#owe to be little bugs getting married

[boo0beetle]

[novacorpsrecruit]

Hi a quick lil read: I did a poll the other day because I was thinking of creating Steddie fic recs and so I decided I’m gonna do 5-10 fic recs a post based on some sort of theme and here’s the first installment! Please feel free to ask for themes, I can’t promise I’ll fulfill them but I’ll do my best.

Theme: my favorite fucking idiots

single / taken / pining by 96tears (Ao3) @pizzaqueen (tumblr)

T | wc 4,435 | no cw

Summary: When a girl Steve’s trying to flirt with starts flirting with Eddie, Steve says the only thing that comes to mind: he tells her Eddie’s married. It’s not his smoothest moment, but it works, and Eddie goes along with it. It's not like Eddie was interested, anyway, and he figures Steve wanted the ladies to himself. So, Steve figures that must be it, too.

But a little later it hits him: he doesn’t want to keep the ladies to himself. He wants to keep Eddie to himself.

Ugh!!! I love it when the dumbasses don’t understand why they’re jealous, or that they’re jealous in the first place. Post season 4, Steve and Eddie work at Family Video and the Arcade respectfully, and come and bug each other during slow times. Steve gets a little jealous when a girl starts hitting on Eddie.

‘cause tramps like us, baby, we were born to run by stellapoint (pettifogger) (ao3) @heybluechild (tumblr)

T | wc 9,308 | no cw

Summary: Realization #1: Steve is wearing a costume. He’s dressed as Springsteen on the cover of Born In The U.S.A. The album cover is staring at Eddie from the stack of records by the speakers, and he flicks his eyes between the cover and Steve, almost laughing at how obvious the resemblance is.

Immediately after that, revelations two and three slam into him like an eighteen-wheeler.

#2: Bruce Springsteen is kind of hot.

#3: Steve Harrington is really hot.

A fourth and much louder thought echoes through Eddie’s brain: oh, shit.

(Many months ago, I wrote a tumblr post about Steve Harrington being a Bruce Springsteen enjoyer. This fic is about that.)

Takes place after season 4, Eddie and Steve are friend. Eddie’s love language is music. He’s a bit of a music snob, and doesn’t understand why Steve wants him to like his music. It takes a moment for it to click to Eddie what’s really going on. I love Eddie but sometimes you want to shake him like a snowglobe and oh my god, I’m shaking him so hard.

wasted crying by MixAddams (Ao3) @mixsethaddams (tumblr)

T | wc 6,471 | cw ow (light angst)

Summary: Steve just wants a buddy.

So why does it hurt so much when Eddie introduces everyone to his new girlfriend?

There’s a happy ending I swear! You’ll just want to bundle Steve up in a few blankets first. Post season 4, Eddie gets a girlfriend, and Steve is not jealous. Not at all. He just … misses being in the honeymoon phase of dating? No that can’t be right… is it? There’s a lot of good heartaches in this fic. I do want to share one of my favorite lines:

“I think so. Stuff like this is supposed to scare you, I think,” said Eddie. “It’s supposed to feel….”

Eddie took a breath and Steve watched his eyes move around as he searched for the words. Steve thought he might wait forever for him to find them.

“It’s supposed to feel like a leap, right?”

I can be pretty (why don’t you think I’m pretty?) by starsdontsleep (ao3)

T | wc 8,942 | no cw

Summary: When Eddie comes out as gay, he assures Steve that he doesn’t find him hot. Steve tells him it’s fine, he even teasingly asks what he should do to change that. It becomes a thing. A way to always make Eddie laugh, blush and relax around him—but as the days and weeks pass, Steve begins to realise that maybe there’s another reason why he cares so much that Eddie Munson finds him pretty.

Remember when I said I’m shaking Eddie like a snowglobe? I’m shaking Steve now. Steve, please tell me why you think you want Eddie to think you’re pretty? Why do you need to know what Eddie’s type? Steve’s only worried that Eddie doesn’t fully trust him with his sexuality. So Steve works to be the best ally… and definitely does not fall in love with his friend along the way.

clown music at the disco by fragilecapricorn (ao3) @fragilecapric0rnn (tumblr)

M | wc 3,717 | no cw

Summary: “What the fuck are you doing here?” He nearly squawked, meaning for it to come out anyway other than that. The man turned around, and here he was. In a stare down with ghostly pale Steve Harrington, who was not only supposed to be straight, but was also in a MESH TANK TOP at Frankie’s on a Wednesday night.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” He pauses, glancing around the room, small voice. “It’s disco night.”

Post Season 4, Eddie, Robin and Steve move to the Chicago. Eddie has a new habit of going to the bar on gay disco night, finding another brunette ex-jock to fill the Steve shaped hole in his heart. Until he runs into said brunette ex-jock at the same gay bar on disco night. 10/10 no notes I’ve read this like 5 times.

of all the gin joints by genesisofrhythm (Ao3)

e | wc 4,016 | cw: they fuck | spice level: I read this at my work desk in between meetings

Summary: “So, do you come here often?”

Steve choked at the familiar voice, turning abruptly. “Munson?”

“What’re you doing here?” Eddie asked, his mouth gaping open as he looked over at Steve.

Steve was surprised to see Eddie here as well. What were the odds of them both driving out of Hawkins to come to the same gay bar?

Or: Steve goes to a gay bar to support Robin, when he sees Eddie Munson. He can't tell Eddie the real reason he's there without outing Robin so he tells him he's bisexual. But Steve's totally straight... right?

Steve [Evan Buckley voice]: “I’m an ally ✊”

This is a fun fic, definitely Steve Harrington speed running a sexuality crisis. Good for him. (also I have a soft spot for fics that use fob lyrics as a title, forehead kisses for that)

Exactly What It Looks Like - BilbosMom (Ao3) @bilbosmom-belladonna (tumblr)

E | wc 31,517 | cw | spice level: I should not have read this at my desk 😳🥵

Summary: Steve makes a face at Eddie. “You've imagined doing stuff with a guy?”

“Yeah, man,” Eddie replies, spreading his hands wide. “Doesn't everyone?”

Steve tilts his head to the side as he thinks. Maybe not very often, but his freshman year when Davey Riggs had been swim team captain? Yeah, he had definitely imagined some stuff that had made trips to the locker room kinda awkward.

“Yeah, that's true,” Steve answers, nodding. “I wonder why everybody acts like it's so gross, though.”

In the summer of 1986, Steve and Eddie have some perfectly normal fun between a couple of perfectly normal dudes.

I’m honestly insane over this. Like, I’m going to be thinking about this for a long time. Post-Season 4, Eddie and Steve find themselves watching porn together. And it’s not weird at all if you jerk off next to your new best friend. And maybe it becomes a habit. And helping them out every once in a while isn’t weird. And maybe sucking his cock isn’t weird. Or fucking his thighs —

Please remember to leave kudos and comments on the fics you read/enjoyed! Support your writers 🖤

[avastrasposts]

A Baker's Dozen - Four

Twelve Pedro boys, twelve stand alone short stories, all set in the same bakery.

Hello!

I kinda figured you all would like Joel's visit to the bakery! Handy man Joel with his green plaid flannel shirt and tool belt... 🥰

This week's Pedro boy is actually forcing me to adjust the warning level, things get a bit spicier than usual with this one around and I think you'll understand when you see who it is....

Series Master List

The little bakery is buzzing with customers this warm summer evening, you’re serving everyone as fast as possible, cursing the stomach bug that had put the kid who worked extra out of commission for the week. As you ring up two slices of lemon meringue pie for Mrs Callahan from down the street, you notice the buzz increasing in the shop, almost like a wave of excitement. You glance towards the door to see if you can spot the source of the commotion and see a tall, proud looking, man closing it behind himself. His rich yellow jacket is all you have time to notice before you’re pulled back to Mrs Jones asking about the amount of sugar in the Millionaire’s Shortbread (a lot, you assure her, no, it’s not healthy just because it contains peanuts). 

You lose track of the stranger as you work your way through the long line, finally looking up to realize he’s the only one left in the shop, except for little Mrs Levinson who is just stepping through the door. The man gallantly takes a step back and indicates with his outstretched hand that she should be served before him. 

“Please, my lady, I would be offended if you insisted on waiting behind me.” 

He has an accent that you can’t place, vaguely Mediterranean maybe, and clearly very good manners. Mrs Levinson gives him a pleased smile and steps up to the counter to buy her regular weekend dark rye loaf, six chocolate chip cookies and one whole apple and cinnamon crumb coffee cake. 

“The grandchildren are visiting on Sunday, and they love your cookies, dear,” she informs you, “the mother just doesn’t know how to bake, why my son married a woman who can’t cook or bake I will never understand.”

“I’m sure she has many other good qualities and skills, Mrs Levinson,” you smile, this is a weekly complaint. 

“He should’ve married you, dear, how you are still single is beyond me, such a talented girl in the kitchen,” she pats your hand as she hands over her purse for you to count out what she owes. “But Mrs Pike’s son is single, recently divorced, I’ll make sure she sends him here to buy something, he’s such a lovely boy.” 

“Thank you, Mrs Levinson, but I don’t need to be set up, I barely have time to run this bakery, I don’t have time for dating.” 

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll find time, my dear,” she winks at you and gives the dark haired man behind her another wink as she turns to leave. 

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” you say to him as the door closes behind Mrs Levinson. 

“No trouble, my lady, I was more than delighted to enjoy the view of such a talented girl,” he says with a confident smile, sauntering over towards the counter. 

Now that he’s not hidden by the crowd you can see that he is in fact wearing a long robe, reaching down below his knees. But that’s not where your eyes are drawn, instead you find yourself actively trying not to stare at the deep v of bare, tan skin visible where his robe sits open, adorned by an expensive looking necklace. You pull your eyes up to his face, putting on your customer smile, and mentally slapping yourself. 

“What can I help you with today, sir?” 

At your words you see his mouth quirk in a wicked grin and his eyes wander over as much of you as he can see behind the counter. Ordinarily you’d be somewhat offended by such blatant staring but…considering your own struggle to not gawk at him, if feels admissible.

“I’m sure you can help me with a great many things, my lady,” he says, the lilt in his voice fitting his strange clothes, and the double meaning isn’t lost on you. You raise an eyebrow at him, crossing your arms. 

“Really?” you challenge, “And what else but baked goods do you enter a bakery for?” 

“Depends on the girl, or the woman, working in the bakery,” he smirks, ���when the lady of the bakery is as beautiful as you, I’d like to buy a great many other things than her cakes.” 

This line makes you roll your eyes so far back into your head you think they might get stuck there. 

“You really think coming into a bakery and suggesting prostitution to the woman who works there is going to win you any favors?” 

Now it’s the man’s turn to raise his eyebrows and look surprised for a moment, then he bends his head, bowing deeply to you. 

“My lady, I did not wish to offend you at all, I was not suggesting that I would buy any such services from you. Rather I was, badly I’m sure, suggesting that I would like to buy such a beautiful lady gifts, rather than just buying her cakes.” 

He looks up at you, his handsome face giving you an apologetic smile, “Please, truly, I did not mean to offend you.” 

“Alright, I believe you for now,” you reply, accepting his apology with a slight scowl, “So what can I help you with? In the baked goods department,” you emphasize, waving over towards the display cases. 

“I have this,” he says, pulling a bottle of wine from the satchel he has hanging at his side, “it’s cold and delicious on this warm day, but I would like to have something to eat with it. And I saw that you have these,” he points to one of the bags of lemon and almond biscotti in your display case. “They remind me of the small cakes we have back in my city, Sunspear. Will you please let me buy a bag of them?”

“Of course,” you reply, reaching for the biscotti, “Anything else?” 

“An hour of your company?” he says, smoothly, with a smile, “But I won’t offer to pay for it, just beg that you will join me with this wine, and your lovely cakes, as a small apology for offending you.” 

You look at the man standing on the other side of the counter. His confident smirk has been replaced by an apologetic smile, his arms outstretched as if he’s holding himself open for you to review and decide upon. You glance at the clock on the wall, fifteen minutes to closing but the foot traffic outside on the street has trickled down to nothing, everyone is on their way home to enjoy the last of the warm sunshine. It won’t be the end of the world if you close up a few minutes early today. And this man does intrigue you, with his accent and his strange clothes. 

“Ok, fine,” you say, “An hour, but I have no wine glasses.” 

“My sweet lady of the bakery, I’m sure I will survive without glasses, as long as I have your company to keep me distracted,” he winks at you and his demeanor changes back into confidence once again as you wave him behind the counter.

“C’mon then, we can sit out back, but only on the stairs I’m afraid.” 

“I have sat on much worse in my days, I assure you,” he chuckles, “even a prince of Dorne can’t expect to sit only on feather pillows every hour of his life.” 

“You’re a prince?” you ask but it really doesn’t surprise you. He looks every bit like a prince from some exotic country you’ve never heard of. 

“Prince Oberyn Martell, my lady,” he says, taking your hand and pressing a kiss to the back of it, “It is my pleasure to meet you.” 

“Likewise, I’m sure,” you smirk, his over the top chivalry is making your inner rebel come out, and you gladly direct him to the somewhat crumbling back stairs, fishing a bottle opener out of a drawer on the way. Drinking wine from the bottle on the back stairs, overlooking the trash cans and patchy grass that lines the dingy alley behind your bakery, is probably not something a prince usually does. 

Oberyn is looking around the area outside the door as you bring the bottle opener and the biscotti. 

“Wait a moment,” he says, holding up his hand to you before he unbuckles the belt that’s holding his robe together, and dropping it on the ground. He shrugs out of the robe and shakes it out, spreading the luxurious looking fabric out over the steps and then holding out his hand for you. 

