#q watches kingdom

[pearlieprincess]

🎯3DS GRAPHICS PT. 2🕹️

Here’s more :D

🎮Free to use | Part one

[gingersp1ce547]

And if i said this ending was so kingdom hearts 1 (with maybe a pinch of the ending of 3) would you believe me

[adreamoverlife]

No because HERE ME OUT, instead of Pomme calling Antoine "Teacher" like Shiva does, Pomme signs "prêtre" because of how Antoines dressed.

Hear me out, The Girl From The Other Side AU with Pomme and q!Antoine

[bueckets]

The Hit List | Part 1

Pairing: fuckgirl!Paige x Mechi Student!reader

Masterlist (TBA) | Part 2

Genre: romance (eventually), slow burn, enemies to lovers, kinda funny?, smut (eventually), cat n mouse

Description: When an overworked engineering student's late-night CAD project gets interrupted by a very drunk, very lost basketball star stumbling into the wrong dorm room, she learns that some defensive plays work better in love than on the court.

What starts as a case of mistaken identity turns into an unexpected game of cat and mouse when UConn's golden girl, Paige Bueckers, can't seem to take a hint– or maybe just doesn't want to. Armed with nothing but sarcasm, an overprotective stuffed bear named Mr. Gummy, and a borrowed team jacket that definitely isn't helping the situation, our engineering hero finds herself drawing up plays to defend her heart against college basketball's most persistent point guard.

They say offense wins games, but defense wins championships. When you're trying not to fall for a girl who treats the court like her kingdom and your personal space like a suggestion, maybe it's time to admit some battles aren't meant to be won.

WC: 11.2k

Authors Notes: i had first written this for jkxreader on my other blog (whoretan) however plot deviates heavily after the first encounter, um, kinda fuck girly paige, but kind of just a love drunk idiot too

Chapter 1: The Unexpected Guest

Your eyes burned as you stared at the CAD model rotating on your screen, the internal combustion engine you'd been working on for the past—what was it now, eight hours?—still refusing to cooperate.

The familiar workspace of SOLIDWORKS had become both your best friend and worst enemy over the past three years at UConn, but tonight it felt particularly vindictive. You'd been trying to get the timing belt assembly to properly mate with the crankshaft for what felt like an eternity, and your deadline was creeping closer by the minute.

"Did you hear?" Riven's voice cut through your concentration as she burst through the door, her designer backpack hitting her bed with enough force to make your desk lamp wobble.

"Hear what?" You didn't bother turning around, instead zooming in on the problematic area of your model. The project was due in six hours, and you were nowhere near having it stress-tested. Sleep was starting to feel like a distant memory from another life.

Riven paused in her tracks—you could practically hear her jaw dropping in that dramatic way she'd perfected since freshman year. "Paige Bueckers was talking about how Q’s jump shot is worse than a middle schooler's."

The absurdity of the statement finally forced you to tear your eyes away from the screen. Your neck cracked in protest as you turned to face your roommate, who stood there with her perfectly manicured hands on her hips, waiting for your reaction. Three years of living together had taught you that Riven wouldn't let you focus until you properly acknowledged whatever piece of gossip she'd brought home.

“That’s literally ridiculous.”

Riven tilted her head, eyes rolling toward the ceiling in that characteristic way of hers. Six seconds of contemplation later (you’d learned to count), she shrugged and pulled out her iPhone, probably to text the women's basketball group chat about the latest drama.

Your roommate, much like all the other Huskies superfans, didn't care whose reputation a particular player tarnished. She'd much rather get on their good side, damaged reputations or not. It was a dance you'd watched play out countless times since freshman year, when you'd first been assigned as roommates.

Back then, you'd thought the random housing assignment would be a disaster—the sports-obsessed sorority girl and the robotics team president seemed like a recipe for mutual hatred. But somehow, your differences had created a strange balance. She dragged you out of your engineering cave occasionally, and you reminded her that there was more to college than chasing after basketball stars.

"Caitlin bought Kate those new custom Nikes." Riven thrust her phone in your face, revealing a photo of Clark's teammate happily posing with pristine white sneakers. The caption read, 'Thanks for the gift bb, @CaitlinClark22'.

You squinted at the screen, trying not to think about how those shoes probably cost more than your entire semester's textbooks. The basketball elite weren't just known for their court skills—their NIL deals were equally legendary. Every starter came from successful programs, the kind that built training facilities and had courts named after their alumni.

"What a lucky bitch," Riven sighed, flopping onto her bed.

Apparently, your roommate wasn't the only one who didn't care for her reputation. Last week, she'd blown up your phone with about thirty—maybe sixty—texts about how her sorority sister had seen Caitlin making out with someone else at The Tavern. Looks like those custom Nikes must've been an apology.

You looked up at your starstruck roommate with pursed lips. Riven caught your expression and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, she's being messy. So what? Those shoes are like two thousand dollars with the custom work, that's my fucking meal plan right there."

"Remind me again how you're a neurology student?"

Riven clutched her chest with an open hand, gasping dramatically. "Wow. I see how it is." She threw herself backward onto her bed with the theatrical flair of a soap opera star.

You couldn't help but grin, even as your eyes darted back to your computer screen. The smile quickly died on your lips.

Oh fuck.

The CAD model still sat there, mocking you with its incomplete state. You'd managed to complete maybe forty percent of the assembly, and the entire thing needed to be fully rigged and stress-analyzed by nine AM.

This was the cost of your procrastination, another dinner sacrificed to the gods of engineering deadlines. At least you had a good excuse this time: you'd spent the weekend helping the robotics team prepare for their upcoming competition. Being vice president meant putting in the extra hours, even if it meant cramming your actual coursework into impossible timeframes.

"I have to finish this tonight. Do not bother me with any more basketball drama." You spun your chair back to face your screen, not bothering to check if Riven was sticking her tongue out at you. You could picture it anyway, she had the maturity of a twelve-year-old sometimes.

Five and a half hours later, you finally pressed the glorious 'Submit' button on Blackboard. You turned off your PC with such violence that the desktop nearly toppled over.

"Never doing that again," you groaned, slumping into your chair and letting your head fall back against the cushion. Your neck felt like it had been replaced with concrete somewhere around hour six.

"You literally say that every time," Riven quipped from her side of the room.

If you had any energy left, you would've gotten up and punched her in the ass. Luckily for her, your eyes had started doing that thing where they drooped shut every few seconds without your permission. You'd decided about thirty minutes ago that your chair was an acceptable substitute for a bed. The walk to your actual mattress seemed about as feasible as climbing Mount Everest right now.

"How do I look? Good enough for the party?"

Fucking hell. 

You summoned what little remained of your core strength and groaned as you forced your chair to swivel around. The sight that greeted you was, admittedly, impressive, even through your exhaustion-blurred vision.

Riven wore a black dress that hit just above her knees, with strategic cutouts along her ribs. The laced-up black heels she'd spent twenty minutes struggling with (while whining very fucking loudly) completed the look perfectly. She'd devoted the last hour of your project completion marathon to preparing for KK’s birthday celebration.

“Which party?” you croaked. “The one where everyone’s fighting or the one where they’re pretending nothing happened?”

Her nose wrinkled in that way it did when she was trying not to laugh. "You're so annoying."

Yeeeaaah, definitely the messy one.

You watched as Riven stumbled toward her drawer, rummaging through three compartments before pulling out a neon orange tiny bag. And when you say tiny, you mean tiny, it couldn't have been more than two inches across.

"Can you even fit anything in there?"

A wicked smile spread across her face as she opened the toy purse, pulling out her student ID and a tube of lipstick. Of-fucking-course. “Minimalist chic, baby. Besides, I don’t need much. Just the essentials. I'm serious. Tonight's gonna be fucking legendary."

“Legendary,” you deadpanned, swiveling your chair back to your desk. “Try not to end up on Barstool again.”

You swore she lunged forward, ready to attack you with her miniature weapon. But her phone rang, which happened to be a far more pressing matter. The assault could wait. Riven pressed the phone to her ear with a smile that would have made the Cheshire Cat proud.

"Are you here? Yeah, I'm ready. You have the Pink Whitney? Okay. Bye."

She turned back to you with that same manic grin. "I'll get you back for that later. Bye!"

And just like that, Riven leaped out of the room, her neon orange bag and its singular tube of lipstick disappearing with her into whatever chaos awaited at the UConn house.

The sudden silence in her wake felt almost oppressive. You sat there for a moment, contemplating your life choices. The clean lines and precise measurements of your engineering models never gave you this much drama. Maybe that's why you preferred spending your nights with SOLIDWORKS instead of at parties—machines were predictable, logical, and they never started drama about anyone's jump shot.

After nearly crawling your way across the room for what felt like thirty minutes (but was probably closer to five), you finally made it to your bed. Or rather, to the base of your bed. The problem now was getting on top of it. UConn, in its infinite wisdom, had given everyone the tallest fucking beds in existence.

Tall enough that all of your belongings fit underneath it so they could make the rooms ten times smaller by doing so. You sat on your ass, glaring at what felt like a sixteen-foot space between you and the mattress. You could, theoretically, just fucking get up and with one last surge of energy jump onto it. But the soft cotton of your fuzzy rug was suddenly hugging your back, tucking you in, cradling you like a loving parent.

Fuck it, the floor isn't even that bad. You've slept on much worse—like that one time freshman year when you passed out in the robotics lab after a forty-eight-hour building session. At least your rug didn't smell like motor oil and desperation.

Your head lay flat on the floor, the hardwood never felt softer. Riven had left hours ago, and you'd managed to successfully knock out on your chair for a bit. That was until you jolted awake, sweating out of every crevice of your body, and made eye contact with your actual bed. You'd said goodbye to the chair and began the voyage to your proper sleeping place. Clearly, that wasn't going as planned.

It was too late now to dwell on what could've been. Tomorrow, you'd start anew. Just like every time she partied, Riven wouldn't be back for two or three days. You'd have a full day to sleep on your actual bed without the mention of UConn and internal combustion engines.

You turned to your side, the fuzz tickling your chin as you nuzzled into it. Sleep was just starting to creep in when—

"Taylor! Tay baby, please open the door!"

The hairs on your arms rose and a fart you hadn't realized you'd been holding in released into the air. Some drunk player had the wrong door.

“Wrong room,” you called, hoping they’d get the hint. With a shaky breath, you nuzzled deeper into the carpet.

Not a second later, a bang erupted through your room. "Tay, please. I'm so sorry. I fucked up."

Your heart thrashed in your chest. Could you not have one night of peace? One night of tranquility to enjoy your own company? One night to enjoy sleeping on the hard floor?

"Taylor, for fuckssake." The asshole nearly knocked the fucking door off the hinges.

First, you're going to knock her the hell out. Then, you'll find out where Taylor lives and knock her out, too. Maybe you could work it into your next robotics project—a robot specifically designed to punch drunk athletes who can't read room numbers.

"Tay, please—"

You jolted upward and ran to the door so fast you probably broke several laws of physics. Swinging the wooden panel open like a madwoman, you yelled, "Listen asshole, I don't know who Taylor is and I don't give a damn. It's late as hell and some of us actually enjoy sleeping!"

Said asshole leaned against the door frame of your room, a Nike-covered foot tapping against the floor as she pressed a finger to your lips. "Shhhhh, baby, I said I'm sorry."

Your throat locked and you nearly laughed at the audacity. Did this fucker really not notice you weren't Taylor? Through your sleep-deprived haze, you managed to register a few details about the intruder: tall, athletic build that made your mouth go dry, honey-blonde hair falling in waves around her shoulders, and wearing what looked like exclusive UConn team gear. Great. A drunk basketball star. 

Said basketball star happened to also push herself off the door frame and trudge past you, right into your room as if she'd been there a million times.

Much like you wanted to before your carpet trapped you, the stranger leaped onto your bed, stomach flopping onto the cushion of your mattress. She muttered something you couldn't hear as she grabbed your favorite pillow and brought it close to her chest. She was snuggling your Mr. Gummy.

You were going to go to jail for assaulting a Division I athlete. Yeah. This was the end of your girl boss engineering career. Goodbye feminist STEM icon. Hello convict. All those years of suffering to get into UConn just for you to catch a case over the Greek Goddess, Nike, herself. At least you'd submitted your project first, might as well get credit for that before you went to prison.

"Babe, I don't remember your bed smelling this good." She'd gone into a fetal position, kicking off her—yep, definitely team-exclusive Nikes. Maybe, just maybe, you'd knock her out and then sell her shoes on StockX. The proceeds could cover your legal defense.

You rubbed your forehead with the back of your palm, wiping away the stress sweat that had accumulated. You swung your head out of your door, looking left and right, then repeat. Empty. Fuck. Fuck, and fuck.

You paced back and forth a few times, biting on the edge of your hand. You can't pick this goddess off your bed. One, she's drunk as hell. Two, she's... You gazed back at the stranger, somewhere on her journey to your bed she'd tossed her UConn warmup jacket to your floor. Leaving her in a fitted tank top that left nothing to the imagination.

Who needs that many shoulder muscles? The definition in the arm that hugged Mr. Gummy was sculpted by years of perfect jump shots. Each shift of her body revealed new curves, like a living Nike ad designed specifically to torment sleep-deprived engineering students.

Holy hell. Get a fucking grip.

Okay, so you can't drag the basketball star off your bed.

Plan B it is.

You trudged into your room, taking one last look at the hallway. Should you close the door?

If someone did hypothetically walk past would they think you drugged her? She was slurring her words and hugging your favorite bear while you paced back and forth like you happened to "accidentally" slip something into her Gatorade.

You closed the door.

You needed to call Riven. You could care less that she was at the beginning of her three-day rager, you weren't going to wait till the next morning when Nike would wake up and start accusing you of kidnapping UConn's star point guard.

You slowly walked toward your desk, making sure to avoid the panels on the floor that creaked every time someone stepped on them. Empty. You pushed your chair back to see if it happened to fall earlier. Empty.

The air stilled, and you shook your head. No. No. She was laying on it.

You'd chucked your phone onto your bed after deciding to finally start your project. You had to call Riven. There was no other choice but to tell someone. And given the fact that your contact list included your parents and Riven, she was looking like the most optimal candidate.

As silently as you could, you tip-toed toward your bed and did a quick examination. Near her head? Nope. Mr. Gummy? Nope. Legs? Nope. Hip?

Yeah.

Maybe you would go to jail after all, for assault.

You better get an A on that fucking project.

You took a step forward, awkwardly climbing the edge of your bed to get closer to your phone. Which was nicely tucked right under the curve of her ass, your camera barely peeking out as if it was taunting you.

Shit. How are you going to pull it out?

Your face contorted as you inched closer to the basketball player, thumb and middle finger clutching the edges of your phone and lightly tugging backward. She huffed out a soft groan. Dear god.

It's not budging.

In and out. Breathe.

You tugged again.

Something thudded against the floor.

Your eyes left the phone and gazed to the floor where your Mr. Gummy lay sacrificed to the floor demons. Uh oh.

You turned back to retrieve your bear when your eyes locked with hers. Her very open eyes.

She was smiling.

"Baby I didn't know you were so handsy."

You stared. That's all you could manage to do—stare at the face of the beautiful drunk idiot in front of you. And holy shit was she beautiful. The kind of beautiful that made you question if UConn's recruitment standards included a mandatory photogenic quota for certain players.

The idiot had a playful smile playing across her stupidly perfect face. Taylor must be a lucky girl. Not lucky enough, though, considering her girlfriend was currently in a stranger's bed. How drunk did someone have to be to not recognize they had the wrong person?

"C'mere," she grabbed your arm, pulling you to your side as if you weighed nothing. A strong arm locked around your waist and began rubbing circles on your stomach. The motion sent shivers down your spine that you desperately tried to ignore.

"Missed you, n' I'm sorry baby," she slurred into your ear. Her voice was much softer now, a warm whisper that made your whole body tingle.

Taylor, I'm so sorry.

The words shot straight between your legs. You hadn't been touched in almost two years. Sue me. A gorgeous basketball star was rubbing your lower stomach while she told you—her girlfriend—she missed her. This had to be some kind of cosmic joke. You spend three years avoiding athlete drama, and now the universe deposits one directly into your bed?

You needed your phone. Pronto.

"Listen— I—" You raised a clammy hand to lift her, attempting to wrap your fingers around her wrist to lift it. Your engineering brain was trying to calculate the exact force required to remove her arm without waking her up further, but all mathematical ability seemed to have short-circuited.

"You're so squirmy tonight," she intertwined your fingers.

What the fuck are you supposed to do? You inched your body further away in an attempt to shrug her off. A move that, in retrospect, was about as well-thought-out as trying to integrate calculus while drunk.

Nike thought otherwise. She pulled you closer until her front was pressed firmly against your back, her breath warm against your neck. You could feel the defined muscles of her stomach through her tank top, her body radiating heat that made your head spin.

FUCK.

You'll wake up with a gay panic and a warrant.

"I'm really tired," you squirmed against the death grip around your waist. For someone supposedly blackout drunk, she had the grip strength of someone who'd spent their life fighting through double teams.

Just pretend it's not there. You do not feel anything. Just toned arms and her—

"G'to bed baby. I'll make it up— make it up to you n' the morning." Nike lifted herself to place one last sleepy kiss against your cheek.

Two minutes later, Nike’s light snores vibrated against the back of your neck, warm breath caressing your skin. You wouldn't be able to move her off you. You had no clue where your phone was. Her hip could very well have fully consumed it at this point, creating some kind of phone-eating black hole that physics hadn't yet discovered.

