#only to have her double down on her selfishness

[fullmetal-angelgrace]

man.... poor cressida, eloise totally ditched her in her time of need :( and then her life went to shit

i was hoping for a good outcome for her story, but the writers really just shoved her back into the mean girl role to move the plot along :/

i really liked her speech to colin about how different they are because her family doesn't support her, cuz the bridgerton's make bad choices all the time that cause society to look down on them, but they always bounce back (and don't start shipping off children to the country to avoid further ridicule)

i really liked how they had all the featherington's reconcile and explicitly try to be more supportive of each other, like a whole women supporting women storyline, but then the writers fucked over cressida so horribly 😭

[mccleans]

[manicmanuscription]

Unapologetically Selfish

Azriel x Reader

Warnings: Illusions to smut, fluff, gaslighting(?) not proofread bc author is lazy

Word Count: 2334

Summary: When both of your jobs have your time with each other limited, Azriel makes the decision to keep you all to himself. Content to let his family think he'd finally lost his mind but an accidental meeting has the IC realizing Azriel truly does have a secret mate.

Cassian was…concerned, to say the least. 

He fully believed Azriel was loosing his god damned mind and with each passing day this assumption only worsened. 

It all started three years ago, Azriel becoming almost scarce from time to time. With no explanation other than vague answers. It didn’t happen a lot and Cassian respected his brother needed his space some time, it wasn’t unusual for the Spymaster to slink off in the shadows. But then after a year his disappearance’s become nearly constant. 

Cassian and Rhysand finally cornered their brother after they demanded he show up for a monthly family dinner, the whole inner circle was getting concerned and decided that the two Illyrians were the best equipped to deal with this. 

Azriel had blankly looked at his brothers a small furrow in his brow as he sat through their interrogation. He hadn’t even realized he had been gone that much to be frank. Just… after meeting you? He wanted to spend every second of the day by your side, the mating bond simply not enough for how deeply he felt for you. 

After realizing the worry he was causing his family he pursed his lips and quite reluctantly told his brothers that he had found his mate. 

The look on the High Lord and General of the Night Court was absolutely priceless, their mouths hanging open as a stunned expression took over their usually stoic faces. 

Not even five minutes later the whole family knew, everyone pestering him for information like when they would get to meet you, what your name was, what did you do, how did you meet, where have you been this entire time. 

“Wait!” Feyre said as Mor had opened another bottle of wine and started excitedly pouring everyone a glass. “Is that why you asked Rhysand for a few months off?” 

The whole Inner Circle froze at Azriel’s simple nod. They all knew the implications of what that meant and Cassian was the first to speak. “You had a mating ceremony and none of us knew?” His voice thick with emotion. 

Azriel struggled with his next words. His heart a lump in his throat. He was never a talkative male, especially not about his feelings. 

“I-“ 

The truth was he was an incredibly selfish bastard. Of course he wanted his family to meet you, you were the most radiant person he ever had the pleasure of breathing next to and that was precisely the problem. He wanted you all to himself. 

“I’m sorry.” He said clearing his throat. “Would you like to meet her?” The house erupted with enthusiastic yes’s as his words seemed to smooth over the transgression. 

Eight months after that conversation, and after 6 canceled dinners 2 rescheduled lunches and just a straight up no show for drinks, The Night Court decided Azriel was…delusional. 

Of course they came to this conclusion delicately and most definitely amongst themselves after long and heated conversations.

Once again Rhysand and Cassian were sent to talk with the elusive spymaster and why he would make up such a lie. 

Azriel just refused their nonsense once again. He had told them the truth and it was their fault they didn’t believe it. He had barely seen you these last couple months as you had been working on the Continent and he had other tasks assigned to him. He told his brothers this and they just gave each other a look, one he simply ignored. 

Soon…the teasing started. Once the Inner Circle realized Azriel was doubling down on his ‘delusions’ Cassian promptly started joking about the fake wife and mate Azriel had. A few offhand comments here and there that become more and more frequent, of course Nesta and the rest of their family told him to shut up, but for Cassian it came from a place of love. 

He had tried talking to his brother, tried helping him through this. Cassian’s mind spinning, he truly thought Azriel had finally cracked, that his dearest brother was so alone he had made up an imaginary mate just to prove something. 

So his teasing was his last ditch effort, the final playing card to hopefully get Azriel to just admit he lied, than Cassian would take him out for drinks and be his shoulder to cry on for whatever issue that was obviously going on. 

Except it didn’t work. Azriel just grew more and more distant, if he wasn’t working he was simply…elsewhere. The last time Azriel ever made an effort to be around his family was when he suddenly up and decided to move out of the House of Wind, throwing a small house party for a beautiful cottage he purchased along the coast. 

Rhysand had to force Azriel to come to family dinners, in which sometimes the Spymaster simply never showed up and when he did his mind seemed distant and detached. 

Everyone was getting increasingly worried, especially Cassian. Azriel was incredibly important to him and although Cassian would never admit this, he felt responsible for him. Sometimes his brother didn’t know how to take care of himself, especially emotionally and whenever that happened The General had always been there, happily helping him whenever he could, making sure his heart and mind were protected, fighting off Azriel’s demons when he couldn’t do it himself. 

And he had never seen his brother so…aloof, distant and he had never thought his mental health would have gotten so bad he had made up a mate. So finally, Cassian and Rhys decided it was time for an intervention. 

———

Azriel.. for the life of him could not wait for his brothers to get out of his house. 

He loved them dearly and he knew he had been acting stranger and stranger these last few years, he knew his family thought he was certifiably insane and that great Shadowsinger of the fearsome Night Court had finally snapped and of course he cared, he knew that his actions had his brothers spinning and Nesta’s newly revealed pregnancy didn’t help Cassian’s grey hairs, and he had tried countless times to explain to them that he wasn’t insane, that you were real and beautiful and had utterly and completely captured his heart. 

But without the proof, his brothers simply didn’t believe him. Azriel wanted you to meet his family, gods did he want you too. But his time with you was becoming more and more rare. 

If you weren’t on the Continent you were with Thesan and if you weren’t with Thesan you were with Helion, leading all sorts of medical discoveries he simply could not comprehend no matter how hard he tried, this new medical project you were taking on meant that he hadn’t seen you in months, his body and heart ached for you and he truly had never felt such longing in his life. His brother’s insisting that he was insane certainly wasn’t helping his heartache.  

“I…” Cassian swallowed. “I can’t watch you do this to yourself anymore Az.” He whispered finally and Azriel truly felt the guilt he had been burying down hit him as if he had been struck at the look on his brother’s face. 

He opened his mouth to say something but ultimately couldn’t find the words as Cassian left his home office, his footsteps echoing the utter doom and gloom he felt not only at your disappearance but at the raging guilt he felt for putting everyone in this situation in the first place. 

“Please…Just talk to us Az-“ Rhys started but he put his hand up. “Just, Go..please, we can talk about this later.” Azriel pleaded and Rhysand must’ve seen the look on his face so he pursed his lips and followed the General out of his brother’s home. 

———

You couldn’t wait to get home not only to the house you’d built together but to your mate. Every fiber of your being ached for him, and it physically hurt to be away from him for so long. 

So finally you had announced to your team and your dearest friend Thesan you were taking a well deserved break and decided to surprise your mate. 

You desperately needed to see him, hold him, breathe him in. Your soul was raging for the distance to finally be closed and so you planned a surprise trip, so you shut off the bond to him, which had sent him into a wild panic but you soothed it temporarily saying you were busy and needed to focus. But really you knew you couldn’t hide the excitement at finally arriving home, your chest was alight with nerves as you opened the door to your house, your fingers nervously playing with your hair as you couldn’t stop the giddy smile from erupting across your face. 

This was space was yours. For the first time you had not just a house but a home, and a lot of your tension eased at finally stepping into the carefully curated space you and Azriel had created. You could smell him everywhere, and it insantly made your frayed nerves ease, your body already relaxing at just finally being home.

It had been six long months without touching him, seeing him, with only fleeting reassurance and love sent down the bond and you needed him. Now. 

You were so excited you didn’t see the tall and bulky Illyrian warrior standing in your hallway staring at you as if he had seen a ghost. You crashed into a hard wall of muscle in your haste to get to your mate and immediately pulled back. 

“Your…not Azriel.” You stated, looking him up and down with a small frown etched on your face, something primal recoiling at the thought of another male in your house.

“Neither are you?” The male stated his voice with a slight edge, eyes wary as he looked you up and down, as if you were a threat. His fingers twitching and you immediately pulled away from him noticing his dangerous expression. “What are you doing here?”

“I live here? I think the question is what the hell are you doing in my house.�� You asked stepping another few paces away from him but still crossing your arms over your chest as you looked him up and down. He wore red siphons on his hands and his long brown hair had a few greys all tied together in a low bun. Cassian, then you assumed.

“Wait..I’m sorry what?” The male sputtered, his vicious stance immediately softening into one of shock. You didn’t notice the High Lord standing behind him with an equal look of surprise as their brains finally processed the information. Their brother hadn’t cracked, he had been telling the truth about all of it. The traveling, the courtship, that he was in fact married and mated. 

Shadows twisted in the corner before scurrying off down the hall and in just a few seconds you were being tugged into a warm chest and spun around as scarred hands possessively held your waist. You giggled at the touch, the bond in your chest thrummed with light as peace finally settled in your bones. Home you were finally home. He set you down and you leaned up pulling his face close to yours as you peppered him with kisses. Gods you had missed him so much. He smiled softly at your touch shadows almost completely engulfing you as they too missed you. 

“Hey, Hello? We’re still here.” Cassian snapped his fingers to get your attention and Azriel growled darkly at the intrusion. You had been gone for six months you were his not his family’s. It wasn’t just a want that made him grip you even tighter at the thought of his family taking away your time with their endless interrogation no, no it was a need that thrummed throughout the fiber of his being. He needed to mark you up and hold you close and worship every single inch of skin on your body. He needed to completely immerse himself into you. 

Rhysand must have seen the look on his face or heard something in his mind because he gently gripped Cassian’s shoulders. “If you neither of you show up to breakfast tomorrow we will hunt you down or simply show up here.” It was said in a playful tone but Azriel understood the threat behind it, he was going to have to finally introduce you whether he liked it or not and with a simple wave of agreement from Azriel the two males winnowed away and he pressed himself further against you. Breathing in your scent all his stress and worry melting away as he did. The bond had been pulled so taut with the distance it had ached with the worst pain possible. 

“I missed you.” You breathed out softly, he grunted in agreement. “Let me take you far away from here and show you how much I missed you.” He whispered as he pressed soft kisses down the side of your neck, you giggled and his heart beat faster at the noise. “You are not getting of that easy again Spymaster.” You spoke with another laugh. His hands tightened even further on your hips with frustration, one of them sliding up to tangle in your hair as he kissed you, his tongue sliding in your lips claiming your’s with a deep desire that settled in his bones. You’d leave again soon and now he’d have to share your limited time with someone else. He tugged at your bottom lip possessively at the thought and lifted you in his arms your legs straddling as his waist as he walked you to your bedroom to show you exactly how much you were his. 

————— 

The Inner Circle anxiously awaited The General and High Lord’s arrival, waiting on any news of Azriel’s mental health when they finally winnowed in. Shocked grins overtaking their expressions. There was a beat of silence before Cassian spoke up. “You’ll never guess what the actual fuck just happened.” 

[velvetcrimsonkisses]

☆DOUBLE! TROUBLE!☆

Suguru Geto × Satoru Gojo x Fem!reader

Cw: smut, threesome obv, blowjob, pussy eating, spit, eiffel tower, exchange of cum, boys kissing, fingering, multiple orgasm, creampie, unprotected, squirt, nipple play, pwnp

A threesome had never come to your mind not before, the two guys offered themselves and how could you tell them no. Having two pretty men in your bed felt like it could only be a dream.

“Isn’t she pretty?” Suguru looks over to a pouty Satoru as two of his fingers lift your chin to look at him. “Stop, don't be selfish. Let me touch her too,” Satoru remarks furrowing his eyebrows as he takes your hand and pulls you closer to him on the bed. Suguru swiftly pulls you out of Satoru’s grasp, bringing you into a sloppy kiss. His hands moving down to hold your hips, gently pulling you down on top of him. Satoru watches the kiss intently, feeling himself grow hard at what was unfolding but, with a hint of jealousy scattered across his perfect face.

“And what about me huh?” He cocks his head to the side, lips pout. “Not my problem…” Suguru mumbles, not wanting to pull his lips away from you. Satoru scoffs, moving towards you, trying to wedge himself between you both, his lips wandering onto your neck, soft kisses sensually moving to your jaw and finally to your lips, meeting you and Suguru in a kiss. Tongues swirling with each other, smacking together, and different moans all mix together. Both sets of large hands explore your body, savoring your soft skin, delicately pressing themselves deeper into you. Enthralling you in their arms, as if they were fighting for possessiveness over you. Suguru starts to mouth at your collarbone, nibbling on the sensitive skin as Satoru presses open-mouth kiss against the skin on your cheek, stopping near your earlobe before giving it a small bite. Satoru feels a wave of confidence come over him as you moan, dipping his hand down your pants.

“Are you wet princess?” His hot breath against your ear makes you shiver. “We should check, Satoru…” Suguru reaches down to spread your legs open, allowing both his and Satorus' hand to fit perfectly in your cunt. Both of them on either side of you, they have you locked in as they begin exploring your heat. Suguru’s fingers graze over your clit as Satoru explores your entrance, allowing a finger to slide in. “She is,” Suguru teases you as he slides a finger between your slit. “Look she’s talking to us,” Satoru smirks, stuffing you with another long digit. The sound of your wetness and moans echoing between all of you as he pumps his fingers in and out of you.

Suguru fingers graze your exposed back, reaching for the hem of your shirt to slowly pull it off. Throwing it across the room as Satoru removes your bottoms, dropping them to the floor. His blue eyes falling to your lacy panties. He looks at you with needy eyes, lowering himself face to face with your cunt. Suguru lays you down between his thighs, you feel his hard chest up against your back as he uses one hand to spread your legs open even wider. One hand reaches to massage your exposed chest as the other reaches down to open up your pussy and expose your throbbing clit to the white haired man in front of you. Satoru looked like he was starving, licking his lips as he intently watched Suguru continue to roll your clit between his fingers. The stimulation from Suguru’s fingers was already enough to drive you crazy but once Satoru layed on the bed, mouth directly lined up your heat and you could feel his hot breath against it. You were done for. Suguru moves his other hand up back to your chest, twirling your nipple with the tip of his fingertip to allow Satoru to start eating you up.

“So sweet princess…” Satoru spits on your clit, sending a vibration from your cunt all the way to your spine. Suguru grabs you softly by the neck so he can take a good look at your face, bringing you even closer so he could kiss you while Satoru continues making out your pussy. The way he moved his tongue in and out of you, with a rhythm he knew would have you creaming in no time. He was fast and so needy to please your pretty little cunt. Not to mention the other man trying to stuff his tongue down your throat, Suguru’s kisses were fiery and intense. Each man trying to claim as you their own at each end. You couldn’t think about anything else as you came for the first time that night. Your legs close around Satoru’s head. He could’ve sworn this was heaven as your legs trembled with the immense pleasure of your orgasm. You hold onto Sugurus biceps, digging your nails into him, arching your back. Desperate for some stabilization as you come down from the overwhelming stimulation.

Suguru breaks the kiss, his hand coming down to pull up Satoru from your pussy by his hair. “Look at him. She taste good, Toru?” Satoru doesn’t use his words to respond, he just simply nods, his face covered in your slick. “Lemme try…” Suguru pulls him up, both of them meeting in a kiss, exchanging your cum with flicks of their tongues, leaving you to just stare at them, jaw dropped at what was unfolding in front of your eyes. “You were right…” Suguru breaks the kiss, pushing Satoru to the side. A smirk spreads across the blue- eyed man’s face as he lands back onto the bed. “I told you,” Satoru grumbles, wiping his face. Their eyes fall back onto you.

“Can you take me now, pretty girl?” Suguru palms himself over his sweatpants. A quick nod was all he needed before his pants dropped to the floor and he was pumping himself. A deep red flush spreads across your face as you examine just how thick and heavy his cock was. A crimson red color on tip, veins protruding up and down the entirety of his length. “All fours babe..” he takes your hand helping you roll over. Satoru was still watching with a stupid grin plastered on his face, as he undresses himself, giving you a show as Suguru lines himself up behind you. He teases your entrance, rubbing his cock up and down your wet folds, causing you to groan as you move your ass back to rub on his pelvis. A silent plea telling him you needed him inside already.

“We did a good job prepping you baby… pussy was made for us,” He easily slides in, throwing his head back as he feels your cunt throb around him. The delicious stretch of his cock fogs your brain. The only thing you can focus on is how he fills you up inch by inch until you see Satoru standing in front of you, cock hard and free from his boxers. He wasn’t as thick as Suguru but his length definitely made up for it. A bubble gum pink color and a small pool of pre cum on the tip. “Don’t overwhelm her Satoru,” Suguru scolds him as he slowly grinds his cock into you at just the right angle, already making you roll your eyes to the back of your head. “I won’t Suguru, just showing her. Why don’t you kiss it, pretty girl?” He coos, moving your hair out of your face.

By the smirk on your face, Satoru knew you weren’t just going to kiss his cock. Peppering small kisses on the tip, the man above you becomes like puddy in your hands. Feeling your warm mouth around him was leaving him a babbling mess. “F-fuck so good,” his hand holds your head to make sure you don’t decide to tease and stop. He looks into your eyes, with a pleading look on face. You were gonna tease him, until you felt Suguru pick up his pace again. Both of them were close. Really close. As you fixate on the way Sugurus hard thrusts become more sloppy into you, Satoru’s cock twitches in your mouth causing you to gag. Your eyes become glossy from the tears that threaten to fall down your face. The immense pleasure of both them on either side of you, fucking you, with such skill drives you insane. “You want our cum baby?” Suguru grunts as Satoru is lost out of his mind. “Cum around my cock…” Sugurus hands tighten around your hips, holding you up.

Finally the knot deep inside you comes undone, causing you to squirt all over Suguru as he fills you with thick ropes of cum. One after another, pronounced with a deep thrust so he's sure it stays inside you. Not long after Satoru cums in your mouth, silky ropes of cum made it easy for you to swallow. Both men pull out slowly, Satoru watches your face contort into the very picture of bliss and content. Suguru on the other side watches his cum deliberately drip down your thighs, bringing his finger up to your hole and stuffing it back in.

Satoru falls back onto the bed as Suguru catches you with his strong arms before your legs give out. “I got you baby.” he coos, laying down on the bed with you. Satoru wastes no time in covering you in kisses, buttering you so he can ask you a very important question…

“My turn?”

[acotarxreader]

Hounded

Eris x Reader

Synopsis: Eris loves his dogs more than any other living thing and they love him but soon his eldest hound has found a new interest, you and your endless supply of bread rolls. An unlikely friendship begins to form between the Son of Autumn and one of Springs last border guards, Craos is just hoping to create some sort of parent trap situation.

Warning: Fluff, banter, blood, wounds, doggos, Eris shaming the dogs belly, poor editing

A/N: Hi friends! I orginally wrote this for @erisweekofficial for the Hounds theme however I've been really in the trenches recently and only got around to finishing it now, so I'm sad to have missed Eris week but still happy to be publishing my first Eris fic! Let me know what you think!