“Please, my lady,” he says, “it will be a little bit more comfortable for you than sitting on the cold stone.” 

“No, but your robe, it’ll be ruined,” you protest, but he shakes his head, “It’s nothing, just a little dust. Do not think me such a feeble prince that I am above getting a little bit dirty.” With his last word he winks at you with a smile, and you can’t help but smile back, taking his hand. 

“I don’t know what kind of prince you are, I’ve never even heard of Dorne.” 

He lets go of your hand as you settle on the top step and he sits himself on the one below, taking the bottle opener from you. 

“Dorne is a beautiful country, warm, much warmer than here, surrounded by turquoise blue ocean, white beaches and fragrant lemon groves,” he says, “And my home, the city of Sunspear, is the world’s most beautiful city, colorful, richly decorated, cooled from the hot sun by our water gardens and palm trees. It is ruled by my brother, the king. I am my father’s second son, fortunately enough for me, for I would’ve made a terrible king.” 

He smiles as he speaks of his home, a warm smile, as he pulls the cork from the wine bottle. 

“Ladies first,” he says and holds the bottle out to you, you accept it, taking a sip of the cool white wine. It really is delicious; crisp, fresh and an undertone of a rich, buttery flavor. 

“This is very nice wine,” you say, giving the bottle back to him and he smiles. 

“Made all that much better by the company.”

“Cheesy, but I appreciate the effort,” you grin and he looks confused, lowering the bottle that he was just about to drink from.  “Cheesy?” he asks, his eyebrow raised in question. 

“Yeah, you know, ‘cheesy’, when something is lame, or over the top, corny?” 

“I assure you, my lady, I did not intend to be over the top with my compliment, if anything, it was not enough,” he smiles warmly at you, and you feel butterflies in the pit of your belly. Either the wine is working very fast, or this strange man and his flirtatious way is getting to you. 

“I could say so much more about your beauty and the joy it is to spend a warm summer evening in your company with good wine and delicious cakes,” Oberyn’s eyes are glinting as he watches you squirm and he takes a sip from the bottle. 

You feel your cheeks heat up and you drop your eyes to your hands, suddenly feeling very flustered by his flattery, distracting yourself by picking at some dry dough caught on your nail. 

“Oh, the biscuits!” he exclaims suddenly and stands up, “We need just a…” he disappears into the kitchen and you look up as he turns around, scanning the shelves before he finds what he’s looking for, “Ah! Just what we need!” he says and returns to the steps, sinking down next to you again with a small bowl in his hand. “The biscuits are to be dipped in the wine, to soak up its delicious flavor and blend with the sweetness.” 

He demonstrates by pouring some of the wine into the bowl and taking the bag of biscuits from you, opening it up. He takes one of the biscotti and dips the end in the wine, letting it sit for a few seconds before taking a bite. 

His eyes hold yours as he slowly chews the biscotti, humming slightly under his breath.  “My sweet lady, this is exquisite,” he says, awe in his voice once he’s swallowed. “I would hire you as my own personal baker any day, would you wish to leave these premises.” 

“Thank you for the offer, that’s very generous,” you say, taking one of the biscuits and dipping it in the wine, copying Oberyn, “but I like running my own business.” 

As you bite into the biscotti you hold back a moan, you’ve never tried this before but now you understand why he insisted, the crunchy biscotti has softened slightly and been filled with the crips flavors of the wine, the lemon and almond adding to the complexity. 

“This is really good, Oberyn,” you smile, taking the second half, “Thank you for introducing me to it.” 

“It was all my pleasure, my lady,” he replies, leaning back against the stairs and taking a sip of the wine from the bottle. When he tilts his head back, his long neck is exposed, even more now when he’s only wearing his shirt, a smattering of freckles on his tanned skin, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallows. It occurs to you that the man exudes confidence in everything he does, even the way he brings the bottle back down, handing it to you with a small, crooked smile, the way he’s leaning on one elbow against the step just above him, long legs stretched out comfortably in his soft looking leather boots, utterly relaxed even on the crumbling back stairs. 

You take the bottle from him and take another sip, the cool wine slipping down far too easily. From the corner of your eye you see Oberyn take another biscotti and dip it into the wine, his eyes flicking up to meet yours. With a small smirk he puts the biscuit in his mouth, closing his soft looking lips around it, sucking lightly while he lets his eyes linger on you. You feel heat creep up your throat, there is such promise in his eyes, such a challenge in his flirting. It’s like he’s daring you to flirt back, to push him just a little to see how he reacts. You feel a familiar heat spread through your core, a temptation to entice him. But his confidence, just the way he takes the bottle from your hand, his long fingers caressing yours with intent, almost intimidates you. If you flirt with him, even just a little bit, you think he might challenge you even more, see how far you’re willing to go, and you’re not sure you can trust your body to resist. His easy assertiveness, the way he leans back against the stairs, his hand now resting just an inch from your waist, it both unnerves you and makes arousal thrum under your skin. 

With a slight tremble to your hand, you take the bottle again and take another sip, bigger this time and it goes down the wrong way, your nerves getting the better of you. With a cough you splutter into the crook of your elbow, your eyes watering. The prince shoots up and immediately puts his hand on your back, patting you lightly a few times before he begins to rub circles between your shoulder blades. 

“Careful there, my lady, are you all right?” His eyebrows have pulled together in concern and he leans forward, looking at your face. You feel the tears that formed spill over and roll down your cheeks as you cough a few more times. 

“Y-yes, yes, I-I think so, thank you,” you finally say with a croaky voice, “it just went down the wrong way.” 

Taking a deep breath, you almost choke again when Oberyn gently cups your face with his large hands and wipes the tears from your cheeks with his thumbs, softly running them under your eyes. 

“Can I fetch you some water?” he asks, his voice low and concerned, but you shake your head. 

“No, thank you, I’m ok now,” you say, taking a steadying breath. He’s so very close now, looking into your eyes with a soft smile and you notice how one of his eyes is made amber by the evening sunlight, the other dark chocolate brown, half hidden in shadow. You feel like your brain is spinning in place, wheels turning but not moving forward, as you’re unable to tear your eyes away from his intense gaze. His hands are still on your cheeks, warm and soft even though you can feel the rough calluses on his palms. 

His eyes finally leave yours, only to very slowly move down to your lips, holding his gaze there for several seconds before he looks back up again. His face transforms into a more roguish smile and he drops his hands from your face, moving to pick up another biscotti and dipping it into the wine. 

“My lady, please,” he says, holding it up to you, one hand cupped under it to catch any drops of wine, as he offers it to you, holding it by your lips. 

You don’t know why, but you obediently open your mouth, letting him feed you the biscotti, tasting the tang of the wine and the sweetness of the sugar as you break it off in the middle. The tip of Oberyn’s tongue comes out to wet his lips as he watches you swallow it down, and then he dips the second half in the wine again, and places it between his own lips. All the while his eyes never leave yours. 

The corner of his mouth pulls up in a crooked smile, and he leans back against the door frame, crossing his arms over his lap. 

“I would kiss you, if you asked me too,” he says, matter of factly, “if you want me too.” 

You reach for the wine bottle to distract yourself while you calm your beating heart, keeping your eyes on him, that smirk still lingering on his lips as he watches you take a small, controlled sip, this time. 

You pour some more wine into the bowl and place the bottle on the top step, reaching for another biscotti and making up your mind. Dipping the delicate biscuit in the wine you look up at Oberyn, holding his gaze while you bring it up to his mouth, mimicking his gesture of cupping your hand under it. A wicked smile flickers across his face as he obediently opens his mouth and takes the biscotti. But he doesn’t bite it in half, instead he leans forward and closes his lips around your fingertips, his tongue licking at them as he takes the whole thing into his mouth. It’s warm and wet around your fingers and he gently sucks on them as he pulls back, a low hum escaping his throat. The touch of his tongue shoots a jolt of electricity through your body, settling firmly between your legs and your breath hitches. 

Oberyn swallows the biscuit and takes your hand, bringing it to his mouth again, with his eyes locked on yours he takes each finger between his lips and sucks them clean. When your pinky leaves his lips he moves forward, taking your chin between  his thumb and finger, holding you steady, your heart beating its own erratic rhythm in your chest. 

“I would kiss you, if you asked me too,” he repeats, looking from your eyes to your lips and up again. 

You don’t trust your voice, so instead you inhale, his warm scent; oranges, cinnamon, sandalwood, filling your nose, and you lean forward. He doesn’t smile this time, instead he mirrors your movement until your lips brush, your heads tilting ever so slightly to come closer together, mouths angeling as he presses a soft, gentle, explorative kiss to your tingling lips. Warm hands slip up your neck, into your hair, large enough to cup the back of your head as his thumbs stroke your cheeks. 

His next kiss is more insistent, his lips parting to taste with the tip of his soft tongue, licking the seam of your mouth. Your body seems to have lost all will to follow your head, it just moves as he moves you, pulling you closer to his lips, opening up to his tongue, letting him slip inside and explore, tangelling together as he tangles his hands in your hair, making you lean closer into him. Without knowing how you got there, you find yourself sitting on his lap, his hand finding your thigh and pulling your leg over. When he puts his hands on your hips and slides your body closer to his, your mind goes blank and you moan into his mouth. He’s distinctly hard underneath you, the thin fabric of his trousers doing nothing to hide the firm length of his cock, and he groans with delight as you roll your hips over him. 

“Sweet thing,” he whispers, his lips momentarily leaving yours, “sweet, sweet lady, I knew your kisses would be as sweet as your cakes.” His fingers dig into your hips, his mouth pressing firmer against yours as he sucks on the tip of your tongue, pulling back just a fraction and trailing kisses and bites over your jaw, down your throat, pushing back your t-shirt to suck a mark into your collar bone, making you keen and whimper under his warm mouth. 

“I wonder if you’re as sweet everywhere,” he mumbles, fingers digging into your hips and dragging you over his heavy length, straining against his trousers, “I would very much like to find out.” 

You lean your head back, exposing your throat to him as he continues to kiss and lick the soft skin of your neck, heat is building rapidly in your body and for a second you feel as if you’re looking down on yourself from above. Straddling the handsome prince on the stairs, sitting on his golden yellow robe, his face buried against your neck, his hands rolling your hips over his erection as you pant to the darkening sky above. With a groan you put your hands on his shoulders and push away, stumbling back onto your feet. 

“You’re dangerous to be around, Oberyn,” you pant as his hands slip away from your hips. His mouth hangs open as he reaches for you. In the dimming light you can see the prominent bulge of his trousers, it makes your mouth water, the image of sliding down over it coming unbidden to your mind. 

“It’s just pleasure,” he says, his voice dark and mischievous, “no guilt to be had over feeling pleasure.” 

“No, but I’m not about to have sex with a stranger on the back steps of my bakery,” you say, taking a deep breath, running your hands over your head, down your face, to ground yourself again. 

“Well, then the question beckons to be asked,” Oberyn grins, “where would you have sex with a stranger?” 

“I don’t have sex with strangers,” you say, shaking your head and quickly stepping past him, into the kitchen again. Behind you, you hear him get up and pick up the bottle, the remaining biscuits and the bowl. Placing them on the counter inside the door he follows you out to the shop as he slips his robe back on, where you unlock the door and wait for him to approach. A big part of you doesn't want him to leave, but you know that if you let him stay, he’ll have you naked on one of the counters within minutes, your body will betray you and let him do whatever he wants. 

“If you let me, I would like to not be a stranger to you,” Oberyn says as he reaches you by the door, “Would you let me come back and take you out, maybe show you Sunspear, my city?” 

“Show me the life of a prince?” you ask, you doubt you’ll see him again once he leaves, “Sure, come back and show me another side of yourself, and I’ll consider whether or not I want you to be a stranger.” 

“You don’t think I’ll come back,” he replies, a crooked smile on his lips, “have I made such a flighty impression on you, such a poor representation of who I am?” He chuckles, taking your hand and bowing low, pressing a feather light kiss to it. 

“I promise, my sweet lady of the bakery, I will come back and I will show you the true colors of a prince of Dorne. Until then I will keep your honeyed kisses close in my memory.”

He opens the front door and steps through it, before turning and smiling back at you, “And I’ll keep your delicious moans even closer on lonely nights.” 

You feel heat rise in your cheeks again as he winks, a mischievous smirk on his face, before he bow lows again and disappears down the street. 

Part Five

Tag list: @harriedandharassed @inept-the-magnificent @sheepdogchick3  @readingiskeepingmegoing @noisynightmarepoetry @survivingandenduring @vabeachazn @amyispxnk @oberynslady @vabeachazn

[pterodactylterrace]

Okay. Let’s start unpacking, shall we?

Aemond: you feel bad he lost his eye and is now permanently disfigured and disabled. Because he claimed a dragon, and 4 other children took personal offense to it. As I have said before, THEY SHOULDN’T HAVE EVEN BEEN THERE. What were 4 children going to do if it was someone dangerous? Die? They never jump him, the whole thing never happens. When one party makes a clear mistake that caused something to happen, it tends to be their fault. They formed a mob and jumped another child over an imagined crime. Had they alerted the guard or stayed in bed, the whole thing would have been avoided. Also, Aemond only uses his “deadly weapon” after Jace whips out a knife. A knife he brought with him. He was planning for violence.

Daemon: killed his first wife, murdered and maimed hundreds of small folk without a trial, married his second wife of his own choice and still didn’t love her, fucked his niece at his wife’s funeral, groomed multiple young girls, almost beat a messenger to death and choked his third wife. That’s just season 1.