With a sigh, you closed your eyes, pretended there wasn't a Division I basketball star sleeping in your bed, and prayed that you wouldn't end up in some viral TikTok before noon. At least if you did become internet famous, you'd already submitted that goddamn CAD project.

Your last thought before drifting off was that Mr. Gummy better not tell anyone about this.

"OH MY GOD! WHAT THE HELL!"

Are you being robbed? Is someone being murdered? You jolted upwards to see Riven staring at you with an open mouth, her perfectly applied makeup from last night now resembling a raccoon's Halloween costume.

You shook your head, trying to clear the fog of sleep. What's her problem?

She pointed to your bed and you turned your body to the side. Oh.

Oh.

Nike was rapidly blinking, those unfairly long eyelashes fluttering as she was most likely realizing you were not Taylor. The morning light streaming through your window illuminated her features in a way that should be illegal before coffee.

You laughed nervously, hands flailing in front of you like a malfunctioning windmill. "It's not what it looks like."

"Why is Paige Bueckers in your bed?"

Paige Bueckers? The same UConn Basketball Star Paige Bueckers? No fucking way.

This Paige had cuddled Mr. Gummy half of the night before opting to trap you in the bed with her. There was no chance that this was the same Paige Bueckers that had NIL deals with Nike and Gatorade and had laid waste to half the NCAA. 

Paige—definitely Paige—groaned beside you, hands rubbing her face. "Taylor's going to kill me," she mumbled underneath her breath.

"No, we— we didn't. We." You pointed between yourself and Paige, your brain short-circuiting like a poorly wired circuit board.

"Listen, sweetie, I'm sure it was the time of your life, but this was a one-time thing." Her voice had that practiced smoothness of someone who'd given this speech before, probably more times than the number of equations in your thermodynamics textbook.

Your eyes bulged out of their sockets. Was she serious? Did she think you two—? And she was okay with it? Now, this fits the description perfectly of the cocky superstar Paige Bueckers was known to be. 

Your face burned hotter than an overclocked processor. "We did not have sex. You came in here drunk off your ass screaming about your girlfriend."

By the time the word girlfriend left your mouth, Paige Bueckers had already jumped off your bed with the agility of someone who definitely wasn't as hungover as she should be. She snatched up her UConn warmup jacket from your floor and was halfway down the hallway before you could blink.

What an arrogant little asshole. Your muscles quivered with the urge to strangle her. That is if you ever saw her again. Which, given your luck and UConn’s campus, was probably inevitable.

"How long have you and Paige been seeing each other?" The empty spot beside you filled with Riven's weight. "Is that why you never wanted to come to the games with me?"

"Riven, you have five seconds to get off of my bed before I strangle you."

"You can't avoid this conversation forever!" she called out as you stormed into the bathroom, slamming the door with perhaps more force than necessary.

Staring at your reflection in the mirror, you tried to process the reality that you'd just spent the night cuddled up with Paige fucking Bueckers. The same player whose name had been carved into the unofficial NCAA hierarchy since before orientation. 

You splashed cold water on your face, trying to wash away the memory of how her arms had felt around you, how her breath had tickled your neck, how her—

No. Absolutely not. You were not going to join the ranks of college students who'd lost their minds over a basketball star. You had bigger things to worry about. Like whether your CAD project had uploaded properly. Or if you could ever look at Mr. Gummy the same way again.

The next few days passed in a blur of classes, labs, and actively avoiding any location where you might run into Paige. You'd even skipped Tuesday's Engineering Club meeting, sending your vice president a detailed email about needing to catch up on work. It wasn't entirely a lie—you did have work to catch up on, considering you'd spent half your study time calculating alternate routes to class that avoided the usual athlete hangouts.

But by Thursday afternoon, your luck ran out. The library was supposed to be safe—the one place on campus where the basketball players rarely ventured. They had their own private study rooms in the athletic center, after all. Which is why you'd let your guard down, settling into your favorite spot near the engineering section to catch up on your reading.

The peaceful atmosphere was shattered by two girls settling at the table across from you, their whispered conversation carrying clearly in the quiet space.

"So yeah, I like totally made out with Paige in the team room. We almost knocked over Coach's whiteboard, isn't that hilarious?" The prettier of the two said as she placed her MacBook on the wooden table, her voice carrying that forced casualness of someone trying very hard to seem unbothered.

Her friend laughed and took a sip of her Starbucks, a lemonade, probably sugar-free, because of course it was. "So how was it?"

Paige's latest conquest giggled and opened her laptop, trying to seem as uninterested in the conversation as possible. You'd seen this play before, the carefully crafted nonchalance that masked the inevitable disappointment when Paige moved on to her next target. You'd bet your entire scholarship that she'd gone home crying after being ghosted, only to watch Paige pretend she didn't exist the next day.

By this point, you'd given up all pretense of studying chemical processes and electron movement. You'd reread the same paragraph in your textbook sixteen times, your brain more interested in this glimpse into the life of your unexpected bedmate. So what if you're being nosy? Everyone is nosy, and besides, you'd mentally checked out the moment these two sat down.

"She's such a good kisser.” Her friend's mouth dropped open as she placed her half-empty cup onto the table, grabbing her friend's shoulder with one hand. The former nodded, still giggling, "Sarah, I know. She like totally picked me up against the whiteboard."

Are they not aware that people can hear them? That they're in a public space? You glanced around the library, which was half-empty as usual. So maybe you were the only one eavesdropping. Still, you wouldn't go around a library of all places announcing your hookups to the world.

"Hey buttercup," an eerily familiar voice purred in your ear.

You jolted, arms flailing like a malfunctioning robot, inevitably colliding with your pencil case and sending its contents scattering across the floor. Various writing implements rolled under nearby tables like they were making a break for freedom.

You turned to lock eyes with a very, very familiar pair of hazel eyes. Shit.

"Do I know you?" You asked through gritted teeth, trying to ignore how good she looked in her fitted Nike training gear. The amount of exclusive team merchandise on her body probably equaled your entire semester's expenses.

Why would Paige, of all people, be looking for you? If you remembered correctly, she was the one to so diligently inform you that whatever happened was a one-time thing—even though nothing had actually happened.

Paige's eyes crinkled at the corners as her lips tugged upward into that infamous smirk. She leaned forward, resting one hand on the edge of the table, the other on the back of your chair, effectively caging you in. "Don't play dumb."

She was in your bubble. Way too close for comfort, especially since you'd been planning on never having to interact with her again. You groaned and leaned backward, roughly pushing your chair back to give yourself space to lean over and pick up your scattered pens. The move was partly practical and partly designed to annoy her.

"Listen, if it was up to me, I wouldn't be here either." Paige grabbed the chair to your left and pushed it closer to you, dropping into it with that natural athlete's grace. "I've been to your room every day since Sunday and you haven't been there once."

Welp. Why the hell would she be looking for you?

"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware I was supposed to be waiting in my room for you." You shoved the pens back into your pencil case, gripping the zipper and tugging it closed with perhaps more force than necessary. Looks like the library was no longer a safe haven.

"I lost my phone and you're the only person I remember being with that night," Paige groaned, turning her head.

Does she truly remember that night? Remember that you two didn't actually hook up but instead cuddled? You wanted to convulse at the memory of how safe and warm you'd felt in her arms. How right it had—no. Absolutely not.

"Oh fuck," she mumbled, her expression shifting from annoyed to something closer to panic.

Your eyes followed her gaze to see what had caused this reaction.

Ha. Ha. Ha. In your face, superstar. You couldn't help but grin as you realized the two girls were still very much present. Not only present but staring at you and Paige with expressions that suggested their jaws might actually detach and hit the table.

Paige leaned back in her chair, sending them a small wave and a—was that a wink? Your eyes nearly rolled directly out of their sockets. How much more predictable could she get?

You didn't bother to look back at the two girls to see their reaction. You could guess it anyway—probably swooning in their chairs, maybe even planning their own strategic "accidental" encounters with her. You wouldn't be surprised if they were already planning to show up at her next practice session.

"Anyways," Paige turned back to you, her voice dropping to that low register that definitely didn't do things to your insides, "Have you seen it?"

You shook your head, closing your textbook. Time to get the hell out of here. "No, I haven't. Sorry."

"Are you mad about what I said? Is that why you're holding my precious phone hostage?" Paige's hand shot out to land on top of your textbook, preventing you from shoving it in your bag—or directly at her stupid, perfect face.

"Mad about what exactly?" You grabbed her hand and tried to shove it off the textbook. She didn't budge. Of course she didn't, you'd seen her arms during all those ESPN highlights Riven forced you to watch. "I do not have your phone."

Within seconds, Paige's hand slid off the textbook only to trap your hand against it instead. She moved to the edge of her chair and leaned forward until her lips were at the shell of your ear. Her warm breath hit your skin and you had to resist the urge to squirm. "About what I said in front of your roommate, sweetie."

Your blood ran cold. Does she think you give two shits about what she said in front of Riven? That she made your roommate think you two were secretly hooking up and that she would undoubtedly eventually let it slip to her sorority sisters? Who will tell the rest of campus? No. Not. At. All.

Asshole. She's a no-good little asshole with too many NIL deals and too little accountability.

You turned your head to face her, ignoring the fact that you were now inches apart. If you weren't so pissed you might've paused to appreciate how her eyes looked up close, how they seemed to hold more mischief than all the troublemakers in Cambridge combined. But now wasn't the time for character studies.

You held her gaze, noting the slight knit in her brow that suggested she wasn't as confident as she was pretending to be. "Listen here Bueckers, whether or not you want to keep pretending like we hooked up or not is none of my business. I do not have your fucking phone, and if I did I would've thrown that shit into the Charles River by now."

You yanked your hand away from her grasp and turned back to your desk. You managed to successfully toss your textbook into your bag and rise from your chair without another word from her.

Before making your very dramatic exit, you turned to face her one last time. Might as well make it grand.

Paige hadn't moved an inch since you'd stood up. She stared at you with a raised brow and that infuriating smirk tugging at her lips. She found this amusing? Found humiliating you in the library a good pastime?

You bent over your chair, placing one hand on her shoulder and leaning in until you were at the shell of her ear. She stiffened under your touch, and you felt a small thrill of satisfaction. What the fuck are you doing?

You leaned in further, so close that your chest pressed flat against your arm and her body. So close that your lips actually grazed her ear as you whispered, with all the venom you could muster, “This might work on your little groupies, but, I’m not interested.” 

The last thing you saw as you straightened up and walked away was the shocked expression on her face, like she couldn't quite believe what had just happened. Good. Let her be confused for once.

You managed to make it all the way to the library exit before your hands started shaking. What the hell had gotten into you? You'd just essentially declared war on one of the most prominent athletes at UConn. The star player who could probably get you banned from every sports event without blinking.

But as you pushed through the heavy doors into the crisp fall air, you couldn't bring yourself to regret it. Maybe it was time someone stood up to the mighty Paige Bueckers. Someone who didn't want anything from her except for her to leave them alone.

Your muscles were still tense from your library encounter as you trudged up the stairs to your dorm room. The familiar hallway felt longer than usual, probably because every step reminded you of how spectacularly you'd just antagonized UConn's star player. At least you'd managed to get through your thermodynamics lab without dwelling too much on the way Paige's face had dropped when you'd—

No. Stop fucking thinking about it.

You fumbled with your key card, missing the reader twice before finally getting the door open. The first thing you noticed was an envelope on the floor, likely slipped under your door while you were in class. You bent down to pick it up, ready to toss it in the recycling with all the other campus spam, when Riven's voice cut through the room.

"What's that?"

You jumped, nearly dropping the envelope. Your roommate was sprawled across her bed, still in her scrubs from her hospital rotation. She must have gotten back early.

"Nothing," you muttered, but it was too late. Riven had already launched herself off her bed with surprising agility for someone who'd just finished a twelve-hour shift.

"Oh my god," she squealed, snatching the envelope from your hands before you could protest. "These are courtside tickets to Saturday's game!"

Your stomach dropped. Sure enough, two tickets peeked out of the torn envelope in Riven's hands. But what caught your eye was the note attached.

Found my phone in the team room. Who would’ve thought, right? Peace? - PB

"We're going," Riven declared, already pulling out her phone. "I'm texting the group chat right now. Do you know how impossible these tickets are to get?"

You reached for the tickets, but Riven danced away, holding them above her head like a prized trophy. "We are not going."

"Oh yes we are," she grinned, typing furiously with one hand while keeping the tickets out of your reach with the other. "Everyone's going to be so jealous. How did you even get these?"

"I didn't—" you started, then stopped. How exactly do you explain to your basketball-obsessed roommate that these tickets were some kind of weird peace offering from Paige Bueckers? A peace offering that felt more like a challenge, especially given that note.

"Earth to engineering nerd," Riven waved her hand in front of your face. "You're coming to this game. No excuses. I've already told everyone you're finally embracing the Husky spirit."

You groaned, falling face-first onto your bed. Mr. Gummy stared at you judgmentally from his spot against your pillow. Even he seemed to be saying you should have thrown those tickets away the moment you saw them.

"I have to study," you mumbled into your comforter.

"You always have to study," Riven countered. "But how often do you get courtside tickets from Paige Bueckers?"

Your head shot up. "How did you—"

"PB?" Riven held up the note, smirking. "Please. I may be pre-med, but I'm not stupid. Also, her signature is literally on every piece of UConn merch in the campus store."

Great. Just great. Now you had no choice but to go to the game. If you didn't, Riven would never let you hear the end of it. She'd probably drag you there anyway, study plans be damned.

You rolled onto your back, staring at the ceiling as if it might offer some escape route from this situation. Instead, all you could think about was how you'd have to sit courtside—courtside—and watch Paige play. Watch her make those impossible passes, sink those perfect three-pointers, command the court like she was born to do it.

And she'd know you were there. That was the worst part. This wasn't just a peace offering—it was a power play. She was making sure you couldn't ignore her anymore.

"Fine," you sighed, already regretting the word as it left your mouth. "But I'm bringing my thermodynamics textbook."

Riven's squeal of delight was probably heard all the way in the engineering building.

You grabbed Mr. Gummy and hugged him to your chest, wondering how exactly you'd gone from successfully telling Paige Bueckers to fuck off to having courtside seats to watch her play. The bear offered no answers, but you could have sworn he looked a little smug about the whole situation.

The next two days were a special kind of torture. Riven had taken it upon herself to become your personal "game day preparation coordinator," which apparently meant forcing you to sit through endless highlight reels of UConn's recent victories. By Friday afternoon, you could probably recite Paige's stat line from memory—not that you'd ever admit that to anyone.

"You can't wear that," Riven declared as you pulled out your standard comfort outfit: UConn Engineering hoodie and black leggings.

You glanced down at your clothes, then back at your roommate. "Why not?"

"Because we're sitting courtside," she emphasized the word like you were a particularly slow child. "People are going to see us. The cameras might even pan to us during timeouts!"

The mere thought made your stomach churn. "That's exactly why I should wear this. I don't want to draw any attention."

Riven was already shaking her head, diving into her closet with the determination of someone on a mission. "No way. If Paige Bueckers gives you courtside tickets, you dress for the occasion."

"She didn't give them to me," you protested, even though technically she had. "They were just left under our door."

"Right," Riven emerged with an armful of clothes. "Just like she just happened to end up in your bed that night?"

You threw Mr. Gummy at her head. She dodged, laughing as the bear bounced harmlessly off your desk lamp. "We are not talking about that again."

An hour and approximately seventeen outfit changes later, you finally escaped. Your excuse about needing to pick up materials from the engineering lab wasn't entirely a lie—you did have a project due next week. The fact that the engineering building was on the opposite side of campus from the athletic facilities was just a bonus.

Lost in thought, you didn't notice the person exiting the coffee shop until it was too late. Hot liquid splashed across your chest as you collided with what felt like a brick wall of muscle.

"Shit, I'm so sorry!" A voice that definitely wasn't Paige's (thank god) exclaimed.

You looked up—and up—into the concerned face of one of UConn's basketball players. The Croatian accent and defensive intensity were legendary enough that even you, perpetually sports-oblivious, recognized her from Riven's endless team discussions.

"It's fine," you managed, trying to ignore how the hot coffee was currently seeping through your shirt. At least it wasn't your engineering hoodie—Riven would've killed you if you'd ruined her carefully planned outfit for tomorrow.

She was already pulling napkins from her pocket, dabbing at your shirt with a look of genuine distress. "Let me buy you a new coffee. And shirt," she added, eyeing the growing stain.

"Really, it's fine." You stepped back, ready to bolt. The last thing you needed was another interaction with a basketball player.

But she wasn't letting you off that easy. She grabbed your wrist with surprising gentleness for someone known for her aggressive defense. “Nah, I insist. I'm Nika, by the way. And I really do feel terrible about this."

Before you could protest further, she was steering you back into the coffee shop. The barista's eyes widened slightly at the sight of Nika—clearly a regular customer—but otherwise maintained their professional composure.

"The usual for me," Nika called out, "and whatever she wants." She turned to you expectantly.

You mumbled your name and order—"Just a black coffee"—trying to shrink into yourself. Several students were openly staring now, probably wondering why Nika Mühl was buying coffee for some random engineering student.

"And a chocolate croissant," Nika added, ignoring your attempt to protest. "Trust me, they're amazing here."

You shifted uncomfortably as she paid, very aware of the wet fabric clinging to your skin. Nika seemed to notice your discomfort because she shrugged off her UConn warmup jacket and held it out to you.

"Here, you can't stay in that wet shirt."

