#right...... you notice how with a lotta these fuckin things they ended up being very much true?

[magnoliamyrrh]

"the difference between a conspiracy and fact is time" isnt always true because some things are just genuinely loony and wrong but. boy oh boy is it true in too many cases

[somevillainfuckery]

RANTETHING TIME, WORMS (pt.1 PTP)

I said I was gonna rant on some random interests of mine soooo- first rant, yippee! I was wanting to do a rant today anyways [even though I slept "today" away], and thought well I did some doodles of random characters, maybe that'll help, and Popee happened to catch my eye. Funny psychotic rabbit man that isn't luring kids into the back room 🤭 I kinda just binged a couple random episodes of that since I started getting tired of Salad Fingers and having to hear him moaning over a texture every ten seconds Apologizing ahead of time, this is way too long of a rant 🤦‍♂️ Watching some of PTP, I'm just chilling, watching Kedamono get traumatized for the millionth time and Popee being a spawn of satan, and then the worst thing on the planet decides to fill my screen- FUCKING PAPI. NO OFFENSE TO ANYONE WHO LIKES THE SILLY MAN, DON'T GET ME WRONG, I FUCKIN LOVE HIS DESIGN AND A COUPLE SCENES OF HIM, HE'S GREAT FOR THE SERIES, BUT THERES A PROBLEM. I noticed in some scenes he has some... gross tendencies, to say the least, and other times he kinda just sucks. Like how fuckin old is Popee?? He's definitely not an adult, or at least he doesn't act like it, I'm assuming he's fuckin 17 maybe a bit older- who in the actual fuck is gonna step up to their teenage, almost adult son, with a goddamn bottle??? LIKE- STOP. PLEASE. I BEG OF YOU. POPEE IS NOT OK WITH IT, EVERYONE CAN SEE EVEN KEDAMONO IS BOTHERED BY IT, I ALREADY KNOW AT LEAST SOME OF YOU AS VEIWERS WERE BOTHERED BY IT. AND HIS RESPONSE TO THEM NOT DOING WHAT HE WANTS IS.. BECOMING GOD OR SOMETHING???

HUH??? I mean sure the argument for him is just he wanted to help- but Papi, that is NOT the proper help needed here, and I feel like nobody should have to actually point that out, he's an adult and should know that. And then another thing that kinda freaks me out is the reoccurring theme of vore? Yeah pretty sure rule34 artists had a lotta fun with this episode 😭 And what's worse is that his ass is unbearable in other episodes as well, not as freaky as this shit maybe, but still overall not making a good image for him. Poison happens to be one of my favorite episodes, just another episode where Popee gets sick of Kedamono basically existing. Papi is there of course, but he kinda just makes me uncomfortable the whole time like-

YOU'RE JUST SUCKING POISON OUT TO MAKE SURE THEY DON'T DIE. YOU DO NOT NEED TO LOOK AT YOUR SON THIS WAY. I'M ACTUALLY ON POPEE'S SIDE HERE, I WOULD ACTUALLY PREFER PUTTING A GUN TO MY HEAD THAN LET THIS MAN HELP. Really don't like how the scene goes, and when shit hits the fan you just- kill your kid?! EXCUSE ME??? Of course, as I said, there's other shit that just- doesn't sit right with me, now no its not exactly the immense perv levels of these two right here, but its more over the fact that Papi is supposed to be a father. From the very first episode we see the man, he comes in while Popee and Kedamono are practicing a trick, and his immediate reaction isn't some super flashy self introduction, or yknow- a fucking "Hello, son, I'm back from my several years of searching for the milk". It's to one-up his son? Assuming, being trying to understand any actual story out of this show is as difficult as understanding the FNaF lore, Popee is only even apart of this circus, or training to be apart of the circus, probably because of his father.. so Papi's intro is kind of a dick move. But then again, it could just be something that's going over my head entirely, since he proceeds to mentor them [and get a chainsaw to the head in the process]. I wanna believe that, or yknow find some sorta less asshole-y explanation, but then you kinda notice the difference from before he arrived, and after. When it was just Popee and Kedamono, Kedamono was impressed and supportive, and whether he wanted to or not, he'd end up practicing some sorta trick, or just sticking around to witness Popee practicing. After Papi arrived, and there was another member to the little group, I realized that everything Popee did was- disapproved by Papi, if I'm wording that correctly. A couple times here and there was some applauding, but other then that Papi kinda just seemed overall disappointed. No, I didn't rewatch the entire series again, but from what I can remember its usually disappointment, showing favoritism to Kedamono, or just constantly doing whatever his son is doing but better. I don't think I'd want this man as a mentor ngl. I mean if your son kills you and digs a grave with no hesitation, and is barely even upset at your death at all, pretty sure that means something is wrong with the relationship.😕 And besides the points where he's shown to "care", he is also pretty neglectful. The episode Ghost is one example, where they practice a magic trick on Popee, I genuinely love this little bit at the start because it seems like they actually have a decent relationship with each other-

but then everything just goes downhill immediately, and that's because Kedamono is a royal fuck up and kills Popee. That's when my point comes in. Look at Kedamono. AND THEN LOOK AT PAPI.

BROTHA WHERES YOUR SADNESS- YOUR CONCERN- YOUR SON JUST DIED, KEDA IS FREAKING OUT.. AND YOU'RE JUST DIGGING A GRAVE LIKE ITS AN AVERAGE EVERYDAY OCCURANCE. THE ONLY TIME YOU ACTUALLY START GIVING A SHIT IS WHEN YOU'RE GOING TO SAVE KEDAMONO- AND AS FAR AS I KNOW, YOU BARELY EVEN KNOW THE WOLF. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? Another great example is in the episode Medicine, where Popee is sick with what one can only explain as this shows version of Covid-19. Papi and Kedamono are trying to help him by mixing some random ass concoctions that I'm gonna assume is a mix of medicine and soup, and overall none of them had worked. By the time they found something that didn't taste like straight death, they get distracted by that and decide "lets go off and enjoy ourselves", MEANWHILE POPEE LOOKS LIKE HE'S FUCKING BEGGING FOR HELP. I GET IT, POPEE ISN'T EXACTLY SOME SWEET ANGEL, QUITE THE OPPOSITE ACTUALLY BUT NOW YOU'RE STOOPING AS LOW AS HE DOES. An episode that really stands out is Loneliness, where Papi and Kedamono leave while Popee is asleep, and they stay gone for a few days. Popee is the definition of an asshole, duh, we all know he terrorizes everyone around him for a living. But according to the episode, they had to have been gone for maybe two or three days. Popee slept the entire day away, and thats the day they left, I'm gonna assume he spent that night/the next day trying to figure out where everyone went, and then went insane the day after. He'll kill Papi and Keda, no hesitation, but obviously he cares about them still, after all that's his father and his best friend. I assumed the pantomime episode plays a little into this, being Popee creates what looks like a hallucination of himself to cope with what he assumes to be abandonment, and its a hallucination everyone else can sense/see as well. (and take note of this, it appears that the easiest[?] way for somebody to duplicate themselves in a mental hallucination way is when they cry, so obviously Popee freaked out when he came to the explanation of abandonment so I'm assuming absent father = pretty fucked up mindset). Papi and Kedamono come back, they get rid of the duplicate by having Papi make a duplicate of himself, and Popee freaks the fuck out about it. Kedamono offers a solution- talk to him, try and calm him down, being a decent person to Popee. Papi literally refuses to even acknowledge the idea, or his son, and tries literally any other solution that doesn't involve talking to his child. I'm sorry... your child is having a mental breakdown. And you refuse to look at him. As I said, there are a lot of things that make Papi a great character, but he could be so much better if he was just a decent father. When I first watched the show, I genuinely thought Popee was just the most heartless prick known to man but like.. CMON, LOOK AT THIS SHIT, POPEE IS SO FUCKED IN THE HEAD BECAUSE OF HIS PIECE OF SHIT DAD. I'VE SEEN A LOT OF PEOPLE TALK ABOUT HOW THEY BELIEVE HE WAS JUST GONE FOR MOST OF POPEE'S LIFE AND I CAN SEE THAT, AND THEN WHEN HE DOES COME INTO THE PICTURE, HE JUST RUINS EVERYTHING. THE SECOND IMAGE HERE FROM MEDICINE, WHEN POPEE IS BEGGING FOR HELP, HE'S REACHING FOR HELP RIGHT??? AND WHO DOES HE REACH FOR??? NOT PAPI, NOT HIS OWN FATHER, HE REACHES FOR HIS BEST FRIEND, KEDA.

THE DUPLICATES HAVE A BETTER FATHER-SON RELATIONSHIP. HELL, WITH POPEE AND KEDAMONO, THEY'VE KILLED EACH OTHER, POPEE TERRORIZES HIM FOR FUN EVEN, AND EVEN THEY HAVE A BETTER RELATIONSHIP. WHEN THE WHOLE CIRCUS JUST VANISHED WHILE KEDAMONO WAS FREAKING OUT, POPEE STAYED... I DON'T SEE PAPI DOING THAT FOR POPEE.

THE SHOWS ENDING WAS GREAT, YEAH... BUT I WISH IT WAS POPEE AND KEDAMONO BEING STARS OF THE CIRCUS ON STAGE, AND PAPI OUT OF THE FUCKIN PICTURE.

[radi0activesmile]

angel-dust-addict​:

Angel watched him with a inquisitive expression. "What, ya mean like gettin’ me out or somethin’? That’d take a lotta plannin’ an’ I dunno if it’d even work.” His gaze slid slightly to the side, not quite meeting Alastor’s anymore as his expression dimmed. “An’ even if we did make it work, I don’t I dunno what’s in it fa’ you.”

He popped quickly - or, as quickly as he could - back around the door. It only took him a moment to pull his skirt on. Once he had, he opened the door a little wider and settled back on the vanity top next to the sink to continue trying to scrub the blood from his fur. He kept his eyes on that work, wincing and hissing occasionally. as he continued on, “I mean, I ain’t doubtin’ ya mean what yer sayin’. Fa’ right now, at least. But I can’t figuah out why tha hell ya care.”

It was difficult to remove bloodstains from fur. Even if he weren’t injured, he would have had a hell of a time with it. The fact that his fur was white only made it worse, because everything showed on that. And he couldn’t show up looking like a disaster. It ultimately wouldn’t matter, but he was focused on what he could to maximize his chances of coming out of this as unscathed as possible. They were things that would likely mean nothing to Alastor. They might even seem like absurd things to be concerned about, but Angel knew how this worked. He knew what would earn him points. He had been surviving this way for a long time.

“I mean,” he went on, looking up briefly at Alastor, exhaustion plain as day in his expression, before trying to get in close to the stitches with the washcloth. “Yer a fuckin’ ovahlord. Ya’ve got it made. Ya won this goddamn rigged game. Why the fuck would'ya wanna do somethin’ that might fuck all'a that up? Ya said yerself ya’d end up startin’ a fight if ya turned up at the studio.”

He wasn’t sure it was going to get any better than it currently was. He could still see the patches of blue, but they wouldn’t be noticeable if you didn’t know where to look. Setting the washcloth aside for now, he turned his gaze on Alastor once more, looking every bit as exhausted and hopeless as he felt, and added, “An’ how do ya plan on gettin’ Charlie involved wit'out gettin’ Charlie involved?”

Alastor can only flash that trademark smile towards his current companion as Angel ponders why Alastor is so very invested in this situation. Truthfully, there’s nothing in it for him-- unless you count that this is, at the very least, keeping him from being bored. While Alastor could hardly categorize the situation they’re in as entertaining (it’s far too frustrating to be labeled as such) it is making him think far more than he usually has to in order to solve a problem. Simply being the Radio Demon, simply showing the sheer power he’s gained over these decades isn’t enough. If anything, it would make this far worse for Angel. 

Though, in reality, he hasn’t remained by Angel this long because he expects it to serve him in the long run. To put it simply: He is here because his own code of morality. This isn’t the first time he’s put a stop to his work or taken time from his day to stick his neck out for another who was trapped in a situation they could, for no fault of their own, escape. It won’t be the last either. 

When Angel opens the door a bit wider, Alastor, taking that as an invitation to be a bit closer, rests his elbow against the doorframe and peers in. Why does he care? There’s several answers he could give here: Because Angel is a part of this hotel, and because he made a promise to look after this hotel. Because he made a promise to Charlie, and he’s a man of his word. Because what Valentino is doing to Angel offends Alastor personally-- that would be the most truthful answer to give, yet it’s the one he would least likely give if Angel pressed for an answer. To say something bothers him implies a weakness, and he’s spent these last nine decades cultivating a persona that has no such thing. 

When those exhausted eyes look up to meet his, Alastor looks back, his head tilting just slightly against the doorway. He’s not entirely correct: While, yes, being an overlord is a symbol of power, it also paints a target. There were numerous overlords who believed they were untouchable-- until a man from Louisiana had a small mishap with a pack of dogs, fell into a pre-dug grave, and immediately set his sights on those who held power. “I’m not barbaric enough to solve all my problems by declaring war~” He answers with a soft, amused chuckle. 

Once more, those exhausted eyes fall on him. Alastor’s teeth clench inside his jaws as something inside his throat clicks, his vocal chords stretching and adjusting accordingly as Alastor takes a step away from the door. The voice that comes from his mouth next is unmistakably Charlie’s. 

“𝐼'𝓁𝓁 𝒿𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝒸𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝒽𝒾𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝐼'𝒹 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓇𝑒𝒸𝒾𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝒾𝓉 𝒾𝒻 𝒽𝑒 𝑔𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝑜𝒻𝒻.“

His eyes flicker from one side to the other before adding:

“𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓂𝓎 𝒹𝒶𝒹 𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝑜 𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓎 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝓁𝑒𝓉𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝑒 𝒷𝑜𝓇𝓇𝑜𝓌 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝑒𝓂𝓅𝓁𝑜𝓎𝑒𝑒𝓈 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓂𝓎 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝒿𝑒𝒸𝓉.“

While Charlie herself isn’t considered much of a threat, if one takes the time to remember who she will go to if she’s made upset or angered... their charming belle of a landlady becomes quite a force to be reckoned with. 

angel-dust-addict​:

"Can’t really say he’s a fan, but he don’t really pay ‘er much mind,” Angel said, hissing sharply as he tries to scrub the blood away without pulling too hard on the stitches. This was the problem with fur. It was difficult to wash things out of it without resorting to a shower, which he didn’t have the energy for.

There was a brief beat of silence before Angel poked his head around the door. There was a deep thread of anxiety in his voice as he asked, “Wait, you ain’t thinkin'a gettin’ Charlie involved, are ya? I don’t want anybody else knowin’ 'bout dis. I mean… I guess if it’s that or endin’ up dead, but she ain’t gonna get it. An’ even if it works, I still gotta go back ta work eventually. I don’t need Val bein’ even more pissed at me.”

Alastor’s ears tick forward, back, and forward again at the sound of the hiss. Were this Husker, he would invite himself through the door and take the washcloth from him, no matter the protests, no matter the snarls and hisses. Of course, he’s known Husker for decades. The gambler is one of two demons in the entirety of hell that knows Alastor on a personal level. While Husk will glare, and snarl, and protest, he knows Alastor’s insistence on doing such things comes from a place of concern rather than, as most would think, his desire to jam his claws into a wound.

Angel is different. Putting aside his uncertainty about what kind of man Alastor is, there’s a layer of distrust and trauma that clouds Angel’s perception. Were Alastor to let himself into that room, he can only imagine he would be met with fear. Even if he believes it would be helpful, he’s of no mind to add to the spider’s anxiety. That’s why, the instant Angel peers from the door-- before he’s even finished asking his question, Alastor is shaking his head. “Nono, no.”  He says quickly. It’s not his place to share, and Angel’s correct: Charlie would not understand. He highly doubts she realizes just how wretched Angel’s working conditions are. She seems to think of Angel’s job as mildly unpleasant at worst. His voice lowers in volume as he looks up to meet Angel’s eyes as they peer out from the door.  “If we can buy some time for your body to heal, perhaps then we can think of a longer-term solution.” Without making a deal, not even Alastor can protect Angel from Valentino forever, and Alastor highly doubts Angel would be willing to even consider such a thing. 

[cuppimagines]

What Happens when you Squeal

OH GOD this request was a long time coming, but I finally got it done! This is sorta, an expansion to Harkan’s own organization that he allies with, lotta bug fellas in this one (in fact only bug fellas)

Word count: 2.6k

This was dangerous, but, even if you ran the risk of getting in less than desirable trouble, it’s better than letting more of these guys just roam the streets, being a danger to much more innocent lives. You drove up to the station you intended on turning your evidence for. It was a thick folder, filled with pictures and documents, anything you got your hands on, but all of it had enough evidence to make sure that no loophole in the legal system could get these guys out of prison. You were ready, you were getting out of your car to step up to the station, and that’s when you felt a presence behind you.

“How about coming with me? You don’t need to turn those in,” a deep, gravely voice told you, as a hand gripped your shoulder. Would you cooperate? Or would you still walk in at risk of getting harmed?

“Go on, make your choice,” the same voice said. You sighed, and turned around to face him. The large frame, massive, scuffed hands, a 5 o clock shadow on a strong square jawline. And most notable is the large rhino beetle horn on his face and multiple arms. You knew what he was here for, and who he worked for. You just followed him.

“Let’s take a little drive, your car,” he said, going into your pockets and grabbing your keys. “Don’t try and drive anywhere else, you’re being followed.” You got in your car, and he joined you, barely able to fit due to his size and bulk. He told you where to go, where to drive off to, and after what seemed like way too long, you ended up at a large warehouse that looked like a fortress looming in the night. That’s when you realized as you parked, that there were other lights behind you, a couple more cars. When you got out and were escorted into the warehouse, you saw that there were about, four more men behind you alongside the large rhino beetle man that had a grip on your shoulder. All four other men also were large, with bug like features. A moth, a wasp, a mantis, and a lightning bug. They were looking at you. Looking at you with looks that seemed excited, and hungry.

The warehouse seemed mostly full of crates, equipment, some tables and chairs for workers to take a breather on.

“Is this the evidence?” The mantis held up your folder, and pulled a lighter from his pocket. “Looks like this won’t be of use anymore.” Your eyes widened as you watched him hold the fire over it, before the lightning bug grabbed the lighter.

“Let’s not worry about smoking the place up yet, we got plenty of time,” he replied.

“What are you guys…going to do to me?” You asked.

“Well, originally, we were gonna beat your teeth in and send you out to sea,” the beetle told you. “But then…we found out the private investigator was some pretty little dame. And you’re even sweeter looking in person.”

“Who knew someone with such a face would get caught up with our work,” the moth said with a smirk. “You’re real pretty, so we’re doing you a favor if anything.” You were pushed against a few crates, some that were stacked in a way that let you sit on them as you were surrounded by five large monstrous men. Your knees buckled under you, yet there was some sense of excitement that showed in your face because of how flushed it was.

“Take those clothes off, now,” Beetle told you. You did as he told, your hands going to unbutton your blouse, toss your coat to the side, undo your pants. All the while you were being ogled at, the more layers you took off, the more it was obvious they were going to absolutely ravish you.

“Oh you’re real cute, real fucking gorgeous,” Wasp grinned. “I can’t wait to make you cum your pretty little brains out~.” He was already quick to approach you before you even had your bra off. He groped at your breasts, his hands squeezing them so hard and so roughly that you whimpered in his grasp. Tugging on them as he pulled that bra off of you, rough calloused hands giving them such a rough time, yet you moaned for it. And he laughed in response.

“Pretty little investigator bitch~!” He said as he licked his lips. “You like this don’t you?”

“Save some for the rest of us you fucking idiot,” Mantis got right next to you as Wasp groped you, and he leaned in for a kiss. He tasted a lot like cigars, which didn’t surprise you all too much as he forced his tongue in you mouth. You felt his hand creep down your panties, and his long fingers started rubbing circles in your clit. At that moment, you had to find something to grip onto, and tried reaching up to grab Wasp’s shirt as Mantis’s fingers went so deep into you, so so deep. You moaned and closed your legs around Mantis’s grip, but Wasp pulled away from fondling your breasts raw to keep your legs spread to show the rest of the group.

“I can’t wait to stick my cock in her…” Beetle licked his lips, his pants pulled down already as he rubbed his hard cock through his boxers. As you moaned and started shaking while Mantis was knuckle deep, pounding you with his fingers, Wasp leaned back down, sucking your breast, and you could feel yet another long tongue start to swirl around your nipple. All these sensations, Mantis’s tongue and fingers, Wasp’s mouth and hands on your breasts, you were going crazy, you tried to thrust into Mantis’s hand, trying to reach some form of climax, but no, Mantis decided to pull out when he felt you grip his fingers tighter than before.

“We got her prepped, your turn big guy,” Mantis told Beetle, before tugging a resistant Wasp back.

“Just save some for the rest of us,” Moth huffed. “Once you get a hold of a girl you won’t let go until she’s practically comatose.”

“A fitting punishment though, for a pretty little snitch like her,” Beetle looked down at you, and you looked away a bit nervously. Eye contact, or being looked at by all these men even in your state still made you nervous, you weren’t used to all these eyes on you, and Beetle noticed just how anxious you seemed.

“Pretty girl, it’s okay, we won’t hurt you, we’re just showing you what happens to cute little kittens who squeal too much,” he smirked as his hand ran through your hair. You felt his cock before you saw the monster he was preparing you for. The head of it pushed against your walls, stretching you out so full, Mantis’s fingers couldn’t have possibly prepared you for this off all things. He was thick, long, you already gripped tightly onto Beetle’s clothes as you felt inch after agonizing in.

“Ah- ah! Oh god! I-I…” You cried out the second that massive cock, already halfway in you, completely thrust into you and stretched you out more than you thought you could be.

“Oh GOD you’re a tight fit!” Beetle moaned as he gripped the crates above you with one hand. You were shaking, your mind went blank, your head tilted back. He started to thrust when your grip loosened as you got more accustomed to his size, but that just got you back to holding onto him for dear life and moaning those sweet little moans

“Oh you boys are gonna love her when you get your turn!” Beetle laughed. “You’re a tight little bitch aren’t you? Squealing for me the same way I bet you were gonna squeal to those pigs back at the station!” His one free hand, as two were gripping your hips and one was gripping your hips, had started groping and kneading your breast, that was already so sensitive. Oh god the others were so excited to get their turn with you.

“Don’t fuckin rub it in or I’ll pull you off her myself,” Lightning bug told him. He was hard as a rock, and in excitement his abdomen was glowing a faint glow and his wings flapped, despite him looking pissed off and even jealous. Though you could barely hear him talking over your own moaning and your thoughts completely liquifying. Beetle was so rough with you and he was so so big that your stomach bulged with each thrust of his cock.

You grasped onto Beetle tighter, he was getting rougher and faster, and you could hear his horny crazed grunts and moans. You cried out and gripped his shirt so tightly that you heard a bit of tearing as you reached your climax, and he filled you up with his seed.

Beetle pulled out, and you laid there, limp and breathing heavily. But you knew it wasn’t over just yet. Moth and Lightning bug got you up, in fact Moth lifted you into his arms, gripping your thighs while using one hand to undo his pants. As Lightning bug pressed behind you, you could feel not one but two cocks, the both of them were readying themselves, two perfect holes for them to fuck.

When you felt the two of them thrust into you, you gripped onto Moth as tight as you can, shaking and whimpering at their sizes. Moth sat on the crate, making it a bit easier to both of them to pound you, Lightning Bug even grabbed a fistful of your hair and pulled it, his cock filling your ass, stretching it out, making you scream for the both of them.

“How about you grind on our cocks, princess?” Moth chuckled. “Show is how much you want this…!” At that command, You kept your head in Moth’s chest, and very weakly started grinding into both their cocks, moving your hips as they thrust into you, but your hips already felt weak from the way Beetle had his way with you. Impatient, Lightning bug pressed his body onto yours from behind, moaning as he started fucking your ass more aggressively. Moth was slower, more patient even when his face was flushed and his cock twitched inside you, but Lightning bug was real excited for this, he wanted to break your pretty little ass with each rough thrust.

“Cmon princess~!” Moth tilted your chin up to look at him. He saw your eyes glazed over, mouth open, face flushed as you were being fucked, and he was absolutely infatuated with the way you looked. “Ohhh look at you! You’re so adorable, such a sweet face…we should ask the boss if we can keep her~!”

“AH- ah…k-keep me??” You whimpered between being pounded hard by Lightning Bug. You couldn’t believe that they were already breaking you enough that you enjoyed the thought of doing this again and again with them. You were going from a detective to a plaything for the men you were trying to lock up, and you didn’t care at all, you really did want this, it felt so good!

“We probably will~!” Lightning bug started kissing your neck from behind. “Gotta keep an eye on- oh fuck…! On our little snitch!” You felt his cock twitch inside you, and he started fucking you faster and harder. Both sensations were too much, you felt overwhelmed in the best of ways and you wanted more. You couldn’t take it, despite your stamina you tried to move your hips against them, begging under your breath to cum, until you felt the both of them fill you up Lightning Bug first following Moth. And god did you cry out as you clenched around both their cocks, your eyes squeezing shut as you rode out your orgasm.

They both pulled out of you, and even though you were exhausted, you knew that this wasn’t the end of it. You tried to stand up, but couldn’t and fell back into Moth’s lap.

“She’s already looking exhausted,” Wasp approached you, and Moth handed you right to him so he could get up. You had to lean against him or else you swore you were going to fall to your knees.

“Don’t forget, this is a punishment for her,” Mantis grabbed you and laid you on your stomach back on the crates. He started to grope your ass, spreading it apart to look at how both holes at this point were stuffed with cum. Wasp tilted your head to the side to look up at him, as he pulled his cock from it. It was one thing to know you had to ride their cocks like this, but looking at Wasp’s size with him very eagerly awaiting your mouth, you weren’t sure you’d be able to take it all without choking.

But, as dazed and tired as you were, you lifted your head up, and brought your lips to his cock. All while Mantis had you inch by inch take his cock in your ass. Mantis practically growled when he managed to fit it all inside you, and your screams of pleasure got muffled when Wasp shoved his cock down your throat. Tears stung your eyes, you tried breathing through your nose, and you looked up as Wasp’s hungry expression.

You felt them thrust almost in tandem with you, as Mantis was deep in your ass, Wasp was deep down your throat. Both sensations were still so new to you, and you felt so dazed and drunk with pleasure that your mind felt like it was melting. So nervous at the start of it, but now you took your “punishment” proudly from them. You grinded your ass on Mantis, and since Wasp’s grip on your head was loose, you decided to bob it up a down kn his cock. You were so eager now, and the rest took notice.

“Little slut likes her punishment doesn’t she?” Lightning Bug smirked.

“God I fuckin love it too!” Mantis moaned. “This whore feels sooo fucking good!”

“We’re bringing her back, we can’t- ah fuck!” Wasp gripped your head and held you there as he fucked himself with your mouth and throat. “We can’t just send her back home-! I need a new fucktoy like this!” Your mouth felt so good to him. Even as your vision grew white and your air seemed to be cut off, you were excited to pleasure Wasp and Mantis. Again you seemed to have a Burst of energy, solely from the fact that these men were fuckin you to a mindless, cock hungry state.

If you could talk at the moment you’d beg to cum, to plead for more, it all felt so amazing! Wasp and Mantis kept a tight grip on you, your head held to Wasp’s hips, and your hips being grabbed and pulled onto Mantis they both came inside you. You gagged and tried to swallow Wasp’s seed. But you had to pull away, it was all way too much and you spat it out. At that, Mantis slapped your ass and you cried out, even though you were exhausted beyond belief.

“We’ll teach her to swallow, for now though…” Mantis pulled out. All five of them were satisfied you learned your lesson as you laid there on your stomach trying to catch your breath.

“Now you know what happens when you snitch, dollface,” Beetle approached you, gripping the red area that Mantis smacked you.

“Y-yes sir…” you whimper. If you had an ounce of energy left, you’d say “If I try to turn you in, would you do the same thing?” But you were limp and exhausted, so easy to pick up as Beetle did and put you in the back seat of your own car as they left the warehouse after cleaning up. A blanket was put over you, and just like that, the moment your body hit the upholstery of the seat, you fell asleep.

[bunnys-beetlejuice-blog]

airhorn sounds in your ear as you try to sleep ITS FIC TIME, CHILDREN

His father’s first reaction is, predictably, nervous. They’re sitting in the living room as a family, all sort of hanging out, but doing their own thing. Hoarders is passively playing, Lydia is tucked under the couch with a book and flashlight, Emily is in the corner with her laptop, and BJ and Charles are each sitting on opposite ends of the couch, going through their phones. He gets a very sweet text from Adam, showing that the other teen has put the photo Lydia took of them in a frame, and he grins, and holds the device to his chest, feeling giddy and flustered. His dad notices. “What’s got you in such a good mood?” Charles smiles, and BJ figures this is as good a time as any. “I got a text from my boyfriend.” Charles stares. From her chair in the corner, Emily’s typing slows, and then stops, as her brain catches up with that sentence. His phone pings again, and he looks back down at a message from Barbara, then back to his parents. “And my girlfriend.” Emily closes her computer. Her smile is enormous. “Shut up.” “No, seriously!” he grins back at his mother, and then notes the color Charles is going. “Adam and Barbara?” Emily asks, knowingly, and he nods. “We made it official yesterday. I took em to th’ Smallpox Hospital.” “Awww! That’s so romantic!” “You’re dating?” Charles finally finds words. “Unclench your everything, dad, jeezus.” “It’s just… do you think that’s a good idea?” “I think it’s a great idea,” BJ says, a little defensive. “What, I’m not allowed to date? M’too weird for it?” “That’s not what I meant, BJ,” Charles frowns. But he can tell it kind of is.

“Charles, honey, he’s sixteen. He’s going to date,” Emily says softly, and Charles looks back at her. “But two people at once? And they’re-” “They’re what, Chuck?” “Humans. They’re human, BJ.” “Holy shit, they are? Here I thought they were just really crappy demons.” “I just don’t know if you’ve thought this through. Wouldn’t you be happier dating another demon?” “I don’t know any other demons, dad,” he growls, temper flaring. “Unless you want me to date Sam, an’ look like a total creep, since he’s stuck at like, ten.” “Stop it, BJ.” “You stop it! Just be happy for me!” “I am.. Happy. For you.” BJ sits back, crosses his arms, and scowls. “Got a funny way of showin’ it.” His father stands, and takes to pacing. Christ. “We should lay out ground rules.” “Me an’ Adam an’ Barb did that already.” “No, I mean, house rules,” Charles says, rubbing at his beard. “Things you’re allowed to do, and not. Oh, god, first things first, I’m going to get you a box of condoms.” Betelgeuse feels himself flush, and then Lydia finally pipes up, sticking her head out from under the couch. “Gross.”

“You’re seriously blowin’ this out of proportion. We’ve barely held hands!” “I was a teenager. I remember how things escalate. The last thing we need is someone pregnant. Especially with whatever a human and a demon would make.” “Th’ anti-Christ, maybe,” he says, unhelpfully, and he sees the way his dad’s expression twists into further worry. “It was a joke! Oh my god!”

His mother, bless her, swoops in, just then. “BJ’s just told us good news,” she says, standing, and putting a hand on Charles’ arm, which stops his pacing. “I need you to reassess how you’re making him feel, right now.” Charles looks from his wife to his son. BJ rubs at his nose, embarrassed and upset, and probably purple, and he sees his father make a choice. “BJ, I’m sorry,” Charles comes over, hesitantly reaches down, and Betelgeuse responds by throwing his arms around his dad. Chuck rubs his back. “Tell me about them,” he says, “and I promise to be cool. As cool as I can be, at least.”