Rhaenyra: As I said before, NO ONE CARES THAT SHE HAD BASTARDS. We care that she put them in the succession, which is ILLEGAL. Pay attention when people talk. Literally no one cares she had kids with someone that wasn’t her husband. We care about the treason she pulled. We care about the constant lying. We care that she shows herself to be cruel to a recently maimed child. You really think the same woman that would suggest her younger brother be tortured wouldn’t have Cole gelded and beheaded if he told her father what she did? Ok, that’s a fantasy land. He owed his station directly to her choosing him. There was a huge power imbalance. We watch her continue stripping him while he stands frozen after telling her NO. That’s rape. It doesn’t matter that he eventually went along with it. She coerced him into doing it.

Aegon: We have a fragmented story of something that happened between him and the maid. It is assumed to be rape because Dyana drank moon tea. Her story is that she was getting him his wine, she put it in the table, and then she didn’t see him. She asked him to stop. It bugs me so much that people take this inference and decided Aegon did it, no questions asked, he is a terrible person, but what did Cole say again? Oh, Rhaenyra took his helmet to lure him into her chambers. Refused to give it back, blocked his exit when he tried to leave, ignored him when he says stop and then forces him to look at her. Switch the genders and it’s the exact same situation that happened with Aegon and Dyana, but we don’t see it happen. We watch Cole being assaulted, and people still want to sit there and say it was some romantic gesture. I’m sorry, but trying to leave and asking her to stop and not being able to look at her, is assault. He said “stop”, same thing Dyana said. But because the genders are reversed, Aegon is definitely guilty and evil (though we didn’t even see what happened) and Rhaenyra is just an innocent little thing that can do no wrong, even though we watch her sexually assault Cole.

Maybe we side with the green faction because we have the ability to understand words and shit? We can watch a scene and go “whoa, what was that?!” And realize that women are just as capable of being horrible people as men are? Just a thought.

[fandomhcs]

dating/marrying abigail would include:

monster hunting dates? monster hunting dates.

abigail craves adventure. despite her parent's wishes, she would 100% join the adventurer's guild with you. whether she's fully ready for it or not.

need a protector while you're picking away at a hunk of copper? abigail's already on it, chopping a giant bug in half before you even know it's there.

sometimes she still gets a little scared in the mines, but with you by her side her fear slowly starts to fade. the two of you protect each other, and protect the valley as well. she thinks about it sometimes, what would happen if the monsters in the woods or in the mines wander into town. what would happen if something caught jas outside by herself? or evelyn? she starts to keep a closer eye on everyone at night. not quite patrolling, she tells herself. but whenever she's out at night searching for frogs or stargazing she make sure to check for any signs of danger.

farm life is boring in comparison, but she does sometimes enjoy the peace and quiet of it. she does realize that sometimes she needs to slow down and rest, the farm, and by extension you, help her do that without feeling guilty about it.

on rainy days or days where you two just want to stay inside, you guys will pile onto the couch and play countless levels of journey of the prairie king. one of these days, she's going to beat it all on her own. she swears.

the two of you could spend an entire day playing games, with an endless supply of snacks and drinks to fuel your efforts. but beware, she's competitive when she wants to be and she'll rub it in your face for days when she beats you at any game.

whenever you win, she'll pretend to be salty about it until you give her kisses.

she'll tell you all about how she used to sneak out and come explore the farm before you moved in, about how she used to wield sticks as swords and play fight with sebastian and sam. they'd make this place their own little fantasy world, and now her fantasy has become a reality. sure, it's been cleaned up a little and it's full of cows and pigs instead of dragons and demons, but the farm is still hers to conquer. often she'll give you a heart attack while you're watering your crops by screaming at you from the top of an apple tree. nothing delights her more than your shriek of terror.

living away from her parents has allowed her to bloom into the woman she wanted to be. she has the space to explore, to find adventure, to run wild. she doesn't say it much, but she feels like she owes it all to you. the second you moved in you changed everything for her, and she loves you so much it crushes her sometimes.

whenever she's sitting by the pond playing her flute she finds that she ends up missing you sitting beside her on the harp. the sound of just her flute somehow doesn't seem right anymore, she misses the sound of you playing beside her. the two of you together, that's the music that fills her heart. so often she'll drag you away from your farm work just to rest beside her, to relax and let your music enchant the farmlands.

the first time you ever set up a picnic for the two of you on the summit she thought she was going to die. such sweetness made her heart catch in her chest. she isn't the best with expressing how much she loves you. it's too cheesy, to mushy, too private. but sometimes the small, simple things you do to show her how much you love her just bring tears to her eyes. which usually leads to her tackling you into a hug and whispering how much she loves you into your chest.

she'll often feed the animals for you. almost all of them love her, except for the turtle you adopted. ol' terry gives abigail the side eye every time she fills up his water bowl. she isn't sure what she's done to make him hate her, but the turtle constantly snips at her ankles when she gets near.

due to the dangerous nature of your trips to the mines and skull cavern, abigail learned how to make life elixir's just for you. she couldn't imagine how she'd feel it something ever happened to you, so she decided to do what she could to help keep you safe.

she befriends a cow. don't question it, she just does. a small calf takes a liking to her and so she named it welwick. it's her best friend.

the two of you meet with sam and sebastian at least once every week at the saloon. she doesn't ever want her friends to feel like she's forgotten about them now that she's moved and gotten into a relationship, so the four of you often hang out. you'll invite them over to the farm, you guys take vacations to ginger island, and once you and abigail even made them go down the mines with you. it ended up with sam in harvey's office bleeding from his forehead, but everybody lived!

abby's just happy with you, happy that you've helped her realize her own strength. the two of you are partners in crime, and a damn good team. she may not always be able to tell you how she feels, but she tries her best to make sure her actions show it.

[50cal-fullauto-astarion]

please please please stallard x ghost and the "Aww, love you too." prompt🙏🙏🙏

LOVE YOU SO SO SO SO POWERFUL MUCH. 🥹🥹🥹

Simon "Ghost" Riley x f!OC / Simon doesn't know where to go when he detoxes. It makes him crawl back to an old flame, and he sweats out addiction and ugliness.

TW's: drug withdrawal, mentions of violent infanticide.

The fevers go by in spikes of blurred dreams. This is where Ghost would die, if he was done paying for all the shit he's done. Figures it's owed, his soul's in the red, and deep in the shit. Course, he wouldn't be lucky enough to die detoxing off pills.

It's the dog legs of July, 2012. World was supposed to end a month ago. It didn't. Now he's sweating out his demons in Stallard's guest bedroom. The guest bedroom in the house she shares with her husband.

That's right. She's no longer Stallard, is she? She's Graves. Saeda Graves.

It's hard to keep that in mind when he wants to shred his skin to get the goddamned bugs out from under it. When all his bones ache the same as trees turned tinder by nuclear blast radii.

And the fucking hallucinations. Christ. He can't escape Tommy's son. Can't see his fuckin' face, no, but he can see his little socked feet. Can see his bloody chest rising and falling. Can hear his death rattle. Over there, just under the dresser.

Falls out the bed, tryin' to get to him. Cracks his temple off the corner of the nightstand, busts his chin on the hardwood.

Stallard isn't there one moment, and then she is, over the span of a blink--one that lasts ten minutes when his pounding heart demands unconsciousness, because his brain can't decide which panicking bodily system is most deserving of attention and correction, when it is too far burnt down to even regulate itself.

"Christ, Simon," she mumbles, crouching, and there was a time, years ago, when he'd grab her hips, and drag her over his face, as if forcing her into a saddle. "Split your fuckin' head open. The fuck're you doin', man?" she asks, more herself than him.

"Shut th'fuck up," he says, or he thinks he does. If it fell out of his mouth, she had the grace he's never possessed in his life to ignore it. Just hooks her arms under his pits, and hoists him back in the bed.

The moment he hits the sweaty sheets, his brain pulls a hard left. His nephew is gone, the death rattle is gone, the smell of blood in the air--gone, gone, fucking gone. His head is spinning, and he feels spiders crawling across his skin, and his brain is burning, cooking, broiling to death in his battered skull.

Stallard: gone again, back again, and, now, she's cleaning up his forehead, pulling it back together where it split. She seals it shut with super glue, an old trick he remembers she'd picked up from the Rangers.

"Stop," he grunts, trying to push at her hands, but she ducks and bites his little finger. A nip sharp enough to drop his hands, and he remembers that, too. She picked that up from farriers working on horses that bit at their shoulders and asses--just bite the fuckers back, make them stop.

"Dumb bastard," she says under her breath, and she focuses in his eyes.

He's missed her. He's always fucking missed her, and he remembers everything about what they had. The way her hair felt sliding through his hands, black as pitch. The elastic lines around her mouth as she smiled. How her eyes would return to him when he spoke, when her mind was years and years behind them, before she had gotten the bulk of her tragedies out of the way.

There was a wedding portrait in the hall on the way to this guest room. She--she looked fucking awful. Her wedding was not hers, and he can tell without asking how it went down. He hated her dress, and her veil, and her bouquet, and her short fucking, shit-grinning groom.

He hates this house. He hates her last name. He hates that she didn't somehow know to fucking wait for him.

He hates that even if she did, he couldn't have done shit-all about actually marrying her.

"I hate you," he croaks, staring hard into her eyes as she fusses over him, and her hands still. Her gaze zeroes in, wide and hurt, and he continues to drill into those gray-green eyes. And he likes it. He likes that he's wounded her in her big, fancy house, with that big, ugly ring on her finger. He just don't know, though, he don't understand just how fucking bad it is under this roof. "Fuckin' hell, I hate you."

A huge sigh heaves her chest, and she shakes her head, capping the super glue as her eyes flicker away. "Aw. Love you, too," she says, but the tone of her joke is flat, carries on without heart to back it up.

His mouth staggers away without his control after a few moments of floating, paint-smear silence, and his voice almost cracks when he insists, "Shouldn't have married him, Saeda."

"Yeah, well." Her fingers worry the two gold necklaces around her throat, all of her little gold crosses, the chintzy yellow gold and opal ring he scrimped and scraped and save to buy her a lifetime ago. "Woulda been you, if you hadn't'a fuckin' died, Simon."

The silence rings in his ears. Imagines it rings in hers as well.

She picks her ass up off the bed, pulls a pack of cigarettes out of her back pocket, and lights one. After she takes a drag, she puts it to his lips, giving him a sorely needed hit of nicotine. Another little mercy of hers, caring for him, even when he is wrong. And he is wrong to and about her so fucking often.

[m-jelly]

Hi! Can you write a Hange x fem reader forbidden love au where hange is a rogue who stumbled upon a very high class event and the reader is a princess of a very VERY prosperous kingdom all Romeo and Juliet levels of drama and devotion to one another with some first time smut on the readers end? With hange swearing that they’ll give her the life she deserves and at the end hange proposes and the reader says yes and the run away together to live the cottage core life of there dreams with there love never fading no matter how many years pass

I'm going to cut a few things in the ask as I could easily make this a long fic xD so I'm going to do three parts, one being them meeting, second will be a fight with the King and Queen and the third is them running away together and enjoying life as a couple.

What I want

Pairing: Fem!Hange x Fem!Reader

Genre and tags: Royal AU, fluff, romance, cute, falling in love, running away, forbidden romance

Concept: Hange crashes a ball and enjoys the free drinks and food. While there, she comes across the most beautiful woman she's ever seen. Hange flirts with you, has fun with you and runs off to play around. You both fall in love quickly. You confront your parents with Hange after your romance has gone on for over two months. Your parents reject the union between you and Hange and demand you marry a Prince of their choice. Hurt that you aren't accepted, you and Hange plot your escape. You and Hange run off into the night and go to a cottage where you live your perfect life together.

Warnings: The King (your father) is against you being with a woman due to royal traditions and old fashioned views.

Tagging my Hange simp @skittlelover69

Hange climbed up the wall slowly, her fingers gripping on for dear life as she kept making her way up. Her plan was to get into the ball, locate her target and complete the mission she'd been paid to do. It was so simple.

She gasped as her foot slipped bringing her out of her thoughts for a moment. She huffed and adjusted her feet against the wall before ascending the wall until she reached the open window.

She held her breath at the sounds of boots from patrolling guards. She hung there in the cool night air as bugs sang to the moon. She pulled a few faces while she waited before lifting herself up and into the hallway.

She fixed her clothes before waltzing down the hallway. She slipped into the main hall and watched the room of rich people dance, laugh and get drunk. She scanned the room looking for her target. She clocked him and made her way over.

Hange placed her hand in her bag and fiddled with the note. She needed to place this note in the man's pocket and then leave. She stumbled when the man was pulled away. She gritted her teeth and shifted to try and get closer.

"Excuse me?"

Hange turned and felt her heart flutter in her chest as she gazed at you. She blushed hard at how beautiful you were and how cute your smile was. She felt a magnetic pull towards you and before she knew it she was right in front of you gazing down at you.

You smiled softly. "Are you trying to plant something on that man there?"

She nodded. She didn't know what it was, but she felt like she could tell you anything. "Yes."

You reached out to her with your delicate hand she just wanted to kiss. "May I have the note? I can easily plant it on him. If I do this, you owe me."

Hange offered the note. "What payment?"

You smiled. "A drink. I would like you to join me for a drink right after I do this."

Hange smirked at the agreement. "Deal."

Hange turned and watched you. She thought you were incredibly beautiful and loved your confidence, but she wasn't sure a rich girl like you would know what you were doing. She watched you get close to the man and talk to him. Her eyes widened as you got him laughing and touched him a little. She was in awe of you, even more so when she couldn't see when you slipped the note into the man's jacket.

You strolled over to Hange and smirked. "You owe me a drink."

Hange hummed a laugh. "I do." She walked with you. "I'm impressed. I've been a rogue for years and had to learn how to be sneaky and yet you casually walk up to this man and slip the note on him."

You giggled and grabbed two bottles of champagne. "Follow me then, you rouge."