You stared at the jacket like it might bite you. The same style jacket Paige had left on your floor that night. The one that probably cost more than your textbooks.

"I can't—"

"You can and you will," Nika insisted, pushing the jacket into your hands. "There's a bathroom right there. Go change before you catch a cold."

Something in her tone brooked no argument. You found yourself in the bathroom before you could really process what was happening, staring at your reflection as you zipped up the warmup jacket. It was slightly too big, making you look like a kid playing dress-up in their older sibling's clothes.

When you emerged, Nika had already claimed a table in the corner, your drinks and the promised chocolate croissant waiting. She waved you over with a smile that somehow managed to be both friendly and slightly intimidating.

"So," she said as you slid into the seat across from her, "what's your major?"

"Engineering. Mechanical." You picked at the croissant, wondering how quickly you could eat it and escape.

Nika's eyes narrowed slightly, like she was trying to solve a puzzle. "Engineering— wait." Her eyes widened with recognition. "Holy shit, are you that girl?"

You froze mid-bite. "What girl?"

"The one from the library! The one who told Paige—what was it?  ‘That you’re not one of her groupies’?” Nika's grin spread across her face like wildfire. "No wonder she's been such a mess lately."

You choked on your croissant. "What?"

"Oh my god, this is perfect. You're also the one she—" Nika cut herself off, studying your increasingly red face with growing delight. "The one whose room she crashed in after KK’s party?"

Your face burned hotter than the coffee you'd been wearing moments ago. "How did you—"

"Paige tells me everything," Nika leaned back in her chair, looking entirely too pleased with herself. "Well, eventually. Had to drag this one out of her after she spent three days moping around practice like someone had stolen her favorite pair of Jordan’s.”

"I didn't steal anything," you protested automatically. "Not her phone, not her—"

"Oh, she knows that now," Nika waved dismissively. "Found it in the team room yesterday morning. Right where those girls said it would be." She paused, then added with a smirk, "Though I have to say, watching her spiral about it was pretty entertaining. She's not used to people calling her out like that."

The implication hung heavy in the air. You remembered the library girls' story about making out with Paige against the whiteboard. Something must have shown on your face because Nika's expression softened slightly.

"Look, Paige is complicated. She's not used to people seeing through her bullshit." She took a sip of her drink, considering her next words carefully. "Those tickets? That's her way of saying she fucked up."

"By accusing me of stealing her phone?"

"By letting you think she didn't remember that night."

Your heart stuttered in your chest. "What?"

Nika's phone buzzed before she could answer. She glanced at it and grimaced. "Speaking of her royal highness, I'm late for film." She stood, gathering her things with practiced efficiency. "Keep the jacket. Consider it compensation for the coffee attack."

You watched her head toward the door, your mind spinning with questions. Just before she left, she turned back with a knowing smirk.

"See you tomorrow at the game. Front row, right?"

The door chimed as she left, leaving you alone with a half-eaten croissant and more questions than answers. You looked down at the jacket, at the way the UConn logo seemed to mock you with its pristine embroidery.

Somehow, in trying to avoid Paige Bueckers, you'd managed to get tangled up in her world anyway. And tomorrow, you'd have to sit courtside and watch her in her element, all while wearing her best friend's jacket.

Mr. Gummy was definitely going to judge you for this.

"No." You glared at the suspicious red cup Riven was waving in front of your face. "Absolutely not."

"Come on! It's tradition!" She pushed the cup closer, its contents sloshing dangerously near the rim. The sharp smell of cheap vodka mixed with what you assumed was cranberry juice wafted toward you. "You can't go to your first real game sober."

You turned back to your mirror, adjusting Nika's warmup jacket for the hundredth time. The number 10 stared back at you, a constant reminder of yesterday's coffee shop encounter. You'd tried to talk yourself out of wearing it, but everything else felt too casual for courtside seats (according to Riven) or too formal (also according to Riven).

"I'm not pregaming a basketball game at three in the afternoon."

"It's four," Riven corrected, checking her phone. "And yes, you are. The team's already been at Gampel for hours, and we need to leave in thirty minutes if we want good spots for warm-ups. I refuse to let you sit there reading thermodynamics while history happens right in front of us."

You spun around, hands on your hips. "History?"

"Yes! We're playing Notre Dame. It's huge." She thrust the cup into your hands with such force that some of it splashed onto your fingers. "And you're wearing Nika Mühl's personal jacket. Do you know how many people would kill for that?"

"I got it because she spilled coffee on me," you muttered, but took a small sip anyway. Just to shut her up. The drink was surprisingly not terrible— mostly juice with just enough vodka to warm your chest.

"Right. Just like Paige 'accidentally' ended up in your bed." Riven made air quotes with her fingers, nearly spilling her own drink in the process. "And then 'accidentally' gave us courtside tickets."

"Can we not talk about that?" You took another sip, larger this time. The warmth spread through your limbs, making everything feel slightly softer around the edges. Maybe Riven had a point about the drinking thing.

"Oh, we're definitely talking about it." She flopped onto your bed, somehow not spilling a drop. "You're wearing her best friend's jacket to watch her play. This is like, next level psychological warfare."

You choked on your drink. "It's not warfare! I just didn't have anything else to wear."

"Mhmm." Riven's knowing smirk made you want to throw Mr. Gummy at her again. "That's why you spent twenty minutes adjusting it in the mirror."

"I did not—"

"You did! You were all,” She stood up, mimicking your earlier movements with exaggerated precision. "'Oh, should I zip it up all the way? Maybe halfway? What if I push up the sleeves?'"

You drained your cup in one go, grimacing at the burn. "I hate you."

"You love me." She was already mixing another drink, this one slightly stronger than the last. "And you're going to thank me when Paige sees you in that jacket and loses her mind."

"She's not going to lose her mind," you protested, but accepted the fresh drink anyway. "She probably won't even notice."

Riven's laugh echoed off the walls. "Oh honey. Paige notices everything. Why do you think she's the best point guard in the country?"

The walk to Gampel Pavilion was a blur of Riven's excited chatter and your growing anxiety. The drinks had taken the edge off, but your heart still raced as you approached the arena. Students were already lining up outside, many wearing jerseys and carrying signs. Your hand instinctively went to the zipper of Nika's jacket, suddenly very aware of what you were wearing.

"Stop fidgeting," Riven hissed, pulling you toward a separate entrance. "You look hot. Own it."

The security guard barely glanced at your tickets before waving you through. The arena was already humming with energy— staff rushing around with equipment, the band setting up in their section, early arrivals claiming their seats. 

Your courtside seats were exactly where you'd dreaded they'd be: directly behind the UConn bench. Close enough to hear every word, see every expression, feel every moment of tension.

"This is insane," you muttered, sinking into your seat. The court stretched out before you like a stage, the overhead lights making everything feel surreal.

"Look." Riven nudged you, pointing toward the tunnel. "They're coming out for warm-ups."

Your heart jumped into your throat as the team emerged, led by the coaching staff. Players filed onto the court in perfect formation, their practice jerseys a sea of navy and white. You spotted Nika first— impossible to miss with her distinctive playing style, already intense even in warm-ups.

And then there she was.

Paige moved with that effortless grace that made everything look easy, her ponytail swinging as she dribbled two balls simultaneously. She hadn't looked toward the crowd yet, locked in that pre-game focus that elite athletes got.

"Here we go," Riven whispered, her phone already out and recording.

You watched as Paige went through her warm-up routine, each movement precise and practiced. She worked her way around the three-point line, barely seeming to notice as shot after shot swished through the net.

Then she turned to grab a rebound, and her eyes swept across the courtside seats.

You saw the exact moment she registered you. Her hands froze mid-dribble, the ball bouncing away forgotten. Her gaze locked onto the number 10 across your chest, then slowly traveled up to meet your eyes.

The intensity in her stare made your whole body flush hot. You watched as her jaw clenched, that familiar muscle ticking in a way that sent heat straight to your core. Her eyes darkened with something that looked dangerously close to possession.

Nika appeared beside her, saying something that made Paige snap back to attention. But not before you caught the way her gaze lingered on how her best friend's jacket fit your frame.

"Holy shit," Riven breathed, still recording. "I think you broke her."

You slumped lower in your seat, already regretting letting the vodka convince you this was a good idea. "Shut up."

"No way. This is better than any reality show." She zoomed in as Paige missed her next three shots in a row. "Look what you did to her."

"I didn't do anything," you protested weakly, but you couldn't tear your eyes away from Paige's form. The way her practice jersey clung to her shoulders, how her muscles flexed with each movement, the intense focus that had returned to her features – though you swore you caught her glancing in your direction between plays.

This was going to be a very long game.

The game started exactly as you'd expected— with Paige absolutely demolishing Notre Dame's defense while you tried very hard to look anywhere else. It wasn't working.

"Did you see that pass?" Riven screamed in your ear for approximately the eighteenth time. "She didn't even look!"

No, you hadn't seen the pass, because you were very deliberately studying the fascinating architecture of Gampel's ceiling. The vodka buzz had worn off about twenty minutes ago, leaving you hyperaware of every move, every sound, every time Paige jogged past your seats during transitions.

The worst part? Nika kept sending you these knowing looks from the bench, like she was watching her favorite rom-com play out in real time. You were starting to regret not bringing your thermodynamics textbook after all. At least differential equations made sense. They didn't smirk at you or have perfectly defined arm muscles or—

"Time out, Huskies!"

The players jogged toward the bench, and suddenly your personal space was invaded by very tall, very sweaty athletes. You tried to shrink further into your seat, but there was nowhere to go. Especially not when Paige dropped into a crouch right in front of you, ostensibly to grab her water bottle.

"Nice jacket," she said quietly, just loud enough for you to hear over the timeout huddle. Her eyes traveled down your body in a way that made you feel like you were wearing significantly less than a full warmup jacket and jeans.

You opened your mouth to respond with something witty, something that would put her in her place like you had in the library. Instead, what came out was: "Your friend has good taste."

Paige's eyes darkened, that same possessive look from warm-ups returning with intensity. "Does she?"

Before you could dig yourself into an even deeper hole, Coach Auriemma's voice cut through the tension. "Bueckers! Get your ass over here!"

You watched as she jogged back to the huddle, trying to ignore how your skin felt electric where her gaze had lingered. Beside you, Riven was practically vibrating with excitement.

"I got all of that on video," she whispered, waving her phone in your face. "This is going in the group chat."

"If you send that anywhere, I will reprogram your phone to only play the Barney theme song."

"You wouldn't."

"Try me."

The timeout ended, and the players returned to the court. You noticed Paige was playing with even more intensity now, if that was possible. Her crossovers were sharper, her passes more precise, like she had something to prove.

"Twenty bucks says she's showing off for you," Riven muttered.

"Thirty says you're delusional."

But as you watched Paige sink another impossible three-pointer and turn slightly— just slightly - in your direction before jogging back on defense, you had to admit that maybe, just maybe, Riven had a point.

The game continued in a blur of strategic timeouts (during which Paige found increasingly creative ways to end up near your seat), incredible plays (that you definitely weren't watching just to see the way her muscles moved), and Riven's running commentary (which was getting progressively less about basketball and more about the "tension that could be cut with a knife").

By the fourth quarter, UConn had built a comfortable lead, and you'd developed a concerning familiarity with exactly how Paige's practice jersey clung to her shoulders when she was sweating. This was not information you needed in your life. You had CAD models to build, robots to program, a future in engineering to secure. You did not have time to notice how her hair had started falling out of its ponytail in these impossibly attractive wisps, or how—

"Game! Huskies win!"

The final buzzer snapped you out of your completely professional analysis of athletic biomechanics. The crowd erupted as players from both teams exchanged handshakes and hugs. You stood, ready to make your escape before—

"Leaving so soon?"

You turned to find Paige standing right there, still slightly breathless from the game, her presence filling your entire field of vision. Up close, you could see the flush of exertion on her cheeks, the way her chest rose and fell with each breath, the slight curl of her lips that suggested she knew exactly what she was doing to you.

"I have studying to do," you managed, proud that your voice came out steady.

"On a Saturday night?" She stepped closer, and you caught the faint scent of her perfume mixed with sweat. It should not have been as attractive as it was. "After watching me put up thirty points?"

"Thirty-two," you corrected automatically, then immediately wanted to die. Beside you, Riven made a sound that might have been a squeal or a laugh.

Paige's smirk grew wider. "So you were watching."

"It was kind of hard to miss, considering where we're sitting." You gestured to the courtside seats that had started this whole mess.

"About that," she ran a hand through her hair, and those loose strands fell perfectly around her face in a way that had to be practiced. "I was thinking maybe we could—"

"Paige!" Nika's voice cut through whatever she'd been about to say. "Media's waiting!"

You'd never been so grateful for press obligations in your life.

Paige's jaw clenched in frustration, but she recovered quickly. "This isn't over," she said, her voice low enough that only you could hear. Then she was gone, jogging toward the media section with that natural athletic grace that made everything look effortless.

You stood there for a moment, trying to process what had just happened. Your skin still tingled where she'd been standing close enough to touch.

"So," Riven's voice broke through your daze. "Still think she hasn't noticed you?"

"We're going out," Riven declared, already rummaging through your closet without permission. "No arguments."

You looked up from your laptop, where you'd been desperately trying to focus on anything other than replaying the game in your head for the past two hours. "I have to—"

"If you say 'study' I will literally scream." She emerged with your one decent going-out top, the black one with the low back that you'd bought on impulse and worn exactly once. "You just watched UConn destroy Notre Dame from courtside seats while Paige Bueckers eye-fucked you in front of the entire student section. We're celebrating."

"She wasn't—" You cut yourself off, heat creeping up your neck. "And anyway, shouldn't she be celebrating with her girlfriend?"

The words tasted bitter in your mouth. You'd been trying very hard not to think about Taylor, about how Paige had crashed into your room calling out her name, about how clearly serious it must be if she was that desperate to apologize. The fact that she'd spent the entire game looking at you like... that... well, it just proved what everyone said about her, didn't it?

"Oh my god," Riven threw the shirt at your head. "Put this on. We're getting drunk and you're going to tell me everything you're overthinking about right now."

An hour later, you found yourself at The Tavern, nursing your second Moscow Mule while Riven recounted the game to anyone who would listen. The bar was packed with students celebrating the win, most still wearing their UConn gear and riding the high of victory.

"I just don't get it," you said, mostly to your drink. "Why is she suddenly so interested? I'm literally nobody. I spend my Friday nights debugging Python scripts and building robots that occasionally catch fire."

"Maybe that's exactly why," Riven waggled her eyebrows. "You're different. You don't worship the ground she walks on."

You snorted. "Right. Because what Paige Bueckers really wants is someone who told her to fuck off in the library."

The doors to The Tavern burst open, and suddenly the energy in the room shifted. A new wave of celebration swept through as the team arrived, fresh from their post-game duties. Your stomach did a complicated flip as you spotted Paige among them, now changed into fitted black jeans and a white button-down that should be illegal. Her hair was down, falling in waves that your fingers definitely didn't itch to touch.

"Speak of the devil," Riven smirked. "Want to test that theory?"

"Don't you dare—" But Riven was already waving enthusiastically, catching Nika's attention. The Croatian player's face lit up with unholy glee when she spotted you.

"Engineering girl!" Nika bounded over, dragging a very amused-looking Paige with her. "Still wearing my jacket, I see."

You started to unzip it, but she waved you off. "Keep it. It looks better on you anyway." She shot Paige a meaningful look that made your cheeks burn.

"I need another drink," Riven announced suddenly, grabbing Nika's arm. "Come show me where the team keeps their secret stash."

"We don't have a—" Nika caught on quickly, grinning. "Oh, right. That secret stash. This way."

And just like that, you were alone with Paige at the crowded bar, your body humming with awareness of how close she was standing.

"Subtle, aren't they?" Paige smiled, and for once it wasn't that practiced smirk. It was something softer, more genuine. She signaled the bartender, who materialized instantly. Must be nice being a campus celebrity.

"The usual?" The bartender asked Paige, already reaching for a bottle.

"And whatever she's having," Paige nodded toward your nearly empty Moscow Mule.

"I can buy my own drinks," you said quickly, reaching for your wallet.

Paige's lips twitched. "I know you can. But consider it part of my ongoing apology for the whole bed situation."

You raised an eyebrow, fighting to keep your voice steady. "You always apologize to your drunken mistakes with expensive drinks?"

The moment the words left your mouth, you wanted to snatch them back. But instead of looking offended, Paige just studied you with those impossibly intense eyes.

"Only the ones who let me cuddle their stuffed bears."

"Mr. Gummy," you corrected automatically, then immediately wanted to die. Again.

The bartender returned with your drinks, and you grabbed yours perhaps a bit too quickly, needing something to do with your hands. The Moscow Mule was perfect – strong enough to blame your burning cheeks on the alcohol.

"So," Paige said after a moment, looking far too comfortable for someone who'd just been called out on their drunken mistakes. "Engineering, huh?"

You nearly choked on your drink. "Are we really doing small talk right now?"

"Would you prefer I go back to staring at you from across the court?"

"I prefer knowing where I stand," you shot back, the alcohol making you braver than usual. "Because last I checked, you had a girlfriend you were pretty desperate to apologize to."

Something flashed across her face – regret? Embarrassment? "Taylor and I it's complicated."

"Isn't it always?" You couldn't quite keep the bitterness out of your voice. You'd heard enough stories about Paige's "complicated" situations to fill a textbook.

She turned to face you fully, and your breath caught at the unexpected vulnerability in her expression. "Look, I know what people say about me. Some of it's probably true. But Taylor and I have been over for months. That night... I was drunk and stupid because she'd started seeing someone new, and I handled it badly."