P.S Craos (cray-us) in Irish means blazing when referring to fire and Tine (tin-ah) means fire so I named two of the dogs after these words for a lil Irish flare

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

The hounds were Eris’s greatest pride and occasionally his greatest pain in the ass. He fought with this very thought the day his eldest hound, Craos had managed to dip out of his view one walk. Eris blamed himself for losing sight of his favourite friend, so deep in the thoughts of worry about the Night Courts antics that threatened to expose his double agent status to his father. Actually, he blamed them for her escape, it was easier that way. The Autumn leaves crackled against the weight of his heavy boots, his voice getting lost in the whipping whirling wind of the forest far from his residence. Eris swung harshly around on his heels, just in time to catch Craos bounding up the hill towards him, mischievous as ever. 

“You scared me half to death girl” He laughed down at her, running his thumbs over her ears in soothing circles she loved so much, his other hounds leaping around waiting for their turn. She seemed to wish to pull him in the direction she bolted from, something tethering her to the distant spot in the vast woods. “Come girl, leave that hare to its escape love, you’re getting…fluffy enough without the extra feed” he laughed, leashing her to him and taking her from her pointed stance. Eris made a mental note to closely monitor Craos food as she began to get rounder than the others in the pack, no doubt owing to the budding Autumn wildlife she’d snag unaccompanied.

-

The following weeks lead Eris down a rabbit hole of Night Court intricacy, forever walking the line between ally and babysitter. He took comfort in the daily strolls through the thicket of woodland, his beloved pack in toe. The days he missed the walks he noticed his own demeanour change, his interest in the tangled interpersonal mess the Inner Circle was weaving waning beyond even an ounce of interest. Eris checked his hounds daily and despite their own vast staff, he loved to take care of them and nurture the breed while nurturing something he wasn’t even sure he still had inside himself. Some care for another living thing. Not in a selfish way of course, but more in a self-preservation sense, what he loved had a habit of crumbling in his hands or being crushed in someone else’s. 

Deep in thought, Eris ran a hand down the head of one of his younger hounds, Tine, who laid his head on the lap of his master as Eris tried to gain an understanding of the written correspondence on the desk. Tine grumbled against Eris’s thigh before stretching down to the ground. 

“Its tough work being pampered Tine” he laughed to himself, casting an eye on the other 4 hounds, curled into their own worlds by the fire of the study. Eris smiled softly at the relaxed nature, would any other living thing find such comfort in the company he provided? He forced the ever-present question away from his thoughts, casting a look to the sofa where Craos would often take her rest. Empty. Eris stood abruptly, chair screeching along the slate enough to have Tine stand to attention once again. Craos had been there when the others came in from their dinner? Hadn’t she? Another attempt by the Night Court to swipe away Eris’s attention buried him in paperwork when the dogs were returned to him. 

Quick on his feet, Eris and his pack found the staff of the kennels and after a brief and sharp discussion it was unclear if Craos was with the pack on return from her exercise. Following sharp threats, Eris took to the woodland again, his hounds hunting down their own with precision. His voice reverberated off ancient trees as their crisp golden leaves began to ink with lush green colour. Thoughts of the worst clouded the shrubbed path as Eris felt the border of Spring, his second least favourite place in the realm.

“Craos!” He echoed across a section of the stream border between Spring and Autumn. The mischievous hound leapt with excitement at the presence of her master, bounding through the shallow stream to return to Autumn and its son. He gave thanks for Spring's current instability as during time previous he wouldn’t have gotten this close to the Spring border without a visit from the furry High Lord. Eris couched into the silt of the streams bank, rubbing Craos's goofy face while quietly scolding her, knowing full well she wasn’t listening. 

“Petal” Eris looked up from the rushes towards the call of the sing-song siren-like voice. Not in the mood for confrontation with Spring, Eris crouched further into the brambles, obscuring himself from the female across the watery border. Craos pulled against Eris’s gentle hold, eager to cross the border again and succeed with another call from the voice. Eris watched the most feared hound in all the realm, leap like a bunny rabbit to your shadow, jumping to lick your face as you crouched to allow her. 

“Petal darling easy” You laughed, coating the clearing in an ease unfamiliar to Eris. through the thick river rushes Eris watched his much-revered hound roll to her back for scratches before leaping up to follow your hand as it dug through your bag. 

“Okay, sit now” you laughed, Craos eagerly obeying and happily rewarded with a small bread roll you took from your bag. 

“Easy easy” You beamed as she scoffed the lot, Eris watched the interaction with equal parts confusion and intrigue and at that very moment realised the most feared son in all the realm was acting like a bunny rabbit hiding from a fox in the rushes. That very son shot upright quickly from his burrow, causing you to leap slightly with fright as Eris pulled his shoulders back in a more becoming stance. The both of you looked across the crystal-like stream, Craos jumping at your feet eager to resume your undivided attention. 

“Come” Eris called across the rushing water, only to have Craos not respond to him with obedience. You slowly ran your hand down the hounds head, not taking your eyes from the High Lord’s son. 

“Forgive me sir but you have no business this close to the Spring border” You tried your best to project confidence, it slipping from your grasp in the face of Eris’s heated stare. 

“You’re forgive” You fought hard to not roll your eyes at the obvious display of sarcasm. Eris lightly tapped his side, Craos’ ears snapping forward to attention before bounding across the stream to her master.

“Good”

“Don’t hurt her, she’s only coming home” You walked to the bank's edge, eyes scanning Craos for any sign of distress.

“Home?-” Eris found it hard to muffle his confused chuckle “-she is my hound, property of the Autumn Court-”

“Property!?-” You found the full strength in your voice “-she is a living being and she belongs to Prythian, she is more at home in the forest and with me-”

“-And who exactly are you?” Eris was quickly losing patience as Craos seemingly shrunk in stature at her master's strengthening tone. 

“It matters little, leave the dog and return away from my border-”

“-Orders?” Eris’s laugh filled the clearing, his heavy boots now stalking closer to the perimeter “-I will not take orders from anyone.”

“I hear you take orders from the Night Court” You laughed, it now skirting along Eris’s nerves instead of soothing them. 

“I do no such thing” The river water’s temperature began to rise as the son of the flame began to stalk closer. 

“Really? I heard you even bend over when dear Rhysie asks” You laughed again, Eris now causing the very edge of the river to steam. You raised a hand before his boot fully slid into the refreshing stream, a long wall of water dividing up the middle of the lake, stopping him in his tracks. 

“Ah ah-” you shook your finger towards him “-fire and water don’t mix sir” Craos ears pinned back at your words before she looked between the two of you, unsure of her own next move. 

“Your name, tell me your name” He chewed out, examining the translucent wall in front of him for cracks. 

“YN, the last keeper of my Court’s boarders” You smiled so innocently, it almost lured Eris back into that unfamiliar softness until he heard the soft sizzle of the dying flame at his fingertips, it turning to steam against the new border. 

“The last? Perhaps you should take that as a hint and seek further employment at a market or something?”

“Is that where Rhysand bought you?” You smirked, with more playfulness than power and Eris fought away his own smile. Craos leapt forward, Eris going to catch hold of her before she could slam into the fortified border but to his surprise, she glided through it with ease unavailable to him. 

“She can stay, you may go”

“She’s my hound, however, your supply of bread rolls certainly explains her newfound…plumpness” He heard her seemingly groan back in offesen and you looked from her to him. 

“Now you’re annoying two females, you should potentially quit while you’re ahead” Eris scoffed at your teasing, the sound of the other hounds bounding behind him piquing your interest. The four looked to their eldest sibling across the water, heads cocked to the side in curiosity and some form of canine communication. The four followed suit of their leader and crossed to you and Craos with ease. 

“Look at you lovelies” You beamed, crouching to meet the hounds as they reunited with their sister. Eris watched through the glistening border wall, his feared hounds reduced to cuddly toys under your touch. It was if he wasn’t even there. You interacted with them like they were never a threat and never would be, the way that he felt you might feel about him. A foreign feeling to a male whose reputation often goes before him. 

“We-we must be going” Eris felt unsure of the ounce of guilt he felt towards separating you from his pack, some sense of something wrong flooded him when they all ran back to his feet, leaving you alone on the other side of the clearing once again. You looked down with softer eyes to the dogs at his feet, no ounce of fear from them giving you comfort. 

“Don’t make a habit of feeding them all now” Eris smiled, bringing your eyes back to him.

“I thought she was stray, I didn’t know she was one of yours”

“They’re all mine, you say she belongs to Prythian but that is the very land that tried to eradicate the breed” You nodded lightly at his proud words. Silence returned to the clearing only to have Craos groan, receiving a knowing look from Eris. 

“She can come back when she is not working and when I say it is okay but, the bread rolls end” another groan from his eldest hound “No more bread rolls” he reiterated to her, gaining a laugh from you. 

“It's okay Petal, we’ll see” You smiled at her, the other dogs listening carefully and plotting their own access to baked goods. 

“Her name is Croas, it means blazing, a more fitting name than Petal I think” he laughed heartily, the action surprising even himself a little. 

“I’m going to stick with Petal, keep to your side sir” You returned the grin before dipping you head and evaporating into the very mist you built the wall from. 

-

Eris jogged through the vast Autumn woods, desperate to crush the headaches the Night Court were giving him like the leaves under his boots. The hounds sprang into their own exploration, all staying in close proximity except Craos, who had gone to visit you. Over the past month, she began to spend more and more time with you in Spring, even missing a few nights away from home to keep you company. It didn’t bother Eris as much as he had thought, the bread rolls had stopped and Craos seemed happy, he had no reason to take away another living thing's happiness. He never wanted to do that, to begin with, it just became part of his image, his unfortunate brand he couldn’t wait to shed once he assumed power from his father. 

Wartime plans swirled across his head, scenarios of defeat and success clogging his mind until he was snapped from focus by his suddenly wet shoes. He had once again jogged to the border of Spring and Autumn. This was the third time since first meeting you that his feet had taken him where his heart wanted to go and his head didn’t consent to. Unlike those times, however, he found you sat a little way up the stream by the river's edge. Eris watched Craos sprawled along your side, your hand drawing lazy circles on her stomach as you kept your focus on the book in the other. 

“No wonder Spring is falling, when the border guards take such leisure during their worktime” Eris called across to you, throwing his weight into the trunk of a sinking willow, hands tucked deep in his pockets. You looked up from your deep study with a slight jolt, Croas leaping instantly to defend you and sinking back once seeing the perpetrator. Eris never thought one of his hounds would defend anyone without his instruction and yet here Craos was, delighted to be at your service. You looked at Eris's sinking shoe before tilting your head slightly, the wall of water reappearing with the movement. 

“Threatened sweetheart?” Eris smirked, his hands now crossing against his chest in amusement as you stood. 

“Why would I be threatened by someone who’s going to slip?” Before Eris could question further, the sinking willow slipped free a root from the crumbling soil under Eris’s weight, his full balance being thrown back to land on an equally shaky bank. Your laugh echoed off the Spring trees at the sight of the much feared Son of Autumn helplessly falling into the shallow water, it soaking him to his skin instantly. Eris felt flushed with anger, it mixing violently with embarrassment but the sight of your head tilting back with put amusement took it from him as fast as the bank took his balance and he found himself smiling. 

“I don’t know how but you did that on purpose” He stood, a quick flash of flame drying him off as Craos crossed back to his side. 

“I can’t be blamed for you being clumsy” You chuckled, tucking your book back into your bag, Eris catching a glimpse of the cover. 

“I’ve read that, I didn’t think others would have?” 

“So unique and mysterious sir, not like other High Lords” You teased, your hands finding your hips as the other hounds joined the scene, seemingly groaning to demand their dinner. 

“Well, if you would let me cross this silly little water show, I could show you” You raised an eyebrow to his tone of possible flirtation. You blinked softly, a splash of water ejecting from the wall to soak Eris again as he recoiled. 

“I can be blamed for that, little water show” You laughed loudly, Eris wiping the water from his face until another flash of heat dried it away. He thought briefly about how he’d killed others for less and yet no desire to do that to you.

“Maybe another time then YN, I just came for our girl anyways, come Craos better get you home for your dinner” He smiled at the obedient pup. 

“She had a bread roll” You winked before dissolving away in the mist. 

—-----------------

Eris dragged his hands through his hair, his rings snagging slightly on his locks. The warmth of the study fire took away the chill from the perpetual Autumn but was unable to do the same to his sentiments about the Inner Circle. They kept him away from his home for the past three weeks and so kept him away from his encounters with you which had become more frequent in the three months since your first. Still, he stayed on one side of the watery wall, happy to exchange some stories with you across its shimmering surface. Craos was only too delighted that her newfound parents had seemed to cross the bridge between indifference to let's say tolerance. 

Eris stood from his desk, taking a violet-coloured book from the vast library before stalking around the grounds of his hidden home away from home, his hounds in tow except for the usual conscientious objector. The sinking sun reflected beautifully off the crisp leaves of this secluded cottage away from both Autumn and Night Court headaches. He sank down into a well-rotting deck chair, it creaking under his weight as he cracked the spine of the forgotten book you had reminded him of two months prior. It wasn’t long before the sound of heavy panting snapped Eris from the world on the tea-coloured pages. 

“Craos?” He called to the growing darkness, standing to his feet as the hound came bounding through the trees before barking frantically, stirring the other sleeping hounds. 

“What? What’s wrong?” A flame came to Eris’s hand instantly as Craos took the cuff of his trouser leg between her teeth and pulled to which he went willingly. She released her grip before dashing back in the direction she came from, only stopping to make sure Eris was still following. The group leapt over tree roots and mossy burrows, all quick on their pursuit of Craos and her frantic nature until the familiar flush of Spring air rushed at them. Eris’s eyes shot to your weakening body across the familiar river, your groans of pain reverberating off the trees as you fought to stand. Craos met your side quickly as you procured yourself up on one elbow, the mud and moss obscuring you slightly from Eris. 

“Hi Petal, it’s okay” You tried through tears to reassure her, taking your hand from your mangled leg to rub her reassuringly, your blood tinging her fur on contact. She yelped towards you before looking back to a pale Eris, you only notice him then. You tried your best to push from the ground, the screaming sound of metal on bone attempted to deafen your cries of pain. It became clear to him then, that the giant metal teeth of a trap designed to capture naga had found a new victim to lay claim to, its unforgiving mouth crushing through one of your ankles. Eris sank a foot into the river, your shaking hand instantly raising the wall of mist to block him. 

“YN, let me cross” He pleaded, failing to hide the desperation in his voice.

“I-I can’t, he’ll know-know I failed to keep the-the border and he-he might come for you for-for crossing” Your rattling breath only pushed Eris closer to the wall, it solidly pushing him back despite your growing weakness. 

“Let me deal with that overgrown badger, let me across, I need to help you” he continued to plea, his palms flat against the wall of water as the hounds cried out their own appeals. 

“What-what if he comes for-for Craos” You cried, attempting to sit up, your pain threshold quickly being pushed to the limit. 

“Then we’ll both kill him but you need to live for that, now please” His sterness finally had you giving in, the wall dropping with an uncharacteristically loud whoosh. Eris was quick to your side, his strong hands pried open the deathly grip held on your ankle as you cried out in almost deafening pain. The pressure released on your spraying arteries caused a new flood of blood to cover you both, the loss of blood pressure stealing colour from your face as well as energy. Eris took hold of the mangled joint, his hands gently heating. 

“You’re gonna hate me for this YN”

“N-nothing new there so” You half laughed through gritted teeth, it taking some semblance of worry from Eris before he began to to heat his hands to molten levels. You screeched from the feeling of healing flame, your arms instinctively wrapping around Eris's neck to bury your scream in his shoulder. The cauterising was the easy part, the fractured joints and bones not so much. With your arms gripping around him, he sank his hands beneath your legs to pull you up from the ground, the sudden upshoot and loss of blood causing you to lose consciousness immediately. 

-

The feeling of plush fur beneath your cheek was the first thing you noticed, then the smell of crisp cedar and smoke. Your eyes flittered open to the flickering of a well-established fire, Craos lying protectively up the length of your stomach on the oak-coloured leather couch. You rubbed her gently causing her to immediately react with large licks up your cheeks, the other dogs rushing to do the same. 

“Easy everyone” Eris laughed, a large mug in his hand as you sat up from the overwhelming affection. You looked down to see your mangled ankle no longer resembling a horror scene, a pristine white bandage replacing the crimson blood and torn muscle. 

“You’ll be okay, I had a healer here, you might be a bit sore” Eris spoke softly, watching you inspect the wrap before passing you the mug. 

“Thank-thank you” You looked back to him before taking a deep drink from the ceramic. 

“You didn’t even assume I poisoned that, we’ve made a lot of progress” He laughed, sinking into the chair across from you. 

“If you were going to kill me it would have been at the sight of the first bread roll” You chuckled, Croas’s ears perking up at the mention of her favourite snack. 

“Yes well, there's still time” Craos grumbled at her master's teasing, gaining another laugh from you. You looked around the small living room that had become your infirmary, noticing the vast collection of books, wooden figurines of great creatures and general Eris-ness about the place. The inspection made Eris shuffle slightly in his seat until you caught him watching you. You smiled back, swinging your legs to stand again, Craos moved from your side to the other end of the couch. 

“Careful walking YN, I had to threaten the life of a healer to fix that ankle” He smirked but the worry was still written across his amber eyes. You took one or two shaky steps before stopping, Eris fixating his eyes on every movement as Craos seemingly decided to take things into her own hands…or paws. She suddenly jumped from the couch, knocking into the back of your knees, sending your shaking legs from under you. Eris was quicker to react than you, taking hold of your outstretched arms and saving you from imprinting your face on the coffee table. 

“Saving you for the second time” He smiled down at you, allowing you to shift your weight for him to support you, his hands finding your waist to steady you. 

“Maybe I’ll return the favour sometime and not drown you” You laughed again, your hands taking hold of his shoulders for greater balance.

“I have a weird feeling YN that you could save me in another way” He cut off any questioning you might have, your lips meeting his with a delicatness you didn’t know any male could have let alone one of the most feared.  You were suddenly pulled away from him by the feeling of paws on your good foot. You both looked down to Craos who stood knowingly between you both, looking up with adoration at her two favourites fae, making you both laugh. 

“Good girl Croas, very very good girl” Eris beamed down at her before looking back at you again, his new found salvation.

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

What do you think friends?

[the-californicationist]

Please! I need the part 2 of “Captain Price opens a package, thinking it’s intel, but it’s a sex pollen.“ I'm on my kneesss pleaseee it was so good! 😭♥️

Anyways, I'm your new follower 😍, and some of the stories you write is just so damn good😍 (Sorry for bad grammar's, English isn't really my first language, uwu)

im sorry but idk what a part two even looks like. i know a lot of people have asked for it but its... just some couch sex?? idk i'll try.

Laswell clicked the door shut behind her, and part of you wished she had locked it. Gaz was sure to tell the rest of the team, but you could do without an audience. What would they even see if they barged in here?

The captain had let his cock loose from the confines of his pants, and they were sliding down his thick, muscular ass with every selfish thrust. He was rubbing himself like a naughty dog against your clothed pussy, begging for entrance with every forward movement. Your shirt was pulled down, revealing your breasts, and now they were covered in pink marks from the roughness of his beard as he moved his mouth across you.

Feeling him take each nipple and suck it so gently into his mouth, pulling it in like delicious nectar through a straw, drinking you although you were dry, tasting you even though you had no flavor. It was too much, but he couldn't stop.

You felt a little wrong to be enjoying your commanding officer so much. His humping was making your body respond even as it waited for your guilty conscience to catch up.

"Cap... oh, my fucking God... No, Captain. We shouldn't..." you tried to protest on his behalf, knowing he was being controlled by the powder.

"Corporal," he spoke with his mouth full of your flesh, "I can stop... now. It'll give you... enough time... to run..."