Hange laughed. "What happens if I don't?"

You looked over at Hange. "You miss out on free booze, great company and I might just tell the King about you."

Hange nervously laughed. "You don't know the King."

"He's my dad."

Hange stared at you for a while. "Interesting. So, I'm dealing with the princess."

"Indeed you are."

She bowed to you. "Your highness."

You winked at her before leading her outside to a sitting area. You handed the bottles over and began taking parts of your dress off. "Ah, much better."

Hange admired your body in your tight corset and underdress. "Wow."

You smiled as you walked up to her. "Admiring the view?"

"I am."

You took the bottle from her and smirked. "Good. I'm admiring you as well." You yanked the cork out and downed some drink and gave your name. "And who may I ask are you?"

"Hange Zoe."

You shook her hand. "Pleasure to meet you."

She raised your hand and kissed the back of it. "Please is all mine."

You hummed a laugh. "Smooth talker."

She popped the cork before yanking you against her body. "I can't help myself with you. You make my heart race."

You sat on Hange's thigh. "Let's talk. Tell me about the beautiful rouge I see."

You and Hange talked for hours under the moonlight. You snuggled close to her and smiled and laughed with her. You drank all your champagne and ended up dancing barefoot with Hange around the gardens. She dipped you and twirled you. She'd lift you in the air making you laugh.

By the end of the night, the two of you were just slow dancing with your foreheads touching with gentle smiles. You turned your head just a little before kissing Hange. Hange ran her hands over your body as her tongue slipped into your mouth. You moaned in delight and felt like your world was complete. Hange was your world.

You held Hange's hand as tears filled your eyes. You held your head high and stayed determined. Your father glared back at you. You could feel the weight in the air of the words you'd spoken. Your father and mother, who were very traditional, had just learned the only daughter of their five children was not only romantically involved with someone but that someone was a woman.

Hange stepped forward. "Your majesty, if I may-."

"You may not!" He slammed his fist on the arm of his throne. "You have twisted your way into my daughter's life. You have dragged her away from the light."

"Your majesty, she cannot help who she loves."

"Quiet!" He growled. "She is meant to marry a prince, you hear me? A prince."

You welled up. "Father, I love Hange. I love her."

He glared at you. "You don't know what you love. You need a man. You need a prince. I didn't think I would have to get involved, but I must. You will go to the dates I arrange, do you hear me?"

"Father."

"DO YOU HEAR ME!?"

You shook a little. "I can't."

He stood up. "You will! This is for your own good! You have no future with this woman! You will be mocked and hated! I am doing this to protect you. This relationship ends now."

You almost collapsed to the floor, but Hange caught you. "Please! Please don't do this. I need her."

"I will arrange your first marriage meeting for next week. Say your goodbyes and then this Hange is banned from this palace for life."

Hange guided you away from your parents. "I'm sorry."

You shook your head. "It's me who should be sorry. I messed this all up. I ruined it all."

She stopped with you in an empty hall. "You did nothing wrong." She kissed you before wiping your tears away. "I love you and I will always love you."

You hugged her tightly. "I only want you."

She squeezed you tightly. "Me too." She lowered her voice. "We'll run away together."

You nodded. "A sweet cottage together like we dreamed of. I will never get the crown because I'm the youngest. This is all so stupid."

Hange cupped your face. "We'll get away and have the best life."

You walked into your store room and looked at the haggis hanging up. You checked them and smiled happily at how good they were doing. You plucked one down for dinner before leaving the room.

You hummed a laugh at your dog bounding around the garden as she lived her best life. You adored watching her bark at anything she could see. She was a fierce little pup and you knew very well Hange was teaching her to bark at most things.

You let out a long sigh. "Kaia? Come here, girl." You leaned down and fussed her soft fur when she stopped next to you with her tail wagging. "You wild thing."

You left your pup and went inside your cottage in the middle of the woods. You kept your door open so Kaia could come in when she was done being wild. You needed to work on dinner and you knew Hange was going to return home after doing her chores.

You would make haggis, cured meats and fish along with some shortbread. Hange would deliver everything for you to the local shop and they would sell it. Hange would collect the money and return it to you. Other times Hange would carry out jobs for people as a rogue.

You worked hard making good food for people. You would leave the woods and sell and deliver your goods, but sometimes the questions about you and your royal life got too much. You had run away from your family and they had disowned you at first, but now they were searching for you and wanted to reconnect with you and accepted Hange as your wife.

You needed time to yourself and to think things through, so you remained in the woods a lot more as you thought about what to do. You loved your life with Hange and Kaia too much. Your life was a dream come true. You didn't want to change a thing. You didn't want to be a princess again, but you would like to travel a bit with your wife a bit more.

You flicked your gaze to the door when you heard Kaia going wild. You smiled softly knowing your wife was home. You cleaned your hands before running out of the house towards Hange. You jumped in the air and squealed when Hange caught you in her loving arms.

Hange spun around with you as she giggled. "Hello, my love." She put you on your feet and kissed you. "I love you so much."

"I love you too."

She kissed you again and sighed. "We made a lot of money again."

You jumped up and down. "Yay! What's the report?"

She smiled softly. "Big hit. People loved your spiced dried meats."

"I guess I should make more."

She opened her bag and pulled out a box. "I got you something."

You blushed and opened it up to reveal a pretty necklace. "Oh, Hange."

She took it from you and clipped it on you. "Beautiful."

You wrapped your arms around your wife. "Thank you so much."

Hange squeezed you tightly and nuzzled the crook of your neck and inhaled. "Mm, I love you so much."

"I love you too."

Hange released you. "So, has my brave knight Kaia been protecting you?"

You walked with Hange into your home. "She's been barking at everything."

"Good."

You laughed. "Not good. She's been wild."

"Oh, dear." She leaned down and petted Kaia. "Good girl. Momma loves you."

You smirked and carried on making dinner. "Haggis tonight, my love."

Hange hugged you from behind and covered your neck in kisses. "A delicious meal made by a delicious meal."

You giggled as she nipped you. "Behave yourself, my love. Food first."

She ran her hands over your body and purred at you. "Of course." She said your name softly against your skin. "I love you."

"I love you too."

[stayatiny]

Little Dolly Chapter 10~ Yandere!Seonghwa

Pairing(s) – Killer/Yandere Seonghwa x Virgin! Reader

Series warnings – Violence, Daddy kink, mentions of murder, TW- beating, swearing, blood, smut and lose of virginity (later on), yandere behaviors, Stockholm syndrome (seriously this is darker than my other fics. If this makes you uncomfortable, please do not read.)

Chapter Warning(s) –things that regularly goes with Mafia, smut, daddy kink, creampie, please let me know If I missed anything.

Tagged Lovelies - @mirror-juliet @aikyubi @babybunnyalien @mingkisbitch @chonsayeosang @jodidan @cheline @hapapino-cake @ateezsadist @t4elor @soft-teddybear @beomnoi @chronosavrus @thenamesdarcy @teezers99 @whatudowhennooneseesyou @thefandomlife-221b Please let me know if you would like to be tagged ^^

“Let’s get married,” I say looking over at Seonghwa. His eyes bugged.

“What do you mean? We are planning a wedding; it won’t be much longer until then.” I dried my hands on the kitchen towel then sitting next to him on the couch. He still couldn’t get around very much but a lot better now.

“I don’t want to wait anymore. After you getting shot and then me getting taken, it just made me want to marry you sooner. I don’t think that I can be away from you if something were to happen to you. So, let’s get married.” Seonghwa kissed me hard wrapping his hands into my hair.

“Let’s get dressed.”

~A week later

“You know Hwa. Your mom’s going to find out that we ran off and eloped right,” I say holding my passport close to my chest. I see the smirk on his face as he parks his car next to the airport hangar. He has a private jet ready for us.

“True she will but I do believe that I owe it to you after everything in the past year.” Oh yeah, I guess it has been about a year or so now. I don’t know, time’s hard to keep up with now a days. He gets out then stretches. I get out then walk over to his side of the car. He wraps his arm around my waist pulling me close. He kisses the tip of my nose.

“Fuck you’re beautiful,” he said. I smirk, kissing him grabbing the collar of the crisp white shirt he was wearing. Seonghwa pushed up the shirt touching the skin of my hip. We hear another car pull up breaking us apart. It was Mr. Kang.

“You’re late.” He pulls out his luggage and smiles.

“I’m not late you’re just early.” I chuckled as Hwa rolled his eyes at the man. I greeted him and bowed.

“I’m glad you’re alright, Y/N. Seonghwa was worried about you that night.”

“Thank you, Mr. Kang.” By now the pilot and a stewardess have shown up to get the plane ready to go. The pilot and Mr. Kang took our bags while we got on the plane and got settled. Seonghwa hasn’t told me where we were going but at this point it’s probably better not to ask. After all that had happened, he was right we needed the time away from the city. Although that last time that we were away from the city, I was taken by him and then he shot me a couple of times. I know that I’m fucked in the head about actually caring for him and maybe even loving him. I know that in the end things will more than likely end badly for us. But having someone that genuinely cares for my well being and mental state is nice to have. I know that everyone has their special someone…and I think I found mine.

“Where are we going or is that a secret?” He smiled before taking a drink from the stewardess.

“I was thinking somewhere tropical for our honeymoon.” He smirks. I pouted stomping my feet a little. He instantly frowned. He grabbed my hand, jerking me over to him.

“You little brat. Keep that up and I won’t let you up from the bed for the rest of the week,” he says as a breathy whisper. I feel a shiver run down my spine as the space between my legs became hot. I whined looking to him for some relief. He hushed me kissing my temple.

“Aw is my little slut horny for me?” I whined louder feeling my cheeks heat up. He drags me into his lap with one arm. Damn it, he’s strong. Almost immediately he bites and licks my neck like it was the last time he would taste me. I clutch his shirt in my hands as his hands grope my ass.

“Pull out these off I need you. Now,” he growls. I pull off my underwear. In hindsight I shouldn’t have to begin with. I hear his zipper and the shuffling of clothes. I climb back on his lap kissing him hard. He pushes my skirt up to my hips. Seonghwa finally slips inside me. I feel breathless and so full. I let out a breathy whine.

“Hush baby girl. I know it’s so much for you to handle.” He rubs my clit with his thumb while his other hand tugged on my hair at the base of my neck.

“Ahh daddy stop teasing me.” He chuckled. He bucks his hips upwards almost making me cum.

“What’s wrong baby? Can’t handle my fat cock?” I kiss him as he throws me down on the couch we’re sitting on, now currently fucking on. Seonghwa pins my legs at the knee. He pounds into me. I cover my mouth to keep from anyone hearing me. I’m not sure if it works at this point. I whine through my hands as he repeatedly hits my g-spot with the head of his cock. He lets my legs wrap around his waist then leaning forward on his arms caging me between them.

“Fuck you’re so tight. Cum for me,” he moaned. I let out a soft moan burying my face into his shoulder. I feel his cum flood my pussy as he panted for air. Seonghwa kisses me again before pulling out. He grabs a wet towel from the restroom, cleaning me up.