"By trying to crawl into her bed?"

"By accidentally crawling into yours." Her voice dropped lower, sending involuntary shivers down your spine. "Which, in retrospect, might have been the universe doing me a favor."

You forced yourself to meet her gaze, ignoring how your heart raced at the way she was looking at you. "Does that line usually work?"

"I don't know," she smiled, and it wasn't her usual cocky smirk. It was something smaller, almost shy. "I've never used it before."

Before you could process that, a commotion erupted near the pool tables. You both turned to see Riven attempting to teach one of the team's shooting guards proper form, which seemed to involve a lot of unnecessary physical contact.

"Ten bucks says they end up making out in the bathroom," Paige said, amusement coloring her tone.

"Twenty says Riven chickens out and spends the next week telling me about all the signals she thinks she missed."

Paige laughed, and the sound did something dangerous to your insides. "You know your roommate well."

"Well enough to know she's going to interrogate me about this conversation later."

"This conversation?" Paige shifted slightly closer, and you caught that intoxicating mix of her perfume and something uniquely her. "What's there to interrogate about?"

You gestured vaguely between you. "This whole... whatever this is. Where you're suddenly interested in small talk about my major and making jokes about the universe doing you favors."

"Maybe I just want to know more about the girl who told me to fuck off in the library." Her eyes sparkled with mischief. "While wearing my best friend's jacket, no less."

"That was an accident—"

"Was it?" She was definitely closer now, close enough that you could see the flecks of gold in her eyes. "Because from where I was standing, it looked a lot like a challenge."

Your grip tightened on your drink. "Not everything is about you, Bueckers."

"No," she agreed, her voice soft but intense. "But the way you've been looking at me all night? That might be."

The air between you crackled with tension. You should step back. You should remember all the stories, all the warnings, all the reasons this was a terrible idea. You should—

"There you are!" Nika's voice cut through the moment like a bucket of cold water. "Coach just texted. Team meeting tomorrow morning got moved up."

Paige's jaw clenched in frustration, but she recovered quickly. "What time?"

"Eight AM." Nika's eyes darted between you and Paige, her expression far too knowing. "Sorry to interrupt."

"You weren't," you said quickly, perhaps a bit too quickly judging by Nika's raised eyebrow.

Paige turned back to you, and the intensity in her gaze made your breath catch. "We'll finish this conversation later."

It wasn't a question.

You watched her walk away, trying to ignore how your body still hummed from her proximity. Nika lingered behind, grinning like she'd just won a bet with herself.

"You know," she said thoughtfully, "I've never seen her work this hard for someone's attention before."

"I'm not—" you started, but Nika was already following Paige, leaving you alone with your thoughts and a half-empty Moscow Mule.

Riven materialized beside you moments later, her eyes wide. "Okay, what the hell was that?"

"Nothing," you mumbled into your drink. "Just Paige Bueckers being Paige Bueckers."

But as you watched her gather her team to leave, she turned back just for a moment, catching your eye across the bar. The look she gave you was pure heat, a promise of more conversations to come.

You were so beyond utterly fucked.

Continue Reading Part 2

[brittle-doughie]

[Butcher’s Vanity but with the Cannibal Cake Shop AU]

WARNING: Cookie Cannibalism

By day, the cake shop was just like every other establishment in the Cookie Kingdom, Cookies could just come in and order their favorite desserts as they relish in the delicious and sweet taste in their orders.

Always coming back the next day, hungry for more….

———————————————————————

The slaughter's on! I'd love to see you come undone!

Unsatisfied, until I've got you flayed alive!

So grab a plate, have a taste!

這口味讓我陶醉 (The flavor’s intoxicating)

I'm still preying on a butcher's vein!

———————————————————————

In the kitchen, you were just adding the finishing touches on a dessert. Then comes the part on the special order, the customer wanted you to surprise them with a little touch of your magic!

You take a deep breath and brought the blade to your dough and made a small slash on it, watching your strawberry jam seep into the mixing bowl that was ready to be made into a particular icing on the cake.

Many thanks to @/desperatelittledemon for the artwork!

You can practically feel the stares of your two employees as they practically relished the sight of your strawberry jam. So beautiful in how it shined from the light in the room.

Strawberry jam, it was like a fine wine to these types of….Cookies, the crumbs were the bread.

^q^

———————————————————————

And now the slaughter's mine, my darling, get under the knife!

Your broken pride, a cut so perfect in its prime!

All that I see, sixty-three!

為讓我心醉的你 (For the you I hunger for)

I'll be waiting, so impatiently!

———————————————————————

You served the dessert to the designated table.

You watched as not even a full 5 seconds went by before the customers scarfed down slices of the cake, not once letting up on their bout of hunger as the…icing stained their faces.

Napkins were there on the table, untouched until the whole dessert was gone in under a minute. The eyes, they spoke of unbridled madness as the taste of the dessert lingered in their minds…

They thanked you for the very pleasant surprise of a cake, handing you a handsome sum of coins as they promise to come back the next day.

You take the pay and head back into the kitchen to send out the next dish, there was no time to wait! Your cohorts should have them ready to be served up by now!

They have plenty of ingredients to work with…

Whether your own or ones they “procured” on their own…

———————————————————————

Aortic work of art!

My love, my knife! To carve it out, your life!

So grab a plate, have a taste!

這口味讓我陶醉 (The flavor’s intoxicating)

I'm still preying on a butcher's vein!

———————————————————————

[sttm99]

Till Death Do Us Part

Bakugo x reader

Part 2: Only Ever You and Me

Ps: I got bored and decided I hadn't posted in a while, so I did this.

Prince Bakugo, who was arranged to marry you, some princess from another kingdom, despite all his protests.

Not only did he NOT want to get married, but his heart already belonged to someone else; the little shy maid in the corner of the banquet Hall where the wedding reception was being held.

He'd met you for the first time a few months ago, and again, just some hours ago when the wedding was finally held, but he'd already decided on one thing he didn't like about you.

You were perfect.

And not in a good way.

You were perfect in such a way that it had him itching to see something wrong.

He sulked through the whole wedding when you finally arrived at the Palace because you were pretty. Too pretty. You were absolutely stunning, and it had irritation coursing through him.

He saw the way his maid lover looked at you; jealousy and sadness obvious as she saw the way you and him were paraded around the hall.

He hated it. He hated the stupid, royal smile that was permanently etched on your face. He hated how you seemed so prim and proper as you smiled and greeted other nobles around him, laughing when expected, showing empathy to concerns he knew you had never experienced, and that stupid soft voice of yours as you talked about how lucky you were to be married to him.

He hated as he watched you dance around with some generals in the middle of the hall, your movements graceful and perfect, precise and correct.

He had to tear his eyes away from you before the irritation consumed him. Unironically, it had him locking eyes with his lover, his own softening in turn as he stared at her, wanting nothing more than to escape to that empty hallway they always met in.

And he was about to, already standing from his seat and turning to the exit.

But you'd quickly appeared in front of him, soft, irritating smile on your face as you stared up at him so innocently.

"Where are you going, Katsuki?" You asked softly.

"The bathroom," he quickly murmured, already trying to step around you, but you followed, quickly sidestepping so you were in front of him again.

He scowled as you blocked his path, "Oi-"

"You think I don't see you look at her?" You stepped forward, and Bakugo thought he'd heard a mistake because you still had that soft look on your face, yet your voice was suddenly so cold.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, and for the first time, his voice wasn't so aggressive.

But you just grinned at him. "Your little whore, near the drapes at the left end of the hall. You think I don't notice how you stare at her?"

Your observance makes him glare. "So?" He spits out at you, quietly so no one hears. "You think I give a fuck? This wedding is a sham and-"

"And it's the joining of our people," you say softly, practically cooing at him like he's a kid. He hates it, it makes his skin crawl. "It's our duty. I'd hardly call it a sham."

"Doesn't change the fact that I already had someone. Someone whom I loved, who was mine." He growls through gritted teeth, hands clenched by his side.

"But you're not hers," you say with a grin. This one is ugly; it's mean and a borderline sneer. "You're mine, Katsuki. My king. My husband."

"You-"

"At the end of the day, it's me you'll only ever be seen with, it's me who'll be buries next to you, and when we're dead and gone, the history books will say I was your wife."

He's frozen in his place, still trying to process your declaration. You're right. You're stupidly, annoyingly right, but it pisses him off, it scares him, this boldness and this meanness, knowing that he was going to spend the rest of his life with you.

But it excited him as well, this confidence and possessiveness, knowing that he was going to spend the rest of his life with you.

"With you and her? It's fleeting, quick passion. But you and I?" You grin, "Till death do us part."

He's still frozen in place, suddenly quiet as you step forward and link your arms together. You rest your head on his arm as his mother begins to approach you two.

"Smile, husband," you whisper softly to him. "It's our wedding."

[justwritedreams]

Welcome to the kingdom | Jeno

Chapter Fourteen: Do you think it's funny now?

Prince Jeno x Princess Reader, enemies to lovers au!, royalty au!

Word count: 4407

Genre: smut

Author: maari

Warnings: dirty talk, orgasm denial, oral sex (f receiving), masturbation, cum play (i think), they're both horny what can i say lol mentions of loss of virginity and alcohol MDI!!! THIS IS A +18 STORY

Note: AHEM i suck with +18 warnings so just enjoy this filthy dirty chapter

Summary: When the game gets interesting, there is nothing that can be denied. Not even the truth.

<<< Previous | Masterlist |

⪢ NCT Masterlist

Taglist: @floweronacloud, @cookydream, @travelleratheart101, @ilvaussie, @tyongf-sunflower99, @n0hyuck @jihoonismydad @ikayyyyyy (can’t tag you honey 😞), @everloving-avenue , @moonchele , @markspossibilities @mings-cafe @waltermitty97 @madaboutjunmyeon @actually-vl @neomooniez @pvppyhao @yyangj3lly

Y/N and Jeno had been quiet since then, she timidly told him she was going to take a shower but without looking him in the eyes, maybe because her cum was running down her leg as soon as she got out of bed.

Jeno took the time to take a deep breath, it wasn't exactly how he wanted to cum but it had been sexy, he couldn't wait for the rest of the honeymoon.

So he took the opportunity to cook something for them to eat.

They were both weak, they needed to replenish their energy.

The atmosphere between them was so quiet and strange that it wasn't something they would be able to get used to, especially because given their chemistry sitting down and talking about what had happened, it wouldn't happen anytime soon.

The princess cursed even the eighth generation of the person who had packed her suitcase, although the chalet was warm because of the fireplace having only silk nightgowns to sleep in was a bit too much. 

She didn't want to seem like she was teasing Jeno but the red nightgown was bold enough for that, that was one of the reasons she had tied up the robe.

If her legs were still weak from what had happened, she didn't even want to imagine what Jeno would do when he saw her dressed like that. 

Of course, it took her longer than it should have for that to happen. 

She left the bathroom hugging her own body. Jeno's attentive eyes followed her until she passed in front of the kitchen counter. 

She intended to go to the living room and sit as close to the fireplace as possible, if the food he had made didn't smell so nice. 

Enough to make her confused. 

"Since when do you know how to cook?" she asked quietly after a long time analyzing the two dishes. 

"I think since I was 14." He answered and wiped his hands on the dishcloth that was over his shoulder. The princess looked at him curiously and he laughed. "When you're not the direct heir to the throne, you need to find something to do in the castle." 

"And you chose to cook?" she asked, a little surprised. 

"It was that or become a guinea pig for what Haechan called food." Jeno rolled his eyes just remembering his brother's cooking and took the dishcloth off his shoulder.

He was the best of the brothers for that task. And in archery. And in swords.

Even better than the King. 

Y/N didn't say anything but her expression showed how impressed she was mainly because Jeno seemed to have made an exquisite dish with the few ingredients they had there. 

"If you like it, you can try the dessert later." he said and Y/N's stomach growled loudly at the same time making him laugh softly as she agreed. 

The two decided to eat sitting in front of the fireplace in a terrible silence, the princess admired in amazement how talented Jeno was at cooking while he watched her attentively, wanting to know why she had covered herself completely with the robe preventing him from seeing even a glimpse of what she was hiding underneath. 

It couldn't be because of shyness. 

Jeno gently extended his hand to take her plate which although she found it strange, she handed it to him. 

"Would you like some wine?" he asked quietly. 

Y/N looked at him immediately, ready to refuse the offer, not because that night wasn't conducive to a good wine but because the drink affected her senses more than it should. 

She wasn't weak, but she was extremely sly. 

Jeno's eyes didn't look away from hers, he didn't want to convince her if it wasn't what she wanted but maybe a little alcohol would remove that curtain of inhibition that had taken over her. 

"I'd rather stay sober tonight," she replied in the same tone and Jeno agreed, disappearing for a few minutes. 

She watched him, surprised that he hadn't argued and tried to hide her expression by turning her face when he came back with a single glass of wine, sitting in the same place as before. 

The princess didn't even need to look at him to know that he had a question on the tip of his tongue, ready to break that silence that was, to say the least, awkward. 

Jeno moved his fingers around the glass hurriedly, even as he drank, he seemed to get even more anxious with each sip. 

“If you don’t want to choke on the question, you can ask it.” She said without turning her face. 

Jeno blinked in shock a few times before swallowing his wine once more. 

“Why does this place make you so melancholic?” 

The princess felt her entire body stiffen and looked at him as she clenched her jaw so as not to make it too obvious that he was right. He was cunning after all, but just the sad glint in her eyes was enough for Jeno. 

Deep down he could guess the answer.

“Memories.” She sighed and looked back at the fireplace. “Even if I wanted to forget them, they don’t go away so easily.” 

The prince waited for her to continue, but all that came next was silence and nervousness. He could identify the latter when he saw her playing with the red fabric of her robe. 

“Painful?” he asked fearfully and she smiled sideways, shaking her head. 

“No, far from it.” She replied before taking a deep breath. “They just seem wrong right now.” 

“Why?” he asked, curious about the answer but unsure if he even wanted to hear it.

Y/N looked at Jeno, firmly this time.

She would have to trust him, right? And he was the one asking...

“I never had the privilege that you and your brothers had to simply go somewhere else and live for a while away, so I needed to find a place within the kingdom to breathe. This has always been my escape route, my refuge. This is where I ran to when I felt lost, suffocated.” She replied, lost in her memories. “My first kiss was here.”

Jeno swallowed hard, knowing exactly where this conversation was going to lead.

“Your eyes say more than that.” He pointed out and she laughed, humorlessly.

“It seems you also know how to read between the lines.” She concluded and he raised an eyebrow.

“It wasn’t just kisses.”

She shook her head.

“I lost my virginity here too, if that’s what you wanted to know.”

Jeno drank the rest of the wine that went down dragging a lump in his throat, he didn’t want to make her defensive but apparently there was no way to escape.

Not even her reaction, much less the subject.

“Now I’m curious, you have a battalion of security guards behind you and I doubt you would tell them that you were coming here to…” he made exaggerated gestures with his hand instead of speaking the word, as if they hadn’t both come in front of each other a few hours ago.

Y/N tried to contain her nasal laugh in vain.

“It wasn’t planned, Jeno.” She interrupted him and sighed. “I had a meeting with my father and the duke at the hotel nearby, his father was also involved and the duke and I decided to walk a bit that day. It was a very complicated deal, we both had a headache. When we got to the dirt road it started to rain heavily and we needed to find shelter, since I knew the place I brought him here and well, I think you can imagine the rest.”

Jeno kept his serious pose from the moment he heard the word duke.

He imagined the scene and definitely didn’t want it.

“You said the duke, he’s the…”

“Hongjoong? Yeah.” She concluded the sentence with a bit of tension in her voice.

It wasn't the kind of subject she imagined talking to Jeno about on their honeymoon after they had touched themselves in front of each other.

But in a way she was relieved. 

Keeping it all to herself had been suffocating her since the moment she found out that this would be where she would spend her days as a newlywed with Jeno. 

Although Jeno had some suspicions due to the way the two looked at each other at the wedding party, everything seemed to fit perfectly. 

The princess may have been in love with his brother Mark but it was Hongjoong who was marked in her heart, in her memories. In that chalet. 

It was his hands that she remembered, it was his kisses that were embedded in her skin. 

It was his name that she had moaned in that fucking chalet. 

"Are you mad?" the princess asked as she saw him close his fingers against the glass, his eyes fixed on the fireplace.

Jeno clenched his jaw, feeling his blood boil. 

"No." he answered through gritted teeth.

“So why does it seem like you’re going to break the glass with just your hand?” It seemed like an innocent question from the princess and although that was the intention, all it did was draw Jeno’s attention to herself. 

He was staring at her with a fire that wasn’t a reflection of the fireplace.

“Because I’m controlling myself so as not to destroy every memory you have of him in this chalet.” He answered softly and slowly, making the princess’s neck shiver.

It wasn’t just words. It was a promise. 

“Of all the times he kissed your body.” Jeno placed the glass on the floor without taking his eyes off her. “Of all the times he looked at your body with desire while he took off your clothes.” Y/N didn’t have the strength to look away and Jeno started to get closer to her, making her swallow hard. “Of all the times he touched you to the point of making you shiver.” He brought his hand to Y/N’s wrist and even wearing the robe she couldn’t help but feel a shiver run down her body when his fingers went up her arm. “Of all the times he’s been inside you.” 

The princess blinked non-stop as her belly shivered, her defenses had all fallen with Jeno’s voice alone and she tried her best not to brush her thighs but it was a practically impossible task, especially because of the way Jeno was looking at her. 