His bright pink eyes flashed up at you in warning and he used both his arms to pin you on either side of your head, forcing you to look at him, the intensity of which went right to your rapidly-melting core.

Suddenly, in a moment of lucidity, he looked you right in your eyes and finished his sentence,

"But that will not be bloody true for long."

As if warning you, he rubbed his hardness up and over your belly, letting it ruck up your shirt, and you felt its incredible heat. It was like a long, steel brand. His skin was smooth, but it was scalding and swollen with his blood. The huge tip left a wet trail of desire wherever it went.

"It's okay, Captain. You can have me if you --"

There mere suggestion of your consent was all he needed to let the dam burst and the river run free. His need crashed from him with an explosive force. He all but ripped your clothes from you, nearly hurting you in the process, making your ankles ache from the sudden pressure as he shucked your pants and boots away in one go.

Your panties were torn from you, sturdy though they were. The fabric made a whining, popping noise as the elastic split. Air rushed across uncovered skin, and your body doubled down on its plans to produce as much natural lubrication as possible. It seemed to know you'd need it.

He didn't touch you. Not with his hands. There was no preparation of any kind. Price fed himself into you like a hand into a glove, a body part in need of sudden and immediate warmth. He took control of your head again, pinning you in that same furious way, and you had a singular view of his face, twisted in a sort of sublime agony as he sank himself into you for the first time.

The pressure was almost unimaginable. Your body was making a lurid, wet, slicking noise as his cock forced you in half. You tried to allow him in, tried to relax, but there was little you could do. He was immense and heavy. It felt like a fist on a strong arm, like a forge hammer, hot and searing. The only thing more tormenting was his voice purring darkly in your ear.

"Fuck, you're warm..."

He pulled himself out of you inch by inch, leaving a terrible hollow where you were once whole.

"Wet for me. So wet. How?"

Back in. And in. And in. It seemed to go forever in and it made you wonder how deep you were.

"It feels so good to have you 'round me, love..."

When the rosy head of him found the end of your wet hole, it sort of... settled there. Locked in, like a key into a tumbler, and each fold of you a lifted pin, fitting him as if you were crafted for it.

"Thought 'bout how you'd feel. Sometimes... dreamt it."

You felt your body give away your surprise. He was too gone to notice it, but not you. You would have been able to feel the planets shift an inch to the left if they dared. You could feel everything. Each and every pore and hair and breath was awake and alive and living in the rawest possible way. Could he have really been thinking of you like you were thinking of him?

"Bloody fuckin' hell. So tight. Too tight."

He was right. It was too tight. He was squeezing himself in with each of these aching, crazed thrusts, shoving himself inside of you hungrily, all the way up to your pounding heart, it seemed. You felt yourself slipping around him like hot oil, running down his shaft and matting the coarse, dark hair that cradled his root.

"John..."

You used his name in place of his title, and he noticed. Noticed it like a hawk notices a hare. Right in your ear, up against your cheek, he responded, too quickly, too much teeth,

"Yes, love. Yes. Yes? Tell me."

He was grunting now, clearly on the edge of his pleasure. You aimed to take him over it, to plunge him into blinding darkness. You whispered, and each word hit its mark like the straight shaft of an arrow, striking into the target one after the other, tearing through the bullseyes like they were nothing but air.

"You're gonna make me come, John."

Again, that unearthly snarl came from his chest, the one you'd never heard before come from the mouth of a man. It was a cry and a scream and a prayer and a plea and had he not been pinning you down prone with his own prostrated body, he would have been growling it from his knees. He commanded you as he worshiped you,

"Give it to me. Give it to me. Give. It. To. Me."

Your body listened before you could even register his words.

From the bones in your hips, you felt your muscles tighten along his iron rod like a fist, closing in on him knuckle by knuckle, and each closure brought you closer to that brink where the darkness turned to blinding white light. You could feel the sparkle of it, that peppery gunpowder flash and then...

"Holy fuck, love..." He stared at you as if you were the sun lighting up his whole life. Like he'd seen you before, all sherbet pink and blazing orange, in the dawn, in the mornings, cutting over the horizon.

Price had come in you. You felt it. It slid along the cleft of your ass and soaked into the fabric of the couch. He didn't mind it. You couldn't. His body was still thrusting as hard and as heavy as before, fucking up into you as if he hadn't just filled you with his thick, hot cream.

"I can't... " he gasped, wrenching his eyes shut, "I can't stop..."

"It's okay, John..."

"I can't bloody stop, love. I'm... fuck, I'm sorry..."

"I'm okay. It's okay," you whispered to him, trying to soothe him.

You pet the hair back over his brow and he leaned into your touch like a cat, purring for more of it. You laced your fingers through his hair and held him tight at his scalp, turning his head so that you could talk to him right into his ear,

"Fuck me how you need to, Captain."

Did you enjoy this tale or maybe some other work by me? Consider buying me a coffee, if you have the means. Kudos, likes, reblogs, and feral comments also work as well ^_^ Thanks!

AO3 Link

[gildedpomegranates]

Ideas for Season 2 I Would've Liked to See/Explored More:

Ambessa explicitly acting as a motherly figure to manipulate Cait, who's grieving a mother. Especially since Cait had a complicated relationship with her mom, centered around Cassandra being overly protective/unsupportive of her choices, with Ambessa being everything her mom wasn't.

Jinx and her relationship with Zaun. In s1, she doesn't have much of one due to isolation (encouraged by Silco as well as self-imposed), other than the fear and discomfort she inspires. She doesn't have to become a revolutionary (although its odd that there was so much marketing and set-up for it), but at least explore that. People who love her, people who blame her for Piltover's retaliation, people who are unsure. This could also be a great chance to establish more about in-universe Jinx and Ekko, since Ekko's character is very centered around the people of Zaun.

Vi as a person. Having a chance to explore who she is outside of being a sister-mother and a prisoner. Struggling with making choices for herself as someone either completely robbed of them (as a prisoner) or who couldn't afford to make selfish choices (as a caregiver). Exploring her immense untouched trauma, as well as her relationship to Zaun. Her guilt as an enforcer possibly causing her to double-down in support of the revolution, maybe by joining the Firelights and supporting Ekko.

In a similar vein, Jinx as a person. She's established as a character that latches onto one person (her main caregiver) and has a tendency to absorb parts of that person (morals, behaviors, etc). I would've loved to see her without a main person, possibly as a parallel to Vi. Vi discovers who she is without someone to protect while Jinx discovers who she is without someone protecting her.

Cait and Jayce's relationship. It was completely thrown to the wayside. Overall, s2 tended to sideline platonic and familial relationships for romantic ones.

Ekko as a person outside of his relationships to other characters. We know like? Nothing about him and his time during the time skip in s1. Does he like being a leader? Does he not know how to define himself outside of being one? Does he resent being forced into the role and having to grow up way too fast? A combination of all of the above? How long has he been the leader? Was it him alone that established the Firelights, or were there originally older rebels that passed long ago, leaving only him? Like please, let him be a character. I know people joke about him being perfect and universally unproblematic, but a lot of that is because they don't give him enough screen time or any realistic flaws or let him organically develop beyond being a plot device.

Jinx and Ekko's relationship. This doesn't have to be romantic, just them and their in-universe dynamic please. At the end of s1, we had this big moment where Ekko, who had been coping with it by insisting Powder was dead, realizes that Jinx is just grown-up Powder, and that he can't kill her. s2 then does nothing with this, fobbing him off into an alternate universe with an alternate Powder. I would've loved to see Jinx and Ekko struggling to work together, getting to know each other in a capacity other than enemies. Ekko emulating Vander's 'we don't give up our own people' and protecting Jinx from Piltover despite his better judgement.

Y'know what? Ekko and Sevika. Both two people desperately fighting for Zaun, in two wildly different ways. I would've loved to see them interact. They probably would've gotten into a fist fight, but just imagine the Ekko-Sevika-Jinx power trio heading the revolution.

The Wolf vs the Fox. Mel as a formidable politician, working in the shadows to undermine her mother. Her putting everything she's learned in Piltover to use, weaponizing the lessons learned from her banishment. If they were so desperate to include the Black Rose plotline, they could maybe have Mel becoming obsessed with protecting Piltover from her mother and going so far as to ally with her brother's killers.

[verdantwyrm]

On the topic of Mouthwashing though, I really do wish we got more time as Curly's POV to get a better understanding of the rest of the crew and their personalities.

Jimmy's pov he views Anya as weak, constantly fawning, a nervous wreck, incapable of thinking for herself. He views Swansea as this drunken, fat oaf who's never spent a day in his life being successful at anything other than one bottle down the drain away from complete spiral. He views Daisuke as his rich boy who's never had to work a day in his life and has absolutely everything— including the internship, handed to him on a silver platter. And he views Curly as this absolute. A thing to idolise, a thing to destroy, a stepping stone but also a helping hand. He utterly loves hating Curly, and he loves the hate that comes from it.

Jimmy rarely talks bad about Curly, only ever swapping the blame off himself but he never once talks badly about him the same way he does to the other crew members. Curly is his paragon, something he spent years and years of chasing, being so far and yet so close to, and when he finally feels like he could finally surpass him, or even simply be equals for once, Curly gets the opportunity of a lifetime at a job he hates. How selfish, how utterly pathetic and selfish for Curly to hate a job that makes Jimmy feel powerful. He likes it there, he is in control. And that resentment starts to truly build when Jimmy realises how selfish Curly is for wanting to escape from something that enables Jimmy so much.

But when we finally see through Curly's eyes, Anya is fun, she is enthusiastic, she loves to make jokes, she loves to draw, read, and even has what seems to be an budding relationship with Curly himself, taking to his comment about being fit to fly in her eyes like it's a common exchange of flirting between the both of them. She is at ease around him, her walls have dropped, and she feels safe to talk to him, and even attempts to try and get him to open up more to her.

Daisuke is capable, he is enthusiastic, a hard working Intern who really enjoys what he does, engineering. Curly is receptive of this, and isn't even the one to reprimanded him when he sets off the sealant foam because he can see the good in him, because he can see that he was genuinely trying to help. He never once comments about him being stupid, or lacking, or in any light that could implicate that he hasn't worked hard to get where he is, even if he did have assistance from his parents, he still met that mark of passing for internship.

And although not much is expressed with Swansea, we know that they're capable of being honest with eachother, and allow themselves to joke between the both of them. And when Curly does have to step in and act like a Captain, he even goes as far to trust the axe directly to Swansea himself. In a ship where absolutely everything has to go through him, everything needs clearance and everything needs to be triple double checked, he trusts Swansea with the axe.

And onto Jimmy, Curly can see his faults, the cracks and the damage Jimmy has on the surface, but insists on seeing something deeper within him too. Constantly reminding him that "They'll figure it out" and just to take "One day at a time" because he is genuinely reaching out to Jimmy and attempting to give him support. Despite the ugliness, he is looking at Jimmy with a lens of the bigger picture, his overall achievement of being his co-pilot, his friend. Curly was genuinely proud of Jimmy for accomplishing what he has, and acknowledges that it wouldn't have been wasted considering he has had it rough back on earth.

We can see both of their stark personalities in also how we see the ship itself. Everytime we are through Jimmy's perspective, the ship is destroyed, blanketed in a red hue constantly, it is crowded, suffocating, rusting and breaking apart at the seams. Even right before the ship is actually crashed, it is not long before his entire senses are overloaded with the red flashing lights of an emergency warning. He lives in that sunset, in that firey essence of destruction and death.

But through Curly's eyes? We see sun, clouds, happiness, warmth, we see the moon, the twinkling stars. The beauty of a lived space, the calmness and the comfort of the Tulpar. Celebrating birthdays, playing board games, reading books, enjoying life to their fullest on the ship. We know he enjoys simple food, trucker food. That caffeine keeps him up, that he refers to Polle with joy, referring to the statue as "Ponyboy", mentioning that he loves Anya's and Swansea's music choices on the radio.

And then suddenly his whole life is utterly consumed by that red, firey inferno. Constantly blaring in his eyes, burning away at his skin and even more constant reminder of the white, hot death that awaits him.

Everything in this game is through the lense of a cynical, self absorbed unreliable narrator who sees kindness as a weakness and lashes out accordingly. I would kill to have seen and experienced more as Curly, but I think the lack thereof is intentional. A nod to just how truly empty and vulnerable he has become, stripped away of all things that made him, him. Both in appearance and personality, all taken from him by the one person he thought he could trust.

[imagine-darksiders]

Transformers Prime: Optimus + Reader. Chapter 1.

So, I read @lovinglonerhybrid 's post here. And it absolutely had me in a chokehold, so this is based off that premise. I'm in the UK so please excuse my ignorance of American states lmao.

So, there is a part 2 to this, but I'm going away for 4 days and wanted to get some of it posted before then.

You've broken down fifteen miles short of Jasper's city limits in the dead of night. Deciding to hike in to town, you feel the earth rumble beneath you, and over the horizon, something enormous approaches...

Chapter 1: 9352 words.

-------

It’s a rare and covetous thing, to find even a single moment of peace in the midst of an intergalactic war.

The gap from one of those precious moments to the next seems to grow wider and wider every time, until their frequency is so negligible, it becomes hard to recognise them for what they are anymore.

For everything Earth could have offered Optimus Prime, he hadn’t been expecting it to relinquish the gift of peace so willingly. But he’s glad – more than glad – to accept them when they come, even if he’s only stealing glimpses of tranquillity on the sand-swept road leading out of Jasper.

Low-beam headlights lazily trace over the faded tarmac ahead of Optimus’s tyres as he trundles along Highway 49, one of only two roads that surround the small, sleepy city of Jasper. It’s a very routine patrol, one he obligingly excused Bumblebee from taking after his poor scout all but begged Optimus to give it to someone else, beeping out promises that he’ll take double shift tomorrow night, if need be.

All this on the back of Miko announcing another of her ‘slumber parties’ at the base, much to Ratchet’s noisy chagrin and Optimus’s private amusement. And, of course, when Bumblebee found out that Rafael would be staying the night too… Well…

‘You’re too indulging,’ their old medic had admonished from his workstation, the broad expanse of his back turned to the Prime, ‘He ought to learn he can’t always have his way.’

But it was a harmless indulgence, and Prime was more than happy to take over the patrol in this instance.

Besides, he had an arguably selfish reason for doing so.

If he’d admitted as much out loud, Ratchet would have scoffed and sent a pulse of chiding dismissal crashing into Optimus’s EM field. ‘You don’t have a selfish component in your body,’ he might say.

But this… Optimus muses, gazing skyward as he trundles down the highway in vehicle mode, letting the crisp, night air slide through his grill and cool his powerful engine… This is the appeal of a solo patrol.

Every now and then, there are times when the Decepticon activity goes quiet, Fowler has nothing to report, and Optimus can almost pretend that he’s just another Cybertronian enjoying a long, quiet drive through the Mojave wilderness. And while he remains ever vigilant, keeping every sensor poised outwardly in a constant surveillance of his surroundings, the old bot still permits at least one sense to wander.

Somehow, it’s always his sight.

Oftentimes he catches himself doing it. Other times, on nights that are quiet and still and clear like this one, there’s a wire-deep longing that overrides his logic gates, and the Prime won’t notice that he isn’t keeping his processor and his optics on the dusty road ahead of him. He’s too busy stealing long, pensive looks at the stars above him, scattered like a-hundred-billion souls sprawling across a curtain of crushed velvet.

It’s out there… somewhere… riding a lonely orbit on the furthest reaches of the galaxy’s Centaurus arm.

Cybertron.

Home.

Their first home, he amends gently, depressing his accelerator to speed up when he realises he’s starting to crawl. Earth is as much their home now as Cybertron ever was.

Sagging on his suspension with a low hiss, Optimus drags his hidden optics back to the road ahead, and all at once, he nearly lurches to a halt, his exhaust pipes sputtering out a hollow sound to betray his surprise.

There, parked several feet from the road a few hundred yards ahead of him, is a vehicle.

Prime’s senses sharpen to a startling focus.

Pumping his brakes, he slows down again, and the roar of his engine fades to a fluctuating hum.

A Decepticon…?

He doesn’t feel anything trying to breach his EM field, nor does he pick up on any resistance when his scanners hone in on the vehicle – ‘Ford. F250. A Pickup truck.’ Year….? Optimus’s focus narrows to a pinprick… ‘Eighty-seven.’

It’s red - a faded, dusky red like some of the sun-baked sandstone at Red Rock Canyon. As Prime’s massive form rumbles on through the night, looming closer and closer to the mysterious truck, his lights reflect off something situated above its rear bumper, the presence of which quells his flaring codes and eases his rigid frame.

A number plate.

Thick, black numbers and letters stand out against the white rectangle, though it isn’t the sequence that alleviates Optimus’s suspicion, it’s their mere presence.

No Decepticon he knows would ever suffer the ‘indignity’ of having a human number plate stapled to their bumpers.

Primus, even the Autobots have foregone the accessory after Fowler gave up trying to keep Bumblebee from losing his, Ratchet from ‘misplacing’ his, and Bulkhead from bending his irreparably whenever he transformed. Optimus had given it a go, for a time… mainly because he was growing worried that their overworked liaison would quite simply combust if he had to intercept one more phone call from ‘concerned civilians’ who were reporting a semi-truck driving through Jasper without its registration.

The Prime’s number plate came to its own crumpled end when he sat down on his berth one evening without removing it first.

One genuine, slightly sheepish apology to a very fed-up liaison later, and Optimus was informed that he and his team no longer needed to wear the plates.

So, the presence of one on this truck is a good sign. It’s less likely to transform and cause an incident.

That does, however, open up an entirely new avenue for concern to creep in.

A crash, perhaps?

Several dark skid marks indicate that it must have veered off the road after a hard, panicked brake.

He can’t pick up any biological signatures either. Even when he casts a wider net, all his sensors catch are the heat signatures of a few tiny, Earthen mammals scurrying about over the sand before they dart into various rock formations when he rolls by. But just because he isn’t picking up the presence of a living human, it doesn’t negate the possibility of a human being inside…

Frame suddenly taut, Optimus trundles to a cautious halt on the road alongside the truck, his engine idling like some great, murmuring beast in the quiet of the desert.

A throaty hum seems to escape his smokestacks as he peers down at the smaller truck, contemplative… considering… Then finally, relieved. There doesn’t appear to be anyone inside, judging by what his headlights illuminate through the cab windows.

What is it doing out here?

It definitely wasn’t here yesterday when he made the drive into Jasper. It isn’t a vehicle he recognises either, and he’s been doubly vigilant of late regarding all the civilian cars, bikes, trucks, vans, and even agricultural vehicles in and around the town.

Privately, he’s been compiling a catalogue of them all, for his own reference.

If there’s a threat to his human charges lurking about in their hometown, Optimus needs to know about it. A Decepticon disguised as a civilian vehicle would be an effective method of infiltration.

Casting one more, cursory ping out into the night to check that he’s definitely alone, he at last begins to unfurl himself into his bipedal mode. Metal plating slides away from his grill, pulling back and rolling along the body of the semi as he rises onto newly revealed pedes. The mechanical whines, whirrs and buzzes are terribly loud and alien amongst the desert’s natural ambiance, but soon enough, the air falls still once again, and a monolithic Cybertronian stands in the place where a Peterbilt used to be.

Soft, cerulean light spills over the abandoned truck as Optimus settles his optics upon it, easing his enormous frame down into a crouch and draping one arm across his knee with a ‘clunk.’

At first glance, he hadn’t noticed anything especially odd about the truck save for its unexpected presence. Leaning sideways, he casts an optic over the front bumper and finds nothing out of place, no damage to indicate a crash, no broken headlights or crushed bonnet.