“Get dressed we’ll be taking off soon.”

~~~~~~<3~~~~~~

We made it to the villa when I realized we were on some private island in the tropics that his parents bought him for our engagement. I pulled back the drapes looking out at the ocean. The water was a bright blue, and the air was warm compared to the winter in Korea. I smile feeling Seonghwa hug my waist.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” I nod, happily as I turn to kiss Seonghwa. He kisses me back, holding my cheeks.

“Come on let’s get some rest before dinner. I wasn’t expecting us to arrive so early in the day. I need you rested before tonight,” he says, finishing off with a smirk and a wink. Damn this man. I laid down on the bed while waiting for Seonghwa to join me. He climbed in behind me letting snuggle into him. We had the doors open, listening to the waves. Seonghwa was softly singing in my ear like a lullaby.

“You know that me going to sleep won’t be such a good idea.” He scoffs before turning me to face him.

“True you slept almost the whole way here, but we can always talk if you don’t want to sleep.” I tucked his hair behind his ear before caressing his cheek with my thumb like he’s done to me so many times.

“Why did you choose me? Besides you saying that I need to me taken care off.” His small smile that he had faded away.

“I chose you because I knew that you were different. There was something about you that I wanted to have for myself. Looking back at it I shouldn’t have stalked you or kidnapped you. I used my power to get what I wanted instead of being an adult and for me being a little bitch, I’m sorry.” I didn’t expect a real answer nor an apology from him.

“Seonghwa, I didn’t know you felt that way. Maybe in a different life, things would’ve started differently between us. But…stuff happens for a reason, right?” I gave him a little nod before laying my head on his chest. I didn’t know that I would love someone as much as I love Seonghwa. Despite everything, I wouldn’t change anything in the world for this.

I placed the last curl into my hair when Seonghwa walked in to fix his tie.

“Don’t you look all fancy,” I say looking at him. I unplugged the curling iron and set it to the side to cool.

“I always look fancy. I just haven’t been able to dress nicely with healing from getting shot.” I fixed the back of his collar.

“I know but it’s still odd for me not seeing you in sweatpants and a t-shirt.” He turns to face me, his hand touching my cheek before loosely draping around the base of my neck. I wanted to squeal but I kept it in.

“Let’s get to dinner before I change my mind.” We headed down to the beach where a candle-lit dinner underneath a canopy was waiting for us. He planned this out to a tee.

“Seonghwa, when we get back can my parents come to visit us?” He set down his silverware before answering. I know it must have thrown him off.

“I don’t see a problem with it but why do you ask now?” I shrug.

“I’m not sure why I asked so suddenly but it does seem kind of weird to be married without having my parents and siblings here to meet you.”

“I guess you do have a point about that since you have met my parents and brother. When we get back, I’ll make the arrangements for them to come here. I just hope they don’t get too curious about how I make my money.”

“They usually don’t care about that kind of thing or at least they didn’t when my brother and sister got married to their significant others. They would be more interested about how you are as a person.” He took a few bites of his steak before Mr. Kang approached our table. He sighed before looking at the man.

“I’m sorry to interrupt but the Bang syndicate has made their move. Your father is overlooking the counter measures over the dock incident.” I swear Seonghwa was smiling, almost laughing.

“I hope that Christopher has more sense than to mess with our money, but it seems that he doesn’t or has a death wish. Keep me informed no matter the time please.” Mr. Kang nodded and walked away.

“Christopher Bang, isn’t he the one that kidnapped me?” His head darted toward me. He caressed my cheek, lovingly.

“Don’t worry my little doll he won’t hurt you again,” he says before kissing my forehead. His words comforted me knowing he would protect me. We continued to eat and talk.

“Come on let’s walk around the beach.” He stood up and stretched out his hand for mine. I joined him as he led me to the water. I take a deep breath of the salty and crisp air of the waves. I let go of Seonghwa’s hand going into the water. I pull my floor length dress to my waist letting the water to up to my knees. I laugh kicking water toward him. He smiles before splashing me. He took off his shoes and joined me. He wrapped his arms around my waist.

“Why are you still holding the dress?” He tries to take the skirt of the dress out of my hands.

“I don’t want it to get wet, Seonghwa.” He popped my ass lightly. I yelped, jumping forward into his arms. “I’ll just buy you a new dress.” He finally wrestles the skirt from me letting it hit the water. I huffed as he laughed. Seonghwa buries his face into my shoulder. My heart pounding loudly in my chest. We listen to the waves as they crash against our legs. I didn’t want to move but it was time to go back to the house before the waves went to high. He held my hand tightly as we walked up the path. Life for us was now perfect. I want things to stay this way.

[caliburn-the-sword]

finished reading scarlet; last thoughts and reactions and ponderings

was about to be like "ew wtf did not want r*pe in MY y/a book" AND THEN HE SLIPPED HER AN I.D. TO ESCAPE

thorne is SO real for only being concerned about his jacket despite human bites being very dangerous lol

why are these werewolves acting like vamps

it's kind of nice how cool thorne is with lunars with all the lunar hate there is - i remember when reading cinder being apalled about how she generalised them all as corrupt

YES SCARLET KNOWS SHE KNOWS NOW

NO NOT GRANNY I'M LITERALLY IN STUDY PERIOD RN I CAN'T CRY (note: i managed not to cry in study period but god my eyes burned for a while lmao)

tf i thought wolf was just being possessive in like a protective way against ran and not just a plain old possessive way. he's honestly making me nervous rn like goodness i can literally feel scarlet's fear rn. STOP WITH YOUR I CAN FIX HIM DISEASE AND RUN (note: okay he got brain fucky wucky by mind control so this isn't him)

HOLY SHIT THEY'RE ALL FINALLY MEETING I'M FROTHING AT THE MOUTH

i think kai is going delulu. i bet his office isn't bugged and he's got a spy. literally since cinder my money has been on torin. but maybe huy

omg kai's recognition of cinder's sacrifice by going to the ball <3

gotta agree with everything cinder's saying about kai's marriage because it's everything i've been thinking since kai decided to marry levana. i wish he would see how it's a bandaid for a stab wound. he's barely fixing a short term problem, which is gonna have the same long term problem regardless

the girls (all current pov characters) ARE FIGHTING. not mad tho because i'm a messy bitch who lives for drama <3

"She'd had the bridge built for herself out of very special glass, so that she could watch (...) all without being observed herself" levana YOU MEAN A TWO WAY MIRROR??? don't go acting all superior you're not special

from what wolf has described of his Tragic Backstory there is NO way he ISN'T a virgin. i'm so sorry that was my only takeaway but i'm trying to distract myself

"We met less than a week ago and in that time I've done nothing but lie and cheat and betray you" FKSDHFSDK sounds JUST like ouat rumpelstiltskin and yet he's STILL healthier than him and not toxic LMAO

wait did wolf need to pretend betray scarlet without her knowing instead of just making THAT the plan because those supersoldiers can smell hormones?? i bet they can. i reckon he needed her to feel REAL fear (note: now that i think about it it's probably just the bioelectricity crap but also ONLY the thaumaturge would be able to detect that???)

if i keep having to read "alpha female" with my own two eyes, i'm going to need bleach. marissa meyer you owe me financial compensation for the psychological distress i've been caused. 3 is in fact 4 times too many. it is a crime that it was ever thought into existence

predictions for cress

didn't do this last time between cinder and scarlet but figured it would be fun!! you guys get to silently laugh about how wrong i am, no spoilers

first off, doc erland's place in africa becomes the home base and cinder starts her training

someone tries to recreate garan's device since it will be useful for the rebellion - could be a joint effort between cinder and cress since they have the hardware and software down respectively. idk who's gonna fill the last role of like. bio stuff and the surgeries tho but we'll see

MORE THORNE BACKSTORY

definitely more wolf pov chapters now that marissa no longer needs to make him dodgy

cress is at least a LITTLE bit delulu wackers bonkers cray z lost her marbles etc etc from being so isolated for so long. i would LOVE to get into that mindset and character voice. would make for a very interesting pov

on reading the blurb:

i'm REALLY fucking dumb it finally occurred to me that in rapunzel the hero falls from the tower and gets blinded by thorns. so that tells me exactly who carswell thorne is (rip to when i thought he was the prince from sleeping beauty cause that's embarrassing). i wonder if he gets ejected into space from the satellite and his eyeballs freeze out of his sockets or something

i wonder WHY cress would be locked up by the queen BEFORE she was even able to hack since she wouldn't have been useful then. my first thought was that glamour doesn't work on her like with shells but she's not a shell herself but that wouldn't make sense because the thaumaturges seemed surprised by cinder and michelle benoit so it can't be that. for the sake of my running joke of every fairy tale character either being related or knowing each other, i'm just gonna pin it down to her being somewhere in the family tree and leave it at that

can these people STOP getting separated from each other?? i can't handle it. from the blurb it seems like the boys got cut off from the girls??? and then kai is also separated from all of them lol. this is a prediction only in the sense that i'm trying to guess who's getting separated from who. i think it would tie well into separating everyone from their love interest like poor cinder

i wonder if this will be the book that we meet princess winter since with royal etiquette and all that her presence will p r o b a b l y be required during all them wedding preparations and what not

@eddisfargo @francforever @winterrhayle @winterpinetrees

[jerzwriter]

What Happened in Vegas: Chapter 5: ...and that's a promise.

Book: Open Heart (Book 2)

Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x F!MC (Casey MacTavish)

Rating: Teen

Warnings: Some suggestive content, not explicit; cursing; drinking.

Category: Series - AU

Words: Approx 4,900

Series Summary: Casey & her roommates are heading to Vegas, intent on taking down Declan Nash and Panacea, but this time, Dr. Ethan Ramsey is in tow.

Chapter 5: It wasn't planned... but they said I do. While Ethan finds he's OK with it, Casey's not so sure. Some time with her friends gives her perspective, but what does she decide. It seems everyone - including Ethan & Casey - is in for another surprise.

A/N: Hey, everyone; I hope you enjoy this installment. Some have asked how many chapters are left. I'm thinking 2 after this, but I've been known to be wrong before. lol I am participating in @choicesjanuarychallenge - Day 24 - all three fit in a way - Give, Take, Friends

Series Masterlist My Main Masterlist

There are moments in life when you can feel time come crashing to a halt. When everything seems to stand still, and you walk away a little different from the person you were just moments before. Casey had already experienced a couple of these moments since landing in Vegas. It’s not every day that you wake up to a marriage certificate with your name… that you don’t recall signing. Nor watch yourself recite the most loving, eloquent vows… but there is no recollection of saying them at all.   That was plenty, she thought. She had enough of those moments to last her for a while. But fate, and Vegas, apparently had more in store.

She stood there, stupified. Her face unreadable, mouth agape, the only movement she could muster was looking between Ethan’s face and his hand gently wrapped around her wrist. Never in a million years did she expect him to react like this. She considered asking him to repeat himself, just to be sure… but she knew what she heard.  

Ethan attempted to remain patient as he wordlessly watched her every move. Hoping for the slightest sign of how she’d eventually respond. He understood her shock, he was still shocked himself, to be honest, but he couldn’t deny nothing had ever felt so right. He didn’t have a single regret, but he knew her answer could change in an instant.

So he waited… allowing time to stay suspended… for so much longer than he thought possible. He was beginning to consider checking her for signs of shock when he felt her cold, clammy hand slap across his forehead without warning.

“Ow!” He grimaced. “What are you doing?”

“Checking you for a fever. It might be heat stroke.”

Pushing her hand away, he smiled. “Casey, I don’t have heat stroke.”

“Well… a stomach bug, perhaps? Norovirus! Everyone picks that up in places like this! I’m sure you must….”

“Casey,” he interrupted, taking both her hands in his, “I’m not sick. I just want an answer… will you stay married to me?”

Her nervous laughter filled the room, and her body quivered. She wondered if perhaps she was the one who was ill as the room began to sway. She pulled away from Ethan once more and began to engage in her new favorite hobby… pacing.

“If you’re not sick, then you must have lost control of all your senses!”

“Why?” Ethan demanded. “Why do you say that?”

“Stay married? Stay married?” She yelled. “You’ve gone mad!”

“I don’t think so.”

“Well, if you want to stay married, then in my professional opinion, you have!”

“Can you honestly tell me that you’ve never thought of us getting married?”

Still pacing, her hands began to flail. Flabbergasted, words couldn’t be found, but it didn’t stop her from trying. “Wha… huh… that’s…. I…”

“You OK?” he teased, proud of himself for keeping his cool while Casey unraveled.

“NO! I’m not remotely OK! And whether I’ve thought of it or not is irrelevant! If we did everything we thought about, I might be president of the United States! Or… maybe a stripper at a club here in Vegas!”

His face scrunched in disbelief. “You what?” 

“Don’t change the topic, Ethan!” She blurted. “The point is, we all think things at times… but that doesn’t mean we should act on them all!”

“So on a scale of one to ten, with one being… you’re now a stripper… and ten being you’re seated in the Oval Office, where does staying married to me rank?”

Casey’s eyes narrowed as her pacing ceased. About to comment on the ridiculousness of his words, she stopped herself when she realized he had only repeated what she had said. With a shake of her head, she sat beside him on the bed.

“Ethan,” she replied lovingly. “You made it very clear that you were not a fan of marriage. You weren’t even a fan of commitment… look at how long it took for us to get where we are now.”  

“When did I tell you I was opposed to marriage?”

“The first time was when we tested the fMRI machine!”

“That was a hypothetical situation!”

“Then there was the time when Dr. Borgas and the nurse from 4… what’s her name?”

“Julia.”

“Yes! When Dr. Borgas and Julia got engaged, what did you say then?”

“I don’t remember?” He shrugged. “Congratulations?”

“Not to their face Ethan! What did you say when they walked away? You said, ‘God help that fool!’”

“Yeah, because in their case, it’s true! Everyone knows Julia is rebounding, and if that hot surgeon she was dating from Kenmore popped back in the picture, she’d forget about Borgas in an instant!”

“Wait!” Casey startled. “How do you know all this gossip? Who are you, and what have you done with Ethan Ramsey?”

Ethan smiled warmly, placing a loving arm around her shoulder. “You seem to forget who I have lunch with most days. With Naveen in my life, I’m going to know garbage whether I want to or not.”

“Fine,” she surrendered. “But answer one thing… before this trip… did you ever seriously think of asking me to marry you?”

“No,” he hesitated, “But….”

“But nothing! You had no intention of proposing to me, much less marrying me. That’s not the way to start something that’s supposed to be forever. I get it. Our emotions are all over the place right now, but when they settle down, you’ll realize this isn’t a good idea.”

“Well, I disagree.”  He shifted so he could look her in the eyes. “You’re right. I never thought much of marriage. Was I planning on getting married now? No. But… when I heard us say our vows… without any preparation? Casey, the only way we could have said those words to each other, drunk as we were no less, is if they’re true.”

Casey’s eyes met his, and it appeared as if she was going to speak. But the emotions were too overwhelming, her mind too muddled. She lowered her eyes and turned away, but Ethan wasn’t about to let the moment pass. Reaching over, he stroked her cheek, turning her head back in his direction. Then, with a gentle buss on her forehead, his campaign began anew. 

“Do you believe we spoke the truth?”

“Ethan,” she whispered, caressing his chin. “I know we did, but….”

“No buts! I never wanted to spend the rest of my life with anyone… but I want to do it with you. Besides, the idea of having annulment papers with our names on them, our names,”  he swallowed, and Casey could see the pain in his azure eyes. “I never want to see that. Do you?”

She took a shuddering breath, her head and heart running in opposing directions. She couldn’t bring herself to confess how many times she had laid by his side, dreaming of this very future with him. It would be so easy to surrender to it. So easy to give in, but…

“It’s not like we’re breaking up. We’d just be going back to what we were yesterday, and what we were yesterday was great. We’re still in love, we’ll still be together… and if marriage is something you’re open to now, well, who knows what the future holds.”

“I can’t explain it, Casey. But now that we’re here… I don’t want to go back. I want you to be my wife. Today, tomorrow, always.”  

Her face crumbled, and Ethan knew he had his answer. Still, he allowed hope to burn bright until he heard the words.

“Ethan,” she consoled. “I need… I … I just don’t see how this could work. We just had to stage an elaborate ruse to convince my friends we’re not dating… and now… we’re going to be married?”

Rising to her feet, she did her best not to meet his eyes.

“I’m… I’m sorry, Ethan, it’s just… we can’t.”

Deflated, his head fell, and his shoulders sank as he watched her walk to the door. He knew it was a long shot, and he knew she was making sense. Still, the bitter sting of rejection hurt as much as it ever did, which is why he never put himself in this place.

“Well…” he lamented. “I guess that’s it, then. I’ll make some calls to see how we can have this… undone.”

“I think it’s for the best. I… I should probably go and check in with my friends. I’m shocked Sienna hasn’t called out a search crew as it is already.”

“Yeah,” Ethan replied, his voice soft and broken. “I suppose you should.”

She turned back as she opened the door, and for a moment, he hoped that she had reconsidered.

“I’m sorry, Ethan. You know… nothing changes. I still love you. You know that, right?”

“I know,” he said with a painted smile. “I know.”

Wrapping her arms tightly around herself, Casey turned and walked away. Her mind was more muddled than ever as she stepped into the elevator. This changed nothing, right? They’d be just fine. Everything would be OK. But as she pushed the button for her floor, one thing became evident… she no longer had to fake being sad when she saw her friends. Because, now, she truly was.