That’s at least something. He can tell his dad is still worried, but he does listen, as Betelgeuse describes his two partners. “We spend a lotta time together,” he tells his father. “An’ they’re both goody two shoes. Seriously, they’re borin’, nice people.” “Tell us how you met them, BJ,” Emily smiles. He regales them with the story of Barbara and the flower, and then Adam in the library, and by the time he’s done, he’s back to feeling green, all smiles and excitement and stimming hands. It feels really, really good to not be alone.

Monday comes a day too soon, and he sort of misses the atmosphere of the library, because at lunch, he’s forced to pick up trash, with Honeywell watching him intently from a bench. The only consolation prize to this is the vice principal’s time is also being wasted. He doesn’t miss how a few kids walk by and intentionally throw things at his feet for him to pick up. They don’t get away with it, though, because either they trip and find their shoelaces are mysteriously tied together, or for those unlucky ones without laces, they’ll find a snake in their lockers. The miserable part is, Adam and Barbara aren’t allowed to hang out with him while he’s working. They’d tried, and were told in no uncertain terms to leave him alone, leave him to his task, or they’d be sent to the other side of the campus to do the same thing. A little bit of punishment, he understands. But he draws the line at threatening Sexy and Babs. He’s absolutely plotting exactly how he’s going to ruin the overbearing adult’s day when he feels a strange sensation in his chest, like a slight tug. He pauses. It’s not a pain, not really, more like a pull away from himself, which doesn’t make any sense, but that’s what it is. He has to assume it’s another demon thing.

He glances at his watcher, who seems engrossed in paperwork.

Man, if only this guy would fuck off, he could be enjoying lunch with his friends- The pull away from himself is stronger, this time. He concentrates on it, and then remembers how physical the summoning of clones is, requiring a motion like he’s tossing something, and he gives that a try, this time, gently lobbing nothing at a student passing by. The kid looks surprised, and then goes rigid, and he thinks maybe he’s killed someone for the first time, but then the teen straightens up, and stands, stiff, facing him, and BJ feels mentally split, between two bodies. He raises his right hand. The student mirrors the action, eyes wide, confused. He lowers it, then kicks his leg out to the side, and again, he’s copied. Not copied.. Followed? The other student is like a marionette, and his mind is the strings, or something close to that. “Possession,” he grins, wickedly, and then he pulls himself back all to one body, and the kid falls on his ass, confused, and scrambles away.

Oh, he is so going to use this new power for evil.

“BJ Deetz! I don’t see this quad getting any cleaner!” Honeywell has looked up from his paperwork to find Betelgeuse standing there, grinning to himself, and the teen responds by spinning around, and throwing nothing at the overbearing authority figure. Honeywell also goes rigid, and BJ lifts his hands, directing the VP to stand, and the hapless adult does so. “Looks clean enough to me,” he mouths, and hears that sentence come out of Honeywell’s lips. “Clean enough to eat offa!” With a swiping motion, he forces the man to knock his own hardly touched lunch to the ground, and then BJ crouches low, and the adult follows, shoving his face into what was clearly leftovers from some night’s dinner, and coming back up with a mouthful of noodles and dirt. The big man’s eyes are wide. He’s scared, confused. It’s thrilling. With a hand motion, BJ forces the breather’s face back into the mess of food and dirt, and doesn’t let him up until the muffled cries become truly panicked. Possession out in public might be a bit too noticeable, though, because there’s a gathering group of kids watching what the teacher is doing, their phones out, taking video, and he doesn’t need them connecting his own strange movements back to Honeywell’s. He makes a final hand motion, releasing the adult, and shoves his hands in his pockets, just in time for Adam and Barbara to appear as faces in the crowd. Honeywell, freed, sits up, coughing and sputtering, and looking horrified. “What the heck happened?” Adam asks, and BJ shrugs. “He started throwin’ a fit, outta no where,” he lies, but he feels the vice principal watching him, staring up from the dirt, where he’s still sat, dazed. He gives the adult a grin. “Totally fuckin’ weird.”

The rest of his lunch period is freed up, suddenly, as Honeywell goes to clean himself off in the men’s room.

This fun new ability requires further testing, but not right now, now when Adam and Barbara are around. Soon, though. Very soon. “I’m really bummed we can’t be in the library anymore. I tried to pop in to grab something this morning and the librarian chased me out.” Adam looks genuinely sad, at that, which startles BJ out of his downright vicious thoughts. “By the way,” Adam adds, “They put up the casting sheet today. Want to guess who got that dentist part?” Barbara is grinning wide. “Me?” he croaks. A few other kids tried for it.. He didn’t think he’d get picked, honestly, thought that maybe someone more likable, or more friendly, would be chosen over him, but Barbara squishes his cheeks in her hands. “You!” she cheers, and he blushes. “You’re going to be amazing! But that means,” she tells him, suddenly serious, “-that you have to actually try.” He nods, as much as he can, her hands still on either side of his face. “Effort,” he grunts. “Got it.” She leans forward and kisses the tip of his nose. He scrambles to throw his hood over his head, and cinches it closed, knowing for a fact he’s gone pink from the tips of his hair down to the roots. “BJ?” Barbara giggles, as he peers out at her from his hood. “Should I not do that?” “NO! No, no, I, uh, just.. Warn a guy, next time.”

He hadn’t thought through the logistics of this, clearly, because he can’t be scrambling away from them every time one of them kisses him, just because his stupid hair won’t behave itself. God, he’s going to have to start wearing a beanie, or something, until he can get this color thing under control. Annoyingly, his dad was right. He really hadn’t given this much thought, beyond, Adam and Barbara pretty, wanna kiss them. Now he’s got to work out the logistics of how he’s going to actually achieve that goal, without basically, for lack of a better word, outing himself. He doesn’t want to think that something like what happened with Kevin could happen again, but he hadn’t really seen that situation coming, and it had ended about as poorly as a budding romance can, with parental murder. So yeah, he’s not exactly confident he can trust them with this secret. Better to keep it to himself, play his cards close to the chest, not let them all the way in. That’s safest for all of them. Good plan, BJ, he thinks to himself, watching Barbara dust wood shavings out of Adam’s hair, a leftover byproduct of his shop class. No one gets hurt. No one has to know anything. He can keep playing human with his cute new partners for as long as they’ll let him.

Stretching before him, suddenly, he foresees a lifetime, several lifetimes actually, given the span of existence for a demon, lifetimes full of deceit and lies and partners who age without him, and it all makes him very tired, and sad. This is going to be how it is, he realizes. He’s going to pretend and mimic and do his best to fit himself into a template that he wasn’t made for, and he’s presumably going to be doing it forever, maybe until the minute the last human takes their last breath, because playing human is as close as he can get. It's easier to play pretend, throw a glamour on and act along, than to be himself and risk the pain and rejection, or the truth that maybe his worth is tied into what he can do, not who he is. It all leaves him dizzy, this sudden moment of unwanted clarity. He pushes it down, far down at it can go, to somewhere deep in his chest, and tries to come back to this moment, right now, because his boyfriend is looking at him. “You going to stay in that hood all day, shy guy?” Adam smiles, and BJ peels the hood back, and runs a hand through the mop of green mess that passes for his hair, and smiles, like he didn’t just have a mini existential crisis in the middle of a Monday afternoon. “What do you guys do for lunch when you’re not being wooed by an errant library assistant?” Betelgeuse forces an extra bit of pep that he doesn’t feel into his voice, and Barbara brightens. “You can come meet my friends!” She says, and he lets her lead him by the hand, across the quad, a corpse playing pretend at being alive, holding hands with the living.

They find Barbara’s friends at the lunch tables. He’s never sat over here, never really had reason to be over here at all, actually, because each table is always claimed by a friend group, and he’s never felt welcome enough to try and squeeze in with any of them. But he sort of has a group now, he supposes. If three can be a crowd, it can be a group. He does feel eyes on him as he’s directed on where to sit by Barbara, other kids at other tables watching him, maybe confused on how he’s ingratiated himself enough to actually have a place to sit. Barbara arranges where they sit, seemingly very intentionally, with herself between Betelgeuse and Adam, and Allison and Blair on the other side of the table, and they begin eating. The air is a little tense. He picks at his lunch, leftovers Charles packed for him. It smells amazing, but he doesn’t want to scarf it all down, not when he’s feeling watched, the way he is. And he is being watched, very intently so, by Barbara’s friends, who are apparently also Adam’s friends. Everyone but him seems to know so many other people. It’s almost insane, like, how do they keep them all straight? He’s only vaguely aware of which one of these similar white girls is Blair, because he’s spoken to her, at least once. Allison might as well be a balloon with a face painted on it. “So,” Blair puts down her fork. She’s eating a dry salad with little chunks of chicken in it, low carb, low cal. He’d be worried for her health if he gave a shit. “So,” he copies her instinctively, tilting her head the same way she does, holding his hands in front of himself in a mirror of her own movements. Barbara catches what he’s doing, and gives his arm a gentle pinch. “Is this for real?” Blair isn’t asking him, she’s looking between Adam and Barbara, who are both looking a little surprised at the sudden question. “What do you mean?” Adam asks, unsure, and Blair gestures between the three of them. “This whole.. This! When Barbara said she suddenly had two boyfriends, I had to check my calendar, make sure it wasn’t April Fool’s. And then it turns out to be you and..” Her eyes fall back on Betelgeuse. “Him. You, Adam, I get. You and Barbara together, that makes sense. But, like, BJ?” “Sure, if you’re offerin’,” he says, and Blair makes a face. Go on over to Ao3 to read the rest!! There's more waiting for your hungry eyes over there

[infinitegalahad]

Idk I’ve been feeling pretty down lately. Something cute, angsty, and smutty with a jealous Merriell Shelton and fem reader ?? You can have fun with it

Doux Comme Des Bonbons

Pairing: Snafu x Gender Netural! Reader

Summary: Snafu has a tendency to always wound up into trouble. Regardless, you still manage to put up with him.

Word Count: 3.5k

Warnings: Implied sexual harrasment, jeleous! snafu, cursing, fighting, but very minor! 

A/N: Of course I can! I feel you, hope this cheers you up! ❣️✨ I’m sorry this came so late. I’ve been studying for a few tests. I promise to work on a few requests this weekend though! I love the requests though, keep them coming in! This one was a little longer than expected. Snafu is my favourite himbo. The title translates to “as sweet as candy” bc this is fluffy-is. Anyways, hope you enjoy!

Masterlist

“Snafu, he’s just a classmate!”

Snafu slammed the door to your apartment building. If school and work weren’t hard enough, this had been your breaking point. As much as you loved your Cajun boyfriend, he was an absolute handful. It was like taking care of a manchild who you loved one minute, the next you wanted to scream in his face. Whenever things were peaceful between you, it was bliss. Endless worship, cuddles, cute french nicknames, romantic and steamy nights. It was anything a partner could ask for.

But when all hell would break loose between you two, it would be full-on discord.

“Classmate ma’ ass. Prissy lil’ fucker. I’ve seen ‘da way ‘dat preppy boy looks at you.” Snafu annoyingly badgered. He followed you around your apartment. Stopping at the kitchen counter, you spin on your heel to look at him straight in the face, a hand on your waist and an angry pout proudly displayed on your face. “ ‘Dat Chris or whatever his n-”

“Chad. His name is Chad.” You corrected.

The Cajun groaned as his calloused hands grasped onto the counter. He was extremely aggravated with hell in his eyes. “Whatever. I don’t like ‘yah hangin’ ‘round him. Chad kept starin’ at you like you were a piece of meat. Tried to fuckin’ steal ma’ seat next to you! ‘Dat lil’ sunva gun tryin’ to sit next ‘ta ‘ma Cher!”

Chad wasn’t someone you considered a friend or acquaintance. He was someone who was in your lecture who happened to be one of your friend’s inner friends. Whenever you would go to study, Chad would always tag along. He mainly wouldn’t study and would pester the hell out of you. He had even followed you to Snafu’s jeep, which proceeded to Snafu almost running him over. Thankfully you had convinced Chad not to press charges.

There was no denying he was a total asshole. He wore the brighetst polos, cheated on every test, and did whatever he pleased. Snafu was convinced that his parents paid his way into college. It baffled you how you’re best friend could even consider someone such as Chad a friend. His whole purpose of being alive was to annoy you. Snafu surely didn’t care for him. But you only had the class for another two months, and then you would be rid of Chad.

Two months had gone by and Chad’s advances had begun to slowly die down. He was aware that you were dating Snafu, who he deemed a man out of your league. It was true, but you loved Snafu with every part of your soul. Snafu was not your everyday boyfriend. It was like dating a man child off of his ADHD medication. He was a somewhat (but still young) man who worked in lumber, a little rough around the edge with a thick Cajun accent. You were a teacher’s pet with a kind heart and gentle presence. When your friend Eugene had set you up, you’d never thought it would work. But date after date, the two of you only grew closer. Within three months, you had moved into Snafu’s apartment since you could barely afford to live in a shitty dorm. When Snafu had offered his home to become your home, you knew you had fallen in love with him. As much as Snafu was the occasional pain in the neck, he was yours and you were his.

Also in those two months, your professor had invited you to a semester party after you had finished up exams. The university you attended was celebrating his retirement and had invited the whole school. Not wanting you to be alone, Snafu tagged along. He looked amazing that night; his wild curls tamed with copious amounts of gel, a white collared shirt, and dress shoes that were crisp. It would have been a lovely night if Snafu had simply kept his mouth shut, which he struggled with.

-----

Walking arm and arm with your Cajun boyfriend, you were literally the belle of the ball. The amount of compliments you had received on your outfit was impressive. You had to thank your friend for the simple, yet elegant outfit.

One of your classmates had stopped to compliment your outfit. After a short discussion, you and Snafu continued your way to your assigned seating. Smiling at one of your classmates, Snafu pulled you in closer to his body.

“Relax Snaf,” You smiled as you leaned your head onto his shoulder. “Don’t get your panties in a twist.”

“Whaddya talkin’ ‘bout? I’m fine. Justa’ lotta guys comin’ up ta you-I don’t blame them ‘doe. But if the-”

“Y/n!”

Snafu was cut off by your friend Hana. Best friends since birth, the two of you were inseparable. Same neighborhood, same high school, and same world-renowned university. Hana knew you better than your own parents at times. You left Snafu’s link to go give her a hug. Hana walked over and gave Snafu a pat on the back, knowing him quite well. You could tell she was a little standoffish with him since she thought he was way out of your league, but was glad to finally see you happy.

“Someone's looking dapper tonight!” Hana commented, patting Snafu’s shoulder. Snafu chuckled and nodded back, complimenting Hana’s (hideous) pink coral slacks. You saw Snafu’s confusion at how bright the pants were. Hana, even if she was your best friend, was a drastically different person from you. “Glad you brought him along, y/n. You guys look so cute together!”

Snafu stood right beside you. Feeling a firm hand on your waist, he looked over and gave you a devilish smirk. “Hana, my cher right here is ‘da real belle of the ball? They don’t even have to try-they just always look flawless.”

While being flirty, Snafu’s sweet side was starting to break through. The three of you chuckled as you gave Snafu a peck on the cheek. Cooing into his ear, “Merriell Shelton, you’re one heck of a kiss up.”

“What? I’m only speakin’ the truth.” He defended.

Hana smiled along at that, giving you a small wink. “Snafu is only speaking the truth. You guys are looking for your table?”

You nodded in response. The banquet hall was small and full of people. It was also dark which made it near impossible to find your assigned seating.

“We’re actually at the same table! Allow me to lead the way.” Hana stated. Snafu and you followed here through the crowd to the table. It mainly contained your classmates and a few of their families and friends. Everything was at peace until you saw a flash of a preppy patchwork suitjacket. It took a minute to process before it hit you and Snafu.

It was the one and only Chad.

Chad had been conversing with his friends.Upon seeing you, he let out a bostieorus laugh with his other preppy friends. Snafu felt immeidntly threatened in his presence, his hold tigenthing at your waist. He was trying to act tough but came off more as a child who’s favoruite toy was going to be taken away. As Chad stood up to come greet himself, you leaned over with your teeth gritted into a smile.

“Don’t say a damn thing. I can handle this.”

The tension between Chad and Snafu was evident. Here Chad was a young and egotistical frat boy who thousands of girls would squirm after. Here Snafu was, a bug-eyed Cajun with a heavy accent and one hell of an attitude. Chad still seemingly wasn’t over the fact that he was almost run over one time by Snafu. He even lightly joked about it, which didn’t sit well with any of you. This only caused Snafu’s burning hatred for Chad to grow even more. Chad was the gasoline and Snafu was the flame. Unfortunately, you and Snafu were placed right next to Chad and his friends. Hana was right next to you and knew that this wasn’t going to end well with the prepster and Cajun. Snafu would swing around the cheap whiskey in his cup and glare down Chad whenever he would even dare look at you. You hated the fact that Snafu was acting like this just because of Chad. The inner immature child in Snafu was beginning to show when Chad began to talk politics. It led to a passive aggressive agreement before you became the mediator before someone got a black eye.

Chad was busy talking to his goons when Snafu turned to you, a hand on your thigh. You placed your hand, squeezing it as you leaned in. “Bab-”

“I don’t like him. Prissy little bitc-”

“Merriell!” You scolded. “Langug-” Snafu smirked as he leaned in to whisper into your ear. “I ain’t a Proctologist, but I know an asshole when I see one. Do people think he’s straight? With those pink tight pants, it’s sendin’ another message.”

A snort escaped your mouth as you leaned into the Cajun’s shoulder. He did have a point though. What did people see in Chad that was so attractive?

Snafu noticed that you were amused by his humor. That devilish smirk you knew all too well was plastered on his face. “We should bust outta here, ditch the party and go back home. Watch a ninety day fiance. I like what’s on ‘da outside, but i wanna see what’s on ‘da inside…”

Snafu’s fingers crawled closer to your stomach. You bit your lip in response, your cheeks burning. It was so hard to resist him all dressed up and neat. Two could play this game.

“What the hell am I ever gonna do with you, Merriell Shelton?”

“Beats me, (Y/p) (Y/l/n).” He purred into your ear. It was definitely starting to become harder to resist him, especially when he called you by your professional name. But you had to contain yourself and watch over Snafu for another hour.

Your professor had walked over, interrupting your intimate moment. It was mostly for the better. Snafu had a chance to talk to your professor and learn more about the class you had been taking. He chatted up a storm with Snafu, who seemed integrued. Snafu wasn’t one for learning whatsoever. But anything that his partner would do was of interest. Your professor had even complimented Snafu saying that he had found a lovely partner. As he walked away, Snafu stood by and grabbed your drink to go get a refill. You attempted to get up but Snafu put a hand on your shoulder, holding you down.

“Sit down, darlin’.” He stated, saying a hard d in his creamy Cajun voice. “I’m takin’ care of my smart lil’ student.”

The next few events happened too quickly for you to process. Once Snafu had left, Chad had scooted into his seat. You could smell the vodka on his lips. He began to be his typical self, but got much more invasive of your space. You mostly ignored him as he talked about how rich his family was and his summer house on Nantucket. Hana wasn’t there, so you were stuck until Snafu came back.

Chad began to insulet your boyfriend. It started out as nothing more than a drunken rant, but things slowly came to tug at your heart. He began to make fun of his appearance, calling him “bug-eyed” and “dirty looking skin”. He made fun of his work occupation, outfit, almost anything and everything about him. It was definitely an uncomfortable situation. Where the hell was Snafu?

The breaking point was when Chad had wrapped his arm around you, asking you “What the hell do you see in that loser?”

The next events were full of discord. Snafu had come over, furious. He had yanked Chad out of his chair, yelling in his face. Chad began to cry, threatening to sue you and Snafu. He had also thrown pathetic insults at Snafu, which only made Snafu’s burning hatred brighter. Everybody had their eyes on Snafu, you, and Chad. Embarrassed, you grabbed Snafu and dragged him out of the venue. It was best for the both of you to leave before the police were called. The last words you heard before leaving were Chad’s drunken cry.

“You’ll be hearing from my lawyer next day! Hope you both get evicted from your shitty little apartment! You people are so evil!”

------

“You could have just ignored him!”

“Like hell! He had yah’ hand ‘round you, tryin’ to s-”

“Oh for the love of god!” You cursed. “I could’ve handled that on my own. You didn’t have to yank him out of his chair!”

“I did have ‘ta! He was assaultin’ you! You’re my c-”

“Merriell, do not cher me. This is serious,” You hissed. All you wanted to do was go to bed and escape this horrible nightmare. “He could charge you for assault. Even if it was minor, you did try to run him over with your car. There’s no way you could stand a chance against that. If you had let me handle it, it wou-”

Snafu raised his voice, “Y/N! HE WAS HARRASIN’ YOU! TRIED TO PULL DOWN ‘YER PANTS! WHAT ‘DA HELL DID YOU THINK I WAS GONNA LET HIM DO? YOU JUST NEED TO FUCKIN’ LISTEN SOMETIMES!”

His sour tone definitely made your whole body go numb. When Snafu raised his voice, you knew he was mad. He was usually pissed off at the world, but it was chilling to hear him scream. His eyes widened as the gel in his hair began to wear off; his unruly curls began to show. You stepped back, feeling tears sting at your eyes. Snafu, upon seeing this, freaked out. He had been irritated the whole night. The last thing he wanted was to see you all upset. Your lip began to quiver as warm tears streamed down your cheeks. The Cajun’s face softened, walking over to apologize. He had fear all over his face. You were the person he loved the most yet at times he had no idea how to comfort you. Emotions weren’t his speciality. He grew up greedy and selfish since it was all he knew. When he had met you, Snafu had truly changed. He didn’t know how to describe it, but you had made him a better person. You gave him hope that the world wasn’t such a shitty place.

Turning around, you walk upstairs and block out everything. Your eyes are full of tears, blinding your vision. Snafu followed after you, begging for forgiveness. He was like a lost, heartbroken puppy. Instead of heading towards your shared bedroom, you decided to hide away in the bathroom. Slamming the door, you back into the wall and slowly slide down. All you wanted to do was just let your emotions loose and not have to think about absolutely anything. You just wanted to be alone with your tears and nothing more.

-----

The tears eventually stopped with your vision cleared. You could feel the dry makeup under your eyes. Your arms and legs felt numb as you were backed to a wall, staring into the shower. What did your professor think? It was horribly embarrassing for you. There was no way you and Snafu could win a lawsuit against Chad. He knew the power he had over the both of you. It was going to be an absolute nightmare. Hana was most likely blowing up your phone with notifications. What di-

Your thoughts went away when you heard the bathroom door open. It was the one and only Snafu who had the look of a sad puppy. He normally wasn’t this soft, but his face was ridden with guilt. You didn’t even react when he walked over and sat right next to you, his thigh right next to yours. Staring at the wall, he let out a sigh. His big blue eyes were right on you.

“Cher,” His fingers trailed onto your chin as he gently turned your head. Your face was destroyed with ruined makeup. It looked like he wanted to say something, but he couldn’t bring himself to. Guilt was all over his face. But there was no time to be whining, all he could do was attempt to make things right.

“Come on,” Snafu cooed. Grabbing your hand, he gently led you up to look in the mirror. This was the second time you saw yourself in the mirror that night. You looked like you had been hit with a tornado. The once neat outfit had been wrinkled, your neatly gelled hair wispy and falling apart, and your face covered with runny makeup. Snafu had gone through the cabinet to grab some makeup wipes. His fingers titled your head to him as he ran it gently over your face. Instead of fighting back, you let him remove the makeup from your face. He made sure to clean off every little bit from your foundation to your lipstick. As he reached your eyes, he peeled off one of your fake leashes and jumped back.

“Sacre bleu!” He cursed, throwing the eyelash into the sink. Snafu was a man who was scared by nothing, except for a fake eyelash. You bit your lip, trying to hold back a chuckle.

“ ‘Da fuck is dat thing? Fuckin’ spiderweb lookin’ bitch. Looks like it has a damn life of its own...” Snafu ranted as his words slowly turned into french. He turned over to you, biting your lip as you held back a laugh.

A smirk appeared on his face as he placed his hands on his hips, “You’d wear this shit?”

“Hana gave them to me.” You shook your head, smiling. He did have a point; they looked like spiderwebs. “I know, they're ridiculous.”

You felt Snafu’s calloused hands grab your waist and halt you on top of the bathroom counter. “Well atleast you make them look hot. Speakin’ of hot, you looked amazing tonight…” He looked down before looking right back into your eyes. “Listen, I’m sorry darlin’. Just seein’ him bother you made me livid. Ain’t no one gotta treat my cher like ‘dat. Especially ‘dat vineyard vines lookin’ prissy.”

You let out a sigh, leaning into his shoulder. “God, his suit was awful…”

“Fuckin’ blindin’. Like, pick a struggle with ‘dat middle part and layerin polo shit…”

A snort escaped your mouth. Snafu wasn’t wrong; Chad looked even worse than he usually did. It was always bright, blinding colors matched with even brighter, more hideous clothes. Snafu’s hand gently caressed your hair as you leaned onto him.

“By the way…” You cooed into his ear, “I’m not condoning what you did, but hearin’ you rip Chad to pieces was kinda hot...”

“Want me ta’ do it again? I’d love to see his little face all scrunched uppa’ ‘gain.”

“God no,” Shaking your head, your hands fiddled with his unruly curls. “If you do, i’m gonna take away all your cigarettes. We can’t handle the lawsuit that’s coming.”

“Y/n, hate to break it ‘ta yah, but I’m not a rule follower. Can I atleast run him over with ‘ma car? Or steal his trump sign?”

“Snafu Shelton, what the hell am I going to do with you?”

Snafu wrapped his arms around you, holding you close. He held on tight, like a child holding a teddy bear. “Stay with me. Right here, right now.”

You smiled into his shoulder as the two of you were wrapped in each other's arms. Snafu was certainly a handful, but you loved him more than anything in the world. He was truly willing to do anything to protect your honor and make you happy. That was a true man, not a boy.

“Ok, your chokin’ me Snaf.” You stated. Moving his arms, Snafu looks at your eyes as you rubbed them. “What time is it?”

“Ten? Darcey and Stacey are on.” He said, grabbing your hand as he led you out of the bathroom into your bedroom. “We can poppa’ few beers and order from Shanghai.”

An relieved sigh escaped from your mouth. Alcohol and chinese food were the perfect cure to a horrible night. “Thank freakin’ god. Anythin’ to forget this god awful night.”

You walked away to throw on your sweatpants and one of Snafu’s flannels on. Suddenly, his hand grabbed yours as he pulled you back to whisper into your ear. “Can’t wait ta’ see you outta’ dat pretty lil’ number ��ya got on.”

An over exaggerated gasp escaped your mouth as you playfully (gently) slapped his face. A snarky laugh escaped his mouth. You rolled your eyes as you walked over to change. “Keep it in ‘ya pants, soldier.”

“Sorry. Whenever I see yah, I lose control darlin’.” Snafu smirked devilishly. “Can’t help it that you're smart n’ sweet. Just like candy.”

“Seriously, what the hell am I going to do with you?” You repeat yourself as you finish changing. It baffled you how you could handle Snafu. He was a manchild at times.

The Cajun grabbed your waist and began to tickle you. You fought back as you held back your giggles. Carrying you to the bed, he laid you down as the two of you held each other. His hand drew careless figures into your back as you nestled your face into his neck. He placed a kiss into your face, gently sighing into it.

“I love you, y/n.”

“Love you too, you dirty bastard.”

[yikesharringrove]

So, this began several months ago like this and because I cope by putting my sweet bby through the ringer, it has risen.

Some of that sweet sweet Steve angst. This takes place post-season 3 but they burned the Mind Flayer outta Billy, established relationship.

Read on Ao3

-

It was Will Byers that found him.

Steve had begun hosting DnD night after the second run-in with the Upside Down. He said it was to keep the kids out of the hair of the rest of the Party Moms, but Billy knew it was to keep the house filled with noise, light, life.

He knew Steve had been hanging on by the slimmest, teeniest little thread after this summer, so the kids were over more often than not. They would play for a few hours, watch a movie (deciding which movie usually took at least an hour in and of itself) and all the kids would pass out in the sitting room. Billy and Steve would take that opportunity to sneak up to Steve’s room for the night.

It was a typical game night when Will was startled awake. Almost a year later, he was still getting nightmares of his possession, of the Mind Flayer using him to hurt others, lure people to their deaths. He needed a minute to gather himself, so he went to the bathroom to the left of the upstairs landing, the bathroom almost nobody uses.

When he opens the door, the first thing he notices is the clumps of dark brown hair littering the counter and sink.

He met Steve’s eyes in the mirror and found them red-rimmed, filled with tears. His hair was a fucking mess. Random chunks had been cut at odd angles. Nothing was the same length and overall his hair was shorter than Will has ever seen. 

He didn’t know what the fuck was going on.

He was wearing green shorts Will recognized from the Hawkins High Basketball Team and a ratty old Mötley Crüe shirt Will would have never pictured Steve wearing, let alone owning.

He put the scissors down when he noticed Will behind him and whipped around. His breathing was fast and ragged, he had a white-knuckle grip on the counter behind him.

“Steve?” Will took a step forward as Steve’s knees seemed to buckle. He lowered himself to the ground

“Get Billy. He’s-he’s in my room. Tell him I-” he closed his eyes and took a few shuddering breaths. “Tell him I need him.”

Will booked it the fuck outta the bathroom, opening doors at random as he sped down the hall. He felt like shit leaving Steve alone in the obvious panic he’s in, but if Billy can help, then Will’s helping too.

He knew Steve’s room from the honey smell. Steve had a very particular scent Will recognized immediately, the fresh wheat of a meadow in late summer. The next thing he noticed was the giant lump of very obviously naked Billy draped across the left side of the bed. Will’s mouth was dry as he approached, but this was important. Focus Will, c’mon. He whispered out Billy’s name.

Billy was a light sleeper. He heard the door open and was awake right away. When it wasn’t Steve who was silhouetted against the hall lighting, he knew something was fucking wrong.

The second Will Byers whispered out his name in the darkness, he was up and out of bed, digging through the piles of his and Steve’s clothes strewn about the floor for something, anything, to put on.

“Where is he?”

Will just turned, motioning for Billy to follow him down the hall to the large bathroom just to the left of the landing.

Billy’s heart shattered the second he saw the devastation that was Steve Harrington in a heap on the floor. He approached like he would a scared animal, slowly lowering himself near Steve’s head, carefully keeping his movements slow and deliberate.

“Baby, it’s me. I’m here, I’m right here for you, Honey. I’m not gonna touch you, okay? You come to me when you’re ready just like always. I’m here, Baby, I’m not going anywhere.”

Will’s brain was going a mile a fucking minute. He felt like he was going to throw up. He was too worried about Steve to actually process what Billy was saying, to actually process the fact that Billy and Steve were obviously, together, in a way Will had dreamed of being with another guy. All he could think about were Steve’s uneven breaths and all the fucking hair covering the bathroom.

He began to clean it up, quietly picking up the clumps of dark hair and placing them in the trash he found under the cabinet while Steve slowly came into himself enough to crawl pathetically into Billy’s lap.

“Can you talk to me, Stevie? What’s going on?” Billy was running his fingers up and down Steve’s back, gently making patterns through the shirt Will now figured wass Billy’s.

“I wanted, I wanted it gone,” was Steve’s mumble. Will had abandoned cleaning, dropping himself down the wall adjacent to the one Billy was propped against.

“Okay, okay. Can you tell me why? Take your time, Baby. We’re right here for you.”