“It’s not a very fair competition.” She said in a whisper and regretted it at the same time because it sounded like a provocation and it wasn’t. 

Jeno smiled mischievously and in a quick movement, pulled her onto his lap and got up from the floor. The princess immediately put her hands on Jeno’s shoulders while his went straight to her ass, his warm palms gripping her firmly through the fabric so thin it didn’t even seem to exist. 

He took her to the kitchen counter and sat her there, making her frown and almost moan at the sudden contact against the cold marble. 

“It’s not a competition when we already know who the winner is.” he countered and his skillful hands went to the tie that held her robe together, undoing it.

Jeno's eyes ran over the princess's body, more specifically by the exposed skin on both sides of her waist thanks to the nightgown that left little to the imagination.

“What are you- doing?” she stuttered and involuntarily contracted her leg muscles when Jeno’s hands shamelessly roamed her thighs.

“Did he touch you here? On this counter?” he questioned and his fingers found her panties.

Y/N moaned loudly when his fingers actually found her wet and pulsating flesh. She wasn’t wearing panties on purpose and Jeno liked that, widening his smile as he touched her so slowly that it bordered on torture.

“Answer me, princess. Or else I’ll pull away.” He removed his fingers and she felt a painful cold.

“Yes, it was here.” She sounded pathetic and horny.

“Okay.”

Jeno pulled away completely and Y/N looked at him in shock, before she could even complain he was already kneeling in front of her and it was enough for her eyes to widen. 

The air in her lungs escaped when his hands lifted the fabric of her nightgown to her navel, giving him a more than privileged view.

But he was in no hurry and he didn't need to.

Seeing the princess's body give in to his touch was enough and they both got excited with what came next. Jeno distributed wet and slow kisses from the princess's knee to her groin, making her breathe heavily as her torso went back of its own accord.

Jeno grabbed her thighs, using one hand to spread her labia to blow air lightly, Y/N dragged her nails against the marble countertop and closed her eyes feeling her entire body combust as her flesh started to get wet.

A moan escaped her mouth when Jeno kissed her intimately but softly, he didn't seem the least bit concerned about getting straight to the point.

Quite the opposite, he distributed kisses as if that were Y/N's mouth and she didn't even need to have his lips against hers to be sure that he was an expert. 

He wasn't even eating her the way her belly asked for and she was already there, writhing all over, every pore of her body standing on end. 

The princess was sure that her mouth wouldn't stop moaning if she looked at Jeno kneeling in front of her with his head between her legs, that's why she was keeping her eyes closed, but in fact that happened when Jeno used his tongue. 

At first, he licked her so slowly that she pathetically wiggled her hips against his face, he didn't let a single inch of her pussy go untouched by his tongue. 

Then the licks started to be more precise, making her not only moan but also bring both hands to his hair, squeezing his scalp with her nails. 

Jeno took that as encouragement and continued to minister at that rhythm that was too sensual for her to handle. 

He didn't look like a starving man who had come out of the desert, he actually looked like a man completely intoxicated by her taste. 

And it was true that the sound of his languid touch was driving them both crazy with pleasure.

Y/N felt the orgasm building in the tip of her belly, that shiver she knew so well threatened to get even stronger when Jeno stopped abruptly, making her open her eyes in shock and surprise.

She didn't even have the strength to curse him for stopping because Jeno was staring at her like a feline and the palm of his warm hand replaced his mouth, and the princess let out the air she had held while her heart seemed to beat heavily against her ribs.

It wasn't a long pause, Jeno calmed her down briefly to make sure she wouldn't cum and then his mouth returned to her pussy.

Y/N's moans seemed like a perfect symphony with the wet sound of Jeno's licks who didn't seem the least bit interested in ending that torture any time soon.

He repeated this several times, every time she seemed like she was going to cum he stopped to calm her down with his hand and then returned with his mouth to the place where he didn't want to stop playing with his tongue.

It wasn't just Y/N's belly that was contracting, it was her whole body. 

She didn't know how long he would continue in that denial, even though it was obvious from her pleas that she needed to cum.

When Jeno seemed satisfied with the desperate way she was saying please, not only did his lips work wonders but also his fingers.

At this point, the princess already had her thighs pressing both sides of Jeno's head against her pussy, she could barely control her body. It seemed like a shock wave was running through her veins.

Without any shame and without thinking about anything else, she came violently against his fingers and lips which didn't seem to be enough for Jeno since he didn't waste a single drop and licked her until her body stopped shaking.

Y/N could barely pull air into her lungs when Jeno stood up, her legs falling across the counter like jelly and of course he brought his fingers to his mouth to collect what was left of her orgasm. 

She wanted to hit him on the shoulder but could only smile weakly.

“Do you want to take another shower?” he asked mischievously and she rolled her eyes.

“If I could get up…” she let the sentence trail off and Jeno laughed, proud.

Was that why he had made that feast for her earlier? To make sure he would take away all the energy she had recovered?

Jeno extended his hand to help the princess up and although her legs were still weak, she managed to stay standing.

“I need to sleep.” she warned and Jeno just nodded silently, giving her space to go first.

Y/N felt Jeno’s palm against her ass and the slap made her jaw drop, holding the place that was now burning she turned to face him.

Jeno blinked like the good flirt he was and shrugged.

The princess didn’t argue that night. Because a good part of her had enjoyed it.

[...]

If someone had ever told Y/N that she would be cuddling with Jeno on her honeymoon, she would probably have laughed in the most sarcastic way possible.

But now it wasn't a joke, it was reality.

It was strange how they both had a great night's sleep even though they were sleeping next to each other.

Jeno wasn't the first to wake up, he woke up before the princess but there was something that was awake well before him. His dick.

Well, it was no wonder considering that Y/N's ass was right against his hip, hugging his dick in such a welcoming and warm way that he had no other option but to get erect.

Especially because that nightgown of hers was taking him out of his sanity.

He even considered pulling away before she yelled at him but when she moved around in bed, lazily rolling against his member, there was no strength in the world that would get him out of there.

The ragged breathing probably caught the princess's attention, who seemed slightly awake and when she realized that Jeno's arm was hugging her waist, she tried to move in bed to see if he was also awake.

But she was stopped by Jeno's hand that firmly grabbed her waist.

"Don't move." He pleaded in a whisper so close to Y/N's ear that she shivered.

"Why?" She asked in the same tone, without moving or even blinking.

"Don't make me explain so early."

Y/N frowned when she realized that there was something in his voice, she just couldn't tell if it was pain or...

Her eyes widened when she felt something on her butt.

"The power went out and you have a flashlight in your other hand or-"

"I'm hard." He answered quickly.

The princess brought a hand to her mouth to contain her sincere laughter and although she was managing to muffle the sound, her body vibrated with laughter.

Doing exactly what Jeno had told her not to do.

Because she had her back to him, ended up missing Jeno's hilarious expression of offense.

"Do you think that's funny?" Although she wanted to answer positively, she barely managed.

But of course she should have already known that teasing Jeno would have consequences.

She stopped laughing as soon as Jeno's hand that was holding her waist went down between her legs. The warm palm in contact with her pussy made her swallow a moan.

She wasn't wet. Yet.

"Do you think it's funny now?" he asked provocatively, then gave her ear a light bite.

Y/N not only got goosebumps from head to toe but also closed her eyes.

"You with a hard-on first thing in the morning like a teenager? Yes, it's funny." she replied, controlling her breathing and it was impossible for her heart not to race when she heard his mischievous laugh so close to her ear.

"Use your mouth to moan." He said before completely grinding his hips so she could feel his erection pressed against her ass as Jeno stuck two fingers in her pussy. 

Her legs were still weak, she didn't know if it was because of the night before or because she had just woken up, either way thanks to him her body temperature was rising too fast and her pussy was starting to get soaked. 

The princess couldn't control the way her hips rubbed against Jeno's, that friction against his hard cock was too good, not enough but at that moment as his fingers went in and out of her at a fast pace it was what she needed to start what they were about to do. 

What a great way to wake up. 

Her wet and throbbing pussy seemed to not only be used to Jeno's fingers, but also liked the way he ministered them inside her. 

Her toes wriggled as she felt her orgasm approaching and she let out a hiss but suddenly the rhythm stopped and Jeno's fingers remained still inside her. Forcing her to try to wiggle to continue, but Jeno stopped her with his free hand.

“Beg.” he whispered and the princess was already breathing heavily, so she just shook her head. “Beg and I’ll let you cum.”

“You know I won’t.”

Ah, that little game between the two of them at that moment made everything so much more interesting.

“Okay then.” He took his fingers out of her and she let out a sigh. Jeno just held her pussy again with the palm of his hand and she wiggled desperately for more. “I’m going to torture you, just like yesterday.”

The princess, irritated at having had the orgasm she so wanted denied, turned to face Jeno and one of her hands went to his shoulder, making him lie down completely on the bed.

Before Jeno could question, she was already climbing onto his lap.

As soon as she sat on top of his hard cock, Jeno hissed.

“I can do it myself, if you want.” She raised her eyebrow and he smiled widely, putting both hands behind his head.

Giving her complete freedom to do whatever she wanted.

But what he didn't expect was for the princess's agile hands to invade his underwear and take his member out, exposing the view she wanted to have had when he touched himself in front of her.

Jeno thought he was going to cum right there when the princess guided his cock to her burning pussy, she moaned at the contact and he just opened his mouth without being able to make a sound.

Y/N wanted to torture and tease him as much as he had done since they arrived at the chalet, so she used his member superficially only on her clit.

"I'm not going to fuck you here like this." he warned, bringing both hands to her waist that was riding provocatively on his lap while her fingers directed his cock exactly the way she wanted her clit to be touched.

"No, you won't." she agreed and Jeno's eyes burned for her. It was as if he transmitted all the strength he was using to simply not penetrate her all at once. "But you're going to make me cum."

"Fuck."

Jeno's eyes were lost in her pussy, the way she used his own member to touch herself without even threatening to put it in her entrance. 

Of course, if she did that, he was sure he wouldn't be able to control himself, so he just let the princess use his member.

After all, it was delicious to see her moan loudly and cum in his lap, taking his cock to her entrance to collect all the cum that was dripping out. 

He bit his lower lip so hard but he didn't even care at that moment, he was so hard for her.

But Jeno didn't seem to be the only one who had woken up horny, Y/N used her own cum on his cock to touch him and it was the most sensual and addictive scene he had ever witnessed.

Seeing the princess's hand there, making everything he had literally dreamed of, was too much for his poor heart.

He knew she was doing it as a kind of revenge for all the provocations but that didn't stop him from moaning. 

When the sound came out of his mouth, it seemed to instigate the princess even more so that she could make Jeno cum.

And although in his fantasy her mouth would also be involved in that touch, it was still not necessary because she made him cum with just her hand.

She looked at him with pride and Jeno felt a fire so alive inside him that he was unable to think straight.

All he wanted was her.

All he needed was her.

"Sit on my face." he ordered, calling her with his hand.

Y/N took a deep breath, feeling her pussy practically forcing her to obey and of course she didn't refuse, mainly because the way Jeno looked at her was making her feel powerful, desired.

She tried her best not to suffocate him but Jeno seemed to have other plans, he pulled her against his face and there he ate her like a starved man. 

His hands held the princess's thighs while hers grabbed his hair desperately.

His tongue, lips and nose were everywhere collecting her juice, entering her pussy making her contract inside, her muscles trembling because of the pleasure. 

Y/N couldn't take her eyes off the way he sucked and licked her thirstily, it was pornographic but it was so good that she could barely breathe, in fact the only function of her mouth was to moan his name over and over again. 

It was the only word she could remember right now.

[kathlare]

through the screen

Lando Norris x Amelie Dayman

Summary: As Lando relaxes with Max after a ski trip, a simple gaming stream turns into a heartfelt moment when he tunes in to watch Amelie on the premiere carpet for Wicked.

Wordcount: 2.1 k

Warnings: just fluff

full masterlist // request over here!

December 21st, 2024 - London, United Kingdom

Lando plopped himself down on Max Fewtrell’s worn-in leather couch, a steaming mug of tea balanced precariously in his hand. His legs stretched out, brushing against Max’s coffee table, which was littered with empty soda cans, a half-eaten pizza, and one of Max’s hoodies.

—You could at least pretend to clean up when you’ve got company,—Lando teased, giving Max a pointed look.

—Mate, you’re not company, you practically live here,— Max shot back, settling down beside him with a bowl of crisps. —Besides, you’re just here to freeload my Wi-Fi and stream. Don’t act high and mighty.—

Lando rolled his eyes but grinned, sipping his tea. They’d just gotten back from his ski trip, and while it had been a blast, he was exhausted. Still, nothing sounded better than unwinding with Max and streaming a bit for the fans.

—Alright, let’s get this started,— Max said, booting up his PC and launching the streaming software. —You’re lucky I’m letting you hijack my setup.—

—Don’t pretend you don’t love it,— Lando replied, leaning over to adjust his camera. Within minutes, the stream was live, and the chat began exploding with messages.

—Alright, alright, calm down, chat. Yes, I’m back. Yes, I survived the ski trip,— Lando said, settling into his usual streaming energy. —Barely, though. Max here almost took me out with his shit skiing.—

—Oi! I was great,— Max interjected, shoving a handful of crisps into his mouth.

—Sure, mate. You were great at falling on your arse every five minutes,— Lando shot back, smirking.

The chat lit up with laughter emojis and comments, and Max pretended to glare at the screen.

—Right, let’s see what we’ve got lined up for today. Bit of gaming, maybe some Q&A. Keep it chill,— Max said, clicking through a few settings.

But as they got started, a notification popped up on Lando’s phone. He glanced at it, then froze, his eyes widening.

—Oh, shit,— he muttered.

—What?— Max asked, leaning over.

—The Wicked New York premiere is starting. Ames is probably on the carpet right now,— Lando said, his voice softening as he pulled up the livestream on his phone.

Max gave him a knowing look. —You want me to put it up on the big screen?—

—You read my mind,— Lando said, his grin spreading as Max switched the stream to the TV.

The chat exploded again.

“He’s so whipped.”“Lando’s about to start simping.”“Can’t blame him. Amelie is stunning.”

As the stream began showing the yellow carpet, Lando leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees, his gaze glued to the screen. When Amelie appeared, her glittering gown catching the lights, he let out an audible breath.

—That’s my girl,— he said softly, almost to himself.

—Here we go,— Max teased, nudging him. —Full simp mode activated.—

—Shut up, mate. Look at her. She’s…— Lando trailed off, shaking his head with a smile that practically lit up the room. —She’s unreal. How is she real?—

The chat was going crazy, with fans spamming heart emojis and comments like:

“LAN IS WHIPPED.”“Couple goals, honestly.”“Protect this man at all costs.”

Max laughed, tossing a crisp at Lando. —You’re acting like you’ve never seen her before.—

—I haven’t seen her in person for a week, alright?— Lando said dramatically, leaning back against the couch. —And she’s been busy with this press tour and all these premieres. She looks amazing. She always does, but this… bloody hell.—

Max shook his head, laughing. —You’re unbelievable, mate. Absolutely gone for her.—

—Damn right I am,— Lando said proudly. He pointed at the screen as Amelie waved at the fans and posed for photos. —That’s my girlfriend. Mine. I still can’t believe it sometimes.—

—We know, mate. Trust me, we know,— Max said, grinning.

The chat, meanwhile, was eating it up.

“He’s literally glowing just talking about her.”“The way he’s staring at the screen tho 😭.”“Amelie better watch this later. He’s so proud.”

Lando leaned back, letting out a content sigh. —You know what’s funny? I don’t even care if the chat thinks I’m being dramatic. I miss her like crazy. I mean, it’s only been a week, but it feels like months.—

—You two were glued at the hip for a month straight before this, mate. What did you expect?— Max teased.

—Yeah, but it’s different now. We’ve got this rhythm, you know? We’re both busy, but we make it work. And when we’re together… it’s just easy. Feels like we’ve been doing this forever,— Lando said, his tone softening.

Max gave him a genuine smile. —You’ve got it bad, Lan. But it suits you.—

—Thanks, I think?— Lando replied, chuckling. He glanced at the chat and grinned. —Alright, chat. Say what you want, but I’ll never shut up about her. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.—

The chat lit up again, with messages like:

“He’s so in love, it’s insane.”“Amelie is one lucky woman, but honestly, so is Lando.”“We love a supportive boyfriend.”

As the stream continued, Lando and Max kept the premiere playing in the background. Every time Amelie appeared on screen, Lando would light up, pointing out little things like how she adjusted her dress or how she smiled at a fan.

—You’re going to see her tomorrow, aren’t you?— Max asked, trying to suppress a grin.

—Yeah, but not soon enough,— Lando said, running a hand through his hair. —And then we’re spending Christmas in Mexico with her family. Can’t bloody wait.—

—Better get ready for her brothers to give you shit,— Max said, laughing.

—I’ve survived worse. Besides, they like me now. Mostly,— Lando replied, smirking.