It’s the same story with the truck’s bed. Only when Optimus hauls himself upright and treads carefully around it to inspect the other side does he notices the glaring problem.

The whole vehicle is canting onto its offside front tyre, a tyre that sports a rather sizeable puncture, considering how flat it is. And from the looks of it, this one was only ever meant to be used as a temporary spare. A quick glance into the truck’s bed reveals what he assumes must be the original tyre, flat as well, with the silver head of a nail jutting from the centre tread block.

Optimus clicks his glossa softly for the owner’s run of bad luck.

Right away, he sends a ping to his team, advising them to be wary of stray nails along this stretch…

He receives several pings in return. Immediately comes Bumblebee’s frustration, buzzed over the airwaves like a sulking sparkling who’s been told his toy was broken. Given the Scout’s inclination to race at top speed all over these roads, Optimus doesn’t doubt he’s just vexed at the shuddersome notion of having to slow down.

Arcee and Bulkhead respond in kind as their leader absently moves his attention to something strange obscuring part of driver’s window, letting their concern wash over his field.

‘Popped a tyre, Boss?’ Bulkhead’s message hits his comm, informal and probing, but with the warmth of care behind it.

Optimus is quick to send a pulse of reassurance back through their shared channel. He’s fine. If one little nail was all it took to take a Prime out of commission, they’d all be in serious, serious trouble.

The channels go quiet after Arcee and Ratchet send their short, concise responses, and once again, Optimus is alone on the road, peering down at a small sheet of paper that’s been taped to the inside of the truck’s front window.

Gradually, he furrows his optical ridges until they almost click together into one, solid line, the apertures inside each optic whirring and shrinking as he reads the words scribbled on the paper.

He recalls the first time he encountered the languages of Earth as they were written. The looping letters, graceful and elegant, chasing one another across the front of the letter Agent Fowler gave him as part of an unofficial welcome to the United States.

Optimus had held the paper so delicately between two of his digits, blinking down at the dark ink soaked into repurposed cellulose fibre. It was beautiful.

When he remarked as such, Fowler made a noncommittal comment that you could tell a lot about humans from their handwriting.

Optimus would sometimes find himself glancing over the children’s homework when they left their books out unattended on the table in their recreational area.

Jack’s neat and sensible cursive. Miko’s chaotic, glittery script that rose and fell and ventured outside the lines because she was usually paying more attention to her music than the words she wrote in her textbook. And Rafael, of course, with his quick, almost frantic stokes of the pen as he tried to scribble his thoughts down as fast as his brain could make them, only to end up losing his confidence halfway through a sentence, doubled back, drew a single line through the words, and started again on a fresh page.

This handwriting though… written in blue, splotchy ink and stuck with a piece of scotch tape to the truck’s window, makes Fowler’s words ring true in Optimus’s processor.

He can tell a lot about the human who wrote it.

‘Please don’t steal/break into my truck,’ it reads. The word ‘please’ has been underlined several times. ‘Not worth much, it’s all I’ve got. Tyre is flat, spare tyre too, so can’t get far anyway. Walking to town to find help bcos phone died and I don’t have a charger. Be back soon. Thanks.’

The ink has run in several places and rendered some of the letters illegible, as if water has been dropped on them from above.

Optimus isn’t naïve. He’s seen the children cry, more times than he can bear.

Then underneath all that, in much smaller writing stuffed underneath the first message like an afterthought they forgot to leave enough space for…

‘P.s, if the truck is still here in 3 days, assume I’m dead.’

With a sudden groan of his metal frame, Optimus braces a servo on his knee and hurriedly pushes himself to his pedes once again, helm swivelling sideways to stare down the length of the road.

The truck’s nose is pointed in the direction of Jasper, but the town itself is still about a fifteen-mile drive…

Surely they wouldn’t make the journey on foot…

But if the note is any indication, then…

His processor flashes again to the children; Miko in particular, and the alarming disregard she has for her own safety. The boys are guilty of that as well, though to a lesser degree.

Suddenly, there’s a very high likelihood that there might be a human wondering through the vast Mojave, alone. Worse still, Bumblebee had reported just last week that there’s been an increase in Decepticon patrols in the area around Jasper. No doubt Megatron has been ramping up his efforts to locate the Autobot base. Their growing presence in the vicinity of town makes these roads particularly treacherous…

Optimus ex-vents roughly, more troubled than frustrated.

Blue optics narrow at the road ahead, and once again, the peace of the desert night is filled by the sounds of living metal collapsing back in on itself.

A powerful engine roars to life. Somewhere nearby, a startled jackrabbit darts beneath the safety of a sagebrush, hiding herself amongst its silvery leaves.

Unblinking, her wild eyes stare after the great, thrumming beast as it moves on down the road.

—————-

You’ve had a lot of ideas in your life.

Some good. Some bad. Some that have paid off, but most that have gone nowhere at all.

Perhaps you were growing tired of going nowhere…

What else would have possessed you to up and move all the way to the middle of Nevada state on the back of a job offer that came from a man your uncle purported to know?

‘Oh yeah, Terry? Did a job with him a few years back for some cattle baron out in the sticks. ‘Course, Terry always wanted his own dairy… Want me to tell him you’re lookin’ for work?’

Turns out, Terry did end up getting that dairy he always wanted. And as it happened, he was looking for a farm hand.

Does it count as nepotism if you’re fairly sure your uncle had only met your future employer once?

Beyond a certain point, you simply couldn’t care less.

A job is a job, even if it is out here in the desert near a town you’d never heard of a month ago.

Dust-caked trainers trudge to a weary halt in front of a large, green road sign.

The moon, thankfully, hangs fat and luminous in the cloudless sky. So at least you don’t need a torch to see, not now that your eyes have had time to adjust the darkness cloaked over the desert.

With your run of bad luck, you half assumed the heavens would have opened by now and given the Mojave a nice, little dose of rain.

“Well,” you mutter aloud to yourself, peering up at the green sign with a grimace, “Could be worse…”

‘Jasper – 10 miles,’ reads like a slap to the face.

Still… It’s better than the fifteen miles.

You must have walked at least five already, dragging your legs behind you like extra baggage that doesn’t want to cooperate.

It has to be beyond midnight now. Well beyond, you suppose.

You’ve been walking for the better part of two hours, slow and sluggish and exhausted. The journey getting to Nevada had been tiring enough, then as soon as you crossed state lines, your tyre caught a puncture going over a particularly nasty pothole that had snuck up on you.

After an hour spent in the blazing sun jacking up the truck and changing to the spare, you set off again for another several hours of travel. Then, twenty miles out of Jasper, just as you dared to celebrate being home-free, the unthinkable had happened.

Who hits a pothole and drives over a nail in the same, damn day? Apparently, the same person who forgot to buy a charger adaptor for the truck.

No charger? No phone.

No phone…? No calling for help…

Your chest expands and deflates with a bone-tired sigh, turning your gaze back onto the long, dark road ahead of you. Tears sting at the inside of your eyelids, and for a moment, you consider letting them fall, if only to ease some of the pressure building up behind your temples. But crying hysterically about the unfairness of the world hadn’t un-punctured your spare tyre, so why would it help the situation now.

“Come on,” you coax yourself, hauling one leg out in front of the other. Rinse. Repeat. “Not far now.”

Just a few more hours…

The going is slow, tough, draining. Even the dark shapes of rocks start to look enticing as you pass them, letting your eyes slide over to them as you wonder just how safe it would be to fall asleep in the desert by the side of a road.

Ever since you broke down a few hours ago, you haven’t seen one, single vehicle out here.

‘Which,’ you hum, pursing your lips and tipping your head back to peer up at the bleary sky far above you, ‘Isn’t so bad…’

The stars are numerous, and startlingly clear out in the wilderness. The moon as well seems brighter here, unobscured by clouds. She makes for a quiet companion on your journey towards Jasper, her starry brethren endlessly stretching out to each corner of the horizon.

Suddenly, you feel very small. A hopeless traveller trying to find port in a sea of sand and rock.

Swallowing roughly, you hike your tattered rucksack high onto your shoulder and tear your gaze from the stars.

It’s quiet out here, save for the rustle of sage bushes disturbed by the warm breeze, and the skittering of rocks as night-time animals go about their hunts.

Perhaps that natural silence is why the sudden introduction of an entirely new sound unnerves you so much.

You jerk to a halt, ears straining to hear something approaching from the distance. Underneath the thin, worn soles of your shoes, you start to feel it; the road thrumming with gentle vibrations, growing stronger every second.

Lighting quick, you whirl around to face the way you’d come, hands flying up to grip anxiously at the straps of your rucksack.

You’d have thought you’d be excited to see those headlights rise up above the horizon line. At last! A stroke of luck! A potential ride! Potential help.

Instead, it’s as though the sudden appearance of two, dazzling lights blooming into view as they crest over the hill finally jar some sense back into your dizzy head.

The haze of fatigue lifts slightly, pushed away by little bursts of adrenaline as your brain fights to wake you up to an unconscious threat.

You’re alone out here. Defenceless, phoneless. You don’t know the area. Nobody knows you’ve broken down… You try so hard to think the best of people, but now that you’ve had one doubt, a hundred others start to scurry around in your brain, demanding attention.

You can see the vehicle, or their lights at least, but you doubt they can see you yet, this far down the road. You wonder what it is. Car? Truck?

… Alien spacecraft? Despite yourself, you let out a snort at that. Isn’t that infamous military base supposed to be in Nevada? The one hiding alien activity?

Right. Sure.

Despite your scepticism however, a thrill of fear rushes down the length of your spine as if to say, ‘Oh? But are you sure sure?’

 Gulping audibly, you take a few steps sideways off the road, stealing a glance at a cluster of large rocks that sit conveniently just several yards to your rear.

You have a decision to make.

Maybe you’ve been alone on the road for too long, and isolation has bred a paranoia in you that’s so deeply rooted, you can’t shift it at a moment’s notice. If the sun was out, perhaps you’d be less apprehensive, but the night, no matter where you are, makes everything seem so much more… treacherous. It hides things. People, motivations, monsters.

And though it pains you to do so, you swiftly decide to err on the side of personal safety.

The vehicle is closer now, and your blood trembles as the roar of a loud, formidable engine thunders over the tarmac. Yet you’re still certain it isn’t close enough to have caught you in its high-beams.

On sluggish legs, you haul yourself about and make a clumsy dash for the rocks, clenching a fist around one strap of the rucksack and using your other hand to grab the closest rock and swing yourself behind it. Dropping to your backside, you flatten your spine against the cool, solid surface, eyes wide, heart beating hard against the cage of ribs keeping it from leaping up into your throat.

‘Coward,’ a voice in the back of your head scoffs, sounding suspiciously like your father. You shake it loose. Now is not the time to be bothered by old ghosts.

The thundering engine draws nearer, rumbling in your chest as it seems to creep towards your hiding spot at a pace even a glacier would be impressed by.

Around the corner of the rock, you can finally see the glow of its headlights smoothing over the tarmac, illuminating the sand and brush all around you. Hurriedly, you tuck your toes right into the shadow cast by your rock, keeping a breath held hostage behind clenched teeth.

“Come on… Come on,” you urge it frustratedly, aware that every second you spend not moving is another second towards sunrise. If you’re not on the dairy ready for work by then…

The vehicle rolls to a stop.

It stops.

The temptation to let out a frustrated scream is only held in check by your tongue getting stuck to the roof of bone-dry mouth.

They saw you. They must have seen you. There’s no way they could have known you were here otherwise.

Idiot!

Wasting time on the decision has only taken it right out of your hands in the end.

A bead of sweat escapes your hairline and rolls down the side of your face, following the curve of your cheek. Should you run? Keep hiding? Did they stop by coincidence? If they meant no harm, they’d have seen you hide and kept on driving, wouldn’t they? Stopping is suspicious. It conveys a desire to engage.

And then something really strange happens.

“Excuse me?”

And… Well, you’re… not entirely proud of the choked gasp that jumps out of you, nor the way you flinch as if you’d been struck.

When did they – He? It’s a low voice, deeper than anything you’ve heard in a long while, full of bass but soft like distant brontide.

When did he get out of the vehicle? You didn’t hear a door open, nor close.

You nearly jump out of your skin when he speaks again.

“I’ve frightened you…” Despite how gentle the timbre is, his voice is loud, like he’s speaking all around you, not just behind you. “I apologise,” the stranger continues, “That is the last thing I meant to do.”

What the Hell is he talking about?

There’s a long, unpleasant stretch of time until he speaks again.

“Was that your… Ford?” he asks, like he’s testing the word on his tongue, “Up the road?”

Shit. You’re starting to regret leaving that note. He must have read it and knew someone would be walking into town, alone and vulnerable.

The vehicle's powerful engine is still idling, strong and steady, buzzing along the ground and up through the soles of your feet.

It goes against your nature to ignore someone when they’re talking to you, but there’s still a part of you clinging to the hope that he’ll just give up and move on if you don’t respond or show yourself. Perhaps he’ll think you were just a figment of an overtired imagination…

Of course, instead, he persists. “Please.”

Jesus, he almost squeezes the word out, oozing dejection.

“You have nothing to fear from me… I’m a friend.”

A friend indeed. You huff quietly to yourself. You don’t even know him. He doesn’t know you. He’s trying to coax you out of hiding after watching you flee from his vehicle. Hardly the foundation for a good friendship. Still, you have to wonder why he doesn’t just come around the rock to stand over you if he’s so keen.

After another few seconds of stubborn silence on your part, the voice speaks again.

“Will you at least step back from the rock?”

What?

“There are scorpions on it, and I fear you’ll get-“

You don’t think you’ve moved so fast in quite some time. One moment you’re pressing yourself to the rock, and the next, you’re scrabbling to your feet with gusto, lurching away from your prior hiding space and spinning around, skin already crawling.

Sure enough, a pair of giant scorpions are scuttling around on the flat top, their tails held aloft, proud and large in the moonlight.

“-Hurt,” the stranger finishes.

Snatching your head up, you find yourself staring right into the vehicle’s headlights, and you instantly grunt with discomfort, raising a hand to shield your eyes from the light.

“Oh.” There’s a pause, the vehicle’s engine skips, and the lights suddenly dim, plunging you into almost darkness save for the dim glow of residual light. “Forgive me. Is that better?”

“Much. Thanks,” you respond automatically, only to turn rigid once you realise you’ve spoken aloud.

Well. He’s already seen you. No point pretending you can’t talk either…

Again, the stranger’s vehicle makes an odd noise, it’s engine hums gently, and as you lower your arm to seek out the man you’ve just opened a line of conversation with, you finally see what you’d been hiding from.

A monstrous Peterbilt sits squarely across the width of the road, entirely alien in the barren, rocky landscape. Smokestacks on either side of its cab reach towards the sky, glinting silver in the moonlight. It looks red under the meagre glow, with lighter panelling on the main body and dark, blue accents on the wheel trims and storage compartment. The grill is, in a word, massive, standing taller than you are, sporting a logo you don’t recognise on the front.

All in all, it’s a hell of a truck. Powerful, you imagine. Expensive too.

You try not to let your mouth hang ajar.

“Where-” Your voice cracks, still dry. “Ahem…! Where are you?”

Glancing around, your hackles start to rise. You can’t see the speaker anywhere. Which is why you let out an embarrassingly shrill yelp when his voice rumbles directly from the semi.

“I’m right here,” he assures you, polite enough not to show his amusement whilst you flap your mouth open and closed.

No, you shake your head. No, that is too weird. “What, are there like… speakers on the outside of your truck or something?”

There’s the tiniest of pauses, followed by a simple, concise, “There are.”

Oh. Well, then. That answers that burning question.

“Okay? So, um… Can I… help you?” you ask awkwardly, screwing one side of your face up.

The man seems to hesitate, allowing a pregnant pause to hang in the air between you before he replies, “I was going to ask you the same thing.”

Somehow, your expression twists even further south, and you begin casting your eyes over the semi, squinting through its dark windshield to try and catch a glimpse of what’s on the other side.

“I saw your truck on the side of the road,” the unseen man continues, “I feared you might have been hurt in a crash, so, I stopped to check that you weren’t still inside the vehicle. Then I found your note.”

He falls silent, and the air is dominated once again by the purring of his semi’s engine.

“Okay?” you prompt, still unsure of his motivations.

“It said you need help.”

He trails off, waiting. You’re promptly struck by the idea that he’s trying to guide you to some conclusion he hasn’t yet revealed. Finally, just as you start to grow restless, he forges ahead, “These roads can be hazardous for a lone hu-“

Suddenly, the truck’s engine revs, drowning out his voice for a second and sending you leaping backwards, startled.

“- A lone traveller…” he clears his throat just after the roar of its exhaust cuts out. Then, “Ah, If I may be so bold...”

All of a sudden, the passenger side door unlatches and swings open, and you’re presented with a clear invitation into the darkened cab. “May I offer you a ride into town?”

You wonder if he can see you turn stiff at his suggestion. Your body all but pleads on hands and knees for you to accept. What’s the worst that could happen, after all?

Well. You’ve watched several documentaries and movies that give you a pretty good indication of what ‘the Worst’ entails, thank you very much. You don’t like that he’s inviting you into his truck without showing his face to you yet. You’d like to gauge the person you’re speaking to. Get a bead on him. Is he big? Strong? Tall? Could you overpower him if it came down to it? Does he look like he’s hiding a weapon on him?

All these questions only serve to dry the moisture in your throat.

“I… That’s… very kind of you,” you admit, wringing your hands together as you take a small step away from the semi, “But I’m sure it’ll be okay, it isn’t that far.”

“At an average speed of three miles per hour, you will reach the outskirts of town in just under three and a half hours.”

You blink, caught off guard. ‘And they said we’d never need to use equations after we graduated.’

“Maths guy, huh?” you cock a hip, laying a hand across it and shooting the truck’s windshield a tentative smile, “Maybe I walk at four miles an hour.”

“Two and a half then,” he quips back just as smoothly, the door to his semi still hanging open. When he continues, you can’t help but notice that the cadence of his baritone voice rumbling through the speakers has turned to something a little more sombre, quieter, like he’s trying to impress upon you the gravity of a situation you don’t yet know about. “But time and distance aside, I do not wish to leave you to walk into Jasper by yourself, particularly at this time of night.”

He speaks like he’s been to elocution lessons. Every word seems to be carefully selected, every vowel and consonant articulate and refined.

It’s disarming. He’s disarming. But you’re still not convinced.

“Listen… Thank you, again. But…” It feels rude, like you’re committing some kind of faux pas in turning your back on the semi, yet you can’t shake the nagging voice at the back of your head, telling you that there’s something not quite right about the man in the truck. Not bad, just… off.

“It’s a kind offer,” you tell him again lamely, turning on your heel. And so, you recommence your weary march for Jasper, tossing one last sentiment over your shoulder, “But I’m sure I can make it on my own. Take care, okay?”

You almost expect him to argue, but all you can hear is the now familiar drone of the semi’s almighty engine. For several paces, you can feel a pair of eyes watching you, scrutinising and pensive, if a little baffled by your short yet polite dismissal.

When you make it another ten feet, heaving your tired legs after you over the tarmac, your ears perk up to the sound of an engine revving.

Smokestacks chugging, the massive truck pulls out of its standstill, unseen behind you.

Chewing on the inside of your lip, you keep your gaze fixed to the ground ahead and raise a hand, flapping it about in an apologetic farewell as you meander further off the road and onto the sand, giving him plenty of space to get past.

You start to frown when you make it twenty paces without being overtaken by the truck.

That frown only grows deeper when the engine keeps churring away behind you, rubber tyres crunching tiny particles of sand under their treads as it crawls along in your wake.