“Had another, ‘nother nightmare,” Steve was still taking shaky breathes, spitting out his words on every exhale. “‘Bout the-the Russians.”

“Okay, I know what happened. I understand, Baby. Just focus on your breathing, okay? Try to match mine. We’re not going anywhere.” Billy looked at Will, flashing him a small smile he sheepishly returned. Steve turned his face into Billy’s chest, closing his eyes and checking out, focusing on the steady rise and fall of Billy’s strong chest.

“Is he, is he gonna be okay?” Will was about to have a breakdown of his own. Watching Steve, someone he always saw as strong, the protector, succumb to the same panic and fear Will had felt his whole life. It was jarring.

“Yeah, kid. This happens sometimes. We just gotta give him a little extra love.” He huffed a breath. “Anyone ever fill you in about the Russians?”

“Kind of? Like Dustin told us all about being trapped in that elevator and the underground base while we were getting the Mind Flayer out of you. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Steve say anything about it though.”

“Well, you know how he is. Threw himself of the sword so Dustin and Erica could get outta there. He ended up getting- I mean he and Robin both got, drugged and, and tortured.”

Will felt the tears he’d been holding back this whole time roll down his cheeks.

“I didn’t know that, he-why didn’t he tell us? We can help him. We all l-love him a lot and we’re a family. We’re his family.”

“He knows that. He does, and it means a whole hell of a lot to him, you guys really are his family, but he’s-he’s got it in his head he’s gotta be the strong one. The one to protect all of us, so he pushes his shit down until, well, until this happens. But, kid, you gotta, you gotta promise both of us not to go tellin’ this to the other nerds, okay? You know he would fuckin’ hate it if they all knew about this, and I’m not-I’m not just talking about the attack, I mean, you know, me and him.”

“I promise! I really promise, I know what it’s like, the-the panic and, you know, the, well the other thing.” Billy’s eyes brightened.

“Yeah? You a social deviant too, Baby Byers?”

“I, well, I think so.”

“Hey, welcome to the club! Nice to know there're more queers in Hawkins. I need to give this hick town more fuckin’ credit. Good for you, figurin’ that shit out quick. It’ll save you a lotta confusion. ‘Lotta heartbreak too.”

“I think I’ve always known. Never thought about girls, not when, not when-well. I always knew.”

“Who was your first crush? That guy that just made you go ‘hot damn’?” Billy was grinning at Will. “Mine was Jim Morrison. Saw a poster of him at a record store once, and just, you know. Knew it.”

Will didn’t really know what to say. He knew exactly who it was that awoke the gay beast inside him, but he didn’t really know how to tell Billy.

“This is kind of, well it’s kind of embarrassing,” That only made Billy’s smile grow.

“You need to tell me right the fuck now, kid. C’mon, I can tell you Steve’s too!”

Will flushed. So he was doing this.

“So, he probably told you this, but um, Steve used to coach little league. And, he was my coach the summer before sixth grade, and, well...” he trailed off, not making eye contact with Billy until he let out a bark of laughter.

“Are you fucking telling me,” He shifted Steve around on his lap who made a disgruntled noise before settling back into Billy’s chest. He was entirely zoned out, focused on the rhythm of Billy’s breaths and the cadence of his voice, not registering any actual words from the other two.

“Are you fucking telling me, that Steve Harrington, this lump right here, caused your sexual awakening?” Billy was laughing.

“I mean, he was always really nice to us, and like, I hated baseball, but he made it, he made it really fun and he would always be so excited for us when we did well-”

“Plus, he’s hot as fuck.” He cut Will of, shooting him a wink, with his tongue between his teeth. Will went bright fucking red. “I’m just fuckin’ with you kid. I know he’s a sweet one.”

“He made me want to play baseball. I hated baseball. Only did it because my dad made me. He probably thought it would straighten me out.” Billy’s teasing smile dropped from his face.

“Sounds like we had the same kinda dad.” He took a breath, looking down at Steve for a moment. “He ever hit you?”

Will’s blood ran cold.

“No, not me. He used to hit Mom and Jonathan. I think they both thought that if they got hit, at least the rest of us weren’t gettin’ any. She definitely caught him slapping Jonathon around once, though. All his stuff was on the lawn within the hour.”

Billy smiled, but it was kind of, sad. “Your mom is a damn spitfire. I adore that woman.”

“I do too. She’s the best mom in the world.” Will could talk about his mom all day and all fucking night.

Steve was shifting around again, moving between Billy’s legs and sitting up more on his own.

“Hey, Baby. Welcome back to us. You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay.” He looked at Will. “I’m really sorry. I’m really sorry you had to see all that.”

“It’s okay. I understand. I get anxiety like that too.” Steve smiled at him blearily before turning to Billy. “Okay, be straight up with me. How bad’s the damage?” He swept his fingers over his hair, wincing when he felt the different lengths and random chunks.

“I’m not gonna lie, it’s not good. But I think Robin could fix it. She seems like the type that can cut hair. It’s gonna have to be short though. Real short.”

Steve whined, pushing his bottom lip out at Billy. “You gonna dump me? I’m not pretty enough for you anymore?”

Will’s heart nearly stopped when Billy leaned in to bite at Steve’s pouty bottom lip. He had never seen moments like this between two men, just sweet moments that showed how much they love each other.

“You’ll always be my Pretty Boy, you fuckin’ know that.” They were smiling at one another so softly. “You know Will and I got some nice bonding time in while you were working on your breathing.” Steve leaned sideways against Billy’s chest, slipping one hand into the big front pocket of his sweatshirt.

“Yeah? What’d you all talk about?”

“Oh, you know. Shitty dads, first crushes, normal stuff.”

“Oooh, I already know yours is Jim Morrison, you’re old news around here, Bill. Care to share, Will the Wise?” No, Steve, he does not care to share.

“Oh, umm it was actually uh,” He reached around for a name, absolutely not ready to admit to Steve his first crush. “Marlon Brando?”

Steve’s tired eyes lit up a little. “Brando? Honestly, he was one a’ mine too. And Harrison Ford. I saw Star Wars four times in theatres. Couldn’t tell you a single plot detail. So you’re playin’ for our team?” Billy rolled his eyes and mumbled something that sounded vaguely like fucking jock under his breath. Steve elbowed him.

 “Um, yeah. Although, I haven’t really, told anyone, so if you guys could, you know.”

“Oh, yeah, discretion is key.” Steve nodded. “We’re not too bad at keeping secrets, you don’t gotta worry about us.”

“So none of your friends know? That’s rough, Byers. I mean, even here I’ve found a few people I can tell, Steve, obviously. But California, all ‘a my friends knew.”

“Well, I mean, I told Mike. Last year. And he was really cool about it, but then this summer we got into a fight, and he kinda, threw it back in my face.”

Billy and Steve both looked shocked and appalled on Will’s behalf.

“What did the little fucker say? I’ll kick his ass if he called you a fa-”

“No! Nothing like that, it’s cool, Billy. He just, well we got into it about how he and Lucas didn’t really have time to play DnD, or hang out with me in general anymore, and he said ‘it’s not my fault you don’t like girls’. We didn’t really talk about it, I mean, he kinda apologized, but it was right when everything was going down. So, I put it aside.” Steve got his Mom Face on.

“But have you talked about it since everything has blown over? Has he apologized? He shouldn’t have said that. He just wanted to hurt you and that was the one thing that probably came into his head, but that isn’t okay, especially if he was the only one you trusted enough to tell.”

“I know. I keep meaning to talk to him, but we’ve been really good lately and I don’t want to, want to,  fuck anything up.”

“All the more reason to do it now. If you two are really tight right now, he’ll probably listen to how shitty he made you feel, and feel really bad about it.” Billy was nodding along to what Steve was saying. “And, you know if you ever need to talk about shit, we’re here for you, and you know, probably understand  you more.”

“Or if you just want someone to teach the little poser a lesson-”

“I think I’ll just talk to him, but, uh, thanks?” Billy grinned. Steve leaned back into him, pulling Billy’s left arm around his chest to pull him in more. “Um, Steve, do you think I could-I mean, would it be okay to ask you what, um, all this is.” Steve’s face fell immediately, and he shrank back more into Billy. “You don’t have to! I just, it kinda freaked me out to see you like that. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No, it’s okay. I can’t-I can’t talk about it too much right now, I’m still a little” he looked at Billy “fragile, I guess. But, well. What do you want to know?”

“Nothing you don’t want to talk about, or, or feel okay telling me but, I mean, why go for the hair?”

Steve shifted some more. It looked as though he was trying to disappear into Billy. 

“You know about the Russians? The ones under Starcourt?”

“Yeah, Billy filled me in a little. Just generally what, what happened to you.”

Steve sighed. 

“Well, for some fuckin’ reason, the general that was, in charge of us, he, uh, he really liked pulling at my hair. He would just grab it and move my head around, or-or use it to hold me steadily while they, um, while they hit me and-when I woke up I couldn’t think. I just, I wanted it gone.”

Billy’s face was white as a sheet. He looked like someone had pulled the entire floor out from under him.

“Steve, why the fuck didn’t you tell me? I thought you-you used to love when I played with your hair. I would’ve stopped.” He looked disgusted with himself at the idea of contributing to Steve’s pain in any way. 

“I thought that-I don’t know. Maybe it would go away? That I would like it again?”

Billy looked like he could cry. A level of hurt and remorse and apology Will had never seen him exhibit. 

“Jesus, Stevie. You need to tell me when you feel shit like that. You know all of my shit and triggers and whatever.”

“I know,” Steve buried his face back into Billy’s chest, curling his body inwards again. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, you know me though. You know I don’t like-”

“Having a weakness?” Billy seemed sardonic. Steve’s head shot up to glare at Billy in the eye.

“That is not what I was going to say and you know it. I was going to say that you know I don’t like being vulnerable and I’m sorry and I’m working on it. But this was, I didn’t even realize what I had done until Will walked in.” 

A look of pure horror came over Steve’s face.

“How the fuck am I supposed to hide this from the rest of The Party tomorrow? Dustin is gonna ask so many questions I do not have the answers for.” Billy chuckled lightly, all tension that may have been building between them melting away. They snuggled even closer and Will’s heart turned to a big pile of mush.

“Just stay in bed tomorrow. I’ll tell the nerds you’re sick. Plus, you always ass out for about 18 hours after a panic attack anyway.” Steve rolled his eyes. 

“Will, do you think you could maybe, not tell anyone about this? I’m gonna have to come up with a cover story and everything.”

“I already promised Billy I wouldn’t. But, you know how you said I could always talk to you two? Well, the same goes for you. We all really love you, Steve. And maybe we don’t understand exactly what you’re going through, we just, we want to be here for you. We are here for you.” Steve’s eyes went even bigger and all watery when Will spoke. 

“That, that really means a lot to me. I love you shitbirds. I hope you all know that.”

“We do,” Will said quickly. He doesn’t think he could watch Steve cry anymore tonight. Or maybe ever. “We know that.” Steve gave him a watery smile, looking at Billy’s watch. 

“I think it’s time for sleep. I need a soft bed and a big man. Now.” Billy rolled his eyes, but picked Steve up as if he weighed nothing. 

“Go to bed, Baby Byers.” He knocked Steve’s foot into Will as he went past.

“Thanks, Will.” Steve’s voice was soft as Billy brought them back into the bedroom. 

Will went downstairs as quietly as possible, settling back into his little makeshift bed.

“Hey, you okay?”

And of course it was Mike, whispering to him from his own little spot. 

“Yeah. I’m good. Let’s talk in the morning.” And Mike smiled at him, and gave him a little wave, and flopped back onto his pillow.

[justjessame]

A Little Ass and A Lotta Sass: Chapter 7: Pulling Out All the Stops...Did He REALLY Think That Would Work?

Seriously, I was locked in the terrifying gaze of Negan’s eyes and I was very, very curious as to how I’d NEVER really allowed myself to contemplate how fucking scary he could be. I must have made some sort of noise, or maybe I flinched, all I know is that I did SOMETHING without realizing it and it broke the fierceness of his attention on me. It did not, however, remove the rampant hard on that he was STILL sporting. Shit.

I felt the breath come back into my lungs, had I been holding my fucking breath? When he cupped my cheek, after he yanked the glove off his hand with his teeth, I found myself leaning into his touch. I should be biting him, a part of me screamed, anything to get away from him. The other part of me, the one that actually controlled my body, didn’t agree apparently. I felt his sigh, and his lips kissing my forehead. I felt his entire body begin to relax, and let out another long breath.

Rule Number 1: Laughing at Negan during sexy fun times is a NO NO. Huge no. Let’s not play with that version of fire, at least not yet.

He finally pulled away from me, and I realized that Dad had wandered off during the standoff. I found myself curious as to how long it had lasted. “Rick has the worst timing in the entire motherfucking world.” He leaned against the wall beside me, watching my profile. “Come back with me, Callie, and we’ll never be interrupted again.” He was laying the temptation on thick now.

I smirked. He truly didn’t know me. Really, truly had no fucking idea how bad my luck was at getting caught and being interrupted. Seriously. “And if we were interrupted, I’m sure someone would be punished for it.”

I closed my eyes, realizing that it was more true than I could have allowed myself to believe. The man beside me, so close I could still feel the heat pouring off of him, was exactly the type to kill or maim someone who got between him and his wants. I wondered if that included me, if I had the audacity to walk in on him and one of his other women? Would I be punished so severely that I’d wish I were dead? Or would he mark me, a more permanent reminder than a love bruise on my neck? I’d seen the man who had worn Daryl’s vest with his half ruined face. I heard from Carl’s story of his tour of Negan’s abode what made a face look like that.

“Callie,” it was a cross between a groan and a sigh. “I’m willing to give your people their freedom, or at least most of it. I’m willing to give them peace. For you. Hell, I gave back the redneck because your dad seems so attached.” I knew he was being honest, but to me, it just wasn’t enough of an incentive. “Do you want me to be completely fucking different? Want me to fucking give up my entire life for you? Cause you’re hot as shit, baby doll, but that’s a bridge too fucking far.”

I rolled my eyes, still not looking at him. I didn’t want him to change entirely. There were definitely some very attractive parts of him that I was becoming more than slightly accustomed to. Yet, there were a few things that I couldn’t live with being a part of. ONE huge one, actually. “If I wanted a man to bend completely to my will, I think I would have picked Spencer Monroe.” I huffed out a breath. “You know, the weak and trainable type?” I heard him give a snort. “I don’t want you to be COMPLETELY different, Negan. I just don’t want certain aspects of your lifestyle to be included in mine.” There, I thought, a rational argument for why I couldn’t just pack up and go.

I felt his fingers touch my neck, brushing the skin and feeling the goosebumps develop from his touch. “One part,” it wasn’t a question, so I figured he was coming to the right conclusion. “The others?” Or not, I realized when he ended that part with the question mark dangling.

I finally turned my head to look up at him. “The others.” I answered. “It’s probably not fair, in your mind, that I disagree with your current relationship status. Especially since I’m basically a bartering tool. But it does. And I can’t, no I won’t go there knowing that if I piss you off, or if I’m not in the mood, you’ve got a pack of skittles worth of others to divert you until I become more accommodating.” He was studying me, listening to what I was trying to say. “Look, I know how women act, especially if there’s one alpha male that is releasing ALL the pheromones in the fucking place. They can be more fucking hateful and spite filled than you, your little bat there, and all the guards you have running around like a biker version of the Secret Service.” Vicious, that’s what women like those he was collecting could be, or were, judging by the way he seemed to get exactly what I was saying. “I’d rather piss you off a million times by saying ‘no’ to going back with you, than have to put up with a bunch of possessive bitches who got there first.”

He chuckled, not without a hint of mirth, but also not as boisterous as when he found me funnier than usual. “I can’t deny that they are a handful.” He seemed to be recalling some of their less attractive moments. “They serve a purpose, Callie.” Seeing me roll my eyes at the purpose I imagined, he took my hand in his to get my attention refocused. “Not just fucking, Jesus woman. Most of them I offered to join me to get their men in line.” I noticed he said ‘most’ and not ‘all’ He clearly saw my glare forming. “Yes, the others propositioned me. I won’t deny it, it’s nice to have variety.” My glare was becoming more furious by the minute. “Hey, calm the fuck down. What I’m saying, and clearly fucking not getting through to you, is that not a single one of them is you. I didn’t give up a single fucking thing to get them. Not one. I may keep them in the lap of luxury, but that shit doesn’t really cost me a fucking thing. You, Callie? I’m willing to fucking give up all THIS.” He gestured around us, at the house we were standing in, and knew he meant the entire community. “For you. To take you back and get fucking lost in you.”

I considered what he was saying. I sort of understood. I still didn’t fucking like it. “I’m going to have to-”

“Take more fucking time.” He finished for me, running a frustrated hand down his face again. “Of course you are. It couldn’t possibly become fucking simple now could it?” I stared at him. He truly looked, was that, no. He looked tortured by it. Well, fuck, that’s a new power for me to add to the growing list. I could fucking torture Negan without laying a finger on him.

“You know,” I turned my entire body to him and gave him a small smile. “I’d fucking LOVE to be able to send you off with a bang, on my bed, upstairs.” I saw his dimples come out to play at the mere thought of it. “But some raging asshole with an ego the size of my house stole the bed, and the mattress. And not just mine, every fucking one’s.” Cold water, without a drop of rain, right over top of his fucking head and hope.

He groaned, and reached down for the bat. “I guess I’m gonna have to have a talk with that asshole.” He looked at the bat, almost lovingly, and I wondered if I’d start to feel jealous of a piece of fucking wood. “Lucille and I will go, I guess.”

Wait, did he name his fucking bat? “Lucille?” I choked out, trying desperately not to laugh. “The bat has a name?”

He smiled down at me. “Fuck yeah, she’s got a name.” He held ‘her’ out for my inspection. I was fucking thankful that she was clean, with no noticeable part of my family still showing. “Lucille, meet Callie. Callie, meet Lucille.” I glanced up at him, hoping he wasn’t so fucking crazy as to expect me to actually talk to the fucking thing. “My two dirty girls.” He winked and then whistling he left.

What the literal fuck? He had to be crazy. Had to be a fucking certifiable lunatic. And of course ,I, Callie Grimes, mistress of logic and reasoning, had to find him sexy as hell. Shaking my head, I wandered back upstairs, thinking about the latest meeting with Negan and what he’d told me. And tried, beyond reasonable doubt, to convince myself that going away with a man who thought women were bargaining chips to keep others in line and that a bat had a personality, was actually a good fucking idea.

  How much time did it take for the Big Bad Wolf to come calling again? Two days. Seriously, I had to wonder if he drove back to home base, showered, changed his fucking clothes, and drove all the way back to Alexandria.

Judith and I were rocking on the porch when he approached this time. I nearly laughed at the absolute certainty that Judith would be a far more effective cock block than Dad had been. Especially since she’d be here from the first moment he locked eyes on me.

“That is a fuckin’ picture I want framed.” He greeted me, taking in me and my baby sister. “Fuck, you’re going to be an amazing mama, Callie.” A mother? Well that escalated quickly.

“I think you’re putting the cart way before the fucking horse there, Negan.” I answered, bouncing Judith as I rocked. “Unless you’re thinking of me and some other guy, YEARS from now.”

I saw his eyes squint at the mention of me and someone else, but then his smile was back, like he knew something I didn’t. “Actually, I’m pretty fucking certain that there’s already a chance that you’re possibly halfway, or already there, darlin’.” His dimples seemed to deepen at what I could only imagine was my confused expression. “Think about it, princess, think about it.”

What the fuck was he-shit. Fuck. Well, god-fucking-damn it. I huffed out a sigh as I heard his laughter. The boisterous one. That fucking asshole. Although, actually it had been both of us to absolutely fuck up. Shit.

“How do you know I’m not on any-” I started and his laughter grew. Dickhead.

“Callie, didn’t Carl tell you why he tried to fucking shoot us that first day?” His eyes were actually fucking twinkling at me in amusement. “Must have missed that story, huh? Your sweet baby brother was trying to stop us, me from taking your medical supply.” Shit, fuck, damn it. “Do you really think my fucking guys don’t know what birth control looks like? I mean, they may look stupid, but they’re not.”

“That doesn’t mean-” I considered which way to go with my statement. It doesn’t mean I didn’t have a secret stash of birth control. It doesn’t mean I don’t have an IUD that I got years earlier. It doesn’t mean that there’s the spawn of the spawn of Satan growing in me after one fucking time.

“It doesn’t mean that you’re not, either.” He offered. And I swear to fucking hell he looked like a cat that ate a fucking canary. “When you find out you are, I HAVE to be with you when you tell Rick. That’s a fucking given. I HAVE to see his face when he realizes his first fucking grand-baby is mine.’

I rolled my eyes. “You’re going to be disappointed.” I said, noticing that Judith was watching him with rapt attention. Dear lord, he was like her new favorite toy. “You’re just trying to confuse me with this bullshit, the odds are truly not in your favor.”

He held out his hands to Judith after carefully putting Lucille (did I honestly just use the bat’s name?) down against the banister. And my baby sister, like a true traitor nearly fucking jumped into his arms. He chuckled and kissed her soft hair. Then he took the rocker next to mine, almost like that second time he’d come to Alexandria. “I won’t lie,” his voice was careful, careful to keep Judith feeling warm and fuzzy toward him. “It’d fucking tickle my balls for you to be pregnant with my kid. Like really fucking tickle them. And not just to piss dear old Dad off.” I felt his stare as I was looking over the street in front of us. “You and me? Fuck, that kid would get started off fucking right.”

I couldn’t stop the laugh that had built. Jesus. My mouth and his, on a child. That poor kid. Or rather, anybody who had the misfortune to meet that fucking kid. “I think I’ve just been terrified out of ever wanting kids. With anyone.” I smiled at him and his grin held firm. “Dear God, just imagine that.”

“Oh, I have.” He kissed Judith on her tiny nose. “I fucking have.”

[rhythmic-idealist]

Since you did want asks, what houses do you think the Homestuck Beta kids are in?

Okay so I am still hanging onto that thing about how I think it’s weird that Hogwarts reformed Slytherin instead of replacing it but also many magnificent people I love are attached to the fanon interpretation of it. So we’re using fanon reformed Slytherin.

I’ll also say, to clarify: Epilogues? Never met her

June: Hufflepuff, probably! There’s options here. 

Rose: Ravenclaw, but Slytherin is an option.

Dave: I’m sorry guys, but he is a Gryffindor. He can be a Gryffindor and hate it. He can prefer to sneak into Hufflepuff to hang out with the much lower key kids. But the problem is he sorted at eleven, and the second problem is that no matter how much he’s given up being a hero, I don’t think Dave is ever going to stop being drawn to be an intrinsically brave dude who will fight for other people. The fact that he had to be brave for so much of his life was constructed and designed to train him and bullshit. I think that without it, he would still be a Gryffindor anyway?Anyway, the sorting hat listens to you and if he sorted later, it’d let him be a Hufflepuff. But by personality he is very Gryffindor, I think.

Jade: Gryffindor. Have you fucking seen her 

Jane: Ravenclaw. Don’t kill me: Her main fault as a teen is prioritizing logic and evidence over her friends’ stories. There’s a disconnect between her detective brain and the fact that this is people’s actually lives, because she forgets to connect the latter, because she’s got the same fault as people who get way to caught up in internet semantics arguments because technically they’re right and don’t notice that oh fuck it doesn’t matter I’m hurting someone’s feelings. She was never big into ambition until the Epilogues randomly decided we need fascism social commentary so she’ll do. She sort of was aware she was an heiress and didn’t really like it all the time, but gutsyGumshoe, straining her relationship with Roxy for years on end because there isn’t enough concrete evidence in her brain to make her believe the reasons her friend is sad? Ravenclaw it fuckin is. 

Roxy: Could go a lotta ways, giving them Hufflepuff because of the fact that they prioritize friends over everything else. They’re brave, but not as the thing that defines them.

Dirk: This one was difficult. I’ll save you the ramble and say that I’m warring between Ravenclaw and Slytherin, and that you could do something interesting with a Gryffindor Dirk, but I’m not sure I will settle on that here. 

Jake: Hufflepuff. Let him rest.

[shesawriter39049]

“FAMILY TIES” Kim Taehyung (M) Mafia AU PART 3

AU SUMMARY :  A powerful alliance made up of  4 families spanning over a decade, is suddenly turned on its head when one family has a new leader after an unexpected death. Well, let's just say he's not down to follow the somewhat civilized rules your families have inforced. Sooo now, it's game on…

SMUT/ LIGHT ANGST

Warnings- Language/mentions of violence...but this is a Mafia AU and Tae is Boston raised so it should be expected. Dirty talk/ teasing/edging/light cum play/slight overstimulation/ ice play/inappropriate use of a champagne bottle/ LIGHT very light daddy kink...it's dialog heavy but it always will be. This is a (M) series not just smut soo...there is an actual storyline with sex mixed in because well that's apart of life.  But  a good 4k-5k of this is smut/teasing

Jimin, Namjoon, Yoongi , Hoseok  Jungkook and Jin all make appearances in this

16k….

*You can read this as a stand alone and not be completely lost..but there will be things referenced from the previous parts

Chapters 4 and on will pretty much be balls to the wall which is why the first 3.5 had soo much backstory. There will still be more to unfold but by now there's a clear understanding/dynamic.

The circle of men flooded into a pool of bodies...and it became harder and harder to hear, the wind started to pick up causing everyone's voices to sound like they were blowing through an industrial fan. The gloomy overcast that danced over the pier seemed to be foreshadowing the mood for the day as the comradery in front of you only seemed to intensify. More than anything you just wanted to be over there, well aware of the effect you had on him, able to ease his rage in a way that only one other could..and that was his mother. Buttt...to be honest even though it was killing you not knowing what was going on first hand, It really wasn't your place. I  mean hell even Bunny was standing next to you and Hoseok and herself are actually a couple. They were grown ass men handling their business, as they please. If anything the two of you being over there would have just been a distraction, because then, naturally, their main concern would shift from the situation at hand..to making sure the two of you remained untouched. Still, you couldn't help but feel nauseated as you wondered what the fuck was going on. What makes this whole thing even crazier is not even an hour ago, he had in enraged to the point of tears, now he had your heart in your ass while you prayed he was okay! 

"Relax you already know his pretty ass can fight!" the deep slightly raspy voice, accompanied by a gravely chuckle hit the back of your neck, and you already knew who it was before you even turned around.  A slight smile moving up your face once he said that because well, he was right actually that's probably why he was such a good fighter. When you guys were younger boys use to think Tae was an easy target because he was a pretty boy in a Burberry sweater vest, but as we all know..pretty boys don't want their faces to get fucked up. So as a result, his reflexes became second to none, quick on his feet, in and out before you even knew what was happening. Simply nodding as a notion of agreeance, he was right..and you needed to chill. Stepping behind him, to plop your chin on his shoulder..almost as if you were releasing all of your stress once your body slouches into his frame. You were already taller than him naturally and these heels only made it worse. Yoongi couldn't help but snort out a laugh at how ass backwards this all was, but let's be real he'd probably have to stand on his tippy toes to even reach your shoulder. The two of you have known each other since high school, somehow he always found himself caught in the middle of your never-ending dysfunction.

So considering the fact that your heart was sitting in your ass at the moment you found his presence calming to say the least. Running his fingers through his ice blonde locks, lacing his lips around the tip of his dab pen, as Bunny also found her place..lacing her arm around yours..damn near feeling like her entire body was trembling once she made contact. You could literally cut the tension in the air with a plastic spoon...to be honest, the feeling was almost suffocating. Especially considering the bits and pieces of dialog that kept bouncing in and out of the cloud of men in front of you.

“I didn't come here for this-”

“I mean honestly, nobody told you to come at all so now that you're here..you get what you fucking get!”

“Excuse me!? Kid lower your fucking tone with me! I don't know who the fuck you think your talking too. As you sit here with 10 guards around you thinking your tough! But I-”

"Ya know, I find it funny how you keep bringing up my men as if you didn't intrude on my space. As if they wouldn't be here with me regardless. Yet you're the one backing closer and closer to my men...I haven't moved once...I don't need them to handle my shit for me, if you wanna step to me...step to me...!"

At this point, it was damn near impossible to differentiate between voices, almost sounding as if there were multiple altercations happening all at once, or either they were just all talking over one another. Which was more than likely the case, you noticed one of the sheriffs get out of his car and walk into the crowd, which wasn't too promising. Clearly Bunny had the same gut feeling as you..as she gripped you even tighter, while you lowered your face on Yoongi's shoulder pushing your nose into his leather jacket. Peering up with heavy lids..almost as if you thought if you looked at the salutation from a different angle it would get better or something.

The officers that were on site, were there for a reason, fully aware of what your families did and as long as you kept it somewhat lowkey they'd try to turn a blind eye. But there were limitations to that…and clearly this was one of them, and two be fair, you could see why. A big ass brothel breaking out at the pier, drawing unnecessary attention to the fact the some of the richest people in the state..all happened to be in the same place..at the same time. That appears to be wheres where their limits to “Turning a blind eye” ended. There have always been speculations..and rumors in regards to your family's..financial stature. The new “Boston Brahmins” as the tabloids like to say,and yes, the business you owned and the investments you had could easily support the lifestyle you lived. But there was always just something about your "circle" that seemed..a little ..out of the ordinary.   

Not even realizing you were also squeezing Yoongi's hand to the point of damn near cutting off his circulation, OR that you even grabbed it to begin with ... until your own almost went numb. Yet, he didn't complain, the two of them were close..really close, more than likely Yoongi already knew everything...which is part of why he came to comfort you, to begin with."Whose all over there? As far as our guys are concerned..ya know besides Tae?" Leaning up almost whispering in your ear from how loud everything was.

"Ughh, Tae, Jimin and Hoseok…" 

A dramatic scoff left his lips as he nudged back into your shoulder "Really? Come on doll, they're more than fine over there, fuckin chill,our boys are good!" Again, he was right, the three of them together packed a lotta heat, just as you were starting to relax..hell you were actually a second away from laughing until...

"Hey, boys keep it clean...KEEP IT CLEAN!" The sound of Sheriff Morales voice shot straight through you to the point of almost leaving you breathless, instantly pulling away from Yoongi..walking closer to the circle..not even caring to see if they followed. You couldn't help but notice Namjoon shoot out from your peripheral..he'd never let too far away from him, especially in a situation like this. 

"HEY BREAK IT UP! BREAK IT THE FUCK UP! Boys don't make me pull out my taser., and bagg you!-I'm trying to do this as-Fuck, Hanley I need backup...NOW!" Suddenly everything got 10 times louder. Two more cops ambushed the circle..trying to calm whatever storm was brewing within the barricade the men had created. "

Ahh...stay where I can see you princess" Almost feeling like a child who ran too far away from there parent in the damn grocery store as you suddenly felt Namjoon pull you in the opposite direction. Clearly you were getting too close for comfort,

As much as you didn't want to admit it..this feeling is exactly why Taehyung is so guarded..the mental rollercoaster of worrying about somebody in this lifestyle is fucking exhausting. "I SAID FUCKING STOP!"  A sound almost comparable to a growl ripped through the air and finally, the circle started pulling apart ..literally, the sheriff's department prying them away from each other. Making Marco and his men leave, as Tae pushed his way through Mazda, determined to get his hands back on whoever he was dealing with before the cops broke it up. Mazda was Tae's right-hand soldier so he knew better, yes it was his job to protect him but once Taehyung got to this point it was just better to just let him handle the situation as he pleases. Staying close enough behind to step in if need be.