~~~~~ 

Casey gingerly opened the door to the suite. It was much quieter than expected, and evidence of why presented itself very quickly. Bottle upon empty bottle lined the floor, the tables, the counters, and the general disarray made it clear they all had a night to remember. She was about to begin cleaning when she saw Bryce sprawled across the couch; Jackie gently snored not far away on the floor.

Couldn’t even make it to their rooms, she thought to herself. Knowing the noise would wake them, she abandoned gathering bottles and headed to her room. The thought of a hot shower and collapsing on her bed was beginning to fill her with glee. But just as she pulled her shirt over her head, there was a gentle tap at the door. Sighing, she put her shirt back on, delighted to see a friendly smile on the other side of the door.

“Hey, you’re up!” Casey smiled at Sienna.

“Yeah, couldn’t sleep well worrying about you.”

“I’m sorry, Si,” she faltered, filled with guilt. “I didn’t want to worry you. I hope you managed to have some fun.”

“Oh, we did!” Sienna assured. “But I decided to stay sober; I needed to keep an eye on everyone.”

“Yeah, I noticed an empty bottle or two out there,” Casey teased.

“It would have been much worse if I wasn't here!”

“Where do things stand regarding Panacea? Have you heard anything more?”

“All the information is in the right hands now. But they won’t keep us privy to the investigation. But all sources say this is not going to just go away.”

“I hope so,” Casey worried. “I just don’t trust these things until they’re over. I’ll feel better when I see Declan in a nice orange suit.”

“Yeah, orange is not his color,” Sienna giggled. “I understand being leery, but everyone says it will be a slam dunk. Honestly, the recording Ethan got from Charlotte just….” Sienna’s voice tapered when she realized what she had just said. “Oh, I’m… I’m so sorry, Casey… I didn’t mean to….”

“No, no!” Casey brushed it off with a wave of her hand. “You can say their names; it doesn’t change anything.”

“I know,” Sienna gently took her friend’s hand. “But if you’re hurting, the last thing I want to do is remind you.”

Casey hung her head. Lying to her best friend is something she would never get used to. Especially now when she could really use her advice. She considered letting it all out, telling her the whole truth, and letting the pieces fall where they may, but in the end, she didn’t say a word.

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on with you and Ethan,” Sienna whispered. “But I’m here if you ever need to talk.”

“I know, Si,” Casey sighed, “and I appreciate it, but Ethan and I are just… it’s so… complicated.”

A line appeared between Sienna’s brows. 

“It always has been. But I really hoped….”

“Hoped what?”

“I really hoped, after we almost lost you, that you guys would find a way to work it out. I know he cares for you… very much… and I wish….”

“I know,” Casey smiled, squeezing her friend's hand tighter. “It’s just… I… I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything,” Sienna assured. “But if the day comes when you’re ready to talk. I’m here.”

The two friends embraced warmly just as a sluggish Bryce schlepped past Casey’s open door. Half-asleep, he stopped before her door. Rubbing his eyes, he managed to get up a pained grin.  

“Ladies, you know better than this. If there’s going to be girl-on-girl action, you’re supposed to call me,” he laughed, but that quickly turned to a wince.  

“You are such a jerk,” Casey laughed, hauling a pillow in his direction, and though it barely tapped him, he let out a howl when it hit. “Rough night?”

“The night was terrific,” he insisted. “The hangover… not so much.”

“Well,” Casey sprung out of bed. “Luckily for all of you… I have all the ingredients for my handy-dandy hangover cure in the kitchen!”

“You do?” He marveled.

“Did you think I was coming to Vegas, of all places, without? Be reasonable, Lahela.”

As she strode past him on the way to the kitchen, he gently grabbed her wrist. 

“All joking aside,” he asked with sincerity. “Are you doing OK?”

“I am,” Casey smiled sadly. “Everything will be OK… one way or another.”

“That’s my girl,” Bryce grinned. “Now, please go make your buddy Bryce that remedy before he dies.”

“I’m on it!”

~~~~~

Several hours later, the gang was gathered around a table at International Smoke. The atmosphere was so light and festive that Casey sometimes forgot her troubles for a moment or two… but they always came back. Still, she was enjoying one of the best steaks she had ever had.   

“Now, this is the way to celebrate!” Elijah enthused, pouring a glass of champagne.

“I don’t even know how you can even look at that stuff!” Aurora soured. “I’m never drinking again!”

Across the table, Jackie rolled her eyes with a scoff before taking the bottle from Elijah’s hand, “Amateurs!”

Casey looked around to ensure no one was in earshot, then spoke softly to her friends. “I’d offer a toast, but should we even be talking about… it… publicly yet?”

“The ball may be in motion, but I doubt anyone knows it’s happening yet,” Jackie shrugged. “So it may be better to keep it quiet for now.”

“Yeah,” Bryce agreed. “Unfortunately, I know a thing or two about these sorts of investigations go down. Right now, the gruesome twosome is likely in the dark. They’ll want them to slip up. But don’t worry, they’ll get theirs in the end.”  

“In that case,” Casey raised a glass as Aurora cringed. “Oh, Aurora!” Casey laughed, “just toast with water! As I was saying… let’s toast to a successful trip. We all got what we came for.”

“Hear, hear!” Elijah cheered.

“I’ll drink to that!” Sienna agreed.

Bryce took a sip of his champagne, but his eyes stayed focused on Casey. “But, did we?” he asked.

Casey looked at him nervously. “So, you don’t think this will stick?”

“No, it will. I’m talking about you… did you get all you wanted from this trip?”

“Sure,” she said, taking a si of champagne. “I’m here for the same reason as you.”

“We’re you?” He asked pointedly. “Casey, you’re among friends; you know we’d never judge… and your secret would be safe with us.”

Casey’s eyes nervously darted around the table, trying to determine what each person knew.

“You’re kind of the worst-kept secret in Edenbrook,” Aurora agreed. “But when asked, we all insist you’re just close coworkers…. But it’s not like we didn’t know better.”

“Yeah, we’ll always have your back, Case,” Jackie agreed.

“Guys,” she sputtered nervously, “what are you talking about… what do you think we….”

“Casey, you were with your med school friends last night to get your mind off Ramsey. We know that,” Elijah concluded.

“Oh, uh… yeah, but… it’s not like that at all… between us… it’s just that….”

“You should really give him another chance,” Sienna said softly. 

“What!?!”

“He was just trying to get information, Casey… he didn’t want to hurt you.”

“Yeah,” Aurora agreed. “And you did say you were OK with it in advance. We can’t blame you if it was harder to witness than you thought, but we can’t blame him either.”  

“Guys, why are you doing this?” Casey asked.

“Because we don’t like seeing you sad,” Sienna offered. 

“We called him to see if he wanted to join us last night,” Elijah offered. “And Bryce called him again today to see if he’d come to dinner today.   I mean, if anyone deserves to celebrate, it’s him.”

“Damn straight!” Bryce insisted. “If I had to cozy up to that snake, I’d need all the booze in the world to wash that memory away, and I’d want the reward for being tortured.”

“But he wouldn’t come either time,” Elijah continued. “The only thing he was worried about is you. Especially today.”

“And it’s not the first time,” Sienna chimed in. “We all saw him at your trial last year. We saw him the night of the attack; the man seriously cares about you, Casey.”

“I mean, we have eyes,” Aurora chuckled. “Look, he dated my aunt on and off for years, and I never saw the look he has on his face when he’s around you.”

“Guys… why are you doing this?” Casey asked.

“Because we know he’s a good man,” Jackie replied. “And we know you’re happy when you’re with him. Hell, he’s even willing to subject himself to this bunch of losers….”

“Hey!” Bryce hollered. “Speak for yourself!”

“That was geared toward you, meathead!” she scoffed before turning back to Casey. “I’m just saying take your time and think. Don’t make any rash moves, OK?”

If anyone noticed Casey choke on her drink, they didn’t show it. Rash moves? If they only knew. But her friend's words affected her more than she let on. And thoughts of their time together began flooding her mind. Whenever life seemed at its darkest, he came through for her… and she did the same in return. No, they hadn’t planned on getting married… never even discussed it… but she knew she’d spend forever at his side as long as he wanted her there, and he just asked her to stay there, forever, as his wife… and she said no and ran away. She couldn’t stop seeing the look on Ethan’s face when she ran away from his room, no matter how hard she tried. She wanted this man. She fought for this man when he tried everything possible to push her away. Casey MacTavish was no glutton for punishment. She did it because she knew. She knew they were inevitable… they were meant to be. Now, fate stepped in and delivered them a surprise… and he wanted to stay married to her. He wanted her to be his wife… his forever.   He loved her that much, and she ran away.

“Casey,” Sienna said, waving a hand in front of her face. “Did you hear a word we said?”

“Did… did I? No!” she exclaimed. “I didn’t hear a single word, but… I’ve got… I’ve got to go!”

She took off without further explanation, and Bryce raised his glass once more. “To Casey… go get it, MacTavish!”  

~~~~~ 

She didn’t call him; it was nothing she’d want to discuss on the phone. But she needed to see him as much as she needed to breathe. She ran down the hallway and into a waiting elevator, cursing silently to herself as it stopped on every floor. When a tour bus full of enthusiastic senior citizens began piling in, Casey reached her breaking point. 

“Excuse me,” she yelled, pushing through the crowd. “I’m sorry, I need to get off!” she insisted, making it out just before the doors shut. 

She was only four floors away; she could handle that! She took to the stairs taking two at a time in her haste to reach Ethan. The smile on her face doubled when she reached his floor. Rushing down the hallway, she ignored the stares of other guests as she whizzed past them. They didn’t matter… nothing did… except getting to him.   

Finally, she reached his door and knocked furiously, but there was no answer. She knocked again, smoothing her unkempt hair nervously as she waited… still, nothing.

“Ethan!” She hollered with one final rap on the door. “Ethan, it’s me! Open up!”

Damn it! She should have called. Then a lightbulb went off… he gave her his room key! She fumbled in her purse, but it was nowhere to be found.

“Come on!” she groaned, pushing lipsticks, coins, and receipts to the side, but she still came up empty.

Discouraged, she was about to walk away when the door finally opened to reveal Ethan, dripping wet, wrapped only in a plush white towel, standing on the other side.

“Casey! What’s going….”

“Shhh!” she pushed her way through the door and locked it behind her. “Shhh.  Don’t talk. I need you to listen.”

“I’m listening….”

“So, you think we could make it work?”

“Make what work, exactly?”

“If we stay married… it would still have to be a secret… right… it could still jeopardize us….”

“Maybe initially, I haven’t given it much thought… since we’re getting an annulment… I don't see the need for us to waste energy on that."

“Well, you better start using energy on that. We’ll be back in Boston tomorrow, and we need to figure out how to make this work because you’re my husband, Ethan Ramsey, and there is no way I’m ever letting you go.”

“Wait,” he gasped, eyes bulging and his smile shining bright. “Are you serious? You don’t want the annulment… you want... to stay married?”

“I’m serious as a heart attack!” She reached up and ran her fingers through his damp, tousled hair, gently smiling as his bewilderment turned to delight. “You’re right… it wasn’t planned… but nothing about us ever was, yet, it’s perfect. I love you… so much… how could I ever want to undo this?”

They stared into each other's eyes for what seemed like an eternity, then Casey grew impatient. Pulling him close, her lips crashed against his and he pulled tighter than she ever thought possible. Their kisses, which began as sparks, now burst into flames, engulfing them as their hands grasped passionately at each other. Casey could feel him smiling against her lips, and when she pulled back, she found his towel had fallen to the floor.

“Well, look at you,” she smiled as her eyes raked over his body. Biting at her lower lip, she leered at the man who was now truly, truly hers. “I am one lucky woman!”

“And I’m one lucky man,” he grinned, taking her hand. “You're sure about this?”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything. I love you, Ethan.”

“Well, then, there’s only one more thing to be done.”

“Oh yeah,” she teased. “What’s that?”

“We haven’t consummated this union yet… and being that this is Vegas… is the marriage even legal if we haven’t?”

“I’m not sure,” she giggled, her hands running over his muscular chest. “But we wouldn’t want to jeopardize the legality, now… would we?”

“Absolutely not. But there’s a problem.”

“Oh?”

“Your clothes, Casey. They’re still on.”

“Oh, that,” she laughed, pulling away and tugging each item away. “I can take care of that, but quick!”

Ethan’s head tilted, eagerly appreciating every inch of skin she bared. “Hmm… anxious? Not going to show me those amateur striptease moves you dream of?”

“Of course I am!” She said, pushing him onto the bed. “But you’re my husband now, Dr. Ramsey. You have a life of stripteases and lap dances waiting for you. But right now… I need to consummate this thing! FAST!"