Is he…?

Tearing your eyes off the toes of your shoes, you send a fleeting glance over your shoulder, surprised – but not much – to find the nose of the Peterbilt creeping slowly along in your peripheral vision, keeping pace with you.

Your frown eases back, and you quirk a brow at him instead, calmly asking, “What are you doing?”

And just as easily, the voice returns, “If you will not allow me to drive you, I will happily escort you to your destination.”

You can’t help yourself.

“Ha! ‘Escort.’” The snicker jumps out of you faster than you can raise your hands to press your fingertips against an unbidden grin. “Sorry,” you immediately try to amend, “You just sounded so serious.”

“… I… am serious?”

Letting your hand flop back to your side, you give your head a shake, still grinning. You really do meet all sorts on the road.

“Regardless, I’m sure you have far better things to be doing with your time.”

How the truck matches your walking speed without his engine faltering or sputtering, you’ll never know.

A strange noise gurgles from its exhaust, almost perfectly reminiscent of a troubled hum.

“On the contrary,” the driver responds, pulling forwards a little until only the grill overtakes you, and for a moment, you worry he’s about to drive across your path, “There is nothing at the moment that concerns me more than getting you safely where you need to go.”

Huh. Of all the genuine, stubborn…

“Look.” Your shoes scuff up a cloud of sand as you draw to an abrupt and decisive halt, turning bodily towards the truck. Hands splayed on your hips, you glare at the windscreen, aiming approximately for the driver. A second later, he must have hit the brakes because the semi lurches to a stop as well, hissing noisily.

Still, he doesn’t step out.

“You seem like a nice guy,” you start, trying to keep your chin raised and your tone stern. You fail, of course. Your voice cracks nervously, but at least you try. Taking a deep, steadying breath, you finally elect to stop beating around the bush and just address the elephant in the room – or desert, as it were.

“But I don’t make it a habit to get into random trucks with strangers.” You make it a point not to directly accuse him of having ulterior motives, but you hope you’ve at least driven home your main concern. At best, he’ll grow offended that you’d think him capable of such a thing and – hopefully – move on. At worst… Well. You brace yourself for that, teeth grit so tightly, your jaw starts to ache as you flick your eyes over towards the truck’s driver-side door, waiting.

The truck in question does something odd then. It… sinks? At least you think it does, lowering on its axles by a few inches like the wheels have just deflated. It’s difficult to tell in the dim moonlight though, and it’s over so quickly, you can’t be sure you saw anything at all that wasn’t just a trick of the desert.

How long have you been awake?

You’re busy calculating the hours you were driving when the stranger’s voice is kicked out over the speakers again.

“You assume I mean you harm…” he utters.

And just like that, the stern, rigid scowl is instantly wiped off your face.

He sounds…

…sad.

Not offended. Not angered by your thinly-veiled implication.

Just sad. Dispirited, even. As if it’s only just occurred to him that you might have perceived him as a threat.

It’s almost painful when the pair of you dissolve into an uncomfortable silence that lasts for several beats of your rapid-fire heart.

Biting down on the inside of your cheek, your brows drift apart whilst you try to think of something to say. Trouble is, you’re afraid that speaking again will only make things worse.

You have no idea what’s going through his head. What if his dejected tone is followed by something worse?

“I’m sorry,” you backtrack, pressing your lips together and chiding yourself for faltering, “It’s nothing personal, just… I-I should probably get going before I fall asleep standing up.” You give a stilted laugh, but it soon turns into an awkward sound made at the back of your throat, lips pulled over your teeth in a grimace.

Dipping your head, you swallow thickly and grip the straps of your rucksack again. But just as you make to turn away, the semi’s wheels abruptly twist towards you. It’s ever so slight, just enough that the truck rolls a few paces in your direction before it stops again, its grill pointed straight at you.

With an audible gulp, you go to take another step back, staring at the metal in anticipation. Your retreat is soon halted by the mellow rumble of his voice.

“I understand your hesitation. And I know that the word of a stranger may not hold much weight,” he begins slowly. The Peterbilt inches forwards again. “But I can assure you, you have nothing to fear from me…”

Shifting on your feet, you let go of your bag and clutch instead at your elbows, brows tipped up indecisively. He’s persistent, you’ll give him that. He also speaks with a candour you’ve never encountered outside of a film or a storybook. Frank and forthright in a way you’ve never been privy to. Is that why you’re hesitating? Is that why he seems ‘off?’ Because his level of sincerity doesn’t have a place in your world?

Perhaps you’ve been spending so much time by yourself, it’s turned you distrustful. Maybe you’re just getting cynical. Looking back on your journey here, you realise that only other person who you’ve spoken to was a disinterested server who took your order at a drive-thru… That was four days ago. How long before that did you listen to someone who wasn’t the people on your truck’s radio?

Why is it so suspicious that this trucker wants to help? Hell, you’d be concerned as well if you saw some poor bastard hiking alone through the desert at night without a friend in the world.

Christ, you need some perspective.

The driver must see the conflict painted like a brand across your expression.

“Would it reassure you to know that this vehicle is operated entirely remotely?” he pipes up.

You blink once. Then again to wake yourself up a little more, pulled from your inner turmoil. “What?”

“This vehicle,” he tells you, “It is an unmanned vehicle.”

Curiosity overtakes suspicion faster than you can uncross your arms and stare at the grill dumbly, face opening up in surprise. “Wait. You mean it’s one of those self-driving things?”

“In a sense.” The semi’s engine rumbles softly, and the not-driver adds, “I am what you might call… the safety driver.”

Now that is curious.

You don’t even realise you’ve taken a step closer. “Really? But I thought that sort of tech was still in testing?”

“It is,” he replies, “We are, however, attempting to advance to field-tests, to see if these vehicles can autonomously haul freight in areas with sparser populations, to minimise the risk of collision.”

“Hence why you’re driving it out here in the middle of the night,” you realise aloud, raising an inquisitive brow at the windscreen, “So you’re really not in there? You’re driving it from somewhere else?”

“Would you care to see for yourself?” he asks kindly.

Your wide eyes flit to the passenger door when it eases open once again, though this time, it seems far less foreboding than before.

Tugging a loose piece of skin between your teeth, you give the silver steps leading to the door a scrutinising glance.

That does reassure you…

Slowly, still at least a little wary, you coax your legs to move, and they begrudgingly carry you onto the road. You approach the semi-truck with all the caution of a doe crossing an open meadow.

As you venture closer, its engine kicks up a notch, emitting a steady, gentle purr as if the vehicle itself is pleased with your acquiescence.

Suddenly, as you move along to the open door, you’re dazzled by a light flickering on inside the cab, bathing what you can see from this angle in a calm, golden hue.

From down here, it looks… just like an ordinary interior.

And lo and behold, as you stand on your tiptoes to see in, you find the driver’s seat is eerily devoid of its occupant.

You let out a breath that emerges shakier than you would have liked it to.

“Wow,” you laugh, impressed.

Maybe just a quick peek…

A vast chunk of apprehension breaks away from your chest and vanishes into the ether as you shuffle towards the steps, raising an arm and stretching your fingers across the space to the grab handle that sits invitingly just beside the open door.

This side of the truck is bathed in silver moonlight, and it’s only now that you’re this close that you happen to notice something you hadn’t before.

You almost wince when you spot them.

Although shiny and speckled with only the lightest dusting of desert sand, the metal panelling on the semi is covered in signs of wear and tear.

Enough to give you pause, at least.

For a moment, you’re taken aback, turning bodily away from the open door and cocking your head at the myriad of scratches that criss-cross their way up towards the semi’s roof.

All the paint in the world couldn’t hide some of those shallow nicks and lines that have been scraped out of the metal. In any case, something big must have scuffed it. Perhaps another driver in their own Peterbilt? Or perhaps it’s all damage sustained in testing the vehicle’s automated capabilities.

Clicking your tongue, you absently raise a hand to stroke your fingertips gingerly along the length of a particularly prominent scratch by the door.

“Oh dear,” you tut softly at the side of the truck, “You’ve been in the wars, haven’t you?”

Without warning, the engine that had been buzzing so gently suddenly ramps up and starts to vibrate firmly beneath your fingers, so strong you can even feel it judder the ground through the soles of your feet.

Recoiling like you’ve been zapped, you whip your head around to peer through the open door, half expecting the driver to admonish you for touching his vehicle.

As swiftly as it started however, the thrumming engine dies down, and the truck returns to its soft, benign idling. “My apologies,” comes that gentle voice again through the speakers, “Just an overactive combustion chamber.”

“Is it... safe to ride in?” you retort, giving the back of the truck a sidelong glance.

“You will find very few vehicles safer than this one,” he tells you patiently, “I will not allow any harm to befall you, as I would not allow it to befall any of my passengers.”

Your shoulders jump with a silent laugh. “Befall,” you parrot, fighting a smile, “I love the way you talk.”

“… You do?” His speakers buzz with a pleasant hum.

Fingers flexing anxiously, you reach out once again and slide them around the grab handle beside the door, finding that it’s unexpectedly warm under your palm.

“So, I just… get in?” you ask, only to cringe immediately, realising you probably sound like a fool who’s forgotten how to get into a truck.

Before you can rebuke yourself harshly though, the absent stranger offers his response. “Do you require assistance?”

“No, no,” you rush out, placing one foot on the first, silver step and hoisting yourself up off the ground, bringing yourself level with the cab’s seats.

Your eyes grow wide with wonder as you take in the interior.

“Oh, wow,” you breathe, suddenly hesitant to pull yourself up those last few feet.

“Is there something wrong?”

“It’s just… It’s so clean!”

Laid out before you is a perfectly ordinary truck cabin. Soft, grey leather covers the seats, with the same dark colouration on the roof, doors and most of the glovebox, interspersed by a rich, black steering wheel. The soft light, you discover, is emitted by multiple strips of blue neon LEDs that the driver must have fitted underneath the radio dials and dashboard, casting the truck’s interior in a cool, soothing glow.

But most astonishingly, for as much as you search, you can’t spot a single thing out of place. It’s absolutely immaculate. There isn’t one receipt stuffed in the door pockets, no traces of sand or gravel dirtying the footwells, no loose change tossed into the centre console…

Dumbfounded, you glance into the back, but all you find it a dark, grey panel and a shelf set back into the semi’s rear wall, meant for use as a bed, you surmise. It’s empty, unsurprisingly. Not a blanket or a pillow in sight.

Finally, your suspicions are put to rest. This truck doesn’t look lived in at all. He really is operating it remotely.

“God, it looks brand new in here,” you marvel aloud, suddenly hyper-conscious of the abysmal state of your old pickup. The scratches on this semi’s exterior play briefly on your mind but you brush your musings aside, too fatigued to consider the contradictions of a worn exterior but an immaculate interior.

Instead, you feel a frown crease the skin between your brows.

It really is immaculate in here…

Glancing down, you scowl disdainfully at your filthy shoes, the tank-top that’s stained irreparably by dropped food and greasy finger-smears, and trousers that are tattered and worn at their hems.

“Is everything all right?” the ‘driver’ asks again. His voice must emerge from the speakers on each door, low and warm, filling up the cabin.

“My shoes are dirty,” you admit out loud, your grip on the handle turning slack until you sink a few inches back to the first step, “I’m dirty. I-I don’t want to get sand and crap all over your truck.”

“I don’t mind.”

Spoken with more consideration than you’ve heard in a long, long time.

You pause at once, brows tipping up in the centre of your forehead.

A deep inhale through your nose brings with it the unobtrusive scent of leather, with the faintest undertone of adhesive sealers, giving the interior that ‘new truck smell’ that so many drivers try to replicate artificially.

Comparatively, it’s been several days since you passed a rest stop that had showering facilities. Those that did asked for a hefty charge. You’d glanced down at the handful of coppers in your centre console and decided you could go without. Now, you’re starting to regret that decision. Every now and then, whenever you raised your arms to stretch or flip the visor down in your pickup, you’d catch an unpleasant whiff of yourself wafting out from under your light, cotton shirt.

Embarrassed as you are to confess that you’ve been severely neglecting your personal hygiene, you swallow past a lump in your throat and croak, “I�� haven’t exactly washed for a couple of days… I wouldn’t want to make your truck smell…”

And in a tone so kind it threatens to brings a tear to your eye, the stranger answers consolingly, “I think your scent is perfectly fine.”

It’s so damnably genuine, you can’t even find it in yourself to point out that he isn’t here to smell you, so his point is moot.

“I…” One more cop-out strikes you. “I don’t have any money,” you murmur truthfully, ashamed, “I can’t pay you for the fuel, or-“

“-I ask for nothing in return but your company,” is all he says, cutting you off as gently as his profound voice will allow.

And just like that, you’re out of viable excuses. Or perhaps your body has noticed the comfortable seats right in front of it and you don’t have enough fight left in you to deny it a sit down. Besides, any reasons you come up with to dip are likely to be met with a counterpoint.

Even so, you can’t help but hesitate for one more question, hand clasping and unclasping around the grab handle. “Are you sure it’s okay? I’m not going to get you in trouble or anything am I?”

The next sound that hums through his speakers is so soft and rich, you think it’s the truck’s engine playing up again, at least until the stranger cuts the noise off by saying, “You do not look like trouble to me.”

If he only knew.

The sound prior, you realise, was a chuckle, the first one you’ve heard out of him yet. Something in the measure of it settles the last of your nerves, only slightly, just long enough to have you throwing caution to the wind. With a final heave, you pull yourself the rest of the way inside, sliding gingerly into the comfortable passenger seat. You never notice how the metal below your foot shifts microscopically, lifting you closer to the cab.

It takes a lot of restraint not to let your eyes drift closed, nor to slump backwards into the wondrously giving material on your spine.

Instead, you sit stiffly with your rucksack keeping you upright, legs pressed together, hands folded neatly in your lap. If you make any kind of mess in here, you’ll be mortified.

After a moment, you remember to close the door, but just as you turn and peel a hand off your thigh, you jolt, staring agog at the door as it swings slowly shut with a dull ‘click.’ All of its own accord.

“Full remote access,” the voice pipes up as the engine below you roars to life, and then you’re moving, and all you can do is stare through the window at the desert drifting by whilst trying to ignore the uninvited ache in your chest.

“Seatbelt.”

His gentle prompt spurs you to reach over and grab the fabric near your shoulder, tugging it across your body and fumbling a little to slot it into place. Suddenly, you feel an invisible pull on the belt, and the metal buckle finds its way into the socket on your next pass.

‘Must be magnetic,’ you muse distractedly.

“Are you comfortable?”

Blinking back the moisture in your eyes, you turn to glance at the empty driver’s seat. It’s bizarre, and more than a little unsettling to see the steering wheel turn itself around as the truck pulls back onto the road, driven by unseen hands.

When you don’t immediately respond to his query, the man continues just as patiently as before. “If it is too cold, I can turn up the heater. Or… perhaps you are too warm…” He hums to himself, thoughtful. “You have been exerting yourself.”

You instantly become aware of the light sheen of sweat that hasn’t quite dried on your forehead. Puckering your face up into a solemn smile, you shake your head and at last respond. “Not to worry. It’s very comfortable in here.”

What follows is a poignant moment of hesitation before the voice speaks again. “Forgive me if I’m overstepping, but… You do not seem comfortable…”

The open-ended statement fades into silence, and you’re left casting nervous glances around the cabin again. “How do you-?” you start, tugging your shirt further down your arms, “Can you see me? Like… in here?”

Again, there’s a pause, barely longer than a second, yet long enough for you to notice it.

“Cameras,” comes his measured response, “Both external and internal. They’re how I spotted you on the road.”

“Oh, I hadn’t even considered that… Of course.”

Suddenly self-conscious, you reach up and begin to paw uselessly at your dishevelled hair, humming though a thin-lipped smile. “I must look a sight,” you half joke.

“You look tired…” he replies diplomatically, and there’s nothing in it for you to be offended by.

Rubbing a thumb over the wrinkle slowly carving a home between your brows, you heave a dreary sigh. “It’s been a long journey.”

“I can only imagine… And… Where does it culminate, if I may?”

“Terry’s Dairy?” you offer, “Uh, it’s this little farm just on the outskirts of Jasper.”

The truck beneath you gives a reverberating thrum. “I know the pastures, but I’m afraid you will find they lay beyond the ‘outskirts’ of the city.”

Letting out a groan, you knock your head back against the seat behind you, staring bleakly up at the ceiling. “Of course… How far?”

“Only a few miles, to the East of Jasper. We’re coming in from the Northwest highway. I can get you there in twenty-five minutes.”

“Twenty- Oh, no, no. You really don’t have to do that,” you protest, shifting in the seat to frown at the empty driver’s seat in lieu of anywhere else to look, “Just drop me off in town and I’ll walk the rest. You’re already going out of your way for a stranger.”

“I am dropping you off at your destination and not a mile before,” he tells you steadily.

His uncompromising tone brooks no argument.

You stare at the spot a person should be for several, long moments, debating how much you could push an argument. He’s already coaxed you into his truck, his powers of persuasion are rather good. What chance do you have, sleep-deprived as you are?

Conceding sullenly, yet appreciatively, you let your back touch the seat, settling into it a little less hesitantly. “You won’t be taking no for an answer, I assume?”

He only lapses into a stubborn silence, an answer in and of itself.

That quiet is broken, however, when you suddenly let out all the air from your lungs, a smile growing across the width of your face as the breath escapes your nostrils in a sigh. “Thank you for this… Really. You’re saving me a lot of grief.”

The blue neons on his dashboard seem to flare a bit brighter for all of a second before they dim again. “I am glad to be of service,” he replies warmly.

“Oh my god,” you blurt without warning, leaning forwards in the seat and staring through the windscreen with wide eyes, “I’m so sorry, you’re being so nice and I’m so rude – I never asked your name.”

“Nor did I yours,” he points out, “You may call me Op-“

Suddenly, a burst of static buzzes through the radio. You shoot it a funny look.

“Optimus,” the stranger admits over the static with a hesitance you pick up on right away, drawing your gaze from the dash, “My name is Optimus.”

“Optimus?” you repeat incredulously, a small smile quirking at the edges of your mouth, “Wow… You must have had creative parents.”

“I appreciate that it might seem… an unusual name…”

“It is,” you agree pleasantly, “I like it. Makes you sound cool. Unique. My parents just stuck me with Y/n.”

At once, Optimus echoes your name, and you’re jarred by the sound of it coming from someone else’s lips, reverberating around the truck. It’s been a while since anyone used it.

“Y/n,” he says again in his velvety timbre, “It’s a fine name. I like yours too.”

[jayparked]

congrats on 1k!! could you please do 6 + 34 with heejake?

warnings: threesome!, possessive jake, language, unprotected sex, reader is basically just a sex doll for them, double penetration,

wc: 416

"now, why don't we teach you a lesson?"

you never thought the lesson would be having jake and heeseung take turns railing your pussy over and over again. heeseung has emptied his load in you once already, jake twice, and who knows how many times you've come now. your entire body feels like it's levitating as you come down from yet another high, long forgetting whatever it was that you did to get yourself in this position. somewhere along the way, the lines between punishment and blurred and you wouldn't mind being taught a lesson every day for the rest of your life.

heeseung is taking a break, sipping on a bottle of water while jake has you on your hands and knees, the walls of your pussy hugging his cock like memory foam.

"gonna fuck you until the only word you remember is my name."

"didn't anyone tell you that you're not supposed to be selfish in a threesome?" heeseung chuckles from the chair.

"i don't care. she's mine," jake growls, grinding his hips deep and possessively inside you until you're yelping.

