Five minutes to go. Lucas and Mike were pacing around the basement again and El stood staring at the sword on the table, chewing at her fingernails. Four minutes. Robin and Vickie sat next to Nancy at the table, clutching each other’s hands. Dustin looked pale and Steve felt sick. Three minutes. Erica silently mocked her brother whilst Jonathan comforted his. Vickie looked just as anxious as she did the night they’d sat her down and explained everything. Two minutes. The party swapped eager glances amongst themselves, those sitting down inching towards the edge of their seats. One minute. Dustin sat next to Steve, their knees bouncing at the same pace. Mike gravitated towards El. Thirty seconds. Robin was visibly stressed, her face flushing. Ten seconds. Steve held his breath and wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans. Nancy finished the passage for the final time and removed her hand from the hilt. Everyone raced toward the table, eyes fixed on the sword while they waited for something to happen.

“Did it work?” Erica asked, the tension in the room dispersing in an instant.

“According to the book, he should’ve appeared within ten feet of us,” Nancy answered. “I’m sorry, Steve.”

"S'okay,” he lied, sinking back into his seat on the sofa. “It was a long shot, anyway.”

“I know, but—”

“But nothing. It’s fine.”

He caught a glimpse of Robin and Vickie sharing a familiar look that Steve knew meant wouldn’t be left alone for the next few days.

After a few minutes of sitting with his head in his hands, Steve blinked away the tears pooling in his eyes, took a deep breath, and looked up. Most of the party was still gathered around the table, inspecting both the sword and book trying to figure out what went wrong, except for Dustin who had plonked himself next to Steve again so that he too could sulk.

“You okay, bud?” Steve asked.

“I think so,” Dustin replied, his voice quiet. “Are you okay?”

Steve let out a sigh. “I think so.”

“Maybe Nancy got the spell wrong, or maybe—”

Steve grabbed Dustin’s arm enthusiastically, stopping him mid-sentence. “Did you see that?”

“See what?”

Dustin’s eyes followed Steve’s, landing on the lamp in the corner of the room. “Oh my god.”

Steve grabbed his keys from the coffee table and bolted up the stairs before anybody could notice he was leaving. He didn’t have time to answer questions or convince anyone he was mentally well enough to be alone, Dustin would have to do that for him.

He dropped his keys three times trying to get them into the ignition, the sweat on his palms causing them to slip out of his grasp every time he tried to pick them up before he finally managed to turn the car on. He slammed his foot on the gas, tires screeching as he pulled out of the driveway onto Maple Street.

Red lights and speed limits were of no concern to Steve, he knew damn well that once he’d explained to Hopper why he’d been driving through Hawkins at eighty miles an hour that any potential tickets issued to Steve would be expunged instantly.

He didn’t hide his car this time, instead, he skidded to a halt as close to the old trailer as he could get and jumped out of the car. Steve climbed through the window and stared longingly at the rope hanging from the ceiling, his heart rate rising as the faint sounds of an acoustic guitar vibrated around the living room. He gulped nervously and stepped toward the center of the room, placing one hand on the rope. The music stopped.

“You got my SOS then, huh? Someone needs to make a note in the book that True Resurrection has some issues when used inter-dimensionally. Ten feet my ass.”

“I can see why it probably didn’t come up during the editing process,” Steve replied, a smirk growing across his face.

“Shut up and move out of the way.”

Steve held his breath, his heart feeling like it was about to beat right out of his chest as he stared at the mess of wild, brown curls and leather that landed in a pile on the mattress in front of him.

“I always knew there was a brain in that pretty little head of yours.”

“Eds? That really you?”

A pair of big, brown eyes stared right back at him. “Hey there, big boy.”

A/N: And with that, we have the final chapter of the main story. I truly hope I've done the ending justice and that you like it as much as I do. 🖤

Just the epilogue to go now.