"So that's the way you wanna fuckin play huh!!?" The grit in Taehyung's voice was terrifying you don't think you'd ever heard it that dark, or his accent that thick. If you weren't looking directly at him you wouldn't have even fathomed it was him. As he continued walking towards Marcos and his men, neither Hoseok or Jimin tried to stop him, both appeared to be painting relatively hard, as they followed close behind.The anger engraved in their eyes was lethal even from where you were standing.

They weren't just a little upset over a little scrap they were blowing fumes, suddenly you watched Mr. Kim walkover in Taehyung's direction..no guards..just him, pulling Taehyung back with him one-handed. One hand rested coily in the pocket of his light gray dress pants, blacked out aviators resting low on the brim of his nose. Not needing much force, when it came to getting what he wanted, he already knew no matter how angry he was out of respect Tae wouldn't cause a scene. He'd do whatever his father instructed.

 "Yeah will see how this plays out next time, come down to The Dot , without your security line if you wanna play like a big boy!!" Your eyes tried to follow the sound because you didn't recognize the voice, but to be fair...it seemed like Marcos men were the problem!

"Zeb, rilassati amico!" The snarl came from Marco, you weren't Italian but after a while some things became almost second nature. He said something along the lines of "Calm, your ass down" and he complied. Zeb appeared to be older than Maroc, his Southie accent was extremely potent and no disrespect but he looked like he lived a hard ass life which, which made you wonder how the pair even met to begin with. Something else that sparked your interest was how quickly Taehyung's ears perked up the minute Marco spoke..it was almost like watching a puppy..jump from there seat upon hearing a sound they needed to investigate. Clearly, there was something about Marco's new "Carpo" That had Taehyung intrigued, to say the least…making his way to lean against the blacked out Escalade you two arrived in. Staying close enough to be able to hear and see what was happening but far enough away where he wouldn't be tempted to wrangle someone's neck.Making your way over to him immediately once you realized he was alone...it was just..protocol, at the end of the day personal shit aside this was a business. Rule number 1, you never emotions cloud your judgment, be there done that and it didin;t end well. You'd go check on him if circumstances were different, in a heartbeat, so you had to now. Back in the day that was your mom's job, making sure everyone was okay , I guess you could say once she died you just took it upon yourself to do the same.

Taehyung tried to turn away as you swayed towards him which let you know he was hiding something, gripping the side of his face making him look at you. Jaw tight yet he still avoided direct eye contact. Letting them flutter up to the sky, there was a gnarly ass bruise on the side of his jaw. Accompanied by a slight gouge right beneath his ear which was hiding beneath his hair  "Luxxy I'm fin-" Cutting him off with a snarl..face reflecting how fucking annoyed you were because the wound reflected foul play.

"What the fuck did he try and hit you with..brass fuckin knuckles!?" Brows furrowed as you huffed out"That fuckin bitch," whispering out to yourself in disbelief as you marveled at the gash.  

Stroking his jaw, with one hand while the other palmed his ribs, you watched the tension almost appear to deflate from his body once you touched him. Not even aware how gentle, and almost intimate your touch was that's just...the way things got with Tae, it was subconscious at this point. Yet he still wouldn't look at you! "Doesn't matter..he's a fuckin’ pussy..especially now that I know he was the one behind that bullshit excuse for a shootout..I'm done, fuck him!" You could almost feel the anger in his voice... the deep rumble radiating from his chest " I don't care what my father says that motherfucker is no kin to me, I don't give a damn what we promised Leo...he's not my fucking family and the next time I see him I'll be damn sure he knows it! I’m done!" Finally letting his eyes meet yours..which were damn near gouging out of there sockets..trying to figure out where the correlation, in regards to the shootout came from.

"Wait what? How-"An almost facetious chuckle left his throat..which to be fair was a little unsettling considering the topic at hand. 

 "The kid last night-"  

A single bullet left the barrel, not in celebration but as a warning…

Taehyung taking that as a hint pulling your hands down from his face "Baby-" freezing immediately after he said it...both of you suddenly feeling a little uneasy at the use of the pet name, considering the .."Atmosphere" it was being used.  As well as the tone of voice he chose, It came out so smooth, so effortless..you hated how good it sounds leaving his lips with that deep gravelly tone of his. What neither one of you managed to catch was the fact that his fingers still naturally intertwined with yours, once he pulled them back from his jaw. Clearing his throat..slightly letting his eyes flutter away from yours..suddenly feeling somewhat, uncomfortable "Luxx...I promise I'm fine will talk about this later.." Pulling away from you before you could even say anything else.

Scanning your surroundings swiftly out of habit and they caught Namjoon..who made his way a little further up the pier, yet he still had his eyes on you..mouthing out "You good?" In which you nodded quickly..before bringing your attention to the situation at hand..even though he knew you were lying, this wasn't the time or place to question it. As Marco and his men continued being pushed further and further away it seems the bickering never stopped once Taehyung left. It just continued with Jimin, Hoseok and ..damn apparently Yoongi. 

Once things started to  re-escalading to the point of the sheriff feeling the need to step back in, that's when another voice rumbled through the wind, "Son, if your smart you'll listen to Marco, before I come show you that I don't need a security line, or a fucking switchblade to put you in your place! Don't make me step out of character...Don't..." You could pick out that voice in a crowd of millions, the brassy tone that set exceptional low, mixing against his Dorchester accent, as he stepped forward,  hands casually resting in his pocket...calm as ever. White linen shirt tucked into his black dress pants..blacked out Cartier sunglasses. You could see the reflexes from the diamonds on his watch a mile away...it was your Sunny, AKA your father. You couldn't help but smile at the way Marco's men damn near quacked at the sound of his voice. Clearly, smart enough to know that your dad wasn't to be fucked with..mumbling a couple of things as they finally got back in there car. Since he didn't have the balls to say it loud enough to actually be heard he didn't deserve a response.

You noticed Bunny run over to Hoseok who gladly welcomed her into his arms..wrapping her legs around his waist..cupping his face. Appearing to be giving him a once over, to make sure he was okay..you'd be lying if you said you weren't slightly envious of their dynamic. The way Hoseok didn't let his lifestyle control his happiness. The way he wasn't afraid to let someone in...the feeling of knowing your fighting not only for yourself,but because you have someone that's counting on seeing your face every night. That was a pleasure that Taehyung never had …...but secretly wanted more than anything. Sometimes in this lifestyle nights get really fucking dark, and you just need to know..that someone else is always holding a little nightlight to help you find your way back. Maybe he'd eventually let himself have that because he deserved it..even if he didn't think so...

Once all the smoke cleared you watched Taehyung, who was accompanied by his father and yours, head over to have what appeared to be a little debriefing of the days' events.  As they walked past your father smiled at you, Mr. Kim smiled at you...Tae's eyes purposely avoided yours, yet again. Instantly making a knot form in your stomach, when did everything become such a fucking game with the two of you? Hot and cold to the 3rd degree, two seconds away from literally saying "Fuck all this, I'm out " and just hopping on a jet somewhere..actually not somewhere you knew exactly where you would go and who you'd see. The thought of it instantly changed your mood..sliding your phone out of your back pocket teasing your bottom lip with your tongue...Scrolling through your contact list before clicking on one labeled "Baby boy" sending out a text that simply read "Vegas tonight?" followed by the purple devil emoji, and pretty much every liquor emoji that you could find.

A second away from heading off to harass Namjoon when your gaze found someone else...Jimin as he was now the only one left from the altercation. Watching him carefully as he appeared to also be the only one in pain. Gripping the side of his stomach as he walked over to the driver's side of his car. His eyes catch yours and he already knew you were coming his way, taking in a deep breath trying to act as though he wasn't damn near wheezing resting his body against his alfa. Sauntering over, he couldn't pretend like he wasn't loving the attention, spreading his legs slightly so you had room. Crouching down in front of him not saying a word, as your hands applied steady pressure to his ribs and you watched his jaw tighten, his tattooed torso was all shades of black and blue. 

"I'm going fuckin castrate them" Left your lips in a whisper, obviously referring to Marco's men as you knew this was all their fucking fault. Eyes fluttering shut as he tried to steady his breathing, while you continued gently rubbing your hands up, and down his sides. Noticing a long surface cut on his opposite rib..to be honest if he wasn't already sore it probably wouldn't even bother him. Luckily it barely broke skin, if anything it just stings, regardless of how minor the cut was you couldn't help but look at him like a sad puppy.

"Babe..I'm fi-"Swallowing his tongue instantly after the glare you shot him...not even wasting his breath if you wanted something it was damn near impossible persuade you otherwise. A facetious smirk graced his lips as you pulled an alcohol wipe, and medical tape out of your purse.

 "Well, that looks fun.."  The base in Tae's voice almost gave you chills as it rolled up behind you, there was an air of sarcasm laced in his delivery, which made Jimin chuckle slightly. Yet the look on his face said otherwise... almost doleful. Jimin isn't a "Soldier" per say, he's a vendor, dispatcher.I guess more so an associate within the business ..and more importantly, he's one of your men. Yes granted you all work together, but the signature on his checks say, Sunjata...not Kim. But the way things work in this line of business, if you're with a capo, con, underboss, or a boss and you rank beneath them... within the same alliance, you always protect them..always.

It was clear Jimin also picked up on the facade Tae was trying to put on  "V..man I'm fine, honestly... I stepped in that because I was fuckin' heated about the last night! If anything that's why I'm still in pain..not from this little...box cutter bullshit" A harmonious chuckle left Tae's lip's at the sound of that…

"Boss ladies orders huh?" Eyes flickering over to the mini first aid kit casually chilling inside your six thousand dollar handbag.  Taehyung's tone was almost taunting and for a split second, you almost kicked him in the shin..but instead your brought your focus back to Jimin. 

 A hiss left his lips as you gently cleaned the cut, "Boss, ladies orders…" He concurred in a more....constricted tone will say as he spoke through gritted teeth. Hissing out from the sudden sting of the alcohol as you damn near bathed him in it. To be honest you weren't sure what to expect from Tae when he walked over, and at this point, you didn't give a shit after this morning it's clear the to of you didn't owe each other a damn thing, to begin with. You were just another girl he was fucking,nothing more.

 "Yeah, I get it, man... Luxx is ugh, pretty hard to say no too..that's for damn sure"

You caught him smirking down at you in your peripheral, completely ignoring his comment because if not you'd end up snapping off. That was such a loaded statement considering what took place this morning, not to mention the suggestive tone he choose. Your face reflected you were far from amused though, it was clear both of the men in front of you picked up on your shift. Trying your hardest not to apply too much pressure as you cleaned the area. Using some medical tape to just cover the cut, it wasn't deep enough to need much, you just didn't want it rubbing against his shirt all day. 

You felt Taehyung crouch down behind you while you continued dressing Jimin's cut "When you're done...You wanna explain this little  attitude you currently have orr…" Whispering out against the side of your neck, the lack of emotion in his voice was enough to piss you off..nevertheless he should already know what your issue was. Funny, he’s already over your argument and in his mind..the two of you should be riding the same wave!

 So instead of making a scene you simply responded with a dry, "Nope" Letting it leave your lips with a pop not even bothering to even look up at him. And of course, once he didn't get what he wanted..he walked away, without saying a word which seemed to be the vibe of the day apparently. God forbid he approach you in a more desirable manner.

"Luxx, I'm fine really…. " Patting your hand gently before edging himself off the ground, extending his hand to pull you up as well, not that you needed it but he was a gentleman. "Thank you" Left his lips in almost a whisper, returning the gesture with a smile before heading over to finally find Namjoon.

"Guys we need to start heading out, the tides getting high!"The crew members voice echoed through the crowd, causing you all to slowly follow his directions to load the ship. Gazing up at the sky you realized how gloomy it was getting, again it appears mother nature's dropping hints, yeah this little dinner meeting thingy was going to be a hot ass mess! Honestly, you've had a bad feeling about it since your father brought it up last night. With your luck, you'd end up stuck on the island until this storm that was approaching passes. You'd be damned if that happened though, ready to call for a helicopter in the blink of an eye before you spent the night in the same house with damn near 40 mafia members. The idea alone just gave you a fucking migraine, which confirmed you needed a vacation!  And Vegas doesn't sound too bad at all, and you already had a boy toy down there anyway. "Baby boy" was Jungkook, he managed one of the strip clubs your family owns as well as it's used to wash some of there proceedings. He was younger than you and often let you take control which you loved..and at the same time..he wasn't afraid to be a big boy..and fuck you into the mattress either. He'd be a damn good distraction from, well shit EVERYTHING, but more importantly Kim Taehyung. Why not distract yourself from one pretty boy..with another? I mean this is why we were given options right?!

The ferry ride over was..chill I guess after you and your father had a little one on one..where he filled you in on the situation you overheard this morning. In regards to the dispatch truck being ransacked while on the highway, that whole scenario alone was still mind-boggling.  How could someone know your driver's exact location, unless they somehow got their hands on either his route..or chipped into his garmin. Which again was more than unsettling... Once returning to the main level, weighing out your options deciding you wanted to have a "Drama free ride" Yeah I know I gaged too. But since you  wanted to have a "Drama free ride" you figured it would be better to keep your distance, so you sat at the bar with Jimin and Joon.

That didn't last though, not that anyone's surprised , by the time you slammed your first shot..and finished half of your second drink, you found yourself playing a little game. You couldn't help but notice his eyes casually darting over in your direction here and there, you'd be lying if you said you didn't do the same.  As he sat on the opposite side of the bar parallel from you. You could already tell what he wanted ..a man who could say so much without saying a word. Drinking you in piece by piece as he bit into his plump bottom lip with a smirk, almost like he could sense your arousal from across the room. Knowing damn well the effect he had on your body, he could have you soaking through your panties without even touching you.

You weren't necessarily eye fucking him back per say..you just didn't turn away from him…You didn't want too…

Tae 1:40 PM: Why the fuck are you sitting all the way over there? Can you just snap out of whatever funk you're in? Or  you can just let me fuck all the attitude outta you?

It literally felt like someone lit a match in your stomach, as you read that! For one…fuck him for even having the audacity to come at you like that. And fuck you for wanting too, god you wanted too. You always found his arrogance sexy, the bluntness of his delivery had you rubbing your thighs together. Still not able to fathom how  he's already over this morning's argument so quickly whilst it still set heavy on your heart. But at the same time, it's partially your fault he feels like he can just get away with everything so easily. in the past if you'd have issues..you wouldn't press him to talk it out. The two of you would just avoid each other for a couple of days..then he'd randomly pop up, typically around midnight. With a bottle of some ridiculously expensive alcohol, you only thought with your pussy when it came to Kim Taehyung. So naturally, you'd get drawn in by how charming..and just naturally sexy this man was…his aura alone was almost enough to get you off at times. He'd tell you how much he's missed fucking you, how no one else compares..how bad he wants to feel you come on his dick. Hands roaming your body effortlessly, he knows your body like the back of his hand, he could get you off in the dark, the minute he touched you, it was game over. He wasn't stopping all night..he'd damn near fuck you until your body went limp, then he'd slow down his pace, and edge you until you were begging him to let you come again. And that was that, whatever the situation was, it was never discussed again. Ya know, if were being honest here..the original agreement was touch and go…fuck and leave. Whatever happened in your beds after hours stayed there, well…until. ..it naturally started to spill over into the daylight.  And touch and go ebcame touch and stay, touch and cuddle, touch and lounge on the couch and watch Netflix. 

He'd slip up and call you baby outside of sex, or he'd occasionally get touchy while out in about, it became more common for you two to spend the morning after together. The first time you stayed over it  ended in a trainwreck, but it seemed..or at least you thought, the two of you had found a groove..and happy medium if you will but clearly you were wrong! 

you didn't mind, you actually kinda liked it, until it became evident it was starting to fuck with him mentally which is why you're in this current situation, once he started to catch himself slipping up he'd spazz out. The idea of letting someone in, you especially, more than just sexually scared the shit out of him whether he'd admit it or not, you knew it. You also respected it but in return, he needed to respect your mental health and not play all these fucking games. If he wanted it to just be fuck and leave..cool..but KEEP IT LIKE THAT.. because again “it's touch and go!” Per YOUR rules Mr. Kim.

You typed out and backspaced about 3 different responses..his phone was open in front of him so you were sure he noticed how many times your text bubble popped up without sending a message. "Fuck it" The whisper meant for your ears only, almost as if you were giving yourself a pep talk. .. Placing your Chanel boy bag on your shoulder, grabbing your phone while inhaling the last of your drink, Namjoon purposely cleared his throat exceptionally loud. Almost as if he wanted you to look at him, you could already sense  both Jimin and himself, shooting you an all knowing smirk that almost made you nauseated. "Fuck off" left your lips in a playful whisper,  even though you meant it wholeheartedly, before sauntering in Taehyung's direction. The sound of your red bottoms clicking against the hardwood flooring, your energy always radiated throughout any atmosphere. That was one of Taehyung's favorite things about you, it was damn near impossible to ignore you! When you walked into a room everyone noticed, you were well aware of the effect you had on people and you carried yourself accordingly. The pure look of arrogance that danced along his face as you swayed in his direction made you wanna fuck, and shank him all at the same time, and lord knows you always have a switchblade somewhere. Dusting your fingers through your hair, breaking up your curls ever so slightly, still not daring to break eye contact. He wanted you so fucking bad..eyes glued to the way your high waisted jeans clung to every curve of your body…Maybe you'd let him..maybe you'd just tease the fuck out of him…it was currently undecided.

Walking up behind him, stroking his scalp with your nails, sliding your hand down to the nape of his neck taking a firm grip on his thick mane, before taking a seat next to him. Knowing how much he loved your nails raking through his scalp…the feeling shot straight to his dick, as a slight growl left his lips. Turning his head to face you slightly as he also ran his fingers through his hair, which held a slightly messy wave after taking his hat off just moments prior.  Leaning over so his lips brushed against your neck as he spoke, the rich scent of Dalmore hitting your nose "I knew it wouldn't take long…" his voice sat exceptional low, the biggest tease you'd ever met. You didn't even have to look over at him to know this mother fucker was smiling, he was just sooooo sure of himself! His hand roamed up your thigh, and a dramatic scoff left your lips as you rolled your eyes in response even though you refused to turn your head and look at him.

 "Fuck you.." your clap back was quick..and full sass, ghosting his lips over your skin before grazing the area beneath your ear with his teeth. While you tried your hardest to stifle the moan that was desperately trying to leave your lips.

"Oh baby,  trust me I plan on it.." Grabbing your hand, snaking it under the bar top to palm him through his jeans.. guiding you to feel how hard he was, and of course, he had to make it move while it's in your hand so you got the full effect. Out of habit you'd didn't retract even once he moved his hand, instead you palmed him slowly over his jeans. While this cocky motherfuker reclined in his seat, not even bothering to look discrete, a low rich moan left his lips. Thank god both of your parents were on the upper level of the ship because there was nothing lowkey about what the two of you were doing. That's also probably partially why you were so turned on, the idea of getting caught, was kinda sexy.

"Fuckkk.." There was an underlayer of defeat laced within that moan and you hoped it went undetected, but you could tell by his reaction you failed miserably.  As a deep rumble left his chest, you royally fucked up this time…You knew he'd wanna fuck you, and he'd be all over you, which was true. What you underestimated was how much you'd wanna fuck him, considering your father's a mob boss, you of all people should know better than to ever go into a mission ill-prepared. Yet that's exactly what you did..you didn't have your guard up and he snaked right in!

 Bringing his lips back to the side of your neck, the feeling of them ghosting over your skin alone gave you chills, as his breath fanned against your flesh "What baby? " Ya know he actually had the nerve to sound genuinely concerned!? Snaking his hand up your thigh, getting dangerously close to the area that desperately needed attention. Moving his hand farther and farther up your inner thigh as he kneaded the muscle against his palm.

‘Tae…" It came out so breathy and a lot needier than you intended which only riled him up even more, as he hummed against the side of your neck. 

Sinking your nails into his clothed thigh while he hissed into your hair in response, "What baby? What do you want…you want Tae you take you in the back, and ruin that pretty little pussy until you come all over my dick?" His hands moved over to your core, cupping your entire pussy in his hand before sliding down, letting his index and middle finger tease up your slit through your jeans. "You want me to fill you up so you can sit in that meeting right next to Sunny with my cum dripping out your pussy..is that what you want baby?"

Fuck, you couldn't even think straight at this point nevertheless speak, your original intention was to toy with him a little…teach him a lesson. So it's clear that he can't just fuck your problems away and the two of you needed to set clear guidelines moving forward if you were still going to maintain a sexual relationship. But I guess this is what you get when your game plan is fueled by pettiness, now all you wanted was to have him bottomed out in your pussy. "Your so fuckin sexy, sitting here letting me toy with your pussy..not even caring that Sunny  could pop up at any time.." A growl left his lips he already sounds so fucked out your skin felt like it was on fire. "Hmm seems like you enjoy being my little slut, more than you like being “his…little girl..huh?" All you could do was hum in response, damn near feeling light-headed at this point. You didn't know why that turned you on so much, or why he was already on 10!  Maybe it was all you, maybe it was the 2 drinks he slammed since being on this ship, whatever it is..it was working for you! He was right though you really could give less than a damn about your dad,  one of his men, the crew members no one. Nipping at your ear and you didn't even care to muffle your moans anymore, fuck it.

"Such a good little slut for me, fuck, let me make you come, you already know I know what you need.." That he did, he knew exactly what buttons to push to get what he wants from you.  Another careless whimper left your lips, this one louder than the last.  He took your lack of response as a response and technically he was right, you wanted him…patting your thigh gently as he got out of his chair.  Heading towards a set of doors that Read "Employees only" not even glancing back to see if you were following because he knew you would!

So now what? Do you stick with your original plan or do you cave, and give your body what it desperately needs…I guess you should probably sort that out realll quick before you head back there! Your mind has to be made up before Taehyung gets his hands on you, no doubts no hesitation. That's something the both of you can sniff out a mile away…because if you're not in it 100%, it's game over..He'll find your weekspot..and toy with it until you come…

Running your fingers through your hair with a loud huff, you heard Yoongi chuckle to your left, not even realizing he was sitting next to Taehyung the entire time. "You two are somethin else.."  Shaking his head with a slight grin as he picked up his Bourbon filled glass before he could even take a swig, you grabbed it. Downing what remained in one gulp the smoothe sting drained down your throat. Fuck you hated dark liquor, you couldn't help but gag, sounding like you were choking up a hairball from the aftertaste. Even though you didn't find shit funny about the sudden burn forming so deep in your chest that you were dam near wondering if you were about to start growing chest hair. With the combination of yoongi's airy chuckle and that golden gummy smile, you couldn't help but let out a snort yourself. "You good?" patting your back slightly, you just nodded in response sliding your purse next to him on the bar. Knowing that meant you wanted him to babysit it while you handled your "Business". 

Hopping out of your chair, positioning yourself dangerously close to him as you rested against the bartop "And if my father comes looking for me?" The arch in your brow accompanied by your tone of voice implied you were expecting a very..specific response,a sly smirk moved up his face as he licked his lips.

 "Your in the back on a business call" 

It was clear he was more than content with his response once the smirked moved from his face up to yours, "Good boy.." winking back at him playfully before strutting off to find Kim Taehyung.

Upon stepping behind the doors, the minute it closed he was all over you, slamming you back against the wall. Completely ignoring the sting from your body hitting against the wood paneling once his lips attached to the side of your neck. All you could smell his cologne and 4k a barrel bourbon, as his fingers roamed your body freely, knowing exactly where to go. Licking, sucking, biting down on the exposed skin as you whined out his name, nails clawing at his back through his bomber jacket automatically bringing your leg up to wrap around his waist. "You know how much I fucking hate waiting" biting down on your ear with a deep growl, while squeezing down on your ass as he rolled his hips into yours.

 "Yet your still going to fu-" -

"Ugh this area is for is employees only-"  Both of your eye shot over to your right trying to follow the voice, your faces read the same thing a combination of "Excuse you/ Do you know who the fuck I am?" Even if she didn't have a clue there was no way in hell she'd say shit else after the way the two of you sized her up with saying a damn word. Not even able to complete her original stamanet, the two of you carried a certain..aura  that amplified when together, that's for damn sure. Even if people had no clue who you were, how much money you had….what your family did for a living..there was just something about your presence that spoke volume.  Bringing his focus back to where it belonged..you, one hand snaked up your back, cupping your neck, while he slid his tongue into your mouth, completely ignoring the crew member that's less than 10 feet away. While his other hand found its home resting against your ass, as you shamelessly moaned against his tongue. You couldn't help but chuckle into the kiss, your eyes caught her jaw drop to the floor in your peripheral 

"She's right..how about we stop being so rude and take this somewhere a little more private?"

Purring out against his tongue, running your hands down from his chest, all the way down to bulge forming against his jeans, letting your hand rest on it actually, giving him a light squeeze just enough to make him squirm.…"Hmmm..captains quarters?" The cheeky grin on his face proved he already knew you'd be down, not even waiting for a response before he grabbed your hand.

"Ugh, umm- no excuse me I can't let you -"  The moment both of you whipped around to face her…was the moment she again.. forgot how to conjugate a verb…everything she thought she was going to say got stuck somewhere between her ass and her throat.

"Listen.." Placing both of his hands in the pockets of his jacket, cocking his head to the side slightly, letting his tongue drag along his bottom lip. Bring his sole attention to the women in front of him, you could damn near feel the heat that was pouring from her body. You knew that feeling all too well, she could almost feel the base in his voice. "We charted this entire ship…so I think it's safe to say.I can and will fuck her wherever I please…Your more than welcome to come watch, but I'm doing what I want..where I want. And right now.." Bringing his focus back to you, intertwining his fingers with yours…butterflies forming in your stomach in anticipation, you almost forgot how shameless Kim Taehyung really was.."I think…I wanna fuck you right no his desk…so that's what I'll do…"

Neither of you cared to see if she had anything else to say, as you followed his lead down the hall ..entering the room on the far left. The minute the door closed he had your back flush against it..lips instantly latching to the side of your neck, dragging a restrained moan from your throat, as your eyes fluttered shut. As odd as it may sound it almost felt..nostalgic to have him like this..the strong smell of bourbon painting your skin, hands roaming down to cup your ass through your jeans. Your body naturally arching up into his touch..needing to feel more than just his lips, grinding your hips into his..causing him to moan out against the crook of your neck. This moment reminded you of the way it used to be..when it was still fun..carefree..just...mind blowing sex. The kinda sex that could have your panties sticking to your clit at just the mention of his name…. Back when there were no complications, no drama ..just orgasms and booze. But as we've already established.that's the way it USE to be..shit hasn't gone that smooth in damn near two months.

Now, you were just as much to blame as Taehyung If you wanted to talk this out you should have pulled him to the side, and did it properly. How the hell can you sit there and get angry that he has no respect for the way his mind games were starting to affect you..and  he can't just fuck all your problems away. Or how unhealthy this has all become and the two of you actually need to talk this shit out like adults...and figure out a clear understanding of what this is or isn't going to be ,yet here you were. Your intentions going into this were nothing but a mind game, fueled by nothing but liquor, anger, and pettiness,now you're on a ship, the same one as your father I might add.  With your panties completely soaked..clit swollen and throbbing about to let him have his way with you on top of someone's desk..against the wall...the door...you wanted him to ruin you on every surface in this room. AND to make it even better...you started it this time..you went over there and initiated all of this, and the icing on the fucking cake was how bad you wanted him right now. 

Jerking him away from you with a slight hiss, still allowing him to stay close enough to almost taste the leftover liquor on his lips. Brow arching immediately, at your sudden change up, clearly unamused .."What fuck was that?"Surprisingly his tone reflected more confusion than anger.   A satisfied smirk moved up your face, with how quickly you just got under his skin, your pride needed you to regain some sort of self-control.

"That, was me doing whatever the fuck I want..and right now I want a drink" Purring out against his bottom lip, bringing your hand down to trace the "LV" on the buckle of his belt..trickling your fingers down to his zipper. Stiffening the moan taunting within your throat as you could already tell how hard he was. The imprint of his hardening length starting to break through his jeans.  Eyes daring you to even THINK about teasing him, jaw clenched..you knew how impatient he was. How impatient you both were..he was always down to play..he just doesn't like to be played with. Yet you still let your hand palm him anyway, earning a murmur, comparable to a breathy moan. Before you sauntered away towards the mini bar  to your right. 

" I might make you work for it actually..not that you deserve my pussy right now anyway…"

A dry scoff left his lips at the sound of that, accompanied by an almost..sarcastic chuckle "Excuse you? I don't deserve-Yeah ok...try that one again. Although…" purposely letting the "O" slide off his tongue slowly, casually taking his time to stroll over in your direction. Neither one of you daring to break eye contact, as he positioned himself centimeters away from you. Bracing his weight on the bar top, "You might wanna stop while your ahead...remember.." leaning over..so his lips brushed against yours as he spoke..dropping his voice to a timber that, instantly had your core throbbing on command "I'm the one who decides if..and when,you come-"-  

"And I'm the one who decides if you even…. get to feel how good my pussy is to begin with. So who really...has the upper hand here Mr. Kim, hmm?" Cocking your head to the side at the implied question..the look on your face proved you were more than satisfied with yourself. 

His gaze darkened, tongue dragging along his bottom lip.."You know I'm not the one to play this game with baby..making you beg and breathing are one and the same for me…". Eyes drifting down to the glass bottle in your hand "And since when do you drink dark liquor? " 

Ignoring him initially as you dropped two ice cubes in the glass..filling it halfway before finally acknowledging his question. "Since you started acting like a little bitch and I need something a little stronger than vodka.."

Scooting back on the mini bar until your back was reclined  slightly, bracing your weight against the wall, while you took your drink in the other, gulping down more than half of what was in your glass. Throat humming as the liquor soothed down, bringing your leg up slightly to to tease his length through his jeans with the toe of your Louboutins. His reflexes caught you off guard as he snatched your ankle in his hand..making you yelp, yanking your body a little closer to his with a snarl. "You're really fuckin pushin it.."  bringing his hand down to take a firm grip on your inner thigh, lifting you slightly so your ass was resting on the edge of the bar. Positioning himself in between your legs for support, while  his hand found there home in your hair, tugging on your roots forcing you to tilt your head up to gaze directly in his eyes. 

"Such a fuckin brat" Hissing out against your bottom lip, while you teased his with your tongue the smile on your face proved you didn't give a fuck.

 "As if you deserve anything less right now..maybe if you'd get your shit together I'd behave" The scoff that left his chest was so snarky you were almost offended, almost as if he was saying "Pfft..yeah.. Okay!" 

Fingers trickling down your zipper "And for the record, you plan to make me “Work for your pussy” Smacking your clothed heat hear enough to make you knead “ I think we both know, this pussys already mine…" The minute he slid your zipper down it felt like all the heat was just seeping out of your body, you watched his face contorted in pure pleasure from how completely wrecked you already where and whether you want to admit it, it was all from him. "I can smell how bad she needs me....fuckkkk" There was always something so sexy about the way his body reacted to you..the way he could look so turned on and you haven't even touched him yet..all because he got off on getting you off.

Pressing his hand against your heat which literally felt like heat..fingers practically sticking to your panties as they stuck to your clit "Oh how easily your body betrays you baby" Slipping  the soaked silk to the side..sliding two fingers in with no warning,the sound of your arousal oozing out as he pushed his way to the hilt, going knuckle deep "Fuckkk.." left both of your lips in unison...as his fingers engulfed themselves between your pulsing walls ..you were so fucking warm..so tight..squeezing them to the point of almost forcing them to buckle over one another. You couldn't even help the senseless moans that were leaving your mouth as he worked you with his fingers. Lips suckig down on your collarbone "You pussys literally dripping down my hand...your milking my fingers like your life depends on it..and you really wanna sit here and tell me it's not mine?" Sliding his fingers out to work your clit...rubbing your own juices against your already sensitive bud. Neck reclining fully as you sucked your bottom lip into your mouth, damn near drawing blood from trying to muffle your moans. For no reason except your pride..which was technically pointless, he was right..your body said exactly how you felt.