"let's make it a game then. we'll both fuck her and see who's name she moans out as she comes."

jake stops moving to consider heeseung's words, giving you a moment to try to catch your breath. your heart pounds as you hear jake confidently say, "deal."

you stay there, motionless, still desperately trying to grasp what's about to happen. it's as if you aren't even here. all too soon, the two men are turning towards you and moving your body so they can position themselves at your entrance.

you thought one would be at your cunt and the other your ass, but with heeseung muttering, "take a deep breath, doll, here we come", and feeling both of their tips poking at your entrance, your eyes widen. you're barely able to take in that breath before they're both pushing inside you. the stretch is beyond delicious, your cunt taking them in almost too easily. both men groan with you as they feel themselves against one another, your wetness making it easy for them to set a steady rhythm.

a slough of curse words is all you're able to manage as the stretch of two cocks inside of you sends you to a realm of ecstasy you've never experienced before. and you're determined to not say either of their names in hopes they'll just have to keep trying until finally one of them wins.

for part of my 1k follower celebration send me a member and a number from this list and i'll write a short drabble about it ♡ masterlist

[warblogs17282]

I''m busy thinking about how this part of the episode is supposed to directly mirror what's already happened in the show.

Ignoring the obvious s1 e1 reference, let's start with the backstory behind this hit.

Something that this show makes very clear is that she is supposed to represent Stella, for multiple reasons that I will point out in this post.

Instantly starts out with ex-husband, just like with Stella and Stolas.

The next line proceeds to mention daughters, which is obviously the show planting the seeds for the scene yet to come, the Stolitz family scene. The daughters are very clearly supposed to represent Octavia and Loona.

Plus, the whole 'Can't stand my ex-husband enjoying himself' thing is also supposed to mirror Stella in a way, because guess who else purposefully went out of their way to ensure that their husband/ex-husband never was able to truly enjoy himself.

"When he fucking left me for another man!", when he left me for another man who was able to show him actual, true happiness. Just like how Blitz did just that for Stolas.

I also really want to note Blitz's and Stolas' reactions to all of this, for Blitz, even though he knows almost nothing about Stella, you can already tell he's put some pieces together and realized 'oh shit, this is sounding extremely similar to what happened between me and Stolas.', especially considering the way he looked over at Stolas when she finished talking there.

Which explains why Blitz looks so nervous and trying to talk her out of carrying through with the hit, before just outright denying the request, because it hits way too close to home for him as well. With the next thing she says after this scene pictured below just nailing the similarities home to Blitz.

As for Stolas' reaction, you can tell even before this moment that he's also realized just how similar the whole situation is to his own, and that detail tells us that Stolas isn't just talking about the person the client wants dead, but also himself.

Stolas thinks he's selfish for choosing to be with Blitz, Stolas thinks that he deserves death because of his 'selfish' choice to be with Blitz. Stolas likely thinks at that moment that he deserved to be killed by Striker for his 'selfish' choice.

And well, the show definitely doubles down on showing us just how evil the client is, just like Stella.

Then we get to the moment where every single similarity undeniably falls into focus for Blitz. Blitz doesn't see a random gay couple with two daughters he's been paid double to assassinate a member of, he sees himself, he sees Stolas, and their own respective daughters all in the same room as each other, he sees his dreams for the future with Stolas, and their daughters.

He sees a future of domestic bliss with the four of them, the future he's hoping he can achieve some day.

And because of all of these similarities between the family and Blitz himself, he cannot bring himself to ruin a happy family, can't bring himself to ruin what they have, can't bring himself to ruin what Blitz dreams for, can't bring himself to kill the person he envisions as Stolas, and can't bring himself to ruin the family that he envisions as his own as well.

Plus, Blitz would never be able to truly forgive himself if he took that shot, if he killed that man and ruined the family Blitz places himself in. Blitz would see himself as being no better than Striker if he did take the killing shot.

Because, let's compare s2 e4 and this episode for a second.

"Ex-wife hires assassin to kill their ex-husband with a daughter for extremely evil and selfish reasons."

"Ex-wife hires assassin to kill their ex-husband with two daughters for extremely evil and selfish reasons."

Even if Blitz only understands the s2 e4 hit as "Unknown person hired assassin to kill father with a daughter for unknown reasons.", as I've pointed out before, everything about this assassination hits way too close to home for Blitz.

Blitz has probably already realized at that moment that if Striker had killed Stolas in s2 e4, all of his hopes and dreams of having a happy family with Stolas, Octavia and Loona would instantly go up in flames.

So, why would Blitz want to ruin a family that has what he hopes for in the future? Why would Blitz want to kill the person he envisions as Stolas? Why would Blitz want to kill the person he envisions as Stolas, especially when Striker almost very well killed Stolas, which would've ruined the dream Blitz has that we see here if Striker had succeeded?

What I'm getting that with this is simple, the client represents Stella, the ex-husband represents Stolas, the daughters represents Octavia and Loona, and Blitz represents Striker.

But Blitz isn't Striker, Blitz could've very well chosen to be play the role of Striker and kill that ex-husband, ruining the family as a result for some money, but he didn't, Blitz saw the happy gay couple and their daughters, saw himself in it, and decided the money wasn't worth it, stopping himself or anyone else in the team from taking that killing shot, because Blitz simply refused to play the role of Striker, Blitz played his own role, which is himself.

Blitz is not Striker, and I feel like this moment goes to show even further that Blitz and Striker are supposed to be narrative foils to each other.

[yungistiny]

Selfish Waltz ═ chapter one

[ J. YH + S. MG ]

chapter one: just friends

╚═════════

summary: yunho had been love with y/n since he was sixteen, not mustering up the courage to tell her until seven years later, seven years too late because his best friend just beat him to the punch.

note:reader and the boys are not kpop idols in this

warning:smut, threesome, double penetration, big dick yungi, size kink, just lots of smut

pairings:yunho x female reader, mingi x female reader

genre:smut, friends to lovers, angst, slow burn, romance, polyamory

word count: 3.7k

chapter two

masterlist

═════════ ═════════ ═════════ ═════════ ═════════

Yunho can’t recall much of how he ended up in this situation, his best friend’s girlfriend trapped between him and a wall, his experienced fingers deliciously buried so far in y/n the girl can’t do anything but wrap her arms around his shoulders desperately holding on as the orgasm built up like a catastrophic storm inside her.

Yunho’s conscious was screaming at him to stop, that he has fucked up beyond fixing but he had been fighting himself for so long, constantly arguing with that conscious since the day he realized his two best friends had become more then just friends.

It happened the summer after college graduation. Yunho had received an internship for this big game testing company in California and couldn’t pass the opportunity up as his dream had always been to create video games for others, to see his passion for the art come to life.

He was gone for over six months, not returning home until Christmas where during a secret Santa party Seonghwa had thrown caused Yunho to realize that whilst he had been gone all this time his two best friends, his two other halves, had become something much more.

Y/N was talking to San when Yunho had arrived not noticing him, nor her or Mingi were expecting to see him until after the new year but Yunho finished his internship, given a full time job at an International Gaming Lab here in Seoul and even got to come home early, one thing on his mind the entire time. Tell y/n he was in love with her. It was the last leap he had to make to finally have everything he’s ever dreamed of.

That last dream however was shattered, yanked out from under him, blindsided him so disastrously that yunho felt like he couldn’t breathe when he watched Mingi come up behind y/n, arms wrapping around her waist, leaning down to whisper something in her ear before she turned in his arms and kissed him.

Yunho would of ran out of the party as quickly as he had arrived if it hadn’t been for San who turned away from Mingi and y/n, seeing him and beaming a little buzzed from extremely spiked eggnog Wooyoung made. “YUNHO!”

San’s loud excitement caused everyone’s attention to direct exactly on him, causing his ears to turn red. His gaze caught Mingi’s and Yunho was the only one that could see the guilt in his best friend’s eyes as Mingi separated himself from y/n, putting a little distance between them as she was, unlike Mingi, completely oblivious to Yunho’s feelings, running towards the taller man, arms trying to wrap completely around him, inhaling his familiar scent of fresh linen and dewy raindrops as she looked up at him where he had grown stiff, arms at his sides not able to break eye contact with Mingi until he heard y/n voice say his name.

“Yun,” y/n was smiling at him as Yunho finally broke his gaze with Mingi who snatched San’s spiked eggnog out of his hand, tossing his head back as he downed it whilst San pouted. “I thought you weren’t coming back home until next month?” Yunho returned her hug, her scent no longer just hers as he buried his face in her hair, the scent of familiar jasmine and vanilla mixed with the scent of mint and cinnamon. The scent of Mingi.

“Dude,” Wooyoung shoved y/n out of the way hugging Yunho like his drunken life depended on it. Y/N rolled her eyes at her stepbrother. Her dad married Wooyoung’s mom when they were twelve, it’s how Yunho and Mingi had met her with Wooyoung being Yunho’s neighbor growing up. “I’m so glad you’re back now I can finally have a gaming session that doesn’t suck!” Wooyoung hiccuped. “Everyone here can’t play for shit.”

“Y/N doesn’t even play with me no more,” Wooyoung pouted as he huffed still hugging Yunho. “She’s too busy riding Mingi and sticking her tongue down his throat.” Y/N gasped , slapping her stepbrother in the back of the head causing Wooyoung to yelp. His bluntness drunk or not was just something that made Wooyoung well… Wooyoung. “I’m telling mom and dad you’re abusing me.” He rubbed the back of his head as he let go of Yunho.

Yunho’s eyes locked in on Mingi as he approached them while the siblings bickered. “I didn’t think you were getting back until next month.” Mingi declared, his words almost the same as y/n had been. He embraced his best friend in a hug though Yunho could feel how tense Mingi was. “Surprise.” Yunho retorted returning Mingi’s hug unethusiatically. If everyone around them weren’t so drunk they would be able to feel the tension between the two best friends.

After a couple of hours Yunho had been ready to leave, sink into his bed at the apartment he shared with mingi after being away for so long, he really did miss his bed. What he didn’t plan on however was y/n coming home with him and Mingi, almost tricking himself into thinking the two weren’t together. Actually he still wasn’t too sure what his two best friends were exactly. Are they dating? They had to be of course they were. He saw the way they kissed and Wooyoung’s remark kept playing in his head like a record stuck on a loop.

“She’s too busy riding Mingi and sticking her tongue down his throat.”

═════════ ═════════ ═════════

The walk down the two blocks from Seonghwa and Hongjoong’s shared apartment was dead silent. Yunho walked behind the couple in front of him who had their hands held together, fingers interlocked as y/n leaned all of her weight against Mingi, head resting against his arm. Yunho had the sudden urge to push between them and break them apart but instead shoved his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, long slender fingers bawling into fists.

A giggle erupted from y/n as she stumbled, Mingi’s grip on her tightening as he pulled her snug into his side to keep her from falling. “I think you had too much of your brother’s eggnog.” He smiled down at her, one hand on her cheek resting gently as his other wrapped around her. For the first time in their friendship, Yunho felt out of place. He huffed as he speed walked past them, he couldn’t stand to look at them all couply for another second. If he would have glanced back he wouldn’t have missed the worried and nervous look Mingi sent him.

He certainly wouldn’t have missed the longing look y/n sent after his retreating back.

********

To say the atmosphere once they arrived to their apartment was awkward would be an understatement. Yunho unlocked the door, stepping inside and almost tripping over his luggage he had forgotten he’d left. “Shit!” He hissed when he stubbed his foot against a suitcase that resulted in his pinky toe being hit. He could swear that’s one of the worst pains next to that time he accidentally stepped on one of Seonghwa’s legos.

Reaching a hand out blindly feeling for the light switch on the wall, Yunho flicked the light on, blinking at the sudden brightness of the fluorescence. He wrapped his hands around two suitcases and started his trudge to his room as Mingi and y/n came in behind him, Mingi locking the front door before grabbing Yunho’s other bags and following behind him.

Yunho dropped the suitcases on the floor after pushing his bedroom door open, it looked exactly the way he had left it a frown forming on his face however when he noticed the one change. The dirty clothes he had left overflowing in the hamper next to his closet had all been washed, assorted and folded neatly at the foot of his bed. “Did you wash my clothes?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at Mingi when he dropped Yunho’s bags down.

Mingi scoffed, “Who do you think washed them?” He asked knowing Yunho should know at this point that his best friend hates doing his own laundry let alone anyone else. Y/N. Yunho stared at the clean clothes, eyes trailing around the rest of his room. Why had she been in his bedroom? “Listen…” Mingi trailed off, hand rubbing the back of his neck as Yunho started placing all his luggage in the corner beside his closet, he’d sort through and put everything up later as all he wished for was some sleep as the jet lag was starting to kick in. “I guess we should talk…”

“About what?” Yunho remarked, a tad bit aggressively, as he noticed he hadn’t removed his shoes when coming in. He sat at the foot of his bed, carful to not sit on his folded clothes, yanking the shoe laces loose and carelessly tossing his black worn converse over to land next to his luggage. Mingi bit his bottom lip at his best friend’s tone. He knew this moment would come, dreaded it even. It’s not like he meant to fall for y/n. For ten years she was just his friend. His other half just like Yunho. She was always only his friend. He wasn’t the one pining over her since they were sixteen, that was Yunho.

“I didn’t mean to fall for her.” Mingi was hesitant on how to approach the subject. Last time the two of them had talked about y/n was six months ago before Yunho had left for his internship and Mingi had told him that when he got back home and he didn’t finally make a move on y/n he’d have to kick his best friend’s ass and make him. Two days later, Yunho was gone. Four days later, Mingi kissed y/n for the first time. “I’m tired.” Yunho stopped him. He did not want to hear how Mingi had done what Yunho was always too damn afraid to do. Make a move.

Mingi sighed not wanting to push his best friend. Yunho could be pretty scary when he was angry. The only time he had ever witnessed his best friend lose it, was in high school after Eric Sohn convinced y/n he loved her and she gave him everything. He dumped her after she gave him her virginity. Yunho overheard him laughing about it with his friends. Eric had to be taken to the E.R. that day after Yunho broke his nose. “Ok.” Mingi backed out of his room pausing before closing Yunho’s door behind him. “I’m glad you’re home.”

Yunho stared at the picture on his desk that sat right beside his computer. It was taken the day of his high school graduation. Y/N squished in the middle of himself and Mingi, all of three of them smiling without a clue of what adulthood and the future would bring them. His jaw clenched as he got up and turned the frame down on the desk, hiding the picture from his sight. He felt betrayed. He felt like he had been stabbed in the back. Like Mingi took something from him. But y/n was never his to begin with.

And she never will be.

He really was tired, turning around and quickly putting his clothes y/n had washed for him up in the dresser on the far side of his bed before shoving his jeans off carelessly on the floor, yanking his hoodie and tshirt off at once before pulling his duvet back, crawling into his bed and sighing into his pillow, laying on his stomach and hugging the comforting feathered head rest closely, the faint scent of jasmine and vanilla lulling him to sleep.

═════════ ═════════ ═════════

Yunho had no idea what time it was, he hadn’t remembered when hed fallen asleep but a sudden loop of repetitive noises echoing from across the hall caused him to groan awake. “Huh.” He blinked his eyes open, squinting into the darkness, ears searching for the culprit of the noise disrupting his sleep.

“Mingi..”

There was no denying what the culprit of the noise was, Yunho was wide awake now, heart beating rapidly and his fist gripping his sheets as he sat up in bed. Another moan echoed followed by Mingi’s deep muffled voice. “No.” Yunho shook his head before glaring at his bedroom door. “Are you fucking kidding me!” He hissed exclaimed. They were fucking. Right across the hall! The next moan that Yunho heard he had to close his eyes and let out a deep breath. He’d never heard y/n like that, at least not in rel life. His dreams didn’t count and my god did the real thing sound so much better.

“You have got to be quite” Mingi scolded his girlfriend as he rolled his hips, tip of his dick hitting y/n g spot every time, his right hand gripping her leg he had propped up against his shoulder. He had no intention of waking Yunho up because y/n was very loud, very verbal when he had her on the edge of euphoria. “You’re doing it on purpose.” He noted when y/n smirked at him. Mingi reached his hand up covering her mouth, gripping just enough to muffle her as he felt her clench around him, her orgasm ready to spill out.

Y/N muffled scream and moans against Mingi’s hand we’re barely kept quiet as her orgasm hit her, legs shaking, white spots in her vision and a sob leaving her as she grew overstimulated as Mingi continued to thrust rapidly, nothing able to silence the loud squelching of skin slapping skin as he his hips rutted and a loud moaning groan escaped him as he came feeling y/n up. His hand still holding her one leg up, fingers gliding slowly down as Mingi gently collapsed above her, hand removing from y/n mouth as his head nuzzled atop her breast, hips rutting up softly to pull himself out of her, his cum leaking out his girlfriend and staining the sheets.

After a long moment that was filled with both their pants and heavy breathing, hearts slowly calming and no longer beating erratically. “He hates me.” Mingi closed his eyes as y/n ran her hands up and down his back as he listened to the now steady beat of her heart. “He could never hate you.” Her words did little to make Mingi feel less guilty, especially after what they had just done whilst Yunho slept right across the hall.

═════════ ═════════ ═════════

Yunho had turned his fan on and crammed his airpods in his ears to drown out the obvious noises coming from Mingi’s room. He waited for the keshi song he’d been listening to finish before pausing his music, taking out one of his earbuds and listening for any sign that the couple in the next room were done. It was silent except for the humming that escalated from his fan.

“I gotta piss!”Yunho sat his airpods on his bedside table next to his phone and darted to his bedroom door. His ear listened for a moment against the door before he deemed it safe, easing the door open and staring at the other one directly across from his own. They must be asleep, he determined before shuffling out of his room and speed walking down the end of the small hallway to the bathroom.

He’d been holding it since he was so rudely awakened so the most satisfied sigh of relief left him finally able to relieve himself. His adam’s apple bobbed once as his head tilted back, satisfied before quickly flailing his arms out to grab the bar that held the shower curtain up to catch himself from falling after getting his foot tangled in something on the tiled floor. “Fuck” he breathed out steadying himself back up right, reaching down to grab his attacker.

A black sheer bra stared back at him from the grip in his hand. Yunho gulped staring and picturing y/n wearing it, only it. The material fell from his hand as he dropped it practically bolting out of the bathroom and deciding he could go for a midnight or whatever time it was snack. The brightness of the kitchen light blinded him for a second being much more luminous and bright than the dim lighting in the bathroom.

Yunho decided on a bowl of cereal, snatching the box of frosted flakes and pouring a big bowl of it. He shivered a little from the cool air coming from the fridge, a stark contrast to the warmth of the apartment, hitting his bare chest as he grabbed the milk. He almost dropped the entire carton at the sight of y/n stretching her arms up and yawning as she walked into the kitchen.

Yunho had no control over the way eyes roamed over her taking in her disheveled hair, post orgasm glow and the way one of Mingi’s oversized Diesel shirts he had gotten from one of his modeling gigs rid up her with her stretching revealing the black sheer panties that matched the bra in the bathroom. He quickly averted his eyes after the faintest glimpse of her pussy in the sheer panties had him growing hard faster then he ever had before in his life.

Y/N reopened her eyes in time as she dropped her arms to see Yunho quickly sit down at the small kitchen table. He poured milk all over his big bowl of cereal stirring it around with a metal spoon doing his best to avoid y/n gaze and his dick hard in his underwear under the table. “How long have you been up?” Y/N asked curiously but Yunho knew it was because she wanted to know if he heard them. “Maybe 10 minutes?” He lied as he shoved a spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

Y/N walked past him grabbing a bowl for herself, she had to reach up to the shelf, Mingi’s shirt on her once again riding up as she did. Yunho glanced at her and clenched his jaw at the perfect view of her ass was on display in the sheer panties. He had to suppress a groan as his dick twitched under the table. She had no idea what she was doing to him.