Max laughed, shaking his head. —You’re so whipped, mate. But honestly? Good for you.—

Lando just grinned, his eyes flicking back to the screen. —Yeah. Good for me.—

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

liked by landonorris, melancholy_melie, and others

f1teaspill: Amelie Dayman stuns at the Wicked Premiere in New York tonight 💚✨

View all 28,910 comments

jealousofher: she’s literally unreal how is this allowed → softg0rlz: @jealousofher god picks favorites and it's HER

melancholy_melie: the chokehold she has on me is criminal → idkjoons: @melancholy_melie same girl, I’d walk into the emerald city traffic for her

notyouagain84: y’all are dramatic she’s just in a dress

lanmilkshake: imagine being Lando and seeing her like that. I’d simply pass away → sunsetlanmelie: @lanmilkshake he’s been quiet since liking the post... probably recovering

magpief1: if she doesn’t get her Oscar and her Tony for this we riot → showbizame: @magpief1 she’s the people’s Glinda fr

k4rtygirl: the fact that this is her dream role and she looks like THAT?? full circle moment 🥹 → wickedfan_77: @k4rtygirl she didn’t chase her dreams. she served them.

sippycupsyndrome: she IS the moment and has BEEN the moment since 2001

amelie_updates: she said ✨ Broadway ✨ but make it red carpet → sparkleghoul: @amelie_updates she’s not Glinda the Good, she’s Glinda the GOD

slaymelie: okay but the way she ATE and left no crumbs??? → f1spicegirl: @slaymelie I saw crumbs actually… but it was glitter and excellence

notlanfan99: i’m a Lando hater but even I’d hold her purse respectfully → 4wheelfantasy: @notlanfan99 that’s character development right there

melieinparis: her dress has more plot than most movies this year

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

Later that night, after the stream had ended and Max was in the kitchen rummaging around for something sweet, Lando’s phone buzzed on the armrest beside him.

His heart leapt when he saw the name.

Ames💛 calling…

He answered instantly, barely able to hide his grin. —Hey, baby.—

The screen filled with Amelie’s face, glowing under soft hotel lighting, her makeup still flawless from the premiere but her expression cozy and tired. She was in a plush white robe, hair loosely pinned back, a few curls falling around her cheeks.

—Hi, Lan,— she said, her voice warm and sleepy. —Did you watch it?—

—Are you joking? I watched the whole thing. Made Max put it on the big screen. You looked… fuck, Ames. You were glowing.—

She beamed, ducking her head a little. —Stop. You’re biased.—

—Biased? Maybe. But still right,— he murmured, leaning back into the couch. —You looked like a goddess in that dress. I nearly dropped my tea.—

In the background, Max shouted from the kitchen, —He did drop his tea. Burned his thigh like an idiot.—

—Oh my god,— Amelie laughed, hand over her mouth. —You didn’t!—

—It was worth it,— Lando said with a sheepish grin.

She melted into a giggle, the kind that made his chest tighten. Then she shifted the phone slightly, and he caught a better angle of the robe slipping just enough to reveal her collarbone, a hint of her chest.

Lando’s brain short-circuited.

He blinked. Swallowed. Tried to look normal.

He failed.

—Lan?— Amelie asked, eyes twinkling. —You good?—

—Yeah, yeah, m’fine. Just... Jesus Christ,— he muttered, adjusting how he was sitting. —You can’t just FaceTime me looking like that when you’re thousands of miles away. It’s not fair.—

She tilted her head innocently. —Like what? I’m in a robe. It’s hotel-issue. Very PG.—

—PG my arse,— he groaned, dragging a hand down his face. —You’re in a robe. Your legs are probably bare. You’re glowing. Your voice is all soft. This is dangerous.—

—You’re ridiculous,— she teased, but her smile said she knew exactly what she was doing. —I miss you. Wish you were here. My hotel bed is lonely. And massive.—

Lando’s eyes darkened. —Ames… stop.—

—Stop what?— she said sweetly, eyes wide with false innocence. —I didn’t say anything inappropriate.—

He stared at her. —You’re evil. And you know exactly what you’re doing.—

—You mean being in my robe and talking to my boyfriend? Sounds pretty standard to me,— she replied, biting her lip.

Max wandered back in with a slice of cake, catching the screen over Lando’s shoulder. —Is she doing the robe thing again?—

—Yes, she’s doing the robe thing again,— Lando snapped, not taking his eyes off her.

Max cackled and plopped down beside him. —Mate, you’re literally vibrating. Chill.—

—How am I supposed to chill when she looks like that and says stuff like “my bed is lonely” like she doesn’t know what it does to me?—

Amelie blinked innocently. —I just wanted to say goodnight.—

Lando groaned. Max was howling now.

—You're in hell, mate,— Max wheezed between bites of cake. —Actual hell. Honestly, I respect it. She’s got you fully under her thumb.—

—You think I don’t know that?— Lando muttered, eyes still locked on Amelie’s smirking face. —I’d let her destroy me.—

Amelie winked. —Good to know. Love you. Sweet dreams.—

And just like that, the screen went black.

Lando stared at his phone, jaw clenched.

Max nearly dropped his fork laughing. —You’re gonna combust before Christmas, aren’t you?—

—Shut up,— Lando groaned, throwing his head back against the couch.

But he was smiling. Glowing, even.

Absolutely, fully, devastatingly whipped.

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

liked by paddockslay, carblando, and others

norrisupdates: Lando was live on stream with Max today and yes… they were watching the Wicked Premiere in New York on stream 😭💅🏼 Boy was blushing the entire time Amelie was on screen PLEASE 😭🫶🏼

View all 47,215 comments

sainzysocks: he was giggling. KICKING HIS FEET. twirling his hair. → charlesleclarrrk: @sainzysocks someone was watching his gf like she hung the stars 😭💅

ameliesfilmcam: nah why was he lowkey fanboying harder than me → mclarentokyo: @ameliesfilmcam bc he IS the president of the fan club

f1ratbaby: lando was like “there she is 🥰” when she hit the carpet I’M SICK → vroomgirlie: @f1ratbaby we all collectively gasped and he was just smiling like a fool 😭

paddockslay: can we talk ab how he said “she looks unreal” and then went SILENT for a full minute → ykthatf1girl: @paddockslay literally forgot he was live 💀💀💀

carblando: i fear he’s so far gone and it’s so sexy of him → daymaniac_: @carblando obsessed with a man who’s obsessed with his gf 🫶

f1fangirl420: bro was cheesin like a disney prince the whole time 😭😭 → norisslander: @f1fangirl420 like you could see the hearts in his eyes LMFAOO

glitter.glinda: “that’s my girl” AND I SOBBED??

lanfan9000: he was giggling. KICKING HIS FEET. eating snacks like it was a sleepover → mclarengossip: @lanfan9000 max was babysitting the lovesick teen omg

tracktokmess: he said “bloody hell” like 12 times 😭😭 → lilsoftiecar: @lanfan9000 british boy overwhelmed by beauty. classic.

daydreamsdowngrid: y’all i was in the stream he LITERALLY BLUSHED when she came on 😭 → goamesslay: @daydreamsdowngrid simp behavior has never been so loud

lanmelie1998: “how is she real?” idk how are you real?

tyresandtiaras: remember when he couldn’t even say her name without stuttering? now he’s out here like “that’s my girl” 😭 → norrriskiss: @tyresandtiaras development. growth. man’s in his boyfriend arc.

sunbed_selfie: if i was Amelie and saw that stream i’d marry him tomorrow

lanzilla_44: lando norris ur a simp but ur OUR simp → pizzapaddock: @lanzilla_44 the way we all turned into lanmelie shippers overnight

norrisupdates: Lando liking this premiere post while watching it live… man’s got LIVE SIMP COVERAGE

[badlywritten-stuff2]

Hi Stuff, (I've been waiting for this precious moment 😩). How about writing something about Noa and the reader being parents? (own or adopted, it doesn't matter) Maybe Noa is worried about whether he's doing it right; he just wants to be a good dad 😭 (he will be). Thanks for all the fics, and I wish you good luck on your exams ❤️🍀

Next Step – Noa x Reader

Right away I’m noticing a theme of y’all asking for pregnancy stuff I see you both of my eyes are wide open— no shade I dig it too LOL.

I’ve taken several biology courses. So, while unlikely… technically possible. Through lots and lots of trying. You know what I mean. I apologize lmao

RELATIONSHIP: Noa x reader

MEDIA: Planet of the Apes, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

WORDS: 3.8k

SUMMARY: snippets of your pregnancy with Noa

WARNINGS: pregnant, gregnant, pergenat, pregante, slight suggestive undertones, mentions of menstruation, puking, some angst, stress about childbirth, mentions of child death [no actual death I prommy]

---

Summer, sometime in Early June

It was a rare day, a day where you had nothing at all, when you could stretch your limbs and just breathe. You laid back against a tree, twirling several blades of grass between your fingers, the warm light of the sun peeking through the leaves and massaging your skin. Bright flowers richly coloured in blues and reds and yellows peppered throughout the field ahead of you. The air smelled sweet, and the wind carried the laughter of the Eagle clan children throughout the entire village.

You couldn’t help but smile as you opened your eyes. You watched the young apes as they played; they wrestled and tussled around with each other, tufts of grass flew up as the ran around and flung up dirt created a sort of smokescreen around them. You weren’t certain what they were playing, but if you had to take a guess from all the hollering, you’d say they were playing a form of tag. You felt a tug in your chest, your smile slowly morphing into melancholy.

A few of the women in the clan have had children of their own, this time of year was a perfect time to bring new life; introduce someone brand new to the world starting off on the right foot, letting them embrace the warmth of the sun and abundance, let them face the brunt of an unforgiving winter later in the year. One of them, a female named Creek [which you had, overtime, managed to befriend] had given birth to a healthy, boisterous little girl three full moons ago. The clan was overjoyed, as they always were when a little one was born, and already she was finding her feet away from mom. Matter of fact, watching the children more closely, you realized Creek’s little one was among them—you felt a spike of stress since you knew these other kids were much older than her; but it seemed like she was able to keep up well enough. You remember the most, underneath all of the happiness and celebration of the occasion, that a pit had begun to build in your gut; it made you acutely aware that maybe, just maybe, something was… missing.

The feeling that twirled within you was… weird. You yearned for… something: something you couldn’t quite put your finger on, but it was persistent and demanded your attention. You let your eyes slip close once again, resting your head against the rough bark of the tree, the laughter of the young serving as a melody while you traversed your thoughts. However, the giggles and yelling of the children kept your attention, which prevented you from the main point of your mental search: what was the source of that yearning? What could possibly be currently missing from your life?

A rock smashed next to your head and made you jolt forward away from the tree, just in time to dodge it bouncing off the trunk and ricochetting toward your skull. It cracked so hard and loudly against the bark that the force knocked off a few chunks. You whirled your head up to look ahead of you, trying to figure out the origin of the stone; the gaping and guilty looks of the children very quickly provided an answer.

“Oi! Quit throwing rocks, someone could get hurt!” you scolded, placing a hand against your chest to soothe your heart.

There was a wave of sheepish apologies, promises of we’ll be careful and we won’t do it again, then just like that they ran off to continue their games. You smiled, huffing out a laugh in disbelief as you return to leaning against the tree. Damn kids…

Your eyes widened, your thoughts clicking together and finally making sense, realization cracking like thunder inside your skull.

Oh. Oh. Holy shit.

…

Light rain in evening hours was always appreciated during the summer. Prevented any chances of fire springing up and getting out of control, as well as providing much needed relief for all from the constant, round-the-clock heat.

You laid next to Noa, relaxed in his embrace with your head on his chest, listening to the strong beating of his heart. Your hand rested against him, drawing patterns with your finger on his chest, his own hand rubbing up and down your side. You were staring out into the rest of the room you shared, watching through the openings in the wood as rain began to pick up on the outside.

“Hey, could I ask you something?” you could feel your stomach lurch slightly, your nerves wavering slightly. Noa hummed in response, his thumb lightly rubbing the skin of your arm.

“Have… have you thought of having children?” you bit your lip as you finished the question, Noa’s thumb slightly faltered. There was a beat of silence between the two of you, the question hung in the air unseen but still demanding of an answer. Noa inhaled, your body moved with his as his chest lifted, you grasped at his fur and turned your face into him bracing for his answer.

“I… I have.” He said slowly. Admittedly, his answer elated you. “But I… don’t know how it would work.”

Your relief of his response was reflected through your pleased sigh. “You don’t know how it would work? Noa, you and I have been together plenty of times.” You smirked, giggles bubbling in your throat as Noa’s face twisted in fluster.

“Not what I mean, you know what I mean! Noa is… ape. You are… echo.” Noa’s arm pulled you closer, his words tainted by the implication. The meaning laid on both of you immensely.

“I want… children. A family with you, but… don’t know if it… would work.” Noa’s exhale was heavy.

That was the truth, you and Noa were simply too… different. Your friendship, love and respect tightly bound you together, kept you close through hardship and tribulations, but love could only do so much. Love couldn’t immaculately give you a child, love couldn’t go beyond the binds of the natural order. Furthermore, your offspring would be damned to a life of alienation, what is there for a child who’d surely be seen as an abomination?

Seen as an abomination by who? Certainly not you or Noa, never, if you were able to conceive your baby wouldn’t be seen as a beast; but your beloved little one. Anyone and everyone who spoke out or said otherwise would face your wrath.

Your gnawed on the inside of your lip.

“…we could try. I don’t see why we couldn’t.” you looked up to Noa, who was already looking at you.

“But… might not work.” Noa frowned.

“Yeah, it might not,” lifting yourself up, you swung your leg over Noa’s hips and sat down in his lap. “We’d never know though, if we didn’t even try.”

Noa’s hands found your hips quickly, his fingers massaging your curves. His features were contorted in thought. Your fingers still playing in his fur on his chest, you very much wanted to convince him to at least try.

You squealed as Noa’s hold on you tightened and he flipped you over, you making a small oomph as you were pushed into the soft furs of your next. You looked up at Noa, owlishly blinking as his own green eyes stared into yours. He smiled, and rested his forehead against yours.

“If it is… possible… I want to try.”

…

Summer, sometime in Late August

You hadn’t thought it possible, despite your wants. Truly, you didn’t believe that anything would come from all the nights you and Noa laid together. It was exciting, indulging in dreams that were certain to be nothing more than that, dreams, but then the unthinkable happened.

You were late.

After two days, you thought nothing of it; having a consistent cycle was a challenging thing to maintain already, the stress of being on the move constantly growing up had impacted you so you were used to missing a period here and there. However, as two days turned into five and five days turned into seven, you couldn’t help but be suspicious.

And a little part of you was also excited, you couldn’t lie.

You didn’t mention anything, you let seven days turn into fourteen days, fourteen days turned into twenty one—still nothing.

The sun was high in the middle of the sky, your wrists and forearms covered in dirt as you tended to one of the crop beds. Specs of dirt were lodged underneath your nails, you held a rather plump zucchini in your hands as you worked it off it’s stem. You had lost track of the conversation of apes around you, focusing on not damaging the stem so that it may grow another zucchini, when you felt bombarded by an internal wave of heat. It spread immediately, causing a light sweat to appear on your skin, up your neck and cheeks and down throughout your torso. Then your gut twisted, viciously, and you felt what little you had eaten for breakfast pushing up faster than you could comprehend. Standing caused you to sway slightly, but you managed to swiftly excuse yourself from the others and rush away.

You found yourself leaning against a tree, the same tree you were resting against more than a month ago and let the contents of your semi-digested breakfast meet the dirt. You coughed on the acidic feeling in your throat urging one more heave before you rested your body against the tree again. You angled yourself away from your vomit and let yourself slide down toward the grass.

The sunlight through the leaves dappled the fabric of your pants, you let your head rest against the bark behind you. Your eyes slide close, breathing in the air around you, you try to sooth the restlessness in your stomach. You lost track of how long you were resting, in the process your consciousness drifted away.

You take in a deep inhale when a large hand finds your thigh. Your eyes open and in front of you is Noa, his green eyes and face riddled with worry. You smile and your hand finds his, your smaller fingers grasping around his knuckles.

Noa brings his hand upward to your face, gently caressing your cheek. “Are you alright? Others said… you ran off. Said that you were… sick.”

You breathed deeply again, grabbing the hand that was touching your face. “Yeah, I was. ‘M feeling better now though.”

“What made you feel… sick?” Noa leaned back and stood, helping you stand as well. “Something in… your food? Not… sleep well last night?”

You smiled and put your arms around his neck, his arms wrapping around and holding you against him. You smiled, sniffled, feeling your eyes sting as tears began to roll down your face. Noa, feeling your tears wet his fur, held you tighter as his hand rubbed your back.

“What-what happened? Are you ok?” Noa said, pulling away to look you in your eyes.  

“It’s too early to be totally sure, but I think I’m—Noa I think that I’m pregnant.”

Noa’s dumbfounded expression was highly amusing, making laughter erupt from your mouth.

…

Autumn, sometime in Mid November

The cool night air forced a chill across your skin, you shivered and pulled your blanket tighter around yourself. Noa had strung up different fabrics and hides to keep the cold out as winter rapidly approached, but there were still breezes that managed to crawl through the cracks and bother you as you tried to sleep. It did keep out the wind for the most part, and Noa had fixed it a handful of times per your request, but you couldn’t help but feel small frigid winds poke through. You were starting to feel that the weather was targeting you specifically. Another cool breeze, breaching somewhere in the curtains Noa had put up, finally pushed you over the edge. With an aggravated huff, you flung off the blankets you were under [which you quickly regretted as you felt evencolder now] and slowly pulled yourself to the edge of your nest to stand. As you manoeuvred to sit yourself upright, you clutched at the underside of your rounded stomach.

You’ve decided you don’t enjoy being pregnant while on the cusp of winter.

You make your way over to the curtains and rummage around them, trying to find the opening in them that was letting the cold breeze interrupt your attempts at sleep. As you were searching, a shuffle behind you interrupted your thoughts, you turned your head around to come face to face with your beloved mate. Noa’s eyes met yours and you smiled softly before returning to your task.