“I really am the luckiest man on earth,” he said with a kiss. “I love you, wife….”

“I love you, husband. Now… consummate me!”

~~~~~

"What do you mean they know!?" He ignored the stinging of his hand as it slammed into the mahogany table, the ice in their drinks rattling in its wake. "How the hell do they know!"

"I... I'm not certain... but I have a lot friends, in a lot places, and when they hear things that involve me… they make sure I know.”  

"Good! Then your friends… they can fix this. Right?” he scoffed. "Isn't that how it works?"

Picking her glass up from the table, she took a long sip. Silently closing her eyes, she centered herself before speaking again.  

"I'm afraid that's not how it works. If it was just a story at the New York Times, I could have it quashed within an hour. But did you miss the part where I said it’s already in the hands of the Justice Department? I have influence, Declan, but not that much influence!”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Declan tugged at his cropped hair as he walked in frantic circles. Charlotte was doing her best to keep her cool, but she could feel panic settling in. Turning away from Declan, she stepped onto the balcony and lit a cigarette. But he was quick at her heels. 

“How did they find out?” he demanded.

Charlotte took a long drag of her cigarette as she surveyed the Vegas landscape. She didn't slip up. She could count on one hand the number of times she had slipped up since she was in grade school... and never like this. And for what? A man! Ashamed, she turned away. 

“Wait a minute….” Declan scowled in an accusatory tone. “You were with Ramsey!”

“Declan, there is no way to know if that had anything to do with this!”

“Oh, sure! It’s all a coincidence! You’ve been so damn desperate to get into his ridiculously long trousers you lost your damn mind. Now… what did you tell him!”

“I didn’t tell him….”

“WHAT did you tell him!”

“I don’t remember. I had a lot to drink, and I don’t remember! OK?”

Declan collapsed onto a settee behind him, his head falling into his hands. 

“You’re right,” Charlotte lamented. “You’re right… he has to be involved. When the hell have we ever even seen him at one of these conferences! He came here for a reason, and like an idiot, I fell right into his trap!”

“I told you… you should have fucked the cabana boy, Char… get it out of your system, but no.. no, you’ve got to….” Declan raised his head, a look of wonder in his eyes. “Repeat what you just said?”

“That I’m an idiot? That I fell right into his trap? You know I already feel like shit. Do you need to rub it in?”

“No! No! Not that part! When did we ever see Ethan at a conference like this?” Declan’s eyes were glowing now as he reached for his phone.

“What are you getting at… I don’t know how that….”

“I have,” he interrupted. “Once, I saw him at a conference… in Miami.”

“Yes, he was there to score a cure for Naveen. He always has a reason… which is why I should have known better!”

“That wasn’t his only reason,” Declan handed Charlotte his phone, a devious grin on his face. “Only scroll right, babe. I wouldn’t want you to see what’s on the other side.”

Ethan and Casey on the balcony… talking, laughing, then a few where his hand cupped her cheek, a kiss, a stare, Casey straddles him on a chair….

“Holy shit!” Charlotte exclaimed. “You have pictures of him fucking her?”

“Well, not exactly, but it seems to be that was implied once they closed that patio door. After all, the good Dr. Ramsey was sharing a room with his nubile little intern.”  

“That sanctimonious piece of shit,” Charlotte grumbled. “Always acting like he’s so high and mighty. But why didn’t you do anything with these sooner?”

“Why would I?” He shrugged. “We got the contract with Edenbrook.  Once I had that in hand, getting a dozen more top hospitals to sign on was easy. I just kept these for insurance… and now… I think I’m ready to cash this policy in.”

“Hello!” Charlotte mocked, knocking her fist against Declan’s head. “Earth to little Deccy… what part of it is with the freaking DOJ did you miss! Those photos are lovely souvenirs, but they’re not giving us any leverage now.”

“Oh, no shit. I will be on the phone with my attorney in ten seconds and suggest you do the same. That… or escaping to a lovely island with no extradition treaty… they’re our only avenues of protection right now. But… if that son of a bitch and his little piece of ass are responsible for taking us down… I’m going to make sure they fall right beside us.”

Charlotte poured two glasses of whisky, and their glasses clinked after she handed one to him. “I love the smell of revenge in the morning. And… if we can watch their reputations and careers destroyed aboard a yacht in the Maldives… better yet.”

“You know, I think I have a call or two to make before I call my attorney. I want to guarantee the little lovebirds a rough landing back in Boston.”

Perma: @a-crepusculo @animesuck3r @annoyingmillenialnewbie @crazy-loca-blog @differenttyphoonwerewolf @doriopenheart @fayeswiftie @genevievemd @gryffindordaughterofathena @inlocusmads @jamespotterthefirst @jennieausten @kingliam2019 @liaromancewriter @lucy-268 @onikalover @openheartforeverinmyheart @potionsprefect @quixoticdreamer16 @rookiemartin @secretaryunpaid @socalwriterbee @tessa-liam @trappedinfanfiction @jerzwriter-reblogs-asks @choicesficwriterscreations @openheartfanfics

More tags in reblog.

[boo0beetle]

My little bug spouses ❤️ Mr and Mrs hopper if you will

[batrogers]

For any of my super niche fans curious how MY boys interact with taxation (based off this), here you go, under the cut bc *why do I have so many posts about taxes right now I stg*

Skyloft: doing the paperwork for Gaepora and Zelda wrt taxes, what's getting built and who needs help. He's honestly super happy to have stuff he can do at home to help out

Minish: dear Hylia please do not come near him with numbers, he will have fits but he CAN happily keep the store rooms sorted and he loves working with wire and other metals. His grandfather handles their taxes.

Kokiri: he's spent a lot of time helping Nabooru and Ganondorf with taxation among the Gerudo prior to this. His main use to Zelda is as a Threat against Lords that aren't paying their taxes.

Outset: he could not care less about harbour dues, and the fact that Tetra avodis them isn't a bad thing. The disaster in Gamelon happened because of the norms about letting people inspect the hold, so he's acquired some of her avoidance since.

Chief: If the gods could spare him from writing another budget about how much tax money they need for the Royal Engineers, he'd die happy. Unfortunately, Chief Royal Engineer means that's his life now. He WILL judge you for not paying your taxes. He will judge you hard.

Ordon: Mayor Bo handles taxation for the village, and Ilia ensures their herds (and children) have been accounted for, and Ordon honestly doesn't give a damn past that and doesn't have to.

Four: His father isn't dying anytime soon, so his only crime against taxation is not actually showing up for duty in the military... But fortunately, Zelda likes him and frankly nobody wants the chaos that would ensue if he DID. It just can't make the absence legal.

Prince: Legally speaking he's still a soldier who owes service for another decade and a half, but marrying the Queen has certainly redefined what that service looks like. He spends a lot of time doing paperwork about taxes. Most of his time, in fact. He would prefer to never have to account for acreage of wheat again in his life.

Rabbit: His uncle is still handling their household and he's quite happy to leave it that way, thank you very much. No further comment needed, thanks.

Smith: Upon becoming an apprentice to the castle smith, rather than the village smith, he's got a lot less to worry about with regards to guild fees and so on. Technically he's done his apprenticeship and could work on his own but he enjoys learning and also enjoys not having to pay anything but the head tax so he's happy to stay working for someone else.

Ravio: Gods save him from the ravages of doing numbers on yield from different fields. Please. It's gotten better but that just means there's more numbers. What did he do to deserve this.

Far: He sometimes does the tax rounds of the villages he knows to collect tax money because they'll trust him to be honest about taking it where he says he will. He also occasionally goes and deals with people calling themselves tax collectors who aren't. Zo and Zelt are a little hesitant, but in pursuit of legitimacy it's helpful. Just don't ask him to do the numbers himself.

Hateno: He has the uneviable position of paying taxes in both Tarrey Town AND Hateno Village, because he won't relinquish living in Hateno just because Zelda moved Flowerblight into her house. But it does cost him, and he's annoyed by that. He's been bugged about the whole 'aren't you going to do labour' before and rapidly shut them down, because everyone knows he's the guy who you ask to fix the really intractable problems not the general ones. He's also gotten into the "What kind of tax do you want anyways, I've got gleeok bits?" negotiations.

[ottpopfic]

“Hey Dads!” she greets, it's only been a few months but its so good to see them.

“Hey, Piccolina” Papi greets, all smiles. He puts his hand on Skeletor’s nose to push away his head as the borse goes to bite him “Need some help with the kiddo?”

“Sure” she turns to the kids “Draco these are my dads, my Papis gonna help you down okay?”

“Kay” Draco is too busy looking all around now that his focus isn't on his sibling or the race, it's a lot to take in

Papi helps Draco down out of the saddle, bracing his leg so he can swing the other one over and then helping lower him. Katie follows the kid down and sheds her helmet as she goes, mostly because Skeletor looks to be in chomp mode now that they're no longer ready to race and Katie would like to keep people in one piece.

Dad ignores the danger of the flesh-eating demon to pull Katie into a tight hug the second he's able, she can only hug back one armed to keep control of her steed but neither of them minds. He smells like herbs and antiseptic and sun-cooked wood and shes so happy to see him, relaxing into his safe hold

“Missed you bug,” he tells her, smacking a loud kiss into her gross sweaty helmet hair “Glad you got to come early”

“Me too” she tells him, then goes to give Papi a hug as well. Skeletor nearly gets ahold of Papi’s ponytail for the ninetieth time so he gets sent back to Ah-Pa’s stables, she will call Janet later and ask her to tell the handlers to give him a treat for being a good boy

“So which one of you is the Ghost Royalty?” Draco asks, squinting at them both like the ghosts might become suddenly visible if he looks hard enough

“It's me” Dad says without missing a beat, Papi elbows him in the ribs “Ow, hey! Violence against the heir of hell here, an affront to this noble house!”

Dad is lucky he doesn't break out into hives as it's not technically a lie, he does have an underworld title after marrying Papi. It's something stupid like ‘Prince Consort’ or whatever, he only uses it to pull people's legs without having to take a Benadryl.

Papi digs his elbow in good-naturedly “Shut up you big dork” he laughs before turning to the kid “That would be me, Nico di Solace. The other one is Will”

Papi gives Draco his hand to shake, Draco looks a little star eyed as he takes it and then Dad’s offered hand

“We've heard a little bit of your adventure from Katie,” Dad tells him “Come and see me in the Infirmary once Conner gets you sorted I wanna double-check your levels”

“Are you disputing my medical work” Katie accuses, hand on her chest in mock offense “Saying I do a shoddy job? You trained me yourself and then can't trust your own pupal, for shame”

“We have better facilities” Dad all but whines, Katie blows a very mature raspberry at him making Papi hide a laugh. But in hiding his laugh it makes Papi notest what Katies wearing

“Is that my shirt?” he asks, pointing to the Ramones shirt that she totally did not steal from him

“No” she says as straight faced as she can, unfortunately her lie makes Dad sneeze the fucking snitch. This is why she never learned to lie properly she blames her Dad and his dumb allergies

Papi narrows his eyes at her “Katie-“

“WOW Draco we should go get you situated with Conner!” She says louder than necessary, taking the kid by the shoulders and steering him towards the cabins “Bye dads see you at dinner!”

“I know where you sleep!” Papi calls after them

“Uh huh sure yeah, bye forever!” She hurries the kid a little faster

“Your dads are nice” Draco tells her as hes rushed along

“Yeah,” she agrees with a smile “They're pretty awesome”

[three-bunnies-in-a-trenchcoat]

Midna wheezed. "Oh- Oh, Three protect me-"

"Midna, ya ain't even supposed to be here, I can make ya le- Twi, stop laughing, you're barely any better."

"Sorry." He gasped out. "How do you even cover that up?"

@peachy-scars hi! I'm the one that wrote your gift! (Hope it's not too bad...)

"Link." Midna greeted him, cup already in her hands. 

"Midna." He said, sagging down into the chair across from her with a sigh of exhaustion.

She slid a cup of warm tea over to him. "What happened?"

He picked the cup up, swirling the liquid inside. "Do you have anything stronger?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Why, Captain! Drinking on the job?"

"I'm not technically on duty." He grimaced. "I probably shouldn't drink though, you're right."

"I never said you shouldn’t drink." Midna said, getting up to retrieve a flask. She sat back down, and poured whatever was inside into his cup until it was nearly over the top.

He took a sip, and held in a gag. "Three Golden Goddesses, what is that?"

"Just some traditional Twili whiskey." She said, pouring some into her own cup. "You're already handling it better than my husband."

"What's he like?" He asked. Midna had mentioned her husband a few times, mostly in the context of her rejections (the ones that weren't extremely brutal, at least), but she had never gone into any detail. "Other than, uh, 'abs for days and a cute little squishable face'."

She raised an eyebrow. "Attractive." 

(Yeah, he kind of walked into that one.)

He downed the rest of his whiskey and tea combination, grimacing. "Anything else?"

"Nice tits."

"Okay, I will lead by example." He held up a finger. "Uh, Kree is kind, and he's a knight, and his hair is very soft, and he's good with kids, and he has nice arms– fuck–"

"Feeling the effects of the whiskey so soon, Captain?"

"No." He grumbled. Surely he wasn't that much of a lightweight. He had never been one for drinking, but he had done it a few times.

"Really?" She said, pouring more into his cup. He had the feeling she was trying to get him drunk so he would say something embarrassing, but he had had a long day and didn't really care anymore.

"Yeah." He said, holding the tea cup delicately. "I'm fine."

And the next thing Link knew, he was waking up in Midna's bed, her hair in his mouth and their clothes switched.

"What happened?" He asked groggily, sitting up and adjusting her robes, which he was now all too aware were very revealing. He had a very vague memory of actually doing the complaining he came there for, but nothing that would indicate how that had happened.