Yunho watched her sit down across from him at the table, her feet brushing his under the table. She grabbed the box of cereal filling her bowl up and then reaching for the milk. They both ate their cereal in silence for a few minutes before y/n broke it. “I missed you.” Yunho could feel her foot rubbing up his leg and gulped. What the fuck is she doing? Her foot stopped at his thigh before dropping and pulling away.

Yunho stayed silent finishing his cereal, y/n watching him intently as he stared hard at the back of the cereal box. “Are you mad at us?” She asks causing Yunho to tense up. Why would she think he’s mad at her? Mingi? Yes. But it’s not like y/n had any idea he was like madly in love with her. He was just her best friend. “Why would I be mad at you?”

Y/N met his gaze, her breath hitching at the glint of a challenge of sorts settled in Yunho’s dark eyes. He watched her as she looked away, finishing the rest of her cereal. Now it was y/n avoiding his gaze and Yunho couldn’t help but smirk. Before he could help himself, he found himself copying y/n, running his foot gently up her leg, pausing at her inner thigh. He watched her freeze and meet his gaze, slight gasp leaving her from his touch. “I missed you too.”

Y/N visibly shuddered when his socked foot was no longer warm against her skin. Yunho went back to finishing his cereal hiding his smirk with his spoon. For a moment he’d completely forgotten, lost up in her, that for a fleeting moment he forgot she was now dating Mingi. He watched her finish her cereal and take her bowl and spoon to the sink. “Leave it, I got it.”

“You sure?” She asked him before just leaving her dirty dishes for him to clean. “Go back to bed, y/n.” Go back to him. Yunho stared over the little maze on the back of the cereal box until he heard her sigh and leave. He caught the last glimpse of her just as she disappeared back out the kitchen and down the hall.

He dropped his spoon into his bowl, putting the cereal up and the milk before quickly washing their dirty bowls and spoons. He turned the bright kitchen light back out before walking back down the hall towards his room. Yunho paused just as he reached his door, eyes catching the reflection of y/n straddling Mingi, back arched as his best friend’s hands slid down her back, gripping her ass through the giant floor mirror inside mingi’s room.

“She’s too busy riding Mingi and sticking her tongue down his throat.”

She left the door open. She knew he was still up and awake and she left the door open. Yunho turned around and disappeared back inside his room just as a loud moan ripped from y/n.

He probably should of put his earbuds in, put his headset on distract himself with a game, anything, but he was frozen, staring up at his ceiling in the darkness of his room as y/n sinfully beautiful moans echoed from Mingi’s room across the hall for the second time that night.

And Yunho felt dirty, filthy, completely losing his mind as he reached towards his now hardened dick in his underwear. One stroke and he was hissing from his own touch , eyes shut, ears listening intently for y/n. He pulled himself from his underwear, hand pumping himself as y/n moans sent a fire in his abdomen. He was pumping himself so hard, so erratic he couldn’t stop the moan that left him followed by a low growl into his pillow as he came all over his sheets.

In that moment there was only one thing Yunho knew…

He was so fucked.

[the-anonmaton]

Quivering Dance

Relationships : Sevika x Reader Characters : Sevika, Original Female Character Rating: Explicit Tags : Smut, Light Dom/sub, Strap-Ons, Vibrators, bottom reader, Top Sevika (Arcane: League of Legends), bottom sevika, Light Sadism, Overstimulation, top reader Chapters : 2 (both chapters in this post - reversed POV) Words : 1,531

Summary:

Chapter 1. How about reverse cowgirl Reader? Chapter 2. How about reverse cowgirl Sevika?

**********

CHAPTER 1 : Bottom Reader

**********

You have been at it for a while now.

You came home only to find her on the bed, propped up on the pillows against the headboard, a saccharine smile on her face as she was lying down naked and harnessed with her favorite hexstrap. One hand behind her head, the other stroking the strap and coating it with lube, the bottle forgotten beside her.

Your mouth agape as you took in the scene in front of you, already knowing what was about to happen. She caught your roaming eyes and a nod towards her lap was enough to pull you from the stupor she inflicted upon you. Hurriedly, you undressed yourself as you were making your way towards her. You reached the bed and crawled to her, put one leg over her and straddled her, both of you holding each other's eyes through it all.

The hand behind her head reached for your cheek to pull you in for a chaste kiss. The hand on her strap lifted to touch your pussy and found you already wet. You gasped an exhale in her mouth and pushed down on her hand with your whole body.

"Turn around baby, I want to see your back dance."

**********

You have been at it for a while now.

She could feel you through your touch. You were leaning forward, balanced by your hands on her legs and fingers digging into each muscled thigh. Your feet resting behind you, beside her torso, tapping at her body with each tremble, the hair on your legs tickling her skin.

She could feel you through her touch. Her hands roaming, from the backs of your spread thighs, to the meat of your ass, to your lower back where sweat was gathering, to your shoulder blades where muscles quaking beneath.

You could feel her eyes on you, her gaze transfixed by what was connecting you. With every forward move you made you were leaving behind a strap coated with your cum, only to push back and feel it buried inside you again, filling you, opening you up and making you momentarily shake above her, repeating your quivering dance.

She could hear your heavy breathing, she could hear your every movement, betrayed by gasps, moans, pleas, inhales and belated exhales.

"Do it, please, make me come."

**********

You have been at it for a while now.

There was a reason this was her favorite strap. Despite her desire to keep reverently experiencing what was unfolding all around her, she wanted to bring you over the edge you were teetering on, as a testament of her worship.

So she pushed the button at the base of the strap. The moment both of your ears picked the vibration, it was immediately drowned by your whines and cries. No longer able to keep the balance on your hands, you doubled over, your forehead resting against her leg.

She lost sight of your back, but was presented with a much better view of your connection. She couldn't help but feed her selfishness as her hands gripped your asscheeks, thumbs placed on each fold, spreading them, opening you up only for her to see, your movements never ceasing, your hips never stop canting, your walls never stop clenching, your cum never stop flowing.

“So wet for me.”

**********

You have been at it for a while now.

Your hips kept moving and kept chasing, the pleasure making you lose your rhythm, so she grabbed you by the hips and every time you moved away she pulled you back harder and deeper against her. It would not be long.

Another push of the button at the base was all it took.

Your feet lifted off the bed, knees pushing harder against the mattress. Your arms snaked to the back of her legs, hands gripping hard at the meat of her calves. Your whole body shaking on her lap. Your mouth open and teeth holding onto her leg where she could feel your breath warming her skin. Your heavy exhales filled her ears. Your wet folds quivering around her still vibrating strap, your thighs pushing against her, unable to close, while cum was dripping down your pussy and coating her own thighs.

“My good girl.”

**********

She can't turn it off, not yet, she is selfish. She will keep you there, with demanding hands on your hips. She will keep it on, see you shiver and quake trying to run away from her. She will see you leaking more on her strap until she hears your signal by the snap of your fingers.

"That's it, beautiful."

**********

CHAPTER 2 : Bottom Sevika

**********

You have been at it for a while now.

She came home only to find you on the bed, propped up on the pillows against the headboard, a saccharine smile on your face as you were lying down naked and harnessed with your favorite hexstrap. One hand behind your head, the other stroking the strap and coating it with lube, the bottle forgotten beside you.

Her mouth agape as she took in the scene in front of her, already knowing what was about to happen. You caught her roaming eyes and a nod towards your lap was enough to pull her from the stupor you inflicted upon her. Hurriedly, she undressed herself as she was making her way towards you. She reached the bed and crawled to you, put one leg over you and straddled you, both of you holding each other's eyes through it all.

The hand behind your head reached for her cheek to pull her in for a chaste kiss. The hand on your strap lifted to touch her pussy and found her already wet. She gasped an exhale in your mouth and pushed down on your hand with her whole body.

"Turn around baby, I want to see your back dance."

**********

You have been at it for a while now.

You could feel her through her touch. She was leaning forward, balanced by her hands on your legs and fingers digging into each thigh. Her feet resting behind her, beside your torso, tapping at your body with each tremble, the hair on her legs tickling your skin.

You could feel her through your touch. Your hands roaming, from the backs of her spread thighs, to the meat of her ass, to her lower back where sweat was gathering, to her shoulder blades where muscles quaking beneath.

She could feel your eyes on her, your gaze transfixed by what was connecting you. With every forward move she made she was leaving behind a strap coated with her cum, only to push back and see it buried inside her again, filling her, opening her up and making her momentarily shake above you, repeating her quivering dance.

You could hear her heavy breathing, you could hear her every movement, betrayed by gasps, moans, pleas, inhales and belated exhales.

"Do it, please, make me come."

**********

You have been at it for a while now.

There was a reason this was your favorite strap. Despite your desire to keep reverently experiencing what was unfolding all around you, you wanted to bring her over the edge she was teetering on, as a testament of your worship.

So you pushed the button at the base of the strap. The moment both of your ears picked the vibration, it was immediately drowned by her whines and cries. No longer able to keep the balance on her hands, she doubled over, her forehead resting against your leg.

You lost sight of her back, but were presented with a much better view of your connection. You couldn't help but feed your selfishness as your hands gripped her asscheeks, thumbs placed on each fold, spreading them, opening her up only for you to see, her movements never ceasing, her hips never stop canting, her walls never stop clenching, her cum never stop flowing.

“So wet for me.”

**********

You have been at it for a while now.

Her hips kept moving and kept chasing, the pleasure making her lose her rhythm, so you grabbed her by the hips and every time she moved away you pulled her back harder and deeper against you. It would not be long.

Another push of the button at the base was all it took.

Her feet lifted off the bed, knees pushing harder against the mattress. Her arms snaked to the back of your legs, hands gripping hard at the meat of your calves. Her whole body shaking on your lap. Her mouth open and teeth holding onto your leg where you could feel her breath warming your skin. Her heavy exhales filled your ears. Her wet folds quivering around your still vibrating strap, her thighs pushing against you, unable to close, while cum was dripping down her pussy and coating your own thighs.

“My good girl.”

**********

You can't turn it off, not yet, you are selfish. You will keep her there, with demanding hands on her hips. You will keep it on, see her shiver and quake trying to run away from you. You will see her leaking more on your strap until you hear her signal by the snap of her fingers.

"That's it, beautiful."

**********

taglist : @opropheticsoul @archangeldyke-all @wizard-pdf

Thanks for reading! :)

[niiine]

Character(s). Xiao, Kazuha, Scaramouche

Synopsis. Random drabbles from random songs on my playlist.

Fluff

Soft characters

Cringe. I love cringe things.

“Are you alright?” The gentleness in his voice snapped you out of your meltdown, the sound calming your anxious heartbeat. How he had this kind of effect on you? You’re not sure.

Xiao (Double take by Dhruv)

The yaksha lead you up on high ground, not high enough to trigger your fear but just enough for you to be able to see the lanterns that was decorating the night sky. The soft, golden glow reminding you of Xiao’s eyes— a flash back of earlier events find its way onto your head.

The sea of people in the port, how agitating it was, your anxiety burning your heart, your thoughts come running down to one action. Call Xiao.

You know it’s selfish to call for him as you are aware of his duties, that he may be resting or such, but your lips whispered his name even before you can comprehend the reasons why you shouldn’t.

“y/n. Are you alright?” It took him not a minute to reach where you are. Tapping your shoulder and looking into your eyes. You shook your head and now, here you are. Under the stunning lanterns that offers tranquility.

“Xiao?” You called out his name again, and he let out a tender “hmm?”

You turned towards the lad, admiring every features you could see. Archons, he’s beautiful under all these warm lights, and he’s looking at you. He looks at no one like this but you.

And yet despite the butterflies raging on your stomach, everything is peaceful. Moments with him were always mellow and placid, the stillness you need whenever the world is in chaos. Do you have the same impact on him? You don’t know.

After seconds, that felt like eternity, you finally found the words to ask him, “How did you find me?”

He looked at you in confusion. Like you just asked him the most ridiculous question you could ever think of. “How did you find me that fast? There’s so many people in the port…”

“Oh… I don’t know…”

I don’t see no body but you.

Kaedehara Kazuha (Blue by Kai)

“Kazuhaa!” was all it takes for the samurai’s heart to jump out of his chest. He’s going to see you; HE’S GOING TO SEE YOUR FACE.

“y/n. It’s good to see you today” The calmness in his voice were contrary to his heartbeat. But he cannot let himself be discovered— he can’t afford to lose this friendship with you, even it means you’ll remain just as friends.

You tackled the man and he let out a chuckle. Patting your head as a sign of affection. “Father allowed me to join the crew for this trip! I’ll get to be with you this time!”

The idea sound endearing in Kazuha’s ears. To spend months with the person he’s pining for, to have a chance to show off his skills— no, no no no. He’s not that kind of person.

“I bet you nagged him to no end for him to agree” you laughed at his words and it set his stomach spiraling once again. “Maybe, but I really want to go. So please just let it be”

You pinched his cheeks before running off to Beidou, giving the captain the news and asking for, of course, her permission for you to join the voyage.

“Loving the view?” Kazuha’s melodic words reached your ears, and you turn to him with a smile. The glistening water from the ocean reflecting on your visage, and sunset behind you cannot compare with how ethereal you look at this moment. At least in his eyes.

A surge of sadness clenches his heart, a thought clouding his mind. He will only taint this beauty, so he’d rather admire you afar.

You in his arms, your love in his care— it will be nothing more than an imagination, a dream for him.

“Kazuha, would it be selfish if I want you to be mine?”

Huh? HUH?

“What are you talking about?” The panic in his voice is vivid, so is the trembling of his hands. Is he hearing things right? Or he’s being delusional?

An awkward silence envelope the little space you two have, aside from the waves and the heavy breathing.

“Well— well of course you can decline! It’s… it is not like I’m forcing you, okay?” Your stuttering made the lad giggle. His warm chuckles painting your face red.

“y/n, are you blushing?”

“IT’S THE SUNSET”

Kazuha let out another burst of laughter before making his way towards you, his gentle digits reaching out to yours. You saw a tint of pink as he planted a kiss on your forehead.

“Kazu, you’re blushing”

“It’s the sunset.”

Know you're all that I want this life.

Wanderer (Best Part by Daniel Caesar)

*I’mma call him Scaramouche here, okay.

You awoke from a suffocating grip, body against body his breath hot and heavy. Scaramouche is having a nightmare.

“Scara. Scaramouche. Love, wake up”. You nudge the man as gentle as you can to wake him up, save him from whatever hell he’s dreaming of.

“y/n?” Your name was his first words, and it would have made you happy if you hadn’t seen the way his eyes look at you. A fragment of sapphire yearning for salvation.

“I’m here, I won’t leave you.”

You took him into your arms, kissing his temple. Your digits combing his locks as you calm the fear in his heart. You are grateful that he’s this vulnerable to you, but your angry at everything that made him this way.

“I don’t need your reassurance”

You smiled at his words; his arms tight around you contradicting it.

“I know, but I am not reassuring you. I am telling you.”

There’s a comforting silence that surrounds the room as Scara’s breathing steadies. Tomorrow, when the sun rises together with him, the lad will surely deny of this event. And you will let him off the hook by simply nodding to his arguments.

Or so you thought.

The sun was already high up, the streets were busy, and you can even hear Nahida looking for your lover. But to your surprise, and amusement, he remains latched onto your body.

You will NOT let this opportunity to admire him go to waste. Fingertips tracing is noseline, his eyes, his lips. The daylight that finds its way to his face only added to his divine looks.

“You’re beautiful”

You received a grunt as a response, and you chuckled. “I love every bit of you.” You whispered, and he opened his eyes.

Once again, you’re met with a piece of midnight. Boring holes into your own. You wouldn’t complain, though. You love his eyes.

“Come on, sleepy head. There’s plenty of things to enjoy within the day” You break the silence once again while rubbing your nose on his.

“This is what I wanna do for the day”

“But you’re gonna be bored. I’m not even supposed to be a part of your expedition today y’know?”

“That’s why this is what I wanna do for the whole day”

Because you’re the best part.

[gamemakerm]

In honor of Mermay and the current trend of Animal/Therian HRT going around (inspired by @ayviedoesthings's Dragon HRT series, @welldrawnfish's Fish HRT, @kaylasartwork's Bat HRT, @nyxisart's Puppy HRT, @deadeyedfae's Human HRT, etc etc etc, love all your work), I wanted to share the short story I wrote last year about medically turning yourself into a mermaid. This got published in WriteHive's Reclaiming Joy anthology, and we're now just outside of the six-month publishing exclusivity, so I can make it publicly available.

This was really raw to write for me, and there are trigger warnings for transphobia(/whatever the equivalent would be for mermaids?), implications of violence and hate crimes. However all the stories in the anthology were ultimately about perseverance, courage and love. I hope you enjoy, and if you want to get this and eleven other uplifting stories I can't recommend the anthology enough (though this is the only one relevant to the tags as far as I know). And if you really, really like it, you can buy me a kofi!

Scales

When the scales began to break through skin, they said you were becoming a monster. Blue and green, seafoam to pearl. You weren’t certain at what point you started to believe them.

You began to wrap yourself in tighter layers, a futile effort not to draw attention to the rough patches. Elbows, knees, along your arms, mottled with foundation and concealer caked on like spackle. Toner to offset the iridescent shine so that a passing glance wouldn’t be drawn to it. Constant checks and double checks, bathroom visits far beyond the routine. 

Your careful camouflage is usually enough to deflect scrutiny, but occasionally a stranger catches on. Nobody has said anything to you yet, but you have noticed more glances on the train. The old woman’s frown of disapproval. The young man with something to prove to you, himself, the world. His jaw tightens as he calculates his ability to start something. You tuck your chin and pretend to be busy with your phone. In the dark screen you can see the skin flaking on your cheeks. The beginnings of another patch betray you.

As you touch up in the bathroom mirror you tell yourself you wanted this, that you were prepared for the hardships. 

You walk to the public library after your shift ends. You walk most places these days, telling yourself it’s a last hurrah. The fact is you sold your car to make a dent in the cost. You’ll sell everything eventually. You’re going to have to. 

The forums have a list of books everyone checks out when they choose this path. There aren’t many and most are fantasy. There’s a running joke: if anyone mentions Hans Christen Anderson, run. You spot The Little Mermaid on a small display. You don’t run. You check out your books. The librarian gives a knowing nod, but doesn’t remark. You silently thank her for the discretion.

You take a long shower, makeup swirling down the drain. You can’t help but scratch at the itching patches on your thighs, peeling skin tearing away for new growth. Shampoo and blood circle under your feet. Your fingernails are sharper than they were this morning. You exfoliate, letting the city, public transit, the glances of strangers be cleansed. Your reflection in the mirror, a colorful smattering of new scales dusting your cheeks, is tear-streaked, ethereal. Beautiful.

You knock the concealer into the trash bin.

Your mother left a voicemail. She avoids the elephant seal in the room, talking about her gardening, your cousin’s new baby. She lingers for a moment, then: You’re being selfish. She burns brightly as a beratement begins, emboldened. But without someone to riff with she loses her steam, trails off and repeats it. You’re being shellfish. She can’t help it; she laughs despite herself. There’s a minute where she doesn’t speak, but you can tell she’s waiting for the sob in the back of her throat to settle. She promises she’ll come to your party and the voicemail ends.

You still haven’t heard from your father. You don’t expect you will. You’ve made peace with that.