“Hello, love. How did your meeting with the elders go?” you had turned your head back to the curtains, still searching and failing to find the breeze.

“Good… discussed food rations, warmth for… winter. Eagle Clan will have another good winter.” Noa’s voice approached you as he spoke, until his hand was on the small of your back. His forlorn tone was not lost upon you. “Another opening?”

“Mmm, there’s an opening here somewhere; it’s bothering me.” You caught the inner part of your cheek between your incisors, chewing gently in your frustration.

Noa’s hand travelled upward from to your shoulder. “Go rest… I will find it.”

“Oh, it’s ok love, I’ve almost found—”

“I will find it for you… let me find it for you.” Noa pressed a kiss into your neck, the spot just before your ear. Tingles and chills travelled over your skin, quickly spreading throughout your entire body. You smiled, gently laughing from his affection as your hand found his.

“Alright, alright, if you insist.”

Returning to your nest and bundling yourself in your furs once again, you watched as Noa searched for the origin of the breeze. You smiled to yourself, delighted, watching your mate hunt down the wretched cold all in your name. It was just a small act of devotion, but it made your heart flutter in your ribcage nonetheless. As Noa turned around you watched as his gaze focused on the ground before his eyes met yours again, his vibrant jade coloured eyes captivating your own; however, his eyes found the ground soon after. Noa smiled at you as he always does, but as he crawled under the furs with you and pulled you against him, you noticed that he seemed preoccupied, his irises reflecting thoughts swimming through his mind. You waited a beat, relaxing into him and placing your hand on his firm chest, drawing patterns under his fur with your finger.

“Are you ok? You look like you have something on your mind.” You began slowly.

“Yes. Just… thinking about talk with elders.” Noa said, not meeting your eyes.

“Are you sure, my love? You don’t usually look so… distant.”

Noa said no words, he heavily sighed. He looked down to you from where you rested your head against his shoulder. His mouth was pulled down and his brows furrowed together and when he finally turned to you, when you saw his eyes were starting to wet with tears worry leapt through your entire being. Your hand that rested on his chest travelled upward to caress his cheek and you pushed yourself up onto your forearm so you could see him fully.

“What happened? What’s wrong, what did they say to you?”

“Calm, calm.” Noa melted against your palm, his much larger hand encapsulating yours. Closing his eyes, Noa breathed in deeply through his nose, and as he let the breath go he opened his eyes to meet your gaze. “Elders just… told Noa worries… that Noa hadn’t thought of.”

You felt sourness pour over your mood and you tried your best not to let a bitter tone cover your next words. “Like what?” your thumb stroked Noa’s cheek gently.

“I was… am, so excited for our little one,” The hand Noa held yours with moved down to massage the swell of your stomach. “but… I was so excited I didn’t… did not…”

“Didn’t what?” you ask, your voice softening at your mate’s clear distress.

“I did not think about… if our child would survive.”

The air in your lungs felt like all the air had just been knocked out of them. You felt the muscles in your face want to bug out, twist in turn into a horrified expression, but you held together. You felt your own eyes start to sting with tears and you breathed in deeply.

“I… yeah. That’s a real thing to be worried about.”

“I wanted… to be mad.” Noa began, his eyes looking somewhere behind you. “I was… shocked, as to why… elders would say this. But… they are right. Our child is ape and echo… I have not seen a child like that. Ever.”

You nodded your head and gnawed on your bottom lip. You let your body slump down to where you were before, resting in Noa’s comforting warmth. Your finger went back to tracing nonsensical shaped on his chest.

“And… and I am… scared. I don’t want our child to… die.” You nodded against him.

You stared at the wall across from your nest, your finger still drawing circles on Noa’s warm skin. With some effort, and help from Noa, you pushed yourself up and into Noa’s lap. You sighed, smiling softly at Noa as your hands traced his shoulders and collarbones. You weren’t entirely sure what to say.

“Elders said… child of echo and ape never happen. Echo like you… are rare. You are… one of a kind.” You tried not to blush. “Even elders have never seen ape and echo baby… not heard of. Our baby… might not make it, and you…” Noa’s voice trailed off. He didn’t meet your gaze, unable to will himself to look at you past your stomach, which he was seemingly fixated on.

“Well… yeah, that is… haunting to think about, frankly.” Your hands moved down Noa’s arms until you found his hands and interlaced your fingers. “That really scares me too, a lot. Probably a lot more than I think. But all we can do is prepare; keep our nest warm, have blankets and medicine ready, plenty of water. Also, maybe it would be better if we waited for a while before our kid meets any other kids running around—”

“In case… they are fragile.” Noa finished your sentence for you.

You huffed a small laugh. “Yeah, in case they’re fragile. And I’m not made of glass, nothing bad will happen to me. Both me and baby will be ok, I know we will be.”

Noa’s hands squeezed yours, his frown slowly pulling upward into a timid smile. But you knew him, his habits, his likes and dislikes, his give-aways; Noa’s eyes still seemed clouded with worry.

“I am… still worried.”

Your fingers left Noa’s, so you could hold his face in your palms. “By what?”

Finally, Noa looked upwards at you. he hesitated before he spoke. “…I want to be a good father.”

Completely fair concern. “Noa, you are the most attentive person I have ever met. You will be amazing.”

“Attentive… does not mean good. Noa’s father was… attentive. He was a good ape, good leader, good father… but hard to… please.” The soft smile you had worked hard to put on Noa’s face was once again slipping away. “Loved my father… mourned my father, miss him… but I never felt like I could ever… live up to his expectations. What if I turn out to be the same?”

You pouted sadly. “I understand. Impressing my parents usually felt like a nightmare. However, you’re here right now, telling me you don’t want to be like your father. That’s step one.” Noa’s hands found the meat of your thighs while you were speaking, you could feel his finger softly pressing into your flesh. “You and me are a team, my love; you are not alone. We will be okay. You are not your father.”

Noa’s smile returned, the apprehension clouding his eyes fading away. You leant down to place a kiss between Noa’s brow, to which he wrapped his arms around your torso and pulled you closer to him. Noa kissed your cheeks and nose as he softly rolled both of you over so you were laying back down amongst the furs in your nest. You smiled so hard your cheeks began to feel sore, while smiling back at you Noa brought your forehead to his.

…

Spring time, sometime in Late March

You had never felt so sore in your entire body, aches surged all over your body. Your legs felt like they had detached from the rest of your body, their whereabouts unknown while up and down your back and stomach sharp stabs of discomfort hounded your senses. You were coated with sweat, feeling strands of your hair stick and pieces of the fur you laid on. You were exhausted, the rising sun was peaking through the openings in your curtains and you wanted nothing more than the sun to fuck right off. You were starved and dehydrated, you knew you needed to eat and drink soon. However, despite all of that, you couldn’t be happier.

In your arms babbled your wonderful little girl. She was much smaller than you were expecting her to be.

Noa had been by your side from start to finish, from when your water had broken to this very moment, watching your baby’s round and inquisitive face. She, surprisingly, looked very much like yourself as opposed to Noa; she was born with a full head of hair, her ears were larger than your own and even at her young age her arms were longer than an average human baby. She almost resembled you entirely, but her vibrant lime coloured eyes left no doubt as to Noa being her father. She grasped Noa’s finger in her entire hand, her other hand in her mouth attempting to chew her fingers. Both you and Noa were captivated by her.

“She’s very little. Much littler than I thought she would be.” You smiled, tracing a finger gently down her soft cheek as she watched.

“She will grow… we… should enjoy her while she is small.” Noa rested his head against yours, your let your head rest into his.

You hummed. “I suppose you’re right, she won’t be little like this forever.”

“Should keep an eye on her… see if she will grow like echo or like ape.”

You hum again, letting your entire body sag into Noa, whose arm wrapped around you. You yawned into your fist, your eyes feeling heavy after a long and hard 9 hours. This new coming chapter of your life frightened you, admittedly, you had no preparation for this. Frankly, you hadn’t expected your life to take this kind of turn. However, you wouldn’t trade this bliss for anything normal, not ever.

---------

HELLO i am so sorry for dying for so long, i was much more burnt out from finals than i thought i was. i've been working on this ask for quite a bit so i hope that it is decent bc i took a break in between.

anyway thank you for readingggg<<<33333 i appreciate yall vmm

[sageourplanetmeow]

Indie Animations I Recommend

Haven’t posted in a while since, as I have said, my Apple Pencil broke and I haven’t been able to work on commissions or that one hazbin hotel animation… which I was actually getting through for once. Also I have fallen into a Varian And The Seven Kingdoms obsession.

Anyhow I shall now take the chance to share a couple indie animations I’ve watched/been watching recently possibly with a brief note about what kind of audience would enjoy it (might not be accurate I dunno)

First and foremost The Epilogue Of Endings which released approximately 12 hours ago as of when I’m writing this. And just before I summarise anything I just want to praise this pilot for HOW AMAZING IT IS DESPITE ITS SMALL BUDGET! The animation is fantastic and I swear something about it makes me so happy. The art style is also amazing (in my opinion) and suits the character designs perfectly. I love the character designs, just saying, and the voice acting is superb. I think my favourite designs from it are Blu (because I mean the mask and metal arms are pretty damn cool) and the ————. I won’t say who they are because the reveal is too good to miss, but you might be able to guess who I’m talking about if you’ve watched it.

Now to say what happens. This takes place after the sun ya know, goes. I think I’m probably the most interested by what exactly is going on with Mole but I think my favourite character thus far is Blu. I suggest you go watch it, it’s very cool. I think if you like Indie animation in general then this is a good pic due to its indie feel (positive). Also would suggest to people who enjoy slightly creepy media (it’s not that creepy in my opinion but it does feature the downfall of humanity and what happens after the sun dies so it’s slightly unsettling, it masters that feeling).

And here’s their Kickstarter

We also have Dreamworld which also has a season 2, I’m just linking the first one though so just so you know you can find the second season on the channel. As said by the creator, it borrows certain tropes/aspects from analogue horror and has animatronics. As it says up there it is a sci-fi horror series that is intended to be accessible to younger fans of the genre. Again, I love the story and the character designs. So far, my favourite character and character design belongs to THE Star Light. I’m starting to see a theme with me liking sun/moon/star themed animatronics. I mean this guy has a BOW TIE and a charming smile. If I wasn’t already dressing up as Varian for Halloween then I think I would’ve looked into trying to dress as Star Light.

The pilot hasn’t released but the animation from this teaser is SO GOOD! I’m excited to see the pilot. There’s also been music/songs released by them, I can’t remember if I’ve gotten around to listening to any but I fully intend on doing so.

I’m sorry but how is the animation this good with only one person animating it (I might’ve gotten that wrong). I find the character designs really cool and the art style is fun. They’re in space. The voice acting is good. Also just gonna say, they have merch.

This is Dungeon Flippers, a fantasy real-estate cartoon following Maulie, a manticore. (I copied and shortened down the description of the YouTube channel)

The animation is great and the voice acting is really good. The story is interesting and The Ace Of Wands Theme is a joy to listen to every time.

I don’t know how to describe the plot but lemme just… the animation deserves praise, it suits the vibe of the pilot and the character designs are amazing. Voice acting is also fun and I’d recommend this even if it’s just sea side/coast vibes you’re looking for.

This one is a YouTube channel that posts OC animatics and has posted Sundrop and Moondrop animations, just saying I think they drew the Sun and Moon Q&A comics soooo that was my introduction to their work.

Just watch this and you will see some PEAK animation.

Again, the animation is awesome.

https://youtu.be/XPE3nTxV2_k?si=Rgd5yBL9_B-Fl5i7

And that’s where the video limit comes, alas, but check it out. It’s by Meppity and has some really good paper looking animation.

And this is where we have the indie animated stuff (I consider it that at least) centred around pre-existing shows.

I myself am looking forward to making my own indie animated stuff or comics (I haven’t really decided, I’m just working on different characters whilst also writing fanfics and drawing fan comics and other art stuff on top of art homework. YAY

Here is one… dated… animation I did a year ago which took me a while.

https://youtu.be/jmteRdRgHWI?si=o-p-l9gheLSkw7Xr

It’s for an OC, but with their old design. The new design has a satchel, otherwise nothing changed to be honest. I also have done another animation which was far more rough but it was me animating whilst seeing who would win the election so it’s political and not about any of my ocs or any actual characters. As I said, I already have another animation in the works for Alastor so I have to wait till my Apple Pencil gets fixed or replaced to continue working on it.

[49436]

Taking on @batmanisagatewaydrug 's 2025 Book Bingo (along with my wife & housemate, so it's now on our fridge. Taking me back to summer reading lists from the library)

I tend to work down my to-read list in order, unless there's something I really want to get to, so most of this list is 'what's the first thing I'll hit that fills the criteria'. But some books earn the right to skip the line, for one reason or another.

Going for a full board, which means actual bingo might take a minute lol

List below-

Literary Fiction - TBD

Short Story Collection - Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. Chain-Gang All Stars was on my top 10 from 2024 so even though short stories and I don't tend to get along, this one I'm excited about. Will also try Drinking From Graveyard Wells by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu

Sequel - Either A Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik or Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao. A matter of which one I get first; My library doesn't have physical copies of Heavenly Tyrant yet, and my wife owns all of Temeraire, so it might win.

Childhood Favorite - Might be Watership Down by Richard Adams, which is always a banger, but I reread Watership just a couple years ago, so it might be The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander instead, which I read many times with my mom and still have the whole series of.

20th Century Speculative Fiction - TBD

Fantasy - A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson. I read so much fantasy, BUT I already have A Taste Of Honey on my side table. So here we are.

Published Pre-1950 - The Iliad (and The Odyssey) translated by Emily Wilson. Heard a lot of noise about her translation, and haven't read these two since... idk but it's been over a decade. Also going to hop on the Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier train.

Indie Publisher - The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms trilogy by N.K. Jemisin. I read a LOT of indie publishers and Jemisin if one of my all-time favorite writers. I've been putting off this series for a time I can really get into it and burn down all three.

Graphic Novel - Dorohedoro by Q Hyashida. Currently on volume 8, will probably finish the series in the next week or two. Love love love Hyashida's work

Animal on the cover - Plague Dogs by Richard Adams. Despite my aforementioned childhood obsession with Watership Down I never got around to Plague Dogs. Looking forward to it!

Set in a country I've never visited - TBD

Sci-Fi - Another genre I'll read a thousand of in a year. Currently I have Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie on my side table (which I fear may be mid, but time will tell) I'm also VERY excited to read The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal

2025 Debut Author - TBD

Memoir - Love Is An Ex-Country by Randa Jarrar. Memoirs aren't usually my thing, but this one made it's way onto my to-read list last year so this is good motivation.

Zine - TBD. Browsing all the other posts from people doing this challenge for recs

Essay Collection - How To Read Now by Elaine Castillo. Literally the only essay collection on my to-read list and it jump scared me. Thought for sure this would a TBD, but How To Read Now should be interesting.

2024 Award Winner - TBD. Will trawl award lists when I have time

Non-Fiction - Facing the Wave: A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami by Gretel Ehrlich. Specifically chose something that doesn't also count as social justice/activism, which is most of my non-fiction reads. I've found a real appreciation for good non-fiction the last few years (Everyone go read Swimming to Antarctica by Lynne Cox). Learning stuff is cool!

Social Justice/Activism - Everything you Love Will Burn: Inside the Rebirth of White Nationalism in America by Vegas Tenold. Excited for this one.

Romance - TBD. Tend to read romance that's also another genre (romantasy side eye at myself) so I've inevitably got one on my list. But maybe Akwaeke Emezi will write another romance and sweep me off my feet.

Recipe - Steak wrap pinwheels. My wife has been watching Food Truck Race (lol. lmao even) and one of the contestants made these. Stealing the idea with impunity.

Horror - Fever House by Keith Rosson. I've got a rich vein of horror novels on my to-read list, but this will be one of the first.

Published in the Aughts - TBD I'm old. I read of lot of 00's work.

Historical Fiction - Velvet Was The Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Is the 70's historical? I think the 70's is historical now. One of the final 3 books of Moreno-Garcia's I haven't read, and she's never let me down. Might read another Phryne Fisher Mystery or two as well, because they're quick and fun.

Librarian recommendation - TBD. I love my library and there's a few librarians who know me, will have to ask their opinions. Talking to a person! Not just taking one off the recommended shelf! Wild!

[izzyatchi]

captain quinn's backstory woohoo!!! (toad oc)

edit: reference of his design here

(toad hairstyle design comes from @claus-trophobe !!! i simply just drew his interpretation of human-ish toads for my own.)

A Luma transforms into a comet after being lost and seperated from the Comet Observatory, but crashes into the wrong destination — right down into the heart of the Toad Town..

This incident would lead to it being reborn as a star..named "Quinn". but Quinn would always look to the stars in the sky at night and feel destined to belong there, not really knowing why at the time but wanting to reach it again. He wouldn't know how to fend for himself, resulting in an eye injury from accidentally running into and scaring a Boomerang Bro. (i kinda imagine they're chill when they're not tryna cause trouble with the mushroom kingdom lol ;;)

He searches and searches for a long time, one day finding an abandoned spaceship. Excited, he packs his things, and he goes off into space. Very many days pass, but sees a comet and follows it all the way.. soon enough finding the Comet Observatory, guided right to Rosalina who has been watching and protecting him.