"God,  your so wet for me I bet I could slide right in...have you coming all over my cock in seconds, but you just had to play this fuckin game with me didn't you?" Sinking his teeth into your neck until you kneaded out, sliding his fingers up and down your folds before sliding back in.Switching intermediary between twisting and curling his fingers inside of you, purposely slapping your clit with his palm each time in slid in and out. 

"Until-Oh god fuck- your gonna make me come..shit Tae" Clenching down around him even tighter almost as if you were trying to keep him from pulling out. Clawing at his thigh, as you desperately tried to steady your breathing so you could try and pull yourself together. Almost like he could sense you regaining a little self-control so he had to knock you right back on your ass. Scissoring his fingers in and out, even faster this time making sure to curl his middle finger up in a come hither motion probing that spot..the one he always found effortlessly. A dark rumble left his chest once he knew he had you in the palm of his hands..your release..desperately trying to reach its peak..and whether you got there..was solely up to him. 

"Hmm what were you saying baby..untilllll…" purposely dragging out the phrase..tone obviously condescending because he knew you were being a smartass with whatever you were about to say.

Almost choking on your own breath when you tried to speak initially "U-Until you put your name on it..it's not yours...no matter how good you fuck me.." Tone extremely breathy...yet sultry as your arousal dripped from your tongue..you were so fucking close..eyes struggling to stay open. Humming out in response and he continued pumping his fingers even faster..able to feel how close you were.

"That's it, baby..be a good girl and come for me.." Coaxing against the side of your neck..and rolling his tongue against your skin, slurring his words right into your neck as his tongue continued panting out your name.

 "Mmm, I bet you can feel my tongue on your pussy can't you baby? My tongue rolling against your swollen little clit..your pussys always so greedy when it comes to me..always." Relentlessly rolling his tongue against you making sure you felt every stroke...everywhere.  "I know how much you love coming all over my face, and you know how much I love tasting that sweet little cunt of yours " He was literally moaning all this into the side of your neck, as he licked..sucked..rolled his tongue along every inch. His words only punishing you closer and closer as you started rocking against his hand  "Fuck, baby my dicks getting so hard just thinking about how good you taste…" Sliding a third finger in and at that point you were about done.

 " Oh fuck.."  that familiar pressure forming in your stomach, Letting his middle finger meet that ridget patch of skin..flicking the spot until your legs started to shake...

"Kim Tae-fucking-hyung.." You snarled out as he yanked his finger from you, a strand of come followed behind..starting at your pussy following up his finger as lapped it over his tongue. You were fucking furious squeezing your thighs together for some sort of stimulation. You literally wanted to shank him, as he stood in front of you with the most arrogant smirk painted on his lips.

 " I believe…." Stepping back to have a seat on the leather chaise lounge adjacent to the bar "...I told you to come on my fingers like a good girl..but you haven't been one of those all damn day. So I'm not quite sure why you'd even fathom the idea of me letting you come so easily." Quirking his brow up at you basically as if he was implying that you had no reason to be upset..you should've known better..and to be honest..you should've..He was so calm and collected in contrast to how needy you felt not to mention how hard you were panting.

"Fuck you" Snapping back instantly only making him chuckle

 "Come here"  Two words..those two words in combination with his deep growl he called a voice had you knees weak..but you weren't going to show him that. Putting a little extra emotion in the word "Come" than was necessary .

"Make...meee.." The sultry drawl in your tone was obvious as you reclined against the wall, hip still rested on the bar top.  

Eyes damn near bucking out of there sockets at your response "Make-make you..are you fucking-" Running his fingers through his hair with a drawn-out exhale " If I have to come over there and get you.. So help me god ,I'll literally have to carry you out of this bitch when I'm done with you..your choice"

Relaxing your posture even more at the sound of that..the sass literally levitating off your skin.. an actual growl left his lips as he lunged towards you, scoping you off the bar, throwing you back on the chaise. Making your body bounce against the cushion while a soft giggle left your lips from the sudden impact,  crawling on top of you so his lips hovered over yours. Hand coming to lace around your neck, the tension shot straight to your core as you hissed out..arching up into his touch, which he took as a hint to squeeze even  tighter..so he did.only making you whine, which satisfied him to no end. 

"You're really working my last fuckin nerve…" Hissing out against your lips bringing his opposite hand down to work the zipper on your booties..and you assisted kicking them off as if they didn't cost..almost two grand. Grinding your hips up into his as you clawed at his back..he was wearing way too much fucking clothing for you liking.

 "I know, but you look so fucking sexy when you're angry…" Moaning out against his bottom lip, letting Your teeth tease at the pillowy texture before sucking it into your mouth. Instantly letting him take control of the kiss arching your back slightly as he rolled his tongue against yours. For once you didn't fight against him. You followed, as he slowly explored your mouth, volleying his tongue against yours as you started to grind your hips up into him. A moan escaped his lips as he pulled back from you...releasing his hold from your neck, much to your dismay..exchanging it to tug on the waistline of your jeans.

"You done being a brat yet? Or would you rather sit there with your pussy dripping against your panties when it could be dripping down my cock?" Grinding his hips into yours even deeper this time forcing a stifled moan from your throat.

 "I mean all you do is play games so why the fuck should I make this easy for you? "  Taking a firm grip on his length through his jeans,  which was officially his last straw with you.He was rock fucking hard...the last thing he wanted you to do was tease him..he needed to be bottomed out in you a good oh I don't know 20 minutes ago. Pulling back from you with a loud huff that..released way more than just frustration. 

"Alright...you gonna tell me what the fuck your deal is..or am I gonna have to make..you tell me? " ..there wasn't even a lick of warmth in his tone..done with the games ...and to be honest that probably turned you on more than it should have. The hint of pure aggravation in his voice only making your walls clench even tighter.  But you played it cool, while you could at least, your face stoic.. not even giving him a verbal response. Clearly taking your lack of response as a response that you were still in full fledge brat mode.Nodding slowly, giving you confirmation that he was also ready to play. Eyes scanning the room briefly before landing on a box. A shiny black one with a pink rose colored spade on it... The devilish look that emerged on his face should've been your first indication that ugh, shit was about to get real. Bringing his gaze back to you...reaching down to shimmy your jeans down your legs..before pulling his bomber jacket off throwing them both on the floor behind him. Neither of you said one word, the sudden..anticipation that loomed over your body was almost suffocating. Keeping your eyes trained on his every move..you knew he was up to something.

Reaching over to unbox a brand new bottle of Armand De Brignac champagne…..pulling the metallic pink bottle out ..which had never been opened until well, now. Breath hiking in your throat as he pulled your panties to the side..pushing out his lips..aiming a good amount of spit down on your clit..not that you even fucking needing it..you were already leaking onto the leather.  Naturally making your body arch as his saliva roamed down your folds "Let's try this one more time...what the fucks your deal?" Brow arched at the implied question..and still nothing... bringing the tip of the champagne bottle..to meet your clit making you go wide-eyed automatically. "

Tae.." The slight tremble in your chest indicated you were a little concerned..to say the least.

 "If I were you..unless your gonna answer my fuckin question...I'd stop talkin…" God, why did him being such a dick turn on you on so damn much?  He was sitting on your thighs so you really couldn't move slowly dragging the head of the bottle up and down your clit. Slowly..too fucking slow..you were still so sensitive from him denying you of you release barely 5 minutes prior, the feeling of him edging your clit was almost painful.

 "Taehyung…" Your voice and body were already trembling as the cap grazed your clit, using two fingers to pull your lips apart..exposing the tip head on. Circling the cap right on the peak, making your clit tense immediately, your nerves were already on 10, not taking long for all the blood to rush straight to your overly sensitive bud. Already feeling like your release was seconds away and he just fucking started.

 "What did I just tell you? Please don't make me gag you..I'd really weather not do that while I watch your cunt drip all over this bottle of  Armanda.." He actually had the nerve to sound a little stressed by the idea, as if you were the one inconveniencing him as if you weren't the one..damn near about to come over a champagne bottle.

Sucking his bottom lip into his mouth bringing his focus back to your pulsing pussy, the look of concentration on his face was damn near erotic on it's own " Fuck look at how ready your pussy is baby..look at how fuckin pretty she is….fuckkk" The fact that he already sounds like he balls deep in you really didn't help your situation..tone sitting exceptionally low..and breathy. The sound of your juices slicking against coating that covered the cap, felt like it was bouncing off the walls.  Trying your damnedest to not grind into the bottle..but fuck you needed more. Eyes fluttering shut at the sound of him moaning out..as he watched you start to melt into the chair. Naturally, you started to rock your hips into the bottle..you couldn't fucking help it...for some reason the actual glass felt like it was iced..which made your whole body shudder..as he wedged it between your pulsing heat. 

"Look at you..letting me fuck your tight little pussy like this...in someone's office..come dripping down there chair..and yet you still won't admit this pussy belongs to me.." Tisking,..as his eyes zoned in how swollen and wet you were..teasing your entrance  even more with the bottle, but every time you'd rock into it..he'd pull it back even more..almost making you chase it.  

"Tae, fuck please-" whining out as you arched slightly…a second away from a full-blown temper tantrum.

 "What baby? You need more? Hmm? I'll give you whatever the fuck you want..you just need to start taking…"Bring his opposite hand down..to your clit..letting his thumb circle the tip as he slid the bottle back in. You should've been embarrassed with how quickly you were falling apart and more importantly how hard you were clenching around this bottle...Endlessly moaning out variations of  "Please..baby, please Tae..." It was so faint but he heard you. You needed him to take the bottle deeper..so you actually got to the girthy section of it. Yet he wouldn't go down that far..not until you gave him what he wanted.

 "I already told you, baby, I could do this all day... I Know you can feel how hard I am..I know you wanna come around my cock...so be a good little slut and tell me.." Grunting out as he took the bottle exactly where you needed before pulling it right out!

 "Fucking hell Taehyung!!" Smacking your hand on the leather which only earned a chuckle from him as you huffed out in frustration...eyes fluttering shut ..running your fingers through your hair as you tried to steady your breathing enough to speak properly.

" You- you know, the fucking the issue.."

Brow arching immediately at your sudden change in attitude.."Oh really? And what is it? Please don't tell me you're still talking about that bullshit from this morning?" Phrasing the question more as a statement yet he still expected a response.  Sliding the bottle back in...until your pussy was teased by the wider section..and he just left it there..letting your body pulse aimlessly. Positioning  his lips down to spit on your clit again before bringing his finger back down in a figure eight motion "Answer my fucking question or I swear to god ..I'll get myself off instead.." Arching up into his thumb, spine levitating completely off the chair as your eyes squoze shut..you were so sensitive that even though he wasn't moving it was almost enough to get you where you needed, and you were almost there "I know your pussy baby...I don't have to be in you to know when you're close..don't fuck with me, if you come without me telling you to I swear I'll edge you till you fucking cry…" The hiss that left his lips literally made you shiver, you didn't need to open your eyes to know he was staring right at you, you could feel it…"Now be a good girl and answer daddy's question." He hasn't called himself that in months..when shit started shifting and getting awkward..some things were lost in the shuffle...and this was one of them..the name alone made you clench around the bottle even tighter.

  "I-fuck….it's-it's more than this morning..I'm just...oh my god...tried..of the fuckin games.." almost choking that sentence out,, not even sure how you managed to get it out, to be frank. Forcing yourself to look at him, needing to see his reaction, the feeling of him starting to twist the bottle slightly, had your second attempt at a release, right where you needed it. God now even his eyes were fucking you if this man did not let you come you'd literally cry.

 "And what exactly do you want me to say? Hmm? That no one gets me as hard as you??" Working your clit even faster now and you couldn't stop yourself from grinding his hand. The number of times his name fell from your lips was fucking ridiculous "Or... how about..that I've never slid in a pussy so perfect..so fuckin wet...so tight.." Gritting out through clenched teeth as he continued working your clit..rotating the champagne bottle in his hand as he worked it in and out, the sound of your juices slushing against the glass.  "Or , my main issues ..that it fucking terrifies me how much I care about your bratty ass..is that it!? Is that what the fuck you wanna hear!?" The sudden change in his voice...made your eyes flutter over to his immediately, gaze extremely heavy. Tone went from frustrated to almost flustered within seconds. 

"Yeah that got your attention, didn't it? Now who's playin games? You knew you already fuckin’ knew you had it...you..had me, you always have….”  There was a pause, a very significant one actually, his eyes softened and for a moment the hard ass/dom facade faded and he was taehyung. Regardless of the situation at hand, something just let you know..he was being honest about his feelings. 

“Take my belt off and unzip my jeans...Noww..." Your entire body was shaking and he actually expecting you to be able to undress him…"What did I say?" Brow arched tone instnatly annoyed you felt him start to slow down his pace and there's no way in fuck you'd have that. Reaching up with shaky hands you unclasp his belt..work his button and unzip his pants…

Snatching the bottle out..making you whine at the lack of stimulation only making him grunt out in frustration .."Don't...did you really think…." Taking his dick in his hand which was already rock fucking hard..stroking it gently..almost admiring it. Precome, drizzling down from his tip while you whimpered beneath him..almost drooling at the sight of it. " I was gonna let you come on a champagne bottle over my cock? Spit!" placing his palm in front of your face and you did without hesitation...pulling his opposite hand from your clit he pulled his jeans down just enough let him move around. Storking himself in this hand..you couldn't take your eyes off him leaning down so his lips brushed over yours.

"This pussys fuckin mine…." Letting his length tease up your folds...all you could hear was the sound of your juices slides all over the place. Flicking at your clit with the head, with how wet you were he kept losing his grip,, sliding down to tease your entrance..even when he honestly wasn't trying too.."Nobody fucks you like me..and you know it…." You finally feel him position himself at your entrance..causing you to arch up onto him..as he slowly starts to slide in a breathy cry leaving your lips while he pressed his forehead against yours "You wanted me to put my name on it? Well, it's mine..all mine...." Moaning out against your bottom lip before sucking it into his mouth. Teasing his way through..your walls grabbing him immediately making him growl even louder...nails moving up to claw at his back..pulling back slightly bracing both of your legs on either side of his head. 

Grinding his hips into you slowly..purposely shallow fucking you making you whine…'Daddy, fuck-" The faint cry in desperation left your lips arching up into him hoping to push him all the way in leaning down to bring his forehead to yours. Pressing his body against the back of your thighs making your body arch up even higher, the new angle enough to make you come immediately if he'd actually give you all of him. 

The mention of the nickname caused an arrogant smirk to move up his face "That's right baby...and who's making you feel this good? Mmm, who's about to make you come?" Bringing his index and middle  finger down to circle your clit..you could tell from how rock hard he was..he wouldn't last..which is why he was working you up.

 "Fuck, Tae it's you...god it's you please just fu-"  Sliding in completely until he's bottomed out, both of you moaning out simultaneously from how tight you still where, the two of you pulsing against each other in unsion.

 "Mmm, baby your still so tight for me, fuck"  At this point all bets were off, rolling his hips into you at a relentless pace, grounding his hips against yours as he fingers still worked your clit, pulling out completely every time before rolling his hips back into you. His cock filling you to the brim every time..if you didn't know any better you think he was in your damn throat he felt so big. "Oh god..” You watched him throw his head back slightly as his eyes fluttered shut, “Daddy’s pretty baby wanna come? I feel you milking me baby I know you wanna…" His tone was getting brittle...shaky even. He was just as close as you were.  It didn't take long for you to feel like you were ready to explode,  your walls engulfing him every time..squeezing around every centimeter of his cock, your heat feeling like it was morphing him into you, as you continuously spilled down your thighs.  

"Yessss, please.please let me come...:" You were a whimpering mess beneath him body coming up to a complete arch, as your muscles started to seeze..body humming in anticipation. 

"Who's pussy is it baby? Say like you fuckin mean it.." Letting his lips suction against his spot beneath your ear..dancing over the little reminders he left earlier. Rolling your hips up into his, clawing your nails from his back bracing one around the back of his neck and the other deep in his thick mane. 

"Fuck, it's yours..oh my god you feel so fuckin good -" He leaned into you a little allowing your hips to grind up into his slightly, the rotation of his hips got stronger..deeper. Rocking them into yours making sure his pelvis slapped against your lips every time..as he currently had them spread apart so he would attack your clit. That was it you were done...you were coming and there wasn't shit you could do about it. Clenching around him so hard it was almost painful how frantic all your muscles became. 

"Fuck yes, baby, come on..keep going..keep coming baby..." Coaxing you through as he felt your body start to cave in beneath him, your release came pouring out of you, the moan that left your body was so fucking loud there's no way..they didn't hear you. Clawing at this back from under his shirt..as your body trembled..hiccuping the air in your chest as he continued rubbing your clit. Your thighs were shaking on his shoulders..you couldn't even moan anymore... Your walls spazzing around him.

 "God Tae, I can't, I can't Oh fuck I can't…" clawing at anything you could as he started slamming his hips into you..you knew he was close but fuck he needed to at least let your clit go so you could breathe .

"You've been acting like a fucking brat all day...I know you can take it..so take it!" Grunting out against your lips before sliding his tongue in..the kiss was needy..sloppy..more tongue than anything else as he moans out into your mouth…"I'm gonna fill you up so good..is that what you want baby? My come leaking out of your slutty little pussy?" All you could do was moan..as you arched into him, You could feel him start to pulse, you were just waiting for it to explode .

"Baby" The breathy cry left your lips your second release snuck up on you effortlessly, he never gave you a chance to call down, every nerve in your body was still on high alert. All the air felt like it let your body as you came.. You couldn't help but arch up into him, bracing your hands on his chest because in all honesty, you were trying to almost run away. The feeling was so intense you didn't know how to fucking handle it, once your walls grabbed him..it was almost like your body was getting too weak to retract as quickly..so your walls were cradling him longer..tighter...which gave him exactly what he needed "Baby fuck, I'm- "  Lapping his tongue back into your mouth, as you felt him spill into you...painting every inch of  your walls.

Once he came he let your clit go, but he stayed balls deep ...rolling his hips at a slower pace as you trembled beneath him. The Slow grind of his body just let you feel more than you needed too right now..the sound of how wet you were..both of your arousals seeping down your thighs. Lips still not leaving yours as you both moaned out against each other tongue the two of you stayed tangled up like that for a moment. Just letting your tongues lazily dance against one another's until he finally pulled back from you ..causing your eyes to flutter open slowly. A lazy smile laying across his face as he sat up..fixing himself in his jeans, neither of you said anything. It didn't feel like anything needed to be said currently, you watched him walk over to the mini bar..pouring a shot of whiskey and slamming it immediately… Walking towards you with a glass of ice...positioning himself between your legs..which we covered in come...as it seeps out of your walls, using his index and middle fingers he played in the cream..running it up and down your folds circling your clit..pushing it in and out, using it to finger you ever so lightly. Moaning out at the site of the mess you both made, he could feel himself starting to get hard all over again. 

 Your body shuddering every time he touched you, you were so sensitive...almost wincing out once he touched your clit. "Daddy go a little too hard on you baby?" Quirking his brow in your direction..his tone surprisingly wasn't sarcastic..maybe he was honestly concerned because you'd been so quiet. Minus some breathy moans here and there, shaking your head with a lazy smirk, bringing your hand down to play in his hair, as he laid his head on your thigh. Also not trying to ruin the moment but I'm going to assume neither of you realized the ship docked., around the time Taehyung slid in..but carry on.

You watched him pick up an ice cube...body too exhausted to even put any thought to it…"Your so swollen baby.." the whisper buzzed out against your clit, yet you still didn't move. That is until you felt the ice cube, trickle up your folds...causing you to hiccup a sharp breath that you damn near had to remind yourself to exhale.

 "Tae.." all your body could produce was a squeak as your started to tremble all over again. Working the piece of ice up and down your folds before he brought it over to meet your clit, the grip on his hair became almost painful. As you tried to pull him away from you" Baby..I can't..please, I-" Yet here you were rocking your hips into his hand..you hadn't even realized you were doing it. Humming out in response with a smile as he slid the piece of ice in your entrance. Teasing it in and out.. swirling it up and down your folds as he laced his tongue around your clit before suckikng it into his mouth. 

Moaning, out at the taste of you, shooting every vibration straight threw your heat "Babbyyyy….I could eat your sweet little cunt for hours if you'd let me.." Eyes flickering up to meet yours as your buried your fingers deeper in his hair. Arching up into his mouth, it was too fucking much yet you needed it..every part of it. Rolling his tongue against the tip of your clit  while he continued working you with the piece of ice, the chill in combination with the water drizzling down your lips, on top of how skilled this man's tongue was..fuck..

"Oh my god..."

"Kim, Taehyung, you just continiously give me reasons to wanna murder you..I really don’t thnk you’ll be sastified until I bust a cap in your ass.!" Both of your eyes shot up at that because..well fuck it was your dad...fuck, fuck, fuck! Taehyung couldn't help but laugh which did not help you since his face was buried between your thighs. " You two can thank this lovely lady out here..she had no problem leading me to where you two were. So clearly your great at making friends"  You couldn't help but snort at the dryness in his delivery, it was clear he could tell she hated you two.

 "That little bitch" You whispered out rolling your eyes. Taehyung's lips moved over to your inner thighs massaging up your legs while ..leaving faint little kisses as your dad spoke through the door. 

"I'm actually going to pretend.. as none of this happened..and that Luxx is not in there with you doing god knows what..because the thought of that alone kinda makes me wanna blow a whole  round through this damn door.." Tae brought his lips back down to your pussy giving your clit one last good french kiss, as you dug your teeth into your bottom lip so didn't cry like you wanted too. His eyes teasing you as he continued giving your pussy little kitten licks as if your father wasn't right out sided the fucking door. "So on that note..you two have 5 minutes to make your way into the restaurant Luxx...your bag is hanging on the door..again please for my sanity just don't respond.." Your father lowkey didn't seem surprised to be honest..not quite sure what that says about you two but hey, at the end of the day you were both adults. But having sex in someones office deffiently wans’t one of your proudest moments. 

Once you guys heard footsteps move in the opposite direction you both couldn't help the cackle that escaped your throats "Fuck, your literally going to be the death of me, Sunny is literally going to kill me.." Taehyung made his way over to the door, grabbing your bag off the handle, on his way back he picked up your jeans..helping you step into them. Thighs feeling like complete mush once you put your heels back on. Touching up your makeup quickly before letting him know you were ready to go. You noticed he was staring at you while you blotted your skin in the mirror but you didn't say anything about it. 

"Are we good?" The statement alone kinda caught you off guard, not to mention how passive he currently sounds. He wasn't the type to ask that..or even seem like he cared enough to even know the answer to that question. You weren't stupid both of you were a little buzzed when you came in, and sometimes in the heat of the moment, you say things you really don't mean. More importantly, you know better than to hold your breath when it comes to him...as strong as this man is, he's literally the biggest pussy in the world when it comes to shit like this. Yet you still weren't  able to hide the smile the moved up your face as you applied your lipgloss.

Shrugging nonchalantly ,as if that one question didn't mean the world to you "I mean for now..yeah…will see what happens..” 

Shooting him a lazy smile before getting up to head out of the room "Hey.." Grabbing your hand to pull you back into his frame "I meant what I said... In regards to how I feel about you. The timing was fucked I know, but I meant it regardless! I can't promise what that means right now. I got a lotta shit I need to work through in my head, but I just want you to know, I meant it...all of it" Letting his hands massaging your side, a slow exhale leaving your chest as you gazed up at him..sucking your bottom lip into your mouth with a nod...not saying anything because well..what could you say? "Thank you?" I mean it was still kinda an empty promise but I guess one step at a time right? Leaning down to wrap his lips around yours one last time..exhaling a breath that almost left you breathless, as he gently massaged his tongue against yours.Even once his tongue left your mouth his lips stayed pressed against yours, just enjoying contact before laying one last chaste kiss alone your lips. 

The ship docked, behind the restaurant..as it sat right off the water, it was clear by the lack of cars that Dino's restaurant was closed to the public today. As if you weren't already mentally drained from the past 24 hours,.the moment you stepped off the ship there was a blatantly obvious shift within the atmosphere. Suddenly the air felt thick and the sky looked even gloomier than it did when you loaded ship. There was this..sense of somberness as you entered the restaurant,almost as if everyone was walking on eggshells.

 The restaurant itself was stunning, Dino’s always had great taste, it had a modern contemporary feel..a lot of exposed brick and dark mahogany hardwood flooring. All of the lights were dim, in-caged in black lanterns hanging from the drop-down ceiling, with a big double sided fireplace smack in the middle of the restaurant. Essentially the perfect aesthetic for your standard boujee Instagram picture. The typical layout was changed through..now only sat 2 long black wood tables..connected together so everyone could sit in one place. It appears you two were the last to join the party..two waiters positioned at either side of the entrance, with wine glasses, giving you your choice of white or red. As your eyes gazed around the room, the vibe was just...off, the smiles were short..almost fake..the usual laughter and side conversations were nonexistent. Everyone had the same consensus..there was an unsaid understanding..this meeting wasn't going to be fun.

The little bubble of mob life that your use to was about to burst with you sitting mid-air. It was almost like he could sense your energy hand moving up to rub the small of your back...he didn't say a word..but he knew you were freaking out. Even if you looked calm and collected on the outside,  there were two seats left..between Namjoon and Hoseok, Bunny sat to his left, one of the serves came up to pull your chairs out for you, as you two sat down. Desperately avoiding your father's gaze...Taehyung's hand immediately found its home on your thigh, it has genuinely harmless,  he knew he had the same effect on you as you did him. "How's our princess doing?" A smile pulling on your cheeks at the sound of his scratchy voice...impossibly thick Boston accent dripping from his lips…

“I'm alright uncle Dino how are you?" Smiling over in his direction his salt and pepper hair slicked back..while he sipped on his whiskey. Dino was in his mid 50’s and he wasn't actually your uncle...but he and your father were very close ...so you've just always grown up calling him that, he always treated your dad like his little brother.

 "Alright, well it seems like everyone's here..son..nice of you to finally join us.." Taehyung father stepped in front of the tabled..sliding his blazer off, you watched Tae's cheeks flush at his father's comments. The first sound of laughter erupted through the room, and even if it was at your expense...it was definitely needed.

If Taehyung's father was any indication of how he'd age then ..you were in good shape..he was starting to go gray in certain areas, ...his skin holding the same warm complexion as his sons. Naturally thick brows..thick head of hair slicked backed...Mr. Kim did have facial hair though which was always well groomed..he was always well groomed. Always looking dapper even if he was just in a sweater and jeans. 

" I'm sure you're all wondering why your here...I'm not even going to address the altercation earlier because it's not even worth me wasting my breath…" You heard a couple of snickers fill the room once he said that..little side comments here and there "What we're here to discuss is last nights…" incident" and the future of our alliance once we bury Leo in three days…" Letting his eyes pan the room slowly, almost as if he was still trying to get the right words to come out.

 "First off...I guess I don't know any other way to say this so I’ll just blurt it out... the four of us knew about the shooting or at least the possibility of it.." The two of you gawked at each other while pretty much the entire table damn near revolted, simultaneously all basically yelling variations of the same thing which was " Excuse me!!?"

"What..do you mean..you kinda sort knew?" Taehyung was the one to actually speak up first brow furrowed in frustration while you gulped down the drink next to you, you didn't even think it was yours, to be frank

. "He means one of Dinos men tipped us off, 2 days prior.. they overheard bits and pieces of Marcos plan. We weren't a 100% but we had an idea, that's why the party was so heavily armed..we just wanted to keep it lowkey, because we went trying to tip him off that we knew…We wanted to see how he'd operate, naturally how he'd execute all of it.." That correlation came from Johnny boy...well at least he was well aware his mothers fucking birthday was going to be interpreted by an unessicarry shoot out.

The look of confusion that danced along the room was almost comical  "Are you-" Almost too dumbfounded to even put together a proper sentence... "So wait, please don't tell me you also knew..the two of us were going to end up in a janky ass “taken” knock off staring a damn child, that's barely old enough to work at a packie..because that's a whole different-"  A snort hit almost the entire room simultaneously once that left your lips. Namjoon's head whipped around, with the way the night panned out..you never really got the chance to give him the ugh..details of last night's situation.  

"That's what fuckin happened? You got janked by a dude that works at a packie?" The look on his face was priceless..pretty much screaming "How fucking stupid are you two.."

The look on Taehyung's face however,  proved he didn't find any of this funny,  instantly snatching the smirk from Namjoon's lips. As he was obviously still pissed his men let that slip through the cracks. "Yeah, somehow my men were severely incompetent last night" Letting his eyes cut over to Mazda..if looks could kill...a damn bullet would have grazed his head.

"They somehow managed to let some ill-prepared amateur slip his way into the driver's seat..long, long fuckin story.." Clearing his throat before taking a sip of his drink. You watched Hoseok whip back in his chair so his eyes were locked with Taehyung's, voice sitting barely above a whisper. 

"Okay well do the other parts in this "Long story" Work more in your favor? Because this doesn't sound too promising man...like...Really a kid.at.a.packie!!!?!" The hint of animation in his voice accompanied by the eyebrow raise earned a chuckle from Tae no matter how annoyed he was.

 " Yeah, Fuck you too Jung…" the response returned in the same hushed tone.

"Okay, yeah whatever, now back to my initial question did you guys-" The snarl that left your father's lips cut you off before you could even complete your sentence.  

"Really!? No, Luxx, that part we did not know..nor did we know about the dispatch truck or the altercation with Jimin. All we knew is that Marco was planning something, and in all honesty, we didn't know it was a shoot out until-"

" Until I noticed the amount of ammo and gunfire was missing from the safe room. Sorry, we're late by the way we had an ugh..situation.." That voice came from the back door, as he leaned against the frame his leather jacket..accompanied by a designer backpack of some sort hanging off his shoulder. His dark locks disheveled, while a taller, more polished gentlemen stood to his left…Dressed in a black fitted peacoat with a Gucci scarf wrapped around his neck.

 "Yeah customs had a great time with me.." The taller gentleman rolled his eyes while running his fingers through his thick dark locks, utter sarcasm oozing from his plum flushed lips. Jungkook and Jin were also invited to this meeting apparently. Fucking great…Jungkook's eyes found yours immediately with a cocky smirk. 

Taehyung squeezed your thigh even tighter leaning over to whisper in your ear "Aww look at that...your little fuck buddies here…" 

Huffing out in response as you rolled your eyes "Behave Kim Taehyung….." his name coming out sing-song like as a low chuckle rumbled in his chest.

 "Now we both know I don't know how to do that baby...flirt back with him..I dare you…I'm sure he'd love to watch you get fucked properly.." The base in his voice shot right to your core as if you could even handle more of him tonight.  Eyes going completely wide-eyed, slightly paranoid that someone heard..but luckily the people that were on either side of you wouldn't have cared. Tongue grazing against his bottom lip with a smirk, more than pleased at the current state you were in. Knowing good and well he was only riling you up, just to make your body fall apart all over again.

Missing whatever conversation was currently being discussed but it seemed as though they were still discussing the situation with Jungkook and the guns. It appears Marco grabbed some weapons in Vegas and Jungkook didn't question it initially because he's Leo's son, but the amount of ammo he was pulling out of the vault seemed suspect. Of course, Kook didn't wanna seem too obvious and bombarded him with questions. But if something was going on where you guys needed that amount of weaponry...Jungkook would be the first to know. And considering the lack of warning before Marco dropped in..he just knew something wasn't right, which is why he called to give your father a heads up. 