You do your weekly injection on the alternating leg, needle piercing deep in a gap between scales. The plunger delivers 200mg of concentrated hope directly into your bloodstream, salt water in salt water. You put a hello kitty bandaid over it and wait for the feeling of ice in your veins to settle, the tension to go out of your muscles. It doesn’t.

You pass an enraged man on the street, spit flying, a home-made sandwich board making his message clear: The Siren Is The Devil’s Agent. The back offers an equally cogent argument: Go Back To Atlantis, Fish Freaks. You would if you could, you think dryly. He notices you and seethes, but the current of the crowd carries you away before he can curse you out.

You drag your potted plants down to the front stoop and post a craigslist ad: free to a good home. They’re gone within the hour. You allow yourself the rare indulgence of posting a selfie, eyes closed, serene, to the reddit: Learning to love my scales <3! It’s still difficult to type on your phone with the new claws. The upvotes start to come in; everyone loves a guppie.

You catch up on the shows you haven’t gotten to yet. Where there was once only the metaphorical List, there is now an actual list. Despite your best efforts it’s becoming increasingly clear you’re not going to finish all of them. You knock a few off, restructure it based on length. It still looks too long.

You have dreams about choking on toxic waste, getting minced by a boat propeller. You keep a running count of the number of times you’ve dreamt of getting your head stuck in a six-pack of soda rings. You’re up to four. 

Every few days you do laps in the local pool. You’re getting faster, but you feel exposed. There are whispers around the locker room. 

Your cat knows something is happening, but doesn’t understand what that means for her. You hold her whenever and for as long as she’ll allow, give her as many pets and treats as she wants. Despite clearing out your apartment you’ve spoiled her. She licks the scales on your cheek as you cry over her. This seems to inspire something in her; she demands her tuna crunchies. Dutifully you give her the tuna crunchies. She can have as many tuna crunchies as she wants.

You doomscroll your twitter feed, making sure this isn’t the day you lose access to your meds because of some white man in a suit. A sister is assaulted by a violent extremist with a sense of humor: he shot her with a harpoon gun. Her crowdfunding campaign starts on the maidens reddit and goes viral.

You triple check to make sure your friend is still willing to take your cat when you go. They promise to spoil her and tell her stories of you every day. You continue to cry over it. They invite you out for sushi to talk about it, then backtrack to ask if that’s a microaggression. You go to sushi. You’re thankful for the distraction.

By the time your legs are more scale than skin and your fingers begin to develop webbing you’ve given up on pretense. The looks are now constant, but you get reflective sunglasses and a new patch for your jacket: Don’t like it? Drown, with a scaled hand reaching out of water and flipping the bird. You put the energy out into the world, and the world doesn’t fuck with you.

Children love you. Their parents do not. 

On the train a young girl quietly asks if she can feel your scales. You allow her to touch her little fingers to the aquamarine pattern running up your arm, giving her your most reassuring (but still fanged) smile. She’s fearless, enamored, reverent. Her mother pulls her daughter away and hastily apologizes for her, not looking you in the eye. But you know that girl believes in magic now.

A group of white supremacists go out on a boat loaded with assault rifles for “no reason” and get lost at sea. This is somehow your fault.

The day your fins begin to push their way out from your arms, your boss calls you into his office. You both know he can’t fire you in this and seven other states, but you both also know you won’t be staying much longer. He’s done his best to make you aware you’re making his life more difficult. You put in your two weeks before he can flounder for another excuse. He moors you with paperwork for the rest of the afternoon.

Someone leaves a rotting fish in your pool locker. You don’t go back, and you don’t file a report. You tell yourself the chlorine was bad for the gills freshly forming under your ribs anyway.

Your friends take you out clubbing. You lose yourself under the waves of music, submerged under strobe lights and the salty sweat of dancing bodies. You whisper sweet nothings into a stranger’s ear, entrancing her as you move against each other. You can see iridescence shining around her eyes, shimmering glitter and an emerging pattern beneath makeup. You brush a thumb against her cheek and she melts into your touch. You don’t get her name. You don’t need to; you’re both not long for this world. You catch up with your friends smoking outside, your lips still tingling with vermouth.

Weeks pass. Work ends. Your apartment is down to furniture and cat supplies. You take longer showers. News stories continue to come out, the machine churns and roils: monsters walking among humans, the mark of the beast, sacrificing daughters to the ocean. 

You make sure your meds are reupped for the final stretch.

When your legs start to merge you know you don’t have much time left. You donate the last boxes of your clothes. Your friends get first dibs on furniture before it’s put on the street. They bring drinks and sit on your floor, an impromptu celebration and wake. They ask all the usual questions: what are you going to do for food? Shelter? What if you get hurt, or attacked by a shark? Do they have waterproof laptops yet? Will they ever see you again? What if it isn’t right for you? Can you ever come back?

You don’t know how to answer most of those questions. The group stays with you through the night. At 4AM you put on The Little Mermaid and the group drunkenly sings along. Everyone knows the words. It’s juvenile and you can hear the maidens on the reddit rolling their eyes and tutting about misrepresentation, but you know everyone in your position does it. You try not to cry, but the waterworks start and don’t stop.

At daybreak you put your cat into her harness and everyone piles into a friend’s van. It’s not far to the beach, but they take the long way around. One final tour of the land. Your cat sits on your lap and stares out the windows as you pass old haunts, your grocery store, your gym, your high school. You realize you still have library books to return and almost get them to turn around, but someone promises to go back for them afterwards.

There’s an isolated area on the beach where a canopy and tables are set up; banners, food, friends. It’s a regular going away party, as if you’re going on a short trip abroad. You suppose you are, in a way. Someone rented a wheelchair with fat tires to help you get down to the beach.

When your mother arrives she pulls her shirt off to show her custom-made clam bra. Her eyes are already red and puffy, but she’s doing her best to be energetic and upbeat. She holds you for a long time and says she’s happy for you, that you’re beautiful, that you’re so much stronger than she ever was, and then she puts on a brave face to help everyone get served at the buffet. Your cat chases small crabs across the beach around you, and you sit in the sand. The party goes strong.

The tides come up until your fin is tickled by the seafoam. Everyone knows that means it’s time to go. You pass your cat off to her new owner and she gives you a last headbutt. She seems to understand. You kiss your mother’s cheek one last time and she clings to you. The group raises their drinks as you paddle out, disappearing beneath the waves. You give them the money shot and leap out of the water on your way out of the sound, and you can hear cheering from the shoreline. You hope someone got a video for the maidens.

You keep the city in sight for a while, but the currents lead you further into open waters. There are boaters out on the water who wave to you. You wave back and keep swimming up the coast. 

At dusk you rise to the surface and watch the setting sun turn the horizon from blue to pink to purple and orange. There’s nothing for leagues around. As the sun sinks below the waves and the skies darken you sing your first real siren’s song. Shaky and imperfect, it soon resounds over the ocean breeze. You leave everything behind in it. There are no words, only feeling and sound. It’s a lament, an invocation, a dirge. It is many things, but it isn’t an apology. You have nothing to apologize for.

In the seas beyond a chorus joins in with a language you never learned but understand, integrating your song into theirs. You swim to join them.

[inkinflux]

Lakefront Liaison

Jayce Talis x gn!Reader (& kinda Steb x Reader if you choose to interpret it that way I guess?) | 2.6K | SFW (tw: half-hearted suicide attempt) You must learn how to move on after Jayce's death. 🚫 I DO NOT CONSENT TO MY WORK BEING USED TO TRAIN AI 🚫  

The lake was pink as it reflected the hues of the clouds above. Small flames danced on the surface, doubled by the water’s mirror. Lily pads bumped against your calves at each subtle movement, the smell of water lilies mingling with the scent of melting candle wax.

Across the way, a drooping willow’s arms skimmed the water, dancing in the calm breeze. Your mind filled in the gaps of the shadows, inventing a familiar form standing under the canopy, his face turned away.

You squeezed your eyes shut, heart tugged by a heavy weight. Underneath your eyelids the familiar sting welled, the pain around your raw eyes getting too much a bear.

A grounding hand came to rest upon your shoulder, giving a light squeeze. You turned, wiping your face, earning a saddened look from Caitlyn.

The stiff fabric of her eye patch crinkled as her brow furrowed, and you could tell her seeing you like this made it very difficult not to join in your crying.

“We’re going to grab a drink, since the service is over,” she told you gently. “Come with us.”

You shook your head, turning back to the water filled with floating candles, wanting to join them in their suspended peace.

“(Y/n),” Caitlyn stepped down next to you. Instinctively, you reached out to hold her forearms, steadying her to prevent her from slipping against the mossy stone underfoot. Doing so unfortunately brought you face to face once more, nowhere to run. “I know the easiest thing right now is to shut out the world. Trust me, being alone is the worst thing you can do to yourself.”

You averted your gaze, catching Vi lingering at the top of the stairs, the flames on the water reflected in her glassy eyes.

“I don’t want to have to talk about how I’m feeling,” you said. “I can’t describe it, and it would be painful to try.”

“No talking. Understood.” Cait began up the stairs, tugging you along. “Keeping in the company of those who care about you is enough.”

Vi wrapped an arm around your shoulders as you passed. The two had somewhat adopted you in the wake of all the chaos, keeping you company despite every refusal, waking you up at the appropriate time to drag you out to breakfast and bringing you dinner when you inevitably forgot to eat again.

They both wore their scars on their sleeve as they sat in the booth across from you. Spilling thoughts and feelings over quickly emptying drinks, talking through the difficult things in soft, solemn voices, holding hands all the while. You were glad you had them, and you were glad they had each other, but their support wouldn’t fill the empty seat beside you.

The way Cait traced the white lines on Vi’s face, the way Vi placed tender kisses to Cait’s knuckles, it all reminded you of what you had lost. What you would never hope to find again.

Anger had already passed, that stage of grief marked by broken furniture and slashed canvases that had littered your apartment, the only evidence remaining being a few dents in the walls and floors. You were nowhere near acceptance yet, and you doubted you’d ever get there, standing stagnant at the station of despair.

Everything felt heavy, even more so once you’d knocked back a couple drinks.

“You know, whenever he went away on his travels, he’d always bring back trinkets,” Caitlyn reminisced, leaning against Vi’s side. “I thought it was the most exciting thing. A carved stone from a village in the Shurima deserts. Dried plants from some deep forest in Valoran.” Cait smiled to herself. “I used to think he was the coolest person in all of Runeterra.”

Your soul sunk just a little further. You’d been so selfish in your mourning, barely able to rally the energy to check in on everyone else who had loved him. Ximena had wept enough to fill the lake for a second time over, and all you’d managed to offer was a shoulder to cry on. No comforting words, no soothing reassurances.

To think, if life had gone a different way, you might have become her daughter-in-law.

You dropped your face into your hands, shoulders shaking as the guilt overwhelmed you. Caitlyn and Vi grew quiet, unsure if their shared stories were helping or hurting.

“(Y/n),” Vi cautiously came over and slid next to you, warm arms holding you tightly. “Hey. It’s okay.”

Cait gave her a sharp look across the table and she grimaced, giving a shrug in response. They’d tried so hard to accommodate you, giving you space to grieve but not letting you drift so far out to sea that you risked losing yourself. It was a delicate balance, especially at a time when they were mourning themselves. But they had each other for support, and without Jayce, you had no one.

Not only did you have to carry the pain of a missing heart, but at each turn you found hatred and anger lobbed against your parted friend. The blame had been laid squarely at Viktor’s grave, for which there was no physical embodiment. No monuments carved in stone, his name stricken from every Piltover Academy record, as if he had never existed at all.

To know he was being regaled as a hero only as a direct opposition to his partner would have killed Jayce. No matter how much you fought the narrative, it had already been woven in the tapestry of history, the loose threads burned and sealed.

And that cruel, twisted history had happened all without you.

“Thanks for inviting me out,” you announced, “but I think I’ll go home now.”

Vi and Cait hadn’t fought you on it. They’d offered to walk you home, but you’d declined, claiming the quiet would be good for you.

The cobblestone path swirled beneath you in your tipsy state, the night crisp and hinting at an incoming autumn. You hadn’t consciously thought about where you were going, but your feet led you back to the lakeshore.

A majority of the candles had been snuffed out, the candles burned to their ends. You wobbled as you descended the stairs into the dark water, its refreshing cold welcoming you into its hold.

Lily pads darted away from the movement, water lilies bending against the small waves. The slick rocks on the lake’s bottom kept making you slip, water splashing into your face as you surged forward, deeper.

Your clothes dragged you down, heavy and weightless at the same time. Soon, you could no longer reach the bottom with your toes, and you began to wade with outstretched arms and kicking legs. You swam with effort to the center of the black lake, amongst the few candles that continued to flicker against the encroaching night.

It was there that you decided to turn onto your back, floating and gazing up at the clear, starry night sky. No matter how you tried to burn it from your memory, it would always serve to remind you of that day when the sky turned into roiling waves of agony. Before it was all blown away in an instant, with a finality you had known was the last moment of Jayce’s life.

The pain tore at you like clawing hands reaching from the bottom of the lake. You cried, tears slipping down the sides of your face, into the calling void below.

You closed your eyes, replaying warm memories as you stopped treading the water, allowing the weight of everything that had transpired to tug you down as low as you felt.

When you opened them again, you could see the distorted stars above, and the black circles of the floating candles, some surrounded by a small sliver of dancing light.

You sunk further and further, until your back hit the stones, and the surface was a slash of barely visible sky. The black silhouettes of small fishes travelled across your vision, darting around the spots of colour that started to sway in their own current, replacing the oxygen that was leaving your body.

With your body cradled by the soft aquatic plants, you thought you could fall peacefully asleep. You drifted subtly, until you were beneath the weeping willow. It gazed down at you with disappointment, its limps tracing the surface, beckoning you to return.

Your lungs burned, your pulse becoming a thundering drum in your ears as you gritted your teeth against the urges of self preservation.

Your limbs started to feel prickly, the tips of your fingers twitching up, wanting to be taken in the willow's arms.

A shadow peered over the edge, watching you now. You blinked up at it, willing the phantom away, to leave you alone in your water-logged grief. But no matter how you tried, your chest kept floating up, your heart less of the heavy stone than you thought it was.

When you burst against the surface tension of the water, the first breath felt like a knife against your throat. You coughed, sputtered, splashing the pond scum away.

“It’s late for a swim.”

You glared up at the uninvited guest. His cheeks flared as he looked down upon you, his enforcer beret slightly askew.

“I could have you arrested for that.”

You balked. “For utilizing a public space?”

The enforcer gave you an incredulous look. “For public indecency in the form of a dead body.”

He extended a hand. You frowned at it.

“Come, now,” his voice was so quiet, like he wasn’t accustomed to using it. “My shift ended ten minutes ago, and I’m in no mood to get in there to heave you out.”

“If your shift’s already ended, why don’t you leave me be?”

He huffed a sigh, rescinding his extended arm. “You’re right. There’s no use fighting.”

First, he rid his beret. Then, he unbuttoned his coat, shirking it off onto the grass. His shoes were the last thing he took off before he slid into the water beside you, still in his trousers and undershirt, re-emerging to shake the water from his face.

You starred daggers at him. “Well now I don’t want to stay. I can’t brood with you here.”

The enforcer smirked, startling you with a splash of water in the face.

“Hey!”

“You weren’t afraid of letting the innocent civilians of Piltover wake up to see your bloated corpse. Why does it matter if I’m here now?”

You rolled your eyes, drifting to the lip of the pavement, hauling yourself with your heavy clothes up and onto the edge.

The enforcer followed, sitting with a wet thwap beside you, dripping lake water in a steady beat that broke up the silence now between you.

It was a while before he said, “You’re Kiramman’s friend. I’ve seen you around.”

You nodded, refusing to meet his eye as you stared down, kicking your feet against the water, back and forth in a soothing repetition.

“You were in a relationship with Councilor Talis.”

Your movements stilled.

“Yeah.”

The enforcer pushed a webbed hand into your vision. You glanced up at him, his pale eyes glowing in the moonlight. “I’m Steb.”

You took his wet hand, shaking. “(Y/n).”

He gave you a gentle smile, then leaned back on his hands, peering up at the sky.

“It’s strange. For all the friends I lost that day, I’ve made many more as a consequence.”

A dragonfly landed on your knee, and he stared at it, amusement dancing in his eyes.

“Were you there?” You asked, watching the dragonfly’s wings still as it rested on you.

“Yes,” he said, picking up his beret and beginning to circle the crest with his thumb.

“I’m sorry,” you told him, for all he had been through, and for needing to deal with you. Once again, guilt nipped at your heels. “I just… don’t know how to be. It feels like the world keeps spinning, and people are starting to get on with their lives again, but I can’t.”

“I understand,” he told you, watching as the dragonfly took off, hovering close to your face without you noticing before it took off again.

The damp clothing pressed close to your skin was starting to bring the cold with it, and the sunken smell of lake water was becoming less pleasant with each passing second.

Steb moved to get to his feet, but your incoming words stilled him.

“He was reckless.”

You tugged at the grass beside you, tearing the blades of chlorophyll methodically.

“He never cared whenever he got hurt. Always racing off to protect everyone else. Even when it put him at risk, he’d do what he knew was right, no matter the cost.”

Steb settled in beside you, mirroring you grass-picking, though his movements were a lot slower and more relaxed than your anxious ripping.

“I wish he was here so I could scream at him for being so stupid. I wish I-” you choked up, your vision blurred with tears, “I wish he could be here to take responsibility for the pain he’s causing me.”

Words that had felt set in amber in the presence of your friends melted onto your tongue in the company of a kind stranger. It felt so liberating to unbury them from your chest.

“To die is the greatest betrayal of all,” Steb said, pointedly.

You rubbed your face, sniffling. “I get it. I was being selfish.”

“Yes,” he replied, getting to his feet. “Don’t feel bad about it. Dying is easy. That’s why it’s so often done.”

You accepted his arm this time, pulling you up out of your sorrow. Steb was more solid than his slender figure implied. Short fins ran down his arms, twitching as the cool breeze blew against his wet skin.

“Go home. You stink.”

“So do you,” you countered.

Steb raised a brow. “Now, who’s fault is that? I did just have my uniform starched, you know.”

Your lips quirked upwards. It felt like turning your back on a long, empty corridor towards a light.

“There’s a dry cleaner slash café on my street.” You hadn’t even thought about what that sentence implied before it left your mouth.

Steb tilted his head, reading the internal war plain on your face.

“You’ll pay?” Was all he asked.

You nodded, shoving away the guilt that threatened to bubble back up to the surface. “Sure.”

Steb picked up his relatively dry jacket and beret, tying the laces of his shoes together and throwing them over his shoulder.

“It’s not a date,” you clarified awkwardly.

Steb shrugged. “I didn’t interpret it as such.”

“Cool.”

You lingered there, hands holding your elbows, unsure what to say next.

“It was nice to meet,” Steb spoke into the awkward tension, seemingly immune to it in his stoicism, “despite the circumstances.”

“Yeah.” You didn’t know what else could be said.

“Tomorrow?” Steb checked.

“Yes.”

“8am works for me.”

“Okay. Eight.”

Steb gave a concise nod, then turned on his heel and left.

You blew out a breath, wide-eyed in your realization that this is what living on without Jayce meant. It meant making plans to meet with strangers and build new friendships. It meant finding ways to fill the days with activities. It was what Cait and Vi had been trying so desperately to encourage you to do.

The grief still sat patiently at the bottom of your stomach, but as least you knew you weren’t tied to it. Even if it was tiring to continue treading water, there was someone at the surface to keep you company as you did.

And he was very happy indeed to have his uniform in perfect order the following day, his cheeks ruffling in delight as he sipped his coffee and read the morning paper by your side.