She holds him in his arms, telling him she was waiting for his return to her.. although now a Toad, he still is her adoptive child just like the other Lumas, no matter how different he is now. he ends up staying in the Mushroom Land to to update Rosalina on everything, frequently visiting her while she watches over him from above and he explores the galaxy, being known as the Space Captain Toad, "Captain Q." 🥺

idk if i cooked but HEEEEE

[guardian-of-time-if]

(Before I start, I just want to apologize for making this so long. I got a little carries away...)

Sooo, I was scrolling through some of the old asks and saw the one about differing lifespans and read the little drabble about Lukyan and MC and how Lukyan fears for the future of his kingdom and I just... I had to shed a few tears. Doesn't help that I listened to Epic: The Musical's "Would You Fall in Love With Me Again" right after (not exactly the same situation, the song and that drabble, but still...)

After that, a bittersweet thought occurred to me that I NEED to rant about (plus a few questions at the very end, if you don't mind me askin). Imagine an MC who, whilst Lukyan was still alive, was known for her warm, gentle, and dazzling personality. Who always wore dresses with pretty colors: whites, pinks, yellows, blues etc. Who was always smiling and laughing and merry. Even more so when in the presence of her husband, Lukyan, who she had the most affectionate of gazes for.

But then Lukyan dies. And when he does, it's as though all the light has been snuffed out of her. Her demeanor becomes subdued and dim, her colorful dresses are traded in for dark gowns and black veils. Her smiles, while still gentle and kind, are far more subdued and rare. She mourns her lost love for the rest of her days, never taking on another lover or spouse. Yet she does not wallow in her grief.

Instead, she dedicates her life to guiding her descendants into ruling as wisely and justly as Lukyan had, whilst not overstepping. Leading the empire to becoming the most prosperous nation for all the years that she lives, and all the more after.

She also dedicates her life to helping the unfortunate and those in need. From physically participating in food handouts, visiting orphanages to personally inspect the safety of the place and spend time with the children, and going to the poorer more rundown areas in disguise to see what the people have to say and to try and help people get their business ideas in those areas off the ground, so it becomes safer and better off. Basically, she does all she can to make use of her long lifespan to help and serve others.

She visits Lukyan's grave religiously, and every time she comes to the palace, she makes time to admire his portrait. Just... auugghhh, the pain and angst of a genuinely true love MC/Lukyan relationship! Where MC is doomed to love him eternally while her life goes on CENTURIES after he's past.

Soo, all this to ask:

Imagine, after all of this, MC passes of natural causes. She reunites with Lukyan in the afterlife (assuming it exists in this universe... and if it doesn't, can we PLEASE pretend it does Q-Q). Assuming he's been watching over her this whole time, how does he greet her? Does he have anything to say about her efforts to preserve all the good he did as the ruler?

What are the chances there are ballads written about the love between Lukyan and MC, and MC's complete dedication to him and his kingdom even long after he left this world?

And a semi-unrelated question:

How would Konstantin, his wives, and Igor react to knowing the little girl they found in the forest would be the reason their nation remained great and prosperous long after they've passed? Not because of an interest in politics or royalty, but because of her undying love for Lukyan and knowing how much the fate of his nation weighed on him in his last days.

Hi there! Don't worry about the length, I love long asks, and this one really touched me with how well thought out it was. "Would you fall in love with me again" is a beautiful song, and I can see why it made you think about this scenario.

I've been thinking about this ask for a while. I just had so many feelings reading your ask. I'll admit this scenario had not occurred to me, but it is very beautiful. Also your ask made me go listen to the Ithaca Saga again. I love the image of an MC who outlives Lukyan religiously visiting his grave and admiring his portrait. I also love the idea of MC continuously looking after their descendants and taking care of his kingdom for him. 

Before I answer your question, here’s some basic information about the afterlife. So, each religion in Tarken has a different teaching about what the afterlife looks like. Most people just assume whatever version their religion teaches is the correct one though some scholars speculate that they are all different interpretations of the same truth. 

In my omniscient author knowledge I can tell you that there are different versions of the afterlife that people can go to. For the purpose of your ask, I’m going to assume that MC and Lukyan end up in the same afterlife. (If you or anyone else would like more information about this, I’m happy to expand, I just don’t want this task to get any bigger than it already is.) The rest of it is under the cut because my answers were a bit long.

Assuming he's been watching over her this whole time, how does he greet her? Does he have anything to say about her efforts to preserve all the good he did as the ruler?

Because you successfully hit me in the feels with this one, have a snippet of this afterlife reunion (sorry if this is accurate to how you imagine your MC, I tried to keep the details consistent with your ask.):

I follow the god through the paths in the fog. I’m still processing my death, but I also find myself at more peace than I’ve been in a long time. The weight of grief has been lifted from my shoulders, and glancing at my body, I see a colorful dress of the type I used to wear when my husband was still alive.

“Normally, the first thing I do for a new resident is help them decide a place to live, but there is someone here who has been dying to see you, so I think I’ll let you talk to him first.”

“What?” I ask the god as his words sink in. “Who?”

A translucent blue hand rests on my shoulder while another points at a figure moving towards us, not quite running, but close. As the figure gets I find myself staring at the same face I spent countless hours staring at in painting form. But this isn’t a painting.

It’s Lukyan, and he looks as young as he did the day we married, but without the scars. 

Before I can fully process the sight of my husband, I feel his arms wrap around me in the best hug I’ve ever received. It’s warmer, more comforting, reassuring, and tight enough we can hear each other's heartbeats. My arms move of their own accord to hug him back. 

“You made it,” he says, wiping a tear off my cheek. I hadn’t realized I was crying. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“I’ve missed you.”

“I know. I saw your visits to my grave, the hours you spent in the portrait hall of the palace, and the countless hours you spend taking care of our country in ways I never imagined doing myself.”

“You’ve been watching me?” I ask, still just soaking in the sight of my husband, looking more alive than ever. 

“Everyday. You’re amazing you know? All those things you did, everyday.”

“You were so afraid of what would happen to your people after you died, I wanted to make sure someone who saw your vision for what Nytheris would be was taking care of them.”

His arms wrap around me again. “Thank you.”

“Well, thank you for keeping watch over me the whole time.”

“There’s nothing I’d rather do,” He tells me, cupping my cheek. “And it’s nice to see you wearing color again.”

What are the chances there are ballads written about the love between Lukyan and MC, and MC's complete dedication to him and his kingdom even long after he left this world?

There is a very high likelihood of people writing love ballads about Lukyan and MC, I could even see them becoming the plot of an opera or a ballet. 

How would Konstantin, his wives, and Igor react to knowing the little girl they found in the forest would be the reason their nation remained great and prosperous long after they've passed?

This is an interesting question. I try not to say too much about Emperor Konstantin’s thoughts because I want readers to form their own opinion of him, but I don’t think it would be too surprising to say he would have mixed feelings. He would approve of keeping the empire prosperous, and he’d appreciate her loyalty to his son, but he and Lukyan disagree on a lot of policy, so he’d be a bit iffy on that depending on how closely MC stuck to upholding Lukyan’s policies. 

Empress Tereza would be very reassured that MC loves Lukyan that much. Her biggest fear is her children would end up in marriages like her own, so knowing MC is so in love with her son it defines her behavior years after his death would make her a lot more supportive of their marriage. Tereza would also be incredibly grateful to MC for continuing to take care of the empire on her son’s behalf. The fourth wife, you guys haven’t met yet, would have similar feelings to Tereza. She likes Lukyan a lot, and would care more about him being happy than the fate of the country. Claudia would find it sweet, but she’d also find it sad. Vanessa would find MC somewhat foolish for continuing to put so much effort into something because it mattered to a dead man. 

Lord Igor would be reassured that MC manages to find love with Lukyan as he does genuinely want MC to be happy. As for the rest, he would be torn. He’d rather MC put that much effort into improving the MC because she was interested in politics not for someone else, but he would also be grateful for all her efforts ensuring the empire remained prosperous. 

[bunny--manders]

If you're still accepting asks for the game: A, F and Q, please! 💜

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.

Hansry (Henry/Hans from Kingdom Come: Deliverance) has utterly consumed me. I don't want to spoil too much about their canonical romance but it's just delightful and hits a ton of my absolute favorite dynamics.

I played through the second game in April when I was in isolation with covid and was absolutely enchanted with the whole experience. I kinda sorta accidentally majored in medieval studies, and a huge part of what drew me to the period was how funny and goofy and gross medieval literature can get. The games are written by certified medieval dorks, and that doesn't just show in the super accurate crossbow animations, it's very deep in the humor and logic of the writing.

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom?

Once I'm in a fandom I rarely leave it, in the sense that I always have some fondness for what it brought into my life. I don't know if that counts as actively "being in a fandom" in the sense that I'm not producing transformative works.

I read Redwall all the way back in elementary school (first book signing I ever went to! Brian Jacques was so nice and I was so nervous!). I'm in my mid-30s now, and I still occasionally look up a Redwall recipe to cook or tell my husband I'm gonna go live my best mouse life by foraging some berries for dessert. So if food counts as a transformative work, I've been living that abbey mouse lifestyle for 27 years.

Q - A fandom you’ve abandoned and why.

I'm not feeling Harry Potter fandom at the moment. The righteous attempts to comb through all of JK Rowling's writing to prove she was Always Bad All Along peeve me (some people are, uh, really showing some questionable unexamined prejudice with what they're calling antisemitism) but at this point JKR is far, far beyond the Orson Scott Card moral event horizon for me where my enjoyment of her art will always be tainted by the knowledge of the fact that she actively worked to make things worse for people I care about.

I'm not vibing with the huge Disney-owned franchises like Marvel and Star Wars right now either. Not because there's anything offensively wrong with them. Just the opposite, really—I tend to feel fannish about ambitiously offbeat works made by people with something to say, even when the actual spark of fannish engagement comes from the feeling that I could say it better or I think what they're saying is wrong. About 10 years ago I was very much into both Marvel and Star Wars, but now it feels like most of what I watch feels so safe and smoothed over that there's not much for my fannish brain to grab onto. I did enjoy Andor but it didn't leave me feeling any urgent need to create something transformative.

Ask game here

[moplayspoke]

I met Rachel Gillig this week while she was on her Knight and the Moth tour.

Charming woman, etc etc but I also was able to write down the majority of takeaways from her interview and follow up audience Q & A featuring some sneak peeks on the sequel.

(BEWARE OF SPOILERS)

This was all originally posted on my bluesky (mo.seeks.quest) thread so I will be referencing posts from there.

1. The Knight and the Moth was like a conglomerate of inspirations including but not limited to: Legend of Zelda, A Knight’s Tale

2. She listens to music while she writes and you can find her playllist for it on spotify… what is with every author being obsessed with Sleep Token? Conspiracy

This is her spotify playlist for The Knight and The Moth: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0Jr0DumKr1Ym63wGceG7eI?si=fb1AJczbTDqls3E4ujc6vw&pi=iDrosKscT12xL

3. The sequel to Knight and the Moth has already been drafted. It’s going through editing right now. No official date yet but it does have a title which has not been announced yet.

4. For the sequel she was inspired by a Knight’s Tale especially. And if she had to sum it up in one word it would be “tournament”. If that gives you a clue on what it’s going to be about.

5. Everyone loves the gargoyle character and basically the gargoyle isn’t inspired by anyone, it’s just Rachel’s own inner monologue coming out. So really that was all her cracking those jokes.

6. The gargoyle is also her favorite character.

7. If she had to pick any MMC of hers she would pick Elm (heavy, HEAVY audience pressure)

8. If she had to live in any world she wrote (Shepherd King vs Stonewater Kingdom) she would pick the Stonewater Kingdom because she claims to be a victim of her own clumsiness and would immediately die in the mists.

9. Rodrick/Rory from The Knight and the Moth was inspired by Tomino, the Belgian/Egyptian music artist who has rings on his ears and eyeliner or “guyliner” and finds him hot.

10. She is also a “pantser” and not a “plotter” which surprised a lot of people. A pantser being someone who writes “by the seat of their pants” and does not have a plan or outline.

She has a general idea of what she wants to do and makes her characters before she writes what is going to happen.

11. A lot of her research was just watching renfare festivals for outfit ideas and knighthood gear.

Note: She found out they used animal feces to cast custom knight gear on their bodies when researching the “Wax” chapter in a Knight in a Moth. Renfare people used something similar to wax so she was happy to use that instead obviously.

“Ew that is so not sexy!”

12. She really doesn’t get to read much being busy writing and reading for blurbs from the publisher. It’s similar for other authors.

13. Her and other authors basically get NO say when it comes to what their book looks like, how many special editions it has, how many bonus features it has etc. That is all controlled by the publisher.

She did mention if you’re a big author you eventually may get some say in that process.

14. Easiest character to write — the gargoyle

Most difficult character to write — Benji

She clarifies that Benji was difficult to write because she had to make sure certain subtleties are there and that can be challenging.

15. Someone asked her if she got to choose a medium in which her book would see the big screen would she do 2D tv show, live action tv show, movie, or musical.

“Oooh musical? Trying to imagine Elspeth singing and dancing LOL”

She also mentioned having a 2D tv show like castlevania would be cool.

16. SPOILER FOR KNIGHT IN THE MOTH BELOW

—

She also affectionally called her book tour an “apology” tour knowing how people are going through the motions after that ending. And she apologizes for it (kinda).

—-

SPOILER FOR KNIGHT AND THE MOTH ABOVE

17. She has never written fanfiction. Ever.

She has written random stories for herself when she was younger but only ever for herself. No one else has read them.

18. When asked what her takeaway was after her first series (The Shepherd King duology), she first said she didn’t learn anything (joke) then mentioned The Stonewater Kingdom was a challenge for her in terms of having an open world (Whoo Legend of Zelda inspiration) and how these various places would connect, look, interact, etc.

She made her map (she sketched a cruse looking one herself first), made her magic system, made her characters and started from there.

19. There was no single inspiration used for the cathedral in the Knight in the Moth. She just knew she wanted it to have stained glass, rose windows and that gothic architecture. So really just a mashup of any cathedral that fits that description.

20. Additional inspiration for her dark, whimsy style comes from a lot of the 90’s/00’s darker movies and themes like.. Pan’s Labyrinth, The Last Unicorn, etc.

21. When asked if she would choose a sword vs the providence cards, she would pick the cards but mentioned she would hurt herself either way.

22. Someone asked her if the sequel would be like The Shepherd King duology where there is a different couple per book.

She said no, that the Stonewater Kingdom duology would have the same couple for both.

23. Unless I suddenly remember something else, that was pretty much it for interesting tidbits.

Rachel was great she was super sweet and patient and she was popping out jokes left and right. 10/10 would meet and greet again.

A well deserved auto-buy author. ✍️

Original thread on bluesky:

Feel free to reach out to me on bluesky~ I am way more active there than here.

Happy reading!

Mo

[may85]

Title: Beyond the Veil Part 1

Character: Logan Howlett x Psychic Medium!Reader

Warnings: Mention of attempted suicide (NO description)

Photo/GIF credits go to the original maker/owner

The whispers followed you around wherever you went. Whether they’d be living or dead, that wouldn't make a difference. 

It was an ending loop of constant noise which led you to your mental breakdown and ultimately your hospitalization. You hadn't meant to, but the thought of ending it all didn't sound all that bad. Maybe then you'd get your peace.

The sterilized smell of the hospital was one that you welcomed but nauseated you at the same time. You stayed to yourself, staring into a corner. You always listened to the nurses, took your medication, ate, bathed and slept when they told you.

Most of the nurses treated you just fine, but there was at least two that you knew of that had no problems taking advantage of the mentally ill.

Mind your p’s and q’s, take your medicine and you didn't have to worry about the noise or repercussions from the shady nurses.

Then it all changed one day. A voice broke through the haze, making you jump at the sudden intrusion.

“It's quite alright my dear,” the voice belonged to an older, soft spoken gentleman.

“You have nothing to fear,”

But you felt as you did. Slapping your hands over your ears, you began to rock back and forth, “Leave me alone… leave me alone…”

When a hand landed on your shoulder, you slung your elbow out and heard a crunch.

“Mother fucker!” A male nurse yelled out, blood pouring from his hands as he led his nose.

It was then that two more nurses took hold of your arms and dragged you kicking and screaming into a padded room. There they belted you down to the bed as you hyperventilated. You watched as they filled a needle and injected it into your arm. It was then that the voices finally stopped and you went to sleep.

When you came to, the smell of sandalwood and cardamom filled your lungs. Immediately you shot up and frantically looked around. No longer in the hospital, but in a cozy bedroom and on the softest bed you'd ever lay on.

“Hey there,” a deep, but soft voice came from your left.

The man was tall, wearing a white tank top, blue jeans and boots.

“Whe-,” your voice broke. Clearing it you whispered, “Where am I?”

The man leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees, “Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Children, “ he extended his hand to you, “I'm Logan,”

Your eyes flickered from his hand to his face before proceeding with caution as you shook his hand.

“Y/N Cantrell,”

When his long fingers wrapped around your hand, you felt him touch the bandage that was wrapped there. You couldn't help but jerk your hand away from him.

“The Professor will be around shortly to talk to you. I'll bring you something to eat in the meantime. So you can get your strength up.”

Logan rose from his chair and went to leave, but paused briefly before closing the door behind him, “Whatever happened… for what it's worth, I'm glad it didn't take,”

He left you dumbfounded. A man who didn't know you from kingdom come was glad that your attempt at killing yourself wasn't successful. It wasn't every day that you encountered that type of kindness. 

A quiet, “Thank you,” was all that you could manage.

It didn't hit you until you were alone that you hadn't heard one cry of help, one scream, one demand… That was how you met the X-Men.