Midna slapped her hand around, searching for the flask. "I think we drank too much." She held her prize upside down, and a couple of drops fell onto Link's (now hers) tunic.

"Do– doya think anyone saw us?"

"I have a reputation." She said, throwing her arm across her face. "I can't be seen drinking with you."

"What's that mean?"

"Captain, and I mean this with the utmost respect– you are boring."

"Why does everyone think I'm boring?" He groaned. "Y'all– y'all are so mean."

"'Y'all'." She giggled, and then clutched her head. "Ow."

-----

And then, whenever there had been a particularly stupid officer bugging him, Link would head over to Midna’s tent. Apparently, the bonds forged when you got drunk and made a fool of yourself were strong.

(He thought Midna just liked to talk shit about people, though.)

"Have I ever told you I'm married?" 

"Twilight." Warriors said, grunting. "I don't really think this is the time."

He rested his head on Warriors’s shoulder, leaning more of his weight on him. (Rude; he wasn't the only one injured, here.) "She's beautiful. Orange hair, just like a fire, the most beautiful tattoos…"

"Twilight, if you don't shut up, I'm going to leave you here to stitch your own wounds up." Had their potions been spiked, or was he just delirious with pain?

"She's a queen, ya know." He sighed. "I don't know why Midna picked me."

He nearly dropped him at that. "Midna?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it's not a Hylian name because she's not. Hylian, I mean."

"Really?" His voice seemed squeaky. Was it squeaky?

"Yeah." He frowned at him. "You don't have a problem with that, right? Some people think she's a monster just cause she's not Hylian–"

"What? No, I don't care."

He relaxed. "Good. I think she'd like you. You're easy to make fun of."

"Yeah, I know she would." He grumbled.

"What?" Twilight asked.

"What?"

"One time I heard her screaming." Twilight continued, either not caring about his evasive answer or too concussed to notice. "Found her standing on the table, staring at this tiny little bug in the corner."

-----

"Captain Link!" The soldier saluted. 

"At ease. Any news to report?"

"Ah." The soldier gulped. "Lady Midna is here."

"...Lady Midna?"

"Yes. She asked to meet with you specifically."

He stifled a groan. He had all of his duties to catch up on, no matter what Zelda said about special circumstances, and Midna was not someone easy to ignore.

(And there was still the matter of whether his Midna and Twilight’s were the same.)

----

"Hello, Captain." A voice said from behind him, just before an arm leaned on his head. "Been a while, has it not?"

"...Hello, Midna."

"Is that how you greet your friends, now?" She picked up a piece of paper from his desk. "You said something about a quest in your last letter, how's that been going?" She raised an eyebrow as if to indicate that that was a proper greeting (it wasn't, in Warriors’s opinion).

"It's been fine."

"My husband is on one, too." She tossed the paper aside. "I haven't seen him in months."

"So, uh, why are you here?" He bit his tongue, trying not to mention that her husband was on the same quest as him. He didn't know for sure that they were the same Midnas. It could have just been a very… odd… coincidence (but probably not, considering all the things they had told him. Goddesses, they were going to kill him when they realized how much embarrassing information he knew).

"Everyone in Link's village is… dull." Was that the first time she had ever said his name? "And I needed a break from my duties as queen."

"So, you came here to– what, mock me or beat the shit out of my soldiers?"

"Well, actually, I came here to beat up your soldiers and mock some of your government officials." She smiled fondly. "Zelda and I have such fun doing that."

He wasn't sure if she was talking about his Zelda or hers, and he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know.

"Warriors?" A knock came at his door, accompanied by a familiar Ordonian accent. "Wild was wondering whe–"

Midna strode over to the door swiftly, yanking it open. Twilight was standing there, hand still raised, open-mouthed.

"Link?" She stared down at him.

"Midna?" He said, voice a bit shrill. "How are you–"

"The War of Eras. How are you here?"

"I'm– I'm on a quest with him?" Twilight pointed at him.

Warriors's eyes darted over the window, and he wondered whether he could make it over there before they caught him. He'd survived taller heights.

"Oh, no, Captain." Midna said, apparently realizing how grave the situation was and dragging him away. "You're going to tell me everything embarrassing Link told you."

"I don't know anything!" He squeaked. He knew lots of things; he knew too much about both of them. Was this how he would die?

"Ah, Midna, wait." Twilight said, pushing his way in front of Warriors. He could have cried, happy for the first time ever to see that ugly wolf pelt. "Don't you want to ask him what's all going on?"

"You're right." She narrowed her eyes. "I am curious why he kept this from us…"

"Because I knew this would happen!" He said defensively. "You're going to interrogate me!"

"Well, he's not wrong." Twilight said.

"Of course I'm not!" 

Midna patted him absently on the head. "Yes, yes, thank you." She turned to Twilight. "I can't believe he kept this from me. We bitched together. Does that mean nothing? And I'm the one who's supposed to have blackmail on him."

Well, that was a slightly concerning statement, but–

"Half of my letters I couldn't send anyway, Midna– Y'all'd've known that if you actually read them–"

"Y'all'd've." Midna said in delight, any signs of being upset disappearing immediately.

His eye twitched. He worked hard to cover his accent, yet it seemed Midna was always able to draw it out at the perfect opportunity to make fun of him.

Twilight snorted. "Damn, Captain. Even mine ain't that bad."

"Shut up." He hissed, not even trying anymore and letting his accent come out full force. He wasn't ashamed of where he grew up, after all.

Midna wheezed. "Oh– Oh, Three protect me–"

"Midna, ya ain't even supposed to be here, I can make ya le– Twi, stop laughing, you're barely any better."

"Sorry." He gasped out. "How do you even cover that up?"

"Practice."

"It's thicker than mud!" Midna leaned on his desk, gasping for breath. "Yet you sound like the perfect little city boy!"

He crossed his arms. "No one respects ya if ya have an accent like mine."

Twilight nodded, sobering up a bit. "Yeah, you're right."

His eyes flicked down to their matching wedding bands, and he stood up. "This has been nice and all, but I still have work to do–"

"I'll forgive you just this once, Captain." Midna said, leveling a finger at him. He had the feeling that she had just been messing with him the entire time. "Only because your accent is hilarious."

"It sounds just like his!" He protested. 

He coughed. "Well–"

"The thickness doesn't change how it sounds, Twi." He hissed.

Honestly. No one would have ever been this rude about an accent in Ordon.

[eric-the-bmo]

Behold, the Neighborhood Watch cast list! Taken directly from my notes document, accurate as of writing this (s2ep4):

Main Cast

Song O’Sullivan [she/they]: We got a witch! Was sent to the town by their mafia father in order to keep them safe, and had a ritual go wrong three years ago. Has a pet snake and never explains what her job is. 6'3. Lives in 1317.

Markus Jones [they/he/she]: (Bugs, bugs, and more bugs.) A very strange person from Romania with an obsession with bugs and no living family to speak of. Will not hesitate to threaten or even stab others. 5’4 and lives in 1313.

Louis Bon Fontaine [he/him]: The Crooked with a protection amulet, a deal with the devil, and a vampire who’s coming after him. 6’1, looks old enough to be someone’s dad, late 30’s-early 40s. Lives in 1303.

John Doe [he/him]: A monster confined to a human form three years ago, trying to keep his nature and hunger for human flesh a secret as he attempts to make friends and be loved. So far he hasn’t been doing too well in both aspects lmao. 6’10. Lives in 1311.

Neighbors

Shelby Waters: John’s roommate. A go-with-the-flow Twitch streamer who’s a total skeptic of all things supernatural.

Philip Moore: A divorced father trying his best to take care of his daughter. Louis’s neighbor. Revealed to be an alcoholic in s1ep5, though he’s been working on recovering.

Jenny Moore: Philip’s daughter. She’s a brat.

Bob Patterson: He and his wife are residents of 1315, and are collectively awful. Owes Markus a favor since they helped his wife, and in s2ep4 it was discovered he’s a monster hunter.

Karen Patterson: Bob’s wife. She has way too many cats, and in s1 was infected by a strange plant. Leader of the HOA, or is at least part of it.

Emmett: Song’s neighbor. Revealed to have uploaded his brain to AI in s1ep3, and was the one who constructed the Dome. Had been researching the Hunter cryptids, and provides us with information.

Arjun Sampath: Fatima’s husband, he’s a brilliant engineer who used to do government work and created Amira. The Sampath family lives in 1319.

Fatima Sampath: Arjun’s wife. She and Arjun had always wanted a child but were unable to, for several unspecified reasons. She made us fruit baskets when we all first moved in.

Amira Sampath: Arjun and Fatima’s daughter. Is on her cell phone a lot. Recognized Shelby and is a fan of her. Was taking archery lessons with Song before it was discovered in s2 she was a robot and lost her memories of the show’s events.

Kenneth Feinstetter: A loud and boisterous conspiracy theorist who claims to know the truth about this town. Revealed to be a prophet in s2ep4. Specifically, physical touch allows him to view memories; he can’t seem to be able to choose what he sees.

William Kreiger: A horribly socially awkward man with a pencil stache and many rats. Knows about Markus’s bug ability, and is implied to have the same talents but with rats.

Bonnie McMurry: John and Shelby’s new neighbor. A sweet old lady who had a son that passed away a few years ago. Loud music came from her basement at night until she decided to have a yard sale.

Heath Clark: An outspoken trans man who enjoys camping and the outdoors. Married to Sammy.

Sammy Clark: He’s totally the Sasquatch. Claims to be Blessed by Nature and can control birds, a little bit- has the same ability as Markus and William.

Lucretius [Lestat]: An incredibly pretty and charming individual who’s actually a vampire- and Louis’s ex. He moved here just to make Louis’ life worse, and is trying to get with Song because of this. Recently changing houses due to a bug infestation.

Townspeople

Walter Havershaft: The cheerful mailman of Greenville. Introduced in the season one finale.

Kathy Green: The florist. She and Walter like each other.

Jack: The local handyman/everyman of town. Runs a store called “Jack of All Trades.”

Laura Brown: The librarian. Likes to read romance novels.

Joseph Miller: The park ranger.

Vincent “Vinnie” Carbone: Runs the pizza shop.

Harold Wells: A bag boy at the grocery store. A “well, Actually-” kind of guy and carries around an anime body pillow (tf?)

Sunny: The ice cream stand man. Does he know they grant wishes..?

Dr. Amis Sutherland: The doctor of the family clinic, as there is no hospital in Greenville. Said to be a miracle worker.

Tawny Evergreen: An older woman with a flower crown and crochet top. She runs the local coffee shop/ cat cafe, Grounded in Nature.

Jewel Green: An employee of the coffee shop. Doesn't care for her job, has many piercings, and is legally not allowed to spell the customer’s names correctly. Granddaughter of the Crestfallens.

The Crestfallens: An elderly couple who runs the Circle general store [which is totally supernatural]. Very joyful, despite their last name.

Clara: An intern for the botanical parade, and also John’s coworker. Seems to have a crush on him, and has lived in Greenville her whole life.

Minister Jebediah Ford: The Minister of the church in town. A nice and well-dressed older man; he has a garden.

Bob Jr.: The Sheriff of Greenville and the Pattersons’ son.

Jason Chen: A cop.

[sparrow-orion-writes]

Happy WBW! Today's is incredibly niche, but what does your world's gratitude look like? Are large acts of thanks required or scorned? Do most people find it polite to express thanks? Or, if that's a little much, how about your characters? What are their feelings toward giving and receiving gratitude?

I loved this question so much and now that's everyone else's problem, please get ready for an essay.

Arcadian Wilds:

Ari

Ari grew up in a world where respect was owed without cause. Thankfulness was something expected, required, whether or not the individual sees reason to give thanks. It makes being thankful into a chore. I wrote a little thing here:

He remembers his mother telling him he was to marry at sixteen. He remembers the false gratitude behind the building, frustrated grief of his own powerlessness.

As for how gratitude was expressed in his culture, it was largely through gifts. The value of the gift in proportion to that of the thanks given.

Giving gifts to the goddess was a more spiritual matter. They believed that they were giving pieces of themselves in a more metaphysical way, than leaving actual gifts.

April

On the opposite end, April comes from a place where nothing is really expected of anyone. People fall into places they belong and pass the time. Giving thanks was never really very high on his list, however there's an important distinction to make for April between giving thanks to people, and giving thanks to the gods, and also, in April's unique case, animals too.

April had largely grown up waiting to die, he realised. He can't remember ever even being acknowledged as a living person. Maybe that's why he rarely wanted the help of others. He's not sure he ever learned how to say thank you.

Vs

He held out his hand to stop Ember in his tracks. "Don't step on any jars - the offerings - to the forest people." He'd left a few in his time here before. His way of saying thank you for his own knowledge; something that only half makes sense to him now. Even if he did, or didn't believe, just in case it seemed only right.

Vs

"Thank you for not biting me," April muttered, staring into the large pincers with surprising calmness. To solidify this, he threw it half of his sandwich, which it took gratefully and scurried off.

Released:

Mallory:

This man is a walking train wreck, this is important. He's overly thankful. People walk all over him and he's like cheers for that. Get this man some therapy. Or don't because whatever wrong with him is more interesting.

Thìodran's Acolytes:

Blood. Many blood. Lots of flesh?? Honestly general cult stuff when it comes to giving thanks to an eldritch apocalyptic god.

Dieredredah's Witches

Kindness to bugs, especially spiders. Reverence of the small and mundane. Divination.

Cardinal Sins

Tulip and Aspen:

Aspen thanks Tulip by offering its hand. Tulip thanks Aspen by sinking his teeth into the offered flesh.

And honestly that's all that matters rn.