The table was starting to break out in multiple separate conversations at this point, everyone speculating  "Okay, okay..guys were getting off track!" Mr. Kim elevated his vice ever so slightly, just enough to get everyone to stop talking. "Now..like we were saying...Jungkook tipped us off on the weapons, but as far as Jimin and the dispatch truck goes..we're still trying to figure that out. Speaking of, Luxx , Taehyung, the two of you will be heading back to China with Jin to sort that out!"

Tae nodded seeming a little more enthused than you "Okay, when?" 

" Tonight, so you two will need to head out of here first..so you can go home and pack, within the next hour or so will helli the two of you out of here." 

There was nothing you loved more than being told your flying across country a good oh I don't know, 4 hours prior. A long sigh leaving your body at that, you hated the flight to Beijing ...14 hours non stop...then considering the funeral was in 3 days you wouldn't be there long enough to even enjoy the city. You'd just be copped up in an industrial building play Nancy Drew while the two of you interrogated the staff . 

 " Over the past year ...that side of the business has become more so your baby than any of ours so ...we're gonna let you guys handle that investigation on your own. Let's just hope you two can stay ugh, focused...long enough to do so.." Both of your faces flushed at the sound of that..his sarcasm was always so nonchalant  and unexpected..which of course earned a snort from the entire table .

"Yeah okay good luck with that" Yoongi smiled over at you while you instantly picked up the closest thing to you...a spoon and chucked it directly at his chest…"Hey Tae, man control your woman…" A smirk moving up Yoongi's face as he said that and Taehyung just smiled..surprising not correcting him for the title he gave you

 " I try, but I mean ...the only person she really listens to his her daddy" squeezing down on your inner thigh when he said that..Immediately picking up on the double meaning (s) of that sentence, causing you to squeeze your thighs together as you tried not to laugh.

"Alright, I’m glad we were able to lighten then mood, but obviously we didn't invite you all here to just joke and eat dinner. ." stopping for a second to clear his throat, your father almost seemed nervous...which was rare for him..extremely rare. "As you guys know, Leo started to slowly back out of the business..closing out a lot of his deals, just as he started to get older. Focusing most of his income on his actual...blue collar businesses. Currently, he only has two open files..and those move a little slower than some of the ones we dabble in." 

Letting his eyes pan the room..needing a second to collect his thoughts "Well, Leo left all of his business to Dino...titles..everything...and as we know Marco is impulsive..hot-headed-" 

"A fuckin pussy.." Taehyung bit in making your father chuckle slightly

 "That he is son, I can't disagree...which leads me to our concern. We think he's trying to reopen some of Leo's old connects...right now our biggest concern is where about 90% positive he's trying to reopen the Cabaranao case…." The entire room fell silent at that...the Cabaranao case was a cartel drug case in Mexico, shit got really, really dirty with that one, a couple of people within your team ended up doing time, while others paid their way out of it. Cabaranao was messy, his business was unorganized, he didn't give a fuck about being lowkey. I think he actually got off on the publicity and the "Thrill" of almost getting caught.

His deals were dangerous..every time you sent one of your men out to make a run, you honestly had no clue if they'd ever make it back. But the money was fast..and good..damn good. The aftermath of your alliance pulling out of it is how both Taehyung and your mother ended up murdered, they didn't play fair.Your  fathers had no “proof” but they didn't need any...knowing far too well how that circled operated. Your hand immediately finding Taehyung's intertwining your fingers with his as if felt like all the air's been knocked out of your body. Still trying to fathom how he could be so fucking careless. The silence proved that everyone was in shock, no one expected this..of all the things your father  would have said this was the furthest thing from your mind. 

"So basically the motherfucker either want us all to die...or go to Jail? Nah fuck that' I'm done...I'll handle him my damn self!" You could feel the fumes radiating from Hoseok's body..you could see Bunny out the corner of your eye trying to calm him down. As we all know Hoseok was a "cleaner" in addition to his main job, that's what he's paid to do..make you disappear without a trace, but the problem is, this sat to personal for him. For all of you, so there would be a concern of emotion getting in the way and shit getting messy. But that's the problem with all of this, it is personal and it's going to get messy, really fucking messy.  The liability becomes almost suffocating when the issue at hand hits so close to home.

"Shit I'm down.." your eyes shot over to the opposite end of the table..that was the first thing Jimin's said this entire meeting. voice sitting exceptional low, jaw clenched just as tight as the man right beside you.

Taehyung was surprisingly quiet..but how tight his jaw was, in addition to his leg pattering beneath the table..made it pretty damn clear he was fucking furious... "Hoseok, trust me...I know, I know how you feel but we can't operate like this...not like him. We've made it this long because were smarter..cleaner...we handle all of our dirty work..to the tee. Not on a whim…The way he end him..end this is.. gonna take every ounce of skill, and self control that we have.." The calmness in Mr Kim's voice couldn't even ease the feeling that was looming over everyone's head… That deal cost so many people so many things...the fact that he could pretty much just say "fuck you all" just because he wanted a quick buck was mind-boggling.

 You found yourself slowly massaging Taehyung's thigh, the fact that he was so quiet through all of this was concerning to say the least. "What are you thinkin baby?" Whispering out against his ear, keeping your tone calm, hoping your energy would transfer… purposely using the endearment hoping it would ease him a little, knowing how much he loved the way it sounds leaving your lips.  

"That I'm ready to get the fuck outta here and handle him...my way." Yeah, that wasn't the answer you wanted, staring straight ahead..not even sure what he was looking at, to be honest, he was probably just spaced out, tone lacking any hint of emotion. While his fingers fiddled with the knife to his left, letting a deep huff leave your body, relaxing your posture in your seat. Bringing your hand up to the nape of his neck. Dancing your nails through his chocolate locks, just trying to keep him as relaxed as possible. To your surprise, he didn't seem annoyed, or uncomfortable by your little acts of affection to be honest it almost felt like he needed it. As his opposite hand keeps rubbing light circles along your thigh. Eyes still glued to whatever object held his attention on the wall in front of him. No joke he was probably planning Marcos murder in his head as we speak, I wouldn't put it past him at this point.

The air in the room was so thick, it was literally nauseating I think it was safe to say..no one really cared to have dinner. You heard a couple of phones go off simultaneously and you noticed a pattern when it came to who looked down. There were a couple of people within the alliance that handled intel..in the sense as they were always up to date with the news. Making sure your business or anything that even remotely pertained to you never ended up there, and if it did, they were instantly doing damage control. You watched the look on Jins face contort, and you knew it wasn't good "Ugh, can someone turn on the TV…please, channel 2 news.." Looking around hoping one of the servers heard him and they did, the minute the screen clicked on there was a reporter..on the side of the road in front of a blacked out Benz. Taehyung's blacked out Benz, no one noticed, I mean to be fair it wasn't anything out of the ordinary, that would scream "This is Kim Taehyung’s car" Technically it was just one his drivers used. Maybe the two of wouldn't have given it a second thought either..if the headline didn't' seem.. a little too coincidental.. The scroll along the bottom of the screen reading ...

"18-year-old boy found dead inside a car on the side of the expressway…"

ANDDDDDDDDDD THAT’S ALL SHE WROTE LOL

If you guys want a part 4..make sure you show this some love, hit the like button and come hit up my ask box and talk to ya girl! I always love hearing your thoughts on what I post!

Love you guys as always,

ROCKI

ANDDDDDDDDDD THAT’S ALL SHE WROTE LOL

If you guys want a part 4..make sure you show this some love, hit the like button and come hit up my ask box and talk to ya girl! I always love hearing your thoughts on what I post!

CHAPTER 3.5 

Love you guys as always,

ROCKI

[queen-scribbles]

My Lucky Day

For @pillarspromptsweekly fill 97. My Roll for It elements: Edér, modern AU, and meet-cute bc I wouldn’t be me if I passed up the chance to write an Ederity meet-cute. :D

--

Normally the two o’clock hour was the most boring part of Charity’s shift. Most people were either still at work or just starting to commute home, Not many chose that time slot to pursue pet adoption(or even just looking). Normally at this point she’d be folding scrap paper footballs and seeing how far she could flick them down the counter, or finding an excuse to play with or love on one of the animals the shelter housed.

But not today. Today someone hadn’t properly latched one of the kennels and a certain hyperactive yellow lab had gleefully seized the opportunity to escape. Thus, Charity’s two o’clock hour so far had been spent chasing down chaos incarnate, trying to minimize the mess he made and not having much luck. Of course he fishtailed around a corner, his tail wagging so ferociously it knocked supplies off the shelf. Of course Xoti had forgotten to lock the dog door(again), and he bolted into the yard--straight for the mud puddle in the back corner. Of course she missed trying to grab him on the way back in and wound up chasing a trail of mud all through the shelter. (Thank Eothas the door between the shelter and clinic was too heavy for a year old lab to push open on his own.) She finally cornered the dog in a dead end hallway and bribed him with treats until he was close enough to collar.

“Bad dog,” she scolded, heart not fully in it despite the work ahead of her cleaning up. “You made quite the mess.”

He looked up at her, gave a whining bark, and planted muddy paws against her thigh to put him in better range for head pets.

“Sunny, down,” Charity said, gentle but firm. That was something they were trying to train out of him before he was adopted. “C’mon, you need a bath now.”

She’d swear Sunny’s ears pricked up at the word bath. This dog loved water beyond even his breed’s usual affinity for it. She could almost believe he’d gotten muddy for the express purpose of getting a bath. Charity was less thrilled at how soaked she was about to wind up, but as the one who caught the dog(and the one with no plans after work, which meant it was okay if she went home smelling like wet fur), the duty would fall to her anyway. She might as well get it over with.

It proved every bit the ordeal she was anticipating, but she did get Sunny clean. Still very much the curious puppy--even though they’d walked this hallway a dozen times and she was pretty sure there were no new smells--he pulled every which way as they walked back toward the kennels.

“We really gotta train you, or you’re gonna scare people off,” Chariy muttered, letting go of the leash with one hand to brush damp straggles of hair back toward the sad remains of her ponytail.

Of course Sunny picked that moment to hear something ‘interesting’ and veer sharply toward the door between shelter and clinic. Sharply enough to yank the leash out of her hand.

Not again! she groused to herself as she lunged after him. “Sunny! Sunny, sit!”

Sunny did not sit. Because the door opened from the clinic side and a new person walked in, and what friendly, energetic dog worth his whiskers could resist saying hello to a new friend?

And so roughly fifty pounds of still-damp yellow lab pushed off the floor and slammed into their visitor in the same moment Charity skidded to a mortified halt. Even if he looked well-built enough to take it, this was so not the impression they wanted to give people.

-o-

Edér would have been lying if he said he expected his day to include being tackled by a friendly dog. He’d also be lying to say he minded, though it did catch him off-guard.

“I’m so sorry!” a voice gasped from above and to his right--probably the woman he’d briefly glimpsed before being tackled. 

“S’alright,” Edér managed around the enthusiastic tongue bath he was receiving. He brought one hand up to scratch the side of the dog’s face, which earned him a reprieve as the lab leaned into the attention with a pleased groan. “Always nice to make a new friend.”

He looked up just in time to catch her relieved smile. “Must be my lucky day.” Her ears went redder than her hair. “’Cause you’re clearly an animal lover, I mean, not for any other...” She cleared her throat, one hand tugging the end of her frazzled ponytail. “I’m gonna stop talkin’ now.”

“Actually, if you work here, I was lookin’ for some help,” Edér said, starting the reluctant process of scooting out from under the dog.

“Oh, sure,” the redhead nodded as she bent to grab the free end of the leash and started tugging the dog off him. “I’m Charity, by the way. And this fella’s Sunny, both in name and nature.”

“Fittin’,” he chuckled as he got to his feet. He held out his hand to shake. “Edér.”

Charity shook his hand, grip firmer than he expected. “And what can I help you with, Edér?”

“Pickin’ somethin’ up for a friend; antibiotics for her liz- uh, bearded dragon.” He rolled his eyes sheepishly. “She don’t like it when I call ‘im a lizard.”

Charity laughed. “Lotta people with beardies feel that way.” Her brow furrowed.  “Wasn’t there someone at the clinic desk?”

Edér shook his head. “Naw. There s’pposed t’ be?”

“Yeah,” she said with a sigh. “Same person who was s’pposed to lock all the kennels and the dog door out to the yard. I’m tryin’ to give her some time, ‘cause she’s new, but if she doesn’t get a lot less flighty real quick...” She shook her head and tugged the leash. “That’s not important, though. Let’s get you taken care of, then I’ll get Sunny squared away.”

“I can wait if you wanna do that first,” he offered, slipping his hands in his pockets. He wasn’t in any particular hurry.

“No, it’s okay,” Charity said quickly. “If you’re just pickin’ something up it shouldn’t take long.” Both of them looked down as Sunny bumped his nose against Edér’s knee. “‘Sides, he likes you, if I take him away now, he’ll pout the rest of the day an’ that’s no fun.”

“Alright, then, if you don’t mind...” Edér shrugged, which made her smile. It was a good smile. He pushed open the swinging door back to the clinic. “After you.”

-o-

Charity bit back the temptation to make some corny comment about him being a gentleman and simply nodded her thanks as she headed through the doorway. She could feel a fresh wave of blush rising to color her ears--and probably the back of her neck--even so. Maybe he wouldn’t notice. Maybe if he did she could pass off her embarrassment as due to Sunny’s behavior, not the number of times she’d successfully stuck her foot in her mouth in front of one of the more attractive men she’d met in her life. If the ‘lucky day’ comment wasn’t bad enough, the speed with which she’d insisted on helping Edér before she re-kenneled Sunny had done no favors. 

Just as he’d said, there was no sign of Xoti behind the clinic counter, even though her shift went til four. She hadn’t even left a note this time.

Charity pushed aside the embarrassment--and grumbling thoughts toward her coworker--and flashed Edér another smile as she stepped around the counter.  “So, what’re you pickin’ up?” She closed the waist-high door and slipped the leash around the handle so she had both hands free and Sunny was still semi-corralled.

“Antibiotics,” he reminded her, leaning against the counter with a crooked smile of his own.

She wanted to smack herself; he’d already told her that. “Right, right. Name?”

He cocked his head. “Would it be under the pet or the owner?”

“Owner.”

“That does make sense. Illani. Tavi Illani.”

The name rang a bell. “Oh, yeah. Dragon’s Quaro, right?” Charity asked as she started thumbing through the filled prescriptions. “She had him in a couple days ago and Doc Drake had to back order the meds.” Illani, there you are. She tugged out the small, crinkly bag and set it on the counter. “Here we go. And Dr. Drake is sorry for the delay and hopes Quaro feels better soon.” 

Edér raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Technically she didn’t tell me that, but” --Charity shrugged-- “ain’t hard math to figure out she would.” She played with the patient information tag stapled to the prescription to give her hands something to do. Which worked for all of five seconds before she happened to read the address. “Wait, wait, wait. Tavi lives in Yenwood?! Don’t they have any vets down there?”

Edér laughed. “None who--to quote her--’know a solitary fuckin’ thing’ about bearded dragons.” He leaned closer and whispered almost conspiratorially “I think she’s just tryin’ to justify drivin’ an hour each way to bring him to the same vet she’s used since he was this big.” He held up his thumb and index finger three or four inches apart. 

Charity giggled. “No shame in that; lotsa people try to stick with the same vet, for the sense of familiarity. ‘Specially if their pet likes that vet.” She braced her elbow against the counter and rested her chin in her hand. “”What about you? Assumin’ you also live in Yenwood, this is some favor. You two must be real good friends.”

Subtle, Char, a little voice in her head said dryly. Just ask the man if he’s single and get it over with.

“She’s one of my best,” he confirmed with another crooked smile. Sweet Eothas, it wasn’t fair. “But I was comin’ this way for work, so it ain’t that much much of an inconvenience. Speakin’ of...” He glanced at the wall clock. “I need to get goin’. Ain’t in a rush, exactly, but probably shouldn’t dawdle.”

She grinned. “Or the boss man’ll chew ya out?” 

“Nah, that ain’t a risk,” Edér shook his head, still smiling. “‘Cause you’re lookin’ at him. Still wanna make a good impression an’ keep customers happy, so...” He picked up the prescription and tapped the bag against the counter. “You need anything from me?”

Your phone number. Charity just barely swallowed the wards before they tumbled out her mouth. “Uh, no, it looks like, um, Tavi prepaid for it when she had Quaro in. So we’re good.”

Sunny pawed her leg and whined.

Charity patted the dog’s head to settle him. “And let me apologize again for this goober. He’s just over-eager to meet new people.”

Edér leaned across the counter to scratch Sunny’s ears. “No harm done. Like I said, always nice to make a new friend.” He met her gaze and winked. “Or two.”

Was she blushing? She had to be blushing. “Always happy to meet a fellow animal lover.”

He laughed. “Thanks for the help, Charity.”

“You are very welcome, Edér,” she laughed back. “Have a good day.”

He nodded as he straightened. “You, too.”

Charity watched him go, tried to read the writing on the door of his truck(purely general curiosity, definitely not looking for a phone number), but he’d parked too far away. She looked down at Sunny, who met her gaze and panted happily.  “Alright, your turn. Let’s get you back where you belong.”

Xoti picked that moment to get back from... wherever she’d been. At least she had the decency to wince when she saw Charity doing her job. “Sorry, Char.”

“What was it this time?” Charity asked, fixing her ponytail before she wrapped the leash around her hand to keep Sunny close.

“Door on the Ladies got stuck again,” Xoti said, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. “Doc really needs t’ fix that.”

“Leave a note on her desk, I’m sure she’ll bump it up the list,” Charity said. She tugged Sunny’s leash as she swung open the half-door to head back toward the shelter side. “Hell, if it’s real bad, maybe she’ll call someone soon as she gets back.”

“Kay.” Xoti hesitated, bit her lip. “There weren’t any trouble, was there? ‘Cause I really didn’t expect that to take more’n a minute or I’da let you know.”

Charity smiled to herself as she glanced toward the paring lot--empty now, of course. “Nope. No trouble at all.”

The clock read 3:05 as she led Sunny back to his kennel. She tried to convince herself the smile she wasn’t trying all that hard to fight was relief for the non-boring two o’clock hour for once. Given that she couldn’t stop picturing blond hair and blue eyes that crinkled at the corners when he smiled, it didn’t really work.

Her lucky day, indeed.

[quinzelade]

Making One’s Bones (chpt 3)

Chapter List

--

Porter Gage is in a pickle. Nuka-World needed a new boss and some woman just killed her way to the top. But a pre-war Mafia boss on the theme park's throne? Well...at least she'll have experience.

--

Domesticity

--

“Hey, it's your main man RedEye here, sending out some big congratulations to our brand new Overboss! That's right—if you haven't heard, Colter is toast! He's worm-food!”

Gage peered out of the window for what felt like the thousandth time that night, only half listening to RedEye’s voice blaring out of the radio in the background. He scowled as he caught himself doing it again, staring down onto the makeshift fortress that was Nuka Town. He was acting like the boss's mother, checking if she was back safe.

“—can't wait to see what our new leader has planned. At least...can't be any worse than Colter, right? Right?”

Gage knew his concern lay solely with his own neck—if the plan failed again, he was a dead man—but he was still irritated with himself. He stomped across the room, turned the radio off, and dropped heavily into a nearby armchair. It creaked under his weight, but held, and he folded his arms, glaring at the nearby door.

Any second now she’d walk in like he’d told her to. Tell him she didn’t fuck up everything up, that she was staying to sort this place out. Not that there would have been anything to sort out if Colter had just stuck to the fucking plan in the first place. Nuka World: an unstoppable force ready to take over the wasteland.

Trust Colter to fuck it all up.

Well, Gage thought idly, crossing his legs and then uncrossing them again. Not like he’s a problem anymore.

It surprised him how little he felt over the matter, but Gage supposed he’d made his peace with the situation a long time ago—anger was a hell of a stimulant after all, and Colter had brought this place to the very edge. Even now it might be beyond saving, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t try with the new boss...if she ever returned.

Gage closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. She’d bailed the second his back was turned. It was the only explanation for her absence, and meant he was a dead man.

He glanced up as the door opened, half expecting to see Nisha and the other bosses at threshold, ready to slice his guts out. Instead, there stood Bossanova, looking just as revolting, but with a drying stain of blood on her clothes. In her arms was a bundle made of plastic sheeting, tied up with old rope.

Gage jumped to his feet. “Where the fuck have you been? I told you to meet me here!”

Bossanova raised her eyebrow at him—or where her eyebrow would have been, if she had any—and regarded him like a back-talking slave. “I give the orders, Gage, not you. Do you have any eggs?”

“I—what?” Her question caught him off guard. “Yeah, in the cupboard. Mirelurk.” He stared at her as she dumped her parcel on the floor, walked over to where he’d pointed, and began rooting through. He was thoroughly unsettled now.

“I give the orders, not you.”

He’d heard a similar phrase from Colter, a counter to every bad decision he’d ever made, except coloured with a few choice swears. The words were enough to twist Gage’s stomach with rage. This was a mistake. This was a fucking mistake. She was another Colter, and he’d just put her straight into power like some fucking—

“Sit down,” came Bossanova’s voice, and Gage snapped back to reality. She was standing at an old counter, cracking a large egg into a pan set over a portable camping stove.

Gage stared at her as she worked, before finding his voice. “Where have you been?”

“Sit down,” she repeated.

Gage didn’t move. Finally, she turned her head and looked at him. It was a strange expression—not angry, or even threatening—but still a look that told him plainly he needed to sit his ass down right-fucking-now.

Gage sat.

“Thank you,” Bossanova said, smiling a little as she cooked. Gage had to admit whatever she was doing smelled good, and within minutes a hot plate of white mushy stuff was placed on the table in front of him with a mug of steaming coffee next to it. Still, Gage hesitated, glancing at the boss's withered hands, and she laughed, catching his eye as she splayed her fingers out to him.

“Nothing’s fallen off, I promise.”

Despite himself, Gage chuckled, but didn’t eat. She sat down opposite him, tucking into her own food, apparently oblivious to Gage’s lack of appetite.

“Boss,” he said after a few seconds, “Where have you—”

She raised a hand and he stopped, a surge of annoyance coursing through him. He rose up, clenching his fists, and snarled, “I’m not your fucking dog. Give me an answer!”

Slowly, she tilted her head up to face him, and smiled a benign smile. “I’ve been playing meet and greet with the leaders of this motley crew.”

Gage stared. “You...you already talked to them?” He had to credit her for initiative at least.

“Almost all of them. Didn’t get a chance with the Operators. Still, I thought it would be sensible to size them up, and offer the same opportunity.”

Damn right it was sensible, he thought. Maybe she wasn’t so bad a choice after all. 

Gage scowled. “You could have told me.” He tensed his jaw, aware he sounded like he was whining, but she would have saved him a whole lot of hassle by keeping him informed. “I’m here to help you. If I’m not in the loop—”

“You’re here to help yourself,” she replied, sipping her own coffee without breaking eye contact. “I picked up on enough in the arena. If I fail, you die. Which is why we’re having dinner. I want to know who I’m working with first.”

Gage snorted. “Raiders.”

She gave him another one of her odd looks, and slowly he sat down again. He didn’t know what to make of her. She was sharp and seemed to know the game, which was good. But the secrecy...Gage chewed on his tongue. That could get him killed.

“So...” Bossanova said after a moment. “I get the sense this little scheme, whatever it is, isn’t quite working out the way you wanted it to.”

Gage groaned, putting his head in his hands. “Understatement of the fucking century,” he muttered, his head pounding just thinking about the mess he’d been in for the last year.

“Tell me what went wrong.”

Gage rubbed his eye, suddenly feeling very tired. He hesitated, then let his hands fall into his lap. Shit, where to begin?

Gage leaned back in his chair, still ignoring the plate of food in front of him, while Bossanova regarding him with mild interest, waiting for him to speak while she slowly ate. He frowned, searching for the words, and then said, “You may have noticed our former Overboss, Colter, was a fuckin’ asshole.”

Bossanova’s cool demeanour slipped as she suddenly choked on a forkful of whatever she’d just put in her mouth. He watched her for a moment, perplexed. If Gage didn’t know better, he’d say she was trying not to laugh. The thought alone made him want to grin, but he fought back the urge, keeping his face blank. He had no intention of getting buddy-buddy with her.

Acting like he hadn’t noticed anything, Gage went on. “And that’s me being nice. Ended up being poison for the entire operation.”

“What operation?” Bossanova wheezed, still coughing a little.

Gage sighed, shaking his head. “Well...Christ, how do I explain this? Nuka World...shit, Nuka World was the dream.” He turned his head, staring out of the open windows wistfully, even though the town and the rolling landscape beyond was obscured by darkness. “A fortress with enough raiders to rule the region—best goddamn idea I ever had...and the riskiest.”

“Risky because of all the raiders?”

“Sorta. It’s not so much the numbers, but more what makes the numbers. We got three separate gangs in this place, as I’m sure you noticed when you went to play meet and greet without telling me.”

He couldn’t keep the resentment out of his voice, but Bossanova seemed unmoved. She nodded, pausing with her fork halfway to her lips. “The Disciples, Operators, and the Pack?”

“Yeah.” Gage ran a hand through the short mohawk that was his hair. “You also might have noticed the traders on your little detour around the park.”

“The ones wearing the slave collars?” Bossanova said. Her voice gave away no opinion on the presence of slaves, which Gage took to be a good sign. Most people who hated slaves got all high and mighty over it. He had a tendency to shoot such people.

“Yeah, those assholes,” Gage said. “They were the reason we needed three gangs in the first place. See, Nuka World used to be a trading hub, and the little bastards were dug in like ticks. Hired guns protectin’ them, with shitloads of ammunition and medicine to boot.” He grinned nastily. “But three gangs, man. Lotta raw firepower. We won in the end.”

Bossanova considered this. “But there were survivors?”

“Well, yeah. Someone has to do the shitty jobs we don’t want to. One of the perks of being a raider, see?” His smile widened. “Hence the collars. Any of them cause trouble, stray out of bounds—fuck, any of them just pisses one of us off and bang—they lose their heads.” Gage shifted in his seat. “‘Course, they ain’t too happy about the change in management, but screw ‘em.”

Bossanova perked a non-existent eyebrow. “So far so good then?”

“At the time. But once we’d stormed the gates...things went downhill fast.” Gage stared at a point somewhere over Bossanova’s shoulder, anger twisting in his stomach like bloatfly maggots. “Colter got lazy.”

“Ah.”

“He decided Nuka Town was more than enough for all the gangs—nevermind what he fuckin’ promised them,” Gage growled, the hot rage seeping upwards like bile. “I tried to tell him there ain’t enough room for three gangs in this one section of the park, but he wouldn’t listen���didn’t care that things were turning into a mess all around him.”

Bossanova’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of mess?”

Gage rubbed his forehead with his knuckle, the headache flaring up again. “It was little shit at first: heated tempers, arguments, the occasional shooting. Y’know, stuff you can laugh off over a beer afterwards.” Gage shrugged. “Got worse over time, though—people started finding excuses to turn on each other, and that’s when it really got nasty, even for raiders.” He lowered his hand and looked at her. “If somethin’ ain’t done soon, there might be no coming back from it.”

“You have three gangs under your control,” Bossanova said coolly, looking extremely unimpressed. “Get to it.”

Gage glared at her. “I ain’t got shit under my control—Colter did. And as I already said: lazy asshole.”

“Well now he’s gone. What’s stopping you?”

“Leading ain’t my thing,” Gage replied, shrugging. “Not got the presence. I prefer to...advise.”

Bossanova gave a mirthless laugh, her black eyes glittering. “Oh, I see. So you’re just going to paint the bullseye on my back instead?”

He bristled with indignation, sitting up straighter in his seat. “I’m just tellin’ you it how it is. Would you rather I bullshit you?”

She didn’t respond. Her attitude was starting to piss him off, but in all honesty, he couldn’t blame her. She’d been dragged into this without any choice. Then again, the fact she was comfortable giving a raider shit made him feel slightly hopeful about her competence.

Gage scowled at her for a moment longer, then settled back again. “I mean, yeah, I won’t lie...not making myself a target is part of the reason you won’t see me stepping up an’ runnin’ things, but not all of it. I got experience in gangs—the knowhow to keep us both alive. My talents are best put to use helping a new overboss get all this shit under control. You get me?”

“A raider with talents,” Bossanova said scathingly, forgetting her food for a moment and folding her arms. “Wonders never cease. What sort of talents would you say you have, Gage?”

He crossed his legs, staring her out. “Aside from being a good shot and having a foul mouth?”

The corners of her lips twitched.

“I've run with gangs nearly my whole life,” Gage went on. “I know how they think, what they're after. And I know how to use that to your advantage.”

“Tell me about the gangs,” Bossanova said, her tone business-like, her gaze sharp. Gage felt like he was being interrogated.

“Well…” Gage bit his lip, wondering how best to keep this short. “You’ve met them already, haven’t you?”

“I know, but I’d appreciate the insight, since it’s one of your talents.”

He shot her a withering look. She wanted information on them? Fine. “The gangs here ain’t nothin’ like the ones back in the wasteland. They’ve got strong leaders, they’re organised, and they all fuckin’ hate each other. Took a shitload of effort to stop them fightin’ for five seconds, never mind getting them all on board with the plan.

“The Disciples are run by Nisha—those are the crazy bastards wearing the masks. Love blood and violence—got a particular fondness for skinning people.” He suppressed a shudder, having witnessed Nisha’s handiwork far too often for his liking. “Nisha can have her reasonable moments...though that’s been less and less lately thanks to Colter’s bullshit.

“Then you've got the Operators, the guys with the suits under the armour—look a lot cleaner than everyone else. Spoiled rich kids, but doesn't mean they ain't ruthless killers. If you can impress Mags, she'll listen to you, and she knows how to rake in the caps.”

Bossanova nodded approvingly at this.

“And finally there’s the Pack. I'm not sayin' they're savages, but...well, shit.” Gage shook his head. “ They're savages. I don't know how Mason keeps them on a leash. They dress in bright colours and bones because they think it makes them look intimidating, like animals do or whatever.” He paused. “I think it makes them look fucking stupid.”

To his surprise, Bossanova laughed. She grinned at him. “Glad we agree on something.”

Her laughter rose his spirits a little. She had to cooperate for this to succeed—his life was on the line if she didn’t. Gage nodded. “All the gangs need is someone to lead them. You just gotta show 'em you're the right woman for the job.”

A long, uncomfortable silence followed these words.

“And why,” she replied slowly, her tone pleasant and yet somehow dangerous, “would I want to lead this disaster?”

Shit.

“Well, why not?” A jolt of panic shot through him. She’d seemed interested a second ago, even warming to the idea. “Just give it a chance, okay? You might even have a little fun.”

“Fun?”

“Oh come on.” He stared at her in disbelief. Maybe she wasn’t cut out for this after all, otherwise she wouldn’t be asking such a stupid goddamn question. “You take whatever you want, from whoever you want. Anybody has a problem with that, you cut 'em down. You telling me that doesn't sound like even just a little bit of fun to you?”

Bossanova pressed her lips together as if trying to stop herself laughing again. After a second, she allowed herself a small smile. “A little.”

Gage disguised his sigh of relief with a chuckle, his heart still beating nervously. “At any rate, if you leave now, that won’t go down so well. But if you’re gonna trust me on anything, trust me on this: I’m in it just as much as you are. There's already some blamin' me for supporting Colter all this time, including Nisha. This shit needs to work out, because if it don’t, both of our heads are gonna be on sticks. I like my head where it is and I intend to keep it there. You get me?”

Bossanova said nothing. She stared intently at him, making Gage feel like he was being analysed somehow. He was half expecting her to go back to communicating through taps.

After a few long seconds, he tried again. “So, what's it gonna be? We doing this together or not?”

She studied him a moment longer and then said, “So you’re that desperate you’re willing to place all your bets on the first waster that comes along?”

Gage raised his eyebrow. “You saw all those bodies in the Gauntlet, right?”

Bossanova nodded.

“Well then. Pretty obvious you ain’t the first. Lotta folks got fed to the Gauntlet and the arena—but the difference is you were the only one to make it out alive. Way I see it, surviving means you got what it takes. Or at least the potential. We need someone who can get shit done. Make real progress. That’s you.”

“I see.”

Bossanova returned to her plate of food and silence reigned.

Gage stared at her. He had the strange feeling he’d just passed some sort of initiation—as though all of her questions had served to size him up, to see if he was suitable for his position. But that was ridiculous. Nuka World was his idea. She couldn’t run the place without him.

More to give himself something to do, Gage pulled his own plate towards him, poked it awkwardly with his fork, and began to eat. Turned out it was still just egg, even if it looked like shit, but she’d done something to make it taste...different. Most likely the reason was ‘not being burnt to a crisp,’ but he suspected she’d added something too. Hopefully not poison.

Gage considered this for a moment and then shrugged. If she was trying to kill him, at least it tasted good. He continued to eat. Out of the corner of his eye, Gage saw her wince, but he didn’t care. Raiders weren’t known for their table manners.

“This is fine food,” Gage said with his mouth full, spraying egg everywhere, before swallowing and then picking up his coffee, slurping noisily from the mug. 

“I’ve had a couple of centuries to practice,” she replied delicately, setting her fork down onto her empty plate and watching Gage eat with an expression of alarm.

“Pre-war?” he asked, deciding to play along for now. She needed him whether she believed it or not. Otherwise, she’d end up like Colter.

“Yes, pre-war. I used to run a gang of my own before the bombs fell.”

“Oh yeah?” Now this piqued Gage’s interest, He’d heard of pre-war raiders, but no one who really ran with them. Shovelling the rest of his meal into his mouth, he looked up at the boss and said, “What was that like?”

Bossanova pursed her lips, drawing them up to her nose cavity as her brow furrowed, her cheeks moving from side to side. It took Gage a moment to realise she was wrinkling her nose—except she didn’t have one anymore. She flicked a piece of wayward egg off her arm, before leaning forward with a smile. “Back in my day, there was a bigger law presence. If you got caught, you could be locked away for the rest of your life. No hope of escape. Maybe even execution. So everything we did, we did it subtle. I intend to run things similar here.”

Gage burped and leaned back in his seat, coffee cup to hand. He’d visited enough cities to have an idea of what she was talking about. It was the reason most raiders stuck to smaller settlements. “The others won’t appreciate a quiet life, boss. You don’t give them what they want, they’ll kill you.”

She rolled her eyes. “They’ll get their blood and power, and whatever other itch they need to scratch. But that’s all they’ll get, and they’ll probably thank me for it too. I'm aiming higher than Nuka World.”

Gage blinked, the coffee cup halfway to his mouth. He frowned and lowered it. “Don’t run before you walk, boss. You need to sort this place out first.”

For some reason, she seemed pleased with his response.

“I like the way you think,” Bossanova said, draining the last of her coffee, and looked at him with a slight crease in her brow. “I’ve never had much faith in raiders, but you seem...” She set the cup down, her eyes suddenly distant.

Whatever he seemed, Gage never found out, because the wooden lift outside the window rumbled to life, and ten seconds later, Nisha rose into view. Out of instinct, Gage picked up his gun as he rose to his feet.

“Oh, I forgot to mention,” Bossanova said lazily, “I invited Nisha for a quick meeting.”

Nisha paused, staring around the room, before spotting the empty plates. She gave a soft laugh. “Never took you for a ghoul fucker, Gage. Can’t say I’m surprised, though.”

Bossanova stood up too, her hand on the hilt of her sword as she smiled. “I want to talk to you about a young lady that followed me from your hideout.”

Nisha didn’t move, but her mouth thinned slightly. “What lady?”

“Tall; muscular. Wore your uniform, smelled like a diseased molerat.” Bossanova shrugged, while Gage felt a pang of unease. “I use the term ‘lady’ generously. She decided to attack me.” A pause. “Did you know about it?”

His stomach tightened as Nisha’s mouth thinned so much it disappeared. He’d expected some resistance, but this far already?

Nisha said nothing, giving a sharp shake of her head. Gage relaxed a little. He knew her well enough to see she was being truthful.

Bossanova’s smile no longer reached her eyes. “I returned the favour.” She bent down, not breaking eye contact with Nisha, and picked up the plastic sheeted bundle she’d brought back with her. For the first time, Gage noticed a dark liquid was dripping steadily out of it.

Ah fuck.

Bossanova tossed Nisha the bag, and Nisha caught it by the rope. She pulled out a knife—causing Gage to grip his gun just that little bit tighter—and cut the bonds free so she could peer inside.

There was a long, quiet moment. Then Nisha began to laugh. A true, hearty laugh. She glanced up at Bossanova, wearing a wicked grin. “Looks like our little overboss knows how to get her hands dirty.” She threw the bundle at Gage’s feet and said, “I didn’t send her. I’m not that stupid. Lower your damn gun.”

Gage ignored her but stole a quick glance at the package by his feet. A severed head had rolled out from the plastic wrappings. He blinked at it, and directed his gaze back to Nisha, lost for words.

Nisha, on the other hand, was not. She looked at him, the corners of her mouth teased into the meanest of smiles, and said, “Seems you might deserve a second chance.”

“No.”

It took Gage a second to realise who had spoken. Both he and Nisha turned to stare at the boss.

“I’m the one giving you a second chance,” Bossanova said, her hand gripping hard at her sword hilt. All benignity gone, her gaze was cold and hard. Gage bit the inside of his cheek to suppress his grin. “If you say you didn’t send anyone, then I’ll allow a free pass this once. But keep your people under control. Now get out.”

Nisha laughed again. It was hard to tell what she was really feeling under the helmet, but her smile looked genuine at least.

“So, Gage found someone with a pair of balls.” She gave a short nod and folded her arms. “Good. Maybe you’ll shape up after all.”

Bossanova didn’t reply. Nisha turned and left, still smirking to herself.

Gage waited until the rumble of the wooden platform faded before letting out a low chuckle. “Nice work, boss. She knows not to fuck with you now. Might even respect you for it.”

“Do you think she sent the assassin?”

Gage considered the question, then shook his head. “Nah. Nisha ain’t stupid, like she said. She’d kill you given half the chance, but only if there was somethin’ to gain. Ain’t nothin’ to gain killin’ you now, boss. If she thinks you aren’t working to her benefit though, that might change.”

Bossanova nodded but didn’t reply, her rigid, hostile stance deflating as she sank into a chair. Maybe it was the light, but she looked a little pale. Gage decided not to question it. What the fuck did he know about ghouls? Instead, he took advantage of her silence and quickly outlined the needs for the park. The power had to be brought back on, but before they could do that, there were other sections to be claimed, each dangerous in their own right.

When he finished, she just sat there, staring at the opposite wall. Gage frowned. “You listenin’, boss?”

“Yes,” she said, still not looking at him. “Sounds like a solid plan to me.”

“Then why you giving me the cold shoulder?” The accusation slipped out before he could stop it. Gage readied himself for the shit he was about to receive, but she simply shook her head and smiled.

“I was just...thinking.” She paused, and then said, “I noticed you didn’t put your weapon down during our little meeting with Nisha. Thank you for defending me.”

Gage shrugged. He couldn’t claim credit. “I was saving my own skin, boss.”

“I know you were. But I appreciate it all the same.”

Gage frowned. She sounded sincere, but why?

She seemed to know what he was thinking. “So long as I work to your benefit, you’ll keep me breathing.” Bossanova smiled. “I trust your need to stay on top, and I trust your judgement of the park, but I don’t trust you about anything else. It’s as good a place to start as any.”

He stared at her. None of what she’d just said made a lick of sense to him. “I’m extendin’ your life expectancy. What else is there?”

Bossanova shrugged. “Many things.” She stood up and walked over to the severed head, nudging it back into its plastic nest. Then she picked the whole thing up, strode over to the window, and threw it out. “My trust needs to be earned.” There was a distant thud, followed by a string of curse words and a splash. Bossanova looked at Gage. “Up to you if you want it.”

Annoyance rushed through him, but he bit it back. She was trying to be cryptic, and he wasn’t going to stop her. So long as she got the park up and running, he didn’t give a shit about anything else. He waited for her to sit down again and then asked, “So...how did meeting the bosses go?”

“Well enough,” Bossanova replied with a yawn. She stretched in her seat and met his eye. “Mags and her brother want money, and that’s what I do best. I’ll seal the deal with them tomorrow. Mason wants someone to bully him around—I can provide that, too. Nisha wants blood...that may be more difficult. I’m in the habit of killing when it serves a purpose, or when someone crosses me. Not for fun. But we’ll see.”

Boring, Gage thought, resisting the urge to roll his eye. Then, before he could stop himself, he asked, “So why didn’t you kill Nisha? Disciples wanted back alley justice.” Gage held her gaze. He had to know. It felt fucking important somehow.

“Petty revenge won’t get this operation started. Nisha and her gang needed to be put in their place, but I could do that without killing her. There’s a delicate balance, and upsetting it isn’t in my best interests. Or yours.”

Gage stared long and hard at her. He felt a small spike of respect needle at him, but he pushed it away. She was pragmatic, but that didn’t mean shit. Their eyes met again, and he realised from the placid smile she was thinking the same thing.

“Get some sleep. We have a long day tomorrow.”

--

Gage woke to breakfast.

Not that he knew it at first. The plate of eggs—Christ, the boss liked her eggs—and something Bossanova called “brahmin bacon” had been served with a jab to the ribs, jolting him from his sleep.

He hadn't questioned what it was or why it had been given to him—a hot meal was a hot meal after all—and he tucked in enthusiastically. But like steam rising from a fresh cup of coffee, the concept drifted to the forefront of his mind.

This was breakfast. Gage stopped, fork halfway to his hanging mouth, and stared at the wall.

“God help me, boy, I will teach you table manners if I have to beat them into you,” Bossanova said, flapping an old rag in his general direction. “Shut your trap. I don’t need to see what you’re chewing.”

Gage clamped his mouth shut, swallowed, and then said, “This...this is breakfast, isn’t it?”

An amused smile flickered across Bossanova’s lips. “That’s traditionally what the first meal of the day is called, yes.” She hummed and continued to cook, the pan making a pleasant sizzling noise as she worked.

Gage stared down at the meal she’d made for him, as if trying to scry some great universal truth from the yolky mess. He let his fork fall back to his plate with a clatter. “What the fuck is this?”

Bossanova looked over her shoulder and raised a non-existent eyebrow. “As you so succinctly put: breakfast.”

Gage rose to his feet, sending the plate spinning. It shattered, scattering god knew what all over the floor, and he glared at her, his stomach lurching in a way he didn’t like at all. “You know what the fuck I’m on about. Who makes this kind of shit anymore? Breakfast? What’s your damn game? You’re supposed to be the boss, not making...whatever the fuck this is.”

Bossanova frowned. “It’s bacon and eggs. If you don’t like it, starve.”

She turned her back on him and flipped the slices of meat in her pan. The humming returned a few seconds later, though slightly strained. Gage stared at the ties on her apron—where the hell did she get an apron from?—clenching and unclenching his fists. This was stupid. The whole thing was stupid.

Breakfast.

The last time he’d had breakfast, he’d been twelve years old. A few hours later, the raiders came calling. And just like that, he’d slipped away.

Fucking breakfast.

Gage scowled at Bossanova and dropped back onto the sofa with a heavy flump. She didn’t turn around again until she finally moved from the stove. Her face was impassive as she stepped neatly over the ruined remains of his own meal, and sat down opposite him. He tried not to watch her as she ate, but within minutes his stomach rumbled. He frowned, staring anywhere but her, well aware of her eyes boring into him.

“Hungry?” she said eventually.

“No.” Gage said to his knees. His stomach betrayed him by rumbling even louder.

“Clean up the plate, and I’ll make you some more.”

His head snapped up to look at her. “Why the fuck—”

“Because I’m not an animal, Gage,” Bossanova interrupted, her gaze as sharp as her tone. “And when I get the opportunity not to live like one, I take it. Since we’re partners in this, I extend the courtesy to you. If you’d rather I treat you like the rest of the feral rats crawling all over this camp, say the word. Otherwise, pick up your damn mess.”

Her ferocity caught him off guard, and he leaned back into the sofa, eyebrows raised. “Feral, huh? Sounds like you got a grudge, boss.”

“I’m pre-war. I can’t help but judge by Old World standards.” She ate another mouthful. “Besides, you agree with me, otherwise you wouldn’t be in the position you are. Most of them are stupid, with no self control. No smarts. You’re different. Doesn’t take much to see who the brains behind the operation is.”

“Flattery is nice,” Gage shot back, feeling on edge again, “but don’t think it’ll fucking soften me. Because it won’t.”

“I know it won’t. That’s why you’re smart.” She finished her food and stood up. “So, do you want a second round?”

Gage glanced at the broken plate on the floor. Like hell he would pick it up. “No. I’m good.”

Bossanova shrugged. “Suit yourself. Grab your gun. We’ve got business with Mags.”

--

The Operator’s hive buzzed with activity as Gage and Bossanova strode through the front door of the Parlor. Thick red curtains lined the walls over a dimly lit, richly furnished room. Little tables were dotted around, complete with tablecloths and chairs, and dusty rugs covered the scratched wooden floor.

As they moved into Mags and William’s inner sanctum, Gage spied the—what had William called it?—chandelier he hated so much.

Gage rolled his eyes. Fragile and for show. Just like Mags’ ego.

The head Operator was sat at the end of a long table, her fingers locked together in contemplation as she stared down her prey. Her brother stood in her shadow, waiting to strike.

The place was far too clean for Gage’s liking. But for what it lacked in threatening decor and body parts, it made up for in smell. He appreciated not having to test his gag reflex, unlike every tense visit to Nisha.

Bossanova scanned the room, her face a mixture of approval and indifference. Whatever her “pre-war standards” were, the Parlor didn’t quite match up.

Mags laid her hands back in her lap and slowly got to her feet. Like her base, she was cleaner than the average raider, her blonde hair styled intricately, her features unmarked and distinctly beautiful. She reminded Gage of the posters of movie stars still clinging to the crumbling walls of city ruins. Her brother was more nondescript, with greying hair swept out of his face and a trim beard. But still.

Clean.

A real raider got their hands dirty. Gage worked hard to keep his features blank as Bossanova marched ahead. Whatever he thought of them, they knew how to make money.

“Overboss,” Mags said sleekly, her gaze sharp. “I wondered if we’d been forgotten, what with Nisha and Mason receiving private audiences on your first day.” She gave a nasty smirk. “One would think you were playing favourites.”

“I cut the head off a Disciple and put Mason in his place.” Bossanova folded her arms. “And now I have the chance to speak to you without risk of interruption. Take that how you want.”

Mags glanced over her shoulder at William. Her expression betrayed nothing, but Gage knew better.

He waited.

An Operator appeared at Mags’ side as if he’d stepped out of thin air, two glasses and a dusty green bottle in hand. He set them down, opened the bottle with a dull ‘pop’, and poured out the blood red liquid within. The Operator handed the first glass to Mags, the second to Bossanova. He shot Gage a withering look and then left. Gage didn’t give a shit.

Bossanova stood with her glass, watching Mags. Only when Mags drank did Bossanova follow suit.

Good. At least she’s expecting trouble.

“You know this place will struggle to accept a ghoul.” Mags paused, and eyed Bossanova over the rim of her glass. “What would you do if I addressed you as ‘ghoul?’ Hypothetically, of course.”

Bossanova’s smile remained fixed, but something dark flickered through her eyes. “I’d slice off your pretty little nose and feed it to Mason’s Pack.” She sipped her drink. “Hypothetically, of course.”

Mags raised an eyebrow. William, on the other hand, stepped forward and said lowly, and calmly, “I’d tear your head off first.”

“No doubt,” Bossanova replied. “Won’t get your sister’s nose back.”

William turned to Mags. They stared at each other for a moment, and then William returned to his place.

“Feisty one, aren’t you?” Mags drained her glass and sat down, waving her hand at a nearby seat for Bossanova. Bossanova remained standing, staring down at Mags. Gage chuckled, earning himself a sharp glare from William.

Bossanova sipped her drink, and smiled. “Word on the street is you’re good at making money.”

“Good?” Mags set down her glass and crossed her legs. “We’re the best.”

“That’s what I like to hear. So prove it.”

Mags frowned. “Pardon?”

“Prove it. Show me your outfit. Your schemes.” Bossanova finished her glass and placed it carefully on the table. “I’m Old World, honey. In my day, making money was my specialty. So let’s see what you have to offer.”

If Mags took issue to being called ‘honey,’ she didn’t show it. Instead, she sat up a little straighter. “I have some knowledge about pre-war gangs. Which one were you in?”

“Cosa Nostra.”

Whatever that meant, Gage didn’t have a fucking clue. Apparently Mags did, though, because her eyes widened. She glanced at her brother, who looked equally surprised, and then back at Bossanova. “Rank?”

“Boss.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Bossanova shrugged. “Does it matter if it’s true?”

Mags laughed. “Would certainly add a pinch of romance to this whole mess.” She leaned back in her chair. “And if you are what you say you are, you might be just what we need to get things rolling again.” She paused, and then said, more to herself, “Mafia…”

Gage frowned. Now that word he knew.

“Get on my good side and I might even tell you about it.” Bossanova gestured for Mags to stand. “How about you give me the grand tour?”

Mags stood without argument; without a hint of ill grace. Gage suspected later, when she came to her senses, she would rage over being ordered around her own base, but right now her sculpted features were filled with intense intrigue.

“Follow me, Overboss.”

Gage learned more about Mags’ operations in the next hour than he’d ever suspected or even cared to know. Most of it he understood—the basics of the schemes, including Lizzie Wyath’s ‘persuasion’ experiments. But when Bossanova started to talk technical about money—something Mags lapped up—he tuned out. The Operators were brought into the fold to run their complex scams, not teach them to Gage.

One thing he did notice was how at ease Bossanova seemed around Mags. Well...not quite at ease. Her subtle, guarded demeanour pleased Gage—she was taking this seriously.

No, Bossanova seemed in her element. Mags responded in kind. She even let Bossanova into her private quarters to show her the latest plans she was putting together. At one point, he thought he saw Bossanova’s hand reach out and take something off a desk, but it happened so quick, he couldn’t be sure. Mags and William didn’t notice, though, and carried on showing Bossanova around. By the end of it, Gage was half expecting Mags to announce their fucking engagement. Instead, the two women stared each other down.

“I hope you can follow through,” Mags said with a curt nod. “Would be a shame to replace you after such a promising start.”

“Likewise.Thank you for the tour. I think our money is going to be in good hands.” Bossanova inclined her head and turned to Gage. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

Gage matched her step as they strode from the building. Unable to resist it, he stole a quick look back at Mags and William. They were muttering to each other, not paying any attention to him. There weren’t any smiles, but there weren’t any frowns either.

Gage breathed a sigh of relief. Bossanova had bought them some time.

[beinfriends-a]

word count: 2,911 characters: Eoforwine, Claus extra notes: follow-up to this thread with @antcmbra (<3).  I don’t think you need to read that thread to understand the plot here, but you could (and should bcs it’s a good thread)

He hasn’t been back to civilization in four years.  That’s kind of crazy to think about, now that he really thinks about it.  It’s not really mattered up to that point-- not in a way he particularly cared about, anyhow.  Somehow, he manages to make himself more than decent with surviving on a whole lot of nothing, and hey, it’s certainly tolerable.  It could be worse.  He could be living in Tazmily, after all.

Speaking of, Tazmily is his destination today.  Honestly, it actually didn’t take him too much time to make up his mind on what to do about the whole Commander thing.  For has never really been the indecisive type, but there was something holding him back for a day or two before he finally settled on going.  The curiosity was just too much for him to put up with-- he had to know what had become of his Commander since the end of the world.

Compass and Toffee had indicated he’d gone sort of off his rocker, didn’t they?  Or-- well, they used a more formal word than that; “unhinged,” though Toffee seemed more forgiving of whatever faults this kid had.  It wasn’t even really the kid’s fault if he ended up a basket case.  He went through so much more shit than the average Pigmask did, and as a little kid, too... it’s sort of a vile life to be given, but he was relieved that Claus was, at the very least, still kicking.  He deserved that and a whole lot more.

The only thing really holding him back from going is merely the fact that he has no idea how Claus is going to react to seeing him again.  It sounds awfully like he’s super hostile to Pigmasks now, and Eoforwine wouldn’t blame him for being hostile to old members, including himself.  They may have gotten along all right before, but that could have totally changed since.  He wouldn’t know until he tried, so....

Well, he may as well give it a shot, right?  It wouldn’t hurt to try.  Tazmily is a hour or two’s walk from his home in Unknown Valley, so hopefully it’d be worth something good, but For wasn’t holding his breath.  He was prepared for the worst, but he hoping for the best.  It’ll be nice to confirm that the Commander-- no, Claus-- is doing well.  That would be closure enough for him, he supposes.

It’s so, so strange how slowly, the world starts to civilize itself again amidst the cracks and upturned trees.  They build around the signs of their god’s emergence, though seem to leave all the old Pigmask hangouts alone... funny.  Guess they really can’t acknowledge that part of the world anymore.  He’s surprised they haven’t bothered cleaning up the rubble, but some of them would definitely be impossible to clean up fully, like the Thunder Tower.  Maybe it’s just best that they forget it entirely-- still, it’s interesting.

For’s only been to Tazmily once or twice in his life before now.  It was just a little blip on his radar, really, and was mainly Fassad’s turf.  That was their job, and For’s was mainly in New Pork and at the Thunder Tower.  He didn’t bother all too much with those backwater hicks, aside from checking in on the progress of the new grunts at that little boot camp in town.  Other than that, not really.  And maybe that’s for the best.  He’d heard some things about the village back in his Pigmask days.  They were pretty easy to control-- and they weren’t the brainwashed ones.

Funny how things like that happen.  Hopefully they’d learned their lesson since then, but For seriously doubted it.  Really. it’s his intention to avoid them as much as he can until it occurs to him that he’s not exactly sure where Claus lives.  Yeah, that’s kind of an important detail, isn’t it?  He definitely gets a weird look for asking, but For tries not seem too suspicious in asking.  That seems kind of inevitable, though, given how big he is and how unusual it could potentially be to ask for the ex-Commander.

It could just be his nerves, though.  It’s fucking bizarre to be back among living, breathing human beings again.  Maybe it would have been even more jarring if he hadn’t talked to those Pigmasks the other day, but that’s not really enough to truly prepare a hermit like him for reintroduction to civilization.  He really can’t help but continually get this feeling that they’re all... watching him.  Like they already know that he doesn’t belong here.  And he know he doesn’t belong, but he won’t be here too long-- nor will he make it a habit.

It’s just one attempt to see what the fuck has happened to that kid since the reset.  It still really surprises him he’s still alive, but that’s good.  Very good.  Alive up on the little hill just outside of town.  Not too bad a view, far as For can see as he’s heading that way.  Climbing up the hill, there he is-- that kid, tending to sheep with his dog-- a very familiar dog, too-- laying out in his doghouse.

With an awkward clearing of his throat, For simply says, “Uh, hey,” just loud enough for Claus to hear.  he sees the ginger jolt slightly, perhaps surprised by the sound, before he turns to meet the sight of For and just freezes.  It’s not exactly fear that For sees, just pure and utter shock, frozen in time, though Claus definitely seems to shrink away the longer this moment goes on.  The familiar dog takes notice and clambers out of his doghouse, pacing forward to stand in front of Claus with a soft growl in For’s direction.

Softly comes his voice, somewhat unconfident, but still strong enough for Claus to establish that he’s serious when he speaks.  “What do you want?”

“I just want to talk,” For replies quickly.  “No funny business, all right?  I have no bone to pick with you or anybody in this town.  Promise.”

Claus averts his gaze, looking away towards nothing for a moment to consider it.  The dog’s growling ceases, but he remains defensively postured.  Then Claus responds, “Why?”

For blinks.  “Why I--?  Uhh, ‘cause.  I haven’t seen you ‘n’ I just heard the first confirmation you were alive from anyone and I wanted to know you were... all right.”

“Who told you that?”

Pause.  He knows Toffee and Compass told him how hostile he was to the both of them, so it may not be wise to namedrop them, but it isn’t wise to be dishonest, either-- that’s unwise far more than any anger Claus may feel in knowing the Pigmasks told For about him.  “You know those, uh, Pigmasks?  Real tall guy--” For makes the motion to indicate Toffee being taller than him-- “and a kinda short Commander--”

And that’s when Claus gets all the more defensive.  “The fuck were you doin’ with them?”  His voice is soft but harsh and hateful.  “They put you up ta this, huh?  I should’a fuckin’ known--”

“No, no!  They found me by total fucking accident.  Or I’m guessing it was.  They just showed up on my property and I talked to ‘em a bit is all.  I have no idea what kinda beef you dudes have with each other, but this has nothin’ to do with them.  They were just the ones who told me about you, and that was the end of that.”  Claus looks clearly skeptical, but For continues on.  “Look, I know it’s been a long-ass time, but you can imagine-- I mean-- people ain’t too friendly to Pigmasks around here, are they?”

“‘Course not,” Claus snaps back.  “All they do is cause a bunch a’ fuckin’ trouble.”

“But they... kept you?  I mean, you were kind of the biggest troublemaker of all, technically.”  He gives Claus a gentle smile.

The ginger narrows his eye, crosses his arms.  “Don’t try to git all funny with me, For.  It really ain’t the fuckin’ time or th’ place for that shit.  I-- I dunno why they let me stick around, but someone must feel real fuckin’ sorry for me, I guess, but they just feel sorry enough to not tell me ta fuck off outta town.  I’m sure a lotta them would sure like it, though.”

For puts his hands up to show he’s not trying to upset the other.  Boy, they weren’t wrong about this kid being tough to deal with. “Hey, I’m sorry.  I’m not trying to piss you off or anything.  I’m just... trying to get on the same page with you, kid.”

“Same page, huh?  Well, here’s what you missed, For: everyone fuckin’ sucks, no one likes Pigmasks ‘n’ especially not me, everyone tries ta pretend like the whole Porky thing didn’t happen.  End a’ story.  That good enough for ya?”  In spite of the situation, a chuckle escapes For, though he regrets it immediately.  Claus flushes slightly and raises his voice when he snaps, “What?  What the fuck did I say that was so goddamn funny?”

Even still, a dumb smile is stuck to For’s face, though he tries to be serious.  He’s not trying to mock Claus, honest, but this just seemed so... very him.  The Commander had a temper on him from time to time-- apparently that didn’t change any from then to now.  Claus is definitely more abrasive and defensive than the Commander ever was by a long shot, but this just seems like he’s finally expressing the full range of his emotions.  Certainly no holding back with this one.

In a weird way, it makes For nostalgic to see this angry teen, even if he’s hurting himself by not taking this as seriously as he needs to.  This one is certainly more vulgar and loose than the Commander, but there’s still those beats of personality there.  With another soft, unmistakable laugh, he covers his mouth as if to hide that shame, before For finally replies with, “Ahh, you haven’t changed a fuckin’ bit, kid.”

That was... really not the right thing to say, and For realizes that the second he see Claus tear up at those words.  Then that smile is gone and For sobers up his expression.  The dog whines and looks towards his master, pressing up gently against Claus’ legs.  Okay, yeah, that was kind of a terrible thing to say to someone in Claus’ position for sure.  For wouldn’t have taken offense if someone called him the same as before, but it made sense why it would bother Claus so much specifically.

“No, I’m not,” Claus snaps back, voice shakier than before.

“You’re not,” For agrees with a gentleness.  “Sorry-- I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean it like-- in a bad way.  There’s just... parts of you... that remind me of the old days.  But that’s not a bad thing!  It’s--”

“Stop,” Claus hisses.  “Just stop, For.”

For throws his hands up.  Yeah, maybe Claus is right.  So he stays quiet and waits for Claus to say more instead.  After a pause and Claus clearing the tears from his visible eye, he continues.  “I dunno what the fuck you thought you was gon’ get from this, but I don’t think you’re gittin’ it.”  The ginger studies the man with great scrutiny.  “Now, why the fuck you here?  Not all that ‘oh, I wanted know you were all right’ bullshit.  What do you want?”

The man frowns.  He takes his time with this answer, though Claus clearly expects a prompt response.  He needs to think through these answers more before he opens his mouth.  It’s not just that For is saying stupid shit, it’s that Claus will take it personally regardless of what he says.  Tough crowd.  Really tough.

“I’m being honest when I say I wanted to know if you were all right.  I understand if this doesn’t mean anything to you now, but I like to think we were pretty good friends back in the Pigmask days, and whether you choose to believe it or not, you meant a lot to me.  I had no idea if you were dead or alive this whole time till those dudes told me, and it was going to drive me up the fuckin’ wall if I didn’t check up on you after that.”

“Well, you know now, but somehow I think that ain’t gon’ satisfy you.”

A soft exhale of a laugh-- hardly one, really.  “Yeah.  I mean, it’d be nice to catch up and see what--”

“No.”

“Yeah, figured you’d say that.”  Sigh.  “That’s okay-- I get it.  I know this wasn’t a welcome visit or whatever.  Uh.  I’ll leave you be.”

“Thanks.”

Claus is no longer even really looking at For.  It’s clear he’s checked out of this conversation and just wants it over with.  For predicted this outcome, but it still bruises his feelings a touch.  He really wanted it to go well for the both of them so they could actually really talk.  There was a lot to catch up on-- at least on Claus’ side of things.  For’s side would be short-- built a house.  Live on a farm now.  The end.  But Claus would be fascinating to talk to more, if For could just sincerely connect to the ginger somehow.

At least he wasn’t yelling at For anymore.  That was something.  For sweeps a foot behind the other in preparation to back off and head home, but not before he pipes up again.  “Hey.  If you ever want to come see me...”  He expects Claus to interrupt, but he doesn’t.  “I live in Unknown Valley.  Maybe ten, fifteen minutes east of where the old club used to be.  Little farm.  Can’t miss it, ‘cause it’s the only thing out there.  Drop in and say hi if you feel up to it sometime.  Or don’t.  That’s up to you, kid.”

No response, just Claus keeping his eyes trained at the ground.

For nods to himself conclusively.  “All right.  Well, be good, kid.  See you later.”

And there he goes, back down the hill and through town and out into the northern outskirts of town.  He’s heading by the way he came-- through the forest-- till he hears that familiar voice ring out again.

“For, wait.”

For turns to meet Claus, jogging up towards the older man.  Claus takes a moment to collect his thoughts and breath.  “I realized I didn’t git ta say most a’ the things I wanted ta say, so I’m gon’ say them now.”  This time, For resists the urge to smile, keeping a curious, but neutral look on his face instead.  He gestures for the ginger to continue.  “First off, you ever see those fuckin’ assholes again, don’t fuckin’ talk to them about me, got it?  I ain’t none a’ their fuckin’ business, or yer business either.  Okay, secondly, we ain’t friends just ‘cause you say we are.  We ain’t friends, and we ain’t never been friends.  You feelin’ sorry for me don’t count as friendship.  And third,--” Claus jabs a finger in For’s direction.  “Quit actin’ like you know a single thing about me, ‘cause you don’t.  That kid you knew?  He’s gone, For!  I’m nothin’ like him, ‘n’ don’t you ever say I am again.  Got it?”

For shakes his head slowly in disbelief.  “Did you really just chase me down to insult me more?”

“I’m not insultin’ you, I’m just tellin’ you like it is.  What, is that a crime or somethin’?”

For’s face just slowly grows a deeper and deeper frown, until he finally nods.  “Yeah, okay, Claus.  I get it.”  Shrugs.  “Well, the offer is still open on that visit thing.  Maybe we could actually get to know each other then and become real friends, huh?”

Claus scoffs and rolls his eye.  “I fuckin’ doubt it.”

“Hey, you never know what’s in store, kid.  Maybe we’ll become friends.  Maybe you could learn to stop bein’ such a fucking asshole.  Who knows?” Claus opens his mouth to argue, but For silences him with a raised hand and continues on.  “Whatever you think this is, I promise I wasn’t tryin’ to cause trouble.  I really care about you, and that’s not going to change, whether you like it or not.  What you decide to do with that is up to you, but you gotta let that bitter shit go, man.  Like, I get it!  But I didn’t ask to be a Pigmask either.  We’re in the same boat, man.  So please.  Just think about it, all right?  I’ll be waitin’ if you change your mind on anything.”

For turns away for a final time and begins to wander off into the forest.  He’s surprised that Claus isn’t arguing, but maybe he’s got too much to think about to actively do it.  With a blind wave to the ginger behind him, he disappears into the forest, and back in the civilization-less part of Nowhere again.  As shitty as that went, For sincerely hoped that Claus would take him up on the offer and come visit sometimes-- and he would know what Claus had chosen soon enough based on if he ever bothered to show up.  He wanted this to be good, really good, for the both of them.  As stubborn as Claus was, For wanted to be a part of his life again.

[scaryscarecrows]

Roots and Leaves, Pt. 2

Sheila Haywood hasn’t changed one iota since Bruce added her to the file. She hasn’t moved, changed jobs, or bought a new car. Literally the only difference Jason can see is that she works more. Even her hairstyle is still the same.

Her work with the Joker-drugs, she used to get him drugs and lots of them-apparently went undetected. This is Gotham, he shouldn’t be surprised, but still. Anyway, she’d essentially gotten away with it and, somehow, left the clown’s employ. He’s not sure how, and he’s a little skeptical, but tailing her for three weeks says she literally goes to work and goes home. No weird visitors, no strange phone calls.

The same thing that Bruce’s file says.

He’s not sure how to feel about that. Relieved? Annoyed that she never faced punishment? What did Joker do with all those pills, huh? Nothing good, he can guarantee.

Whatever. It’s over, it’s done with, she’s not doing anything now.

But something’s off. The no social life, he can get-you don’t see him out with people, do you? It’s just…he’s getting a Vibe. It’s probably just him being paranoid. He’ll admit it, he gets Vibes about a lotta people, and most of the time nothing happens. Better to be overcautious, but he acknowledges that his Danger Radar sometimes…gets overexcited.

He’ll just…keep watching. Periodic checkups or something. Harley Quinn’s still snug in Arkham, but last time she was out she was working on rounding up an awful lot of Joker’s old associates. He doesn’t know why. He doesn’t want to know why. Sure, he feels a little sorry for her, because he made her this way and he knows what that’s like, but he can still feel the electricity coursing through his body, and her hand was on that switch just as often as his was.

(But he remembers, once, or thinks he does, that she was going to put him out of his misery. There’d been water. It had tasted funny and made him tired and queasy and then Joker had made him vomit.)

Sheila steps outside, cigarette already in hand, and he catches the shine of a Zippo for a second before she lights it. He ducks behind his e-reader* even though she’s not looking over here and takes a sip of his tea. He feels a little bit like a weird stalker, hiding over here with his giant sunglasses and his hood up, but this is Joker-related and he has to be sure.

If another few days go by and nothin’ happens, he’s gonna put her name in with the other former clowns and check up every couple’a months and call it good.

A sudden gust of wind blows his hood back and he flails with his cup and book for a second before setting both down and swiping for it. He gets it repositioned and considering that there’s no screaming children, he figured no one noticed. Sheila, though, is gone-he catches a glimpse of her going back inside and figures maybe that’s his cue to go.

It’s cold out here anyway.

* * *

Gotham has four seasons: Allergies, Holy Fuck It’s Hot, Crane NO, and Holy Fuck It’s Cold.

Well, and that awkward stage between Hot and Crane, where it’s cold and windy but no one’s digging out their Halloween decorations yet. Usually there’s rain.

And that’s where they are now, and yes, it’s raining-a steady, freezing drizzle that’s being blown all over the place. The cold and the damp are teaming up to make Jason’s joints ache, and between the pain and the environment he’s miserable and jumping at every flash of purple neon. All in all, he’s in no state of mind to be out here, and he needs to go home. His rule, his one major, never-ever-broken rule, is simple: can’t make good judgments? Don’t put yourself in the position to make any. The last thing he wants is to freak out and…he doesn’t know…there’s so many ways that can go really, really badly. Killing people that have it coming is one thing, but he’s neither able or willing to forgive himself if he shoots some college kid with a purple jacket or something.

He’s fucked up enough in his life without adding something like that to his list of sins.

Nobody’s out tonight anyway, a fact for which he’s very grateful-makes sticking to his one rule a hellova lot easier.

He stumbles through his window rather than risk neighborly interaction and slumps to the ground underneath it, head slumped against his knees and his whole body trembling with pain. Now that he’s down and as safe as he can be, it’s hitting him how much everything hurts.

He strips off his gloves and starts with his boot laces, only to get smacked with the memory crowbar of Mom helpin’ him learn to tie them in the first place.

“The bunny hops AROUND the tree and ducks UNDER the bush! That’s RIGHT, you did it, Jayjay!”

He’d forgotten that. He’d forgotten all about that, how…

The laces are rough in his fingers, a tattered edge rubbing into a small cut on his left index. He doesn’t know when or why he became so hyper-aware of this fact, but now he can’t ignore it.

He drops the laces, tips clacking gently against the floor, and leans his head against the wall. He misses his mom. Which is really dumb, he’s an adult, she’s been…been gone for years and she wasn’t even really there for that last one, it’s just…

He doesn’t have anyone, now. He can’t face Alfred, and Barbara and Bruce and Dick have the new guy, the undamaged one. He can’t even really complain about that-you don’t want damaged goods. Everybody knows that. And Mom was…for all her faults, an’ all his faults, she was there and he knows she loved him because she said so, even…even near the end, when she was so out of her head she wasn’t getting up too much.

And now she’s gone.

Logically, he knows he needs to get up, get in the shower, and go to sleep, not sit here moping. Emotionally…that’s another story.

He’d hated the rain as a kid. As an older kid it had been because it turned his cardboard boxes to slush, but even as a little kid it had made him antsy. No going outside in it. And sometimes it came into the bathroom.

He doesn’t love the rain now, either, but it never rained in Arkham. He couldn’t even hear it down in the basement. So it’s. It’s a nice reminder that he’s out, that he’s safe-well, y’know, all things considering.

Sometimes, though, he’s not sure he’s really grateful. Maybe death would have been kinder.

Doesn’t matter now, does it. Least he’s cut all ties. Make it easier for people if he fuckin’ bites it on the job.

He loosens the laces on his boot and pulls it off, sets it carefully against the wall, and starts on the other one. He’s not dead tonight, so he may as well take a shower and warm up.

[layce2015]

The Wolf Among Us (Bigby Wolf x Reader)

Faith:

Chapter 6 A Light Snowfall

You and Bigby were riding in a cab, heading towards the Trip Trap, when you sighed and started to speak what had been on your mind for most of the day. "Every time I think we're getting a handle on what's going on....things just get more complicated. It feels like we're always a step behind." You said as you give a worried look to Bigby.

"The Woodman is the only lead we've got and he was one of the last people to see Faith alive. Getting some answers out of him will start to clear things up." Bigby replied.

"I hope you're right." You said as you look down, sadly. "Bigby...be honest with me. Who do you think did this?"

Bigby leans forward and places his hand on his chin, thinking for a moment before he speaks. "The Woodsman. He had the motive, he had the means." 

"You sound so sure that he's guilty?" You said, questionable.

"I don't know. That's why I need to talk to him. I don't have the whole story. Maybe he has some information that can help us out." Bigby replied. You nod at this and said. "Makes sense. That's probably the best approach."

Few more minutes of silence pass as you look out the window at the traffic. Then both of you turn to face each other to speak at the same time.

"You're doing a great--"

"I wish there was--"

Both of you stopped and turned away in embarrassment. You bite your lips and said. "Sorry."

"Go ahead. I didn't mean to cut you off." Bigby said in an apologetic tone. "No it's--it's nothing, I just..." you stopped and turned away. Bigby gives you a concern and you sigh as you continue. "It's just...we pay so much attention to the residents of the Woodlands...you forget there's a whole community out there to serve. To have to turn to prostitution. I wish there was more we could do. This isn't how I thought it would be....but Crane runs things his own way." You said as you roll your eyes.

"You're doing your best. It's all anyone can do." Bigby said.

You smirk at this then said. "I don't know....it's just a broken system. The Fables who walk in through the back door, like Bluebeard....we have all the time in the world for them. You try and come in through the front door, through the proper channels asking for anything--needing help, well....Snow has to turn you away because Crane doesn't want these disenfranchised folks, as he puts it, wasting his time. And I feel bad for her because she's just doing what's she's told but I'm sure people hate her for turning them away."

Bigby stares at you with worry as you sigh. "Now things are worse off than they've ever been." You said.

"Well...that's not true." Bigby said.

"Right, we've had it worse, but....not by much." You said with a small smile. "Maybe, I can try to make a change from the inside....or something....I don't know." 

"You'll do the right thing. I trust you." Bigby said. He reaches out and placed his left hand over your right hand, which was placed on your lap. You look up at him and see he has a soft smile on his face. You smile back at him just as the taxi stops in front of the Trip Trap. Bigby removes his hand off of your's and looks out the window to see a bunch of shady people hanging around.

"I think I can handle it from here." He said as he turns to you.

"You sure?" You asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure." He said.

"Alright, if you're sure." You said and Bigby climbs out of the cab and shuts the door. He was heading to the door but you rolled down the window and said. "Bigby."

He stops, turns and walks back to the cab. He places his left hand on the roof of the cab and leans in to look at you. "I...um....just...be careful, please." You said to him. "The same goes for you." He replies back to you. You give him a fond smile and said. "I will." Bigby smiles then moves away from the taxi and it drives away. Bigby smiles to himself then heads for the bar.

The Trip Trap Bar

The Bronx

Bigby walks into the bar and sees only two people inside, one of them being the owner named Holly who was behind the bar. The other was the man who yelled at Bigby this morning, his name is Gren, and he was sitting on a stool, drinking. The two turned to see Bigby standing there. "What do ya want, Sheriff?" Holly asked, annoyed. 

"I'm looking for the Woodsman." Bigby replied.

"Well he's not here. So, I guess you can go now." Holly said.

"Look, I'm not even gonna ask where he is now, okay? I just wanna know the last time he was here. That's all." Bigby said.

"Who?" Holly asked, trying to play dumb.

"I'm being nice. So try again." Bigby said as he walks up to the bar and places his hands on the bar. "He hasn't been here for a few weeks." She said then she glances over at Gren, who looks away. "No...maybe...I don't know. But, yeah, he hasn't been here in a while if he's been here at all....which...I...I don't know." She said, shrugging.

"I'd just like some help, then I'll be out of here." Bigby said to her.

"Well, I'd be willing to help you out of here. Would that help?" Holly asked, sarcastically. Bigby rolls his eyes and starts to look around. A pool table in the middle of the room and it looked like it had been recently played. On the left side of the bar was a cigarette machine and on the right was the door to the bathroom. There was a jar of pickled eggs at the end of the bar on the left side, near Gren. And behind the bar was various bottles of alcohol and pictures of what Bigby assumed was customers, one of them capturing his interest. 

"He a regular?" Bigby asked Holly as he points at the picture of the Woodsman. "I don't know who you're talking about." said Holly. "The one with the bald head and the beard." Bigby replied, getting alittle impatient. "Never seen him." She said and Bigby glares at her as he looks over and noticed a glass that was still half full.

"Who's is that?" He asked Holly. "Someone who left." Holly replied. "Why didn't you dump it?" asked Bigby. Holly stares at him and shrugs just as Gren speaks up. "If you want a cleaner place, feel free to get the fuck out of here."

Bigby turns to him and said. "I'm sensing a very hostile tone from you. Don't deny it. I'm good at picking up on this stuff." Bigby starts walking over to the stool next to Gren and sits down. "Lotta stools in this place." Gren remarks. "But there's only one next to you." Bigby said to him but Gren doesn't reply back. "You gonna order something, or are you here to bother my customers?" Holly asked, angrily, as she walks up in front of Bigby.

At the mention of the word customers, Bigby looks around to see nobody else inside but the three of them. "You know what I mean." Holly sneers as Bigby turns to face her. "Gimme a Midas Gold." Bigby replied. "You wanna lime?" Holly asked, glaring at the Sheriff. "No." Bigby replied. "Well...I don't got one anyway." Holly said as she gives an evil smirk to Bigby while Gren begins to chuckle.

"Think that's funny?" Bigby asked Gren.

"Yep....think it's fucking hilarious." Gren said as he takes another swing of his drink. "It was alright." Bigby said then he turns to face Holly again and said. "This is serious, Holly. Harboring a fugitive is gonna get you in as much trouble as he is. You could lose everything."

Right when he finished, a flush of a toilet sounds out then the rushing water from the sink as someone begins to whistle. Holly looks towards the bathroom door with worry then back over to Gren, who has a small frown on his face. "Holly, you're outta paper towels in the...." the man's voice said as he comes out of the bathroom, revealing it to be Woody. He looks over and stops once he sees Bigby sitting there at the bar. Bigby smiles at him as Woody looks down in sadness then takes his seat at the far end where his drink stood.

"Number one or number two?" Bigby asked him. "For your sake, I hope it was two. Otherwise you would be shittin' your pants right now."

"You and me've been goin' at it for hundreds of years....I'm through fightin'." Woody said as he picks up his drink and sips it. "Well, Woody, that makes two of us." Bigby replied. He turns to Gren and said. "You're in luck. I've decided to switch seats." He stands up and starts to walk over to Woody but Gren raises his left hand on Bigby's chest, stopping him in his tracks. "I just want to talk. This doesn't have to go like this." Bigby said. Gren turns to face Bigby, an evil smile on his face and his right eye was completely white. "Maybe he don't want to talk to you." Gren growls. "Why don't we let him tell me that." Bigby remarks.

"It's okay, Gren." Woody assures and Gren removes his hand off of Bigby. Bigby makes his way over to the stool next to Woody and said. "It's funny....a minute ago, no one seemed to know who you were."

"Yeah....well...." Woody sighs. "Everyone knows you....Big Bad Wolf. Now I'm the bad guy and you're Sheriff. What kinda fuckin' world is that, huh?"

"C'mon Woody. You know why I'm here." Bigby said. "You wanna know what happened." Woody stated. "Amongst other things, sure." Bigby replied.

"It's funny....the shit you're willin' to do for money. I'd walk past her place for weeks....she didn't look it, but she had money. I was sure of it. And she wouldn't put up any kinda fight. I was gonna rob her. And the night I finally get up the nerve to do it....there you are....fuckin' things up for me. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Woody said. "What are you talking about, exactly?" Bigby asked, confused. "Red Riding Hood....her Grandmother. I was gonna rob them.....when I showed up you were already there....lying in the bed. I only saved her 'cause I thought she would give me an award.....but she didn't give me shit. 'Cept a bunch of people thinkin' somethin' I ain't." Woody replied and he drinks from his cup again. "I played along as long as I could. Only thing I was able to get from it was a free drink every now and then....huh, lotta good that did."

"I already know this story, Woody." Bigby said, exasperated. "You should. You were there." Woody said as he faces Bigby. 

"I'm not talking about Red Riding Hood. I'm here about Faith. She was murdered." replied Bigby. "What? Faith? Who's that?" Woody asked, confused. "The girl you were beatin' on this morning." Bigby replied and Woody's eyes widen in shock and horror at this. "No. No. No. No. I was here. I swear." Woody said, quickly. "It doesn't look good when a girl you were smackin' around shows up dead hours later!" Bigby said, angrily. Holly and Gren look up in shock at this as Woody turns his head away and looks down. "She's dead?" He asked, tearfully.

Woody turns to face Bigby and said, in a pleading tone. "Bigby listen....I'm a piece of shit, okay. I know that. I hit that girl. I did. And I shouldn't've but...I didn't kill her. You believe me, right?" Bigby looks over at Woody and he could see the look of desperation in his eye. He started to think maybe Woody didn't kill Faith at all. "They're gonna string me up, Bigby. Like you said, it looks fuckin' bad. It looks really bad. But I didn't do it!" Woody exclaims, desperately. "He was here. That's the fuckin' truth, Sheriff." Gren said.

"You see? Bigby, please. You can't. They'll throw me down the Witching Well. That's what they'll do and I didn't do it. You know that!" Woody begs again as Bigby glances at him before Gren slams down his glass and stands up. "Hey! Stop! This isn't what I want!" Woody shouts at Gren, who was walking towards them. "Oh, shut the fuck up, Woody!" Gren shouts. "Shit just ain't about you. It's about this fuckin' lap dog. Only comes sniffing around this part of town when the rich fucks in the Woodlands need a shakedown. Ain't that right, Bigby?" 

"It's not like that. There are problems with the way things go, I get it. But that's got nothing to do with what's happening right now." Bigby replied to him.

"Holly's sister goes missing and no on gives two shits about her. Papaerwork, waiting rooms, and that bitch Snow White looking right past me, then ushering me out the fuckin' door." Gren shouts back at Bigby as he gets up off the stool and faces Gren. "I wouldn't call her that. It's happened before and it doesn't end well." Bigby threatened. "I didn't realize you were the bitch of the bitch." Gren sneered and with that Bigby punches him in the face, making him fall back on one of the stool. Gren shakes his head and sits up. "Is that all you got?" He asked Bigby. "Seemed to be enough." Bigby replied, shrugging. "Don't be so sure." Gren said as he stands up.

A green light flashes in front of Bigby as he sees Gren turn into a large white monster with very sharp teeth and pure white eyes. "Oh. Good." Bigby mutters in a sarcastic tone as Gren gets into his face. "Should've walked out if here when you had the chance." He said. "Come on. You're scaring the lady." Bigby said to him, unfazed. "Don't worry about me." Holly said as another green light shines. Bigby looks over and sees Holly had turned into a troll. Gren smacks Bigby and he falls over to the side of the bar. He looks up to see a large stein at the end of the bar. He grabs it but Holly slams her hand over his to stop him and Gren grabs him and starts slamming him into the ceiling a few times. Bigby sees a ceiling fan next to him, grabs it and slams it against Gren. Unfortunately, it doesn't faze Gren as he slams Bigby down the ground. Bigby tries to get up but Gren grabs him and throws him across the room, slamming against the bricked wall. 

Bigby stands up just in time to see Gren pushing the pool table towards him. He jumps and lands on the table as it hits the wall then he punches Gren, but again, it doesn't bother him and he back-hands Bigby and he flies off to the side and hits the front door. Starting to regret letting (y/n) go home. Bigby thought as he gets up and Gren throws a chair at him. Bigby ducks and Gren throws a table but Bigby ducks again and leans against the wall. As Gren comes forward, Bigby looks next to him and sees a coat rack, grabs it and stabs the end of it in Gren's face. Gren smacks Bigby and pulls the rack off of his face, grabs Bigby's leg and starts slamming him all around the room, knocking him out.

Gren drags Bigby by his foot towards the bar until there was a clawing sound and suddenly he couldn't pull Bigby anymore. Gren looks over, grabs Bigby and throws him against a wall. Bigby, who's eyes were yellow and had more hair on his face and claws, turns around and growls. Gren charges at Bigby but he jumps over and uses his claws to stabs Gren in the shoulder, making him fall. Then Bigby goes and kicks him in the stomach. Gren stays down for a moment before he gets up, grabs Bigby around the middle and charges towards the other side of the room. Bigby stabs Gren in his right shoulder, causing him to scream out as he drops Bigby and falls forward against the wall, creating a giant hole.

Gren gets up, his back facing Bigby, and Bigby jumps on his back. Gren tries to shake him off but Bigby claws at his face then on his neck. Gren holds his neck but then turns and slams Bigby against the wall, where the pool sticks were hanging. Bigby grabs one and stabs it into Gren's shoulder. Gren screams out and falls to his knees. Bigby jumps off his back, pushes Gren to the side and kicks the back of his left leg. Gren scream in pain. "He's had enough!" Woody shouts at Bigby, who turns and glares at him. He turns back to face Gren then he turns away. Gren curls up and begins to cry in pain while Bigby walks over to the bar, to a frighten Holly.

"Whiskey." Bigby ordered and Holly pulls out a bottle and a small glass but Bigby grabs the small glass and throws it to the side. Holly jumps in surprise as Bigby looks up at her and growls. "Double." Holly goes behind her bar and pulls out a much larger glass, sets it on the surface and pours the whiskey. Bigby takes the glass and downs it then slams the glass down, now back to his normal human form. Bigby digs into his pocket but forgot he didn't have any cash. "It's not like you were gonna pay for it anyway." Holly said as Woody starts to slink away. "Don't even think about it." Bigby said, warningly, as he glares at Woody.

Woody looks at him then over to Gren and nods towards him. "Is this the type of treatment I can expect if I let you take me in?" Woody asked him. "If you run, it'll be worse. Trust me." Bigby said, warningly.

Suddenly, the front door opens and footsteps were heard. Then a familiar voice speaks out. "Alright, I got a hundred bucks for the first bloke that can tell me something about a girl named...." Dee said as he walks in, a lollipop in his mouth, but he stops when he sees Gren laying on the floor. Then he looks over and sees Bigby standing there. "Fuck " he mutters as Bigby turns to him. Dee starts to back up slowly towards the door while Bigby starts to walk towards him. But in a split second both Dee and Woody started to run away. Bigby growls in frustration for a quick moment as he figures out who to capture first.

Finally, he goes after Dee. Before he could leave, Bigby slams him against the door and pulls his arms behind him, cuffing him. "Fuck man! That's not necessary." Dee exclaims as Bigby turns and sees Woody running through the back door. "Shit...." he mutters. "He's the one you want. Not me." Dee shouts. "Your brother won't be saving you this time. C'mon. You're under arrest." Bigby said as the two walk out of the bar. "I told you. I didn't do it." Dee exclaims. "Then you got nothing to worry about." Bigby said as the two head towards the Woodlands.

****

Bigby leads Dee down the street when suddenly they see red and blue lights going off as they turn the corner. The entrance to the Woodlands was swarming with Mundy police officers. Bigby raises an eyebrow at this then turns to a nearby pole and cuffs Dee to the pole.

"Do anything stupid and I'll throw you down the Witching Well myself." Bigby threatens then he makes his way over to the Woodlands. Police cars, tape and officers were surrounding the entrance as Bigby makes his way closer. He stops in front of the tape just as he sees Beast running towards the entrance but two of the Mundy officers stop him and the three begin to talk.

The officers that were in front of Bigby walk away which gave him the opportunity to sneak under the tape and head towards the entrance. An officer walks out on the street holding his mouth, like he was preventing himself from throwing up. Bigby looks at the officer with concern as he continues on. 

On the steps of the Woodlands was a large group of officers, surrounding the steps. All of them were looking down. Bigby makes it up to the group of officers and looks over their shoulder. There on the steps was something that made his heart drop, his breathe leaves his lungs. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

There on the steps....was your severed head.

[blackrose-ffxiv]

Does It Come in White 06/13

“I was admiring how different your office looks when it isn’t sprinkled with blood and knives.” Lebeaux Desrosiers mused as he looked down at the pillow on the floor. With a long-suffering sigh he set about the task of folding too-long legs under himself and trying to find a comfortable way to sit in boots and breeches that weren’t made for that kind of bending. “ ’We have business’ as in you have a lead on my requested items, or you have a task for me?”

"Neither." Ryoko Kasai gestures around. "This is what message I send ta people tryin' ta kill me. They ain't changin' a damn thing." She gestures towards Lebeaux. "I'm pretty sure they're sendin' another assassin at me, an' when they do, I want info from him. Might need yer help with that. But not fer now. No, fer right now, here's th' deal. I don't got yer thumbscrews, an' it's provin' ta be a fuckin' bitch an' a half ta get any info on whatever this 'Inquisition' is. But what I do got is a few other products might interest ya."

“But of course, yet even if I’m not performing medical services it will still count towards our agreed terms.” Lebeaux pointed out, whether he was healing or harming it all shook out the same in the end. Even better if he had a chance to do both. He took a moment to smooth his cravat into proper order. “I see. How disappointing. I was hoping for an authentic set but I suppose there are limits to even your reach. I’ll make other arrangements.” He slid glasses up his nose. “Yet I am curious to see what other products you have around.”

"I don't got a lotta contacts throughout th' West, an' Ishgard in particular's hard ta break through with. Shitty fuckin' border laws. Th' fuck even is up with that place." Ryoko shrugs. "Anyway. How would ya feel about a few other tools ta help ya get info outta people? Or maybe somethin' that's real good self-defense when people don't realize yer armed th' whole time?"

Lebeaux moved from the cravat to adjust the lapels of his coat next, his smile serene all the while. “I suspect they’re something of collectors’ items now. It’s unlikely many of the Tribunal’s tools remained after the shift in focus.” A shoulder rolled in a small shrug as he smiiiiled at Ryoko. “I wasn’t aware I was in need of self-defense.” He began, his tone cooling considerably. “I was under the impression that aligning myself with the Golden Fox and the Kasai-Gumi would grant me some measure of protection despite being an ‘ijin’.” He leaned forwards, placing his hands lightly on the edge of the desk. “Imagine my shock to find my very employer is arming those I would need to defend myself against.” He noted pointedly.

"I sell ta everyone with money that ain't pissed me off directly. Whatcha talkin' about in particular?" Ryoko shrugs. "Th' nature a' protection is I ain't got people surroundin' ya all day every day 'less ya move in on my property, an' as much as we'll kill anyone kills ya, sometimes ya got people who don't care about that. What I got fer ya, it'll solve that little problem real, real quick."

Lebeaux sniffed indignantly at that. “I’m talking about the needles you provided Daijiro Satake, with full knowledge he was planning to stick me with them.” It was all well and good when he was the one wielding the horrifying medical tools, but if it was anyone else there was a problem. “I suspect you think that was rather funny, shall I jab you with a few red-hot needles and see how you care for it?” While it may have been a threat it was said in a manner more akin to pouting than any real anger.

Ryoko tilts her head. "He said they were fer acupuncture." She shrugs. "Ya want me ta not sell things ta people who wanna help ya? I figured it might a' relaxed ya. I take it it didn't? He wanted hot and cold, both. So I got him a set. Hot then cold then hot, feels real nice." She grins. "Or are ya gettin' uppity over somethin' ya don't understand?"

“It did not ‘feel real nice’.” He corrected a bit sharply. “It felt like being skewered with burning hot metal while rambling on some nonsense about balancing natural elements. If that’s some effort to understand the humours I could understand full well but such literal approaches-“ He exhaled slowly and lifted a hand from the table to smooth a section of his bangs back into order. “It’s of no matter now. I simply wish to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

"Well, I recommend that if ya don't want it ta happen again, ya don't let 'im do acupuncture. Real simple." She shrugs. "It's helped me, before. Maybe he's just bad at it."

Lebeaux was silent for a moment after that. His head tilted somewhat but he did manage to keep his smile in place. “Of course. So simple. Any roads. You were going to show me your latest marvels in defense for the gentleman about town.”

"I am!" She beams. "So let's say someone sticks ya up, or otherwise threatens ya. They already got a weapon drawn. Ya ain't got time ta draw yer sword, they'd stab ya before ya got the chance. Ya know what ya DO got time fer?"

Lebeaux folded gloved fingers together on the table, his smile slightly flattened in the middle where he had pursed his lips. Yet he didn’t interrupt at the salespitch began, simply stared down his nose at the au ra. “Aetherically searing their flesh from their bones?” He suggested flatly.

"Without a focus? What if they've got a mage with 'em, eh? They'd notice ya castin', wouldn't they?"

“Very true, nothing messier than a quick-draw competition amongst mages. Do go on.”

"Now, look at you. Yer th' most obvious goddamn mage in th' world. Anyone tryin' ta hold ya up, they'd expect magic. Ya know what they wouldn't expect?"

Lebeaux smiled vacantly at Ryoko. Letting the silence hang for a few moments to see if it was purely rhetorical or if audience participation was truly expected for this portion. A dark brow quirked. “What wouldn’t they expect.” He finally offered.

Ryoko reaches under her desk - pulling out what was, apparently, stuck beneath it - a small hand cannon. "Somethin' small enough it'll comfortably fit on yer sleeve. I got a new slide system I made, ya can rig a series a' different triggers if ya want - I think I can make an aetheric one, if ya want fancy, but right now it's a simple motion trigger. Either way, dumbass mugs ya, you reach down fer yer wallet, then WHAM. Gun in yer hand blasts dumbass ta th' next century." 

The smile perked up slightly from its deflated state as a small pistol was produced. He reached over to pick it up, inspecting the snub-nose barrel and petite grip. His hand was far larger than Ryoko’s making the gun seem even tinier. “I’ve only shot dueling pistols before, this is similar then?”

"It ain't accurate, but it won't be somethin' ya try ta shoot someone far away with. It fires a hell of a blast, guaranteed ta liquefy anyone less than ten fulms away from ya ya point it at. Comes with two rounds. Should punch through anything less armored than a Reaper, though I ain't tested it against th' highest-end Garlean armor. Can confirm it tears through one a' their footsoldiers' kits like it's paper, though."

Lebeaux turned the gun over, inspecting it carefully before he set it down on the desktop. “It’s certainly impressive how that much power can be packed into such a small weapon, but all in all guns are a bit vulgar for day-to-day usage.” It certainly tiny and adorable, but he wasn’t sure about having that much bang hidden up his sleeve. “And it seems rather excessive to deal with one, tiny pest.”

"If it's a gang, that makes th' rest flee or at th' least open ta negotiation. It'll draw attention so people tryin' ta attack ya would flee before too many witnesses show. An' as fer firearms bein' vulgar, yer behind th' times. What's /real/ vulgar is when ya get shivved in th' ribs an' yer guts spill onto th' street." She grins a wicked grin. "An' hey, I got other models. Smaller calibre, quieter, even smaller gun. It's all about havin' somethin' on hand yer enemies won't see comin'."

Lebeaux tilted his head somewhat, reaching for the pistol again and turning it over. “I can appreciate the need for such a thing.” He agreed, tracing fingers along the lines of the weapon. “Small enough to be concealed easily with enough stopping power to discourage the unsavory elements this place is all but crawling with. But…” He laced fingers together and seemed to be searching for the right way to say it. “It would clash with my attire. Don’t you have something a little… nicer looking.” After all, he had An Aesthetic to maintain.

@safestsephiroth